Winter Haven Live: 3/14

With the Indians involved in split squad action on Wednesday, the minor leaguers had free reign to the practice facility. Minor league spring training games kick off this Friday, but on Wednesday they got ready for game action with inter-squad scrimmages.

Minor leaguers stretch and warm-up for game activity (note several players like Carlton Smith, Justin Hoyman, etc in the video):

Waiting for practice to start
Minor leaguers stretch

There was game action on all four of the minor league fields, and Farm Director Ross Atkins, General Manager Mark Shapiro and scouts were all present for the start of minor league game action. Atkins sat up in the crows nest watching all four fields from his vantage point, while Shapiro took in the action from behind home plate.

Over on one of the fields, it looked like a matchup between the players destined to go to Akron and Buffalo. On one team that looked a lot of what the Buffalo Bisons team will be made up of, you had Brad Snyder, Jason Cooper, Ryan Mulhern, Nathan Panther, Pat Osborn, Brandon Pinckney, and others. While on the other team that looked like what will start in Akron you had players like Matt Whitney, Jose Constanza, Chuck Lofgren, Scott Lewis, Jordan Brown, Brian Finegan, Rodney Choy Foo, Javi Herrera, Argenis Reyes, and others. Some players may have been playing up a level since many of the Bisons players are still in major league camp, but most of these guys should go to the team they played with on Wednesday.

Scott Lewis and Chuck Lofgren pitched in the matchup for the Akron squad. Both pitched well, and here are two videos of them in action:

Chuck Lofgren pitching
Scott Lewis pitching

Also, Bear Bay and Randy Newsom also pitched:

Bear Bay pitching
Randy Newsom pitching

Over on another field, it looked like a collection of a lot of players who will stick around for extended spring training and go to short season league to play for the GCL Indians in Winter Haven or the Mahoning Valley Scrappers up in Ohio. Prospect Carlos Arias pitched, and several other young prospects were present like Robbie Alcombrack, Felipe Garcia, Jason Smit, Alfred Ard, Chris Archer, Julio Bolivar, and others. Here is a video of Arias on the mound:

Carlos Arias pitching

Here is a photo diary of the rest of the action during the minor league scrimmages:

Farm Director Ross Atkins takes in the action with Assistant General Manager Neil Huntington:

Argenis Reyes gets the start at second base:

Brad Snyder in action:

Brandon Pinckney at shortstop:

Brian Finegan at shortstop and watching action on the other fields:

Chuck Lofgren on the hill:

Felipe Garcia gets some work in at first base:

Jason Cooper, John Drennen and Dan Denham:

Jason Smit gets some work in:

Scott Lewis on the mound:

Jose Constanza in center field:

Matt Whitney (#25) and Micah Schilling (#1):

Pat Osborn at third base and on the bases:

Robbie Alcombrack getting ready for some swings in the cages:

Rodney Choy Foo at third base:




The Game

The Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays at Winter Haven 8-1, and were powered by four home runs from Casey Blake, Victor Martinez, David Delluci and Mike Rouse. Rouse’s home run was the one that stood out the most to me. He has some pop, but he hit a line drive home run to the opposite field in left-center. That was an impressive hit.