Here's my notes from day one. I'll try to break them up as the day went in several posts. As the players started fielding practice these are the primary players that warmed up at each position. 1B Caglianone and Riopelle 2B Thomas and Kurland SS Rivera and Fabian 3B Halter and Shelnut C Riopelle, Heyman, Lastres, Alvarez RF Evans and Schiekofer CF Langford and Robertson LF Prevask and Talbott Notes about warmup.... Thomas showing good range and an accurate arm at 2nd. Caglianone shows soft hands fielding grounders. Overall not many errors. I was glad to see two coaches hitting ground balls one after another to each side of the infield to get twice as many opportunities in a short amount of time. HRs I saw during batting practice.... Lastres (2), Riopelle, Prevask, Evans, Caglianone (2) Probably were a few others but my eyes struggle before dark sets in.
The scrimmage was started in the 4th inning and the squads went the full six innings. Each pitcher went two innings. Orange fielders 1B Lastres 2B Kurland SS Rivera 3B Halter C Heyman RF Schiekofer CF Langford LF Prevask P Sproat top speed 97 mph, went 2 innings. Picked up where he left off last year and showing signs of controlling his breaking ball. P Tejeda enters in the 6th top speed 94 mph went two innings P Fisher enters in 8th shows good control Other changes made in the 8th - 25 to lf, 28 to 1b, 9 to C, 43 to rf Blue fielders 1B Caglianone 2B Thomas SS Fabian 3B Shelnut C Riopelle RF Evans CF Robertson LF Talbott P Waldrep went two innings, top speed 96 mph. Had control issues with his breaking ball in the 1st, better in the 2nd. Gave up a HR. P Clemente enters in 6th, top speed 95 mph, control issues in 6th much better in 7th and made some bats miss. P Purnell enters in 8th, reminded me of last year, really good against some hitters and not so good against others. Gave up a HR.
Blue batted first. Blue Batters Robertson Evans Caglianone Riopelle Thomas Fabian Shelnut Talbott Arroyo DH Orange Batters Langford Kurland Halter Rivera Heyman Prevask Schiekofer Alvarez Blair DH
Here's an inning by inning summary with my apologies to @Gatorgal04 Top of the 4th - Blue Up - Sproat pitching for Orange Robertson - K Evans - K Caglianone - FO note - Sproat really looks good, locating most of his pitches, regularly hitting 96-97 mph, changing speeds, and in control of his breaking balls. Bottom of the 4th - Orange Up - Waldrep pitching for Blue Langford - FO Kurland - oppo HR to right (yes people in his first at bat as an early enrollee wearing number 4 of all numbers) Orange leads 1-0 note - stop and think of the last player we had enroll early that wore number 4, hint his brother is still on the team Halter - FO Rivera - K note - Waldrep soeed was 94-96, was only in control of his fastball and Langford hit it on the screws but right at CF, Kurland made him pay
Top of the 5th - Blue Up - Sproat pitching Riopelle - single to RF Thomas - single to CF Fabian - W Shelnut - sac fly RBI to CF - Score is now 1-1 Talbott - K Arroyo - K note - Sproat had bases loaded with no outs and only gave up a run. The two hits were hard ground balls to the holes. Sproat finished his 2 innings with 4 strikeouts facing 9 batters, giving up two hits and one run. Bottom of the 5th = Orange Up - Waldrep pitching Heyman - FO Prevask - single to CF Schiekoker - E5 (bad throw by third basemen Shelnut ball in dugout) runners 2nd and 3rd Alvarez - K Blair (DH) - GO note - Waldrep with a few good breaking balls that surprised a few batters. In two innings he gave up a HR on 2 hits with 2 strikeouts facing 9 batters.
Top of the 6th - Blue Up - Tejeda enters to pitch Robertson - W Evans - FO Caglianone - GO Riopelle - single to RF Thomas - FO note - very good start for the freshman P Tejeda topping out at 94 mph with better than expected command Bottom of the 6th - Orange Up - Clemente in to pitch Langford - LO Kurland - K Halter - FO note - 3 up 3 down for the freshman P Clemente hits 95 mph and a nice round of applause from the crowd (yes crowd of several 100 for fall ball practice)
Top of the 7th - Blue Up - Tejeda pitching Fabian - GO Shelnut - W Talbott - FO Arroyo - single to RF Robertson - GO called by base coach to much displeasure of the crowd, video was not reviewed note - nice job by Tejeda gave up two walks, two hits and no runs Bottom of the 7th - Orange Up - Clemente pitching Rivera - K Heyman - single to LF Prevask - K Schiekofer - K note - Clemente making many bats miss this inning. Leaves with 4 strikeouts only 1 hit in two innings. I really like this guy, good control on a variety of pitches, ball breaks hard close to plate. Topped out at 95 mph. Can't wait to see his first start.
Top of the 8th - Blue Up - Fisher enters to pitch (fielders get shuffled Schiekofer to LF, Heyman to 1B, Alvarez to C, Prevask to RF) Evans - GO Caglianone - singles to third against the shift (yes everyone I said a player went oppo against the shift and practically walked to first) Riopelle - K Thomas - W Fabian - K Bottom of the 8th - Orange Up - Purnell in to pitch Blair - W (Alvarez was getting out of his gear) Alvarez - hit into double play Langford - HR to deep left center ( I waved bye before the ball got to its apex) Score is now 2-1 orange Kurland - K note - Purnell giving some guys problems and others he serves up the long ball
Top of the 9th - Blue Up - Fisher pitching Shelnut - GO Talbott - single to RF Arroyo - GO Robertson - K note - Fisher looked good didn't give up a run with decent control on 3 strikeouts Bottom of the 9th - Orange Up - Purnell pitching Halter - K Rivera - FO Heyman - GO Orange wins 2-1 on 2 HRs.
Outstanding report Matt-- thanks. Based on scouting reports, I had circled Tejeda as solid contributor this season- he is a two-way player with serious batting creds ala Cags. Seems like several of the new guys may be ready to push the 2d and 3rd year players hard for PT.
Absolutely first rate, Matherly. Frosh Curland hits a home run on his first at bat in Fall Practice...Had a rep in HS as being a power hitter. Love it. Tejada pitching. Didn't expect that. Thought this 6-7 215 guy would be a first baseman. Now he's showing to be a dual threat like Caglianone. Frosh Cade Fisher, 6-4 lefty from Georgia, showing nicely. Known for having good control.
I must say I was a bit surprised by Tejeda. I knew he was a good pitching in HS but he showed good poise on the mound and battled thru his two innings. I wouldn't be surprised if they have him focus more on his pitching this year with all the fielding positions so well covered this year.
Since Tejeda was pitching yesterday he was not in any fielding rotation. That may change in the next few practices. It will be interesting to see if Riopelle or Lastres still still see time backing up first or does Tejeda get his turn at first and as a batter. Either way Yoel has plenty of opportunity as a Gator. The true test will be on Tuesday when Caglianone is pitching leaving first base open for the backups.
Thanks I'll be very interested in your report finding out who is playing left field, first base, and how Caglianone looks on the mound.
Also forgot this strange surprise. After getting two hits to start his day, In the 8th, Riopelle watched a called third strike that was probably a bit outside. He was not pleased with the umpire's call and continually let him know as he slowly walked back to the visitor's dugout. The umpire had enough of it and took his mask off and stared to the home dugout presumably right at Sully. The look of the umpire was do you want me to throw this guy out or are you going to do something about it. It struck me odd that a senior player at a fall ball practice would be giving the ump some lip over a called third strike. Maybe you like Riopelle taking a stand no matter what kind of baseball it is but I had to chuckle if he really was that serious about practice.
I thought he did well, 2k's, 1bb and only hit he gave up was to one of Nations top hitter. overcritical?
It was also because he walked a guy and seemed to struggle with his other pitches. He mainly was pitching fastballs inside. The 9th inning was a non issue because the Orange already knew they had the 2-1 win but they batted anyway to get Purnell another inning in. Players had been shuffled around in the field so it seemed they were going thru the motions on both sides.
