Kind of a dud UNTIL
The Guardians didn’t play particularly well and lost to the Brewers 9-6 in Goodyear. But, hey, that’s why they play these meaningless games, to iron out the kinks. And then we got a delightful surprise in the 9th…
-Tyler Freeman had a nice opposite field hit to drive in a couple runs in the first inning after Jose Ramirez, Lane Thomas and Bo Naylor had drawn walks. Thomas drew two walks and Jose added a single.
-Juan Brito looks kinda lost so far as he struck out two times. Will Brennan looks like Will Brennan. Carlos Santana so far is doing his “I don’t wake up until May” thing.
-Luis L. Ortiz also had no command but also had some bad BABIP luck. It’s early.
-It was fun to see Travis Bazzana absolutely refuse to swing at balls outside the zone. He’s gonna be such an annoying AB for opposing pitchers. He also looked good in the field. …then in the 9th, after a couple walks, he came up and demolished a first pitch fastball over the centerfield wall for a three-run homer. If you thought he wasn’t interested in swinging, you’d be wrong.
-Trenton Denholm, mentioned by Mike Mahoney as a guy to watch in today’s prospect article, struck out two guys in an inning.
-The Guardians had 11 walks, so plate discipline has shown up to camp early, good to see. They play the Rangers at 3:05PM EST tomorrow in Goodyear.