Jordan's Journey Continues

[Note from What the Heck:  Jordan Comadena, a catcher in the Astros minor league organization, is going to guest blog for us throughout the season about life in the minor leagues.  If you missed it, his last entry is here.]

Camp is in full swing and the last week has been spent gearing everyone up for our first game.  Once the position players got to town we promptly got going with the live BP sessions and full team defense.  Live BP is always interesting, especially when you just roll in to town.  The pitchers were geared up and ready to go so needless to say the pitching was far ahead of the hitting.  Many of the hitters just stand in and track the balls to home plate.  Some of the more brave position guys will occasionally swing but they are always worried about breaking a bat within the fist couple days.  Personally, the live BP sessions went very well for me offensively.  I was able to square up some balls throughout the week which is a big confidence boost this time of year.  From a catching standpoint, the live BP sessions are great because it gives us a chance to work on the field with a hitter in the box.  It has a much more game like feel than just catching in the bullpen.

From here on out we will be having a morning workout followed by a game in the afternoon.  There are a few days mixed in the rest of the way that are designated ‘camp days’.  These days have a lighter workload and allow us to recover a little bit.

Today being March 15 marks the first real games of the minor league camp.  I am currently on the Oklahoma City roster and the Washington Nationals AA and AAA rosters came to Kissimmee for the game.  Both Corpus and OK City won today, as well as Lancaster and Lexington winning in Viera (Nationals spring training site).  Tomorrow double A and triple A will play games at the Nationals complex. 

As a catcher, it is very important to really get the most out of your playing time.  With the number of catchers on each roster and the limited amount of games, there are only so many innings and at bats to go around.  It is imperative to catch well and get some hits when you get to the plate.  After the inter-squad yesterday and the game today I have managed to do that.  I plan on continuing to do that the rest of the way out.   

Jordan Comadena

March 15th