First Taste of Spring Training

It's that time of year again. The snow is starting to melt (finally) and spring training games are all over the TV. All of this means that it is time for the minor leaguers to report to spring training as well, and being as this is my first, I am excited. The past six months have been the longest I have gone without being a part of an actual baseball team since I was probably 4 or 5 so I was very anxious to see where I was going to stack up with the other guys.

Pitchers and catchers reported Saturday and the official report date for position guys is Wednesday, but I came out Sunday afternoon to get a little early work in before the whole minor league system was here. The sunny and 70 degree weather I was expecting has been nowhere to be found so far as Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have all been in the 50s with rain.

Even with the rain, I have been able to get out with a few of the guys that are already here and do a lot of what I wanted (hit, take ground balls, etc.). I'm feeling pretty good so far and it will be crazy when all 160, or however many there are, minor league guys arrive starting tomorrow. I'll keep everyone updated how the first couple days go and any stories I might have...

JP

p.s. -- I almost forgot to mention something. We all have Cubs jerseys with our last names on them so I was pretty excited just to see what 'Petraitis' was going to look like on the back of an official Cubs spring training uniform. Unfortunately I'm still waiting because when I looked before I left the clubhouse today, the name on the back of my jersey was 'PetraLtis'. Oh well, I can dream.