GOODYEAR, Ariz. — It is a period of spring training that hitters hate, a part they despise as much as blisters on their palms. It is the first time they step into the batter's box to face a teammate/pitcher throwing hard.
"I know I used to hate it," Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "The pitchers looked like they were all throwing 100 miles an hour. The pitchers are always way ahead of the hitters at this time of the spring."
So, under a cloudless Sunday afternoon in the Valley of the Sun at the Reds' spring training complex, the hitters had to face Bronson Arroyo, Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos and Aroldis Chapman.
Good luck and don't forget to duck.
As Arroyo warmed up — a guy who barely cracks 90 on his best pitch — Baker looked at special adviser/Hall of Famer Joe Morgan and said, "Looks to me like he's throwing 100."
One of the day's interesting matchups was Chapman facing Todd Frazier. Two springs ago, on Frazier's first at-bat of the spring during an intrasquad game, Chapman scored a direct hit on Frazier's knee with a fastball clocked at 100 mph. It knocked Frazier out of activity for nearly a week.
Frazier got even Sunday afternoon in his first at-bat against live pitching, and against Chapman. He was the first hitter Chapman faced, and Frazier propelled a down-and-in slider over the left-field fence.
Breaking into a broad smile, Frazier said, "Took me two years, but I finally got even with that guy."
Latos, the newly acquired right-hander, appeared to be a big bag of nerves pitching for the first time wearing Cincinnati red. He was a bundle of wildness.
He had to face Jay Bruce, Scott Rolen, Joey Votto and Ryan Ludwick. He walked his first batter, Bruce, on four pitches. Bruce said loudly about the off-the-plate pitches: "I'm not swinging at that crap this year," which drew a laugh from Votto.
Rolen fouled off a couple of pitches and also walked. When Votto also walked, Rolen said, "There you go, another walk, another at-bat of lifting that on-base percentage."
Votto walked 110 times last year to lead the National League in on-base percentage, at .416.
Ludwick stepped into the box and drilled the first pitch hard into the outfield and said, "Just like riding a bicycle."
On Bruce's second at-bat, he lined one to deep left and said, "I got it all." But the ball thudded onto the warning track, and Votto laughed. "Good thing he weighed in this spring 15 pounds lighter so he could hit that ball to the warning track," Votto said.
Pitching coach Bryan Price, clipboard in hand, flitted back and forth between two diamonds on which the pitchers were throwing to hitters.
After watching Cueto, he scurried over to catch the end of Homer Bailey's session and asked, "What's the scouting report on Homer?"
And he was told: "Well, catcher Brian Esposito keeps giving him a bunch of 'atta boys,' so he must be doing good."
Price watched Bailey's final pitch, a superb breaking ball, and said, "OK, Homer, that was a great breaking pitch, a great putaway pitch."
Price was not with the Reds when Bailey, 25, came up as a brash 21-year-old who was surly and owned an "I already know it all" attitude."
Bailey has done a 180-degree spin on his personality, his attitude and his acceptance of knowledge.
"This is a different world up here," Price said. "You get a false picture in high school when you aren't playing and nobody shows up, but on days you play, people are standing eight deep to watch."
That was the way it was for Bailey in high school, and he knew nothing but success.
"Sometimes you can change a guy overnight, and sometimes you can't change him completely at all," Price said. "Sometimes you just try to chip away at some of the bad stuff."
For Bailey, it appears his veneer is totally shiny and new.
As for the pitching overall, all but one pitcher is able to throw right now, the exception being left-handed relief pitcher Bill Bray, out for a few days because of a groin pull.
"He is one guy you won't see throwing for the next few days," Price said. "Nobody wants to tell you about any of their aches and pains. They want to be out there. But at this time of year, it is better to be careful and take it easy."
