Training for spring has begun in earnest. The Phillies have played nine genuine games this week, giving them a close-up look at both regular players and those vying for playing time and roster places. It’s always entertaining to watch how players have improved their strategies and added elements to their games in response to injuries and performances, either by overreacting or underreacting.
Now let’s discuss the most recent information from the Phillies’ 2024 camp.
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shines inRanger Suárez his first spring training match.
Ranger Suárez had an outstanding start to his spring training in 2024. On Friday, he got the start against the Detroit Tigers and pitched three scoreless innings while giving up only one hit and no walks. He demonstrated his precision and consistency by tossing 26 of his 38 pitches for strikes.
Suárez produced four ground ball outs as opposed to three flyouts and two strikeouts, as he usually does. Suárez’s sinker was hitting between 90 and 92 mph, while his cutter and curveball were hitting between 74 and 76 mph.
Trea Turner
This is undoubtedly a terrific beginning in the direction of the Phillies’ hopes that the 28-year-old is prepared to make a significant move for the team.
Trea Turner is content in the early spring.
It is commonly known that struggled over the most of his rookie season with the Phillies. Unquestionably, though, Turner became the player the Phillies had anticipated when they signed him in the winter once he found his swing in the later innings of the campaign.
Just one week into the 2024 camp, Turner—who has spent a year in the organization—feels more at ease and optimistic, according to Paul Casella of MLB.com. After working hard to rediscover his swing last year, Turner hopes to build on his late-season success this year by putting in the same amount of work and focusing on his swing’s “feel.”
Turner said to Casella, “I kind of figured out what all those feels are again during the last 40, 50, and 60 games.” They aren’t quite there in the game yet [this spring], which I appreciate, but my work has been excellent, I feel great in the cage, and I can see the ball pretty well, which is nice.
His four games this spring have so far demonstrated it. In his 11 plate appearances, he has walked once and had four hits, including two doubles. In those four games, his slash line is.400/.455/.600. Perhaps the most significant point is that he has only failed once, which was a rather major issue for him in 2023.
Turner remarked, “I feel like the swing is kind of where it was at the end of last year,” following his 2-for-3 performance with an RBI in Thursday’s 5-0 victory. It seems nice to me that I’ve kind of applied the lessons I learnt from last year to my work this year.
Trea Turner will be comfortable for the whole of 2024, which is something the Phillies and their supporters are looking forward to.
Unsettling rumours regarding Taijuan Walker’s “regular” knee pain
Taijuan Walker, a seasoned right-hander, has not shown up for spring training thus far this season. Walker was absent from the team for a few days due to personal matters, according to a report from Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday. Following his return to the squad, he participated in a bullpen session and reported feeling “normal spring training soreness” in his right knee, according to Rob Thomson.
They will “back him off a little bit and get him going in the next couple of days,” according to Thomson as well.
As devoted players, starting pitchers may come across as a little sensitive. But the moment a manager decides to take a patient approach with a pitcher who complains of knee pain, the sirens sound. Walker might recover in a few days, and this tightness won’t hurt him, but it’s never good news when the team’s starting pitcher hasn’t even begun camp due to a potential injury only days before the season starts.
The Phillies want Walker to start 2023 off with a bang since he didn’t quite have the season he had hoped for in 2023. With any luck, Walker will only have a small bump on his record and return to the mound the following week.
