Nats’ Roark ready to join Team USA
It fell far short of simulating the experience of performing in front of a raucous sellout crowd at a major league stadium opposite a lineup with threats one through nine, but Tanner Roark looked as ready as he could for the start of the World Baseball Classic in his outing Sunday against a JV Twins lineup at Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.
In his second start of the spring, and his final one before joining Team USA, Roark needed 57 pitches to log four scoreless innings as wind gusts made for a chilly afternoon for the announced 4,588 in attendance. He allowed two hits — both to outfielder Eddie Rosario, one of the few Minnesota regulars to make the trip from Fort Myers — and had three strikeouts and no walks in Washington’s 4-2 loss.
“Tanner was awesome,” Nationals manager Dust y Baker said.
Next up for Roark, who has thrown seven shutout innings this spring: starting Team USA’s second game against the Dominican Republic at sold-out Marlins Park in Miami on Saturday.
“It might feel like we’re the away team playing in the U.S., but it’ll definitely be loud and it’ll be crazy,” Roark said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Roark said he is ahead of where he usually is in early March, partly because he coincidentally decided to begin throwing earlier this winter than previous offseasons — first by just throwing a tennis ball against a wall — before accepting the invitation to pitch for the United States. A high-stress outing in mid-March will be unprecedented for Roark, who has never represented his country in an international tournament, but WBC rules stipulate that pitchers aren’t allowed to throw more than 65 pitches in the first round.
“I feel like I’m well prepared,” Roark said. “Body feels good. Arm feels good. Mind feels good.”
Roark and Daniel Murphy were slated to join Team USA in Fort Myers for workouts following Sunday’s game, and they will be with the team for an exhibition game against the Twins on Wednesday. They were the last of the Nationals’ five WBC participants in major league camp to leave to join their respective teams. Left-hander Oliver Perez, who has pitched in every WBC, left Saturday to join the Mexican team for exhibition games in Arizona. Catcher Jhonatan Solano left Sunday afternoon to join the Colombian team. Enny Romero, another left-handed reliever, departed to join the Dominican Republic ahead of the Dominicans’ exhibition against the Orioles in Sarasota on Tuesday. Right-hander Rafael Martin is in Mexico’s designated pitcher pool, which means he could join Mexico for the second round should it advance.
“They realize the importance of the WBC, but they also realize the importance of the season in their careers and what it means to us to try to win,” Baker said.
For full coverage of the Nationals, go to washingtonpost. com/sports resulting in multiple facial fractures, lacerations and dental damage.
Now with the Astros, Fiers didn’t come close to hitting Stanton at Roger Dean Stadium.
Fiers acknowledged Sunday that he texted Stanton within a few days of the 2014 incident.
“I didn’t call him directly, b u t we t e xt e d h e r e a n d there,” Fiers said. “We had a good conversation. He understands that in baseball things happen. But I don’t think we have any hard feelings or any hatred against one another, nothing like that.”
Stanton, who missed the rest of the 2014 season, now wears a hard plastic helmet guard to protect his face.
Meanwhile, Ichiro Suzuki made hi s spring training debut Sunday, going 0 for 2 as the designated hitter in the 7-7 tie with the Astros.
“I’m 43 now, so it’s OK if my first game i s a little bit later than in the past,” Ichiro said.
Ic hi ro, who ha s ne ve r spent time on the disabled list with an injury, missed two weeks with a bruised knee following an outfield collision.
“It definitely wasn’t fun,” he said. “But it’s one of those things that sometimes you’ve got to experience something (like an injury) to understand what it is that people go through.”
Ichiro will be eased back into a playing routine. Manager Don Mattingly said that he will get a day off today before receiving his first start in the outfield on Tuesday.
With both Stanton and Christian Yelich leaving for the World Baseball Classic, Ichiro should receive plenty of playing time in advance of the regular season.
Injuries in the Marlins outfield last season forced Mattingly to play Ichiro in the field 78 times, significantly more than Miami’s preseason blueprint dictated.
“I think we had the most success when it was more of a limited role,” Mattingly said. “The one time his numbers dipped was when he was in there every day, every day, every day. Hopefully, we’re healthy and we don’t get to that.”
Ichiro started in 38 of his 54 right field appearances last season, with most of those coming when Stanton hit the disabled list. He also started double-digit games in left and center.
His .291 batting average last season improved significantly from the .229 average he posted while starting 88 games the year prior, his first with Miami. In August, he became the 30th major leaguer to reach the 3,000hit plateau, doing so with a triple at Colorado.
Mattingly would like to use Ichiro for no more than a couple of starts per week in the field this season, likening the frequency to that of a backup catcher. “He’s pretty much always prepared,” Mattingly said. “He’s an easy guy to get ready for that.”
A thigh injury sustained during a collision with fell ow o u t f i e l d e r B r a n d o n Barnes during an outfield miscommunication on Feb. 21 temporarily halted Ichiro’s s p r i n g . H a d t h e i n j u r y occurred during the regular s e a s o n , I c h i r o s a i d t h e chances of him going on the disabled list would have been “probably high,” especially now that MLB has instituted a 10-day DL.
Ichiro struck out in his first at-bat Sunday. In his second, he bounced out to short, then drew a walk in his final appearance, scoring on Adeiny Hechavarria’s first homer of the spring.
“Seeing him back a week later, it’s a lot easier for me,” said Barnes, who became the subject of clubhouse ribbing following the collision.