Camps opened on Monday behind closed doors, and while taking care of some chores I watched some of the broadcasts on TV. There must be a market for baseball analysts commenting on the quality of the drills being performed– “That relay throw was a little high”– but I don’t get it

There were a bunch of Youtube videos, with the bullpen shots all showing pitchers throwing but not their pitches, so you can see that they all look comfortable throwing on Day 1.

I did notice that while all the other teams were on the field doing defensive drills or taking BP, the Hawks, whose manager studies sports science, were still stretching. When you go to different camps, you can notice lots of little differences, but otherwise there’s not a lot to see, except when there is.

Will Lions go round in circles?

On Day 1 of spring training there catchers did at least. One of the camps I’ve never quite gotten to is the Lion’s camp in Nango, Nichinan in Miyazaki Prefecture, the southernmost camp in Kyushu.

The staff of PL TV thought this catcher’s drill to build lower body strength and control was worth documenting, and truth be told I’ve never seen anything like it.

Of course, we can’t go there without going here: