Jerry Cracks the Whip

Spring Training is a time for players to shake the rust off, build team chemistry and to get their bodies in shape for a grueling 162 season.

Now I'm not too sure if this is a common drill across the spring training camps in FL and AZ, but it was said today that Jerry had each player in the cage take 80 swings against a machine. Keep in mind that each pitch was coming just seconds after the previous one. The twist was that they had to make contact all 80 times.

Mets catchers Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro were clearly drained after the drill. Manuel introduced the drill after he took over as manager for Willie Randolph in last season. The purpose of this drill is to improve stamina, hand-eye coordination and get the batter to use his hands. Drills such as these will hopefully lead to improved Mets situational hitting, which at times, last season killed potential rallies and big innings.

Glad to see Jerry is introducing these kinds of drills. The last 2 years, its been clear that the Mets have run out of gas in September. An improved bullpen coupled with better conditioning could be the difference between a 3rd consecutive September collapse and a trip to October.