Beat by Beat, The Beatdown, and Beat It were the runners up for the title
Beat writers are sort of like beat cops: they have their territory, and they keep a watchful eye on it. The difference is that with baseball beat writers, it’s their quarry that carry the big clubs.
Right now, the writers are walking their beat on the not-so-mean streets of Clearwater, spring home of the Phillies since 1947. The Fightin’ fans of the Forties had only print dispatches to peruse, but with the benefit of nearly 80 years of technological advancement those of us left on the chillier home front can enjoy, if not the actual sights and sounds of spring training, then at least a rather sunny simulacrum of it. Here’s a motley roundup of what the beat writers are saying, and a few other things besides:
Sidearmer by the Shore
Kōyō Aoyagi, the former NPB hurler, has a release that you should give more than a sideways glance to. Scott Lauber gives us a look:
Koyo Aoyagi’s first bullpen session with the #Phillies … with Dave Dombrowski and Rob Thomson in the audience. pic.twitter.com/ieszfq8sd9
— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) February 16, 2025
Fun fact: Aoyagi helped his Japanese club, the Hanshin Tigers, shatter a curse that was (sort of) placed on the team by Colonel Sanders.
More than Milling About
Jim Salisbury gives us a look at Aidan Miller, the Phillies’ top position player prospect, at short:
Top prospect Aidan Miller with some backhand action at SS in Phillies camp pic.twitter.com/DcHwPJVYo9
— Jim Salisbury (@JimSalisbury215) February 17, 2025
It’s yet to be seen what position he’ll play when he reaches CBP (2nd and the hot corner are also possibilities), but for the moment you’ll find him on the scorecard at 6.
Get Ready With Me (on Gameday):
Lochlahn March checks in with Harper on his social media plans:
Fear not, new TikTok influencer Bryce Harper says he plans to continue the videos in season.
“It will just depend on how many I can do each week, and editing and all that kind of stuff. … That’s been good, catching eyes of not just baseball fans, but other people too.”
— Lochlahn March (@lochlahn) February 15, 2025
The wider world outside of baseball is starting to recognize how much fun Harper is. Now we just need to find a way to introduce them to Stubbs.
Fun With Stats:
FanGraphs records Spring Training stats going back to 2006. In that time, the Phillie with the best batting average in the pre-season festivities (all STs in red pinstripes combined) is Yuniesky Betancourt, with .447. Despite his success in Clearwater, Betancourt was released before he could play a regular season game with the Phillies.
And One From the Past:
It’s never a bad time to read the great hardball scribe Roger Angell, but the start of Spring Training is a particularly good occasion to read one of his dispatches from Florida.