Yes indeed, Brian Dozier is in the lineup today as the Twins play host to the Nationals on a gorgeous day here in Fort Myers. This will be Dozier's spring training debut, leaving Joe Mauer as the only regular from last year to have not appeared in a game. Mauer is scheduled to play on Wednesday.

Before you start the Mauer bashing, he's not the only one. Camp is a little bit longer because of the World Baseball Classic, and some players are being eased into the schedule. Boston, for instance, is not playing some of its regulars until the middle of next week.

Jorge Polanco is back in the lineup, and it will be interesting to see how he responds after committing an error on Friday in the spring training opener. The Twins need to see Polanco progress as a shortstop, since he's not going to be playing second base anytime soon. There were a few disappointed Twins officials on Friday when Polanco skipped that throw to first base.

Since the Twins didn't add any impact players during the offseason, improvement has to come from within. Especially pitching and defense.

Hope you had a chance to read my story on pitching framing this morning. It's something teams have drilled their catchers on for years, but once pitch framing data became available there has been a greater emphasis on stealing strikes. What can't be measured, however, is human error. What if the umpire is having a bad day and misses five pitches that were obvious strikes? Should the catcher's framing stats be affected by that?

I didn't even get into how positioning by the catcher helps the umpire see the plate better. Umpires like to align themselves over the inside shoulder of the catcher, the area between the catcher and hitter is called the, 'slot'. Consequently, it can be difficult at times for them to see the outisde corner. But a catcher must position himself to help the ump see that part of the plate better. Insteresting stuff.

Nats

Michael Taylor, CF
Anthony Rendon, 3B
Chris Heisey, LF
Clint Robinson, 1B
Stephen Drew, SS
Matt Skole, DH
Jose Lobaton, C
Brian Goodwin, RF
Corban Joseph, 2B
A.J. Cole, RHP


Twins

Byron Buxton, CF
Jorge Polanaco, SS
Brian Dozier, 2B
Migual Sano, 3B
Max Kepler, RF
Kennys Vargas, 1B
Eddie Rosario, LF
Chris Gimenez, C
Jason Castro, DH

Trevor May, RHP