Camp grew more interesting on Monday, and warmer, too, once the sun came out. After yesterday's wet and windy workout, today dawned in the 30s, but was well into the 60s by the time the Twins finished working.
Mike Pelfrey was the star attraction of live BP, given his status as a likely starter -- and you can read more about him in Tuesday's Star Tribune -- but about a dozen more pitchers took the mound, too. As Pelfrey threw on the auxiliary field, Luis Perdomo unleashed his hard, sinking fastball on the main Hammond Stadium diamond. At one point, a coach looked at us writers near the dugout and described him with one word: "Filthy."
On the other hand, Justin Morneau has seen sinkers before. He timed one of Perdomo's pitches and launched it to the warning track in dead center field.
Mostly, however, hitters don't take many cuts on the first day, preferring instead to get their timing down after weeks without seeing full-speed pitching. Morneau probably swung at only three pitches in Perdomo's 10-minute throwing session, and Joe Mauer did the same. (There's also more on Mauer in tomorrow's paper, a story written by La Velle E. Neal III.)
A total of 15 pitchers threw full-speed on Monday, among them: Josh Roenicke, Michael Tonkin, P.J. Walters, Tyler Robertson, Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Pressly, Anthony Slama, Liam Hendriks, and Deolis Guerra.
I watched Trevor May throw, first time I'd seen the righthander acquired from Philadelphia in the Ben Revere trade, and was impressed. He's a big guy, 6-5 and thick, and he looked confident on the mound. I also watched Samuel Deduno take his turn, and he made one hitter (whom I couldn't see) swing and miss completely, unusual since the batters know what pitch is coming.
A handful of other sights at camp on Monday:
-- Joe Mauer took ground balls at first after the regular workout ended. He is also absolutely besieged by crowds of worked-up autograph seekers who shriek his name every time he walks by.
-- Tom Kelly gave private fielding lessons on a back field Monday, first to Miguel Sano, then to Jeff Clement.
-- Trevor Plouffe, bothered by a slightly strained calf, didn't take part in fielding drills for a second day.
-- The Twins closed the workout with baserunning drills, and nobody hustles on each one more than Darin Mastroianni.