FORT MYERS, FLA. – In the bullpens, catchers worked on blocking balls in the dirt. On Tom Kelly Field, infielders honed their throws across the diamond. Meanwhile, in Hammond Stadium, an unusual pair of Twins practiced for the upcoming season Friday morning: Manager Rocco Baldelli and third base coach Tommy Watkins.
Baldelli stood in the dugout, Watkins at his usual spot just outside the base line, and they practiced relaying signs — bunt, steal, take, don't steal, among others — to hitters standing in the batter's box. Conveying instructions quickly and correctly this season becomes more important, because it'll have to happen while a clock counts down the seconds to the next pitch.
"You get one shot at it. One shot, [that's] what you have. There's no, 'gimme the signs again,'" Baldelli said of the new rule, which mandates that hitters be ready for the next pitch with eight seconds left on a 15- or 20-second clock, depending on whether runners are on base. "There's a lot to learn, some of it to re-learn, and make sure we do it right. There's just some areas of focus that we've never had to [consider]. … I can mess that up, by the way."
It figures to be messed up by someone several times this spring, until everybody becomes more comfortable with the ever-ticking clock that aims to eliminate most of the downtime between pitches. If hitters aren't ready in time, umpires will call an automatic strike. So Baldelli and his staff are trying to figure out whether their traditional method of touching their sleeve, cap, chest, etc., to signal the batter is fast and accurate enough.
"One thing I can't do is speed it up too much. Can't be too quick, that's how guys miss them," Watkins said.
Then again, if he simplifies the signals too much, they become easy for the opposing team to intercept. "We're working on everything," Watkins said. "Rocco and I need to get used to the new speed-up rule, just like the players."
In the minor leagues, where the rule was tested last season, most managers serve as third base coach, too, Baldelli pointed out, speeding up the process of giving signs. He said he has considered simply signaling his players himself from the dugout, "if you really think it's necessary to save another 2½ or 3 seconds," but would rather keep the present system.
Still, he said, "if the manager is slow or needs to redo something because either he mis-thought or gave the wrong sign initially or made the wrong touch, or it wasn't received by the third-base coach because of whatever reason, maybe the hitter gets in his way — there's going to be things for us to deal with."
