Twins players get comfortable, despite the spring chill

By PHIL MILLER phil.miller@startribune.com

Aaron Hicks moved into his new baseball home Sunday, and if it was cold, he didn't notice.

"I felt more excitement than [cold]. I actually thought it would be colder. But I'm busy getting a look at where I'm going to be working every day," Hicks said Sunday morning after spending about an hour roaming Target Field's big outfield in sub-freezing temperatures. "I just want to get as comfortable as possible."

That's what his manager wants, too. So Ron Gardenhire grabbed a fungo bat and took his rookie outfielder to the deepest part of the diamond, then commenced hitting fly balls off the wall. Hicks and Wilkin Ramirez, another outfielder new to Target Field, tried to judge caroms off the padded fence, ricochets off the limestone facing, and the best angles for cutting them off.

"I'm trying to get used to the dimensions, how to play balls off the wall. They're a little tricky," said Hicks, who plans another session before the gates open Monday. "I was worried about that."

Hardly anyone seemed worried about Monday's cold weather, and Josh Willingham, a native of Alabama, might have had the best advice: Treat it like a hanging curveball.

"You've just got to be stronger than the weather," the outfielder said after arriving at frigid Target Field to unpack his equipment and prepare for Opening Day.

The coldest home opener in Twins' history was 51 years ago, when mercury registered only 33 degrees at first pitch.

"We'd all like it to be 75 and balmy, nice and warm, but it's not," said outfielder Darin Mastroianni. "We're in Minnesota. It's going to be chilly, and we've just got to get through it. It's cold for everybody, that's what you've got to remember."

Under terms of the sport's new collective bargaining agreement, teams can no longer require players to practice the day before the season opens, so the Twins workout was optional. Nearly every player showed up at some point, most spent at least a little time on the field, and Mastroianni said perhaps six or eight took batting practice in the team's heated cages.