Spring ~ time for mental growth as much as physical readiness

Wakumatsu gives Mariners hitters chance to grow | HeraldNet

In these early games of spring training, Wakamatsu is letting the hitters choose their approach at the plate, right or wrong. It's part of the mental growth he and the coaching staff are hoping the Mariners will experience before the regular season begins.

"Say you're leading off an inning and there's a 3-0 count," Wakamatsu said. "In spring, I want to see their decision-making process rather than just giving them the take sign. When you're trying to control their thought process, they don't grow as much."

Whether it's hitting, baserunning or defense, Wakamatsu and his staff are taking the mistakes they see in the games and working the next day on drills designed to prevent them from happening again.

"We're going to attack them as soon as they come off the field, then we're going to design drills the next day to eliminate some of those things," he said.

Baserunning will get some attention during today's workout after the Mariners had five more runners thrown out on the bases during Thursday's 4-4 tie with the Padres.

Reegie Corona was picked off first base twice, Jeff Clement was thrown out at home by a wide margin after third-base coach Bruce Hines sent him and Mike Morse was thrown out at third base after he'd tried to stretch a two-out RBI double in the fifth.

The biggie was Callix Crabbe, who tried to score from second base on Rob Johnson's high-chop infield single.

"With baserunning being such a huge emphasis, we're going to try and simulate those situations in drills," Wakamatsu said. "Rather than just talk about them, we're going to talk about them and execute some drills."