Padres Pitchers and Catchers Report to Spring Training

The countdown is over!

The San Diego Padres celebrated Valentine’s Day in Peoria, Arizona on Tuesday. Technically only pitchers and catchers were required to dodge cupid’s arrows at the Peoria Sports Complex but a few position players were on deck.

Padres utility player Christian Bethancourt is pulling double (possibly triple) duty. The multipurpose 25-year-old will be working on both his catching and pitching skills this week. Last season he made two appearances on the mound for the Friars. During the off season Bethancourt pitched in the Winter League in his native country of Panama. His versatility is certainly an asset but the layout of his training is still being ironed out.

“For now I’m just going to be, the first few days, doing catching drills and then the third day I’ll be doing pitching stuff,” Bethancourt said of his training schedule for the week. “After that we’ll see how it works, see how it feels and after that we’ll start working from there.”

Bethancourt joked about possibly reporting again on Friday as an outfielder when position players arrive. But he’s not the only one getting a head start. Outfielder Travis Jankowski, and infielders Ryan Schimpf and Cory Spangenberg, who missed the latter part of the 2016 season due to a hamstring injury, both reported to the Peoria Sports Complex on Tuesday.

With the optimism that comes with the start of spring training, so does the hope of a strong young team. We’ll have to see how the players come together this spring as they head into the 2017, but the players are ready to get back at it.

“I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to be back. To me and my family this is a very special place and a special organization” Padres pitcher Clayton Richard said. “There’s an exciting group of guys in the clubhouse and it’s going to be a lot of fun this year to be a part of that.”