Thanks to the rains of the weekend, there hasn’t been a whole lot of outdoor activity for the Chicago Cubs thus far at Spring Training, but with a return to vaguely Arizona-like weather in Arizona today, the players could get outside to get in some action.
There is live batting practice going on today, with Cubs pitchers facing Cubs hitters. Jesse Rogers is always fantastic with the live video in these situations, so you’ll want to be following him on Twitter, and you can check out, for one example, some video of Jon Lester pitching to Cubs hitters:
LIVE on #Periscope: Jon Lester throwing BP https://t.co/dXb1zJeU6T
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) February 20, 2017
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Rogers and Sahadev Sharma also shared some Jason Heyward swings, which – again, with all appropriate Spring Training/just batting practice caveats – looked good:
Now for Heyward really swinging. From the left side and all that… pic.twitter.com/AiDJuPF32C
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) February 20, 2017
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Love BP! That's the good stuff. Solid single for Heyward. pic.twitter.com/jejmyjM3OW
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) February 20, 2017
Unlike the earlier video we saw this spring, I see a cleaner weight transfer in these, without the bat dragging behind the turn of the hips (I am #NotAScout, but, admittedly, the process of following Heyward’s swing retooling this closely sure has taught me a lot about what to look for).
Rogers also tweeted that Matt Szczur took Jon Lester deep right off the bat (no pun intended), and shared video of John Lackey pitching to Anthony Rizzo.
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Sharma also got some video of a guy who we haven’t seen in action too much, but who shouldn’t be totally forgotten as a possible bullpen contributor in the future:
Former top pitching prospect in the Cubs org, Pierce Johnson pic.twitter.com/F9WY3sfETt
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) February 20, 2017