The Wandering Disciple

Sarasota, Florida: With the draft just a few day away, extended spring camp is about to get a little more crowded. But in the meantime, the players are making the most of the chance to refine their skills and impress the coaches. In just a few short weeks, the players will be heading north to their teams for the remainder of the season. The Rays players traveled north to Sarasota to face the Orioles clubs under bright sunny skies at the Twin Lakes Complex. No official scores or stats were recorded, just two fields of professional baseball players working to improve their game. Extended spring training continues through mid-June. Then the players will report to their short-season clubs for their 2011 season. Click on the photo above to view pictures from the Rays/Orioles extended spring game.

Port Charlotte, Florida: As the start of the short season schedule is getting closer, the players are fine tuning their game in extended spring training in Florida. On a sunny Memorial Day, the Rays team hosted a squad from the Red Sox in two exhibition contests on the back fields of Charlotte Sports Park. The squads were comprised of players that will be playing in short season ball once the season began. The players on the Rays squad will be making up the rosters of the Hudson Valley Renegades, Princeton Rays and GCL Rays. The players on the Red Sox squad will be playing for Lowell Spinners and the GCL Red Sox. The players were split into two teams that played on adjoining fields. The emphasize of extended spring training is player development, no scores or stats are maintained. Click on the photo above to view the gallery from the Rays/Red Sox extended spring training game.

Sarasota, Florida: With the regular season in full swing, a handful of players still remain in camp preparing for the 2011 short season schedule which begins in mid-June. On Friday afternoon, two groups of these players from the Rays and Orioles organization got together for exhibition games at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota. The rosters from each team were comprised of players that are in the early part of the career or minor leaguers recovering from injury. These players spend time in Florida continuing to work on refining their game prior to the start of the short season. Then in mid-June they will make up the rosters of each clubs Rookie and Short Season A rosters. The players representing the Rays will become the GCL Rays, Princeton Rays or Hudson Valley Renegades. The Orioles players will become the GCL Orioles or Aberdeen Iron Birds. The focus of these games are strictly player development. No official scores or statistics are recorded during these exhibition games. Click o...