Cueto, Chapman in live BP

While there isn’t much that can be read into live BP sessions as pitchers have an advantage with a few more days at camp, it’s still fun to get to watch. I was able to be behind the cage as Johnny Cueto faced Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Ryan Ludwick and Tucker Barnhart. No one made serious contact and Cueto threw a nice changeup to Ludwick and got Votto to ground a slider in front of the mound.

Later on another field was the latest reminder that Chapman can a force of nature. After a couple of warm-up pitches, Chapman fired a changeup to catcher Miguel Olivo, who could be heard muttering “damn” to himself. Yes, I said Chapman “fired” a changeup because even that had some heat. No one made any real hard contact against him during the session.

Needing to have more than a fastball to make a successful transition to the rotation, it appears Chapman has expanded his bag of tricks. Besides the fastball and changeup, he had a slider, a two-seam fastball and also showed a split-fingered fastball. If he gets that pitch honed, he could be very tough as a starter.

Also throwing live BP today were Sean Marshall, Homer Bailey, Manny Parra, Jose Arredondo, Alfredo Simon and Jonathan Broxton.

Here are some photos from Tuesday’s workout and live BP: