PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. _ Rays starter Blake Snell was pleased with his work Thursday facing hitters for the first time.
"I'm just feeling good every day, that's a big thing for me," Snell said. "I just feel good with where I'm at with my pitches and the control I have. I'm pretty excited about how it feels right now."
Snell missed much of the second half last season after surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, but said there are no lingering issues.
"All I care about right now is being healthy; it was my first time being hurt (last year)," he said. "Coming into spring I'm a lot more focused, I'm happy with where I'm at. I'm happy with the direction that I'm going. I just need more hitters in the box to let me know where I'm at, how I feel. Today being the first day of batters, that was better than I anticipated. My first live (batting practice) is always pretty bad, so for it to feel good and for me to be comfortable with hitters in the box, that's exciting."
One focal point for Snell this spring is throwing his slider more comfortably, and more often, to right-handed hitters. Doing so, he said, will give him a true four-pitch arsenal, complementing his fastball, curve and changeup.
Manager Kevin Cash was impressed with what he saw.
"He looked awesome," Cash said. "Blake has had a little bit of confidence this spring. It looked like he put some weight in his lower half to get stronger. It looked really easy today. He was really committed to fine-tuning."
Also Thursday:
_ Charlie Morton threw his first live batting practice and looked sharp. "Kind of looked like mid-season form," Cash said. "He buckles you with some of those breaking balls even though you're not in the box."
_ Slimmed down Nate Lowe looked good taking ground balls at third base, where he will get most of his work early in camp, then later split time at his natural position of first base. "He looked really good," Cash said. "He looked way different than last year."
_ Infielder Vidal Brujan and outfielder Randy Arozarena finished tied in annual clubhouse Rays Idol singing competition.
_ As they've done at times over the last couple years, the Rays had screens set up across the infield of one of the batting practice fields as a way to encourage players to hit the ball in the air more. Cash said it will be an occasional tactic, one of several different things they will do to help hitters.
"We'll pop 'em out every once in a while. ... Just continuing to tinker to see if there is something visually that can help benefit the guys," he said. "Most of them all know the history, what's taken place the last three-four years with research into hitting that helping your trajectory generally correlates to a better hitter or better results."
_ Japanese free-agent addition Yoshi Tsutsugo is slated to make his debut playing left field in Sunday's home exhibition opener against the Yankees, and then designated hitter Monday vs. the Red Sox.
_ Trevor Richards is slated to start Saturday's exhibition opener against the Red Sox in Fort Myers, followed by Jalen Beeks, Pete Fairbanks, John Curtiss, Joe Ryan, Tyler Zombro, Sam McWilliams, Ryan Thompson. Lefty Ryan Yarbrough will start Sunday, with Andrew Kittredge and Colin Poche among those in relief.
