Rays' talent finally coming together

Team: Tampa Bay Rays
Location: St. Petersburg, Fla.
Date: March 7, 2008

Burning Question

When will we see David Price make his Rays debut and what can we look for?

Offhand, it's hard to remember a more avidly anticipated debut than that of the Rays' southpaw phenom. Drafted first overall last year out of Vanderbilt, Price is the complete package and then some: a fastball in the mid-90s, outstanding slider, good changeup and makeup that is, as the saying goes, off the charts.

Price did not sign until late last summer, so he has yet to don the Rays' new uniform against an opponent. Of course, there was no pressure or extra attention when he finally suited up on Saturday. Against the New York Yankees. No pressure at all.

Price went 11-1 with 194 strikeouts for the Commodores in '07 and was the consensus College Player of the Year. He took his team to the NCAA No. 1 ranking, so he's certainly used to the spotlight and big crowds.

He likely would have made his debut before Saturday, but after throwing regular bullpens and intrasquad games, he experienced minor shoulder stiffness. The Rays decided to be cautious and hold him back a bit.

It worked.

Price's time came on Saturday, although it wasn't a start -- recent acquisition from the Twins Matt Garza got the nod for that. After hitting the first batter he faced, Price struck out the side at Steinbrenner Field. It was just one inning, but it had everyone excited, especially manager Joe Maddon.

"He's handled himself so well that regardless of what he does on the mound, we just want him to get out there and enjoy himself in his first 'big league' game," Maddon said Friday. "He's got a lot of self-confidence, he's very motivated and directed and has a tremendous amount of poise about him. We just want him to pitch and be a Ray."

And to say that Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey has been enjoying working with Price would be the understatement of the year.

"He's extremely well-armed with a plus-plus fastball and an extremely sharp slider," Hickey said. "[He has] a very good feel for a good changeup and a nice delivery, but to me, the thing that is most impressive about him is the type of person he is. He's a first-class citizen, he's an extremely hard worker, he's very coachable. He comes early, he stays late.

"It would be a pleasure to be around him even if he wasn't a top-flight pitching prospect, so that, to me, is what's most impressive."

Other News of the Day

On paper, the Rays played a nine-inning game Friday as they routed the Phillies, 9-1. In the box score, rookie Jeff Niemann, the club's 2004 top pick out of Rice, started and tossed three hitless innings with two walks and two strikeouts to keep his spring ERA at a perfect 0.00.

The 6-foot-9 Niemann remains very much in the mix for an Opening Day spot. But what the box score didn't show was an additional "unofficial" four innings played so that players who had had several games washed out in the recent rains could get some time. Rookies Calvin Medlock, Wade Davis and Jake McGee all saw some extra-inning action.

Five Questions with John Jaso

MiLB.com: Having not yet had a full season behind the plate because of injuries, you've been spending a lot of time in Spring Training working with bullpen catcher Bobby Ramos. How has that been going for you?

JJ: It's been a lot of working with the pitchers, figuring out the mental aspects of the game, what to do in different situations. Beyond the mental aspects, we've also been working on the physical things. And we do early work every morning before everybody else. I don't like getting up early, but I can force myself to, it's not a problem. It's something you have to get accustomed to.

MiLB.com: What is your greatest accomplishment, on or off the field?

JJ: As a team, we won our [Southern] League championship last year at Montgomery. I'll never forget that. I was catching that game and after we turned a double play to win the game by one run in the bottom of the ninth inning, it was the greatest feeling I've ever had in my whole life.

MiLB.com: Who is the most unusual character you've come across in the Minors and why?

JJ: [Rays outfield prospect and Spring Training roommate] Fernando Perez. We've had some pretty crazy discussions and he's given me some interesting points of view that I'd never heard before about different things -- baseball and off-the-field stuff. He's a good friend, but he's also a character.

MiLB.com: Identify anyone, past or present, that you'd like to have dinner with and why.

JJ: A lot of people would say Jesus, but beyond that, I'd say either Leonardo da Vinci or Bruce Lee.

MiLB.com: What is your favorite aspect of playing in the Rays organization and why?

JJ: The people I play with. Right now, here in big-league camp, it's a really good attitude and a really good aura in the clubhouse. It's such a long season, so many games where you're around the same people every single day, so it can be hard not to get irritated at certain things. So it makes things easier.

Lasting Impression

With 11 rookies on the 40-man roster and many more in camp as non-roster invitees, the two players who manager Joe Maddon singled out to talk about Friday might come as a surprise: outfielders John Rodriguez and Jon Weber.

Both are 30-year-old non-roster invitees. In fact, they were born on the same day -- Jan. 20, 1978.

One has yet to see a minute of Major League time. One has exceeded his rookie limits with 332 at-bats in 158 games but is still more of a Minor League journeyman than a veteran. Both are new to the system and new to Maddon. And both have made very good impressions on the manager, enough to have outside shots at factoring into the mix for the Opening Day roster, especially with Rocco Baldelli's health being an annual question mark.

"I like the way they play," Maddon said. "I wasn't familiar with either of them in the past, but they've been very impressive."

Rodriguez signed with the Rays as a free agent after spending the last few seasons with the Cardinals. Though he hit .301 in 102 Major League games in '06 and got to taste that World Series champagne, all of '07 was spent at Triple-A Memphis.

No longer a rookie, the outfielder still probably qualifies as a Minor League journeyman, but he has made a great impression on Maddon in the first few weeks of Spring Training.

"Johnny Rod has a lot of juice in his bat," Maddon noted. "I want to see more of him."

Weber, meanwhile, signed with the Rays down the stretch in 2007 and appeared in 39 games with Triple-A Durham. In 10 pro seasons, the outfielder has yet to make his big-league debut, having spent all or parts of five years in independent leagues.

A Texas Tech product signed by Cincinnati in 1999 as a non-drafted free agent, the lefty-swinging Weber played his high school ball in Lakewood, Calif.

"I love the way this guy plays -- with a lot of energy," Maddon said. "He went to a great high school program, and the training he got there shows in the way he plays."

Parting Shots

Circle March 28 on your calendar for a moment of silence as it will mark what is likely to be the final Spring Training game played at Progress Energy Park (formerly known as Al Lang Field and several other names before that). In 2009, the Rays will pack up and move their spring digs down I-75 to Port Charlotte, leaving the bayside heaven they've called their spring home since their 1998 inception.

The site is in its 83rd year of Spring Training. The only years a team did not play its preseason games here were during World War II and again in 1976, when the current stadium was built.