A buck didn't wander into Rockies drills; it's a stuffed one for motivational purposes. (M.Spencer Green/AP)


02/23/2008 10:01 PM ET
Notes: Drills, pranks open Rox camp
Rookies cheerfully hazed; loose atmosphere in workouts
By Thomas Harding / MLB.com

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Even the desert sun couldn't make it out for many of the workouts when just the Rockies' pitchers and catchers had practices at Hi Corbett Field. But it made it to the defending National League champions' first full-squad workout on Saturday afternoon.

The day started with the Rockies' traditional stretching/hazing routine. Pitcher Casey Weathers, the top pick in 2007, was assigned to wear a cowboy hat, a stars-and-stripes shirt and a fake, long, white beard, and sing and dance around his teammates to a recording of a Charlie Daniels song. Until he can get on the mound and justify his signing bonus, it's the Rockies' way of making him earn it.

Alongside the players was a stuffed head of a buck. Strength and conditioning coach Brad Andress, who choreographs the good, clean fun that the Rockies have with the neophytes in camp, pointed out that the top of the antlers represents players such as Todd Helton, survivors.
Such revelry goes on every year at Hi Corbett Field. But this time, it wasn't as quiet or private an affair. A battery of reporters, videographers and still photographers witnessed. When the players headed to the practice fields, they were greeted by hundreds of fans, rather than the handfuls that hung out during the past several seasons.

"There's good days at the ballpark and there's great days," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "And this is always a great day.
"To come to the ballpark, your first full-squad workout of Spring Training, everybody's here. We had real good energy out there today. Everything was crisp, clean, and the execution was solid."
All of the players have been here for several days, conducting their own workouts. That's the case every year. But coming off a World Series trip, Hurdle said the players seemed different.
"There's some growth from everybody in there," he said. "There's some experience. There's tangible evidence of us being a good club as we move forward.
"That being said, we're out to defend the National League championship crown this year. Now, we'd like to win our division, [to] make the playoff opportunity a little bit easier. As we've talked earlier in the week, these guys want to get back to the World Series and winning the World Series is definitely a goal that we have in our sights."


The Rockies are mostly homegrown and much of the lineup is set. But when addressing the club, Hurdle emphasized the need for competition.
"We talked about, for the outsiders coming in, that we brought you in for a reason," Hurdle said. "This is going to be a camp of opportunity. This is going to be a team of opportunity. There are spots for people. That being said, we've put together a core nucleus of guys that we like and have earned jobs."


Sinking his teeth in: Left-hander Franklin Morales was slowed at the beginning of camp because he had four wisdom teeth removed before coming to Tucson, but he has returned to a regular throwing schedule and faced hitters on Saturday.
Morales, 22, went 3-2 with a 3.43 ERA after being called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs last Aug. 18 and is considered one of the brightest pitching prospects in baseball. The Rockies want him in the rotation, but they've signed veterans Mark Redman, Kip Wells, Josh Towers and Victor Zambrano just in case Morales isn't ready to be in the rotation when the season starts. Morales said hopes to show maturity by using two offspeed pitches, changeups from the four-seam and two-seam grips. The four-seamer could have unpredictable movement while the two-seamer is designed to dive when it reaches the strike zone. "I want to be able to throw both," Morales said. "I feel good and want to work hard with this team."