ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - With the No. 1 overall selection in the St. Louis Cardinals "Pitcher Fielding Practice Championships" veteran Adam Wainwright selected Alex Reyes. And he picked well, as his "Team Latino" with Reyes, Genesis Cabrera and Williams Pérez were the winners.
Adam Wainwright's "Team Latino" was the winner of today's Pitchers Fielding Practice Championship! Alex Reyes was his No. 1 overall pick and they won the final ground balls game with the entire squad watching #STLCards pic.twitter.com/GPDZ9QSEnY
— KMOXSports (@KMOXSports) February 20, 2019
It was a game manager Mike Shildt described as "madness" that he couldn't wait to see unfold. The eight-team, round-robin tournament began with a draft. Wainwright, Luke Gregerson, Brett Cecil, Michael Wacha, Andrew Miller, Chasen Shreve, Dominic Leone and Miles Mikolas were the captians, as the pitchers with the most MLB experience.
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Each team competed in four fielding practice games: Taking ground balls, catching pop flies, covering first base and handling hot shots back up the middle (watch some highlights in the video above).
Wainwright's team faced off with Andrew Miller's team in the final, although Miller did not participate. And as the No. 1 seed after the round-robin, Waino selected the ground balls game for the championship.
For their win, they'll get an extra off day this spring and their spring training clubhouse dues were paid off, which will go an especially long way for the minor league guys.
Shildt explained why Wednesday's workout was truly an "important" part of spring training, besides the actual practice for pitchers fielding their position.
"These are athletes that are used to competing and love to compete and it's what we do for our livelihood," Shildt says.
