Tuesday, February 28, 2012

2012 Rays Minor League Spring Training Schedule and Travel Guide

Here is the Rays minor league spring training schedule and travel guide for 2012.

Report Dates
3/3: Minor League Pitchers and Catchers Report
3/7: Minor League Position Players Report

Schedule
3/14: Baltimore Orioles (Bulls/Biscuits at home, Stone Crabs/Hot Rods on road)
3/15: Minnesota Twins (Stone Crabs/Hot Rods at home, Bulls/Biscuits on road)
3/16: Minnesota Twins (Bulls/Biscuits at home, Stone Crabs/Hot Rods on road)
3/17: Baltimore Orioles (Stone Crabs/Hot Rods at home, Bulls/Biscuits on road)
3/18: Camp Day
3/19: Boston Red Sox (Stone Crabs/Hot Rods at home, Bulls/Biscuits on road)
3/20: Boston Red Sox (Bulls/Biscuitsat home, Stone Crabs/Hot Rods on road)
3/21: Baltimore Orioles (Bulls/Biscuits at home, Stone Crabs/Hot Rods on road)
3/22: Minnesota Twins (Stone Crabs/Hot Rods at home, Bulls/Biscuits on road)
3/23: Minnesota Twins (Bulls/Biscuits at home, Stone Crabs/Hot Rods on road)
3/24: Baltimore Orioles (Stone Crabs/Hot Rods at home, Bulls/Biscuits on road)
3/25: Camp Day
3/26: Baltimore Orioles (Bulls/Biscuits at home, Stone Crabs/Hot Rods on road)
3/27: Boston Red Sox (Bulls/Biscuits at home, Stone Crabs/Hot Rods on road)
3/28: Boston Red Sox (Stone Crabs/Hot Rods at home, Bulls/Biscuits on road)
3/29: Baltimore Orioles (Bulls/Biscuits at home, Stone Crabs/Hot Rods on road)
3/30: Minnesota Twins (Stone Crabs/Hot Rods at home, Bulls/Biscuits on road)
3/31: Baltimore Orioles (Stone Crabs/Hot Rods at home, Bulls/Biscuits on road)

Travel Guide
Rays MiLB: The Rays minor league games are held on the backfields of Charlotte Sports Park at 2300 El Jobean Road in Port Charlotte. When the major league club is on the road or off, plenty of parking is available in the parking lot to the stadium. If there is a game in the stadium, you can either deal with the crowd and pay to park in the stadium or limited streetside parking is available along Ester Avenue to the north side of the training complex. You can reach Ester Avenue from the side street by the Harley Davidson dealership on El Jobean Rd east of the stadium.


Orioles MiLB: The Orioles affiliates play their spring games at the Buck O’Neil Complex at Twin Lakes Park located at 6700 Clark Road in Sarasota, Florida. The complex is approximately 35 miles from Charlotte Sports Park and will take about 45 minutes to get there on a normal day. From Charlotte Sports Park head east on El Jobean Road until Toledo Blade Blvd. Turn left on Toledo Blade Blvd towards I-75. Once you reach I-75, head north until Exit 205 (Clark Road). After exiting at Clark Road, head east on Clark Road and Twin Lakes Park is located about a half mile from the interstate.

Twins MiLB: The Twins affiliates hold their spring training games at the Lee County Sports Complex located at 14100 Six Mile Cypress Parkway in Fort Myers. It is a 55 mile trip that will take a little over an hour. From Charlotte Sports Park head east on El Jobean Road until Toledo Blade Blvd. Turn left on Toledo Blade Blvd towards I-75. Once you reach I-75, head south until you reach Exit 131 (SW Florida International Airport/Cape Coral). Head west on Daniels Parkway until you reach Six Mile Cypress. Make a left onto Six Mile Cypress and the complex will be about a mile away from the intersection.

Red Sox MiLB: The Red Sox have moved their minor league operations to their new complex at Fenway South.  The complex is located behind JetBlue Park at 11500 Daniels Parkway near Southwest Florida International Airport.  It is 50 miles from Charlotte Sports Park or about an hour drive.  From Charlotte Sports Park, head east on El Jobean Road until you reach Toledo Blade Blvd.  Turn left on Toledo Blade and follow it north until you reach I-75.  Head south on I-75 until you reach Exit 131 (Daniels Parkway).  Head east on Daniels Parkway until you reach the ballpark.

UPDATED ON 3/19 WITH NEW RED SOX TRAINING LOCATION

8 comments:

  1. Do you know the best times to see the MiLBers? I would probably like to combine the visit with a 1PM MLB game. Will that work?

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  2. I have never attended an MiLB practice, just the MiLB games. I would imagine your best bet would be from the report dates (3/3 & 3/7) until games start (3/14). Once games start, the MiLB games are the usually the same time as the MLB games (1:00). Then your best bet is Sunday since it is a camp day for MiLB or catching a 1:00 MiLB game when the Rays are playing a 7:00 home game.

    Catching an MiLB spring game is not a problem since there will be two clubs at home every day during the MiLB games, however working it out to catch an MiLB and MLB game on the same day will take some creativity.

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  3. Is there a way you can supply spring training minor league rosters that each team has or could you name where key prospects are?

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    1. Not really because it varies over the month. Right now there are 59 players in major league camp, which will go down to 25 by the end of the month. So the rosters will change as players are sent down to minor league camp.

      For example, in early AAA games Derek Dietrich might start at SS for the AAA squad. People will get excited and think "omg, Dietrich is moving all the way up to Durham!" Well, he won't. Once Beckham and Lee leave the major league squad Dietrich will be back with the A+ team. So like I said it changes.

      Another example is Joe Maddon has already said that Jose Molina will probably catch some minor league games so that Chirinos, Lobaton and Gimenez can get more playing time in the battle for the backup catching job. So players move around a bit and the 'rosters' don't really mean much.

      We probably will have starting pitchers ahead of the minor league games, but not lineups. The further into the month we go the more likely players will be playing in games for the teams they will open the season with.

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  4. Love your reference to Dietrich even though I could see him making AA out of Spring Training with his bat

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    Replies
    1. Not as a shortstop with Lee there. But if they move him to third then he could go to AA, Sexton is who I have penciled in there now. I doubt they will move Dietrich off short until they have to, if they have to. Expect him as Charlotte's SS this year. Love the power too, just needs to cut down on the Ks.

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  5. The directions for the Redsox in this post are incorrect. The Redsox now play at beautiful Jet Blu Ballpark and their minor leaguers play behind the stadium. To get to Jet Blu, travel I75 S and take exit 131 at Dainels Parkway. Turn left back toward the freeway and the stadium is a couple of miles down Daiels Parkway on the left. Beautiful ballpark and complex.

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  6. Thanks for the update Daniel. I will correct it. I was told they were staying at the old location until next season. Guess their timeline changed.

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