A day at Pirate City

If you've never been to Pirate City on a spring training day after the Major Leaguers break camp, it's kind of hard to describe. Maybe the best way to put it is, "baseball sensory overload." My brother and I arrived a little after 10 AM yesterday and the minor leaguers' workouts, which began around eight, were in full swing. There was pitchers' fielding practice, players running, general fielding practice, situational fielding practice which was doubling as base running practice, and batting practice all going on on various different fields all at the same time. There are well over 150 minor leaguers in camp with nameless jerseys on, which means there are duplicate numbers all over the place and the biggest challenge is often figuring out just who the heck you're looking at unless you're Tim from Pirate Prospects, who's down here at Bradenton this week as well and who can tell you with a glance on the roster sheet that that's Kevin Kleis, 27...