Quick Hits

In January of each year, teams select one prospect to attend the MLB Rookie Career Development Program in Washington DC.  The program is four days long, and is designed to give youngsters an idea of what life in the bigs will be like.  I'm sure they emphasize keeping your nose clean and whatnot.  This year, the Tigers sent Rick Porcello--shocker, I know.   In his interview about the program, Porcello notably stated that one of the things he knew he had to work on to continue his progress toward the majors was command of his breaking ball, which would help improve his ability to get strikeouts.  You can see his video segment here.  

I've made a couple short forays into the MLB Network so far.  I watched Game 2 of the 2006 World Series.  I have no shame in admitting that I wimped out of watching the losses.  I also watched a half hour piece on Hank Aaron, which was good.  Now, I'm going to watch one of the episodes of Baseball Seasons--it's the 1968 season.  Looking forward to that, since I was not born to see it live.  Of course, I've seen clips of the '68 season and Series, but I hope this goes in depth, since it's an hour-long show.

Finally, young Michael Holliman is defying the timetable set for his recovery from surgical repair of a torn labrum.  He may be ready in time for Spring Training, instead of missing half this year. Read the rest here.

Keep counting down--pitchers and catcher report in less than 10 days!