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Rothschild gets first look at the future

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Observers at today's intrasquad game will get to see some of the Rays' most promising young players in action for the first time.

So will manager Larry Rothschild.

While minor-league staff gets to see the top prospects play every day, and team executives and scouts get to drop in for visits, Rothschild doesn't get much of an opportunity to see the future because he's busy managing the big-league team.

But with rookie second baseman Brent Abernathy, projected outfield stars Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford and young arms such as Delvin James, Stevenson Agosto and Ronni Seberino in camp and scheduled for duty in today's seven-inning game, he'll get to see first-hand what all the fuss is about.

"A lot of the players in the game I haven't seen play yet, so I'll get to see them finally," he said.

After five days of full-squad workouts, the players should welcome the competition.

"You can just sense that these guys want to start games," he said. "It's just where we are in spring training, and it's probably the same everywhere."

The game starts at noon at the Ray Naimoli training complex, and admission is free.

FIRST LOOK: Having listened to presentations and read memos about the enforcement of the "new" strike zone, Rothschild is eager to get his first look. Veteran umpire Jim McKean is expected to explain the changes to the team in a demonstration this morning and may call a few innings of the game.

"The most important thing is to be able to see what's going on," Rothschild said. "It could be insignificant and it may be significant when you finally get on the field and see it, so we'll see."

HERE'S THE WINDUP: Trevor Enders was as surprised as anyone to see he was one of the starting pitchers today. "Shocked actually," he said.

Enders has pitched in 227 games for the Tampa Bay organization during his five-year career, and 222, including nine for Rays, were in relief. In the five starts he made for Double-A Orlando last season, he did go 3-1 with a 4.88 ERA.

Though it's not uncommon to use relievers as starters early in the exhibition schedule because pitchers usually are limited to two innings, Enders is appreciative of, and intrigued by, the opportunity.

"At this point, I'm just looking at any chance they give me to pitch I'm going to go out there and do the best that I can," Enders said. "It doesn't really matter what the role is or what they are going to have me do. Whether it's just that it's spring and they're just trying to get innings in, that's the task at hand, I don't look at it as a start per se, as much as to get in there and get six guys out. But it was still a shock. And it kinda piqued my curiosity."

Derrin Ebert, a minor-league signee from the Atlanta organization, will be the other starter.

OFFICIAL BUSINESS: Pitcher Juan Guzman missed Monday's workout to attend to citizenship-related issues in Miami. He is expected back today.

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