Locals travel to spring training baseball

Many people vacation in Florida to attend professional spring training baseball games, but not everyone sees personal acquaintances take the field. I recently spent the week at spring training and was able to see a former HCHS player, Adam Milligan, in action. Another Savannah resident, Stubby Clapp, was also working as a coach at spring training.

During my stay, I attended both major and minor league games. The minor league game I attended featured players in the Atlanta Braves organization. The Braves had players from their Class AA and Class AAA teams playing a scrimmage game against each other.

Former Hardin County High School star Adam Milligan played for the Class AA team the day I was there. Milligan faced some tough pitching in the contest, including Chris Resop, who has pitched in 57 big league games. The Class AA team struggled offensively in the first few innings, but Milligan got his timing going in his third at bat. The former Tiger hit a line drive just left of the centerfield wall for a solo home run. Milligan said that he would most likely start this season in Myrtle Beach for the Class A Braves. Myrtle Beach is the highest Class A team for the Braves.

The former Hardin County player stated that there were several differences hitting at this level. “You have to be ready for anything at any situation at this level. Pitchers will come with offspeed pitches at any time. You expect to get fastballs in 3-1 and 2-0 counts at most levels, but you don’t see that many at this level,” said Milligan.

Milligan got to play with the big league Braves several times during Spring Training in March. He played in four games and got five at-bats during his time. One of the highlights for Milligan last week was getting a hit in Atlanta’s final Spring Training game against the Tigers on Wednesday. The hit came in manager Bobby Cox’s final spring game with the Braves. The longtime manager has declared that he will retire at the end of the season.

Hardin County also had another resident on the field at spring training. Stubby Clapp, a former member of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, is currently the hitting coach for the Lexington Legends. The Legends is the Houston Astros Class A affiliate located in Kentucky.

Clapp’s wife Chastity and sons Cooper and Cannan also attended spring training to see him in action. He was able to spend Easter weekend with his family in Savannah before heading north for the minor league season. The Major League teams were finishing up their last week of play in the sunshine state. They kicked off their 2010 season this past weekend.

Fifteen of the thirty major league teams train in Florida during the month of March with the other teams playing in Arizona. Many of the teams play in about a two-hour radius from Orlando to the west coast of Florida.

The St. Louis Cardinals, Florida Marlins, New York Mets, and Washington Nationals play on the east coast of Florida. During my stay, I saw seven different major league teams play, the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, and Houston Astros.