D-Backs notebook: Pena arrives in camp and shows off big right arm

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By Jack Magruder, Tribune

TUCSON - Ramon Antonio Pena made his long-awaited appearance at the Diamondbacks' training camp Sunday, showing some of the package that has caused manager Bob Melvin to call him a long-shot candidate to make the starting rotation.

Pena, a right-hander, threw only fastballs and change-ups in his first 15-minute bullpen session of the spring after missing three days with travel problems while attempting to fly from his home in the Dominican Republic. “He has a nice body for a pitcher,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He hides the ball well. It explodes out of his hand. Enough to certainly catch your attention.”

Pena, 6-foot-2 and 192 pounds, was considered among the most promising pitching prospects in the D-Backs' minor league system in 2002-03 after signing for a $400,000 bonus as a free agent on June 13, 2002.

But early last season it was discovered that he had falsified his age and identity when he signed. Thought to be 17 years old, Pena turned out to be almost 29 months older than that. He was 3-3 in seven starts at Class AA El Paso before returning to the Dominican to straighten things out last spring.

“I know he's literally the player to be named later,” Melvin said.

Pena, who said he did not want to address the identity issue, admits some of his friends also kid him about it.

“I feel badly about it, but that's in the past,” said Pena, using third base coach Carlos Tosca as an interpreter. “This is now. I just want to have a good camp and try to get better.”

Despite only seven appearances above the Class A level, Pena will be given a long look because of a fastball that regularly touches 95 mph (and has been clocked even closer to three digits) and a slider in the high-80s. “He's got a live arm,” pitching coach Mark Davis said.

GRIPPING

Longtime Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre told a New York newspaper that he felt Javier Vazquez was holding his fastball too tightly last season, which caused the pitch to straighten out and played a role in Vazquez's poor second half.

“I wanted him to change the grip on his fastball, but he didn't feel comfortable doing it during the season, and I didn't press him to do it because I was a little afraid of an arm injury,” Stottlemyre said.

Vazquez said he experimented with a different grip, moving the ball out in his hand and closer to his fingertips, but it felt awkward, reiterating Sunday that he believed a lower arm slot was the culprit.

“I've thrown all my life one way and been successful,” Vazquez said. “He tried to change me. It's not that I can't try something else, but if I gripped it the way they told me, I got no chance of throwing a strike. No chance.”

SHORT HOPS

Shawn Estes (right ankle) is scheduled to throw off a mound for the first time Thursday. The delay might cause him to miss his first turn through the rotation once games begin, but Estes is confident he will have enough time to get up to a normal pitch count of 80 to 100 by the end of the spring. . . .

Chad Tracy reported to camp two days early, did some hitting and took some ground balls. “I just wanted to get the blood moving,” said Tracy, who will be the starter at first base this season after playing third base last year. . . .

Greg Aquino, Jerry Gil, Edgar Gonzalez, Dustin Nippert, Pena, Jose Valverde, Oscar Villarreal and Justin Wechsler agreed to contract terms, the D-Backs announced. . . .

The D-Backs added a split-squad game against San Diego in Yuma on March 20 to go with a previously scheduled game that day against Seattle at Tucson Electric Park. Both start at 1:05 p.m. The D-Backs’ game against Boston at Bank One Ballpark on April 1 will start at 1:40 p.m., decided after the Red Sox’s travel plans for their April 2 season opener against the New York Yankees were confirmed.


http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=36769
 
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