Brandon Moss and Jason Kipnis: Early storylines coming out of Goodyear

On Wednesday, I explained some of the reasons Spring Training matters to me. In doing so, I neglected to discuss anything about the actual pitchers and catchers reporting for the Cleveland Indians. Well, the Tribe did have their official opening of Spring Training and MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports that most of the players are already in Goodyear and practicing.

Indians pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training on Wednesday, but none were technically required to be at the complex. Nearly all of the players scheduled to be in camp with Cleveland this spring have already arrived, however, and a large majority turned the Goodyear, Ariz., complex into a hive of activity on the first official day of spring.

Jordan also gave out some information on a couple of the players returning from injury. Outfielder Brandon Moss seems to be progressing well and Jason Kipnis appears to be recovering well from his offseason weightlifting mishap that ended up requiring surgery on his ring finger.

Moss is built up to doing sprints and other light running drills, and he remains hopeful about being ready in time for Opening Day.

And…

Kipnis is optimistic that he will only miss a few Cactus League games, if he misses any at all.

Finally, Bastian continued his busy day by filing away his first Spring Training workout article. It is worth the full read, but the basic idea is that Jason Kipnis wants to rebound from his poor 2014 season.

An All-Star in 2013, Kipnis wants to use this spring to get back to where he was physically and from a production standpoint two years ago. Part of that includes cleaning up his defense, making daily drills an important part of his Spring Training program. Over the offseason, Kipnis focused on more agility-based workouts after bulking up too much two winters ago.