Spring Training Gameday Thread #1: 2/29 vs. West Virginia University

1. Jean Segura, SS
2. Phil Gosselin, 2B
   
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Yasmany Tomas, LF
5. Socrates Brito, RF
6. Brandon Drury, 3B
7. Zach Borenstein, DH
   
8. Jason Bourgeois, CF
   
9. Tuffy Gosewisch, C
   + P Yoan Lopez,.Will Locante, Jose Cisnero, Scott Rice, Miller Diaz, Daniel Gibson + Keith Hessler.

Of course, this is a very low-key opener, one added to the schedule only a few weeks ago, with no admission being charged at Salt River Fields, and absolutely no coverage on TV or radio. I'm not even sure if there will be any kind of Gameday coverage for this [the games doesn't appear on the MLB scoreboard!], we might all end up having to pore over the box-score at the end of the day, and try to figure things out from there and Twitter reports. But it's just good to see the team taking the field: first chance to see new guy Jean Segura play for us, and I note he is starting at shortstop this afternoon.

It's a surprisingly strong line-up for the D-backs, with only a couple of names among the starters who won't be on the 25-man roster. Starting pitcher Lopez is the most obvious, but I doubt Borenstein and Bourgeeois will have signed long-term leases in the Phoenix area. We'll probably only see a couple of innings from Lopez, and then the usual spring rotation of players in and out will begin. I wonder if they'll let WVU play with aluminum bats, just to even the odds? Actually, might also be fun to see what Goldschmidt could do with an aluminum bat these days! But I guess we'd also need to call Sky Harbor and get incoming flights diverted elsewhere...