Dust Devils have first workout

The Tri-City Dust Devils set foot on the Gesa Stadium grass Monday for the first time in 2009, as manager Fred Ocasio pushed the team through its first workout in Pasco.

Most of the players on the field had been assigned from the Colorado Rockies' extended spring training in Tucson, Ariz. However, the Dust Devils should have a much different look Friday, when Tri-City can fold several recent selections from the First-Year Player Draft into the lineup for its Northwest League opener in Boise.

"These are the guys from extended," Ocasio said. "We're taking it little by little, just getting some batting practice and taking some ground balls.

Ocasio has learned that center fielder Timothy Wheeler, the second of two Rockies first-round draft picks, has signed with Colorado and will join the Dust Devils in Boise this weekend. Wheeler, a 6-foot-4 left-hander out of Sacramento State, hit .385 for the Warriors in 2009 and led the team with 18 home runs, 72 RBIs, 15 stolen bases and a .765 slugging percentage.

Of the recent draftees, the Rockies have assigned 10 others to the Dust Devils so far, including fourth-rounder Kent Matthes, an outfielder out of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, and fifth-rounder Joseph Sanders, a third baseman from Auburn. Most of the 10 are en route to Tri-Cities and need to pass a physical before they can begin workouts with the team.

Chris Vasami, a 6-foot-4, 230-pounder, spent the 2008 season with Tri-City as a corner infielder, but recently made the transition to catcher. The third-year pro out of Elon University said the switch was suggested during spring training after Vasami illustrated a penchant for catching last season.

"(Jordan) Pacheco and (Johnny) Bowden were beat up a little, so I volunteered to catch some bullpens for them," Vasami said.

Pacheco was in a similar situation last season after the Rockies switched him from middle infield to working behind the plate. Pacheco struggled to learn the position at times but, after a full off-season of work, he's a much more comfortable receiver for the Rockies' South Atlantic League (Low-A) affiliate in Asheville, N.C.

"He's been helpful to me being in the same situation. He told me just to be patient and to really have a short memory," Vasami said. "Right now I'm pretty much just trying to get the trust of the pitchers. I want them to feel confident they can throw any pitch any time they want."

Darryl Scott will debut as the third Dust Devils pitching coach in three seasons after Dave Schuler was promoted to Asheville. The former major league pitcher likes what he has seen from the pitchers so far.

"The guys I've been with have handled themselves better than I expected. Their willingness to work and give has been great," said Scott, a one-time teammate of Doug Linton, who was the pitching coach in Tri-Cities for two years from 2006-07.

"(Linton and I) played in the Angels organization together," Scott said. "I was with the Angels in 1993, and they picked Doug up off waivers. He came in, and I got sent down to Triple-A. That's the business."

Scott, who was signed by the Angels out of Loyola Marymount in 1990, will begin his coaching career in the same ballpark where his pro playing career began in Boise.

"It's been so long. Tri-City wasn't a part of the league back then," he said. "It's exciting to realize you're finally doing this as an occupation. There's always those nerves and eagerness to prove that you belong."

The remaining eight draftees expected to arrive in Tri-Cities this week are: pitcher Thomas Musick, a ninth-rounder out of University of Houston; pitcher Charles Ruiz, a 10th-rounder out of Long Beach State; pitcher Richard Testa, an 18th-rounder out of Lamar; catcher William Tarleton, a 20th-rounder out of Elon; pitcher Rhett Ballard, a 26th-rounder out of Virginia Tech; pitcher Daniel Perkins, a 27th-rounder out of Delaward State; pitcher Eric Federico, a 39th-rounder out of Cal State Stanislaus; and third baseman Matthew Sanders, a 41st-rounder out of Clemson.

Testa, Ballard, Perkins and Federico each took their physicals Monday in the Tri-Cities and will begin workouts today.