Monday was the first day of practice for the University of Illinois baseball team, I showed up to watch and take a few photos.
Thanks to Coach Hartleb and the staff for the privilege. I was the only non-team member there so I felt like I had quite an exclusive.
Here’s my first look at Aaron Johnson. He’s an incoming freshman catcher. He’s known for being the third Illini catcher from Canada in four years. More info about Johnson
Coach Hartleb feeding the pitching machine. When I got there, they were going through fundamentals drills… bunting, baserunning…
… and playing catch.
After a while, they got up a mock game going to work on the glove skills.
Here’s Assistant Coach Eric Snider hitting fungoes for some infield practice. By the way, if you haven’t seen Snider’s bio, you should. He already has quite a legacy for the baseball program at Illinois including having a hand in recruiting 14 eventual pro ballplayers.
I took a whole lot more photos today. Check them out. I also have past photos of the Illini baseball team.
It was a fine day to see some baseball even if was practice. Thanks, guys!