CLEARWATER, Fla. – More than 8,000 people piled into Spectrum Field Thursday afternoon to see prized free-agent addition Jake Arrieta throw a baseball for the first time in a Phillies uniform. Even though he surrendered two runs in the same amount of innings in his spring-training debut against the Detroit Tigers, you still got the feeling that Arrieta will live up to his billing as the stud at the top of the rotation the Phillies desperately needed.
The morning before, after most of his teammates left for a road game against Toronto in nearby Dunedin, Arrieta showed off another aspect of his game that should be fun to watch this season.