TCU baseball coach takes advantage of flight cancellation

One of the few perks of your flight being postponed because of icy conditions in North Texas: A chance to visit Rangers spring training.

TCU baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle visited camp Monday morning, a day after the Horned Frogs took two of three games at Arizona State over the weekend.

TCU’s Sunday flight was canceled, adding a couple extra nights to its stay. The team hopes to fly back in shifts on Tuesday.

Schlossnagle watched batting practice and visited with Rangers manager Jeff Banister. He considered holding a team practice Tuesday morning at the Rangers spring training complex but the drive to Surprise from the team hotel in Tempe, Ariz., would take nearly an hour.

Instead, former TCU pitcher Jake Arrieta was hoping to secure a field at the Cubs’ complex in Mesa, Ariz., which is much closer to Tempe.

Several former Frogs playing professionally in the Cactus League this spring attended TCU’s series against Arizona State. Brandon Finnegan made several trips from Royals camp in Surprise to hang with his friends.

“It means the world,” Schlossnagle said. “I think Brandon still considers himself a college player. He obviously has more friends on our team than he does on the Royals. He just wants to be around his buddies.”

Darvish has company

Yu Darvish had a young guest with him in the clubhouse on Monday.

His girlfriend’s grade school-aged son visited with Darvish at his locker after the morning workout.

Darvish’s girlfriend, former world wrestling champion Seiko Yamamoto is pregnant, according to a blog post Darvish recently authored.

“Ms. Seiko Yamamoto and I have been blessed with a child,” wrote Darvish. “We found out the end of last year, but decided to wait until she was in a stable period before announcing the news.”

Key stat

178 Plate appearances for Prince Fielder in 2014 when he missed much of the season after neck surgery. In his previous eight full seasons in the league, he had at least 648 plate appearances each year, including three seasons with top six finishes in the league.

Quotable

“I see a guy who recommitted, reminded himself why he was good and what he has to do to be good. He’s definitely in very good shape coming into spring training. He looks really good. I think his attitude of taking nothing for granted — and possibly being guilty of that in the past — certainly looks good right now. I think that’s a sign of maturity. That’s good for the ball club.” — Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux on closer Neftali Feliz

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 6:31 PM with the headline "TCU baseball coach takes advantage of flight cancellation."