Metro Sports Report

Mauer likes what he sees of possible Kernels

With local temperatures finally working their way into the 40's in Cedar Rapids, local baseball fans can allow their minds to wander to even warmer days ahead when the Cedar Rapids Kernels open their season April 4 against Beloit.

It's still a bit chilly for baseball at Veterans Memorial Stadium, but the minor leaguers in the parent Minnesota Twins organization are hard at work in the warm sunshine at the Twins' spring training site in Fort Myers, Fla.

While there's plenty of speculation about which young Twins prospects may fill out the Kernels roster, it's still too early to know with certainty who those players will be.

As Kernels Manager Jake Mauer pointed out this week, “It depends on who they keep in Minnesota at a number of positions. Once those decisions are made, the rest takes shape off of that. There's kind of a trickle down effect."

Berrios is hot pitching prospect for Twins

In the days following last June's MLB Amateur Draft, most of the chatter among Twins fans seemed focused on two subjects: Byron Buxton, the high school outfielder the Twins selected with the second overall pick of the draft, and the number of hard throwing college-age relief pitchers the eam picked in the first couple of rounds.

Everyone wanted to discuss just how good Buxton might become and whether or not the Twins would be able to successfully convert any of those strong college arms into starting pitchers. Almost overlooked in the discussions was Jose Berrios, a young high school pitcher the Twins obtained with a supplemental first-round pick out of Papa Juan XXIII High School in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

It's understandable, perhaps. Buxton was the near-consensus "best athlete in the draft" and the college pitchers all seemed to be at least 6-foot-4, 210-pound men with mid-90s fastballs who had proven themselves with some of the premier college programs in the country.

Football coaches irked by new IHSAA rules

Several Metro football coaches are troubled by new IHSAA rules that will limit the amount of practice time for their teams this season.

The IHSAA has banned two-a-day practices during preseason drills in August, citing player safety in typically hot conditions. In addition, teams may not engage in full contact drills until the sixth day of preseason practice and cannot hold full contact scrimmages until after the 10th practice.

Total practice time may not exceed three hours of physical activity per day. The IHSAA adopted these measures on March 8.

Kirkwood splits 2 games in Florida

VERO BEACH, Fla. - Dennis Colon and Eric Schenck-Joblinske hit home runs Friday as the Kirkwood Eagles thumped Miami Middletown of Ohio, 16-4, in the first game of their spring trip to Florida.

Kirkwood (5-1) lost to Miami Hamilton of Ohio, 6-5, in the second game Friday.

Jean Carlos Rodriguez went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs for the Eagles in the first game. Colon went 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Dylan Hast and Shane Kemp drove in a pair of runs.