Showalter on Wieters, Janish, facility improvements and more

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he may allow Matt Wieters to catch the intrasquad games on the first two days of March rather than restrict him to being the designated hitter.

Wieters won't be cleared to throw with maximum effort behind the plate, but the Orioles can control the running game. That's not the case in the Grapefruit League.

Wieters is slated to make his exhibition debut behind the plate on March 17, exactly nine months after his elbow surgery. In the meantime, he could be used in B games and Triple-A games at the minor league complex at Twin Lakes Park.

"He can throw the ball back to the pitcher," Showalter said. "He wants to throw in the bunt defense. What he's doing out here right now, he can do out there. It's just not full-throttle in a game. It won't be before the 17th.

"We can find games left and right. I'm not going to catch him every day, though his legs will be a lot more built up at that stage than they normally are.

"It's hard to believe it's possible, but as much time as he's had off with his arm, I think he's going to be pretty strong this year. He's basically had a lot less wear and tear on his arm."

Showalter said he feels "light years better about our catching situation" than he did two or three years ago.

"The depth and the young guys coming," he said. "Hopefully, it's Matt Wieters forever, but we'll see."

Showalter said he would be surprised if infielder Paul Janish isn't close to starting the season on time following surgery earlier this week to remove bone chips from his right elbow. The initial estimate has Janish being out for six to eight weeks.

"What they thought they were going to find, they found," Showalter said. "It was pretty much go in and get it and come out. We'll see. It had a little something to do with some of the additions we made. But he'll be playing. He can really defend.

"We had some things we wanted to do better. We wanted to catch the ball a lot better at Norfolk and Bowie. Well, everywhere. I think it's part of developing pitching is having people who can defend.

"I think Mike Wright taking off a little bit (at Norfolk) had something to do with us getting a lot better defensively. They try to strike everybody out. Our infield at Norfolk wasn't real good. We had a lot of guys who could hit a little bit, but they had no place to play.

"Between Ozzie Martinez, who can really catch it, and Rey Navarro, who can really catch it ... There's a couple other ones."

Showalter took the media on a tour of the new mounds installed in the center field area of the turf field. He's now got three full mounds, two half mounds for rehabbing pitchers and a row of flat mounds (Yes, I know it's an oxymoron).

Showalter wants the pitchers to do all of their work on one field, including defensive and conditioning drills.

The Orioles also installed turf in the catching area, same as you'll find at Camden Yards, to prevent rain from creating sloppy conditions.

The Ed Smith Stadium complex gets better and better every spring. As Showalter says, "The road to success is always under construction."

And finally, Showalter isn't viewing the 2015 season differently despite the Orioles having 11 pending free agents, including Wieters, Chris Davis, Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, Tommy Hunter, Darren O'Day and Steve Pearce.

"It's reality," Showalter said. "I know about it, you know about it, they know about it. We've got one more opportunity? We don't look at it that way. If you dwell on stuff like that ...

"I wasn't sure what we were going to be able to do with (J.J.) Hardy. I wasn't sure what we were going to be able to do with Adam (Jones). So if you dwell on that ... I find if I play golf that if I'm on the 16th hole and I'm thinking about the 17th hole, I play the 16th hole real bad. So that's kind of how I look at it.

"We're going to play this thing as good as we can play it and see where life takes us. What enhances the ability to keep those people? Maybe winning a world championship, so you can look at it that way."

Here are some more images from today's start of spring training: