Blanton will pitch Friday, Wieters will catch Sunday

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Joe Blanton came through his live batting practice session earlier this week with no issues and the veteran right-hander is scheduled to make his Grapefruit League debut on Friday when the Nationals host the Cardinals.

Manager Dusty Baker said catcher Matt Wieters will make his first spring start Sunday when the Nationals entertain the Astros in a game that will be televised live on MASN.

Wieters, signed to a one-year, $10.5 million contract with a player option on Feb. 24, has been catching bullpen sessions to acquaint himself with a new pitching staff.

Blanton passed the final test before his first spring training game action by alternating with right-hander Max Scherzer during a live BP session on Monday.

"Good to face hitters again, changes your perspective a little bit," Blanton said Thursday morning. "That's kind of the next step to getting in a game."

Being back on a mound is familiar territory for Blanton, certainly more familiar than how he spent most of his offseason: sitting around and watching other free agents sign before he inked a one-year, $4 million deal with the Nationals on March 2.

But when you're joining your seventh team in your 13th major league season, you've learned the process of getting used to new surroundings.

"It's always different," he said. "Every camp has a different way of doing things. When I say different, it's not extremely different, but minutely. Small differences feel like a lot. You're getting used to fresh faces, new coaches, new players, the whole deal. Building rapport with the catchers, and the same for a catcher. Spring's just about trying to get your routine down for me. ... Spring's about getting your routine and timing down so when the season's starts, you're just hitting stride and ready to go."

That's music to manager Dusty Baker's ears.

"It doesn't really matter how he looks (now)," Baker said of Blanton. "What matters to me is how he looks in a couple of weeks. He was ahead of where I thought he would be though."

Baker has marveled at the condition Blanton reported in, and the fact that he's been able to go from unsigned to in a game in eight days is a testament to the right-hander's offseason conditioning regimen.

"I think this is my 15th spring training, so I have a decent idea what it takes to get in shape and be in shape and go about it," Blanton said. "When you've done that many, you've got an idea of where you need to be."

The fact that he's a reliever - building up to working a couple of innings at a time - makes the progression a little easier. It's not like he's a starter, who builds from one or two innings to three to four to six over a handful of starts.

"It's getting your arm in shape and ready to go for an inning, maybe two," said Blanton, who was primarily a starter through 2013. "As a starter, you get on your build, get in a routine. Relieving is not as difficult."