Chris Lee on his health, Mychal Givens on pitching in WBC

SARASOTA, Fla. - The second day of Orioles minicamp this morning will include multiple bullpen sessions. Pitchers scheduled to throw include Jason Garcia, Mike Wright, Logan Verrett, Joe Gunkel, Jesus Liranzo, Stefan Crichton, John Means and Jimmy Yacabonis.

Chris Lee isn't ready to step on a mound, but it could happen within the next two weeks.

Lee threw off flat ground yesterday while continuing his recovery from a lat injury that limited him to eight appearances and only seven starts at Double-A Bowie. He was 5-0 with a 2.98 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 51 1/3 innings.

"I feel pretty good," he said. "I threw yesterday from up to around 140-150 feet and stretched it out, and no complications with my arm. I worked out yesterday, my lat and back, and just continue the progress of staying healthy. I'm just trying to stay on page, stay the course and continue being healthy.

"Last year was definitely an eye-opener. You've just got to stay healthy because you never know when the game's going to take you out, so treat every day like it's your last. I went into this offseason making sure I worked hard and prepared my body so this won't happen again. Put on some weight and some more muscle and some fat around it because you can't pull fat. So just stay the course.

"My No. 1 priority is to stay healthy the whole season and let my preparation take me wherever it's going to during the season."

The next big step is throwing off a mound.

"I've been taking it a little bit on the lighter side from the beginning just to make sure," said Lee, 24, who was placed on the minor league disabled list on June 5. "Get my arm ready like an engine. I don't want to rev it up too fast.

"I've been watching some videos. Make sure my arm's at the right angle, make sure there's no chance I won't be prepared for spring training because that's a no-no. Just mainly long-toss a lot to build up arm strength and I've worked out hard. I gained some weight and that was the best thing for me and my arm's been feeling much better.

"I weighed myself yesterday and I was 198-199. At the end of the season, I was 173-174. I've been eating a lot and doing a lot of lower-body since the beginning of the offseason. I couldn't do too much arm stuff, so I did a lot of squats and running and hip stuff, a lot of core stuff and it benefitted me. And what I was eating in the past wasn't working out, so I had to go more clean. Straight broccoli, no cheese. Chicken breasts. I was eating those dry and I had to force myself to eat it. Sometimes, the best things don't taste that great."

Lee's injury has been described as both lat and shoulder. He said it's more the former.

"It was lat. That's what they told me and it felt like my lat. It felt like it was really inflamed," he said.

"It was one of those things I tried to work through and it didn't work out for me. It was our decision to shut it down because you don't want to overcompensate for things and some other injury happens. I want a longer career and it felt like it was the right thing to do. I tried to come back a couple times and it didn't work out too good. So finally I shut down and they told me there was a lot of inflammation in there. I said, 'OK, I guess it's time to lay off it a little bit and give it time and listen to the arm and keep working out to get better.'

"I'm really confident coming in to spring training with whatever comes my way, I'm ready for it."

As the Orioles continued their search over the summer to find a left-hander for the rotation, Lee could do nothing except wait for his injury to heal and watch as Bowie teammates got called up for the bullpen. He could have assisted in either role, but his body wouldn't allow it.

The Orioles recalled Lee on Sept. 15, but only to transfer him to the 60-day disabled list and free up a spot on the 40-man roster.

"I don't think it really messed up my head at all," he said. "It made me more hungry, honestly. Everyone made it up there besides me and now I've got to go up there and start it off and try to stay in the playoffs this time. That's the biggest goal."

Mychal Givens also played catch yesterday. He won't throw off a mound at minicamp, but not because of injury. He's getting ready to pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.

Givens still intends to participate, confident that his innings will be carefully monitored and he won't be at risk of injury.

"I'm pretty committed," he said. "I talked to Joe Torre. He pretty much gave me the invite after Thanksgiving. Talked to him, talked to (Jim) Leyland, and I'm pretty comfortable in how they're going to use me and not overuse me. I still have a season to get ready for 2017.

"It's very (important). The experience and to represent your country is a tremendous opportunity. To be there with the atmosphere with a lot of great teammates and great players that's on it. Looking at the team they built, it's really good this year, the best one they've built in the last few WBCs. It's really a great opportunity.

"At first I was going to play in Puerto Rico for my great grandmother, but when I got the opportunity to represent Team USA, I felt the need to do that because I've done that throughout high school. Just having the atmosphere and feeling of representing your country, you can't do anything better than that."

Givens already represented the U.S. twice in national high school competition. Now he could face teammates Manny Machado (Dominican Republic), Jonathan Schoop (Netherlands) and Hyun Soo Kim (Korea). Kim isn't a certainty to stay on the roster.

"It's a competitive nature and you're representing your country," he said. "It's going to be fun to see them represent their countries. It's more of a great feeling that we have so many Orioles players representing part of the world. It's really a great opportunity with Schoop, Manny Machado, (Adam) Jones with team USA and Kim doing South Korea. It's really, to have these guys around representing the Orioles is really good."