Granderson Arrives In Camp (Updated With Quotes)

Curtis Granderson arrived in camp today for an early workout. He told Anthony McCarron that he loves to show up early for Spring Training. Granderson said he'll hit anywhere in the lineup and doesn't care where he plays in the field, whether it's center or left. He, along with Brett Gardner did some fielding drills. "They both also worked on bunting after they took live batting practice" with some other Yankees who showed up a little early today, including Derek Jeter, Francisco Cervelli and Eduardo Nunez and did their fielding drills.

Here's some quotes from Granderson about playing left, hitting anywhere in the order, hitting lefties, and his power, via Bryan Hoch:

"People forget that I came up as a left fielder," Granderson said after a workout at the club's complex. "In the Minor Leagues all the way up to Double-A, I didn't start playing center field consistently until my second year in the Minors. Even when I came to the big leagues, I played a few games in left. I have no problem going back over there if that happens to be."

...

"[Girardi] called and asked, 'Hey, how do you feel about [playing left]? Be honest with me, if you don't [like it], let me know,'" Granderson said. "I said I'm able to do that, and move up and down the lineup. I've batted in every spot pretty much except the third spot. I've got no problem moving, switching, bouncing around -- whatever it happens to be."

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"The main thing I look at, that one time when I first come up, that's the first time I'm in that situation," Granderson said. "Every other situation is going to dictate itself. If there's guys on, you've got to drive them in. If there's not, my job is to get on base. It really doesn't matter to me too much."

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"In order to get to the big leagues, I had to hit left-handed pitching," Granderson said. "I've done it. Just over the course of the past couple of years, I've run into a couple of bumps in the road. But hopefully we can go ahead and straighten that out and get things back to neutral on both sides."

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"The power just kind of happens," Granderson said. "I still don't consider myself a power guy. Occasionally the ball happens to get over the fence, but whenever I go into a situation trying to hit home runs, typically the results aren't very positive.

"Whenever I just look for a pitch to drive and hit it, it happens to get over every now and then. That's still going to be the philosophy here, and I hope guys aren't predicting me to do some ridiculous amount of numbers because -- again, just look at me, I'm not that big of a guy. It just kind of happens from time to time."

According to McCarron, "Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, Dave Robertson, Alfredo Aceves and Chad Gaudin. Someone said they saw A.J. Burnett play catch, too, but I was watching BP at the time so I did not."

Good to see guys showing up early getting ready to defend the title.