Ranaudo healthy, ready for Portland debut

Anthony Ranaudo (Kelly O'Connor)

TRENTON, N.J. -- Portland right-hander Anthony Ranaudo said before Friday’s game in Trenton that he felt “100 percent” after a spring training groin injury kept him in Ft. Myers for an extra month.

“I threw three or four starts down in Florida, and everything was great,” Ranaudo said. “My stuff felt great, my arm felt great, and my body was good. Everything was good.”

Ranaudo did not know when his first start would be, and Portland manager Kevin Boles would not comment on when Ranaudo will debut. He met up with the Sea Dogs earlier this week before traveling south to Trenton, which is a short drive from his hometown in New Jersey. But whenever that first start is, Ranaudo said the injury will be in his rearview mirror. He injured his groin in late March, and was fine “two-three weeks after it happened.” Still, the team was cautious with Ranaudo, the 2010 first-round pick who was given $2.55 million out of LSU.

Before the injury, Ranaudo said he felt “so much more confident” than last spring.

“I feel like I know what to expect right now,” he said. “I know my body a lot more, my routines and everything. I think I saw the results down in spring training. I felt I had a pretty good spring, and I’m really looking forward to carrying it over into the season.”

Part of that routine was honed in Low A Greenville, where like 2011 first-rounder Matt Barnes, Ranaudo was placed to begin his first full season to establish a routine and get used to the five-man rotation. Ranaudo was 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA in 46 innings for Greenville before he was promoted to High A Salem. In 16 Carolina League starts, Ranaudo was 5-5 with a 4.16 ERA. A year later, Ranaudo said his time in Greenville did a lot of good.

“Obviously as a competitor, you want to be sent to the higher level, but once I found out I was going there, I really learned a lot while I was there,” he said. “I was there for 10 games, and I took advantage of working with Dick Such, our pitching coach. He’s been around the game for a while, and I learned a lot from him. It was almost like I learned the routine that worked for me. I brought that to Salem and hit the dog days of summer, had a rough patch for a little while, but it definitely helped me throughout the year.”

Jon Meoli is a Senior Columnist for SoxProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonMeoli

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