Josh Fields took walked out to a baseball diamond for the first time as a professional, and looked like a fawn stepping cautiously out of the forrest.

“He’s probably having trouble breathing right now,” manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Fields, the 23-year-old first-round draft pick last June, wasn’t allowed to throw a bullpen session. The Mariners want to make sure they take their time with a hard-throwing right-hander who hasn’t faced batters in eight months.

He did, however, get to play catch – and the photo above is of his fourth throw as a professional. Maybe that makes it a collector’s item.

When minor league camp opens March 8, Fields almost certainly will be sent there. The Marines want him to get his innings, and he will. Just not many of them in big-league camp. The last thing they want is Fields trying a little too hard to impress them after so long a hold out.

This is getting ridiculous. Now Ken Griffey Jr. is saying he hasn't chosen the Braves, and dispelling the earlier report today from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Here's the link ...

Thanks to reader Shawn Walli for the heads up ... I'm serving my duty as News Tribune reader rep this week so I might be a little slow on keeping up with stuff so feel free to shoot me an e-mail.

Every coach in baseball knows that once spring training begins, endless hours of throwing batting practice begin.

Some coaches throw hard, some throw through aching elbows and tender shoulders and no two throw exactly alike. Which why in Camp Mariner, bench coach Ty Van Berkleo has The Grading System.

The elite pitching group is Caviar.

The next best group – considered good but not great – is Calamari.

Struggle on the mound and you wind up in the third group, Chicken Wings.

And throw terrible, or not at all, and you’re … well … a Dog-Bleep Sandwich.

Without the bleep.

“He tells me I’m Caviar,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “But he could just be kissing up.”

Wakamatsu threw BP to the catchers Tuesday and almost every pitch was put in play. That’s one way to judge: How many balls are in the batting cage after you’ve thrown. The more that are there, the fewer strikes you threw.

Who’s on Van Berkleo’s list?

“Don and Pedro Griffol are Caviar, they’re just so smooth. Probably Beluga Caviar,” Van Berkleo said. “I’m Calamari, although on some days I throw like I belong with the Chicken Wings. Phil (Plantier) and Alonzo (Powell) are Calamari, too.”

A few of the older minor league coaches in camp are Chicken Wings. Who’s in the sandwich category?

“Well, Roger Hansen can’t throw at all,” Van Berkleo said. “And Tim Tolman can’t thow either. So they’re on the Dog-Bleep Sandwich list.”

And that’s after just four days of camp. As the spring moves on, things can change.

“A lot of Chicken Wings get worse, and some Calamari guys can fall all the way to the Sandwich level on any given day,” Van Berkleo said. “But Wak? He’s always going to be Caviar.”

Yes, Van Berkleo’s a character. And yes, he’s definitely kissing up

Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter David O'Brien is reporting that Ken Griffey Jr. has agreed to a deal with the Braves.

Nothing is finalized but that's what a source is telling him.

Ken Griffey Jr. has options now, something he hasn’t had all winter, and he continues to mull them over – Atlanta or Seattle.

This much is certain, it won’t come down to money. Junior has enough to buy Iceland. With absolutely no facts for support, here’s my thinking: Griffey will be a Brave within a day or two.

If it goes that way, it will be no reflection on the Northwest or the Mariners. He was certainly willing to come here. It will come down to other factors, some of them well-documented.

Griffey still wants to play in the field, not just DH.

Atlanta trains near his home in Orlando, Fl.

And the Seattle Mariners haven’t gone after him with much passion.

That’s no knock on GM Jack Zduriencik, who played his hand well in this game. The truth, however, is that the Mariners could have signed Junior at any time during the last few months. They didn’t. They let the market settle. They talked it over internally, and with Griffey’s agent, Brian Goldberg.

It was never personal, always business.

We won’t know until Junior makes his decision, but my feeling is that if Griffey signs with Atlanta, the Mariners won’t spend a moment second-guessing themselves.

Junior would have been a part-time DH in Seattle, a role he’s reluctant to embrace. He would have joined a rebuilding team that, even if it plays well in 2009, will continue to rebuild.

If the team is on pace for a .500 season in July, for instance, it’s likely Zduriencik will trade veteran players who can bring a return of talent for the future. And playing on a .500 pace would be an immense leap from last year.

Junior would’ve been an intriguing piece here, but never the difference maker. If he signs in Seattle, it could be a wonderful story or one that’s hard to watch for all of us who love The Kid.

He hasn’t made up his mind just yet. But if he’s looking for a team that’s genuinely enthused about him, Atlanta is probably the right call.