JUPITER, Fla. — First-time Cardinal Matt Clement arrived on campus today and started getting to know the place. The major leaguers are holed-up in a minor-league clubhouse for the timebeing — lockers have yet to be assigned in the main clubhouse — but Clement got the lay of the floorplan.

Quickest way to the training room is here. Back way to the kitchen is there.

He also got to meet his pitching coach, Dave Duncan.

In a rite of spring Cliff Politte likened “to the first day of school all over again, meeting new teachers and finding your way through new hallways”, the newest Cardinals continued arriving Monday at the club’s Roger Dean Stadium complex. With Clement coming Monday morning and Braden Looper arriving late this afternoon, most of the starting pitchers are here. (Only Joel Pineiro wasn’t seen today.)

New carpet and a new whitewash paint job await the Cardinals in the main building.

Adam Wainwright was among the pitchers to throw from the mound Monday, and Duncan said all of the returning major leaguers in attendance have thrown at least once off the mound.

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It’s the younger Cardinals, though, than own the mounds early this week. The Cardinals are holding a mini-camp for a handful of pitching prospects. Seven of them are attending — and six are throwing. Dyar Miller, the Triple-A pitching coach who will move to pitching coordinator this season, and Brent Strom, the club’s new roving pitching instructor, are running the camp, which has been watched by Duncan and, on Monday, vice president Jeff Luhnow.

The pitchers in attendance are:

• RHP Mitchell Boggs … The starter on the rise, with the sharp slider.

• RHP Adam Ottavino … First-round pick with the velocity.

• RHP Clayton Mortensen … Picked last summer, reed-thin righthander had clear and sharp break on his stuff Monday, even this early on.

• RHP Chris Perez … Easy to pick out as the lone reliever in the group.

• RHP P.J. Walters … Organization’s pitcher of the year; figures to be competing for a spot in the Triple-A rotation.

• LHP Jaime Garcia … Is coming off a season cut short by a tender elbow. Did not have surgery as the Cardinals’ doctors prescribed rest. Has no restrictions on him, according to the Cardinals. Threw well Monday, and had noticeable zip on his fastball. He also sported a cherry-red glove for his bullpen session, a color that rivaled the Cardinals red of his workout shirt.

Dewon Brazelton is also participating in the mini-camp but he has not thrown. The seven pitchers in attendance were picked to come early and join the mini-camp because they are non-roster invitees to the major-league camp. Of the six who threw Monday, three figure to get specific attention from the major-league coaches during the early days of spring training: Boggs, Perez and Garcia.

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If you had Randy in the First Flores to Arrive Pool, congrats.

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Hitters on hand days before pitchers/catchers report include a trio of outfielders — and perhaps a starting trio of outfielders, from left to right: Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick.

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There are certain staples of spring: lovely, 75-plus-degree weather (heard it was 8 there when a few Cardinals’ execs took off from St. Louis — yikes); charting pitches; Pyro’s Grill (inhaled the first Totonka of spring just a few minutes ago); daily blog entries; George Kissell; and, of course, the return of the mailbag.

Under the new blog format here, PostCards exists as it once did — a part of Bird Land, not a spin-off at some address all its own.

All it needs now is questions.

Same address as always: postcards@post-dispatch.com.

I cleared out the dusty and cobwebs from the inbox and will start cranking out the mailbags as soon as there is mail to bag. Can’t say PostCards will have the same verbal bite – or recreational wagering, for that matter — of JSL!!!#$@%!!. But it is a relatively Mizzou-friendly zone.

After all, there can be only one Chatmeister.

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