Extended Spring Training

Ok. I figured it has been over a month and I have not posted anything new. Guess I have a lot to catch up on.....

Since the last time I wrote spring training has ended and extended spring is not just about a month in. Extended spring is exactly what it sounds like, an extended version of spring training. In regular spring, every player in the organization is here. We have a workout in the morning and a game in the afternoon....every day.

Once the full season teams start playing, there are only so many roster spaces that need to be filled. This year that left around 50 young players with nowhere to go. It sounds like a bad situation, but every team does the same thing. Also, the long-term rehab is based out of here. That leaves the 50 young guys, about 8 or so minor league rehabbers, and about 5 major league rehabbers. Makes for a full clubhouse.

Anyway, back to extended. It is starting to get hot in AZ right now so we get our work in early. A typical day goes something like this.......wake up at 5:00 am and dressed and in the athletic training room by 5:30. Put coolers out on the field and get everything set up for the day. Breakfast at 6 and players start showing up. Position players have weight room activity at 6:45, pitchers stretch at 7:30. We will be out on the field until about 10 and then head inside for a quick snack and change for the 10:30 game. Since position player work out in the morning, after the game the only ones that have to finish up a workout are some of the pitchers. Lunch is at 1ish and usually everyone is gone by 2. Then we clean up, get our reports in, and close up shop. Usually about a 9 hour day, but since we start so early we get done earlier. It is not too bad if you can stand early mornings. The other good thing is that we have Sundays off. Something to look forward to and also a day to reset your week. All the days are the same here and now I know why there is a feature on my watch that shows me what day it is!

We have a lot of good young players down here this year. I believe we have about 5 or 6 guys that haven't even had their 18th birthdays. There aren't too many guys that are of legal drinking age in the USA, so it make for an interesting dynamic now that I am up to about 15 years older than some of them. I guess working with kids (let's face it, that's what they are) keeps me young too. I get to stay current and keep my street-cred. The flip side of the youth is that they have a lot to learn about the game, being professional, and general baseball fundamentals. If you think watching an extended game and a major league game are similar I invite you to come down and watch one. We get to see a lot of interesting things.

Next week I am heading to Hickory, NC to cover for our low-A, South Atlantic League team down there and I will be sure to have some updates from the east.