The Boys of Summer...Starts with a Day in the Spring.

"Baseball, to me, is still the national pastime because it is a summer game.  I feel that almost all Americans are summer people, that summer is what they think of when they think of their childhood.  I think it stirs up an incredible emotion within people." 

~Steve Busby, in Washington Post, 8 July 1974

5:30am -Wake up
A hot shower... hopefully

6:00am - Vans leave for the Facility

6:30-7:00am - Players arrive.

7:00am - Rehab/PT area and weight room opens.  Due to sheer numbers of players (upwards of 280), the rehab areas are large and loaded with trainers and staff for all the gamut of injuries baseball players will inevitably encounter in the early days of spring training. 

7:00-7:45 - Breakfast.  A quality spread to start the day is much needed fuel for the Phoenix heat and the Florida Humidity. 

8:00am - Cages open for early hitting consisting of tee drills, soft toss, and "iron mike" (pitching machine).

8:30 - Horn blows and each field begins instruction.  Remember, there are about 280 players, that range from 16 year-olds to the 40 year old vet.  This number will be down to well under 200 in a five short weeks.
Players are separated by their level in the farm system.  Players that were in extended spring training the previous year, young central American prospects, high school drafted players, and low-rookie players generally are spread amongst 2 different fields.  High A and AA players will be on another field, and the best of AA, AAA, and a mix of veterans potentially making the 40 man roster make up the main spring training field.  Most spend their first spring training on the back fields. "System guys" and the players with "time" get to stay at the top fields near the cages, rehab facilities, and closest to the big league facility.  Comically, in order to get all of these players a number for their jersey, you will see jerseys with numbers 99, 95, 88, 81, etc. and even duplicates.  With time in the system and moving up in level, your number will generally go down.

8:30-12:00 - Stretching, warm up, base running stations, position player fielding, pitcher mechanics/fielding, cage hitting, live hitting, etc.  Every training day has timed drills working on fundamentals and developing the more intricate philosophy from that respective Major League system.  From the top down, implementing that system becomes the goal of the scouts, player development directors, trainers, rovers, and general managers of each level.  The morning session helps relax out some soreness and shakes off some cobwebs from the previous day's work.  Nice jeans or shorts are the order of the day, everyday... and a collared shirt, just in case you are "called up" to travel with the Big Club or a split-squad game.

12:00-1:00pm - Lunch

1:00-4:00pm - Intra-squad/Split-squad/Live games.
The look-out tower usually has 3-5 people in it that can see each field.  They watch everything-attitude, effort, actions, personality.  They can see the jump of a center-fielder on a gapper.  They watch your approach at the dish and your arm action on a slider.  Their eyes tend to linger on the 1st rounder, bonus babies, teetering vet, or the young high-schooler with the explosive fast-ball.  For all others, this is their time to show they belong. 
4:00-5:00 - Core exercises, rotator cuff rehab (pitchers), and weight lifting with your strength and conditioning coaches.  If you are sore, hurt, or injured you are in the training room getting rehab.

5:00 - Vans leave for the team hotel. 
The day is only half-way done if you were called up to the big squad or to a split-squad game.  They are checking to see if you are a prospect or giving you a shot at more of a magnified level. 

9:00-10:00 - Arrival back to team hotel. 


        The first round of cuts is in week 2 of the 5 weeks of spring training.  Every week your number can be called.  Its always in the back of your mind.  "Did I do enough?" "Did I perform well enough."  "Do they want or need my services."  Its the hot topic of conversation at the team hotel.  Friends, family, and random fans all want to know how its going... you try to keep it casual, but its all you can think about too.  Its a numbers game... 7 levels with around 25 players per team.  You hold your breath until April, when those that survive are issued their ticket for their league destination. 

        Seeing guys you played with for a couple seasons get the "pink slip" is tough.  During cut days the facility is a little more quiet and players seem to keep that watchful eye on others making their way down the hallway from the Player Development offices.  A non-meeting is a good meeting usually.  Trainers show up and relay the message for a player who is in the middle of breakfast, at drills, or on the field.  It's an eery feeling for those nearby, even more for the name called. 

         Only 3 out of every 50 high school baseball players will ever play college baseball.  1 out of every 10 college baseball players will ever be drafted by a major league baseball team.  There are about 6,000 minor players in all of professional baseball.  1 out of every 100 minor league baseball player will ever get a contract to play in Major League Baseball.  The odds are staggering and the path to get there can be a long process.  The average time for minor leaguer to get to the bigs is 5-7 years. 

"It breaks your heart.  It is designed to break your heart.  The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone."  ~A. Bartlett Giamatti, "The Green Fields of the Mind," Yale Alumni Magazine, November 1977

          With those numbers, what's the draw?  Why don't they instead go to Vegas, throw it all on black and "let it ride" rather than busting hump for this 1/100 chance?  Its spring. The freshness of new growth from a winter is in the air, the Bermuda is jumping through the soil.  It's America's past time. It's an addiction. It's close, and the boys of summer are about to take the field.