We had another early wake up call, yet again...6 am to be exact. Last night, I think I fell asleep the earliest I have fallen asleep since I was in grade school. I didn't realize how tired I was, but it was good I got an ample amount of rest because today was another long, hot, and tiring day.
The vans took us over to the facility and the pitchers that were new had to be in the weight room at 7am for some testing. The testing was nothing major or anything with weights. It took about 45 minutes and after we were done we had 15 minutes to get some breakfast before we had another classroom session. Classroom sessions will vary from a wide variety of topics. The topics will literally be anything and everything. Class got out at about 845 and we were to be on the field to stretch with the team at 9am! Stretching was the same as the day before and I going to venture to say that stretching will be the same everyday.
After we were all stretched out and already had a good lather of sweat going, the pitchers gathered together and the position players gathered together. The pitchers were told what each group had today and where they had to be along with when. Then we all split up and did our tubing and long toss program followed by our flat grounds. Everybody finished at different times, so the people that finished earlier just hung out while everybody finished up. Arik and I were one of the last groups to finish...We both thought people finished really fast...we did not go back all the way to 200 feet, but I don't think anybody did...
Then the groups went their own way and were split up amongst the fields. There were 4 fields being used, each one for a different purpose. Field one was used for bunt defenses, field two was used for pick offs, field three was used for PFP's (pitcher's fielding practice), and field four was set up for batting practice for the position players. Also in the rotation, was the agility field. Let me tell you, the agilities were no joke! I would like to think that I am in really good shape and by the time I was done doing the agilities my legs were heavy and I was out of breath! My feet also felt like they were on FIRE because we did the agilities in black spikes on a HOT turf. I was relieved to hear the rest of the guys thought the same thing and their feet were burning as well! I was glad the agilities station was my first stations I could get it out of the way because all the other stations were more instruction and standing around due to there being so many guys. There are about 20 guys in each group.
After we were done with all the rotations, which lasted about a half hour each, we were split up to go shag batting practice on two different fields. For those of you that don't know what shag means (no it's not like the austin powers I shagged her rotten) it is baseball lingo for retrieving balls that are hit by the hitters and throwing them into a person standing by the bucket of balls behind second base with a net protecting them. Some guys had bullpens today, and if you were one of those guys, you threw it during the batting practices (they were lucky enough to get out of batting practice. If there is one thing pitcher's hate doing, it is batting practice.). The bullpens were thrown on the 8 pack. The 8 pack is the set of mounds that everybody sees on TV during spring training. It is the large mound with 8 mounds all lined up next to each other.
There was also a simulated game for the guys that have been here since spring training. This is called extended spring training and I hear it is miserable. It lasts 2 months after spring training is over. If you are in extended spring training, I hear it is the exact same thing as I did today plus a game at the end, EVERYDAY! I can only imagine how tired some of the players are by the time the game comes around! After I was done shagging BP (batting practice), I was allowed to watch the game and hang out while the bullpens were being finished up. While watching the game and bullpens, I met a couple of other guys that have been here for awhile they said. They seemed like really nice guys and they sat and talked with me about meaningless stuff for a little bit. I honestly forget their names, but I do remember one was from Gonzaga and the other one new a buddy of mine Kurt Lipton. He told me he grew up around the same area as Kurt.
On a side note, Jesse Litsch started the game. He is the Toronto Blue Jays number 4 starter in the big leagues! That was really cool to see. Another big leaguer was playing in the game as well, John McDonald. I am not sure if he is the Blue Jays big league starting second basemen, but I am positive he has had big league experience for a number of years. I have seen both of them around the clubhouse and McDonald reminds me of a dad. He is a really nice guy, he acknowledges you every time you pass him. The same goes for Litsch (not the dad part, Litsch is a younger guy). I have seen and spoken to both of them the past couple of days. Litsch is more of an outgoing guy that likes to have fun and keep it relaxed.
When the pens were all done, the new pitchers went with the strength and conditioning coaches for conditioning. I went into this thinking it was going to be hard, but it turned out not being nearly as difficult as I thought (I guess I am in pretty good shape). The only tough aspect of the conditioning was after I was done running, the heavy heat made it difficult to breath. After conditioning was over, the strength guys took us into the weight room and explained the Cuff program. This is the shoulder program that the organization does. I start to tomorrow, so we'll see how it is!
By the time I was done with all of this, it was about 12:45 and the game was still going on outside! We had to go back outside and watch the end of the game, which was the last thing I wanted to do honestly...I was ready to eat! We all made our way back outside to watch the final few innings, which seemed like a full 9 innings. I sat and watched the game with Arik and AJ Meyer. AJ played in the great lakes league with me a couple years ago (We both actually started the All Star Game against each other). He seems like a really cool guy. As we were sitting there watching the game, there was a HUGE dominican looking guy sitting there as well speaking all sorts of different kinds of spanish, all of which I had no clue. He started talking to us a little bit in english and it turned out he wasn't even from the Dominican! He was from Jersey! We all just sat there and talked until the game was over.
Once the game was over, everybody made their way back inside, changed, and went to eat! I was starving, so anything I was going to eat was going to taste good. I even ate some cucumber, which I NEVER eat (your welcome Mom). After I was done eating, I made my way back to the locker room to shower and change back into my street clothes. I waited for the vans to take us back to the hotel for the rest of the day.
When I got back to the hotel, I CRASHED! I fell asleep faster than I can remember. It was one of the better naps I have had. It felt like I slept forever, but I actually only slept for 3 hours. I set my alarm for 6 just so I wouldn't miss dinner, which was awesome again! The chef prepared steak, chicken, rice, corn on the cob, caesar salad and watermelon. He also made some sort of Dominican dish, but with one look at it, I decided it would be better to stay away from...
I can already tell that tonight will be another early night for me. I think I'm going to try drinking coffee in the morning while I am waiting for the vans...hopefully it wake me up a little bit...
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