Miguel Rojas’ MLB shutdown routine: More family time, keeping Marlins teammates informed
It’s 6 p.m., maybe 6:30, and Miguel Rojas is making his way to the backyard of his Pembroke Pines home. It’s a daily ritual almost two months in the making.
There’s no baseball to play right now, no game on the horizon. It has been that way for nearly seven weeks since Major League Baseball went on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But that doesn’t mean Rojas is taking days off. Baseball will be back some day — maybe as early as this summer.
So Rojas steps into his batting cage and takes some swings. His timing needs to stay right. His body needs to be ready for those eventual 7 p.m. games.
He fields groundballs. Defense has been Rojas’ strength for his entire MLB career. Now is not the time for it to start slipping.
He runs two to three times a week to keep his legs fresh.
“That’s been keeping me busy and in good shape just in case we can play baseball anytime soon,” Rojas said. “I’ll be ready for it.”
When baseball does return, Rojas will be among the first to know.
Rojas is the Miami Marlins’ players association representative and takes part in the meetings between MLB and the union, which means he’s in the know about baseball’s developments for how the season could look when — or if — the 2020 season takes place.
It’s a role he takes pride in as a veteran on a young and still-rebuilding Marlins club.
He has a group chat that includes every Marlins player on the 40-man roster and the nonroster invitees who were still with the team when spring training came to halt and updates them as frequently as he can.
“I want to be prepared in every aspect,” the 31-year-old shortstop said. “I want to give guys as much information as I can. At the same time, I don’t want to spread rumors. I’ve been trying to make sure that the news that I’m getting is completely true. I’m not giving false hope to players that we’re going to get back or what date or what might be. I’m trying to have a really good relationship with players union guys and they can give me the right answers. At the same time, I just want to be able to answer questions for the guys.”
‘No idea is a bad idea’
Right now, though, there are a lot of questions surrounding MLB’s season.
When will they start? Where will they play? How much time will there be to prepare?
Rojas, the players union and the league don’t have all the answers just yet.
“It’s been a lot of conversations and a lot of meetings with both parties,” Rojas said. “At the same time, we’re at a moment where it’s not up to MLB or the players union or the players to make a decision. We have to wait on the government and the CDC to give us the green light to do anything that makes sense.”
That doesn’t mean ideas aren’t circulating.
There’s the Arizona plan, where all 30 teams would be quarantined in Phoenix and play games at Chase Field and the 10 spring training sites in the surrounding area.
There’s the spring training plan, where teams go back to their spring training sites in Arizona and Florida and have reorganized divisions based on location.
There’s the three hub plan, where teams would be divided into groups of 10 and play in either Arizona, Texas or Florida.
The latest, as USA Today most recently reported on Tuesday, involves the season starting in late June or early July with teams playing at their home ballparks but with realigned, 10-team divisions based on geography — east, central and west. In this scenario, teams would only play teams in their division to limit travel.
Should a season occur, it won’t be a full slate of 162 games, even if it extends into October and doubleheaders take place. Expanded playoff formats are also being considered. Expanded rosters are almost a given, considering it’ll be unlikely for minor-league baseball to have a season this year. Stadiums would most likely be devoid of fans.
But, Rojas stressed, nothing being floated right now is a finalized plan. It’s impossible, for that matter, to have a finalized plan at this point.
“We’re at a moment where it’s not up to MLB or the players union or the players to make a decision,” Rojas said. “We have to wait on the government and the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] to give us the green light to do anything that makes sense. No idea is a bad idea right now, but we need to be open-minded of what can be when we resume the season. Whether it’s here in Florida, whether it’s in Arizona, whether it’s in a couple places, we don’t know what’s going to happen because we don’t have a formal proposal yet.”
This follows suit with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s comments on the Fox Business Network earlier this month when he said it’s “largely a waiting game” until the public health situation improves.
“What ideas come to fruition depends on what the restrictions are, what the public health situation is,” Manfred said in the April 14 interview, “but we are intent on the idea of making baseball a part of the economic recovery and sort of a milestone on the return to normalcy.”
Rojas said the next month will likely be when a lot of developments could become more concrete. States around the country are set to begin easing stay-at-home orders, which would give MLB clarity about how to proceed.
Rojas also cited the NBA’s hope to open practice facilities in the near future as an example MLB might be able to follow with how to restart its own operation.
“That can be a good sign for how baseball facilities can open, too,” Rojas said. “Hopefully we can get back to, maybe not a normal schedule of playing baseball just yet, but at least get together a little more. That would mean we’re moving on from this situation and getting closer to resuming baseball.”
Family time
Until then, Rojas, like all other baseball players, is doing what he can while staying at home. It’s a curious time for Rojas, who said it has been at least 15 years since the last time that he wasn’t on a baseball field in late April.
But he has adjusted.
He works out daily, taking advantage of a weight room he has at home. That’s in addition to his general baseball activities at night. He has also begun cooking more.
“The most important thing for me was finding a routine,” Rojas said.
That routine also includes a lot of family time, something Rojas tries not to take for granted this time of year when he is normally going through the daily grind of a 162-game season.
He has a 4-year-old son, Aaron, who has taken up baseball just like his dad.
Rojas regularly shares videos of the two of them practicing together.
The most recent came on April 10, with the two of them practicing their fielding skills by scooping up balls that ricochet off the wall.
“I’m getting to know what my son’s going to want when he gets a little bit older and continues to grow up,” Rojas said. “I’m taking time to teach him baseball. Not just pitching to him or playing catch. Telling him more about the game and making the game interesting for him.”
Rojas said Aaron’s infatuation with baseball was natural. He picked up a ball and bat on his own.
Nevertheless, it gives them another way to bond.
“That’s the fun part about it,” Rojas said. “I’m not asking him to do it. He just wants to play. He just wants to be swinging the bat and throwing the ball. That’s fun as a dad. I feel like it’s always a plus when your son wants to play the same sport you love.”
Hoping for a return
When MLB first suspended operations on March 12, Rojas initially hoped the season would only be delayed a couple weeks.
It’s approaching two months now.
At some point, Rojas and the Marlins will be back playing the sport he loves.
When that happens, the Marlins will resume their plan of getting through the last phase of their rebuild. Rojas has been a mentor for a slew of the team’s top prospects this spring training and has watched the players who have started to rise from the minor leagues over the past two years.
“The talent is out there,” Rojas said during spring training. “Our talent is so much better than in the past. I don’t know if it’s because of the experience or just the raw talent that these guys have. ... We have guys that have been in the organization for a long time and now they’re getting here [to the Major Leagues] and they’re making an impact. I’m pretty excited about the future of this club. They’re opening people’s eyes. They want to be part of the future. Hopefully they can help this organization.”
Rojas is here to help the organization, too. He signed a two-year contract extension toward the end of the 2019 season — becoming the first player under the Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter ownership group to receive a multi-year deal — and has not been shy about his commitment to the team as it went through the rebuild.
“The leadership, obviously with what we’ve been going through, you need guys that are buying into what we’re doing, that are all in on doing things right and playing the game right, just the attitude that you bring,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said during spring training. “... It’s nice to have a guy who has been here for a little bit who has been that guy and isn’t afraid to speak up when he has to. A lot to really like about Miggy.”
Bigger than baseball
Rojas also has put these past seven weeks into perspective. Baseball is secondary at this point. His thoughts go to those in the medical field, those on the front line fighting the virus and working to make sure life can become normal again some day.
“There are people out there working so hard to keep us safe,” Rojas said. “For me, there are things that are more important than just going back to the field to play baseball.”
But when they are able to play baseball again, he hopes it serves as another source of healing.
“I’m trying to send a positive message every time that I post something on social media or when I do something online or when I use my platform just to send a positive attitude and positive message to fans the people around South Florida,” Rojas said. “I know it’s been tough and these moments are tough to overcome, but at the same time, when baseball’s back, it should be a celebration. We should be able to relate to baseball when everything comes back to normal again. That’s how we should be thinking about baseball when we come back.”
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