Marlins players ‘made do with what we had’ to stay in baseball shape during MLB shutdown
They converged at Marlins Park on July 1, more than 40 Miami Marlins players ready to start working out as a team again for the first time in three-and-a-half months in anticipation of a 60-game sprint of a regular season.
And while the destination was the same, their paths to staying baseball ready in that time between spring training shutting down on March 12 and the first official practice on July 3 were anything but the same.
These past three months were a reminder for Marlins players, and MLB players as a whole, that not all practice conditions away from the ballpark are created equal.
“We made do with what we had,” said pitcher Caleb Smith, who spent the layoff at home in Texas.
Some had access to batting cages and pitching mounds. Some lived with people who worked as a throwing partner or were able to hit ground balls to them. Some were fortunate enough to live near teammates, which allowed them to stay in sync while they waited for team facilities to become available again (and those, remember, were only available to players on the 40-man roster for voluntary individual workouts until practice officially resumed July 3).
Others had to fly solo and get creative. Some pitchers manufactured mounds in their backyards and threw against a wall or a covered mattress to get reps in.
Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said strength and conditioning coach Kevin Barr gave each player individualized plans to maintain their fitness. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr, bench coach James Rowson and hitting coaches Eric Duncan and Robert Rodriguez also were involved in helping set up workouts that could be done even if players didn’t have access to full training facilities.
“Everyone’s in the same boat with the restrictions and the creativity they need to display to get their work in,” Hill said in April. “For the most part, our guys have been able to do that.”
Many focused more on general fitness than specific baseball drills. After all, there was no idea how long the layoff would be, so players weren’t trying to go full force every day for fear of being burned out when practice finally resumed and a schedule was put in place.
“I’d say in the first week we found out that guys did some work when they were gone,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said Friday. “That made us all feel pretty good.”
Staying baseball ready and going through typical routines was easier said than done in some cases. Take Smith, the lefty with a swing-and-miss arsenal of pitches who is expected to be at the top of the Marlins’ rotation this year.
His dad and a family friend built him a portable mound so he could continue to throw bullpens while staying home in Texas. That helped.
What didn’t help: Smith didn’t have a catcher to work with until he returned to South Florida, so he was limited in terms of feedback as he continued to build up his pitch count again.
“It was tough, when everything got shut down and we had to go home,” Smith said. “Nobody to throw with, had to throw against a wall or a net. Just had to find a way to stay ready.”
Another projected member of the Marlins’ starting rotation — Pablo Lopez — was a little more fortunate considering he was staying near catcher Jorge Alfaro during the shutdown, and the two ended up using the same training facility.
“It was a tremendous help,” Lopez said. “When everything got shut down, there was a lot of uncertainty. We didn’t know what was going to happen. We had to find our way to stay sharp and stay ready. I ended up running into Alfaro and then eventually we were running into each other every day, so we were using the same facility. I love getting feedback from Alfaro, especially because he’s a guy I’m gonna be seeing a lot of and throwing to during the season. Building that chemistry early is going to help us throughout the year. ... He was able to give me great feedback, great perspective as a catcher.”
Among other notable Marlins workout regiments during the shutdown:
▪ Shortstop Miguel Rojas has a batting cage in the backyard of his Pembroke Pines home that he used on a regular basis in the early evening (around the same time the team would take batting practice for a night game). He fields ground balls at home, too, and also ran two or three times a week to keep his legs fresh.
▪ First basemen Garrett Cooper and Jesus Aguilar both mentioned a heavy emphasis on cardio over the shutdown. Cooper said Thursday that he dropped about 15 pounds since the premature end of spring training and reporting back to Marlins Park last week. Aguilar bought a bicycle and used it for about two months to supplement his two to three trips to the gym each week.
▪ Both Jon Berti and Jonathan Villar, the Marlins’ primary utility players, did what they could to field both ground balls and fly balls while working solo.
▪ Second baseman Isan Diaz, outfielder Monte Harrison and pitcher Jordan Holloway were part of a Fight Club-esque group of MLB players who worked out at Palm Beach Gardens High School, as originally reported by The Athletic. Also included in that group, among many others, were Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer and New York Yankees outfielder (and former Marlin) Giancarlo Stanton.
▪ Right-handed pitcher Brandon Kintzler, the favorite to open the season as the Marlins’ closer, built a gym inside his house and quarantined in Florida with a friend who served as his throwing partner. Toward the end of the shutdown, Kintzler went back home to Las Vegas and was given access to Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the Triple A Las Vegas Aviators. He said he threw off the mound maybe 15 or 16 times during the shutdown. “I didn’t have to miss a beat,” Kintzler said, “so I feel really good.”
▪ Left-handed pitcher Alex Vesia, the only top-30 Marlins prospect not on the 40-man roster who is with the main group at Marlins Park, was in a similar situation as Smith. He spent the shutdown at home in California, turning his parents’ basement into his own bullpen before building a mound outside.
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