Spring training has started, but Marlins players began getting ready well before reporting
The Marlins officially opened spring training on Monday.
But it hardly felt like the first day.
While Major League Baseball’s 99-day lockout was filled with uncertainty as to when organized activities would actually begin, Marlins players were getting together for weeks to make sure they were ready for when the day finally arrived.
“I was talking to some of the guys and I was just like, normally when you come in for spring training, it’s like ‘Hey, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in forever,’” Marlins utility infielder Jon Berti said. “Now, walking in, I’m like, ‘I just saw you the other day. I just saw you the other day.’”
Marlins starting shortstop Miguel Rojas spearheaded the team’s efforts to stay ready in order to hit the ground running during what will be an abbreviated spring training season in 2022.
The Marlins, who will hold three more days of team workouts this week and begin a 15-game exhibition schedule starting Friday, open the regular season April 8 at San Francisco.
Rojas coordinated with multiple teammates to hold workouts twice a week at Cressey Sports Performance in Palm Beach Gardens during the lockout.
“It was easy for me because everybody was committed,” Rojas said. “We were making sacrifices — driving from Miami up here and doing all that together. It makes me believe in everybody in this clubhouse, and the guys showed up. Jacob Stallings flew from his place, not knowing that we were going to get a CBA done. Peyton Henry texted me every single day that he was looking for flights to come down here and work out also. That’s the desire that we’re seeing in the clubhouse and that’s why we put it together because the guys wanted to do it.”
Stallings — expected to be the team’s starting catcher — is one of the key additions the Marlins made via trade this offseason.
And joining others such as Joey Wendle and Avisail Garcia and being able to familiarize themselves with their new roster — albeit in an informal setting — is something that could benefit a team looking to make a significant jump this coming season.
“So just to be back and being around them, it just got back to us being in a baseball setting,” Marlins first baseman/designated hitter Garrett Cooper said. “It was normal but in a different setting. So just to have this to be back with everyone is a good time right now.”
Aside from the live batting practice sessions and other simulated baseball work, the Marlins felt the gatherings allowed them to build camaraderie between both new and returning players even before they set foot on the field on Monday morning.
“That brought the team a little bit closer because nobody was really expecting that,” Marlins second baseman Jazz Chisholm said. “I feel like everybody enjoyed that. No coaches around. It’s like, think about a college team practicing without a coach with no running and they’re just enjoying it. I mean, I’m not gonna lie. You’re talking [expletive] back and forth, having fun. It’s just like how everybody says ‘Let the kids play.’ We’re basically out there playing Little League with each other.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 4:43 PM.
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