The physical side of spring training... WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

 

Example of a standard spring training day

 

6.00 am - Wake Up

 

6:30 am - Arrive at field and eat breakfast

 

7.00 am-8:45 am - Early work groups (you will have 0, 1, or 2 groups on any given day)

 

9.00 am-9:10 am - Club Meeting

 

9:15 am-10.00 am - Run / Stretch / Throw

 

10.00 am-11.00 am - Team fundamentals (Bunt defence / pickoffs + rundowns etc.)

 

11.00 am-12.00 pm - Batting Practice (Pitchers throwing bullpens off to the side)

 

12.00 pm-12:30 pm - Lunch

 

12:30 pm-1.00 pm - Run, stretch, throw and play pepper in preparation for a game

 

1.00 pm-4.00 pm - Game (intersquad or against another organisations club of your level)

 

4.00 pm-4:15 pm - Post game conditioning (generally 10 x 90ft sprints for us at the time)

 

4:15 pm-5.00 pm - Gym workout if playing at home

 

5.00 pm - Shower and leave for the hotel

 

5:30 pm - Eat dinner

 

6.00 pm - Enjoy your night and prepare to repeat this schedule the next day, every day

 

SIDE NOTE - You will play every other day on the road meaning you will skip fundamentals in order to get your BP started earlier so you can get back in to the clubhouse, eat lunch and jump on the bus to head over to the away venue.

 

This is certainly not a statement to scare you but the simple fact of spring training from a physical point, is that nothing will fully prepare you for what you are about to endure. In that information booklet you receive prior to spring training you might see the fitness testing component to be carried out. All organisations are different but for me at the time it consisted of what was called “THE PHILLY RUN". The Philly Run was basically 60 minutes of conditioning to be performed at the end of the day’s events each day for the first week.      Not 60 minutes of intense condition - four stations designed to wear you down and those four stations were as follows.                               

 

Please know though that there are no games in the first week as detailed above. The first week will see you take in a lot more education on how the organisation wish for you to play the game. Along with all sorts of meetings on injury prevention and the like.

 

THE PHILLY RUN

 

1 - 20 mins - Continuous running in the shape of a huge diamond having to field one groundball hit by a coach each lap, changing direction after 10 minutes

 

2 - 20 mins - 25 x 90ft sprints with 50 pushups. 5 x sprints then 10 x pushups x 5 sets

 

3 - 10 mins - Agility drills, ladders, ropes, plyometrics etc

 

4 - 10 mins - Abs station (That's right, we had an Abs station for 10 minutes)

 

Once we completed the week of Philly runs we would face the marquee test, The 300 yard shuttle. This would have us running 25 yards up and back, six times in under one minute. The follow on to this is we then had one minute rest and had to go again and complete it in under one minute, then one more minute’s rest and complete the third and final leg, again in under one minute. I practised the 300 yard shuttle a number of times at home before I left and felt confident I would be fine. However adding the 300 yard shuttle to the back end of what is a gruelling first week is something I didn't calculate at the time. I was successful miraculously, but it was excruciating. Going over the allowed 1 minute on any of your runs would result in you joining breakfast club. You would stay in Breakfast Club and get a re test on the 300 yard shuttle every 3 days until you made the time, this could be a couple of weeks for some guys.

 

Breakfast Club is a place you go for a couple of reasons, disciplinary or not coming into camp in good physical condition. This is a place you do not want to be. You would be up at 5.00 am to get down to the field for conditioning sessions designed to whip you into shape, only to have some breakfast afterwards and then join your allocated group for early work at 7.00 am to start your day as it normally would have been. Breakfast club is an add on to an already hectic and intense schedule. I had one stint of Breakfast Club in my career which was a result of sleeping in. My rookie ball room mate and I raced down to the field after sleeping in, we missed batting practise in the cage and just made it to the bus on time for the two-hour bus ride down to Orlando to play the Braves. My roommate and I rode the bus, were given Bat Boy duties for the game (that’s right, I was a professional Bat Boy for the day in my full uniform) and rode the bus back which made up our day. We were also given three  days of Breakfast Club for our troubles. It sucks.

 

Your daily schedule will most likely have you arriving at the complex around 6:30 am-7.00 am each morning. I was always early to the field at every level throughout my career, I wanted to be one of the first. I encourage you to follow this mindset to as much extent as allows you to best prepare for the day but more importantly you will need to learn when to cut back for a day here or there. However you learn your scheduling needs will be up to you, just don't be that guy who shows up 10-15 minutes before your first scheduled session that morning. You will not enjoy the rush to get ready and you certainly don't want to keep one of your coaches waiting. This is an important sign of character and viewed as a willingness to learn and better yourself or a lack of desire to do so in the contrary.

 

You see the reason I say you can't prepare for spring training is that one day in isolation is fine. It's nothing like you have experienced, yet not too dissimilar to other all day camps and academy days you would have attended. The difficulty is not having to back it up and get through Day Two and Three although they will still be tough and your legs will feel like they weigh 100kgs each, you will ride the adrenaline and emotion for the first week to get through that period. It starts to become a battle somewhere in that second week. Day 8 to 12 it really hits you and you will feel like there is no end in sight. Every day is the same thing, every morning you are tired, every evening you are wrecked. You will wake up, go to the field, go back to your hotel, eat dinner, hang out for a couple of hours and go to bed only to repeat it the next day. Your legs will be sore, most prominently in that first week, your arm will get stiff and potentially sore and you will feel like you can't go to the training room for fear of being taken off the field for a week, "You can't make the club if you are in the training room".

 

You will need to be smart, listen to your body and educate yourself on what your body needs and what you need to do in your own time to recover. This may include icing and mobility work at the hotel sometimes but you will learn what your body needs in order to recover for the next day. Whatever you do though you need to be smart, you won't be crucified if you do need the medical assistance available to you, so speak up if you are in pain and you know it's not a self-fix situation because a couple of days in the training room can be a lot better than twelve months of rehab after surgery. Be smart and learn your body. The most important part of your recovery will come away from the complex and back at the hotel. Your nutrition, hydration and quality of sleep will play the key roles in how you wake up for a day at the office. I was not great in this area, and my performance no doubt suffered at times as a result.

 

Getting your 8 - 8.5 quality hours of sleep each night will prove vital if you want to be able to perform each day you are on the field. This will apply as you move up the ladder and make the clubs who play night games with completely different scheduling to spring training. Understanding not only your minimum requirements but also what will be considered too much sleep resulting in feeling lethargic and lazy (I certainly fell victim to the appeal of lazing in bed all morning many times, it does not assist your goals, trust me). You will develop so many routines, rituals and daily schedules and you need to make your quality of sleep a priority. I strongly advise you get your 8-8.5 hours QUALITY sleep, then get up and put away a nutritional breakfast which will fuel your anticipated performance later that day. Breakfast at the field will most likely be the same thing every day. Some scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal and maybe some fruit. If you need to source other options from the store and take it with you each day, then do it.

 

Your ability to get your quality sleep also ties in with the company you keep. Gravitate towards those guys who habitually look after themselves and join them because on the flip side, you will have access to the guys who want to enjoy themselves a little too often. There is one or two on every team and I promise you that this can prove costly if you are caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. You need to have some fun along the way too by means of staying sane, you will need to get out and live a life away from baseball as an outlet and a mechanism to switch off, which might include a few refreshments here and there. Understand this though, the drinking age in America is 21...... Do not flirt with it. I have seen guys get caught at a bar drinking whilst underage and get arrested. What happens to those who get arrested for underage drinking, drink driving, assault and so on? They get released the next day and being a foreigner, this may have further implications around deportation and the fact you may not be able to return to pursue another opportunity with a different club if it would present itself. There may be a guy who is the exception to the rule here or there which generally applies to a big money high round prospect but that’s a whole different story surrounding some politics and benefits afforded to some and not others which you will find out about.

 

The point is have fun, live your life but always have a thought with those who you thanked that time you signed your contract. How would you make that phone call to explain your behaviour? How do your actions continue to affect their lives and everything they sacrificed for you to be where you are? The easiest way to deal with this is never put yourself in situations that could result in these outcomes.

 

Life in the minors: WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

 

This is where we can look at life in the minors holistically. You will experience so much happiness, joy and have an absolute blast. You will create some amazing life long memories and friendships, but you will also face tremendous obstacles on your journey and I believe they are there by design to break you. They will challenge you physically in the form of fatigue and battling the elements. At the start of the season for many, you will be playing in zero degree temperatures where you can’t feel the ball because your fingers are numb. You will layer so many undershirts beneath your playing top that you can't move freely to be athletic but it appears to be a choice between survive versus perform and finding that balance can be difficult. You will need to learn what you need to do, like everyone else does. As you move into summer you will then be playing in some of the most intense heat you have experienced and wonder, how on earth can I go out and give my all in this. In Florida for example it is ridiculously humid and the 4.00 pm thunderstorm most days which last 30-60 minutes will provide a sauna for you to play in later that night when the game starts. Your mindset will be key to how you handle the elements and the realisation that so many before you have endured the exact same conditions will help you. They don’t give you bonus points on your stats because you played in tougher conditions so again, embrace that it's there, accept the challenge and realise that while others will complain, this is one of so many opportunities to put your best foot forward and gain an edge, difficult as it might be, achievable it certainly is.

 

The overnight bus rides will test your capacity to recover and be in fit playing shape for your game the next day. Sitting up, laying over seats, laying down the walkway and many more uncomfortable sleeping positions you will try and probably struggle with. If you are lucky you might get to ride in a sleeper bus which has makeshift beds built into the storage compartments under the roof and underneath the bench seats. You will again have the opportunity to whinge and moan like a few of your team mates will, you will hear it, you will be surrounded by it but you get to choose how you handle these situations. You can join them or you can take yet another opportunity to gain an edge. Even if you sit there with your eyes closed without falling asleep, that may be better for you tomorrow than playing PlayStation staring at a screen for six hours and then complaining for another two hours about the bus ride. Again though this is up to you to work out what you need and what will assist you the most but realise that this will be a challenge you are going to have to face.

 

You might see a common theme here. A huge challenge you will face comes from those closest to you in your team mates. There is a couple on every team who will find the negative in any situation. These negative outbursts will be brought on by so many basic day to day normalities which make up the minor league experience including travel, hotel standards, lack of Wi-Fi, quality of food in the clubhouse, having to take infield outfield, early work, relationships with coaches, the weather and so on and so on. It is all around you and there will be moments where you get sucked in and join in the chorus. We all have and we all did. I keep coming back to the same sentiment, strength in character and mindset will determine much of your experience and journey. As soon as you become one of the complainers, it would appear you have become too comfortable and potentially complacent. IF YOU DONT LIKE IT, PLAY BETTER is another baseballism you will hear plenty. Embrace your challenges because they are not going anywhere, accept that some of them are there by design to test your character, choose to face these challenges the same way you faced challenges which allowed you to sign a contract in the first place, head on with an attitude that will allow you the best opportunity to succeed.

 

Lastly on minor league life in general I can't go past that in order to achieve your dream, you will realise how important it is to have something else in your life you are passionate about. We are all told to finish our school in case baseball doesn't work out. What I heard when people said that was, "You are going to fail, so finish your school which will allow you to move into the real job you will inevitably get in a few years". Here's why I think you should finish school. You need to have a passion or a hobby outside of this game in order for you to switch off from the game. You might develop a love for something that you seek further education in and can enrol in online courses which looking back, is something I regret not doing whilst I had the opportunity. Read books about things you are passionate about, mindset, habits, other sports stars, science etc. You might just learn something which you could apply to your current journey that assists you. You are not simply finishing school or enrolling in online courses or reading books to prepare for life after baseball, you are doing it because it will absolutely assist you in reaching your goals, it will provide that desperately needed outlet that is so critical to your overall mindset and mental health.

 

Is this all I get paid... WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

 

One of the most difficult challenges you will face with life in the minor leagues and continue to ask yourself is, WHERE IS THE CASH? This is something I was not prepared for and I embarrassingly recall in my first and even second year of pro ball having to call my Mum and ask for $100 here and there. Mind you that $100 converted to around $65 at the time with the exchange rate. There I was, a professional athlete, throwing two or three hours of my mother’s hard work down the drain in the form of an exchange rate because I wasn't responsible enough to prepare for how I would support myself financially.

 

There is no money in the minor leagues, get used to it. Understand that and start preparing for it. If you are fortunate enough to have earnt a lofty signing bonus then you are so far ahead of many of your peers it is ridiculous, do not waste the opportunity to be financially stable. If you did not sign for  much money, like myself, you need to find a way to support yourself in this area. It's about becoming an adult and showing maturity in the way you want to live your life. I am no financial advisor but I think you could have a look at your requirements based on the lifestyle you choose to live and set yourself a monthly amount that you would require to live on. This will differ from me to you, but determine what you need and what makes you happy. Once you have a rough monthly figure you can then multiply it by six for your six- monthly stay in the states, you will have a total amount for how much you need to save or delegate before heading off to spring training.

 

Along with preparing physically and mentally for the year ahead, this will also become just as important as you can raise some serious stress and anxiety levels based solely around your financial situation like I did. Now how do you think that might affect your ability to face other adversities you are challenged with and how does that assist your goal of reaching the big leagues? You can become swamped in this game under challenge upon challenge but you can also avoid so many of them with the right planning and knowledge and I can't stress enough that being in a position to pay your bills is just as important as going to the gym for your workout or heading to training for some extra batting practice. If you need a part time job in the off season then go and do it, whatever you need to do, this is about what you need to do to be a professional. To give you an indication, in spring training we would receive $20 per week for "laundry money". All of your expenses are covered, meals and accommodation are taken care of by the organisation but every now and then you might get tired of the dinners provided and want to go out to a restaurant (Chillis or TGI Fridays of course, nothing too fancy). Or perhaps a few guys are heading out to see a movie and that seems like a good idea. You need to budget for the fact that you will need to have a life away from baseball, it will be a small life as you will be exhausted each night, but you will have a life.

 

Once you get to Extended Spring Training and this will follow on for the Rookie Ball season, things will change slightly and now you will earn a wage which for me in my first year was $850 per month. For us this included Breakfast and Lunch which was provided at the field, accommodation at the team hotel was deducted out of your pay check and you would be left with a whopping $140 every fortnight for you to splash around as you please. $140 to live for two weeks but most importantly, your dinner had to be purchased each night out of that money and given Sunday is a day off in extended spring training and the rookie ball season, you needed to cover all three meals on that day. Let’s be honest though, you have earnt that Sunday sleep in so it's probably only two meals in lunch and dinner. You might be lucky to have a fridge and microwave in your hotel room, not everyone does, but I would imagine an oven or hotplate would be a luxury you would not have. How would you possibly purchase fourteen dinners and a lunch on $140? More importantly if you can work out a solution to this, which you will, how could you possibly have $20 left over to do something with your team mates who were heading down to the beach on Sunday and having lunch at a restaurant down by the water?

 

My experience saw me and quite a few of my team mates make McDonalds a regular dinner hotspot. We crushed that dollar menu where you would have a variety of options for $1 each. Two double cheeseburgers, a medium fries and a refillable medium coke for a grand total of a $4 dinner. That's how we survived and I'm being dead serious, that was dinner multiple times per week for the next five- month period. I wonder how that food affected our ability to recover and replenish our energy levels ready to compete at the professional level the next day? Please learn from my mistakes. Having an extra $100 per fortnight would make a massive difference to how you live your life in your first year of pro ball, a savings account holding $1000 for you to draw out $100 per fortnight and stick to that budget may mean you can eat some quality meals and enjoy a life outside the game, it will be a modest life still at this price point, but it would make your experience so much more enjoyable and ultimately assist you in your goals of performing to the best of your ability. If you could possibly have yourself $2000 saved up and have the ability to draw $200 per fortnight I think you would be living the high life, so work out what you would require, what you can afford and what you need to do to acquire that peace of mind.

 

Once you move out of Rookie Ball and into A Ball things will change again. You might experience the wonderful or not so wonderful world of billet families depending on the family you are provided. I was extremely lucky in my second year to be billeted with an amazing family who took three of us players in and made me feel like I was one of their sons. I still keep in touch with the son in this family to this day over a decade later and I am so thankful for everything they did for me, packing snacks for our bus trips, rides to the field, ensuring the fridge was always jam packed with food and it cost us absolutely nothing for the privilege. Keep in mind though that every family differs and some of your team mates and maybe even you, may stay with a billet family who feels $100 per week is a reasonable fee to charge for rent of the room you will occupy. Don't be discouraged, at the end of the day they are providing you a safe environment at a fairly reasonable rate which includes all the bills for the services you will use daily. Understand the difference between the two though and how each situation would affect your finances and your lifestyle. Once you have been in pro ball for a few years, you might even get to the point of earning a 40 man roster spot or sign a free agent deal meaning now you are making some money, I know you will because you will be a wise veteran at this point but give back to those kids who are just starting their journey, take them out for dinner on you, not because you have to but because you remember what it was like to count down the days until payday so you can steer clear of the golden arches for a couple of nights.

 

The money struggle is real, start preparing for it now.

 

That’s a wrap... WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

 

Go and enjoy what will be the craziest ride of your life. I hope it will be a long and fulfilling ride that will see you exceed all of your own expectations. So much of your experience in this sport as well as in life, will be determined by your outlook and ability to be accepting of and embrace the challenges you will face. Apart from the one in a generation player, no one will reach the big leagues and think, wow, that was easy. You will be challenged often, be it physically, mentally or financially. You will miss out on so many milestones back home with your family that you wish you could have been there for and they will miss you being there too. Your family though wouldn't have this any other way and will do whatever they can to assist, guide and support you every step of your journey. Be yourself, you will feel the need to become the robot your organisation wants you to become. There might be rules on how to wear your uniform, how to dress, how to present yourself and how to play. Adapt and embrace these rules whilst maintaining your individuality. That same individuality which drew scouts to take notice in the first place. Have fun, laugh, joke around, you will learn when it is time to pull it in and get serious and when you can relax little. Enjoy the history of the path you are walking. You will play in the same stadiums that some of the greats have played in, you will sit in some of the locker rooms that today’s superstar big leaguers sat in.            

 

There are no short cuts in this game, it will be a hard gruelling road for you to reach the pinnacle in the sport, you know that going in, so it will be no surprise when you experience a slump with the bat, or a stretch of bad outings on the mound. We have all been there, even the best. Slow down, you have more time than you think. So often you might think you need to "fix" your game overnight for fear you are on the chopping block. Slow down, set your goals and have a plan for everything you do. Baseball is a numbers game and if your numbers are not where you would like, always refer back to your plan, if you fail to follow a simple plan for how you want to live the day ahead, how can you possibly think success was an option?

 

I could go on and on about story after story, but this is not about me. I hope by reading this you have a little bit of knowledge on what you might encounter and you are a little better prepared to get on that plane and head overseas for your first year of pro ball. I hope this helps eliminate some of the challenges you will face because they will come as no surprise when you experience them. I hope you can now put steps in place to plan for these challenges. I hope you now know what pro ball might mean physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.

 

The rest will be up to you. You will create your own memories and live out your own adventures which will translate into some amazing stories to share. You will make mistakes, just don't let them be off field mistakes that land you in trouble and cut your dreams short. Learn from your mistakes and move forward with the knowledge you have gained.

 

Lastly, I want you to know that wherever you end up, it's still just baseball. The game you have played for so long. Don't be overawed when you face that superstar, the ball is the same size, the basepaths are 90ft, the plate is 17 inches wide and you will still find a way to have a whole heap of fun playing the game each and every day.

 

All the best mate.

 

Regards,

Brad Harman

 

 

Australian Baseball Alumni extends its sincere thanks to Brad Harman for sharing his experiences, his insights and his suggestions on how young players might best prepare for a career in United States professional baseball. We have no doubt that his advice will be of massive assistance to our signed young men as they embark upon their journey in professional baseball and we applaud Brad's ongoing commitment to give back to his beloved sport through mentoring of emerging Australian players.   Kingsley Collins (Editor)