The repetitions of spring. (The Closer).(baseball spring training)

The repetitions of spring

If you take a trip to spring training and come across some pitchers on a back field and they seem to be going crazy, give them a hug and tell them it will be over soon. The slowest week of the year--the days between when pitchers report and when position players report--is over, but the monotony continues.

We start spring training workouts at 9 a.m. Some teams think it's OK for us to get in our work and go home, play golf, hang out with the family, go to the movies, or whatever. Other clubs think we have been off for five months and that we are going to get our work in and will not leave til 2 or 3, no matter what.

Here's how the routine goes in the early part of spring training: Our day begins with meetings. Then it's a good half-hour of stretching and working with the strength and conditioning coach. After that, it's 10 minutes of catch or long toss to loosen up our arms.

Shortly after 10, we break into groups for fundamentals work. For pitchers, that often means practicing various pickoff plays, including that third-to-first move that never works. (It's kind of like geometry--you don't use it much but you have to get through it.)

Then we break into what we call the pitchers wheel. This is where the day becomes maddening. We usually split into four groups, such as starters, relievers, lefthanders and minor leaguers. We go from drill to drill just like a wheel, 10 to 15 minutes at each stop. On one field, we do what's called PFP--pitchers fielding practice. On a second ...