GLENDALE, Ariz. — The PFP (pitchers’ fielding practice) was a little ragged. Strikes were hard to find at times during the live batting practice sessions. And a group of front-office types debated the relative merits of Shake Shack vs. In-N-Out – using, of course, the 20-80 scouting scale.
Baseball people were doing baseball things at Camelback Ranch on Thursday – but only on the back fields. While the MLB lockout continues deep into what would normally be the sport’s annual rebirth, the Dodgers’ minor-leaguers are going about a normal spring training. That is, if anyone remembers what normal is after the past two years.
“I think on the minor-league side it feels fairly normal,” said Dodgers director of player development Will Rhymes, who estimated 30 to 50 players had been working out at the team’s facility since the start of the new year with that number growing and now swelling to full size with camp entering its second week.
Players not on the 40-man big-league roster are not members of the Major League Baseball Players’ Association and thus are not affected by the lockout. Minor-league seasons are scheduled to start on time.
“Obviously it’s a little different not having the major-league team around and the buzz that creates as well as the opportunities for our younger players to go over and get the experience with the major-league staff. In that way, it’s unfortunate,” Rhymes said. “Last year, having the split camps was pretty similar to this. Maybe (this year is) more normal than ’20 and ’21 – so I guess we’re moving in the right direction.”
Spring training in 2020 was shut down in mid-March by the pandemic. Minor-league seasons were canceled and only a select number of players were invited to work at alternate training sites when a shortened major-league season resumed in July. Last year, health and safety protocols separated minor-leaguers from an expanded big-league player pool in spring. Both the minor-league camp and regular seasons started later than usual.
“If you’ve been drafted from ’18 to now – it’s a different time than anybody prior to that,” said Ryan Pepiot, the Dodgers’ third-round draft pick in 2019 who has emerged as one of their top pitching prospects. “We had a spring training shutdown then we had an alternate site, a five-round draft (in 2020), 20 (rounds) last year, COVID protocols, getting tested every other day. So having a semi-normal offseason was very enjoyable.”
For the 24-year-old Pepiot, though, the labor battle comes at a problematic time. He is on the verge of the big leagues – with the big leagues shut down.
“I’m just here doing my work and trying to get ready for whenever the time is that the season starts,” he said after striking out five of the six batters he faced in a scrimmage against an amateur team.
“April 5 is Opening Day for minor leagues so I’m preparing for that.”
At least Pepiot is not caught in the no-man’s land of some of his peers. Five players were placed on the 40-man roster for the first time last November. That move protected them from the Rule 5 draft. But it also made them members of the MLBPA and subject to the MLB lockout. None of the five – Michael Grove, Jorbit Vivas, Eddys Leonard, James Outman and Jacob Amaya – have any big-league service time and would have had no more than the longest of long shots at making the big-league roster this spring. But now they are unable to work out at Camelback Ranch or under the supervision of Dodgers staff until the labor situation is settled.
“I think it’s going to be significant,” Rhymes said of the impact of that lost time. “It’s unfortunate for the no-service time players not being here, especially the younger players. They could be impacted. We’ll have to navigate that. Once we get a start date for them, once we can interact with them, we’ll get them in here quickly and assess where they’re at and come up with a plan to get them up to speed. The longer this goes obviously the worse it is for players coming off really big years, guys who kind of jumped on the radar.
“You certainly feel badly for them that they can’t be here training.”
For others like pitching prospect Landon Knack, the outcome of this battle between MLB and the players’ union could have an impact on their future. But for now, it goes on in the background of their daily grind.
“We’ve been following it. But for the most part, no (it’s not on our radar),” Knack said. “It’s just preparing for what I’ve got coming up. Obviously, the minor-league season is going on as normal. I’ve been trying to focus on that more than anything.”
