When Major League Baseball first suspended operations in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there was an expectation most players would remain at their respective Spring Training facilities.
Some of that stemmed from an initial belief that the shutdown would be temporary. The Los Angeles Dodgers were planning to keep Camelback Ranch open and available to players on a voluntary basis.
But MLB began to adjust its policies and players elected to return to offseason homes or city of their team. As the league works on finalizing a plan for the 2020 regular season and some stay-at-home orders being loosened, select facilities across the sport have re-opened.
Meanwhile, the state of Arizona opened up their economy over the weekend, essentially paving the way for Cactus League teams to get more aggressive with workouts and operations.
However, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the Dodgers have not yet determined how they will operate in the near term, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he wasn’t sure anything would change in the short term at the team’s Camelback Ranch complex even with Arizona easing restrictions.
Friedman did add Cody Bellinger, Kiké Hernandez and Julio Urias are among the Dodgers who have been taking advantage of the organization’s Camelback Ranch facility:
Hitters like Cody Bellinger and Kiké Hernandez have worked with hitting coach Brant Brown at CBR and another facility in what Friedman called “one-off” training sessions. Pitchers including Julio Urias have used the mounds at CBR for throwing sessions.
“We just have a lot of restrictions and are kind of erring on the side of caution. A number of our guys have opted against coming, but we do have a number of guys coming, staggering times and allowing guys to come in and throw off the mound or hit in the cage.”
Bellinger, a Scottsdale, Ariz., native, has remained in The Grand Canyon State. With a focus on improving and having a productive 2020 season, Hernandez made the Phoenix area his home the entire offseason last winter for the first time.
Urias electing to take advantage of throwing off a mound doesn’t come as much of a surprise when factoring in his outlook this year. The young left-hander was primed to be part of the Opening Day rotation for the first time in his career.
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