Baseball is known for its family connections. There are legendary baseball families, from the DiMaggios to the Griffeys to the Bondses to the Alous to the Guerreros, and so many more.
But MLB isn't just about baseball connections. It's a league full of softball connections, too.
So when Major League Baseball announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League this week, plenty of big leaguers took notice.
ATHLETES UNLIMITED SOFTBALL LEAGUE
As the AUSL kicks off its inaugural season on June 7, softball's popularity is exploding. To Major League players like George Springer, J.T. Realmuto and Brandon Lowe, that's no surprise.
Those three are just a few of the many MLB stars for whom softball is a part of the family.
Springer's sisters, Nicole and Lena, both played college softball, and Lena is now the head softball coach at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. His wife, Charlise, also played collegiately for Albany. Nicole, Lena and Charlise even all played for the Puerto Rican national team.
The Blue Jays outfielder is looking forward to seeing how the AUSL will help grow the game even further.
"To give people an opportunity to hope and to dream to play a professional sport -- and for all of the little girls out there who watch the Monica Abbotts, the Cat Ostermans of the world, they have a place to go play -- I think that’s extremely special," Springer said.
Realmuto's two sisters were both catchers, just like their brother. J.T.'s sister Ryan played at Oklahoma State and then professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch league before coaching at Rutgers and Hofstra. His other sister, Amanda, played at Northwestern State.
The Phillies backstop hopes the AUSL might be a place for his own daughters to play someday.
"It's very cool. I think what Major League Baseball is doing with the softball community is awesome," Realmuto said. "I have two girls myself that, right now, are loving T-ball. So just to know that, in the future, if they want to pursue that avenue, there's somewhere they can go for that. It's great."
Lowe met his wife, Madison, while the two were both stars on the diamond at Maryland -- Brandon for the baseball team, Madison for the softball team, where she was a starting pitcher.
"Softball is big in my family," the Rays second baseman said. "The College World Series is going on right now, and they're hyped for that. I spent all morning watching Florida-Texas play and then Oklahoma-Tennessee play. It's there if you want to watch it, and this [new league] is a really cool way to kind of get the best players from the game all together."
Springer, Realmuto and Lowe all have stories of how softball has been a big part of their lives.
Springer recalled hitting against his sisters when they were younger. They would try to brush him off the plate. He would try to hit the ball straight back at them.
"I would like to say that I have the bragging rights," Springer said. "It got very competitive to the point where my dad would have to make sure that it stopped. [The pitcher is] a lot closer than everybody thinks. It’s a much different arm angle than what I’m adjusted to, but it’s fun."
Realmuto, who was a shortstop in high school, actually turned to his sisters for advice on being a catcher as he started his pro career with the Marlins and started playing the position full-time.
"It's funny, both of my sisters were actually catchers their whole lives," Realmuto said. "So when I transitioned into being a catcher, they were two of the first people I talked to about, 'Hey, what's it like catching? What do you think? What do you work on?' Stuff like that. So they definitely had a big influence on my career."
And Lowe used to have to catch Madison's bullpen sessions during college breaks.
"Watching her play, the intensity that the girls played with is the same kind of thing that we play with here," Lowe said. "And I always recall holidays, or times where I was in pro ball and Madison was still in college coming to visit, and her saying, 'Hey, I need to pitch. I need someone to catch me.' That was automatically me signed up for that job. And she didn't throw extremely hard, but I had no fun behind the plate trying to catch those pitches. So I have a little bit of an understanding of how difficult it can be to hit."
That's something all three MLB sluggers agreed on: It's not fun to step into the batter's box against a softball ace.
"It’s extremely fast-paced," Springer said. "It takes a lot of skill to do that. It takes a lot of skill to slap [hit]. There are so many different terminologies, then the spin on the ball and all sorts of stuff that make it extremely hard on a hitter. They’re throwing it 70-plus mph from 43 feet. It’s really, really close and the ball is moving all over the place."
Lowe, who keeps up with all the top college softball players, shouted out Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens.
"Karlyn throws 79 [mph]," Lowe said. "From her height [6-foot-1] and where she's throwing it from -- probably 32 feet or something like that -- I can't imagine seeing something equivalent like that in a baseball game. It would be unbelievable. So the talent's there, and hopefully some of the appreciation is as well, because what some of these girls are doing is really impressive."
That's why Realmuto is excited for the AUSL to show baseball fans a whole new style of game.
"Obviously, Major League Baseball is very established and we've been here a long time," Realmuto said, "so to be able to get our fans to also watch the softball players and the league they're playing in now is going to be good, for sure."