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Let these early Spring Training sights and sounds get you excited for baseball season

By Eric Chesterton

Can you feel it? With pitchers and catchers starting to report this week, the 2019 MLB season is nearly upon us. Though only the A's had their first official workouts on Monday, players have begun to show up in Florida and Arizona to toss the ball around, take some swings and enjoy the warmth of the sun. 
Let's start with the A's, who had pitchers and catchers out in full force. If you've been longing to hear the pop of the glove, you'll want to put the sound on for this one:

Aaron Judge is neither a pitcher nor a catcher, but he was in camp all the same. He played catch with fellow outfielder Clint Frazier and showed a bit of rust on his first throw:

And here's Judge in the box, taking some hacks:

Kyle Schwarber showed up to take batting practice, which -- along with his American flag shorts -- was appointment viewing for the entire Cubs squad:

The Cardinals got to say "hello" to some new faces, including reliever Andrew Miller:

This time each year, there's plenty of talk about players showing up in the best shape of their lives. It may well be true that Chris Sale reported to camp in the best shape of his life, if that means retaining his string-bean physique:

Elsewhere in Red Sox camp, Brock Holt was taking advantage of the Florida climate with some gloriously short shorts:

And, Nolan Arenado was fielding grounders with beautiful mountain views behind him:

At long last, baseball's back in all its warm and sunny glory.

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Players in this article:
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