The cancellation of the Minor League Baseball season generated questions about what players would do in 2020, how teams would alter their development approaches and much, much more.
To get answers to these questions, MLB Pipeline reached out to several farm directors.
The panel:
J.J. Picollo, Royals Assistant General Manager of Player Personnel
Chris Getz, White Sox Director of Player Development
Josh Barfield, D-backs Director of Player Development
Kyle Haines, Giants Director of Player Development
Tom Flanagan, Brewers Vice President of Minor League Operations
Here’s what they said:
How are you managing players outside the 60-man player pool? How frequently are you in contact with them?
Picollo (Royals): We have meetings several times a week with all of our players, mostly via Zoom but the meetings can be group meetings or, at times, individual meetings. We are also collecting video daily from our players so we can give feedback on a regular basis. Slack has been another tool we have used frequently for video collection and group discussion.
Getz (White Sox): Coordinator and coach-led Zoom calls every 7 to 10 days to discuss recent work and/or continuing education via presentations and discussions.
Barfield (D-backs): We check in on them a couple times a week. We have staff members assigned to each player. First and foremost, we check in on how they’re doing and secondly, we check up on what they’re doing as far as workouts; being in shape. A lot of these guys, they’re not going to get an opportunity to go play, so we’re trying to be as available to them as we can.
Haines (Giants): We contact them around one time a week and we just try to give them advice at this point while also checking on them. Each player has limited facilities, so prescribing any workouts is tough. We just want them to be healthy and safe first and foremost and if they can get workouts in, we consider that a bonus.
Once the season starts, what will prospects in the 60-man pool be doing? Will it be similar to instructional league? (EDITORS NOTE: Instructional league is typically more of a teaching league that takes place in the offseason at a team's spring training facility, with players honing their skills and developing under the eye of coaching and staff.)
Picollo (Royals): We will do whatever we can, but once we are permitted to be with our players we will move forward and run programs as we have in the past for our fall programs. However, until MLB gives us the go ahead, we will operate in the same fashion.
Getz (White Sox): There will be some similarities to instructs with having smaller numbers and isolating on personalized development, but we also need to simulate game action as much as possible because some players will be called up to play in Major League games. We also want to gain pure baseball reps that the player would be gaining in a usual season -- create competitions and simulate games with individual skill development still being the driving force.
Barfield (D-backs): It’ll be very much like what they’d be doing during the regular season in that they’re going to play scrimmages almost every day.
Haines (Giants): It will be individualized practice sessions combined with intrasquad games. Instructional League is a fair comparison.
What’s the plan for 2020 Draft picks who aren’t acclimated and familiar with your organization’s system and philosophies?
Picollo (Royals): We have mixed them in with our previously signed players on the Zoom calls and have held Zoom meetings with just the Draft class, splitting them into pitcher and position player groups. They have also started to send video to us.
Getz (White Sox): We have had virtual calls for orientation purposes. We are trying to have our new players gain a level of comfort with our coordinators and coaches and vice versa. Discussions are driven by our organizational philosophies.
Barfield (D-backs): The Draft picks and the free agent signings who aren’t coming in this year, which is most of them, we are getting them familiar with how we do things. We’ve already had a number of Zoom calls, an orientation online and just communicating with them some of the resources that they probably haven’t had in high school or college that we have here. We’re just trying to get them as familiar as possible with not only the staff, but with what it is that we teach here and trying to make it as comfortable as possible, the transition, for when they do start back up, whenever that may be.
Haines (Giants): We will stay in contact with them and introduce them to our philosophies remotely until we can get some clarity about what the fall looks like and if we will be cleared to bring the players into the Spring Training complex or Dominican Republic complex for workouts.
Will this layoff help or hurt pitchers or hitters more?
Picollo (Royals): It will hurt both groups, but the health of the pitchers moving forward is more concerning.
Getz (White Sox): Case-by-case, based on where players are in their careers, but I generally believe hitters will be hurt more.
Barfield (D-backs): It’s hard to know for sure. I would guess hitters because pitchers you can simulate a good amount of what you can do during the season, your buildup and facing local high school hitters or local professional hitters. Hitting, finding quality arms to go hit off of, it’s going to be really hard to simulate those 500 missed at-bats.
Haines (Giants): I would say the jury is still out on that one. My hypothesis would be that it might affect hitters’ skills more, but we also could see an uptick in injuries next season, especially on the pitching side of things if it is not managed correctly.
What sort of work can be done without access to facilities? What are some of the more creative workouts you’ve seen and/or implemented?
Picollo (Royals): From a strength standpoint, body-weight workouts have been used for the most part. We have been lucky for the most part with our players gaining access to weight rooms, batting cages and fields. Many of our pitchers have built mounds and we’ve seen ‘pens take place in open fields, alleyways and backyards. Basically, guys have done whatever needed to stay in shape and progress their development.
Getz (White Sox): There is a balancing act of not creating more stress or anxiety for the player due to lack of access, so we focus on creating workouts that the players can be proud of and feel a level of accomplishment when doing. Keeping the player in top physical condition is top priority, if a player has greater access to mounds and cages we then move toward mechanical, pitch development and swing-focused work and swing-decision development. Technology has aided us greatly with being able to “measure” incremental improvement along with live video for one-on-one sessions.
Barfield (D-backs): A majority of the players, at least with us, they’re in situations where they have access to a good amount of resources. That goes from fields and mounds, to even some of the Trackman and Rapsodo. Everyone’s in the same boat in the Minor Leauges. There’s a lot of Minor League players throughout the country and these guys are getting together from different teams, guys that they played college or high school ball with, they’re getting together and working out. It’s not ideal, but it’s something.
Haines (Giants): It has been impressive seeing how creative players have been through this. They are throwing into walls, building their own mounds or batting cages. It has been encouraging seeing some players who, despite the tough times, are staying driven and don’t want anything to stop them from getting better at baseball.
Moving forward, is there anything that you’ve done during the pandemic that you’re likely to add to your “normal” development process?
Picollo (Royals): No question. The use of Zoom will be a regular part of our off-season communication and webinars we have done with players to further educate them on pitch grips, game planning and other areas will be utilized. Many of the webinars we have already done will be in a library for us and used for years to come. I can see more in-depth individual meetings in the off-season becoming more of a regular occurrence now in addition to staff development with new technologies.
Getz (White Sox): This has really opened our eyes to new ways to stay in contact with our players and staff and we will undoubtedly use some of our newer practices in a normal environment. I also hope that the players have learned how to teach themselves and have taken greater ownership in their personal development. In recent years, players have become heavily dependent on others for development progress and through this time it has forced our players to dig deep into self-accountability. We will always be here to help guide and educate, but we want our players to learn how to be professionals and take great pride in their own careers.
Barfield (D-backs): Hopefully no more Zoom (laughs). I think we do a good job of communication and that’s something that through this, that’s all we’ve been able to do so far is communication with a lot of these guys. Just communicate more, we put together plans for each guy -- we have a player plan that we do each year and we’ll really dive into those and individualize them for each guy, that’s something that we’ll continue to do.
Haines (Giants): I would say we all hope in 2021 that we will not have to teach baseball on a Zoom call ever again, but instead have it in person where we can connect with these young men and help them grow both on and off the field.
While Flanagan didn’t answer the questions directly, he did share comments shedding light on Milwaukee’s approach:
“Some of the drills that players have learned during this period will end up being helpful to them in the offseason. Many of the tools that we had not utilized before -- including Zoom, and online workout libraries -- can be used post-pandemic to enhance our operations.
“The layoff will be especially difficult for pitchers. We are working through the best paths to build up their individual workloads so that they can be properly prepared for next season, whatever that ends up looking like, and this will likely vary from pitcher to pitcher so individual, tailored approaches are necessary.”