Ahead of Players’ Weekend, Major League Baseball is highlighting the off-field interests of its players.
Xander Bogaerts arrives at the ballpark several hours before any given day game. He’ll check in and get some treatment. Take a few swings in the cage if he needs them. But before taking any ground balls or playing catch on the field, he’ll emerge to a relatively empty outfield, soccer ball in tow.
And for 10-15 minutes, he plays soccer. Usually, he’s joined by one of the team’s trainers.
Sometimes he’ll be joined by a teammate or two. It’s typically sometime around mid-morning. The Padres are usually coming off a night game. He’s generally a bit sore.
“It gets you moving around, gets the blood flowing, gets you ready,” Bogaerts said. “You’re also not having to think about baseball for a minute, that helps sometimes. You can’t overdo it. But there’s muscles that it wakes up.”
Bogaerts didn’t play much soccer growing up. He was baseball-obsessed. His soccer fandom came mostly later in life. He represents the Netherlands at the World Baseball Classic. That connection turned him into a Bayern Munich fan, because of legendary Dutch winger Arjen Robben.
Bogaerts watches every Bayern game that he can. But his love of the sport runs well beyond just Bayern, and beyond the Netherlands.
A native of Aruba, another Dutch Caribbean island, Bogaerts was locked in on Curaçao’s run to this summer’s World Cup. After surprising the soccer world by qualifying, Curaçao turned in a respectable performance, given their stature on the international stage, even earning a draw against Ecuador.
“I’m thankful I was alive to see that,” Bogaerts said. “Because that’s something they’re going to be talking about forever.”
Bogaerts has also followed Lionel Messi’s career closely. He even waited outside a hotel for Messi when a connection said there was a chance the two would be introduced. It didn’t happen, and Bogaerts had to abandon the search after a couple hours.
Earlier this year, before the World Cup, FIFA called with a request. They wanted to interview Bogaerts for their website. He was thrilled to do so, and he answered questions about his love of the game, his favorite players and his fandom.
Then he was asked to size up the tournament.
“France has a dream team, right?” he said. “And Messi, he is probably my favorite player. … But I’ll still go with Spain.”
Uhh … in hindsight, he pretty much nailed it.
“Wow, I did, didn’t I?” he said, when reminded of those words.
And that’s the thing. Plenty of big leaguers enjoy soccer occasionally. Maybe they like the lifestyle. Maybe they’ll watch a few highlights. They’ll even watch the biggest games. But Bogaerts is a diehard, often awake early to watch Premier League and Bundesliga matches.
Less so during the season. And certainly less so since he moved to the West Coast. But Bogaerts says his soccer fandom is a way to relate to fans of the sport that he plays. He’s still very much a baseball fan. (Probably one of the biggest in the Padres’ clubhouse -- or at least one of the most in tune with the goings-on around the league and around the sport.)
But how much do you actually get to be a fan when you’re an active participant at the highest level? In a way, soccer gives Bogaerts a chance to tap back into that fandom. And when he plays in the outfield once or twice per week …
“I think you understand how hard it is,” Bogaerts says. “You see it, it looks so easy. A PK [penalty kick], that’s not easy. You see an open header, and it goes right in, that’s not easy.”
Probably not all that different from playing a smooth shortstop.
Bogaerts’ position as a professional athlete has earned him the opportunity to interact with plenty of professional soccer players.
He’s attended San Diego FC matches with Manny Machado, part owner of the MLS club. He spent time with Mexican soccer icon Hirving Lozano, who played at SDFC. He’s met Real Madrid fullback Denzel Dumfries, who is also Aruban. When Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge was rehabbing an injury, he traveled to Boston for part of that rehab, and he and Bogaerts connected, while Bogaerts was with the Red Sox.
He still hasn’t met Messi though.
“I was so close,” Bogaerts says, with a rueful laugh.
Maybe someday.