PEORIA, Ariz. – More than 150 Seattle Mariners minor leaguers gathered before their first spring training workout Saturday morning to hear the usual spiel from team officials.
“It’s mostly just rules and procedures and introductions of people,” said Benny Looper, the Mariners’ director of player development and scouting. “We make sure they’ve all been verbally told what they’ve been given in written form.”
Covering everything from the commissioner’s drug policy to dress codes on and off the field, there was plenty for the minor leaguers to remember.
Do this. Don’t do that. Get to bed by midnight. Don’t pluck chickens in the hotel.
Yes, the club must get specific, based on events of the past.
A list of 32 rules hangs on a bulletin board in the minor league clubhouse and, while it doesn’t specifically mention chickens, there is a reference to “no animals in the hotel.”
That one was needed several years ago after some players decided to pocket much of their meal money and buy live chickens from local farmers. They would pluck the chickens off the hotel balcony, then cook them in their rooms.
That’s also connected with another rule, “No hotplates in hotel rooms.”
Many of the rules deal with what time to show up for workouts and how the uniform must be worn.
No. 32 may be the last on the list, but players have learned over the years never to take it lightly: 5.0-second rule is in effect for spring training and the regular season.
A five-second rule, as in food that falls on the floor for less than five seconds can still be eaten?
Not quite.
“In a game, they’ve got to get to first base in five seconds at a minimum,” Looper said. “Ground ball, fly ball, it doesn’t matter. There are a couple of exceptions, guys who just can’t hardly run at all. We’ll give them a little leeway.”
For those who can run, the consequences can be severe.
Those who violate the five-second rule are required to attend Roger Hansen’s Breakfast Club the next three days.
“You don’t want to go to Roger’s Breakfast Club,” Looper said.
Roger Hansen, the Mariners’ minor league catching coordinator, runs those sessions at 6:30 a.m., running players to the point that they’ll never forget the five-second rule.
“Oh yeah, I know all about it,” said infielder Matt Tuiasosopo. “I had to go twice last year, although I still think I got cheated the second time. I was running down to first base and I swear they started the clock early. I know they did, because there’s no way it takes me longer than five seconds to get to first base. I think there was a conspiracy.”
And how was his exposure to the Breakfast Club?
“Roger sits in his little cart and drinks coffee and makes us run around the field,” Tuiasosopo said. “He must have been in a good mood the morning I had it because I only wound up running around the field five or six times.
“But it’s not something I want to do again.”
Mateo family tragedy: Relief pitcher Julio Mateo left the team Saturday to join his family in the Dominican Republic, where his older brother, Manuel, was killed Friday night in an automobile accident.
Mateo, who was supposed to pitch Saturday night, immediately went home to Bani, Dominican Republic, and will remain away from the team for an undetermined amount of time.
Rain dance: With little hope of the day-long rain ending, Saturday night’s game against the Royals was called off nearly two hours before the scheduled first pitch.
The M’s had wanted to push the game back to tonight, which would have resulted in another split-squad doubleheader, but the Royals already had scheduled a B game to get work for their pitchers.
The Mariners, who were working to reschedule the game, said fans with tickets to the rainout could exchange them for any remaining M’s home spring training game at the Peoria Stadium box office. Fans also were being offered refunds from the stadium box office or Ticketmaster.
The Mariners have two more split-squad doubleheaders scheduled, March 23 against the Cubs in Mesa and Diamondbacks in Peoria, and March 30 against the Padres in Peoria and Dodgers in Las Vegas.
Wild things: Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said last week that he probably would gather the pitchers together for a talk about throwing strikes if their wayward ways continued.
After Saturday’s 12-11 victory over the Diamondbacks, it might be time.
The Mariners walked nine against the Diamondbacks, bringing their total to 52 walks in 78 exhibition innings. Add the 122 hits they’ve allowed, and that’s a whopping 174 baserunners.
That helps explain a team earned run average – 10.62 – that is the highest in baseball.
Of note: The rain Saturday actually came at a good time for the M’s minor leaguers. Because the major league team was playing Saturday in Tucson, the indoor facilities – multipurpose room and batting cages – were available to the 150 minor leaguers for their first full-squad workout. “We got some good out of the day with the limited facilities we had,” Looper said. … The Mariners say tickets remain available for every game on the home regular-season schedule, including the opener April 3 against the Angels.
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