The nature of the MLB lockout prevents players from using their team’s facilities to train or rehab. A couple of New York Yankees players, therefore, have been using high school fields to keep themselves in top shape, per the New York Daily News.
Yankees infielders Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela had to pick up their things and leave a HS field around noon, because there would be a game there in a few hours. It’s not an ideal setting, but they are just happy to be training.
“We’ve been working out here [all offseason],” Urshela said to Kristie Ackert after fielding some grounders and hitting on the field. “We’ll just keep doing it. We want to play, we’re ready to go. We can’t just be sitting on the couch. We have to keep ourselves ready.”
On a normal year, pitchers and catchers would have reported to camp by now. But MLB owners and players haven’t come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), so the lockout is still in place.
The Yankees’ third baseman “just wants to play”
For the Yankees, the first spring training game is on February 26, which is nine days from now. That date is in serious jeopardy.
“We just want to play. Hopefully, the negotiations will move [along],” Urshela said. “We want to get back.”
“It’s like 2020. That helped us [figure out] how to do this now, for sure,” Urshela stated.
Urshela was asked how long do players need to get in shape for the new season. “I think four weeks would be OK,” he said. “I am ready to go now, but four weeks for everyone.”
That timeline means that there is still some time for the league and the union to overcome their considerable differences in negotiations, but time is quickly running out. The Players Association will reportedly make an offer today.