Some Pros and Cons of Spring Training
By Derek McAdam
April 1, 2022
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Welcome to April! In just under a week, Major League Baseball will begin the regular season and fans will have seven months of baseball to look forward to after a lockout that could have potentially canceled several months’ worth of baseball, if not the entire season.
But this is not about the regular season. In fact, with Spring Training wrapping up, I wanted to list a few of the pros and cons that come with the “pre-season.” This can relate to the Yankees but goes for all of baseball in general and is not a list of all pros and cons.
Pro: It Gets Players Ready For the Important Games
There is no doubt that the big reasoning behind Spring Training is to get the players ready for the long season. Players have spent the past few months heading into February resting their bodies, getting any clean-up surgeries and continuing to condition for the next baseball season.
But if there isn’t a Spring Training, players would walk into the regular season looking sluggish all around. For some players, it even takes a few weeks of the regular season to get into the groove. Imagine if there wasn’t a Spring Training for these players.
This is an obvious pro that doesn’t need much of an explanation.
Con: What Do You Make of the Highs and Lows?
Some players have a reputation of having an excellent Spring Training, but then drop off once the regular season begins. If Major League players are not hitting the ball well against Single-A and Double-A pitchers, there may be a bit of a problem, right?
What if a player gets off to a rough start? Is he just trying to get the feel for the game again and has some hiccups along the way? It’s possible. He may even have an injury that he’s trying to work through or have to make adjustments against live pitching from last season.
The point I’m trying to get across is that statistics from Spring Training can be taken a little too seriously sometimes. Yes, we want to celebrate the highs, but we have to remember the competition the players are facing. We don’t want to always be too harsh with players at their lows, because it’s a time of getting used to the game again.
Pro: It’s a Showcase For Players On the Fence
There are always several players on every team that have a question mark next to their name regarding whether or not they’ll make the Opening Day roster. That’s why Spring Training is so valuable for these particular players.
Some players on the Yankees such as Clarke Schmidt, Marwin Gonzalez, Tim Locastro and Luis Gil are relying on solid Spring Training performances in hopes they will make the roster. But there will be around four to five players on each team that will see the disappointing day when it’s decided they will not make the Opening Day roster.
Con: There’s Always a Risk for Major Injury
This is always an issue if there is on-the-field competition, but it is a very big problem if a player cannot play for any amount of regular-season games because of an injury sustained during Spring Training.
This has been a major problem in football, where players sustain season-ending injuries during Training Camp or the pre-season and are forced to sit on the sidelines for the entire year.
While in baseball it is not as common to see major injuries during Spring Training, it is always a possibility. When this happens, there seems to be a cry to shorten the length of Spring Training. When emotions are running high, this is expected. But it’s not something that baseball is concerned about doing.
