Minor Leaguers Look to Stay Sharp After Season Gets Canceled

Minor Leaguers Look to Stay Sharp After Season Gets Canceled

Hey good evening everyone..

Well normally the fourth of july and america's pastime go hand-in-hand..

Every year here in fort wayne, we see thousands of people flock to parkview field to celebrate the holiday by taking in a baseball game..

Unfortunately we won't have that option tomorrow..earlier this week, the m-i-l-b officially pulled the plug on the 2020 season, leaving minor league players in a precarious position..

Petar hood has more... andrew saalfrank: i'd definitely say like disappointment.

It was kind of one of those things where we knew it was going to happen, but it was one of those things where you didn't want it to be true i guess."narr: unfortunately though, it is ture.

There will be no minor league baseball this summer.

It's a reality that's still setting in for players like andrew saalfrank.

This would have been the heritage high school grad's first full season of pro ball, but the pandemic has put that on hold.

Saalfrank: "the lost year of seen development i guess by the team.

And it also messes things up, because i am technically qualified as an older guy in a baseball organization, compared to the 16 year old guys, the 18 year old high school kids.

So it defintely hurts the college guys i would say."narr: for youngr guys like former tincap blake hunt, time is a little bit more on their side, but make no mistake..

Losing a season still hurts.

And for hunt, it's meant having to find different ways to fuel that competitive fire..blake hunt: "at the beginning of this, i played a lot of mlb the show on playstation.

That was my fix.

My parents actually were a little bit upset.

I was playing for six, eight hours a day, because i had nothing else to do, and i just wanted to get that fix."

Narr: recently though, after essentially being on lockdown in his home state of california for several weeks, hunt has been able to get back out on the field..hunt: "i would say that's about three weeks ago now, two or three weeks ago that everything opened up.

That's when i started to be able to catch bullpen, and start hitting off pitchers to get my timing back, so we're kind of easing back into things.

I think most pitchers and catchers and position players are in the same spot right now."narr: yeah, saalfrank is also staying active with his craft back here in the fort wayne area.

Of course neither guy was invited to their respective major league camp.

But both are trying to stay sharp in case they do get a call at some point this summer..saalfrank: "for right now, it's just like the what-if scenario.

Like don't be that guy that's not ready if you're called on, so that's pretty much what it is.

Just..

What if they need me?

And like i said, you don't want to be that guy that's not ready."

Narr: in fort wayne, petar 3 hood, fox