Shelton 'fired up' for start of Summer Camp

PITTSBURGH -- When Pirates pitchers and catchers gathered for their first Spring Training workout on Feb. 12, manager Derek Shelton said that seeing everyone on the field at the same time “makes it feel real.” They’re not quite there yet, but Shelton saw real signs of progress again on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh players continued reporting to PNC Park for the club’s third day of intake screening and COVID-19 testing. While the club’s first official Summer Camp workout is set for Friday, some players were already cleared to take the field for live batting practice, bullpen sessions and defensive drills.

“It was nice to see people back on the field. It was nice to see guys back together, although it was in much smaller groups and away from each other,” Shelton said. “But there was baseball activity [at] PNC. That was something that fired me up.”

Shelton confirmed that the Pirates expect all of their players to report within the next few days, with nobody having expressed an intent to elect not to play this season. Shelton also said that everyone who’s been assessed since reporting to Pittsburgh is free of injuries that would keep them off the field.

The Pirates will continue the testing process over the next few days as players continue arriving, and even their first workout won’t look quite the same as it did at Pirate City in Spring Training. With 40 players in camp at PNC Park, the Bucs will split up into smaller groups to ensure social distancing and adherence to MLB’s health and safety protocols.

To maximize their preparation and productivity during that time, Shelton said the Pirates will mix and match those groups. One day, the first workout group might have an even mix of hitters and pitchers for live batting practice. The next day, it might include all the middle infielders for double-play drills. The day after that, maybe the entire starting lineup will be grouped together for team defensive work.

“We’re functionally trying to get different work done, and because of the fact we’re not all together at once, there may be something isolated time-wise we’re working on with someone specifically or maybe even a group of people,” Shelton said.

Wednesday brought a reminder of how different, and perhaps difficult, this process will be. While Shelton was sitting in the redesigned manager’s office at PNC Park, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf issued an order that masks must be worn whenever anyone leaves their home. Specifically, face coverings must be worn indoors and when outdoors and unable to maintain a distance of six feet from people who are not members of their household.

“We’re abiding by Major League Baseball’s protocols,” Shelton said. “Whatever Major League Baseball says we have to do, we’re going to do.”

Then comes the challenge of shaping the Opening Day roster and getting ready for the season with only about three weeks to do so. As soon as the Pirates feel comfortable about their pitchers’ health, they’ll likely begin simulated games and advance from there to intrasquad games. Shelton echoed general manager Ben Cherington’s recent comments that the Bucs hope to face another team in exhibition games before the regular season begins.

Shelton said Pirates management has a “general idea” of how the 30-man roster will look on July 23 or 24, but much of their decision-making process will be determined by health. Pittsburgh's coaches and athletic training staff have encouraged players to be honest about how they feel physically as they resume baseball activities.

“With a soft-tissue injury, we can lose you for four weeks, which is half the season now,” Shelton said. “So if you’re feeling something or you think you’ve got something going on, you’ve got to be honest with us so we can make sure we work from there.”

In the months since Spring Training was suspended, the Pirates have had to change their plans on multiple occasions. Chris Archer underwent season-ending surgery, as did Kevin Kramer. Edgar Santana was suspended for the season. Pitchers Steven Brault and Clay Holmes got healthy, as did infielder Erik González.

So you can’t exactly blame Shelton for not committing to anything before workouts officially begin.

“We have to make sure these guys come in and are healthy, because we know -- or have watched on video -- what they’re doing,” Shelton said. “But to be able to do our own assessments in terms of how their bodies are, then watching soft-tissue-wise what happens in the next three weeks are really important for those guidelines. That’s probably going to be the biggest part of how we’re going to do the assessment. Because of the evaluation we had in Spring Training and the fact that we were 19 games in or whatever it was, we have a pretty good idea of where we’re at.”