'Surreal feeling': Infante relishing experience in Minor League camp

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Sammy Infante and his family had rented a house in West Palm Beach, an hour north of his hometown of Hialeah, for a Draft night party in 2020. At the time, Infante didn’t know how close he was -- literally -- to the next step in his career.

That evening, Infante was selected in the second round by the Nationals, whose training complex is located at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in the same city as his celebratory gathering. It was by coincidence Infante was nearby on Draft night, and it is by hard work he is there now for Minor League camp.

“It’s a different world of baseball [since the Draft],” Infante, 20, said on Thursday. “I’ve learned and grown so much as a young man and as a baseball player that it’s night and day.”

Infante is ranked as the Nationals’ No. 14 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. Last season, he competed in the Florida Complex League and slashed .215/.329/.364 with 26 hits, 15 RBIs, three home runs and a trio of stolen bases in 37 games. Infante split his time on defense at second base (136 2/3 innings, .969 fielding percentage) and shortstop (101 2/3 innings, .938 fielding percentage).

Facing other teams' top prospects was a valuable eye-opening experience.

“I was down here the whole year last year, and I learned to fight through adversity,” Infante said. “In my baseball career before being a pro, I didn’t really face too much adversity -- it was pretty much win, win, win, have a great time. Now here, I had some down moments, some really high moments that I learned a world from.”

This offseason, Infante applied tweaks to all areas of his game. From improving his hitting mechanics to enhancing his speed, increasing his strength to getting reps at second and shortstop, he approached his work with the goal of becoming an everyday player who will not miss any games this season.

“If there’s one thing I don’t want to do, it’s sit out and miss out on all the fun,” Infante said. “I just want to contribute to the team winning.”

Infante is utilizing the preseason camp as an opportunity to glean knowledge and advice that will help his game on the next level and beyond. The Nationals’ revamped Minor League player development staff consists of coaches who Infante, who grew up a Red Sox fan, admired in their playing days, including outfield/baserunning coordinator Coco Crisp and quality control coordinator Bill Mueller.

“It’s a surreal feeling,” Infante said. “I want to grab one thing I can learn from all of them and apply it to my game because they were where I want to be. If there’s somebody that knows how to get me there, it’s going to be them.”

Infante doesn’t have to look beyond the infield, either, for inspiration. Dee Strange-Gordon, one of Infante’s favorite players from his hometown Marlins, is in Minor League camp as well after signing a Minor League deal with the Nationals in December. Infante is waiting for the right moment to approach the big league veteran, who he described as “the sparkplug to start an inning.”

“I’m going to play it cool -- ‘Hey man, what’s up?'” Infante said. “But inside, the little kid in me is freaking out.”

For all the ways that Infante’s life has changed since being selected by Washington nearly two years ago, he has a familiarity in nearby friends and family. Prior to going pro, he had not been away from home for more than a weekend at a time to play travel ball. Now, he is still only an hour’s drive away -- that same trip he took to West Palm Beach for the Draft night party in 2020.

“It’s great,” he said. “It’s such an ideal situation.”