How Missouri baseball players are coping without baseball

The last time the Missouri baseball team took the field was March 11. Over a month later, it’s a whole new world. 

Because of the growing concerns about the coronavirus, classes were switched to online only and the rest of the season was canceled. The Tigers were on a seven-game win streak and playing the best baseball they’d played all season. Now it isn’t even safe for the players to all gather together.

Keeping in shape has been difficult but not impossible for the athletes. With some of the players back in their hometowns and the SEC prohibiting in-person team workouts, some have been getting creative.

“We’ve been doing some weird stuff,” junior pitcher Ian Bedell said. “Me and Trae Robertson go to Hickman High School and we throw there. And then they have this squat rack with no bars, so we squat the entire rack, and then we put tires on the side of it and then we do tire flips and chin ups.”

Others have access to gyms or batting cages for more traditional workouts.

“I have a family friend who has kind of like a little gym, I guess you could say, with a bag. You’ve got workout material so I’m able to work out and I’m able to hit,” junior Clayton Peterson said. “I’m kind of fortunate enough. I know a lot of people don’t have that option, but I’m lucky.”

“I sometimes go the cages by myself, but social distancing prevents me from working out with other people,” Josh Holt Jr. said.

While the team isn’t allowed to work out together right now, the close bond it's built this season remains.

“We talk pretty much every day.  We have a group chat. It’s the entire team, we talk with them,” freshman pitcher Shane Wilhelm said. “We have meetings with our coaches on Zoom so everyone just keeps in touch.”

They also play video games together.

Just like everybody else in the world right now, the players are watching more television than ever before. Several of the players are using this time to watch replays of some of their favorite games.

St. Louis native Peter Zimmermann has been reliving his favorite St. Louis Cardinals moments. Growing up, Albert Pujols was Zimmermann’s hero, and he still is.

“I watched the 2005 NLCS Game 5 when the Cardinals beat the Astros and Pujols hit that monster home run on Brad Lidge on a slider. That was one of my favorite games,” Zimmermann said. “Obviously I watched Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. Just an absolute classic. And then the other one, just the Game 7 of the 2011 World Series because I actually was at that game. It's fun to watch it because it's a different perspective almost.”

Along with classic Cardinals games, Zimmermann has also been re-watching the St. Louis’ Blues Stanley Cup run from last season.

Holt Jr. has been re-watching the 2016 NBA Finals, in which his favorite team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, beat the Golden State Warriors.

Besides sports, players are also filling their time with movies and television shows. The most talked about show on social media right now is Tiger King. While Wilhelm has watched it already, Zimmemann hasn’t bought into the hype yet. 

“I kind of wait until the hype dies down and then I start watching it,” Zimmermann said. “I was about to start watching Game of Thrones finally.”

While all these things pass time, they don’t completely distract the players from missing baseball. 

“(Being around family) helps a lot,” Holt Jr. said. “If I was doing this by myself, I would be going through it. I would be really sad if it wasn’t for my family.”

Knowing that they’re staying safe and helping others to stay safe helps fill that baseball-shaped hole in their hearts too.