Instrux!
Instrux!
More logistical challenges for Kyle Haines and Company
It’s September 18.
Which means, theoretically, Giants’ prospects could be gathering together for Instructional League as of today (other teams too, but who really cares about them!). And though that’s not happening today, Giants Farm Director Kyle Haines and his staff are no doubt hard at work — for the second time this summer — trying to craft workable logistics in an extraordinarily challenging environment that will allow them to claw back some development time from this COVID-damaged season.
Back on September 1, MLB sent a memo to all teams informing them that they would be allowed to host Instructional Leagues — and, perhaps more importantly, play games against other club’s Instructional camp minor leaguers — no earlier than September 18.
While the news was certainly welcome (for Farm Directors, developmental staff, and minor leaguers anyway), it also presented a host of new challenges that needed to be overcome quickly in order to create a safe and COVID-conscious environment in which to host young players.
So let’s walk through the requirements and the logistical difficulties they present to get an understanding of what Haines & Co. are now trying to accomplish.
Health and Safety Protocols
Consideration #1 — obviously — is to create a socially distant environment that discourages further spread of Coranavirus (especially given long-stated concerns on the part of health experts that the Fall weather might provoke another major wave). This means that regular testing will have to be set up for all players (with an MLB-approved provider) for at least two tests a week, as well as an initial intake test. There will also need to be safety provisions created for the player’s food and housing service providers, as well as bus drivers and any other support staff needed. Like the Alternate Camp site in Sacramento, there will be some kind of “semi-bubble” setup with the players staying in a hotel, taking meals together, transporting together etc.
One thing that will be different about the Instructional League site, however, is that in this case no proscribed limit of players is being forced on clubs. They will be able to invite however many prospects they feel they can safely have on site, in total, and at any given time — provided that MLB approves of their plan proposal. Ironically, if this situation developed next year the Giants would be in much better shape to handle it, as their brand new, spacious, facility at Papago Park is scheduled to be ready to open next March. As is, that option is probably not open to them just yet as construction is, no doubt, ongoing. That means the Giants, whose minor leaguers currently occupy what is, I believe, the oldest facility in the Valley of the Sun, will be at a disadvantage compared to other clubs in the Scottsdale area.
The Giants minor league complex just outside of Old Town Scottsdale — wedged between a tiny gym, a Tennis Center, a park and a running/biking path — is something akin to pre-renovation Wrigley Field without the charm. It’s small, it’s cramped, it’s old. There’s one small, window-less, low-slung brick building that looks something like a 50s era fallout shelter. In there are offices, classrooms, an indoor batting cage and dressing rooms. To get from that building to the fields, players and coaches have to walk along either a narrow path on the lower level, or an extremely narrow concrete walkway on the upper level.
Bathroom calls while out on the fields frequently force the players to use a port-a-john — a bracing experience for fans watching games or practices from a platform directly above the vent.
Almost no part of the facility gives the kind of expansive room that would help create safe COVID standards for a large amount of players. So to get the numbers onsite that I’m sure they’d prefer (you’d think the Giants would want to have some 60 players, giving them a pool from which to create two squads for regular games), they’ll have to get creative. As they’ve done in Sacramento, the Development Staff will have to create schedules for moving smaller squads of players through on a rotating basis for various small-group work, fitness training, batting cage or bullpen sessions, or defensive position work. And the coaching staff themselves will have to work long days to spend time with all of these groups. They’ll need to set up way-finding and directional arrows to move people through the cramped spaces efficiently and get them outdoors as much as possible.
They’ll also need to find a place relatively nearby to house all of the players invited. Obviously they’d hope to be able to do this in a single location and not have groups of players split around at different hotels, multiplying the number of people who would necessarily come in contact with the players (maids, laundry, food servers, etc).
And all of this will need to be thoroughly planned out ahead of time, written up and sent to MLB for official approval before players can be notified to come. Indeed, one would hope that they’ve already submitted plans to the head office, allowing them to get word to the players they want to invite to camp and get that logistical ball rolling.
Location
All of the above assumes that the Giants will be holding their Instrux at the Indian School Park facility. But I should note that they aren’t tied to that facility. MLB’s memo did give teams the option of holding Instructional League at their Alternate Camp site — so long as the Alternate Camp is no longer being used for the Major League Player Pool. That would cut down on logistical preparation considerably since many of the same issues have already been thought through and systems implemented at the Alternate Camp site. It also avoids the problem of getting the site in Scottsdale COVID-ready and staffed while much of the Development Staff is currently in Sacramento running the Alternate Site.
However, the Sacramento site also comes with one huge downside that, to my mind, makes it a non-starter. One of the most desirable features of holding a Fall Instructional League is the opportunity to give the minor leaguers some game experience that they’ve missed this year. In order to get that teams will need to have their Instrux sites near each other — as many teams do in the Scottsdale region. If the Giants sought to use Sutter Field in Sacramento for their Instructional League, they would cut themselves off from nearly all possible game competition — with only Oakland’s Alternate Camp Site in San Jose within hundreds of miles of them (and even that one not exactly convenient).
So let’s strike that option off the list. However, there is another possibility that might be able to help. The Giants major league facilities at Scottsdale Stadium finished a major upgrade of their own last winter. Could those facilities be put into use as a supplementary or alternate location for the Instructional Camp? Scottsdale Stadium and Indian School Park are just minutes apart by bus so it might be possible to create a dual location camp — although staffing two separate locations in addition to the Sacramento site (if the Giants continue through the major league post-season) could put a strain on the coaching staff.
Costs
One major difference between this year’s Instructional League and normal years is that MLB has mandated teams pay the players for their time at camp. The pay is to be based on the level players would likely have been assigned in 2020. Earlier this year, Major League Baseball announced that minor league player salaries would be raised in 2021, however the Giants had planned to go ahead and raise salaries this year. Presumably that means players at camp would be paid the new, improved salary rates:
$400/wk for rookie or short-season players
$500/wk for A players
$600/wk for AA players
$700/wk for AAA players
Teams must also provide housing and meal allowances to the players in camp. All told, Josh Norris of Baseball America has reported he’s heard the total costs will come to approximately $1 million per team (give or take, depending on number of players involved). And here’s where we get to a constant frustration with 2020 baseball. While the value of major league clubs isn’t going down any time soon, front offices don’t necessarily have $1 million in unbudgeted funds that they can tap for this purpose and not all owners are onboard with freeing an extra mil before they get to that sweet sweet pot of gold called “post-season money.” For owners like Ken Kendrick of the Diamondbacks, the dwindling chances that his club is going to see the post-season could well be dwindling his enthusiasm to fund a developmental camp as well. Norris said on a recent podcast he heard one team’s developmental staff initially said they’d hold a six-week instrux camp. By the next week there was doubt that that same club would hold any instrux at all. Between the cup and the lip comes the going to ownership with hat in hand and some owners may well end up saying: “No.”
Yeah, that’s where baseball is at these days. Billionaires don’t want to spend a million to help make their billion dollar investments successful. Too many owners just don’t seem to want to play the game to win. Hello! It’s frustrating. <Rant over>
That could end up being an issue for the Giants (who I assume will be willing to fund Instrux) because as said above, getting to play actual games is one of the biggest benefits the camp offers. If the D’backs, A’s, Cubs (to pick three examples of owners publicly doing the Mr. Moneybags pose, revealing their empty pockets) don’t come to town because ownership wouldn’t sign off on the cost, that’s three very conveniently located potential opponents gone missing. Once the Giants figure out their own internal health and safety protocols, getting together with the other clubs to hammer out a schedule of games is an entirely separate logistical headache.
Players
Another major difference between this year’s Instrux and previous years is the level of players coming. Normally, Instrux is for players at the low end of development. Rookie League kids, short-season kids, low A kids. Players who could really benefit from some one on one instructional time with coaches — this is the time honored raison d’être for Instrux. Because pitchers have already come off a long, wearying season, they are in shorter supply at a typical Instructional League camp and are treated gingerly.
But this year, with the chance to recuperate the reps that players lost with the season, I’d guess we’re going to see an older bent to Instrux than normal. High A, AA, even some AAA players could well be the focus of the camp. Players who are on the 40 man can not be invited to Instrux unless an official waiver is granted by MLB (on a case-by-case basis). But there’s every reason to believe that AAA vets like Jacob Heyward, Ryan Halstead, Ryan Howard and AA players like Jalen Miller, Sean Hjelle, or Rodolfo Martinez would be part of the camp.
One thing that isn’t clear is whether players can be released from the 60 Player Pool to attend Instrux or if those players in Sacramento (Heliot Ramos, Marco Luciano, et al) would have to wait until the Giants regular season schedule is completed to move to the Instructional Site. It’s also a question whether those players would be moved straight from one encampment to another without some break — but perhaps finally getting to play real games with their peers would rejuvenate their spirits.
In addition to the older vets, I’d guess a healthy portion of last year’s San Jose and Augusta players and a handful of the best players from Salem-Keizer and rookie league could be involved. Hopefully the Venezuelan players who have been living in a Scottsdale Hotel for the past six months would get to take part (including super prospect Luis Matos).
That’s a lot to work out and very little time (or, I’m guessing bandwidth) to do it in, but this is a huge opportunity to regain some of what’s been lost in 2020 from a developmental perspective. Good luck to Haines and his braintrust in getting this all put together and gleaning useful developmental time out of it!
UPDATE: Shortly after posting this piece this morning, The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard posted a podcast interview with A’s Farm Director Ed Sprague which filled in a few blanks. It’s worth listening to this interview in its entirety, but Sprague made a few important points:
Most teams are bringing somewhere between 45-60 players to Arizona
The A’s camp is going through Oct. 31 and they plan to get in 24 games and get players 60-80 game at bats
Some teams are going until late November to try to add games
Giants are bringing two complete squads to Arizona (which may well mean that at least some part of the Papago Park facility is ready to go)
Other Opportunities
Lastly, let me quickly mention some other potential routes for development that could be available to players between now and next spring:
Arizona Fall League: Early in the spring there were hopes that an expanded AFL could take place this year that could effectively replace the minor league season, with each of the 30 clubs getting their own developmental super team for the league. That certainly isn’t going to happen and at this point it doesn’t seem like even a regular AFL is going to be mounted either. According to Baseball America, front office folks say they haven’t heard one word about the AFL. And given that the league started on this date last year, that would seem to be a death-knell. Partly this is due to health concerns — typically players from four different orgs make up a team in the AFL, and some executives have expressed leeriness over such arrangements this year. But mostly it seems, once again, to come down to cost cutting from some ownership groups.
Winter Leagues: The popular Liga de Beisbol Dominicano has announced that it will hold a shortened version of its Winter League this year, starting November 16 and running, with playoffs, into mid-January. For Dominican born players, that could offer a valuable chance to get reps against solid competition. Traditionally, players are only eligible to play in the Dominican Winter League if they have made their full-season debut, which means that many of the Giants best prospects (Luciano, Canario, Toribio, Matos) probably won’t be eligible. But with likely no US players participating this year, it’s possible that more playing time will be opened up for young players like Franklin Labour, Sandro Fabian, or Gregory Santos (who could certainly use some reps!) who traditionally have a tough time getting much game action in the Winter Leagues.
Unfortunately, there is almost certainly not going to be anything available for the Giants many Venezuelan players (unless they are safely able to travel to the Dominican Republic) but it seems that some other countries are going to mount Winter Leagues. Panama has a winter league starting next month, which could provide opportunities for Panamanian natives like Jorge Garcia and Adrian Sugastay. I haven’t heard whether Puerto Rico plans to hold its Winter League (Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente) this year or not. Players from some of the smaller, less baseball-centric countries, as for instance Nicaraguan Ismael Munguia, may be able to travel to a nearby country’s winter league, depending on travel restrictions.Mini-Camps: The Giants have held a mini-camp for prospects for the past several years in January and may look to do so again. This camp, held in Oracle Park, is typically fitness and training based, and gives players an understanding of the kind of physical work that is expected of professionals. A couple of times since Kyle Haines has taken over the farm, the Giants have also held a short instructional camp in Scottsdale to get more on-field instructions in. I would guess that the Giants will want to hold a second, mini-instructs in January as well.
In addition, the Felipe Alou Academy in the Dominican Republic has held fall instructional camps for players in the Dominican Camp. Hopefully, the news that the Dominican Republic winter league will take place is also a signal that some camp activity can take place for the younger DSL players. This is purely speculative on my part, however. I’ve seen word from other teams that they will not be holding Dominican Instrux this winter:
Lastly, I’ll note that if it is allowed or at all possible, I’ll plan to try to get out to Arizona for some of either the Instructional camp or a potential January mini-camp and write up reports here — as well as minor league spring training. If I’m able to do any of the three, I’ll be writing reports from camp predominantly for subscribers only as I get this newsletter back to its original intent. You support will help me put together any such trips. I’ll let you know more about this as events develop.
This Date in History
2005: Needing a win to avoid elimination, San Jose jumped out to a 7-1 lead over Lake Elsinore and then clung on for dear life to claim an 8-7 win that evened the Cal League Championship series at 2-2. The Giants got a strong 5 innings from Jonathan Sanchez who struck out 6 and allowed 1 run. But Jesse Floyd allowed 4 runs while retiring just one batter in the 6th inning and it was white-knuckles from there on out. John Bowker swung the big bat, collecting three hits including a HR. Guillermo Rodriguez’s solo HR in the 6th ended up providing the deciding run. The Giants would take the crown the next night, sneaking out a 3-1 win despite being dominated for six shutout innings by future best-selling minor league author Dirk Hayhurst.
2009: The Connecticut Defenders staved off elimination in the Eastern League Championship series with an 8-7 Game 3 victory over Akron. Mike McBryde picked up three hits, Eddy Martinez-Esteve had three walks, and every hitter in the lineup contributed a hit or a run. Connecticut overcame a three-hit night from Lonnie Chisenhall and a home run from eventual series MVP Carlos Santana. The win just postponed the inevitable, however, as Akron claimed the crown the next night with a 10-6 win that included Santana’s second home run of the series.
2010: Brandon Crawford’s 11th inning Grand Slam boosted San Jose to a 12-7 victory over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. The Giants survived a titanic performance from 20 year old Mike Trout who blasted two home runs among his four-hit night. After splitting the first two games of the series at home, the Giants knew they had to take two out of three on the road to win the championship. This victory gave them a crucial game 3 win and a 2-1 series lead. They would win the title in five games with the deciding game also going to extra innings, where Charlie Culberson’s 10th inning Sac Fly would give the Giants a 7-6 win and their fourth title in six years.