Ten Signs it's Spring Training

Spring training is the most democratic time of the major league baseball season. Not a single 25-man roster is set. Scores of players break camp with each of baseball’s 30 major league teams, hoping to make an impact, hoping to catch a break.

The sun shines and the fans chatter about their favorite (and their fantasy) teams. Like any baseball institution, spring training is all about routine.

Tonic's 10 signs that camp is unfolding as usual:

1. Hot Prospects Catch Hype

The dawn of a new season means our introduction to a new crop of tomorrow’s superstars. They may not all make big-league rosters, but spring training is a chance to leave indelible impressions. Last spring, Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters evolved before our eyes into a near-mythological figure. This season, check out San Francisco’s Buster Posey, Washington’s Stephen Strasburg and Atlanta’s Jason Heyward.

2. Veterans Trying to Hang On

The foil to the hot prospect-type is the familiar face looking for one last go-round. He has probably arrived in camp as a non-roster invitee — that means a team has made no real personnel or financial investment in him, they have simply invited him as part of their usual strategy of casting a wide net. The veteran hopes to resurrect a dead-end career, capture a bit of the old lightning, and maybe, just maybe, grab a spot on the end of the bench or in the bullpen. Outfielder Jacque Jones has not played in the Major Leagues since 2008. This year he attends Twins camp with the aim of making a team he once hit .300 with 27 home runs for.

3. Position Battles

For some guys, it’s not about making the team. It’s about making the startling lineup or rotation. There are plenty of slots left unfulfilled, and the battles for these roles are what make spring training more than just an extended warm-weather vacation. The Seattle Mariners have a crowded field seeking at-bats in the left field and designated hitter slots that includes future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and hot-tempered Milton Bradley. The Florida Marlins meanwhile, are trying to settle on a starting first-baseman and may wind up platooning lefty Logan Morrison with right hander Gaby Sanchez.

4. Spring Training Overseas

The Dodgers have made a tradition of taking spring training on the road. This season, the Dodgers will leave their camp in Arizona for a brief trip to Taiwan. A squad of Dodgers, led by manager Joe Torre, will travel to Taipei for a pair of games against a team from Taiwan’s professional baseball league the CPBL March 13 and 14. In 2008, the Dodgers visited China.

5. Weight Watchers

The roots of spring training extend back to an era before extravagant contracts and personal trainers. In the old days, major league players had to work a second job in the off-season just to get by. Spring training was necessary to work off the weight they might have gained in civilian life, and bring their rusty baseball skills back to up par. Nowadays, players spend the off-season practicing yoga, lifting weights and swinging in the batting cages. Nevertheless, the media’s obsession with player-fitness remains. Among this year’s early contenders for weight-loss champs are Yankee goofball Nick Swisher and Cub ace Carlos Zambrano.

6. Media Report about Nothing

It isn’t just ballplayers and coaches who descend on Florida and Arizona in late February; it’s legions of media professionals. Bloggers, beat reporters and television commentators shape the spectacle every minute. But in the early days of spring, not much is happening, and the hapless public is welcomed to heaps of filler. First, there are the momentous declarations that pitchers and catchers have reported and so spring training has officially sprung. And, then there are the Tweets about Joe Torre’s favorite movies.

7. The Superstar’s New Clothes

Spring training presents the first chance to see recently transplanted superstars in their new uniforms. Remember the excitement of Alex Rodriguez’s first spring as a Yankee? Or Pedro Martinez’s first with the Red Sox? This year it’s all about pitching. We get to see former Toronto Ace Roy Halladay don his red Philadelphia pinstripes for the first time, and former Philly Cliff Lee in a Seattle Mariner uniform. The Red Sox meanwhile, can’t wait to get new staring pitcher John Lackey suited up.

8. Fantasy Owners Work Themselves Up

You probably know at least one person who plays fantasy baseball. If so, you’ve probably also lost that friend for the entire month of March to draft (or drafts) preparation. Spring training for many fans means stocking up on large paperbacks filled with scouting reports, putting the final touches on the algorithm that will grant them Nate Silver-esque projection powers, or poring over rosters in search of that perfect sleeper pick. No Cactus or Grapefruit League sunlight here, just sweatpants and laptops and fluorescent light.

9. Unreasonable Expectations

The best part of spring training is that it offers a clean slate. That means fans of even the most hopeless team can, before the real baseball starts, hold onto hope for a competitive season. One friend of mine, a perpetually frustrated fan of the Kansas City Royals, and an otherwise very intelligent person, recently told me “You know, I think the Royals could really surprise some people this year.” Sure they could, Royals fan. Sure they could.

10. Unbridled Happiness

The flip side of unreasonable expectations is the unbridled happiness from which they stem. How do you know it’ spring training? Because baseball fans around the world are happy. Because for all the doubts about whether player A is healthy or whether player B is up to his increased role, the off-season is over. The conversation is about baseball again.

Nick Swisher & Matt Wieters photos courtesy Keith Allison via Wikimedia Commons; Kansas City Royals mascot courtesy Conman 33 via Wikimedia Commons.