The trend, in the rapidly developing professional baseball world, has pushed hitters away from honing their skills on tees. To use a pitching machine instead.

Pandemics, it turns out, can moderate trends efficiently.

“One of the players reached out and said, ‘Can I get a tee?’ We said, “Yes, man!” ‘Kevin Reese, senior director of Yankees player development, said recently in a telephone interview. “Williams Ted Williams used to take gravel and hit him with a flying broom. Maybe that’s all we have access to, but if it helps you work on your eye-hand coordination, it’s great. “

Because the Major League Baseball prize depends not only on the path of the coronavirus but also on the ability of the players and owners to complete the deal, his future also requires beating. The blood of sports life, the minor league players, sit at home like all of us, their professional maturation experiences a short circuit. The team spent far more than they ever did on resources, from equipment to personnel, to gems that had not yet been cut. With the construction complex closed, many of these resources collect dust and receive salary deductions.

“This is the research and development side of the organization,” said Jim Duquette, former Mets general manager and vice president of baseball operations Orioles who now airs on MLB Network Radio. “This is one of the most important aspects of the organization, and every year is very valuable.

“As we know there is a very short time line in an athlete’s career when you can make use of their peak season. You take one, you miss one season of direct action, it affects you.”

It fell on people like Reese and Jets Banner equivalent to Mets (executive director of the club’s player development) to minimize that impact. To develop without the benefits of a minor league season, which is very unlikely to happen even if a major league campaign takes place, or has constant assets.

“Although baseball is lacking at the moment, we don’t believe in making excuses,” Banner wrote in an email. “There is always a way to improve, and we are responsible for being innovative and giving our players a safe way to do it until we can return to the field again.”

In the last few weeks, the Yankees and the Mets released 45 and 39 minor league players, respectively, the most unfortunate nod of the cost cuts that have been executed by many owners, even those with large markets. For those who survived the cleanup, the challenge to be better without being part of the team remains.

The Mets have used Zoom conference calls with their development staff and young players as well as one-on-one discussions to review and record activities, Banner wrote. Reese said that the Yankees had produced videos for their accusations, some variations were “pumping” and others gave lessons and reinforcement such as showing hitters in the past where he laid a hard pitch and followed by stroking friendly offers for doubles.

“We do everything we can to make the players more aware of what they need to do,” Reese said. “Beating, strength, and conditioning, mentality – each department is divided into groups. We have our Double-A hitting coach [Ken Joyce] work with our Double-A-ish bat. “

The mention of a minor-league level triggers the question: Is 2020 missing for children to only push everyone back one season? Players are set to play in Double-A this year and Triple-A next year instead will do the first in 2021 and the last in 2022? It doesn’t need to be that simple or simple, Reese said, explaining, “I think we’ve gotten better at scouting, better at evaluating the players we have. That’s a little less ‘Graduates level by level.’

“Not only,‘ Hey, this person reached .300. ’That,‘ What is the quality of each bat? ‘There are better opportunities to find out about those things. “

In addition, if at all possible for the major league season to occur, it is likely that there will be an expanded list of names besides reopening the development complex for young people.

“Let’s say the name list is at 35,” Duquette said. “Are you in some cases taking a child who you feel is not ready, but keep him around the main league team and get him involved in the intra-squad [games], put him on the list and activate the service time? You might be willing to give him a double-head exposure, “Let’s throw him there,” even though in a normal year you won’t do it. You might see a case like that.

“I think you will see the development cycle accelerating with some of these players moving forward because of the years we missed.”

We may also see fewer changes at both ends of the age spectrum. Veteran premier league players towards the end, after receiving less than expected salaries and not enjoying a full campaign, can choose to return for 2021. Some leading high school seniors, recognizing the reduction in rounds and funding in amateur designs this year, opt out of this past Sunday amateur draft, committed to college and hopes the beach clears the way. Latin American amateurs and Asian professionals, reading tea leaves from a devastated economy, can wait a year before shopping on their own.

Right now, the team and players are doing the best they can. That some players can perform better than others depends on their socioeconomic status – whether their parents can afford to buy the beating cages or pitching machines mentioned earlier in their homes, for example – further underlines the concerns created at industry foundations.

The only saving grace: Every club is handcuffed equally.

“It would be one thing if there was only one organization behind 8-ball,” Reese said. Any team that can solve this unexpected puzzle will reap the rewards of development.