The Royals are practicing on the children’s playground at Kauffman Stadium
During Thursday’s summer camp at Kauffman Stadium, there was activity all around Kauffman Stadium.
While Jakob Junis, Kris Bubic and Stephen Woods Jr., threw live batting practice on the field, both bullpens were in use and players ran the stairs in the stands. All the while an eclectic playlist, including Bob Marley, Eric Church, Dr. Dre and Steve Winwood, provided a soundtrack for the day.
Because the Royals are holding summer camp with 60 players at Kauffman Stadium, manager Mike Matheny is utilizing every area of the ballpark while maintaining social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re trying to make the most of the space we have without getting guys on top of each other,” Matheny said. “We’ve been so conscious of not having guys in the outfield while we’re hitting. ... It’s just trying to maximize the space.”
That includes taking over the playground area in the Outfield Experience.
At the Little K, Royals pitchers have been doing fielding drills off a regulation-size mound that was installed by groundskeeping director Trevor Vance and his crew.
“They set anchors in at 90 feet, which basically takes it all the way out to almost the fence, but we’ve got a little room there,” Matheny said. “We knew we were gonna have trouble with the guys that weren’t throwing, it wasn’t their day to pitch.
“We’ve got four different cycles up top. While on the concourse, we’ve got two cycles on the Little K to where you can get on first base but also just working on ground balls. And then there’s a long turf part where we’re working on comebackers with some of the rag balls or puff balls.”
The pitchers also have gotten a taste of what it was like to play in the 1970s and 80s when the park was known as Royals Stadium.
“That turf gets hot as you guys all remember how it used to be here. It’s that kind of old school turf,” Matheny said.
“We’ve been trying to work through and get them in the shade where we’ll talk about signs and go through some of the pickoff plays or some of the team fundamentals, because it gets really hot up on that concourse when were out there for a long time, but it seems to be working.”
It’s yet another example of the unique nature of baseball in 2020.
