Manager Ron Washington committed to the team’s afternoon training schedule despite the team’s jet arriving at DFW Airport at 4 a.m. local time to acquaint his younger players with Globe Life Field.
Texas’s Arlington In the series opener on Thursday night against the Texas Rangers, the Angels may have appeared a touch hazy-eyed.
The Angels didn’t check into their hotel until almost five in the morning since their chartered flight didn’t arrive at DFW Airport until four in the morning local time.
At 1:30 p.m., the first team bus left the hotel for Globe Life Field.
Niko Kavadas, a rookie first baseman with the Angels, stated, “I was asleep at like 6 or 6:30.” It seems like I only had six hours and five minutes. After taking a shower, boarded the bus.
Before Friday’s game, manager Ron Washington stated he will allow his players to attempt getting some extra sleep. But for the game on Thursday, everything was set to go. It was crucial for the young players on the Angels, in particular those with no history at Globe Life Field, to get in some pre-game batting practice.
Washington stated, “[We needed to] come in here today and get a workout, and then we’ll back off tomorrow.” “You have to come out here, work up a sweat, and just go for it. Get a feel for the ballpark.” No justifications.
Fortunately, Wednesday night’s 10-1 Angels victory over the Dodgers at Angel Stadium lasted just 2 hours and 18 minutes.
Since this is Kavadas’ first visit to Arlington, it was crucial to obtain some BP swings.
There are players on the team who have never been to the stadium before, so they are unfamiliar with how the ball flies and how it bounces off the wall in different places, according to Kavadas. “That seems really, really important, and I can’t wait to take advantage of it,”
According to him, players cope with difficult turnarounds by planning ahead and possibly getting more sleep in the days leading up to the trip. By the way, Jack Kochanowicz, the starting pitcher on Thursday, was able to get a full night’s sleep because he boarded an earlier flight to DFW.
“You can tell when a day like this is approaching because it’s marked on the schedule,” Kavadas added. The plan is to get some sleep earlier and then catch up on some tonight additional sleep as well. So it’s being proactive rather than reactive and taking care of it before it happens, so when nights like these that are inevitable happen, you’ve got some sleep logged.”
WASHINGTON WANTS KAVADAS TO LET IT FLY
Kavadas is only in his third week in the majors, but he’s feeling more comfortable with every at-bat. The 25-year-old Notre Dame alumnus hit his second home run on Wednesday but has struggled for much of his first 13 games, batting .095 with four RBIs, 21 strikeouts, and three walks. Washington keeps reminding Kavadas that “a swinging bat is a dangerous bat.”
“And he does have a dangerous bat, he’s just got to swing it a lot more,” Washington said.
Kavadas has a .409 on-base percentage over parts of four minor league seasons.
“I told him at the major league level, if you don’t get it off your shoulder – because these guys are around the plate a lot, you don’t know the umpires – so if you see something, you’ve got to get a swing at it.”
Kavadas wasn’t in the starting lineup Thursday against Rangers left-hander Cody Bradford. Kavadas said he’s feeling more comfortable, especially with some of his former Triple-A teammates joining him in the clubhouse, such as Ryan Miller and Ryan Zefferjahn.
“It’s been good to have some familiar faces in the clubhouse and I’m getting comfortable with the staff and knowing everyone’s names and how everyone operates,” he said. “I think these last couple of weeks have been really, really good.”
His homer on Wednesday came on a 98.8 mph inside fastball on a 3-and-1 count.
“I was able to create a leverage count and get a really good heater from Bobby Miller on the inner half,” Kavadas said. “Yeah, it felt good to get the head [of the bat] out.”
The Angels want to see more of the same.
