Lakeland, Fla. — It had been raining throughout Monday night and into early Tuesday morning at the 80-plus-acre Tigertown complex. Now, with the mist gone, a cool, not cold, front had moved into central Florida, bringing a crisp wind, 60-degree mercury, and a patchwork of blue/gray skies as more than 100 young baseball players lined up on practice fields in dark blue jerseys with blue shorts trimmed in Tigers orange.
They stretched and sprinted on fields named after Tigers royalty: Gehringer, Heilmann, Cobb, Gehringer, and Kaline. Prodded by strength-and-conditioning gurus, the players — prospects from Christin Stewart, to Beau Burrows, to Jose Azocar, to Venezuelan and Dominican teens — executed leg-kicks and exaggerated hops, while some were sent on long jogs around the perimeter.