A few days before the regular season let out, first-year first baseman Josh Bell circled the Pirates clubhouse and asked veterans about their offseason routines. He was heading home to Dallas for the winter, and he didn’t want to get rusty. Perhaps the best piece of advice Bell received was this from corner infielder David Freese: “You don’t want to get in a slump in the offseason.”
And so Bell, 24, barely has taken a break since the season ended. In the garage, he takes cuts on a Hit-A-Way swing trainer — “taking swings without the results,” he says — and pelts a punching bag.