The plan Lars Nootbaar and a few friends had was to find some batting cages – even if they had to hop a few fences, slip in during off hours – and use their time without games in 2020 to “start from scratch,” build their swings from the bat up.
“You have what’s another long offseason knowing that the minor-league season was going to be canceled so we had this chance to focus and get a lot of time to work,” Nootbaar said. “Doing body movement specific stuff, trying different bats, testing everything out, and swinging harder.”
Fences hopped in 2020 have become levels leaped in 2021.