Player Perspective – Dean Baseball Pre-Season

Out of all the seasonal sports, spring sports has been affected the worst since the start of Covid. Especially here at Dean, the last 2 spring sport seasons have been cut short. Although I am currently a junior, I’ve only played a handful of games in my time here at Dean. That is expected to change this year as myself and everyone else on the baseball team are expecting a full upcoming season. As of now only the seniors on the team have experience of playing a full year. That means, we are definitely lacking the experience aspect of the team, but that is certainly not going to be an excuse or something we will look to blame. I can speak for everyone on the team. We are just happy we can get back on the field with all the boys and play the game we know and love. We all know that anything can happen, and one day the game we love could get stripped away from us like it has the last 2 years.

We have an extremely strong senior presence on the team. 15 out of the 42 kids on the team are seniors. For most of them, it will be the last season of baseball they ever play in their lives. As a junior, that motivates me to go 110% out there, knowing that I am going to be in that situation soon. And for the underclassmen as well, they have been extremely motivated by the seniors this year. Going through Covid really made everyone realize that you can’t take time for granted. It feels like just yesterday we were in North Carolina on our spring trip in 2020. At that time, we had no clue what Covid was, and the team was ecstatic that we were playing baseball in North Carolina. Flash forward to now, the team is getting ready for that same trip coming up in just a few weeks.

Although the weather has not been on our side, we luckily have been able to get a good amount of practices in. We have utilized Grant Field and also the practice facility at Gillette Stadium. Pitchers are starting to throw live, and hitters have been getting their swings and

fielding reps in. Our first game is March 2, and while it may seem like a few weeks away, we are taking every practice and preparing like it is tomorrow.