Ballplayers happy with the dry heat
When the mercury soars this high — well, honestly, most of the guys on Western Major Baseball League rosters finally feel like they’re at home again.
Given how the summer’s gone for a few of them, it’s already been a hot summer anyhow.
There were a few umbrellas in the stands at Athletic Park for Wednesday’s matchup between the host Medicine Hat Mavericks and visiting Edmonton Prospects, but the athletes themselves weren’t afraid the 36-degree Celcius (97 Farenheit) sun.
“Luckily the humidity’s not as bad as it is in Tennessee, you don’t feel like you need to jump in a pool of water,” said the Mavs’ Caleb Longley, who’s been as hot as anybody while hitting .458 in the past week. “With the humidity being down I think the ball’s travelling pretty good, I would say. The air’s a little bit thinner so I’m excited about that.”
Good hitting weather is expected through the weekend. As for those hot tips for how to deal with it, the Mavericks’ Americans provide what you’ve heard a million times before: Drink water, find some shade.
“Stay in the shade and drink water, that’s the best I’ve got,” said Blake Rowlett, another Tennessee boy with the Mavericks. “Your body stays a little looser, the ball travels a little farther, and sometimes when the sun’s shining you have a little more fun.”
While this all sounds great for hitters, there’s a flipside that Prospects pitcher Zaine FothThomas knows all too well. The 18-year-old from Edmonton had no trouble staying loose for his Tuesday start in Brooks.
All he did was no-hit the Bombers in a 7-0 win, exceptionally rare in baseball of any level but especially the WMBL.
“I find when you get higher in pitches, if it’s warmer it does stay a little bit looser,” said FothThomas, who struck out four and walked five. “But it’s dehydrating. Every single inning I chugged like three glasses of water. It’s key. It’s mostly getting your rest between games.”
Foth-Thomas gave credit to outfielder Derek Shedden for making a highlight-reel, home run-stealing catch in the second inning, plus a few key double plays by his defence including one to end the game after he’d walked two runners in the ninth.
Unlike Longley or Rowlett, who play every day, he also can’t claim to be on a hot streak although his 3-0 record and 1.54 earned run average might beg to differ.
The joke, of course, is that the Canadians on WMBL rosters are clamouring for the shade a bit more than their southern counterparts. Longley said there’s some truth to that — but it goes the other way as well.
“I can see that for sure, and I will say earlier in the year when it was a little bit colder, they were a little bit tougher than I was,” said Longley.
“Guys are a little more sluggish today, they’re feeling the heat,” admitted Mavericks’ Vancouver native Colton Wright. “It’s all about before you come here. You’ve got to get your water; it’s not about getting water here, it’s about the water you get in before. Before you go to bed, when you’re waking up, you’re trying to drive as much water into you as you can.”