Focusing on baseball
Working with players helps keep pitching coach Steve Foster from worrying about his brother The coronavirus has turned our world upside down, shaken it, stirred it and left us all a bit dizzy. But life goes on, and for the fortunate, work does too.
For Rockies pitching coach Steve Foster, now sequestered in Wisconsin, baseball remains central to his day. He texts his pitchers frequently, shares videos and coaches them from afar. Baseball also has helped relieve a heavy thought on his mind.
When the pandemic exploded, his brother, P.J. Foster, was on a United States Navy warship, on his way home and awaiting his release from the Navy after serving for 20 years. P.J. Foster was set to retire. But then crew members of another ship, the USS Theodore
Roosevelt, tested positive for COVID-19, and the aircraft carrier was docked at a naval base in Guam to test and isolate crew members.
That meant Foster’s 39-year-old brother was not finished with his tour of duty.
“He was recalled and is now back on a warship in the South China Sea,” Foster said Wednesday. “That’s as much as I know.”
So baseball is Foster’s outlet.
During a conference call Wednesday,
Foster outlined what the Rockies are doing to keep their pitchers primed for when big-league baseball might resume. Most of his communication with the pitchers has been through phone calls and text messages, but the Rockies have implemented a plan to ensure that pitchers are ready should a second spring training open.
“We have set up pods throughout our system, top to bottom, with our pitching coaches overseeing each of the
pods,” Foster said. “And we have started doing Zoom meetings this week.”
Foster has also organized and sent out YouTube clips and articles for the pitchers to see.
“Coaching isn’t just coaching on the baseball field. Coaching is life-coaching as well,” he said. “Sometimes life goes in directions we don’t expect, and we certainly didn’t expect this. So we are staying engaged.”
Foster said that Rockies pitchers, though isolated, remain active by lifting weights, getting in cardiovascular work and playing catch. Most of the pitchers are playing catch with one other teammate. For example, Kyle Freeland and Jeff Hoffman have paired up, as have Carlos Estevez and Antonio Senzatela, and Chi Chi Gonzalez and Jairo Diaz.
When Major League Baseball gives the green light for fullsquad practices to resume, Foster is confident that Rockies pitchers will be ready.
“It’s going to take a normal 2025 days to get guys built up enough to where you can play games,” Foster said. “The pitchers are all aware, through our communication, of what they need to be doing.”
A couple of players are going the extra mile to get ready. Freeland has purchased a portable mound, and right-handed reliever Scott Oberg already had one.
“I’ve actually had one for a couple of years now that I store in my garage,” Oberg said. “I typically use it for dry work in the winter, but now I’ve used it for a few bullpens in my backyard.”
Foster added that while many of his pitchers are adept at new video technology such as Rapsodo, and while some even have their own units, co-pitching coordinator Steve Merriman is available to consult with the players.
Still, long-distance coaching can’t replace the real thing.
“It pales in comparison to just seeing faces and laughing,” Foster said. “(But) the most important thing is that we are connecting, we are staying engaged, we’re encouraging, (and) that we’re finding out the information from guys and how they’re doing.”