Rojas hones skills while updating teammates

It’s 6 p.m., maybe 6:30, and Miguel Rojas is making his way to the backyard of his Pembroke Pines home. It’s a daily ritual most two months in the making.

There’s no baseball to play right now, no game on the horizon. It has been that way for nearly seven weeks since Major League Baseball went on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But that doesn’t mean Rojas is taking days off. Baseball will be back some day — maybe this summer.

So Rojas steps into his batting cage and takes some swings. His timing needs to stay right. His body needs to be ready for those eventual 7 p.m. games.

He fields groundballs. Defense has been Rojas’ strength for his entire MLB career. Now is not the time for it to start slipping.

He runs two to three times a week to keep his legs fresh.

“That has been keeping me busy and in good shape just in case we can play baseball anytime soon,” Rojas said. “I’ll be ready for it.”

When baseball does return, Rojas will be among the first to know.

Rojas is the Miami Marlins’ players association representative and takes part in the meetings between MLB and the union, which means he’s in the know about baseball’s developments for how the season could look when — or if — the

2020 season takes place.

It’s a role he takes pride in as a veteran on a young and still-rebuilding Marlins club.

He has a group chat that includes every Marlins player on the 40-man roster and the non-roster invitees who were still with the team when spring training came to a halt and updates them as frequently as he can.

“I want to be prepared in every aspect,” the 31-year-old shortstop said. “I want to give guys as much information as I can. At the same time, I don’t want to spread rumors. I’ve been trying to make sure that the news that I’m getting is completely