The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
High-A manager’s first year has been eventful
DiCenzo among those preparing for workouts in Arizona
Captains manager Greg DiCenzo’s eventful first year in professional baseball has moved into a new, exciting phase.
On March 31, DiCenzo joined other minor-league managers, coaches, instructors and support staffers in reporting to the Indians’ complex in Goodyear, Arizona.
An estimated 150 players are expected on April 5 for the first on-field workouts of minor-league spring training.
“I’m totally ready to get out there and learn from these guys,” DiCenzo said during a recent telephone interview. “I’m also eager to learn how to get better as a manager and coach.”
Because of safety protocols enacted to combat the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, the start of minor-league workouts was pushed back until the Indians and other major-league teams broke spring-training camps on March 30.
For the next month, DiCenzo will lead his team through a rigorous schedule that includes workouts and games against High-A affiliates of the other major-league teams based in Arizona.
Although the roster for the Captains won’t be finalized until near the end of spring training, the list of players currently projected to begin the 2021 season wearing Lake County uniforms includes former Indians’ first-round draft picks Will Benson (2016), Ethan Hankins (2018), Daniel Espino (2019) and Tanner Burns (2020).
Benson is a power-hitting outfielder who spent all of the 2018 season and part of the 2019 season with the Captains when they were in the Midwest League. Hankins, Espino and Burns are right-handed starting pitchers.
“If we need to be out there 12 hours a day, fantastic. I believe that will be the attitude of all the players and coaches.,” DiCenzo said. “The biggest challenge we’ll have is tempering the eagerness of young guys who haven’t played baseball for the last year.”
As part of the re-organization of the minor leagues engineered last year by Major League Baseball, the Captains have moved up a notch on the developmental ladder and will play in the 12-team High-A Central.
They open the 2021 season on May 4 in Michigan against the Lansing Lugnuts. Their home opener is May 11 against the Fort Wayne (Ind.) TinCaps.
“I was going to be bummed if I didn’t get a chance to get to Eastlake,” DiCenzo said, laughing. “I’ve heard so many great things about the ballpark, the fans and the front office. It would have been a shame if the events of last year had kept that from happening.”
The “events’’ cited by DiCenzo followed closely on the heels of his hiring as Captains manager by the Indians in late January 2020. He was coming off a long, successful stint as head baseball coach at Division I Holy Cross in his home state of Massachusetts.
DiCenzo had been in Goodyear for just under one month, acquainting himself with the organization and working with minor-league players who reported early, when the looming threat of the pandemic forced the closing of all spring training camps on March 12, 2020.
“On March 13, I was on a flight back home to Boston,” DiCenzo said. “I left a lot of stuff behind (in Arizona). At the time, I thought we’d go home, things would calm down and we’d be back in a week or two.”
Of course, that didn’t happen. The pandemic deepened. Measures designed to slow the spread of the virus drastically curtailed a wide range of public activities. The majorleague regular season was shortened to 60 games and began on July 23. The minor-league season was canceled on June 30.
“That was such a sad day,” DiCenzo said. “We were hopeful, but the longer the situation dragged on, the tougher it got to remain optimistic. It felt like a slow death.”
It wasn’t until October that DiCenzo returned to Goodyear for a five-week stint as manager and instructor in the Arizona Fall League.
“That was huge,” DiCenzo said. “It gave me to become better acquainted with the organization and the players.”
During the long shutdown, DiCenzo said the Indians stayed in close touch with minor-league players in a series of virtual meetings, video conferences and individual contacts. Managers, coaches and instructors maintained a similar program on the staff level.
“Our goal was to minimize the gaps in development caused by not playing games,” DiCenzo said. “We all recognized there is no substitute for games. All hands were on deck. Everybody relished the opportunity. The players were challenged. Their days were quite full.”
DiCenzo said the enforced sabbatical from baseball gave him a rare chance to spend quality time with his wife of nine years, Klio, and their 3-year-old daughter, Nikoletta.
“Obviously, we all wish there had been a season, but there was a silver lining,” he said. “When it’s time to coach or manage, you put everything into it. Same with your personal life. I focused on being the best dad and husband I could be.
“The players got to be with their families, too, in a way that would have been impossible if we were playing,” DiCenzo added. “Baseball took a back seat.”
Now, baseball is back on the front burner for DiCenzo and the players in Arizona trying to earn spots on the Lake County roster.