Happy March! Washington Nationals Opening Day is four weeks from today — 28 long days to go — the dog days of spring training.
This spring has been pretty quiet (CSN Washington) since the roster is pretty much set.
There are a few interesting things though, like this article about extensive vision training: Washington Nationals go beyond the eye chart with vision training (The Post).
While few major league teams offer extensive vision training, the Nationals are hoping to further incorporate it. Players such as Bryce Harper, Steve Lombardozzi and Brown swear by it. This season, the players will have an extra training room at Nationals Park where they can have easy access to the equipment and integrate it into their daily workouts. By this time next season, the Nationals hope to have all minor league players in Class A and Class AA under vision-training programs.
“We think that it’s the next frontier of improvement,” General Manager Mike Rizzo said. “It’s part of our player development, it’s part of our strength and conditioning. We condition the eye as a muscle and Keith does a lot of innovative and cutting-edge stuff.”
Have the Nats found something that nobody else has? If they did, pretty soon everybody is going to do it, but they have a head start. In theory, this is an excellent development by the team. Still, as recently as last spring I was wondering aloud….
You know that *skepticism* we have of Rick Eckstein and the team doctors/trainers? I have that for the #Nats optometrist too.
— William F. Yurasko (@doubleuefwhy) May 10, 2012
OTHER STUFF
In case you had forgotten, Stan Musial reached out to Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper (Post-Disptach).
Since I have never had a ticket plan, this new Nats plan holder card is a big meh for me. Good write-ups by Dan Steinberg though.
Oddly enough, I have bought less Nats merchandise this offseason than in previous ones, though that isn’t the case (DC Sports Bog, The Post) with others.
Two videos form last week from CSN Washington are worth watching:
First, Jayson Werth:
Second, Ryan Zimmerman:
There was a Thomas Boswell chat today too.
Opening Day is in 28 days…
