Manager Dave Martinez leaves nothing to chance at the Washington Nationals. And so on Saturday he even had the trott of victory trained after a possible walk-off homerun.
Bryce Harper simulated a swing, flipped his imaginary racket, pointed his fingers at the spot where his dugout would be and started trotting for the bases. In support of this, the 100 fans in West Palm Beach/Florida simulated the ecstatic jubilation at the end of a game.
“It’ll happen,”Martinez assured his players:”One of you will beat a walk-off homerun.”
The Nationals first trained Base Running, then went to the Batting Practice. But before that, every positioner was allowed to train his trott once. In the previous year, Nationals beat three walk-off homeruns and had a total of nine walk-off victories.
“I told the players that, like everything else, if we work really hard, they should have fun,”Martinez told reporters.
It was not the first unusual action Martinez had devised for his new team. A few weeks ago he had invited camels to the training complex to contribute to the motivation of his team. This year Martinez succeeds Dusty Baker, who managed Nationals in 2016 and 2017.
This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.