For nine months of the year — at least — baseball players dedicate the lion’s share of their time to their craft, whether that’s playing games or training or traveling between ballparks.
Their free time is precious. I wanted to know how ballplayers like to use those moments, so when I was traveling around training camps this spring, both in Florida and Arizona, I asked them this question: “What’s your favorite free-time activity?”
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Here are 15 answers.
Clint Frazier, Yankees outfielder
“Playing 'Fortnite' with this guy (Tyler Wade). I’ve been playing XBox. I’m not a big gamer, but it’s just a chance to catch up with the guys back home. It’s a good way for me to communicate with people that I might not text every day. I get to talk with a lot of high school friends that maybe I wouldn’t catch up with normally.”
Ben Gamel, Brewers outfielder
“Fishing. In-shore fishing, saltwater back home. Redfish, flounder. I grew up on the intercoastal waterway, so there’s a little hole near the backyard. I like to fish live bait, or paddletails, jigs and stuff like that.”
Kyle Freeland, Rockies starter
“Playing golf. I’ve got a 2 handicap. Been playing for quite a long time. That's my, kind of, release from baseball. Get my mind off baseball. In Colorado, I hit the ball pretty far. I probably venture to say I carry it about 320 to 330 in Colorado, and here by about 300 yards or so.”
Touki Toussaint, Braves pitcher
“Sleeping. I slept 14 hours last night. It was great.”
Cam Bedrosian, Angels reliever
“In the offseason, I like to duck hunt. I didn't get to do a whole lot of this year, for one reason or another. Just didn’t really get to it. Don’t really have any favorite kinds. Mallards are, I guess you could say, the trophy ducks. But I’m good with whatever’s there that day. It’s always fun to see what shows up that day. In different parts of the country, you get different birds. In Georgia, there aren’t a whole lot of ducks, so I’ll go more in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas. I was going to go out to Oregon, but ended up having to cancel that trip. Thought that would have been pretty cool, because I’ve never done anything out in the northwest like that. I’ve done it here in Arizona.”
Chris Iannetta, Rockies catcher
“Teaching myself how to play the acoustic guitar.”
Steve Cishek, Cubs reliever
“Probably golf. I’m around a 10 to a 12 (handicap). I’m better now than I was 15 years ago.”
Jo Adell, Angels prospect
“Love to go to the mall. Not to spend-spend, but take a walk around and window shop, all that. Back home in Louisville, I kinda bounce around and go everywhere. There are a couple outlets that are about 30 minutes from my house, but I’ll pretty much go wherever and look around.”
Anthony Rizzo, Cubs first baseman
“Something on the water. Boating. I like to be behind the wheel, to relax.”
Jonny Venters, Braves reliever
“Fishing. Here, it’s bass fishing. I usually hit all these Disney ponds. They’re full of bass. They’ll kick you off, but we just go to another one. I’ve been using a soft-plastic fluke, watermelon red. My biggest one is 11 pounds, on a golf course. I caught a 10.6 pounder on Lake Toho when I was in the minor leagues. Me and my dad were fishing. That was the biggest lake, legitimate fish. Golf course, I guess, is kinda cheating.”
Corey Ray, Brewers prospect
“Video games. I’m a PlayStation guy; '2K' every single day. And if I’m not playing PlayStation, I’m reading. I try to switch up what I’m reading, fiction, non-fiction. Whatever I hear that’s a good book, if I can get my hands on it, I read it.”
Max Muncy, Dodgers infielder
“Probably either video games or TV shows.”
Pat Neshek, Phillies reliever
“Probably just hanging out with my kids now. It used to be baseball cards, but it’s my kids now. They’re 5, 3 and 1.”
Cal Quantrill, Padres starter
“Lately, a lot of 'Fortnite.' Been playing since last spring training.”
Robert Stock, Padres reliever
“Playing 'League of Legends,' a computer game.”