Maybe this hasn’t been the most exciting offseason for Nationals fans who hoped their team would return to making the kind of free agent splashes they used to make when they were annual contenders. But here’s some news that should make even the most disgruntled of fans smile: Pitchers and catchers report in eight days.
Yes, we’ve reached the home stretch of the winter. Spring training officially begins Feb. 12, at which point whatever roster the Nats have assembled will begin to prepare for the 2025 season. (Don’t be surprised if that roster changes over the course of six weeks in Florida, given how many holes still remain and how many free agents are still unsigned.)
This will be the Nationals’ 21st spring training all-time, and wow how mindboggling is that sentence. And it will be their ninth spring training in West Palm Beach, their home away from home since 2017 after a long stay in lonely Viera.
There are things about West Palm Beach that are better than Viera: The facility, the proximity to other teams, an airport that’s only 15 minutes away, lots of stuff to do in your free time. And, frankly, there are a few things that are worse than old Space Coast Stadium: More that separates you from the players, higher prices. But overall, it’s still a great experience, as most anyone who has been there will tell you.
If you haven’t been before – or if you haven’t been in a while – consider this your official fan’s guide to Nats spring training. We’ll break it into two parts. Tomorrow, we’ll focus on West Palm Beach and the surrounding area. Today, we’ll talk about the complex and what you can expect from a baseball standpoint.
CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches – it’s already had three names in nine years – is a huge, sprawling complex that includes the actual ballpark where the games are played, plus clubhouses for both the Nationals and Astros’ major and minor league rosters, plus six full practice fields and a 12-mound bullpen and large batting cages for each team. Believe it or not, you probably won’t even notice the other team is there, aside from the days they play each other.
There are essentially three different types of days at spring training: The workout days early in camp, days (or nights) when the Nats play at home and days (or nights) when they play on the road. The schedule varies somewhat between those three options.
The first 10 days of camp (Feb. 12-21) are the workout days. Pitchers and catchers must be there all 10 days. Position players are required to join them for the final five days, but many of them arrive early and hold informal workouts. These are the best days to see the guys up close and personal and to actually interact with them in a relaxed atmosphere.
Most morning workouts (which are free to attend) begin around 9 a.m., with some players trickling out of the clubhouse a little earlier than that. Following Davey Martinez’s daily “Circle of Trust” meeting – you aren’t allowed to know what they talk about unless you’re “in the circle” yourself – the players scatter among the various practice fields to begin stretching, playing catch and then proceeding with whatever drills are planned for that particular day.
Pitchers will throw off the bullpen mounds every other day, usually four at a time. Those who aren’t throwing on a given day will be rotating between practice fields running through fundamental drills. Good old Pitchers Fielding Practice, or “PFP,” as they like to call it. (Don’t be surprised if Mitchell Parker is required to do twice as many of those drills as anyone else, given his admitted defensive struggles last season.)
Those early camp sessions don’t run very long; pitchers might start heading back to the clubhouse by 10:30-11 a.m. if they’ve completed their work. Catchers will stay out there longer. And any early arriving position players will probably be out there later in the morning, as well.
Once the full squad begins workouts Feb. 18, the sessions will last longer, with infield and outfield defensive drills, baserunning lessons and of course batting practice. The last days before the games begin will include “Live BP,” in which pitchers take the mound on one of the practice fields and throw to a group of three or four hitters, giving both sides a chance to get comfortable with something that resembles game action for the first time since last year.
When the Grapefruit League schedule commences Feb. 22, those morning workouts will still take place on the back fields, including batting practice. You’ll have to start paying to park and for game tickets, but you can show up at 9 a.m. for a 1:05 p.m. game and watch all the workouts up close before heading inside the stadium closer to first pitch. For 6:05 p.m. games in West Palm Beach – there are a whopping nine of them this spring – the routine will be the same, just pushed back to the afternoon and evening. Look for players to emerge for the Circle of Trust meeting around 2 p.m. (Important note: The timing for any workout day can vary on occasion if there’s a team meeting inside the clubhouse. And another important note: If you’re coming to a day game after a night game, the start of the workout might be pushed back an hour or so to give everyone a chance for a little more sleep.)
Spring training games are quite relaxed affairs, especially the first couple of weeks of games when most regulars (if they even play) will only take a couple of at-bats and depart early, paving the way for a lot of young kids to play five-plus innings. Starting pitchers only go two or three innings, slowly building themselves up to five or six innings by the end of March. Veteran relievers may not even make their game debuts until March 10 or so. If you’re more interested in seeing as much of the big name guys as possible, come to the final week of camp.
Road games are fun, as well, especially because a road game against the Astros actually takes place right there in the same ballpark. The only difference: The Nationals will wear gray pants and bat first. Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, where the Cardinals and Marlins play, is only 15 minutes north of West Palm Beach. Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, where the Mets train, is a 45-minute drive north on Interstate-95. And an important note: Even when they play those road games, the Nats still hold morning workouts and BP on the back fields in West Palm Beach before boarding the bus. There’s no reason to show up early to the road parks, unless you want to see the other teams.
The only games the Nats play anywhere else this spring come back-to-back days March 13 and 14 against the Rays in Port Charlotte and the Braves in North Port. Both are on the complete opposite side of the state, a 3-hour drive that most regulars and veterans probably will not make.
So, that’s how it all works. It’s definitely worth the trip if you’ve never been, as I’m sure any of you who have attended before can attest. If any of you have your own bits of advice, please feel free to share them in the comments section. And be sure to return tomorrow for Part 2 of the series, in which we’ll talk about how to get to West Palm Beach, where to stay, where to eat and what to do when you’re not at the ballpark.