LeBlanc: "I just want to play ball"

A world that no longer simulates normalcy during the coronavirus pandemic keeps tossing pitcher Wade LeBlanc in directions he couldn't imagine.

From a professional standpoint, he settled for a minor league deal with the Orioles on Feb. 3 after the Mariners declined his $5 million option. He made $2.5 million in 2019 and is supposed to earn $800,000 this summer if he's on the club.

The bonding process with teammates was interrupted in spring training with the March 12 shutdown. He participates in video calls with coaches and players as a way to stay prepared and in touch, but it isn't the same as daily in-person interactions.

LeBlanc is finding ways to keep his arm and the rest of his body in shape back home in Louisiana, but a home gym isn't the same as a Major League Baseball facility.

From a personal standpoint, LeBlanc makes certain that his family stays safe, and he joins wife Natalie in finding and utilizing educational tools for their two sons while schools are closed.

Through it all, as life slows down and the various uncertainties gnaw at him, LeBlanc maintains his passion for the sport. And he remains confident that the 2020 season will be played in some form. He hasn't given up on it.

"I think there's a lot of really, really smart people that are working on - I don't know what the right word is - cures, medications and shots for it. Working to get this thing under control. And I think we're going to eventually play at some point," LeBlanc said during a phone conversation earlier this week.

"Hopefully sooner rather than later, but it's kind of day by day at this point."

Waiting to play for his eighth team in the U.S. since the Padres drafted him in the second round in 2006, LeBlanc has heard the various ideas floated that would make the season possible. The scaled-down locations and realigned divisions. Perhaps with no fans and requiring some sort of social distancing.

Just hand him the ball and he'll adjust to the new setup.

"If you go into it with the understanding that it's not going to resemble a normal season in any way, shape or form, then I think your brain can expand to realize what we're going to have to do to get some games in if you want to," he said.

"I think for the most part, a vast majority of players just want to play baseball because that's what we do. Like for me, this is ... I was drafted in '06, so that's 14 years and it's what I've become accustomed to doing, and not doing it right now feels so foreign. I just want to play ball, and I think if you ask a lot of guys, to a man, they would all agree with that."

Ramping back up is expected to be harder for pitchers, and there isn't one plan or schedule that's going to work for everyone.

"I really think that I could be ready with probably three outings, ready to go five or six innings. But at the same time, you don't know what that spring's going to look like, you don't know where different guys are going to be at, just based on what they had access to while being at home. You kind of have to be cognizant of where everybody is as a whole," LeBlanc said.

"For me, it doesn't take me much. I can be ready in two weeks, but understanding what other guys might need is a big part of it."

LeBlanc appeared in two exhibition games, the last on March 4 in Jupiter, when he faced the Marlins and allowed one run and one hit with four strikeouts in three innings. Much of his work was done on back fields, the same as many other starters.

"With sim games and live BPs, I think I was about at 13-14 innings, somewhere around there, which I think for that stage would have been typical," he said. "I think I would have had two more outings lined up. One would have been four, one would have been five, so I think that would have taken me to about 21, 22, 23 innings. Somewhere around there, which is what a typical spring would entail.

"I wouldn't say that I was midseason form, but I think I was close to being ready to fire up a season for sure."

The flames were extinguished on March 12. Some players hung around the complex until it closed. Others made travel plans.

What might have lasted a couple of weeks, pushing back opening day, now places the season in jeopardy. Much worse, lives have been lost all over the world.

LeBlanc is huddled with loved ones in his corner of it, doing the best that he can under the latest set of unforeseen circumstances.

"I didn't even know what to think, to be honest with you," he said. "I knew the most important thing was to get with your family and make sure everybody was safe. That goes for players and people all around the country. That goes for everybody. But I didn't really know what to expect in terms of outlooks and all that stuff.

"I knew it was serious, so I just wanted to get home and get with my family and kind of play it out from there. But to be here in mid-to-late April and still not really having any idea of when we're going to fire back up, it's kind of crazy."