Routine matters in baseball, even before the game starts

By Sean Rooney on August 8, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

There’s Sal Rodriguez, serious look on his face, headphones on, sitting in the first seat of the first row in section C.

Go around to the patio at Athletic Park 90 minutes before game time and there’s Jared Libke, arms on the rail, staring out at the field. And Jaxson Hooge in one of the patio seats, talking to his girlfriend on the phone.

You can count on these little things like clockwork, day-in, day-out. Pre-game routines might not be the key to success on the surface for the Medicine Hat Mavericks, but they’re important in their own right.

“Here at Athletic Park I like to have my own little routine,” says Rodriguez, a couple minutes before heading to his trusty spot in the stands. “I know batting practice is going to end at a certain time.

“When I sit there I go through at-bats in my mind, envision myself having good at-bats and hitting the ball well.”

What’s he listening to? A mix of stuff but mainly hip-hop and rock. “It varies on the day,” he adds.

In a Western Major Baseball League season where they’ve played more than 50 games in two months, consistency is key. So the pre-game rituals should be, too.

Colton Wright’s always near the dugout on a chair listening to rap before the game. A group of players head out for a bite to eat.

It’s not just the players, either. Here comes fan and gate staffer Mazn Precoure, rolling his wheelchair to every Mavs player he can find and shaking their hands. He wants to spread good luck.

Back in the dressing room, Rodriguez will wait for Nolan Rattai’s cue before getting his gear on. And Sean Cruz regularly cuts the hair of teammates, noting he’s done five ‘dos in the past day alone.

“Everyone has their own superstition,” says Cruz, who got started as an unofficial team barber when he was a college sophomore. “For me it would be getting the guys looking right, good vibes in the clubhouse and a lot of laughs, keeping it easy.”

And then there’s the football. Known for decades as a good non-baseball tool because of the similar throwing motion, tonight there’s a half-dozen Mavs tossing around the pigskin.

Rodriguez says pitcher Jonathaon Smithey has the best quarterbacking attributes, though pitching coach Kyle Swannack gets a nod, too.

“He has a great spiral, it’s nose-down, perfect,” Rodriguez says of Smithey. “It’s more of a fun thing, it gets your mind off of the game just a little bit where you feel you can relax and get ready to play.”

Ultimately though, it’s a long season and you’ve got to do something before the games start. With the league’s best regular season record, at some point those routines can start to become superstition.

“It really didn’t start as something I was going to do every day, but I started hitting better,” says Rodriguez. “It was more a mental thing.”

Whatever works.

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