Major League Baseball: Spring Training

We are in the middle of March and that means spring training for major league baseball. Each team has a spring training facility in either Florida or Arizona since many of their hometowns are still a little cool this time of year. Spring training begins around the end of February and ends in April when the regular baseball season begins.

Spring training is the time for the teams to get back into shape, work out the kinks, and try out new players who have moved up from the minor league "farm teams". You may hear that a minor league player was "invited" to spring training. This means that the major league team is trying him out to see if they want to keep him or put him back down into a minor league team. Also. during spring training the teams play each other in preseason games that equate to scrimmages. These games don't really count that much, but each team gets practice and they can check out the other teams.

Each major league team has one or more minor league teams for up and coming players. These minor league teams are designated as AAA (the highest level), AA (the middle of the road), A (a lower level) and the rookie league (right out of high school or newly drafted). While players can move directly from AAA to the major league team and back again, it is not unusual for players to skip up or down more than one level at once. For example, if Johnny Shortstop is playing on a major league team and he starts playing really bad or if he is injured, he could be moved to a minor league team for more intensive training or to rehabilitate an injury. On the other hand, if Joe Outfielder is a young kid who is the best thing since sliced bread, he probably will be able to skip some of the minor league levels and go straight to the major leagues.

Spring training is the time that the guys start getting really excited about the beginning of baseball season. They will debate about what player was traded to which team, who is the best team or player and try to predict which teams will win the most games. Every baseball fan's dream is to attend a spring training game to get a jump on the season.