Baseball Bat Spends Offseason Smashing Pinatas

It’s common knowledge at this point that athletes really never have an “off” season. The off-season now is all about improving for the next season, and it’s no different for the Atlanta Braves star bat who spends most of the offseason smashing pinatas.

The preferred weapon for Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna likes to leadoff the offseason mostly resting after the long and taxing batting average. For the first several weeks, it’s all about building the hickory back up and recovering.  

“It’s remarkable the work that gets put in,” Freeman said. “Some cut corners and just cork it, but in Atlanta we aren’t afraid to choke up and put in the necessary designated hits.”  

After a few weeks of recovery, it’s time to play hardball and jump into a strict and healthy diet with a goal of staying, strong, hard, and to avoid breaking anything. The 2018 season was riddled with injuries, culminating in a hairline crack that finally led to a 60-day IL stint. How do you avoid injury? A diet that swings for the fence.

“Some guys hit a wall in the season, and I think the pinatas offer a sense of clarity,” Ozuna theorized. “When you smash a pinata, you know who you really are. You need that experience when it’s the bottom of the 9th.”

The most challenging part of the off-season regimen is improving the mind’s endurance. Much like a good pitch, one must wait for it. So the bat waits, patiently, silently, for months in the back of a Freddie Freeman’s trunk, waiting for its moment for anyone to touch it.