Under most normal circumstances, Major League Baseball players only have to subject themselves to minor-league conditions on rehab starts.
They're accustomed to the best fields, the best grounds crews, the best irrigation systems — the best of everything.
But for a quick two-game jaunt down in Dunedin, FL, the Washington Nationals got a taste of the minors at TD Ballpark, the temporary home of the Toronto Blue Jays, who are playing out their home schedule stateside due to travel restrictions in Canada.
While the outfield dimensions are somewhat similar to a Major League ballpark, the atmosphere is far from it.
"It's like Arena Baseball. It was cool," Ryan Zimmerman told The Sports Junkies during his weekly 106.7 The Fan appearance, presented by MainStreet Bank.
Playing under the bright Dunedin lights, the crowd packed on top of you, it has to feel something closer to a return to high school ball than a big league park.
"I'll give them credit, they've done a really good job with what they have down there to try and make it as normal as possible," Zimmerman said. "I mean it still kind of felt like spring training. It was like all Nats fans, which was pretty awesome. So we definitely appreciated the support and the Florida Nats fans for coming out."
The ball really flies under the hot Florida sun in Dunedin. Between the two clubs, 11 homers were hit across two games with 24 total runs scored.
"It was a smaller park," Zimmerman acknowledged. "That being said, I think all the home runs hit probably would have been home runs anywhere if you kind of look at 'em. But yeah, hitting BP, the wind was blowing out, and when it does that in Florida, it's usually pretty fun to hit."
Zimmerman probably considered himself lucky he no longer plays third base. The first opportunity he got to advance to third as a runner, he had a quick chat with Joe Panic, who wound up manning the hot corner both nights for the Jays. That's when he learned of a built-in hazard of TD Ballpark.
"So my first hit, I hit kind of just like a chopper to third. And the sun sets right behind the stadium there," Zimmerman said. "Because it's not a big league stadium, it doesn't have the third deck. The third baseman can't see line drives or choppers like that."
The Nats were actually supposed to play both games 30 minutes earlier, but both start times had to be pushed back to 7:07 p.m. because of the sun.
"They said they started doing that earlier in the year and the third baseman literally couldn't see for basically two innings," Zimmerman said. "So they had to move the game back another 30 minutes."
Even with the late start times, the glare from the sun still presents challenges for third baseman through the first inning.
"If you look at the first at-bat that Trea had, too, he hit a line drive to left and Joe [Panik] doesn't even move until the ball basically gets to the left fielder," Zimmerman said. "Not the safest of conditions, but they're doing the best that they can down there."
