McAdam: First day of Red Sox Summer Camp features lots of adjustments

The players worked out in shifts, with the number allowed on the field strictly limited. Occasionally, some players were reminded to properly distance themselves. They dressed not in the clubhouse, but in the ballpark's luxury suites. And when they weren't on the field, some coaches and players sat in Fenway's seats or gathered in the ballpark's aisles.

Yes, Day One of Spring Training Part II was different.

"This is the craziest time and the busiest time I've ever had in baseball,'' acknowledged manager Ron Roenicke. "I've never made so many calls, I've never sent so many text messages, every single day. It's been crazy.''

Friday saw the beginning of Summer Camp at Fenway, but there was little in the way of familiarity. First, this was Spring Training Part II. And secondly, it's being held in Boston, not Fort Myers.

It was an adjustment for everyone.

"We're still trying to get comfortable with the spacing,'' said Roenicke. "One time, we had too many guys close together and we had to keep reminding them. I think the staff is trying to keep their masks on, so if we get close, we've got the masks. The players, if we keep reminding them, they'll get used to it.''

For all the adjustments being made, there was the sense that everyone was happy to have baseball underway and maintaining an approach that could best be labeled as "cautiously optimistic.''

"I think the protocols that they put in place,'' said Roenicke, "with testing, how we come into the ballpark every day, answer questions, take our temperature, go through tests ... I feel pretty confident that we're doing the best we can. It doesn't mean that things can't go a little south. But I think we're doing everything we can to keep these guys as safe as we can and try to keep the virus out of our team.''

Of course, there's no guarantee, even with all of the precautions being taken, this will ultimately be successful. But there's hope.

"We have to be extremely vigilant that we follow these health and safety protocols we've been working toward for three months,'' said Collin McHugh, who also serves on the Major League Baseball Players Association's executive committee. "Today is Day One that I've been at the park and seen what the protocols actually look like in practice and I have to say that the Red Sox are doing a tremendous job of keeping everybody socially distant, of keeping everything extremely clean, of going out of their way that players are separated when we don't have to be around each other and hopefully mitigating as much risk as possible.

"It's never going to be a risk-free environment. We know that. And that's the environment we're coming back to play in. So there are risks every day, coming to the park and everybody's got to play their part to be as safe as possible to protect everybody in the middle of this pandemic.''

With so much attention paid to keeping safe and healthy, there was time for some actual baseball work, with some pitchers throwing side sessions and hitters taking batting practice.

In general, Roenicke was satisfied with the general conditioning of his players -- having been away from organized workouts for more than three months.

"That was a big concern with our strength and conditioning staff and our trainers,'' said Roenicke. "They were trying to track it with weekly calls, but you still don't know for sure what guys are doing. So when they came into camp today, they went through a physical -- not just with the doctors, but also with our strength guys, to see who's in shape and who we need to be a little careful with.''

Given the short window of preparation, Roenicke would like to begin intrasquad games by the middle of next week.

Pitching coach Dave Bush will have his pitchers ready to throw live batting practice in the next few days. Some pitchers and position players will soon be sent over to Boston College, which offers additional mounds and fields.

Another nine players are due to arrive and take part in Saturday's workout. It's a process.

There will be trials and errors in the coming weeks, as everybody adjusts to the New Normal for MLB 2020. But Friday seemed like as good a start as could have been reasonably expected.

"I know one thing,'' said Roenicke. "If we get through this camp -- and hopefully we'll never have to see anything like this again -- we should be able to handle just about anything that comes up.'