For a good workout, big leaguers take their act to Music City

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- This may not be a Major League town yet, but during the offseason, Music City transforms into a big league training ground.

Players from across the big leagues call Nashville home as they prepare for the upcoming season. There¡¯s a contingent of former Vanderbilt players who return to campus, while another group of players meet in suburban Franklin to work out and compete together. The roster of offseason Nashvillians is deep enough to build a contending team.

Vinnie Pasquantino (Royals), Brent Rooker (Athletics), Brandon Lowe (Rays) and Jake Burger (Rangers) are among the friends who¡¯ve worked out together for years. They were joined throughout the winter by veterans like Brendan Donovan (Cardinals) and Trevor Larnach (Twins), up-and-comers like Curtis Mead (Rays) and Justin Foscue (Rangers) and even top prospects such as Colson Montgomery (White Sox, MLB Pipeline's No. 39-ranked prospect).

¡°It's cool to see the transformation that the guys here have taken,¡± Rooker said. ¡°We've all been at kind of similar points in our careers together moving up, and it's been fun to develop and become the caliber of players that we have. It drives competition, it drives development and I think it's one of the reasons I think a lot of us have had success.¡±

Having such an array of like-minded players builds community. Players often say they miss the clubhouse atmosphere during the offseason, so having one roof to work out in, take swings in, receive PT in and hang out in goes a long way.

Although most of these players haven¡¯t been teammates in real life, they feel like teammates during the winter months. Pasquantino said that he¡¯s always rooting for the guys he works out with -- until they face his team during the season. It¡¯s hard not to grow close when you¡¯re competing and building off each other.

¡°When I first came over here, I hadn't made my debut yet, so you just learn from guys like Brandon Lowe and what the experience is once you get to the big leagues,¡± said Burger, who was traded in December from Miami to Texas. ¡°And you learn a lot. Right now, actually, one of my current teammates, Justin Foscue, we have that relationship going into camp on a new team, so you kind of build those relationships and friendships off the field. We¡¯re just always pulling for each other.¡±

These Major Leaguers come to get hitting instruction from Hunter Bledsoe, who helps run the offseason program. As soon as they arrive, they lift to get back into offseason shape and start hitting in December. Their weekly routine includes focusing on fastballs on Tuesday, breaking balls on Wednesday, batting practice on Thursday and a gameday-like atmosphere on Friday.

One key to the workouts is an iPitch machine. The device can be programmed to deliver baseballs with the exact velocity and spin rate of any Major Leaguer, and they¡¯ll set it up on the mound at the pitcher¡¯s exact release point. Want to practice against Tarik Skubal¡¯s changeup or Tanner Houck¡¯s slider? With a few adjustments, they can see the kinds of pitches that players in years past wouldn¡¯t face until Spring Training.

¡°The iPitch is, I feel like, throwing the 100% best pitch every single time, so you're always seeing that best pitch,¡± Lowe said. ¡°There¡¯s good and bad in that because sometimes the backup slider is the best pitch in baseball. But it¡¯s very nice to be able to simulate stuff like this, so you're not just seeing 50 mph all offseason. You¡¯re testing yourself, you¡¯re doing whatever you can to kind of improve in any way.¡±

Fridays are always the best days for a group that calls themselves the Silverback Tribe -- embracing the power, strength and wisdom of gorillas. All of the hitters come in sleeveless shirts and compete to see who can put up the best Rapsodo-measured batted-ball numbers -- OPS, exit velocity, swing and miss, chase rate -- against the iPitch machine to earn a golden gorilla necklace.

¡°It's a blast, but there's some days where it knocks you down a peg or two,¡± Lowe said. ¡°I¡¯m always going to root for Brent in here, but that Friday comes, and I'm going to do whatever I can to get in his head and try to mess with him. Guys want that golden gorilla. That's bragging rights for the next week.¡±