The 13th season of Northwest Arkansas Naturals baseball was supposed to begin tonight in Corpus Christi, Texas, but that's on hold like much of the sports world because of concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
Scott Thorman is excited for his Class AA managerial debut, but he's currently still in Canada spending time with his family. He's also doing baseball work as well.
"I'm enrolled in a baseball analytics course, trying to brush up on my baseball skills," Thorman said. "We've had some Zoom conferences with players, just trying to stay in touch during these tough times.
"I'm hanging with the wife and kids, trying to make the most of this time together. We're patiently awaiting to get things back to normal. We're doing our part in staying home and social distancing. We hope more people do that sooner we can get on back to normal."
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Naturals General Manager Justin Cole said the situation is unique as he and all other full-time team employees are currently working from home. Normally, he would be preparing for the home opener against the Hooks a week from today.
"It's a very odd feeling," Cole said. "When you think about it, you almost don't know what to do with it. Counting the time I was an intern in 2002, this is only the second time since then I haven't spent an opening day in a ballpark in April.
"We'd be off and running and getting to meet new guys. We just hope that's coming soon."
Cole has been making sure to stay in contact with fans and sponsors to answer any questions.
"The goal is to do right by everybody who has bought tickets and supported us," Cole said. "And we'll focus in the short-term to remind everyone the fun at the ballpark, posting memorable plays, highlights and photos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram."
Thorman will be Northwest Arkansas' third manager in three seasons. The Naturals, the Kansas City Royals' Class AA affiliate, have made the Texas League playoffs seven times in its 12-year history but have been shutout of postseason the last two seasons.
The 38-year-old brings a championship pedigree having guided Wilmington and Lexington to league titles in each of the last two seasons.
He was already planning to take the eight-week online analytics course offered by Sports Management Worldwide during the season. But he decided to take advantage of the current downtime.
"I feel like it's always a part of the game and I'm trying to understand it more," Thorman said. "I'll try to piece that together with our organization's values."
Thorman was in spring training in Arizona when he got word that Major League Baseball had shut everything down because of the virus. But the make-up of the Naturals' roster wasn't taking shape quite yet.
"Big-league camp was coming down to the last 10 or 12 days and we were just getting down on the minor league side," Thorman said. "I was excited to get guys one the same field."
Sports on 04/09/2020