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Scherzer, Goldschmidt among major leaguers at secret training sessions

The Washington Post / Getty

Though Major League Baseball training camps were shut down in March, players didn't put a stop to their training regimens.

In fact, a group of more than 30 major leaguers - including Max Scherzer, Paul Goldschmidt, Giancarlo Stanton, and Justin Verlander - worked out in secret in Palm Beach, Florida, according to Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic.

They trained at Eric Cressey's Cressey Sports Performance Gym and played a couple of games at Palm Beach High School. No cases of COVID-19 were reported and the players observed safety precautions like no sliding and maintaining social-distancing.

"The health and safety part was hard. We had to have really small groups, use all 10,000 square feet of the facility," Cressey said. "But the security aspect of it was probably even more challenging, to be discreet and give these guys an element of privacy. Guys were saying it was like 'Fight Club' or Prohibition baseball."

Goldschmidt played in both games, which took place in the last week of June, while New York Mets right-handers Michael Wacha and Robert Gsellman started on opposite sides for one of the contests.

Otherwise, the training sessions were an opportunity for players to tinker with their approach and stay sharp. Verlander asked Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Logan Morrison for feedback on his slider, for instance.

Scherzer, who didn't play in either of the nine-inning affairs, would have been happier if he had more time but said it was the nature of the situation at hand.

"I didn't get out there as much as I'd like," said Scherzer, who is well-known for his work ethic. "This is what you have to do when you're trying to stay as sharp as possible while we were waiting for baseball to start."

Despite the amount of star power on hand, Cressey, who oversees the New York Yankees' training and strength/conditioning departments, never let word of the secret training sessions spread.

"If people knew what we were doing, we would have had 10,000 people at Palm Beach High School to watch us," Cressey said.

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