Reds’ Trevor Bauer announces ‘sandlot’ game while MLB remains suspended

Free agent pitcher Trevor Bauer. (John Minchillo/AP)

Though MLB has only been suspended for a couple days, some players are already feeling the itch to get back on a diamond.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer is leading the charge, confirming late Friday night that a sandlot game will take place sometime in the future — though no date has been announced.

More than 1,300 people replied to Bauer’s pickup game request. Among the players who expressed interest were San Diego Padres outfielder Tommy Pham and Cleveland Indians outfielder Jordan Luplow.

Blake Snell, a Tampa Bay Rays pitcher and former Cy Young winner, expressed his regret in not being able to play because he’s not in Arizona.

Bauer said that all participating players will be mic’d up and that all content and live streams will be available on Momentum Films (for which he is the co-founder), as well as his personal social channels (on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube).

Typically, mid-March is the home stretch of MLB’s spring training season, when Bauer and hundreds of other ballplayers fine-tune their skills in preparation for a long year ahead.

But that routine was halted abruptly, as MLB announced on Thursday that spring training has been suspended and the regular season has been pushed back at least two weeks (opening day was initially set for March 26).

In connection with the sandlot game, Bauer launched a GoFundMe page that will raise funds for stadium employees who are unable to work during the stoppage. Within the first hour, the page had raised nearly $13,000 toward its $1 million goal.

It’s too early to tell when MLB will be back in action, but it appears Bauer and some other baseball diehards will have a chance to resume playing sooner than later.

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