Mets second baseman Robinson Cano has been in his native Dominican Republic during the coronavirus pandemic, staying ready for what he hopes will be the resumption of the 2020 season.
"I'm just hoping every morning that I just wake up, that I might get a text from Luis Rojas or Brodie (Van Wagenen) that says, 'okay, this is the day that we're gonna show up in Florida or New York to go back to spring training,'" Cano said Tuesday during a conversation that was shared by the Mets.
The league and players are now engaged in dialogue regarding the proposal for what would be a shortened (potentially 82-game) season, and Cano and his teammates have been preparing and staying in shape.
"Well, I've been running, bicycling, about an hour and a half, two hours a day to keep myself in shape," Cano said. "I've been throwing and hitting. I've been trying to stay in shape and be ready whenever we get that call that we have to report to spring training. ... I have a batting cage where I can also take ground balls. Just be able to do things like running, just to prepare myself to be ready for the season."
Cano added that throughout the pause due to coronavirus, the team has been connecting with the help of Rojas.
"We just gotta remember we're in the same boat and we all got the same goal, we want to win. And now we have Luis Rojas, who is a team-oriented manager," he said. "Guys like (him) are players' managers and always make sure that we're good, trying to keep the team together and I think right now even when we've been away for a month, we're all together, we're connecting. I mean we got a team group chat, we say hello to the guys. It's a players chat so we say hello to each other. Make sure you check up on everyone."
While he has been preparing for the season, Cano has also been taking time out to help local efforts in the Dominican Republic.
"You know with quarantine we're all home and a lot of people are not making money in the Dominican," Cano explained. "People go out and they make money day by day. So now in quarantine and not being able to work, a lot of people are hungry. They need food so that's what I did. We did a food drive and I got 4,000 bags with food. We got rice, beans, spaghetti, tuna. We got sugar, salt, milk and salami, which is about 20 pounds. We go to what we call the little country, Bateyes. But people don't have anything and for me that's one thing that I love to do. Go out and help people as much as I can."
Video: Let's talk MLB's return, Mets DH, Harvey, and Lindor