It's an annual tradition, pitchers and catchers reporting. The pitchers and catchers are the taller, sweatier groundhogs of the sports world, and they never see their own shadow. Winter is over, everyone.
/looks outside
Winter is almost over, everyone. And because the Dodgers and Diamondbacks are playing an early regular-season game in Australia, their pitchers and catchers are reporting a little earlier than everyone else. Here, then, are the first pitcher and catcher to report:
First players to report for #SpringTraining: J.J. Putz & Henry Blanco. Baseball is BACK. MT @Dbacks: Reunited! pic.twitter.com/ocdFxXDldo
— MLB (@MLB) February 6, 2014
You might be laughing at J.J. Putz's name again, even though it's pronounced "puts." You are six years old. What you should be laughing at is that Henry Blanco is still a) alive and b) playing baseball in the majors. A list of players born in the same year as Blanco:
Benny Agbayani
Bubba Trammell
Brian Hunter
Todd Van Poppel
Rey Ordonez
Wil Cordero
Marvin Benard
Pedro Martinez
The larger point is that pitchers and catchers have reported. That's a pitcher, that's a catcher, and the picture was taken in the clubhouse of a baseball-related facility. Rejoice.