Diamondbacks talk babies, baseball and Budapest in return from offseason
Feb 18, 2016, 8:00 PM
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Brad Ziegler went through his first workout of spring training Thursday after an offseason that was anything but an offseason. Ziegler’s life got busier after the arrival of his baby girl.
Lauyrn Michelle Ziegler was born during the last week of the 2015 regular season.
For the father of three the timing was perfect, even though he lost out on some sleep. During the winter, he experienced new developments with his newborn that he missed after the birth of his son in 2014.
“We had our last baby at the beginning of the season so I didn’t get a lot of that same time when they were a little infant,’’ Ziegler said. “So this offseason was a little different. It was fun.’’
The Diamondbacks greeted each other after a three-month break and traded stories about their offseasons before heading out to the Salt River Fields.
Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch also became a father in the offseason. Gosewisch, who is healthy after suffering a season-ending knee injury last May, welcomed his first child, a daughter, last November.
Gosewisch said the feeling of fatherhood is something he has never experienced before.
“It’s like nothing I can describe really,” he said. “It’s hard to tell other people what it’s like. It’s something you have never felt before. Once you see her for the first time, your life changes.”
Now Gosewisch has another reason to go home after work.
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad my day was, she is always there and excited to see me,” he said.
Relief pitcher Josh Collmenter had a new offseason experience. Collmenter traveled to Europe for the first time with one of his friends and soaked in the history and culture. He singled out Budapest in Hungary.
“I think that it helped that we were there on a weekend but the city was incredible,’’ he said. “Everything was right downtown. Everything you need, it was just a fun place to be.”
The right-hander hopes to return to Europe.
“There are just so many things that have shaped not only our country and the world,’’ he said. “You see stuff over there that’s been around for a few hundred years and then you think that we’ve only been a country for just over 200, so it’s unbelievable.”
Right-handed pitcher Archie Bradley spent most of his offseason in Arizona. He took a few weekend trips to Sedona, went into the desert to “shoot some guns here and there” and also played golf with his roommates.
“I can put my rounds together. I am not near the top of the team. I know that. But I enjoy playing. Obviously, trying to push them as best as I can.”
It wasn’t all rest for Bradley, who also worked out regularly.
“Workouts are pretty hard and we want to recover and be prepared for the next day, so it was a pretty relaxing offseason outside the workouts,” Bradley said.
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