While the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches "remains a work in progress," the clubhouses and practice fields for both the Nationals and Astros are in "working order and the initial reviews are positive," according to Jon Santucci of TCPALM.com. Both clubs reported for Spring Training earlier this week, and Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said, "This is a player-centric facility, a fan-centric facility. It’s really going to allow us to do our work and the players to do their stuff and fans to experience spring training the way it’s supposed to be" (TCPALM.com, 2/14). In Ft. Lauderdale, Craig Davis noted both teams' clubhouses are "laid out in a similar football-shaped configuration as the Marlins have in Miami." It is a "departure from the days when spring training parks had a minor league feel." Each club has "six practice fields." The Nationals have "two with the same dimensions of Nationals Park in Washington, while the Astros have one that mirrors the layout of Minute Maid Park in Houston." The Nationals also have a 60-foot outdoor pool "under construction outside their clubhouse" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 2/16). In West Palm Beach, Dave George wrote the main ballpark itself is "still being bolted together, with orange plastic fences to keep the public out." The ballpark's opener is slated for Feb. 28. It was the "same kind of frenzy to get Roger Dean Stadium completed" in Jupiter in '98. That project, built originally for the Cardinals and Expos, was "just 12 months from groundbreaking to completion, and it was a similarly close call" (PALM BEACH POST, 2/16).
LET'S TALK DETAILS: In West Palm Beach, Joe Capozzi notes the facility's main entrance on the third base side "features a set of steps to reach the main concourse where fans then walk down into the seating bowl of 6,500 seats." The concourse is also "accessible from two pedestrian bridges, one leading north toward to the Astros’ practice fields and the other south to the Nationals’ fields." The main concourse is "open air, meaning visitors can walk around the entire concourse without missing a single pitch -- a common feature in Cactus League facilities in Arizona but not so common in the Grapefruit League." Meanwhile, the footprint of the main field has the "right field line, including home plate to first base, running slightly north of due east." With "help from a shade structure extending 14 feet over the seating bowl," at least 40% of the seats will "gain shade at first pitch, with shadows falling over more seats throughout the game" (PALM BEACH POST, 2/17).
HOUSTON, WE HAVE NO MORE PROBLEMS: In DC, Thomas Boswell wrote the Nats' complex is "so vast ... you sometimes shake your head at the contrast with the past." The club's weight room is "bigger than -- and probably cost several times as much as -- the entire Nats locker room at dilapidated RFK Stadium." The facility is "so sprawling you might forget" that the Astros also "share its 160-acre campus." Now the Nationals have as much as and "probably more than -- any baseball team could possibly need in a spring training site after enduring a dozen years in which they coped with perhaps the worst spring site in MLB" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/16). The AP's Chuck King wrote, "It's easy to see why the Astros are so excited to have ended their 30-plus year stay in Kissimmee." Astros C Brian McCann: "It's first class in all sense of the word." King noted the clubhouse itself is "at least the size of the Astros' locker room at Minute Maid Park, if not bigger" (AP, 2/15).
