PORT CHARLOTTE (WDAE) -- The day for position players to report to Spring Training has come, and for the Tampa Bay Rays, it came for no stragglers.
The final five players that had not reported to camp early -- infielders Ji-Man Choi, Yandy Diaz, Lucius Fox, and Nate Lowe, and outfielder Randy Arozarena -- all were in Port Charlotte Monday and participated in the team's Photo Day.
Lowe surprised a number of people who saw him for the first time since Tampa Bay was eliminated by the Houston Astros in the 2019 American League Division Series, coming in at 220 pounds, 20 pounds lighter than the previous season.
"You name it, I tried it, to be honest," Lowe said of his challenge to come in lighter. "One of the guys we worked with is big into the Rogue Bike and has sold out for that. Ran differently, conditioned differently, ran with the track coach differently, ate differently, slept differently. It was all about being more intentional about taking care of the body the way it deserves to be taken care of. For being a professional athlete and getting that little bit of major league time, there’s no excuse at that point to come into an offseason out of shape and not ready to go. Taking out the processed food, taking out a lot of the sugar."
Meanwhile, first baseman Ji-Man Choi will look to build of a breakthrough 2019 season that saw him play in more game in one season (127) than he had in his three previous years in the big leagues combined (121).
Ji-Man has probably battled [inconsistent playing time] quite a bit," manager Kevin Cash said. "I really liked what he said last year — when he came up two years ago, then took it and ran with it last year, he learned to separate the stuff that wasn’t in his control and just go out, enjoy himself and have fun."
Meanwhile, pitchers and catchers got in one final workout before the start of full-squad practices which begin on Tuesday.
PADLO STILL SIDELINED WITH ILLNESS: Minor-league infielder Kevin Padlo remains unable to participate in baseball-related activities while dealing with what the team is calling a "non-baseball-related illness." The Rays have not provided any further information on Padlo.