Dodgers' bat boys are different than they appear to be Here's the inside

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts calls timeout and makes a beeline to the pitcher’s mound. He takes the ball and signals to the bullpen. That’s the cue for the bat boy to race to the mound where infielders have congregated and hand cards to Corey Seager, Trea Turner, Max Muncy and Justin Turner, all of whom tower over his short, lithe frame. Next the bat boy is sprinting to deep center field where Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts await. He hands the outfielders cards and dashes toward the left-field line. Once in foul territory, he slows to a jog and waves to fans calling his name. The cards inform fielders where to position themselves given the new pitcher and hitters he’ll face. Delivering them was added to a bat boy’s tasks in this era of advanced analytics and defensive shifts, and can become a full-blown cardio workout when pitching changes are frequent. Fans above field level might wonder how the kid will have enough energy later to finish his homework. Those sitting near the field, however, can make out a black goatee and pencil mustache. They can tell that, in fact, the bat boy is a bat man. Branden Vandal, 25, sits in the Dodgers dugout a couple hours before a recent game stroking that goatee and counting his blessings. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management, but he’s not ready to wear a suit and tie. He’s having too much fun wearing a Dodgers uniform with number 95 stitched on the back underneath BRANDEN. That’s the way bat boys roll — first names only and numbers in the 90s — in constant motion from several hours before games until several hours afterward.“I think at first fans see a bat boy and assume it’s a younger kid, ” said Vandal, who is 5-feet-6 and 140 pounds. “But all these guys are young men or older, even in their 30s. We do it because we enjoy what we do.“It’s a great gig to be this close to big league baseball every day. ”Apparently, it’s so wonderful that nobody seems to leave, at least not with the Dodgers. Vandal has been a bat boy since 2015, and seven of the other eight Dodgers bat boys and clubhouse attendants — known as clubbies — are senior to him. Bat boys generally aspire to become clubbies because the pay is better. Additional attendants work the visitor’s clubhouse, including Mitch Poole, who also spent 32 years in the Dodgers clubhouse. The longest-tenured is Jerry Turner, hired as a Dodgers bat boy in 1979 and the visitor’s clubbie for 25 years. He now serves as the umpires’ locker room manager. Dodgers clubhouse manager Alex Torres, 42, started as a bat boy in September 1996, landing the job because his next-door neighbor was a bat boy and the team needed an extra hand during the stretch run. Now the bat boys and clubbies report to him and assistant manager Jose “Peps” Castillo, who like Vandal has a B. A. — in criminal justice from Cal State L. A.“I haven’t had to interview anyone new, ” Torres said. “Branden is the only hire I’ve made.


All data is taken from the source: http://latimes.com
Article Link: https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-09-27/dodgers-bat-boys-clubbies-men-alex-torres-branden-vandal-dave-roberts


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