{"id":520858,"date":"2026-03-07T17:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/520858\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:47:13","slug":"how-much-golf-can-mlb-players-squeeze-into-spring-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/520858\/","title":{"rendered":"How much golf can MLB players squeeze into spring training?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"first\">When Oakland Athletics DH Brent Rooker starts the MLB spring training season in Scottsdale, Ariz., the 31-year-old two-time All-Star can look forward to competition both on the field and off.<\/p>\n<p>As the Subpar guest this week, Rooker told <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/features\/inside-subpar-colt-knost-drew-stoltz\/\" type=\"article\" id=\"15463675\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz<\/a> that he was just coming off a sweet round of 75 \u2014 but still got blitzed by his teammate, second baseman Jeff McNeil, who posted a 68.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was 3 under through five,\u201d Rooker said, noting that he has never fired a round under par before. \u201cI got nervous early.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just how often do MLB players have the chance to play golf during spring training? According to Rooker, quite a bit! He explained the details of how it all works.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goal normally is like between 45 and 50 at-bats,\u201d he said of his spring training schedule. \u201cI think there\u2019s like 30 games, so that\u2019s probably 18 or 19 games to get those 45 to 50 at-bats somewhere around there.<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/mlb-legend-day-masters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                <img class=\"lazy inner\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Fred-Couples-Masters.jpg\" alt=\"Fred Couples of the United States plays a shot on the second hole during the first round of the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 06, 2023 in Augusta, Georgia.\"   style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Fred-Couples-Masters.jpg?width=30);\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/mlb-legend-day-masters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">How this MLB legend plans to spend a day at the Masters<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        By:<\/p>\n<p>                    <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/writers\/jessica-marksbury\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                Jessica Marksbury            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce you\u2019re established and you kind of know your role and you know what you need and you know your routine and what you need to be prepared for the season, it kind of dictates itself a little bit better,\u201d Rooker continued. \u201cOnce you\u2019re kind of set and established, you know what you\u2019re doing, it\u2019s just kind of all about getting prepared for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rooker said that the A\u2019s organization doesn\u2019t require game attendance during spring training when a player isn\u2019t scheduled to play, and even if you do have to attend, you can leave after the fifth inning, which opens up ample afternoon time for a round. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve played five times since being out here, so not daily, every other day so far, probably, which, I mean, I hope to keep that pace up,\u201d Rooker said. \u201cObviously, I\u2019m by myself right now, my wife and kids come out sporadically in spring training, so when they\u2019re here, no golf unfortunately. But when they\u2019re not here, I try to take advantage of whatever afternoons I can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more from Rooker, including his favorite course and his favorite PGA pro to follow, check out the full episode below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Oakland Athletics DH Brent Rooker starts the MLB spring training season in Scottsdale, Ariz., the 31-year-old two-time&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-520858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}