Five Questions: With Shane Zdebiak

                      

CLINTON, IA - This season, the LumberKings want to give the fans an opportunity to get to know the coaches and staff better. The first installment of "Five Questions" is with athletic trainer Shane Zdebiak, who will begin his first season as the LumberKings trainer after spending the previous two seasons with the Everett AquaSox. Our own Greg Mroz sat down with Zdebiak (pronounced Zuh-deh-bee-ahk) and asked five questions that will help fans get to know him better.

Q: How did you come about becoming a trainer in the Seattle Mariners organization?

A: I'm from Winnipeg, Manitoba so I went to school back home at the University of Manitoba and one of my summers during college I did an internship with a baseball team out there, the Winnipeg Goldeyes. I graduated in 2009 and then in the spring of 2010 the head trainer job opened up there so I applied and I got the job there and ended up working there for four years (2010-2013). In 2012 I got an internship to work spring training with the Atlanta Braves, so I went down to Orlando at the end of February for around five to six weeks. Our season in independent ball didn't begin until the beginning of May so that allowed me to work spring training and get back home in plenty of time for our season. So I did that in 2012 and again in 2013 and at that point is when I decided that this is what I wanted to pursue. With independent teams you don't really have the ladder to move up to get to the big leagues, so the only way to do that was to hop the border and come down to the US. Certification works differently in different countries so I had to pass an exam to get my license in the US. I did that during the 2013 season in Winnipeg so when that season was winding down I started sending out resumes down here knowing that teams start looking for athletic trainers and coaches in the fall for the following season. After my 2013 season in Winnipeg I got a call from the Seattle Mariners in late September. I did a couple phone interviews and then they offered me the position in the Northwest League in Everett for the 2014 season. So that's how it happened and I've been working with the Mariners since November of 2013.

Q: What is the preparation like in spring training in terms of getting guys physically ready to go for the season?

A: For us it doesn't really start when spring training starts, we're at it basically year round. At the end of every season every one of our players is given a workout program, and then they're also given a baseball training program. So if you're pitcher for example its when do you start throwing, when do you start throwing off a mound, stuff like that. Beginning in October we're calling our guys every couple weeks and checking in with them to see what they're doing in the gym, what they're doing with the bat, what they're doing with their throwing. We do reports all winter long and every two weeks I'm sending in a report to the Seattle Mariners. I have a list of approximately 25 guys that I have to check up on throughout the entire winter and if any injury issues do arise and they contact us, oftentimes we'll bring those guys down here to Arizona if there is any sort of rehab necessary to get ready for spring training. For us it's all offseason contacting the players, checking up with them, making sure they're doing their throwing programs, doing their lifting programs. Once spring training starts we have probably 150 guys in minor league camp and another 50 in big league camp so when you have that many bodies injuries do happen, its just based off of numbers. In the first week of spring training we always have a lot of little bumps and bruises we've got to take care of, but it's basically twelve months a year.

Q: You've worked your first two seasons with a short season team. This year you're going to be with a team that plays 140 games. Is there any difference between working for a full season team and a short season team?

A: My job is the same, but the workload is different. The main difference is not so much the length of the season as it is the size of the rosters. Short season clubs are allowed to carry 35 players and full season clubs are only allowed to carry 25, so initially you might think that means less work for me because there are less players. But in actuality you have 35 players on your roster that means position players are maybe playing four or five games a week if they're lucky. Relief pitchers are never going on back to back days. I think we carried 20 pitchers last year in Everett so guys get a lot more off days in the mix. For a lot of these guys that come to Clinton, it's their first year on a full season professional roster. We're going to have a lot of guys that came out of college last year or came out of high school that played in the Arizona League or Northwest League, so we're going to have a lot of guys that are playing 140 for the first time, and they are going to be playing six or seven days a week. The opportunity is there for, we hope not, but potentially more overuse injuries just due to increased training volume. In the Northwest League we actually had fewer off days over the span of the season than full season clubs do but with a 35 man roster individual players are getting more off days and that's not going to be the case with a 25 man roster. You just have to make sure these guys are coming in in shape and taking care of themselves because for a lot of them its going to be a much higher workload than they've ever had in a summer before.

Q: You did mention that the guys from last year's Everett team will more than likely make their way to Clinton for 2016. Do you think that with you making that same move that the familiarity with those players will help you do your job better?

A: Absolutely. Anytime you can have players for back to back seasons or multiple seasons you get to know them better and know the way they train and the way they take care of themselves. The group of kids we had last year in Everett was one of the best clubhouses and one of the best groups of guys that I've ever worked with both on and off the field. We had success on the field but also just great kids that we had in the clubhouse so I really hope that we do have a lot of carryover. I don't know where guys are going, those decisions are made by other people but I know there will be some and I hope it's a good number because I really liked the crew that we had last year.

Q: Finally, what do you like to do in your off-time?

A: Up until this offseason I went back home to Winnipeg in my offseason. I know you guys have some pretty nasty winter weather in Iowa, well it's even worse up there. So this offseason I came down to Arizona about two months before spring training started. I played golf and I laid out by the pool and I cannot think of anything I'd rather do than those two things to be honest with you. I'm a big sports fan and always have been so I'm a big NFL guy and a big NHL guy in the offseason so I spend a lot of time following those sports. But being down in Arizona anything you can outside is preferable, so I played a decent amount of golf this offseason.