MLB Network's Abby Labar Rolls Out The Welcome Mat For The Arrival Of Pitchers & Catchers This Week
With the football season finally being put to bed this past weekend and basketball season rolling past the halfway point, it's already that time of year. Pitchers and catchers from all around Major League Baseball are reporting this week.
That was a short off-season. But the annual tradition of pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training ahead of the rest of the team still puts a smile on my inner child's face. It also has rising MLB Network star Abby Labar excited.
Abby Labar was among a suite of hosts featured in the first USA TODAY High School Sports Awards show. Credit: USA TODAY NETWORK
The host of the network's highlight show Quick Pitch rolled out the red carpet for the early arrivals on Tuesday. After a debut for the ages last season, which had some considering her the front-runner for Rookie of the Year honors, she's pumped for another season.
It appears that Labar is going to be picking up right where she left off last season when she impressed the not easily impressed baseball fans out there.
A solid rookie season doesn’t guarantee a long successful MLB career. There have been plenty of flashes in the pan in the baseball who are here today and gone tomorrow.
Abby Labar has something to prove after a solid rookie season
The rookies that don't fade away are able to make the necessary adjustments after the rest of the league starts to figure them out. Can Abby Labar do that while she builds off her strengths?
That's why they play the games. This isn't a league settled on paper, no matter how much the nerds want to make that a reality. Year two is going to be a big one.
If Labar wants to be the next Siera Santos, Kelly Nash or Heidi Watney, she's going to have to hit for power and average. It's not easy, but the greats learn how to do it.
The baseball season is a grind. You have to show up every single day prepared and take nothing for granted. I'm expecting another solid season from the MLB Network's rising star.