Michael Roth, other pros head to Athlete’s Arena to get ready for spring training

Jordan Lyles walks through the doors of Athlete’s Arena on a sunny Monday morning this winter and goes straight to work.

The Colorado Rockies right-hander doesn’t waste a minute during several hours at the sports performance facility in the Irmo area.

On the floor stretching next to him is Michael Roth, the former South Carolina left-hander and a fellow pitcher in the major leagues last season with the Los Angeles Angels. The two are working out as part of a larger group of professional baseball players who use Athlete’s Arena as a home base in the offseason.

Lyles, a Hartsville native who has started 87 games with the Houston Astros and the Rockies the past four seasons, has trained at Athlete’s Arena since 2009.

“It’s all about what you can get in before you head to spring training,” said Lyles, who formulates an offseason plan with Josh Ortegon, the facility’s co-founder. “It’s really big. You don’t want to go into spring training not in your best shape. That’s what all of us want to accomplish in the offseason. You want to be in the best shape of your life, get the arm healthy and maintain your strength.”

Roth, who heads to spring training with the Cleveland Indians this month, has worked out at Athlete’s Arena since his first professional offseason in 2012. He has developed a strong relationship with Ortegon, the director of sports performance enhancement, and Shane Miller, a specialist in nutrition and fitness. Roth likes the accountability of working out with fellow professionals and how Ortegon and Miller put them through the paces.

“Ever since I got to know Josh and Shane, I’ve really liked the programs they put us on,” Roth said. “It’s always something that’s customized. I tell them what my goals are or what I want to do, and we work towards that. They’re always there. When I was living in Hawaii (last fall), Josh was a text message away. He would email me the workouts for the next four weeks, and we’d keep in touch that way.”

Ortegon enjoys the opportunity to work with elite-level baseball players, who help certify his business as a place to be for up-and-coming players starting at the high school level.

Other players working out alongside Lyles and Roth were Boston Red Sox right-hander Heath Hembree; Grayson Greiner, a former USC catcher who plays in the Detroit organization; Joey Pankake, a former USC third baseman who also plays in the Detroit organization; left-hander Andrew Faulkner, who plays in the Texas organization; and catcher Nick Ciuffo, a former Lexington High standout who was drafted in the first round by Tampa Bay in 2013.

Other players who have trained with Athlete’s Arena in recent offseasons are Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Chris Owings, a Gilbert native; pitcher C.J. Edwards, a Prosperity native who is a rising star in the Chicago Cubs organization; first baseman Christian Walker, a former USC standout who reached the major leagues with Baltimore this past season; and outfielder Evan Marzilli, another former USC star now playing in the Arizona organization.

Ortegon said the players keep coming back to his business because of the trust that his team has built with them over the years.

“You show you care about them outside of them making you money and outside of them being big leaguers,” Ortegon said. “You’re there for the long haul, and you create a really good relationship with them. You treat them normal. They’re not all about the limelight.”

The players show up and hit their required stations, each with a schedule for the day. The pitchers also are on a throwing schedule, and when Lyles gets ready to throw, Greiner and Ciuffo joke about whose turn it is to catch him. Greiner ends up behind the plate for Lyles, while Ciuffo catches Hembree.

Greiner, a third-round pick of the Tigers last summer, has been working out at Athlete’s Arena since he was a 15-year-old at Blythewood High.

“The thing about Josh and Shane is that they’re very baseball-specific. They’re very smart in what they do,” Greiner said. “They don’t overwork you too much to the point where your body is killing you. They know you’ve got to be able to hit and throw. We’ve got to be able to move without bulking up too much.”

Ortegon said 70 percent of what they do with a professional baseball player is the same thing they do with a teen coming to train for the first time. But the training has to be more specific for the professionals because of the specific demands of throwing and hitting and the wear and tear on their bodies. He estimates another 15 percent of the work is geared to baseball and 15 percent is geared to the individual athlete.

“I like to think that what we do helps guarantee them in their careers,” Ortegon said. “Being a professional athlete is a war of attrition. It’s who gets hurt the least. For us, it’s a matter of keeping them healthy and keeping them in the game of baseball long enough where they can hit that point when they start making that money.”

Ortegon said he takes a great deal of satisfaction watching his clients succeed. He roots for all of the teams they play for, and he got a thrill seeing Walker, who continues to consult with Miller on his nutrition, hit his first career home run for the Orioles last year.

“When Christian got called up and hit that bomb, it gave me chills,” Ortegon said. “You’re excited because you’ve created relationships with them, and you know how hard they’ve worked. You know what their future could be like. It’s pretty emotional to see the kids get to that level.”

As an established major leaguer making $2.5 million per year, Lyles could work out anywhere. But he enjoys being back in South Carolina and likes the results with Ortegon.

“My first year, they made me feel right at home, and we did the work that needed to be done,” Lyles said. “There was no other places that I wanted to try. That’s a testament to what he does here.”

Word gets around in baseball circles, and the younger pro players enjoy rubbing elbows with the more experienced. Pankake, who was a seventh-round pick of the Tigers last summer, likes the camaraderie as much as the workouts. He wanted to soak in as much advice as he could get.

“Just seeing what those guys have done in their seasons and over their careers, this is a good fit for me,” Pankake said. “We’ve got something good going on here. We get to see what they’ve been through and ask them some questions.”

Greiner feels the same way as he and his longtime roommate prepare to head to camp in Lakeland, Fla.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to pick their brain a little bit,” Greiner said. “This is going to be my first spring training, so I get to ask Jordan and Heath and Michael what to expect. We’re all from South Carolina, so it’s a cool fraternity we have here to work out.”

The Gamecock connections are strong as well. Hembree, a fifth-round pick by San Franciso in 2010, spent the 2008 season on the USC roster before transferring to Spartanburg Methodist and then College of Charleston.

Lykes, Faulkner and Ciuffo had committed to attend South Carolina before signing out of high school. Lyles was a supplemental first-round pick out of Hartsville High by Houston in the 2008 draft. Faulkner was a 14th-round choice out of South Aiken High by Texas in the 2011 draft. And Ciuffo, from Lexington, was a first-round choice by Tampa Bay in 2013.

Ciuffo sees how being around veteran players can improve his approach. He remembers catching Lyles in one bullpen session and casually receiving some borderline pitches before tossing them back. Lyles discussed the necessity of Ciuffo working on framing the pitches by saying to him, “Come on, you’ve got to get those for me.”

“They’re guys with a lot of experience that you can learn from. You can talk to them and ask questions about what happens in the big leagues and what happened to them in the minor leagues,” Ciuffo said. “They’re always giving me things to work on and telling me the things they see. I love it because it does nothing but help me. The feedback is always great for me.”

Training with major league players has opened Ciuffo’s eyes on how attainable his goal of making it to the highest level is. Players such as Roth have experienced the eight-month grind of a baseball season, and he has come to realize the importance of rigorous work in the time leading up to spring training.

Having each other to lean on at Athlete’s Arena motivates all of them.

“One thing I’ve learned is that you are who you hang around,” Roth said. “We all want to be in the big leagues, and we have guys around here who have made it up there. If we’re all pushing and achieving together, even if our goals are different individually, that helps the mindset we have when we come here and work out.”

This story was originally published February 14, 2015 at 8:37 PM with the headline "Michael Roth, other pros head to Athlete’s Arena to get ready for spring training."