SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- More than six months after his first stint at the San Francisco Giants' Spring Training Complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, Yale baseball alum Simon Whiteman '19 is back there -- this time as an invitee to Instructional League. What the former Bulldog shortstop did in between those stints is the type of roller-coaster ride story that has been typical of life during this time of great uncertainty.
 
A ninth-round draft choice by the Giants in 2019, Whiteman was just a couple practices and games into his first Spring Training as a pro when the pandemic began shutting down so many aspects of daily life in the United States. He recalled having a game rained out one day, then finding out the next day that there would be no more games for the near future.
 
"We came into the locker room, saw the NBA had just shut down [on Mar. 11 after a player tested positive] and that MLB was meeting," Whiteman said. "We were waiting in the locker room and cafeteria, understanding what was likely to happen next."
 
After being told that Spring Training was suspended, Whiteman and his teammates were initially given the option of going back home or remaining in Scottsdale. Even without knowing how long the shutdown would last, Whiteman felt it was best to head home to Trumbull, Conn.  He was able to fly back shortly before air travel in the U.S. was severely restricted.
 
At home Whiteman faced many of the same challenges athletes everywhere faced: gyms and other training facilities were closed. That forced some creative thinking, as he converted his family's garage into a makeshift workout area. His Yale degree is in chemical engineering, but Whiteman quickly became a mechanical engineer of sorts -- using buckets of water and bags of mulch as weights and manufacturing a bench press out of rods, a squat rack out of ladders and planks, and more. He set up a tee with a tarp to hit into so he could continue working on his swing.
 
"All I was thinking was 'just keep the body moving'," Whiteman said. "I had made a lot of advancements. I wanted to keep swinging and do what I could in the weight room. It was an added challenge. I needed more stability control when lifting, otherwise water would splash everywhere."
 
Last season Whiteman played 69 games with the Giants' Single-A and Short Season Single-A affiliates, hitting .274 with a .386 on-base percentage. A natural progression would have had him playing for the Giants' Advanced Single-A affiliate in San Jose this year, and maybe even getting a taste of Double-A or higher. But as the shutdown turned from weeks into months, it became increasingly clear that there would be no Minor League Baseball season in 2020. The announcement was made official at the end of June. 
 
By then, Whiteman had been able to find a facility where he could get in some hitting and workouts with actual equipment. Additionally, a group of local pro players -- including Yale teammate Kumar Nambiar '19, an Oakland A's draftee -- had organized themselves to enable live at-bats for everyone. The group, which eventually included more than 120 players, would go to public fields twice a week. 
 
Whiteman was thus as ready as he could be in mid-August when he got a call from Dennis Pelfrey, who would have been the manager at San Jose this season. Pelfrey told Whiteman of an opportunity to play in a makeshift league in Kentucky. Two cities, Florence and Lexington, were able to host two teams each. Florence is normally in the Frontier League, an unaffiliated league, while Lexington is normally home to the Kansas City Royals' Single-A affiliate. This year, the four teams in the two cities were stocked with players from multiple pro levels -- including some former Major Leaguers -- who were looking for any opportunity to compete.
 
Whiteman made the 14 hour drive from Connecticut to Kentucky, tested negative for COVID-19 on a Monday and was playing in a game by Wednesday. He wound up hitting .270 with a .417 on-base percentage in 20 games for Florence, helping the Freedom win the regular season title. He also won the fastest baserunner title at a skills competition the team put on as part of a fan appreciation event. 
 
The two Florence teams then combined into an all-star team to take on the combined Lexington teams in a best-of-three "Battle of the Bourbon Trail" series. Florence came out on top in that, two games to one, adding to Whiteman's memorable summer. 
 
Whiteman was voted Florence's best defensive player -- an honor that comes as no surprise to those who remember him as the cornerstone of a Yale defense that led the NCAA in fielding twice, tying the NCAA record with a .985 fielding percentage in 2018. That year marked the second of back-to-back Ivy League titles the Bulldogs won during Whiteman's tenure, and he also helped them earn a pair of wins in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
 
In Florence, Whiteman appreciated the atmosphere of playing for a team and in a league where the contractual obligations were minimal -- players essentially just needed to keep themselves and those around them healthy. 
 
"Mask wearing was big, and the biggest thing was being conscious of your spacing," Whiteman said. "Except for getting food and going to play baseball, I didn't really leave the hotel much. Every day at the field we had temperature checks. We weren't allowed to interact with the fans -- no autograph signings, and we couldn't even toss them a baseball. We wore masks in mound meetings."
 
On the field, players operated free of many of the pressures that can come from a typical Minor League season.
 
"There was more of a development focus," Whiteman said. "For most guys it gave them an opportunity to work on their craft without the fear of getting released."
 
One of Whiteman's points of emphasis was a revamped swing that enabled him to generate more power. He slugged .405 for Florence, including a pair of homeruns -- a big improvement over the .313 he slugged as a pro in 2019.
 
Making it through the season healthy, let alone with some impressive stats, was an achievement in and of itself. But Whiteman's 2020 got even better when he learned that the Giants were inviting him to Instructional League. Playing in that league is typically a critical part of a young pro player's development. That is now even more the case, given the loss of a Minor League season. 
 
Whiteman is part of a group of about 60 of the top Giants farmhands who are gathering in Arizona for nearly two months of games and practices. Each of the 15 MLB teams with spring training sites in Arizona will field Instructional League teams, with play running from early October to mid-November. Players will be tested regularly for COVID-19 and will face other restrictions designed to keep everyone healthy. 
 
"It will pretty much be eat, sleep and play ball, which is exactly what I'm looking for," Whiteman said.
 
Looking back on these last few months, Whiteman notes that some of the critical thinking skills he honed at Yale proved helpful in continuing his progress as a pro despite the recent challenges.
 
"One of the biggest things was learning to ask questions and not being afraid when you find the answers," he said. "I did a lot of work with technology that told me my swing was not as efficient as it could be. Rather than thinking 'My swing is good enough' or 'I'll make one little change', I did a lot of work to revamp everything. The changes I've made -- the will to ask questions and pursue answers -- they have paid dividends. At Yale the baseball team did a great job of tracking everything, putting data to it. All these tools are things I have been putting to use."
 
By the time all is said and done, Whiteman figures he will have about 250 at-bats to show for the year.
 
"This turned out to be a pretty good season, for being faced with a pandemic," he said. "The opportunities I had were a true blessing."