Dodgers: Dave Roberts Kicks Off Full Squad Workouts With Motivating Message
As the entire Dodgers team gathered for their first full day of workouts, manager Dave Roberts set the tone for the season by motivating the players.
Roberts reminded the team what it takes to be champions while encouraging the players to work hard, stay focused, and trust in each other.
“First off, this is a new year. This group, like I said, is a hungry group, a focused group — I love this group. I love this team. And it’s gonna be fun to watch you guys come together. …
“Let’s go out there and be the Dodgers, play together, and get better each day. …
“And each individual — myself included — has gotta find a way to channel that focus and be able to sustain it, not only today, when this is the first day of workouts where everyone’s excited to see everybody, it’s great, energy’s good. But there’s going to be a point in spring training where it gets monotonous, it’s the same thing, it gets tiresome, it gets to be a grind. But we all have to, individually, collectively, default to still focusing on getting better that particular day. …
“Find out how to love practice, enjoy it, love it, love the grind, and ask yourselves, ‘Are we in, or are we out?'”
Teamwork will get this group far, especially as the team gets adjusted to new players joining the clubhouse. For one, longtime players like Justin Tuner and Cody Bellinger are no longer in LA, so the team will have to be committed to the process and trust other veterans like Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Freddie Freeman, and Chris Taylor.
Although the Dodgers have proven their dominance in years past, the team must focus on building as a collective to deliver once again this year. There are of course pressures and expectations that come with being a championship-caliber team, but this Dodgers team is up for the challenge.
As the group looks to compete for a World Series championship in 2023, Roberts believes the team’s hard work and discipline will be a key factor in their success.
