AUSTIN, Texsa -- Fans are eagerly awaiting the day they can once again watch their favorite sports. And the hiatus isn't only frustrating fans - it's just as tough, if not even more so, on the athletes themselves.
- Texas native Nick Ramirez trying to solidify spot with Detroit Tigers
- Working out in Austin as coronavirus pandemic drags on
- Recently welcomed a child with wife Tiff
Major League Baseball pitcher Nick Ramirez is among those athletes dealing with the ups and downs of quarantine. Instead of fine-tuning his own pitches, Ramirez is dealing with the curveball he's been dealt. So he's been working out at home in Austin, as he would if he were up in Detroit with the Tigers.
"Every day, if I go throw, I'm trying to keep it at an intensity of what I do during the season, just so I don't have to go through that getting ready phase again," Ramirez says.
Ramirez got called up to the bigs last year, making his MLB debut May 11. This year, when he left for spring training, he knew he was going to have to give it his all to solidify a spot on the roster. But that wasn't the only thing on his mind.
Back home in Texas, his wife, Tiff Ramirez, was 38 weeks pregnant. She ended up having to be induced two weeks early, so Nick Ramirez hopped on a plane to welcome the newest member to their team.
Nick, Tiff and Reese Ramirez had one day together, then just like that Nick Ramirez had to head back to work in Florida.
"We didn't know when he would see Reese again, because I couldn't fly with him before his two months," Tiff Ramirez explained.
But thanks to the coronavirus Nick Ramirez was sent home a few weeks later, suspending not only his fight for a spot on the team but also a regular paycheck. The break has had its perks, however.
"If it were the regular season, I would be gone from 11:30 in the morning until about 11 at night," Nick Ramirez says.
He got to be home for Reese's first laugh.
"That's what I was afraid of, was him just missing small moments like that, because you don't know when they're going to happen," Tiff Ramirez says.
Nick and Tiff Ramirez appear at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, in this file image. (Getty Images)
And they got to spend Reese's first Easter all together.
"He's never home for Easter, ever," Tiff Ramirez says.
"Yeah, I think I've been home for Easter one time and that's because I was driving from Arizona to Mississippi," Nick Ramirez added.
So, no - this was not how they saw the early days of parenthood going. But they're making the most of this time they have as a family.
"Baseball is a very long, lonely sport for the wives involved and families," says Tiff Ramirez. "So I am thankful, we are definitely thankful for it, but we really want to get back to work just like everyone else does."
All while anxiously awaiting the call to play ball.
