Home of winter’s swing before spring

Jody Gerut’s original professional offseason regimen may be considered rather pedestrian.

During his first three years in the minor league baseball system, the 1995 Willowbrook High School graduate would spend snowy winters taking throwing reps in the parking lot of his alma mater in Villa Park.

But in the winter of 2001, the Elmhurst native — now an outfielder for the San Diego Padres — finally was able to dodge snow flurries and sleet when the Chicago Bulls/White Sox Training Academy debuted its first facility in Lisle.

Since then, Gerut and many other professional baseball players from the Chicago suburbs and beyond have flocked to the academy for offseason workouts prior to reporting for spring training.

“I know what it’s like to not have a facility in the winter time,” said Gerut, who is currently at spring training with the Padres in Peoria, Ariz. “It has made my life a lot easier. There really isn’t another place that offers what they have. What they offer to us is unmatched.”

The buddy system
There was once a stretch of time when Ryan Anetsberger and Ryan Curry were strictly foes.

During the spring of 2003, Glenbard West’s Anetsberger and Downers Grove South’s Curry, competed against one another on the high school diamond.

The trend continued in Missouri Valley Conference action when Anetsberger’s Illinois State squad would play against Curry’s Bradley team.

During the college offseasons, however, Curry and Anetsberger joined forces by using a two- to three-week window to work out together at the Bulls/Sox Academy. A friendship developed and after they both were drafted by the Florida Marlins in 2007, they became teammates for the franchise’s Single-A affiliate, the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

The two plan to carpool to Jupiter, Fla. to report for spring training March 9.

“Ryan (Anetsberger) and I have been playing against each other since I was 15 years old,” said Curry, a Woodridge resident. “Luckily, we ended up in the same spot, which is kind of weird.

“It’s nice coming here (Bulls/Sox). You’ve got a bunch of guys who play out in California and Florida and they’re outside all the time. So, we come here, talk baseball and hang out. You can do anything in here. You can run, you can hit, you can throw, get your lifting in.

“There is nothing like this in the Midwest. With the cold weather, you can’t beat it. If you have a place like this, you can do it all. I’m ready to go (for spring training).”

Man with the plan
While Mark Crabtree was getting a masters in athletic training at Illinois State University in 1997, the Downers Grove North alumnus (class of 1991) interned with the Texas Rangers. The following year, Crabtree joined the Rangers for the majority of spring training.

“I really had an interest in the strength and conditioning side of things as well as the athletic training side,” he said.

For the next five years, Crabtree worked as a clinical athletic trainer and spent the majority of the time with AthletiCo — a rehabilitation, fitness and performance company in the Chicago area.

Crabtree, who played freshman basketball at Downers North, began blending rehabilitation training with preventative training. His experience made him an ideal candidate for his next job.

Now a Bolingbrook resident, he became the director of the Explosion Sports Performance Program when the Bulls/Sox Academy opened up in neighboring Lisle.

“The conditioning coach that I interned with at the Texas Rangers had been a previous employee of the White Sox,” Crabtree said. “So his program is very similar to what the White Sox training philosophies are.”

Stars and future stars
As thousands of aspiring future baseball and basketball stars know, the Bulls/Sox facility is not exclusive to big leaguers.

Crabtree uses Explosion training for competitive athletes ranging from youth to pro. The academy offers a free trial session during which interested individuals can observe athletes — pro players included — in training.

The intensity level of training might vary depending on age and abilities, but the philosphy doesn’t change.

“The general principals of what we’re trying to do remain the same,” Crabtree said.

The roster of professional baseball players who train at Bulls/Sox goes on. J.J. Furmaniak, a 1996 Bolingbrook graduate, played in the Philadelphia Phillies spring training opener Feb. 25. He played on the Yokohama BayStars of the Japanese Central League last season.

Mike Spidale — Nazareth Academy, class of 2000 — currently is in Philadelphia Phillies system.

“We wanted to have a place where athletes could come year-round and continue to hone their skills and prepare themselves,” Crabtree said. “You can never do too many fundamental things.”

The program could be inspiring today’s pro players to become the next generation of coaches.

“I would probably go over to my high school’s gym if not for the academy,” Anetsberger said. “It’s a good group of people. It makes me want to run my own camp some day.”

AREA PRO LINEUP AT BULLS/SOX ACADEMY:

Ryan Anetsberger
HIGH SCHOOL Glenbard West, 2004
HOMETOWN Wheaton
TEAM Florida Marlins’ system
DRAFTED BY Florida Marlins (15th round in 2007)
YEARS PRO 3
KEY STAT* 16 Doubles

Ryan Curry
HIGH SCHOOL Downers Grove South, 2003   
HOMETOWN Woodridge
TEAM Florida Marlins’ system
DRAFTED BY Florida Marlins (21st round in 2007)
YEARS PRO 3
KEY STAT* 10 home runs

J.J. Furmaniak
HIGH SCHOOL Bolingbrook, 1997
HOMETOWN Bolingbrook
TEAM Philadelphia Phillies
DRAFTED BY San Diego Padres (22nd round in 2000)
YEARS PRO 10

Jody Gerut
HIGH SCHOOL Willowbrook, 1995
HOMETOWN Elmhurst
TEAM San Diego Padres
DRAFTED BY Colorado Rockies (2nd round in 1998)
YEARS PRO 11
KEY STAT* 43 RBIs

Mike Spidale
HIGH SCHOOL Nazareth Academy, 2000
HOMETOWN Westchester
TEAM Philadelphia Phillies’ system
DRAFTED BY Chicago White Sox (12th round in 2000) YEARS PRO 9
KEY STAT* 36 RBIs

* Key stat from last season