Matt Beaty using pinto beans to stay in baseball shape

While stuck inside their apartment, Los Angeles Dodgers utility man, Matt Beaty, and teammate, Edwin Rios, are finding creative ways to stay in baseball shape.

What do you do when you are a professional baseball player stuck inside a small apartment, and you don’t have access to training facilities or equipment to work on your baseball skills, and you want to stay in shape while waiting for a season to possibly return? If you’re Matt Beaty and Edwin Rios, you buy pinto beans.

“We actually, at the grocery store, bought some dry pinto beans, and we’re going to work on our hand-eye coordination,” Beaty told David Vassegh during Dodger Talk on Tuesday evening. “ throw beans at each other, and just work on, ya know, just kind of the hand-eye coordination and just have fun.”

Beaty told Vassegh that he is living in an apartment in Phoenix with teammate Edwin Rios, and their two wives. They were able to bring home some weights and small workout items from Camelback Ranch, but they are still limited.

The 26-year-old, Beaty, took one of his baseball bats home with him so he can remain familiar with how it feels in his hands. That said, he offered a creative idea for using household items to practice his swing.

“We’re thinking about, we got a broom here, so we’ll, ya know, unscrew the bristle part of the broom and just use the broomstick,” Beaty said.

Vassegh asked the left-hander how he feels about the rumored plan of starting the season in Arizona, and Beaty sounded open to some version of the idea, “We just want to play,” he said.

The 12th round pick from Georgia is a line drive hitter, known for competitive at-bats and hitting for a high average. Last year, in Triple-A, he batted .306 with a .455 slugging percentage. He has yet to fully translate his hitting to the Major league level, batting .265 over 99 games last year, but his power is there, and perhaps his pinto bean routine will help.

Ironically, rooming together now, Edwin Rios is in competition with Beaty for an active roster spot this season. They both offer a left-handed bat off the bench who can play first base or the corner outfield positions. Rios looked good during the spring, hitting 8-27 with one home run; while Beaty struggled (4-21) in limited action.