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How the Rays’ C.J. Cron spent his summer vacation

The first baseman's path to the major leagues began when he was 5 years old while his dad managed in the White Sox organization.
 
Published March 16, 2018|Updated March 16, 2018

PORT CHARLOTTE — Afternoons were spent shagging baseballs during batting practice, chasing line drives that hopped to the wall and ground balls that skipped through the infield. Nights were spent in the batting cage, hitting balls off a tee.

This was how C.J. Cron spent his summer.

He was 5.

"That's not normal for a 5 year old to be out on a professional field catching fly balls from a professional hitter hammering them all over the ballpark," said Chris Cron, C.J.'s dad.

But C.J.'s childhood was not normal compared to most kids. No summer camps or fishing trips or hot afternoons standing in line at the Magic Kingdom.

It was spent in places like Bristol, Va., and Hickory, N.C. Places like Kannapolis and Winston-Salem, N.C.

Chris was a manager in the White Sox farm system, crisscrossing the South with stops in the Carolina and South Atlantic leagues. Sons C.J. and Kevin and then-wife Linda joined him.

"It was a non-stop fun day," Chris said. "(C.J.) was worn out at the end of the day, but he was back at it the next day. I truly feel he got a lot out of it, but he also enjoyed the heck out of it."

Summer after summer C.J., now a Rays first baseman, and younger brother Kevin, a first baseman in the Diamondbacks' system, spent their days and nights at minor-league ballpark rats.

It took C.J. years before he realized how unusual this was.

"At the time I didn't know any different, but looking back on it, I don't think many players do that at such a young age," he said. "I think that formed me to who I am. Helped me a little bit to get used to this kind of atmosphere. It was beneficial, for sure."

Tampa Bay Ray C.J. Cron (44) is seen at the plate during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Blue Jays. (Chris Urso, Times)

C.J., acquired by the Rays on Feb. 17 from the Angels to share the first base duties with Brad Miller, certainly got the jump on his major-league career before he turned 10. He shagged during BP until he was big enough to take cuts himself before the players hit. He learned to throw a baseball by playing catch with future major-leaguers like Joe Crede. After games, while his dad filed his game reports, C.J. worked on his swing in the batting cages, sometimes with the help of his mom, who fed baseballs into the pitching machine.

Just as important, he watched his dad manage baseball players.

"I guess (I learned the game) through osmosis," he said. "It kind of gets into your soul a little bit. I was picking up a baseball bat when I first could walk. We were always playing ball with my dad. It's in the family."

Chris made it to the majors in the early 1990s, having brief stints with the Angels in 1991 and the White Sox the following season. Now the hitting coordinator with the Diamondbacks, Chris managed in the minors for 19 seasons. It is not unusual for C.J. to come across someone who played with, played for or coached with his dad.

On the day he reported to Charlotte Sports Park, C.J. happened upon a vaguely familiar face in the clubhouse, Rays strength and conditioning coach Trung Cao. Cao worked with Chris twice, in Kannapolis in the mid 1990s — "C.J. was just a young puppy at the time," Cao said — and again in Birmingham 10 seasons later.

Cao remembers the Cron boys. He also remembers what Chris used to tell him:

"Make the kid faster, will ya."

"That didn't work out so well," Chris said.

That is okay because C.J. can better serve a team with his power from the right side — 16 home runs in each of his last three seasons with the Angles while playing no more than 116 games.

"He never could get enough hitting," Chris said. "It was a huge head start."

Contact Roger Mooney at rmooney@tampabay.com. Follow @rogermooney50.