Red Sox News: Boston stars give a glimpse into the new Fenway Park

The Red Sox revamp Fenway Park ahead of 2020 season

It’s no surprise that this season was going to look incredibly different from an aesthetic standpoint. Not only will the Red Sox be without their rabid fanbase in 2020, but they also had to make some changes to their beloved home. Fenway Park has had somewhat of a facelift due to the team trying to keep everyone as safe as possible during the pandemic.

Luxury suites have been transformed into private locker rooms as players have been paired up to avoid congregating in the clubhouse. Additional bullpens and batting cages have been added throughout the concourses of Fenway to eliminate mass groupings of people. It’s a sight to see and one that I don’t think I’ll forget for quite some time.

As players began to file into camp we saw the sights and sounds of the new look Fenway Park as social media was flooded with videos and images. Michael Chavis posted a video to his twitter giving fans a look at the suite he’ll be sharing with Alex Verdugo and just what the Red Sox have done to keep everyone healthy.

It’s really cool to see what the organization has done to limit the amount of time the players will need to spend in close quarters. Obviously, by sharing a suite we’ll have some time spent together, but it’s a fraction of what it was like for them in the regular clubhouse. Watching Chavis’ video and seeing how excited he was to back and hearing him speak on baseball being back, got me amped the hell up.

Per Christopher Smith of Masslive.com:

"“The immediate view when I first walked in the door, I was so impressed with everything,” Chavis said during a Zoom call. “We had an idea of what it would kind of look like. We got word of what they were doing. But then just seeing it in person and being in the room and everything like that, it was really cool. And then the beautiful view of Fenway. Everything about it. I missed baseball. I missed the Red Sox. I missed the team. I missed the staff.”"

Chavis wasn’t the only Red Sox player to open the doors to what baseball will be like in 2020 at Fenway Park. Newly signed pitcher Collin McHugh also snapped a video to give fans an idea of what the players are experiencing during training camp.

McHugh took to his Instagram story to give a look into the procedures everyone must follow to even enter the park before their day can begin. He also walked around Fenway to show what the organization has done structurally to keep the players healthy. Everyone seems really appreciative and excited at what the Red Sox have done to Fenway Park to keep the risks of COVID running through the squad as low as possible.

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Newly appointed manager Ron Roenicke gave some explanation into a few of the other changes the team as done, like closing off the clubhouse. As we all know, limiting the size of groupings is going to be tricky but vastly important if we want everyone to stay healthy. The Fenway clubhouse is notoriously tight as it is, so limiting the number of people in there is a wise move by the Red Sox.

"“Everybody’s using the suites player-wise. No players are in the clubhouse. In the clubhouse, there’s a square-footage thing they put into place on how many people can be in a certain amount of square feet. So the coaches office, where we all were last year, there’s only two guys in there this year. And the training room has switched where it was. And now there’s four lockers in the training room all spread out.”"

Now for the 2020 season, none of us have any idea what’s in store for the Red Sox. There won’t be that cushion of 162 games if they stumble out of the blocks. It’s going to be a mad dash to the finish line with zero room for error. If they want to return to postseason baseball, then they have to come out firing on all cylinders. With the extra tools that the team has put in place for the players, I feel they have one hell of a chance to make it far in 2020.