Braves infielder Johan Camargo spoke with the media at Chop Fest on Jan. 25 at Truist Park. In the interview, he discussed his offseason conditioning, working on his speed and growing mentally. The interview was edited for brevity.
Q: You feel pretty good about what you’ve done this offseason, do you feel like you worked pretty hard? What motivated you to do that?
A: "Yeah, I've been doing really well, to be honest. This is the first time that I've done this, an offseason in Tampa. I feel great. I wanted to be back up here, so that's why (I worked so hard)."
Q: Last offseason did you maybe concentrate on getting stronger and this year you got back to focusing on being faster?
A: “Every year I want to be bigger and stronger, but this year I was trying to focus on my legs and trying to be faster than last year. That’ll help me be able to play more positions (in the infield), so that’s why I focused on that.”
Q: Could you talk about the routine of those workouts and what you did specifically?
A: "We did the warm-up stuff, stretching hips and calves. We then started to work on whatever (the trainers) wanted to do that day. I started to go through (conditioning) doubles also, so at 7 in the morning and then again at 12:30 in the afternoon. After that we went through hitting and defensive drills. We did all of that four days a week."
Q: If you went back to last year what would you do differently?
A: "To be honest, the big thing was my mind. There was definitely a little struggle there. I think maybe that's why they sent me to Triple-A to fix that and to play more. I could fix my different positions more and work on hitting. And now, to be honest, I feel great."
Q: How do you look at the competition at third base?
A: "I mean, I'm just trying to prepare myself. I just want to be healthy. To be honest, I know what I can do because I've done it before. I just have to be confident in myself."
