Even referring to the winter as “the off-season” is becoming antiquated. The Blue Jays believe there is no off-season, only a pre-season. Ballplayers no longer check out completely from the game for four months and use spring training to get back in shape. The club wants its players buying into another of Mugford’s favourite mantras: you don’t have to be sick to get better. In addition to that, the organization has built what it believes is an elite, wide-ranging staff of performance experts who eliminate the need for players to hire outside coaches and consultants. Some of the team’s most prominent players, like Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson, have sought out these resources from third parties in the past. “Players don’t have to go to some of these self-proclaimed gurus. They don’t have to find a dietician on the west coast and a strength coach elsewhere,” Mugford says. “We feel we have quality and quantity in our staff. It’s a real advantage for us.”

The six or so weeks of spring training are perhaps the most crucially important time of year for the department because every single member of the organization, both players and staff, is working out of Dunedin. It’s the best opportunity they’ll get to make a substantial, lasting impact. Once major- and minor-league seasons start, players and staff disperse across the continent — some even to Latin America — making it more challenging to monitor players’ progress and affect their performance. The Blue Jays organization has eight teams in three different countries, each of them playing games every day during the season. It’s a lot to keep up with.

That’s why this year, Mugford is focusing his efforts on improving communication between the various outposts of the organization and collaboration between coaching staffs, development coordinators and the high performance department. It’s one thing to have all the resources — it’s another to make them work together effectively and efficiently. Most of the department will remain based out of Dunedin, which is the team’s rehabilitation centre. But there will be a strength coach and trainer at each affiliate representing the department, and Mugford’s staff will often drop in as circumstances dictate.