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Whitecaps players Brett Harrison, left, and Austin Schotts joke around during a practice last week at Fifth Third Ballpark. Schotts, who played for the Whitecaps last year, said he was shocked when he heard about the ballpark's fire and pleased to see the progress of the renovations.

(Cory Morse | Mlive.com)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Montreal Robertson has gone through a lot of changes since last season.

The West Michigan Whitecaps pitcher, who spent last year in the team’s rotation, has made the transition back to being a reliever and he says he’s recovered from an elbow injury that shelved him for about a month.

What he didn’t anticipate was that his team’s ballpark would go through some big changes, too.

GALLERY: Check out a photo timeline of the destruction and renovation of Fifth Third Ballpark

When Robertson’s phone buzzed on Jan. 3, he got a startling text message.

Montreal Robertson

“My host family texted me that the stadium was on fire,” Robertson said of Rockford’s Tim and Jill Osbeck. “It’s kind of weird that it happened when it was 10 degrees outside and snowing.”

A blaze ripped through the first-base side of Fifth Third Ballpark, destroying nine suites and gutting the concourse and home team clubhouse.

“I was shocked,” said Whitecaps outfielder Austin Schotts, who played 59 games with the team last season. “I thought ‘did that really just happen?’”

During the Whitecaps first practice last week, Schotts took a glance at the construction work and was happy to see the progress.

“It looks like it’s going up pretty quick,” said Schotts, who was the Detroit Tigers third-round pick in the 2012 draft. “I hear the clubhouse is going to be bigger and better. We’re going to have a real weight room, too. The old was was tiny. No one ever used it.”

Andrew Graham, the Whitecaps new manager, is thrilled he’s got a field to play on after seeing the destruction in January.

“Looks like the ballpark is going to be in good shape and ready for opening day,” said Graham, who played parts of two seasons with Whitecaps in 2004-05.

That was the goal of the Whitecaps ownership. The renovations won’t be complete for awhile, but the gates will open for the first home game on Tuesday.

“You take a few moments to mourn and then you move on,” Whitecaps co-owner Lew Chamberlin said.