Phillies Yankees Baseball

New York Yankees relief pitcher Chasen Shreve works in the bullpen before a spring training baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Tampa, Fla. (Chris O'Meara | AP)

TAMPA -- Yankees' reliever Chasen Shreve makes his offseason home where he grew up, Las Vegas, but the city and its nightlife plays almost no role in his daily routine when he's there.

You'd have to, you know, actually be awake at night to experience it, something Shreve rarely is.

"I go to bed at like seven (p.m.)," Shreve told NJ Advance Media. "It's embarrassing."

But before you make fun of him, there's a reason. Shreve wakes up at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday to work out with a friend and trainer. And on the weekends he keeps pretty much the same hours.

"In Vegas all the people that work there usually have weird hours," he said. "All my buddies that are there, most of them work the weekends. So it's not like I'm going out with them."

Those wee-hour workout mornings are spent with Bryan Harper, a friend and former college baseball teammate. Bryan, of course, is the brother of Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals' outfielder and reigning MVP of the National League.

Shreve and the Nats' outfielder have ties going back to high school when they played on the same travel teams (Harper is from Las Vegas too) and then again at the College of Southern Nevada when they were on the same team, where Bryan played too.

Harper used to catch Shreve during those years (yes, Harper was a catcher), and last season the pair faced each other twice on the field. The first time, in Washington, Shreve struck him out on five pitches but three weeks later Harper ripped a double off him at Yankee Stadium.

This past season Shreve and the Harper brothers golfed several times together.

"My handicap's about a seven right now, so I'm getting pretty good," Shreve said.

The reliever said that that many on that junior college team are close and still get together often even though it's been several years. (Brian Harper, a left-handed pitcher, was drafted by the Nationals in 2011 and spent last season at Double and Triple-A, posting a 2.96 ERA in 45.2 innings.)

Last season was a breakout year for Shreve, who came to New York via trade with the Atlanta Braves in the offseason. In 58.1 innings Shreve had a 3.09 ERA and struck out 64 batters.

It would have been even better, too, if the season had ended before September. Shreve had a brutal last month, allowing nine runs in six innings including four home runs. When the Yankees competed in the American League Wild Card, Shreve was left off the roster by Girardi. (A move that Shreve said he wasn't at all surprised by.)

There seem to be conflicting opinions as to why Shreve all of sudden started struggling. Tipping pitches, some said. Others said no, that he he just wasn't throwing enough strikes.

From Shreve's point of view, it was losing track of what had been working mixed in a with a little bad luck.

"I struggled obviously, but I think some things just didn't go my way and it sort of snowballed into just a bad month," he said.

There are only a few bullpens spots open on the Yankees this season but if you read between the lines of what Girardi's said this spring, Shreve seems to be a pretty sure bet to fill one of them.

"I think I'm back to where I was last year, even better," Shreve said. "I think they'll have confidence in me again. If they don't, they will."

Ryan Hatch may be reached at rhatch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanhatch. Find NJ.com on Facebook.