In an ideal world, baseball players wouldn’t have to improvise at all. Think about it. For the most part, players are creatures of habit. They eat the same meal before each game. They try to follow the same exact pattern during a hot streak. They read and follow scouting reports.

When one of those aspects is slightly different, it can throw some players off their game. That’s not going to be the case with Washington Nationals catcher Spencer Kieboom. When faced with a recent challenge, Kieboom proved he was able to go off script in order to solve the problem.





Now that’s smart thinking. Kieboom may not have had any logs to start a fire in his fireplace, but he was willing to improvise. Instead of going out in the cold and chopping up some fresh wood, he did the next best thing: Grabbed a bunch of his broken bats. It’s not only wise, but it’s also a good way to avoid going outside in inhospitable temperatures and doing physical labor. We’re so proud.

While we applaud the move, there’s a part of us that wants to say: Think of the collectors! A number of fans are looking at this picture crying their eyes out right now. It’s not easy to get your hands on a game-used major-league bat, and many would kill to add one of these to their collection.

But, hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. You have to stay warm in the cold, winter months somehow. Kieboom gets points for creativity here, even if it seemed like the obvious thing to do.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik