If you follow the Twitter accounts of Charlie Blackmon (@Chuck_Nazty) and Christian Friedrich (@CFried12), you might’ve noticed over the last year that they’re pretty big into gaming. At one point, Charlie Blackmon even credited video gaming with the hot start he had to his 2014 season. Back then, he told Pat Graham of the Associated Press that he, along with DJ LeMahieu, believed it “Improves reaction time, making us better hitters… No game is ever the same and you make in-game adjustments, just like in baseball.” Other players also join in the fun, from Brandon Barnes to relative newcomers Scott Oberg and Eddie Butler. As a bit of a gamer in semi-retirement, I got interested in what kinds of games they played and how they were able to balance that kind of indoor, late night, munch-a-holic lifestyle with waking up early the next morning to play, you know, a real baseball game.

So, how’d they all get started?

“Halo.”, Charlie said. “Halo started it all in college. It was the first time I was really introduced to the multiplayer scenario. I got to play with the other guys on campus and I really got hooked on the XBox 360.”

For Barnes, it was old school arcade games, “At like Chuck E Cheese or something, I actually have it at my house. It’s the four player Simpsons game and the original Super Mario. When the Sega Genesis came out, Sonic the Hedgehog, the original, was pretty awesome. I even remember playing Pong on Atari with my dad.

But one guy in particular didn’t get an early start. DJ said “My parents weren’t much into video games when I was younger. My first console was a Dreamcast. Crazy Taxi was my favorite game.”

And then there’s Christian’s humble beginnings. “Twisted Metal was one of my favorite games when you can just run around and every car had a specialty. It was like an intense, M for mature, MarioKart.”

Though there are quite a few gamers in the Rockies clubhouse, Christian might just be seen as _the_ gamer on the team and is eager to talk about them. As Barnes says, “Friedrich’s the best. I mean, I just kinda play Call of Duty.”

And for Christian, that was gaming, “I think Halo is how I got into first person shooters (FPS). Halo 2 was awesome, Halo 3 was great. Halo Reach… it kinda had different modifiers and they want to make every game expanding and you have to make it appealing to everyone and no one likes change, especially if they’re good at something. I think Call of Duty: Search and Destroy was my first. It was round to round, it took a lot of tactical strategy, just like team doubles in Halo. I like the fast paced movement [in Call of Duty] and this new Advanced Warfare, and after getting my hands on the new Black Ops 3, I think it’s going to be a completely different FPS than the rest of them.”

For many of the players, it gives them something to do on the road without going party crazy. Brandon believed, “You’ve gotta have a hobby outside the game. When I’m here, I spend time with my family. When I’m on the road, it gives me something to do.”

Friedrich adds, “People say, ‘You like video games, how old are you?’ I’m 27. But it’s still my passion. It keeps me from going out on the town and we have a lot of fun connecting. My variety isn’t as deep in some other games but I’m definitely committed to the games I do play. The marketing department for Activision saw us tweeting about Call of Duty, so they asked if we wanted to come out and check out the games.”

Me: Hey, wanna come play vids? @CFRIED12 : sure Me: well this is awkward…one of us has to change. @Treyarch pic.twitter.com/XABO4yzVCY — Charlie Blackmon (@Chuck_Nazty) May 18, 2015

“Blackie and I went out to Treyarch with Scott Oberg and we go in there and they had a bunch of testers. We played probably about four or five games with a full lobby match. And you know, it’s May and the new game doesn’t come out until November and I remember playing this game until 5 am and i remember thinking ‘Man I wish I could have a job similar to this when I’m done with baseball, I’d be in to doing this.’ The next thing you know, you’re in their studios and they’re loving our feedback and it created a great visible buzz so it was probably the best trip I’ve ever taken.”

The gaming life can be a bit rough, even as we grow up. I remember spending hours playing old RPGs like Ultima, then Ultima Online, then forgetting what happened that decade. I’ve grown a bit more moderate in my later years, but since I’m still a bit of a gamer, though preferring online card (Hearthstone), crafting (7 Days to Die) and strategy (Crusader Kings 2) games as opposed to fast twitch ones, I wondered how one juggles being an athlete putting in 12 hour days at the park with late night Coca Cola and Cheeto gaming binges. Turns out, they take a pretty different attitude towards health and play schedule than I did, especially during the season.

DJ says, “I don’t associate food much with my video games. I’m usually pretty locked in. If I eat something, that’s health-based.”

Charlie agreed, “When I start playing games, I get locked in, so I don’t eat or drink a whole lot. If I had to pick an inbetween game snack, I’d have to pick peanut butter waffles and milk.”

Barnes added, “I stick to one soda a week, just as a taste. I try to maintain my diet, try to eat a lot, stay as healthy as possible. A lot of water, Pedialyte, electrolytes. I try to munch on good stuff, more fruits and bars and nuts. It’s kind of a snack but I stay healthy at the same time.”

Friedrich elaborated on that, “Even in the offseason, I only try to buy groceries so that I force myself to eat healthy foods rather than getting chips. I really have to make it up when I go get that stuff. But there’s some seaweed wraps and almonds… but when a big new game first comes out, I’ll play for a week and a half straight and take a week off of training and go to Walmart and get Hot Pockets and microwave dinners and pizzas and all the good stuff. We usually do that around November 7th until like the 15th when the new Call of Duty comes out so around then we have a nice week break where we play nonstop hours like most kids. We usually buy Diet Mountain Dew because it has a little extra caffeine and sometimes they have gaming points on their boxes and stuff but we try to do hydration with coconut water or regular water. I’ve probably bought a few 12 packs of sodas but if you start drinking those, before you know it, you start getting a little shaky staring at the screen all night.”

Coconut water and fruits? I’ll have to keep that in mind. And are those late night gaming sessions also in moderation? You know, the ones that’d keep someone like me up until 4am?

“I try to go to bed on the road before 1:30am.”, Brandon said. “I’m still amped up from the game and the adrenaline is so high but I try to get to bed on time.”

Charlie says, “I limit a lot of my playing until the postseason and offseason, and that’s more than enough to be honest.”

DJ also cuts off around the same time, but sneaks in an early session. He says, “My play time’s usually until 1:30am. I like to play after breakfast too, before I go to the field.”

Things had changed for Christian as well, “Back in 2008, 2009, all I cared about was video games. Baseball didn’t really have that many responsibilities nor was I accountable for really anything. But it’s fun to play those late hours in surges. Like last night, we got home at around 11, and got some food then played side-by-side Call of Duty Advanced Warfare with Charlie until around 12:30, and then we can get up around 10:30. get up, get breakfast. It used to be I’ll play as long as I want to, but now I have to regulate and make sure I get those hours of sleep so I get that recovery. The offseason’s definitely easier.”

They also have a variety of playstyles. Friedrich noted, “Charlie is slower and a little more calculated than me. I like to play slow and I know how to play slow, but I just have a thrill that this is a run and gun. I think I’m moving faster than everybody else even though our speed is regulated. But Charlie’s aiming… I was a little bitter, because he did better than me at the Treyarch studios one than me. Usually he’ll have a 1.3 or 1.4 K/D (Kill/Death ratio) and usually I’m at a 2.4. This past week, he’s been at a 2.8 and I’ve been at a 1.6. But he’s been playing on a PS4 and I’ve been playing on an XOne and I keep telling him the XOne players are way more advanced.”

Charlie quipped in return, “I’m a fan of the XBox, and I think first person shooters have better competition on the XBox, but I also like the free stuff. So I’m going to play on the Playstation.”

Christian definitely tries to help his teammates get better. “Charlie’s definitely got a really accurate shot, knows how to use his surroundings, use the walls, always has one side of his body guarded. I finally told him that playing on a 50 inch screen isn’t good for an FPS. You’ll never catch up to guys who play on a normal screen. But I told him he’s made the cut to play with our group this offseason.”

Like on the field, Brandon goes all out. “I like to call myself a kamikaze. Just try to go around and kill as many people as I can before I die. It’s not something I take too seriously, but it’s fun.”

As for the somewhat quiet DJ? “I’m a camper. I’m the guy everyone hates on the most.” DJ’s newer to the Call of Duty group, “Every baseball team has Call of Duty players so when my buddies so I joined in. I’ve always played but when Blackmon and I lived together we played almost every day.”

Is it just Call of Duty for them though? Charlie says, “I play Clash of Clans on my phone a lot. It’s a little bit addicting but if I want to game and do something different, that’s what I’ll play.”

As Christian said, “I grew up on games. I even remember playing Ken Griffey Jr. baseball as a kid and playing as Glenallen Hill and he could always crush the ball… and then he becomes my manager in AAA. I had MLB’s The Show and I was striking out Charlie the other night. So we pull up The Show every now and then and are like ‘oh what pitches does this guy have?’ ‘Well, how good am I?’ ‘Oh do I have my hands up here?’ And he was happy to see he had sunglasses and a beard and everything and they also had my little toe tap so it was kinda fun. You know, we’ve been playing games since we were little kids… but you’ve always wanted to be in a game and now, you can look at your ratings and instead of just being happy, now it’s like ‘Oh, I’m only an 80 vision on lefties!’ But they have my windup down pat. I used to have a little bit more of a dip in my windup and that was when the first game came out. So I went on there and looked at one of my good buddies on the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jeff Locke, and I went to go see if he had his own windup in there. He didn’t and I did, so I was kind of jacked up that they thought mine was a little unique.”

How do they get the players motions into the game? Christian explained, “I think they kind of record [from television] and get what they can from the motions and mechanics. I think they did a face thing during spring training but it was a couple years ago and they haven’t done one [for me] since. It’s interesting to see every time we have new guys get called up in the spring and see them get all excited when they hear ‘We need the Playstation guys to scan your face.’ and they think “Oh I might be in the game this year… or I might be in Triple-A.’ It’s fun just to see the transformation in the games and ourselves as well. Now they have contact swing and regular swing and power swings and I’ll take contact and some of our guys like DJ and Ynoa and stuff where they’re just beating balls into the dirt and try to use the strategy that comes up in real baseball games.” In many ways to a major leaguer, getting your likeness in your first game is like getting your first baseball card.

Christian also tosses in a healthy dose of NHL and FIFA. “[Locke’s] also an avid gamer and buddy. He’ll text and say “What time are you getting on tonight? Alright I’ll see you in the party.” and play whatever whether it’s FIFA or Halo or Call of Duty [with some of the Pirates]. AJ Burnett’s a new player. I like to watch some of the Blackhawk players and the gritty grinders, so I keep them in the NHL lineup a little bit more. With FIFA, we bought way too many of those packs that you can get online so it’s like I’m a little kid again opening up baseball cards and getting my favorite players. We’ll be in our hotel rooms and DJ and I hooked up the other night while he was in his room and I was in mine and we teamed up and it’s a lot of fun and another way to compete off the field.”

Beyond the competition, like on the baseball field signing autographs, Christian thinks there are some ways to accomplish good off the field and during the offseason through gaming. “I was talking with the guys about how much fun it would be to incorporate Twitch into our games for charity and think about how much people would love to see Charlie with his beard and with a beanie on and headphones. And maybe there’s a kid who doesn’t play sports that well but he can show off to us.”

Though with DJ camping, Brandon kamikazing, and Charlie and Christian lining up the shots, perhaps the showing off might not last all that long…