They could see the news coming as clearly as an 80-mile per hour meatball down the middle of the plate.

All signs pointed to the minor league baseball season being canceled long before it officially was announced on Tuesday.

So it wasn't a shocker to Tom Sutera, Mike Burrows and Nolan Long, three former Waterford High School standouts attempting to climb the minor league ladder in the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations, respectively.

It still stung nevertheless.

"They just officially put the word out but we've kind of all had the idea that we weren't going to play an actual season this year," Sutera said. "It definitely stinks not being able to play a season, but those of us that are local that are in professional baseball are making the most of it."

Burrows added: "Once they started limiting capacity of being around each other and all that, there was never going to be fans to support the minor leagues, so there was no way they were going to play it out and lose money. A lot of guys knew in advance."

Sutera, Burrows and Long — all pitchers — are at various stages of their pro careers.

Sutera, 23, and Burrows, 20, are in their third pro season, each having spent two years in the lower levels of the minor leagues. They crossed paths in the Class A short season New York-Penn League in 2019, Sutera with Williamsport and Burrows with West Virginia. They spent one season as high school teammates as Waterford.

Both hoped to build on promising years. Sutera earned a promotion to full season Class A in mid-July and Burrows threw the ball well while making 11 starts for West Virginia.

Now their careers are on pause.

At least the disruption comes early in their pursuit of their dream.

"Any time you lose a season, it's tough whether it be an injury or something crazy as this," Sutera said. "Every year you lose, you're a year older and there is someone younger coming up. But having it early in your career is better because you have more time to grow. .. It's kind of good and bad. It's also good because you get to work on stuff on your own without having to worry about the pressure of the season."

Burrows feels bad for the 26-year-old Long, his regular workout partner in recent months.

The clock is starting to tick on Long's career. Long was poised to make another jump after posting a 5-1 record with a 2.29 earned run average as a reliever for Class AA Tulsa.

Losing a year hurts Long more than Sutera and Burrows.

"He had the opportunity this year to possibly get a call-up," Burrows said. "Last year, he did really well. If he came out and did that same thing this year, a lot could happen at the age he's at and the level he's at. Without a season, it tacks on another year to him. I know he's frustrated about it, but we're making the most of it and making progress every day."

Long points out that he's not the only minor leaguer dealing with the same challenge.

"It's definitely a tough pill to swallow," Long said. "The year that I put together last year and then looking forward to continuing that roll and then just getting completely stopped. It's not easy. I'm not the only guy who had a good year last year and was excited for 2020.

"You've got to take it as it goes and that's just where the ball rolled this time."

In recent weeks, the three former Lancers have been working with fellow pro players, current and former college players from all around the state. They gather at Fitch High School about once a week.

Other local players showing up at times include recent Baltimore Orioles signee TT Bowens (Montville), former UConn players Aaron Hill (Fitch), Doug Domnarski (Stonington), John Russell, Jack Sundberg and Willy Yahn, who's reached the Class AA in the Baltimore organization. Hill has left town to play for an independent league team in Milwaukee.

"We try to make an afternoon out of it," Sutera said. "It's a good time. We joke around. It's good to see everybody throwing and everybody hitting. It gets a little competitive. We make the most of it."

Sutera, Burrows and Long are grateful to have each other to lean on while making the adjustments to being at home during the summer months for the first time in years. They ask each other for advice on pitching.

Long and Burrows are particularly close. They feed off each other during their workouts together, sharing a similar mindset.

"Just staying ready," Burrows said. "There's nothing else to do. I work out with Nolan Long and we talk about this a lot, There are guys out there that take this as a vacation. We've been working out every day. We don't even see a light at the end of the tunnel. We have no idea what's to come this year, if it's going to be one big off-season.

"But we've made a lot of progress together, working with each other and getting feedback from as many people as we can within both of our organizations. We're just trying to make progress. It's not going to be rocket science, but it's going to be a test when everybody returns, who was putting in the work and who wasn't."

g.keefe@theday.com