While he's adapting to wearing new colors, interacting with new people and calling a new place home, Brandon Lowe hasn't yet felt the true effects of the offseason trade that sent him from the Rays to the Pirates. 

"Bradenton's not that far away from Port Charlotte. It is still Florida, there are still palm trees and it's sunny and hot out," Lowe told me following the Pirates' 3-2 loss to the Cardinals today here at LECOM Park. "I think when the season really kicks off is when things are going to feel really strange." 

When spring training came to an end last year, Lowe recalls packing his truck up with all his baseball equipment and driving two hours home. Now, if he wanted to replicate that process, it would take him 16-plus hours to get from LECOM Park to PNC Park. 

"Not going to be driving that one, so it's a different situation," Lowe said. "The car is going to get shipped, all my stuff will be shipped and all this other kind of stuff. So it'll be different in that aspect, but the guys in here have been great in letting you settle in, be yourself and get comfortable with the guys around you." 

Now that he's becoming more comfortable, Lowe can focus solely on preparing for what will be his ninth major-league season. Given the amount of experience he's gained over the years, he has a feel for how he wants to approach things each spring. He's certainly not going through the motions out there on a daily basis, but he is attempting to pace himself in an effort to put him in the best situation possible heading into opening day. 

"You understand what you need to do to be ready," said Lowe, who has three hits, three walks and four strikeouts in 13 plate appearances this spring. "When I was younger, it was taking a thousand swings, sprinting all over the place and doing other stuff, and that was before I truly understood what the 162 brought. So now it's just doing what I need to do, understanding the process that I need to go through and being ready for when game's truly matter."