You can tell that Major League Baseball’s spring training is at hand; news releases are doing their best to tie the game to their product.

Aquafina is sponsoring MLB’s local Pitch, Hit & Run competitions.

Boru Irish vodka is pushing a cocktail called Opening Day Lemonade that includes curacao, lemonade and, of course, vodka.

It’s an interesting pitch: “Fight Bud Selig. Drink our vodka.”

In that case, make mine a double.

The recipe’s author didn’t know squat about baseball, or else they would have made it with grapefruit.

(In case you missed the recipe...)

And Kingsford charcoal is urging customers to kick off their own grilling spring training by following the example of outdoor cook and former St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith by buying a bag of its charcoal.

His bio states his bona fides when it comes to food:

Smith retired from baseball in 1996, and the Cardinals retired his number the same year. He was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002, and is widely cited as one of the greatest defensive baseball players of all time. Now, he enjoys spending time with his children and creating masterpieces on his charcoal grill. He keeps busy with a restaurant at Westport Plaza in St. Louis that bears his name and serves as the Ambassador of Education for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Hmmm. Okay. No mention of whether grilling led to The Wizard’s magnificent back flips while taking the field at shortstop.

On that note, here’s a recipe for a Shortstop Shrimp Stack (say that five times fast) allegedly created for Kingsford by Ozzie. It comes from their recipe archive:

SHORTSTOP SHRIMP STACK

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 3-6 minutes per skewer

Ingredients:
1 pound extra large shrimp (21-25), peeled and deveined

Marinade:
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup chopped cilantro (about half of a bunch)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon minced garlic
8 bamboo or metal skewers

Assemble marinade ingredients in a large Glad Storage Bag, seal, and toss to mix. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Marinate the shrimp for 30 minutes.

If using bamboo skewers, soak them in water while the shrimp is marinating to prevent them from burning on the grill. When the shrimp are finished marinating, spear three shrimp per skewer. Discard remaining marinade.

Grill shrimp on the outer edges of the grill over Kingsford® charcoal (approximately 400 degrees F) for 2-3 minutes on the first side and 1-2 minutes on the second side. Serve on the skewer or remove shrimp from skewer and serve on a platter.

Makes: 4 servings

Note: Smaller shrimp can be used for this recipe. Simply decrease the marinating time to 25 minutes for large shrimp or 20 minutes for medium sized shrimp. Be careful not to over marinate shrimp, as it will affect the texture of the cooked shrimp.