The boys of summer gathered Tuesday afternoon in a warm and refurbished clubhouse on a cold and dreary day. They donned crisp white uniforms with Sea Dogs written in red across the chest as shutters clicked, gear moved from duffel to locker and conversations in English and Spanish floated across the room.

Opening Day at Hadlock Field is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, but Tuesday’s chill rain and a forecast calling for more snow raised doubts about the curtain rising at the appointed hour on Eastern League season number 24 for the Sea Dogs.

“Which is unfortunate,” said Ryan Court, a utility infielder who split time between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket last season, “because I think all of us are anxious to play.”

At 28, Court is the grizzled veteran of these young pups. He’ll turn 29 in late May, three months before Mike Olt celebrates the same birthday. Olt is a former first-round pick of the Rangers who reached the majors in 2012 and, after a trade to the Cubs, was Chicago’s Opening Day third baseman in 2014 and 2015.

A native of Branford, Connecticut, Olt walked into the Portland clubhouse beneath the right-field stands at Hadlock shortly before 3 o’clock Tuesday. He hopes that a variety of injuries (broken collarbone, broken wrist, foot and leg problems) are behind him. He spent last season in the Padres’ minor-league system but played only 52 games because of plantar fasciitis.

Catchers Danny Bethea, left, and Jake DePew sit with outfielder Cole Sturgeon on a couch in the Portland Sea Dogs’ clubhouse watching a baseball game on television on Tuesday.

“I feel like my body is healthy right now, which is nice,” said Olt, who lived with Red Sox reliever and former UConn teammate Matt Barnes during spring training.

Like most of his new teammates, Olt’s focus Tuesday was on finding a place to live. The Sea Dogs have a number of host families, but sometimes older players prefer an apartment. There is also the weather, an abrupt change after weeks in Florida.

“I might have to sit outside shirtless,” Olt said, “and get acclimated.”

Outfielder Jose Rosario is also new to the Red Sox organization. He spent the past eight seasons in the Yankees’ system, including two stints with Eastern League rival Trenton. A native of the Dominican Republic, he has experienced snow, but never seen it falling from the sky.

He does remember an April game at Hadlock in 2015 when he hit a broken-bat single and felt as if his hands were numb by the time he reached first base.

“Playing baseball in such conditions, you need to enfocada,” he said, repeating the Spanish word before checking on his phone for the proper translation. “Focus. You need to focus. And in the dugout, stay close to the heater.”

A dozen of the new Sea Dogs spent all or part of last season with Salem of the Class A South Atlantic League alongside a rising prospect named Andrew Benintendi, the young outfielder promoted to Portland by the middle of May and to Boston by early August.

On Opening Day at Fenway Park on Monday, it was Benintendi’s three-run homer that made the difference in a 5-3 victory over Pittsburgh.

Third baseman Rafael Devers is the most ballyhooed of Boston’s Double-A prospects, but everyone on the roster harbors the dream that come September, if not earlier, 4 Yawkey Way will replace 271 Park Ave. as their work address.

Joseph Monge relaxes in the Sea Dogs locker room at Hadlock Field.

First baseman Nick Longhi grew up in Florida but was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and remembers celebrating his 12th birthday with his first visit to Fenway Park. It was August of 2007 and the Red Sox had just traded for closer Eric Gagne. Throwing out the ceremonial first pitch was another newly-acquired athlete whose time in Boston proved more successful than Gagne’s, Kevin Garnett of the Celtics.

Longhi passed on a scholarship to Louisiana State University in order to sign at 17 with the Red Sox as a 30th-round pick in 2013.

“What are the odds that you go to college for three years,” Longhi said, “and your favorite team drafts you again?”

The biggest rival to Longhi’s high school in Venice Beach was nearby Sarasota High, the alma mater of new Sea Dogs outfielder Danny Mars, a sixth-round pick in 2014 who spent all last season with Longhi in Salem.

“Portland is supposed to be a really fun place to play,” said Mars (yes, everyone calls him Bruno). “I’m just looking forward to going out there with these guys every day. The more the year goes on, the more everyone becomes a family, and that’s the best part about it.”

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