I was talking with a student a couple weeks ago, who is a sophomore in HS, about his season last year. He had a rough time during school ball but had a much better summer. After more talk, it came out that he felt that he deserved more playing time during school ball and didn’t take it well. He then took more of a leadership role during summer ball where he had much better results.

The second you have the attitude or mindset that you deserve this or that, you are done. You HAVE to be able to handle adversity in this game the right way. Whether things are going good or bad, you have to stay positive if you want to produce. Do what you need to do to be the best you can be and let your talent speak for itself.

The moral of the story, the mind is a powerful thing. This kid had the same level of ability during school ball as he did during summer ball, but his mental state took him down. To be one of the best in this game, you HAVE to be mentally tough.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

Sports are an amazing thing.  They give us plenty of joy, always a good workout and for those that sports are a part of their life, they teach us life lessons.  In my opinion baseball is the toughest sport both physically and mentally. 

Physically, in baseball there are so many moving parts.  No matter what it is you are doing on the field, pitching-hitting-fielding-running-sliding-catching, all the moving parts of your body have to be in the right position at the right time to do it properly.  This is something that most people in the world just can’t do. The hand/eye coordination alone is so tough, yet it is just a small piece of what goes into being a solid baseball player.  Baseball is also a sport of repetition.  It is always a topic of discussion with my students and their parents.  If a player wants to be the best they can be, it takes a relentless work ethic. Professional players, and the best amateur players, will work on their game everyday.  Out of all the students I have, only a handful are dedicated enough to work on it everyday.  And believe me, it shows.  With the truly dedicated ones, there is progress made every single session. 

Now for the mental aspect of this game.  No other sport (again, in my opinion) comes close in comparison.  Baseball is a game of failure.  Think about it, to be a good hitter, you will fail 7 out of 10 times. To be a good pitcher the big leagues, you can allow 4.5 runs every nine innings and still make millions of dollars.  To be the best player on the field, there are life lessons to be learned that unfortunately most people never learn in their life.  To name a few; work ethic, dedication, self discipline, leadership, how to deal with adversity, how to deal with success, attitude, durability, accountability, how to be selfless and what it means to be a part of a team.  I could go on and on but I think you get my point.  So many tangibles go into being a great baseball player and that is why only .003% of little league (those who start in tee ball) baseball players will play in the big leagues someday.  

Without baseball, and the lessons it has taught me, I would not be the person-husband-father I am today.  The life lessons it has taught me, and still teaching me, are priceless.  I live a full and blessed life thanks to baseball and the mental toughness it has given me. 

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

One of the best experiences in my baseball career so far.  Japan is a beautiful country and we would love to visit it again someday.  

First, let me talk briefly about how I was offered this opportunity.  There are many players in the minor leagues who are very good players but just aren’t sticking in the major leagues.  Many get chance after chance in the bigs but can’t get the job done.  Then there are many, like myself, that have had good minor league careers but just aren’t in the right place at the right time.  I was fortunate in 2004 to get my one chance but was not impressive at all.  

Japanese teams look for players who are considered 4A players.  Great AAA players who can’t seem to stick at the major league level.  For those who have been given the chance to play in Japan, including myself, it is a true blessing.  I know for me personally, if this didn’t happen to me, it very well might have felt like my playing days were all for nothing.  Playing in Japan is a life changing opportunity for every player who gets the chance.  If you pay attention to the game over there, you will see some big names pop up every once in a while.  For example, Brad Penny, signed to play for the Softbank Hawks a couple years ago.  

To go to a foreign country like Japan, you have to be open minded.  You have to respect their way of life.  If you go over there with the attitude that the way we do things in America is the only way, well then, you might as well turn around and head back home because it will never work.  We loved Asian food before we went over there, so the food part was very easy.  The accommodations though, was another story.  Our apartment had 6′ doorways which took me a whole season to get used to.  I had a permanent scab on the crown of my head from hitting it on almost every door jam.  We were not provided a car so we had to walk and take the train everywhere.  Not a big deal except for that our apartment was a 10-15 minute walk to the station, then I would spend 40-45 minutes on the train where I had to transfer twice and then once I made it to the field, there was another 5-10 minute walk to get to the clubhouse.  Now if I  had to do this for a little while, it would have been tolerable but doing it almost everyday, rain or shine, hot or cold, it started to ware pretty quickly.  

The game of baseball, is baseball where ever you go.  Once you step between the white lines, it’s on!  Although there are a few differences in the style over there.  For example, we call the count balls and then strikes where they call strikes then balls so instead of a full count being, 3-2 it’s 2-3.  Took a while to get used to that.  They have cheerleaders and would stop the game after the 5th inning for about 10 minutes to fix the whole field, the cheerleaders would put on a show and most of they players would go take a smoke break.  I never got used to this and would always start running out onto the field for the 6th but would have to stop and walk back.  Talk about a momentum killer!!  Very rarely will you see a game over there under 3 hours.

The fans are by far the best fans I have ever been around.  In the two years I was there, I NEVER once heard a boo, not once!!  Each team also had a cheering section who had a chant/song for every player.  When a player hit a homerun, the cheering section would chant their name until they tipped their hat.  

Like I said, my family and I are truly blessed to have had this opportunity.  We will always have great memories of our time over there and look forward to the time when we can visit there again.  

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

Major League Baseball, it doesn’t get any better. It’s the absolute highest level any one player can play at. It’s where you have to be to become a hall of famer. In our generation, it’s where you have to be if you want to make truck loads of money playing the game of baseball. 

Now the thing that isn’t realized by most Americans is what those guys have gone through to get there. Years and years of hard work and dedication. Every person reading this has either a dream of playing in the big leagues or has a child with that dream. Most of us have access to a game on TV every single day of the season. My question is, when a game is on, how do you watch it?

Baseball, in my opinion, is one of the most technical sports out there. You have to have precise body control and great hand eye coordination. With technology today, the slow motion on TV is unreal. You can see so much. See how a players body is positioned at a certain point in their swing or during a pitch.  Watch how these men create so much power with their body.

When my oldest was 8, he found himself in a run down. To my amazement, he worked it perfectly, as the runner, and was able to reach the next base. When I asked him where he learned to do that, his response was, “I saw it on TV.”

Watch the big boys and how they go about their business. If the dream is to be one of those guys, why would you NOT WATCH how they do it?

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

Every player I work with is given “homework” to do between sessions with me. I do this for a couple of really important reasons. First, because that’s what it takes to become better. And second, because it can be a waste of mom and dad’s time and money for a player to spend the first half of every session working on trying to fix the same issue we corrected at the last lesson. 

The guys you see on TV didn’t just get there because they had the talent to be the best. It took a lot of hard work. When I was in high school, it was a 9- to 10-month out-of-the-year gig. I worked on something (hitting off the tee or soft toss in the garage, fielding drills in the garage, playing catch in the back yard, getting up at the crack of dawn to head over to school to do early workouts) every day. If a player’s true dream is to be the best, he WILL find the time. 

I often work with players through five or six straight hours of lessons, and it is always very apparent who did work in between sessions and who didn’t. I always ask if they did their homework and so far my students have been honest. It would be very easy for me to tell if they weren’t being truthful. 

Let’s be clear on this, though. The work put in on the side has to be the right work. Everything that we work on during a session is intended to provide specific guidance and develop the tools they will need to become better. If they’re not actively applying what they learn during their lessons in their side work–without me there–then they could be taking two steps back. The work they put in between lessons needs to be the correct type of work. Practice smart!!!

With all that said, to become the best player on the field you’ll need to work your butt off and dedicate time to this game. Put down the video games, go out and work!!!

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

On Dec 1 2012 my wife, Rachael, and I were in Cabo on our first vacation since our honeymoon 12 years prior. While sitting around with nothing to do, your mind tends to wander with boredom. We have three children (Christopher 10, Zachary 7 and Brooke 4) so there is really not much time in our lives to be bored. Honestly, I don’t think my mind knows how to handle having no responsibilities and that is why this happened. 

Baseball has been in my blood since the age of 5. I grew up in Concord, CA where I played little league all the way through age 12. We moved up to the Pacific NW in 1991 when my father was transferred to Portland. One of the things I remember most about my baseball youth was my father reading every book and magazine, watching every instructional video and taking me to every clinic he could find to get me in front of the right people with the knowledge to make me a better player. 

So while sitting on the beach (in the shade while Rachael spent hours in the sun) my mind started racing once this idea popped in my head. How can I reach more kids?  I’m only home 4-5 months a year to train and am limited to just my area. Maybe I can use the Internet!  So that was it, he ideas started pouring in. So many, I couldn’t sleep, not even while on vacation. Maybe I can reach players all over the country, maybe even the world someday, via video analysis, articles, webinars and eBooks. My vision is when Baseball Dudes grows, too big for me to handle alone, we will bring on more instructors with pro experience who are still involved in the game.  

The name “Baseball Dudes” came from me telling my oldest boy about this idea. I asked him what should I call the business and he replied “little dudes playing baseball.” I loved it, especially since in the baseball world, a prospect is often referred to as a “Dude.” So to make a long story, a little shorter, “Baseball Dudes” was born on Dec 1 2012. 

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.