Everyday, we (my pitchers and I) start our day with a meeting. We will go over the plan for the day, maybe fill them in on some information about future travel or something and then we get into discussing the events that occurred in the game the day before. This meeting usually takes between 10-20 minutes and I honestly feel that this is the part of the day where these future big leaguers grow the most.
We discuss the good, the bad and the ugly. I will most often call out the players and force them to participate. One, they need to learn to be comfortable speaking in front of others and two, the lessons we can learn from each others successes and downfalls can be great. If you were to sit in on our meetings, you would most likely hear the same things day after day, but that’s ok. If it takes one needing to hear something 100 times before they really start to understand it, then I’m going to say the same thing 100 times.
For these players to get to this level is a great success in their lives. They are the select few who have the god given talent and have worked hard enough to make it here. But often, it is a humbling experience once they start facing the competition in professional baseball. They can’t just sit back and throw the ball as hard as they can anymore because that guy in the batters box will turn around a belt high 95 mph fastball like you are throwing batting practice up there. You can’t throw an 0-2 breaking ball in the dirt every single time because these hitters are taught to look for those type of patterns.
Daily, we will discuss things like that. We also discuss others routines, and how it may be affecting their game in a good or bad way. We will discuss mistakes on the field that we all need to learn from for instance, I have a pitcher who developed a so called “Balk move” in college and he has used it successfully but got caught with it the other day and ended up balking in a run. The lesson here was that if you have one of these moves, don’t ever use it with a runner on third because you are risking giving them a free run.
From my end, having gone through what all these players are going through right now, is fun to watch. It would be very easy for me to get frustrated with them, but with my own personal experiences in this game, I understand how hard what they are doing really is. This game is very humbling. One day these kids heard their name called by a professional organization and they are on top of the world and the next day they are having missiles hit off them left and right. Only the mentally strong will survive and the more we can learn and take in, the mentally stronger we will get.
Be observant, go into it with a open mind and don’t get caught thinking that you have it figured out. Learn everyday.
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.
