Back to the Process, Baby

Another tough weekend for us, suffering 14-0 and 10-3 defeats at the hands of the Greys, who had their way with us all weekend.

I would make the argument that we handed them the games rather than making them earn it. There is no finger pointing going on here, as a team we just need to play the game smarter and more mentally/fundamentally sound. We need to put the emphasis back on having some fun and doing things right.

As a player, coach and most importantly, student of the game, my baseball philosophy is constantly evolving. I try to learn from the good and the bad, absorbing new lessons with each experience. Picking up pieces of information and new training techniques here and there, and trying to stay up to date with the latest mechanical philosophies that the newest technology has allowed people to discover. I have been lucky to have some great coaches over my lifetime. Starting with my Dad, who is my lifelong coach and the person most directly responsible for my baseball success. My brothers, who always trained me, supported me, and never took it easy on me when on the field or court. My first real little league and traveling baseball coach, Fred Wood, who put in countless hours at "cubs field." Darryl Stanhope, still one of the most knowledgeable baseball coaches I have ever met, who insisted on doing things right and was instrumental in showing me the importance of mental toughness. I could go on and on... from Sam Wilson to Marc Kenner to Marc Hicks to Dan Ariola to Aaron Rushing, Dave Gordon and the list goes on.

Stuck in the midst of a 9-game skid, I often find myself wondering what they would say or do. What would they do differently? How would they try to coach the players, who admittedly just haven't had the coaching to know what to in certain situations?

I have given things a lot of thought and again keep coming back to the same thing... try to impart lessons that I have learned to the guys. In addition to trying to show by example, maybe try to be a more vocal teacher as well. Whether guys take it and learn from it is up to each individual, but the only way for us to get better as a team is to begin to develop a team approach to the game... a common understanding of what must be done and how we must carry ourselves to start winning some games. This will be challenging, but we can do it.

One thing we can't do is become obsessed with winning a game. Instead we must focus on selecting a good pitch to hit, getting on top of curveballs, getting a good hop to field, winning the small battles. Once we start winning those little battles in what I like to call "working the process", then the wins will come without even thinking about them. You worry about the process (which to me is the most fun part of the game) and the wins take care of themselves.


A few things that I believe our team is missing that I think are central to us turning it around..

*Believe in yourself and your ability. Play with confidence and believe that you have the chance to win every game.
There is a reason MLB has 162 games and not 10. Any team can win on any given day, it is a long hall and it takes all 162 games to see who are really the best teams.

*Don't be results oriented (i.e. wins, hits, etc.), be process oriented (hard hit balls, team at bats, getting good hops to field, etc.). If you work the process correctly, results (Wins, hits, runs,etc.) will come.

*While maintaining confidence in your ability, know yourself as a player. Stay within yourself, don't try to do too much.
It is a team game, you can't try to win it yourself. If everyone plays their part in the process, results will follow.

*Practice is where the work gets done and muscle memory is created... increase the level of focus in practice. Games should be focused on going out and having fun.

*Baseball is a game full of failure and adversity, the sooner you learn to overcome it, the better off you will be.

We are staring adversity in the face right now...

Now all I want to know is who is going to be next to get the guy to 3rd with less than 2 outs, make the next big play, or get the next big hit?

Let's embrace these opportunities, this game, and lets turn this ship around starting today at practice.

Let's go Cats