10 Lessons from My Baseball Career

1. Be Ready To Start

2. Constantly Seek Feedback 

3. Find Your Rival 

4. Never Make Excuses 

5. Failure is an Opportunity 

6. Win Everything 

7. Stay in the Present 

8. Work on Your Own

9. Don't Let the Game Define You 

10. Be a Great Person 

1. Be Ready To Start

One phenomenon that I have noticed throughout my career is how we preserve ourselves based on the environment we are in. We go from that stud High School player to feeling like we have no idea what we are doing as Freshman in College. 

Have we changed as a player? Have we lost skill? Are we really that far away from College Seniors? 

No. But in our minds we are. The first piece of advice I would give is don't allow yourself to believe the narrative that you aren't ready to play. Show up on Day 1 expecting to start. Your just as good as anyone on the team - you just have more to prove. Very few college coaches recruit kids thinking "Oh we won't play him for 2 year, we will give him time to develop." Coaches want results and they don't care who provides them. Adopt an aggressive mindset and remember you are still a stud. Just because the environment has changed and the stakes feel higher, doesn't mean you need to think any less confidently. 

BE READY TO START!

2. Constantly Seek Feedback 

Lesson #2 might feel uncomfortable, but you need to be obsessed with knowing what you need to improve on. You need to know how your coach's and teammates view your game so you know what your strengths and weakness are. So many times we sit there and guess as to why we aren't playing. 

Go ask. Go into your coach's office and ask: "What do you need to see me improve at to have a better chance of playing & helping the team win?"

There's not a coach on earth that won't respect that initiative and think about YOU next time an opportunity comes up. Show you care and are willing to do whatever it takes to win. Feedback and assessment is healthy. Embrace it and let it fuel you. 

3. Find Your Rival

Rivalries in sports bring out the very best and the very worst in athletes. In my case it drove me to become a better player than I could have on my own. I had rivalries on every team I played on. I had guys I wanted to outperform and beat every single day - on my own team. Off the field you can be my friend, but on the field I'm coming for your job and you better be ready. One slip up, and I will be waiting. 

Being a competitor doesn't just apply to game day. Force the guys around you to match your intensity every day. They may hate you at first, they may give you a hard time, but it's all a cover for their own insecurities. "Keep focusing on me... meanwhile I will be getting better." 

4. Never Make Excuses

The most important lesson on this list. No matter how bad your luck gets, no matter how bad the results get - it's always your fault. This might seem extreme, but it's the mindset of all mature athletes. Maturity is not complaining about a bad strike three call but admitting that you missed the 0-1 pitch right down the middle. The one moment that went against your is never the reason you failed. 

Excuses get you nowhere, they don't make you better. all they do is justify why you don't need to work harder and get better. This is your career. Take ownership over it and refuse to shy away from the spotlight. If you succeed you take the glory & if you fail you take the grief. Be mature - be excuse free. 

5. Failure is an Opportunity 

Every time we fail we have two choices: to view it as a roadblock or to view it as a challenge. You learn more through failure than success because failure exposes what you need to get better at. That all it is. Don't overthink failure, don't let it get inside your head and convince you that you're not good enough. 

You might not have been good enough in that one moment, but tomorrow you will get better at it and you won't make the same mistake twice. 

Errors I made in games meant I would spend an hour the next day working on that play I messed up, to get it right. Failure is the feedback every athlete NEEDS to constantly push the needle of their development forward. 

You may not like failure. I hate it. But you have to respect it for what it is... an opportunity. 

6. Win Everything 

Whether it's a sprint, a wall sit, a groundball knockout - win it. When we used to do poles as pitchers, I would demand that I came first on every rep. I wanted to instill in my head that 2nd place was not an option. I also wanted my teammates to know that I am the alpha - the pack leader. If you want to beat me, you have to work harder than you are willing to do. Be unapologetic in your commitment to excellence. 

This is your career. There's no glory in 2nd place. The only glory you get in this life is being 1st as much as you possibly can. Never accept anything less than perfection from yourself when it comes to work-ethic. 

7. Stay in the Present 

Spending too much time in the past leads to depression. Spending too much time in the future leads to anxiety. As an athlete your job is to stay in the present. Yesterday, win or lose, it doesn't matter - today I get back to work. 

No body cares that you hit .400 as a High School Senior - what have you done for me lately? 

So what that your 3rd on the depth chart at your position? You can't control the lineup. All you can control is the work you put in TODAY. 

This game will test you and break you down. You will stress constantly about the future - about getting drafted or recruited or about the playing time you feel like you deserve. While you're stressing you could be working to fix your situation. Get off the couch and go make it happen. Sympathy is the least satisfying emotion someone can give you. "I'm not starting this weekend? Good... watch how hard I'm going to work today to change your mind." 

8. Work on Your Own

You can't be motivated by the praise of others. When you get to the next level, everyone is good & everyone is a stud. Everyone was a star in High School.

If you rely on team practice alone to keep getting you better you won't improve faster than the guys you are competing against. You have to be obsessed with putting in work when nobody is watching. 

I can't tell you how many parties I skipped to stay in and work on my craft while everyone was out messing up their body. Those late nights in the gym, alone, gave me the mental edge at practice the next day. I know I was more prepared & would run you off the field if you tried beating me in anything. 

Team practice alone is not enough - work in empty rooms so you can dominate in full stadiums. 

9. Don't Let the Game Define You

When you are in the classroom, you are a student. When you are at a party, you are a good guy. When you are doing community service, you are a model citizen. When you are on the ball field you are a world-class player. 

If the game defines your identity everywhere you go - off the field as well. You will life a very unfulfilling life. Success will be defined by your actions in an imperfect game & not by your exploits as a human being. 

You don't need to flaunt to everyone that you are on the baseball team, fly under the radar - be a student and develop passions and interests away from the game that will give you a mental break when you need it. Mental health starts with not being obsessed over one part of your life so much so that it dominates every thought you have. 

Be a well-rounded person and take pride in caring about your school work, friends, family and community. Life is so much more beautiful when you don't confining yourself to the ball field. Baseball is not an identity. 

10. Be A Great Friend

Throughout my life I have lived by one motto: Be the best possible friend you can be. By doing so, the rest of the things I have stressed out about seem to take care of themselves.

Be the guy that people want to talk to when tragedy strikes their lives. Be a great listener. Be a wise advice giver. Care deeply about the people you're with and their interests & in turn they will do the same. 

Life is about the relationship you make. Someday your career will end, like mine has, and I promise you I only remember two things, the best 5 or so games I ever played in & the friends that I made along the way. 

Life is more than baseball. Be an amazing friend and you will live a much happier and healthy life.