Getting closer...

Another day in the books and we’re all getting closer to breaking camp. It’s gotten to the point where everyone seems to be getting cabin fever, including the coaches. Everyone is getting pretty excited to learn where they’ll be going. I’m just trying to live in the moment because that’s the only thing that you can control; what’s going on right now. I still understand that there are still a lot of guys that are going to be released, but that’s something that you never want to creep into your mind.

I didn’t start in our game today but I did come in in the 6th inning. I only ended up getting one at bat and I single up the middle on the first pitch. Something that I’m definitely working on is being more aggressive. One of my biggest downfalls is that I’m overly picky at the plate. I’m positive that I’ll improve at being more aggressive because it’s basically a mental thing; it’s nothing mechanical so therefore it can be fixed with one simple change of thoughts. Our game today was against the Mets low a team. So far we’ve played the Cardinals about 10 times, the Mets twice, and the Dodgers once. The Dodgers move away from Vero Beach next year so that basically means even more games against the Cardinals. I have heard though that eventually Major League Baseball wants to have every team’s spring training site out in Arizona. It would make a lot of sense in terms of travel and being able to play more teams in spring training. The only problem with that however is that there would be abandoned complexes left here in Florida. Those plans are still at least 4 or 5 years down the road, hopefully it affects me because if it does that means I’ll still be playing.

The major league season started today with the Boston Red Sox playing the Oakland A’s in Tokyo, Japan. It just so happens that they are playing their series in the Tokyo Dome, one of the venues that we played at with Team USA. Looking back at that summer it was definitely one of the best experiences I’ve ever had and I would definitely like to go back to Japan at some point in my life, maybe even with my dad so he could show me some of the culture that I didn’t experience the first time around. But anyways, with today’s game America’s favorite past time is officially underway. It’s a time where everyone is fresh and healthy but with the realization that there is still 161 games ahead of them. It’s definitely a long season and to get through it all you have to be as mentally strong as you can possibly be.

Another positive thing that happened to me today was that I got a box of Gatorade recovery shakes for being in the top five of our fitness testing. They put our numbers together from our shuttle test and our vertical test to come up with an overall ranking of position players and I ended up being ranked third. I was happy with that but definitely not satisfied. I know that I could have done better on both of the tests but I do know that the organization took notice of my hard work in the off season.

Well that’s all that I have for today. Tomorrow’s schedule is exactly the same as todays but instead of playing the Mets we play the Dodgers. I still would like to get a picture with Hanley Ramirez and Andre Dawson so I’ll have to work on that too.

*Set your goals high because sometimes your body doesn’t know its limitations.