Spring Training is winding down and it so hard for me to believe. It just seems like yesterday that I was getting a tow off of the side of the highway. For me it’s been a successful spring so far. I’ve been working extra hard getting ready for the year, not only in the cages but also on my mental game and physically strengthening my body. I’ve also been trying to pick the minds of some of the guys in the organization who have done well in the past. I talked to Logan Morrison, the Florida State League MVP, about his approach to his at bats and he told me that through 130 games last year he only gave away five at bats at most. Giving away an at bat would consist basically of stepping into the box without being fully engaged mentally in the at bat. I’ve been making sure that throughout Spring Training I make a habit to only step into the box when I am ready and my mind is 100 % in the right frame of mind.
I’m about 30 at bats into Spring Training and I’m slowly making the progress that I’ve been looking for. For me the hardest part of hitting is timing. When I’m struggling I can always link it back to not being on time, late or early. At the start of the games I was all right with making an out as long as I was seeing a lot of pitches and having a productive at bat. Lately it’s been paying off for me as I think that the more pitches that I saw early on have led to more successful at bats lately. So I guess if you were wondering how things were going for me on the field, you now know. I’ve made some progress in the areas where I’ve wanted to and I’m still working for the start of the season.
Spring Training days can be very long and drawn out at times. I usually wake up around 6:00 and get to the field at around 6:45. My day at the field usually comes to an end around 6:30 PM. Obviously there’s a lot of time in between spent with teammates. I’ve made an effort to become closer with more of the guys in the organization. When you have people that you get along well with around you, it makes the day much more enjoyable. The group that I’m in, the high a group, consists of guys anywhere from 19 to 28, but everyone has one thing in common and that’s the dream of making it all the way to the big leagues. For the most part we are all in the same boat, and everyone can relate to how things are going for you at any given point.
One of the down sides to becoming close with someone in an organization is that you never know when that locker right next to you might become unoccupied. If you can remember back to last year my roommate, Jordan, was released towards the beginning of Spring Training. It’s such a tough thing to ponder because you never want the thought of getting released creep into your mind. I always like to think that I’m making a good impression and that I’m going to make a team but the realist in me realizes that at some point I will most likely get a tap on my shoulder to see the assistant general manager or that call in the off season from a higher up in the organization. I don’t worry about all that stuff though, I ease my mind by working hard and giving it all I have and that gives me the satisfaction of knowing that people will see that and respect the way that I go about my business.
Minor league baseball players can resemble young high school girls if you were to ever overhear a conversation between a group of players. Before our 9 AM meeting begins everyone stand around in the outfield in groups talking about who got released, who’s on the chopping block, and who is safe. I can always expect to get out to the outfield and hear someone ask me if I had heard about what happened to so and so. You never want to hear your name come up in those conversations or in the conversations about who is about to get released. In my opinion the organization has their mind about 90% of the way made up before Spring Training even begins. During my first year a guy who had a mediocre previous year hit three home runs and the next day he was let go. It’s hard for me to believe that he was given a fair shot during Spring Training to make a team. There are plenty of stories like that and everyone always seems to have an excuse as to why they weren’t given a fair opportunity. I’ve heard about every excuse in the book and they all are exactly that; excuses. Our manage last year told us that you can go through your whole life blaming the world for your misfortunes but you won’t ever get anywhere until you take responsibility for the actions and reactions in your life.
One of the great things for me about Spring Training is getting to be close to the big leaguers and seeing behind the scenes action. I still feel like the same kid, walking around the facility, that I was when I was 14 going down to Spring Training in Peoria, Arizona. I’m as big of a fan as any of the players that I’ve encountered. A lot of guys are fans but they don’t ask for autographs or try and talk to the big leaguers because they don’t want to look like a little kid basically. I, however have realized that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m going to take full advantage of it. If you can remember my blogs from last year I got pictures taken with various big leaguers. I’ve continued getting pictures this year. About a week ago I got a chance to meet Ryan Howard and my new favorite player, Chase Utley. They were both really grounded and down to earth. I talked to Howard about being from Missouri and I found out that he played on the St. Louis Lafayette basketball team that lost to Liberty in the 1998 state championship game. Utley was a real quiet guy and he seemed to be really surprised that someone would want a picture and a little chat with him.
A few days ago I got the chance to meet Hunter Pence, ya that’s his real name, weird right?!?! When I introduced myself I told him my name and he didn’t believe me. If I was in his position I don’t think I would believe it either. The chance of someone having a name so similar to mine is ridiculous. He was a great guy; he asked me about how my career was going and asked about my personal life. It’s a rare thing to talk to a big leaguer and for them to take such an interest in your life. Just think of how neat of a story they could make if Hunter Mense played against Hunter Pence in the big leagues, anything can happen.
There is only about a week left in Spring Training and I feel like I’m finally getting to a point where I am fully prepared for the season. Even though Spring Training has been shorter this year the organization has done a good job of getting everything in while keeping everyone fresh. I’ve also already had my first visit when my mom came down earlier this week and stayed for a few days. It was great to see her but I always feel so bad because I’m so busy all the time that I don’t get to spend as much time with her as I like to. It’s the same thing with Amber, but I think all the special people in my life realize how busy I am and are able to keep that in perspective.
I will definitely blog again in a few days and update everyone on my status as a baseball player and a player in the game of life. I hope everyone out there is doing well and you guys have no idea how much it means to me that you actually enjoy reading what I have to write!
“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think they were impossible,”
-Vince Lombardi
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Spring Training...a real American vacation!
My burnt arms are turning into a tan and my legs are sore from standing around, that can only mean one thing; we’re more than a week into Spring Training!
We finally started playing games yesterday. I forgot how great of a feeling it was to be on a baseball field, under the sun, competing and chasing a dream. It’s such a great thing when the first game of the spring arrives. Everyone begins with a clean slate so that when there’s an out made or a walk given out there aren’t that many “f” bombs thrown around, in a few days though that will definitely change. I take these games very serious but I also realize that there is a long season ahead where I’m going to be frustrated at some point, so for the spring I try and stay as even keeled at possible. One of my goals for this season is to carry a part of my spring training mentality into the regular season. It always seems that the best players are the ones who are able to forget about their previous at bats or games and learn and go forward with that even keeled attitude.
For our game yesterday we traveled north on I-95 to Port St. Lucie to play the Mets. I led off the game with a strikeout, but battled and saw a lot of pitches so for me it was a successful at bat. My next at bat I doubled to left center and my final at bat I walked. We won the game 7-4 and everyone seemed to be happy with the way that things had went. I was happy about my first game back. I saw a lot of pitches, squared a ball up, and got on base a couple times.
When I talk to people about professional baseball one of the questions that always comes up is ‘Is there any type of a team concept?’. I have honestly always been kind of baffled by that question and didn’t really know what my honest opinion was. Last year I finally began to grasp the answer to that question. One thing that I’ve learned about pro ball is that you always have to look out for yourself, because if you don’t then chances are that you’ll be taken advantage of. Our team was once told last year that you need to play for the name on the back of your jersey and collect a check from the name that’s on the front of your jersey. I agree with that to a certain extent. This will be my 4th year in pro ball and I feel like I’m beginning to figure out how to go about my business when it comes to winning games and developing as a player. Of course you’re playing for yourself but the way I look at it is that if you win everyone is in a better mood and when you’re in a good mood, things always seem to go better for you personally. When I first got into pro ball my natural feeling was that I didn’t want any of the other position players to do well because those are guys that I was competing against to make it to the show. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that all I need to worry about is myself. If I take care of what I need to and put up good enough numbers then I’ll make it, no matter what everyone else in the organization does. Granted I might not make it with the Marlins but there are 31 other teams out there that have big league teams that hold the same dream.
One of the really neat things about being in Jupiter during this time of the year is that I feel right at home when I look around the parking lot of our hotel. It’s not often that you go to South Florida and see an abundance of Missouri license plates. As much as I dislike the Cardinals, I will have to admit that they have a very loyal and dedicated bunch of fans. I always enjoy striking up conversations with the Cardinals fans around the hotel. Most of the time they are retired couples, grouped with other retired couples, who are down on their annual trip down to Jupiter to watch their beloved Cardinals. Last night I struck up a conversation with a couple from St. Louis and a couple from Cape Girardeau. They were very excited to hear that a Missouri boy was living out his childhood dream. We talked for about a half an hour and today they stopped by and watch my teammates and I play our game against the Cardinals. That’s when you know that someone is a true baseball fan, when they go to the back fields to watch a bunch of young minor leaguers play. They made sure and said hi to me before I walked back over to our side and it absolutely made my day. I ran into them once again tonight in the hotel lobby and we talked once again for about 30 minutes about baseball, Mizzou athletics, and high school football. Anyone who is able to talk sports and have some intelligent input is a person who I can talk to for hours, and that is exactly how these two families are. I hate to say it, but my opinion of Cardinals fans is slowly shifting, very very slowly shifting!
This blog has taken me awhile to write, the NCAA tournament is such a distracting thing, so I’ll save my stories about getting to meet Chase Utley and Ryan Howard for my next blog. Not to mention that my girlfriend, Amber, has a game starting in about 10 minutes that I’m planning on listening to on the computer/radio. She’s another story too that I’ll save for a later date.
Come back in a few days and I should have a new blog posted.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
We finally started playing games yesterday. I forgot how great of a feeling it was to be on a baseball field, under the sun, competing and chasing a dream. It’s such a great thing when the first game of the spring arrives. Everyone begins with a clean slate so that when there’s an out made or a walk given out there aren’t that many “f” bombs thrown around, in a few days though that will definitely change. I take these games very serious but I also realize that there is a long season ahead where I’m going to be frustrated at some point, so for the spring I try and stay as even keeled at possible. One of my goals for this season is to carry a part of my spring training mentality into the regular season. It always seems that the best players are the ones who are able to forget about their previous at bats or games and learn and go forward with that even keeled attitude.
For our game yesterday we traveled north on I-95 to Port St. Lucie to play the Mets. I led off the game with a strikeout, but battled and saw a lot of pitches so for me it was a successful at bat. My next at bat I doubled to left center and my final at bat I walked. We won the game 7-4 and everyone seemed to be happy with the way that things had went. I was happy about my first game back. I saw a lot of pitches, squared a ball up, and got on base a couple times.
When I talk to people about professional baseball one of the questions that always comes up is ‘Is there any type of a team concept?’. I have honestly always been kind of baffled by that question and didn’t really know what my honest opinion was. Last year I finally began to grasp the answer to that question. One thing that I’ve learned about pro ball is that you always have to look out for yourself, because if you don’t then chances are that you’ll be taken advantage of. Our team was once told last year that you need to play for the name on the back of your jersey and collect a check from the name that’s on the front of your jersey. I agree with that to a certain extent. This will be my 4th year in pro ball and I feel like I’m beginning to figure out how to go about my business when it comes to winning games and developing as a player. Of course you’re playing for yourself but the way I look at it is that if you win everyone is in a better mood and when you’re in a good mood, things always seem to go better for you personally. When I first got into pro ball my natural feeling was that I didn’t want any of the other position players to do well because those are guys that I was competing against to make it to the show. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that all I need to worry about is myself. If I take care of what I need to and put up good enough numbers then I’ll make it, no matter what everyone else in the organization does. Granted I might not make it with the Marlins but there are 31 other teams out there that have big league teams that hold the same dream.
One of the really neat things about being in Jupiter during this time of the year is that I feel right at home when I look around the parking lot of our hotel. It’s not often that you go to South Florida and see an abundance of Missouri license plates. As much as I dislike the Cardinals, I will have to admit that they have a very loyal and dedicated bunch of fans. I always enjoy striking up conversations with the Cardinals fans around the hotel. Most of the time they are retired couples, grouped with other retired couples, who are down on their annual trip down to Jupiter to watch their beloved Cardinals. Last night I struck up a conversation with a couple from St. Louis and a couple from Cape Girardeau. They were very excited to hear that a Missouri boy was living out his childhood dream. We talked for about a half an hour and today they stopped by and watch my teammates and I play our game against the Cardinals. That’s when you know that someone is a true baseball fan, when they go to the back fields to watch a bunch of young minor leaguers play. They made sure and said hi to me before I walked back over to our side and it absolutely made my day. I ran into them once again tonight in the hotel lobby and we talked once again for about 30 minutes about baseball, Mizzou athletics, and high school football. Anyone who is able to talk sports and have some intelligent input is a person who I can talk to for hours, and that is exactly how these two families are. I hate to say it, but my opinion of Cardinals fans is slowly shifting, very very slowly shifting!
This blog has taken me awhile to write, the NCAA tournament is such a distracting thing, so I’ll save my stories about getting to meet Chase Utley and Ryan Howard for my next blog. Not to mention that my girlfriend, Amber, has a game starting in about 10 minutes that I’m planning on listening to on the computer/radio. She’s another story too that I’ll save for a later date.
Come back in a few days and I should have a new blog posted.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Spring Training 2009!
The time has finally arrived. After six months of living back at home, waiting tables at Rancho Grande, and working out at the Mabee Center I am finally back down in Jupiter, Florida and more importantly back on the baseball field.
I started my drive down from Liberty on Tuesday March 10th. I was embarking on a journey that was supposed to be a 22 hour trip; it would turn out to be a lot longer. I drove through Nashville and Atlanta on the first day and finally after 14 hours of traveling I decided to stop for the night at Days Inn in Ashbury, Georgia. I woke up the next morning at 9:00 and was on the road by 9:30. I had about six hours left, so my estimated time of arrival was 3:30. I had made four hours worth of progress and had gotten on my last leg of the trip, the Florida Turnpike, when things began to go downhill.
I had the truck set to cruise at 70 MPH, a nice easy pace. All of the sudden the truck began to sputter and I could immediately tell that something wasn’t right. I looked down at the dash and the “check gauges” light had come on. I looked around at the gauges and saw one that stuck out, it was all the way down at zero. I don’t know the first thing about cars but I knew that this wasn’t a good sign. I quickly pulled over to the side of the turnpike and shut down the truck. I looked in the owner’s manual and after some extensive research I found out that the gauge that was low was the oil pressure gauge. I do know that the engine needs oil to run and if there wasn’t any oil going into the engine then something was really wrong. Once I realized what was going on I knew that there was no way that my truck would be making the rest of the trip with me.
Luckily we have Triple AAA, which was always seems to come in handy, and they were able to come pick me and my truck up and tow me an hour to the southeast to a little town called Malabar. It had already been a really long day, and as I sat around the auto repair shop I was spinning my wheels trying to figure out how I was going to finish up my final hour and a half of my trip. I finally decided on a rental car, and everyone knows that Enterprise picks you up. So I called them up and somehow, with the way that my luck was going, they still had one car that wasn’t rented out yet. A little while after calling the local Enterprise they were there to pick me up in a 2009 Dodge Journey. We headed back to fill out some paperwork and by 5:30 I jumped on I-95 headed south towards Jupiter.
I finally got into Jupiter at around 7:00 and I was hoping that the way my drive went wouldn’t be an indicator of how my Spring would go.
Every year from February to March Jupiter is home to around 500 professional baseball players. I would say that Spring Training in this area helps with the town’s economy but I’m not really sure if this area could get any wealthier. I was reminded the other day about how rich this area really is when I noticed six Lexus parked right next to each other. Out of all the fans that come down to Jupiter to watch Spring Training I would say that 90% are Cardinals fans, 8% are just plain baseball fans, and maybe 2% are Marlins fans. It’s weird to come down to Florida and see half of the cars in the hotel parking lot with Missouri license plates.
I was part of the last group of players to get down to Jupiter. The first group arrived towards the start of February, all guys who were attending big league Spring Training. The second group included guys that were attending mini camp which began at the end of February. The guys that attended mini camp were younger guys and guys who received a large signing bonus. Next were the pitchers and catchers, followed by the “visa” players (players from outside of the country), and finally I arrived on March 11th with the rest of the guys who didn’t fit into those categories. So if you followed that I was in the group the included American non big league invites who were older, didn’t sign for a lot of money, and played a position. For me it’s a tough thing coming down later because the natural feeling is to feel that you aren’t quite fully prepared. Part of the reason why I work so hard in the off season is so that I don’t ever have that feeling of being under prepared. Scott and I were talking when we were back in Liberty about how weird it seemed that we were still back at home working out in the cold when there were big league Spring Training games that were getting underway on TV. And then I had to deal with people who saw those games and then saw me and would ask me “Hey I thought you played baseball, I saw some highlights the other day on Sportscenter”. Explaining that to some people can be difficult to say the least.
After our first day of physicals and testing (I finished second in our testing) it was great to finally be back on the baseball field working towards the ultimate destination. The first few days of workouts have gone by pretty smoothly. Coming into camp I had mostly hit off the tee and had taken a few rounds of front toss. I hadn’t seen any batting practice and definitely hadn’t seen any live pitching. The first day I walked into the clubhouse and looked at the schedule I realized that I would be seeing live pitching before I even took a round of batting practice. I honestly wasn’t really worried about it though, I knew that eventually we would be seeing live pitching and at this point I was in the same position as everyone else. I kept thinking about one of my favorite sayings “Get comfortable being uncomfortable”. What I take out of that saying is that you can’t be afraid to work on the things that you aren’t good at and you can’t be afraid to look foolish at times.
After six months of not seeing live pitching I stepped back into the batters box with the same confidence that I had towards the end of last year. When I get in the box I look at it as a one on one battle, and no matter who you’re facing you have to think that you’re better than that other guy. It felt just like riding a bike for me. The first pitch I saw I fouled off and the following pitch I drove to the warning track in right center. The feeling of hitting a baseball on the sweet spot of a wood bat is absolutely priceless. When you hit a ball good you can’t even feel it and the sound that it makes is just as good.
The following couple days have been just like the first day. We’ll begin playing our games this coming Wednesday. We only play 10 games this Spring Training, apparently the Marlins are trying to save a little money just like the rest of America. For me there are a few things that I want to accomplish during this years Spring Training. I want to maintain my physical strength, become as comfortable as I can in the batter’s box, go into the season as confident in my abilities as I can, and stay healthy.
This is the first of many blog entries that I plan to enter this year. The life of a minor league baseball player is a very little known about lifestyle, but it’s a great ride that I feel like people would enjoy to hear about and I love to write about it. Check back in a few days and in the meantime fell free to email me with any questions that you might have at hminliberty@yahoo.com. Thank you so much for reading and I look forward to my next writing adventure!
By the way…how bout them Tigers!!
“When I’m focused, there is not one single thing, person, anything can stand in the way of my doing something.” –Michael Phelps
I started my drive down from Liberty on Tuesday March 10th. I was embarking on a journey that was supposed to be a 22 hour trip; it would turn out to be a lot longer. I drove through Nashville and Atlanta on the first day and finally after 14 hours of traveling I decided to stop for the night at Days Inn in Ashbury, Georgia. I woke up the next morning at 9:00 and was on the road by 9:30. I had about six hours left, so my estimated time of arrival was 3:30. I had made four hours worth of progress and had gotten on my last leg of the trip, the Florida Turnpike, when things began to go downhill.
I had the truck set to cruise at 70 MPH, a nice easy pace. All of the sudden the truck began to sputter and I could immediately tell that something wasn’t right. I looked down at the dash and the “check gauges” light had come on. I looked around at the gauges and saw one that stuck out, it was all the way down at zero. I don’t know the first thing about cars but I knew that this wasn’t a good sign. I quickly pulled over to the side of the turnpike and shut down the truck. I looked in the owner’s manual and after some extensive research I found out that the gauge that was low was the oil pressure gauge. I do know that the engine needs oil to run and if there wasn’t any oil going into the engine then something was really wrong. Once I realized what was going on I knew that there was no way that my truck would be making the rest of the trip with me.
Luckily we have Triple AAA, which was always seems to come in handy, and they were able to come pick me and my truck up and tow me an hour to the southeast to a little town called Malabar. It had already been a really long day, and as I sat around the auto repair shop I was spinning my wheels trying to figure out how I was going to finish up my final hour and a half of my trip. I finally decided on a rental car, and everyone knows that Enterprise picks you up. So I called them up and somehow, with the way that my luck was going, they still had one car that wasn’t rented out yet. A little while after calling the local Enterprise they were there to pick me up in a 2009 Dodge Journey. We headed back to fill out some paperwork and by 5:30 I jumped on I-95 headed south towards Jupiter.
I finally got into Jupiter at around 7:00 and I was hoping that the way my drive went wouldn’t be an indicator of how my Spring would go.
Every year from February to March Jupiter is home to around 500 professional baseball players. I would say that Spring Training in this area helps with the town’s economy but I’m not really sure if this area could get any wealthier. I was reminded the other day about how rich this area really is when I noticed six Lexus parked right next to each other. Out of all the fans that come down to Jupiter to watch Spring Training I would say that 90% are Cardinals fans, 8% are just plain baseball fans, and maybe 2% are Marlins fans. It’s weird to come down to Florida and see half of the cars in the hotel parking lot with Missouri license plates.
I was part of the last group of players to get down to Jupiter. The first group arrived towards the start of February, all guys who were attending big league Spring Training. The second group included guys that were attending mini camp which began at the end of February. The guys that attended mini camp were younger guys and guys who received a large signing bonus. Next were the pitchers and catchers, followed by the “visa” players (players from outside of the country), and finally I arrived on March 11th with the rest of the guys who didn’t fit into those categories. So if you followed that I was in the group the included American non big league invites who were older, didn’t sign for a lot of money, and played a position. For me it’s a tough thing coming down later because the natural feeling is to feel that you aren’t quite fully prepared. Part of the reason why I work so hard in the off season is so that I don’t ever have that feeling of being under prepared. Scott and I were talking when we were back in Liberty about how weird it seemed that we were still back at home working out in the cold when there were big league Spring Training games that were getting underway on TV. And then I had to deal with people who saw those games and then saw me and would ask me “Hey I thought you played baseball, I saw some highlights the other day on Sportscenter”. Explaining that to some people can be difficult to say the least.
After our first day of physicals and testing (I finished second in our testing) it was great to finally be back on the baseball field working towards the ultimate destination. The first few days of workouts have gone by pretty smoothly. Coming into camp I had mostly hit off the tee and had taken a few rounds of front toss. I hadn’t seen any batting practice and definitely hadn’t seen any live pitching. The first day I walked into the clubhouse and looked at the schedule I realized that I would be seeing live pitching before I even took a round of batting practice. I honestly wasn’t really worried about it though, I knew that eventually we would be seeing live pitching and at this point I was in the same position as everyone else. I kept thinking about one of my favorite sayings “Get comfortable being uncomfortable”. What I take out of that saying is that you can’t be afraid to work on the things that you aren’t good at and you can’t be afraid to look foolish at times.
After six months of not seeing live pitching I stepped back into the batters box with the same confidence that I had towards the end of last year. When I get in the box I look at it as a one on one battle, and no matter who you’re facing you have to think that you’re better than that other guy. It felt just like riding a bike for me. The first pitch I saw I fouled off and the following pitch I drove to the warning track in right center. The feeling of hitting a baseball on the sweet spot of a wood bat is absolutely priceless. When you hit a ball good you can’t even feel it and the sound that it makes is just as good.
The following couple days have been just like the first day. We’ll begin playing our games this coming Wednesday. We only play 10 games this Spring Training, apparently the Marlins are trying to save a little money just like the rest of America. For me there are a few things that I want to accomplish during this years Spring Training. I want to maintain my physical strength, become as comfortable as I can in the batter’s box, go into the season as confident in my abilities as I can, and stay healthy.
This is the first of many blog entries that I plan to enter this year. The life of a minor league baseball player is a very little known about lifestyle, but it’s a great ride that I feel like people would enjoy to hear about and I love to write about it. Check back in a few days and in the meantime fell free to email me with any questions that you might have at hminliberty@yahoo.com. Thank you so much for reading and I look forward to my next writing adventure!
By the way…how bout them Tigers!!
“When I’m focused, there is not one single thing, person, anything can stand in the way of my doing something.” –Michael Phelps
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