Slow down....

It’s definitely been awhile since I’ve blogged, here are some of my excuses: we don’t have any internet at our place in Jupiter, the last hotel that we were at didn’t have any internet, I’ve been really busy…blah, blah, blah. I got nothin!

Right now we’re on the bus headed from Port Charlotte to Sarasota. We just finished up a short two game series against the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs (the team nicknames in minor league baseball are the best). We were supposed to play the third game of our series tonight but the grounds crew failed to tarp the field and after they had dried up the field, you guessed it, it started raining again. We were all done with batting practice, pre-game stretch, and our throwing program. It was about five minutes until game time and it began to absolutely pour for about an hour before they decided to “bang” it. Having the game “banged: means cancelled, I’m not really sure how that originated but everyone seems to use it in baseball so I guess I’ll go ahead and use it.

Port Charlotte is a pretty nice city and they’re really into their team, which is a rarity in the Florida State League. This is the first year for the Rays to have their high A team in Port Charlotte. I think it had been about six years since they had a team, and at that time I want to say that the White Sox had their high A team there. Since then they’ve renovated it and it’s become a really nice stadium (the Rays are finally starting to win and get some money).

Since the last time I blogged a lot has been going on. We’re now at 15-16 and my average is up from what it was the last time I blogged. It’s still not anything to write home about but I know how soon numbers can turn around so I’m not a bit worried. They actually keep a hard hit column from team to team in our organization. The first month I was second on the team in hard hit balls, so the way I look at it is if I keep hitting the ball hard eventually they’ll find holes and eventually the balls that I hit hard and got out on will lead to a broken bat hit or an infield single. The challenge when you struggle numbers wise is to get away from what works and mentally try to do things that aren’t capable of doing from at- bat to at-bat. For example, in a single at-bat you’re only going to be able to at most get one hit. It’s a slow and gradual process to turning things around but if you stick with your plan and stay positive then things will turn around.

Our pitching up to this point has been unbelievable. Our starting rotation is keeping us in every game and giving us great opportunities to win every game that we play. Our defense, for the most part, has been steady, but the real problem has been our offense. After last night’s game our team was hitting .214 as a team which is by far dead last in the Florida State League. It really baffles me as to how we’re struggling so badly. I still look up and down our lineup trying to find a hole and it’s hard for me to find one. I still think that it’s only a matter of time before we begin to find our stride as a team and when that happens I think the possibilities for this team could be endless.

We just got into Sarasota and our hotel it top notch, definitely one of the nicer ones I’ve stayed in throughout my minor league career. Our drive was only about 30 minutes, definitely a plus of playing in the Florida State league. It seemed like last year whenever we went from town to town it seemed like it was always at least a four hour drive. I’m looking forward to getting to see Scott again. I’m pretty sure he’s hating life in extended spring training so hopefully it’ll brighten up his spirits to get to see an old familiar face.

Another thing that’s going on is that my sister’s high school career is coming to an end. I can’t believe how fast she’s grown up; right now I just can’t imagine my little sister as a college student! It really kind of scares me. I was talking to my mom the other night and she was telling me how Mary only had about a week left of classes left in her high school career. I began to think about how much I would love to go back to high school and have a week left. I think at the end of my high school career I didn’t cherish it enough, I was more or less trying to rush it along. Looking back on it now, high school was one of the best times of my life. I met some of my best friends and I was able to see my family every single day. That thought led me to thinking about slowing everything down in my life. Right now I’m getting to do something that a lot of people wish that they could do and something that I only have a limited window in my life to do. Then I started to relate that back to my at-bats. I’ve been trying to take every at-bat in the present and not to think about the past and definitely not look forward to the future. It sounds so easy to do but I’m working on it, it’s definitely a process.

So everyone out there slow down and enjoy life. Enjoy the things that you’re doing at this point in time because the time that you have right now you will never be able to get back! Take that in for a minute that was pretty deep!

Hopefully everyone is doing well and I appreciate all the comments and the support. I’m going to try my hardest to update my blog as soon as I can. I always say that, but I’m really going to give it my best shot.

“If you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail.”