Spring Training is Winding Down

So today started the last week of Spring Training.  The teams are getting closer to their final rosters.  We have made two rounds of releases so far and may have two or so left.  There are some pretty darn good competitions left for the pitching side and there are sure to be some upset people as camp breaks.

You see, the competition for the younger guys is to not be left back in Extended Spring Training.  Everyone who is invited to Spring Training has the goal of making a full season club.  Now, for the older guys that is a given, unless of course they are getting close to the end of a career and may be released.  But for the younger pitchers who are coming to Spring Training for their first or second time, they are hoping they make a squad so they don't have to stay here in Florida and work through the Extended program.  

The Extended program can be quite tough.  The games are in the early afternoon, under the lovely Florida sun and unforgiving humidity...LOL!!  It is the same routine every day.  They have to get up early, there are no crowds to watch them play, they play the same two teams for 8 weeks and they get paid next to nothing.  For the athlete who is left behind here, in the little picture, there is nothing good about being in Extended.  But from the coaches view and the bosses view, looking at the bigger picture, they are lucky to still have a chance to compete and develop.  A lot of kids get caught up in the fact that they are in Extended when really they need to be focused on the fact they still have a chance to play professional baseball.  I am sure some of you readers out there are saying, "gees Doug, these kids should be grateful for the opportunity.  I would switch places with them in a minute."  Well, you are right!  And to be totally honest with you, that is why SOME of these guys, not all, but some of these guys are going to be down here in Florida for Extended.  It is all about their focus and where it is at.

When you play professional sports the thing that separates the men from the boys, besides belief in self, is the focus.  Focus is huge in any sport, especially baseball and especially in pitching.  These players sometimes don't understand what type of opportunity they have here.  They are only focused on what is happening to everyone else and how everyone else is getting special treatment and they are not or others are moving up and they are not.  But the funny thing about all that crazy thought is it is all make believe in their own head.  The players really never know why they get left in Extended or why things happen to them.  There are many different reasons why a certain decision gets sent down from the big bosses.  Reasons that these players sometimes never know about.  But they spend half their day, pissed off, acting like victims, when they could choose to change their focus on the subject and move on.  The biggest thing these young professionals don't understand is the more they focus on the politics of the game and the negative parts of this profession, the more that comes to them.  You see it every day in anything you do.  I am sure every one of you who is reading this blog can remember having friends who could just let things go and focus on the more positive parts of their day and stuff always seemed to work out for them.  Then, on the other side of that, I am sure you all remember having friends who constantly bitched and complained about everything and then bad stuff just seemed to continually happen to them.  They were always the "victim" in every circumstance.  Well I am here to tell you that that is not the case.  You get what you focus on no matter what.  That is sometimes tough to hear but true.  What these young professionals need to start doing immediately is taking their focus to what they can control and that is themselves.  They can't control their teammates and their teammates career.  They can't control their boss and what they decide to do with everyone else.  They can't control the catcher they get stuck with in each game they pitch.  They can't control the umpire and how tight or inconsistent the strike zone is.  Do you see what I am getting at??  But what can they control?  You can control your thoughts, emotions and how you want to feel on a day to day, moment to moment basis.  And if you just start with that little bit, working on you and only you, things will slowly start to turn around for you and the next thing you know you are the kid that everyone says, "man, things just seem to always work out for that guy!"

Alright, I'm getting off my soap box for now.  I understand sometimes these blogs seem a little scattered but what I am attempting to do is bring up subjects like focus and belief in these smaller, quick ways so that I can touch on them in more complete ways down the road.  So hang with me and enjoy!!!