Faith & Family & Baseball – How The Even Keel Player Rises To The Top

They say we shouldn’t write about Faith, but here we are. We are writing blogs helping young ballplayers and parents of young ballplayers & we can’t help but mention faith, family, and their crucial role in the life of a great ballplayer.  

“I wouldn’t call myself great, the thing that I prided myself on in my career was consistency.” – Derek Jeter “In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted, if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.” – Tom Seaver “Whatever God has given us we’re just a vessel for it. We don’t own anything that we have, it’s all a gift from God.” – Clayton Kershaw “Faith, Family, then Baseball.” – Aaron Judge

  Ever wonder why all these MLB Players are pointing in the sky as they touch home plate on a homer? The answer might surprise you.   Once you become good enough to play HS Baseball, only 1% make it to the Division 1 level. Of those players who make it to Divison 1 about 20% get drafted. Of the players drafted, less than 20% make it to the big leagues.   Equation = 2,500 HS Ballplayers –> 25 D1 Ballplayers –> 5 Drafted –> 1 Big Leaguer   What weeds these 2.5k players down to 1? You have to start with talent, then you have to look at what scouts call “the intangibles.”   Intangibles scouts look for:

• Attitude & Discipline
  • Attitude in so far as how they handle themselves when it hits the fan (which it does for every ballplayer).
• Effort
  • Effort down the line, in between innings, mental effort on the base paths, in the field. Does this player love the game & is it apparent when you watch him play.
• Team Related Qualities
  • Does this player help the team win ballgames?
    • Good teammates make the players around them better by holding them accountable, picking them up, building them up, whatever it takes to help them play at their best. The teammate does this unselfishly because his #1 goal is the teams’ success not his own.

  As we start to look at the intangibles required to play at a very high level & make it to the top, it starts to become obvious the role of faith and family.

1. Attitude & Discipline
   1. Faith – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Phil 4:8
2. Effort
   1. Faith – “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” – Col 3:23
3. Team Related Qualities
   1. Faith – “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Phil 2:3; “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” – 1 Cor 10:24