10-24-2009
You’ve heard it a million times in your life: If you want to be good at something, you have to practice. In other words, as the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect.” In baseball, that saying isn’t entirely true.
Have you ever seen someone with a 1.000 batting average in a season? No. How often does a position player go through a season without making an error? Although it’s possible, it’s very unlikely. How about pitchers? Have you ever seen a pitcher with a 0.00 ERA? Again, the chances are very slim. It’s nearly impossible to be perfect at the game of baseball because it is arguably the hardest sport to play. Hitters have to hit a moving ball that is coming anywhere from 50 to 100 mph (depending on your age group), and they have less than a second to make up their mind as to if they are going to swing at the pitch or not. When a ball is hit, fielders have anywhere from 1 to 5 seconds to react to the ball in play (depending on if you are an infielder or an outfielder). It is very difficult to hit a baseball, and at times, it can be difficult to field a baseball. One week, you’re hitting over .500 with five home runs, and the next week, you can’t even foul a ball off. One minute, you’re on a 20-game errorless streak, and the next minute, you’re making three errors in the same inning.
Just when you think you’ve got this game figured out, baseball comes up and bites you in the rear. Baseball is a humbling game to say the least.
Everything that you want to succeed at in life requires practice, but baseball takes it to another level. You have to put in extra work almost on a daily basis. The regular two or three-hour practices that your team has everyday during the season is not nearly enough, and this probably isn’t the first time that you have heard this.
I know my coaches couldn’t stress this enough to me when I was playing baseball. As my junior college coach used to say, “Repetition, repetition, repetition.” Every player on your team is good. They wouldn’t be on the team if they didn’t have some kind of baseball skill. Do you want to be like the rest of your teammates, or do you want to separate yourself? How good do you want to be? Do you want to become great? Anybody can be good on talent alone. The great ones put in the extra work and push themselves beyond what is required. Get a few teammates and take extra cuts in the batting cage (or on the field) after practice. Take extra ground balls. Work on your weaknesses while making your strengths even stronger. If you can’t find any teammates that want to put in the extra work, ask a friend, coach or parent to throw you some extra batting practice or hit you some extra grounders or fly balls.
You can never get too much practice in the game of baseball. When you think you’ve done enough, do some more. If you want to take this game to the next level, wherever that may be, you have to put in the work. A spot on the high school varsity team isn’t going to fall into your lap. A college scholarship isn’t going to grow a pair of legs and walk up to your front porch and ring the doorbell. Those things are earned through hard work and dedication, and if you want to take this game as far as it can be taken, shortcuts are not an option.
Don’t sell yourself short.
While you may never have a 1.000 batting average or a 1.000 fielding percentage or a 0.00 ERA, it won’t be because you didn’t give the effort. At the end of the day, when you’re done playing this great game, don’t be one of those guys that looks back and says, “If only I would’ve done more.”
