This is a story of one of our athletes from a few years back who came in as a High School Senior RHP
He came in to do his intro, and his backstory was that he had been on varsity the prior year as a junior, but had gotten next to no innings
As a senior he wasn’t committed anywhere, and wasn’t talking to any schools either
His Mom said in the intro that the reason he was uncommitted was he “lacked exposure”.
She said “he’s a Division 1 pitcher, he just lacks exposure. Once he gets the exposure he needs he’ll be D1”.
As it turned out, the very next day he was slated to throw in his fall teams game, and it worked out schedule wise that I was able to come and watch him pitch and see what was actually going on
Spikes on, hitter, umpire, fans: he was 74-76mph
Mostly 74
There was the answer right there. That’s why he certainly wasn’t committed D1, nor to any division school, nor even talking to any schools. Because his velocity as a Sr was what a typical 8th grader throws
Baseball is a metric sport. The key determinants of success in the sport: velocity, exit velocity, sprint times, are all easily measurable
You don’t have to guess who’s good and who’s bad.
But there’s the thing: behind every mediocre and failing athlete, there’s an excuse.
“I’m not getting enough exposure”
“Coach plays favorites”
“It’s so political”
“The organization doesn’t like me”
And as long as you’re holding onto an excuse, you can’t get any better
Its not easy though to take responsibility. It’s MUCH easier to make excuses
This is why growth is difficult, and can even be painful, because it involves letting go of the ego and making CHANGES
Which is why most won’t do what’s necessary to level up
Whether he would still cling to his excuses, or choose to set them aside, would make all the difference as he began his training the following day
-Fenske