“You Have to Get Better”

Increasing workout frequencies (and intensity) and my classes have kept me from writing these past two weeks.  It is crunch time now; I leave for Tempe a month from tomorrow.  My workout schedule has had two-a-days interwoven into it two or three times per week, with me throwing, catching, and/or hitting before my alma mater’s baseball practices.  While these days seem long now, the longer days will be here even faster.  There is no way to be ultimately prepared for the rigors of spring training and the subsequent 140-game season.  The most you can do is put your body in the best condition possible to endure the physical and mental fatigues that will be endured over the seven-month season.

Part of my offseason baseball training is to videotape my hitting and throwing mechanics.  Looking at video is very beneficial to me so I can see exactly what my body is doing during every moment of the throw or swing.  In addition to looking at the film on my own, I emailed my swings to my hitting coach from last season (Damon Mashore) and our hitting rover (Todd Takayoshi, who is also the Field Coordinator), to gain their insight into the things I have been working on.  They both seemed pleased in how my swing has been progressing, with both of them suggesting the same thing of working on driving my back knee down more (toward my front foot), instead of just driving it forward.  This will allow me to drive down through the baseball more at contact, generating more backspin and more carry.

I have had a productive offseason thus far and will continue it during this final month of preparation.  In the minor leagues, nothing is ever a completed work.  If that were the case, we would be in the Majors.  There is always room for improvement, and until I am told that my efforts are futile, I will continue to put in the necessary work.