The attention and applause is a byproduct. It's never the point.
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Matt Holliday said something I always come back to. He tells hitters: if you love to practice, you have a chance. Most hitters have it backwards. They love the game. The Instagram pictures that come with it. But the game is the smallest part of this whole thing. You play maybe 50 games a year. You practice 300+ days. If the only part you love is the 50, you're gonna hate 85% of being a hitter. The ones who go far are a little weird about it. They like the tee work. They embrace the struggle. They like figuring out why their hands drifted on Tuesday and fixing it by Wednesday morning. The attention and applause is a byproduct. It was never the point. Fall in love with the attention and you start doing things to get it. You chase the look. The numbers that get reposted. You skip the boring work because the boring work doesn't get likes. Fall in love with the work and the attention finds you anyway. The work is what makes you good. Good gets noticed. (I'm not saying you can't enjoy a big game. Enjoy it. Just don't make it the whole reason you show up.) I'll be honest about who I bet on. I worry about the ones who only come alive on game day. I bet on the ones who light up in an empty cage with nobody around to post it. Holliday had it right. A passion to practice gives you a chance. It guarantees nothing (the mechanics still have to be there, the reps still have to be right). But without it you've got no shot. The hitter who loves the journey goes farther than the one obsessed with the destination. I've watched it too many times to call it a coincidence. So if you only love game day, be honest with yourself about that. — Trey |
Trey Hannam Training
Written for Hitters, Parents, Coaches. My Goal is To Be The Coach I Wish I Had.
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