College Baseball

Question
Hello. My name is Chris and I'm 19, 5' 10" 140lbs. I played in little league and made the all star team there but I stopped playing after I was about 13 or so. I still throw and hit from time to time but nowhere near the speed of a competitive game. I'm in a community college this year but its too late for me to join the team this year. I'm working out now to gain strength and hopefully be on the team next year. I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area just south of the city and pretty much all of the leagues I search for top out at 18 years old. I have places that I can work out but my prolem is finding a place or league that I can join and practice on baseball activites. Are there any leagues that you know of that I can join? I've never had this much desire to play baseball in my life and I hope it's not too late. I don't know if you can help me out yourself but if you know anyone else that you think would know that would be great. Any additional information you can give me would be appretiated. Thanks for your time.

Answer
Chris:  I don't have any California contacts; but the process from Arizona to Calif won't be that much different.

If I were in your situation here, I would approach it from this perspective:

1.  I would start by getting started on a solid weight program to increase my strength, and a running program for conditioning.  Sounds like you have accomplished this step.  It will do three things for you.  One is the obvious, increased strength.  Along with that comes increased confidence that you can handle anything physical that will come along.  The third is you have made a commitment to a goal, for something that has become important to you.  More often than you would think, players make a verbal commitment to a goal, and leave it at that.  That commitment and subsequent effort to achieve it will allow you to feel entitled to be successful in your quest, because you have put some serious effort and work into preparation.  This is particularly important!

If you haven't done so at this point, sit down and write a list of baseball goals you want to achieve, both ultimately and day to day.  Put that list up where you can see it every day.  That day to day list is your road map to reaching your ultimate goal, which at this point will be the tryout process for this program, at whatever date in the future it is.  As you reach some of these day to day goals, re-establish that goal at a higher level, and keep working.  You have been away from the game a long time, set your day to day expectations fairly low, experience some successes, then increase the difficulty and expectations for each skill.

2.  You have probably done this already, if not I suggest you go out to fall practice and any fall games this team has and evaluate the skill level of the players currently on their roster.  It will provide you with first hand knowledge on where you need to get to, in the time you have allotted.  Don't let it intimidate you, use the information to set your workout standards.

3.  To locate a league, contact the city or county Parks and Recreation departments in your area for available adult leagues.  They should also be able to provide you with a few team contacts.  Generally you won't get much practice time out of these leagues, maybe a little.  Should get game experience, which will help, particularly live pitching.  No substitute for that.  In Tucson there are numerous adult leagues, I would assume there are even more in your area.

4.  Some individual skill work could be provided by private lessons, if you have the money to do so.  Sporting goods stores in the area may know of possible instructors, as well as some advertising in the newspaper.

5.  Look for instruction clinics put on by colleges.  Here the UofA and Pima College both provide baseball clinics.  Good source of information.

6.  Locate someone to work out with, throw, run, hit, field.  You will need a lot of fungos, and much live BP as you move forward.  Work on a Tee you can get by yourself, and need to get 100-150 quality repetitions every day.

If it sounds like a lot of work, it is.  There's an old country song which says, "I've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there."  That would sum up this journey.  If you feel as strongly as you sound like you do, to go for this, then it won't be work.  Focus on the day to day process, let the results take care of themselves.

I have 46 years combined playing and coaching baseball.  There has never been a day of "work" in any of them.

This preparation time is the hardest, as there is generally no one around to see it.  Keep pushing through it.  I have always told my players that no matter how much effort you put into baseball, it will always give more back than you have put in.

There are many good baseball websites on the internet, where you can get valuable skill information, which you can take and apply to your workouts.  My website is www.theoleballgame.com
There are many others, google a skill and see what works for you, then apply it to your workouts.

Enjoy the journey!  If you jump off into this,and stay the course, you will gain much that will be beneficial to you in everything else you do, whether or not you ultimately make this particular team or not.

Good luck as you move ahead!  Remember, Luck Is When Preparation Meets Opportunity!

Yours in baseball,

Rick