Embrace the Process ... finishing strong and continuing on

I was talking to one of our parents the other night, and I told her that I am enjoying this season very much. But I also love the off-season. It's fun and rewarding to work toward doing one's part to help make a better better than before, yes, even better than ever. I really love doing this year-round.

As we come down the stretch, I would encourage you players to be working hard each day on your On-Your-Own assignments. You each have a lot of things you can be doing to stay sharp and get even sharper down the stretch. Are you working in a way that inspires and encourages your teammates?

And also, think about fine-tuning your routine on game days. How do you prepare to perform at an optimum level? You probably know this by now. If not, well, pay attention and put in place the pieces of an outstanding routine. If you have questions in this regard, talk to your teammates who consistently perform at a high level. See what they are doing and incorporate what works for you.

Looking into May and the summer, for those of you who want to take your game to the next level, I would highly recommend you look into playing baseball this summer and/or fall. And by that, I mean look into playing beyond our games in the Cooper League. The Cooper League is great, but I would highly recommend you look into playing more this summer and fall, and also you should look to play with quality players and against quality opponents.

Of course, each of us have things to work on and improve upon in the off-season. But playing in the offseason gives you a practical opportunity (especially against quality opposition) to measure where you are and get better.

In this regard, I am reminded of a story about the great Tom Seaver when he was warming up for Red and was about the Mets ... his old team. A teammate walked by the bullpen and told Seaver that his fastball "looked good". Seaver kept working. Then he looked at his teammate, motioned over to the Mets dugout, and said, "They'll tell me if my fastball is good."

See you on the field,