Some Thoughts on Baseball Player Development

As high school baseball tryouts are rapidly approaching, I am very eager to see how all of our players have progressed over the past year or so. All of the fall workouts, winter lifts, and indoor hitting have, hopefully, helped guys get stronger and improve their overall ability. I do believe, however, that one thing is more critical than all others in terms of player improvement and development: the ability to self-assess. If a player is truly going to get better over time, it is imperative that they are honest with themselves about their strengths, weaknesses, and areas in need of greatest improvement to create potential opportunities from more playing time to potential opportunities to continue playing at the next level. Embrace your strengths and do those things well. Work at the things you're not as good at, despite the fact that we don't like working at things we're not good at as human beings. And, over time, grow to love the process of improving those areas of weakness as much as you enjoy displaying your areas of strength and, chances are, you'll turn into a pretty good player.