Wild Thing
New York, NY
Male, 28
I played Division I college baseball and was a highly-touted prospect before blowing out my shoulder. Many of my teammates were just stopping by college on their way to the minor leagues. Others were just using baseball to get an education. At the end of the day, though athletic competition at the high collegiate level is more of a job than a sport.
Not really. I think there is a misconception out there that road trips are all like the movie Bull Durham. But in college we had very little freedom. Every once in a while guys would go out and drink, miss curfew and get in trouble but nothing major really happened. I’d say the only cool thing that ever happened was that a guy on our team joined the mile high club on a team flight.
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Yes. To some degree I would imagine every major college program gives help to its athletes. Athletes have access to tutors and other resources that normal students do not. Bigger programs make sure that their athletes get in the right classes, have the rights sorts of exams and get the right professors. I can remember sitting down in a statistics class, looking around and seeing the football and basketball teams in class with me, and knowing that it would be an easy class. Now, whether schools help their athletes "cheat," I can't say. I am sure that cheating happens everywhere. My guess is that the vast majority of the time there is cheating, it is done by individuals, and not some form of institutionalized cheating. More often than not it's done by the eager kid who wants to be "in" with the athletes or tell a story later about how he helped out the football team in college by writing their take-home exams for them. As far as instituionalized cheating goes, I would imagine that most major programs are trying to make academic life as easy as possible of their players and that sometimes in the effort to do so they break NCAA rules. I can't say I saw cheating. But I can say that I don't know how a lot of athletes made it through school. I had a chemistry class (that was a very hard, curved class) with a future NBA star and he would go to class (only because there would be an assistant coach there to check in to make sure he got to class on time) and then get up after about five minutes and go hang out outside and hit on every girl that walked by. He was not, as far as I could tell, a genius who could get away with not doing the work and then ace the tests. He made it through his sophomore year without flunking out (before he declared for the NBA draft). I don't know how that happens without some kind of cheating.
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Dwight Gooden when I was really little. I was too young to appreciate him in his prime years, but I was aware of his legend on some level. I’ve still never seen a more fluid and powerful motion in my life. Do yourself a favor and youtube some of his highlights from 84-85. The guy was athleticism on the mound personified. Not to sound like an old fogie, but in today's age of mechanical teaching, you don’t see fluid deliveries like his very often. When I really studied the game when I was older, I loved Maddux and Pedro. Those guys were the smartest pitchers I ever saw. They also had filthy stuff (which helps obviously), but they were so, so smart. Maddux could throw a Mariano-like cutter or a Webb-like sinker (minus 5 MPH) at any time to any place, and he knew where to put it and how to randomize it. But Pedro was the closest thing I've seen to pitching genius. His pitch sequencing was something else, he had everyone scared of him and he knew it. They weren't scared of being hit, they were scared of being made to look stupid, which he made them do on a regular basis. He might throw someone 5 straight change-ups one at bat, make him look silly, and then know that he could sneak fastballs by that guy for the rest of the game because he was scared to look stupid on change-ups. The second the batter would adjust, Pedro would be on to something else. It seemed like he always knew when a player adjusted and he was one step ahead. I can't imagine ever seeing a more fun pitcher to watch.
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Highest recorded pitch: 89 (nothing crazy). I was topping out at 84-85 after I hurt my arm though (pathetic).
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Pharmacist
Why is an advanced degree required to dole out pills at a pharmacy?
Call Center Employee (Retail)
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I've heard that a lot of startups are hiring really well-educated college grads and paying them a lot, reasoning that customer service is often a client's most lasting impression of a brand. What do you think, and is it something you see spreading?
I think it depends on who we are talking about. Does "MLB bound" mean that we know that those players make it to the majors, or are we talking about those guys that seem MLB bound at the time they are drafted? If its the latter, then I would say most guys get their degrees. Most "MLB bound" players never actually make it or their careers are pretty short. Those guys, overwhelmingly, get their degrees, eventually. If we are talking about guys who we know, after the fact, actually make it to the majors, then I'd say its pretty close to 50/50. MLB bound college players are drafted out of their junior year or senior year. So most are within a year of college graduation, and given that they spent a minimum of 3 year years in college and that the end of the minor league season (end of August) coincides directly with the start of first semester, it is really easy for most guys to graduate by the time they make it to the majors or after they finish their careers. On the other hand, most MLB players are not the most bookish of people and if they can avoid going to school, they will. Also important to keep in mind is that there are a lot of junior college players that are MLB bound. Those guys are almost never going to get their degrees. So all in all, I'd say its roughly 50/50 that an MLB bound player gets his degree.
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A high school player should be pitching to his own strengths and addressing his own weaknesses, period. He should not be worried about pitching to opponents' weakenesses. he should be focused on his own development First of all, you are not going to have great scouting reports on opposing players, so you will not know, going into at bats, whatt a players' weaknesses are, much less be able to exploit them. Second of all, it will not help a high school players future if he has learned how to pitch the number 4 batter on Smithtown High School's team. All that matters is that he becomes the best player he can be. Even minor leaguers are working off of their own strengths and weaknesses, rather than the opponent's strength's and weaknesses. Even in college, a pitcher is working on his own game all of the time, except in games that matter (typically conference games and tournament games).
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Yes. I have a lot of advice. I spent some time after my college career as a professional pitching coach, mostly working with developmental players (kids). 1.) Throw and throw a lot. Every day. 2.) Throw long toss. If you want to be a good pitcher and you haven't pitched much, it is far more important to long-toss than to practice your wind-up or to throw from a mound. I think the amateur mind sees pitching as something fundamentally different from throwing, which probably comes from watching MLB, where yes, pitching is very different. But you cannot pitch until you can throw. And I don't mean "throw" from a standpoint of "I can get the ball there." I mean "throw" from a standpoint of having coordination, power and accuracy when you throw and getting an expected result. Throwing long toss is FAR better for development than pitching from a mound. Throwing long toss will help you develop coordination, accuracy and arm strength much better than pitching from a mound will. Anyone can throw a ball from 60 ft. away for strikes and think he's doing it right. Unfortunately, that means that throwing short distances reinforces a lot of bad habits. If you are doing something wrong, it will be much more apparent from longer distances. I recommend two kinds of long-toss. (a) throw the ball about as far as you can, accurately and in the air, with a partner. Don't worry about arcing your throws moderately Do this for 15-20 throws 4-5x a week. (b) Throw 120 ft, on a line, using momentum (you should run into your throws), downward. For this drill I usually have players stand 150 ft apart and each person puts his hat on the ground 15 feet in front of him. Each person tries to hit the other persons hat. You must throw the ball hard or it doesn't count. This will reinforce throwing on a downward plane and make you use the proper muscles that you need when you pitch. 3) Throw more, you are thousands of pitches behind all the guys that have been pitching for years. 4) Once youve thrown a ton and developed a decent feel for long tossing, spend a few hundred dollars on a pitching coach. Seriously. Find out who is reputable in your area, make sure he gets results and has a head on his shoulders and listen to whatever he says. Make sure he reviews both your long tossing and your mound pitching. Learn a change up and maybe a curve. 5) Keep it simple. The key to a good delivery is having a repeatable delivery. 6) When you finally get on the mound, forget everything and be aggressive. Most amateurs tend to overthink things. Just go at the hitter (more accurately, go at the catcher, albeit with the hitter in mind) and if he beats you, so be it. You can't do anything about the hitter, you can only give him your best and hope for the best. 6) Acknowledge a high likelihood of early failure, but never accept it. 7) Throw more. Use everything you've learned along the way.
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