PLAYERS MAKEUP

The player's makeup is vital to his success in professional baseball. Often the player with the greatest desire will develop into a better ball player than the one with better physical tools. Most of the players when they sent to the minor leagues, are used to being the star on their team and often have never been in a slump or have lost a game before. This for many players is difficult to accept. For the first time in their lives, they are knocked out in the first inning or go 0 for 4. If a player can overcome this, they have a better chance of reaching their goal of playing in the major leagues.

One of the most important factors in a player's makeup is whether they can adjust to being away from home. Most high school players have never been away from home for any length of time and many are not prepared mentally to handle the long bus rides, bad lights, and poor playing conditions. For many college players, the minors is a step down from playing on good fields, good lighting, flying, and large attendance.

The college player often comes into the minor leagues more mature because he has been away from home, but a player with a college degree may quit after two years if he does not feel he is being promoted quick enough. It is very difficult for players to see their teammates being promoted while they are staying put. A player who works hard and puts up good numbers in the minor leagues will be noticed by the organization.

PLAYER CHECKLIST -- (what to look for in a player)

CATCHERS: Arm strength, agility and quickness, soft hands, aggressiveness plus leadership.

INFIELDERS: Arm Strength, speed, instincts, aggressiveness, soft hands, hitting ability (especially from the corners).

HITTERS: Strength, bat speed, plane of swing, absence of fear, aggressiveness, top-hand extension, and follow-though.

PITCHERS: Arm strength, velocity, movement, and a curveball with tight rotation, free arm action and proper delivery, with complete extension on the follow-though (basically a live, quick arm, aggressiveness, and the ability to concentrate.

MAKEUP: Strong desire to succeed, coachability, maturity, temperament, improvement, drive, hunger, consistency, knowledge of the game, competitiveness, (how badly does the player want to reach the major leagues and how well, he will work at it.)

PHYSICAL CHANGES: Has he reached his full height yet? Can he gain or lose weight? Will he become faster or slower? Has he filled out yet? Does he a have history of being hurt? How much has his skills improved from last year.

Does the player have the physical tools plus the strong make up to play in the major leagues. Only about 10% of the players who sign a minor league contract will ever play in the big leagues.