You’re Not Good Enough

I got drafted as a catcher in 2008 in the 6th round. The team drafted another catcher in the 7th round. By the time I signed and met the rookie ball team in August, this other catcher was already ahead of me. He had played well and earned it.

The next year, in 2009, same deal. We started in Low-A Greenville, South Carolina together. He caught 4-5 days a week. I caught the other 2-3 days a week and would DH on other days to get more at-bats. It became clear that I had been drafted as “the catcher who could hit but needed to improve his glove” and he had been drafted as “the catcher with a great glove but needed to improve his bat.” The thing was, he was hitting great! So he was the go-to guy.

About two months into the season I was getting really frustrated and at 21 years old didn’t see how I was ever going to make it to the majors if I was already stuck behind another guy in single-A. I remember going to my manager and asking what I could do to earn more playing time. I felt like my dream was slipping away from me before I ever had a chance. I’ll never forget what he said to me: “You are not good enough for me to play you with all 5 of our starting pitchers. You are over-matched and would get exposed behind the plate.”
It was a blow. But it was exactly what I needed to hear. Because it was the truth. I was a defensive liability. I wasn’t good enough, and in the professional game, catcher is not a position where you can just “make up for” bad defense by hitting well.

That conversation lit a fire in me. It gave me direction. If I wasn’t good enough now, I was going to make myself good enough.

Luckily, my coach was willing to work with me and invest his time and energy to help. He and I went out early. Every. Single. Day. We did every drill you can think of, and some I had never heard of. Some of the drills he probably made up on the spot. One of them involved him hitting balls at me with a fungo bat from 15 feet away to improve my athleticism and reaction time.

After the single-A all-star break, the other catcher got promoted to the next level up and I got more playing time in his absence. I was ready to take advantage of the opportunity. I continued to do extra defensive work with my coach every day and continued to improve. I finished the year strong and was ready for a promotion the next year.

In 2010, I started in High-A Salem, Virginia. We started the year splitting time behind the plate, and I got off to a hot start. Long story short, that year I was the one who earned the promotion to the next level up first. The other catcher and I both made it to the big leagues and had very similar careers.

I look back on that conversation where I was told I wasn’t good enough as a turning point.

At some point, everyone is told they aren’t good enough. Will you let it crush you? Or motivate you?