The importance of the post-season workouts In California
This is a crucial time for players who just finished the Pecos League season but many players don’t understand the importance of being seen BEFORE the season actually begins, and that’s a whole other story….
Our workouts are this week and next week in California, and we will be back on the East Coast to catch players at the end of the Empire Pro league season who want to get a head start on promotion and next year. There will also be a workout in Florida before the month of August is complete.
The Fall schedule is forming, and with the nWo League and workouts around the country set up, we are pushing for 200 transactions in 2018…
But right now, based on what we did last year at the end of the Pecos 2017 season, when about a dozen players came out to Northern California to workout with us. Below is an example of the results from their hard work.
First of all, for the player who asks “what type of workout is it?”.
It already isn’t for you. Its July 28, you have no job. Someone who is bored enough and nice enough to want to continue to make transactions throughout the summer instead of sit on his hands and is trying to create opportunity. Something from nothing. And you ask. Who? Why? How? #tswing
The problem is that players are not sure if they will continue this grind in a year. That’s the truth. And for the one’s that want it so bad, they will recklessly chase this dream on their own only to find out later that it could have been so much easier for them.
One thing about Black Sox Baseball is, it 100% is not for everyone. And the problem is that all of these kids, are finishing their first or second or 3rd pro season and bombarding coaches at the end of the season for workouts and a spot on a team, when the TEAM IS FULL! Coaches have their players, and for you to make their team, you need to be better than what they have. They are already dedicated to these players…
And that’s why I have these workouts…that’s not to say these Managers won’t make moves. If you look at the recent transaction list in the Pacific Association, the majority of players (and you can compare on my players signed list:
How does a Manager find out if you are better than what he has based on you Pecos League Stats (good luck, no exactly a paper test) and your 2 day eye test? The truth is, they don’t know. They ask me. I go into detail. The longer the player has been around, the more I can say for him, which I give an example of below, when you look at the players who are coming BACK to Northern California to workout for me again at the end of their 2nd Pecos season. They are coming to workout for ME. It could land them something in the middle of the country, it isn’t about the Pacific Association, its about being relevant and us having a plan.
I can make a plan for you to travel back across the country and showcase, carpool, get to the next league, as well as for the off-season, when to shut down your arm and when to pick it back up again, and how to stay relevant. For the players that don’t see the process starting here, and then we run into each other in other settings, I just feel bad sometimes because it could have been much much easier.
Guys don’t understand what they are paying for. I am creating opportunity. Real opportunity with real answers and plans and maps and a schedule for their career. It’s trough to understand at 23-26, 27…I get it..because back then I didn’t get it. So I hope this helps players find their way.
So the workouts are set up, a small group of players comes out. For my experienced guys this year, they will have host families and transportation and workout arrangements already set up because of the GRIND they went through last year.
More importantly for the guys that showed up at the end of 2017 and are coming back for 2018 to show how much better they have gotten, its exactly that, how much better they have gotten…
This is a list of guys that came over at the end of last year and their status as a player.
Nick Carrell 2017 Pecos Hollywood
Went from 15 games 34 inning in ’17 to 50 innings in 9 starts and got 25 more at bats in ’18 to continue to prove himself credible on both sides. Nick was also the MGR for the Road Warrior team in the nWo League and helped lead them to the leagues first ever title.
Played for the Salina Travel team.
Greg Gausden 2017 Pecos Hollywood
Went from coming off TJ in ’17 with 20 Innings, 34 hits and only 5 k’s to a huge year going 2-3 with a 5.67 era in 2018 playing in a better situation in 15 games making 8 starts and getting his Velo up and proving he’s a strike thrower and that he bounced back fully from TJ. Both Greg and Nick Carrell moved to NJ to train with FREAK Strength and play with the Black Sox in the Fall season and moved to Florida for 4 months to train and get better before the Pecos Season.
Morgan Blatnik 2017 Pecos Roswell/GC
Is an every day player for the Pittsburg Diamonds in 2018 but in 2017 was looked at as a Pecos League lifer with some potential. He was invited to the November and January tryouts in NJ and has been a top of the lineup and top of Indy Ball OBP guy so far this season, and has played 5 positions on the field.
Christian Triplett 2017 Pecos
Went 34-137 in his first Pecos season in 2017 with 45 k. Broke and set his own offensive records in his 2nd season with Ruidoso in a better situation going 64-206 with 8 doubles, 3 triples and 5 home runs, 42 RBI and cut down the strikeouts to 35, walking 35 times. This is called getting better. But he went above and beyond as the Carolina native drove North to NJ and CT for workouts with the Boston Red Sox once per month and was invited to Fort Myers for their March 1 Invite only tryout. He signed with the USPBL in the off-season and when he didn’t make the team out of camp, had a backup plan and was 2X the player he was going into ’17.
Yuta Okazaki 2017 pecos High Desert
What more can you say about Yuta? The 27 year old got 2 at bats in AAA this year with the Atlanta Braves. This man has been on his grind and in 2017 almost caught 2 Championship Games in 2 different leagues by showing up to the Pacific Association at the end of the season.
Jesse Remington 2017 Pecos GC/White sands
This is a good one. Remington showed up in Spring Training and was told by PAC teams to go and build innings as a starter. He went to the Pecos and built, with 2 different teams in 2017.
No one bit. He went back to the midwest where we set him up with workouts for the Gary Southshore Railcats and the Southern Illinois Miners. He ended up signing with SI and finishing the season, invited back for Spring Training in 2018. When he didn’t make the team, he went back to the Pecos and did better than ’17. 5-5 Record in 73 innings, 69 strikeouts and 13 starts, continuing to build and prove he’s a strike thrower and durable and worthy of a higher look.
This could be you….its up to you…