"KNOW WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO HARVEST IT." 

I am going to try to share it with you and explain it the best I can and draw from my experiences and what it took to gain the baseball edge and get to the top.

I started feeling that extra something way back in little league. It can best be described as a suredness about playing. I had that killer instinct to be the best and to compete. Even at a young age I noticed that I had a passion about the game and the edge. It was a yearning to be on top. It carried over to other things in life, but most noticably on the field.

My attitude and inner desire to play the best carried on throughout high school and into the college ranks. I will give you an example. I was recruited to play at many colleges. Pepperdine, where I attended, already had a star catcher. I was encouraged by scouts and other coaches to stay away from Pepperdine because of the competition. I ignored them because I wanted to take on the competition head on. This was my inner drive to compete and be the best.

I think Tommy Lasorda put it best and this is what he would say, "believe you are the best ballplayer around, just don't go around telling people that". I love that quote from him and I have never forgot it. It simply means that inside you have to believe you are the best to perform at your best. Believe in yourself and work hard and good things will happen.

Another time I was battle tested, was when the chips were down and I was only invited to miner league camp. I had a winning attitude, arose to the occasion, and went on to make the team out of spring training. You have to believe to have the baseball edge. That winter I was pulling a grout hose around to make ends meet. Instead of giving in to the daily grind, I made it an opportunity to build myself up mentally and physically. This is having the 'baseball edge'!

Another time in triple A the head of our miner leagues was in town visiting players. I confronted him and asked him why I hadn't been called up yet and why players were being called up ahead of me. He didn't give me a very good answer but I certainly let him know how I felt.I told him, that with or without him, I was going to make it to the big leagues. The next year I made the club. I believed in myself and made everyone around me believe. This is having the baseball edge.

When I was in high school while everyone else was off on dates, I was at the batting cages practicing my swing and visualizing myself playing at Dodger stadium. I was setting the road map for my success. You can call it what you want, but it is a killer instinct to be better. It is the desire to practice harder than everyone else. It is the desire to put in the extra effort. It is the belief in yourself.

And it is the realization that there are going to be bad days, but you pick yourself up, and you try again and learn from it. Mistakes are simply opportunities to learn and to grow. Never give up, in baseball or in life, and you will have the edge. Believe in yourself!