The professional game of baseball is changing at a rapid pace and it is affecting all facets of the game. Getting the chance to play for an affiliated professional baseball team is harder than ever. Professional baseball players come from all around the world now and the draft has been shortened to just 20 rounds. There are thousands of baseball players that want this chance. The question I am asking you is why do you want to play professional baseball? It seems like a simple question but it’s not simple at all. This is a very deep question that I think most players need to look deeper into. My journey with the question was deep and a rocky journey. 

It starts at a young age for everyone but when I started to work for it was summer after my freshman year of college. I started on varsity and I realized that I had a chance to keep this going after high school. I worked out everyday and it started consuming my thoughts. At my high school we had laptops and I was obsessed with two different venues to get to. The UA All-american game and the cape cod league. The Cubs were my favorite team and the UA All-American game was at Wrigley field. Was this too big of a reach? Yes. Do you need to dream when you are young? Yes. I also had this picture as the background of my computer my sophomore year. 

5 years later I got the call to go to the Cape Cod League and my first start was on this exact field. Dreaming is essential to getting to where you want to go. I get back from my summer in the cape and I start thinking professional baseball is a reality. We go through my senior year and I have a decent year leaving me with some hope but it started to dwindle. The draft comes and goes without hearing my name. It was a tough day for me because I thought my dream was over. I let a few days go by and then I got a call. It was a free agent workout for the Arizona Diamondbacks. I had no idea what to think of it but that workout put one idea in my head that I wasn’t even thinking about, Independent professional baseball. I had some calls but their season was already well on its way and I knew next year was going to be my chance. 

In the fall I take some classes at Catawba towards finishing my degree. In the spring I decided to stay back because I had an opportunity to catch some pens for the New York Yankees in spring training. They gave me the chance to practice with them all the way up until true spring training started. I had a verbal agreement with a team in the American Association but that was pulled. This led to me having to go to the Frontier league tryout. I had a great day and ended up getting drafted by the Evansville Otters. I was on cloud 9 at this time because my professional dream was about to start. I get to spring training for the Otters and proceed to get cut after a week. I was stunned and discouraged. I worked my ass off all off-season to be ready for this season, I had to play. The Pecos league is the bottom of the barrel of “Professional” baseball. I end up going to the White Sand Pupfish and my experience there is something I will write in a blog coming up. I tear up the Pecos league and end up in the CANAM league for about 3 weeks before getting cut. I go back home after this thinking th year was successful and looking towards next season. I start talking to independent ball teams and was unsure of what team I should pick. 

This is where I have a conversation with coach Gantt that changed my life forever and a big reason as to why I am writing this blog today. He asked me, “Why do you want to keep doing this.?” I was left stunned. I had never thought about life without playing baseball and this was the first time it was thrown in my face like that. We talked about how it was time to start thinking about adult life and he was right. It was so important for me to have someone guide me in the right direction at the right time. Did I need that year of Independent Baseball? 100% yes. It gave me so many life lessons and gave me the understanding of what it’s like to be able to focus solely on improving in the game of baseball. I also knew I wanted a career in baseball after I was done. It is important to know why you are doing anything in life. It is important to know why you want to play professional baseball. Here’s my list of why I wanted to play.

• I am obsessed with playing the game of baseball. 
• I wanted a career in baseball after playing. 
• I was still getting better at playing the game of baseball. 
• I simply was not ready to let go. 
• I had the most important people in my life supporting me. 

I have always been a good evaluator of myself. I could have kept playing at the independent level. That’s all that I saw through my perspective at that point. It wasn’t until coach Gantt asked me “Why?” that I started looking at what really mattered going forward in my life. I want more players that are navigating this process in their life to ask themselves the same question. 

There is one big question they have to ask themselves in today’s game of baseball. Is it worth transferring schools at the chance of getting drafted? This is a massive question with many layers just like wanting to play professional baseball. If you dominate for 2 years at the Division II level or Mid Major DI level, your best chance at getting drafted is at the Power 5 level. Now do you leave your current institution just because it’s where you’re going to get drafted? I see this as an automatic yes for most, which I think is wrong. You need to know WHY you want to play professional baseball for this to be the correct answer. If playing professional baseball is the best long term play for your life, then yes transfer and go get drafted. What happens when you transfer, don’t play, get drafted in the late rounds and get cut after 2 years. Was the trade worth it? That’s not for anyone else but yourself to answer. Think for yourself.