Now that I’m a working stiff, making sure I have healthy and accessible food at work is a necessity.
When I played Major League Baseball, I never had to worry about making sure I had food at the office. Everything was provided for us ever hungry, bat wielding lads. If the sustenance at the ballpark didn’t meet my nutritional requirements, we always had eager to please clubhouse attendants more than willing to make a run to Anna’s Taqueria or, later in my career, a natural foods market.
I no longer have that luxury, and I’m guessing most of you don’t either. More likely, you’ve experienced being knee deep in an intense work day as lunchtime rolls around. We reach for our midday meal, excited for the break. Unfortunately, we find an empty sack; we forgot our lunch. With no time or flexibility to go out, we’re screwed and crankiness ensues. Our productivity slips and our colleagues hate us.
Obviously, the ideal solution to this problem is to not forget to bring food to work. Inevitably, however, life speeds up and we have a below average brain day. We can’t be perfect but we can be prepared for the breaking balls life throws our way.
Here’s how to sit back and drive that curve out of the ballpark to right-centerfield.
From the boardroom to the shipyard, there is likely a small section in your workspace to store a few essentials. Obviously, if you have access to refrigeration, you have some advantages over us poor saps limited to room temperature. Let’s assume no cold air and think through what items will help us make our nutritional ends meet.
Canned fish. This is my favorite. They “pole and troll” for their fish and source nothing from long-line ore purse seine fisheries. In short, they respect the ocean while giving us an easily accessible protein option at work. No need for a can opener, the cans have a peel off top. Bring a fork and you’re good. I tap in some hot sauce and eat straight from a can.
Fruit. Keep a bag of organic apples, a bunch of bananas and a grapefruit or two and you’re square on carbs, vitamins and minerals. Obviously, none NEED refrigeration and you can bank on the fact that if you bring them in on a Monday, they’ll still be good on Friday.
Avocados. Canned fish doesn’t have much fat and we know how important monounsaturated fat in the form of oleic acid can be to our diet. Avocados can reduce levels of bad cholesterol in your blood and lower your risk of stroke and heart disease. Extra credit for keeping sea salt and garlic powder nearby.
Stock these three items and you’ll always have a healthy meal when your lunch is spending the day lonely on your kitchen counter.
You’ve been following along, so you know I can’t get enough spice in my food. Eggs, Japanese yams, they all get the same warmth from a splash of hot sauce.
I love the chili-garlic flavor that explodes out of the Sriracha bottle, but I must admit I cringe a little every time I reluctantly glance at the label. Specifically, my gut gets twisted over a single ingredient. Sugar. Even with the relatively innocuous amount, I hate the idea that my favorite hot stuff is sweetened with a substance intentionally left off of my approved items list.
When I’m engulfed in a love affair with a product but despise an ingredient, I make my own. I solved my sugar dilemma by substituting blueberries and maple syrup in place of the dreaded white crystals. Boom.
Here’s the recipe should you like to recreate a batch in your kitchen.
¼ pound hot red peppers of choice
¼ pound jalapeno peppers (any color)
½ pound sweet or bell peppers (color will contribute to the final product’s shade, I used multi-colored)
7 garlic cloves, peeled
1/3 cup organic, white vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
handful of blueberries
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Add all ingredients into your blender. Blend until you reach the desired consistency; I prefer mine smooth and thicker.
Pour the blended sauce into a pan and bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 11 minutes.
Remove from heat, taste and salt if desired.
Pour finished product into a glass jar and store in the fridge.
Your sauce should be glorious, as is mine, for a couple of weeks when refrigerated.
In the early 2000s, it wasn’t trendy or cute to eat gluten free. Now, it’s like wearing a pink Sox hat to Fenway or postgame interview shaving cream pies in the face for the cats on the field. There is gluten free pasta, bread, frozen meals…getting the picture? The latest “healthy” marketing craze seems to be taking crap and making it gluten free. Yippee.
Kevin Burkhardt is allergic to gluten. For those of you unfamiliar with Kevin’s work, he’s one of the brightest stars in broadcasting. He’s also an exceptional teammate of mine at Fox Sports 1. I’ve witnessed his challenges first hand. I’d love to see his nutritional existence get easier.
Gluten is a substance present in cereal grains, especially wheat, which is responsible for the elastic texture of dough. A mixture of two proteins, it causes illness in people with celiac disease. It may negatively impact many more. From celiacdisease.about.com:
Dr. Fasano, director of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, published the first study looking at the molecular basis for gluten sensitivity and how it differs from celiac disease. He also participated in the research concluding that celiac disease incidence is one in every 133 people.
According to Dr. Fasano, gluten sensitivity potentially affects far more people than celiac disease. He estimates about 6% to 7% of the U.S. population may be gluten-sensitive, meaning some 20 million people in the United States alone could have the condition.
Now, back to my world.
The first time I worked with Kevin, we were on a pregame show together. During our morning meetings, food for the whole crew was ordered. I overheard a conversation in which Kevin very carefully articulated that he was going to need a different meal than the ones that were to be provided.
I asked him what happens when he ingests gluten.
“I can’t take a chance,” he said. “I’ll be done the whole day. Cramps, throwing up, and more.”
Kevin remembers eating during childhood being simpler, but he consistently encountered issues with his stomach.
“They called it irritable bowel syndrome, which is what they say when the doctor doesn’t know what’s going on. My stomach is so much better since my diagnosis.”
That diagnosis came in 2001. Since then, labeling has improved, and there is much greater awareness about the disease. These changes are rendering restaurants less intimidating spaces.
“Any chef worth his salt knows how to cook without gluten.”
The increased awareness of celiac and gluten allergies is a mixed bag. While eating out is easier, Kevin’s biggest hurdle is dealing with the challenges of processed foods.
“Whenever I see stuff like modified food starch or natural flavors, I have to be careful. Those foods can contain gluten. French fries are a risk too. If they were cooked in the same place as say, chicken tenders, I’m not safe because their breading may have gluten.”
Doesn’t sound like fun, does it?
However, after hashing it out in a quality conversation, the truth became abundantly clear. Just about everything I eat daily, Kevin can eat safely. Eggs, animal flesh, yams, coffee, fruit, veggies, almonds, avocados are all on his safe list. His is a diet of whole foods, essentially.
“I love sushi,” Kevin shared with a big smile.
I asked him if he meant just the fish.
“No, I eat the rice. And sushi rolls. Corn, potatoes, they’re all okay.”
Dude has plenty of freedom.
All this time, I’ve worn the pink hat. I’m embarrassed to say, I’m pretty much gluten free. Skip the processed foods, gluten free or not, and your body will display its gratitude.
Can I be frank? The majority of hotdogs are absolute garbage. You can, however find an “A” version of a “D” food.
Most hotdogs are constructed (I use that word deliberately) from the trimmings of meat left over after an animal has been broken down into choice cuts. This alone seems relatively innocuous. The combination of different animals is then pushed through metal plates. Not a huge issue, this is the same way beef is ground for hamburgers.
Here’s where it gets hideous. Processed chicken trimmings, resembling nothing so much as clay, are added to the mix. Salt (not from the sea), starch and artificial flavorings are dumped in. Water is then sprayed into a large vat with everything above so that the concoction resembles soft serve ice cream. And what does soft serve need? Yup, corn syrup, because bleached salt has to have an artificial balance.
The mixture needs to be condensed, so air is vacuumed out, and the slop is injected into cellulose casings. At this point, you have a meat stick resembling your ballpark frank, but it won’t taste like it yet. So a liquid smoke bath is applied before a final drenching of salty water. Pass the ketchup, please.
Now that I’ve convinced you to wait until July 4th for your next Dodger Dog, I’ll give you the good news.
There are healthier, truly delicious options. Be savvy about your selection, and you’ll be enjoying yourself while respecting your temple. Even the optimal options are still processed, but sometimes our boundaries need some flexibility. We all do the best we can.
Your first step is to think ingredients. This is true of any food that comes in a package and particularly useful in this case (pun here, think hard).
Here’s the list for some dogs I buy for my boys:
Organic Grass-Fed Beef, Water. Contains Less Than 2% Of The Following: Sea Salt, Organic Spices, Organic Dehydrated Garlic, Organic Dehydrated Onion, Organic Paprika, Celery Powder.
Recognize all listed ingredients? Good. That’s what your goal is. Ensure your beef comes from cows not treated with hormones or antibiotics (or any other drugs that you don’t want in your own bloodstream) or fed corn.
If you prefer not to eat beef, this turkey dog is a quality alternative.
I’ll muse on buns another day, but for now try chopping up some jalapenos and onions. Slice your dog and get to stuffing. Top with spicy mustard.
You’ll be salivating before your first bite. When people ask how you got so ripped, you can honestly answer with a casual “I eat hotdogs.”
Life gets busy between work and family obligations. Getting to the gym or just finding time to break a sweat can be overwhelming. We know that working in and around our community is important for our overall well-being, but somehow it ends up sliding to the bottom of the priority list.
I’ve long had the belief that there are ways to combine these two activities if you’re willing to be the organizer, the catalyst, if you will.
Today, I decided to run my sprints in my neighborhood. I identified a long, relatively flat street and began my warm-up. During my side shuffles, I saw a television tossed out on the side of the road, less than 100 feet from a large trash can. I’m not a violent man, but I could tear that SOB’s head off. After tossing it in the dumpster, I mentally thanked the lazy MF’er for inspiring my next actions and this post.
I immediately went home and wrote this letter:
Friends,
Yesterday I saw an old television thrown on the side of Morning View Drive near a field of stunning wildflowers, not 100 feet from a trashcan. It pissed me off in a powerful way, but prompted me to think through how to take action. While I unfortunately can’t approach that lazy soul, I figure I can multitask around health and community cleanup and make an impact.
We all need to exercise, we all desire the elements on our skin, and we can all make an impact in our neighborhoods by cleaning them up.
Join me Saturday morning from 9:30-10:30am for a neighborhood walk and trash cleanup session. Bring a trash bag and a pair of gloves and meet me in the Malibu High School parking lot. We will burn some calories and shine our ‘hood to a sparkle simultaneously.
No pressure at all. If it’s just me, I’ll catch you next time.
Hope to see y’all there.
Kap
PS: Please invite anyone you’d like. I just threw some Malibu names together and likely forgot way more folks than I remembered. Spread the word if you desire. The more the merrier.
This is really a no brainer for me. I already walk on Saturdays, and I generally pick up trash along the way. I’m simply taking this to the next level by focusing on cleaning up my community and joining with others to do so. I’ll make sure that I’m moving swiftly so that I get my workout in, and my neighborhood will sparkle that much more for my efforts.
Here are your steps to organizing a community cleanup fitness walk once a week:
Pick a time that you like to take a walk. If you’re the organizer, you can’t flake, so make sure it’s convenient for you. No need to factor in the schedules of others. If you’re happy, it will resonate with others and they’ll join eventually.
Pick a meeting spot totally convenient to you, ideally within a short walk of your home. Same reasons as above.
Send a short, casual invitation email to everyone you know about what you’re doing, letting them know that they’re welcome to join. No pressure tactics. This, like your workouts, is part of a lifestyle change. You don’t need a huge turnout to get the ball rolling. One or two people can and will make an impact.
Make the first walk an hour. You want folks to be able to budget this into their day.
Don’t stress, just show up with a trash bag and get started.
Can you imagine the ripple effect if we inspire thousands of people to take action like this? Does a cleaner, healthier world sound good to you? Me too, so I stopped waiting and took charge. Now, share this and comment on this post. Teach me your ways to combine fitness and community service.
I’m in a heap of trouble. I might have just made a very bad decision, so the first thing I decided to do was to come share it with you, my partners in this adventure.
You remember my friend Hunter? Well, after my rather pitiful showing last week with the “Jackie,” he decided to inspire me with a little friendly competition. On Friday, June 20th, he and I go toe to toe with slightly more than pride at stake.
We compete for time in the “Jackie”; winner chooses the loser’s diet for 12 hours. He nonchalantly mentioned that I’m going to be eating Subway all day. I nearly puked from the thought.
I feel like the right fielder from a Sunday men’s baseball park league preparing to stare down Jose Fernandez. For context, Hunter does this shit as a job. He’s always getting timed or running a race or standing on his head or blah, blah, blah.
Me? As you know, I lift heavy weights and eat animals.
His is an endurance activity, mine develops power and strength. I’m way behind the eight ball from a cross fit perspective. My embarrassing time on this workout from last week was 11 minutes, 16 seconds; Hunter tells me he can do it under 7:30.
Despite all of that, this was not a challenge I could back down from. For some people, competition is an uncomfortable stressor, and I understand that. For me, it has always acted as a conduit for taking an uncomfortable first step towards making a change.
I subscribe to the semi spiritual concept “ask and you shall receive.” You may remember a few weeks back when after a direct message (stop thinking about Twitter!) from my hip. I identified that a temporary alteration to my workout regimen was in order, but I was dragging my feet, hemming and hawing. I didn’t really do anything different beyond substituting RDLs for my traditional squats. But I put the message out to the world and it replied with a challenge. Hell yes, I accept.
I know that the idea of being embarrassed by Hunter will propel me to challenge myself in every workout I sweat through to prepare. I’ll know that what I consume will be fuel to win, and therefore I’ll be exceptionally on point with my choices. During my MLB days, I would prepare for a game by visualizing the face of the opposing pitcher. Now I’ll use my crossfitting counterpart.
I need a plan and fast. I refuse to be humiliated. In the hours and days to come, I’ll be planning a 7 week build up program to enable me to smash (okay, be competitive with) Hunter.
If y’all cross fit cats have suggestions to train for this event, fire them my way in the comments.
Let’s face it, I’m the underdog, and I love it. I was drafted in the 57th round of the 1995 MLB draft. I’ve been here before; I’m used to scrapping for every success. What about you?
Oh, and Fox Sports 1, feel free to cover this electrifying ceremony of fitness.
I’ve always been fascinated by those “eat this, not that” articles. Their “this” recommendations always seem to be based solely on calories and fat content, without taking into account any health implications. I’ve decided to write a semi regular post entitled, “Eat This, Not That… OR That.” In this column, I’ll give you some advice on what to eat for general well-being, not calories, though I will try to provide a decent estimate on how many of those energetic friends or foes (depending on how you view them) you’ll be consuming from your homemade deliciousness.
The popular narrative is that you shouldn’t eat this interpretation of a cheeseburger from the ever-reputable Burger King:
Triple Whopper Sandwich with Cheese and Mayo
1,250 calories
84 g fat
1,600 mg sodium
And instead you should grab yourself this beauty from the even more trustworthy Hardee’s:
Double Cheeseburger
510 calories
26 g fat (5 g saturated)
1,120 mg sodium
Cool, so you’ll be devouring less than half the calories. Those 510 calories are still coming from mistreated, hormone and antibiotic injected cows that unnaturally eat corn rather than grass and…well, you know the rest. You’ll feast on white flour and preservative filled buns devoid of nutritional value. Your sandwich will be drenched in sugar laden, chemical filled condiments. I won’t even delve into the “cheese product.”
How about slowing down with your food and actually preparing it instead? It will take you longer, it will be more expensive, you can’t eat it in your car without difficulty, and it’s not guaranteed to come out perfectly. Sound unattractive? I get it but it’s worth it.
You’ll feel better, you’ll have a new experience, you’ll gain health points and you’ll feed a friend. You in now? Good.
Here’s an idea for a delicious and healthy homemade burger, inspired by civilizedcavemancooking.com.
First, get your toppings ready. A cup of spinach, washed and dried, a tomato, sliced, and an avocado, pitted and sliced will provide you with oodles of freshness and, more importantly, loads of health benefits. Spinach provides antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, supports bone health and helps reduce your cancer risks. Tomatoes are full of antioxidants and support cardiovascular health. Avocados nourish you with healthy fats and help to regulate blood sugar.
Civilizedcavemancooking.com also suggests topping your burger with sweet potatoes, and you know of my crush on this satisfying starch. These will provide you with the carbs you’re craving in a exponentially healthier form than a processed white bun. Instructions for you here:
Preheat a cast iron skillet or pan over medium heat
Using a spiral slicer or julienne peeler, make your peeled sweet potato into noodles
Place your bacon fat in your pan and once melted add your sweet potatoes and your pinch of sage
Sauté for 8-10 minutes stirring often as to not burn your sweet potatoes until they are at the consistency you desire
Remove from the heat and set aside
Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of beta carotene, and our bodies are able to absorb more when paired with healthy fats from the avocado and beef.
Once your toppings are ready to go, prepare your burgers. Put a pound of grass fed, organic ground beef into a bowl and season. I regularly feature garlic powder, salt and pepper, but you can use any spices you want. Mix well with your hands and form the beef into two patties. Make a small impression with your thumb in the center of each so they cook evenly.
Your beef will provide you with ample protein for muscle repair and building, and selecting grass fed ensures you’re getting more omega 3 fatty acids than in a portion of salmon.
Heat your pan or grill to high and melt some butter or coconut oil. Toss your burgers in and cook to your preferred doneness.
Plate your meal by throwing your burger on a bed of spinach, topping with avocado, tomato and sweet potatoes.
Approximate calorie count, 900. For 20 minutes of work, you’re rewarding your body with better health, and it will taste better to boot.
Some people find routines to be boring. In truth, they can be valuable organizational tools that keep us in a positively charged daily flow. We concentrate on fitness and well-being around here, both physically and mentally. Routines are an important part of staying healthy.
A friend texted me yesterday to ask “how was your day?” My mind involuntarily rewound to the morning. I woke up, I tackled emails, I turned on music, I made coffee…you get it. Yesterday morning is eerily similar to nearly every other morning. Because this structure is similar from day to day, I’m mentally freeing myself up to be more creative throughout the rest of my day. From the Chicago Tribune:
“Routine basically gives us the mental freedom to think about what’s actually important. That way we don’t have to think about all the mundane aspects of life,” says Charles Duhigg, author of “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” (Random House). “Getting to relegate all those things to sort of an automatic thought process, we gain all the mental bandwidth we need to do the really important things in life. Almost every single species that has survived has the ability to take routines and make them automatic. That way you have cognitive power to invent spears and fire and video games.”
These routines can be part of our larger goals. Practicing routines takes, well, practice. It requires a degree of willpower, and may involve breaking some habits to create new ones. I often tell friends trying to get leaner and stronger that perpetual hydration is critical for losing body fat over the long term. You make cleaner, healthier choices when your body has the water it needs. Therefore, I advise waking up and drink a large glass before seeking out breakfast or even our beloved coffee. This practice should become routine. Particularly if you find yourself craving sugar in the morning, it may be a challenge, but it’s worth the effort to implement new regular practices.
People who are very, very successful don’t forget the importance of routines. There’s a huge correlation between thinking very deliberately about (creating) the right habits in your life and developing successful habits,” says Duhigg, a New York Times investigative reporter who plowed through mountains of scientific research for the book.
Of course, a routine isn’t necessarily ideal simply because it becomes a habit. Rituals with healthy implications are beneficial, others less so. A few drinks after work here and there would be classified as an indulgence around here. As part of a weekly or monthly routine? Great. Practice it daily and you’re bound to hamper your creativity and decision making capacity. We often add counterproductive activities to our routines that disrupt our balance. As always, some trial and error and making smart decisions is key.
“If you have habits you feel are boring, that you don’t like, spend time thinking about how to change that habit,” Duhigg adds. “Once you have the habits that you genuinely want, at that point your life kind of becomes this wonderful place because you have all the mental energy you need to concentrate on the things you really want to concentrate on.”
That’s the key. Preserving the ability to concentrate. We’ve all been at the point of being stressed out, exhausted or faced with difficult challenges in life. Having a set of healthy, beneficial habits to fall back on leaves us free to make positive decisions in those areas while operating on cruise control in the rest of our life. From a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:
When we try to change our behavior, we strategize about our motivation and self-control. But what we should be thinking about instead is how to set up new habits. Habits persist even when we’re tired and don’t have the energy to exert self-control,” says Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at USC
As individuals with limited mental bandwidth, we have to be cognizant of our energy spends. Routines will unquestionably help us manage and kick ass at our jobs.
We have a myriad of reoccurring themes around here. We frequently riff on the value of resilience and resourcefulness. Particularly for a professional athlete, these characteristics are critical. Add in a dense layer of less than perfect luck, and Matt Taylor needed (and still needs) the aforementioned attributes for his very survival. He earned my respect with his tale in the form of an inspiring guest post below. Enjoy.
I’ve always dreamed about baseball. Even though the subject stayed the same, my dreams have been forced to evolve.
Growing up an Atlanta Braves fan, I always had the luxury of being able to flip the channel to TBS on any given night during the dog days of summer and see MLB games being played. Those Atlanta teams in the 1990s and early 2000s played a crucial role in my passion for baseball due not only to their success but to their accessibility. The chance to watch the best players in the world on TV every night cultivated a desire to watch, learn, and imitate what I was seeing.
I recall booting up my Nintendo 64 and trying to build the best team in the game in Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest Baseball. Roster construction, lineup order, front office management, bullpen usage…all things I thought about from even a young age.
My dreams didn’t stay confined to the TV, however. Early on, I’d constantly compare myself to Jim Edmonds and the over the shoulder basket catches he made patrolling Busch Stadium. I saw glimpses of my game in Barry Larkin…largely due to my Wilson model infield glove with his name emblazoned in looping cursive script.
One of my first evolutions came from realizing that a left-handed shortstop had no future in the big leagues. My attention turned to pitchers – Tom Glavine, Al Leither, and of course the infamous D-Train, Dontrelle Willis.
It turned out to be a good evolution for me. In 2011, the Baltimore Orioles gave me the opportunity to chase the dream of becoming a Major League baseball players. I was the wide-eyed, freshly drafted kid with a 96 mph fastball from the left side. It seemed like I was well on my way.
I knew every player faces setbacks, and I was no exception. It’s inevitable in life and baseball. My Low-A 2012 season was interrupted by surgery. I needed elbow surgery to remove bone spurs and loose bodies. Shortly thereafter, I had a series of kidney surgeries that left me bedridden for close to 8 weeks. Luckily, these were just temporary obstacles, and I bounced back from that difficult 2012 season with a successful 2013 season. I logged a career high in innings pitched, I didn’t miss a start, I finished the season fully healthy.
Or so it seemed on the surface. The next step in the evolution of my dream was looming, even though I didn’t immediately recognize it. I had always considered myself a power pitcher, with a plus fastball. After surgery, though, my velocity had dropped 6-7 MPH. I stubbornly believed it would come back. I had always thrown hard, so surely it would return…right? Why should I adapt as a pitcher? In a sport that fears change, I fit the mold easily.
As my velocity continued to decline, I began to panic. I looked for answers everywhere…watching hours of video, working with my coaches, outsourcing instruction. Hit with a flashback to my days spent as video game GM and my little league Hall of Fame role-playing, I began searching for big leaguers with similar pitch repertoires. I was 23, needing to reinvent myself as a pitcher, and about to embark on a statistical odyssey that would see me run headfirst into sabermetrics.
My search led me to Jeff Locke. The left handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates (and 2013 All Star) became one of my favorite pitchers. He had a merely average fastball, but he was succeeding by doing something better than any other pitcher. He was pitching inside at an extremely high rate (one that current sits at the top of Major League baseball at 49%).
My obsessive monitoring of pitch sequences had begun earlier, originally spurred by a “Hardball Times” article from 2009. After watching Locke pitch, my interest of inside heat reached its zenith. The article encouraged throwing inside, even providing data that supported an average fastball becoming one of the best in baseball by aiming it high and tight on a hitter. I frequent the website “FanGraphs,” and it seemed every time I visited the website, they posted information on pitch sequencing or highlighted the value of certain pitches in certain counts.
I realized pitch sequencing was an enormous aspect of pitching I had long overlooked. I simply trusted what the catcher put down instead of relying on research and data. My obsessive monitoring of pitch sequences had led me to what the Pirates’ front office must have stumbled on as well – their entire rotation has thrown inside more than all of baseball, and subsequently, their pitchers give up a below-league-average slugging percentage.
The data proved that this could be a successful strategy, and I needed to do something. I laid out a clear plan of attack for the upcoming 2014 season. The transformation from a hard-throwing pitcher to a soft-throwing one is something no pitcher wishes to undergo, but I was determined to grow as a player. I was no longer wielding a blinding down-and-away fastball. I know the shelf life in professional baseball is short. The questions then became how could I extend my window? How could I prove to an organization I was still able get batters out despite losing fastball velocity?
I was anxious to begin 2014 with my new approach. I attacked hitters inside. Fastball up, fastball up and in, doubling up inside. I topped out at 89 MPH, but I had the most successful first half of my career. I was leading the Carolina League in wins and ERA, named to the All Star game…and experiencing lower back pain every time I started. With each start, the pain progressively worsened. The diagnosis of a herniated disc sidelined me for 3 months.
I was heartbroken…and afraid. Here was another setback – I spent the entire offseason remolding my game and retooling my arsenal to find the best way to succeed. Would the Orioles give up on me? Could I stay healthy?
I was devastated, but I suddenly found myself with a lot of time on my hands. Every player knows the misery of rehabbing at the spring training facility while their teammates are playing and competing hundreds of miles away. My day looked like this:
Wake up at 6 AM
Eat breakfast at team facility
Rehab with the training staff from 7-9 AM
Return to the hotel for the remainder of the day
Repeat daily.
My days were done before my teammates had even woken up. I was determined to use my forced downtime to hone my mental skills. I have been fortunate over the past two seasons to build great relationships with people more intelligent than me. I am a big believer in surrounding myself with people smarter than me. Two people that have had an impact on me and my knowledge of sabermetrics are Reggie Yinger and Hart Mizell. Reggie has been there for me by offering statistical evidence to back up my research. I am an avid reader, and Reggie always has a baseball book on hand to offer me. Hart is a teammate from college and a historian who presented at SABR 45 this past June. He is constantly available for discussion whenever I think about making an adjustment.
I felt mentally strong when I came back from the DL. I returned in the middle of August, confident that the setbacks were behind me, and I could finally start progressing towards my dream. A few rough starts followed, but I figured I was just not physically where I needed to be.
A relatively normal offseason followed, and I began back where I had been, in the Carolina League. 3 starts into my 2015, and I heard two loud cracks. The world went dark.
I woke up and came to my senses in a hospital bed in Salem, Virginia. My head was clouded and throbbed with pain. I had no understanding of what happened. Getting injured is one thing, but having your mind taken from you becomes a whole different experience. I had taken a 100 MPH line drive less than a centimeter from my left temple. I had post-concussion symptoms that lingered – irritability, nausea, amnesia, and sensitivity to light and sound all defined my world.
This was arguably the toughest period in my life. I wondered if I would pitch again. Was this it? My symptoms finally subsided after five weeks. I was nervous walking into my first simulated batting practice, but the competitiveness kicked in after one pitch. I attacked batters as if nothing had happened. But my evolution wasn’t done.
My pitching had not been where I expected dating back to August of 2014. I noticed a significant increase in fly balls, to the point where I got nothing but fly balls during my simulated game. I had chalked 2014 up as a small sample size, but the sample had grown and there was still no change.
Red flags abounded. Our pitching coordinator, Rick Peterson, had always stressed the importance of ground balls for pitchers without a large percentage of swing and misses. Something needed to change. I knew the half-life for below-average velocity, low strike out, high fly ball pitchers was short (unless your name is Jamie Moyer). Even Mark Buerhle has maintained league average ground ball rates throughout his career and even sustained above average rates at times. I had to do another overhaul. My career depended on it.
Once again, the data backed up what I was seeing between the lines. In 2014, Major League hitters batted .239 with a .020 ISO (Isolated Power) average and .220 wOBA (Weighted On Base Average) on balls batted into the ground. As for fly balls? A .207 batting average, but with a .378 ISO and a .335 wOBA. A fly ball generates less base hits but far more extra base hits and home runs. Here’s an excerpt from “FanGraphs” on batted balls:
We know that pitchers do not have complete control, or even much control at all, over what happens to a baseball once it’s put in play, but they do have some control over the type of batted ball they allow. If you allow ten ground balls, you can’t control if zero, three, or nine go for hits, but you did control the fact that none are leaving the park. On the other hand, fly ball pitchers can usually limit the number of hits they allow, but that also makes them more vulnerable to home runs.
A league-average ground ball rate is around 44%, fly ball rate around 35%, infield popups around 11%, and line drives (the worst thing a pitcher can allow) around 21%. Prior to my back injury, I had maintained an average hovering between 52-54%. While that was solid for a left-hander, I knew that I needed to add a feature to my package to make me stand out, since my strikeout numbers and velocity were more pedestrian. I needed to become elite at getting ground balls. This evolution would be my best way to survive.
Line drives are death to pitchers, while ground balls are the best for a pitcher. In numerical terms, line drives produce 1.26 runs/out[R/O], fly balls produce 0.13 R/O, and ground balls produce only 0.05 R/O…A line drive produces 1.26 runs per out, while fly balls produce 0.13 runs per out and ground balls produce 0.05 runs per out. In other words, batters want to hit lots of line drives and fly balls, while pitchers generally want to cause batters to hit ground balls.
Imagine that. More empirical evidence backing the ground ball! I uncovered countless articles that backed my conclusions on ground balls.
It was time to dive back into the research. After watching video and tinkering with my mechanics, I found the minor adjustment to my delivery. I had developed a habit after my back injury of fighting to throw more over the top. By allowing my arm to work in a more natural slot, I got nearly instantaneous results. My next simulated game was nothing but ground balls. Since I returned from the disabled list on July 5th, I have generated more groundballs than ever.
Everyone says “if you have a jersey, you have a chance.” I had the jersey, but to keep the chance, I needed to adapt or die. Baseball has enough information available that I could carve out a niche and hopefully give myself the opportunity to compete and play this game as long as possible. In a game famously resistant to chance, if I wanted my career to have a chance of surviving, I had to evolve. It would be an advantage of have Yordano Ventura’s fastball or Clayton Kershaw’s curveball, but that’s not who I am. We all succeed through identifying our strengths and sharpening them. Our dreams don’t have to die, but sometimes they do have to evolve.
Scouting is hard. We, as an industry, simply haven’t figured out how to appropriately measure and value intangibles. We’re still learning, and I have no doubts that a clever individual will create a method to do so. Right now, quantifying those intangibles remains elusive.
In 2007, the year before Clayton Kershaw would make 21 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers in his rookie season, Baseball America had him as their number 24 prospect in baseball. Below are the pitchers listed ahead of him.
Adam Miller- 23
Matt Garza- 21
Mike Pelfrey- 20
Yo Gallardo- 16
Tim Lincecum- 11
Andrew Miller- 10
Homer Bailey- 5
Phil Hughes- 4
Daisuke Matsuzaka- 1
Perhaps the most difficult factor to quantify when scouting and discussing these intangibles is “makeup.” Makeup encompasses heart, grit, determination, work ethic, professionalism, teammate behavior and more.
There is no question that in 2007, there was a better fastball on the list above. There were more deceptive deliveries. There were cleaner mechanics.
I stood in the box vs Yo in 2008 in a simulated game and against Clayton that same spring when we faced the Dodgers. Clayton’s stuff was not more intimidating (Yo’s was pretty filthy).
Perhaps Clayton’s intangibles separated him. I don’t know all of the listed men personally, so I can’t speak to their grit, but I’m not sure I know of a more driven human that Kersh.
Is the talent off the charts? Of course it is. Regardless of the platitudes telling you otherwise, it’s not enough to want it bad. Rudy Ruettiger played at Notre Dame on mostly heart, but he didn’t go on to a Hall of Fame NFL career. However, when it comes to a group of men, all of whom display otherworldly athletic gifts, perhaps we can pay closer attention to makeup.
If you’re a minor league player looking around trying to figure out how to stand out from the pack, control what you can control. Display “8” makeup. Bring it to the field every single day, no matter what your situation is. Build it into your DNA. Somebody will bet on you.
baseball players. I was the wide-eyed, freshly drafted kid with a 96 mph fastball from the left side. It seemed like I was well on my way.
allow) around 21%. Prior to my back injury, I had maintained an average hovering between 52-54%. While that was solid for a left-hander, I knew that I needed to add a feature to my package to make me stand out, since my strikeout numbers and velocity were more pedestrian. I needed to become elite at getting ground balls. This evolution would be my best way to survive.