Flashback to July 5, 1989. In the 10th inning of a tie game between the Reds and Phillies in Philadelphia, Lenny Dykstra came to bat with a chance to end the game with the winning run standing on second base. He lined a single to right field that was hit too hard for the runner to score. But as Cincinnati’s Paul O’Neill came in aggressively to field the ball, he bobbled it, giving the Phillies a momentary window to potentially go for home and end the game. During this mishandle, O’Neill’s frustration got the better of him, and he literally drop kicked the ball back in to the infield. The kick was so perfect that the runner rounding third had to be held up and did not score. Not exactly how he drew it up, but O’Neill had done his job.
Paul O’Neill’s kick provides us with a comical reminder—with over four million views on YouTube—about the stark reality of Major League Baseball. In the Big Leagues, winning is what it’s all about. Had he fielded the ball cleanly and threw a strike to home that wasn’t in time to keep the run from scoring, it wouldn’t have mattered; the game would have been lost. In that moment at old Veterans Stadium almost 35 years ago, preventing that run from scoring was the only thing that counted. Many college baseball programs take a similar approach, especially Power Five schools. It’s all about winning. It’s all about results.
Down on the farm in the Minor Leagues, things are different. Results matter, but process matters more. The entire purpose of the Minor Leagues is to produce players that help a Major League team win. So in the big picture, a Big League club’s farm system in essence plays over 600 practice games annually. While that is not how coaches or players approach their days, the understanding of that big picture purpose allows everyone to shift their focus to the things that will set them up for success in the future at their ultimate destination. It allows all parties involved to work without the life-or-death pressure that comes with the results of the game; it lets them give their attention to the things that enable the results to take care of themselves.
Hits. Errors. Outs. Runs. Those are the results that create a win or are the cause for a loss. But when you go under the hood, what are the things that go into those results? There, we find our process.
Many times, when a player is in a slump, the first thing they think about is the swing. In their mind, their mechanics have gone awry. They have to go look at video and figure out what part of the swing—that they’ve taken years to perfect—is broken and how to fix it. But the reality is most likely pitch selection. Are you swinging at good pitches? There is a saying that a hitter is only as good as the pitches he swings at. Well, that’s process, for hitters. Instead of focusing on whether or not you got a hit, instead, focus on what you’re swinging at. Do that, and the hits will come.
As the Minor League Infield Coordinator for the Red Sox, as much as I want to look at a box score and see a zero under the error column, that is not the end goal of what drives me, nor is it even a focal point for our coaches or players. Teaching our players how to play catch, is. I say that somewhat tongue in cheek, because if a player is good enough to play professional baseball, obviously he knows how to play catch. But our simple messaging is very intentional from that perspective of driving our process.
The most important fundamental skill in the game is the ability to play catch. If you can’t play catch, you can’t play. You see, all defense is, is an extension of playing catch and the teams that play catch the best tend to play the best defense, a staple for many winning teams. When a ball is put in play, an infielder has to catch the ball, then throw it to first, where it must be caught again to record the out. Seeing defense through that lens of playing catch helps players and coaches alike understand its simplicity, even though at times it may not be easy.
We take a bit of a different approach to developing our infielders. We don’t stress about errors; they are an opportunity to learn. The “out,” contrary to the Big Leagues, is not the most important thing. You may be wondering how an infield coach in professional baseball doesn’t focus on outs nor care about errors. Our attention, when we are out on defense, is on playing catch, and playing catch clean. When our infielders field a ground ball, the bar is clean catch. No bobble to secure the ball. No double clutch on the exchange. When our infielders make a throw, the standard is accuracy; is it accurate enough to be caught easily? No pick for the first baseman nor a feed that almost gets the pivot man killed on a double play turn.
If a Major League infielder tackles a ground ball, spikes it over to first, and they get the out, great, because at that level, it’s all about the out. Should the same thing happen down on the farm, we’ve got a problem. A big one. That is not exactly playing catch. In the Minor Leagues, how we record an out is our emphasis. That is our process. Because for us, the simple out is not enough.