The Most Important Tool to Have in your Arsenal

When I was trying to get recruited, people told me college baseball was too big of a dream.

Friends. Teammates. Even some coaches. All people who probably thought they were helping.

My head was too far in the clouds to realize they might be right. So I kept going.

**Self-belief has to border on the delirious**

Here is the fact of wanting to play college baseball: people are going to tell you that you cannot.

They might say it nicely. They might say it bluntly. They might say it in the way they look at you when you talk about your goals.

You need to believe in yourself so much that all of it becomes noise. Nonsense. Background static that does not reach you because you have already decided.

I am not telling you to be arrogant. I am telling you to be unreachable by negativity.

**Know where you are. Believe you can go anywhere.**

Have an accurate understanding of your current skill level. Know your 60 time. Know your exit velo. Know where your fastball sits.

AND believe you can do anything.

These two things are not in conflict. One is assessment. The other is conviction. You need both operating at the same time.

Assessment keeps you honest. Conviction keeps you moving.

**Coaches will tell you no. Teammates will tell you no.**

There are going to be coaches who say you cannot play at their program. There are going to be teammates who say you cannot play at the next level.

Keep going.

Teammates telling you that you cannot play often just want to make themselves feel better. Coaches telling you no are just one opinion in a country full of baseball programs.

The only person who needs to believe is you. That is the only person required to make this work.

**Back it up**

Belief without work is fantasy. You know that.

Put in the reps. Show up to the cage when it is not required. Lock in during the offseason when nobody is watching. Believe it AND earn it.

I believed so hard that when people told me I was wrong, I could not even process it. I was too locked in to stop.

Eventually I was right.

**Believe everywhere**

Believe it on the field. Believe it in the classroom. Believe it when you are just hanging out with friends.

The mentality you carry is going to be one of the biggest defining factors of your recruiting process. How you present yourself to coaches. How coaches see you. How you develop. How you perform.

All of it runs through what you believe about yourself.

You can play college baseball. Anyone can.

Decide right now that nobody else's opinion matters. Then go prove it.