tryout – Rawlings Tigers

To defend and impose power the praying mantis gets on its hind legs, opens up its spiked forelegs and shows it’s colorful wings.

It’s predator, a flapped-neck chameleon is roughly 3X its size.

Hi guys, it’s Spiker and I want to talk to you about signals.

Signals are an interesting everyday occurrence in human nature that can be found in action, imagery, and sound.

We participate in this when someone breaks the norm or etiquette when driving. We signal to them through a sweet and pleasant push of the horn, “Hey! I don’t like that very much and I am sure others don’t like that either, please stop doing that.”

We also offer signals on how we stand, sit, and wear our clothes. All of these factors can determine how a person feels about us and how we connect with them.

Recently, I was invited to a black tie event and I had the decision between a tux and my favorite 1980’s authentic Nolan Ryan jersey. Even though I get compliments on the jersey when I go to a baseball game, I don’t believe it would receive the same clout next to a person eating a lobster crab cake and a glass of 2006 Dom Perignon.

In baseball, the uniform can signal to the coach whether a player is good, bad, or mediocre. It can also signal how much a person loves playing. Even the body language a player uses can signal complacency, tiredness, eagerness, passion, and/or determination.

How you carry yourself says a lot of what you think about yourself consciously and subconsciously. It also shows how you feel about your environment. This is why the praying mantis get’s on its hind legs when it’s threatened. It signals to its lizard friend, “I don’t think this is a good idea. I have eaten big insects, small birds, and some of your smaller friends. You don’t want to attack me, friend.”

Communication through action, tone, sound, and imagery relays messages. The uniform for a baseball player can signal strength, toughness, confidence, fortitude, and desire.

….BUT, only if worn properly.

We host tryouts at the end of the summer, and before we evaluate the skill level, we are evaluating how the player presents themselves. Here are a few suggestions with examples.

If you want to tryout for the Rawlings Tigers, we have tryout dates throughout the year. If we don’t have a specific date in your location, please fill out a general form.

Uniform:

1. clean unwrinkled jersey or dri-fit shirt

2. clean unwrinkled white or grey pants

3. full leather or tabbed leather baseball belt

4. flat bill, semi-flat bill hat

5. clean cleats

How to wear your uniform:

1. tucked jersey

2. hat placed on the head just above the eyebrow line with the hair tucked under the hat

3. cleats are tied tight and cleaned preferably before the start

Possible options:

1. taped wrists

2. one button undone

3. eye-black (no crazy designs)

4. sports sunglasses

Body posture when standing and talking with a coach

1. standing tall

2. shoulders back

3. eye contact to the coach when speaking (avoid looking down)

Good uniform examples:

St. Louis native who I played with at Missouri State. Look good, feel good, play good- before King Louis got his name from the New York faithful he made his presence known through his uniform and confident body language. Luke always had the confident swag of a player who was going to get the job done, even when he had rough times.

One of the best hitters I have ever coached. Former Tiger, Erik Webb had a workers type approach with a relaxed but confident mindset. He is not someone you will find wearing eye black, wrist tape, or even a chain. He takes a clean uniform approach from top to bottom

The mentality of Zack Hilboldt was one of a hockey player. The former Tiger wore his uniform with style, but more importantly he kept his catching gear inline. He wore every piece to fit, because he was hustling to back up throws and directing traffic on foul balls near the 1st and 3rd baselines.

If you found this blog interesting, click the follow button, and if you want to know the secret behind getting drafted.

If you want to tryout for the Tigers please submit a form HERE.

Click the link above to learn the secret.

The year is 2006 and I am at the Perfect Game National Showcase in Ft. Myers, Florida. This was one of the events that could propel you to the Aflac Games. The Aflac Games are equivalent to the McDonalds All-America in basketball and the National All-Star High School Football game in Dallas.

At this National Showcase, there were over 200 participants, many of which were 16-year-olds. To prepare for these type of events was extremely difficult for me because I didn’t know where to start. My family didn’t have a baseball background, I didn’t have a mentor, and the internet was just starting to get interesting. Quality information was not at my disposal. So, I did what everyone did. I lifted, I threw, and I hit.

There was something extremely wrong with this plan…

I was preparing like I was getting ready for a season, rather than preparing for a showcase. There is a huge difference.

Usually, when I talk to a player after a tryout or showcase I get one of two responses. “I did great, I had a lot of fun.” “It was okay, I am not a good tryout guy, I wish we played more games. If we played more games I could really show them what I can do!”

I get more of, “I am not a tryout guy,” response than any other. And I get it… But how do you crush it in our skill evaluation?

Before we start, I need to explain the reasoning behind why you should be more excited about your skills evaluation than your game evaluation.

With a lot of players at these events, it is better to over excel at the skill testing. These are the most important for two reasons. One, you get the undivided attention of the evaluators at the camp and two its’s done at the beginning of the day, so they don’t have event fatigue.

What is event fatigue?

It’s where an evaluator has seen a lot of players and the participants start looking the same.

It’s hard for an evaluator to distinguish between players unless something extraordinary happens. It’s similar to when you listen to the radio. When you listen to the radio on long road trips, every song starts sounding the same.

To crush during these skill tests here is how I would train. To get optimal results I would start training 2–3 weeks before tryouts and do this three days a week. In no way will this make you magically throw 90mph or have an exit velocity of 95mph, but it will make your talent shine. Think about this email as a polishing rag to your Bentley Continental GT-V8.

60yd Dash:

This is the standard distance for a professional tryout. I explained the reasoning in a previous email, but to prepare for this sprint I would do the following:

Quick bursts: 5 x 20yd sprints

Long sprints: 5 X 80yd sprints

Exact sprints: 2 X 60yd sprints

*Find local football field to do workout

Defense:

SS/2B/3B: you will take ground balls at shortstop. This is where the evaluation is typically performed for SS, 2B, 3B. The fungo hitter will give you 4 baseballs. He will hit them in this order:

1. At you

2. Backhand

3. Forehand

4. Slow roller

With this in mind, I would train in 5-minute intervals with 20 minutes of total time spent fielding ground balls. This does not account for pick-up time.

1. At you = 5 minutes

2. Backhand = 5 minutes

3. Forehand = 5 minutes

4. Slow rollers = 5 minutes

1st Base: you will do the same, but take your ground balls at first and throw to third

Outfielders: the same concept but you will take your fly balls in right field and throw to third base and home. In the tryout, you will take 2 fly balls and 2 ground balls.

Catchers: you get 4 throws to second base. Spend 5–10 minutes working on your transfers. 5–10 minutes on your throws.

Hitting: You will get 5–7 swings in a tryout. You need to prepare yourself mentally to only get one round. Do this by taking small rounds of 5–7 pitches. Do not continuously hit, rather hit 5 pitches- take a break, then hit 5 more.

If you would like to tryout for the Tigers, please go to www.rawlingstigers.com. Also, watch this video. It’s how one of our players who went from a 15U Tryout to an MLB Draft Pick.