I remind myself that baseball is fun.
The Sacramento Rivercats are the AAA of the San Francisco Giants. It was my first time in California and California was unkind to me.
I was looking to bounce back from my outing on Tuesday against the Rockies and show the squad that it was a hiccup. I even shaved my beard because clearly it wasn’t me that was making bad pitches it was the beard!
I came into the game on Sunday, another day game, and when it was all said and done I had 4 more runs on me. I’m not sure if I was rushing everything if I wasn’t focused if I wasn’t mentally ready or what but it was bad. I’ve always wondered how guys can be a .400 hitter in the minors then go up to the MLB and can’t buy a hit. Here I am crushing AA but struggling hard in AAA so far. It is the same game and the mound isn’t closer or farther away then it has been before.
The positives from my outing were that I finished the inning. If it was my last inning with the team I told myself to finish this inning and show them I’m not a punk who will give up. I came back with a pop out and two strike outs to finish the inning. The last strikeout was against a guy named Mitchell so I was very focused on getting him out to prove on that day I am the true Mitchell.
If there is ever a time not to be struggling and overthinking it is when you get promoted to the highest level you’ve been at. There goes Mitchell, physically talented as anyone but hasn’t gotten out of his own way. When I think about this stuff and where I’ve gone in my career it is easy for to say “well everyone gets to AAA it is no accomplishment to be here” is my default. Then I think back to how I was never supposed to make it this far as someone who never pitched. My seventh anniversary of signing my contract was June 28. Seven years of pro ball is an accomplishment in its self, and now, even when struggling, I know how lucky I am to be healthy and still playing.
I’m searching for why I play and what my motivation is. I think it’s easy to get flustered and wonder why I’m doing any of this when the ball is flying over the fence. It is like in Mystery Men when the Invisible Boy can only be invisible when nobody is looking. The harder I look the harder it will be to find and to me the natural progression has to happen. I can’t force it.
With all that being said, I go to the field each day looking forward to mingling and the process of each day. I’m in AAA! One step away. I don’t play GM and see who is going up down or who controls the roster. I am at peace with whatever the organization decides.
In other news they added two more series to the AAA season and we finish on October 3 now. The regular season best record for the league is crowned the champion because playoffs were not added. As of this post we have the best record in our league and I wouldn’t mind getting a ring for winning the most games. Also we had an MLB rehab in Sacramento so we got nice steaks on the last day of series.
In AAA the teams do not bus unless it is close. The trip to Sacramento was a two hour bus ride, but from there we went to Tacoma, WA. That means we are on the early flight out of Sacramento abs my 4:30 am alarm spooked me. I felt like a cool kid though on my first flight as a professional. The process of packing the bag on the last day of the road trip, and then being told not to worry about the bag, and having the bag magically appear in my locker was awesome. I thought we’d all be dragging the AZ duffle bags around but they ship them rather than take them on the plane. What is crazy to think is that normally we would play the same day but the built in off day helps.
It is onto Tacoma and when my name is called I will do my best. This level is about results and winning not the amount of effort put in. With that being said I’m looking forward to Fourth of July at the ballpark. It will be a fun environment and I look forward to updating everyone on the next series.
Thanks again for following along, this blog has been great for processing and reflecting and sharing my story.
A Baseball Blog 