Best way to put it! Feeling grateful for His faithfulness! ❤️
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
Athletes.. remember, especially in discomfort & frustration, the person who holds you accountable & pushing you to reach your full potential loves you more than anyone who allows you to be comfortable & stay the same.
We see something greater in you than you can even imagine.
Most pitchers panic when they're getting hit. I run a four-step diagnostic instead.
Step 1: Am I giving up hits in hitter counts or pitcher counts?
If they're hitting me in hitter counts, I'm losing the at-bat before they even swing. The fix is simple — work ahead. Get into pitcher counts. If they're squaring me up in pitcher counts, that's not a count problem. Move on.
Step 2: Am I actually executing?
Am I hitting my spots? If I'm missing my locations, nothing else matters. Fix the command on my fastball first. If I'm hitting my spots and still getting lit up, move to step three.
Step 3: Is my sequence backwards?
The rule is most hittable early, least hittable late — for both location and pitch shape. Early in the count I can afford to throw something more hittable and take my chances. But in 0-2 and 1-2 counts, a ball in play can hurt. That's when I need my nastiest pitch in my nastiest spot. If I've got it flipped — throwing my most hittable stuff with two strikes — that's exactly where they're getting me.
Step 4: They've figured out my pattern.
If I'm clean on steps one through three and they're still squaring me up, they're sitting on my approach. So I look at what's getting hit hard versus soft, in versus out — and I flip it. If they're punishing hard stuff late, I start hard and finish soft. If they're punishing soft stuff late, I start soft and finish hard.
The second you flip the pattern, they have nothing to sit on.
Pet peeve ….when people tell the pitcher “GOOD MISS!” on ball 4.
No! Not good when there’s already 3 balls! Paint the corner!
And if you feel you HAVE to encourage them….Find a different way, just not THAT WAY on ball 4!
When I was playing pro baseball, I saw Ichiro Suzuki in the cage doing something I'd never seen before.
His coach was bouncing the baseball to him instead of throwing it.
So I asked:
"What's that drill for?"
He said:
"To stay back."
At the time, I was getting jumpy.
Lunging forward.
Trying to get to the baseball too soon.
So I tried it.
And immediately realized something:
You can't cheat the bounce.
If you drift forward early, you'll either miss it or hit it poorly.
The drill forces you to stay balanced, let the ball travel, and hit from a stronger position.
I've used it ever since.
Sometimes the best drills aren't complicated.
They're simple drills that expose a flaw and force you to clean it up.
Try it tonight.
If you're lunging forward, let me know what happens.
Thank you for reading,
Jermaine Curtis
P.S. - If you enjoyed this, please share it. That tells me you want more content like this.
Everybody wants the championship.
Not everybody wants the “SHIPS” required to build one.
1. Ownership 2. Leadership 3. Friendship 4. Hardship 5. Sportsmanship 6. Scholarship
Championships are built long before the trophy.
Which one matters most to winning culture?
I signed to UCLA my junior year of high school and was told I was going to start Day 1.
Opening Day at UCLA?
I was sitting the bench. 😭
I had 2 choices:
1. Complain, pout, and blame the coaches
OR
2. Find the holes on the team and become valuable.
So for 3 weeks, I sat the bench.
I showed up early.
Stayed late.
Cheered for my teammates.
Dragged the field every 3rd inning.
Meanwhile, I studied the team.
The middle infielders were doing well.
Third base wasn’t.
So I told the coaches:
“I can play third.”
Then I noticed something else:
Offensively, we were either hitting home runs or getting out.
I saw the gap.
If I could become a tough out, get on base, and bring energy to the team…
I could create value.
Then we played Miami.
The starting third baseman was hitting .115.
They gave me a shot.
I went 2 for 3 with a walk.
Played solid defense.
Brought energy.
I never sat the bench again.
Eventually, I became team captain…
and we were ranked #1 in the country.
One thing baseball taught me:
Opportunities don’t always go to the most talented player.
Sometimes they go to the player who becomes the most valuable.
My manager asked me to learn to catch.
My first reaction: Why?
Davey Johnson looked at me and said, "I think it'll add value to you. And I think it'll let you see the game from a lens you've never seen before."
I trusted Davey. So I said yes.
Here's what I didn't understand until I got behind the plate:
Before becoming a catcher I was always looking in. I was watching from a distance.
Behind the plate, the whole game opens up.
Everyone is out in front of you. You can read every hitter's swing. You're building a relationship with every pitcher. You see the defensive alignment. You understand strategy from a completely different angle.
It changed everything about how I understood baseball.
And it changed what I thought I could do next.
I finally stopped trying to squeeze more out of a playing career that had run its course. I started thinking about coaching. About managing.
A few years later I was a minor league manager.
I don't think I get anywhere close to that without Davey Johnson asking me to learn a position I had no business playing and without me trusting him enough to say yes.
Two questions worth sitting with today:
Is there someone in your life who's earned your trust enough that you'd say yes to almost anything they suggested?
And is there a lens on your work you've never looked through?
@Mets