Washington Select

Chasing players that do what it takes to get better...not trophies 🏆. Developing players to believe & achieve!

[Washington Select @WaSelWarriors]

#Attitude & #effort...where have we heard that before? 🤔

[Baseballer @TheBsblr]

This is a must watch 🔥

[3 Lefts Baseball @3leftsbaseball]

YOUR KID IS NOT A SHORTSTOP.

He’s a baseball player who happens to be playing shortstop today.

There’s a difference.

And somewhere along the way, we started screwing this up.

“He’s a shortstop.”

“He only plays center.”

“He’s a third baseman.”

He’s 13.

Relax.

Because eventually he walks onto a high school field and guess what?

There are five other kids who were “the shortstop” too.

One is faster.

One has a better arm.

One can flat out pick it.

Now Coach says:

“Can you play second?”

“Can you handle third?”

“Can you go get a ball in center?”

And the kid looks at him like he just asked him to play hockey.

That’s a problem.

Learn the whole damn field.

Take ground balls everywhere.

Learn first base footwork.

Learn how to turn two from both sides of the bag.

Go track some balls in the outfield.

Know the cuts.

Know the relays.

Know where everybody else is supposed to be.

Because the quickest way to shrink a player’s future…

IS TO MAKE ONE POSITION HIS ENTIRE IDENTITY.

Coaches don’t need nine kids protecting their favorite spot.

They need baseball players who can help them win.

And players, listen to me.

If somebody better takes your position, you’ve got two choices.

Sit there saying…

“But I’m a shortstop.”

Or grab another glove and make yourself impossible to keep out of the lineup.

POSITIONS ARE WHERE YOU STAND.

BALLPLAYER IS WHAT YOU ARE.

⚾️ 3 LEFTS BASEBALL

[Trent Mongero @CoachMongero]

Want to play college baseball…? better read this below carefully. (Not sure who to credit) but it’s spot on….

Every kid we recruit works hard and lifts weights.
Every kid takes 100’s reps.
Every kid says they care and want to win!

So that’s not what separates guys anymore. You better be doing all those things with intent or you have no shot!!!

So the difference in a standard “good HS player” and “GREAT HS player” is:

Who can stay consistent when it’s NOT going well.

Because everyone looks good:
- When they’re getting hits
- When they’re starting
- When things feel easy

But when it flips?

0–3
Sitting the bench
That’s when things speed up

That’s where most players change.

Body language drops
Energy dips
Confidence disappears

**** And that’s when coaches (recruiters) make decisions.

Not when things are going right…

but when they’re NOT.

So the real question:

When things AREN’T going your way…

what version of you shows up?

[GRANDPA’s FREE ADVICE @GOP_is_Gutless]

HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM:

This is a well written and thought out article written by a 26 yr old college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who's in grad school for her MBA.

What a GREAT perspecitve...

My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!

I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.

I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it.

Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose.These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought.
We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty One Times!!!

Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful. ??

Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."

Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in.

When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth.

Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.

My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country.

People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, we elect some politicians who are dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.

Why? The answer is this,?? my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or we didn't see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.

We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."

[Derek Broes @WillingWitness]

What he said

[Trent Mongero @CoachMongero]

Well well well… I guess real baseball matters again… and it wins. Don’t strike out. Get the ball in play. Hustle, steal bases, throw strikes, compete. Yea, bombs are good… but so are doubles, singles, bunt for hits, moving runners … pressure on defense. Why has it taken this long to figure it out! That’s what pisses me off. Winning Baseball ….. well it wins! At every level.

[the Sports ON Tap @thesportsontap]

Edgar Martinez had a condition where one of his eyes drifted out of alignment.

His own team's eye doctor said he was basically one-eyed at times.

He became the greatest designated hitter who has ever lived and the award is named after him.

Start with how close this career came to never happening.

He was born in New York City in 1963. His parents split when he was two, and he went to Puerto Rico to be raised by his grandparents in Dorado. At 11, when his parents reconciled and wanted him back in New York, he chose to stay with his grandparents.

His grandfather worked two jobs. Edgar has said that's simply how he learned work was supposed to be done.

As a kid he watched Roberto Clemente lead the Pirates to the 1971 World Series and decided baseball was it.

But nobody was coming for him. He was going to college classes and working night shifts on an assembly line at an electric factory in Puerto Rico for about $4 an hour, and the dream was dying.

He didn't sign a professional contract until just before his 20th birthday.

The Seattle Mariners gave him a $4,000 bonus.

Then in his first professional season, he hit .173 with zero home runs.

Now the eyes.

Edgar Martinez has strabismus. The muscles of his right eye are weaker and intermittently pull the eyeball outward, so his eyes don't work in tandem. When it happens, the brain temporarily shuts off the information coming from that eye.

He'd had it his entire life. Kids made fun of him for it at school.

Nobody caught it until a Mariners team physical in the minor leagues, when optometrist Dr. Douglas Nikaitani found it.

Think about what that means for the job.

A hitter has about four tenths of a second to decide whether a 95 mile per hour baseball is worth swinging at. Edgar Martinez was doing that with one eye periodically dropping out of the equation. He learned to duck his head and tuck his shoulder when he lost a pitch mid-delivery.

So he trained his eyes.

For nearly TWO DECADES, Edgar Martinez did daily eye exercises. Every day. For his entire career.

In the late 90s he added a specialist named Tom Davidson, who built him a system using fast-moving tennis balls to train pitch recognition. Teammates started calling him the eye guy.

And he almost never talked about the condition publicly, because he refused to let anyone think he was making an excuse, and he didn't want to hand pitchers information.

What he built out of all of that is absurd.

Two batting titles. Seven All-Star teams. A .312 career average with a .418 on-base percentage. Eighteen seasons, all of them with Seattle. The first player to spend his entire career as a Mariner and reach Cooperstown.

He hit the double in 1995 that saved baseball in Seattle.

Major League Baseball named its annual award for the best designated hitter the Edgar Martinez Award.

And when he prepared his Hall of Fame speech in 2019, he did exactly what he'd done with everything else. He practiced it.

His reasoning: "I think it's like anything. If you want to do it right and do well, you have to practice."

A factory worker from Dorado with a $4,000 bonus, a .173 first season, and one eye that wouldn't cooperate.

He just decided to out-work all of it, one day at a time, for twenty years.

For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap

[Next Level Baseball @nextlevelbb]

Upperclassmen
It's your team.
Your job is to be a leader.
Help the younger guys.
Your role is not to be the cool guy that makes the underclassmen miserable.
Represent yourself, your parents, your coaches, and your program the right way.
Show the underclassmen they can trust you.
Your team will either overachieve or underachieve because of your ability or inability to lead.
Immature selfish upperclassmen destroy teams and programs.

[Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness @coachajkings]

Kurt Warner shares the lesson that changed his entire career and it applies to everything.

He sat on the bench for 4 years in college. When a friend asked the coaches why he wasn't playing, the answer wasn't what he expected:

"The reason I wasn't playing was because I was not very good in practice."

His first reaction? Allen Iverson mode.

"Practice? What're you talking about, practice?"

But then he did the math.

"In college we play 12 games in 365 days. In the NFL we play 16 games in 365 days."

That's less than 5% of your year.

"95% of our lives are lived in practice. And the biggest impression we make on people, the way people can understand and really realize who we are, is what we do every day in practice."

This is the 95% Rule. And it applies to everything - sports, business, relationships, life.
1: Show Up With Your Best Effort - Compete and give your best every single day. People can't question how you show up - your effort, attitude, and actions. Consistency removes doubt.
2: Trust Is Built In Practice, Not Games - Trust is earned in the thousands of moments before it's given. Before you can be trusted, people want to know you're dependable. Every day. Not just when it matters.
3: Master Daily Consistency - Success isn't about intensity - it's about consistency. Your habits compound. What you do daily defines who you become.
4: Big Moments Are Earned In Small Moments - The little details make the biggest difference. Greatness starts with preparation - it's earned in the boredom of doing the work when no one's watching.

Excellence isn't an event - It's a habit.

Practice is where trust is built.

How you show up daily is who you really are.
(🎥 @pttorch)
(🎥@kurt13warner)

[Coach Drew's Recruiting Service - 27 yrs. exp. @coachdrew94]

What a HS infielder's skills video should include:

🔹 1.5-2 minutes total — coaches won't watch more
🔹 Open with name, position, grad year
🔹 Fielding: grounders hit right at you, to your left/right, and backhand — show the full throw across the diamond
🔹 Hitting: 5-7 swings from two angles (open side + behind the plate)
🔹 Hitting and fielding highlights

Quality over quantity — clear, well-shot clips beat a long highlight reel every time.

[Don Williams @Don_K_Williams]

Athlete: Coach… I think I want to quit.

Coach: Okay. Then let’s talk about why.

Athlete: I’m tired. All the early mornings, the pain, the pressure. Sometimes I wake up and wonder what I’m even doing this for.

Coach: That’s not quitting. That’s being human. Doubt shows up when you’re close to something that matters.

Athlete: But I’m not even sure I’m good enough. I look around and see people stronger, faster… happier.

Coach: Comparison is a liar. It shows you everyone’s surface but hides their struggle. You don’t need to be better than them. You need to be better than yesterday.

Athlete: What if I never win? What if I give everything and still fall short?

Coach: Then you’ll walk away with something most never touch—truth. The kind you only find when you’ve emptied yourself for something bigger than comfort.

Athlete: So… you think I should keep going?

Coach: I think you already know the answer. You wouldn’t be having this conversation if you truly wanted to stop. You just want someone to remind you that it’s worth it.

Athlete: It hurts, Coach. Some days, it really hurts.

Coach: Good. That means you care. And nothing worth having comes without pain. Now breathe. You’ve made it through every hard day so far.
Most quit before the breakthrough!

Don’t be like most!

[Washington Select @WaSelWarriors]

16U Washington Select Warriors won TOP TIER WA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

[Washington Select @WaSelWarriors]

⚾ TRYOUTS – 2027 Season ⚾
✅ Elite winter training with pro & college instructors
✅ 45,000 SF college/Pro level high-tech indoor facility
✅ 10 months of baseball – league, tournament, & showcase play
📅 Don’t miss your shot to join one of WA’s top baseball programs.

[Dan Cevette @DanCevette]

Baseball is a game of failure.

The best hitters fail 7 out of 10 times.

You can throw a perfect pitch and still give up a hit.

Sometimes your best swing finds a glove.
Sometimes your worst swing finds grass.

The scoreboard doesn't always tell the truth.

Confidence isn't built by success.
It's built by surviving failure.

Baseball doesn't build character.
It reveals it.

Pressure doesn't create you.
It exposes your preparation.

Body language is part of your scouting report.

Your teammates are always watching.
Your coaches are always watching.
Someone is always watching.

The game owes you nothing.

Every strikeout is a choice:
Feel sorry for yourself...
or get ready for your next at-bat.

Failure is inevitable.

Your response is your career.

[MLB @MLB]

A real "Welcome to the Show" moment 👏

Joshua Kuroda-Grauer recorded his first MLB hit and was congratulated by Freddie Freeman, MLB's active hits leader, at first base!

[The Winning Difference @thewinningdiff1]

"When talent meets talent, talent is no longer enough. Now it's about character. Now it's about preparation. Now it's about consistency. Now it's about who is relentless -who wants it the most."
@inkyjohnson

Talent is required, but habits and character divide good from great.

[Washington Select @WaSelWarriors]

⚾ TRYOUTS – 2027 Season ⚾

✅ Elite winter training with pro & college instructors
✅ 45,000 SF college/Pro level high-tech indoor facility
✅ 10 months of baseball – league, tournament, & showcase play
📅 Don’t miss your shot to join one of WA’s top baseball programs.

[Greg Berge @GregBerge]

Most people quit when they can’t see the finish line.

Bill Self nailed it: “Courage is not knowing where the finish line is and going as hard as you can.”

The work doesn’t wait for a clear path. That’s when it counts most.

Watch.🔥

[Greg Berge @GregBerge]

What are your favorite coaching phrases?

Here are 20 of the best.

1. "Iron sharpens Iron."
2. "Are you a fountain or a drain?"
3. "Trust the process."
4. "Be a champion by choice."
5. "Eliminate easy. Handle hard."
6. “Find an excuse or find a way.”
7. "Never give up."
8. "Celebrate the small wins."
9. "Teamwork makes the dream work."
10. "Mindset matters."
11. “Accept the struggle.”
12. “Get bitter or get better.”
13. “Stalk success.”
14. “Why me or try me?"
15. “Name it and praise it.”
16. "Pretender or Contender?"
17. "Are you Hungry, or are you Starving?"
18. "Make preparation your separation."
19. "Help the Helper."
20. "No Deposit - No Return!"

What would you add?

[Riley Bender @RileyBender7]

Just finished up my college baseball career last month, so I figured I would share some advice I wish I knew before I started my college career. These are based on my opinions and experiences, so if you disagree with some of these feel free to share your opinion.

[Dan Cevette @DanCevette]

I've played professional baseball.

I've coached collegiate baseball.

I've evaluated thousands of high school players over the last 12 years.

Here are a few baseball truths I've learned:

• Failure is inevitable. How you respond to it is a choice.
• The game rewards resilience far more than talent gives it credit for.
• Body language is visibly LOUD.
• You never know who's watching.
• Talent gets you noticed. Consistency gets you recruited.
• Nobody cares how good you were last week.
• The players who blame others rarely improve.
• Confidence comes from preparation, not motivation.
• The game owes you nothing.
• Coaches trust competitors before they trust tools.
• Your teammates know if you're real.
• Baseball has a funny way of exposing excuses.
• The best players are usually obsessed with improvement, not attention.
• Nobody remembers your excuses. They remember your actions.

Build your floor. Chase your ceiling. ⚾️