Zachary Monroe

slcc baseball # 32

[Parker Ord @ParkerOrd5]

Go Cougs! Thank you to all the coaches who believed in me. Let’s do this cougar nation! 🤙🏻🤙🏻

[MLB Pipeline @MLBPipeline]

"Everybody's got a different story, and everyone has unique journeys and long roads to get here."

Justin Sterner's path included a mission to Samoa before making his MLB debut for @RaysBaseball: https://t.co/ITreYVtSp5

[cb1515 @CamBott15]

⛽️ 💯

[Perfect Game USA @PerfectGameUSA]

JUCO Top 25: April 9 📈

https://t.co/VV6EtKqR7B

[Prep Baseball JUCO @PB_JUCO]

𝗡𝗝𝗖𝗔𝗔 𝗗𝗶𝘃. 𝗜 𝗧𝗼𝗽-𝟮𝟱: 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 🚨
𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 @NettingPros

Our first DI Top-25 update of the season:

▪️ @WCoyoteBaseball as the new No. 1
▪️ @reiverbaseball boosted to No. 2
▪️ @GCSCbaseball open at No. 3; six more debut

🔗 https://t.co/qiSOePjaYY

[Five Tool JUCO @FiveToolJUCO]

From earlier, quick look at Jack Livingstone (@stonejack12) on the mound. The RHP started off the game strong with a solid 3 pitch mix.

FB: 88-89, 91
CB: 74-76
SL: 82-84

@GraysonBaseball • Freshman • @FiveToolTexas

Profile: https://t.co/xeRYgt44R1

[Zachary Monroe @ZacharyMonroe7]

@CamBott15 making me look like I’ve never set foot in a weight room

[SLCC BASEBALL @slccbaseball]

@CamBott15 @satchkawakami @ZacharyMonroe7 #brucru

[SLCC BASEBALL @slccbaseball]

@CamBott15 @satchkawakami @ZacharyMonroe7 #brucru

[Chris Sadeghi @chrissadeghi]

The late Toby Keith’s modified version of “Should Have Been a Cowboy” to open up Monday Night Football at Texas Stadium.

#IAmUp #DallasCowboys #TobyKeith

[Zachary Monroe @ZacharyMonroe7]

@eastonromero7 @utahscout1219 @slccbaseball Moon shot

[Glen W Spencer @SLCCCoachG]

@slccbaseball coming in at #11 NJCAA DI Preseason rankings by DreamBigAthletics & @TadSlowik_DBA
#BruinWay #brucru #BruinFamily

[Kaden Hodson @KadenHodson21]

@sIccbaseball is a great place to play baseball. Awesome coaches and players here. Gonna be fun!
@dg_nelson @SLCCCoachG @jasoncrawford40 Cole Gambill @BruinAthletics @PBR_JUCO
@PBR_Uncommitted @FlatgroundBats
FALL STATS - .OPS 1.421, .537 BA

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

After his second year at Michigan, Tom Brady wanted to transfer.

He wasn't playing in games, and he was so low on the depth chart that he only got 2 reps in practice.

Brady met with his coach to express his frustration, “The other quarterbacks get all the reps.”

Coach replied,

“Brady, I want you to stop worrying about what all the other players on our team are doing. All you do is worry about what the starter is doing, what the second guy is doing, what everyone else is doing. You don't worry about what you're doing.”

Coach reminded him, “You came here to be the best. If you're going to be the best, you have to beat out the best.”

And then he recommended that Brady start meeting with Greg Harden, a sports psychologist who worked in Michigan's athletic department.

Brady went to Harden's office and whined, “I'm never going to get my chance. They're only giving me 2 reps.”

Harden simply replied, “Just go out there and focus on doing the best you can with those 2 reps. Make them as perfect as you possibly can.”

“So that's what I did,” Brady said. “They'd put me in for those 2 reps, man, I'd sprint out there like it was Super Bowl 39. 'Let's go boys! Here we go! What play we got?'”

“And I started to do really well with those 2 reps. Because I brought enthusiasm, I brought energy.”

Soon, it went from getting 2 reps to getting 4 reps. Then from 4 to 10, “and before you knew it,” Brady said, with this new mindset that Greg instilled in me—to focus on what you can control, to focus on what you're getting, not what anyone else is getting, to treat every rep like it's the Super Bowl—eventually, I became the starter.”

Takeaway 1:

Greg Harden telling Brady to just focus on being great during his 2 reps reminded me of a piece of advice from the entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

“People come to me all the time and tell me they're stuck,” Cuban explained. “They're stuck in a job they don't like. They're stuck working for a boss they don't like. They're stuck on a team they don't like.”

“I just tell them, 'Be great.'”

“The reality of life is that you can't just always quit your job. You can't just always go to your boss and say, 'Give me the promotion, or I'm out of here.'” You can't just always go to your coach and say, 'Give me more reps, or I'm transferring.'

“So when you're stuck, you've gotta find it within yourself to say, 'Ok, this is where I am. And if I'm going to be here, I'm going to be great.'

Because if you're great at your job, typically other people and companies find out, so it creates opportunities.”

Takeaway 2:

I've written before about “lead measures”—the actions and behaviors that predictably drive success.

The core characteristic of a lead measure, the authors of The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) write, is that “a lead measure is influenceable; it can be directly influenced by you.”

To achieve your goals, they recommend (echoing what the Michigan Coach told Brady), apply a disproportionate energy to the things that are in your control.

Starting at Michigan and for the rest of his career, that’s what Brady did, that’s what drove his success.

In his first media call after he was selected by the New England Patriots with the 199th pick in the 2000 draft, Brady was asked: “Are you aware that [along with starting quarterback, Drew Bledsoe] there’s another quarterback here that they drafted last year?”

Brady said he was aware of that. “And I know he’s a heck of a player,” Brady said. “But I’ve always really concerned myself just with the things I can control. I don’t put a lot of thinking into the other guys because I know I’m not at my best when I’m not just thinking about playing as well as I possibly can.”

- - -

“I never once in my life ever said I wanted to be the best of all time. Ever. I wanted to be the best I could be, period. I learned that in college. It didn’t matter what the other guys were doing. It mattered what I was doing.” — Tom Brady

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[𝐉𝐞𝐟𝐟 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐳𝐞𝐧 @utahscout1219]

𝗦𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗖𝗖 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘆

𝘡𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘳𝘰𝘦-𝘙𝘏𝘗 (𝘚𝘰𝘱𝘩)

@PBR_Uncommitted ~ @ZacharyMonroe7 ~ 2020 Grad ~ Zach Monroe, RHP 6-3 190 (Richardson HS, TX ‘20)

Strong and looks the part physically. Returned from 2 yr church mission and arm strength has remained. Loose arm with EZ velo and can spin a 2 pitch bullpen arsenal with the FB/SL mix.

FB 90-92 🔁 max 2,375/avg 2,327
SL 77-81 🔁 max 2,535/avg 2,353

Ceiling of a very good D2/Mid-Major D1 type arm. Keep an eye on this kid. Great makeup!

#BeSeen ~ #BeehiveState

@prepbaseball
@ShooterHunt
@DSeifertD1PBR
@B_HarrisonPBR
@HawaiianScout
@PBR_JUCO

[Prep Baseball Utah @PrepBaseballUT]

𝗦𝗟𝗖𝗖 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘆: 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲

The top Trackman pitching collected on Tuesday at the @slccbaseball Scout Day with Soph. RHP Cam Bott posting the top fastball velocity at 97.7mph.🔥

📊 https://t.co/zzeb8clp4f || @PBR_JUCO

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

Days after a quarterfinals loss in the 2010 French Open, Novak Djokovic told his coach, Marián Vajda, that he had decided to quit playing tennis.

He was No. 3 in the world, a grand slam winner, and a favorite to win Wimbledon.

After Djokovic said he was quitting, Vajda asked,

“Why did you start playing this sport?”

Vajda immediately sensed what the problem was:

Djokovic was focusing too much on rankings, records, titles, and external expectations. As a result, Djokovic said, “I was mentally at one very messed up place.”

As Djokovic thought about Vajda’s question, he thought about how many of his earliest childhood memories include his “most beloved toy”—a mini tennis racket and a soft foam ball.

He started playing tennis, answering Vajda’s question, “because I just really loved holding that racket in my hand.”

“Do you still love holding a racket in your hand?” Vajda asked.

Djokovic thought about it for a few seconds, got excited, and said:

“I do. I still love holding a racket in my hand. Whether it’s a grand slam final on center court or just playing around on a public court, I like playing for the sake of playing.”

Vajda nodded, “Well that’s your source. That's what you need to tap into. Put aside rankings and what you want to achieve and what you think others are expecting of you.”

Vajda then suggested that Djokovic take a few weeks off.

Djokovic agreed that he would.

But when he woke up the next morning, Djokovic was dying to hit tennis balls. He went to the courts to play for the sake of playing. “And I never looked back ever since that moment.”

The following season, Djokovic enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in sports history. He won 43 straight matches. He won three Grand Slams, including his first Wimbledon title. And he finished the year as the number one player in the world.

“I started to play freely,” he says of that season. “I became the kid that I was when I started playing.”

Takeaway 1:

There's a word for being like the kid who does something for the sake of doing it:

Autotelic.

From the Greek "auto" (self) & "telos" (end)—an Autotelic is "someone or something that has a purpose in, and not apart from, itself."

As opposed to someone who focuses on rankings, records, titles, and external expectations—for an Autotelic...

”The work is the win,” as Ryan Holiday once told me.

Since you control the effort more than the outcome,

“Ultimately, you have to love doing it,” Ryan said. “You have to get to a place where doing the work is the win and everything else is extra.”

Takeaway 2:

When reading about Autotelics—people who describe their work as play, who simply seem to love what they do—a common mistake is to think that it’s all bliss all the time.

One of my favorite Autotelics is the legendary skateboarder Rodney Mullen, who is in his 50s and still skateboards every day.

“There are days,” Rodney said, “where you don’t want to go out. Or it hurts. Or you’re sore. Or you just suck—you're not making progress, and you feel defeated...But that's the nature of love—it's got hate in there, it's got pain in there. And that’s what draws you in, that's the magnetism.”

At one point during the recent Wimbledon final, Djokovic angrily smashed and shattered his racket. And after losing the match, he admitted that it will take him a while to get over the loss.

That’s the nature of love—it’s got hate in there, it’s got pain in there.

- - -

“I see people with talent, with all those things, but the one thing they don't have is just that love for doing it for the sake of it.” — Rodney Mullen

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[Rob Friedman @PitchingNinja]

The Perfect Pitch doesn't exis... 😳

[E.M. Hudson @EMHudsonlives]

Dudes can literally just sit around and name old sports players and just have the best time.

[NJCAA Baseball @NJCAABaseball]

Bruer Webster of @BruinAthletics earns the 2021 #NJCAABaseball DI Defensive Player of the Year, presented by the Marines 🏅

The second baseman boasted a .987 fielding percentage and garnered a NJCAA/ABCA Gold Glove award.

📰| https://t.co/mHmFN4oaJ1

[Zachary Monroe @ZacharyMonroe7]

@utahjazz Tweet did not age well.