How Do They Do It?

Bernadette Bechta: Blackboard Basics

As the regular MLB season draws to a close, we ready ourselves for the playoffs. Who will make it? Who has the best record? How many games will be won in a single season? The Yankees record of 92-52 (.639) leaves us with a sense of awe, whether you root for them or not. How can you maintain such a strong record over a season? I am sure the management reflects back to an extra-inning game in April, maybe another one in May, a ninth inning rally, or a magnificent performance from a closer. Consistency and the ability to win close games make a difference in a season.

Each fall during freshman orientation I enjoy greeting high school students with their wide-eyed enthusiasm for high school. They get a fresh start on their academic transcript and I try to impress upon them the importance of consistency. Sometimes I use the analogy of a puzzle. Freshman year is like carefully placing the end pieces of a puzzle. You have to do it, but it brings little satisfaction. Sophomore year you add the background, somewhat bland at times. The pieces are getting more interesting, but no real challenges yet. During junior year, the image comes together, a picture is formed. These are the pieces that enable you to analyze the final image of the puzzle. You almost see it. Finally, in senior year, the puzzle comes to life. It is complete. I ask the freshman on that very first day, “Do you want the corners of your puzzle to have coffee stains, tears, missing pieces?” I comment, “How would that puzzle look when you (hypothetically) take it to a colleges admissions counselor and explain your high school career.

Unlike a 500 piece puzzle, you can’t take a do-over of your freshman, sophomore, or junior years of high school. You must take care of business at that moment. Each day is an opportunity for you to learn something, get a good grade, work to your potential, and contribute to your cumulative GPA, a strange word in your freshman year. But ask a senior about it. Many of them wish they studied harder earlier in their high school career. Others wish they stayed after school for extra help to perform better on a test, especially when teachers offered their help. Some admit they wasted time on video games, television, Facebook, and mindless activities instead of building consistency into their high school academic plan. Lots of seniors even wished they listened to their parents’ and teachers’ advice. Imagine that!

Just like the Yankees, most students have a good manager (parents), good teachers (hitting and pitching coaches), and good teammates (friends). What they lack is the ability to visualize how they will feel in their senior year. They can’t imagine asking themselves, “Did I work as hard as I could?” Or “Could I have taken harder classes in high school?” Maybe even, “Would it have made a difference in my future?”

Most times, the students with the high GPA’s were consistent, dedicated, organized, and efficient. You don’t just have to be smart to have a good GPA. You need the whole package. Just like the Yankees this year. Remember that each individual assignment might matter. Complete it with personal pride. Study, study, study for all your tests. It’s important that you approach each class with the same enthusiasm and vigor that Derek Jeter does for the Yankees. At the end of the season he has “NO REGRETS” and neither should you. That is how you accumulate a good record in baseball, and in school, a winning GPA – your record for your high school career.


Bernadette Bechta serves as the main academic contact for all players and parents in Baseball Factory's Exclusive Program. With over 20 years of experience as a teacher and advisor at the high school level, Bernadette will provide families with guidance on topics ranging from application essays to financial aid. In addition, Bernadette’s two sons have both gone through the Exclusive Program, so she knows the ins and outs of the process from a parent’s perspective.

The Range of Ability

Andy Ferguson: Another Day, Another Double Play

Baseball players, especially amateurs, are not robots capable of repeating physical movements exactly the same way each time. Instead, they are human beings that have to work and practice to try and achieve some level of consistency.

With most skills, we accept the fact that the difficulty of the game does not allow us to always be successful. Whether it’s at the plate, in the field, or on the mound, we realize that even the best and most talented do not perform to their potential every time.

However, when it comes to hot button measures of skills like running times and pitch velocities, most people think they are robots. Before we get more into them however, let’s look at a couple of other scenarios.

Hitters should be somewhat familiar with a back panel tee drill. Tee up a high strike in the middle of the plate, and take ten swings with the goal of producing ten line drives into the back panel of the cage net. If you haven’t done this before, you should. After working on it, think about how many you can get out of your round of ten. Assuming you don’t change the tee height or position, the only thing that changes with each pass is your swing. How well can you repeat it?
Pitchers should be familiar with throwing to very specific locations during bullpen sessions - fastballs low and away, in and off the plate, along with similarly appropriate locations for secondary pitches. Much like above, if you don’t push yourself in your workouts you never really get better. Think about your ability to throw up to five consecutive fastballs to a particular spot, then think about breaking balls or changeups. As long as the target stays the same, the only thing that changes from pitch to pitch is your delivery. How well can you repeat it?

Most players, and pitchers alike, will have varied success. Sometimes they can go 8 for 10 on the back panel drill, or throw 5 fastballs in a row low and away. Other times they back panel 4 of 10, or hit their spot no more than twice in a row. However, we accept this and try to get better. Hitting and pitching are both difficult after all.

Now, think about running times. What’s your best 60-yard dash? Do you think you run that time regularly? What’s your worst? Having stood at the end of the 60 track with a stopwatch and/or a clipboard many times, I can tell you that most players (and parents) are shocked if the time is less than what they know to be their (or their son’s) best. The timer must have started early, or stopped late, or the track is slow, or we ran into the wind…

Same thing with velocity. The radar gun must not be working right, or it was at too much of an angle, or it must have been read wrong…

Why? If we can’t repeat ten swings off a tee, why do we think we should run 60-yards the same every time? If we can’t hit a spot five times in a row with a fastball, why do we think we should throw it the same speed every time?

We need to realize that these things vary, just as everything else does. Just like with the back panel drill, or execution of pitches in a bullpen session, players will perform within a range of ability. Sometimes they will be at the top, sometimes at the bottom, but most of the time somewhere in the middle.


Andy Ferguson is currently the Senior Director of Baseball Operations with the Baseball Factory. Ferguson joined the North Carolina State baseball team as a walk-on, and went on to solidify his role on a team that participated in four consecutive NCAA Regionals. He later coached with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and then served as an Associate Scout with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres.