Baseball Factory works with over 2,000 high school players each year, hoping to help each of them fulfill their dream of playing baseball at the next level. A unique combination of player development and college placement programs aim to help student athletes improve their game and understand the ins and outs of the college recruiting process making their chances of finding a perfect fit academically and athletically more possible.

Baseball Factory is always proud to hear from its members as they navigate the college recruiting process. Sean Darsee, a participant in the Rookie Program, contributed the following article detailing his experience at a session in Trenton, New Jersey this fall. Darsee is a rising freshman at Clarkstown South High School in West Nyack, New York.

Baseball at a Brand New Level

In my few years of playing baseball, I have gone to many clinics, had a few private lessons to fix my swing so that I did not drop my shoulder, and to learn consistency in my pitching mechanics. All of these experiences have shown me how to be a better baseball player. Since I became a member of the Baseball Factory team however, I have realized that the baseball that I want to play is actually quite different than anything I have experienced so far and is going to require that I climb to a higher level.

My dad and I, and two of my friends who have played on the same teams with me for years, arrived at the Trenton Thunder stadium early in the morning on a Sunday. We really did not have a good idea about what this combination clinic and tryout was going to be like. As I was standing in line, I took a close look at most of the other guys. Each one had at least one parent in tow and looked like most of the guys I have been playing against for the last few years. I could tell that they had the same level of anticipation about what was going to happen as I did. People smiled, but everyone had a faint twinge of nervousness in their smile, wondering if they were going to be good enough to make one of the Baseball Factory teams, wondering if all the nice things people had said to them so far were just said to be nice. What if the Baseball Factory coaches and scouts tell me I really don’t have the right stuff? What if I find out that compared to the other 14 and 15 year olds, I don’t have the same amount of talent? Did I really want to know that now with four years of high school baseball ahead of me?

I decided that the answer to my question was clearly “Yes;” I wanted to know how competitive I could be and I wanted to know it now. I had read through everything that the Baseball Factory sent to me about how they see their role. I understood that their model was based on everyone being right up front and honest with everyone else. They wanted to know grades and SAT scores. They wanted a realistic assessment of what I did well and what I did not do well in baseball. The reason was pretty clear. I understood it the reason because it sounded just like what my Dad has been telling me for years. He and the Baseball Factory seem to subscribe to the philosophy that you have to capitalize on your strengths (which means you have to know what your strengths are) and you have to be honest about your weaknesses so you can fix them. The last part is the hardest for a 14-year-old player to come to grips with, but I know it is true. In the past, every time I developed some small problem with batting or pitching, my Dad would always point it out to me, then we would go and find someone to help fix it. It really worked! Just think what would have happened if we both ignored it and tried to blame the problem on something else. It just wouldn’t work.

The experience that day was absolutely great. The outfielding exercises that we started off with gave me some new insights into how to be a better outfielder. The coach taught us how to run correctly and how to catch a ball the right way, depending on how many outs there were and how far we were from the infield. We then moved to the batting cages. The coach taught us some routines that we could work on. We practiced the routines until we got them down pat. Then we were called out onto the field to swing the bat at live pitches. When it was my turn, I felt pretty nervous, which really surprised me since I have been playing baseball since I was 6 years old. So I did what I always do – told myself to take my time and to remember how many times I have hit the ball well. It worked and the entire batting experience was helpful because two additional coaches pointed out some things that I had not been aware of regarding weight transfer, things I needed to work on.

After the batting was done, I went over to the bullpen to pitch. After a long day, I might have been a little tired, but I was actually surprised at how strong I felt. When I got up on the mound and touched the pitching rubber, I felt great. I loosened up and threw my pitches. I threw a lot of fastballs, changeups and sliders. The coach gave me some tips right after I finished. After pitching, I was exhausted and felt like I should just go home and sleep. But there was a little bit more.

One of the Baseball Clinic directors gave a talk at the end about all of the ways we could improve. We got our evaluation sheets and on the car ride home with my friends and teammates, we read over the evaluations and compared notes. The evaluations were very honest and straightforward. For all of us, the evaluations said that we had work to do, in comparison to high school seniors. I liked that. It was both a reminder that we had to work hard over the next four years, and at the same time, a backhanded compliment since all of us were only in the 9th grade. The experience at the Baseball Factory clinical and tryouts was much more valuable than I ever dreamed. Even though the clinic was only a few hours on a single day, it gave me completely new insights into my abilities and my weaknesses. The coaches were honest. They told us what they saw, what was good, and what was not so good. They gave us the opportunity to see ourselves in comparison to many other excellent players and to come away with a feeling of pride, and a lot of humility about how far we had to go. Although I plan to have a lot more experiences through the Baseball Factory and to work with them to help me get into a highly competitive college baseball program, I have already learned a lot about what I have to do in order to achieve my goals in baseball. I know I am going to have to work every day, all year round to continue to get better. The Baseball Factory coaches pointed out some things they thought I did well, and I appreciated that. What I appreciated even more was the constructive criticism. They pointed out several things that I really needed to work on over the next few years; some I knew about and some I didn’t.

If anyone asks me whether I think the Baseball Factory experience was worthwhile, I would tell them that I have just started, but that it has been much more valuable than I had hoped for. Even this initial exposure gave me a much higher level of expectations for my personal performance. In fact, it has been almost an epiphany that I would recommend to anyone who loves to play baseball and wants to play it better.

Sean Darsee
West Nyack, New York