“It’s all about consistency” – Matthew Liberatore
Not every player on Saturday and Sunday used the actual word consistency, but it was certainly the theme to success at the MLB level throughout the day. Keep doing the same thing every day, stick to the process, good things will happen. When things go badly, you probably deviated from the process.
“For me it was two things: it was confidence and simplification. Coming out of the bullpen gave me a different perspective on how I could approach pitching. I think it showed me some valuable things that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my career.”
His childhood buddy Nolan Gorman echoed the same sentiment. “This game is too hard, pitchers are too good to change things at-bat to at-bat. Making sure the lows aren’t too low and not for too long. Consistency – you probably hear about a lot – but that’s the biggest thing in this game. That’s what it takes to be elite at this game.”
For Drew Rom, he felt he proved he belonged with his start against his former organization the Orioles and his goal is to figure out a way match what he did. “A lot of it was just execution-based. When everything was going well, like in the Baltimore game. The turning point was how I am going to do that mentally and how am I going to do that physically.”
Without using the word consistency, that is a similar sentiment to Liberatore and Gorman. Victor Scott II emphasized being able to repeat the same swing every time. When Masyn Winn looked back at video as a Cardinal, he noticed his swing changed a couple times. Ivan Herrera used the word routine.
“I had fun at the big league level, but there’s so much work we do behind the scenes. So there’s a routine that comes. So I stick to it and it works. Knowing that if you’re having a bad game for example. Sticking to that routine is hard because you’re feeling like you’re not good enough at the time. You need to change something. That’s one of the best things I’ve heard from players, sticking to your routine.”
I’ll finish off with a Jordan Walker quote, because honestly I could find some version of needing to be consistent from probably every player (certainly hitter), and I can’t share all their quotes.
“I have to be more consistent. I have to be on a lot more than I would have to in the minor leagues. I’m not saying the minor leagues are easy but in the big leagues they make less mistakes.”
“Thinking is never good” – Brendan Donovan
Part of the reason that players want consistency and to stick to a routine is that baseball is a game of failure. Gorman had a habit of looking at what he was doing wrong mid-game.
“This game is so mental. Honestly it’s probably more mental than physical. Being able to have that stability and knowing this is a long season and going into each and everyday as a new day, not dwelling on the past and even to the extent of not looking at video during the game is kind of what turned it around for me.”
If you stick to a routine and do the same thing, it’s your way of ignoring failure. Not letting failure affect you. Consistency and the mental aspect of the game appear to be intertwined, so much there were more than a few quotes that could honestly have been placed in either section. Luken Baker helpfully bridged the gap with one quote for me.
“Everything is largely mental for me, me thinking I had to do more than I had to. The true difference at this level is everyone is good everyday. They don’t have down days.”
See? Everything is mental, and yet he emphasizes the consistency required to stick at the MLB level. Rom also mentioned the mental aspect when talking about needing to execute.
When it comes to failure, or ability to ignore failure, I don’t think there’s anybody better prepared…
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