Ask Doug: Cold Climate Visibility

Baseball Factory

September 2, 2008

Doug Glanville

Doug Glanville is working with the Baseball Factory and Team One Baseball as a Special Consultant. He will be writing articles and looking for your questions and feedback. If you have a question for Doug, please email him at askdoug@baseballfactory.com.

Q: Hi Doug, here's my question, being a baseball player from Chicago, scouts from the south, west coast, and east coast take one look at where we're from and cross our names off. Ball players such as Cliff Floyd, Kirby Puckett, Steve Carlton, and Paul Molitor were all from Illinois. I do understand that we do have winter here, we can't play baseball all-year around, and that the Midwest has a very small list of ball players, but why are colleges so quick to say that we are not good enough to make their team? Why do we all get labeled as bad ball players? I was just in Dodgertown and Pirate City [with Baseball Factory] and have played with and against ball players from Texas, Florida, Georgia, and California and have been as good, if not better than most of them. I also understand that what I faced wasn't Team One All-American level, but rather average varsity high school level, but I wonder if there was a scout there from the state of Florida, why would I be so unattractive to him? If I'm good enough, shouldn't they even glance at me or is this what a kid from Chicago should expect? In the end, what I'm really trying to ask is why do we get labeled? Thank you, Matt.

A: Matt,

Good to hear from you and you have asked an excellent question.

For starters, I can say that I understand your frustration. I grew up in Northern New Jersey and during a time when it was harder to get noticed. There weren’t the tools available to me to gain exposure like there are today. I had to rely on word of mouth or a scout that came to see someone else to notice me playing against him. But, I did know how playing in a cold climate can work against you.

I understand that in general, players in colder climates do not play as much baseball during the school year. We started tryouts on March 8th and we were lucky if there wasn’t snow on the ground. You just have some limitations that players in California and Florida do not have, but the mistake our evaluators can make is to assume that with the physical limitations, there are limitations in your commitment.

I remember before I was drafted by the Cubs. The knock on me was my “commitment.” I chose to go to an Ivy League college which played only 40 games a year (if we didn’t get snowed out). Part of the questions came from my commitment to school and finishing my education, but part of the challenge was what plagues all players in colder climates.

You have to understand that some of the issue is the freedom for a scout to stick his neck out there on a player’s behalf. It is a chain of power and it works its way up the top based on someone’s recommendation. It is a lot safer to go with someone who is playing year round and a large number of games during the regular season. You have more evidence, you see him at his high and at his low, there is just more opportunity to see you play, but your job as a cold-weather player is to prove that even if that is true, it has nothing to do with your heart. And heart matters… a lot.

At one point, after scouts continued to ask me about my “lack of commitment” to the game by going to an Ivy League school, I pointed out that if anything, I should get more credit because I didn’t play on scholarship, I had a very tough academic schedule that I had to balance, there were no fans in the stands, no beaches, no popularity, no free passes, and tough weather. So I played because I loved the game, because there were no perks. Imagine what I can do when I get a taste of top facilities and good weather. You have to make your argument and even better, make it on the field.

You have to see it as a challenge and take pride in being the underdog just as I was when I played in the Cape Cod Baseball League coming from an Ivy League school. I played with guys from USC, UCLA, UNC, all the top programs, but my college teammate and I walked away with the top pro prospect award and the top pitching award in the league. Two northern born, northern college players swept the awards. That was fun!

Just remember that it is better today than it has been, you have the internet and strong programs like Baseball Factory to give you exposure and this gives you many opportunities to shine and show what you can do. Use it is a source of pride and motivation, you have little of the benefits of a warm-weather player, yet you still can hold your own and play as well. In the end, when you are undeniable, scouts will come around and give you a shot, no matter where you are from…you just have to do a little more early on and that will help you be a better, more disciplined ballplayer anyway, so use it as a weapon.

Doug

Republished from The Baseball Factory