Tigers Minor League Baseball Blog

Being demoted in any line of work is never fun, nor does it lend much room for confidence in any further hope for success. But in baseball whenever a player is hurt or gets sent down a level, it is especially hard because once again you are back at square one. For me I had to start from lower than scratch. With an injury right out of the gate into my pro career, I had to do more than get healthy, I had to prove that I was worthy of the opportunity I had been given. When you struggle because of something that is happening on the field, you are still on the field. When you don’t even get to throw or hit because of injury, it’s like taking the ability to lie from a lawyer; Your best assets are gone. The best metaphor I can think of for professional baseball is that it is like a highly functioning industrial machine. Sometimes parts of the machine break down and have to be thrown out or don’t work like they used to, and need to be tuned up. However, for the whole machine to work it has to be running at all times. So, whenever a part is taken out, a new one has to be brought in. Then once the machine is up and running smoothly again, the old part has to wait until another kink in the line appears where they can be put back in. For those who are promoted it’s a huge step forward because it means you are one step closer to the Major Leagues. However there is never any room to let up because once you are a key part of the machine, it is your job to make sure things keep running smoothly because there will always be another just like you, waiting in the wings to step up and take your spot in the line.