Tigers Minor League Baseball Blog

Over the all-star break I got the chance to head home and play in a golf outing, which, if you are a frequent reader, know that this is a good thing for me. My dad assembled the foursome as he always does (he calls himself the GM) in a fashion so that we would be in a great position to win. This group included my high school golf coach, Vic Callahan, a person I have the most respect for and a man who has been the person I would like to most emulate. I still call him “coach” and he taught me so much more than fairways and greens. This is neither here nor there, however we did shoot fifteen under and LOST, go figure. What I did get a chance to think about while perusing the links was how much my past is a part of my present. I don’t think I have been totally remodeled by the pro game, nor am I a pitcher who has never had to change. I am still making changes, but a little piece of every coach I have had is still in me. Any player who has made it to this level has this in them because the game is too hard to just go out and play with what you have in the bag (to throw yet another golf metaphor in). My dad was my first coach and he instilled the groundwork for my game. Most of this included learning to love the game for what it is. Like myself, he is a pretty intense competitor and sometimes those twelve year old travel tournament games got a little heated and us kids needed to learn to have fun in order to not want to quit before high school (I’m kidding dad). My dad knew though when to turn me loose and let someone else takeover, so in high school, Spada as we called him, did just that. He gave me my drive and competitiveness. His favorite phrase was, “There are certain teams that don’t belong on the same field as you.” Now, I’m naturally a humble person but I still think of that when I take the mound. Spada was the person who got me to college and then my college pitching coach Bob Keller, gave me what I needed to get to the point I am at now. He taught me how to pitch, and our strength coach Jason Cole gave me a few extra miles per hour on my fastball as well as many days of sore legs. And now the learning is still happening and I am always looking for a way to better myself physically and mentally on the field. I have not forgotten where I’ve been because it’s important to know where you came from to get to where you are going.