Hello,
It’s that time in the year again. The weather is getting warmer, the flowers are starting to bloom and baseball is in the air. It’s spring time again and the American pastime is about to begin. I arrived in Dunedin, Florida on Saturday night and I am all situated in my hotel room with my roommate. Let me tell you, it is no five star hotel room, but it is nice that we have maids that clean our room every day for us.
Day one was a long one. First on the list was physicals which took about three hours all together. After that we all went to the spring training complex to get our uniform attired situated and following that, we had a meeting to go over all the bylaws that needed to be followed, while also introducing the staff members. After all that, we finally came to the fun part of the day. Every time I get to strap on those pants, put on the uniform, and tie up my cleats to play is something I thoroughly enjoy. I truly love this game of baseball and whenever I get the opportunity to go out there I take full advantage of it. I would not have put all of the countless hours of training in the offseason to not be excited for this day.
I have been training very hard these last four months in preparation for this season. The offseason does not only extent to throwing a baseball or swinging a bat. There is some difficult physical training that is involved. Working out a minimum of five days a week is a must. Running long distance and sprints is something that is not enjoyable all the time but is mandatory to play this game. To be able to throw every day a good base must be created. Strong legs and endurance is needed to be able to repeat a delivery time after time. This training along with a healthy food regiment needs to be followed to be able to compete at a high level day after day. Being committed through these long winter months is necessary to retain the success that all baseball players want to achieve during the season. Nothing is giving to you in this life.
My friend Sean Ochinko says this, “If you don’t work you don’t eat, and if you don’t grind you don’t shine”. Putting all those extra hours in (aka grinding) for what you want is not easy and the only way to the top is putting the work in.
I have worked extremely hard be where I am today. I have an extreme drive to make it to the major leagues one day. Only time will tell what will happen in this voyage that I have embarked in. I am very blessed to be able to play this game of baseball day in and day out. I am grateful for my support group that is rooting for me back home. I know that I have made them all proud for where I am today but I am not truly satisfied until I reach it to the top of this level. I would not be putting in all this hard work if I did not truly believe that I could achieve these goals.
This is going to be fun but long spring training. There is a lot of competition for jobs with many great contenders. I will continue to work hard and stay on the right path. I will inform you readers in the next two weeks how my progression is coming.
Until then, stay safe people.
Ryan Shopshire
Ephesians 5:15-18
