There have been many historic battles in this world — Waterloo, Yorktown and Hastings come to mind. These battles occur for various reasons and, in the end, one side prevails. Even though someone wins a battle, it does not mean they have finished the war. Civilizations reunite and come back with forces. Donald Trump says it great, “Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.” The battles will continue, but wars hardly ever end. Fighting back from the bottom is what many have had to do. I am in a chapter in my life where I have lost a big battle. I have been punched around many times like Sugar Shane Mosey was on Saturday night. Also, like him, I stand my ground until the end.
I was informed on Saturday night after our game against the Phillies that I would be moving to extended spring training. This was to make room for a top prospect and to provide me with extra work.
I got off to a slow start this year. Having that rocky start may have made my coaches a little hesitant to throw me in many games. These last two weeks, I only appeared in two games. Something needed to be done, and that something was me, 25-years-old in extended. I really don’t understand it yet but, on a positive note, the organization does want to work with me instead of releasing me. I still am blessed to go out on a field and get paid to do what I love. I am going to be down here throwing in the bullpen to hitters until I can be more consistent down in the zone. I will develop better command of my pitches.
I threw my first bullpen here today in extended, and it went really well. I threw my bullpen with our pitching coordinator guiding me. He had me raise my arm-slot maybe one inch to help get me on top of the ball a little better. It generated that good downhill plane. I threw a long bullpen with some bad located pitches and many pitches right where I wanted them to be. I need to continue to repeat and constantly miss down in the zone. No one said that this life as a baseball player would be easy. You sometimes need to take one step back to take two steps forward.
On another note, what about the battle we finally won over Osama Bin Laden. It took us 10 years, but we finally eliminated the most wanted person in the world. The war with the terrorist attackers is far from over. Bin Laden had many followers and, eventually, there will be a new leader of the regime. That is a battle for another day, though.
Even in our daily life we have constant battles. What makes us win these battles is the constant will to fight and achieve. Keep fighting and, hopefully, we can all win our wars. Until next time, stay safe and God bless.
Ryan Shopshire
Romans 8:31-39
