10 JULY 2019 • BASEBALLAMERICA.COMLeading Off
For The Love of The Game
CELEBRATING YOUTH STARS WHO EXCEL ON AND OFF THE FIELDis BA’s For the Love of the Game Selection Partner
● MAX
MAHER, 10
ATLANTA, GA: At just
10, Max is making an
impact on less fortu-
nate baseball players
around the world.
He helped organize
a used equipment
fundraiser that gen-
erated more than 500
bats, 250 helmets, 400
gloves and 200 pairs
of cleats. His orga-
nization partnered
with Baseball Without
Borders, and he and
his friends formed a
baseball team and
personally delivered
the equipment to the
Dominican Republic.
The week-long trip
included baseball
games each day, fol-
lowed by equipment
handouts.● NAOMI
RYAN, 12
NORTH
CHESTERFIELD, VA:
Naomi participated in
the MLB Trailblazer
Series in Compton,
Calif., in April. The
four-day camp pro-
vided training and
instruction from USA
Baseball Women’s
National Team players.
Naomi loves baseball
and wants to inspire
other young female
athletes to play the
sport and keep break-
ing ground. She is
the first girl to make
her Cal Ripken all-star
team in Glen Allen, Va.,
and the only player
to hit a home run in
the Virginia State Tens
Championships last
summer.● XAVIER
CARR, 14
ORANGE, VA: Xavier
has been a stellar
student, winning an
academic award for
earning straight A’s
in middle school. He
has volunteered to
help his school during
the summer, shred-
ding documents and
packing/unpacking
books and helping to
organize classroom
items. Xavier loves
baseball, having
played since the age
of 4, and this year he
made the junior varsi-
ty team as an eighth
grader. He will travel
to Bradenton, Fla., this
month for Baseball
Factory’s National
World Series event
at Pirate City.● ALLIE
KOVACEVICH, 14
GAHANNA, OH: Allie
is an honors student
at her middle school,
a member of student
council and school
ambassador. On the
softball diamond, she
guided her team to a
16-2 record and led
the team in home
runs. When she dis-
covered her middle
school was hosting
a “knockout cancer”
game, with all the girls
wearing special game-
day jerseys dedicated
to those impacted by
cancer, Allie stepped
up. She designed and
created more than 100
hair bows to sell at
the game, with all the
proceeds going to the
charity.● AAMIR
SALAHALDEEN, 15
WILMINGTON, DE:
Aamir, a ninth grader
at Dickinson High in
Newcastle, Del., is a
natural athlete who
plays shortstop and
second base on the
varsity. But his impact
goes beyond the field.
He excels in the class-
room—he has a 3.
GPA—and is a dele-
gate of the Congress
of Future Medical
Leaders 2019. Aamir
exemplifies the mean-
ing of never giving
up and doing better
each time. He has
also donated money
to two of his past
teammates during his
years being of an part
of the Phillies Baseball
Academy.●●●●●by MIKE LANDIS
BASEBALL FACTORY’S
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
AND PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
If it takes no talent to hustle, why aren’t
we seeing more of it? I am beginning to praise
players too often for “hustling” and playing the
game “hard” when that should be the norm.
Baseball is a sport that requires effort to suc-
ceed and a “grind” mentality has to exist in
each player.
But if this mentality does not already live
inside a young player, can it be created and
developed? The Navy Seals seem to think that
it is possible. They train to go beyond what
they think are the limits of their body. We don’t
need to go to that extreme, but there are ways
that coaches can raise the awareness of—and
improve—a player’s motor.
Here are some ways to flip the switch in your
players:
n Shift the practice focus to the process over
the result. Praise hustle, communication and
being in the right spot, even if the final out-
come isn’t perfect.
n Get to know your players. This will enable
you to diagnose if it is fearfulness or a tentative
makeup that is holding your players back from
playing at full intensity—or if it is just laziness.
n Give your players the freedom to make
aggressive mistakes in practice and games and
let them learn from it. Allow them to take some
risks as they learn their limits.
n Get your players’ times while running full
tilt to hold them accountable to that standard.
n During scrimmages or live scenarios, play
without base coaches. The feel for the game
they develop will instill confidence, allowing
them to go full tilt in games.
n Come up with stats that can be kept during
games that reward high-motor plays. It can be
hard 90s, aggressive baserunning reads, first
guy on and off the field each inning, best com-
municator throughout the game, or any num-
ber of categories.
n Practice what you preach! Reward the
player who exhibits these characteristics of
hustle and intensity. Give them more playing
time, praise them in front of the rest of the
team.
When confidence, experience and high effort
collide, we are left with growing baseball
instincts that will stick with the player forever.
They develop the “grind” mentality to push
their limits and maximize their potential at
each stage of their career.
Developing of team of these “high-motor”
players will lead to a baseball culture that
everyone wants to be a part of. nDeveloping
the Motor