Over Half My Life Spent at The Texas Baseball Ranch®
Last October I celebrated my 32nd birthday, and this upcoming summer will be the 17th summer I've either trained or coached at the Ranch. Attending my first Texas Baseball Ranch® Summer Program back in 2006 was one of the single best decisions I have made in my ENTIRE life.
I could go on and on talking about how Coach Wolforth and the Ranch staff helped me achieve my lifelong dream of throwing 90 mph. Or how without the Ranch I probably would have never played college baseball. But I think our reputation speaks for itself:
Over 545 clients have broken through the 90 mph barrier
194 have thrown a baseball 94 mph
30 have thrown a baseball 100+ mph
130 have been drafted
With dozens playing in professional baseball including Colin Poche and Robert Dugger who each made their MLB debuts in 2019!
What I want to talk to you about today are the lessons that I learned from my time at the Ranch which have carried far beyond my playing career.
Lesson #1. The power a single person believing in you can make. When you are throwing 68 mph the summer heading into your sophomore year in high school, there aren’t very many people out there that believe you will ever throw a baseball 90 mph. Actually outside of my immediate family that number was 1, Coach Wolforth. He believed in me even after being cut by my 3rd college team. It was his belief in me that really fueled the belief in myself.
"When you are throwing 68 mph the summer leading into your sophomore year in high school, there aren't very many people out there that believe you will ever throw it 90 mph
"You have to learn to have good, bad days"
Lesson #2. You have to learn to have good... bad days. It’s really easy to be positive when everything is going your way. But what separates the great from the good, and the good from the bad is finding a way to get better on the days when the ball isn’t coming out very well. Nothing is more devastating than feeling you had a very good throw but the radar registering 5-7 mph below what you expected. Learning to battle through these types of days, developing the resiliency to see if I could somehow throw it .5 mph harder than I did on my last throw, undoubtedly led me to eventually breaking through the 90 mph barrier. There is no doubt in my mind that if you attend the Texas Baseball Ranch "Extended Stay Summer Developmental" Program this summer you will leave a better a baseball athlete and a more prolific thrower. Over my 17 years of being in the Summer Programs I have literally witnessed thousands of athletes transform their lives and their careers. But as Coach Wolforth has said repeatedly, if all this was just about baseball, we'd all probably be doing something else. Attending the Texas Baseball Ranch® made me a better baseball player, but more importantly, it made me a better Brother, Son, Friend, and Man.
By: Coach Jonathan Massey
Athletic Performance Coordinator, Texas Baseball Ranch®
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