Major League Auditions: A Potential Player's Voyage

With the New Year celebrations of 2012 come and gone, my stab at my most precious dream and aspiration is slowly approaching. Starting in March and continuing through August. I'll be pounding pavement all over the state of Washington to try and become a Major League Baseball player. I'm planning on hitting every tryout I can afford to, until either all my options are exhausted or my arm falls off. I guess someone could ask for another look, but I just don't want to get my hopes up too high at this point. Unfortunately, no lists for tryouts or camps for MLB teams are available in the Pacific Northwest area till April and the local minor league camps don't start till April/May. I've decided to document my journey before, during, and after this process.

For the most part this is about me, I mean I do want to give everyone some perspective of the work I am putting to make this happen, but like i said, it's mostly about me. I love to talk about the game of baseball, but these tryouts could change the rest of my life, and it scares me to the core. I cannot take this opportunity for granted, though the totality of my happiness does not hinge on the possibility of a new future. I have to do these tryouts for me. I don't ever want to end up a old man that used to be a pretty good ball player, but never did anything with it. I know I am 24, and that is getting up there for getting into the professional baseball world, but if I go out there and do my best, I will never hate myself for it.

Anyway, back to baseball. I am going out to be a pitcher, and I'm a knuckleballer. My fastball sits right around 85-89, though it keeps getting better with better physical conditioning, and I also toss in a curve and a cutter. I'd like to describe my knuckleball, but I can't do it justice with words without sounding cocky, so I'll get a video up here soon of it. I also know with my physical size and strength they are going to want to see me hit as well, so I'll be prepared to smash from both sides of the plate too. Hopefully the way this will work is: I will document my work out schedule, my workout statistics, the drills I run, and how I am practicing. I know none of you probably really care about any of that, but an audience helps keep me accountable. I'll probably also give you what is on my mind for the day, whats grinding my gears, as well as the photo/video progress I am making with my workouts.

"Trying to hit that thing is a miserable way to make a living," and "I work for three weeks to get my swing down pat and Phil (Niekro) messes it up in one night." – both quotes by Pete Rose. Even the best were baffled Old 'Knucksies'. Niekro played for 23 years and is the winning-est knuckleballer of all time. His grit and determination was renowned throughout the league, and he cold float them better than anyone. You can see why I have had a hard time mastering the pitch. I hope to post some live footage of myself here soon to compare. Thanks for reading, I just wanted everyone to see why I am so proud of the 'craft' I have practiced so much. It's a beautiful/frustrating pitch to throw!