Year End Wrap

I realize it’s been a VERY long time since I last wrote, and a lot of that had to do with the season winding down and my frustrations offensively in the final few weeks.  I felt as though the end of the year I lost myself at the plate and was really battling everything, the weather, the pitchers and my own body.  Now that it’s over I’ve had a couple of days to decompress and look back on what was really a great season for me.

Yes Hoov, it’s much easier to receive and present pitches as strikes from one knee

When I showed up in Port Charlotte in February I didn’t really know anyone and I didn’t know what position I’d be playing which made for enough stress to last me a lifetime.  Immediately all my fears and anxiety went away as I got to work finding out I’d be catching and working with what I believe has got to be the best Minor League coaching staff in all of professional baseball. Right from Day 1 working with Hoover, Skip, Nelly (when he came over from the Big League side) and all the other coaches that work with catchers I knew I was going to learn.  I got thrown right into the fire and got to work on building up the skills I would need to catch at any level of professional baseball.  I remember thinking not only how good the coaches were but also how great the other catchers were about helping me out since they all knew I was brand new to it. That month served as a huge boost to my confidence in addition to a rapid growth as a player. By the time I broke camp with the Stone Crabs I felt ready to attack a season behind the plate.

We had fun, our clubhouse was a positive environment and we all loved coming to work every day!

My first group of teammates in the Rays organization were awesome, and I can’t thank every single guy in that locker room enough for making this year memorable.  From grinding it out in bullpens, early work and meetings with DePew and O’Conner to goofing around the locker room with Soriano, Quinonez Goetzman and Schultz I truly enjoyed being around this team (in all of its iterations).  We scuffled on the field, but never let that get to us in terms of our work ethic, our enjoyment of being together at the ballpark or anything else.  This was truly a fun team to play for and to play with, even if spending a season with these guys got me suckered into playing Clash of Clans for more hours than I’d like to admit.  

Our coaching staff in Charlotte this year was awesome with me and I really believe I became a better player because of Jared, Joe and Doc.  I learned more about the technical aspects of catching, the mental side of hitting and how to handle the stresses of a Minor League season than I could have imagined.  I loved getting out to the cage and getting to take my early flips with Joe, it was always fun to get in there and whack.  We’d get our work done, have a few laughs when flips hit the L-Screen and shot wide and always managed to make sure my teammates and I were ready to rock at 6:30.  I loved having Jared around those cage sessions too!  Having played in the Big Leagues and been through a lot of the same stuff as us Jared always knew how to relate to us, whether it was a lesson he’d learned while playing, or something he’d noticed from his years coaching there was always a positive helpful message to be found.  Even though I never really figured out how to hit Doc’s BP pitching I did love getting to sit in the dugout when I DH’d or wasn’t in the lineup to pick his brain about different pitchers, pitch sequences and how to attack hitters.  I know that the conversations, interactions, and lessons these three guys had with and for me have made me a more complete ball player while helping me cope with the transition from infielder to catcher.

I think this was an awesome year for me both statistically and in terms of the learning I did. I will never be able to thank the Tampa Bay Rays organization enough for bringing me in, welcoming me and giving me every single opportunity, tool and advantage possible to help me succeed.  It’s truly a blessing to wake up every day and be a Ray.  The structure in place here is clearly the reason for all the success at the Big League level and it’s no surprise to me any more why this ball club can compete with the stratospheric payrolls in the AL East. I cannot wait until Spring Training rolls around so I can be back with all of the coaches, staff and players who made 2014 such a fantastic experience for me.

Thank you to everyone that made 2014 so memorable!