Paul made a statement that really resonated with me. He said, “we live in a world where the questions may be the same, but the answers have changed. What has got you here, will no longer get you there. And if you want results you’ve never had before, you have to start doing things you’ve never done before.”
It’s a pretty simple statement. Something many of us have probably told a player at one point. From the outside, observing our players, it seems so obvious. It’s difficult to understand how the player doesn’t realize it himself.
But if we take a step back, and try to look at ourselves from the outside, we as coaches suffer from the same thing. And it is REALLY difficult to notice it when you're on the inside.
I think the changes we’re seeing in stances with runners on base is a great example of this. Whether it’s variations of a knee down stance, hybrid transitions, or alterations to 2-point stances, we all feel that pull to try and go back to the safety of the traditional teach points. It feels risky to try and change what you’ve been teaching. There is fear that you might be wrong. What if it’s not better than the traditional way? What if you become the outcast?
But this is the exact point Paul is trying to make. If everyone else is teaching a traditional 2-point stance, how can you get your athletes to achieve results that currently seem impossible? You have to start doing things you’ve never done before. You have to break free of the majority. Become the 3% that chooses a new path.
Is it always going to work? No.
Is it going to be perfect? No.
But I guarantee you along your journey you will find new paths that would have remained hidden if you stayed in the comfort of the majority.
The role of catchers hasn’t changed. They still have the same responsibilities. Manage the pitching staff, get strike calls, control errant pitches, and throw the baseball.
The question of how they perform these skills is the same.
But the answers have changed.
What got us here has worked. No doubt about it. But without change it will not get us where we want to go.
The results we have achieved to date are spectacular. In my opinion, catchers are the best they’ve ever been. But if we want to reach new results, new milestones that seem impossible now, then we have to do things we’ve never done before.