You know, they put me around a lot of
good people. I was around guys like him and
our whole staff, you know, um, the
whole way, and, uh, you know,
they allowed me to just be, be myself,
and, uh, the teammates I had were great
, you know, we're great players, but we
were very close friends along the way, and that
helps a bunch. And, uh, you know
, as you get older, um, like myself
, you know, I'm 26 years old now,
just turned 26 a few months ago, and I
thought that I'm this old guy I've been around baseball
that long, but I've played, I think 88
professional seasons now. And uh, you know,
there's gonna be times where you play your best,
and you know the first few years, you might
never struggle. And then you're gonna get to the
big leagues, you get AAA, and you're gonna
struggle for the first time and not know how to
deal with it, like I did. And,
um, like, like coach said, how you
are as a person, it matters because you're not
always gonna play your best baseball. And at this
stage, uh, you know, you most likely
will. I felt like most times and not,
I never worried about, who am I gonna go
0 for 4 today with 3 strikeouts, you know
, that wasn't my game, especially not at this
level. But, you know, sometimes when I
go to the field, like there's a chance that
it's gonna happen, like, I might do it
a couple of times in a year. And,
you know, you have to be able to deal
with that and deal with when you're not playing your
best baseball, what kind of teammate are you,
what kind of person are you? Are you?
Um, you know, a hindrance to your team
? Are you a cancer in the, in the
clubhouse, or are you gonna be someone that's gonna
be fun to be around? Are you're gonna be
the same guy every day that, that comes to
the yard, so it's important to be that way
, and yeah, my parents and the coaches I've
had along the way, I, um, I've
instilled that in me. Honestly sticking to it,
I think, even myself, like I felt like
I knew I could hit. Um, but even
what everybody else said, yeah, I, I
heard the same thing that everyone's saying, like,
they weren't sure if I was gonna hit. They
know I could really defend, um, they weren't
sure if I was gonna hit the pro level,
and, uh, you know, I had the
same question myself, you know, I'm pretty undersized
, you know, I'm not all that big.
I'm probably gonna gain a few pounds, but like
, we'll see how it plays, and, you
know, I think over the course of my big
league career, I think the narrative has probably shifted
. The other way, and it's like, man
, this guy's a really good hitter, this guy's
really gonna hit, and um, you know,
my defenses probably took a hit a little bit,
you know, at shortstop, I'm not a shortstop
I used to be, um, but I think
the defense I used to have at short is now
what I show at second base, and I've come
to terms with that. I think I could be
an elite, if not one of the best second
basemen in the game.