8 Tips to Help Get You To The Majors

I was blessed with enough talent, persistence and a bit of luck to get to the highest level of professional baseball. This amazing experience has afforded tremendous insight by playing with the best players in the world. If you have a dream of playing in the majors someday, take a look at the following tips:

  1. It’s all in your head.– The old cliche- 90% mental, 10% physical is so true in this sport. One’s makeup between the ears truly is what separates the good from the great. You’re going to go through your ups and downs, but how mentally tough are you going to be when things aren’t going well? “Only the mentally strong survive!”
  2. Your body is a temple! You should treat it as such. The Training, Health & Nutrition all play major parts in your success as a professional athlete. Ask yourself what you fuel your body with? Is it Premium grade or Unleaded?
  3. Know thy self– Know what your strengths and short comings are. Play to your abilities and what helps the team win! If you hit for average, then hit for average. Don’t try to become the power hitter that you’re not! Play to your strengths. KNOW THY SELF
  4. Know the game. Being an educated player is only going to give you a leg up on the competition. Know situations, what needs to be done in those situations and execute! Know your position forwards and backwards as well as everyone else’s position. Think as if you were managing the game.
  5. Work your a** off!– To become truly good at your craft, you have to want to put the work in. You need to commit and learn to eat, sleep and breathe the game of baseball. For the kids coming up, getting trained once a week from your instructor thinking that’s enough work to make you good. Think again! You need to put in hours upon hours everyday. Don’t ever look in the mirror and question if you worked hard enough!
  6. Set goals. When you reach those goals, set more. Don’t ever be satisfied because you hit a goal. The mentality should be, “On to the next one!” And don’t be afraid to set goals that you think are unattainable. You’ll be surprise as to what you can do if you set your mind to it.
  7. Don’t ever lose your edge! Always play with a chip on your shoulder and that you have something to prove! There will always be doubters in you career. Use that to fuel the fire and create that edge.
  8. Have fun playing the game. At the end of the day, it’s a kids game that grown men play. There’s nothing better then jumping with your team like kids after a walk off! The pressure of hitting a round object with anther round object is great enough. Just have fun, relax and again enjoy the game!
Joe Inglett

Joe Inglett

Joe Inglett is a partner and senior instructor at IVL Baseball Academy in Wadsworth, Ohio.  He attended the University of Nevada- Reno where he set seven university records in baseball. After a successful career, Inglett was a six year MLB player for the Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and Houston Astros.  During his career, he played every position except catcher and first base, and his career batting average was a .283.  In 2011, he was inducted into the University of Nevada-Reno Hall of Fame.  He has been awarded the 2000 Big West Conference Player of the Year, the 2000 3rd Team All-American, and 1st Team All Big West at the University of Nevada-Reno.  He resides in the Akron area with his wife, Kelly, and children, Ava, Austin & Hudson.