Labels and Expectations

What is a position player in baseball?  Essentially it is anyone who plays defense on the field.  This excludes the pitcher and technically, in the American League, the designated hitter, whose sole job is to hit.   While the majority of baseball players focus on playing only one position, each team usually has a couple of utility defenders whose job is to be versatile and handle whatever position is needed on any given day.   As I am sure you can deduce, there are advantages to both roles.
Ever since I have known David, he has focused on only one position.  In high school it was shortstop with the periodic appearance at third base.  In college David played only second base, however, he did play third on occasion during his summer stints in Cape Cod.   When he started playing professional baseball with the Yankees in 2008, it appeared his role, as an everyday second baseman, would stick.  Fast forward to today and let’s just say a lot has changed in a short amount of time.  I know I have said this repeatedly and I am sorry if I sound like a broken record, but nothing about the baseball life is certain.
Now that David has started playing third base with a big unknown whether he will return to second any time soon, or even at all, I have had many comments directed towards me.   Several people have asked me if I am excited and aware of how this could open a door for David now that there is a need-not-mention injury up in the majors and with the 40-Man “label” attached to his name, I am sure there are many assertions being made.  Let me just say this… David and I don’t really get excited and we have even less in the way of expectations.   We also don’t feel that his being on the 40-Man changes much of anything right now.  Regardless of what is or what may be, we believe we must stay as even keel as humanly possible in this very erratic life we live.
Aside from being unaffected by this move, we realize that nothing has changed outside of his position.   Someone very wise once told me that you should never have any expectations in baseball.   This is not to be confused with aspirations or the pursuit of success; David and I have nothing but the highest ambitions relative to his career in baseball.    These expectations that I speak of are intangibles that you have absolutely no control over.    For example, last off-season, David and I were aware that he was eligible for the rule-5 draft and that there were three possibilities going into spring training.   Firstly, we knew there was a “chance” he would be added to the 40-Man roster in order to be protected, but honestly it was the last thing we ever expected.   What we thought to be far more likely, after two years on the Disabled-List, is that David would either be picked up by another team or that the rule-5 draft would simply come and go with us untouched.   To be quite honest, we expected the latter but what actually happened far exceeded our expectations.
While this unexpected turn of events was quite a nice surprise, we both knew there was still a lot of work to be done before David ever saw his chance at the “show.”   If anything, I felt there was a huge amount of pressure on David to succeed.   This was a pressure that I never felt before in baseball.  It was David’s first year back after what seemed like the longest two seasons ever and it was uncertain whether he would be healthy enough to play on opening day.   Even today, David is still on a strict program that is serving to ease him back into playing every day, but there is no way of knowing when he will see 162 days of playing time without frequent days off.
Many can see his inclusion on the 40-Man as a success, but in reality it is nothing more than a label – one that brings along with it a remarkable amount of expectation and absolutely no certainty.  Up until recently, I have been a dreamer and someone who lives in the future to a fault, but David is a 100% realist and lives only in the present.   He has helped me to see how there is a job to do everyday and that regardless of other’s expectations, you only have control over your training and the effort you put forth on the field.   Even when you train hard, your output may not always be what you expect.  Nevertheless, there is always work to be done.
Knowing David for as long as I have, I am aware that he is hardly satisfied.    He believes in working hard because talent only takes you so far.   That being said, he has also told me that he feels he has a lot of improvements to make in order to play at the level that he has always envisioned himself.   There is an enormous hunger within him for success, but we are well aware that what happens is ultimately out of our control.   We have been blessed up until this point by the grace of God and while we aren’t exactly where we thought we would be at 25, we know we are part of a greater plan.   Whether David ends up playing second base, third base, sitting the bench or even retiring before he ever fulfills his ultimate dreams, we know it will be in harmony with the Universe and according to God’s will, His grace and His perfection.