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This newsletter is my accountability system.

Every week — or every other week — I'm going to sit down and be honest about four things:

What I'm reading.
What I'm watching.
What I'm learning.
What I'm writing.

Just a coach with 25+ years in this game — across five countries — who is humble enough to know the more time he spends in baseball, the more he realizes he doesn't know.

But hungry enough to keep chasing it anyway.

Here's what I believe:

Change doesn't come TO me.

It comes FROM me.

So instead of complaining about what's wrong with the game —

I'm going to show up.

Every week.

And share the best of what I'm finding.

My goal?

To make this the best free newsletter in international baseball.

That's not arrogance.

That's a standard I'm holding myself to.

In front of you.

Every single issue.

So without further ado —

Here's this week.

OPENING

We just hit the All-Star break.

Half the season is in the books.

And here's what's wild about this point in the year —

Every team in this country is telling the truth right now.

Whether they want to or not.

Her finding? Grit consistently predicted success better than IQ or talent across every group she studied. ResearchGate

And here's the part that stopped me cold —

Grit isn't tied to talent at all. The two aren't even related. CFA InstituteCFA Institute

She breaks gritty people down into four traits: real interest in what they do, hard practice, a sense of purpose, and hope. They understand how their small goals connect to one big goal — it works like a compass guiding every decision. LitCharts

👉 Our guys are heading to Japan for winter league. Then the European Championships in 2027.

That's a different level of competition. Better. Faster. Stronger.

And here's the truth about our league —

Average velocity sits around 78 mph. Small ballparks. Only 24 games a season.

It's been a joy to coach these guys in person. I mean that.

But this league — by itself — doesn't build grit the way Japan or Europe will demand it.

You don't get pushed to your limit facing 78. You get pushed facing mid-90s with secondary stuff that actually moves.

So Grit asks me a hard question as a coach —

If the environment won't force grit out of my guys... who's going to?

Duckworth has an answer. She found something simple in her own classroom — the hardworking kids kept outperforming the naturally gifted ones. Effort beat talent. Every time. Medium

And she puts it in a formula leader-developers love — effort counts twice. Once to turn talent into a skill. Again to turn that skill into real excellence. Jcldusafa

That's our job between now and Japan.

We can't change the velocity in our league overnight. But we can build the habits of grit right now — so when our guys finally face the real heat, they don't blink.

If you haven't seen it — go watch it this week.

It's the story of the 2010 French World Cup team. The whole thing blew up after striker Nicolas Anelka had a heated halftime blowup with the head coach during a loss to Mexico, and got sent home for it.

What happened next is the part that sticks with you.

The entire team refused to leave the bus for practice. In protest. On live television. In front of their whole country.

THE LESSON

👉 Talent didn't fail that team. Unity did.

That squad had real talent. Some of the best players in the world.

But once trust cracked in that locker room? Talent couldn't save it.

Watch any club around this country right now and you'll see the same split happening at the break.

Some teams are getting BETTER after the break. Same talent. Stronger identity.

Some are quietly falling apart. Same talent. No unity left.

That's not an accident. That's a choice a team makes together — every single day.

Picture this. God tells Abraham: "Pack your bags. Leave everything. Go to a land I'll show you."

That's it. That's the whole plan.

No address. No map. No "here's what it looks like when you get there."

Abraham didn't even ask, "Wait — how far? Are we stopping for snacks? Is there parking?"

He just packed up the family, the flocks, the whole operation — and went.

THE LESSON

Can you imagine your GPS doing that to you? "Proceed to unknown location. ETA: trust me."

Most of us would pull over and call customer service.

Abraham didn't.

👉 That's the back half of a season in one story.

You don't always know what's coming. You don't get the whole road today.

But you move anyway. One practice. One series. One at-bat.

Faith in the dugout — or anywhere else — was never about having all the answers.

It's about taking the next right step without them.

Abraham trusted the direction more than he needed the directions.

That's a guy I'd want batting third for me.

Here's why this matters more than people might think.

I'm an ex-military guy myself. I love what that uniform represents.

Here in Austria, military service is compulsory. Every young person goes through it.

And here's what I've come to believe after watching that system up close —

👉 The military doesn't just train soldiers. It builds the exact traits we're trying to build in this program.

Discipline. Show up on time. Do the work whether you feel like it or not.

Accountability. Your actions affect the guy next to you. No hiding from that.

Pride. Wearing something bigger than yourself — and knowing it.

That's not a coincidence. That's the whole point of compulsory service here.

So when the Commandant throws that first pitch on July 1, it's not just ceremony.

It's a message to every young athlete watching:

What you're building here — discipline, accountability, pride — it's the same thing that builds a soldier. It's the same thing that builds a champion. People in real positions of honor see that. And they're standing behind it.

WHERE THIS IS GOING

That first pitch is sixty feet, six inches.

But the message behind it travels a whole lot further than that.

🎯 FINAL THOUGHT

Half the season's behind us.

Some teams in this country are rising right now. Some are unraveling.

The difference was never talent.

It's Grit — built daily, not handed out by a 78 mph fastball.

It's Identity — strong enough to survive a halftime blowup.

It's moving without a map, the way Abraham did.

And on July 1 — when that first pitch crosses the plate in Wiener Neustadt — that's one more brick in the same wall.

Stay with it. ⚾

If this hit, share it with one athlete who needs it this week.