Published: Sunday, October 18, 2009
Mariners teach off-the-field skills
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Jennifer Buchanan / Associated Press
Mario Martinez, who played for the AquaSox in 2009, was one of six Mariner minor leaguers who graduated from the team’s English-language program.
It takes more than five tools to make a complete baseball player these days.
The Seattle Mariners recognize that, and this offseason the organization took an interesting step to build a better ballplayer. They began a career development program to teach their young players the skills they’ll need off the field as well as on it.
When about 60 young players gathered last month at the Mariners’ training facility in Peoria, Ariz., for the annual instructional league program, they barely made it to the field during the first week.
Instead, the Mariners put their prospects through several hours of lectures that, in the long term, may be more important than the ability to hit for average, hit for power, run, throw and field.
The kids learned how to balance a checkbook, obtain a loan and invest their money. They learned how to dine with dignity, how to speak in public and to the media, and how to behave in a professional baseball clubhouse.
For a little levity but also to teach a lesson, they had a hypnotist put on a show. Everyone had a good laugh but they also learned something about the power of the mind, which may be the most critical tool in this sport.
And most importantly for a half-dozen Latin American players, they learned to speak English.
Major League Baseball puts on a similar program every year and each organization sends a few prospects for career training. The Mariners wanted to expose all their players to the program.
“It costs a lot of money to send players to (the MLB) program, and we thought that for about the same cost we can do it for all our athletes,” said Dr. Jack Curtis, the Mariners’ minor league mental training coach.
“We figured that in four or five years, we will have covered the whole organization on what it takes to be a Mariner, not just 20 or 30,” said Pedro Grifol, the Mariners’ minor league director.
Curtis, a performance enhancement specialist who has worked with corporate executives, Olympic athletes and major leaguer teams, had put together a similar program a few years ago for the Milwaukee Brewers. For the Mariners last month, he lined up bankers, nutritionists, investment counselors, etiquette experts, public speakers, veterans of big-league clubhouses, a TV reporter and the hypnotist.
“The kids see that you care about them more than just as baseball players,” Curtis said. “There are kids from the Dominican and Venezuela who learned how to balance a checkbook and transfer money back home. An investment counselor talked about the importance of investing, starting right now. We brought in people from the Toastmasters to help them learn how to speak in front of groups, and they all had to experience giving a talk in front of their peers.
“There were so many topics we covered. For six days, all the kids did on the field was loosen up, play catch and do some real basic stuff. Our program was a priority for the full six-day period.”
The Mariners are just as proud of their efforts to teach English to their Spanish-speaking prospects. They used the Rosetta Stone program and another instructed by Becky Schnakenberg, who has taught English to players from several major league organizations.
In order to graduate from those programs, each of the players was required to conduct an interview in English. Venezuelan third baseman Mario Martinez, who starred this year with the Everett AquaSox, was among six players who were presented certificates at an awards ceremony at the end of the career development program.
“These are kids who came into the organization without speaking a word of English,” Grifol said. “They’re going home with diplomas and their parents are going to be proud of their sons not only for being good ballplayers, but for graduating from two programs that we think are pretty tough.”
The best part, Grifol said, was the standing ovation the six players — Martinez, Johan Limonta (Cuba), Israel Nunez (Mexico), Carlos Peguero (Dominican Republic), Edward Paredes (Dominican Republic) and Alfredo Venegas (Ecuador) — received from the instructional league players who filled the room.
“We didn’t expect a standing ovation, but the kids gave it to them,” Grifol said. “It was a wonderful thing.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com\marinersblog
The Seattle Mariners recognize that, and this offseason the organization took an interesting step to build a better ballplayer. They began a career development program to teach their young players the skills they’ll need off the field as well as on it.
When about 60 young players gathered last month at the Mariners’ training facility in Peoria, Ariz., for the annual instructional league program, they barely made it to the field during the first week.
Instead, the Mariners put their prospects through several hours of lectures that, in the long term, may be more important than the ability to hit for average, hit for power, run, throw and field.
The kids learned how to balance a checkbook, obtain a loan and invest their money. They learned how to dine with dignity, how to speak in public and to the media, and how to behave in a professional baseball clubhouse.
For a little levity but also to teach a lesson, they had a hypnotist put on a show. Everyone had a good laugh but they also learned something about the power of the mind, which may be the most critical tool in this sport.
And most importantly for a half-dozen Latin American players, they learned to speak English.
Major League Baseball puts on a similar program every year and each organization sends a few prospects for career training. The Mariners wanted to expose all their players to the program.
“It costs a lot of money to send players to (the MLB) program, and we thought that for about the same cost we can do it for all our athletes,” said Dr. Jack Curtis, the Mariners’ minor league mental training coach.
“We figured that in four or five years, we will have covered the whole organization on what it takes to be a Mariner, not just 20 or 30,” said Pedro Grifol, the Mariners’ minor league director.
Curtis, a performance enhancement specialist who has worked with corporate executives, Olympic athletes and major leaguer teams, had put together a similar program a few years ago for the Milwaukee Brewers. For the Mariners last month, he lined up bankers, nutritionists, investment counselors, etiquette experts, public speakers, veterans of big-league clubhouses, a TV reporter and the hypnotist.
“The kids see that you care about them more than just as baseball players,” Curtis said. “There are kids from the Dominican and Venezuela who learned how to balance a checkbook and transfer money back home. An investment counselor talked about the importance of investing, starting right now. We brought in people from the Toastmasters to help them learn how to speak in front of groups, and they all had to experience giving a talk in front of their peers.
“There were so many topics we covered. For six days, all the kids did on the field was loosen up, play catch and do some real basic stuff. Our program was a priority for the full six-day period.”
The Mariners are just as proud of their efforts to teach English to their Spanish-speaking prospects. They used the Rosetta Stone program and another instructed by Becky Schnakenberg, who has taught English to players from several major league organizations.
In order to graduate from those programs, each of the players was required to conduct an interview in English. Venezuelan third baseman Mario Martinez, who starred this year with the Everett AquaSox, was among six players who were presented certificates at an awards ceremony at the end of the career development program.
“These are kids who came into the organization without speaking a word of English,” Grifol said. “They’re going home with diplomas and their parents are going to be proud of their sons not only for being good ballplayers, but for graduating from two programs that we think are pretty tough.”
The best part, Grifol said, was the standing ovation the six players — Martinez, Johan Limonta (Cuba), Israel Nunez (Mexico), Carlos Peguero (Dominican Republic), Edward Paredes (Dominican Republic) and Alfredo Venegas (Ecuador) — received from the instructional league players who filled the room.
“We didn’t expect a standing ovation, but the kids gave it to them,” Grifol said. “It was a wonderful thing.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com\marinersblog
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