I would like to share a story about confidence as a ball player or in many other life situations.

Coming into the 2011 spring training I was quickly in my own head after getting off to a rough start!

Thoughts started entering my mind about

Man I will get released here pretty soon

It will be a long flight back to Germany

Man I suck!

What will I tell my family and friends

So when these thoughts creep in your mind I highly recommend switching your thought process because it will destroy you!

I dig myself a deeper hole from day to day.

About two weeks into spring training and sucking much because I was so worried , my manager took me to the side and said what the fu.. is going on with you???

I told him what was going through my mind and he quickly responded…

What the hell are you talking about?

You will be my starting first baseman this year!

From that moment on a heavy load fell of my back and I instantly gained a huge amount of confidence and started banging the next day!

I like to share this story because I know for a fact there are a lot of kids just like me out there which are going through the same struggles.

So long story short…

Always believe in yourself and never let those negative thoughts creep in your mind because they will take you down.

Our mind is one of our most powerful tools so use it to your advantage.

I ended up hitting 301. That year with 20 homeruns and got added to the 40 man roster.