Homegrown
By Alex Speier
Below are my notes and key hi-lighted passages from Home Grown by Alex Speier. (Italics = quotes from the book. Bold = my personal notes)
“A cultural change was brough about by a new leader and a different cast of players, including boisterous vetarans such as Gomes, Ross, Napali, Victorino, and Dempster, who had long reputations as clubhouse leaders…Players committed not just to each other but also the region where they played in a fashion that contributed to the unlocking of improvement that surpassed even the most optimistic scenarios of the team’s forecasting system.
The Boston Red Sox were one of the most analytical organizations in the MLB with many data analysts and forecasting systems to predict future performance of teams. One factor that “unlocked” a higher level of play than the forecasting model, “A cultural change…brought about by a new leader, and players who were clubhouse guys”
“Players prided themselves on their collective Baseball IQ, and a combination of talent, professionalism, attention to detail, and team unity - the latter trait amplified by the team’s understanding of a civic mission it could serve in the wake of the bombings in April - propelled the team to unanticipated heights.”
A quote from Bill James - The founder of baseball analytics: “The most interesting issue in baseball is team chemistry because there is a way of thinking about it that makes sense. We have to start making progress towards that eventual goal of understanding why it is that you have years when sixty-five or seventy percent of your team underperforms and you have years where everyone on your team is on the same page and they play great.”
A story about a rookie Xander Bogaerts and a veteran Dustin Pedroia from Assistant General Manager Raquel Ferreira: “I said, ‘Dustin I need you to take care of Bogey. He lost his suitcase on a flight and doesn’t have any dress clothes for his call-up.’ He said ‘I got you, Raquel.’ This is how our guys are supposed to do it. I always say you have to pay it forward. This is what you do. I knew somebody had done it for Dustin, said Ferreira, recalling how Manny Ramirez had bought suits for Pedroia his rookie year. “The next day, Dustin Pedroia sent me a picture. He had had somebody in his room fitting Bogey for suits.”
An elite team culture has an element of service BY not FOR the veterans. The leaders actually serve the rookies and it is passed on when the rookies become the leaders.
“A team that prided itself on its baseball acumen reveled in the ability to manufacture wins by amplifying its talent through high-level execution. The dialogue about finding in-game edges was constant in the clubhouse that season.”
On MLB All-Star Mookie Betts early struggles: “Now, struggling at Greenville (Single-A minor league) Betts felt his baseball career approaching a crossroads. “I was actually getting ready to say ‘I’m just going to go ahead and call it a day. It was fun, but these last couple years have been cool, but I’ll take a different route in life and probably go play basketball somewhere’ Betts Recalled.
The path to mastery can be so frustrating. The work done in the dark and obscure environments can tempt even the greatest talents to “call it a day”
“Patience represents perhaps the foundational virtue of the creation and development of a championship-caliber homegrown core. Players do not arrive at their peak performance on schedule, nor can they rush through their acclimation.”
“Mookie Betts had a long reputation for being remarkably inquisitive and curious, dating to the days when he’d shadow his uncle, Terry Shumpert, at Herschel Greer Stadium in Nashville.
“Curiosity” - Possibly the anecdote to the slow, frustrating, path to mastery. Curiosity in testing limits may be the answer to the desire to “call it a day.”
2018 Season Opening Day: “That first game, Bogaerts went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles - and after a seventh-inning two bagger, he positioned his thumb and index finger on his forehead in the shape of an “L” while dancing back and forth. It was a performance of the “Take the L” dance in the video game Fortnite that signaled the humiliating defeat of an opponent. Bogaerts never would have considered such a display prior to 2018; but under Cora, having fun was mandatory.”
Under Alex Cora in 2018, the Red Sox began daily scouting report meetings for all hitters and coaches before batting practice. Meetings included stats, video, tendencies, data, conversations on that night’s opposing pitcher: “That level of detail served several purposes. They focused players on that night’s game, helping to wash away any residue of the previous contest. They helped establish a culture where details mattered, a prerequisite, Cora and Martinez knew, for outstanding execution. And they also served as a sort of a tribal bounding experience, allowing players not just to talk about the game, but to enjoy each other’s company.”