Mel Velasquez - The Intangibles: A Guide to Evaluating the Non Physical Side of the Game of Baseball

About The Author

M anuel Velasquez is a Hispanic Hoosier with a strong Chicago influence. He was born 20 minutes outside of the Chicago Loop in East Chicago, Indiana, on the Harbor side. If you are interested, you can locate East Chicago on the Chicago XI album cover.

Manuel, affectionately called Mel by his parents since infancy, is an Indiana University and a Purdue University graduate. He is the former Bureau Chief of Mental Health for the city of Chicago and has dedicated his career to working with underserved populations (e.g. underachieving youth, emotionally disabled adults, and marginalized seniors). He has coached baseball from T-ball to High School. Currently he resides in Las Vegas, where he is a Middle School Behavior Support Specialist, a High School Baseball Coach, and a College Instructor. His writing experience consists primarily of writing grant proposals and community service programs. This is his first commercial writing venture.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife, Evelyn, and my wonderful son, Isaac, who allowed me to have sufficient private time to write and encouraged me to get this book done. Also, to Pa and Terry, who bought me my first baseball glove and sent me off running to play ball from dawn to dinner. Finally, I give glory and gratitude to God for giving me the inspiration to write, which is something I now love to do almost as much as I loved playing baseball.

Preface

After watching in 2016 Ken Griffey, Jr. a number 1 overall draft pick, and Mike Piazza, a 1,390 th 62 nd round draft pick, be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame, I got to thinking, how many 1 st rounders, 30 th rounders, and 60 th rounders make it to the Major Leagues? Consequently, I realized estimating a baseball players potential for success and comparative value may be the most difficult among the major sports in America. Unlike the other two major indigenous American team sports, where height and mass virtually have as much to do with success as athleticism and skill, baseball is Americas average size mans sport. Most field position players look like you and me on the street.

Outside of a few exceptions, the majority of field position baseball players range in height between 57 and 63 and range in weight between 155 lbs. to 225 lbs. I understand in todays game pitchers tend to be taller and heavier, but they dont have to be. You can be a Greg Maddux or a Pedro Martinez and still have a dominating Hall of Fame career. I also understand there are some oversized hitters like Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge and a mighty mite like Jose Altuve, but these are the exceptions not the norm.

So, if the average size athlete can play this game professionally I asked, what are the difference makers between a good amateur and a professional? I went on to ask, how can someone qualitify, not to be confused with quantify or qualify, a baseball players value? Then I knew it was the intangibles , but what do we really mean by intangibles? What are we talking about? I couldnt easily answer these questions so there I was with the inspiration to write this book.

One more point to note, as you read this book about the non-physical side of the game of baseball, i.e. the mental, the emotional, and even to a degree the spiritual, it is important to understand it is written as a guide and is not to be read as an epic of any sort. It is purposely written as a brief easy read and is to be used as a source of reference that could be revisited as many times as needed. Furthermore, even though this book is written about and for skilled baseball players, much of what is written is transferable to skilled softball players as well as to athletes in general.

1. Intangibles

Are We All Talking About The Same Thing?

B aseball Team Owners, Executive Administrators, General Managers, Managers, Coaches, Scouts, Recruiters, Parents, Fans, Umpires, the Media, the Players, and everyone else in the world of baseball use the term intangibles about a baseball players non-physical attributes. However, when the term intangibles is used are we all talking about the same thing? Are we all applying a consensus meaning with similar sub-categories? I am not so sure; therefore, I wrote this book to help clarify the concept and makeup of the intangibles for those who need to or like to evaluate baseball talent. An adjacent goal is to provide from a baseball perspective consistency throughout the industry with the utilization of the term intangibles and related terms. Finally, the ultimate goal of this book is to help players assess themselves to make the proper intellectual and emotional adjustments to give themselves the best opportunity to succeed.

The term intangible is an abstract word that benefits from clarification. Intangibles are a cluster of non-physical attributes, traits, and habits . Because the concept of an intangible is non-physical it is a matter of quality rather than quantity. This means non-physical intangibles are assessed and physical tangibles are measured. However, to get a complete picture of a players potential and value both methods must be applied.

The player evaluation process attempts to achieve two primary goals: the first is to predict a players potential for success and the second is to accurately assess a players comparative value. To successfully achieve these two goals, the player evaluation process employs two distinct processes: the first is quantifying and the second is qualitifying. Quantifying is a process that measures and computes distance, time, place, and mass. Quantifying is anything that is measured or computed as a science of numbers, such as: a players size and weight; a pitchers velocity; a runners speed; or a players batting average. (See appendix A for a list of quantifiable tangible attributes and the most common baseball metrics.) Quantifying is, to varying degrees, a measure or computation of how far, how fast, how often, how big, how strong, and how much.

The second part of the player evaluation process, with an attempt to meet the same goals to predict success and assess comparative value, is the qualitifiable intangible process, which is clearly a distinct concept from quantifying as well as qualifying. As defined in the aforementioned paragraph, Quantifying is a process that measures and computes distance, time, place, and mass; Qualifying is a means to determine whether minimum standards are met to be eligible to participate in an event or program; whereas, Qualitifying is a process that assesses and estimates opinions of value. Qualitifying is anything that is assessed for value through the art of conjecture, such as: the confidence and poise of a pitcher; the aggressiveness of a base runner; or the drive and motivation of a player. (See appendix B for a list of qualitifiable intangible attributes and positive personality traits.) Qualitifying is, to varying degrees, an assessment of scale, range, and grade.

Qualitifying is a product of social science that uses descriptions, narratives, grades, and a range of numbers or words in its summations (e.g. a scale of 1 to 5 or a range of strongly agree to strongly disagree). Whereas, quantifying is a product of natural science that uses calculations, computations, and metrical measures with an attempt to arrive at an exact number. Furthermore, to add to the confusion methods of qualifying oftentimes applies a combination of qualitifying and quantifying. For example, it is not unusual for an employer or institution to require an applicant to write an essay (qualitifying) as well as take a written test (quantifying) prior to being hired for employment or being accepted for admission to a college or university.