Professionals I Look Up To

    Every athlete that is dedicated and cares about their sport and their success looks up to a professional. Baseball is no different and has a wide array of players to idolize and model skills after. For many it is just a really good player that everyone likes and knows like Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Beltre, etc. For me, I like to focus on players that are less known for their production and instead look closely at players' mechanics and what special things about them make them a professional. Also, I look at players that I play the same position as. In this case, I am a catcher so I look up to people who play the same position as me.

    My favorite player that I model my game after the most is Jonathan Lucroy, who played for my two favorite teams, the Brewers and Rangers. The reason that I like him as a player is because he is known for his great defense but is also one of the best hitting catchers in the game, and today it is very hard to find a catcher that excels at both. Specifically, he is really good at throwing out base stealers, and owns one of the best percentages in that category. To add to that, last season Lucroy was among the league leading catchers in framing (the act of making a ball appear as a strike to the umpire). These two skills together form a very good and serviceable player that can be utilized in every teams' system.

    Lucroy's hitting is also one of the best attributes about him that makes him a valuable commodity. Last season he was among the league's best catchers in Batting Average (the average performance of a batter, expressed as a ratio of a batter's safe hits per official times at bat). This is one of the most important stats to determine how dependable a player can be. He also doesn't really hit for power like me, so instead he hits balls hard instead of far. This can lead to more base hits and doubles. Which Lucroy owns the MLB record for most doubles hit in a single season by a catcher.