Hayden Carter Looks Back at Summer Baseball Experience

CSUN Baseball graduate manager Hayden Carter spent this past summer as an assistant coach of the Jamestown Jammers for the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. Now in his second year with the Matadors, Carter had an opportunity to reflect back on his coaching experience and provide GoMatadors.com with insight into his near three-month journey with the Jammers.

Summer baseball is one of the most unique experiences for any college baseball player. In order to fully experience what summer baseball has to offer, one has to venture off to a small-town community and entrench oneself into the game. No school. No homework. Just baseball.

That's exactly what I did this past summer in Jamestown, New York. A small town located an hour and a half away from Buffalo, the list of entertainment options in Jamestown is an extremely short one. So, for the past two and a half months, I engulfed myself into the game of baseball in this small, rural community with the Jamestown Jammers, a member of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.

With the Jammers, we play on the campus of Jamestown Community College, and our players live in the dorm complex located literally right behind the left-field fence. The setup that this organization created for its players allows the players to eat, breathe and sleep baseball at all times. And I loved everything about it. From the two-minute walk from the dorms to our locker room to the angry-looking baseball-playing grape we used as our logo, this coaching experience is one I will remember for the rest of my life.

Serving as the only assistant coach on staff for the second-straight summer, the list of responsibilities I possessed was an extensive one. There were many things I did over the course of the season and hopefully I can utilize those lessons I learned to help take CSUN Baseball back to an NCAA Tournament.

With the DORS, we preach "Nameless/Faceless Opponents" with whomever we play. This serves two purposes: Firstly, it forces us to focus on ourselves and not let the name on the front of the opposing uniforms affect our intent or mindset, and secondly, it makes us treat every opponent the same. It could be the New York Yankees or Tumbleweed Tech; we're going to play DORS Baseball.

With summer baseball, you face players from different schools and different levels. There could be guys who just graduated high school, junior college transfers or guys who play at varying levels (Division I, Division II, Division III and NAIA). Our guys quickly learned that whenever we underestimated a guy based on where he attended school, we performed extremely poorly. They went away from their normal approach and mindset, expecting good results to come to them. Instead, they looked up at the scoreboard and more times than not, we were on the losing side. So, underestimating an opponent was something preached not to do.

In a recent article published on GoMatadors.com by Conner O'Neil, he talked about how developing and sticking with a good routine in professional baseball is essential to experiencing any type of prolonged success. The same could be said about summer baseball.

We played 55 games in a little over two months, leaving only a handful of off-days. The players' eating habits took a turn toward the fast food realm due to a lack of free time to cook. Workout schedules were thrown out due to extensive bus rides and stays in small-town motels without recreation rooms. Numerous aspects that make up a consistent routine are thrown out of whack due to many factors. But at the end of the day, the ones who are disciplined enough to take the extra time to cook a nutritious meal, to maintain a consistent workout routine and to perform several other daily tasks are the ones who will experience success for a longer time. You could see guys tiring as the summer progressed; a result of the grind that's experienced in professional baseball. However, if one is truly determined and dedicated to be successful, they must have a consistent and disciplined routine.

There are many other things I learned over the course of the summer, but I think the main lesson I learned is that for a collegiate baseball player to truly figure out if he wants to be a professional baseball player, he needs to experience summer baseball. The summer baseball that requires a guy to pick up his things and settle down in a small town for a couple months and eat, breathe and sleep baseball. The summer baseball that forces guys to ride a bus for hours and hours, only to stay in the cheapest motels in the sketchiest of neighborhoods. The summer baseball that provides peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every meal of every day.

It may sound harsh or grueling and it most definitely is, but it's beautiful. It illuminates the true hardships of the game. It reveals who has what it takes to make it. Not everyone makes it through a summer, but the ones who do will truly know if they have what it takes to make this baseball thing a living.

California State University Northridge Athletics

Hayden Carter Looks Back at Summer Baseball Experience

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