A Game Within the Game: Focus, Posture, and World Series Baseball
3 ways to compete while watching the Dodgers and Blue Jays.
Get Your Mind Right
For the game on TV — and the one you’re playing this weekend.
Encouragement, practical work, and fun.
“The best advice I got was from Adam LaRoche and Jayson Werth:
‘Every out is magnified. So just take the outs as you get them. Don’t try to make a moment bigger than it is. The best you can, try to block out the crowd.’”
—Blake Treinen
World Series Challenge — A Game to 27
What can you catch? Block out the crowd.
Put your phone in another room and go pitch by pitch. You play too.
Getting in the game requires a stopwatch (or two) and Major League focus.
Forget fantasy football — there’s a game within the game on TV during the World Series.
Keep score on notebook paper that hangs on the fridge to celebrate the house winner.
Beat your brother, or aim for 27 points solo, by catching these times:
Pitcher: Time to the plate (1 point)
Runner: Home to 1B on a grounder (3 points)
Catcher: Pop time — leather to leather (10 points)
Hunt each pitch.
1) Leg Times (1 point)
From the stretch… first pitcher movement → catcher’s glove.
Roki Sasaki’s leg time is solid at 1.27 seconds.
His catcher, Will Smith, averages a 1.94 pop time (glove to glove).
Ricky Henderson’s legendary 3.01 steal time still wins.
The MLB average from steal break to second base is 3.4 seconds —
so Sasaki and Smith beat the average with 3.21 vs. 3.4.
Leg time is the start of a math equation. A typical three-part formula looks like this (thanks to the Acme Scouting Report):
If a pitcher is 1.4 to the plate and a catcher is 2.0 to second, the runner has 3.4 seconds.
Excluding a pitcher’s “tip,” the jump, and the throw’s accuracy, the leg time sets the baseline — and determines whether the manager sends the runner.
Example: Roki Sasaki + Will Smith vs. Jackson Chourio = 1.27 + 1.94 = 3.21 seconds.
That’s a bang-bang play.
How did the distances between mound and bases end up perfectly calibrated for a mini-game decided by 0.05 seconds?
Divine intervention?
2) Home-To-First Times (3 points)
Clock 3 points for each infield grounder.
Start the stopwatch at contact; stop at foot on first base.
You’ll see how fast the Big League game really is — and what it looks like when a runner turns it on.
The difference between safe and out is often less than a tenth of a second.
That’s why the fastest players rise in the draft — and the toughest players run hard even on a grounder back to the pitcher.
For reference, below are the guys big leaguers are chasing — and their home-to-first times:
David Chandler and Chandler Simpson were on a different list — 4.02 and 3.97, respectively.
3) Catcher Pop Times (10 Points)
From catcher’s glove to the middle infielder’s glove on a steal attempt — leather to leather.
Here’s the upper-middle class of Major League pop times:
Catch a pop time during the game and earn 10 points.
On average, there are slightly fewer than two steal attempts per game (between both teams).
Coach Trosky’s Message
Posture is the position of the body that unlocks performance.
Posture minimizes momentum and effort — and maximizes athleticism and outcome.
GYPR: Get Your Posture Right!
When you’re indoors on a rainy or snowy day, master your AP — Athletic Position.
The Infield Mastery program in the Trosky 365 app has 27 drills to show you how.
Get in and get after it!
Daily Infield Training
BetterEveryday
6TN🌎GYMR
—Nate Trosky
A Blueprint for the Baseball Adventure
For families, we’ve created a free eBook: “Coaching Coaches and Parents.”
It’s a 10-minute read that reinforces a powerful idea:
“Reach them where they are. Teach them the boring stuff. Win the small victories.”
See You in “The Class”
In last week’s class, our students were both specific and insightful.
From our list of three mental skills for success on and off the field, we’ve covered:
Lock: Concentration that sustains
Block: Separation task-to-task
Talk: Communication that wins — this week’s focus
Join us Tuesday at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET.
Bring your performance notebook, set reminders, and show up ready.
Or join directly:
See you tonight!
On the adventure,
—Greg Moore
greg@troskyedtech.com
TroskyBaseball.com
Stack Daily Wins
Download the daily program that one notable sports agent called:
“The most substantive training in baseball — they’re teaching what no one else is teaching, especially to young players.”
Last Week’s Class 6: Task-by-Task
35 minutes — separating on and off the field.
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