After watching and coaching a lot of good high school baseball players for a decade, I have concluded that the two biggest personality trait problems are:

Being Arrogant — thinking you are better than you really are and thinking the you “deserve” something just based on who you are

Being Disrespectful —  to teammates, opponents and coaches during competition, during practice and off the field.

The mixture of these two traits is toxic and in my observation is the root cause of:

• Poor work ethic
• Lack of focus on details
• Bad team chemistry & relationships
• Lack of personal responsibility/accountability for game results, practice results and simple things like picking up your own trash and carrying team equipment
• Inability to learn from mistakes and improve i.e not “coachable”.

This is not a long-term success path for baseball players and is not consistent with being a Gamer.

Instead of Arrogant, be modest, humble and confident

Instead of being Disrespectful, be polite, courteous, reverent to other people and the process that you engaged in.

The basic virtues of being a fine young man translate directly onto the baseball field.