In an earlier time, like the 20th century, young people grew up playing sports without a lot of detail in their way.
In an earlier time, like the 20th century, young people grew up playing sports without a lot of detail in their way.
You learned how to position yourself in the field, how to get set before you threw a ball, maybe a pointer or two on the proper shooting technique in basketball or keeping your eyes on the ball all the way into your hands in football.
We lacked sophistication, among other things. If you played baseball, your best bet was to go watch a game in person somewhere, major league, minor league, college, high school, whatever was available, just to pick up a pointer here or there.
It was a different world back then, 30, 40 or 50 years ago, when there were no personal computers or social media, no ability to look up instructional videos and discussions online in a matter of seconds.
The connection is that the best players in previous times and the best players today all paid attention and did their homework. Ted Williams famously said hitting a baseball, a round object traveling around 90 mph, with a round bat being swung at 70 mph, was “the hardest thing in sports.”
Somebody else said the key to hitting wasn’t so complicated, it was a simple matter of “see the ball, hit the ball.”
Because it’s baseball, somehow it all makes sense. At some level, most every sport becomes a mental challenge, but baseball might have more above-the-shoulder concerns than other sports. This is especially true in the batter’s box.
Phil Steering, the University of Hawaii at Hilo junior first baseman, seems to understand this central issue more than most players on his team or in the Pacific West Conference.
He emerged from a four-game weekend series against Holy Names with a sparkling .400 batting average (24-for-60), good enough to rank him eighth in conference games, fifth in all games played.
Steering’s work at the plate hasn’t come by accident. In high school in California, he received some quality tutoring by Scott Wallace and Brian Bennett, two people, “who really put their hearts into players, they looked for something they could bring out of anybody.
“I’m just fortunate,” Steering said, “that they found something to bring out of me, they gave me a chance to get better.”
When he got to UHH, Steering’s intense desire to learn how to improve himself might have put him a step ahead of some others in the program, but Jensen Sato, the Vulcans’ hitting instructor these last two seasons, soon realized the distinctive habits of this player set him apart.
“He’s a very disciplined young guy,” Sato said, “he goes into the cage with a purpose, he has an idea, a plan, every time he goes up to the plate.
“Without question, he’s one of those guys you can call a student of the game, he really studies pitchers, he wants to know all he can about them.”
If you go to a UHH game and get there early enough, when starting pitchers are warming up in the bullpen, you might notice Steering watching every move. You might not be able to see him in the dugout from your seat, but he focuses on the opposing pitcher’s strategy against his Vulcans teammates.
When the pitcher falls behind in the count, can you expect a fastball? Does he seem to fall in love with a breaking pitch? What’s the first pitch he throws?
“He has all this information he picks up in games,” Sato said, “and then he just wants to be in the cage all the time, working on different things. You just don’t see that a lot, to be honest.”
It all seems to pay off because Steering has a specific plan when he steps into the batter’s box. Sato thought it was best evidenced on a recent road trip when the Vulcans were playing in Irvine, California, against Concordia.
“He saw enough that he knew he would get an off-speed pitch,” Sato said. “First two pitches were fastballs he let go, both were strikes. The third pitch was the one he wanted, off-speed, but he was ready. He hit it off the top of the right field fence.”
With another year of college baseball ahead of him, Steering recognizes he is still learning the game, but from a mental perspective, he has conquered an understanding that can defeat a lot of young players.
“One thing I learned for sure,” he said, “is that baseball is a brutal game of failure upon failure and there are some guys who just can’t handle that. For me, the more information I have coming into a game or an at-bat, the more confidence I have when I’m up there.”
Steering has gained respect around the conference as one player in the UHH lineup that can beat you, so it isn’t uncommon to see him walked intentionally with first base open, as happened in the Holy Names series.
His approach at the plate is calm, almost serene. Some hitters come in swinging the bat constantly, adjusting their stance in the box, moving their hips, bending up and down at the knees, all very noisy, as they say in the game.
Steering is a still photo, not that much different from a picture of a bowl of fruit on the kitchen table. He finds his spot, settles in and concentrates on the pitcher, content to wait for the pitch he wants.
“I believe in routine,” he said. “I warm up on a (batting) tee just to get the right feel for the swing, I want it to be short, compact, quiet. If I can get that in a few minutes, I’m good, if not, I’ll keep at it.”
He takes that feeling to a short toss drill to further absorb the swing into his muscle memory, and then to batting practice and finally, the game.
“Smarter work is better than hard work,” he said, “that’s one thing I learned that seems to be working. Know what you’re doing, know what you want out of your swing and go work on it, keep it simple.”
Steering is the kind of player coach Kallen Miyataki will always find a place for, somewhat overlooked out of high school, but a student of the game who is always working to get better.
“I wish we had about a dozen of him,” Miyataki said last week. “He takes the game seriously, yet he probably has as much fun as anyone playing the game and really, isn’t that what it’s all about?
“We over think the game too much sometimes, it’s about working, sure — this isn’t the easiest game to play — but before that comes having fun. Baseball is fun to play, that’s why young kids do it and it’s something we should never forget.”
It is a fun game to play and the more you understand about the game, the better it gets, a lesson learned by the Vulcans’ first baseman.