Shawn Sedlacek
Shawn Sedlacek is a former MLB player, who specializes in pitching instruction. He was a starting pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, and now looks to share experiences and lessons with the MLB players of tomorrow. Pitching lessons can be set up via phone or e-mail.
seds23@yahoo.com 913-568-6249
Ed Hearn
seds23@yahoo.com 913-568-6249
Matt Burch
Shawn and I were teammates at the professional level. With his work ethic, ability, and professional approach, it is no wonder why Shawn reached the pinnacle of the game. Probably unknown to even himself, Shawn was a big influence on my career and life.
My name is Matt Burch and I was the 30th overall selection in the 1998 June draft. My potential was merely overshadowed by my many poor performances early in my career. However, I was fortunate enough to compete and work with ‘Sed’ on a sometimes daily basis. The way that he went about his business and his confidence that one day he would pitch in the ‘big leagues’ made me a better pitcher. I believed in his confidence and this positive influence still resonates in my own life today.
Shawn Sedlacek, as my friend, has embodied what it means to be a ‘pro’. He has taken the knowledge gained from his playing career and has parlayed that into a fine personal career and has also chosen to relay his knowledge to those that choose to get better because of him.
It is my humble opinion that any aspiring young man who desires a shot at the next level, to seek out Shawn’s tutelage. He, undoubtedly, will be a positive influence and his mastery of the game is only unmatched by one eastern based individual…. Just kidding ‘Big Sed’! Good luck to you and it is my sincere hope that you are lucky enough to find Shawn Sedlacek in your baseball life. I was and am a better person for it.
Best Regards and Hit the Mitt,
Matt Burch
- Manager Elmira Pioneers of the New York Collegiate Baseball League Champions 2007
- Former Professional Pitching Coach
- 2003 Fargo-Morehead Redhawks Champions of the independent Northern League
- 1st Round Pick KC Royals 1998
- Virginia Commonwealth University All-American 1998
- Cape Cod All-Star 1997
Ryan Fry
My name is Ryan Fry. I grew up in Oak Grove, Missouri, in the shadows
of Kauffman Stadium. Like every other kid I knew growing up, I dreamed
of playing high school, legion, college and eventually professional
baseball. As an added bonus, I also grew up in a baseball family. My
Dad was the baseball coach at Fort Osage High School and gave me a great
foundation for the game. I was the prototypical kid that developed
early and possessed greater training at an earlier age than many of my
peers. However, as we got older and other athletes became as big and
strong or stronger than me, I realized I had to compete and win more on
a mental level than a physical level. Fortunately, my legion and
college coaches took the solid physical tools that my Dad had developed
and added the mental training to allow me to compete at increasingly
higher levels.
Oak Grove was and is a small town and at the time I was playing little
league, we played town league during the summer. After the town league
season would wrap up, my Dad and a few other coaches from around the
league would form a tournament team to play in Mustang and Pony
tournaments. I got my first real exposure to solid competition playing
in these post season tournaments. At first, many of my teammates and I
were intimidated playing teams from much larger areas, but as I learned
throughout many years in baseball and other sports competition, once you
step on the field, the game doesn’t really care where you grew up or how
much money your parents make.
As I progressed into the upper levels of summer baseball (Legion
baseball at the time), I began competing against athletes that were 2-3
years older than me. I was very fortunate to begin playing Legion
baseball at the age of 15 and was exposed to very good competition.
Even though I did experience some success at this level, I was also
forced to deal with one of baseball’s inevitable truths, “You will
fail.” Baseball is a game of failure and it can beat you up, if you let
it. I will admit that I was not good at handling failure in my career
and I really think that attitude made the game less fun for me at times
than it can be. You certainly cannot grow to accept failure, but I
would also warn against letting your failures on the field affect other
parts of your game. Some days you don’t hit and some days you can’t
pitch or catch, but you can always hustle and play hard. I honestly
never had a coach in my career that was upset with me because I made a
mistake while hustling.
My Legion baseball coach, Ron Johnson, and my college coach at MU, Tim
Jamieson, were both tremendous influences in my baseball development.
They both were very good in teaching the mental side of baseball and
helping me learn exactly how hard you must work to consistently beat the
guys in the other dugout. I also benefitted a great deal from the
instruction of John Cohen at MU, he’s now the head coach at Mississippi
State. Coach Cohen was one of the most intense baseball individuals I
ever had the pleasure of knowing. His passion for the game was evident
and infectious for all of us. Last but certainly not least, I benefited
from the additional experience I got in summer leagues during college.
Playing in Clarinda, IA for the legendary Merl Eberly and in Cape Cod
for the Y-D Red Sox were experiences that I wouldn’t trade for the
world. Summer college baseball leagues are the ultimate environment for
enjoying the game and gaining valuable experience. You may feel like
you are missing out on the lazy summers that your other friends and
family enjoy, but trust me when I say that the additional experience you
can get during a summer season can be priceless.
I realize that you cannot always select your coaches, but I would
encourage you to learn any small thing you can from each and every
coach. I was fortunate in having great coaches from an early age, but
the overwhelming majority of people in the coaching profession deserve
your respect and attention. For the most part, these people truly only
want what is best for the team and as a young player that is sometimes
hard to recognize or realize. Let the coach/manager worry about their
job and all you have to do is play as hard as you can when given the
chance.
The last piece of advice I would give to an aspiring baseball player is
very simple, “play whenever you can.” I grew up in a neighborhood full
of boys and our parents had a real tough time tracking us down for
dinner time all year long. We were either playing wiffle ball,
football, basketball, dodgeball, you name it. Learn to compete and win
in everything you do, but most importantly, get out of the house and
play something, anything. When you start getting used to the idea of
losing in any aspect of your life, it doesn’t take long for that losing
attitude to infect every area of your life. Be confident, but do it
quietly. No one needs to hear how good you are, they will see it if you
hustle and play hard. Good luck!
Ryan Fry
Ed Hearn
Paying the Price
“He is a sorry dog who wants game, but does not want to hunt for it.”
Everybody in life wants to be a success. The problem is, not everybody wants to work for it. We want instant gratification. The thought of putting in years of dedicated effort to realize a dream often weighs people down. It keeps them out of the hunt.
I remember back in high school, some of my teammates and friends would sometimes get a case of beer and head for the beach to party. They’d say: “Come on, Ed, we got the beer, the babes are coming down. Let’s go.” But I was always the stick in the mud. I’d either mention something about a big paper due next week or remind them: “Hey, we’ve got a game tomorrow.” Then they’d give me that look of resignation and tell me how uncool I was.
When I came back to my hometown of Fort Pierce after my first year in the big leagues, I ran into some of these same high school buddies. They were singing a different tune. “Hey, Ed, we saw you playing on national television. Check out that World Series ring! Man, you’re so lucky!”
After all those years, they still didn’t get it. There’s a price to pay for success.
What kind of price are you willing to pay? If the hunt is long and hard, are you willing to stick it out? Can you put up with the distractions and circumstances that may get in the way of reaching your goal?
Over time, I learned I had to take personal responsibility to make things happen in my life. If you don’t see an opportunity, then you have to find a way to create it. That’s part of the hunt, too. So is doing all the little things necessary to succeed.
Athletic competition, in many ways, is a microcosm of life. Frustration, joy, uncertainty, pain and struggle are all there. People who enter the competitive arena soon realize that there is much more to winning than merely wanting to win.
Having played with and against some of the greatest players in baseball, I have had the opportunity to observe some of these athletes practice a dedicated work ethic that fans never get to see. Hall of Fame basketball player Julius Erving once said: “A lot of people looked at me and they said: ‘Gosh, you’re the luckiest man to have all that talent.’ They didn’t see all the years of practice that went into it.”
Granted, there are times when some professional athletes seem only to go through the motions. But, one thing I learned from thirteen years in pro ball; great players are never complacent.
One day, early in my first season with the Kansas City Royals, I had arrived at the ballpark some seven hours prior to game time. I didn’t come in to do any extra work. I was just looking for a quiet place to read the morning paper and get some fresh air.
When I walked into the locker room, I unloaded my duffel bags and headed for the doors leading to the entrance of the dugout. It was a beautiful day, a perfect time to relax without the noise of teammates, reporters or fans being around.
Then suddenly, walking up the dugout steps, the crack of a bat echoing through the stadium startled me. Who could it be that early in the afternoon? At first, I thought one of the batboys must have skipped school to come out early and have a little fun on the field before all the players arrived. But then, as I looked closer, I saw the number “5″ on a Royals’ practice jersey and I realized, WOW, it’s George Brett!
Yes, this was the very same man who, only a few years earlier, almost became the first player since Ted Williams in 1941 to hit .400 in a single season. This was a thirteen-time All Star player taking batting practice off a tee! Yes, the very same batting tee most of us learned the game with as five-year-olds. The sweat was dripping off Brett’s forehead as he kept pounding away, perfecting that swing that made him one of the greatest hitters of all time.
It’s a scene I have never forgotten. Here I was, only in my second year in the big leagues, watching this future Hall of Fame player busting his rear end in the afternoon heat without a soul in the ballpark. What does this say to you about the value of paying the price? What does this say about always striving to improve yourself?
Albert Gray, a former president of Prudential Insurance Company, wrote a booklet called The Common Denominator of Success. In it, he made a point that illustrates why that sight of George Brett taking extra batting practice by himself is so telling.
Gray wrote: “Successful people do the things other people do not like to do. People who do not want to spend time on tasks that are tedious, boring or strenuous are usually people who fail at life.”
Joe Louis, the great boxer, put it another way when he said: “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”
The hunt for success comes down to this simple point. If you want to soar like an eagle in life, you can’t sit around with the pigeons waiting for handouts.
Brian Sanches
My name is Brian Sanches, I am 30 years old I am married with a 17 month old daughter and a son due in late April. I from Nederland, TX and went to Lamar University. I was drafted in the 2nd round by the Kansas City Royals in 1999. I made it up to double A with the Royals where I played with Shawn and was traded to the San Diego Padres at the end of the ’03 season. Then six months later I was traded again to the Philadelphia Philles. My first call to the big leagues came in May of ’06 with the Phillies. I was sent up and down for 2 years with the Phillies and in ’08 I signed with Washington Nationals and was sent to triple A out of spring training. I made my first AAA All-Star Team and was called up to the big leagues in May. I have just recently signed with Florida Marlins and will attend big league spring training with them in Feb. I look forward to chatting with you guys and good luck and remember there is no substitute for hard work.
Matt Heelan
Shawn, great post and a great story. I have a very different but more basic story about life and my baseball career – if you can call it that. I apologize in advance for the long post.
I grew up coached by my father who was a self-taught baseball guru. My father read everything about baseball especially Charlie Lau’s, “The Art of Hitting .300.” As everyone might know Charlie Lau was the hitting instructor for George Brett. I remember several evenings in a row where my father and me sat in front of the TV watching his coaching video. Simply put he was a master hitting coach.
Fast foward – I was a small, skinny kid in a sport that was increasing interested in larger kids to play the game when I was growing up. I never played for the elite teams growing up, I was always playing for the Bad News Bears teams of my generation. Although, I will say I have enough trophies to remind me that even those teams win some of the time.
Repetion, discipline and fundamentals were the gospel that my father spoke about baseball. So as a little leaguer I gradually became better and better but mainly as a light hitting, great fielding middle infielder.
As I got to high school things began to change. The players were more talented and the spots were more limited. The worse day in my baseball life was my sophmore year – I was cut from the team. I remember trying to figure out how to tell my dad – he was going to be crushed, hell I was crushed.
We got through it and the next year I made the JV but I will never forget that year because I don’t think I played more than 10 innings the entire year. The next year it was the same – again very few innings. I was bored, I was the scorekeeper (yeah that kid) and all my dad kept telling me was that I was better than the kid playing my position. I’ll be honest it kind of diminshed my love for the game and gave me insight into the politics of sports on the high school level.
So here I am at the end of my high school career thinking that my baseball playing days are over. My father see’s an ad in the paper for tryouts at Maple Woods Community College (thank you Albert Pujols). I go, I make the team and play two years there and two more years at Avila University (NAIA). Next, I tooled around for a year or so trying to get on with an independent league team and then the student loan people started calling – time to get a real job.
Later, I went on to coach a 15-16 year team to the national championships only to be beat by some great Florida teams. I still care deeply about passing on what I have learned from the game and from my father.
I guess in the end I learned a lot from baseball and it was really less about the sport and more about just life. Here it is and not really comprehensive but just off the top of my head:
(1) One coach that I had told me this and I will never forget it because it was so profound in my mind. He said, ” Matt think of the game in this way, you are not playing to beat the other team, you are playing to beat the game. It’s not about individual players it’s about can you beat the game. Can you hit the ball no matter who is throwing it? Can you field the ball no matter who is hitting it?” I think young kids that can learn that and still appreciate competition will be better off.
(2) Understand why you are playing the game and your level of committment. Is this a hobby for you – just a bigger version of wiffle ball in the back yard? If so there is nothing wrong with that it’s just what you see in the game. On the other hand do you want to be good if not great than this will take a different level of committment. Ok, if that’s what you want then let’s formulate a plan for how you will get there knowing full and well that it will be tough. A lot of parents think that their kids must choose the later but I don’t agree – you can play sports a a somewhat competitive level and learn a lot in the meatime without ever, “making it to the Pros.”
(3) I know it seems like a cliche but don’t let anyone and I mean anyone (even people you respect) tell you that you cannot make it. I probably was never going to make it to the level that Shawn played at but I played at a higher level with some pretty average talent that was as they say, “coached up” by my father and some other great coaches in order to be able to play college baseball. It was a great accomplishment for me, my father and the people who coached me. (Note: I was a middle infielder that they turned into a pretty good closer who was clocked at 89 mph by the Expos – pretty good for a kid who was 5 foot something and weighed barely over a 100 pounds.)
(4) Lastly, and here is the life lesson part – never forget the relationships you formed as you go through your baseball life. Some of the best times I can remember in my life were bus rides, dorm rooms and just everyday practices. I formed life long friendships with the people I played with and yes we have sport in common but at the end of it the relationships were way more meaningful than just the sport.
Shawn, I hope this gives the kids that you are coaching who might read this blog a little inight into what they can expect as they advance through their baseball lives. Thanks.
Paul Stewart
I heard Kobe Bryant do an interview on the Jim Rome show today and he talked about his dedication and desire and his need to work out. Obviously he is in a different stratosphere, but he is a great example of work ethic. I know when I was in high school there was a guy in Wilmington (about 1 1/2 hours east. On the coast) named Eric Faulk. He was something lik 65-0 in his career as a pitcher. He was awesome. After every game I pitched or played in for that matter I got home and ran about 2 miles. Almost entirely on the fact that I thought Eric Faulk is probably in Wilmington running. I didn’t want anyone to outwork me, or I didn’t want to come to a point when I thought “I could have done more.”
Bret Hoyer
Items I assess when I observe a ball player headed to my program:
- First and foremost: Does he treat others the way he’d like to be treated? There’s no reason to read any further if he won’t follow this timeless mantra. I’ll cross him off my list and move on.
- Does he accept coaching advice? I pay particular attention to his body language when he’s receiving coaching. Does he look the coach directly in the eye?
- I want to know about his performance in school and what other teachers say about the athlete. An athlete that does well in school shows the ability to concentrate and has a certain degree of mental toughness. The ability to focus/concentrate on school material that can be boring at times is a sign of mental toughness and mental discipline. This athlete will accept coaching and will certainly improve throughout the season.
- Whenever I get the opportunity I like to observe an athlete at school, in the weight room, at a practice/game of any sport when he’s not aware that I’m in attendance. I watch his interactions with teammates, coaches, and officials. I pay particular attention to his body language after a “questionable” call. Would he rather be an umpire or a ball player? Does he respond to adversity in a positive manner or does he pout, get visibly frustrated/angry, and subsequently perform poorly/inconsistently.
- I pay particular attention to the athlete’s parents. Does this athlete bring the “baggage” of over zealous parents who are un-intentionally inhibiting their son’s performance? Do his parents embarrass the particular program by constantly berating umpires/officials? This nearly always leads to an athlete that will ultimately struggle in competition when dealing with questionable calls from umpires.
- Is he a “pretty boy” with all the wristbands, eye black, fancy sunglasses, etc. or does he take pride in choosing an appearance that reflects an attitude of a hard nosed ball player that lets his performance speak for itself. His performance on the field is how he gets noticed, not his “accessories”. He’s not afraid to get dirty. He comes to the yard to play ball, not win a photo in GQ. He’s clean cut, wears his school issued uniform the way it was meant to be worn, and carries a quiet confidence that tells everyone he’s ready to take on all comers: any day, any place, any time.
- Once I’ve figured out which, if any, of the above areas I’ll need to work with him on, I’ll start to seriously evaluate his physical skills.
Bill Kooiman
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY FOR A 41 YEAR OLD TO GET IN SHAPE FOR A 35 GAME SEASON? I MAINLY PITCH SO WHAT WOULD BE MY PITCHING PROGRAM? FOR EXAMPLE DO I LONG TOSS,THROW ONLY OFF A MOUND OR NOT THROW OFF A MOUND UNTIL A CERTAIN TIME? HOW SOON CAN I THROW CURVE BALLS?