LEAD Ambassadors

Stop playing the blame game—and focus on you

July 7, 2022 by C.J. Stewart

Speaking to campers at the Mike Strickland Baseball Camp at Marist School.

I recently received the iPhone 12 Pro Max with 512 GB for my birthday. 512 GB is the largest amount of storage you can get. I really needed this amount because I use my phone as a tool rather than a toy.

I am fascinated about how the phone’s size doesn’t change and what the capacity does without being seen. Before getting more capacity, I had to constantly delete videos and apps I use for work.

So many of my clients over the years have put so much pressure on themselves to get bigger, stronger and faster in order to be acknowledged as elite baseball players. Some, shorter in height, prayed to grow to more than 6 feet.

If you want to become bigger, stronger and faster on and off the baseball field, you have to increase your capacity in my five A’s:

Attitude
Awareness
Adjustments
Aptitude
Athleticism

Without having sufficient capacity in these five areas as a baseball player, you will find yourself blaming the bat, your coaches or your parents, etc.

May through July are the three months that my hitters focus on maintaining skills.

Talent is what you do well
Habits is what you do well without thought
Skills is what you do well without thought while under stress

Before your next practice, talk to your hitting coach and team coach about how they can help you build your capacity for the five A’s.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

How having a good sponsor can lift you to greater heights

June 29, 2022 by C.J. Stewart

L-R: CJ, Emmett Johnson, Sr., and Emmett Johnson, Jr. Coach Emmett (middle) was my youth baseball coach, and remains a friend and sponsor to me.

A good coach is not enough. You also need a strong sponsor. “He who owns the definition owns the movement.”

Before the word coach was used in the context of sports, it was reserved strictly for transportation. A coach got you to where you were supposed to be.

A sponsor is someone who publicly supports and protects someone. So much money is invested each year for good coaching to improve hitting. Then what? You can definitely get your swing to look good and work well, and yet still fall short of getting a baseball scholarship or drafted.

I’ve been a professional hitting coach since 1998. I have learned a lot about what it takes to be professional.

For me, being a professional at anything is:

Being prepared
Being punctual
Making promises
Keeping promises

One of the major reasons I have been able to work with more than 40 clients in the Major Leagues—with hundreds who have competed in the NCAA—is because of my ability to publicly support and protect them. I’ve had to make calls on their behalf to convince college coaches and MLB Scouts that my hitters were worth the financial investment.

Sometimes, they were receiving opportunities based on their project-ability. Their bat speed may not have been quick enough at the time they were being scouted at age 16. Their ability to make quick adjustments was not a habit yet.

Training with me, my hitters will be committed and disciplined.

Commitment is making a promise firstly to yourself and for yourself. Discipline is doing what needs to be done especially when you do not want to do it.

Get good coaches on your team. Be sure to also have a strong sponsor.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

Why you must do more than just look the part

June 22, 2022 by C.J. Stewart

Amit Kalantri once said, “Schooling doesn’t assure employment but skill does.”

At age 14, I was 6 feet and about 175 pounds. I was really fast, had a good arm and above average bat speed.

I was sure I would become a Major Leaguer because everybody told me how much talent I had. But I had to find out the hard way that talent is the floor and skill is the ceiling.

Talent is doing things well, while a habit is doing things well repeatedly without thought. Skills are doing things well without thought while under stress.

As I attend Travel Baseball tournaments this summer, I see a lot of talented players who look the part. But the sign of any adversity causes them to be paralyzed at the plate.

The best way to convert talent to a habit is getting tens of thousands of reps.

There are seven parts of the swing and it takes 3,000 reps to build a habit:

Stance/Load
Timing
Tempo
Tracking
Approach
Contact
Extension/Finish

That’s 21,000 reps.

Habits are built with a lot of practice. Skills are developed when you practice under pressure. I refer to this as training. Practicing and training are not the same thing.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

What it takes to stake your claim at success

June 8, 2022 by C.J. Stewart

Paulo Coelho once said, “Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.”

Who’s your favorite MLB hitter?

Mine is Mookie Betts. Standing at 5 feet 9 inches tall, he is arguably the greatest offensive threat in the Major Leagues.

I’ve played professional baseball and I have coached more than 40 MLB hitters, and I can tell you that Mookie seems to play the entire MLB season in maintenance mode.

I have four phases of development that my amateur hitters navigate through in order to become Major League hitters and May through July is the maintenance phase.

It takes about three months for amateurs to do what could be done in three days to three weeks for Major Leaguers. The difference is that pros rely on skills, while amateurs rely on talent.

Talent is doing things well. A habit is doing things well repeatedly without thought. Skills is doing things well without thought while under stress.

People with skills welcome adversity while amateurs run from it. People with skills can name specific problems they are experiencing and claim responsibility for their failure, while amateurs often complain and blame.

Do you have hitting skills?
How did you develop them?
What do you do to maintain them?

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

Tilling, planting and harvesting the seeds you sow

June 1, 2022 by C.J. Stewart

Robert Louis Stevenson once said, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

May through July are the months my hitters focus on maintaining skills. These months are harvesting time. Before you can reap a harvest, you must first till the ground, plant the seeds and nurture the crops for weeds.

The calendar year starts in August and ends in July. This is the time we try new things to determine what doesn’t work and what does work.

November-January is when we build strength and habits based on what works.

February-April is the conversion phase converting habits to skills.

How do you define skills?

Talent is doing things well. A habit is doing things well repeatedly without thought. Skills are doing things well without thought while under stress.

If you are not playing under cruise control this summer, you need to reevaluate your development strategy so that you can experience the joy of reaping what you sow.

To help keep your skills sharp, we have introduced a new type of Skill Build—our Virtual Skill Build—where I can help you develop hitting skills anytime, anywhere using anything.

Remember: Intelligence tops being smart.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

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