On July 14, Major League Baseball’s Amateur Draft concluded. And with that, the professional careers of hundreds were set to begin. As our newly drafted Diamondbacks descended upon Salt River Fields in Scottsdale for their first introduction to pro ball, I surveyed the room, asking some in the group if it was hard, in their eyes, to have gotten drafted. The consensus answer was an obvious yes, with many remarking on the years of work and dedication that had gotten them to this point. So, imagine their shock when I told them that getting drafted was the easy part.
Do not misunderstand the messaging here. This was not about knocking down a group of highly talented players who were justifiably on cloud nine. Instead, it was an effort to get them to change their lens, with a far bigger goal in mind than just being selected by a big league club. They should all carry an immense sense of pride in being one of roughly 600 players to hear their name called on draft day. But as challenging as it is to get drafted, it is monumentally harder to reach the big leagues, and even more difficult to stay there.
For most of their lives, these newly-signed pros have always been judged amongst their peers. Little League was grouped by age, most travel ball tournaments are organized by grad class, and high schools and colleges can be broken down by county, conference, division, or state. They were all most likely the proverbial “big fish in a small pond” at some point, but that was in comparison to their peers, current talent level, or geographic location.
In professional baseball, the bar changes.
No longer are they going to be evaluated against the draft class of 2025 or other prep standouts. Compared to all of the other players who didn’t get drafted, everyone in that room was “good,” but once their careers get going, they won’t even be looked at amongst their fellow minor leaguers in A-ball, or Double A, or Triple A. Instead, everything will be framed relative to what they need to do in order to become Major Leaguers. Compare our draft class to those playing in the major leagues in 2025 and most have a very, very long way to go. Right now, as they enter professional baseball, what is “good” to them is no longer good compared to the level they ultimately want to get to. And the sooner they truly realize that themselves, the sooner their own personal development can take off.
Legendary Hall of Fame softball coach Sue Enquist (see Quick Pitch article from the September/October 2025 issue) once told me that her UCLA program, while already at the top of the sport, remained there and continued to push the ceiling higher because their mindset was that they would never truly arrive. No matter how good they were—and they were the best in the country for an extended period of time—they recognized there was always the opportunity to get better, chasing a destination that no one could reach. They never rested on their successes.
You have to be very good to get drafted into professional baseball. You have to be even better to make it to the Major Leagues. And you have to be amongst the very best of the best to stay there.
Regardless of the level at which a player may be, when they have the mindset that their “good” is not good enough, they have taken an important step in the direction of where they want to go.