What It Takes To Be A Great Teammate

I was following the college baseball World Series a few weeks ago because my beloved Michigan Wolverines were in the final against Vanderbilt.

While watching one of the games, I learned a powerful lesson about success and teamwork from a 19 year-old college baseball pitcher.His name is Kumar Rocker and he’s a 6’4, 255 lb. freshman at Vanderbilt. Coming out of high school in 2018 he was the 3rd ranked right-handed pitcher and rated the 8th best overall player in the nation.

He would have been a first-round MLB draft-pick but was committed to attending college (which means he can’t be drafted by MLB for 3 years…after his junior year in college).When asked what his baseball goal was while attending Vanderbilt, what do you think he said?

“I want to be the best teammate Vanderbilt baseball has ever seen.” Wow!

He didn’t say what you might expect: “I want to break all the school pitching records,” or “I want work on my game before I turn pro,” but “I want to be the best teammate Vanderbilt baseball has ever seen.” Quite a bit of humility, maturity, and wisdom from a 19 year-old who has had people fawning over his athletic skills for years.