On Friday I was talking with my good friend and head baseball coach of the 2009 State Championship team Ardrey Kell High School Hal Bagwell.  He had the opportunity to be a part of the scouting team for the U16 of USA Baseball this past summer. 

There were 500 of the best players that came in from all over the country to try out for guess how many spots?

FIVE

How about those chances?  And guess what's even crazier than that?  The five that get selected actually come back at a later date and are part of a thirty six player roster that will then get cut down to the actual eighteen man roster for the U16 Men's USA Baseball Team.

I ask Hal what made the five players that were chosen different from the rest, and other than one of them who apparently was just light years ahead of every other player there, it was all about the intangibles that made the difference.  

"For example J, when the players were asked to run to a line on the field, these five ran and practically sprinted PAST where they were told.   Most of the other players would jog, maybe run to the line, but actually stop short four or five yards and then walk.

At the end of the day, ask just about any head coach and it is the 'intangibles' that is the deciding factor in performance.   Hal has used the Ready To Play Profile last year and will do so again this year to objectively measure what he calls 'the intangibles'. 

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