Ep 68: Making It to the Show by 21, Overcoming Setbacks and Reinventing Yourself After Playing - Michael Barrett

Former big league vet and Silver Slugger Award winner Michael Barrett shares from his 12 year MLB playing career, coaching in the Nationals organization and getting into business afterwards on Episode 68.

Here are some of the highlights from our conversation…

1. The setbacks he faced in the initial years after making it to big leagues by 21 after being a 1st round pick out of high school and how he overcame them to have a long big league career. He includes the detailed story of making two costly errors on Opening Day 2000 in front of 52,000 fans as well as being demoted to AAA later in the season.

2. How current players can navigate playing in an analytics driven world without selling out who they naturally are as a baseball player

3. While Michael eventually established himself as a catcher, he played between third and catching in the early days of his big league career. He shares how he finds himself in a similar spot today in business wearing multiple hats running the Georgia Roadrunners travel ball program and acquiring his real estate and insurance license only a few years removed from coaching for the Nationals.

4. The trap of comparison and why it is imperative to focus on running your own race whether it be in baseball or business

Michael's story shows how to go beyond simply realizing a dream by achieving long term success within that dream. 

To connect with Michael, you can find him on LinkedIn or his website at barrettbaseball.com.