Trystan Magnuson updates Stay
Tuned for updates on Trystan Magnuson’s journey through the minor
leagues. He finished 2009 with the New Hampshire FisherCats. He also
won a bronze medal in the 2009 Baseball World Cup with Team Canada,
(born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) and named to the All
Tournament Team as The Best Relief Pitcher in the World Cup. Trystan
will post updates on his journey here on this website. Trystan
Magnuson is proud to be a part of FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes
http://fcalouisvilleky.blogspot.com/
I got to pitch in the MLB Future AllStars game. What a
blast! We got put up in the Marriot in Anaheim and got to be major
leaguers for a day. We stayed in their clubhouses, ate their food and
snacks, it was incredible. It was like taking everything bad in the
minor leagues, the food, the travel, the clubhouses, the fields and
turning them upside down to being the best part of the experience. When
I got in the game I was so amped I walked the first guy on 4 balls in a
row. Not only was I amped because of the game and the hype surrounding
it, but I was competing against the best of the best in the minor
leagues, guys who 70% will be in the major leagues within the next year
or two. So, I was pitching against better competition than I was used
to. But
I learned some very valuable lessons. It's still a baseball game, not
much changes. Guys swing at balls, pitchers make bad pitches. The only
thing that changes is that the batters have more power, mistakes get
hit harder, plays are made faster, pitches move sharper, guys run
faster. It's the same game, just better. So, what I have to do is play
the game, do my thing, and as with the Futures game when I threw
strikes, I got some guys out. After the Future game I went to the AA
AllStar game. It was really cool to get to hang out and play with all
the guys you've been playing against all year. It was a really fun
experience.
In the second half of my
updates I include a section about what I'm thinking. You may wonder why
I don't just stick to baseball, maybe tell a funny story about things
off the field, but leave it at that. There is a youtube video of
someone having an interview with Penn Jillette, of the magic duo Penn
and Teller. In this video Penn goes on to explain how one day a man
came backstage and was trying to Prostheletize him, trying to convert
him to Christianity. Penn doesn't believe in God or heaven and hell,
but he didn't mind this guy trying to convert him. What did bother him
were all the people that he knew who were Christians who had never
tried to convert him by explaining the gospel. These people believed
that Penn was heading towards disaster (hell), because he did not
believe that Jesus Christ died a substitution death and that they need
to
repent and follow God, and they didn't even try to tell him anything
about it. He explains how much these people must hate him for not
trying to save him from what they believed to be impending doom. If you
saw a friend doing something dangerous that could hurt them, how could
you not say something? That is why I can't say nothing. I'd really
have to hate the people I know to do nothing if I thought they were
heading to such disaster (not to mention not having God's presence in
their lives right now). So, if you don't believe in Jesus, please take
the second half of my messages as I care about you and want to share
with you something that I believe will save you. Please read this next
passage, it explains more.
Ezekiel 33:1-9 (The
Message)
God's Message came to me:
"Son of man, speak to your people. Tell them, 'If I bring war on this
land and the people take one of their citizens and make him their
watchman, and if the watchman sees war coming and blows the trumpet,
warning the people, then if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet and
ignores it and war comes and takes him off, it's his own fault. He heard
the alarm, he ignored it—it's his own fault. If he had listened, he
would have saved his life.
6 "'But if the watchman sees war coming and
doesn't blow the trumpet, warning the people, and war comes and takes
anyone off, I'll hold the watchman responsible for the bloodshed of any
unwarned sinner.'
7-9 "You, son of man, are the watchman. I've
made you a watchman for Israel. The minute you hear a message from me,
warn them. If I say to the wicked, 'Wicked man, wicked woman, you're on
the fast track to death!' and you don't speak up and warn the wicked to
change their ways, the wicked will die unwarned in their sins and I'll
hold you responsible for their bloodshed. But if you warn the wicked to
change their ways and they don't do it, they'll die in their sins
well-warned and at least you will have saved your own life.
A
lot has happened since my last update. I gave up a bunch of runs, but
learned a lot and feel like I'm better now than I was before. I
learned and made an adjustment in my last outing and that resulted in
one of my best outings of the year 2 1/3 innings, 1 hit, 4 strikeouts,
0 walks, 0 runs. The only hit I gave up was a bouncing groundball up
the middle, he got lucky it found a hole. But, the big news is that I
was selected to play in the MLB Futures All-Star game. This is a huge
honor. It's like making the All-Star team for the entire minor
leagues. Just to top it off I made the AA Eastern League All-Star team
as well. So, it's going to be a fun week flying out to Anaheim for the
Futures Game and then back to PA for the AA All-Star game. I have
learned a lot about pitching the last week or two and I'm excited not
only for the opportunity to plan in these games, but also knowing that
I can improve my pitching. I heard a story that someone told about
Greg Maddux, one of the best pitchers of all time. He was supposed to
come in and speak to the minor league pitchers in the Braves
organization for a half hour and then take some questions. He comes
into the room and he says, "I have won the Cy Young award (best pitcher
in MLB) and have played in the World Series. They pay me a ton of
money because I can command my fastball." Then he gets up and walks
out of the room. If you can command a moving fastball you are going to
succeed.
In
baseball some of the most dangerous words and damaging words are the
words "be careful". There is no way you will play aggressively enough
to win if you are being careful. Being timid and reserved in your
actions will result in getting crushed by your opponent. As a pitcher,
one of the most important things for me, as my catcher tells me when we
talk out on the mound, is to "trust it". That means when I decide to
throw a cutter I'm going to put everything I have into it. I am going
to believe that this pitch is the pitch I want to throw and I throw it
with conviction and intensity. I can't tell you how many times I have
thrown a pitch and been not too sure about it, or tried to place it
perfectly where I want it, and it gets hammered by the batter. There
is a saying that a bad pitch with conviction is better than a good
pitch that you are unsure of. Having pitched as much as I have I know
this is absolutely true. When it comes to my faith, it is the same
way. If I live carefully, blending in, I quench the Holy Spirit within
me. That is a sad place to be. Just like in baseball, I can't have a
successful relationship with God unless I "go for it". It's just like
going out on a date with someone, if they're not into it, it's no fun.
God has called me and us to not just sit back on our faith, but to put
it into action and "go for it" in every aspect of our lives. God wants
to be not just a part of our lives, but our life. Just believing in
your pitches won't mean that you will get the batter out either,
believing and then putting that belief into action will produce the
results. A tree will be known by its fruit, not just it's belief in
it's fruit. Haggai 2:4 (The Message) "'Yes,
get to work! For I am with you.' The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is
speaking! 'Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left
Egypt. I'm living and breathing among you right now. Don't be timid.
Don't hold back.'
I have continued pitching well. My ERA is now down below 1.00 which is
crazy. My last outing was exciting. We made a comeback in the 6th
inning so that the score was 7-6 and I'm going in. We had lost a few
games in a row, so we really needed a win. I got ahead of the first
batter I faced, but he did a good job as a hitter and hung in on a
changeup and hit it the other way. That makes the inning a lot tougher,
when you don't want to give up any runs and the first guy gets on. It
changes the whole dynamic of the inning because now a double in the gap
scores him, or you get a guy out, but he moves him over and now the
runner is in scoring position. I got the next two guys out with lazy
fly balls to right field, but the runner stole 2nd base after the 2
outs, so now its runner in scoring position, 2 outs. If I give up a
base hit, he scores and it's a tie game again. After battling to 3-2, I
jammed the hitter with a pitch inside and he hit a lazy ball to the
shortstop. It was a more exciting inning than I wanted it to be. For
about a week or two I was struggling with my command more than I had
this season. I was walking guys with pitches that weren't even close.
Things happen because something causes it to happen. If I don't get my
throwing arm up into the power position before I try and throw, my arm
is going to be late and I am going to do one of two things: I am going
to try and throw too early and I will leave the ball high and away
armside or I am going to try to be quick with my arm and hank the ball
low and away to my gloveside. I am glad that I caught this relatively
soon after falling into this bad habit because it is an uneasy feeling
being out on the mound and not really knowing that I can throw the ball
close to where I want to throw it.
AA is very different than the lower minor leagues. Here, players have
been around awhile. Some on my team this year have been in professional
baseball for 9 years compared to my 2 going on 3. It creates a much
different atmosphere to play in. There are guys here to whom nothings
is new and the season is just the same old, same old. The older players
expect us youngins to take care of all the stuff, double up on bus
trips (two guys to a pair of seats, not easy for big guys especially
when going to Akron here on monday 14 hrs). They expect us to fill in
for duties during Batting Practice (BP) when they get to shag or do
whatever fancies them that day. Jokes are made on us. The
responsibilities and labors fall to us. Not a big deal right? Well it
gets old after 2 months, pulling more weight than the other guys. I
have absolutely no problem doing work and hard work if everyone is
pitching in and pulling their weight. When you have to pull harder
because others are slacking it can get really frustrating really
quickly. I am not married, but AA might be a little like it as we spend
24/7 together with the same guys. Now imagine a marriage where both
people weren't pulling the same direction or just one person is pulling
2 peoples worth of weight. That is a tough spot to be put in. When it
happens, just makes me want to deck one of the older guys. But, that is
not what God has called us to. That is not the heart that Jesus
demonstrated and it's not the heart that the Holy Spirit builds in us.
38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'
39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you
on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants
to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If
someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the
one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow
from you." Matthew 5:38-42 With the Holy Spirit alive in our hearts, we
don't play by the same rules as everyone else does. We don't play one
for one, tit for tat, insult for insult, service for service. That is
not God's heart. I know how lost I would be if God played by those
rules. I can't imagine the debt I would owe. We play by receiving an
insult without retaliating, by serving when they can't give anything
back, lending without expecting it to be returned. So, when the
reponsibilities, duties, insults, abuses, and labors are thrown at me
my heart should happily except them because that is the heart of my
Savior, serving us, knowing that we have nothing that could repay Him
dying on the cross in our place.
Spring Training ended well, I made the AA New Hampshire Fishercats. I’ve been
up in NH for the past week and a half. My first outing was a week and a
day from the last time I pitched in Spring Training. I pitched again
two days ago and for the third time tonight. Both early outings were a
little rough. I haven’t quite pitched the way I did during Spring
Training. My cutter and changeup have been excellent, but my fastball
has not been so great. The good news is that I have been throwing
strikes with everything. The worst thing that could happen would be if
I was beating myself by walking guys instead of throwing strikes and
making the batters beat me. Baseball is a game of adjustments and like
so many times in my baseball I have to make an adjustment again and get
back on track. My plan right now is to mix my pitches more. I have been
just too predictable and predictable pitches, even if they are good
pitches, will get hit. I was throwing good pitches getting strike one,
strike two and then throwing the same pitch again and they have been
doing a good job of hitting it. By mixing my pitches and locations, it
will get a lot more difficult for the hitters to know where I am
throwing the ball and what speed. The next part of my plan comes from
my brother, a giver of great wisdom in my life. He asked me, “Are you
doing your dry throws and working on your explosion?” I said, “No… I
need to.” One thing I have been thinking about is the idea that I don’t
want to just get to the majors, I want to dominate when I get there
which means I need to train for that. So, needless to say I am going to
start doing more dry-mechanics work and explosion work to remind my
body what it feels like to throw hard and to develop mechanics where I
can repeat that explosive delivery. Thank you Sam for reminding me what
I need to be doing! I pitched tonight and my adjustments worked. 1 2/3
innings, 1 hit, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts. “After this a lot of his
disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then
Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: ‘Do you want to leave?’ Peter
replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life,
eternal life.” John 6:66-68. Where could we turn? Baseball? I don’t
even remember the MVP from 4 years ago. That’s a pretty short lifespan.
New presidents come and go, but society’s problems persist.
Relationships have their ups and downs, this day and age divorce is
rampant. We can’t we find our worth from other people because
invariably they will let you down. You have experienced it personally
or you know many who have. Money can’t buy love or happiness. We can
only base our understanding upon the little information we have
gathered. That information changes as we gather new data. Scientific
fact changes and is never complete. Philosophical leaders may have some
good ideas, but in the end they are in the grave and none of their
ideas could save them. Jesus asks us, “Will you also go away?” I can
only answer like Peter, where would I go? Only You can give life.
Spring Training is in full swing. I threw in a AA game and got through the inning without
giving up a run or walk. I threw
really well apart from one cutter that didn’t cut and the batter hit it to the
warning track. I got out of the
inning without letting him score.
I threw in a AAA game on Friday.
I pitched 2 innings, gave up 2 hits (one an infield single), 0 runs, 0
walks, 2 strikeouts. My sinker
(2seam fastball that you get on top of so that it moves down not just across)
was really good and I mixed in my 4 seam fastball well. So, for the next little bit of Spring
Training I am going to be working on my cutter and just getting more
comfortable and consistent. I am
really happy with where I am now.
One of the best things about baseball is that it is a team game. I have some of my best friends on my
team. We play games and have fun
playing the game. One of our favorite
games is “Back it up”. I may have
told you about it already, but it is a game about living up to what you
say. We “deemed” the game in
within one day of Spring Training starting. Within five minutes one of them asked me, “are you going to
wear your pants tweeners like that all year?” Tweeners are pants that you don’t roll up to your knees and
you don’t pull over your shoes. I answered,
“Yeah.” They said, “Back it
up!” Unreal. I got backed up within 5 minutes. Most recently, we were all talking to
one of our pitching coaches about his new house that he’s about to move
into. He didn’t want to tell us
what the real address was, but finally he told us. I joked, “We’re going to come and toilet paper your
trees.” So, they said, “Back it
up.” Some time before Spring
Training ends, I have to go and toilet paper my pitching coach’s home. Haha. I didn’t say that I wouldn’t take it down after.
One of the worst things about Professional baseball is to
see your friends released, not a part of your life any more. One of my best friends just got
released today. You don’t give
much thought to baseball coming to an end, but when it does, it is a sad
day. It means someone’s dreams
have just come to an end. Maybe
just going through a detour, but for the most part over. The question for him is, “Now
what?” What happens when your life
is built around something? Solomon
says some sobering things in Ecclesiastes, but things that confirm that God is
Sovereign over everything and all time.
I like The Message version of Ecclesiastes 3:9-15. “But in the end, does it really make a
difference what anyone does? I've had a good look at what God has given us to
do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its
time—but he's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to,
whether he's coming or going… I've
also concluded that whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always.
No addition, no subtraction. God's done it and that's it. That's so we'll quit
asking questions and simply worship in holy fear. Whatever was, is. Whatever
will be, is. That's how it always is with God.”
Spring Training is starting this weekend. Mini-Camp is over and was really
good. I have been working getting
my arm back in shape to be able to throw everyday. Just like any training, you go through a period of being
tired because of hard work. As
long as you are not hurting you need to press through this period until your
body gets used to the workload.
Right now I am still working on my two-seam fastball. It’s a tough thing to get the feel and
consistency of mid-season form when you’ve only been throwing a little while
during spring training. The good
news is that my other pitches, my cutter and change-up are looking great. So many times the difference between a
great moving fastball and a straight fastball is as little as just the right
pressure at the right time from one of your fingers. Looking at the different grips that major leaguers use is a
great way to have a starting point for working on your pitches. Even talking to your teammates about
what they throw, how they throw it, what it feels like, is a great way to learn
about how to pitch. I have been
talking with the coaches, especially Mel Queen, a long-time baseball coach who
has been in baseball twice as long as I have been alive. Just talking baseball, pitching,
pitching grips, the little things that make all the difference in the
world. Just filing into my memory
of baseball knowledge and experience.
One of the things I love the most is improving, so anytime I can learn
something or adjust something to get better gets me psyched about putting it
into practice when I pitch again.
It fun to know that you just threw a great pitch and the hitter had no
chance.
When I go to the mall, one of the highest priorities for me
is to visit Brookstone. I’m not
usually at the mall to go shopping or check things out, I am usually there with
someone else who is doing those things.
My priority is Brookstone.
Why? The massage
chairs. I have to say that the
massage chairs at Brookstone are incredible. I don’t need to think about anything, I just get to sit,
take the load off my shoulders and bask in the great feeling of rollers on my
sore baseball back muscles. I
enjoy just being unburdened, untroubled, calm, breathing slowly and deeply,
relaxing. And then what
happens? My minutes are up and I have
to rejoin the world. This world
that gives us chains of sin and temptation that we carry around with us. But, isn’t it true what Jars of Clay
sing in their song “Grace” “God, I admit that I've loved these
chains. And crawling around this
cage sometimes has its advantages.”
A part of us likes these chains that we drag around. The temptation, the thrill, the sin
that easily entangles us, we enjoy.
We enjoy thinking about ourselves, about using our money for
ourselves. We enjoy wishing we had
things that someone else has or wishing we were someone else. We enjoy the thoughts that we hope no
one else will know about. We enjoy
worrying about the future, what it will look like for us. But it gets old, this thinking about
me, this thinking these thoughts, this thinking about myself more than God,
more than others. It just wears me
out. Dragging around all these
things I want to do is hard work.
I just want to have God in my heart. Jesus, take these chains that I drag around, I don’t want
them anymore. I just want to be
free in your presence, unshackled from myself. Isn’t it great to walk with the Lord? To be free, relaxed, untroubled, free
from regret, calm. There’s nothing
to worry about because I’ve got my Savior and He is everything to me.
Jesus went to
Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the
synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the
prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is
written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave
it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue
were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this
scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:16-20
