We live in a social media driven society. The National Pastime has changed, because we no longer pass the time. Where we used to listen to baseball games on the radio and wait for box scores in the paper the next day, we now follow play by play from our phones and tweet our reactions. And I love the tweet put out by Washington Nationals pitcher Jacob Condra-Bogan after a poor outing yesterday.
Condra-Bogan was selected in the 32nd round of the 2017 draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. He didn’t sign. He played 11 games in the Independent Leagues before getting his first chance with an affiliated organization. He was pitching in “A Ball” with the Kansas City Royals when the Nationals needed to unload Brian Goodwin for roster space in 2018. He’s 26 years old and never pitched above Double A.
Washington Nationals non-roster invitee Jacob Condra-Bogan was roughed up in his first outing, though has his mind right to get back on track.
In camp as a non-roster invitee, with slim to no chance of making the team, every outing is going to be under the microscope to determine which level he’ll begin at, or if he even is given an assignment.
And he doesn’t record an out his first time to the mound this spring.
Yet, his mindset is unfazed. He knows this is an opportunity to show what he can do. He knows the score is meaningless in a spring training game. Jacob Condra-Bogan isn’t going to hide and wallow in self-pity, he’s going to lace up his spikes today and take the ball if given the chance.
There are critics out there. Even in the second game of a spring training season, some are spewing venom because the Nationals bullpen has blown leads late in both their games. These pundits have hidden behind their computer screens and sent tweets voicing their opinion.
Condra-Bogan sent a tweet as well.
Man first outing didn’t go well at all. Second one has no where to go but up ⬆️ No shame, a little bit of vulnerability not gonna lie but never as far away as it may feel! pic.twitter.com/6ARbz32ZcI
— Jacob Condra-Bogan (@JConBo) March 1, 2021
An ugly pitching line, for sure. In the big picture, this may be the only documentation of his performance. Condra-Bogan put it out there himself. Not afraid, not ashamed. He may never make the big leagues, but he has the closer’s mentality. Yesterday is forgotten, today is a new day.
I admire everything about this situation and wish this guy the best of luck moving forward.