Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

There's a lot of great ROY candidates out there, but you have to have Matt Duffy somewhere on the list. This is a wonderful article by Duffy about coming up this year with the Giants, being made to feel welcome and being mentored by Casey McGehee.

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/matt-duffy-giants-the-new-kid/

Bill

I read that article a few days ago and it is an excellent one. Duffy alone is a great story. As he points out, he wasn't a high draft pick, doesn't have standout athletic skills, and certainly isn't an impressive physical specimen. However, like Joe Panik, he has ice in his veins, plays the game the right way, and morphs into a superior player in clutch situations. His season at 3b has definitely made the Giants glad Sandoval spurned them, and he should be in the running for the top two NL ROTY spots after Bryant.

As to McGehee, that 's a nice story as well. Too many players, particularly veteran ones, forget their younger rival/teammates are their teammates first and rivals second. They're supposed to help their teammates be the best players they can be. However, as anyone who followed the Young/Montana and/or Favre/Rodgers rivalries knows, the older teammates often do the opposite. So, McGehee literally helping Duffy become the player who could replace him was extremely classy, as was his advice to him to not regret replacing him for a second.

Thanks for sharing the article. Stories like that are why I love this game.

Ditto that "Thank You." Not only is Duffy a great new player on a great ballclub and culture. He's a pretty good writer as well. Great article. It also makes me proud to be a Giants fan since I was a little kid growing up on the East Coast. I often wondered how the Giants won 3 of the last 5 World Series, when I thought some of their opponents had more talent - Especially last year. This article helped to answer that question. Chemistry and culture definitely are a contributing factor to winning. GO GIANTS!!!

There's some great management ideas here for use outside of baseball. How mentoring is about the complete preparation in an atmosphere of trust of those you mentor, how company culture is about respect, how recruitment is about hiring people who could eventually take your place -- they push you to do your best, they push your team to do their best --, how recruitment (drafting) is a long-term process where people shine when they are put into situations that best use their abilities.

Bill

The Giants way is certainly one way to go and obviously has led to great success. Amazon has had no less success but apparently they have a completely different culture. A New York Times article recently placed a spotlight on their practice of "purposeful Darwinism". I'd rather work for the Giants.

Yeah me too.