ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Taylor Walls is the Tampa Bay Rays' slick-fielding shortstop.
He’s known for making incredible plays with his glove, but he also wants to be just as dangerous with his bat.
With a .176 batting average, he knows that’s part of his game he needs to improve. To build confidence at the place, Walls is trying something new — journaling.
“It was weird at first, a little uncomfortable, now it’s pretty natural,” Walls told ABC Action News sports anchor Kyle Burger. “I see the benefits of it, how it helps me, and the positive spirits it puts me in day-in and day-out.”
For the last month after each game, he returns to his locker, pulls out his journal, and writes down his thoughts.
Each entry is inked with the date and answers three questions: What did I do well today? What did I learn today? What am I going to do better tomorrow?
“This is such a tough sport; you are failing so much, especially as a position player, as a hitter,” Walls said. “I feel like it’s tough day-in and day-out to see the good you do when the results aren’t what you would be accustomed to thinking are positive.”
Walls came up with the journaling idea with Rays’ mental skills coach Justin Su’a.
“He knows, over time, as he is able to step into each new day, with a clear head, a clear perspective, with an idea of how he is going to do better from yesterday, that’s what he’s after,” Su'a said. “He might go 0-4 with four strikeouts, and he can learn from that. He might for 4-4 with four hits; he can learn from that. Taking that same learning approach every single day.”
Walls has found a way to let it work for him.
“I actually noticed it the first at-bat after I committed to it,” Wall said. “I remember after that first at-bat, I actually struck out, and getting back to the dugout. Normally I would be looking into the iPad…soaking in the failure of that strike out into my next at-bat, which it would probably carry over into.
“I found myself on the bench looking at all the positive things that came out of it. I was right on time, I had a great approach, and I saw the ball well.
“I saw myself taking the small positives out of something that resulted in a negative outcome. It put me in a greater position, it kept me on the bench cheering my teammates on, it set me up for the next at-bat and the rest of the game.”
