Brent Mayne

Ross Ohlendorf doesn’t waste time.

A couple of newsletters ago, I broke down the off-season and tried to make a point that better ballplayers use this “break” to better themselves. Here’s a portion of what I wrote….

Take this opportunity to expand your horizons and grow. Pick something…your flexibility, your strength, your mental approach, your vision, your hitting, your pitching, your defense, and dive in, explore, and improve.

Outside of hitting, fielding, and throwing, there’s a million ways to improve your game…try Yoga, Pilates, weight training, plyometrics, or just use your imagination and make something up.

The fact is, you’re either getting better or getting worse. Things don’t stay the same and someone’s always gunning for your job. Whether you’re a 15 year veteran in the big leagues or a high school player, the idea is to keep improving.

OK, so I was reading Buster Olney’s excellent ESPN baseball blog (the best baseball information source on the planet by the way) and he turned me on to a great article about a Pirate pitcher named Ross Ohlendorf. Turns out this guy is spending his off-season as an intern in the Obama administration’s Agriculture Department.

Apparently he spends half the day interning and the other half working out for baseball. Talk about making the most of one’s off-season time. This guy’s taken things to a whole different level.

“If you know Ross,” said Ohlendorf’s baseball coach at Princeton, Scott Bradley, “everything about his life is always about making himself better and making himself more educated. He’s not someone who wants to sit and not do anything. This is a perfect fit for him.”

I just thought this was a great example to share with you and tell you “I told you so…..” To read the whole article, click here.

Ross Ohlendorf - pitcher, political intern, and international man of mystery.