Pirates coach delivers message on discipline, opportunity to PSU baseball team

Before Rick Sofield delivered his speech as the keynote speaker at Penn State’s First Pitch Dinner, he got a chance to meet and talk with the Nittany Lions.

His message to the team was similar to the one he sent from the podium Friday night at the Penn Stater Conference Center and Hotel.

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ third base coach was a little more intense earlier in the day, Penn State senior outfielder James Coates said, but he hit on the same points.

He’ll soon be having the same discussion with his players at spring training.

“The exact same chat I’ll have with Andrew McCutchen (in February), and Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco and Jordy Mercer,” Sofield said during his speech.

The event kicked off the Penn State baseball season as the Nittany Lions players received their jerseys. Sofield’s message was based on his experiences from a life spent in baseball. He played three years in the major leagues for the Minnesota Twins and spent 10 years in the minor leagues. He’s coached at the college level and worked as a manager in the minor leagues during his career, which includes his latest stop with the Pirates since he was hired in the fall of 2012.

Sofield tried to pass along what he’s learned to the Nittany Lions.

“There’s no question that I have so much in common with a group like this,” Sofield said. “All young ballplayers. I was one myself. It’s what I do now. I teach. I’m an instructor. I’m a teammate, so I just love what I do.”

His speech focused on one theme — “the pain of discipline vs. the pain of regret” — that Sofield related to life and baseball.

He came up with the slogan from his own life and from speaking at groups and with players, though he said it’s probably been said “a thousand times” before by others.

It’s about making choices.

There’s a pain of discipline, a price that must be paid to take care of business. Or there’s regret.

For Coates, it’s about putting in the work now to have a good 2016 season, so he and his teammates don’t feel that regret later.

“I think being a senior,” Coates said, “it really hit home for me.”

It’s also about being selfless, Sofield said.

That pain of discipline can be about making a tough decision that may not benefit you. Regrets can be the result of thinking about yourself before others.

In baseball, Sofield said, success is connected to being selfless.

“The things that never change when you look back at it is selfless teams, selfless groups are successful,” Sofield said. “When you don’t care who gets the credit, something special’s got a chance of happening. It’s true. When you take yourself out of the equation and everything you do is predicated on being the best you can be for someone else. You’ve got a chance to be a factor in the Big Ten on the field and off the field.”

The coach stressed the importance of academics to the players during his speech.

And he said they have the coaches and resources to succeed on the field, too.

“You’ve got all the opportunities to be the best you can be,” Sofield said. “The question is will you as an individual take advantage of it? Pain of discipline vs. the pain of regret.”

The Nittany Lions finished with an 18-30 record in 2015.

And they’re looking to make the most of 2016.

“If there’s ever a time to turn this program around,” Coates said. “It’s this year.”

Penn State opens the season Feb. 19 against Monmouth at the USA Baseball Complex Tournament in Cary, N.C.

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Pirates coach delivers message on discipline, opportunity to PSU baseball team."