Failure by Design: Why Baseball Prepares You for Chaos

A thrown chair blocks the stage door, and a young actor freezes—until a director offers three words that change everything: use the difficulty. We take that vivid moment and walk it straight into the dugout, exploring how coaches can turn injuries, slumps, rainouts, and schedule chaos into catalysts for growth. Rather than gritting our teeth and hoping the plan survives contact with reality, we show how to build plans that thrive on disruption—and teach players to see pressure not as a threat, but as an opportunity.

We dig into baseball’s core truth: failure is part of the design. A .300 hitter is a master of recovery, not perfection. With that lens, we map practical coaching moves that compound under stress—cross-training athletes to create depth, scripting rainout pivots that develop baseball IQ, adopting constraint-led drills that train decision-making, and running stress scrimmages that normalize chaos. You’ll hear clear, field-tested ways to turn an injured ace into a deeper staff, a cold lineup into a small-ball machine, and a position vacancy into a discovery of unexpected talent. Along the way, we break down the leadership cues that matter when the game gets loud: when to lighten the mood, when to tighten the standard, and how to communicate in short, sharp, useful language that focuses attention on the next actionable rep.

If you believe culture is built when things go wrong, this conversation gives you the tools to prove it on Tuesday and again on Friday. We close with a challenge you can use today: name the obstacle, define the opportunity it hides, and design one tiny practice block to exploit it. Subscribe, share with a coaching friend, and leave a review with your best “use the difficulty” moment—we’ll feature our favorites on a future show.

Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.

00:02:02

Show Intro And Weekly Format

00:02:31

The Michael Caine Story

00:03:33

Use The Difficulty: Coaching Lens

00:04:22

Baseball’s Built-In Failure

00:05:10

Turning Setbacks Into Strategy

00:06:00

Leadership Under Pressure

00:07:20

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening And Sponsor Message
• 2:02 Show Intro And Weekly Format
• 2:31 The Michael Caine Story
• 3:33 Use The Difficulty: Coaching Lens
• 4:22 Baseball’s Built-In Failure
• 5:10 Turning Setbacks Into Strategy
• 6:00 Leadership Under Pressure
• 7:20 Lasting Lessons And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

This is the Ultimate High School Baseball Coaching Podcast, Baseball Coaches Unplugged, your go-to podcast for baseball coaching tips, drills, and player development strategies. From travel to high school and college. Unlock expert coaching advice grounded in real success stories, data-backed training methods, and mental performance tools to elevate your team. Tune in for bite-sized coaching wisdom, situational drills, team culture building, great stories and proven strategies that turn good players into great athletes. The only podcast that showcases the best coaches from across the country. With your host, Coach Ken Carpenter.

SPEAKER_01: 0:41

Baseball Coaches Unplugged is proud to be partnered with the Netting Professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. Coaches, are you hoping to get one more season out of your batting cage or L screen? Tired of broken ball buckets or windscreen flapping on the outfield fence? Well, it's time to take your facility to the next level. Wilt Minor and his team at the Netting Professionals specialize in the design, fabrication, and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, batting cages, BP turtles, BP screens, ball buckets, and so much more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, and cubbies. They also work with football, soccer, lacrosse, golf courses, and pickleball. The Netting Pros continue to provide quality products and services to recreational, high school, college, and professional fields and facilities throughout the country. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707. Or visit them online at www.nettingprose.com. Or check out Netting Pros on X, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged, a podcast for baseball coaches, players, and parents to help them get better at their role in America's pastime. I'm your host, Coach Ken Carpenter. Be sure to tune in every Wednesday where I sit down with some of the best coaches from across the country. Whether you're a player or a coach, today's episode will give you something to think about. Have you ever heard of the story about use the difficulty? It's about a young actor named Michael Cain. Yeah, the guy from Batman. And if you're a younger listener, you may not even know who he is. But this happened before he was famous when he was a struggling performer just trying to make it. Let me set the stage for you here. Michael's backstage waiting for his cue. He's about to enter a scene in this play, but there's imp an improvisation happening on stage. A husband and wife in the middle of a heated argument, the husband gets so worked up he throws a chair, and wouldn't you know it, the chair gets wedged right in the doorway. Michael's supposed to make his entrance, but he can't even get through. So what does he do? He sticks his head around the door and says, I'm sorry, sir, I can't get in. There's a chair in the way. The director looks at him and says something that would change his entire life. Use the difficulty. What do you mean, Michael S? Well, if it's a comedy, fall over it. If it's a drama, pick it up and smash it. Use the difficulty. Coaches that phrase, use the difficulty. That's everything we need to know about coaching and about developing players and building championship programs. Think about how many times you've been in that exact situation. Your star pitcher gets injured two weeks before the districts. Your cleanup header is struggling, he's hitting 180. Rain washes out three straight games, and you're forced to play five days in a row. That's the chair in the doorway. There's your difficulty. Here's what I've learned. Even if you map out the perfect practice or game plan, the unexpected happens. The struggle, the obstacle, the curveball life throws when you're sitting fastball. In baseball, we know this better than anyone. The game is built on failure. 300 hitter fails seven out of ten times, makes the Hall of Fame. The best closers blow saves. Championship teams lose 60 games a season in the MLB. Difficulty isn't just part of the game, it is the game. But here's where champions separate themselves from everyone else. They don't just endure the difficulty, difficulty, they use it. The player who struggles to crack the freshman lineup works hard, and two years later he's hitting clean up on the varsity squad. The difficulty didn't define him, his response to it did. That's the power of use of difficulty. When your best player gets hurt, maybe it's time to develop three players instead of relying on one great one. When your team struggles offensively, maybe you discover you've got the best small ball squad in the district. When you lose your starting catcher to graduation, maybe you find out your second basin has been a natural behind the plate all along. The difficulty enforces that forces innovation. It demands creativity. It reveals character you didn't even know was there in your players and in yourself. I've seen coaches crumble when things don't go according to plan. They get bitter, make excuses, they blame the players, the parents, the administration. But the great ones, they ask different questions. How can we use this setback as a setup for something better? What opportunity is hiding inside that obstacle? How do we turn this friction into fuel? Because here's the truth, coaches, if you were reading the biography of your program five years from now, what would make this current difficulty the turning point? The chapter where everything shifted. The moment when your team stopped being victims of circumstances and started being victors through adversity. Your players are watching. They're always watching. When the difficulty shows up, and it will show up, they're going to look to you to see how it's done. Are you going to stand there complaining about the chair in the doorway or are you going to show them how to use it? Maybe you fall over and laugh, turning the whole team loose and reminding that baseball's supposed to be fun. Maybe you pick it up and smash it, showing them there are times when you have to fight through tough stuff and everything you got. Either way, use the difficulty. Michael Cain took that lesson and used it his entire career. Every rejection, every bad review, every role that didn't work out, he found a way to use those difficulties to get better, to grow stronger, to become one of the most respected actors of his generation. The difficulty is guaranteed. You can't control when it comes and what form it takes, but you can absolutely control how you respond to it. You can control your attitude toward it. You can control whether it makes you bitter or better. Your players don't need you to be perfect. They need you to show them how to use the difficulty. Because long after they hang up their cleats, that's the lesson they'll carry with them. Not how to turn a double player or lay down a butt, but how to face whatever difficulty life throws away to find a way to use it. So next time you're standing in that dugout watching your carefully laid plans fall apart, remember, Michael Cain's director, look at that difficulty blocking your path. Take a deep breath and ask yourself, how am I going to use this? That's all for today's show. Please be sure to tune in every Wednesday as we release a new episode with some of the best baseball coaches across the country. Today's show was brought to you by the Netting Professionals Improving Programs one facility time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at www.nettingpros.com. As always, I'm your host, Coach Ken Carpenter. Thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.