James Kaprielian’s road to Major League success paved with adversity

Quite amazing that with so few Armenians in baseball, they are both now on the same team! Thanks for spreading the word and we as the Armenian-American community should find a way to make something more of this cool conjunction.

Dear James Kaprielian:

I don’t know how many baseball players today have read “The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams”. If you haven’t, please do. If you know what good hitters are thinking, your Armenian right arm from Mt. Ararat will be that much more effective. God be with you. I am pulling for you. I love seeing that “IAN” on the back of your uniform. George Sarkisian

“The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams”
https://blas.com/the-science-of-hitting/
Summary

I think you will find as we go along that much of what I have to say about hitting is self-education – thinking it out, learning the situations, knowing your opponent, and most important, knowing yourself. Lefty O’Doul was a great hitter, one of the prettiest I ever saw, and he always said that most hitting faults came from a lack of knowledge, uncertainty and fear – and that boils down to knowing yourself. You, the hitter, are the greatest variable in this game, because to know yourself takes dedication.

Key Takeaways

Boudreau said, “That is not the way to pitch that guy.” The point, of course, is that you can’t beat a good hitter with the same pitch every time
In my 22 years of professional baseball, I went to the bat almost 8,000 times, and every trip to the plate was an adventure, one that I could remember and store up as information. I honestly believe I can recall everything there was to know about my first 300 home runs – who the pitcher was, the count, the pitch itself, where the ball landed. I didn’t have to keep a written book on pitchers – I lived a book on pitchers.
There were, as far as I’m concerned, two great pieces of advice given me early in my career. One was from Rogers Hornsby, when I was with Minneapolis the year before I went to the big leagues. He told me the single most important thing for a hitter was “to get a good ball to hit.” The other was given me when I needed it most, as a kid starting out at San Diego in the Pacific Coast League, cocky as they come but not really sure of myself, and it came from Lefty O’Doul, to my mind one of the great hitters of all time. He said, “Son, whatever you do, don’t let anybody change you.” Your style is your own.

I read in the June 5, 2021 Armenian Weekly your story and was wondering if there is any relationship with my mother, who is a Kaprielian and survived the Genocide. She is from Shepik, near Arapkir, and her name is Gadar. There were 3 brothers in Fresno, California – Gabe, Charles and Michael and wonder if your father is Michael. My oldest son has been working on our genealogy.