I was a first-round MLB bust. Here are 5 lessons I learned

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Matt Antonelli was a first-round pick of the San Diego Padres who played 21 games in the major leagues.

He is now a coach and business owner.

Ive been called a bust so many times, I stopped caring a long time ago.

I was a first-round pick, taken with the 17th pick by the San Diego Padres in the 2006 MLB Draft.

Before the 2008 season, I was a top-50 prospect in baseball.

By 2013, my professional baseball career was over.

Advertisement I was officially labeled a bust.

And, honestly, Ive made peace with it.

The discipline, the mental toughness, the humility I developed from my struggles are things I carry with me now as a business owner, a coach, a father and a husband.

I truly believe my shortcomings in baseball gave me the tools to live an impactful life, even though it didnt give me the exact ending I wanted.

I dont want to make it sound like it was all sunshine and rainbows; as youll see, I struggled plenty trying to learn and gain perspective.

There were plenty of nights when I had panic attacks, when I questioned everything, when I seriously thought about hanging up my cleats and walking away from the game.

Which leads me to my first lesson.

You dont learn very much when everyones saying you are the greatest and the next All-Star.

Trust me.

My hardest moment was the year I made my big league debut.

I was a top prospect in the Padres organization going into the 2008 season.

I began the season in Triple A and, for the first time in my life, I was horrible.

I forgot how to hit and had no idea how to fix it.

After struggling for four months, I studied hitting mechanics and was able to rediscover the swing that had made me a first-round pick.

I completely turned my season around, and the Padres called me up in September.

In my first at-bat in the big leagues, I got a hit off Greg Maddux.

A future Hall of Famer.

In that moment, I was thinking: Im going to be an All-Star for the next 10 years.

This is easy.

I ended up going 0-for-23 after that.

Mentally, it was the most challenging time of my life, and I never made it back to the big leagues.

But thats when I learned what humility feels like.

I discovered resilience, perspective and started to define success differently.

Advertisement The next five years of my career were a rollercoaster of extreme highs and crushing lows.

In my final season, after multiple surgeries and setbacks, I called my wife, Laura, and told her I was quitting.

I was going to get in my car and drive home.

I was having my worst panic attack yet.

But Laura, as she had done many times throughout my career, encouraged me to finish the season, and when it ends, you can decide what you want to do next.

That offseason, I decided my future was in coaching.

What I discovered through all these experiences is that people often relate with and learn more from my failures than any of my successes.

My value now doesnt come from what I accomplished, it comes from the knowledge and wisdom I acquired along the way.

It comes from what I learned and how I dealt with my struggles during my career.

This has allowed me to help others in ways I never could have if everything had gone according to plan.

When youre drafted in the first round, people label you: top prospect, the next star, the future of the organization.

Its easy to let these labels define you.

However, when the results dont match the hype, it leaves you questioning yourself.

I learned that who you are cant be tied to what you do.

Losing a dream that youve worked towards and held onto for years can be crushing.

But on the other side of that loss, I actually gained a lot of clarity.

Once I stopped chasing my dream of being a major-leaguer, I discovered that the game of baseball is what I actually love.

I realized that my true calling was coaching and helping others develop their skills to become the best versions of themselves.

You can give your life to something and lose, but that doesnt mean you wasted your time.

Advertisement You can dedicate yourself completely to your craft.

You can eat right, sleep well, train hard, be coachable and still fall short of your goals.

That doesnt mean it was pointless.

Failure taught me that success isnt always linear, and its not always fair.

But the effort that you put in is never truly wasted.

The habits that you develop from trying to be the best at what you do, and the resilience you build through that process, can carry you further than any outcome ever could.

For years, every decision that I made, from what I ate to how I trained, was dedicated to being what I thought I was supposed to become.

When I started to struggle when the injuries came and I had multiple surgeries, when my numbers fell and my confidence eroded I fought to try to fix it all.

But eventually I couldnt.

The thing I had structured my entire life around disappeared.

I lost a version of myself I had been building since I was 15 years old.

But on the other side of heartbreak was something unexpected: freedom.

Once my playing career ended, I felt an unexpected calmness for the first time in a long time.

I was able to sit down and ask myself, What else am I good at? What do I care about? What do I really want to do? Chasing the dream of playing Major League Baseball gave my life direction for many years, but losing that dream gave me depth.

I was able to build a new identity beyond just being a baseball player.

The experiences I had, the lessons I learned, those things dont expire.

I still pass those lessons on to young players chasing the same dream.

I tell them: You dont need to be perfect.

You dont need to be great at baseball every day.

Its OK to struggle.

Its not always about the results.

Its about the process, the lessons you learn.

You will be OK if you dont go 4-for-4.

Youll be OK if you give up the game-winning run.

Youre going to be OK because you are more than what you do or how you perform on the field.

The impact I have now, helping others navigate the same path I walked, is more meaningful and fulfilling than anything I did as a player.

As told to Jayson Jenks.

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.