Walls' new tool to help 'stack small wins' in 2022

This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here_. And_ subscribe_ _to get it regularly in your inbox.

After making a pair of spectacular plays at shortstop during the Rays’ 2-1 win over the Angels on Monday night, Taylor Walls returned to his locker inside the home clubhouse at Tropicana Field and started writing.

Walls pulled a journal from his locker, inked “8/22” at the top of a blank page and answered three questions: “What did I do good today? What did I learn from today? And what am I going to do better tomorrow?”

His first answer focused on the quality of his at-bats; there was plenty to like even as he went 0-for-2 with a walk, as he saw 23 pitches and didn’t really swing at anything out of the zone. His second answer was about utilizing the right side of the infield when opponents shift against him. He returned to both points in his third answer.

Postgame journaling is a habit Walls picked up earlier this month from Justin Su’a, the Rays’ invaluable head of mental performance. Su’a even gave Walls the small, black Simply Genius journal he writes in each day. The slick-fielding shortstop said it’s been a “confidence-builder,” especially amid an uneven season at the plate.

That’s the goal of the exercise, Su’a said. It’s easy to go from game to game or month to month without stopping to reflect on how they’re getting better -- or what they need to do to get better. But writing it down, in their own words, allows players to learn from their own experience, good and bad.

Walls has found a way to let it work for him, making it a daily habit before leaving the ballpark each day “so my mind’s clear when I leave the field,” he said. “I can come back tomorrow, browse through it and remind myself what the plan is.”

The key, Su’a said, is to start by figuring out what you’re looking for. Since Walls is seeking more positivity, confidence and focus, he created a format that will lead him to all of the above. Over time, players can look at the things they’re doing well and “stack those small wins” while continuing to pursue ways they can improve, Su’a said.

“It all comes down to the questions that you ask yourself. If you want better answers, start asking yourself better questions,” Su’a added. “I think Walls is really good at asking himself productive questions that will produce productive answers that he can use moving forward.”

This habit isn’t unique to Walls. The Rays encourage their Minor Leaguers to do it. Top prospect Taj Bradley took off last season with help from his trusty journal. Curtis Mead, Tampa Bay’s No. 2 prospect, takes notes on each of his at-bats during games. Brandon Lowe keeps years’ worth of his hitting thoughts and observations on a digital tablet.

How much Walls writes -- always by hand, “old school,” in a mix of print and cursive he described as “scribble-scrabble” -- depends on how his day went. After bad games, he makes an effort to accentuate the positive and maintain his confidence. After good games, he might only write a few sentences.

What he needs is there on the page, in his own words.

“The days where I feel pretty good, it probably doesn’t take much,” Walls said. “It’s easy to have confidence when you’re doing well. It’s hard when you’re doing bad. That’s kind of how it tends to be.”