“A big part of playing the game is improvising. It’s using your instincts and your awareness of what’s going on around you—how you’re feeling at that moment, and what you’re seeing and sensing,” observes Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli.

The avid music fan, who names Phish, the Grateful Dead, Greensky Bluegrass, JRAD and Spafford among his current favorite groups, then describes the role of preparation prior to the opening pitch, which is analogous to the process that allows those same bands to thrive in the live setting.