#BuckFiftyADay: Pedroia vs. Cano (aka Fire vs. Ice)

Ask 1,000 youth baseball coaches, "Who is a better example of how to play the game, Dustin Pedroia or Robinson Cano?" and more than 95 percent will answer, "Pedroia." I'm not so sure. I see a lot of kids trying to play the game like Pedroia, believing that trying harder, getting all fired up, will make them play better. The results are often the opposite. Most youth players – at least the ones I'm around – try too hard. They could learn a lot from watching the seemingly carefree style of Cano. I’m not advocating that kids not run hard for 90 feet when they've grounded the ball to second base, like Cano. And I'm not telling kids they shouldn't dive for groundballs with a runner on second base, like Cano. But I see a lot of Pedroia clones out there who'd play the game better if they dialed it down.