Ben Zobrist is a three-time MLB All-Star, a two-time World Series champion, and the 2016 World Series MVP, known as one of baseball’s pioneering “super utility” players for his ability to excel at nearly every position on the field. Ben joins Adam to share his journey and his best lessons and advice. Ben and Adam discuss a wide range of topics: habits for success, versatility, developing mental toughness and a winning mindset, leadership, coaching, culture, performing under pressure, and much more.
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Read the full transcript of Adam’s conversation with Ben Zobrist.
Episode Summary
Ben Zobrist joins Adam on Thirty Minute Mentors to trace a career that took him from an Illinois childhood with no college or professional offers coming out of high school to three All-Star selections, two World Series championships, and a World Series MVP award built on a style of versatility he helped pioneer in the major leagues. Zobrist credits his high school coach, Bob Gold, with pushing him to attend a $50 scout day near Peoria, telling him “I think maybe God might have something more for you in sports, or in baseball,” a moment of what Zobrist calls “borrowed belief” from a coach who saw more in him than he saw in himself.
That scout day led to a scholarship offer from Olivet Nazarene University, and eventually a sixth-round selection in the 2004 MLB draft. Zobrist went on to play for the Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, and Chicago Cubs, winning the World Series with the Royals in 2015 and the Cubs in 2016, the year he was also named World Series MVP.
Much of the conversation centers on the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, a team that went from perennial last-place finisher to World Series contender in a single season. Zobrist credits manager Joe Maddon and executive Andrew Friedman with reshaping the team’s culture around its own identity, scrappy, fun, and unconventional, rather than around fear of stronger opponents, and specifically remembers a spring training brawl with the Yankees as the moment the team stopped playing like a “little brother” and started playing like an equal. Maddon’s methods stood out as unconventional even within that culture shift: mariachi bands after tough losses, a boa constrictor brought into the clubhouse, and, memorably, telling Zobrist, a switch-hitter who hadn’t batted right-handed in five or six years, to bat right-handed against Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina. Zobrist got a hit, and says the moment convinced him to trust Maddon’s read on the game completely.
On habits, Zobrist argues that game-level intensity has to be built in practice long before the lights come on: “If you’re only raising your level of intensity when the lights are the brightest, then you’re not really preparing.” He describes deliberately using Friday and Saturday nights, when competitors were relaxing, to keep working, and crediting his father, a pastor and military veteran, with instilling the resilience he defines as mental toughness: “It doesn’t feel good right now. It doesn’t look good, but I’m going to keep going.”
On performing under pressure, Zobrist rejects the idea that top performers are fearless, arguing instead that “healthy fear actually brings a sense of wisdom to any situation” and that big moments are opportunities rather than threats. His practical technique is narrowing focus to small, controllable details in the moment, the seams of the ball, his mechanics at the plate, rather than the stakes of the situation itself, and managing the energy he brings into an at-bat rather than obsessing over avoiding mistakes.
On leadership, Zobrist points to humility, flexibility, and a willingness to absorb blame while sharing credit as the traits that define the best leaders he played for, summarizing it directly: “great leaders take all the blame, and none of the credit.” He closes on confidence, reframing it less as certainty in outcomes and more as trust in process and identity: “It’s not about confidence in the result. I’m confident in my process.”
What You’ll Learn
- Borrowed belief can be the start of everything. Zobrist’s high school coach pushed him toward a scout day he wouldn’t have attended on his own, the first step toward a college scholarship and eventually the majors.
- Build your own identity instead of fearing the opponent’s. The 2008 Rays turned around a losing culture by defining themselves as scrappy and unconventional rather than focusing on stronger teams.
- Practice at game intensity, not just game day. Zobrist’s rule: if your intensity only shows up under the brightest lights, you haven’t actually prepared.
- Healthy fear is a signal, not a weakness. Zobrist argues fear in big moments brings useful wisdom, and treats high-stakes situations as opportunities rather than threats to survive.
- Narrow your focus under pressure. His technique in the biggest moments: focus on small, controllable mechanics, not the size of the moment itself.
- Great leaders take the blame and share the credit. Zobrist’s summary of the leadership trait he saw most consistently in the managers who got the most out of their teams.
- Confidence belongs to your process, not your results. Zobrist attaches his own confidence to consistent preparation and identity rather than to whether any single outcome goes his way.
About Ben Zobrist
Ben Zobrist is a three-time MLB All-Star (2009, 2013, 2016), a two-time World Series champion with the Kansas City Royals (2015) and Chicago Cubs (2016), and the 2016 World Series MVP. Drafted by the Houston Astros in the sixth round of the 2004 draft out of Olivet Nazarene University, he went on to play for the Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, and Chicago Cubs over a career known for elite defensive versatility across second base, shortstop, and the outfield. He retired from professional baseball in 2020 and is the author of “Prepare for the Pressure.”
Related Episodes
- Episode 144: Joe Maddon
The manager Zobrist credits by name throughout this episode for turning around the Rays’ culture and for the unconventional leadership calls, including the mid-game switch-hitting decision, that shaped Zobrist’s career. - Episode 275: Clint Hurdle
A longtime MLB manager on culture, leadership, and turning around a clubhouse, themes that run directly parallel to Zobrist’s account of the 2008 Rays’ worst-to-first turnaround. - Episode 51: Former MLB Star Mark Teixeira
Another switch-hitting MLB veteran on performing under pressure and the mental side of hitting at the highest level. - Episode 262: Jake Peavy
A World Series-winning MLB pitcher on mental toughness and performing in high-stakes moments, a complementary perspective from the other side of the ball. - Episode 193: Former Baseball Star Bernie Williams
Another World Series champion on performing under pressure and building a second act after baseball, a direct parallel to Zobrist’s own account of high-stakes moments and life after the majors.
