*This story originally appeared on Alberta Dugout Stories on February 13. You can read it here.

February 13, 2024

By Joe McFarland

Alberta Dugout Stories

Matt Coutney remembers the exact moment when he realized that professional baseball was going to be a grind.

In his final two seasons at Old Dominion University (2021-2022), the Wetaskiwin, Alta., product played a total of 117 games.

On his way to playing 121 games in 2023 in the Los Angeles Angels’ farm system, it was a road trip to California when he started to understand what many others had told him about life in the pros.

“It was game 32 and I was thinking to myself, ‘I have 100 games left – there’s no way I’m going to be able to make it through this,’” Coutney told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast. “As the year goes on, you hit certain benchmarks – you make it another week, you make it another month – and the next thing you know, the season is over.”

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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories interview Matt Coutney here.

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The hard-hitting first baseman put together a solid year between Single-A Inland Empire and High-A Tri-City, hitting .264 with 15 home runs and 71 runs batted in.

The off-season also provided him with a chance to take a deep breath, acknowledge his successes and look ahead to 2024 and beyond.

A YEAR OF ADJUSTMENTS

Coutney says it’s a physical, emotional and mental grind to get through an entire pro campaign.

It starts in Spring Training, where he says you’re playing for a month straight with few off-days, before everyone is sent off to their respective affiliates.

Having been used to playing two or three games on weekends in college, it was a change of pace to start playing six days a week while traveling on your few off-days, while also trying to better your game to get a promotion.

“Adjustment is the perfect word,” said the 2022 Canadian Baseball Network College Player of the Year. “Whatever you do in the offseason, whatever you do on that day, can change the next day – you always have to make adjustments.”

The Angels’ 10th round pick in 2022 leaned on his coaches, but also his own intuition, to make sure that he was putting in the right amount of work and preparation for each game.

Not only was he having to become his own advocate and coach, but he also tried to judge what he needed each day on external factors like the weather.

“You’re expected to perform and create results,” Coutney said. “That’s the only thing that matters and you have to do whatever you have to do for that day to figure out how you’re going to be able to perform.”

He adds that includes having to change course multiple times during the course of the season.

BUILDING CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF

Coutney started the season with the Inland Empire 66ers, where he hit .260 with 12 home runs and 54 RBIs in 74 games.

Then in June, the left-handed hitting first baseman earned a promotion to the Tri-City Dust Devils, where he continued to hit well with a .272 batting average to go along with three homers and 17 RBIs in 47 games.

The St. FX Academy product was happy with how the season progressed, saying he was able to gain confidence each day through different avenues.

“I found, especially at the start of the year, I was letting the results and the failure affect my confidence as a player,” he said.

“But the more I matured, the more at-bats I got, the more games I played, I started to realize that confidence isn’t built off results – it’s built off preparation and the things I can control.”

He says he began focusing on things away from the diamond, including sleep, rest, treatment and his diet, to make sure he was staying sharp physically and mentally.

Coutney says he also came to terms with failures, like strikeouts and losses, as his promotion quickly made him understand that the competition is only going to get more fierce as he moves up the Angels’ depth chart.

WORKING FROM HOME

Heading into the offseason, Coutney became laser-focused on fine-tuning his game while keeping his good habits and routines from the season going.

Heading back home to Alberta, he found himself as a guest coach with St. Joseph High School Baseball Academy in Red Deer, Alta.

“I get to go in during the week and get my training in while helping them out at the same time,” Coutney said. “We’ll have conversations about different things and it’s awesome to see how guys have changed and grown over the years.”

While he received glowing reviews from Baseball Alberta award winners Matthew Murray and Corbin Lochhead, Coutney saves his finest admiration for the program’s head coach, Jason Chatwood.

“He’s somebody that I look up to and appreciate because he’s a guy who is able to wear different hats,” says the 24-year-old. “He’s able to relate to a lot of different kids about the game of baseball and help kids get better and understanding the things they need to do and the sacrifices they need to make.”

Coutney is modest about the idea of “giving back to the game” in Alberta, saying he just wants to show kids that there is a path from the province to professional baseball, adding it all boils down to your personal desire to make it all happen.

MOVIN’ ON UP

As he gets ready for his second Spring Training, Coutney says he doesn’t have any expectations on where he might land to start the year.

The Angels haven’t been shy about moving players around in their system, using 66 players at the Major League level in 2023, meaning several players bounced between farm teams as well.

As long as he keeps progressing, the logical possibilities would be starting back with the Dust Devils or maybe even moving up to double-A with the Rocket City Trash Pandas.

The bottom line is that Coutney wants to build off his success and not take any day for granted.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” said the former Edmonton Prospects slugger. “You could get hot and play super-well and get promoted, next thing you know you could be in the big leagues.”

He says he has seen some close friends get called up already, so he’s able to see the path, adding injuries, trades and other transactions are totally out of his control.

“The only thing you can control is showing up every single day because you are laying down the foundation for the next seven months of summer and how you’re going to perform,” says Coutney.

It might be another grind, but it’s one that the proud Albertan believes he is ready for this season.