TACOMA, Wash. — There’s a blue hardcover journal that Braden Bishop carries with him wherever he goes. The edges of the journal are starting to look tattered, the result of being stuffed inside whatever bag Bishop happens to be carrying.



Bishop, a 25-year-old outfielder with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, doesn’t mind the wear. What matters most to him is what’s inside, which in this particular case is nearly every idea he’s ever had as it pertains to his swing and approach to hitting. With a blue ballpoint pen, Bishop commits these thoughts to paper in meticulous handwriting whenever the mood strikes him. A few of the organization’s hitting coaches have teasingly called it a manifesto, which might be a more apt description.



“There’s a lot of good thoughts, OK thoughts and a lot of terrible ones in that book,” Bishop said. “The search for the swing can be a lonely place sometimes … so...