SURPRISE, Ariz. _ Spring training 2017 marks the 12th big-league camp for Cole Hamels, who back in 2006 was a celebrated former first-round pick who would make his major-league debut later that season.
He capped the year by marrying the former Heidi Strobel, the "Survivor: The Amazon" contestant. In 2008, Hamels was the World Series MVP. In 2009 and 2011, his sons were born.
In 2012, he signed a set-for-life $144 million contract extension.
He also has a charity that helps children in the U.S. and Malawi, Africa, where their adopted daughter was born.
The Texas Rangers' ace left-hander seemingly has it all, right down to the Aston Martin he drives.
Yet, Hamels is still driving himself because of the one elusive thing he doesn't have and badly wants: Perfection.
"Truthfully, it's the human nature of never being fully satisfied," Hamels said. "Even though things might look good on the outside, I have a form of perfectionism, too, that always drives me in knowing if and when I can max out my potential, what will it look like and what can I actually accomplish and what can my kids and the youth get out of what I did.
"I want to make sure that everything I did amounted to something and I did everything I could in that given time frame. I don't want to look back and regret."
The quest to be the best is part of what Hamels calls his case of OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder. He thought he was close to his peak performance in 2014, when he posted a 2.46 ERA in 30 starts.
Even when he was at his best, at least theoretically, in a single game, his 2015 no-hitter at Wrigley Field, he could nit-pick and saw that more was possible.
His plan for achieving more begins with preparation. He's continuously focused on his workout program and is always looking for the next thing to help him keep his arm and body in the shape he needs to log 200 innings, which he's done in seven consecutive seasons.
Even as the Rangers do their toughest running test of camp, the 33-year-old still tries to whip players 10 years younger.
"It's very regimented," catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. "He's very routine-based. He does the same thing between starts. With any successful player like him, it's very routine-based, doing the same thing over and over, and that's why they're successful."
Hamels doesn't take days off, even though he probably could. He doesn't skip a video session or miss out on a conversation with a fellow pitcher or coach that might make him better, even though he probably could.
He routinely watches other pitchers throw their bullpen sessions and often wants to know how a pitcher throws a certain pitch. Pitching coach Doug Brocail compared Hamels to Greg Maddux in that regard.
"Mad Dog was always asking, 'How did you grip that?' " Brocail said. "Cole has a great feel for where he's at. He can talk baseball extremely well. The guy busts his butt to be the best pitcher out there."
Not only is Hamels competing against opposing teams and his teammates, he's competing against himself. That start in Game 1 of the American League Division Series last season? Oh, he remembers it, too.
He said that it served as motivation during the offseason, driving him to put himself and the Rangers in position to atone for the lopsided loss to Toronto, but also a teaching moment.
He said that wasn't himself, the reputed playoff thoroughbred who knows how to handle the big stage. It was evident to him when he want back and watched video of him allowing seven runs (six earned) in 3 1/3 innings.
He claims that he tried to do too much instead of just being the pitcher he is: Cole Hamels, a four-time All-Star and one of the best pitchers in the major leagues since his debut season.
"I went out of my element. It was not me," said Hamels, who went 15-5 with a 3.32 ERA last season. "It's the desire to want to win and the desire to be perfect that sometimes you step outside your comfort zone and try to do too much. That's when chaos ensues."
So, here he is again, back at spring training, back at work, back watching bullpen sessions and asking questions. Candidly, Hamels knows that he is almost certainly chasing the unattainable, but he'll never know if he can't get there if he doesn't keep driving himself.
"I do know we're human," Hamels said. "What's innately in us is it's going to happen. You're never going to reach perfection, but if you're not striving for it, how do you know that you're raising the bar and bringing out the best not only in yourself but your teammates?"
