[JohnBooty]

This is really insightful and I'm going to try and do more of this!

    Versus "I saw you really focused out there 
    in the outfield, I know getting distracted 
    between bats is easy and you've come a
    long way."

A wise mentor told me a variation on this a long time ago. He mentioned that one of the most powerful things you can do is simply let somebody know that you recognize what they're doing or how they're struggling.

example: "I see you working on those reports! There are a million of them coming in every day, and you're cranking them all out yourself."

You don't even necessarily need to praise them, per se. (Although honest praise is of course very cool) Just the act of letting them know, and noticing is super powerful.