The Winning Mindset
The Winning Mindset is for empowering athletes, parents, and coaches to excel in sports and life. We focus on building mental toughness, positive attitudes, and promoting personal growth through shared insights and motivational content.
The Winning Mindset
From Player to Coach: Jeff Moyer's Baseball Journey
What creates truly exceptional athletes? Jeff Moyer, with his diverse background as a collegiate baseball player, coach, and now senior director of showcases at Prospect Select Baseball, offers compelling evidence for a road less traveled.
Drawing from his journey through Division II, junior college, and Division I programs (including playing on the #1-ranked Florida Gators), Jeff makes a passionate case for multi-sport participation during youth development. This approach doesn't just prevent burnout and injury—it creates fundamentally better athletes. "The best players we've coached were the best athletes first, then became best at their sport later," Jeff explains, challenging the early specialization mindset dominating youth sports.
Jeff's coaching career spanning multiple collegiate levels revealed what truly sets successful athletes apart. It's not just raw talent, but mental toughness, adaptability, and attention to details others overlook. College recruiters aren't just watching your performance—they're evaluating how you prepare between innings, interact with teammates, and respond to failure.
For parents navigating the complex world of youth sports, Jeff offers practical wisdom on avoiding common pitfalls: specializing too early, overlooking academics, and the dangers of "chasing the logo" rather than finding the right fit. His frank discussion about recruiting misconceptions provides a reality check for families with collegiate aspirations.
Most powerfully, Jeff shares how baseball taught him to handle life's inevitable failures: "You can do everything right and still strike out. It's how we respond to failure that defines who we become." This perspective transforms sports from mere competition into profound preparation for life's challenges.
Want to help your young athlete develop not just as a player, but as a person? Listen now for insights that extend far beyond any single sport or season.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Winning Mindset Podcast. I'm very excited for this episode where I sit down with my friend, Jeff Moyer. Jeff has had an incredible career in playing collegiate baseball, moving on to becoming a collegiate baseball coach all the way to now serving as a senior director of showcases at Prospect Select Baseball. Jeff has incredible stories, incredible experiences, great, great, great, great content and advice for athletes of all ages. So sit back, listen in and very excited for you to hear what he has to say. We'll see you next time, Thank you.
Speaker 1:Jeff, I appreciate you being on this episode. Man, I'm very pumped for you to share your story, your experience, with everybody, especially the insight that you have from being a high school to collegiate player, all the way to coaching and now working in the recruiting world and helping with that. So why don't you do us a favor and introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 2:Sweet. Thanks, chris. Appreciate you having me so pretty unique background, coming from just a wide gamut of baseball, football, sports in general. I think for me, playing baseball growing up was always something that I did, and it was something I didn't want to define who I was, but it kind of became who I was. So, after high school, moved on, had a chance to play at three different levels Division II, palm Beach Atlantic. Out of high school, um, after my freshman year, decided to transfer to a junior college, played at Santa Fe for a year and then finished my last years at the university of Florida, uh, we were the number one team in the country Both years I was there. We finished second at the world series. My junior year, um, and then went, oh and to my senior year on a team that was arguably better than the year before.
Speaker 1:That's baseball, though right, it is the best team that's ever been.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right. So after my playing career ended, I knew if pro ball wasn't on the table for me. I wanted to get right into coaching. So I started coaching at a high school in my hometown for one year. You're in that phase of life where, like, what do I do? Do I get a job? So I substitute, taught and coached. I was the head JV coach and helped out with varsity, and then a coach that had recruited me out of high school after I left my division two, after I left junior college, offered me a job to come be a GA as a grad assistant at Southeastern We'll get into that a little bit later, but was a GA there at Southeastern for two years.
Speaker 2:Then I actually pretty much took my coaching career seriously and I moved up to Georgia for a volunteer position in the fall of 2015 to coach at Georgia, going to another top five program in the country. Four years later that head coach, brad Strombel, got the head job at Georgia State. The staff went our separate ways. I had a full-time opportunity at reinhardt and um got a chance to go up there and be a first. I got my first full-time job after seven years of coaching baseball, believe it or not. So you know, along the way I had always done showcases and tournaments because as a volunteer you kind of have to make your money on the side to fund what you're doing as a coach, because you're not getting paid much. So I always done showcases and tournaments and stuff on the side.
Speaker 1:So, um, that's kind of how I got to where I am today I got you awesome and so so I know we'll talk about this a little bit more, but just briefly, what exactly are, what role are you in right now?
Speaker 2:so currently I'm the senior director of showcase with prospect select. We're in the same space as perfect game pbr. We're just a smaller player in the same space. I got it I got you.
Speaker 1:Do you focus? You focus on more the high school age athletes, or is it even? Is it even down to, like the, the younger you say so prospect select.
Speaker 2:We're just in the high school right now. 13u to 18u is pretty much where we operate. I'm not sure what's coming in the future, but you know for a small business you know most of the stuff that we do in that space is tailored towards the high school.
Speaker 1:I gotcha. That's awesome, man. Um, so let's, let's dive in and let's talk a little bit about you know and I want this obviously from your perspective and your angle as far as, like, what you've learned growing up. But you know the the the first thing I like to talk about with you is let's talk about your thoughts on multi-sport athletes, as far as how you see that as a coach, but also how you view that now as somebody who hosts these showcases.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the first thing when you get into it, like being a multi-sport athlete, it's going to teach you different types of movements, it's going to teach you a different type of toughness, mentality, those type of things. And I think it's important for players to play multiple sport at the youth age, even up until early high school, because if you play one sport and you specialize, you're going to get burnt out, you're going to deal with overuse and I think those things can kind of affect your future at the college level if you're deciding to play one sport or the other. So I think it's important to play multiple sports because of what they teach you, um, other than just playing one sport and getting used to it, and you're not training different muscles, you're not being coached in different ways, you're not, um, you're not learning different things from different sports. So I think if you can stick to multi-sports as long as possible, you're going to you'll be more athletic. There's a lot of things that come from from playing multi-sports.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man and I and it's funny, you know, after you and I talked and obviously we know each other personally from from going to church together and have you know, being friends but Florida did a fantastic job on your scouting report as far as what's still on on the internet, and so I kind of dove in after we talked and set up recording. But uh, but one thing being a football coach stuck out to me was they did share about, about your high school football career. So, yeah, so you were a high school football player too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, arguably a better football player than baseball players. So fun, fun thing about football I I was at a big high school my first two years. I kind of got into some things, um, that were leading me down the wrong path and I decided, hey, maybe I need to be in an environment that's going to kind of structure me a little bit differently and I transferred to the master's academy, where we're on a high school Like. I was probably big enough to play on the offensive line. But the cool part about playing at masters was our head football coach was herky walls, who played the nfl for a little bit. He's actually in the arena football hall of fame and if you know anything about arena football, it's all slinging the football passing.
Speaker 2:So my senior year I had 1100 yards and 11 touchdowns. So people were like, hey, are you gonna go play base or football or baseball? I'm like dude, I'm a 510 white guy. Yeah, play wide receiver then in college somewhere. So uh, but people were always like, dude, you should seriously go play both. I'm like absolutely yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:It's funny that you say that because it's like uh, I forget the guy's first name, but uh, jackson's, his last name was the defensive back for uga this year. You know, like playing that as a, as a, as a white dude, just phenomenal at the position. Yeah, it's, it's. It's rare, but uh, but that's cool. I, I did, it showed on there, like some of your statistics and highlights as far as like your, your career, yards and touchdowns, and I was like okay, jeff, I, I see you there. Um, do you think that? Um, you know, being a multi-sport athlete, how do you think it helps you with your mental toughness, your injury prevention and athletic development in your own personal career?
Speaker 2:I think on the mental toughness side you have to be able to adapt to different challenges, pressures, environments. Coaching in baseball is very different from the way you're coached in football, football. You know it's tough, You're getting yelled at and things like that. So you have to be able to digest that stuff. You have to see the coaching kind of between the lines with that. So I think it helped me become more coachable on the baseball side. Yeah, because you know football is a completely different sport. I mean I watched it at the college level with the schools I was at. Like those kids are getting just berated and they're just sitting there taking it and I learned that at a young age. Like those coaches don't mean it personally, they mean it to make you a better person and I feel like that helped me as a young player. I mean I played in middle school a little bit and then played in high school but those lessons I learned through being coached hard ended up helping me in baseball.
Speaker 2:On the athletic development side, I would say every sport that you play can help another. So, for instance, if you play baseball, I think one of the best sports that you can play that helps your baseball ability is basketball, because you're on your feet, you have to be quick, you have to be agile. If you play soccer, it's going to help you with your endurance. And football if you play football, you're learning a toughness, you're learning how to be physical and aggressive. So I think, no matter what sport you play, you have to find ways to say, okay, how is football going to make me better in baseball, how's baseball going to make me better in football, and things like that. And I think that's where the real growth comes as a young player.
Speaker 2:I can't say that. I saw that in the moment, but I definitely, looking back, I do see how each of the sports I played I never played basketball, I was no good at basketball. So my kids decide basketball they're in trouble.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's Harlow. He's always like dad I want to play basketball. I mean, harlow, he's like, he's always like dad I want to play basketball. I mean we bought him a basketball goal a couple of years ago and I mean he's, he's got his basketball skills for me, which are absolutely none. It's funny, like one of my good friends coaches a team and a bunch of his football friends are on it and they're in. You know, he was like Harlow, I'm going to have you play next year. You know, you, you, you, that's going to be your spot. Yeah, so, like every day.
Speaker 1:You know, my rule with him is hit 100 baseballs off the tee every day when you get home from school, and it's just to keep him in that movement. And it's so funny like I'll be sitting inside on my dining room table working and I'll hear where he's hitting off the tee and all of a sudden I hear and he's dribbling the basketball and I'll have to open the door and I'm like, how many baseballss did you hit? And he was like, uh, 20. I got, you know, I got 80 more. And I'm like, yeah, finish those first. That's, that's priority right now. So, um, but uh, yeah, he, he's doomed as far as he's played a little bit of basketball, and for me I'm like just have fun, man. That's what it's about, yeah, in in staying loose, and it's like just keep him active because if, like, we're not letting him burn energy, he's going to drive us crazy at home. So that's, that's kind of that's it.
Speaker 2:Kids don't get outside enough these days. They're so pulled inside. Yeah, video games and phones Like dude, just just be outside.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When the streetlights come on or when mom rings the bell for dinner. Just come home Like, but just be outside.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, that's how we were as kids, like we, our neighborhood was like you know, it was probably two streets and we were just all a bunch of kids and it like when the streetlights came on, you were just at somebody's house for dinner. It wasn't necessarily your family, right. It was like that family would call and be like, hey, I got all six boys, I'm feeding them. And then it was like got a question of whether you showed up at home that night or if you all at the night during the summer. So, yeah, I live that way too. But talking about you know, talking about it on like the looking from it, as like what you do now in your career, do you feel like on the youth level, do you feel like kids specialize in sports way too early?
Speaker 2:I do. Yeah, I think the biggest piece of that for me was they feel if I don't specialize in whatever sport it is, they feel like they're going to be left behind. But in reality you're risking more over you know, overuse, injury, getting burnt out. Those are the things that you kind of risk specializing too early. I mean, I've heard of kids that you know were all-stars at 10, 11, 12 and like they didn't even, they weren't even playing the sport in high school because they were just toast. It's like they lived and breathed one thing for so long, like you can only do that for so long and have fun doing it right.
Speaker 2:I do think specializing or just focusing on one sport early can lead to those things. Not always, obviously, you know there's there, there's there's instances where it doesn't. But yeah, you know, I think if kids have the want to play other sports, allow it because they're actually showing interest in other things which will lead to hey, maybe I like this better or maybe I actually do love this sport better than the other. So yeah, I think it's important just to kind of listen to your kid and let them do what they want to do and you know it's their life. Like I play it all the time, like obviously I want brooks to play baseball, but he doesn't play baseball. I'm gonna have to support that right.
Speaker 1:That's hard yeah, it is it is.
Speaker 2:I think about it like well, if it's not baseball, hopefully it's golf, because then I got an excuse to stand out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, that's. It's funny that you say that, because it's. We were literally joking, like laying in the bed with rigs the other night and we were like, are you gonna play football? And like you know, he's just, you know, two-year-old, stubborn self, he's like no, no in case, like you don't have a choice. I don't know whether you realize it or not, you don't have a choice.
Speaker 1:But, um, I had the same conversation with a, with a parent who his kid plays on my team I two days ago. And the kid plays baseball year-round and then football and and you know, he's he's tired and I and he's like I just need a break. And I'm like, dude, I get it, but recognize that like you can find breaks and rest and those. But talking to his dad, um, you know, his dad played collegiate football and he's like you know his dad's, like I'm heartbroken that he's saying he wants to step away from football. And I'm like I get it, just give him time, you know. And then, literally, like two days later he was like hey, they're, but he's back in. Yeah, he needed to think through it, yeah they're kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm like football doesn't start till july. You're fine, you got plenty of time, um with. With all that being said, like what, what? What's some important advice that you would give to parents and young athletes on on whether to focus on the one sport or multi-sports? I know we've kind of talked about that, but say you were having a conversation with a parent that was like, hey, say you're talking to Harlow, right, he's 10 years old. If you were giving me advice towards that and I was saying, hey, our goal for him is to play collegiate ball, at whatever level it is, what's some advice that you would give to me right now for him in the level that he's in at 10U Baseball?
Speaker 2:I think I would tell you if your son or daughter loves to play multiple sports, allow them to do it as long as possible. When you allow them to play multiple sports, their body's going to develop. Naturally They'll learn to compete in different environments. You're going to build more athleticism. Naturally they'll learn to compete in different environments. You're going to build more athleticism. And I think you and I have been around sports long enough to know that the best players that we've played with, the best players that we've coached, were the best athletes first and then they became best at their sport later. And I think if you force a kid into one sport too early, when maybe they want to play multiple sports, you're not going to lose athleticism. When maybe they want to play multiple sports, you're not going to lose athleticism, but you're going to limit that athleticism versus what it takes your body to do to play football, basketball, baseball, whatever.
Speaker 2:So, I think that would be my advice Allow them to do it if they want to do it. Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just supporting them in their decisions, because they're no different than you and I. They're learning along the way. They want to have some input in their own life. Like, hey, I don't want to play baseball, I don't want to play basketball.
Speaker 2:like, okay, buddy well like what do you want to do? Like let's go do that, let's figure out what you like, because you know what makes you know harlow tick or brooks tick or emerson tick isn't what makes me tick. Like we just have to figure those things out and allow them to kind of come into their own.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, that's, that's solid advice. My, my biggest thing too is, like with multi-sport athletes is is, I feel like, statistically, it avoids burnout where those, those single sport athletes tend to get. You know where they're, you know, constant, year around, 365 days a year, training for whatever sport. It is football, baseball, and it's like at some point they lose the interest. And for harlow especially, like you know, he's our energizer bunny, but he's also just all over the place, you know, mentally, you know he it's good to continue to change the environment for him because it actually forces him to stay focused, which which sounds weird if you're constantly changing scenery. But uh, I think it keeps him interested in what he's doing in that moment. Well, and I think, too, when you play.
Speaker 2:When you play multiple sports, you know, just thinking about who I was as a kid, who Harlow was, who you were like you're going to want to be good at both. So you know, while it's baseball season, you may be still throwing the football around, or you know, when it's football season, taking your swings, like you're gonna have to stay sharp in the other one while you're in season for one because you still want to be good. And that that was one thing that my dad made me do. I think I had committed um to palm beach atlantic, I think the summer before my junior year, right at early signing period, and my dad was like hey, we're done with football. And I was like I'm not done with football. I was like I want to play football and I mean we had a back and forth about it. I was like I'm not done with football. I was like I want to play football and I mean we had a back and forth about it. I was like, look, dad, like it's not that I could get hurt, but like yeah, I'm playing wide receiver, free safety, Like I'm not on the line, and he's like, all right, I'll let you play football, but you're going to play baseball on the weekends with your travel team I was playing with.
Speaker 2:I remember pretty much every weekend in the fall I would play Friday night football. I would get in the car with my dad, I wouldn't go back to the school with the team on the bus and we would go and drive and meet the team for whatever tournament we were playing on the weekends. So I had to make those sacrifices. I also worked a job during all that, so I'd get to football practice, I'd go to work and then Fridays it would be full Friday night football. Know, I was playing on one of the top programs travel programs in the state and in the country at the time. So I had to make it a priority because I knew baseball was my future. But I loved playing football and I'm thankful my dad did that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome, man, and I think that that's huge, like what you're saying. I don't think that we see that in some of the younger generations now at this point, with like forcing kids to juggle as much responsibility as that we did, point with like forcing kids to juggle as much responsibility as that we did, and I think that, looking back now at we just talked about it before we started recording, we're the same age, so it's like we can compare our childhood. Yeah, say like I, I feel like it gave us the edge that we have now, as far as you know, being fathers, husbands, you know, running companies and and working and doing you know a multitude of things. I think doing that at such a young age prepared us for it in the long run. What was side note? What was your job?
Speaker 2:No, I worked at Publix yeah, nice, I worked there. This is funny. So once you get five years you got a star on your badge. I only worked there for four and a half years, so I never got the star Dang so close. They don't do that anymore. I always make that joke about it.
Speaker 2:But kind of going back to that, I think that's I feel when I look back at what I had to go through in high school, like I was very lucky, like my parents bought me a car, I had a truck, I played multiple sports, I got what I wanted. But my parents instilled a work ethic in me. They're like look, you can play baseball, but you're going to work, you're going to put gas in that truck that we're buying you. So I didn't have to pay for the insurance or the car. But they're like, if you want to drive it, you're putting gas in it. So I would go to football practice until 530 or 6 o'clock and then I would go work a three-hour closing shift from 730 to 1030 at Publix, three nights a week. So I had gas was $4 a gallon when I was in high school.
Speaker 2:I had to put in the time, but I think you learn that okay, I have to make sacrifices for things. I have to work to play football, I have to work to do this or I have to. You learn to make sacrifices for what you want to be a priority in your life and I think the earlier we can teach that to our kids the better. I'm sure you do this with Harlow and Scout and Riggs, but you know we're doing it with emerson, like in brooks. Like how do we teach these guys a work ethic at two, three years old? You know that.
Speaker 2:That you know small lessons that you're gonna understand and kind of and kind of jive with yeah for harlow.
Speaker 1:If we do that with harlow for for trash, like his responsibility is the trash in the house, I can't wait to pass this job to my kids literally the best time is the cold, rainy day, when you're like, uh, and you're like, wait a minute, I pay somebody to do this now.
Speaker 1:It's like, and it makes him so mad, because he's always like you know, and it's it's the principle that we're teaching him. He doesn't realize it, but, like I could, I'm literally standing in the kitchen with the trash can, right, yeah, and I'll call him downstairs to take it out, and he's like you were already down here and I'm like, yep, but it's your job, you know, it's your job and so it's teaching him those principles and, like he'll come to me and be like dad, I think it's time for a raise, you know.
Speaker 1:I've been doing this for so long and I'm like, okay, well, let's have your quarterly review. How many out of the three months, how many of those Monday nights did I have to tell you to take it to the street? And he's like just all of them. And I'm like, yeah, so performance isn't, you know, warranting a raise at the moment. So, but yeah, whenever. And then he'll say that. But I'll be like, yeah, that's fine, I'll give you a raise, but you know, your food's free, your clothes, and he's like nevermind, nevermind, so but no, I think it's huge, like you're saying, to teach them responsibility at such an early age.
Speaker 1:And so let's pivot, let's talk about you and your career a little bit more. So, you know, you started, you know, at Palm Beach. Then you kind of moved to the JUCO level, correct, at Santa Fe you did a year there. What moved to the, to the juco level? Yeah, correct, at santa fe you did a year there. What? What were the? Maybe some challenges that you faced on the juco level that maybe you weren't expecting, or maybe that you you kind of knew you were going to face, walking into that um, I don't know that there was necessarily necessarily challenge.
Speaker 2:I knew that when I transferred from palm beach atlantic to santa fe that it was put up for your careers over Like if you don't, if if I went to Santa Fe and had an average year, you know you may not get an offer, you may be done. So I think one of the I don't know if it's a challenge, but the biggest thing that I had to learn was like truly, I'm betting on myself going here. I know that it's such a, it's such a. In my opinion, it's a land. I'm betting on myself. You hear that all the time.
Speaker 2:But I went there with a mentality of like I have to ball out or my baseball career is over. So I had. I mean, there's no rules in junior college baseball. The only reason we had a day off in the fall was because our head baseball coach was a Florida alum and he wanted to go to football games on Saturday. I mean we practiced Monday through Friday. We had doubleheaders on Saturdays and Sundays, except when Florida had a home football game, and there's only six of those in the fall. So I mean that was from the time you walk on campus in August until pretty much Thanksgiving break. So you know, you learn.
Speaker 2:I learned more about myself in that one year playing for Coach Wiggs than I probably did my other three years, because everything's done on your own. I had two coaches and a volunteer that had another job. There's not a whole lot of one-on-one time, so I had to put in work on my own. I had to do a lot of lifts on my own. I don't necessarily see those things as challenges, but they were things that I had to get through in order to say, hey, this is where I want to be in my baseball career and this is what I have to do to do it and I've got to do it and if I don't, my career is over. So I don't necessarily think they're challenges or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Juco ball's tough. Juco's not for everybody. It is not. I got dressed in and out of my car. I was my car, I was doing my own laundry. I didn't have to do that at florida, like I put my laundry in a bin and it disappeared there the next day, clean, yeah, like scrubbed, like. None of that happens at junior college. Basically like it. When they say juco ball is a grind, it is a sure, and I and I understand this because I've met kids I'm like you wouldn't fit in your college baseball, just your temperament, stuff like that. And I don't necessarily knew that I was a good fit for junior college ball until I got there and be like, okay, this is how it is now, I need to change, so yeah but I I think, like what what I'm hearing you say to those is is probably without you realizing what happened, though, is it?
Speaker 1:it's it was a unrealized pressure, that that that was pushed on you without you realizing, when you got there and you realize I'm gonna have to pull up the bootstraps and I'm gonna have to take care of a lot of business, and and I think that, going back to the work ethic that you were talking about, I think that that that's the probably I'm assuming one of the first times in your life you know, you're away from mom and dad at this point that you realize the work ethic that your parents instilled in you at such a young age and that you kind of realize, on the juco level, man, like, okay, thank you for the work ethic I have, you know, because this is where it's showing.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's right, yeah and uh, and I'm glad you said that about about the laundry thing, because you know, again going back to harlow, that's another responsibility. That he started this year was laundry. So, yeah, I don't let him do baseball pants yet because I'm I won't let.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go, yeah, I'm like I got the secret song yeah yeah, oh, I'm pretty sure I have cancer from the concoction that I create to make baseball pants white again. But he looks good and that's what matters, right? Yeah, um, but uh, but no, I, I think, I think that that's huge. Um, you did have an mvp season there, correct? Bad juco. You want to talk about that? A little bit Brag about yourself, man. It's worth talking about. I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 2:That's one thing I did as a coach. I tried not to talk about my playing career. I didn't want what I did as a player to have to validate me Sure sure, sure.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to talk about that stuff on the coaching side, but it was, I would say to this day. Johnny Wiggs and Coach O'Sullivan are probably two of the best coaches that I played for. You know they challenged me in ways that I had not been challenged. Obviously they're doing it at that level for a reason, but Coach Wiggs is still at Santa Fe. He's been there forever.
Speaker 2:But I think I hit like 400 with 12 home runs, 50-something RBIs Like it was either do that or be done, and you know, I don't know that I realized the year that I was having while I was having it. But you know, I was in a situation there where we were on a good team. When I transferred from Palm Beach Atlantic to Santa Fe, I knew I was going junior college. All I did was I just I went to Google and said what was the best junior college program in Florida last year? And Santa Fe had lost the national championship in 2009. That's what should have been my, my freshman year.
Speaker 2:So, emailed coach wigs, I went up there for a walk on trial. I was launching balls and he's like dude, who are you and why are you here? And I was like cause, I want to play here. Um, but yeah, I had a great year there. Um, I had offers from all over. Um, I had it narrowed down to Mississippi State, georgia State, florida State and Florida and, believe it or not, I grew up a Florida State fan. I don't admit that very often, but I actually had offers from both Florida and Florida State. But when it got down to the nitty gritty of like, okay, I've made it to this level, where's my best opportunity to play? At the time, devin travis was at florida state.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you remember devin travis he played blue jays oh yeah, for the longest time, but he played every day since he got on campus. He was same age as me, so I knew I was probably going there as a role player.
Speaker 2:I got you and I ended up going to florida and you know, having an opportunity to play there, I played a lot my junior year until I got hurt. But, um, yeah, I mean that that that year I mean my numbers got me in the door with those programs. And you know, you know a lot of people like, oh you're at santa fe, it's right there in gainsville. I was like, well, I was the first player to go from santa fe to gainsville in like six or seven years, so it didn't happen all the time, but right, um, it was great. I think that year it taught me a lot about myself. That JUCO year set me up for a lot of success at Florida in putting in work on my own. I had to put more work in when I got to Florida. So that JUCO year and the numbers I put up got me in the door with those big programs and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome man. So I know we've talked about it as far as the work ethic, but if you were again talking to a Juco player right now and he just happened to run into you and said you know, my goal is to move to the next level, to make it, you know, back to either back to or to the D1 level, right, what's something that, like you would say, is like just heartfelt advice. Here's what you need to do to prepare for that.
Speaker 2:Well, it kind of goes with how you have to play at that level. I mean, there's a lot of good junior college coaches. There's also a lot of coaches that don't really advocate for their players. So you need to be, if you're not, in one of those programs, where your coach I mean as a coach for 10 years, I was getting email from junior college coaches all the time, but I got a lot of emails from junior college players as well, yeah, and you know they were reaching out.
Speaker 2:So you have to, kind of you have to take ownership you know, of your career while you're at the junior college. You also have to take ownership of, like, moving on from there too. Yeah, there's, and don't get me wrong, I would say 90 of the schools are actively reaching out. But it's easy to reach out, for you know me, when I'm hitting 400 and I have 12 home run, like I'm right, right, you don't have to do much work. Like Coach Wiggs wasn't doing much work. He was on the phone with those guys selling character grades, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:But those middle-tier players, guys that don't play much at junior college, you have to really take ownership of finding the next level that you're going to be, at whatever level it is, because I'm a firm believer in there's a place for every kid to play college baseball. Yeah, how good or bad, you are absolutely where you play. So I would say, take ownership of it yourself, you know, and ask for help from your coach when someone does reach out, hey, can you follow up with this guy, or things like that. So you know, just take an ownership in that process.
Speaker 1:Awesome man, I love it. Um, so, so let's talk. You know, obviously you finished at santa fe. You, santa Fe, you moved up to Florida right across the street, not a far commute, you know, didn't even need a U-Haul for that move. But move over to Florida. What? As far as, like, going from the three different levels of JUCO D2, d1, as far as all those different levels, what I know, we've talked about the comparison from them a little bit, but what was like the biggest difference overall for you as a player going into that d1 level?
Speaker 2:the big. I think. I think there's three things for me that that stick out when you ask that question. I think the the number one difference between any level of college baseball is the depth. Yeah, and you know we're at palm beach, atlantic.
Speaker 2:I led the team in hitting and home runs there. You know there was a couple of guys that I thought were probably mid-major division one players. And then after that it's just like okay, these guys are good college players don't necessarily fit at that level. And then when you get to the division one level, your guys on the bench like I didn't. I played a good amount of Florida but I didn't play a lot. And here's one of the top junior college players in the state of Florida going to that level. So the depth of players, like on the pitching side of things, you know, when I was coaching at the NAI level, we had two or three guys in the low to mid-90s, everybody's in the low to mid-90s at that level.
Speaker 2:So I think depth is the biggest one. The depth of players there's more you, you know, if someone gets hurt, you got another, you know baseball, another five star coming in there to play, yeah, um behind them. And then I think the second one, um, is the rules. Junior college there's no rules, yeah, uh, ncaa there's.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of rules with hours and practice windows and stuff like that. So the biggest thing that goes along with that is when you're not in that practice window, you have to be able to put in the work on your own, yeah, and you know, I think it's easier to do that, you know, with the third thing, with the facility and the gear you get, obviously at florida I can go hit a button on the machine and it's going to throw me a right-handed breaking ball, left-handed breaking ball, fastball, a side or like I could go and do those things at florida. So obviously the facility and the gear is a different. Sure, um, there's a lot more pretty stuff, yeah, at that level, but when you take all that stuff out, the game's still the same.
Speaker 1:You still put in the work on growing.
Speaker 2:You still have to take ownership of your game and and focus on things like that. So I think those are probably some of the biggest differences um across the board yeah, levels what on that note, as far as, like, the mental and physical preparation, what?
Speaker 1:what did that look like for you as an athlete at that point, with, with having to, like you said, obviously the depth is there, so you know, hey, the next guy up could take my spot instantly. But but how, how did you, did you feel, did you feel a drastic jump from from going from juco to d1 as far as how you had to mentally and physically prepare yourself for every game?
Speaker 2:Yes and no. I think there was more tools when I got to Florida for preparation, but I think when you take all that stuff away, junior college baseball taught me to love practice. It taught me to love individual work and it taught me to love just doing things on my own. Yeah, and I mean it's a, it's a business. At that level it's also I. You have to treat it at that level. At the visual level it's a job.
Speaker 2:Like practice started at 11. I was there at nine. I ate a quick breakfast in the locker room. I would go get my you know 100 swings off the t, off the machine and stuff like that, and then we'd go to practice.
Speaker 2:You're not going to get better taking four rounds of five BP on the field every day. You've got you can get your work in outside and I think junior college baseball taught me that. Like you're going to have to work hard at this if you want to play. Because, to be honest with you, after I had, after we were a month into that junior college season, I wasn't coming out of lineup at florida I I went from being I went from being a big fish in a small pond in junior college to a small fish in a big pond and everybody on that roster at florida granted six of my played travel ball with on the orlando scorpions high school, so I knew those guys. But those guys were there, they were established, they had proven themselves. I had something to prove when I got there and I think and the lessons that junior college ball taught me helped me when I got there in terms of preparation.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think those are the big things too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and ownership, right. Yeah, I mean that ownership is huge and teaching kids that at such a young, early level is huge, and I'm big on that, with my players on the football or even on the baseball level, taking ownership of everything. Right, don't stop making excuses. You know what I mean, because it could have been just as easy for you to be like, well, these guys are better than me. I'm here, I'm here, it's you know, but like no. To have that mentality of like no, I'm going to continue to earn it, I'm going to.
Speaker 2:I'm going to grind I'm going to work. His name was Zach powers, I think the first time I really. I got an opportunity off the bench a few times and then we came up to play the university of Georgia and Zach I think Zach's living in second base and tours meniscus, and then I started playing pretty much every day from that point out until I got hurt my junior year. Uh, so it was a big matchup guy, so I played. I played third when lefties pitch, so I got you, but you know I had I had to learn that when you get an opportunity you have to take advantage of it, and I'll never forget this.
Speaker 2:Brad weitzel, who I still talk to this day, was one of our coaches there. He we were two or three games into the season. I think we had played a season. We had played a series. I had.
Speaker 2:I think we opened my first year with usf. I had two, two at-bats. I hadn't had a hit. I flew out to the warning track. I had a good at-bat where I may be grounded out or something like that, and then we went and played FAU on a midweek and I think I got my first hit. I think I hit a double in the gap and I remember our meeting the next day. Brad was like Moyer, do you have a hit yet? Moyer, do you have a hit yet? And I was like, yeah, I got my first one yesterday and he's like he's like I've noticed your at-bats are getting better. And this is what I'm talking about when you need to seize your opportunity. So you know, while you're not getting hits and the results aren't there, the coaches are seeing the process and the minute details of your at-bats and of the opportunities that you're getting, which, in turn, give you more opportunities. I think that's big too is when you're not an established player in a program. You have to take advantage of those opportunities yeah, because if you take, advantage you're going to get more sure
Speaker 2:and that's ultimately what got me in the lineup. I had taken care of some of the opportunities I had. To that point. I I was really. They found that I was really good off the bench late in the game, off of a reliever, and I knew, knew, sixth, seventh inning pinch hit opportunity where they maybe go from a left handed pitcher to a right handed pitcher. Okay, hey, here's Moyer's opportunity and those opportunities. I think before I got the opportunity to start playing pretty consistently, I think I was sitting like three something off the bench, which is hard because you get there four hours before the game. You take your BP, then you sit for six innings of the game. You take your bp, then you sit for six innings of the game. Like I had to stay mentally locked in and I think embracing my role within the team got me more opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know when that's awesome, that's huge, that's I think that's huge on any level of of athleticism, right like you know choosing, you know to embrace whatever position and role and opportunity you're given. Um, and I, what you said about the coach thing recognizing your improvement, I think it's, it's huge on any coaching level you know to to recognize those kids that are maybe new to a team, new to a program you know are still getting their legs underneath them on something and just recognizing I see you, you know I see the development and kids.
Speaker 2:today. They don't necessarily think well, I got out. The coach thinks I just got out, how'd you get out? What was the result? Did you move a runner? Did you have a quality at bat? Those are the things a coach is looking at.
Speaker 1:Did you go up?
Speaker 2:there and swing at the first pitch and roll over. Obviously that's a worse result than five, six, seven pitch at bat and a fly out or something like that. I think the kids listening and like you have to look, you have to look for those things, you have to find the small wins, because that's what you're looking for too. They're looking for hey how can I use him later in the game or later in the season?
Speaker 1:Or how can.
Speaker 2:I find the best opportunity for him to succeed. That helps yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think, and I think baseball is such a it takes such a level of mental maturity from kids at any age. They have to develop that and, like I remember seeing it with harlow, um, you know going from the coach pitch you know eight you to moving into nine you and it's kid pitch now and you know watching him at the beginning of the season. You know walk away from the plate on a strikeout with his. You know his shoulders, you know dropped and, as you know, he's upset and he's and he's frustrated and it's like you know he, he's, he's frustrated because he's striking out and it's like, dude, this is, this is baseball now, like this is real baseball. Not to say that coach pitch isn't, but you know I'm like your mentality has to shift at the plate because these kids don't want you to hit it like the pitcher is trying not to versus the coach is placing it right where he knows your bat's going to be, you know, or?
Speaker 2:not going to be, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so and so, but teaching him to like work through that mental edge was big and it took a, took a you know half of a season to really get him in there and and understanding that.
Speaker 2:So I think kind multi-sport thing. Herky Walls, the football coach at my high school. One of the biggest lessons that he taught me is the greatest players have amnesia. And I was going through a spell and I think I had dropped like two or three, but I was wide open, I had dropped balls. My dad taught me if it hits your hands, you catch it and that's how I live. So I mean I was dropping wide open passes and I just went back to the sideline and Perky put his arm around me. He's like, hey, the best players have amnesia. And he taught me in that moment through a football lesson that I was going to be able to carry that into baseball. Hey, when you strike out, you got to forget about it because you have another at bat, you have another task coming your way. So I think you know different coaching philosophies through multiple. Sports can kind of help you down in your career too. Sports can kind of help you down in your career too.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's uh one of the things that he taught me as well. That football rule, that's the, uh, that's the jerry rice rule.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what we call it, because that's what jerry rice I'm pretty sure my dad used to throw me hard passes just so it would touch my hands. Yeah, you can say that to me, but it touched your head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, uh, one of my coaches. It's funny like we. We have a running joke with our boys. Like whenever they especially they drop like easy passes and warm-ups he'll, he'll put his like clutch his hands together and like knock his fingers together and say they got deer hooves for hands, like just messing with. So anytime they drop the ball, like they'll look over at a coach and we'll just we'll motion that and they get so mad. But it's just like.
Speaker 1:But it's that, like you said, amnesia, I call it the goldfish mentality, right? Yeah, you see a goldfish in a bowl and it'll swim a lap and it'll look around like I've never been here before and it's like you were literally here two seconds ago. But that's, I say the same thing. Goldfish mentality is huge, especially in baseball, because if you stay in your feelings, your toes, the ball's gonna find you in the next hit and you know you're still gonna be recovering. But, um, so let's talk. Let's talk about injuries. You know, I know I read on the on the scouting report. It was the vanderbilt series. Yeah, the, the injury. Let's talk about the injury.
Speaker 1:Wow, you really dove into that. I do my research, I do my research, yeah.
Speaker 2:This was right when I had started playing I don't remember what part of the season we had started I had started playing pretty much every day when righties pitched. We were playing Friday night at Vanderbilt. We were the number one team in the country. I think they were a top five team. Sunny gray was on the mound that night. He's still pitching in the big league. Yeah, yeah, uh, mike. Uh, the big leaguer was mike yastrzemski or carl yastrzemski I think it's carl, but his, his nephew, mike, was playing at the universe at vanderbilt.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I was at third yastrzemski squared to bunt and he popped it up in foul territory. Our catcher, mike Zanino, went for it. I went for it, I dove for it and my fingers went between Mike's cleat. I knew something was wrong. I remember Sully coming out and he goes hey, throw this ball back. I threw it back. I don't think I ever told Sully this, but it felt like a shot in the hand. I knew something was wrong. He's like you, good, I'm like, yeah, great, I'm like I ain't coming out of this game. Yeah, um, I had struck out against sunny gray my first at bat and this is a funny story too about stully. I get it my next at bat.
Speaker 2:I didn't know my hand was broken, but it ended up being broken. My thumb was broken. I I couldn't grip the bat, I couldn't swing. I got into a 2-0 count and I squared the bunt because I was like I ain't going to be able to this dude's throwing 95. That was unheard of at the time.
Speaker 2:And Sully calls time. I think I fouled it off. He calls timeout and pulls me over there middle of bat. He goes what are you doing? I was like the third basin was back. I was just trying to like get one down over there. Yeah, I wasn't gonna tell my bro my fingers broken, yeah. So I took a couple pitches, got to a full count and I was like, well, I gotta swing here. And uh, sunny gray had struck me out on a three, two breaking ball, the first at bat, and I knew he wasn't gonna go back to it. He threw me a fastball and I rolled over for a base hit. So I got got a hit off of Senator Gray with a broken finger. There you go. But yeah, after that it was kind of the beginning of the end for me. I never really came back from that thumb injury, but in that moment. That's where I learned I wanted to be a coach, so I'm sure we'll get into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, that's kind of where I'm at. Yeah, so with that, though, how? How did it affect you mentally? Like, as far as like, okay, you now into the game, I'm sure you went to the athletic trainers, got checked out. They were, like you know, I I always have a running joke with my football players too, about like, are you hurt, are you injured? Right, there's, there's, there's a difference between the two, right and uh, and and that's, you know, that's, that's like what we always say. Like they'll come off and be like, coach, my finger or my hand or my arm, and I'm like are you hurt or injured? And they look at you confused and I'm like hurt, it don't feel good, injured, you're headed to the hospital. So which one is it? Like figure it out? But but yeah, that's uh, for me that would be a. I would, I would be done, man, if I did something for me.
Speaker 2:Obviously I was discouraged because I was like man I was, I was, I was playing, every like I was there.
Speaker 2:I was playing every day and I remember my exit meeting at the end of the season. He's like sully told me. He's like, look, if you didn't get hurt you would have played all the way through the end of the season. I'm looking back like I don't know their base series. Like you know, I came back.
Speaker 2:I was able to hit. I broke my thumb. The break was my pinky so I had to wear like a. It was on my throwing hand, so obviously they're not going to put me on defense with a broken pinky. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was used for late pinch hits of bat. I know they can't see it on here, but we cut the pinky out of a bat. I didn't wear batting gloves, but the batting glove was the only thing. I tried to stay positive through it. Um, I knew I would get. I got back to where I could swing the bat and I could still have those opportunities laid off the bench. They didn't come as often as they did, obviously understandably so, but, um, in doing that I always stood by the coaches like it was sully, um, sully, craig, don Brad were our four coaches and then they always joked.
Speaker 2:It was like well, moyer's just one of the coaches because he stands next to us. I mean, I did that on purpose. I did it because I wanted to listen to them talk about the game. I wanted to listen to them. You know the strategies, the whatever they were talking about.
Speaker 2:I wanted to hear and I think, looking back, that's where I gained my love, that's where I gained my love, that's where I gained the reason for wanting to get into coaching is like what they're doing is fun, like I'm playing it, but they're talking through situations and strategies and putting players in the best positions. And I think that's kind of where I, you know, I I learned I wanted to coach. You know, obviously, that I wanted to have a regular nine to five and, you know, go sit behind. I think that was probably, you know, one of the biggest reason. And you know, baseball is what I wanted to do, it, it it was the reason I got saved. It was, it was what I wanted to do, and I use my injury in that moment. I didn't play much of my senior year either.
Speaker 2:They brought another third baseman, which I get, but I still stayed there I stayed positive. I had opportunities here and there but, looking back, I was there because God was shaping me as a coach for who I was going to be, for what I was as a coach when I was done playing.
Speaker 2:So, I think I didn't. Necessarily I wasn't upset. Obviously I was on a great team. Like you can see how this ball, those cards are big leaguers. I played with 10 big leaguers like yeah, it's huge. Like in two years of florida I played with 10 big leaguers and you know, I was blessed to be around players. I was around. I mean I got to go to pretty much every stc stadium, yeah, while I was there. So I was, I was very blessed in doing that. So you know, looking back, I may not have played much there, but there was lessons that I learned there, that I've been able to teach players in the dugout as a coach and and things like that.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man. So I feel like we wouldn't do it justice if we skipped over this. But because I I heard you say so baseball is the reason that you got saved, so I I need to know yeah, at least you have to share that. That that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so actually I was saved as a little kid Obviously went down the wrong path and I kind of just baseball was who I was and obviously that's not what I wanted to be. I was dating a girl at the time. Things went wrong with the girl I was dating and I remember the quarterback of the football team came to me during baseball season Like man, you're really struggling. I was like dude, I'm just in a tough place. And um, his name's Brett Bunker. I'll never forget it. But you know he's like look, man, like you need to come to this Bible study, just be with guys that are like these dudes are sharing like deep stuff. I'm like what is up? I said you know it got to me and I just let it out. And those guys were some of my best friends I was.
Speaker 2:I was baptized in high school by um, one of our high school students who became a pastor shortly after. I don't think he's in the pastoral field anymore, but his name was Joey. He led that small group and I was like, dude, you've been so integral in my life. Him and Brett were in the pool when I was baptized. I got baptized on our senior trip. We went on a cruise. They cleared the pool out, the kiddie pool, and there was a couple of us that got baptized, so I was able to do that, but I had put everything into baseball in high school and it wasn't giving me what I needed back. Yeah, yeah, and you know I think obviously you being a believer too, and you know the people listening like there's only one thing that can give us what we really need and that's our.
Speaker 2:Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. So I think that was. You know. One of the biggest reasons I was saved was, you know, because of the people in my life and you know what I had given baseball and not giving to God.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and to that note, like I remember sitting at church this was probably two, three seasons ago now when football was getting ready to start and Mike, our pastor, was talking about where God. You know God gives us hats and puts hats on our. You know which hats are like our responsibilities, right? God gives us hats and puts hats on our. Which hats are like our responsibilities, right? God gives us these hats and puts these hats on our heads and those are our responsibilities and why he put us in that position. For that position, and he was like you are where you are because God wanted you to be there to make him known. And I just remember sitting in the auditorium, I could walk in there and point and tell you the exact chair that I was sitting in when you said that, because I feel like it revolutionized the way I coached and it revolutionized the way that I thought when I was coaching because, like you said, baseball and the people that were part of that are the reason why you got saved.
Speaker 1:I had a meeting with my coaches thereafter.
Speaker 1:It was a normal coach's meeting hey, here's what we're preparing for the season but I said to them about the hats thing and I was like you have to remember that you may be the only example of Jesus that some of these boys ever see.
Speaker 1:And I was like you know, from that point forward and hear me out, I'm a football coach.
Speaker 1:I probably don't always do the best job at doing it when I'm screaming at a ref or an opponent or, you know, I get in my feelings, but but you know it is important and we, you know, a lot of times when we're having team conversations, you know, I always kind of you know, if we can tie scripture into that or tie, you know, a God, a godly principle into that, we do it and then that way, you know, we're at least creating curiosity for some of these kids who may not go to church or may not understand things. So but that's huge, man, that's awesome to hear that baseball made that connection for your relationship with Christ. But let's get back on track, because I'm terrible about going on tangents, but we had to talk about that, so I'm glad we did. Transitioning from a player to a coach, so obviously the injuries and you soaking that in and having that realization what were some of the biggest lessons from, from coaching at different levels that you, you picked up and took along the way you know.
Speaker 2:Well, I coached at three different places Southeastern university, Georgia, Gwinnett, Reinhardt all three of those NAI programs. So if you play division two, Palm beach, Atlantic, junior college, Santa Fe, Division I, University of Florida. Now I'm coaching at the NAI level. I had been at four of the five levels, every level but Division III. So at that point I was like, okay, what is NAI baseball about? The one thing that I learned at all three of those programs and each level taught me something different all three of those had exceptional leaders Jason Beck, Brad Stromdahl and Jonathan Burton. All three of them are exceptional leaders. I still talk to all three of them to this day. That was the biggest thing that I learned. All of them had a track record of winning. Reinhardt didn't have a track record of winning when Coach Burton got there, but he had a track record of winning before. Obviously, these guys got the sauce. They got the rest. Yeah, yeah, um.
Speaker 2:Southeastern university I was a grad assistant. It was my first coaching gig, dude, I coached and motivated my butt off for those kids. I didn't do any recruiting. But I mean, picture me I'm 23 at this age, like yeah, when I say I coach my balls off, I coached my balls off, like Like I held those kids to a high standard, Like, looking back, I was like man I was. I was tough on those kids but at that point Southeastern had one of one of few Christian and CCA world series They'd never been to like the NAI opening round. We went both years I was there and we had a great coaching staff. We had good players and great players, but I would venture to say our kids were. They had a mixture of talent but they were well coached and I think the coaching staff I was a part of.
Speaker 2:So I think those first two years taught me a lot as a grad assistant. They taught me how to coach and motivate players. Coach Beck gave me a lot as a GA. I was in there every day coaching. I didn't have to have another job. The GA, some of my housing was. Everything was paid for pretty much.
Speaker 2:So after I was there in the 2014 and 2015 season, we had made back-to-back opening rounds, which they had never done. We won a conference championship and if you know anything about that NAI conference, embry-riddle ran that conference for years and we won a conference tournament which had never been done before. So we did things there when I was there that had never been done before because of the players and the coaching staff that was there. So rewind a little bit.
Speaker 2:When I took the job at Georgia Gwinnett, it was because that first year at Southeastern, when we made an opening round, we went up to Georgia Gwinnett and we played in Georgia Gwinnett's opening round. So they were the host site, okay, and we walk into the banquet the day before the tournament starts and I recognized the head coach and I walked up to him. I was like where do I know you from he goes Jeff, what are you doing here? And he's like I'm Brad Stromdahl. I recruited you when I was at Georgia State. So if you remember back when I was in the recruiting process, he made a joke he goes you would have played every day if you played at Georgia state, but you just wanted to go play in Florida. Like he gives me crap about it all the time so um, I mean the weather.
Speaker 1:let's be honest, the weather is usually nicer, minus hurricane season, right.
Speaker 2:I mean, and this is, it's funny now that I live here, but I remember my parents went up on the visit with me and I'm from a small town and just outside of Orlando, like that was way too big for me.
Speaker 2:It's funny that I live here now. But so I made the connection and he's like what are you doing? I was like I'm a grad assistant, this is my first year, and he said, when you finish your master's, you're going to, you're going to move up here and work for me. And I held him. I was done with my masters. After we finished the 2015 season, I moved up here. I mean, this is August, There'll be 10 years. Yeah, Wow, I packed the U-Haul, moved up here. He gave me $2,500 of moving expenses. I had to make that last.
Speaker 2:You know, I did a few things on on the side, running fall leagues and like I drove for Uber, you know, to make some money back in the day. But what I learned in that program from Strom at that point I had learned exceptional in-game philosophy, strategy, those kind of things, like his mind for the game of baseball and that's not to discredit Coach Burton or Coach Beck at all. He just saw the game in a different way and I think working under him and learning from him taught me to see the game a different way. And when I got there in 2016, we had hired a new pitching coach from pro ball and he was the recruiting coordinator at the time. Well, he left at the break and strong was like hey, I need someone to do the recruiting. He's like I'm going to turn it over to you and let you do the recruiting, Just do it. This is what I expected.
Speaker 2:I didn't know what I was doing. I was probably 25-ish at the time, 25, 26 at the time. Granted, that team that I coached that year went 57-6. We did everything but win the World Series. That year. We didn't even make the World Series. Jonathan Burton, who I worked for, beat us that year to go to the world series when he was at lindsey wilson before he got brian hart.
Speaker 2:So I gotcha um but my first recruiting class right, georgia gwinnett had they had won 50 games each of the last, like three years prior to getting there. Well, the first year he turned over the recruiting for me we were still a one seed in open round.
Speaker 2:But we won our 40th game, um in the opening round and I looked at myself. I was like recruiting matters and if I want to get another job? I got to figure this out and I pretty much was like, okay, I'm not going to take a step back, coaching like I still coached hard, but I really need to focus on finding the best players I can yeah, yeah get them in here, and that was in 2017, who went to the world series and finished third in 2018 and 2019.
Speaker 2:So Georgia, gwinnett and Strom turning over the recruiting to me is where I really learned how to recruit. You know that that first year was a lesson for me. Like, hey, this isn't as easy as you thought. Like you need to figure this out. Then Strom goes back to Georgiaorgia state, um, and then coach burton hired me. I got my first full-time gig after being a coach for seven years volunteers. So, yeah, um, coach burton and I had a great relationship. Um, he took the job in 2019, coached one year there and then covid was 2020 and he brought me on in 2021. I got you, um, and I took the job at reinhardt.
Speaker 2:I don't know how much you know about the program up at Reinhardt, but when Coach Burnett got there, it didn't have a good reputation. It didn't want to go there, the facilities were bad and I saw that as a challenge. Okay, you've been. You were just at one of the top programs in the country. You learned how to recruit, like, let's see if you can actually do it.
Speaker 2:And you know, in four years I think we averaged 37 wins. We won the conference championship, the regular season conference championship last year for the first time in program history and I think Tennessee Wesleyan had won the regular season like something like 20 years ago. I got you. We were a top five team in the country and we ended up finishing third at the World Series. I'll start crying if, if I talk about it, we're the last undefeated team out there. And, um, we were up two to one in the night and routine ground ball to second. I know you don't know much about Lewis, but the playing surface is very average. Atmosphere is awesome. I mean, our second base said uh, all takes a bad hop. Oh, hopped right over his head. Oh, no, well, yeah, we lost in that in extra innings, but, um, it was a chance for me to prove to myself that I could build a program and, yeah, you know, obviously coach burton has a lot to do with that from a leadership standpoint.
Speaker 2:We did the recruiting together. But you know he brought me in with this the expectation of like, hey, reinhardt is not a good program, it's just it's got a negative connotation, like we're going to change this. And we've been in the top, we were in the top 25 all four years. We've been in the last two years. A new poll just came out this year. They're sick. So it's awesome.
Speaker 2:It was a. It was a big challenge for me to in a big. It was a big proving factor that I that I could do it, proving factor that I that I could do it. And you know I'm thankful to coach for him and I still talk pretty much. You know we talk weekly, bi-weekly, sometimes. Um, he's been a. I mean he's been like a best friend to me. I love the death. And, um, I'm very thankful for the opportunity he gave me, the freedom he gave me. I mean this dude had never given up coaching third and I was coaching third second year there. So so you know I grew a lot as a coach and things like that at the Reinhardt program and I really feel like Reinhardt was where I realized I could do. I could coach for a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I'm thankful for those three stops and what they were. All of those coaches are great. Coach Beck's top ten in wins all time. You know Strom won like 300 games in eight years in like six or seven years at Gwinnett.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:I think he's at 500 or close to 500. That's phenomenal, man. They've all done it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. So, looking from your collegiate coaching perspective, what are things that you would tell a young athlete that they should prioritize in training right now?
Speaker 2:Well, I think there's a few things. The biggest thing for me, if there's one thing that can keep you around the game of baseball for the long time, it's your arm strength. If you can't do anything else, but you have a good arm. There's a little hill that can put you on that 60 feet six inches away from a plane you can just pitch for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2:So I think prioritizing arm strength is probably one of the biggest things because if all else fails they can always put you on the mound if you have a good arm. The other thing just kind of get into more some of the finer details. I think we get too wrapped up in swing mechanics and stuff like that. I'm big advocate of hey, prioritize your swing decisions over your swing mechanics, things like that. I think athleticism is a big thing. Going back to the multi-sport thing, one thing that gets lost is being a very good defender. I tell everybody offense got me in the lineup at florida but defense kept me out of it. So I tell a young player like hitting will get you in the lineup but defense keep in it and you know along the lines of defense. Like being versatile on defense, like I played a little bit of third at Florida, I played a little bit of second, I played a little bit in the outfield Like I could play all over. So at a young age have those kids play multiple positions.
Speaker 1:They can learn it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Make some more athletic, make some more versatile player, because, let's be real, who knows what position Harlow's going to end up playing Right Any of the kids that are on the team, they could end up at a completely different position. And then, in being versatile on defense, your baseball IQ goes up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I have to be in a different spot on a relay.
Speaker 2:at third I got to be in a different spot for a relay or cut to the plate when I'm on the mound. I think your baseball IQ goes up the more positions you learn to play. And then probably the last thing is just watch baseball, learn baseball, be a student of the game.
Speaker 2:I don't think there's enough of that anymore. I remember as a kid I would get a pencil and a scorebook and the Braves would be playing whoever and I would score the game in the scorebook. I remember coaching at Reinhardt. These kids don't even know how to keep a book. I'm just like dude. They're putting FO8. I'm like dude, it's F8. He didn't foul out to the center fielder. Like it's F8. Like he flew out, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So just being just knowing my son, and I love him, I love him.
Speaker 1:I know he will never be a middle infielder, that's not destined for his size and ability, but I love what you said about them playing multiple positions, because I think it is huge, because you hear so many times now, even at the 10U level, oh well, so-and-so is not good at left field, so I'm not going to play him in the outfield and and and or, you know, always not good at first base, you know, I mean at this age I think catcher, first base and you know, and pitcher are crucial points as long, as well as your middle infielders, you know, and it's like outfield, you infielders, you know, and it's like outfield.
Speaker 1:You can kind of get away with sneaking kids here and there that aren't quite developed, but um, but I love what you're saying about playing multiple sport or, excuse me, multiple positions, because I think that is huge, because I do the same thing with my football principles, right, like if you play, if you play wide receiver on defensive day, you are a defensive back, right, because you, you're learning to ying and yang and you're learning how to complement each other's positions, groups, and so I think, tagging on to what you're saying. I think that that's huge to get them to play around, because then they understand the concept of each position and the responsibility of each position. So if they are playing right field and they've got to hit a cutoff, they anticipate that the cutoff is there, because they should be.
Speaker 2:And they can learn. There are some leadership skills that are developed in that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, hey, it comes like players coaching players, like, hey, remember, on this you need to be here. Like if you don't play that position you don't necessarily know where to be Right, but if you've played that position you can be like, hey, harlow, hey, I know you don't play there.
Speaker 1:Vice versa, yeah, yeah, there's a lot of leadership and players coaching players when you learn to play multiple positions. That's awesome. I think that's huge and I know we're kind of hitting on it. But what you're talking about defense. What are some common mistakes that you see athletes make towards their approach of development? Yeah, athletes make you know, with you know, towards their approach of development.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say just some of the common mistakes. I just think this is just in general. I think teaching one way of doing something is not the way to go. Sure, you can't have cookie cutter players. There's not one way to hit one.
Speaker 2:It's one way to feel a grumball. I think you know every, every kid is unique and every stance is unique and every you know there's fundamentals of the game that you should know, but cookie cutting is not the way to go. I think one common mistake is playing too much and not enough practice. I think that's one thing that where baseball has gone with this younger generation and high school generation is like there is so much game time that there's not enough practice. And you know, over the summer these kids are playing 40 games in the summer and they don't do anything during the week, like they're not throwing their bullpens. They're not, they're practicing. There's there's few organizations here and there that do that, but you know there's not enough emphasis on practice. Yeah, that's huge. Yeah, I think defense taking a backseat with, you know, in terms of, like, private lessons or, you know, practice defense doesn't get a whole lot of love on the coaching side.
Speaker 2:You know I mentioned you got to hit the lineup. You got to hit to get in the lineup. You got to play defense. That was one of the reasons I didn't. I mean I had fielded 920, 930, but he didn't got me in the lineup at Florida. But I'll never forget Sully's. Like you ever going to play defense. I was like I'm trying.
Speaker 2:I'm trying, I'm trying. I was playing at Santa Fe and I think I had. This is what I love Coach Wigg for. We were in the game, yeah, and I had made an error in the first inning and I booted a ball after my second home runs. He yells at a dog, he goes are you ever going to play defense? And I was like I guess not. It's just going to keep it. So you can't take me out.
Speaker 1:They're coming at me, hot coach. I don't know what to do with that.
Speaker 2:I don't care what decision you make in the game, just make a decision. If the ball's hit to you and there's multiple decision, make one and let's coach it. Was it the right decision? Was it the wrong decision? Maybe, maybe not. Tell me why you thought it and then let's say, hey, maybe next time. These are the thoughts that should go ahead. You know, I think the biggest mistake is when a kid gets hit the ball and he stands there. He's like where was I supposed?
Speaker 1:to be Paralysis. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think just allowing kids to fail and then you know, with failure, emotions can get the best of kids. Obviously they're young kids or high school kids, we all struggle with that. But I always told our players like, hey, it's always 10 seconds and back. Even if something bad happens, you have 10 seconds, then you're back. Even if something good happens, like celebrate, and you're back and sustain even keel is a big, a big part.
Speaker 2:And then you know, I think just on the on the parent side is even one of the players, like, don't compare yourself to others. Your, your path is your path. My path, yeah, I tell everybody my recruiting path to play the university awards was different than the other five guys I played with on the scooby and dale in high school. I had to go division two junior college then for, like, my path was different, that every kid's path to where they are, where they'll be, is, it's going to be different. So you can't play the comparison game 100. Yeah, as a parent even, it's hard as a player too, because social media and all, it's tough to not play that comparing game.
Speaker 1:I talked about that in comparison. I talked about that on one of the very first episodes that I recorded on here and I found myself guilty of it where, you know, harlow started baseball a little bit later. You know it felt like. You know, especially like in the Southeast. It's like you learn how to walk. All right, here's a bat and a ball and a glove Get out there. You know what I mean. It's like it's mind blowing. You know it's good for kids because they do learn principles and they start understanding the fundamentals.
Speaker 1:But you know I, so Harlow started it, I think, in first grade playing, and I compared him. You know it's like every kid and I and I regret it now as a dad looking back, because I feel like it put such an unhealthy expectation of pressure on him and it didn't allow him just to naturally develop because he was dealing with that unhealthy pressure. So I think comparison in terms of a parent can create that. But I also think comparison you know we were talking about before we started recording is is. You know I get on a Harlow about it. He'll compare himself to a teammate and like dude, don't do that like.
Speaker 1:Comparison is the thief of joy. And and you, when you compare yourself to a teammate number one, you're you're robbing yourself of of the joy of being happy for yourself because of where you're at, you know, as a player, but you're also you're also just deleting all the hard work and effort and disregard, you know, just putting that, all that effort you've already put to get to this point. You're just disregarding all of that. So don't do that. You know it's not in talking about practice. I just finished listening to this book called Raising Men, which, if you haven't, I'd highly recommend it, especially.
Speaker 2:You know have a book, it's a book.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, let me clarify for all people, I don't read books. I did the audible version. Yes, I did the audible version. I should clarify that I'm not a good reader. I don't sit down and read, but I'm like I drive all the time I'm at the gym. I can listen. So, yeah, audible. It's not audible. But Raising Minutes.
Speaker 1:Eric Davis, he is a former Navy SEAL, trained snipers. Chris Kyle was one of the snipers that he trained, but one of the things he said which is huge, well, two big things I pulled away from it were number one, talking about practice, and him, obviously they're talking life or death situation. They train for life or death every day. But you can take that concept and put it on the on the sports level, right, and and what he said was that you know that you, you don't rise to the level of expectation set. You fall to the level of preparation that you did and and and training that you did. And so I think that that's huge with talking about practice, because I think, right, if you don't practice enough and you don't practice, well, yeah, those kids don't know what to do in the, in the moment, when the pressure's intent right and all of a sudden it's on. So I think that's huge.
Speaker 2:So yeah, one of the things that I had in my notes. I don't think I we got to it, but it's along those lines. Practice has to be harder than the game. Yes, if practice is easier in the game, the game's going to be hard. If practice is harder than the game, the game's going to be easy.
Speaker 2:So yeah you know we train. You know if we always train on the weekends for the arms we're going to see and you know if we're going to see a 90, 92 arm from putting 96, 98 on the machine. So, it's gotta be harder. That way the game slows down, everything slows down. Yeah, you kind of process and be prepared.
Speaker 1:Michael Jordan said that man you preach that I mean I, you know, I. Have you seen the him like getting onto his teammates for showing up and being lax, a day's goal about practice, like I think that that's that. That mindset was huge. It made him what he was. I mean he had the crazy talent and ability, but he also had the work ethic that required it.
Speaker 1:Um, but let's, so let's, talk about your current role and what you're doing now as far as you know. So you said you're the senior director. You know of showcases at prospect select. So you know, you know what. As far as, as far as advice, you know again, harlow's 10 is not there yet he's. He's still enjoying baseball on, on, on, he's on travel ball. But let's call it the rec level, cause I mean this really. You know it's not. You know, college scouts haven't, you know, started making phone calls yet with us. But you know, say, say, I'm a 15, 16, 17-year-old athlete, right, what's some advice that you would give somebody? That's like I'm trying to get on somebody's radar, I don't care. And that's big. With Harlow, he plays this game of like Dad, what if I get recruited here? What if I get recruited here I'm like dude. If you get recruited to play college ball whether it's football or baseball.
Speaker 1:That's an incredible accomplishment, like and be proud of yourself for that. And so you know, I think that's that's huge. But you know to get on a coach's radar. Like you know, you obviously were a recruiting coach, so you, you know the ins and outs of that.
Speaker 2:What, what's some advice you would give somebody yeah, I think the biggest thing for me, the the first thing that I look for, is you gotta pass the eye test, man, you gotta pass it, like I think that goes there's. There's a few things obviously. I was five, nine, 175 pounds. I didn't pass the physicality eye test. I think if you, if you are a big physical kid, that's going to get you on someone's radar like I'm automatically going to watch that kid take bp and watch him on the mound. I'm going to look, look for those things.
Speaker 2:I think the other part of the eye test too is how do you walk into the park? Are you walking in with, you know, slides on? Are you walking in with turfs? Do you look buttoned up? Are your pants clean? Like? Those things matter to me because when those little things matter, I know the big things will take care of themselves. So the eye test is kind of two-part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, the other thing along the lines of energy, attitude hustle, uh, by the head coach at palm beach atlantic, we had this saying you can control your face. You don't have anything. You don't have anything. It doesn't take any talent to control your face, and the face was your focus, your attitude, your conduct and your effort. It takes no talent to control those things. So if you can control your quote-unquote face, I think those things will open some doors too. And obviously, having energy and a good attitude and hustling everywhere, like I always look between innings, like I may go watch a shortstop play or a third baseman play and they may get one ground ball, but they're getting three between every inning. Nine innings, that's 27 ground balls. How are you taking those ground balls so?
Speaker 1:are you?
Speaker 2:hustling on and off the field? Are you picking your teammates up? Those little things matter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:The other thing someone's always watching, I mentioned in between innings. Someone's always watching how you are on and off the field, how you're taking your ground balls watching the dugout, do you yeet your helmet when you strike out or get out, or things like that. And then the obvious using email and twitter to your, to your advantage. I think emailing coaches and using twitter. I mean, heck, twitter is your own personal platform. Now you can post videos on there all day long. I mean, yeah, I followed kids all the time on twitter just to see video and stuff like that slide into dms and stuff like that like um, I think those are big things to get on the radar. Just put yourself out out there, you know, in those ways, yeah, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:I actually have a friend who coached. He coaches a travel ball team now, but one of the things like he picked Harlow up on an all-star team a couple of summers ago and he went to several games watching kids and scouting. But one thing he said to me which like made me proud as a dad was he said like I literally went to the game and I stood behind the dugout. I didn't watch the game. Yeah, I watched what they did in the dugout and I watched how he was as a teammate and I was like dang like, yeah, whoa like, and so, yeah, at that age I was like dude, that's yeah, that's huge. Like to think that on such a, on such a young level, um, to the counter that like what, what are? You know? What are some of the biggest recruiting mistakes that you see both players and parents make?
Speaker 2:yeah, um, you know, one of the first one is, you know, just waiting, waiting too long to start. Yeah, I think your recruiting process starts early on. I mean you're not going to be recruited as a freshman in software now. Really, coaches can't even reach out till august, first of your junior year. So those first two years you can still be building your recruiting resume with sure, starting a twitter and posting video and doing all those things. So those things start. I mean, I always think it's a great idea.
Speaker 2:Parents email me all the time like hey, I see you've got an event at Clemson. Do you think it's good for my freshman to come? And I'm honest, I'm like I think it's beneficial for your kid to come to this event. I don't think he should wear it out and come to. As a freshman you don't need to go to 10 or 15 of those showcases because you're not in your recruiting window. But when you get to your recruiting window you're going to have to be good in those showcase settings. So if you're a junior and you've never been to a showcase, that first one year junior year you'd be like wow, I didn't know what to expect. So go to one your sophomore year, so you can kind of understand what it's like. Yeah, um, you know the the biggest mistake, and I did. We dealt with this at the na level, na I level all the time.
Speaker 2:Just these kids chasing the logo like yeah, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day you're playing baseball. You know right and you know we had 116 home runs. Our three, four, five figures probably could have played in major baseball anywhere in the country, but they were playing right home. There is good baseball everywhere you go. I think it's huge. If you want to play power forward baseball, go watch UGA play Florida on the weekend. See what that's like. Go watch Piedmont up in Denver, georgia. Great program, great head coach, beautiful facilities. Watch what that level of baseball is like. I think on the recruiting side, just selling out for Division I is you're selling out for 10% of baseball.
Speaker 2:Yeah 85% of baseball is played in Subdivision I.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's a greater chance of you playing subdivision one than there is division one, some other ones, that kind of ties into this one just not being realistic about where you fit. When people and parents ask me like, hey, where does my son fit, I'm like, well, I don't know, I don't see him play. But what I would recommend is go to the three coaches who know you the best and see you play the best that's a high school coach, a travel coach, a personal trainer. Say, hey, what level is the best level of fit for me? Like division two, division one. If you can play division two, you can play junior college, nai or D3. Like, if they say I'm a D2 player, like you fit at four of the five levels, yeah, you know, and I would be honest about the evaluation that they're giving you. They're not going to tell you, hey, you're a division one player.
Speaker 1:They know you're not. At least I would hope not.
Speaker 2:Right, right um so, just being realistic about where you fit, you have to get others people's unbiased, so I'll tell people to ask like, hey, where's the best fit?
Speaker 2:yeah um, you know, another thing is just ignoring academics. I'll be honest, a lot of kids that were able to get the nai level, that are high level players. They didn't focus on academic, they were. They didn't qualify for the ncaa so they had to play it, yeah. So obviously we always talk about academics, but academics open doors for you know obviously what level, but finances and grants and stuff like that too. So and then, um, you know, another mistake is just parents over involving themselves, sending emails, communicating too much and things like that yeah, are there, and you don't have to give me an actual example because I know you probably have to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, but I don't know. If you have to be careful with answering this question, so you can be like I'll be, I'll be as vague as possible. Have you seen situations where parents, for whatever reason, being too involved, or just the way that you see them at the ballpark right? Have there been situations where you've seen parents ruin a kid's opportunity because of the way they've conducted themselves?
Speaker 2:I don't know that it's ruined an opportunity. I got you. I got you. If I was recruiting 10 year olds, it might, it might because of the conversation we had prior to this.
Speaker 1:there's always drama going on. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:But just some things for parents, just that are listening. You know it's just some do's and don'ts. The do's for parents like teach your kid, work, ethic and responsibility. Keep academics of priority. I, yes, keep academics of priority. I'll tell you this my parents had two completely different reactions when I committed to florida. They weren't together at the time. So I called my dad and I was like dad, I made my decision, I'm gonna go to florida. And there's a big silence and like are you there? And he was like crying because he was so excited. Yeah, and he's like dude, I'm so pumped, I'm proud of you. You know all the things dad says. And then I called my mom and I'm like mom, I made my decision, I'm going to go to Florida. And she goes you're going to get the best academic degree you could have gotten to stay to Florida. And it was just funny because my dad was so baseball, my mom was so academic.
Speaker 2:So that's awesome Just teaching your kids not to ignore their academics, and that's the Um. And then the biggest thing that parents can do, just help them navigate, navigate the process and let the players take ownership of it. Yeah, um, I think those are big things for parents. You know some of the don'ts. I see these a lot. These are real general statements. A lot of these I get a. I get a glimpse of what the player's going to be like when they're on a, an unofficial visit. Mom and dad are there you you know a lot of things.
Speaker 2:I get, um, you know parents over hyping their kid or being unrealistic about their players. Yeah, emailing, when I get emails from mom and dad or calls from mom and dad or texts from mom and dad, um, and then, obviously, when you play the blame game coaches, umpires yeah, you know players. Yes, I'll say this, this may just be my faith background, but I'm not gonna let what mom and dad says affect my kid. Yeah, raise a red flag and make me pay attention a little more. Sure, like, but and some coaches aren't like that but yeah, you know, that's just the way I was. I like to think it was the way that the three coaches that I worked for were like to like parents. Are parents like?
Speaker 1:we need it all.
Speaker 2:Well, their kid is the best yeah, their kid is the best, yeah, yeah, it's like right we get it. So can parents ruin it? Probably, yes, but for me it's probably just going to be. If the kid ends up coming like it's going to be, uh, just a red yeah, so that's cool man.
Speaker 1:All that, what would you say, is the biggest life lesson that baseball has taught you. It could be a multiple answer.
Speaker 2:I think baseball has taught me how to fail. You can do everything right, still strike out, still lose, still have setbacks. It's the same in life. I mean, you can do everything. You can be living right, you can be doing your job right. You can still get fired, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it taught me how to learn from failure, adjust and and kind of keep keep grinding through things, like everything in life isn't always going to go our way, but it's how we respond to the failure, that kind of keep grinding through things, like everything in life isn't always going to go our way, but it's how we respond to the failure. That kind of defines who we're going to become Sure. And I think a lot. And you can replace baseball with any sport football, basketball, soccer, golf, like failure will teach you that, if you allow it. So I would say you know that's probably one of the biggest lessons that it's taught me is I'm not always the best parent, like, but when I fail as a parent, how do I respond to that? When I miss a benchmark at work, like, how do I respond to that? You know, I think all those are lessons that were taught early on and instilled in me as a player.
Speaker 1:And ownership to that right, like that's a huge thing. Yeah, yeah, I love what you said. Do that right, like, yeah, that's a huge thing. Yeah, yeah, I love what you said like that's. One big thing I've I've held myself accountable as a parent is, when I do make a mistake, apologizing to your kid. Yeah, right, like that's. I'm gonna be real, I that didn't happen. A lot like I grew up not knocking my parents I'm not saying that they made a mistake with that but like, for me that's been huge. Like if I make a mistake, like walking up to to my kid and be like, hey, I sorry I overreacted in handling that situation, but what I've seen that by setting that example and leading by example for them is they make a mistake. They inherently own up to it, right, they're. Hey, not bad, dad, I messed up, you're right.
Speaker 2:It's funny you mentioned that I mentioned Scott Gaffney, who I think would be great to have this. Scott has a. I have notes. He was a high school coach at Tequila high school. I recruited a few of his kids and he's got a kid that's in eighth grade right now. And he called me on on Monday afternoon and he's like hey man, I just got to admit something to you. He goes I screwed up. I had a dad bill the other day and this guy's I mean his kids are 14. He's probably 10 years older than me but I mean he's been a huge encouragement to me as a husband as a father, as a coach, and you know he told me he's like.
Speaker 2:I was at practice the other day and the kids were all goofing off. One of the kids was cussing and the coach wasn't doing anything about it and he goes after practice. I just walked in and he goes. I realized, you know, after the fact, that all those things I've been teaching my kid about leadership, he may have forgotten. And you know I had to go to my son, noah, and tell him hey, man, I screwed up and you know this wasn't the right way for me to act, but A I felt blessed that he called me to share that and I'm like I just hope, you know, in 10 years, when Brooks is that age, I'm probably going to call you and tell you I acted the same way.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, but through that, I think Scott was able to teach Noah. Hey, like your emotions are going to get the best of you sometimes, but how are you going to respond? Yeah, in a positive way. And you know, for Noah it may just be like Harlow. Hey, he'll be able to. Hey, I was wrong in this situation. So I think it's big to understand when we do fail, as parents, coaches, dads, whatever it is. Yeah, being able to admit that we're wrong because we're teaching other people. You know, hey, as Christians, this is how we feel we should respond and should own up to when we're wrong.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you never know what other people will think when they hear those things yeah, that's huge. So I know we got to get close to wrapping up. You got a real job you got to jump back to. You got a real job you got to jump back to. So let's go rapid fire really fast. I just have a couple more questions.
Speaker 2:Favorite College World Series moment. Or memory it could be memory Favorite College World Series moment. It's supposed to be rapid fire. Man, I just think, looking back being there, like when you say you were at the College World Series, like people are like, wow, I played about 14 games there, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:It may not have been 14, but it was probably 8 or 10. But like I mean, there's 47,000 people yeah, it's electric. Like it's awesome yeah, it's electric, it's awesome, I think, just the whole environment in and of itself. You're getting police escorts too. I was a celebrity there for the two weeks we were out there, so I think that's probably one of the biggest things that took away from it. That's awesome, that, and we probably should have won.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome that, and and we probably should have won.
Speaker 2:Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome man uh, toughest pitcher you already you ever faced, um uh, michael roth, who was the death of florida baseball the two years I was there yeah he was like a 84 86 mile an hour arm, but it was left-handed. It was like from the side, oh and me being a left-handed hitter, I was like uh, yeah, that's, that's tough yeah, um and then there was a lefty from georgia that pitched in the big leagues too.
Speaker 2:That that game. I came in late. Yeah, alex wood was okay, yeah, yeah, it's big leagues for a long time.
Speaker 2:I went into play normally not a situation and we were in a tight ball game and I was like I just got gotta put the ball. It was like first and third or something. Yeah, in the tie ball game late. I was like man, I gotta put the ball in play. And if I put it in play like I gotta beat it out, like I remember rolling over to the shortstop or hitting a butt out ground ball there and I'm a bang banger. So I'm like dude, I'm just gotta hit the ball like yeah, because he's got that funky arm slot too yeah probably outwood and and michael roth I got you.
Speaker 1:Uh, what was your go-to pre-game hype song back when ipod odds were?
Speaker 2:like remember the name by fort minor. Yes, that's still on my workout. Yeah, that's awesome that's awesome.
Speaker 1:What's uh? What would be the funniest baseball moment you have your whole career?
Speaker 2:funniest baseball, funniest baseball moment you have your whole career. Funniest baseball moment I could probably tell us. Don't judge me for this. So that same game at UGA I was in the dugout. I wasn't lying, I didn't think I was playing. We were at Georgia and we were in the dugout and we always kept this thing of bubble gum. Some of the fans were asking for some bubble gum, so'm like, oh so I unwrapped it, I rubbed it on, wrap it, wrapped it back up, tossed it back up to them and just the next couple innings we were just all dying. They're just sitting there chomping on the gum. So not what, I'm proud of?
Speaker 1:yeah, it was absolutely, it was fun probably not a bubble licious flavor that they're gonna put out jockstrap. Oh, dude, that's, that's, that's hilarious, man. Well, dude, I I greatly appreciate your time and your insight. I think, uh, I think this is gonna be huge for both athletes and parents to listen to. So thank you so much for your insight.
Speaker 1:Appreciate you being on, man, yeah thanks, chris, appreciate it sitting in Jeff's office while we're recording this episode and talking about all of the life lessons and experience he's had. It was so cool to look around his office and see all the certificates and different accolades and trophies that he had hanging on the walls and shelves and he had so much memorabilia from from his playing career. He had gloves and bats and things like that hung up and it was just cool to see. But one thing that stuck out to me a lot with what Jeff said was was talking about discipline and hard work and determination and and and I think it goes to show and it's something that that I've tried to push with my own son too is like you know, you know talent is only going to get you so far, but hard work and effort are going to get you so much further and having that discipline to put in the work and you hear him talking about his juco level and you know he you could tell he was kind of hesitant, didn't want to brag about himself in that moment when I asked him about, you know, his MVP season and his Juco career. But you know that hard work and determination, where nobody else was forcing him to do that, he said he had to do it on his own and the roles and responsibilities and putting in the work and effort and then moving into the, the, the d1 level playing at florida, where you know the next man behind you can replace you in a moment's notice. You know, and you've got to work that much harder and and continue to stay disciplined and driven.
Speaker 1:I think those are huge qualities of successful athletes and it was so cool to get to hear him say that. And now he turns around and shares that same, that same experience, that same you know knowledge with, with the players that he he comes in contact with now. So I greatly enjoyed my time with Jeff. I hope you enjoyed this episode and and and learn something from this. Thank you so much for listening. Take care. Thank you.
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