How A College Pitcher Trains His Mind For Game Day

The only podcast that is all about Athletes Supporting Athletes!

Transcript

Coach B 0:00

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Plan B podcast season three. And we have amazing guests all throughout season three. And I am really excited to have this guest on today because he is in a sport which I absolutely love. I love all sports, but I do have some that kind of stand out. And this is a sport which, you know, I have worked in, but have had limited capacity, particularly in a team environment. So it's so awesome today that we have our guest, Riley Phelan, who is an ex-college baseball player. And today he's really going to be sharing with us a really interesting insight, not just how he got into baseball and the highlights of his career, but specifically, he's going to talk about the mental performance

Welcome And Riley’s Baseball Path

Coach B 0:43

coaching in baseball and just, you know, what's important and what do upcoming young athletes and young baseballers need to know. So hey, Riley, welcome to the show. It's awesome to have you here.

Speaker 1 0:55

Thanks for having me.

Coach B 0:56

Yeah, it's unreal. And also, I did leave out of the intro, but I can just put that in right now. Riley was a college pitcher, and he also was in the outfield, and he's going to talk a little bit about that as well. And but I think that's pretty impressive. So he knows a lot about pressure because he was in a pressure position and you know, uh, pitchers are, you know, on have the focus on them the whole time. So this is really going to be awesome. So, Riles, I'm just called you Riles because that's become my nickname for you. Take me back. When did you start baseball? And give us a little bit of a history about you as an athlete.

Speaker 1 1:32

Yeah, so I started baseball whenever I was about like five or six years old, going back to Little League days. I grew up in Sonoma. I played basketball and baseball, but mainly focusing on baseball for this time being, just because I played college. I played uh baseball in college. So now I played in the JUCO at College of Marin for three years. I graduated high school in 2020, lucky uh COVID year, and I spent three years at College of Marin. I played both outfield and outfield and I pitched that first two years, and then strictly a pitcher, became just a pitcher only on my last year at College of Marin. And then I transferred to a school called Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Went there for one year and then transferred back here to Sonoma State and finished off my athletic career there. So I've been playing baseball for quite a long time now.

Coach B 2:31

Yeah, you I would say you are a veteran. And before I launch into your like really quite substantial career in baseball, which is super impressive, and I can't wait to deep dive into that. But I because we're focusing on mental performance and also we're gonna we are gonna touch a little bit on male mental health today, which if you heard the last episode of season two, you will understand that that has been part of my research for a long time and something I'm very passionate about, particularly supporting male athletes. I also wanted to, when you said you were a COVID grad, how did that feel and how did that impact you like mentally? Because that was your senior season of baseball. Okay. How was that? Was that just a total bummer? Like, how did you accept that?

Speaker 1 3:14

Yeah, I mean, I had a thankfully I had a basketball senior year, so that was kind of fun to experience. But we were like, I think we played like four or five games of senior year,

Losing Senior Season To COVID

Speaker 1 3:24

and then it was just cut, and it was just kind of weird because we would have like these random games. I mean, we weren't supposed to, but we had these a couple of the guys would get together at the field and kind of throw the ball to each other, and some guys would hit, some guys would pitch. And then I think a couple like after the quarantine part of it ended, we had a little senior night for it with like with like no one. It was like it was fun, but it was it was hard, but you kind of like no one, nobody else has really had that happen to them. So I guess you could look at it that way.

Coach B 3:53

It's you know what, it's totally unique, and I I can't like reiterate enough just the challenges that our young people endured during 2020 and particularly the seniors that year. So I have an extreme amount of like empathy for you guys, even though I wasn't a senior when I experienced COVID, but just the challenges of kind of it having taken away from you after you'd no doubtly played four years of baseball or three years and were looking forward to your senior year, and then that happened. So, hey, it was tough, but you just clearly recalibrated, started at the College of Marin and you played there and then went on to play at other colleges, which is awesome. So, but it wasn't all just roses for you. So, can you like talk to us a little bit about some of the highs and lows that you experienced in your baseball uh you know playing career?

Speaker 1 4:41

Yeah, so my first two years at Marin, I was two-way. So I played the outfield.

Coach B 4:48

I had okay, and that's called the two-way. So I would be a two-way if I could play a couple of positions.

Speaker 1 4:52

Yeah, yeah, that's it. That's so cool.

Coach B 4:54

I like that. Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 1 4:56

So in my total three years, I had 78 at bats, 25 hits, three doubles, and one triple, no home runs, 10 RBIs, 12 walks. I struck out 25 times. And then that was for two years. And then I was told that I couldn't,

Two-Way Player To Pitcher Only

Speaker 1 5:14

I wouldn't advance further if I continued two-waying. So I I would make it far. My coaches said I would make it far if I were to stick to pitching. So I listened to them, of course, because they're they're my coaches and I persevered pitching my last year at College of Marin, and my last year I had 16 innings pitched, 16 hits, 10 runs, 13 walks, and my ERA was 3.24. So yeah, it was it was different for sure, just learning, just learning about the the joke around it, like between all athletes is like be an athlete, be athletic. I really felt that like just the transition of being a two-way to becoming a pitcher. I felt like still trying to get my reps in just for fun in the cage if I wanted to, or I just felt like more athletic if I was doing both. But that kind of I really took off whenever I started to really focus mainly on pitching, though, if that kind of makes sense, and just knew a little bit more about the the pitching side of things.

Coach B 6:23

Yeah, well, you know, that's interesting. And it's interesting that you mentioned that even like you enjoyed starting to hone the your craft as a pitcher, but it undoubtedly probably like as much of your being a pitcher is physical, like it's all about technique. You have to watch watch film of the hitters that you're coming up against, you have to work very closely with your catcher, but there's also a lot of kind of like pressure on you mentally to have a really great focus. And could you like talk to us a little bit about what are some of the key things that you feel like a pitcher would have to have?

Speaker 1 6:57

I think a key thing that pitches should have is like just focus and like just

What Great Pitchers Focus On

Speaker 1 7:06

really focusing on like where you're at, like where your feet are at, and whenever you're out there, just or whenever you're not even pitching, just look at look at the game and like watch the game. Coaches have always said they're right, watch the game.

Coach B 7:22

And did you subscribe to that? Did you subscribe? Like, did you watch a lot of the game in order for your preparation? Because behavioral observation is what they're talking about. They're talking about that you can learn so much from watching.

Speaker 1 7:33

I would agree with that 100%. Watching the game is very, very, very important. And that just gives you an idea of like, and then you communicate with I used to communicate with the pitcher that was the starting pitcher because I was a relief pitcher, and just going knowing what the starting pitcher is throwing to the their lineup is important to to see if you're gonna be going into the game too, and knowing what they're knowing what they can hit well versus like what you know that they're gonna get out on.

Coach B 8:02

Right. And so it's and you're dead on, and also perhaps even, and you tell me, because I'm certainly no baseball expert, that if you had the the first pitcher rock in and and he is delivering a certain type of ball and that ball is getting smacked, and that's the only ball he can deliver because he has a certain style of pitching. Does that kind of then the coach says, Okay, Riles, you're up? Does that put a little bit of like pressure on you? Because you have to adapt and change perhaps even you know, whether you had a couple of different styles, uh you know, you educate me on this. Is that what you had to do in order to stop the runs coming in?

Speaker 1 8:35

Well, you have to like will also be coming be like coming from the bullpen, too, is like if you're not sometimes coaches will kind of give you because the game, like it honestly happens, like baseball is like kind of a slow game, but like whenever they're getting like two or three hits off of you right in a row, then like later on in the innings or yeah, like fourth or fifth innings, like if you're if they're in their pitch count is up, you'll start moving around, and then it like that, it could you'll be in the game. So you have to like really prepare yourself and like communicate with like the coaches and stuff, like that you're you're ready and stuff. That if that answers the question, right?

Coach B 9:15

Yeah, no, it does, it does, because I exactly what you're saying is that all the hard work you did in the week with practice where you're fine-tuning your pitching skills and your pitching technique, and basically you just have to be there's no time for that. Even though people think it looks like a slow game, I'm so sure that the changes are made very quickly, and you just have to be ready. You need to be ready to execute and go in when that the team needs you.

Speaker 1 9:36

Yeah, and just just like knowing your body too is really important and what gets you ready for your game, whatever is gonna get you ready mentally and physically, like they're two different things. Like, if you're if you're not watching the game either, too, that's gonna mess you up too. So those are the key the key for being ready too, also.

Coach B 9:58

So I love that you say this because I I just had a flashback to my sons who played baseball and they weren't very good, um, and they don't mind me saying this. And probably because they weren't very good at the time is because when they were in the outfield or the pit, they were either uh mucking around or they were drawing circles in the sand rather than paying attention uh to the game. So just because the ball is not near you and just because you're not in, you need to be locked in. You need to be locked in with your teammates, with your coach, you need to be like ready to execute. And I mean, you sound like a bit of a pro and Riles, and that might be well might just be because you're a great athlete and you were a multi-sport athlete. So you've also, you know, cognitively, you've I believe multi-sport athletes it contributes to a better cognitive function for sport. But you also openly shared with me, which I loved, you worked with a mental performance coach. And I love hearing that from male athletes because we don't hear it enough, and I I really encourage it. So when you first started working with your mental performance coach, could you share with us what why did you decide to find that mental performance coach? What led you to that?

Speaker 1 11:02

Yeah, so I first so going back to my days at my first Division II school, I went to Regis University. I only had 10 innings there. Do you want my do you want do you want to hear the I had like only I gave up 16 hits I had seven seven runs scored against me in my 10 innings pitched? So I I would I would say for myself for being in Colorado, like the elevation's high. You're not

Finding A Mental Performance Coach

Speaker 1 11:33

you're not the the altitude is not the pitcher's friend and that's and I didn't even you know what I didn't even think of that.

Coach B 11:39

That's crazy. Okay, yeah, keep going.

Speaker 1 11:41

Yeah, so that is the main reason, and I I've got a little injury too, so that kind of affected my playing time too. So then I was told that I would be pitching like less. So then I decided to transfer over to Sonoma State, and that's where I found Ryan Lockheed. He came and spoke to Sonoma State, the baseball team, which there no longer is, or any other athletics there.

Coach B 12:16

And and that's such a tragedy, by the way, Sonoma State. What the heck are you doing? It's such a disaster, and shame on you, shame on you for getting rid of this total side topic, but shame on you, Sonoma State University, for taking away the athletics, which is a massive part that contributes not just to athletes, what you just did is you took away the nucleus for what's important for community, what's important for social, for friendship, for those university students. So I really hope there is a course correct and that comes back. And we're gonna keep, you know, saying statements like, shame on you, until it happens because it really is terrible, not just for athletes, it's for all students. All students benefit from sport, whether they're watching it and yeah, or whether they're playing. And I'm sorry that like just had that diatribe then, but I felt so passionate about that, and I knew a lot of coaches who lost their job because of that. And the athletes. I really care about the athletes that yeah, just now don't have that option to go play sport close to home or you know, or even in Sonoma County now at a university.

Speaker 1 13:19

Totally. So that was I met Ryan whenever he came and spoke to us in the spring semester. So I was actually a walk-on at Sonoma State. So I didn't have a fall with them at all. I couldn't, I couldn't practice with them because the the way it was was the CSU system. It kind of it kind of was the academic enrollment services closed for the fall semester. So I didn't I didn't I couldn't plu work out with the team or anything like that. So I was a walk-on for the spring semester. So that I was already at a like a deficit there with with everything there. Thinking that whatever I whatever I need to do to get myself seen, like these you're gonna do it. Yeah.

Coach B 14:01

And I, you know what, I love that that you jumped on and you know, good on Ryan for well, actually, it's not just Ryan, good on the team for allowing a performance mental performance coach to come in because often that's the first barrier is that we don't even get access to teams for whatever reason. So good on the team for letting you in.

Speaker 1 14:18

And so yeah, then I I met he was came to talk to us, and then he offered uh four people to get like one-on-one training with him. So I got an opportunity to do one-on-one training with him, and it was the best thing ever.

Coach B 14:33

That is awesome. And I I'm so grateful that you said that because I would love to see like more male male athletes doing that. What do you think was one of the the best skills that you feel Ryan gave you?

Speaker 1 14:45

I think just being more relaxed on the mound and the confidence that I could I could bring to just whatever energy. Breathing just gives you energy. Just being a great teammate to one another. That's whatever, whatever you whatever you need to do to like be 1% better each day, like that's that was the key, probably too.

Coach B 15:10

That's you know, uh, I know that watching pitches and having worked with pitches, with your sport being with your role, being so technical, like being relaxed, I'm sure, makes a big difference. Because guys, we're not just talking about, you know, like going through the motions with swimming or with you know, with passing a ball. We're talking about like fraction of getting that ball in the right sweet spot and the difference between it being a strike and whether it being a ball. Like it's so it's so tiny. And those pitches have to be so accurate. So talk me through a little bit about your pre-game routine.

Speaker 1 15:50

Yeah, so uh I first get

Pre-Game Routine And Long Days

Speaker 1 15:52

to the it's a long day too. Like baseball's baseball's a long game, especially like whenever you go up in levels too, you have batting practice before the game, division two level. You have someone, you have to, you have to do the field setup for batting practice, then you have to do other teams batting practice, and then I think we were getting to the yard around like 9 30 in the morning for like a 12 o'clock game. Two o'clock game would be like 11, 11 or so. So it's a long day. You have to learn, you have to learn and you have to train yourself how to focus. So my and then I would stretch right after our batting practice, and that would give me time to like really focus on if I'm gonna be in the game, how my arm's feeling in that in that day, what just looking at their lineup that they have had. They like my my coaches like me going against lefties, looking at the lefties average batting average, the lineup card, and then I would get to stretching, and then we would be done with batting practice, cleanup, and then I would go stretch again after. So it's a lot of stretching, and then I would play catch, and then it would be game time.

Coach B 17:07

It's a long day, and I actually am starting to feel better about it, actually, baseball, because um, you know, my event i Man went all day, and I felt like nobody really appreciated how long my day was. And now I'm really starting to appreciate baseball a little bit more. And I always thought the games themselves were really long, and now I have no idea that for the players it's double that, or maybe even triple, because I I often used to see the players post, then cleaning the sand or like you know, doing whatever they had to do to reset the field. So there's so much prep involved. And to be honest, I kind of like that you guys do that because it's I guess it gives you so much respect for the game.

Speaker 1 17:45

Yeah, totally. And like on days that you wouldn't play, you would you would be in the weight room before batting practice, too. So it's honestly like a it was honestly a full-time job, to be honest with you.

Coach B 17:56

I believe it. Like it doesn't matter if you played could college division one or you played college division three, they're exactly the same effort level.

Speaker 1 18:04

That's that's one thing too. Like people people always say, Oh, division one, you need like that's like the best. Like, no, like they are if you play any college sports, you're good. Like you the the percentage of it, I don't know at the top of my head like what the percentage is for like the amount of people who come out of high school and go on to play college sports. It's it's it's very, very hard.

Coach B 18:31

So yeah, and the biggest takeaway from exactly what Riley is saying right now is that division one, two, or three, do not say no if you if you miss out on a division one, you still get an ultimate experience with division two or three. And guess what, multi-sport athletes? If you want to keep playing multi-sport in college, go for division three or even go for division two. I'm I don't want to like verify division two, but I'm pretty sure in both two and three, you can play two sports. You can't do that in division one sport. You can only play one sport. So if you feel like you want to do both sports, I mean that'd be a hell of a lot in college. Look broader than just the D1 schools because exactly what Riley's saying, the experience is the same. It's the same quality of teams, coaches, great environment. And also, guys, check out how many pros, and it's a very small percentage of pros that got that from college. It's like 1% or less than 1%. But guess what? A lot of them come from D2 and D3. Okay. They don't necessarily always come from D1 schools.

Speaker 1 19:34

There's nothing wrong with it either.

Coach B 19:36

Yeah, oh no, you should just celebrate it. Like the longer we can keep playing sport, it's awesome. So you've been playing your sport for a long time. You you you saw the realization that, hey, a mental performance coach could be beneficial. Kudos to you. What were some of the skills like for the baseballers listening? Um, you you said breathing, but you also like I can imagine that if you're getting like if people are hitting your pitches out of the park and you start getting frustrated, could you tell us like that skill that you learned to help get emotionally regulated?

Speaker 1 20:08

Yeah, so there was there was these things that Ryan talked about, they were just like kind of kind of things to let things go. And whenever your mind is when the game is going faster for you. That was for me, it was picking up the rosin bag on the back of the mound and kind of dropping it or letting, and I would say literally to let it go while I was doing that. It would just, it would just help me because I would I would throw the rosin

Reset Tools For Nerves And Anger

Speaker 1 20:36

and then the big chalk would come out of the and then I would forget about it. Like I would be better, better off thinking, like not thinking about what happened, like a double or a triple got off, get off, hit off hit off me.

Coach B 20:49

Yeah. And what and I know why Ryan was teaching you guys that, and that's a part of like it's there's a little bit of state interruption there where you're trying to just remove yourself from where you are mentally, guys. And I had a a soccer player that I was working with who's now going into college, and you can see her on my Instagram page, her name's Bailey. Bailey was a soccer player who was a defender, and sometimes she'd get really frustrated with the fact that you know the the ball was continually coming through, you know, to her and she'd have to be doing all the work. And so she would do something similar to what Riley was doing on the mound. She would go down and touch the ground and get a reset or or do something to just remove her state from where she is, distract yourself just for a moment. I can imagine, Riley, for you, you don't have a lot of time to do that. So what else did you feel like was beneficial to keep you in the moment?

Speaker 1 21:40

Just kind of looking at, I used to also look at that when I got the ball back from the catcher, I would, and if it was like a ball or strike, I would just do it every single time. I would just look over that foul pole and I just like to kind of breathe. There was he also did gave me keep your eye on the on the ball. It was there's a ball so. B was for breathe. A was anchor affirmation statement. So whatever. And then uh look to the past. That would be the L, the first L. So like look for moments of success. Excuse me. Look for moments of success and step into that moment with your with your five senses. Like think about like this could be this this happens fast though, but like still, and then look to the future using use the momentum and confidence from the from look to the past moments, then look forward to your next performance and focus on that.

Coach B 22:38

I love that. And guys, guys listening, young athletes listening. This is so these what Riley's sharing with us today is so important. And just little takeaways that can actually make a big difference in your game, just to help with reset. Hey, nerves is 100% normal. Getting frustrated is normal. And I'm actually an advocate of like, you know, Ryan said, let it go. I'm also an advocate for releasing it. Like sometimes you need to release it. If you need to, as long as you're not directing it at anybody, if you need to throw your head back and yell at the sky like you see a lot of tennis players do, or you don't want to be smashing the racket because you could get a violation. But there's ways to release energy, and sometimes that's useful. Don't feel as though you always need to keep it in. And you know, the technique that uh Ryan taught Riley about checking on your your five you know senses. What you know, what can you hear, what can you see, what can you smell, what can you touch, and what can you taste? And I'm guessing with baseball, were you one of those people? Are you chewing that? Like, what the heck is everyone chewing at baseball?

Speaker 1 23:34

I and ball pens I chew, but I chew gum.

Coach B 23:37

And there's seeds and they're spitting, and there's a lot of spitting. What's going on there?

Speaker 1 23:41

I you know, I don't really know. I think that's just kind of like a sense of like that could be nervous, nervous kind of thing too, maybe. Yeah.

Coach B 23:49

Hey, chewing helps regulate, you know, it is it is actually a way to control nervous energy. I guess I was more thinking about the spitting because I like you see a lot of the spitting happening on television. I like to watch baseball. And I'm like, I'm like, guys, what are you doing? Like, is there a bucket for that? Is there a des is there a designated spit bucket?

Speaker 1 24:07

No, it they just it just goes around the dirt.

Coach B 24:09

Ew, okay, okay. I'm gonna leave that. So, you know, a lot of pitching coaches go straight to like mechanics when someone is struggling with their technique, and you really, you know, to your credit, you decided, hey, I'm gonna look at the mental performance side as well. How much do you believe in pitching is mental and is physical? Is there because I, you know, I'm guessing you've done all the work during the week. So you're going now, it should be like muscle memory. When it comes to game day, how what percentage would you say for pitches and getting it right would be mental?

Speaker 1 24:45

I think for me, to be honest, like there's that's an almost state, there was a travel roster, and I was always questioning myself if I was gonna be on that travel roster because it didn't happen a couple of times, just because I was still in that I still had to work for that spot to like because the coaches, the coach was new also. So I I wasn't on the travel roster most, like most of the time. So that was very frustrating for myself as well. And that's another thing Ryan helped me with as well, just to stay positive and stuff like that. But that pretty much played a factor, like I would have live at that, like we would scrimmage each Tuesday. And that would pretty much that would be much my

Roster Stress And Bench Energy

Speaker 1 25:28

that would be my like big moment of the week to see if I would make the travel roster. So I was I would take that in like I would just it sounds like it sounds weird, but it's like really it would just be my scrimmage and I would just do well, like shove.

Coach B 25:48

Yeah, you you'd step up to the plate as you have to do in baseball and you would you would deliver. And you know what? Full credit for you for one, one of the hardest things we have to do as athletes is look at areas within our sport where we need to work on. And you clearly identified Riley that your mental side of your sport needed some work. And I totally understand it. And it's not easy when you don't make the roster. And the biggest message that I want to say to athletes listening about those roster frustrations, everyone gets it, and everyone gets it in in college. Pro sport as well. Like, you know, there was a great podcast that I think you even you shared with me. Because by the way, if you if you're not tapped into the Plan B podcast of athlete supporting athletes, Riley is a contributor to our page, and you can check him out every week because he actually drops one of his favorite, you know, what's happening around mental performance in the world of social media. And I think it was wasn't Kevin Durant, it was Draymond. Yeah, Draymond did the message about the basketball players not getting any time. But the message I want to say to athletes, and I know that Ryan probably reiterated this to you, Riley, was that guys and girls, you can contribute massively from the bench to how your team performs by you having the right attitude and you bringing the right energy and you supporting your coach. Because all those factors that contributes to the overall performance of others. And you could be part of that just by how you don't know what's going on in the head of your teammate. And if you come there, even though you're not you're not rostered to pitch, but if you come there with the right attitude and the right energy, that could be all it takes. That could be the difference between the person next to you who's rostered, who's not feeling great, but suddenly feels your energy, boom, you made that difference.

Speaker 1 27:25

Did you do that too?

Coach B 27:27

Did you do that, Riles? Was that part of what you try to do?

Speaker 1 27:30

Yeah, and and Ryan helped me with that too. I I had one one scrimmage where I was I did really bad. I I I walked like three guys and I that was I didn't even finish the inning. I I mean I I had one inning pitched, but I maybe two, but I just couldn't get a third out. That's like the toughest thing, the third out always for pitchers. Like they got the I'm sure baseball players will say that too.

Coach B 27:56

Like although they will be nodding with you right now as they're listening, just going, yeah, what he's saying is like yeah, is like is like spot on. Well, hey, Riley, it's been so awesome, like just having you here and giving us a tiny tiny little bit of an insight. But more importantly, being a male athlete, like and openly seeking like a a mental performance coach, but you were you inspired by other athletes that you saw that also kind of were open about. Is that why you kind of at the time you took the courage and took the one of Ryan's spots and that led to an improved performance? But how what's how do you feel, or have you been inspired by those men who have been openly public about their challenges, their some of their mental health challenges?

Speaker 1 28:39

Yes. So there's a recent episode on Netflix. I don't know if it's still out, but it's called the Clubhouse, and it's a year with the Red Sox. It's Jaron Duran, and he's he comes out and says that he's has mental health problems and just how they're how he's overcoming them. Just kind of like focusing mainly on not getting too high or too low with your emotions, and just that's a really important thing for baseball too, and just looking back on like baseball and life too,

Male Mental Health And Athlete Role Models

Speaker 1 29:12

just just trying to stay level-headed with like your day and just know that better days are coming. And then also Michael Phelps, he's he said that it's okay to not be okay. That goes for any like anyone as well. Just really you there's people who are vulnerable, vulnerable, and it could be anyone, and it is okay to not be okay.

Coach B 29:42

It it 100% is, and you know, that is such a great message to for all our listeners, and whether you play sport or not, it doesn't matter if you're not having a great day. And and one of the things that I'm also a big advocate for is it's okay to tell people, guys, I'm not I'm not feeling the best today, or I'm not actually feeling myself today.

Speaker 1 30:01

And you're always for 100% every day, exactly.

Coach B 30:03

And guess what? Don't expect it because the you know, life isn't a Ronald McDonald's ad. Okay, we're not all jumping around happy and you know having a great time all the time. It is ups and downs, but I like to think of emotions, and I I think I got this from it was some uh it Eastern, because I kind of like Eastern psychology as well. The emotions are clouds, okay? They come and go, they dis they dissipate. So, hey, let it let it pass through. Let it pass through. And guess what? Don't keep it in. If you're if you're not feeling great, let's find an outlet. If you try not to direct it at others, but go for a walk in nature or or find a way to process your feelings. So I have some fun questions for you, Riley, that I would love to hear, and to also give us like a little bit more of an insight into you as a player, because you have been unreal in in helping, you know, shape how mental performance has helped with baseball. But I really want to know more about you as a player. Okay, so let's run through this. Now, first of all, just for our listeners, I know that you know you've been you've been playing since you were five and you're currently uh take you know taking a break, but would you ever look at kind of re-entering the sport or maybe as a player or as a coach? Or or hey, would you even play in like adult league? Because there I'm sure some like flying around. What kind of does baseball hold for Riley coming up?

Speaker 1 31:27

I definitely would adult league, maybe that's I've been asked a couple of times from some friends of mine, and then I got asked to join the men's league in Moran too. I don't know, I didn't even know the guy, and he asked me if I want to join the men's league in Moran, which was kind of funny.

Coach B 31:42

Can you please let us know when you do? Because then I'm gonna put it

Baseball Future And Rapid Fire

Coach B 31:45

out there so people can come actually watch you live in action. Because I bet you're still incredible as an athlete, and you know, all of those years don't disappear overnight. So let's hit the rapid fire questions for you. All right, I'm gonna fire through them and you're just gonna come up with your best answer. Any that is too hard, because I might throw some curlers in there just because you know you should expect that. You did bad as well. So just be ready for a curveball if that's coming at you. Is that something that pictures do? Do you do like a curveball? Is that actually yeah, right. Okay, so I might throw one at you today. All right, so let's roll. Aluminium or wood bat?

Speaker 1 32:19

I would say wood bat.

Coach B 32:20

Walk up song.

Speaker 1 32:24

Let's do Lay Low.

Coach B 32:27

Best stadium you've played in.

Speaker 1 32:31

Texas Tech.

Coach B 32:34

Pitcher that you most admire.

Speaker 1 32:38

I would say right now it's probably pulse games.

Coach B 32:44

A batter that you are grateful that you never had to pitch against. Like someone that just smacks every ball. Who's that?

Speaker 1 32:52

Professionals?

Coach B 32:53

Yeah. Let's do show a right, okay. What kind of ball would you throw him, by the way? Just curious.

Speaker 1 33:00

I would intentionally walk him.

Coach B 33:02

Okay, I love that. Right, okay. So you would just make him walk. Because he's he's probably gonna add to your home run and you you don't want that.

Speaker 1 33:10

Yeah.

Coach B 33:10

Okay, that's smart. Good thinking. All right, so remember that guys.

Speaker 1 33:13

If you've got maybe a change up, actually.

Coach B 33:16

Okay, all right. This is all important because there are pitchers listening right now that may have like a mini version of that they have to face. And Riley just said just walk. Okay, you don't want that against your name, you don't want that against your name.

Speaker 1 33:26

Or a changeup, or a change up, or a change up.

Coach B 33:27

Okay, smart. All right, biggest superstition that you had playing baseball.

Speaker 1 33:33

I would say wear I would wash the socks, but I would I would wear like these blue the blue socks, but I would wash them.

Coach B 33:40

Oh, thank goodness. Okay, well, I'm I'm grateful that you actually wash them. Okay, so I'm sure there are some people that don't actually wash their socks and they just wear them. Okay, favorite pregame meal.

Speaker 1 33:55

Let's do like a sandwich, like a turkey sandwich. That's that's a that's a good one.

Coach B 33:59

Okay, excellent. What do you this is in your personal opinion, and you can answer this in the professional sense, or you can answer this in your own playing experience? Who's the coach that changed the game most?

Speaker 1 34:17

I think can it be like anyone anyone?

Coach B 34:22

Yeah, go crazy.

Speaker 1 34:28

I think uh I would say Steve Kerr right now.

Coach B 34:35

Just like in basketball, what about baseball?

Speaker 1 34:38

Baseball, let's I think just the run that Tony Vitello's on the Giants team manager, I'm really excited for him. Like I think he's a great, I think he focuses on on more because he came from he's the first college coach. So Tony V would be just because he's he stays very like level-headed and positive.

Coach B 34:56

And for you personally, who was the the the coach that made the biggest impact for you? And I'm sure you had lots, and and if you don't want to be specific on one, that's okay. But who was a coach that you look back fondly on for the way they coached?

Speaker 1 35:09

I would say my college membrane coach, I would say Skip. What's his name?

Coach B 35:19

All right, Skip, you're a legend, impacting athletes. I'd love to hear that. In college, was there a certain play that sometimes just you like to run through your mind? Like I know I remember as an athlete, I had performances that I like to relive. It's tragic. Okay, it's tragic for me because like I'm ancient now and I'm still running through those performances in my head. And but you, you're only like finished what yesterday. So is there is there a performance you like to still I would say my my last strikeout of my college career.

Speaker 1 35:47

What is going on? Did it stop?

Coach B 35:51

Yeah, it's okay. I'll fix that. Yeah, it's okay. There's um it for some reason it's it's connecting to some yeah, I had this happen before. It's okay, I'll I'll edit this bit.

Speaker 1 36:00

So yeah, so tell me I would say I would say my last strikeout that I had at Cowpoy Pomona. It was just I just had a lot of juice that game because I was kind of frustrated with being put in the game. Like I will I should have gone in later up to me because I had a really good week in practice and I was just all fired up all week and did a good job and disagreed with one of my coaches' decisions. Okay. That would that would my my last strikeout.

Coach B 36:29

Okay, awesome. What do you feel like that what is the one thing that you feel like you'll miss most about you know your playing days, even though they're gonna they may continue?

Speaker 1 36:40

So just the friends that you make on your on your teams, just you you become really close with them and then you build you build friendships, friendships with them for a long time.

Coach B 36:49

And if you could go if someone said go yard right now, could you do that?

Speaker 1 36:54

No.

Coach B 36:55

Okay, at least you're honest. Hey, thanks for that.

Speaker 1 36:58

It's hard to hit a baseball, anyways.

Coach B 37:00

Oh, yeah, okay. It is, it is hard, and also I'm sure like there's a lot of different types of fitness. Like I see a lot in baseball that you have to be incredibly

What He Misses And Final Message

Coach B 37:10

um agile, like fast twitch, yeah, like reaction time, and that is something that really you do need to continuously train. So, yeah, I have a lot of respect for the game of baseball and the the level of difficulty that's in it. But your journey, Riley, has been pretty, you know, inspirational. And what you shared with us today has been great. And I'm like, I'm so grateful for you that you came on and that you've shared. Is there something, is there a message that you would love to share with future baseball athletes? Or, you know, or is there just some big takeaway that you got from your years of playing that you want to share with our listeners?

Speaker 1 37:47

I would just say just have fun with the game. And if you're passionate about it, go for it. Whatever it is that you're passionate in life about or your sport, just aim for the aim for the moon. Just go all in.