Clemson University's Starting SS | Tyler Lichtenberger

In this episode, Matthew de la Rosa interviews Tyler Lichtenberger, a sophomore shortstop at Clemson University, who shares his journey from Appalachian State to a Power 4 school. Tyler discusses the challenges of transferring, the mental resilience required in college baseball, and the importance of hard work and dedication. He provides insights into his daily life as a student-athlete, the significance of weight training, and offers advice for aspiring players. The conversation highlights the balance between success and failure in sports and the importance of enjoying the journey.

Takeaways

• Tyler Lichtenberger is a sophomore shortstop at Clemson University.
• He transferred from Appalachian State after a successful freshman year.
• The decision to transfer was difficult but aligned with his dream to play at a Power 5 school.
• The transfer portal involves paperwork and tough conversations with coaches.
• Tyler emphasizes the importance of mental resilience in baseball.
• He believes in staying present and focusing on the moment during tough times.
• A typical day for a Clemson baseball player includes classes, workouts, and practice.
• Tyler enjoys spending time with teammates outside of baseball, including video games.
• He advises young athletes to work hard and not get discouraged by others' success.
• Fielding and hitting drills are crucial for skill development in baseball.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's going on, y'all? Welcome to another episode of NJ Help the Heat the podcast with your host, as always, Matthew Delarosa. And today I've got a special guest, a current player, our first current player to join us. He is the shortstop over at Clemson University, Tyler Lichchenberger, or Tyler Lichchenberger. And he's going to come on and talk about his journey to get to there. I know that a lot of parents and players listening to this podcast are interested in how you play at a Power Force school. And we've got a guy right here that's going to be able to talk through his exact journey to get there. So rather than hear me talk about it, now we got somebody who's doing it firsthand. So without further ado, man, hey, why don't you introduce yourself to the people and let them know who you are?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Tyler Lushenberger. I'm currently a sophomore shortstop at um Clemson University. Uh last year I was previously at Appalachian State University. And yeah, you know, I love my experience there. And um, you know, here's been awesome as well. You know, we haven't started um the best, but you know, it's been a great, great experience so far, and we're excited for the future.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Definitely, man. So yeah, let's talk about the uh Appalachian State. I think that's where you and I um connected through my podcast uh with with uh with them. And so with coming from Appalachian State, you know, how how does that like what what kind of role does is does that play in your life? Like the the the great year that you had at Appalachian State where you were, you know, the freshman player of the year, uh, you guys once or you won the Sunbelt freshman player of the year to then transferring to to Clemson, very, very, I'm sure, difficult decision. What goes through that uh process? What what what are some thoughts that go through your head and how do you make that decision?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah, so ultimately, you know, AppState, I love it. Um I love all the guys that were there. I loved all the coaches. I feel like I actually, you know, grew up and kind of really became a man there with just you know Kermit Smith's teachings and you know Brett Johnson, Ross Steedley, all those guys. Um Coach Leggett isn't there anymore, also. But you know, all those guys were just great to me and really just helped me grow as a person first, I'd say, more than anything. And you know, being away from home for the first time, you know, I'm from South Florida, so that is it was a pretty different experience, culture shock. And you know, I had great older guys that kind of just took me through that super easily. Um, you know, Cam Miller was just one of the guys, and then Juan Carey also, he's at USF now, and Cam Miller's still at App State. But I mean, those two guys in general, um, just first two to come to mind, but everybody on the on the team was just we were super tight knit. And um, yeah, just the you know, having to transfer, it was just kind of came down to um, you know, it was always my dream to um play, you know, power four ball. So that was probably the biggest thing of it.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Yeah, definitely. What are what are those conversations like with like your parents? Like, what do you what are you having to weigh, right? You go back, you're just freshman of the year, you've got a secure spot at Appalachian State to come to Clemson where I'm sure they're talking about potentially making you the starter, but it's not a given. I'm sure there's talent all over the place, right? Um you're probably getting to fight for a spot. So what helps make those decisions?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Um yeah, you know, being a transfer student, it is, you know, it's it feels like freshman year all over again, you know, new spot coming in brand new. Um, you know, you're meeting new people, you know, seeing how things flow around here. So it was kind of, you know, an adjustment again. And yeah, it's just, you know, taking a step out of the comfort zone and you know, nothing's promised. Um, as you said, you know, having to compete was kind of you know, kind of a fun aspect again, just competing for a job. And um, yeah, you know, it was super tough on me, super tough on me mentally, leading up to the portal. Yeah. Um, and just talks with my parents. Um yeah, it was super tough, but then I think, you know, as it came down to it, I made the right decision. Um, coming to Clemson, and it's been great here so far.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Now, the portal is something that's relatively new. Uh, you being a sophomore in college, it's it's call kind of always been a part of your journey. But for somebody who graduated in 2016, like it wasn't a part of any of our journeys. Had it been, I probably would have chosen out of my school. So, what what's it like putting yourself in the portal? Like, what is the process to do that? And like, what are the things that maybe kids who are in high school don't necessarily know about it right now, and parents who are, you know, looking at it.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Yeah, so you know, there's there's a lot of paperwork, you know, you go through the paperwork, that's just kind of you know, just the start of it. You go through all the paperwork, all that stuff. Um, you know, you have to can have those tough conversations with your coaches. Um, you know, that was super hard. Um, being such a good guy, uh Kermit, Kermit Smith and you know Brett Johnson, I love those guys to death. And it was just super hard to be like, hey, like I'm leaving. And yeah, once you do hit the portal, it ultimately opens up, and then schools kind of just reach out, random numbers kind of were just calling me um when the portal opened, and it was kind of like, you know, just kind of weighing your options of location, coaches, um, you know, the whole experience of your new spot because it is gonna be your new, you know, your school for the rest of the time you're in college. You hope, you know, you don't want to transfer multiple times. You hope you make one transfer and call it. And um, yeah, so that's just kind of my advice, you know, just take it as you will, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah, no. I mean, it's it's super interesting. I mean, it's a whole new landscape for people. I'm sure you guys were just trying to figure it out on the fly. Do you have any brothers or sisters that played college sports or anything like that that were able to help you?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Or no, no, I was kind of I was kind of on the fly with it. I had um, I kind of shouted out Juan Correa before, but he was um he did he kind of did the whole portal thing. So he kind of um you know walked me through that and you know helped me out as to what to look for, what to do, and he was a big part of that. And yeah, no, I have no other siblings that played college sports, so it was kind of nerve-wracking at first. And my parents also, you know, didn't really know too much about it, didn't know if it was the right decision. So that was like the biggest part of just like kind of reassuring them, like, hey, like, like I this might be the right step.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, and the right step it was, man. Now you're over there at Clemson balling out, doing your thing. I saw you had a big game last weekend. Uh we'll talk more about what you're doing at Clemson right now, but let's talk about um Appalachian State, right? You go into D1 baseball, every kid's dream is to play D1 baseball, if not get drafted out of high school. And uh, you know, most people they kind of stumble out of the blocks, right? They they're getting used to college level playing. Uh, it's way different than high school ball, but you seem to have zero uh uh hiccups with with playing collegiate baseball. Again, winning player of the year, your first year. Um, you know, what is the mindset going into to college baseball from high school baseball and how are you able to successfully cross that bridge and you know crush it?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, so my um, you know, I went up early in the summer, which I think was huge. And I think a lot of people, if if you're thinking about um doing that, I think you should for sure, especially your freshman year. Um, you know, go up there, get in there early with you know the coaches, your your players, your other teammates, and it was good kind of creating those bonds super early. And then yeah, just kind of going to work, man. Like the fall was tough. Like, I'm not gonna lie, like I struggled in the fall. Um, you know, it was not easy. Just day in, day out, the constant grind, and then you know, you got class on top of that, and then you got your weight weight lift. We lifted after practice, so we would, you know, class, practice, and then you got to go to weights, and you know, you you don't want to miss out anything on that end, too, because you need to be as big as you possibly can physically and as strong as you possibly can to compete with some of these guys that are you know 23, 24 years old. They've been around the block, they've done it multiple years. And yeah, it was kind of just more of like, screw it, like that attitude of just like, I got nothing to lose. Like, just let me go out here and try to play the best of my ability and you know, hope something shakes.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Yeah, dude. And I mean, again, dude, hats off too, man. That's that's a huge accomplishment for you. That's something that nobody can ever take away from you, and it's something that obviously um you're proud of and has gotten you to the spot that you're in right now. So again, that's that's super awesome. That's a big reason why I wanted to get you on the podcast, is so that you can share with some of these young athletes, you know, the the level of dedication, commitment, and sacrifice it takes to one, play at Clemson and two, you know, be a you know player of the year in a uh a conference like the Sunbell with a D1 program. And so what are uh some of the steps that it took to get to college? What did your high school career look like? What did recruiting look like for you? How did you ultimately get to Appalachian State?

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah, so I'd say I was uh I was a late bloomer. Um you know, my freshman sophomore year, I wasn't I wasn't really big. I wasn't physical enough to be, you know, one of these high-rated prospects, you know, committing to one of these crazy schools. And it was kind of discouraging at first. Um, because you know, I was still playing with you know, some of the best competition with I was with uh Cannons baseball and um you know our whole team was pretty much committed to Power Five. You know, we got guys, Miami, cut guys, you know, committing to all these big schools, and you know, I was kind of sitting there uncommitted, um, not really looked at just because I was undersized, and that was the biggest part of just really grinding. I'd say my sophomore after my sophomore year, um, kind of going into that junior season and that whole junior, like going into my junior year in general, that whole summer I just grinded, dude. Like I was playing JV baseball as before as a freshman. Like I wasn't like people think, you know, we see everybody online, you know, some of these kids that just you know have they have it at an early age, and it's it's not a bad thing, obviously, but you know, some guys are just earlier than other guys. And yeah, I feel like it was just part of the process of really learning hard work and learning you know how to grind the right way and you know, not take shortcuts in anything I do, whether that's ground balls, you know, defensively or offensively getting my swings in. And then again, just I feel like the weight room was my biggest unlock. And just for like younger kids out there, like I feel like you know, your weight room is gonna be your best friend, um, especially at that age in high school when you know maybe that's all the difference. Like you might have the hand-eye, you might have the bats of ball skills. It's just you know, you're not big enough. And I think that's the biggest thing, it's just you just gotta get bigger.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, man. I mean, you don't know anything about me for those listening. Like we just met, Tyler and I just met about you know 10 minutes ago. But uh, that was the biggest thing for me, man. I had every skill that I needed, and then I ended up just putting on 60 pounds. The next thing you know, you know, I'm getting drafted and uh, you know, able to play at the next level. And so uh I tell kids all the time, man, like that's all it is. You know, kids want to change their swing, they want to change the way that they feel, the way that they throw. And for a lot of the kids, it's just like, dude, if you just get bigger and faster, like all that kind of stuff takes care of itself. Now you need some people along the way that are gonna help guide you, right? High-level coaches who can help mold you, but you know, whatever you have naturally is probably already good enough, and it just needs to be refined with you know, some skill that you put in on the work that you, you know, are talking about, and then just getting into the weight room and doing all of that stuff. So in high school, what one last question about your high school, and then we'll move on to your college stuff again. Um, what did that that weight room process look like? How many days a week were you in there? What did you have to do? What were you weighing? Um, what did you get up to? Like, give us some metrics and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

I got you. So, pretty much my I want to say sophomore junior year-ish, I was about I was probably like 160, 150. My sophomore year, I was probably 160, 170.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

160.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Yeah, dang, dude, for real.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Mad, bro. But then hey, I graduated college at 220, so I put in the work. Okay, there we go. Late, but dang.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Yeah, I was probably I was probably about 150, 160, and I've always I've I could always kind of swing it a little bit. It's just I never had power, I never really had juice. Like, I was kind of you know, just a slap kind of singles type of guy. Um, you know, no doubles, no really triples, extra base hits, like that. And then I was literally in the weight room, probably, and it wasn't just me, also. That was that was the biggest thing. Like it was me and my boys, which was the coolest part. And you know, some of those guys are still playing college baseball, but even some of those guys, they just you know, they just go to school now, but they're still grinding, so it's awesome to like see that it kind of like kept it carried over. And yeah, we were always in there just it was pretty much seven days a week, like like we were we wouldn't really miss a workout, and it was just um you know, we kind of we were kind of lifting like bodybuilders, I'm not gonna lie. Now like looking back at it now, like we weren't really lifting getting that foundation, yeah. Earl, I say like early on, like sophomore year-ish, we weren't really lifting as like kind of how we do now, and you know, with other stuff to be an athlete, but I say, yeah, we were just you know, bench press, squatting, squatting as much as I could, you know, probably wasn't the best idea, but just throwing plates on there, and and then I'd say my junior year, uh, that's when it really just started to like explode. I I got up to about 180 and I just felt good, like my body felt good. Um, I was hitting the ball a lot harder. I was starting to hit balls over the fence. Like I hit my first home run my junior year and um ever. Yeah, ever. Like over the fence. And it was just like it was like surreal, like just being able to because like we I I feel like I worked for that like super hard and to finally like have that happen. Um you know, and again, like I said, it was like me and all of my high school teammates, like another guy, Corey Kling, he's um he's at Arizona now. He pitches at Arizona. I feel like I was in there with him. Another guy, Matt Pagan, he's at um Santa Fe. He just committed a VCU to play to be a pitcher. And then James Lippman, FAU's, I think he's a Friday or Saturday guy. Um, you know, he's a dog. We were all we would all be in there just just grinding and just having fun while we're doing it.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Love it, man. Yeah, I mean the old saying goes, you are you you know who you surround yourself with, you have the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So if you're spending your time around bad people, you get bad results. You're spending your time around, like you just said, four D1 dudes, you got no other choice but to get better every single day. So so that's great, man. Um, I want to talk back now into your college game, right? So you've had ever everybody who plays this game has a ton of success and they have a ton of failure, right? It's just the way that the game goes. How do you approach success, right? The success that you had at Appalachian State when you're riding high, you can't do no wrong, and the ball looks like a beach ball, and then let's just start there. What do you what do you how do you handle success? How do you not get too big for your bridges?

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Yeah, so it all just kind of comes back to just trying to play winning baseball and trying to win games for your team. Um, you know, it was super simple. Just try to do I feel like when I'm, you know, at the best, I'm just trying to obviously every time you go out, you try to win games for your team and try to try your best to win the game and do what you can to win the game. But it's really like not even a thought. And it's kind of just like, hey, like what I do today is gonna help the team win. Like, and I and you know it. Like, you know, like I feel like I every day I knew like, hey, I'm coming out like uh like I'm gonna do something to help the team win today. And that's what um, you know, you just gotta play with as a as a as a young player, I feel. Um don't try to get get too caught up in the individual stuff because that's gonna kind of come along as you help your team win the games. And if you could help your team win, you know, keep winning, keep winning, keep winning, then um, you know, the individual stats and all that stuff will come along with it.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Definitely, definitely. And then on the uh flip side of that, you know, when things are going wrong, right? We've all been there, we've all you know made a bunch of errors, can't can't buy a hit to save your life, right? How do you how do you not dig yourself into a hole so deep that mentally you check out and next thing you know, you've thrown away, you know, two at bats, two games, two months of a season, and now the season's over, and you know, you you just weren't mentally strong enough to stay in it. How do you know?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

I feel like uh, you know, right now I'm going through that a little bit right now. Um, you know, I haven't had the best start um as I wanted uh, you know, for me and to help my team win games. And yeah, it's just trying to trying to be um present in the moment, not worry about the future, not worry about um, or not even think about what happened in the past because it's over with, it's done. You can't really control it. You can't control anything. You can only control right now and what's going on in this moment. Um and yeah, just trying to trying to stay as simple as possible and really go back to the basics and just um you know, build that confidence up from the bottom up, you know, if you're down there.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah, definitely, man. I mean the the the being in being in the slow starts and being in the tough holes is is really what separates like a in my opinion, like a good baseball player from a great baseball player, right? Somebody who's able to like wear it, grind it out, and know that like, all right, this is a long season, there's a marathon, not a sprint. You know, while I'm maybe not hitting what I want to hit right now, all it takes is one week of me getting hot to flip that average around, and I'm just gonna keep going about my business the same way I've been going about my business. I'm not gonna hit the panic button. I'm not gonna try to change my swing all of a sudden, play, you know, a different style of baseball than what I'm used to. And uh that's what I want people to understand is like baseball is a very, very long game. And uh, you know, if you just keep doing the little things over and over and over again, regardless of what's happening, uh that that at the end of the season you're gonna be proud of whatever you kind of work and turned in. If not, you know what you need to work on the next season. So yeah, good stuff, man. I I appreciate I appreciate you you know sharing that. I know it's not tough to get and talk about, you know, maybe not having the best uh uh start to the year. Uh and so what are you focused on right now as far as like getting getting out of that and and what are the self-talk that you're working on, or maybe some uh mental mental things that you're um you know in in uh putting into your everyday life right now?

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah, you know, it's just being super positive. Um, you know, it's easy to be negative when um you're not going well, or you know, we're losing, we're losing a couple games here and there. Um it's easy to get super negative and super kind of panicked, you know. I I feel um, you know, and then that's when things start to kind of speed up on you and just really um could take off into something a lot worse than what it actually is, you know. Our strength guy, um Rick Flansbaugh, he said something, you know, that kind of stuck with me early in the fall. Um, you know, it's never it's never as bad as it seems, and it's never as good as it seems. You know, you always want to stay right in the middle. And yeah, that's just trying to stay in the middle, trying to find that middleman, middle spot. Um, yeah, and that's just again, positive self-talk is just my biggest thing right now. And just knowing that, you know, there is gonna be another side of this.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

So definitely, man. I mean, you're still young, dude, and uh you've got two more years, and you've got a whole second half of a season to figure it out. With the tackle baseball player that you are, just just seeing stats alone, uh you're gonna figure it out quickly, no doubt about it. Thank you. And uh, once you do figure it out, uh I've seen already that you're already being talked about and mentioned in like the 2027 draft. I'm sure you're giving it some thought, but probably not as much because you're focused in season. But when those conversations begin to happen and you know, scouts are probably at y'all's practices, and maybe you're starting to get some letters. Uh, what is what does all of that look like to you? Um, is it something you even give thought to?

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Um, yeah, as of right now, not really. Um, you know, I'm trying to stay in the moment, trying to stay present, trying to just get this team to Omaha, get this team to win Omaha, and then you know, that stuff all comes later with you know winning baseball games, so and helping my team to win as many baseball games. So that's just kind of where I'm at right now. Um, you know, super early in all that process. But um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Yeah, awesome, man. And then a lot of people probably wonder what goes on in an everyday lifestyle of of uh Clemson baseball players. So kind of walk us through what a day in the life looks like for for you guys over there.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah, so I'll give you I'll give you an off day today, and then I'll give you kind of a game day. So today, um, you know, Monday, uh, we just came off a series away at Notre Dame, got in last night around seven, um, you know, ate dinner, went to bed, and then this morning I had class at 11 o'clock. Um, you know, went to class, did my thing at class, came to the field, we had some treatment work done. Um with our trainer, Miss Kim. She's she's great. Um, you know, got a little cupping, um, a little heat, a little of that. And then we had lift at two o'clock. So we had lift at two o'clock, went in there, um, got a good lift in. Um, you know, middle of the season, you gotta see still still stay on those lifts, you know. Yeah, it's easy to get complacent, kind of skip reps, whatever, but you know, you gotta stay with it. And then after lift, kind of uh 315-ish, got in here, got into the cage behind me. We just took some swings. Um, you know, nothing, nothing too crazy, just some tea work, routine stuff, and then a little fast fall, a little off speed, and then call it a day. And then now, um, you know, the rest of my day today after this call, probably go in, maybe get in. I'm gonna get in some red light, um red light therapy in our recovery uh little area, and then yeah, just go home, go to bed, do some homework. And then let's just say a game for we got a game day, we got a game tomorrow against Coastal. Um so I think it's a seven o'clock start, so we'll get in about four hours. Before and it's pretty much just you know, it's the same thing every game. Pretty much get in there. Um, we'll do our scouting meeting, we'll do our team meeting, um, get some treatment if you need treatment. We'll go through we got early work if you want to swing early. A lot of guys swing early here. Um, you know, it's good. It's you know, we're trying to build that culture of just you know, working as hard as we possibly can.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

And then after that, we will eat. We got some food in there for us in the clubhouse. We'll eat, um, chill out for a little bit, come back out, um, you know, throw, prep for throw, Io. Um, or we'll do BP before all that. We'll do BP, and then we got IO after that, and then it's pretty much game time.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

So, yeah, no, that's good stuff, dude. I mean, uh, the fact that you guys have red light therapy, I was sitting here thinking, like, wow, how how blessed are you to be able to just get all of that?

SPEAKER_01 22:59

That's awesome. We got cryo, all that.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

How often do you take uh uh advantage of like cryotherapy and anything like that? Like, what's your go-to recovery uh tools right now?

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah, so the cryo stuff, um, you know, I'll get in there maybe once every two weeks. You know, I try to get in there, but it's a little hard to get in there a lot. But then um our red light therapy, excuse me, our red light therapy is right here and it's called the Watt Performance Center. And we have uh like a bistro in there where we eat, you know, you get three meals, uh, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Um how's the food over there?

SPEAKER_01 23:35

It's good, it's really good. Yeah, yeah, it's good. Um, like it's not like you know, cafeteria food, like it's it's high quality stuff. Um, and that's for pretty much I think all Olympic sports, including and then baseball, and then because football has their own stuff, like their own facilities.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

It's a whole separate that's a whole separate deal.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Yeah, that's a whole different deal. But um, yeah, so they feed a bunch of us in there. And then uh we have like a like I said, like our red light therapy beds are in there, and we um we use those a lot, and then they have massage chairs in there, they got water massage chairs, um, like a cocoon, like a red light therapy cocoon thing that you can go in. It's crazy. Like some of the stuff is wild, but I try to take advantage of that as much as possible, especially on off days. Um, you know, take care of your body. It's a long season, so that's the most important part, staying healthy.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Yeah, definitely, definitely. Now, outside of baseball, man, everybody sees a baseball player and they only see what you do on the field, but you know, there's so much more that goes into life outside of just playing baseball, right? You're kicking it with the boys at the crib. Uh you in an apartment or are you living on campus?

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Yeah, so I'm in an apartment with four other dudes.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah, so so so talk through that. How is that? You know, how is how is life outside of the the field? You know, are you guys hanging out together outside of the field a ton or are you guys hanging out with other, you know, uh sports? Just just talk to the people about what it means to be a college athlete all the way around.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Yeah, so it's great. Um, you know, I live with four other guys, so we are pretty much together all the time, it feels like, because we'll, you know, we come to the field and then we'll come back, come back home and we'll we'll just sit there and talk, man. We we sit, we have a nice couch, we just sit on the couch, talk, maybe throw on some wheels, throw on some ball, and just watch ball. Like we've been watching, we watched wheels on YouTube. Yeah, little wheels on YouTube. It's funny, yeah. We'll go in there and just just chop it up. We'll watch old games. Um, you know, some of the because some of these guys, uh, my one roommate, uh JJ, Jacob Gerald, he's been here. This is his fourth year. So he's got you know a bunch of videos on YouTube. You know, in the fall, we were all watching wheels with him, like, and he was kind of talking to us about like what what was going on the dugout or like what was being said here, what was there. Like, so it was it was kind of cool to see that insight. And then yeah, we'll just watch um other guys' highlights and just you know, it's a lot of fun. Um, just being in the house with all those guys, and then we'll we'll hop on video games, we'll play some video games. Me and my other roommate Colin Priest. Um, we play like Rainbow Six Siege, we got a big Fortnite. A bunch of guys are playing Fortnite on PlayStation. Let's go, dude. Who's your what's your character? Uh I like I've been playing a lot of Cap Can. Let's go. So a lot of a lot of Capcan.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

And you take you taking the PS5 on the road or no?

SPEAKER_01 26:19

No, not yet. We had we don't we have it yet, but you know, maybe maybe the Cali trip we will. It's a little bit longer, so maybe we will.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Yeah. Man, in Pro Ball, the uh uh guys were taking it on the bus, man. They had the little like flip-up screen and stuff that they're gonna be. Yeah, man. They were just out there gaming. Yeah, man. I'm I'm in the video games, but I'm not traveling with a PS5.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

No, no, I don't need to travel yet for a three-game series. But a lot of our guys um you know, we'll run we'll run for it. Like they'll put in the group chat and they'll be like, hey, fortnight, like eight o'clock runs, and like we'll have like half the team on there just like playing box wars and like zone wars and all that. So it's it's it's fun, it's a good time. We make the most of it. Um, you know, you don't get a lot of time uh, you know, away from the field or off, but we make the most of it when we do.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Definitely. Yeah, no, that's awesome, man. Yeah, playing video games with your team is is so much fun, man. That's some of the best time that uh you'll spend in college is is just rage baiting you know players in video game lobby. So good stuff there, dude. Um last thing, man, when when it comes to just a piece of advice that you can give to you know some of the high schoolers out there who are looking to get where you're at, right? You're in this prestigious position, which I know that you uh know already, um, but how how would you you know speak to a younger you or uh just a younger generation that's coming up trying to get to where you're at?

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah, I'd say um, you know, stick with it, don't get discouraged. Um, you know, there were times where, you know, where I'm sitting there and I'm like, dang, like you see, especially now like with the social media and everything, you see all these kids like getting committed um, you know, to these big time schools, like maybe a little bit earlier than you, or um, you know, you feel like maybe, hey, like, I'm not as good as this guy. This, you know, this guy is so much better than me. Like, how am I ever gonna get a chance to play um at that level? And it's just like, dude, like stay with it. Like, you're not as far off as you think. Like, even from here where I'm at today to just two years ago, like if you would have told me I would be the starting short side by Clemson like two years ago, I would have been like, what are you talking about? Are you serious? Like, seriously? So it's just staying with that process and just finding the right um finding the right people to do do it with, I'd say. You know, the whole process, um, you want to have fun through it all and just enjoy it, enjoy it because you know it goes fast. Like, I was just thinking, I was talking the other day with you know, a couple of my guys, like, you know, we'll send like our memories from high school in, and it's like, dang, like, this feels like literally like yesterday. And it's like, you know, just enjoy it, like enjoy your process, enjoy, enjoy those bus rides, enjoy like everything you're doing, because then one day, like, it's not gonna be there. And then um, yeah, just you gotta work hard, dude. Like, I know it sounds cliche, and like people always are always like, hey, like, work hard, work hard, work hard. Like, you gotta really want it and just kind of do stuff that maybe other people aren't willing to do, um, whether that be early or late at night, early in the morning, and you know, just work as hard as you can because let's just say you do work as hard as you can and you don't make it, then you could live with that. But if you don't, you know, but if you don't work as hard as you can and you don't make it, then it's like, hey, like maybe I had a little bit more in the tank. So that's that's just what I would say to a younger guy, and kind of what I would want to hear is a younger guy.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Yeah, no, dude. I mean, working hard, I hope everybody who listens to this or at least the younger generation knows like that's the bare minimum at this point. Like, you know, it's it's no longer, oh, if I just work hard, um, I'll get to where I want to go. Like, everybody's working hard. So, what happens when you run into a Tyler uh Lichenberger, right? Who's also working hard? Like, how do you pass him? So that's where you need to start thinking. If you're a kid listening to this, is like, how do I work hard but also find different avenues to like pass people who are also working hard, just like me. Um, give us give us last last two things. I know that said that was last one, but I'm interested in in this.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Give us give us your like uh uh favorite fielding routine and your favorite, maybe your favorite fielding drill and maybe your favorite hitting drill. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Um fielding, I'd say I like to do I feel like fielding all starts with your feet. Um, you know, it starts from the ground up. So I'd say I really like to work as on my footwork while I'm fielding. Um whether that be um you know, dailies, we do we do kind of something um we call it uh you know, just like what we do like every day, just kind of like you know, and it's just like basic footwork stuff. Um I like I like the the flat paddle. I haven't really been using it here, but I like the flat paddle a lot um in the off season, and then even like a mini glove kind of just to make sure you're staying down with the ball and kind of working with the ball. And then I feel like on the offensive side, and then again, footwork, I I like the ladder drills. I do a lot of ladder drills in the off season. Yeah, um, I think it's a good thing because your footwork is could always be better, and that's you know what's gonna make you your throws are gonna be better if you have good footwork. It's easier to feel ground balls if you have good footwork. So I think that's like one of the most important things. And then on the offensive side, um not really a drill, but I I do like a lot of machine work um and just make it like challenging, like super hard. Like um, you know, we have uh the the Marv balls, the little Marv balls, they're not little, but it's like the regular size baseballs, and they're just like kind of rubber foamy. And you kind of just um you know put that machine all the way up and just crank it up, and then you know, you drop those in there, and that 95 looks a lot better um come game day.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Yeah. No, the Marv, I was talking to the uh Red Sox hitting coach from the 2018 World Series. I had him on the podcast, and he was talking about the Marv balls, and he was saying that they're he he prefers baseballs over the Marv balls or like the drive line balls, but he does like the drive line balls at the top of the zone to reinforce like a ball with carry on it, right? Like some hurt on it.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Yeah, some RVB, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good stuff, man. That's good stuff. Um, well, man, I appreciate you coming on, dude. I know that you're in college and I'm not gonna take up too much of your time, man. I really do appreciate you coming on here and just uh talking to the people. Uh, you know, I hopefully hopefully you know that uh uh you're in a really cool spot and and you know you should be very, very proud with what you've accomplished already in your young career. I can't imagine that this is gonna be the last uh we hear of your name. I'm sure we're gonna see it on ESPN uh more times than not in the near future. So best of luck to you and Clemson. Would love to see you guys in Omaha, man. Doing it. All good. Thank you. Thanks for having me, my guy. For sure. Peace, be easy. Thank you.