In & Out Talks Podcast 67: Co-Hosts Jordan Powell & Mitch Matulia

On this episode of the In & Out Talks Podcast, powered by Tier One Performance, Co-Hosts and Co-Founders Jordan Powell and Mitch Matulia answer some of the most common questions they receive from athletes, parents, and clients.

Drawing from their experiences as former Division I baseball players, coaches, and performance specialists, Jordan and Mitch provide honest, practical advice on what it really takes to develop as a baseball player. They discuss recruiting, training, player development, travel baseball, communication with coaches, handling adversity, and the mistakes they commonly see athletes and parents make along the way.

Whether you're just starting your baseball journey or preparing to play at the next level, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help players maximize their potential while giving parents a better understanding of how to support their athlete throughout the process.

🎙️ If you're a young baseball player, high school athlete, travel ball family, or baseball parent, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Tune in for straightforward advice, real experiences, and actionable tips that can make a difference both on and off the field.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Welcome back to the In N Out Talks Podcast, guys, hosted by Tier One Performance. Your hosts, co-CEOs, co-founders, Jordan Powell, Mitch Metulia. That's what I'm talking about here on the pod today.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Yes, glad to be here. Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Hey, thanks for your time.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

We haven't had a host podcast in quite some time. It's been a minute. It's been a minute. It's been a minute. But we got a nice, um, nice, not action-packed, but word-packed podcast for you guys today, which is great. Um, we're gonna be going over things that our students or our clients have uh constantly asked us over the years, and we're here to give our takes on it. Mitch and I's personal takes. Um, both of us specialize in baseball, nutrition and weightlifting, you know, but you know, we are here to offer our opinions and how that affects our kids and our clients. Right?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Absolutely. Yeah, and also, you know, we do want to discuss things of like, hey, where you're at as a ball player like this point of the year, off season, what you should be doing, what you should be doing, what you should be focusing on uh to be ahead going into the school year.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Right. 100%. Yeah, we we'll we'll cover all these things today, so let's go ahead and uh let's go ahead and dive into it. Okay, um so uh Mitch, Casper, don't do that. Alright. So Mitch, uh diving into it. Um common thing that I get, and I've gotten this a lot from my six, seven, eight, even eight-year-olds, is um when it comes to baseball, what is timing?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

So timing in layman's terms is hitting the ball square, right? And because you got a round ball and a round bat. But how exactly do we do that, right? A lot of it is having your foundation set. So, in other words, whether no matter what kind of leg kick you have, whether it's a big leg kick, whether it's just a heel turn, um, to have your front foot down and established before you swing the bat, right? And so that way you're gravity-centered, you have more power working from the ground up, okay? Now, we want to make contact with the ball, depending on what kind of pitch it is, whether it's middle, away, inside, is you want to start your swing at different timings. So if it's an inside pitch, right, you start your swing earlier so that you can make contact with that ball well out in front of your body. That would be considered on time for an inside pitch. Right. Middle at the front of the plate, but still in front of your body, right? So that you can get extended and drive that ball back up the middle. Away, you do let that ball travel a bit deeper, but honestly not as deep as you would think, right? Because then you're flaring the ball, you're fouling it off, you still want to make contact so that you can still put backspin on that baseball. And I think the best way to work on timing for younger kids, six, seven, and eight would be T work. You know what I mean? Getting used to those different contact zones, working inside, middle, and away off the T, and then flips, front toss, gravitate before you eventually get to um live batting practice, right? Um, but that's in a nutshell what timing is, um, is knowing when to start your swing based on the speed of the pitch that's coming at you.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

That's kind of that's kind of the way I teach it. You know, when I say it to the like to my young young kids, like my five-year-olds or six-year-olds, when you know, I go, you know, have you ever heard of have you ever heard of timing? And they go, no. I go, well, timing is timing to timing for those little ones, I go, is the time it takes for you to be square with the ball, like you said, when it crosses the strike zone. And then, you know, after this is assuming you've told them what the strike zone is, which is you know the zone, your most optimal place to hit the bike, to hit the baseball in the sport, you know, and so then from that I describe now how do we get our timing down? How do we have good timing? How do we get our timing to be to have contact in the zone? And I go through uh I go through um their leg kicks. Usually all kids have a leg kick. Right. So I go, what's your timing mechanism? Or you know, what is your leg kick? That is how we judge, you know, how to hit the ball, right? Whether it's small, whether there's no leg kick, whether there's a massive leg kick, those are all timing mechanisms, you know. Um, for example, you know, I had a small leg kick when I was uh when I played, it didn't come up, but how did I control that? I went very slow. And then when I I could always put my foot down as fast as I can, and then I put my foot down where I need to by looking at the ball, and then I was on time every time. If the pitch was middle, like you said, I hit it in the middle. If it's inside I made was a little early, if it was away, I was a little bit late. Um, based on the middle pitch. But you know, like that is in a nutshell how I kind of describe timing is you know using timing mechanisms, and that's how you how you get to that set set platform and hit that baseball. Now, you can also you know really dive into it, you know, like pitch recognition and then seeing it at the gate, and you can always dive into that.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

But for basic stuff, that is for six, seven, eight-year-olds, and then I think like the next level to that, like middle school, high school, college guys, is making your swing path as efficient and effective as possible. 100%. Meaning like, because like the velocity is going to increase, so you don't want any wasted movements, in other words, you're keeping your hands inside, you're being as direct to the ball as possible, 100%, um, so that your timing is better because that's what coaches and scouts look for is that quick twitch, fast twitch muscle fibers, you know, getting to that ball fast and having good, loose, quick hips helps you do that as well.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

I'll also add to that by having a pad directly to the ball, you can extend your swing through the zone longer, which means not only are you on time and you're and you're getting the most, you're putting everything you have behind that ball and driving it, driving it all the way through, but you can also, you know, in a nutshell, also, you could be a little bit early or late and still have drivability to the baseball by having your swing in the most optimal dirt optimal angle, but like also through the zone as long as possible. Right. And if you're able to do that, like you could be a hair early and still knock it out. You can be a hair late, still drive it out. Yeah, and that that's that next upper echelon level type of 100%.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Like, I think very very very rarely is your timing going to be perfect all the time, right? Like it's never going to be. So the longer your bat head's in the zone, the better chance you have of still putting the ball in play with with authority.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Right. 100%. You turn on the questions.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, so um a question I often get asked is what does it mean by keeping your hands inside the baseball? That's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

That's a good one. Okay. So when someone says, you know, keep your hands inside the baseball, to me personally, I never understood what that meant. Keep your hands inside the baseball, you know, like your natural reaction is to club it with topspin, right? When you're a young kid, almost like a tennis racket, and you want to swing Rodney wrist drills. Yeah. Terrible bad habits. They're instilled into us to this day. And so, um, how I kind of grasped it was um honestly, I was just hitting on the T by myself. Right. And, you know, I was like, I know I need to stay inside the baseball because I was struggling to hit the outside pitch. And I might have been like 11, 12, maybe 13. No, I don't think I was 13, but like maybe 11 or 12 when I really couldn't hit the outside pitch. Like I was feeling myself hit it not only at the end of the bat, but like when I made contact, it just felt like the bat was dead. Like, which means I wasn't hitting on the sweet spot, which means I wasn't hitting the ball correctly, and I was like, what am I doing? And it took me to realize that staying inside the baseball means that both your hands and your barrel, as they're approaching the strike zone, are inside the strike zone. So, for example, if I'm swinging and the ball is coming, my and actually this is perfect, the mic is where the ball is going, is where the ball is projected to be. Right, I have to be inside the baseball here to get my bat path, if this was realistic, my bat path, my barrel here to drive it. Most people on instinct, most kids, they want to come here and they see that ball coming at them and they want to come out here and then generate all this strength and power right here. And then that's how you know either they foul it or you get a weak hit or they hit it off the end of the bat or they get jammed.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Which is what we call casting, right? So whenever you hear the term casting, when you're pushing your hands away from your body and trying to wrap around the baseball, and you oftentimes will get jammed, right? You're getting that's when you your hands start ringing, because maybe you're a little bit late on the ball, you're trying to get around the baseball instead of hitting the ball with authority like the other way or up the middle.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yeah. And so that's kind of like what I would consider keeping your hands inside the baseball, and that's how I that's how I was able to learn it. But it took me, I mean, it's not like I didn't have a coach say, keep your hands inside the baseball, like we've all heard that. I didn't really have somebody explain it in a way that I could understand, and maybe the way I explain it, other people can't understand it still, which is perfectly fine. It just took that little bit of in-depth searching of trial and error for me to kind of get that. Correct. And then, you know, um, a little bit advancement, kind of like what you said earlier. The next level, I would probably work on being inside the baseball, maybe doing like a fungal drill and trying to keep my hands inside to generate backspin. Because if you can generate back spin, your ball will go ten times farther than if it did with top spin, right? Correct. Correct. What do you got? All right. Uh okay, another question that I get asked that is pretty common is how do I get out of a slump?

SPEAKER_00 10:31

So, um, this is situational. I think there's lots of ways to get out of a slump, right? One of them though would be to change what you're doing. Okay, so currently, if you're you know practicing a certain way, maybe you're eating a certain way, maybe you're sleeping a certain way, change behavior in a positive manner, maybe get more sleep, maybe you know, get some extra work in in the batting cages, whatever you're struggling with at the plate, maybe you're an older guy and you're having a hard time hitting a slider, maybe a changeup, curveball, whatever. Start working on that off the machine, right? I think oftentimes though, whatever like what helped me personally get out of slumps was just going back to the basics as far as like, dude, act as if you're in the backyard playing wiffle ball with your buddies, right? Don't take things too seriously, okay? And I think that helped me because I was like, man, I was just getting in my head about like, I don't know, like just you're trying to swing too hard, for example, instead of just C-ball hitball, like go back to the bare basics. Maybe move up in the box, maybe move back in the box, like just subtle things, man. Like, you know, but if you're a guy that you're like a gym rat or like you're always in the cage, maybe take a day off. Maybe take a couple days off, right? Maybe that's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Maybe go out with your buddies, like maybe get your mind off of baseball, go enjoy yourself to get back on track. And so I think like at a higher level, like you know, when you tie one off with the boys out in the out on the town in college, right? Like, you know, that's a fun time where you're just getting your mind off of things and you just go go grab a couple drinks at the bar or something. You know, when you're of age, of course. Of course, respect. But if you're a younger kid, you know, maybe I I don't deal with a lot of younger kids though that like go to the cages enough, right? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. You usually see this struggle in like high school players for sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I think if you're a youngster, if you're like six, seven, or eight and you're in a slump.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Um this question usually this question stems from my like 10, 11 all the way through college.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Yeah. You know, yeah, I think you have to evaluate what you're doing, and you either do the opposite of what you're doing, or you just kind of like, hey, maybe I need to detach from baseball for a few days, get my mind off things, spend some quality time with family and friends, get back after it. I'm not really thinking about baseball.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, so one I want to clarify what is a uh when you're going through a slump and when you're not. So if you are line driving the baseball, driving the baseball, and people are making diving plays, you know, you're sending one one hop screamers the third and they're throwing you out, you know, like you hit a foul ball home run and then you struck out or something like that, you know, like I do not consider those slumps.

unknown 13:25

No.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Especially like if that happens in a row. Like, you know, like that that is the game. For whatever reason, it chose to punish you and test you out mentally, but that is not a slump. Now, if you're in a slump, like you are rolling over constantly, you are constantly striking out, you are flying out, you are not touching the baseball or driving it like you're supposed to, right? And you're not having competitive at bats, that is what I would consider a slump. I agree. And now, so I'm gonna take this in two tiers. So when I was in high school and younger, I would I was considered, I would consider myself a power hitter. Um, you know, and so when I was in a slump, the thing that I would do that constantly helped me was I had to make it simple. I had to make my goal, my objective, because I'm a very, I'm very different from you. I'm not carefree on the field, you know. Yeah, I'm very analytical, yeah, I'm super mean. Very mean.

unknown 14:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Super competitive. Like, I'm like I'm gonna, it's the only time I can like literally let it all out, right? So um when it came to that, I instead of me, you know, with runners on first and second or nobody on, instead of me trying to drive one to the gap, how about I just try to get on first by any means possible?

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Like just get to first because in my mind I can make something happen, or one, put the pressure on somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

That and I I know that's kind of a messed up way to think about it, but if I can just get to first, not hot, don't worry about how. I don't care if he makes an error, I don't care if he walks me, I don't care if he beams me, I don't care if I hit a home run, I don't care if I hit a bloop single. If I can just touch first base, that is the exact opposite of what the team wants, of what my opponent wants, and what my coaches and my teams need is to me to get on first base. It doesn't matter how, right? Right. And that I think alone helps me switch and be like, oh, I'm back on first. Well, it can't be bad because you know, something, something statistically wise, went green for me, right? So that's kind of how I get it out, and then slowly it'll transition to all right, if I can touch first, now I can do it with my bat, you know, and then I can do it once or twice, and then I'm back out of it, right? And now we focus back on our doubles, our triples, or home run. What is this guy throwing? And then from the college standpoint, um, this directly involves my success with being fast. So if you are fast, you should learn how to drag bunt as well as also swing for power. So I was like a power hitter, sure, turned into like a leadoff batter in college, yeah, and I could fly, and so you know, um, the thing that I would do, especially if I was struggling, like if I went 0 for 3 in a game, which was rare, but if I did go 0 for 3 because it did happen, you know, I was like, I need to get a hit as fast as possible. That's how your mind's working. It's not your it's not how you should be thinking, but that's it. You're like, like, I gotta get on base somehow, somehow. And the one thing I do is I always have my drag butt in my back pocket. That is a guaranteed single and a guaranteed hit and a guaranteed mental backbreaker to make my to make my day instantly easier. And so what I do is I always, especially like the lead off the game, because if I can get that hit out the way, I'm done. So I get up, lead off batter, I'm gonna give myself one pitch, and I'm going to swing as hard as I can.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

And I swing, I take an absolute G-hack. And honestly, sometimes I connect. Yeah. And it's a bomb. 85 to 95% of the time, it's a foul ball slash swing and miss. Right? But what does that do? That makes the third baseman back up three feet. Like, I'm not a small guy, I'm like six foot, like 220 in like in college, like, right? So I'm not like small. So the guy takes like three steps back off the line, third baseman off the line. Yeah. That's a lot of daylight between me and him. He's behind, he's behind the bag. Right. And so now, guy, obviously his pitcher's gonna, it doesn't matter what he throws, as long as it's a strike, I'm gonna drop it down the third baseline, and I can't. And if the pitcher throws a ball and I pull pack, yeah, we're battling one-one now, and now he's probably even with the bag, I could still take that chance. Yeah, and the thing about drag bun is perfect or foul. If you're perfect, you're safe. If you're foul, get hit again. Correct. So, you know, um, always having that in my back pocket, I never had slumps to where I had to go through a mental torment if I could drop that drag bon.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

You know, being able to drag bunt in uh zero strike, no strikes, or one strike situations, and then always put it down down the line, you can master that craft. You will never, ever go through a slump.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Yeah, dude. I mean, you're exactly right. It's something to add on to that too, is just like, dude, the best players in the world, they don't get too high and they don't get too low. Their emotions are pretty stable throughout the course of their careers. Right. And like, you gotta stay positive. You know what I mean? Like, baseball is a sport that's going to derail you mentally. And it's not to say, like, play like a robot, you know, you can't just play with zero emotion, but like, you know, you can get excited about when you do good things and whatnot. But like, you should leave the ball field. Your body language should show, like, I could I should not be able to tell if you went five for five with five home runs or oh for five with five strikeouts based on the way you carry yourself off the field. You have to have a short-term memory with this game, right? I mean, if I went five for five with five home runs, there would be signs. There'd be signs. There'd be signs. Sure. But but like for an overall speaking, you gotta stay emotionally, and that's the way you get out of slumps, man, is like you stay positive. You stay emotionally like, hey, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be just fine, right? Like 100%. Yeah. What do you got?

SPEAKER_02 18:55

What's your next one?

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Oh, um, man, how do I hit home runs?

unknown 19:01

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah. Because that that's what the game's revolved around right now, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Of course, of course, of course, of course. Home runs are hey, home runs are sexy. They are. Home runs are very fun. They're they're beautiful. They're very fun. What age group are we talking here?

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Man, I I hear this a lot with younger guys, like especially right around the like element, late, late elementary, early middle school. Ooh, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

If you so what I would tell these people, if you want to hit home runs, which is perfectly possible, you need to have the most optimal swing to hit home runs. And you need to have the output of an optimal swing in game time situations. So what does that mean? Optimal swing. Just like we talked about, being on time, um, being direct to the ball and being through the strike zone as long as possible is a optimal swing that you, that every baseball player should strive to have. Um that also, with timing, right? Yeah, you know, gives you said home run. Right. And you don't have to be the biggest guy on the field, you don't have to be the smallest guy on the field, you don't have to be the brightest guy on the field. You just gotta be the guy, you just gotta be the guy that does it on the field. And that's the hardest part, right? Right. Because, you know, baseball, you know, I hate that saying that home runs aren't are accidents, they're not, they're pre-calculated efforts that converge into one moment, right? So um, in order for kids to do that, you know, they want to copy what they see. But in that in that age group, they should be trying to copy what they feel when they do it right. And sadly, when they do it right, it's in a cage, and kids are like play-doh, so like, or like they're like sponges in the sense that they will absorb, but when you let go, they go back to how they were, kind of. You know what I'm saying? Like, like this kid swung like maybe three home runs in the cage, maybe did it. Make sure it did do it. Not down it, you know, you know, not down him, but like, well, you still remember that feeling, you know, in a g like in a game, right? Well that he has three days from now. Correct. And like, you know, you can as a as a college kid, you can, or even a high schooler, you can feel something and be like, I can hold on to that feeling till game time, so I know I'm doing it right. Can't you can't ask that of a little kid, but that's that's the development aspect, right? If that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

And I think like kids should also know that like power is one of the last things to come with a swing. Like, you know, kids develop at different rates, right? 100%. But one thing that you can control, two things that you can control is your swing timing, like you mentioned before, but also your strength, right? Like, are you performing any kind of strength training, right? Like, you have to do your due diligence on your end to put yourself in an optimal position, right? And so, guys, like, even if you're a young, younger guy, I mean, don't neglect the uh weight training, like pull-ups. Push-ups, med balls, like guys, like squats, slunges, like all these things are gonna contribute to your power. You know what I mean? And like not only that, but like the timing, the uh technique, yes, that has to be there, but you have to have the strength behind the swing to actually get the ball out of the ballpark. And that's why usually it's the last thing to come because people's strength usually develops at different stages, right? And like some people at age 10 or 12 are super strong, right? They're already six foot tall. Um, some other guys are weight boomers, right? So you have to like know your game, stick to just hitting the ball to all fields. If you're like a consistent doubles guy between the ages of like 10 to 13 years old, that's a very good sign that you're eventually gonna be hitting home runs. Right. Generally speaking, right? When you get more strength and then you put more backspin on the ball, it's gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Since we're already on the topic, like what should we be doing in these offseason times? You know, a lot of summer ball guys have ended. Um, a lot of a lot a lot of summer ball is is coming down to a wind. Um, I'm talking below high school. Because high school right now is still taking off college draft just occurred. Uh I mean, I'm sorry, MLB draft just occurred. You know, so you know, what should the offseason look like for little uh for everyone, you know, I would say 13 and under right now? Um, if you just got done playing, take a break. Take a break. Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Don't pick up a battery ball for at least two to three weeks.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

It's a hundred degrees outside. What are we doing? Take a break. In Houston, Texas, it is a hundred degrees, it'll melt your cleats. Um, my high schoolers keep grinding, you have nothing to stop for. Like, but this for my younger, for my younger parents and my younger kids, take a break. Take like two to three weeks off.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

That's so important, guys. Like, because guys, if if a major league baseball player can afford to take two or three weeks off after the season ends, so can you as a 10-year-old kid. Come on, it's not that serious. Yeah, like enjoy time with family and friends. Um, you know, go travel, do whatever your family does. Like, don't just sit behind an iPad, like go out, enjoy yourself, maybe play some pick up sports with the kids, maybe go play tackle football with the kids in the neighborhood. Yeah, be a kid. Just be a kid. Go play paintball. I don't even know if that's a thing anymore.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Mom and dad go Taiwan off, you know, go vacation. Yeah. Or go back to work. Who knows what you guys have to do to do to pay all your dues when you're out there. I understand it's expensive, but yeah, you gotta let yourself breathe. Your family needs to breathe.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

And your body needs to rest.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

The whole family needs to breathe. I mean, from baseball. I understand you got multiple kids doing multiple different sports. Like if your daughter's got volleyball, your kids got baseball, and then your other kids got track and field. I understand. But give yourself a break from baseball. It's an outdoor sport, first off.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Yeah. And it's a lot of strain on your arm to take two or three weeks off. Yeah, take two or three weeks off. You can afford it. Gearing up when you when you've taken your rest and your body takes off, right? Guys, I don't care how young you are, and parents really, really need to hear this too. Lifting does not stunt your growth. Okay. Um, lifting does not stunt your growth, and in fact, it promotes it because it releases more growth hormone. The more you train, the more you lift, you optimize your hormones, right? You have a better chance to grow bigger and stronger. So you need to lift, you need to eat, you need to sleep. Okay. And I'd say kids starting off, get with somebody who knows what they're doing. I have a question. What you got?

SPEAKER_02 25:23

So I you say this, Coach Mitch, but Yeah. They there, I'm a parent, and there's aren't they, aren't the schools supposed to teach my kid how to lift? Don't they do that in middle school already?

SPEAKER_00 25:35

So, I guys, like listen, I'm not talking downly upon middle school coaches, and this is certainly not the case for all of them. Most coaches do not know how to properly train your kids when it comes to the weight room. Or give them enough attention. Or give them enough attention. You have 75 guys oftentimes in that weight room, you know, 40 to 75 guys, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

You can't give your time and effort and attention to all these kids. And make sure they're doing it properly. And you got like what, 45 minutes to work with, right? So I think the best thing that parents can do for their kids at a young age, if they have the means for it, is get them in the gym with a personal trainer. It doesn't have to be long term, it doesn't have to be super frequent, but just enough so to the to where like they know how to lift with proper form, right? They know how to control their body, they know how to push their body the right way, they know how to lift close to failure, they don't have to go to failure, but at least get near that failure mark. And I think an elementary school, you should be doing body weight bands, med balls, push-ups, sit-ups, planks, lunges, box step-ups, sprints, squats, um, med ball slams. That would those would be great things to do as like a six, seven, eight-year-old. Okay, but by the time you're nine, ten, and you have had those three years of like body weight experience, band experience, you need to start lifting weights by like 10, 11, 12.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

I think that's when I started. 100%. I think because it wasn't, I mean, what, sixth grade? How old are you in sixth grade? 12? 12. Yeah, you're 12. Uh my dad had me lifting before by 10, 11, 12, you need to be lifting. Yeah, before I got to number two, I had already lifted the bar and done squats and bench and incline for sure. Yes. Now, that being said, like, parents can't also teach your kids if you know how to responsibility. If you know what you're doing, if you know how to responsibly do it, please save money, do it. Save money.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

And like, guys, this you don't need a gym membership. You can do everything you need to do at home. Like, it might not be fun, right? It might not be the sexy thing to do. Do it at home, right? And if if you have access to like get a gym membership, or if your if your parents can drive you, drop you off, pick you up, like, do that. Oh, you know what?

SPEAKER_02 27:42

I forget who else used to do this, but um my dad, no, no BS, when he would like in the summers, you know, when we couldn't, they didn't have enough money to send us off to camp, like obviously not gonna pay for a babysitter. It's just me and my brother don't horse around in the summertime with my grandma, right? Yeah, he was like, if you guys are gonna watch TV, you know, this is back before TiVo. So if you guys are gonna watch the commercials, you have to get like 25 push-ups in. Yeah. And 25 sit-ups in. And that was like our that was our requirement for watching TV. You know, like I was like, alright, and I'm next thing you know, I'm baying out like 200 push-ups a day, you know, 200 sit-ups to where like I can't really do it anymore. So I'm not, I mean, I'm watching TV, but I'm like, you know, face down because I can't feel my arms and my abs.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

I didn't go back, I didn't keep going back into the couch, I just stayed on the floor. And starting off, man, three days a week is all you need, right? Monday, Wednesday, Friday, give your time, uh, give your body time to recover, full body sessions. And then as you gain more experience and you're in the offseason still, upper, lower, upper, lower, I think is a great workout split for most athletes. Uh, you don't need to really lift weights more than four days a week as an athlete, in my opinion. Um certainly no more than five. Like five is like the maximal amount of days that you should be lifting weights in the gym. Ethan Allen's of the world. Correct. You should not be your body needs rest, right? Your body needs recovery, but you also need to implement time for your skill-specific sport. Like you need to run, you need to sprint. Yeah, you need to do agility, you need to do mobility and flexibility uh work, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:18

It's not always just it's not always strictly baseball stuff that you need to work on.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Correct. It's it's it's all the stuff. It's gotta be well-rounded.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

And so that's why like fill your holes. And a lot of these high school kids out there, like looking at the upper levels, they'll just want to like throw weights around in the gym. Like I think we can both speak from experience, right? And you neglect your core, you neglect like you know, stretching, you neglect running or sprinting. Um, these are all things, guys. You need to be multifaceted, you need to like be well-rounded as an athlete. And uh so you should maintain a low body fat percentage, right? You should be getting seven to nine hours easily. Really, as a as a kid, you should be getting eight to nine hours of sleep per night. Um, drinking close to a gallon of water a day with electrolytes in the mix, okay? Uh, stretching every day and uh lifting weights three to four days a week. That's pretty much the recipe for a well-rounded athlete.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Okay, uh, we got another question. This comes from my high schoolers. Yeah. Um, a lot of them go, uh, I can't afford to pay for you know uh a plan or like a strength conditioning plan or a nutrition plan or any of that. And so they'll a lot of them will come up to me and go, give me, give me, give me your best way, your your your your cheat sheet to get stronger, faster, bigger.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Yeah. So I would say like, listen, if you don't have the means to first off, I I think you need to like not have limitations, right? If you really, really want it and you're a high school kid, you can go work a part-time job, make money to afford these things if you really truly want it. Okay. Secondly, is you need to you need to find mentors in your life, guys who've been there, done that, such as ourselves, right, to surround yourself around and to get information from. And you know, you and I, we can attest to this. Like, do we give so many kids free knowledge, free information? It's just up to them whether or not they want to follow it, right? And so if you go to the right people and you have the right resources, they're not gonna necessarily charge you money for it. Like, if you just ask them, like, hey, what do you eat throughout the day? Cool. How much of it should I eat? Cool. That's free knowledge, you know what I mean? Um, but I think that like um there's so much information out there as well, but you have to be careful what information you intake, right? Like YouTube is pretty much free for these kids. Right. You can get on YouTube, you can look up nutrition programs for athletes, for baseball players specifically. And there's gonna be sports nutritionists on YouTube with their YouTube channels that are gonna give you free knowledge and free information. Like, do your research, do your digging. Um, but what I don't like to see from kids is like the dirty bulk method, right? And it's like kids wanting to get bigger and stronger, and they're like just eating ice cream, pounding ice cream, like all these other other things. Because like, I don't care how fast your metabolism is, you still should be eating quality foods. And you know, you don't have to get steak. You know what I mean? Like, there's cheaper options out there that your parents can afford. There's tuna, there's chicken breast, there's eggs. Start there, right? Easy. I mean, that is full of protein, full of nutrients. You add vegetables in the mix, some jasmine rice, sweet potatoes. It doesn't cost near as much to eat healthy as people think. I think that like fast food, first off, that food is like plastic, okay. Um, second off, man, like you you put that in your body, and you're not gonna be able to perform as high of a level. Okay, the older you get. You can get away with it when you're young, okay? But the key is is to instill good habits at a young age so that when you do get older, when you are done playing, you know how to take care of yourself. Okay? Or even if you do have, if you're fortunate enough to play at a higher level, say the high high-level college professional, you will perform at a higher level. You'll definitely see it at that stage. You might not see it when you're in elementary, middle school, and early and high school, but I guarantee you, if you're playing high-level varsity, college, professional baseball, what you put in your body makes a huge impact on how you perform on the field.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Yeah, I would say you would say probably nutrition is the biggest component you said when it comes to like most of your guys when they want to get like faster, stronger, obviously healthier.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Yeah, I'd say sleep and nutrition are are very big.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Like that is will probably have the biggest impact for like a young high schooler, probably because their habits are so bad.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Yes. Sleep and nutrition, um, but you also can't neglect the skill work. Like the skill work is And the weights. The skill work and the weights, I I think are just as important, if not more important, than like the nutrition and the sleep. Like they go.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

This is under the assumption that they're trying to do everything already.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

This is under the assumption that they're already in the cage six days a week, right? They're already doing their sprint work, they're already doing everything they need to do in the gym, then the last little bit of it is the nutrition and sleep, you know. But you do need to uh you need you you need to lift weights. I mean, if there's anything that kids can take away from getting bigger, faster, stronger, it's lifting weights the right way, right? Um, explosive, but also working on speed. Because I think a lot of kids don't realize that sprint work increases testosterone, it increases energy output, and it will make you stronger.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Yeah, I mean, well, if you don't push your body to the limits, how you if you can't push yourself to get faster, how do you expect to get faster, right? I mean But you ran track, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Like, dude, when you ran track, how tight did your body feel? Like you are losing body fat when you're sprinting.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

I don't know. Um when I was at track Houston, I was just I was just really trying to focus on not dying. Those workouts were so hard. Yeah. Um it's hard, but did uh first off, and I didn't even compete competitively. I my dad threw me in there just so I could get faster, so I could one, I think never realize I should never run track. Um two uh respect that respect track and field as a sport. Yeah. And then three, mostly so I could get faster and be faster than anybody on the baseball field. Because who do you guys know on a baseball field that runs track?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Man, I wish.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Stereotypical as it is, the people that do run track in baseball, all they're good for is base running. You know, if depending, you know, obviously aside from your freaks of nature, all-stars that, you know, those guys that do all three sports, you know, that that occurs. But like usually, you know, somebody will be like, oh, he's fast, he can run bases. But if you're already doing the hitting, and you're already a you already got a glove, and you're already working on your your throwing, and your speed can go up, like you don't understand like how much good base running disrupts the game at the high level, right? Because if you got a guy that can honestly, especially, you know, like you know, there's a lot of pro teams, there's a lot of minor league teams, there's a lot of college teams that are very comfortable winning one to zero or really comfortable winning one run games. But if you got a guy, a base runner that can disrupt it, who can cause a steal, and all of a sudden now the time run or the winning run is threatening and is on second base, about to take third, and only two pitches have occurred, and he's constantly and now he's in your pitcher's head because the pitcher's trying to, you know, mix up his timing, but now that alters his control at the plate, people pay for that. People will pay for that. Yeah, you know, and it's like and if the answer is you know, running running track for a month in the offseason or two months in the offseason to get you that opportunity, like how many of how many guys are willing to go through that?

SPEAKER_00 36:53

I I think you have to restructure the question. It's not how can I get bigger, faster, stronger, how can I become a better athlete? Because as a coach, as a recruiter, they are looking for the best athlete on the field. Am I right or wrong? No, you're not. And that's why they recruit short stops to center fielders. Those are in high school the two best athletes on the field, right? And so the question there then becomes how do I get more athletic? I lift weights, I stretch, I work on mobility, I sprint, I maintain a low body fat percentage, I eat clean, I sleep well, I play multiple sports. That's how you become a better athlete.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

And and playing multiple sports doesn't necessarily mean you have to go out and competitively play other sports pickup games with your friends. You can play you can play pickup games, but like if you can take different sports, even just training techniques, training drills, like like, oh, you want to be lighter on your feet, you want to be quick, you want to have that first explosive movement. Basketball players have really good explosive movement and quick first steps. Right. They need to, you know. Um track runners, also the same thing. Football players, you want to talk about explosiveness, football players are explosive as they get. Right. You know, you want to talk about endurance, hockey players are endurance.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

In a world that sports are becoming so specialized, I think at a young age it's more valuable to play multiple sports. But then by the time you get to high school, I understand you might want to like shift to just one sport, and I totally get that. Especially on your area, yeah. If you're a just a specimen, like if you're Bo Jackson, dude, go play three sports. I don't care. No one's about to tell you. Play five sports. But if you're like an average size baseball player, right, and your goal is to play Division I baseball, and your goal is to get drafted, okay, probably by the end of your freshman, sophomore year, you probably should just stick to baseball.

unknown 38:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

But throughout your adolescent years, I think there's some value into playing other sports to gain that athletic athleticism. Because I think you and I both benefited from that. Like you and I played, grew up playing four or five different sports a year in a very sports-driven athletic town. So we were surrounded, like our environment. We thought that kids all over the world played sports like that until we left and we're like, oh. It's different. Some people don't care about sports, you know what I mean? Because we'll never step on a field before. It's different. Yeah, these fields don't have lights.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

Yeah. No, but this was a honestly a good session. It feels like it kind of just flew by. We're almost out there out of the time limit. Is there anything else you want to leave the folks at home with?

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Um yes. So this is mainly directed towards my high school high school athletes, right? Is I don't have any offers. I'm going into my junior year. How do I get seen by college scouts? What are they looking for? And how should I approach getting recruited? Because maybe I feel this way, that way, so hap so be it. You know what I mean? Like, how do I like the clock's ticking? How do I get recruited to go play college? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

Yeah, that clock should be running if you're serious about it. Correct. It should be clicking. Um, also, I would dare say sophomores too should be just just as hungry or be in that same mindset. Right. You know? Um and then my seniors, y'all need to be busting. Y'all need to be moving mountains right now.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:25

You know, um, you need to be moving mountains, getting seen, getting in front of coaches. I don't care if it's going to a camp, I don't care if it's cold calling, emailing, you gotta be moving. You are your and what a lot of high school players, especially if their parents aren't familiar with the collegiate recruiting process in any sport, you kid kids, you are your own voices, you are your own agents. Do not expect somebody to hand it to you. Correct. Do not expect somebody to go out and get it to you. You quite literally have to do it. Even though Mitch and I both were D1 baseball players, you know, the amount of emails, cold calls, texts I sent out was astronomical. You know, probably I probably sent out more questionnaire, fell out more questionnaires and you know, uh what emails and reports and all that more than I did in fucking probably in high school altogether. You know what I'm saying? Like, I remember spending hours doing that just in case someone emailed. I remember waiting on the mailman to get a freaking letter and praying that it wasn't first for some cheapskate money grab prospect camp. Like, I was just praying that it actually had my first and last name and it was actively directed towards me. Like, I just wanted that so bad, you know? Yeah, so um that's my advice, that's my last thing advice.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Um that was all I got, dude. Yeah, I think like surrounding yourself with the best hardest working athletes and players at your school or like in your friend circle, maybe on your select teams, that's who you want to be surrounded by. I mean, like, seriously, guys, um, if you're really, really serious about playing baseball at the next level, uh, whether it be high school, college, pro, um, you gotta surround yourself with people who are better than you. Like, straight up. You know, that's the only way you're going to get better is seeing how their process is, like what the work ethic is like, and that will wear onto you. Um playing on the best quality select teams in the area that play in front of scouts, that play in bigger, better tournaments, that's important. Um, I think going to camps, super important, right? Like being a better athlete, becoming a better athlete, going to camps, running a good 60 time, piecing the ball well to all fields, right? Having a an above-average arm, you know, have an above-average glove. Like those are ways to to go out of your way to get seen. Um yeah, your parents aren't gonna do it for you. Uh, coaches certainly aren't gonna just give you a scholarship. Like you have to go work for it. You have to go get it yourself and you know, get gritty with it, you know what I mean? 100%.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

Well, Mitch, I think I think we should probably do another one of these host episodes relatively soon. This is fun, man. Yeah, after we get the rest of these guys that are on our list together. We're definitely gonna come back and do another one, probably probably for the fall.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Yeah, I hope you listeners got something from this, and something to add to that is please like, please subscribe, please comment any questions that you might have that can help you out that we can maybe answer, at least find somebody to answer them for you. Um, because that not only helps us out, but that helps you guys out.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

Or anybody in the Houston or area that wants an in-live interview, if you think would be good to bring on the pod, for sure we'll reach out to them, send us our their handle or whatever. We'll definitely DM them. Um, if they're not in the Houston area, we do remote podcasts as well. Make sure you guys check those out. We can always get an email set up. Um, but other than that, appreciate it. Thank you guys.

SPEAKER_01 43:53

Five, four, three, two, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three.