Live at the Show
This podcast is built for people who love baseball and want to understand the game on a deeper level. Each episode brings together knowledgeable voices from across the baseball world to have honest, thoughtful conversations about all facets of the game—player development, coaching, recruiting, mindset, preparation, and the realities of baseball at every level.
Hosted by former professional player and longtime coach Jake Robbins—drafted by the New York Yankees in 1994 and a 14-year professional veteran with organizations including the Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, and the Chicago White Sox—the show is rooted in real experience, not hot takes. With 17 years of coaching experience and a track record of developing players who have gone on to professional and collegiate success, the goal is simple: talk baseball the right way and help grow the game.
Whether you are a player, parent, coach, or lifelong fan, this podcast is a place to learn, think, and gain perspective from people who have lived the game and are passionate about passing that knowledge on.
Live at the Show
Whats wrong with Baseball Today!! | Ep 13. The Boys
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On todays episode Jake, Zach, and JT sit down and air out the room on a couple of different unique baseball topics!
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Hot beats good and lets good's hot. If good is hot, you gotta go check it. If Dodgers are hot, yeah. Go home. I play in the big leagues. I can do this. You gotta learn to play baseball, and that's something that's kind of been like continually pushed to the wayside.
SPEAKER_00Well, we're we're about development, we're not about winning. Well, I'm sure not about losing. And it's your characters, what do you do when you think no one's watching?
SPEAKER_03Amplify the stage now and it'll overwhelm you eventually. Amplify the task now and you'll always stay task-oriented.
SPEAKER_00And it's ball, ball, ball, 95, 96, never throwing a strike. Jay-Z said it, didn't he? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You can be like Beetlejuice. You can't just have some weirdo topic.
SPEAKER_03We're 100% starting like this. Yeah, today should be a different direction. Do what? I still think Ian needs a mic from behind the set with a camera facing him, and we can like. That would be fire's turn. Like if you're no, if you're watching the overview, if you're watching from high view and you're like, I want this direction to go this way, you just put come on your mic, and you're just like, you just kind of drop the bomb and you get the party.
SPEAKER_00Do you have the fourth mic? You can be like you don't need a camera. No, we wouldn't need one. You can be like Beetlejuice. We can't just have some weirdo talking about it.
SPEAKER_03Imagine a person say something. Like eventually, Ian is on set as producer. Yes, 100%.
SPEAKER_00I agree. All right. Hey, welcome back to Live at the Show. We're here with Zach Remillard, JT, Jarrett Thompson, our strength and conditioning coordinator here at Showcase Baseball Academy. We appreciate you listening in. Um, why do you guys wear your hat backwards? I get I'm getting that question all the time. Why do you wear your hat? Where are your hat? Where are your hats? I don't know. You don't you don't wear your hat backwards? You don't do it.
SPEAKER_02I've got no reason for it.
SPEAKER_03I wouldn't wear my hat backwards because obviously it's the direction of your life. So and I'm living in the past.
SPEAKER_00You're living in the past. Yes.
SPEAKER_02People say hat forward's more professional.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02So I keep my bad boys.
SPEAKER_03Everyone riding in the car right now, we actually showed up to the table with hats backwards. All three of us without knowing got into the conversation, and this is where we started.
SPEAKER_00Now I started doing this 20 years ago, and I show up to a high school game. Uh, I'm walking in and I hear this guy from the stands, hey, turn your hat around. Why do you wear your hat backwards? And I literally looked at him and I was like, I played in the big leagues, I can do this. I don't know if it's not a good thing. Yeah, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, you're just kind of feeding the fire at that point of like, I'm gonna give you what you want, I guess, because like clearly you're fishing for, I don't know, something. So here it is, man. But at the end of the day, when when the bill like when the sun's not out and the bill goes backwards, like it's just gets out of the way. And I just want to keep the hat on. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00It's just like I grew up in the King Griffey Jr. era. He he's kind of the first guy to make it cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I'm just like too I mean, I feel like we're too busy to worry about it. If you have time to comment on a hat, um, yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00If we can definitely use that free time somewhere, it kind of rolls into managing the chaos of the summer showcase schedule. They're just adding to the chaos talking about your hat backwards. But the it is about to get chaotic. Um, you know, performing on the field, concerned about college coaches, I gotta continue to develop my my swing, you know, increase my velocity on the mound, my speed on the field. Like it gets chaotic during the summer, in my opinion, because they start to worry about the things they shouldn't worry about, kids, like high school athletes. Um, if you just take care of what's on the field, everything else off the field, with the right advocates around you will take care of itself. Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think uh I mean not to go deep right away, but like Ecclesiastes, there's a season for everything, and it's just like it applies to life, and it's it transcends like the Bible into the living word, and it's just like every season is not build your metric season or output season. Sometimes it's maintain, sometimes it's rest, sometimes it's recover, and it's just like there is an element to this where like you can get so far on one side that like you're developing year-round when like the window of like how you're using your time is now like not being maximized on the stage because you're so worried about like being somewhere you're constantly not. And I know we've talked about that a million times, but it's like this is the car that you're driving, and you're not going to change that car a lot during the season playing in Atlanta for two weeks. Like, you're gonna get game experience, which is gonna make you an unbelievable player within the capacity you have. Like, there's so much to gain for kids to go learn and play the game, not like how fast can I get back in the cage, hit the ball harder or throw harder. It's like you gotta learn to play baseball, and that's something that's kind of been like continually pushed to the wayside. Like, no matter, and it's sorry to be long-winded, but no matter how much better we make these kids, what we're finding, even with like um the more intentional we get with our development, like we see kids make huge strides in the cage in a short period of time and watch it take months to show up in a game because of like they're not rewiring their brain for the game, they're constantly like engaged in development and not actively competing to produce a result in the game. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, preparation time is never wasted time, but unfortunately, living in this um I gotta have it now society. We've talked about it before, McDonald's, the fast food, the Burger Kings, like you have it your way. Don't eat McDonald's. Don't eat McDonald's, exactly. Uh I do love their Coca-Cola though. Um, but I stay away. Do you? I don't know. I share an office with you. I'm a Mountain Dew guy. Yeah, which is honestly might be the worst of the two poises. You know, preparation time's never wasted time, and in season, you still gotta stay in the gym. You still gotta continue to critique your swing. I mean, we talk about all the time. You play at the big league level. Um, I was there watching hitters, like they're on the tee every day for a reason, and they they have a process that they stick to. And and guys in the weight room, like you can't leave the weight room, you can't leave the tee just because it's season, right? You gotta continue to develop. Maintain what you have in the weight room. What are you doing with those guys this summer, JT?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I think the term maintain is fluff. I think it's I think it's false. I don't think you ever maintain. So you're always gonna.
SPEAKER_03When you hold the line, are you just one of those vocab guys, or what are you doing?
SPEAKER_02No, you just what are we maintaining? Like we should be developing over your career. Why not make smaller development pieces in season? So, I mean, you always match your intensity of a game and where you are currently in the year. So, as far as the volume or the intensity goes of in the weight room, um, you you match that demand, what you're currently going through. So, in season, you know, we we're not hitting as a whole lot of volume, we're not chasing size, we're not chasing more lean mass, but we still have to have a strength reserve. So, there's times of the year we still in season we still gotta push a little bit heavier squat or a little bit heavier press, pull, whatever that might be. But it's never a maintenance period. Once you start to get to this maintenance idea, and it probably is a little bit different the higher you climb in the ranks, but the day you stop developing is kind of the day you start getting passed by and getting left behind.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so yeah, there's no sitting on the fence, you're either going forward or back, and what you're saying, pretty much like which makes a lot of sense. It's like it's kind of what we're doing like for the in-season like player development on the hitting side. It's like let the drills show up over time, like not huge overhauls, it's like in kind of the weight room. It's like we're gonna keep moving forward, but like instead of like five or ten percent gains, we're gonna be one percent better every day, or whatever it looks like, and just believing that it's not gonna be visible or tangible, but over time, like you're going to hit your off season where it's time to make big jumps again with a better foundation than you started before the season.
SPEAKER_02And the development piece in season might be a little bit more leaning towards the speed piece of it, or a more efficient power output rather than a strength or size. Where in the fall, like sometimes you get frustrated in the college setting at times, too. Is we're in the fall, it's September 25th, and we've got an inner squad on Friday, and our coach is complaining about being a little bit sore, right? And our guys looking a little slow in in the fall. It's like, okay, does this really matter that much to you, or do you want us to be in our best physical shape, ready to go come February 14th?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so there's that and like maybe we've like it's it's 8 30 at night, and we got here at 10 a.m. today, coach, and we had early hitters, late early hitters, medium early hitters, and then hitting. You know what I mean? It's like there's it's all encompassing.
SPEAKER_00I love that argument, I love that discussion, that topic, because kids feel like they've got to be their best 100% of the time, 365. Like they want to hit PRs every time they come into a building or or or hit a showcase, and that's not feasible. Like, you got to figure out your timeline throughout the year of when I want to be 100%. Because you can't be 100% all year round. Yeah, can't happen.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the probably the only day is gonna be opening day of your season, right? When you show 100%. Um, I don't know if 100%'s ever gonna be there.
SPEAKER_03Right. So, I mean, I mean if you're not 18, like it's done. Like it's like you're probably gonna have like you're gonna feel good, but like as especially as you get older, it's like you're not, I don't know. It it depends on what it is. Like if you if your engine gives out, like you're not playing today. If you lost some air in your tire, you're still driving to work. It's like that's the car you're driving to work today. It's not like you're calling out just because you don't feel 100%. Like most of the season is played with the B minus, B plus swing, and like it's no different with the B minus, B plus body, like the way you feel, your recovery. And if you're flying on top of the world with your A swing and you're three for three with two doubles, a triple, and a stolen bag, your body probably feels like a C the next day because like your output, your workload is increasing because you're running the bases. You strike out a few times, you probably feel better physically. You know what I mean? It's like there's this giant scale of give and take behind what you're responding to adversity-wise throughout the season.
SPEAKER_00Um, development versus chasing rings. Um, you know, we're always developing. You know, if you're taking ground balls with your dad, you're developing. If you're playing long toss with your buddy, you're developing, right? I I always say, like, if you're not competing to win, like, what are we doing? Like, we're always you're always chasing wins in life. You're always chasing rings and you're developing at the same time. They they go hand in hand. And if somebody tries to take, well, we're we're more about development, we're not about winning. Well, I'm sure not about losing. Yeah. So what are you? You know what I mean? Like, they go hand in hand, right? I'm always competing with internally against myself because it's bad to compare yourself to other people, right? It doesn't work when you start looking at it, well, he's got this and he's got that, and I don't, like, you know, comparisons don't work. So I'm always developing to be the cliche 1% better, right? I'm always developing to make myself better, but I'm always trying to win all the time, right?
SPEAKER_03No, I I I mean Yeah, I don't think I think that there's a very kind of gray area you get into is like who's trying to win? Like whoever's in charge. I was about to ask that, what is winning? Yeah, okay. Like, what is success, what is winning, what is developing, what is competing, so on and so forth. Like, if I can like I think that's where like coaches really come in and either incentivize or drive culture to like value certain things, and we've we've mentioned that before, but like for me, I don't think winning is more important just to say you won if we're trying to run out the clock and do six mound visits because we want our kids to win and we're playing a game, taking advantage of a system that's so supposed to complement like logistics and like players getting on the field and people not playing at 11 o'clock at night. It's like there is some gamesmanship, but like it can also be like you can cross a line at if if winning is the end all be all, because then you'll negotiate your morals and your character and what actually matters. So like gauging what success is to me is pivotal, and I think that is probably the area that amateur sports has really lost sight of because like like if your best hitter's up next, and if you this if your eight-hole hitter strikes out, we get another chance to hit, like you're just you're gonna take that bat away from a kid just because like you want to win an amateur game. I just don't for me, I will die with on I will die on that hill before I like manipulated a win.
SPEAKER_00Right. Well, you've been to the top, you know what the top is, and the top is played completely different than you know the amateur level. Like there's no time clock, there's you've got to play all nine. Um there it's 162 games versus every single weekend matters. And uh we saw that during during the WBC, like it was a tournament format that a lot of the players in that event aren't uh necessarily accustomed to.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now in 10 years, when the WBC's playing and these this this group of um travel ball showcase kids are in that WBC, we might see something a little different.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, and it's like you see it with time as the like primary example for sure in youth sports, um, just an easy one, but like that philosophy and mindset of winning as everything, like leads to like the cheating and the using technology in like a way that it shouldn't be used, and kind of like skirting the rules and the integrity of the game from what's like fair and upright competition. You know what I mean? And I think that um like that continues to trickle down. It's more it's never like un it's never understandable or reasonable, but like at the highest level, like it like it should be eh, I don't know, yeah, I don't know, never mind. I didn't want to be able to do it. I don't know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh that was gonna come out confusing, but yeah, so uh when I was younger, I felt I like I played on some teams uh where it was more based on like kids are just trying to get recruited.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02And we didn't they didn't care about winning, like they were they were gonna get theirs.
SPEAKER_00Like how do you I have a problem with that?
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, I agree. Yeah, because I always think you know, you don't really see these bad teams in college baseball with players getting drafted. Like the they want to go after winners. And I feel like the same things in recruiting a little bit too. Maybe I'm wrong, but how do you kind of balance that piece of it where it's we're pushing to get our guys recruited, but we still want to win tournaments and and have good outcomes and weekends? Yeah. So how do you kind of blend that together?
SPEAKER_00Well, it's you know, we you want as a coach, you want to develop character and you want to develop integrity and can and obviously work ethic, right? And you want to win at everything you do. So it I in my opinion, if your focus is on winning, then everything else will take care of itself. If you compete to win in the best way you can, and don't it doesn't matter if Coach Pollard from Virginia or Coach Muscara from Duke or Coach Early from Texas AM is there or not. Because with social media and technology, those guys can be on their couch at home and they can still watch the games and they can see what you're doing, they can still follow you. And it's your character is what you do when you think no one's watching, right? Versus, oh well, the coach is here, I gotta play hard. No, you should be you should go hard all the time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, amplify the stage now and it'll overwhelm you eventually. Amplify the task now, and you'll always stay task-oriented. It's like you'll find the best players at the biggest moments. Um, like, I don't know, even Seeger's quote, I think it was a couple years ago when he was in the World Series. He was kind of just, and I'm probably botching it a little bit, but it seemed like he was just saying, like, I honestly don't remember like really much about the entire postseason run. Like, he was just engaged. Like it was at a bat, he was so task-oriented, he knew what he knew what he could do to offer his team the best chance at winning, and it was to be like one engaged one moment at a time and doing what doing what he does best. And it's like he didn't even know the moment really existed or what it was until you step out of it because he was so engaged.
SPEAKER_00I was thinking about that the other day. Like um, I was watching the Knicks um versus the Cavs, game one, the intros, the music, the videos, the fans going crazy, and like as you look at the players' faces, and that has nothing to do with their heads, not there at all. They're on the floor, they've got a game plan, they know. Yeah. Now, to the fans and being caught up in the moment, like this is a cool experience. Like, 20,000 people screaming and yelling, New York City, you know, the Massive Square Garden. And those guys, I don't know if the average fan realizes, like, those guys are not in that. They're in two different places, they're in two different worlds.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But that's where the high school athlete, the college recruit, needs to get to. Like, it doesn't matter where you're playing, when you're playing, who you're playing against, if your process, if your routine is on point. Right? You're gonna approach it the same way, you're gonna be task-oriented, and that's gonna help them in the long run. Yeah, no, um, it's gonna help them not, you know, it's gonna help them avoid burnout. Like, there's there's a lot of burnout during the summer when it gets hot. You're on your third national event, you're on you know, day 40 of a 60, you know, two months, 60 days uh sprint here. And you know, how do you avoid burnout as a player?
SPEAKER_03Like I think that it depends on what you like define the game as um in your own perspective or how what makes you good, maybe. Um, I can just speak into my own circumstance. Like, I always knew that most people didn't like the heat of summer, and like I'd rather play in 70 degrees in San Diego too. Like it it's bad, it's more fun. And I believed that when it got hot and it was so hot that um it was like overwhelmingly hot. I found I believed that I had an advantage because I believed that I was in um shape to be at my closer to my best performance than um anyone else was. So I saw it as like my whole career was like if it's hard to do, I have a chance. Like, if it's easy to do, there's a lot of people better than me that can do it. Somebody bigger, there's some weather. Right. Like, I don't care if it's Otani on the mound. The bet I used to play better against better pitching when the odds were further against us because I was like, this is where, like, this this gives me an advantage because it's hard.
SPEAKER_00I like to pitch when it was freezing cold.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it's like because I know I can go in there. It's one of those things where you kind of take the variable and um you kind of just go against the grain and use it to your advantage. And it's like, did it work? I don't know. I didn't run a deep metric on it throughout my career. Um, but like it really kept me engaged and like viewed burnout as like, hey, this is part of a marathon that's not going away, being part of this game. Right. And it's like if I can embrace that and use it to my advantage, like why wouldn't I? Because this is part of the game. As you go up, seasons are longer, days are hotter or colder. You play earlier and you play later. And it's like there's less off days, so on and so forth. So if you can embrace it versus like resist it, I think that's a huge advantage for everybody.
SPEAKER_00That mentality happens a lot in the weight room. I mean, it is how you get after in the weight room and how your conditioning is at.
SPEAKER_03I'm in a season right now, I'll be honest. I don't want to be in there.
SPEAKER_02And it's like it happens, and I go through it as well. Like after a season of travel and on the bus, eat not eating the best, not sleeping the best, it's like, man, I just want to give myself a two to four week break. But it's just kind of fun, like going back to Ren's part and avoiding burnout, you have to find enjoyment in somewhere along the process of it. Like for me, I I was weird. I loved practice, I enjoyed it. I I felt like I got a lot out of practices, I got a lot out of lifts. I knew there was a point that I had autonomy to myself at practice, being a pitcher, especially. Um, it's a little bit different. But I knew that part of the time was geared towards preparing me for a game or an event more than anything. And then I knew if I did really well along practice, lifts, and build ups to the event, the event would just kind of take care of itself. Uh either I I was good enough or I wasn't. Um, that was always kind of my approach in the off season as well. Is like I'll just put in as much work as I can now that is effective work, not just doing work to do it. And if I get to the season and I get shelled all year, it's just because I'm not good enough. I'm gonna try and find a way within to be better, but maybe I'm just not good enough. Now that didn't happen after my freshman year, but you know, it happens at times.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, what separates showcase players from um players who maybe this is a bad question, but showcase players from actual winning players. Yeah, if you're showcase, your let's let's call it this your five o'clock hitters versus your seven o'clock hitters.
SPEAKER_02I don't think they enjoy the game, the art of the game. They enjoy the clout from the game. The social media, like the Ians kind of posting them up and doubt it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, if doubt is not there, then we don't need to play that.
SPEAKER_02There's no point of playing hard today.
SPEAKER_00That was actually said this spring, my not remote. Doubt it's here, we gotta play hard. You don't have a mic. We're gonna put a mic on you. Yeah, we're gonna get the mic done. I would doubt it's here. I wouldn't be a case to be a bit.
SPEAKER_02How many showcase kids watch MLB or college baseball versus how many others like that don't play showing?
SPEAKER_0090 10 don't watch it.
SPEAKER_02Like growing up, I loved watching it. Me too. I don't watch it nearly as much as I did then, but like back then, like growing up, it it was turner on every night.
SPEAKER_03It's hard it's hard because like there's nothing that is like everything has an outlier. Um true. Like you can, and there's no measurement of your own potential. So like the best player in the world, right, could be more like could be further from his potential than a high school kid trying to make his JV team. It's like, how do you maximize the gifts you were giving? So it's hard to like measure whether um I don't know, because there are kids. There are like the it works, or whatever you want to call it, because kids play Pro Bowl, get to the big leagues, and the show never leaves them. And it's like it's not a bad thing, it's a different thing. I think it stands out because it's um less old school, but it is becoming more normalized. And I don't know if I could sit here and call it good or bad. Um, I think if we there's a balance there of pulling helping pull guys to the middle and celebrating guys, and like if you don't adapt, then like this is the generation of player that we are dealing with. Not like showcase or non-showcase, but like the current state of uh amateur basically. The social media player, not even players, kids, like part of that is the social media generation. There's more social media involvement in the game than there's ever been. Right. Right? So it's like not to say everyone that plays now is this or that.
SPEAKER_00But if you're seeking that social media engagement versus trying to win a ball game, there's a problem.
SPEAKER_03I think I I I agree with you, like from a fundamental like level, I don't know how one would chase approval and I think it's playing the game on an island.
SPEAKER_00I'm at the plate, there's uh the bases are loaded, and I want to I want to drive these guys in because I want doubter to post about me, or I want PG to post about me, or I want the focus is off.
SPEAKER_03I agree, but hear me out, right? I'm just playing like I'm playing adversary here. No, I'm playing adversary here just because like I try to keep an open mind because like if you reject, it's just like old school coaches, like if you don't accept that like new school is coming and you don't embrace it and grow and innovate, like you're just out of the game because the players are changing, like they are. So if we don't embrace that, it's like we could find ourselves becoming ineffective because there's no point of relatability.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so let's take it away from game, let's take it, let's take it in training. Um, we see videos all the time on social media. I PR today, and there's a video of eight, ten, eleven pitches, and it's ball, ball, ball, 95, 96, never throwing a strike. It's the same concept. And the next week they want a PR again. The next week they want a PR again, versus like it's not sexy to throw strikes, but everybody knows you gotta throw strikes. You gotta throw the ball over the plate. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03I I yes, I and I believe that the most effective way, like me, my personal belief is like playing the game the right way for a purpose, like for your calling, and like not seeking the approval of others will make your heart fuller and will bring you more joy because it's the gift in the right spot and it's not approval and it's not acceptance. And that's what I truly believe. And I think that there's people who are on a journey, right? And just like someone who says, like, I have to put food on the table for my family, like the new generation sees social media differently than we do. And if they come from the, and I don't think you should ever have a scarcity mindset either, but like from a point of relatability, like if they think that the best way to provide for their family or themselves is like this generation of YouTube and branding and building up your like um presence in the digital space because that's going to set you up for success in the future. That's a path more people take because like we don't view it in that light because that wasn't our relationship with it. So, like, I think that's where we find the understanding of like maybe they're not that much different, maybe it's just a different world they're living in. Same world but different. You know what I mean? Does that make sense? It's like uh I don't know. We it's I'm sure there's shared experience across generations all the way back to there when there was no TVs.
SPEAKER_00I think if you, you know, I would like to see more post social media, okay, let's let's evolve, let's move in that direction. So, how much should a player lift during the season?
SPEAKER_02I just think it's just more so about a consistency within your training. So, you know, uh to throw out another two to three times? I was gonna say to throw out another week. Two plus a third if you can get the third.
SPEAKER_00So why don't we see posts about kids lifting weights? Because it's it's it's not sexy. It's not that. And so if you wait for the post of me hitting a double, it's not an outright.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00But if you wait to hit a post of me hitting a double or something good happening on the field, and we know that three times out of ten you're gonna have success, seven times out of ten, there's no, you're you're giving yourself less opportunity. Versus if I have a process to my social media um uh activity, it should be in the weight room. It you know, video your weight, video you lifting weights, video yourself long tossing, video yourself, you know, the process, and that would lean more towards uh some exposure to college recruiting for the high school player.
SPEAKER_03I think celebrating like things like that would be awesome. I think that like, and I think there's a generation of people, like even adults that are hungry to see that. Like, I know like we have plenty of people that we have relationships with that are always seeing things like when you can get that behind the curtain view of what MLB guys are doing in the cage, you're like, Well, I want more of that, you know what I mean? And it's just like that is something that it would be nice if it took a shift. Because I don't think social media is going away. I think it's more of just like how can how can we gear it into being like more and more positive and effective and sh and informational and sharing. And I think it has a little element of that.
SPEAKER_00I think Paul Skeens has done that. I love what Paul Skeens said last year. I want to be the most boring pitcher in the league. And what he meant by boring is his routine is his routine, and he's on point probably to the minute, like what he does. And there's a lot of posts about what he does in the weight room and with his water bags and with his bands and and his throwing program with the football and everything. Like those things are going out there just as much are uh of his strikeouts or his wins or whatever. Like his process is being played.
SPEAKER_03Well, he's also not clipping his wins or posting them. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's yeah, right. I agree. But the problem is it worked.
SPEAKER_00I think that it there's a value to that for the high school kid that shows their work ethic, that shows their discipline, their diligence to their process that is valuable to be shown versus you wait for that double in the gap that happens every other tournament or every other game, maybe.
SPEAKER_03No. I mean, that's where you have a lot more content. If we knew if we knew anyone that like was involved with a social media company that could drive the direction and do like education and not just post doubles, then like that would be cool, but we just don't know anyone. Did you guys know anyone? Um watch the car crash. And we'll cut that part and moving on. Um that won't make it in.
SPEAKER_00Alright, so what separates and I know the answer here, but I want to get your guys' take. Uh, what separates confidence play confident players from emotional players? For me, it's the preparation. Yeah, I was gonna say you're you're confident in how you prepared yourself for the moment. Yeah, you're not so driven off of outcomes.
SPEAKER_02Correct. And it's it's a very difficult thing to do because you want to do well all the time, but can it be done?
SPEAKER_00I always say like it's better to be prepared and never get an opportunity than for an opportunity to come and not be prepared.
SPEAKER_03But that's stage one. I think like that is a great place to start, but like I don't think it's something like tangible and achievable. I think it's like I think it's an identity thing. I really do. And I know that sounds like ultra deep, but at some point, like outcome-based work like breaks the it like it's the straw that broke the camel's back. It can hold up in court for a while, but like if you go past your capacity and don't get the results you think you deserve in that mindset, everyone's breakable. But like when you're finding like fulfillment in enjoying the like you, I love practice, I love being here and like genuinely enjoying being there, and it's not perfect every day. Some days, like you show up and do it because like you know it's what's best, you know, not you don't have to feel it every day, but like until it becomes intrinsically enjoyable for what it is, it will always chase outcome, and there's a threshold there that's completely breakable for even the most stoic person.
SPEAKER_00I guess what I'm saying is like I think that the next generation enjoys playing the game. I'm not sure they enjoy practicing the game, and meaning the more times I pick up a baseball and throw it, the better I'm gonna be. The more times I pick up my bat and swing it, the better I'm gonna be. And and even if you're possibly instilling some bad habits, you're still going to get better because the baseball's in your hand, the bat's in your hand. The more times you pick up a book, the better you become as a reader. The more knowledge you have, you know.
SPEAKER_03They say like seven, eight times. Like, don't they say like you have to read something like a certain amount of times before it really like?
SPEAKER_00Well, in activity and in sports, it's like you can you can retrain a bad habit, takes 21 days, whatever, you know, a thousand reps to kind of change.
SPEAKER_02So the more you go based off that, I think the biggest thing is like the more intentional you are in your process, the practice, that your catch-play, your your reps in the cage, you become more confident in the art that you are performing. When you are confident in the art you're performing, you feel like you can overcome the adversity. When you are over the last 15 or you are blown the last three saves, you've you can always fall back on the preparation you had, then you can reevaluate well from there. But if you're just reevaluating from the outcome itself and not never your preparation, I feel then you have to you start to reinvent the wheel more so than anything.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, I totally agree. I'm my one thought off of that is I think the best in the world don't perform, I think they express. I think that it pours out of what they do. They don't have to force it, they don't have to tell it to go. It's just going and it pours out of them, and you're like, man, something's happening where that guy's doing exactly what he's supposed to do, exactly where he's supposed to be, and that guy just has a different presence to him. You can't you don't know why, you don't have all the answers, but you're just like something about that like is is special, and it's not necessarily always like four for four with four home runs.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'll I'll never gas this guy up, but Colin Thacker was that guy. Like you don't know how he does it, but if you watch practice every day and you watch him in the weight room every day in college, you're like he's pretty intentional in all the work he does, and somehow he finds a way in the game to get it done. Like he just did. Um but that's the only thing.
SPEAKER_00He loved playing, he just loved playing.
SPEAKER_02And that's the only comp I'm done talking, that's the only compliment called.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but that's hold on, but that's the calling piece. Like when you're doing something you're called to do, adversity becomes like it's still adversity, it's called adversity because like it is difficult and it is challenging, but it's like you're more willing to accept those things when you're doing something you're passionate and in pursuit of, not for an outcome, but for like the per the pure pleasure of like participating.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I maybe it's a personality thing, but I always loved adversity. I I say it all I love pitching on the road more than I did at home. Yeah. I love being pushed back into the corner, like it is, it's it lights a fire. And if you know, maybe this is a uh nearsighted outlook, but if you get pushed into a corner and you don't come out fighting, um playing the game of baseball or whatever the situation is, I feel like you should find something else to do that you're more passionate about where you would come out of the corner fighting. Yeah, when there is some adversity and you step up.
SPEAKER_03That's where, like, to me, like whatever it is, business, life, like we have this preconceived notion that everyone should be doing the thing that we're doing. And it's just like sometimes a no. No, that's not it, like sometimes a no, and there's like telling someone the truth in love. Like, if I'm making every decision based on like baseball is the most important thing in the world, like, how am I gonna tell somebody no? Versus like, I'm okay with pushing a kid like toward what he's called to do, even if it's like God walking him into another craft or another calling. It's like it's not the um the means to the end is like being part of the like the body, the church, and doing your unique part, and like there is a place that God will pull you into like his design for your life, and that is the expression piece. So it's like something that you will fight for because like it's like it comes like it's alive in you, like you're you're prompted to walk in in that direction and to continue until you see it through.
SPEAKER_00Yep, 100%. Kind of transitioning over to we're in the postseason for college baseball. Um I can't believe I haven't watched it. Conference tournaments.
SPEAKER_03I mean, obviously, conference tournaments follow, but like, man, I missed I don't even know what day of the week it is sometimes. Yeah, tough one. We need windows in our office, tough one for the for the the circadian rhythm is gone because of our office. I don't know what that means, but I feel feel like I'm on it.
SPEAKER_00So uh ACC tournament is live here in Charlotte. Um other conference tournaments going on around the country. Who do you um who's the biggest surprise to you? Uh you said you hadn't watched much, but like who's the biggest surprise to you this year in the college baseball ranks? For me, it's LSU having to fight for their life to make a regional big surprise.
SPEAKER_03I think uh Can we pull up like a top 25? This is where Ian, down the athletes chirped him earlier, chirped him again, and then that was our third chirp. Could use a mic, maybe a um, maybe a display, like rolling scores or sending us messages so we can understand what's going on.
SPEAKER_02Um a big eye-opener the and they've kind of gone up and down the whole year, but started how Mississippi State with a new coach, um, who took that over the old.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're 16th in the country right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, kind of hit a little lull at the early SEC, but I mean turned it on a little bit.
SPEAKER_00I mean, UCLA is looking at going um start to finish number one in the country. That's that's special.
SPEAKER_02Well, they got a short, they got a stud at shortstop, too. They do. Yeah, he's an absolute freak. Uh 48 and 6.
SPEAKER_00Uh the Tar Heels have been at the top uh all year. For me, it's LSU um and Coach Johnson actually, there was a couple interviews about you know their um their difficulties with the guys they brought in from the portal this year, which we've talked about before, you know, maintaining culture and who you are as a program is important. Um and then Clemson. More money, more problems. More money, more problems. Jay-Z said it, didn't he? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then Georgia Tech's got their glue guy who's been there since the beginning, and Drew Burris, and they're up there at the top. Same, I think the UCLA shortstop's been a guy that's been there from the start.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I like I like what Georgia Tech's doing a lot. They really they've always been like but they've always like they've had some really great years and then some down years, but like they're kind of breaking through the threshold of like, no, we're like we're gonna be one of those top 10, 15 programs every year from here on out. And it's they're they're just producing. Yeah. Um, I think, and Coastal, um, shout out to Coastal, go Sean's had a real tough finish to the year skid. Borderline probably fell down the RPI ranks far enough to where they're gonna be on the road in regionals. Yeah, I think they're they're projected on the road unless yesterday. If the right teams lose and they win the tournament, they might have a chance to get back in. Um, but hate to see it.
SPEAKER_02Love the Conway sleeper too, and might be up for a job at the end of the year's the Kansas program. Like they went from um being horrible a couple years ago, getting beat on the road at Belmont in a series. Oh, whoa, sure. And that doesn't happen. Yeah, that doesn't happen. Um, but just a stronger. Debatable. That was uh that coach's first year coming over from is that Jay Johnson down at LSU? History and kind of getting that program at Kansas rolling a lot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Jay Johnson was the head coach for Arizona when we beat them in the college. Yes, right. Yes. He's yeah, you got a leg up. Yeah, I mean, we have the belt and there's no taking it back. That's right. Yeah, it's done. He gets no more opportunities, no more shots of the title.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, yeah, for me, Cincinnati and Nebraska, uh sitting in the top 25, you know, two Midwestern programs. Um, but other than that, it's it's typically dominated by the East Coast and the West Coast, UCLA, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Texas. A lot of these programs with a lot of money to spend, they have big football programs. So it should be fun to watch um as the conference tournaments wind down and regionals get announced um next Sunday.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's the part. I mean, I love it. I love the 64 team field, like all over the country, like locations, hosting. Somebody out of the Northeast always gives a team out of the South a problem, whether it's Connecticut or yeah, it's you know that like that's what I love about um like the regional round is that Friday guy that throws 86 from down under that'll throw you 146 pitches and go the distance, right? It's like that's the that that game is so much fun to watch because everyone has one guy that can give their team a chance to win.
SPEAKER_00100%. How about there's no pitch limit in the NCAA yet for pitchers? I don't think I don't think you can. Why not? Everybody else has one.
SPEAKER_03I know, but like at what point in time, not pro, I mean Pro Bowl does.
SPEAKER_00Well, probably but they use some common sense.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think that I think all guys are different too, though.
SPEAKER_02I think you're hold on, hold on.
SPEAKER_00I agree with you. Some guys are built to where they can throw. Yeah, but hold on.
SPEAKER_03Let's talk about this a little bit. Go ahead and then we'll find it. Before we go, like, for some reason we get I I know an 18-year-old kid is a young kid, and like the rights that an 18-year-old kid has in this country isn't a pitch count. You know what I mean? Like, you can serve our country, you can like you you live on like basically you're not a minor anymore. You're you're considered an adult, and like are you an adult? No, I was 18, 19, 20, 21.
SPEAKER_00I'm saying you might be able to.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm saying you might be able to.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so in Japan, they throw 200 pitch bullpins. Yeah, that's because they practice. So what what where did the number uh 100 come from? Where did the number 85 come from? Where did the number you know, like that's a really deep question though?
SPEAKER_03Like, how do you how did you get to the number? How did you get to the number? Because I think guys are underthrowing more than they're gonna be able to do that. I'm sure there's been like plenty of like test cases where like they're searching across like a database. And they're deciding that like this, these guys throwing this many times or this or that. Because like I know with the White Sox, like they were big into pitch count and up downs and avoiding the high inning output. So like if pitches under pressure. If you were a guy that was important and you threw over 30 or 40 pitches in an inning, 30 or something, like you were done. That's pretty much everybody.
SPEAKER_0035 or 40 in an inning, you're done.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, unless unless you're a senior sign, then you got a shot to roll back out there.
SPEAKER_00How many did Mike Morrison throw that year that you guys won it? Didn't you have some crazy story about Morrison?
SPEAKER_03He so he was the closer. I mean, I've never seen this done, and I like, but he was the closer all year, and we needed a starter for game two of the World Series, and he went seven.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_03And it's like we don't chalk that up at home. And Beckwith probably threw 650 pitches in the tournament.
SPEAKER_00So shout out to Mike Morris in Alabama, 15th in the country, having a solid year, by the way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Mike's the best. I actually texted him last night. Um, man, that guy's awesome. So if you're looking to pitch and be around a great guy and win some games, like good. Ultimate competitor. Give me the baseball guy. Tuscaloosa? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00See, I know something. Yeah. That guy's the best. All right. So your pick, what teams are built best for the postseason? It sounds like UCLA.
SPEAKER_03I like UCLA, I like Texas.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. UCLA and Texas are like, okay, Dodgers. Like, that's who you got. So like who else? Um that's a good question. Let me think.
SPEAKER_00Tar Hill's been at the top all year. Yeah, they've got overwhelmed me, though. I love what West Virginia's doing. West Virginia has instituted a biomechanics lab, bio precision. I do too. And that, yeah, I love it.
SPEAKER_03It's it's it's been effective. I do like what they're doing. I think for teams that can like make a cool little run, like those are the teams. But there's a few teams that have underperformed that are going to be put in a tournament or a regional that like the one seed's going to be very, very, very frustrated. Because like the Clempsons, the Wake Forests, the teams that like you know, like they have the pieces, and you know that at any point in time they could click in. It's like if they click in, everyone went to bet on them and they'll just run right through.
SPEAKER_02And that's that's kind of coastal in the last few weeks. Now flukey's starting to catch stride on the weekend.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but they're kind of trending like wrong time to be hitting ice cold, fellas. But it might be the perfect time to get it heated back up.
SPEAKER_02Maybe going as a two, probably a two seed somewhere.
SPEAKER_03When we won the national championship, the two week yeah, you guys almost lost to Gardner Webb in the tournament. Almost. Almost doesn't count. How many almost homers you hit that the outfielder caught? You know what I mean? I didn't hit so much. Um but you no, you just hit me with a fastball or but no, if you are um coastal and you're growing into like the postseason with um like kind of in that like downhill trajectory, like we had two weekends before, we had Georgia Tech on the road, and we were kind of on the fringe of hosting, and we went out there and got swept right before the right before the tournament, and we ended up like winning winning the national championship, which I mean good turnaround. But so sometimes those things can propel you depending on the team you have. So I'm hoping that they can catch fire, but they always have a group and a staff over there that's gonna show up and when it's game day and give a give their best punch and be prepared.
SPEAKER_02So I'm hoping we got kind of uh another Cinderella like a Murray State last year, Evansville the year before, Oral Roberts, just one of these smaller schools kind of make a run towards Omaha. Yeah, I don't know who it would be, but that'd be cool. It's always fun to see those.
SPEAKER_00Do you think we're gonna start to see less and less of that because of the current landscape? Or do you think baseball's a sport where one arm can always beat somebody? Good pitching always beats good hitting, and somebody's always gonna pop up and yeah, hot. But when that guy pops up as a sophomore at LIU and you know, all of a sudden he's 93-94, he's got a low slot, ball rides, and you know, LSU goes and gets that guy, or Chapel Hill goes against that guy, or you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but hot beats good unless good's hot. If good is hot, you got no chance. If Dodgers are hot, go home. You know what I mean? I mean, don't actually compete, have a blast. But if you're hot against a good team that might not be playing well, right? Like, I think hot always beats good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Or most of the time. So I think that on any given night, you catch some momentum, you click, there's just some sort of thing that happens that everyone elevates their game, and you can't really expect it.
SPEAKER_00But I think even in the round of 64 um in basketball, that like you're not gonna see that Cinderella team move forward much as much as much as we did in the past.
SPEAKER_03I mean, if the talent like that's where like the talent gap, if it's that big, it's like yeah, like you can't, like, hot can't be good, just like the best team in college baseball. Like, if they were hot playing the Dodgers for a seven-game series, like not happening ever. You know what I mean? So, like, there's a gap that is tough to overcome in the top of college versus the bottom of college D1 is like there's players who can play at all places, but from like end of roster, I mean, it's a giant gap. It's like the S like how many football, how many D1 double A football teams or D1A, I don't know, the leagues, but like you put them against Georgia's line, you'd be like, like those those those kids are the same age. You know what I mean? It's like that it you the gap can't be that big or else and then we're back in Russia or for the Olympics and we're miracle on ice. You know what I mean? Doesn't happen that often.
SPEAKER_00Right, not anymore. Yeah, all right. So switching over to Major League Baseball, who's your favorite or um breakout star this year? Do you have one? In Major League Baseball? Major League Baseball. No.
SPEAKER_02I haven't watched a whole lot MLB this year.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um I feel like, yeah, I've been in our windowless office for a while.
SPEAKER_00Is Bobby Witt Jr. gonna be the best player in the game one day? He's obviously Bobby Witt Jr.
SPEAKER_03is probably in my perspective one the most he's probably the most impressive player to me in the past. He's fun to watch. It's not even, yes, fun to watch. And like he is like there was one guy who even on his down years, like didn't have like he is trout at shortstop. Like this guy's coming in the league, and it's just like if he's playing good, it's loud. If he's playing bad, it's really great. And it's like, how can he main he's maintaining a consistency and a performance consistency, like no matter how many times you check the box score, like this guy is doing it, and it's that is there's some louder guys that are more like flashy and exciting, and wit will jump into that like at times, but from boring consistency factor on the position player end, like you got Paul Skeens and then you got Bobby Witt to me. I mean, it's it's pretty sick, but it is also happening out in a graveyard in Kansas City. It's not right. If it was a different market, I think you'd get a different response, but it's still super celebrated and he's awesome. But like I agree, having him on the world stage really made people fall in love with him more for the um world baseball classic. But yeah, that guy, like if you want to watch a guy play and model your game after someone, I wouldn't hesitate to be like, go watch this guy and carry yourself like this guy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we talked about it one other time. The I love the direction that Major League Baseball is going, and the Rays have implemented it early in the season this year. They're they're bunting in situations, they're hitting and running, they're using data against uh certain clubs, like the Yankees or like the Dodgers, who are still in that chase the home run, chase the production, uh more strikeouts. I think Tampa Bay's bottom of the league in strikeouts, they're putting the ball in play, and they're leading the AL East by three and a half games. And they've changed the games going back to stealing bases, putting the ball on the ground, um small ball, I guess you could call it, um, versus that, you know, wait for the three-run bomb.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, two points. One is like awesome, coach the team you have. Like, don't coach the idea. Take your players, this is your team, and play the game. Like Chandler Simpson.
SPEAKER_00That's why baseball got boring because everybody tried to start running the fastball at the top. We'll try to hit the ball, the ballpark. And it's changing now.
SPEAKER_03Teams will start to be who they are. Let's maximize what we have, let's drive the car we have. And my skepticism is like the Rays have this like model that like produces postseason appearances, and I don't think they like transition decision making into a different environment. It's like you have a giant data set that works across the span of 162 games, it then like to game 163 doesn't like there's some things you can take with you, but game one sixty three is in a different arena than one sixty two downs. It goes back to the tournament style based on the city. So something if that changes, then what changes? Like something has to give, if everything changes, like something has to adapt. You can't just be like, no, block it out. I'm gonna do the one thing. As like if you're managing a roster in a team, if you're a player, do your job and do great. Like stay in there, keep with the process. But like, as uh either a coach, manager, clubhouse, GM, it's like like there has to be some sort of like transition to like, okay, we now have different variables at the table. What does this mean? How do we win this game? What gives us the best chance to win this game, not this game if we played 162 times?
SPEAKER_00Right. I love the um I saw it a couple nights ago. Runner on first, nobody out, ground ball hit to the first baseman's left side down the line. First the get the runner acts like he takes two hard jabs and then just goes back to first base because he knew the first baseman was gonna touch the bag and then tag, and he's still safe at first base. The baseball IQ of the game. Um are we moving away from that because of um Yes. I mean, yes, we're moving away from that because we're not watching the game, they're playing the game more.
SPEAKER_02It's uh I think some do you think some's just an increase in talent level, like physicality level? And I think they can get away with it because they're more athletic now. I mean, there is they don't have to be as witticked.
SPEAKER_00I'm talking to college coaches about having to reinforce double cuts. And you know, we've got I mean, here at Showcase, we're teaching that at 10, 11 years old. Like, do they forget it? Like, is it like just not used?
SPEAKER_03Like, I think the game is underemphasized and it's under, it's under like I think one of the biggest gaps is like even we teach here, like, and our coaches know, but it goes back to like in the heat of the moment, like, is everything based on hey, you gave your best effort today, we lost, show up again tomorrow, or are we going to the drawing board after a tournament and we're gonna like if we have um like even video from the game or whatever it is, and we're like, hey, like on this play in this game, like you're supposed to be here and you're not. Like, we don't do that.
SPEAKER_00It's like I told them, I told them it's like teaching base running, it's the least favorite thing to do for any player. It's it's boring, it's monotonous, like, but but the teams who teach base running tend to win more ball games because a lot of ballgames are won.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but there's teaching, and then there's holding them accountable to executing. We the second part is where it doesn't set into the player. That's what like I was always taught things, and then when I got to college, if I didn't execute those things, I didn't get to play on our team. And it was like, okay, if that's how this functions, like I'm gonna know all of this because I'm not going to create a barrier for me to be a part of what's going on here. But like the accountability factor is like like you might have to do it, but like Johnny over there hits home runs, and like if I tell him that he has to be somewhere in a cutoff, he might leave my team, so I'm not gonna tell him. And it's like the kid suffers.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_03Because they'll just go find another team if you hold them accountable these days. Maybe, but like we don't even do it. The point is, like, we don't even roll the dice because not and not like me personally, you personally, but like collectively, like the overarching theme is like what I have to do to keep this kid is please him, yet this kid desires to be loved, held accountable, and be a part of a structure and a system that's bigger than just Johnny, and it's like I I don't know, like to me, it's it's a disservice to the player. Um, like some of the coaches that made the biggest impact on me, like, broke me at times. Like, in a way that, like, I was mad. I was angry. How could they say this to me? And it's like looking back, it's like those guys, they got to me in a good way.
SPEAKER_00Do you think we celebrate gritty baseball enough these days? Be the dirtiest player leaving practice, be the dirtiest player leaving the field. Do we celebrate that enough? Does that matter anymore? I think why it's dirty. I was a picture, I left clean most of the time.
SPEAKER_03No, I'm saying I think I think you have like some old dads in the stands, 50 years old, kind of like you see it every weekend. Get your elbow up, and they're like getting dirty. I love it. And it's like it's kind of like this one-off thing of like, is that guy weird? Like, yeah, maybe a little weird, but that's just his dad, you know.
SPEAKER_00You see it every weekend. A kid doesn't slide when he should.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and he probably like I don't know. Should we practice sliding? Yes. Yeah, we I was in professional baseball and strength training, I know. Practicing sliding. I could slide with my eyes closed, and I had to run and slide. Like, I can do this, guys, and I had to do it over and over again.
SPEAKER_00I can tell you this I had a 16-year-old team, it was probably 18 years ago, and we were the cleanest team in showcase baseball. We didn't dive after anything. I brought a player in mid-season who was just coming back from injury, and the kid dove after everything in practice, and it totally changed the culture of our team, and wins increased, mentality increased from one player doing it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I've taken that, and once a year, I do an all diving sliding practice. Yeah. Like I think that needs to be instituted.
SPEAKER_03I I mean, I dove, you even asked my college coaches. Like, I dove in practice. Like, sometimes I got to make sure I wasn't diving in pregame because, like, no, and I know that sounds crazy. Like, I would get I would drop to a knee and slide in pregame.
SPEAKER_00Like, our culture was we even if we knew we couldn't get to it, we would still lay out to try to get to it. I know because it was a mentality.
SPEAKER_03I know there is a mentality to it, but it isn't just a mentality. If I'm being honest, like if you want to stay healthy, don't find yourself in a situation where you haven't practiced something and you need to do it. You're gonna slide for the first time with the game on the line, like on a dirt ball read in the ninth inning, and you're gonna like your ankle's gone because you have no idea the timing of it, you're not used to it, and your body responds to it. Same thing with the diving play. It's like if you don't know how to dive or you don't know how to even an outfielder, throwing a ball, like play at the plate with the game on the line, you're actually going to make a 100% throw because you're gonna get caught up in the moment. And if you have not practiced over 65% throwing and you're going through the motions, your arm is going to hurt. You know what I mean? And it's like when you actually can elevate your training to almost match the game or just like ramp it up sometimes to teach your body like, hey, this is how we dive, this is how my body like this is the safest way for my body to receive ground force when I'm laying out. Like, there's a lot of elements to teach your body what to do when put in certain positions that if you have no experience doing it, it's dangerous.
SPEAKER_00Everybody should be doing burpees.
SPEAKER_03I did a burpee thing the other day with my buddy Dave, and boy, I mean, I could my shoulder, my shoulder was cooked.
SPEAKER_00Cooked. I honestly I think that when kids watch the pro game, as much as we want them to watch it, they see an Aaron Judge or they see a Tatisse in the outfield, and it looks like they're going half speed to pick up the ball at the wall.
SPEAKER_03Those guys play hard. Yeah, and those guys play hard.
SPEAKER_00And they can, it looks like they're going half speed, but they pick it up and they're able to throw the ball 100 miles an hour. And everybody in the ballpark, at least on the two teams, know it's an automatic double. They know there's no way he's going three. There's no, there's no, there's no way they're holding him at one. Like it's an automatic double, and they see the way the guys go about it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's the internal clock.
SPEAKER_00It's the internal clock that they have that you don't. But we're trying to teach go a hundred percent because you don't have that internal clock yet.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, in order to oh, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, and those guys are also playing 162 games. I was going there next. 100%. So, like, and that's in some of it too. Like, you hit a ground ball, you know you're not gonna beat it out, you're not gonna give a hard 90. So you think that all the time. Yeah, but they they don't sleep on the fact that like But those guys go 80 to 90 percent because their reserve is so much better and their ceiling is way higher.
SPEAKER_03I agree, and the best in the game, like, are data gathering, like subconsciously, like all the time. Like the guys that do it right, they take three hard steps out of the box, they see the guy field it cleanly, like it then they go from there, but it's not like it's not give up before you take in any information for the most part. Like, if I fly, if I hit a fly ball or a pop-up to the infield off the bat, you know, that's an out 99% of the time. Right, you know what I mean? But like what you're not seeing, like you see the one time they look stupid, because like you're gonna have a miscalculation, even if you're trying event like at some point, but like they've earned the right that they've played it 100%, and those two guys, by the way, Tatis and Aaron Judge, both play this game the correct way. I'm not saying like flare, flash, they're very different like personalities, but both those guys play this game with an intensity that I love, like I think is amazing. So, like their names got called because they're the top of the game, like they're gonna be like, like the point is like if a kid watches them and thinks they're dogging it, like man, you're missing it because those guys play this game like at an elite level all season. But yeah, for me, it's just like you have to learn like the full scope before you can pull back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I think you should even even parents they'll say, Well, I like watching college baseball more than pro baseball. I like watching the minor leagues, I like going to the A-ball game in town more than I like watching the because they leg out ground balls. That that's a thing. That is a thing.
SPEAKER_03No, that's definitely a thing.
SPEAKER_00But but they gotta they do need to understand it's 162. Depending on the team you're on, it could be 192 games, including spring training, which is another 20. Like it's it's a lot, and you have to know when to go and know when to hold them and go. I knew you were headed there.
SPEAKER_03I couldn't, I would have sat on that one all day. I would have hit the hit a homer right there.
SPEAKER_02Are those guys legging out that one ground ball to get out of sprint work the next day? Because their GPS monitor said they didn't hit next velocity.
SPEAKER_03The funny thing is, like you show up to the field and they're like you you have two sprints today, and then you hit a ground ball, and you're like, well, I might as well get a sprint in so I don't have to do it in warm-ups. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Because they're monitoring every sprint you take.
SPEAKER_03If you don't hit a certain percentage of it, you're working the next one. They won't let your workload capacity drop. I mean, all I did in the big leagues was go out in the outfield and run sprints because I was on the bench.
SPEAKER_02And that's the thing, too, like with these younger guys, like in your warmups, hit your sprints. Like, if you never like we talk about um what you were saying, you never throw a ball as hard as you can, you never dive. Like, you are going to set yourself up for injury. If you never hit a sprint as hard as you can, max effort, and you all of a sudden you gotta beat out a double player or a double, right? You are setting yourself up for failure or potential for injury. Like prepare yourself for the game.
SPEAKER_00Preparation, baby. Yeah. Uh if you were 15 again, what would you do differently? I'd probably take steroids.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, no, that's fair. But honestly, I would try to say I have like a thyroid issue and you know, take the minimal issue. Yeah. Yeah. I know I would have been I would have definitely started lifting. Don't clip it. I definitely would have started lifting more. And I would have started lift I like that one. I would have sprinted a lot more. Yeah. Um instead of conditioning.
SPEAKER_00That that that was actually one moment in my amateur career that I that I remember to this day playing basketball in the winter, and I committed to getting up and down the floor, no matter if I was. The play or not, and then that next baseball season is when I was a junior, like I saw my my game elevate because I was conditioned. Sprints up and down the floor changed my game from my sophomore year to my junior. Yeah. I think for me, like I stretching was another one when I started to really be intentional about stretching.
SPEAKER_03And it sucks, but when I became more mobile, it was better. I would mo ma'am, I would do a couple more, a couple, a couple squats or figure fours. I don't know, maybe.
SPEAKER_02But I think they tried to throw the baseball a lot harder.
SPEAKER_03I think overall, one of the biggest things. There's two things that I could have got maximized that like I think like I had a lot left in the tank that I didn't end up giving to the game, even though I gave it my best. Um but if I could like I had, and I don't mean this in like a like in an arrogant way, but like I had a high work capacity. Like I were like I worked, and it's like sometimes like I could have used somebody helping me, like I feel like it was never wasted time. And if you would if someone would have directed that workload into something like productive and effective, like I think I would have been a lot better, but I I didn't know what to do, but I needed to do something, so I just did things. Does that make sense? So like you don't really have anybody to trust. I had people to trust, but like I have a problem. I had a problem more so like trusting people, um, which like probably takes responsibility with me.
SPEAKER_00But I do because there's a lot of belief in the ability God's given.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but if you could have laid out like what I should have been doing, like I would have done it every day, over and over again. And I just wish I had more like like personalized direction of like this is what you should be doing. And I think that I would just like to be like guided a little bit better. Like I think I was just kind of I felt a little bit out on my own.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I think even though I had a lot of great coaches and support, just don't get me wrong. Same.
SPEAKER_02I would have my biggest thing, I I would have stopped worrying about the not stopped worrying about, but less focus on I've got to get better at the skill of baseball all the time and worried more about physical preparation and actually getting myself that like I already felt like I was pretty tuned up at the game of it, but I just wasn't big enough. I couldn't hit the ball hard enough, I didn't throw the ball hard enough. And it the only thing that was going to do that for me at that point was I needed to get my butt up in the morning before school and eat breakfast that I didn't do because it was another five, ten minutes of sleep I could have gotten instead that really didn't help me. Um and I would have been more intentional in the weight room instead of just doing, you know, checking the box. Yeah. That's good stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think the preparation on um nutrition and and sleep uh is huge is more could be more beneficial for athletes than they realize. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Um, 100%. I mean it's still it's for adults too. Like people that are like, our kids need to eat better. It's like you do too. You're tired. I remember in spring right now, too. I feel like we've been in this chaotic season, and I find my like we're pretty much like trying, we stay on it, and right now, like our daughter just turned one, we're I'm here late. I'm eating sometimes I'm slamming dinner at 9 30 at night, and it's like it's not it's not a schedule that's like producing like setting us up for success.
SPEAKER_02My parents that say that it's like, all right, what do you have in the refrigerator of the pantry? Is it nothing or is it junk? Right. Like, and what are you eating?
SPEAKER_03How many times did you order out?
SPEAKER_00I remember a meeting we had in spring training, and it was uh it was based around tobacco and alcohol, and they explained how just two beers the night before, even though you got eight hours of sleep, it this not totally out of your system, and and uh you're not as prepared to play as you think you are, even though you're not you know tipsy, drunk, hungover, whatever. Just your recovery is um is not what it should be just after a couple beers.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, your heart rate variability and your recovery scores won't be as high because of what it does.
SPEAKER_00I mean that's are guys at the major league level using the the whoop technology or using a lot of people.
SPEAKER_03I think guys use things that can't be tracked by the team. I think that's what they use. So like independently, yeah. Um I think that I think guys are do do what they can to invest in. I think more so than ever, like people are starting to realize like how important the sleep stuff is, the wind down is. Yeah, like we got sleep kits when I was with the.
SPEAKER_00CeeDee Lamb said he spends over a million dollars a year on his body. Yeah, I mean between massages and therapy and all the stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's great. That's I mean, that sounds great. Yeah, yeah. CD Lamb is a good thing.
SPEAKER_00So do what you can as an amateur to maximize your output. Yeah. Yeah. That's the bottom line.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's 100%. It's going to I I know adults who don't perform in the same arena as baseball or sports, just like go to their job and want more clarity and want more, and it's like people start to like, I don't know, even like going like getting blood work, checking your deficiencies, changing your diet based on like, hey, my iron levels are lower, hey, I don't get vitamin such and such enough. And it's like, those are like that's science. It's real. It's like that actually is going to affect you in some physical capacity.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And then like, so going off that, like, the biggest thing I always got and still get is JT, what supplement should I take? All right, well, if first off, what's creatine always? Creatine always, yeah. I will always say creatine.
SPEAKER_03Creatine protein. I need to get back on creatine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but if you aren't and there's good and bad creatine, by the way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm gonna just take whatever I see on the shelf at GNC. Yeah, yeah. Take a few. The one that they have to unlock. I might honestly even ask our performance coach here at SBA what I should be taking. I go with Thorne. Thorne's are my go-to.
SPEAKER_02They probably have that big league level, Thorne.
SPEAKER_03They probably do. I think they do. Well, I think a lot of it was clean. Clean, yeah, to go into.
SPEAKER_02Um, but they always want to ask because it's the magic red pill everyone wants is what supplement can I take for this? It's like, well, are you getting eight hours of sleep? Are you drinking plenty of water each day? Are you getting enough calories in each day? Do you even eat breakfast? If you don't do those, like supplements is the last thing you need to worry about. Yeah, you could take a multi, you could take creatine, you could take preteen, protein, preteen. Um, but the rest of it, you're just doing a pre-trank.
SPEAKER_03It's like, hey, can we work on my swing? Like, why? So you can hit the slider that bounces in front of the plate. Like, why don't we try to swing at strikes and we'll go from there? Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00Let's see what your swing looks like. Yeah. I'll leave you with this iron sharpens iron, it's a biblical principle. And who you surround yourself with, uh, and and Rim, you've been a great ad here at SBA. Um, you know, iron sharpens iron. The Bible says it. It it is what it is. Who you surround yourself with matters. And you, my dad always taught me growing up, you're either lifting somebody up or they're pulling you down. One of the two. And so who you surround yourself with matters. Their work ethic. You know, you hang around with people who like to eat at buffets all the time, you're probably gonna gain weight. Yeah, you know, there's so I would leave us with this you know, who you're who you're surrounding yourself with is going to um dictate or you know, move you in a direction you want to go or you don't want to go. You know, it's gonna affect your work ethic, it's gonna affect how you carry yourself on and off the field, and and you're so you know, be careful, you know, who you're who you're partnering with, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And that's a serious note. And I'll close this with the direction of your hat is the direction of your life. Look at us. All right, thanks for joining.
SPEAKER_00Appreciate you guys listening all the time. Uh, we'll be back soon.