Home on the Road
Canes president & CEO Jeff Petty and Perfect Game's Daron Sutton talk with some of the biggest names in baseball
Home on the Road
Episode 1: Matt McLain
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Petty & Sut talk former Cane greats & life on the road; plus Reds 2B Matt McLain joins to give an idea of what it takes to get to the big leagues
He's Petty, I'm Sut. That's Jeff Petty, Keynes Baseball, Darren Sutton, Perfect Game. And um, well, we're here. We're we're home on the road most times. And and I guess I'll ask you, we we planned on this is your brain, child. I'll jump in and help you with it. But in your mind, why are we here? What are we doing here? Everyone's got a podcast. Why do you slash we have one now?
SPEAKER_00I think we have a great platform here between the two of us and perfect game and Keynes Baseball and all the relationships you have, Sut, and all the relationships we have over here to just kind of highlight some guys and just, you know, knock it around, talk about baseball.
SPEAKER_02Can we call it like a casual production meeting, the first part of this show, if you don't mind? Because I'd love to get some ideas going away. Here's what I think, and you tell me. I think uh we need to have something that's organized. It can be as simple as a yellow piece of paper with some ideas scribbled down. Maybe we have a production meeting, maybe it's at an establishment the night before for beverages, but because we plan on doing a lot of these out on the road, we're kind of bouncing subject to subject. We we need to be somewhat organized. We don't want it to be manic. Are you okay with that? Because I'd love to do that. And then sometimes you'll drive it, I'll drive it. This is ours, this isn't mine. I'm used to sitting in that A chair, which I don't want to in this one because some days and some weeks you may, I may. Are you good with kind of bouncing subject to subject?
SPEAKER_00I love that. I love it to be more conversational and let it flow how it does, and and clearly with us going back and forth, you know, a lot of different things are gonna come up.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna try. You and I are gonna try to have guests. We have Matt McLean. I'm waiting, that's why my laptop is unprofessionally open in the shot. Matt McLean Reds, Kane's alum, UCLA guy. What was it like to coach him? What was he like?
SPEAKER_00I remember him showing up, and uh at the time, Josh Wright was our strength coach, and he runs a uh baseball specific training center in Southern California where Matt and all his brothers trained. And he's, you know, he said he's a spark plug type kid, had some power, could run, uh, could really play shortstop. And when he got to us, I was beating my head against the wall because we had Xavier Edwards at the time, who was a pretty good shortstop himself and a pretty good leadoff hitter. And I'm like, well, hell, we're gonna have two leadoff hitters. It was pretty clear out of the gate. Um, and he was willing to play some second base because you can't play two guys at shortstop, right, Sut. But they were both super unselfish at the time, and that was two of the more dynamic speedsters we ever had at one-two in our lineup. Um, we've been fortunate over the years with having a lot of talent. You know, Volpe and Carroll were similar one-two punches, but those guys could really put the ball in play and you know, play the middle infield together and uh could really run the bases back then.
SPEAKER_02So you mentioned four. You mentioned four guys, okay? Four guys you mentioned. I don't know if you recall all Volpe, Carroll, uh, and of course we're talking about Matt, who's coming in in a bit, and and then Xavier Edwards. You know what's fun about those four dudes? They're all undersized guys and they're dudes. You know, it's funny it's funny that it's funny you have those four guys game changing. I know you had Joe Adele and the big hulking studs that have played for you, but that's kind of cool that you just threw out four quote unquote undersized guys.
SPEAKER_00Just feisty guys that put the ball in play in high school could hit for power too back then and played their, you know, loved the process of getting better, loved to work, and uh love to compete. And it's no shock at all to see what they're doing at the next level.
SPEAKER_02It's kind of crazy now this this business that we're in. I mean, I never thought I'd be a broadcaster for amateur baseball when I was calling games in the big leagues. When you started the Keynes, you're now a prominent name around sports. Guys in the big leagues know who you are. It's kind of crazy how big all this has gotten.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the industry is is grown. I think there was some stat in 05 when I started, there was less than 700 travel teams nationwide, and that was ranging from like 14 to 18 years old, and now I believe there's 20,000. So that's a huge uh growth in our industry. Believe, trust me, I thought I was gonna coach high school baseball for 30 years and uh, you know, do that whole thing and be done. And we just kind of went with the uh evolution of the whole uh industry. And uh it's always been about helping players and trying to be competitive and keeping things team first in the locker room, and we've been able to kind of try to keep that thing going and have the right pieces fall in throughout these 20 years.
SPEAKER_02What do you got for me on Billy Wagner? What do you got? And that's a random. I just took a hard left turn. What do you got for me on Billy Wagner?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so Billy is a very close friend of mine. He's right down the road, about an hour from my house. Uh coached against him in high school. We've had his sons come through the program. He coaches in our organization. Um, he's just his first class as it gets, and he cares about the kids. His kids are his first priority. And one thing that I think is most impressive about Billy, if you go to his games or go to his practices, he treats the last kid on the totem pole the same that he does the first kid. Like he takes super, he takes a lot of pride in making sure that every kid is developing. And I I hear I hear Billy, and I think it's probably because he was a Division III player as well. He I've heard him talk about you can't let that eighth, ninth kid on your roster and you're on your high school team that might go play division three baseball, fall through the cracks, and not give him as much attention as maybe the kid that's hitting the three-hole and going to Virginia. But he's not one of those that like says it, like you can actually see it in his actions day to day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's funny. That's a loaded question. It wasn't really fair on my part because I spent I spent last week with him. Who knows when you'll listen to this, but I spent last week with him. We did two high school games where I hung out in his dugout, got to go to his his house. My gosh, what a what a basement that is. Um he said he pokes fun at you though. Yes? No? He he gives you the hard time a little bit on occasion.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think Billy busts everybody's balls. I mean, I don't think that like I have the uh I don't think that you know I have the rights to Billy Wagner busting. He pretty much busts everyone. But yeah, he stays on me pretty good, but he's also somebody that I've been able to call over the years that I trust a lot and I respect a lot. And um I consider him a pretty good friend.
SPEAKER_02You know it's funny. I I got a kick out of he said every time I see him, every time I tell him, You ruined baseball because of travel baseball. You were the Lewis and Clark out there, you ruined travel baseball. Then I said, But with love, Billy, aren't you a travel ball coach as well?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so he'll he'll say that in one breath, and then he'll be. It's so funny. We were in Atlanta last year, we were getting loose, and then he comes out of the dugout, his game just finished in Atlanta, and he's wearing a Keynes shirt himself. So yeah, I think there's a lot of things about travel baseball, rightfully so, that Billy doesn't necessarily like, but he understands that you know it's become something that, you know, we all have to kind of probably be a part of uh as trying to help these kids get to the next level.
SPEAKER_02Well, so wait, how crazy then are you cognizant? And you're the CEO of your group. I mean, you're the boss, so what you say goes. How how crazy cognizant are you of high school coaches? How important are they in your day-to-day? Even if it gets to be September and they're just now back in school, there is no high school baseball. Uh, do you do the best you can to at least connect as much as you can?
SPEAKER_00I think relationships are paramount in all of this. And it's high school baseball coaches, if we don't have them in our corner, then we don't have baseball players. And that's the bottom line. And I'm one of those where I really try to keep the high school baseball coaches involved in the recruiting process. I'm not one of those travel coaches that tries to axe and cut them out. I'm one that'll say, hey, talk to the high school coach. This guy spends more time with them than we do, um, and try to keep them involved. And I think that's a huge part of the process.
SPEAKER_02It's it's interesting. Building a travel team, it seems like when you get to the level you've gotten, but you have local teams, you have young how how how young do you guys go?
SPEAKER_00I'm embarrassed to say that the answer to this. Um we have a seven-year-old team.
SPEAKER_02Wait, wait, why? Why? Why are you embarrassed?
SPEAKER_00Well, we have a seven-year-old team, Darren. But but tell me why that's embarrassing. I just think it's ridiculous that we have seven-year-old teams. But uh and that's not a lot of those going on, by the way. I just found that when we can control the development, some of these little leagues, they uh they get together, they practice for three weeks, they start their games, and then when the games start, they don't practice anymore. And practice is where where the magic happens at these young ages. These kids need to practice as much as possible. Heck, when we start our games at that level, we're practicing two and three times a week. So we're up in the ante on practices when the games start, not cutting practice completely out. So um, yeah, it's embarrassing to say in some regards that we start that young, but the product that we're putting out and the things that we're doing, kids are getting better, and the parents are choosing uh that route over some of the local leagues.
SPEAKER_02So for me, the one thing that comes to mind is twofold. You're developing players, but maybe you're developing parents too, starting at seven you mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad, aunt, uncle. Let let's let's let's let's develop young on how we should handle ourselves. At least you can kind of get your message on how to manage yourself as a parent to a younger parent. Crazy, no?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, it's funny these parents. Um, so far, so good with my parents.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna interrupt you. I I love something that starts with it's funny these parents go. Like this is like Instagram is now full of mock videos, and I I love parents, and you do too.
SPEAKER_00But go ahead. Absolutely. I just think there's parents of kids that if I had a dollar for every time I had an eight-year-old parent or a nine-year-old parent, seven, ten, whatever, talk about how great their kid is, I'd be rich. And well, you are though. Well, no, that's you. That's you. I'm I'm fortunate enough to be on this call with you. I I think it we need to sl we need to just uh take a deep breath. And if we're really good at this age, let's welcome that and continue to work. We don't need to say it. If you say you are, you ain't, and we've there's a long way to go. And I on the other side of the coin is Darren, that if you're not so good at the young ages, there's still so much development to have happen. Um people develop at different times in their life. Uh the best player on a team at 10 might not be the best player on a team when they're 13. Not to mention that when they get into high school, there's this thing called a weight room. And when guys figure out that piece and they love that process, a gap can really be shrank fast in the weight room.
SPEAKER_02Do you have Do you have like a do you have and I'm listening to you? I don't want to sound like I'm not listening to you. I'm listening. I heard the weight room, and usually in a traditional show, you'd go from there to weight room. But I I just thought, do you have like a parent or parents hall of fame where you could tell me, man, this mom and dad, like if ever parents got it, because my dad is in the hall of fame, he wasn't around travel ball baseball, but I'd put him in the parents' hall of fame. He was far away from everything. He could have taught everybody everything and bothered every coach about everything and never did. Um, so do you have like parent hall of fame where you recall great parents? If so, name names.
SPEAKER_00I remember Chris Pinder being unbelievable. Um, Chad made it to the big leagues, Chase was triple A with the Cardinals. His oldest son might have been the best hitter of the three, uh, might have played a little bit of college ball. And Chris just had a way of just knowing the process because he played at Florida State and VCU, I believe, and then I think he made up to AAA with the Orioles. You could just tell that he'd been there and been around it and understood the development piece and never got too high or too low. It was pretty even kill. And on a game day, you you probably wouldn't see him, Darren. Like he he was at the games, but he might be all the way down the right field line and just have his eyes on it. He's not in the mixing bowl of the parents complaining about their son or what have you, or complaining about us not bunting in a certain situation or what have you. I just he sticks out, but we've had so many good parents over the years. Now, if you ask the other question, those names will start popping up real quick about the parents that were nightmares. Those ones stick out, stick out too, but we won't get into that on the air.
SPEAKER_02But I was gonna say, uh if you're gonna name names, no, I'm not gonna do that, but they they they do exist on the other the other way around. I'm so surprised. I'm shocked that you would tell me that. Hey, wait, so Brooke, Watson, Walker, you're a parent of three. Is it two boys? Is that correct?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so Walker's five, Watson's seven, and Brooke's eleven daughter. So does she play softball, baseball, or is she No, she's dove into the cheerleading competition thing. She's in the gym three, four nights a week. And you want to hear a funny story. You know, they those competitions, you pay $40 to get in and they perform for 30 seconds, and then they're their thing's over. That's a that's a business model site. But anyway, she she loves it, and you know, it keeps her. My thing with that is I just want the kids to be involved in sports and just for the team aspect of the social aspect, and the most important thing to me with it is uh teaching them to work hard. That's the that's the key. I I don't because they're all gonna get jobs one day. This is my kids and all these other kids playing sports, is to learn work ethic and learn to fail and get the fruits of your labor when you do work hard. I don't care if that's golf, tennis, basketball, baseball, what have you. Um I think she is starting to show a little interest in softball here of late. Um, but we'll we'll see. She's got a little bit of time, but that that window's starting to close a little bit. She's got to get in there pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_02She can do whatever she wants, man, with all the people, instructors, and that that know how to get in cages and boxes. So your boys, um, you've seen like how how hard is that to parent, you know, how much do you actually coach? How hard is it to hand them off? What's what's the deal there? You all you can only be so many places at one time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I I try to be as hands-on as possible, but I let them hit with other people, um, work out with other people. We're fortunate we have a facility here in town, and I I find myself handing them off a lot. Um, and you know, that's just something that I don't bother doesn't bother me at all, but I'm gonna be hands-on. But I think, you know, it's they're gonna listen to other people more than they will dad, especially as they get older. They're just so young right now. But I I find that, you know, kids a lot of times they'll they'll listen to someone else over their dad. Um, so we've got to be open-minded to that, no matter no matter the sport.
SPEAKER_02It's interesting. I find myself, um, and I'm always curious what you learn. I I claim, and I think I'm right, um, I claim that I talk to more amateur baseball players on the record. I always say that on the record than anybody that's out there. Um is not on the public record, but you're right there with me. You just aren't recording all of the conversations. I always hear nobody watches baseball anymore, meaning young guys, meaning your prospects all the way down to your seven use. They watch this. Um is there something to I mean, look, I I think I get it, I understand it. I'm not ignorant. Um, but do you know kids that still will sit and watch a game?
SPEAKER_00You know, it's funny. Um I I believe that they that kids are watching games, like some of the better players, and I don't think that that's a coincidence. Ironic. Yeah. Um I'm very fortunate that I get to coach the level of player that we get to coach uh in the summer with that summer circuit team, uh, the national team, the Met Scout team, Keynes National. And the IQ on these kids is through the roof. And I I think that they're being well coached away from us. Because let's be but be honest, they show up, we got what we got, we have a small window to teach, we got to go out and compete against other clubs that are really good. And you you can't you can only make up so much headway in a short amount of time if a kid just simply doesn't get it. Um, so I I would believe that a lot of those kids are going to watch high-level college games and paying attention and uh pro games and turning the TV on, and and they they know who all these guys are. These kids, they know the lineup one through nine uh of a lot of these pro teams nowadays, and that doesn't happen from not watching. But I do agree with what you said, the masses are not watching the game, the games.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's funny. Like, I don't know. I think if I feel like every time I talk to a top guy, he's watched the games. He has a team. You know, if it's a pitcher, he wants to learn how uh a pitcher tunnels pitches and he he he wants to figure all that out. Um, so your your connection, do you do guys holler back at you? Will they, will they, you know, alums as they get to Pro Bowl and stuff, will they holler back at you? I know Maddie's coming in here in a few minutes, in part because of you. I mean he knew you were coming, but do will they holler back at you, uh, even though it's that shorter window, that elite player, will they, will they get back with you?
SPEAKER_00You know, some of them do. Some of them reach out semi-regularly. Uh, you know, there's been kids that I had for three years. There's been kids I had for two years, there's been kids I had a year, there's been kids I had four tournaments. Um, I do a lot of the more I I I try to take responsibility on the relationship piece. And to be honest with us, so like I was having this conversation with someone yesterday. I've got kids that played for me that sell pharmaceuticals, that are pharmacists, that run businesses, what whatever. They're they're teachers. They're and I stay in touch, try to reach out, them even be a simple text. And it's not regular, regular. Like I texted Corbin Carroll today, for example, because uh someone's writing a story about our 20-year anniversary, responded right away. You know, I just said, hey Corb's giving you a heads up. There's a a writer gonna reach out to you about a story, responded instantly. Just stuff like that. I mean, I'm not I probably could do a better job. I try to go watch these guys play as much as possible. And I, if I'm there, like we were uh at spring training, I brought my kids down to Orlando, and I saw the Yankees were playing the Tigers, and I reached out to McGonagall, and he's because I saw the Tigers were split squad and he was staying in Lakeland against the Yankees that night. Volpey didn't travel. And uh McGonagall got in the last four innings, and we got to hang out with him after the game, and he took pictures with my kids and signed some balls. But it's nice to keep up with them and try to track them and go see them. But yeah, I try it's more me making the initiative. But you know, you Joe Adele probably randomly will reach out, you know, Jake, Jake Cave. Some of these guys are are are pretty good about reaching out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's funny for me, like raised around it with my old man, time and place and knowing your place. Like if I acted poorly at home, I wasn't going to a big league ballpark where dad worked. That was my punishment. I always sometimes, the word is green fly that they use around the big leagues. I never want to feel like I'm that green fly that's buzzing around them because I feel like, you know, there's thousands of people that want a little bit of their time. So I'm guessing you're you're you're thoughtful, tentative, and like, does this make sense for me to do this? Because I always struggle with that. Like, what makes sense? Like Hunter Green does something amazing around him a lot. I I kind of want to text him. I'm a Reds fan too, by the way. Um but then I won't, but then I will, but then I won't. And you usually you get a response, and like you say, it's not about it's not about us. I mean, that was a big league name drop, by the way, Corbin Carroll. I mean, that was a pretty big league name drop, by the way. And I think you even said Corbs. If we could roll back the tape, I think you said Corbes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I called Corbes. Uh I I couldn't agree with you more, Darren. I I don't I I don't reach out to them regularly on purpose because I feel like they're they've got a very difficult job to do. And like you said, there's so many people trying to access them. And I would much rather reach out to them in the off-season than in season. Now, if I'm going to be going to a baseball game, like and I know they're playing, I'll shoot them a text and say, hey, how you know, can I grab some field passes? I'd love to shake your hand today. And I'm gonna take all of 20 seconds from them because I'm not gonna sit there and draw their ear off when they've got a job to do. They got a really like a really difficult job to do. So yeah, we need to not be those those flies, you say, Um, and just try to be a support mechanism for them.
SPEAKER_02What dude's your most sure thing where he walked into your space and you thought as quickly as you've ever thought it. This dude's it. Like he's got it. And but he still has it, and he's in the big leagues. What's your most sure thing?
SPEAKER_00I would say McKenzie Gore.
SPEAKER_02Um wow, a pitcher.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he was just so special in high school. Uh one of the best amateur pitchers I've ever seen dominant. Um, three pitches for strikes, velocity, deception with the delivery, uh, competitiveness. That guy hates to freaking lose. And I just remember thinking to myself, like, this kid's gonna start in the big leagues. I mean, all he's gotta do is just hell, he doesn't he just takes who he is right now and gets no better at all. Which he's gotten better, by the way. He's gonna be a starter in the big leagues. It just That was a tough question, by the way. Because we we've seen some guys, but I just remember the impact at the time that he had on me and me thinking that. Yeah, you'll take the straight.
SPEAKER_02Would you prefer an easier question next time? No, no.
SPEAKER_00You're gonna probably be dealing with a lot of tough questions. I'm I'm No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02We're the co-host on this thing. We are the co-host. You there's every chance the world you uh why don't you take a subject? You you decide. What do you want to talk about?
SPEAKER_00Well, I want to ask you, what was it like uh growing up with your dad? I mean, the the deck just a decorated career and I mean to be around that all the time. I mean, like, what was that like?
SPEAKER_02Amazing. I mean, it was amazing because a couple of things, you know, and I'll go with the the father in me now, and all my children are grown and stepchildren are grown adults, but um, as I look back, and the dad in me loves that my dad would, this is going to be a weird start to the question, would send me to my grandfather's house and my grandmother's house, way up corner Pensacola, north by Alabama, farmland, blue-collar, you know, overnights at a post office, grandma, construction man, grandpa, to spend five weeks of the summer to understand what real life looked like because it wasn't Major League Baseball. Right. Um, so number one, I give him like so much thanks for that.
SPEAKER_00Like that, that was a that was a calculated decision by him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So that's number one. So he gets a thumbs up for that. Number two, he brought me to work. As long as I wasn't being a tool at home and disrespecting my mom and not taking care of classroom, that's what it was. I'm sure just like anybody else that's in my generation, you know, there were spankings along the way that I earned or groundings and stuff that I earned, but the biggest punishment was you can't go to work with me. So he took me to work a lot. Like I can remember being on the field in the 77, 78 postseason when Reggie Jackson was facing Bob Welch. I knew how to handle myself at that age. I remember being in the clubhouse and in the dugout in '82 when um when when the Brewers lost to the Cardinals and the fans pouring on the field. My father had gotten traded from Houston. I can remember, you know, Harvey Keene, the late Harvey Keene, putting his arm around me because he saw a player's kid was crying like I thought I was on the team, but I was crying. And it's one of my favorite pictures of all time. So, and then when it was time for me to become the age of your guys, the players, um, he passed things along only if I sought him out. But otherwise, he was good, he had good enough relationships where it's, hey, uh, my son can't throw a change up. Raleigh Fingers, can you work with him on the split and the fork? Can you work with him on that? Yeah. Marcel Latchman, the Latchman name in baseball is a good one. Can you help? Can you can you give a few minutes for my son? And and, you know, and those guys, I give them as much credit as my dad in a way. Um, man, I have so many memories. I could do a whole podcast on. I, you know.
SPEAKER_00We got to.
SPEAKER_02That's really I just you know, stuff that that that would go on the pay-per-view for sure. Stuff that probably a young person shouldn't hear about and see, but that's that's life. That's dad bringing your that's dad bringing a kid to just about any job, quite frankly. Um question. Yeah, I can remember being being a ball boy. I was the ball boy the night. This is for our older listeners. Uh Joe Necro, the late Joe Necro, the knuckleballer Phil's brother, got busted for having a nail file in his back pocket at the big A. He said, I have a picture of my son. I that's all I have. While the umpire looked at the nail file, fall to the ground. I was the ball boy in that game. I can tell you what the baseballs looked like, and had to get them to Tim Mead so that they could get to the commissioner's office. And Al Newman, the backup infielder, tried to take the bag from us as evidence, Negro's teammates. So, yes, a lot of great stories. I'm just glad as hell my dad took me to work. Um, that's the best part. So uh I'm glad he took me to work. There's those some big memories.
SPEAKER_00Well, any kid that gets to go to a clubhouse like that, that's just phenomenal. The lessons that that you were able to learn and the memories. That's that's awesome. You I bet your boys love going to work with you. They do, yeah. I mean, we're going on the road this summer, 25 days in a row, and they will they will be with me. Um they went with me last summer. They like it. Um they're holding their own, going to the games. I mean, some of those are long days, but uh they dive in and they enjoy it, and I wouldn't change it for the world, man. Wouldn't change it for the world.
SPEAKER_02And this is not the pivot off of something deeper like family, but you know, you guys can see it in the shot, right? You can see looking at Jeff Petty the petty pipes. I mean, this guy's in really good shape. So, so what is the food on the road? How do you avoid the crap when you're that that you know, to be quote unquote home on the road, um, to get the petty pipes and not a petty belly?
SPEAKER_00Well, my belly's not showing, Darren. Uh, there's the belly, too. Well played. Well played. But hey, the the road sucks with food. It's just, it's not, it's not great. Um you're you're eating burgers, you're eating Chick-fil-A, you're eating Chipotle, it's quick, it's easy. I wish that I could sit here and lie and say that I was disciplined and I was drinking shakes and eating salads and maybe not having a beer every once in a while, but that would be a complete lie. So I don't know. I I I purposely don't get on a scale before the road trip, the 20, the 25-day road trip, and I don't get on one after because I think I would probably be pretty depressed.
SPEAKER_02How much do you I'm curious, do your kids, because I'm talking to kids right now. Look, I had several interviews last week, top prospects on the amateur hour podcast that I do with Danny, and all they were talking about was food, nutrition. Do do some of your athletes hop on the road with you and you're like, oh my gosh, this kid already has figured it out, and he's 17, 18 years old. Do you see your kids uh plan effectively to get out on the road? A lot of them. I How?
SPEAKER_00Give me an example. I just think these kids, some of them have like nutritionists. They're they're these kids nowadays, not all of them, but a lot of them, I mean, they've got a speed coach, they've got a strength coach, they've got a nutritionist, and they they are calculated with what they what they put in their bodies. Um, you know, I can't, I don't want to give you a false example. I just know that these kids, they're a lot of them, they're they're not they're not diving in on french fries. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of them are, but I it's no it is no joke to go to a Chick-fil-A and it's grilled nuggets in a salad. I'll see that on the table, and it's shocking to me. Or go to a Chipotle, it won't be a burrito, and it'll be one of the salad bowls, not like when we're dodging carbon. Double protein. Yeah, double protein. Double chicken. And it's uh and breakfast is an important meal to a lot of them.
SPEAKER_02So so let's pivot away from food. Um, although it's important on the road, and bring in uh Kane's alum, big leaguer Matt McLean. Matty, thanks for hanging out with Jeff and I on uh on kind of our first maiden voyage. We appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. We were just bending back and forth on food on the road. Um, are you super cognizant about it? You're in amazing shape. You're a weight room fiend, I'm guessing. How how much are you thinking about how you have to manage your food, especially away from home?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, fairly cognizant of it. Um, I think the biggest thing for me is trying to eat a lot and trying to eat the right foods to continue to keep on weight throughout the season because you need that um for health and performance stuff. Um so I look out for it, but for me, it's mostly about making sure I get all my meals in, trying to get three, maybe four meals on some days, and making sure it's high quality food as well.
SPEAKER_02We were talking about this whole concept of you know getting your protein. You don't have to worry about the caloric deficit because you bust your butt every day. But how how much does in the world of where all we hear about is protein, how much does protein mean to you?
SPEAKER_01A lot. I mean, I think in the morning you try and eat a lot of eggs. Um that's really the start. And then after the game, you know, you got to get that protein in for recovery for sure.
SPEAKER_00So you're certainly not doing any intermittent fasting. Let's let's let's say that, like me and old Sud over here are trying to do it. No, I'm not sure. So you guys are in Milwaukee, correct? Any spots there, food-wise, that you uh particularly like.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we had a team dinner at the place called Carnivore. Um, right when we landed. It was really good. Um that's really the only spot I've been. You know, there's breakfast spots and stuff around the hotel, but uh the steakhouse that we went to the other day was really good. Good deal.
SPEAKER_02Was he a good coach? Yes, he was great. We want to expand upon that. Expand upon it because you were a West Coast guy. How'd you guys find each other?
SPEAKER_01Um through my trainer, Josh. So he was the trainer with the canes, and then he brought me on. Uh and yeah, we we obviously had a lot of talent on the team, it was a lot of fun. Uh it was just a good time because it was fun winning games. There's a good group of guys who were really good at baseball, so it was fun.
SPEAKER_00You know, we were talking about that earlier, how you know Josh was with us, and he talked about bringing you on, and I was super nervous about it because we had Xavier at shortstop. I'm like, well, McClane's not going to want to come over and not play shortstop. And he's like, actually, he'll be fine with sharing time with X if X is good with it. So I went to X before I ever talked to you, and he was fine with sharing time in the middle with you. And you we were flip-flopping the two of you guys. I don't know if you remember that. To have a travel team with uh Xavier Edwards and Matt McClain sharing shortstop in second base at the high school level was a lot of fun to watch.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was fun to be a part of. I mean, that team we won a lot, so it was it was a good time. And not mess it up on our end, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02How important was your uh UCLA growth and development experiment and even the good and the bad? I mean, the stuff that you you where you struggled. I theorized early on that you're a more dangerous major leaguer because of your one tough year in college. That was my theory. Um, how important was that entire development time in UCLA for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there was definitely ups and downs. Obviously, my freshman year, there were downs. And then, you know, learning from that and being able to grow from it, I'll be able to hold on to that for the rest of my life. Um and, you know, there was a lot of good in there too. Uh you know, we we had good teams. I grew a lot, the coaching staff there, Coach Savage, Coach Ward, Coach Gallego were all really good to me and helped my development in ways that, you know, though those years are so important in college to be able to go there and play every day and play for a team who has a chance to win it uh every single year. Uh, and really taking those years seriously the way that they do over at UCLA is something that I needed for sure, and that's why I passed up on the draft and I knew I needed it, and uh it worked out for me.
SPEAKER_00With you, um I always felt like you were a process-oriented guy, like you loved the weight room. And speaking of Josh, you know, he talked about that how much you just loved the weight room in high school. And then going back to like having a little bit of failure after your freshman year, do you feel like that you dove in on that weight room piece even harder? Uh like a chip on your shoulder, like I'm gonna work harder than I ever have in my entire life to dig out of this thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no doubt. And I that like that's what you have to do in those times. Uh so I dug into that. I dug into you know hitting stuff, just really everything uh across the board. I I dug into it all. Um, because that obviously leaves a sour taste in your mouth. Being on a team like that, and then me kind of having a year like that, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. And uh I didn't want it to happen again. So uh not to say it won't be the last failure um I ever have, but uh that was kind of the first one. So uh it was good for me to go through that.
SPEAKER_02It's interesting, Matt. Like the game is the same. We always say that. What parts of the game are very similar to when you were at Beckman High School or playing travel ball to even now in a major league jersey and a major league shirt, and what are some of the stark, obvious differences that you take advantage of? What are the similarities from the young man to now as you see and play the game, and what are the biggest differences?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that's one of the really cool things about the game is like, you know, the game changes so much, the the level of play, you know, stuff like the scouting report, the stuff you have access to in the big leagues, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to winning the game that day. And that's what I was trying to do, you know, back in high school and even before that. Uh getting with a group of guys, everyone working as hard as they can to win that day, and then win or lose, you show up the next day ready to go. Um and you do it for 162 days. Uh and I mean that starts in high school, you know. I was fortunate to go to Beckman with coach as well. Um, we were a good high school team who I think we won the league three out of four years, we lost in the CIF finals in my senior year. But it was like, you know, there's a standard there. And the same thing with UCLA. Every team I've been on, there's always been a standard of of excellence and uh going going about things the right way. Um and it's really helped me and build on my career. Um so there's a lot of similarities in that. But the difference is just like the stuff that you have access to, you know, scouting reports and stuff like that. Like I never knew what a scouting report was in high school. Um and then you get to college and you have all these breakdowns on guys, and you get to watch video before, and it's like, oh, this is cool. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_02There's no doubt that the Savage started you in that leather. He's a he's a fiend as far as that goes. He's a crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he loves it. He loves it. Yeah. We were talking earlier about your household. Some athletic dudes growing up under that roof. Like what? Yeah. Like, I don't think that's a coincidence to have that kind of athleticism across the board in a house. I mean, do you have anything that you can really attribute that to, or anything you can give there, like how you guys were raised?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it it's a credit to my parents, honestly. Like, they never put pressure on us. They put pressure on us to do good in school, and then when we got to the field, whatever sport it was, it was all about my dad and mom always said you can control two things, your attitude and your effort. So, I mean, we could go over 20. And if we had a good attitude and we uh played the game hard, it's whatever. We they we never really talked about, you know, oh, I did this, I junk out here, here's what you need to fix. It was all about being process-oriented and controlling what you can and working hard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you started baseball though as a thing, as a fun thing, as a and I don't want to make it sound totally social, but it was kind of your hang, right? The Tustan Little League and all that. You started with baseball as a hang, so it never was daddy ball putting pressure on you. That had to be a good way to start the game, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. That's that's kind of where the the love of the game grew for me was back at the Little League, back with the our our team was called the Diamond Devils. Um, we had a good group of guys, uh, we're all best friends and stuff. We all kind of played the all-star team, then took that into the travel team. Um and we played year-round and we all played football too. Uh we didn't really play year-round, but like most of the year, and then but during the football season, we would all go play football. Uh so it was really like we were all best friends just kind of hanging out, and then we played baseball on top of it. So it was fun.
SPEAKER_00And this is a great message coming from a guy, you know, as accomplished as you are. Other sports, kids playing other sports. How important that is that that they are engaged in other uh team sports than just baseball or specializing in any sport for that matter?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's extremely important. I mean, like when you're 10, 11, even like 15, 16, you know, you're not making the big league. So, you know, it expands you as an athlete, it makes you do other things. Uh I think if I played baseball year-round all year, like at that young of an age, you'd probably get burnt out. Um that that's my opinion, you know. Other people yeah, I mean, it's just like I I mean, and I played baseball during football season. I would go, we would go Friday night, and then I would play baseball once a week. I would I would play in the Sunday Scout games um in Orange County, and that's about it. I would hit during the week, during uh football, but like I wouldn't really practice too much. I would really focus on football. But it was like Friday night game, Saturday I would do whatever I wanted, then Sunday I would go play one game, nine in a few. Yeah, and the football probably some of those games.
SPEAKER_00Um, the idea of specialization at the young, young age is is crazy to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I think it is too. I mean, you gotta let kids be kids. Um, figure out what they like. I think that was the best thing my parents did is just go out there and do whatever you play whatever sport you want, just play hard and have a lot. That's for sure.
SPEAKER_02Thanks. Hey, did Ellie go to the carnivore dinner?
SPEAKER_01No, he didn't.
SPEAKER_02What? Well, what have you ever had have you ever had just a cup of coffee, you two, or a meal, just the two of you heading out together?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we went to um we went when in 23 we went to uh play the Dodgers. And uh I'm like, oh let's go to In N Out. What? Like I I don't know, I don't remember. I don't think he had In N Out before, but I was like, we're going to In N Out. And you know, if you go with him anywhere, you find out pretty quick. He can't hide, you know, he's six, seven, whatever he is. And uh like people recognize it. We went to In N Out, ate Ubered there, went to In N Out, just me and him sat there and nobody recognized him. He's like, This is crazy. I love it here. And I mean, it was like, I don't, I think it was like somewhere by the airport. So like it was like there's baseball fans there, so I I don't know. But uh yeah, that's my one story I go around telling people.
SPEAKER_02Well, I like that story. I ate In N Out for dinner last time. Let him go, Petties. Let him go. He's gotta go to work, man. Thank you. Thank you, Mac. We appreciate it, Matt. Awesome. Thank you guys for having me. So that's an episode, dude. How cool is that, by the way? Big league equipment room, huh? How about that? A big league equipment room. You can hear the laundry in the background.
SPEAKER_00That is technology for you in 2025. They're doing podcasts in equipment rooms.
SPEAKER_02I love the Reds. Man, I love the Reds. They're so good. Their staff is so good at that, and their players are young and talented. Um, one quick takeaway. I I know you you don't connect with him all the time. Here's a guy that you coached, here's a guy that you watched when he was an itty bitty boy, meaning high school. One quick takeaway from his thoughts.
SPEAKER_00Just seems like he's ultra comfortable being a big leaguer. Seems like he's been prepared, you know, been he was been groomed to do that and followed his path, and just seems like ultra comfortable in his skin uh getting ready to go play a big league game and just having success.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he you and he had the the Petty and McLean pipes going too. It was like a content. Well, he gets paid to work out, if you're gonna think about it. He's got to get hits, but he gets paid to work out. So, from my opinion, as someone who usually sits in the alpha chair who drives the boat all the time. We're gonna keep evolving into this is our thing. So I appreciate for our for our listeners and viewers, I appreciate hanging out. This is it's kind of a speed dating thing for the two of us. Next podcast, Petty is gonna do all the subjects. I'm just gonna follow whatever he says. Oh boy. Will you book the guest too? I don't think we have a guest yet.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna have to find. No, will you though? Will you book it? Will you book it? I'm gonna find us somebody. We'll have to find somebody interesting. I think we between the two of us, we can do that. I'll start brainstorming that on the way home. I'm excited to do this. Let's make this podcast great, Jeff. Thank you. I'm definitely fired up to keep this thing going.
SPEAKER_02All right, home on the road, Petty and Sut. Share it with a friend. Make sure and download it. Make sure and hang on to it. Like it, subscribe, do all the things you're supposed to do with podcasts. And if you're just watching on YouTube, or more importantly, on perfect game TV, get the app and get Perfect Game TV. We're gonna do this a lot. A lot. And you're gonna learn, I promise. Maybe not this time, but I promise in the future.