kansas city royals

Episode 002_Jefferson_Infante_Former_D1_Kansas_City_Royals_Pro_Ball_Player_and_College_and_Youth_Baseball_Coach

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Evan 0:00

This episode of born to baseball is sponsored by the BTB Travel team and training tracker. Are you a parent or player searching for travel teams or training facilities in your area? Or are you a coach looking to expand your reach? And you have to check out the BTB triple t tracker at borntobaseball.com. Make sure your team is represented. Let's go.

Music 0:23

Calling all ball players. Are you ready to take your game to the next level? Were you born to baseball? Then bring it in. it's game time.

Evan 0:39

Hey guys, welcome to baseball. I'm Evan and today we're here with Jefferson Infante. He's going to talk about his baseball experience and give us youth baseball players some tips to help us take our games to the next level. Thank you, Jeff for being here.

Jefferson 0:53

Thank you for having me.

Evan 0:55

So I read your bio and three things that really stood out to me were your college experience your invitation to spring training for the Kansas City Royals and your international coaching experience. So to kick off the podcast. Could you share your baseball journey?

Jefferson 1:13

My baseball journey? Well, my baseball journey started in the Bronx. I was probably about seven years old. When I really really decided I want to play baseball. My dad asked me what position you want to play. And I'm watching the Mets game. I remember watching the Mets game, the only one that looked different was the catcher. I was always been the type of kid that I wanted to do. You know, I don't want to do the same thing that the crowd is doing. So I saw and I'm like, everybody looks the same. But that guy that guy's wearing equipment. I want to be that guy. My dad is like you sure you want to be that guy? I'm like, Yeah, I want to be that guy. So that's how I started catching and then from there, I just never stopped. It was tough. because growing up in the Bronx, you don't have a lot of resources. Right? All the parks are far away. So you had to use what you had.we used to use a lot of like bottle caps called vitilla. They call it in the Dominican Republic, vitilla, which is the big water jugs that they have in the offices. So they use that we used to use corns and beans and all sorts of stuff. And even make baseballs from socks. Socks together, wrap it around, and then put some tape on it. And then I hit it in the house and your mother start screaming at you and all that stuff and then breaking stuff. So that was that was my upbringing, breaking things around the house all the time. So not that I'm encouraging you guys to do it. Yeah, that was a growing up, my life took a bad turn at the age of 14. It was super, super important for me to make the high school team. At that time. I was just going from middle school into high school. So it was super important for me to make the high school team at that time because I didn't want to be in JV. I felt like I was a freshman. I saw the talent that the school had when I first went. I knew I could make the team but backtracking a little bit that summer before going to school. I suffer a near death experience. I almost died in a car accident when I was 14 years old. I was coming from a baseball game. And my coach was driving at the time, not to get into much into details suffer really big bad car accident. I was in hospital for about a month and a half. And I was in bed for about two and a half months, just in bed. And I had 200 almost 200 stitches in my face and plastic surgery. This is at the age of 14. That's why you see my I look like Rocky Balboa, right from the movie after that. And I was still determined to make the team. And to make a long story short, I was the last one to get picked. And the whole trial for the high school. And then I was just a starter from freshmen all the way all the way to the end. I almost got drafted in high school but it never happened. I, so that was a little bit of my journey, at least through high school. Now, you mentioned college, college, I went a little bit school hopping, which I don't recommend any kids to do. But at the time, I was a little bit afraid to go to school. That's why I really stress school to young children, because I graduated high school at middle school level at that time, because baseball was so important to me that I did everything possible to pass. So sometimes it means I didn't study, which is not good. So what happened was, I after high school, I didn't get drafted. There was a lot of talks talking about getting drafted, but it never happened. So I was my biggest fear was going to college, to be honest with you. That was my biggest fear because I didn't have the grades. I had all these schools sending me letters like North Carolina, Duke and all this and to be honest, I didn't even bother opening it because I already knew I didn't have the grades. So my dad acsked What are you gonna do. You want to go to DR? And I said, Go to school, or go to DR. I ended up saing I'm gonna go to DR Which is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. So when I went to DR I basically became a man in baseball, like that's what I really learned that year and a half. Basically I developed that's when I've got the utmost confidence. And I knew from there on out, I can play pro ball coming back from the Dominican Republic. I decided to go to school, a scout by the name of Chris Carmnucci, which right now he's a Arizona Diamondbacks scout for independent League. He first offered me a signing like he was gonna sign me as a free agent him and his boss, but that year, Major League Baseball almost had a strike that year. They couldn't sign me. So he ended up getting fired. That was my luck. That scout that like me, like me so much that he ended up getting fired, but he end up getting a job in school. So he offered me a position Going out and going to school there. So, my first year I went to globe. My first I went to Lewisburg college, which is D1 Juco. In North Carolina, we went to the Junior College World Series there. We had a winning team or year and I think we broke records. If I'm not mistaken, I didn't get picked up. That year. I went to then I transferred to globe tech at that time, that's when Carmnucci offered me a position there in high school thats a D1 Juco as well. And um, he, you know, nothing happened. I've had all American numbers, and nothing happened, no draft or anything and all the scouts coming to see me Nothing happened. So again, remember I said I wasn't too much of a student, per se, or institution. student. So I couldn't go to a four year school. So I'm going to a D3 school in Ramapo, which, at that time, and I still So there's the N jack, which is a new jersey conference for Division Three is one of the strongest division three. And then I end up getting drafted from there. So that was my road from basically, from the back home to all the way up, you know, turning pro.

Evan 7:19

How did it really feel on draft day when you got the call that you were drafted?

Jefferson 7:23

Good question. I cried and cried and cried in my dad's arms. My road was a little bit harder than other guys. Some guys are a little bit easier. My road is a little harder. So I kind of gave up a little bit at the end. But when I say gave up, I gave up with the results, meaning I decided to just go all out. Whenever I did tryouts, or work out in front of a scout. This was towards the end. And I didn't care about what they their input. I just didn't care about the input anymore. I didn't care what they thought about me or anything. I just did what I had to do. I used to leave and my dad my dad was the one waiting with the scouts and seeing what was their input. I didn't care. I guess when that happened. I don't know. Maybe I did better than what it was. So when I first heard my name, on the draft board, I couldn't believe it. To be honest, it was just a dream come true. To hear your name, it's just a dream come true. Because you know, the odds. You know, you have millions and millions of kids, and they can only pick, you know, like 1100 or something. So it's tears. Basically, that's the answer. A lot of tears.

Evan 8:37

Yeah,

Jefferson 8:38

yep.

Evan 8:39

And I'm sure a lot of us youth baseball players we dream of getting to that day where we hear our names.

Jefferson 8:45

That's why you play.

Evan 8:46

Yep. Jefferson after pro ball. Can you tell us a little bit about your coaching experience?

Jefferson 8:53

Okay, so Chris Carmnucci again, the name he was also the first person that gave me a job in his batting cage. I was with him at the school, and I needed extra money. And that's what happened. Usually when you're in college, you got to play and work also. So he gave me a job The first time I was nervous. I remember I'm like, I don't know what I'm gonna teach these kids. He goes, whatever they told you just teach it back. All right, and it started from there. It sort of became, It felt natural. Actually, a funny story. I said that when I got release from Kansas City Royals, just to give you guys a little insight, they usually let the catchers release later in the spring training because they need catchers to catch bullpens. So, usually they get cut last but when I got released, well, let me backtrack a little bit. That's 2006, the winter of 2006. I recuperated from my shoulder injury, which I sustained the year before. So I had a friend and he told me he should throw me batting practice. In the wintertime, because we live not too far at that time, and he said, Jeff, I was talking to a friend of mine who's a scout for the Royals, and I want it but he's in Miami, I wanted to get some insight on you. So I asked him about you. And they told me that they, the organization is thinking about making you a coach. I said, get out of here i'm not going to be a coach. I'm gonna play in the major leagues. So I forgot about that spring training came I'm in spring training. Hitting the shell out the wall. Shell shell, I said shell sea shell. And um, and I get released. So when they called me to the office, they told me, Hey, we think about making a coach right away. I'm like, What is this? I didn't take the job because I felt good and I wanted, I felt good. But um, I knew I knew I had a future and that at some point, you know, at some point when I stopped playing, I knew I wanted to do that. Just I didn't felt like it. was the time at that time. Then I started working for other different organization. And then I ended up coaching. I started coaching college baseball got opportunity by Jose Torres. He's the head coach for for the Baruch Bearcats that's in Manhattan. So you gave me the opportunity to coach for the first time and we ended up going and winning a championship. So not bad, right? Right. And then from there opened up an academy at that time with my father in the Dominican Republic. So teaching ballplayers over there and helping them getting a contract over there I did that for a small amount of time. And then I did a little bit of the scouting stuff with with the agency. It was a small agency Orlando, basically they they have scouts, independent scouts, and they look for Players all over the place. But but basically that's how everything started just doing a little bit of everything but everything has been away. So this is the first I'm excited cuz I'm home. I'm doing all the coaching stuff here. And I'm with you guys right now. So, clippers.

Evan 12:08

And can you talk a little bit about your experience in Italy? I know you went to Italy to coach

Jefferson 12:13

Yes, that too. In 2012 Chris Carmnucci, he again here he comes at that time, Chris, partner up with a friend of his. And I believe he has organization that he builds teams for independent teams, basically, a company doing GM work, right? Doing GM work, and they end up buying organization in Italy. And it just so happened that I received the phone call. And he asked me you want to coach in Italy. I said, that's a no brainer, of course. And then I end up going over there. Coaching in Italy was was fun. It was challenging at first for the simple reason. I'm in my late 20s. And there's men, there older than me and men that have been playing baseball longer than me. So that was the challenging part because I had to earn their respect if they wanted to listen to a young kid. That makes sense.

Evan 13:16

Yeah.

Jefferson 13:17

So I had to build rapport with them at how to get to know them who they are first, so they can trust me, and then and then I had to feed them right information. And, you know, let them believe that I can help them. So that was fun. So the manager at the time was Mike Hart, and he pitched I think, like 12 years in the big leagues. I got a lot of experience learning from him and his style of coaching. And then I also got my first managerial when when he got thrown out the game, arguing arguing a call, he got thrown out and then I ended up taking over so I got my first win that was that was fun. That was exciting. So I wish I would have gone back but things couldn't work out and the time so hopefully, maybe In the future.

Evan 14:01

Yeah, I wanted to get your opinion on two hitting philosophies. The first one is swinging down at the ball. And the second is lately, there's been a lot of talk about launch angle and that type of swing. In your opinion, which one do you think is better?

Jefferson 14:17

I think they both useful. Um, but I think the new generation are over emphasizing too much of a launch angle swing. I think launch angle swing is more for certain pitch at certain locations. As opposed to every single pitch you want to do a launch angle swing. And I'm not you know, I'm not saying anything, you know that not everyone knows. This is something that is common in baseball, so old school and some of the new school are arguing saying that that's dinosaur philosophy. But um, baseball is a antique ish sport. It's an old sport. And I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who was discussing watching old footages rare footages from like 1920s and 30s and the Mickey mantle's and the Babe Ruth's and, and I was, I was personally surprised how fast the game was when they actually because we have the technology now that we can, we can actually take those old videos and make it a little HD and modern. So you're watching them playing around with the ball just like you do, you know, just like a Machado does, using their resources and what they have and you can tell why they were in the major leagues even at that time, the proper approach for a young player, right player at the youth level. I always stress down to the ball, even through the baseball. So I like I always used to say quick phrases when I was hitting when I caught myself Having a long loopy swing I used to just say down to it even threw it down to it even through it just kind of like a few phrases to help you remember to stay down to the ball.

Evan 16:11

Okay,so I know we talked about the a rod video on YouTube is line to line approach versus the launch angle type swing. What are your thoughts on that video?

Jefferson 16:23

So I saw the video I said, Yeah, that's Arod yeah, like six hundred home runs. You want to listen to him. You know, but he puts he puts things in simple terms. He makes it simplied for you know, young players to understand what's what if you want to he says something about all a couple of other players like um, Bellenger. Some of these guys have these big launch angles and he made a good point. Not everyone is Bellenger. You know, not everyone is Ken Griffey Jr.

Evan 16:56

Yeah.

Jefferson 16:56

Um You have to go through the process. of going through the fundamentals first before you develop your own style. And I think that's where a lot of young players get lost that I'm not mistaken.

Evan 17:10

Yeah, so I will provide that link in the show notes. So how would you define staying inside baseball? How would

Jefferson 17:20

I define staying inside the baseball, you want to try to keep the hands close to your body, but the knob away from the body to the ball, when I when I started understanding, because before, before I turned pro, I was I used to pull everything. All my power was to left field. Used to hit moonshots, but the more I spread the ball across the diamond. The launch angle was more line drive-ish. So if I ended up hitting all the way down the right field would be more like a kind of like a ground ball line drive out. I didn't know how to drive the ball until I learn how to stay even more inside and then learn how to use my legs a little bit but really staying inside helps you to control the barrel a little bit. So if you can control the knob, you can control the barrel.

Evan 18:07

Okay, can you share a drill that you work on with some of your hitters to stay inside the baseball.

Jefferson 18:14

The best drill, I think to stay inside of baseball is 2 of them you have the 1 handed drills that you can hit off the tee, and you're focusing on the inside part of the ball and you're trying to basically since the ball is not moving, you're trying to bring the knob literally trying to bring the knob to the ball like you literally want to extend your hand and bring the knob to the ball. And then once a once you have the rotation part going the hips, everything starts turning then the barrel starts meeting the ball on the inside another drill that a lot of kids are using that Robinson Cano made it popular was splitting the home plate in half, right? Putting like the L screen or some screen or anything right in the middle of home plate or just off a home plate and then having someone that knows how to feed good front flips, flip it right near the inside part of the plate right near the screen. And with the idea is you have to stay inside a baseball go up the middle, if you cast away, then the bat head is going to hit the screen. So that's a good drill that I like to use. And my colleges use that drill a lot too.

Evan 19:19

Yeah. So now I know You talk a lot about mindset and having a positive mindset.

Jefferson 19:24

Yes, sir.

Evan 19:24

in baseball, and even just in general. So how important is having the right mindset when you're for a youth baseball player? And what percentage of hitting Do you really feel is with the mindset,

Jefferson 19:37

I think, or a young player is very tough to develop that, especially for good player, just for the simple reason that you're always on base. Because you're a good player. All right. So you have that mindset. There's a reason why you're a good player, you're always on base. But what happens when you fail, that's the part that players can can make that adjustment. They play as they get older, right? Because the more you play and the older you get the success rate starts, you know, reducing. And then that's when people say that the game plays tricks with your mind and all that. But all that is is not learning how to deal with failure. The game is naturally, a negative game, in a sense of you're going to fail more times than not, that's just the nature of the game. It's going to be there. Everyone goes through it. It's how you deal with it, when you're able to let go. And just take in whatever you failed to take in the information that you need to adjust. And then let go. That Let go part leaves a lot of empty space in the mind, to focus on what you got to do. When we're dwelling too much on what we did, whether it's good or bad in the past, we're focusing on the wrong things. And I think that's what a lot of young players do at the young level, especially the ones that that are good. Just for the simple reason that when they reached that, I guess some that peak and their talent, that they're not successful as much as before, and then they start failing, how are you going to have that? You was the man the whole time, and now all of a sudden, you're not the man anymore, because everyone else is the man. That's when we have to learn how to, you know, look within ourselves, believe ourselves, visualize, remember all the success that you had, and use that as motivation, use that as a tool to manifest, you know, the same results in your game. That's how I used to approach the game. And that's what I teach as well, as far as percentage is concerned. They say that 70% of the world is filled with water. They say that our bodies is 70% of water. So I'm going to take a guess that was maybe a 70% maybe mental and 30 physical is just an educated guess, I guess. Right?

Evan 21:56

Yeah. Can you share maybe a few tips that you would suggest To players to strengthen their positive mindset.

Jefferson 22:04

Meditation is the best thing. Nowadays with all the information that we have, a lot of people see the benefits of meditation. what really got me doing meditation through sports was Kobe Bryant watching some of his footages and his philosophy and what, how he uses meditation for basketball, so I just substitute basketball and put it into baseball, right? Because baseball, you're failing more than basketball. Baseball, you failing more than football, baseball, you failing more than most sports. So again, it goes down to gotta learn how to fail. You don't have to like it, but you gotta learn how to.

Evan 22:44

So what did you do as a player to maintain a positive mindset?

Jefferson 22:49

That's, it's tough. It's tough. It's because not every day you're the same. You know, not every day you feel good. So you really have to find a deeper what I used to do, I used to lie to myself, to be honest. I used to stare in the mirror the days that I don't feel good. I used to lie to myself look in the mirror and just say I feel good. Everything's all good. I'm having the best game. Those types of affirmations you want to repeat over and over again, because the more you repeat it, the more you believe it.

Evan 23:15

Okay, so now I want to sort of change into having an approach at the plate. Okay, what is having an approach at the plate really mean?

Jefferson 23:25

That's a good question. If you ask that to 100 people, you are going to get 100 different answers. The easiest way to sum it all up is it has to mean something to that individual, to yourself, as far as your approach, find. I guess find. What approach other guys have at higher levels and try to take a little bit from everyone and create something for yourself. Try to find your own approach. You never want to copy anyone, but you like to use someone's approach or mechanics as a model for your own, definitely.

Evan 24:04

Okay, when should a hitter decide what their approach will be?

Jefferson 24:09

Moment you grab the bat. Moment you grab the bat, you should already know. Well, first you have to know what type of hitter you are, I think. And the sooner you can identify what type of hitter you are, then you know who you are, then it's easy to start from there. I have a question for you.

Evan 24:27

Yeah,

Jefferson 24:28

What type of hitter you are

Evan 24:30

Working towards hitting a lot of line drives hitting them to all fields. Okay, I was hitting a lot of opposite field and now I'm working on pulling and maintaining the opposite field.

Jefferson 24:41

So let's go what goes through your mind.

Evan 24:43

sort of just stay level, hit the ball hard somewhere and hit a line drive.

Jefferson 24:47

Keep it simple.

Evan 24:48

Yep. So

Jefferson 24:50

Good approach,

Evan 24:51

what would impact whether someone changes their approach

Jefferson 24:55

the pitcher. What the pitcher throws, we're constantly making adjustments. The pitcher is constantly making those adjustments. The Catcher is helping the pitcher out. He's making his adjustments to help the pitcher out. You're hitting, you're making your own adjustments. The more you play, and the higher level you play, the more information you have. And the more information they have of you as well. So it's a constant cat and mouse game. Now at the youth level, what we should be focusing more of is yourself, right? Every player should be focusing more on themselves, it makes it a lot easier that way. Just because everyone is still learning how to play the game at that level. So you definitely could stand out just by focusing on yourself.

Evan 25:43

Okay. Now, I want to move over to something you mentioned earlier while you were sharing a bit about your baseball journey, scouting. So could you share a little bit about your experience with scouting

Jefferson 25:56

scouting that I've done, it wasn't a like for an organization It was more of helping a scout in the organization. Now, when you do that, usually, um, you get asked to do that. And when you do, you're basically considered a bird dog. Basically just another eye for that local scout. So what I used to do is in the city go around looking for talent, not purposely but wherever I was at I've always made sure that my eye was always out for talent just to look when I see a kid that had you know that some conditions I think that make it to the next level used to invite them to a workout that we had every August for the Kansas City Royals, and then scouting for the agency in Florida was a that's that was different that was more scouting for them, finding players that will already signed or about to get drafted. So that was a different types of signings.

Evan 26:59

Okay

Jefferson 27:00

and scouting,

Evan 27:00

so you mentioned that when you looked at player you were looking for certain characteristics. What characteristics do you look for in a player other than their talent and ability?

Jefferson 27:11

If I was a scout, if I was a major league Scout, the type of player that I will look for is five tool players. There's some scouts that cared more about the physical physics would you have to, I mean, you have to see the the kid has legs, you know if if he's fast, he has big hands, big feet, he's going to grow. But I I would care more about the talent. You have guys in the major leagues that don't have the height, and they're superstars. And you can name a few second baseman for the Houston Astros

Evan 27:48

Jose Altuve

Jefferson 27:49

Altuve, Boston Red Sox, Pedroia. These are guys that are not big guys. Even a couple of years back Eckstein he was MVP of the World Series you know with the St. Louis Cardinals, I don't know if it's 2007 or something like that.

Evan 28:08

Pretty sure 2006

Jefferson 28:10

something to that nature. So these guys are not big guys, right? They're not guys that are hitting 600 home runs but they have the power they showing that you don't have to be big to have the power. So definitely five tools you gotta have, you know, bat speed. You gotta have you gotta be strong, right hit for contact is The most important thing I think Arod preached that. In his video, he says contact is something with contact I think contact is clutch or something. But the number one thing is making putting the ball in play. If you can't put the ball in play, then it defeats the purpose of hitting. So definitely a bat speed. Power, arm strength. I would also look for the looseness of the arm. Not just The fact that you throw hard, but how does your arm look when you throw his arm look loose? Does it look like you're trying? Also, the physical? Do you have short waist, you know, does your glute which is your butt muscle is those other muscles that you need to run. That's the muscles that helps you propel to run forward. scouts. Look at that, you know, the legs, how fast you run, and your form of running. So these are all little things that scouts look for, and even recruiters for colleges. Look for, but scouts a little bit more detail. Just a little more detail just because the games become more detail at that level.

Evan 29:40

Yeah. Are there anything you look for in a player like about how they carry themselves?

Jefferson 29:46

Yes, that's huge. That's a separate category that they look but they look at that a lot, believe it or not, especially at the college level. You're going to be with that organization or with that college institution for four years. Some cases two years. Right? So coaches are really, really picky with type of players outside the lines, you know, if you have a good team that mesh together and they gel and they, you know, they work well, you know, in the in the clubhouse, usually they work well on the field as well. So definitely, um, you know, you got to have First of all, you got to want to be there, especially for players at the young level. You got to play for the right reasons, just can't play to play. You want to play for the right reasons. So the passion is one thing they want to see that definitely want to see that you take charge that you own your own space. That's key right there that shows that you have confidence within yourself. They want to see that. You know, believe it or not, they want to see when you fail to see how you how you react you know how you bounce back from that emotionally nothing mechanical nothing baseball just emotionally to see your approach right? So um those are the type of stuff that that they look for I think

Evan 31:14

Have you ever experienced a situation where you were looking for certain player, but another player caught your eye

Jefferson 31:25

All the time. All the time. scouts already program to go look at somebody but they keep an eye open to see whatever stands out whatever catches their eyes, believe it or not, not even their eyes, whatever catches the sound too. I've seen before in my own eyes a scout watching Game similar to like a complex like a baseball heaven like spring training, how you're in the middle and you have four fields, right all around. And he's watching one game and he hears the sound of a bat. Another field and instantly turns his head and start looking to see who just hit that ball. And usually when they turn around, they see the guy running and then he's running fast because you just hit the ball. Now he's looking at his speed. And then he sees he's running fast. So then what he does, he starts leaving the game he's watching and start shifting his attention to what he just heard, and what he just saw. Alright, so now he's watching that clear, and he sees how he's conducting himself on the bases, how he's taking the lead, how's it going? And that's how it happened.

Evan 32:33

Do you have any projects going on that you would like to share?

Jefferson 32:36

I do have something in the works. I don't want to speak too much about it. But I can share a little bit of information with it working on a tourist guide for for families in the Dominican Republic. Basically, you're going for like a week or so maybe I take doesn't have to be a team. It could be a group of players. And then you end up visiting tourist section of the island. Santa Domingo was the first city in this side of the world. So there's a lot of rich history there. But there's also rich history in baseball. There. So you, we would take some of those guys and go sightseeing. And then also go to like the stadiums that they play in winter ball and also go to the MLB complexes and play against some of those MLB players. So and also here in the States. We just started an organization which I think we have a shortstop here was the shortstop name.

Evan 32:36

That's me.

Jefferson 32:58

Yeah, it's you. All right. These are the Clippers, right Nor' East Clippers. So we started that organization. So we started with your age group, which is 12u. And then we have a 13u and I think now we're in the process of doing us 15u and the 9u as well. So the organization is growing. The location is growing as well too. I think they're expanding the location so um, definitely look out for the hitting clinics that we have. And then we also have the catcher's clinics and the infield clinics as well. Definitely.

Evan 34:16

Where can people find out more information about that?

Jefferson 34:19

You can go to the Instagram @noreastclippersofficial. And all the information is up there. Instagram.

Evan 34:27

Okay, so before we wrap it up, I have some rapid fire questions for you.

Jefferson 34:32

Shoot, I'm ready. Hold on let me get my batting gloves.

Evan 34:37

First one is who is your favorite situational hitter past or present?

Jefferson 34:41

Favorite situational hitter? Ah Jeter

Evan 34:50

Who's your favorite bad ball hitter.

Jefferson 34:53

Bad ball hitter, Vladimir Guerrero. I also like Clemente too Clemene was the first one

Evan 35:00

Want to know your favorite homerun hitters, one from the past and one currently playing

Jefferson 35:06

one from the past home run hitter. It was very, very enjoyable watching Barry Bonds do what he did. As far as nothing is not even the homerun part to be honest with you. It's the pitches he did not swing at, which was amazing how he took a pitch one inch off the plate consistently. And the moment he made the pitcher made the mistake of bringing it one inch closer to the plate. And every swing he used to do was his homerun swing. It was amazing. It was amazing. And I think one of the videos that that you sent me with a rod, I think he's he has a video of talking to Barry Bonds Yeah, on Skype or something like that. definitely. So yeah. bonds was a old one and then a current one now. There's so many, but consistently I think Puljos. yeah.

Evan 36:10

So now I want to know last question, three hitters you watched as a kid, but that today's youth could study and learn a lot from.

Jefferson 36:20

Well, I'm gonna start with catching. And I'm gonna say with my basically it was my idol growing up. Just because I didn't know at the time my father, they grew up in the same neighborhood in the Dominican Republic, but Tony Pena, I saw he was the bench coach for the New York Yankees not too long ago, under Joe Girardi. And he played 18 years in the big leagues. He was the guy who started the whole one leg out, catching behind the plate, doing a split, he was the first one to do that. So that was that that was fun. So yeah, that's one. That's a That's a coach that you definitely want to try to find some information on and you want to learn from He's a legend, especially in the Dominican Republic. Yeah. And then you said a current one, Pedro Martinez, as a pitcher. Definitely, he was one of my favorite all time players. Definitely, um, you can learn a lot from it, especially, you can learn from him. He's unique because he had two different styles. Through the course of his career. He basically had two careers if you want to think about it, before he got hurt, and then post the injury and after a hurt before he got hurt, he was 170 pounds wet, maybe not not too big, throwing 97 and then he got hurt and he was throwing 87 and he had to relearn how to pitch again.

Evan 37:48

Wow!

Jefferson 37:48

And he still was the same Pedro throwing 87 learning how to pitch so it's all about getting hitters off timing. So that was the I guess that's the second one and then the third one.

Evan 38:03

Someone as a hitter now.

Jefferson 38:05

As a hitter.I would have to say teaching wise, like kids can learn from Tony Gwynn. Tony Gwynn. Hall of Famer right? May he rest in Piece. Um, Tony Gwynn. I just saw an interesting stat of him the other day, all the Hall of Fame, pictures that he faced in one single year. He only struck out three times out of 600 at bats. Can you believe that?

Evan 38:35

Wow.

Jefferson 38:36

Can you believe that, that's that's putting that putting the ball in play. That's Tony Gwyyn for you. So, um, he has a lot of videos too, because before he passed away, he was uh, after he retired, he was a coach for the San Diego University. I think he was a coach. So definitely, he's one guy. I actually learned a couple of the T drills. from him.

Evan 39:03

Okay.So thank you Jefferson, for sharing your wisdom with the Born To Baseball community

Jefferson 39:08

awesome. definitely

Evan 39:10

learned a lot from you.

Jefferson 39:11

I was told I was gonna get ice cream. (Laugh)

Evan 39:13

(Laugh)

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai