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Born To Baseball Podcast

Episode 012_JUSTIN SHERMAN_FOUNDER OF JUSTINTIME BASEBALL

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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 0:24

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 0:40

Hey guys, welcome to the Born To Baseball Podcast. I'm Evan and today we have Justin Sherman on he attended Westchester Community College and he graduated from SUNY Purchase College with a degree in communications. He is a coach mentor and the founder of Justin Time baseball. Justin, thank you so much for being here.

Justin 0:59

Evan, I've done some podcasts in the last couple of weeks and months. This one I'm excited about.

Evan 1:07

Thank you. So when did you start playing baseball and what really inspired you to stick with it?

Justin 1:14

So, to play baseball, I really just I was very fortunate I had a beautiful gorgeous baseball field right up the street from my house. And the high school baseball team would always practice there. So in the morning, on the weekends, I would hear the Bing, bing, bing, the metal, you know, the metal sound of the bat. And I would always walk up and the coaches were so nice to me. This is when I was about seven, eight years old, I'd walk out my dad and and just even just take a bike ride up there myself and I fell in love with the game, the sound, the smell, and the coaches were extremely positive and supportive to the young kids in New Rochelle. And I'll tell you that's really what got me into baseball, as well as some great coaches along the way, which I'm sure we'll touch on.

Evan 2:11

Yeah, that's an amazing upbringing of the game of baseball.

Justin 2:15

Definitely.

Evan 2:16

Do you remember some of the teams that you played on when you were younger? And some of the coaches you had?

Justin 2:21

Definitely. So I'm sure you can attest to this Evan, but having great coaches could really mold what kind of baseball player you are, and what kind of person you are and help influence it And clearly, you've had some terrific coaches because what a what a polished, kid you are very polished and mature bond beyond your years.

Evan 2:43

Thank you.

Justin 2:45

so yeah, I mean, I've had some tremendous coaches. I've also had some coaches like, I'm sure you know, you're very nice kid, you can attest to it, that maybe weren't the best. As far as communication as far as yelling or whatever. I mean, you remember the good and the bad. So all of those experiences kind of molded what kind of coach I want to be I picked and choose, you know, and chose what I kind of liked what I didn't like, and kind of make my own little formula to how I mentor and teach kids. So, yeah, hundred percent i remember some great coaches and positive we'll never forget. So, uh, you know, I heard a great quote where, and, um, maybe this will register with you even if a kid forgets who you are as a coach. It's not their fault. It's your fault as a coach. So you always want to be remembered for how you impact that a player and how much you gave. And I'll tell you, I've had some tremendous coaches, and so have you, I'm sure, clearly so yeah, hundred percent.

Evan 3:45

Yeah, coaches have a huge impact on a youth baseball players life. So you really grew as a player in high school. Can you share a little bit more about your high school baseball experience?

Justin 3:56

Yes. So one of the many reasons why I love You and your podcasts is you're really geared to not just youth parents, but the players in your age bracket. And I hope this story inspire. Basically I got cut Evan from my junior varsity baseball team in high school, I was 14 years old. And I got cut. And I had to make a decision whether to even keep playing baseball, because sometimes in high school, the majority of the times if you stop playing, it kind of could be over just by statistics. But I basically just went up to the junior varsity baseball coach and said, Look, I want to continue to play baseball, what can I do to get better? So I ended up making the varsity baseball team by by the skin of my teeth, and I genuinely just needed to work harder, and made it and then ended up playing college ball and the rest is kind of history and I'm at where I'm at now as far as coaching but for your listeners, the story isn't necessarily Oh, to be a professional a baseball player because most people may not be I mean, I hope so I hope everyone listening could go for that goal, but the bottom line is just because something happens, you got to persevere. And you never know it's bigger than baseball it's a life lesson about perseverance. And I hope and that's kind of what I try to teach my players is perseverance, hard work, and dedication.

Evan 5:23

That's a really, really great success story. and perseverance is definitely huge not just in baseball, and just in life, as you said. Because of this pandemic, seniors aren't able to play their last year of high school baseball. So can you talk a little bit about your favorite memories playing high school baseball?

Justin 5:45

So it's another great question. So at that age, you're thinking like, oh, what's my batting average? Who am I gonna get recruited by because at senior year, I started to think like maybe have a chance to play in college baseball and I was like in the moment And I was like, oh, and what's my batting average and what's summer team and blah, blah. But the reality is looking back at it now, it's crazy to say 2010 years ago, unbelievable. I just have my 10 year high school reunion, which is incredible. The memories I have is not even like the actual baseball, it's the relationships, you know, I still have relationships with kids, I play Little League like you and older, the relationships that I built those memories, the joking around the, the team vibe. You know, going after practice going out to dinner, locally, like things like that is what you really remember most about high school baseball, and that's what I that's what I remember.

Evan 6:45

Yeah, those are some really, really great memories. And I definitely relate to that too just after a game after just team bonding is huge.

Justin 6:55

Right

Evan 6:56

It ultimately makes us better as a team.

Justin 6:59

Totally It's a win win, right? It's a win win.

Evan 7:01

Yeah. What advice would you give to players on overcoming challenges?

Justin 7:07

I was saying this to another coach the other day I was on the phone with him, you gotta detach from the outcome, Evan, meaning, you know, focus on the process. If you strike out, or if you pop up, or if you make the last out, you got to have the same mindset as opposed to getting the game winning home run, or a game winning hit whatever. Focus on the process, don't get too high. Don't get too low. And I'm sure you can also relate to this, Evan much easier said than done. But I think detaching from the outcome, Evan is really a great thing that helps us overcome adversity because baseball is a lot of failure. And we're going to drive ourselves crazy if we're constantly focused on the outcome as opposed to the process.

Evan 7:57

That's very true. And that's really good advice.

Justin 8:00

Thanks, bud.

Evan 8:01

So you became an all Conference Player when you were at Westchester Community College. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Justin 8:09

Yeah, so all conference at Purchase as far as lead the league and RBI's. I mean, we're talking seven, eight years ago, I didn't even make my junior varsity baseball team and now leaving the conference in RBI's. Again, I don't say that story to brag. I really just say it to show players that with hard work and perseverance. Anything is possible. Anything is possible. You may not be a professional, maybe you are. I mean, I know kids that are you know, have one kid that's that I've taught since one of my first students. He's going to be playing, you know, professional baseball in the Pecos league if it happens.

Evan 8:49

That's awesome.

Justin 8:50

So the moral of the story is hard work, perseverance, all the general words, but it's so true. It's hokey, but it's true. It was a cool thing, but again, going back to the high school days, like it's the same thing for college. I really remember the relationships and that's something if anything I could say to any kid listening, youth player listening. It's really and even times like these, savor the relationships, the statistics will come if you put in the work and get around great coaches, obviously, in Westchester and all over there's great coaches, but savor the relationships and the little things and being a great teammate and forming great relationships.

Evan 9:32

And after Westchester, you actually went to SUNY Purchase College. And there like you said, you led the conference in RBI's and you were appointed team captain. What are some of the factors and qualities that you have to have to be a team captain?

Justin 9:48

So that's a very good question. And you're very, very, very good at what you do.

Evan 9:52

Thank you.

Justin 9:54

So I would say I have some interesting takes on a captain I think You need to be not necessarily the best player. I don't think the best captains I've ever seen and watch or not even the best players Evan it's the players that lead by example, are good in the community and light up a room as far as positivity and are willing to show the way. You know, you look at a guy like Jeter, right? I mean, yeah. Was he a Hall of Fame baseball player, should have been unanimous. But what leader traits made him a leader- he lit up the room. He showed the way. He was magnetic, you know he had a presence. I think those are leadership qualities that a player could could take to the field right now. Being a good person in the community. Shaking hands. Well, maybe shaking hands might be frowned upon now but maybe A tip of the cap to your coach or whatever, just being a good leader in the community, be magnetic and doing things the proper way to me is even bigger than just being a great baseball player makes you a captain.

Evan 11:15

Yeah, that's, that's a really great way to look at it. And just captains they lead by example, they almost show the way and pave a path instead of following one.

Justin 11:27

Definitely.

Evan 11:28

And were you always a natural leader? just growing up?

Justin 11:33

Well, I'll tell you when I when I was, how old are you Evan?

Evan 11:37

I'm 12 years old.

Justin 11:38

Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So polished.

Evan 11:43

Thank you.

Justin 11:43

So when I was your age, maybe a little younger. I sound like I'm like a grandpa or something. But when I was your age, I would always have stickball games going I would always have football games going and I didn't really say I am the leader. I just kind of formulated groups of kids and just wanted to get things going and organize things I really never thought of myself as like a title "the leader" but maybe that was the beginning of leadership qualities and coaching qualities I always found myself playing with, like, kids older than me and kids younger than me. You know, like I would play with a kid who was maybe 16, and then a kid who was eight. And I always tried to include all of them. So that might have been like the formulation, the beginning of a leadership maybe coaching path. But yeah, I mean, I don't think it needs to even be a title. You know, it just kind of organically happens if that answers your question.

Evan 12:42

Yeah, that's really great.

So I know that you started your own DJ business at 13 years old, which is super cool. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur at such a young age?

Justin 12:55

So when I think of you I think of me and how I started this DJ business and I give you so much credit for starting and you have a great following. I was looking at your background before we talked and like, dude, you got some great guests. You got some major leaguers on here. It's awesome. It really, you should be very proud of what you've built. Yeah, again, I'm assuming and I'd love to hear your story at some point. But really, it was just a matter of we would go to bar mitzvahs in Westchester County and again, like I always loved like leading the kids and being the Pied Piper. And my buddy and I were just like, Look, let's just like start a DJ business. We had a boombox. We did one gig at a pool party for a five year old or something I think was like a five year old. And we did the gig. It was like a two and a half hour party. I was the DJ/MC with a boombox we made I think, like $25 each, which is money. Don't get me wrong, but You know, just at 12 years old your age, I just we just started doing gigs and our parents got behind us and it just took off. And actually, the baseball business has really tied into the DJ business where I would before the pandemic, I was DJ-ing bar mitzvahs for my baseball players. So-

Evan 14:21

That's really cool!

Justin 14:22

Yeah, it's been a cool thing. So I mean, I'm assuming it's a similar story to you. I mean, is that, did you just kind of think like, hey, I want to start a podcast, I'd love to know.

Evan 14:30

Well, really it started like, I've always loved baseball. And my dream is playing in the MLB. So I actually one day just started writing about it. And now it's evolved into interviews and now a podcast. So it's been a really great experience.

Justin 14:46

So cool. That's so awesome. It really is.

Evan 14:50

Thank you

Justin 14:50

I love it. I absolutely love it.

Evan 14:52

So I read that Brandon Steiner was your mentor from Steiner sports. He's an awesome example of a guy who's really worked super hard to achieve their dream. What are some of the things that you have learned from him?

Justin 15:07

So yeah, he's one of the many mentors. I mean, I could also say my parents, and you have a wonderful mother.

Evan 15:14

Thank you.

Justin 15:15

And I'm assuming not assuming I know she's one of your mentors is giving you that

Evan 15:19

Definitely.

Justin 15:22

my parents, Steiner, I mean, he has a quote that says, What else? And the term what else is like what other value can you provide? Not just as a coach, but as an entrepreneur also, like, during these times during this pandemic, I was thinking, kids are not getting physical education. So let me just create a phys ed class, you know, and it's always, just the point of what I'm trying to say is, everything in life is you can be an, everyone is an entrepreneur, meaning everyone has to think like an entrepreneur, even as a baseball coach, like how else can I get to my students, how else can I teach my students in a more effective manner? How can I be a better leader? You know, so you always want to think entrepreneurially like you're an entrepreneur right now, by starting this podcast, you're an entrepreneur. So I guess, to answer the question is being an effective leader, communicating and thinking what else can I do to better serve my players and be more effective and be a better mentor and also being a student, right? Like, I'm, you're 12 years old, I'm 28. I'm learning from you right now. Just like you're learning for me. You know, so, always be an open book. That's something Steiner says, and my parents say, and a lot of other mentors and always be thinking, How can I improve? How can I improve? How can I get better? What else can I do? How can I better serve my players? How can I, you know, give a better message and I always think after every practice, like, could I have done some different or I liked what I said here, I could do more of that, etc. So, yeah,

Evan 17:02

yeah, that's an amazing and really important way to look at things. And I love how you said like, everyone is an entrepreneur, whether it's baseball or actually a business. I really love that.

Justin 17:15

Yep.

Evan 17:16

And in your opinion, how important would you say mentors are for someone to have?

Justin 17:23

So I don't know who said this quote, but like the day you stop learning is the day that you're done. Basically, I don't want to say die that's very dramatic, but like, the point of the quote is like, you have to always be learning and be an open book and a sponge and absorb as much knowledge as possible. So if you can get around a lot of great mentors, a lot of these top notch big coaches, entrepreneurs, business owners, not just business but even obviously, the baseball world. The great ones are Usually willing to give their handout and like help you if you're willing to learn. So it's extremely important to have a mentor forever. I mean, the the every great coach I've spoken to had a great mentor. And that great mentor had a great mentor. It's just, it's the it's the foundation of life to have some kind of influence on you always revert back to somebody.

Evan 18:25

That's very true. So when you talk about your motto, I read that your motto is what else and you said like Brandon Steiner. He talked a lot about that. How did that sort of become your motto? Was it Brandon Steiner, or was it something else?

Justin 18:43

Well, so Brandon Steiner is a friend of mine, and I actually played baseball against his son and that's how kind of we got friendly. I played against his son in high school. So we always became friendly with each other through Little League. But I think the whole idea of What else is a bigger picture? Like I was saying before, like, you know, always trying to think, again, be a servant. How can I serve my players better? How can I provide as much value as possible because the giving as you know as what you're doing right now currently, Evan giving is the highest form of service you can do in life. So if you could serve your message, you know different ways and enhance it constantly and and cut and paste and improve and ship and cut something here, add something here. You're reaching your own potential. And that's what life's all about, right? life's just about trying to fulfill your potential. So I don't know if that answers your question Evan but that's, that's a long answer.

Evan 19:50

It definitely does.

So you're the founder of Justintime baseball. Can you share what Justin time baseball is and its mission.

Justin 20:02

I love it. So just in time baseball, if you're looking to go get recruited to play college baseball, I'll help you with that. But that's it's not really the core, the core of my business is to educate the foundation of the principles and foundations of baseball and softball. All doing that in a fun, positive environment through life lessons. Because baseball is like life. And there's so many parallels, and it's the most beautiful game. I think you'd agree with me, Ivan. It's the most beautiful game in the world. And there's so many parallels between life and baseball. There's so many downs, "downs" in baseball, which is really, if you think of it's really not a down like three out of 10 times you're a stud, getting three hits out of 10 times. You are a stud. That's like life, a lot of things are not going to go your way. You know, you may reach out to a guest. He may not get back to you so quickly. And it's not because you're not a great kid or you don't have a great podcast. That's just life. And maybe that'll happen on the next one. And maybe that one guest one guest that didn't come on, an even bigger ones gonna come on. So the point is, it's life lesson Justin Time baseball is positive. Obviously teaching the skills, like I'm all about, obviously, the skills and teaching we teach, but it's also through a positive self confidence, self esteem, and youth development all combined into one mishmash.

Evan 21:44

That's really amazing. And us players we weren't able to practice or play during this pandemic, what are you telling your players that you coach and you train, about digging deep and really finding ways to grow as a Player during this time.

Justin 22:01

So I think it's important to detach from the outcome, Evan, because I think we're all like, well, when are we going to play? Well, are we going to play in a week? Oh, well, maybe we'll play July 1, and maybe we'll but if we just detach from the outcome and just reach our potential every day, do the best you can every single day. I don't care what the scenario is. Do the best you can every single day with the hand the cards you're dealt. And just try to fill that gap. I always try to tell my kids try to fill your gap. Right. So if your gap is, look, I just want to do 20 push ups a day, I want to take 50 swings a day. Just do what you can to your potential to just be the best ballplayer you can be every day because the only one that knows when we're going to play is God. I do know that I could get better every day God willing and healthy, you know, with health and all that. But I could get better every day that's in my control. Like just control what you could control Don't worry so much about when you're going to play because guess what? There will be baseball. We don't know when. But when there is baseball be ready to play because the game is not going to wait for you. You know, the game's gonna be like, Oh, uh, you know, Johnny's not ready. So let's wait another month. No, they're gonna say look, this day it's comin' be ready. So just stay ready, detach from the outcome reach your potential every single day.

Evan 23:24

That's really amazing advice that you give your players and for the younger players like ages 6 to 10 years old. What are some of the basic fundamental things that they should really be focused on to get ready for the next level?

Justin 23:42

So you may laugh at this, but I think just straight up, catching. This might be the most hokey answer you're gonna get on the entire podcast from everyone you interview. Catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball. I think we overcomplicate the game. And I see a lot of kids that are even 15 Evan that don't properly warm up, don't properly throw and catch. Like there's a way to have a catch, right? Like you should be moving your feet when you're having a catch. You should receive the ball like if you're an infielder received the ball like you're an infielder, not just lollygaggin. So, I think perfecting the basics, if you look I go back to Jeter, he wasn't the most fancy player, but he did the basics exceptionally well. I think it was Vince Lombardi that said, be brilliant at the basics. What I teach is really not like I know there's the Rap Soto and and the Hit Trax and they're great tools. But the basics of catching, throwing, uh batting stance even like hitting as far as like where to put your hands. What part of the ball Do you hit? Do you need a big step Do you need a small step Very basic principles be basic, be brilliant at the basics of baseball I think, is very important. instead of rushing to the Rap Soto and the hit Trax and the ball flight, the bottom line is be brilliant at the basics, pick two or three things and get really, really good at it.

Evan 25:18

That's really great advice. And even for the younger kids and for kids my age and a little older, like we can't overcomplicate the game, because, there's a lot that goes on. But realistically, it's just catching the ball, fielding the ball hitting and just running the bases,

Justin 25:37

right and then you get into details, but ultimately the start. I really preach and this is something I love to coach is just the basics, get on a field. Work on the absolute basics if you go to spring training, and I'm sure you've seen spring training at some point. But watching it live, you can go to those back fields. They're working on the same stuff that a lot of 12 and 13 year olds are work now. And they just repeat it, repeat it, repeat it, repeat it being brilliant at the basics, I think is overlooked.

Evan 26:12

And what are some drills that you do to like help your, kids that you coach just develop like good hands and catching or the right batting stance and right bat path and stuff like that.

Justin 26:27

So there's so many drills and there's so many great coaches I mean, like I know we follow each other on Instagram like there's so many you know, I try to good artists copy great artists steal like, everyone steals from each other and they should like that's the beauty of just being on Instagram and talking to great coaches. I again, I revert back to the basics, like how about just hitting a ball up the middle on the tee? I know that sounds simple and like it's not a brilliant might not sound like a crazy answer. But I see so many kids even older that can't hit a ball up the middle. Now I'm not putting them down. I'm just saying they're looking to do other things like fancy drills. But when a balls not moving right down the middle, you should be able to hit five in a row dead center. Right? I'm talking even 11, 12 years old. You know, that's something that I try to tell kids right away is get center. The more balanced the more center and letting the ball get to you, the better you are. So there's so many drills but again, easy answer tee work. There's so many variations to work, catching and throwing. I think even at the younger age, I think sometimes a glove can be a distraction.

Evan 27:46

Interesting.

Justin 27:47

I think taking a glove off is good and just focus on your hands and not necessarily the glove and focus on the mechanics of catching the ball out in front of your body and being in an athletic position. I think that's paramount when you're first starting out as a as a fielder, I think that's more important than any fancy drill you could throw him.

Evan 28:09

who currently in the MLB would you say you want your players to really watch in study?

Justin 28:17

I mean, the easy one I know I've said his name like 100 times already but the easy one is Jeter but I know he's retired which is unbelievable to even say. I mean, a great guy is trout. I mean, how can you not watch trout I mean, he just handles his business. There's a video on on the internet a couple weeks ago, I love it was Mike trout at Yankee Stadium. And basically, he hit a ground ball to shortstop and you know, routine ground ball that like most major leaguers would probably just jog it out. But he beat it out to first base. He's the best player in baseball, he's getting paid $400 million.

Evan 28:57

Yeah, it's crazy.

Justin 28:58

And he was hustling out of the box. So, I mean easy answers Trout. I mean, it's gotta be trout and he's the goat. I mean, he's he's the best player in baseball hands down. So definitely trout.

Evan 29:10

He's a great player to watch and study. And like myself, I watch him a lot. And just the way he plays the game, the heart and the hustle that he plays with, and just, he's just a great player. What some advice and tactics that you give to your youth baseball players about really staying really focused

Justin 29:34

During these times or just in general?

Evan 29:37

just in general, really.

Justin 29:39

So again, I think it's like I said earlier, like it's detaching from the outcome, because I think we're so worried about like the next step that and the and the next play and that, how about like being in the moment that is a skill, like being mental, mental sharpness is staying within the moment. And being where your feet are. I don't know who said it. Someone said it but being where your feet are is very important. Like not trying to be a What did I do my last about? Or what am I gonna? What am I going to do in the box when I'm up? No. How about like each pitches a new pitch? Actually, I have one better I heard one coach he goes each at bat is a new season. What's the point here? The point here is being in the moment and focusing on what you need to do if you focus on your task at hand. That makes you a better ballplayer. That is a skill, it's not easy to do. It's easy for me to say it now that I'm not playing and just coaching but teach that find ways to teach that. And that's something that I try to tell my players is focus on the controllables that's something that helps I think keep kids sharp. Students sharp.

Evan 30:51

Yeah, definitely. That's a huge key to success. Just staying in the moment being able to, like you said, like focus where your feet are be where your feet are. So players at every level can struggle with self confidence. What are some of the things that you do to help your players build their self confidence?

Justin 31:12

Great question. So I know I'm going back to the same couple of things, but they all really revolve around each other. But, um, so yeah, bottom line is detached from the outcome. I mean, is a victory getting a hit? Maybe. But I think a victory in my eyes is crushing a ball on a great pitch, even if it's a bullet at the shortstop. You know, so detaching from the outcome in the process, and controlling what you can control. I know I'm repeating myself, but it really just all comes back to it. Having those mini victories like, Hey, I read that ball well on that pitch, hey, I hit that ball hard on that pitch. Maybe it got caught. Maybe it went over the fence, but mini victories And that's like life, right? I mean, like, you're not going to hit a homerun on every pitch, but you're going to have mini victories and that adds up as hokey as it sounds to, you know, the end goal of being the best you could be.

Evan 32:15

Yeah, that's it's really important. Parents, as you know, play a huge role in a youth baseball players journey and their life. So what advice would you give to parents on how to best support their players?

Justin 32:32

Ah, that's that might be one of the best questions I've ever been asked. I think you gotta just say I love you. And just and just be there for them because it even though it's your life and my life and we love it, and we breathe and you have this great podcast and I do this for a living for business and stuff like that. Meaning like this. This is my life, my my baseball business. It's a game You know, it's a game and like, just love your kid and accept it and be there for them. You know, I think that's something that's so important and distinguish the difference between you being a parent and you maybe being their coach. You know, like one hat is different than another hat. And I think by you trying to be both at once, it's kind of like it gets jumbled. Be there for your kid love your kid, because it's really a game and it should be fun and, and if they have their parent, that's like adding extra pressure. It's not a good recipe for success. So love your kid, be there for your kid and as simple as that. I think that's important.

Evan 33:46

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. What would you want your players to take away from their experience with working with you?

Justin 33:56

I want my students to obviously get better. I'd be I'd be lying if I said, I want you to come to a lesson to not get better. Right? Because I mean, my my, I believe I provide some skill to teach your player and my program the teacher players, but I want your student to enjoy coming to us, my coaches may whoever and whoever's in whoever you work with, whether it's me or one other coach with me, I want them to enjoy it. And if they learn something, and felt good leaving meaning like they felt like a boost of confidence, and they got one or two nuggets out of that lesson or that program or that clinic or whatever it is, that's a victory for me. You know, and I think that's something where there's a lot of coaches that kind of just go through the motions and like, if you show that passion, and if you give them that confidence booster, that one little nugget Feel like you did your job as a coach.

Evan 35:03

Yeah, you're making you're making a difference in a lot of people's lives right now.

Justin 35:08

That's it. That's that's that's my whole goal. That's my whole mission.

Evan 35:11

Yeah, that's a really great mission. That's a really really great mission. So Justin, where can our listeners go to learn a little bit more about you and reach you

Justin 35:22

so you can go to my website at just in time you know, www.justintimebaseball.com Instagram as you and I communicated through justintimebaseball is my Instagram. You can go to YouTube type in Justin Sherman baseball, Twitter, Coach Justin time baseball, all that and just old school you can email me Justinsherman13@gmail.com or call me (914)-420-8418. If you need anything, practice, kids swing question about what to do whatever. I just want to help us Many kids as possible, I mean, the one beautiful thing about this whole experience if there's any positive out of this whole thing is I've reached kids throughout the country where I never really would have found them because of zoom. You know, we all know zoom now. So if I can help as many kids as possible, that's all want to do just be a positive force. help kids get kids better work. You know, if you're working hard, you work hard. You want to learn, you know, you're going me.

Evan 36:27

Yeah, that's, that's truly amazing. So, Justin, thank you. Again, thank you so much for joining me today.

Justin 36:35

You have an extremely bright future, you should be very proud of yourself, thanks for having me.

Evan 36:57

Thank you all for listening in. We really hope you enjoy On this episode, be sure to hit the subscribe button and be the first to know when new episodes launch. Check us out at borntobaseball.com for free resources and new gear, and of course on social media @borntobaseball where we can connect live now let's play ball

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Born To Baseball Website

BTB Travel Team & Training Tracker

Episode #011: Frank Rodriguez- Former MLB Player/ SUNY Maritime College Coach / Founder and Coach 33Rodz Baseball

June 2020 By Evan

Ep. # 011: Frank Rodriguez- Former MLB Player/ SUNY Maritime College Coach / Founder 33Rodz Baseball

Join Evan and Frank Rodriguez as Frank shares his baseball journey, his experience playing at Youth Service League with future pro players like Manny Ramirez, how he found motivation through adversity and how youth players can do the same and how developing a strong mindset helped him as an MLB Pitcher. Frank also shares the mission of his organization, 33Rodz Baseball, his coaching philosophies and his experience coaching at SUNY Maritime College.

What You’ll Learn:

01:20 Frank’s baseball journey

06:42 A lesson he learned from Manny Ramirez

09:00 Finding motivation through an unlikely scenario

13:15 Managing pressure through good preparation

15:12 Slowing things down

20:57 Striking out Derek Jeter

21:47 Using the numbers to learn from failure

29:22 Coaching philosophies

35:51 Balancing game time with training/ development

Now, let’s play ball!

Read show notes here.

Show Links:

Instagram: @33rodzbaseball

Websites/ Programs: https://www.33rodzbaseball.com

Born To Baseball Links:

Instagram: @borntobaseball

Facebook

Twitter: @bornto_baseball

Born To Baseball Podcast

Episode 011_FRANK RODRIGUEZ_FORMER MLB PLAYER_SUNY MARITIME COACH_FOUNDER AND COACH 33RODZ BASEBALL

The transcription below was provided for your convenience through an automated service. Please excuse any unintended errors made in the process.

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? Then 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 0:38

Hey guys, welcome to the Born To Baseball podcast. I'm Evan and today we have Frank Rodriguez on. Frank was a relief pitcher for six years in the big leagues with the Red Sox, twins, Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds. Frank won the Dick Howser trophy in college and is one of two JUCO players in history to win that award. Frank is the assistant coach for SUNY maritime college privateers baseball in New York and the founder and president of 33 rodz baseball. Frank, thank you so much for being here.

Frank 1:06

Hey, brother, thanks for having me, man, this is a great thing to do and staying in touch with baseball and keeping everybody in touch with it.

Evan 1:12

Thank you. So, when did you first realize that being a professional baseball player was what you wanted to do?

Frank 1:20

Oh, man, I'm like a firm believer of you shouldn't be we live in a different era. Now. Now we post about all the good things we did. You know, now you know, it's different when I played we didn't have so social media and stuff like that. So I was just a firm believer of let other people talk about how good you are. And you know, you know, one time I was just I just happen to be somewhere and and I heard somebody dad talking about just talking about me, he didn't even know who I was. He just just I was just standing there talking, you know, just hearing him talk and I was just I started understanding some of the things he was saying. I was just like, wow, you know, maybe I know from different people's eyes, maybe I do have a chance at this because that guy was a well respected person that knew a lot of people that played professional baseball, and he compared me to some big names. So it sort of sank in in there. And then, with all the hard work I put in, I knew I was gonna go as far as I could with baseball, you know, just given the chance. That's all I needed. And I got my chance and I took it and I ran.

Evan 2:20

Thinking back, how intense was your like baseball practice baseball routine, when you were 10 years old, through like 13 years old? And then how did it change through high school and college?

Frank 2:32

Well, intense, I would say it was as as intense as I wanted it to be because I found myself even after practice, I would go to a handball court. If you grew up in New York, there's handball courts. It's a big wall and I worked on pitching I put a strike box up, I worked on actually hitting a ball off the wall, dropping the bat picking my glove up, catching the ball, worked on different things that I needed to work on. So there were some days I worked on specific stuff and you know, I didn't leave or I didn't go home until I figured, alright, I have a better idea of what I did. And then when I got older in high school, you know, in summer ball, I was able to pay for an organization called Youth Service league. A lot of guys, a lot of pro guys have come out of that league, the latest big name was Dellin Betances and the structure in that league, and in that organization was before you become a great baseball player, you're gonna learn responsibility and accountability. And that, you know, took me to a new level where I started to understand the hard work that you put it in, you know, it also affects other people, if you do or you don't, because if you're not putting in that work, and you're going out there and you're making errors, now that pitcher that worked really hard on something, now he has to throw more pitches because you made an error because you weren't working on things. So I started to look at it like that. I started to worry about more of I need to get myself better do that I'm better for my teammates. And then it just, it just all clicked within. And it just became a habit. It was just nothing that was just like, ugh, I gotta go work on this. No, never, it was like, I gotta go work on this so I don't let my teammates down.

Evan 4:13

That's a great way of looking at things and just being able to know like, let me help my team. It's not for me, it's for my team. So ultimately, you can all get to a better place and exceed in baseball. So you also mentioned that you played with the youth service League, and you won a national championship when you were playing with them. So what impact did organizations like these have on you as you were growing up?

Frank 4:41

In my era, which is a long time ago. You're so young man. You're awesome for doing this because you make me feel younger, too. But you know, when I grew up in my era, there were so many good baseball players. You know, there were so many good baseball players that never even made it to professional baseball. Like if they were in this era of they would be all stars, they would be like, drafted and go instantly to triple A. That's how the pool of players were in the era that I grew up in. And I, every game that I went to in high school or played in, there was always somebody that was on that field, or maybe even three or four guys that were as good as me or maybe even better. So I saw I saw that as an opportunity for all the hard work that I put in off the field, for it, that opportunity to be, you know, I'm helping my teammates out but yeah, here I have a chance to compare myself with that. And now with the youth Youth Service League, we got a chance to travel, not really travel. It was like you had a win a tournament in Brooklyn and then you go out of state to travel. That's the way it was before. And when we got that opportunity, now you start comparing yourself to Okay, maybe I'm good in New York, now we're going to Massachusetts, let's compare yourself against the best of Massachusetts and then New Mexico. How good are you now because now you have hundreds of teams. coming in from all states. So being in that tournament really helped me a lot because it put in perspective of, You're good in New York, but there's guys working as hard as you if not harder in all the other states too. So that's how it impacted my life. I was able to early in my life see that, you know, New York is not the only place and you're not you're not the best player in the country. You might be in New York, but you know, there's a lot of great talent out there in the country.

Evan 6:29

Are there any other players on the team you played with in the youth service league that eventually made it to the Major Leagues?

Frank 6:37

Yeah, one in particular, I played with Manny Ramirez. I played with him for about three years of summer ball. And, you know, a small story about Manny is like, there was one time that he came in from, because we practice right after school and some of us traveled and lived like 45 minutes to an hour on the train to get to where we practice that and he just happened to just lose his Sox somewhere along the line, he was like, I don't care that's not gonna stop me from practicing. And he practiced in his cleats with no socks. At the end of the practice took his shoes off and was bleeding. He didn't care. He was like "I felt good today I put in the work that I needed to put in". So Manny was a great player like that and he never, he just never let anything get in his way and I saw that and I was just like, "man, your talent aside Manny, I love the way you go about the game". And that's something I took a little piece of that and I added it to all the hard work that I put in and I was just like, I'm not gonna let any little circumstances deter me. It's raining outside so what I'll just get a sponge ball, I won't mess up a leather baseball and then boom, and boom, and I'll work on it. I'll put on a rain coat. So yeah, Manny Ramirez I played. It's weird because the last year that I played with youth service, there were like about six or seven kids drafted from that team. No, it was it was

Evan 7:51

That's amazing!

Frank 7:52

Yeah, it was good competition to have, not only to have next to you to compare, but you might even play against these guys at some capacity in minor league ball and it was great. And I played against Manny. I played against Manny for three years in minor league ball too. So it was it was fun catching up with him. But that was really one of the big name guys I played with in summer ball.

Evan 8:15

What was the thing that motivated you the most to play in the big leagues and really excel at something you love.

Frank 8:22

Alright, so the exceling part comes from within, you shouldn't need any motivation to want to excel at anything and that's if you want to be a doctor or lawyer, anything that has to come from your heart, you got to want to do that, at the time where it may seem the most difficult. That's where you got to decide whether you're going to continue to do that or not. So that's motivation aside, that has to come from your heart. The biggest factor the biggest motivation, I definitely say was the night before I went to my junior college in Howard Big Springs, Texas. Um, I got a call from the Red Sox. So long story short When I got drafted, in the era that I got drafted, you were the team's property until the following draft. Now it's either you sign when they draft you, and then that's it, you're not their property anymore. So I had a full year to sign. And the night, the night before I left the college, which happened to be the last time they could actually make an offer to sign me and then they couldn't talk to me until my college season was over. You know, they really low balled me on the offer. And the words that really stood in here and never left that other ear was "Come on, take this offer you're a kid from the projects, and nobody in your family is ever going to make this amount of money. And it was just like, I still say the story night and then I get my hair standing and I get angry sometimes. But that was definitely a motivating factor for me, to say that nobody in my family would ever make that amount of money, because I grew up in the projects and to take this offer and this is what we're going to give you. I understand it was from the business side. So fast forward, I signed with the Red Sox. In spring training that year, I happened to meet the guy that was on the phone with me and said that and he was like, Hey, listen, Frank, I just want to say sorry, it was just the business side. I don't know how you took that. You know, Rumor has it you weren't happy about that. I was like, No, thank you, because you motivated me to, like really get after it every day. Just hearing those words saying nobody in your family will ever make this amount of money, that was a motivating factor for me to really bust my butt every day.

Evan 10:31

Sometimes you might get angry or upset or frustrated. using that to motivate you can be a big factor in success. I feel and even just from your experience, it makes it all the more true. So you went to Howard junior college and you won the dick Howser trophy. Your team later went on to win the Juco World Series. So that must have been an amazing, amazing experience. How did those accomplishments help build up your confidence going into, um, was it the draft that you, you went back into the draft or you signed with the Redsox

Frank 11:10

So I ended up signing like maybe six hours before the deadline. So it was funny, like after we won the junior college world series. So the junior college world series was in Grand Junction, Colorado. So we had to take a bus for about 20 hours back to Texas. So every five hours, and I'm going to tell you, this is going to show you how old I am, there weren't any cell phones. So we had a stop every every five hours at a gas station, not only for gas, so that I can I can call my agent and say Hi, how's the number going and stuff like that? Is it good? Is it where we want to be? So I signed you know, I signed eventually before we even got to Texas, but um, yeah, like I gotta say, it prepared me for professional baseball because a lot of people will say this, you know, oh, trophies don't mean anything. And I'm a big advocate of that. Because one of my one of my slogans is development over trophies, but when you win a trophy, at the highest level of where you are not just summer ball, not just high school, or when you're at that college level, I feel if your next step is professional baseball, and you've won something like that, a college world series, whether it'd be junior college or the NCAA Division 1 World Series, it's an accomplishment and it prepares you for pro ball because now you know how to win. And then you remember everything it took for you to win, and all the hard work that you and your teammates put in, and that's what you go and you expect going into pro ball. Because pro ball is a little different. There's there's different ways people think but if they know that you were a winner of something so high like that, not only do they respect you, they start wondering How does he do things. Look, he's a winner. Look at what he's doing to get prepared for games and you know, it helps your teammates out a lot and it might even help the opposing player as well. So having having won in junior college meant a lot to me, but it also prepared me for pro ball.

Evan 13:12

And how important was preparing to you throughout your career

Frank 13:16

well preparing is... I was, I have this one thing about me that my uncle always, because my uncle was always at my baseball games. He was the one guy, he always said to me, You never look nervous. And I feel like, you know, I understood. I never looked nervous because I felt like me being prepared off the field in practices I felt I worked so hard on my practices, that the game was just easy. All I'm just doing is just repeating what I did in practice. So I was never nervous because I was so prepared for my my game situations. So any any professional baseball player will tell you, when you get to Pro Ball, there's a lot expected of you and there's a lot expected of yourself. Now, you want to make your family happy that you can, every year you can try to get to the next level and then eventually make it to the Big leagues. So there's a little bit of pressure. But that pressure just falls off your shoulders by how you prepare for games, how you're taking the information that happens during your games, and you prepare for the next outing with all that information because being prepared is so important. Obviously, anybody will tell you. But being able to trust how you prepare is always going to help you during games.

Evan 14:35

That's, that's really great advice. So you were drafted as a shortstop but ultimately became a pitcher. What were some of the drills and workouts that you did to prepare yourself to succeed as a pitcher?

Frank 14:48

Well, I always pitched I always pitched even in high school and in summer balI I pitched. Once in a while We played that really good team and all the other starters were already just used and it was just my turn. I pitched so it wasn't like I didn't pitch and then now all of a sudden I learned how to pitch because I pitched in college as well. But as far as drills for me, I didn't really break down too much. But sometimes I just slowed things down. Like in my bullpen sessions inbetween my starts, I just slowed things down. I saw a video of Matt Scherzer in the outfield before a game, no ball, no glove, just going through his motion really slow and and finding his release point. So I sort of did that but with my glove and my ball, and even throwing so I just slowed everything down. So as far as mechanics and what specific drills that I did, for me, the only drill that I really did was just slowing everything down and feeling everything, you got it? To be able to feel something that's instant feedback for you. When you throw a pitch and it felt this way and it was a good result. Well, heck, you better feel that same way again and try to feel that same way again, same thing hitting, same thing fielding. It's all about how you feel. So for me, I felt slowing things down was good for me.

Evan 16:13

That's really interesting. That's really, really great. So is there like a favorite drill that you had? Was it slowing things down? Or was it something else that really helped you?

Frank 16:25

Well, I wouldn't say I wouldn't say a drill I would say more of a routine. So after I got to the point where I started slowing things down before I got on to the mound, to start my whole bullpen stuff, my routine was a certain number of pitches here on this side, a certain number of pitches on this side of the corner, a certain number of pitches down the middle with my off speed, a certain number of pitches in slide step certain number of pitches, I actually took my time and I looked back like there was a runner at second. I worked on all those things so that when it came in the game, it was nothing new. Because a lot of announcers whether their former players, they throw out this thing, well, he hasn't pitched from the stretch yet all game. But I always did inbetween innings in the bullpen before, inbetween innings even though if I had like three straight innings, where I didn't have any base runners on inbetween innings I was working on if I did have a base runner on. So my routine was always something that was gonna happen in the game. I prepared and I put it as part of my routine. So when it came up, it was just, I already did it. It wasn't a surprise.

Evan 17:32

And like, do you stress routine to your youth baseball players and just players that you work with now,

Frank 17:39

you know what I do stress? As far as routines, as far as drills, I say find something that works for you. Find something you enjoy doing. Find something you don't enjoy doing, and then compare and whatever is going to help you get better. That's what's gonna make you get better. Because there's certain trainers that train this way, there are trainers that train this way. And there are coaches that teach this. And there are coaches that have philosophies of teaching this way. You gotta be able to take a little bit from everybody. And in the end, if a coach tells you, this is the way I want you to do it, and you feel uncomfortable doing it, you got to start finding something that works for you along those lines of what he's trying to teach you. It doesn't have to be exact. But you got to find something that works for you because you got to be happy doing it. If you're doing something because you were told this is the way you have to do it. You become robotic, you lose that feeling of Wow, this batter came up, and I felt like he was looking back, maybe I should call my catcher out here. Or maybe I should throw a curveball at him and get them to duck out the way and then break back in the zone. All the stuff that is going to be fun for you. That's what you have to find, something that's going to be fun for you, because the minute this game is not fun, is the minute you don't want to put in that hard work. And when you don't put in that hard work, somebody else in New York or out of state is and now they just jump over you.

Evan 19:12

That's really important. That's really, really great. So, as a pitcher, sometimes you feel that the outcome of the game falls in your hands. So, I read about a game where you struck out four batters in one inning. Could you walk us through that experience? So

Frank 19:33

So, I have the video posted on my Instagram And again, if you talk to my guys, my 12 year old team,they'll tell you I never talk about anything about MLB, Oh when I played, no never. So they were like "Frank put up a video I saw this my dad showed me a video of you" he was like put it up. Okay, I'll put it up. So if you see the video on my Instagram it's weird, because after I struck out the second that I was just like, I banged my glove. Everybody that knew me they were like, after I posted it they texted me like, why were you angry? I said because that second batter I threw like 13 pitches to. I was already exhausted. So I struck out the third batter on on a wild pitch that I felt the catcher should have blocked because he knows how I throw my sliders and you as a pitcher know that you have to have trust in your catchers and the catchers have to know how all your pitches are breaking and expect it. And then you know. That's like we spoke about earlier having a little bit of anger and helping you and motivate you I was like you know what, I'm gonna try to strike this guy out just so I can just say I did it. So it was like a little personal goal for me and it worked out I struck out that fourth guy and it was it was actually fun. So yeah,

Evan 20:44

it sounds really really fun. Small little bragging rights right there. I actually know that you struck out Jeter on the last strikeout. So how was that?

Frank 20:57

Um, that was another game in Seattle that I played against him. I struck them all like three times in that game. And at the end of that game, one of my good friends a high school teammate of mine, he was like, you know why he did him dirty like that? I was like, Hey, man, I did. I was thinking about you. I no that's your favorite player. And then I was gonna call you after the game, but you called me first. And I was gonna say, I got your boy. But listen, it's the Major Leagues man. You know, it's giving up a home run is exciting. You don't show it as a pitcher, striking somebody out as exciting walking onto the field exciting. Being able to say you play even though if you played less than a year or played a week is exciting. So every experience is exciting. But you know, when you get an opportunity to strike out a Hall of Famer, it's something you could, you could write and put in your books and tell your kids when they get older. So it's fun.

Evan 21:47

Yeah, sounds like a lot of fun. So what advice would you give to your youth baseball players on how to bounce back when something doesn't go your way?

Frank 21:57

Well, anybody, anybody Please baseballs and knows that, hey, let me throw out a number there's 10, right? There's a 10. at bats, the best major league players are going to get three hits, maybe sometimes, very rarely four. So there's seven times that you're going to be out. Now you break these seven times down out of the seven times, how many times that I hit the ball hard. If it's four out of those seven, you got to understand you did everything right seven out of those 10 times. So the numbers are equal percentage that way, that way, that's where data is very, you know, putting out the information is important. 10 starts if you're a pitcher and you have 10 starts, I'll tell you right now, you're only going to have your best stuff, probably three times out of those 10 times. So now in those seven times, how are you going to figure out how to get by without your best stuff. If you got by three or four out of those out of those seven times. Now you've had three great times you've had your great stuff. And four times you didn't have your great stuff, but you pitched well. Now that seven out of 10. So numbers at the end of the day numbers don't lie. If you can write some information down and refer back to it, it always helps you. Because at the end of the day, results or numbers don't lie or results matter. But if you're putting yourself in a position where you're doing everything, right, and then baseball just takes over line drive right at somebody, you can't do anything. And you got to be not so much you have to be happy about it, you have to understand like, okay, I did everything right. On to the next at bat. Short term memories is very important in all sports. So especially in baseball, because you fail so much. But you have to learn something from every little failure that you might have, because it's important,

Evan 23:47

unfortunately, but at the same time, it's almost fortunately it's, it's a game of failure. But it's baseball can even like it can even help in life. Just knowing when I fail there's still another opportunity There's still another way to succeed.

Frank 24:03

Yeah.

Evan 24:03

In youth baseball, you have maybe two, three coaches in the dugout at a time. But when you move up to college and really in the major leagues, you have five, six or even seven coaches in the dugout at a time. What value does each coach bring to the players in the dugout, and during the game? And how do players manage all the advice that they're getting from each coach?

Frank 24:30

Well, the value is different for everybody because you have you infield coaches, you have your outfield coaches, you have your hitting coaches, you have your pitching coaches, and then usually your infield coach is kind of like your base running coach as well. So everybody looks to their their guy, if you're an alpha, you're going to go to your outfield coach, if you a hitter or your everyday player, you're gonna go to you if you're struggling, hitting go to the hitting guy. Same thing on the pitching guy. So there's there's coaches that are, you know, there for a reason they're doing specifically help you with a position or something in the area the field of you may be working on. So the value is important. The value is important because they are there specifically for you and to make you better, and how you how you process the information that they give you and how you apply it to your next pregame workout or your pregame routine and then in the game is really all up to you. So the value is there for you how valuable you want to make that information is up to you how you apply it on the field, because that's important. Everybody could fill you with information, I can give you 10 different things you did wrong. But if you take one or two of those things, and you make it work for you, you're going to be better on the field. You can't think about 10 things on the field. So having a coach that in your specific area is important. So that's why I see so many coaches on the field at the major league level because they're getting paid a lot of money to help these players that are getting paid a lot of money. So They, they want their you know, as an organization, you want to be successful. And that's how you do it. You have a lot of coaches helping out.

Evan 26:08

It makes a lot of sense. Moving up to the majors, how much more time and effort did you have to put into your training? And as well as your mindset.

Frank 26:20

mindset is important. Because the firt your first time out on the big league field, your mind is going to be all over the place. This is my dream come true. How many people are coming to watch me do I have my friends in the stands? I don't want to let my family down. I don't want to let my teammates down. Once you get past that. You've worked so hard to make it to the Major Leagues that all you have to do is just go and do everything you've done. Then make adjustments because the best players the most elite players at any level travel ball from 10 to 12. travel from 30-18 College Pro, the most elite players make adjustments from pitch to pitch from inning to inning from at bat to a bat. And that's the most important thing being able to adjust. And you quickly learn how to trust your hard work. The training becomes a little bit more specific when you get to the big leagues. Because in the minor leagues, you have some coaches there you have some strength and conditioning guys, but then when you get to the big leagues, now it's amplified. Now they want you to succeed so, so so much, and help their team win so much. Now they're going to give you every tool to get better. So the training becomes a little bit more specific, but nothing like that's going to blow your mind. But it makes you focus a little bit more when the training becomes specific and it's not a trainer, just training the whole team. You have a trainer training just the pitchers you have a trainer training just the infield is trainers for outfielders, catchers, it becomes very specific. So as far as the training you might need and how different the training might be in the big leagues, it's just more specific, more fine tuned. And, you know, it lets you lets you get past the fact of, am I physically prepared, then you deal with the mindset, the mindset is just all that work that you put in with that trainer allows you to be so comfortable in your talent. And then all you have to do is be is just execute everything you've practiced on on the field, whether it's travel, college, or professional baseball, or the major leagues, execute everything you've ever done well, and then even then you're not something might happen. You might throw a great fastball on the inside. And it might be a blooper, RBI game over. No, but at the end of the day, you can only do what you can do so baseball strange like that.

Evan 28:57

And yeah, youth baseball players. If you're listening Be sure to take note on that, that that's definitely going to help me and you guys in your game to help get better and really just excel at the game of baseball. Obviously, you work a lot of a lot with the youth. Can you talk to us about what 33RODZ is, and its mission?

Frank 29:21

So 33RODZ, so 33 is my uniform number rods is an abbreviation of my last name, Rodriguez. So when I retired, I decided to give back all the knowledge that I have appear and physically to all the kids that I was coaching at the time. So I had a coach with a couple of organizations and, you know, I like some things I didn't like some things. Same thing will be here. And I decided I'm like, why don't I just do this in my area, instead of traveling so far to coach let me just do this in my area. And then my mission statement with 33RODZ is just the focus is yes, we want to win trophies But that trophies is going to the trophies are going to be a result of everything we did. And our practices are very specific. Our practice of practices are written down notes that we're going to work on everything we did wrong the last tournament or the last game of the tournament. So this specific stuff that we work on in practice, gets them ready for everything they're going to do in their life. prepares them for that test they might take prepares them to get them ready for the right High School for them, prepares them to get them to the right college and having the parents understand that the mission of 33RODZ is not nationally ranking recognition. It is the joy that I'm going to get as the organization leader in getting your kid where he needs to be high school or college. That is the end game. I do not even have a shelf all the trophies we've won. I don't even keep them. What I do is I take the little plaque part of it, I put it in a book and a habit to keep them and I show the kids, hey, this is what we want. What do you want to do? Let's keep adding to this book. What are you going to do to prepare that to that book? So it's just teaching them. Like I said, in the beginning of this interview, when I when I learned accountability and responsibility, it helped me It helped me a lot. And that's during practice. If one guy doesn't understand something, I point at another guy, and I'm like, what, how can you explain this better for him? So I have everybody just understanding. We all have to come together. Because if one guy is not understanding that one guy might not do well on the field, and then now we're all going to feel bad. So the mission statement, in summary, is just getting everybody prepared properly for the field, off the field, the right schooling, and we've even taken a bunch of trips to some boarding schools that was an opportunity that some parents never even thought they had. But it opened their their mind up and the kids loved it. Because you know, to go off topic a little bit going to those boarding school trips, you know, being away from school being I'm sorry, being away from your parents in a school where you have to take care of everything on your own. Now that prepares you for college, because when you go to college, you're by yourself. Nobody is waking you up in the morning. So that's something that the parents never even thought about. So that's all the things that we work on a 30RODZ and just, I'm not gonna sit here and say we're the best organization, but I try to separate myself from different organizations are the things that we do for the kids to be prepared for school.

Evan 32:41

That's a really, really great mission. And I really love what you're doing with your organization. You brought up two of the foundational pillars. I know there's five. it's sacrifice, commitment, selflessness, and then the two you mentioned accountability and resiliency. How do you pull these through with your team?

Frank 33:10

explaining, explaining I don't care if I have to stop practicing explain something for 10 minutes. I explained how this is gonna help you win a game. I explained how if we have a pickoff play up the middle on a daylight play if my center fielder and guys and my outfielders are not paying attention that walk or go to the gap, and if they do it wrong, we'll sit there we'll do it again. Just so they could understand. If you study something for a test, if you're studying the night before, and you have a fear of you didn't study enough, hey, study a little bit more. Study just a little bit more because that's going to help you. So the resiliency part, and all of the parts of the SCARS acronym for me is just about letting them understand what all of it means and I like to compare a lot of things that happen in life to baseball, because a guy makes an error, even in practice, I'm just hitting ground balls and the kid makes an error. I'm like make an adjustment. He makes the same error again, I'm like, hey, make an adjustment. He makes the same error again, I say, Okay, let's compare this, you have a job right now and you made an error. Your boss, your boss brings you in, and you talk about it and you understand. Okay, now I know what I need to do. I'm sorry boss, I'll get it right. Next time you make an error. The next meeting you're going to have is your pink slip, you're going to get fired, you're gonna get fired from your job if you're not paying attention and making adjustments. So that's how I make them understand by just breaking it down very, very easy and comparing things to baseball and life at the same time and, and they get it. And it's funny, because once I say everybody bring it in, they're gonna go Oh, god, what is this story about? When am I getting fired? And I'm like, Yeah, exactly. You're gonna you're fired.

Evan 34:58

Yeah, It sounds amazing how you like make it fun and at the same time have everyone learn and really just just prepare them for life and as well as baseball. So you're a coach at SUNY Maritime College in New York, can you tell us a little bit about your coaching experience at that college?

Frank 35:19

So it's a it's an engineering school. It's a you know, there's marine biology, there's international trade and transport. It's it's a school that has a lot to do with the business industry on the water. And to me, it's been a wonderful experience. Not only is it my first college coaching job, I feel like the kids at that school, their mentality, because of their very specific degree that they're gonna get. It requires them to have a level of concentration hitting the books studying and on the field. Because, yes, their relief on the field is from their schoolwork but they know that the instant concentration that it takes, because of all their work, they have to apply that on the field. So so it's a little bit easier for them. So the type of players we get and maritime are guys that are dedicated, are guys that understand how to listen, apply, adjust very quickly. And overall, just great kids, great kids there at the school and part of you know, our alumni, they always come back and they miss it so much that it missed the you know, the team. And it's just been a wonderful experience so far for me there and I just don't see myself going anywhere else.

Evan 36:41

It sounds like a really great environment there. What are some things that youth baseball players should be doing today to increase their chances of success at the college level?

Frank 36:53

Well, any good coach is going to tell you, you can leapfrog somebody As far as academic money and money that might be given to you on the baseball side by having a great grade point average, having a great SAT or ACT score. So my biggest advice to you is really get comfortable being in those books because baseball is great, you could do a thousand drills, that's great, and you could get better and you could be the best player in the country. But you're not going to go to the school that you actually want to if your grades are not where they need to be. So grades are very important. And the earlier you start, the easier it becomes at every level because at every level, meaning when you're 10 when you go to high school, and then when you finally get into college, you've already had that, that whole routine of being able to study hard and my grades are important up here and understanding that that all you gotta do is just make adjustments I need to study an hour and 15 instead of 45. That's all it is. You Put that work in now, not only on the field, but in the school and in your books, things will be so much easier for you. I promise you that's that's the biggest advice I can give you. Hit those books.

Evan 38:13

That's that's really great advice.

Frank 38:15

Your mom would like that you know that?

Evan 38:20

Definitely. So in your opinion, in youth travel baseball, what do you think is the right balance between time spent playing games and time spent developing and training? The youth baseball players? That's a good question.

Frank 38:36

Um, I feel like I have. I'm very fortunate and I'm not just saying that because it's just I want to make my organization look good. But out of the 13 players that I have, I have 13 parents, 13 sets of parents that understand the goal is I'm not just giving you money to play tournaments. We are all in this because the goal is to get into the right High School, into the right college. We're practicing two or three times a week in the summer. And then we don't have tournaments every weekend. So then now, we might even practice on a Saturday and Sunday. So that's five days out of seven, that not many organizations will do. But we're just going over practice things that we need to get better at. So that next tournament, we're prepared, we'll go over a bunch of times, not only just ground balls and flyballs, we'll go over everything that needs to be done to be prepared. So I feel the development side comes from definitely playing games, but practices are so important. And I think that you know, another important aspect of the game is to write down some information, write down have some stuff that you can not only have on the kid, and what he needs to do to get better, but that information you can apply to your practice because who's gonna like, you call a practice and you're just gonna work on just what a pickoff play, how about we work on... All right, (Johnny, you're over here. You didn't throw many strikes. In your bullpen I need you to throw 10 pitches, I need seven of them to be strikes). So you know, something specific like that is only going to make them better because now, not only to the parents, now the kid understands, okay, I didn't do this well, and I'm working on it. Now. I'm not just going to go through a practice and just forget about what I did last tournament. You can't do that. You gotta have a short term memory but you also have to understand what you didn't do well, and how to get better, because that's important. So tournament after tournament every weekend. I'm just not a big fan of it. Practice is so much more important, specific practices, because anybody could just put together a two hour practice. But how specific and attention to details you pay into practices will always pay out in tournaments.

Evan 40:44

Hey, well, I appreciate your opinion there. So now I want to move into the rapid fire questions. So you ready? What's the toughest hitter you've ever seen

Frank 40:57

All of them. It's the major leagues, they're all tough.

Frank Thomas.

Evan 41:02

So you're from New York City? What's your favorite pizza place?

Frank 41:06

Oh my god! A-1 pizza, Lower East Side, Manhattan

Evan 41:10

And what was your favorite pitching appearance?

Frank 41:14

Probably my first one in the Red Sox. I didn't do well. But it was just great. Everybody's just cheering my name actually, because I was the prospect coming up and it was my first outing. It's fun to hear people share my name.

Evan 41:25

So what kind of things are you working on that you would like to share?

Frank 41:29

Personally, I'm just working on right now getting some people to invest in me in a facility so that I can have something year round and I just want to keep just feeding kids with information and getting them better so they're prepared to go to college and just do well. And you know, a facility is something good to have because no matter what weather you have you always have somewhere to go.

Evan 41:51

Where can people reach out to you and learn more about you?

Frank 41:54

Well, the 33 rods on www.33rodzbaseball.com, that's our Organization website. I'm also on Instagram @33rodzbaseball. And I would say honestly, if you're an upcoming player, you should pay attention to my Instagram because I post a lot of stuff for youth baseball, college baseball and some pro stuff. So, a little sarcasm here and there, but that's needed.

Evan 42:21

Well, Frank, thank you so much for coming on to the podcast. And I just really appreciate it.

Frank 42:28

No problem brother, I can't wait to face you again because I'm not pitting against you because you're always kill us so we're walking you. And w're gonna try to pick you off.

Anytime brother

Evan 42:41

Thank you all for listening in. We really hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to hit the subscribe button and be the first to know when new episodes launch. Check us out at borntobaseball.com for free resources and new gear. And of course on social media @borntobaseball where we can connect live. Now, Let's Play ball.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Born To Baseball Website

BTB Travel Team & Training Tracker

Episode #009: Jason Michaels – 10 year MLB veteran / Owner “The Big League Approach”

May 2020 By Evan

Ep. #009: Jason Michaels- 10 Year MLB Veteran/ Owner of “The Big League Approach”

Join Evan and Jason Michaels as Jason shares his baseball journey, his decision to stay in college versus going pro, hitting tips and the value of staying within yourself. Jason also talks mental toughness and “The Big League Approach” Philosophy.

What You’ll Learn:

01:30- Jason’s baseball journey

05:00- Choosing JUCO after being selected in the Draft

06:45- Playing in the College World Series

10:20- How college helped him mature as a player

13:08- Drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies

14:18- Getting called up to the Big Leagues

23:12- Advice on overcoming challenges

24:43- Mental approach in the game

26:12- Mentor Roving Coach experience

27:52- “The Big League Approach” Philosophy

Read show notes here.

Show Links:

Instagram: @thebigleagueapproach

Website: https://thebigleagueapproach.com/

Born To Baseball Links:

Instagram: @borntobaseball

Facebook

Twitter: @bornto_baseball

Born To Baseball Podcast

Episode 009_JASON MICHAELS 10 YEAR MLB VETERAN AND OWNER THE BIG LEAGUE APPROACH

The transcription below was provided for your convenience through an automated service. Please excuse any unintended errors made in the process.

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 0:24

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

What's up guys, welcome to the Born To Baseball Podcast. Today we have Jason Michaels. Jason is based in Tampa, Florida. Some quick highlights Jason hit over .420 in Juco was a fourth round draft pick in 1998 and played 10 years in the majors with the Phillies, Indians Astros and pirates. He's the founder and CEO of the big league approach a training facility in Tampa, Florida, with a heavy focus on both skill and mindset development. I recently had a chance to train with Jason and I took away so much from the lessons. Jason, thank you so much for coming on.

Jason 1:19

Well, thanks for having me. Evan.

Evan 1:21

I'd love to start with you sharing some of your baseball journey. So you grew up in Tampa, Florida. Did you play on travel teams or just a local Little League teams?

Jason 1:33

Yeah, so I grew up in Tampa, Florida, where you could play baseball year round. Unlike New York, and, but no, I grew up in Tampa played soccer and baseball. And when I got to high school, I focused more on baseball. Because I was wasn't big enough in football and I was getting my butt kicked. So other than that, I focused on baseball and got a chance chance to play at the next level. Actually I was drafted out of high school in the 49th round which they don't have that anymore. I think it goes up to 40 rounds. But out high school I got a chance to play college ball I end up going to junior college which I wasn't really good enough to play D1, I mean to go to a school but I really made I think that decision of me going to junior college, really getting a chance to play and not sit the bench if like if I would have went to a four year school or a big D1 school. I know I wanted to go to Florida, University of Florida out of High School and they told me I wasn't good enough. So I kind of use that little chip on my shoulder as motivation. Got got a chance to go to junior college, played two years there and really came down between it was going to be LSU or Miami, where I was going to go and ended up ended up choosing Miami and want to stay in state and wanted to see my wonder Have my parents be able to come watch me play? You know, being in Tampa to Miami. It's not too long plus my dad had his private pilot's license. So they were able to get a plane and get out there quicker than driving. So yeah, that's and then going to Miami into continue to excel in my career and was fortunate enough to get drafted by the Phillies and play my career start my career in the minor leagues with the Phillies.

Evan 3:28

Yeah. So that that's an amazing first like first part of your baseball journey and being able to go to Juco and excel there and knowing that I want to be able to play instead of saying I went to a big school but didn't get as much playing time.

Jason 3:46

Right.

Evan 3:47

You attended Jesuit High School and hit over 400 each year, which is pretty impressive. What are some of the things that contributed to your success there? Did you have strong mentors along the way?

Jason 3:58

I tell you, I'd be honest with you. You know, there wasn't anybody around like me as far as in that, you know, my the focus of the big league approach. What I own is a lot to do with the focus is on the mental side, not only in the physical side, but the mental side. And, you know, I had a lot of good coaches along the way. In high school. Honestly, I stayed simple see ball hit ball, I didn't try to overthink the situation. And I just saw ball hit ball and I end up getting lucky and the ball ends up falling in a little bit more times, you know, then you had some other people so i don't think i don't think i was the best player on the team. And but I was you know, I was I was a good player. You know, I was I was consistent had like consistent defense and had consistent at bats, like I said, just you know, see ball

Evan 5:00

So after high school, like you said, you were drafted by the Padres and chose to go to Juco instead. So what was behind that decision?

Jason 5:08

Well, we had drafted. Yeah, being drafted that Lee 49th round again, they don't have that those rounds. Again, remember, we have 30 teams at the time picking, you know, so if you do the math, 49 rounds times 30 teams, that's, that's around, you know, 1400 player chosen in the country, which is an exciting and it was incredible just to get the call to find out I was that I was drafted that a professional organization wanted me. Um, you know, I was getting a bigger scholarship than what they were offering me money to sign and I didn't feel like I was mentally ready enough to go in to start my professional career. I, you know, I end up it wasn't it was kind of a no brainer for me. I was gonna go to college. wanted to go to college? A my parents wanted me to go to college. And I needed more time to grow and and mentally and physically. Before I felt I was ready to go to the next step to the professional level.

Evan 6:14

That's a really mature smart decision. You averaged for 20 while at Juco. You were drafted in the 44th. Round by Tampa, your hometown team, and still chose not to sign and instead went to the University of Miami like you said. You competed in two consecutive College World Series. And what was it like to play with the hurricanes in the College World Series not once, but twice.

Jason 6:45

That's a it was what a great experience. I wish every college baseball player would get to experience something like that, you know, maybe down at Miami, I think we probably averaged three or 4000 fans a game, which was really good, you know, especially on a weekend. And next thing you know, getting a chance to get through the regionals and then go to the College World Series where you're one of eight teams, the top eight teams in the country that season. And play, you know, I was playing on ABC, ESPN, you know, national, national TV. And it was like 25,000 people there it was, it was just an incredible experience.

Evan 7:25

Amazing.

Jason 7:26

We had we had a great team, great. Our team was was really good. We were very competitive. And it was just a great experience that I wish everybody else could experience as well.

Evan 7:36

That really does sound amazing. Wow. 25,000 people.

Jason 7:43

Yeah. It's literally well, right. I mean, nothing prepares you for that. But yeah, man, you stay focused in the game. You don't even hear.

Evan 7:53

Now, after two years with the hurricanes, you have a 396 average, you hit 34 dingers. 154 RBI's and you set multiple single season records. Now you're selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 15th round of the draft. Why did you again choose to decline and go to your last year eligibility?

Jason 8:19

Again, I that was my junior year that was probably my best years to statistically playing. Physically, I was ready to go to the next level, but still mentally I didn't feel like I was I was fully there. Again, another great organization drafted me or want me to play for the organization. And again, I was getting a bigger scholarship at Miami than I was what they were offering me to go away from from school. So, you know, the way I looked at it is hey, I have another I get another year closer to graduation here for education. Before I go, play professional Ball. I mean, and you know, you probably know just as much as everybody else they the odds are the percentages of making it to the big leagues are right around 1%, if not less. It's a tremendous third, these are just tremendous numbers out there. With that, showing that so knowing that I needed to get I need to get closer to getting my degree, and I needed another year mentally to get ready.

Evan 9:30

And was there any fear that since you turned it down, it might have been your last chance to get drafted?

Jason 9:37

no I knew that I could. There was one more year I was a little disheartened because I really felt I that I would, that I should have got drafted higher or in a lower round. But you know, it is what it is. It's I think there's always a plan. You know, in life, maybe you you follow the plan and sometimes you always don't Like it, but I got a chance to, again to get another year of school, which was a great institution, University of Miami private institution, great school. And I can still get drafted again.

Evan 10:13

What were some of the biggest lessons you learned playing college baseball? And is there anything you would have done differently?

Jason 10:21

Well, you know, I think with college baseball, it's almost like a pyramid. I don't think I explained this to you. But you know, as you started out in youth baseball, you know, there's, it's a big pool of people. And then as you get, you know, to high school, some of those people weed out and yet the bet a little bit better ones get the chance to go on. Same thing you go to college. Now there's even more players that are weeded out a little bit. And then if you're lucky enough to go to professional and continues to keep going, and then we get up to the big leagues. That's, that's the pinnacle of the of your profession. And, you know, that's been my my dream. You know, since I was probably a little bit younger than you and get a fort Fortunately, I was able to play my dream. But you know, playing going from high school to college, the intensity level stepped up, you know, I felt I thought I saw more guys becoming more focused, being longer focused on working, you know, on baseball, trying to get better at what they're doing really starting to try to perfect their craft. And as I got a chance to go to D1, it was even better talent. You know, I'm facing guys, you know, pitchers that a little bit better arms. Guys are getting bigger and stronger. And I need to make those adjustments as as I went on.

Evan 11:51

The competition level was way different. In JUCO, and D1.

Jason 11:57

You know, it wasn't that bad. I didn't know much about Juco baseball coming out of high school and when I got a chance to go and look into playing with these guys on my team before we even started to play I was like man we got some some really talented guys here. I know they one of the scouts talked about our pitching staff as being comparable to LSU's.

Evan 12:21

Wow.

Jason 12:22

But yeah, I think we had we had or three top pitchers where guys were low to mid 90s. One of our pitchers was actually about to go in the first round and he went second pick in the second round. When you're so yeah, he was mean, so I got a chance to really face some good pitching. I did which helped me out to go the next level.

Evan 12:45

You finish your final year at Miami and you're drafted in the fourth round by the Philadelphia Phillies finally sign your first professional contract. This is a moment that youth baseball players all over The world dream about, and that's a place that they all want to get to. So how did you celebrate that big moment in your career?

Jason 13:09

I mean, it was. Me, I celebrated with my family. It was it was an honor. I mean, one to be drafted four out of the possible five times that I could get drafted, which is I mean, you don't really hear about that anymore. It was a tremendous honor that of that team, again, wanted me to play for their organization and get a chance to start my professional career and it was it was very exciting. Nervous as well, not knowing what the next step brought. I didn't know what kind of competition I was going to be seeing, but it was definitely very exciting. That

Evan 13:53

that has to be feel amazing. Being able to relief, like I finally got here, but I still have more work to do.

Jason 14:00

Absolutely, absolutely each you know, each organization has what six levels? you know that you need to go through that as with anything I think in the business world, you got to work your way up.

Evan 14:11

Yep. Do you remember how it felt playing your first big league game in 2001?

Jason 14:18

Yes, I was. I was on my way to my I was in AAA in Scranton, Pennsylvania at that time. Scranton was triple A, which is right underneath the big leagues. And they were the Phillies, a triple A affiliate. Then I got called up before a Sunday game. So we had a Sunday game in Scranton at one o'clock. And I got called in I think about eight or nine o'clock that morning. I usually get there early anyways to the field. And my coach sat me down and say we're, calling up to the Big League playing field a big you're getting called up. So all this wave emotions, took over a jumped in my car, whatever I can gather and I ended up speeding Down to Philly ended up getting a ticket, a speeding ticket on my way. It was about about a two hour drive, I think and ended up getting to in about the sixth inning. And when I walked in the locker room, we were playing the Cubs when I walked in the locker room, it was such a surreal moment because I saw my locker I saw my jersey hanging with with my number, my name and my number, you know, on the back and it just it was just a wave of emotion. So I hustled up, got dressed real quick, went down to the dugout. You know, met my coaches and whoever was there, you know, we I think we were on defense at that time and ended up hit I ended up pitch hitting the next I think it was the next inning. So I got there in the six either in the pinch hitting in the seventh or the eighth. I think it might have been in the seventh and the bottom of the seventh and face Todd Van popple With the Cubs, and the end up, striking me out. And I don't really remember a lot because everything was such a blur thing happens really fast. My anxiety level was really high. But to get that first at bat out of the way was I mean it was I didn't mean I cared that I struck out, but it was again such a surreal moment.

Evan 16:23

That sounds amazing. Just finally getting to your dream and knowing that it worked. The work you did when you were younger, it pays off. And now you're in the show. So one highlight I saw was your walk off Homer and 2008 against the Cardinals while you're with the pirates. So it was the bottom of the 10th inning, you hit that home run. final score 12-11 bucks win what was your approach going up to that at bat and big moments like that?

Jason 16:59

No, it was I ended up looking messing around and looking up that it was like a top 10 and pirates history or at a by by one reporter which I thought was Wow. I mean such a huge history or a long history for the Pittsburgh Pirates. My dad grew up watching the pirates and the reds. And so at that particular game, we know I ended up I didn't start that game I ended up coming in about the eighth inning, we were down 10 to four and the eighth and the bottom of the eighth you know, and just tell them my teammates, I said, Guys, you know, we can't nobody can hit a six run home run. We need to get guys on base. Okay, that's very important. When you're to have a good at bat not to swing at a pitch that's way out of the zone, you got to be very disciplined. I end up walking that at bat and end up scoring that inning and then we end up tying it up in the 10th. And then St. Louis went ahead by one in the room sorry, we ended up tying in ninth st Lewis went up one in the 10th 11 to 10. And guy good guy end up getting on and ended up facing their closer Chris Perez, who matter of fact, went to University of Miami. And he lives here ended up facing him. I didn't know him before. I knew that he threw hard. threw a first pitch ball, which helped me even more to zone in on that fastball and getting a fastball in the zone. I don't really remember swinging and I just remember rounding third base that's that's that's about it. It was all kind of a blur, but whatever an exciting moment that was.

Evan 18:41

That sounds great. That must be really great memory. when you were on deck Did you were you almost like praying that you were gonna get up with a man on base. So you had a chance or was it more of just like I want to get on base

Jason 18:55

be honest with you. I was trying to control my anxiety level. You know? I think that we did a great job coming back, you know to tie up this game 10 to 10. And here we are down by one you know, hey, we just need to get guys on base try to get a guy in scoring position you know, there was just a guy on first and you know the coach, let me swing away you know, instead of instead of butting them over which you know, I mean here where you were at home you want to play for the win, you don't want to play for the tie. So it just you know, when I was on deck just trying to stay within myself not to not to overthink the situation. Keep it simple. Get a good pitch to hit. And don't over swing.

Evan 19:39

Yeah, so eight runs in three innings. It's, it's crazy.

Jason 19:46

I might have went in in the 7th.

Evan 19:49

That's good. That's crazy. So..

Jason 19:53

that was a great team win.

Evan 19:55

For the youth baseball listening. Can you share some tips on things they could do to generate more power in their swings.

Jason 20:02

So, power power is going to come now, That's funny. So my high school career, okay, even I was drafted. I had one home run my high school career. One.

Evan 20:13

Wow.

Jason 20:13

And what I tell some of my high school players that I haven't really told the youth players as I say, guys, you're not strong enough yet. And anytime a boy gets on the field, it doesn't matter if it's if he's six years old, or if he's my age 43 we see a fence we want to go over it. It's one of the questions I asked you when we got together.

Evan 20:35

Yep.

Jason 20:35

And to me I bite by doing that. I think it creates lift. I don't want to create lift in my swing. We already do that already. To me is hit line drives. That's what that's what the major league Hall of Famers talk about these talk about hitting line drives, line drives will go but when you try to hit a home run, it doesn't really work. It just nobody's really Good to sit there say I'm gonna go up and hit a home run and then go up and hit a home run that just doesn't happen

Evan 21:06

either one or two things that you learned from hitting coaches or other great players that you played with in the major leagues that really helped you succeed

Jason 21:17

you know as as a baseball player and you know your age and even younger as you guys are going to be around a lot of coaches some good some bad and it's a tough thing I was right I was into what do you not listen to always be coachable? No matter what always be coachable? Whether it's the information is good or not. Most of the time, you don't know if it's good or not always be coachable. You know, they're learning from I take tips from all kinds of coaches. I really do a lot of them. I was learning from my teammates as well too. I would, I would, you know, talk to my teammates after somebody got a good hit. You know, such as you know, Let's say somebody just had a good hit one of your teammates had a good hit, you know, in a crucial situation in the game, you know, maybe after the game or during the game, I go up and ask him say, hey, what was your thought process there? What are you thinking about? So, you know, one thing is always keep learning, always keep learning and nobody's gonna hit 1000 this game and no pitcher is going to strike everybody out or get everybody out. So there's always something there learned in this game. You know, swing hard swing it strikes, take the balls, you know, it's something that we talked about as well. keep it simple swing hard to, you know, swing it strikes, take the balls. That's probably one of the best pieces of advice. And, you know, the fact that, you know, I told you this, too, is that there's negative results happen all the time on that baseball. Okay, you got it, you get it, you get you get the negative result and you throw it in the trash, you have to move on and focus on that next pitch, that next play whatever it is,

Evan 23:00

Speaking of throwing in the trash, one of the things that stuck with me when I trained with you, was when you said if something doesn't go your way, learn from it, then throw it away. What other pieces of advice would you share with us baseball players on overcoming challenges and keeping our heads in the game?

Jason 23:21

And then that's the thing. I think it's tougher when you're younger, as far as trying to figure out how to focus how to stay calm, how to concentrate during the game, there's there's a lot of moments in the game where there's nothing really going on in the big leagues, and sometimes I would find myself drifting as well in the outfield, especially if our pitcher was doing really well. There's not really much going on. But I'd like to say guys, when you get into that, that chain link fence or you start pulling that field, keep your middle keep your your your thoughts there. wouldn't really messes it up is that we try to overthink the situation or we distract ourselves. So when you get in that fence when you get in those that chain link fence and get on that field focus on that focus in their focus take that as as as your reminder getting away from the day, whether it's schoolwork or you're in trouble at home, with your parents or whatever, or your maybe some friends or wherever it is, stay focused on when you're there because when you're in school, you need to stay focused on school, you're on baseball field, you stay focused there.

Evan 24:27

How did you mentally prepare for a game? I know you talk a lot about the mental side when you train people. And just in really, in general, when you played so how did you mentally prepare for a game and did you have any mental cues that you'd use?

Jason 24:41

I wanted to stay within myself. I didn't want to try to do something that I'm that's not me. You know, I had a I did have a hitting coach in the big leagues or actually a manager. Tell me like you know, stay in your lane. And you know, me it was kind of referring to you know, like a like a running track and You got to stay in your lane. Don't try to get out, hey, if you're a home if you're if you're a double hitter, it doubles if you're a home run hitter, hit home runs, you know if you're, if you're if you're a double hitter, don't try to hit home runs, it's not my lane. You know, stay in your lane do what you could control. I'd say I just stay focused, try to you know, not distract myself, it's so easy for you to start for, for us to start distracting ourselves. Want to keep it simple. I want to stay motivated. You know, knowing that hey, a negative result is possible to happen today. I need to throw that in the trash as soon as as soon as I can. So I don't waste my a bad or take that bad bad out to the field. And you possibly make an error or hurt my team. But say stay simple, stay simple, stay motivated and stay hungry.

Evan 25:55

Yeah, that's, that's really valuable. So after you retired in 2012 he became a mentor roving coach in the national minor league system. That is the first time I've ever heard that term used and sounds pretty cool. So can you share what the job of a mentor and coach was? And

Jason 26:18

so I was with the nationals and AAA in 2013. And it was it was I was on I was, I was on my way out, I was starting to lose it in my heart a little bit as far as I'm playing. But I still enjoyed talking with my teammates and tell them about different situations in the game. And you know why they would handle it this way I thought about this way. So it was it was a way that the coaching staff ended up seeing me and like, you know, they end up relaying it to the to the front office with the with the nationals and say, hey, look, I think we need to have this guy around. And so they end up offering me a coaching position and then my minor leagues, and I was really mostly with the rookie ball guys. Now these are guys that are right out of high school, or guys that come over from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, wherever. And it's really the young guys to get their feet wet and to get going in into their professional career. So a lot of what I did was was my was helping them with their approach and how they approach the game, whether it was hitting, whether it was defense, or whether it was bass running. That's that's what they wanted me to do. And I ended up going around to all six of the minor league teams and talking with a lot of the players. And they were asking me questions as well as far as it may. What would you do here? What would you think of this and I really enjoyed I really enjoyed what I did.

Evan 27:52

Now you bring all your experience to training players at the big league approach. Can you share more about the mission Philosophy there.

Jason 28:01

Absolutely. And that's, you know, probably the main goal, or the main focus is the the mental side. You know, and like I was telling you, I'm not here to revamp your swing, your swing is your swing now we can tweak it here a little bit here and there and it's a lot of it has to do with up here. What's in between your ears. And what helped me be able to do that is become a student. Just like I was a student in school, I had to be a student at baseball. There's so much to learn. It's I mean, it's it looks like and it it really is an easy game, throw the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball, but there's so many factors that go into it. And that's what I help with I help with helping players develop their mental approach to hitting to defense as well. At there and to enhance their their their swing to make their swing path. More online in the in the hitting zone or stay longer in the hitting zone. And just to focus on hitting line drives and really mentor mentor the younger guys, these players Not me, not me again, my I've been teaching kids from four years old all the way up to 55. And it's it's really enjoyable. I'm getting some great feedback. I'm I'm also learning from my clients too.

Evan 29:28

Now I want to move into the rapid fire questions. You're ready. Okay. Know, what did you major in in college and why?

Jason 29:36

So sports management, that's. And it was business management. I decided to do sports management. Why? Don't know.

Evan 29:49

What was your favorite Major League stadium to play in?

Jason 29:53

Well, Baltimore, Camden Yards, or Oriole park? I don't know what they're calling it now.

Evan 29:58

Yeah, Camden Yards. What was your favorite memory of playing in the big leagues?

Jason 30:05

Probably the walk off home Well, between the walk off home run and then 2007. I was with the Indians, we went to we, we end up going in the playoffs, we end up going to play the Yankees and beat the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, which we were one of three teams to do. end up having a couple at bats and having a double. And that just that season was very memorable. 2007 we were one game away from going to World Series. That's the year Boston beat Colorado. we'll serious but that in my walk off.

Evan 30:41

Wow. That sounds like a really cool memory. Being able to stay in the playoffs and be one of the better teams in baseball.

Jason 30:51

Yeah, absolutely.

Evan 30:52

In inches. Tell us what's the longest length that your hair has ever been?

Jason 30:59

Oh man. It's got It'd be 12 inches maybe I got a couple of photos that I saw. Wow, my hair was that long. Yeah, just some Phase I was going through, like I was just, I didn't want to get cut, just being lazy.

Evan 31:13

Would you like to share any projects that you're working on and the best place for people to reach out to you and learn more about you

Jason 31:21

just, you know, continue to teach. And, you know, help and mentor, mentor younger players, not just baseball players, but softball players as well. And just trying to get the best out of each client. It's, I mean, I'm really fortunate. I've been fortunate enough to have some really good clients and great parents as well. And which really, which really helps. So the name of my company, again, is the Big League Approach. You can find me at www.thebigleagueapproach.com my cell numbers on there, and there's a way to sign up for lessons. As well as in the Tampa area. That's probably the best way.

Evan 32:06

Okay, thank you so much for coming on, and sharing some great information with the Born To Baseball community.

Jason 32:13

You got it. Thanks for having me on, Evan.

Evan 32:15

Thank you.

Thank you all for listening in. We really hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to hit the subscribe button and be the first to know when new episodes launch. Check us out at borntobaseball.com for free resources and new gear. Download the born to baseball app to have real time conversations, share your game and video highlights and be celebrated by our BTB team and of course on social media @borntobaseball where we can connect live. Now, let's play ball.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Born To Baseball Website

BTB Travel Team & Training Tracker

Episode #008: John Rodriguez- World Series Champion/ Hitting Coach

May 2020 By Evan

Ep. #008: Join Evan and John Rodriguez as John takes us through his baseball journey, talks some hitting including his thoughts on hand path and launch angle, and shares his World Series experience.

What You’ll Learn:

01:20- John’s baseball journey

05:06- Road to the majors

07:40- Hitting in front of Albert Pujols

11:45- How he felt when he was signed by the NY Yankees

13:30- Keys to success when it comes to hitting

14:50- Good hand path

15:50- Thoughts on Launch angle

20:04- Tradeoffs on the road to success

22:50- The importance of Mindset

26:27- Playing in the World Series

Thank you for being here with us! Evan and the Born To Baseball Team are looking forward to celebrating your success and sharing this journey together.

If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple or wherever you’re listening here. This will help other ball players find the Born To Baseball Podcast and give us more chances to shout out our listeners!

Now, let’s play ball!

Read show notes here.

Show Links:

Email: Jrod411925@yahoo.com

Website: https://www.yyaa.org/yorkville-baseball-academy

Born To Baseball Links:

Instagram: @borntobaseball

Facebook

Twitter: @bornto_baseball

Born To Baseball Podcast

Episode 008_JOHN RODRIGUEZ WORLD SERIES CHAMPION AND HITTING COACH

The transcription below was provided for your convenience through an automated service. Please excuse any unintended errors made in the process.

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 0:24

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 the born to baseball podcast. Today we have John Rodriguez with us. His 17 year pro career started with him getting signed by the New York Yankees in 1996 as an undrafted free agent. He got called up in 2005 by the St. Louis Cardinals and won a World Series ring in 2006. He retired and 2013 with an MLB career average close to 300. He is also the head of operations and head hitting coach at Yorkville baseball Academy, as well as the hitting coach for the Cleveland railroaders based in Texas. John, thank you so much for being here.

John 1:15

Thank you for having me, kid.

Evan 1:17

Could you start us out by sharing your baseball journey?

John 1:20

I was born and raised in New York. And I went to Brandeis High School and then I had a tryout and Yankee Stadium. My uncle knew a cop, who knew the scout which was ceaser prescot, who was holding a tryout in Yankee Stadium. And they were about I would say, close to 100 kids, and I was the only one that was just as a favor. went in, you know, did what I had to do just more or less, you know, I in a tryout, it's, you know, fly balls in the outfield because I'm a lefty. I rarely play First base, run a 60. Hit batting practice and then it was like more of like a simulator game. And at that time, I was actually my first time swinging a wood bat. And I hit three in the upper deck, then when old Yankee Stadium, which is kind of telling my age, but you know. And then from there, I left because I felt like he didn't, there was no interest. You know, I did what out to do, but you know, I just felt like there was no, no, no, no, like I said, no interest towards me or because he had a bunch of kids there that he had invited. I went to play in the Bronx in the St. Mary's league. And then from there, the president of the league asked me, you know, are you serious about this game? And I was like, Yeah, of course. I love this game. This is I love this game ever since, you know, two years old, I was able to pick up a bat and throw a ball. And he was like, Alright, good, because I have some scouts coming down here to watch you play. I was like, Yeah, right, whatever, you know. And then he saw He's like, No, I'm serious. Like, alright, I'll believe it when I see it. So the Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh, I think it might have been the Cubs and they might have been Milwaukee all came down and watch me play in and long and behold, the Yankee scout was ceaser prescot the one that was holding the tryout and he came up to me after the game. He was like, Where were you? Why did you leave? You know, I was looking all over for you. And I was like, why is like, you know, being my naive self was like, why? He's like, because I want to sign you. I was like, now you're playing around with me. Seriously, don't this is my biggest dream is to get signed specially from the Yankees. And he's like, No, I'm serious. We can't give you a lot of money. So I was Listen to me, I don't care about the money. What I want to do is just give me a plane ticket, get me down there. And I'll show you what I can do. And 17 years later You know, that's, that's really it. I went down there. Enjoyed rookie ball, because in the outfield was me, our first rounder, our third rounder, and our fifth rounder. And guess who, you know, obviously, those three guys are going to start over me. But I took it as a challenge. I didn't feel like they were any better than I was. You know, and I and I proved it. And I ended up being the starter on my rookie ball team, right fielder.

Evan 4:51

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Could you talk to us a little bit about your road to the majors.

John 4:55

road to the majors, who was definitely a tough one. I just said started off in rookie ball, played rookie ball went to a skip short season a once a regular season a which was in Greensboro, North Carolina. Then I spent two years in high which is the Yankees two years in double A and then two years in AAA and then got a signed with the Cleveland Indians in 2005. And then they traded me over to the St. Louis Cardinals where I guess it's just like, they always say, you know, new surroundings brings, you know, new joy. And for some reason it just clicked. Everything clicked I was I hit 343 with 17 home runs and 43 RBI's in 34 games.

Evan 5:50

Yeah,

John 5:50

You know, and it just something like I said, they call it the zone but what I was feeling was not wasn't scared. I felt like I had nothing to lose, you know, everything was was just coming together and I just felt good. It felt amazing. You know, coming to the baseball, you know, baseball field every day, even if I was, you know, I love that either way, even if I was struggling or I was succeeding, but at that time it was it was just magical like I I can't I couldn't figure it out like it was. It was something that was I was always dreamt of as a little kid when I was in my mother's living room, hitting a baseball and just imagining you know, hitting home runs or you know, being you know, the best at that sport and that at that in that month. That's what I felt. And then from there, Reggie Sanders got hurt. And I guess they had no choice to call me up. Since I was doing so good. Got there soon as I got to the locker room. I was an amazement because I saw, you know, the jerseys. Albert Pulhos, Scott Rowland, Jim Edmonds, you know, Yadier Molina he was a rookie at that time. Adam Wainwright just seeing you know, those guys jerseys and then looking off and seeing number 53 that Rodriguez in the back and I was, I had to hold back my tears I ran into the bathroom and just threw water on my face and make it look like water on my face instead of tears. But it was just a time and place of joy. It was. It was amazing. Soon as I got out the bathroom, Tony larosa goes come into my office. And at that point, I was scared. I was I was really nervous. He was like, you know, howdy, welcome, you know, thanks for being here. You definitely deserve it. You know, I hope you continue. You know your success up here. And I was like, No, I plan on it. But we'll see. What happens? And he was like, that's good because you're starting tonight. Like what? Wait a minute. Are you serious? He's like, yeah, you're starting you're starting in left field and you're hitting second right in front of Pulhos so I was like, All right, I'll make sure to get on base so he can get his RBI's he was like good because that's all he wants. And then at that point in time, the scenario with all that was my thought process was, one be a team player to do everything that you need to do to succeed but also do it in a team atmosphere, not just I I wanted to stay healthy, because that was one of my problems, you know, throughout my career, was trying to stay healthy is just baseball injuries, you know, hamstrings, pulled this pull that you know, just freak accidents and then just enjoy them. Just enjoy. Because you never know what is going to be your last time there. So, you know, even at this time in my life, I still feel like I can do it, but my age obviously is not going to let me. But once you're there, don't take it for granted. Just enjoy every, every every second that you're there and just treat everybody with respect, with admiration with you know, with a lot of love and all that in return, it will come back to you. You know, never think that you're better than anybody else. If you do keep it to yourself, just keep that confidence in yourself. Be confident, not cocky, you know, treat the reporters with respect, because at the same time, I know they're gonna ask you difficult questions. You know, try to answer it as best as you can. And in a respectful manner, you know, especially if you're a great player, you're going to have the microphone in your face, every game 162 games. year plus postseason spring training, you're going to have a microphone in your face. And if you're a great player, those are the guys that dictate if you're going to go on to the Hall of Fame or not so. So you also have to, you know, take that into consideration, but more, more than anything, you just want to be a personable guy where they feel comfortable coming up to you, and knowing that they can talk to you and not be so afraid or standoffish that, you know, they want to just shy away from you. You know, and, and the biggest thing with me too, was the fans. I love the fans like they're there to see you play. And if a little kid, you know, wants an autograph, sign it that's, that was my biggest thing. I'd stopped. I'm going to sign you know. So then, adults, you know, you have guys that want to sell your cards or sell your autograph. It's their hustle. You know, you're in the major leagues you're making as a rookie, you're making half a million. And then you get your contracts you're making into the millions. And if they want to sell your autograph for 20 bucks or 30 bucks or 100 bucks, so be it. You know, they have to make a living also. So I saw it, I saw it in that manner where everything is a hustle, but at the same time, they're also trying to feed their family. So if I'm making that a bunch of money, why, why not share?

Evan 5:50

Wow.

John 11:32

like I said, with the kids. That was easy for me. I just did it wasn't even a hesitation.

Evan 11:38

How cool was it to get signed by one of your hometown teams, the Yankees

John 11:43

oh my gosh,one it was a dream come true. Two it was just seeing those guys on TV and then being with them in the locker room was it's just hard to explain. It's just you're an actor. You know, when you've been watching, you know, Denzel Washington or, you know, Robert DeNiro, you know, on TV your whole life and then all of a sudden you're in the same place with them and you're acting with them. It's kind of surreal. But then after a while when you're there, it's becomes a family and you just, you know, you belong. You know, because you're there. So you know, you belong.

Evan 12:29

What led you to become an outfielder,

John 12:32

lefty. I can't play that many other positions. Besides outfield and pitch and first base. That's it. So that's why I have my youngest son, who's 17. When he was two years old, he grabbed the ball with his left hand and I told him to drop the ball. I said, Put your left hand behind your back and grab it with your right and throw with your right so he's been doing that.

Evan 12:53

And can you share some tips that you use in the outfield to take the fast route to the ball.

John 13:02

Oh, that's hard to kind of hard to explain. It's easier to show. That's why I love doing it. Just a lot of drills are like drop steps, you know, reaction times, you know, just knowing knowing where the ball is going to be, and getting there putting your head down and know what's going to be there. Yeah, that's really the best way I could explain it.

Evan 13:28

You're heading into your second season as the hitting coach for the Cleburne railroaders their team batting average from 2018 to 2019 jumped 32 points and slugging increased by 95 points. So congratulations on that. What are some of your keys to success when it comes to hitting

John 13:45

a hand path, bat path, balance. There's a lot of things that go into it. Like I said before, it's easier for me to show then and to say but uh, a lot of it is controlled anger, controlled aggression. You know, I want people I want the kids, even adults that I teach. I want them to swing hard, but if when they do, it has to be the right approach the right hand path, the right bat path, to get to the ball to stay short to the ball and drive the ball. There's so many elements that go into you know, hitting pitching fielding, obviously, but hitting is probably the most difficult part of baseball because you have a ball that's coming 90 to 100 miles an hour and now it's moving you know, it's not just straight, like I said balance is one of the keys hand path and bat path is the biggest for me

Evan 14:40

some know you as john hand path, Rodriguez. That just shows how much you preach hand path while hitting. How important is it to have good hand path?

John 14:50

It's one of the keys because you know, like we call it the Allah Derek Jeter, you know how many times he's been jammed and get a base hit to right field. You know, Because he had the right approach, he had the right hand path, getting to the ball staying tight, staying through the ball and, and just believed in himself and believed in his hands.

Evan 15:10

What's your favorite drill for creating good hand path?

John 15:15

Oh, again, I would have to show you. I'm just trying to stay compact, is trying to stay short, trying to stay tight. And what I mean by tight is, you know, you almost want to swing. Like you're gonna rub your hands across your shirt, you know, stay in short and tight into staying inside the baseball and trying to drive the ball that way. And more or less is just where you may contact is where you're going to hit the ball. Really,

Evan 15:45

what's your take on the launch angle, type swing,

John 15:48

launch angle is portrayed with some coaches the wrong way and some coaches the right way. A lot of it is you know that a lot of kids are just dropping a barrel behind the zone to bring it up and that's not the right way to do it. You want to drop your bat in so the zone and then have that kind of upward swing but it's it's more of an angle to your bat, which creates and also contact points. You know you could have that loopy swing and then hit a ball out but you could have that loopy swing and topspin balls, Miss balls, which, obviously statistics is showing that that they're more inconsistent with that swing than then consistent, you know? Yes, homeruns have gone up but averages has gone down. strikeouts has gone up walks has gone down slugging percentage, you know, on base percentage for sure. Run as a scoring position. You know, there was a situation you know, with the in the Yankee game during the playoffs. You have runners on third, less than two outs, and both the next two guys struck out. Because of that upward swing, just put the ball in play, that run may count, you know, that run dictates, you know, the outcome of the game. And a lot of guys just see it as and you know, Why get that one run when we could get 2, you're going to have over 500 bats in the big leagues. How many times you think you're going to hit a home run at the most 20, 30, 40 so 40 just say four that's the top guys 44, 40 home runs out of five to 600 bats. It's not a lot. You know, I rather have a guy that hit 20 home runs with 130 RBI's, then a guy hit 40 home runs with 80 or 90 RBI's. That's my you know, I rather have that. That's that's the type of player i would love.

Evan 18:00

Power is a big part of hitting. What are some key things that you baseball players can do to increase power and exit velocity?

John 18:09

Well, what I do is I use a lot of weighted balls, just to gain strength on your hands, wrists and forearms. Yes, also I do band work with for rotation for your hips, you know, just to get that whip but most of all, I love doing, you know, weighted baseballs. And then also have the hitting jacket where it's a weight that sits in between your bat in the middle of your bat where you could still hit, but it also balances out the bat where it's not top heavy. I like doing those two routines. And the biggest thing, like I said, for me is the weighted balls. It's just like I kind of in comparison to a boxer. Right? He's doing his his training camp. He's punching a heavy bag, and that heavy bag is probably 30 40 pounds heavier than a human being. So the more and more he hits that bag as he gets stronger, and then when he hits a human being in a boxing ring, that's where the knockouts come. And that's where the power comes from.

Evan 19:15

So you coach both youth and adult players. How do you know when a player is ready for a new piece of information? Is it based on age or skill level and readiness?

John 19:27

Well, they're always they're always ready for new information doesn't matter age, obviously age, you're going to need more. But as you get older, you know, you if, if you're a student of the game, you'll need less but you will always need information no matter what.

Evan 19:46

How much time should a youth baseball player be investing on their own? If they're serious about playing college ball and one day going pro,

John 19:56

like I said, become a student of the game. It takes a lot of sacrifice. You know, especially as you get older into your teens, you know, you get into middle school, we get into high school. There's friends, there's parties, there's girlfriends. There's a lot of outside distractions that can take you away from your goal. And if you're serious about, you know, not just playing in high school or college, if you're serious about going to the big leagues, there's going to be a lot of sacrifice. And like I said, and I tell you know, the youth today, there's always going to be parties, there's always going to be girls, even for softball women. That's always going to be there. But it gets better. When you make it to the top. You know, be the best you can be. Get your contract. Like I said, Be respectful, be the best person you can be and all that is way Better in the major leagues, you know not to worry about all that. Now, yes, you want, you want to be a kid, that's fine. There's times that you can hang out with your friends. There's times that you can go to parties and stuff like that. But don't let it interfere with your work ethic. Don't let it interfere with your school. Never let it interfere with your school. That's one point. And be decisive be be the person that it say. If I have practice, right, and I've done it, let's say I practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and a have, and I also have practice on Friday, but it interrupts with a school party or a friend's party. If you're serious about it, what are you going to do? You're going to go to practice. Skip the party. You guys let me know how It went. That's fine. This is my goal. This is where I want Be and those that like I said, those are the little things and those are the sacrifices that you have to go through. So you're gonna miss a lot of stuff. But at the end of it all, you're going to be thankful that you did it.

Evan 22:13

What was your playing and workout routine as a high school ballplayer?

John 22:18

Well, we didn't have any of the facilities, equipment, you know that kids have today. There's no batting cages for us. We kind of had to like invent our own baseballs. We took a tennis ball and make it heavier, we would tape it. You know, we played a lot of sponge ball. A lot of backyard stuff, you know, put the guys put all your friends together and then just play that way. A lot of us didn't have baseball gloves. So we just you know, play the sport without gloves and just use our hands just to make it even for everybody. A lot of things a lot of you know the way I truly got better was that playing with my friends in the backyard and then mimicking a lot of the guys on TV. You know, like, you know, Bernie Williams, Don Mattingly, Paul O'Neill guys like that. Ken Griffey Jr. You know, those are the guys. I just watched him on TV as a lefty, I would mimic their swing. And you know, just had a feel for what they were doing, but didn't really know the process on how they were doing it. So that was a confusing part. But every time I mimicked it, it felt good and it felt real. So I just went with that.

Evan 23:43

How important has mindset been for you in your career?

John 23:47

Oh that's the biggest one. That's the most powerful tool for any human being warrior athlete. Its your brain its your mind. Just being in control, being in control of your of your body of your everyday life, it's it's the biggest thing like you couldn't you could control. Whatever you want to control is if you put your mind to it and study and read and understand emotions, understand people's feelings understand, you know what type of lifestyle you want, you know, the mind, like I said is the most powerful thing anybody can have.

Evan 24:31

You played in the MLB for two years with the Cardinals. How often did you get to pick the brains of other players

John 24:38

every day Every day Like all right, different situations. I pick the brain of Chris carpenter and Adam Wainwright on how they get hitters out. Pick the brain on with Albert Pulhos, our pools and hitting in all different situations. Also did that with Jim admins on Hitting because he was lefty and then also I did with Jim Emmons picked his brain about you know, how to how to become a better outfielder you know how to how to approach the game with different hitters and their power where do they hit the ball the most and how does he you know, get around the baseball to you know, have a better throw up a better throwing, you know, position to the basis and also with you know, yadi Molina same thing you know how he would go about you know, calling pitches for different hitters slap guys power guys, average guys, you know, just different scenarios. And then also, as I was getting older in my career, I spoke to the coaches on you know, how to coach how to be a manager how to be a hitting coach, you know, and how to teach. You know, the guys

Evan 25:53

yeah, was there one piece of advice that stood out to you the most

John 25:59

a lot of time times guys would just say, you know, just be true to yourself and know, know your game. You know, don't if you're a slap guy, don't try to be a power guy. If you're a power guy, don't try to do too much. Just play your game and try to be the best player for your team.

Evan 26:20

youth baseball players like me, we dream of playing in the MLB playing in the World Series is the next level. How much different as a World Series game than a regular season?

John 26:31

Well, it's, it's mind blowing. It's it's excitement from before the first pitch. So even after the last pitch. It's just an experience because now you know, you have 32 teams, and usually, only your fans and the team's fans that you're playing against are watching. Now it's the World Series. You're the only two teams left now you have a million have fans watching you, you know, even if they're fans of someone else, they're watching the game. So that's where they call it you know, that's the stage that's where your dad, you know, being a an artist in the music industry. He'll be at a club and then all of a sudden he's playing in the Super Bowl. You know he's playing halftime the Super Bowl and it's like, everybody's watching you now. You know and it's the same kind of the same aspect and not top of that is like I said, You can't let the moment get too big. treated as just like for me, yes, I was nervous but at the same time, I just treat it as a you know, backyard, you know, baseball game with my friends. I didn't let the moment get too big for me.

Evan 27:48

What was your reaction when Adam Wainwright threw that last pitch to strike out Brandon Inge and win the World Series.

John 27:57

Mind blowing, Unbelievable. dream come true. Just Is this real? Just everything you can think of as a kid just at that moment was real

Evan 28:14

What's your favorite memory from the World Series?

John 28:18

when Adam Whainwrigh struck out, Brandon Inge, because it was over. Yeah, just to celebrations. Just knowing that we were world champions, and nobody could ever, ever take that away from us.

Evan 28:34

That's awesome. And now I want to move on to the Rapid Fire question.

John 28:38

All right, let's do it. Oh, hotseat?

Evan 28:42

What was your favorite team growing up

John 28:44

New York Yankees.

Evan 28:46

Who's your favorite power hitter of all time.

John 28:50

I would have to say Ken Griffey Jr. Because him and Barry Bonds but Ken Griffey Jr. The most because I'd followed him a lot,

Evan 28:57

in your opinion, who's the best clutch player of all time.

John 29:02

I would love to say, postseason wise is Derek Jeter and and just like all around when I was playing like my first, those first 10 years just watching his Albert Pulhos and then Now, obviously, you know Mike trout.

Evan 29:22

Last but definitely not least, how often do you clean your World Series ring?

John 29:27

Oh, probably every month just to check if it's still in the safe.

Evan 29:38

Are there any projects you're working on or have coming up that you'd like to share?

John 29:42

Going back to be the hitting coach for the Cleveland railroaders I'm excited about that. And then hopefully, you know if everything works out, either continue there or throw my hat in the ring for an MLB job.

Evan 29:57

Where can people go to follow you or learn more about you?

John 30:00

I'm at the Yorkville baseball Academy on 106 and First Avenue in New York, New York. I'm there Monday through Saturday. And then Google.

Evan 30:11

JOHN, thank you so much for being here.

John 30:14

Oh, you're awesome kid

Evan 30:15

and sharing great knowledge with the born to baseball community.

John 30:19

Thank you very much for having me.

Evan 30:20

So it's tradition around here to have some ice cream after so you're ready?

John 30:24

Let's get it

Evan 30:27

Thank you all for listening in. We really hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to hit the subscribe button and be the first to know when new episodes launch. Check us out at borntobaseball.com for free resources and new gear. Download the borns baseball app to have real time conversations, share your game and video highlights and be celebrated by our BTB team and of course on social media @borntobaseball where we can connect live. Now let's play ball.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Born To Baseball Website

BTB Travel Team & Training Tracker

Episode #007: Shea Hillenbrand- 2X MLB All Star/ Founder of Against All Odds Foundation & 2V’s Apparel / Realtor / Peak Performance Coach

April 2020 By Evan

Ep. #007: Join Evan and Shea Hillenbrand, 2X MLB All Star, Founder of Against All Odds Foundation and 2V’s Apparel, Realtor and Peak Performance Coach.

In this interview, Shea’s energy shines through as he shares insight into his determination and practice routine on the road to the Bigs, his Four Step Focus Formula to take your hitting game consistently to the next level, and offers advice to players on dreaming big, taking responsibility and living on purpose.

01:15- Shea’s Journey

03:28- Tips on making your dream tangible

04:26- His dream of owning a zoo

05:16- The role being a multi sport athlete played in his development

09:35- Learning to play multiple positions as a Pro

12:03- Key advice he received from Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez

14:10- The Four Step Focus Formula

16:22- Advice for youth players managing distractions & responsibilities

20:20- Being part of the 1%

26:11- 1st Major League All-Star Game experience

32:40- Staying relaxed & focused while hitting

39:20- Failing your way to success

Read show notes here.

Show Links:

Instagram: @shea_hillenbrand

Facebook: @Shea Hillenbrand @Shea Hillenbrand – Rewrite Your Story

Website: http://sheahillenbrand.tv/

Born To Baseball Links:

Instagram: @borntobaseball

Facebook

Twitter: @bornto_baseball

Born To Baseball Podcast

Episode 007_SHEA HILLENBRAND 2X MLB ALL STAR FOUNDER OF AGAINST ALL ODDS FOUNDATION AND 2V APPAREL REALTOR PEAK PERFORMANCE COACH

The transcription below was provided for your convenience through an automated service. Please excuse any unintended errors made in the process.Evan 0:00

This episode of born 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? Than you have to check out the BTB triple T tracker at borntobaseball.com. Make sure your team is represented. Let's go.

Evan 0:00

Music 0:24

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 the born to baseball podcast. Today we're excited to have Shay Hillenbrand with us. Shea played seven years in the major leagues is a two time All Star and was Player of the Year three out of five years in the minor leagues. Some of his career highlights include hitting a game winning home run off of Mariano Rivera at Fenway Park, and hitting three home runs in three consecutive innings. Amazing. Shea, thank you so much for coming on.

Shea 1:10

My pleasure. Thanks for having me, buddy.

Evan 1:12

Would you like to start us off by sharing your baseball journey?

Shea 1:15

My baseball journey, I think that would take about an hour, hour and a half to share that. But a lot like you what you shared to me, shared with me before we started the show is that ever since I can remember since five years old, six years old, seven years old, I had a baseball in one hand and a glove on the other hand, pursuing my dream of becoming a major league baseball player. So I have two older brothers, and they never did anything. They didn't do the extra work. They didn't go outside and play and put in the extra work to get themselves advanced at whatever they were doing. So they had the same opportunities I did, but they didn't take advantage of that. So I want to share that with all your listeners out there that baseball is something that's different than most sports is you have to have a hunger inside yourself with baseball. For the game, you have to love the game in order to go out there and work outside of practice outside of games outside of tournaments, outside of the rings, outside of the bats, all that stuff, you have to work so starting in middle school and high school, I'd eat supper real quick outside inside with the family and I run back outside and I hit the ball off the tee in the backyard. My father didn't buy me a tee or a net or any of that stuff. So I made a contraption a net out of PVC piping, which is what your irrigation piping is for your sprinkler systems for the frame and then I had a bed sheet and boy was that bed sheet loud man I hit that ball so hard just to wake up a neighbor's and make her neighbors let him know that the hearing Shea Hillenbrand is going to be a major league baseball player. So I worked harder than everybody else and I grew up in LA area. And I was a die hard Dodger fan when I grew up. And my mom had season tickets to the Dodgers games and my mom My best friend and myself would sit in the third deck and the top of the stadium, and I sit there with my chocolate malt in one hand, my nachos on the other hand, and I would just say, I'm going to be out there someday I'm going to be out there someday, I am going to be a major league baseball player starting at 7,8,9 years old. And that's what I want to convey to your listeners as well is that everybody has to have a dream. Everybody has a dream, they have a purpose, and they have a mission to accomplish here on earth. And I wanted to become a major league baseball player ever since just like yourself, and I think you can relate to that. So I would engage my senses and you got to make your dream become tangible by engaging the senses that you have. You got to touch it, you got to feel it, you got to smell it, you got to taste it, and you got to visualize it. Okay, so I said at the top of the deck, a third deck at Dodger Stadium, and I'd say you know, I'd hear the crack of the bat. I'd hear the roar of the crowd. I smell the grass. And I'd always imagined the announcer announcing My name now batting number 29. Shay Hillenbrand, everybody thought I was crazy. Because the chances of becoming a major leaguer is so insanely difficult, but I didn't care because I made my dream become tangible. And it was nobody else's dream but myself. So you can't compare yourself to other people's dreams because some people at your age, young lads at your age are playing baseball because your dad wants them to their mom wants to. That's what the cool thing is my friends, you have to have your own dream. And I did that. So when I was a kid, I had two dreams. I want to become a major league baseball player. And I wanted to own a zoo. Yes, you heard me correctly. So when I left Major League Baseball in the prime of my career, at 32 years old, I bought a zoo I think I'm the only major league baseball player to ever do this ever. Major League Baseball buying a zoo. Why? Because I loved animals. And I love helping out kids just like yourself with the animals. So I purchased the farm 38 acres at a 300 farm and exotic animals, camels, kangaroos, llamas, alpacas, monkeys, raccoons, everything up to the moon. permanent position to help kids out like yourself and impact your life. So I'm kind of a unique individual, and how it's kind of like, do my own thing. So, but you got to follow your dreams.

Evan 5:12

Thank you for sharing your baseball journey.

Shea 5:14

Absolutely.

Evan 5:17

You excelled as an all around athlete growing up baseball and soccer especially. What role did being a multi sport athlete play in your development?

Shea 5:28

That's a great question. When you're researching these questions, man who do these on your own?

Evan 5:34

Yeah,

Shea 5:35

that's awesome. Great job. So I always played multiple sports when I was a kid because I'm super competitive. And I'm pretty athletic. So I played baseball and baseball season basketball and basketball season and elementary school and junior high. And then I played football and football season soccer and soccer season. And what people don't understand is that you can't play baseball more than eight months out of the year. Because it drives your mind crazy. You have to let your mind relax. And I'm telling you as a major leaguer playing, playing every day in the major leagues, hitting 600 at bats, after six months of doing that, you're like, give me the heck out of here, even us as adults, even us as the best in the world at what we do. We deal with that because this is how we are as human beings as people. So you got to rest your mind. So I love soccer, soccer was a heck of a lot easier than baseball. I love slide tackling people. I love trying to be aggressive and doing that stuff and anticipate I was a forward and actually I was a number one soccer player in high school and Arizona had no options to play baseball anywhere out of high school. I had options to play soccer in Europe at options to play at a university division one university for soccer, but my childhood dream was to play Major League Baseball. So I walked on at the local community college, that's the only option I had. And I was the first guy there and the last guy to leave every single day. Why? Because I had a dream. Becoming a major league baseball player. And I made the team because of my work ethic. And after three years of playing at the junior college, some people might say, how'd you play the junior college three years because Junior College is two years. I'm medical redshirt in one year. So I was actually there for three years, I became the number one baseball player in Arizona, at the junior college level after three years, so it's just work ethic, but you have to play multiple sports. You have to you have to for development, and to be able to move and do different things and stimulate your mind. You have to be able to play multiple sports and it's challenging for you guys now, as kids because a lot of coaches like Oh, you got to play baseball year round. No, you don't. Here's a guy right here that didn't do it. And I made millions of millions of dollars in the major leagues, playing multiple sports and a lot of Major League Baseball players do the same thing. So I challenge people just enjoy being a kid because when you grow up, you have to deal with adult things. So enjoy playing multiple sports.

Evan 7:53

Yeah, that's great advice. You were drafted as a shortstop but played multiple positions in the MLB How were you able to adjust to that?

Shea 8:07

You weren't gonna stop me I don't care what anybody said. I was gonna become a major leaguer. Check this out. I was, first of all, I grew up a diehard Dodger fan like I told you. And in 1996, long, long, long, long, long time ago, I was drafted by the Boston Red Sox. And that was my childhood dream to get drafted by a major league baseball team, right to get drafted by a team to go professional baseball. And I told all my friends, check this out at 22 years, 20 years old. I told all my friends I got drafted by the White Sox. And they're like, What are you talking about? Man? You get drafted by the Red Sox, like the most prestigious team like Boston Red Sox, New York. And I was like, wait, I got drafted by the Red Sox. I don't even know what I got drafted by because I wanted to become a major leaguer. and my excuse? Every time or my answers every time I had two answers, I tell everybody because they thought it was kind of crazy. I didn't even know what to I got drafted by, I said for one, I'm a Dodger fan. All right, when you grew up a Dodger fan, you show up in the 3rd inning and leave in the seventh inning to beat traffic. So you'd never You don't know anything about baseball outside of Dodger Stadium in LA, as a West Coast Dodger fan quite different than New York. Let me tell you that much right there. But, so I said, I'm a Dodger fan. And for two, I told everybody this, mark my words, but I told him, I don't care what Sox it is White Sox, Red Sox, blue Sox, purple sock, pink socks. I'm going to the big leagues. So no matter what team you're on, he's going to have the opportunity and take advantage of that. So after I got drafted, I got drafted as a shortstop check this out. Number one shortstop in Arizona junior college, I went to play my first 10 games and professional baseball in Lowell, Massachusetts. I had no idea what I was doing. I knew how to hit I didn't know how to field. I made 14 errors. Check this out. I made 14 errors in my first 10 games at shortstop. I was up there wearing it, man. I was out there. Oh my gosh, this is horrible. And 4000 fans booing you because you're missing the ball all the time. And the manager came to me one day and he said, Hey, do you want to play like first base or something? Yes, please get me out of here, man, can I get the shortstop and then after my second year of playing professional baseball, the organization came up to me one of the members and organization the management said, Hey, you want to learn how to play catcher. They say if you learn how to catch, you can go to the big leagues pretty quick. So that offseason, after my second year of playing professional baseball, after a couple player of the year awards, I went to Australia and learned how to catch and with that I came to the big leagues as a catcher. And then and then after that, I started with third base on opening day with the Red Sox. See you have to do that song put me in coach. I'm ready to play today. You have to be able to do whatever the coach tells you to do, man because you never know what opportunity might arise.

Evan 10:53

Do you think it's important for youth baseball player to learn and play multiple positions?

Shea 11:00

Absolutely, because you never know what's going to happen because there's only nine guys on the field at one time, right? The pitcher at eight position players, I was no good at pitching. So I said, Don't give me that baseball. I'm not a good pitcher, I like to I like to crush pitchers hitting so you have to be able to be ready. And you can't you never know, you never know what's going to happen. I never would have thought in my wildest dreams that I would have been a catcher in professional baseball. But I said, Yes, I'll do it and learn it. And it gives you more opportunities. But the most important thing I want to convey to you bud is that and your listeners is that you have to learn the game of baseball, baseball is like chess. There's so many parts of the game, whether you're hitting or running situations, whether it's a 1-2 count or 2-2 count or 2-0 count or 3-1 count. Or if there's a guy in first base, we're going to throw the ball. There's so many different parts of the game that we got to learn. And so many players are so worried about how their swing is how they're launch angle is. How pretty is that ball? How far did I hit it? How hard did I throw it? There's so many more things involved. Baseball than that, and I want to convey that to you guys quick you learn the information. Better, Faster, get there. That's what Pedro Martinez told me. I don't know if you remember Pedro Martinez with it with the Red Sox. He was a he's a Hall of Famer now. But he told me one day when I was in spring training as a rookie, a minor leaguer, he said, Shea, let me tell you one thing. It's not how much you learn. It's how quickly you're learning is what gets you the big leagues. And that's the number one thing that stuck with me the whole time is that it's not how much you know, it's how much you implement it. It's how much you put it to play, how much you get it to work. You can have all the information in the world, but if you don't apply it, you're not gonna have success on a consistent basis.

Evan 12:38

Wow, that's great. So you didn't just practice for the sake of practicing you practice with a purpose? What was your practice routine and hitting process like leading up to the bigs?

Shea 12:51

Oh my gosh, that's a you have to have an obsession for the game. So when you start getting when you start getting paid Play the game, you have to have an obsession. Check this out. I've swung a baseball bat over a million times. Think about that. You guys might understand how many times a million swings i'd swing the bat 60,000 times every offseason in three months. 60,000 times 60,000 divided by three what is 20,000 swings a month. So you have to learn how to have a process to swing the bat. I take it I take pride in teaching young guys like you how to work. See what happens is the mechanics of your swing has 20% (2,0) to do with the success of your swing. And what I don't understand is so many coaches talk about the mechanics of your swing, it didn't matter. What it is, is 80% of the success of your swing guys has to deal with psychology. Psychology is not with a psychologist sitting in a couch and whatever. What psychology is, is what are you focusing on? See I have a four step focus for me a million focus formula that all guys do in the major leagues that hit over 300 in the big leagues, I was fortunate to be able to do that. I'm not really that great, but I know how to work and outwork everybody else. And I thought about what can I help people out with not mechanics, not teaching guys, pitch counts. This is I want to teach guys how to work. So I have a four step focus probably when you get off the batting tee I have a 4 step focus formula. When you get a when you hit soft toss, when you throw a coach pitch, when you have the machine thrown. Whether you're building a ground ball, whether you're the catcher, Fly ball, whether you're thrown, you always have to have a system and a process in place with what you do a four step focus formula real quick for you guys. And if you want the information, y'all can reach out to me after this. But the first step in it when you're hitting the ball off the tee, is you're gonna have direction in the batting cage, we're gonna hit the ball, where am I gonna hit this ball, I'm gonna hit it off the screen. Step number two, I'm going to look at the ball, and I'm going to tell myself hit the ball off the screen. In my mind, I'm going to tell my mind what to do. Step number three is going to be boom. I'm going to achieve my load my loading mechanism step number one where am I going to hit it Step number two, I'm going to look at the ball. Step number three, I will achieve my load. And step number four, I'm going to feel my swing, I'm going to 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4. Because if you have a specific thoughts, one specific focus guys, you're going to be able to have extreme confidence and achieve what you want to achieve on a consistent basis. If you have generalized focus, I'm gonna think about this and this and this and that and that and this and this, this generalized focus causes confusion. And when you're confused, the hundred percent byproduct of that is no self confidence. I want self confidence when I go to the plate to hit a home run off Mario Rivera, oh my gosh, the next day, throw it in my head. So you have to understand how to work. It's not about being pretty. It's about grinding it and have an understanding. If you have that specific focus. If we know what to do is step 1,2,3,4. It's going to stir up a hunger inside you and you're going to want to go out to work because you're going to have success. You're going to be consistent with your success. You want to go hit right now. I tell you what

Evan 16:03

Yeah, that's great advice. For us youth baseball players, and especially that four step process, we can definitely implement that in our game. Strong worth work ethic has been one of your keys to success. What drives you? And what advice would you give to youth baseball players who may be managing with distractions and other responsibilities?

Shea 16:28

What do you mean deal with the cell phone? What do you mean social media? What do you mean Twitter? What do you mean? IG? what do you mean Tik Tok. All that stuff, right? Check it out. You have to have a hunger. It all starts with your why why am I doing what I am doing? That why has to come in from within you, but it has to come from you. Like you said, you have to want to be able to go and throw the ball in the house. You want to be able to go outside. You want to be able to have that hunger and the love for the game. You need to have love for baseball. I always tell people, baseball's Like relationships, I'm married. So I understand that. All right, baseball is like relationships of love has to be unconditional. Why? Because in a relationship, there's a lot of failure. There's a lot of confliction. There's love. There's arguments, there's a lot of misunderstandings, because you're dealing with two separate people trying to become one person. That's like me as a baseball player. And baseball, baseball will eat you up, baseball will tear you down. Check this out, but I had 600 at bats in the major leagues, and I had success 180 times out of 600. Think about that. 180 times I had success out of 600 over six months, you know, how many how much failure that is? It's 70% failure. And it's just like, Oh my gosh, I suck. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna do good. Oh my gosh, what I'm trying to say is I hit 310. That year for the D backs. When I went 180 for 600 is 300. So I have 185 or 188 190. They're like, This is crazy. How How much failure there is a baseball? You have to have hunger for the baseball. Why are you doing what you're doing? Dude? Are you doing it for the love of the game? Are you doing it because your dad wants you to do it? Are you doing it because you wanna get a college scholarship? You want to make the high school varsity baseball team? Or do you want to play professional, you have to understand clearly what you want to do. And then two, you have to have that work ethic you have to seek somebody out, seek somebody out like myself that's been there and done it and ask them, How do I do it? So you seek someone out and you have them lay out a plan for you. Alright, let's do this. This This isn't this. Okay? So you did sought me out as kind of hit the batting cage, right? I said simple. Let's do 1,2,3,4 direction, ball, achive your load feel, direction, ball achieving load field, direction, ball achieve load field. I just gave you a million dollar formula. And step number three is a hardest thing. hardest thing for so many people. The hardest thing and step number three is you have to go implement it. You have to go do it. There's no secret formula to it. Success other than you've got to go. So whenever my friends were whether they were sick, I was working. Whenever my friends were partying hanging out with their friends, playing video games. I was outside working. When they say it's too hot. Yes, it gets hot in Arizona like 122 degrees. I don't. I was outside working. I was out there too cold, I was out working. And that's what it is. You have to have that consistency. So check it out. 4% of high school players in the United States play professional baseball 4% don't see the 0.05% percent 0.05%. And others 0.05 of high school played baseball players 4% go to the major leagues, or the point 05 that make it and then 13% of the 4% of the point 05 percent, become an all star. I did all that. So if I tell you right now, you have you have a 3% chance of living your dream What would you think? I've 3% chance of living my dream? If I tell you that, what would you do? You probably think that I have a 97% chance. I'm not going to do it. So why would I go fulfill my dream? Why would I go chase my dream? And for if only 3% of people make it? What are say like 1% 99% of a chance? I'm not going to make it. Why would I go do it? Let me tell you the secret right now. And this is the secret potion right here. What it means if I tell you have 1% chance of making it, what it means is that whenever you come to confliction whenever you come into failure whenever you come into a bump in the road, what that means is 99% of people give up 99% of people when they're chasing their dream, when they get oh my gosh, I had a bad game. Oh my gosh, like coach told me I'm no good. Oh my gosh, I didn't make the varsity baseball team. What it means is 99% of people give up 1% of people keep going. I told At the beginning that I walked on at a junior college, I didn't have a chance to go anywhere after high school. I couldn't give up. But I said, No, I want to be a one percenter. What the one percenters are, is that they take no, there's no such thing as no in their vocabulary. There's no such thing. You tell me. No. I'll find another way. You told me No. You told me I'm no good. I can't tell you how many times I've been told I suck. Of course, I played as a Red Sox player in Yankee Stadium. The only times I was told I suck in Yankee Stadium. How many times I told I was no good. Boo Hillenbrand you suck, I don't care. I'm gonna go work in the batting cage afterwards. And I want to figure this stuff out. And you're gonna see me on TV in front of millions, man. That's what it's about right there.

Evan 21:43

Yeah. three home runs in three consecutive innings. That doesn't happen by accident. What are some of the things you did behind the scenes to lead up to a moment like that?

Shea 21:57

It's the same thing. That's a great question. Dude your questions are awesome. Man, I appreciate those good questions cuz a lot of times people ask crazy questions, but you're doing an amazing job. But I do this all the time and with people all around the world, so awesome. It's the same thing, but it's the exact same thing I know exactly the same as a double negative. So you can't say that. So it's the exact thing, the same thing as I was talking about. It's work and work and work and work. If I work with a process, and if I work with a system, like when I'm playing catch, I think about the same thing when I'm fielding a ground ball. I'm a two time All Star a third baseman in the major leagues, I have no clue how to feel the ground ball. I am no bueno. You're probably like, Why? What are you talking about? I know how to have systems. I know how to have processes. I know how to implement them. And I know how the brain works. I know how confidence works. I know how to get things done. And that's what super super successful people do. When I go to field a ground ball. I do four steps. I read the ground ball. I read the ground ball. Step one, I read it for speed, location hop, where is it hit? How hard is it, hit? Get? Hot. Step number two I set up for the ground ball, I go right left, and I pick it and then go right left, pick up my target, throw, read the ground ball, right left, pick it right left, pick up my target, throw, read the ground ball, right, left, pick it right, left, pick and do that over and over specific focus on one thing, and you're going to be able to have success and consistency, and go and tap into all the talents that you've been blessed with all the ability that you've been given. Everybody's so worried about the external things, what does this coach gonna say, with this parent gonna say? What's it, who cares what they say? It's what you say to yourself. And the way you get confidence is two things, work and work and work and work. And the second thing is self talk. There's 60,000 thoughts that go through our head every day, subconsciously 40,000 of those 60 are negative. So it's what are you saying to yourself to go out there to give you an opportunity to hit three home runs in three consecutive innings? Let me tell you what, I didn't even know that was going on. Intuition kicks in the game, you go out there and compete. And when I'm competing in the batter's box, only think about two things that's it, have to focus is what am I going to start and read the pitch? What am I going to start read the pitch at what point in time in the pitches wind up Am I going to start my my load. And then second thing I focus on read the pitch. And those pitches, so happen to be in a spot that lets me jack some home runs upon I put on a show for the crowd of 40,000 people. But my teammates didn't tell me until my last at bat was my fifth at bat that I'm going for all time record of the most homeruns consecutively of Major League history of four times in four consecutive bats. They told me right before my last at bat, and then when I went to the plate for my last at bat, everybody who was watching the Yankees game, everybody's watching any of the game, they'll switch to my bat. So I had millions and millions of millions of millions of people watching me at my bat, and my knees were shaking. I was nervous. I was like, Oh my gosh, what's going on? Because we're humans too, right? So I was nervous, and I took the first Pitch because I wasn't focused, because sometimes things get overwhelming and, and things happen, and it could darn and pitcher threw me a curveball first pitch. I couldn't get it out of the stadium. But I ended up hitting a double to centerfield. I went five for five with three home runs, and seven RBI. So, and I'm no better than you, you're probably better than me right now, at your age when I was your age, but you have to work hard. Whatever you do, whether it's your schoolwork, whether it's your chores, whether it's being a good son, or being a good friend, or whatever you do. You have to work hard, and it's the biggest thing. A lot of people don't do that.

Evan 25:35

Yeah, that's a big part of life in general.

Shea 25:39

Absolutely, buddy.

Evan 25:41

5-5 isn't that bad

Shea 25:43

It's not bad, but you gotta go home the next day and do it again. So it's crazy in the major leagues because you play every single night so yeah, you got to enjoy those little wins, but you got to stay focused now.

Evan 25:54

So what was your reaction when you learn that you made it to the All Star team for the first Time

Shea 26:01

was crazy as my second year in the major leagues, I was with the Red Sox and I was having a really good start of the season. And this one day, and your questions are awesome and they get exciting. One day I was sitting on the couch in the afternoon, before I went to the ballpark and I turned on ESPN, I never watch ESPN. I never watch any of that stuff because I just I don't watch TV. I don't listen to music till I was 14 years old. I was always outside pursue my dream. I was always like, different. So I just turned on the TV. And it happened to be like showing like the all star balloting for the third basements in America league. So it's an all American League like like the players that are in a position that lead it, and I was leading all the third basements. Oh my gosh, man and I was beating Robin Ventura. Here's what the Yankees and I was with the Red Sox. I'm like, the fans are actually voting for me. Like five years ago, I was I was I was in junior college, and I'm in the major leagues and I like these people. Love me that much. And it's just it's the most amazing feeling ever and then being able to play the all star game that first game I started at third base. I started Alex Rodriguez was at shortstop. Ichiro Sazuki. Like, it was crazy man, all these guys. I don't I don't mean High School in college was Mike Piazza because I came up as a catcher. And he was like the best hitting catcher ever like, Oh my gosh, man, and like, all I ever wanted to do was meet Mike Piazza So my first at bat Ichiro Suzuki lead after that, I hit second. My first at bat, I went to home plate, because I was playing an American League and Mike Piazza was playing for the Mets so I've ever played against him, because we didn't have interleague at that time. So I went to home plate and it might be outside. I said, how you doing Mike? Like, he's like, hey, shea, congratulate he's talking to me. Like, like, we're friends. And he's like, I couldn't believe it. But it was it was the most amazing experience ever. The All Star games. absolutely absolutely crazy. They have a parade. They have a media day like you go to your hotel room for the all star game. And your whole bed is full of bags of equipment, and just stuff that give you all this stuff. And when you're in the major leagues, you fly on airplanes, like your private planes for the team, and they give you all the snacks you want. All you got, like, you get to choose between four or five different meals, whether it's steak or lobster or spaghetti or chicken, or they treat you like kings, man, and you have ice cream, and you have like popsicles. And you have like, like everything in the clubhouse is like a little room, like a like a convenience store, to where they have all the candies. You want hotdogs not to do it. It's crazy, man. And then like you don't even touch your bags, like to pack your bags in the major leagues like they pack it for you even touch your bags, and it's like, it's just amazing. It's like you stay in five star hotels like the state of the Ritz Carlton. In Houston. I had a doorbell in my room because the room was so big. And it was my first time in the major leagues. And I was you know, have you seen the movie at home alone with Macaulay Culkin? The movie home alone, like I was jumping up on top of my bed like Oh my gosh, no dude is crazy that I'm telling you playing in the major leagues and living your dream is the coolest experience ever.

Evan 29:07

Sounds amazing, What was your favorite All Star game memory? Was it when you met Mike Piazza and you guys were talking? Or was it in like those experiences where you got to see people like Alex Rodriguez, Ichiro and all those type of guys

Shea 29:25

it's uh it's it's pretty overwhelming because even when you get into major leagues, it's so hard to get the Major Leagues but to be like they're like all star players at 13% of all major leaguers. So it's like 60 guys at 55 guys out of 700 that do that each year so it's the whole experience is crazy, man. It's so cool to be able to see all the guys that are superstars and you're in a clubhouse with them. And like Jason Giambi was a first baseman for the Yankees and he was hitting the Home Run Derby. I think that was pretty darn cool to sit on the field. During The Home Run Derby or the all star game because you always watch it on TV, all that stuff a beat on the field like right there next to watch them launch the balls, man like it's just crazy as this. But the whole thing like the managers like it's just It's such an honor. And it's such an experience. It's just It's hard to explain it's really overwhelming for your senses. It's, it's such a good I never thought I'd ever do it. But I've never focused on becoming an all star. I focused on how can I be the very best I am right now. So you're 12 years old? Right? How can you like say you want to play high school baseball and you want to play varsity? Like that's your next major milestone or whatever, the freshman team or whatever. Like what can you do right now with that vision in sight of I want to play varsity baseball, I want to play freshman baseball, or whatever it is, or I want to play in college or I want to play professional Major League. I always want to become a major league baseball player, but I never thought about that under focused on that. I kept that in the back of my mind. But I focused where I was right there. I'm going to be the very best I can today, I'm going to be the very, very best I can in this at bat or for my team right now, or whatever it is. And tomorrow, I'm gonna do everything I can tomorrow, right now, because the next day is not guaranteed. But if you if you do the very best and focus where you're at now, you never know where you're going to be. So you can be on top of the world have become a two time All Star make millions like myself, it's it's just you got to be focused where you're at doesn't matter what anybody else says, you got to do that and force people to make a decision to play you. And they'll do that by being a good teammate. They'll do that by producing and they'll do that by seeing you work hard coaches love that.

Evan 31:38

So you said like you said it earlier. And you also you've also said it in a YouTube video. 80% of hitting is psychology and 20% is mechanics. What can youth baseball players do to make sure they're training their mental muscles just as much as their physical ones.

Shea 32:00

That's a great question. But it's a great question. The biggest thing is you got to go work, you got to work. Swing is like zebra stripes. I like animals, I use zebra stripes, or you can use a fingerprint. Everybody, your swing is different than mine. And my swing is different than the next person, everybody has their own swing. And you're trying to get a result of hitting a line drive, or hitting a home run, or whatever you're trying to achieve, have a good quality at bat, you got to go out there and learn how to work. And you'll figure it out yourself. And that's the thing is, is like, you have to understand that you can't think about so many different things. You just got to focus on the ball. And when you focus in the ball, I got to figure out what I'm going to start my swing, When you start your swing is when the pitcher breaks his hands. Alright, so when the ball comes out of the pitchers glove, and he's starting to come up, he's winding up and you're ready to throw. I'm winding up and getting ready to hit. It's all timing and rhythm with the pitcher. But you have to be focused on one specific thing. It's a soft focus, which is like relaxed and chill. So I can react. Right. So a swing is a reaction. It's not a swing, it's a reaction. And two things have to happen for me to react to something which is I want to react to the pitch, right? two things. The first thing is you have to be 100% focused on what you're reacting to. The second thing is so darn hard to do in Yankee Stadium. You have to be relaxed, your muscles have to relax, you can't be tense, it can't be going crazy. It can't be I'm going to crush you gotta be relaxed, like a cobra, like a tiger in the weeds getting ready to pounce on his prey. So what I got to do is relax, then focused on the pitcher, his arm. It's like a smaller area I'm focusing on, right. And then the second thing I focus on is read the pitch, or when I'm working focus where you're at right there. When you're in a batting cage, focus exactly where you're at off the tee. Where am I going to hit it? Focus on the ball to my load, feel, I can't think about talking to my teammates. I can't think about girls. I can't think about school. I can't think about all this stuff. be focused right where I'm at. And I think that's what I was really, really good at, to where it allowed me to excel at a rapid pace. Because of that, I'm telling you, your focus is 80% of the daily success, everything. And then 20% is mechanics, because I'm telling you like everybody's mechanics different in the major leagues, everybody's swings differ, but coaches are trying to teach the same thing. You can't really do that. But in order for you to understand what you need to do, you have to go out there and work.

Evan 34:28

Wow. Faith plays a big role in your life. How does it impact your self confidence and the work you do to support young kids through baseball?

Shea 34:40

Yeah, absolutely, buddy. It is it is. So we're made up of three parts you have to admit you're made up of your spirit you made up your mind you made up your body, and whether I don't matter if you believe in God doesn't matter if you believe in the universe, or Buddha or, or whatever. It doesn't matter. We are spiritual beings. So there's six human needs that we have every few human being, right, the first spirit that the first need is for the body, which is certainty. Second, uncertainty, love and connection and significance. And those are the body to the Spirit are you going to grow and you got to give, you got to grow, you got to give you got to work on yourself. You got to grow as a person. You got to continue to grow and you have to give to other people. I've made millions of dollars. I've lived my dreams. 98% of people don't get to live any of their dreams. I live to my dreams, Major League Baseball, owning a zoo at three. Three mansions, six cars 300 pairs of shoes. I love flying private jets. I flew the fastest jet in the world civilian jet in the world. The President's hung out with movie stars. I've been in front of everybody living my dreams. I'd had little girls in the stands, holding up sign See, will you marry me? I do autograph signings for $10,000 an hour and girls are coming to the table crying and shaking. Like I'm Justin Bieber. But what happens is that doesn't mean anything. You have to be able to grow yourself. You have to be able to give. And that's what it's about is giving back and my faith is, is I thought I was supposed to be a major league baseball player. As you can see, my my purpose is to motivate my purpose is to inspire a purpose to tell someone like you, you could do a bud. And that's my clothing line right here 2 V's aparell. It's two V's voice to the voiceless. So what we want to do is we want to inspire people like you to use your voice to impact the world, just what you're doing right now. So thank you, because you are impacting so many people that you don't even understand at this time of your life because it's amazing. There's not many kids that do it. But you're having people on that have a voice to help impact players. So my dream ultimate dream is to inspire major leaguers inspire people that are superstars to use your voice to impact the world because there's no greater feeling than to help somebody else out.

Evan 36:55

Yeah, that that's really strong. thank you for sharing that. If we want to be successful in baseball and in life, we can't make excuses. So what is against all odds mean for you?

Shea 37:12

Against All Odds me that I was drive around one day in my Hummer, h2 Hummer yellow, all chromed out zebra headliner pimpin stereo system, I put $100,000 in this car, and a voice came to my head, which I correlated to the Holy Spirit says, start of foundation and call it against all odds against all odds is just doing everything and having success against all odds. That's my journey. That's my life. That's my story. There's no reason why I should have made it to where I was because I wasn't the best player. I just, it's crazy. But I was blessed to have the opportunity to play Major League Baseball, to get a name to utilize a platform to leverage that to help other people make their lives better. So between against all odds and voice to the voiceless 2 V's aparell, we're teaming up and utilizing baseball as a platform to be able to teach and give back and utilize baseball to teach life skills. Because there's so many skills in baseball, that transfer to life. Because at some point in time, baseball is going to be over for everybody. You can't play forever, right? So at 32 years old, I walked away from baseball. At some point in time baseball is going to be over, but I learned so many life lessons, whether it's failure, navigating failure, whether it's performing under pressure, or whether it's being a good teammate, or whether it's, we call it pivoting, whether it's okay, I got to do this to this. You got to find a way to have success success. And that's what's the beauty about baseball and I think, my heart grieves, I get sad, because I think the coaches I think, the leaders, I think the parents, a lot of parents are taking that love of baseball out of the game for guys like you, because of the pressure they put on. We're going to have success or whatever. The game will beat you up enough. I have to as a coach, I have to as a mentor after you as a dad, I have to as a person. That's been there. that motivate you to inspire you. Because again, telling you there's so much failure, the game will beat you up enough. I have to lift you up and pick you back up and say, dude, you could do it. Let's go you might have went 0-4 today. But tomorrow's a new day. And you can go out there and rocket.

Evan 39:14

Yeah. So sometimes our biggest wins come after tough failures. What advice would you give to youth baseball players on bouncing back after a mistake of bad at bat or a slump?

Shea 39:31

Don't get from me and my friends. And you is I failed more than everybody else. every successful person fails. If you talk about anybody out there right now all the billionaires all the millionaires, all the superstars, or whether it's Mike trout or whether it's whomever it is the pitcher you just got I don't even watch baseball. I'm sorry, dude.

It was a pitcher, Cole that you guys

Evan 39:55

Cole, Yeah.

Shea 39:56

Yeah, Gerrit Cole. Like we have failed. So much. It's understanding about don't allow failure to define who you are. Failure is a part of the process. And you will not learn I'm telling you right now I can give you all the secrets, I just gave you the million dollar formula four step folks more formula direction, ball, load feel. I just gave it to you. But if until you go out there and try to implement it until you go out there and try to fail and fail at it and fail at it and fail at it. And you figure it out, and you implement it, and you tweak it, and you put it in your language and you apply it to where you need to apply it. That's when you can be able to have major success, but you have to learn how to fail. And so many people want to live inside their little bubble right here. They want to live inside their bubble like my head's in my bubble right now. You want to live in this bubble right here. I got to step outside that circle, allow myself to be vulnerable, allow myself to put myself in a position for all my friends to laugh at me. Oh, you suck. But people tell me I'm not going to do good after allow myself to get outside this circle, to go out there and fail and be vulnerable and that's where all the growth happens. That's where the learning happens. That's where all you flourish is outside of that. I'm the most introverted person you'll ever meet. introverted means shy. I'm the most shy person you would never believe it. I would play I was a third highest active batting average in Yankee Stadium. Number one Paul Konerco number two Ichiro Suzuki. Number three, Shea Hillenbrand, meaning that I had the third highest batting average of all major leaguers in Yankee Stadium. I love performing on stage. In the Big Apple, I don't know why. I just love it because I've worked so hard at it. But when I left the game, and after the game that night, I want to run a fancy restaurant, and I couldn't get up at the table the restaurant or walk across the restaurant to use the restroom. Because that fear of everybody staring at me, and they're going to make me think I'm stupid. That's how crazy it is, is you have to understand that that's where success happens is when you stand outside and step outside. The comfort zone and go, there's no such thing as failure. Failure is part of the process is the biggest learning you could do is when you fail.

Evan 42:08

Wow, that's great information. So thinking back to the days where you're a kid dreaming of playing in the MLB, what advice to you would you give to your younger self?

Shea 42:23

You know why I'm laughing because people ask me this question all the time, because they want me to give some knowledge, some wisdom. You know, my answer is every time I wouldn't give myself any advice, I wouldn't say one word to me. You know why? Because I wouldn't listen. So I wouldn't waste my time talking to my younger self, and wasting my breath. Because I wouldn't have listened. I didn't listen to nobody. I just went out there. I had tenacity. I had drive. I had work ethic I was going to get there and whether you're in a part of it or not, I'm going to the big league. So I'm kind of different in that way to where I wouldn't do that. What I would give you because I'm sure you might listen to me with the wisdom that I have, and this experience i have is enjoy the process. And this is sad. Like we got paid every two weeks. Like you go to your locker in the major leagues in the clubhouse, there's a check. Like, we get paid lots and lots of money. We get we get it, I pull up my check stub through my I see my check. And I would get paid $340,000 every two weeks after taxes, like mega money, like mega money. And I never once sat there and said, Wow, I'm a millionaire. Now one time in the major leagues that I say that, nor did that say, Oh my gosh, I'm living my dream. I was so worried about performing. I was so worried about the pressure of succeeding. Because the pressure to see is so great that you lose yourself. And when you lose yourself, you begin playing the pain driven game. It's hard when you get to the major leagues. It's challenging because if you get disconnected from who you are, you lose yourself man and you get wrapped up with Through identity of being a major league baseball player, that's the hardest thing for major league baseball players, when they leave baseball leave the game is that identity? What do I do now? I'm a major league baseball player. What do I do with this next chapter in my life? So that's challenging. So you have to enjoy it, because your life's a journey. And it's a process. And I never really enjoyed the process. I fell in solitude, I found comfort, I found confidence through the process because I worked so hard. And I had systems and processes in place, and all that to be able to achieve success. But it never was able to sit there like oh, this is cool. I'm in the major league. So you have to enjoy.

Evan 44:39

Wow. You've shared some great information with us today. And I really appreciate it.

Shea 44:47

My pleasure.

Evan 44:48

Now I want to move into the rapid fire questions.

Shea 44:51

Yes, sir. So

Evan 44:54

favorite MLB field you've played on?

Shea 44:58

so hard to answer. I would have to say Fenway Park

Evan 45:02

favorite postgame meal.

Shea 45:08

I would have it at the hotel. I would never eat at the stadium. I'm crazy. All the time I'd be in a five star hotel. I'd order a grilled cheese, French onion soup and a picture of it and it would cost me $80 for a grilled cheese French onion soup a picture of it. Wow.

Evan 45:26

So your first major purchase as a major leaguer?

Shea 45:30

Awesome, great question. But people buy my car, a house, but if you buy themselves a house, a lot of people buy themselves a pimping car. I bought a horse. I bought a horse. I always wanted a horse when I was your age. I wanted a horse. I grew up in Southern California, and I wanted to get a horse. I love animals. So my mom would never let me get horses or big, big animals like that. So I always told myself the first purchase I'm going to have is a horse I bought a quarter horse and named CL

Evan 45:59

you Favorite motivational or baseball quote.

Shea 46:04

I have my own quote. And my own quote that I came up with is for coaches because I like to train the trainer's. I like to train coaches, I like to train people, and the more people I could train up, they could help a lot of kids like you. So what it is, is it's not about the technique. It's how you teach a technique that stimulates growth and creates transformation. That's what it is. It's not about the technique. It's how you teach it. It's how you energize people. It's how you motivate people. It's how you go out there right now. I guarantee you, you and your listeners, you want to go learn you want to go hit, because the motivation and the energy and the passion that I bring, you'll be passionate about what you're doing.

Evan 46:39

You're working on multiple projects right now. Can you share a little bit about them with the listeners?

Shea 46:45

Yeah, I'm a real estate agent in Arizona. I love doing real estate. It's the passion I had for a long time. So I do that I have five kids. I have three girls and competitive All Star cheerleading. So I'm a cheer dad. I'm not a baseball player anymore. I have the Against All Odds foundation. But the biggest thing that I like doing is I like doing motivational speaking. And I like doing coaching programs to where I bring coaches in, I bring people in, and I put them through like a four or five, six steps, and teach them how to find fulfilment. I love teaching people simple steps to create to sustain peak performance. I was able to be a peak performer for a long time in the major leagues, and be able to master that aspect. So I like teach people that and my pride and joy is my hat. I love doing videos. I love being I'm editing right now, we're creating a video called an identity. For two V's, I'll send it to you whenever we get that done. But I love doing that and two V's apparel voice to the voiceless. We want to inspire people like you to use your voice to impact the world. So living on purpose. Understanding your gifts and talents is extremely important. But you have to understand your gifts and your talents. And the best thing to do is utilize those talents that makes somebody else's life better. That's what the true meaning of fulfillment and life is about.

Evan 48:04

That's amazing. And where can listeners go to follow you or learn about more learn more about you

Shea 48:11

on Instagram? It's Shea_Hillenbrand. I don't know why anybody want to do this stuff but there's been people that like, if somebody has Shea Hillenbrand because like a fan because I think it's cool to have like to be me. I don't know why anybody would think it'd be cool to be me. So Instagram is Shea_Hillenbrand. On Facebook. It's SheaHillenbrand. I have ShayHillenbrand.TV that we're getting ready to launch but I love teaching guys how to work. I love motivating, inspiring and mentoring young lads like yourself. So that's where I'm at. And that's my happy space.

Evan 48:44

Thank you so much for coming on and sharing some great knowledge with the Born To Baseball community.

Shea 48:51

Absolutely. Thank you so much. I feel super honored to have this opportunity. I love your smile, man. I love your charisma. You do an amazing job and it's super super thank you so much for Allow me to share a little bit of what I know and experience that may be able to maybe be able to help maybe one person that listens to what you got going on. Anything I can do for you just let me know bud

Evan 49:09

thank you.

Thank you all for listening in. We really hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to hit the subscribe button and be the first to know when new episodes launch. Check us out at borntobaseball.com for free resources and new gear. Download the Born To Baseball app to have real time conversations, share your game and video highlights and be celebrated by our BTB team and of course on social media @borntobaseball where we can connect live. Now, let's play ball

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Episode #006: Luis Lopez – Former MLB Player / Varsity Coach @ The Harvey School / NY Nighthawks

April 2020 By Evan

Ep. #006: Listen to the interview with Luis Lopez, Former MLB Player, Varsity Coach at the Harvey School and Coach of the New York Nighthawks. Luis shares lessons he’s learned throughout his pro career, advice on balancing academics and sports, the value of having a strong work ethic and how mindset is the game changer in baseball and in life.

What You’ll Learn:

04:05- Luis’ experience playing in Japan

05:01- Some things that led him to have success as a pro player

06:37- Building a strong mindset

07:58- Some tradeoffs youth players make on their road to success

10:36- Tips on how to bounce back after a bad at bat

12:40- His preparation before an MLB game

13:50- His unique 1st Major League at bat

16:45- Best MLB pitcher he ever faced

20:47- The 40 Hour Week

22:46- Favorite hitters of all time

Thank you for being here with us! Evan and the Born To Baseball Team are looking forward to celebrating your success and sharing this journey together.

If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple or wherever you’re listening here. This will help other ball players find the Born To Baseball Podcast and give us more chances to shout out our listeners!

Now, let’s play ball!

Read show notes here.

Show Links:

Instagram: @doublel1919 @newyorknighthawks

Twitter: @doublel1919

New York Nighthawks

Born To Baseball Links:

Instagram: @borntobaseball

Facebook

Twitter: @bornto_baseball

Born To Baseball Podcast

Episode 006_LUIS LOPEZ FORMER MLB PLAYER AND VARSITY COACH HARVEY SCHOOL NY NIGHTHAWKS

The transcription below was provided for your convenience through an automated service. Please excuse any unintended errors made in the process.

Evan 0:00

Music 0:24

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, and welcome to the Born To Baseball podcast. Today we have Luis Lopez on. Luis is from Brooklyn, New York and attended Canarsie high school where he started four straight years on varsity. He graduated from Coastal Carolina University where he's in their Hall of Fame, as well as the Big South Conference Hall of Fame. In Luis's 20 year pro career. He's the Time hits leader with the Bridgeport bluefish, had eight MVP awards, and he played in the big leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays and was a part of the last team in Montreal in 2004. Louis, I'm really excited to have you on thank you so much for being here.

Luis Lopez 1:13

All right. Thank you for having me.

Evan 1:15

And can you kick things off by sharing your baseball journey?

Luis Lopez 1:18

Sure. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and went to Canarsie High School. From there, I ended up No, I didn't get drafted or anything out of high school. I graduated in 1990, showed up and went to a tournament down in North Carolina. And that's where I got recruited by Coastal Carolina. I ended up signing the letter of intent to go to that school. Down in Conway, South Carolina, which is right near Myrtle Beach, played there, graduated from the school, have my business degree from there. And then after that had a great career there. Hall of Fame and everything. I Wasn't drafted as well. And thank God for independent ball. That's where I started it back in 95. I started with the St. Paul saints out of Minnesota. And then they sent me on loan to a team out in Ogden, Utah. So I played there had a good season and then I got invited by the Blue Jays to come in the following year to extend the spring training. And it was basically a tryout so I went down there and stayed there for about 10 days to two weeks on my own expense also, because I wasn't signed yet, and then they finally signed me the last day. So I was able to sign and play short season A ball in 96 and, you know, had a great career there enjoyed my time with Toronto, and making it to the big leagues I cracked in, in 2001. After that, I went on to play with Oakland A's and their triple A system. I was on their 40 man roster but never played To game, a day in the big leagues with them. And then after that, that's how I ended up playing for the Montreal Expos that I end up returning back to the big leagues. From that point on in 2005, I went to Japan to play, which that was another great experience to be able to play out there. And then um in '06. I started with Milwaukee Brewers. I ended up getting released by them. And then that's when my career in Mexico started. I played in Mexico from 2006 to 2007. And then after those two seasons, I came back and I wanted to play near home, be more with my family, my kids, from 2008 until 2014. I played there and that was my last year playing professionally, in 2014

Evan 3:51

As you mentioned, you had a very cool international baseball experience. You went to Japan and you also played in Mexico. How did playing internationally influence your game?

Luis Lopez 4:04

Well, the biggest difference when playing in Japan was a lot more stealing bases, a lot more bunting um slash, they do that play a lot. And too many people don't know what that is they'll do a fake bunt and then just pull back when after the guys are drawn in from the corners and swing. They did that quite a few times. That's a lot quicker game compared to what we're used to seeing here. And the Major Leagues here in the United States. Like I said, everybody's pretty quick. And for the most part, the American guys that they bring over there, they're bringing us over there to drive the ball in the gap or out of the park. That's what they mostly have us there for. But it was a great experience. And I told everybody, the best way to describe it is it's like you know, rock star status out there. Everybody knows who you are. So it was pretty cool.

Evan 5:01

So you played in multiple All Star games, and we're MVP numerous times in your pro career. Can tell us what it was that led you to that kind of success.

Luis Lopez 5:12

A lot of the times I'd tell everybody you know, I was taught at a young age, you know, my parents, they wanted me to always do my best that I could and try to leave a mark wherever I went. So I was always kind of like a perfectionist. I wanted to be perfect that everything I did, or close to it, you know. And each year, at the end of the season, I always sat down and looked over my goals, and see what I accomplished throughout the year, things that I can get better at. I was never really content, even if I won my first award. I want to go back to the drawing board and offseason workout and get better and go and win my second one and so on. So I just kept pushing myself a lot of the times to win those awards. Go to all the all star games. Um, I just really just wanted to I was set on setting records on and leaving my name. And in the long run,

Evan 6:13

it's really cool just knowing how leaving your mark it can push generations later than you to break those records or compete with you and therefore you're leaving a legacy. So how did those goals you set really push you to play harder and train harder?

Luis Lopez 6:37

A lot of the times we talked about this mindset thing. You want to be strong minded to continue not being content with what you did keep pushing, what can I do better? What can I change within my workout? What can I change with stuff that I eat? All that stuff to get ultimately our bodies in the best physical shape, we can So that we can have that longevity because it's very hard to play this game you're playing every single day, you're working out. And you know, not too many people get to play for 20 years. So you have to make adjustments to make sure your body is properly trained. And guess what? We all need rest at some time we have to sleep. Then when that alone, you get a certain amount of time sleeping, and your body also grows while we're sleeping.

Evan 7:27

What drove you to work so hard to achieve your goal of playing in the MLB?

Luis Lopez 7:34

One I wanted to try and make it just to help my family. That was one, two, I since I wasn't drafted, I wanted to basically prove people wrong, that I can make it even though I wasn't drafted. I know I had to work you have to have good work ethic to be able to do a lot of sacrifices. I explained A lot of people that, you know, hey, I wasn't able to go to a lot of birthday parties or go to the pool party, or to the beach or whatever, because I had to go and work out. Or I had games that I was playing while everybody else was having fun. Just having certain goals, little goals, and you have your ultimate goals to that you always can have like my ultimate goal was to make it to the major leagues, but I had to do certain things in the beginning to put me onto that track. You know, same thing with focusing in on I just uh, a lot of people don't understand when I was in college, a lot of my teammates even understood, you know, just making the right choices. not messing with, you know, even though I was getting to a certain age that you can have an adult beverage, but I didn't. I was always that guy that will be walking around with a bottle of water. Or if I really got crazy that night I'd drink a Coca Cola or something like that some type of soda but that Was it mean on it that's part of also being strong strong with your mind.

Evan 9:05

And on an interview when you were asked what your favorite position to play was, you said you love playing third base but you would play anywhere just have a shot. You said I just want to hit How did that passion for hitting translate for you in your at bats

Luis Lopez 9:23

my main thing was hitting because I just really enjoyed the competition trying to outsmart the pitcher what they were going to do to you and the catcher um, it was a battle. You would I think it drove me because certain times you know if they made a good pitch, or whatever the next time at bat I wanted to make sure I got him back. So I was always into that combat combat of pitcher and a catcher and myself hitting. I always wanted to, I always felt like it was going to be my last at bat. So I took every at bat Serious even though we talked a little bit earlier, we talked about how baseball has changed. There's a lot more home runs a lot, a lot of strikeouts. And to me I took it personal that I didn't want to strike out because I felt like I was hurting my team letting my teammates down. One way or another, I tried to put the ball in play so that I can get on base for the next guy. So that's why I took a very serious with my hitting

Evan 10:27

In hitting there's more failure than success. And if you fail seven out of 10 times, you're still an all star. So can you give youth baseball players one or two strategies that you use to bounce back quickly after a tough at bat or game?

Luis Lopez 10:44

Sure, um, you're correct. It is a game of failure. But what you need to do is those seven times that you fail, you need to figure out why you failed. The biggest thing with as you continue to get older and as a hitter, you have to learn how to make your adjustments that much quicker. So, within an a bat, maybe I took a bad swing, or I followed the ball off. Let's say I'm a right handed hitter, I followed it off to the right side. So I knew I was late. Or maybe I was dropping my barrel, certain little things like that. Or if I was off balance where my weight was, you can learn something from every swing. So don't just waste your swings, or don't forget about them, replay them in your mind. When you're sitting on the bench, think about the way they pitch to you. Because if they got you out one way, they're probably going to try and get you out that way again, until you make the adjustment and prove to them that you can hit that pitch or where it was located. So a lot of the times just think of what you're doing, what you learn from your mistakes, and then move on. Because if you keep thinking about all the negative stuff, that's what drives you and gets you stressed out, and you get frustrated and everything like that, you got to try and stay positive as much as you can. And the other thing that I was doing that I wish I would have done during my playing days, were reading books. I found, you know, you get into a lot of information reading. Now that I'm in the coaching stage, I read a lot more stuff. And it actually helps me out reading stuff about mental toughness, about all that type of stuff, visualization, everything like that. And I think if I would have done that before, it also would have helped me throughout my playing career. I think it's a good good tool to have.

Evan 12:40

So what was your mindset going into a game? Like what was your mental preparation?

Luis Lopez 12:45

Okay, so we're talking about a seven o'clock game 7pm game. I probably was one of the first guys there. I would show up to the stadium probably about one o'clock. I probably hit a little bit extra in the cage. I do a routine Hit off the tee a little bit until I find somebody to do me some front toss or whatever, just to get a little sweat going. And then relax. We'd probably go out for Team stretch about 3:30 3:45. After the team stretch, we broke up into our groups for hitting, usually four groups, four groups of four guys, we'd go through our routines there. I always started off hitting the ball opposite field. And then we worried about the other things afterwards within my rounds, taking my ground balls so we figured we were out there for about 45 minutes to an hour for that practice. We come in, probably eat a little something something light maybe have a soup or maybe a one light sandwich or something. Fruits, anything just to eat and have some energy for the game. usually come about six o'clock. I will start getting Dressed because I would end up going outside maybe about 630 or so to start re stretching and everything on the line to run my Sprint's and loosen up my arm again if I had to throw a little bit more, so that I can be ready for gametime at seven. We play our game. And you know hopefully we didn't play extra innings that day. So the game will be done you figure about 10 or so. Usually after that if I didn't lift in the morning, I would lift after the game. So I do my workouts there. By the time I ate a little something showered up. We're talking about almost midnight, by the time I would leave the stadium to go back to my house or my apartment. And then the next day just wake up and do it all over again.

Evan 14:48

Your first major league at bat was pretty unique. Can you tell us about it and what were you thinking and feeling starting from the on deck circle.

Luis Lopez 14:58

It was against the angels I was facing Mike Holtz lefty pitcher and brought him in, they put they put me in a pinch hit for our catcher Darren Fletcher. So to face the lefty, we had the winning room was on second base. And I came up and my good friend Benji Molina was catching. And I'm on deck, and all I'm thinking is Wow, really? I'm going to hit in the big leagues. This is pretty awesome. And the first guy happened to face I had already faced him in college. So I already knew what he had. Yeah, so I already knew he had, besides the scouting reports that they told me the way he was, what he was, what his tendencies and stuff like that. When I got to the home plate, Benji comes walking back, Molina, and he's like, hey, Luis, what's going on, man? You know, congratulations, you called up. And by the way, you could relax Because you ain't hitting today, and I go, What are you talking about? What do you mean? He was because we're going to put you on we're going to walk you intentionally. And I told him in Spanish I go for real. And he goes, yeah. So all of a sudden, he put his arm out for the inttentional walk. They do the first pitch after the first pitch. The first thing that came to my mind was, I'm probably going to be a trivia question. Not too many guys. Not to many guys their first at bat in the big leagues can say they got intentionally walked. And but I made sure I have the DVD to prove it. So I have it at home.

Evan 16:36

Yeah, that's a pretty cool first at bat. Who is the best pitcher you faced and what made them so good?

Luis Lopez 16:44

Okay, I faced a lot of very good pitchers Hall of Famers. And it's no disrespect to all of them, but the best one that was hard for me to face was john Smoltz from the Atlanta Braves, the best way I can Describe it. I told everybody it was like, if we were playing wiffle ball, that's the way his ball would move. He threw nothing straight. I mean, he was sinking and cutting everything. It was unbelievable how much movement he had. Mind you, he was still trying hard to, he can throw 95 or better. But he was and that's what I explained to everybody. It's not so much the velocity that gets us out as hitters. It's the movement that gets us out. That's what that's those are the toughest kind of pitches. The guys that have good movement, they're able to pitch on both sides of the plate, they pitch outside and inside. Because if I face a pitcher that's just strictly pulling away, it's going to be easy for me to hit. Because I know I don't even have to look inside. But the guy that throws to both sides, that's when it becomes hard because hitting his hard. Anyway you look at it, but you know if they're going to give you that um, they're just gonna throw to one side of the plate is going to be that Much easier to hit.

Evan 18:02

So, your former team, the Montreal Expos. Now the Washington Nationals, they just won their first World Series in franchise history. How awesome was it to watch your former team win the World Series?

Luis Lopez 18:15

I was very excited for them. You know, I know. So I was able to play on the last Montreal team before they moved to Washington. The one thing that I took away from that world series that I liked about that team is, yeah, they had a couple guys that are superstars with big names, but they really played as a team. They played together. They all were pulling for each other. If they had to bunt they'd bunt if they had to steal a base, they stole a base. We I always preach to my guys. When I'm coaching, I tell them, the way you win championships, is by pitching good throwing strikes, obviously playing good defense. That's another big thing in this timely hitting, and that's what they did. Had timely hitting, when they needed that big hit, they happen to get the big hit. But I think you can see that their team chemistry, like everybody was real genuine, they pulled for each other. There was no selfishness. And I think that's ultimately what helped them beat out Houston, because I mean Houston was stacked. Look at that team. There was a lot of superstars and really nobody gave Washington that chance. But sometimes you need those intangibles to win championships. That's what good teams are made of.

Evan 19:30

baseball teams are like family and in the pros, you probably see the more than your family. So I can imagine being a part of the last team in Montreal has to be really special. Do you still keep in touch with some of those players on that team?

Luis Lopez 19:48

Yes, I do. One of them was Jose Vidro. second baseman still keep in touch with him. Every so often. I still speek to Tony Bautista. He was on the team Carl Everett was on that team with me. Nick Johnson, thank God for social media too. You know, that's how we were a lot of us were still able to connect or reconnect. But uh, yeah, we do and you're right, it is a family. You will meet a lot of guys become friends with them because you spend more time with them than your actual family. So you're absolutely right with that.

Evan 20:26

You're inspiring the next generation of ballplayers and you preach hard work and great work, work ethic. How important is it for a player to work independently and not just with their team or trainer?

Luis Lopez 20:41

Real good question. Because I always explain to our players, if you want to be a good college player, you need to put in at least 40 hours per week of practice time. So it's basically a job and I said look at look at it like this and we're talking 40 hours. We practice in my high school, let's say Monday through Friday. That's only 20 hours, right? Okay, so the other 20 hours, where are they going to come from? It has to be a you on your own, working on your trait, getting those extra ground balls, getting those extra swings. I'm just doing that stuff. If you're working with a trainer, making sure to work on what you do with the proper stuff that fits and works for you. You know, because everybody's different. Everybody's body's different. And can teach the guys that all the same stuff. But that's, that's the type of things that I try to pass on. You want to play college baseball, you have to put in 40 hours of work per week.

Evan 21:46

And if you want to play in the MLB, obviously you have to put in more. And baseball's it's a big commitment for you just taking the time out of the things you might want to do instead Like relaxing instead of working out, or going to a friend's house or hanging out with a friend instead of going to practice or a game. So it really takes your own time and commitment to get where you want to go.

Luis Lopez 22:14

Right, you just balance it out, though, because you're still gonna have fun with your friends, but just having time management, you know, because you also need time to rest. We talked about that as well. It's not just work, work, work work, because all of a sudden, our body's going to break down. So you need time to recover and rest as well. So just having a schedule, and be organized with it and follow that time management.

Evan 22:38

So now I want to move into the rapid fire questions. Okay, you're ready,

Luis Lopez 22:42

all right

Evan 22:43

Who's your favorite hitter of all time?

Luis Lopez 22:46

All Time. Okay, I have a couple. Um, Edgar Martinez. Tony Gwynn. And the last one I really liked was Juan Gonzalez. It's ironic to the three year they were Number 19. And that's one of the reasons why we're number 19 as well. To

Evan 23:04

if you could hop into a time machine and play baseball at any year in history what year would you pick?

Luis Lopez 23:12

Well, you would I pick. Probably, I would love to see back in the day like when Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, all those guys, I'd want to see them guys play because I've heard so much about them how good they were and everything. I thought um I think it'd be pretty cool to be in around that era. See how it was?

Evan 23:37

What single piece of advice would you give to your teenage self? dreaming of making it to the bigs?

Luis Lopez 23:46

Okay, well, 1. to handle my business in the classroom. As we talked about, you know, as far as getting athletic money and academic money for college scholarships, you get way more money with academic money. So that's one concentrate on my studies, and to do everything I can, baseball wise, or everything that I can do, I have to work out lift weights, everything that I can. Because we're only allowed, we have a certain amount of time that we're allowed to play this game. And I always mentioned it to the guys, we're lucky if we can play ball until we're 20 years old. So don't waste your time.

Evan 24:26

So before we wrap up, would you like to share any projects that you're working on now or have coming up?

Luis Lopez 24:32

Sure, um, the two things that I'm doing now, I'm the varsity coach at the Harvey school in St. Katonah, New York. Been there now for five years. And it's been going well, we won our first championship last year.

Evan 24:47

Congrats

Luis Lopez 24:47

thank you was a we're hoping to continue that success this year. We have another good team on paper, but anything can happen in between those lines. The other thing is we have the New York nighthawks which myself and my Partner we created it right after I retired. It's a nonprofit organization that we try to help kids to move on and show them the importance of having good grades and going on to college as concentrate on graduating from college, even though you have those dreams of making it to the major leagues. So those are my two things that I'm keeping up most of my time right now.

Evan 25:22

And where can people go to follow you or learn more about you?

Luis Lopez 25:26

Well, I'm on. I'm on all the social media stuff, Twitter and Instagram. It's @doublel1919. That's my handle name for Instagram and Twitter. I'm also on Facebook as well. And then we have our pages for the nighthawks and the Harvey school as well. So I'm always putting stuff up because I look at it this way. We're in a we're in a time of technology. And a lot of our young folks, they're always messing with their phones and their iPads. So I look at it this way, I'm able to put information on there on my social media stuff that they can read and give them motivational quotes and stuff like that. So I use that for those purposes. But I think just to give positive energy

Evan 26:18

Luis, thanks, thank you so much for being here. I had a great time. And thank you for taking the time out of your day to come share your knowledge with the Born To Baseball community.

Luis Lopez 26:28

I appreciate it. I love what everything that you're doing with this. Feel free to have me anytime. Thank you.

Evan 26:36

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai