ryan roman

Episode 003_RYAN ROMAN CONCORDIA COLLEGE COACH AND COACH AND BOARD MEMBER FOR NOR EAST CLIPPERS ORGANIZATION

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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 born to baseball comm 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 born to baseball. I'm Evan and today I'm here with Ryan Roman. He's the assistant coach at Concordia College in New York, and also a coach and board member for the Northeast clippers organization. Ryan, thank you so much for being here.

Ryan 0:53

No problem, buddy.

Evan 0:54

I want to start off with you sharing your baseball journey the beginning to end

Ryan 1:00

So, when I was a kid, I would always be around softball. So like my dad, my uncle was always played softball all the time. And instead of sitting there just watching so boy, I just felt like I needed to throw a ball against the wall and do something to just pass the time. And the more I did that, the more fell in love with the game. And I kind of realized as I was playing the game that I come from a baseball family, so it was kind of easy for me to jump right into baseball when you're all around it all the time. Um, I started playing Little League. I started off with my friends, like every kid does, you know, I want to play with my friends. So I played three years in Little League, with my friends and that was probably when I realized like, okay, I really loved the game. I really want to take it serious. So I'm just going to dedicate my time to baseball. I did play other sports. I played I tried basketball but I was terrible. Football I was good at it was another family sport. So I just stuck with football and baseball. And when it was football season I played football when it was baseball, I kinda like really, really focused on that. Played three years Little League. Then we played Babe Ruth and travel ball. And it wasn't until I was around like, 14 or 15. Where's one of my coaches came up to me, I was like, you could play college baseball, and I was just looking at him like a funny face. I don't know. Thank you, whatever. But he was he's being honest with me. He's like, if you really take it serious and you really, you know, dedicate your summers and start traveling and, and really, you know, taking it serious, you know, you'll be surprised what you could do. So I started doing it slowly. And I was fortunate enough to get scholarship my senior year, but it was late. So it's like, it's funny, because I was nerve racked nerve racking my whole two years leading up to my senior year because everybody's always worried about Oh, what school you're going to, where you committed. I had no school. It was like January of my senior year. So that's 2011 of high school. So I had no idea where I was going at all and I had two showcases left. I went to one didn't hear anything. I went to the last one. And in the middle of that, that showcase I had my coach who's at Concordia now, who is my boss, he's the head coach there. I'm his assistant, he came up to me right away was like, Oh, please come tomorrow. It was a Sunday night, please come tomorrow with your parents to the office. So you know, we could talk more. And I don't know or at least I expected that's when I got my offer a scholarship and everything. So it was cool. And I went on to play at Concordia. It was challenging at first because when you're in high school and you come from a small town from Port Chester, like you're used to playing all the time and being like the star and being the person that everybody talks about, and then you get to college and you're last guy, guys are 21 22 you're just turned 18 they're benching 230 pounds, you could barely bench anything. They're just bigger, stronger, faster. And you got and another thing too is you got to realize like, if you really like baseball, because it's almost like going to school and going to work. Maybe you go to class, you got a class, you gotta go to baseball. You go eat, you have dinner, you have to go to baseball. Yeah, you know, so it's kind of tough.

Evan 4:45

Sort of baseball all the time,

Ryan 4:47

All the time, all the time. Um, my freshman year was, it was tough for me because it was the first time I was away from my family. My brother and I are I'm really close to it. So I had to like learn On my own little things like you don't have someone there waking you up to go to school, you know, you got to do it yourself. No one's making you go to baseball. No one's making you do actual work. Like you have to really be self disciplined. So it was big for me to be to learn how to be self disciplined. And then after my first year, I did I like was, I knew what I could do and couldn't, couldn't do and what I needed to improve. And I started three years after that, so my sophomore year my junior my senior started and that's when I kinda like this was when all the hard work has paid off from like, when I was 15. And they told me like, you could play college baseball, but you need to take it serious like I at that point, I was, I was a little bit more relieved, but you can see it took a long time.

Evan 5:46

Yeah.

Ryan 5:47

It was a long time. One thing I like to say is like, if you're working out now, you're not going to get the result tomorrow, or a month from now or two months from now. It's you're gonna see it in the Long Run, it's like saving money. You save money for a month, you'll see the difference, but you're gonna see the difference in like nine months, 10 months, you know.

Evan 6:08

So I know you said that you played shortstop and third base in college. Which of the two was your favorite position and why?

Ryan 6:17

So it's funny. I start when I start first started playing baseball as an outfielder. I played centerfield. And then I hit Like, I was like, eight, nine and 10. I played outfield. Then when I was like, 11, I had a coach and he just said to me, like, you're very athletic and you're very smart with baseball. I was trying to put you at shortstop and ever since I was 11 years old. I just played shortstop no matter what team I was on. Even when I played on like premier travel teams. We'd go for tryouts and the coaches would tell me Oh, we have three shortstops, we're looking for this and by the end of the try out they're like, are you playing short stop. Um, I got recruited to play shortstop. I played short stop for three years, and then we graduated one of my best friends who was a catcher that year and then so he graduated, we moved our first baseman to catcher and moved our third baseman to first, and to be a team player and because I felt it would benefit the team and winning, we would win more games. I moved to third. And we moved our second baseman over to shortstop. And part of the reason that happened as well was because I was a senior and that second baseman, that moved to shortstop, he was only a sophomore. So my coach was trying to do, was okay, if you move over to third, I could mold him into playing shortstop for three years. So it was kind of looking at the program's interest.

Evan 7:45

Yeah.

Ryan 7:45

You know benefit

Evan 7:46

For the long term

Ryan 7:47

Right, exactly. So that's when I started playing third. You know, and it took me a while to get used to it, but it made me a better baseball player because I was able to help my teammates out, and at the same time was able to help me out cuz I was able to play a different position.

Evan 8:01

Yep. Just learning a bunch of different like, with baseball, IQ, just different plays where you should be on different plays, even as a shortstop you think where you should be and then all of a sudden now as a third baseman, everything sort of changes.

Ryan 8:15

Yeah, exactly you hit it right on the head. And that's why I like when I coach, kids will come to me and they're like, Oh, I play shortstop, but I try to let them understand and teach them how to play second and play third, so that when they're in high school or on a travel team, or in college and a coach comes up to you and says, Hey, can you play third base and you kind of look at him like, never played third base before I can't play. You know, me as a coach. I don't like to put kids in that position. I want you to be able to if the team needs you in that position, you want to be confident enough to help the team out in any way and helps you out helps you stay on the field.

Evan 8:54

Yep. So after college, what really happened with baseball,

Ryan 8:58

So when I was in college, I was a psychology major, I didn't really know, at that point where I kind of wanted to be like a more what I wanted to do. So I decided to take the psychology route because I was always good with kids, you know, I had a little brother, I helped raise my little brother. So it was always good so I was always good with kids. So I decided, you know, let me work on psychology, maybe it'll help me in baseball and off the field. And it did. Um, when I went that route, I kind of kind of started understanding like more coaching, and how coaches like treat kids and why that your kid certain ways and they're like reasoning for certain things. And listen, everybody thinks they're going to be a major league player, you're supposed to have those dreams, you're supposed to try to fulfill them as much as you can. Everybody on my college team thought they were going to get drafted or have a chance to play at some type of professional baseball level. Even I remember my coach sending us to certain showcases my senior year towards the end of college. And you know, you go into the showcasing your talent scouts and scouts talk to you, they have interviews and stuff, but at the end of the day, it's their job to get the right guy. Um, a bunch of us were asked to come the showcases, and towards the end of my senior year, I kind of got hurt on my senior day. The first game I pulled my hamstring off of a doubleheader and went to the trainer and I kinda, they're not supposed to do this, but I kinda was like, Listen, I'm playing the second game. My family's here, they never come to my games that much when they, you know, they took off a work It was like a Saturday, so I'm gonna play the second game on my hamstrings bother me. She told me not to play I was being stubborn not listening. Whatever I played that game, I got hit by a pitch and my finger and it split my finger open, and I broke my like the top of my finger And nail was like underneath it and I broke like all the little particles and bones, and then had to get stitches. So I was out for three weeks with stitches and then another three weeks with the broken or fractured finger. And in those three, four weeks were all the tryouts and all the showcases, well not showcases rather workouts for organizations. Um, I was blessed enough where my college coach called on the pro swing organization at the time, and was like, Listen, I have this kid. He's very passionate about baseball and loves baseball. I think he'd be a good coach, good interview for a job. So that's when I went to pro swing. And I got interviewed for the job, I got the job. And I started doing work outs and just running like teams and clinics and little tryouts here and there. And I was handed a team. And I had it like vision for the team. I like didn't I didn't want to be that coach. I was just like, Oh, I'm just doing it for the money and just I wanted to really make an impact on the kids because of what I went through. So I wanted to make sure the kids you know, really had someone to lead them in the right direction.

Evan 12:11

Yeah.

Ryan 12:11

From a youth age from like eight years old. So that's when I started coaching that team. And, um, I fell in love with it. And I had people, Coach Jefferson, bunch of people tell me like, you need to get healthy, you need to play baseball and try it again. And I just fell in love with coaching and making an impact in kid's life and said, I saw that I could really make kids really good from this area, especially. So I just fell in love with coaching and that's when I just went full force into coaching.

Evan 12:46

back to when you said that you majored in psychology and it helped your baseball and off the field. How did it affect your baseball life?

Ryan 12:55

Okay, so it's actually a good question. Um, How did it help me on baseball. Well, when you're a psychology you learn about how the brain works, how certain like nerves and things trigger other things. So I realized like, um, the repetition, right? So when you take ground balls, when you're basically you got to take ground balls every day. When you practice, you're hitting, fielding. Um, so when I was in the psychology field, I saw, I didn't saw, I learned that the more you do things, your motor your motor skills are called motor skills, they improve and they become almost second nature. So if you take ground balls 100 ground balls every day, meaning literally every day you don't take a day off, your body starts to and your mind starts to get used to the repetition because you're doing the same thing over and over and over again. So understanding that concept of improving your motor skills and and how it Repetition improves your motor skills. That to me, I was like, oh, in class, all right, I gotta take 100 ground balls every day I gotta hit every day I gotta throw every day. So that helped me in the baseball sense. Like what that does a little brief thing that helped me a lot with

Evan 14:16

I know you emphasize the importance of having good footwork on the field. Why is it important to have good footwork and not just rely on your hands.

Ryan 14:24

I feel that when you have good footwork, it allows your hands to be more free and easier to field the ball. Um, your feet also create hops, which we tend to talk about the good hops so if your feet are in the right direction, it'll help you get the good hop and at the same time, it'll help you use your momentum and make it more accurate throw to your target.

Evan 14:49

Do players on the left side of the infield typically have the stronger arms of the infield?

Ryan 14:54

Yes, because they have to throw the ball farther. So like third base and Short would mostly have shorter arms then like a second baseman for the simple fact that their throw is longer across the infield than it is for a second baseman. That's also like not to get on top of your question. But if you got a right fielder, a centerfielder and left fielder, usually your strongest arm is in right field because second base is farther away than it is from center to left. So it's third base so is home, kind of

Evan 15:26

Yeah, What's more important in your view for the left side of the infield, a stronger arm or better hands?

Ryan 15:34

That's a tough question. For me, on the left side, this is the way I look at it. In the world in the baseball world. There's more righties batters, right? We could say there's more righty batters.

Evan 15:46

Yeah.

Ryan 15:46

So most righty, batters are going to do what?

Evan 15:50

Pull

Ryan 15:50

Pull the ball, Exactly. So most ground balls are going to go where shortstop and third. So typically, you would want a kid that's going to make the play all the time. Right, because the more the ball is hit to that side, the more consistent they have to be at fielding the ball. I'll give you an example to help you. We had a kid on my college team where he didn't have the strongest arm. But he had the best fielding percentage and the best hands. So we kind of were like, Alright, we'll deal with his arm. Because he's got to make every play and we know he's not going to make an error. So sometimes as a coach, you trying to sacrifice for certain things to make up for other things.

Evan 16:30

Yeah. I'll often hear coaches remind players what to do with the baseball. Why is that so important for success in the field?

Ryan 16:39

Um, well, I'm sure you heard me say it to you guys. But you know, I've, when I was playing, I felt like I had to talk to myself on the field. Like I had like before pitch or batters coming up, I'd say okay, it's first and second no outs while I'm playing shortstop, let's say there's a ground ball and it's to the six hole, its to gloveside, okay, I'm going to tell the thirdbaseman that I'm coming to him. So now right then in there, I turn like, hey, Evan, ball in the hole I'm gonna come to you. Okay, cool. ball to my glove side, I'm going to go to second base, ground ball hit right at me, I'm going to go to second base, because I could turn two. So I felt if I said that to myself, not only was I talking to myself, and reassuring myself, I was even engaging my mind and my and myself in the game, even like, all together at once. So I feel like that's very important. So when the balls hit to you, you're not kind of like oh, shoot, what do I do? right you're all ready prepared for your mind already knows. If the ball is hit here. I'm going to do this, also it helps you engage your teammates to if you're ever if you're ready. Yeah, you know, you know you're good. Then you could check up on your teammates like Alright, let me make sure you know they're engaged in the game too.

Evan 17:54

I remember seeing a video where the major league infield coach for the Orioles Bobby Dickerson. is working with the Orioles infielders on how to turn in between hop into a long hop. I think he called it the drop step drill.

Ryan 18:08

Yes.

Evan 18:09

It's a great video. I'll include the link in the show notes so our audience can check it out if they haven't seen it. But what are your thoughts on that video?

Ryan 18:16

I think it's a great video. I use that video to help with my college infielders. I use that video to help with you. And when I'm training you and the team, I know this goes back to what you asked me before about the footwork, right about the footwork technique why is so important with the footwork, there there, it helpes you right there when you get in between hop and you don't want to take it off the chest because it's hit too hard or you don't want to miss read it. Your feet are going to allow you to get into that position to get the long hop like the video. Um, so also, in that video, I think a big help in a video is when he talks about the head position. I think that's something that gets I think a lot of people overlook that. Um, I think it's very important for your head to be in the right position not only in fielding, but in everything you do in baseball base running, fielding, hitting, pitching. Um, head positions, huge because you're using your eyes and baseball and if your head's in the wrong way, and your eyes are in the wrong position,

Evan 19:18

Yeah. You also said getting a good hop is really important. Why is that so important?

Ryan 19:23

I think it's very important because you got to make the play you trying to, um, no matter what your job is what, to field the ball and throw it to first. So if you get a good hop, it makes it easier on you. It's less stress for you. You don't have to do too much not putting, you're not applying a lot of pressure on yourself to make that big play for your team if you always get the good hop. So if you train and practice your footwork to get the good hop all the time, when it when it happens in a game it becomes second nature it's just natural.

Evan 19:51

The left side of the infield in the World Series also made some very nice plays, including how Trey Turner and Alex Bregman in game six They each had slow rollers to each other and they both made very nice plays. How did they like attack the ball that was hit to them like on a slow roller? Could you sort of talk about how they got the ball and how they

Ryan 20:13

Breake it, like break it down.

Evan 20:14

Yeah.

Ryan 20:14

The first thing was charging with like a slow roller. You're talking about that type of play. I've told you this before and some of the infielders that I work with, you know, college kids. The first thing you read on a slow roller is where the ball off the bat hits first. So, if the ball hits closer to home plate, or before the mound, you know, after that hop, it's probably going to be a shorter hop, and I'm gonna get a ball that hits close to home plate, and then the next hop it's at third base or it's at shortstop. If it's close to home plate its probably gonna hop next towards the mound, then towards your position, wherever you are. I think they did a good job reading the ball off the bat. And then just being athletic. to being an infield, you have to be an amazing athlete. You gotta have some great athleticism, footwork, like we talked about, and hands. I think they read the bat perfect. They attack the ball, then they slow their selves down or not really themselves with slow their feet down to put their feet in the right position where they're picking the ball up with their left foot. And then once they stride with their right foot, they're releasing the ball to first base. Because I want to say, I want to be wrong about this. But I want to say you have about major league three to four seconds to get that ball after it's hit off the bat. Once it hit off the bat, and once you pick it up, and throw it to first has to be within three to four seconds. Down the because that's how fast they're running down the line

Evan 20:18

Yeah.

Ryan 20:30

So you always want to charge the ball. And I just think they did a good job of putting their feet in the right direction to help them make the proper throw so they can get an out just in time.

Evan 21:50

Yeah. Can you name two infielders in the major leagues that kids my age and kids a little older, could study and really learn a lot from

Ryan 21:59

One that I really liked that when I'm talking to kids, I don't really bring up because he's not my favorite infielder. But he's one of the best and I think he does everything, right is Brandon Crawford from San Francisco Giants on he has tons of videos on YouTube of him messing around and doing all these creative things, but I just think he's very fundamentally sound. He um, he does just does everything you're supposed to do in thebinfield field and he's been playing that position for a while for that organization. I'm gonna give you three. I'llgive you more than two because I just can't pick one. Um, I think DD from the Yankees. I think he's very good. I think he does everything fundamentally sound um, I'll give you four, the other two, I would say is Javier Baez and Tim Anderson. I just think they're a little bit more flashier I think they they're good guys to study from, but I think kids could get carried away of trying to do everything they do and not understanding like, hey, they get paid million dollars to do that. They they're able to do certain things that you shouldn't do at a young age because they're at that level, right?

Evan 23:21

Yes.

Ryan 23:21

When you get to that level and you're at that level, then you could do certain things. But getting up to that level, you got to be very fundamentally sound and I think Brandon Crawford and DD are two great guys to for kids to look at. For mechanics and fundamentals.

Evan 23:35

Yeah. So now I want to turn to base stealing. I know that you were one of the all time leaders in stolen base attempts at your college.

Ryan 23:44

Yes.

Evan 23:45

What do you think a player should be looking for when they're trying to get a good jump to steal off of a pitcher?

Ryan 23:50

That's funny because this is a question I get asked a lot. When I'm at the college level, my kids, most people would tell you look at their foot. Look at the back foot. just stare at it. Yes, it works to a certain extent, but I think you should try to find the pitchers tendencies. So, tendencies meaning like, what is the pitcher try to do when he's on the mound does he throw over every time someone gets on first base the first pitch? Does he move his front hip first? Does he move his leg first, his back foot first? Does he move his shoulder first? When I went up to Syracuse, and I was kind of lucky enough, my sophomore year I got asked, I got invited to play in NYC B.O. and I played for the Saracuse Saw Cats. NYC Bo is kind of an organization that it's a college baseball organization where they have a lot of like scouts and stuff go watch you and you kind of go away and you if you do good there, you know, you get your stock up for draft and things like that. When I was over there playing I had this coach. Here's a coach from Michigan, not the university, but he was a he was a division three coach. He was a pitching coach. And before we go to the games, he'd have what pitchers tendencies of other teams were. So before I get on base, and before the inning I was up, I look at the chart and like oh number 45 is pitching. When he picks off to first base. He likes to nod his head three times. Or he likes to take a deep breath and shrug his shoulders then he always goes to first base. So those little tips

Evan 25:22

Yeah,

Ryan 25:22

like those are things that he does as a pitcher that are bad habits that were picking up to steal the base. So I like to look at the pitchers tendencies. Um, another example that is, um, and I did this in Florida, where you guys and I did it with you specifically. So it's funny you asked the question is, there's a batter up, he gets the first pitch and it's a fastball and a strike. What do you think is going to come next

Evan 25:47

A curve

Ryan 25:48

or some type of off speed, especially if he's a good hitter, because they're not going to want to serve up another fastball to him. So knowing what the pitcher likes to do, if he throws a fastball and it's a strike, he always throws a changeup or a curveball those are pitches to steal on because the catcher has to do what. He has to wait for the ball to break. And it has to be a good throw. Some kids can throw off speeds for strikes, right? accurate.

Evan 26:11

Yeah.

Ryan 26:11

So those are things you look for to like the counts. So those are all aspects that I took to help me steal a lot of bases at Concordia right there.

Evan 26:21

So you actually sort of answered the next question. You said you looked at certain counts, like maybe curveball counts, or offspeed counts. That was actually part of the next question,

Ryan 26:31

well I can elaborate. I can help you out more on that. Um, another thing that helped me too, with the counts is like, I gave you an example, on our team was college or with 12 new clippers. We we tell you guys all the time. If the first pitches right there down the middle, what should you do jump on it right? Because every pitcher is trying to get ahead. They want to throw that first pitch so they got a strike right away. They'll start off with a ball. So me as a player, I knew my teammates strengths. So I know Who was batting behind me So I knew if I got on first base, and let's say you were at the plate, I knew in a one one count, or o and o count, if you got a fast ball I know you weren't going to take the fastball, you're going to swing at it. So I wouldn't try to steal. I'm gonna let you hit because if you drive it you could double up or you know, something could happen it's like a hit run with the ball goes in the air and things like that. So I would let you know I would try not let but I was trying to understand who was batting behind me in the lineup, and what his strengths were as a hitter and what his weaknesses were as a hitter to help me get the scoring position for him. Basically,

Evan 27:42

yeah, that's, that's really good, not only for you, and just being able to know like when I should steal or being aggressive on the base path, just to the for the team and to try and help them out. So now I have some rapid fire questions for you.

Who do you think The best tags in the game bias.

Ryan 28:02

Baez, Javier Baez

Evan 28:03

I know you brought up two good fundamentally sound infielders earlier, but which out of the two do you think is the most fundamentally sound?

Ryan 28:12

Most fundamentally sound? I'm gonna say Brandon Crawford.

Evan 28:16

Yeah?

Ryan 28:16

yeah, I just I just think he does everything the right way.

Evan 28:20

Who's your favorite base runner in the MLB? Like their speed and awareness on the base pass?

Wow, interesting question. I've never been asked that question before.

Ryan 28:35

I'm gonna have to say Javier Baez.

Evan 28:37

Yeah,

Ryan 28:37

I'm gonna, I just love the way he slides I think I think he. I don't think he's the fastest. Right? So when he does steal he does those type of things that I was talking to you about, of like, understanding the count and the pitcher, what he's trying to do and the tendencies of what they're trying to do to the batter. His teammate.

Evan 28:58

Yeah.

Ryan 28:59

I think he Also recreated that diving and sliding, I think once he started doing his little moves, I think now everybody's starting to implement that in their running game.

Evan 29:10

Yeah. And really just even if you don't have a lot of speed, if you're able to pull those moves off, you might be safe.

Ryan 29:17

Yeah, exactly. Cuz the guy still has to tag you, still gotta get the tag down.

Evan 29:22

And who's your favorite five tool player?

Ryan 29:25

I have to say, Jose Altuve

Evan 29:27

yeah.

Ryan 29:28

Yeah, I just think he runs well. He still bags. He has a good arm strength. He hits well, and he hits for power?

Evan 29:36

Yeah

Ryan 29:37

I think he does everything the right way. I really think that he's a good five tool guy. And I think if he wasn't a five tool guy, he wouldn't be in the in the major leagues.

Evan 29:45

Yup

Ryan 29:47

If you think about it.

Evan 29:48

He's also a really good role model for smaller guys looking to play baseball especially at a high level.

Ryan 29:53

I think him and Marcus Stroman think those are the two guys for guys who are big Because it's funny you bring that up. I was told that when I went to a showcase I was about 16. Um, I went down to showcase tournament down in University of Maryland, I believe it was. And you have all those ACC schools there. So it's like Duke, North Carolina, you know? And I was playing shortstop and I remember him going out to my, to my coach, my summer coach asking about me, but also throwing a little like, saying to him, like, Oh, we like him, but he's just not big enough to play ACC or he's not strong and he's not. He doesn't look like a big shortstop. You know, he's just small. And Marcus showman is good is a good person look at because he has a slogan where it's hight doesn't measure heart, HDMH, um, yeah, his own team to that he starts. So he's really changing the game about that and then who better than Altuve. Now postseason to show firsthand as an example, like,

yeah,

hight doesn't matter. I'm here. I know you've seen all those memes and pictures of him and judge. Together, so it's funny.

Evan 31:08

Yeah. To wrap it up, do you have any projects that you're working on that you'd like to share with the Born To Baseball community?

Ryan 31:14

Right now actually, currently, on the board, like you said, like you mentioned before of the Nor' East Clippers, that's a big project that I'm working on. We're really trying to give people who aren't wealthy a chance to play at a high level. We just want to make sure the right kids, are getting the right opportunities. One thing that I always like to talk about is, if it wasn't for baseball, I don't know what I'd be doing right now. Like, I'd be in trouble, or, you know, doing the wrong things. And baseball really helped me, and I'm very grateful for the game for that. That's why very passionate, I really loved the game. That's why I could spend my weekends with you guys at a tournament and not with my family because, hey, I'm doing something I love it. I love the game. I want to give that opportunity to every kid that I can. Any kid that I come across, you know, if they really love the game, I want to be able to not be like, Oh, I don't have the money to do that or money, money money. Like it shouldn't be about that, like we should. We should be able to give kids opportunities and what they do with the opportunities on them, but at least they have the opportunity.

Evan 32:22

Yeah. And is there anywhere else people can contact you or Nor' East Clippers

Ryan 32:28

they could follow our Instagram we have an Instagram account called @nor'eastclippersofficial. And then I have my own coaches page that I run. I put a lot of stuff up from the organization kids I train like yourself, I'll put up on there and my college kids like that too. And what we're doing at the college level that's coachrome_01, So yea, you know, Kids they could follow on my Instagram or the organization's Instagram. If they have questions, they could feel free to direct message if They want to talk more about what we talked about on your podcasts. They definitely could contact me there on it.

Evan 33:06

Ryan, do you have any last words of wisdom,

Ryan 33:09

I think for the for the for the young kids that all have the vision of of being a professional athlete, especially in baseball. Just remember, like, what the work you put in is where you're going to get out of it. So, if you're at practice, and you're not going 100% don't expect to the game. Don't expect the game to bless you with a lot of things. What you put into the game is what your gonna get out of it. Don't let anybody tell you, you can't do this, you can't do that. It's ultimately up to you. You could do it. You could do what you put your mind to. If you really feel you want to be a major league baseball player, then do everything you can to become that player. I always tell kids and especially your team, I'll say your parents go to work every day. All right. Your teachers they teach you every day. you brush your teeth every day. You eat every You go to the bathroom every day. If you want to be successful in baseball, you need to do baseball every day, some type of baseball, whether it's hitting, whether it's fielding, whether it's doing the ladders, doing ladder work, or strength conditioning, there's always room to get better. And the kids in the northeast, especially, you know, we're always indoors at certain times. So, you know, everybody always overlooks us, but that should motivate you more. Use negativity as motivation, not as discouraged. You know, does that make sense? Like, if someone tells you No, you can't, you're not good enough. You can't play in that tournament. Work hard. So you can make that tournament. Um, You're not gonna be able to hit that kid. He's too good. Make sure you get a hit off that kid. Um, that's something I did as a player. I'll leave you with one last thing. When I was in college, I had one of my coaches told me you are very good shortstop, but you can't really hit. So, to me, I wanted to work really hard on hitting now, right? Like I can't hit like I'm going to show you I can hit and that's what I did I used negativity or constructive criticism. I use that to help me better my game and become a better person on and off the field. So any negatives, use it to your advantage, use it as motivation. That'd be my best advice for any kid coming up.

Evan 35:33

Well, thank you for coming on to the podcast, and also sharing your baseball experience and giving us some tips to improve our game.

Ryan 35:43

Oh, thank you for having me on. I think I think a lot of kids are lucky that you're doing this because it gives them a good source of information to get to help them with their baseball careers.

Evan 35:54

So you're ready for some ice cream. Oh even better. I love ice cream.

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