strong mindset

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

COMPETE! Training Program

Episode #010: Dr. Tom Hanson- Sports Psychologist/ Founder of the “Play Big Academy” / Author of “Play Big” / Co-Author “Heads Up Baseball / Executive Coach

June 2020 By Evan

Ep. # 010: Dr. Tom Hanson- Sports Psychologist/ Founder of the “Play Big Academy” / Author of “Play Big” / Co-Author “Heads Up Baseball / Executive Coach

Join Evan and Dr. Tom Hanson as they discuss some of the key concepts in “Heads Up Baseball 2.0” co-authored with Dr. Ken Ravizza. Dr. Hanson shares insight into his personal baseball journey, what he’s learned from interviewing some of the “Greats” like Hank Aaron and Pete Rose and his experience working with professional athletes. The skills and tools Dr. Hanson teach truly prepare a baseball player to be their very best in baseball and in life.

What You’ll Learn:

02:29 How Dr. Tom Hanson got started in Sports Psychology

05:48 When he began working with MLB Teams

10:15 Being your own real life “MLB The Show” character

15:23 Players he had the most fun training

19:40 Uncovering what made Derek Jeter good under pressure

23:40 How players can use an internal “Green, Yellow, Red Light System” as a guide

26:01 Using “Breath” to slow the game down

31:25 Being self aware; Know yourself

35:51 Explaining the RAMP-C Process in “Heads Up Baseball 2.0”

41:31 What it means to “Know It, Do It, Own It”

45:16 Advice to Parents: Strategies for “debriefing” with your ball player after a game

52:33 Power of Visualization

55:41 How being a Heads Up Baseball Player also makes you a better Teammate

Now, let’s play ball!

Read show notes here.

Show Links:

Dr. Hanson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/headsupbaseball/

Twitter: @HeadsUpBasebal2 @DrTomHanson

Dr. Hanson Websites/ Programs:

Play Big Book: Mental Toughness Secrets That Take Baseball Players To The Next Level

Heads-Up Baseball 2.0

Dr. Tom Hanson

Born To Baseball Links:

Born To Baseball Website

BTB Travel Team & Training Tracker

Instagram: @borntobaseball

Facebook

Twitter: @bornto_baseball

Born To Baseball Podcast

Episode 010_DR TOM HANSON SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST_FOUNDER OF THE PLAY BIG ACADEMY_AUTHOR OF PLAY BIG_COAUTHOR OF HEADS UP BASEBALL_EXECUTIVE 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? Then you have to check out the BTB Triple T Tracker at borntobaseball.com Make sure your team is represented. Let's go.

Music 0:24

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 I'm here with Dr. Tom Hanson, who's coached baseball players ranging from Little leaguers to world champions for over 35 years. Dr. Hanson earned a degree in sports psychology from the University of Virginia. He was a professor and head baseball coach at Skidmore College in New York. He's worked with many professional sports and business organizations as a performance enhancement coach and consultant, including New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins as well as Microsoft and Verizon. In addition to co authoring heads up baseball with Dr. Ken Ravisa, Dr. Hansen authored Play Big "Mental Toughness Secrets That Take Baseball Players to the Next Level". Thank you for being here.

Dr. Tom Hanson 1:24

Your welcome. Thank you for the introduction. Sounds like an interesting guy.

Evan 1:31

For sure,

Dr. Tom Hanson 1:32

I'm looking forward to see what he has to say.

Evan 1:35

So I actually first learned about you when my parents bought me a copy of heads up baseball 2.0 with Dr. Ken Ravizza, and that was that was a great book. Like once I was finished. I had I told my parents I have to go back and read that again.

Dr. Tom Hanson 1:48

Oh, yeah. You read the whole thing.

Evan 1:50

Yeah. It was really great.

Dr. Tom Hanson 1:52

That's, that's great. That's great. There's a because it's not a small book we decided to include err on the side of inclusion rather than making it you know, minimal. And so I respect that you that you read that whole thing because it's also designed where you don't have to read it all you could really just pick it up and read a quote and put it down. But it really is designed to go start to finish.

Evan 2:19

So I'd like you to share a bit about your journey. So what inspired you to become a sports psychologist and how did you begin working with different athletes?

Dr. Tom Hanson 2:29

I would say I got into it because I was really good at baseball when I was young. And then not good enough to go beyond college. I ended up playing division three ball I had some great experiences along the way. One of the biggest things for me was I was always really good because I was big and tall. So I say that not boastfully but just because I because I didn't work for it. I just was just came out and and could hit and play the game without having to work at it, and then what I ran into a ceiling my junior year of high school I really thought I should have been playing and I wasn't. And so that next winter in Minnesota or I grew up in Moorhead, Minnesota, I worked at it I bought a couple books, the "Science of Hitting" by Ted Williams and the "Art of Hitting 300" by Charlie Lau and I went down my basement and I swung a bat swing this big brats bat, you know, this big, there's a way to read that I swung that took a big chunk out of the pool table we had in the basement. And on one of my own it's an outside pitch. Took a chunk out of the pool table. And I came out that year and then just crushed I just mashed the ball set hitting records and home runs and and it was really great. But I still wasn't really good enough. No one was around me was going to division one school and I kind of said okay, I'm going to Division Three school. I went to Luther College in Iowa and my next big event, there was a well, two things one. Well, that happened in this order. In my Chist- during Christmas break during my sophomore year of college, I had to declare a major and I didn't know what I wanted to major in and I literally sat down at my desk at my home and said, Okay, what do what do I like? And I said, Oh, sports. So I write, okay, sports, and then my, my editing head was like, Okay, well, what's something real? I said, Well, I had this psychology class, basic requirement, and I really, I liked it. I liked the teacher. And I liked that they just were really telling me stuff that I already knew just putting names to it. So it was, it was pretty easy for me. And then two weeks later, so I said, Okay, I'm majoring in psychology. Two weeks later, I was in a bookstore. And I see this book called sports psyche, which I can see on my shelf right over the top of my computer here to this day, sports psyche. It's like oh my gosh, there's a field called sports psychology. And so I then wrote some letters because nobody at Luther and then 1982 really knew about sports psychology and so I wrote to where there were graduate programs and came back if you really wanted to work with people who were having trouble and you want to help them be normal go into psychology and if you really want to help people be great. Go into physical education, what became kinesiology? So I took that went to University of Illinois, fantastic time there really learning about how to help people play great. Then I went to-I wanted to be with the best so then University of Virginia for my PhD because there was a guy named Bob Rotella and I thought he was the best and it was fantastic experience to learn from the best. Backing up though, back to this other experience at Luther, that was so pivotal to me, was that which is in decor, Iowa, we finished last place my freshman year of high school, I started every game, but we got last place.

Evan 5:47

Yeah.

Dr. Tom Hanson 5:48

And then, but what we had was great leaders. We had these three guys from my sophomore year, that we're really strong leaders and they're like, come on, man. We can do this. We can do this. We'd have get togethers. And, and we talk over things. It's like you know who's better than Joe Knight at second base in this conference? Nobody! And who's better at third base and Layton Whistie? Nobody! And we got Jake Comin, we got Scooby. And it's like, let's go. And darn if we didn't win the conference, we went from worst to first and went to the regional. We had a goal to have our coach be the conference Coach of the Year and he was regional Coach of the Year.

Evan 6:27

That is amazing.

Dr. Tom Hanson 6:28

It is because I mean, we had talent, so it's not I heard you say skills and mindset. And so it's it wasn't just that we had meetings and talked about it. We had some good players. But we did go from worst to first and won it those next three years while I was there, and then it was another 20 until they did it again. And so just seeing that, oh my gosh, that power of leadership. It wasn't the coach changed. It was the power of leadership. And and of teamwork that was pulled together with everyone focus in the same direction, staying focused on a on a together on one target is just a has massive power to it. So that's one of my principles is stay on target, pick a clear target and stay on it. And that's what we did. And so that's sort of how I got into it here. So I can go more into, you know, further on with my history, if you want. Pick it up from there, but let me see if if you have any questions on, on what

Evan 6:28

yeah, I mean, if you could share a little bit about your work with some major league teams and then just professional athletes and teams.

Dr. Tom Hanson 7:40

Yeah, gladly. So just to round that out. After Virginia. I went to head baseball coach and a college professor at Skidmore College in upstate New York, was there for seven years and then decided to leave cuz I really wanted to work more with athletes and executives and I moved to DC and then I worked with the Texas Rangers and I worked with With the twins, and then the Yankees called up, and that's how I moved down here to Tampa 2001. And that just lasted that one year. And I've been here ever since. So those that was my working with, you know, this is just the general history of from where I'm coming from. And in there I wrote Heads Up Baseball, as you mentioned, in 90s, and then Heads Up Baseball 2, and Play Big. So I would say working with professional players, a good story. I mean, it's really about freedom. And it's really about freedom. But I kind of liken myself to in my highest version of myself, sort of sports, Abraham Lincoln, about emancipation and freedom because athletes, like myself and everyone else, really we tend to limit ourselves with the beliefs that we have. I can think of a player, I can't really think I can really name him. But back early one of the early ones when I was with the Rangers, who had been in the minor leagues for seven or eight years, and was really struggling and always would get hurt and get into this in that, and as we talked about mindset, and how he saw himself something as a victim, like, oh, things are always going wrong for me, and why did this happen to me and this guy did this. And this guy did this, always looking outside of himself at what was going on. And through our conversations, he shifted that and able to be like, you know what, I'm responsible for this. I've kind of been in what I would refer to now as a trance, like you go into a trance, and people think of trance of like a hypnosis and Oh, you're going to go dancing with a broom or something. But we go into trances all the time, pretty much all day, every day. It just doesn't seem that way. You don't you know, think of it because your experience and so it gets It's a mindset of like a call of being a victim, which he was being to being a player, which means he's creating from the inside and said, You know what, here's how I'm going to be as a player. And it's as if you take on a character. I liken it now very much to like when you play MLB the show?

Evan 10:19

Yes, I have it.

Dr. Tom Hanson 10:20

Yeah. And so at the beginning, you kind of pick the strengths, and then therefore weaknesses of the guy and you create this character, or the computer spits out a default one, right? You just jump in, and there's your guy, or you can go in and give them a beard. Oh, and long hair, and this bat strength and this foot speed and so forth. And so that's, there's the default, and then there's the one that you create. And with this guy, it's like, you know, what I'm going to create myself is this guy. And I'll even go with having people create character names for who they are, when when you're being a victim? What's the name for that? And I don't we can't even say on a podcast. And and then when you're really who you want to be your highest version of yourself that you selected and that you developed and trained, who is that and give a name to that person. And then it's really he this guy shows like, I'm going to be that and just a light bulb went off. And off, he went to end up being in the big leagues and being on a World Series winning team. He just really went to from living in sort of a nightmare. riding the bus. It's in the minor leagues to live in the dream, winning the World Series, and having that's really, really strong, major league career.

Evan 11:48

Yeah, that's really awesome. That's a really great success story.

Dr. Tom Hanson 11:52

Yeah, thanks. Anotherone that comes to mind. Is is really fun where this guy recently mildly guy was was really struggling and and every time he went 0-4, he would go for extra work in a batting cage and try to fix whatever was wrong. And what we talked about was like maybe there is nothing wrong other than you're just playing baseball. Baseball is hard at any level, much less professional level. And so why don't you find a way to go back and evaluate your at bats and see really if there's something for your hand path needs to get fixed. Something with your hips or your waste or your this or that, because that really can lead you down a rabbit hole and then it's just one thing after another. Again, it's a fundamental mindset of something's wrong. And I got to, I got to fix it. If you're coming from something's wrong, there's nothing that will fix it. Because you think something's wrong. It's a it's a mindset. It's like being in a pool, you go into the pool, let's go and pull down here, Florida, not one in New York at the moment. You're wet. And you can't really make a dry move. Because you're wet. If someone throws you a towel, that's how you dry off, right? Well, you're in the pool. So everything's gonna be wet. And so you get that that's a mindset of like, hey, something's wrong with me. Then you're, you'll just move from thing to thing and never get it. And so this guy cracked that. And it's like, oh, let me elevate which is one of my main principles also is to understand how we're designed as humans, that we have thoughts and feelings, but we are not our thoughts and feelings. There's somebody inside there that's watching the thoughts and feelings. And so he got really good at elevating and looking to Oh, look, where my mind goes right now is I want to fix something. I'm over for him frustrated, so there must be something to do and that I need to fix. And he could watch that and say ah, Look at that. Look at my mind go that way. And do I really think there's something to fix? No, I don't think so. So let's go watch Netflix or something to get myself at peace. So I can have clarity and calmness which is much more important than trying to fix his hand path not that not that. Mechanics aren't important physics applies to the world. It's just that really you want to have access to your talent. So that's how I would summarize is what I do with this whole like blinking thing is it's helped people have access to their talent, you can't play better than you can play. I couldn't help you play for the Yankees this afternoon. Right? Come on, Evan believe. Believe you can hit 95 on the black and no. However you having access to your talent means I can play this well. And I do play that well. But most players that can play x, well, and they perform it x minus n, where n in some, some measure, they play below that. And that's more of the mental game thing is access to your ability, then doing something impossible.

Evan 15:23

Wow, that that's really great. So, is there one athlete or team that you had a lot of like the most fun training lists and why did you have like so much fun with them?

Dr. Tom Hanson 15:37

Well, I love that question, because that's what I most want to do. When I was with your beloved Yankees, it wasn't that fun. It was a dream come true. That wasn't that fun because they kind of weren't ready for it. It was a little bit more than they were ready for because some I didn't play by their standards. I didn't play me. I didn't play professionally. I played through college. I was. I was I was an all Iowa conference player. And so it was sort of like what's Dr. shrinky doing here and it got it can easily fall into Hey, if something's wrong with you mentally go talk to Hanson. Second, you're gonna imagine how long the line at my door was for that. And so that wasn't that much fun. Even though there were great, great highlights. You know? What, why would I? Because it because what I really want to have is, is fun. And so what's funnest is when someone's really into it, I've got a player. I got a player that comes to mind. It's a softball player, high school softball player, that it's like, well, I'm number 25 in the country. And I want to be number one. What do I need to do? And it was fun. It's like, she there was nothing she never didn't feel like there was something wrong with her. It wasn't my Like, oh, I'm ready to quit baseball I have the yips if you see my site yipsbegone.com, I work with a ton of players and still do major leaguers to 10 year olds who have trouble making a simple throw. I get more of that than what this where this one was coming from, which is like, I want to be the best. And that's what's fun when I when I have those, that that's the funnest. It's deeply satisfying to help someone out of a slump. But like this person, I made a video for her a visualization exercise where she would then see these better and better and better versions of herself in front and then go more of her and then morph into and go into imagine what that's like. See what you'll see here, what you'll hear, feel what you feel when it's even bigger and better version of you. And then I get these texts ah You know, how's it going? Great. And then I talked to her even, you know, there was apparently not even a month, Well, I've done it every day. And sometimes twice. And it's like, that's fun. Because then you've got someone that's, that's really into it and you can, you can really blast blast off. I was talking with a golfer yesterday in England do a lot of stuff on zoom like this. And he just has really taken the stuff and run with it clear out a lot of negative emotions. I do some interesting stuff with tapping and other kind of what's called psycho sensory modalities, not just talking, and not even just visualizing. Certainly using the breath and routines and the stuff that someone would normally think of it's sports psychology, which would be in heads up baseball. A lot of stuff that I do most of isn't in the book. Because here's the here's the thing. Most of the stuff you hear about in sports Psychology, the routines and the breaths and so forth is about tools that will help you deal with stress that comes up, or anxiety or fear, or maybe even frustration. What I'm most interested in is having that not come up. That makes sense. How do you know Derek Jeter? I love Derek Jeter got to talk with him a lot. And I liked it because you know, quick Derek Jeter story. Yeah, Mike. Besides when I robbed him of a home run during batting practice, reached up over the fence was funny. But since you're a Yankee fan, right, they're ready for their Jeter story.

Evan 19:45

Yep.

Dr. Tom Hanson 19:46

So I'm sitting on my couch in 2000 ish. And watching him up to bat some playoff game. They're down by a run, and he's up to bat. And I'm sitting there on the couch and I'm watching him and it just comes to me. It's like You know what he looks like a little leaguer. And like, with all due respect, as in, hey, looks like that 12 year old kid that can just rake that's like, Oh no, Jeter's up backup. And he steps up and he's all wiggly and like, Whoa, this dude is confident and this dude is gonna, he's gonna hit the ball. Every thing about him, said he's gonna hit it. It might not be pretty when it wasn't, you know, the most beautiful swing, often, but all he's gonna frickin hit it. I'm just gonna get it done. And sure enough, he did. And they said they scored a run and you know, they win. And so a year later, I end up getting a call and I I'm working for the Yankees. And I'm helping people transition from triple A to the big leagues. So what do I do? I talked to people who've done it and say, How did you do that? That's mostly how I've done my career. My research for my PhD was interviewing Hank Aaron and Rod Carew, Stan Musial, Carl Yastrzemski, Pete Rose, Tony Oliva the best the great hitters head and said, How did you do that? And then I help other people do it. It isn't, you know, I was in Division Three, athlete myself. But I'm sitting there talking to Derek Jeter and I said, How do you do that? How do you be really good under pressure? And he was pressure. I said, I go, Yeah, like 50,000 people in the playoffs and they're all screaming and everyone's going. He goes, ah, because that's fun. Really is it? Yeah, he goes more I go with 50,000 people, because yeah, more people's more fun. Really? So he said, Yeah, you know, to me, it's just like little league. And I, oh, my gosh, I can't but my jaw just hit the floor. I can't believe you just said that. Because I told him my couch. Part of the story. He's like, yeah, so you see, the point there is that he saw the situation as fun so He wasn't in need of all the routines and everything you read when you read Heads Up Baseball 2.0 that those are great to have and I'm all for him obviously I teach them what I want you to people understand is that much bigger than that it's like iceberg that's what's on the surface much bigger is the belief system underneath. And the key distinction underneath belief system is is this a fun challenge? Or is it a dangerous threat? If you're up to bat and you feels like a dangerous threat? Well then you better have bunch of stuff to go to be breathing and routines and focal points and all all that stuff. And if it's like this is fun, oh my gosh, like like a wiffle ball Hey, you know Evans up back up, you know, Evans like here and it's like, oh, did you do your pre pitch routine? Well, me, well, you maybe did but not something You're conscious stuff. You're just up there waiting.

Evan 22:55

Yeah,

Dr. Tom Hanson 22:55

ready to just mash. So there I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Well, that is true. I also don't know. I can talk very authoritatively, about this. And then every person is different. And every situation is different. So what I just said about somebody might be the opposite for someone else.

Evan 23:19

I know you also bring up the philosophy of the internal, like lights like, green, yellow, red, and knowing which one you're at. So how can you youth baseball player determine what they're feeling in? Like real game time?

Dr. Tom Hanson 23:40

Okay, cool. That's a super cool question. Well, one is to hang on to being 12. I'll answer your question in a moment. But the bigger thing again, is, why do you play baseball? For fun, right, and it's more and more kids like your age might never even play a pickup game. sad is that can be might never play in the street or someone's backyard, or that everything to the left of second base is foul, because you only have three guys. Something like that. That's, that's beautiful. And I, and I wish that for everyone. And that's the fun, the spirit of fun. And it can be such a dangerous time right now for your sport because it's so parent focused and structured that you can lose that to number one thing is that thing fail in a fun, like, you know, I'm gonna mash this ball. Think of that as a green light. When you're watching your parents drive. They go up to an intersection. If the light is green, they just go. And so each pitch in a game is like an intersection or crossroads. And so you can check the traffic light that's inside you. And if you're feeling good, like Yeah, let's go ahead and bring it. I'm going to mash this or pitch. It's like this ball is going right there. You're about to sit down brother That's a green light. You're feeling good. yellow lights. Whoa, I feel not sure it's all speeding up. It's like it's going faster. I feel nervous or everyone's yelling and no, that's done swing at that high one. Devin that was over your head. Come on. Oh, like I didn't know that. So that's a Yeah, that's what I call a yellow light. And then a red light is even just worse. You're freaking out. It's all speeding up. You're having trouble breathing. So if you think of having this traffic light inside of you, it's like, how am I feeling? Your thought goes in? Am I really feeling I'm feeling good? Really good. And if you're feeling good, roll on, off you go. But if you have any kind of yellow light, you feel a little unsettled. That's when you can go to the different tools. Because now we're in the moment you're not going to be able to sit and say, Oh, just have fun. You can say that. But it's a lot easier said than done. And you can't just tell someone Hey, Derek Jeter just had fun you go have fun. It's a much deeper process in that to do what I call inner lens crafting, which is the work to get someone to see things differently. That's back on that fun challenge versus a dangerous threat. But you can use a breath and that would be the number one thing I would say for someone to do when they're on the field is to take a breath. So when you're in the hole, take a few deep breaths in, out. Slow it all down like that to three or four breaths and if you're really nervous, do it in the dugout, before you're in the hole. And then well you probably in the hole and leak. I mean, you're probably in the dugout the whole time. So then really breathing. If you feel boom, your heart's beating, it's like oh, Evan, you're on deck. Oh, you feel that in your body. Go to your breath. Inhale. Ideally through in and out through the nose but you may have too much adrenaline going to him excited to keep it in and out through your nose. So that in and out Your mouth is fine, but to see if you can bring it down to your belly but you might not be able to do that go into your chest The best thing to do is to practice it like right now you're listening in and then out and really finish it. You read hits a baseball you know, Mike trout said, Oh, like main things you got working with Ken Ravisa the finish his breath, be outside the batter's box, finish his breath, finish the exhale and then step in. Because it sounds good. I'll take a breath in as he's breathing out, he steps in, good, let's go. And that's it's all speeding up the breath can really slow it down, use the breath to slow the game down. And really then lock in on on what you need to do. So I would say use a breath And I would say be really clear about something simple that you're up to do. What when I said I interviewed Hank Aaron, Rod Carew, Stan Musial, Pete Rose most of what they said I go, is, Hank Aaron, what were you doing? No. First of all, what do you mean he was doing? He's hitting know, what were you in that batter's box to do? And he said, I wanted to put the fat part of the bat on the ball. Stan Musial. He's the number two all time total basis leader, you know, total base. homerun? , four, four, right. Double. Oh, so that's six. And so the all time leader is Hank Aaron. And he's, he is like 12 miles ahead of Stan Musial so it's just insane. here and how did you do that? And then he told me, and Stan Mutual's number two guy, I talked to him. What were you doing in the back batter's box. And he said, Well, I always knew where the fat part of the bat was. And I want to put it on the ball. And I would, and I was like, Yeah, but come on what else Mr. PhD wants it to be more complicated, but that's really what he was doing. So if you so helping a 12 year old, or a 32 year old Major Leaguer, I would say, really go to that breath. Really go to the breath. And then be super clear on something really specific, fat part of the bat on the ball. When I'm pitching, this ball is going right there. Take your breath, visualize the ball going there. And then just trust just let it go with the visualizing like say for a pitcher here is sort of like when you go out to eat, you'll sit here's a menu and say, Okay, I'll have the ham and cheese sandwich. And then they go and they make it and you just trust them to make it and bring it to you. So you can think of the visualizing is saying, okay, body. I'll have a fastball there please with You know the dressing on the side? And then just let your body throw it.

Evan 30:06

Yeah, that's, that's really, really great.

Dr. Tom Hanson 30:09

Thank you.

Evan 30:10

We know that our bodies and our results will match what we're thinking about. So how can we implement that and what does really being self aware mean?

Dr. Tom Hanson 30:25

Well, that's a way above average question Evan. Being aware is mean being conscious of in the book would give an example of like, think of your the big toe say on your right foot right now. And then wiggle it. Now it's in your consciousness awareness means in your consciousness. It doesn't mean you're thinking about it. It just means it's in. It's occurring to you. So what I would technically say since you're going to ask a big league question can get big league big words, it's going to, like it's occurring to me. It's in my field of consciousness. Where as now, it it. It wasn't. But now it is. But while I'm talking like this, maybe even lost your big toe, now bring it back. And now think about what you had for dinner last night. What do you have for dinner last night?

Evan 31:24

Had some soup.

Dr. Tom Hanson 31:25

All right, cool. And then you just lost your big toe, right? Because you went, your mind had to go back. But now your big toes back. So that's awareness is having it be in your consciousness, having it be sort of in play. And so being self aware, means having a lot of consciousness of how you actually roll. in baseball. I'll liken it to go back to MLB the show since a lot of guys listening would have played that. It'd be like okay, you're on base and knowing You're a speed guy, or knowing that you're a big slugger, and you're not gonna steal this base. So just click ahead and get around to your next at bat. Whereas, like my son loves to steal bases. And so he always gives himself a fast guy and steals bases. So it's really knowing what you're good at and what you're not good at. It's my own challenge, and I work with it with executives at the same just to broaden it out. Like what are you really good at? I like this term. This guy Dan Sullivan has your unique ability. What are you uniquely? good at and then really do that? You know, I had a chance, for example to and this is again, how good your question is. I have my son hit with a couple of big leaguers. I know these guys are in town here so we were able to take my 16 year old son to go hit with Kyle schwarber the Cubs and Oscar Mercado. The Indians, and I pulled him aside both those guys individually and I said, hey, my son 16, what do you got for advice? And they both said the exact same thing. Know yourself, you just got to go and be yourself. And so it's a question like, Well, what does that even mean? It's like, well, if you fast yet, well, then don't try and hit home runs. Have you ever hit a home run, no but I really want to, okay, well, it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to do that. Maybe it comes on like Mercado is a great example because he's hitting homeruns now and he's in his mid mid late 20s, I think. And he didn't, I mean, he's a fast guy. So he needs to be square the ball up and and then get on base and steal the base and take an extra base on something and then score on a ground ball know yourself and, and really focus on being That, that which you are, I mean, it's, it's endless. I could talk all day about what it can mean to be aware, but people mostly aren't very good at it is what else? So I'll say one thing Joe Maddon, now of the angels told me that he's astonished how often, Major League players don't know what pitch they hit best. They'll ask, Hey, where do you Where do you hit the ball? The best? I don't know, is the fastball no So I mean, like we're in the strike zone. Where did you swing? Ah, I don't know. Or even sometimes, okay, hit the home run. What did you hit? I don't know. And, and so it's, it's really knowing yourself, and it just could really go on and on. So I'll just I'll liken it back to this though. Just to kind of wrap it together, is when you're at your best, with a name for that character. Like the beast or The man or what other ones if I had just like, you know, unstoppable or Mr. fun you know, you could put Mr something on it and just make it up like it's a character like a Marvel character. And then when you're at your worst, I'm cry baby or Mr. Weiner, or Mr. Why me or my god and then okay well that's now you become self aware you can the same you it can be this or this and then the power comes into what choose not get good at choosing you know, Mr. Wonderful get good at choosing and being that guy and deliberately going out and doing that. So.

So there that's my answer.

Evan 35:51

Going back to the book has a baseball 2.0 you outlined a process called RAMPC where the C stands for compete could Tell us a little more about like what RAMPC stands for.

Dr. Tom Hanson 36:03

Yeah, it came. Because I like models and I like to have a conceptual structure for things it's like so it wouldn't just be random things. I've mostly I've kind of thrown out somewhat random things here so far. And I didn't want to do that. I want to have it be a book that has a where it all holds together. So we talked to Ken and I talked who passed away now two, almost two years ago, year and a half ago. It's still hard to believe it. And it'd be like, okay, responsibility and awareness are these to be responsible. Choose your own thinking, instead of just being on default. Choose I'm going to be Mr. Wonderful. I'm not going to be Mr. whiner. And so that's choosing I'm going to constantly choose. So that's at the heart of the whole thing. And then awareness. Ken was just So huge on this knowing it's it's two parts of awareness. One is knowing yourself and how you generally are. I spoke to that someone, and another is knowing what's going on in this moment. And so what you want to be able to do is be good at that. So that's R and A responsibility and awareness. What's another fundamental. Mission. Just a sense of clarity. This is what I'm going up there to do. Like I said, Aaron fat part of the bat on the ball, that's a mission he's on a mission to put the fat part of the bat in the ball. ARod said that was his mantra just repeated I I hit the ball solid. So what he said I hit the ball solid. What do you do for them I hit the ball solid. And so that was his mission for hitting in a bigger can have a bigger mission in terms of being a major leaguer something it can take different points but having a clear target. So we said that was big, and then a preparation is huge mentally prepare. Getting yourself ready is to compete is a huge part of it. Because sometimes guys get in I used to throw a lot of batting practice. I could tell a guy got in, was he really ready to hit? Or was he hitting to get ready or was he ready to hit? And so, mental preparation Are you ready? To Get ready. So that's ramp. And that was we actually picked these and then I realized that it formed a word. It wasn't that we wanted to ramp up to compete, it was just luck, really. And then C, ramp C, by the C, you can see we didn't go out of our way to make it RAMPY or make it one word, because then the whole thing really becomes about competing, see is compete. And that's what we found people were most missing when we talk to college coaches and ask them what they pro coaches. What is what do you mean what's missing in today's athletes? They don't compete. It's a showcase mentality. It's a you know, what can I do? But they don't get out there and compete. So we really oriented the book toward helping people compete because it's not the mental game is not about thinking my early days at Skidmore as a head coach coming out with a new fresh PhD. It the guys under, I it's like, Hey, you guys did a good job with your breaths. And you did you routines. And yeah, we lost 13 to two. But you, you worked your process, it's like, well, no, that's not it, that you got to do it with this will to win. People say, Oh, he's about the process. And I would also say no, it's not. It's about playing to win. And I'm going to focus on my process, but with it in my mind that I'm here to win. That's the goal of the game. Now the purpose of baseball is something whatever you want it to be, but the goal is to win. So to be in integrity with the game, you play to win within the rules. So That's that's how that was RAMPC and kind of how it came to be.

Evan 40:05

Could you like sort of define competing? Is it like just giving 100%? Or is it that willingness to win?

Dr. Tom Hanson 40:15

When I asked Ken what it all boiled down to, for him after probably 40 years of doing it, I know had to be. Yeah, maybe more. So what is it all boiled down to because we'd have these conversations on the phone and record them. And that's how we wrote the book. And he said, getting 100% of what you got right now to win the next pitch. So what do you have right now? I feel tired. I feel like Okay, can you get all of that? energy and focus commitment to executing your mission on this pitch? That's competing.

Evan 40:48

I know you guys. You talked about if you have 60%, that day giving 100% of that 60% to win that next pitch

Dr. Tom Hanson 40:57

Exactly, exactly. Because it's so to focus on how tired you are, how can I don't, I can't feel my swing today, I just, I don't feel right. I don't feel good. This guy struck me out the last two times. And then if the all the energy you have on that is taken away from putting the fat part of the bat in the ball, if that's your mission, and so whatever you do have to say I'm clear on this mission, I'm going to execute it. Even though it's almost laughable to think that I'm going to touch the ball, I'm still going to be locked in on executing that mission.

Evan 41:31

So we know that quality, preparation and practice are really important because it helps us reinforce what we're learning build confidence and be consistent. know it, do it and own it. Are the three steps a system that you teach. So can you tell us more about the steps and how they're different from each other?

Dr. Tom Hanson 41:49

To Know and know something intellectually? Hey, I, I should have a routine and and breathe or I I'm gonna have fun We could go back to jeter. Oh, yeah. See? I should have fun. That's right. Like if I if someone said, Hey, Dr. Hanson, what should I tell my son about to have a good mental game? I'd say, well go and have fun. And it's correct. It's just that that's a concept. And it's like knowing how to do push ups. I know how to do push ups. But it doesn't help doesn't change my body. Unless I do push ups. I got to do the push ups. And then that's doing it. We got know it and then do it and then own it. Own it would be in pushups would be that I know what I need to do. For my push ups. I'm not listening to someone else about how to do a push up or how many I should do. I know for myself, this is what has me be at my best. If I'm an pushup competition, that's one thing if I'm just coach, push ups now No, I want to feel strong and and have good energy. And so here's what I need to do for push up just knowing what I need to do. So know it, do it own it for say having fun would be Oh yeah, I know I should do it. And then you can actually go out and practice having fun. And then you and then you figure out that last step, you figure out how you do it. And what's fun for you. And are you a talker? Like Pete Rose, Derek Jeter would talk a lot. He'd be talking to people when he's on deck. And some people Oh, he's not focused. Just think if he focused? Well, that is part. That's what he did to focus as he talked and communicated. Some people are like that, that that the talking the whole time you go up and talk to the catcher, talk to the umpire talking and that's you being ready, whereas some people that would be Yeah, I don't care because I'm just talking. And because that isn't you. So you take the same thing of having fun, it can show up different for different people. It's a good idea. concept because it's liberating when people are really having fun, they're more free, which is gives you more access to your talent. That's the objective. And then Okay, let me figure out how to do it. Let me practice doing it. And then I find my way to do it. Then it might be totally different, or exactly the same as someone else.

Evan 44:21

Yeah, I know a lot of different ballplayers. They have to find their own way, because one way that someone else can teach them may work but not fully and in at the end, everyone has a different body. Everyone has a different way of doing things. It's important to really make things their own.

Dr. Tom Hanson 44:39

Yeah, right on.

Evan 44:41

So in the game of baseball, a lot of times, things don't go our way. So we have to learn how to turn that failure into a learning opportunity and compete one pitch at a time as you say, could you give youth baseball players like us some tips on how to stay in student mode? During those times rather than getting away and maybe becoming reacting like red light.

Dr. Tom Hanson 45:08

So when you make students student mode, what do you mean?

Evan 45:11

Being able to like learn from those failures and be able to move on.

Dr. Tom Hanson 45:16

Right? So I would say the most helpful thing for that, because I'm assuming that be a parents listening as well as your 12 year old might not be still listening after this long. But I would say have a clearly defined process for how you're going to debrief or talk about a game to maximize learning. I have a worksheet for you know, an example of called the experience, for example, called the experience Maximizer series of questions you go through to get the most out of an experience. Now for 12. It's like, hey, what, what worked, what didn't work What would I do differently next time? And that's a question that parents can ask. Hey, Johnny, what, What would you say work today? What Really? What did you do? Well, what was helpful? What? bla bla bla bla bla, and oh, what would you say didn't work very well? Oh, okay, what? Why would you apply these and, you know, are you basically saying do more of the stuff that worked, do less than stuff that didn't. And then put it aside. Meaning if you really want to get into it, as a parent, I don't recommend just having an open loop so that your kid might come to breakfast and say, oh, and another thing Johnny, when it was first in third this you did. And then a kid just has to be on guard all the time because their parent might attack him with with with instruction or reprimand. So you could have a set time And we're gonna answer these three questions and then let it go. And for big thing for me with my son growing up, he is right now where I, which was my, where my goal is for him was just to be doing something that he loved. And of course, happy that it's baseball since it's such a big part of my life. He's a junior now, and he just loves to play last week he came home from a game. I said, I can't wait till Thursday, so we can play again, is loving playing. And I could have crushed that by overcoaching him when he was growing up, because I know baseball fairly well. And I can see things constantly that he could do better. And what for me I chose the relationship to be more important prioritize that relationship to me and the relationship to baseball over The specific content of doing something right or wrong, and doesn't mean that that goes out the window. It just means that let me think before I asked him how many times I've told him not to make the first or third out at third base. And he did it. Should I? How do I handle that? I think he knows. But I could hammer it with them, but and it would feel good. It would feel good in the moment as a parent to say for crying out loud CJ, how many times have I told you and it's really tricky because you get caught up in your emotions as an adult and you love your kid and you want the best from you see could be so much better. How much do you hammer stuff and how much do you just let it go? I can't tell you. It's because it's you and it's your kid. I just the main thing I would say is for parents To be mindful of that. And again, my coaching was to have these three questions. Hey, what worked? What didn't work? What would you do differently next time? And maybe they have a limited time and then just zip it up and, and to put the relationship with yourself with you and the relationship the baseball and keep the love of it rather than Oh, dad, we're gonna go hit some more balls, Johnny. Oh, Dad, I just want to play MLB The Show. You know, like that.

Evan 49:33

Yeah. One thing. You talked about the mission earlier. And one quote from the book is keep your mission greater than your feelings. I love baseball and my long term goal is obviously to have a long career and play in the MLB. So when I have a clear goal set, it helps me stay focused. How can the strategy of winning really help someone's They focused on each pitch and be ready for the next thing that comes at them.

Dr. Tom Hanson 50:05

It goes right back to what I talked about, say you're going up to bat and you don't feel confident mission we've been using in this conversation is that part of the bat and the ball? Oh, but this is a little voice, I want to get a hit. I'm 0-3 three. And now I'm really 0-10 10 last few games and I gotta get a hit. So that you got that competing voice and the feelings that come with that. And again, you have to rise above that and say, I hear you. Thank you for sharing. And my mission is to put the fat part of the bat on the ball. So keeping your mission greater than your feelings. It's like, well, I don't you know, I don't want to do my I don't feel like doing my homework. Well, I want to you know, play in a good college. I got to have good enough grades to do that. So Even though I don't feel like doing my homework, I put my mission bigger and I'm going to override my feelings and do what I know is right anyway because because you aren't your thoughts and your feelings you are consciousness. That's, that's inside. It's like you can say out loud and you know, say loudly but in your head, only in your head, say your name. And so, you aren't the word in that case, Evan. You're the person that heard that. And so that that's a huge distinction that then gives you a chance to rise above your feelings and stay on what you're committed. Your feelings are important. I'm not pooh poohing feelings. It's a big problem if you just suppress them. They're like gages on a dashboard of a car. They're giving you information, like well It's not saying I have to stop the gas. No, it's like, but boy, you don't have too much longer. And so it's like, I'm gonna keep my mission greater than my feelings. I'm going to get to my girlfriend's house. Okay, well, if you run out of gas, you know, you're not going to get there. But maybe you can get there. And so you get the gas later. It's, I can't say you can't, you know, I'm saying the feelings are information, but you don't have to let them rule your behavior.

Evan 52:33

That's powerful. That's really powerful. So, I, you talked about how you interviewed a bunch of greats and like Hank Aaron, and Carl Yastrzemski and Pete Rose, and others. So with Hank Aaron, he said that visualizing was a big part, and like you talked about earlier. So what does visualizing do to a players success rate. And can you give us some tips on how we should visualize?

Dr. Tom Hanson 53:07

I certainly can't guarantee that doing anything is going to improve your stats. It tends to, and I can't say, Oh, this has to be visualized. Every day for 20 minutes, your average will go up 40 points. You know, I can't say that. What I can say is the top performers in any field, pre play the tournament. I like to watch ESPN or MLB network, you watch it replays. Key for performance? Well replaying is helpful like we just discussed with your other question. However, pre play, where you play it in advance in your mind, and really in your whole self gives your body clear clarity on what you want. And it helps reduce interference because if you're excited about what you think is about to happen, then you have much more access to your talent. If you're fearful or unclear, then doubt and fear can come in, which causes a contraction because we're first and foremost designed for safety. So, if we're uncertain, we'll contract and freeze until we see okay, is it safe for me to go there, you know, into the woods or run out of the woods? from our ancestors standpoint, or maybe in New York or something, or downtown Tampa, but it's like, Okay, well, first and foremost designed for safety. So if we're not clear on something our our hundreds of thousands of years of wiring is to hesitate is to hold back, but when when we know we're safe, and we know this This is what I want to have happen. This is what's going to happen, because I've just seen it. Oh, I'll have the ham and cheese sandwich. And I know that's what I want. Boom, I say it, and then it comes magically. And if he's saying that to your body, I want this ball to go right there. Ah, and then it's easier to free it up and trust it and let it go. Because you have that clarity that you just got, because you've already seen it. Sort of like, I love this part in whatever frozen tube or whatever movie I saw recently. My daughter will say, second time, it's different because you've seen it already. Oh, like that.

Evan 55:41

Yeah. One of the best parts of playing on team I feel and I'm sure a lot of other ballplayers feel is the teamwork that you use to win together. In the book you say, the more you focus on being a great team player, the greater you'll be as an individual. How does being a heads up baseball player help make us better teammates.

Dr. Tom Hanson 56:08

Because goal of the game is to win. And so if you are playing at or near your best as in, you have access to your talent that's going to help the team win the most, making you the most valuable you can be to that team doesn't guarantee success. But I want to be my individual best. So doing all the things that we've talked about help you do that. So that's been a great teammate, because the goal of the game is to win now the purpose of the game you can say well, oh, good to have fun. Okay, well, that's different, because that's the purpose. That's why you'd play but given that you're playing the goal, the game is designed around winning scoring, more runs and the other team. So the thing about why I would say Which I haven't said yet is that the key to the number one tip I would give is be a great teammate, is because it gets the focus off of yourself and gets it out where it needs to be, say out on the ball out on the mit balls going there. As opposed to what's my average, if, if I get a hit this time, you're not locked in on the task. And so if it's about you, then you're not being a good teammate. You're not helping your team win the most you can. Apple the other night, a player being nameless, saw the mad because he had to throw to a catcher that couldn't catch his curveball. And the catcher was sort of, you know, didn't want to go to the bullpen and work on it. And there they are out in the game. And then so this pitcher's, was unhappy with this catcher. So he's mad and then he has to throw a fastball and the guy hits, when he wanted to throw a curve. The guy hits a bleeder over second base, both the second baseman and the shortstop go back out for the ball. And it drops in and the runner runs on first. What do you think he did when he went to second base? Because it wasn't covered who in my opinion should have been covering second base?

but why wasn't he

Evan 58:29

cuz he was too focused on the last result

Dr. Tom Hanson 58:31

he was mad. Right? And then he was focusing on himself of saying god darnet give up a hit and when he should have been if you're in the moment, you're like, watching the ball and you're watching your second baseman shortstop both go for the ball. What do you do it run cover second base. And so that's where it becomes more about you. You just hurt his team but Now there's one second. And then if you don't get yourself under control, you don't hold him on, and he steals third. Now you're mad at really mad at everyone else when there's reason to be pointing at yourself.

Evan 59:16

Thats great

Dr. Tom Hanson 59:17

that it actually is Evan Imma agree with you on that one.

Evan 59:22

So you teach the principles of heads up baseball to leaders in business as well. So what advice would you give youth baseball players on using these lessons in all parts of their lives, like for school and family and friends,

Dr. Tom Hanson 59:37

there really isn't anything different of what I've said that wouldn't apply? instantly. So I would say go back and listen to it all again. And just think of it as not baseball. In terms of taking responsibility, being aware, knowing yourself, you hear my story about, you know, what do I like? I like sports. And I like psychology. It's like, Oh, it's like a recent Peanut Butter Cup. Chocolate, I like peanut butter. Oh, put them together. It's great. And so, but I wouldn't say, Hey, everyone listening should go into sports psychology. Because that's not them to tune into yourself. What do I love? Well, the baseball Okay, go for it. So it's people like myself making a living in baseball. Or you know, I like art. I like this. I like this pay attention to what you become passionate about and what really catches you and then run with it. And hopefully your parents let you do them and encourage you to do that. I watched a documentary The other day. I'm now curious about this Billy Eilish, I I lish Irish Billy, the singer

Evan 1:00:44

Billy Eilish, I think

Dr. Tom Hanson 1:00:47

when she's homeschool, and they're and her brother, write these songs, but it was really just their parents. The way it came across to me create an environment. It's like Hey, what do you love? What would you love to do? They play exposing different things horses, art and music. It's like a stick, you know, like the music, okay, run with it, and they run with it and then Off you go doesn't guarantee that anyone is going to do that. But it's the same principle is what I'm talking about. be tuned into something that I love this and, and run with it and and go for it and then pick targets. And then work out a process of here's what I'm going to do to make that come true to be the same. You want to be a major league baseball player, okay? And they'll make up a process for what you need to do and what are milestones along the way. And it's the same for building a business or getting a prom date. Or, you know, go to your breath, your routine and breathe, picture going well, and then go. So it's all human performance. So it's already the same

Evan 1:02:00

Do you have any projects you're working on right now that you would like to share and also where's the best place that are born to baseball listeners can reach you and learn more about you.

Dr. Tom Hanson 1:02:10

I have going to playbigbaseball.com where this book "Play Big" is we're really if that's the age group with my top recommendation is the book "Play Big" and there I've got a video, which is actually at playbigbass ball.teachable.com so we'll have to give them that link. But playbigbaseball.teachable teach-abel.com that may change before too long where I'm doing some upgrades to some things but between those two sites, we'll find it because I teach. I haven't even talked about my ABCs in this in this interview but- Act Big, Breath Big, Commit Big The process that I really teach in it, there's a video of me teaching it to a bunch of 12 year old and so just super simple it's and teaches all these things and really in like six minute videos with a little workbook so fun ways is for kids to you know for for your age, what would be the top thing there's not a lot of guys your age that have read all of heads of baseball. So that's a tough one what I'm a project I'm working on Oh, and headupbaseball2.com heads up baseball one word, two, the number two.com to get that book and there's a program called compete there a video program where each chapter have had to baseball to I have about a 12 to 14 minute video that teaches it and again, it's the same deal you can download a worksheet and fill in As I go through with a practice for each week, so those are just super practical, here's how to apply it. Because it can all sound good. But what do I actually do since the parent or coach, those are two for that. And a project I'm really excited about working on right now comes off of an assessment that I have takes 30-45 minutes for guy to fill this assessment out online and a measuring, it's all about awareness about helping someone know himself better or herself. And so they take this and here's your behavioral style, so that the big talker or big listener or or dominate I'm gonna go and dominate or I'm going to be very meticulous. What should I do? Well, you should be yourself. What's that? Well, this will help you find that. What motivates you, knowing what motivates you makes it easier to do things that motivate you, and for parents or for coach to know. And then you're thinking stuff so there's, it's, there's which measure stuff you don't even think you could measure So it's super cool. And what I've used it for, for many years, probably eight, nine years, individually with athletes, they fill it out. Like if we were working together, I would have you take this and then we'd sit and go through it. And we'd identify you your path. Your path is your process parts of you your identity, your values, and behaviors, you know, style. And then here's what you don't do. Well, here's the blind spots for you to look out. So you read heads up baseball, you read play big, it's great, obviously, but which page applies the most to me right now? I don't know. But I can tell you that. After you take this I can, we can really target here's what you need to do the way you would with the swing. A guy puts a swing on videos like look, Evan, here's what you're doing with your hands. It's giving you trouble. Oh yeah, I see that. But this is that for the mental game. And then where I'm going with it now is that someone can take it. And normally, all these years you have to go through it with me. So you can still do that, and it's the best thing to do. However, now I have it where a whole team or groups of people can take it. And then go through videos, where I am instructing them and they create something called the self scouting report that where you really get to know yourself, and then you tweak that a little bit to be able to have a one on one meeting with your coach to go through, that's a little form called How to coach me and to build that relationship. And so that's just a process that you go through, to build what I think really becomes at the heart of it all, which is relationship First of all, for relationship with yourself, knowing yourself. And secondly, relation well secondly, relationship with your coach, when a coach knows you really well then you communicate and there's less interference less noise. You can stay on target more you're not worried about what the coaches and the coaches helping instead of getting in the way Also if you're doing at the team level, when a team all understands and knows themselves better the way my Luthor team did, we got to know each other. It's a guy. Yeah. That's that guy. And that's that guy. And he's different and, and this speeds up that process. So now I have it as a process, that whole team can go through a whole travel organization could go through and really speed up. What really becomes the key when I started with the Yankees, and I'll finish with this was actually before how I got the Yankees, I talked to these five minor league managers. And I talked to them individually first, then we had a group meeting. And I said, well, what's the number one key to the whole thing? And they said, the relationship. It's the relationship, the respect, not like, you're going out to the movies or dinner, you can, but it's really about the connection and the relationship and the respect when that's there. can take off when it's not there. I don't like that guy. I don't like that guy. Don't get that guy. What's wrong with that guy? Then the information can't flow back and forth. So you talk to a high end coach. And they'll say it's a relationship. Joe Maddon said, I'm in the relationship business I'm, when I get when he went to the Cubs, he said, first three weeks was all only for him. relationship building. It's that huge. So it's what my project is a relationship building system.

Evan 1:08:26

That those sound like great resources. Yeah, that's really awesome. So, thank you so much for being here and sharing great knowledge with the born baseball community, and help taking our game to the next level.

Dr. Tom Hanson 1:08:41

You're welcome. That's my goal. So I appreciate the opportunity to do that. And you did a great job, get some really big league questions.

Evan 1:08:49

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 apps So it's lunch. Check us out at borntobaseball.com for free resources and new gear. Download the Born 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.

Music 1:09:23

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Born To Baseball Website

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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

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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

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'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

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Born To Baseball Website

BTB Travel Team & Training Tracker

Episode #004: Nelson Figueroa: Part 1- Former MLB Pitcher & Sports Analyst

April 2020 By Evan

Ep. #004: Listen to Part 1 of the interview with Nelson Figueroa, Former Mets pitcher, Emmy Award Winning Analyst and co-host of “Amazin’ But True: A NY Mets Podcast”. Nelson shares his journey to the bigs as well as pitching and training tips specific to youth baseball players. He also discusses the importance of self-confidence.

What You’ll Learn:

1:31 Nelson’s baseball journey

4:23 Coaches and mentors on road to MLB

6:55 When can a youth pitcher start to safely throw a curve ball

8:48 Protecting your arm

13:11 His thoughts on P.O. (pitcher only) at the youth level, staying ready, competition and pushing yourself

18:01 Adding Velocity, throwing strikes, exploding to the plate

20:46 Velocity vs location

22:20 Establishing the inside part of the plate and making the hitter uncomfortable

26:15 Mindset as a pitcher and mental prep before a game

31:16 Learning to deal with failure and looking for the silver lining

Listen to Part 2 of the Interview with Nelson Figueroa here.

Read show notes here.

Show Links:

Nelson’s Twitter: @figgieny

Listen to Nelson on the Amazin’ But True: A NY Mets Baseball Podcast

Born To Baseball Links:

Instagram: @borntobaseball

Facebook

Twitter: @bornto_baseball

Born To Baseball Podcast

Episode 004_NELSON FIGUEROA FORMER MLB PLAYER AND SPORTS ANALYST PART 1

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? 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

Welcome to Part One of my interview with Nelson Figueroa here he shares his baseball journey life lessons through baseball specific pitching tips, strategies and safety thoughts on being a pitcher only in youth sports and much more. Hey guys, welcome to born to baseball podcast. Today we have a former Major Leaguer on the show. Nelson Figueroa, he's going to talk about pitching and give us youth baseball players some tips. Nelson, thank you so much for being here.

Nelson 1:07

My pleasure.

Evan 1:08

You had an extended career in the major leagues you played for Team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball classics. You were sport analyst. And you were the first met to throw a complete game shutout at Citi Field. So could you kick us off by sharing your baseball journey?

Nelson 1:25

All that and the $5 and 50 cents gets me a cup of Starbucks. It was an incredible journey to think, a skinny little Puerto Rican kid from Brooklyn, New York, would play Major League Baseball and have the opportunity to play Major League Baseball so many times I think the part about my journey that is special is I've been up and down from the Major Leagues back to the minors and backup to the majors 11 times in my career, that doesn't really happen for a lot of people. So I think the experiences that I gained from dealing with failure. Everybody always talks about their successes. And you know, it's always great to win. But what do you learn from failure to help you succeed the next time and help you not repeat the same mistakes that created that failure in the past. So I think that my 11 times of going up and down, attributed to me always trying to figure out how I could be better. And even at the major league level, I didn't feel like I was a complete product that I could always be better and strive to be better. So for me, I always realized that baseball was what I wanted to do. since I was five years old. I just wanted to be a baseball player. I think every paper or every assignment that a teacher had put in front of me of, you know, write about goals and things you want to be when you grow up. I was always wanting to be a baseball player. And so when I had the opportunity to sign a professional contract and it was with my hometown team, the Mets You know, the best team in New York? Why are you smiling? So when it was a chance to play for the Mets who I was born and raised a Mets fan, I didn't really look back I said, I was gonna just give it my all the way I did in every aspect of the game before that got a chance to play for the Mets and live that dream of putting on that uniform, just like all my idols did before me. And now, looking back at that baseball career, that roller coaster up and down, I wouldn't trade it for anything because I got a chance to experience traveling all over the world winning championships all over the world. I played in Taiwan. I played in Japan, I played in Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Canada, so I have a win. In I think it's eight different countries. So that's really cool as well. So like, yeah, I mean, the goal was always to play Major League. Baseball. But I think once I got that opportunity and realized that I don't have control over staying in the major leagues, that the goal was to play baseball for as long as I could. And I played until I was 40 years old. So I think that was the best thing that I was able to do.

Evan 4:13

That's, that's really cool.

Nelson 4:15

Thank you.

Evan 4:16

So are there any mentors that you had? And like, what did they really provide for you on your road to the Major Leagues?

Nelson 4:23

I think what you try to do is you take a little bit from each person that you come in contact with. Not everyone has to have been a former Major Leaguer for their words to matter, or for things that they're trying to pass on to they're trying to pass on to some of their experiences, right. So some of your coaches who have played High School ball, college ball, you know, may play be some professional baseball, you know, you always look to learn from other people's mistakes. I think that's really what it comes down to. Because You may not be as good as them. But you can learn from them still and know how to adapt to a situation before it actually happens to you. It's like you've seen it before you've heard it before. So taking a little bit of information and being able to apply it to your experiences, the way that you play the game, having idols in the game. I think for me, coaches that I had, I look back at it now. And I've had a longer Playing career than most of my coaches. But as I was coming up, I respected every single one of my coaches and never kind of we didn't have Google back then I know I'm old, but we didn't have a way to kind of look up other than maybe getting their baseball card and seeing you know how long they played when they played what kind of success they had. So you just knew that they were a coach and you respected their opinion you respected that they were trying to help you get better. That to me is the most important thing that coaches are always trying to help you get better because they want Their team to win they want you to be successful. And whether you go to the Major Leagues or not, or even the next level or not. There are life lessons in baseball that will take you well through their full life, the journey of life and you learn so many things and you become a better person because of these life lessons and you become a better Brother, you become a better father, you become a better just all the way around, you realize that you learned a lot on the baseball field and off the baseball field with that interaction that takes you to another level in life.

Evan 6:37

We have we're lucky to have mentors like you around us, to help us succeed in the game and for them to help us learn more. So I want to start off by focusing on youth pitchers. A lot of youth pitching is about arm care. What would you say the proper age to throw a curveball would be

Nelson 7:00

When they're ready, and I think you've worked with me long enough to know that if you're being monitored properly, and you're learning how to spin a baseball the right way, then there isn't an age because I can't sit here and say, oh, it has to be, you know, when you're 16. Meanwhile, I was throwing one at 10. And, you know, I had success throwing it at 10. But it was the way that I was able to throw my curveball, my breaking ball that I understood how to create spin, how to spin the ball hard not throw the ball hard, is a very fine line, there's an art to throwing a breaking ball. And so for most kids, just getting them to focus and being able to repeat their delivery is a difficult thing just with a fastball, right? So now you take that and you add in that you want to turn the baseball and spin the baseball and they're still trying to throw it for a strike. He's still trying to do all these other things, and the mechanics get out of whack. And that's You start getting into bad habits, which then create injuries. And once you start getting injuries, especially in the throwing arm, and they don't go away very quickly, you lose time on the mound, you lose time on the field, then you kind of lose that love for the game in a way. So to me learning how to throw a changeup properly, will have better benefits in the long run. But for a kid, like yourself, and we've worked on it as well, just getting you to get a feel of the proper way to release the the baseball, it's not a bad thing, unless you're doing it incorrectly. And if you're being taught the right way, then you can start throwing a curveball when you are ready.

Evan 8:41

What would you say the proper amount of days a pitcher rests between pitching appearances.

Nelson 8:47

It's funny because like I'm old school, right? And so it was like oh, I never rested. I played two games at my team and then I'd go play with my friends and then I go pitch again and I understand it more now and it kind of goes back to the Same thing, right? Because everybody wants to try to throw the ball harder, they're more concerned with velocity. They think velocity is really what's going to make them stand out. When you're 12 years old, there was nobody there with a radar gun, going, Wow, this kid throws really hard because you're starting to think if he throws hard now, what happens in three years, if he's getting pushed too much, and he's the guy that's pitching every game and he's throwing really hard and its max effort might burn out. You know, peaking too soon is a thing. I always tell a lot of kids and I'd rather you learn the proper Foundation, proper mechanics to repeat your delivery. And if the balls coming out and you're able to gain a few miles an hour, that's the great part. Then you talk about the days in between throwing. It varies from kid to kid, I honestly think you just have to be honest with yourself. There's a big difference between soreness and pain. And I think until kids learn The difference. And that's where you see more kids thinking that they can still throw and they can throw more. coaches are getting smarter organizations are getting smarter, and there's pitch counts involved. And they're trying to make sure that these kids are going to be able to maximize their ability for a long, long time. And I'm all for that. So the downtime and the rest time they coincide with depending on how many pitches you throw that game before,

Evan 10:23

as youth athletes, many of us we play a position along with pitch, is it okay if we play a position before like right before or right after a pitching?

Nelson 10:35

You know what, at this age? Yes, you're fine with doing both because again, if you're going to go into a game, it's usually if you're coming into a game the games already started. You're not going to be asked to throw 100 pitches and you've already played a ton. You haven't made a ton of throws usually from the infield, because if you did, there'd be a lot more outs and the other pitcher would have to come out. So I think I love my pitchers to play other positions because throwing a baseball. And you know that from training with me, we work on the first few months of just learning how to throw a baseball properly and for different positions, right? So because I always say, Well, I don't want you to be out there. And your coach says, Well, can you play third base? And you're like, No, I've never done it, or I don't, I don't know how to field ground balls properly. I don't know how to make that throw from third base. So we work on all of that, right? Because I want my kids to play every position but left out. So to me, that doesn't matter, per se. Now if you're talking about pitching and catching, in the same game, that's where I have I would have an issue with that because the catcher makes as many throws as the pitcher. Yeah, so you can't really do both of those things. Without with protecting the arm that way. So if you're a shortstop like yourself, and you want to get called into pitch, your coaches are usually looking out and they're monitoring how many pitchers are gonna make you throw.

Evan 11:56

Yeah, it's important just to monitor just How many pitches you throw so you're not overusing your arm? And like you said, peaking too early, and eventually having a chance of burning out,

Nelson 12:07

Their's a, Yeah, there's a, there's a fine line because old school guys will tell you you guys don't throw enough. You're indoors and you're playing video games and you're doing all that stuff. I think they're, it's, you are getting better instruction. Now and there's more of an understanding in the baseball community that you're trying to prevent injuries. There was an epidemic in the major leagues with Tommy John's it was an epidemic more so with kids and the youth. pitchers having Tommy John's just a few years back, and it was because the better pitchers were being asked to throw a lot more and if it was throw, you know, two or three games in the tournament because you wanted to win and so you put your best pitcher out there, you know, coaches were doing it. And I think I'm glad that youth baseball is being monitored much more closely to give these kids a better opportunity at playing baseball for a long, much longer time.

Evan 12:59

Yeah. So eventually, kids are gonna get to the age where certain kids are gonna want to become pitcher. Only. pitchers only when would you say an appropriate age for that would be,

Nelson 13:11

um, it's funny because like I was just saying I would love I love to play the game. And so any position I could play just because I figured well, if the other pitcher has to come out of playing a position or play the position, then I want to play his position. So when I was coming up, I, you know, started out as a shortstop, everybody does moved over the third base because I had a strong arm. Our other pitcher was a first baseman, so I learned how to play first base. So this way when he pitched I could play first base, learn how to play the outfield, because again, I had a strong arm and I could run. I think it's valuable to be able to play a multitude of positions. If you are PO which I just learned is pitcher only. It's very difficult to hone that craft. Because you're not pitching very often, right? When you're playing the game, you're playing every day you learn, you get the reps, when you're a PO, you're usually pitching one day a week. And so it's really the onus is on you of how you practice in between to stay sharp, and to stay ready. So that's a difficult thing for a kid. And it's really strange to me, and I'm getting more and more used to it, especially with the travel groups and the travel teams, that there are such things as PO's, because when I grew up, you know, you had to play another position, because on the roster, you only carried 12 kids, and you want to make sure that everybody got in there. So it's, I'm still trying to see the value and a pitcher only kind of thing, because I don't know in the long run, if it's better for the kids or not.

Evan 14:48

And how can a kid who is a PO train other than that one day a week where they're long tossing and going on the mound and taking a bullpen session?

Nelson 14:58

Yeah, it's They have to realize what the game schedule is, and their availability to pitch. Certain PO's are going to be kind of the the PO's that are going to pitch in the bigger games. And you know, the championship type Tournament game. So like if you get to the semifinals and the finals, there's certain PO's that are going to be used for that. In the meantime, you've got, you know, the days during the week, when you're after school, if your team doesn't practice, you have to find a way to practice and I mean, when I was a kid, we used to draw a box on a wall and work on throwing strikes, work on throwing strikes to one side of the plate or the other, cut the strike zone into quadrants and work on throwing, you know, the 1, 2, 3, 4 boxes instead of it just the one big strike zone box, you know, work on situational pitching, it's just really about preparing yourself and from a kid all the way to a major league player. We throw bullpens on our on our side-work days, and we go through, okay, this is me facing Sammy Sosa with a man on first base, how would I pitch him, me versus Sammy Sosa with a man on third and less than two outs, I know what he's trying to do, he's trying to lift the ball for a sac fly, or a home run, because Sammy Sosa swing, and I'm going to try and you know, make sure that he he hits my pitch at the bottom of the zone and tries to you know, I get them the roll it over maybe jam with a two seamer. So all those things you want to work on in between. So you kind of have to play a game with yourself to really learn how to focus and so that that moment that you're in the game, and it's actually happened, you've already played it out a few times.

Evan 16:33

I think it's also important just for visualization. And so when you do get up in that-

Nelson 16:38

don't don't show off and use big words in front of me. visualization. Yeah, I could have said that word that I said. Yeah, but that is very true. It's very true. And that's something that when we've worked together we've actually worked on right and what do I love more than anything I love when it's a group of 234 kids because then it becomes Competition. Competition is great competition to in those kinds of situations is awesome. And even where, you know, there might not be a hitter in there. But what was our competition? Well, if you didn't throw strikes, and if you walked the batter, you had situps, you had wall sets, you had planks, you got an extra minute of planks. So there's all kinds of things to work for. And competition really drives a team. So I always had you guys focus on, you know, trying to outdo each other. Because I've never been about participation trophies, those are great. But the pyramid kind of gets really narrow up at the top when it comes to getting to the next level. And if you're just happy being at the bottom of the pyramid, hey, that's great for you. But I think everybody's goal is to be that one out of you know, every 500 kids that gets chosen to go the next level. So I think there's nothing wrong with pushing yourself and pushing your teammates, right because you want the best out of them and the best for your team because that's only going to make all of you guys better.

Evan 18:00

So, nowadays, a lot of people, they look at velocity, like you said earlier, velocity is a big part of youth baseball and all the way up to the major leagues. So can you share two tips on how to increase velocity?

Nelson 18:15

There is as you get older, and as you get stronger if your mechanics are sound, it makes it easier to understand when you're trying to add velocity in your mechanics. You can't just go out there and try harder. It doesn't work that way. It's almost the negative effect. It's like going up as a hitter and saying, I'm going to hit a homerun, what usually happens, strike out right? Taking a bigger swing doesn't necessarily mean you're going to make a better contact. So the idea of is the same for pitching, right, I'm trying to increase velocity. Well, there's a school of thought where what I want to do is really get my muscles to fire in a way And we've worked on it where it's a shorter distance, and you're getting the ball to explode at the right time. Because also working on throwing strikes, it doesn't matter how hard you throw it, you can throw strikes. There's not one scout out there that says, oh, wow, this guy throws really hard, but he hasn't thrown a strike in two innings. Let's sign them. So and there's not a lot of coaches who are going to want you to play for their team, hey, yeah, he throws really hard, but he can't throw strikes. That's the biggest thing. So there's, there's a happy medium. So like everything else, you kind of push the threshold a little bit each time and that's why we start off pitching from shorter distances, right, getting those mechanics as sound as possible, exploding to the plate, releasing the ball as late as possible with as much whip in our arm as we can. So being free and easy at first and repeating that delivery and then realizing what it takes and how the body's mechanics will work and get the most out of your arm speed. You just can't. If you could teach velocity it would come in a box with The big bow on it and everybody would buy it. But you can't right. it, There's not one. There is not one website you can go to. There's not one coach that has made history and said, Every guy that's come to me throws now 95 miles an hour, there's no set formula, some people are born with it. It's about figuring out where you are in your progression and how to activate all the muscles that can get you to fire as hard as possible velocities and something that you can train for. However, that happy medium of strikes plus velocity will get you going a lot further in baseball.

Evan 20:35

So you just spoke about both them velocity and being able to locate which one's more important and why

Nelson 20:44

million times over location. Velocity affords you a mistake to stay in the ballpark. But I think we're seeing more and more. There's never been a generation of pitchers who throw harder in the game, but there's never been more home runs given up The game, right and we're seeing there's a lot more swing and Miss, and so the strikeouts are higher. So you're looking at a happy medium of velocity walks are up in the game as well. So strikeouts and walks are up in the game, home runs are up in the game. So the guys that can do both the Jacob DeGrom's of the world where it's velocity, but it's also a three, four pitches on both sides of the plate controlling the strike zone controlling the bat head to the strike zone. Nowadays, it's more of a expensive game of batting practice when you go to ball games. I mean, the poor Yankees and Red Sox went to you know, represent the United States in the game of baseball over in England right and what happened 15 to 17 was the score something like that. You had a former CY Young Award winner and Ric Porcello who got two outs and gave up nine runs. So that's not a good look for baseball in my opinion. And I think the ability to throw the ball hard is great. The ability to locate the ball where you want, how you want and which pitch you want, is much more impressive in the long run. I've seen a lot of velocity guys come and a lot of velocity guys go guys that can pitch they stay around for a while.

Evan 22:18

You know, a lot of coaches say it's important to establish the inside part of the plate and a lot of that comes with velocity. But what does that really mean?

Nelson 22:28

See, and that's what you would normally think right? Fast balls inside, the biggest thing and establishing the inside part of the plate. And it's more about in this day and age where hitters are wearing the body armor. It's not like it used to be so with the body armor, it's for their protection, but at the same time, there's also no fear for a hitter, to kind of dive out over the plate to get that pitch that used to be down in a way and then that safe spot. There outside diving so you have like smaller hitters who used to kind of hit that ball. The other way for a base hit or a blooper, they're staying in there really well, and they're diving out and they're hitting that ball for a home run to right field for the first time ever in baseball. And you have guys like the Chris Taylor's of the world who went from almost getting released by a team, to making the all star team the next year with the Dodgers they did with Max Muncie as well. And the only thing that makes sense is that they are winning the battle over the outside part of the plate what's over, the outside part of the plate, the barrel of the bat, and that's what happens. And so to make them quicken up, you have to be able to pitch inside you have to make them aware of the inside. You have to make them aware that you will go inside more than once to every fifth hitter. So that's also a lost art because pitching inside when it's just velocity. It's already documented. It's already videoed, how many times you will pitch inside they know before they know the teams especially at the major league level. They know Already, this guy will throw inside 5% of the time. And that's not a number that's nearly enough. You have to make hitters aware you have to make hitters nervous. That's part of the game. And it's not where people are all you're talking about headhunting and going after people own. That's not what I want to do. But I don't want hitters being so comfortable that they're hitting the ball. Aaron judge when he hit the 52 home runs for the rookie record. He got hit six times, the whole season six times the whole season. So what does that mean? He's a guy who's six foot seven, stands up right away from the plate and dives over the plate. And where does he hit a lot of his home runs in Yankee Stadium, right field. How can you keep letting him do that? Right? I mean, he's doing it 52 times in a season. So you got to do something to make him aware of the inside part of the plate, make it uncomfortable for him to dive out there. And it's just a lost art. And every time that someone does go inside, and they hit some One first thing is Oh, he's headhunting. He's trying to hurt somebody. We're not trying to hurt them. intimidation used to be a really cool thing. Like some of my greatest hero pitchers, Bob Gibson, and Nolan Ryan, those guys pitched inside Dave Stewart, who was one of my pitching coaches when he when he was my pitching coach in the Milwaukee Brewers, he used a word for pitching inside. When we pitch inside, we are relentless. And what he meant by that was, the pitch was either going to be inside or in the guys jersey. And there was nothing wrong with that. And he said, We don't miss over the middle of the plate, we don't miss on the inner third of the plate. When I want the ball inside, I want the ball on either the black on the outside on the inside corner, or in off the plate where it makes a guy move. It makes a guy uncomfortable. That's where we win that at bat no matter what next pitch can then be a breaking ball. If it's another fastball in, he's not ready for it. We get the week contact that we're looking for.

Evan 25:57

So mindset on the mound for pitchers is a big key to success. I'm sure you know from your baseball career. So can you walk us through the mental preparation before pitching appearance.

Nelson 26:12

Um, it's funny because some of my most favorite games, the experiences and the word that you always hear a lot is surreal, right? It's like, you're almost watching yourself, do it, it's happening. And you're not really in control of it. And that's when you're kind of in that zone where the all the reps that you do and all the thinking about mechanics goes away, and you're kind of just in the flow of the game and you're feeling like you're at your best, and you wind up having your best games. The mental preparation for someone like myself, where it wasn't my physical tools. I wasn't a guy who threw 95 Plus, I wasn't a guy who had, you know, tremendous swing and miss stuff, but I could throw any pitch at any time. That was my advantage, right? I can use all my pitches. against both hitters, it wasn't like okay, when the lefties come up, I only could throw a fastball, a change up, maybe my curveball. And then when the righties come up, I can only throw my fastball, my slider, and then my split finger, I was able to throw any pitch at any time. And so the the mental preparation was figuring out a hitter strengths and their weaknesses and seeing how my strengths matched up. So I would always kind of watch a team that I was going to pitch against. And back in my day, I know sounds old, but we used to have to go to the VCR tapes and so I would have them if there was a tape of say Greg Maddux because he didn't throw hard, he had nasty stuff but didn't throw very hard. But I would watch how he pitched to a lineup and a right hander who didn't throw 95 whoever that may be, I would watch how they pitched that same lineup, and I would see certain hitters who were aggressive. Certain hitters, I could throw my slow curveball to and check and see, you know if they could handle that certain hitters, I could try and move the ball around there was certain hitters, you know, you had the pitch up in the zone down a zone. So there was a, almost like a trial and error the first time through the lineup, right? And you just didn't want to get yourself into trouble. So it was get ahead. It's the same thing we say to you guys all the time. get ahead, stay ahead and then put them away with your pitch. That's the mental approach, I think and it doesn't matter who the hitter is. Because at your level, you don't know everything about every hitter, right? You don't know which kids swing the bat well or who doesn't. You don't know which ones can hit a breaking ball or change up. What I know is that I know if I put my pitch in my location, it's my best chance to get it out. And every pitch I throw is to get an out. As I get two strikes that I can get in have some fun and try and put them away with a strikeout, but up until that point I'm Trying to let go every single pitch as if if they put it in play. It's weak contact and we can get an out.

Evan 29:05

So pitching a lot of it isn't just the strikeouts, but it's also just getting outs. So that's how you sort of stay in the game.

Nelson 29:12

Yeah. Oh gosh. So you especially these days, right, everybody's looking at pitch counts and even Major League pitchers aren't going very much over 100 pitches, how can I maximize that time I'm out there and in Major League Baseball, it's a little different because they are really kind of stuck on now. The new theory is two times through the lineup and then let's go to the bullpen and then you see what happens to a bullpen kind of like Milwaukee's bullpen, they get burnt out before they get to where they're trying to go in the playoffs. It's 162 is a totally different number than for youth baseball. But even for youth baseball, what you want to be able to do is I want to show that I can pitch three times through a lineup I want to show I can get every guy out over and over again. I want to show that when the game is on the line I want to be the guy out there with the ball in my hand. And so that, to me is the biggest thing is to be there. If I start the game, I want to see if I can end the game.

Evan 30:09

That's that's a cool mindset going just knowing you, you could almost rely on yourself.

Nelson 30:16

Yeah. And it's funny because as I get through the game, and you guys play seven innings, right? When you get to get through the first five, and there's only two more innings left, well, I would kind of flip my mind switch on to be like, I'm my best reliever right now. So I go into my reliever mode. I go into the What do I know about this guy, I got him out two times before with this pitch and that pitch he has still hasn't seen my best pitch might be my changeup. I'm gonna save that and use it when I need learning to be efficient. Right efficiency is awesome as well, because velocity doesn't matter if you're 30 pitches in the first inning, you're probably not going to go very long in that game, right? So efficiency if I can get every hitter out in three pitches or less, then I'm going to be most likely in the seventh inning before anything is really happening and the team is the other team is down and my team has had a chance to put some runs on the board and I'm putting myself in a good position for a win.

Evan 31:15

Yep. So you talked about Greg Maddux earlier. And one of his quotes are the best pitchers have a short term memory and bulletproof confidence.

Nelson 31:27

Yes.

Evan 31:28

What can a pitcher or player do at really any level to have a short term memory and bullet proof confidence?

Nelson 31:35

Um, it's it's really difficult as you're getting older, and you're no longer batting seven 800 right for a hitter, you no longer batting seven 800 and you that confidence gets shaken a little bit. And for a youth pitcher, as you're getting older, you're trying to get more and more outs and you're here how good Kids at the next level, are right, I only give up three hits in my coach took me out of a game. Really, oh my god, I give up three hits in one inning. And you know, I still pitched a pretty good game. It's learning how to deal with failure. And that short term memory is huge. Because you can't change what happened, right? But you can learn from those experiences. And so that's one of the things I preach. And I asked you, you know, early on and your pitching career, that pitching journal right?

Evan 31:46

Yeah,

Nelson 31:47

because you want to learn from those things. Now, am I gonna be in you know, I pitch two weeks ago against this team. And I haven't really pitched that much since then. But the next time I go out there Am I going to be still dwelling about what I did poorly. I try and always look for the silver lining in everything because I want to take up as many positives as possible and learn from my mistakes. But if I can take those positives and build on those, than I'm constantly just kind of putting myself in my mindset in To what I can control. How many times are do we talk about you make a great pitch kid makes an error. What did you do wrong? Why should you get affected that way? Why are you getting upset? Why are you now not able to focus on making the next pitch? You did everything you were supposed to do. Shake it off. I actually try and pick up the guy who just made an error. Let him know. Okay, I'm gonna get you another ground ball right here. Be ready. Because I want him to have his mind. Forgot about the error already. I'm ready for the next ball. And if he gets a double play, man, that's awesome feeling right?

Evan 33:35

Yeah. And anytime where you make an error, it's just to know, be ready for the next one. Just how baseball works. The next one might be coming to you.

Nelson 33:44

And like you said, it's for position players and for hitters because it seems like there's more of an opportunity, right? Because as a hitter, you make out seven out of 10 times you're still an all star batting 300 for pitching if you threw seven out of 10 were balls That's not good. So it's a different dynamic. So what we talk about with failure is maybe you do give up a home run to the team's best hitter. But then you realize after the game, I didn't even have to face him. I had first base open, I could have thrown him, you know, pitches that he could have swung and missed that. Instead, I threw him a first pitch fastball, and he hit a homerun. You don't always have to get everyone out.

Evan 33:52

Yeah,

Nelson 34:09

but get out the guys that you feel like you can get out. Some of the guys are going to be really, really good. I'm not condoning pitching around guys. But situational pitching, smart pitching. That's something that you learn as you get older.

Evan 34:43

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai