Latest / Chasing Baseball Dreams / 33: Party Animals' Mikey Ballard | Overlooked Recruit to 81,000 Fans | Banana Ball

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33: Party Animals' Mikey Ballard | Overlooked Recruit to 81,000 Fans | Banana Ball · Chasing Baseball Dreams

• Mike Ballard: And I was kinda about to be done and and, you know, pick a college for for the real world, I guess you could say. and my mom drug drugged me out of bed and was like, Hey, go do this final showcase at Seminole State College, which was right near my house in in Orlando Bobby Minor: Welcome back to Chasing Baseball Dreams. And today I'm joined by Mikey Ballard from the Party Animals. Mikey played Division II baseball at Eckert College. He had 375 his final season there. Then he transferred to Louisiana Tech, where he started every game over two seasons after college, played professionally, played some independent ball for a couple of years, and now he's playing banana ball in front of some pretty incredible crowds. So he's had an interesting journey, and I think there's a lot baseball parents can learn. from it. So Mikey, welcome to the Chasing Baseball Dreams podcast. Mike Ballard: Thank you. I appreciate you having me. Bobby Minor: So, man, so yeah, you had a pretty good season this season. You ha are you happy with your season with the party animals? Mike Ballard: Yeah, no for sure. It was a it was a good first season, kinda, you know, get the feet wet a little bit. you know, and and it's great to have a season under your belt in an off season now, knowing what to expect for next year. but yeah, I had a blast. It was it was nothing short of amazing. the crowds, the fans, the atmosphere, everything was was a was amazing and you know, I'm I'm happy to be there. Bobby Minor: So it looks like it looks like it's a lot of fun. I I hate that I missed when the bananas were here in Dallas Fort Worth a few weeks back. I was actually in Iowa at the Field of Dreams at another event. But definitely next year with the new schedule release, at the very least, I plan on on catching some banana ball in San Juan, Puerto Rico in January of twenty twenty seven. So and Mike Ballard: yeah. Bobby Minor: if you go if you go back to Jesse Cole's post asking people, guessing where will where will banana ball show up. in this current schedule, I actually put Hero and Beethorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. So that was that was my guest. Mike Ballard: Really? Wow. Bobby Minor: I called it yeah. That's where my wife my wife's in Puerto Rico right now, so Yeah, so Mike Ballard: Okay, okay. No, that's great. Good guess. Bobby Minor: Por Puerto Rico's a pretty good baseball place. Mike Ballard: Yeah, it is. It's not bad, right? Bobby Minor: No, no. So all right Mikey, so y you started your college career at at Eckerd, a D two school. and my son actually right now my son's playing at a D two school out in West Texas. He went the JUCO route and now he's playing D two. But take me back to your recruiting process out out of Lake Mary High School. Like what options did you have? Why did you choose Eckert? Like walk us through that. Mike Ballard: Yeah, so Lake Mary High School, obviously great baseball area. Florida in general, just great baseball all around. you know, at my high school we had some some top talents. We had Dylan Cruz, Brendan Rogers came out of there, Grayson Moore, and you know, I'm probably forgetting a bunch of others that rename, but I was pretty pretty undersized going into high school. and kinda coming out of high school I was undersized as well, so I didn't have I didn't have much eyes on me. maybe maybe one junior college. and then I had the walk on opportunity to Eckard College as a preferred walk on. And that didn't happen until late you know, my senior summer y summer season. And, you know, I was I was struggling you know, mentally with everything, like, you know, why doesn't a team want me? Well, you know, I I feel like I'm good enough to play, like where when am I gonna get my chance? And I was kinda about to be done and and, you know, pick a college for for the real world, I guess you could say. and my mom drug drugged me out of bed and was like, Hey, go do this final showcase at Seminole State College, which was right near my house in in Orlando and I did that and I was playing carefree because I didn't have any more expectations. I didn't have any more pressures and I played the best baseball I've ever played. I could always pick it back then, you know, in the field. It's kind of what got me on the field playing time. But the hitting was kinda, you know, I was I would get my singles and everything. But there, you know, I I hit two doubles. I think I had a triple. made a bunch of f plays in the field and I think I just 'cause I was playing carefree it just clicked. and the Eckerd coach saw me. his name was Pete at the time. Actually he never stepped foot back on campus after he recruited me. which was kinda crazy. I never met the guy. He called me after the showcase and said, Hey, I got a walk on spot. I was like, let's do it. It was my only chance really to play. the SSC was a great conference. It was in beautiful Saint Petersburg, Florida. and I thought, you know, it was it was just lining up. So it was it was good. I was was happy at the time to take that. Bobby Minor: No, that that that's I it's kinda funny you mentioned that I was saying my son's playing D two. The coach that recruited him, I think two weeks before school started, the coach and the assistant left and went went somewhere else and we were like, you know, okay, what's gonna happen? And and they ended up bring they ended up hiring a really good JUCO coach out of Iowa within a couple of weeks, so it worked out, but it's kind of the same thing. he never never met the coaches in person, had a couple of phone calls and they made an offer. Okay, I wanna I wanna talk more about Eckerd, but I want to go back to a couple of things that you said. you said you're undersized Mike Ballard: Yeah. Bobby Minor: going into high school and you're actually undersized as a senior. So when you're saying undersized, like how how big were you when you're when you're coming into high school and how big were you when you were a senior? Mike Ballard: Yeah, so coming into high school, I mean I don't even think I weighed a hundred pounds. I was just skinny. you know, I was always active as a young kid. I believed in playing every single sport for fun, whatever that was. I th it made you a better athlete. And I just I was just burning a lot of calories, I guess, you it was really hard for me to put weight on and you know, I thought it was just gonna, you know, come with time and y gave it to your junior year and then I still was maybe one forty one thirty I don't even know. One f around one forty, one fifty probably. and senior year hit. I'm still probably one fifty, one sixty now. probably more towards that hundred and fifty pounds. And I could I could play like I was playing third base. I was starting you know I could pick it. You just the the pop wasn't there. And as you know in the recruiting world it's kinda it doesn't really matter if you can play almost to a sense. I don't want to say say fully or a hundred percent, but if you're not going to these showcases, hitting the ball out of the yard and throwing ninety five across the infield, it almost feels impossible. And I and that's a bit of his exaggeration. But that's what it felt like for me. And coming out of of high school my senior year, still around that hundred and fifty pound range like I mentioned and It just was it just felt hard for me to put weight on and I don't know if it was my habits. You know, probably a lot had to do with my habits, but maybe just genetically, like my dad was a late bloomer as well, as far as that goes, and and yeah, it just felt impossible to put the weight on and and it was a it was a mental battle almost at that point because I was like, There's a reason I'm not getting offers or anything like that and I know I can play I know I'm I can feel that a high level the gloves there, the bat the balls there, I just didn't have what do they call it? the the the eye test. I didn't pass the eye test. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: and that was you know, that that was I struggled with that for a while. Bobby Minor: No, I no doubt. And I think there are a lot of a lot of parents out there right now that are probably dealing you know, dealing with that with their kids that, you know, they're thirteen and they haven't hit puberty yet and they're seeing everybody else, you know, sprout up and I know it can it can it can really mess with your head. do you so you hit three seventy five your last season at Eckerd and then you transferred to Louisiana Tech, you started every game for two years. What did playing Division II do for your development that helped you succeed at the D one level? Mike Ballard: Yeah. so my first year going into Eckerd was I played I actually I was I was going in as a preferred walk on, right? So I had also an expectation of hey, I'll probably just red shirt, grind it out. I went into college for some reason and I look back on that and I and I probably was like, y ni I should have been like, go in there, go be a dog, you know, do all that stuff, have that mentality, but I I for some reason I was like from what I was told and and only having one walk on offer I was kinda, you know, a little a little timid and and stuff and I was like, hey, like I'm gonna I'm gonna red shirt. you know, I'll let my body catch up to me a little bit. You know, I'll be a starter by junior year. but I but I went in there and something just clicked after I got that offer and you know, I started putting on a little weight in the fall and I got there and I realized okay I'm the best fielder here outside of Chase Acuff probably at the time. which I'm playing with now, he's my teammate now, which is pretty cool. But he he we had these coaches that are kind of paving the way and I already know a lot of the stuff that that's there. I was like, okay, I can do this. Like I I'm already showing out. I earned the starting spot at second base because Chase was playing short and and he's a phenomenal fielder, phenomenal player. and I started nineteen games at second base and then covet hit. So COVID ruined that whole year for me. I got that year back because we only played nineteen games. And then the following year, my sophomore year, my school opted out and some schools played a modified schedule. So I got that year back as well, which is why I was Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Mike Ballard: able to transfer for two years. But I think that allowed my me my body some time to catch up and I and I think that's a big part of it. but going into my junior year I was like, okay, I'm I'm the shortstop now. I'm gonna be the shortstop. Chase went to Rollins, 'cause w Eckert doesn't have a grad program, so fifth years and stuff have to kind of transfer out. so I hit I I don't know my junior year, but I think it was like two eighty, maybe like that, but my first real like six errors at shortstop, my first real season playing. and I was like, Okay, this is this is something that you can do and it I kinda had to be scrappy my whole entire life up until that point because I was undersized, not getting much looks, getting overlooked, whatever the case was. And that just kinda gave me like a the mentality of you have to work harder than everybody else every single day just because those were the cards that you were dealt. from a talent standpoint. And and maybe not talent standpoint, body stand whatever you want to call it. Bobby Minor: Right. Mike Ballard: And and that's kinda just what I d what I did. I I learned to to love the grind. I learned to love somebody telling me I'm not good enough. that's really what fueled the fire for me. It was like, hey, you're not good enough? All right, I'm gonna go work and I'm gonna show you why I am good enough and and why, you know, make you eat your words. And I just feel like that everything leading up from high school to to my junior year kinda pointed in that direction and And was like, hey, it it shaped my mentality and was like, Hey, you have to be better than everybody else at the smallest things because you know, you don't have the the two ten, you know, body weight, you know, strong, leave the ball out of the yard every single time and and and and that's really what shaped my process going into my senior year and everything just clicked and fell into place. and then it was good from there, obviously, transferring to Louisiana Tech. Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's awesome, man. How many how many bombs did you hit this year for the party animals? Mike Ballard: I only two. So it was funny. I hit one my second at bat ever in in banana ball. And I walked off an edding and I was like, Heck yeah, I'm on pace. I'm on pace for I'm on pace for sixty now. Like you know, you know, this is funny. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: and then I didn't hit one until like the third, fourth, fourth to last series of the year. It kinda just was a different pace, you know. It's pitchers are working Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Mike Ballard: quicker and I it's it's stuff like that. I don't know. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Well at least at least you hit a couple. So all right, so how old were you when you started playing baseball and and then f jumped to high school? Who like who did y who did you primarily play travel ball with for in the high school? Mike Ballard: Okay, so I was started playing baseball. I picked up baseball as four years old and kinda just never never looked back. I played a bun I played a bunch of other sports, like I said, I I a big believer in that. and I played with Scorpions a little bit. I think I had two a two year stint with Scorpions, but leading up to to Little League, I played at Longwood Bay Ruth. and then Little League kinda got a little Iffy so then I went to travel ball and like my my dad and one of my childhood best friends dad like we we made our own team and we kinda just stuck with that until until maybe my my junior year of high school I played I tried to get I I was trying to get on Scorpions teams, I think for a while. but like I said, undersized, stuff like that. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: but we just kinda ran with our own team. It was they were called the we were called the Lions and Central Florida Lions and we just We ran with that. We had a bunch of talent. bunch of you know, it's funny looking back at the rivalries. we know we ha our biggest rivalry was like with an O Vito team and you have like Riley Green who's on the Tigers now. He was he was Bobby Minor: Mm. Yeah. Mike Ballard: you know, a bunch of people that are in the league now, like we're we're playing with, bless you. we're playing Bobby Minor: Thank you, thank you. Mike Ballard: against and the rivalries back then and seeing everybody flourish is kinda cool. but yeah. to get back on track. It was it was basically kinda just my my dad's team and and my buddies dad's team. I tried to do little league for as long as I could to I I think I stopped Little League bef right before I got to the big field and then we just went to travel ball. So Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah, that definitely happens a lot. So l let's talk okay, I'm gonna talk a little bit about kind of what I would call like the recruiting misconception. There are parents out there that think if their son doesn't get a D one offer out of high school, then he somehow failed. You played division two, then you played division one. What would you what would you tell those parents? Mike Ballard: I would tell those parents, especially with the rules nowadays, that it's almost better for somebody who's not on all the power fives radars to go play JUCO because it's not gonna count against your eligibility. Go to a junior college, go go get reps. Honestly, I think reps is the most important thing that a player can have. if I went to Eckerd and I just sat for two years I wouldn't have been the player I was my junior and senior year. I got lucky with the opportunity there that I had. if I went to like a a a better D two, I I might have been sitting for two years. You don't get better sitting on the bench. You don't get better just practicing every single day. So it's not a bad thing to go to a junior college, play, start at a junior college for one or two years, really prosper through failures in real games, really prosper through work. after real games with feedback from playing from getting four at bats every game on a weekend. really learning through that is the best way that you can do it, in my opinion. And I just don't think a lot of times that parents will value playing, like actually getting out and playing in in the games and being a starter. and I think that comes with people chasing the image of almost through through the parents selfishly wanting to say, Hey, my kid plays at a power he went to a power five school, he went to Florida, he went to UCF, he went to you know, Vanderbilt and or he goes there for baseball. But in reality, if you're not going there to start Or to play or to even like compete, you're not gonna get any better in my eyes. And some people do. In some cases they really do. but I think that's the lower percentage of of kids in the world. And I think that really experiencing how to fail and then how to bounce back from that in real game time is some of the best experience that a kid could get. Bobby Minor: Yeah. that's good stuff, man. I I definitely agree with that. And it's funny how Like, you I've had Dustin Pedroya on and you know, he's talking about the same thing, like play multiple sports, at least up until you get to high school. He's not saying all the way through high school, but play multiple sports up, you know, until you're twelve, thirteen to develop this athleticism. he talks about handling failure and there's and and it's a common theme among people that ha have been there and done that. But dude, I will get so many comments from parents that think that Dustin Pedroya doesn't know what he's talking about. And And it's insane to me. So all right. So when you think back to being like eleven, twelve, thirteen years old, what were you doing that really helped you become the player that you eventually became and what were people making a big deal about that didn't matter nearly as much? Mike Ballard: Yeah, so around ten, eleven years old, I can kinda I think I can attribute a lot of a lot of me being, you know, the player I am today at ten years old is is going outside playing wiffle ball with my boys in the in the cul de sac or playing blitz ball because I mean that's teaching hand eye right there. That's teaching, you know, y you gotta you gotta field on concrete, so like You know, you kinda just get some cues that you don't know are cues in that moment, if that makes sense. Going out and Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: playing playing manhunt every night, you know, making strong cuts, trying to get around people, playing football in the you know, in the in the cul-de-sac as well or in the vacant lot, basketball. I think I think everything kind of leads up to being an athlete, not a baseball player, not being a good baseball player, being a good athlete is something that's very overlooked. And I think that just playing wiffle ball, blitz ball, whatever you want to call it, tennis, tennis ball. My my neighbor used to hit a tennis ball up in the air in the cul-de-sac and I would just I would just catch it here. I'd catch it behind the back, I'd catch it between the legs. You know, I was doing stuff like that when I was younger and that just teaches hand eye. I mean it's the littlest things that you would have no idea that, you know, could take take the long run. Because I was doing things in college with tennis balls like that. And Bobby Minor: Mm. Mike Ballard: and I was already doing those at ten, eleven years old and I had no idea. It was fun. And and and being being in a fun environment while teaching little tiny things like that is also, you know, it goes a long way, in my opinion. Bobby Minor: Yeah, and I I think an important thing there, you didn't say it, but but my takeaway is it was you out there with your buddies playing all these sports and doing all these things without having five dad coaches standing over you, coaching you and correcting you, telling you what to do every moment. Mike Ballard: Yeah. Bobby Minor: Y'all y'all were just out there doing it. Also sounds like it might it may have helped you a little bit in preparing you for the party animals. Catching balls behind catching balls behind your back and everything. Mike Ballard: Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, we joke about that. one thing I do want to add, sorry, I don't mean to cut you off. I I was Bobby Minor: Yeah, go ahead, go ahead. No. Mike Ballard: doing some lessons back then, some hitting lessons, and I I was talking with a couple of buddies yesterday. It was actually at my at my f one of my close friends engagement party. we're talking about lessons at a young age. And it was kinda good timing because I I knew I knew what I was getting into today with this. I was doing lessons but his name is Scott Makarevich, he was great, you know, he had some pro ball time, but I was doing lessons and my lessons were good for a ten, eleven, twelve year old. maybe even I it's probably like more eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. But I was doing lessons and he was letting my swing be my swing at that age and not shaping something into his big league experience at eleven, twelve years old because I don't think an eleven, twelve, thirteen year old can conceptualize a big league swing or big league movements. and my buddy mentioned I forgot I forgot the guy's name he went to, but you know, he was a he was a big leaguer for a long time, all star. And he was telling him at a young age to to he was teaching him big league movements, which I don't think it Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Mike Ballard: necessarily is is a problem because, you know, parents will hear that and say, why wouldn't you want your kid doing big league movements at that age? And and I just think from eleven, twelve, thirteen year years old and from what he my buddy told me was that he wasn't able to have his swing because he was trying to do these big league movements and it almost kinda messed him up when he was a little younger because he thinks that this is gold. He think that and the parents, you know, they probably think that they struck gold with this instructor. But letting a kid have their swing and teaching the big league movements into their swing f at a young age I think is is is better than saying, Hey, you need to swing like this and this needs Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Mike Ballard: to be your swing for the next hundred and fifty at bats no matter the results. because, you know, you look at it, you watch videos. There's there's this guy on TikTok. his he he throws his young young kid in in his house and and you know, they just play a little baseball or a little baseball inside the living room. He the kid has the cleanest mechanics in the world. And and and I think that's just because e kids young kids know how to get the bat in slot in and use all these big league terms without it being big league terms. so I think that when I was a kid at it really helped shape me in the long run that Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Mike Ballard: my hitting coach just kinda taught me how to use my legs and my swing in in little terms. And I don't know if that makes sense or I'm explaining it right for the big league terms and stuff like that. But that it just kinda it was an interesting perspective that he he made me think about yesterday. Bobby Minor: Yeah, no, it makes total sense. And I think the thing that a lot of parents don't realize, and I think Pedroya might have said this when we're when he was on my podcast, is that, you know, ten and eleven year old kids do not have the physical strength to swing. Like if you wanna have if you wanna s if you want to have a big league swing, you also need to have big league strength. And, you know, i they're just they don't have the physicality yet, so they can't do a lot of the movements. But and I I think, you know, I say this all the time, like we we create a bunch of little robots and we're teaching all the mechanics of the swing. We teach kids how to swing, but we don't teach kids how to hit. And that's, you know, I've seen play dude, I've seen players that my son had a teammate in high school, senior year, where dude he had an ugly swing. He's out on his front foot on everything. Never never never went to go hit with his dad, never did any of that, didn't go to lessons or anything, but he freaking hit like 450 and was like district player of the year. You know? And so Mike Ballard: Yeah. Bobby Minor: that's to me, that's where it's at. So so growing up, you you mentioned your mom and dad, growing up, how involved were your parents in your baseball decisions? And looking back now, what's something that they got right that you didn't fully appreciate until you were older? Mike Ballard: Yeah. that's a good question. So my parents were pretty involved. They're at every game. My dad was obviously one of my coaches in travel ball for a long time and in the little league. and and I think Rack mentioned this too. I think I saw the clip, but it's it's it's kinda tough sometimes when you have a bad game and you're riding home and your dad's your coach and and that car ride home is not always fun. and I had a lot of those, but it turned out to be for the better. Their little tough love kinda kinda helps. My mom was i it was was involved just being at every game, kinda just like the hey, y y you did great, you did awesome, like it's it's it's it's all good, you're gonna have more games, whatever, even if you didn't do bad, no matter what the outcome was, my mom was always there you know, telling me I did did a good job. But you know, something that they they both instilled in me was to be yourself at a young age, especially for me. because I was obviously, you know, undersized. I dealt with a lot of challenges. And the one thing that they taught me that didn't kind of click until a little, you know, recently when now in my perspective, when I'm playing the game for for for y you know, the younger generation is to my dad would always say be Mike. my mom would they'd always say be Mike and and that's all that you have, that's all that you can control, and if you do that. You're gonna turn out fine. It's gonna everything's gonna be great if you just be like and I think the point of that is to not try to be some somebody else. You don't have to be somebody that you're not. If you don't hit for power, don't try to be that person because you're just gonna take away, you know, from who you actually are. And it's one of the biggest pieces of advice that I still give out now when I'm working with younger f younger fielders and everything or or hitters and anything. if if you're the player that you are a hundred percent of the time, you know what that that is? That's consistent. And consistency is sometimes better than well sometimes consistency will sometimes outplay talent when talent's not playing. You know, talent doesn't show up every single day. You can have talent, but it doesn't show up every single day. And I think that, you know, I put it on my gloves right now, on the thumb, you know, when I customize it. It's B Mike. And I just you know, every time it it helped me when I went to Louisiana Tech because making that change from D two to D one was like Now n I was like in my head, now I gotta play like a D one player. I gotta be out there, I gotta be I gotta be jumping the yard every time, I gotta be, you know, hitting doubles, doing whatever. and it's like you don't. Like you don't have to do anything. The only thing that you have to do is be yourself. and that really helped me in my fielding because I played shortstop at Eckerd, I had a really good year at shortstop, and then I went into Louisiana Tech, didn't know if I was gonna play shortstop or second. I ended up playing second And I I had like a little tough stint when I first got there. I don't know if it was nerves or anything, but tough, tough defensive stint and that that was my A game, you know, the field. And as soon as like my dad, you know, we'd have a bunch of calls and he's just like, You gotta go back to being Mike. You just ca like whatever that means to you, just just just yourself is enough. And I ended up playing second. I made one error all year, three hundred chances, was a gold glove finalist and and that is the biggest message that I think my parents gave me looking back on it and it can mean plenty of things. It doesn't mean just be yourself but but it ties into a lot of a lot of my game and and and real life on the field, everything. So if there was one thing I could thank him for it would be that for sure. Bobby Minor: That's good stuff, man. l let's talk for a second just about the value of education because it that sometimes can get lost in the shuffle. You know, I'm all talking about baseball, but so you finished your MBA with a three point five while playing division one baseball. At at what point did you start thinking seriously about like what you wanted your life to look like beyond baseball and how did that affect the decisions you made? Mike Ballard: Yeah, so coming out of Eckhard, I was a communications major. I've I graduated with a communications degree, and a minor in leadership studies and I kinda always liked you know, I was I was a personable person. I could talk I could make friends with this wall if I had to. Like, you know, it was about making connections and getting out in the world and talking to people. and when I went to Law Tech I kinda had to had to decide what I wanted to do there and I was like I might as well get my MBA and and I was thinking of the sales world. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: and I really started thinking, you know, a everybody can say they hate homework and everything. Like that's just the little tedious stuff. But for me, it was like going to tech to get my MBA, I like, all right, I have two years to prove I can go to the league potentially, but also I have two years to set up my future beyond the league if that doesn't happen. And that's when I really started being like I I always took school serious, but a little more serious because I was like, Hey, this is gonna be my life potentially. Like I I I need to figure something out because I always thought about baseball. I was like, I'm gonna be a baseball player. Everybody asked me, what are you gonna do? I I'm gonna be a baseball player. it's funny how it works out because I am now, obviously, but I didn't know I was gonna do banana ball, I didn't know or anything, I didn't anything like that. So it was kinda just like my dad's in in wine and spirit sales. he's been in that industry since he's eighteen years old and and that kinda kinda I like sales, I like real estate. I could kinda go either way with the NBA there. and and yeah, so I think I think when I was transferring to Louisiana Tech I kinda started saying, Hey, I need to I need to really h you know, lock in and and hone in on something because you can get told everybody gets told they're done playing the game at some point and you have no control over when that is. Bobby Minor: Yeah. So all right, so l let's kinda let's talk about it. So like, you know, kinda I would say kind of the unexpected career. You played independent ball with Florence, now you're with the party animals. Mike Ballard: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Bobby Minor: How did how did banana ball even come into the picture and did you ever imagine that you'd be getting this kind of attention playing baseball? Mike Ballard: Yeah, so I I kinda never imagined I would get I would be in in this kind of position to have this kind of platform. but I always envisioned myself, like I said, playing ball at a high level or selling out at stadiums and it definitely looks a little different than what I imagined. and and I think I kinda hit it on the I I ha i I describe it as a dream that I didn't know I had. Because you still get the the the com scratch the competitive itch. Of playing baseball. But to go back and on how I kinda got here, so obviously I mentioned Chase Acuff earlier. We always kept in touch, because he lived in Saint Pete. Even when I transferred, like we'd always be back in Saint Pete in the off season 'cause I live here as well. And we'd always be at Eckerd. We'd always 'cause you know, our coaches out there, we could go, we had a field, we had a cage, whatever, he'd he'd hit a scramble as everything. So he kinda got into it before I did. he didn't go the indie ball route or anything. He got done with Rollins, didn't really get any licks, had a great season at Rollins, didn't get any professional eyes on him really. And he went to play banana ball. It wasn't banana ball yet, it was in it was with the bananas, but in the CPL. and they were still a summary ball team. And he kinda got into it that early. So I still had two years at losing a tech left at this point. But my summer ball team in twenty three took a all star team to Savannah, Georgia to play the bananas. And you Bobby Minor: Mm. Mike Ballard: had to sign up for it and I was kinda I was on the fence at first. I was like, you know, I don't know, like I'm not at that point in my career yet. and my mom was like, Go. You're gonna have fun. Just go. Just do it. and you know, y y you listen to mom, obviously. and and I went and played two games against them. And I was like, wow, this this is truly amazing. I didn't know what it was about and they were still they were still a little growing, so they didn't have the big, you know, selling out football stadiums that we do now. they were still building that. And I still was like, my god, this is amazing what they're doing. This is really weird rules and stuff, but it's fun, it's cool. But I kept in touch with Chase after that and the coaches saw me a little bit when I played them against him there. And funny enough, my head coach, Mike Vivasis Fava, also is an Eckerd alum. So we have Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Mike Ballard: a lot of Eckerd connections. he kept in touch with me, I kept in touch with Chase and twenty five, my LaTeX season ended. I think I hit like two two eighty five or something with with eight homers, had a good season, still didn't get anything. I was like, All right, I'm gonna I'm gonna give Indy ball a chance, landed in Florence, played the back half, had a g had an okay back half season with them. I was fully planning on coming back to to Florence. but Chase is like, Hey, they're adding two new teams. It's gonna be a big draft, big year. Why don't you come try out and just see what happens? I went to a try out, one thing led to another. Now I'm here, you know, a season in with the party animals. and the Florence coaches and and and and the GM and everything over there, the owner, were super supportive and super nice of that, which I I greatly appreciate from them. but Yeah, I just was like hey I I I feel like I need to be here. I just I something's something's pulling me towards Banana Ball and I'm honestly glad I did. You know, everything about it is amazing. Bobby Minor: That's awesome. What's what's the biggest crowd that you played in front of? Mike Ballard: man. It's funny. eighty one thousand in the Saints Superdome. Eighty one thousand back to back nights, so a hundred and sixty two thousand in two days. and and that i it it's still you know, you don't you wouldn't think there would be much difference from a sixty thousand, forty five thousand person crowd to an eighty thousand person crowd, and it really is. You can't hear your ears are ringing, you feel like you're deaf after it i it's it was insane. especially leading up to that, before Louisiana Tech, I played at Eckard College where there was three pretty much three fans in the stands every single game and two of were my parents. So it was a big it was a big change and it it's been awesome. It's been great. There's no feeling like it. Bobby Minor: Yeah. No, you're talking about the s the noise. a couple of years ago I went to a a soccer match at the ATT Stadium Stadium, Cowboys Stadium. There's eighty something thousand people there to see you as Barcelona in Madrid. And I I tell people that is the loudest loudest sporting event I've ever been to. It was like off the ch off the charts. So Mike Ballard: Yeah. yeah. Bobby Minor: so what's your s what's your signature trick play? Mike Ballard: Ooh That's a good question. I do get asked that a lot and I don't necessarily have a signature one f that's Mike's yet, but we're working on it. I I kinda do I do a lot of I think I I think my thing is is that I'm good at at multiple. between the legs, behind the back. I'm working on one right now that I haven't haven't whipped out in a game yet. It's gotta be the right ball, right person running. So we're gonna We're gonna stay tuned for that one, for the signature one. Bobby Minor: You gotta get you gotta get Rack to teach you how to do do some sort of backflip or something. Mike Ballard: my god, I should. You know, I hit rack a ball in the Superdome. I hit rack a line drive that like I I barreled the squared it up line drive and I'm two steps down the line and it already got to the left fielder and he's just doing a backflip on a ball that came like ninety eight, a hundred off the bat. that was one of the craziest things I've ever seen and and honestly to just be a part of that, it was on ESPN, it was on everything, and to just be the person hitting that was was great. Bobby Minor: You got you got lot of code. Yeah. Mike Ballard: I was like, You're welcome, Rack. I got you your clip. There you go. Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's good stuff. okay, so I've been at 'cause you know, I've had I've had Jordan Hussein from from the Telgators on. Mike Ballard: Yeah. Bobby Minor: I've obviously had Coach Rack, you're my third banana ball player that I've had on my podcast, so I'm asking everybody, what would you say to the to the to anybody out there that thinks that banana ball is just hokey, it's fake, it's not Mike Ballard: Yeah. Bobby Minor: real baseball, what would you say? Mike Ballard: Yeah, honestly I would say go watch Shane Green's clip on your podcast. Yeah. Yeah, but Bobby Minor: yeah had Shane on also. Yeah I forgot I had Shane on also. Yeah, I didn't even count here. Mike Ballard: I I'd I I would just say they haven't been to a game. I I can see I can see why they think that, why people would think that, to a certain degree, but I you can't script baseball. No matter how like if I'm hitting and the pitcher and in the script that they think we have, if they're like, Okay, throw my f four fastballs right here. I'm a different outcome is gonna happen every single fastball. Like you can't script baseball. That's impossible. Like we have a script for the show. and you should just look at the background of any one of these players or the passion or sit sit down near the dugout or or text me. Hey, if you think it's if you're a banana ball hater, let's get you to let's get you to a game front row and you can just see how, you know Tempers will flare, we'll get mad, we're competing, we're we're out there, you know, like really trying to win. we just have different rules and we play for a different purpose. But winning matters, you know, and and I think that they just they look at it from you know a a too far of a view. Like it they're not up close with it. They don't actually take the time to want to learn. They just are what what do they call baseball purists that hate banana ball. You know, think we're ruining the game, making Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: a mockery of the game. It's it's just not the case. Bobby Minor: You know, no, I've learned I've learned. Mike Ballard: Yeah. Bobby Minor: you know, being active on social media, there's always somebody that has something to say. I don't care I don't Mike Ballard: yeah. Bobby Minor: care I don't care what it is. all right. If you took a banana ball all-star team and just played straight up baseball, at what level could they compete? Mike Ballard: okay. So you took you took our all star team from this year, I'm say, and we played regular baseball. Okay. Bobby Minor: Yeah. The best of banana ball. Yeah. Mike Ballard: I think we could compete at a division one level. I'm only speaking from from my experience because, you know, I never got into like low A, single A or anything in the league. So Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: I would like to think that we could maybe probably compete in low A, especially 'cause we have a lot of guys coming out of minor leagues now, that are in our league and Yeah, you know, I'm gonna say speak from my experience, I'm not gonna jump the gun here and you know and say, we could compete in double A or whatever, but I think we could compete at a division one level. We were it was funny, we had the same question. We're like you take our team and you throw us in the SEC for Clemson, just say just because what's our record? Do we make a regional? Do we do whatever? And and a lot of us we think so. I mean so I'm gonna say high high division one level. I could be Bobby Minor: All right. Mike Ballard: I could be lower I could be lower than what some people think, but I can't speak for for the professional level. Bobby Minor: Yeah, no fair fair enough. I respect that. I respect that. So all right, you've gone viral for dancing on the baseball field and you're playing in front of huge crowds. Think about all those ten, eleven, twelve year olds playing travel ball right now. What do you think we're getting wrong about how serious baseball really needs to be at those ages? Mike Ballard: Yeah, I think that I think we're just getting wrong by thinking that it's not life or death at that point, but thinking that it needs to be a hundred and percent a hundred and ten percent hard practices, hard pressure all the time because the only thing that you're doing is putting pressure on these kids from a young age. And not a lot of kids at that age know how to handle and deal with with the pressure of a coach or maybe it's coming from your dad or or your dad and your coach at the same time and That could just completely ruin baseball for for a young kid because it's not gonna be f fun. Ten years old, you're supposed to have fun playing baseball. Yes, it can be serious. Yes, you can see the potential in this kid, can be through the roof, but you gotta have fun because if you take the fun out of the game, the kid's not gonna wanna play anymore. I'm a big believer in that in that coaches can make or break a kid around that age. maybe even more around like your young high school ages. because, you know, you have a lot of stories of where, my high school coach ruined baseball for me. you know, i more often times than not, you hear that a coach ruined baseball for somebody. Not really like, you know, I just I I I just lost a passion for it. Yes, that happens, but a lot of times you hear that the coaches ruin it for them. You know, no matter if that's putting too much pressure on practice, wanting them to be a pro player now rather than develop into a pro player. so however you kinda want to articulate that, I just think it's it's the coaches take it a little too serious. I'm not saying that you should be out there goofing off thirty percent fifty percent of the practice, whatever you want to do, but you just gotta have fun, you know, and the practice with something fun. If you guys, you know, work hard Get your fundamentals in and but end the game like my my dad used to end practices with we'd get our work in, yeah, if we made an error we'd run a lap or something like that, but we would end the practice by we'd all go to center field with a bucket of balls, he would tip a trash can over at home plate, and whoever could throw the ball in the trash can gets a chocolate bar at the end of practice. Like Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: it's simple things like that keep the love of the game for the for the kid. Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's really, really important. And I think your story of going to that showcase with no expectations and how loose and free you played, I think that's something that parents need to really listen to. And if you weren't paying attention, go back and and watch that that clip because the I mean the kids feel the pressure. Okay, I I wanna I wanna ask this question. So when you were in college you played said I said you played started every game your last two years at at La Tech. So what were you what were you playing? You know, fifty games a year? More la more? Yeah. Okay. Mike Ballard: Yeah, some up fifty four, sixty. I think my my first year we made a regional, so it ended up being like a little more. Bobby Minor: Okay. And then how many how many games did you play this year with the party animals? Mike Ballard: It was I think sixty, right on the dot. Bobby Minor: Okay. What do you think about 10, 11, 12 year olds playing 80 to 100 games a year? Mike Ballard: I I don't I mean that's you you're putting them on a big league schedule almost at that point, which you really shouldn't be. you gotta have time for other things, I would say, is important too, but you gotta g I mean the mental side of the game is is very important and burnout is real. Especially at that age. you can burn a kid out by just playing three weekends in a month. Like I mean that that's kinda I mean, I I wouldn't I wouldn't advise anybody to play that many games in a year at that age, in my opinion. like I said, it's just the burnout can be real. Bobby Minor: yeah, no doubt, no doubt. So all right Mikey, where can people people want to keep up with your baseball journey? Where can they find you on social media? Mike Ballard: Yeah, so Instagram is gonna be Michael underscore ballard fourteen. TikTok is gonna be Mike dot B fourteen. and that's really just the the most important important things right now. Facebook's Michael Ballard fourteen too, I think as well. but yeah, I'm gonna be going going live every once in a while on TikTok, answering banana ball questions, kinda just, you know, having some conversation with some fans and some people that wanna pop in and say hello and yeah, just just just keep up with me on TikTok and that'd be great. Bobby Minor: Awesome, awesome. Man, I had another another question I was just about to ask you and I don't e I it just it just slipped my mind. I was Mike Ballard: Yeah, yeah, that happens. Bobby Minor: gonna say and not to be confused with the other Mikey Ballard who is a former professional pitcher. Mike Ballard: Yes, I do I I actually was a base somebody baseball referenced me and was like, Why do you not pitch anymore? And I like, I Bobby Minor: Yeah. Mike Ballard: that's not me. It's funny. Bobby Minor: Yeah, so so not to be confused. So anyway, all right Mikey, man, I really, really appreciate your time. excited to see you know excited to see what happens next year and hopefully you go out there and and just man ball out again with the party animals. Mike Ballard: Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for having me on. I appreciate it.