Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 49 feat. Andrew Gaines - Life as a college pitcher and future goals

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Episode 49 feat. Andrew Gaines - Life as a college pitcher and future goals · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:27
Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
0:29
Twisted podcast. We have a special, special guest
0:33
in here in this episode. He's a currently a college
0:36
pitcher. He used to play for the
0:38
Pittsburgh Panthers and he's a pitcher right now.
0:41
Andrew Gaines, welcome to the show.
0:44
We are honored and privileged to have you here.
0:47
Yeah. Thanks for having me on.
0:49
I appreciate it. Yeah, it's awesome, man.
0:52
We're so blessed that you joined us today and we're excited to
0:56
get to know what all about your journey and what you've been
1:00
through as as a baseball player. So thank you.
1:04
Yeah, for sure. Thanks again.
1:06
All right, the first question I want to ask you is, so how did
1:10
you fall in love with the sport of baseball?
1:12
Like, like what made you pick up the ball and everything went
1:17
with your way becoming a baseball player?
1:20
Yeah, I mean, I started playing baseball when I was young, like
1:25
like 7 years old around there, and I liked it a lot.
1:29
I always, it was like a thing I did.
1:31
I played other sports, but baseball was the kind of one
1:33
that stuck. And then I mean, obviously when
1:37
you start playing high school baseball, the goal was to, you
1:41
know, be in college and play division on baseball.
1:44
And now the goal is to play professionally.
1:46
So, I mean, it's always been, I don't know, I just, I love
1:50
baseball. So yeah.
1:53
What age did you start playing baseball?
1:56
Around 7 years old, probably around there.
1:58
OK, Yeah. So what was it like when the
2:04
first time that you started playing competitive baseball?
2:07
When was When was that? Like competitive, like I started
2:11
playing like travel ball around 8 years old.
2:14
It was just for my, my local, like, town team.
2:17
It was pretty fun. I just remember, you know, like
2:20
making a couple good friends back then.
2:23
I mean, like when when you're a kid, you don't really, you don't
2:26
really think about it. But it was just like, that's
2:28
when, you know, you didn't really have to worry about like
2:31
your stats, like how you're doing this and that you just
2:34
got, you just got there and just kind of play.
2:39
Yeah. Who are your influences growing
2:43
up? Like what were your teams you
2:44
rooted for? Who were the players you
2:46
idolized? Like you say to yourself, oh I
2:49
love this player. Like I would watch this guy play
2:51
every day or or or team. Yeah, I mean, I'm from South
2:56
Jersey, so I'm a big Phillies guy.
2:58
And from like a pitcher standpoint, I didn't really have
3:01
like a, like a pitcher. I, I followed, I, I liked Tim
3:06
Lincecum when he was playing 'cause my uncle lived in San
3:09
Francisco and he played for the Giants.
3:12
But like, as, like, as of right now, I mean, I just, I just like
3:16
guys, you throw the ball hard, like whoever that is.
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I'm just big fans of them. Did you, did you grew up
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watching like Roy Holiday or Cole Hamels?
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Like, what was those times like? Because like, we're Jays fans
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and you know, we were like, I mean, we always rooted for Roy
3:33
Holiday. Like, he's one of the best
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pitchers that played in our in that era.
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And you know, a guy who had a perfect game and no hitter in
3:41
the same year was fascinating. Like did you ever witness
3:44
watching that? I did, I watched like the, I
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didn't watch it like in live time, but I, I watched like the
3:50
clips of it and how it was just crazy how he was getting to the
3:54
game like that quick. And I don't even know how many
3:56
pitches he threw, but it was fast.
4:00
Yeah, he was always a quick worker on the mound.
4:03
Yeah. Was was being a pitcher the
4:07
first position you ever played or were there any other
4:09
positions that you really enjoyed playing growing up?
4:12
Yeah, I mean, when I was little, I obviously bounced around.
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I started catching. I always pitched a little bit
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and I started catching when I was like 10 years old, kind of
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caught and pitched. And then in high school, around
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sophomore year, I stopped catching and started pitching.
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And that's where I I kind of took off.
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I started talking to college coaches sophomore year and then
4:36
just kind of focused on baseball from there and just pitching.
4:43
So talk about your time in Saint Augustine.
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Who were your influences playing with?
4:50
Like who were, who were the coaches?
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What are the challenges that you went through?
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Like talk about your struggles and your successes that you
4:59
played throughout your high school.
5:01
Yeah, for sure. I mean, my first two year or my
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first year and a half, I went to like my local high school
5:07
Cherokee and then my I transferred into this prep
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school called Saint Augustine. And it was really fun.
5:13
I mean, when I got there, it was it was like January of 2020.
5:18
So I was only there for a couple of months before COVID hit.
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So it was kind of like a weird thing where I didn't really know
5:24
if I like the school or not. I was only there for two months.
5:27
I wasn't sure if I was gonna go back, but I'm glad I went back.
5:30
And I mean, like our team at Saint Augustine was really big
5:35
on like getting to the state championship and winning it.
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So however, like we did that, it was just a lot of fun because it
5:41
was like everyone who was on the team, like it's a it's like a
5:46
prep school. So guys aren't from the same
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town. It's kind of different guys from
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all over. We didn't really live close to
5:52
each other. So whenever we, you know, showed
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up to school into practice, there's always fun playing
5:56
there. And then I mean, the coaches,
5:59
coach Vile own he, you just stop coaching at 300 wins my senior
6:04
season. And then Coach Ney just took
6:07
over and he won his first state championship last year, which is
6:10
pretty cool. So it's always, it's always been
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a good team there. What were what were the teams
6:16
that that were very challenging during a high school time like?
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What was the competition like? What what were the levels are
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like and and the tournaments were like during that process?
6:27
Yeah, for sure. Our big rival was Gloucester
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Catholic. I mean, they would whenever we
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played them in this big game, it would be it's like the coaches
6:35
versus Cancer Classic. We played them in a game and
6:37
they'd bring like their whole JV team and just stick them in the
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dugout and just scream at us when we're playing.
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But they're pretty hard to to face.
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And then there's obviously like the state tournament, but the in
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season tournament called the Diamond Classic is like the best
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15 teams of South Jersey and we got to win that our senior year,
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which is pretty cool. So you kind of it's cool to just
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be, I guess you could say people would say like you're the king
7:03
of South Jersey, but it was just like a fun time.
7:06
Yeah, yeah. No, no, I, I have another
7:12
question, sorry. So is there anyone in your high
7:16
school that's been in college, like when you were in your
7:19
freshman year and who's pretty much got drafted to the majors?
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Do you know anyone that were that were your teammates?
7:26
We just had three guys get drafted this year from my high
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school. My so my roommate I was at
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before I was at PIT, I was at Iona for two years and my
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roommate Josiah Ragsdale, he just got drafted at a Boston
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College. He got drafted to the Brewers.
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Ryan Weingartner, who's also in my class, got just got drafted
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to the Cardinals. He went to Penn State and then
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Holden Dijon just got drafted to the Orioles and he was at NJIT.
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So like we have a bunch of guys from our school got drafted this
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year. And it was pretty cool seeing
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like especially like my roommate, like Josiah.
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And we kind of, I mean, we, we were roommates for two years
8:06
that I know it's really cool seeing that.
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And then I lived with all three of them when I'm home.
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So it's really cool seeing like so my my good friends from
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school get drafted. Yeah, that was really cool.
8:18
You mentioned a couple of your coaches in high school that
8:22
seemed really, really competitive.
8:24
So how did they help you throughout your process during
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high school? Make you a better player?
8:31
Yeah, I mean, more like I, I would say like the high school
8:35
coaches, I wouldn't say that there's like a lot of
8:38
development there just cuz when you show up, there's more.
8:42
So like you, you just kind of play, but like in the offseason,
8:47
it's more like you're training at your facility at home.
8:49
But we, when we started playing, I mean, our coaches were always
8:52
there for us just kind of like practices weren't easy.
8:56
And I mean, it made the games way more fun, which is cool.
9:00
So I mean, the coaches were always there, like trying to
9:02
keep us mentally tough, which was good.
9:07
Talk about your first summer league that you played for South
9:10
Jersey Kings and what did you work on?
9:14
What was the experience like? Did it improve your game when
9:18
you played during during the summer?
9:20
And what helped you take that next step If if if that were the
9:24
case? Yeah, for sure.
9:26
I mean it was pretty cool, you know, planning its college guys
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for the first time. I would say it was a little bit
9:32
of a learning curve, but I mean, like going out there with the
9:36
mentality that you're kind of the best on the best on the
9:38
field. Didn't really change yet.
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So I mean, I had AI, had a couple of solid outings.
9:44
It was just cool being around college guys and kind of see
9:46
what it was going to be like at college, which was fun.
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I got to play with one of the guys from San Agustin, which was
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cool. And I mean, it was a fun time.
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It was like my first college summer experience.
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You mentioned that you you attended Iona University.
10:04
Talk about your freshman and sophomore years and the
10:08
experiences you had with your coaching staff and some of the
10:11
players you played with. Yeah, for sure.
10:14
When I came on campus my freshman year, it was like, I
10:18
mean, it was it was pretty, it was pretty cool time.
10:20
I mean, you don't really know you're walking into as a
10:22
freshman living on your own for the first time.
10:26
You know, the fall was fun from, you know, like getting to know
10:30
the guys and being at practice. I mean, Iona is kind of like a
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smaller D1 school. So it's definitely pretty
10:35
gritty. You know, we're, you know,
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practicing on the soccer field and stuff.
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But freshman year didn't go the way I the way I wanted it to.
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You know, I got an impingement, my shoulder.
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I didn't throw the ball well. I was kind of domed up on the
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mound out there. But, you know, going into
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summer, I, I fixed my shoulder, went back sophomore year,
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excited to, you know, do it again.
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Software was much better. It was, it was, it was a lot of
11:03
fun just, you know, playing with the guys, you know, I've been
11:07
with for a couple of years now. And then, I mean, I, I, I feel
11:11
like it kind of just took off from there.
11:13
And then, yeah, I mean, software is a lot of fun with those guys.
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What was the shift from from your freshman year and sophomore
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year was significant? Like did you have to work a
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little bit? I'm pretty sure you guys always
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have to work harder when you have to go from freshman to
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sophomore. But did you see a difference as
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in like you with your with your teammates?
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Like did you did you were you guys motivated?
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Did you have a bigger role? What like, what was your
11:40
positioning like when you were pitching over there in Iona?
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Yeah, for sure. I mean, my sophomore year, the
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first like month and a half, I was, I wasn't throwing the ball,
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you know, like the way I wanted to.
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So I was just kind of trying to prove myself.
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And when I got the chance to prove myself, I kind of got into
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the closer role and it was really cool, you know, being
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able to like the, the team trusted me when we're out by a
12:02
couple runs going out there, you know, holding that wherever it
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is just so we can win the game. You know, like my guys have my
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back and then obviously the coaches have my back too.
12:17
So you played, you played with Norwich that summer as well.
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So, so now you're going on a full go around like it's it's
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summer league a thing like you, you just want to keep your mojo
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going and just keep your repetitions going.
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Talk about Norwich and talk about like, like what motivates
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you to keep playing during the summer?
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Yeah, for sure. I mean, summer ball is obviously
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an opportunity to get more reps and like guys who don't play as
12:45
much go there and they get a bunch of reps.
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But I mean, going into that summer, I knew that I kind of
12:49
wanted to go to a bigger school. So I entered a transfer portal
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and I kind of had to go prove myself against, you know,
12:56
different headers. And summer ball is really fun.
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You get put up in a host family. I live with a couple different
13:02
guys, which was cool. And we we played in an old minor
13:05
league stadium, so it really felt like we're in pro ball.
13:07
We had all a big, big locker room and our weight room and our
13:12
stadium. And I had to, I had to, I threw
13:15
the ball pretty well and kind of figured out that, you know, I
13:18
wanted to go to the University of Pittsburgh.
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I thought it was a good fit. So I committed there.
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You know, I was at summer ball for about a month and then I
13:25
went home and just trained and got ready for this past year of
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my junior year. The the competition, when you
13:34
look at the picture, the schools that you went to before we get
13:38
to Pittsburgh is with Norwich. You your numbers were like wow,
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like like like I like I would. We were all look at the stats
13:47
and you know, they're pretty decent stats like when you look
13:49
at strikeouts ball. But what worked for you in
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Norwich in that time? Like what helped you improve
13:55
your game? Yeah.
13:57
I mean, at school at Iona my sophomore year, I was kind of
14:01
limited to, you know what, what pitches I was throwing because I
14:05
didn't call my own pitches And I, I felt like I threw the ball
14:07
well. But once I got to summer ball, I
14:09
could kind of do whatever I want pitch wise and just being able
14:13
to throw all my pitches. And I mean, really it, it's, it
14:18
was like confidence for me. Like when I, when my confidence
14:20
is high and I got, I walk out there like I'm the best player
14:24
in the field. I'm really good.
14:26
And then if I go out there and I don't believe that, then I'm not
14:29
good. You know, I mean, that's kind
14:30
of, I'll bet you that's the same thing with everyone.
14:32
But that was kind of like a big thing that last summer at
14:36
Norwich, you know, just going out there and being confident.
14:40
You mentioned you transferred to PIT in 2025.
14:44
Tell us about that whole season. What was it like?
14:46
What were your ups and downs throughout the year?
14:50
Yeah. I mean, there were not a lot of
14:52
UPS this past year. I'm going to be honest.
14:56
I mean, it wasn't in the fall. I I, I thought I did pretty well
15:00
and I got in a spring and I was throwing the ball really well
15:04
offseason, you know, get to school, we're doing inner squad
15:07
scrimmages doing pretty well and I get to the season.
15:09
And I mean, I just kind of it was like a downward spiral.
15:13
I didn't, you know, compete the way I wanted to.
15:15
I was trying to fix everything I could.
15:19
I mean, like focusing too much on baseball, like not even, you
15:23
know, having fun at all. Just kind of, I mean, I was kind
15:27
of a wreck, you know, I was just trying to like, because, you
15:30
know, it was a big year for me. I really wanted to, you know,
15:32
get drafted this year, but it obviously didn't go to the exact
15:36
way I wanted to. You know, there's a couple of
15:38
times when I threw the ball, all right, but it was just kind of,
15:40
I was beating myself. Like it wasn't like I was
15:42
getting hit around. I was just kind of walking guys.
15:44
And you know, that's kind of been the main focus.
15:48
You know, that's why, like this summer, I went and played in I
15:53
can't and Mystic, you know, I was trying to limit the walks.
15:56
I still kind of walked a a good amount, but I was, you know,
15:59
limiting the runs. I let up, but just kind of
16:01
finding my confidence to get my confidence back.
16:06
So, so you talk about your challenges in Pittsburgh, like I
16:10
know that the program, like how would you compare Iona to
16:14
Pittsburgh? I know, like you said, that
16:16
there was a lot of downs, downhill and challenges and what
16:23
didn't work for you, Like you said, like you were, you were
16:25
overthinking too much mentally, but at the same time like like,
16:29
like, is there a way like you could, you could like compare
16:32
the two with Iona and and Pittsburgh and what, what were
16:35
the differences? Yeah, I mean, I don't like
16:38
they're, they're much different schools.
16:40
Like I own as a small little D1 in in New Rochelle, NY and
16:45
Pittsburgh's a powerful school. You know, when like if you're at
16:51
a smaller D1 school and you, and if you don't, if you don't
16:57
compete well and you don't put up numbers like you're going to
17:00
be able to, you know, get more opportunities.
17:02
But if you're at a big school like pit, like if you don't, if
17:06
you don't do what you're supposed to do, like they're,
17:07
it's kind of on to the next guy. And I mean, I didn't really give
17:12
myself the opportunity to to pitch a whole lot just because I
17:16
wasn't throwing the ball well. And I mean, obviously at Pitt
17:20
there's a whole lot more resources.
17:22
Like when you go to Pitt, all you have to do is do school and
17:25
play baseball like you, everything's taken care of.
17:28
You have tutors, you have an academic advisor, you a
17:31
nutritionist, they feed you well.
17:33
And then at Iona, it's kind of like a smaller, like you kind of
17:36
have to do some stuff on your own from like the academic
17:39
standpoint, like they'll give you tutors, but you kind of have
17:42
to figure it out on your own. Obviously the facilities aren't
17:45
as nice but I feel like that's not like a huge deal cause I
17:49
mean no matter where you are, it's just after all the
17:52
facilities and every stuff to show up on the field and
17:55
compete. So the next question I want to
17:59
ask you, because there was a video that was posted out there
18:02
and talk about your your pitch sequences, your arsenal.
18:06
I know that you got the fastball, you got the cutter,
18:09
you got the curveball, you got the change up like what what was
18:14
what was the the workload on that?
18:16
And I know that you're trying to improve every day and it's
18:21
awesome that because there's videos like that and and talk
18:24
about like, like the pitch is what's your best pitch and what
18:28
are you trying to work on? And if you're working on a new
18:30
pitch? Yeah, for sure.
18:32
I mean, I feel like, I mean, obviously there's different
18:36
pitches you can throw at different batters, but
18:38
especially for me, like not not caring about what pitch I throw
18:42
first, but just trying to get strike one for me because I
18:45
mean, whatever pitch will give me strike one that that's going
18:48
to kind of help me to get to the batters.
18:50
But obviously like my most like dominating pitch would probably
18:54
be my fastball just because I throw the ball hard.
18:57
And then, you know, the lefties, I'd probably throw the change up
19:01
more, not so much to righties and then the curveball and the
19:05
cutter are obviously really helpful to the righties.
19:08
But it all kind of depends on the header and the count and
19:12
what the situation is. But always just trying to.
19:16
I'm not really working on any new pitches right now, but just
19:18
making sure that the pitches are always moving the right way.
19:24
So you pitched as a a few games as a starting pitcher and then
19:28
you convert it to a a back end reliever.
19:32
What do you, what do you are you more consider yourself as a as a
19:35
closer, a hybrid pitcher, or do you still have that net, that
19:39
drive to to show what you can do to be a starting pitcher?
19:43
Yeah, I mean, I, I enjoy doing both, but I'd say more so just
19:48
from a standpoint of velocity and not having a lot of innings
19:52
under my belt, I feel like I'm more of like a closer, like
19:54
going there and, you know, throw hard and get guys out.
19:58
I I mean, not many like closers have 4 pitches.
20:01
So I feel like that can obviously get me through more
20:04
innings, but I kind of like, you know, getting a call when it's
20:07
late in the game and, you know, having to go out there and shut
20:10
the game down South. I enjoy going out there and
20:13
doing that. You mentioned about playing
20:18
summer league at Mystic in the NECBL and how's that going for
20:23
you so far? What are you trying to improve?
20:26
I know you said you had it down here and you're trying to
20:28
gradually improve your game again.
20:30
Are you working on the mental aspect?
20:32
Are you working on pitches? Are you like you said, you're
20:34
working on velocity? Like what is your main focus
20:37
right now as it said? Yeah, for sure.
20:39
I mean, I just got home a couple weeks ago from summer ball.
20:42
So I, I was only there for about a month.
20:44
But when I was there it was really just about, you know,
20:47
competing and getting in the zone.
20:48
Because like when I, when I have my pitches in the zone, like
20:53
not, not a lot of guys are going to hit me.
20:55
So just really just getting back in the zone and competing
20:58
against hitters and throwing all my pitches because you know,
21:01
when I was at pit, like it's when you're not throwing your
21:05
fastball for strikes, like they're just gonna keep calling
21:07
it because you have to throw for strikes.
21:09
And I didn't really get the opportunity to throw my other
21:10
pitches. So obviously when I got to
21:12
summer ball, it was a big thing for me to throw all my pitches
21:15
and, you know, work on just being competing, get my
21:18
confidence back. And I felt like my confidence
21:21
was definitely better when I was there.
21:23
There's obviously a couple outings where I let up some runs
21:25
and more walks than I'd like to, but overall it was a a much
21:29
better jump than where I was in the spring.
21:34
You entered the transfer portal this offseason and I we know you
21:38
have some news that you want to share about that.
21:40
And were there any other schools that reached out to you and what
21:45
were your opportunities and what's your ambition going
21:48
forward for this season? Yeah, for sure.
21:51
I mean, there's, there's obviously a bunch of schools.
21:55
I mean, my, my plan was to kind of, you know, stay closer to
21:58
stay closer to home. I mean, I was in, I was in New
22:02
York, I guess not too far away. And then I was at Pittsburgh,
22:04
which was about 5 hours. So I wanted to be close enough
22:08
to where my, my parents could watch me play all like all the
22:11
time. So I decided to go to Saint
22:13
Joe's and that's about an hour from me in Philly.
22:16
You know, I really like the coaches and I know a bunch of
22:19
guys who are going there and they've like for being a mid
22:22
major school, they have really nice facilities.
22:24
They have an indoor facility and it, I mean, overall it's like a
22:27
good academic school with a lot of opportunity for me there.
22:32
That's awesome. That's awesome.
22:35
Do you still, I mean, you mentioned the three guys that
22:38
got drafted in this year's draft, Like do you still like
22:41
communicate with any other college players, like whether
22:43
it's Iona or Pittsburgh or even, or even the the guys you like?
22:49
Do you know anybody familiar in your current school you just got
22:52
transferred to? Yeah, I mean, I know well where
22:57
I train at at home at like where I throw at two of the guys who
23:01
trained there just transferred there to Saint Joe's.
23:04
And there's also like, I mean, Saint Joe's is a big spot for
23:08
South Jersey kids. So I know like another 5 to 8
23:11
guys in the team. I know one of the kids who I
23:13
used to play with when I was little I'm going to be living
23:15
with this year. So like I'm not walking into a
23:17
completely unknown situation. So I'm pretty excited to get
23:21
there and already know almost half the team, so that's pretty
23:24
cool. So when I was doing some
23:28
research on on for, for this, some preparation for this
23:32
podcast, I came across a video that you did about a strength
23:37
training process for your shoulder called Axio.
23:40
I, I, I'll butcher the rest of it.
23:42
So I'm just going to call it Axio.
23:44
But tell us, tell us about a bit about that and how it's helped
23:49
you and what how is it different from from what you used to do
23:54
prior to that? Yeah, I mean, actually I was
23:57
kind of like a, there's different ways to warm up and
24:01
kind of get your body right. And it's kind of like a it's a
24:05
tool I used to warm up. And it's it's, I guess you could
24:08
it's, if you want me to sell it to you, it's called a
24:10
centripetal trainer. It's just there's a ball in this
24:13
wheel that you move around. It's similar to like a shoulder
24:16
tube and it gets your arm just ready to go.
24:19
Kind of similar to, you know, doing J bands or just it kind of
24:24
gets you warmed. Up.
24:26
Very cool. Yeah.
24:29
That's great. Do you still do?
24:32
Well, the question I want to ask you, do you, do you connect with
24:37
any pitching coaches or coaches or in general and D excuse me,
24:43
do you connect with any MLB players at the stand or you work
24:47
out with them besides your college teammates and the ones
24:49
who are drafted? Yeah, I mean, I the facility I
24:53
throw out at home, like they have a bunch of pro guys who
24:56
train there where I lift at as well.
24:59
They have a bunch of pro guys like I you asked about like a
25:02
pitching coach as well. Yeah, pitching coaches.
25:04
Yeah, Like, yeah, professional coaches.
25:06
Yeah, I wouldn't say I talked to a bunch of like professional
25:10
ones, but the, the people who I trained with are known really
25:13
well. Like my, the one pitching coach,
25:16
I, I, I trained with, he played for the, he played in the minor
25:20
leagues for the Phillies. He got all the way up to AAA.
25:22
And then I mean like pro guys we have, we have a couple guys who
25:28
are trained who are in the MLB right now.
25:30
A couple of them got called up and called back down.
25:32
But it's pretty cool. You know, each day when I get to
25:36
go throw and lift, I get to be around other college and
25:40
professional players. So you're always kind of pushing
25:42
yourself. You know, you're looking at the
25:44
guy next to you and trying to everyone's pushing each other to
25:47
get better. Give us something that we don't
25:57
know that we should know about yourself and like do you have
26:00
any surprise traits that we don't know about for as as a
26:04
pitcher or some what? What do you feel like your
26:07
strengths are as a pitcher? I'd say as a pitcher, I would
26:15
say like, like my hard work, my work, my work ethic, Like I
26:20
take, you know, everything I do pretty seriously.
26:23
Like I, I have a good journal I do for throwing, kind of like
26:28
the mental side of stuff as well.
26:30
Just I feel like the big part about me is, you know, working
26:33
as hard as I can off the field so I can perform as best I can
26:37
on the field. Did you play any sports during
26:41
during your time in college or in high school?
26:44
Yeah, I've played in high school.
26:46
I played football for a couple of years.
26:48
I really enjoyed that I was a quarterback, which was fun, but
26:52
like right when I started talking to college coaches
26:55
sophomore year, I stopped playing football.
26:59
So the last question I want to ask you is, so now you're going
27:02
to Saint Joe's now and what are your goals now moving forward?
27:08
I know, I know that you you wanted to be in this year's
27:10
draft. So, so next year is your
27:13
opportunity, is that your I, I assume that's your goal or is
27:16
there any other bigger goals that you have for, for next year
27:20
and beyond? Yeah, that's obviously like a a
27:23
big goal of mine. But I mean, just kind of going
27:27
in there, you know, last year at Pitt, I wouldn't say like I had
27:30
the the best time. Like I was really super focused
27:33
on baseball and I wasn't doing well.
27:35
Like I like I really just didn't do anything.
27:38
I just kind of stayed to myself. But you know, this year going in
27:41
and really just getting to know the guys, like forming good
27:44
relationships, hanging out with, you know, my teammates, what
27:48
like doing whatever it's I'm going to be in Philly.
27:50
So like going to Phillies games, going to Eagles games, just, you
27:53
know, building good team camaraderie.
27:57
Well, Andrew, we thank you for being a guest in this episode.
28:02
It was an honor. It was a pleasure and hopefully
28:06
we can do this again, but where can we find you in social media
28:09
and just tell when you're going to start your program in Saint
28:13
Joe's and, and, and, and if you're continuing to do any
28:16
other schools, just let them know.
28:19
Yeah, I'm, I mean, I'm going to I'm going to be at school.
28:23
I think the first day school is August 25th, so I'll be moving
28:25
in a couple of days before then. You can find me on Andrew Gaines
28:29
under score 4 on Instagram. I think it's the same on
28:33
Twitter, but yeah, I appreciate you guys having me on.
28:37
Yeah, man, it was cool to get to know you and your story and,
28:40
and, and everything about how how you got into baseball and
28:45
how you just love the game, man. And we always appreciate that
28:48
here. So, you know, it's such a
28:51
wonderful sport and we're just, we're just excited that we got
28:55
the opportunity to do this with you, man.
28:57
Thank you. Yeah.
28:59
Thank you guys. Hopefully we will follow your
29:02
journey and hopefully you could come back in another episode
29:06
down the road, but we'll put the description below where you can
29:09
find Andrew Gaines. But until next time, take care,
29:12
be kind to each other. Signing off from the Sports Ave.
29:15
Twister podcast on Thursday, July 17th, 2025.