Latest / The Mound Visit / Overcoming Early Season Struggles

Transcript

Overcoming Early Season Struggles · The Mound Visit

0:10
All right, Josh, we have officially done it. We have started a
0:13
podcast. Yep, we did it. This is something I've been thinking about
0:19
for a while, and I think you and me talked about this maybe a
0:22
month or so ago now about the idea, and I've wanted to do this
0:26
for a while, and I just felt like you and me would be the
0:29
perfect partnership for this because we have similar values when it comes to pitching.
0:34
I really like what you're doing and the fact that you're still in your career
0:38
I think is a pretty cool perspective that I personally haven't seen in podcasts where
0:43
there's a coach and a player that are co hosting to where you can kind
0:46
of hit it from both angles. So I'm pretty excited for this. I
0:49
think there's going to bring a lot of value for people just from the different
0:52
perspectives that we're going to bring. Yeah, I agree. I think me
0:57
coming from the perspective of a player, I can relate to maybe some of
1:00
the younger kids a little bit more, and you can relate to the coaches,
1:04
and all the expertise that you bring will be super valuable. And I'm
1:10
just excited to share my story, my journey and provide value to whoever's listening.
1:15
Yeah, welly don't we start with that. Why don't you give the
1:18
listeners just a brief rundown of your background and how you got to where you
1:22
are. Yeah, so all right, where do I start? I started
1:27
playing when I was eight years old. I started when I was living in
1:34
Japan, and then I played all throughout until I was about sixteen. I
1:38
moved to Australia when I was ten, and so I played baseball in Australia
1:44
for six years. And I was a sixteen year old and I was turning
1:48
seventy eight miles now, and I was like, all right, I got
1:52
to make a change if I want to get anywhere with baseball. So I
1:55
made a big change. When I was sixteen, I started training properly.
1:57
I started pitching, did all the throwing programs. I went out to Seattle
2:04
drive Line Baseball to train for about six months. And yeah, I made
2:12
huge strides and I was able to get up to about ninety five ninety six
2:15
miles an hour at the drive Line pro day, and that led to a
2:20
lot of recruiting. I go recruited by my dream school to Stanford, but
2:25
ultimately I made the decision to sign with the Phillies in twenty nineteen. I
2:31
played there for three years. I got traded to the Rangers, and I've
2:38
played with the Rangers for three years and now I'm starting my six years,
2:44
six year with the Ranges and currently in spring training. That's awesome And there's
2:50
so much to unpack there that I know, we could probably have a whole
2:52
episode just talking about your story. But I am curious. You know,
2:55
you're throwing seventy eight at sixteen, you know you want to go to you
3:00
know, a school like Stanford, Like that's your your dream, that's your
3:02
goal. Like how did you decide what the best path was for you?
3:07
Like how did you decide drive line was where you need to go to train?
3:08
Was it just the results that you had seen them get from guys or
3:13
like how did you ultimately decide on what that path was going to look Like?
3:16
Yeah? For sure. So I think at that time it was either
3:21
top velocity, do you know? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it was
3:25
either tough velocity or drive line baseball. And at first I was all in
3:31
on top velocity because I was like, you know, way to bulls,
3:36
Like I'm not too sure about them yeah. Yeah, And at that time,
3:39
drive Line was doing some pretty crazy stuff like throwing the full pound full
3:44
pound bowls like max Effort or two pound bulls. So I was like,
3:47
I I don't know, but I did top velocity and I didn't really see
3:52
the results that I wanted velocity wise, so I was like, Okay,
3:57
I'm gonna make the shift and go all in on drive Line, And that
4:01
was one of the best decisions I made. Yeah. I think that's there's
4:05
an important lesson there that sometimes when I talk to high school kids or I
4:09
talk to parents, it's like there's so many options for them that it can
4:12
be so hard to decide what route they need to go. But I think,
4:15
like you're a good example of whatever route you choose, it doesn't mean
4:18
you have to be married to it forever. Like if you're not getting the
4:20
results and you're following the program, you're doing everything that's asked of you for
4:25
an extended period of time. I gets okay to change plans, it's okay
4:29
to go another route, and like, for you, that change ultimately seems
4:32
like that's what ultimately helps you get to where you're at now from a development
4:36
standpoint, And you know, the rest is history at this point, Yeah,
4:41
for sure. And I and I still change stuff. You know.
4:44
I went to drive line in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, but then I
4:48
started doing I started training at X two and that's when, you know,
4:53
we didn't actually meet, but we'll like training together. And I'll also done
5:00
trede athletics and so I'm just trying to get as good as I can,
5:03
and I'm just looking for as many resources as possible. And I don't think
5:10
that's a bad thing at all. It's just you're just exploring all possibilities and
5:14
seeing what really works for you. Yeah, no, exactly, Like no
5:17
one has it fully figured out. And if someone says they have every answer
5:21
and they know everything, probably someone you should zeer away from. But like
5:27
every company, every place, like they're going to have some value that they
5:30
can provide for you, and it's just figuring out, like what are the
5:32
things that you're going to take from them, and what are the you know,
5:34
maybe the other areas that you need to seek outside people for and being
5:38
able to formulate almost your own program over the years, Like at this point,
5:42
you know yourself so well as a player because of all these experiences because
5:45
you've been playing for as long as you have, then now you kind of
5:48
know you can, you know, decide what's best for you, maybe what's
5:51
not best for you, and formulate your own program. And it's because of
5:55
all those experiences that you've been able to take. That's at least what I'm
5:58
gathering just from listening to you. Yeah, exactly. And as your body
6:03
changes and as like you mature, you start to prefer different things, such
6:09
as like I had my I had surgery on my back two years ago,
6:15
and that really changed how I had to train because now I can't even like
6:19
do any back squad so dead loose or any anything. I can't do anything
6:24
that stresses the back. The volume is a lot lower. And so it's
6:30
just a constant reminder that baseball is. It's really hard, and it's just
6:33
an you just have to like keep evolving and just find ways to improve by
6:43
like just knowing yourself and what works for you. Yeah, I love that.
6:46
I love everything about that. Well, I'll give a brief summary of
6:50
me and my background, like going back to high school. So I'm thirty
6:55
two years old or sorry, thirty one years old. Once again, in
6:57
your thirties, you kind of start to forget how old you are thirty one.
7:01
But yeah, starting back in high school, like I was a left
7:03
handed pitcher, did not throw hard at all. I was an outfielder as
7:08
well. And I actually think after my freshman year, the varsity coach he
7:12
didn't even know that I was actually a pitcher. He thought I was just
7:15
an outfielder. I think I threw like three innings my freshman year of high
7:17
school. And you know, but I always once I got to like fifteen
7:23
sixteen, I knew pitching was probably going to be the best route for me
7:27
if I wanted to, you know, play at a high level college or
7:29
you know, professional baseball was my ultimate goal, and I really started to
7:32
invest a lot of time into my pitching development. Now this was you know,
7:36
two thousand and seven to twenty ten range, so some of the resources
7:41
that are available now just I didn't have. But I was constantly searching for
7:45
things. I was reading forums, I was reading anything I could on the
7:47
internet about velocity trainings. I knew that's what I needed. I threw as
7:51
a freshman, I threw I think like sixty seven miles an hour. By
7:56
my senior year, I was in the low to mid eighties, which was
7:59
respectable, especially being left handed, and I had a lot of pitchability.
8:03
I could throw strikes and had really good off speed pitches, which in high
8:05
school, if you can throw off speed pitches for strikes, you're probably going
8:09
to get people out. So that was kind of the type of pitcher I
8:13
was. Was a finesse pitcher, didn't throw hard. I was told I
8:16
didn't need to throw hard, which wasn't true. Based off of what my
8:18
ultimate goals were, which was to play in the major leagues one day,
8:22
and I ended up going to a junior college in Arizona at South mounta Community
8:26
College, played there for two years, got to pitch a ton, and
8:31
then transferred to a Division one school in Virginia, George Mason University, And
8:35
that was really one of my ultimate goals, was playing Division one baseball.
8:39
And you'll hear kids say this all the time that like that is that's all
8:41
they care about. They want to play D one baseball. It's the D
8:43
one or bust mindset, which looking back on, I don't agree with that
8:50
mindset. But what I do like about that mindset is most of the time
8:52
when kids have that, they're setting the bar high for themselves. They want
8:56
to play at the highest level, so they're setting an expectation for themselves that
8:58
whole is going to motivate them and push them to work hard. The reality
9:03
is some people talk more than they actually work, and when the motivation goes
9:09
away and they have to put in the work five six days a week and
9:13
to do what it takes to get to that level. Not every player is
9:15
willing to do that. But I think the goal of playing at a high
9:18
level is good as long as the process to get there is in place and
9:22
you have the work ethic to work towards your goals. So that was me
9:26
in a nutshell, like I would do anything it took to play at the
9:30
highest level. Was able to play there for two years. Once again,
9:33
still did not throw hard. I was low to mid eighties as a senior,
9:37
got people out, but it didn't matter. I didn't get drafted because
9:41
I didn't throw hard enough. Like that was the bottom line. Like if
9:43
you looked at my stats, you looked at my college career, like I
9:46
was very very good from a statistical standpoint and being just a good college pitcher.
9:52
But when it comes to professional baseball, like the reality is you have
9:54
to have certain thresholds, and I just wasn't at that velocity threshold so wanted
10:01
to keep playing. I didn't, you know, I didn't want to stop
10:03
playing at that point. So that was when I found out about independent baseball.
10:07
At the time, didn't know much about it. I just thought it
10:09
was a place where guys went that didn't have an opportunity to be with an
10:13
order, didn't get drafted. I personally, going into it, I did
10:18
not expect the level of competition to be as good as it was, and
10:22
I was pleasantly surprised, But at the same time, it actually was a
10:26
little bit of a wake up call because the competition was extremely well Like the
10:28
first team I played four had four former Big leaguers on the team. Like
10:33
I was one of the youngest guys on the team, and it was pretty
10:35
clear within the first couple of weeks that I was no longer the best pitcher
10:39
on the team, and the level of play was was good. It was
10:43
you know, professional baseball, even though it's not affiliate with then organization is
10:46
still very high level baseball, and the goal is to win games. And
10:50
if you're not winning, you're not going to be there very long, so
10:52
I got to see that side of things, the business side of baseball,
10:56
and played in penna ball for four years while I was playing into coaching.
11:01
Was coaching at the high school level my first two years of independent ball here
11:05
in Arizona, and then after that had an opportunity to be the pitching coach
11:09
at Arizona Christian University in NAI School in Phoenix, was doing that once again
11:15
while I was still playing. Then I ended up having TJ in twenty seventeen,
11:18
or sorry, I ended up having it in the beginning of twenty eighteen,
11:20
but got hurt during the winner of twenty seventeen. Thought I was going
11:24
to keep playing and rehab and keep going, but doors were opening to be
11:28
a coach, and not as many doors were opening to continue playing. So
11:31
I walked through that door of pursuing coaching full time and went to Virginia Commonwealth
11:37
University for one year as a grad assistant, got my master's in one year
11:41
and got to be a part of the baseball program. And then at that
11:45
point I thought I was going to try to work towards being a division on
11:48
baseball coach or a college you know, pitching coach. At a high level.
11:52
Didn't really think professional baseball was a possibility just because I didn't play for
11:56
an organization. And really at this time, you know, it was just
12:01
coming onto the scene where college coaches were getting a opportunity to coach in professional
12:05
baseball without the playing experience, and had an opportunity to be a pitching coach
12:09
with the Minnesota Twins organization. Did that for five years from twenty nineteen to
12:15
just this past September. Decided to leave the Twins after this past season to
12:20
move back to Arizona, where I'm from and be able to be with my
12:22
family more and my kids, And I am now doing pitching coach you full
12:26
time, where I trained pitchers remotely in person. Damn, that's awesome.
12:33
That was a lot. That was more than a quick rundown. I kind
12:35
of once I started going, I realized this was going to be more than
12:39
a two minute rundown. Yeah no, but that's awesome. I actually didn't
12:41
know that story from you. How The coaching actually just came because like the
12:50
playing opportunities were becoming limited. Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah.
12:54
So I had surgery in March of twenty eighteen, got hurt in December of
12:58
twenty seventeen, and obviously you have TJ in twenty eighteen, like that year's
13:03
a wash, You're not gonna play that year. And found out about the
13:07
opportunity at Virginia Commonwealth to be a grad assistant. It was only one year
13:09
program. I was like, oh, this is perfect. I'll get a
13:11
little Division one coaching experience as a grad assistant, get my masters, then
13:16
I'll keep playing and you know, then I'll worry about coaching down the road.
13:20
And it was just like these opportunities were coming up for coaching, and
13:22
like, I just felt my heart being pushed towards that and just decided to
13:28
commit to it. So I never fully retired. I guess you want to
13:31
call it from playing, but it was pretty clear that coaching was the path
13:35
I needed to take, so I started to pursue that full time. And
13:39
that's why you can still throw those pants, because you're still not retire.
13:43
Got that's right, That's right. I may not be throwing very hard,
13:46
but I can at least throw a lot of pitches, and you know,
13:48
learn from things. So I it's funny. I actually think I'm probably a
13:52
better pitcher now than I was when I actually played, really I would,
13:56
I would say, so, what's funny is velossity was? I'm throwing the
13:58
same speed I was in college, if not harder at times. But my
14:05
off speed is just nine day difference just because of what I've been able to
14:07
learn as a coach over the years. Oh yeah, no, I've been
14:11
seeing the Twitter especially that change. That's yeah crazy, that's my new baby.
14:16
I love that pitch. Oh really yeah. I do have one question
14:20
though, so would you have done anything different in your high school days to
14:26
try to get to D one straight away? Or did you think the Juco
14:31
route made you into who you were today and you have no regrets about that.
14:37
That's a good question. I love the path that I took. Now,
14:41
I will be transparent. I didn't have a lot of options out of
14:46
high school to go to four year school because of academic reasons. I was
14:48
not a very good high school student. I for some reason did not think
14:52
that it mattered very much, and the reality was it did if you want
14:56
to go to a good four year school and play baseball. So I it
15:00
is out of my mindset that baseball was all that mattered, and that was
15:03
what I was committing to and as a result, I slacked in the classroom,
15:07
and so I was limited from a four year school standpoint. Anyways,
15:09
and by my senior year, I basically out of my head. I wanted
15:13
to go to junior college just because I also had seen, you know,
15:16
in Arizona junior college baseball is really good. If you play well your freshman
15:18
or sophomore year, you are draft eligible, So you can get drafted after
15:22
those first you know, first year or second year. But from a training
15:26
standpoint, I one one hundred percent would have changed my approach, knowing what
15:28
I know now, I would have spent a lot more time in the weight
15:31
room because that was a pretty small pitcher. Like by my senior year,
15:35
I was, you know, five eleven six feet, but I only weighed
15:37
one hundred and forty five pounds. Like I was, I was small,
15:41
and I did work out, but I didn't do you know, the lifts
15:45
that I that I started doing once I got to college, and what I
15:48
did after college. You know, some of the major lifts of squatting and
15:50
deadlifting, you know, heavier Dumbell chess press is just lifting heavier in general,
15:56
I was doing a lot of just you know, machine based exercises like
16:00
curls, like press lap poll downs. You're really just anything that was like
16:03
a machine based or cable based equipment piece of equipment. So I wasn't really
16:10
pushing myself in the weight room, like everything was three sets of ten reps.
16:12
Nothing was like, Okay, how much weight can I lift today?
16:15
Am I actually progressing with my weight each week? Or am I just doing
16:18
the same thing? And that was basically what I was doing. I would
16:21
do the same weight week over week gradually progress so that would be the biggest
16:26
thing I would change. Throwing wise. I actually liked the way I approached
16:30
throwing, like I was really into long toss, like Alan Jaeger was like
16:33
a big part of my throwing routine, following his long toss program like I
16:37
found out about him my sophomore year of high school. I think, and
16:41
I follow his long toss program pretty religiously, and I could throw the ball
16:45
super far. It just didn't translate all the time to the mound, And
16:48
I think looking back, I just was too robotic on the mound and not
16:52
athletic. I wasn't transferring that high intensity work I would do in law toss,
16:56
where I was just free and moving easy and explosive on the mound.
17:00
It was like I became a robot and I had to place the ball in
17:03
the zone rather than just let it rip. And I think a lot of
17:04
it was just the type of coaching that was happening at that time, Like
17:07
that was kind of the method. Especially if you were a soft throwing lefty.
17:11
It was kind of just you gotta hit spots. Just don't try to
17:12
overthrow, just nice and easy right to the glove. And that was basically
17:17
the model I followed. And so I realized, this isn't going to get
17:19
me where I want to go. I need to actually try to throw hard,
17:23
yeah, for sure. And that's something that I see a lot on
17:29
the internet, is that to get to like a d On or professional baseball
17:34
like Velo really matters. And at the young ages, I feel like Vello
17:41
is everything, especially like sixteen seventeen years old. You need to train yourself
17:48
to be able to throw at least ninety miles an hour and then you can
17:52
worry about command. But you need to have that baseline in order to get
17:55
to the next level. And when people are telling you, hey, just
17:59
like the bill will come, like you're going to grow into your body and
18:02
you don't have to train too hotly, right, just worry about getting out
18:06
and throwing strikes. It it's just hard because that's something that's required to get
18:12
to the next level. But the message is different sometimes, Right, Well,
18:18
it's so hard because you need both, right, Like you have to
18:22
throw hard or hard ish to get an opportunity. But if you get there
18:27
and you're not throwing any strikes, you're not going to pitch. So it's
18:30
like you need both. But I do agree with you, like, and
18:33
I think it comes back to understanding what your goals are. Like if your
18:37
goal is just to play, you know, at a lower level college,
18:38
like you want to have fun, you want to play college baseball, you
18:41
do what you want to enjoy your four years of college. Like, yeah,
18:44
maybe velocity isn't the most important thing, Like you could go to a
18:47
smaller school and enjoy the four years and pitch a little bit. But if
18:52
like, your goals actually are to play Division one baseball. And most kids,
18:56
they say they want to play at Power five schools. They want to
18:57
play at LSU, they want to play at Arizona State, they want to
19:00
play at all these big schools. Well, if you look at their roster,
19:03
you're not going to find a guy that throws under ninety miles an hour.
19:06
And if you do, they are very unique in either their pitch shapes,
19:10
they're arm slot, something is unique about them. And I think that
19:15
that is the message I try to send to players is try to be as
19:18
unique as you can in as many ways as you can. Being unique means
19:22
you throw above average velocity. Being unique means you have a funky delivery with
19:26
a lot of deception, You have extremely high command, and that's that's one
19:32
thing that players get confused sometimes is they think just because they're a soft thrower,
19:37
that automatically deems them as a command guy. No, you have to
19:40
earn the right to be called a command guy. Like if you're walking ten
19:42
percent of batters, you're not a command guy. If you're walking three percent,
19:45
four percent, five percent. Okay, now we're getting the territory where
19:48
you are elite at throwing strikes. And now maybe you can get away with
19:52
slightly lower velocity. But I think the more uniqueness you can have as a
19:57
pitcher, the better, and fastball velocity is one of those things because it's
20:03
it's flashy, it's sexy. Coaches can measure it easy, easily. So
20:06
if you have that piece, you're gonna get more opportunities and you're going to
20:08
open more eyes and have a little bit longer runway to actually show those other
20:14
characteristics. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Just going back to your
20:19
story, I did have another question on that was when you made that transition
20:25
from player to coach, what were the things that you missed as a player.
20:30
I think it's got to be the competing on the mound, like,
20:34
oh really this, Oh my gosh, that's like I so I love training
20:37
too, Like I'll tell you this, I like training. The training aspect
20:41
of baseball was one of my favorite parts. Like I just I loved the
20:47
process of getting better, especially once I got to college and you know,
20:51
in professional baseball, just in that off season of knowing what you need to
20:56
work on and being able just to dedicate time to your craft was was some
21:00
of my favorite memories. Like, you know, working with guys that you
21:03
know, were my buddies who were in the same position and wanted to get
21:07
to the next level, wanted to improve their game. Like being able to
21:11
work with guys on that level and push each other like that was That's probably
21:15
one of the things I missed the most, along with just being on the
21:17
mound and being able to compete, and at the college level, especially like
21:22
there you're trying to win, you know, a championship, you're trying to
21:23
win you know, the your conference championship, or you're trying to win you
21:27
know, the college World Series if you're at the highest level, and that
21:30
that part is is tough to replace. You know, you get that feeling
21:33
as a coach as well, and like I feel, I feel a really
21:37
good sense of excitement when I see players go through those same things. But
21:44
it definitely makes me think about my time as a player and being in that
21:47
same position and just that that rush of adrenaline you get when you're on the
21:51
mound. That's super interesting because I've asked this question to a lot of retired
21:57
players who are now coaches or you know, doing the own thing, and
22:02
the answers are honestly, like super different. Every time I hear the they
22:10
miss the camaraderie a lot. I hear that a lot. I actually haven't
22:15
heard that they missed the competition much though. Interest super interesting. Yeah,
22:21
but I find that interesting, and yeah, I just want to ask you
22:25
about that. Yeah, I try to. What's interesting too, about like
22:29
once you become a coach, the longer you get into coaching, like it,
22:33
it starts to become easier to forget about what it felt like to be
22:37
a player. And I think that's like a really dangerous thing that a coach
22:41
can do, is forget what it's like to be in the player's shoes,
22:44
of the training process, of struggling on the mound, of having success,
22:48
all these things. Like when when you forget what it actually felt like,
22:52
it can be tough to relate to the player and to actually have some sympathy
22:56
and the ability to connect with them and what they're actually going through. Because
23:02
I've seen so many coaches they you know, they get on their players about
23:04
stuff that they're doing or not doing, and they forget that when they were
23:07
that age and they were that player, they were doing the exact same things,
23:11
if not worse. Right, It's it's easy to forget how hard this
23:15
game is. And I think the more you can connect with your players on
23:18
that and like relate to them and be able to help them through that process,
23:22
I think it goes a long ways in helping a player's career, And
23:26
you know, I think that kind of feeds into the main topic that we
23:29
want to talk about today, which is early season struggles were you know,
23:33
a couple of weeks into the season for most of college baseball and some players
23:37
are pressing. It's you know, you get off to a tough start.
23:41
You before this season starts, you're envisioning having a really good year. Maybe
23:44
it's your draft year, you're wanting to get drafted. You put all this
23:47
extra pressure on yourself. The lights come on and you aren't performing, and
23:52
it's you don't know what to do. You're you're going all over the place
23:55
mentally and trying to figure out what's wrong. It's it can be a scary
24:00
and frustrating time. So I'd be curious what your own experience has been like
24:04
with whether it's early season struggles or just struggling in general at some point in
24:07
the season, Like, can you describe that feeling a little bit from your
24:11
perspective of what that feels like. Yeah, So I can relate to this
24:18
a lot because over my I'm signing my six year now, so over my
24:23
career professional career, I've struggled a time when I first signed in twenty nineteen.
24:30
I had the yips, so I pretty much couldn't compete that whole year
24:34
because I couldn't even throw. I couldn't even play catch, let alone throw
24:40
to catch up. So and I've also had a lot of injuries, and
24:45
so I'm pretty familiar with the struggle and when we talk about early season struggles.
24:53
I'm in spring training right now and I'm struggling a little bit physically and
24:59
mentally. My back is spasming a little bit, and so the performance is
25:03
down. And all I can say really is that it's it's normal. Everyone's
25:08
going to go through it, and all you can really do is try to
25:15
fight through it. And that's not the sexy answer. There's no like,
25:21
it's just normal. You really go to fight through it. And you know,
25:26
I think it's an important thing to talk about because every player, at
25:30
some point in their career, they're going to struggle, right Like, it
25:32
doesn't matter if you're a Hall of Famer or you're fighting to make your high
25:36
school team. At some point in your career, you're going to have a
25:40
hard time, whether you're in a slump or you're just not able to fully
25:42
figure out, you know, what's going on with a pitch, just something,
25:45
something will be off. So your ability to overcome those obstacles and to
25:49
work through it quickly is potentially going to determine how good your career is going
25:55
to be. And it's you know, it's a tough thing. Like when
25:57
you're in the middle of it feels like it's impossible to get out of because
26:02
you're searching, you're trying everything. You're searching for that feeling that you've had
26:04
when you were good, when you everything was lined up. But that's just
26:08
not the reality. You know most of the time, you know, if
26:11
not not all the time, right, Like, there's very few games where
26:15
you feel one hundred percent. And just what happens where I see with players
26:18
is that they get off to a bad start and it just snowballs on them
26:22
because they can't help but think about what has already happened instead of thinking about,
26:26
Okay, what do I need to do today to get better? Are
26:30
they analyzing, you know, exactly what is going on. Is it purely
26:33
mental or is there actually something going on with the physical side of a pitch,
26:37
a location, the way they're using their stuff, And that's something I'd
26:41
be curious to ask you about is when when you're struggling, Like, what
26:45
would you say is usually the issue? Is it something mental? Or is
26:51
it just like you're losing the feel for a pitch and your location's off?
26:53
Like what are your struggles? Typically? Like, yeah, I think the
26:59
big The thing that happens when I'm struggling is that I just want to fix
27:03
everything all at once. And so when I'm struggling my physically, I'm probably
27:10
not feeling the best. Mentally, I'm just like kind of out of it,
27:14
and I'm just like, all right, tomorrow, I'm going to fix
27:15
everything, yep, instead of and it's easier said than done, but just
27:21
taking a step back and being like, all right, let's formulate a plan
27:25
and like, step by step, how can we improve or get back to
27:30
where we were feeling the best. And that's something that I'm going through right
27:36
now. It's like with my back stuff I reported and within a week my
27:41
back start spasming and so I panic and I'm like, oh my god,
27:45
I need to fix all of this. I'm in the weight room like rolling
27:48
out for like thirty minutes to an hour, just stretching, and it made
27:53
it worse and So the biggest thing for me was that I just need to
27:59
take a step and be like, all right, this already happened. We
28:03
need to come up with step by step process of like what can I do
28:07
daily that will put me in the right direction and steer me in the right
28:12
direction so that I might not be the best tomorrow, but I'll be improving
28:19
in the matter of weeks and months. And that's something that I'm working on
28:26
myself. Actually, it's really hot to do in the moment, but that's
28:30
why having people around you to remind you of these things is super helpful when
28:36
you're really struggling. Yeah, for sure. So would you say that your
28:40
struggles right now are mainly injury based or like, as you mentioned, it's
28:42
affecting your performance. Is there something specific that it's affected, like a pitch
28:47
shape or command or something. Yeah, So my struggle right now is with
28:52
the back, and when I'm struggling with the back, my mechanics get out
28:57
of whack and that affects my pitch shapes, my velu and my command and
29:04
so everything's just a little bit in a funk. And yeah, so sorry
29:15
I lost my transphote there. No, No, you're good. I think
29:21
it's I think that's relatable too. I mean, whenever you're trying to fight
29:26
through an injury, which there's plenty of players that do that, right,
29:27
Like some players might not tell their coach that something's bothering them. What ends
29:32
up happening is it affects their stuff or their command because you end up compensating
29:37
if something doesn't feel right. Your body's still going to try to find the
29:40
best way to achieve the task, which is throwing strikes, executing your pitches.
29:45
So your body's going to find a solution to do that, and it's
29:47
probably not going to be the best way, but it's going to do the
29:51
best way that it is capable of in that moment. And if you do
29:53
that well enough, you're probably going to lead to more injuries and your stuff
29:57
isn't going to be as good, and you're basically showcasing subpar stuff to the
30:02
coaches and they're thinking you're healthy and fine when the reality is you're not.
30:07
What would you say to like kids like that? Like, I mean,
30:10
I guess the easy answer to say, always communicate when something's hurting, But
30:12
like I understand also when players don't want to say something because they want to
30:17
play, they want to compete. They don't think it's a big deal.
30:19
Like, what do you think is the best way to handle that as a
30:22
player if you're dealing with an injury and the communication with a coach, Yeah,
30:27
that's such a hard topic because it's such a fine line. Right,
30:33
So if you're injured, but well, if you're feeling something but you think
30:38
it's like not a very big thing, then I would say probably just try
30:44
to fight through it and see if you can do exercises to get through it,
30:51
just because if you do say something and the athletic trainer the coach freaks
30:56
out and they're like, oh my god, Okay, like we're gonna like
31:00
rest you for two to four weeks when you don't actually need that. You're
31:04
losing all of that game time. Right. But on the other hand,
31:10
if you do think it's really bad, then you should probably tell them.
31:14
And this just goes back to you just have to know yourself and know your
31:17
body. Yep. Like for my thing, right now, I know I
31:22
can feel that nothing's really super wrong. It's just like muscle spasmen. And
31:27
so I'm working through it with the athletic trainers. But I'm not freaking out
31:30
about it and saying, hey, like I need to take a month off,
31:34
Like I know I can work through it and fight through it. But
31:37
when I yeah, but when I did tear something in my back last season,
31:44
I spoke up and I was like, Okay, I need to take
31:47
some time off because something really isn't feeling right. Yeah, Because like here's
31:51
the thing, especially in professional baseball, the stat line doesn't really care if
31:57
you're hurt, right, Like, if we look at your stats, you
32:00
know, and you're pitching for a month with let's just say a hurt back,
32:04
that's really bothering you, but you want to keep pitching, you don't
32:07
say anything. Your stats are probably going to reflect that you're gonna your velocity
32:10
is probably going to be down, your pitch shapes aren't going to be as
32:13
good, your command's not going to be as good, and that is going
32:16
to be your stats. Like that, it doesn't matter if you're injured or
32:20
not. The stats are going to be what they are because you're choosing to
32:22
fight through something. So like, there's that side of it too, from
32:27
especially when you're in professional baseball and you're being evaluated so much on your performance,
32:31
is making sure you're in the best position to perform. But I think
32:35
another thing too, like if we're going on high school college baseball level,
32:39
the time of year I think plays a big role too, and whether you
32:43
speak up, because if it's you know, say it's the fall, it's
32:45
September. Season doesn't start till February. If you're feeling something in September in
32:52
a fall game, there's no reason in my opinion at least to fight through
32:54
that if something's bothering you a little bit, just because you're pitching in meaningless
33:00
games at that point, like you're prepping for the season. Yes, you
33:01
want to showcase that you're ready and you you're good to go for the season.
33:06
You want to work on stuff, But if it's going to potentially jeopardize
33:08
you not being ready for opening day, then that's maybe a different topic.
33:13
And you know, and I there is a fine line. There's such a
33:15
fine line between you know, kind of being soft to put it that way,
33:20
and knowing that this is something, like you said, you can work
33:22
through. And it comes down to exactly what you said, like you have
33:25
to know yourself, you have to be your own best coach. You have
33:29
to know your body. You have to know what's normal, what's not normal,
33:31
and go from there. But it is a fine line that I know
33:35
every player deals with or tiptoes around, and as a coach, being on
33:39
the coaching side, like, it's a tough balance for me. I usually
33:43
air on the side of caution. Some coaches are on the side of if
33:46
you say you can pitch, I'm gonna let you pitch. I usually air
33:50
on the side of caution, especially historically being a minor league pitching coach.
33:53
Like those games they matter, but they don't matter for the ultimate goal for
33:58
those players. It's to get them to the major leagues. So like,
34:00
if they're hurt, I want to make sure that they speak up and aren't
34:04
showcasing, you know, a subpar version of themselves or potentially risking a further
34:08
injury. M hm. Yeah, And that was the question that I wanted
34:13
to ask you, was being that minor league pitching coach. And a lot
34:16
of that happens in the minor leagues, right, Guys are just like feeling
34:22
something, but they don't want to say anything because you know, if you
34:27
say something in a professional baseball then everyone freaks out and you need to get
34:30
a rehab, So you definitely would rather play as just speak up, you
34:37
think. In the especially in the minor leagues, I would. I mean,
34:39
I felt like I had a good relationship with a lot of my players,
34:43
Like they felt comfortable to tell me if something was bothering them, or
34:46
I just because I built such a good relationship with a lot of them,
34:50
like I could just tell that something was wrong just just looking at them and
34:53
watching them throw. And that's what I'd be like, is your your elbow
34:58
bothering you a little bit? Or is your shoulder can tell you're doing this
35:00
or this a little bit differently? And usually at first they'll be like,
35:04
oh no, no, I'm good, And then you look at them for
35:06
a second longer and they're like, okay, ye, it's been a little
35:08
tight the past couple of days, and it's like, okay, it's okay.
35:10
We don't need to freak out unless it's you actually felt something serious.
35:15
But if it's just something minor, let's just listen to it. Maybe we'll
35:17
cut a little bit of volume out today in your catch play, or we'll
35:21
cut your bullpen down from thirty pitches to fifteen pitches, things like that,
35:24
Right, Like if it seems like it's something minor, and I've built that
35:28
trust with the player to where you know, I trust what they're saying,
35:32
it comes down to that, let's just make small adjustments within the program.
35:36
If it continues for an extended period of time or it's getting worse, obviously
35:40
there needs to be an intervention, and even usually early on, like I
35:44
might even get the trainer involved just to help them with maybe some exercises or
35:46
a little bit of extra treatment after catch play and those types of things.
35:51
But it doesn't always need to jump from oh, his arms bother him or
35:53
something's feeling a little off, to okay, he immediately needs to be shut
35:57
down and doesn't pick up a baseball. I think it a part of being
36:00
a coach or a good coach with this is knowing, okay, maybe we
36:04
just dial it back a little bit, but then also knowing, okay,
36:07
when is the time where we need to shut you down right now immediately?
36:12
Yeah, for sure I agree one hundred percent with that. And yeah,
36:16
from a place perspective and honestly, just talking to you right now, I'm
36:21
thinking, yeah, that probably isn't too much downside to just saying that you
36:27
are hurt, if you are hurt and if you are feeling something, because
36:30
the ultimate goal is to like get to the next level and you want to
36:37
play the long game instead of the short game of oh, I'm going to
36:40
go out and play and I might not be the best that I can be
36:45
and that's just not the most optimal thing for your development. Yeah, no,
36:49
for sure. So you know, so that's one angle, right early
36:52
season struggles with injuries and fighting through that, which is a very real thing,
36:57
especially in pro baseball. I would say this time of year, like
37:00
spring training, I think historically is like the highest injury rate for the time
37:05
of year, just because guys want to showcase themselves. They want to show
37:08
the work that they put in, so they might be going a little extra
37:10
harder than they should or they didn't take care of themselves away they should have
37:15
this offseason and they're ramping up faster. So there's that side of it.
37:19
And the other side is guys that just they're purely just not performing. They're
37:22
just getting whacked around the yard, they're walking guys, or they're doing you
37:25
know, they're just not performing at the level they want to. Like,
37:30
let's just say you're a college player, You've made two starts and you've kind
37:35
of got your teeth knocked in these first two weeks. What would be your
37:37
process to figure out what the issue is from a performance standpoint? Do you
37:42
do you have any thoughts on that or a process that you would follow.
37:45
Yeah, So it would definitely depend on why that happened. So was it
37:52
I wasn't throwing enough strikes or I just got hit around? Yep, And
37:58
I would definitely rite the I just got hit around scenario because that means that
38:04
you're throwing strikes right, you know, and there's a high chance that maybe
38:08
you just got unlucky there and the hitters just had a good day. The
38:15
other side, where you're not throwing enough strikes is a little bit more complicated
38:21
because that can have like that can be physical, that can be mental.
38:27
But ultimately, for me, I would just have to figure out why that
38:31
happened, And for me it's mostly mental, especially if I'm feeling well physically.
38:39
And so I would go back and see what I was actually thinking during
38:44
that performance. Was I, you know, scared to throw right down the
38:47
middle because they were just hitting, like hitting the crap out of the wall
38:52
that day, or I'm missing armside a lot, so I didn't want to
38:58
drill the guy, so I'm subconsciously guiding the ball out to the outside part
39:04
of the plate or whatever it is. But I definitely want to go back
39:07
to that performance and just try to figure out what I was thinking during that
39:13
time and try to counter that thinking for my next performance or outing. I
39:20
like that. So you is this after every outing? Do you have like
39:22
a time of reflection to kind of look back on what went well, what
39:25
didn't go well. Yeah, for sure. We definitely do those reflections with
39:30
the pitching coach, and I do some on my own as well, especially
39:35
mental stuff. It's pretty difficult to talk about, and so I journal a
39:43
lot. And when I journal, it all kind of comes out and I
39:46
can really get to the root of things and figure out what I was actually
39:51
thinking and what steps I need to take to try to counter that and get
39:58
better next time. Yeah. I like that journaling. I've done it a
40:01
little bit, and when I played, I definitely did it a lot.
40:04
And one of my things was I would journal before the game, so like
40:08
the night before. Usually I would kind of just write, like what my
40:12
plan was for the next day, like what were some of my process goals
40:15
that I really wanted to hit and like, if all else fails, these
40:17
are the two or three things I want to make sure I'm doing today.
40:21
And it was usually or not. Usually it always was things that I had
40:23
control over, whether it was I'm going to follow my pre pitch routine every
40:28
single pitch, I am going to be I'm going to air on the side
40:31
of being over aggressive than under aggressive, things that like are more mentality right,
40:37
and things that are in my control, because I know if I did
40:39
those things well, I at least was putting myself in a position to succeed.
40:44
Doesn't mean I always did, but I at least was covering my bases
40:46
on the things that I thought, we're going to put me in the best
40:49
mental space to perform at my best. So I'd be curious, like pre
40:53
pitch routines to me are to me, they're undervalued. I don't think enough
40:59
players either have a pre pitch routine or consistent with it, or have a
41:02
good one. Because you know, from my own experience, like when I
41:07
was dialed in on that with my breath, my self talk, my visualization,
41:10
it was unbelievable how much better I executed my pitches when I did that.
41:15
Do you have a pre pitch routine to where you try to do something
41:19
consistent each pitch or is it kind of depend on the flow of the game.
41:24
Yeah, I definitely work on it. But the thing with pre pitch
41:30
routines is that, and this is something that I'm working on right now,
41:32
is it gets really hard to follow it when things start to get rough.
41:38
Yeah, in the game, and it's something that I'm trying to make a
41:44
subconscious thing. So I'm on the mound and boom automatically pre pitch routine.
41:50
But I noticed, especially last season, when things weren't going the way I
41:57
wanted to, I was signing to panic, I was starting to get quick,
42:00
and I wasn't doing the pre pitch routine stuff. And yeah, it's
42:06
it's kind of I definitely agree that it's undervalued for sure, especially if you
42:15
look at like the basketball players, like if they when they shoot a free
42:20
throw that all the time, they have a pretty shooting routine, and so
42:27
I think it's super valuable for sure. It's just a how can I say
42:34
it's not like valued as much as the other things in baseball, So then
42:38
you can forget it really quick, for sure? For sure? What is
42:43
I mean if you don't mind me asking, what is your pre pitch routine?
42:46
So my pre pitch routine is I get on the mound, I swipe
42:51
the plate twice with both my feet, and then I do a big thing
42:57
like this, take a breath, and now I'm good to go. I'm
43:01
right here. I noticed that. Actually when we did bullpens together, you're
43:06
doing that, do you u? Yep? Do you have any do you
43:09
do any self talk? Are you telling yourself anything like say that the catcher
43:14
calls a fastball inside? Like what is what is your thought process? If
43:16
there is anything? Honestly, my thing is just I just have one saying
43:24
it's just fuck it, just fuck it. I'm throwing I'm throwing it as
43:29
hot as I can. And when I'm in that state of I don't really
43:32
care what happens. I'm just throwing it as hot as I can, That's
43:35
when I pitch it at my best. Yep. It's when I go into
43:38
the full process of oh, I need to get I need to do this,
43:42
I need to do that, I need to make this break a little
43:45
bit more. Is when I get into a little bit of a funk yep.
43:49
And so that's where I want to get to mentally each time I go
43:52
out on the mound, and the challenge is finding a way to do that
43:59
each time. I oh, wow, Yeah, that makes perfect sense,
44:01
and I think a lot of players can relate to that, because when you
44:06
describe a pre pitch routine, like if you know, if I were to
44:07
walk step by step mind or just listening to you walk step by step through
44:10
yours, it sounds like it would take a while, and that is just
44:16
very like regimented. But like when you're in the flow of pitching, like
44:21
all these things are happening very quickly subconsciously, you're not actually deliberately having to
44:25
think about all of these things. But like when you're in the zone and
44:29
you have the consistency with this where it just becomes habit, It's it's just
44:32
natural, right, Like my best games were the ones where I didn't have
44:37
to tell myself, okay, now in through the nose, how through the
44:40
mouth, look at the glove, get the sign. Like those thoughts when
44:44
you're in the zone aren't going through your head. It's just purely you do
44:46
it. I see the pitch something aggressive, like you said, like just
44:51
simple to the point, like attack the glove, let's go. Just anything
44:53
that gets your mindset aggressive. And then for me just seeing it, like
44:58
if I could see it in my head as I'm getting the signs, seeing
45:00
the ball going where I wanted it to go, I had more trust and
45:04
conviction behind that pitchment I would throw it. And my best games are the
45:07
ones where I that was happening without me having to focus on it. But
45:12
I think it comes with practice, Like it's not just gonna happen. You're
45:15
not gonna magically have a good pre pitch routine. You're not gonna magically have
45:20
good self talk and visualization, like you do have to practice these things.
45:23
And I'd be curious you know your thoughts on this if you ever do this
45:27
in bullpens, Like if you ever practice it in bullpens. But I like
45:30
to have guys, even on like a light throwing day where they're just playing
45:34
catch space the day after a game or day after a bullpen, go on
45:37
the mound and just simulate like ten to fifteen pitches, like you're not actually
45:40
throwing the ball, but just like do like a rehearsal almost of simulating catcher
45:46
calling the sign. You're going through your pre pitch routine, and you're just
45:50
going through a mental rehearsal standing on the mound and just putting yourself in that
45:53
environment. And the more you do that, it becomes second nature, becomes
45:58
natural for you to do when you are in the game and the game tries
46:00
to speed up on you. Have you ever done anything like that, like
46:04
just in like a bullpen er practice setting, gone through your pre pitch routine.
46:08
Yeah, for sure. I think last year our mental performance but during
46:16
like part of our mental performance sessions was getting on the mount and getting in
46:21
some dry reps and going through your pre pitch routine. And so I have
46:27
done that, but again it's something that's just not the sexy thing, so
46:32
I do forget to do it sometimes. And that's something that I'm also working
46:37
on, is just making that habit, as you said, and making it
46:43
subconscious is such a valuable thing so that each pitch becomes a routine. And
46:47
I'm also curious as to what is your what what was your pre pitch routine?
46:53
Yes, so similar to you from a process standpoint, So what I
46:57
would do I look in for the sign, whatever pitch he would call and
47:01
like after I shook yes and I'm coming set. While I'm taking my breath,
47:06
I would also just be visualizing, visualizing in my head that pitch doing
47:09
and going exactly where I wanted it to go. And then right before the
47:13
pitch, I would say something really quick that was like an aggressive thing like
47:16
attack the glove fastball, you know, if he hold the fastball inside,
47:21
fastball aggressive inside, let's go, you know, just something quick like that.
47:24
Like that was That was it in the simplest form. So get the
47:29
sign, visualize the ball going exactly where I wanted to go while I'm breathing
47:34
positive self talk. Attack. And when you say visualize, how would you
47:38
visualizing it? Because I know so many people have different ways of visualizing.
47:44
For me, it's more just like a I can't really see the path of
47:47
the pitch. It's weird. I can only see where I stop the pitch
47:54
on the catcher and where I want to end it. Interesting, that's how
48:00
I see my visualization. How do you see it? I pretty much can
48:06
see it exactly. I look at it through my own eyes. Like I
48:08
know, some people like are almost like outside their body when they're visualizing it,
48:12
like they're looking at themselves doing it. When I'm visualizing, like I'm
48:15
literally just in my body, I'm in the same exact setting, and I
48:20
can I can basically see the shape of the pitch. So I look at
48:23
basically, yeah, where do I want that pitch to start? Where do
48:27
I want it to end? And I'm just seeing the line of what that
48:29
shape would look like if it's a changeup that I'm trying to throw down a
48:31
way to arity, Like I'm visualizing it going straight down the middle and then
48:36
last second fading down and a way to the glove side, and I can
48:38
see the ball moving the way I want it to. And I also try
48:42
to feel it, Like it's really hard to feel things when you're visualizing,
48:45
but I try to feel like what my arm is doing and how it's coming
48:49
out of my hand, And when I do that, it just it feels
48:52
so much easier and natural when I actually throw the ball. But I will
48:54
say, like, in that much detail, I wasn't great at doing every
49:00
because it's it's tough. It's tough to like the game speeds up on you,
49:04
especially when you give up a hit or you're holding runners on base,
49:06
all those things, like the game can speed up on you. Then you
49:08
add the pitch clock nowadays to where that's that suppresses your time as well.
49:14
So I'd be curious how that's impacted you too, Like do you feel like
49:16
that's affected your pre pitch routine. It really hasn't. I think the pitch
49:23
clock has been like something that's on my mind, but it hasn't really affected
49:30
how I pitched, just because my pre pitch routine doesn't take that long.
49:36
Yeah, I think what it really affects me with is the time between pitches.
49:43
Like I would sometimes walk around the mound just to like catch my breath,
49:46
but you can't do that anymore. You got to you go to catch
49:50
the ball and then get back on the mound and it's pre pitch routine.
49:52
Let's go. Yeah, And that's been actually a pretty big challenge because now
49:58
you have to flush your like bad results really quickly. If you had made
50:04
a terrible pitch and you're feeling too great about it, but now you're on
50:07
the mound, you're going to make a new pitch straight away. It's like,
50:10
all right, how can you flesh that as soon as soon as possible
50:15
and then get onto the next pitch. And that's also something that I'm sploring
50:21
right now and seeing how I can do that. What are your thoughts on
50:23
how to do that? No I've seen I saw a firsthand right like coaching
50:28
with the Twins, Like the first year of the pitch clock, it was
50:31
it was a lot for guys, like if they were falling behind, guys
50:34
they walked somebody, or they gave a few hits, like they wanted to
50:37
take a breath, and they just they really couldn't. So you had to
50:39
kind of get creative and come up with strategies. And like one thing that
50:42
we would do is if there was no one on base, especially, we
50:45
would just tell the catcher, don't throw the ball back to the pitcher right
50:49
away, because the clock doesn't start till he catches the ball. So we
50:52
were like we'd have the picture just kind of put his hand up, like
50:54
give me a second to take a breath, and then the catcher would throw
50:58
the ball back to him. So there's little things like that you can do.
51:00
But man, if you're not careful, the game can really speed up
51:04
on you with the pitch clock. So something to you know, something to
51:08
think about, and it's a reminder of how important that processes of breathing and
51:12
being able to reset and figuring out what that method is for you. Yeah,
51:16
for sure. And how about like off the games, did you have
51:22
a routine that you would go through off the games mentally to flush it or
51:28
reinforce what you did well during your playing days. Yeah, I was,
51:34
you know, I was a very big routine person. So, like,
51:37
like I mentioned, before games, I would write down, like what my
51:39
goals were for the day, what I wanted to accomplish, and then usually
51:43
that night I would go over them. How well did I do If it
51:46
was a bad game. Sometimes I would wait till the next morning, because
51:51
sometimes when you're like in the just in the heat of it and like in
51:53
this the same day, sometimes you're not going to process things the same way
51:59
because you're just not ready to deal with it. Sometimes, So like a
52:00
lot of times I would give myself like the rest of that night and then
52:04
the next morning. That was kind of a part of my day after routine
52:07
of reflecting on the game. If I had video, I'd go over the
52:09
game and then just kind of dive into my goals on did I hit all
52:14
of these? Or like where did I fall short? And what does my
52:16
focus need to be for the rest of the week. So that was the
52:20
day after was a really big day for kind of mapping out what the rest
52:22
of my week looked like from a throwing standpoint, drill standpoint, and just
52:25
what my my focus needed to be. Yeah, how about what would you
52:30
advise me for relievers? I know for a stata and I've always been a
52:36
start on my whole career, but I've always admired how to relieve is like
52:40
bounce back so quickly because they have to pitch back to back days or one
52:45
day's rest, and they come back and they don't really have that time to
52:47
reflect and be like all right, I need to do this, this and
52:52
this to get better. It's more like, oh, it's just a bad
52:54
day, like just going to flush it and I'm going to go out and
52:58
compete again. Yeah. No, you're exactly right. You don't have the
53:02
time most of the time. And so one thing I try to tell relievers
53:07
is don't look at it necessarily from like one game to the next, Like,
53:12
don't judge yourself off of one game, especially if it was one inning
53:15
or you came in for three batters, Like that's such a small sample.
53:17
Maybe you just didn't have feel for the slider that night, and you only
53:21
threw three of them because you didn't have an opportunity to throw more. I
53:23
like to, like almost with three lievers, take it like week by week.
53:27
Reflect after the end of each week, when you threw maybe two or
53:30
three times, reflect on what went well, what didn't go well. Was
53:32
there a trend from each game, Like was your fastball command off all three
53:36
games? Was it just one game? Because you can really get into the
53:40
weeds too much if you're going game by game as a reliever, because it's
53:44
such a small sample, Like there's so much variance day to day, and
53:47
maybe you only threw a couple of that specific pitch, so it's just not
53:51
enough to judge yourself off of. But I do think that it's important to
53:54
still have key process stats, whether it's first pitch, strikes early in ahead
54:00
end zone, percentage with a certain pitch. Like I think players should have
54:02
specific goals and really just try to hold yourself accountable to following those and making
54:07
sure that those are trending in the right direction. Maybe not every game it's
54:10
perfect, but like if over the course of week after week, you're training
54:15
in the right direction, You're on the right track. So that would be
54:17
my advice with relievers is just like try not to look at individual games.
54:22
Try to go week by week to where you can get a little bit bigger
54:23
of a sample. Yeah, and we're going I'm going to go a little
54:29
bit off topic here, but the first pitch strike thing, yeah, is
54:35
It's crazy how important it is. I so staut about it. It was
54:37
like when you get to one, it was I think you would know better
54:44
than me. It's like most of the hitters become out as soon as you
54:49
get to one. Do you know the stuff behind that? I don't know
54:52
the tome. I've posted about it, but I don't have it memorized.
54:54
It's it's something crazy though, like your strikeout rate after strike one is like
55:00
thirty something percent and you only walk like three percent of guys, and after
55:02
ball one it's like sixteen percent strikeouts and sixteen percent walks or nineteen percent walks
55:08
or something like. It's just insane, Like you throw a first pitch strike
55:12
and you pitch like a cy young winner after that. Yeah, Yeah,
55:16
for sure. When I heard about that, I was like, wow,
55:20
Like I gotta work on my first pitch strikes because that just makes you a
55:23
better pitch. It just like that. Well, here's the thing, so
55:27
let's let's this is off topic, but I think it's actually really important.
55:30
It's sort of not off topic actually with early season struggles because I'm actually looking
55:34
at college stats right now from this season in twenty twenty four. So this
55:38
year, the average first pitch strike rate is fifty six point eight percent.
55:43
That's really low. That's for like for that to be the Division one average.
55:46
That's pretty low. Average in the big leagues is like sixty percent,
55:50
sixty one percent, So typically I try to get guys as sixty percent or
55:52
higher. And the second stat early in ahead in college baseball right now,
55:58
the average is sixty seven. The goal is to be at least seventy percent
56:01
with that. So for those that don't know what early in ahead is,
56:05
in early is anytime the ball is put in play on three pitches or less,
56:08
not counting two to oh. So if the ball is put in play
56:10
oh one, one oh and one to one, you get credit for in
56:15
early doesn't matter if it's a hit and out doesn't matter. Ball and play
56:19
three pitches or less and a head is anytime you get to an O two
56:22
or a one to two count. Once again, it doesn't matter what happens
56:25
after that. You could strike him out, or you could give up a
56:29
home run, or you could hit the guy. You still get credit for
56:30
and ahead. You can only get one per at bath though, So like,
56:34
let's just say you get to two and you strike somebody out on three
56:37
pitches, that would only count as in a head not in early. So
56:40
you add those two ups. So add all of your earlies up, add
56:43
all of your heads up, and you divide it by the batter's faced.
56:46
So if I face ten batters and I was early and ahead on seven of
56:50
them, that would be seven out of ten, seventy percent early in ahead.
56:53
The best in baseball are like eighty to eighty percent is really really good.
56:58
So I think the best in baseball last year was like eighty two or
57:00
eighty three percent. I think it was George Kirby for the Mariners. He
57:02
was unreal. So the point of that, or what I want to say
57:06
about that is first pitch strikes are super important, Like they're really important.
57:10
But I have seen some guys get in their head a little bit with first
57:14
pitch strikes because They put so much pressure on that first pitch to where if
57:16
they don't throw a strike, they're like, oh, yeah, bat's over,
57:20
I'm behind one. Oh I'm gonna give up a hit. I'm gonna
57:22
walk a guy. But you still have an opportunity for an earlier in a
57:25
head, right it's one. Oh, okay, I'm gonna challenge Ryanerre.
57:28
He's gonna put the ball in play, I get credit for it early,
57:30
or I'm gonna pound the zone these next couple of pitches. I'm one two
57:34
now, Like the at bat isn't over. Now, if I throw a
57:37
first pitch strike, my chances of getting it earlier in a head do go
57:40
up, of course, But I think the important thing to remember is the
57:44
goals first pitch strikes. But if you don't throw a first pitch strike,
57:46
the at bat isn't over, So don't give up. Challenge them on the
57:51
next pitch, and you can get right back in the account and still have
57:52
an opportunity for a really good early in ahead number. Yeah, that's super
57:58
similar to what we folks on with the ranges is we focus on brace of
58:02
two K, which I think is pretty much the same thing. But yeah,
58:07
no, that was actually going to be. My question was how do
58:10
you get guys to start throwing more first pitch strikes, because, as you
58:15
said, a lot of it isn't really skill based, it's more like mental.
58:21
And I felt this as well. It's like, damn, it's oh
58:23
oh, and I need to throw a strike here. But when I'm starting
58:27
to put a lot of pressure on myself being like, well if I don't
58:30
want to miss it, because then I'm missing out on all that, like
58:35
you know, the stats of the hitter being out and stuff like that.
58:37
So how would you go about increasing that stat So there's a couple of ways
58:43
to do it, Like there is a little bit of a skill aspect to
58:45
where if a guy just has no feel for pitches, we probably got to
58:47
do some some different things. But let's just assume generally speaking, he throws
58:52
strikes. The first thing we want to do is we want to look at
58:55
his usage, So what pitches is he throwing first pitch? We want to
58:59
throw pitches that we can throw for a strike. We want to throw pitches
59:02
that are high end zone pitches, so you know, fastballs typically are going
59:07
to be a high end zone pitch. We want to throw pitches that also
59:09
are going to induce swings early. So if I throw a curveball O,
59:14
it has to be in zone because curveballs hardly ever get sworn at first pitch.
59:17
So just by shifting that usage and getting in zone more or sorry,
59:21
shifting your usage more and just throwing those pitches that are strikes more early,
59:24
you're going to increase your chances more. The second way is to literally try
59:29
to throw it right down the middle. Don't worry about getting cute going to
59:32
the corner's oo. Challenge them to swing the bat and you know, if
59:37
you look up and you've made three four starts and they are just ripping the
59:39
first pitch, okay, we can make an adjustment, but generally speaking,
59:44
hitters do not swing it the first pitch enough, So challenge them middle middle
59:47
and Josh, you can attest to this too. How many times do you
59:51
actually throw it right down the middle when you're trying to go middle middle?
59:54
Yeah? No, no, many times? Right, Like, if you
59:58
if you actually are hitting it dead middle middle, you're actually trying to then
1:00:00
you probably had the skill to actually nitpick a little bit and go to the
1:00:04
edges a little bit. So those are like the two fastest things. Throw
1:00:07
your highest in zone pitches early and also throw middle middle location. Like those
1:00:13
are the two quickest things you can do. Mm, yeah, I gotta
1:00:17
start doing that for sure. Sometimes I just whip out a sweep them.
1:00:23
Maybe I should have done that. If it's in zone, yeah, if
1:00:28
it's in zone zones, yeah, that's great. Well, I think I
1:00:32
think this was great for the first episode. I think we covered a lot
1:00:36
of really good stuff that can that can help guys. We touched on,
1:00:38
you know, some early season struggles, some pitch pre pitch routines, first
1:00:43
pitch strikes, all of those things. So hopefully there's some good takeaways for
1:00:46
guys. But I'm excited for the future of this show and where it's gonna
1:00:52
lead and and whatnot. So but before we go, and we'll put this
1:00:54
in the show notes, but like, where's the best place for people to
1:00:57
connect with you? Yeah, the best place would be Twitter or x My
1:01:05
news name is guestna Josh, and you can send me a message whenever.
1:01:08
I'll make sure to reply to those. And I'm posting a lot of baseball
1:01:15
style content, so I'm just trying to provide as much value as i can
1:01:17
right now, and so yeah, that's probably the best way to reach me
1:01:22
right now. Perfect. Then you got a newsletter too, right, Yeah,
1:01:25
I did do a newsletter for a little bit, but I'm taking a
1:01:30
little bit of a okay detour from that. Yeah. Perfect. Cool.
1:01:35
And then for me, Twitter is the best spot. Pitching coach you,
1:01:37
pitchingcoach you dot com for the website, I have a newsletter on there.
1:01:42
Send it. I send it out every Monday for coaches and players. So
1:01:45
awesome. Well, I really enjoyed this and looking forward to next week.