Latest / The Layback Podcast / Aaron "AJ" Jungers, Lindenwood University LHP (Ep. 104)

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Aaron "AJ" Jungers, Lindenwood University LHP (Ep. 104) · The Layback Podcast

0:00
What's up everyone, Welcome back to the Layback Podcast.
0:03
Joining us today is left-handed pitcher at Lindenwood
0:06
University, Ben AKAAJ Youngers. AJ joins us today from his
0:14
apartment house, whatever it is, with the blackout shades outside
0:19
of St. Louis, MO bending from the cold.
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He he just broke the news to me that the real field this morning
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over there was 1° as he headed over to the weight room.
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So at least he knew he was grinding this morning and gave
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us the actual temperature as he left his house.
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But our Wisconsinite here, ex hockey player turned left-handed
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pitcher, is gracious enough to hop on and tell his story.
0:45
AJ has kind of been a trailblazer for Flexpro Grip to
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a certain extent. People have probably heard me
0:53
mention this a time or two if we've gotten on conversations as
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one specific player who kind of broke our system or broke our
1:02
algorithm in a way which I am going to bury the lead.
1:06
We'll get into this a little bit later.
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But AJ happened to be that guy. So because of AJ's injury and
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because of what he presented with his data, we completely
1:19
changed what we do with Flex Pro.
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So I've been waiting on this moment in this interview for a
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long time, but I'm ecstatic to say he has been back in game.
1:28
He has thrown 6 innings I believe so far completely
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scoreless. Two hits.
1:34
I don't remember how many hits it is.
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I want to say I've given up 3. Three, I, I think I have the
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statue right here, so we'll, we'll check real quick to make
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sure. So maybe we'll just read the
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stat line real quick to start the year.
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Don't want to jinx anything. It is 7 innings.
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My my apologies. I shorted you on innings, but I
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also shorted you on hits allowed.
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So it's stat line so far, 2 appearances, 7 innings, three
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hits allowed, two walks, 7 punches for a 125 batting
2:01
average against. I would say that's a pretty good
2:04
way to start the year, especially returning from Tommy
2:09
John. So AJ, with that, I'm finally
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going to kick it over to you for the high level bio.
2:14
Thanks a ton for joining us today.
2:17
Yeah, thank you for having me. Obviously Wisconsin.
2:20
I love the Packers. I grew up in Madison, WI,
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actually committed to linen one when they were still a division
2:27
two school and then my junior year of high school or senior
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year of high school, I got a call from the old head coach,
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the very going Division One. So that was really cool.
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Came down here a little far away from home obviously, so that was
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tough being away, but have enjoyed my past four years being
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here. Obviously last year was a bit of
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a bump in the road with the whole injury, but like you said,
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being a trailblazer, it's it's unfortunate that the injury had
2:55
to happen, but it's also a really cool experience and life
3:00
story that I can tell people that you know, I am basically
3:04
patient 0 when it comes to RFD testing and training.
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As far as my family goes, I have two brothers, one older who
3:11
played college baseball and then I have a younger brother as well
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who didn't like baseball on a baseball family but love to
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golf, so I'd always go out with him.
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My mom and my dad have been my biggest supporters in my life
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and a big reason why I'm back on the mound right now and very
3:30
confident and other than that, just living life right now.
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Well, I'll toss one other bio piece that I happen to know
3:39
about you that probably will add a little bit of context that
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even some of the discussion that we have today.
3:45
I know you're super passionate about sports, performance,
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kinesiology, Physiology beyond just your career, but part of
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the reason you were going to the weight room this morning is for
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your internship. I would love for you to kind of
4:01
explain that and what it is beyond the baseball field that
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really interests you as well. Yeah, so when I was growing up,
4:09
especially with hockey, one of my best buddies back in Madison,
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his dad is the performance director over at UW Health
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Sports Performance. Throughout high school, that's
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where I went to train and that's where my liking of the field
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really grew. And last summer was actually my
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first internship with him. And so that's where I kind of
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got my foot in the door of all right, well, this is what the
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hours look like. This is programming and stuff
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like that. But for this semester, I'm
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working at the Lindenwood weight room.
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And I, I won't lie, it's a very busy schedule, very busy
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schedule. But like I said, I was up at
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4:00 this morning, got into the weight room at 5:00, helped out
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with football, and then right before I hopped on here with
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you, I was with men's volleyball.
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But I think the most interesting part for me is seeing how all
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the different strength coaches program for their different
5:00
athletes and the different opinions and philosophies that
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they use. There's a million different ways
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that you can make an athlete stronger, faster and more
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powerful. And I think the the thing that I
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have enjoyed the most is talking to each and every single one of
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them and seeing their different opinions on it.
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So growing up, having this interest in sports performance,
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did that lead you to be a big time experimenter or just a gym
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rat? How did you kind of fall in love
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with the weight room? I I obviously understand your
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exposure to it with the UW health side of things and
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training for hockey, but what was that moment that you really
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fell in love and kind of what was your approach with training
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in general for so long? I would say that I was more of a
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gym rat in high school, especially during COVID.
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That's when I started to go to the gym all the time.
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Obviously a lot of the gyms in Madison were closed, so my dad
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actually configured our basement into a little at home gym.
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And so when I first started lifting pretty heavily, it was
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like you would see in any commercial gym, just trying to
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lift as much weight as you possibly could.
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And you didn't care about form, you just you wanted to see as
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much weight on the bar as possible and.
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I'm assuming for as many reps as possible to extreme volume,
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extreme weight. Absolutely.
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Obviously not not the best way to go about it, but as I
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continue to grow older and talk with his name is Dave Knight, UW
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Health Sports Performance. When I started talking to him
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more, that's when I kind of found out about progressions,
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the different intensities that you want to use for different
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sets and reps. And so that's when it shifted
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more towards trying to be athletic and move properly
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through a full range of motion, and then with that progressing
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properly by adding, you know, 5 to 10 lbs per week on a squat
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instead of just trying to see how many reps I could get of a
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certain number. You did mention trying to be a
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little more athletic. I know you are currently listed
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as not only a left-handed pitcher but also an outfielder.
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Have you ever had an at bat in your Lindenwood career?
7:16
No, I have not. And I I actually do have a
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pretty funny story about that. And so I came in my freshman
7:21
year as a two way. That's that's the reason why
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it's listed as a pitcher and outfielder.
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But I was actually never told to my face that I was only going to
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be APO. So you're still waiting.
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I am, I am still waiting, I'm I'm still waiting for that AB.
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But my practice plan came out in November my freshman year and I
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look at the hitting groups and didn't see my name on it.
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And you know, obviously as a freshman, you're like, well, my
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name is not on the practice sheet.
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Like apparently I'm going to have to go have a talk with the
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head coach. And so I go into the office and
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I talked with the head coach and my pitching coach.
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And what I was told was they're going to let other people get
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some some more reps. And then later on throughout
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winter break is when I'll start to be integrated back again into
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the into the hitting groups. And as you know by now, I've
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still haven't been integrated yet.
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So I'm I'm waiting for my opportunity.
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Still with the other guys are still getting the reps in.
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Yeah, obviously, but I'm just I'm just trying to be a team
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player at this point and and help out the boys.
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That's right. There was probably a little bit
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of you last year while you were on the sideline the the arm not
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working so well that you're thinking like maybe this is the
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time do I start picking up the bat?
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Oh, there there was. There's definitely some thoughts
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going through my mind about that.
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But as the years have gone on, I've grown a huge liking in the
8:46
golf. I didn't want to mess up my golf
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swing personally, so I I I would keep my swings at the driving
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range and on the course. Do you golf lefty or righty?
8:58
I golf righty. I golf righty.
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Were you a right-handed hockey player?
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I was, and I swung the bat righty as well.
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So you're that weird? Yes, I am very weird.
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Very weird. Think there's been one major
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leaguer ever. One of the LaRoche brothers was
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a left-handed thrower, right-handed hitter.
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Maybe there's others, but I know it's just super and uncommon to
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be a left-handed thrower, right-handed hitter, and I know
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one of the for a fact one of the LaRoche brothers fell into that
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crop. Yeah, yeah.
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So probably a good thing that I'm a PO right now and just
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focusing on on the golf games sort of in the box.
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And I guess even the fact that you were so into hockey does
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really interest me. That is, I think a larger
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crossover than most people realize that the hockey baseball
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combo, especially for Minnesota, Wisconsin and New England born
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players. When did you make the decision
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that baseball was going to be the push instead of hockey?
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So I'd say that was probably my sophomore year of high school
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and that summer I had like a huge jump in Velo on the mound.
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Obviously me playing summer ball with GRB up in Wisconsin.
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That was a talk with the coaches of like, hey, you're, you're
10:21
progressing pretty good. You have a good shot of, of
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going and getting recruited and playing college baseball.
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Think that's when my mind started to shift.
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And then my junior year was when COVID hit and so I didn't play
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hockey my junior year winter. And that's when I really started
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to focus on one, the weight room and two baseball.
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But I played my senior year of of high school and that was
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honestly more just to have fun with the boys 1 little last
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hoorah. But yeah, I would would
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definitely say sophomore year was when my mind started to
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shift. Let's now jump forward into the
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actual baseball career at Lindenwood and kind of explain
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I, I guess set the stage for where we are now.
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Your freshman year you got a fair share of appearances if I,
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if I'm not mistaken, correct? Yeah, yeah.
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And it it does help that I was the only lefty in the bullpen,
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obviously. Nobody needs to know that it was
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because your ability, right? Not because of need.
11:24
Absolutely. But yeah, I mean, I've, I've
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always been a command pitcher rather than a a hard thrower.
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It's it's definitely taken me some time to get that Velo.
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But obviously I think that's one of the biggest strengths that I
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have on the mound is, you know, if you want to pitch blowing
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away, like I will get it there or, you know, if I need to have
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a slider, a ball off or a back foot slider, like I'll be able
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to put it there. And so I think that's what
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that's what propelled me into getting so many appearances my
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freshman year was being able to command the strike zone.
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And then obviously, if we're going to mention it, the fact
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that I was the only lefty, but they were definitely some, some
12:01
growing pains freshman year. And then it it, it progressed
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and through the, through my sophomore year, I still
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struggled a little bit during out of conference play, but then
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in conference play, that was when I kind of took that next
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step and, and really got comfortable.
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It probably wasn't as big of a deal to you going from D2 to D1
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because as soon as you step foot on campus it was AD one program.
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You were just stuck with playing teams that were deeper or had
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more total guys. But I'm guessing that's even
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part of what was a major strength of yours early on.
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I've been a part of programs that aren't as deep and having
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guys that you know can throw strikes when you are down six
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runs just means so much. Because often times it's about
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staying competitive more than it is about just throwing a guy out
13:02
there that might be able to strike this guy out, but also
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might walk the next four guys in a row and hit another two in the
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head. You probably have this
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tremendous benefit of being kind of the perfect mold of a pitcher
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for a school that is transitioning.
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Yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's, there's been a lot of
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resources that have been handed to this baseball team throughout
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the years. And so we, you know, we, we have
13:27
studs now on this team that do throw the ball hard and are able
13:30
to command it. So that's that's also nice that
13:33
that we have a lot more depth on this pitching staff.
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It is really impressive now and I will take the story away from
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you and even talk about the staff as a whole just in your
13:43
short time. I say short time at Lindenwood.
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I guess this is your for now. For me, it feels like a short
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time. See for how long I've actually
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known you, but I love if you could just kind of even explain
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to the masses that don't know as much about Lindenwood aside from
13:58
me just shouting out Lindenwood on meetings and stuff.
14:01
How much your program, specifically as a pitching
14:05
staff, has changed in the time you've been there?
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Yeah, so I mean, I, I hate to give this man credit, as you
14:14
know, but Denton Acne is is 1 hell of a pitching coach.
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I I will give him that. I mean, as soon as Denton got
14:22
hired sophomore year, first meeting that we had, he set the
14:26
standards for the next three years and going on.
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I would say my freshman year was kind of feel it out type of
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season where we had a lot of seniors that were just kind of
14:38
ready to be over with the seat the season we had a lot of young
14:42
guys that were just trying to get experience under their belt.
14:45
I was in that same boat. If there were some games where I
14:47
didn't really care how many runs I I gave up.
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I just really wanted to pitch. But Denton set the expectation,
14:54
set the standard and wood Division 2 has always been known
14:58
as a a pitching squad. I mean, we we wanted to get back
15:02
into those routes obviously. And you know, the the the stats
15:07
throughout the season have shown that don't want to jinx jinx
15:11
anything. But I believe that our ERA right
15:13
now is right out of three, myself included, we have 4 guys
15:18
that have 0 ERA. We have a couple more that are
15:22
at a sub three right now. So I mean, the, the biggest step
15:27
that I would say that we've taken is being able to command
15:30
the zone a lot. The transfers that we've got in
15:33
Seth Bennis, for example, absolute stud, he's gone 7
15:38
shutty the past two weekends, both so right at 14 innings of
15:43
no run ball. Josh Newell, obviously, as you
15:46
know, OVC Pitcher of the year last year and is continuing to
15:51
make a statement for that rerun of it.
15:54
Easton Rockers, my roommate, he's always been a stud since he
15:57
stepped on campus. So there's there's so much depth
16:02
on this pitching staff to where we could throw any guy in there
16:05
and be super confident that we're going to win the game.
16:08
One thing in particular that I think speaks to the depth and I
16:12
can't remember if it's two years in a row for sure, but I'm
16:16
pretty positive it is that you guys have led the OVC in ERA as
16:21
a staff two years in a row, which is amazing.
16:24
And and certainly speaks to your ability to command the zone as
16:28
you said. Because right along with that, I
16:31
know last year you guys had the lowest walk rate of any team and
16:34
I think you might have been second lowest two years ago.
16:38
Yeah, yeah. So our goal this year, so we led
16:43
the OVC and conference play for ERA.
16:46
I'm pretty sure you're right about the walks, but I I would
16:49
definitely have to double check that.
16:50
But our goal for this year is to be the overall ERA leaders.
16:55
I believe the past two years we have been like 4th and 5th and
17:01
overall ERA. Obviously without of conference
17:04
play, getting the feel for the season, it is difficult when you
17:08
give up big numbers like that. But yeah, I mean, if we can go
17:12
back-to-back to back like we will, we will set the standard
17:16
from now on for one, our pitching staff, but to the OVC
17:20
as well. Certainly well, they that's
17:23
probably enough about your boys. We're we're here to tell your
17:26
story. So thank you to everyone else on
17:28
the Lindenwood staff. But that's enough from you guys
17:31
for now. So AJ, we'll take it back to
17:34
kind of why we're here today, unless there's something super
17:37
eventful from your sophomore year, if you want to talk more
17:40
about that progression. But let's let's kind of jump
17:43
ahead to junior year if you feel it.
17:45
It's time. Yeah, let's do it.
17:47
OK, so going into the fall of junior year, you're coming off
17:51
of a bunch of appearances as soft as a sophomore.
17:54
Definitely one of the stable, steadfast relievers coming out
17:58
of the bullpen. You started to get a few starts,
18:01
right? Didn't you have three or four
18:02
starts your sophomore year? Yes.
18:05
And you're trending junior year towards being one of the weekend
18:09
dudes, correct? Yes.
18:11
All right, so now I will stop asking leading questions and
18:15
just hand it over to you at this point to kind of talk about the
18:19
fall and maybe even where your head was at going into this
18:24
promising spring. Yeah.
18:26
So obviously going into a new year, my mindset is, is always
18:32
to be on the hunt for the next role.
18:35
Going into my junior year, having that many appearances,
18:38
I've made it my goal in that fall to be a starter, a weekend
18:42
starter, I should say. So throughout the whole fall,
18:45
obviously they they keep the flow down a little bit.
18:48
So you really only get one to two innings per appearance in
18:52
the fall. But there were, there were
18:55
definitely a lot of talks with them and PJ about being a
18:59
potential starter. And that's, that's what really
19:02
fueled me throughout the fall. But then going into the spring
19:05
it, that's when the throwing workload started to increase.
19:08
You know, you're getting 3 to 4 innings pre season and inner
19:12
squads. And, and that's where I felt
19:15
like that was my time to shine. And then obviously with, I think
19:20
I want to say it was a week before the season was when the
19:23
injury occurred. So now I'll step back in for
19:28
kind of the communication that I received from Denton and just I
19:34
guess maybe providing the the bird's eye view of how this
19:38
played out. So for as many of the listeners
19:41
probably know from me mentioning Lindenwood and Flexpro Grip, for
19:45
so long, we've been working with Denton in the Lindenwood crew
19:50
for I guess that was about one complete year at the time of
19:55
your injury. I think we got started back in
19:57
October of your sophomore year, if I'm not mistaken, maybe
20:01
November of your sophomore year. So you guys had a really good
20:05
system in place. It was a part of not only your
20:09
routine but the team as a whole. And we had monitored everything
20:14
really well. I was on the phone with Denton
20:16
regularly helping him make. I don't want to say I don't want
20:20
to paint the picture like I was making bullpen decisions for
20:23
him. But if if data popped up that
20:26
maybe suggested a guy might be a little fatigued or Denton had
20:29
questions, we'd hop on the phone and we would discuss risk
20:34
situation. Perfect example I believe is, is
20:37
I think even when you guys opened up the season at Dayton,
20:42
which I think was your sophomore year, you guys played at four
20:45
games. It was 20°, whatever.
20:47
And then you immediately had a Tuesday game and a Wednesday
20:51
game and then went on the road again the next weekend.
20:54
So you guys opened up with like 10 games and seven days after
20:57
not being outside at all. And Denton's hit me up saying
21:00
like Art, we just had a guy threw three out of our first
21:04
five games and it looks like based on rapid flexion testing
21:08
data, his numbers are trending down a little bit.
21:11
So what do we want to do here? I think that just kind of paints
21:15
the picture of how integrated Flexpro was into what you guys
21:19
were doing as a whole. That even goes before saying
21:23
what you're doing with shoulder dynamometry, what you're doing
21:26
with workload management, force plate testing as well.
21:30
So really just a robust system to assess player readiness.
21:34
And I got the message from Denton saying AJ just went down.
21:40
It makes no sense. I can't find out why.
21:44
And as you said, it was legitimately like the last live
21:47
before season started. It was the weekend before, I
21:50
think it was on a Saturday, and Denton said you were going to be
21:53
the Saturday starter. So it was literally the last
21:56
prep before the season starts and you go down.
22:00
And then on our side, me, Daryl, the flex program crew, we are
22:06
then having the mind through every single thing you had ever
22:10
done to figure out how this ever could have happened.
22:14
And that's that's also the relationship, as I said, that we
22:17
have with Denton and your staff that they trust us to be a part
22:21
of finding the solution. One thing that people know for
22:25
sure from our side that we hate is trying to act like a soft
22:30
tissue non contact injury can't be pinpointed somewhere.
22:35
People act like like these things just happen and maybe
22:40
they do. Maybe that is your take, maybe
22:42
that is the take of someone listening.
22:44
But if we are going to do our job in preventing greatly
22:49
reducing the risk, whatever proper language you want to put
22:52
on our mission to solve the UCL crisis, we will not rest until
22:59
we have exhausted every possible data point, action thing,
23:04
whatever that we can to see if this could have been prevented.
23:08
And from your side, force plates dialed, standard hand grip
23:13
dynamometry dialed, shoulder dynamometry dialed, workload
23:18
dialed, Flexpro grip strength programs dialed.
23:22
And then what? We found one little piece.
23:26
Your rate of force development was slow.
23:30
Your peak numbers were tremendous.
23:33
But for whatever reason, on your left arm, you were slow to
23:37
produce that peak force. And it was literally one of one
23:42
in our database. You presented data that we
23:44
couldn't find anywhere else. And then we started scratching
23:48
our heads and trying to figure out, is this legitimately the
23:52
cause? And from there, I'll kind of
23:54
turn it back to you before I speak for the next 20 minutes on
23:58
how we went about this. But go ahead, take it on back
24:01
for maybe how this was presented to you or even how you felt
24:05
after you found out you were hurt or what you experienced
24:08
because we just went straight to the data and problem solving
24:11
route. I do want you to talk about the
24:13
human side as well. Yeah.
24:15
So I mean, I will say that that appearance that I tore, you
24:21
know, my UCL, it wasn't the best appearance that I've ever had.
24:25
If I remember correctly, I gave up a three spot in the first
24:27
inning. And then it was either the
24:30
second or third batter of that second inning that it eventually
24:34
popped. And going back with Denton,
24:36
sitting in the clubhouse with him after that for three plus
24:41
hours just trying to figure out what was wrong.
24:44
We ultimately landed on it being a nerve issue.
24:47
And maybe it was just my nerve flipping and that's the reason
24:51
that I felt it because as you said, like my force plate
24:54
numbers, Flexpro grip strength, the shoulder dynamometer, like
24:58
everything kind of checked the boxes of all right, like there
25:03
is no reason that he should be injured right now.
25:07
And then I want to say the following Monday is when I got
25:12
my MRI and ended up showing up to practice after the MRI.
25:16
And I'll, I'll never forget this.
25:18
My trainer must have already gotten the call as soon as I got
25:21
there. And I, I should have figured out
25:24
that something was going to, you know, be bad.
25:26
But he put his hand on my shoulder and he's like, hey,
25:29
man, how are you doing? Just in the soft little voice.
25:32
And I was like, you know, I'm, I'm doing pretty good.
25:34
Like I went and got some noodles and company Mac and cheese.
25:37
Like I'm feeling pretty good. It is.
25:40
It's amazing, absolutely amazing.
25:42
No free ads, but noodles and company if you want to sponsor
25:45
the podcast, totally on board. It is really good.
25:48
But after practice, that's when I sat down with the coaches and
25:52
they're like, yeah, man. Like, you know, you, you blew it
25:55
out fully. Like, you know, and I think
25:57
that's when the 1st wave of shock kind of hit me.
26:02
And it was like, wow, usually you never think that that's
26:05
going to happen to you. And then as soon as it does,
26:07
you're like, wow, like, I can't, I can't believe it.
26:10
And then that's when all the questions started to arise of
26:13
like then talking to you guys, obviously talking to a couple of
26:18
the PTS in the area as well about how this could possibly
26:21
happen. And I remember when you guys
26:25
found out that it was possibly the RFD and I hopped on a Zoom
26:29
call with Daryl and Daryl made me do it in front of them.
26:35
Did it? Did it As you know, you guys say
26:37
that we should. And then I'll I'll never forget.
26:40
QuickTime out QuickTime out I I got to make sure that I, I cover
26:43
some bases here. We first made sure that you had
26:46
no pain doing anything and you were you were willing to do this
26:51
to try to solve a problem or find an answer.
26:54
I don't want anyone to think that we were just like, oh,
26:57
yeah, you're hurt. You can't get more hurt.
26:59
You're just go do this. Yes.
27:01
Yes, you guys did check to see, you know, it was all voluntary
27:05
and I had no pain with it. But I remember Daryl doing it
27:10
and I want to say Daryl got like a better than me and I just
27:15
looked at him and I was like, wow, you know, like, no, you
27:19
know, no shot to Darrell or anything.
27:20
But as a, as a, as a 21 year old college athlete, you would think
27:26
that I would have a better RFD number than him.
27:28
So yeah, I mean, after that, I mean, honestly, after surgery,
27:33
I, I can't remember how many months out it was, but I mean,
27:36
we just hammered power rehab just well.
27:38
Let's, I'm going to call another quick time out there because one
27:42
thing that I think is super important to address is yes,
27:46
Darrell, had you do this on your left arm, your injured arm.
27:50
And then I can't remember if it was the same call or if it was a
27:53
couple days later. We had you test on your right
27:56
arm to see if this was a systemic across the board issue
28:01
or if this was truly just your left arm.
28:04
And lo and behold, it was just your left arm.
28:08
And this happened to be the first time Darrell and I gain
28:11
knowledge of the ulnar nerve issues that you may have had in
28:15
high school. Yep, Yep.
28:17
Yeah. So my junior year of high
28:19
school, I was told that it was a strained UCL.
28:23
Obviously, looking back at it, it was definitely a nerve
28:26
injury. And so I think that as you and I
28:29
have discussed before, like it wasn't a question of will it
28:34
happen, it was a question of when it will happen, you know?
28:37
And so obviously finding that out is not the best news.
28:42
But yeah, I would, I would definitely say that the nerve
28:45
issues in high school definitely played a part.
28:46
And what I find so unique here again, I hate to kill your
28:51
momentum and you were talking about hammering power rehab and
28:55
starting to get into the rehab process.
28:57
But now when we have seen other athletes present with either a
29:03
similar cases you like if maybe they haven't trained on Flexpro,
29:07
but they tested and had good numbers or something like that.
29:11
And if sighted elbow pain, we're immediately going to that RFD
29:14
test. Or anytime an athlete has said I
29:18
previously had ulnar nerve transposition or a nerve injury,
29:22
we're going to RFD right away to see if that is a potential
29:26
problem. And what is absolutely mind
29:30
boggling to me is we have seen that come to fruition time and
29:35
time again. And had we not found this weird
29:39
data point in your testing, your training, we wouldn't be looking
29:44
at this right now. So this is the trailblazer story
29:48
that we were teasing at the front of the podcast.
29:51
But AJ, go ahead, take it away again, as you kind of start to
29:54
get into, I guess before we even talk about the power rehab, the
29:58
surgery, because at this point you haven't even had surgery
30:01
yet. This is just getting on the fact
30:03
finding call in US trying to use you somewhat as a Guinea pig to
30:08
figure out what possibly could we have missed.
30:11
Yeah, so obviously after I found out there were a bunch of phone
30:16
calls that had to be made, one to my family and two with Mercy,
30:21
just trying to figure out when surgery was.
30:23
And I'm, I'm very thankful that I was able to get in.
30:27
I want to say was about two, 2 1/2 weeks after it happened.
30:32
So I mean, I got in pretty good. My surgeon sale and coke awesome
30:37
man and will forever be thankful that he was the one who did my
30:41
surgery. But I ended up getting the
30:43
repair surgery with a nerve transposition and then you know,
30:48
don't don't really remember a lot from surgery day.
30:51
Obviously I was was pretty loopy that day, but very thankful I
30:56
was because I did not want to feel that pain.
30:58
But yeah, I mean, that was that was square one of the the long
31:02
journey. Looking back at it doesn't
31:05
really feel that long. It was it was definitely a
31:09
mental battle at the start rather than a physical for me.
31:13
Not that you have to get too deep or disclose too much on
31:16
this, but mental battle with how you juggle to rehab or mental
31:21
battle with just kind of the identity crisis that comes with
31:26
kind of being at the top of your game to then losing the sense of
31:30
self. Yeah, I would say it was
31:33
definitely a mental battle of rehab.
31:36
And then the identity crisis came in waves right after
31:39
surgery. I'd say both were pretty high.
31:42
Both are pretty high because coming off of the best season
31:45
that I had at college, you're looking forward to progressing
31:48
even more. And you know, obviously my
31:50
situation becoming a starter and it felt like I just took a
31:54
million steps back from that point.
31:56
And so that was, that was definitely a, a tough hit on the
32:00
mental side. But throughout rehab, the issue
32:04
that I usually had was a tight bicep.
32:07
The mental battle with that of having to look at my arm three
32:11
months out from surgery and I'm still waking up with it at 90°
32:16
and it, it takes me 15 minutes to finally get it all stretched
32:20
out. Like that's when that's, that's
32:22
when the thoughts come back in of like, you know, hey, man,
32:25
like you're putting all this work in and you're, you're
32:28
killing it in rehab. But like, will you, will you
32:31
make it back to where you were? And then leading up to the
32:34
season, that was a big identity crisis as well.
32:36
That's when you start to figure out who you're going to be, what
32:40
role you're going to have on the team.
32:41
And and you, you really don't know how you're going to
32:45
progress and excel until you actually get on that mound.
32:49
So they were, they were definitely a lot of a lot of
32:52
jitters on that on that mountain Pine Bluff.
32:55
I'm sure. But that that day in Pine Bluff,
32:58
I think worked out just about as well as you possibly could for a
33:01
debut. Yes, before we get to the debut,
33:06
I also want to take some time to talk about your return to throw
33:11
and kind of the unique parts of your rehab in general.
33:16
You mentioned doing a ton of power work, which for us is the
33:19
rate of force development rehab component.
33:23
And of course you were doing your Flexpro grip rehab like
33:26
standard percent of Max work and progressing you the long holds
33:30
all that. I know you're super passionate
33:32
about the weight room. You got right back to that and
33:35
crushing strength, like general kind of stuff right away.
33:40
You, you were really dialed in on that front.
33:43
But from a throwing perspective, once you ultimately got cleared
33:48
after someone had you throw a tennis ball at like week 14,
33:51
which might have been a little bit of a head scratcher at a
33:53
time, But a few weeks after that, maybe it was around the 20
33:57
week post op mark. We, we actually got started on a
34:01
return to throw and you took a little bit of a different
34:05
approach to a return to throw. Then we see a cross.
34:09
Most elbow injuries, at least at that time.
34:13
Yeah, so I, I remember having a Zoom call that day, which it was
34:18
supposed to be day one of throwing.
34:19
And at that point, that's when the nerves and the jitters kind
34:23
of kicked in. And like, I'll be honest, like
34:26
picking up a baseball and trying to throw it for the first time
34:28
after the last time you threw one was when you blew it out.
34:31
It's it's tough. And so I was, I was honest with
34:35
you guys during that call of like, hey, man, like I, you
34:39
know, I've, I've checked the return to throw sheet that you
34:41
guys have given me. Absolutely love it.
34:44
But I'll be honest with you guys like I need, I need a day here
34:47
to just kind of feel it out. I was very thankful that you
34:51
guys were able to give me that day and that definitely helped
34:54
with the confidence of everything.
34:55
But the the, the return to throw that I was given from you guys
35:00
was definitely something that I've never seen before.
35:02
I think the way that you guys calculated the acute to chronic
35:06
workload differently than what pulse usually does was very
35:11
helpful. Because if I was just going
35:13
straight off of the pulse workload, I probably would have
35:15
had to cut half of those days short just because the workload
35:18
would have been too high. I would say for the first month,
35:23
I based it solely off of arm speed just because I was back
35:27
home and didn't have a radar gun with me yet.
35:30
And then after the first week still in July, I want to say
35:36
that's when I got sent to radar gun.
35:38
And then I was able to base it off of those Velo buckets that
35:41
we had off of the Max Velo. I think you bringing up the arm
35:46
speed component is a tremendous stop for us right now on this
35:52
interview. And the reason I say that is you
35:55
are a guy who consistently throws with higher arm speeds
36:00
than expected for a given velocity.
36:04
And I remember that being a little bit of a tough jump for
36:08
you in those first couple of weeks moving from solely arm
36:12
speed based throwing to velocity guided throwing.
36:16
And if I'm not mistaken, I don't want to call it a set back, but
36:20
if I'm not mistaken, you kind of had to take a little bit of time
36:25
maybe plateauing your rehab and not not necessarily deloading,
36:29
but plateauing the program and spending a couple of weeks at
36:34
maybe a given level just because of where we thought you might be
36:39
at based on the standard arm speed velocity ratios or
36:44
calculations. You weren't quite there.
36:47
So the velocity jumps were getting a little bit tougher for
36:51
you in that mid to late July time?
36:54
Yeah, and that's right around when I got the radar gun sent to
36:59
me. And so that shift towards basing
37:02
it off of velocity now rather than arm speed, like I want to
37:06
say they're texted you or Den and I had like a spike in in arm
37:11
speed of like 300 with my background in in strength and
37:15
conditioning and then talking with you guys all the time.
37:18
Like I know that that in a rehab setting is not ideal at all.
37:22
And so I think that's what scared me the most of one, why
37:26
is my arm speed so high with this certain velocity?
37:30
That was definitely a concern of like, all right, well, I'm never
37:33
going to be able to throw hard again.
37:36
Thankfully, that's not true anymore.
37:38
And then two, just from just from a health perspective of
37:42
like if I'm going to be making these spikes in arm speed like
37:46
this early on in the in the throwing program, like that
37:49
definitely isn't ideal. And I did have a little bit of
37:53
pain throwing right around like the low 70s, I want to say when
37:57
I crept up into that. And like you said, we kind of
37:59
plateaued in the mid to high 60s for a little bit.
38:02
And then once we got comfortable more with throwing, that's when
38:05
we started to progress a lot more.
38:07
And another thing worth noting, I had the benefit of seeing this
38:11
on the inside with you sending some video.
38:14
At that time, the way you were throwing had almost completely
38:19
changed. And there were inklings of the
38:22
old AJ in there. But you could see some very
38:26
corrosive habits or patterns that had begun to form.
38:31
And I'm sure a lot of it stemmed from the mental struggles that
38:33
you were feeling or your apprehension that comes from, is
38:37
this going to be the throw that I feel it again or that kind of
38:40
nagging bicep pain that you experienced.
38:43
And what really stinks is those patterns that you often like
38:48
fall into to try to protect yourself are also the very
38:52
patterns that are creating greater discomfort or pain
38:56
because you're no longer moving fluidly or naturally, and you're
39:01
actually adding stress to the system.
39:03
Yeah. Yeah.
39:04
And so once that occurred, sent you guys some videos, send down
39:08
some videos. And then basically we came up
39:11
with a bunch of constraints rose for me to do cuz I mean, early
39:15
on, like I was going basically out of the stretch, right and
39:19
going through my motion, but the pushing of the arm, not getting
39:23
into lay back. Couple issues with the lower
39:26
body as well of like. Stepping across your body, front
39:29
foot way open to try to allow for rotation.
39:32
Never lead leg blocking of arm flying way way the Frick open.
39:38
It was. It was rough.
39:40
It was rough. Thankfully it's not like that
39:42
anymore and we finally figured it out.
39:44
But yeah, I would say those constraints rose really got me
39:48
back, really got me back on the road.
39:51
The more and more I got comfortable with the arm and the
39:54
higher velocity, that's when we started to get back to proper
39:58
mechanics. And another piece of this whole
40:01
thing is you did more or less the beginning couple of months
40:07
of your throwing program alone. Yes, which which is another huge
40:12
struggle. You didn't have the boys with
40:14
you, you didn't have the athletic trainer, you didn't
40:17
have Denton, you didn't have whoever.
40:19
Like, yeah, you had the support system in your family and maybe
40:24
maybe dad filmed a few of your throws or something, or a
40:27
brother might have or played catch with someone in the
40:29
family. But it's it's different to have
40:32
that versus like having a Lindenwood T-shirt on on the
40:37
left field line going to make a throw.
40:40
Yeah, yeah. I will say I have to shout out a
40:42
couple of people. Tyler Craft, who was the guy in
40:46
the video of my first throw, very thankful to him for for
40:50
catching that ball. My brothers Kyle and Owen Tyler
40:54
Schmidt as well Sam Knight. KJ and OJ.
40:58
TJ and OJ Yeah, yeah. Or KJ, I should say.
41:01
KJ. But I wasn't sure if they also
41:04
had Jay nicknames as well. We we do call Owen Juice for.
41:09
Good, good. That is, that is juice.
41:12
But I'm very thankful that those guys were willing to basically
41:18
drop a lot of their daily activities in order to come over
41:21
to my house and throw with me. I do remember I did go to Target
41:24
and buy a tripod. So that was I was what held the
41:26
camera most of the times. And then I had an old golf net
41:31
that I would set up and throw into with the radar gun behind.
41:35
And so yeah, that was that was definitely one of the struggles
41:38
that I had to face early on was kind of being by myself for the
41:41
most part of just just throwing by myself and having to wonder
41:45
like, you know, am I, are my mechanics good?
41:49
Obviously they they weren't and I figured it out.
41:52
But once I stepped onto campus, we have a couple of guys here
41:57
that I've gone through the same surgery and the same rehab that
42:00
I went through. And so that was a huge step that
42:04
I took on the mental side and physical side of being able to
42:08
hear everybody else's experiences and realizing that
42:13
the issues that I faced are the same ones that everybody else
42:17
has faced before, right? Like the the wonky mechanics
42:21
that you see when you're returned to throw the wall that
42:25
you hit with different certain velocities and you feel like
42:28
you're throwing it at 110%, yet the radar gun says that you're
42:34
throwing it super slow it. Says 74 for the 4th week in a
42:38
row. So having those guys there down
42:41
here on campus really helped me keep on course and and realize
42:46
that I I will get back to how I was.
42:50
Exploring the fall a little bit more, when do you feel you and
42:56
maybe it wasn't the fall that you kind of made the shift of.
43:01
I am rehabbing to I am a pitcher on this staff.
43:06
I would honestly say that that shift didn't happen until
43:11
mid-december, which obviously if you listen to this, you're like,
43:16
and I don't know, you only had about, you know, a month and a
43:18
half to get ready for the season like that.
43:20
But Denton and I really, really focused on mound work pretty
43:25
pretty early in my return to throw.
43:27
I want to say it was late August that I started to, you know,
43:30
have one foot on the mound, 1 foot off and kind of feel out
43:33
the slope like that with the Velo.
43:36
But talking about hitting the walls with the velocity right.
43:40
I remember getting stuck at 75 mph, 80 mph.
43:44
There was a point where I couldn't throw a ball harder
43:47
than 83. And so adding those different
43:51
stimuluses, one of feeling like it's a bullpen and to having a
43:57
hitter in there facing you live, I think it was mid-december when
44:03
I faced my first hitter, that the Friday before I couldn't
44:07
throw a ball harder than 82. And then as soon as I had
44:11
somebody in there, my first fastball was like 88.
44:15
Making that. Jump obviously you're like, all
44:18
right, then like it's go time now.
44:21
But yeah, I would definitely say that mid-december was when it
44:24
shifted into all right, let's stop Velo chasing right now.
44:28
Let's let's actually work on the command and getting all the
44:31
pitches down. Do you feel like that freed you
44:34
up a little bit? Yeah, yeah, I would.
44:37
I would absolutely say that it freaked me out.
44:39
Even with like a recovery day of throwing those didn't feel so
44:44
strenuous anymore because I knew that I was able to throw harder
44:47
than what I had been previously. If we compare it to like a
44:51
November recovery day, there were some days where it felt
44:54
like I was still getting after it pretty good while throwing it
44:59
65 mph. Now throwing it now at 65 mph,
45:04
it feels like I'm just flicking the ball at this point.
45:06
So having that, having that stimulus definitely freed me up
45:10
and made me feel a lot more confident.
45:13
I regret to insert this now. We probably should have talked
45:16
about it a little bit earlier, maybe a question or two before.
45:19
So we're not that far off. But another kind of different
45:23
part of your throwing program that you went through as opposed
45:28
to most rehabs that you'll see is right away you started with
45:32
four day a week throwing and then relatively quickly even
45:36
went to five day a week throwing with optional 6 days getting
45:41
mixed in. How did that impact you I guess
45:46
as you moved on maybe, maybe not so much at the beginning because
45:49
it's all workload management principles.
45:51
You can do that with however much throwing you want, but how
45:55
did you feel that impacted you both physically as well as
45:59
mentally? Did you ever feel it tough to
46:02
add those low intensity or recovery days in?
46:05
And then maybe on the mental side, did that ever help you
46:09
feel a little bit more like 1 of the guys since you weren't just
46:14
showing up to the field and standing with your hands in your
46:16
pockets? Yeah, I would say definitely
46:19
from the physical side, it was tough to start off just going
46:24
right into four days a week. And that that does speak volume
46:27
on on the mental side of things as well of not being as
46:31
confident in yourself and not trusting that you won't re
46:34
injure yourself again. But I will say as time went on,
46:39
it was very beneficial to throw four days a week right off
46:44
because as soon as I added that fifth day, it really just felt
46:47
like any other day. And then having those two high
46:49
intent throwing days and, and the volume that came with it,
46:53
obviously that kind of built up my workload a little bit, but
46:56
also built up my endurance as well.
46:59
It was definitely tough at the start to kind of do those
47:02
shuffle throws and and get AV low.
47:05
But yeah, I mean it, it definitely helped.
47:07
And then on the mental side of things, like it just made me
47:10
even more confident in my ability to throw pain free, but
47:13
then also to kind of let the arm loose a little bit as well.
47:17
Since instead of having to gauge how my arm felt throwing only
47:21
two to three times a week, I was able to gauge how it felt
47:25
day-to-day almost with throwing. And all right, like I just had a
47:29
high intent day yesterday and I feel amazing right now and I
47:33
have to throw like I'm super confident in myself or just
47:36
knowing that my body is able to handle that amount of throwing
47:39
so early on is very beneficial. And then you didn't get stuck
47:43
having to make a transition, which I think a lot of athletes
47:47
kind of struggle with. They're working in these
47:49
throwing programs and maybe it's Monday, Wednesday, Friday for
47:53
the longest time. And then it becomes a really big
47:55
deal when it turns to four days a week.
47:58
And then it's a really big deal when all of a sudden you have
48:03
like a bullpen day versus for you from the beginning, you
48:08
legitimately had high days and low days.
48:11
And then you flash forward to December or January and you
48:16
you've had two high intent days per week literally since you
48:20
started throwing. So transitioning back into like
48:25
a more standard pitching schedule probably didn't even
48:30
enter your mind. Maybe maybe the hitter stepping
48:33
in the box change something, or wearing baseball pants change
48:36
something, but the actual throwing that you experience
48:40
really didn't change all that much.
48:42
Yeah, I really didn't notice the increase of volume or intensity.
48:47
I would say intensity a little bit more than volume, but there
48:51
came a day where I had to, I had to make 100 throws and I'm like,
48:54
geez, I'm already making 100 throws.
48:57
You know, I, I remember the other week and you know, it was
48:59
only up to like 65 or something like that.
49:01
And so absolutely throwing four days a week that early like you,
49:06
you, you really don't realize the amount of volume that you're
49:09
increasing 2 months from now, so.
49:12
We've probably exhausted a good bit of the throwing program.
49:15
Unless you think there's things that were missing that you
49:19
experience. Of course.
49:21
I see it from a sheet of paper, a spreadsheet on a computer or
49:24
something. You actually live it and breathe
49:27
it and feel it daily. But I, I think you did a good
49:30
job explaining it. I would like if you feel
49:33
comfortable to kind of make the transition now to getting into
49:38
game shape again, especially mentally.
49:40
So what that January was like gearing up for the season and
49:45
also probably even going into those first weeks of February,
49:51
maybe the kind of traumatic build up of knowing that seasons
49:56
around the corner, but we're also about to approach my one
49:59
year injury date. Yeah.
50:04
So I want to say that the game last year that I tore my elbow,
50:11
I ended up throwing on that day for inner squad.
50:14
And so that was that was a big day for me mentally.
50:18
There was definitely a lot of doubt in how I was going to
50:22
perform that day, but I think I went out and threw 2 scoreless
50:25
in an inner squad. And so I would say gearing up
50:29
for the season, there's definitely a lot of jitters of
50:32
you throw inside all the time. And as you probably know, there
50:35
are a bunch of hitters out there that make tons of excuses about
50:39
lighting background. It doesn't really.
50:41
Feel like. An actual field.
50:43
So that's why we aren't hitting. But definitely stepping out on
50:48
the mound here at Lindenwood for the first time before the season
50:51
was really exciting but also very nerve wracking.
50:55
But even like even in my first game, hearing my name over the
51:00
radio saying let's get Yonkers going.
51:02
We're thinking about, you know, putting him in in the 6th inning
51:05
here. Let's have him play catch.
51:07
Like the thoughts of doubt start to slowly creep in right there
51:12
and then as you're jogging out to the mound, It's like, all
51:15
right, man, it's go time. But like, are we ready for this
51:18
type of thing? And so I say, I would say that
51:21
this past week was the first time that I was fully confident
51:24
in myself. Wow.
51:26
And didn't have any doubts whatsoever of me re injuring my
51:30
arm or me having a a bad outing. Why do you think it was so
51:36
difficult for you to silence the the negative thoughts?
51:41
Yeah, which I, I do want to make a note of this.
51:44
I ended up getting the win on Friday last week and that was
51:49
one year ago from me being under the knife for surgery.
51:53
And so that was that that was also a really cool milestone
51:56
that I had. But yeah, I mean, there were a
52:01
ton of nights where I would stay up and and just think.
52:05
And obviously, as we know, the human brain can think forever.
52:09
And at some point throughout your rehab and, and having those
52:14
struggles and rehab as well, those doubts start to kick in.
52:18
And obviously there's a couple of bumps in the road throughout
52:21
throwing as well of, you know, you don't have it one day where
52:24
you feel like you can't throw a strike or you can't hit a
52:27
certain number on Vilo. And so I think, I think my
52:31
problem a little bit is I'm a thinker and I love to know why
52:37
we're doing this. Why is it beneficial?
52:40
I just, I just, I love to think. I love to think.
52:43
And so I think that's the, the downside to that is once I start
52:49
to think a little bit too much, that's when the doubts start to
52:51
creep in. So.
52:53
Sadly, you were in a lot of positions to spend a lot of time
52:57
thinking. Yes, yes, yeah.
53:00
I mean it, it's, it's definitely been a battle on the mental
53:03
side, honestly more than the physical, because I would say
53:07
that my body was, was ready before the mental side was, as I
53:14
said before, the doubts creeping in on the first week of the
53:16
season. So now, given your position,
53:20
what you experienced, what might you share with someone else
53:24
that's juggling with a similar situation?
53:27
I would say if you could shut your brain off for a little bit,
53:30
I'd definitely do that. But honestly, just trying to get
53:35
your mind off of it. I have a great group of guys
53:37
that I live with down here and they were very helpful and
53:43
inviting me to stuff even though like I couldn't play basketball
53:46
for a long time or I couldn't go golfing until the summer.
53:51
And so just hanging out with them and being able to get my
53:53
mind off of the fact that I'm in a brace still or I can't do
53:58
certain activities was very helpful.
54:01
But then to also take a step back and realize how far you've
54:05
come, right? Like being under the knife, not
54:09
being able to move your arm because of a nerve blocker right
54:12
after surgery to being able to do a push up again, in the grand
54:17
scheme of things, people may not see doing a push up as a big
54:21
step, But when you're not able to move your arm three months
54:25
prior, like that's a, that's a huge step in rehab.
54:30
Now we're going to act like we haven't had any discussion about
54:34
rehab because we we got to flush that we got to we got to flush
54:38
all these thoughts and focus on the season in the performance
54:42
and really this awesome start you've had to the year.
54:46
Even walk me through that, that first outing down at Pine Bluff,
54:51
you, your name gets called. You talked about being nervous
54:54
when you hear your name over radio.
54:56
But to be fair, you'd probably be nervous if it was your first
55:00
appearance of the year anyways. And you're, you're so excited
55:03
about what can happen and all the work that you put in.
55:06
So when you step foot on the mound, did you black out?
55:11
Did you forget about everything else?
55:13
What does that look like for you?
55:16
I will say that first inning I definitely blacked out
55:19
definitely I think going 123 like, you know, it, it, it felt
55:24
like I was out on that mound for about a second.
55:26
And so I think I had my first strikeout in that first inning
55:31
as well. And so that that felt like a big
55:33
moment for me. But I would say that after the
55:35
second inning, I kind of started to settle down a little bit. 8th
55:39
inning was not the best that I tried to make the game a little
55:42
too interesting at that point. I think, I think for me, I'm a
55:48
big guy who who loves a challenge, right?
55:50
Like if I have to make up a competitive battle in my mind,
55:55
then I will absolutely have to. And so that's one of the
55:59
strengths that I have as a pitcher is to get my mind on on
56:04
the task at hand. And so when I'm out of that
56:06
mound, it it's, it's either I'm blacking out or, you know, I'm
56:11
not actually, but you know, I'm, I'm, I'm coming for your head
56:13
here. I'm going to win this battle no
56:15
matter what. Kind of the Nick Saban mindset
56:17
in a sense. It doesn't matter how much
56:19
better you are than the person that you're facing.
56:21
You are finding a way to get motivation from the situation or
56:26
the, as you said, kind of the competitive edge that's going to
56:30
drive you in this situation. Yeah, yeah.
56:33
And I'm also big on showing emotion as, as you probably know
56:37
as well, you know, you let out a couple of screams and big
56:40
situations. But yeah, I mean, I've, I want
56:44
to have as much fun as I possibly can on that mound.
56:47
And in my mind, me having fun is watching you walk back to that
56:51
dugout. You showing emotion has been
56:53
really interesting for me to kind of like learn and discover
56:57
in this short ish time I've had. Getting to know you, especially
57:02
knowing that this podcast is kind of the perfect example, not
57:07
that you're monotone, but pretty even keeled when you're just
57:11
telling a story. There's not a lot of emoting.
57:13
Maybe we'll get a little smirk or a little chuckle here and
57:17
there, but we're not getting boisterous acts of emotional
57:22
outbursts. And then as I said on Instagram
57:26
the other day, we're here for our weekly AJ fist pump.
57:30
We got to hit our weekly quota and it's so fun to see that you
57:36
kind of can flip the switch or put on this alter ego when you
57:40
go out on the mound and enter compete mode.
57:42
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Like I I've been told a bunch of
57:46
times that I can be monotone, but really like to keep a cool
57:51
head in a lot of situations and not let my emotions get the best
57:55
of me outside of the field, obviously.
57:58
But yeah, when I'm on the mound it, it definitely feels like a
58:00
switch. The switch is on and I'm ready
58:03
to, I'm ready to compete. And obviously in those big
58:06
situations, like if I win that battle, I'm going to let the
58:08
whole world know that I won that battle.
58:11
As you should. That's what makes these things
58:14
fun, and there's probably a small aspect of you knowing what
58:20
you yourself went through and what you've experienced.
58:24
How could you keep that bottled up?
58:26
Yeah, yeah. I hate to admit this, but the
58:29
first week there, they were definitely a couple of tears
58:32
that were shed after that first outing.
58:34
And obviously rightfully so. I mean, that was that was the
58:39
toughest battle that I had to face throughout a year.
58:42
Having to sit there on the sidelines and watch the boys
58:46
that I've gone to battle with for the past three years have to
58:50
do it by themselves and and me not being able to go out there
58:55
and help out the team. And so I'm, I'm, I'm very
58:59
thankful for the support staff that's here.
59:02
I'm very thankful for my family, obviously very thankful for
59:06
Flexpro and everything that you guys have done for me.
59:08
But yeah, I mean, I just, it definitely meant a lot to me.
59:14
Well, I appreciate you sharing that.
59:16
That's that's awesome. And you know, we're honored to
59:18
be a part of your team and whatever capacity that is really
59:22
has been great getting to work with you and the team as a
59:26
whole. And I was even prior to you
59:30
answering that question, going to get to the point of saying,
59:33
AJ, we've kind of covered a ton here.
59:36
I don't know what else there is that's kind of like a perfect
59:39
mic drop response, at least on the whole, I guess the whole
59:45
elbow surgery process. To me that really puts a bow on
59:49
it. So before I do let you go, what
59:53
else are we looking forward to this year?
59:55
Early on we kind of talked about the team goals, what you guys
59:58
are striving for. You guys are finally postseason
1:00:02
eligible this year. So is that kind of the big talk
1:00:07
around the dugout in the clubhouse these days?
1:00:10
Yeah, yeah. I mean, obviously you always
1:00:12
have your individual goals, but at some point when you start the
1:00:16
season, right, like all you're looking for is to get that next
1:00:19
win. And so I would say that my goal
1:00:22
right now is winning next next Friday.
1:00:25
But as the season goes, I would definitely say that one of the
1:00:29
pitching staff's goals is to have that ERA title again for in
1:00:33
conference and for overall as well.
1:00:35
But then you know, as as any college baseball team would
1:00:39
have, it would be to be OVC champs and then to go to
1:00:43
regional after that. You never know what can happen.
1:00:46
That's right, we've seen some Cinderella's make Omaha before.
1:00:50
Let's face it, if you guys continue to do it the way that
1:00:53
you have done it, winning with great pitching and extremely
1:00:57
good defense, that generally plays pretty well in the
1:01:01
postseason. Yes.
1:01:03
So, you know, I'll be rooting for the Lions.
1:01:05
I love what you guys have done and I really love being a part
1:01:10
of the team and it's been awesome to grow alongside you
1:01:14
guys and really develop what we do with you guys because you
1:01:18
were believers early on. So, AJ, potentially the toughest
1:01:22
question. Do you think there's anything
1:01:24
that we've missed that we need to cover?
1:01:26
You know, I, I think there's one thing and I'm going to, I'm
1:01:29
going to see if you remember this, but I do remember you
1:01:32
mentioning naming an RFD readiness protocol.
1:01:38
And that is that is my final question for you is.
1:01:42
Where are we on that? Yeah, if and when will that be a
1:01:46
thing on the app? If yes, it will be at some
1:01:51
point, at least in the literature.
1:01:53
Now I, I don't know if we can put it in the app because to be
1:01:57
fair, I don't know how many people will see Aaron Younger's
1:02:02
or AJ Younger's on something be like, Oh yeah, that's the
1:02:05
protocol I should do. But there is no question we will
1:02:09
find a way whether it's in the in the database or in on the
1:02:15
website or in our materials somewhere.
1:02:19
We will, we will give you a shout out.
1:02:21
You, you have 100% earned that and you have the right to have
1:02:27
your name in the history books when it comes to that.
1:02:30
So yes, I do remember us telling you that you will be a part of
1:02:34
that forever. There's no question.
1:02:36
We share your name and what you have done every time we have
1:02:40
this discussion with someone. So at least in spoken word, it's
1:02:44
already come to fruition. But we will find a way to get
1:02:47
this in writing at some point. So we will say it is not a
1:02:50
matter of if, it is a matter of when.
1:02:53
And I guess we will make sure that you approve of however
1:02:57
we've incorporated your name. Might have to be under the
1:03:00
frequently asked questions on the website.
1:03:02
Why do you do this? And then we'll just put and tell
1:03:05
you what, we'll just put your phone number under Why do we do
1:03:08
this? And you can just tell the story.
1:03:10
Yeah, that'll be, that'll be fun when I get a call at one of the
1:03:14
morning about why we're doing this.
1:03:16
Yeah, yeah, one of our Japanese partners gives you a ring and
1:03:19
it's at 3:00 AM on a Tuesday and you just have no idea what's
1:03:23
going on. Yeah, that would.
1:03:26
That would be awesome. All right, so was that the the
1:03:31
only thing you feel we hadn't covered?
1:03:33
I believe so. All right, so at this point, I
1:03:37
owe you a massive thank you for hopping on.
1:03:39
This was tremendous to hear your story.
1:03:41
I appreciate you getting vulnerable and sharing the the
1:03:45
tougher moments as well as the big victories in your not just
1:03:50
return to play, but true return to performance.
1:03:52
It's been awesome to be a part of and great to get to know you
1:03:56
in the process. And of course, to everyone out
1:03:58
there, thanks for laying back with us and go Lions.
1:04:02
Go Lions.