Latest / Dugout Dish Baseball Recruiting Podcast powered by EMD Baseball / Finding the Right Fit in College Baseball Recruiting — Wesleyan Head Coach Matt Reynolds | Ep. 181

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Finding the Right Fit in College Baseball Recruiting — Wesleyan Head Coach Matt Reynolds | Ep. 181 · Dugout Dish Baseball Recruiting Podcast powered by EMD Baseball

• 0:02
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• 1:11
  Speaker B: welcome to this week's edition of the Dugout Dish podcast. I'm Andy Kirakidis joined by my Wonderful Co host, Mr. Keith Glasser. How are we doing, sir?
• 1:19
  Speaker A: Great. How are you?
• 1:20
  Speaker B: Good. We got another guest on tonight. Excited to talk to this gentleman. I'm going to kick it over to you for the the introduction here.
• 1:28
  Speaker A: Sure. Tonight's guest is entering his second season as head the head ball coach at Wesleyan University. He's only the fourth coach in program's history of 84 years. It's actually pretty wild, think about it. But coach Matt Reynolds brings 22 years of collegiate coaching experience including stops at the Naval Academy, Washington College, most recently UMass where he guided the Minutemen to a 24 win season and an A10 playoff berth in 24. He's a program builder, developer of young men. Someone who leads with a simple but powerful philosophy of classroom competition and community. Coach Reynolds, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for joining us. We are super excited for you to be here.
• 2:06
  Speaker C: Yeah. Keith, Andy, my pleasure. Thanks for having me on excited. Let's do it.
• 2:09
  Speaker A: Absolutely. If you could take just a couple minutes and just run the listeners down of your, your 22 year career and how you ended up at Wesleyan and then we'll get rolling.
• 2:20
  Speaker C: Yeah, sounds good. So yeah, finished up my playing career. I was, I went to the University of Maine out of high school, played two years there for, for coach Costa Koplos and that that comes into play again during my career. Several, on several occasions so. But I ended up transferring to UMass, finish out for Boston South Boston originally. So you know, kind of went a little closer to Home in state, tuition, all that stuff and, you know, finished out my career there. And as it turned out, I had a, because of the transfer, I had a class or two that I had to take to get my degree. So it bled into the fall after my eligibility was up and Coach Stone, who was the head coach at the time, convinced me to come out for the fall and kind of like spoon fed me a little bit of, you know, coaching here and there and, you know, really got the hook in me. And I really didn't know if I really, I didn't know what I wanted to do at that point in my life. And thank goodness he, you know, he gave me that opportunity and really took to it so, you know, was able to. Ended up, ended up staying there, getting my master's degree because I enjoyed the coaching part of it and figured, you know, if I could do a distant, that'd be great. So I was an assistant at UMass for, for three years and then Coach Costi brought me down to Navy. He had gone from, from Maine to Navy during that time. So two or three years into his tenure, I ended up getting my first full time gig at Navy and spent seven years there and five and a half of them were in their military position, which was a really cool experience. And then got my first head coach job at Washington College. Was there for three years, great experience, got a taste of D3 life and you know, Horse would later return to that and was fortunate to get the opportunity to coach at my alma mater at UMass and was the head coach there for the last eight years until this opportunity came up at Wesleyan. It was one where just, you know, after getting a look under the hood a little bit, it was one that I certainly just couldn't pass up, but just thought I could make a huge impact and just a lot of cool things going on here at Wesleyan and then, you know, a great job. I'd always had a huge admiration for the Nescac and the experience of the student athlete at a place like this and, you know, what they go on to do with the rest of their lives. And, you know, I just felt like it was the right fit for me and my family at the right time, you know, and particularly with all that Division 1 is now, you know, from the time I took the job at UMass to the time I left, I mean, the NCAA and the landscape could not have changed more in eight years than it did, you know, with COVID and lawsuits and the, you know, all the things. Right. So, you know, really excited to be Where I'm at right now and coming off a good step forward in year one. Really, really bullish about the future here.
• 4:52
  Speaker B: I haven't heard Kosti's name in a while, and that was one of two places that I visited before I made a decision where I was going to go. And I, I'm convinced that he just invited me up there because we were both Greek. But he, he, he stuck out. He stuck out when I went up there to visit. He was one of two coaches who were willing to take a chance on me after the, after injury I had and crossed paths with him a little bit while we were, while we were coaching and stuff. But, yeah, he's a pretty cool dude and obviously he must have meant something to you to certainly had a part in your coaching career and all that stuff. So, yeah, pretty. Pretty awesome guy.
• 5:33
  Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I would say just outside of my, My own family, who I eternally grateful for everything that they've done for me and for my wife and all the stuff that she puts up with as she's putting the kids down right now. And here we are talking baseball. You know, in my professional life, Coach Cost, he's just done so much. He had a. I'll be quick here, had an unbelievable Wesleyan connection. His dad was here, was one of the four coaches over the last 86 years. And, you know, he grew up on Wesleyan's campus, did Paul. Right. So, you know, to have that come full circle. And he was instrumental in, you know, talking to me about Wesleyan and getting here and everything. So, you know, eternally grateful for his support. And also Coach Dillon was, you know, getting me into it and giving me an opportunity, you know, had two really great mentors coming up that had been doing it for a long time. So just want to give a shout out to both of them.
• 6:25
  Speaker B: Yeah, two Northeast legends right there, for sure. Well, obviously, Wesleyan's unique with the academic standards, the league you guys play in. First question we usually ask is, what's your process? And how do you identify guys? Where do you identify guys? What's that look like for you guys?
• 6:50
  Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's going to be an ever evolving process, but coming into it, you know, my thought was a couple things, and I'm not sure I'll hit on all of them. But, you know, one of the things that we do have to do here is, you know, with the academic standards, we're going to do the circuit of like the high academic showcase. We can't get around it. You can't go anywhere else and find that many academically in the ballpark guys in one place at one time. So that has to be an element to it. The Northeast is great. There's tons. There's no bigger concentration of high academic high schools and prep schools. So we're going to have to recruit this region a little bit, for sure. I also want to do, and I feel strongly about just doing some more traditional recruiting. I like going to travel games. I like talking to travel coaches. I don't want to just get. I don't want to just rely on what shows up at showcases, you know, so there's definitely an element of like the old school recruiting and, you know, being at Northborough and being at Diamond Nation and Baseball Heaven and all the things. Right. And then, then, you know, the other priority for us is to, is to get out of the region with at least some of our class as well, because this is an area that, you know, especially in the high. Gets beat up pretty good. Nobody gets missed. Right. And, you know, we want to spread our wings a little bit and see if we can't get into, you know, we, we took a swing out in Chicago this year. We'll see, you know, what happens there. You know, we've had guys from California. We've talked about maybe going to Florida next year, maybe Texas, you know, you know, just try to, just try to get, get to some places that maybe not everybody in our league is at, you know, so. And then a sprinkle here, a sprinkle there, a sprinkle in another area, and then there you go, and then you get your class. So that's at least the plan for now, and we'll see what works and we'll, you know, continue to reevaluate year, year after year here?
• 8:34
  Speaker B: Everybody's obsessed with the timelines, right? And I think that, I think a lot of the rules that have been put in place have. I think they've been really good, right. The new contact rules. I think it's for some schools to slow some stuff down. I, I think it's given some kids a chance to focus more on development, not worry about taking phone calls and I gotta text this guy so that we can set up this phone call. And all the stuff that you've certainly dealt with in your days trying to, trying to recruit the Nescac is a little bit of a different beast. And I'm not sure it gets talked about enough. But can you talk a little bit about your timelines and like, some of the dates that matter to you as you are either identifying, compiling, Your list and then really getting into kind of the nitty gritty of can this kid can get into school and all that kind of stuff. That's obviously going to be really important at a school like, like Wesleyan. Yeah.
• 9:30
  Speaker C: So I think the big date for us across our conferences is July 1, when our pre reads can come out the conference. A unique conference rule. Right. So, you know, that's a big day for, for a lot of schools. You know, we can, of course we can talk to youngsters. Right. We can talk to 28. Now, you know, some of those other Division One rules don't really exist, you know, really, because they don't. They don't need to exist in Division 3. But, you know, I think one of the things I've noticed is it's very much class to class. Like you're not sitting there recruiting your 27 class and you're already into your 28 class and you know, trying to organize 29. It's just like one, one class at a time. The, you know, I think a priority. I don't want to speak for any other team in the conference, but I would imagine that our priority for all of us is to try to get our classes done by early decision one. And everybody's got a little bit, you know, different things that they call it, but, you know, so that's another big one for us is just, you know, November 1st. Ish. We want to try to be wrapped up, if not like a lot sooner than that. And that was, you know, we were able to do my first day, official day Last year was September 1st and we had to put the class together pretty quickly. Right. Like, so, you know, Coach Lamborn had been out and he'd been recruiting for Wesleyan but obviously with the uncertainty of what's going on, like, I didn't, didn't really know. You know, there's nobody committed at that point. Here we are, September 1st. Now if I was at UMass, we would have been like, you know, flip the case open and have two fingers over the panic button. Right. And we were able to put together a really, really strong class that I really, really love. And I can't wait to get them on campus. So, you know, the timing of it is little bit different. But, you know, and I would agree, I think this is what you were alluding to a little bit is, you know, some of those rules have, have I think helped us a little bit in terms of just the talent that's still out there late in the summer and into the fall and, and you know, and it's just, it was really reassuring for me to put together the class that we put together given the, the crazy timing of things last year. It's like, okay, like this, this is going to work. And, and you know, we don't have to go crazy, you know, July 1st and try to force a class in. We can take our time a little bit.
• 11:51
  Speaker B: The academic world, we've talked about this on the pod and it's such a fine filter because if you are, if academics is really driving the ship, which, if you're going to go to a school like Wesleyan, like, it's obviously been a priority, you know, for the family and for the kid. When you start to look at how many spots are available that check the boxes at a school like Wesleyan would check, there's not a lot of schools and with these roster cuts, just the competitive nature of it, like, and I think you and Keith had talked about this just before I hopped on, but I think that, I think the high academic baseball world is just going to continue to elevate itself, specifically at the D3 level because, you know, you're only looking at maybe 70 kids in the Ivy League, you know, maybe another, you know, 35 or 40 in the Patriot League that are non service academy kids. And then you've got your smattering of other schools like Davidson and Georgetown and GW and Fordham, but the list is small. Are you starting to see a little bit of that play out where there's some really talented kids that are going to be accessible to you that may not have been accessible at the Division 3 level a couple of years ago because of some of the roster changes and some of the rules changes.
• 13:14
  Speaker C: 100%, 100, like, no question about it, you know, and that was one of the things going into last year that, you know, I was really, you know, confident about and that was affirmed. No, no, no doubt about it. And you know, I think, you know, one of the, one of the things that we as a coaching group in the nescac, you know, of course we're all looking out for our own programs and we all want to win championships and get our team better, but we're also excited about where the conference is going. The conference is getting, has, getting, has gotten a lot better over time and is continuing a huge upward trend in baseball. And I, and I compare it to, I think baseball is a little bit different because of the amount of schools that sponsor baseball in Division 3. And you know, but you, you look at lacrosse in, in Division 3, like, I think six of the eight teams in the Elite Eight in lacrosse were NESCAC schools. You know, men. The same thing. Our rowing team just was national runner up. Our men's basketball team has been as high as number one in the country in the last couple of years. You know, like, there's. There's a reason that I think a lot of the programs in this conference and in the high academic world keep getting better and better because, you know, it's. You know, the cost of school is crazy, right? People more and more, they want to make sure that they're getting a return on their investment and if they can. And the talent pool is growing because of some of the rules. Right. So, you know, there's. It makes complete sense that our conference is going to continue to get better and better, and the players are out there for us to. To do so.
• 14:48
  Speaker B: It seems like every year we look up and there's somebody in the high academic world that is knocking either in the World Series or knocking on the door or playing in the super regional format that we kind of have now in Division 3. And I don't think that that's a coincidence. I think there's just limited options for those kids. And there's a ton of. I mean, we run around like I was up at the Boston Open for. For three or four days this year, and it's just crazy to me how many kids are running around up there and, you know, mid early July that are uncommitted, that are 85 to 88. And, you know, back in, when I was coaching 14, 15, 16, those kids weren't uncommitted at that point. It was a little bit different. It's refreshing to see because I think it's allowed coaches to do better evaluations and get kids right. But I also think it's just kind of a testament to where baseball is now. I think maybe not everybody's a better ball player, but some of the physical talent that I see out on the road and stuff, it never ceases to amaze me that, you know, you walk to a regular high school game and there's some really good players running around.
• 16:00
  Speaker C: Yep. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
• 16:04
  Speaker B: Obviously, you got to sift through some. Some pretty exceptional kits, right? Outside of the baseball, in the academics, which obviously didn't declare that hurdle academically and then be good enough for you baseball wise. How are you separating kids in your process to figure out if they're a fit for your program?
• 16:27
  Speaker C: Yeah, so we'd like to talk about three pillars. Keith had mentioned it out of the bio. There and, you know, it sounds a little bit hokey, but like, that's. That's something that we really look for when we are, you know, inviting, you know, giving people opportunities to come into our little family here. Right. And to get. To get into that a little bit more. You know, obviously there's the academic piece on the way in that has to be there, but there's also the academic performance piece that really means a lot to us when. When they're here, you know, and I like to use the analogy of, like, there's these three buckets, you know, there's the classroom bucket, there's the competition, and, you know, your athletic bucket, and then there's like the community and character bucket of you. Can we get kids that have those really, really full to the best of our abilities, because that's what means a lot to us when they get here. Right. You know, so within that, the academic one is. Is. Is in really good shape upon arrival. Like, we have to get really good kids. There's no question about that. At UMass, I could have gotten qualifiers in, you know, if I wanted to. We purposely went after really good students because of what I felt like that meant about them as human beings and, you know, as teammates. And, you know, that wasn't the whole part of the picture, but it was certainly a big part of it here. Luckily, we're doing really well. We have a 316 GPA. Of course we're going to get good kids academically on the front end. We want to get the highest character guys that we possibly can. Good teammates, selfless, you know, on board with our team goals first and foremost, you know, above all else. And guys that want to give to the program, you know, and be a part of something bigger than themselves is a huge thing. Of course, we try to get the best talent we can. And within that specific bucket, the thing I find myself talking to kids about the most is because of the Division 3 rules and because of the NESCAC rules specifically, we have to get athletes that want to. That have the internal drive to be elite athletes and meet their elite academics with their. With what they're doing from a training standpoint, we have to have that, you know, that's going to be the difference maker in our conference because we spend a lot more time not around our guys on a mandatory basis than we do with them. And that was. That's a big change from where I was at before in the Division 1, you know, fall model. Right. So we can make a plan. We can help them, we can Meet with them, we can mentor them, but at the end of the day, if they don't have that intrinsic motivation to like, I want to be the best possible athlete I can be, and it's okay to say you can be an elite, elite athlete and be an elite human being and be an elite, you know, student, then, you know, those are guys that are going to have success. And those are guys that, if you can create a group of those guys, that, that's, that's where you get a real team from. That's where you get a team that's greater than the sum of its parts, particularly in the nascar. Right. Because there is a lot of time that we don't get to spend with them that you do at, at other D3s and, you know, particularly at the Division 1 level.
• 19:29
  Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That hit home. That hits home with me. With my experience at Vassar, that making the climb from pretty bad to competitive was almost 100% due to getting the right kids, like getting the right young men in the program. And it was kids who knew they were going to get a really good education, but they were, they were athletes at heart. So it wasn't like pulling teeth to get them in the weight room in the off season. They wanted more. They, they, they looked forward to. They're showing up early to practice, they're getting their work in without us asking them. And that was the biggest difference. Yeah, we got some better players because we, we tried to get out and, and really find some talented kids. But it almost exclusively came down to having some guys in the program who were going to take some people along with them. And it wasn't always kids that played. Like, we had some guys who didn't play that I could point to that were major difference makers in our program because they cared so much about the process, they cared about the weight room. We never had to worry about them in the classroom, and they were able to bring some guys along. And I think that's. I don't know if that gets spoken to enough. And I'm glad you brought it up because I think it's such a difference maker when you're building programs, especially at schools where so much is expected of these kids.
• 20:59
  Speaker C: Yep. No question.
• 21:02
  Speaker A: I hate the not being able to meet with your kids at the Division 3 level. I think that that's. I'm glad you brought it up because it's something that, if I was commissioner of college baseball, I would change the model of the Division 3 level to at least allow you to meet with your players to check in on them and see how they're doing. But like, by rule, you're not even really supposed to do that. But I think that like, that intrinsic motivation is, is paramount at the Division 3 level because you don't have the amount of touch points with your kids that you do at other levels. And you need them to actually be able to go do things on their own and be motivated to do it, to be as good as they can possibly be. I just, that was one, that was one of my bigger adjustments when I went from into the Division 3 world of coaching of like, we don't, like, there's no Indies, we don't have like three hours a week to like, I can't meet with them three days a week and just hit or do something. And it's still, you know, it's still a rule, but it is like. And it's not just about the, the skill acquisition. There's more to it than that. It's being able to meet with them, it's being able to talk with them, make sure that they're doing everything they need to do academically. There's a lot more to it than just, you know, a. It's Division Threes and it's tough at school. Like, yeah, it is tough at school, but these kids also chose to come here to play baseball and not use it as a hobby. They're here because they want to be as good as they can possibly be. Let's give them the opportunity. Not saying you need to be three, like you could, you can find two hours in your week to hit or throw or do whatever with your coach, but the coaches want it because not just again, from a skill acquisition standpoint to, to have a pulse on your team and the kids and what's going on because, you know, especially the younger guys and I always found this to be tough. You're freshmen, you know, you guys, you, you guys have 10, right? In the fall, 10 days.
• 22:56
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 22:57
  Speaker A: When I was coaching, it was only 16 before they made the rules. We had 16 days like your freshman. As much as you have a relationship with them coming in. And it's different ish when you are coaching them and they don't really get a feel for you as a person until I felt like midway through, like the spring where they finally start having an idea and understanding of, you know, how Coach Glasser is and what Coach Farish is like and how this program is kind of run because they don't, you don't get that snapshot. You don't get Enough of it in the fall. It is just a snapshot of what that is. And I just, you know, like I said, if I was the commissioner, I would change it. But that's the one, the one thing that I think people don't realize at Division 3, and it's not, it's not a downside by any stretch of the imagination. I think being intrinsically motivated is huge, regardless of the level you're at. But it's the one thing that I always disliked as a coach is I didn't have that. I didn't have extra time to be able to check in and make sure my kids were doing well. And, you know, yeah, if we can get better at baseball, awesome. But sometimes kids just need to sit and talk for 30 minutes about what's going on in classes, kicking their ass, and they need to vent a little bit. And, you know, I think that that's something that we need at that level.
• 24:11
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 24:11
  Speaker C: And I would say to that, like, a couple things. One, it has resounding support from the student athletes when they made the change from no fall in the, in the Nescac a couple years ago to the ten dates. Like, it's, it is. There's no question that the student athletes are totally on board with it. The other thing is a lot of our teams do better in season academically that we did. We do just as well academically, if not better during the spring as you do in the fall. So there's no drop off there. And lastly, if you were to do an analysis of what they're doing with their free time. Yeah, they're, they're pressed in the classroom. There's no question about it. Like, it's not easy. But to your point, can you find two hours? Can you find four hours? I'm sure they're doing plenty of things over the course of time that would be much more productive, you know, being around their teammates and developing themselves physically. And also to your point, like, us having another touch point with them, you know, to kind of like, hey, something's wrong with this cat. Like, let me dig in on this a little bit. Like, it doesn't look like it's, it's going well for him. You catch a, a mental, you know, illness, not illness, you know, a guy that's, you know, depressed or something is wrong with him and you can intervene, you know, and you can help them. So, you know, I think there's just way too many positives and I would be shocked if we don't continue to expand that over time now how long that takes and how many more days, that's another debate. But I don't think it's going backwards because it's just, it's positive across the board.
• 25:34
  Speaker A: Yeah, I think the kids want it. Like they're there. I used to make this argument all the time and I'm glad you brought up the GPA thing. We were probably a 3, 2 in the fall. We'd be a 3, 5, 36 in the spring. Every year, year in and year out because your time is managed for you. And it's like, well, I have four tests next week. I need to start studying two weeks out instead of in the fall. Like, we're done, it's November and I only have to lift twice this, you know, three times this week. So I'll study. And then before you know it, it's like, well, I didn't study, I'm cramming. But it's, I just. They're, yes, they're there because they want the world class education. And all three of us currently and or in the past coached at super high end academic schools. Yes, they like, they want the education, but I think when you're in this world and you're working with the student athletes specifically, you're recruiting kids, at least you hope you are. And the more you do it, you, you, you, you do a better job of it, but you're recruiting kids that can handle it, that can handle being a student athlete at your school, in your program. And those kids that you're bringing in want that extra support. They want that extra touch point. They want to be able to walk in and be like, hey, like I was hitting the other day with Joe and this is what I felt. And it's, you know, theoretically you're not supposed to say anything but like, yeah, man, let's talk about it. Sure. You're putting in the time, energy and effort. Yeah. Like they want to be as good as they can possibly be.
• 27:09
  Speaker B: Right.
• 27:09
  Speaker A: They want to be as good. Like they have the tutoring and everything else available to them athletic or academically. Why don't we give them a little bit more? Not saying we go to the Division 1 model and have 35 days and a million touch points, but you can't tell me that we can't find for, you know, an extra six weeks, you can work two, two hours a week. And you know what bothers me in all of it is like we generally said, not we, but the upper echelon of people will sit here and we'll talk the student athlete experience. And how important it is and how. What all the things we have to do. But you bring this up and it's like, no, we can't do that. Then we're not really enhancing the student athlete experience. We're trying to help these young men and women be better, and not only in their sport, but we can teach life lessons through our sport, and we can talk about this stuff. And maybe that kid that is struggling, that's a freshman who doesn't really want to come in and talk to me, is a lot more confident in October or November talking to me about it than waiting to the end of the semester and being like, hey, I really struggled all semester long. I didn't feel like I could come in and talk to you, or I didn't really know what to do. Like, I leaned on my older guys to be like, hey, like, I need you to keep an eye out for our younger guys. Like, if you get wind of anyone struggling, like, I need to know. And it shouldn't. My point is, it shouldn't be that way. It should be led by the people who are leading the. The programs of saying, like, hey, this is what we're going to do.
• 28:34
  Speaker B: Let's.
• 28:34
  Speaker A: Let's make sure that everyone's okay and everyone's doing all right, whether it's academically meant, whatever it is. But you can do all of that by adding just a little bit more. I'm not asking for, you know, eight hours a week. I'm asking for two. That's all. And I'm coaching anymore. But I. I will scream this from the rooftops. And hopefully I do it all the time, and hopefully someone eventually listens to this podcast and it'll come through.
• 28:58
  Speaker C: I'm counting on it.
• 29:00
  Speaker B: Matt, you alluded to guys, your. Your team performing better in the classroom during the season. I have my hypothesis here, but why do you think that is?
• 29:13
  Speaker C: Yeah, I. I just think, you know, I think he said it a little bit. It's like, you know, you know that you have a bear of a schedule in front of you, so you. You just. You have to prioritize more, right? You have to think about what it is that you need to do and when you need to do it more. And, you know, I've always felt like, you know, some of my most productive days. I don't know who said this at some point. It's probably my parents or my grandparents or something, but, like, the old adage of the more you do, the more you can do, right? And, you know, if you're just used to that, you know, and you've got a lot of things on your plate, you know, you're, you're forced into being more productive. You know, A lot of the times I, I think some of my, some of my, the busiest days I've ever had in my life in terms of things on my plate, you know, it brought the best out of me, you know, and some of the days where, where I have maybe a little bit too, you know, too, too much time to decide what it is that I need to do or some of my least productive days at times. So I think it's just as that I really do.
• 30:09
  Speaker A: If you're the parent of a high school baseball player with college aspirations, you already know the recruiting process can feel overwhelming. Endless showcases, non stop emails and big promises with very little clarity. That's why we recommend Diamond College Showcase Camps, the nation's premier academic baseball showcase. At Diamond College showcases, every college coach in attendance is there with a purpose to coach, instruct, evaluate and recruit. Every player is seen, every player is engaged, and every family leaves with a clear understanding of where they truly stand. This is not a mass camp. College coaches run the drills, evaluate every athlete and provide honest professional feedback that you can trust. Diamond College Showcase Camps are built for serious student athletes who value both baseball and academics. If you're looking for transparency, clarity and a recruiting experience that respects your time and your players future, Diamond College Showcase is the place to be. To learn more, visit diamondcollegeshowcase.com
• 31:11
  Speaker B: yeah, I always found as a, even as a player that this structure just to your point, like, it just forces you to dial in like, okay, we're traveling this week and I feel like I have to get this done ahead of time. Like you don't have the luxury of, of kind of letting things draw out and. Kind of on that same, that same wavelength in terms of like the academics and handling it. How do you, or what types of tools or I guess people do your players have access to to make sure that they are able to balance the two and excel in both areas? I mean we've talked about these are some pretty exceptional kids, but it's not easy doing what you're asking them to do to excel as a baseball player and as a student. How do you try to set them up for success and what tools or resources do your guys have access to that help them excel in the classroom?
• 32:10
  Speaker C: Yeah, so I feel very, very fortunate that we as a department, you know, me as a coach, and we as an athletic department are not nearly as involved in that as we certainly were at the, at UMass. Like, I can't speak for all of Division One, but I, but I think that that is, you know, your, the academic support within an athletic department is way more prominent at that level than it is at this level. And that's not a lack of resources. That's, you know, the people on campus are doing such a good job of that and our professors are so available and the professors are teaching the classes that, you know, they're not being taught by TAs and the classes don't have 350 people in them and you know, like that, that academic connection. And I would also say the, the culture of Wesleyan is such that they really, truly want everybody to succeed. It's not one of those, it's an elite academic institution, there's no question about it, but it's not one of those elite academic institutions where it's like cutthroat amongst the students of, you know, if you get an A, that means I'm getting a B and you know, I can't have that. You know, it's like, you know, everybody can get this education, everybod benefit from it and they really wrapped their arms around you if they feel like you are not, you know, succeeding. And a couple of the tools that are in place, one is as simple as just, you know, from my standpoint, I tell our guys like the, when we have scheduled regularly scheduled meetings, which we do multiple times during the year, you know, I'm carving out a half hour for just you as an individual. That means I'm going to have, you know, 40 some odd half hour meetings and do it multiple segments over the course of time, which takes a lot. You know, sometimes it takes two, three weeks to get through the whole team and fit it in your schedul. I'm just telling you, when you sit down in my office, the first thing we're going to talk about is how you're doing in the classroom. And that doesn't mean that's like a special level of support. It doesn't take much for me to do that, but I'm just forewarning them like that's important to me. I want to make sure that when we talk about our wins and losses, you know, with our alums and fans and wherever else, like I can talk about our GPA and, and you know, most importantly that you as an individual are getting the most out of your experience here and you're not leaving anything behind. So, you know, and I think the other part is they have a really good system of Wesleyan does of alerting. You know, it's. It's not. It seems like, punitive in the way it comes across via email, but it's really, you know, when it was explained to me, it's. It's really just like a safety net that's in place where if there's anything that seems to be going awry in the classroom, I'll get an email. The athletic director will get an email, the kid will get an email. It's like, hey, like, this is just. This just looks like a little bit of a mini red flag here. Like, we're checking in on you. You know, here's what we're seeing. Here's what we've seen in the past from other people, and here's where it's gone. You know, we want to catch this right away and just like, hey, like, what's going on here? Is there something wrong? How can we help? You know, and it's not a you're in trouble email. It's a. It's. It's a supportive email of, like, we want to make sure that before you dig yourself a hole, like, we think you might be going down a little bit. You know, not a great path here. Let's. Let's intervene. So, you know, thankfully, those systems are really in place. And I think that I g. Credit to our campus of the reason why our team is as successful as they are and able to balance both of the things.
• 35:32
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's. I'm glad you're able to elaborate on that. I think you picked out a couple things that I think they go unnoticed sometimes. Like when you look at social media and you see all the stuff that's going on at the SEC and the acc, I think there's these sweeping assumptions that get made that. That everybody's cutthroat. This is a business. If you can't help me get out of my program, hit the transfer portal. When the reality is most coaches, just like yourself, care immensely about the success of the individual broadly, and that you. You kind of harbor responsibility that my job is not just to win games, obviously, you want to win as many games as you can, challenge to win the NASCAC title, all the stuff that we've talked about. But you have a responsibility to those kids and the university does as well, too. And I think it's really cool that, one, that it matters to you, but two, that the. That Wesleyan as a whole has that set up where you're not going to let these kids get too far off Track because it is so important and it's understanding that that's a difficult environment to be successful. And we get asked this question all the time from parents who are pursuing schools like Wesleyan is, well, how do we balance it? Like, it's not high school, you know, it's not a 25 game high school schedule where you play Tuesdays and Fridays and you don't play in the fall. It's a year long commitment to excellence in both areas. You know what is in place. And I think what you just articulated, I think encompasses a lot of the support and the expectations that are provided at a lot of these schools. And I think it's just good for people to understand that they want kids to be successful, you want your kids to be successful, the school wants the kids to be successful. And I think that sometimes that gets lost in the conversation. And I'm just glad you're able to walk through how it works at Wesleyan because it's such an important part of the experience. Because across college baseball, not many of these kids are going to go make money playing baseball. And the stuff that they learn, getting up when they get knocked down a little bit, figuring out how to get them on the right path again, like that's kind of what it's all about. And the longer I was in coaching, the more I realized, like, oh, wait, that that's kind of what you're driving at. No matter whether it's wins or losses or having a good practice, like, it's all kind of built towards when these guys leave, they're ready to go to the next phase of their life and they're going to be really prepared to do it.
• 38:09
  Speaker C: Yeah, you're here.
• 38:13
  Speaker B: We got this wild rise in technology with all the different tools and resources that, that folks have. How much do you lean on that for evaluation of players these days? And then how do you try to weave it into your program from a development perspective?
• 38:36
  Speaker C: Yeah, I guess, you know, first from the recruiting side of things, it's, you know, I think most coaches would tell you this. It's a part of the equation. You know, it's. I think it's important to have, you know, it's important to have available for your players. It's. I, I don't think it should be ignored from a recruiting standpoint. It's also equally as important to not rely on it too heavily. You know, it's, it's like anything else. It's, it's just getting, finding that right mix that, you know, works for you and your program, both from a recruiting standpoint and what you're looking for and also, you know, from a, from a player development standpoint. So, you know, that was one of the things that we kind of had to implement here is, is there really wasn't, you know, any existing technology. We, we got a Rapsodo, you know, the new pitching, hitting, Rapsodo. And we were, you know, kind of getting into that a little bit and you know, we've got, I've had in the past, I've done a couple different things. We had a trackman the last couple years of UMass and we had Blast Motion and I think we'll continue to spoon feed that into the, the program. But you know, early on I, I think it was kind of a spoon feeding thing because again, like we referenced, you know, we got 10 days in the fall. It's like we can't spend a whole heck of a lot of time, you know, on Blast Motion and like talking about, you know, your, you know, your, your, the, the, the angle of degree that your, your bat launches from and you know, stuff like that. Like there's, there's a prioritization part of it that has to be there. And one of the things that this experience has, has taught me and, and I dealt with it at UMass for sure at the Division 1 level. It's like even then with the amount of, you know, like infinitely more practice opportunities than, than you have right now, you're still dealing with that because there's so many things that you could be doing that's like, what's, what do we have time to do? What's realistic, how is this going to help us and what's the best use of our time when we're, when we're developing players and, and that's a fight that, you know, increasingly today I see kids struggle with that all the time. It's like, holy cow. Especially on the pitching side of things. It's like we get guys, we had a couple guys that came in and it's like, all right, what's your free throw routine? And it's like, okay, I'm gonna, you know, I have this beach ball I work with. I have plow balls, I have 27 bands. I have this. I'm like, man, we're 50 minutes into this thing. You're dog tired, sweating your, you haven't thrown a baseball yet. Like, we got to figure something else out. Like, you know, so it's like you can't do it all. Even though everybody try to press you to, you know, to use my thing and. And do this technology, it's so important to you and your program, so, you know, a balancing act. For sure, there's definite value. It's just, you know, trying to figure out what's important to you and your program and how to implement it in a smart way where you're not being counterproductive.
• 41:17
  Speaker B: Yeah, it seems like we get, at least, I think, from like, a student athlete and a parent perspective, a lot of times we. They get fixated on, like, the really tangible things, specifically in the recruiting process, like, if I get to this velocity, can I pitch at this school? If I run this 60, can I play at that school if my exit velocity is this? And it's always an interesting conversation because, yeah, there's certain numbers you kind of need to get to, but as you know, there's way more that goes into that evaluation process for you to figure out, like, where do I think this kid can be? And that's always an educational point on our end. And it's always good to hear coaches kind of articulate that, like, yeah, it's important, but there's more there. There's more there from an evaluation perspective, but there's also more there from a development perspective. And I don't know if you have any thoughts on that, but. But, I mean, we've all recruited guys that fell below that velo threshold on the mound that we just. Hey, I really liked the way the kid moves. I think the breaking ball's a pitch that's got a chance to be really good. I'm not so worried that he's three or four miles an hour below the guy that we usually recruit, because I feel like that kid's going to be there. But that's always a hard conversation to have because of how fluid the recruiting process and the evaluation process can be.
• 42:41
  Speaker C: Yeah, Yeah. I mean, it's. I. I certainly understand it from, you know, how. How if you are a family that's, you know, you've got your son or your daughter and they're going to college for the first time, you're going through this whole landscape for the first and only time ever, right? And you're trying to figure it out, and things are happening really fast. If you look at Twitter and. And some other thing, like how. How could you not become obsessed with some of these numbers? It seems like it's the most important thing. It's at the header of everybody's X account, like, their exit below time. They're, you know, like, as if that's, you know, the end all be Also, it's certainly something from a publicity standpoint for them that's in their face all the time. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's. It's, you know, certainly not something to be obsessed about. And it's a. It plays a role. That's it. But we've all been coaching long enough to have guys that, you know, have 10 mile an hour, less bat speed and would not impress you on blast motion, but they can play the game, you know, or, you know, same thing on the mound. Right. They get way more out. This guy throws 94 and. And can't figure out how to get it out. And my, My main man, who's 82, 83 and knows how to pitch and can change speeds and, you know, doesn't have an ego about himself, is, you know, he. He has 18 appearances. And the other guy, you don't even like throwing in an inner squad.
• 43:55
  Speaker B: We've. We've all had those guys. It's such an interesting game in that respect. Like, I remember being at William Mary having some guys who were like really high velo guys that. But just couldn't get anybody out. And then we had some righties who were like 85, 87, and it was like, give me that dude in a high leverage spot, because I know he's going to compete, he's going to throw strikes, he's going to manage the running game. And it's kind of the nuance of it, but I think the way the game's evolved that I understand why the fixation's there. Because, you know, you turn on college baseball now and shoot, I've been talking to guys all summer and it's like, like, I know Nescac. It's not odd to see righties who are 88 to 91 week in and week out, where, you know, that's just kind of where college baseball is right now. So I get the fixation of it, but it's always an interesting thing, having been on the other side of it, that there's so many different ways to be good in this game and to be a contributor and be a valuable part of a program.
• 45:00
  Speaker C: Mm.
• 45:03
  Speaker A: You still gotta play the game, Andrew.
• 45:05
  Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That's what I've been told. Still gotta play.
• 45:08
  Speaker A: You gotta play the game. You still gotta get outs. Like, that's. I think that's one thing that gets lost in the sauce when, when it comes to recruiting. And everyone gets. And like you said, Matt, like, it's in everyone's Twitter bio and you see it on from PBR and perfect game. And I mean, hell, we're seeing guys that are apparently 14 years old throwing one sixes to second base. Like, I don't know how that's true, but sure, whatever. But like, that's also in. I've, I haven't said this in a while, so I guess I'll do it tonight. Like, the pop time is so overrated. It's the only metric you can put on a catcher in a showcase setting. You get to college, you might, you might only throw twice, you know, and if the guy's a 19 to the plate, you don't have a shot of throwing him out. So it's like there's too many variables that when you're actually playing the game to quantify what that number actually means. So like you said, like, you're going to catch 200 plus balls. If you can't catch the ball, no one is putting you behind the dish to catch. Like, it's in your job description. You have to catch the ball and if you can't do it, you're not going to be back there. I don't care. You could be a 1 2. I. Yeah, it's great. You can't catch the ball, man. I don't know what to tell you. You ain't throwing anyone out from the backstop. The one two. I think I don't, like, I don't know what that means again and that.
• 46:40
  Speaker B: But I think, like, my point is,
• 46:41
  Speaker A: and I, I'm making a, a mockery of it for, for argument's sake, but you still have to go play. And I think that that's something that a lot of people get lost on in this process of like, what is my metric? And if I get to this number, what level does that mean? Like, I don't know, like certain coaches value different things. Can you play this game at a high level?
• 47:02
  Speaker B: Can't.
• 47:03
  Speaker A: When the ball is hit to you, can you field it and throw it across them and get the guy out in a way that you're actually going to throw them out, Not Crow hop 17 times from shortstop to throw. Try to throw it as hard as you can because your arm is going to be hanging by game three. And you're probably not going to throw anyone out because it's a 5:2 for you. And everyone's getting down the line a lot faster than that. And I think that that, like, not only does that get lost, the speed of the game gets lost. All of those things matter to college coaches when they're Watching. And I think that if you can't play it, if you're not going to play at a high level, it's, you know your metrics. Like, it's a foot in the door. We talk about it all the time. Like, yes. Are there certain things that you can do? Like, yeah, I'm going to go watch. Watch. But it has to show up when I show up to watch you play. If you're going to be a 109 exit V, like, you better hit the ball hard when I show up to watch you play. But if you swing on the same plane, there's no adjustability. You can't hit a breaking ball. It's going to be hard. What am I going to do, hit you?
• 48:00
  Speaker C: In coaching, right? A coach coaching friend of mine that made a joke one time was like, man, like when, when baseball evolves to, you can put a tee on home plate and you can go ahead and up there and hit it off the tee. And we really, we're going to be really excited to get you at that point because you can do that really, really well. So, yeah, always laugh about that one. But if they could quantify, you know, if, if they could quantify, like heart, hard work, character, you know, dedicated, like all these others, I'd much rather if they could quantify those things than, you know, how hard you hit a ball off of a tee, that would be. Then I would be really into the, into the metrics.
• 48:43
  Speaker A: No, I had, I was talking to a family the other night and it was one of our clients and he said he brought up something about his exit velo. And I was like, was it off a tee? He was like, yeah. I was like, okay, you're 16 years old. When's the last time you played a live baseball game with a tee on home plate and the pitcher wasn't trying to get you out? It was like, I don't know, five. I'm like, okay, so like, what, what, what, what does that tell me? You don't play T ball anymore. Like, There's a dude 60ft 6 inches away who's going to could sink it or cut it or throw a snapdragon slider or have a really good breaking ball or a change up or you can locate in and out. Like he's trying to get you out. That, that's the whole point of this game. So like, while the numbers are, are all well and great and again, like, it, it gives some semblance of something. But like, and we've all. And here's the other thing. That I. I think that we don't. We don't talk about enough on this podcast or as coaches when we do this stuff. We, like, we've all been burned by kids that are metrics darlings. Like, we've all fallen in love with a kid who has super high eggs at V, who has a really good 60, whose arm is clean and works and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you put him in a game and it's like, he can't do it. He can't hit, he can't field, he can't. Whatever it might be, he can't pitch, whatever it is. And conversely, we've all have struck gold on kids that you were just talking about who are. Who have heart, who are super tough, who are just gonna figure it out, who. They might never be an all NESCAC player or an all Liberty League player, but they're a kid who plays for four years and is a super productive member of your team because they just want. They just want to be better than whoever is in front of them, and they work their ass off for it. And then you, like, you watch it and you're like, that just elevated my team. Like, I have four or five other players that got better because of that kid. Not because he's a metric starling or anything else, because he's super tough and wants to be good. And Pete, like, it's infectious with people where we've been burned. Like, I've been burned by metric starlings. I've fallen in love with kids where I'm like, oh, look at this swing. Like, it just jumps off the barrel and.
• 50:50
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 50:51
  Speaker A: And then you put them in a game. It's like, you keep telling yourself, like, this is the famous line. Like, it's in there. It's in. I've seen it. It's in there. It's just a matter of time. Time. And, like, if finally you reach the point where you're like, I. I just. I. I can't do it anymore. I. I don't. Like, I know it's in there, but it just doesn't come out, how do we. And then you go down the rabbit hole of how do we get that out? And it becomes you're still trying to get the kid better. I'm not saying that we dump the kid, but, like, we've been burned by it, thinking that we're gonna get a. A far better player than what actually shows up because we solely focused only on the metrics and not taken more of a holistic approach of can he actually play. And I think the pendulum is swinging back in some regards. But, you know, I caution everyone, even whether they're clients or you just listen to this, like, don't fall in love with the metrics piece and only chase that, because I think it's fool's gold for the overwhelming majority of people. Like, you know, because I think if. I think if we sat down and we had an honest conversation, and not just with you, but like, with. If we had 10 coaches on here, here, you're going to get 10 different answers for what they value, what they think is good. You know what I mean? Like, there's no, there's no nailing it down, you know, unless you. If we're talking the SEC and you want to be like, yeah, no, like, everyone hits over 100 and they all throw 95. Like, okay, it's a different animal. But like, at most, at the overwhelming majority of college baseball programs, you're going to get 10 different answers of, like, you know, like, I value this. This is what we value. This is what we believe in. And it's. It doesn't mean either one is right or wrong. You're just going to get. It means they're going to recruit a different kid based off of what they're seeing and what they value. And I think that's a super hard part for people to understand that it's not just solely based off of how hard you throw or how do you hit it. Sorry, that was long.
• 52:47
  Speaker B: What? The transition to college is always a difficult one.
• 52:53
  Speaker C: 1.
• 52:53
  Speaker B: What do you think are some of the steeper learning curves for kids from a purely a baseball perspective? Right. Obviously, there's stuff that kids need to get accustomed to when they get to school, like Wesley, but you've been doing this a long time, whether it's Navy, whether it's UMass, Washington College, Wesleyan, like, what are you. What do you see that seemingly are the things that trip kids up when they get to get to college? Coach, Purely from a baseball perspective,
• 53:26
  Speaker C: You know, I think some of the things is probably a lot. You know, one that comes to mind right away on the pitching side of things is guys being, you know, prepared for the volume. And I don't mean the volume of live game pitches. I mean the volume of what it takes to train yourself over time to build stamina and to build velocity and. And all of that. And, you know, unfortunately, many of them, particularly in their sophomore junior year, it's like, when they're on the recruiting circuit, they don't really get an opportunity. And I Get it. I, like, I get it. I'm on the other side of it. So I, I get why they're not in a very good routine because, you know, they're getting pulled in every direction. They throw two innings here, they throw an inning here. Yeah, I gotta throw for camp. I throw it, you know, I throw twice and, and two days at this event or whatever. And like, you know, so it doesn't lend itself. The, the landscape doesn't lend itself very well to, to being in a good routine, but, you know, being. Being able to get into that and, and being able to. To. To be trained up enough to train at the level you need to train at, to be really, really good, you know, and, And I think that a lot of them, you know, they come in right away and they, they kind of like, like hit a wall because they're not able to practice and train at the level because they're not coming in with that, like, enough of a foundation to keep. To physically keep up with what they need to do to get better, you know, So I think that that's a really important thing that, that, you know, kids need to realize, and I think that they are more and more is like, you know, we're definitely getting more and more guys that are familiar with the weight room that have been in good, you know, in good hands in terms of what they're doing with their strength conditioning. But, you know, I. That is something that definitely, you know, will trip some guys up and really it just slows down their growth process because you have to go to. It's like, now you're into remedial work or you're sort of the point where you can't throw, and it's like, okay, well, I can't get better if I can't throw. Well, you can't throw at this level and at this volume if you're not, you know, developed and so forth. So that's one thing I think, you know, certainly the stuff and the velocity, that's an adjustment that's at every level. Like you're. Whether you're going from, you know, the highest level travel ball and the best high school team in the country, and then you're going into the SEC or the ACC or you're going from, you know, high school ball to the Nescac or whatever it is. Like you're, you know, you're going to. As a hitter, you're going to face better arms, you're going to face better command, you're going to face better stuff, you're going to Face pitchers that have a plan against you, you know, So I think that that's certainly something, you know, and again, that comes down to like a training environment too, of like, you know, like there's some times where we're really gonna, like, we're, we're gonna push you as a, as a, as an offensive unit. And we going into it, like, we know we're gonna see a lot of failure today. You know, it's not overwhelming. It's not, you know, we're gonna be, we're gonna try to set it at the right level where like our best guys can have success off it more often than not. But there's going to be a drop off somewhere in the middle of. And then there's going to be some guys that really, really struggle on that day. But, you know, it's, it's a velocity that we need to be able to hit or it's a breaking ball we need to be able to hit and you know, and I think deal hard on some guys, particularly the ones that come in and it's like, you know, I remember distinctly some guys, you know, at every level, UMass Navy, you know, Washington College here. It's like, you know, there's some, there's some guys that had some pretty bad days, particularly offensively. Like, you know, the, the training environment we had set up in that particular day did not bode well for them. And it was a tough day for them to deal with because they swung through six breakers in a row and they had this hole in their swing where, where, you know, I knew what was about to happen and they didn't. And then it happened to them and it was like, it was like a real wake up call of like, okay, like. And you know, so those are some things, but that's all part of growth, right? Like that, that failure piece and, and you know, really challenging yourself and finding out you really do need to get to another level. You know, that's, that's all part of it as long as it's, you know, handled well and it's, you know, not overwhelming to the point where they don't want to show back up at the cage the next day kind of deal you.
• 57:34
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think it happens at some point with just about everybody, whether it's an arm or whether it's, whether it's a hitter. Is that at some point that freshman fall or maybe sometimes it, it h. It has to happen in the freshman spring. They have a moment of where they're so used to being the best, right? Most of the kids who go and play college baseball, they're usually one of the better kids and they generally have had pretty good amount of success before they've gotten there. And at some point, there's that day where it gets really hard where to your point, like, it's four punch outs and it's just not really competitive, kind of from start to scratch, start to finish, or the kid who is used to stuffing on people, you're, you know, you're, you're senior who's got 350 college of bats under his belt, alley wax, a couple middle, middle fastballs that most high school kids swing through, and that pitcher has a moment of like, oh, I can't do that anymore. How those kids bounce back from it is usually the biggest indicator of future success because at some point it's just going to get hard. And like, that kind of goes back to the beginning of the conversation where you were talking about character and toughness. And I think that that's the type of kids who can go in there and fail and be okay coming back from it, like you said, and they show up the next day with the same type of vigor and focus and kind of an understanding of. Right. Like, that was tough, but like, I just got to get better. Those kids usually end up kind of figuring out how good they can be.
• 59:09
  Speaker C: Yeah, no question. You know, that that's a huge part of, of that character piece that, you know, you can, you can talk to as many coaches as you want and you can, you can gather as much information as you possibly can in that regard. But the reality is we recruit a lot of guys, we see a lot of baseball, we try to do the best we can with, with that stuff, you know, with, with talking to coaches and, and gathering information and feeling like we got a beat on guys. But at the end of the day, like, you know, a lot of times you really figure that out when they're on campus, you have an idea. But you know, the guys that are, you know, separate themselves, to your point, are, are the ones that can roll with those punches and understand it's part of the process and, and just not let it be a defeating moment for them. Them. And that's, that's, that's an attitude thing, that's a toughness thing, it's character thing. A lot goes into that. But, but unquestionably the guys that do that well have a much better opportunity for growth than, than the guys that don't do that. Well
• 1:00:10
  Speaker B: said. Last question for you. Could you impart a little wisdom on the listeners, student athletes, fans, probably not. Well, if you had any pieces of advice that you would like to give about the recruiting process to the listeners, now's your time.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker C: Oof, man, there's, there's a lot of meat on the bone there. See if I can come up with something that's actually helpful. Boy, oh boy. I, I, one of the things I'll say just, just to start with, and I've said this to a lot of families, like you get some families on campus sometimes or you have some con, but particularly when you visit because you know, most of the time if you're on the phone or you know, occasionally on Zoom too, but you know, you're just talking to the kid. But occasionally you'll have a family on campus and you can, you can just tell they're stressed out, like they're done with this process. They're, they're so ready to have, you know, have this over with. It's not been enjoyable for them. And I get it. You know, and like I said before, a lot, most of these families are going to it, going through it for the first and only time. And it really does happen fast. You're like, okay, you know, I'm, you know, from the time you were born or you know, whatever the, the time they start playing baseball, you know, you might have a seven year old, I have a seven year old right now and he's, and he's talking about, I want to be a baseball player. So you'd think, okay, like, okay, seven to like 17, that's 10, that's a 10 year Runway. You know, that seems like a lot of time, but, but really this, that little period of that recruiting part of it happens so fast for some people. You know, they make a jump or they get seen at the right place or they don't get seen and they don't make a jump and they're struggling. And then like, you know, it's, it's just, it's all compressed so much on them. So I totally understand how stressful it is and I'm very sympathetic to that. And it's easy for me to sit here and say like, just, you know, there's a right fit for everybody and some of the stock answers that go out there and there's some truth to that. I, you know, know, I suppose. But you know, I think one, one of the things, if I could boil it down to one thing, like don't, don't get so obsessed with the recruiting part of it and where you're going to while you're in the process and forget about just getting better as a baseball player. You know, the amount of times we hear kids, like, you know, talk about exposure, I, you know, and I, I need to be here. I need to be there. I need to be at this place. I need to go to every single event. You have to balance that out with. With getting better, with developing. You know, like, for some people, exposure is bad. It's the bad type of it. You're being exposed. Right. That's not good exposure. You know, like, remember to, you know, along this process, like, you have to train, you have to develop. You have to show coaches that, you know, you, You. You're capable of putting £10 on when you're 100 and, you know, when you hit your growth spurt and you're six foot three and you' £60. Well, don't, don't be six foot three and £160 for. For the next 24 months, right? Like, that's. You got to be able to develop. So, you know, I think that's just one of the things that really stands out is just, you know, we just see that a lot of guys that are just. They're just out there showcasing and showcasing and showcasing, and it's the same dude every single time you see him. And it's like, you know, man, that some of this time could have been spent maybe putting yourself in a little bit better position to showcase at the right time and. And maybe being in a little bit different place than they are at that point.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker B: Great advice. Well, Matt, appreciate you. Appreciate the time you gave us. I know you're a busy man. Got you guys coming on campus, trying to get that recruitment class pulled together. But really appreciate you coming on today. Look forward to catching up with you. I think we'll see you again this fall. So looking forward to that. But thank you again and we'll catch up soon.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker C: Absolutely. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for what you do. This is, you know, a great opportunity and love the fact that you guys are. You just keep gaining followers and one after another here and talking baseball. I'm glad there's an audience out there that will listen to me. There's. There's not too many. So I appreciate the opportunity. Awesome.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker B: Thanks again, man. Thanks everybody, for listening. Thank you for listening this week. If you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and hit that subscribe button and smash that, like, button for us. Check us out on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, as well as Spotify. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram @emdbaseball if you want to find out what me and Keith do to help families and players navigate the recruiting process, go ahead and check us out on emdbaseball.com take a few minutes to check out our new online academy. I promise you'll get some good information out of that. Thanks again for listening. Check in with you next week.