Latest / The Layback Podcast / Chris Domke, Ohio State RHP (Ep. 101)

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Chris Domke, Ohio State RHP (Ep. 101) · The Layback Podcast

0:00
What's up everyone? Welcome back to the Lay Back
0:02
podcast. Joining us today is junior in
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the classroom, sophomore on the field, Chris Domke of The Ohio
0:09
State University. Really excited to have him on
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today, talk about his journey through rehab and the excitement
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surrounding getting back on the bump now for the 2026 season.
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So we're catching him a little before the season kicks off.
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And this episode's actually going to come out the day before
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the start of the D 12026 season. So we'll, I guess asking him to
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share a few projections, maybe a couple guesses, couple hot takes
0:42
and something for us to latch on to for the Buckeyes coming
0:46
forward. But Chris, thanks so much for
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joining me today and please take it away with the bio from here.
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Yeah, Adam, I appreciate you having me.
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Yeah, what he said. Junior in the classroom, red
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shirt, sophomore on the field. Obviously that's not how I had
1:01
it planned, but God works in mysterious ways.
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I'm originally from Cleveland, OH, went to Youngstown State my
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freshman year, had an up and down year, learned a lot of
1:11
things, met a lot of great people that helped me along the
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way. Coaching staff left, entered the
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transfer portal, was fortunate enough to commit to my dream
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school of The Ohio State University for my sophomore
1:24
year. And yeah, went into the fall,
1:27
tore my UCL. You know, things happened, a lot
1:30
of things happened, but it ended up being a really good thing for
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me because I was able to learn a lot, do a lot of things to my
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body to be able to be back to throwing at a high effort.
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And now I'm just looking forward to the season, so really excited
1:47
for it to come. Wonderful.
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Well, we'll kick off the story from there.
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And as you know, I'm just here to kind of help you share some
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tips and tidbits from along the way.
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But even going back to maybe your start in high school,
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Chris, I look at your bio on whether it's Ohio State or back
2:08
in the Youngstown days, and I see things that just say you
2:11
were second team all district or second team all league.
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I guess like for an athlete from Ohio to be now kind of as highly
2:20
touted as you are, really not having some of the crazy
2:24
accolades that you see on most players coming out of Ohio.
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Patting myself on the back and sounding like a little bit of an
2:30
arrogant prick here. But I mean, I was Allstate
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coming out of Ohio and I went to a small school in Florida.
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You went on to D1 school and now D1 school in Youngstown State
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and now I think most Ohio kids dream schools in Ohio State just
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being a second team, all league guy.
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As a senior, were you a late developer or how How did
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everything kind of play out back in the high school days?
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Yeah. So honestly, my before high
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school days, around the 8th grade freshman year, right
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before COVID was leading up, I was a pretty highly recruited
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guy. Not, I won't say recruited, but
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I was ranked in the pretty, pretty high area.
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You're sought after. Sought, I was sought after as as
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a young freshman made varsity my freshman year right before COVID
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happened. You know what in the PBR was
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throwing 8384 miles an hour as a young buck.
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So I was pretty highly recruited kinda.
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And then I ended up hurting my elbow.
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Actually, that ended up pushing me back a few months, which
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ultimately LED for me to fall behind.
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And what was actually crazy also in high school was I was viewed
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as a hitter first on my high school baseball team.
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I mean, we had a loaded pitching staff when I was there.
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When I was a freshman, we had Tim Baird, who was a senior at
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the time, committed to Ohio State.
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Gavin Jones, one of my best friends, committed to Alabama.
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Now I can stay. We had Jake Mahalik, my teammate
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here at Ohio State, committed to Ohio State.
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We have Brady Sass, the Lido pitcher.
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That's that's five Division One pitchers.
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And that doesn't even include the other pitchers we had on the
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team. I mean, we had got, we had the
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ERA record when I was a freshman, Tommy Lake.
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I mean, we had pitchers, crazy pitchers and the hitters were
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kind of the ones that were lacking, right?
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I'm so when I was first started in high school as a freshman,
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they wanted me on varsity strictly as a hitter, 1/3
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baseman, which I hit a lot when I was younger.
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Now if you put a bat in my hands, I mean, that's obviously
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what would happen. Not nothing good, but basic,
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yeah. So basically I was focusing a
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lot on hitting and not a lot on pitching.
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Now summer ball a little bit different.
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The coaches that I play for, the organization T3T3 Warhawks, they
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they ultimately saw me as a pitcher in the end goal.
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They saw everything. So I was getting my development
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pitching from them, but then also focusing on hitting.
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So all those all those accolades, second team and stuff
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are actually me being a hitter, not a pitcher.
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So I did pitch my junior and senior year for high school and
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my senior year was probably a little better than my junior
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year. But ultimately I was kind of
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focused as a hitter through high school.
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Playing college baseball was always in the works.
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So I realized I had to start pitching more.
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That's where I met my 1 baseball trainer Ben Simon who is my
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advisor now and what he he's done for me is some crazy work.
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Basically going through high school I had zero division
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offers as a sophomore I I was going on a few visits but
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wouldn't get the offers going. Going to some Med schools like
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Ohio Bowling Green and stuff like that.
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But no offers came up until my senior year fall, which is
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ultimately when I went from kind of 8586 still as a senior to
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jump in into the 8889 pretty effortlessly range.
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And that's when Youngstown State came and offered me.
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And as a guy wanting to go to Division One, I was, I had a lot
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of division two offers, but when Youngstown State came, I was
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obviously like, that's a Division One school.
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I think this is a great opportunity for me to just go to
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a school that's not well known, work super hard, outwork
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everyone and maybe open some doors for me down the road.
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So ended up committing there and right after I committed there,
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actually, I made another pretty big jump going from 89 to 92
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into my senior year, which led me to have some success on the
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mound in high school, but ultimately still playing third
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base, playing pitching, it was it was a lot of mix.
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So that ultimately led to those that accolades being that great
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in the second team, but but ended up pitching in the summer
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just for my summer team a couple times and then going into that
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young style fall like ready, ready to 1 transfer my body,
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transform my body, put some muscle on.
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I was a pretty skinny kid and just kind of learned to be a
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pitcher only for the first time in my life.
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So that ultimately led to some set success there.
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And yeah. Yeah, And Speaking of success, I
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know statistics don't always paint the perfect picture,
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especially at smaller schools. Really I I hate getting too deep
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into ERAS at mid majors or D twos or schools that I know kind
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of have limited pitching Staffs because they're trying to get
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the most out of every single guy that they think can help win a
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game. So you go look at your stats and
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I mean a 9 ERA is not something to write home about, but what is
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something worth kind of speaking on is 20 plus appearances your
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freshman year and you getting significant time at the back end
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of games. Obviously Youngstown State
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believed in you and saw something special within you to
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get that many appearances. Now, when I was going through
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your statistics, one of the things that I found kind of
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amazing is you were going back-to-back first or second
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weekend of the year. So this is a kid that barely
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pitched in his high school career.
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Yeah. You had some time and travel
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ball games and then all of a sudden you're down at College of
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Charleston or at Georgia Tech and you're going back-to-back
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nights. That had to be not just a
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difficult physical adjustment, but probably mentally for you to
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walk out on the mound and I guess go into full on compete
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mode to get the same hitters out that you got out the night
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before and just try your best the next night.
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Because it looks like in most of those outings, maybe I hate to
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bring up bad memories here, but it looked like night one went
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pretty well in most of those outings.
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And night 2 might not have been so hot, but I, I'd love if you
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could kind of talk through, I guess, the learning curve that
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came with that opportunity that you were afforded your freshman
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year. Yeah, I had no idea what I was
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getting into being in the back end of the bullpen.
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Whenever I pitched in high school, I was, I was starting.
9:34
I was starting. I started on my summer team.
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And then, yeah, a boom right into the bullpen out it.
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I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how my arm was
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going to feel the next day. But yeah, bringing up that
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second weekend at Charleston, I remember it pretty clearly.
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I went in, I think it was on Friday.
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On Friday it's I think 2 innings.
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I was 9092 and maybe touching the 93.
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I, I think I was pretty dominant that first game and then second
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game BP rolls around. I'm like kind of shaking my arm,
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not not feeling great. It's a high leverage situation.
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I think my second college appearance and my pigeon coach
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comes up to me is like, you're good to go today, right?
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And I said, yeah, I'm going to be, I'm not going to tell him
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no. And just like that, I think the
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7th inning rolls around, Donkey get get down to the pen.
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You're you're in in an inning. So I was like in and in ink,
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right. I'm used to do going through my
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whole routine before I pitch all this stuff.
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So learning to be a bullpen arm. I was like, wow, I'm just going
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to start throwing, start throwing.
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I'm like, I'm not feeling too good, but the adrenaline starts
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to kick in. So I'm feeling fine.
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Get out on the mound. I think I walked three straight.
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Fastest fastball is probably like 88 that day and I get
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yanked and I'm like, wow, like college baseball just hit me
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really hard, really hard. Trying to get over that learning
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curve is it's tough because it's like you got to figure out how
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you can recover and make sure your body's okay to go
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back-to-back days, especially when you're not used to it in
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freshman. And something I tell our
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freshman at Ohio State right now is is like really take take
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advantage of all the resources that they give us.
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I mean, they give us everything to make sure that our bodies are
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OK. So, you know, pitch been
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back-to-back days or to stay healthy.
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And it's just such a big adjustment from going from from
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the guy to being a like a starter or whatever in summer
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ball to coming in and being a reliever, especially on a team
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that's not winning a lot, right. And I'm throwing back-to-back
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days. And then Georgia Tech happened
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again. I think back-to-back days again.
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And I mean, Youngstown State trusted me a lot.
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I, I definitely earned, earned the role of I think I ended up
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becoming the closer, but I ended up earning that role through the
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winter because I would come in and shut the door.
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And then the fact that I would go in, walk a few and get
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pulled. It's like, do they even trust me
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anymore? That was part of the struggle
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is, you know, just forgetting those bad moments and then going
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into the next week and thinking, you know, I'm the man.
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And I think as the season went on, I started to learn that that
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it doesn't matter if I blew blew a save or what not, but as long
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as, you know, you trust your stuff and you're good enough.
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I mean, I ended up I think my real turning point was actually
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pitching here at Ohio State when I was at young stuff, say, which
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was my best outing. I wasn't even supposed to pitch
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that game, but I I earned the closer role.
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So we were down I think five runs that game and we were
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running out of pitchers, actually the pitchers that were
12:47
able to throw. So they're like, all right,
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Chris, go down in the bullpen. You're you're going to have
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you're going to have the inning if we don't get mercy rule.
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I think I think it was at that point and we ended up coming
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back a little bit. So I'm getting hot and obviously
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it like this is Ohio State. I'm feeling pretty good.
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I'm in I'm 9294. It's up 6 down.
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From that point on, the confidence is like, look, you're
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a really good pitcher and all you got to do is just throw
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strikes and believe in yourself. From that point on, it was like
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it was almost clockers almost like a change in me that caused
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me to be able to learn about that bullpen roll and just come
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into the game and just like dominate from the beginning of
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the season to I think that was probably 3/4 through the season
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through that point. It was, it was like I was the
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whole new pitcher and I it really helped that I had a lot
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of good guys at Youngstown that helped me talk through it.
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Like I'll go back. Jake Gearing, he was our Friday
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guy. He was a transfer from Ohio
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State to Young S State, a guy that I talked to today.
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He has the Youngstown State pitching coach job now.
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I think he's one year out of college, which shows you how
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knowledgeable he really is in the sport.
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Like he was probably one of the biggest guys that was helping me
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through it. I mean, he's a junior, I'm a
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freshman. He's the Friday guy.
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I'm coming in after him because we had a really up and down
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pitching staff. But he was someone who really
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helped me kind of get over that mental block of when I have a
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bad outing. Like you're, you're a good
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pitcher. They trust you.
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Like they kind of view you as the second arm on our team right
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now. And that's why I'm piggybacking
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him. And I mean, what he did for me
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was tremendous and learning all that stuff.
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It's just, you know, being a new pitcher, having the confidence
14:40
on the mound, it goes a long way.
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Something I want to spend a little bit more time on is not
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just the recovery work that you mentioned, but rather focusing
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on the prep work that goes into being ready to be a bullpen on.
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You talked about that first time you're getting asked to go
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back-to-back in, the Velo is 4 mph down.
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You just pick up a ball and start throwing because you don't
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even know what to do from a routine perspective.
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Now, a guy that has really taken on the identity of a back end
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bullpen guy, force at the end of the game to come in and shut the
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door. How have you changed or altered
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your routine to be ready at a moment's notice?
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Yeah, so it's all about, it's all about doing your pre work
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before the game and staying loose during the games.
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What I ended up doing was I get all my stuff.
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I would treat every day like I was starting a game right before
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up to the game. You throw up to the game like
15:42
your start and then you're cooling down, right.
15:43
But what I would do was periodically, every two, two or
15:49
three innings, I would kind of go through a quick circuit of
15:53
all right, I need to keep make sure my hips are loose.
15:55
So I'm going to go do a little bit of hip mobility while I can.
15:58
I'm a jog down to the fence. I mean, you see pitching steps
16:01
do that all the time, keep the legs warm.
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But the main thing for me was my upper body.
16:05
I mean, I'm a pretty stiff guy. It takes a lot for me to kind of
16:08
get into it. I would stretching my PEC on the
16:11
dugout wall every inning. My lat I would quick band
16:16
routine that you could go run through right when you get to
16:19
under the bullpen, little plyo ball routine.
16:22
I'm basically what I do like when I when I had some short
16:26
notice was I would probably do 5 reps of my J band routine really
16:30
quickly, which would take about two minutes.
16:33
Throw my plyo balls a little bit.
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I'm already stretched because I've been doing it in the dugout
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the whole game. By then, your adrenaline really
16:41
kicks in. There you go.
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Your your velocities back up, you're feeling nice.
16:45
So it's it's all about just not losing focus during the game.
16:50
I know a lot of guys will just hug the rail, kind of lose, lose
16:55
track of time. And then you're pitching coaches
16:56
like I get down to the bullpen, start getting hot and you're
16:58
like, like it's time to go. But yeah, I mean, I I really
17:05
learned that, yeah, at the back end of my young Youngstown State
17:08
career. And then, you know, in summer
17:09
ball, I was in the back end also.
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So, you know, practicing those tendencies really helped a lot.
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And then got the call to come to Ohio State.
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Had a really good, really good impression right off the bat.
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And it was like it was looking like the bullpen was no more
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competing as a starter was it was kinda in reach before my
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injury. I know I had a few outings in
17:36
the fall where I was completely dominant.
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And, and yeah, I mean, we'll see.
17:40
We'll see what the future holds for this this spring.
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I know on Sunday I'm throwing 4 innings, which is the most I've
17:46
thrown since high school. So we'll see.
17:50
We'll see how that goes. But no, it's, it's all about,
17:54
it's all about learning up from when you're a freshman, you're
17:57
even a sophomore. So just learning every aspect of
18:01
what is going to get thrown at you because one day you could be
18:04
starting the next time you're in the pen and it's like you don't
18:07
have time to adjust. For me, fortunately, an up and
18:09
down year didn't stop me from going to a bigger school.
18:13
But I mean, people, people get cut for having 90R as and I know
18:17
that and I never wanted to have it again.
18:19
And making those adjustments was just was great.
18:23
And now I'm comfortable throwing in any part of the game.
18:26
I'm comfortable starting a game, I'm comfortable coming in long
18:29
relief. I'm, I'm comfortable coming in,
18:31
you know, in the 8th inning, 9th inning because I've been through
18:34
it all now. So it's been, it's been a
18:36
journey for sure. Before we go into that first
18:41
fall at Ohio State, I still want to talk about this preparation
18:44
concept. And we we talked about the
18:46
specific game prep, but now you mentioned kind of converting to
18:51
that starter role, getting ready for four innings in an inner
18:54
squad this coming weekend. And then mentally you being
18:58
prepped to throw in any possible situation that your coach or
19:02
your team could ever ask of you. Has that changed the way you go
19:07
about your throwing plans or your offseason work as well to
19:10
prep for these potential situations knowing that you
19:13
could be thrown, as you said, literally at any time?
19:17
For sure. And one thing I will that I've
19:21
I've started prepping, especially this year is I throw
19:25
a baseball hard every single time I play catch.
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Now, obviously I'm definitely sore after my live or my game
19:32
day or my bullpen day. But being able to make your arm
19:37
move fast every single day is crucial to the point where if
19:41
you're going to throw in back-to-back days, like you need
19:44
to get your arm used to doing that.
19:46
And that also helps you when you're going longevity too,
19:50
because if you're always throwing hard, what's crazy is
19:54
this is my advisor, my pitcher coach was the one who was
19:57
talking about this was, you know what you throw hard every day,
20:01
your arm will actually feel better because you're you're
20:05
altering your mechanics to ultimately slow down your
20:08
throwing. And I mean that that made my arm
20:12
more sore, especially. And I'm not saying hold down
20:15
every day. I'm just saying, you know, put
20:18
the ball on a line into a target.
20:20
Every single time you throw, throw with intent so you're not
20:24
changing your mechanics and that that right now has put my arm in
20:28
great shape to be able to throw 4 innings or if I need to throw
20:33
back-to-back days. I threw a bullpen yesterday that
20:35
was probably, I want to say around 30 to 35 pitches.
20:40
I was working on pitches. My arm feels great today, like I
20:44
I feel like I built up perfectly and playing catch with intent
20:48
every day is just made my arm in condition to be able to throw in
20:53
any of those aspects. Now you know, seasons coming up
20:57
I'm I'll probably figure out my role in the upcoming days.
21:00
If it's a starter, it's a starter.
21:01
If it's long relief, which that's what I'm guessing based
21:05
off of what I'm building up as, But I'm going to be ready in any
21:09
situation because the way I've way I've trained my body,
21:14
trained my arm to throw this past winter after my injury was
21:20
I'm going to throw hard every time I touch a baseball.
21:22
So I'm going to be ready to start a game, relieve a game,
21:26
come out of the pen throwing back-to-back days.
21:29
Yeah, that. But then also you got to figure
21:32
out what recovery aspect is going to allow you to maybe
21:37
throw in the back-to-back days. What I've done over the week is
21:42
after my live day, I'll get needled and that really just
21:46
clears all the inflammation in my forearm.
21:48
And then after my bullpens I get cupped.
21:51
And then any days in between, if that's combo, ultrasound,
21:55
scraping, anything. You just got to find what works
21:59
for your body, which is which. What works for me might not work
22:02
for my teammate or any other person, but that's what the
22:06
years of going it back and forth like freshman year, sophomore
22:11
year, what whatever works like you, you got to figure it out
22:14
for your own body. Being able to one condition your
22:17
arm to the point where you could throw hard at any time is, is
22:22
the first thing. But then second is just your
22:25
work in the training room. And it's not all in the training
22:27
room, right? Like you got to do your
22:29
strengthening exercises after you throw every single day.
22:32
I mean, flex pro every single day.
22:34
Just maintaining that strength is the biggest thing I believe.
22:38
It sounds like if he isn't already, Nick Martinez might
22:41
need to become your favorite pitcher.
22:43
If you're taking on this every single day, whatever role
22:46
mentality, you might need to learn a little bit more about
22:50
him and just become his super fan.
22:52
Before we move on, I want to state what you were talking
22:56
about in Throwing Hard Every day, maybe in the more not
23:00
necessarily clinical terms, but the fancier terminology will
23:04
move it towards which would be you forced your body to
23:09
acclimate to the stress that you placed upon it.
23:12
That really is the purpose of workload management.
23:16
It's not to limit an individual. You don't have this relationship
23:21
with throwing, especially even coming off of an injury where
23:24
you're really trying to limit how often you throw hard or
23:27
limit your exposures to high intent work.
23:30
You saw that you had a breakdown somewhere in the process, and
23:34
the only way that you're ultimately going to be prepared
23:37
for what this game throws at you is if you take it head on.
23:41
Yes, you needed to likely build up to being able to throw hard
23:46
every day, and I think you did state that eloquently.
23:49
You have the terminology within you.
23:52
The way you approach it is I need to throw hard every day,
23:56
But of course you provided the qualifiers.
23:58
You don't need to pull down every day.
23:59
You're not trying to set APR every day, but this purposeful
24:04
intent behind the throws helps you accumulate the necessary
24:10
stress to say I did what I need to do so I know I'm ready when
24:14
my name eventually gets called or I know I'm ready when the
24:17
lights come on on February 13th I think is opening day if I'm
24:22
not mistaken. So I appreciate you sharing your
24:26
own kind of personal relationship with that workload
24:29
side of things. Now let's move forward to the
24:33
fall at Ohio State. You offered some of those
24:35
teasers you were working towards being a starter, pretty dominant
24:38
in the fall, it sounds like. And then ultimately we run into
24:42
the elbow injury. So let's break this down a
24:46
little bit, give us the details. You talked about a good fall.
24:49
When did things kind of blow up for you?
24:53
Yeah, so I'm we can start right at the beginning.
24:55
Get that, get there in the fall. You got you got some big, big
24:58
names in the locker room, right? Like you got the Tyler
25:02
Petterini's on the Phillies. I mean, Landon Vital Cheese is
25:06
just there as the Friday guy. Everybody in Ohio know who knows
25:09
who that is, right? Gavin Bruni drafted this is a
25:12
big spot. And me coming in that locker
25:15
room with the guys that are still there, which I think there
25:18
wasn't that many guys that were still there, but but I mean, it
25:21
was a pretty high standard, right?
25:23
Everyone was pretty upset when their coach left.
25:26
But for me it was like like no one, no one's going to
25:31
disrespect me from coming from Youngstown State.
25:33
And we were the worst team in the in the country.
25:36
Like if you go to look at my stats, we just went over that
25:38
not good stats. So why is this kid in our locker
25:41
room, right? I kind of have that mentality
25:44
where it's like I got to prove myself that I belong here.
25:47
I mean, coaches could just bring you in, you don't perform, boom,
25:51
you're gone. Now I'm shipped off to a JUCO.
25:53
I do not want that to happen. I want to be here.
25:55
I want to make a name for myself.
25:56
Put my head down and worked. Ended up throwing really good.
26:00
I, I want to say I threw 2, two or three lives.
26:04
I didn't let up a hit. And I think the only hitter that
26:07
got on base was I hit someone barely, which I was pretty
26:12
intentional, right? Oh yeah, intentional.
26:14
But I think that was the only, the only hitter I allowed.
26:19
But our pro day, I think I faced 7 hitters, struck out five of
26:22
them was 9194 the entire time, the entire fall.
26:27
So, you know, I'm, I have, I'm on top of the world, right?
26:32
Like the best fall I could have possibly had, killing it in the
26:36
weight room, have a ton of confidence.
26:39
And then I think it was around. It was right after our pro day
26:43
threw a bullpen. Something didn't feel right.
26:46
Saw the doctor. They're like, oh, you're good.
26:48
Pronator strain. Rehabbed it for a week, started
26:52
throwing again. This shoe was still there.
26:55
Coach T Robb was like, all right, time to get an MRI.
26:58
We don't think anything's wrong. Let's just get it to make sure.
27:02
Boom comes back fully torn UCL and I was shocked.
27:06
I was shocked because I was able to throw through the pain that
27:11
was happening. It was just there and it was
27:12
just soreness and and stuff. And I was just expecting, all
27:17
right, let's shut you down for a couple weeks, build you back up.
27:19
We'll be all right. But yeah, no, I, I remember, you
27:23
know, if it was after practice, I think there was a couple
27:27
people left in the locker. I think it was actually just me
27:29
and Chase Harrell in the locker room.
27:31
And he comes and he's like, hey, T Rob needs to needs to talk to
27:36
you. So I was like, all right, he's
27:37
going to tell me like, you know, shuts you down for a week,
27:41
builds you back up, thumbs in. And he says I'm a fully torn UCL
27:45
and starts going over the options with me.
27:47
Says he's called my my advisor already.
27:50
And I was, I just remember my heart sank.
27:53
I was like, wow, this is something I wasn't expecting,
27:57
especially after having the fall I just had where I'm looking
28:00
like a starter. I just remember, you know, he
28:04
was consulting me. He said he's going to take care
28:06
of me. Ohio State's going to take care
28:07
of me. I think the first words that
28:09
came out of my mouth actually were am I going to be on this
28:12
team still? Because they can easily just
28:14
throw you off to the side. But I mean, the staff really,
28:17
really made sure that you don't care for me and stuff.
28:20
And so everything's going to be OK.
28:23
I think I saw hair about a minute after that.
28:25
He gave me a hug. Said said it's going to be a
28:28
long process but you know you're going to take care of business
28:31
and so they are. That happened.
28:33
Had my exit meeting with them. All it was crazy though was I
28:38
think I had like 5 or 6 pro meetings after that and I told
28:41
him I was like I just had Tommy John surgery and I'm having my
28:44
zoom calls with my sling on and stuff.
28:46
Pro teams wrong. Honestly very supportive too and
28:49
said we still want to meet with you, you.
28:51
This is not the end Tommy John surgeries.
28:54
The chances of you coming back are extremely high.
28:56
So was able to meet with them, but then also went into my exit
29:00
meeting with the coaches. They they're praising me for
29:03
praising me for like the chemistry I brought to the team
29:06
and all the like. Not being a Debbie Downer.
29:10
I guess you know, I could easily said my season's over, dragged
29:15
around the locker room, dragged everyone down, but you know, I
29:19
was supportive. I was in good, good headspace.
29:22
And, you know, they praised me for that.
29:24
And I was like, right after my meeting was about over, I was
29:27
like, can I just know what you guys kind of viewed me as like
29:31
as as this fall went? And they were like one of the
29:34
six that we're going to compete to be a starting starter.
29:37
And I was like, oh man, that's that's my dream just to start a
29:40
Division One school. That itself and that
29:43
conversation itself led to me pushing myself as hard as I
29:48
possibly could for a full year to come around to just
29:54
completely transform myself and be ready for when my my name
29:58
comes. So process goes.
30:02
Put on a ton of muscle I put on, which I praise my strength coach
30:06
for it because he was putting me through some crazy workouts, but
30:11
put on a ton of muscle, got more mobile and just cut my spirits
30:15
high. But the mentality aspect is you
30:18
can't get down on yourself. I'm going going to rehab at 7:00
30:22
AM on Friday, Saturday while they're while they're traveling.
30:27
It's hard. You don't want to get out of
30:28
bed, but you just got to keep thinking to yourself about your
30:33
goals and what you want to do. And that's what I did.
30:36
I was like, I don't want this to be an end because there's always
30:39
a part in your head once you have a major injury like that
30:42
where it's like I may never return to my old self again.
30:46
I may never even throw again and all my life I wanted to play
30:50
professional baseball and I want a chance in it and it would kill
30:54
me if an injury was the reason I didn't make it and not my skill
30:58
level. It's different if if OK, I put
31:01
everything into the game and your skill level was the reason
31:04
you couldn't make it. But if it's an injury, I would
31:07
not be able to get over that. So going every day to rehab,
31:13
doing it as hard as I could, as much as I could, stretching as
31:16
much as I could, spending as much time as I possibly could at
31:20
the field, at the training room, in the weight room, making
31:23
strong, putting the right things into my body.
31:25
It all stacked up. There's a lot of ups and downs
31:28
through the process, right? Like when I started throwing, my
31:31
elbow started hurting. I'm like up, here we go again.
31:34
My UCL is torn. And then you go to the trainer
31:37
and they're like, they're like, it just happens.
31:40
It's up and down. You just got to keep going and
31:43
just keep keeping it going. Keeping a great mindset I think
31:47
was the biggest helper in my process.
31:50
Before spending a little more time on the serious part of this
31:54
conversation, how excited was your mother to hear that your
31:58
coaches praised you for bringing a good attitude and positive
32:02
vibe to the locker room, even after getting hurt?
32:06
She was so happy. She was so happy.
32:08
But she was. She was the first phone call I
32:11
made after, after I found out the news.
32:15
And I just remember it was dark outside.
32:18
I just went and sat, sat in the stands, called her, was in
32:21
tears. She was in tears.
32:23
My dad was there. He got on the phone.
32:25
He told me he, my dad's one where he's not very emotional,
32:29
but he says the right things when they need to be said.
32:32
And he got on the phone and he assured me that everything is
32:34
going to be OK, that they, they have the ultimate trust in me.
32:39
My parents believe in me. And I mean, that was hearing
32:42
that right off the bat was just, I mean, I'm, I was like, I got
32:46
it. It's I'm going to take care of
32:48
it. But no, back to the culture
32:51
thing. Like, yeah, if he was extremely
32:52
happy about that. I know, like I tended to be
32:56
negative when I talked to my parents being like, I'm going to
32:59
waste the whole year, you know, I'm sorry and all that.
33:03
And they they were very happy to hear that I wasn't negative
33:07
about my injury. I was completely positive.
33:10
Going to turn this thing around. Props to your parents for
33:13
instilling that to you at a young age.
33:15
Now the kind of more serious piece I wanted to speak on, and
33:21
I apologize upfront if this feels like pushing back on you a
33:25
little bit because I, I just want to understand your thought
33:28
process and the way you work through this a little bit more.
33:31
So you mentioned the concern of never being yourself again.
33:36
Now one of the things that helped me get through my own
33:40
shoulder injury. Now granted, this took me years
33:44
beyond years beyond the actual rehab, the surgery, all of that
33:49
and figured this out probably 5-6 years down the line that
33:54
part of the reason I struggled so much is I was always chasing
33:58
my old self. I was always chasing who I was
34:01
instead of understanding that I'm going to come out of this
34:04
different because of the trauma, because of the surgery, because
34:07
of the difficulties associated with it.
34:10
I am a new person. And with that, I should probably
34:12
be to an extent a new player as well.
34:16
I have new things that I can do, new things that my body can
34:20
handle and I I just need to understand that and deal with
34:24
it. Do you feel that your rehab has
34:29
been more associated with trying to chase who you once were, or
34:34
is it developing a new sense of self in the process?
34:37
And I don't think there's a right or wrong.
34:39
That's just ultimately what helped me eventually overcome
34:43
the mental struggles with the injury is I was always chasing
34:47
this previous version of self instead of kind of like setting
34:50
myself free and understanding that that Adam existed in the
34:53
past. Yeah, great question.
34:57
Honestly, I think at the beginning it was always, I want
35:01
to get back to where I was, an arm that's been up to 96 miles
35:05
an hour that through strikes and stuff.
35:08
Now, as the process went on, I realized that I could do a lot
35:13
of things now that I have to relearn to throw, relearn to do
35:18
everything that I can transform myself into a new pitcher.
35:21
Not end result, but result. Right now I'm definitely a
35:25
completely new pitcher than what I was now through the process.
35:30
Yeah, it's like I did want to get, you know, get back up to my
35:33
normal velocity and stuff. Obviously there's things I
35:36
wanted to keep from my old self, like my change of my change was
35:40
my best pitch, but I lacked a ton of things as pitchers
35:45
ultimate ultimately led to my injury, right?
35:47
So getting back to my old self was not going to be what I
35:52
ultimately wanted to do. I guess now through the process,
35:57
working as hard as I can, I realized my old self was someone
36:01
that was good, but it's not going to be a professional
36:03
pitcher. Building up and going through
36:06
everything, relearning everything shapes me into
36:09
becoming a better, a better version of myself almost all
36:13
around. Like I can start with my
36:15
attitude. My attitude completely changed.
36:18
I have a lot of good guys on this team that helps me with
36:21
mental and all that stuff, which I don't really struggle with
36:25
anything mentally. You know, keeping a positive
36:28
mindset even when you are throwing bad is so big.
36:34
You know, Henry Casmar, actually this was a couple weeks ago, but
36:37
you know, you just talking in the locker room like he's one of
36:40
he's one of our most confident guys.
36:41
We have a meeting. He was up at the front and stuff
36:44
and he gave some insight. He's like, bad self talk is the
36:48
worst thing you could do. If you strike out and say, Oh, I
36:51
suck, I'm terrible. That's the worst possible thing
36:54
you could do. Now if you if you strike out or
36:56
you struggle and you do something bad and you're like,
37:00
I'm good, I got this. You don't bad talk yourself or
37:03
anything. It completely changes it.
37:05
And I took that at the time and I was like, all right, I think
37:09
I'm going to try this my next live appearance.
37:13
I think I got on my first inning walk to double and then got out
37:18
of it. But I wanted to be like, Oh, you
37:21
suck. What are you doing?
37:22
Why are you walking guys and stuff?
37:23
But I was like, I'm good, I'm good.
37:25
I'm a good guy, I'm a good pitcher.
37:27
I'm going to get through this. What Not go sit down, come back
37:31
out, six up 6 down 4 KS and it's like it's just a small example
37:36
of the mental side of it. But that's one thing I
37:40
completely changed is knocking out my bad self talk and
37:45
replacing it with, you know, positive self talk, even if
37:47
you're doing bad now. That's just one aspect of it.
37:50
But also, you know, the way I train, the way I prepare myself
37:56
to throw lifting and everything. It's almost like I'm lifting to
38:01
to just be better than I ever was.
38:06
Not my old self, but just be the best human I could be.
38:09
One thing I really did improve through my injury was build my
38:12
faith, got closer to God. That helped me get through tough
38:16
things. But also just transferring
38:19
myself into a different pitcher, a pitcher that's going to be
38:22
healthy and be successful. So I mean, a lot came out of it.
38:28
I'm I'm back to my normal velocity, which was my biggest
38:32
worry riding the ball more have a new pitch, a cutter, which I
38:37
didn't believe I was going to have a new pitch.
38:39
I mean, I it's, it's just, it's crazy.
38:41
It's like the transformation of a whole year of where I could
38:45
get more mobile, stronger, be able to put my, you know, throw
38:49
these different pitches. I struggled with the slider.
38:51
I think I'm throwing like a a slurve now, a really big one.
38:55
And this in my small cutter, like I struggle with my slider.
38:58
My slider was like 80 miles an hour and it moved, it didn't
39:01
move really at all. And now it's I'm throwing
39:03
sliders at -10 and -10 or something like that with a
39:08
cutter that's 86 miles an hour. That's from my ride fastball 22
39:13
inches to a vertical of like re. Like it's, it's, it's crazy.
39:20
It's crazy that I could just, you know, transform myself in
39:24
the thought of being in my old self is just it's it's nowhere
39:28
near where I am right now. So to answer your question,
39:32
yeah, I wanted to be my old self until I realized that there's so
39:35
much more that I could achieve. It's almost like getting stuck
39:39
chasing your old self. And I, I would say this, not
39:43
just for you, this is kind of to anyone dealing with the injury
39:46
that often can provide a roadblock because you're, you're
39:51
putting a ceiling on yourself if you're trying to chase down who
39:54
you once were versus as you stated for a while, we're kind
39:58
of chasing down who you once were until you realized who you
40:02
once were. Blew out the elbow, had a nine
40:06
ERAA freshman year. And not that we're completely
40:09
defined by our injuries or our baseball statistics.
40:12
You mentioned growing in life in in these things that really
40:16
empower you to this day. And the person who you were
40:20
before didn't have that same fulfillment and kind of stepping
40:25
back and understanding that you can change yourself, you can
40:28
change who you are not only as a person, but as a baseball
40:31
player. It's like a whole new world
40:34
opened up for you and I. I really do find it so
40:38
interesting how the most difficult things we experience
40:42
can typically lead to that kind of, I guess, coming out moment
40:48
in a sense. So you, like you, have this new
40:50
perception of not only who you are in this world, but also how
40:56
you feel about yourself in the process.
40:59
For sure, for sure. I mean, the injury just opened
41:02
so many doors. I there was there was so many
41:05
nights where I'd struggle. I'd be pretty upset about it,
41:08
especially during the season. Like we didn't have a great year
41:10
last year that that's well known.
41:13
Being there, not being able to help the guys, it's and you get
41:16
you get down and stuff and it it just makes you think and then
41:19
and then opens up new doors. How do you deal with that?
41:22
How do you deal with those issues?
41:23
Or am I going to just lay here and just let it go, let it eat
41:27
me alive? Or am I going to at 10 O clock
41:29
while everyone's gone? Am I going to go down to my
41:32
apartment weight room and do some extra mobility, do anything
41:36
I can to just make myself better to the point where you know I
41:42
could be 6 be successful and help him one day so.
41:46
No, I, I, I really appreciate you getting vulnerable with that
41:51
because I, I know it's not always easy to talk about the
41:53
softer side of things in baseball.
41:55
One other thing I I do want to mention the really simple point
42:01
your teammate made about positive self talk.
42:03
You have probably been told to have this relationship with
42:08
positive self talk by damn near every single coach you've ever
42:12
interacted with your entire life.
42:13
You probably heard it from teachers in school, from the
42:16
time you were in second grade or whatever, and for whatever
42:19
reason in the middle of January from a teammate this time it
42:23
clicked. I just want to stress the point
42:26
of how sometimes it doesn't matter what the message is.
42:30
It can be who it comes from or how it's said that it finally
42:35
has a profound impact and now you've been able to implement it
42:40
and kind of run with it. And that probably goes to a
42:43
little bit of the point that you have spoken on your ability to
42:48
stay in it with the guys. When you got hurt, you didn't
42:51
remove yourself from the team and you were able to continue to
42:55
hear the voices around you. I do think it's really difficult
42:59
in injury to stay in it with the team around you.
43:03
It's very easy to become isolated.
43:06
You mentioned time and time again going to early morning
43:10
training room or PT sessions when the team is on the road or
43:13
has a game. The team could be on a trip to
43:16
Maryland or something like that, or out in California and you're
43:19
stuck in the weight room in the snow at 10:00 PM on a Saturday
43:23
night when everyone who's on campus is out partying.
43:27
All your teammates, your closest friends are out competing in a
43:29
game, trying to trying to win a ball game.
43:33
And you're stuck staring at a weight stack in an apartment
43:37
gym. That that can't feel great being
43:41
alone. But you had this greater
43:43
purpose. You had the culture, you had
43:45
everything kind of motivating you.
43:48
Maybe when you lost it within yourself that you, you probably
43:52
still felt like you had people relying on you and believing you
43:57
whenever you potentially doubted yourself.
44:00
So how, how really impactful was it to have those other guys or
44:05
your teammates or the the supporters when you were
44:09
struggling? I mean, it was everything.
44:12
The support was everything. And that's, that starts with my
44:14
parents and my family. Like I can't even express how
44:19
much my mom and my dad had picked me up over the past year.
44:23
They say that they love me no matter what.
44:25
They don't, They don't care if I can make the MLB.
44:27
They wouldn't care if I quit baseball right now.
44:29
They, they love me for who I am. And from the kind of person I am
44:33
and just seeing the support that they've given me over the years
44:38
through this injury. It's it's bigger than myself.
44:41
I want to, I want to make it for them.
44:43
I want to be a professional pitcher to show them how they
44:49
raised their son. They raised their son to be a
44:51
professional pitcher. They raised their son to be a
44:53
great human being. If I'm not a professional
44:55
pitcher, I want to be successful in the business world.
44:58
Like I want them to go back and say that's my son like that.
45:02
That there is the biggest thing. And then also, you know, my
45:05
teammates and my coaches too, and even even my friends, my
45:09
friends who don't play baseball, even my friends that do play
45:11
baseball. Now I go back to this group of
45:13
Jake Mahalik, Kevin Jones, Brady Sass.
45:15
We all of us were in high school.
45:16
We trained together. We, we go every time we're home,
45:19
we hang out. I mean, those three were the
45:22
first three that were right there.
45:24
Like obviously Jake, Jake's my best friend.
45:26
He's my roommate When I transferred there, we were super
45:29
happy that we were teammates together.
45:31
And I think he was also and the facility at the time where I
45:35
found out my news. And like we usually go ice bath
45:38
after practice. I came out of T Rob's office, he
45:41
asked if I wanted to go ice bath.
45:43
And I was like, Nah, bro, I'm not going to go today.
45:47
And I think he, he saw what was up, something was up, went
45:50
talked to our trainer and found the news.
45:52
And I mean, he was the first one who was truly there and cared.
45:56
And, you know, Gavin and Brady found out shortly after that.
46:00
And all three of them were so supportive to me.
46:03
And they were like, Hey, you know, you know what you got to
46:06
do. Like we're here for you, like,
46:09
and all this different things. And and that just starts with my
46:11
friends. You know, my friends at home
46:13
found out they were very supportive.
46:15
And then also this coaching staff too.
46:17
It helps when the head coach comes and gives you a hug and
46:20
says, we know you got this. We're going to take care of you.
46:23
Like that itself just just helps me feel like it's bigger than
46:28
myself. I obviously I want this a lot.
46:31
I want to come back. I want to be a great pitcher,
46:35
but all these different places that I can go and talk to was so
46:39
crucial. And not even that.
46:42
I mean, I had many P TS. I mean, Brandon, my PT who works
46:46
with the Mets now, he was there and he was only able to come in
46:48
a couple times a week because he was working with the Clipper,
46:52
Columbus Clippers. So I had him, my new trainer,
46:57
Lindsay, I mean, she, she picked me up halfway through and it was
47:00
like, she's been doing this the whole time.
47:03
The first day I met her, she already knew everything about
47:06
me, did all her research on me and already had a plan for me to
47:11
keep, keep it going. So she was a very big help and
47:15
she still is. I mean, she's a great trainer.
47:17
And then I also had another PT that doesn't even do baseball.
47:21
But when Brendan wasn't able to come, she was there and she
47:24
would fit me in her schedule before, before she had to do
47:28
things. She filled in while Brendan
47:30
wasn't able to be there. So it's like I had all these
47:33
different aspects of support that allowed me to not only not
47:40
give up, but to push myself extremely hard.
47:43
And when I didn't want to do it, I did it.
47:45
I would, you know, I'd get up, get up at 6:00 AM to go fit into
47:49
her schedule even though I didn't want to.
47:52
I didn't have class or anything, but I'm going to get up and when
47:56
it's 5° and go do my PT with her because she does, she does a
48:03
great job and she she willingly put me in her schedule and fit
48:07
me in so I could get better. You have all these pieces.
48:12
It's so easy to, even when you don't want to do it, just do it
48:16
because me myself, I'm a guy who's going to stick to his
48:20
word. I'm going to do everything as
48:22
hard as I can, as best as I can. That itself helps me drive.
48:26
But then when I have every aspect of support, even, you
48:31
know, that's what I met. I met Darrell early in the
48:33
process. I mean, he was, he was so
48:35
supportive to me. Didn't even know who I was.
48:38
Like I'm not the one paying for Flex Pro Ohio State is, but he,
48:41
he acted like he was my PT for a while.
48:45
So it's like all these different support systems.
48:47
It's like I, I'd be stupid to not to not work hard and get
48:53
through this. Like I have every single
48:56
resource possible, my nutritionist, even a strength
48:59
coaches, I mean the list goes on and on.
49:02
So it's, it's, it's been awesome and it was, it made the process
49:06
easier than I know a lot of people go through.
49:10
You sound like a guy that probably airs on doing a little
49:13
too much rather than doing too little.
49:16
And I'm sure at times that has bit you in the butt.
49:19
And maybe that's me fishing for this next question.
49:22
I'm not trying to put words in your mouth here.
49:25
So we'll, we'll let you answer however you want to answer.
49:27
But I, I would tend to believe this might sneak its way into
49:31
your response to the coming question.
49:33
And that is looking back on this past year plus you working to
49:38
get back on the bump and wear scarlet and grey again.
49:42
Is there anything you would have changed about your process?
49:47
And I guess with this question, I, I kind of mean more
49:51
specifics. Is there something that you
49:53
don't like a certain decision that you made or maybe would
49:56
have spent more time in a certain place?
49:59
Obviously the simple answer is never get hurt and do all the
50:01
stuff on the front end. But we don't have that luxury.
50:04
So now I'm going to dish it off to you and let you take it away.
50:08
I there's probably a few things. There's probably a few things
50:11
that I wish I'd definitely changed.
50:13
And I think the biggest thing was right after my injury, right
50:19
after my injury, when I had surgery, yeah, I worked hard and
50:23
stuff, but I felt like that was the time where I was the most
50:27
Lexi day school because it's like I'm in a sling, you know?
50:30
I feel like I can't really do much, but I would still go and
50:34
bike. There's different things that I
50:35
could have done, like do more mobility, which I still lack a
50:39
lot of mobility. That's I'm a stiff guy, you
50:42
know, I have to stretch all the time and I do.
50:43
But the mobility is probably the one thing that I wish I would
50:47
have done more than I wish I would have done more mobility
50:50
than I did lift through the process.
50:52
Because just the way my structure is my, my body isn't
50:57
just that, but also, I mean, just staying focused and not
51:04
getting down on myself because you know, you get down on
51:06
yourself, you start thinking, you start pushing yourself
51:09
backwards. That's the spiral.
51:12
That's that's the spiral and it's like I didn't have many big
51:15
spirals through my process. But at the beginning, you know,
51:19
I wish I would have stayed a lot more pot like I was positive,
51:22
but then it's like you're in a sling for six months and it's or
51:25
not six months, six weeks. And it's and it's tough, right?
51:28
You can't bend your arm. And then a big thing that I do
51:31
wish I didn't do is freak out every time I felt something in
51:35
my arm, as you know, I would, I would straighten my arm and I'd
51:39
be like, oh, shoot. And I would freak out and it
51:41
would cause so much stress or you know, when I started
51:44
throwing like I would get so nervous and just not get in the
51:48
lay back and. It's like you're looking for
51:50
pain or you're looking. Exactly, exactly.
51:53
That was the one. That's the one thing I wish I
51:56
wouldn't have done because I don't do that now.
51:57
I don't look for pain and I don't feel any pain doing it.
52:00
But when I looked for pain, I would feel it and then I'd freak
52:04
out and then just look like an idiot and push myself back.
52:08
It's like you're going into the training room.
52:10
I know this story all too well because I used to do it with my
52:13
shoulder when my shoulder is messed up and with the elbow.
52:17
Sorry for the audio only listeners here.
52:20
Visual. You'll you'll know what I'm
52:21
doing, but you'll like completely turn your arm over
52:24
and you'll reach and like try to grab something behind your back
52:27
and you'll say like, hey, Lindsay, like every time I reach
52:30
my arm back behind me and try to scratch my left hip with my
52:34
right pinky, I feel this little twinge right here in my forearm.
52:39
And the simple answer is, well, Chris, don't do that.
52:44
That's that's that's how you avoid that problem.
52:46
It's just don't do it. You're searching for pain.
52:49
And I'm really glad you brought that up.
52:52
And yeah, then you start guarding the throwing process
52:56
and there's that spiral you you start thinking because you feel
52:59
pain in this one really specific move that you're never going to
53:02
do in any situation ever in life aside from when you are trying
53:06
to do that specific thing. It sets you back so far mentally
53:11
because you think you have a problem.
53:13
And really, no, that's just not a position that you're ever
53:16
going to be in. So why ever let it enter your
53:19
brain? Exactly.
53:21
And if if we had Lindsay on this call right now, she probably has
53:25
an unlimited list of the amount of times I went in there and
53:27
said Lindsay, my, my arm hurts when I open a door, my elbow
53:31
hurts when this happens or this happens, like, is it torn?
53:35
Can you do the tests again? All this stuff.
53:38
And she says the same thing every time and it's the same.
53:40
Don't do that. You're fine and all this stuff.
53:44
And yeah, I am fine. But it's like, why?
53:46
I'm just worrying all this stuff like it's, it's just crazy
53:50
because it's like you're so nervous you don't want it to
53:52
happen again. And I finally got over that hump
53:55
about halfway through and it's worked out so well.
53:58
I mean, I'm throwing hard intent every day and my arm doesn't
54:01
hurt because I, I trust it. I trust my work and I, and I'm
54:06
doing what I'm supposed to do. And the mental part is just so
54:09
big. It's getting over that mental
54:11
block of your arm is fine. The surgeon gets paid millions
54:15
of dollars to go and fix your arm.
54:17
He fixed it like you're good. So really believing that has has
54:22
helped me a ton though. I wrote a blog not too long ago
54:26
I I guess it was last season. I think it might have been March
54:29
or April back in 2025 about this exact topic.
54:33
How much a free mind can do for the body.
54:37
It's amazing when you make that shift from I'm in pain, I'm
54:42
hurt, I'm scared to no, I have done everything I can do to be
54:48
as good as I can be and I'm going to go out and I'm going to
54:51
dominate, I'm going to shove. I am the essence of health at
54:56
this point. Nobody can stop me.
54:59
The mind just like making that shift, flipping that switch
55:03
completely changes everything because as you said, now you
55:06
feel so good every time you touch a ball and literally the
55:10
only thing that's changed in the past month or two is the mental
55:15
aspect of it. It's not like it's not like
55:18
there was a magical thing that changed.
55:20
You ate a magical bean in December and now it it lets you
55:26
go? No, all you did is say I'm the
55:29
freaking man. I got this, I've done
55:31
everything, and now it's time for me to go earn my spot on the
55:34
rotation. Exactly, exactly.
55:37
It's it's such a crucial thing. And you know, as a kid, you're
55:40
like, yeah, that that doesn't do anything.
55:42
It doesn't do anything for yourself.
55:43
But the more you you use it and the more you start realizing it,
55:48
it's pretty crazy to see like how big of a difference it
55:51
makes. So at this point, I think we've
55:54
probably spent enough time making you relive your rehab
55:58
days because you truly are back to full performance.
56:02
And I hate to make a guy who's about to go debut with the team
56:06
again or I guess really where Scarlett and Gray on the field
56:10
for the first time officially because you missed last year.
56:13
So I apologize if that puts a little bit of nerves or
56:16
butterflies into the system. But I I trust based on
56:20
everything you said, you you've already had your little bit of
56:22
butterflies, but you've done the work.
56:24
You've gotten to this point where you really can go operate
56:27
and just go ball out when they put the ball in your hand.
56:31
So let's let's actually get into the outlook for the 2026 season.
56:35
You said you're about to have your longest outing yet.
56:39
You're about to go for innings for the first time since high
56:42
school. Super exciting.
56:43
You're building up to potentially be a starter, but
56:46
you you might have a bullpen role.
56:48
Who really knows? You're ready for anything based
56:50
on the way you've taken on this rehab.
56:53
Give us a little bit of insight into the Ohio State team in
56:56
2026. You're coming off a little bit
56:58
of a down year, a few guys in the rehab process with you
57:03
trying to work their way back, so what's the outlook for the
57:06
squad? Hey, all I got to say is there's
57:09
a different vibe. There's a different vibe
57:10
completely. I mean, obviously it's it's a
57:14
brand new team. I mean, these guys are working
57:17
hard. We got a lot of gritty guys on
57:19
the team, a lot of JUCO guys that, you know, are trying to
57:21
make a name for themselves. And man, those guys are some
57:24
good hitters. I mean, I've told the hitters
57:26
last out, I was like, they know the strike zone pretty Dang
57:29
well. I mean, I'm throwing a ball off
57:32
and they're taking them, They're taking it.
57:33
It's like these guys for sure know how to hit.
57:36
But I mean, I'd say our pitching staff is going to surprise a lot
57:40
of people. I mean, we got a lot of guys
57:42
that can throw meaningful innings like we have.
57:46
We have some surprises. We have a lot of good freshmen.
57:49
Our transfers have done a great job, but I mean, I know a lot of
57:54
a lot of people are putting us, putting us down at the bottom of
57:59
the Big 10. I think D1 baseball has this
58:01
rank last in Big 10 rankings. But I think we're going to
58:04
prove, prove a point and prove to a lot of people that last
58:07
year was a fluke. A lot of people are going to
58:09
doubt us, but it doesn't matter what people think.
58:11
It all that matters is what we think in the in the locker room.
58:14
We read the book legacy this fall, which helped us learn
58:18
about crazy team and what they do around the field and what
58:22
culture they build. And we did a great job this this
58:26
fall and this this winter and spring of building a great
58:29
culture where all of us, we all hang out.
58:31
We all spend so much time. I mean, guys get there at 10:00
58:36
and won't leave until 7. Like that's, that's a long time.
58:41
They'll do their homework in the, in the clubhouse.
58:43
You'll eat together. You'll, you'll go to the
58:46
training room and just hang out and, and do your recovery
58:49
together. I mean, a lot of us pitchers,
58:51
you know, spend a lot of time. I mean, you guys know Ryan
58:54
Butler, like I spend probably more time with him than I do
58:58
with my girlfriend. Like I spend so much time with
59:01
him. I spend so much time with Jake,
59:03
my roommate Gavin Kuznetsky, like Sahel Patel, like we all
59:08
are always together. Like we're always together
59:11
getting close, even if if that's outside of baseball, we're
59:14
hanging out. Guys love playing poker
59:16
together, even pitchers, hitters, like we play mafia in
59:20
the locker room. It's like our culture is
59:23
awesome. Like we, we didn't have a lot of
59:24
that last year. We didn't have a great culture
59:26
last year. And that was one of the reasons
59:28
we that our team was not great or good at all.
59:31
Guys have worked hard and it's, and it was since the jump.
59:35
It was 6:00 AM in the, in the weight room.
59:37
I mean, our lifting coach literally met with us returners
59:41
after the second week and said like, this is, this is a lot
59:45
different. It's a, it's a great feel.
59:47
And I mean, we're all excited. A lot of guys are going to be
59:50
putting the Scarlet Grey on for the first time, including me.
59:53
And I mean, we're ready to just go kill.
59:55
We're ready to go kill. We're ready to, you know, be up
59:58
there in the Big 10 and, you know, give us a chance to
1:00:00
achieve our goals that we made at the beginning of the year.
1:00:03
This might be the wrong thing to say to a Buckeye, but it kind of
1:00:07
sounds like you're in your Mendoza era with the way you're
1:00:10
speaking. Oh man, I'm not a big Mendoza
1:00:14
fan, I'm not going to lie. I don't know the the way you're
1:00:18
talking about it, this rah, rah, you're getting me excited.
1:00:21
You're you're getting me all jazzed up.
1:00:22
All the guys are doing the right thing.
1:00:24
All the guys are together. We got the best guys in the
1:00:26
locker room. Hey, he's he's a national
1:00:29
champion and he won the highs. You might not like him, but I'm
1:00:32
assuming yeah, you're at least have to respect him.
1:00:35
Oh yeah, completely respect him. I mean, and he brought Lil Uzi
1:00:39
Burke to the national championship.
1:00:40
He's my favorite rapper, so maybe I should take notes after
1:00:43
him, but no. Yeah, but, you know, I mean,
1:00:48
Mendoza speaks and he says the right things all the time.
1:00:51
But, you know, I don't even want to try to copy him though,
1:00:54
because, yeah, Indiana is completely different.
1:00:56
Like he could be over there, But I mean, Ohio State, we want to
1:01:01
bring this back up to the top. I mean, we had Ohio State hasn't
1:01:05
been at the top of the Big 10 for baseball in a long time.
1:01:08
I know a lot of people write us off for baseball.
1:01:10
It's a football school. Basketball teams not doing bad
1:01:13
this year. Like our softball teams really
1:01:15
good. You know, all these teams are
1:01:16
good at Ohio State and you saw baseball had I don't even know
1:01:21
how many wins we had 1314. Like that's unacceptable.
1:01:24
That is unacceptable. Being an Ohio guy, you never
1:01:27
want to see Ohio State at the bottom.
1:01:29
We wanted it to be good in everything.
1:01:31
It's a nationally known program. It's one of the most known
1:01:34
colleges in the country, right? And football's way up here,
1:01:38
basketball is up there, and then baseball down here like that.
1:01:41
That is truly unacceptable. And coming from an Ohio guy,
1:01:45
that can't happen again. And it won't happen again
1:01:48
because we're going to, we're going to turn this thing around.
1:01:51
That's something for the state to rally behind, no?
1:01:55
If it doesn't happen, I'll be sure to dox all your contact
1:01:59
information and just give it out to the masses so they can they
1:02:02
can come take that up with you direct.
1:02:04
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
1:02:06
But Chris, I, I don't think I have anything else at this
1:02:09
point. I'm really excited to get to see
1:02:11
you debut. I know season's right around the
1:02:15
corner. I'm stoked for you.
1:02:16
I'm stoked for the guys cuz as you said, there are so many guys
1:02:19
that are going to debut for the first time this year in scarlet
1:02:23
and Gray. And that's, that's an amazing
1:02:25
thing, especially knowing how many Ohio and Midwestern guys
1:02:29
you have. What that really does mean.
1:02:32
I, I didn't grow up an Ohio State fan, but being born in
1:02:36
Toledo, I know what that means. I, I've seen it my whole life.
1:02:40
I know what an honor that is to get to represent your school,
1:02:44
the school you you grew up rooting for that, that really is
1:02:47
amazing. And I think it's, it's going to
1:02:50
be an incredible honor that you get to share with your family as
1:02:54
well. And all those, all those
1:02:55
friends, everyone that you talked about in that whole
1:02:59
supporting cast that has enabled you to get to this point.
1:03:02
So really with this, I just want to say thank you.
1:03:05
And in case we missed anything along the way, I'm going to dish
1:03:10
it off to you one more time. But I'm not going to force you
1:03:13
to share anything because I know, I know we've, we've
1:03:16
covered quite a lot at this point.
1:03:18
Yeah, no, I thank you for for allowing me to come on this
1:03:21
podcast and talk about everything.
1:03:23
I guess one thing we didn't cover was the flex pro grip and
1:03:26
stuff. And I'll just give a little good
1:03:28
plug. I'll give a little.
1:03:30
I'll give a little praise to you and Daryl.
1:03:32
Daryl met with Brendan, my PT right off the bat.
1:03:35
And still the great program build me up.
1:03:37
I mean, us at Ohio State, we we use it every single day.
1:03:41
It's a great tool. Love having it strengthening
1:03:44
everything that needs to be strengthened.
1:03:45
So you know that UCL stays, stays intact.
1:03:49
But no, I think I thank you and Darrell for sure for everything
1:03:53
that you guys did alone for my process helped the ton was great
1:03:56
support. I know Darrell implemented a
1:03:59
little bit of my throwing program also, and I'm very
1:04:02
thankful for that. But other than that, I mean, I
1:04:04
think we covered everything. I was a great podcast.
1:04:07
I thank you for having me. That's right, and I know you're
1:04:12
not #1 social media guy, but if you want to plug anything so
1:04:16
people can follow you, maybe it's the Buckeye socials.
1:04:18
Go ahead. How can people follow along with
1:04:21
the Chris Domke career? I got an Instagram, got Twitter,
1:04:26
Chris Domke, you can look it up. Other than that, I mean, I'm not
1:04:29
a big TikTok guy, I'm not a big YouTube or any of that.
1:04:32
You're not. Dancing on there.
1:04:34
No, I'm not dancing or doing any of that.
1:04:36
But you know, I mean, Instagram's probably my main
1:04:39
thing, but other than that, you know, just just keep following
1:04:44
along Ohio State base on Instagram.
1:04:47
I mean, we're going to we're going to surprise a lot of
1:04:48
people. So I'm we're excited.
1:04:50
We're excited to show show you guys.
1:04:52
And you'll learn a little bit about the guys.
1:04:54
I've really enjoyed following the Ohio State baseball account
1:04:56
on Instagram. You guys are pretty funny on
1:04:58
there. Your social team does a good job
1:05:00
getting some good laughs. I know the boys call you a
1:05:03
dinosaur. That's a.
1:05:04
It's a little nickname, but. Oh yeah, I mean, Coach Hair
1:05:08
calls me a dinosaur too. So it kind of just stuck.
1:05:12
But now it's stuck. If Coach is doing it, that's.
1:05:14
That's a problem. It's stuck.
1:05:16
It's stuck. They're they're just, they're
1:05:19
just pulling my pulling me because, you know, I'm stronger
1:05:23
than all of them. So.
1:05:24
That's right. That's what it is.
1:05:25
Love that you're too big, you're too strong, you're too fast,
1:05:29
you're too athletic. That's right.
1:05:31
That's right. Yep.
1:05:32
All right. Well, thanks again, Chris.
1:05:34
This has been awesome and best of luck this year.
1:05:37
And of course, to everyone out there, thanks for laying back
1:05:40
with us. Appreciate you.
1:05:42
Thank you, Adam.