Latest / Chasing Baseball Dreams / Episode #4: Brandon & Deanna Emerson | Parents of #2 Overall Pick Grady Emerson
Transcript
- Bobby Minor: And welcome to Chasing Baseball Dreams. I'm really excited about this show. I'm joined by Brandon and Deanna Emerson, parents of Grady Emerson. And if unless you've just been under a rock somewhere, out of the country, not aware, he was drafted number two overall in the recent MLB draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. I know there's a lot of talk for a while that he was potentially going to be a 1-1, you know. But anyway, I'm so thankful that you guys are here and I'm really excited to talk to you both. Deanna Emerson: Thank you. Thank you. Brandon Emerson: Yeah, thanks for having us. Really appreciate it. Deanna Emerson: Yeah, thank you. Bobby Minor: So all right. ⁓ well, let's just kind of like just jump into it, because this is something, I mean, getting drafted out of high school I think is amazing, especially in with the shortened draft that might even end up being shorter. ⁓ when did you when did y'all realize that Grady was different? Like not just a good, you know, not just a really good baseball player, but like that level of difference. Deanna Emerson: Be right back. Brandon Emerson: ⁓ gosh, we've been asked this question a lot, ⁓ as we've been through last year. And ⁓ you know, it's really it's really hard to say like any one moment ⁓ where you really realize that. There's some moments where I was really proud of him and how he had performed. And looking back on it, I guess you could say some of those moments, you know, it maybe is is when it happened. So the first one that really comes to my mind is ⁓ when he was twelve years old. ⁓ we played for a team here that ⁓ we went and played in a big tournament in Houston. Kind of one of those national tournaments where everybody, you know, everybody really shows up to those tournaments and including our team. They they we brought in a bunch of kids. Grady was playing up, so he was ⁓ twelve, playing thirteen U majors in a sixty ninety tournament, which is kind of funny because he was small then, like he hadn't put on any size, you know, swinging a I think it was like a thirty one inch BB core that he could barely get around on. But Our team had loaded up. So we'd brought in a kid who's now at LSU, one of the top countries and catchers in the country had come from Oklahoma to join our team. And and really Grady kind of lost his spot and got I think he started in left field hitting seventh, the first game of that tournament. And ⁓ by the end of the tournament, it was a perfect game tournament, but by the end of the tournament, he won the MVP of the whole tournament. You know, a perfect game kind of keeps track of the whole thing. And I mean I I don't remember I don't remember him getting out hardly at all that tournament. And Deanna Emerson: by the time I'm finished. Bobby Minor: ⁓ wow. Deanna Emerson: You know what I don't know what you Brandon Emerson: We played one game in left field and sooner or later realized, hey, we need him at second. And so I think he ended up playing a lot of seconds and third that tournament. ⁓ because again, we had this LSU commit guy. He's at LSU now, he wasn't committed then, I mean he was playing shortstop. And ⁓ that was probably the moment where I'm like, you know, it's kind of funny being the youngest kid on the team, ⁓ getting moved out into the outfield, kinda hurt his pride a little bit, going from hitting second, hitting seventh, and still just grinded through that whole tournament. We ended up winning it. And when he got the ⁓ VP was probably the minute that I was like, I was pretty cool. You know, and it's actually the first time that we had some some pe other people say like we didn't really realize the magnitude of that until the end of it and people were like, Hey, that that's pretty rare that the youngest kid on the field gets MVP, right? So looking back on it, I think that was the very first time. ⁓ I don't know, Deanna, would you agree? Is there any other times that come to mind for you? Deanna Emerson: That was the other bit. That's pretty good. Yeah, I think that that's probably the first moment when You know, he was holding his little MVP, that little plate and he, that's as big as he has almost. but I think it, there was some really good talent on our team and there was some really good talent in the tournament. And I think when he got that award, yeah. I mean, I think that was just the moment you're like, okay, he did really good here. Maybe to your point, you know, maybe, you know, he's got a future in this. Let's see where it takes us. Bobby Minor: Yeah. So when you say that, okay, he he has a future in this, I'm guessing at that point you're probably still thinking just playing baseball beyond high school, playing baseball at the college level. You're not thinking MLB draft, first round of MLB draft, number two overall pick. Deanna Emerson: Yes. No, so I to be honest our first thing was I mean he was 12 at the time so our big thing was man it'd be really cool if he could start his high school team as a freshman that was our first goal it's just let me make the high school team and can we be a starter as a freshman and then yes it was like then that'd be really cool if you could get a college offer and I think those were probably our two goals set at that point I don't think the MLB ever Bobby Minor: Which he did. Yeah. Yeah. Deanna Emerson: Crossed our mind. Bobby Minor: Yeah. No, but that's still it's just it it's really just kind of like wow, everything that's happening. So okay, obviously when Grady was younger, he played on some of the top teams and things, you know, when he's ten, eleven and twelve and everything. How much of how much of that would you say it was a good experience, but it really didn't mean anything in the context of what was gonna happen beyond high school? Brandon Emerson: Yeah, so one of the reasons I really like having these talks, and Deanna have been asked recently, and it's been pretty fruitful to to talk to a lot of parents about our journey, is that ⁓ so early on Grady played rec ball. We lived in trophy club here in the Dallas area, and ⁓ we went to ⁓ a cage in South Lake a D bat location and I didn't know I didn't I didn't grow up playing baseball. ⁓ it's kind of funny with some of the the people that Grady's in Grady's class, like the you know, the lombards of the world or the the holidays of the world that he's always been around. You poor Grady's got a dad who grew up like idolizing Michael Jordan playing basketball, you know. So I don't know anything about this select baseball world when we started. And so Grady got pulled in t on on what I would consider to be ⁓ one of those far out teams. We'll just call it that. You know, the teams that were like flying people in at 8U at 9U and and at first I thought that was pretty cool. You know, like hey we were we're beating everybody and and after about after one season, one full summer season, you realize like People really hated us. You know, and it's like it just didn't feel right. You know, and so that was so after that, I think he played with that team ⁓ like one full summer, a fall, and part of another summer before the team ended up blowing up like a lot of those teams do, you know. And it was one of those free teams. We didn't have to pay dues. We we come to learn that there's nothing in life that's free. You know, so yeah, it was free, but even as good as Grady was at that age, there's some weekends that we'd fly a kid in from somewhere and Grady would not get to play or grady play outfield or grady do whatever and and so honestly we played on some of those teams but when he was nine you playing tenu, so Grady played up until he was thirteen. We purposely went to another team that was still a good team here in the DFW area, but it wasn't the best team. And that was a bit of an adjustment mostly for us as parents. I I'll be honest with you because I think parents get kind of caught up in the ego of winning or the the feeling of winning when they're at those young ages. And we were certainly one of them. It was really hard for us to get beat out in the first pool play game on a Sunday for the first time. Like we were used to playing to the championship game, driving home at midnight on Sundays, right? And then when we got to that, we decided to go more of the development focus and less winning. Getting beat out on a Sunday was really hard on our pride as parents. It really didn't affect Grady at all. You know, like it it really didn't. And looking back on it. And we had to the worst part is having to play your old team. I'm sure a lot of parents listen to you have had to do that, right? Like getting beat by your old team feels like such an ego punch or a gut punch for parents. I never saw it bother any of the kids at all. You know, it's great. It's I just played my friends, we lost or whatever. So, you know, it was it was a real eye opener for us. But going that way, he kind of got to experience what it's like to win a lot and also what it's like to not win. And that's really what baseball's like, right? And so we really were on that path. until his sophomore summer when we went to Keynes National. I mean before that, Grady was never on the best teams. You know, there we were always going aga against teams who were free, who were flying a lot of kids in, who had rosters that would change every week and, you know, they would they would get all the arms or all the the players they could and and that was fine. That was really good for those ages. ⁓ in my opinion that method really doesn't last, you know, when you get older. But ⁓ But yeah, so that was kind of a little bit of our journey and kind of how it happened here. I don't know, do you have anything you would add there? Deanna Emerson: No, I think the big thing was, I think as parents, it's hard because Grady's our oldest, right? So was new. I feel like as parents, your oldest is probably, it's that learning curve. And I think that's when we get really bought into the wins and the rings and the trophies and the... If my kid's not playing shortstop every inning, I think that that's a natural progression as a parent. I think what we've learned, we have a younger son, so I will say we brought a lot of that knowledge as we learned the hard lessons that really it's about... loving the game, learning the game the right way, making sure your skills are top notch. Because those top teams that are flying people in left and right, the one thing I can tell you, they didn't develop those kids. They bought the kids. They bought the kids to come to the team while that kid's dad or some other coach grew them and then they just took advantage of it. So for Grady, I think we got wrapped up in that and thank God we Bobby Minor: Right. Deanna Emerson: We learned what we trusted our gut, right? There's something that didn't feel right about it. There were rumors flying around kind of behind the scenes that we would catch wind of a couple things. You have to trust your gut and say, if it doesn't feel right, it's probably not right. And I think we finally found out that it was more about Grady loving the game. It was more about him really honing in on his skills because that's, it's a hard game. It's a grind. Bobby Minor: That's good. Deanna Emerson: And so I think we made that adjustment. I feel like at the right time ⁓ It's different for every family and and to Brandon's point It's not that those other teams are bad that works for some families and it works for some kids We just didn't feel like it was the right fit for us And I feel like we made a really good decision for Grady And so I will tell if there's anything I can tell parents is just trust your gut ⁓ Not every team is perfect there's not a perfect team out there so there will always be something you do not like. It's really about can you see your kid getting 1 % better every time they take the field. That should be the question you're asking yourself. Bobby Minor: That's good. Yeah, that's really that's great advice. And so I hope the parents out there are listening. So Deanna, so you mentioned a minute ago we're talking about the the twelve U moment and you're saying like, man, like hopefully he can make varsity as a freshman. And and I you know, people don't like here in Dallas Fort Worth, like high school baseball is pr there's a lot of great teams with a lot of guys that are, you know, I mean, pi you know, powerful ⁓ college guys, ⁓ draft picks and everything. So it's definitely, you know, it's Because I get messages from parents sometimes they'll tell me like, ⁓ my seventh my seventh grade son played varsity last year and like I'm not trying to disparage or diminish anything like that, but in my mind immediately goes to you must live like in a really s really small rural area somewhere, you go to a private school or whatever, because like that's not happening at, you know, the big programs are everything and everything. So you mentioned that. So for people that don't know, Grady started off at at Argyle, Argyle High School, which had a great baseball program. and ⁓ I was telling Brandon ⁓ off camera, Deanna, when so my son Julian, he graduated in twenty twenty three from Pascal. So his I think it was his senior year, they played Argyle in a tournament, which they beat Argyle six to zero. I'm just I'm just I'm throwing it out there. But like Grady, so Grady A was playing Varshi as a freshman, but he was playing first base and I think batting sixth. So that's another thing that so I'm gonna ask you though about the decision to transfer from Argyle to Fort Worth Christian in a second, but parents Deanna Emerson: Hehehehehe Bobby Minor: Parents need to have need they need to understand that if your first goal, like you said, Ian is your son should be to make his high school team, whatever level. Second goal, make varsity as fast as possible. But to me, the fastest path to varsity is A, for a position player, being able to hit and being able to play multiple positions. Because y'all could have said, well, no, Grady's only a shortstop. Deanna Emerson: Yeah. Bobby Minor: And he might have been the starting shortstop on J V. He may not have been on varsity at that point, you know, even playing first base. And I know he ended up playing shortstop later ⁓ in that year, but in just that one game. But do you want to speak to that? Just just speak to that kind of quickly and then talk about the decision to move him from Argyle to Fort Worth Christian. Deanna Emerson: you Absolutely, absolutely. So I would say this, as a parent, we all know that our kids have their strength, right? So we knew Grady was a great shortstop. ⁓ But I think we were more proud of the fact that you have to plug and play where there's a need. ⁓ You can't just say, wanna be shortstop. And if you make it like a hard line in the sand to your point, then it's gonna be Well, we've already got a senior and that was kind of the case for Grady as freshman year. There was a senior that had played all four years. He's been there shortstop. He was the captain. Like he'd already built that culture. You can't ask a freshman to come in and say, I'm taking your spot. Not that it doesn't happen sometimes, but at the same time, Grady had so much to learn about what high school ball looked like. ⁓ He could learn a lot. That was an amazing group of seniors that year. to us it was how do you get on the field and and just learn the game from these kids that have been playing it for already three years. He had been fortunate so he was on Team USA and again younger kid he made it you know he was 14 made the 15U and they're like we need a first baseman. He'd never played first base in his life and Grady's answer was like how do I get on the field and I think that added has really pulled Grady through his entire journey. His real love is I want to be on the field. Yes, he wants to be shortstop. That's where he's the most comfortable. But if the team needs a different position, and it doesn't hurt your kid to learn other positions. Because when they get to college, professional, whatever that next step is, how many teams do we know? Trout was a shortstop in high school. He's one of the best center fielders in the MLB. I mean they move around. So it's really how do I make an impact and how do I learn the game better? And so I think that was a no-brainer for us and for Grady his freshman year. He literally just won it on the field. And would you add anything to that Brandon? Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: Yeah. No, I wouldn't I real quick, I would just say, you know, he's one of the only kid the only kid I know that made Team USA all four years of high school and he played four different positions every year. So he he played first base his first year, he played shortstop his second year, his first eighteen U national team, he won All World playing second base, and then last year he was a team captain and won All World playing third base. So yeah, that Bobby Minor: ⁓ wow. Brandon Emerson: Yeah, that is very important to be able to play a lot of positions, especially as you move up with a deep talented pool. And just because you're not playing shortstop, by the way, doesn't mean you're not the best shortstop. But for example, Team USA, we had to play Japan and Japan bunts. And so X-team, the coach, was like, Hey, I need a shortstop to play third base that's agile enough to come up and rush bunts. ⁓ that way I I don't have to I can play my bunt coverage is different, right? So that's one thing to say. ⁓ being being versatile is everything. So S you asked about the the transfer from Argyll to Fort Worth, Christian. So you wanna talk about that a little bit? Yes. Bobby Minor: Yeah, yeah. Please yeah, just just yeah. Well, I mean yeah. I mean obviously I I mean I have some ideas. Like the head coach of Fort Christian is is a pretty good baseball guy. So yeah, so if you don't mind, I mean, if nothing if you know. Brandon Emerson: Yeah. Yeah. No, no, it's good. We get we got asked this question a lot and it's funny. ⁓ I don't know if we'll get into this later, but you know, one of the things that goes along with being Grady's parents is the world is not short of opinions on Grady. So we get to hear through social media and and other channels, and one of the things that we've heard probably the most is like, well, he just dropped down to pat his stats because private school baseball is, you know, way less competitive than public school baseball. And there is some argument for that. But ⁓ I'll tell you, it really boiled down to three main things to start with, and then I'll add on what he evolved to. So the first reason that we decided to transfer ⁓ is that we had a good idea that Grady was gonna make Team USA 18U national team again. And that tournament takes place at the beginning of school. So the last three years, again, because we're lucky that Grady made it, like he didn't show up to school until a month after school started. Well, the way that public school funding works is public schools get their funding from the state based off the number of hours that a kid attends school. So it's it's very important. That's how they they get their money. So Grady's junior year we missed to go to Panama for the qualifier. When we returned, not only did Grady have to make up the schoolwork, which we knew would have to happen, but Grady had to serve detention essentially for a month with a doing seat time so that he could make up the hours that he had missed. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: And so I went and had a conversation with the athletic director at Argyle right at the end of Grady's junior year and said, hey, there's a high likelihood he he he got a good shot to make Team USA again. Like, what what what are our options? In the public school, unfortunately, it's not the AD's fault. Just the way the public schools are set up in Texas, they have no remedy for that. So it would have been the same thing, right? Like make up all the classes and make up all the seat time that you missed for the five weeks that he was gone. So that that was that was one main driver. ⁓ the second main driver is that we knew going into Grady's senior year that he had an opportunity to possibly be drafted. And we had had a a ⁓ very fortunate meeting with Matt Kemp. He's played for the Dodgers. He l he lived over in the Salina area, and he's like, hey, you need to start training like a professional now. And one of the things that that included was not just the skill work, but if you've seen Grady, like he he needed to put on size. You know, we got back from Panama that you just don't eat very well when you're on those international trips. I'm sorry, we back from Chip. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: Panama and Japan actually, but you lose a ton of weight. I mean, it's very hot. The catering food is not very good. So, like he he'd lost over the course of the his this between his junior and senior year, like 12 pounds playing that summer. And so obviously we need to put that back on. That's what the pro scouts wanted to see. And even, you know, Coach Sloshio down at Texas had mentioned that to us. And so Matt's like Matt Kemp's like, you gotta find a way to train like a pro. And so the way that Fort Worth Christian works is they have a block schedule. And because Grady had completed so many of his classes already, he only had to go to school like four hours a day. So he was able to get out of school around, I think the latest day he went was one o'clock, but most of the days of the week it's like 1120. And then he could just drive over to Sout Lake where he trains and get his weight training in, his meals in, and his hitting coach is at is in South Lake. He could do all that in that period between when he got out of class and when practice started with Rusty at like three o'clock. So that that really allowed him to train without doing what he had to do before, which is, yeah, he could have got out a little bit early at Aragal because he's a senior, but he still would have had to do that training at night. So now you're talking about getting up at six in the morning and you're basically not done training till nine or ten o'clock at night. Whereas at Fort Christian we had that that window where he could kinda knock all that out and still have time to come home and have dinner and kind of recover and be a kid, right? So that was a second reason. And the third reason ⁓ is Argyle is a big football town. I I mean like we Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Brandon Emerson: Probably more proud of our football and our baseball. The baseball program is good. So in the fall, the baseball coaches coach football. There's no fall baseball at all in Argyle. And so I think last year they might have done the done something for the first time ever where they did like that interlock league with other high schools. But other than that, there's really no training. The coaches, I don't think, are allowed to train. Well, at Fort Christian, Rusty Greer, who's the head coach there, ⁓ one doesn't have to teach. Bobby Minor: ⁓ wow. Brandon Emerson: He doesn't have to coach any other sports. And he ran he runs and ran a full fall schedule like you would see at a college. So every single day from 3 to 4 30, they had a full workout. And it's it it was everything, right? It was the ground balls, it was the cuts. It it and that to me made a big difference because you get to train in that environment with a guy who really knows what he's doing. ⁓ Russy had actually trained Grady when Grady was like nine or ten years old. So there was a pre-existing relationship there. We knew what he could do. And ⁓ Bobby Minor: Mm. Brandon Emerson: That's something he didn't have to go do on his own. It's really hard to get infield skill work done by yourself. You know, like someone's got to hit to you. It's always nice to have somebody to catch real at first. And so to us, that just that just all made sense of like, hey, if you're training for what's gonna be the most important year of your life to potentially get drafted, why would you not want all those resources around you? We did not at one time ever give any thought to statistics or winning state. I mean, that obviously you won a win state, but we didn't go there to win state. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Brandon Emerson: It was really all about those three factors, is why we made the decision to transfer. And I don't think a lot of people know that. ⁓ the the second thing that I would add is that when you're a draft candidate, ⁓ the process is it's in depth. So it starts the f the fall season of Grady's senior year. We had home visits from every single major league club came to our house. And they sit down and do job interviews, right? And then Deanna Emerson: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: Wow. Brandon Emerson: When the season started in the spring, you have to keep them updated with everything that's going on. There's an email distribution list. ⁓ every week you gotta send them what's going on. If there's a rain out or a practice change, you gotta let the scouts know. ⁓ it's it's they're they're on you the whole time. And then there's the whole interviews and talking and they they wanna poke and probe all they can. And for us, we didn't really think about it going into it, but Rusty had all his relationships. It was just insane, right? Like One of the areas scouts ⁓ was the bullpen catcher for the Rangers back in the day. So Rusty knew him from when he played, right? Another area scout for one of the top teams ⁓ was a field director in the minor leagues when Rusty was coming up. And so Rusty had one, all those connections ⁓ that really helped with managing a lot of those communications, and two, because he doesn't have to teach, he doesn't have to coach football. He handled all of those communications for us. So Dean and I just got to be parents and and show up to the games and watch. We didn't have to do anything with the scouting process whatsoever because Rusty really handled that. And that was great for us. And then there were other things like Gatorade Player of the Year, you know, when if you're a candidate for that, Gatorade sends a packet to the school and you have to basically give Grady a report card as a season goes to to stay a candidate there. And You know, Fort Christian had a a sports information director and Rusty, and they they managed all of that. You know, so those are just the kinds of things that I don't know if we would have had that kind of support had we stayed at Archive. Bobby Minor: Wow. Dean, anything you want to add to that? Deanna Emerson: So I think the big thing that was for me is, you know, not knowing to like Brandon's point. So we knew going into Grady's senior year, there was a chance that he could get drafted. We had no idea what that was gonna look like. We had no idea what the scouts were gonna be looking for or how hard it was gonna be on Grady to have that pressure. And so for me, or for both of us, I think Rusty brought another level because not only had he He's in the pros and did a very, he had an amazing career. He was vital in Bobby Witt Jr. as well. He's been there, he's done that. He understands the mental strain these baseball players get put under at that level. And I feel like he knew exactly how to talk to Grady along the way so that Grady could just play ball. Grady wasn't worried about the scouts, Grady wasn't worried about the interview questions is he trusted Rusty had it. Rusty had it all figured out. So it took away that extra stress, I feel like, so Grady could just go be a ball player. And so I think for me, having somebody, nothing against the other coaches from other organizations. But in that moment, I, as a parent, knew we needed somebody in our corner that knew what to expect, because none of us did. The three of us had no idea. We'd been told by a few people Bobby Minor: Right. Deanna Emerson: maybe what it would look like, but there's really not knowing until you go through it. ⁓ So I think Rusty did a phenomenal job of not only coaching Grady, but also giving us a heads up of, hey, here's what's about to happen and here's how I'm gonna handle it. And like Brandon said, he took it all off of our plate, which was amazing. ⁓ Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: Yeah. Yeah. And there's one more one thing I wanna add that I think is also a misconception, at least one thing we think. Not nothing I say like we're right, but one of the things I think that that happens in the DFW area, because we're I still think a real football centric culture when it comes to sports here, in football, your high school performance is everything. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: There there's no like summer football that you go play and and build your resume. And there's seven on seven and things like that, which are important. But I mean really how you perform for your high school is everything. Baseball's not that way. You know, and and you know, do I wish that Grady would have won a state title and made it to the championship game twice and didn't win it? Like I do, but just because you win a state title for a 6A high school in Texas doesn't mean that that's what you're getting scouted. You're getting scouted in the summer at the big event. Bobby Minor: Right. Right. Brandon Emerson: At area codes, at Team USA. I mean, Team USA is like a three week process to make the team, and there are scouts and metrics on every single thing you do there, right? So that's one of the other things, kind of looking back is like, is high school baseball important? Yes. Is it as important as how you perform in big events? I mean, when you play for Keynes National like Grady did, like we saw almost all of the top arms in his class last summer. Nobody, nobody plays the Canes and saves pitching. You know, it's like that that that might be the one tournament, the one game they want to win. And there's a two two or three other clubs like that, right? So that's where the scouts are at. I mean, there are way more scouts at summer games in Team USA than there were at at games his junior year in high school. You know? ⁓ and same thing with colleges. So I think that's another thing that parents should learn is high school baseball is important to us as Texans, I think, 'cause we wanna do what we wanna do for our community. But in the big scheme of things, gosh, the summer is really a summer between your junior and senior year is really where Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: You need to differentiate yourself, in my opinion. Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's really good stuff. And one thing I heard y'all both said this ⁓ more than once. I w I wanna I wanna talk a minute about your decision. Like so Grady, obviously when he was younger, he wasn't a big kid, but you played him up. Talk speak, I guess, to your experience, the decision to play him up a lot throughout his career versus what everybody's doing now where they're reclassing their you know, their their eighth grader and he's playing you have fourteen you kids playing twelve you and thirteen you baseball and all that. So like, what do you think are the pros and cons to playing up versus the craziness of reclassing? Well what are your thoughts? Brandon Emerson: Yeah. Well, I'll start first by saying that I never put Grady on a team, and I swear to this, I never put Grady on a team that didn't already have a shortstop. So it's funny when he was younger and like you always have teams calling you, right? It f I felt like when he was younger, everyone's like, Hey, we need Grady to play second, we need Grady to play center field. There was this one coach Grady played four that all of a sudden he wanted to make him a catcher in the middle of a year. I think it was his his tenure year, right? And and then we you know when we got to the big field, all the calls changed. So all of a sudden, like, hey, we need a shortstop. But ⁓ but decision to play up for me was ⁓ it started Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: probably nine you because nine you pitching it for all you parents that have been through that, right? Like how brutal that is. And so, we put up we're on a ten you team where at least you could get some strikes. Cause the ten you pitchers were better at throwing strikes than the nine you pitchers. And that's where it really started. And so then it's kinda like, all right, well he's he's performing here. Like he's doing a really good job. So why move him down? And and so it's really nice in the fact that he kept getting better. ⁓ some of those teams we plan on were really good, some of them not so good, but he had to win a position. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: You know, he had to do that by performing on the field, he had really good coaching. So it wasn't as much like an age decision as it was a a competition and development decision for us. As long as he was out there competing and doing what he needed to do and had access to great coaching, then we'd we'd stuck with those teams ⁓ and and try to write those through. I think when it comes to playing like the great exemption thing, in our experience only, ⁓ Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Brandon Emerson: Gosh, puberty's the great equalizer. Yeah, that's all I can say. And so ⁓ if I look back, Grady was on the very first ⁓ PG Select Fest event they had. I know they've got like 11U now and everything else, but think he was part of the first class that did the 12U Select Fest. And looking back at that, I remember walking up to that event and you're like, ⁓ gosh, like this kid is amazing and this kid's amazing, and that kid's amazing, and they're throwing 78 from 50 feet. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: You know, and you were we were just like, ⁓ that kid, if you had asked me like half those kids would be D1 guys or draft picks, right? I mean, back then when we were 12, and a lot of them were like grade exempt. and and so PG allowed that in the Select Fest, right? If you played 13U events or 12 U events and you got to play 12U Select Fest, I can tell you that a lot of those kids, and in three or four that come to mind, not saying anything's, but eventually or you know, in my mind, I don't know where they went when we got to 6090. You know, it just it didn't it didn't make a difference. And some of the kids, ⁓ I'll give you a great example. There's a kid who started for Oklahoma in the College World Series that got cut from our 14U team here local. You know, and then that that kid went on to be like the top first baseman in the state. I was so proud of how he pitched for Oklahoma in the College World Series. And I look back and just think like, wow, we we cut that kid as a 14 year old from our team. And I didn't think he was that bad then, but it was we were part of that culture of like, well, we gotta get better every year and cut and cut and cut and don't develop on the the team we were on. So ⁓ I think if it if helps you win now and makes you feel good, yeah. But at the end of the day, when you to the big fields and puberty kicks in for everyone, ⁓ I think it levels out. Bobby Minor: ⁓ great Dean, anything you want to add to that? Deanna Emerson: You know, no, not really. I mean, I will say for Grady and for all parents out there, I can tell you our natural instinct as a parent is you wanna set your kid up for as much success as possible. And your kids love dominating, right? I mean, they're athletes. They want to win and they wanna be the best on the team. The thing I will say as a parent is if your kid is the best on the team, and that means there's no one there to push them. That means they're not gonna get better. You've gotta have somebody to chase. You've gotta have a reason to work harder and not make it... so easy for them that they get complacent. I think that's where some of those kids like Brandon was saying they were winning then, but nobody set those kids up to one have the proper pitching mechanics, right? Other than just throw as hard as you can from 50 feet. They weren't teaching them about the game and we were on that team he was talking about. In our age division, we were killing everybody. That to me meant we should have moved up a division. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Deanna Emerson: If you're killing everybody, that means we've gotten complacent and we need to get better. ⁓ You're only gonna get better as if you're losing, you kind of have some of that pain. Or in Grady's case, he was the smaller kid, went to 60, 90 early and watching that little boy try to throw a ball across the field was like, ⁓ my goodness, right? Or stealing bases, it looked like it took him forever to get from first to second. ⁓ So it wasn't always easy and as a parent, you would catch yourself being like, just let's bring him back down that'd be easier for him. You've got to fight yourself as a parent because the only way your kids are gonna continue to get better is they've got to have some form of being pushed a little bit not too much you don't want them to be just getting killed every weekend because that's not fun either but you've got to find that happy middle ground and I think every kid's different and every family has to make that decision for themselves for their kid. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Is there is there a moment that comes to mind for either of you where you had to step back and let Grady figure it out for himself instead of either of you trying to fix it for him? Brandon Emerson: ⁓ gosh. You know, I'll I'll be I'll be totally vulnerable here. It wasn't until his junior year. So I was graded as hitting coach until his senior year. And again, I told you, I grew up a basketball guy. So I'm like, I I've watched every YouTube hitting instructor there is. I've stolen all their stuff, you know. Even going this process, it's funny because a lot of the pro guys are like, no one will ever know your kid's swing like the dad who threw batting practice to him his whole life growing up, right? So Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: So that put me in a position where I always felt that like I had to jump in and save him. Right. And and you know, one of the things, a whole nother podcast probably like Dean and I's relationship because ⁓ there were many nights where I'm sure my other parents go through this, right? She's mad at me because she thinks I'm mad at him and you know, why are you so hard on him? And it's like, well, I'm holding hard on him because I know how hard he and I worked in the cage together this week on, you know, not taking that pitch or Deanna Emerson: You Brandon Emerson: Being able to hit the off speed away and he didn't do it. And I mean, it was a whole interesting dynamic. But it was Grady's junior year in high school. ⁓ he just had a lot of struggles that year. And his his advisor at the time, now his agent, just happened to be in town. And we we all kind of threw a pity party for ourselves. You know, like just he's not playing well, the team's not playing well. You know, we were in the midst. That was probably the hardest year of the chirping. You know, it was the hardest year of the social media, people just going after him. And ⁓ his advisor, Sam Samarja is his name. He had a brother in Jeff Samarja who played football and baseball in their name. So Sam Samarja, Jeff's older brother is Grady's agent. So his advisor at his time, he's like, hey, like, Grady needs to learn to deal with this. You know, like this is what life is like if you go on to the next level. And so it was never a physical thing, never an on the field thing. But it was a mental thing. And, you know, it it really started with like, first don't let baseball become your identity. You know, be a good human first and focus on that. Like we're big faith families. So, you know, what's your relationship like there with with with God? And then start thinking about the baseball thing. And then that whole I know it sounds cliche, but like the, you know, like it's a it's a privilege to have that kind of pressure. You know, and when it comes to what goes on between the ears, I still think that that's something that most of us just have to learn to deal with ourselves. You know, not that that you know, extrinsically you can't get hit hints and advice and guidance, but you just have to make a decision to push through some of that. And once I saw him do that, like I was honestly really worried at the end of his junior year because we're going into that big summer. Here's the big summer where all the scouts can be at all the events. And our very first event was the USA ⁓ team event, which is where all the USA's evaluators are there, the scouts, everything. And Grady really didn't finish his junior year that great. I think he finished the year like hitting 380. ⁓ we had a really tough playoff loss against Lubitt Cooper, I think. And and I'm like, I don't think he hit very well in that event or that that playoff round. I'm thinking, ⁓ man, here we go. And then he just goes out and rakes. I mean like the wood bat first tournament, I think he hit like 600 that tournament. I mean it was just kind of weird how it turned around but when I talked to him about it, it was all about mindset. Right. And have and being able to kinda come out of that funk he was in after dealing with it. ⁓ that's the first time that I think I saw him have to really deal with something on his own where really none of us could could jump in and help him. You know, we just kinda had to give him keys to the car at that point. And that was really from that the rest of the way through to the current day. That was the moment where he he really took over. Bobby Minor: That's good. Did Grady ever was there ever a moment where he w he wanted to quit? He was ready to give up. Yeah, ever. Deanna Emerson: No, there were a couple of times along the way that I know as a family unit to Brandon's point, I think people have no idea the stress in your household that this sport can bring, right? I mean, you've got to hear the haters from even within your community that you thought were friends, you find out maybe really weren't. There was a lot of hard... emotionally stressful times. And I remember sitting Grady down, he was upset about his performance or whatever as most kids are if they have a bad game. And I just said, hey, let's just stop. Like is this all worth it? Like let's just stop it. And he looked at me like I had just grown three heads and was like, what are you talking about? Like, no, we're not gonna stop. Like this is what I love. And I'm like, doesn't feel like a very loving thing right now. The sport is brutal. ⁓ But at that moment he was like, no, like I still love the game. I've just got to figure out what I'm doing wrong so I can get back on track. I think that has always been his mentality. He's never not wanted to play. ⁓ Even in the hard times, it's like, nope, I've got to get back out there. I've got to, you know, I've got to fix it. I got to get better. And I think it's just truly what he loves. ⁓ But yeah, he's never wanted to quit as far as I know. Brandon Emerson: Agre agree. Bobby Minor: Okay. ⁓ so this question's for both of y'all. What's what's one thing that a parent of a twelve year old who says that he wants to play in the MLB, that that's his dream, what's one parent that what's one thing that that parent needs to know about the journey? Brandon Emerson: ⁓ my gosh. Sacrifice. Sacrifice. Deanna Emerson: Lots of sacrifice. Brandon Emerson: ⁓ just endless sacrifice. And ⁓ I would say, yeah, I'm gonna start with that because ⁓ if there's one thing that I I swear I'll question for as long as I can remember. ⁓ baseball is a summertime sport as we all know. And so I don't think Grady went to a birthday party after like sixth grade. You know, and up here in Argyll it seems like a lot of folks have a ⁓ lake house or they have a ranch or you know they like to go hunt and do a whole bunch of other stuff and we we didn't do that. Like we we ⁓ first off we don't have the money to do that because we're spending all of our money on plane tickets and dues and bats and gloves and all that kind of stuff, right? But ⁓ we had to be work we had to work. You know, we had to be in the cages. We had to be on on a road to going to an event. And over time those invites stopped coming. Deanna Emerson: Hotels. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: You know, they they really do. It's like people like I Grady's got baseball. ⁓ that even go like girlfriends. I mean, Grady Grady's not one of those that had he he still doesn't have a girlfriend. I mean it's like, yeah, he dated off and on, but it's really hard to date a guy who's gone the entire summer, you know, or who who has to has to train r relentlessly, right? So, ⁓ and and basically that's all he talks about is baseball too. So I I can't imagine it being too interesting to talk to Grady at some times if Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: It's either Cody Johnson and and music or it's baseball, you know, that that's kind of like what what he he lives for. So, but yeah, sacrifice in everything. You know, I I heard this, so there's a great interview that came out when Bobby Witt was going through this, and ⁓ I think they did it in a cage at at the Sticks facility at the time in Grapevine, and I remember him saying there's no plan B. Like, there is no plan B. And so we adopted that early. And so it's like, hey, if we're gonna do this, like there's no plan B. Now What's awesome in our situation is we didn't have to push Grady at all. We just had to follow Grady. You know, like he he always took accountability, was always intrinsically motivated to go get it. ⁓ we just had to give him the resources he need to continue. So, but it was a big sacrifice for our family. You know, like I mentioned, yeah, I made TMO say the last four years. Guess where our family vacations were the last four years? We went to Hermesio, Mexico, great place, right? Deanna Emerson: You Brandon Emerson: We went to like the back jungles of Dominican to Blue Jays Academy. Panama was pretty nice. And then last summer was Japan, you know, 'cause we wanted to go support him. So we haven't been to Saint Lucia. We haven't been to any of those kind of places. We've been watching baseball on a backfield somewhere, including my twelve year old, you know. So he's even had to kind of take a little bit of a back seat as his brother's gone through this journey because so many of so much of our resources pile into him, you know. ⁓ so sacrifice is without a doubt Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Brandon Emerson: The number one thing that comes to mind that I would tell a parent, if if your kid has the desire and and the ability to chase this, just buckle up and get ready because you know what do they say, all it takes is all you got, could not be more true. Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's good. So you mentioned your twelve year old. What kind of pressure, if any, i what kind of pressure's on him? Wha you know what I mean? Like you're following in the footsteps of an older brother who was just the number two overall draft pick. So I mean, is there any pressure on him? Is it self imposed pressure? Like what does his baseball journey look like? Deanna Emerson: Okay. So I would say the good thing, and God works in mysterious ways, Maddox, our younger son, is polar opposite of Grady. So he's a big kid, lefty, lefty. He's gonna be like a pitcher, first baseman kind of a kid. So I think that works in his favor because you can't compare the two because they are completely opposite other than they're hitting. And I would say they're hitting is actually very similar. ⁓ They're both really good hitters. But Maddox just has more size. He's just a big, kid from the get-go. So I think their journey is going to be a little bit different. think... The only hard thing for Maddox, I would say, is there's a lot of people that ask him, what is it like to be Grady Emerson's brother? And I think for Maddox, it's more of a, he's just my big brother. Like, he's like any other big brother. He picks on me, we fight, like it's the same thing. And I think he gets a little tired of that sometimes. ⁓ But Maddox is a pretty strong-minded kid. He's very confident in who he is, which I Bobby Minor: Right. Deanna Emerson: think is awesome. And I think Grady's done a really good job of trying to protect him as much as he can. And not he tries very hard not to make it about him when he's around. He tries to make it about Maddox. So I think that helps. But Maddox does a really good job of he just rolls with the punches. He's a pretty chill kid. So I think we're lucky in that aspect. What do you I mean Brandon do you have more? Brandon Emerson: Yeah. Yeah, I agree I agree with all that. I mean the the in it there's sometimes gosh like ⁓ you know, he's not as as as talented as Grady was and like we're talking to scouts or even when Grady went to Tampa Bay for his introduction or whatever, and they're like, We're gonna see you in six years, you know, and I'm like, Gosh, I don't put that kind of pressure on the kid, right? But he just kind of lets it roll off. So ⁓ but there's one thing that's been good about it though, is it does give him motivation to work out because I feel like now we've kind of become a baseball family ⁓ over the years, and so he he can see what the hard work leads to, which is is kind of helpful. So he's got a little bit of a roadmap there that he's benefited from. But other than that I don't think it affects him too much. He gets he gets a lot of perks too. So I mean like he gets a lot of perks. ⁓ Grady Grady's pretty good generous with his hand-me downs. So ⁓ he's got got some benefits of that too. Yeah. Bobby Minor: Yeah, ⁓ no doubt. No doubt. That's yeah. Yeah. Too bad he throws lefty though. ⁓ your son, yeah, Maddox. All right. So let's do this. So I like to do something, ⁓ I just call it in and out. You know, very ⁓ it's I was gonna I used was gonna call it around the horn originally, but I forgot ESPN has their around the horn. So I just call mine in and out. It's a good baseball term. So it's gonna be four questions, rapid fire. I mean, both of you, you know, 15 to 20 second answers usually is what I shoot for, but just ⁓ it'll be four rapid fire questions. So we're gonna jump into that and then we'll we'll wrap everything up after that. So Deanna Emerson: you that. Bobby Minor: It is time for In and Out with Brandon and Deanna Emerson. So first question, what's something parents think matters at 12 that doesn't matter long term? Brandon Emerson: Wins and losses. Yep, we've been through the college recruiting process, we've been through the professional process now. Not one time has anybody even asked what team he was on at twelve years old. Nonetheless, asked about his stats, you know, anything is his wins and losses, how many rings does he have. Wins and losses simply do not matter at this age. Deanna Emerson: And either does Game Changer. If your kid gets an error, nobody cares. I promise. Brandon Emerson: Ha ha ha. Bobby Minor: Except for except for you. All right, that's good. All right. Second question. What's the best advice anyone gave the two of you as baseball parents? Deanna Emerson: Keep your circle small. Find the ones that you trust that you know are in it for the real reason and don't expand outside of that. Brandon Emerson: I I would I would just add one thing to that. I 100% agree that's the best advice we ever got. And just know that people, when they get in your circle, think they're entitled to make decisions in your circle. That's why you keep the circle small. Because the more people you let in, the more people are going to try to make decisions and you're going to conflict with each other and you're going to worry about it, right? So keep your circle small. If you need help making a decision, you have three, four people to rely on, not ten. Deanna Emerson: you Brandon Emerson: Because it you'll the more the more conflict the harder it is to manage. Bobby Minor: Okay. That's good. All right, third question. For each of you or both of you, what scared you the most throughout this whole thing? Deanna Emerson: I honestly, mine was injury. Like what happens if he gets a major injury? What does that do to the path? I think that was probably mine. Brandon Emerson: Yeah, I agree. And we had some of those when he was younger. He had like the little league elbow. ⁓ then he had some bicep tendinitis. We were down at Keith Meister's office. We're very fortunate to have access to him here in the DFW area, right? But ⁓ yeah, I agree with Deanna. Injury is always the the constant concern when you're going through process. Bobby Minor: All right. Last question, the slow roller. ⁓ did Grady like did Grady know how big this was gonna be or did Grady just always just show up and play? Deanna Emerson: He just shows up and plays, I think. I think he knew because he would bring it up every once in a while, but I think at end of the day, he just wanted to play ball and whatever that looked like. Brandon Emerson: Yeah, I I would agree with that ex until except for the last three or four months. You know, I mean, it was all about playing baseball, but ⁓ there's some there's a tough decision, do I go to college or not? So you have to have some tough conversations there. And then there's tough conversations you start talking about the money, you know? And so I think that's the first time it kind of hit him of like, wow, this is like big boy stuff now, right? I have to make some some big boy decisions. Other than that, ⁓ before that, I don't think he had any idea it would be this way. Neither did we, to be candid. Deanna Emerson: You Bobby Minor: Right, well, that was In and Out with Brandon and Deanna Emerson. So all right, just a couple more questions and then we can we can we can wrap up everything here for this episode. ⁓ one thing that you just made me think about, Brandon, so the the college versus professional route. So can you help parents out there understand that I'm sure I'm sure Grady had a very nice offer from the University of Texas and Coach Slosh that was on the table. Where does that leave him now that he chose to go the professional route? Explain to them how ⁓ I'm assuming that there's money in worked into his contract that's there that's gonna equal to the f his four year scholarship at Texas, that's there waiting for him ⁓ when he decides to go back to school. Brandon Emerson: Yeah, that's right. That that's through the collective bargaining agreement that they have, right? So any high school kids that get drafted, the the team that drafts them has to put aside the equivalent of four years of tuition, a room and board. So that's every every high school draftee gets that. So he does have that. ⁓ for us, what it came down to is ⁓ development. And and actually this came down to Grady. This came down to me. This came down to Grady. But when talking to Grady, it's like, hey, I want to go somewhere where I have the chance to to develop and grow. I mean, his ultimate dream is always to play in the ⁓ L B. What's gonna get him there the fastest? And that th comes through development. And so for him, the conversation that that we've had him several times is like I he loves University of Texas. I'm sure he wishes that he could be there. But he did not love going to class. My kid is not an academic. He is an athlete student, not a student athlete, right? And so going back to even our decision to go to fourth Christian, it's like how I I don't I want to go train to be a professional baseball player. I don't want to have to worry about class and all that stuff. That was really the the biggest decision. And then he wants to play. No baseball player wants to go somewhere where you're gonna, you know, not play. And so like he's playing a game right now at this moment at the Brave Spring Training Complex, ⁓ his second, you know. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Brandon Emerson: ⁓ complex league game he's got. ⁓ so he wanted to go somewhere he could play and develop and the pros offer that opportunity right off the bat. ⁓ you go to college, they gotta win right now. You know, there's no JV at the University of Texas. So you gotta be one of the top nine to get on the field. And and with the transfer portal and the way things are going now, like it's it's really hard I think for high school kids, even as talented as Grady is to get on the field. I mean, ⁓ Rodriguez is a shortstop at Texas, Flower Mount kid, love him, right? And he he's been great for two years now going to third year. So Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know I know it's dad. Yeah. Brandon Emerson: You know, could Grady compete there? Yeah. But ⁓ at what cost? And so that plays into it. You know, ⁓ the the money side of it, just real quick. We really don't know what that looked like. So, ⁓ and even the the the staff at Texas didn't know. I will say that there's a lot of emphasis now pass along to parents, ⁓ whole nother podcast for you probably, but like social media. So we've been pretty fortunate that Grady had a amassed a pretty good social media following. If you go look though. It's not because he's posting. It's not because I'm posting. It's not because Deanna's posting. Grady's social media following came from other people posting on his behalf. And you got to be careful with that. There's pros and cons of it. But when you go to the PG events or the Canes, or gosh, there's videographers all over the world now. ⁓ that that does help you when you go to college with NIL deals. You know, if you walk in with your own following and and like they sat down and told us, they had a really good pitcher who was SEC pitcher of the year, had no following. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: They're like, when Grady gets here, he's probably gonna have a lot more NIL opportunities because you know the way the mechanics of it work is that somebody has to justify to the NCAA that that that endorsement really means something. And if you've got 20,000 Instagram followers, it's a lot easier to convince that you know John Doe Chevrolet is gonna benefit from your NIL, you know, signing autographs or doing an ad than if if you have no following whatsoever, right? So we really don't know what the NIL would have looked like for him at Texas, but we did know. Deanna Emerson: Thank Brandon Emerson: have mind a number that would make it so he hopefully doesn't have to work, you know, outside of baseball the rest of his life. And then once we kind of get to that number, that's what helped us make a decision in addition to his goal of just playing in the pro. Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's good. Dan, anything you want to add to that? Deanna Emerson: No, I think that's pretty much exactly spot on. So, yes, yes. Bobby Minor: You concur. I always that's ⁓ yeah. Okay. All right. So last question, and this is where we we will wrap things up. ⁓ in in this again, this is your opinion. This is not w I'm not in your opinion, early like rankings and accolades and things like that. Well, you've we've already kind of talked about that. I was about to ask how much does that matter and doesn't matter? I think we really kind of talked about it. You're talking about the Select Fest Grady did twelve years Select Fest, how a lot of those kids just disappeared. So, but for the for the parents out there, I this is what I feel. I feel like parents they buy into all of these things that matter that really don't matter. Again, and when I'm saying that meaning in the context of is your son gonna play baseball in college or not? Where is he gonna play in college? Is he gonna get drafted? That's when I say things that don't matter. Again, they're obviously things that do matter. But they get so caught up in all these things that matter. Like I know, you know, I I did a video a couple weeks ago on a kid that didn't get selected for 13 years select fest, even though He had better stats than everybody. And I had a lot of parents reach out to me and tell me their story of how their kids should have made it and he didn't make it and all that. What would y'all say to those parents out there that think that all of these things actually mean something, other than it's just a great experience? If you look at it like that, but in in the context of their son playing beyond high school, what are the things that matter and things that don't matter? Brandon Emerson: ⁓ I'll start. ⁓ and I got this advice. I did not come with this idea on my own. Somebody in our circle talking about earlier gave us this is that you gotta focus on the map the big goal. And when you get to the big goal, it's gonna come down to people who are paid to give their opinions. So if you're talking about college, you're talking about the recruiting coordinators, the head coaches, you know, the coaching staff. They're getting paid for their opinion on what they think of your son's baseball ability. On the pro side, you're talking the scouts and the front offices. They're getting paid for their opinions. The last time I checked, Perfect Game, PBR, Five Tool do not have a pick in the draft. You know, and even MLB pipeline does not have a pick in the draft, right? It's all down to those people who get paid for their opinion. So that's outside of the experience of going to Select Fest and all that stuff, that really helped put our mind at ease is that the rankings, you know, they don't really mean anything. ⁓ I would argue, and I've actually some social media posts that I've put out there. Do I really think Grady's the best player in the country? I will tell you that Grady's never got a hit off Carson Bullman. Right? And I think he's maybe only fouled one ball off it. You know what I mean? So can I make an argument that Carson Bullman's a better player than Grady? You certainly could. Right. Right. ⁓ so any of those kids can be the best on any given day. You know, I think that's that's the one thing that I would say is. The rankings are so subjective. ⁓ no one really knows what they're about. Some people would say it's about project, you know, how how projectable are they? I disagree. I don't think that's it. ⁓ I think on the surface, it's about what kind of clicks can they pull in. You know, a lot of a lot of it has to do with that. ⁓ so yeah, I don't worry about it. The other thing I would add on to it is there is a bad side to the rankings that I know parents are gonna groan when I tell you this, right? But I can remember going to a Texas Rangers game with Grady and getting overrated chants from a group of players in the stands when we walk by. So, you know, those rankings carry a heavy weight with them. And in a baseball, a sport like baseball, that's really tough. If every bat, especially when there's 14, 15 years old, you're trying to beat a really good pitcher, but then you've also got the entire football team and a Texas high school football team chanting overrated at you from the stands, that just adds a whole nother level of pressure that honestly I don't know is always worth it. ⁓ but that would be my advice, right? Is like you gotta focus on what your goals are and whose opinions matter and it's not at the end of the day a lot of those ranking organizations. Although I I it's just that they do what they do. Again, not bad mouthing them. ⁓ they they do a lot of really good things too, but it's not something that I would get wrapped up in. Bobby Minor: Right, right. Deanna, anything you want to add to that? Deanna Emerson: So I was gonna say the same thing from a, it brought a lot of pressure when Grady got the first time when he got the number one ranking on PG. Like he felt like he had to be perfect. I think that was a phase that we had to work through as a family. I will tell you this, not one scout that came through in the fall asked us about any of those rankings. I know, I think the bigger thing in my opinion, it's just my opinion, you do, we need those organizations because they put on some of the biggest events where the scouts are gonna be. without those big events, I don't know these kids would get where they're at. And so I have to say they have a huge place in youth sports. I believe that wholeheartedly. ⁓ I do believe the parents need to be more focused. In my opinion, how do I get my kid into the events and less about how do get my kid ranked in that event? They need to get to the events, play well in the events, show that they can play the game. That's where the scouts are gonna be. That's where those coaches are gonna be. That's where their kid is going to make a name for themselves. In my opinion. Brandon Emerson: Yeah. Bobby Minor: No, that's really no, that's great stuff. No, and I I mean that's like I I know why you're s you you're kind of reiterating in your opinion. I you know, I'll say things and I think people think that if I say something that I'm presenting it as an absolute. And I mean, no, a lot some of the stuff is my opinion based on my experience. And I think that's the thing, like like perfect game, for example. I would say there's probably ⁓ four at least events that I would say these are absolutely top tier events that mean something. that you're, you know, your kids gonna get good looks at. But the thing that parents need to realize, all four of those events are for high school age players. Like nothing before high school like it's you're just there for the experience. And like just enjoy it and realize it doesn't mean anything. You're not, your son's not getting scouted at, you know, at he's not getting recruited at a 12U event. That's just the reality of it. So ⁓ if you want, if you want people to be able to follow along your journey as I'm gonna call you the parents of Grady Emerson. How does it feel to be the parents of Grady Emerson? ⁓ to follow to follow along on social media, is there any place you have a preferred platform where they can follow you or? Deanna Emerson: Yeah. Brandon Emerson: I mean both of us are on Instagram, so it's it's pretty easy. It's just first initial, last name, ⁓ you know, pretty easy to search us and Google us there. So that's a good one. ⁓ we have been, you know, asked to do some talks for organizations. ⁓ so I would love to pass this down because Lord knows I relied on some people that were a step ahead of me in the journey to give me some advice when I didn't know what to do. So you can ⁓ always reach out to us through social media through Instagram or Facebook. ⁓ if if you or your organization would like to have us come in and talk. We'd like to share. Again, no agenda whatsoever. ⁓ but just, you know, I think that would be really, really good ⁓ to pass some of this down to parents who don't know because we certainly didn't know. We made a lot of mistakes. I would like for parents to learn from our mistakes more than our success. Deanna Emerson: Yeah. Bobby Minor: Okay. So I lied. One last question. What's one thing now, we had a crystal ball hindsight being twenty twenty, what's one thing that y'all did that you would say, man, we would have done this differently? And that's gonna be our last question. Brandon Emerson: We would do it differently. Deanna Emerson: ⁓ I think in my opinion, think I at a young when Grady was younger, so nine, 10, 11, 12 ish, I trusted the coaches too much. that they knew exactly what they were doing as far as like arm care, overuse, that kind of stuff. I think I put a lot of faith into that instead of following my gut feeling of, I think we might be pushing this too far. That's my one thing I learned is you've got to speak up and you can't be afraid my kid will get cut if I speak up. You've got to protect your kid. Bobby Minor: Okay. Brandon, what about you? One thing you do differently. Brandon Emerson: One thing the one thing I would do over is understand that there are a lot of people that there's a lot of people who do a lot of good things in the world of baseball. ⁓ the there are a lot of people who don't always have your kids' best interests at heart. And so it took me a little a little bit longer than I thought. Like, why is this person reaching out to me to help Grady with this? Why does this person really want Grady on his team? You know, why like everybody has something to get benefit and gain, but There are several times when we got into situations with teams or other individuals where they were really just trying to abuse that. You know, and and that's that that's something as parents that you're the only ones that can look out for. You know, is sometimes you just have to say no because that person's trying to take advantage of of your kid. You know, people who make money off use sports to me is It's a tricky business. If there's if they're adding value to it, fine. If they're making ⁓ more value than they're giving in, which we see a lot of that these days, those are the people that I wish I would have been able to filter out sooner. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Well good stuff, man. I appreciate both of you such I mean such a wealth of knowledge and I know there's a lot more to talk about. Maybe we can again we can do ⁓ do another episode sometime in the near future and maybe just be more focused on one topic. But thank you so much, Brandon Indiana, and tell Grady good luck and tell Maddox good luck. Brandon Emerson: We'll do. Thank you so much for having us on. Deanna Emerson: Thank you so much.