Latest / Chasing Baseball Dreams / 30: Shane Greene | MLB Players Feared Their Dads More Than the Media

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30: Shane Greene | MLB Players Feared Their Dads More Than the Media · Chasing Baseball Dreams

• Shane Greene: I've played with guys in the big leagues who were more scared to talk to their dad after a bad game than they were to talk to the media. You know, and that, and like that to me doesn't make any sense. Bobby Minor: Welcome back to Chasing Baseball Dreams. Today I've got Shane Green joining me. Shane Pitt spent 10 seasons in the majors pitching for teams like the Yankees, Tigers, Braves. He was an all-star closer with Detroit in 2019. But as you'll come to find out, his journey wasn't exactly easy. He had Tommy John surgery, his freshman year in college, went the JUCO route, and eventually was a 15th round draft pick before reaching the major league. So Shane, man, I really appreciate you being here. Shane Greene: Yeah, brother, I appreciate you having me. Bobby Minor: So I know we were talking before you know, before we started recording, I was talking about cosmic baseball, Savannah bananas. Both are a lot of fun. Tell me a little bit about your experience and and is there anything that Major League Baseball can learn? Because you know there's a lot of talk about a potential lockout, and I see you know, cosmic baseball blowing up, the bananas filling Major League Stadium. So is there anything Major League Baseball should be paying attention to, anything that they can learn? Shane Greene: I mean, the first thing that comes to mind, I guess, is fan engagement. I think that the other part of that is if I don't, think that potentially I'm the only person that's experienced playing in both Cosmic and Banana Ball. I think that their similarities are that the fans are diehard. Like it's the atmosphere as a player and both scenarios is like the fans. are excited. There's a lot of kids, obviously, but like they're extremely excited to be there. The differences are obviously the bananas have a lot more extracurricular activities, I guess you would say going on, then I believe Cosmic does because Cosmic has it, but it's much more like their thing is obviously the Cosmic, right? So there's less Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Shane Greene: like shows in between. but I will say that from the, the players standpoint, they're both similar in the fact that the, the, guys are actually out there trying to win a baseball game, which I thought was extremely interesting because going into it, I kind of just assumed it was like a show and like the guys were just Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Shane Greene: kind of there, like messing around doing whatever, but that is not the case. you know, I, especially when I was with, the guys with, with the party animals and I was talking to them. I didn't realize like how much those guys were trying to win a baseball game until I talked to the players themselves, but they were in a playoff race when I was there and it was like, we have to win today. And like the boys, you felt like you were in a real, a real Bobby Minor: Mm. Shane Greene: baseball game, like trying to win a game. So that was super, super cool from my perspective to see. But overall, man, they're, they're both, guess, trying to do the same thing, which is create an environment for their fans that they've never experienced before. Obviously, think that... think, truthfully, if I'm being fully transparent here, I believe that... Banana Ball is obviously paving the way for Cosmic. I don't know if Cosmic would have been such a hit if Banana Ball Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Shane Greene: didn't do what it had already done, if that makes sense. Bobby Minor: Yeah, for sure. Shane Greene: But I don't think that they're doing the same thing. So it was interesting to see how similar but also how different they were. And I didn't realize how different baseball was when it's glowing in the dark either. So it was quite the experience. Bobby Minor: Yeah, so and again we were talking before before we started recording about the glow in the dark thing. I did a couple of weeks ago, I did a celebrity baseball influencer softball game at the Field of Dreams. I was on Eric Sims team and I it's it's so wild like you can see everything obviously because it's glowing, but like my depth perception was so off and somehow I ended up pitching and I said the only way I'm gonna pitch is if I if I have a screen up there because I'm pitching to, you know, former former former major league. You know what I mean? Like I'm not gonna get there and like take a you know take a line drive Shane Greene: Yeah. Bobby Minor: off my you know off my face or anything, but like for you, like explain like how it's like yeah, like just how different it is. Shane Greene: Yeah, for me, I first of all, you never, I've never played, I played baseball under the lights. never played baseball under no lights, you know? So that Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: was, that was definitely different. think, I think what was super cool for the cosmic stuff was when they first shut the lights off, I was actually up in the press box doing, like an interview, I guess. And so I got to see it from that perspective when all the lights turned off. and like the guys on the field were glowing in the dark and the ball was going on dark. And it was just, I mean, it was. It was a super, super cool atmosphere that I had never seen before, you know, and then when they do the home run Derby, the cosmic home run Derby between innings was definitely, the atmosphere was very, I say electric, I guess is the word Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: I would use, but it's like, again, if you want to compare it to banana ball, what also was electric was the bananas, like extra inning situation where it's just a pitcher. And one fielder like that was insane. I never seen anything like that. know, so like, I don't have anything bad to say about either organization. They're both, they're both obviously trying to build their own thing. what I do think is insane is that the, the bananas are playing in football stadiums, man. Like, you know, I played in the major leagues for 10 seasons and I've played in front of sold out crowds, maybe, I don't know, 20 times if I was lucky. You know, like probably less than Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Shane Greene: 20 times was it completely sold out. And I don't know if I ever seen Camerica sold out before. And then I saw it Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: sold out when I was there playing banana ball. like, it's clear to me that they're doing something right and the fans love it. And it was fun to be there and be a part of. like, it's all super exciting stuff. And I'm excited to see where they go from here, you know. Bobby Minor: Yeah. No, that's good stuff. And I I you know, I know they did they played down in college station at at Kyle Field, Texas AMS football field. I they had like a hundred thousand people. And what I thought was kind of cool about it, it almost because of the the short you know, the short fence in in I've been left field. I know if it left field or right field, but it almost gave me a kind of like polo ground vibes, you know. And I'm not I know I look old. I'm not old enough I wasn't around, I wasn't watching games in the polo grounds, I'm just familiar from playing MLB the show you know, with my sons, but it kinda gave me Apollo ground vibes. But okay, so let me ask you this. I've like I've had Jordan Hussein, Shortstop from the Texas Tailgators on my podcast, just had Coach Rack. Next week I'm gonna have Mikey Ballard from Shane Greene: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: The Party Animals. And I used to make this comparison. I would say, you know, banana balls kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters in a way, but but I feel like the Globetrotters, I feel like it was real basketball mixed in with scripted basketball. Okay. I don't think there's anything scripted about the baseball part Shane Greene: No. Bobby Minor: of the banana. Banana. So you're you're I mean a 10-year Major League vet, you're an all-star. What would you say to the person out there that says, man, banana ball is just garbage? Like they're not real ball players, they're not playing real baseball. Shane Greene: I would say they haven't been to a game and if they did go to the game they weren't paying attention. Like I said man before I went I got my feet wet because I did Cosmic first but the The second that I got there and Banana Ball started talking to the players, it's like, this is, in a playoff home. Like we have to win. Like it was, it was a playoff atmosphere for them in the locker room and even in the dugout getting ready for the game. So from the fan's point of view, there's a lot going on, right? But like on the field, the boys are trying to win a ball game and it was super fun to be a part of like a playoff atmosphere and like, but before the game, and if you watch my YouTube video, I'll even say it. I'm like, I'm not trying to win a game tonight. So like, I'm not that nervous. I'm just here to have a good time. I would say that out loud. And then 30 minutes later, I'm talking to one of the guys and he's telling me they're in a playoff hunt and it's a must win. like instantly my thought process changed. And I'm like, now I'm nervous because not only, I don't want to be the guy that goes out there and gives it up as the ex big league Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: or whatever playing banana ball, but I definitely don't want to be the guy that shows up as the ex big league or playing banana ball. And now you're out of the playoff race because I'm out here messing around. You know, so Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: I had to, I had to lock it in and I would say, The craziest thing for me is fast forward five years. I mean, they've grown so fast and the competition is Bobby Minor: yeah. Shane Greene: so good. Like five years from now, our guys, you know, going to play banana ball first, Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: with the lockout, you know, like our big leaguers that are hitting free agency going to play banana ball because they can financially be supported to do so. You know, like the whole scenario to me, again, I'm just a ball player. I don't know how the business side works, but they're growing. very fast and it's very entertaining and they clearly have the fan base and they definitely have the skills on the field to play high level baseball so you know i guess we'll see what happens Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's good stuff, man. So I want to s switch gears just slightly and talk about another one of your baseball experiences. You played winter ball in the Dominican Republic, and you know, I don't know if how much you follow comments and a lot of posts about youth baseball or anything, but like, you know, I I see almost daily I'll see some sort of some sort of debate in the comments on somebody's post about, you know, how broken and flawed the travel ball system here is in the States, which it is, and you know, there's some kid in the Dominican Republic. public right now, you know, barefoot with no glove, hitting bottle caps, which I know does happen, but you know, like I ran an event in the DR. It's also very big business down there. But what sh what was your experience like in the DR? Did you have any do you have any insight as to how you know for the kids down there playing baseball, what it looks like and how it is different from up here in the US? Shane Greene: Yeah, I mean, I would say the biggest difference is in the US, we tend to turn our youth baseball players into robots mechanically. And in the DR, it's much more like here's the field, here's the ball, here's the bat, go play. And that's maybe a hot take, you know, but like you go to a, you go to a tee ball practice. There's going to be a lot of make sure you get your arm up, get your elbow up, point at your target, squash the bug. You know, like, I don't think a lot of that is going on down in the DR. So like, it's just a little bit different, in that sense. And I believe that that's why some of those guys become so elite because. And in America, we're programmed to, it's, if the, if the success on the field is not there, well, it's because my mechanics aren't Does that make sense? And then down there, Bobby Minor: yeah. Shane Greene: because, because the mechanics aren't implemented right away, it's not always a mechanical issue. It can just be maybe like a focus issue or whatever. So I think that, there's probably strengths to both sides. There's probably weaknesses to both sides. But something that I am super passionate about is trying to connect the two and help young baseball players, especially from the States, understand that like, it's not always a mechanical problem. And if you just do what you're trying to do every time forever, then they'll just start teaching your mechanics. You know, like nobody told Hunter Pence, Hey Hunter, that swing looks good. That's a good looking swing, especially when you're on deck. Keep doing that. You know, but that was pretty good ball player. So again, like down there, it's just a little bit more like go play the game and play it better than everybody else. We're here, we try to be like too smart and tell you how to play the game so that you can play it better, I guess. Bobby Minor: Yeah, you you said something so so impactful there that I hadn't even really thought of it that way 'cause everybody makes the comparison between how much we the kids play in the States versus training and then in the DR they train way more than they play. But I hadn't even thought about the element that you just mentioned that it's also, you know, like they when they do play, they go and play. It's not it's a it's a much freer environment. And I've some of the things you just said I almost say word for word, like we create these little robots. You know, because you take a T ball team and the you know, they have eight dad coaches, and then you have the rest of Shane Greene: No. Bobby Minor: the parents along the fence, and any time a ball is put in play, you got a million parents yelling at what to do, and that's why kids don't know what to do, and they get the ball and they have to look at their parents or their coach. Versus like when I grew up playing, you know, we would go to the playground and it literally was like the sandlot, you know, like I'm pretending I'm my favorite MLB player, there's no dads, no anybody, and you learn how to play the game. And now, whether it's that environment or through so many Shane Greene: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: you know, weekly hitting lessons where it's so mechanical and you know what I mean? Like they just can't they can't they don't learn how to think for themselves and self-diagnose and it's just it's just a big mess. So yeah that's really I think you inspired me. I might do a I might do a reel on that later today. Shane Greene: Yeah, so I tell people like, you take the thing, the thing with us baseball players is even at the high level, like even in the big leagues is if we can get out of our baseball brain, it's easy to figure out, you know, like if I take you and I put you on the free throw line and you miss 20 free throws in a row. You're not going to start trying to think about where your wrist is, where your fingers are placed on the ball, where your elbow is. No, you're just going to think about like, well, I need to focus a little harder on like this rhythm, the feel and my focus on where the ball is going to get it in there. Right? So again, you're not going to revert to mechanics, but if I go onto the pitcher's mound and I throw 20 balls in a row, my pitching coach is going to come out there and he's going to say, Hey man, you You know, you got to bend your back or you're, you're, Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: drifted through your load or whatever. was like, yeah, well maybe, but if I'm focused on my load or my drift, like maybe that's why that's happening rather than like working backwards. And I tell pitchers all the time. I'm like, if you're telling me you have command problems, sure. But if I took you to the fair and there was a clown in the dunk tank and you had that little target to hit, and I gave you three baseballs, I bet you'd hit that little target and you wouldn't think about your mechanics one time. So you don't have command Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: issues, you have focus issues. Bobby Minor: That that's really, really good. And you made me think I just thought of another analogy. It's like, you know, if I laid a a ten foot two by four on the ground and I said, Shane, you know, walk walk across this two by four. You're gonna pop on it, you're not even gonna be thinking about it, and you're gonna walk, you know, walk across it like it's nothing. But if I take that same two by four and I put it twenty feet above the ground, now all of a sudden, you know what I mean, you're thinking about you know, you're not falling and you're thinking about where'd I put my foot and everything and it's it just totally it totally changes everything. I shared this on another podcast with somebody I had an old PGA tour caddy buddy that told me one time playing golf but it applies to baseball he told me he said Bobby he said turn off your brain and turn on your game Shane Greene: That's basically, that's the whole thing, man. Like is there room for mechanic coaching and training? Absolutely. 100%. But the problem is, is we take that mindset into the game where like when you're in the game, it has to be a competitive mindset, not a training mindset. If you feel like you need to work on your mechanics and your training, and your cage work and your mound work for sure do it. But once you're in the game, you have to trust that the training is instilled in you. And now you have to focus on the competition at hand. Right? So then the question is like, well, how do you do that? Well, you got to figure out how do you turn your training brain off and your competition brain on. Bobby Minor: That's good. I actually I co-wrote an ebook on mindset and approach when hitting with with a guy, former major league, Herman Duran. He played for the Rangers back in the early 2000s. And it's focuses on three mindset and approach mistakes that that hitters make and how to avoid them. And it's based on when my son Julian, who's playing Division II baseball right now, when he was 14, he was playing 14 U majors entire summer, I think like 30 games, he had 10 hits, 10 Singles. He batted 200. He was almost ready to give up. And I connected with Herman. Herman worked with him a couple of times at the end of the summer, and he said, dude, he goes, there's nothing wrong with his swing. He goes, I'm going to teach him how to think like a major league hitter. And they worked almost exclusively on mindset and approach. That fall, 15U fall, he had a tournament, two-day tournament, went five for 11 with four doubles in, you know, like four games. So he had half as many hits in one weekend as he had all summer. Shane Greene: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: His 15-U summer batted almost 450. fifty. Literally the only thing that changed was just his his how he thought and his approach. And by the way, if if anybody that follows me on Instagram, if you're a new follower, that's a f my free gift to you. I'll I'll send you a free copy of that ebook and you get an auto DM when you follow me. So that's another thing there. But but I think if you I think it's crazy. I think if you ask most parents how important do you think the mental game is or mindset and approach is in baseball? And I I feel confident saying I think at the very least Shane Greene: Okay. Bobby Minor: Most parents would say it's at least 50% as important, you know, all the way up to maybe a hundred percent. But then if you ask them, so how much time do you and your son spend on the mental side of it? It's almost zero. And I just think that's crazy. Shane Greene: They are creating, they're doing everything in their power as a parent to make sure that their child is the fastest car on the racetrack, but they're not teaching their child how to drive the car. Bobby Minor: That's good. Shane Greene: You gotta, you gotta know how to drive the car. Like would you rather be the best driver or have the fastest car? Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Now that that's that's really good. and My my son-in-law this morning, he has a really fast car. He actually had a really bad accident this morning. He's okay. So I don't know, maybe maybe Shane Greene: Thank God. Bobby Minor: we maybe we need to work on his driving. On his driving, because Shane Greene: Yeah Bobby Minor: he has a really fast car. But all right, I'm I'm gonna shift gears a little bit. So like Shane, like coming out of high school, you weren't this highly ranked prospect, okay? But yet you eventually became a major league all-star. What would you tell a dad who's worried that his twelve you son is already falling behind? Shane Greene: I would tell them who cares. I mean, if you, here's the thing, like I'm not a parent, so I can't relate, but I can only imagine how bad parents want it for their kids or how proud they are of them, right? Or like, you know, they're, they're, obviously are extremely emotionally invested in their child and their performance, which I completely understand. Although I can't relate to, I understand a hundred percent. However, You got to zoom out, man. Like, I didn't make it to the big leagues until I was 26 years old. Bobby Minor: Wow. Shane Greene: So, and then I got to play 10 seasons. So. Being good or being bad or not even playing the sport at all when you're 12 doesn't matter that much. There's a that's 14 years in between 12 years old and me making it to the big leagues. That's longer than the kids even been alive. So like Bobby Minor: Mm. Shane Greene: up until now, it doesn't really matter that much, you know? So for me, I go back to like, if you want to be better when you're young, you just have to do it more often, I think. You know, like if you want to Bobby Minor: Mm. Shane Greene: be the best free throw shooter in the world, just, chances are, if you put a basketball in your kid's hand when he's eight and he just shoots the ball at the basket more times than everybody else for the next five years, when he's 13, he'll probably be better than the rest of the 13 year olds. But eventually you get to a point where like the playing field is more level and everybody on the field is skilled. So then how do you separate yourself? And that's when you get to the whole like. Who's driving the car thing. If all the cars on the track are the fastest ones in the world, then it's going to come down to the driver. Right. So as a parent, of course you want your kid to be good because that's fun and that's awesome. And he gets to play for the better team and win the championships and take the pictures and do the thing. And that's an awesome experience. But realistically, it doesn't fucking matter. It's sorry to cuss, but when I'm being myself, it kind of happens. like, I'll tell you that. Yeah. Yeah. Bobby Minor: Yeah. No, it's okay. No be yourself, be yourself. Yeah. Shane Greene: I appreciate it. I played on, I played on a team. When I was third, how old was I? think it was a freshman in high school or maybe eighth grade. I played on a travel team. We didn't even have jerseys. You just had, you showed up with a, with a t-shirt and that had a number on it. And if you had an extra one with a number on it, bring it because somebody might show up with that one. And we're playing in tournaments that way. And we had good players, you know, like. Again, it doesn't, there's so much with, and plus with Instagram and everything else nowadays, like people are only posting their highlight reels, the highlight reels. Nobody's posting. when they punch out four times, you know, so you start comparing yourself at the age of 12, like it's a recipe for disaster. I would, I would say zoom out, just zoom out is, is my recommendation for parents. Even, even, even when I talk to kids that are in high school or freshmen in college that are 18, 19 years old, dealing with the same thing. Right? I'm like, well, I didn't make it to the big leagues for eight more years. That's half your lifetime. Zoom out, bro. You you're, Bobby Minor: Hmm. That's good. Yeah. Shane Greene: you're, get benched this weekend. Doesn't matter that much. Even, even you throw a 98 this weekend. Doesn't matter that much. Truthfully. It doesn't matter if it's been good or bad. You still have like, you still have to put a process in place and then, go through the process. Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's really good. I I think way too many parents they get they get way too hung up on if their kid has, you know, a bad at bat, a bad game, a bad tournament, even a bad season in thinking that that's going to define who he is, you know, when he's seventeen or eighteen and what opportunities are there and and it's not. Those are just opportunities to learn and grow through. But okay, so y so you mentioned you mentioned travel ball. So walk us through a little bit about your like your journey. Like how old were you when you started playing baseball? Who introduced you to it. what position did you play? I'm assuming you weren't a you weren't a pitcher your entire life. Shane Greene: Yeah. Bobby Minor: you know what did you play? When did you only become a pitcher? Like like kind of walk us through some of that. Shane Greene: Okay, I'll try to make it as fast as I can because my journey, my journey is really long and very different than most. So I grew up in Florida, so I played baseball year round. and middle school, I was on the basketball team because I was tall as a kid and they didn't have a baseball team. So I just tried out for basketball, made the team. fast forward high school, I was on junior varsity my freshman year. and then I played at that, at that time freshman year, I played right field. third base and pitched. In Little League my whole life I played like shortstop and pitched, but I was always the kid that pitched the whatever the maximum amount of pitches was for the rules, right? So whether that was three innings or however many pitches, I was maxed out on the week. And then high school, JV, I pitched, but I also played a little third, little right field. Sophomore year, this was in 2005. I made the varsity team as a pitcher only. Never heard of a pitcher only before at that point. Like nobody was really doing that yet. but I made the varsity team as a pitcher only as a sophomore, but I didn't pitch one inning. I was literally, Bobby Minor: wow. Shane Greene: I was literally told to shadow our, our ACE who was also our quarterback at the high school. And so I shadowed him. So his day that he pitched, would chart, the day that he would go on his long run, I would go with him when he threw his bullpen, I would throw the bullpen. I would, I took a lot of pride in like fixing the mound for him and like, Bobby Minor: Mm. Shane Greene: trying to help the team in some way. Like I was, that's, that's what kind of turned me into like a vibes tribe guy where it's like, I better be here. I got to do something to try to help this team win. Right. So, I literally didn't pitch one inning my sophomore year. They sent me down twice to pitch on JV during like the week. was like, I was in the big leagues and I was getting, optioned down, but I didn't pit. made, Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: I made the varsity team. I practiced with the varsity team. I didn't Bobby Minor: Mm. Shane Greene: pitch one inning for varsity that year. And I probably pitched like five for JV and then. Junior year, I pitched, I made varsity pitch really, really, really well, but I didn't throw hard. Senior year, I feel like I went in with some high expectations because I pitched so well, even though I didn't throw hard. And I didn't have as good of a year, but I had an okay year. I only got one college offer. It was from a division two school. I went there my freshman year and I was like the fifth starter slash second closer. So depending on who was tired or who was hurt or whatever, like I would. might be the closer today. I might start this week. I might not pitch at all this week. I was kind of in like this limbo area. And then that's when I found that I needed Tommy John surgery. They told me that I could earn my scholarship back when I could pitch again after Tommy John. So I left. went to Daytona Beach Community College where I was able to use the facilities and walk on the next year once I got healthy prior to me having that opportunity to walk on. I was throwing off the mound again. When I was nine years old, I knew a guy named Jeff Deardorff who was in AAA with the Yankees at the time. I used to go to him for hitting lessons. Fast forward back to now I'm in college. Now he's a Yankee scout. I call him, I'm like, yo, trying to get back on a scholarship with somebody. I'm about to play in this collegiate with bat league in central Florida. Can you watch me throw a bullpen? Talk to some coaches that you have good relationships with to hype me up, basically tell them to come watch me. Bobby Minor: Mm. Shane Greene: I threw a bullpen for him. It was my third bullpen. post-surgery, he's like, yo, what the lab, where did this come from? Kinda. And he brought up a cross checker the next week. I threw another bullpen. They invited me to Tampa. That was my first time facing hitters after surgery. faced three of their extended spring training guys and a scrimmage Bobby Minor: Hmm. Shane Greene: game, punched out two, topped out at 94, got drafted two weeks later. Bobby Minor: Wow. And I know there's a lot there a lot more there to your story. Shane Greene: Yeah. Bobby Minor: I I think we we could just do a whole episode just on your story, the Shane Green journey. okay, Shane Greene: Yeah. Yeah. Bobby Minor: I want to go back to something that you said because it's it's really I I mean, so your sophomore's your sophomore year in high school, because hearing you hearing you talk about your experience, immediately I'm thinking of all the parents that would just be crying and complaining and running their mouth in the stands, you know, and like, why isn't my son playing and all you know, just How do what how did your parent what sorts like how did your parents handle it with you and and what could parents out there learn from that that may be going through something similar, specifically to high school baseball? Shane Greene: to be honest, that's a good question. And I should ask my dad. I bet knowing my dad, the way that I know him, I bet he was frustrated. I would imagine he was probably more than frustrated. He was probably angry, but I think he also, could see like, we had a good group of dudes on the team. We weren't like the best team in the world, but like we, we were like this, we were pretty, we were pretty tight. And I think he saw that and he was more worried about like, me just enjoying myself and because I wasn't complaining, he wouldn't let me hear him complain at least. Like, so maybe he was complaining to like his friends or maybe to my mom or whatever, but I never heard him complain, you know, and maybe if I heard him complain that would leak into me complaining and then now I'm not a good teammate or whatever, but I never heard him complaining, although he was probably dealing with it a little bit, but at the end of the day, it's like, you also have to teach your kid that like, you're not always going to be in the perfect world scenario. So you have to like be a role player, even in life. I tell people this, even like in your family, you got to be a role player. everybody here has been to Christmas and you got whatever, the couple of family members that don't get along or whatever it is. It's like, well, if you go into it and your goal is to just make sure that Christmas is good and everybody enjoys it, then it's easy. You just play that role the Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Shane Greene: whole, the whole way. So it's like, you got to figure out what your role is. buy into that role on the team, on the staff, whatever it may be as a parent. know, like a lot of parents confuse their role as a parent and they're over here trying to be the coach. And it's like, brother, Bobby Minor: Mm. Shane Greene: he's, he's already got one of those. Bobby Minor: Yeah, I think that's good and think to me something that every parent needs to hear is the fact that your dad might have been pissed off about what was going on, but you didn't know it and you didn't hear it, versus versus Shane Greene: I didn't know him. I didn't know him. Bobby Minor: so many parents that that will express how they feel right in front of their son and kind of poison his thinking and making excuses and all that instead of letting letting it be an opportunity for him, A, to learn you know, to learn how to be a good teammate, you know, like when things aren't you know, when things aren't going your way, so that's really, really good. So I know we've talked about, you know, about your your Tommy John surgery, your freshman year. what would you say when a dad's choosing a team for his 12 or 13 year old pitcher, what should he be asking that coach about how that coach handles pitchers and how he handles workloads? Shane Greene: Again, I think that if as a parent you can zoom out, it's an easy question to answer. know, like, the kid is not a pro. He's a kid, man. You know, so like, let him be a kid and then when it's time to be a pro, we'll be a pro. So I think if you go in with that mentality, then it's easy to answer those questions as a parent because Again, like as cool as those moments are, it doesn't mean anything. It's cool memories. But if your goal, if you can zoom out and your goal is to actually get to the big leagues, like I did some cool stuff when I was young, but most of it, I don't even remember. Like what I remember the most about Little League actually is getting 10 run ruled by the Apopka Little League team that won the world series. And then they played against Danny Almonte. That's what, Bobby Minor: okay. Shane Greene: you know, so, I don't even remember. Winning. I remember losing. know, so like, it's not that big. Those, like you have these small memories, but it's not that big of a deal. Bobby Minor: Yeah. I I that's you know, my my son who he played at a at a JUCO in California this past year and I flew out and we were driving back and he just told me like he just kinda had this like aha moment where he said, You know what? He goes, I realize like baseball is just a game. It's not life and death and he and he thought back to all these times, you know, throughout his career where, you know, he was living and dying on on every pitch and every at bat and every game and he goes, It's just not Shane Greene: Thank Thank Bobby Minor: It's just a game and like I'm just glad that I get to keep playing this game and I think a lot of parents forget that it is just a game and they should be grateful, I think, that their son's even playing and just enjoy, you know, enjoy the journey and not get so caught up on, you know, what the outcome's gonna be. Shane Greene: Yeah, I would say, if I'm able to speak directly to the parents, I've played with guys in the big leagues who were more scared to talk to their dad after a bad game than they were to talk to the media. You know, and that, and like that to me doesn't make any sense. So you're making your, your. You're making it harder. It's already really hard. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: It's already really hard. And for you to make it so hard that even when your child is a grown adult and not just one teammate, I'm talking about multiple people I've played with, have had the same issue. You're making even the grown adult version of your kid so worried about your own reaction, not even theirs, but your reaction to the bad game. that they're worried more about that than talking to the media? Come on, man. You know, Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: it's like, that's why I say I'm not a parent. So it's a little different coming from me, I guess, but like, just be a parent, man. Just be a friend, be a parent, be a brother, be a sister. Like, it's a hard game. Don't make it any harder. If you're the dad that is also the coach, like literally the coach also. then you gotta be the coach at the field, but the second that you're not at the field, like, you gotta also be deaf. You can't be coach, you can't be coach all the time. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah, that's good. And I I tell people all the time, I've never coached a player, known a player, seen a player that has ever struck out on purpose or made an error on purpose. You know what I mean? Like Shane Greene: Yeah. Bobby Minor: like it just it happens. It happens. You see at the major league level. Like if you watch baseball at the major league level, you're going to see Major League players that are making millions of dollars take a call third strike right down the middle, you know, n miscommunicate on a pop-up in the infield. Like it happens. And I don't know why parents think that the things that happen at the major league level with the best players in the world, why they think that it shouldn't happen with their 12-year-old son. It's insane to me. Shane Greene: Yeah, I would say two things. one, there's never going to be a moment where your kid never gets out again. Like he's, even if he's good, he's always going to get out seven out of 10 times forever. It's not like, now my kid's really good. And he hits 800. Like, no, like the problems that you're dealing with right now are the problems you're going to deal with forever. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Unless his mom unless his mom's running game changer. Shane Greene: No, and yeah, then that's a different story. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: And then I lost my train of thought. the other, so the first thing is your kid's never gonna have like the aha moment where they never give up a run or they never get out again, number one. So they're always gonna deal with the same issues. So then the question becomes, how do you deal with those issues or how do you grade yourself? The easiest way to do that is as a parent or as a player, stop grading yourself, whether you got out or not. Like when I, when I would look back at my games and grade myself, I would ask myself two questions. The first question is for lack of better terms, did I bring my nuts today? Which to me meant like, did I come to compete today? Like when I was out there, was I actually competing or was I still worried about my swing or my mechanics or like my walk rate or my strikeout rate? Or was I just like, F you, here I come. If the answer is I wasn't competing or I didn't bring my nuts, then there's no other evaluation to do about my performance. That's why I stunk today. If you can Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: make it past that question, then the next question is, well, where was my focus? Was my focus on my routine, my breath, my rhythm, the competition at hand, or was my focus kind of scattered? Like I was worried about the sunflower seed flavor that my mom got me was the wrong one or I'm you know, my, my, my mom's drinking a Gatorade in the dug in the stands and now I want one or the umpire has the umpire suck today and he screwed me every, you know, like, what am I focused on it? If I'm not focused at the competition at hand, the, which is me versus the hitter or me versus the pitcher, then that's why I suck today. And 99 % of the time you'll never make it past those two questions if you're evaluating bad performance. And if you happen to get past those two questions. then you can start worrying about, then why did I suck? Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's good. That's really, really good. And like, you know, now like my son, like when they play, 'cause it's their fall, you know, fall season and they're playing do a lot of inter squads and things like that as well. And like, you know, I'll ask him like so how'd it go? And he might say, I'll you know, I went one for three today. And you know, might his hit like, you smoke the line drive off the right center field wall or whatever, and I'll What happened to your other two at bats? man struck out on a on a full count, like he just dotted the corner, you know, it was a great pitch and you know, I couldn't do anything. Or or he might say, you know, I popped but he Said man, I wasn't I wasn't really locked in. And you know, I'll just ask him, say, how'd you feel? I felt good. All right, cool, you know, then that's it. Like it's not, you know, and it's now it wasn't always that way because when I was coaching him when he was, especially when he was younger, I felt like I had to be twice as hard on him as anybody else, so nobody would say daddy ball. But you know, I stepped away from coaching him a couple of years and then came back, and it just really changed everything. So, all right, so let's you've talked before about the importance of young players. Playing multiple sports. That is a recurring theme with with almost every former major leaguer that I talked to. What would you say to the dad that thinks that his 11-year-old son has to play baseball year round just to keep up? And you can't say zoom out. Shane Greene: I would Bobby Minor: You can't say zoom out on this one. Shane Greene: Yeah, I would say I played baseball year-round and I was a pitcher only by the time I was 14. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: You know, so like, if you want your kid to be athletic, you got to let him do some more athletic things. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: Where baseball is more of like a skill based game. Let him go play some games that create athletes. And then you put an athlete on a baseball field where they have a lot of skill. The sky is the limit. Bobby Minor: Yeah. How much do you think baseball helped you I mean basketball helped you in baseball? Shane Greene: Honestly, not that much. Because I only played it for one year. And like, Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: like I only really ever played baseball. I played flag football and soccer when I was like four or five, like when you were old enough to do it at the Y. I played flag football because I was like five. And then I played soccer when I was like six for one year each. And then I literally just played baseball my whole life. But I like, if, if, if you're, if you're a dad and you're trying to, create the best baseball player? How would you do that? Well, first, I think you would create the best athlete and then teach them how to play baseball. And I think that the easiest way to create the best athlete is to allow your athlete to play different sports that create the all around athlete. That's how I would do it. I haven't had a chance to Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: do it yet because I'm not a father, but that's what would make sense to me. Bobby Minor: No, it it makes perfect sense. It almost makes too much sense, you know. Shane Greene: Yeah. Bobby Minor: But but parents need to, yeah, they they need to listen. So all right, so when you came up, you're a starter and then you eventually became an all-star closer. When a parent's frustrated because his son isn't playing the position he wants, how does he know whether like that change is actually helping his son or holding him back? Shane Greene: Well, again, that's like, it's only helping you if you allow it to help you. Like I have it tattooed on my arm, allow your journey to be your strength because you're Bobby Minor: wow. Shane Greene: the only one that will ever live your journey, which is why it's your strength. If you let it, it could be your weakness if you turn it the other way around. Right? So like, if I never If I never get sent to the bullpen, do I become an all-star? I don't know. Maybe. But maybe not. If I don't get traded to the Tigers, do I ever play 10 years? Maybe. Maybe not. You know, like, you gotta take the cards that are given to you and try to play the game. again, like, if you show up every day trying to be better today than you were yesterday, you're a good person, you're a good teammate. Do you do things because this is how they're supposed to be done? Like, you'll see if the best version of yourself is good enough to get it done, basically. Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's really, really good. who's the toughest hitter you ever you ever faced in the major league level? Shane Greene: It's funny because in the last year of my life, I've gone live on TikTok a few times. And prior to doing that, I would have said Eric Hosmer with no stats or anything to back it up. I just knew that every time I faced Hos, I was like, fuck, here we go. But since then, I've been live on TikTok many times and people ask me that same question, but then they look it up like with stats. Bobby Minor: Mm. Shane Greene: And I've learned that Mike Trout is two for three with two homers off me. And I've learned that Robinson Cano is six for six with two doubles. So I would say probably those two guys. Bobby Minor: So you needed this information back then. You could have just you could have just drilled them in the side every time and just put them on first. Shane Greene: Yeah. Bobby Minor: So okay, so so you mentioned you you mentioned your journey. So you know you struggled in 2018 and then 2019 you're an all-star. And I know that you've said before that a big part of your turnaround was was mental. What what should parents understand like when their son starts pressing, maybe after a few bad outings or a few bad games? Shane Greene: I think it's similar to what I said earlier. It's like, it doesn't matter if it's been really, really, really good the last month, or if it's been really, really, really, really bad the last month. Like today is the only day that matters because if it was really good for the last month and you suck today, you still suck today. And if it was really bad the last month and you suck today, you still suck today. So like, what are you going to do today? And if you can actually wake up with that mindset and just do what you got to do for today. to get the job done and then you start stacking those that's when things like the ball starts to get rolling but my analogy for for how I kind of started to look at it that way I have two kind of different ones but the one that I think hits the most for everybody is if you're flying a plane and an engine catches on fire if you stop flying the plane what's gonna happen the plane's gonna crash for sure Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Shane Greene: So you have to keep flying the plane. If the other engine catches on fire and you stop flying the plane, what's going to happen? It is going to crash for sure. So you have to continue to fly the plane no matter what. And there are going to be times in your life that it feels like the plane is on fire, the whole thing. And that's okay. You just have to keep flying it. And if you can just keep flying it forever, you got a chance. Bobby Minor: That's good, that's good. so thinking back to when you were injured and you're trying to kind of work your way, you know, work your way up, who helped you the most during those tough stretches and what did they actually do that made a difference? Shane Greene: The biggest difference I think was Couple things. One, I'll pull on your heartstrings a little bit. When I first got drafted, it was like my first or second year in pro ball, I lost my mom's brother, my uncle, and I lost him to cancer. And I kind of watched it all unfold and I always respected him and looked up to him as a fighter. He was in the military. And at the time that he passed, I saw how much pain he was in right before they put the breathing tube down his throat. And I could literally see his whole body shaking. I was in the room with him while they were about to do it and, trying to like communicate with him about what's going on, whatever. And like, I remember that moment as like, if he can, if he could fight as hard as he was fighting in that moment, then whatever it is that I'm going through with baseball is like, this is an easy fight. Right? So this is the, this is easy if he could do that. So that always stuck with me. I wasn't in pro ball until that or that didn't happen until I was in pro ball already. I was like first or second year in the minor leagues, but that stuck with me. and then another thing that happened in pro ball was when I was, when I was 25, I was about to repeat the level of high, all of, if not most of, not all of my friends at the time were already in AA, if not AAA, Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Shane Greene: I was kind of down in the dumps about it. And talking about it with one of my best friends, JR Murphy, who was one of the guys that was in AA. And he asked me, he's like, Greenie, how long do want to play this game for? I'm like, man, I don't know, at least 10 more years. And he's like, well, quit worrying about what the front of your Jersey says and just go put your Jersey on. Bobby Minor: Hmm. Shane Greene: And so that stuck with me and helped me get through like the hard times in pro ball, right? When you're watching the guys get sent up and down and looking at your stats versus stats and all the other stuff that you can get caught up with. It's like, no, man, you want to play ball? Well, there's your Jersey right there. Go play the game. Get out there. And I think that those two things combined together is what really helped me through the ups and the downs, at least of my pro ball career. Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's really, really good. What's your what's your favorite all-time baseball memory? Shane Greene: Favorite all time baseball memory, my second major league start. Pitching for the Yankees. We're in Baltimore. Baltimore is first in the division. This is when they had like Adam Jones, Chris Davis, Machado, Nelson Cruz. They're number one in the division. I'm a rookie. It's my second start ever. We're in Camden Yards. My two best friends are there. They bought tickets right above the dugout, front row above the dugout. Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Shane Greene: it's Derek Jeter's last season, so Yankee fans travel well. So was sold out crowd, a lot of Yankee fans. And I went seven and a third. It was either seven and a third or eight and a third. I think it was seven and a third with nine punchies. We won one nothing or maybe Bobby Minor: Wow. Shane Greene: it was two one, but we won by one run. I dominated. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: And when they took me out of the game, I got a standing ovation. And as I was walking off the field, Gosh, bless it. When I was walking out the field, one of the guys in the huddle, I'm having a brain fart so hard. One of the guys in the huddle Bobby Minor: It's all right. Shane Greene: was telling me like, yo, take off your hat. Like you're about to get a standing up, make sure you take off your hat. And I walked off the field, I was too nervous to take off my hat because I was still a rookie, I didn't know what was going on. I was like blacked out. anyways, the whole stadium stood up and was like clapping and going crazy. And I looked up above the dugouts, I'm walking off and my two best friends are like in the middle of the crowd, like clapping with them. So. That was definitely, if not the coolest thing that ever happened in my Bobby Minor: Yeah. Shane Greene: career. It's a memory that I'll never forget. Bobby Minor: Yeah. It sounds amazing and and no doubt why that is is probably your favorite baseball memory. so let's fast forward to today. I know I've I've seen on social media you you you're really big I think on trying to help young players and parents kind of navigate this whole journey and I know you've you've said also kinda like building a community. talk just talk a little bit about kind of your heart for that and and also talk about like so where can parents that want to be a part of your journey You be a part of your community. You know, where can they follow you? Where can they find you? Shane Greene: First of all, they can follow me at S-A-Greeny. It's S-A-G-R-E-E-N-E-Y on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And then also I'm starting an online mentorship program. If you DM me on Instagram or on TikTok, just DM me, keep fighting, and I'll get back to you as soon as I possibly can. I'm working on the online mentorship now, and we'll get something set up for... whether it's just you as a parent or you want me to talk to your kid either way, but why I'm most passionate about it is, Like I said before, like I think that in the States, we don't do a great job of teaching the kids how to drive the car. We just try to get them to have the fastest car. And I think that if you want the fastest car to win the race, you got to learn how to drive it. And based off of the last two years of my life working with younger players, I've quickly learned that The biggest room for improvement for these high school and college kids is getting their brain to work right and getting their thoughts to be controlled. And they've heard their whole life control the controllables and I'm going to be the first person that ever teaches them what the controllables actually are that they can control. So I've seen it with my own two eyes. It helped me the most. It's what I was. I was not supposed to be as good at baseball as I was. or am, but I became good because of the conversations I had along the way, which built the mindset that got me to where I went. And I see that that conversation or those conversations are being had less now than maybe ever because of the iPad and the spin rates and everything else. So I want to be here to have those conversations with you so that you can. create the mindset that it takes to deal with. Like I said earlier, all the stuff you're dealing with right now is the same problems you're going to deal with forever. It's not about fixing the problem. It's about learning how to deal with the problem because you will strike out 10 times in a row again or whatever it is that you're going through. Like it is going to happen Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Shane Greene: again. So you have to learn who you are as a person first. So then you can figure out who you are as a player and then you'll be able to navigate through those times when they come up over and over. Bobby Minor: Alright, that's really good. So parents, players, DM Shane, keep fighting and he'll he'll send you more details. all right, just a couple more questions and we will we will wrap everything up. What's your favorite baseball movie? Shane Greene: it's impossible not to say Sandlot, I think. It's gotta be Sandlot. Bobby Minor: Yeah, definitely that's definitely up there for me. I think Bull Durham is probably my favorite just because it's you know it's it's about as realistic as you can make a baseball movie, but it's also really, really funny. And but yeah, Sandlot. I mean man, I mean who doesn't who doesn't like Sandlot? Shane Greene: Yeah. Bobby Minor: All right, last question, this is a two-part question. How old were you when you first grew a beard, and who has a better beard, you or Jake Savicki? Shane Greene: How old was I when I first grew a beard? Well, I'll tell you this, the second that the Yankees traded me, I started growing it out. At the time I was 26, but I didn't grow a very good beard yet, but I did it anyways. And then I had my different phases for like the next four or five years where I would grow it out, hate it, cut it, goatee, cut it, whatever. And then slowly but surely, It started to fill in a little bit and over the last probably five years, it's been pretty long. Right now it's a little out of control. I'm letting myself go a little bit, but I would say that my beard is better than Jake's. I got a lot of pride in my beard. And I also got to say that I'm 20 or I'm 37 years old and my dad has a beard and I've never seen him without one ever, ever. And he's had a beard for 37 years at least. And so I think it's like a pride thing and it's difficult for me to believe that I'm going to shave it off anytime soon, but anything can happen. Bobby Minor: Yeah. No, it's definitely you you definitely have an impressive beard. And we need to get Jake, we need to do a battle of the beards. So we'll we'll get Shane Greene: Yeah. Bobby Minor: I'll get Jake get Jake around. So anyway, all right Shane man, I really appreciate your time and yeah, just really enjoyed the conversation. Shane Greene: Yeah, man. Thanks for having me anytime. Looking forward to the next one.