Latest / The Layback Podcast / Rick Koch, German National Team and Texas at Dallas RHP (Ep. 77)

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Rick Koch, German National Team and Texas at Dallas RHP (Ep. 77) · The Layback Podcast

0:00
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Lay Back podcast.
0:02
Joining us today is someone near and dear to my heart, Rick Koch.
0:06
I actually recruited Rick way back in the day.
0:10
So Rick was an athlete of mine back at Eckerd College.
0:13
I think he might have been a player of mine for all of about
0:18
two weeks until the flex pro grip started taking off and I
0:23
had to go out to Arizona to do some work with the Padres.
0:26
So right after bringing in a complete recruiting class, I
0:30
stood in the locker room with everyone and said, see you later
0:32
guys, I've got some stuff going on, but Rick and I have stayed
0:37
connected over the years. Obviously it's been awesome to
0:40
watch him play and watch him grow across his collegiate
0:43
career. But unfortunately we had to
0:46
start talking a good bit more this past winter when he endured
0:51
a UCL sprain. So from there we we did some non
0:56
operative rehab with Flex Pro Grip.
0:58
He got back to throwing this summer and now he's committed to
1:02
play his last years of collegiate ball at University of
1:06
Texas at Dallas. And Rick is back now competing
1:10
in Germany. He's pitching in the Bundesliga
1:12
and he has some national team appearances under his belt as
1:16
well. So Rick, thanks a ton for
1:18
joining us today. I'm going to kick it over to you
1:21
now to pick up the pieces for me.
1:23
Yeah, thanks for having me. Like you kind of covered all of
1:26
it, but I'm basically born and raised in Germany, which is
1:30
really not known for baseball, I'll be honest.
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But I've really had a great time playing America last four years,
1:36
like just getting to know a lot of more about like the American
1:39
culture and playing with Americans.
1:41
And then obviously, like for me, a big piece of my puzzle is also
1:45
coming back in the summer and then playing here, playing for
1:48
the Bundesliga and then also playing for the national team.
1:50
So that's kind of what I've been doing the last couple months and
1:54
my elbow has been feeling fine, so that's definitely a good
1:58
start to the season. Awesome.
2:00
Let's wind things back a little bit and kind of start from the
2:04
beginning. Just the bomb that you dropped
2:08
that or I guess that we dropped that.
2:10
You're born and raised in Germany and you play collegiate
2:13
baseball. As you said, Germany is not
2:15
known for baseball. How did you even get into
2:18
baseball? I mean, I think if it wouldn't
2:21
be for my dad, like the only experience I would have had with
2:24
baseball is probably like Wii baseball.
2:26
But like my dad is American. So we just kind of started
2:29
playing catch in the garden and like in the backyard and.
2:33
I was always really. Bad at soccer, but like
2:35
everybody told me I had to play soccer because I'm German.
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But I was just riding the bench and I was playing catch with my
2:40
dad and I was like, this is way more fun than like kicking a
2:42
ball. So we look for like teams in the
2:45
area and we found like actually a good amount of like tiny small
2:49
teams around me that I started that and then from there just
2:53
kicked off. Like I just fell in love with
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the sport. And my dad has been really
2:56
supportive with the 2. But it's definitely very
2:58
different here growing up, like playing baseball, than it is in
3:01
America, for sure. How old were you when you played
3:04
in your first competitive baseball game?
3:07
Like your first organized game? I think it was 11.
3:11
OK, so a little bit later than most Americans, which is is
3:15
crazy. Now that organized baseball
3:17
starts at like 6-7 years old. Yeah, you know, years.
3:20
Old, I mean, we have it here, but like for most people, it
3:23
really starts with like U-12. That's kind of like picks up and
3:28
like, I'll be honest, those were probably the most fondest
3:31
memories ever have of playing baseball, like just U-12
3:33
baseball, like playing with the boys, like playing in the rain.
3:37
We played on soccer fields. Like we didn't have baseball
3:39
fields back then, like for the U-12.
3:41
And then going from that to like actually playing on a big field
3:44
when you U15, like the jump was just crazy.
3:47
Did you have to travel a good bit because there aren't a ton
3:50
of teams in Germany? Obviously when you were in Saint
3:53
Pete, you saw there's a team in a field literally on every
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block. Baseball is a part of your
4:00
childhood there versus I'm assuming you needed to work a
4:03
lot harder just to have access to baseball.
4:07
I think like in our city, which has like 1.2 million people, we
4:12
have like 3 baseball teams. And if you think about that,
4:14
like that's like saying Saint Pete only has three baseball
4:18
teams. There's like 50 fields.
4:19
There's probably more fields in Saint Pete than all of Germany,
4:22
which is like crazy because I always, I always go to these
4:26
fields in Germany and I think they're like sick, right?
4:28
Because like, that's what I'm used to.
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And then I go to like some random high school field in
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Florida. I'm like this is this would be
4:35
the best field in all of Germany.
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Is this like the? Level of just like facilities
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and how many facilities like you all have in America is just
4:43
insane. Like it's just on a different
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level. Like as I said, most people here
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play on soccer fields. Like we set up the fence before
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the game, we set up the bases. We have like portable mounds.
4:53
Like we don't have what you guys have.
4:54
Do you think there's aspects to that that have kind of shaped
4:58
who you are as a baseball player?
5:01
Like not taking things for granted, how hard you're willing
5:04
to work, how appreciative you are for the things around you.
5:08
Yeah, I mean, I think if you play here at U-12, like you have
5:14
to love the game. Like you absolutely have to love
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the game, otherwise you're not going to survive because like,
5:20
like it's a grind. And I think in America, like a
5:22
lot of people who just like take a lot of stuff for granted that
5:25
I just like didn't like for us, it's like if you want to make it
5:29
like you have to grind, you actually have to do stuff.
5:31
You have to like set up the field.
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You have to be probably have to be hard working.
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And I think that definitely like helped me a lot.
5:38
Like I don't think I've ever thought about it that way, but
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like looking bad back and definitely like helped me a lot.
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After some minor technical difficulties, maybe you guys
5:46
picked up on it with a little bit of lag here and there.
5:48
We've got things all figured out.
5:51
Has nothing to do with Internet connection or us being across
5:55
seas and it has everything to do with Rick's four OGPA in his
5:59
time in college and taking, I don't know what are you, a
6:03
triple major or something like that.
6:05
You got a lot of work on that and slowing it down.
6:07
I took like 6 class per semester so like this.
6:10
Way too much stuff on the laptop, so kind of overheat it,
6:12
yeah. Yeah, yeah.
6:13
So we had to switch to the phone, but we're dialed in now.
6:16
We got it figured out. And if you guys are consuming
6:18
this visually, you can see the Wi-Fi router over his right
6:21
shoulder. So if he has bad Internet, we we
6:23
know exactly what the culprit is.
6:25
Getting back to it, Rick, you, you were talking about just kind
6:29
of your perspective, what you went through, maybe not having
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as much access to facilities as some of the guys around you,
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really not knowing what baseball looked like in the States.
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And then you actually showed up. What did you notice as a
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difference maybe from your teammates?
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Like were your teammates any different in Germany versus in
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the States? Whether the way they carried
6:50
themselves, their self belief, or just the way they interacted
6:56
with their coaches or equipment? Yeah, I think, like, one thing I
7:00
definitely noticed was just that people had played a lot more, if
7:04
that makes sense. In America, people play a lot of
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games. Like I feel like the pitches I
7:10
talked to, they were on my team coming in, they probably already
7:12
had like 500 innings, like in their life.
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And I'm standing there and I've probably had like maybe 80
7:19
innings if it comes, like, maybe like not even that.
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So like the biggest difference I noticed First off the bat, like
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they just played a lot more because like in Germany we only
7:28
play on the weekends. Like we never play during the
7:30
week. And then like we don't have a
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high school season. Like we just play summer ball,
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that's it. So if you think about like all
7:37
these like high school kids and then like people that I competed
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with in America, they came from playing high school baseball,
7:44
then summer ball and they had more games like doing both of
7:48
them. So like just a difference of
7:50
like experience and how much they played.
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I think that really showed just in the way you carry yourself.
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I think like it's been minute stuff, but if you play every
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day, like you play the game differently.
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And do you feel that impacted the way that you carried
8:04
yourself now going back to that kind of same ilk of a question
8:09
as earlier, I'm sure that led to you having to work significantly
8:13
harder or as hard as you can. I mean, everybody works hard for
8:17
the most part in college baseball.
8:18
Of course there's a couple guys that are just kind of riding out
8:21
the string, but but for anybody that wants to be good, they're
8:25
working hard. And is that kind of what
8:28
inspired you to work as hard as you did, just knowing that you
8:32
were up against people that had so much more experience?
8:36
I think the biggest difference is that I learned how to love
8:40
practice because I practice so much.
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I love practice. I love getting better.
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Like, I mean, you've known me. Like if there's one thing I love
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is like looking at myself from a year ago and being like, oh, I'm
8:50
better than that guy. Like I, I actually got better.
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Like I hate feeling like I'm doing the same thing.
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I love going to the weight room. Even the PT stuff.
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I had to do it. I love doing that stuff.
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And I think a lot of the other kids, like they only love
9:03
playing. That's the only thing they love
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and that's good. You're supposed to love the game
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and that's some fault. I think I actually for a time
9:10
they like didn't love the game enough.
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I love practice too much, but I think that's kind of why because
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like I had five days of practice and then one day of game.
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So for me, like if I didn't enjoy practice, like I would not
9:23
get through German baseball, if that makes sense.
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So I think in that way, it definitely helped me to just
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appreciate like the aspect of just getting better and like
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practicing every day where some kids just like they play games
9:35
and then they have to practice, if that makes sense.
9:37
Totally. No, no, that makes complete
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sense. I I mean, I lived it.
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I remember getting to the point in life where I played five
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games a week, if not more, and that was my freshman, sophomore
9:52
year of high school. And I mean, you never got to
9:55
that point until you were actually in the States playing
9:57
college ball. Expand that over, as you said
10:00
earlier years, and the pitchers have hundreds more innings than
10:05
you, hundreds more appearances. I mean, all the above.
10:08
Like you can take that down to competitive baseball starting,
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as we were saying earlier, at age 8.
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Like I I remember pitching for the first time as an 8 year old
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and for you, like you probably didn't even know there were
10:21
baseball teams at 8 years old. Yeah, and it's also just like
10:25
the level of play, right? Like when I grew up, we were
10:30
always on the best team. Like we run ruled.
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I think I run route every team until I was like 18 years old.
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Like I'm not even every single game I played for you 18.
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I run rule people and it's like it's not really competitive
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baseball. But then the flip side of that,
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which I think really helped me actually was as soon as I turned
10:49
15, like I played with adults because like I had to get like
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some real exposure. I had to play against better
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people. So like that taught me a lot I
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think that people in America never get because they all
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really play with the same age group, right?
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Like people in high school played with people in high
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school, people in college, people with people in college.
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And then Pro Bowl is a bit different.
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But like, for us here, as soon as you turn 15, you can play
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with the adults. And then like I played with the
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guy who was like 42, you know how much like experience I could
11:19
soak up from him. Like he played at the base, he
11:21
didn't play my position, but just like baseball IQ and stuff
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like that. So it was just a very different
11:27
like environment growing up. And Speaking of different
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environments, obviously the recruiting environment was
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incredibly different for you. We met for the first time when
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you were at a showcase at Tropicana Field.
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Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, you were just on like a miniature
11:43
tour of the United States for a month or so.
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Whatever it was, six weeks. Just hoping somebody would see
11:50
you to give you an opportunity. I'd love if you could kind of go
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into that, what recruiting as a whole looks like for a European
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or German baseball player that wants to come play.
12:02
Yeah, I honestly didn't even think about college baseball
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until I was like 1716. Like, that wasn't even an idea
12:11
or anything. And then before even the
12:14
showcase, you saw me. I think a year before that, I
12:18
think it was when I was 16, I went to America and it was kind
12:21
of like it was called international stars and was like
12:24
people from Europe all overcoming and playing American
12:27
colleges. And that's the first time we
12:29
even realized, oh, there's a thing called college and people
12:32
play in it. And like, that's a thing I could
12:34
do. And then I went over, I mean,
12:37
really skinny kid, like topping 80.
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Like nobody even gave me a look, but I was like, OK, well, this
12:43
is something like I could do. And then after that, I slowly
12:47
got fascinated with the idea of the college baseball.
12:49
And then me and my dad started researching, OK, how can we make
12:52
this a real thing? Right.
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So I think was it right after COVID?
12:56
I think, oh, right before COVID. I think right after.
12:59
Yeah, right after COVID, we were like, OK, we're going to fly
13:02
over to the states for two weeks and we're going to have like 5
13:05
showcases in Florida, 2 in Texas, 3 in New York, and we
13:09
just drove like through the United States.
13:12
And I, for some reason, like, I think I just also performed a
13:16
lot better when I was there. That was like the first time
13:19
that I really felt like I actually belong with these guys.
13:22
Like I, I think I actually stick out like I'm better than these
13:25
guys. And that's kind of how that
13:28
started. And then actually on that day, I
13:30
already was up in the stands. If you remember, you were like
13:32
at the field. And then my dad was like, you
13:35
only get this one shot, We let you flew to America, you might
13:37
as well talk to this coach. The school is right next to us.
13:40
Like it's on on my list of like cool schools to go to.
13:43
And then I went down and we talked and it's just like, if I
13:46
wouldn't have made that step to talk to you and just walked away
13:49
like I usually do because then I wasn't the guy to do that,
13:52
imagine how different my life would be.
13:54
So I'm very grateful like that moment happened.
13:57
And like I'll always look back to that and say, if you want to
14:01
get to call, check, be proactive.
14:04
Like it's really tough to go except you like a superstar,
14:06
right? And you're like really, really
14:08
good. But if you're proactive and
14:10
you're nice and people know that you work hard, like you have a
14:13
pretty good shot of making a team that you want to want to
14:16
actually go to. Yeah, I'm grateful that you did
14:19
come up to me because I, of course wrote you down.
14:21
I thought you had potential. I definitely thought you could
14:23
play at the level that I coached at, but without knowing that you
14:28
were from Germany and literally in the States for two weeks.
14:31
My natural progression would be send you an e-mail later that
14:36
week and try to find a time that you can swing on by only to find
14:41
out that you are thousands of miles away and a couple of plane
14:46
rides that wouldn't have worked. So I mean, if it wasn't for that
14:51
kind of miracle collision of moments and interactions that
14:55
played out, you never would have seen Eckerd and we might not
14:58
have been where we are now and. I don't know if you remember
15:03
too, right before the visit, there was a huge hurricane.
15:05
Like I, it was in like I drove through a hurricane to get to
15:09
the visit. And then I looked at the college
15:12
like completely in shambles from the hurricane.
15:14
So like there was a lot of like stuff that had to somehow get
15:17
right to get it going. But I think, like, that's life,
15:20
right? Yeah.
15:22
And even at that time at Eckerd, we still had really strict COVID
15:25
restrictions. And I wasn't even allowed to
15:29
take you really on a visit. You were allowed to like walk up
15:33
to the field and like kind of see us existing and you had to
15:38
walk around the campus on your own.
15:40
But like, if the school found out that like I took you around
15:45
or something like that, we were going to be in big trouble.
15:47
Like the NCAA wouldn't have cared at all.
15:50
But the school's COVID restrictions were insane at the
15:52
time. So we we were definitely dealing
15:55
with a lot. And I think another piece worth
15:58
noting, when you came to that camp, you were also playing
16:03
outfield. And that's actually one of the
16:04
things that really intrigued me about you, knowing that you had
16:08
so much potential as a pitcher. But it seemed like at the time
16:13
you were even a little more polished in the outfield.
16:15
So what I got really excited about was a big arm, a guy with
16:19
a big body that could swing the bat.
16:20
OK, knowing that you had athleticism behind you,
16:24
picturing the pitcher that you could become more so than the
16:28
pitcher that you were at that moment.
16:29
Like you flash things that I thought were cool or could be
16:33
impactful, but I saw right away what I thought you could be.
16:38
And obviously that's what you've turned into now is a pitcher for
16:42
the national team and a guy that's throwing in the low 90s
16:45
and a guy that literally can slam the door at the end of
16:48
games. But yeah, I I'd love if you
16:51
could talk a little bit about your progression from deciding
16:55
to put the bat away or I guess your experience as a two way
16:59
player before ultimately becoming a pitcher.
17:02
It's so funny because, like, nowadays I always forget that I
17:05
even did that. Like, I've been a pitcher for so
17:07
long now that it's like, like I pitch.
17:09
But yeah, like when I came to America, it was honestly more as
17:13
an outfit, and I just stepped on the mound and tried to throw the
17:15
ball as hard as I can and, like, I could back then.
17:18
And I had a pretty good curveball.
17:19
Like, that's basically what happened.
17:21
But even coming into Echo College, like that summer, like,
17:26
I didn't know if I wanted to hit or pitch like at Echo, right?
17:29
We'd never really discussed what we wanted to do.
17:32
And I remember vividly coming in the first day and I hit VP in
17:37
the cage with somebody else. I think it was Chris our
17:39
actually my roommate and I hit and I was like, Nope, this is
17:43
not it. Since then, like first practice,
17:45
I didn't even touch a bat. And I think it happened slowly,
17:49
but I just realized that I just had a lot more potential
17:52
pitching wise. And to be honest, always growing
17:55
up, I didn't really love playing the outfield.
17:59
Like I loved hitting, but I hated the defensive part
18:02
honestly. Like when I was in the 9th
18:04
inning of the game playing left field, I was, it was more like
18:07
don't fuck up instead of like, oh, let me get the ball.
18:10
And when I was on the mountain, it's like, oh, like I'm in
18:12
control. All of that just went away.
18:15
But I think it definitely helped having both sides of the puzzle.
18:18
When I was in America in one of the showcases, big light switch
18:22
was I was in right field and we were doing like throws to third
18:24
base like we always do. And I threw it to third base and
18:28
then the guy behind me was like, why do you play that outfield?
18:30
Like, yo, I'm so good, but just like hopping the mountain.
18:33
I was like, oh, OK, like people think I should pitch, so let's
18:36
just try it out. Like I was never a pitcher until
18:39
like I came to college, right? Like I was a position guy who
18:42
hopped on the mound in the 7th inning because we didn't have
18:45
anybody else in the team. I didn't have that like
18:48
conventional thing of like, oh, you assign pitch in high school.
18:51
No, like I was an outfitter who just hopped in the mountain.
18:53
Thought it was fun the first couple years on me pitching and
18:57
it's still now, right? It's only been four years, but
18:59
it's like I'm starting to learn how to pitch, you know, if that
19:03
makes sense. Like, I, I feel like for a long
19:05
time, I was just a guy who was on the mound trying to throw the
19:07
ball as hard as I can. And now I'm actually like, OK,
19:09
wait, I should probably stop pitching because like, that's
19:12
what I'm going to do now for the rest of my life.
19:14
It's so funny how that stuff happens with some guys when the
19:18
bat gets taken out of their hand, whether it's a good thing
19:20
or a bad thing, and then just the evolutions that come with
19:23
it. I'm sure it was really weird for
19:27
a bit, like recognizing like everything I thought I was as a
19:31
player is now gone. And then almost feeling like you
19:34
had to learn the game again as you are in a new country, in a
19:39
new place with a new team, in a language that you don't speak,
19:43
and just literally trying to make the roster and like playing
19:48
time. The practice environment of like
19:50
being APO was really weird at the beginning.
19:54
Being a position guy, I think practice is pretty
19:56
straightforward or like I would say honestly more fun.
20:00
And then I was appealing. I'm like, wait, I just play
20:02
catch and that's it. I'm just going to feel it a
20:04
couple bunts and then like, that's it.
20:06
It was really weird at the beginning.
20:08
I would even say bringing up some of the other struggles that
20:12
you went through I I don't think you're alone here.
20:15
Often times when two way guys or guys that were primarily
20:19
position players before becoming pitchers generally run into some
20:24
issues when they make the transition for you being your
20:28
shoulder at the time. And I think it's a workload
20:31
issue, but not as much more throwing.
20:34
It's because the complete throwing volume has been cut in
20:38
half, if not more. You go from throwing, yeah, you
20:43
go from throwing non-stop every single day with never thinking
20:48
about your arm to then your livelihood is your arm and
20:53
that's all that matters. And your total volume is
20:56
whatever diminished tremendously.
20:58
But then like you said, there's a time or two a week where that
21:02
intensity is literally fully turned up at 100% full go.
21:08
And that's all that matters. And that's a that's a massive
21:12
learning curve for guys to deal with from a management
21:16
standpoint, how to stay healthy and I guess deal with the
21:20
massive shift in what they're experiencing from a workload
21:24
perspective. I mean, you literally bring out
21:28
stuff that I didn't even guys. But now it makes a lot of sense
21:31
because like the first time I've ever had an injury was so I went
21:36
to showcase in November, right? And then like I was starting
21:38
this like college season in August and in January between
21:44
that, that was the first time I've had shoulder problems in my
21:46
life. And it's I think because in
21:48
November I guess, oh, I want to pitch.
21:50
So I started doing a lot of the pitching program and then like
21:54
literally 3 months afterwards, I had a slap tip, which I've like
21:57
never had in my life. So there's definitely a point to
22:00
be made about that. In a weird way, once you take
22:02
your throwing more serious, you're more at risk of like
22:06
injuring. So you also have to do like all
22:08
the small stuff when I was doing at the beginning when I was
22:10
pitching, like I didn't do all the important stuff that I know
22:14
now, like the arm care, like taking care of your body, like
22:17
realizing how much of A how much of A like toll it takes on your
22:21
body. I was just like, I'm an
22:23
outfielder. So I'll just throw the same way
22:25
as I threw as an outfielder, which is like take the ball and
22:27
throw, but I'll just convert it to being on the Mount.
22:30
Yeah, and there there's this laundry list of things that you
22:35
need to run through if you are going to be prepared every time
22:38
your name gets called. And that is a serious wake up
22:41
call for a lot of guys. Unfortunately, a lot of times
22:45
it's an injury that slaps them in the face that forces them to
22:50
get things right. Fortunately for you, it wasn't
22:53
something that required surgery, but obviously it put a damper on
22:57
your freshman year and you ultimately didn't pitch in any
23:00
games at that time. Now, now talk to me about that
23:04
next step in your career. You get through your freshman
23:07
year, you don't play you red shirt your freshman year and
23:10
then you come back as sophomore. I know junior year was a little
23:14
bit funky as well, but you were starting to earn a lot more
23:17
time. What did those progressions look
23:20
like for you? Yeah.
23:21
I mean, it's looking back, I think it's like it was really
23:24
one step at a time. But I remember after fresh me,
23:27
like I said, down with our head coach after season, he was
23:30
basically saying like, I should cut you, but I'm not because I
23:33
believe in you. And I think you have a lot of
23:34
potential because at that time, like to be fair to him, like
23:38
fresh me, I was hurt a lot actually was flowing slower
23:41
almost than I threw during the showcase.
23:43
I really took a step down when I started to become a pitcher full
23:46
time. He was like, OK, I'm going to
23:48
give you one more fall, but you have to figure out like what you
23:50
want to do, right? Like you have to show me that
23:52
you want it. And like that summer was a huge,
23:56
huge wake up call for me. And the biggest thing that I
23:59
changed was, I mean, you knew when you recruited me like I was
24:02
a very small guy, right? So that summer I gained like not
24:06
even kidding, 40 lbs and a lot of like it was muscle and it was
24:10
just like, OK, I'm going to attack this.
24:13
What do I need to do? I need to throw a little fast
24:15
and I need to be healthy. So what can I do to do that?
24:18
And that was like the first big step.
24:19
So I put on like 40 lbs in four months, which is crazy.
24:23
Now I think that was like a puberty thing too.
24:25
And then afterwards was the first time I touched 90.
24:27
Like I came back to campus first bullpen through 90.
24:30
And then I remember then like everyone's like, Oh my God, like
24:33
he threw 90. Like what happened?
24:36
And I remember right then, then like after that ball and I'm
24:38
like, OK, I'm not going to get cut now let's actually learn how
24:41
to pitch. I knew like once I get there,
24:43
like I'm too valuable from the development standpoint to
24:46
actually get cut. But I think what happened there,
24:50
like after that I couldn't throw a strike for a while, like
24:52
really a while. So all soft me year was really
24:55
me trying to figure out, OK, I can throw 90 now, which is cool.
25:01
But like, let's actually throw a strike, right?
25:03
So that was kind of the story of soft me a fresh meals, get
25:06
healthy soft meals like throw a strike and then junior comes
25:09
around and that's kind of when it like got it to click right.
25:13
Also the V low kept going up a bit.
25:15
That fall I hit 94, which was just a crazy jump and V low.
25:19
Like I went from 90 to 94. Like I didn't have like a slow
25:22
progression. It was like through 90 a lot.
25:25
And then I did like a three-week V low face in the fall and then
25:28
all of a sudden I hit 94 and I was like, wait, like what just
25:31
happened? And then junior year it was kind
25:34
of like the same thing to stop me with the strikes, but it was
25:37
a lot better, if that makes sense.
25:38
Like I was actually competing on the mound, which I think like
25:41
soft media I wasn't doing. And then jump forward to senior
25:46
year, I thought that was going to be like oh we got the below
25:50
now we got the strikes and then I added the stuff because that
25:54
offseason added like 3 new pitches.
25:57
Before I was really a two pitch guy, but then I got hurt.
26:01
So we never really got to see like what that would have looked
26:04
like at Ecka College in like the D2 level in Florida.
26:08
But let's hope that I can maybe show that next year because like
26:12
it's really like 1 every year. I kind of add like a little
26:16
thing to the Oval thing of pitching, if that makes sense,
26:20
Like if you have all little layers.
26:22
But I think that's how I think of it.
26:24
Like if you focus on one thing at a time, like that's how you
26:26
really can get better. Like it's really tough to be,
26:30
oh, I want to throw 94, but I'm also want to work on the curve
26:33
for at the same time. I think it's really almost
26:36
impossible honestly. It's the same way when you
26:38
compete, you can't do Velo face while pitching in games.
26:42
So like kind of finding everything every year and like
26:44
I've gotten better from that, like every single year.
26:47
You're spot on with that. You can't put 100% effort into
26:51
multiple things. Only one thing can really matter
26:55
at a time when you're trying to be as good as you can be.
26:57
In the second that you start trying to focus in multiple
27:00
areas, it just means you're not going to accomplish anything.
27:04
You might be able to like ever so slightly refine who you are
27:08
at that moment, but you're not getting better.
27:11
As you said, you need to go all in on these very specific pieces
27:15
and what this also enables you to do, and you're kind of the
27:19
perfect picture of it. I was having a conversation with
27:22
a coach the other day. So much of baseball now is
27:26
focused on getting the result and getting it instantly.
27:30
You are the perfect representation of the process
27:33
and how these things build and how these things stack, and also
27:38
kind of the order that you need to accomplish these things in.
27:43
Is it the perfect order? Like does everyone need to do
27:46
Velo and then figure out command and then figure out stuff?
27:50
No, probably not. Like I don't think there's a
27:52
perfect order to it, but there definitely is an order.
27:56
And the problem is with like each change, it alters something
28:00
else in the process. So if you first figured out your
28:03
command your sophomore year and it made you effective, sweet.
28:07
But then you're an effective pitcher throwing 85 mph and your
28:11
career is going to end in a matter of days at that point
28:14
because that just doesn't play versus you tackled velocity,
28:19
which bought you another year to then figure out how to pitch.
28:25
I'm not saying every guy needs to chase velocity just to stay
28:28
in the game, but if you have velocity under your belt, it
28:32
certainly buys you a lot of time because you're always at least
28:36
checking the potential box. And that's what that's what you
28:39
figured out. Since it really sucks that the
28:42
game is like that, but I think I've gotten a lot of
28:45
opportunities like even playing for the German national team,
28:48
like I got the foot in dog because I was one of the five
28:51
Germans on the planet right now that can touch 94, right?
28:54
And I promise you this like at that time, which was like 2
28:57
years ago, they were way better pitches, right?
28:59
But it's just the fact like, oh, he can throw fast.
29:02
He has the potential to develop, which then kind of got the foot
29:06
in the door. But then I think the important
29:09
fact after that and I got stuck in that for a bit is like, once
29:13
you get there, like don't keep chasing Vevo.
29:16
Like you got a pitch. I always think like, oh, Vevo is
29:19
really cool. But in the end, like, what am I
29:20
doing? I'm trying to compete in the
29:22
game. And I think that's like kind of
29:24
the stone that I got this summer, like after the rehab was
29:27
like, you're pitching in the game, man.
29:29
You're playing a kids game. You're 23 years old.
29:31
Have some fun. Like play the game instead of
29:34
just being like, oh, practice, practice, practice.
29:36
Try to throw faster, faster, faster, faster, faster.
29:38
No, like we're playing a game and I think it's kind of like
29:42
both of that, like getting all the pieces together.
29:44
And I'm definitely excited, like to see what that looks like in
29:47
college baseball because I know what it looks like in the Bundus
29:50
League idea and like for the national team and it's look
29:52
pretty good. But it's going to be interesting
29:55
to see how it plays against college guys.
29:56
It's a totally different game. Yeah, for sure.
29:59
I mean, guys have metal bats. Again, zone is probably a little
30:02
bit different. Pace of play is probably a
30:04
little bit different, like what is deemed successful.
30:07
And I, I don't claim to know a lot about what's going on in the
30:10
Bundesliga besides that it's the German professional league and
30:13
those guys use wood bats. But I assume the the game is
30:16
called a little bit differently, the zones probably a little bit
30:19
different and the pitches that are most successful are probably
30:24
even a little bit different. You hear pitchers that compete
30:27
professionally in Japan that have previously thrown in the
30:31
MLB talk about that all the time.
30:33
Like guys in Japan just don't strike out.
30:36
So maybe what are things that you notice about the game in
30:39
Germany that's been a little bit different from college ball?
30:42
I think the biggest difference is like people who don't punish
30:45
the fastball as much as they do in America.
30:48
It kind of goes back to what we were talking about.
30:49
But like the American kid has seen probably 500,000 pills in a
30:54
90 at this point, like 90 mile apart.
30:56
Fastball is not like something that's like, Oh my God, right.
30:59
So like you kind of have to pitch around to fastball.
31:01
Like especially in the in Florida when I was pitching,
31:04
it's like you almost want to pitch around the fast one.
31:07
They come back with the fastball.
31:08
Like if you don't have like an elite, elite fastball, like if
31:12
you rely on it, you're going to get hit around.
31:14
I saw people throwing 93 and got hit around like pretty easily.
31:18
But then, like here in Germany, I think you get away with just
31:22
throwing the fastball a lot, which I've actually not done a
31:26
lot this year, but I did the years before.
31:29
And I think that kind of even, like, hurt me then going into
31:31
college because I was like, all I do is basically throw like an
31:34
outing. Let's say I have 15 pitches.
31:36
I threw 13 fastballs. Like that's not going to get me
31:38
better for, like the next level or get me better for, like,
31:41
America. It's like this.
31:42
Yeah. I've been kind of like, OK, try
31:43
to approach to hit this here as I do in college because that's
31:46
actually like the season that really like matters for me.
31:49
I want to back things up now and talk about the rehab journey
31:53
that you went through this year. Like you said, you were piercing
31:56
things together in the fall. It seemed like you were really
31:58
poised for an awesome season this year.
32:01
I know you were even transitioning to becoming one of
32:04
the starters. You were going to pitch on the
32:05
weekend at Eckerd, so you had a lot of stuff going on, like a
32:10
lot of wheels turning all at once.
32:12
You you added pitches, you picked up training at Driveline
32:16
in the offseason. It really seemed like this was
32:19
going to be a breakout year in a sense, or I guess where
32:22
everything was going to culminate to a head and you were
32:25
finally going to show what potential can be, what the
32:29
actual result of potential is. And then, of course, it kind of
32:32
came crashing down in January. If I'm not mistaken.
32:35
It was January 16th when we sat at a table outside the baseball
32:40
stadium. You were just kind of like
32:41
matter of factly, like my elbow feels like shit and I need you
32:47
to tell me if I'm OK. Yeah, it was not a great time, I
32:52
think for me. I mean, when you were there and
32:55
like Coach Bow, head coach right at the school, like you guys
32:59
believed in me a lot and I felt like that was the one year for
33:02
me to like really pay it back. So I put a lot of pressure on
33:04
myself. Not only that, but also the fact
33:07
that I wanted to go to a really good school afterwards, right,
33:10
Because I still have eligibility at that point.
33:12
I had one year. Now I have two sadly or gladly,
33:15
whatever. Like I really put a lot of
33:17
pressure on me like in that moment.
33:19
And then I remember like my elbow slowly started feeling
33:24
worse. And the week before, like right
33:26
when I came back, I threw in a scrimmage and then like, I'll
33:31
pitch you coach was like, dude, you look like Nolan Ryan out
33:33
there. Like that was the best he like
33:34
you've ever thrown in your life. Like what happened over the
33:37
winter, right? So I was like, this is it, man?
33:40
Like this is it fair enough? Like we didn't have the best
33:42
season, but I still dominated like our hitters, which is
33:45
similar caliber to what I'm going to face.
33:47
And then literally next week I threw a bullpen and I just like
33:50
feel pain on my elbow. And like I've told you about the
33:54
shorter thing, right? Like I had the shorter thing,
33:56
but I've never ever in my life had pain in my elbow.
33:58
And at that point I was just like, OK, well this is not good,
34:04
but it's just like a little pain, right?
34:05
So I kept throwing through it. And I think the weekend
34:09
afterwards is when I saw you and I was like, OK, it's been 2
34:13
weeks now. It's not really gone away.
34:15
What is this? And I think like one of the
34:17
biggest eye opening moments for me was when we took the Flexpro
34:21
grip and we did the test and that was like, dude, I am not
34:25
ready to throw a 92. I have no like my elbow is no
34:28
business throwing that kind of speed.
34:30
When we did the test, it kind of gives you estimate, right?
34:33
And it was, I think what was like 82, what I'm supposed to be
34:36
like. Yeah, you're like expected
34:37
velocity ceiling or the velocity that you can safely handle based
34:43
on the force that you're producing.
34:45
Yeah, And it was like 82. And I was like, well, this makes
34:48
sense. At least I have an explanation
34:50
now. And I mean, that's kind of who I
34:53
am, right? Like before it like really
34:55
sucked. Now it's sucked a little bit
34:58
less because I at least know there's something to work on.
35:00
But I don't know if you remember when we were talking there,
35:03
like, I didn't think I was out for the season.
35:06
Yeah. I thought this was like a 2-3
35:08
week thing. I was like, Oh no, I'm going to
35:10
miss the first son in Georgia. Like sucks, right?
35:12
And then I like took a week off through again and the pain
35:15
didn't go away. And that's when I kind of was
35:18
like, OK, well, yes, I have a strength problem, but I think it
35:22
has caused problems now that like, I can't just like get away
35:27
just by doing strength training. Like I actually have to take
35:29
some time off. And that's kind of when it
35:31
kicked in And I was like, OK, I might not actually play the
35:34
season. And that's when I also went to
35:36
the doctor and he was like, say you have a UCL strain.
35:38
You're diagnosed with the UCL sprain and from there you ended
35:42
up getting PRP, correct? Yeah, it took a while, though,
35:46
because the whole process was just like, hey, you got a UCL
35:50
strain, what can you do about it?
35:52
Let's just shut down for a while.
35:54
But the first doctor I talked to, like it was just very
35:58
ambiguous and like a lot of, yeah, take some time off, like
36:02
you'll be fine, right? But there were really no
36:04
solutions being thrown around. And that's when I also talked to
36:09
you and we talked about POP. And then I talked to the raised
36:12
doctor, which I think Coco Eaton, which did a great job.
36:15
And he was like, yeah, let's do that.
36:16
We got to do something, right? So that's when I got that.
36:20
And then simultaneously, literally a week after the shot,
36:25
we also got the flexible grip from a head coach, which I can
36:29
really help me to be like, OK, I got POPI did that and I'm doing
36:33
flexible grip. So I'm actually doing something
36:35
to help it, right? Because before I hated just
36:39
sitting around. Like I wished the weeks before I
36:42
could have also done that because I was just sitting
36:44
around and like what I loved about it, like having something
36:47
that you can do that makes you better while not like stressing
36:50
the injury itself. So that was like a big step for
36:53
me. Well, we actually lined up this
36:55
program for me. I don't know if you remember,
36:57
but like on the Excel sheet, these are the steps.
36:59
You go through these like loops and then you're gonna get
37:02
better. So like that really helped me
37:04
with the whole like rehab process.
37:06
At the time, you were also being guided through rehab with the
37:09
help of the crew at Driveline as well as Larry over at Starcare,
37:15
right? Larry, former athletic trainer
37:18
from the New York Mets, does some incredible work.
37:20
So I think it'd be great if you could give some flowers to some
37:24
of the other people involved because I know you had a large
37:27
care team that certainly was working pretty hard to get you
37:31
back. No, it was definitely cool
37:33
because I had like, I went from not having like anybody, I feel
37:36
like, and then everybody just started slowly trickling in.
37:40
And then at the end I felt like I had like this, what you kind
37:43
of said, like actually a team of people who covered every single
37:47
part of the rehab. I think a lot of times when you
37:50
have different PTS, right, like everybody kind of like fights
37:52
against each other was like, do that, do that, do that.
37:55
But it was pretty combined like Larry was, and I still do the
37:58
rehab program like to this day, it's basically just like real
38:02
old school PT, which is definitely something to be said
38:05
for like get in the gym for three hours and just like do
38:10
them eye wise and teeth, all that old school stuff.
38:13
Just get the shoulders right, like do do form stuff, but like
38:16
just the overall strength building.
38:19
And then you had you obviously with the flex program side and
38:23
then you had Dylan with the side of reloading Belka Stress, which
38:26
we had a program for the first four weeks where it wasn't
38:29
throwing like slowly getting back into it.
38:31
And then also obviously he wrote down the whole throwing program
38:35
from week 1 to week 12. I think it was 12 weeks in
38:38
total. I loved it because I had
38:40
everything written down that I had to do.
38:42
Everything was just like mapped out to T and I wish I would
38:45
still have that now, like after rehab.
38:47
It kind of goes away after rehab and I hate it.
38:49
But I think that's just baseball.
38:51
But it was just like, OK, you go in, you have the warm up from
38:56
driveline, you can do these throws from driveline.
38:58
Then you take the flex Pro grip, you do these drills, you go to
39:02
the gym, do this arm kill from Larry, and it was like super,
39:05
just like mapped out. But everybody had their own
39:08
pots. And I think that's also why it
39:11
worked in the end with so many people, because it was very
39:14
distinctly different. I think that was explained
39:17
beautifully. Obviously it takes a care team
39:20
to get these things done. You mentioned it, when people
39:24
work in silos, you're in for a bad time.
39:27
Thankfully, we have the relationship with Driveline,
39:30
which made it super easy to communicate.
39:33
I'm on the line with Beau, just ensuring him that you're getting
39:36
your work in and you're making your progress.
39:38
Of course you can communicate with him, but then it's another
39:41
thing when he has outside sources coming in and reassuring
39:46
him that progress is actually being made.
39:49
There is a light at the end of the tunnel here and it's
39:53
actually insight like we we love the progress that's being made.
39:57
Then maybe in later stage rehab, I think this would be something
40:01
fun to talk about. You get to a point where you're
40:04
throwing pens again, the Velos back or at least just about
40:08
back. You're starting to routinely hit
40:10
the upper 80s again when you really step on the gas.
40:13
You can grab a 90 here and there, but.
40:17
At that point, you're effectively cleared.
40:19
You're not quite at pre injury velocities, but you would have
40:23
been at a point where you could step on the mount and get outs
40:26
if you really needed to because the stuff is starting to come
40:28
back. The workload is dialed,
40:31
everything that you covered in that, that last question.
40:34
But then as you're on a recruiting trip up north, you
40:39
stop in to see Dan Mahoney with Evolved Pitching.
40:43
I'd love if you could kind of talk a little bit about that
40:46
journey because we probably ran into a wall to an extent with
40:49
where you were at with your pitching development.
40:52
You felt like you had checked every single box from strength,
40:56
from athleticism, and you're just stuck at 90 when you've
41:01
previously been up to threes and fours and it's hard to not want
41:06
to be back there. Yeah, I think I even started
41:09
before that, like 2 weeks before that when we hopped on a super
41:12
call again. First of all, before I say
41:14
anything, it shows again like having people that care and like
41:17
just having a net of people, it makes a huge difference.
41:20
People actually matter. And like especially in baseball,
41:23
it was just awesome to be able to connect to somebody else
41:25
again and kind of like he out what he had to say and he kind
41:30
of opened me up in a sense. But it's like every athlete is
41:34
super unique and I think anything I'm going to take out
41:37
of it is like, we figured out, OK, what am I good at?
41:41
What am I not so good at? And let's focus on what I'm good
41:44
at. I like to move fast, don't have
41:46
great hip shoulder separation, but I don't need that.
41:48
Like I'm associated just figuring out, OK, like what is
41:52
your bias and how you move and move according to that.
41:56
Don't like try to force yourself to be somebody that you're not.
41:59
And that's also when I think I threw the easiest 90 of my life.
42:03
Like you saw the video I was almost playing cash and I
42:06
accidentally threw 90 and it was literally that of like don't
42:10
force yourself into something just like be loose, be yourself,
42:15
know who you are. And even pre injury I was trying
42:18
to be a super drop and drive guy because that just like what you
42:23
kind of told what you're supposed to do.
42:25
But when I look at when I'm throwing fast every time it's
42:28
like I'm super loose. Damn, really just helped me to
42:30
look at OK. Like what have you done in the
42:32
past when you were throwing fast?
42:34
What are you motive preferences? How does your body want to move
42:38
and how do we get from what are you doing now to when you were
42:40
feeling really great? Honestly, it wasn't even having
42:43
one drill or having like do this or like do this exercise in the
42:47
gym. It's just like, OK, overall,
42:49
let's just reset and be like, when are you at your best?
42:52
When do you move the best and like try to feel that when you
42:56
throw. And you feel to an extent you've
42:59
been able to carry that with you now.
43:00
I'll be honest, like it comes and goes.
43:02
Baseball is very much you like kind of forced into doing
43:05
something. Like you're supposed to be that
43:06
guy. And like, I wouldn't lie if it's
43:09
not something. So I'm like, OK, who's right
43:11
here? Because like when I talk to my
43:13
pitch coach here, he doesn't believe in it.
43:15
And then if I talk to somebody else, he loves it.
43:17
It's super, super polarizing, but I think the beauty of it is
43:22
the answer probably lies in the middle.
43:23
I did the tests. Like I know when I'm under my
43:25
tippy toes, I'm way more stable. Like that's just a fact.
43:29
Does that mean I like have to do that 100% of the time?
43:33
No, but does it mean like I have to be on the heel?
43:36
No, it's just like to what feels good for you.
43:38
I think that's what I took away from like that weekend.
43:41
And I think that's also what he preaches is like, just do what
43:44
feels good for you and it doesn't matter who tells you
43:46
like the drill or whatever, if it clicks in your mind, just do
43:50
it. It's that simple.
43:52
Don't overcomplicate pitching. You have your body, it knows
43:55
what it wants to do. Don't force it to do something
43:58
that it doesn't want to do. Looking back at this rehab
44:02
process, were there any hiccups or major learning moments that
44:07
you feel have kind of shifted the way you look at things?
44:12
Either like something you wish you did differently, or
44:15
something that you learned a lot from.
44:17
I kind of hate to say this, but I think it was the most flawless
44:22
rehab like I could have had. Yeah, I definitely learned a lot
44:26
of stuff, but like I was still on the question of hiccups and
44:28
I'm like, it was just super linear, right?
44:31
Like if you look at everything, like if you look at the facts
44:33
for Britain numbers, if you look at below, if you look at
44:37
throwing volume, if you look at pain, like it was super linear.
44:41
Where I had more of a learning moment was when the rehab was
44:44
done and I was in the game again.
44:45
And I'm like, rehab doesn't mean shit.
44:48
Like you are in a game again. You don't have the controlled
44:52
environment anymore. I think that was a big learning
44:54
curve of like, OK, I've just gone through three months of
44:58
very superstructure throwing and that's not the reality of
45:02
baseball kind of me getting grips with.
45:06
I love living in this rehab bubble because it was like
45:09
honestly, like throwing wise, my aunt felt great, but that's just
45:12
not what baseball is. It literally took me this long
45:15
because for the last two months when I was throwing in the
45:18
season, I went away from a lot of the stuff that I did during
45:21
rehab. And now like the last week, it
45:23
was literally this week, I was sitting at home and I was like,
45:26
why did I stop doing some stuff that I did during rehab?
45:29
You obviously can't do it to the fullest extent, but you should
45:33
still be doing the things that made you feel that good.
45:36
I was throwing 92 so easily then and now I'm like huffing and
45:40
puffins. Maybe like go, go, just go back
45:43
at 7. Be like, OK, like it's this is
45:45
not a rehab. But a lot of the stuff that you
45:47
have during rehab is a great tool to have and like to do.
45:51
For example, one thing just so I shouted one thing is the pulse
45:54
the sensor for my arm right then rehab at a rate a gun behind me.
45:59
Every throw at the pulse on me, every single throw and every
46:03
single throw, I would look on my phone and be like, OK, that's
46:05
the speed and that's the answer. This is what I'm trying to hit.
46:08
And this is how many throws I did.
46:10
And then I think as soon as I got back to season, I was just
46:13
like, oh, let me just throw the ball again without really regard
46:16
for like, OK, keep your light stays super light.
46:18
Like actually have an impulse of like look at your phone back.
46:22
That was too fast and I kind of lost that.
46:25
And this week I, I was kind of going back and I was like, OK,
46:28
like I got to go back to the stuff that I was doing during
46:32
rehab. There's a couple hugely
46:34
important points that you hit on there that I want to call out.
46:38
The rehab piece. Well, I I guess there's a couple
46:42
answers you gave regarding the rehab piece.
46:44
Yeah, you're 100% right. You're no longer rehabbing.
46:47
You're in open water now. You got to figure it out and and
46:51
win. Oftentimes you forget about a
46:53
lot of things. One like you no longer have your
46:57
life jacket, it's sink or swim when you're out there playing
47:00
again. So that can be a tough bridge
47:02
for individuals to cross when you don't have the safety net of
47:05
going back to look at a structured throwing program or
47:08
something of that nature. Or just like the ease of
47:12
knocking out your eyes wise and tease and saying, I had a great
47:15
day. You can certainly get your ass
47:17
kicked pretty quickly when you leave 90 mile an hour heater
47:20
right down the deck and it gets sent in the right center gap.
47:23
But then the the next piece of that, the other side of the
47:27
rehab piece. Yeah, like there should be a
47:30
really solid blend between rehab and performance training.
47:35
And just because something gets labeled rehab doesn't mean you
47:39
can't do it. You nailed it.
47:41
You said why would I not do the things that make me feel good
47:45
and feel better and feel fresh And when I do those things I
47:49
know I can perform just because they're labeled rehab?
47:52
Like that's so short sighted. Bring those back.
47:55
If it makes you feel your best, you should be doing it.
47:58
And obviously you're doing it during rehab for a good reason
48:03
because it is designed to get you healthy or recover or feel
48:07
better or get you stronger. Just because it's labeled rehab
48:11
doesn't mean you can't do it when you're healthy, so I'm glad
48:14
you came to that realization. That's a very important point to
48:18
come to. I think it's kind of like just
48:20
on a psychological level, it's just human nature of like, oh,
48:23
we're hurt, so we have to do this.
48:25
And then as soon as we're not hurt again, we stopped doing the
48:28
things that helped us not to be hurt in the 1st place.
48:31
I mean, you should probably have the flexible group all the time
48:33
where like people use the thing we have and then they go back to
48:37
throwing. They're like, oh, I did during
48:39
rehab. I don't need it.
48:40
But the right solution is just to keep doing it.
48:42
So you don't even get to that point in the 1st place.
48:44
Or even better, do it before you get hurt, right?
48:46
Like that. That would be the best solution
48:49
of all. So like I think it's kind of,
48:50
and it's not just baseball, it's like every sport, but I mean,
48:53
we're kind of dumb. Like let's be honest, like we're
48:56
pretty dumb and like we're pretty short sighted.
48:58
But trying to get out of that mindset and trying to be like,
49:01
OK, what makes me feel the best? So I got to do that because
49:05
that's what helped me to get healthy anyway.
49:07
I have one more question about the rehab.
49:09
You mentioned the linear progression that you went
49:12
through, which is so much different than 99% of the.
49:18
Rehabs. I was three people lucky.
49:19
I was super lucky. You were super lucky to have a
49:22
flawless rehab. Do you think a lot of that came
49:25
down to you having won the care team in two kind of the data
49:31
surrounding what you were doing so you always knew where you
49:35
were at, whether it's being able to look at your whoop, whether
49:38
it's tracking your throws, whether it's pulse or radar gun,
49:42
flex, pro grip. You always knew where your grip
49:44
strength was. You just had so many things
49:46
working in your favor that I'm assuming that enabled you to
49:51
just say like, yeah, I'm on the right track.
49:53
I can make an adjustment if I need to, but this is trending
49:57
the right direction. Yeah, it's crazy because before
50:01
rehab I was kind of that way where I looked at data a lot.
50:04
But then you kind of nailed it. Like doing rehab, I had so many
50:08
like away from just like people tell me what to do.
50:11
I had so many like different machines tell me what was
50:13
happening, as you said, like I had the loop, like sleep and
50:16
stuff, which is obviously important thing we have.
50:19
And then like the posting, throwing the radar gun, which
50:21
you've got was like the armkit.com like, oh.
50:24
Yeah, you were doing that too. Yeah.
50:26
Yeah. So like I was literally testing
50:28
my shoulder strength every single time before I throw.
50:31
I was testing my form strength like after throwing with the
50:34
flexible grip every single day. And you could just see like the
50:37
progress going up. And I think the biggest thing
50:41
with that is if there would have been a dip in any of that,
50:45
that's when we would have like cut back the throwing.
50:49
But I just got lucky enough. Or like, I don't even want to
50:51
say lucky because I think a lot of it was just like me busting
50:54
my balls just during rehab. Like I was in the gym, I'm not
50:58
even kidding, probably 4 hours a day, four days a week.
51:02
Like it wasn't like I just got lucky and I threw and it stopped
51:05
hurting. No, like I did a lot of things
51:08
that then helped me to not have any pain again.
51:11
I sometimes see like a kid here as we having right now and he
51:15
literally did his whole five week rehab without a gun and I
51:20
talked to him about him. He was kind of defensive about
51:21
it. But like how do you how do you
51:23
know how fast you're throwing? Like you have no idea if you're
51:27
like throwing 90 on your body, like can't handle it.
51:31
I'll be honest, sometimes I hated it because it was like I
51:33
don't want to throw 65 MPH into this net 50 times right now.
51:36
But like, having that like safety net really did help me to
51:40
not overreach, which I think chronically I'm somebody who
51:44
overreaches a lot because I try to do so much.
51:48
And that's kind of also what I said about like, OK, I'm going
51:50
to start using the pulse again because I noticed, OK, this
51:52
summer I had a really good rehab and then I overreached.
51:56
And it's like I didn't learn from my mistakes.
51:59
So I like, now it's like, OK, let me take a step back and I
52:02
got to actually like use it now to when I'm not hood, like use
52:06
the same data that I was when I'm not hood.
52:08
Yeah, Yeah, that's great, man. I, I appreciate you kind of
52:13
opening up about that and being introspective because we
52:16
wouldn't be at this point without your introspection.
52:18
Now the next place I want to go is a look into the future.
52:21
We've talked so much about the past.
52:23
You've got Utd coming up in just a few weeks now.
52:27
We're recording this August 6th. Don't quite know when it's
52:30
coming out yet, but heck, when this comes out you might be back
52:34
stateside sweating your balls off in Dallas, TX because that
52:38
place is hot. But yeah, what are you?
52:40
What are you looking forward to with Utd?
52:43
Ultimately, why was that the school that you wanted to spend
52:47
your next two years at? I think first of all, a big
52:50
thing for me, like I want to show that I can be like a top
52:54
dog in D2 baseball because I know I can.
52:56
But I always said this and I believe in this, like I'm not
53:00
going to transfer in conference. Like I just think that's not
53:03
something that I stand for and like whoever does it, like it's
53:06
fine. But like I didn't want to play
53:08
against Echo college. So I was kind of like, OK,
53:10
what's the second missed conference to go to?
53:12
And that's when I kind of put my eyes on Texas.
53:15
And like you'd shout out to coach go like without him this
53:19
would have not been possible. But he was like, OK, like loved
53:22
having you for four years. I know it didn't work out the
53:25
last year, like no pressure, but like, give me your top three
53:27
schools and I will reach out to them, which is like just crazy.
53:32
I think like there's a very few coaches on like this planet that
53:35
would do that. So I told him, OK, this is 123,
53:38
Utd is number 1. And literally the same day he
53:41
called them and like they got back to me within like 24 hours.
53:45
So whatever he said, it was definitely something positive
53:48
because I don't think they would have called back that soon.
53:50
But again, like, this would have not been possible without him,
53:53
like reaching out and then me talking to them.
53:56
And of course, like, it's also funny because at the beginning
54:00
they were pretty skeptical because I was injured.
54:01
I can't get mad at that. But then the longer the rehab
54:04
went, and especially when I started sending the videos of me
54:07
throwing a little 90s again, then it was like, OK, like we
54:11
really want you to come here. So I think again, a lot of
54:15
pieces had to fall in place. Like the rehab had to have went
54:18
as smooth as it went for me to even go there.
54:20
But like now I'm super happy I'm in this place.
54:23
And I just hope like next year I can compete at the level I know
54:26
I can compete at and actually like, do good because I've done
54:30
OK. But like, I've never done good
54:32
and I think I can do good. Now a couple things you you
54:35
mentioned off air finding the fun again and playing and you're
54:40
actually better when you separate from that Bulldog F you
54:44
mentality and more just to go out there and enjoy a kids game.
54:49
You talked about it a little bit earlier on the podcast as well.
54:53
Pairing that with going into a new school and having to compete
54:56
and earn a role, earn a spot, how do you think you're going to
54:59
be able to manage that? It's tough, but I think the
55:03
biggest thing is just like, honestly, it comes back to like
55:06
people and getting in connection with the team.
55:08
When I talk about having fun on the field, 90% of that is me
55:12
wanting to play with the seven guys that are behind me and
55:16
throwing to the guy that's like catching my ball.
55:18
So I think that's kind of what it comes down to honestly.
55:21
Because like I know I'm good enough to compete, but I just
55:25
want to be with like 8 people on the field that I want to win
55:28
with. So I think that's the biggest
55:31
thing when I get there, like lay the ground without just like
55:35
getting to know the guys, being a team.
55:37
And then like I think everything else is going to fall in place
55:39
because I know I got the talent. I know like I got the hard work
55:42
and whatever I don't have when I get there I'm going to figure
55:45
out just by licking my ass off because that's what I do.
55:48
And maybe the last question, it was hard not to let you mic drop
55:51
with that final answer there, but we talked briefly about you
55:56
trying to make that transition to starter.
55:58
You obviously are coming off the UCL sprain.
56:01
Do you have a desired role at Utd or do you just want the ball
56:06
and be able to throw it? Dude it's so tough.
56:09
I think I am better as a believer slash closer but
56:13
stunning is a lot of fun. But if I'm being honest if the
56:16
coach would ask me right now, like if you have the choice to
56:19
be the close it will be a stutter.
56:22
I would probably choose closing right now.
56:24
And it's honestly a lot of it is also health reasons.
56:27
Just because like I know I can throw the shit out of the ball
56:32
for like 25 bitches and I know I'm like really, really good
56:36
doing those 25 pitches, but if I throw 50, like I just feel like
56:41
I'm a little worse. Nothing.
56:43
I'm bad, but I'm a little and I'd rather be at my best if that
56:46
makes sense. And how do you feel about then
56:48
your ability to recover? You've obviously had to bounce
56:50
back in short stints throwing in the back end of the bullpen
56:54
versus then the added benefit of being a starter is you know
56:58
exactly when you're going to throw every week.
57:00
Weighing those pros and cons, have you noticed anything about
57:03
like your ability to bounce back, throwing out of the pen
57:06
versus knowing every single week that you can bust your ass in
57:10
the weight room and you can do all those things without even
57:14
having to think about the Saturday to come or the Friday
57:17
to come until it's a day or two away?
57:20
It's so tough because when I was a starter, like again, I never
57:24
actually saw the game, but in the preseason I loved it, right?
57:28
I'm such a routine guy that loved rehab.
57:30
Like I love having routines. But then if I think about almost
57:34
every single time where I threw back-to-back days, the second
57:36
day was almost always better. And it goes back to like the
57:39
whole thing. The second day.
57:40
I always just pitch. I think the first day I just try
57:43
to throw the shit out of the ball and the second day is like,
57:46
like I actually pitch. So I don't think I've had a
57:49
problem with bouncing back, especially in Germany because we
57:51
play Saturday, Sunday. So like I'm used to throwing
57:54
back-to-back days, but I'm definitely going to miss the
57:57
whole like routine thing about selling.
57:59
Like I had a blast doing that. Like what was the two months
58:04
while it lasted before I got hood?
58:06
Like, I do love like, love that, but.
58:08
Yeah. Well, Ricky, this really does it
58:11
for me. I feel good about the ground we
58:13
covered. Do you think there's anything
58:16
that we have missed that is worth sharing?
58:18
I don't think so, no. I think we've covered
58:21
everything. Just one thing is definitely
58:23
want to say thank you to you and you'd shout out to Flexprogrip.
58:26
Like I'll be honest, I think if I wouldn't have had that first
58:30
meeting at that field with you and realizing, oh, there is a
58:33
problem with the strength side of it, I think this rehab would
58:36
have looked very different. Because trying to figure that
58:40
out is so tough because even when, for example, when I was
58:43
doing like the regular drip test, like I was always in a
58:46
really good percentile. But just knowing, OK, the
58:50
muscles that are actually important for baseball are
58:51
really weak. I think that's something that's
58:54
super important for people just to know.
58:56
Well, I appreciate that man, that that means the world to me.
59:00
Obviously you mean a lot to me. I I've loved the friendship that
59:04
we've developed just beyond the player coach relationship and I
59:08
can't thank you enough for the trust.
59:11
It's been great getting to work with you all these years and I'm
59:15
I'm glad you're able to hop on here and Share your story.
59:17
Problem. Thank you for having.
59:19
Me, of course. And to all the listeners out
59:21
there, thanks for laying back with us.