Latest / Chasing Baseball Dreams / Episode #1: SwagnShades Tells Parents What Nobody Else Will About Travel Baseball

Transcript

Episode #1: SwagnShades Tells Parents What Nobody Else Will About Travel Baseball · Chasing Baseball Dreams

• Bobby Minor: All right, welcome to Chasing Baseball Dreams. And unless you've been under a rock or you've been in prison or somewhere out of just out of the loop, have not had access to social media for the past couple years, really the guy that I'm about to chat with needs no introduction but Mr. Swagginshades, Chip's Performance, Alex Hale, dude, what is up? SwagnShades: That was a heck of an introduction. Thank you so much. it's Bobby Minor: I just I I mean Well no, let me say it SwagnShades: good to be here. Bobby Minor: like people give just give people some some of your background. I already know like you're a two way player in college, you got drafted, you done that, you've been coaching for years, you you you are to me like you know, I would say you might be on the Mount Rushmore of baseball influencers on social media. I don't know who else would be up there with maybe you and Jake and I don't know who else, but you're definitely like, you know, you're just one of the dudes that's that's up there. So anyway, just yeah, just g for anybody that doesn't know who you are, give a give a snapshot of your background. SwagnShades: Sure. So I'm swag and shades, my name's Alex Hale and I played b played ball in college, was a catcher closer and then played professionally for a little bit, got injured, got in right into coaching, been coaching for seventeen years with travel ball. I've had a coach seven to seventeen, eighteen. now I've coached national teams and I've just been around the sport for the last seventeen years. I was a big you know, I went to the perfect game showcases growing up and I found a huge benefit in a lot of the stuff when it came to showcases and getting exposure. and Now just trying to educate parents and add to the space. I opened a facility two and a half years ago and it turned into this social media thing where we just kept chipping away and figuring it out. And Chips actually stands for catching, hitting in field pitching and strength. And Bobby Minor: Mm. SwagnShades: we wanted to create a competitively supportive environment. So like when our guys come in, we train high school, college, and pro guys. It's all included, their one-on-ones are included, their training programs, their nutrition, their any help with recruiting advice. and then we get all this cool stuff now with social media so we can give them some pretty cool things and a a pretty unique experience. But that's who Bobby Minor: Okay. SwagnShades: I am. Bobby Minor: So l pause for a second. So you're telling me that you don't offer a six U strength and conditioning class so you can capitalize on on all the money that's out there in the in the youth market? SwagnShades: I think that's what the playground is for, you know, that's what that's what playing with your buddies and running around is for. Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: I think we try to pass along enough information for the younger players to go be able to do things with you know, with mom and dad and and on their own. we just wanted a place where older kids had a place to go where when they got into the winter months, especially being in Nebraska, it gets cold, well all the teams go inside. And when you're a high school player or a college player, like you come back home and I just saw a huge gap where like The high school and college guys didn't really have anywhere to go 'cause they were going to the facilities and there was just teams running all over the place. And so we don't rent space, we don't have teams. We just wanted a specifically or a strictly training place for our guys to go and give them a healthy outlet for all that energy and you know, rather than sitting on their phones at home, we wanted to give them better, healthier outlet for that. Bobby Minor: So in in your Chips Performance Center, you have like a wall of fame where you coached a guy in one tournament four years ago and he just got drafted this past weekend, so you have him up on your draft board? SwagnShades: Unfortunately, no. That's a heck of an idea though. no, we don't we don't take credit for anybody that that we coach necessarily like like there's guys that we were a part of their journey, but we're not gonna go around telling, you know, I coach this guy, I coach this guy. because the kids and the parents I think have a much bigger impact on their own careers, especially the parents. and each kid has the opportunity to make their career whatever they want. You know, with the opportunities they get, we all get the same three hundred and sixty five days, we all get the same twenty four hours in a day. And really We've seen guys completely change their stars just by the work that they put in. So yeah, I'm not gonna take credit for it. But it's it's been really cool to get to meet a lot of really good players, really talented Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: players. I think at the end of the day, man, they're just kids and they're just trying their best. And parents I think are are trying their best too. And I tell kids that all the time. I'm like, Your parents love you, they're they're telling you what they think, you know, makes the most sense and they're trying to be helpful. but at the end of the day, as a player, you gotta learn to filter, you know, filter the noise and Say yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am. And if it doesn't help you though, it's gotta kinda go in one ear and out the other. But look at everything objectively, like everybody's trying to help you. Like nobody's trying to, you know, tear you down. And I think with all the social media stuff now, a lot of noise can get in. And so I think Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. SwagnShades: that's a that's a big thing that we spend time with our guys on is filtering the mental stuff and protecting what's between your ears. Bobby Minor: That's good stuff. And that's one that's besides My wife was telling me for years to to do what I'm doing. One of the biggest reasons why I actually got and said I'm just gonna jump in and start doing it is because of all the noise in social media. I really got tired of because I'm in a bunch of Facebook groups, you know, Travel Ball Parents of North Texas and blah blah you know, whatever. And I got tired of seeing a parent who just who does literally doesn't know asking a genuine question, wanting help, and and being ridiculed by people, mocked by people, being fed bad information, misinformation, and they don't even know how to fill It out, and that's why you know. So for me, like I just want parents to understand this is what matters at your son's age or stage. This is what doesn't matter, these are the questions you need to be asking. And then when it does matter later, when he's 15, 16, 17, well, even before then, you're making the best decisions for your son. Now you're making informed decisions, you know. I literally I wanted to record a video yesterday in my on-screen hook, which is gonna be travel ball parents are dumb, but not because I think they're dumb, but because the industry thinks they're dumb, you know. know what I mean and they they capitalize it capitalizes on their on their you know their being naive and just not knowing because you you don't know what you don't know and nobody can fault you for that. And like you said I think most parents are just trying to do the best thing for their son to allow him to chase his baseball dream. And there's a lot of people on the way, you know, not being truthful with them, selling them, you know, you know it's just all you know smoke and mirrors and stuff so that way they can just stick their hand in their pocket all the way and then you know when their kid SwagnShades: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: quits. So, okay, you're big on social media. I'm big on social media. even though I'm an old guy, I've always been, I've done like social media management and marketing for some big names and brands and things. So I've always tried to stay up. But I tell, I tell athletes, I told my son Julian years ago, like, do not. Post anything crazy on social media? Do not like a crazy post. Do not comment on a crazy post. Do not share anything that's idiotic or anything because it can 100% come back to bite you in your butt. Because coaches, it's so easy to search to search somebody's social media history and see is this the type of person that I even want to be a part of our program. So what advice would you have out there right now to that, you know, to that 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 year old on how to just how to how to have a healthy understanding and management of social media. SwagnShades: So I tell her guys like imagine that everything you're posting on social media is you getting up on a stage in front of a bunch of family friends, adults, coaches, you know, that you're and potential employers down the road and you are announcing it to everybody. Because that's what you're doing on social media. And you really have to be careful with what you put out. You're putting out a filtered version of yourself. So things that are supporting, you know, family, friends, I I say just keep it really simple. Like you want to post a picture, you the the before pictures of prom and all that stuff, like, cool. Be very careful. I go, nobody wants to see your faded party picks. Nobody wants to see, you know, you you and your buddies being idiots. Because coaches are now looking for reasons to say no. Because there's so many players out there and it's so much more competitive. There's it's easier to take a list of a hundred and say no through ninety six of them and go, okay, which one of these four are we really looking at? And then you go watch those four. Like that's a much better use of those coaches' time. They're not gonna get out to see everybody. Now, MLB scouts, they will get out to see everybody. If you throw a hundred and you're in Montana, they're gonna find you. College coaches, if I if they're in, you know, if they're in Fort Worth and they find a a shortstop who's, you know, a potential second third rounder, well, he's probably gonna get the slot. They're not gonna come all the way up to Nebraska to see the kid who might also be a second third rounder. No, like they're gonna take the local kid and Bobby Minor: Right. SwagnShades: they're they're gonna go on to the next position because again, it's an efficient use of time. Like They need guys who can produce who can help them win. And there's all of the factors that come into it. Like guys who are from out of state generally get homesick more. Like that's something people don't think about. Like I tell players all the time, pick a school you want to go to, look at their roster and see where the kids are from. Because that's going to tell you a lot about who they recruit. There's schools like Cal Berkeley, where all the coaches at Cal Berkeley played California Jukos, they don't see a reason to go outside of California. Like Bobby Minor: Uh-huh. SwagnShades: they're going to look for the players in California, and then after that, they're gonna go the JUKOs around California. Like Or they're gonna go to Jukos in Arizona, or they're gonna get the D1 kickbacks now with the portal. They're not gonna come to Nebraska looking for a left fielder. Like it's just not how it works anymore. And it's not to be discouraging, it's just to inform them. And our guys have kind of we call it the Omaha curse where like you see the College World Series every year, and that's where you want to go. You wanna go to a College World Series team. Bobby Minor: Right. SwagnShades: And that's awesome, but at the same time, recognize the best school you're gonna go to is the school that gives you an opportunity. And that was something that I realized going out to Richmond. They were in a super regional play in Nebraska. when I was in high school and so I knew who they were, but at the same time, that was the school that gave me a chance to play right away. And so when I got out there, I was competing for a starting spot out of the gate. I wasn't behind anybody and or I wasn't like, you know, stuck behind Bobby Minor: Okay. SwagnShades: three guys. And some schools that that's the situation you get into 'cause they would just stack bodies. Now, it is a little different with NIL and the the l reduced rosters. So Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: getting your kid ready now to produce at the next level is is even more important. But I think you're gonna see a big impact and a shift in, you know, the the NCA is trying to pull back on the older guys. The the colleges are trying to get more money towards the NIL the little guys can compete by reducing the roster sizes. It's gonna be really interesting to see at the end of the day what happens. Bobby Minor: Yeah, there's a lot of good stuff there. And you're just my my wheels are turning. So let's talk a minute about Okay. Division one baseball. So now the roster sizes of th are thirty-four and theor theoretically on paper they can offer thirty-four full rides. theoretically. In reality, very f few schools have the budget. You know what I mean? So like so like what would you say out there? Like this is my thing. I I I don't I don't I'm just that's a number I just come up with. I honestly think for 95% of the high school baseball players out there, their best path is the JUCO path. For lots of different reasons. Okay. I'm not saying there's not good, you know, D2, D3, NAI programs out there, but think a majority of high school baseball players would mu be much better served if they went the JUCO route for a lot of reasons. You know, the fall season, higher likelihood of getting more money. You get, you know, just a lot of things. And it's a grind. Like it really prepares you. And you mentioned California JUCOs. My son, he's a redshirt sophomore this year. He played in California in the Inland Empire Conference. And now he's gonna play at a D2 school in Texas this fall. But But what are your thoughts on that? Because I like when I started chasing baseball dreams, one of my initial ideas was chasing D1 dreams. Because I feel like you need to talk to any 12-year-old out there. You want to play baseball in college? Absolutely. Where do you want to go? I I would be willing to bet, Alex, there's not many that are saying my dream is to play at Ranger Junior College, you know, when they're 12. And I'm not disparaging Ranger Junior College. I'll, you know, I I love Ranger, but that's not their dream. Their dream is to play at, you know, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, you know, North Carolina. That's where they have D1. Dreams, but it's it's it's a real possibility for just such a small percentage of players. So I there's I didn't necessarily ask a question, I was kind of throwing a bunch of stuff out there, but just give me your thoughts on that whole, you know, like you know, D one versus a different path and what it means, and and to help parents of younger players kind of hopefully begin to get a proper perspective because they're all sold at you know what I mean. A lot of them being sold, like, yeah, you know, we produce a lot of D one players and everything, and so they'll spin, spin, spin, even though, even though they know. it's gonna be a reality for you know two percent. SwagnShades: Well, I think the the reality check of guys having to go to a j junior college is really telling for the guys who what whether they want to play and they love baseball and they want to play at the highest level, or do they want the name on the front of the hoodie? And I think that's a big part of it for high school kids when they say, Hey, Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: you c you could probably go to a Florida State or a North Carolina, but it's gonna cost you one or two years at a junior college in the middle of nowhere, grinding your tail off and, you know, working your butt off with fallball and you know almost unlimited hours of of playing and and you know practicing. And that is that becomes kind of the the barrier to entry. So for kids who are getting into it, it's like, look, you're gonna have to pay your dues, whether you paid them in high school or whether you're gonna pay them in college. So you might as well start now. And I think with younger players like learning how to eat properly, learning how to lift properly, getting in the weight room at a at an early age, getting, you know, control of like when you're going to sleep. 'Cause all of those things, I mean, I think Tani's showed us like a lot about like the benefits of like making sure you're sleeping and recovering and and taking care of yourself and treating your body as like as an investment in your future. Because at the end of the day, your body's your billboard. And there's no getting around that the fact that when you go out to see a player, there's players who look like SEC players, there's players who look like ACC baseball players, and there's guys who who don't. And when I I've heard kids say, you know, well, I just can't seem to gain weight, I can't seem to do this. I you know, it it's it's this, that or the other. And I go, There's these are either excuses to get it done or there's excuses not to. And I've Bobby Minor: Mm. SwagnShades: seen guys who were hard gainers set timers on their phones where every two hours it goes off, they go in their bag, they got a you know, a big sandwich, they eat the sandwich, then they go back to what they're doing. It doesn't matter if they're hungry, it doesn't matter if they feel like it, it doesn't matter what they're you know, they're they're following their program and their plan and they put on twenty, twenty five pounds of muscle. I've seen guys who were really, really good players not get a shot of at a D one school out of the gate, not because they weren't good enough, but because They wanted to play football instead. I had one player specifically who he was a top flight D one player, w and should have gone to a D one school right out of the gate, but he loved high school football. And so he'd go back, he'd come out with all this helium out of the summer. He'd go to, you know, go play football, and all the coaches are calling, like, hey, when can I see him? We want to like you take one more look, and they're and we're he's playing football right now. And it happened two years in a row. He goes to JUCO. After the fall at JUCO, he's signed to Florida State. Like, Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. SwagnShades: it it's it's not that he wasn't good enough, he just They wanted to see him one more time, and you gotta be available sometimes for that. And I think sometimes the mistake is parents think they can pick and choose the things that they do. Like, well, we're gonna do but we're not gonna we're not do that. We're gonna do this, we're not gonna do that. Like, we still want them to play three sports, but we also want him to be focused on baseball. And you're like, okay, well, there's only so much time in the day. The kid has only so much energy. Which do you think he's gonna be better at? Like, once he decides I, you know, I love baseball, this is what I want to do. Give them at least the choice to focus on that. And see what they can make of it. Because I was a guy who played three sports in high school up until my junior year. And then I was like, Man, like I got to see what was out there. I saw like Ryan Sweeney at a showcase and he's throwing ninety seven. He's six five, runs a six five, like guy's unbelievable. And I was like, I got work to do, man. Like my pop time was good. I could hit some line drives, but like I need to get like I need to get going. And that was really inspiring for me. So I went and said, Hey, you know, football, we're gonna cut this off, like I'm not gonna do anymore. That was a really tough conversation with my dad, because he's a huge football guy. And then and I was supposed to be the starting quarterback at our high school. And then basketball, I was like, well, you know, I stopped growing in like eighth grade. So I'm like, okay, well, I'm six one and a half. Like, I can dunk a little you know, barely, like, let's let's probably this probably ain't it. but I was just realistic about it. I wanted to play the sport that gave me the best opportunity to find out what I could do with it. And so that became baseball. And I think with a lot of players, they like being good at things. They like you know, they d identify with certain sports, there's certain things they like about it. I love that in baseball you play games all the time. Football, you're practicing all the time for one game. You know, like it's a whole week Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: of practice and you have one game and it was just like, man, it feels like we practice all the time. Well, that wasn't, you know, it's tailored to my skill set, I think, or my attention span. So, so y you let the let the players kind of decide for themselves and I think with the showcase stuff, let the kid start that conversation and the travel ball stuff like if he's Going to you saying, like, hey, I I I really want to, you know, play some bet more competitive baseball. Like, I'm kind of the, you know, the top player on our team and and my teammates just don't seem as into it as I am. I want to play on a team that's all like me. Well, then you go look for another team. But if you're just team hopping or trying to find the best situation and you know, it's if you're not the best player on the team, you know, it's not fair, whatever. The the as you get more competitive, it gets more cutthroat. And people don't realize that. Bobby Minor: Well yeah. SwagnShades: And I've seen I've seen players that started division one schools as freshmen go play for the top national team for somebody else for a week and they come back and they're like, Yeah, I was like the third catcher. Or I was like the third, you know, the second center fielder. Like I wasn't the guy. And I'm like, that's okay. Like you're not hurting my feelings when when they would go do that for, you know, when was coaching. But now I get a guest coach and I see all the teams, and this is what I'll leave you with for for that for this piece. Like I've seen some of the guys who are at the top echelon of like high school baseball. They don't pick and choose. They just do the next thing that they're supposed to do because that's the natural progression. They have a good tournament, great, go play the next one. You have a bad tournament, fine, go play the next one. Like it it's continuing to play a lot of baseball and working out in between the tournaments, making sure you're taking care of your body, eating right, you know, you you don't get to be like everybody else when you don't want to go where everybody else gets to go. Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's no that's good stuff. I hope Somebody out there's listening to that. And you're talking about it being cutthroat. you know, my son Julian, his fall of his senior year, he played on a on a really good team that was head coach was a former major leaguer, one of the assistants was a former major leaguer, and then I was the other assistant. We had a really, really good team. Julian had a great fall, but I want to say January, February, he got a call from a team that had a guaranteed birth in the Connie Mac World Series. And in and hit but our team from the fall was gonna try to play qualifiers. In the beginning of the summer to qualify for Connie Mack. And I left it up to Julian. I said it's your decision, but I said, honestly. There's no guarantee that that that we're gonna qualify no matter what we do, we may not qualify versus this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity, you know, for some players play in Connie Mac twice, but most, I mean, there's only twelve teams, you know, only in like, you know, you're usually you're gonna get one shot to play in it. So that's what he decided to do. Now, had he stayed with his other other team, they came within one out of winning a Connie Mac qualifier, and I really believe if Julian would have played, they would have won and qualified. But I'm saying that to say this is the cutthroat part. So they were playing in a collegiate league. all summer in preparation for Connie Mac. Junior played in the middle infield, played every game, was having a good summer. He hurt his shoulder. He kind of his shoulder popped out on a swing, so he was out for like maybe two weeks leading up to the Connie Mac, but came back. But going to Connie Mac His team picked up another middle infielder, a guy you might have heard of, a guy named Jackson Willetz, who played for OU. And so J my son, Julian was the odd man out. So, you know, he ended up playing only a he did play, he played a couple innings, but that's just one of that that's kind of when I say cutthroat, you know what I mean? That's just the nature of it. Like, like at the highest levels, it's There's no babying people, no coddling people, no favorites. It's like, you know, you're playing to win. And so that's just the reality of it. Now, I want to ask you about this. So look, well, I'm gonna go back to what you're saying about multiple sports. I think being a multi-sport athlete depends a lot on where you live. Like you're from Nebraska. It's not Dallas Fort Worth. also, you know, even in Texas, if you live out, you know, if you're going to a three A school out in a small town somewhere, you're probably gonna play multiple sports because you're probably the best athlete in the school, and that's what they want. But If somebody is serious about baseball, in your opinion, when should they start making baseball their main focus and maybe letting go some of those other sports and things like that? Because you some people on social media are going to say how college coaches want to recruit multi-sport athletes. I'm not saying that they don't, but I've never talked to a college coach that's told me that. And I know lots of I know lots of really, really good baseball players, guys that got drafted this past weekend, that for as long as I've known them, they only played baseball. So what are your thoughts on that? Yeah. SwagnShades: So as a as a when you're a college coach, you're a little bit like a politician, and I don't I don't do politics or religion on social media, but it's they have to give the answer that everybody wants to hear. So if you say as a college coach, Well, I I only like baseball players, well, now every football and basketball high school coach is like doesn't like you. So you gotta be, you know, appeal to the masses, right? So they're Bobby Minor: Right. SwagnShades: gonna say, Yeah, we love high s we love multi sport athletes. You can be a multi sport athlete up until high school, up until the point when it's time to decide like where where's the my best opportunity. Also, a lot of times the multi-sport athlete is genu generally a football player who also plays basketball, who runs track, who's just utilizing his skill set as an athlete, or he's a basketball player who, you know, does 'cause I think basketball gets a little bit more skill specific because football is so hard on your body. the hardest sport I've seen to play baseball with is wrestling or basketball, especially in high school, because You're constantly doing so much cardio, you're constantly trying to it's impossible to put weight on during basketball season. And guys put their bodies at in a compromising position, I think, getting ready for the season. And so I think by your after by your sophomore year, I I felt like it was a little bit late for me, but I didn't know any better. And so that was when I made the decision was after my sophomore year, going into my junior year. I think after freshman year, you kind of take a look at the writing on the wall. But it's always it should be up to the kid. If the kid loves every sport. Go play. But what sometimes happens at those smaller schools, and I see this around Nebraska all the time, well, you're our best athlete. You gotta play football. You gotta play basketball. Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: It's like you don't owe those people anything. And that's something that not a lot of people like because high school sports are great. College sports are more fun. If you have the chance to go play college sports, yes, this will be the highlight of a lot of your friends and neighbors', you know, athletic careers. But if it's not necessarily yours, you don't owe that to them to sacrifice anything that you could be doing otherwise. And when you get up to that national level, like you said, kids aren't kids aren't feeling bad and going, well, I need to go back and play in the, you know, the s the eight man football, you know, game because that's where I'm supposed to be. It's like, no, I'm gonna focus on what I need to do to be the best baseball player I can be, because I get one shot at this. Because at the end of the day, you leave high school, like that's it. They don't have any they owe you any loyalty. They're not gonna do you any favors. It's and it it it it is different for certain communities. I understand that. But I think Being able to focus on a sport where you if you're if you're way ahead, like if you're just like dominant in a sport, well then then do whatever you want. For most kids, they're more in the middle where dedicating time, effort, energy to one thing is going to make them better. And it's gonna make them better than they would if they didn't do that. So like you're there's your argument right there. If a kid's gonna be better than he would be without it, it's putting him ahead. He's gonna beat himself out, you know, if they were to try out. And so I think for for When parents put pressures on kids to do one thing or the other, that's where I think it gets thrown off the rails. And I did have I had a kid a couple of years ago who his dad called me and I didn't know him from anybody. And he was like, Hey, I wanted to get your opinion on this. And I go, and should he play three sports or should he focus? And his kid was a really, really good freshman pitcher who pitched to the varsity level. And I said, Here's the thing, you're not gonna listen to what I say. You want me to say what you want to hear, which is yeah, play all three. It doesn't matter, it's not a big deal. I go, if he Focuses on if he focused on baseball from now until senior year, he could get drafted. What you're gonna do is be convinced that he's like you and can play all three sports and then go, you know, play football somewhere or go play baseball. He's not built like you. Like he's not as big in the frame, like he's got a large frame, but it's not like those one of those large people. You know what I mean? Where like big shoulders, a lot of muscle mass early on. I was like, he's kind of skinny big. Like he's like 6'5, but he's he needs to put meat on his bones. And I go, He's gonna get hurt. And I don't want to, I don't want to jinx the kid, but I go, it's too much when you try to put that on a kid, especially who's grown growing into that six five body, you know, like that's a big body to fill out. And and sure enough, he got hurt, and each year was different something different. And and I don't even know if he's still playing anymore. And I was just like, man, that's that's kind of tragic and heartbreaking, but like you make your own bed with this stuff, man. Like I'm not I don't want to be the bearer of bad news. I've just seen the movies and I can pull them off the shelf and go. Well, here's what happened in, you know, your situation when they did this. Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: Here's what happened if you do something else. And at the end of the day, parents are very stubborn and they'll go to people until they get what they want to hear. I think when you're around people, and you you know this as a coach, some people will go till they find what they want to hear. You have Bobby Minor: yeah. SwagnShades: to find the people who are willing to at least be honest with you and tell you the truth. And if somebody's not gonna tell you at least something you don't want to hear, you're probably at the wrong place. You're probably I mean, you gotta be able to have people who tell you no. Bobby Minor: One hundred percent. I I I talked about that a couple of weeks ago in a video that you need to you need to have somebody in your life that will shoot you straight with your son that has no no financial connection to what you decide. You know, and be real and see I'm a former pastor, so I yeah, I I'm I have a lot of experience dealing with people that want to find somebody that's gonna tell them what they want to hear. You know, they don't that SwagnShades: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: a lot of people don't want to hear the truth. so kind of along those lines of when, you know, or like when should you specialize in a sport, things like that, you're also a two-way player at the college level. where dude I've talked I've talked to parents where they have a nine year old son and their coach said he's a PO and I'm like if you have a coach saying telling you your nine year old son is a PO, I I that should tell him to slap the coach, but I just tell him get you need to get a as far away from that coach as you can because like I'm talking like talking to Clint Hurdle, major league manager seventeen years, who will Like saying, like up to the age of you know, but you know, certainly through the age of twelve, you need to be playing multiple positions. Every team that I coached that's 12 and under. If pool play, every player's gonna play infield, everybody players gonna play outfield. not equally, everybody's not gonna play shortstop, but you're gonna get you'll get reps in the outfield, you're gonna get reps in the infield. And I know what people will say, well, I have players that, you know, if I put them in the infield, they're gonna get hurt. Well, I'm gonna tell you something. That's your job as a coach to coach them up, teach them how to, you know, play catch and catch the ball and protect themselves. at least teach them how to get out of the way of the ball. But, you know, but in pool play, everybody's playing infield, everybody's playing outfield. I'm pitching nobody more than. Than one inning, and I'm trying to pitch everybody on my roster if I can, and I'm flipping my batting order, and then on Sunday, we're gonna play to win. I'm gonna put my best guys under best positions. I might rotate guys, you know, my corner outfield spots. But but my whole point is there's no way, unless I'll I'll qualify this unless your 13 year old son is left handed, 6'3, and 240 pounds. He's pretty much just the first baseman. Unless that's happening, there's no way to look at a player at 12 and say, that's what He's going to playing at 18, you know. out of four 9U players from my 9U double A team that are playing in college right now, including my son, the only one still playing the same position is a left-handed pitcher. You know, but you know, my son was a second baseman when we were nine. He's played at the college level, played shortstop, played second, and he played third all this past year. Our first base, our third baseman is now a first baseman. And another one of our infielders is a left fielder. So my whole point is and also I think that's the fastest path to varsity. If you have a freshman's son that can hit, but you think he's only a third baseman and the you know, the varsity coach like, I really like his bat. I need somebody that can play right field. Are you gonna tell that coach, well sorry coach, my son's only a third baseman? No, he better know how to get out, you know, borrow his buddy's outfield glove and get out there and catch fly balls. So kind of a little mini ramp mini ramble, but what are your thoughts on multiple positions, up to what age? you did it like I said through college. SwagnShades: Well, so I didn't do it until college. I was a catcher Bobby Minor: what? SwagnShades: only. I was a catcher only until probably my end of my towards the end of my senior year, I started pitching a little bit because I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I could I had no idea how to control it. I was like the plate just seems a mile away. I could put it on I could put it on either side of second base, but throwing the ball straight through the you know, straight over the the plate was just daunting to me. And then I ran into this coach, he was a guy playing a triple A ball at the Storm Chasers. And he was like through a hundred and he like slash four inches. This is as fast as your hand can go. And he would like he worked me worked with me for a couple of times just like a couple of lessons. And all of a sudden I could throw strikes and I threw harder and I like, this is great. so then I started I got to college and I was like, Hey, I can I can pitch a little bit, I got a pretty good sharp slider, I got a pretty good curveball, and now I can actually control it and they're like, Yeah, yeah, we brought you here to catch you behind the plate. So my first opportunity to two way actually came in college when I I we got done with our fifteen inning fall scrimmage and they were like, All right, you got the sixteenth. And they're You're gonna face two, three, four. And I was like, Get out there and be somebody, here we go. and I struck out struck out two of them and they like, All right, we'll work with you in the off season, figure this out. And then I ended up, you know, I was going to catch in the Cape and then I started pitching full time, after I pitched against Virginia Tech and I threw I caught eight through three. And I come off and I'm like, Coach, we gotta talk about this like this is a little this is a little crazy. and so I started the next week against Virginia Tech and from there I became a pitcher. 'cause I think it is it's tough to balance like the two and I Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: was learning to pitch on the cape. But I think for younger players to your question, I when I started at seven and eight, I we w we played this team and they just seemed like they just knew what was going on really, really well. And I asked the coach 'cause I was always a question. I was like, I'm gonna ask. Like as a coach, it's way easier to ask, I thought, than as a player. And so I'm like going up as as a coach, I'm like, Hey, why what what do you guys got? You guys got this all figured out, like What do you do? And he goes, Well, I give them one outfield, one infield position for the first half of the season. If they want to pitch, cool. If they want to catch, fine. He goes, but it lets them get comfortable in a spot and be able to kind of look around and see what's going on, helps them get their bearings at seven and eight you. So that and then halfway through the season, if their skill set kind of you know says, Well, he he should be more of a second baseman, or maybe he is more of a shortstop and more of the shortstop maybe needs to be more of a third baseman. He goes, Then we make those adjustments, but it gets them comfortable in one spot so they can Take it all in and kind of see what's going on. Because it's like if you went to work every day and they told you you're doing a completely different job. Like you'd be like, Well, what am I doing? I you wouldn't really be able to go to go get a bunch of stuff done because you're not familiar with it. And so that made a big impact on on how I approached it. And when we play teams that just move everybody around, like you could tell kids are like, Am I supposed to stand here? Am I supposed to be closer? Am I supposed to be further back? All of a sudden the angle off the bat changes. And I only got to catch growing up. I would have loved to play first base. I love playing outfield. 'Cause it was like this, it was so comfortable, you know, you go hit and then you go hang out in the outfield, go run balls raw run balls down. so I think letting players play multiple positions is important. I think it is up to the coach at nine and ten and eleven you, like twelve you, like by the twelve you, the end of tournaments, if you want to pick up a couple really good arms for like a national tournament, that is not necessarily the same thing as putting a kid on a roster for for six to eight months and saying, Well, you're only gonna pitch. Like, let the kid play, man. Like it ain't that serious. This is these guys are in fifth, sixth, seventh grade. Like, come on. And if you're if you're not able to do that, I think that's that's where you get things wrong. 'Cause like we all know he can go play left field, you know, during the mop up games in pool play. Like it ain't that big of it ain't gonna be that hard. And I as a to make a kid a PO at nine, ten, eleven, it's gonna be a really bored kid, man. Like Bobby Minor: yeah. SwagnShades: he's gonna be bored out of his mind. He's gonna pitch once or you're gonna get him injured. He's not gonna be building up the rest of his body. I think baseball does a really good job of like forcing you to balance yourself out physically with moving explosively, taking care of your body, slowing you know, acceleration, deceleration and and bursts of energy. I think it's really good for a lot of players. And and pitching's just a different animal. So like I agree with what you said though about pitching everybody. My whole team would go out and throw. Like, hey, you get, Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: you know, thirty five, forty pitches and go out there and we're gonna make sure that everybody can at least throw strikes, put the ball over the plate, and then we're just gonna play defense. 'Cause in pool play, like We're gonna be able to we'll be able to handle it. And then you have your arms for bracket play. And I think you know, when when you're a team that's like pressing to win every game at nine, ten, eleven, you're missing the point in a lot of ways. I I've was I had a kid, we were forty nine and one one year, eight U. The one game we lost was I refused to take out our third baseman because he made three errors in the inning and my assistant coach is like, Hey, pull him and I go, No, because if we pull him, he knows it's his fault. He's seven eight years old right now. He doesn't know Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: that we lost the game because you know the other k the other team's also playing really well. So I go, and I asked him about the other day. He played in college. And I asked him the other day, he was he was in here and I said, Do you remember that? And he goes, No. And I go, that's why I didn't pull you. Because you would have remembered Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: it if I would have pulled you. And then you would have taken taken it really hard. And I was like, I don't need to do that to you. I can I can we can handle losing a game. It's good for you to lose a game once in a Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's what I, you I'm talking about like if you're if you're on a 12-U team that's dominating everybody, it's doing your son a disservice. Because you need to at least, I'm not saying you're wrong for winning, but you at least at least need to have the possibility of losing so that they can play through it and learn through it. But I'll tell you something funny. When I was coaching an 11-U team for the North Texas dirtbags and first practice, everybody like, who here pitches or wants to pitch? Everybody raised their hand except for this one kid, Caleb Kayson. I'll give him a shout-out. Smallest kid on the team. He didn't, I said, You don't want to pitch? And he's like, No, no, no. Well, I think it was like our second fall tournament. We had a couple of guys out, and you know, my one inning rule I had to throw out the window because one of my players was just he just couldn't throw a strike. And Caleb happened to me in the dugout, and I said, Caleb, man, I said, I think I'm gonna need you to go pitch, man. Like I'm just telling you right now, can you do it? And he's Yeah, coach. He goes out three up, three down. Comes back in the dugout. Coach, I think I can go another inning. go back out there again. That's the one time I probably pitched somebody more than one inning because he was so efficient, but like he pitched like like two and a third in third. Maybe like 20 pitches total. But the thing is, he went from being afraid to pitch. Now he wanted to pitch. And he's pitching in high school now, if I'm not mistaken. But I wanted to say one other thing, and then I have a question for you. You were mentioning like explosiveness, explosiveness, and things like that. I think that's one of the reasons why now, like in the in back in the day, being a multi sport athlete was really beneficial because you're using different muscles and different, you know, it's it's just a totally different thing. Now, today, like I'm sure like at Chips, like here in Fort Worth, we have a place called Apex. when my son Julian was a freshman in high school before COVID, he's working out in the morning five feet from Patrick Mahomes. You know, so you got but you got like MLB guys, NFL guys that are working SwagnShades: Pretty cool. Bobby Minor: out. And a lot of it's very, very little of it is sports specific. It's all every session you're doing something speed related, something strength related, and something explosiveness related. So you can train those muscles that you would have been developing playing other sports. You don't have to now. So you can just play baseball and you can still train all of those things. But I just wanted to say that before I forgot. Got. Here's my here's my question for you. So, development is one of the most vague, fuzzy, overused buzzwords, subjective buzzwords in in this industry. So you're coaching, you're coaching a 10 you team. My I have a 10-year-old son. I want him to play for you, but before I swipe my card, I'm gonna make sure that I ask the right question. So I say, Coach swag and shades, what does development look like on your team? What's your answer? SwagnShades: Development on our team makes means a couple things. It means getting them ready to play at the next level. It means educating them and teaching them the game and the nuances of the game it so that they can be a better player coming out of this season that they're with us and making them want to play next year. I think it's huge, especially when talking tenue. Like I want them to be bet I want them to have really good fundamentals. They're gonna improve their fundamentals from their from a throwing perspective, a mechanical perspective, their footwork is gonna get better. Those are the things we're gonna focus on because the rest of it takes care of itself when you when you take care of those things. And so we simplify it a lot in the beginning so that we can run later. I think I and personally I see a lot of coaches that they're like third, fourth practice of the year, they're like, we need to do something fun today. I'm like, no, no, no, no. We need to keep working on what we're working on because the fun is gonna happen when the team's doing well, they're winning, and they're playing good baseball. It's not it doesn't need to happen in the like this is practice. We're supposed to get better at practice. That's why we are having this practice. If I hear a coach say like, we're just gonna do something fun today. I'm like, usually I think I hear I didn't make a plan for today and so I'm just gonna wing it and let do whatever. And Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: I think I think the way you play catch, every program I've been around, all my programs, all the programs I've been around with that are do a really, really good job, the first day, we spend time on how to play catch right. And it's such an important part of I mean it's ninety percent of baseball is just some form of playing catch. And it allows you to take more chances, it allows you to be better defensively, limit pitch counts for guys, but it gets ignored. A lot of guys will just dump the bucket out and go, All right, go go do go do your thing. And they're like, We don't know what to do. And I think I learned that from watching guys and teams at the College World Series every year. And I was like, Man, every team that comes in here plays such good catch. Even as like a kid. And I was That is how do you get it like that? And as I got older, I learned how how all the drills and all the things that you do to build up those mechanics and build up that muscle memory to where you can play catch, you can throw the ball around, you can throw four corners, you can do relays, and you're not worried about throwing the ball away. Because guys are moving their feet, guys understand how to how to read the ball in the air. So from a developmental standpoint, it's improving the things that they building on their strengths and improving on their weaknesses at the end of the season. Like he is going to be better at the things he is not the best at right now. And he's gonna continue to be strong in the areas that he's already really strong at. The reason we the reasons he was invited on this team. Those are the two things we're going to build on. We're going to want him to want to play baseball next year and he's going to have a better baseball IQ by the end of the season. Those are my four Bobby Minor: That's SwagnShades: goals. Those are what that's what development looks like. Bobby Minor: No, that's good. I I wish hopefully every coach out there that's watching, listening, hears that and hopefully every parent understands like if you're if you're gonna about to spend two to three grand on a team and you ask the coach what does development look like on this team, I pray that his answer is something similar to what you just heard. didn't have to be the exact thing word for word, but it should be it should be in the same ballpark. If not, you're you're you're being hoodwinked. and when you're talking about playing catch, I was actually I I was gonna do a video on this a couple weeks ago because I was thinking like what's one thing that is important No matter from six all the way through eighteen. And my thought was the ability to play good catch because at the high school level, college coaches and scouts they're gonna be watching how do you warm up? how do you throw the ball around after a strikeout? They're watching, you know, they're SwagnShades: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: watching all of that. That's very important because that can tell them a lot about you. They don't have to see you in the game, they can watch how you warm up, and that can tell them a lot. But man, it drives me bonkers t ball teams, coach pitch teams, where they have them warm up in that. that's it and then they spend all their time hitting and doing all that. But in the games like like Anytime a ball's put in play, what do they tell the infielders? What what happens? If the ball sits to the outfield, get it to the infield, what do they tell the infielders to do? Hold it up. Like they're afraid, you know what I mean? They're afraid to have even on a routine ground ball to like try to throw the ball to get an out because most of them can't do it and can't do it consistently. So they're just playing, you know what I mean? Like hold the ball and then get runners on base, and then you can field a grounder and get a force out. But if you would tea if you would spend half of your time at, you know, T ball and coach pitch teaching your players how to actually catch and throw, you would be light year light years ahead of probably every team that you're gonna play. That's at least what I think. SwagnShades: So from a developmental standpoint, and I I worked in daycare for five years and I gotta see this first hand. The the reading the depth of a ball coming at you is like the last thing you learn. So like throwing is always gonna be ahead of your catching. And one of the things that we started implementing also on my coach pitch team that I 'cause I had a coach pitch team this year, was playing dodgeball and at practice. 'Cause like it helped them gauge the ball coming at them a little better, got them no no Bobby Minor: With baseb with baseballs? Did you use baseballs? SwagnShades: We had we had a good time with the dodgeballs. No you're good. You can dodge a ball. The five D's of dodgeball. Dod Bobby Minor: No, no, I didn't mean to cut you off. I'm just I was thinking if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball. Yeah. Anyway, go ahead, sorry. SwagnShades: dodge d was it dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge. Yeah, Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: those are five D's a dodgeball. So it's Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: but like to to your point, like everybody goes and works on hitting. We worked on the fundamentals of hitting at the beginning of the year for probably four or five sessions and in a in the cage I I let my team come in here and my coaches helped us out. control the, you know, because they're five and six years old. but just showing them the fundamentals of how to do it and like where to stand in the box, how to swing, you know, bat safety, all that stuff. But then from there it was like, okay, now now go use that and practice on your own. Now we're gonna work on these other things. And we by the end of the season were it seemed at least to me like I mean hitting we were light years ahead of everybody. Just because we spent multiple times like in a row pretty baseball, pretty whether it was fundamentally focused or like where to stand folks so the kids kind of got an idea of how they wanted to hold the bat so they could get into the box, look like they know what they're doing. and that's I think one of those things where you spend a little bit of time early and it builds on itself. Same with fuck like the cat playing fuck playing catch, the fundamentals is hugely important. We always start guys on a knee and it helps with the with their hip-shoulder separation. You know, then they go up, they isolate the upper half so where they're focused on their upper half and then work their feet into it. From when you do those things and I'll take the ball away. I'll take the gloves away at the beginning, get them catching with two hands, get to be able to put a little touch on the ball, back up, give their gloves, make sure they're catching the ball, moving their feet. And my first day of summer ball when I had my high school f teams, or like my my travel ball teams, we played catch for forty five minutes the first day. 'Cause I was like, we're gonna do this right, or we're just gonna keep doing it and until you guys understand. Because a college coach is gonna come watch you do this, and if you're just out there I've seen kids who should be high level division one shortstops going to mid majors and jucos because when a college coach comes to a game and looks at a short step, they want to see a guy who's polished, who's athletic, who's explosive, who does the right thing, who does the little things. If you're just doing it, you know, you've been playing for your dad your whole life and you're just like, I can get away with whatever, you could play at the level that their co the those high level D1s are playing at, but he's gonna go with the other guy because the other guy looks like a safer bet. Because he's doing the little things. He doesn't have to coach the effort and the intent and all the little things. Coaches don't want to deal with that anymore. Bobby Minor: Dude, I tell people all the time, I haven't done video on this in a while because it's sometimes like it's like talking to a brick wall. But I tell at the high school level and above, coaches SwagnShades: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: want guys that they can trust. He may not be the flashiest, he may not be the even the most talented, but if a if a color if a high school coach knows I can put this guy out there, he's gonna make all the routine plays, he knows how to run the bases, he can lay a bunt down, he can hit behind a runner if I need him to, he's gonna go with that guy versus the guy that may or may not, you know what I mean, he may hit, you know. You know, and that's that's just a reality. So that's really good stuff. So let me ask you this. So what would you say to a parent of 10, 11, 12-year-old? What's one thing that they think is important long term? Because I'm assuming most parents, whether they vocalize it or not, they dream of their kid playing in college at the very least. What's one thing that that parent of a 10, 11, 12-year-old thinks is really important that's not? SwagnShades: I would say the not the reputation, but like the the hype and and clout surrounding a certain team, because that team is either good, physically advanced, or having a lot of success, that matters less for your player than I think anything else. one thing that I've seen ring true is when you play teams that have like one or two or three really good players, the team collectively is good, but like one or two really good players, they those players play against those super teams and you watch those kids. Whereas you go on the super teams and like, you know, they have four or five of these like kids who are just really over you know, they're they're physically matured, they're able to do certain things. And after those four or five guys, it's kinda like everybody else is kind of the fillers who are content with their role. And I think you are better off being in a position to be the guy and starting on a team where you are not the best player on the team than going to a situation where you Going into a situation where like they need you because you're gonna be the best player on the team right away. I think that's very dangerous for kids because they're coming into it having to be the guy and along the roller coaster of adolescence and puberty and everything, like you're gonna go through different growth periods. That's gonna play a big part on, especially with kids who play play up. Like they want to play up because it sounds cool and you know, there's all this stuff around it. If that is not the best thing for your kid, if he's the seventh, eighth, ninth guy on the team. There's nothing wrong with holding him back to his age group during those years. And then if he grows and he's back to being like elite and dominant, then you go back to playing up a year. You have to get it comes back to doing what's best for your kid, not necessarily worrying about, well, is he always on the number one team? Is he always on you know on the the team with the coolest, the best name on the front of their jersey? Like git getting them in a developmental situation where they are allowed to grow, learn, play the position that suits their skill set. You know, if you if you have to go to four or five teams to make sure that your kid's the shortstop, maybe he's not a shortstop. Like just saying, Yeah, Bobby Minor: Or start your own team. Start your own team. SwagnShades: he's not your own team. Like it might not be a shortstop. And I think that's that's a hard pill for parents to swallow. Like at the end of the day, it's gotta be your kid's journey. And if it's not your kid's journey and you make it your own and you're living vicariously through it, the kid's gonna h he's gonna start to hate baseball and kind of resent it. You want it to be something that's his own. Like when he steps on the field, let him do let him play. Cheer him on, support him, but let him play. Don't criticize your parent, your player is always going to hear your voice as a parent, like above everybody else's. And when you let the field be a safe space in the in in the in in the meaning that they can compete, they can succeed, they can fail, they can find out what they can do. It's that kind of safe space. They can compete. Good, bad, or otherwise, you got their back no matter what. It doesn't change how you view them as a as as a person when they come off it. Separate the two. When they're on the field, they're a baseball player. When they're off the field, they're your son. Like keep it simple. Don't talk about it right after the game. Give time to decompress. If they want to talk about it, then talk about it. You'd be surprised at how much more how much more how much better of a dialogue you can have when you're Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. SwagnShades: not constantly the one bringing it up and talking about it. Because kids guess what? Are like adults. They're gonna have good days, they're gonna have bad days. And we always say around here, everybody's allowed to have a bad day. It's when you start stringing bad days along together that you go, Hey, whoa, what's going on? You know? Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: What's up? Because I think being attuned to your kid, being attuned to, you know, how they are as an athlete, not not carrying that over, like treating your kid like shit because he didn't have a good game or had a bad weekend is a shitty thing to do. And you can take that to the bank because that that I've I've heard Bobby Minor: Absolutely not. Yeah. SwagnShades: of c parents like they're taking their kids' video games away because they played bad over the weekend. Guess what? Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: That that kid did not want to be around dad for a long time when I and I've seen that happen. I've seen parents leave tournaments and leave the kid. And I've had to drive them to the hotel. Like it's awful. But it's a reality. Like some people I think I I don't know what the intent is behind it, but it I think they mean well on some level. But you gotta do like look at it from the kids' perspective. Bobby Minor: Parents parents need to realize that their son's performance is not It's it's it it doesn't define who they are and it's absolutely not an indicator of of you as a parent. Like, you know, for sure. But dude, I gotta tell you something, moment of transparency. Like sitting here like looking at you for forty five minutes on video, I'm like, I gotta hit the gym, man. I'm almost sixty, but I need to go to the gym. Like I I wanna be I want my I want my shirt to fit like that and you know, it's it I might SwagnShades: Yeah, you make me self conscious. You make me self conscious here. I appreciate that though. Bobby Minor: no, dude, you got it's like natural. It's not you weren't flexing or anything. It's just like natural. okay, a couple more questions, and then we'll we'll we'll land the plane because it's it's this has been a lot and it's been really, really good. you kind of you kind of have a superhero vibe. You know, every good superhero has an origin story. So tell us walk us through the origin story of swag and shades. How is swag and shades born? SwagnShades: Swaggings was born because I w we I grew up with the I got to college, Facebook started, social media was kind of popping up. Well, a couple years into coaching, all the social media stuff had kind of gotten crazy, and I was just tired of having all these feeds, different things where we're like baby pictures, people's, you know, posts about all stuff. I wanted a baseball only Twitter feed. And so I was coaching and I said, What do I want my players to have? I want them to have confidence. I want them to have an abundance of confidence, like you know, swag in spades. And I was like, and I wear sunglasses all the time. So swag in shades. Like, it's just gonna be my little Twitter feed that whatever. And it kinda I started commenting on certain things and people kind of started to take to that Twitter like kind of persona thing. And, you know, it was kind of neat. We got up to like thirty I got up to like thirty something thousand followers over time. and didn't really think I thought that was huge at the time. It was c I thought it was crazy. And then when we got into the facility and we opened chips and we're trying to do stuff to market and promote the facility. And I realized like we weren't necessarily understanding how social media worked from a marketing perspective. And I like, we got to figure this out. So, like I said, 245 videos in, we got crickets. Nobody's watching it. It's taken hours of editing hype videos and all stuff. And I said, How do we make this sustainable? How do we make this something we can shoot, you know, all the time? So we're gonna do three videos a day for a year and just see what happens. And my assistant goes, put the sunglasses on. And I go, We're inside. And she goes, Nobody's watching our in videos anyway. And I was like, that's a good point. So I put the sunglasses on and it just kinda took off. It created this avatar, this character where like it's that coach you had when you were younger who said really good stuff. You don't necessarily remember his name. And and we and once people kinda got a their head around like, he's not taking himself too seriously. Like, but what he's saying is good stuff. That was when, you know, it it started to really connect and it it kinda took off. And we're just super grateful that people like to share our message and people like to you know follow us and we're gonna continue to be authentic, be ourselves, you know, just we just put sunglasses on. I'm I I look all over the place too when I talk, so it helps me a little bit. because I got pretty bad ADD. But we try to do, you know, we try to add as much value to the space as we can and just keep it real. Nothing we put on nothing we put Bobby Minor: you do? Yeah. SwagnShades: on our page like it's stuff that we don't believe in. we we make a point to, you know, any products that we have in our videos like They're they're reliable, they you know, we believe in them, the stuff that we use every day. Cause I think I'm not a good enough actor to pretend that something is good when it's not. And so like you're gonna get here's our take on it. And and we get a lot of products that like, you know, it just doesn't work for our content because I'm like, I I don't mess with people's money. If you want to go sell Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: this somewhere, knock yourself out. But like I'm not gonna go and bash you on social media or bash your product. Like that's a rule we have. And our rules are simple like we keep it simple, we don't get greedy, know everybody's angle. and don't mess with people's money. 'Cause like that's e everybody's entitled to make their own their own living. That's why we're not going out bashing coaches and you know, trying Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: to pick fights with other facilities. Like there's enough there's enough of all this stuff to go around. It's just trying to do it the right way and get your message out there and if people like it, they're gonna connect. Bobby Minor: Dude, well so to and to your point, I think I've had people like when I've talked about perfect game and things like that, they think that I'm anti-capitalism. I'm not. My wife is a spa owns her own business. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm not anti-making money. I'm just anti people making money the wrong way and taking advantage of families. That's it. But you if you if you provide a good product and it in what you're offering and the the cost is a good value and you provide a lot of value, then all for it. Like, you know what mean? have at it. Now have you ever done anything with Jake, Savicki? SwagnShades: Yeah, I gotta be at at the Bruce Bolt Classic in Houston with him and we got we connected out there. I've followed him for a long time. Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: So I've that's been the coolest part of this whole journey is I've gotten to meet a Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: lot of like guys that I look up to on social media, like Bobby Minor: Mm. SwagnShades: and I mean I followed guys like Coach Rack from the beginning when he was doing stuff Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: out of his apartment, you know, when Sim was still bartending and like doing just posting stuff on Twitter, like I followed those guys before that. And so it's been really cool to see the evolution of kind of that that community of guys on social media. It's very small. And you really get to know like I got to know Will from Bat Rose, like you see them around and like I'm not saying, you know, me and Sim are buddies, but like no, like I see Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: them and like we recognize each other, like you're in the same you're in the same ecosystem. but everybody's got their own lane. And I think it's really cool to like everybody's got their niche and you know, again, we don't mess with people's money, we're not gonna go out there and bash anybody. We're just gonna keep it real with what we do and help add value to the space and educate parents, give them some training tips and advice, you know, show them the different products and stuff. I love that we get like all this cool stuff now. That's like my favorite part. I'm like a little kid. when Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: we get all you know, we get all the new baseball stuff, we get to see it before it comes out. Like that's always exciting. and it it's been really cool to see the high school players at the highest levels and the college players that we get to, you know, interact with and work with. whether it's for combat or for Wilson or for Evo Shield, Louisville Slugger, D. Marini, Bruce Bolt. it's been really cool to get to know those kids who are, you know, the top ten guys in the country. 'Cause at the end of the day they're just kids. And their j Bobby Minor: yeah. SwagnShades: their stor their stories are so interesting and you know, I hope someday we get a chance to kind of share a lot of their stories 'cause I think it'd be really helpful to kids who are, you know, on that journey themselves and you know, everybody's got their own hard, man. Like when you go through this stuff, there's gonna be blocks in the road. And it's like we tell guys all the time, find out what's on the other side of that. Just just keep pushing, see what's on the other side and then make the decision, you know? Don't don't let yourself get discouraged right away. But Jake's awesome. He he's so Bobby Minor: yeah. SwagnShades: he's got such a cool like vibe and he's he's d he's got the Cali vibe, yeah. Bobby Minor: He's got the California vibe. He's super chill. Yeah, you know, he's he's like, dude, he's amazing. all right. Two two last questions. One's gonna be true and false. The other one we'll we'll end on is gonna be more open-ended, but true or false? This is for the parents out there. Just it's just a reality. It's not, it's just the reality of it. True or false. Most coaches prefer to have two or three guys on the bottom of their roster that are not gonna be a liability, but they're they may not be at the level as the other seven, eight, nine guys on their roster because they wanna have guys that they can sit if they need to that aren't gonna that aren't gonna be making a big a big mess and a big fuss. SwagnShades: Gosh, I've never thought about that. I don't think they I don't think coaches think about it that way. I don't think they want them, but I think it definitely helps them when Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: there is a there's a a difference in level and those three guys at the bottom, it's like, hey, everybody knows why you're sitting because you're not the you three of the strongest guys. It's not there's no real debate. I think that makes it easier for some coaches. I don't think that they actively go into tournaments and games thinking that though, if that helps. Bobby Minor: Okay, fair enough. No, fair enough. All right, last question. What is what is the one absolute question that a parent needs to ask a coach or organizational director before they ever swipe their card and make a commitment to that team or that org? SwagnShades: I think either the question you asked earlier about what does development look like to you, I think that was a really good question. or just say, Hey, you know, if you've gotten a chance to see my my son play, what level do you think you could realistically and I would not ask this around the kid. I want to say that Bobby Minor: Right. SwagnShades: first. I would not ask this around the kid. I've had parents come up and say, like, my kid can't do this, can't do this, can't do this, can't do this and the kid's standing right there and I go, Well, this might be part of the problem. I was like, 'Cause Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: he's hearing you and he is developing the picture of himself in his head. but I think like if they tell you, yeah, he's you know, if the kid's already a junior and he started his junior year and they're like, yeah, he's a he's an SEC starter, like for as a freshman, whatever, and you're like, that's really funny because like we haven't got a call from anyone, Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: you you gotta go to somebody who can keep it real. And if the coach isn't like, well, he could do this, or he could be here. And he could be at, you know, he could be looking at you know, an NAIA or a D three or a JUCO first. And if that's not the co part of the conversation, because that's the reality for like you said, the majority of players, if that's not at least part of the conversation, you're you're being sold a bill of goods that, you they're not gonna be able to cash. Because I think if you say, I'm willing to go anywhere, my first question is always you want to to Maine? Especially Bobby Minor: Yeah. SwagnShades: Nebraska, I go, You want to go to Maine? You want to go to, you know, a school that the the kids never heard of and they're like, and I go, So don't say you're gonna go anywhere. Like if you're not gonna go to Farley Dickinson, if you're not gonna go to Maine, if you're not gonna go to Montana, you know, Idaho or whatever, like don't say you're gonna go everywhere or anywhere. Like, but if you were willing to go most places and you are willing to travel two plane rides and a car ride to get to college, well, we we might be able to find a kid an opportunity to compete at a division one school if he's at that level. Now, I'm not gonna promise that. That's not my job. That's not my gig. But we help our guys with the recruiting process of being realistic and saying, hey, okay, you got these offers. Where do you think you're gonna have the best opportunity to play right away? Because it's always gonna be harder than you think. And if you go to a school where you're like, I might be able to compete for a spy, I go, that's probably honestly not the that that's the place you're gonna go and be home at Thanksgiving wearing a different hoodie. And I don't want that for you. Bobby Minor: Yeah, for sure. SwagnShades: I want you to come home and be excited about, you know, you you got an opportunity to play in the spring and then things are going really good and you're loving it there. Those are the places you grow. And I learned that from going out to Richmond when, you know, Nebraska was in my backyard and we played Nebraska my sophomore year. And I saw all my buddies who were, you know, the top guys in the state and they're like, Yeah, man, I'm really hoping to get on the field this year. And I was like, Get on the field? Like, I'm I'm I just played my 60th game. Like, you haven't played yet? I was like, I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have the chance to compete or at least get on the field and develop. Like, 'cause I went through the bumps and bruises. And fortunately I was really good defensively. It kept me on the field when when the bat went cold. So that and that was anything that could be troll by controlled by effort, I was really good at. So like as a catcher, I was a try hard guy. and I threw a lot of guys out, so that helped. But it was, you know, all like all the effort always had to be there for me. And I was able to learn a lot through that process because I got opportunities and I got chances to fail. And you gotta go to a school that gives you that opportunity. So those are my two things I would say is what does development look like? What realistically do you think are you know, where could my son look to play at the next level? And if it's anything, you know, that's not a gap or like a range where, you know, the a D two, a JUCO, a you know, D three or a mid major or like all the levels. If they're just like, yeah, he's a SC starter, I'm like, Really? 'Cause those schools like buying kids out of the draft right now, like for a million dollars. Like you think you're Bobby Minor: yeah. SwagnShades: gonna you you know A and M's gonna go buy a left fielder or right fielder. For two million bucks and he's probably gonna start over you. Like, you know, let's be realistic here. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Hey. SwagnShades: so I think just being being open to somebody telling you the thing you don't want to hear. Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's good, that's good. Alright, for the 32 people out there that don't know who you are and they're not already SwagnShades: Okay. Bobby Minor: following you, where can people follow you on social? SwagnShades: You can follow me at at Chips Performance, anywhere on social media. We're all over the place. We're on Instagram, we're on TikTok, we're on YouTube, we're on Facebook. we want to be, you know, a a a sounding board for people who have questions, like yourself, and I think you do a really good job answering people's questions. and it it's part of the process of gathering information. And I would warn parents to just be very careful about looking for the answer that you want. Be more open to the answer of someone like yourself who has a kid who's playing in college. Well, what was your experience with this? Because they're gonna get they're gonna give it to you straight. The person who hasn't had a kid go through the process, I've had 400 kids go through the recruiting process. It is, it is an emotional roller coaster. It's up and down, it's you know, nights staying awake at night, like wondering if it's all gonna work out. It's getting cut, your pop scholarship pulled at the last second, it's getting new opportunities you didn't expect at the last second. And it does take a village. You need people in your corner. Keep perspective. Don't look for the answer you want. And then also don't burn bridges. Like don't bail on teams Bobby Minor: Good. SwagnShades: and put them in bad situations because baseball is a very small circle. And even if you only have one kid and you only think you're gonna be in it for a short time, it can come back to bite you when you, you know, something happens at the first college and you need to find somewhere else. And you told that one coach to kick rocks because you wanted to leave during, you know, the most important tournament, because another the better thing came up. That might be the coaching you have to you have to call and say, Hey, can you find me a spot somewhere? And yeah, I just warn people it's it's all car karma's undefeated. So Bobby Minor: Hey, okay. You made me think of something I want to say. And like, if your son's going through the recruiting process, make sure he's not ghosting coaches that he may think he's, he doesn't want to go to an NAI school, so he's ghosting those coaches because the recruiting coordinator at that school your son has no interest in, the recruiting coordinator at the school your son thinks he's too good for, might be the recruiting coordinator at Ole Miss next year. You know, so don't, again, don't burn bridges. Treat people the way you want to be treated. SwagnShades: We had a player who, you know, the the night of, you know, the August first, his phone's blowing up. And he was like, Do I have to tell the coaches of the schools I don't want to go to? Like, do I to tell them that? And I said, Yes, absolutely you do. And I said, Y you need to let them know now so they don't waste time trying to recruit you, not knowing that they don't have a shot. And I said, That Bobby Minor: Right. SwagnShades: would be the wrong thing to do. I go, and I helped him, I said, Here's here's a message you can send to him. It's very respectful, it's straight to the point, but it's like it's like a little breakup. It's like, hey, You know, I really appreciate the interest. I'm I've kind of narrowed my choices right now. I'm not, you know, I will not be going to your s you entertaining your school at this time recruiting process. I really appreciate everything though. If that changes, I will let you know. And just be straightforward so they can go to the next guy. But don't because you're trying to be nice, lead them on, waste their time when you have no intention of going there. Bobby Minor: Yeah, imagine the girl that you want to take to prom. If she's sitting there leading you on, leading you on, leading you on, you think you have a chance and all of a sudden, you know, two weeks before prom she says, I'm going with somebody else. You wouldn't like it. So. SwagnShades: No. And yeah, y that that's no fun for anybody. Bobby Minor: No, anyway, dude, I really, really appreciate it. This has been awesome. hope anybody that listens to this, I hope you get a lot out of it. And hopefully this is just the first of many opportunities to come where we'll kind of chat and chop it up and talk about the crazy world of travel, baseball, and high school baseball.