Latest / The Layback Podcast / Tony Neubeck, Indiana University LHP (Ep. 105)

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Tony Neubeck, Indiana University LHP (Ep. 105) · The Layback Podcast

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Hey everyone, welcome back to the Lay Back podcast.
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Joining us today is left-handed pitcher at Indiana University,
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Tony Nubek. Tony and I got connected.
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Originally I think it might have been July when he was a part of
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the new transfer class for the Hoosiers.
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He happens to room with Lay Back alum Flex pro famed athlete
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Jackson Bergman. The 2 old heads got brought in
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to bolster the rotation or really just the staff in general
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at Indiana and both of them happened to win spots.
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It kind of speaks to other Lay back alone, his knowledge in
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Denton Sagerman in helping these guys make some significant
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tweaks to their arsenals. And I'm excited to talk about
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some of that stuff with Tony today.
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But Tony joins us today as he got left home from a midweek
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road trip so he can rest up before a big weekend.
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But Tony's already made a couple appearances so far as the Friday
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night guy for the Hoosiers against a couple of top five in
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the nation opponents and UNC as well as LSU.
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So I'm excited to talk about that as well as just hear his
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really amazing story when it comes to overcoming the UCL and
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elbow injuries he's experienced because it certainly hasn't been
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the easiest college career or probably what anyone expected
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him to have on paper. But with that, I'm going to shut
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up and pass it over to Tony to cover some of the bio.
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Tony, thanks a ton for joining us today and looking forward to
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the conversation. Yeah, it's great to be on here.
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When you asked me if I wanted to join, I said if you think it
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would be interesting enough, I'd love to.
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So yeah, I'm kind of made my way Indiana University through my
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own little route. I spent first four years of
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college at Mizzou, and before that spent my time in Minnesota
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doing my best to play baseball when the weather was nice.
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I came up from a family that was all about sports.
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Our weekends were wherever the tournaments were.
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Our vacations were the sunny places where the tournaments
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happened, Georgia, Iowa, stuff like that.
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Calling Iowa sunny and warm is is a stretch, but I I guess
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that's Minnesota for you. In the summer, in the summer,
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it's nice. I got some nice fields there.
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Yeah. And it's been quite the journey
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to make it to Indiana University.
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And what a year it's been, you know, learn from people like Den
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Sagerman and be around people like Jackson Bergman and kind of
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think new stuff that makes me a better player.
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Well, maybe the the first question, you probably didn't
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expect this one, so I apologize for putting you on the spot
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right away. What was it like having to
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transition pitching coaches in the middle of the year?
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Yeah, Coach Meyer coming in has been big.
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Of course, the relationship with Coach Glant and with Coach
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Sagerman, they kind of were the big part of bringing me in and
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talking to me when I was in the portal.
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And they kind of laid out the plan of what we are going to do
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in the fall. Some of the aspects, some of the
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pitch design stuff, you know, adding in some new factors like
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a cutter, adding a little tweaks here and there to see where that
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brings me come this spring. Of course, we love seeing Coach
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Glant take advantage of his opportunities.
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You know, he's dreamed of being in the position that he took,
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but we were happy to see him get that.
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But it was a little bit sad him leaving us, but he left us in
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the very capable hands of Coach Sagerman.
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And they brought in Coach Meyer that had just increased those
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capable hands. And it was a very clean
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transition. Coach Meyer kind of came in,
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observed for a little bit, and then has progressively, as those
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relationships have built, as that trust has been built, kind
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of added a few new things. And I think he's really a big
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part of how we are on the mound and he adds a factor that I
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think is huge when it comes to kind of experience and stuff
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like that. Yeah, obviously Coach Meyer has
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experienced literally at every level.
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He's he's coached professionally, he spent time in
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the SEC, he he's coached at the highest levels of the game and
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has worked with pitchers from all over.
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I know Sagerman does a tremendous job on the analytical
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side, the development side, and really kind of the nitty gritty
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of how to get you guys better. What do you think Meyer has had
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the greatest touch in so far? I think the biggest touch is
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just like attitude, confidence, stuff like that.
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He has a way of going about practices and going about
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bullpens and in game that just makes you feel like your stuff
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is the best it's ever felt and nothing can touch you that day.
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And I think that's part of like the experience that he comes in
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with is I kind of did my own research on him coming in and he
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was part of a team that threw 2 perfect games last year in
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Greensboro. They had a park that's very
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tough to keep the ball in. And so it's like this guy knows
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what he's doing and this guy knows what my stuff does.
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So why, Why can't I trust my stuff?
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Why can't I trust him? So it's kind of like he adds a
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little bit of that confidence in what what we're doing.
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Now that we covered, like I said, probably a question you
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didn't necessarily expect to get asked.
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And to be fair, I didn't even think of it until we started
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talking about your experience so far at Indiana this year.
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But let's walk things back a bit.
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I know offline you mentioned your brother's history in the
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sport and on here you mentioned growing up in a sports oriented
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family. You did say you were the
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youngest, So what was it like kind of following in the
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footsteps of your brother and I? I'm assuming this means your
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parents were super athletic as well, including your sisters.
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Yeah, yeah. So my parents played sports in
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high school and my dad pitched a little bit of college ball, but
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he then went on to umpire, go to umpire school and he was around
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the game for 30 plus years. And that kind of brought us
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around the game, which was the game we loved.
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And my brother, he kind of set the table.
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I was always around him and what he did.
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So he was someone I looked up to heavily and him playing at the
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next level, playing professional ball kind of gave me something
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to shoot for. They say like the older
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brothers, the example and the younger brother sets to be
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better than him. Yeah.
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So that's kind of how I've grown up, is pushing myself with that
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challenge in mind. And then we all basically spent
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that time around the sport. My sisters both played softball,
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My brother played baseball, My mom and dad both played baseball
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and softball. So this is a sport that my
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family loves and has always been a part nightly, weekly.
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We've just always kind of had it in our lives and I think that's
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important because that's where you learn the lessons, that's
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where you learn the game, that's where you really become the
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lover of baseball and the sport itself.
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So rolling up around the game through the lens of an umpire,
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does that mean you learn to never speak to an umpire or you
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just learned the right way to speak to an umpire?
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Yeah, that's definitely how to speak to an umpire and what not
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to do with an umpire, because it would be fun going through the
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stories of people my dad has come across and experiences he's
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had. And sometimes he shares those
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stories and some of them can get pretty grotesque and how he's
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been spoken to and how he's answered back.
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So yeah, I try to keep my composure the best I can,
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especially with the umpires, with the new data and everything
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around, we can track where every pitch is.
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It's hard not to hold them like 2.
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But it's still just a game. It's still, they're doing their
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best. So yeah.
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This might be the most pro umpire interview that we ever
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have on here. Until we actually get an umpire,
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you're probably going to hold them in the highest regard and
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speak the most kindly of any umpire.
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Now, I I don't know if you would know this because your dad
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probably kept it close to his chest, but I'm curious to know
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if your life was ever threatened to your dad based on a call he
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made, whether it's from an athlete on the fielder, someone
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in the stands. Possibly.
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I don't think it was a serious threat, but he's definitely had
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quite the words yelled at him. I'm sure.
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I hold the video. He used to umpire for a team
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which is now the AAA team for the Minnesota Twins, which is
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the Saint Paul Saints. And he did that for 25 years
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when they're at an indie ball team.
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And so that's where we grew up around and they used to do some
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pretty wild stuff. And so he said the weirdest game
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he's ever umpired was where he wasn't the umpire, he was a
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judge and the fans got to make the call.
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And he just made the call that the fans aside.
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So the fans were the jury and that's how they played the
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entire game. That's pretty fun, actually.
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They were, I would say the Saint Paul Saints when they were an
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indie ball team in the American Association and the leagues
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before that. They were probably an early
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Savannah Bananas esque feel to them.
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They had incredible crowds always, and then that's kind of
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why it made so much sense for them to get picked up and of
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course, the locale to the Minnesota Twins.
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But I know they've always done a great job with promotions and
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attendance. I mean, to think that people
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have actually heard of a team that's playing independently is
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probably a pretty good sign. Yeah.
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But with this, so that that's probably enough about the others
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that that gives us a decent indication of who you are and
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probably why you're a pretty well mannered individual growing
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up in the House of an umpire. So you know when to speak up,
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and probably only to say something if you 100% know
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you're right, or even beyond that only if something could
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possibly be changed. You're you're probably pretty
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used to just going with the flow accordingly.
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Not only was my dad an umpire, he was also my middle school
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principal. So it was.
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A double Decker, I was hell in high regard on the baseball
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field and in school. So you probably just never
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opened your mouth as a child. That was probably the easiest
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way to get through life. No, I I was able to open my
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mouth just to say something worthwhile and not be too smart
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out. Well, with that, let's get into
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a little bit more of your own baseball journey.
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So I assumed to go to Mizzou out of high school, you probably had
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to have a pretty good career or at least throw hard at the right
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times to get seen and signed by an SEC school.
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So if we can go back to kind of what I assume are significant
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high school successes, what was it like for you growing up
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playing ball in Minnesota and then ultimately deciding on
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Mizzou? Yeah, I had a really interesting
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recruiting path to get to Mizzou.
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I was someone that played. I didn't.
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I played high school ball. I played a little bit of club
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ball. I played with the Minnesota
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Blizzard. Great club out of Minnesota.
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I still go back there, but I'd only play like maybe a spring or
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maybe a fall because I was playing three or two other
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sports at the time, football and hockey.
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So I'd play maybe one season of Club Bowl and that's kind of
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where you get seen a lot, which I kind of got seen.
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Then I went to the PBR stuff, the perfect game stuff, a little
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bit one every year, and I got asked to join like one of the
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tournament teams and stuff like that.
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So that was kind of where I got my first exposure from the zoo
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and they invited me down for like a prospect camp.
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But I wasn't really the hardest throwing, hardest throwing guy
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on the team. I was always a good pitcher,
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always I would say the ace of my squads, but I wasn't the hardest
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throwing guy. For the sophomore year.
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I was throwing 8586 and they invited me down prospect camp.
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I get one in the pitch. I throw 8586.
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The pitching coach at that time, Coach Corral asked me last
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pitch. I had a guy 1-2.
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He's like Tony, I want you from the back of the field, He asked.
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I want you to throw this ball as hard as you can.
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Threw at 87 right down the middle.
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They said we'd love to see how you develop stuff like that.
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So I went on through high school.
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I kind of got committed early in the fall of my junior year and
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that was kind of like a relief because COVID hit later that
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year in the spring. So knowing that you were
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committed at that time, I still wasn't the hardest throwing guy.
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By my senior year, I only hit like 88, but I knew there's more
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in there and they knew there's more in there.
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But as COVID hit, I kind of went from being a scholarship guy to
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then like a preferred walk on spot and they're like, we want
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you to come still, but we just don't have the money for you
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because we have guys coming back from COVID.
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So I was like, OK, I figured the best way for me to tell if I
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will play at the next level is to go against the best
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competition. Like if I can't make it on the
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zoo, then I'll have to see something else or I'll have to
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develop. So I decided to go there as a
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preferred walk on and my goal in the fall, which I would highly
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suggest to any high school players listening, is my goal
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was to throw in midweek's, maybe be a midweek starter.
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And that eventually led to being focused on what I could do,
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throwing strikes, making my pitches better in that
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development. And that kind of led to me
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having a really good fall and being one of the arms that they
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looked at to be in high, high leverage situation and
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eventually layer down the road as conference play got started.
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Started Saturdays for Mizzou in my freshman year.
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And that was kind of big thing was staying focused on what I
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could do at that point. Not being a guy that threw 95 or
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93 really only got up to 92 was the hardest I threw while I was
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saying like 8889. It is kind of an interesting
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topic to discuss that you feel setting very achievable goals in
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a sense is what enabled you to kind of develop and set your set
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your mind free, really stay within yourself is probably the
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best way to phrase it. And of course, everyone wants to
15:16
set goals that are achievable, But then we go back to our
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business one O ones or learning about SMART objectives and
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things like that. Hey, I'm going to put myself in
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the spot here to see if I can remember the SMART measurable is
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the MA is achievable, R is, I think no, it wouldn't be
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realistic. T is time.
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So like within a time frame, whatever I got, the fact that I
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went three for five, I'm OK with I'll probably look at this later
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and see how I do. I, I need to cement that in my
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brain at some point. But rather than most kids who go
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to college and they want to be the man or they want to either
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be the closer the second they step foot on campus, or they
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want to be the Friday or Saturday guy the second they
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step foot on campus. Well, let's face it, especially
16:05
with you showing up to school when you did so the fall of
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2020, going into the 2021 season, you're also competing
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against a bunch of fifth years who have been in college for an
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extremely long time. Those guys know college baseball
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like the back of their hand. And you're still a child, you're
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still developing. You're going to have a much
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better time gunning for that midweek spot, which to others
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might be a little less desirable, but it's a great way
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for you to get exposure, get comfortable in the college game.
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And something that I also think is unique about college baseball
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is often times the guys that do best in the mid weeks are the
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guys that throw 86 to 89 mph and throw strike after strike after
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strike instead of your dude that might throw 93 to 94 but also
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might walk every other batter he faces.
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And it sounds like that gave you a lane to just get accustomed to
17:05
college baseball and then ultimately, like you said, make
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the move to what you eventually wanted to do anyways, which is
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be the dude on the weekends. Yeah, yeah.
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I think that getting comfortable playing at that higher level,
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playing at that higher speed, because it really is the big
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difference is the speed of the game and the different things
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that you have to remember. That's the difference between
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high school ball and college ball.
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That really helps you then get to where you want to be later
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down the road. By the way, S is specific.
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I just remembered I still don't remember the R, but I mean
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that's perfect. Even your goal was so specific
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because you wanted to throw on midweeks.
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In baseball terms, that is such a specific goal, especially in
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the college world to be a midweek starter.
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I bet you could ask however many high school seniors you want,
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and I don't know if any of them would say their goal is to be
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the midweek starter when they show up as a freshman.
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Just having that edge, even knowing what you wanted probably
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puts you in a better place. But I really do think that's a
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testament to the work you put in knowing yourself and as you
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said, kind of committing to the development and what you had in
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front of you. So now let's shift into that
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role that you played as a weekend starter as a freshman.
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And I'm assuming I, I don't know how you guys did that year.
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I know Mizzou baseball kind of hit a little bit of a lull at
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one point and I, I don't remember the exact timeline of
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that, but I assume you had to at least be riding the high a
18:42
little bit knowing the success in the exposure that you got.
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Yeah, that freshman year was it was quite an experience, the 1st
18:53
taste of college ball and being put in some of the situations.
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I remember the first SEC pitch of that year that I saw was
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Friday night versus Vandy and it was put 420 feet.
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Our our pitcher threw 96 sinkers and Enrique Bradfield put him
19:15
420 feet to start the year. And it was like, wow, we are in
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this. Which makes it like even more
19:22
surreal that like I look back to that freshman year and the
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experience that I faced. I faced some pretty good squads
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in that, in that realm and had my go against Tennessee, had my
19:36
go against LSU at that time, which was, you know, Dylan Cruz,
19:41
Drew Gilbert, a lot of the names that are now starting to pop up.
19:45
And it's really crazy to see at this point where they've gone.
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And like I did that as a freshman.
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So like that gives you confidence later down the road
19:54
and everything like that. And it was a decent year.
19:57
It was definitely, there's definitely stuff to work on and
20:00
there's always things to work on.
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I think that's a big thing is like where do you go from having
20:06
a good freshman year to the next year and how do you get better
20:09
from there? So what did that look like for
20:12
you? How did you approach your
20:15
sophomore year? Yeah, my freshman year I kind of
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got fat. I put on 40 lbs.
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So the sophomore summer I went and played a little bit of ball
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in the Appy league. I spent about a month out there
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and then came back to campus and worked on all right.
20:31
What does what does a better looking Tony, how do I gain a
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little bit of length? How do I gain a little bit of
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muscle from that weight that I put on because, you know, mass
20:43
equals gas. And that's what that's what I
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thought. And then we went into sophomore
20:47
year of all right, what what now needs to happen?
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Our pitching coach from freshman year left to work with the
20:55
Orioles chase a dream that he had.
20:57
We brought in a new pitching coach, which had some new
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thoughts, new ideas to bring to the table.
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And that led into working on kind of like a new delivery, new
21:07
slot going into sophomore season.
21:10
Just to create a little bit more, a little bit different.
21:12
Look to the hitters and see what that did with the fastball, with
21:15
the slider, see what kind of movement we could get with the
21:18
change up and everything like that and how that amplified my
21:21
pitches. And he had quite the experience
21:24
with like working on that and the next level.
21:28
So then going into the sophomore season, it felt good.
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I would start out the sophomore season strong with 18 innings in
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span of three weeks. And that eventually got to
21:39
conference play, had a cold little weekend at home against
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Tennessee. And I ended up tearing my UCL in
21:45
that weekend and ended up needing surgery to miss my
21:50
sophomore season. And so that was unfortunate, but
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I, I felt going into that sophomore season, I felt strong.
21:57
It was like confidence was high for sure.
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Kind of knowing that as a freshman, what you did then
22:05
going to their sophomore year, knowing that you're kind of the
22:08
man now. Like some of the some of the
22:11
other guys that were older guys, they left, there's going to be a
22:15
little bit more weight put on your shoulders.
22:16
And I felt pretty comfortable with that weight on there.
22:20
And it was just a bit of a bummer to then have that cut
22:24
short. What role were you throwing in
22:27
your sophomore year and roughly how hard were you throwing at
22:30
that time? My role my sophomore year was a
22:33
little bit of like a span role. I had two starts, I believe,
22:39
maybe one, but I was like the long relief kind of guy that
22:43
would come out when, you know, we might be in a tough situation
22:48
and then go an extra 3-4 innings.
22:52
And that was kind of my role and that was kind of what my
22:55
identity was, was I really liked coming out of the pen because
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there's that jolt of excitement and I felt like I was pretty
23:02
effective out of the pen. Of course, the starter programs
23:07
a little bit nicer on the schedule and everything like
23:09
that, but I was doing about 919091, but I had different kind
23:17
of pitch shapes and everything like that.
23:19
And it was really playing well at that point.
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So that was kind of like the big thing was not only the Velo, but
23:25
how those pitches played together.
23:27
Did the slot drop or what were you guys trying to do?
23:30
What was the big change? Yeah.
23:32
So we changed my arm slot a little bit lower to try to get a
23:35
little bit more of a deceptive slot and then also create a
23:39
little bit more horizontal movement with the pitches.
23:41
And I was able to throw a pretty good slider off that.
23:45
The fastball was playing well off that and my change up like
23:50
was upgraded immensely. And then now shifting gears a
23:54
little bit and discussing the injury that you endured your
23:59
sophomore year, from what you could tell or what you could
24:03
remember, were there any warning signs at all?
24:05
Were you feeling fatigue or discomfort?
24:08
I know you said it was a super cold weekend, so it wasn't
24:12
probably the best environment for you to go out and try to get
24:15
hot and instant and get a bunch of guys out, especially to do
24:19
that against Tennessee. That's a little bit of a rivalry
24:22
for you guys. I know that that's a that's a
24:24
big deal, but was there anything that had you or the staff
24:30
thinking like how we might need to like walk this back a little
24:33
bit or was it really just like in the moment the elbow went?
24:36
Looking back, there might have been a couple signs that
24:39
probably should have been listened to at the moment, but
24:42
being a young guy, you feel like you can, yeah.
24:46
You're tougher than. Anything So there's like a
24:49
little bit of like forearm stiffness in there.
24:51
And I believe that like I might have thrown quite a bit during
24:57
that week trying to get ready for this conference play.
24:59
And so that was probably just a little bit inexperience, but I
25:02
also think that it might have came from like you never really
25:06
know what they come from, right? I never really threw all year
25:11
round before and kind of going in that that year I was kind of
25:16
thrown quite a bit. So I think just maybe having
25:22
that full year of throwing, full year of baseball when I was
25:25
younger, I always took time off to play football or hockey,
25:29
which kind of let the body reset itself in ways.
25:34
But just kind of having that. Maybe there are signs, but
25:39
there's nothing that I can really remember.
25:41
Yeah, yeah. And I know asking you to think
25:44
back to them, that's probably not a time that there was
25:46
significant data tracking that you guys were doing either.
25:49
But even the the things that you were able to mention, I I do
25:52
think are worth kind of highlighting real quick again,
25:56
being the fact that you started throwing year round for the
25:59
first time. You put on a bunch of weight.
26:01
So your body changed a little bit.
26:03
Not not that the weight is inherently bad.
26:06
It sounds like the weight might have been bad, but you were able
26:09
to transform it into something decent.
26:11
But still, you put on a bunch of weight.
26:13
So your body changed. You were also throwing harder on
26:16
average than you ever had before.
26:18
And you're put in a new situation.
26:22
You're throwing out of the bullpen as opposed to being a
26:25
starter with a really distinct schedule.
26:27
And then it also sounds like during the week, you're acute
26:30
workload spiked a little bit, but you made more throws
26:33
possibly at a higher effort in that week, prepping for a really
26:36
big weekend, which ultimately got played in somewhat inclement
26:40
weather. So a lot of things went into the
26:43
mix to ultimately what culminated in an injury.
26:47
So now let's let's discuss that situation a little bit.
26:51
I know offline you said you ended up getting surgery from
26:54
Doctor Paletto with the Cardinals organization, him
26:57
being their team doctor. You got UCL repair.
27:00
So if if you want to talk through what that rehab looked
27:03
like and maybe where your head was at as well.
27:06
Yeah. So Paletto, he was close to us
27:10
such as two hour drive away from Saint Louis.
27:13
We felt like that was the best option and he suggested a
27:17
repair. He of course that's if he went
27:20
in and saw that was good candidate and he did.
27:22
So I got the repair that entails 2 weeks in a soft brace and then
27:29
that's all about working your flexion and extension back out
27:33
and which might be some of the toughest parts of the Tommy John
27:37
recovery. The range of motion beat you up.
27:40
Yeah, yeah. Because some days that elbow did
27:43
not want to move. And those were some days that
27:45
there might have been a little bit more pain than usual because
27:48
you have to kind of force your elbow to move a little bit more
27:51
than it wants to. And then slowly we'd progress
27:54
from flexion to extension to just kind of getting the
27:58
shoulder back into it and doing all the shoulder stuff.
28:02
At the time, I had a really great trainer by the name of
28:06
Kaylee Swain. She's now with Texas A&M.
28:10
I had to shout her out because we spent quite a bit of time
28:13
working on this first recovery. And it was all about getting the
28:18
shoulder ready, getting everything else in your body
28:20
ready so that when the elbow was then ready to go, you were able
28:25
to get back to throwing. And of course, that entails the
28:30
forearm, the bicep, the tricep, everything like that.
28:34
And it's honestly like looking back now, I wish I had some like
28:38
the Flex program to use because using it now, it feels like my
28:44
forearm feels like it's gotten so much stronger throughout all
28:46
of it. But doing that rehab and
28:49
building that back up, it kind of gives you a little bit of
28:52
like a focus on stuff that you may might not have ever been
28:58
focused on before of like shoulder strength and balance
29:03
and everything like that, which kind of the stuff that gets
29:07
pushed away when you're in the middle of a season and
29:09
everything like that. Were there certain aspects of
29:13
the rehab that you kind of felt like, I don't necessarily want
29:20
to say we're a blessing in disguise, but for example, you
29:24
mentioned being able to spend more time on the things that you
29:26
don't normally spend time on, whether it's specific shoulder
29:31
strength, whether it's balance. Did you feel like you were kind
29:34
of able to identify other flaws you might have had and really
29:40
treat this rehabilitation as a development cycle for yourself?
29:45
Absolutely. It was like we were starting all
29:47
over again, learning how to throw.
29:49
Almost all of my throwing progression was videotaped.
29:52
So the light throws that we started with up to the bullpens,
29:56
like I was able to see how my body moved.
29:59
And not only that, but as I was still in that brace in the cast,
30:03
I was able to work on core, hips, everything that kind of is
30:08
secondary to the arm when you think about throwing.
30:11
But it's kind of like a blessing because it force you to take
30:14
time away from what you normally think would need to be strong to
30:19
then strengthen everything else. So where did you feel body wise
30:24
coming out of the surgery? Before we get into maybe hiccups
30:28
that happened a little bit down the road, did you feel for the
30:31
most part like you were in a good spot coming out of this
30:34
rehab? Yeah.
30:36
So that was something that I also watched closely was
30:39
nutrition, everything like that. You're not doing as much
30:42
activity when you're in the rehab cycle, when you're not
30:45
throwing, when you're not practicing every day.
30:47
So I worked closely with our nutritionist to work on body
30:50
composition, stuff like that. And our strength coach was great
30:54
at that time too, of just, I got to do leg day almost every other
30:59
day. And it was, it was just
31:00
something to build, build all the stuff up so that when I was
31:04
ready to play again, I'd be stronger than I ever was before.
31:09
So yeah, I felt pretty good, pretty strong.
31:12
I was pushing PRS on legs and everything like that, so all the
31:17
kind of was a blessing in disguise to kind of focus on
31:21
that stuff as well. And through most of this initial
31:24
rehab, were there any real hiccups or was it a pretty solid
31:29
forward progression? It was, it was a pretty solid
31:33
forward progression. That was something that I was
31:36
warned about early on is like there might be setbacks and
31:39
stuff like that and that that can be, that's normal.
31:43
Like sometimes your arm doesn't feel great and we need to take a
31:47
step back or stay right where we are instead of progressing.
31:50
For this rehab, there wasn't really any step backs or
31:53
anything like that where I was like, I don't know if I can do
31:57
this today. I don't know if like I'm not
32:00
feeling it today or my arm needs a rest.
32:02
We built in some rest weeks and everything like that.
32:06
But for this first one, it really wasn't, wasn't anything
32:11
that we had to deal with too much.
32:13
It's not that it was an easy recovery, but it definitely
32:16
wasn't as hard as some others. I think to the listeners, you
32:22
guys at this point would probably be used to me asking
32:25
about the mental side or what Tony might have been dealing
32:28
with. And part of the reason I haven't
32:30
done that yet is the ultimate set back that he faced, which
32:35
was just a few weeks before the season started.
32:38
So he he mentioned having this UCL repair and then
32:42
unfortunately, although the rehab for the most part was
32:45
pretty smooth in a bullpen or live, was it that you kind of
32:50
felt some pain in the elbow again?
32:52
Yeah, I was alive. I felt that a very similar
32:56
popped to the first one and. Again, like it.
32:59
It seemed like everything was progressing while you guys were
33:02
tracking stuff, had a good idea of where you were at, I assume
33:05
had radar gone on a lot of the stuff you were doing.
33:07
And then, lo and behold, just before the season starts, you
33:12
feel the pop. Yeah, yeah, that was that was a
33:15
tough day for sure. I felt it.
33:18
I didn't believe it. And so it was alive.
33:20
We had, I was 1991 and my fastball is really playing well
33:24
at that. On that day, about 15 pitches
33:29
in, it felt felt something. I didn't believe it.
33:33
I threw another two pitches. I was like, yeah, that's the
33:36
same feeling. And then I ran off and just kind
33:40
of the emotions kind of poured and I went to worst case
33:44
scenario. I was like telling my trainer
33:46
that came over. I was like, it happened again.
33:49
Like something's wrong. And they're like, it might just
33:52
be something some cartilage moving or something like that,
33:57
some from the surgery will go get it checked out.
34:00
I was able to get it checked out, wasn't really sure from the
34:02
first couple examinations. Tried to build back up in the
34:06
throwing again and then wasn't really feeling it at high
34:10
intent. So we went back and got some
34:13
more imaging done in a better position to kind of see the
34:17
stress of the UCL and figured out that the UCL really wasn't
34:22
doing its job per SE of keeping the bones together.
34:27
And so that kind of led to the pain and eventually led to
34:31
another full Tommy John surgery. Right.
34:34
So basically what was happening and I'll just add my little take
34:39
on the situation from what we've discussed.
34:41
Maybe just for context, the ligament was still attached.
34:45
If you just looked at your elbow, everything was normal.
34:49
However, under load, the UCL had significant laxity or
34:54
significant stretching, so as you said, it wasn't doing its
34:58
job keeping the bones together. And then if the muscle tendon
35:02
units aren't stiff enough, they're also not going to
35:05
support the UCL in this process either.
35:08
So you had an elbow that was experiencing significantly more
35:13
joint gapping than it should. And whether it was the pain
35:16
associated with a ligament or the stretching or the bones
35:20
colliding, no matter what, you weren't in a good position and
35:25
your soft tissue was never going to be able to do its job with
35:30
you throwing a baseball 90 plus mph.
35:34
Yeah, correct. That was that was tough to find
35:37
out because I just went through this entire process and was just
35:43
getting ready to start a new year where I felt like a
35:46
Goodyear would put me in where I wanted to be going forward.
35:50
Finding out that I had another 12 months of rehab coming up,
35:55
almost definitely a tough, tough thing to hear.
35:58
This is the time where I'll begin to ask about some of the
36:02
mental stuff. It sounds like in the first one,
36:05
I, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like
36:09
you were in good spirits for the most of it, as long as you
36:12
regain that elbow range of motion.
36:14
Or once you did, it sounds like it was kind of smooth sailing
36:17
for the most part. Not, I don't want to make rehab
36:19
sound like a breeze, but it sounds like you had a really
36:22
good group around you, a lot out of support, and it made it maybe
36:27
just ever so easier to work through the process just with
36:32
the team you had around you and a lot of people kind of in your
36:36
corner. And then the second time, not
36:39
that you didn't have people in your corner, but I'm sure the
36:43
doubt kind of creeps in or the identity crisis of like, well,
36:47
yeah, people make it back from 1:00, but now it just happened
36:50
again. I put in all that work and how
36:51
do I know it's not going to happen again after this?
36:53
Like, what do I do? Where do I go?
36:55
I know the spiral happened to me with my own shoulder injury.
36:58
But I'd love if you could kind of, if you're comfortable, open
37:02
up about that a little bit. Yeah, funny thing about that is
37:06
it really wasn't something where I was like spiraling too much
37:12
because it was the only option for me.
37:14
Baseball was the game I loved, and I knew that I I was going to
37:20
need this surgery again and I was going to do it again.
37:23
And that's the only option. Of course, those first emotions
37:27
of holy cow, I have to do this. What what happens now?
37:32
What do I do? Hit.
37:35
But then as you get the surgery, it starts to become real.
37:40
You're like, all right, the only thing I can do now is do it all
37:43
again. The only thing I can do now is
37:45
keep moving forward. And I've frustrate some people
37:48
in my life because I'm overly positive, and that's just who I
37:52
am. So I really bring a positive
37:54
light to my situation and the situations I'm in.
37:58
That negativity didn't hit much. Of course, there were some spots
38:01
that were like, man, what if I don't get full extension back?
38:06
What if I don't get full flexion back?
38:07
What if I come back throwing 84 that doesn't play here or
38:12
anything like that, But it's really just about moving forward
38:15
in the process. And that's something that I did.
38:18
Of course, watching baseball for two years and when you want to
38:22
be out there is a tough thing to do.
38:24
But it was really a way for me to figure out how I can be the
38:28
most away from baseball as well. How I can like go forth and
38:34
really focus on who I am as a person and gave me a little bit
38:38
of time to do that and then how can I make others around me
38:41
better. That was really something that I
38:43
focused on was how can I be beneficial to this team even
38:46
though I can't throw a baseball. So that was kind of something
38:50
that I focused on throughout the process.
38:52
I had a couple of different couple different books, couple
38:55
different stuff that I read that was like focused on the mindset.
38:58
One of the great ones was Chopwood Carry Water, which is
39:01
just all about doing meticulous tasks as in like rehab every day
39:06
and how the how important it is to do those to the best of your
39:09
ability. And so that's kind of how I went
39:11
through that rehab process the second time.
39:14
This might be a funky question, but other than just being a
39:17
quote UN quote good teammate, what did you do to help others
39:21
get better? There's a couple things that I
39:25
probably did that I shouldn't have done after my second rehab
39:29
I caught alive with my brace still on.
39:33
OK, so that was probably not what I should have done.
39:37
I love I love catching. I always say I'm born to be a
39:41
catcher, force be a left hand pitcher.
39:42
But but I always tried to be there, whether that's picking
39:46
guys up or feeding a machine or anything like that.
39:50
I was basically trying to do trying to be a player.
39:54
But at the same time I also felt like I had a little bit of like
39:57
a manager role. So that was like, what can I do
40:00
to set this thing up for guys to be best prepared?
40:03
And that's kind of what I did is the small stuff that takes time
40:07
out of everyone else's day that I could do with one arm, one
40:11
hand, so. I I just wanted to ask because
40:14
people always talk about like helping out the teammates and
40:16
being there and yeah, it, you can pick up trash in the dugout,
40:20
but I wanted to know if there is anything more.
40:22
So I appreciate you sharing that, but did you feel in the
40:26
second rehab you did anything differently?
40:30
Did you and the team you had with you look at the process and
40:34
be like for whatever reason this first time around it failed?
40:37
So we are going to do X or we are going to do Y or Z.
40:41
Just kind of look at the whole script that you guys had from
40:45
the first time around and make any changes.
40:48
Yeah, they say that it becomes easier the more you do it.
40:52
So having that experience of going through one rehab process
40:56
kind of makes it a little easier to not only like, change stuff,
41:01
but to know what your body does, like the little soreness, the
41:05
little bit here or there. To know that that's normal
41:08
because you'll feel the same type of like, oh, my elbow
41:11
really doesn't want to move today.
41:13
What can I do now? The first time you're like, oh
41:16
boy, my elbow's stuck taking time back in rehab.
41:19
You're like, all right, I know what happens here.
41:22
I just got to move it a little bit, get a little loose.
41:25
But I wouldn't say we changed too much.
41:27
I don't think that necessarily the first, what happened after
41:32
the first one was necessarily because of rehab or anything
41:35
that we did. There's a little bit of
41:36
difference in plans just provided to us.
41:39
And the second one, throwing wise, was a little bit different
41:42
on how we approach that. But I wouldn't say there's
41:45
outright too much changes. It was all about gaining back
41:49
your strength, gain back your mobility, and just going through
41:53
the entire process like that. Were there any setbacks this
41:57
time around or was it also relatively?
42:00
Straightforward I would say there wasn't huge setbacks, but
42:03
there's definitely more times where we're like all right, we
42:06
have to kind of stay at this level or maybe back down a level
42:10
throwing wise or exercise wise to kind of make sure that like
42:17
I'm able to rest up recover, get back through it, but then
42:22
progressed later from that. So that's kind of the biggest
42:27
setbacks. There's a little bit more of a
42:31
problem catch play wise this time I kind of forgot how to
42:36
throw a ball within 60 feet after after 60 feet I was good
42:41
to go. But those first couple throws,
42:43
you think about it too much, your hand kind of doesn't feel
42:46
real. And it's about learning how to
42:47
get through that. And that was a little challenge
42:49
that we we came across. And the solution was to just
42:53
kind of make the throw harder. So I played quick catch for the
42:58
1st 15 throws that I did. And then when I got loose with
43:02
that, it felt perfectly normal. So.
43:04
Just had to take the thinking out of it, huh?
43:06
Yeah, yeah, you really do that sometimes throughout this entire
43:10
process when you're thinking about mechanics and how your arm
43:13
works and stuff like that. You just got to stop thinking
43:15
and throw. Did you make any mechanical
43:18
adjustments during either of the rehabs?
43:21
There was slight adjustments. I kind of found a happy medium
43:25
of where my slot had been arm wise that gave me the best
43:30
product on fastball and stuff like that and I was able spin
43:34
out of there. The big thing was like kind of
43:36
hips, how your hips move are so important to pitching and your
43:40
health and stuff like that is making those adjustments in your
43:45
hips and legs and how your front leg is used.
43:49
Cuz I had a pretty weak front leg block my freshman year,
43:52
sophomore year to then kind of work on that as you go through
43:56
that bullpen session. So those were slight
44:00
adjustments, but I won't say there's too many large things
44:03
that we changed. And as games begun now in this
44:08
2025 season, where was your head at?
44:12
And I guess how far off were you from making that debut?
44:18
Because. You, you picked up what, like
44:20
midway through maybe towards the end of the 2025 season, correct?
44:25
Yeah, I picked up in April, which was about 12 months after
44:29
surgery and that was, I was not back to the pitcher that I had
44:34
shown to be, but I was the pitcher that could, I could
44:39
compete. I'm.
44:39
So that's what I did. I went out there and competed
44:42
without my best stuff necessarily, and that led to
44:45
some poor results that even that might be the harder part coming
44:50
back from a rehab is getting back to a spot where you're in
44:55
control of yourself, you have confidence in what you're doing.
44:58
And it wasn't the easiest time coming back because there was
45:03
some games that had no idea where my fastball was going.
45:06
And so I was kind of getting round or walks or stuff like
45:10
that and that led to a score sheet that wasn't the best.
45:14
But you can't really let that get in your mind going forward.
45:18
I'm sure that was a little bit of a funky situation for you.
45:21
Where in your preparation, you know you're not yet the same
45:26
pitcher you once were, but you're also extremely tired of
45:31
standing on a rail watching baseball for game after game,
45:35
year after year. That you said screw it, I'm good
45:39
enough, I'm strong enough, I know I can get out there and go.
45:42
So what was like that? I don't know pros and cons list
45:46
or that that decision that you had to make knowing that you
45:51
weren't your best self, but you just needed to scratch that
45:55
competitive itch. Like how?
45:57
How'd you work through that? Yeah, and there was the talk
46:00
with my coaches and stuff like that.
46:01
My trainer of well, I don't know if we should rush back, which
46:07
rush is a interesting word to use there.
46:09
I don't know if we should come back yet because you you might
46:13
not have your best stuff, you might not have what you had
46:16
before. And I was in the spot where it
46:18
was like, well, do I sit out, throw like live ABS against our
46:24
guys? I was still doing high pressure
46:25
stuff, still facing hitters, stuff like that and do it in
46:29
practice. Or do I try to be out there for
46:33
my team, try to be out there selfishly for me a little bit
46:38
and compete in game? And ultimately it came to the
46:41
decision like the worst thing that might happen was poor
46:45
statue because the difference was live ABS versus in game
46:49
stuff. And the only thing difference
46:51
between that is the in game stuff gets recorded.
46:54
So that's kind of where I was at and I was like, I really don't
47:00
care about the stats. So I want to go out there and
47:03
compete for my team and I want to be out there if not like I
47:08
feel like me coming back kind of gave the team a little bit of
47:11
excitement because they all saw me go through the rehab and
47:15
stuff. They always been been with me
47:17
throughout the entire process. So that gave them a little bit
47:20
of excitement of, all right, Tony's back, this should be fun.
47:26
So yeah, that's kind of where I was at with the decision between
47:29
that whether that's right or wrong decision.
47:32
I think it played out as it should and that experience kind
47:36
of it might have dropped coffins a little bit, but that's always
47:39
something that can be built back up.
47:41
And we saw improvement throughout the weeks was the
47:44
biggest part is it was improvement week after week with
47:48
the more time I spent out there. And I'm assuming improvement was
47:53
not only results, but maybe maybe it was little things like
47:56
walk started to decrease overtime, opponent barrels maybe
48:00
decreased overtime and you probably started to throw a
48:03
little bit harder in the process as well.
48:04
Yeah, stuff like that where you start to get a little bit more
48:08
comfortable. Of course there was still poor,
48:11
poor outing, stuff like that because that's baseball, but you
48:14
got to focus on the stuff that you can control and that was
48:17
stuff that we looked at and it improved and it got to a point
48:21
where it felt really good to be back out there again.
48:25
Were you back up to that 9091 mark when you made the return,
48:29
or did you go back out on the field with Lower Gilo?
48:33
No, I believe the first time I was out I was probably 8688, and
48:36
then every week it would kind of jump up a little bit.
48:39
So that was kind of like I knew that it wasn't the vilo that I
48:43
was throwing, but I knew that with that I could compete.
48:47
Of course, with Vilo also comes the command part, which you kind
48:51
of have to get on the mound and get used to compete in that way
48:55
as well. And the year comes to an end.
48:58
I know it might not have been the best on the stat sheet for
49:03
you or the team as a whole, but you made it through a month of
49:08
playing healthy. How were you feeling physically,
49:12
mentally? But personally, I know results.
49:16
Of course you want to win, you what you want to move on.
49:18
And I know it wasn't necessarily the best year from Mizzou
49:21
Baseball, but how were you feeling finally throwing a month
49:25
of baseball wearing a uniform again?
49:29
Yeah, being back, it definitely was something where I was happy
49:33
to be back. Of course, with how the games
49:36
were and some of the performances that I had, it was
49:39
a little bit of an up and down, but I was happy to be out there,
49:42
like I missed. The funny part is the stuff that
49:44
you miss is the post game feeling sore.
49:48
Post game, you're tired, like you missed the part where you're
49:51
like, I competed, I gave all I could and that's kind of the
49:56
stuff that I missed. And it felt good to have that
49:58
back and then to move forward and know that there's a next
50:03
step out there and know that there's a progression to keep
50:07
going forward and to see the progress as you're building up.
50:12
So mentally, I was excited to see what what could keep going
50:16
from this and where I gone. But it was a tough decision
50:21
ultimately to then leave Mizzou at that point.
50:24
But it wasn't anything against anyone there.
50:27
I I loved my four years there, but it was something where I
50:30
needed a fresh new start and that's kind of what ultimate led
50:34
to the change I made coming to IU.
50:39
And ultimately making the decision to go to IU, what was
50:43
it that set IU apart? Because let's face it, there's a
50:47
lot of schools that have labs, there's a lot of schools that,
50:49
quote UN quote, do development. But what did you think was so
50:53
special about Bloomington? The most special thing was their
50:59
investment into me and the relationships that they were
51:02
able to provide early on. I mean, I felt like Coach Glant,
51:07
Coach Sagerman, Coach Mercer, they felt invested into my
51:13
development from where I was at in summer ball because that's
51:17
where I was getting. That's where my portal action
51:20
happened, was I was out playing summer ball, getting comfortable
51:23
back on that mound even more. What league were you in?
51:27
Happy league again, guys on Burlington shout out sock
51:30
puppets. So I was out there and they
51:33
would they would make those connections.
51:36
They would be hitting my line up every couple of days.
51:39
They went through the process of showing me what what's going to
51:43
happen this fall to then develop me as a pitcher and what they
51:48
were looking at, what they liked and the confidence they had in
51:51
me of what they saw not only from that past year of who I
51:56
wasn't that person, but who I am as like my actual person is what
52:01
really made the difference. And I could tell that they were
52:04
genuine and cared about my development as much as I did.
52:08
Well now let's flash forward to you finally feeling good.
52:12
Knock on wood. My my desk here is wood, so I
52:15
don't worry, I got you. But finally, I assume finally
52:19
feeling like yourself again, getting to take the ball and
52:22
wear Crimson and cream. I believe if I get my colors
52:26
correct, I need to make sure I do that because I did say red
52:29
and white on a previous podcast and I know that's that's just
52:32
not proper branding. Never daunted Crimson and creams
52:37
again. I I know all my questions are
52:39
how's it feel? But this time you're probably
52:42
after having a good summer signing with IU, going through a
52:47
fall of development and probably having the confidence from a
52:52
staff that really believes in you and knows what you can
52:56
become. Probably started to have a
52:58
little bit more self belief. And then you're handed the ball
53:01
to go on Fridays. And so far going on Fridays has
53:06
required you to pitch against LSU and UNC.
53:09
So I assume you're probably in a pretty good spot, even if the
53:13
results, I know you guys would like to win a few more games to
53:17
start the year, but you guys have certainly been challenged.
53:20
So yeah, I, I'm kind of stumbling through the end of
53:23
this question, but I, I'd love for you to share now a little
53:28
bit how it feels to just finally be Tony New back on the mound
53:33
again. Yeah, that's the part of
53:36
baseball that I love, is the challenge.
53:37
Giving the ball for the first game is a feeling that not a ton
53:43
of people get in their careers and I was blessed to be able to
53:47
get that this year. That IU and that confidence that
53:51
your coaches have on you to set the tone for ultimately every
53:55
pitcher to look at you and say we're going off this guy is
53:59
huge. That confidence they have in me,
54:01
I see it every day and that builds my confidence even more.
54:04
But they they understood that I like the challenge.
54:07
They understood that I was able to kind.
54:11
I feel like my composure, like we talked about at the beginning
54:14
of this episode has kind of been, I stayed pretty composed
54:18
on the mound, no matter if it's almost or crowds or anything
54:21
like that. But that's really what they
54:23
looked at is this is who Tony Nubek is.
54:26
And that's kind of stuff that I pride myself is the small things
54:29
of baseball and then just executing pitches.
54:32
That's the biggest thing they ask of us here is execution,
54:35
commitment to that pitch and just kind of throwing it with a
54:39
little spice on it like me, make them prove that they're going to
54:44
be a top ten team this year. So that's kind of where I stood
54:49
going into it and having that confidence go out there and be
54:52
like, this is what I have. Especially with some stuff that
54:55
I've never thrown against a team before.
54:58
I added a cutter in the offseason and not knowing how
55:01
that would perform, but throwing it in situations where your path
55:07
to get the out is something that it's exciting and it worked
55:10
well. It has been a big pitch for me
55:12
this year already, so that's kind of like an exciting part of
55:16
starting the year and seeing how all the stuff you worked on in
55:19
the fall comes together. What is the Arsenal now at this
55:24
point and did you guys make any mechanical tweaks along with it?
55:28
Yeah, I came in with fastball, slider, curve and a change up
55:34
that didn't really do a whole lot.
55:36
And that was one of the things that they talked about when
55:39
recruiting me out the portal is we want to add a cutter, and we
55:42
think a cutter would add greatly to your portfolio.
55:46
So we added a cutter. I didn't really tweak anything
55:49
mechanically. Coach Glant gave me a grip that
55:52
he's seen work before with some of the guys that he worked with
55:56
in the Yankees. He's like find a way to make
55:58
this feel comfortable and I kind of focused on that in the fall
56:03
along with my other pitches. So I throw a forcing fastball, a
56:07
little bit of cut on it. I'm a natural supinator, I
56:12
believe it is. I throw everything with a little
56:14
bit of cut to it, so fastball cutter, and I throw a little bit
56:18
of like a gyro slider that kind of mixes in with a curveball and
56:22
then I have a more loopy 12/6 curveball.
56:25
We continue to work on new pitches as the week's go on, so
56:28
there might be something else coming along here.
56:32
Uh oh. But we're not going to spoil it.
56:34
No, no, I I don't want to talk too much about it right now.
56:37
All right, but just know that something is in the works is
56:42
what you're saying. Might have something that finds
56:45
its way to the other side of the.
56:47
That's what I was going to say. Maybe something a little arm
56:49
side? Yeah.
56:50
So all right, well, we'll have to keep our eyes on the true
56:54
media or the Trackman plots or whatever is available in the
56:57
college setting. Hopefully the IU analytics team
57:01
can post something on Twitter. Give us a break when, whenever
57:04
this pitch debuts. But Tony, I, I really appreciate
57:09
you going through the story and kind of bringing us to the
57:11
current moment. And I guess let's go from the
57:14
current moment. And before I do let you go, talk
57:17
a little bit about the future. What's on the horizon?
57:20
I'm not going to make you look too far, too far ahead from this
57:23
exact moment, but you guys have obviously been battle tested
57:26
early on. What's the outlook for Big 10
57:28
play and kind of where's the team at?
57:31
I, I assume you guys, of course, want to win some more games that
57:35
you would have loved to have a better record going into a Big
57:39
10 play coming up here in a couple weeks.
57:41
But you guys have been tested by some of the best teams in the
57:45
country and you've shown that you guys can play with the best
57:49
teams in the country. And let's face it, you've only
57:50
been outside legitimately for like 12 days at this point.
57:55
So there, there's still a lot to be worked out.
57:58
And I, I know you guys are an extremely talented ballclub.
58:01
So I assume the, the sights are still set on a Big 10
58:04
championship and maybe making a run in the postseason.
58:07
But what can you share from inside the locker room?
58:11
Absolutely. I mean, we recognize that
58:14
there's the talent in the locker room.
58:15
We recognize that the games went the way they did, but they could
58:19
have had much different outcomes on our behalf.
58:21
And we realize that there's some controllable things that we can
58:25
do to then give ourselves the best chance of winning those
58:29
ones. And we have our eyes set on the
58:32
next game. But of course we have the
58:34
mentality of we're going to go into each game and win every
58:37
single one. So that's kind of where we're at
58:39
at this point. And we are able to look at what
58:42
we've done in the past couple of weeks and move forward from it
58:46
with the lessons learned and kind of digest that to then go
58:51
into the next weeks ready to go understanding what needs to be
58:55
done on my part. Just getting in that zone more
58:58
just getting like attacking, attacking, attacking is how we
59:02
how we always love to be on the mound.
59:04
So that's kind of where we're looking and we have some Big 10
59:07
games that are going to be challenges, but we'll we'll go
59:11
into each game expecting to come out with the W.
59:14
Awesome. Well, Tony, I think that does it
59:16
for me at this point. We've certainly been thorough
59:20
and we've covered a lot. Well, I say that does it for me.
59:23
There's one last piece that we didn't cover and that is that
59:26
you were a hockey state champion.
59:28
I know I told you we were going to discuss that quickly.
59:31
I I was really hoping when you told me you're a hockey state
59:34
champion that we were going to find out.
59:35
You're also on the Minnesota All Hair team.
59:38
I'm a little disappointed that you were not.
59:41
And I don't know, we we might need to recreate this and find a
59:44
way for you to get on like some Big 10 all hair team or do
59:48
something unique going. Forward, yeah, that hockey was
59:52
definitely a big part of growing up and winning that state
59:55
championship. Kind of the most intimidating
59:58
part of my life at that point in probably a big crowd like that
1:00:02
For probably the biggest part of your high school experience.
1:00:04
I did win one in baseball, but that's not even close to.
1:00:08
We didn't even talk about you winning a high school baseball
1:00:11
state championship. Yeah, Yeah, That happened in my
1:00:13
senior year. I forgot you literally.
1:00:16
Went out on top. Yeah, yeah, that was pretty cool
1:00:20
to play at Target Field, but playing at the X for now, Grand
1:00:24
Casino Arena for the where the Wild play that that thing gets
1:00:27
packed and it's it's a high pressure situation and I think
1:00:31
that's where I kind of get comfortable in the moment.
1:00:34
Help me in my college career for sure.
1:00:36
That was the formative moment of when Tony knew Back became a
1:00:40
man. Yeah, yeah, it was quite the
1:00:44
experience. I spent a little bit too much
1:00:46
time in the penalty box, but it was definitely a fun experience
1:00:50
for sure. Do you think baseball would
1:00:52
benefit from having a penalty box?
1:00:55
Oh, that's a great question. I don't know how much it might.
1:01:00
It might like you take away. You take away a fielder for an
1:01:04
inning, like if he gets a little too chippy, you get thrown in
1:01:07
the penalty box. You take away the fielder for
1:01:09
that inning. That could be a big inning,
1:01:11
that. 'D be a really interesting move
1:01:13
or a batter or something like that.
1:01:15
Yeah, I don't know, maybe, maybe we'll have to play around with
1:01:18
it, see if your dad can get that implemented, if he still has
1:01:20
some pole in in some various leagues.
1:01:23
Yeah, I don't know. That would be that would be some
1:01:25
interesting stuff if they added a penalty box.
1:01:28
Hey, we're on to something here. But Tony, thanks so much for
1:01:32
joining us today. I really appreciate you sharing
1:01:34
the story definitely covered a ton.
1:01:36
And I, I know I know what you offered today has to have helped
1:01:41
someone listening in. And I'm just honored to be able
1:01:46
to work with you now and work with the Hoosiers program.
1:01:50
And I'm super glad that baseball brought us together.
1:01:53
So thanks a ton man. Yeah, thanks for having me on.
1:01:56
I can't thank Flexpro Grip enough for the way they've
1:02:00
helped me with this season. So, yeah, thank you very much.
1:02:05
Of course, man, and to all the listeners out there, thanks for
1:02:08
laying back with us.