Why is Caitlin Clark’s trash talking different than Angel Reese? It’s really not this difficult. Clark’s was usually in the heat of competition and part of the natural flow of the game. They were subtle, if you blinked you missed it. Reese was end of game, game well in hand by double digits and followed Clark around the court for 20-30 seconds. It was way over the top - it was way too much of a “me” moment and trying way too hard and not in the natural flow of competing. This is no different from MLB. A glance at a player you strikeout. A brief sword gesture walking off the field. A bat flip while jogging to 1B. It gets different when you’re up 8 runs in the 9th, strike a guy out and follow him back to his dugout to sword him. Or a monster bat flip and a pose at home plate up 6 runs in the 9th. Reggie Miller’s choke signal to the Knicks was cold/awesome in the heat of the moment. Joe Burrow put a ring on it was walking back to his sideline. There is a style to talking ish. And Angel Reese was a cheese ball and blew it. Drop a 3 ball on Clark to get the go ahead basket and drop it back on her. Swat her shot into the 3rd row and wag your finger. Don’t follow her around the court for 20 seconds.

Been around baseball enough to know that when a pitcher enters the game that looks like this and he’s left handed - it’s curtains.

This coach is a star. A guy you can love or hate. He will help grow college baseball.

If you’re a baseball player - THIS. This is an attainable goal. Not everyone can make the big leagues. But this is special. It’s Power 5 Division 1 baseball in the SEC. Game 1 LSU @ South Carolina Showdown. And Ethan Petry’s 2nd bomb of the night. First one off a 100mph fastball. It’s big boy baseball and a once in a lifetime experience for those that want it and work for it.

Baseball kinda starts to suck around age 13-14. It goes from this ultimate father/son sport. Where dads can coach their sons. Local friends. Car pools and sleep overs. And then it starts to get really serious. Dads get vilified and eliminated from the sport. Rankings and college commitments and showcases creep in. Accolades and who’s better. And a new type of player starts to thrive: players that love the grind and fall in love with the process of being good. The kids that played for Big League Chew and wanted to know if the hotel had a pool start to get eliminated. The kids that want to put work in start to get better. And then later in high school, a new type of player thrives and moves on to the next level: players with tools, strength and something to offer that can impact the game when everyone is also a decently hard worker and can play. Simply making contact, and being able to make the routine plays and throw it across isn’t good enough anymore. Players need to have 1 standout tool usually to keep playing. (Arm, speed, hit, power, defend). Parents usually miss the key word “stand out”. I love going to practice with my 8yo and know I will miss this some day. S/O to all the parents going through the HS years and missing the younger years. If you have any advice to offer - hit me up.

Follow me here on this phenomenon: My son plays 8U. His 8U coach wants to teach the kids bunting. A current big leaguer that is also a dad coach says “Are we seriously going to be bunting in 8U baseball? Let the kids hit.” I tend to agree. Good point. Fast forward and many HS coaches say things like “Our kids ain’t bunting. And they should already have been taught that.” I tend to agree. Good point. But then who the eff is teaching the kid to bunt if everyone assumes someone else is doing it? Is there a magical age of like 11-12 where the Fairy Bunt Mother teaches every kid to bunt? Teach them as early as possible is my new take. And stop eliminating bunting from the game.

The average height and weight of the teams in Omaha is 6’2/205. This is generally pulled down by freshmen on the bench or an outlier pitcher. The teams that are winning have very few, if any, players in their starting lineup under 200 pounds. The teams going 0-2 or 1-2 at the CWS have several players under 200 pounds. There are a couple outlier infielders that are 5’10/185 or so. FSU’s smallest starter is 6’1/188. But 195-200 is generally the cutoff weight at any of the 8 defensive positions. Any player under those weights is not in the starting lineup. The amount of 6’2/220, 6’3/230, 6’4/240, 6’5/250 players is staggering - up and down the lineup of the SEC schools. Here’s a sample: Florida Jac Cag 6’5 / 250 Catchers Brody Donay 6’5 / 235 Luke Heyman 6’4 / 220 Tennessee Christian Moore that hit for the cycle 6’1/215. Blake Burke 6’3/235 Billy Amick INF 6’1/217 Kavares Tears 6’0/200 One of the “lightest” players I’ve found is FSUs INF Alex Lodise at 6’1/188. A few Kentucky and North Carolina infielders were a little smaller. More FSU position player starters: Drew Faurot INF 6’3/202. Jaime Ferrer OF 6’1/220 Max Williams 6’2/198 James Tibbs 6’0/204 Cam Smith 6’3/230 Daniel Cantu 6’3/219 Marco Dinges 6’0/194 Texas AM Braden Montgomery 6’2/220 Gavin Grahovac 6’2/220 Jace LaViolette 6’6/230 Jackson Appel 6’0/200 Hayden Schott 6’2/220 Ted Burton 6’3/200 Bonus SEC South Carolina Ethan Petry (SC) 6’4 / 235 Gavin Casas (SC) 6’4/230 Cole Messina (SC) 6’0/230 Blake Jackson (SC) 6’0/195 Kennedy Jones (SC) 6’1/220

Just a horrific ruling for the NCAA that they will fight to the end. And they better win so this doesn’t become the law of the land. Any HS player worth their salt can go Juco for 2 years and stay draft eligible. If Jucos develop, these kids will get popped after 1-2 years and never step foot on a D1 campus. D1 will be filled with bad body, avg talent transfers that are too old. The studs with project ability will be littered in Junior College. And why would a player want to go to D1 if they have draft interest? D1 baseball is a mess. Colleges building rosters full of grad transfers. Cut throat transfer portal activity. 24-25 year olds running around. I’d rather sign and go develop.

Serious athletes need to meal prep. This is 6 meals I made tonight, $75 of groceries. All whole/natural foods. Most kids drop $15/meal at Chipotle and ingest rice bran oil, sour cream and cheese 4x a week. If you want to be the best, you look for every edge.

We have faced more than our share of 92+, 94+ and 96+ arms this calendar year. But the 3 best pitchers we have faced to date: 1. A Juco RHP that changes arm angles every pitch from submarine to 3/4 and sidearm and throws nothing straight topping at 89 with frisbees. 2. A HS freshman LHP at 6’6+ topping at 87 with a change up that the bottom falls out of. 3. A low 3/4 RHP that lives 86-89 whose delivery was deceptive long arms and legs and fastball sinks and runs a foot+. All 3 were strike throwing dawgs on top of it. It’s a simple game.

Hitters hit. Slow pitching. Fast pitching. High school. College. Varsity. Academy. Summer. Spring. Wood. Metal. Day. Night. Turf. Grass. Indoors. Outdoors. Tournaments. Preseason. Post season. Regular season. Sunny. Cloudy. Machine. Human. Iron Mike. Hack attack. There’s rarely ever any excuses. No scape goats. Good hitters are always evident. Productive. Present. From 8 years old. To 38 years old. Hitters hit.

I didn’t judge Angel. Didn’t call her classless. Or anything like that. I’m judging the moment. The moment was cheesy. There is an art to ish talking and she failed it with flying colors. She gets 0 style points. Don’t care what was said during the game. Eat opportunity to dish it back is during a big play in the heat of the moment. If that moment didn’t present itself, then you didn’t do enough to deserve to talk crap. If you still are desperate to do it, drop it for a quick second on that inbound pass when you make eye contact. Don’t follow the player around the court, 100% I’m judging this crap talking like a slam dunk contest judge and she got a 0 🫠

The most underrated resource in baseball is dads (or moms or guardians). They get vilified to no end with things like “daddy ball” - but nobody knows their sons baseball career better than the dad / parents. Many times the dad was his little league coach. They’ve watched almost every game growing up. They know what makes the player tick. They know what makes the player struggle (lefties, curveballs, slow pitching, he always flares foul balls over the 1B dugout) Dads can be an invaluable accelerant of information to get a complete picture earlier of the player. Does the average dad know player development, the solutions, or the causes? Not necessarily. But the information can be very valuable and accelerate the understanding of the player if you give them a chance to have a voice early in the process. Or you could big league the crap out of them. Tell them to go stand in their corner. And find out 6 months later something that the dad could have tipped you off on on day 1. Data is data isn’t it?

I’m more pro Juco than ever. Full schollys. Decrease the outrageous cost of college education by ~50%. Play right away. Stay draft eligible every year. There should be a line out the door for Juco BB w/ current state of D1. Cons: Aunt Becky may scratch you from her wine tastings.

“I’m just gonna go to Juco.” As a position player, the strategy has to be to play more games and face better competition. Get stronger, more explosive, and more powerful. There is no place for the weak in college baseball. We play Jucos all the time, and half the time the lineup is full of D1 kickbacks, and we get destroyed. The idea that kids can just waltz into a good Juco and start without being dawgs is misguided—at least in FL, TX, AZ, etc. You better be a dude who had some D1 interest. You better be physically ready to play because Juco will eat you up to. Juco has its share of 21 year olds running around too. The solution is to become a better player in high school and not wait for college. Become more explosive in high school. Face better competition in high school.

One of the greatest ish talking gestures of all time was Dikembe Mutumbo finger wag in your face after blocking your shot. If you want to retaliate that, you need to block his shot and throw it back on him. If Larry Bird followed Mutumbo around the court for 20 seconds of an inbound pass and tapped him on the shoulder and wagged his finger in his face - Bird would have been a cheeseball. Angel gets 0 style points. Doesn’t make her classless.

Tony was asked about the length of games. And it took him 50 seconds unsolicited to pivot to talk about the size of the players in “Power 2” D1 college baseball. Straight of the horses mouth.

If I’m 14/15 yo and several Power 5 schools + my dream school ask me to visit and offer me. And I’ve researched the schools, visited, spent time w/ the coaches consulted w/ my family, mentors & coaches. I’m committing. And baseball Twitter can kick rocks 😈

Guys going off to college: teams can be split into factions. The party group that does just enough baseball may embrace you first and make you feel at home. Love all your teammates. But don’t get lost in that group. Keep asking the grinders if you can work in with them.

If I was a D1 coach, and I was recruiting HS kids, I would have their strength coach on speed dial. If that kid isn’t in the weight room constantly, generally speaking, I would be ready to move on. Minimizes his chance to compete while he skips the gym because he’s basking in his .485 public school batting average. Committed HS kids need to hear the cold, hard truth before it’s too late.

High school kids are traveling every summer for exposure but colleges are showing up less and less. Where are they? Summer collegiate leagues. Scouting guys in the portal. The entire high school “exposure” model is out-dated and broken. Yet business continues on as usual as if high school summer baseball is the ultimate exposure model. The entire process for how a high school player moves into college baseball and has a chance to compete at various levels is not the same. Yet people are still going through the motions of yesteryear and will be tomorrows portal guys. If only there was a way 🤔

One coach leaves, and the butterfly effect begins. Texas A&M needs to hire a new coach. Some players will enter the transfer portal, and a few will follow Schloss to Texas. The players at Texas? They will see the incoming A&M players at their positions and decide to enter the portal themselves. The new A&M coach will bring some players from his previous school, prompting additional A&M players to jump into the portal. The new A&M coach’s previous school will have their issues. And this game of musical chairs continues, and will leave some players without a seat.

Evaluating catchers: What kids believe constitutes a good catcher: “What’s his pop time, bro? Does he mash?” What actually happens: “Can he really CATCH? Does he receive it deep? Soft hands? Does he make it look easy? Can he handle velo? Is he on balance? Feet aligned? Quiet? Frame? Leader? Handle a staff? Get the borderline calls? Does he play with energy? Does he exude confidence to his defenders that are looking at him every play? Does he have feel for a pitching staff? Can he change the tide of bad innings with his leadership? Can he call his own game? I mean REALLY call his own game? Control the running game? Does he have feel for which stances and setups to use in different scenarios? Toughness? Can he block? DO HIS PITCHERS REQUEST and actually LOVE throwing to him? Does he have a rapport with his staff and know their pitch arsenals? Does his staff have 100% confidence in his energy and blocking ability to bury breaking balls with a man on 3B? Clank borderline calls? Run to the backstop once a game? Get tied up a lot? Good glove action? Does he try to be his pitcher’s pitching coach every time they throw a ball and talk too much? Does he get down in his stance and allow his pitchers to pitch with tempo? Does he have feel for the position?”

Velocity opens doors. Command, secondary and movement keeps you in the room.

Need to take a break from baseball. My 8 year old wanted to do perfect at tryouts today. I said, “Always strive for perfection. But just do your best. There was only one person who ever walked this earth that was perfect.” My son: “Derek Jeter?” 🤦‍♂️

Perhaps the biggest issue that plagues baseball is the emergence of travel teams that meet up at tournaments and do not practice. And for older kids playing in the summer showcase circuit - this is probably fine. But these teams may start as early as the youth years where people field mercenary teams to win tournaments and then linger into high school in the name of exposure. Each coach along the way assumes that the player learned critical things with his previous coach in youth baseball or will learn critical things with his future coach in high school. “I’m not going over that, he should have learned that when he was 10.” Or “I’m not going to mess with that, they will learn that in high school.” Or “We are a showcase team. We aren’t installing bunt defenses or first and thirds. Colleges don’t want to see that.” The passing of the buck of on-field player development leaves a kid in Baseball IQ purgatory. This combined with a new wave where 99% of player development emphasis is on the hitter/pitcher showdown creates an interesting dynamic. These players end up becoming showcase players that don’t know how to contribute to winning teams. The player doesn’t know what they don’t know. So they don’t have knowledge or a voice that they are missing out over the years.

In college, freshmen often gravitate towards the first group that welcomes them. However, they are more likely to be embraced by party groups eager to expand, with players who go out 4-5 days a week. The party groups are usually returning players and they are welcoming, fun and down to earth. However, most elite returning players prioritize training and maintain a tight-knit circle. They limit their group size to optimize practice sessions and to preserve chemistry. Bringing a freshman into their fold might reduce their reps, and some may even feel threatened that they're aiding newcomers in potentially taking their positions. Breaking into the elite training group that puts in extra work can take time and requires earning respect. Freshmen can begin by connecting with other like-minded freshmen and training either before or after the primary group. If you have a chance in this game, find a way, or you’ll always regret it.

College camps on their campus get a bad rap (bc the email invites and marketing that they do always comes across as a money grab). But the fact remains... they are still the #1 way to get in front of that coaching staff, visit that campus and get the best look possible.

Freshman position player starters in Omaha: 8 teams. 7 freshman starters total as position players. 5 of the 7 over 200 pounds. As a super general statement: If I’m committed to a D1 as a position player, my goal would be to graduate 195+ pounds. Florida: -None. Tennessee: -Dean Curley SS. 6’3/212. FSU: -None. Texas A&M: -Gavin Grahovac. Corner guy 3B/LF 6’2/220. -Caden Sorrell OF 6’3/205. Kentucky: -None. VA: -Henry Ford. 1B. 6’5/220. UNC: -Gavin Gallager INF 6’1/185 -Luke Stevenson C 6’1/200 NC State: -Luke Nixon INF 5’10/162. Dad is Trot Nixon former MLB player.

Most players don’t *want* to go into the portal. More often than not, the coaches are saying there’s probably not a spot for them next year. Or the coaches give them every out saying they don’t blame them if they tried their luck in the portal. I think most kids don’t have commitment issues or loyalty issues. I think most kids have “fit” issues on the front end. They are getting misevaluated, bad advice/bad mentorship, impatient D1 or bust mentalities out of HS, unrealistic expectations etc that lead to these outcomes. I also think the entire framework of HS spring baseball + travel ball’s watered down pool play format is all too watered down. So players end up putting up unrealistic numbers (like .485 batting averages) and don’t have a way of finding out if they are actually any good or not. The players did not create the system. They are simply a cog in it. Players need better mentorship and more hard truth tellers to help guide them. They don’t need more social media trolls ridiculing them.

The Baseball Life Cycle in 6 Stages: 1. Youth (5-10) = They should develop a love of the game. 2. Tween (11-14) = They should develop a love of practice. 3. High School = They should develop or have at least one tool. 4. College = They should be highly productive. Bonus: 5. Pro = They should let others enjoy the finished product and become a role model for their family and others. 6. Coach = They should pass these lessons down to their children and community.

Crazy idea but let’s try being happy for kids when they commit to college. Regardless of age. Try to stop with the warnings. The negativity. The jealousy. The expert hot take. Everyone knows it’s verbal and non-binding. Most kids have good coaches and mentors in their corner.

At showcases, catcher's pop times are now akin to slam dunk contests: numerous attempts without consequence. One catcher, consistently accurate with times like 1.95, 1.98, 1.94, and 1.97, ranks 10th on a leaderboard. Meanwhile, another catcher, after four botched transfer attempts, records a 1.81 and secures 2nd place on some graphic viewed by thousands of people. This isn't a true 1.81; four potential stolen bases due to dropped transfers and a significant tag delay on the 5th throw. Pop times should account for accuracy. Off-target throws could add up to 0.5 seconds for tag adjustments, and slightly misplaced throws might add 0.2-0.3 seconds. Multiple Errors like bobbles and drops should be noted with an asterisk on the pop time. In fact, bring a hack attack machine out. Throw 90mph fastballs, two throws with left handed batters in box, two throws with right handed batter in box. Then switch to breaking balls: 2 throws with lefty in the box, 2 throws with a righty in the box. You do that and it will be very apparent which players have a chance to catch and throw with accuracy and I promise you won’t need a stopwatch to differentiate between them.

This generation has so much private instruction that they don’t know how to self adjust without that angel standing over their shoulder. You’re all alone on that mound or in that box and nobody is going to help you. Learn to feel what your body is doing and adjust each pitch.

Let’s talk “makeup”. Why do great prospects “bust” in pro ball? Why do 18th round picks beat the odds and make the big leagues? Many scouts feel “makeup” is the X Factor. Some people call it “the 6th tool”. But what is it? How do you identify it? If I ran a scouting department, each of these characteristics would get grades like their physical tools do. I think having a “note” section for them isn’t enough. I want better breakdown from area scouts on these critical characteristics with evidence why. Let’s look into the key characteristics of makeup:

Maybe the most deceptive thing in amateur baseball is when a college coach blatantly lies about being interested in a player so that they will spend money and attend their camp. It feels like every week, I get an email from a parent asking, “Is this legit?” These emails are incredibly deceptive, leveraging the university’s brand to mislead families into believing their son is wanted, just to extract money from them. These emails often feel personal, as if the coach has been specifically tipped off about the player and really needs to see him. Yet, at the bottom of the email, there’s a Constant Contact or MailChimp logo and an unsubscribe button. Often, the player’s skill level is not remotely suited for that program. This leads to rumors, with families boasting that a big-time school is interested in their son. The fallout is a delusional family, taking a long time to recalibrate their expectations. Just as the player starts to be humbled, another seemingly personal camp invite from a big school reignites false hopes, perpetuating the cycle. College coaches often justify these tactics by arguing that volunteer or grad assistants need to make money from these camps, or that they need to compete with other schools doing the same tactics. At the end of the day, the camps should be sold on their own merits. Here’s the truth that should be communicated: attending the camp of a college you’re genuinely interested in is the best way to gain exposure to that school. Period! There is no better showcase or tournament than that. Camps can and should be marketed on this basis alone.

This sounds dramatic, but war has been declared on high school (HS) kids by college baseball. I'm not talking about the HS players who want to play for their community and with their friends. Nor am I talking about the freaks who will be electric players in college just by staring at a batting cage. I'm talking to the HS players obsessed with the challenge of becoming elite or impactful college players as freshmen or sophomores and who want every edge to navigate this landscape. HS players are getting shafted, and they aren't fighting back with ideas to adapt and overcome. HS kids are following an outdated blueprint—worried about American culture stuff like “senior year” and showing up to a D1 campus with a Dri-FIT from some HS invitation showcase to show how good they were in HS, only to get destroyed in a depth chart battle and into the portal. Portal guys are preferred over HS guys because: 1. They are more physical as a population. 2. They have more experience versus better competition as a population in the form of game ABs and IPs. 3. They are comfortable with the game speeds when there are good athletes all over the field. 4. They have proven numbers against elite or college-level competition. 5. They threw away all of their elite All-American HS shirts already. 💀 Each of these items can have the gap closed and attacked by an HS kid. You either need to be extremely crafty, proactive, and aggressive weekly to piece it together. Or you can join a plug-and-play program like @A3_Trojans, for example, that checks all of those boxes. “But I’m not good at virtual.” Well, you better be. Because that’s yet another area where college players have an edge—almost every D1, minus a few, has their baseball players on 3 out of 5, 4 out of 5, or all classes virtual to give them schedule flexibility. 25 games in HS is not enough. The competition level game in and game out is not good enough. There isn’t enough time in a day to be in a weight room, school, do homework, practice, and get 9 hours of sleep. It’s not good enough to have a half-assed fall development program where the highlight is playing in a big travel tourney or two. The choices: 1.Adapt or die. Push yourself. Make sacrifices. Exhaust every resource. Close the gaps mentioned above. Take a new path. 2.Enjoy time with friends. Stay the course. Roll the dice and hope it works out later. Be extremely resourceful. Either is fine on a player-by-player basis. To each their own.

If you’re a “2 way guy” and your best tool is your ARM - you probably aren’t a 2 way guy. Yes, even if you run a 6.7. Any time your best tool is your ARM, you better be throwing bullpens regularly at the very least. It’s usually only a matter of time.

How important is the 60 yard dash? Well, let’s just put it this way: after high school, you’ll never run it again.

Every time a player tells me they have a doctors appointment, dentist appointment, flat tire, sore this, sore that, PT, vacation, etc I now automatically send them to Google Wally Pipp. Baseball is cut throat. You can’t leave the door cracked open for anyone to take your spot. Ever.

I think, generally speaking, kids should play for a different travel team than their HS affiliation. IMHO, HS coaches that force players to play for their travel team are doing their players a great disservice. A lot of growth can happen when a player changes scenery for a few months, gets away from their coach, takes a mental break, hear’s some different messaging, gets around some different kids and vibes. Even if there isn’t a lot of coaching happening - just a chance for self discovery and self adjustments. Maybe something you were teaching all year finally clicks when they get away from it. Doesn’t make one coach better than the other. Just a little mental break from the same folks can go a long way - no different than a vacation at work. You don’t want to vacation with the same people in your office. But when you get back - you miss them a bit, you appreciate them, you are recharged.

What’s kind of interesting about baseball as a sport - is players peak at different times in their lives. If I’m playing in the 10U All World event - I want the biggest strongest kids at that age. Give me the 5’10/150 pound 10 year old on my team. That are essentially peaking right then. They don’t grow exponentially. But in that moment, that’s who I want. If I want a 15U All World team - I want the guys whose bodies are peaking then. And in most cases, that roster is almost entirely different from the 10U team. The 15U All world team may have 1 big leaguer on it. In a way, a lot of big leaguers are part of a lucky, late bloomer genetics club. Skill is still highly important - moreso than any other sport. Genetics play a role: Many are gangly, thin, etc growing up and get passed over for the 12U kid that is 6’1/190 all the time. A lot of big leaguers bodies are perfectly proportioned at age 27-29. And they make a lot of money in part because of it. This kid on the mound - body is so well proportioned and put together at this age. And I would guess in most cases that it will end of costing a player like this a lot of money in the long run that this type of proportioning didn’t happen to him later in life.

We gotta scrap wood bats at summer tourneys. Especially when combined with MLB complexes. Watched 2 stud travel teams today have OFs playing so shallow - it was barely baseball. Scouts are good at their jobs. Everything is already catered to them. They will figure out who can hit. 99% of the kids are going to college anyway.

1/ The most damaging thing any rankings list can do is discourage an underweight type of kid with real projection that he’s not good enough for the game while over-hyping an early bloomer into thinking he will waltz into the Big Leagues in due time.

Funny double standard I’ve noticed in our culture: If some dad in the U.S. has a stopwatch at a 10U game - he goes viral. If a 12U dad brings out a radar gun one day out of curiosity, he gets roasted. If it’s a guy in the DR doing it on a dirt field (or now I will add a guy in Japan) doing the exact same thing - the narrative is admiration. It’s why those players are dominating, it’s why they are great. They are pushed. Which is it?

It is significantly more difficult today to play big time D1 baseball than it was 15-20 years ago. And even 5-10 years ago. Advances in player development, Covid back logs, the Portal, and the contraction of the MiLB system and Draft - the talent level is exceptional in college baseball.

Players obsessed with pull down velos, Rapsodo pitching PRs, hit trax exit velos and cage bombs are the equivalent of the long drive champions of golf that have no short game and can’t compete with the best golfers.

Many HS players are fixated on the wrong metrics in baseball—OF arm velocities, pop times, 60 times, rankings, etc. This leads to misconceptions about player abilities and what colleges or scouts actually covet. Some players with big tools but average skills may think they have it made, while skilled players with average tools may feel they're failing. Ideally, you have both. The essence of scouting position players is their hitting ability, but this isn't quantified easily. Because of this, players focus on improving measurable, more easily understood showcase metrics, often leading to skewed perceptions of their ability. People question rankings based on these numbers, not understanding that a player with lower metrics that is ranked higher might simply be a better HITTER. But there is no clean, easy metric on a leaderboard that quantifies who can HIT. So players devalue the most important part of baseball: can he hit? Does he have a chance to hit? I personally lean on a couple of easy, traditional stats when seeing if a kid can play: AB:K and XBH/Slugging for hitters K:BB ratio and IP:H allowed for pitchers

I firmly believe all of these showcases and pro workouts are borderline useless. I fully understand the 20-80 scale. I fully understand the 5 tools. I firmly understand how scouting is traditionally done. There is so little to be gained out of this format. Because it all gets overridden by game tools and game performance. It’s supplemental information at best that most kids are conditioned to believe is all that matters. Watching this very talented young man play the position in a game is all that matters over this ridiculous “arm strength” test that isn’t even how he will use his feet in a game,

The fall season at colleges across the U.S. is insane. Grown men transferring in and taking grad years at 23-24 years old. 20+ year olds transferring into Jucos. High school kids in for a rude awakening when they show up. Present Strength and being a dawg are critical right now.

A prospect is no longer a prospect when they reach their ceiling. At some point in your career, the switch flips from PROJECTION to PRODUCTION. You go your entire childhood and teenage years being told how much potential you have. And how projectable you are. And all of the sudden…your 60 time is irrelevant and your stolen base numbers better be good. And your exit velocities are irrelevant and you better put up power numbers. And your arm velocities are irrelevant and you better throw strikes. At some point, people need to stop talking about your potential. And they should just flat out say, “That guy is a good player.”

The portal is kinda like travel baseball minus the weekend guest play.

From my experience: the volume, chirping, and vitriol of opposing dugouts is usually proportional to: 1. The amount of control that the head coach has over his team. (Discipline) 2. The prestige of the opposing pitcher’s college commitment. (Jealousy) 3. The situation of the game. (Emotion)

There is a lot that goes into recruiting. Watching a position player especially. I need to leave my wife and kids and get in my car and stare at pavement for 2-3 hours. Watch the game. I’m the only guy there? Nobody else is on this kid? Nobody else is here to see him play? Nice! I need to see game ABs in person. I need to see opposing pitcher’s velocity. I need to see pitch location. I need to see mannerisms and pitch selection. I need to see if he can defend. A ball isn’t even hit to him this game. I gotta go again. And then I need to go do it again (and sometimes again) because 5-10 ABs aren’t enough. And I make all of that effort. And I found this guy. And I give an offer and believe in him. And the kid turns around and blows me up on social media and alerts the world that he’s getting offers and uses my offer for personal attention and leverage? Brutal.

Some of the best baseball coaches I’ve ever been around rarely tweet, aren’t on Twitter much (lurk around if they are) and don’t care about their following. The most frequent tweeters with the biggest megaphones aren’t necessarily the “most correct.”

The draft cut rounds. MiLB cut teams. Covid trimmed the fat from college baseball. Time for every player and coach to re-calibrate their expectations on D1 this, Juco that. Transfer portal full. People getting cut all over the place. Schools not recruiting as many HS kids.

Gotta love showing up Day 1 of academy and 3 of our position players have elbow pain from their travel coaches abusing them all summer as pitchers and now need to see orthopedics. Got a travel team or two that will never get any of our guys. One kid got thrown 3x same tourney!!!

College baseball is improving in so many ways. The stadiums that have been built are outstanding venues! For years, coaches wanted a 4th paid assistant. The recruiting calendar has been improved - more strategically placed quiet periods keeping coaches home with their families during summer holidays. Colleges don’t have to recruit 14 year olds anymore. The MLB draft doesn’t have 50-60 rounds anymore - so the quality of player in college baseball is much better. The MLB draft is now easier to follow - where the first round is more of a nationally televised spectacle - and the average fan can watch their favorite college player drafted and into the big leagues much more seamlessly and quicker. College stadiums sell beer, have packed houses and create insanely electric environments filled with students and fans. Massive rosters are going to be cut back. And now the biggest one of all: the potential for a school to have 34 full scholarships if they choose to instead of their dreaded 11.7 crap. What a time to be alive and chasing after the dream of playing big time D1 baseball. The bad news? You better be a damn good player. It just got harder again.

Love flipping through these Jupiter videos. I’ll tell you what though: I see some non-physical 2024 and 2025 position players committed to some big time schools that look like twigs hitting singles and probably put it in cruise control and took a victory lap for a year or two and they are in for a rude awakening with a decommitment or similar.

With the #MLBDraft tonight, many high schoolers will face a difficult choice: Go pro or go to college. This decision, a tradition for ~50 years, has pros and cons. Let’s discuss: 🧵

Here’s an issue: We played a game last year where the opposing coach said, “hey man, I notice your guys don’t chirp? Let’s cut them loose. I think it’s more fun for everyone. We will shake hands after.” The other coach is a good dude. I said “ok, let’s see what happens.” So I said to my dugout - “Hey boys, you can fire back. I’m cutting you loose.” First pitch: FB swing and miss. Their pitcher swords our hitter. Their dugout is going nuts. Energy was definitely higher. But now my hitter is pissed. Next pitch, my hitter rips a single up the middle and he starts MF’ing the pitcher while running down the line. The pitcher is walking towards him MF’ing him back. And that was the end of that. This stuff escalates fast and it leads to nastiness. Negativity. Vitriol. Lack of focus. Kids don’t always have the best ideas. It’s our job as the adults in the room to educate and help them understand.

Blessed to announce that after being featured on Evoshield Twitter and IG, I am taking my talents to South Beach to start my modeling career effective immediately. Screw all them kids at A3! For any future bookings - hit my agent up. Lights, camera, action baby. 📸 ✌️

After advising about 35-40 kids this summer—including 2025 high school graduates, grad transfers, and portal guys—one observation stands out: it is extremely difficult for a 2025 high school kid to ask a recruiting coordinator a bunch of questions about their roster and potential fit. In today’s college baseball landscape, a year is an eternity when it comes to roster and portal madness. You really have no idea what the roster will look like one year from now.

As everyone trips over themselves today to take credit for kids signing with colleges - even if you played a huge role - always remember it takes a small village of people to make it happen. Let’s honor those countless people as well…

There is one player in baseball history that whenever he was up to bat or on deck, I stopped everything I was doing and watched in awe for about a 3-4 year period: Barry Bonds.

You can’t “metric” your way into being a good baseball player.

Steve Jobs was considered a genius because he and his team took one of the most complicated products ever invented - and made it so universal and easy to understand - that even toddlers intuitively know how to use it out of the box. Many coaches today talk circles above their player’s heads. They just got certified in some course and can’t wait to drop some kind of “concurrent external torsion”, and “thoracic rotation” on some poor unsuspecting kid In order to earn their respect or show how smart they are. New University of Miami head coach JD Arteaga gave me some pitching lessons in HS. His brilliant use of IMAGERY was able to effectively pass his knowledge of throwing a change up to a kid looking for answers. Without his use of imagery, I never step foot at the University of Florida. He told me to hold my change up like I was “holding an egg”. And in that moment, it clicked. My change up became my best pitch in my arsenal and with his use of imagery to communicate, my life trajectory changed. If he told me to reduce the PSI of my phalanges, I wouldn’t be doing this today.

I keep going back to this concept the more I try to help guys with recruiting. Kids are so confused on what constitutes a good player. Kids are confused on what it means to play in college. The “metrics” are like a pre-requisite to generate some initial interest and looks. And you can fool some recruiters by having a few good games when they come to see you and land yourself a commitment. But at the end of the day - you have to be a good baseball player in order to stick around in college. A good baseball player that can produce consistently in college. Because once you get there, your 60 time is rarely ever mentioned again. Your arm velo from your position is never mentioned again. Your exit velo is rarely ever mentioned again. You are either a good player that contributes to winning baseball games - better than the other guys on the roster - or you are not. This status usually comes down to hitting for most positions. You are either a guy that can flat out hit, or you are not. You are a guy that has a clear cut position that you can play at a high level, or you are not. Kids always say things to me like: “one of my biggest goals is to shave 2 tenths off my 60 time this year.” I can’t emphasize enough how misguided this thought process is. Shaving two tenths off of a metric test will have very little to no bearing on how long your career will continue into college baseball or beyond. The goal of every player should be to become a better baseball player. The hardest kids to get committed are the ones where I have to explain a novel of information about the kid in a scouting report: “he’s a 6.8 runner. He’s got bat speed. He’s bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.” The easiest ones to get committed are the ones where I say “this kid is a very good baseball player. If this kid is on your team, you can ride him to a conference championship in the middle of your order.”

Remember when the baseball world was buzzing with opinions about the fairness of 14, 15, and 16-year-olds making college commitments at such a young age? Many argued that deciding where to go to college was too significant for such young people and that it was unfair to place that burden on them. That was easy mode. Now we’re in expert mode. Fast forward 2-3 years, and now 17-20-year-olds are making school decisions based on five- to six-figure NIL financial offers, eventual revenue sharing, potential employment with the athletic department, tuition payments, tax implications, daily portal roster madness, and more. One kind of madness traded for another.

Car insurance is the biggest scam. I get rear ended. Other driver admits fault. His insurance estimator gives 1/3 the actual cost of the repair. My insurance will do similar. So I will come out of pocket. Plus my insurance premium will probably go up. The value of my car goes down because the car has been in an accident. And the parts to my car have depreciated since I bought it new anyway so why am I paying the same monthly premium in the first place? State Farm sucks. Anyone have a better insurance company?

A private instructor or coach that does not ever attend his player’s games in person is missing a GIANT piece of the puzzle and, in my humble opinion, can not effectively develop players. Especially for hitting / position player development.

Twitter remains the best showcase money can buy. So many legit, real offers and exposure come from Twitter. (Far surpassing how many schools or what logos are sitting in the stands.) Twitter is efficient. Direct. Requires no recruiting budget. And is served direct to coaches

POs shouldn’t get first choice on jersey numbers over position guys. I don’t care how much seniority they have. Who wants a PO running around wearing #2? I need some support from the coaching community on this one 😂 POs 30 and up. Maybe 50 and up.

Fort Myers Beach is a special place for travel ball families around the country that have played tournaments in Fort Myers. It will take a massive rebuilding effort. 🙏

The notion that all actions on a baseball field are acceptable as long as "kids are having fun" is a microcosm of a concerning societal trend that equates happiness with moral correctness. This mindset can be seen as a broader societal shift where personal satisfaction is always prioritized over morality and principle. This perspective effectively dilutes the importance of values and convictions. It indirectly suggests that if standing up for something makes you the villain, then it's better to stand for nothing at all. This can lead to a lack of moral grounding and principles. The concept of “it doesn’t concern you. Live and let live” is essentially stripping you of believing in anything. Socially conditioned to never stand for anything. You are just a vessel, here for your time on this earth, with no purpose or sense of right and wrong. “Just shut up and dribble” coming full circle. So yeah, man. Chuck your bat 50 feet in the air. Sheesh, walk around all the bases. Why even jog? Actually, why walk when you can do a different dance routine for each 90 foot segment? As long as you’re not taunting the other team and as long as you’re a child having fun, everyone else is just a boomer in your way, bruh. It never comes back around in baseball lol. Does anyone ever “war game” any of this out and understand where it leads in 5-10 years? Or do we all just live in the moment 24/7 with 3.5 brain cells? I swear we are living in the movie “Idiocracy” sometimes. 🤣🤣🤣

When I was a SR in HS, I didn’t go to my grad night at Disney World w/ my SR class. I was pitching the day after and I didn’t want to be tired. So I made a sacrifice & prioritized something else. Life is a series of these little decisions that end up shaping your life.

Seems like the best teams in Omaha are mostly HS recruits with a handful of transfers sprinkled in. Seems like the best teams in pro ball are grown from the draft with free agents sprinkled in.

Evaluating catchers: What kids think: “What’s his pop time? Does he mash?” What actually happens: “Can he CATCH? Does he receive it deep? Soft hands? Can he handle velo? Is he on balance? Feet aligned? Quiet? Frame? Leader? Handle a staff? Get the borderline calls?”

There are a lot of people out there that don’t understand how good academy ball is - and they are about to get a front row seat. This is not travel ball or summer ball. This is not only the future of high school baseball - it is obviously the present. A3 and PDG are the newcomers to this conference and we probably have 8-10 D1 commits each in our starting lineup, PG All Americans and follows for the draft and no one expects us to finish near the top. That’s how good the NAA is. In regular varsity baseball, we would be a favorite to win a state title. Perfect Game’s massive social media following and PGTV will bring enormous visibility to the prospects, talent and intensity of this league. To those that follow my account, give the NAA a follow @naaconference and check out PG for future coverage.

Committed players thinking they are set: Don’t want to play anymore. Want to take a bunch of time off. Turn into high maintenance guys. A big part of a college coaches JOB is to bring in better talent than you. Every team wants to upgrade every position on the diamond.

Tremendous competitor

Steve Jobs was considered a genius because he took a complicated product & made it so universal and easy to understand that even toddlers intuitively know how to use it out of the box. If you are a coach and throw around big words to show how smart you are, you’re doing it wrong

We get plenty of emails accusing us of having favorites. Yes! We love kids that “jump off the field” at us bc they play hard, they have good body language, they play at a different speed, the ball sounds different off their bat, they compete! We write those guys up every time.

The slippery slope argument in any conversation is often refuted as a fallacy. But it plays out time and time again. Let’s take taxes: The American Revolution occurred, in part, due to the concept of having taxation without representation. The actual amount of taxes was not burdensome. But there was no income tax of any kind and yet there was still a revolution over the concept of taxes. During the Civil War, the US experimented with income taxes for the first time to raise money for the war effort. It was only supposed to be temporary and it remained so until the first permanent income tax law was established in 1913. In 1913, the first income tax was established because of progressive ideals around the financial inequalities as the result of the Industrial Revolution. The tax only affected about 1% of the population (“tax the rich” is not a new concept). The tax rates ranged from 1% to a whopping 7% of income for the ultra-wealthy. 99% of Americans did not have an income tax of any kind still. It took 3 years of the taste of money for the government to expand the taxes and increase the rates in 1916 in an effort to raise money for WWI. But the average American still wasn’t affected until 1942, when in an effort (once again) to fund WW2, that income taxes hit the average American. The “Victory Act” (😂 you gotta love propaganda and false names to rally public support in law making) withheld taxes from pay checks - which increased compliance and made it easier for the government. Today - it’s not uncommon to people with HALF of their money. HALF. No choice. It’s just gone. The government has proven to be poor at money management. We are up to our eyeballs in debt. And it always uses wars to justify taking more money. Yet there are people that support the increase in income taxes, “tax the rich”, and so on as if these are novel ideas and taxation isn’t already out of control - a stark contrast from just 100 years ago. PS - It's surprising that neither I nor anyone in my circle was taught about the history of income tax in the American education system. Curious as to why that might be…

Unfortunately, players often need to choose b/w friends & goals. As your goals increase, and you progress through the different levels of the game, your friends can’t always join you. You have to put a lot of work in. It can be lonely at the top.

In 1997, I was a freshman in high school. I tried out for the JV team. Our varsity was loaded with FSU commits like Ryan Bartholemy (who eventually became the all time career Omaha HR leader.) My first outing was vs the freshman team. I remember the nerves and anxiety. 26 years later, today, I watched our 14 year old freshman make his high school debut at @A3_Trojans. But we played Polk State College - a very good Florida Juco. 14 year old Landon Green worked into a jam but ultimately threw a scoreless inning today in relief vs 18,19,20 year old college hitters in his first ever high school outing. He was an electric 92-94. The ball just came out of his hand differently than the other guys on the field. I can’t wrap my mind around this. We warned him that he could get humbled. He wasn’t afraid to be humbled. If it happened it happened. But it was a conscious decision. We met, we discussed the schedule, and he wanted the challenge of trying an inning. Even though the way the schedule fell, his first HS outing would be against a college. Congrats to @LandonGreen2008. I can’t imagine any other high school player in history has ever done anything like this? 💙 👏

We know all of the reasons why you shouldn’t early verbal. They’ve been discussed at length, the horror stories are out there. But an echo chamber is being created. It’s the prevailing opinion of many good baseball ppl. Buyer beware. BUT…Here’s why you *SHOULD*:😯😦😧😮😵

My brain works a little different. “Felt great today. Threw a 100% pen at 90. Yesterday threw a 91.5% pen at 91. Last week threw a 14% pen at 89. Did run and guns at 70% at 105. Trackman had me 90.7. Stalker 2 pro spin had me 91 rounded up since decimals were turned off. PR’d a 102 running jump throw with a weighted vest on the Pocket Radar w/out digital voice turned on with a crosswind at 95% 2 seam.” Bud - what do you sit at? If you throw 3 innings in an actual game with humans wearing uniforms outside, what is the velocity that the vast majority of your pitches are going to sit at? 86-87? Ok. My brain hurts.

Every player, rightfully so, wants a seat at the Division 1 baseball table. It is as close as many will get to the Big League type experience. It takes a tremendous amount of humbling, advice, maturity and clarity to realize that there are other paths to that experience. When a player begins to come to terms with that reality, they often make the same mistake: “OK, OK, fine. I agree. I am not a D1 baseball player yet. You can tell the coaches at CF, Chipola and San Jac that I’m open to take their scholarship offers. Thanks in advance.” The baseball community can probably do a better job amplifying the scores, voices, and results of some of these Jucos. Players interested in these schools need to go watch a Juco game - look at the size of the players. Look at the velocities. Look at the hard hit balls. The bombs. The stats. And ask themselves: - is this really that big of a drop off? - Can I beat out the player on this field at my position? - What are his stats against this competition? - What are my stats against my competition? - This player is ranked as one of the top 100 players in the nation at Juco on PG. Where am I ranked for high school? - What’s my height and weight? What’s their height and weight? - What were their measurables in HS at my age? Many of these Jucos can beat a decent chunk of D1 programs out there and be very competitive. Many of these Jucos routinely beat excellent D2 programs. There are powerhouse D2 programs that are essentially mid major D1s. These powerhouse Jucos are essentially mid major D1s. A change in classification or “level” does not necessarily mean inferior talent and you are going to waltz in and be the best player on the field. If you’re not getting any D1 interest, many of these high profile Jucos that you are “settling” on are likely not going to be interested either. It’s important to self evaluate and be honest on where you fit in now, and what your goals are. The first step is education and awareness.

Many times the hardest thing for a kid to understand in high school is if you play to win - within a team and for your teammates - the “showcasing” takes care of itself.

My favorite phenomenon in baseball: The radar gun or device that recorded your highest velocity is always considered perfectly accurate. That one exceptional outing suddenly becomes your standard, often even rounded up. It goes on your bio. It leads off emails. This leads to mass delusion and a domino effect of misconceptions. Any subsequent readings become suspect, and the poor coaches that instruct you after that reading may be blamed for perceived declines in development and velocity. Conversely, the device that measured your lowest velocity is clearly malfunctioning and needs to be disregarded. It should be removed from your profiles. Or the coach who recorded it must not be teaching the proper mechanics. It goes into the dust-bin of your memory - never to be spoken of again. It was either wrong, or it didn’t even happen. And if it did happen, we need to sever all ties to that training protocol.

These are the best showcases on the planet in my opinion. Any you can add that I’ve missed ? 1. East Coast Pro - senior year only. Pro scout invite only. East coast heavy. 2. Area Code Games - West coast event / west coast heavy. Started inviting underclassmen. East coast kids trickle in too. 3. PG National - great job with legit invite only. Usually at an MLB ballpark. ——- Underclass 1. PG Jr National 2. PBR Future Games 3. Prospect Wire All American at Vandy *I hear Prospect Select usually has a great pre tournament showcase at Palm Beach Classic. I’ve never been though. What else is super legit out there?

For the crowd that has studied this more than me, please chime in. Year round specialization gets vilified pretty often in the U.S. Explain the Dominican Republic baseball players that play year round, train harder than anyone and are extremely athletic and skilled. Those guys aren’t doing 4 months of baseball, 4 months of basketball. 4 months of football. I know they have unsupervised free play. Running races until dark. Etc. But what gives?

Why do we all love baseball so much? It’s obviously a great game. But it’s a game that everyone has a chance at. I have a theory: NFL? 🏈 It is a genetics league. You either have them (+ a desire for high impact collisions) or you don’t. Skill comes later. I love the story of Ziggy Ansah who came here from Ghana never playing football before. 3 years later he was a first round pick. That would never happen in baseball. His genetics flat out got him into the league with these other gladiators of freak genetics. You can tell just by looking at someone if they have a chance at the NFL or not. NBA? 🏀 It is a genetics league. If you aren’t a certain freakish height, you are already eliminated from the sport. Sure l, everything has outliers like Mugsy Bogues. But the league is generally extremely tall. Skill comes next. You can usually tell just by looking at someone if they have a chance at the NBA. Baseball? ⚾️ Yes, genetics play a role. And most players are very strong. But there are way more David Ecksteins, Jose Altuve’s, and short players. There are tall players. Height is on a bell curve. They are united by this very specific skillset. You can be totally fooled that this dude is a big leaguer and never know it by looking at them. Everyone has a shot at this sport and to me that is one of the reasons baseball is the best game ⚾️

Whoever came up with the acronym “PO” sucks. Please call the most important player on the field “Pitcher” and if they don’t play another position that’s perfectly fine and nothing else needs to be said. The word “Only” makes us sound inadequate or that we’re missing something 😭

Congrats to Jimmy and @OstingerAcademy on winning Jupiter. Jimmy has always done it the right way: blue collar approach, never fell for the elite, prime, universe, over-hyped scout team stuff. Just hard work. Grinders. Local kids. Practices. Not flying dudes in. Great stuff

That Juco Route looking mighty tasty 😋

I ran tournaments for 15 years and know a ton about hotels, group blocks, travel, group rates…everything. I will drop some nuggets here from time to time. Here’s my first: Under no circumstances, do you ever, ever, ever walk into a hotel front desk, ask if they have any availability, and book the hotel with the rate that the front desk gives you. This is called the rack rate and they’re taking your lunch money. Always walk out to your car, sit there, find the best rate online, book it and walk back in.

Hitting is not the hardest thing to do in sports. Hitting *in game* is.

I don’t have a horse in this race. No travel team. No tourney company. But Im close to 20 years in this thing as an observer wearing different hats. Every player I’ve ever seen try to outsmart the draft, outsmart scouts, outsmart competing, overthink everything - gets under drafted. Under bonus. Under whatever. Every player I’ve ever seen that loves competing, loves baseball, intense competitor, loves big environments and moments, just wants to play - within reason obviously - goes further in this game. It sounds like boomer talk. But the more gray hairs you sprout, the more you see the same stuff play out over and over.