Clearing The Bases

Bert Gonzalez is the manager of the New Jersey Jackals of the Frontier League in Independent Baseball and also the founder of Indyball Jobs. Independent Baseball provides another avenue for high level baseball players to compete and continue to develop in professional baseball. Many Indyball players have gone on to further their careers with MiLB teams and some even make that giant leap to the big show in the MLB!

One of our last interviews from the 2024 ABCA convention was supposed to be with USA Baseball National Team Head Coach RJ Farrell but we wound up with an added bonus to the show by inviting Georgia Gwinnett College Head Coach Jeremy Sheetinger to join in. Now, RJ would be an unbelievable conversation on his own but having Sheets join us made it that much more incredible. There were even a few jabs thrown at Coach Butch Chaffin!

There are so many great baseball minds just roaming around at the ABCA convention. Paul Gallo and Mark “Pudge” Gjormand are 2 of them that I have had the pleasure of spending some time with both in Kansas City during the Youth Baseball Summit and at the 2024 ABCA Convention. We jump into youth baseball and do a little recap of the Summit.

Matt Rienzi began his tenure as the Assistant Baseball Coach at Roger Williams University during the 2023 season and is the new Head Coach of the Ocean State Waves of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Matt sat down with us in Dallas for a great conversation.

Another one of our good friends, Jake Lindmeier, sat down with us to catch up with what was going on at the convention and just baseball in general! Jake is from Dallas College Brookhaven and always has some good advice for our listeners.

New relationships are always being built at the the ABCA Convention but another great attribute of the convention is the ability to foster existing friendships. In this episode we spend some time catching up with our good friend, Taylor Valentine of Centre College.

Carl Nichols is a former MLB catcher that played parts of six seasons for the Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros but what was appealing to me was his ability to teach and develop baseball players. Carl joined me on Podcast Row at the 2024 ABCA Convention in Dallas, Texas for an amazing conversation.

The mission of Baseball Dudes owner, Chris Gissell, is to guide and mentor players, their families, coaches, and his social media followers to a successful life on & off the field. Develop confidence. Teach the game. Instill Character traits that help lead to success and help develop as many leaders as he can along the way. He believes that it’s about the kids, which is why we want you to hear his message.

Deven Morgan is the Director of Youth Baseball at Driveline Academy and author of the new book, Skills That Scale. He has one of the best baseball minds in the country. You will be hard pressed to find someone that is more passionate about developing young baseball players. In this episode, Deven shares his knowledge and experience with us. You are only cheating yourself if you pass this by.

Mental performance coach at RJ Performance Group, Jon Osborn, joins us to talk about how parents can make an impact on their child’s sports experience by understanding his Parents Do’s and Don’ts. He has created a simple chart that shares some scenarios parents might face with their young athletes and suggests what a parent should do and, more importantly, should not do! 

We continue with a recent common theme of talking to pitching coaches. Ryan Forrest was the pitching coach for former guest Mike Kazlausky of the Air Force Academy and has now moved on to Boston College. Ryan talks about his means and methods when he works with his players. We wish him nothing but the best as he embarks on his new journey with the Eagles new coaching staff.