May 5, 2025 ā¢ 32 mins
šļø Building a Powerhouse Through RecruitingĀ
In this bonus episode of Significant Recruiting with Matt Rogers, weāre joined by Taylor White, Associate Head Baseball Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at the University of Texas at Tyler. Known across Division II as one of the premier recruiters in the country, Coach White has helped build UT Tyler into a national contender through relentless evaluation, development, and relationship-building.
Coach White shares the strategies behind building top tier NCAA D2 recruiting classes, what he looks for in prospective student-athletes, and how his approach to coaching infielders, hitters, and baserunners has transformed individual careers and the UT Tyler program as a whole.
With over a dozen players turned professionals and an unmatched track record of All-Americans, Gold Glove winners, and top-tier recruiting classes, Coach White reveals what it takes to build a program that lastsāand players who thrive.
Ā š¹ Why player development is just as important as player identification
Ā š¹ How UT Tyler recruits with both grit and purpose in the D2 landscape
Ā š¹ Advice for high school athletes hoping to stand out to college recruiters
Whether youāre a parent, athlete, or coach, this episode gives you an inside look at the recruiting engine behind one of the most successful programs in D2 baseball today.
Ā š Learn more at CoachMattRogers.com ā where you can grab a copy of Significant Recruiting, read the weekly recruiting blog, or schedule a free one-on-one strategy session with Matt.Ā
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Welcome to the first.
Significant recruiting with MattRogers podcast.
Yes, you heard me correctly.
The Significant RecruitingPodcast is a bonus recruiting
focused edition of theSignificant Coaching Podcast.
Each week we'll go behind thescenes with college coaches and
college recruiting insiders.
To explore the strategies thatshape successful programs while
(00:27):
giving great advice to recruits,parents, and club, and high
school coaches.
Today's guest is Taylor White,associate head baseball coach
and the recruiting coordinatorat the University of Texas.
Tyler, one of the top minds indivision two baseball, and a
proven leader in identifying anddeveloping high level talent.
(00:48):
This exclusive segment isavailable only to subscribers,
so you can visit coach mattrogers.com or significant
coaching with Matt rogers.buzzsprout.com to sign up by
subscribing.
You'll also get exclusive accessto my this week and significant
coaching newsletter that willprovide you with weekly
coaching, recruiting, and parenttools and resources, as well as
(01:11):
special opportunities that willbe available only to subscribers
okay, let's get started.
Here's my conversation withCoach Taylor White.
Coach White.
I'm so excited to talkrecruiting with you.
Remind me again, how long haveyou been with Coach Porsche at
UT Tyler?
this is year seven.
Six or seven, yeah.
(01:32):
A while.
Were you were with the Nationalchampionship team?
No, my last, I was at TylerJunior College before this, and
I was there in 18.
We actually.
Lost in the nationalchampionship and UT Tyler won it
and, came on over right afterthey won it in 18.
I love it.
Coach, you've been a huge partin helping coach Porsche
transition the program fromdivision three to division two.
(01:55):
You guys have done unbelievablework building that program, uh,
from what was a championshipcaliber D three program, and so
quickly you've turned it into adivision two.
Powerhouse.
I know how hard that is'cause Ihad to do the same thing at
Maryville 15 years ago and wedidn't have near the results
that you guys are having.
(02:16):
So I wanna talk with helping ouraudience really understand the
difference in what you'relooking at at different levels.
So let's start there.
What, how do you recruit adivision two kid compared to a
Division three kid?
For sure.
Yeah.
I think first off and foremostis we're looking for quality
individuals to begin withquality.
(02:37):
Quality baseball players, as faras the character that they have.
And then also their families toois, especially in our program,
is, this isn't just about justthe baseball player, but it's
about the whole family.
This is something thatobviously, their families are
backing these players and, wewant'em to come from good
families that they're taught.
what's right, what's wrong, andhow to handle adversity
(02:58):
regardless of the level ofbaseball, whether it's junior
college, division three,division two, division one NAIA
we're looking for players that,come good places where, The
things that they learned growingup are things that they're gonna
have in this program as well.
and so regardless of what levelguys are playing at, I think
first and foremost is, they knowwhat hard work is.
(03:19):
They know what it looks like to,have a good work ethic.
and so obviously as you get up,the different levels Those
things.
the gap is a little bit smallerin each of those.
And so I think first andforemost, obviously you gotta be
talented, but you also gottahave some work ethic, in there
as well.
I work with high school kidsfrom North Carolina to Hawaii on
(03:39):
their recruiting journey, and Imentor'em and guide'em and
really try and teach'em thethings you're talking about.
It starts with your character.
Yeah.
Starts with your commitment toyour academics for sure.
You building routines, all thosethings you're talking about.
But then we really jump into.
How important it's to understandyour value.
Now, doesn doesn't mean yourvalue can change, right?
(04:00):
But there's only so many AaronJudges and Vlad Guerrero's and
Kyle Tuckers for sure, rightthere.
There's only so many kids thatcan play at higher levels,
right?
So when you're talking tofamilies about you guys aren't
middle of the road.
You guys are on track to be, oneof the best teams in all of
division two.
(04:20):
When you're talking to thesefamilies about how to self
evaluate.
Yeah.
Are you a kid that right now canlook at UT Tyler and get a
positive response or any other Dtwo?
What does that ability look likeand how do we self,
self-evaluate?
Yeah.
I think that's tough.
(04:41):
I was actually talking, to a dadon the phone this morning.
you know about his son.
And, it was an honestconversation as far as, man,
it's hard.
Obviously you want the best foryour son, you want him to go to
the best place possible.
but you also gotta take a stepback and look at reality of the
situation is, how does he run?
what type of athlete is he?
I was honest with what we'relooking for in athletes that
(05:01):
we're bringing in, is this, ishe a good baseball player?
Yes.
But what type of tools does hehave that we're looking for?
and that can change from year toyear as far as, in our league is
the wind blows a lot.
Sometimes it's out, sometimesit's in.
And so we're trying to build aroster, of guys that can run
for, if the wind's blowing in,they can play small ball.
but also have bangers that canchallenge fences when the wind's
(05:24):
blowing out.
And so it, it changes.
And so for some families it'sman for us and this year it's
not a good fit because we'reneeding a guy that can really go
bang the baseball We need a guythat can really run and play
some more defense.
It just depends on that currentsituation of that student
athlete.
and also what does that familywant?
are they wanting to go to aplace that's gonna win?
(05:44):
And you may have to, developmore.
Once you get there, it may notbe a place that you want to go
into, because you do have towait.
And that's what I try to tellfamilies is, man, If you want to
go somewhere where you're gonnaplay right away you may need to
change your sights on whatyou're looking for in a place,
or if you're okay with, sitting,but you go to a program that has
a little bit more of a winningtradition and has some really
(06:05):
talented players that you'regonna have to sit behind.
just know that going into it.
And that's okay.
Neither one of those is right.
Neither one of those is wrong.
It's about what is that certainfamily looking for in their
experience.
That's great.
I'm gonna push you a little bitokay.
Because I know how hard this is.
Yeah.
and I get it.
let's talk about third baseman,Okay.
(06:26):
Kid's got a good arm, goodglove.
He can stand over there andhandle that a hundred mile an
hour rocket that's coming hisway.
How do you know he can play foryou?
How do you know that?
he's probably needs to look at alevel, and maybe you're gonna
give that a level down.
Maybe you're gonna give thatfamily that advice.
For sure.
Let's talk about what that thirdbaseman looks like to be able to
(06:47):
play at your level compared toTrinity.
Could D three program.
Yeah, for sure.
What's that?
What's that look like to you?
Man, that's a good question.
For us, you gotta be able tofield the baseball.
You gotta be able to make theroutine play.
if you look at championshipteams, what do they do really
well?
they defend and you're onlygonna be as good as your infield
(07:08):
is when it comes to defending,and winning championships.
And so for us, we've the lastcouple of years we've had.
this year for instance, MasonHammonds, really good defender.
a little bit more of an athleticbody, to where he's not gonna be
a third baseman, that's justcrushing the baseball over the
fence.
It's gonna be more of a singlesdoubles guy, but he can really
play third base and he has thearm strength, to make a deep
(07:30):
backhand play down the line, buthe's also really good coming and
getting a bun.
and then our third basemanbefore him, the last couple
years.
Austin Ochoa, who's playingprofessional baseball now.
he was a bigger bodied guy, buthe could really defend, field
the baseball, had a really goodarm, but could also still come
and get the slow roller in thebunt.
And, when you're building theroster, especially at that
(07:51):
position as.
you think towards the postseasonsmall ball.
it may not be played everyweekend throughout the year, but
when it gets down to postseasonclose baseball games there's a
tendency for teams to play alittle bit more small ball.
And so for us with the end goalin mind of playing for
championships You're gonna haveto have a guy that can defend it
over there.
and so obviously we're gonnawant to get the best offensive
(08:13):
player, that we can get, but itmay change between being more of
a power third baseman or a guythat, is just a good baseball
player.
And so that can depend onavailability and what makes
sense in that year for us.
When you're looking at yourroster coming back next year,
what you assume will come back.
Because, we never know anymoreAre you looking at your roster
(08:35):
going, we need a third baseman,but man, we really need a guy
that can bat third for us.
We really need a guy that cangive us.
60 rbis in a season.
Does that play a role in yourhead or do you go, God, that kid
can flat out pick it?
He's probably gonna be ournumber eight hitter, but he can
flat out pick it.
are you having that argument inyour head Yeah, absolutely.
(08:57):
That's, we return our shortstop,our second baseman.
our first baseman, we return abunch of really good pieces on
offense.
And so for us, first andforemost is, man, we're gonna
want somebody that can defend itover there.
and offensively, we've done agood job of developing hitters
over the years and whether it'sa junior college transfer or a
(09:17):
transfer portal, guy.
that for us is gonna come firstis can he play the position?
regardless of whether he isgonna hit in the three hole or
the eight hole, or anywhere inbetween there, the priority for
us is a guy that he's gotta beable to do it over at third base
for sure.
I love it.
I love it.
I don't think any family trulyunderstands what we're going
through when we're watching akid play.
(09:38):
We can fall in love with a kidand I think parents are like he
made four great plays at third.
He did everything right andthere were no errors.
He threw everybody out.
He went two for four with adouble and two rbis.
That's not the end all for you,is it?
A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
You saw that kid play a greatgame.
you went and watched him playlive.
You've seen him on film.
What are you still needing tomake before you guys?
(10:00):
We'll even think about making anoffer.
Yeah, I think, man, baseball's asmall game.
More likely than not, we'regonna have some connection to
whoever we're going to watchplay, whether it's his junior
college coach or if it's a highschool kid, his high school
coach, his summer ball coach, orhis teammates.
Maybe it's a player that'salready in our program.
the guys that are in thisprogram.
(10:21):
That played with them, they'regonna know'em really well, not
just on the baseball field, butprobably how they are off the
field.
sometimes our best asset in therecruiting process is our own
players.
hearing what they have to sayabout'em.
obviously we're gonna check thekids' character, what type of
teammate are they?
what's their work ethic thosethings in our program are so
super, super important to us.
(10:42):
if you don't have, a strong workethic man, you're gonna get left
behind.
and you're first, you're gonnaget challenged, man to be
better.
but you're gonna be heldaccountable to that as well.
And so that's something that onthe front end, before we, get
down the road Of an offerbringing a kid in on a official
visit is, man, we're gonna doour homework.
We can obviously see the stuffon the field, but we're gonna
(11:04):
try to find out as muchinformation from as many people
as possible on, on everythingabout you.
Give me a list of the type ofpeople you've called on a kid.
I'd call an English teacher.
Yeah.
I'd call the guidance counselor.
Yeah.
Gimme a list of some of thepeople you've called on a kid,
man.
just the other day I was on thephone with one of our players,
one of his dad.
They played some, the kidsplayed summer ball together back
(11:25):
in the day.
And it may have been.
Three, four years ago, but Iknew there's a connection.
And man, tell me, what did yousee as a person on the outside
looking in?
man, I've called anybody.
It may be a next door neighbor.
just anybody that has aconnection to the kid, man,
we're gonna exhaust everyresource we have, just to gather
as much information, as wepossibly can.
I love it.
(11:45):
you just don't wanna makemistakes.
You're looking at so many kidsand you wanna make sure.
You don't bring a kid in, fromyour perspective, you don't want
the kid to be in the wrongplace.
For sure.
A hundred percent.
The kid's not gonna be able tohandle your culture.
Yeah.
Or I was an intense coach, Iwould tell'em I'm really
intense.
Talk to my players, ask themthose questions.
Make sure that you'recomfortable playing for a guy
(12:05):
like me, and they'll tell youthe truth.
My guys would tell you the truthabout me.
Yeah.
No doubt.
I'm not your guy.
I'm not, don't come here you, Iwant you to figure some of that
out first for sure.
how much, when you're talking topeople, do you ask about the
parents?
man, we do, to an extent.
yeah, is, that's something that,it's a valuable piece,
especially in our program.
man, we had a really cool dealthe other night celebrating all
(12:28):
of our seniors.
the other night we did a banquetwith them and their parents.
we made the seniors when theygot called up, their parents
went up front with them, whilethat senior talked, and so It's
an important piece, thisprogram.
That's something when we bringkids and families in on a visit,
and we sit'em down in this roomthat I'm sitting in right now,
is that something that we talkabout is, it's not just about
the baseball player that'scoming to play here, but it's
(12:49):
about your whole family is wewant everybody to be invested in
this thing because it's so muchbigger, than just.
This coaching staff or oursupport staff and the players.
our parents do so much behindthe scenes as well in supporting
our program, and they're a bigpart of this thing too.
I love it.
All right, coach.
let's talk some, let's get downinto the dirt here a little bit.
(13:10):
how many kids do you guys liketo carry on your roster?
We try to stay at no more, than40 half of those 20 to 24 of
those being pitchers, you can'thave enough pitching.
this past year we went and addeda few more guys late with the
whole Juco Covid 21 with all thedivision one guys that had an
extra year You just didn't knowhow many of those were gonna
(13:33):
want to keep playing baseball.
and then, as it kept unfolding,and more and more of them were
going into the transfer portaland we knew that they could make
us better, we added a few moreon this year's roster.
But in an ideal world, we wouldlove to stay at no more than 40.
Not every year is an exactnumber, but we try to keep it
under 40.
How many of those kids will seethe field?
(14:00):
Man.
one piece of that is injury.
Just looking at a roster isyou're gonna have injuries every
single year.
some of those may be seasonending before the season even
starts, with the way baseball isnowadays, especially with arm
injuries, surgeries are more andmore common every single year,
and that's something that youcan't predict.
And there's gonna be freshmenthat come in that red shirt.
And so there's always gonna be acouple red shirts in the
(14:22):
program.
And then injuries.
And so I would say at least 30guys are gonna see the field,
anywhere between 30 and 35 guysat some point, whether it's a
pitcher that gets some innings.
and it may not be a big amount,but, I wouldn't be surprised
just looking on our roster ifwe've had over 30 guys appear in
games this year.
17 hitters and 19 pitchers.
(14:44):
Okay.
That is really impressive,coach.
Yeah.
And we're not talking about awhole lot of one inning, one
game you've got, I think you're,you've had one pitcher pitching
th two pitchers pitching threegames.
Okay.
And you and banning wise, you'vehad, you've had one hitter in
four games and one in eight, andeverybody else is 30 plus yeah.
Yeah.
That's really impressive.
do you and coach Porsche, do youhave that concerted effort
(15:07):
saying, these kids are here,they're busting their tail for
us, we're asking so much ofthem.
We know we've got a doubleheader coming up that we should
dominate this team.
Are you thinking about we gottaget this kid in as a pinch
hitter, I gotta get, we gottaget this kid ings at second
base.
You think about that long termfor sure we do.
goal one is winning, but alsotoo looking big picture over the
(15:30):
course of a season where we'replaying four game weekends,
that's a lot of baseball.
That's a lot of wear and tear onbodies and, What you have to be
able to do those things isdepth, is where the gap of
player.
and fortunately for us is, we'vegot a lot of guys that work
extremely hard to develop theirgame, to make themselves better,
to where, A guy that's in thelineup every day, that needs a
(15:50):
break.
we can give him a break and thedrop off is not significant.
And having guys in the programthat can spot start, pinch, hit,
pinch, run, defensivereplacement, you know that's so
valuable in a program, right?
A hundred percent.
You gotta have guys that can doit all.
and those guys that can.
Stay in a mindset of, man, I'mgonna keep working and I'm gonna
(16:12):
be ready when my name is called.
and that goes back to, theculture of this program is that
you have to have guys, there'sonly nine guys that can be on
the field at a time.
there's only nine guys that getto hit at a time.
and so there's a lot of guysthat, are on the outside looking
in.
But, Our guys have done a greatjob of staying in a place to
where, when their name iscalled, they've been ready,
which is awesome.
(16:34):
What's really amazing is you'vegot, what, nine, 10 kids batting
over a thousand OPS, man.
Yeah.
if typically if you have one ortwo of those guys right, you've
got a pretty good lineup.
You've got nine or 10 that haveall played 30 plus games.
The fact that you're getting somany kids into games with so
many great hitters, that's evendoubly impressive.
(16:54):
So that's really cool.
All right.
you talked about half of the 40you want to be pitchers.
What are you looking at least,sometimes you might have 22, 23,
get it right night, especiallywhen you got four game weekends
where you may use 15 pitchers,16 pitchers in a weekend.
For sure.
Let's talk about.
your utility.
what are you looking at when theroster's all said and done?
(17:17):
It's September 1st.
What do you want it, are youlooking for two first base and
two second, two short, twothird, five or six outfielders?
Two, three catchers.
What is your makeup of thatother 20?
That are playing the field.
Yeah.
one of the things that everysingle year is, like you said,
(17:37):
we wanna be at least too deep atevery spot.
A catcher that can also playfirst base is awesome.
just because.
in our league, going back to itis you can't catch four games in
a weekend.
No.
that's a lot of innings to catchand a lot of wear and tear.
being able to have.
at least two, or more catchersthat can really do it behind the
plate.
we have five on the roster thisyear.
(17:59):
that's, we need five guys.
There's a lot of innings to goaround.
There's a lot of bullpens to becaught.
A lot of live pitcher, catcher,hitters.
but for us is having a catcherthat has the ability to go play
first base can dh, and then,having, a lot of times it's
having infielders.
Every single year we have aninfielder that's transitioned to
at least playing some in theoutfield.
(18:19):
And so that is, always havingguys that.
can play multiple spots on theinfield.
I think recruiting shortstops,whether it's a high school kid,
or a junior college kid, if theycan play shortstop, they can
most likely play the other twoon each side of'em, for
instance, this year, BryceJewel, who's, a high school
shortstop, went to anotherschool before coming back, to
(18:39):
Tyler Played third, has beenprimarily a third baseman for
us.
our first baseman went down witha hamstring injury.
and he's been our everyday firstbaseman, for, two thirds of the
season.
and it's great to have a firstbaseman that can play anywhere
on the infield.
and he's done a great job ofmaking that transition, and
winning us some games with hisdefense at first base.
(19:00):
That's awesome.
Yeah, and it's, you gotta havethe depth,'cause you guys are
gonna play over 50 games thisyear.
Yeah.
You're playing sometimes six,seven games in a week and it
gets really good competition.
When I look at your roster, it'sreally Texas heavy.
Which I don't blame you at allbecause when you got that much
talent around the Tyler area andthe Houston, Dallas, Austin
(19:22):
area, you don't have to go toofar.
But you do have some kids thatare from far away.
Yeah.
You've got a coupleinternational kids, you've got
some kids that in Colorado.
What is your approach in termsof.
Not just bringing in talent, butculture building, creating a
melting pot, bringing kids infrom different parts of the
country.
(19:42):
are you guys really focused onhaving 80% of your kids in Texas
or is that just the way ithappens?
Yeah, that's just the kind ofthe way that it's happened.
obviously we have a ton of goodbaseball in the state of Texas
for us, a big thing inrecruiting is video is great.
Technology is great.
Having TrackMan information onkids from other places.
All of those things are nice tohave.
(20:03):
but we love to put our eyes on aguy and watch games, before we
like to make a decision.
Obviously that's changed alittle bit with the transfer
portal in the summer is,sometimes all you have is video.
A kid may not be playing summerball.
but for us, especially in thefall is.
summer and fall is, man, we'reout a ton.
our whole staff gets out a bunchand we like to put our eyes on
(20:25):
guys as much as possible.
And so that's why we have someKansas guys, guys that play
junior college baseball, inKansas.
And so we get up to Kansas everyfall, spend some time up there.
We have.
some junior college coaches inKansas that we have some really
good relationships with.
obviously if we can't get upthere and see'em, we have some
people up there that we canreally trust to help us, that we
(20:46):
know is gonna give us a goodevaluation if we can't make it
up there.
And that's how the rostersworked out.
we've had some internationalkids over the years.
a lot of those internationals.
we're junior college kids atsome schools in Texas.
We have great relationships withthe coaches that are there and
we trust them.
that's just how the rostersworked out, is we're gonna cast
a wide net to everywhere that wehave connections and contacts
(21:08):
shrink that list down and what'sleft.
Coach my, I live in Minnesota.
I'm just gonna give you ahypothetical.
My son's a really good ballplayer.
Yeah.
He'd love to go to Texas.
Loved to play at UT Tyler.
How do you want him to reach outto you?
For sure.
Yeah.
I think obviously, email is.
(21:29):
The probably the best way,especially if there's, I don't
have a connection that I don'tif there is a connection,
obviously that connection isgonna help.
We get so many emails everysingle day, hundreds of emails
on kids from all over the world.
the biggest thing is, havingvideo, when those emails are
sent is huge.
if I just see some numbers that,hitting three 50 or whatever the
(21:51):
number may be, I don'tnecessarily know what level of
competition that's against, andso how to trust the number.
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
And so being able to, give us asmuch information about who that
student athlete is, numbers,academics, how are they doing in
the classroom.
And then, video being attachedto where I'm not having to go
search, search and dig to try tofind information.
(22:13):
and just giving us as muchinformation in an email as
possible is great.
Okay.
You have a ton of emails.
I've sent you an email.
I don't get a response.
What's your advice to me?
I know I want to play for you.
I know.
I want feedback from you.
I haven't, I've sent the email.
Two weeks have gone by.
Yeah.
(22:34):
What do I do?
I'll be the first one to say I'mguilty of it happens.
Me too.
I was too.
Yeah.
And man, if it's a place thatyou really want to be, that you
think it's somewhere, call my owe have an office phone, the
number's listed on the schoolwebsite, or if you know somebody
that knows us, making thatconnection, trying to find a
connection of some sort towhere, hey.
(22:57):
if I see a number on my phoneand I know who it is, I'm a lot
more likely to pick up the phonethan if it's just a number from
Minnesota that I don't know whoit is.
and so that, and then man, Iknow there's camps that are out
there, whether it's a recruitingcamp at our place, or whether
it's a tournament that's inTexas.
And I think reaching back out,say, Hey, I see that you have a
(23:17):
camp coming up.
Looking at my video, is thissomething to where there's
interest in that you would liketo see more?
And so that's another way that'snot always an ideal situation.
but getting in front of ussometimes is the best evaluation
that we're gonna get.
'cause I can only, like I said,is we can only do so much from
video.
(23:38):
I teach my kids, my baseballrecruits.
if you're gonna reach out toyou.
Ask for feedback.
Do you think I have the skillsetto play for you?
Are there things that you thinkI have to develop if I wanna
play at that level?
Are you guys open to giving that32nd, two minute evaluation?
For sure.
Yeah.
(23:58):
I mean I, we're obviously a lotmore likely to do that not in
the postseason right now, in,in, we're trying to maybe not
send you an email in the middleof the playoffs, right?
That's right.
Yeah, exactly.
So we're, working on scoutingreports and trying to make sure
that we have every piece ofinformation that we can get on
that.
But man, if it's a summertime,we're out recruiting, we're in
recruiting mode in thesummertime.
(24:20):
And, that's something that I'vedone before and I think.
if I get a video and it's ajunior that's throwing 78 miles
per hour, That's not gonna be agood fit for us, right?
It may be for some, and there'sprograms that, you know, that,
that may be interested in that.
being willing to do that, butalso being okay with, okay, this
isn't an option.
and moving on to the next schoolon the list.
(24:42):
I preach this to kids and toparents.
When you reach out to a coach,you're looking for three
outcomes.
They wanna recruit you, theylike you, and they wanna start
that journey.
Yeah.
They don't like you and or theyjust don't have a fit for you.
But they've, they're telling youthat for sure.
Or they're willing to give youany type of advice or feedback
on your game.
Strengths, weaknesses, whatever.
(25:03):
All those are golden nuggets.
If you can get that from a coachand if they tell you they're not
interested, you need tocelebrate that because that's
now a program you can take offyour list.
You don't have to worry aboutit.
Yeah.
Move on to the other schools onyour list.
For sure.
and I think the big, a big piecefor us is having a summer
schedule, especially if it'ssummertime or fall schedule
(25:23):
because, we're out a ton and ifyou send me an email and I have
some video, I may just be like,ah, I don't really have a good
eval from video, but.
If you also send your scheduleand I see that you're gonna be
at a tournament that we're gonnabe at.
I'm gonna make a note in myfolder of that, okay, hey, this
kid was interested in us.
when I see that team play, I atleast know that kid's
(25:44):
interested.
I'm gonna pay a little bit moreattention, to that player when
he's on the field versus a kidthat he doesn't know anything
about our program.
but I like him, versus a kidthat I know he is interested, so
I'm gonna pay that kid a littlebit extra attention, to see if
it is a good fit.
Yeah, that's right.
You don't have to convince himto look at your school.
they've done research, right?
(26:04):
They've sent you everything youneed.
All right, two more questions,coach.
I'm gonna let you go.
You've been awesome.
video.
I just hated it when kids sentme game footage.
I wanted repetition.
I wanted to see, can you repeatit?
Yes.
You can hit a double off thewall against a kid throwing 72
mile an hour.
I don't know what this kid cando on the mound.
What do you want to see on film?
(26:25):
and technology's grown a ton inthe last, decade especially.
Hitters at times can be moredifficult to evaluate on film
than pitchers.
if it's a pitcher is man, if youhave game footage, is having a
radar gun in the video to whereit's not game film and then
typing, Hey, I was.
(26:46):
89 and 92 in this game is ifit's possible to game footage
with a radar gun in the video towhere I can see, okay, there's a
stalker radar gun right there.
And that pitch was actually 89.
if it's game footage and it's apitcher, I think that's
important, to be able to havethat in there.
does that same with practicefootage?
Yeah, even practice footage.
If it's a bullpen and there's aradar gun in there, whatever.
(27:08):
Yeah.
Practice footage, a scrimmage orwhatever is.
us being able to see data in avideo, that's gonna catch my
attention more than some gamefootage with you typing in.
And then, a lot of places,training facilities nowadays or
junior colleges, They haveRapsodo technology, track man,
those sorts of things is beingable to attach.
(27:29):
Maybe it is a bullpen.
and then you get your PDF reportof your bullpen or your inner
squad that day.
Just now we're getting into.
if it's a pitcher, knowing thatit's a 90 mile per hour
fastball, but is it a four seamride fastball, that really
spins, or is it a sinker ballthat really sinks and having the
data to back that up?
(27:50):
And then also, if it's a hitterand you have Soto is, how hard
are you consistently hitting thebaseball?
what's your max exit be low?
That exit velocity isn'teverything, but it gives us a
better idea of.
how hard is a guy impacting thebaseball?
Absolutely.
I love it.
Coach, give one piece of adviceto families are going through
(28:10):
this recruiting process.
we could take UT Tyler out ofit.
what do you think a family needsto hear when they're starting
this journey and their kidreally wants to play at the next
level.
What piece of advice would yougive them?
Man, that's.
I think the biggest thing is Iwould talk to the student
(28:32):
athlete first to make sure, man,is this what you really want to
do?
and if the answer to that is, I.
I don't know.
It's, man, you need to make surethat this is what you want to do
before you start exhausting,whether it's your personal time
to, to put in the time that youneed to develop as a baseball
player.
if you're not sure if you wantto, you're gonna end up at some
(28:55):
place.
And man, if you don't reallywant to do it and you really
don't want to get up for 6:00 AMwaits or 7:00 AM waits.
You're not gonna last.
I think that's the biggest thingfor the student athlete.
First is man, make sure it'sreally what you want to do
before you start going down thisroad.
especially if your parents aregonna be willing to spend a
bunch of money taking you totournaments, getting you
(29:16):
lessons, buying you really niceequipment, making sure that it's
something that you want to dofirst off.
When I was a junior collegecoach, for example, when, we had
guys in our program that weregoing to the next level, it was,
Hey man, gimme the top fivedivision one schools.
You want to go to division two,division three, NAIA.
So build out that list Everybodywants to go play division one
(29:37):
baseball.
Everybody wants to play in thebig leagues, right?
Not everybody's going to, and sobe open to a bunch of really
good options at a bunch ofreally good levels.
I don't care if it's divisionone, division two, division
three NAI, junior college.
The top of all of thosedivisions is really good
baseball.
It doesn't matter which one itis.
(29:57):
And so then it becomes, man, areyou good enough to play at this
level?
Or, I'm not good enough to playat this level, but I'm good
enough to play over here.
and being open to differentoptions.
If you're just dead set on onething, chances are more likely
than not, it's probably notgonna reach out if you only have
five schools that you're willingto go to.
(30:17):
odds are that those fiveschools, you aren't gonna be a
good fit for them.
And so being willing and open tobeing realistic to your options
is a big piece, of the puzzle.
I wrote this book, coachsignificant recruiting.
You just talked about chapterone and chapter two, so thank
you.
what families need to understandis kids get drafted out of all
(30:41):
of those divisions Every singleyear.
Yukon who made the World Seriestwo years ago, had nine kids
that transferred Division threeTo Division one.
To help them get to the nationalchampionship.
It says a lot about your programand how you guys go about your
business.
Coach, thank you so much foryour time today.
It was great advice.
It was great insight and anyfamily that's listening to this,
(31:05):
if you're not paying attention,this is how college coaches
recruit and they're caring aboutyour kid and they're caring
about your journey.
So great stuff, coach.
Thank you.
Matt, thanks for having me on,man.
I really appreciate it.
I can't wait to see the nextthree, four weeks for you guys.
We'll be cheering for you.
Awesome.
us too, man.
We're excited to get after itand get rolling.
(31:26):
Good luck, coach.
Thank you.
That wraps up the very firstsignificant recruiting bonus
episode.
A big thank you to Coach TaylorWhite from UT Tyler for sharing
his perspective on what mattersmost in today's recruiting
process and how he helps studentathletes succeed at the next
level.
(31:47):
If you're not yet a subscriber,head to coach matt rogers.com or
the podcast page to join us forweekly recruiting insights.
While you're there, you can graba copy of significant
recruiting, check out the latestblog or schedule your free
one-on-one session with me.
Thanks again for listening.
Let's keep building your journeywith significance.
Welcome to the first.
Significant recruiting with MattRogers podcast.
Yes, you heard me correctly.
The Significant RecruitingPodcast is a bonus recruiting
focused edition of theSignificant Coaching Podcast.
Each week we'll go behind thescenes with college coaches and
college recruiting insiders.
To explore the strategies thatshape successful programs while
(00:27):
giving great advice to recruits,parents, and club, and high
school coaches.
Today's guest is Taylor White,associate head baseball coach
and the recruiting coordinatorat the University of Texas.
Tyler, one of the top minds indivision two baseball, and a
proven leader in identifying anddeveloping high level talent.
(00:48):
This exclusive segment isavailable only to subscribers,
so you can visit coach mattrogers.com or significant
coaching with Matt rogers.buzzsprout.com to sign up by
subscribing.
You'll also get exclusive accessto my this week and significant
coaching newsletter that willprovide you with weekly
coaching, recruiting, and parenttools and resources, as well as
(01:11):
special opportunities that willbe available only to subscribers
okay, let's get started.
Here's my conversation withCoach Taylor White.
Coach White.
I'm so excited to talkrecruiting with you.
Remind me again, how long haveyou been with Coach Porsche at
UT Tyler?
this is year seven.
Six or seven, yeah.
(01:32):
A while.
Were you were with the Nationalchampionship team?
No, my last, I was at TylerJunior College before this, and
I was there in 18.
We actually.
Lost in the nationalchampionship and UT Tyler won it
and, came on over right afterthey won it in 18.
I love it.
Coach, you've been a huge partin helping coach Porsche
transition the program fromdivision three to division two.
(01:55):
You guys have done unbelievablework building that program, uh,
from what was a championshipcaliber D three program, and so
quickly you've turned it into adivision two.
Powerhouse.
I know how hard that is'cause Ihad to do the same thing at
Maryville 15 years ago and wedidn't have near the results
that you guys are having.
(02:16):
So I wanna talk with helping ouraudience really understand the
difference in what you'relooking at at different levels.
So let's start there.
What, how do you recruit adivision two kid compared to a
Division three kid?
For sure.
Yeah.
I think first off and foremostis we're looking for quality
individuals to begin withquality.
(02:37):
Quality baseball players, as faras the character that they have.
And then also their families toois, especially in our program,
is, this isn't just about justthe baseball player, but it's
about the whole family.
This is something thatobviously, their families are
backing these players and, wewant'em to come from good
families that they're taught.
what's right, what's wrong, andhow to handle adversity
(02:58):
regardless of the level ofbaseball, whether it's junior
college, division three,division two, division one NAIA
we're looking for players that,come good places where, The
things that they learned growingup are things that they're gonna
have in this program as well.
and so regardless of what levelguys are playing at, I think
first and foremost is, they knowwhat hard work is.
(03:19):
They know what it looks like to,have a good work ethic.
and so obviously as you get up,the different levels Those
things.
the gap is a little bit smallerin each of those.
And so I think first andforemost, obviously you gotta be
talented, but you also gottahave some work ethic, in there
as well.
I work with high school kidsfrom North Carolina to Hawaii on
(03:39):
their recruiting journey, and Imentor'em and guide'em and
really try and teach'em thethings you're talking about.
It starts with your character.
Yeah.
Starts with your commitment toyour academics for sure.
You building routines, all thosethings you're talking about.
But then we really jump into.
How important it's to understandyour value.
Now, doesn doesn't mean yourvalue can change, right?
(04:00):
But there's only so many AaronJudges and Vlad Guerrero's and
Kyle Tuckers for sure, rightthere.
There's only so many kids thatcan play at higher levels,
right?
So when you're talking tofamilies about you guys aren't
middle of the road.
You guys are on track to be, oneof the best teams in all of
division two.
(04:20):
When you're talking to thesefamilies about how to self
evaluate.
Yeah.
Are you a kid that right now canlook at UT Tyler and get a
positive response or any other Dtwo?
What does that ability look likeand how do we self,
self-evaluate?
Yeah.
I think that's tough.
(04:41):
I was actually talking, to a dadon the phone this morning.
you know about his son.
And, it was an honestconversation as far as, man,
it's hard.
Obviously you want the best foryour son, you want him to go to
the best place possible.
but you also gotta take a stepback and look at reality of the
situation is, how does he run?
what type of athlete is he?
I was honest with what we'relooking for in athletes that
(05:01):
we're bringing in, is this, ishe a good baseball player?
Yes.
But what type of tools does hehave that we're looking for?
and that can change from year toyear as far as, in our league is
the wind blows a lot.
Sometimes it's out, sometimesit's in.
And so we're trying to build aroster, of guys that can run
for, if the wind's blowing in,they can play small ball.
but also have bangers that canchallenge fences when the wind's
(05:24):
blowing out.
And so it, it changes.
And so for some families it'sman for us and this year it's
not a good fit because we'reneeding a guy that can really go
bang the baseball We need a guythat can really run and play
some more defense.
It just depends on that currentsituation of that student
athlete.
and also what does that familywant?
are they wanting to go to aplace that's gonna win?
(05:44):
And you may have to, developmore.
Once you get there, it may notbe a place that you want to go
into, because you do have towait.
And that's what I try to tellfamilies is, man, If you want to
go somewhere where you're gonnaplay right away you may need to
change your sights on whatyou're looking for in a place,
or if you're okay with, sitting,but you go to a program that has
a little bit more of a winningtradition and has some really
(06:05):
talented players that you'regonna have to sit behind.
just know that going into it.
And that's okay.
Neither one of those is right.
Neither one of those is wrong.
It's about what is that certainfamily looking for in their
experience.
That's great.
I'm gonna push you a little bitokay.
Because I know how hard this is.
Yeah.
and I get it.
let's talk about third baseman,Okay.
(06:26):
Kid's got a good arm, goodglove.
He can stand over there andhandle that a hundred mile an
hour rocket that's coming hisway.
How do you know he can play foryou?
How do you know that?
he's probably needs to look at alevel, and maybe you're gonna
give that a level down.
Maybe you're gonna give thatfamily that advice.
For sure.
Let's talk about what that thirdbaseman looks like to be able to
(06:47):
play at your level compared toTrinity.
Could D three program.
Yeah, for sure.
What's that?
What's that look like to you?
Man, that's a good question.
For us, you gotta be able tofield the baseball.
You gotta be able to make theroutine play.
if you look at championshipteams, what do they do really
well?
they defend and you're onlygonna be as good as your infield
(07:08):
is when it comes to defending,and winning championships.
And so for us, we've the lastcouple of years we've had.
this year for instance, MasonHammonds, really good defender.
a little bit more of an athleticbody, to where he's not gonna be
a third baseman, that's justcrushing the baseball over the
fence.
It's gonna be more of a singlesdoubles guy, but he can really
play third base and he has thearm strength, to make a deep
(07:30):
backhand play down the line, buthe's also really good coming and
getting a bun.
and then our third basemanbefore him, the last couple
years.
Austin Ochoa, who's playingprofessional baseball now.
he was a bigger bodied guy, buthe could really defend, field
the baseball, had a really goodarm, but could also still come
and get the slow roller in thebunt.
And, when you're building theroster, especially at that
(07:51):
position as.
you think towards the postseasonsmall ball.
it may not be played everyweekend throughout the year, but
when it gets down to postseasonclose baseball games there's a
tendency for teams to play alittle bit more small ball.
And so for us with the end goalin mind of playing for
championships You're gonna haveto have a guy that can defend it
over there.
and so obviously we're gonnawant to get the best offensive
(08:13):
player, that we can get, but itmay change between being more of
a power third baseman or a guythat, is just a good baseball
player.
And so that can depend onavailability and what makes
sense in that year for us.
When you're looking at yourroster coming back next year,
what you assume will come back.
Because, we never know anymoreAre you looking at your roster
(08:35):
going, we need a third baseman,but man, we really need a guy
that can bat third for us.
We really need a guy that cangive us.
60 rbis in a season.
Does that play a role in yourhead or do you go, God, that kid
can flat out pick it?
He's probably gonna be ournumber eight hitter, but he can
flat out pick it.
are you having that argument inyour head Yeah, absolutely.
(08:57):
That's, we return our shortstop,our second baseman.
our first baseman, we return abunch of really good pieces on
offense.
And so for us, first andforemost is, man, we're gonna
want somebody that can defend itover there.
and offensively, we've done agood job of developing hitters
over the years and whether it'sa junior college transfer or a
(09:17):
transfer portal, guy.
that for us is gonna come firstis can he play the position?
regardless of whether he isgonna hit in the three hole or
the eight hole, or anywhere inbetween there, the priority for
us is a guy that he's gotta beable to do it over at third base
for sure.
I love it.
I love it.
I don't think any family trulyunderstands what we're going
through when we're watching akid play.
(09:38):
We can fall in love with a kidand I think parents are like he
made four great plays at third.
He did everything right andthere were no errors.
He threw everybody out.
He went two for four with adouble and two rbis.
That's not the end all for you,is it?
A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
You saw that kid play a greatgame.
you went and watched him playlive.
You've seen him on film.
What are you still needing tomake before you guys?
(10:00):
We'll even think about making anoffer.
Yeah, I think, man, baseball's asmall game.
More likely than not, we'regonna have some connection to
whoever we're going to watchplay, whether it's his junior
college coach or if it's a highschool kid, his high school
coach, his summer ball coach, orhis teammates.
Maybe it's a player that'salready in our program.
the guys that are in thisprogram.
(10:21):
That played with them, they'regonna know'em really well, not
just on the baseball field, butprobably how they are off the
field.
sometimes our best asset in therecruiting process is our own
players.
hearing what they have to sayabout'em.
obviously we're gonna check thekids' character, what type of
teammate are they?
what's their work ethic thosethings in our program are so
super, super important to us.
(10:42):
if you don't have, a strong workethic man, you're gonna get left
behind.
and you're first, you're gonnaget challenged, man to be
better.
but you're gonna be heldaccountable to that as well.
And so that's something that onthe front end, before we, get
down the road Of an offerbringing a kid in on a official
visit is, man, we're gonna doour homework.
We can obviously see the stuffon the field, but we're gonna
(11:04):
try to find out as muchinformation from as many people
as possible on, on everythingabout you.
Give me a list of the type ofpeople you've called on a kid.
I'd call an English teacher.
Yeah.
I'd call the guidance counselor.
Yeah.
Gimme a list of some of thepeople you've called on a kid,
man.
just the other day I was on thephone with one of our players,
one of his dad.
They played some, the kidsplayed summer ball together back
(11:25):
in the day.
And it may have been.
Three, four years ago, but Iknew there's a connection.
And man, tell me, what did yousee as a person on the outside
looking in?
man, I've called anybody.
It may be a next door neighbor.
just anybody that has aconnection to the kid, man,
we're gonna exhaust everyresource we have, just to gather
as much information, as wepossibly can.
I love it.
(11:45):
you just don't wanna makemistakes.
You're looking at so many kidsand you wanna make sure.
You don't bring a kid in, fromyour perspective, you don't want
the kid to be in the wrongplace.
For sure.
A hundred percent.
The kid's not gonna be able tohandle your culture.
Yeah.
Or I was an intense coach, Iwould tell'em I'm really
intense.
Talk to my players, ask themthose questions.
Make sure that you'recomfortable playing for a guy
(12:05):
like me, and they'll tell youthe truth.
My guys would tell you the truthabout me.
Yeah.
No doubt.
I'm not your guy.
I'm not, don't come here you, Iwant you to figure some of that
out first for sure.
how much, when you're talking topeople, do you ask about the
parents?
man, we do, to an extent.
yeah, is, that's something that,it's a valuable piece,
especially in our program.
man, we had a really cool dealthe other night celebrating all
(12:28):
of our seniors.
the other night we did a banquetwith them and their parents.
we made the seniors when theygot called up, their parents
went up front with them, whilethat senior talked, and so It's
an important piece, thisprogram.
That's something when we bringkids and families in on a visit,
and we sit'em down in this roomthat I'm sitting in right now,
is that something that we talkabout is, it's not just about
the baseball player that'scoming to play here, but it's
(12:49):
about your whole family is wewant everybody to be invested in
this thing because it's so muchbigger, than just.
This coaching staff or oursupport staff and the players.
our parents do so much behindthe scenes as well in supporting
our program, and they're a bigpart of this thing too.
I love it.
All right, coach.
let's talk some, let's get downinto the dirt here a little bit.
(13:10):
how many kids do you guys liketo carry on your roster?
We try to stay at no more, than40 half of those 20 to 24 of
those being pitchers, you can'thave enough pitching.
this past year we went and addeda few more guys late with the
whole Juco Covid 21 with all thedivision one guys that had an
extra year You just didn't knowhow many of those were gonna
(13:33):
want to keep playing baseball.
and then, as it kept unfolding,and more and more of them were
going into the transfer portaland we knew that they could make
us better, we added a few moreon this year's roster.
But in an ideal world, we wouldlove to stay at no more than 40.
Not every year is an exactnumber, but we try to keep it
under 40.
How many of those kids will seethe field?
(14:00):
Man.
one piece of that is injury.
Just looking at a roster isyou're gonna have injuries every
single year.
some of those may be seasonending before the season even
starts, with the way baseball isnowadays, especially with arm
injuries, surgeries are more andmore common every single year,
and that's something that youcan't predict.
And there's gonna be freshmenthat come in that red shirt.
And so there's always gonna be acouple red shirts in the
(14:22):
program.
And then injuries.
And so I would say at least 30guys are gonna see the field,
anywhere between 30 and 35 guysat some point, whether it's a
pitcher that gets some innings.
and it may not be a big amount,but, I wouldn't be surprised
just looking on our roster ifwe've had over 30 guys appear in
games this year.
17 hitters and 19 pitchers.
(14:44):
Okay.
That is really impressive,coach.
Yeah.
And we're not talking about awhole lot of one inning, one
game you've got, I think you're,you've had one pitcher pitching
th two pitchers pitching threegames.
Okay.
And you and banning wise, you'vehad, you've had one hitter in
four games and one in eight, andeverybody else is 30 plus yeah.
Yeah.
That's really impressive.
do you and coach Porsche, do youhave that concerted effort
(15:07):
saying, these kids are here,they're busting their tail for
us, we're asking so much ofthem.
We know we've got a doubleheader coming up that we should
dominate this team.
Are you thinking about we gottaget this kid in as a pinch
hitter, I gotta get, we gottaget this kid ings at second
base.
You think about that long termfor sure we do.
goal one is winning, but alsotoo looking big picture over the
(15:30):
course of a season where we'replaying four game weekends,
that's a lot of baseball.
That's a lot of wear and tear onbodies and, What you have to be
able to do those things isdepth, is where the gap of
player.
and fortunately for us is, we'vegot a lot of guys that work
extremely hard to develop theirgame, to make themselves better,
to where, A guy that's in thelineup every day, that needs a
(15:50):
break.
we can give him a break and thedrop off is not significant.
And having guys in the programthat can spot start, pinch, hit,
pinch, run, defensivereplacement, you know that's so
valuable in a program, right?
A hundred percent.
You gotta have guys that can doit all.
and those guys that can.
Stay in a mindset of, man, I'mgonna keep working and I'm gonna
(16:12):
be ready when my name is called.
and that goes back to, theculture of this program is that
you have to have guys, there'sonly nine guys that can be on
the field at a time.
there's only nine guys that getto hit at a time.
and so there's a lot of guysthat, are on the outside looking
in.
But, Our guys have done a greatjob of staying in a place to
where, when their name iscalled, they've been ready,
which is awesome.
(16:34):
What's really amazing is you'vegot, what, nine, 10 kids batting
over a thousand OPS, man.
Yeah.
if typically if you have one ortwo of those guys right, you've
got a pretty good lineup.
You've got nine or 10 that haveall played 30 plus games.
The fact that you're getting somany kids into games with so
many great hitters, that's evendoubly impressive.
(16:54):
So that's really cool.
All right.
you talked about half of the 40you want to be pitchers.
What are you looking at least,sometimes you might have 22, 23,
get it right night, especiallywhen you got four game weekends
where you may use 15 pitchers,16 pitchers in a weekend.
For sure.
Let's talk about.
your utility.
what are you looking at when theroster's all said and done?
(17:17):
It's September 1st.
What do you want it, are youlooking for two first base and
two second, two short, twothird, five or six outfielders?
Two, three catchers.
What is your makeup of thatother 20?
That are playing the field.
Yeah.
one of the things that everysingle year is, like you said,
(17:37):
we wanna be at least too deep atevery spot.
A catcher that can also playfirst base is awesome.
just because.
in our league, going back to itis you can't catch four games in
a weekend.
No.
that's a lot of innings to catchand a lot of wear and tear.
being able to have.
at least two, or more catchersthat can really do it behind the
plate.
we have five on the roster thisyear.
(17:59):
that's, we need five guys.
There's a lot of innings to goaround.
There's a lot of bullpens to becaught.
A lot of live pitcher, catcher,hitters.
but for us is having a catcherthat has the ability to go play
first base can dh, and then,having, a lot of times it's
having infielders.
Every single year we have aninfielder that's transitioned to
at least playing some in theoutfield.
(18:19):
And so that is, always havingguys that.
can play multiple spots on theinfield.
I think recruiting shortstops,whether it's a high school kid,
or a junior college kid, if theycan play shortstop, they can
most likely play the other twoon each side of'em, for
instance, this year, BryceJewel, who's, a high school
shortstop, went to anotherschool before coming back, to
(18:39):
Tyler Played third, has beenprimarily a third baseman for
us.
our first baseman went down witha hamstring injury.
and he's been our everyday firstbaseman, for, two thirds of the
season.
and it's great to have a firstbaseman that can play anywhere
on the infield.
and he's done a great job ofmaking that transition, and
winning us some games with hisdefense at first base.
(19:00):
That's awesome.
Yeah, and it's, you gotta havethe depth,'cause you guys are
gonna play over 50 games thisyear.
Yeah.
You're playing sometimes six,seven games in a week and it
gets really good competition.
When I look at your roster, it'sreally Texas heavy.
Which I don't blame you at allbecause when you got that much
talent around the Tyler area andthe Houston, Dallas, Austin
(19:22):
area, you don't have to go toofar.
But you do have some kids thatare from far away.
Yeah.
You've got a coupleinternational kids, you've got
some kids that in Colorado.
What is your approach in termsof.
Not just bringing in talent, butculture building, creating a
melting pot, bringing kids infrom different parts of the
country.
(19:42):
are you guys really focused onhaving 80% of your kids in Texas
or is that just the way ithappens?
Yeah, that's just the kind ofthe way that it's happened.
obviously we have a ton of goodbaseball in the state of Texas
for us, a big thing inrecruiting is video is great.
Technology is great.
Having TrackMan information onkids from other places.
All of those things are nice tohave.
(20:03):
but we love to put our eyes on aguy and watch games, before we
like to make a decision.
Obviously that's changed alittle bit with the transfer
portal in the summer is,sometimes all you have is video.
A kid may not be playing summerball.
but for us, especially in thefall is.
summer and fall is, man, we'reout a ton.
our whole staff gets out a bunchand we like to put our eyes on
(20:25):
guys as much as possible.
And so that's why we have someKansas guys, guys that play
junior college baseball, inKansas.
And so we get up to Kansas everyfall, spend some time up there.
We have.
some junior college coaches inKansas that we have some really
good relationships with.
obviously if we can't get upthere and see'em, we have some
people up there that we canreally trust to help us, that we
(20:46):
know is gonna give us a goodevaluation if we can't make it
up there.
And that's how the rostersworked out.
we've had some internationalkids over the years.
a lot of those internationals.
we're junior college kids atsome schools in Texas.
We have great relationships withthe coaches that are there and
we trust them.
that's just how the rostersworked out, is we're gonna cast
a wide net to everywhere that wehave connections and contacts
(21:08):
shrink that list down and what'sleft.
Coach my, I live in Minnesota.
I'm just gonna give you ahypothetical.
My son's a really good ballplayer.
Yeah.
He'd love to go to Texas.
Loved to play at UT Tyler.
How do you want him to reach outto you?
For sure.
Yeah.
I think obviously, email is.
(21:29):
The probably the best way,especially if there's, I don't
have a connection that I don'tif there is a connection,
obviously that connection isgonna help.
We get so many emails everysingle day, hundreds of emails
on kids from all over the world.
the biggest thing is, havingvideo, when those emails are
sent is huge.
if I just see some numbers that,hitting three 50 or whatever the
(21:51):
number may be, I don'tnecessarily know what level of
competition that's against, andso how to trust the number.
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
And so being able to, give us asmuch information about who that
student athlete is, numbers,academics, how are they doing in
the classroom.
And then, video being attachedto where I'm not having to go
search, search and dig to try tofind information.
(22:13):
and just giving us as muchinformation in an email as
possible is great.
Okay.
You have a ton of emails.
I've sent you an email.
I don't get a response.
What's your advice to me?
I know I want to play for you.
I know.
I want feedback from you.
I haven't, I've sent the email.
Two weeks have gone by.
Yeah.
(22:34):
What do I do?
I'll be the first one to say I'mguilty of it happens.
Me too.
I was too.
Yeah.
And man, if it's a place thatyou really want to be, that you
think it's somewhere, call my owe have an office phone, the
number's listed on the schoolwebsite, or if you know somebody
that knows us, making thatconnection, trying to find a
connection of some sort towhere, hey.
(22:57):
if I see a number on my phoneand I know who it is, I'm a lot
more likely to pick up the phonethan if it's just a number from
Minnesota that I don't know whoit is.
and so that, and then man, Iknow there's camps that are out
there, whether it's a recruitingcamp at our place, or whether
it's a tournament that's inTexas.
And I think reaching back out,say, Hey, I see that you have a
(23:17):
camp coming up.
Looking at my video, is thissomething to where there's
interest in that you would liketo see more?
And so that's another way that'snot always an ideal situation.
but getting in front of ussometimes is the best evaluation
that we're gonna get.
'cause I can only, like I said,is we can only do so much from
video.
(23:38):
I teach my kids, my baseballrecruits.
if you're gonna reach out toyou.
Ask for feedback.
Do you think I have the skillsetto play for you?
Are there things that you thinkI have to develop if I wanna
play at that level?
Are you guys open to giving that32nd, two minute evaluation?
For sure.
Yeah.
(23:58):
I mean I, we're obviously a lotmore likely to do that not in
the postseason right now, in,in, we're trying to maybe not
send you an email in the middleof the playoffs, right?
That's right.
Yeah, exactly.
So we're, working on scoutingreports and trying to make sure
that we have every piece ofinformation that we can get on
that.
But man, if it's a summertime,we're out recruiting, we're in
recruiting mode in thesummertime.
(24:20):
And, that's something that I'vedone before and I think.
if I get a video and it's ajunior that's throwing 78 miles
per hour, That's not gonna be agood fit for us, right?
It may be for some, and there'sprograms that, you know, that,
that may be interested in that.
being willing to do that, butalso being okay with, okay, this
isn't an option.
and moving on to the next schoolon the list.
(24:42):
I preach this to kids and toparents.
When you reach out to a coach,you're looking for three
outcomes.
They wanna recruit you, theylike you, and they wanna start
that journey.
Yeah.
They don't like you and or theyjust don't have a fit for you.
But they've, they're telling youthat for sure.
Or they're willing to give youany type of advice or feedback
on your game.
Strengths, weaknesses, whatever.
(25:03):
All those are golden nuggets.
If you can get that from a coachand if they tell you they're not
interested, you need tocelebrate that because that's
now a program you can take offyour list.
You don't have to worry aboutit.
Yeah.
Move on to the other schools onyour list.
For sure.
and I think the big, a big piecefor us is having a summer
schedule, especially if it'ssummertime or fall schedule
(25:23):
because, we're out a ton and ifyou send me an email and I have
some video, I may just be like,ah, I don't really have a good
eval from video, but.
If you also send your scheduleand I see that you're gonna be
at a tournament that we're gonnabe at.
I'm gonna make a note in myfolder of that, okay, hey, this
kid was interested in us.
when I see that team play, I atleast know that kid's
(25:44):
interested.
I'm gonna pay a little bit moreattention, to that player when
he's on the field versus a kidthat he doesn't know anything
about our program.
but I like him, versus a kidthat I know he is interested, so
I'm gonna pay that kid a littlebit extra attention, to see if
it is a good fit.
Yeah, that's right.
You don't have to convince himto look at your school.
they've done research, right?
(26:04):
They've sent you everything youneed.
All right, two more questions,coach.
I'm gonna let you go.
You've been awesome.
video.
I just hated it when kids sentme game footage.
I wanted repetition.
I wanted to see, can you repeatit?
Yes.
You can hit a double off thewall against a kid throwing 72
mile an hour.
I don't know what this kid cando on the mound.
What do you want to see on film?
(26:25):
and technology's grown a ton inthe last, decade especially.
Hitters at times can be moredifficult to evaluate on film
than pitchers.
if it's a pitcher is man, if youhave game footage, is having a
radar gun in the video to whereit's not game film and then
typing, Hey, I was.
(26:46):
89 and 92 in this game is ifit's possible to game footage
with a radar gun in the video towhere I can see, okay, there's a
stalker radar gun right there.
And that pitch was actually 89.
if it's game footage and it's apitcher, I think that's
important, to be able to havethat in there.
does that same with practicefootage?
Yeah, even practice footage.
If it's a bullpen and there's aradar gun in there, whatever.
(27:08):
Yeah.
Practice footage, a scrimmage orwhatever is.
us being able to see data in avideo, that's gonna catch my
attention more than some gamefootage with you typing in.
And then, a lot of places,training facilities nowadays or
junior colleges, They haveRapsodo technology, track man,
those sorts of things is beingable to attach.
(27:29):
Maybe it is a bullpen.
and then you get your PDF reportof your bullpen or your inner
squad that day.
Just now we're getting into.
if it's a pitcher, knowing thatit's a 90 mile per hour
fastball, but is it a four seamride fastball, that really
spins, or is it a sinker ballthat really sinks and having the
data to back that up?
(27:50):
And then also, if it's a hitterand you have Soto is, how hard
are you consistently hitting thebaseball?
what's your max exit be low?
That exit velocity isn'teverything, but it gives us a
better idea of.
how hard is a guy impacting thebaseball?
Absolutely.
I love it.
Coach, give one piece of adviceto families are going through
(28:10):
this recruiting process.
we could take UT Tyler out ofit.
what do you think a family needsto hear when they're starting
this journey and their kidreally wants to play at the next
level.
What piece of advice would yougive them?
Man, that's.
I think the biggest thing is Iwould talk to the student
(28:32):
athlete first to make sure, man,is this what you really want to
do?
and if the answer to that is, I.
I don't know.
It's, man, you need to make surethat this is what you want to do
before you start exhausting,whether it's your personal time
to, to put in the time that youneed to develop as a baseball
player.
if you're not sure if you wantto, you're gonna end up at some
(28:55):
place.
And man, if you don't reallywant to do it and you really
don't want to get up for 6:00 AMwaits or 7:00 AM waits.
You're not gonna last.
I think that's the biggest thingfor the student athlete.
First is man, make sure it'sreally what you want to do
before you start going down thisroad.
especially if your parents aregonna be willing to spend a
bunch of money taking you totournaments, getting you
(29:16):
lessons, buying you really niceequipment, making sure that it's
something that you want to dofirst off.
When I was a junior collegecoach, for example, when, we had
guys in our program that weregoing to the next level, it was,
Hey man, gimme the top fivedivision one schools.
You want to go to division two,division three, NAIA.
So build out that list Everybodywants to go play division one
(29:37):
baseball.
Everybody wants to play in thebig leagues, right?
Not everybody's going to, and sobe open to a bunch of really
good options at a bunch ofreally good levels.
I don't care if it's divisionone, division two, division
three NAI, junior college.
The top of all of thosedivisions is really good
baseball.
It doesn't matter which one itis.
(29:57):
And so then it becomes, man, areyou good enough to play at this
level?
Or, I'm not good enough to playat this level, but I'm good
enough to play over here.
and being open to differentoptions.
If you're just dead set on onething, chances are more likely
than not, it's probably notgonna reach out if you only have
five schools that you're willingto go to.
(30:17):
odds are that those fiveschools, you aren't gonna be a
good fit for them.
And so being willing and open tobeing realistic to your options
is a big piece, of the puzzle.
I wrote this book, coachsignificant recruiting.
You just talked about chapterone and chapter two, so thank
you.
what families need to understandis kids get drafted out of all
(30:41):
of those divisions Every singleyear.
Yukon who made the World Seriestwo years ago, had nine kids
that transferred Division threeTo Division one.
To help them get to the nationalchampionship.
It says a lot about your programand how you guys go about your
business.
Coach, thank you so much foryour time today.
It was great advice.
It was great insight and anyfamily that's listening to this,
(31:05):
if you're not paying attention,this is how college coaches
recruit and they're caring aboutyour kid and they're caring
about your journey.
So great stuff, coach.
Thank you.
Matt, thanks for having me on,man.
I really appreciate it.
I can't wait to see the nextthree, four weeks for you guys.
We'll be cheering for you.
Awesome.
us too, man.
We're excited to get after itand get rolling.
(31:26):
Good luck, coach.
Thank you.
That wraps up the very firstsignificant recruiting bonus
episode.
A big thank you to Coach TaylorWhite from UT Tyler for sharing
his perspective on what mattersmost in today's recruiting
process and how he helps studentathletes succeed at the next
level.
(31:47):
If you're not yet a subscriber,head to coach matt rogers.com or
the podcast page to join us forweekly recruiting insights.
While you're there, you can graba copy of significant
recruiting, check out the latestblog or schedule your free
one-on-one session with me.
Thanks again for listening.
Let's keep building your journeywith significance.
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