May 19, 2025 • 55 mins
Tanner Gresham, former Army West Point pitcher now in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system, shares his remarkable journey of resilience and determination through baseball, military service, and recovery from Tommy John surgery.
• Son of a minor league baseball player who reached AAA level and briefly made the majors
• Chose West Point for its prestigious education and post-graduation opportunities
• Balanced the intense demands of being a cadet athlete with rigorous academics and military obligations
• Underwent Tommy John surgery that gave him "two UCLs" in his pitching arm
• Completed an accelerated 11-month recovery instead of the typical 14-18 months
• Posted a 2.70 ERA with the Trenton Thunder in the MLB Draft League
• Applied for the World-Class Athlete Program to continue professional baseball while serving in the military
• Working toward potential selection for Team USA Baseball at the 2028 Olympics
• Credits surrounding himself with like-minded people as key to his success
• Lives by the philosophy that the only two things you control are effort and attitude
Follow Tanner on IG: @Jommy.tohn and @tgresh
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Warriors fall in.
It's time for formation Folksout there.
I have a special guest on today.
Today I have the pleasure ofinterviewing someone whose
journey truly exemplifies theconcept of adapt and overcome.
Our guest today is TannerGresham, a former Army West
Point pitcher who's now chasinghis professional baseball dreams
within the PhiladelphiaPhillies minor league system.
(00:23):
Tanner's story is one ofresilience, dedication and
overcoming setbacks.
A lot of these athletes that gothrough the Academy not just
deal with the day to daygrueling activities of being in
a military Academy, but thenthey are also training every day
, making huge, huge sacrificeswhen it comes to just their
(00:45):
young adult life and whatthey're accomplishing at the end
of it all.
Because graduating from WestPoint is a very prestigious
action.
It demands excellence, not onlyacademically and athletically,
but also through militarydiscipline.
Furthermore, our guest today isrecovering from, or has
recovered from, Tommy Johnsurgery.
Our guest today is recoveringfrom, or has recovered from,
(01:05):
Tommy John surgery, a journey ofphysical and mental strength
coming from a high level ofdiscipline and just can-do
attitude.
So today I'm very, very blessedand honored to have you on the
Morning Formation, Tanner.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Thank you for joining us today.
Absolutely Thank you for havingme.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm really excited.
So let's just get started, man,and talk about where it all
started for you.
I understand that your fatherplayed in the minors and he
reached AAA.
How did his experience and hisoverall I guess approach to how
he raised you shape your passionand your approach to the game
(01:48):
of baseball?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, my dad is a huge, huge impact on my life.
You know, he played for nineyears in the minor league system
.
He reached he reached the majorleague level, for I believe
what he told me was three dayswith the Orioles and then he got
sent right back down.
But I think my childhood withmy dad was probably like anyone
(02:12):
you'd see out of a movie whereyou know the dad was a star
athlete and coaching their kidsthe right way.
And I still think he, to thisday he calls me to, you know,
ask me questions about what I'vebeen doing, how I'm working out
and things like that.
But from a young age, baseballwas the number one priority for
(02:34):
him and myself and you know henever forced it on me, he didn't
try to, you know, spoon feed meeverything that he knew.
But he gave me the opportunitiesto pursue baseball, and in the
way that I wanted to.
And so, um, again, from a youngage, he coached me all the way
up until I was about 14.
Um, and it was long nights,long car trips with just him and
(02:58):
I, um, you know, driving downto wherever you know United
States of America to play theweekend tournaments and
week-long tournaments during thesummer, and so he was a huge,
huge part of my baseball journeyand he still is, even up
through college.
After every game I'd pitch,he'd call and tell me to give
(03:21):
him a breakdown of what I thinkI did right, right, what I think
I did wrong, um, and then andthen he'd kind of get that sort
of background coaching, I guess,and sort of the the dad's hand
in the pot to kind of, you know,tell me you know to get over
myself or or kind of you know,just bring me back to square one
, if, if I had a bad day orsomething like that yeah, that's
(03:41):
huge man.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
My dad had a major impact on me growing up too.
My dad was drafted into themilitary in 1971, spent 20 years
in, was a drill sergeant forfive years.
Army Ranger did all the crazymilitary stuff.
So dads have those huge impactson the boys for sure.
In high school did you playother sports too.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
No, so I played.
I played football up throughmiddle school.
I was actually a kicker, soit's not a lot of strenuous
football activity, I guess youwould say as a kicker.
But when I was younger I swamand things like that and I was
sort of an all around sort ofsport kind of player.
But once, once I got to thehigh school level is when
(04:25):
baseball came my ultimate focusand, um, especially with travel
ball and things like that,during the summer there was just
not a lot of time for me toworry about other sports and
really, really my passion forbaseball grew so much that I
didn't really want to playanything else.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I know those travel leagues are really no
joke, man.
Man, I know it takes up a lotof your time, doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
yeah, it was.
It was every every weekend ofthe summer, um, and into the
early fall, um, before you know,before school started and
things like that.
That was just constant.
You know whether it's goingdown to Atlanta to play, to
Florida, to Mississippi,louisiana, everywhere in the
southeast pretty much um to justplay games and and be with some
(05:06):
of my best friends now tanner.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Did you always see yourself as yourself playing
college ball at such aprestigious program?
Did you have other collegesthat you were considering as
well?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
um, I would say yes and no.
Um, you know my, my collegerecruitment.
It wasn college recruitment.
It wasn't big and grand oranything like that.
I didn't until the summerbefore my senior year, that West
Point, you know, kind of madethe call and opened my eyes to
(05:50):
that side of the house, I guessyou could say, and everything
kind of just changed from there.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, and you know, playing at Army West Point
that's a huge take.
It requires a lot of disciplineand commitment that not every
college athlete faces.
What do you think was the mostchallenging and rewarding part
of balancing your academics,athletics and just your military
obligations?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
you know, dive into that, that are challenging and
things like that.
But the most rewarding by farwas was the teammates that I had
all through all four years.
Um, you know my freshman yearthere were numerous, numerous
seniors that kind of took me andthe rest of the freshman under
their wing, um, and that thatwas.
That was COVID year too.
So it was.
You know it was prettystrenuous on on COVID testing
and practices were limited,games were limited during the
(06:47):
season when it started and therewas a time, there was a time
where you know it was Wednesday,you would kind of sit in class
and then get out early practiceand then leave Wednesday night
to travel to a game series thatwas Friday, saturday, sunday,
wednesday night to travel to agame series that was Friday,
saturday, sunday, and you'redriving on a bus the whole way
(07:07):
so that you know there was.
There were 14, 15 hour bustrips throughout the week with
my teammates and and you know itwas probably that was probably
the most rewarding is justgetting to know 40 to 50 of, you
know, my best friends to thisday.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Now, how often was it that you would travel cross
country?
Was it always on a bus?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
No, so.
So COVID specifically was wasstrictly bus trips.
Um, I know the farthest we wentwas to actually North Carolina.
We traveled to Raleigh, um sortof back to back, back to back
weekends, and then, um, the restof the time after that was, you
know, mostly, mostly by plane,once every restriction was
(07:47):
upended and things like that.
But I think the farthest we hadtraveled was to Lubbock, texas,
to Texas Tech at the end of myfreshman year and I was actually
by plane, come to think of it.
But then again I've been to somany schools you know Vanderbilt
, texas, christian, um Stetson,you know anywhere that you can
(08:07):
think of.
You know big schools and thingslike that that were really good
competition for our team whatwas the biggest name school that
you played?
at the time I would sayVanderbilt 100 percent.
Um, you know they had wonmultiple back-to-back world
series and and had a a rap sheetthat you know longer than most
people's driveways.
(08:28):
So you know it was.
It was pretty cool to be thereand, granted, you know it's it's
the middle of March inTennessee so it's not warm by
any means, but again it was.
It was more about theexperience and, you know,
getting the guys on our team theexperience that they needed to
play an SEC team like that andgetting the guys on our team the
experience that they needed toplay an SEC team like that.
(08:51):
What was your ultimate decidingfactor when choosing West Point
At the end of the day?
My dad told me that he went toUNC, charlotte in North Carolina
, and he left after his junioryear, after when he was drafted
um in north carolina, and heleft after his junior year,
after when he was drafted um andand he told me that had he
stayed in school, you know hewould have finished his degree.
And and that was kind of adeciding factor is you know, if
(09:14):
I've finished my time at westpoint and I get the chance to
graduate, then you know I'm setfor the next 40 years of my life
, and that was a recruiting toolthat the coaches used as well.
As you know, if you graduatefrom West Point, whether you
move on to sports afterwards oryou know you join the army, no
matter what, you know the next40 years of your life are going
to be set because you know youspend your time in the army that
(09:36):
however long you want, and thenafter that, you know there's
such a prestige with, you know,the West Point degree that
hiring I guess is kind of in theyou know the top percent of
West Pointers wanting to gethired.
So you know, I think that wasultimately the deciding factor
is just the opportunities thatcame after West Point.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, definitely.
I have such an immense amountof respect for you because I was
enlisted in the National Guardfor four years and then I went
active duty as an officer and itwas the same deal for me where
my dad was enlisted, did 20years, retired as an E-8.
And he wanted me to become anofficer because he said, hey, if
(10:16):
you stay in for 20 years you'regoing to be better off, you're
going to at least be a major,hopefully Lieutenant, colonel or
more.
And he said, son, I know whatit's like to spend 20 years in
and I know what it's like and Iwant you to accomplish and
(10:37):
finish your bachelor's degree,your college, before anything
else.
And I can tell you, as a secondlieutenant and as a lieutenant,
I immediately went to OperationIraqi Freedom in 2004.
And by the time I was 27 yearsold and I got out as an 03, I
had experienced so muchleadership opportunities,
whether it was leading a convoyor leading a platoon in Iraq or
(10:58):
a patrol in Iraq.
A lot of the folks that were inmy same peer group could not
say the same.
So you're 100% correct on that,like when it comes to just
leadership in general andgetting put out in front of the
platoon or in front of theformation to have to command
troops.
So how does that work for youright now as far as your
(11:18):
military obligation, and thenyou being in the minor leagues?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
being in the minor leagues.
Yes, sir, so at the currentmoment, I submitted a packet to
join the world-class athleteprogram I'm not sure if you're
familiar with that where it's ait's sort of a pathway for
athletes that are in themilitary to attend the Olympics,
and so recently it was capped.
I believe she's a captain,captain Sullivan was a member of
the US Army rugby team in Paris, and so it's a way for active
(11:50):
duty soldiers to to train fortheir sport while serving on
active duty and ultimately endin the pathway to where you are
in the Olympics, are in theOlympics.
And so, in my case, once my,you know, once my packet is
approved by the hand of God Iguess you could say at this
(12:11):
point, you know, I once, oncethat happens, I will return to
Florida to play with thePhillies for the foreseeable
future, and then, once 2028comes around, when they're
selecting teams for the Olympics, I'll try out for the USA
baseball team and thenparticipate in the Olympics in
Los Angeles in 2028.
And so that's kind of thepathway that I guess you could
(12:34):
say, and there's some other,there's some other pathways that
my teammates, my formerteammates, have taken, but in my
case that's, that's how I'mtraveling have taken, but in my
case that's that's how I'mtraveling.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I mean, that's been huge man with college right
now.
Um is there's so many differentpathways for folks out there,
even getting commissioned intothe military.
You know, the thing that youjust mentioned, I'd never heard
about before, um and I thinkoverall with nil being a big
deal in college ball right now,in college sports in general,
and then this year the WestPoint quarterback.
(13:08):
There was a little bit of talkbehind him being able to draft,
but he wasn't able to and he'snot able to, and from the last I
heard, he's going to go intothe military as an officer and
serve his time, which is verycommendable.
At the same time, has that NILstuff even touched the academies
at all?
An officer and serve his time,which is very commendable at the
same time, has that NIL stuffeven even?
Speaker 2 (13:29):
touched the academies at all?
No, not at all.
And I think I think even Ithink it's a good thing.
Honestly, you know it becausethat was a that was a huge part
of why we were so successful atWest Point.
You know, because, specificallyfor baseball players and things
like that and coaches will getoffered a ridiculous amount of
(13:49):
money to attend a school for oneor two years to then get
drafted later on.
But you know, at West Pointyou're there for four years and
you're not leaving unless you'repaying a hefty amount of money.
That you know that not a lot ofpeople want to look at twice.
And so I think you know thatnot a lot of people want to look
at twice.
And so I think you know havinga set group of individuals for
(14:12):
four straight years at oneschool and not having to rebuild
a team or rebuild relationshipswith coaches and things like
that is very crucial to why wewere so successful.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, and you know that camaraderie is so important
.
And now in college sportsyou're seeing not a lot of
camaraderie.
It's taking teams.
You know in college footballit's taking teams at least four
or five games to figure out howto gel together and how to work
together, versus, like what yousaid, having teammates for
several years and understandinghow everybody functions and
(14:39):
what's everybody's role.
I want to get into the adaptand overcome part of your life
where you had Tommy John surgeryjust before your senior year.
Can you talk to us about yourrecovery process and how you
managed to make such a strongreturn in 2024?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yes, sir.
So in April of 2023, I wasactually pitching against Navy
and I felt some weird thingsthat day, and then the next day
I got an MRI and found out thatmy UCL was torn off my bone
actually and so I went throughthe surgery about a month later
(15:19):
and started my rehab process.
I went through the surgeryabout a month later and started
my rehab process.
West Point actually sent mehome for the summer to rehab
with a doctor that I knew athome.
From that point, I think Ispent around eight weeks in a
brace while I was at home duringthe summer.
(15:45):
I wanted to say, when I startedoff, it was probably 10 to 12
hours of, you know, lighterrehab just because I was coming
off surgery, so they didn't wantto, you know, kill me, I guess
you could say, in the firstcouple parts of it.
But once I got back to WestPoint and things started to kind
of mesh together and I had asort of a schedule I guess you
could say is to you know, go toclass, go to practice and do my
rehab and things like that, um,and you know so I had a
(16:07):
wonderful, wonderful trainer.
A shout out to Julie Uh, she'san awesome, awesome trainer that
works at West Point and um, youknow it was her and I were in
the training room at thebaseball field, probably 30
hours a week.
Room at the baseball field,probably 30 hours a week, maybe
40, um, on some, on some weeks,and it was just a constant,
constant battle to try to getback to where I was and, if not
(16:30):
better, and the the hardest partabout it was, you know, in in a
full reconstruction of your UCL, the full Tommy John surgery,
um, it's, it's a 14 to 18 monthrehab, no matter what, um, and I
only had to.
(16:50):
I only had 11 months to do itbecause West Point doesn't offer
red shirts.
You know, once, like I said,it's, it's four years and you're
gone, um, and so I had to do itin 11 months, um, from May to
basically April, before theseason ended and before I
graduated, and so, in that inthat case, you know, I talked
with my coaches and my in mytraining staff to basically
(17:11):
understand that I I've got towork a lot harder than a lot of
people to try to get this doneand get back to where I was and
get back to square one where Iwas and get back to square one.
And so again, the the 30 hoursin the training room, um, even
more time, even more time, kindof by myself and trying to
figure out, you know, goingthrough the struggles of rehab
(17:35):
and the setbacks and things likethat, because you feel great
one day and you don't feel sogreat the next day, um, and
there's just a lot of challengesthat come into that.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, that's really what life is all about, man.
It's picking yourself back upagain, brushing yourself off and
getting back on it again andover the years.
I mean I'm in my mid-40s nowand I've had injuries.
Just doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu,I tore my Achilles, tore my pec
muscle completely off, had toget it reattached, huge setbacks
.
And what tells me that you're atrue professional is that I
(18:03):
honestly didn't take my physicaltherapy seriously.
I didn't take it seriously.
I was like, whatever I'mWolverine, I'll recover, but
being so young, you're able todo that.
But what you don't realize, inthe long run, man, if you don't
take that rehab seriously, it'llcome back to bite you.
So that just that you wereraised right at the end of the
(18:24):
day, tanner, as far as yourdiscipline and being a true
professional overall.
So, with that being said, yourinjuries a lot of times kind of
change the way that you approachthe game in general.
Did, would you think that yourpitching style, or were there
aspects of your game that yourefined or adjusted for a better
(18:45):
performance after your surgery?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Um, I don't want to say my mechanics or anything
related to my pitchingspecifically changed that much,
um, but one say one thing I willsay that changed was my
preparation and mypost-preparation.
I guess you could say, because Ihad gone through so many hours
(19:10):
and so many weeks of rehab, thatI kind of retrained my brain
almost.
I guess you could say tounderstand OK, if I prepare a
certain way and I do certainstretches and I do all these
things properly, then I'm goingto feel better on the field, um,
when I'm actually performing Um, and and by that time my, my
coach, my pitching coach, um, hekind of, you know, we went
(19:32):
through some videos and thingslike that during my rehab
process to kind of understand,like, where do we need to start
to get you back better than youwere before?
And so, in terms of a baseballstandpoint, increasing my
velocity was never a problem andit was never a question as to
(19:53):
this is what we want to do.
It was just changing the waythat my brain worked to help me
prepare for pitching outings andthen recover from those
pitching outings.
And in that came, you know, theincrease in velocity, the
increase in strength and thingslike that.
And so, again, I think thefocus on the rehab was probably
the most important factor as towhy I gained I don't want to say
(20:17):
talent, but I gained someknowledge as to, you know,
improving myself.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, and I would say taking it serious too, because
a lot of times people aren'tgoing to invest their time and
effort and energy into you ifthey don't see you meeting them
halfway and showing up andgiving it all that you have.
But what about the mentalaspect of it all, like, what
mental and physical trainingroutines have you found to be
(20:42):
most effective in recoveringfrom surgery and now competing
at the professional level?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Mentally.
You know there was a lot ofstruggles at the beginning
because you know I had never hada major setback or a major
injury like this in my life.
Now I've broken bones here andthere, but you know I was a kid
and things heal fast when you'rea kid.
But at the time you know I wasstruggling a lot mentally
because, especially during thesummer when things were kind of
(21:14):
slow and you know I live on thelake so it's hard for me to go
out on the lake with a brace onand, you know, a fresh car.
So you know there are a lot ofchallenges with, you know,
staying inside and being, youknow, so cooped up, what it felt
like, and then again like Ididn't have use of my right arm
for much of anything other thanholding a fork for a very long
(21:36):
time.
And so you know it waschallenging, was challenging and
I had some some really personalstruggles with that.
And then once, once I got backto West Point, things kind of
got a little bit better becauseI knew there was a road ahead
and I knew at one point I wasgoing to be back on the field,
but then again it was just the.
The time away from baseball wasprobably the most challenging.
(21:59):
Is you know I watching thefirst ball was probably the most
challenging?
Is you know I watching thefirst?
I want to say eight to 10 weeksof the season where my
teammates were doing all thework and I couldn't do anything.
You know I was.
I was just sitting on the onthe bench, uh, cheering my
teammates on as best as I couldand and helping them as best as
I could, um, at the time.
But the, the struggles weredefinitely definitely true and
(22:21):
hard.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Now, when you found out that you had to get Tommy
John surgery, what did thedoctors say?
Did they say, yeah, you willhave trouble pitching?
Did they?
What was?
Would you equate the overallsuccess and recovery to the
quality of the surgery itself,or what did it look dire as far
as like what the doctor'soutlook was with Tommy John?
(22:43):
Just for those folks out therethat aren't really familiar with
Tommy John surgery, because alot of times that can be a
really debilitating injury,right yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
So, um, what?
What happens is the, theligament on the inside of your
arm that connects your humerusand your ulna, um, it, basically
it usually tears in half.
So what mine did?
It tore off the humerus ratherthan tearing down the middle,
and so it didn't necessarilytear it.
(23:11):
Just, you know, it kind ofalmost snapped.
And so what?
The doctor said that you knowthe outlook was still the same
as any other regular fullreconstruction over UCL.
However, you know, he told methat there was going to be a
different surgery.
And I asked him I said is thisgoing to cause me any problems?
Is this going to change the waythat I throw?
(23:31):
Is it going to negativelyaffect me in the long run?
And he said no.
And obviously I had to trusthim.
He's the one with the doctorateand you know the medical, you
know the medical training tounderstand that this is going to
be all right.
But the initial reaction for mewas was pretty heartbreaking,
just knowing that there was onlyI want to say there's probably
(23:52):
four weeks left in the season.
At the time, my junior year,and we were going to a regional.
That year we were going to playat Virginia against some very
good teams to a regional.
That year we were going to playat Virginia um against some
very good teams and just justhaving that news that you know
I'm going to be out for a yearor more was was pretty
heartbreaking and debilitatingat the time, more than the
surgery even itself, um.
(24:14):
But then again, you know, thedoctor did a great job, dr
Donahue, out up at West Point,and basically what he did was he
reattached the original UCL tothe bone and then took a
ligament out of my wrist that ispretty much the same tensile
strength and the same density asmy UCL, retied it on itself
(24:37):
with some sutures and thendrilled it and anchored it into
my bone.
That wraps around the originalUCL.
So people like to say I'mbionic now because I have two
UCLs in my right arm.
And then again, I don't know ifit affects anything, I don't
know if it changes.
You know the anatomy of my arm,I guess you could say, but
again, he's the one with thedoctor and I just I was just yes
(25:00):
, do you feel like Wolverine?
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Sometimes one with a doctor, and I just I was just
yes, you're like, do you feellike Wolverine?
Sometimes you feel strong.
No man before.
Before I move on to talk aboutyour professional transition
into the big leagues, whatadvice would you have for anyone
out there, either in themilitary or maybe in sports in
general, that that have thistype of setback when it comes to
injuries like, what did youlearn either being at West Point
(25:25):
or just throughout your lifethat kind of helped you through
this?
What advice would you give tomotivate or inspire others who
are having an injury setback orsomething like that?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah, the biggest thing and it came from my dad
too, because he had numerousinjuries throughout his
nine-year career and he said,you know, the harder you work
now, the less you have to worklater.
And so that was probably thebiggest thing for me that the
harder I work now and the morepain and suffering that I go
through, it's going to work outin the long run and it's going
to benefit me in the long run.
(25:56):
And again, you know, spending 30to 40 hours a week in the
training room is pretty mindnumbing and it's pretty, pretty
hard to go through, especiallywhen you know, again, you don't,
you don't have the capabilitiesto even do that much with
working out.
Or, you know, even sitting thereat practice, all you can do at
practice is just sit there andwatch and again, so I think,
(26:17):
just focusing all of your timeand attention on your rehab and
kind of shutting everything elseout, and at the end of the day,
you know, you know treatingyourself in a way that you know
it's not going to affect youmentally negatively anymore.
Because a big thing that Iwould do, you know, if I was
down or something, or just youknow not having a good day, I
(26:39):
would kind of go back and watchmy old film from when I was
pitching just, you know, nothaving a good day.
I would kind of go back andwatch my old film from when I
was pitching and it kind of gotme back in the mindset of you
know, the harder I work.
I'm going to get back to thatpoint at some time.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, that's huge.
You definitely want to get allyour work done when you're
younger, in your 20s, and you'reable, and you don't have all
the distractions, all thevariables out there.
That's actually reallyexcellent advice that your
father gave you with that.
Now, from my understanding, youspent some time pitching for
the Trenton Thunder in the MLBDraft League, where you recorded
(27:12):
a solid 2.70 ERA.
What was your biggest takeawaysfrom that experience and how
did you prepare to get into thePhillies system overall?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah.
So the Trenton Thunder is agreat, great place.
I loved officially graduateBecause I was an August grad
because of my surgery thathindered me from completing some
summer training and so inbetween those trainings I was
(27:50):
with the Trenton Thunder andagain, they run it very
professionally.
They run it so well that italmost mimics any minor league
team that you can think of,where you're playing five, six
games a week and you get one offday.
And again the coaching staff inTrenton was so professional and
they had so much experiencethat I think that allowed me to
(28:13):
sort of understand the ins andouts of a higher level of
baseball.
And then again you know there'salways that you know you go to
the MLB draft league and youknow are you going to perform,
am I going to perform wellenough to live at this level,
and things like that.
And you know, even meeting allmy teammates there, that I still
talk to most of them today too.
(28:33):
It was pretty eye opening in asense that you know this is kind
of how baseball operates at ahigher level, the more than just
college and more than just at aD one level.
Um, and so I think you know,having those three weeks kind of
prepared me, to prepare mementally more than anything,
rather than physically, to kindof understand.
Like you know, in order for meto be successful at the next
(28:56):
level, I have to work just ashard as the guy next to me
that's trying to do the samething to get drafted and get
signed by some team out therethat believes in him.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
And it's, it's so competitive, so competitive,
especially in baseball.
Yeah, and now that you're withthe Phillies minor league team,
what do you think has been thebiggest adjustment,
transitioning from college toprofessional baseball?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
to professional baseball.
Um, I, I wouldn't even say thatit's a challenge, honestly, but
it's more of a benefit because,you know, at West Point
especially, being a cadetathlete is practically
impossible.
Um, I myself, you know, I Iwasn't the greatest student at
West Point, um, and I, you know,I attest that to how much I
spent focusing on baseball andthings like that.
But you know, once I, once Igot down to Florida for the
first month that I was therebefore I went out to basic
(29:51):
officer training.
I was there for about a monthand what I noticed and what I
saw was that there was so muchdifferent than college baseball.
Like it is, it is cutthroat, itis, you know, you do your work
and you you can go home.
That's pretty much it.
And so the only thing I had todo was focus on baseball.
I didn't have class, I didn'thave, you know, anything else to
(30:14):
worry about, and and some of myteammates I had, I had known
from, you know, mutual friendsand things like that with the
Phillies and things.
But again, I got to wake up andI got to go do baseball and I
got to come home and do nothing.
So I just think, again, theattention to detail just
increases to a high level, andthe coaches and staff that are
(30:40):
there, they pay so muchattention to you that you don't
really have that much room to doanything wrong.
Um, and so you know, my, myshort time with the Phillies
definitely opened me up to tofocusing more on my craft and
focusing more on my, my, mysleep, my, my workout routine,
the, the way that I eat, andeverything that you can think of
that comes with, you know, aprofessional level.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
So you know what that that actually makes me want to
go back to talk about your WestPoint days.
Take us through what the whatan average day in the life of an
Academy scholar athlete mightendure from start to finish.
What time are you waking up,what time are you going to bed
and what are you doing?
Everything in between.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah, so for my, for myself I can't really speak to
the rest of the academy but howI operated was every day I woke
up about 630 and we had morningformation around seven, and then
we go to breakfast and thingslike that and started classes,
started 7 40 every day, nochange, never, never a day off.
Um, it was always starting at 740 but hang on.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
When you showed up the hang on.
When you showed up theformation, you had to wear what?
Speaker 2 (31:52):
uh, usually it was acus or ocps, if you want to
call it that.
Um, but certain days we worethe formal uniform and and
things like that.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Uh, just kind of depending on on the day, so it
wasn't like rolling out of bedand just putting on whatever and
wearing your your sandals andgoing down there and standing.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
You had to like look strapped, you had to have your
shit together right, yeah, you,you, you had to, you know, be
clean, shaven, everything likethat, at least look
presentableable if anyone'simportant was walking around.
And then again your uniform hadto look sharp, everything like
that.
And then once class started,you kind of got left alone, I
(32:33):
guess, a little bit.
And then class probably wentuntil 12 noon before lunch, and
sometimes, depending on the day,I would have a break, an hour
hour and a half break beforelunch, where I would just walk
down to the field and kind ofjust sit there and just not do
(32:53):
anything, kind of relax.
And then after lunch then I hadusually one to two, sometimes
three classes, I think, earlierin my freshman year, both
semesters.
I had upwards of 19 to 20credit hours for both semesters.
So my freshman year was non-stop, it was just class, class,
(33:14):
class, class.
And then by my senior year Iwas down to like 14 or something
like that.
So the the times in betweenclasses have got greater and
things like that.
But then once, once class wasover, usually around three
o'clock, it was practice, nomatter what, 3, 30 to 7, 30 ish,
depending on, you know, if wehad a lift before, after,
(33:37):
practice usually ran until about7, 30 and even, and even, in
the winter um, sometimespractice wouldn't start until
eight because we have a covered.
We have a covered field thatcan only be practiced at at a
certain time, because otherteams are trying to practice in
the same facility, because it's,you know, negative 10 degrees
outside um, and and so that itjust went on like that for the
(34:00):
whole fall semester and into theearly spring semester.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
It's a lot of rigorous schedules and
discipline man involved in that.
It's not like a traditionalcollege, that's for sure.
Not at all.
I just want to make sure peopleunderstand that.
Yeah, now, when you were atWest Point, you excelled both as
a starter and a closer youexcelled both as a starter and a
closer.
What have you learned fromembracing the?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
different roles on the mound and which role do you
feel most comfortable right now?
So, as a closer, you knowyou're relied on a lot more.
You know whether I'm pitchingevery day or every other day,
you know the whole team relieson you at a very important time
during the game.
You know whether it's coming inthe eighth or ninth inning and
it's.
It's a close game and thingslike that.
And with starting, you know you, you kind of get a little bit
(34:54):
more of a leash, I guess youcould say with with the coaches
and the rest of the players.
You know you kind of kind of goout there with an open slate
and you know if something, ifone bad thing happens, you know
it's fine.
But you know, as a closer, ifone bad thing happens, then it
could spiral very fast in amatter of a couple pitches.
But you know, as a starter, youhave a lot more leniency with.
(35:18):
You know your pitches and whatyou can do against certain
players and things like that.
But I, you know, if I had topick personally, I would.
I would say as a closer, um,just because you know you, you
know that one day, whether it'stoday or tomorrow, you're going
to go into pitch during the game.
So you're always, you'reconstantly ready and you're
(35:40):
mentally prepared to go into agame at any moment.
Um, and then what I like to sayis you know, put me in a game
so I can go and blow somebody'sdoors off, because, as a closer,
you know you can go out thereand throw as hard as you can.
You know, obviously, with somecommand and and other, you know
baseball terms in in play.
You know, but as a, as astarter, you know you got to
increase your longevitythroughout the game.
(36:01):
You know, but as a, as astarter, you know you got to
increase your longevitythroughout the game.
So you know, when you're thethird time through the order,
people have seen you, they'veseen you pitch to them.
You know three times now.
So you know they're preparedfor you and you're prepared for
them.
But as a closer, you knowyou're a brand new face that
nobody knows and you know youget to go in the game and kind
(36:22):
of do your thing pretty quickly,um, and almost show no remorse
to the team that you're facing.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yeah, and there's, that's a, that's a huge all eyes
on you situation right therewhen you're the closer.
I remember watching the worldseries last year when the
Dodgers and uh man, like some ofthose games, we were literally
on the edge of our seats.
Yeah, you know, and I wasthinking, man, that's, that's a
lot of pressure.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yeah, and I think I think because of that I fed off
that pressure more because youknow as a starter, with that,
that leash, that you get it.
You know you could have a badinning or something like that,
but as a closer, you know if, ifyou have two bad batters like
you're out of the game.
Um, because they don't.
They don't want it to spiral orsnowball or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Right, yeah, every pitch matters when you're that
closer, for sure.
Um, we talked earlier aboutbalancing military service and
professional baseball and I justwant to make sure we cover that
.
As far as you know you youbeing the west point graduate
and you're a commissionedofficer as well um, managing
those dual commitments ofmilitary service and pursuing
(37:30):
the professional baseball career, what challenges or
opportunities do you see?
Do you foresee moving forwardoverall, balancing those two out
?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Um, in the future, you know, I think it's just the
time commitment that's gonna,that's gonna be more of a factor
than anything.
Um, you know, as of right now,it's as I'm waiting on this,
this packet to be approved bythe world-class athlete program
(38:07):
spend two hours in the gym,working out and go to bed and
get right back up for the nextday, and so, even when I'm back
with the Phillies and performingat a high level, it's just
again going to be the same thing.
It's constant attention tobaseball and when the offseason
comes around, there could besome military obligations that I
have to pursue during theoffseason.
There could be some militaryobligations that I have to
(38:29):
pursue during the offseason,which is rare in my case and the
case of the World Class AthleteProgram.
But again, there's just goingto be a lot of things that I'm
going to have to endure, whethertaking away from my time and
giving it to someone else.
I would personally prefer to beleft alone on some occasions,
but again, it's part of the joband it's part of the thing that
(38:50):
I signed up for.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, no doubt Commitment man when I had to go
to war.
It was hard, it was really hard.
Like I left, I got out of OBC,got to 25th and Schofield and
then it was like 30 days,they're like you're going.
And I was like 30 days, they'relike you're going and I was
like what?
I was like where's my, where'smy time in garrison?
(39:12):
Where's my like play army time,like I don't even get that.
I mean, my butter bar is still,like you know brand new so it
was.
It was a shock for me, but I waslike, hey, man, like this is
what I signed up for I gotta godo it.
Um, so, as far as theworld-class uh that you're
talking about, is that availablefor all sports or just baseball
(39:32):
?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
So it's any Olympic sport that you play.
You know wrestling, they have,they've got swimming, basketball
, rugby, all kinds of things andso if you're either not in the
military or in the military, youcan apply for the program.
So you can be out of themilitary and you're on an
Olympic team and you're like,hey, I want to join the military
(39:54):
but also keep playing my sport,you can apply for the program.
And it's the same thing for ifyou're in the military and in my
case, as an academy graduate,there's a.
There's a long list of peoplethat have joined the program,
but then again there's a longlist of people that went other
routes, that have played theprofessional sports and things
like that, and so I think it's ahuge opportunity for anyone
(40:19):
that can join and a hugeopportunity for myself in order
to continue to play and continueto live out my dream.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
It is such a nontraditional thing that you're
doing, man, like I mean it is alittle confusing but at the
same time, like I'm just socurious about it and I'm so
envious of like the amount ofthe amount of discipline that
you have and maturity that youhave at such a young age, I wish
I had that Now.
Are you going to get stationedat an active duty station or
(40:47):
where do you have to report to?
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Yes, sir.
So once my packet is approvedand once I get an answer back on
that, I'll be located at FortCarson, because that's where the
world-class athlete trainingfacility is, and so they have a
specific unit out there and acommander and all that good
stuff, and so I'll actually moveout there.
That'll be kind of's, all thatgood stuff, um, and so I'll
actually move out there, um, andkind of that'll be kind of like
(41:10):
my home station.
I guess you could say um, andthen once I go through some some
certain things and um, I'll getback to florida with the
phillies, um, almostindefinitely, um, I'll kind of
be out with the phillies playingbaseball and my off seasons
will be um, pretty lenient as to, you know when I'll have to go
back on things like that and Idon't I don't know the full
(41:34):
scale of of everything, causeI'm not officially in the
program yet but um, you know, inthe in the off season I'll I'll
have my time to continueworking and working on my craft.
Um, so yeah, I'll be out inColorado is the main thing.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
That's so cool, man.
So do they give you a branchand everything.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Yes, sir, so I'll.
I'll keep my branch as amilitary police officer, um, but
I'll just kind of be under aunit that I guess I don't
practice military policing.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Now was that your first choice.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
It was out of West Point.
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Okay, Okay cool.
So why military police?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
At the end of the day .
I don't want to say anything badabout the other branches at all
, don't get me wrong.
I don't see anything wrong withbeing in the army whatsoever,
but this was just something Iwas always interested in.
Um, my grandfather was a Marine, um, and he was in Vietnam and
things like that.
And my brother, when my, whenme and my brother were younger,
(42:34):
we always talked about doingsomething related to the
military.
He wanted to be a Marine Corpspilot and I don't know, I was
just, I guess, too young toreally understand, I was just
following whatever he said,cause he was my older brother,
um, and so, you know, at the endof the day, like I've thought
about it before, if, if I wasn'tdoing the military and I didn't
go to West Point, like, maybe,be a police officer, so I was
(42:57):
like you know that that seemsinteresting.
And then again, the otherbranches that are out there,
they just didn't interest me asmuch as military police, I guess
, you could say.
And so that was really the mainreason.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Yeah, no, I mean, at the end of the day, I know for a
lot of people that just goenlisted, they don't know what
they're doing.
Yeah, and there's so manyconversations I've had with
people and I'm like, why did youchoose the Navy, or why did you
choose the Air Force?
Well, I went to the Air Forceand there was nobody there.
So then I walked by the Navalrecruiting office and somebody
was there and I just signed upand it's like, really, that's
(43:33):
how it happened and that's howit usually happens, man.
So I mean, you're not wrong.
Anyways, at the end of the day,you're in a great place, man.
I mean it's so refreshing totalk to someone that's got the
level of maturity that you haveand professionalism that you
have.
You're going to be a greatleader, uh, no doubt in my mind.
Um, looking ahead, though, uh,what are your immediate and
(43:55):
long-term goals within thephillies organization and and
what's your plan to achieve them?
Speaker 2 (44:02):
yeah, so I I think a long-term goal, uh, no doubt in
my mind, is to make it to thebig leagues.
I think that's any kid's dreamthat starts playing baseball and
at the end of the day, probablymy dad's dream too is to see me
make it and to see me play agame in the major leagues.
But you know, short-term goalis honestly to just get get back
(44:23):
to playing and just get back todoing what I love most.
Get get back to playing, um,and just get back to doing what
I love most, and with that youknow we'll come.
We'll come sometime, kind ofreturning to the the highest
level that I can be at, andtraining again to at a level
that that the phillies want andthings like that.
And so, again, just justgetting back on the field right
now is probably the mostimportant goal for me.
(44:44):
Um to, to just experience, youknow, my first game at a
professional level and thingslike that.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's one step at a time, yeah,
one step at a time, for sure.
And so if you were to goprofessional, let's say the
Phillies were to bring you onthe main team everything what
would that?
You would still have to fulfillyour military obligation, right
?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Yes, sir, at the end of the day, it it would.
I would still have to fulfillmy military obligation, but if
you know, if my packet getsapproved and things like that,
my, my playing with the Philliesand my training to play
professional sports technicallywould count as my service time.
So they, they're like, theycoincide with one another.
Um, and you know, at the, atthe end of the day, if, if I
(45:32):
make it to the professionallevel and you know, god willing,
they, they invite me to come tothat, to the major league team,
then you know there might besome other conversations of, of
things that need to happen inorder for me to continue playing
at the major league level.
Um, but again, at the end ofthe day, I signed up for for
something bigger than myself,than just you know baseball.
So if that were to come to it,then that's what needs to happen
(45:54):
.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
That's what I'm talking about, man, something
bigger than yourself.
That's why I chose to join themilitary.
That's why I chose to getcommissioned, that's why I chose
during a time of war, because Iwanted to do something bigger
than myself.
I wanted to serve my country.
So God bless you for that.
You know, your generation gets alot of crap about being weak,
(46:16):
being soft.
You know, um, what's youradvice for folks out there?
Cause you balance a lot.
I mean I hope people understandthat.
Like being a college athletebut then also doing it at an
academy where, like, you'reexpected to show up to formation
, uniform has to be perfect,everything has to be perfect.
You have to be super organized.
What, what advice would youhave?
(46:39):
I mean, I thought it was greatwhat you said earlier about
paying your dues early, but whatother piece of advice would you
have now that you're a littlebit ahead of folks that are just
getting out of high school andgoing to college?
What advice would you have forthem to achieve the amount of
success, the amount ofresiliency that you've had over
(47:00):
the years, if you had to talk tofolks that are just slightly
behind you?
Let's say, you're standing in aplatoon and you're talking to a
young E4 and they're looking atyou like, hey, leader, I want
to achieve.
What advice would you give tothem?
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Yeah, I think about it in kind of a way, like you
know, it's say you knowsomeone's fresh out of high
school and they're kind offiguring out what they need to
do with life.
The biggest thing for me wassurrounding myself with people
that wanted the same thing,whether it was going to college
or playing sports at aprofessional level or anything
(47:37):
like that.
I've always gravitated towardspeople like me and tried to stay
away from people that aren'tlike me.
I saw it so much in high schoolwhere you know I would spend
summers with my travel ballteammates and they ended up
being better friends than anyoneI had in high school.
And even now, like the, the 40,50 guys that I met at West
(47:59):
Point on the baseball team,they're pretty much the only
people that I talk to on a dailybasis Beside, obviously,
besides my family and thingslike that and I think just
continuing to surround yourselfwith people like that will help
you understand that if they'regoing to push you to do
something, you're automaticallygoing to push yourself to do the
(48:20):
same, and that was a big factoras to why I think some might
say that my success came soearly and at such a young age.
I think, just understanding thatthe people around me have the
most influence on me, whetherit's you know, your family,
parents, brothers, sisters andteammates, and even if you're
(48:43):
not on a sports team or you'renot looking to play sports,
there's still a group of peopleout there that are like, minded,
like you, that are probablycloser than you think, and so
they're going to help you, nomatter what.
Do you do better things in lifethan you know, succumbing to
some of the distractions thatare around today.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Yeah, I think a lot of your success is, you know,
contributed from your parents,as well as the community, the
coaches you had over the years.
From what it sounds like theyraised you right, man, and
that's huge.
That's really important.
My dad had a huge impression onme because my mom really wasn't
around all that much, but hewas just a tough ranger and at
(49:25):
the end of the day he was likehe was like drive on, you know,
and that's how I always, that'show I've always been.
But I want you to keep me inmind too, man, when you're in LA
in 2028, I'm just outside of LA, over here, so maybe we can
link up.
I can get you lunch orsomething, man, if you got any
time.
Absolutely, yeah, I would loveto.
This has been an awesomeconversation.
You're the first academyathlete that I've ever
(49:47):
interviewed, so it's been atremendous honor for me.
But was there anything that Ididn't cover in this interview
that you would like to talkabout before we wrap things up?
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Not that I can think of.
Maybe besides, you know somepeople that might not understand
the intricacies of Tommy Johnsurgery or baseball itself.
Again, I think you know I can'tanswer every question and I
don't want to get too deep intothe weeds about the
interconnections betweenbaseball and my brain, because
(50:18):
that's pretty much all I thinkabout on a daily basis, whether
it's watching videos orhighlights and things like that.
But you know, I think thatthere's a lot of connections
between not just sports andinjuries and things like that,
but just everyday life.
You know, you go through a lot,of, a lot of things every day
and, whether you play sports ornot, like some sort of
resiliency will show itself ifyou just you know, work hard and
(50:42):
you think about the, the futurerather than the present because
that's what I believe got me towhere I am is, rather than
focusing on the hardships of now, I thought about, you know, if
I work hard, but, just like mydad said, work hard now, it's
going to pay off later, andultimately it did.
And I think focusing on thefuture because of what you're
(51:04):
doing right now is really goingto impact anyone, whether they
play sports or not.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
The two things that you said in this interview that
I absolutely love and I want tounderline again for anyone out
there listening was be aware ofwho you surround yourself with.
Again, like they always say, ifyou're hanging out with five
idiots, you're the sixth idiot.
You're hanging out with fiveprofessionals, you're the sixth
idiot.
Um, you're hanging out withfive professionals, you're the
sixth professional.
(51:31):
And then also to um, what youjust mentioned right now, I mean
that's, that's huge as wellPaying your dues.
A lot of young adults don'twant to put in the hard work
while they're young.
And you blink, you're 30, youblink again, you're 40 and
you're like what the hell have Idone with my life?
You know, and so it's.
I mean that's great advice.
(51:53):
And for folks out thereinterested in following you and
following your journey, whatplatforms are you on?
Speaker 2 (52:01):
Yeah, so I'm on Instagram mostly and I'm on
there pretty often.
So my Instagram is just tgreshG-R-E-S-H.
Or my baseball Instagram isjust jommyton it's Tommy John.
But just flip the first twoletters and me and my friend
actually started it when I wentthrough Tommy John surgery and
(52:23):
he had done it the year before.
So we kind of joined forces andmade and made our own little
like sort of collaborationInstagram, um, and we did some
interviews on there, we did alot of videos, that kind of
showcase sort of the, therecovery process and things like
that.
But uh, those are probably thetwo most most used platforms by
me.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
At first I thought that was your real name.
I was like, no, a weird name.
Yeah, I was like what is it?
What are the chances that Irealized that Tanner?
Was your real name but um didhe also have the same setback
with the same injury?
Speaker 2 (52:55):
yes, so, uh, I want to say about six months, six to
eight months before me, um, theOctober of our junior year, uh,
he went to the same surgery andso I again I think that was
another factor is I saw thethings that he was doing and you
know what affected himnegatively and how I could, you
know, change that once I wentthrough it.
(53:17):
Um, and so I just kind of againI like you said, like
surrounding yourself with thepeople that are going to affect
you most, like I was kind offorced into being surrounded by
him, um, you know, through thesurgery and things like that,
but at the end of the day he wasstill my teammate and I, I
talked to him every day and, um,I love that guy to death.
But you know, I saw some of thethings that he was doing that
(53:39):
negatively impacted him, and soI just wanted to flip it and I
wanted to see like, okay, if Ido this differently, maybe I'll
end up differently.
Speaker 1 (53:47):
Yeah, yeah, man, that's huge.
Surrounding yourself with theright people that's huge has
everything to do with whereyou're going to end up and what
you're going to be doing andyour influence overall, Tanner.
It's been an absolute pleasureFor anyone out there listening.
Please follow Tanner's journey.
I'm going to make sure that Iput your Instagram in the show
(54:11):
notes, both your personal andyour baseball one.
I am so interested and so allin on seeing where you go from
here.
Man, you have a tremendousstart right out the blocks and
I'm I'm hoping to have you backon the show at some point, man,
when you're in the big leaguesand don't forget about us little
(54:34):
podcasters down here and giveme another opportunity to just
follow up with you.
I think, at the end of the day,you're going to win, no matter
what.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
Thank you, sir, and I would absolutely love to return
the podcast.
No matter what, no matter whattime, whether I'm successful or
not, I definitely just I justwant to get my story out there
and let people know that.
You know, no matter what,there's only two things you
control it's effort and attitude, and I take that with me every
day.
So man.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
I love that effort and attitude.
What a great way to wrap it upfor folks out there.
As always, I want you to staytuned, stay focused and stay
motivated.
Warriors fall out.
Warriors fall in.
It's time for formation Folksout there.
I have a special guest on today.
Today I have the pleasure ofinterviewing someone whose
journey truly exemplifies theconcept of adapt and overcome.
Our guest today is TannerGresham, a former Army West
Point pitcher who's now chasinghis professional baseball dreams
within the PhiladelphiaPhillies minor league system.
(00:23):
Tanner's story is one ofresilience, dedication and
overcoming setbacks.
A lot of these athletes that gothrough the Academy not just
deal with the day to daygrueling activities of being in
a military Academy, but thenthey are also training every day
, making huge, huge sacrificeswhen it comes to just their
(00:45):
young adult life and whatthey're accomplishing at the end
of it all.
Because graduating from WestPoint is a very prestigious
action.
It demands excellence, not onlyacademically and athletically,
but also through militarydiscipline.
Furthermore, our guest today isrecovering from, or has
recovered from, Tommy Johnsurgery.
Our guest today is recoveringfrom, or has recovered from,
(01:05):
Tommy John surgery, a journey ofphysical and mental strength
coming from a high level ofdiscipline and just can-do
attitude.
So today I'm very, very blessedand honored to have you on the
Morning Formation, Tanner.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Thank you for joining us today.
Absolutely Thank you for havingme.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm really excited.
So let's just get started, man,and talk about where it all
started for you.
I understand that your fatherplayed in the minors and he
reached AAA.
How did his experience and hisoverall I guess approach to how
he raised you shape your passionand your approach to the game
(01:48):
of baseball?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, my dad is a huge, huge impact on my life.
You know, he played for nineyears in the minor league system
.
He reached he reached the majorleague level, for I believe
what he told me was three dayswith the Orioles and then he got
sent right back down.
But I think my childhood withmy dad was probably like anyone
(02:12):
you'd see out of a movie whereyou know the dad was a star
athlete and coaching their kidsthe right way.
And I still think he, to thisday he calls me to, you know,
ask me questions about what I'vebeen doing, how I'm working out
and things like that.
But from a young age, baseballwas the number one priority for
(02:34):
him and myself and you know henever forced it on me, he didn't
try to, you know, spoon feed meeverything that he knew.
But he gave me the opportunitiesto pursue baseball, and in the
way that I wanted to.
And so, um, again, from a youngage, he coached me all the way
up until I was about 14.
Um, and it was long nights,long car trips with just him and
(02:58):
I, um, you know, driving downto wherever you know United
States of America to play theweekend tournaments and
week-long tournaments during thesummer, and so he was a huge,
huge part of my baseball journeyand he still is, even up
through college.
After every game I'd pitch,he'd call and tell me to give
(03:21):
him a breakdown of what I thinkI did right, right, what I think
I did wrong, um, and then andthen he'd kind of get that sort
of background coaching, I guess,and sort of the the dad's hand
in the pot to kind of, you know,tell me you know to get over
myself or or kind of you know,just bring me back to square one
, if, if I had a bad day orsomething like that yeah, that's
(03:41):
huge man.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
My dad had a major impact on me growing up too.
My dad was drafted into themilitary in 1971, spent 20 years
in, was a drill sergeant forfive years.
Army Ranger did all the crazymilitary stuff.
So dads have those huge impactson the boys for sure.
In high school did you playother sports too.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
No, so I played.
I played football up throughmiddle school.
I was actually a kicker, soit's not a lot of strenuous
football activity, I guess youwould say as a kicker.
But when I was younger I swamand things like that and I was
sort of an all around sort ofsport kind of player.
But once, once I got to thehigh school level is when
(04:25):
baseball came my ultimate focusand, um, especially with travel
ball and things like that,during the summer there was just
not a lot of time for me toworry about other sports and
really, really my passion forbaseball grew so much that I
didn't really want to playanything else.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I know those travel leagues are really no
joke, man.
Man, I know it takes up a lotof your time, doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
yeah, it was.
It was every every weekend ofthe summer, um, and into the
early fall, um, before you know,before school started and
things like that.
That was just constant.
You know whether it's goingdown to Atlanta to play, to
Florida, to Mississippi,louisiana, everywhere in the
southeast pretty much um to justplay games and and be with some
(05:06):
of my best friends now tanner.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Did you always see yourself as yourself playing
college ball at such aprestigious program?
Did you have other collegesthat you were considering as
well?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
um, I would say yes and no.
Um, you know my, my collegerecruitment.
It wasn college recruitment.
It wasn't big and grand oranything like that.
I didn't until the summerbefore my senior year, that West
Point, you know, kind of madethe call and opened my eyes to
(05:50):
that side of the house, I guessyou could say, and everything
kind of just changed from there.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, and you know, playing at Army West Point
that's a huge take.
It requires a lot of disciplineand commitment that not every
college athlete faces.
What do you think was the mostchallenging and rewarding part
of balancing your academics,athletics and just your military
obligations?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
you know, dive into that, that are challenging and
things like that.
But the most rewarding by farwas was the teammates that I had
all through all four years.
Um, you know my freshman yearthere were numerous, numerous
seniors that kind of took me andthe rest of the freshman under
their wing, um, and that thatwas.
That was COVID year too.
So it was.
You know it was prettystrenuous on on COVID testing
and practices were limited,games were limited during the
(06:47):
season when it started and therewas a time, there was a time
where you know it was Wednesday,you would kind of sit in class
and then get out early practiceand then leave Wednesday night
to travel to a game series thatwas Friday, saturday, sunday,
wednesday night to travel to agame series that was Friday,
saturday, sunday, and you'redriving on a bus the whole way
(07:07):
so that you know there was.
There were 14, 15 hour bustrips throughout the week with
my teammates and and you know itwas probably that was probably
the most rewarding is justgetting to know 40 to 50 of, you
know, my best friends to thisday.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Now, how often was it that you would travel cross
country?
Was it always on a bus?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
No, so.
So COVID specifically was wasstrictly bus trips.
Um, I know the farthest we wentwas to actually North Carolina.
We traveled to Raleigh, um sortof back to back, back to back
weekends, and then, um, the restof the time after that was, you
know, mostly, mostly by plane,once every restriction was
(07:47):
upended and things like that.
But I think the farthest we hadtraveled was to Lubbock, texas,
to Texas Tech at the end of myfreshman year and I was actually
by plane, come to think of it.
But then again I've been to somany schools you know Vanderbilt
, texas, christian, um Stetson,you know anywhere that you can
(08:07):
think of.
You know big schools and thingslike that that were really good
competition for our team whatwas the biggest name school that
you played?
at the time I would sayVanderbilt 100 percent.
Um, you know they had wonmultiple back-to-back world
series and and had a a rap sheetthat you know longer than most
people's driveways.
(08:28):
So you know it was.
It was pretty cool to be thereand, granted, you know it's it's
the middle of March inTennessee so it's not warm by
any means, but again it was.
It was more about theexperience and, you know,
getting the guys on our team theexperience that they needed to
play an SEC team like that andgetting the guys on our team the
experience that they needed toplay an SEC team like that.
(08:51):
What was your ultimate decidingfactor when choosing West Point
At the end of the day?
My dad told me that he went toUNC, charlotte in North Carolina
, and he left after his junioryear, after when he was drafted
um in north carolina, and heleft after his junior year,
after when he was drafted um andand he told me that had he
stayed in school, you know hewould have finished his degree.
And and that was kind of adeciding factor is you know, if
(09:14):
I've finished my time at westpoint and I get the chance to
graduate, then you know I'm setfor the next 40 years of my life
, and that was a recruiting toolthat the coaches used as well.
As you know, if you graduatefrom West Point, whether you
move on to sports afterwards oryou know you join the army, no
matter what, you know the next40 years of your life are going
to be set because you know youspend your time in the army that
(09:36):
however long you want, and thenafter that, you know there's
such a prestige with, you know,the West Point degree that
hiring I guess is kind of in theyou know the top percent of
West Pointers wanting to gethired.
So you know, I think that wasultimately the deciding factor
is just the opportunities thatcame after West Point.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, definitely.
I have such an immense amountof respect for you because I was
enlisted in the National Guardfor four years and then I went
active duty as an officer and itwas the same deal for me where
my dad was enlisted, did 20years, retired as an E-8.
And he wanted me to become anofficer because he said, hey, if
(10:16):
you stay in for 20 years you'regoing to be better off, you're
going to at least be a major,hopefully Lieutenant, colonel or
more.
And he said, son, I know whatit's like to spend 20 years in
and I know what it's like and Iwant you to accomplish and
(10:37):
finish your bachelor's degree,your college, before anything
else.
And I can tell you, as a secondlieutenant and as a lieutenant,
I immediately went to OperationIraqi Freedom in 2004.
And by the time I was 27 yearsold and I got out as an 03, I
had experienced so muchleadership opportunities,
whether it was leading a convoyor leading a platoon in Iraq or
(10:58):
a patrol in Iraq.
A lot of the folks that were inmy same peer group could not
say the same.
So you're 100% correct on that,like when it comes to just
leadership in general andgetting put out in front of the
platoon or in front of theformation to have to command
troops.
So how does that work for youright now as far as your
(11:18):
military obligation, and thenyou being in the minor leagues?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
being in the minor leagues.
Yes, sir, so at the currentmoment, I submitted a packet to
join the world-class athleteprogram I'm not sure if you're
familiar with that where it's ait's sort of a pathway for
athletes that are in themilitary to attend the Olympics,
and so recently it was capped.
I believe she's a captain,captain Sullivan was a member of
the US Army rugby team in Paris, and so it's a way for active
(11:50):
duty soldiers to to train fortheir sport while serving on
active duty and ultimately endin the pathway to where you are
in the Olympics, are in theOlympics.
And so, in my case, once my,you know, once my packet is
approved by the hand of God Iguess you could say at this
(12:11):
point, you know, I once, oncethat happens, I will return to
Florida to play with thePhillies for the foreseeable
future, and then, once 2028comes around, when they're
selecting teams for the Olympics, I'll try out for the USA
baseball team and thenparticipate in the Olympics in
Los Angeles in 2028.
And so that's kind of thepathway that I guess you could
(12:34):
say, and there's some other,there's some other pathways that
my teammates, my formerteammates, have taken, but in my
case that's, that's how I'mtraveling have taken, but in my
case that's that's how I'mtraveling.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I mean, that's been huge man with college right
now.
Um is there's so many differentpathways for folks out there,
even getting commissioned intothe military.
You know, the thing that youjust mentioned, I'd never heard
about before, um and I thinkoverall with nil being a big
deal in college ball right now,in college sports in general,
and then this year the WestPoint quarterback.
(13:08):
There was a little bit of talkbehind him being able to draft,
but he wasn't able to and he'snot able to, and from the last I
heard, he's going to go intothe military as an officer and
serve his time, which is verycommendable.
At the same time, has that NILstuff even touched the academies
at all?
An officer and serve his time,which is very commendable at the
same time, has that NIL stuffeven even?
Speaker 2 (13:29):
touched the academies at all?
No, not at all.
And I think I think even Ithink it's a good thing.
Honestly, you know it becausethat was a that was a huge part
of why we were so successful atWest Point.
You know, because, specificallyfor baseball players and things
like that and coaches will getoffered a ridiculous amount of
(13:49):
money to attend a school for oneor two years to then get
drafted later on.
But you know, at West Pointyou're there for four years and
you're not leaving unless you'repaying a hefty amount of money.
That you know that not a lot ofpeople want to look at twice.
And so I think you know thatnot a lot of people want to look
at twice.
And so I think you know havinga set group of individuals for
(14:12):
four straight years at oneschool and not having to rebuild
a team or rebuild relationshipswith coaches and things like
that is very crucial to why wewere so successful.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, and you know that camaraderie is so important
.
And now in college sportsyou're seeing not a lot of
camaraderie.
It's taking teams.
You know in college footballit's taking teams at least four
or five games to figure out howto gel together and how to work
together, versus, like what yousaid, having teammates for
several years and understandinghow everybody functions and
(14:39):
what's everybody's role.
I want to get into the adaptand overcome part of your life
where you had Tommy John surgeryjust before your senior year.
Can you talk to us about yourrecovery process and how you
managed to make such a strongreturn in 2024?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yes, sir.
So in April of 2023, I wasactually pitching against Navy
and I felt some weird thingsthat day, and then the next day
I got an MRI and found out thatmy UCL was torn off my bone
actually and so I went throughthe surgery about a month later
(15:19):
and started my rehab process.
I went through the surgeryabout a month later and started
my rehab process.
West Point actually sent mehome for the summer to rehab
with a doctor that I knew athome.
From that point, I think Ispent around eight weeks in a
brace while I was at home duringthe summer.
(15:45):
I wanted to say, when I startedoff, it was probably 10 to 12
hours of, you know, lighterrehab just because I was coming
off surgery, so they didn't wantto, you know, kill me, I guess
you could say, in the firstcouple parts of it.
But once I got back to WestPoint and things started to kind
of mesh together and I had asort of a schedule I guess you
could say is to you know, go toclass, go to practice and do my
rehab and things like that, um,and you know so I had a
(16:07):
wonderful, wonderful trainer.
A shout out to Julie Uh, she'san awesome, awesome trainer that
works at West Point and um, youknow it was her and I were in
the training room at thebaseball field, probably 30
hours a week.
Room at the baseball field,probably 30 hours a week, maybe
40, um, on some, on some weeks,and it was just a constant,
constant battle to try to getback to where I was and, if not
(16:30):
better, and the the hardest partabout it was, you know, in in a
full reconstruction of your UCL, the full Tommy John surgery,
um, it's, it's a 14 to 18 monthrehab, no matter what, um, and I
only had to.
(16:50):
I only had 11 months to do itbecause West Point doesn't offer
red shirts.
You know, once, like I said,it's, it's four years and you're
gone, um, and so I had to do itin 11 months, um, from May to
basically April, before theseason ended and before I
graduated, and so, in that inthat case, you know, I talked
with my coaches and my in mytraining staff to basically
(17:11):
understand that I I've got towork a lot harder than a lot of
people to try to get this doneand get back to where I was and
get back to square one where Iwas and get back to square one.
And so again, the the 30 hoursin the training room, um, even
more time, even more time, kindof by myself and trying to
figure out, you know, goingthrough the struggles of rehab
(17:35):
and the setbacks and things likethat, because you feel great
one day and you don't feel sogreat the next day, um, and
there's just a lot of challengesthat come into that.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, that's really what life is all about, man.
It's picking yourself back upagain, brushing yourself off and
getting back on it again andover the years.
I mean I'm in my mid-40s nowand I've had injuries.
Just doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu,I tore my Achilles, tore my pec
muscle completely off, had toget it reattached, huge setbacks
.
And what tells me that you're atrue professional is that I
(18:03):
honestly didn't take my physicaltherapy seriously.
I didn't take it seriously.
I was like, whatever I'mWolverine, I'll recover, but
being so young, you're able todo that.
But what you don't realize, inthe long run, man, if you don't
take that rehab seriously, it'llcome back to bite you.
So that just that you wereraised right at the end of the
(18:24):
day, tanner, as far as yourdiscipline and being a true
professional overall.
So, with that being said, yourinjuries a lot of times kind of
change the way that you approachthe game in general.
Did, would you think that yourpitching style, or were there
aspects of your game that yourefined or adjusted for a better
(18:45):
performance after your surgery?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Um, I don't want to say my mechanics or anything
related to my pitchingspecifically changed that much,
um, but one say one thing I willsay that changed was my
preparation and mypost-preparation.
I guess you could say, because Ihad gone through so many hours
(19:10):
and so many weeks of rehab, thatI kind of retrained my brain
almost.
I guess you could say tounderstand OK, if I prepare a
certain way and I do certainstretches and I do all these
things properly, then I'm goingto feel better on the field, um,
when I'm actually performing Um, and and by that time my, my
coach, my pitching coach, um, hekind of, you know, we went
(19:32):
through some videos and thingslike that during my rehab
process to kind of understand,like, where do we need to start
to get you back better than youwere before?
And so, in terms of a baseballstandpoint, increasing my
velocity was never a problem andit was never a question as to
(19:53):
this is what we want to do.
It was just changing the waythat my brain worked to help me
prepare for pitching outings andthen recover from those
pitching outings.
And in that came, you know, theincrease in velocity, the
increase in strength and thingslike that.
And so, again, I think thefocus on the rehab was probably
the most important factor as towhy I gained I don't want to say
(20:17):
talent, but I gained someknowledge as to, you know,
improving myself.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, and I would say taking it serious too, because
a lot of times people aren'tgoing to invest their time and
effort and energy into you ifthey don't see you meeting them
halfway and showing up andgiving it all that you have.
But what about the mentalaspect of it all, like, what
mental and physical trainingroutines have you found to be
(20:42):
most effective in recoveringfrom surgery and now competing
at the professional level?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Mentally.
You know there was a lot ofstruggles at the beginning
because you know I had never hada major setback or a major
injury like this in my life.
Now I've broken bones here andthere, but you know I was a kid
and things heal fast when you'rea kid.
But at the time you know I wasstruggling a lot mentally
because, especially during thesummer when things were kind of
(21:14):
slow and you know I live on thelake so it's hard for me to go
out on the lake with a brace onand, you know, a fresh car.
So you know there are a lot ofchallenges with, you know,
staying inside and being, youknow, so cooped up, what it felt
like, and then again like Ididn't have use of my right arm
for much of anything other thanholding a fork for a very long
(21:36):
time.
And so you know it waschallenging, was challenging and
I had some some really personalstruggles with that.
And then once, once I got backto West Point, things kind of
got a little bit better becauseI knew there was a road ahead
and I knew at one point I wasgoing to be back on the field,
but then again it was just the.
The time away from baseball wasprobably the most challenging.
(21:59):
Is you know I watching thefirst ball was probably the most
challenging?
Is you know I watching thefirst?
I want to say eight to 10 weeksof the season where my
teammates were doing all thework and I couldn't do anything.
You know I was.
I was just sitting on the onthe bench, uh, cheering my
teammates on as best as I couldand and helping them as best as
I could, um, at the time.
But the, the struggles weredefinitely definitely true and
(22:21):
hard.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Now, when you found out that you had to get Tommy
John surgery, what did thedoctors say?
Did they say, yeah, you willhave trouble pitching?
Did they?
What was?
Would you equate the overallsuccess and recovery to the
quality of the surgery itself,or what did it look dire as far
as like what the doctor'soutlook was with Tommy John?
(22:43):
Just for those folks out therethat aren't really familiar with
Tommy John surgery, because alot of times that can be a
really debilitating injury,right yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
So, um, what?
What happens is the, theligament on the inside of your
arm that connects your humerusand your ulna, um, it, basically
it usually tears in half.
So what mine did?
It tore off the humerus ratherthan tearing down the middle,
and so it didn't necessarilytear it.
(23:11):
Just, you know, it kind ofalmost snapped.
And so what?
The doctor said that you knowthe outlook was still the same
as any other regular fullreconstruction over UCL.
However, you know, he told methat there was going to be a
different surgery.
And I asked him I said is thisgoing to cause me any problems?
Is this going to change the waythat I throw?
(23:31):
Is it going to negativelyaffect me in the long run?
And he said no.
And obviously I had to trusthim.
He's the one with the doctorateand you know the medical, you
know the medical training tounderstand that this is going to
be all right.
But the initial reaction for mewas was pretty heartbreaking,
just knowing that there was onlyI want to say there's probably
(23:52):
four weeks left in the season.
At the time, my junior year,and we were going to a regional.
That year we were going to playat Virginia against some very
good teams to a regional.
That year we were going to playat Virginia um against some
very good teams and just justhaving that news that you know
I'm going to be out for a yearor more was was pretty
heartbreaking and debilitatingat the time, more than the
surgery even itself, um.
(24:14):
But then again, you know, thedoctor did a great job, dr
Donahue, out up at West Point,and basically what he did was he
reattached the original UCL tothe bone and then took a
ligament out of my wrist that ispretty much the same tensile
strength and the same density asmy UCL, retied it on itself
(24:37):
with some sutures and thendrilled it and anchored it into
my bone.
That wraps around the originalUCL.
So people like to say I'mbionic now because I have two
UCLs in my right arm.
And then again, I don't know ifit affects anything, I don't
know if it changes.
You know the anatomy of my arm,I guess you could say, but
again, he's the one with thedoctor and I just I was just yes
(25:00):
, do you feel like Wolverine?
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Sometimes one with a doctor, and I just I was just
yes, you're like, do you feellike Wolverine?
Sometimes you feel strong.
No man before.
Before I move on to talk aboutyour professional transition
into the big leagues, whatadvice would you have for anyone
out there, either in themilitary or maybe in sports in
general, that that have thistype of setback when it comes to
injuries like, what did youlearn either being at West Point
(25:25):
or just throughout your lifethat kind of helped you through
this?
What advice would you give tomotivate or inspire others who
are having an injury setback orsomething like that?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah, the biggest thing and it came from my dad
too, because he had numerousinjuries throughout his
nine-year career and he said,you know, the harder you work
now, the less you have to worklater.
And so that was probably thebiggest thing for me that the
harder I work now and the morepain and suffering that I go
through, it's going to work outin the long run and it's going
to benefit me in the long run.
(25:56):
And again, you know, spending 30to 40 hours a week in the
training room is pretty mindnumbing and it's pretty, pretty
hard to go through, especiallywhen you know, again, you don't,
you don't have the capabilitiesto even do that much with
working out.
Or, you know, even sitting thereat practice, all you can do at
practice is just sit there andwatch and again, so I think,
(26:17):
just focusing all of your timeand attention on your rehab and
kind of shutting everything elseout, and at the end of the day,
you know, you know treatingyourself in a way that you know
it's not going to affect youmentally negatively anymore.
Because a big thing that Iwould do, you know, if I was
down or something, or just youknow not having a good day, I
(26:39):
would kind of go back and watchmy old film from when I was
pitching just, you know, nothaving a good day.
I would kind of go back andwatch my old film from when I
was pitching and it kind of gotme back in the mindset of you
know, the harder I work.
I'm going to get back to thatpoint at some time.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, that's huge.
You definitely want to get allyour work done when you're
younger, in your 20s, and you'reable, and you don't have all
the distractions, all thevariables out there.
That's actually reallyexcellent advice that your
father gave you with that.
Now, from my understanding, youspent some time pitching for
the Trenton Thunder in the MLBDraft League, where you recorded
(27:12):
a solid 2.70 ERA.
What was your biggest takeawaysfrom that experience and how
did you prepare to get into thePhillies system overall?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah.
So the Trenton Thunder is agreat, great place.
I loved officially graduateBecause I was an August grad
because of my surgery thathindered me from completing some
summer training and so inbetween those trainings I was
(27:50):
with the Trenton Thunder andagain, they run it very
professionally.
They run it so well that italmost mimics any minor league
team that you can think of,where you're playing five, six
games a week and you get one offday.
And again the coaching staff inTrenton was so professional and
they had so much experiencethat I think that allowed me to
(28:13):
sort of understand the ins andouts of a higher level of
baseball.
And then again you know there'salways that you know you go to
the MLB draft league and youknow are you going to perform,
am I going to perform wellenough to live at this level,
and things like that.
And you know, even meeting allmy teammates there, that I still
talk to most of them today too.
(28:33):
It was pretty eye opening in asense that you know this is kind
of how baseball operates at ahigher level, the more than just
college and more than just at aD one level.
Um, and so I think you know,having those three weeks kind of
prepared me, to prepare mementally more than anything,
rather than physically, to kindof understand.
Like you know, in order for meto be successful at the next
(28:56):
level, I have to work just ashard as the guy next to me
that's trying to do the samething to get drafted and get
signed by some team out therethat believes in him.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
And it's, it's so competitive, so competitive,
especially in baseball.
Yeah, and now that you're withthe Phillies minor league team,
what do you think has been thebiggest adjustment,
transitioning from college toprofessional baseball?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
to professional baseball.
Um, I, I wouldn't even say thatit's a challenge, honestly, but
it's more of a benefit because,you know, at West Point
especially, being a cadetathlete is practically
impossible.
Um, I myself, you know, I Iwasn't the greatest student at
West Point, um, and I, you know,I attest that to how much I
spent focusing on baseball andthings like that.
But you know, once I, once Igot down to Florida for the
first month that I was therebefore I went out to basic
(29:51):
officer training.
I was there for about a monthand what I noticed and what I
saw was that there was so muchdifferent than college baseball.
Like it is, it is cutthroat, itis, you know, you do your work
and you you can go home.
That's pretty much it.
And so the only thing I had todo was focus on baseball.
I didn't have class, I didn'thave, you know, anything else to
(30:14):
worry about, and and some of myteammates I had, I had known
from, you know, mutual friendsand things like that with the
Phillies and things.
But again, I got to wake up andI got to go do baseball and I
got to come home and do nothing.
So I just think, again, theattention to detail just
increases to a high level, andthe coaches and staff that are
(30:40):
there, they pay so muchattention to you that you don't
really have that much room to doanything wrong.
Um, and so you know, my, myshort time with the Phillies
definitely opened me up to tofocusing more on my craft and
focusing more on my, my, mysleep, my, my workout routine,
the, the way that I eat, andeverything that you can think of
that comes with, you know, aprofessional level.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
So you know what that that actually makes me want to
go back to talk about your WestPoint days.
Take us through what the whatan average day in the life of an
Academy scholar athlete mightendure from start to finish.
What time are you waking up,what time are you going to bed
and what are you doing?
Everything in between.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah, so for my, for myself I can't really speak to
the rest of the academy but howI operated was every day I woke
up about 630 and we had morningformation around seven, and then
we go to breakfast and thingslike that and started classes,
started 7 40 every day, nochange, never, never a day off.
Um, it was always starting at 740 but hang on.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
When you showed up the hang on.
When you showed up theformation, you had to wear what?
Speaker 2 (31:52):
uh, usually it was acus or ocps, if you want to
call it that.
Um, but certain days we worethe formal uniform and and
things like that.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Uh, just kind of depending on on the day, so it
wasn't like rolling out of bedand just putting on whatever and
wearing your your sandals andgoing down there and standing.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
You had to like look strapped, you had to have your
shit together right, yeah, you,you, you had to, you know, be
clean, shaven, everything likethat, at least look
presentableable if anyone'simportant was walking around.
And then again your uniform hadto look sharp, everything like
that.
And then once class started,you kind of got left alone, I
(32:33):
guess, a little bit.
And then class probably wentuntil 12 noon before lunch, and
sometimes, depending on the day,I would have a break, an hour
hour and a half break beforelunch, where I would just walk
down to the field and kind ofjust sit there and just not do
(32:53):
anything, kind of relax.
And then after lunch then I hadusually one to two, sometimes
three classes, I think, earlierin my freshman year, both
semesters.
I had upwards of 19 to 20credit hours for both semesters.
So my freshman year was non-stop, it was just class, class,
(33:14):
class, class.
And then by my senior year Iwas down to like 14 or something
like that.
So the the times in betweenclasses have got greater and
things like that.
But then once, once class wasover, usually around three
o'clock, it was practice, nomatter what, 3, 30 to 7, 30 ish,
depending on, you know, if wehad a lift before, after,
(33:37):
practice usually ran until about7, 30 and even, and even, in
the winter um, sometimespractice wouldn't start until
eight because we have a covered.
We have a covered field thatcan only be practiced at at a
certain time, because otherteams are trying to practice in
the same facility, because it's,you know, negative 10 degrees
outside um, and and so that itjust went on like that for the
(34:00):
whole fall semester and into theearly spring semester.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
It's a lot of rigorous schedules and
discipline man involved in that.
It's not like a traditionalcollege, that's for sure.
Not at all.
I just want to make sure peopleunderstand that.
Yeah, now, when you were atWest Point, you excelled both as
a starter and a closer youexcelled both as a starter and a
closer.
What have you learned fromembracing the?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
different roles on the mound and which role do you
feel most comfortable right now?
So, as a closer, you knowyou're relied on a lot more.
You know whether I'm pitchingevery day or every other day,
you know the whole team relieson you at a very important time
during the game.
You know whether it's coming inthe eighth or ninth inning and
it's.
It's a close game and thingslike that.
And with starting, you know you, you kind of get a little bit
(34:54):
more of a leash, I guess youcould say with with the coaches
and the rest of the players.
You know you kind of kind of goout there with an open slate
and you know if something, ifone bad thing happens, you know
it's fine.
But you know, as a closer, ifone bad thing happens, then it
could spiral very fast in amatter of a couple pitches.
But you know, as a starter, youhave a lot more leniency with.
(35:18):
You know your pitches and whatyou can do against certain
players and things like that.
But I, you know, if I had topick personally, I would.
I would say as a closer, um,just because you know you, you
know that one day, whether it'stoday or tomorrow, you're going
to go into pitch during the game.
So you're always, you'reconstantly ready and you're
(35:40):
mentally prepared to go into agame at any moment.
Um, and then what I like to sayis you know, put me in a game
so I can go and blow somebody'sdoors off, because, as a closer,
you know you can go out thereand throw as hard as you can.
You know, obviously, with somecommand and and other, you know
baseball terms in in play.
You know, but as a, as astarter, you know you got to
increase your longevitythroughout the game.
(36:01):
You know, but as a, as astarter, you know you got to
increase your longevitythroughout the game.
So you know, when you're thethird time through the order,
people have seen you, they'veseen you pitch to them.
You know three times now.
So you know they're preparedfor you and you're prepared for
them.
But as a closer, you knowyou're a brand new face that
nobody knows and you know youget to go in the game and kind
(36:22):
of do your thing pretty quickly,um, and almost show no remorse
to the team that you're facing.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yeah, and there's, that's a, that's a huge all eyes
on you situation right therewhen you're the closer.
I remember watching the worldseries last year when the
Dodgers and uh man, like some ofthose games, we were literally
on the edge of our seats.
Yeah, you know, and I wasthinking, man, that's, that's a
lot of pressure.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yeah, and I think I think because of that I fed off
that pressure more because youknow as a starter, with that,
that leash, that you get it.
You know you could have a badinning or something like that,
but as a closer, you know if, ifyou have two bad batters like
you're out of the game.
Um, because they don't.
They don't want it to spiral orsnowball or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Right, yeah, every pitch matters when you're that
closer, for sure.
Um, we talked earlier aboutbalancing military service and
professional baseball and I justwant to make sure we cover that
.
As far as you know you youbeing the west point graduate
and you're a commissionedofficer as well um, managing
those dual commitments ofmilitary service and pursuing
(37:30):
the professional baseball career, what challenges or
opportunities do you see?
Do you foresee moving forwardoverall, balancing those two out
?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Um, in the future, you know, I think it's just the
time commitment that's gonna,that's gonna be more of a factor
than anything.
Um, you know, as of right now,it's as I'm waiting on this,
this packet to be approved bythe world-class athlete program
(38:07):
spend two hours in the gym,working out and go to bed and
get right back up for the nextday, and so, even when I'm back
with the Phillies and performingat a high level, it's just
again going to be the same thing.
It's constant attention tobaseball and when the offseason
comes around, there could besome military obligations that I
have to pursue during theoffseason.
There could be some militaryobligations that I have to
(38:29):
pursue during the offseason,which is rare in my case and the
case of the World Class AthleteProgram.
But again, there's just goingto be a lot of things that I'm
going to have to endure, whethertaking away from my time and
giving it to someone else.
I would personally prefer to beleft alone on some occasions,
but again, it's part of the joband it's part of the thing that
(38:50):
I signed up for.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, no doubt Commitment man when I had to go
to war.
It was hard, it was really hard.
Like I left, I got out of OBC,got to 25th and Schofield and
then it was like 30 days,they're like you're going.
And I was like 30 days, they'relike you're going and I was
like what?
I was like where's my, where'smy time in garrison?
(39:12):
Where's my like play army time,like I don't even get that.
I mean, my butter bar is still,like you know brand new so it
was.
It was a shock for me, but I waslike, hey, man, like this is
what I signed up for I gotta godo it.
Um, so, as far as theworld-class uh that you're
talking about, is that availablefor all sports or just baseball
(39:32):
?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
So it's any Olympic sport that you play.
You know wrestling, they have,they've got swimming, basketball
, rugby, all kinds of things andso if you're either not in the
military or in the military, youcan apply for the program.
So you can be out of themilitary and you're on an
Olympic team and you're like,hey, I want to join the military
(39:54):
but also keep playing my sport,you can apply for the program.
And it's the same thing for ifyou're in the military and in my
case, as an academy graduate,there's a.
There's a long list of peoplethat have joined the program,
but then again there's a longlist of people that went other
routes, that have played theprofessional sports and things
like that, and so I think it's ahuge opportunity for anyone
(40:19):
that can join and a hugeopportunity for myself in order
to continue to play and continueto live out my dream.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
It is such a nontraditional thing that you're
doing, man, like I mean it is alittle confusing but at the
same time, like I'm just socurious about it and I'm so
envious of like the amount ofthe amount of discipline that
you have and maturity that youhave at such a young age, I wish
I had that Now.
Are you going to get stationedat an active duty station or
(40:47):
where do you have to report to?
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Yes, sir.
So once my packet is approvedand once I get an answer back on
that, I'll be located at FortCarson, because that's where the
world-class athlete trainingfacility is, and so they have a
specific unit out there and acommander and all that good
stuff, and so I'll actually moveout there.
That'll be kind of's, all thatgood stuff, um, and so I'll
actually move out there, um, andkind of that'll be kind of like
(41:10):
my home station.
I guess you could say um, andthen once I go through some some
certain things and um, I'll getback to florida with the
phillies, um, almostindefinitely, um, I'll kind of
be out with the phillies playingbaseball and my off seasons
will be um, pretty lenient as to, you know when I'll have to go
back on things like that and Idon't I don't know the full
(41:34):
scale of of everything, causeI'm not officially in the
program yet but um, you know, inthe in the off season I'll I'll
have my time to continueworking and working on my craft.
Um, so yeah, I'll be out inColorado is the main thing.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
That's so cool, man.
So do they give you a branchand everything.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Yes, sir, so I'll.
I'll keep my branch as amilitary police officer, um, but
I'll just kind of be under aunit that I guess I don't
practice military policing.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Now was that your first choice.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
It was out of West Point.
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Okay, Okay cool.
So why military police?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
At the end of the day .
I don't want to say anything badabout the other branches at all
, don't get me wrong.
I don't see anything wrong withbeing in the army whatsoever,
but this was just something Iwas always interested in.
Um, my grandfather was a Marine, um, and he was in Vietnam and
things like that.
And my brother, when my, whenme and my brother were younger,
(42:34):
we always talked about doingsomething related to the
military.
He wanted to be a Marine Corpspilot and I don't know, I was
just, I guess, too young toreally understand, I was just
following whatever he said,cause he was my older brother,
um, and so, you know, at the endof the day, like I've thought
about it before, if, if I wasn'tdoing the military and I didn't
go to West Point, like, maybe,be a police officer, so I was
(42:57):
like you know that that seemsinteresting.
And then again, the otherbranches that are out there,
they just didn't interest me asmuch as military police, I guess
, you could say.
And so that was really the mainreason.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Yeah, no, I mean, at the end of the day, I know for a
lot of people that just goenlisted, they don't know what
they're doing.
Yeah, and there's so manyconversations I've had with
people and I'm like, why did youchoose the Navy, or why did you
choose the Air Force?
Well, I went to the Air Forceand there was nobody there.
So then I walked by the Navalrecruiting office and somebody
was there and I just signed upand it's like, really, that's
(43:33):
how it happened and that's howit usually happens, man.
So I mean, you're not wrong.
Anyways, at the end of the day,you're in a great place, man.
I mean it's so refreshing totalk to someone that's got the
level of maturity that you haveand professionalism that you
have.
You're going to be a greatleader, uh, no doubt in my mind.
Um, looking ahead, though, uh,what are your immediate and
(43:55):
long-term goals within thephillies organization and and
what's your plan to achieve them?
Speaker 2 (44:02):
yeah, so I I think a long-term goal, uh, no doubt in
my mind, is to make it to thebig leagues.
I think that's any kid's dreamthat starts playing baseball and
at the end of the day, probablymy dad's dream too is to see me
make it and to see me play agame in the major leagues.
But you know, short-term goalis honestly to just get get back
(44:23):
to playing and just get back todoing what I love most.
Get get back to playing, um,and just get back to doing what
I love most, and with that youknow we'll come.
We'll come sometime, kind ofreturning to the the highest
level that I can be at, andtraining again to at a level
that that the phillies want andthings like that.
And so, again, just justgetting back on the field right
now is probably the mostimportant goal for me.
(44:44):
Um to, to just experience, youknow, my first game at a
professional level and thingslike that.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's one step at a time, yeah,
one step at a time, for sure.
And so if you were to goprofessional, let's say the
Phillies were to bring you onthe main team everything what
would that?
You would still have to fulfillyour military obligation, right
?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Yes, sir, at the end of the day, it it would.
I would still have to fulfillmy military obligation, but if
you know, if my packet getsapproved and things like that,
my, my playing with the Philliesand my training to play
professional sports technicallywould count as my service time.
So they, they're like, theycoincide with one another.
Um, and you know, at the, atthe end of the day, if, if I
(45:32):
make it to the professionallevel and you know, god willing,
they, they invite me to come tothat, to the major league team,
then you know there might besome other conversations of, of
things that need to happen inorder for me to continue playing
at the major league level.
Um, but again, at the end ofthe day, I signed up for for
something bigger than myself,than just you know baseball.
So if that were to come to it,then that's what needs to happen
(45:54):
.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
That's what I'm talking about, man, something
bigger than yourself.
That's why I chose to join themilitary.
That's why I chose to getcommissioned, that's why I chose
during a time of war, because Iwanted to do something bigger
than myself.
I wanted to serve my country.
So God bless you for that.
You know, your generation gets alot of crap about being weak,
(46:16):
being soft.
You know, um, what's youradvice for folks out there?
Cause you balance a lot.
I mean I hope people understandthat.
Like being a college athletebut then also doing it at an
academy where, like, you'reexpected to show up to formation
, uniform has to be perfect,everything has to be perfect.
You have to be super organized.
What, what advice would youhave?
(46:39):
I mean, I thought it was greatwhat you said earlier about
paying your dues early, but whatother piece of advice would you
have now that you're a littlebit ahead of folks that are just
getting out of high school andgoing to college?
What advice would you have forthem to achieve the amount of
success, the amount ofresiliency that you've had over
(47:00):
the years, if you had to talk tofolks that are just slightly
behind you?
Let's say, you're standing in aplatoon and you're talking to a
young E4 and they're looking atyou like, hey, leader, I want
to achieve.
What advice would you give tothem?
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Yeah, I think about it in kind of a way, like you
know, it's say you knowsomeone's fresh out of high
school and they're kind offiguring out what they need to
do with life.
The biggest thing for me wassurrounding myself with people
that wanted the same thing,whether it was going to college
or playing sports at aprofessional level or anything
(47:37):
like that.
I've always gravitated towardspeople like me and tried to stay
away from people that aren'tlike me.
I saw it so much in high schoolwhere you know I would spend
summers with my travel ballteammates and they ended up
being better friends than anyoneI had in high school.
And even now, like the, the 40,50 guys that I met at West
(47:59):
Point on the baseball team,they're pretty much the only
people that I talk to on a dailybasis Beside, obviously,
besides my family and thingslike that and I think just
continuing to surround yourselfwith people like that will help
you understand that if they'regoing to push you to do
something, you're automaticallygoing to push yourself to do the
(48:20):
same, and that was a big factoras to why I think some might
say that my success came soearly and at such a young age.
I think, just understanding thatthe people around me have the
most influence on me, whetherit's you know, your family,
parents, brothers, sisters andteammates, and even if you're
(48:43):
not on a sports team or you'renot looking to play sports,
there's still a group of peopleout there that are like, minded,
like you, that are probablycloser than you think, and so
they're going to help you, nomatter what.
Do you do better things in lifethan you know, succumbing to
some of the distractions thatare around today.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Yeah, I think a lot of your success is, you know,
contributed from your parents,as well as the community, the
coaches you had over the years.
From what it sounds like theyraised you right, man, and
that's huge.
That's really important.
My dad had a huge impression onme because my mom really wasn't
around all that much, but hewas just a tough ranger and at
(49:25):
the end of the day he was likehe was like drive on, you know,
and that's how I always, that'show I've always been.
But I want you to keep me inmind too, man, when you're in LA
in 2028, I'm just outside of LA, over here, so maybe we can
link up.
I can get you lunch orsomething, man, if you got any
time.
Absolutely, yeah, I would loveto.
This has been an awesomeconversation.
You're the first academyathlete that I've ever
(49:47):
interviewed, so it's been atremendous honor for me.
But was there anything that Ididn't cover in this interview
that you would like to talkabout before we wrap things up?
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Not that I can think of.
Maybe besides, you know somepeople that might not understand
the intricacies of Tommy Johnsurgery or baseball itself.
Again, I think you know I can'tanswer every question and I
don't want to get too deep intothe weeds about the
interconnections betweenbaseball and my brain, because
(50:18):
that's pretty much all I thinkabout on a daily basis, whether
it's watching videos orhighlights and things like that.
But you know, I think thatthere's a lot of connections
between not just sports andinjuries and things like that,
but just everyday life.
You know, you go through a lot,of, a lot of things every day
and, whether you play sports ornot, like some sort of
resiliency will show itself ifyou just you know, work hard and
(50:42):
you think about the, the futurerather than the present because
that's what I believe got me towhere I am is, rather than
focusing on the hardships of now, I thought about, you know, if
I work hard, but, just like mydad said, work hard now, it's
going to pay off later, andultimately it did.
And I think focusing on thefuture because of what you're
(51:04):
doing right now is really goingto impact anyone, whether they
play sports or not.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
The two things that you said in this interview that
I absolutely love and I want tounderline again for anyone out
there listening was be aware ofwho you surround yourself with.
Again, like they always say, ifyou're hanging out with five
idiots, you're the sixth idiot.
You're hanging out with fiveprofessionals, you're the sixth
idiot.
Um, you're hanging out withfive professionals, you're the
sixth professional.
(51:31):
And then also to um, what youjust mentioned right now, I mean
that's, that's huge as wellPaying your dues.
A lot of young adults don'twant to put in the hard work
while they're young.
And you blink, you're 30, youblink again, you're 40 and
you're like what the hell have Idone with my life?
You know, and so it's.
I mean that's great advice.
(51:53):
And for folks out thereinterested in following you and
following your journey, whatplatforms are you on?
Speaker 2 (52:01):
Yeah, so I'm on Instagram mostly and I'm on
there pretty often.
So my Instagram is just tgreshG-R-E-S-H.
Or my baseball Instagram isjust jommyton it's Tommy John.
But just flip the first twoletters and me and my friend
actually started it when I wentthrough Tommy John surgery and
(52:23):
he had done it the year before.
So we kind of joined forces andmade and made our own little
like sort of collaborationInstagram, um, and we did some
interviews on there, we did alot of videos, that kind of
showcase sort of the, therecovery process and things like
that.
But uh, those are probably thetwo most most used platforms by
me.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
At first I thought that was your real name.
I was like, no, a weird name.
Yeah, I was like what is it?
What are the chances that Irealized that Tanner?
Was your real name but um didhe also have the same setback
with the same injury?
Speaker 2 (52:55):
yes, so, uh, I want to say about six months, six to
eight months before me, um, theOctober of our junior year, uh,
he went to the same surgery andso I again I think that was
another factor is I saw thethings that he was doing and you
know what affected himnegatively and how I could, you
know, change that once I wentthrough it.
(53:17):
Um, and so I just kind of againI like you said, like
surrounding yourself with thepeople that are going to affect
you most, like I was kind offorced into being surrounded by
him, um, you know, through thesurgery and things like that,
but at the end of the day he wasstill my teammate and I, I
talked to him every day and, um,I love that guy to death.
But you know, I saw some of thethings that he was doing that
(53:39):
negatively impacted him, and soI just wanted to flip it and I
wanted to see like, okay, if Ido this differently, maybe I'll
end up differently.
Speaker 1 (53:47):
Yeah, yeah, man, that's huge.
Surrounding yourself with theright people that's huge has
everything to do with whereyou're going to end up and what
you're going to be doing andyour influence overall, Tanner.
It's been an absolute pleasureFor anyone out there listening.
Please follow Tanner's journey.
I'm going to make sure that Iput your Instagram in the show
(54:11):
notes, both your personal andyour baseball one.
I am so interested and so allin on seeing where you go from
here.
Man, you have a tremendousstart right out the blocks and
I'm I'm hoping to have you backon the show at some point, man,
when you're in the big leaguesand don't forget about us little
(54:34):
podcasters down here and giveme another opportunity to just
follow up with you.
I think, at the end of the day,you're going to win, no matter
what.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
Thank you, sir, and I would absolutely love to return
the podcast.
No matter what, no matter whattime, whether I'm successful or
not, I definitely just I justwant to get my story out there
and let people know that.
You know, no matter what,there's only two things you
control it's effort and attitude, and I take that with me every
day.
So man.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
I love that effort and attitude.
What a great way to wrap it upfor folks out there.
As always, I want you to staytuned, stay focused and stay
motivated.
Warriors fall out.
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