July 14, 2025 • 28 mins
📺 Presented by Youth Baseball Midwest
Former MLB Draft pick and longtime coach Darin Cissell joins Brett Graves once again for a powerful conversation about one of the most misunderstood parts of the scouting and draft process:Â
👉 Signability — what it means, why it matters, and how it can shape a player’s future.Â
Whether you're a parent, player, or coach, this episode breaks down how scouts evaluate not just talent — but timing, value, and commitment. If you're aiming for the next level, this is essential listening.
💬 Get the inside perspective from two guys who’ve been on both sides of the process.
🎧 Subscribe to @YouthBaseballMidwest for more episodes of Keep Klimbing with Brett Graves.
#KeepKlimbing #YBMcast #YouthBaseballMidwest #Signability #MLBDraft #ScoutingProcess #BaseballDevelopment #BrettGraves #DarinCissell #CollegeBaseball #YouthBaseball #BaseballTalk
SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE
Check out our sponsor's pages!
Powered by Game 7 Baseball: https://www.game7baseball.comÂ
Get all your Gear at Prime Sports Midwest https://www.primesportsmw.comÂ
Follow Youth Baseball MidwestÂ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youthbaseballmidwest
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YouthBaseballMidwest
X/Twitter: Youth Baseball Midwest (@YBM_cast) / X (twitter.com)
Website: https://www.youthbaseballmidwest.comÂ
Follow Prep Baseball Report MissouriÂ
Instagram and X/Twitter: @pbrmissouri and @pbr_moulerÂ
Website: https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/missouri
Former MLB Draft pick and longtime coach Darin Cissell joins Brett Graves once again for a powerful conversation about one of the most misunderstood parts of the scouting and draft process:Â
👉 Signability — what it means, why it matters, and how it can shape a player’s future.Â
Whether you're a parent, player, or coach, this episode breaks down how scouts evaluate not just talent — but timing, value, and commitment. If you're aiming for the next level, this is essential listening.
💬 Get the inside perspective from two guys who’ve been on both sides of the process.
🎧 Subscribe to @YouthBaseballMidwest for more episodes of Keep Klimbing with Brett Graves.
#KeepKlimbing #YBMcast #YouthBaseballMidwest #Signability #MLBDraft #ScoutingProcess #BaseballDevelopment #BrettGraves #DarinCissell #CollegeBaseball #YouthBaseball #BaseballTalk
SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE
Check out our sponsor's pages!
Powered by Game 7 Baseball: https://www.game7baseball.comÂ
Get all your Gear at Prime Sports Midwest https://www.primesportsmw.comÂ
Follow Youth Baseball MidwestÂ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youthbaseballmidwest
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YouthBaseballMidwest
X/Twitter: Youth Baseball Midwest (@YBM_cast) / X (twitter.com)
Website: https://www.youthbaseballmidwest.comÂ
Follow Prep Baseball Report MissouriÂ
Instagram and X/Twitter: @pbrmissouri and @pbr_moulerÂ
Website: https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/missouri
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's going on everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome back, Thank you for checking out this episode of
the Key Timing Podcast. We're back today at Carsio Field.
We got the boys taking some VP behind us here
getting ready for Game ten of the p C d L.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
We're in starting week four.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
These guys will play all the way through, you know,
the back end of July. We've got YBM out here live.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Streaming the games.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You guys can go check those out every Monday and Tuesday,
the games are live streamed. Really fortunate to be able
to you know, kind of two birds with one stone
here and keep the content trained rolling. So I got
my man Darren Cisel back here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
With us today.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Uh, and we're gonna talk about a topic that's that's
very relevant for the for the time right now. It
probably only applies to a certain demographic of people, and
that's okay, but it's a concept of signability.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Next week is the Major League Draft.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You've got people all over the country hopefuls right that
that they're gonna get drafted. You know, we have been
drafted and and understand a little bit of the dynamics.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
There in Sun Titus has also just recently gone through
the process. So a lot of experience, I guess going
through that, walking through that and understanding what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
And you know, and and you know, both of.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Us these days get a ton of questions, you know,
about things like that, should I go to college?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Should I sign?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
What does? What does professional baseball minor league life look like?
You know, like, uh, and and and now even even still,
you know, with all the you know, changing evolving things
in college recruiting, how much that changes everything you know?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
And all of this stuff definitely works together.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's kind of made a whirlwind of different you know,
thoughts and decisions for players and families. There's a ton
that goes into it. And uh, you know, some of
the dynamics, you know, can can be very personal to
each individual player. And I think that's the point of
the topic today maybe is is how for you to
decide what's what's right for you, you.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Know, what situation's right for you.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
We could probably spin that off even into you know,
different college topics, students a little bit more, you know,
widely distributable to everybody. But at the end of the day,
you know, the point is always finding the right fit
for you and trying to sift through some of the
things on the business side of things, you know that
that would influence that.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, but I think I talked to some people this
week and I remind them we've had this so many times.
When you leave high school becomes a business, especially within IONO,
like it is, it is a business. You start making business,
business decisions. Holy counts early in the morning. I'm not
teaching currently. It is business decisions. There got out that time.
But as far as like you start negotiating in IO,
(02:42):
you start negotiating your scholarships, it's just not what it
used to be of like, hey, this is all the
money we got, this is all I can do for you,
because now schools have other resources to pull from. And
then when you get into this topic in this week
with the draft, I guess the draft would actually be
today when this comes out next Monday, So the drafts
probably currently going on, and there's a lot of people
(03:03):
and I last year was exciting and tough wall at
the same time because there's so many variables that go
into should you sign, should you go to college? What
college should you go to? I mean, it's I think
the life. When I met with some people this week,
the thing that I tried to emphasize over and over
is like that lifestyle, the minor league lifestyle. It's not glamorous,
(03:25):
it's not social, it's not fun. It is it's just
a development.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Program.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And when you're at the bottom of that development, there's
no one watching you. Go to the backfield at spring training.
It was I just got back a couple of weeks ago.
My son's games might have six to eight people there
and they're all just parents there stopping through practice games.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So practice games all year long. I think that's what
you told me when you got back in spring training.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
The entire year it's and that's what Titus went out
in February and they have spring training, then you have
spring training games. Then he went to extended spring training
with the other high school guys except one, and now
he's in the ACL, which is nothing more than more
spring training games. So if you've never been to a
spring training minor league game, not a lot of yeah energy,
(04:12):
none compared to go through at Arkansas, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Like.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And that's where when you're talking about it's personal, like
for the kid that is just driven by I want
to be the best player I could be, and I
don't care about the social life, going to tailgates, doing
all those things that college and that's a great experience.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I mean, you did that and it was a lot
of fun. Yeah, we were just talking before this.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know, I look back on some of my experience
and the one thing that I want to echo for
sure is how much more it felt like a business
from nineteen years old and on up than it did
from eighteen years and on down. You know that, you know,
especially that jump there whether you're going to college or
whether you're looking at signing professionally, that jump is coming
(04:57):
regardless because the people in the environment that you're going
into next, that's someone's career, family, and livelihood.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So understanding that dynamic that.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
That baseball's for most people has all been about fun
before that, and that being like the top thing. You
know that you developed that love for the game that
if you don't have that really deep love for the
game and you get in either one of these experiences
later on, the game will find a way to read
you out. You know, the game will definitely find a
way to read you out quickly. And yeah, yeah, and
(05:26):
and you know, so that's why I tell people all
the time, you know that like that that love of
the game and finding that joy within the game is
so important, is so important, and you know in those environments,
speaking from experience and having been through those, you almost
have to dig a little deeper to keep finding that
love for the game, you know, because because you're not
(05:46):
out there playing with your buddies anymore, you're not in
an environment where you know you fail and the coaches
are going to be like, hey, buddy, it's okay, Like no,
it's it's it's go time, you know, and it's always
someone's job. And you know, I will say that the
stark differences between those environments is that in the development
friendly environment like what Titus is in and lower levels
in the minor leagues, it's entirely about development. You're gonna
(06:09):
get all of your at bats, you're gonna get your innings,
you're gonna get.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Your opportunities, don't matter.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, it's gonna be all about what you do with those,
you know, because the competition's level is so much higher, uh,
you know that that is much more of a challenge.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So you're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Big waves of adversity that that you're not used to
and you've never done, never seen before. You know, and
on the other side of the fence in college, it's
way more about like winning right now and what can
you do for me this year?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And are you going to be in my lineup? Are
you going to be on the mound for me? And
what you're going to be able to produce right now?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And you know, especially with the changing landscape and college baseball,
that's much more on these coaches brains earlier than it's
ever been, right, Like, you see very few and fewer
by the years.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You know, as the years goes on.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
There's even fewer of how many people are coming to
a school, and the coaches have in mind like, well,
might be able to produce for us in two years
or three years or whatever the case may be, right
that we just don't have time for that. We don't
have a roster space for that, and understanding what that
does to the rest of the landscape, which is more
of what we talked about in our last episode.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So go back and check that one out.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
But as far as this one goes, you know, I
want to spend a little bit more time talking about,
you know, what type of thoughts, considerations, dynamics should be
in play on if you should sign or not, and
what professional baseball kind of has in store for you, right,
so you know, so in that light, you know, the
couple of things that come to my mind the most
(07:35):
is it really don't even have a whole lot to
do with on the field.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
We'll get to that in a second.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
You know, off the field, you know how how much
you know, how reliant and independent or mature and then yeah, yeah,
how mature you are, how how reliant you still all
are on your family for so many things as a
you know, eighteen year old kid that now when you're nineteen,
you've got your own apartment. You've got to get yourself
to and from everything. Don't got anybody reminding me to
(08:01):
do X, y Z or to be somewhere. You're off
on an island, totally on your own. And most of
the clubs do have a pretty good support system for
those lower levels that they understand what those players are
much better.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Than it used to be.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
But it's still like it's on your longer you're what,
big boy, you're this is an adult job.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
This is no longer college. It's not. It's it's a job,
and it's a grind, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
And the support has increased tremendously, but it's still a
difficult job. Like and I, We've had this talk and
we had nat or many times. It doesn't take long
before professional baseball you realize it's a job. It goes
from a dream to a job pretty quick. About ten
days in, I was like, I gotta do this again
(08:43):
and again, and like the grind mentally, professionally is far
superior than than college.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
There's no break, no doubt. I think back to my
college experience. I got drafted in a high school, chose
to go to college, and why do you choose to
go to college? I specifically chose to go to college
because I didn't think the you know, combination of opportunity
round I got drafted in, what signing bonus was associated
with that the whole dynamic was worth skipping my college
(09:12):
experience for, you know. And I think a lot of
that was driven by other people and influences that were
in my life, because I can also think back to
that at eighteen, and I was just kind of like
listening and trusting the people around me that the baseball
player in me. I got drafted by a Saint Louis Cardinals,
so being a Saint Louis kid, Like, there's nothing I
wanted to do more than to.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Go put that jersey on.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
And from the time I was young, you know, like,
you know, I didn't grow up dreaming about playing college.
I grew up dreaming about playing in the big leagues,
you know, like, and you know I chose to go
in Miszoo. I didn't grow up like some big Miszoo fan.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I chose that for different reasons, and you know, so
so in deciding to go do that, I look back
on my experience now and I'm so thankful that I
chose to do that because I look at it right
now and how much I struggled on the field off
the field as a freshman, that that, Holy cal if
I would have done that in a professional environment with
without you know, so much further from home, without the
(10:07):
support system that I had, you know, without some of
the college uh you know, social friend clubhouse and distraction.
Get yeah, there's no distraction of the professional You.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Go home when you talk to your friends, they're asking
about baseball. Well yeah, and you go you go home
and you're staying in apartment with three or four of
your other teammates too, Like there is nothing else to
talk about, like and the you know, on down the road.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I've said this many times. You know, I ended up
getting married and my wife moved out with me.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That like once, once my wife was out there with me,
I felt like, Holy cal what a relief this is.
I feel like I can come home and not be
all consumed by baseball because I was the type of
person that would go home and watch video, watch more
baseball games, you know, especially dealing with adversity, do it
through different times like that, I was all consumed by
it and couldn't turn it off. And so especially when
(10:56):
you're in like ruts, you know, like those things can
spiral out of control without those type types of distractions
if you will, you know, like things that kind of
get your mind off of work or.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know, field and play. You know.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
But the maturity that you're talking about is understanding how
to this is a game.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
This is not who I am for sure.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
And I think that's as you go through college and
you can start to mature, you realize, look, who I
am is not just a baseball player.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I'm a student. I have social life, I have a girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Where when you go to play professionally, it takes a
special mindset going into it that you have to know.
I've said many times when I got there at twenty,
I think I saw when I was twenty two ish
and there's some eighteen year old there, and I'm like,
I will never have my son at eighteen in this environment.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Ever. I will not do it. But I've thought the
same thing. It's when you're there and you realize eighteen
is so young.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, But like you said earlier, each person is a
different situation. And my son was not going to college.
Like he did not have any desire to go to college.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
He didn't want to go.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
It wasn't so he was going to play professionally. And
I mean he started training to play professionally when he
was in eighth grade. But the thing that set them
apart to me and the thing that's still helping him
and you talked about with adversity.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
If you don't know how to.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Handle adversity, you can't go play professionally. If you don't
go into understanding, I'm going to fail and fail in
the way I've never failed before. Because if you get
frustrated a high school game because someone makes an air
behind you, or you don't get a call beyond the plate,
and you can't handle adversity at the high school level.
Don't even don't don't even think about signed professionally, go
(12:35):
to college. It's not especially with the NIL Financially, there's
not a big jump between some NIL people can generate
the money compared to some of the signing bonus. So
if you look at if you bet on yourself, a
lot of times you look at like a Paul Skins
that came out as Christian Moore played three years, he's up.
(12:55):
A lot of these guys are playing three years in
the SEC, come out and they're a year away from
the big leagues.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Chase Burns then he's come up. Yep, yep, a lot
of these guys.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
It ain't taken long because SEC baseball prepares you. The
downside is what if I'm not good enough in the SEC, Well,
then you wouldn't be good enough professional?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Amen, amen, And at least then too, you got so
much like school, fall back on relationships, fall back on
things that help prepare you for your life. And that
was kind of some of my consideration, you know, So
going back to the experience, for me, I look back
right now, thirty two years old and look back at
that nineteen year old experience for me, and I'm like,
holy cow, if I would have done that in professional baseball,
(13:34):
you know, with with where I was mentally and physically
and everything, it is so not prepared for professional baseball.
If I would have had that same experience in professional
professional baseball, I think my career would have been you know,
much much shorter, you know, and you know, there's some
dynamics that that I think I grew and evolved and
learned how to handle diversity a lot better, you know,
(13:55):
in that college lifestyle and you know, all of those
on and off the field, oh yeah, on and off the.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Field, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
And I think that you know, just like work life
for adults, you know, like you can't really perform at
a high level. You can't execute the way that you
want to at work at the field unless your home
life and everything is kind of under control, right like,
unless you you know, feel comfortable and stable and whatever,
you know, like in that dynamic. And the same thing
(14:22):
is true for a baseball player that you know, if
if if you've got stuff going on outside the field,
it's extremely hard to focus and execute at such a
high elite level. That you need to that that you know,
kiss that goodbye basically. So so I think the biggest
consideration for everybody is just understanding what that off the
field life first and foremost looks like for you, you know,
(14:42):
and then once you kind of start to get into
some topics about on the field, you can look at,
you know, physical maturity. You can look at you know,
like physical stature of just like how are you projectability
and all those things about how you're how you're how
you're built, how you're wired. You know, I was such
a smaller length, yeah, less physically mature, like I needed
(15:02):
those couple extra years of colleges of college to not
only mentally mature like I already said, you know, but
also physically mature, you know, from a physical stature to
a you know, being able to pitch deeper into games,
developing my off speed pitches, you know, and all those
things that like, you know, having success in high school
(15:23):
is one thing, and then having success at a upper level,
you know, college environment or professional baseball is totally different,
and you know you can kind of get fooled, I
guess by how good my breaking ball was in high
school and you expect it to be that good in
upper levels and I'm not the competition.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
A little disrespect, but having success in high school is
not difficult when you're that much more talented. If you're
d one or draft, I mean, high school should be
easy for you because there's this gap of like you're
just that much better.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Now. Do the numbers always back that up?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
No, because when you're talking about draft, and I think
last year I got this question a lot. It's like, well,
how come your son didn hit five hundred. I'm like,
he's not getting drafted based on stats. He's getting drafted
based on numbers he produced analytically. Yeah, like rotational acceleration
and his vertical his thirty, his sixty, like all those
numbers show what his body's capable of.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
We've talked about that in the previous episode here of
just your next opportunity in baseball is way more about
projectability based off of your tools.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
We talk a lot about, especially with.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Our business, of building your engine. You know that like
you're getting you're getting the next opportunity based off of
what you know. Scouts, analytics say that your successful be
at the next level. You know, So keeping your focus
on developing and building those tools you know that that's
ultimately what the next opportunity is going to get you.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
It's not always about on field success.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think the higher that you go, the more they
weigh in on field success because the talent gap is
shrinking because after the bottom two hitters.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, I mean Titus had this conversation with your organization recently.
They're like, look, we don't really care about stats, and
at rookie League or even Low A, when you get
to High A, you're expected to start producing to show
that those two years of three or how long you're
developing has prepared you. I mean Drew Jones was first
round pick. I don't he may have been overall one.
He was in Low A for two years because he
(17:19):
was a high school kid that needed those two And
that's what everyone's journey. Like, my son physically is going
to have to mature and get and catch up with
a lot of I was just there. There's two things
that I guarantee. One physical size in projectability matter and
two you better learn how to speak Spanish. Yeah, and
those are things people don't tell you, but when you
get there. The Latin I didn't hear a song from America.
(17:42):
The entire time I was at a game because it
was Latin. All you hear is Spanish. My son speaks Spanish.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Now those are yeah, those well look, those are some
of the off the field dynamics that like you don't
think about, you know, being able to work and work cohesively.
You know, if you're a short stopping you got a
Latin second basement, like, you better be able to work
with him, you know, like things that you've just never
had to deal with. So they had to pick and
you're a picture like you better be able to communicate.
You've got a guy on second and third. Those are
my runs, you know what I mean, Like we need
(18:09):
to be able the same page here.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
So they put a pick play on.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
The coach is Latin, the second basement's Latin, Tye is not,
so he came out and was speaking of Spanish because
Ty's Spanish has gotten pretty good, but Ty still didn't.
And then when the manager walked away him in the
second basement trying to figure out what play was on
and it didn't get run yep, and they would have
picked a guy off. But that's why it's in rookie
(18:32):
level and you're trying to develop all the.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Things that Latin kid's probably only been in the States
for a year too, you know, like they've got all
this learning curve too. That holy cow, you want to
start looking into that absolutely blow your mind, you know,
their background, Yeah, just coming from where they've come from,
you know, that's a huge lifestyle adjustment, you know, so
you figuring out how to do all that kind of
in the same time and space and the cohesively work
(18:56):
as a unit on the field is a challenge.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You know, it's definitely a challenge.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
And look, I don't know that coming from college like
necessarily prepares you for any of that.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Either.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
That's still going to smack you in the face no
matter how old you.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Get in but you're mature enough to handle the diversity
where most high school for sure athletes and over thirty
years of coaching, the amount of time scouts have asked
me and the thing I always say is that he
hasn't learned how to fail. I mean, we had a
couple of guys that legitimately could have signed had the opportunity,
But if they would have signed, I think it would
have been very detrimental to their development because it's tough to
(19:27):
develop when you're just beating yourself up every day, like
if you can't reset, and I mean Tyasa's approach right
now is like week by week, you had a good week,
good next week, start over, because if you just go
game by game sometimes to me, it's two up and down.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
You set weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
If you can stack good weeks, great, but you're trying
to limit the amount of bad weeks you have. And
that's a different mindset than college. Yeah, no doubt, And
that's college is for ninety nine percent of people is
the way to go. There are very few and I
know there's some guys that will be drafted probably today
as we're doing this, that you're gonna have to make
a decision. Would be very hesitant to sign professionally in less.
(20:05):
To me, the two factors, One, you have money that's
going to change, give you a head start for the
rest of your life. It's tough to pass that up
because injuries do happen. And to the understanding of what
you're really walking into because having a holistic picture of
like money is one thing, but it's not everything.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Well, yeah, and let's talk about.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
The money piece of it real quick too. You know,
like that that's really not from like a greed or
ego a pride standpoint either. No, No, I think I
think there's a lot of dynamics like that that, you know,
if handled appropriately, nice size of money like that changes the.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Trajector that your head start. You're still going to have
to take care of you.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
But the money from the business side of things comes
down to investment from the team. Yes, that that ultimately
allows you space to fail, time to fail, Yeah, and
opportunities one hundred percent that that money is not so
much about the greed aspect that going in my pocket
is going to change my life. It's way more about
the opportunity that I'm going to get from the team
(21:04):
and organization. And and you could even say the same
sort of argument, you know on the college side of things.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, io or scholarship that you.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Know, by by getting getting more of a monetary investment
in you as a player, you've just got a little
bit longer of a leash to fail because you're gonna
get opportunities because they got money and time invested into you, that.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
They believe in you. And and when they when they.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Can kind of put that investment into you, they're going
to give you more time to figure some of those
things out, especially in a especially in a professional environment,
and on the college side of things, they can cut
that money after a year and.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Say see you later. You need to go some Pessially.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, on a professional standpoint, you've got a six year
contract and you've got time to kind of work through
some of those lower levels, some of those at bats.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
You're gonna get pushed.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Look, I've seen first rounders come in and totally sock
at lower levels and still get pushed to the next level.
And it was because of the money that they had
invested in them that you know they're going to get
an opportunity to go to the next level because that
was money that they put down on you that they're
going to say, well, sink or swim. We got to
see if he's going to produce because of all this
money that we got into him. That ultimately, at the
(22:12):
end of the day, for a player, that's really all
you're looking for, because at the end of the day,
in this baseball environment, you don't you don't usually get
to choose your opportunities.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
You you don't get to choose your opportunities.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You don't All you can do is play the best
that you can on the field, and it's always somebody
else and making the lineup, it's always somebody else and
making the rosters.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
It's always somebody else determining your fate of where you're going.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
So so in that moment when you're deciding to sign
and a negotiation process, that is the only time in
your career where you have any sort of say on
what type of opportunities are going to come next. For me,
that it's not really a direct, you know, opportunity, but
it's indirectly you being able to kind of, you know,
understand what that investment like after that money or around
(22:56):
selection comes because I also would say the higher round,
even you took maybe a little underslought or whatever, the
higher round, they don't want to lose the fourth round
or they don't want to lose the third round er,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
So that's their current standing that their picks and their
money and they don't want to be wrong. So when
they invest more money into someone, it's basically saying, we
believe as an organization, this guy's going to be successful
and we.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Won't be wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
And it does show like nado Orf, those that know
Nate who's back here, throwing VP doing a great job.
Nag sign is an undrafted free agent. For him to
make it from undrafted free agent at I think it's
twenty three, twenty.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Four all the way to the big leagues.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
You got to produce and produce and produce.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
You can't miss.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And I think anyone that's been around professional baseball are
saying is how hard it is to be an undrafted
free agent and go from especially a new position and
make it to the big leagues. But that's also why
if you have not seen it, look up nadorf home run.
That's why his teammates carried him out the dugout. I've
never seen it before. His unbelievable, his great council, everyone
on that bench, they carried him out for a curtain
(23:59):
call I've never seen and one of the coolest things.
I mean, I was in tears at my house because
I knew the journey. I had those conversations when he
was in a ball But that's that difference. Everyone's past different,
and Nate was able to do it. You made to
the big leagues a different way through Rule five. I mean,
at the end of the day, whatever decision you make,
make sure you're doing it because it's the right decision
for you and not because of yeah, all the pressure
(24:22):
or the expectations around.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Absolutely, I've got a personal experience just to prove your
point that I went, I got drafted by Oakland, I
went to Miami, I went back to Oakland for the
last year of my career, and I had someone very like, straightforward,
bluntly tell me that there's a lot of people here
that still think that you're a big leaguer and they
don't want to be wrong, like they you know what
I mean, they wanted to prove themselves right by bringing
(24:45):
you know, bringing me back over there, and you know
that personal experience of me, I was like, oh dang, okay, well,
because a lot of times you can lose sights sometimes
of maybe who's rooting for you not you know what
I mean, but understanding that, like that investment that they
had in me in twenty fourteen, in the third round
in twenty twenty one, there were still individuals there that
to prove your point that like still didn't want to
(25:06):
be wrong, that they wanted to see me in an
athletics uniform, absolutely major leagues because they took me in
a certain round with a certain financial backing to say
that guy's a big leaguer that they didn't want to
be wrong.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
You know, eight years later and you.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Know that all that stuff is kind of you know,
spun into all these opportunities that that had nothing to
do with me, That had nothing to do with anything
I was doing on the field. It was totally a
front office you know thing that that is prominent in
every single in office.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
You know, they're all competitive, they all want to be right.
Scouts want to be right. Front office want to be.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Right, absolutely, and they will make sure that they give opportunities.
So if you're watching this, you get drafted, they won.
Congratulations because just getting drafted is unbelievable. To be very
cautious with how you're making this decision. Again, ask the
people that have been through it. Ask guys have been
through the process. I'm gonna reach out to bread or
Meat or Nate or whoever you have, because it's a
big decision and it definitely sets the course of your
(25:57):
life and it's not one that you should make with
out having all the facts and then you and your
family making that decision.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
And if you get drafted and don't sign, it doesn't
mean anything. If you don't get drafted, you can get
picked really high later. I had a college team that
didn't get drafted of high school, got drafted in the
first couple of picks of the second round, you know,
So it really doesn't mean anything in the big picture
of things.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
What round you go on, whatever, You still got to
go to the next.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Place and produce and develop and developa get better and yeah,
and if that's what your focus should remain on, not
if that should be what your focus remains on that
no matter what happens right now in this circumstance, I
got to show up tomorrow and get one percent better
and keep doing that. You keep stacking wins. You know,
you look back after two years, after three years, after
five years, you're gonna like where you're at.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
So thank you, guys, I'm.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Sorry, go ahead, Yeah for you guys, that's no different
eight U, nine U tenure.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, don't get caught up on what team you're on and.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Who won the tournament and what Keep getting better and
just develop day in day out and find the right
people support you, because this is supposed to be fun.
And obviously the better you are, it's more fun you have.
But this isn't just about high school professional Yeah, all
the way back down to five, six, seven, eight. You
the guys are getting drafted today, Chances are we're not
the best players.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
At eight year cent Look.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
I've been around some ten year big leaguers and they
come in and they're thirty four years old and they
still are just looking to get better today. If they're
tinkering vines, they're doing something, the constant pursuit of getting better.
This journey. You're never a finished product. As soon as
you think you got it all figured out, this game
will just absolutely destroy you. That whether you're eight years
(27:32):
old and you won something and you're on the best
team and whatever, if you're not constantly looking, you know,
at what you can do to get better, someone's going
to pass you up.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
If you're a ten year big.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Leaguer and you're thirty four years old, someone's going to
find something to take your spot, you know. So that
evolution of that, the way you evolve as.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
A baseball player.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
You're just constantly looking at little things I can do
to get better. As soon as you stop that journey,
So don't think that you're ever going to like have
this figured out and this game is going to get
easy for you at some point. This game is a challenge,
always will be, and you're always trying to find things
to get better. So all right, thank you guys for
checking out this episode. Drop us a comment if you've
got questions or thoughts down below, make sure you hit
(28:10):
that subscribe button and yeah, check out the but tell.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Them about your podcast real quick.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Well, but I mean Baseball one on one will be
back shortly. Yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
What do you think? Well, that's a good question. Well,
work through that.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I mean, I guess today for you guys, Well and
soon soon future episodes. I'll give you an update on
where and when you can check out the next Baseball
one on one episode.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
That's what it's got.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
A lot of good got a got a.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Log of them, go back. Yeah, you can check out
a lot of good ones.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
It's a lot of good ones, a lot of good topics,
similar things like this, just trying to wrap your head
around this.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
This landscape can be a challenge.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
So a lot of good info. Appreciate you guys checking
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Out this episode, and we'll see you next time.
What's going on everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome back, Thank you for checking out this episode of
the Key Timing Podcast. We're back today at Carsio Field.
We got the boys taking some VP behind us here
getting ready for Game ten of the p C d L.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
We're in starting week four.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
These guys will play all the way through, you know,
the back end of July. We've got YBM out here live.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Streaming the games.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You guys can go check those out every Monday and Tuesday,
the games are live streamed. Really fortunate to be able
to you know, kind of two birds with one stone
here and keep the content trained rolling. So I got
my man Darren Cisel back here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
With us today.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Uh, and we're gonna talk about a topic that's that's
very relevant for the for the time right now. It
probably only applies to a certain demographic of people, and
that's okay, but it's a concept of signability.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Next week is the Major League Draft.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You've got people all over the country hopefuls right that
that they're gonna get drafted. You know, we have been
drafted and and understand a little bit of the dynamics.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
There in Sun Titus has also just recently gone through
the process. So a lot of experience, I guess going
through that, walking through that and understanding what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
And you know, and and you know, both of.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Us these days get a ton of questions, you know,
about things like that, should I go to college?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Should I sign?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
What does? What does professional baseball minor league life look like?
You know, like, uh, and and and now even even still,
you know, with all the you know, changing evolving things
in college recruiting, how much that changes everything you know?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
And all of this stuff definitely works together.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's kind of made a whirlwind of different you know,
thoughts and decisions for players and families. There's a ton
that goes into it. And uh, you know, some of
the dynamics, you know, can can be very personal to
each individual player. And I think that's the point of
the topic today maybe is is how for you to
decide what's what's right for you, you.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Know, what situation's right for you.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
We could probably spin that off even into you know,
different college topics, students a little bit more, you know,
widely distributable to everybody. But at the end of the day,
you know, the point is always finding the right fit
for you and trying to sift through some of the
things on the business side of things, you know that
that would influence that.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, but I think I talked to some people this
week and I remind them we've had this so many times.
When you leave high school becomes a business, especially within IONO,
like it is, it is a business. You start making business,
business decisions. Holy counts early in the morning. I'm not
teaching currently. It is business decisions. There got out that time.
But as far as like you start negotiating in IO,
(02:42):
you start negotiating your scholarships, it's just not what it
used to be of like, hey, this is all the
money we got, this is all I can do for you,
because now schools have other resources to pull from. And
then when you get into this topic in this week
with the draft, I guess the draft would actually be
today when this comes out next Monday, So the drafts
probably currently going on, and there's a lot of people
(03:03):
and I last year was exciting and tough wall at
the same time because there's so many variables that go
into should you sign, should you go to college? What
college should you go to? I mean, it's I think
the life. When I met with some people this week,
the thing that I tried to emphasize over and over
is like that lifestyle, the minor league lifestyle. It's not glamorous,
(03:25):
it's not social, it's not fun. It is it's just
a development.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Program.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And when you're at the bottom of that development, there's
no one watching you. Go to the backfield at spring training.
It was I just got back a couple of weeks ago.
My son's games might have six to eight people there
and they're all just parents there stopping through practice games.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So practice games all year long. I think that's what
you told me when you got back in spring training.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
The entire year it's and that's what Titus went out
in February and they have spring training, then you have
spring training games. Then he went to extended spring training
with the other high school guys except one, and now
he's in the ACL, which is nothing more than more
spring training games. So if you've never been to a
spring training minor league game, not a lot of yeah energy,
(04:12):
none compared to go through at Arkansas, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Like.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And that's where when you're talking about it's personal, like
for the kid that is just driven by I want
to be the best player I could be, and I
don't care about the social life, going to tailgates, doing
all those things that college and that's a great experience.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I mean, you did that and it was a lot
of fun. Yeah, we were just talking before this.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know, I look back on some of my experience
and the one thing that I want to echo for
sure is how much more it felt like a business
from nineteen years old and on up than it did
from eighteen years and on down. You know that, you know,
especially that jump there whether you're going to college or
whether you're looking at signing professionally, that jump is coming
(04:57):
regardless because the people in the environment that you're going
into next, that's someone's career, family, and livelihood.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So understanding that dynamic that.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
That baseball's for most people has all been about fun
before that, and that being like the top thing. You
know that you developed that love for the game that
if you don't have that really deep love for the
game and you get in either one of these experiences
later on, the game will find a way to read
you out. You know, the game will definitely find a
way to read you out quickly. And yeah, yeah, and
(05:26):
and you know, so that's why I tell people all
the time, you know that like that that love of
the game and finding that joy within the game is
so important, is so important, and you know in those environments,
speaking from experience and having been through those, you almost
have to dig a little deeper to keep finding that
love for the game, you know, because because you're not
(05:46):
out there playing with your buddies anymore, you're not in
an environment where you know you fail and the coaches
are going to be like, hey, buddy, it's okay, Like no,
it's it's it's go time, you know, and it's always
someone's job. And you know, I will say that the
stark differences between those environments is that in the development
friendly environment like what Titus is in and lower levels
in the minor leagues, it's entirely about development. You're gonna
(06:09):
get all of your at bats, you're gonna get your innings,
you're gonna get.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Your opportunities, don't matter.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, it's gonna be all about what you do with those,
you know, because the competition's level is so much higher, uh,
you know that that is much more of a challenge.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So you're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Big waves of adversity that that you're not used to
and you've never done, never seen before. You know, and
on the other side of the fence in college, it's
way more about like winning right now and what can
you do for me this year?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And are you going to be in my lineup? Are
you going to be on the mound for me? And
what you're going to be able to produce right now?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And you know, especially with the changing landscape and college baseball,
that's much more on these coaches brains earlier than it's
ever been, right, Like, you see very few and fewer
by the years.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You know, as the years goes on.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
There's even fewer of how many people are coming to
a school, and the coaches have in mind like, well,
might be able to produce for us in two years
or three years or whatever the case may be, right
that we just don't have time for that. We don't
have a roster space for that, and understanding what that
does to the rest of the landscape, which is more
of what we talked about in our last episode.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So go back and check that one out.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
But as far as this one goes, you know, I
want to spend a little bit more time talking about,
you know, what type of thoughts, considerations, dynamics should be
in play on if you should sign or not, and
what professional baseball kind of has in store for you, right,
so you know, so in that light, you know, the
couple of things that come to my mind the most
(07:35):
is it really don't even have a whole lot to
do with on the field.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
We'll get to that in a second.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
You know, off the field, you know how how much
you know, how reliant and independent or mature and then yeah, yeah,
how mature you are, how how reliant you still all
are on your family for so many things as a
you know, eighteen year old kid that now when you're nineteen,
you've got your own apartment. You've got to get yourself
to and from everything. Don't got anybody reminding me to
(08:01):
do X, y Z or to be somewhere. You're off
on an island, totally on your own. And most of
the clubs do have a pretty good support system for
those lower levels that they understand what those players are
much better.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Than it used to be.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
But it's still like it's on your longer you're what,
big boy, you're this is an adult job.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
This is no longer college. It's not. It's it's a job,
and it's a grind, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
And the support has increased tremendously, but it's still a
difficult job. Like and I, We've had this talk and
we had nat or many times. It doesn't take long
before professional baseball you realize it's a job. It goes
from a dream to a job pretty quick. About ten
days in, I was like, I gotta do this again
(08:43):
and again, and like the grind mentally, professionally is far
superior than than college.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
There's no break, no doubt. I think back to my
college experience. I got drafted in a high school, chose
to go to college, and why do you choose to
go to college? I specifically chose to go to college
because I didn't think the you know, combination of opportunity
round I got drafted in, what signing bonus was associated
with that the whole dynamic was worth skipping my college
(09:12):
experience for, you know. And I think a lot of
that was driven by other people and influences that were
in my life, because I can also think back to
that at eighteen, and I was just kind of like
listening and trusting the people around me that the baseball
player in me. I got drafted by a Saint Louis Cardinals,
so being a Saint Louis kid, Like, there's nothing I
wanted to do more than to.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Go put that jersey on.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
And from the time I was young, you know, like,
you know, I didn't grow up dreaming about playing college.
I grew up dreaming about playing in the big leagues,
you know, like, and you know I chose to go
in Miszoo. I didn't grow up like some big Miszoo fan.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I chose that for different reasons, and you know, so
so in deciding to go do that, I look back
on my experience now and I'm so thankful that I
chose to do that because I look at it right
now and how much I struggled on the field off
the field as a freshman, that that, Holy cal if
I would have done that in a professional environment with
without you know, so much further from home, without the
(10:07):
support system that I had, you know, without some of
the college uh you know, social friend clubhouse and distraction.
Get yeah, there's no distraction of the professional You.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Go home when you talk to your friends, they're asking
about baseball. Well yeah, and you go you go home
and you're staying in apartment with three or four of
your other teammates too, Like there is nothing else to
talk about, like and the you know, on down the road.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I've said this many times. You know, I ended up
getting married and my wife moved out with me.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That like once, once my wife was out there with me,
I felt like, Holy cal what a relief this is.
I feel like I can come home and not be
all consumed by baseball because I was the type of
person that would go home and watch video, watch more
baseball games, you know, especially dealing with adversity, do it
through different times like that, I was all consumed by
it and couldn't turn it off. And so especially when
(10:56):
you're in like ruts, you know, like those things can
spiral out of control without those type types of distractions
if you will, you know, like things that kind of
get your mind off of work or.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know, field and play. You know.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
But the maturity that you're talking about is understanding how
to this is a game.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
This is not who I am for sure.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
And I think that's as you go through college and
you can start to mature, you realize, look, who I
am is not just a baseball player.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I'm a student. I have social life, I have a girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Where when you go to play professionally, it takes a
special mindset going into it that you have to know.
I've said many times when I got there at twenty,
I think I saw when I was twenty two ish
and there's some eighteen year old there, and I'm like,
I will never have my son at eighteen in this environment.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Ever. I will not do it. But I've thought the
same thing. It's when you're there and you realize eighteen
is so young.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, But like you said earlier, each person is a
different situation. And my son was not going to college.
Like he did not have any desire to go to college.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
He didn't want to go.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
It wasn't so he was going to play professionally. And
I mean he started training to play professionally when he
was in eighth grade. But the thing that set them
apart to me and the thing that's still helping him
and you talked about with adversity.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
If you don't know how to.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Handle adversity, you can't go play professionally. If you don't
go into understanding, I'm going to fail and fail in
the way I've never failed before. Because if you get
frustrated a high school game because someone makes an air
behind you, or you don't get a call beyond the plate,
and you can't handle adversity at the high school level.
Don't even don't don't even think about signed professionally, go
(12:35):
to college. It's not especially with the NIL Financially, there's
not a big jump between some NIL people can generate
the money compared to some of the signing bonus. So
if you look at if you bet on yourself, a
lot of times you look at like a Paul Skins
that came out as Christian Moore played three years, he's up.
(12:55):
A lot of these guys are playing three years in
the SEC, come out and they're a year away from
the big leagues.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Chase Burns then he's come up. Yep, yep, a lot
of these guys.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
It ain't taken long because SEC baseball prepares you. The
downside is what if I'm not good enough in the SEC, Well,
then you wouldn't be good enough professional?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Amen, amen, And at least then too, you got so
much like school, fall back on relationships, fall back on
things that help prepare you for your life. And that
was kind of some of my consideration, you know, So
going back to the experience, for me, I look back
right now, thirty two years old and look back at
that nineteen year old experience for me, and I'm like,
holy cow, if I would have done that in professional baseball,
(13:34):
you know, with with where I was mentally and physically
and everything, it is so not prepared for professional baseball.
If I would have had that same experience in professional
professional baseball, I think my career would have been you know,
much much shorter, you know, and you know, there's some
dynamics that that I think I grew and evolved and
learned how to handle diversity a lot better, you know,
(13:55):
in that college lifestyle and you know, all of those
on and off the field, oh yeah, on and off the.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Field, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
And I think that you know, just like work life
for adults, you know, like you can't really perform at
a high level. You can't execute the way that you
want to at work at the field unless your home
life and everything is kind of under control, right like,
unless you you know, feel comfortable and stable and whatever,
you know, like in that dynamic. And the same thing
(14:22):
is true for a baseball player that you know, if
if if you've got stuff going on outside the field,
it's extremely hard to focus and execute at such a
high elite level. That you need to that that you know,
kiss that goodbye basically. So so I think the biggest
consideration for everybody is just understanding what that off the
field life first and foremost looks like for you, you know,
(14:42):
and then once you kind of start to get into
some topics about on the field, you can look at,
you know, physical maturity. You can look at you know,
like physical stature of just like how are you projectability
and all those things about how you're how you're how
you're built, how you're wired. You know, I was such
a smaller length, yeah, less physically mature, like I needed
(15:02):
those couple extra years of colleges of college to not
only mentally mature like I already said, you know, but
also physically mature, you know, from a physical stature to
a you know, being able to pitch deeper into games,
developing my off speed pitches, you know, and all those
things that like, you know, having success in high school
(15:23):
is one thing, and then having success at a upper level,
you know, college environment or professional baseball is totally different,
and you know you can kind of get fooled, I
guess by how good my breaking ball was in high
school and you expect it to be that good in
upper levels and I'm not the competition.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
A little disrespect, but having success in high school is
not difficult when you're that much more talented. If you're
d one or draft, I mean, high school should be
easy for you because there's this gap of like you're
just that much better.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Now. Do the numbers always back that up?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
No, because when you're talking about draft, and I think
last year I got this question a lot. It's like, well,
how come your son didn hit five hundred. I'm like,
he's not getting drafted based on stats. He's getting drafted
based on numbers he produced analytically. Yeah, like rotational acceleration
and his vertical his thirty, his sixty, like all those
numbers show what his body's capable of.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
We've talked about that in the previous episode here of
just your next opportunity in baseball is way more about
projectability based off of your tools.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
We talk a lot about, especially with.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Our business, of building your engine. You know that like
you're getting you're getting the next opportunity based off of
what you know. Scouts, analytics say that your successful be
at the next level. You know, So keeping your focus
on developing and building those tools you know that that's
ultimately what the next opportunity is going to get you.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
It's not always about on field success.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think the higher that you go, the more they
weigh in on field success because the talent gap is
shrinking because after the bottom two hitters.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, I mean Titus had this conversation with your organization recently.
They're like, look, we don't really care about stats, and
at rookie League or even Low A, when you get
to High A, you're expected to start producing to show
that those two years of three or how long you're
developing has prepared you. I mean Drew Jones was first
round pick. I don't he may have been overall one.
He was in Low A for two years because he
(17:19):
was a high school kid that needed those two And
that's what everyone's journey. Like, my son physically is going
to have to mature and get and catch up with
a lot of I was just there. There's two things
that I guarantee. One physical size in projectability matter and
two you better learn how to speak Spanish. Yeah, and
those are things people don't tell you, but when you
get there. The Latin I didn't hear a song from America.
(17:42):
The entire time I was at a game because it
was Latin. All you hear is Spanish. My son speaks Spanish.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Now those are yeah, those well look, those are some
of the off the field dynamics that like you don't
think about, you know, being able to work and work cohesively.
You know, if you're a short stopping you got a
Latin second basement, like, you better be able to work
with him, you know, like things that you've just never
had to deal with. So they had to pick and
you're a picture like you better be able to communicate.
You've got a guy on second and third. Those are
my runs, you know what I mean, Like we need
(18:09):
to be able the same page here.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
So they put a pick play on.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
The coach is Latin, the second basement's Latin, Tye is not,
so he came out and was speaking of Spanish because
Ty's Spanish has gotten pretty good, but Ty still didn't.
And then when the manager walked away him in the
second basement trying to figure out what play was on
and it didn't get run yep, and they would have
picked a guy off. But that's why it's in rookie
(18:32):
level and you're trying to develop all the.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Things that Latin kid's probably only been in the States
for a year too, you know, like they've got all
this learning curve too. That holy cow, you want to
start looking into that absolutely blow your mind, you know,
their background, Yeah, just coming from where they've come from,
you know, that's a huge lifestyle adjustment, you know, so
you figuring out how to do all that kind of
in the same time and space and the cohesively work
(18:56):
as a unit on the field is a challenge.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You know, it's definitely a challenge.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
And look, I don't know that coming from college like
necessarily prepares you for any of that.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Either.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
That's still going to smack you in the face no
matter how old you.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Get in but you're mature enough to handle the diversity
where most high school for sure athletes and over thirty
years of coaching, the amount of time scouts have asked
me and the thing I always say is that he
hasn't learned how to fail. I mean, we had a
couple of guys that legitimately could have signed had the opportunity,
But if they would have signed, I think it would
have been very detrimental to their development because it's tough to
(19:27):
develop when you're just beating yourself up every day, like
if you can't reset, and I mean Tyasa's approach right
now is like week by week, you had a good week,
good next week, start over, because if you just go
game by game sometimes to me, it's two up and down.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
You set weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
If you can stack good weeks, great, but you're trying
to limit the amount of bad weeks you have. And
that's a different mindset than college. Yeah, no doubt, And
that's college is for ninety nine percent of people is
the way to go. There are very few and I
know there's some guys that will be drafted probably today
as we're doing this, that you're gonna have to make
a decision. Would be very hesitant to sign professionally in less.
(20:05):
To me, the two factors, One, you have money that's
going to change, give you a head start for the
rest of your life. It's tough to pass that up
because injuries do happen. And to the understanding of what
you're really walking into because having a holistic picture of
like money is one thing, but it's not everything.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Well, yeah, and let's talk about.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
The money piece of it real quick too. You know,
like that that's really not from like a greed or
ego a pride standpoint either. No, No, I think I
think there's a lot of dynamics like that that, you know,
if handled appropriately, nice size of money like that changes the.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Trajector that your head start. You're still going to have
to take care of you.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
But the money from the business side of things comes
down to investment from the team. Yes, that that ultimately
allows you space to fail, time to fail, Yeah, and
opportunities one hundred percent that that money is not so
much about the greed aspect that going in my pocket
is going to change my life. It's way more about
the opportunity that I'm going to get from the team
(21:04):
and organization. And and you could even say the same
sort of argument, you know on the college side of things.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, io or scholarship that you.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Know, by by getting getting more of a monetary investment
in you as a player, you've just got a little
bit longer of a leash to fail because you're gonna
get opportunities because they got money and time invested into you, that.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
They believe in you. And and when they when they.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Can kind of put that investment into you, they're going
to give you more time to figure some of those
things out, especially in a especially in a professional environment,
and on the college side of things, they can cut
that money after a year and.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Say see you later. You need to go some Pessially.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, on a professional standpoint, you've got a six year
contract and you've got time to kind of work through
some of those lower levels, some of those at bats.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
You're gonna get pushed.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Look, I've seen first rounders come in and totally sock
at lower levels and still get pushed to the next level.
And it was because of the money that they had
invested in them that you know they're going to get
an opportunity to go to the next level because that
was money that they put down on you that they're
going to say, well, sink or swim. We got to
see if he's going to produce because of all this
money that we got into him. That ultimately, at the
(22:12):
end of the day, for a player, that's really all
you're looking for, because at the end of the day,
in this baseball environment, you don't you don't usually get
to choose your opportunities.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
You you don't get to choose your opportunities.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You don't All you can do is play the best
that you can on the field, and it's always somebody
else and making the lineup, it's always somebody else and
making the rosters.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
It's always somebody else determining your fate of where you're going.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
So so in that moment when you're deciding to sign
and a negotiation process, that is the only time in
your career where you have any sort of say on
what type of opportunities are going to come next. For me,
that it's not really a direct, you know, opportunity, but
it's indirectly you being able to kind of, you know,
understand what that investment like after that money or around
(22:56):
selection comes because I also would say the higher round,
even you took maybe a little underslought or whatever, the
higher round, they don't want to lose the fourth round
or they don't want to lose the third round er,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
So that's their current standing that their picks and their
money and they don't want to be wrong. So when
they invest more money into someone, it's basically saying, we
believe as an organization, this guy's going to be successful
and we.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Won't be wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
And it does show like nado Orf, those that know
Nate who's back here, throwing VP doing a great job.
Nag sign is an undrafted free agent. For him to
make it from undrafted free agent at I think it's
twenty three, twenty.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Four all the way to the big leagues.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
You got to produce and produce and produce.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
You can't miss.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And I think anyone that's been around professional baseball are
saying is how hard it is to be an undrafted
free agent and go from especially a new position and
make it to the big leagues. But that's also why
if you have not seen it, look up nadorf home run.
That's why his teammates carried him out the dugout. I've
never seen it before. His unbelievable, his great council, everyone
on that bench, they carried him out for a curtain
(23:59):
call I've never seen and one of the coolest things.
I mean, I was in tears at my house because
I knew the journey. I had those conversations when he
was in a ball But that's that difference. Everyone's past different,
and Nate was able to do it. You made to
the big leagues a different way through Rule five. I mean,
at the end of the day, whatever decision you make,
make sure you're doing it because it's the right decision
for you and not because of yeah, all the pressure
(24:22):
or the expectations around.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Absolutely, I've got a personal experience just to prove your
point that I went, I got drafted by Oakland, I
went to Miami, I went back to Oakland for the
last year of my career, and I had someone very like, straightforward,
bluntly tell me that there's a lot of people here
that still think that you're a big leaguer and they
don't want to be wrong, like they you know what
I mean, they wanted to prove themselves right by bringing
(24:45):
you know, bringing me back over there, and you know
that personal experience of me, I was like, oh dang, okay, well,
because a lot of times you can lose sights sometimes
of maybe who's rooting for you not you know what
I mean, but understanding that, like that investment that they
had in me in twenty fourteen, in the third round
in twenty twenty one, there were still individuals there that
to prove your point that like still didn't want to
(25:06):
be wrong, that they wanted to see me in an
athletics uniform, absolutely major leagues because they took me in
a certain round with a certain financial backing to say
that guy's a big leaguer that they didn't want to
be wrong.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
You know, eight years later and you.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Know that all that stuff is kind of you know,
spun into all these opportunities that that had nothing to
do with me, That had nothing to do with anything
I was doing on the field. It was totally a
front office you know thing that that is prominent in
every single in office.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
You know, they're all competitive, they all want to be right.
Scouts want to be right. Front office want to be.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Right, absolutely, and they will make sure that they give opportunities.
So if you're watching this, you get drafted, they won.
Congratulations because just getting drafted is unbelievable. To be very
cautious with how you're making this decision. Again, ask the
people that have been through it. Ask guys have been
through the process. I'm gonna reach out to bread or
Meat or Nate or whoever you have, because it's a
big decision and it definitely sets the course of your
(25:57):
life and it's not one that you should make with
out having all the facts and then you and your
family making that decision.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
And if you get drafted and don't sign, it doesn't
mean anything. If you don't get drafted, you can get
picked really high later. I had a college team that
didn't get drafted of high school, got drafted in the
first couple of picks of the second round, you know,
So it really doesn't mean anything in the big picture
of things.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
What round you go on, whatever, You still got to
go to the next.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Place and produce and develop and developa get better and yeah,
and if that's what your focus should remain on, not
if that should be what your focus remains on that
no matter what happens right now in this circumstance, I
got to show up tomorrow and get one percent better
and keep doing that. You keep stacking wins. You know,
you look back after two years, after three years, after
five years, you're gonna like where you're at.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
So thank you, guys, I'm.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Sorry, go ahead, Yeah for you guys, that's no different
eight U, nine U tenure.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, don't get caught up on what team you're on and.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Who won the tournament and what Keep getting better and
just develop day in day out and find the right
people support you, because this is supposed to be fun.
And obviously the better you are, it's more fun you have.
But this isn't just about high school professional Yeah, all
the way back down to five, six, seven, eight. You
the guys are getting drafted today, Chances are we're not
the best players.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
At eight year cent Look.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
I've been around some ten year big leaguers and they
come in and they're thirty four years old and they
still are just looking to get better today. If they're
tinkering vines, they're doing something, the constant pursuit of getting better.
This journey. You're never a finished product. As soon as
you think you got it all figured out, this game
will just absolutely destroy you. That whether you're eight years
(27:32):
old and you won something and you're on the best
team and whatever, if you're not constantly looking, you know,
at what you can do to get better, someone's going
to pass you up.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
If you're a ten year big.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Leaguer and you're thirty four years old, someone's going to
find something to take your spot, you know. So that
evolution of that, the way you evolve as.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
A baseball player.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
You're just constantly looking at little things I can do
to get better. As soon as you stop that journey,
So don't think that you're ever going to like have
this figured out and this game is going to get
easy for you at some point. This game is a challenge,
always will be, and you're always trying to find things
to get better. So all right, thank you guys for
checking out this episode. Drop us a comment if you've
got questions or thoughts down below, make sure you hit
(28:10):
that subscribe button and yeah, check out the but tell.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Them about your podcast real quick.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Well, but I mean Baseball one on one will be
back shortly. Yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
What do you think? Well, that's a good question. Well,
work through that.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I mean, I guess today for you guys, Well and
soon soon future episodes. I'll give you an update on
where and when you can check out the next Baseball
one on one episode.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
That's what it's got.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
A lot of good got a got a.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Log of them, go back. Yeah, you can check out
a lot of good ones.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
It's a lot of good ones, a lot of good topics,
similar things like this, just trying to wrap your head
around this.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
This landscape can be a challenge.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
So a lot of good info. Appreciate you guys checking
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Out this episode, and we'll see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.