Scouting Opportunities for Young Players and Summer Baseball | YBMcast Baseball Talk w/Diego Solares - YBMcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M definitely a different type of process.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Cut down or freeze, you know, being.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
A coach's sons around Jackson of course, uh, they keep reaching.
Why still the things that hit five pitch? Oh hello everyone,
Welcome inside the Redd Production studios for this edition of
whium Cast Baseball Talk Today Always Probably in the Future,

(00:48):
powered by Game seven Baseball, Game seven baseball dot Com fallball. Goodness, Lord,
it's a ride around the corner. Check out, write it
down Team seven baseball dot Com. Drew's probably got it
up right there. You can see it. Go check it out.
Ball schedule should be up shortly. Have some fun, you know,

(01:12):
put together whatever you know where call yourselves, you know,
the the spit doggers. I don't know, I don't care.
You know, whatever you want to do, put together a team.
Go have some fun, enjoy, get some at bats through
the fall. That's what it's about, you know. Just keep
if you want to keep playing, keep playing, enjoy work

(01:37):
on something you know. Don't take the ed bats so
seriously long worry about winning. Just try and get in
the box. Maybe you're trying to do something different, right.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Yeah, that's what the fall should be. It should be
about just getting abs I mean, for some teams you're
gonna have new players joining the team, right, it's a
good way to acclimate with the new players. But to me,
at least, what I believe the fall should be, it
should be very relaxed. To be honest, the summer should all,
in my opinion, should also be very relaxed. But that

(02:07):
we could have a long conversation about that. But yeah,
get trap bats, develop work on things, and.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
If you're a pitcher, if you got a new pitch
something you want to work on. Pitching wise, if you
hit five guys, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
Probably wouldn't do that. But I think the fall.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Scene you're trying to I'm just you're working on a pitch.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
You know.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
The fall can be beneficial too, because it's the last
time you're gonna play games until you get to high
school ball. So if you're you know, you're a freshman
taking a jump to sophomore, you're sophomore that's going to
be a junior, which opens up varsity opportunities for you.
It's just a good time to get more AB's. There's
a lot of good teams in the area and have

(02:47):
success playing against some of the better talents in the
area that you'll play in the fall in the summer,
but also when the high school season rolls around.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
Absolutely. So remember game seven baseball dot Com. You got
fall stuff too, right three.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, we've got three fall tournaments, two in September, one
in October. They're very relaxed.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Most of it's high school age, correct.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
All high school age, because in Illinois is very popular.
Middle school baseball is very popular in Illinois, so it's
hard to do any youth stuff, which is fine, like
go go play for your middle school and compete and
have a good time with your buddies. But yeah, we
have three tournaments, two in September, one in October. No
bracket play or anything, just three game guarantees. Get in,
get out, get your bats.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah that's what should be.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, yep, there you go.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
All right folks today, mister Diego silais of course from
Scout Connect at the desk. How are we doing?

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Good man good?

Speaker 3 (03:43):
I saw you at the PCDL this week.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah. Yeah, I've been going over there a couple of times.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
We had our Juco showcase over there with those guys
Juco Slash Portal Showcase. I've seen some guys commit from
that event already, which has been pretty cool. And yeah,
just to be honest with you, like sometimes I just
get bored. I want to go watch a baseball game.
The good thing about the good thing about the PCDL

(04:09):
is they play in the morning. Yeah, so you still
have your whole day to do whatever you want afterwards,
and some good baseball going on over there.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
So what do you think about some of the you know,
as you've been watching what's going on over at the PCDL.
I like the atmosphere. I like I think the kid
the players like it because you know, you see a
lot of the coaches walking around really talking to the
guys about you know, some fielding or this or hitting.

(04:38):
In there, they're talking through points, they're bringing all the
information from the data points all the rest of the
workouts they get in the gym. It's an interesting feel.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, I think it's a good vibe.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
I think that the emphasis on it is that it's
it's not like any other college league, right like if
you if you went and you went and watched the
Hoots play, they'll found Hoots or the car Shield League
or the Saint Louis Metro League. Noting there's nothing wrong
with those leagues.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
No, no, not at all.

Speaker 4 (05:10):
But it's like they those teams and those players they
show up, they play their game with the intent of
likely winning, right while also getting their at bats and
seeing good arms and traveling and credit relationships and all
the things that you get from summer baseball.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Right.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
The difference between the PCDL and that league is that
it's built more on a word that gets thrown around
all the time, but development, and it's it's truly to
me ran kind of like you would run a college
fall or spring inner squad or like a pro inner squad,
where like they get there an hour and a half
before the game. They take VP on the field, right

(05:47):
like everyone takes their VP. Sometimes they'll do twenty seven
outs like live scrimmages as a part of their VP
with base running and you got guys fungoing ground balls
in between innings. So like you're still gonna play the game,
you're still gonna get your at bats. But like there's
also a training aspect to it. There's a repetitions aspect
to it, there's a coaching aspect to it. You get

(06:08):
the strength training at the facility, you know, like on
tomorrow Thursday, they'll go to the sports barn in Wentzville
and get more reps in and like actually practice practice.
If you look down the left field line when guys
are done pitching, like they're doing all their stuff down
the left field line, they're doing sprints, dynamic.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Work, mobility work.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
So it's it's very much training first, develop second, and
then I'm sure those guys that are playing care about winning,
right sure the league is not surrounded on win loss
and standings and statistics and what's my batting average and
stuff like that. And to be honest, like I've seen
some schools out there, like it's been pretty cool. It's
a pretty cool blend of there's some twenty twenty five guys,

(06:51):
so guys that were just playing high school ball. There's
some junior college guys. There's some four year guys that
are just trying to get their at bats and keep playing.
And then there's some guys that are in the portal
and are uncommitted, still looking for a place to play.
Uh So they're getting the opportunity to get their game
play side of it, but also get the training the
Premiere offers and all those things you can.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
When we talked to the guys over there. You know,
you can tell it some more relaxed. But you get
in the ball game where it was a four to
four ball game yesterday going into I think the Gold
team was.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
It was.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Up to bat and they were finishing out. They had
the opportunity scored a run. You could hear him and
dug out. Oh that's a dub. Yeah, because and in
those moments, the competitive juice has come alive.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
Naturally, if you're playing out winning, if you're playing the
game at a collegiate level, I would hope you have
some level of competition. And there's some good personalities in
those dugouts man like yeah, Like, I mean, he's been
kind of a name that's been thrown around the last
couple of weeks, but Jackson Vaughan has been that guy.
And when I was out there the other day on Monday, like,

(08:02):
you can hear him talk.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
From the dugout.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
Oh yeah, he's a presence and obviously uncommitted from which
to state looking for a place to play.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
He's going to be fine.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
He's got his he's got some options, and he will
end up somewhere where he's going to play and be
a very well and very good asset to whatever program
on and off the field. But yeah, I've been out
there a few times. I want to try to get
out there next week before it or that, before the
league wraps up. I thought the portal event that they
put together was awesome, like there were some really talented

(08:32):
players there. Cale Wilson was up to ninety five committed
to Central Missouri. Shortly afterwards, Brock Lucas, who was at
MISSOO last year, was was pretty dynamic. He's going to
Missouri State now. Cale Corsi was a pretty good athletic
arm that just committed to Missouri Western. Brian Gould from
an m I c DS was unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
Yeah, committed from West Point.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
Yeah, he decommitted from West Point. Not really going to
go into it, but was low nineties up to ninety
three at that event with a banger slider. He's gonna
have his choice to go again, a fair pick of
the letter of schools.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
So it's been cool.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
It's been cool to see the league grow, like I
think they're in their second year, Like I would only
imagine that it's going to keep getting better. It's just
another good option for players to play, but also get
something else out of it.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, absolutely, and and you're seeing a lot of these
things in this respect. And to Jackson Vaughan, I think
that's one of the better hitters that I've seen in
a while, doesn't. I mean he it's it's funny he
hits for power and all I've and the last few

(09:45):
times he's getting of course his hand is still healing
from the injury, which mind you, but man, bang, single bang,
single bang all over sprays it all over the field.
This kid understands what he's doing at the plate, and
that's always fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, to be honest with you, it's not like.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
Listen, I've I've had my opinions on Jackson Vaughan as
a baseball player, and like where I think he fits in.
And I'm comfortable saying this, like it's it's he's not
the sexiest player, Like he's thik three, one hundred and
eighty pounds, Like he doesn't run very well, he doesn't
have a huge arm, Like he's probably not going to
play one of these two spots, Like it's probably a

(10:24):
first baseman, and he's not your traditional first baseman where
he's a bigger dude, like strong.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Put together.

Speaker 4 (10:31):
He's a he looks like a basketball player, like a long,
lanky dude.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
He hits. He's always hit.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
He has always, no matter what competition it is, has
always performed. He can go that way as a left
handed hitter. He can go this way if he needs to.
And I think, aside from the type of baseball player
he is, like he's a really good bass runner. He
is an excellent base runner. He's never gonna be in
the wrong spot. Fundamentally, it's really good.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Like you could our IQ is there.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
Yeah, you can argue how important first base defense is.
A lot of people, including myself, probably don't care about
it that much. But he's a really good defender at
first base. And he's a he's a really it's all
those bad throws man, you gotta pick up. Yeah, you do,
you do, but it matters if you hit more.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
He's a really good person. He is, and he's a leader.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
He is.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
And whoever gets that kid, we're kind of going on
a tangent here, but whoever gets that kid is is
not only going to get a good baseball player, but
he's going to get a guy that will show up
in the locker room and be a be a guy
right away.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
But you know what, here's the thing with that. I
I know what you're saying, and you know you're trying
to but and I'm not. And we're not saying this
just out of this is just out of conversation your folks.
But it's because I think that of that kid, I
really do. I think he is genuine. He you you

(11:53):
see him. I I one of the nicest people you
talk to. And I think he's one of those clubhouse
guys that you need because there's a lot of other
attitudes that can sour it pretty quick.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
I mean he's been a leader at how the last
three years, Like even as a sophomore, you can kind
of tell he was becoming that guy. I've been around
him a lot, Like I was around him at the
Future Games in the dugout for a whole week. I've
been around him a bunch at the sports Barn because
he helps us with camps and stuff.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
He's a great kid.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
And if you're doing that, I mean, how many kids
volunteer their time to.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
Ye and he's He's worked a lot of nine am camps.
I'll give him that, uh, and on and on days
where like like in the season on Sundays. I think
he helped out with the six U seven U league
over at the Sports Barn, which was I mean on
a Sunday in the middle of the high school season
when you're playing, like you know how they play six

(12:50):
games every week. Sure, So yeah, I mean it's a
full endorsement for Jacksonville. And there's a lot of other
guys in that league that are good players and just
what we.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Know a little bit familiar.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah, exactly, and there's a lot. I really liked what
I saw from Calvin Robinson.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
Yeah, I actually haven't seen him. I only saw the video.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
I mean it was good.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
There are not very many six or four left handers
that are upper eighties low nineties that are from here,
and they really come at you. I would imagine if
he's in the strike zone, it's pretty dynamic.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
And if he he commands that fastball like he did,
that change up is just devastating. My goodness, it was working.
So we're getting to see a lot of this and
people that you know, I mean, this young man's from Mississippi,
went to high school there in Mississippi, and so I

(13:45):
hadn't really ever seen him. Sure, and so I think
it's cool watching this stuff as you see the dynamics
from around uh, you know, not only Missouri, but from
different places. It's the same things baseball. The game doesn't
change no matter where you're at and what you're working

(14:06):
to accomplish. How do you do that, how do you
get better? How do you set yourself in motion? I
think is the common thought process period.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (14:18):
Yeah, I mean we could talk about this for a
long time. It's the same game. It's the same core
values and the thing. It's just it is a little different.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Down in the South.

Speaker 4 (14:26):
The game speeds up, they're outside more, they get to
play outside more and stuff like that. But at the
end of the day, you're you're still still balls and strikes,
you still have to cross home.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
I've never asked you about that. That's a curious thing
to me. Just you don't have to get into too much.
But do you think that that's why you see more
position players?

Speaker 4 (14:47):
Yes, yes, It's like if you talk to a lot
of you talk to pro teams, you hear some people
in the end, like in the in the professional industry
talk about it.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
You get your position guys in the South.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
You get your arms in the North because the position guys,
they're gonna get more at bats, reps, they're gonna be
outside more, they're gonna play the game more. You know,
it's it's they're they're by playing more, they're gonna see more. Yeah,
and just because you know, typically there's bigger pockets in

(15:20):
the South. That and because they get to go outside
more and they get more reps, you're gonna see more
talented arms typically. But the flip side of that is
those guys throw a lot more, right, the guys up north,
they don't throw a whole lot because we don't like
we don't we don't play the whole year. We play
March through September.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Heck, I don't even think they play March.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Most of it's yeah.

Speaker 4 (15:44):
May to be honest, the more you go up north,
like Wisconsin, season is a short season. You're talking about
like the Northeast, that's an area of the country that's
been pretty rich from the draft standpoint the last couple
of years. They're they play a pretty short season. So
it's just tough because as a position guy in this
part of the country, not that there's not good ones,

(16:05):
because there are, obviously, but the depth of it is
you just don't get as many at bats.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
I was talking to a couple of kids that were
down here from up around in Iowa, sure, just in Iowa,
and they said, they're they're high school season.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
It's in the summer.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And it's for me it's less of
the at bats. Obviously, you have to hit, like the
caring tool for ninety nine percent of players is you
have to hit. But like the defensive aspect of it too,
Like look at the guys in the big leagues or
like that are playing in the SEC or the ACC
or whatever, or the high profile players, and where the

(16:44):
guys that are shortstops and center fielders and catchers are from.
Traditionally it's your Southern states. And it's not just because
they're born in Texas or Georgia or California that just
makes them automatically better. Like a kid that's born in
one part of the country in this part of the
country when they when like they they may have better
jeans or whatever, but baseball wise, that they all start here, right, Yeah,

(17:07):
But then the reps start to increase when you get
to go outside more and and play the game more,
and like that value that gives a player down there
way more of advantage than it would give a kid
from Chicago, for example. And I think that's why it's
a little different. It is a little different, like I've
experienced the Southern baseball like your your Louisiana's your your Texas,

(17:29):
your Georgia.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
It's like they do play the game a.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
Little California, Arizona all across.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
Yeah, it's a little faster, it's a little more physical.
It's just more of an acclamation process.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, so you've been rolling around summertime, Yeah, looking at players,
you know, from your perspective, who are some of the
kids that have stood out as far as scouting, you know,
as you're doing through scout connect and looking at players,
who are some of the kids that have stood out
for you?

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
I will say, like I have seen a lot of
Missouri players with our tournaments. Like obviously there's a strong
representation of Illinois players, but there have been a lot
of really good Missouri guys that I've seen, especially from
this area, but also southwest Missouri. I know this isn't
in the Illinois show, but it kind of speaks to

(18:22):
the it speaks to the strength of the upcoming classes
that are in Missouri, like for our events, for our tournaments,
like the actual gameplay side of it, it's been a
lot of underclassmen, so a lot of guys that are
gonna be sophomores or gonna be juniors. We haven't really
gotten into the seventeen U side of it. That's the

(18:44):
next couple of weeks. But I mean, one name that
I've kind of been I.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Was that's good, keep going.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
One name that I was.

Speaker 4 (18:57):
Kind of blown away by on the mound was Corey Hilsinger.
Oh yeah, from Secman. Yeah, I saw I've seen him twice,
that lefty man.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
He's he's nails.

Speaker 4 (19:07):
I mean, there's not a whole lot to not like.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
The athletic.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
He throws three pitches for strikes. The first time I
saw him, I seriously don't think he threw fastball above
the knee like everything was. If I would have sat
behind home and had like a scatterplot and charted his
entire outing, every single pitch would have been on this side,
like nothing.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
Was over the middle.

Speaker 4 (19:34):
It was fastball, fastball, fastball, fastball, fastball, flipping between armside
and glove side.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
But that's the best thing about it is it wasn't
just one side.

Speaker 4 (19:43):
No, it was both sides all day long. Like obviously,
in my opinion, it's easier for most pitchers to throw
a fastball on the on their glove side because when
you're younger, you're always taught to stay away right. You
don't want to pitch inside because you don't want someone
to turn on it and go that way.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
So like we grow up.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
I never taught that most people grow up learning or
like teaching, Hey, stay away, stay away, stay away.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Horrible. It's bad, right, horrible.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
But most guys, when you watch them, they can establish
glove side because it's easier for them. Now, a left
he might be different because most hitters are right handed.
Right for them naturally the arm side, it's over here.
But I mean he was going glove side when he
wanted to arm side, when he wanted to change up,
whenever he wanted to breaking ball for a strike, whenever
he wanted to like it.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
It was low eighties, which.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
For twenty twenty eight freshman is perfectly fine, especially if
you're left handed. He's really young in the face like babyface,
still could clean up the body a little bit in
a good way, Like that's gonna take care of itself.
As he continues to get bigger and stronger, that kid
is gonna be really good. And then John Calcata from
Lindberg big freshman.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
He's huge.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
He's got to be six four or sixty five. His
dad's a huge guy too. I think he wears like
a size sixteen shoe already. I mean he got on
the mound again. I saw him twice. Their their recruits
team has played in two of our tournaments now and
both times it was anywhere from eighty two to eighty five,
touching eighty six. Like Downhill, it comes out really easy,

(21:15):
Like for how big he is, he repeats his delivery
pretty good, stays in line. It's not a ton of effort,
Like he's not like one of those dudes where he's
trying to throw really hard and like the head is
going all over the plate, like it's staying over the
middle of the plate. If you can get a guy
that can keep his head over the middle of the
plate and throws strikes consistently like it's pretty it's a
pretty good indication of that guy is going to continue

(21:37):
to repeat his delivery even as he gets bigger and
throws harder. The breaking ball is good. He would show
a change up to left handed hitters.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
And then this.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
Kid named Eli Streney. I don't know if you've heard
that name before. He's from Herculean Neum. I think I
said that Rightlanum Herculaneum. Well, I mean five foot seven,
maybe five foot eight, playing shortstop. He's a fifteen year old.
Oh they had playing shortstop flat pickett. Good athlete, good runner,
good football player, all over the barrel. He launched a

(22:11):
home run at Triad that comfortably left the field by
twenty to thirty feet.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Really good player.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
Want to watch, like a dynamic, do it all type
of guy that could They could profiles as the top
as the top of the lineup. Bat can play short,
can play second. I bet he could probably play short
center field if he needed to. That Recruits team for
their twenty twenty eight class is pretty legit. Like they
got dudes from top to bottom all over the lineup.
On the Illinois side. Young guy that I got to

(22:41):
see in tournament action and then he came to We
ran a showcase at Triad High School with their program. Yeah,
so it was like twenty to twenty five players from
the Triad program that came out and just went through
a pro style workout. Nolan Miller obviously from Triad High School.
He's a twenty twenty eight grad so he's going to
be a sophomore. He was probably the most impressive player

(23:05):
at our fifteen U tournament, the very first one we
ran in the summer. Physical kid, like strong, six foot
six foot one.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Probably he's a football player.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
I'm shocked, Like looks the part.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
With room to continue to add, like he's not one
of those kids that just is is good because he's
bigger than everybody. He was absolutely barreling everything like juice
that way, right handed hitter, Juice that way, Juice that way.
We played a tournament game at Greenville University because it

(23:40):
has it's it's terf and it has lights, so it's
a college field. He was off balance, fooled on a
breaking ball out front barrel Homer over the left field wall.
You know, talking to those Triad guys, I think there's
a chance that he is in. He's he's a guy
that could potentially be an impact for them heading into

(24:01):
next year as a sophomore, which is no easy task
at a school like Triad. Definitely a name to know
I would be. He was playing center field. He was
up to eighty two on the mound, So there's some
arm strength there. I would be curious to see what
that looks like in two years, because you're talking about
a guy that could be a really like dynamic type
of athlete and player.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
One of the things that's interesting to me too from
we've seen this a lot Illinois side and don't give
me uh we'll come back, yep. But we saw a
lot of Illinois teams with Game seven fourteen U a
lot of the guy the o'fallen Bombers, Edwardsville. We even
had the Effingham heaters coming over. They're always good, top

(24:45):
tier from Springfield coming down. A lot of kids in seven,
and it was it was kind of cool because I
actually knew the high schools. They were talking about form
and it was like, hey, all right, yeah that's good.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
And there's gonna be a lot of the normal community area.
Yeah there's So it was interesting to watch because watching
a lot of these fourteen years it was good baseball, Yeah,
really good baseball. These kids are really good, they're talented.
We had Moscuita teams coming over, yep. And so the

(25:22):
rivalries and the thought process, and I'm seeing, oh that kid,
those kids are all going to try it.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
That's gonna be pretty good.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah right, de Troy Thunder yep, you know. And a
lot of those kids are heading over to try it.
So I think it's interesting. And that's fourteen you so
that's moving to freshmen. Yep, so that's that next step.
I think it looks pretty good.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
Illinois from top to bottom is a really good baseball state.
I'm from the Northwest Burbs of Chicago. I say that
it's like an hour away from Chicago, but if I
told you where I was from, you would have no idea.
I don't exactly know where Chicago's at, and growing up
for me, like being a being from that area, from
the Northwest Burbs area, like I only thought, oh, all

(26:10):
the all the good yeah, all the good stuff is
in Chicago. That's where everyone like it. Like Illinois is
Chicago and then a bunch of corn. It's basically what
I thought growing up.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Because it doesn't isn't. Top tier actually based out of
the Chicago.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
McCook McCook and there's a lot of good programs top tier.
Candalosi Sparks have been a really good program forever.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
They used to be the pro player Knes Now they're
GRB Illinois. They do a great job in the Fox
Valley area, Chicago elite. Like there's a bunch of good
programs while factor all these teams. But then like you
you continue, like I came down here, and you familiarize
yourself with the Southern Illinois and and and Central Illinois
and and who like the big high schools are and

(26:52):
and the big travel clubs, and I mean from top
to bottom, there are really good players, uh in the
entire state.

Speaker 3 (26:59):
And then there's some there's some pretty good programs you
know on that side of it that most people don't. Yes,
I the Southern Illinois Bombers have a have a good
pro Southern Illinois Blue.

Speaker 4 (27:09):
Jays, Yeah, yeah, Mike Prayman, they're they're always good. A
lot and a lot of those guys like those those
those youth teams right like the the twelve, thirteen and
fourteen teams that that nobody really knows quote unquote who
they are.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Like a lot of.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
Those teams, they they those players filter into your more
traditional well known I guess teams in the area that
a lot of the makeup of those teams are the
smaller teams that you're talking about that maybe they don't
have high school teams right or or whatnot. So it

(27:44):
really is like from top to bottom, the state's really good.
It's in a really good spot. The Metro East area
is loaded. And there are a lot of reasons for that.
Same same with Central Illinois, Like Springfield's really good, normalst
really good, Effingham to top of Liss like that, Like
that area always has good players coming out of it. Carbondale, Carterville.
I mean, there's a kid from Cescervillier, which might be

(28:06):
the smallest town I've ever been to in my life,
that's going to Cincinnati, which is a big twelve school. Yeah,
so it wasn't a really good spot. And it's it's
it's it's not just up north, it's not just down here.
It's from the whole entire state, top to bottom. You're
gonna find good players, whether you're a travel team, a
high school team, a college coach, a junior college whatever.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
It is like it's all really good.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
And and here's the thing, and I know, you know
you're at the sports barn. There's GBA over there, and
they've been growing that program, you know, and there's good
coaches involved in that. But like you said, Brahman, the
SI bombers a lot of these Central Illinois swing that's
just up there a little bit with top tier in
that middle. There's some really good youth coaches, Yeah, in

(28:51):
these programs.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
Yeah, that that is what a lot of it is.
Like when you look at the boom of the state,
and I'll just use Illinois as an example because I've
been around it like forever, Like I know even I
grew up playing travel ball and Illinois and everything. But
like the boom of the state the last ten or
so years, from top to bottom in all areas, has

(29:14):
been correlated with the rise of club ball and travel
ball because these facilities get built, these coaches come in,
they established these organizations, and they develop the players. And
I think, like, not that there weren't good players before,
but like if you talk to guys that played in

(29:34):
high school ball ten, fifteen, twenty years ago, ask them
how many like Division one, Division two type players there were,
and that number is smaller. And it's because there's obviously
a lot of factors.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
That go into it.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
But now, like you go wherever and you're gonna find
some some pitcher that you've never heard of that's eighty
six to eighty eight, maybe touching eighty nine to ninety
with a pretty good break ball. Or you're gonna find
some physical freak that runs the sixty seven and is
left handed and can hit everywhere, like from top to bottom,
it doesn't matter where it's at, and those things when

(30:07):
I was playing, which I sound really old saying that,
but that just wasn't the case, right, And going back
to your point, like, there are so many good guys
that are in the business of developing players training players.
There are so many good facilities there are, like it's

(30:27):
the high school or the youth and the high school
athlete are are in a very fortunate spot because they're
options of where they're going to go to play and
train and develop and get better at the sport are
very large. Like there are a lot of good places
you can go.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Right when you know, and as you're talking about players
and whatnot, and I know you still got some list.
I know my mind, squirrels, you're good. But the look
at this we we're talking, we've been talking about American
Legion baseball. And I brought this up to you before
we started the show because it's one hundredth anniversary of

(31:06):
American Legion baseball. I don't know, you probably didn't play
American Legion baseball when we ran at the CUSS.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
We played.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
So when I was in high school, one of the
big things that was very popular in Illinois and in
the area I was at, is we actually played summer
high school baseball. There was a summer high school league,
there was a state playoffs, there was a state tournament.
So it's kind of like Legion. It wasn't like Posts
to ten or Post to seventy where you where like

(31:35):
maybe you had multiple high schools on one team. We
just played with our high school team. Like Huntley, which
is where I went to high school, we had a team.
Barrington had a team and that was like our rival
or whatever, and you would play a season and then
it was very it was like four weeks, five weeks,
and then we would go into playoffs and there would
be a state champion and everything.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
So we didn't play Legion ball.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
And no, that was in the in the Northwest burbs,
whereas like we were talking earlier, like Danville or Alton
or Aveston or whatever, like all those teams they play
Legion ball. So that's kind of the difference. Now there
is no more well, there is, but it's not as popular.
There is no more summer baseball in Illinois for high
school because everyone plays travel ball, right, except for those
small pockets that still play Legion.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Is there a place I mean, and that's where I say,
you know, I know Alton's got a really good squad
over there. I know Aveston the Express is still very big,
Danville's got a good squad, and these teams are I
don't know as much about the South, the southern part

(32:41):
of Illinois as far as Legion baseball in that respect,
I know there's still quite a few of them, and
it'll be interesting to see because I know Missouri has
gained a lot more.

Speaker 4 (32:52):
Traction from what I know, and I'm not you know
about Legion with right, right, I'm not super in the note,
but Missouri has a stronger, uh in my opinion, a
much stronger advancement and involvement in American Legion baseball than
Illinois does. Yeah, like you could you could rattle off

(33:13):
multiple like Legion teams in Missouri that are pretty real
and then even the ones that maybe aren't as like
you know, they don't have the most talent, there's still
a lot of involvement. Yeah, in the fact that they
that they play a whole schedule and like they're building
a program and whatnot. For me, Like we talked about
Illinois the first there's three teams four Barrington, Danville, Aveston, Alton. Yeah,

(33:37):
and like those are in like way different parts of
the state, Like Barrington's five hours from here. Yeah, So
I don't even know what it what.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
All it looks like.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
And I'm sure there is, like but I think it's
just on a much smaller scale.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
I agree, and I think it's interesting. You know, one
hundred years and I know you weren't a part of it.
I mean I played American Legion baseball because I'm an
old guy and there's other people, but I've seen a
lot of the coaches. I mean even these guys that
were that are running the clubs. Now, I'll played American
Legion baseball.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
Yeah, it's what you did, right, like I mean everybody did.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
I just and just your thought process. You know, American
Legion baseball. It's one hundred years, it's been part of baseball.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
I just would like.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
To see it continue and as a space and an
opportunity for kids to continue to get better as a player.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
Your thoughts, Yeah, I will start this out by saying,
I am not the most educated person in Legion basketball.
I get it, so my takes are only on what
I know, But I from what I do know, I
think it's a pretty good option for players if you know,
financially it's not a huge commitment. I think it's a

(34:57):
good option for a player that maybe you know, they're
not like dead set I'm playing college ball, but they
just want to play baseball with their boys and still
be able to you know, work and and and be
a part of.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
A community and whatnot.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
I think the key to it kind of continuing to
advance and grow and becoming a more formidable option for
like the higher level player, right, is all going to
come down to the coaching and the development, like if if,
if you have a Legion program, and I'm sure there
are some I'm just not familiar with it that can
offer high level development, high level training, high level coaching

(35:34):
where like you bring in guys and they and like
their dudes, like like they're they're getting better over the
course of an offseason. A two year plan, a three
year plan. That will be the key because that is
what the mid to high level club environment can provide
right now. Obviously financially, it's on a much larger scale,

(35:55):
and there's a there's a greater commitment to it because
you have teams that play like they're they're on for
like five weekends at a time. They're in Florida, there
in Iowa, there in India, they're in Kansas City, they're
they're they're in Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
They're doing the whole circuit.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
And that that whole thing is is not for everybody,
like right, and that's that's where you kind of have
to balance like what's for you, what's not for you.
But when you talk about like it becoming more advanced, yeah,
if if, if you start to see a bunch of
these legion programs that are like really good at development
and really good at coaching and really good at training,

(36:28):
and obviously there have to be some that will be
the key in my opinion, I don't.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
I agree.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
I agree whole heart and and I think sometimes I
think it's I think there's a space for this too
because you know, as we see it, ah capital the
ability to do those types of things. Yeah, and then
the opportunity of you know, am I gonna go play
baseball at big time you? Am I gonna go to

(37:00):
next big time you? Or the step down big time you?
What is the thought process? And I think there's opportunities
for kids who are you know, are you going to
get developed? Are you going to get the work you
need and still be able to get into that college
program and have success because there's a lot of kids

(37:22):
that are coming to it's still club baseball. I know
there's a lot of Legion guys that hate it when
I say that, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
It is a club.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
It is.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
It's an organization. Yeah, and you're playing against another organization
like it is club baseball. I think one thing you
said there that was interesting to me, and it kind
of goes into the other side of the club aspect
is playing somewhere that is going to prepare you to
play collegiately. Now, there's a lot of things that go

(37:54):
into that. I think there's an aspect of it of
playing somewhere where it's going to pair you to play collegiately,
as in you're getting the training, like you're getting the
pitching training, the strength training, the hitting training, the baseball
fundamentals training that's important too. But I also think it
and nowadays, especially with the way that recruiting is going

(38:15):
and the fact that like when you show up on campus,
if you don't play like, your leash is very short.
It obviously depends where you're at, right, Like, if you're
at a junior college, you have two years. If you're
at a Division three four year school, those guys aren't
really cutting school or players. If you show up at
will use like Mzoo as an example, and you don't

(38:36):
play like, you're probably gonna be gone, right And a
really important aspect of that of playing somewhere where you're
gonna be ready to play collegiately is who are.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
You playing against in the summer? You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (38:51):
H Like I think, and trust me, I am not
a huge proponent of the whole massive travel thing where
like you're gone for four weeks at a time and.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
We're here, we're here, we're here, we're here, we're there.

Speaker 4 (39:04):
But one positive of that, especially for a player from
this part of the country or Chicago or Wisconsin, like
traveling to a Kansas city or to a Georgia or
to whatever, is if.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
You play against kids down there. You're gonna play against
really good players.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
Right, and yeah, it's the competition left, Like.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
Yeah, like, how else are you gonna prepare yourself? Like
I'm playing against guys that throw seventy eight miles an hour.
Is not going to prepare you to play in the SEC,
you know what I mean? And that bucket of players
is very small, like the the bucket of players that
are gonna be playing at that level is very small.
But even then, like, go and play somewhere where you're

(39:48):
gonna get developed, but is also going to get you
ready to play collegiately.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
Here's here's the thing, And this is what I find fascinating,
And this is what I think, And this is what
a lot of these Legion program rams have done on
this side of the state, or on this side of
the river in Missouri. Is I see them, and I
think they're probably doing it on that side too. I
I I just don't know that much. I don't follow playing.

(40:13):
They're playing in tournament, they're playing their league schedule, and
which is a grind anyway. But they'll they'll pick a
couple of tournaments here and there to go and I've seen, uh,
some of these Legion teams walk in and just pummel some.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
Of these That to me, and obviously with that, yeah,
there's an increase in like from a financial standpoint because
some of the bigger tournaments, Like obviously it just costs
more money. But like that the programs to do that.
If I'm just looking at it from an outside point
of view, that's a separator.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Like, yeah, obviously you're.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
Playing your schedule, your your your weekly games, and like
some of these teams from what I've heard you guys
talk about, like they're they're playing teams from out of
state and they're challenging themselves and they're building this huge schedule.
But if you do that and then maybe like two
to three times a week or a summer, you incorporate
the ability to play in a high level tournament where

(41:09):
you're going to play against good teams, you're going to
play in front of schools because the schools go to
the higher level tournaments. That blends legion ball and traditional
what we call club ball together. That's a separator for me. Yeah,
that a program that does that care and.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
You can keep the cost down correct, you know, and
you don't have to And again, and this is the
thing Diego that I am just so adamant about in
what we talk when we talk about baseball. I don't
think you have to travel all over the country to
play or to find competition. For one. Two, where do

(41:50):
you want to go to school?

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (41:52):
And do you have a group of kids that are
all centered? Okay, let's find out where where are.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
You realistically going to score?

Speaker 3 (42:00):
I know you want to go to Big Time you
and play fantastic and if they get to six ninety
eight miles an hour, well, well you need to stop
playing for me and go do something else. Yeah right, Okay,
So in that factor, then what's the best case scenario? Sho,
where do we go? Well, who's gonna see me here?

(42:20):
Who's gonna see me here? And what does that look like?
And have you contacted that? Do you want to go
to Missouri Southern? Then go play in Joplin?

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yeah? Right?

Speaker 3 (42:30):
If you don't, then what's the use of traveling down
there playing in that unless you want to What schools
are you looking at? Are you contacting them? Are you
talking to them? Have you been to a camp?

Speaker 4 (42:41):
And what?

Speaker 3 (42:42):
And we're not asking the right questions. And I don't
care if that's a club or a leagion program.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yeah, I would.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
I would share the same opinion. I think if you
have a team, like a group of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen
eighteen players and all of them are power for talents, right,
then it makes more sense in my opinion.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
You should be at Lake Point.

Speaker 4 (43:04):
And to be honest, in this area, in this area,
we do have teams like that. Yes, Like I'm not
going to go into clubs and specific age left for sure,
but there are multiple teams in this area where I'm like, again,
i have no skin in the in the summer ball
or the travel game or whatnot. All of my tournaments
are in Saint Louis. So if you asked me and

(43:26):
we could keep all the really good teams in Saint Louis,
that'd be sweet. But like I'm sitting here looking at
some of these teams and I'm like, yeah, it makes
sense for you guys to go to Lake there, Like
your team's really good, you have guys that can play.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Go to Florida. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:41):
And then I also think the older you get and
like some of the guys I've talked to travel ball wise,
they understand this, uh, like from a club perspective, your
sixteen U year is the year that you should travel
a lot, because that is when that summer. Like if
you talk to most college coaches right now, they don't

(44:02):
care about twenty twenty six grats like they took care
of their twenty twenty six class last.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Fall or in the spring.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
Those correct, Those guys are worried about who's going to
be on my campus in who's twenty twenty seven? Yeah,
and the twenty sevens because on August first, they're going
to start calling all these twenty sevens. Now, that doesn't
mean that all twenty twenty six is are just like done.
Like if you're a good player, you're going to have
a spot to play at a good school. But your
sixteen U year, the summer going into your junior year,

(44:32):
that is when you should do the whole circuit if
your team warrants it. In my opinion, the seventeen you
year in the world that we're in now, and I
think you're starting to see this with a lot of
these clubs. A lot of their seventeen U teams, like
those twenty six is are staying around here like they're
playing in Saint Louis. They all go to Indianapolis because

(44:52):
there's a lot of good tournaments over there. They all
go to Kansas City for Hohlefield and Creekside because there's
a lot of good tournaments over there. But you're seeing
and those are that's a good distance, right, You're and
because all of the schools within four hours.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Maybe still I don't know if South Haven is still
a big deal.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
I'm not familiar Memphis. I don't.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
I don't think a lot of teams.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
From here go to Memphis anymore.

Speaker 4 (45:14):
Yeah, but you're seeing less and less of the older
groups go further away because a lot of those players
are gonna end up playing within two three four hours
from here in Saint Looks, And I think you're seeing
less of the fifteen US and the fourteen US again,
unless your team is super awesome and you want to

(45:36):
go and play the best competition possible, which there are.
There are teams like that in this area. I can
think of two right now. The pop in my head
that more than yes, one hundred percent, they should be
playing this national schedule because their players definitely belong on
that level. I just don't think it makes a whole
lot of sense to go outside of this this Kansas

(45:57):
City to Grant Park bubble here, stay within there.

Speaker 3 (46:01):
Because you're still stuff even up in Chicago too.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
You're still going to play against really good teams because
guess what all those teams from up north, from Wisconsin,
from Chicago, from Iowa, they're from Kansas, from Kansas, they're
all there or they're all here Nebraska.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Yeah, yeah, right, and we have good baseball.

Speaker 4 (46:20):
And yeah, now if we were in if we were
in Alaska and there was no good baseball, then I
would say differently, right, But we have good baseball.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
So that that's just my opinion.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Yeah, I like that, I agree, and I you know,
and that's what you know, that's the thought process about
this show. That that that always is interesting to me,
and how we set these things in motion. What's your question?
Where are you looking? Why? What do you where are
you putting yourself as far as what you're doing as

(46:53):
a player? Where do you want to go? Most of
the kids, Uh, you know, I don't care what you say.
A sixteen year old barely knows what he wants for dinner. Yeah,
and so ask him where do you want to go
to college? Oh?

Speaker 2 (47:08):
What do you?

Speaker 3 (47:09):
And we talked to fourteen year olds. I was taking that.
You know, I don't know, I want to play college base. Well, yeah,
I want to play college base. What does that mean?

Speaker 2 (47:18):
No? I uh yeah. And you know what, it's probably okay.
It's okay for them not to know, like, it's fine.
They're fourteen.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
And that's why I am so happy that the recruiting
rules have been put in place, because these people trying
to recruit these fourteen year olds is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
It's a little different. It's a little different my humble opinion. Yeah,
you know, it's a little different.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
That's not an opinion, see, because you know opinion. I
know there's supposed to be thought to it, but I
think most opinions are based surely on emotional outrage.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah what you feel, yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
Instead of thought. I prefer to share my thoughts with folks.
And this is what I think, you know, and it's
based on a history of my own experience with my
son and all the things and moving through these things,

(48:14):
coaching with kids and umpiring, and that's been since two
thousand and six, that's almost twenty years now. And I
don't think I'm some guru or anything like that, nothing
like that, but I do have a little bit of

(48:37):
experience with it, and then meeting people and talking to people,
talking to professionals like yourself.

Speaker 4 (48:45):
I wouldn't go that far, but you wouldn't go that far.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
Okay, probably not. You let me know when you feel
that way. It might be a while. I think there'll
be people.

Speaker 4 (48:55):
Listening to this that are like, yeah, he's right, Yeah,
it might be a.

Speaker 3 (48:59):
Whi oh, mercy, mercy, mercy.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Next week we're hoping to get coach Chris Irwin.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
On the show. Yeah, that'll be a good one.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (49:09):
Folow McGivney. He's done a great job since taking over
that program. If they've been a juggernaut, that'll be a
good conversation.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Absolutely looking forward to that. Met him again, Game seven.
A lot of these things Game seven Baseball. They do
a good job, you know. That's one of the reasons
I've worked with David Dave since twenty seventeen. And on
the youth side, there's a lot of I've met a
lot of high school coach. I just met the high
school coach from Bolivar, Yeah, coaching his fourteen his son's

(49:39):
fourteen U team. Really nice gentlemen, good solid squad. A
minute I saw a kid. My goodness, our top award
winner from that fourteen you he was seven for five games.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
Yeah, I heard you talking about it.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
You just did catch that.

Speaker 2 (49:53):
Yeah, Yeah, that was pretty impressive. Yeah, it's a good performance.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
I don't care. I don't care how old you are,
what you're seeing, what you uh, you start putting up
seven for twelve with three.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Triples in a double, that's pretty good. I'll take that.
It's hard to beat.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Yeah, exactly, but uh looking forward to that next week.
Ovid uh enjoyed meeting coach Irwin Uh pleasant to conversations
and I said, like I said, man, all of a sudden, now,
oh I know that's Oh, I know that's cool.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
It's a whole new world. It's a whole new world
and we're opening it up.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
We hope you enjoyed the folks on Uh. You know,
we're gonna we'll have to get into we'll work with
diego on some rankings and have some fun. And he's
gonna tell me, no, we don't go to Chicago.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
That's too much. That's too much.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
Oh man, it's just enough.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
It's too much.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Yeah, I go all the way over to the other
side of Missouri.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Yeah, that's too much.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
No, man, it would be tough for me to do
that without being able to see some of those teams.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
It takes a It takes a.

Speaker 4 (50:58):
Bit of work. I value a lot of the rankings
in the high school season off the eye test.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
Yeah, I understand. I get that.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
Like I would say it, it's like ninety of my rankings.
So I mean not that there's an exact science or anything,
but just going up and ranking even teams from like
Bloomington or Champagne would be really tough for me to
do without seeing them.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
One of the things that you know that that I
worked very hard at and I was able to go
the first time this year. Was it the Missouri High
School Baseball Coaches Association Clinic meant a lot of the
coaches talk to a lot of the coaches talk to
about teams, listen to them talk about their team.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
Through the season.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
I'd put out my rankings.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
I don't look at the coach's poll and then you compare.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Them, and then I compared it, and uh, you know
most of the time because they do top ten with
class six five and then branking up, yeah, which I
do too. I don't do large school, small school. I
think that's ridiculous personally. No offense to you, no offense
to Kevin. I just do That's why I don't do it.

(52:11):
But because class six is going to play Class six schools. Yep,
Class five is going to be big Class five. It's
state championships. There you go. My thoughts on that again.
But when you start looking at it, you know, I
was we were pretty close. I miss one or they
would have one maybe or two, but and we would be.

(52:34):
There'd be a differing in where they were within that.
But for the most part throughout the year, it was
pretty common to what the coaches were putting out. So
and I work very hard to look at that across
there because if you can talk to coaches, you get
a coach that says, oh no, that's a really good
team over there. They got this guy doing this and this.

(52:55):
And that's why I really work very hard to develop
the relationship with the coaches because there's a lot of
information there.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
The coaches can be super valuable resources.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
Obviously, just my experience with it, I tend to take
a little bit and this is nothing against any coach,
but if there's a coach that is really high on
their team. I think I've been burned in the past
just being like yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
He said, he said, they're really good.

Speaker 4 (53:25):
Yeah, but if you ever get a coach that is
super high on another team, then that to me carries
a lot of weight like I had. I'll be honest
this this spring going into the season, Uh, you know
we I'm very familiar with the teams down here. I
was a little less familiar. Still knew who like the

(53:45):
big players were, but a little less familiar with the
Springfield schools up the Springfield. And I had a coach
that I trusted before the high school season. I sent
him the rankings like, hey, just preliminary rough draft preseason rankings.
What do you think And he was like, you are
way too low on Sacred Heart Griffin. And I was like, okay,

(54:09):
why like tell me why why yeah, And he was
like this, this, this, this, this, this, and so I
bumped them up. I think they were our preseason it
was McGivney, Saint Anthony and then Sacred Heart Griffin. So
they were the number to two way school, number three
overall they want to stay title. Yeah, I had him
in like number seven preseason, So there you go. But

(54:29):
then correct so stuff like that, Like those relationships with
the coaches, like they're the ones that are in it.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Because you know, you know, I don't care, diego. It's
hard for me because I would love to see every team.
Yeah you know, I really would.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Yeah you can. It's impossible. How do you do that?

Speaker 3 (54:49):
And it's just it's unrealistic. So you have to do
the best you can with what you have.

Speaker 4 (54:54):
And when you're doing something like that, the relationships, the
relationship with the coaches help out because if you are
like pretty tight with a guy that's a good coach,
like that guy knows, and a coach that has won
a lot, that guy knows when a high school team
or a high school program has what it takes to

(55:15):
actually win. I think a lot of times like you
could sit back and look at a team and be like, man,
their roster is really good. Yeah, and then they go
nineteen and thirteen or twenty and seventeen and you're sitting
there like what's going on here?

Speaker 2 (55:30):
But like that happens.

Speaker 4 (55:31):
That's the difference between having a good team and having
a good winning high school team is there's more than
just talent, and you have to factor that into the rankings.
Like when you're doing stuff like that. Like, at the
end of the day, the one thing that matters the
most is not who's got the prettiest roster, although a

(55:53):
lot of the time at this level talent wins out
at any level, sure, but who's going to win And
there's conless examples of that on both sides of the river.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
Absolutely. One of the great uh I've built this and
I and we hope to continue that is U two
guys down in the Southwest and UH head coach at
Willard Scott McGee. You talked about an Encyclopedia baseball.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
He is.

Speaker 3 (56:18):
He's an honest guy about his own program. He's as
guy about the people around him. Uh. He pays attention
to what's going on around him.

Speaker 4 (56:25):
I've never met him. I've only listened to your guy.
I mean, he knows everybody. He might know my social
Security numbers, like he knows everybody. He knows every player,
every team that I bet there's scotting reports look like
the dictionary. It's pretty impressive, honest, it is.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
And you're just like, my goodness, how'd you do that? Uh?
And you know, coach Hughes, UH, it's been a great,
great help down at Nixa uh and you know he's
a former collegiate coach and uh at Drury and so
very wealth knowledge and both these guys are very honest,
very upfront about programs and things like that, and so

(57:06):
it's it's been really nice and we're getting to know
more coaches down there, getting to me more coach Spitz,
Courtney Spitz at Springfield Catholic. Hope to continue that we're going.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
To do something.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
So it's to your point, you know you that's a
long way away.

Speaker 4 (57:21):
Yeah, it's far for me. I wouldn't be able to
do that.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
Right, And it's very and so that's why. And last
year we got to drive down for the winter workout Tour,
which helped a lot that way. Yeah, and so we
continue that part of it and we are win a
workout tour. Definitely spoke with Josh Kenny from the o'fellen Bombers,
the fourteen U coach over there. He goes, man, you
got to come over to our side.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
They're starting high school teams now, Yes, they are just so.
David garshat Swick, who is, in my opinion, one of
the better coaches in the area. I think if you
talk to a lot of guys about what Swick baseball.
Swick is a junior college for those who don't know,
a Division one junior college in Belleville, Illinois.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
I think one of the Barker brothers is going there, right,
both of them were both of them. Uh, that's what
I know at least.

Speaker 4 (58:08):
And like if you talk to guys that have been
in the area about what Swick was before Garish got there,
there wasn't a whole lot of winning going on. And
he has turned that program into like they're they're right
up there with like Johnny Logan and Wabash Valleys and
Lakeland as like the kind of the big four in
this region of junior college baseball in Illinois. And for

(58:29):
him to help those guys out with their high school program,
that's a pretty big step.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
Yeah, man, that's actually we're gonna, we're gonna we're gonna
take a tour stop over at the O'Fallon Bambers this Uh,
this winner one of the few one of those and
uh talk with coach Irwin. Get over to the Edwardsville
Tiger side.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
There were spent a lot of time over there in Illinos.
They're doing a good job.

Speaker 4 (58:51):
Chris Irwin, the Edwinsville Tigers group. Their fourteen U team
won our fourteen U tournament. They were really legit like that.
It was a small tournament. It was only six teams,
but it was all the All the teams were good,
and that team was really good. We did a scout
day with them. I think we had like twenty nine
of their players come out of the barn and do

(59:11):
a workout. They have a lot of good players, a
lot of good young guys, but some good like sixteen
and seventeen. You guys that are at small high schools
that a lot of people probably aren't very familiar with,
right and a lot of those guys are folling mc
givney guys, And it's it's a pretty good correlation of
the success mcgimneys had. So they're doing a good job
or they're in it's it's funny they're the Edwardsville Tigers, but.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
They are Edwardsville. It's not really a lot of it.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
It's not yeah, but exactly so. But I think that
I'm looking forward to that. You know, we we're making
a push. We've done a lot of stuff on in
the state of Missouri and don't want you know, we'll
still do what we do, but getting over onto that
side of that, hope to get up to the you know,
maybe see the folks at Central Illinois swing move up

(01:00:00):
in that direction and come back down for the winter
workout tour. This year, it's gonna be on the Illinois
side quite a bit.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
There you go, just half there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
So always fun man, you got it, good conversation. Tune
in next week. Make sure we'll we're we're hoping we'll
let everybody know. But hope to have coacher went on.
That'll be a lot of fun. Uh may just have
you know, you may not even see me there. But anyway, folks,

(01:00:32):
thanks for tuning in. Please subscribe that supports the channel
here uh we we we love the fact that you're here.
I here on the whack the microphone. We had a
TV drop. Sorry about that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
We had to studios falling apart. I know, right' That's
what happens when I show up. Everything starts to blow up,
TVs are falling, Brian's knocking the microphone over.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
It's kooky. I don't know, I don't know so but
it's I know it's Wednesday. That's it, and so thanks
for but subscribe. That's what I was doing hit the dinger.
It's not a home run, but it sure does get
your notifications for great episodes just like this, and we

(01:01:18):
hope you continues. Comment below tell us what you think
of the conversation. We appreciate it, everybody. Thanks for tuning in,
and have a great day in the Lord all you pictures,
Rice see every picture says that, and you hitters try
to hit him where they and we'll see you all

(01:01:41):
next time.

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Scouting Opportunities for Young Players and Summer Baseball | YBMcast Baseball Talk w/Diego Solares

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Scouting Opportunities for Young Players and Summer Baseball | YBMcast Baseball Talk w/Diego Solares