Jeff Francoeur Previews MLB Playoffs, Talks Athlete Development, Mental Fitness & More w/ Greg Olsen
October 7, 2025 • 49 mins
Greg sits down with former MLB All-Star and current MLB broadcaster Jeff Francoeur to discuss what it really takes to develop elite athletes. As the founder of PureAthlete, Jeff shares his philosophy on youth sports development, emphasizing the importance of mental fitness alongside physical training.
Jeff opens up about the pressures young athletes face today, how to build resilience and confidence, and why a holistic approach to development matters more than early specialization. Drawing from his 12-year MLB career and work with youth athletes, he offers practical insights for parents, coaches, and athletes looking to maximize their potential.
The pair also talk the MLB playoffs, what it takes to get all the way to the Fall Classic, and more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Make sure you subscribe to both our YouTube channel and our RSS
feed for all future conversations here at you think
I'm really excited to have on today's guest on you think
because you'd be shocked how many messages I get on social
media like pure athlete. They're your competition.
You guys are trying to do the same shit.
Like how do you feel about what Jeff Van Core and those guys are
(00:22):
doing a pure athlete and I sit there and I say I think it's
great. Like I think the more people
having these conversations and having similar ideas and going
out and and diving into this world, the better.
So without further ado, Jeff Francoeur of Pure Athlete, the
work you guys are doing. I'm a huge fan, been following
you guys for a long time and appreciate you joining us here
(00:43):
on the Enemy Podcast if you think.
Yeah, right. It's funny because I've been
thinking about that a long time.Like, you know, watching all
y'all's clips, watching y'all stuff, Greg.
And it's like, I, I think there's enough room for a lot of
us in this landscape and to knowhow messed up this world of
youth sports is. I'm like, I love what y'all are
doing. Same thing, man.
Because ultimately we want, we want the kids to learn to get
(01:06):
better and to do it the right way.
And I'm like, good Lord, there needs to be more people, not
just you and I and our group speaking out about this.
No doubt. Well, I appreciate you joining
us. We got a lot to dive into just
for for our listeners who maybe aren't as familiar with pure
athlete or haven't come across it or follow it on social, but
don't know the back story like given you know, you've lived
(01:28):
sports from the Little League level all the way to the pros
multi sport athlete grown up. We dove into it when I was on
your show a couple weeks back. Just give us a little back story
on like what the motivation and what the kind of the the genesis
of pure athlete and why you feelso strong strongly about putting
so much time into this. Well, I have 4 kids Greg.
I got 12A daughter who's 12, a son who's 9A daughter who's 7
(01:52):
and a son who's about to be 5 next week.
And as I got into this, when I got done playing after 12 1/2
years and doing some announcing,one of the biggest things for me
was, man, I started looking at the landscape, right?
I'm coaching my kids in T-ball and stuff and I'm like, these
parents are whack jobs. I'm like, I mean, screaming at 5
and 6 year old T-ball games right at these kids to get the
(02:13):
ball in from the outfield. And it's like, no, there's six
kids on top of each other. That is funny, right?
Like that. I mean, so ultimately it was
like anything same thing you did.
I'm sure you all a need for people to speak out and not only
people to speak out, but people that know what they're talking
about. Like that's the one thing I'm I
know you own it. I own it like we played at the
(02:34):
highest level. You know what it takes to get
there. Not everybody's going to have
that, but everybody should play sports.
It's so much fun. It teaches you the greatest life
lessons you could have. So as we got into this, man, it
was just kind of, we had a few guests on.
Jason Campbell was our first guest, you know, and we just
kind of kept going and next thing you know, same thing with
(02:55):
y'all. I'm sure more people start
texting. Man, I've never looked at it
that way or thank you. I had this dilemma with my kids
and we've done this and it's worked out great.
So I just think there's such a need for it.
What, what is Jeff Francoeur like as a youth T-ball baseball
coach? Because I know what I was like.
I'm thankfully I'm out of the T-ball era, but what, what, what
(03:16):
is what, What are you like in that environment?
Well, so again, we're learning, right?
When my daughter, the oldest, when I play T-ball, dude, I was
screaming, you know, run to second, run to second, run to
3rd. And now by my 4th I'm like, just
enjoy it, right? Like they don't understand the
game yet. They don't know what they're
doing. Let the kids whack it off the T,
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you know, and but I'm a firm believer, like we have 4 kids on
our team that are 6 years old and they don't need the tee.
So I tell their parents and themyou get 5 pitches off me.
I know I can put the ball on thetee and you can whack it to the
outfield and run around the bases.
But I'm like your kid doesn't need that anymore.
So they're going to hit off me and if they don't hit, they're
(03:57):
going to strike out. But with that being said, the
four and five year old, some of these kids that can't do it, put
it on the tee, let them whack and run, right?
They're going to run to first. Maybe they'll run to second,
maybe they'll run to the outfield after that.
But I'm like, at the end of the day, after a game, I'm going to
go home and have a have my whiskey and ginger ale and watch
something on TV and I'm going tobe OK whether we win or lose.
(04:20):
All right, I'm glad you brought up throwing a no hitter against
five year olds because I think it's like every coach pitches
every coach, every coach in coach pitches like worst
nightmare is just striking out the side.
Oh, yeah. So I might give you a
controversial baseball take again.
I've experienced. Let me back up.
I've experienced baseball. I played as a kid, stopped
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playing before I got to high school.
So I, I literally was eighth grade and under baseball player.
So I don't sit here as like somebaseball maven, but I have
experienced baseball now with the kids coaching them.
We've spent more time in baseball because when I was
playing, it was my offseason. So I wasn't around to do flag
football that much. I wasn't around in the fall and
winter to do basketball, but I was around all spring and summer
(05:06):
to do baseball and as they got older and whatnot.
So I, I prefaced all of that to say we, when our kids, before
they got to kid pitch at 9 U, wedid what they called machine
pitch. And we had this like blue
launching, like slingshot machine.
And I was the guy standing in the middle of the field putting
the ball And I, man, I could make that thing dance if I knew
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a kid needed to pull it because I, I needed to get the force
off. And he was a lefty and I could
pitch that thing inside to a lefty and pull it to first base.
And I mean, I could manipulate it.
I know this kid likes it high low.
The other leagues in our area did coach pitch.
I hate coach pitch. Baseball for young kids.
(05:50):
What say you? I'm same way man, you know, 7
and 8 years old especially. I hate there's an inning of kid
pitch and then it goes to coach pitch.
And you want to know why some kids quit baseball?
Including my 9 year old son. My 9 year old son hates
baseball, Greg. Like we shoot hoops, we play
football. He's on, he's playing tackle
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football. He loves lacrosse.
We play lacrosse in the spring. He loves it, hates baseball
because he goes, it's boring. I, I literally sit out here for
45 minutes while kids just throwballs at that age.
I love the machine idea. Me and me and so many guys have
talked about this. You want action, right?
You want to keep guys involved, learn how to play the game, get
(06:32):
ground balls to short, balls to the outfield, balls to second
base. And you can't get that from
coach pitch. Very few coaches.
I play third 19 years and it's so hard for me to do this and
get the ball where they need to go and so.
I'm so glad you said that. I wasn't sure where you were
going to stand. No, I've heard a lot of baseball
guys be like, the machine sucks.They don't see the arm, they
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don't see and I'm like a six, two man throwing lollipops over
the plate. That's teaching them what?
Well, and, and that's the other thing you go look at 5 and 6
year olds, come watch how I throw to my kids.
I got some, some zip on it because I'm like you throwing
the ball this way, they're nevergoing to hit it.
And if they do, it's not coming off hard.
(07:15):
So I, I am machine pitch. And then at nine years old,
start your kid pitch. That's when they have to Start
learning how to do it. But until then, man, I have
argued with our parks for years.Oh well, OK, well then we're on
the same page. We should go on like a a world
tour and get rid of coaches, getrid of coaches on one knee
throwing darts and the machine man.
(07:36):
I'll tell you that eight I look back on our eight U summer, but
the summer before we transition to the kids pitching themselves
and you talk about you could go 6 inning game and there was
maybe one or two strikeouts and and like the more competitive,
you know, the the better teams. Like balls were put in play.
There were ground balls, there were guys understanding cuts.
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There were guys understanding throwing ahead of the runner, no
stealing, but like everything was a force out.
Everything was a ground ball cutlike they learned.
I look back on that eight-year year and say my kids learned so
much because the ball was in play in.
Play. Everything was relatively a
strike and. If I'm, if I'm 5 or if I'm
(08:17):
thrown to a 5 or 6 year old and I get 5 pitches to throw to him,
there's going to be two that aregoing to be horrible pitches.
Whether it's high, low, if you get the machine, they might miss
the first or second, but if it'sin that same area every time,
they're going to learn how to start putting the ball in play
and and then you just keep working from there.
I love it. Well, I'm glad we see eye to eye
(08:37):
there because I got on that one around here.
I get a little pushback from people that they they think the
machine needs to go and I'm like, that was just not my
experience. I thought it was great, our
part. Still won't do it.
Yeah, which drives me insane, but all right, that's what we'll
put that on our back burner. That's going to be a joint, you
think? Pure athlete initiative.
Get coaches off the field pitching the five.
(08:59):
Through 8 machine only. Machine only All right, I want
to back up a little bit. You know, so much of what we
talked about, you know, on on both of our shows really is this
idea of like the early specialization.
It's it's the like the number one topic people throw around
anytime youth sports come up. But I think your story is super
interesting, right? Like here you are a constant
accomplished what you did professional baseball, Major
(09:21):
League 12 plus years. And when you look back on your
high school career, like you could have taken a very
different path, multiple state champion down in Georgia, which
is like that's real ball. Like for anyone who knows high
school football, like Georgia's real ball now you're not winning
state titles with some shit teamlike that's real football.
So what made you, when did you understand that like baseball
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was your path because you had a lot, My understanding is you had
a lot of opportunities to go play college football.
And the reality in football is there is a lot of opportunity.
The path to football for a lot of people is a little bit easier
than the path in baseball. You know what's interesting for
me man? I I grew up playing football
since 7 years old. I was in helmet shoulder pads at
(10:05):
7. I loved it.
I love the team aspect of football.
Obviously we can all agree practice sucks all week.
Like that's, you know, it is what it is.
But the Friday night with your friends, it's still the greatest
time I've ever had in sports. You know, I played the World
Series in 2010 and we lost to the Giants.
I was on the Rangers and it was awesome.
But if you ask me right now, my senior year going down to
(10:27):
Northside Warner Robins in frontof 15,000 and we played Chancey
Stuckey, man. And he had rushed for like 150
yards over everybody and we heldhim to 72 yards.
And I still am like that's the greatest accomplishment by our
defense, like that whole game. But for me, honestly, in
football, man, I I just love playing.
(10:47):
I was smart. I had a knack for the ball.
I knew where to be. I was fast.
I mean, I ran A446 back in the day coming out.
So, you know, I committed to go to Clemson to play football.
And Tommy Bowden was a coach andI was all in and I got drafted
in the first round by the Braves, of course.
And I grew up in Atlanta. So your hometown team man, and I
(11:09):
always laugh about this now because, you know, Tommy kept
calling me, are you coming? Are you not?
Because back then, you know, once you stepped foot on campus,
you were done. Like, if I enrolled in a class,
stepped foot in a classroom at Clemson for three years, I, I
had to go play college baseball and football, whatever that
looked like. And so I was about four days
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away. And finally the Braves signed
me. And Tommy Bowden, I called him
and I said, you know, the Bravesgave me 2.2 million reasons not
to come to Clemson. And he started laughing.
He's like, son, I wouldn't let you step on this campus.
He's like, go, go realize your dream playing baseball.
And I always knew baseball was #1 I, I just, I felt like that
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was my path. But you know this man, when
you're just sophomore and juniorin high school and all of a
sudden you start getting visits from Joe Paterno and Bobby bowed
and stuff like, it's like, holy crap, this is real.
And so, you know, I'd like to say I got carried away because
I'm like, this is so cool. But the good news was, man, I
had a great mom and dad and theyloved me.
(12:11):
I mean, I tell people this all the time.
I stopped playing baseball July 1st every year.
So July 1st to July 10th, we went on a 10 day family
vacation. I had an older brother, older
sister and my mom always said that is my 10 days.
I get 10 days a year with all y'all.
We're going, I don't care what sports are being done.
We're gone. If that means you have to sit,
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you sit. And then when I got home on July
10th, I would go straight into the weight room, start lifting
and getting ready for 2A days atthe end of July for football.
And I did not touch a baseball bat.
All, all fall, literally never. All these showcases that these
kids go to all these things I did not like my dad was like,
we're doing high school footballon Saturday or Friday.
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Saturday we did yard work and college football.
Sunday we went to church and watch the NFL and like that was
our weekends. And I, I look back and I'm so
glad that my mom and dad protected that time instead of
playing on a Friday Night Football game, getting on a
plane Saturday to go to Jupiter or wherever the tournament was.
And then you're not even in baseball shape, right?
Like I'm going out there throwing, doing these things.
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I wouldn't even been ready. So, you know, I loved my
experience. I had great friends.
My my 5-6 best friends are stillall on my baseball and high
school football team. We went to Mexico to celebrate
our 40th last year and all we did was sit in the pool and
drink margaritas and tell the same stories that we've been
telling for 22 years. Right, but and that, but
everything you just said is likewhat I preach, we work closely
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over at our kids school here in Charlotte and obviously more
with with the football program, we coach the middle school team
and what not, but like there areso many great athletes.
We have a fantastic baseball program.
We have kids drafted. Our pitcher last year went to
Wake. Like we got a senior pitcher
this year going to NC State. Like we got real baseball
players. We got dogs over there.
(14:01):
We got real baseball players, Small little Christian schools.
We don't have a million kids in the school, 100 kids a class,
but none of the, none of them play football And I and I, I
bust their chops all the time. I actually saw a couple of them
out at the field yesterday working out with our strength
coach at the end of our footballpractice.
And I'm and I, I always they kind of see me and they kind of
like put their head down. And I don't say it to be like
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mean, I say it in in spirit. I'm like, guys, do you
understand how good of athletes you are and how much you would
enjoy this and how much you could contribute to the team and
just get a break and recharge? And I promise you when you step
back onto the baseball and back in the batting cage in November
as opposed to October, you're going to be fine.
(14:45):
It's like so hearing you say it,I asked this question though, as
devil advocate, like you were anelite athlete, right?
The opportunity to be drafted inthe first round and go play
college football at Clemson. That is the very that is the
vast minority of high school kids.
So I asked this like to the parents out there whose kid is
not that high, high level elite athlete and the time on task,
(15:09):
especially in a sport like baseball.
Is there only chance of making the Charlotte Christian football
baseball team or the whatever team down in Atlanta like some
of these really competitive teams.
If I don't do it all year round,I'm not going to be able to keep
up. What would you say to those
people who give that reason for why they just pick one sport?
So this would be my argument, right?
(15:31):
And you know this because of howgood you are in football.
So we had guys on our baseball team that played year round in
high school. They didn't play football.
You know, we probably had seven or eight guys doing both sports.
And they play travel ball all through the fall.
And we would step back in, in January in the cages and by two
weeks, I was 10 times better than every one of these kids
(15:54):
that had played all fall. And so my, my devil's advocate
with that to be Greg, you eitherhave it or you don't.
Like I, I, I find it hard to believe that kids could play
year round. And that's the only way I can go
play baseball at NC State, right?
Like I, I just, I'm like, there's kids that are either
going to be really good and you can go to that next level or
(16:18):
there's going to be kids and maybe there's a kid every once
in a while that has to work, work, work, work and can do it.
But I just find too like, what about what about the memories
you want to look back from? You know what I'm saying?
Like, I feel like you go to a high school, go out there and
you can say, man, those two kidshave a chance to play in the
NFL. That kid or one of those two
kids, they got a chance to maybeget drafted and make their way.
(16:40):
Everybody else is just going to be great high school players and
that's OK. There's which is great, that's
what. I'm saying.
That's the whole idea. So that's my, that's what I
fight back is like usually if you if you're smart enough as a
parent, you can look at your kid.
If you truly look at your kid and don't have blinders on and
all those things and say, you know what, my kid has a legit
(17:04):
chance. And my dad always says, like, I
knew you were a great baseball player.
But going into my senior year, Iwent on the USA trials.
I made the team. We went to Cuba for three weeks.
I was on the US junior national team.
We lost to Cuba in the championship, 2 to one.
It was incredible. Fidel Castro was sitting right
behind home plate. Like it was amazing down there.
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And I got home and that was the first time, first time I ever
heard my dad say, you know, I think you got a chance at this
thing that was going into my senior year, not in 8th grade,
not in even 9th or 10th grade. Like he knew I was a great high
school player, but I'd never really stacked up against the
rest of the country. And so that was like what I
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always say now that these kids in 8th grade you got, I just
don't buy that, man. I don't buy it.
I believe that you can go play football for five months and I
believe you can go play baseballfor five months and be really
good. Now, you might have to do extra
work, right? Like you might have to go in
December and January over Christmas like I did with my dad
and hit in the cages and get yourself ready.
(18:09):
But if you, if you're prepared to do that work to both play
both sports. And you said something on our
podcast 2 weeks ago that I thinkwe've played it 10 times already
and it resonates so good with me.
If you have a high school coach telling you you can only play 1
sport, run for the hills man. Like that is not your coach.
This episode of You Think is brought to you by Academy Camps,
(18:30):
a camp for today's athlete. To learn more, I spoke with the
camp's executive director, Mike Murillo.
Just for people that don't know,just kind of give us a little
background on on what exactly isAcademy Camps.
Yeah, so we are a sleep play camp experience.
We offer one week and two week sessions.
We have a real focus on obviously developing young
(18:51):
athletes. What makes us pretty unique
though is we create a really well-rounded experience.
So the way we talk about it is half the day you're getting
better at the sport you love, the other half the day you still
get to be a kid at camp. We offer 12 different sports.
Our campers come in and say, youknow what, baseball is a sport
that I, I really want to improvein this summer.
(19:12):
So they will train twice a day every day for about an hour and
a half in each session with our,our professional coaches and the
other athletes that are there for baseball.
But then the second-half today, which to be honest makes up
another, you know, 8 or 9 hours a day, they get to choose from a
lot of different other activities, other sports.
We get into a mindset development, Wellness, obvious
(19:35):
strength and conditioning. But depending on which campus
you're on, you can also go fishing or you can do wall
climbing or ropes course. And we get into traditional camp
stuff like color wars, which is actually a great platform to
learn how to be a teammate wherewe're competing as an entire
camp against each other. So it really is about bringing
those two worlds together. Sports, Pacific camp and a
(19:55):
traditional sleepaway camp. You know, we meet our athletes
wherever they are in their journey as a young athletes.
Athlete so, you know, if you want to come in and say I've,
I've played lacrosse for a year and I, I love it and I want to
get better, you know, absolutelycome to Academy camps.
If you've been a soccer player playing at the highest Academy
level and you've got aspirationsfor college, absolutely come to
(20:16):
Academy camps. You know, we, we don't in any
way kind of segment our athletesin that way.
What that also means is that ourcoaches have experience in
coaching that full spectrum. I think so much of this
generation's kids are so worriedabout the outcome, right?
I want to go to college, I want to play varsity, I want to be a
pro at whatever that the ultimate end goal of the journey
(20:39):
is where all the attention is. And what we're seeing not only
here locally that we see with our own two eyes, but it's going
on around the country, is we gotkids that are going to graduate
from high school and played at three different high schools and
five different travel ball teams.
And they're going to go to threedifferent colleges.
And then one day, unless they become the World Series MVP and
(20:59):
unless they go on to have like an incredible professional
career in whatever sport, the only thing you have left are
those core memories. The only thing you have left is
that Friday night game with yourbuddies that you can talk about,
you know, in the hot tub at downin Mexico.
Like that's all you're going to have.
But if we don't focus on creating those core experiences
(21:20):
and those core memories, you're pinning the entire journey on
the outcome being the ultimate desired outcome, which is to be
a professional athlete. And the likelihood of that
happening is so small that for 99 plus percentage of these kids
taking on this journey in today's environment, they're not
going to be pros. They're not going to have high
school experiences. They're not going to have great
(21:41):
memories with their friends. They're going to go to multiple
different high schools, play fora million different travel ball
teams, chase this dream. And if the dream doesn't
realize, you look back and you say, for what if I never played,
If I never earned a dollar in the NFLI, had a wonderful, I
have 500 memories playing, playing high school and college
(22:04):
sports before I ever made a cent.
That if I never made it to the NFL and my career ended after
college, I would have had a lifetime of memories given to me
by football. And I could, I'd be the guy
sitting there reminiscing about our state championship as a high
school. Could you imagine how amazing it
was we played in front of 5000 people?
It was an amazing memory at the time.
It's all I ever dreamed of. Like, I fear that our kids are
(22:27):
missing out on those things. Absolutely, and the and the, and
the team aspect and the relationships and like you said,
man, and and this is what I get.I don't know if you get this.
I get this a lot from parents, but my kids different, my kids
built different. And I'm like, get the hell out
of here with that. OK, Like your kids, not Bryce
Harper, your your kid. I mean, I hope they are for your
(22:50):
sake, right? Like I hope they are.
But at the end of the day, what's the main goal?
You're trying to get out of all this stuff And and I talk, you
know, well, I had a great talk with Brian McCann.
You know, he talked. He wanted me to tell, you know,
that their team did play againstthem.
They walked you off on a pass ball or thrown a ball.
I think y'all threw a ball away.We tried to.
(23:10):
We had their kid back off. Guess who?
Guess who the kid was? Guess who the pitcher was?
Your son. So I got to tell you this story.
Y'all try to pick up? The kid was, we had him so.
So here's what happened. So the count was like one and
one or two and one. So I'm like, all right, if we
don't throw a strike here and wefall behind, I'm going to try to
(23:34):
back pick this kid and end the game.
So it's like the 3rd or 4th, I can't remember the exact count,
but it was like the third or fourth pitch of the account.
It might have been like 2131, something like that.
We come set, we check, he lifts there.
We had, Oh no, we had thrown a breaking ball in the dirt and
(23:56):
our catcher blocked it. So they were trying to get good
dirt ball reads to steal home, to tie the game.
That's what it was. We lift, he steps, the kid
starts going home, he's caught, he's scrambling back to the
back, he's out by 5 feet. We throw the ball over the third
baseman's head. The fence was super close to the
(24:17):
to the third baseline so the angle of the throw hits the
fence and ricochets into left field and the kid from second
and third both score and we lost.
He told me this. I then had to get in my car and
drive 5 hours home saying why did I try to back pick that kid
just strike him out. When he told me that story, man,
(24:38):
I was dying laughing just seeingyou 2 out there.
And but you know, so, so you're the same way you coach St. like
Brian McCann. His kids are all in 7th grade.
And he's like, I tell these parents, your kids are all great
baseball players. I in the next three years, they
might make a massive jump, But Brian gets beat up down here
because he does not play fall ball.
(24:58):
He refuses. His kid plays basketball and he
plays flag football and he's like, they need a break.
And it's so funny that these parents keep pushing back on
them, pushing back on them. But, you know, January through
July to the start of August, those kids are playing baseball
all the time. Brian's like, they need a break.
They need a break. And, you know, the parents don't
(25:20):
buy into that. And I don't know why.
Well, and what we feel, you know, coaching this team now for
the last couple years and we're we are like a typical we're
trap. We are travel baseball team like
we will go play in Atlanta, we will go play in Florida.
Like we're competitive. We'll no go, we'll never go win
those big events. But like we're very competitive.
Six of our 12 kids go to my kidsschool.
(25:42):
So like we are we practice together.
We don't bring in kids on the weekends like we are a true
Charlotte based, but we're good like we've got some good kids
and we can go hold our own with teams from different areas and
win some lose some, but we're competitive.
The problem what I feel then andso I understand where McCann's
(26:02):
coming from, which by the way ismy mom's made a name.
I wonder if we're related. So what I the pressure that I
and I feel it myself now for five years doing this and all
the other guys that I know in town that coach the same age is
like the fear is if you don't doit, your kids are going to go
play for somebody else. So it's like this.
(26:25):
You want to keep your team together and you want to give
your families that are trusting you like a good experience,
right. We're making this transition to
the big field now. All of our kids come February
are going to have to go try out for a very good middle school
team at our kids school. Like we got to get them on the
big field. We're going to play a 14 year
tournament. So they swing BB Corps bats here
in a couple weeks. Like if we went and then the
(26:46):
other side is like if I went this whole fall and said, you
know what, we're not going to give your kids an acclamation to
the big field. BB Corbats, get them on 6090 so
they have a chance to make the team and contribute for school
in a couple months. The parents are going to say
that's fine, we're going to go play for another team.
And then maybe they don't come back in the spring when school
balls over. Like, that's what we're all
living. And you end up doing things you
(27:07):
probably don't want to do, but you're playing the game because
you want to. You want to go have a great
summer next year and you want tokeep your team intact.
Well, no doubt, but I think it'sno different.
Think about this like with your coaching staff for your football
team. I want my son playing for you
guys like the way you do it the way and I watch, you know, I've
been to watch Colt Bryan's son play.
(27:29):
Like the way Brian coaches thosekids runs it like more of a, you
know, he expects a lot kind of like y'all doing, putting in
pickup plays, putting things that you're going to need for
the next level. My argument to the parents were,
do you want to go find another team, team where you don't
really know anybody yet or this or do you want to play for Brian
McCann? Who knows what it takes to play
at those levels and can push your kid in the intangibles,
(27:50):
push your kid in the right way, right?
Like taking care of their arm difference.
So I mean, it, it's a tough conversation.
I totally get it, man. It's we're playing three
softball tournaments in the in the fall here with my daughter's
softball team. Same kind of reason.
If it was up to me, my ass wouldbe on the couch on Saturdays
watching college football and watching my Clemson Tigers maybe
(28:11):
get a win one of these days. But you know, that's kind of
where we're at. Yeah, well, we can go on and on
about this, but I do want to change topics here a little bit.
Obviously MLB baseball has started.
So yeah, one of the coolest things about post season sports
is like you start now that the teams have kind of been kind of
filtered down. You hear so many great stories,
(28:33):
you Start learning more about the players.
At least for someone like myselfwho's just like an avid fan.
I I don't follow any particular team closely.
If there's a national game on, Iwatch it.
I watched the Dodgers last nightjust have Home Run Derby against
the Reds. Unbelievable.
So like I'm a baseball fan in that regard, but I, I don't know
the back story of all these guys.
I don't know where they were drafted or what they do.
(28:54):
But all of a sudden these stories start coming out where
you learn about these guys. And I just marvel at everything
we're talking about. It's like, all right, this guy's
pitching and you hear about his life story and he didn't start,
you know, he wasn't even, you know, Skein's not even a pitcher
until he's in college. And meanwhile we got these kids
now that are PO's at 10. And I just, I marvel at what we
(29:14):
hear about the best of the best.And I sit there on the couch and
I'm like, yeah, this is what we're trying to tell everybody,
but no one will listen. Well, think about this.
Terek Schuble, probably the bestpitcher in baseball right now,
strikes out fourteen in the playoffs yesterday.
He had one division, one scholarship out of high school.
One. So how does that All right, so
let's let's dive into this. You know, the baseball journey a
(29:36):
lot more than I do. Like how explain to our
listeners like how that happens like every once in a while we
get it in football. But like if you look at first
round draft picks in football, they typically were high,
especially the top guys. Like they were pretty highly
recruited out of high school. Like it's not it's usually
pretty connected. Why is the baseball journey so
(29:57):
different? Because I think so much in
baseball is a skill set, right? It's developing.
Like Chris Sale, one of my greatfriends, for example, he threw
8687 out of high school and wentto Florida Gulf Coast.
They put £25 on him. They got him the right
mechanics, right delivery. Next thing you know, he's
(30:19):
pumping 96. And I just think some of these
kids that might not, you know, you listen to Chris Sale, he
didn't play baseball year round,right?
So like you talk about, there are kids that are playing at
East Cobb in some of these places where they're playing
non-stop. They're probably going to have
better mechanics, they're probably going to have better
footwork, a lot of this stuff. But you have these raw guys.
(30:40):
That's what baseball scouts loved about me.
Greg was, I was a 5 month baseball guy and they saw my
talent and they're like, holy crap, man, if we can get him on
a baseball field for 10:50 months out of the year between
instructional league, spring training, all that stuff like
this kid hasn't hit his ceiling yet and.
(31:01):
It's funny you say. It's funny you say that though,
not to interrupt you, but it's funny you say that because I've
always said we're creating better young athletes, but we're
not creating better long term players in the sport.
They're just getting to their ceiling earlier.
Doctor Andrews told me two yearsago, I saw him at the playoffs
and he did Tommy John on 312 year olds.
(31:22):
And he said, I looked at those parents and I said shame on
y'all. This is on you that you let your
kid continue to throw asinine number of pitches and never have
a break and do this. And so my point, I always say
Max Scherzer, one of the greatest pitchers of our
generation, go go look at him incollege, he didn't log 9 innings
(31:42):
every Friday night in the minor leagues.
He didn't throw an asinine number of innings.
Save your bullets. Your arm only has so many
bullets in it and at some point it's going to throw.
And you talk about skeins, skeins sitting there.
Spencer Schwellenbach with the Braves right now, He was a
freaking shortstop at Universityof Nebraska.
And he's one of the, if he didn't get hurt this year, he
probably would have been top five Cy Young.
(32:03):
So again, that's where I I talk about like, let the journey
happen, man. Like if your kids good, keep
pushing them to work, man. That's what I tell these parents
more than I got to go to this hitting lesson.
You know what I do with my daughter?
I tell her as long as I'll take you to your hitting lesson, as
long as three days a week, you have 50 cuts off the tee in the
(32:24):
backyard. We got a little cage thing.
You show me you'll do that. I'll take you to your hitting
lesson. I'll pay for you no problem.
But if you think you're not going to do crap at home and
then I'm going to take you to hitting lesson and you're going
to show up on Saturday. And I heard you say something on
our podcast that I love when youtalked about if my kids not
working and they go out and havesuccess, I hate it because it
(32:45):
justifies everything we go against.
So last year, my daughter didn'tdo crap for two weeks before
travel ball tournament. She'd had a really good two
tournaments. So she went out there and laid
an egg. She sucked.
So what did I do during bracket play?
She hit second. I moved her ass to 7th in the
lineup. Pissed her off and she had a
bat. She she didn't do any better in
(33:06):
those two games. We get in the car on the way
home. I didn't say a word.
I'm just driving and and she kind of asked me about it.
I said, did you do anything these last two weeks and Nope,
Nope. And I was out of town called
calling games. So but but my wife, we have it
all set up. I mean, we got you know, we we
can get you to where you need togo.
Put it that way. That will never be a problem.
(33:27):
And the next week she she went and hit three times.
She took ground balls. She did this.
And what happened on Saturday, she had a great tournament.
And I'm like, what do you think's kind of so that's what I
tell these parents. And you know this with your
kids, if you work, you will get better.
How much better? Who knows?
That depends what God gives you talent wise what you have.
(33:48):
But if you work, you'll get better.
But at the same time, if you're not willing to put that work in,
unless you're the freakish of freakish athletes, you're not
going to get to where you want to be.
More with Jeff Rancor in just a second.
But first a quick word from today's sponsor, Academy Camps.
To give you a sense of the top tier coaching at the camp, we
sat down with their Executive Director of Soccer, Rick Warren.
(34:10):
My name is Rick Warren. I am the director of soccer here
at Academy Camp. Just love teaching kids the
game. This is a game I love to play.
You know, I've played for most of my entire life and so being
able to teach it to these kids that are eager and love the game
(34:31):
as well, and to also, you know, share that passion with them on
in the summertime and and also seeing them grow each day is
unique in itself. Like your ability and the
understanding the tactical part of the game and when I explain
it to them and then doing the technical stuff that they need
(34:53):
to do as well. So I think that just watching
and there's not just a high level set of kids, right, There
is level of all different levels, but we try to break it
down where we are able to touch each kid at the level that they
are and more about working together to get better and
helping each other and and caring about each person that is
(35:15):
there just a friendship that develops within a week.
We have a batting cage in our basement that we built in our
like literally a full, not a full, but like a good half cage.
You can front toss. We can do a little junior hack
attack like it's a cage and I always tell the kids I said to
walk by to go play video games. You have to walk by the gym
slash batting cage. So that's on you, man.
(35:36):
There's no excuse. There's no it's raining.
It's you have no excuse. You can be as good as you want
to be. So I'm with you on that.
Give it. Give us who who are you watching
in the playoffs? Like?
So I work with Joe Davis, who obviously calls the games with
Fox. He'll call the World Series, the
AL championship. You know, the a lot of the AL
stuff like, so I hear from him, he's like weird year.
He's like pulling for certain teams.
(35:57):
The other night we're at dinner in Ireland and he's got game set
up and he's like, I need the Yankees to win.
I need the raise to lose. And he's doing all this like
math because we don't want we don't want the Yankees and the
Red Sox to play each other in the wild card because one gets A
and I'm like, holy shit, like there's a lot going on.
So like, give it, give us an idea of like who you're watching
(36:19):
in the playoffs, like what are the match ups?
In football, football rules, right?
So whether you're doing Cleveland and Cincinnati, right,
and not trying to make fun of them, but whether you're doing
that smaller markets, they're still going to get massive
ratings. In baseball, it's not that way.
You know, I did Cleveland and Detroit last year in the ALDS,
five games. It was an incredible series, but
(36:42):
still they want the big market. So I'll be in Philadelphia this
Saturday night for game one. Me and Brian Anderson will be on
the call there. And you know, I sit here and I
love the Reds, right? I love Terry Francona.
Do Terry Francona is like a dream coach for any guy.
Like you can't play for him. But I find myself like, dude,
getting the chance to do the Dodgers, Phillies in A5 game
(37:03):
series. Like like that'll be and so then
you have the Cubs, right? They're playing the Padres and I
love the Padres, but it's like getting a Cubs Brewers.
They hate each each other. There's 70 miles.
So that's a funny thing like Foxfor Joe Davis, him and smoltzy
like there's no doubt they're going to end up with Seattle and
some of the which are great stories Montreal, but ratings
(37:24):
don't love them. You know, and and it is what it
is. I love storylines.
I don't care as much about the ratings.
I do want to see Philly and the Dodgers though, personally,
because I I think the Reds have been an incredible story.
Like for them to get to the playoffs is amazing, but who
doesn't want to see first pitch of the NLDS?
Christopher Sanchez throwing a sinker in on Shohei Otani.
(37:45):
Like that's, that's what you live for.
He hit that second home run last.
Night, God a mile. So in the third inning, put it
this way, because me and Brian Anderson are both big golfers.
So we got game one Saturday night.
Sunday we'll be at the Cricket Club in Philly because we have
an off day, right? And then we do Monday.
And so we're trying to figure out if it's LA, we're going to
(38:07):
go play probably Bel Air on Tuesday out in LA.
Who's living better than you? Baseball.
Guys, it is great we get. Baseball guys are living the
dream. I was on a 24 hour trip home
from Dublin. Ireland, which you call it a
great game, by the way, I, I didenjoy that.
But but so we're sitting in the 4th inning last night and all of
a sudden we start texting each other and we're like, should we
go ahead and book our flights, have our travel people from
(38:30):
Philly to Dodgers? Because I mean, they just, that
offense is incredible too. It's I mean, and the Red, I mean
Reds threw a big time arm. I I don't know how you navigate.
And then Blake Snell was incredible.
Oh, he that, But that's where the Dodgers had this whole
thing. Snell didn't.
They have a bunch of pitching issues, so I I get a bunch.
Of Dodgers I have. Right.
(38:50):
I feel like I know the Dodgers alot because obviously Joe, he,
you know, he calls every game. So like, they kind of weathered
some issues though all year and now they're just kind of getting
hot at the end, right? Oh, they are, but they have the
pitching. They were hurt, Snell missed
half the year, Otani didn't start pitching till later in the
year. And I'll tell you this man, what
(39:11):
Otani is doing is he could go down as one of the greatest to
ever play. And I'm not just saying
baseball, but in sports to be able to do that of high of a
level in in two things. It's why I tell I tell my kids,
my son, we were watching the game last night, the first 3
innings for I made him go to bed.
(39:32):
But I said like, you're watchingsomething that might never
happen again, or it's going to be a long time till it does.
It's unbelievable. Who's your Who's your MVP?
Otani. I love Schwarber.
I love what Schwarber does, but Otani is the MVP and then the
other one man, like I was all about the big dumper, right?
(39:54):
Like he's. Got so I'm great, I think Cal
Raleigh. But I will tell you this, I did
the Yankees 2 Tuesdays ago and our stat guy laid out all this
stuff for me and it was like if Aaron Judge loses 200 points on
his OPS, he's Cal Raleigh. If Cal Raleigh loses 200 points
(40:15):
on his OPS, he's. I'm not going to throw anybody
over the bus, but he's alright. But let me ask you this and the
base how much value does his defensive position?
Does it? Does it make up for, I know his
batting averages, what, 240 or two?
That's the knock on him, right? Is like he's a home run guy, not
a high percentage. But does him playing not one of
(40:37):
the most vital defensive positions not move the needle
more than a corner outfielder? 100% I think it does and I think
that will be valued in it. I if they gave it to Cal
Raleigh, you would not hear one complaint from me.
But I also am like the whole, the whole thing, like with the
NBA, you know, and, and Joe kickthe Joker.
(40:57):
It's like, do people get tired of the same guy?
And that could happen with Judge.
It could be like, hey, this guy's had a spectacular year.
But you know, I do. Hey, I give them points for the
name. The big dumper.
I mean, might be the best nickname in sport.
Sport. When did the NVP or maybe it's
always been this way? So again, educate me and all of
(41:18):
us if this has been the case. But like, when has the NVP
always gone to like whoever's leading the the league in home
runs? Like it feels like it's become a
home run and and again, I know the value of home runs.
I know the emphasis. Steroid, the steroid era kind of
took over right when that whole McGuire and Sosa like the the
(41:38):
the numbers of home runs just got so high that I think people
are like, good Lord, you had 65 home runs.
You got to be the MVP, right? But that's what but that's what
makes judge so interesting. Dude, he's hitting 320.
Like he's not just hitting home runs, like he's hitting 320.
And that's, that's what I it's like with Schwarber, right?
(41:59):
I love Schwarber, man, because Otani's ADH 2, but Schwarber hit
238. Otani hit 290.
Like he's still a complete hitter.
Yeah, you see the home runs, butyou're getting singles the other
way too. Yeah, I mean, I guess it's no
different than football. It's really the MVP race has
really just turned into a quarterback, quarterback.
Absolutely. What's the what's the best
quarterback on the team that is maybe doesn't have the most
(42:21):
wins, but like they're at least in the ballpark of having the
most wins? Who has the best quarterbacks of
that group? You're the MVP.
Heisman Heisman's the same. I get it.
Who's the best quarterback? You know, it's it's almost.
And then but then again, you look at last year with with with
Travis Hunter and it's like theyvalued.
(42:42):
They did. Multiple ways to impact the game
and I guess so I it comes back to the my thought on baseball
like yes, I understand home runshave an exponential more
importance in the way we value baseball today.
I get all of that, but like I don't know, I value a guy that's
also getting behind the dish fora million games and blocking
balls and calling pitches and managing the game and his legs.
(43:05):
He's like he's he's grinding dayin and day out and getting up to
the plate and hitting sixty homeruns.
Like I just value. Maybe it's the tight end in me
where like I value guys. You might not be like, and we're
like, you're good enough at a lot of different things to bring
incredible value. If we if we hand picked one
particular spot, maybe you're not the best at one thing.
(43:27):
So maybe I just like, that's my bias kind of connecting with
guys, But I, I just think it's remarkable what he's able to do
at a position where. Yeah, you take him out of that
lineup, they might not even makethe playoffs, right?
Like that's how I value it too. Most Valuable Player to your
team. If you take Aaron Judge out of
the Yankees lineup, yes, they'renot going to be as good, but I
(43:49):
still think they're a playoff team.
Yeah, no, that's, that's fair. And again, your your perspective
is a lot better than mine. Last thing I want to end with
and I'm going to let you go. This has been, I could shoot the
shit with you all day about all this.
Oh yeah. Last thing I want to ask you, I
got to ask this question and I'll give you what I my answer
after I hear your answer, you'rethat you're the youth sports
czar of the day. You get the magic wand and you
(44:11):
get to implement any rule you want and it has to be abided all
across the land in all sports. What is it?
It will probably never happen, but it would be you have to play
2 sports whether you like it or not.
You would you would you would have to have some time off.
I don't know if you just saw college baseball on MLB put a
(44:33):
rule in even at the youth level.Did you see this last week where
scouts and front office there's a 2 month shutdown after the
after the perfect game, whateverends at the end of October all
the way through January. We're we're I love what you said
to go back to it. We have better athletes now at a
(44:54):
younger age. They're stronger, they're
faster, they got better knowledge of the game.
But I don't think it's showing in the in the later terms.
And I'll tell you this, David Stearns, the GM of the of the
New York Mets, who I think is phenomenal.
Obviously the Mets choked this year.
But with that being said, he told me there's never been a
bigger separation right now of minor League Baseball to the big
(45:16):
leagues. He said there's never been.
And I think it's all these kids what you're saying are not
developing later, whether injuries, burnout, any of that
stuff. So I would make kids play 2.
I don't care if you suck at the other sport.
Right, just be on the team. Be on the team and grind.
(45:37):
So I so I got asked this question.
I actually cheated it. I gave 2.
I said every. I said every kid has to play 2
sports. Yep.
So we're in line, and I said you're not.
I said I would make it a rule that you cannot run sanctioned
events outside of your season. You can't run a basketball
tournament in, you know, the fall or you know, the spring.
(45:59):
You can't run a baseball tournament in October.
You can't run a football tournament in April like you can
only run sanctioned competition events.
Now you want to practice, you want to train?
By all means. There can be no competition
events, sanctioned events put onby organizations outside of your
(46:20):
season. I love it.
I think it's so great. And you know what man, I'll
finish with a story. I got a neighbor that lives down
the street and they got a 7th grade boy and he loves football
and baseball like I did, obsessed with it, talk to him
all the time. Last year he broke his broke his
leg playing football, went up, someone landed on him, broke his
(46:42):
fibula. It's going to happen, right?
Well, his mom didn't want him toplay football this year, was not
going to let him. And I went to her and I was
like, do you see the joy that that brings your son when he's
out there playing football with his buddies And thank God they
let him play. Dude, he is balling out.
He's got like 4 picks, couple picks 6.
He's doing this and he's not swinging the baseball bat, his
(47:05):
arms not being used. He's a great catcher.
And my point to this is we need more parents to listen to these
things. Listen to their kids.
Like you said, just play some sports.
And then when you get to that level, the competition and the
scouts and the, and the people, they'll let you know when it's
right. No one's signing your kid in 8th
grade. These coaches in college now
(47:26):
don't even know where the hell they're going to be in four
years. Let's be honest.
They're not looking at an eighthgrader.
So I couldn't agree more. And I'll just say, dude, I, I
appreciate what you all are doing, Love watching what you're
doing. And there needs to be more of
this. You know, Matt Ryan, I try to
get him on our podcast for like 6 months.
He's a good buddy of mine. We golf together right when he
got done retired, he's like I'llget there, I'll get there.
(47:47):
And he went to coaches, twin boys and t-ball and he called me
like 2 days later he's like I'm freaking coming on y'all's
podcast. He's like I I got to say my
piece. And there's more people that
want to talk like we are that are not doing it.
So I applaud you for what you doman.
I know you're busy too, tons of kids, your job.
But you know what's important too?
Well, Jeff, I appreciate you, man.
Everything you're doing have enjoy.
(48:08):
I mean, I don't know if I want to say enjoy the playoffs or
just enjoy what golf turn, what golf courses you get to play.
I'm not sure which one you're more excited about, but I
respect it. I'm jealous we don't golf on our
trip. So I'm super got a lot of hate
coming from this side here. But dude, really appreciate your
perspective. Everything you've been through,
what you guys do at pure athleteman is is awesome.
(48:29):
I look forward to finding more ways that we can collaborate and
have a lot more of these discussions moving forward.
Man. Appreciate you joining us.
Thanks, Greg. Appreciate it man.
A special thank you to Academy Camps for sponsoring today's
episode. To learn more, visit
academycamps.com. Before we wrap up, let's hear
from someone who's experienced camp first hand.
My name is Harrison Zimmer, I'm from Ronnie York and I just
(48:52):
attended Academy camps for the first time in the summer of
2024. Definitely went in trying to
like build up my confidence and work on my technique more, which
I definitely accomplish because after that, going to my high
school season, I definitely feltlike I could be on the ball more
dribble and ended up being successful for me as I made my
(49:13):
varsity team. I definitely felt like Academy
camps helped me a lot to like discover my ability on the ball.
Definitely an experience very unique and that probably they
haven't experienced before with the food and the nutrients and
then having like a blast with like your friends made a lot of
friends. I've kept in touch with a few
(49:33):
and trying to like figure out togo this year, like what session
and kind of like organizing thatjust so we can be together
again. I think you should come to
Academy camps because it gives you a chance to create new
friends and new memories. Thanks again to Academy Camps
for sponsoring this week's episode.
We'll catch you again next week right here on You Think.
Make sure you subscribe to both our YouTube channel and our RSS
feed for all future conversations here at you think
I'm really excited to have on today's guest on you think
because you'd be shocked how many messages I get on social
media like pure athlete. They're your competition.
You guys are trying to do the same shit.
Like how do you feel about what Jeff Van Core and those guys are
(00:22):
doing a pure athlete and I sit there and I say I think it's
great. Like I think the more people
having these conversations and having similar ideas and going
out and and diving into this world, the better.
So without further ado, Jeff Francoeur of Pure Athlete, the
work you guys are doing. I'm a huge fan, been following
you guys for a long time and appreciate you joining us here
(00:43):
on the Enemy Podcast if you think.
Yeah, right. It's funny because I've been
thinking about that a long time.Like, you know, watching all
y'all's clips, watching y'all stuff, Greg.
And it's like, I, I think there's enough room for a lot of
us in this landscape and to knowhow messed up this world of
youth sports is. I'm like, I love what y'all are
doing. Same thing, man.
Because ultimately we want, we want the kids to learn to get
(01:06):
better and to do it the right way.
And I'm like, good Lord, there needs to be more people, not
just you and I and our group speaking out about this.
No doubt. Well, I appreciate you joining
us. We got a lot to dive into just
for for our listeners who maybe aren't as familiar with pure
athlete or haven't come across it or follow it on social, but
don't know the back story like given you know, you've lived
(01:28):
sports from the Little League level all the way to the pros
multi sport athlete grown up. We dove into it when I was on
your show a couple weeks back. Just give us a little back story
on like what the motivation and what the kind of the the genesis
of pure athlete and why you feelso strong strongly about putting
so much time into this. Well, I have 4 kids Greg.
I got 12A daughter who's 12, a son who's 9A daughter who's 7
(01:52):
and a son who's about to be 5 next week.
And as I got into this, when I got done playing after 12 1/2
years and doing some announcing,one of the biggest things for me
was, man, I started looking at the landscape, right?
I'm coaching my kids in T-ball and stuff and I'm like, these
parents are whack jobs. I'm like, I mean, screaming at 5
and 6 year old T-ball games right at these kids to get the
(02:13):
ball in from the outfield. And it's like, no, there's six
kids on top of each other. That is funny, right?
Like that. I mean, so ultimately it was
like anything same thing you did.
I'm sure you all a need for people to speak out and not only
people to speak out, but people that know what they're talking
about. Like that's the one thing I'm I
know you own it. I own it like we played at the
(02:34):
highest level. You know what it takes to get
there. Not everybody's going to have
that, but everybody should play sports.
It's so much fun. It teaches you the greatest life
lessons you could have. So as we got into this, man, it
was just kind of, we had a few guests on.
Jason Campbell was our first guest, you know, and we just
kind of kept going and next thing you know, same thing with
(02:55):
y'all. I'm sure more people start
texting. Man, I've never looked at it
that way or thank you. I had this dilemma with my kids
and we've done this and it's worked out great.
So I just think there's such a need for it.
What, what is Jeff Francoeur like as a youth T-ball baseball
coach? Because I know what I was like.
I'm thankfully I'm out of the T-ball era, but what, what, what
(03:16):
is what, What are you like in that environment?
Well, so again, we're learning, right?
When my daughter, the oldest, when I play T-ball, dude, I was
screaming, you know, run to second, run to second, run to
3rd. And now by my 4th I'm like, just
enjoy it, right? Like they don't understand the
game yet. They don't know what they're
doing. Let the kids whack it off the T,
(03:37):
you know, and but I'm a firm believer, like we have 4 kids on
our team that are 6 years old and they don't need the tee.
So I tell their parents and themyou get 5 pitches off me.
I know I can put the ball on thetee and you can whack it to the
outfield and run around the bases.
But I'm like your kid doesn't need that anymore.
So they're going to hit off me and if they don't hit, they're
(03:57):
going to strike out. But with that being said, the
four and five year old, some of these kids that can't do it, put
it on the tee, let them whack and run, right?
They're going to run to first. Maybe they'll run to second,
maybe they'll run to the outfield after that.
But I'm like, at the end of the day, after a game, I'm going to
go home and have a have my whiskey and ginger ale and watch
something on TV and I'm going tobe OK whether we win or lose.
(04:20):
All right, I'm glad you brought up throwing a no hitter against
five year olds because I think it's like every coach pitches
every coach, every coach in coach pitches like worst
nightmare is just striking out the side.
Oh, yeah. So I might give you a
controversial baseball take again.
I've experienced. Let me back up.
I've experienced baseball. I played as a kid, stopped
(04:42):
playing before I got to high school.
So I, I literally was eighth grade and under baseball player.
So I don't sit here as like somebaseball maven, but I have
experienced baseball now with the kids coaching them.
We've spent more time in baseball because when I was
playing, it was my offseason. So I wasn't around to do flag
football that much. I wasn't around in the fall and
winter to do basketball, but I was around all spring and summer
(05:06):
to do baseball and as they got older and whatnot.
So I, I prefaced all of that to say we, when our kids, before
they got to kid pitch at 9 U, wedid what they called machine
pitch. And we had this like blue
launching, like slingshot machine.
And I was the guy standing in the middle of the field putting
the ball And I, man, I could make that thing dance if I knew
(05:28):
a kid needed to pull it because I, I needed to get the force
off. And he was a lefty and I could
pitch that thing inside to a lefty and pull it to first base.
And I mean, I could manipulate it.
I know this kid likes it high low.
The other leagues in our area did coach pitch.
I hate coach pitch. Baseball for young kids.
(05:50):
What say you? I'm same way man, you know, 7
and 8 years old especially. I hate there's an inning of kid
pitch and then it goes to coach pitch.
And you want to know why some kids quit baseball?
Including my 9 year old son. My 9 year old son hates
baseball, Greg. Like we shoot hoops, we play
football. He's on, he's playing tackle
(06:11):
football. He loves lacrosse.
We play lacrosse in the spring. He loves it, hates baseball
because he goes, it's boring. I, I literally sit out here for
45 minutes while kids just throwballs at that age.
I love the machine idea. Me and me and so many guys have
talked about this. You want action, right?
You want to keep guys involved, learn how to play the game, get
(06:32):
ground balls to short, balls to the outfield, balls to second
base. And you can't get that from
coach pitch. Very few coaches.
I play third 19 years and it's so hard for me to do this and
get the ball where they need to go and so.
I'm so glad you said that. I wasn't sure where you were
going to stand. No, I've heard a lot of baseball
guys be like, the machine sucks.They don't see the arm, they
(06:53):
don't see and I'm like a six, two man throwing lollipops over
the plate. That's teaching them what?
Well, and, and that's the other thing you go look at 5 and 6
year olds, come watch how I throw to my kids.
I got some, some zip on it because I'm like you throwing
the ball this way, they're nevergoing to hit it.
And if they do, it's not coming off hard.
(07:15):
So I, I am machine pitch. And then at nine years old,
start your kid pitch. That's when they have to Start
learning how to do it. But until then, man, I have
argued with our parks for years.Oh well, OK, well then we're on
the same page. We should go on like a a world
tour and get rid of coaches, getrid of coaches on one knee
throwing darts and the machine man.
(07:36):
I'll tell you that eight I look back on our eight U summer, but
the summer before we transition to the kids pitching themselves
and you talk about you could go 6 inning game and there was
maybe one or two strikeouts and and like the more competitive,
you know, the the better teams. Like balls were put in play.
There were ground balls, there were guys understanding cuts.
(07:57):
There were guys understanding throwing ahead of the runner, no
stealing, but like everything was a force out.
Everything was a ground ball cutlike they learned.
I look back on that eight-year year and say my kids learned so
much because the ball was in play in.
Play. Everything was relatively a
strike and. If I'm, if I'm 5 or if I'm
(08:17):
thrown to a 5 or 6 year old and I get 5 pitches to throw to him,
there's going to be two that aregoing to be horrible pitches.
Whether it's high, low, if you get the machine, they might miss
the first or second, but if it'sin that same area every time,
they're going to learn how to start putting the ball in play
and and then you just keep working from there.
I love it. Well, I'm glad we see eye to eye
(08:37):
there because I got on that one around here.
I get a little pushback from people that they they think the
machine needs to go and I'm like, that was just not my
experience. I thought it was great, our
part. Still won't do it.
Yeah, which drives me insane, but all right, that's what we'll
put that on our back burner. That's going to be a joint, you
think? Pure athlete initiative.
Get coaches off the field pitching the five.
(08:59):
Through 8 machine only. Machine only All right, I want
to back up a little bit. You know, so much of what we
talked about, you know, on on both of our shows really is this
idea of like the early specialization.
It's it's the like the number one topic people throw around
anytime youth sports come up. But I think your story is super
interesting, right? Like here you are a constant
accomplished what you did professional baseball, Major
(09:21):
League 12 plus years. And when you look back on your
high school career, like you could have taken a very
different path, multiple state champion down in Georgia, which
is like that's real ball. Like for anyone who knows high
school football, like Georgia's real ball now you're not winning
state titles with some shit teamlike that's real football.
So what made you, when did you understand that like baseball
(09:43):
was your path because you had a lot, My understanding is you had
a lot of opportunities to go play college football.
And the reality in football is there is a lot of opportunity.
The path to football for a lot of people is a little bit easier
than the path in baseball. You know what's interesting for
me man? I I grew up playing football
since 7 years old. I was in helmet shoulder pads at
(10:05):
7. I loved it.
I love the team aspect of football.
Obviously we can all agree practice sucks all week.
Like that's, you know, it is what it is.
But the Friday night with your friends, it's still the greatest
time I've ever had in sports. You know, I played the World
Series in 2010 and we lost to the Giants.
I was on the Rangers and it was awesome.
But if you ask me right now, my senior year going down to
(10:27):
Northside Warner Robins in frontof 15,000 and we played Chancey
Stuckey, man. And he had rushed for like 150
yards over everybody and we heldhim to 72 yards.
And I still am like that's the greatest accomplishment by our
defense, like that whole game. But for me, honestly, in
football, man, I I just love playing.
(10:47):
I was smart. I had a knack for the ball.
I knew where to be. I was fast.
I mean, I ran A446 back in the day coming out.
So, you know, I committed to go to Clemson to play football.
And Tommy Bowden was a coach andI was all in and I got drafted
in the first round by the Braves, of course.
And I grew up in Atlanta. So your hometown team man, and I
(11:09):
always laugh about this now because, you know, Tommy kept
calling me, are you coming? Are you not?
Because back then, you know, once you stepped foot on campus,
you were done. Like, if I enrolled in a class,
stepped foot in a classroom at Clemson for three years, I, I
had to go play college baseball and football, whatever that
looked like. And so I was about four days
(11:29):
away. And finally the Braves signed
me. And Tommy Bowden, I called him
and I said, you know, the Bravesgave me 2.2 million reasons not
to come to Clemson. And he started laughing.
He's like, son, I wouldn't let you step on this campus.
He's like, go, go realize your dream playing baseball.
And I always knew baseball was #1 I, I just, I felt like that
(11:49):
was my path. But you know this man, when
you're just sophomore and juniorin high school and all of a
sudden you start getting visits from Joe Paterno and Bobby bowed
and stuff like, it's like, holy crap, this is real.
And so, you know, I'd like to say I got carried away because
I'm like, this is so cool. But the good news was, man, I
had a great mom and dad and theyloved me.
(12:11):
I mean, I tell people this all the time.
I stopped playing baseball July 1st every year.
So July 1st to July 10th, we went on a 10 day family
vacation. I had an older brother, older
sister and my mom always said that is my 10 days.
I get 10 days a year with all y'all.
We're going, I don't care what sports are being done.
We're gone. If that means you have to sit,
(12:33):
you sit. And then when I got home on July
10th, I would go straight into the weight room, start lifting
and getting ready for 2A days atthe end of July for football.
And I did not touch a baseball bat.
All, all fall, literally never. All these showcases that these
kids go to all these things I did not like my dad was like,
we're doing high school footballon Saturday or Friday.
(12:55):
Saturday we did yard work and college football.
Sunday we went to church and watch the NFL and like that was
our weekends. And I, I look back and I'm so
glad that my mom and dad protected that time instead of
playing on a Friday Night Football game, getting on a
plane Saturday to go to Jupiter or wherever the tournament was.
And then you're not even in baseball shape, right?
Like I'm going out there throwing, doing these things.
(13:16):
I wouldn't even been ready. So, you know, I loved my
experience. I had great friends.
My my 5-6 best friends are stillall on my baseball and high
school football team. We went to Mexico to celebrate
our 40th last year and all we did was sit in the pool and
drink margaritas and tell the same stories that we've been
telling for 22 years. Right, but and that, but
everything you just said is likewhat I preach, we work closely
(13:39):
over at our kids school here in Charlotte and obviously more
with with the football program, we coach the middle school team
and what not, but like there areso many great athletes.
We have a fantastic baseball program.
We have kids drafted. Our pitcher last year went to
Wake. Like we got a senior pitcher
this year going to NC State. Like we got real baseball
players. We got dogs over there.
(14:01):
We got real baseball players, Small little Christian schools.
We don't have a million kids in the school, 100 kids a class,
but none of the, none of them play football And I and I, I
bust their chops all the time. I actually saw a couple of them
out at the field yesterday working out with our strength
coach at the end of our footballpractice.
And I'm and I, I always they kind of see me and they kind of
like put their head down. And I don't say it to be like
(14:23):
mean, I say it in in spirit. I'm like, guys, do you
understand how good of athletes you are and how much you would
enjoy this and how much you could contribute to the team and
just get a break and recharge? And I promise you when you step
back onto the baseball and back in the batting cage in November
as opposed to October, you're going to be fine.
(14:45):
It's like so hearing you say it,I asked this question though, as
devil advocate, like you were anelite athlete, right?
The opportunity to be drafted inthe first round and go play
college football at Clemson. That is the very that is the
vast minority of high school kids.
So I asked this like to the parents out there whose kid is
not that high, high level elite athlete and the time on task,
(15:09):
especially in a sport like baseball.
Is there only chance of making the Charlotte Christian football
baseball team or the whatever team down in Atlanta like some
of these really competitive teams.
If I don't do it all year round,I'm not going to be able to keep
up. What would you say to those
people who give that reason for why they just pick one sport?
So this would be my argument, right?
(15:31):
And you know this because of howgood you are in football.
So we had guys on our baseball team that played year round in
high school. They didn't play football.
You know, we probably had seven or eight guys doing both sports.
And they play travel ball all through the fall.
And we would step back in, in January in the cages and by two
weeks, I was 10 times better than every one of these kids
(15:54):
that had played all fall. And so my, my devil's advocate
with that to be Greg, you eitherhave it or you don't.
Like I, I, I find it hard to believe that kids could play
year round. And that's the only way I can go
play baseball at NC State, right?
Like I, I just, I'm like, there's kids that are either
going to be really good and you can go to that next level or
(16:18):
there's going to be kids and maybe there's a kid every once
in a while that has to work, work, work, work and can do it.
But I just find too like, what about what about the memories
you want to look back from? You know what I'm saying?
Like, I feel like you go to a high school, go out there and
you can say, man, those two kidshave a chance to play in the
NFL. That kid or one of those two
kids, they got a chance to maybeget drafted and make their way.
(16:40):
Everybody else is just going to be great high school players and
that's OK. There's which is great, that's
what. I'm saying.
That's the whole idea. So that's my, that's what I
fight back is like usually if you if you're smart enough as a
parent, you can look at your kid.
If you truly look at your kid and don't have blinders on and
all those things and say, you know what, my kid has a legit
(17:04):
chance. And my dad always says, like, I
knew you were a great baseball player.
But going into my senior year, Iwent on the USA trials.
I made the team. We went to Cuba for three weeks.
I was on the US junior national team.
We lost to Cuba in the championship, 2 to one.
It was incredible. Fidel Castro was sitting right
behind home plate. Like it was amazing down there.
(17:26):
And I got home and that was the first time, first time I ever
heard my dad say, you know, I think you got a chance at this
thing that was going into my senior year, not in 8th grade,
not in even 9th or 10th grade. Like he knew I was a great high
school player, but I'd never really stacked up against the
rest of the country. And so that was like what I
(17:47):
always say now that these kids in 8th grade you got, I just
don't buy that, man. I don't buy it.
I believe that you can go play football for five months and I
believe you can go play baseballfor five months and be really
good. Now, you might have to do extra
work, right? Like you might have to go in
December and January over Christmas like I did with my dad
and hit in the cages and get yourself ready.
(18:09):
But if you, if you're prepared to do that work to both play
both sports. And you said something on our
podcast 2 weeks ago that I thinkwe've played it 10 times already
and it resonates so good with me.
If you have a high school coach telling you you can only play 1
sport, run for the hills man. Like that is not your coach.
This episode of You Think is brought to you by Academy Camps,
(18:30):
a camp for today's athlete. To learn more, I spoke with the
camp's executive director, Mike Murillo.
Just for people that don't know,just kind of give us a little
background on on what exactly isAcademy Camps.
Yeah, so we are a sleep play camp experience.
We offer one week and two week sessions.
We have a real focus on obviously developing young
(18:51):
athletes. What makes us pretty unique
though is we create a really well-rounded experience.
So the way we talk about it is half the day you're getting
better at the sport you love, the other half the day you still
get to be a kid at camp. We offer 12 different sports.
Our campers come in and say, youknow what, baseball is a sport
that I, I really want to improvein this summer.
(19:12):
So they will train twice a day every day for about an hour and
a half in each session with our,our professional coaches and the
other athletes that are there for baseball.
But then the second-half today, which to be honest makes up
another, you know, 8 or 9 hours a day, they get to choose from a
lot of different other activities, other sports.
We get into a mindset development, Wellness, obvious
(19:35):
strength and conditioning. But depending on which campus
you're on, you can also go fishing or you can do wall
climbing or ropes course. And we get into traditional camp
stuff like color wars, which is actually a great platform to
learn how to be a teammate wherewe're competing as an entire
camp against each other. So it really is about bringing
those two worlds together. Sports, Pacific camp and a
(19:55):
traditional sleepaway camp. You know, we meet our athletes
wherever they are in their journey as a young athletes.
Athlete so, you know, if you want to come in and say I've,
I've played lacrosse for a year and I, I love it and I want to
get better, you know, absolutelycome to Academy camps.
If you've been a soccer player playing at the highest Academy
level and you've got aspirationsfor college, absolutely come to
(20:16):
Academy camps. You know, we, we don't in any
way kind of segment our athletesin that way.
What that also means is that ourcoaches have experience in
coaching that full spectrum. I think so much of this
generation's kids are so worriedabout the outcome, right?
I want to go to college, I want to play varsity, I want to be a
pro at whatever that the ultimate end goal of the journey
(20:39):
is where all the attention is. And what we're seeing not only
here locally that we see with our own two eyes, but it's going
on around the country, is we gotkids that are going to graduate
from high school and played at three different high schools and
five different travel ball teams.
And they're going to go to threedifferent colleges.
And then one day, unless they become the World Series MVP and
(20:59):
unless they go on to have like an incredible professional
career in whatever sport, the only thing you have left are
those core memories. The only thing you have left is
that Friday night game with yourbuddies that you can talk about,
you know, in the hot tub at downin Mexico.
Like that's all you're going to have.
But if we don't focus on creating those core experiences
(21:20):
and those core memories, you're pinning the entire journey on
the outcome being the ultimate desired outcome, which is to be
a professional athlete. And the likelihood of that
happening is so small that for 99 plus percentage of these kids
taking on this journey in today's environment, they're not
going to be pros. They're not going to have high
school experiences. They're not going to have great
(21:41):
memories with their friends. They're going to go to multiple
different high schools, play fora million different travel ball
teams, chase this dream. And if the dream doesn't
realize, you look back and you say, for what if I never played,
If I never earned a dollar in the NFLI, had a wonderful, I
have 500 memories playing, playing high school and college
(22:04):
sports before I ever made a cent.
That if I never made it to the NFL and my career ended after
college, I would have had a lifetime of memories given to me
by football. And I could, I'd be the guy
sitting there reminiscing about our state championship as a high
school. Could you imagine how amazing it
was we played in front of 5000 people?
It was an amazing memory at the time.
It's all I ever dreamed of. Like, I fear that our kids are
(22:27):
missing out on those things. Absolutely, and the and the, and
the team aspect and the relationships and like you said,
man, and and this is what I get.I don't know if you get this.
I get this a lot from parents, but my kids different, my kids
built different. And I'm like, get the hell out
of here with that. OK, Like your kids, not Bryce
Harper, your your kid. I mean, I hope they are for your
(22:50):
sake, right? Like I hope they are.
But at the end of the day, what's the main goal?
You're trying to get out of all this stuff And and I talk, you
know, well, I had a great talk with Brian McCann.
You know, he talked. He wanted me to tell, you know,
that their team did play againstthem.
They walked you off on a pass ball or thrown a ball.
I think y'all threw a ball away.We tried to.
(23:10):
We had their kid back off. Guess who?
Guess who the kid was? Guess who the pitcher was?
Your son. So I got to tell you this story.
Y'all try to pick up? The kid was, we had him so.
So here's what happened. So the count was like one and
one or two and one. So I'm like, all right, if we
don't throw a strike here and wefall behind, I'm going to try to
(23:34):
back pick this kid and end the game.
So it's like the 3rd or 4th, I can't remember the exact count,
but it was like the third or fourth pitch of the account.
It might have been like 2131, something like that.
We come set, we check, he lifts there.
We had, Oh no, we had thrown a breaking ball in the dirt and
(23:56):
our catcher blocked it. So they were trying to get good
dirt ball reads to steal home, to tie the game.
That's what it was. We lift, he steps, the kid
starts going home, he's caught, he's scrambling back to the
back, he's out by 5 feet. We throw the ball over the third
baseman's head. The fence was super close to the
(24:17):
to the third baseline so the angle of the throw hits the
fence and ricochets into left field and the kid from second
and third both score and we lost.
He told me this. I then had to get in my car and
drive 5 hours home saying why did I try to back pick that kid
just strike him out. When he told me that story, man,
(24:38):
I was dying laughing just seeingyou 2 out there.
And but you know, so, so you're the same way you coach St. like
Brian McCann. His kids are all in 7th grade.
And he's like, I tell these parents, your kids are all great
baseball players. I in the next three years, they
might make a massive jump, But Brian gets beat up down here
because he does not play fall ball.
(24:58):
He refuses. His kid plays basketball and he
plays flag football and he's like, they need a break.
And it's so funny that these parents keep pushing back on
them, pushing back on them. But, you know, January through
July to the start of August, those kids are playing baseball
all the time. Brian's like, they need a break.
They need a break. And, you know, the parents don't
(25:20):
buy into that. And I don't know why.
Well, and what we feel, you know, coaching this team now for
the last couple years and we're we are like a typical we're
trap. We are travel baseball team like
we will go play in Atlanta, we will go play in Florida.
Like we're competitive. We'll no go, we'll never go win
those big events. But like we're very competitive.
Six of our 12 kids go to my kidsschool.
(25:42):
So like we are we practice together.
We don't bring in kids on the weekends like we are a true
Charlotte based, but we're good like we've got some good kids
and we can go hold our own with teams from different areas and
win some lose some, but we're competitive.
The problem what I feel then andso I understand where McCann's
(26:02):
coming from, which by the way ismy mom's made a name.
I wonder if we're related. So what I the pressure that I
and I feel it myself now for five years doing this and all
the other guys that I know in town that coach the same age is
like the fear is if you don't doit, your kids are going to go
play for somebody else. So it's like this.
(26:25):
You want to keep your team together and you want to give
your families that are trusting you like a good experience,
right. We're making this transition to
the big field now. All of our kids come February
are going to have to go try out for a very good middle school
team at our kids school. Like we got to get them on the
big field. We're going to play a 14 year
tournament. So they swing BB Corps bats here
in a couple weeks. Like if we went and then the
(26:46):
other side is like if I went this whole fall and said, you
know what, we're not going to give your kids an acclamation to
the big field. BB Corbats, get them on 6090 so
they have a chance to make the team and contribute for school
in a couple months. The parents are going to say
that's fine, we're going to go play for another team.
And then maybe they don't come back in the spring when school
balls over. Like, that's what we're all
living. And you end up doing things you
(27:07):
probably don't want to do, but you're playing the game because
you want to. You want to go have a great
summer next year and you want tokeep your team intact.
Well, no doubt, but I think it'sno different.
Think about this like with your coaching staff for your football
team. I want my son playing for you
guys like the way you do it the way and I watch, you know, I've
been to watch Colt Bryan's son play.
(27:29):
Like the way Brian coaches thosekids runs it like more of a, you
know, he expects a lot kind of like y'all doing, putting in
pickup plays, putting things that you're going to need for
the next level. My argument to the parents were,
do you want to go find another team, team where you don't
really know anybody yet or this or do you want to play for Brian
McCann? Who knows what it takes to play
at those levels and can push your kid in the intangibles,
(27:50):
push your kid in the right way, right?
Like taking care of their arm difference.
So I mean, it, it's a tough conversation.
I totally get it, man. It's we're playing three
softball tournaments in the in the fall here with my daughter's
softball team. Same kind of reason.
If it was up to me, my ass wouldbe on the couch on Saturdays
watching college football and watching my Clemson Tigers maybe
(28:11):
get a win one of these days. But you know, that's kind of
where we're at. Yeah, well, we can go on and on
about this, but I do want to change topics here a little bit.
Obviously MLB baseball has started.
So yeah, one of the coolest things about post season sports
is like you start now that the teams have kind of been kind of
filtered down. You hear so many great stories,
(28:33):
you Start learning more about the players.
At least for someone like myselfwho's just like an avid fan.
I I don't follow any particular team closely.
If there's a national game on, Iwatch it.
I watched the Dodgers last nightjust have Home Run Derby against
the Reds. Unbelievable.
So like I'm a baseball fan in that regard, but I, I don't know
the back story of all these guys.
I don't know where they were drafted or what they do.
(28:54):
But all of a sudden these stories start coming out where
you learn about these guys. And I just marvel at everything
we're talking about. It's like, all right, this guy's
pitching and you hear about his life story and he didn't start,
you know, he wasn't even, you know, Skein's not even a pitcher
until he's in college. And meanwhile we got these kids
now that are PO's at 10. And I just, I marvel at what we
(29:14):
hear about the best of the best.And I sit there on the couch and
I'm like, yeah, this is what we're trying to tell everybody,
but no one will listen. Well, think about this.
Terek Schuble, probably the bestpitcher in baseball right now,
strikes out fourteen in the playoffs yesterday.
He had one division, one scholarship out of high school.
One. So how does that All right, so
let's let's dive into this. You know, the baseball journey a
(29:36):
lot more than I do. Like how explain to our
listeners like how that happens like every once in a while we
get it in football. But like if you look at first
round draft picks in football, they typically were high,
especially the top guys. Like they were pretty highly
recruited out of high school. Like it's not it's usually
pretty connected. Why is the baseball journey so
(29:57):
different? Because I think so much in
baseball is a skill set, right? It's developing.
Like Chris Sale, one of my greatfriends, for example, he threw
8687 out of high school and wentto Florida Gulf Coast.
They put £25 on him. They got him the right
mechanics, right delivery. Next thing you know, he's
(30:19):
pumping 96. And I just think some of these
kids that might not, you know, you listen to Chris Sale, he
didn't play baseball year round,right?
So like you talk about, there are kids that are playing at
East Cobb in some of these places where they're playing
non-stop. They're probably going to have
better mechanics, they're probably going to have better
footwork, a lot of this stuff. But you have these raw guys.
(30:40):
That's what baseball scouts loved about me.
Greg was, I was a 5 month baseball guy and they saw my
talent and they're like, holy crap, man, if we can get him on
a baseball field for 10:50 months out of the year between
instructional league, spring training, all that stuff like
this kid hasn't hit his ceiling yet and.
(31:01):
It's funny you say. It's funny you say that though,
not to interrupt you, but it's funny you say that because I've
always said we're creating better young athletes, but we're
not creating better long term players in the sport.
They're just getting to their ceiling earlier.
Doctor Andrews told me two yearsago, I saw him at the playoffs
and he did Tommy John on 312 year olds.
(31:22):
And he said, I looked at those parents and I said shame on
y'all. This is on you that you let your
kid continue to throw asinine number of pitches and never have
a break and do this. And so my point, I always say
Max Scherzer, one of the greatest pitchers of our
generation, go go look at him incollege, he didn't log 9 innings
(31:42):
every Friday night in the minor leagues.
He didn't throw an asinine number of innings.
Save your bullets. Your arm only has so many
bullets in it and at some point it's going to throw.
And you talk about skeins, skeins sitting there.
Spencer Schwellenbach with the Braves right now, He was a
freaking shortstop at Universityof Nebraska.
And he's one of the, if he didn't get hurt this year, he
probably would have been top five Cy Young.
(32:03):
So again, that's where I I talk about like, let the journey
happen, man. Like if your kids good, keep
pushing them to work, man. That's what I tell these parents
more than I got to go to this hitting lesson.
You know what I do with my daughter?
I tell her as long as I'll take you to your hitting lesson, as
long as three days a week, you have 50 cuts off the tee in the
(32:24):
backyard. We got a little cage thing.
You show me you'll do that. I'll take you to your hitting
lesson. I'll pay for you no problem.
But if you think you're not going to do crap at home and
then I'm going to take you to hitting lesson and you're going
to show up on Saturday. And I heard you say something on
our podcast that I love when youtalked about if my kids not
working and they go out and havesuccess, I hate it because it
(32:45):
justifies everything we go against.
So last year, my daughter didn'tdo crap for two weeks before
travel ball tournament. She'd had a really good two
tournaments. So she went out there and laid
an egg. She sucked.
So what did I do during bracket play?
She hit second. I moved her ass to 7th in the
lineup. Pissed her off and she had a
bat. She she didn't do any better in
(33:06):
those two games. We get in the car on the way
home. I didn't say a word.
I'm just driving and and she kind of asked me about it.
I said, did you do anything these last two weeks and Nope,
Nope. And I was out of town called
calling games. So but but my wife, we have it
all set up. I mean, we got you know, we we
can get you to where you need togo.
Put it that way. That will never be a problem.
(33:27):
And the next week she she went and hit three times.
She took ground balls. She did this.
And what happened on Saturday, she had a great tournament.
And I'm like, what do you think's kind of so that's what I
tell these parents. And you know this with your
kids, if you work, you will get better.
How much better? Who knows?
That depends what God gives you talent wise what you have.
(33:48):
But if you work, you'll get better.
But at the same time, if you're not willing to put that work in,
unless you're the freakish of freakish athletes, you're not
going to get to where you want to be.
More with Jeff Rancor in just a second.
But first a quick word from today's sponsor, Academy Camps.
To give you a sense of the top tier coaching at the camp, we
sat down with their Executive Director of Soccer, Rick Warren.
(34:10):
My name is Rick Warren. I am the director of soccer here
at Academy Camp. Just love teaching kids the
game. This is a game I love to play.
You know, I've played for most of my entire life and so being
able to teach it to these kids that are eager and love the game
(34:31):
as well, and to also, you know, share that passion with them on
in the summertime and and also seeing them grow each day is
unique in itself. Like your ability and the
understanding the tactical part of the game and when I explain
it to them and then doing the technical stuff that they need
(34:53):
to do as well. So I think that just watching
and there's not just a high level set of kids, right, There
is level of all different levels, but we try to break it
down where we are able to touch each kid at the level that they
are and more about working together to get better and
helping each other and and caring about each person that is
(35:15):
there just a friendship that develops within a week.
We have a batting cage in our basement that we built in our
like literally a full, not a full, but like a good half cage.
You can front toss. We can do a little junior hack
attack like it's a cage and I always tell the kids I said to
walk by to go play video games. You have to walk by the gym
slash batting cage. So that's on you, man.
(35:36):
There's no excuse. There's no it's raining.
It's you have no excuse. You can be as good as you want
to be. So I'm with you on that.
Give it. Give us who who are you watching
in the playoffs? Like?
So I work with Joe Davis, who obviously calls the games with
Fox. He'll call the World Series, the
AL championship. You know, the a lot of the AL
stuff like, so I hear from him, he's like weird year.
He's like pulling for certain teams.
(35:57):
The other night we're at dinner in Ireland and he's got game set
up and he's like, I need the Yankees to win.
I need the raise to lose. And he's doing all this like
math because we don't want we don't want the Yankees and the
Red Sox to play each other in the wild card because one gets A
and I'm like, holy shit, like there's a lot going on.
So like, give it, give us an idea of like who you're watching
(36:19):
in the playoffs, like what are the match ups?
In football, football rules, right?
So whether you're doing Cleveland and Cincinnati, right,
and not trying to make fun of them, but whether you're doing
that smaller markets, they're still going to get massive
ratings. In baseball, it's not that way.
You know, I did Cleveland and Detroit last year in the ALDS,
five games. It was an incredible series, but
(36:42):
still they want the big market. So I'll be in Philadelphia this
Saturday night for game one. Me and Brian Anderson will be on
the call there. And you know, I sit here and I
love the Reds, right? I love Terry Francona.
Do Terry Francona is like a dream coach for any guy.
Like you can't play for him. But I find myself like, dude,
getting the chance to do the Dodgers, Phillies in A5 game
(37:03):
series. Like like that'll be and so then
you have the Cubs, right? They're playing the Padres and I
love the Padres, but it's like getting a Cubs Brewers.
They hate each each other. There's 70 miles.
So that's a funny thing like Foxfor Joe Davis, him and smoltzy
like there's no doubt they're going to end up with Seattle and
some of the which are great stories Montreal, but ratings
(37:24):
don't love them. You know, and and it is what it
is. I love storylines.
I don't care as much about the ratings.
I do want to see Philly and the Dodgers though, personally,
because I I think the Reds have been an incredible story.
Like for them to get to the playoffs is amazing, but who
doesn't want to see first pitch of the NLDS?
Christopher Sanchez throwing a sinker in on Shohei Otani.
(37:45):
Like that's, that's what you live for.
He hit that second home run last.
Night, God a mile. So in the third inning, put it
this way, because me and Brian Anderson are both big golfers.
So we got game one Saturday night.
Sunday we'll be at the Cricket Club in Philly because we have
an off day, right? And then we do Monday.
And so we're trying to figure out if it's LA, we're going to
(38:07):
go play probably Bel Air on Tuesday out in LA.
Who's living better than you? Baseball.
Guys, it is great we get. Baseball guys are living the
dream. I was on a 24 hour trip home
from Dublin. Ireland, which you call it a
great game, by the way, I, I didenjoy that.
But but so we're sitting in the 4th inning last night and all of
a sudden we start texting each other and we're like, should we
go ahead and book our flights, have our travel people from
(38:30):
Philly to Dodgers? Because I mean, they just, that
offense is incredible too. It's I mean, and the Red, I mean
Reds threw a big time arm. I I don't know how you navigate.
And then Blake Snell was incredible.
Oh, he that, But that's where the Dodgers had this whole
thing. Snell didn't.
They have a bunch of pitching issues, so I I get a bunch.
Of Dodgers I have. Right.
(38:50):
I feel like I know the Dodgers alot because obviously Joe, he,
you know, he calls every game. So like, they kind of weathered
some issues though all year and now they're just kind of getting
hot at the end, right? Oh, they are, but they have the
pitching. They were hurt, Snell missed
half the year, Otani didn't start pitching till later in the
year. And I'll tell you this man, what
(39:11):
Otani is doing is he could go down as one of the greatest to
ever play. And I'm not just saying
baseball, but in sports to be able to do that of high of a
level in in two things. It's why I tell I tell my kids,
my son, we were watching the game last night, the first 3
innings for I made him go to bed.
(39:32):
But I said like, you're watchingsomething that might never
happen again, or it's going to be a long time till it does.
It's unbelievable. Who's your Who's your MVP?
Otani. I love Schwarber.
I love what Schwarber does, but Otani is the MVP and then the
other one man, like I was all about the big dumper, right?
(39:54):
Like he's. Got so I'm great, I think Cal
Raleigh. But I will tell you this, I did
the Yankees 2 Tuesdays ago and our stat guy laid out all this
stuff for me and it was like if Aaron Judge loses 200 points on
his OPS, he's Cal Raleigh. If Cal Raleigh loses 200 points
(40:15):
on his OPS, he's. I'm not going to throw anybody
over the bus, but he's alright. But let me ask you this and the
base how much value does his defensive position?
Does it? Does it make up for, I know his
batting averages, what, 240 or two?
That's the knock on him, right? Is like he's a home run guy, not
a high percentage. But does him playing not one of
(40:37):
the most vital defensive positions not move the needle
more than a corner outfielder? 100% I think it does and I think
that will be valued in it. I if they gave it to Cal
Raleigh, you would not hear one complaint from me.
But I also am like the whole, the whole thing, like with the
NBA, you know, and, and Joe kickthe Joker.
(40:57):
It's like, do people get tired of the same guy?
And that could happen with Judge.
It could be like, hey, this guy's had a spectacular year.
But you know, I do. Hey, I give them points for the
name. The big dumper.
I mean, might be the best nickname in sport.
Sport. When did the NVP or maybe it's
always been this way? So again, educate me and all of
(41:18):
us if this has been the case. But like, when has the NVP
always gone to like whoever's leading the the league in home
runs? Like it feels like it's become a
home run and and again, I know the value of home runs.
I know the emphasis. Steroid, the steroid era kind of
took over right when that whole McGuire and Sosa like the the
(41:38):
the numbers of home runs just got so high that I think people
are like, good Lord, you had 65 home runs.
You got to be the MVP, right? But that's what but that's what
makes judge so interesting. Dude, he's hitting 320.
Like he's not just hitting home runs, like he's hitting 320.
And that's, that's what I it's like with Schwarber, right?
(41:59):
I love Schwarber, man, because Otani's ADH 2, but Schwarber hit
238. Otani hit 290.
Like he's still a complete hitter.
Yeah, you see the home runs, butyou're getting singles the other
way too. Yeah, I mean, I guess it's no
different than football. It's really the MVP race has
really just turned into a quarterback, quarterback.
Absolutely. What's the what's the best
quarterback on the team that is maybe doesn't have the most
(42:21):
wins, but like they're at least in the ballpark of having the
most wins? Who has the best quarterbacks of
that group? You're the MVP.
Heisman Heisman's the same. I get it.
Who's the best quarterback? You know, it's it's almost.
And then but then again, you look at last year with with with
Travis Hunter and it's like theyvalued.
(42:42):
They did. Multiple ways to impact the game
and I guess so I it comes back to the my thought on baseball
like yes, I understand home runshave an exponential more
importance in the way we value baseball today.
I get all of that, but like I don't know, I value a guy that's
also getting behind the dish fora million games and blocking
balls and calling pitches and managing the game and his legs.
(43:05):
He's like he's he's grinding dayin and day out and getting up to
the plate and hitting sixty homeruns.
Like I just value. Maybe it's the tight end in me
where like I value guys. You might not be like, and we're
like, you're good enough at a lot of different things to bring
incredible value. If we if we hand picked one
particular spot, maybe you're not the best at one thing.
(43:27):
So maybe I just like, that's my bias kind of connecting with
guys, But I, I just think it's remarkable what he's able to do
at a position where. Yeah, you take him out of that
lineup, they might not even makethe playoffs, right?
Like that's how I value it too. Most Valuable Player to your
team. If you take Aaron Judge out of
the Yankees lineup, yes, they'renot going to be as good, but I
(43:49):
still think they're a playoff team.
Yeah, no, that's, that's fair. And again, your your perspective
is a lot better than mine. Last thing I want to end with
and I'm going to let you go. This has been, I could shoot the
shit with you all day about all this.
Oh yeah. Last thing I want to ask you, I
got to ask this question and I'll give you what I my answer
after I hear your answer, you'rethat you're the youth sports
czar of the day. You get the magic wand and you
(44:11):
get to implement any rule you want and it has to be abided all
across the land in all sports. What is it?
It will probably never happen, but it would be you have to play
2 sports whether you like it or not.
You would you would you would have to have some time off.
I don't know if you just saw college baseball on MLB put a
(44:33):
rule in even at the youth level.Did you see this last week where
scouts and front office there's a 2 month shutdown after the
after the perfect game, whateverends at the end of October all
the way through January. We're we're I love what you said
to go back to it. We have better athletes now at a
(44:54):
younger age. They're stronger, they're
faster, they got better knowledge of the game.
But I don't think it's showing in the in the later terms.
And I'll tell you this, David Stearns, the GM of the of the
New York Mets, who I think is phenomenal.
Obviously the Mets choked this year.
But with that being said, he told me there's never been a
bigger separation right now of minor League Baseball to the big
(45:16):
leagues. He said there's never been.
And I think it's all these kids what you're saying are not
developing later, whether injuries, burnout, any of that
stuff. So I would make kids play 2.
I don't care if you suck at the other sport.
Right, just be on the team. Be on the team and grind.
(45:37):
So I so I got asked this question.
I actually cheated it. I gave 2.
I said every. I said every kid has to play 2
sports. Yep.
So we're in line, and I said you're not.
I said I would make it a rule that you cannot run sanctioned
events outside of your season. You can't run a basketball
tournament in, you know, the fall or you know, the spring.
(45:59):
You can't run a baseball tournament in October.
You can't run a football tournament in April like you can
only run sanctioned competition events.
Now you want to practice, you want to train?
By all means. There can be no competition
events, sanctioned events put onby organizations outside of your
(46:20):
season. I love it.
I think it's so great. And you know what man, I'll
finish with a story. I got a neighbor that lives down
the street and they got a 7th grade boy and he loves football
and baseball like I did, obsessed with it, talk to him
all the time. Last year he broke his broke his
leg playing football, went up, someone landed on him, broke his
(46:42):
fibula. It's going to happen, right?
Well, his mom didn't want him toplay football this year, was not
going to let him. And I went to her and I was
like, do you see the joy that that brings your son when he's
out there playing football with his buddies And thank God they
let him play. Dude, he is balling out.
He's got like 4 picks, couple picks 6.
He's doing this and he's not swinging the baseball bat, his
(47:05):
arms not being used. He's a great catcher.
And my point to this is we need more parents to listen to these
things. Listen to their kids.
Like you said, just play some sports.
And then when you get to that level, the competition and the
scouts and the, and the people, they'll let you know when it's
right. No one's signing your kid in 8th
grade. These coaches in college now
(47:26):
don't even know where the hell they're going to be in four
years. Let's be honest.
They're not looking at an eighthgrader.
So I couldn't agree more. And I'll just say, dude, I, I
appreciate what you all are doing, Love watching what you're
doing. And there needs to be more of
this. You know, Matt Ryan, I try to
get him on our podcast for like 6 months.
He's a good buddy of mine. We golf together right when he
got done retired, he's like I'llget there, I'll get there.
(47:47):
And he went to coaches, twin boys and t-ball and he called me
like 2 days later he's like I'm freaking coming on y'all's
podcast. He's like I I got to say my
piece. And there's more people that
want to talk like we are that are not doing it.
So I applaud you for what you doman.
I know you're busy too, tons of kids, your job.
But you know what's important too?
Well, Jeff, I appreciate you, man.
Everything you're doing have enjoy.
(48:08):
I mean, I don't know if I want to say enjoy the playoffs or
just enjoy what golf turn, what golf courses you get to play.
I'm not sure which one you're more excited about, but I
respect it. I'm jealous we don't golf on our
trip. So I'm super got a lot of hate
coming from this side here. But dude, really appreciate your
perspective. Everything you've been through,
what you guys do at pure athleteman is is awesome.
(48:29):
I look forward to finding more ways that we can collaborate and
have a lot more of these discussions moving forward.
Man. Appreciate you joining us.
Thanks, Greg. Appreciate it man.
A special thank you to Academy Camps for sponsoring today's
episode. To learn more, visit
academycamps.com. Before we wrap up, let's hear
from someone who's experienced camp first hand.
My name is Harrison Zimmer, I'm from Ronnie York and I just
(48:52):
attended Academy camps for the first time in the summer of
2024. Definitely went in trying to
like build up my confidence and work on my technique more, which
I definitely accomplish because after that, going to my high
school season, I definitely feltlike I could be on the ball more
dribble and ended up being successful for me as I made my
(49:13):
varsity team. I definitely felt like Academy
camps helped me a lot to like discover my ability on the ball.
Definitely an experience very unique and that probably they
haven't experienced before with the food and the nutrients and
then having like a blast with like your friends made a lot of
friends. I've kept in touch with a few
(49:33):
and trying to like figure out togo this year, like what session
and kind of like organizing thatjust so we can be together
again. I think you should come to
Academy camps because it gives you a chance to create new
friends and new memories. Thanks again to Academy Camps
for sponsoring this week's episode.
We'll catch you again next week right here on You Think.
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