Anthony Silkwood, RHP for Louisville University and former United States Marine, joined the show to share his experience. Anthony’s journey has taken him from service in the Marines, to Junior College Baseball, and now to perennial powerhouse Louisville where he will be a pitcher on staff for the 2021 season. We discuss his Anthony’s path from playing softball on the weekends to competing for a National Championship. He touches on parallels between the Marines and baseball, finding a home in college baseball, competing to prove himself, and being the old guy on a college roster. Great discussion in perseverance and continuing to chase a dream. Enjoy!

Follow Anthony on Twitter @silk_wood5

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Transcript: EP64 – Former Marine and Current University of Louisville Pitcher Anthony Silkwood

[00:00:00] Dan Blewett: [00:00:00] All right. Welcome back to the morning brushed bag. This is episode 64 and we’ve got a great guest today. Anthony Silkwood is with us. He is a current Louisville baseball player. He’s a pitcher there and he has a really interesting backstory. So Bobby tell us a little bit about mr. Silkwood. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:00:26] Yeah. So right out 

of high school, he enlisted in the Marines.

Did that. And then I think you said about eight months with left in his, uh, with his service, he decided we’re going to take on baseball. We’re going to try it. Um, did the junior college route now he’s at the university of Louisville. Really awesome story. I 

mean, it’s not your typical, a typical college baseball players 

route.

Dan Blewett: [00:00:50] Yeah, absolutely. So we, we covered a lot of topics. He, uh, he got Tommy, John surgery, his second year into college baseball. He’s been to a couple of junior college, just talks about a [00:01:00] lot of the people who’ve mentored him and really helped him. And also just as a learning curve. So he knew, and I think a, and he spoke to this that, you know, his experience in the military, it just learning new processes and, and diving in and being mentally tough and all that I think served him really well because he had to basically go from, he was a position player in high school.

You had to go from position player and then five years removed being in the military to suddenly being a pitcher, getting in shape, learning how to pitch, developing new pitches and getting hitters out. So pretty impressive to be able to do that in such a short period of time. Cause he’s still not that far removed from being in the Marines, which is crazy.

Yeah, he’s definitely, 

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:39] you know, I think his story is a good one, a perseverance 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:01:43] for a lot of 

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:43] kids that are trying to figure out their way. And 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:01:45] especially in the pitching, when you’re 

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:47] pitching is on amongst and downs, you’re struggling 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:01:49] and you’re trying to try and learn yourself. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:51] His story is awesome. I mean, 2017, he gets out of the military.

It’s 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:01:54] 2020s on the campus of university of Louisville, which is 

Bobby Stevens: [00:01:58] top five school in the country [00:02:00] for baseball. I mean, they’ve got 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:02:02] as he speaks to national championship aspirations, 

Bobby Stevens: [00:02:05] So to, to, to come that far in that shorter time, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:02:08] it’s, 

Bobby Stevens: [00:02:09] it’d be really good for a lot of the high school players that, that listen to this podcast 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:02:13] have a lot of takeaways from, 

Dan Blewett: [00:02:15] yeah.

Well, one of the things you mentioned, and I’m sure this is why Louisville took him and why some of the early cause he said he struggled to find anyone who would take a chance on him at Ray or the Marines. They just laughed at him on the phone, you know, Oh, you’ve got this 26 year old guy, like, or 25 year old guy at that time.

Like, why would we. Like, why would we want you on a program? Um, but the Testament to him is like his makeup, his character. I mean, this is a guy that can be a leader that does everything the right way is very process oriented. And the real question is who wouldn’t want. More guys like that on their baseball roster.

Right? I mean, again, just, just speaking or listening to him, speak, it’s clear that he’s very focused, very in control of everything he does prepares well, um, you know, [00:03:00] treats everyone else, else with respect works hard and knows what it takes to get the best out of himself. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:03:08] Yeah, 

Bobby Stevens: [00:03:08] he’s, he’s definitely someone you need to look up to if you’re, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:03:13] if you’re in that 

Bobby Stevens: [00:03:14] limbo mode of whether or not you want to play baseball, whether or not you want to pursue some of your dreams.

I mean, this is. This is kind of the, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:03:20] the 

Dan Blewett: [00:03:20] baseball dream 

Bobby Stevens: [00:03:21] right to go from. I don’t want to say rags to riches, but you go from totally out of the game for five, six years to now almost the height of college baseball. It’s a really cool story. I think everyone’s really going to enjoy it. 

Dan Blewett: [00:03:34] Yep. So without further ado, we’re going to jump into our conversation with Anthony Silkwood.

All right, Anthony. Thanks for joining us, man. Good to have you on the show. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:03:50] No, no, it’s awesome to be here. 

Dan Blewett: [00:03:52] So tell me real quick. So obviously we’ve asked, we’ve had a will Franco, uh, university of Maryland coaches on our show recently. And we were first question [00:04:00] to him was about COVID. So as a current college baseball player was a look like playing high level baseball with COVID right now.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:04:08] Um, it’s, it’s pretty different. Um, as far as like the daily routine kind of changed a little bit. Yeah. Is obviously my first year here. So I don’t really know what it was like last year. Um, but here it’s a lot of, you know, minimizing, like contact and stuff like that. Not be able to enjoy like the locker room times, like doing stuff like that.

Um, so it’s a little different, but it’s also kind of gets you into a routine, like doing constant checks, doing, you know, COVID tests all the time, stuff like that. So it’s, it’s definitely different. Um, it’s definitely like a different pace thing. You got kids from high school that kind of react to it a little differently.

Um, but I mean, it’s just like another added step to doing the things we normally do anyways. 

Dan Blewett: [00:04:48] Yeah. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:04:49] That’s pretty much it. I mean, it hasn’t really changed too much classes is the biggest change. Um, most of my classes are online. Some guys have them in class, um, but all mine are online. What do you, 

[00:05:00] Dan Blewett: [00:04:59] what do you do the whole day when you’re not a practice you’re just stuck in your, in your dorm or your apartment and just doing zoom class.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:05:08] No. Yeah. So I’m doing classes online. Um, so I’m like always doing that. I’m in Spanish. So then now I’m basically trying to be bilingual now at age 27. So I got to figure out how to do that. So I take a lot of time doing Spanish and stuff like that. And then I’m pretty much doing that, doing therapy and stuff like that.

So we’re, we’re, we stay pretty busy, but yeah. Instead of being in class, I’m at home in my apartment doing zoom class. 

Dan Blewett: [00:05:34] So talk to me about that. That’s a really interesting major. I think that’s a really valuable major cause if anyone who’s got like their ear to the ground and like the pro baseball circles, especially right now, it’s important to learn Spanish.

If you’re going to be in pro baseball someday. I don’t know if coaching is ever in your future. Obviously you’ve got a lot of your career left still to play, but why are you, uh, why are you choosing Spanish? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:05:56] I’m a criminal justice major, but like, I need, I need a [00:06:00] language. And so I was like, okay, I’ll take Spanish.

So I gotta take. At least a year of it. And then, um, I’ll probably take another semester of it just to kind of get into like the writing side of things. But I mean, I first I was like, okay, this sucks. I, you know, I took French in high school, but then now that I’m starting to kind of pick up on it and you hear people talk like on videos and stuff, you start picking up words and what they’re saying a little bit, it definitely helps.

And I think, I think for sure, you know, I, after I’m done playing, like I don’t, I definitely wanna get into the coaching realm. You know things and it’s like, it’s just nothing it’s gonna do nothing, but help me at the end. So it definitely is definitely, um, like a positive for sure. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:06:39] You guys have any other, do you have any other players that speak Spanish in that team?

You can bounce it off. I mean, it’s not, it’s different than pro ball. Obviously we’re half the teams fluent in Spanish. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:06:47] Um, not really. Um, we don’t have any. Yeah, we don’t have any Spanish speakers on our team. Um, there’s some people around here that I’ve had helped me. Like I talk to you a little bit, but it’s actually a pretty cool little [00:07:00] thing that they do online.

It’s like, Very interactive third-party sites. It’s, it’s really interesting. Um, but yeah, it’s, it’s just different. 

Dan Blewett: [00:07:10] Yeah. I’d be curious what Spanish looks like today. Like I took it last in middle school and it was impossibly, boring, uh, also difficult, but it’s funny. I retained actually a decent amount of it.

And then my sisters taught. Uh, English in Spain for like a year, year and a half, uh, back in like 2010. And my family visited over Christmas to spend the holidays with her. And even in those just like 10 days, the amount of like, Came back to me just being like immersed in it because we’re, she lived in Granada and then Sylvia, um, it was not like very touristy.

So like the airport was like a hundred percent Spanish. And, uh, I actually, after just a week of kind of like being immersed in it, like enough kinda like came back where I actually got stranded in the airport because my flight [00:08:00] got snowed in. Cause there’s like a huge blizzard in Philly. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:08:03] And I had 

Dan Blewett: [00:08:03] to like call someone and get a taxi and get a hotel room.

And I did all that in Spanish. So, and I like that was literally from my middle school Spanish experience. So I’m sure it’s like way better today and you’d be surprised how much that’ll probably help you. Especially if you get to the point where, you know, you’re actually able to talk it with other people, which, um, you know, America is becoming more and more bilingual by the day.

So. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:08:28] Right. Yeah. And just be able to, you know, communicate like at least the basics of it, you know, I mean, I played my first junior college. I played with guys that are from Puerto Rico and they, their English was so broken and it’s like, I felt, I felt kind of bad. It’s like, you know, I have a hard time with everybody has a hard time with school as it is.

These kids went in the 

Dan Blewett: [00:08:46] home so hard, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:08:49] you know, and then, you know, I’m reading one of their papers and it’s like, and they write how they talk. And it’s like, Oh God. So it’s, it’s definitely. It’s definitely interesting. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:08:59] Well, most other [00:09:00] languages don’t use as many words. I feel like 

Dan Blewett: [00:09:03] in the 

Bobby Stevens: [00:09:04] like English is, there’s so many filler words.

Whereas 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:09:08] when you’d say I 

Bobby Stevens: [00:09:09] took Italian in high school, which I know nothing of Italian, but I feel like they just hit the main points and move on that they can kind of decipher. I actually took sign language in college. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:09:19] So talk about 

Bobby Stevens: [00:09:20] like, you’re taking it. Uh, Spanish, talk about not understanding the language and then also missing it missing half the classes for baseball you’re taking the tests were all dead, silent sign language.

So if you don’t know that if you don’t know anything, you just don’t know. There’s no, like there’s no context clues and sign language. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:09:39] No, no. And that’s how our Spanish desks. So it’s like, they put us in a video, like just like this. And it’s like, okay, talk. It’s good luck. Yeah. It’s essentially, they’ll ask you questions and you answer them.

It’s pretty fun. 

Dan Blewett: [00:09:54] It’s really fascinating how hard it is just to talk when, uh, you don’t have anything to say, like when you’re [00:10:00] like, I help some folks do like YouTube videos and other things. And when we’re like testing mikes and such, it’s like, Hey. Okay, can you talk real quick? And you like, literally have no idea what to say.

It’s like, uh, I’m talking right now, like I’m talking like, where’s he going blabber on about nothing for hours to each other, but then when you’re on the spot and you need to just actually just say words, just, you know, just to get them out. It’s like really hard. Um, but so let’s, let’s get into some of, uh, the reason that you’re still in college.

So obviously you have a really interesting journey through, uh, through life and baseball at this point. So you’re. Back in college baseball, you’re playing for one of the best programs in the country at age 27. So fill us in a little bit about how you got to Louisville, um, your path through the military and then junior college and then all the way back.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:10:49] Okay. So I’ll, I’ll start with like, you know, I, so I joined the military in 2012 and I graduated high school 2011, you know, in 2011, I entered the it’s called the [00:11:00] delayed entry program. It’s nothing more like than you go swearing. And it’s like, okay, you swearing now. And then they give you a day to leave.

My date was like four months after I was sworn in. So that’s why it took so long. Um, so I left at 19. Um, but I, I didn’t even pitch in high school really. Like I played shortstop until my senior year that I played third base. And then did my time in the Marines. And I about two years in, I was like, Oh, this is the greatest thing in the world.

Like I’m going to do this for years to come and, and whatnot. And then I deployed in my third year. So like 2014, 2015 to the middle East did all that. Um, Then I was watching, uh, Mitch Harris throw like on the laptop and whatnot. He was in the Navy for five years. So I got, I was deployed. I was watching him.

And he was, that was when the Cardinals were running through the playoffs and he was, he was part of the open for that. So it was pretty cool to watch. And he started and I started thinking, I’m like, wow, like I wish I would’ve played. College, you know, and you started, you [00:12:00] started seeing guys you played against, like, I played against Jayco to Rizzy and he’s now a stand out in the, uh, in the AOL.

So it’s one of those things where it’s like, I started watching it and then I got back, got back and really, um, kind of sat down and kind of figured out like, okay, You know, this isn’t really what I want to do. I want to do it. There’s more than my life that I want to accomplish and, you know, you know, give and do.

So then I started thinking about it and, um, about that time I decided to get out, um, my entire time I was in like, people, people ask all the time, they’re like, did you throw like baseball was like, while you’re in? No, I played now. I played softball, like slow pitch softball every weekend. So that it, 

Dan Blewett: [00:12:41] so is it kind of an abrupt change?

So you said like, you’re really excited about the military a couple of years in, and then was it just seeing Mitch Harris on TV or was it something else? Was it like a slow falling out of love with it? Or was it abrupt? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:12:54] Yeah, I mean, it’s one of those things. It was kind of, it’s kind of abrupt a little bit for instance.

Um, [00:13:00] but it’s also kind of different, you get into it and. You know, it’s just like with everything you have, you have good leaders, you have bad leaders, you know? Right. When I joined, I had great leaders and then I started getting promoted and I started kind of looking around how things were going. And it was just one of those things where I was like, I don’t want to become that.

I don’t want to do that. Um, and then I was able to get put with some really great ones again. And it was just like, I started realizing there was more that I wanted. Like I wanted a degree I wanted to do, like I wanted to be federal law enforcement. So like in order to do that, I needed a degree. Um, so it’s like you start looking at all the things that like, okay, you know, am I enjoying what I’m doing now?

Or am I doing it because it’s what I have to do. So at first it was like, Oh, I really love this. It’s a huge change. You know, I’m living in North Carolina, you know, I had a jet ski, I would drive every weekend or yeah, right on every weekend. So it’s like, I was living in the dream and then, you know, you start realizing, okay, like, is this the dream?

Or is this this like, uh, you know, something I’m just doing right now? 

[00:14:00] Dan Blewett: [00:13:59] Yeah, like a pit stop. So, so did you feel kind of like your superiors had kind of a big bit of control over your life and that you didn’t want to have kind of be in that flux where you have great leadership and you feel really good about your time in the military, but then when, you know, and I think people go through that with their bosses and the corporate world too.

Right. People love their jobs because of the people they work with. Is it, is it kind of like that? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:14:24] Yeah. I’m a very big people person. And the thing with that is like, That people in the military, you’re your SU your peers. They have so much control over your whole, basically your whole life. If, if I’m like, I’m going to make a career out of this.

And the person in charge of me just does not like me and like, It’s just, it’s just looking for something like this never really happened to me, but I saw it happen and it’s like, they’ll find any way to put negative paperwork on you. And that, that takes an effect of your promotions and takes into effect of your, you know, being able to achieve the goals you wanna achieve in the [00:15:00] military.

And it’s like, you know, the biggest one was when the snipers got caught, he ran on the bodies and Afghanistan. I believe to Afghanistan and then the Colonel who wasn’t even there, he got fired. So it’s like that stuff like that happens. And it’s just one of those things where it’s like, I, you know, I’m, I don’t want to put my whole life in the hands of other people’s opinions and that’s kind of what it was going to be.

But I mean, I had, I had really good ones, had some ones that I probably would never want to be like, and then I have some that towards the end that were absolutely amazing. 

Dan Blewett: [00:15:31] Gotcha. What were some of the, go ahead, Bob? 

Bobby Stevens: [00:15:34] I was gonna say was there, so when you’re in the, you’re in the Marines, right? Is there a S a S you guys place, like you said, you played softball on the weekends.

I know Navy’s got like boxing. You can join, you join B or a box, or you have to pick some kind of activity. Is there a baseball team? Like, is there guys that play fast pitch, softball, baseball? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:15:54] No. So the year that I joined the Marine Corps, every like everything else, they had to take budget cuts and stuff [00:16:00] like that.

There’s other funds that, that fund, like, things like that. So like they used to have a Marine for baseball team. They used to have like a Marine Corps, baseball team, air force baseball team, but they got rid of that 2011. So, like when I joined, I was ahead was like slow pitch softball. They had like the marathon runners, they had the, you know, the bar, obviously the boxing and stuff like that.

So I was able to play softball, got a good group of friends. And, you know, we played, uh, we were called next time we played every, every weekend. And then at the end of my time, you know, my, my last six months or so I was in, I got to play on the U S or the Marine force team. And we played so like the Marine Corps team plays the air force, seeing the Navy team and the, um, army team.

And then they select, you know, the best guys and they go play for team USA and we get to play against like the guys who like get paid to play softball or whatever. And I got made that team and play third base, um, And that was an absolute blast. [00:17:00] So we got to go to like Oklahoma and Texas to do that. So it was an absolute blast for that.

Dan Blewett: [00:17:07] I feel like third base in silver softball is terrifying 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:17:10] it 

Dan Blewett: [00:17:11] a lot. How are you alive? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:17:13] I’ll tell you what. There was a blob on past my head. I can’t. There’s no way I would have touched it. 

Dan Blewett: [00:17:19] That’s how I imagine it. Like, so like such crazy reactions. I’m like your gloves on the way up past you. Oh 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:17:26] yeah. And like I’m playing like I’m playing back, like in the grass, you know, like it’s, it’s, it’s just, you know, all like every time I played softball, I always played third base.

And, you know, everybody else surgery can be, are having fun. I was petrified to drink beer because I don’t want to lose my face if I’m like, you know, my personality is okay. But like, if my face gets jacked up, like I’m having a hard life, you know what I mean? 

Dan Blewett: [00:17:51] Yeah. It’s not 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:17:52] really 

Bobby Stevens: [00:17:53] your looks or your looks or getting your by at this point.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:17:56] Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, thank God I don’t, I ain’t gotta age. [00:18:00] Well, I got, if I looked like I was, if I had a receding hairline or something, I’d be, I’d be having a hard time. 

Dan Blewett: [00:18:04] You’ll be, you’ll be all right. Don’t worry.

It’s funny though. I, you know, like whenever I would have a female friend, who’d be like, Hey, I’m thinking of playing softball. Like I need tips. I’d be like, don’t you play the infield, get, get your button, the outfield. Like if you’re not, if you’re not a really capable player, those balls come off the bat so fast.

It’s terrifying. And I like, I, I wonder around the country, as you know, with all this co co-ed softball, which is awesome. I just wonder how many injuries there are from just people who didn’t play baseball. Like you mix in some like X players who can swing a bat with people that just are, you know, don’t have the reaction time and the coordination, the glove work.

I just wonder how many like awful injuries there are. It’s really scary. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:18:49] Well, I’ve seen some pretty bad ones. I’ve seen guys hit in the face. I’ve seen guys, I hit a guy pretty hard. One time in the tournament, hit him right in his. Um, 

Bobby Stevens: [00:18:59] art 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:18:59] is growing [00:19:00] and he went down and he was like, somebody shoot that guy.

Like he was not happy. Um, but yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s, I, I don’t, I didn’t even play co-ed I hit a ball and it, you know, I never try to hit it, the females and I hit a ball and it kind of scared me. I was like, I’m not doing this anymore. So I, I know it’s definitely, it’s definitely interesting. 

Dan Blewett: [00:19:19] So you didn’t really get to play much.

Uh, so you played softball a lot, but there are no like baseball skills being built. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:19:28] Competition thing was, was basically what I maintain more of a very competitive guy. So like, We just had a good time. That’s where I became. That’s where I learned how to chirp. Um, for sure. Which is necessity as a pitcher in college, 

Dan Blewett: [00:19:41] is it 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:19:41] has it though.

Absolutely. Guys, it would be the most boring. If you don’t know how to talk junk a little bit pitching is the most boring thing ever. It’s the 

Dan Blewett: [00:19:52] most boring thing, regardless. I mean, if we’re all being honest with each other, a lot of downtime, it’s a lot of downtime, 

Bobby Stevens: [00:19:58] but it’s the best 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:19:59] life. 

[00:20:00] Dan Blewett: [00:20:00] Bye-bye you’re getting excited right now, but this is water.

This is water Bob. I know you’re getting excited. Um, so tell us, tell us about the end of your military career. So when did you feel like you are set? You said your sub. All right. Um, I’m going to get out. I mean, did you have to set a date like a year ahead? Like obviously there’s a lot of paperwork and processes and getting out.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:20:25] Oh yeah. So like about a year and a half left in my five-year contract that decided. That that was going to be it. And like I had, I had reenlistment paperwork, you know, you never want to close the door before other ones open. So I had my reenlisted and paperwork drawn up. Um, I was going to try to Latin move like lateral move to a different job.

Cause I was a tanker, so I shot tanks, but I wanted to do counter-intelligence, which are the guys who go into other countries and they, they scout out the areas and stuff like that and do reports and stuff like that. And that was one of the things that I wanted to do. And I had, like, it was like a [00:21:00] $55,000 signing bonus to do that.

And it was just, it was, it was an absolute, it would’ve been really cool for me to do that. So about a year and a half left, I decided I was like, eh, it’s not going to be it. So I did, we did an event with high point university it’s in North Carolina. This was like, what sealed the deal was like, it was called home runs for heroes.

So like, you know, like one of my captains was good buddies with the guy that had hosted it there. And then my chaplain took us six of us and I went up there and had a blast. I took BP. So like I played softball. So like BP fastball is like, I was just, I hit like six home runs or something crazy. Like it was just, I was just teeing off on it.

And then he threw like a breaking ball and I look stupid. So it’s not a big deal. And then I was like, you guys got a radar gun. I’m like, I’ve never thrown. Know, so I played catch, you know, a little bit, did a little windmill and, you know, I was good to go. I was like 83, 84. And I was like, I’ve never pitched number three 83 and four in my life.

So then I was like, I’m going to get out and try to play. And that was, that was pretty much how I decided [00:22:00] that was like the final thing I was like, yeah, I watched that game. They had a blast. Um, so then, you know, I go into my last little thing and. My battalion commander, he played he’s a huge Nebraska Cornhuskers fan.

So he played, he was in the Marines for four years, got out and tried to play college football. And he’s like body that didn’t hold up. So like when he found out that I was in gala baseball, he like kinda, kinda hooked me up a little bit. Um, him and mass Sergeant , they put me in, um, and like, uh, uh, office role for like the last eight months of my contract.

So I was his gunner and then I was also running like a legal, I was basically head of the legal, the battalion. So like I was just pushing paperwork and stuff like that for my guys get in trouble and stuff like that. Um, so I was able to do that for like the last bit of time and really kind of like start transitioning and kind of getting used to like what it’s going to be like.

That’s when I started playing catch a little bit, um, with baseballs. Um, and then I kinda tried to [00:23:00] figure out where I was gonna go to school and that was a process of its own. That was a heck of a process that’s for sure. So then I’d figured all that out. And then I decided that that was, it got out in April of 2017 and I started playing summer ball May 30th, 2017.

So. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:23:21] Did you start as a pitcher in summer ball? Cause that’s kind of a, that’s an odd recruiting process. Like you’re saying, are you sending video of yourself playing catch on the base to coaches trying to make 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:23:31] contexts like how, what 

Bobby Stevens: [00:23:33] that’s, it’s a lot different than what I feel like I’m doing right now for some high school kids.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:23:37] This was one of the most unique things like, and like I, and it’s one of those things where like I never forget it. And like before I even say that, cause I I’ll never, I’ll never play victim on anything in my life. Like, because like I’m not a victim. Um, but like. When I called these, I called about 13 or 15 schools.

When I was in the Marines. I was like, Hey, you know, my schools for free, like, I’m looking at playing baseball and it’s like, [00:24:00] there’s only one school that was like, yeah. You know, might as well, let us try, like, let’s happen. And it was John Goodwood. And it was, you know, I, I talked to coach Hightower there, you know, the late coach of was, uh, he passed away like two years ago at coach Wathen and they were like all about it.

So I got to go there and then I brought them the summer hit. I worked with a guy named Mike Waldo. So if you’re from Illinois, you should you probably heard of Edwardsville high school? 

Dan Blewett: [00:24:23] Yeah, yeah. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:24:25] Yeah. So like he was the pitching coach there since like 1974. So he was, he was an absolute, amazing guy, you know, my team and my, between him and my dad working with them over the summer.

Um, just to kind of get used to like the pitching and stuff like that. And. You know, I, I still hit IDH when I wasn’t pitching, just because I wanted to see if I can do that too. And it was fun. So I had absolute blast and I think it was up to like 80, 87, 88 in the summer. Um, and then I just showed up to college and was like, Hey, I’m here to pitch.

So it, it, [00:25:00] there was, there was, yeah, there was no recruiting videos. I went to a school that had no phone signal, so it was, it was an absolute blast. 

Dan Blewett: [00:25:07] Okay. So let’s talk about the peripheral stuff. Cause obviously just throwing 87, 88 isn’t enough to get anybody out. Right. So what off-speed pitch did you throw, how did you learn it?

How was that process? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:25:20] Uh, so I learned first, probably the first pitch I learned was, was would have been the change up again. So I started, I started playing catch with a change up. It became a really good pitch for me and in a slider as well. And the summer I threw a curve ball, but it was like my worst pitch of all of them.

So I kind of scrapped that pretty quickly. So I was basically running slider. Um, so I changed and I threw like a sinker. Um, so as my, as two seamer, so it was, it was one of those things where I learn how to spin it very quickly. So I went in the summertime, you know, I was. I was throwing sliders for strikes for not like in the zone.

I was on the sliders and I started, I started learning to pitch. So I wasn’t just [00:26:00] trying to out there and throw the ball as hard as I could. The first thing I learned when I started playing baseball again, was how to get guys out. Um, so then I started pitching backwards, you know, leading off for the slider for a strike, fast ball in it.

And it was just like doing stuff like that. And that was probably the biggest asset that I had was was that, you know, throwing strikes was it wasn’t really. An issue for me even coming into it. So like, and then the fact that when I had a pitch, I just kind of just progressed with how, how fast I was thrown and whatnot.

And like, obviously the harder you throw the faster your off speed is, and the better it is. So it just kind of kept getting better and better. Um, but yeah, I learned how to pitch was the first thing that I definitely figured out and just talking with them and just like watching how he call pitches and like just, it was, it was really, it was one of the, it was the best summer.

I w I would not be here if it wasn’t for that summer. That’s for sure. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:26:51] You know, how depressed you just made a bunch of people that have been pitching their whole lives, that can’t throw strikes and don’t know how to sequence bitches. I said, [00:27:00] Dan’s played with many of these guys 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:27:02] too. I’m sure were. They’re just, it’s demoralizing 

Bobby Stevens: [00:27:04] that they come in and they can’t find the zone.

And you’ve literally not played baseball in five, six years. And you’re like, Oh, this is, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:27:13] this is pretty easy. Who to fuck it. Yeah, no, I know it definitely has. And people like people I’ve I’ve I grinded some wrong gears a little bit too with that. I I’m a firm believer that if you can repeat your mechanics and you don’t throw strikes, it’s a mental thing.

Like, I, I agree. I mean, 

Dan Blewett: [00:27:29] it’s like, what’s wrong? What’s wrong? Like, yeah. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:27:31] Yeah. And it’s like, well, I can throw strikes in a bullpen. Like then you should throw harder strikes and a game. 

Dan Blewett: [00:27:37] Yeah. Further proves your point. Exactly. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:27:40] I, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s one of those things where it’s like, You see these guys and it’s like, they struggling.

I try to talk to them on the mental side of things. Cause like, I just look at things differently, I guess, as far as that, but like, I’m not going to be myself. Like I didn’t take five years off baseball play at 26 to walk the house and lose the game myself, you know? I mean, it’s just not what I wanted to do.

[00:28:00] So yeah, it definitely is. That was my strong suit for sure. Right off the bat. 

Dan Blewett: [00:28:05] Well, I’m sure you also probably approached it a lot more tactic tactically. Um, let’s use a military term, but you probably learned like, all right, this is something that I’m coming from behind to try to do like, um, you know, way of oil and everyone else.

I haven’t been a pitcher, so you’re probably looking for the fastest way to be good. Quick. And like you said, to get guys out, like, I think you probably had a much more advanced. Just starting point than other people. Like you probably had no illusions. Like I just can’t, I can’t just throw fast balls for the next three years.

Like I gotta learn how to, how to pitch. And so you’re probably really plugged in and mentally aware of like what, what was working and what doesn’t, because you had to sort that stuff out fast. And that’s probably, and I’ve never been in the military, but I imagine that’s kind of how the military is where you got to, you get thrown into situations and you need to process it and learn on your feet.

Am I right or wrong? There? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:28:57] No. Yeah, that’s exactly right. And it’s like, [00:29:00] you know, there’s a lot of setting yourself up for failure in the military. And that’s, you know, anybody who’s a pitcher. Like they understand that if you don’t react to failure, good. You’re not gonna, you’re just gonna crumble and it’s gonna look terrible.

Um, so yeah, no, you’re exactly right. That’s exactly what it is. You just got to be able to kind of figure it out or you don’t, it’s very like, very like pro ball mindset issue in the military. It’s like figure it out or you’re not. 

Dan Blewett: [00:29:25] Yeah. And that’s the thing that I think a lot of young players lack. Is that they’ll just be out there and they’ll walk through barriers in the row and it’s just like this they’re missing the same exact way.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:29:34] So like, It’s like 

Dan Blewett: [00:29:36] do something, like do something, right? Like, and if you take that same kid and you’re like, give him a rifle and he’s out, like he’s not going to just stand there. He’s going to like collect himself and do something right. Or he’s going to be, it’s going to be good for him. So I think, uh, yeah, it’s hard, especially with kids and Bobby.

You’ve seen this, I’m sure more than I have just trying to get them to wake up. Sometimes they’re like, dude. [00:30:00] Process what’s going on and make a good decision and like, get yourself on track. Like, I can’t do it for you. I mean, how many mal visits have you had where it’s like, you just walked three guys in a row on like 13 pitches, uh, you know, a mechanical tip is probably not going to do it, you know, compete.

Bobby Stevens: [00:30:17] Yeah. I think it’s a competition is the biggest thing. Right? It’s the kids are probably more, they’re almost more afraid to fail, like to be beaten than to just. Throw it like fail, but they don’t want to fail and they don’t want to get beat. So like there’s no middle ground. Like you have to, there’s an overlap there, right.

To compete. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:30:38] You’re 

Bobby Stevens: [00:30:38] sometimes you’re going to get beat, but you’re definitely going to lose if he can’t fill up the zone. I feel like this probably probably took a lot of that, you know, in your whole experience. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, you’re your mid twenties going into a. You know, going into the school where the kids are, what six, seven years younger than you like there, you have to just [00:31:00] throw it on the table and hope and see if, if you can just hang right.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:31:05] Going to have time to 

Bobby Stevens: [00:31:05] feel it, to feel out 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:31:07] situations as much. Yeah. I mean, and that’s the thing too. And it’s like, I just don’t know if our kids, I don’t know how people do it. Like, I don’t know how you throw three fastballs and two feet apart on the plate. And not change anything. And it’s like, and for me, it’s just like, I look at it as it’s like, I know that I’m doing every single thing that I can do to prepare myself to pitch throughout the week throughout my sleep, throughout what I eat and everything, everything I’m doing.

So like, I know for a fact that I’m not going to let myself beat myself like that guy. Who’s probably not doing everything he’s supposed to be doing. He’s not going to, if he beats me, then he beats me. If not, like I’ll refuse to like, let myself get beat by myself for sure. No, I think that’s like the biggest thing kind of like the mentality side of it.

It’s like, you know, I’m gonna make that guy prove he’s better than me, and then he’s going to do it again when it comes back up. Yeah. 

Dan Blewett: [00:31:58] So let’s talk. [00:32:00] Uh, so from the early part and you know, like you’re just getting back into baseball, what happens next? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:32:06] So I, you know, I get to John Wood, right. And we have, I have a great time.

Um, I struggled a little bit on the amount of it and the fall, um, kind of getting used to everything and, you know, I think it’s like when I do something, I do it completely. And I, you know, I had just got introduced to like the drive-line stuff a little bit, but not really kind of doing stuff here and there.

And it was like, I think I just got introduced to it too quickly. And it was like, I went from not throwing baseballs to throwing baseballs all summer. So I go into that. So I, you know, I did all the workout stuff in the winter and then, you know, kind of did something in the early spring and I kinda, my elbow didn’t feel right.

Um, so I took about four weeks off or so, and I got into the season, started pitching, well, I was, you know, 88 to 90, like I was, I was striking eyes out. I hoped, I, [00:33:00] you know, I had, we went down to North Carolina, Myrtle beach and you know, I through 12 and he was down there in a week. Hey, no. In 12 days it might 10 days.

Um, Jada objected in my first college start. That was a good one. One out away from a complete game. Shutout got rejected. So that was cool. 

Dan Blewett: [00:33:18] You can do all. You have to tell us what for, I mean, go, go on, go on. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:33:22] Yeah. And then, um, I got back and it just didn’t feel right. I threw a game on short rest. Um, we were supposed to play.

I was supposed to pitch against Parkland college where I went, ended up going on Saturday after on short rests on Wednesday or Thursday, Wednesday, or Thursday. And my LA, like I called the coach. I called the coach out and pitching coach. I said, get some money. You ready? Cause this is, this is it like, something’s extremely wrong.

I get it. It hurts so bad. Um, last pitch was 84 miles an hour, eight 83 miles an hour. Kids swung at a high basketball. And that was the last pitch [00:34:00] I threw until, um, until summer of 19. 

Dan Blewett: [00:34:06] So it was 

Bobby Stevens: [00:34:07] a quick turnaround, right? Like the, you you’ve gone through quite the baseball life in a span of what two and a half years from leaving the Marines to.

Just deciding. Okay, we’re going 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:34:20] to do college baseball, 

Bobby Stevens: [00:34:22] get into college baseball, establish yourself as a good college baseball player. Get Tommy, John, go transfer schools. Now you’re at the university of Louisville, which is arguably the what preseason number one, if not preseason, top five. I mean, one of the premier baseball schools in the country, like, do you ever just wake up, look around and be like, what?

Where am I. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:34:47] Yeah. I mean, you know, and then you look at it and it’s like, if I, you know, I, I kind of looked at it and it’s like, well, damn, that sucks. You know, like I’ve had terrible luck and like this, that, and the other. And it’s like, how could I think I have terrible luck [00:35:00] when I ended up at a place like this.

So it’s like, I kind of look at them like, you know, Marines. I wouldn’t have been, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, if I didn’t get Tommy, John, I wouldn’t have went to Parkland. And I wouldn’t be here, you know? And so you start kind of looking at it both, like, I think that sucks, you know, if COVID didn’t happen, probably wouldn’t be here.

So, and it’s like, you start kind of being more appreciative of like the little things happen. I kinda like the process and it’s like, but yeah, they’re never, never in my life. Would I ever dreamed of being at a school like this? Like there’s no way. 

Dan Blewett: [00:35:31] So let’s talk, let’s touch briefly on Tommy, John and London.

Let’s, let’s get up to the present day with, uh, Louisville, but, uh, so you got Tommy, John, who did your surgery? How did it go? And then what happened next? So 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:35:43] I got it in st. Louis, dr. Gross, and, uh, dr. Gross, dr. Porter’s office in st. Louis. They they’re the Cardinals orthopedic surgeons. Um, did that August 8th, 2018.

Um, I was misdiagnosed at first that they first, they were just like, ah, no, that’s not that it’s not that. And then I got it. And [00:36:00] it was like, it was torn about 50% and it was just stretched to the point where it was doing nothing. So I got that. Um, Decided I wanted to do the rehab process at Parkland with a guy named John global.

Um, he’s the head coach there now who’s pitching coach. He single-handedly helped me out probably the, with the most out of everybody that I’ve ever had any kind of contact with as far as baseball, um, he played for Mike Waldo at Edwardsville. So that’s connection there as well. He’s he didn’t show me things for me.

I came and explained. Um, so I did that there through my first, um, At about, so did that rehab there did my therapy every three days a week at Athletico, um, worked with another old people there. And it was, it was a great time there as well. Um, did, um, that three days a week for seven months, every one of your Chronicle videos compared myself and I was thrown into where you were at.

Um, so that always helped [00:37:00] me out a lot. And then I kinda got into like the throwing at 10 months and like three weeks hit 90 for the first time again. Um, at 11 months I played my first game in a summer league. Um, you’re still a little, it’s called EDI. It’s very, it’s like an adult league. Oh yeah. 

Dan Blewett: [00:37:18] I played there rehabbing my second, Tommy John for the Colfax 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:37:22] team.

Okay. Yeah, I played for, uh, I don’t even know it starts with the G Gill flats, something like that gift for Gill flats. Um, so I did that, um, was 1991. Did that, um, Also every Sunday for the summer got recruited to Western Carolina, took off that’s when I whole thing kind of took off there, got to pitch against Ohio state in the fall.

So that was fun. Um, did that at Prasco park it’s where like the reds did like their minor leagues this year. So that was pretty cool little place, but, um, And [00:38:00] transferred back to COVID happened. And here we are. So it’s like, so Tommy, John, who was really, it was really a good process. Um, I, it was, it was one of those things where it was very, it changed me as like my perspective, like of everything that I did cause me to get routine, um, caused me to start doing routines.

I didn’t drive line. As far as like my rehab, it was very not standard. Like I didn’t, my first ball that I threw was a, was a green pile ball. And it was a pivot pick. So it was like, it was a very like data-driven, um, type rehab process. It wasn’t the basic doctor on the right throat, you know, 60 feet or whatever.

It was very, it was a lot different. 

Dan Blewett: [00:38:41] Why did you choose that? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:38:43] Well, um, nothing I had done at that point was ordinary and I was like, so I, he was like, I think this would be better for you. And I was like, Okay. Has he might done it for you? Like have you ever done with anybody else? And now he was like, no, you can be the first I’m like, [00:39:00] okay.

So then I looked, I did all my research, talked to a guy named Troy Rawlings. He played at Wiscon or, uh, we played at, um, Washington. He, he was, he did the same kind of very similar process through drive-line did my research. And I was like, I was like, all right, like, let’s go, let’s try it out. Huge results, fat like huge results.

Cause me to get routines caused me to start doing things properly. Um, it was less aggressive at the beginning and it progressively got more aggressive as far as like the throwing. So it was definitely, I think it was definitely beneficial for how I am and I did everything I was supposed to do to like, if it, if it says, you know, don’t do anything today, like I’m not doing anything that day.

Like, so I was very like routine with my, um, program. Don’t miss days. 

Dan Blewett: [00:39:51] Gotcha. Um, and then what was the process with you connecting with Louisville? So you’re pitching the Parkland and they just [00:40:00] came out and watched or what? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:40:02] So they came out and watched a different kid pitch the day that they came out, um, And I had never really talked to them, um, until, you know, I was talking to other schools and stuff like that.

And I was having a hard time getting into schools because of my grades. My grades are good, but my cousin of my credits and my degree percentages and stuff like that. So I was running into issues academically as having like too many credits and not enough, um, like degree percentage, like towards my degree.

So like, it was, it was, I was drawn to that issue and like I had schools telling me that I was gonna be able to, I was going to be good. I actually like verbally committed to another school, you know, instead of, instead of Lowville just because of the situation I was gonna be put in. And then I found out, you know, six days later, that by the way, you gotta take like 15 credits of summer classes and I’m like, come on.

What do you mean to do that? And it was, so it was absolute headache. And then they kind of came up, came up out of the blue friends, like. I guess kinda out [00:41:00] of the blue, they’re looking for a guy and, you know, go reached out and it happened very quickly and it was awesome talking after talking to, after talking to, uh, coach Snyder and, you know, coach Mack and then, you know, coach Williams, it was, there was no brainer.

Dan Blewett: [00:41:19] And so what did they like about you and what, what are you, so when they come and they came and watched you pitch, like, what did they see? Like velocity off-speed stuff command, like what, what, what is your scouting report? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:41:33] So obviously the uniqueness of this all is they never saw me pitch in person. They just, all the video was what they’ve gotten because of the whole COVID that’s when COVID kind of took off and they didn’t have really time to come see me throw at that point.

And, um, say went off the video and stuff. And I, I, you know, they said they were looking for a starter, you know, at that point I was starting at that for Parkland. Um, you know, I, you know, as far as like, what I’ll do here is I, I have absolutely no idea. I’ll start going in [00:42:00] November. Um, and I’ll throw it until the season starts, but I mean, they, they kinda kept talking about my makeup.

Like they liked my story and kind of like what got me to this point. Um, so I feel like, you know, what I had done in the past is those were really kind of got me there. Um, you know, and I assume like Freida mentality side of things as well, but like, you know, coach Williams, you know, he talks a lot about, he likes makeup of players, um, which is, mine’s obviously pretty unique.

Um, in many ways, so yeah, definitely, definitely the makeup is what probably entice them the most. 

Dan Blewett: [00:42:37] Yeah. And I, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:42:38] so, and 

Dan Blewett: [00:42:39] you get free school, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:42:40] correct? 

Dan Blewett: [00:42:41] That’s also, I mean, that is helpful because it doesn’t count against their scholarship limit, all that stuff. So, um, you talked about being 83, 84, right off the, off the boat, essentially.

What are you today? Like, what’s your fastball slider? Is it still the same arsenal, fastball, slider change up 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:42:57] basketball slider change up. Um, you know, [00:43:00] I started doing things like, so I’m 90, 93, um, at, during COVID or whatever. Um, I have like, I, I started to kind of like manipulate my slider and I basically made it to different pitches.

So like, I, I can get more depth if I’m on it and I can shorten it up. Not not, it’s not really Cuttery, but it’s, you know, it’s just a lot harder. So like I’ve found that 84, 85 hit 86, like throwing it, you know, just throwing the hell out of it. And then I can also, I got one, I can kind of go with more depth on it to kind of choke back a little bit.

Um, so then I, I just, I basically, what I’ve done is just starting to kind of be done with the move, my pitches differently, like do do with them a little different, like my change up. I can have it, you know, throwing a first strike and then when it’s not a strike. So stuff like that I’ve been able to kind of get better with and then just attack in the hitter.

And, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m happy. Like I’m a pretty chill guy. Like I like to joke around like outside of baseball, but I’m pretty intense when I’m on the mound [00:44:00] and it’s, it’s kind of funny. Guys, it’s just probably not a comfortable bat that’s for 

Dan Blewett: [00:44:04] sure. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:44:06] I’m drawn and stuff. It’s, you know, max Scherzer would make fun of me because I don’t throw 95, but you know, I’m going to grind and throw 92.

I’m going to be happy. 

Dan Blewett: [00:44:14] I would speak speaking a chirping. I would, I would trip at that too. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:44:17] No, absolutely. Yeah. And you know, I get it and it’s like, you know, dude, you’re grinding, you’re throwing any to like. Don’t you see that, that there’s a 16 year old girl, 95, like, what’s wrong with you? I’m like, I don’t want to hear it from you.

Dan Blewett: [00:44:37] So anyway, what are your goals for the season? So you’re at Louisville. One of the premier, obviously baseball programs in the country and. Potentially like in the running to, to be a starter, um, you know, like how are you preparing for the season mentally and what would be your ideal role if you, if you had your pick?

[00:45:00] Anthony Silkwood: [00:45:01] Well, yeah, I mean, obviously. Everybody here, which is really, which is really unique and kind of like weird given the fact that we haven’t talked about how all these kids are kind of recruited at a young age and stuff like that. But like the over the goal here is to win a national championship. And like you get to the schools, that’s like, You know, we want to win the national championship and everybody’s like, I try to make it like, you know, type thing.

And it’s like, here you look around and you see guys, you know, like Henry Davis and you see like the vanilla and you see like all the pictures we got at alpha, the ushers, the Browns. And it’s like, all these guys who are just absolute dogs, you know, like Lucas DUNS, and it’s crazy. And you know, you look at it and it’s like, Oh no, we mean this.

Like, we like everybody here wants to win a national championship and that’s. That to me is what’s, that’s the coolest thing about this place everybody’s focused, you know, everybody’s putting baseball first. So that, that, that is like the rule now. And goal here for me, you know, on [00:46:00] be able to help, however I can do it.

On the mound, you know, as far as roles and goes and stuff like that, like to be, I don’t care. Um, you know, I think that’s kind of the clear consensus here too, is like, I don’t care if they want me in the bullpen, I’ll be the bolt from that. You want me to throw it? And then we go throw it in a week. They only throw it on the weekend.

You know it, to me, it does not matter if I was. If I was to, you know, be like, yeah, I want to roll. It’s obviously any kind of valuable, any valuable, anything to me is the same. So it’s, you know, I want to help one. I don’t want to be just a cool story and like one glad you made it here. Like type thing. It’s like, like I got here because of the things I’ve done in the past, but like, Now I’m ready to kinda like, be like, okay, I shouldn’t be here.

I’m not just, I’m not just here because of what I’ve done. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:46:46] So you, you were at Juco. I think this would be something I want to hear about is what’s how much different, if at all, is the culture atmosphere at Louisville compared to the Juco, the jucos you were at, um, [00:47:00] obviously your limited playing experience after coming off, coming out of the service.

Anthony Silkwood: [00:47:05] Yeah. So it’s, it’s I think the number, the number one difference is without a doubt, it’s going to be the speed of the game. Like I’m watching our outfielders that first day that I realized I was like, Oh God, like I can’t wait to pitch here. It was when I watched all three of our outfielders who run like a six, three or six fours, you know, catching fly balls, like off the bat.

I’m like, like, these are, these are like bubbles, you know, these doubles are now out. So it’s like watching these guys, like just hunt balls down. I and, and do that. I was like, okay. But as far as like playing, you know, It is everybody here, everybody here is just so driven to be successful, but UCO also has a bunch of different guys as well, where you have the guys who are playing as you go to go somewhere else.

Or yeah, the guys who, you know, who are at UCO to really make it like a launching pad to kind of [00:48:00] like, okay, like I turned down division one offers to play Juco because I don’t want to go to that division one. I want to go to a better school than that. Whether it’s a nice D two or IRR or whatever, like a higher level division one school.

Like they’re doing their user plane G-code to go to a better school and then what they’re going to be at. So it’s like, there’s so many different mindsets in junior college than there are here. Cause it’s like, it’s a very similar one here then Juco. It’s very, it’s very different. Um, you have the guys who are like, eh, you know, I’ll go here and then I’ll play, you know, wherever offers me the most money.

But like, for me, when I was at Duke, I was like, no, like I want to get as good as I can and go, this is the best place I can. That’s 

Bobby Stevens: [00:48:40] interesting because 

Dan Blewett: [00:48:42] it’s like kids have a, 

Bobby Stevens: [00:48:44] I don’t want to say a negative outlook on junior college, but they don’t understand that like the guys at junior college, maybe not all of them, like you said, the, some of their focus is in other places, but 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:48:55] they’re trying 

Bobby Stevens: [00:48:56] to get somewhere.

Like they’re there for a purpose. It’s not a, [00:49:00] it’s not like an end goal. It’s like a, it’s a go-between. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:49:04] Oh yeah. And that’s what sounds 

Bobby Stevens: [00:49:05] Louisville sounds like as well. Like it’s a go-between for a lot of these guys. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:49:10] Oh yeah. So I, you know, I talked to coach Garcia, uh, Dave  head coach is SWIC and he’s going to flip he’s, you know, he’s already flipped in the program a little bit.

He’s got a lot of cool guys coming in, but it’s just like, I talked to him all the time about like, very similar to that. It’s like, you know, You want to get guys in junior college who don’t want to play junior, who don’t just want to play junior college baseball. Like you want to get guys who have aspirations because at the end of the day, it’s about how much you grind.

Like you can go to practice and do everything supposed to do to practice. But if you go home, you eat 10 chili dogs and nothing else on your time. Like. You’re not gonna, you know, you’re not going to be able to do anything else. So it’s like, you know, getting the right guys, even at junior college really helps, you know, with everything else.

And here it’s, like I said, it’s it’s night and day because ever it’s ever, everybody’s just locked in. 

Dan Blewett: [00:49:57] Right. So what kind of pitching stuff are [00:50:00] they doing with you guys? Obviously, maybe there’s some stuff that’s, you kind of keep under wraps, but are you guys using any of the, any of the interesting new technology like Rapsodo, um, you guys tracking a lot of stuff.

Every program is different and I personally, I enjoy. Like that there’s a good balance. And I think that a lot of the best programs, like they realize that technology is good to a point and they still have coaches with tons and tons of experience who were like, look, this is important, but also, you know, your mindset, all this other stuff, you know, your prep is important, but what are you guys doing with, uh, With tech.

Is there anything interesting that you didn’t maybe do it the, your previous stops along college baseball? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:50:40] Yeah. So I think the most interesting part is, and like, I’m not going to go too in depth or like what I think just cause I don’t want to miss, you know, say or whatever. Um, but you know, one thing I really do love here is that anytime you throw on the mound, You’re getting videoed from four different directions, which is good because you know, pitchers like to do that.

You know, I [00:51:00] like to watch the video and you’re also, you know, off the game mound, you’re throwing and you got track, man, and it follows all your information and you can even go back and you can look at it. You can look at your numbers, you can look at everything like. After the fact, you know, and like you can look up your certain pitches and stuff like that.

So like you get all that information like already. So I that’s, that’s already a, uh, just a huge step up, you know, bullpens and, you know, we have bullpens, you get they’re all for apps Soto, you can do certain things, you know, you know, coach Williams, like has the, a lot of guys, you in different things, so that nobody’s really doing the same stuff.

Um, I’ve had to, like, I’ve really gotten a chance to, since I’m not really throwing, I’m not throwing yet. I got the chance to really step back and just kind of watch and watch how guys work and like, kind of see like how they’re doing it. You know, you see the core Vilo belts, stuff like that. I know. We’re, I think we’re talking about getting cleaned for Lego.

Um, so stuff like that as well. So it’s like watching, like just how they interact and like how. The biggest one that I’ve watched is how they call pitches and whatnot too. And it’s like, it’s, [00:52:00] it’s very impressive to me. Like how, you know, every pitch has a purpose for like two pitches down the road. So it’s like, it’s fun to watch.

It’s a lot of old school mixed with a lot of new school. So like we have all the guns and whistles, but we all also have the, you know, the grittiness of this as well. So it’s like, it’s really fun to watch. Um, watch all the pitchers work with coach Williams do so it’s a little bit of both. 

Dan Blewett: [00:52:24] So why aren’t you throwing right now?

Anthony Silkwood: [00:52:25] Um, so I, I pitched in the summer a little bit, you know? Yeah. It kind of flare it up a little bit and it wasn’t a big, it’s not a big deal or anything like that. So basically there’s a few of us centers we were during the summer. We slowed down. Um, we’re starting in November and it kinda just gives us the opportunity to, just to.

No, take that little break then, and then it’s really work into the season. So for me, it’s like, it’s a blessing and kind of like disguise for in a way. So it’s like, I got to mentally learn all the things we needed to know while my body physically rested. So now once I start growing [00:53:00] mentally, I know how he’s call us bitches immensely.

I know all the plays, I know all the stuff that, the difference and stuff like that. So now it’s like, okay, now it’s time to pitch. So it’s, it’s, it’s been a real, real good process as far as that, but there’s, there’s a few of us that are doing that. 

Dan Blewett: [00:53:17] Gotcha. And then what about, what are your workouts look like?

I mean, I’m sure is conditioning difficult compared to some of the stuff you did in the military? Or is it all kind of a, a cake walk with some of the tough military days? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:53:30] Oh yeah. So did you get that a lot is like you guys do that in military, like. Yeah. I mean, there’s, there’s the equal amount of suck is, you know, in our six 45 lifts as there was, you know, at our five 30 lifts and runs in the Marines, you know?

So like I kinda, you know, kind of came up the phrase of embracing the suck, like six 45 legs is not fun. Like, Nope. Like I don’t, I don’t wake up and like, yay. Like, let’s go one with a lot of weight on her back. Cause I suck at it and it’s like, [00:54:00] You know, so basically I just embrace it and kind of just have fun with it, but like, you know, we, we have a pretty good, we have a really good weight lifting program.

Uh, coach feral does a great job. Um, do all that. Um, forays, I did it today. Did it yesterday. We did conditioning on Mondays. Um, but yeah, you are right when I got here, we ran two miles for time. So that was. Oh, interesting. I was the first time since like the Marines I ran, you know, for time. So that was fun.

And then, you know, we kind of rolled and run into it and now we’re on our it’s called football lists, which are more intense on out at the fall. Season’s over. So it’s, I’m getting a lot stronger. Uh, definitely getting a lot more mobile. I came in at like two 28 Oh eight, two 13 right now. So it’s been, it’s been a good, it’s been a good little journey.

Dan Blewett: [00:54:47] And how tall are you? Just for reference 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:54:49] 63. Okay. 

Dan Blewett: [00:54:51] So you’re a tall, tall dude. 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:54:53] Oh yeah. And then, you know, every single day I work with the trainers too. So like Pat, like our it’s, our trainers, Pat and [00:55:00] Travis, and like that, I spend more time with them than anybody. And thank God I have a sense of humor.

Otherwise I’d be, I’d be so bad. It’d be like, it’d be awkward. It’d be, it’d be stuff had 

Bobby Stevens: [00:55:12] what’s the, as far as the strength program, how 

Dan Blewett: [00:55:15] many days a week is it? 

Bobby Stevens: [00:55:16] You know, how often are you guys actually doing, you know, outside supplemental baseball workouts? 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:55:23] Um, so right now it’s a little different, cause we’re, we’re doing it’s it’s, you know, individual time right now.

So like what we lift four days a week. Um, so it’s, it’s good. You know, we do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays off Thursday, Fridays. Um, and it’s good. I mean, every day is different and you kind of like to push ourselves on Fridays and Mondays a lot. Um, yeah, we push yourself every day, but it’s just, it’s just different kind of, you know, it’s there like days, like more, you know, Friday and Monday and it’s, it’s a good time watching everybody lift and get excited and watching kids.

You know, get stronger and get lifts. They couldn’t do it’s. It’s a lot of fun. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:55:56] Is that different than what you’re used to, [00:56:00] maybe in the Marine, like to, as far as working out, is it not enough? Is it more, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:56:05] no. Yeah. So it’s a lot different in the Marines. We were in Iran, so many miles in the Marines that I’ll never get back.

So it’s like, it’s, it’s like all we did, it felt like it’s all we did was run. Um, so the workouts are way different here. We’re, we’re, everybody’s built in differently too as well. Um, you know, for me, my, you know, the move better and kind of feel like that’s why, you know, a little bit of a, you know, body comp change, just kind of really trying to get more explosive and loot and move a little faster.

For me. So it’s like, you know, it’s just a lot of, it’s just, it is very different and it’s different than the junior college. You know, you think about junior college, you’re not getting the kid who’s already developed enough to go to a place like, Whoa. So you get to build strength. So, you know, you do a lot of barbell training.

Do you do a lot of training to build that general strength already? But here it’s like a lot of guys already have that. Like I get out lifted by 18 year olds and I’m like, okay, like [00:57:00] you’re a little beast, but you know, It’s fine. So I get it. It doesn’t bother me for that, for that it’s the, as far as that, but like, you know, everybody’s kind of like doing different things and in an essence and an essence, there we go.

Dan Blewett: [00:57:14] Gotcha. Um, how have you, uh, adapted to the schoolwork there? So I know we touched on your major and Spanish, but you know, is, uh, from being in the military so long, Is getting your schoolwork done and crying through it. Is that a fun experience? Is it neutral? How do you find your, your schoolwork there 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:57:36] it’s hit or miss it’s like, you know, it’s one of those things where it’s, you know, if you think, if you, if he asked anybody who was over 27, what they’d feel like if they’re doing homework at age 27, it’s, you know, they’d be like, okay, like it’s, it’s definitely, at times it’s like repetitive.

But like actually this year, like I have like really good instructors and it’s like all online, but it’s like 

Dan Blewett: [00:57:57] everybody teach, they call them teachers. 

[00:58:00] Anthony Silkwood: [00:58:00] Right. 

Dan Blewett: [00:58:00] And professors, 

Anthony Silkwood: [00:58:02] professors. Yeah. Don’t you email them and they’ll say I’m professor in front of their name. They’ll, they’ll let you know. But like, you know, it’s, it’s one of those things where it’s, it’s, it’s really cool because they kind of embrace it.

Like we’re not used to this either. You’re not used to this. Like let’s kind of get through it together type thing. And it’s like, and it’s really cool to me because, you know, I got a lot. I had an online class before and it’s like, teachers are strict savages. They’re like, you know, I never have to see you.

So guess what? You’re not going to get a good grade. Right. They’re like, no, I’m sorry. That’s a C. And then like in real life, it’s like, you can like, just talk to them. And it’s like going to classes half the battle. So it’s like, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s just a little different, but like, I actually, I enjoy it here.

Um, I’m in 16 credits, you know, I’m going to be pumping out my grades or pumping out my credits here pretty quickly. So. Yeah, I’m looking at graduating next summer. So it’s been a good time. 

Dan Blewett: [00:58:55] Yeah, I think, uh, so my brother-in-law is ex military. He’s [00:59:00] currently going back to school now, so I’ve witnessed some of that process.

He’s not, uh, not a huge, huge fan of it. Um, and I obviously like Bobby, did you go back and finish your degree or did you graduate with your, I agree. I don’t know. I 

Bobby Stevens: [00:59:13] went back so I can relate a little bit being like the older guy 

Dan Blewett: [00:59:16] I wasn’t playing. 

Bobby Stevens: [00:59:18] I wasn’t playing. So it’s a little different, but kind of how you said, you know, you’re sitting in class and there’s people, you know, born in 2002.

That was, that was, you know, I was sitting in not, uh, in undergrad classes and I was 24 years old. So it’s, I mean, it’s not, I wasn’t like crazy off the scale, but I was taking classes that I probably should have taken when I was a freshmen. So I’m sitting there with people. You know, six, six years, seven years younger than me looking around thinking, why am I even sitting in this class?

And I think it’d probably be a little different if I was just online. Like a lot of people do the online, they go back, they get there, they finish their degree. They get their master’s online. Right. Had to be [01:00:00] in, you know, this was 2011. So I’m happy to be in, in school, like sitting in the classroom. You know, communicating with I’m in groups and they’re trying to coordinate, they’re trying, they’re trying to coordinate around like their, you know, their sorority 

Dan Blewett: [01:00:14] functions and 

Bobby Stevens: [01:00:15] they’re, you know, they’ve got socials coming up and I’m like, I’ve got work later.

Anthony Silkwood: [01:00:22] Yeah. We do this now a group group projects are miserable, especially in math. It’s like, when are you available? Well, I’m not available from six 45 to 9:00 AM. And then I have practice from like, You know, one to whatever. So it’s like anytime after that and it’s like, okay, nevermind. I guess 

Bobby Stevens: [01:00:41] the, there really, there is a ton of, especially in a big time, you know, you’re at a major university with, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:00:46] you know, 

Bobby Stevens: [01:00:48] a lot of goals.

The program’s got a lot of goals, but. Even at, I went to Northern Illinois. I mean, Dan and I went to mid-major schools that the amount of time you spend, 

Dan Blewett: [01:00:56] I did not go to a mid-major. I went to a low division one.

[01:01:00] Bobby Stevens: [01:01:02] I mean, you just, the amount of time it consumes weekly 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:01:05] and it’s not 

Bobby Stevens: [01:01:06] even necessarily, you know, all spent that practice. It’s spent a study. You 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:01:11] guys have study tables. Do you have study table hours? I do not. I do not. Okay. You’ve got 

Dan Blewett: [01:01:17] kind of, it’s usually like, I didn’t 

Bobby Stevens: [01:01:19] have him after my first semester, but some guys bad grades had 10 hours a week.

I wouldn’t even know. How do you set aside 10 hours to go sit somewhere. Yeah, just to study it’s, it’s outrageous 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:01:32] even study it. And it’s like homework that some people don’t even have. 

Bobby Stevens: [01:01:35] Right. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:01:36] Like they’re telling you to work on stuff, 

Bobby Stevens: [01:01:38] but I mean, we all know there’s certain weeks where there’s nothing like there’s no reason to be sitting there for 10 hours.

Anthony Silkwood: [01:01:44] Yeah, 

Dan Blewett: [01:01:44] plus, you’re just going to procrastinate and write all your papers on the bus and the night before they’re due, like that’s what college is. It’s well, it’s just Mark disrupts. It disrupts that flow, you know? 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:01:54] Yeah. You cannot procrastinate. They make you do it. Where’d you go to school, Dan, 

Dan Blewett: [01:01:58] you UNBC, Maryland.

[01:02:00] Baltimore County. Okay. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:02:01] Like the Bulldogs, right? 

Dan Blewett: [01:02:03] Retrievers, much less formidable, a dog, dog breed. Some 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:02:09] would call it 

Dan Blewett: [01:02:10] the crown jewel of the, uh, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:02:12] Mid Atlantic. 

Dan Blewett: [01:02:13] Well, they finally changed their logo a couple of years ago to like, it looks kinda like air, but when I got there, we got these, we would use our heavy jackets for two years.

We’re getting new ones. And we had just gotten the old styles the second year. So I got this heavy jacket that had like the old school, like stripes. It was like the. A collar, not a hoodie button up nose zipper. And I had this huge retriever on the front with golden flowing locks. Like it was, it looked like it looked like Fabio, like this, like this dog on the front.

And I was like, all right. I mean, I’m happy to be here. Like I’m not complaining, but this is the most ridiculous, like retriever shield I’ve ever seen. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:02:53] It’s like, who made this? 

Bobby Stevens: [01:02:54] That’s that old school? Uh, it said old school Letterman’s jacket. He got out of there. 

[01:03:00] Dan Blewett: [01:02:59] Yeah, well, let’s, let’s talk a little bit about gear, cause I know it’s, I think it’s rare that we’ll have a, uh, active college baseball player on our program.

So everyone’s always curious about the cool stuff. Right? Tell us about the ballpark, about the locker room, about the gear you get about the foods you eat. There’s lots of really interesting stuff. Like Louisville is a well-to-do program. So like what are some of the cool creature comforts that you guys get there as players?

Anthony Silkwood: [01:03:25] Um, so like the biggest ones. I think the biggest one that I see, I enjoy things differently than like the average, like 18 year old kid. So it’s like, I enjoy having access to athletic trainers all the time. So it’s like, okay, I’m a little tight. My back. I rolled out of the cross ball and then they’ll get in.

They’ll do soft tissue stuff. Like to me, I love that. That’s my favorite part about it. Hm. Um, so like, that’s like, as you guys know that that’s not always the case. 

Dan Blewett: [01:03:52] Yeah, no, one’s massaging my old rec 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:03:54] arm, so right. Yeah. It’s never usually the case. Usually you get a little buddy and they get old, you know, one [01:04:00] of those little rollers and stick it in, you know, like on your back and stuff like that.

But like, so that’s my favorite thing. Um, but like as far as, you know, like I said, we have our media day next week. Um, so that’ll be cool, but as far as like the, the, the field and stuff, it’s, it’s, it’s crazy. And it’s every day it’s like, it’s just like, wow, this is cool. And you go out there and you kind of look at it, you got the whole list of like all the All-Americans and you’re kind of just like looking at it, all that the field itself, the short, like the cages and stuff, the weight room, it’s all just really nice.

And like, it’s, it’s absolute blast. Normally we’d have like a Thorton’s. You know, we’d be able to go eat, you know, we get, we buy like these meal plan things for like a lunch. They go eat there. Um, but that’s not accessible because of COVID. So, you know, I get to miss out on that a little bit, but like, we still get lunches, you know, on days we practice, we get lunches and it’s usually like a burrito or like, you know, something like that, chicken wraps, um, which is nice.

And it’s like, [01:05:00] You know, it’s like, we just have a lot at our disposal. We have like, you know, like we have a nutritionist, we have a person who does like talks with our homework and who does our academic side. We have a person who does all of that. So it’s like, From going from a Juco where it’s like, you know, you’re a cowboy and like you figure it out yourself type thing.

And it’s like, here we have somebody for everything. And that to me is like, is probably the coolest thing 

Bobby Stevens: [01:05:25] to just to put into perspective colleges after practice or not 

Dan Blewett: [01:05:31] feeding the player. I was just 

Bobby Stevens: [01:05:32] burrito or a, like, that is a, that is a luxury that. Obviously the best of the best they’re going 

Dan Blewett: [01:05:38] to get burritos.

Yeah. It seems like a small thing, but I’m stupid, but yeah. Well, yeah, a lot of parents listening, don’t have a frame of reference. Like that’s not normal to get a burrito to get a burrito is not normal folk. 

Bobby Stevens: [01:05:50] Well, it’s just not normal to have all of those resources available. Like you see like the, I had a buddy that from high school that went to Florida state and, [01:06:00] you know, first talking to him on the first day he got down there, he’s like, there’s just been of batting gloves.

And you know, she, you know, guards and. Thumb guards. And I think we, in my college, we got one pair of batting gloves for the whole year, 

Dan Blewett: [01:06:12] which is, I mean, 

Bobby Stevens: [01:06:13] no one’s complaining. It’s just the different levels of like accessibility you have at certain universities. And Louisville is probably, I would say in the top of the top, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:06:24] Yeah, I had batting gloves.

So it’s like, 

Dan Blewett: [01:06:28] well, those are for keeping your hands warm when you’re sitting in the bullpen, not pitching for eight and a half. No, they’ve got winter gloves 

Bobby Stevens: [01:06:34] for that. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:06:34] Yeah. Right. And it’s like, you know, we get all, we get a lot of cool stuff too. Like that is like the hoodies and stuff like that. We get a lot of clothes and apparel and it’s it’s cool.

Bobby Stevens: [01:06:44] Well, you haven’t, you haven’t gotten to experience this. The social 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:06:47] campus life, 

Bobby Stevens: [01:06:48] but you have to wear something that tells what team you’re on. Otherwise, how else would anybody know? You have to wear something that says Louisville, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:06:55] baseball. 

Bobby Stevens: [01:06:56] Yeah. And everybody knows. Everybody knows 

[01:07:00] Anthony Silkwood: [01:07:00] backpacks with like the little Ninja turtles running around here with believable baseball in the back of it.

It’s great. 

Dan Blewett: [01:07:06] But, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:07:07] you 

Dan Blewett: [01:07:07] know, people like we’ve been talking about, people don’t know the finances of college baseball, but if you’re spending 200, 250 bucks feeding your team after practice, which seems like a very normal, reasonable thing to do, right. That’s five grand a month. Like that’s not small amount of money.

And then you practice that that’s based on 20 practices a month and there’s probably more than that. So then you extrapolate that out. You know, all fall all winter, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:07:32] that’s 20, 

Dan Blewett: [01:07:33] $25,000. Like they just don’t snap. 

Bobby Stevens: [01:07:37] That’s not baseball 

Dan Blewett: [01:07:38] budget for college. No, 

Bobby Stevens: [01:07:40] at least the colleges that Dan and I have been to.

Anthony Silkwood: [01:07:43] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me get like, stuff like that. I’ll get a glove. Like I get, we all get custom gloves and like, these are things that like in the shoe. I it’s it’s, it’s crazy to me. And it’s, it’s one of the things like, I, you just can’t, I don’t take it for granted because. No, I’ve been [01:08:00] the Juco guy or like, I’ve been, you know, the guy in the Marines where it’s like, you know, it’s, you don’t get the best stuff like you don’t get, but you got to make, do with what you get.

So it’s like, it’s like people, people on the outside in like, kind of look at us as like being like a, like a white collar type thing, because of all that. But it’s like, I really feel like the mentality is so blue collar that it’s, it’s interesting. So it’s like, like a blue collar, white collar 

Bobby Stevens: [01:08:20] place.

What’s the coolest, what’s the coolest thing. That you’ve gotten that Louisville baseball that you didn’t get it junior college baseball, like what was the, what was the first thing when you walked in and you’re like, man, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:08:31] this is awesome.

I’ll tell you what, designing my brand new glove, which is all red, by the way it was, that was, that was awful that 

Dan Blewett: [01:08:44] you better keep that out of the sun there. Sunny ground ramps, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:08:47] ramps. 

Dan Blewett: [01:08:48] Yeah, I know it’s a tough color to maintain, but you’ll get another one next year. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:08:53] Yeah, 

Dan Blewett: [01:08:53] you’ll be okay. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:08:54] Yeah. I think the glove thing was, was really cool coming in, design your gloves and stuff like [01:09:00] that.

But like, you know, I think, you know, once all this stuff happens, like social media is kind of like booming, you know, as far as everything else I’ve already said that excites me, but like, You know, like all the editing’s, all the pictures and stuff like that. I think that’s gonna be a lot of fun to do as a 27 year old in a young environment.

So like, you know, I think, I think there’s just the atmosphere is like the coolest thing and it’s like, Everybody just wants to help you. And it’s, it’s a really cool feeling. It’s not like, like the baseball teams here, like, yeah, I don’t want to do their stuff. Like, like you get a lot of places, but it’s like, everybody is just excited and always wants to help you out here.

And it’s, it’s really, it’s really fun. And it’s really easy. 

Bobby Stevens: [01:09:41] What about the flip side of that? Is there something you came from Juco you thought was going to be like drastically different that has ended up being pretty much exactly the same. Cause junior college for everyone listening. I’m sure they understand is that is to your school.

You’re basically on your own for everything now you’re at four year power, five [01:10:00] power, five school. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:10:02] Yeah. I mean, I think the biggest thing is like coming from the Juco to this it’s like, you would think the game would be so much different. And like you would, you would think I be able to play the game so much different, but it’s just like, at the end of the day, when it’s time to play baseball, you play baseball.

So it’s like, it’s, it’s very similar in that aspect where at Juco it’s like, depending on who you get and depending on where you go, it’s a lot of, like, it’s just a lot of different things. And it’s like, here, it’s like, we still get a lot of instruction and still get a lot of, you know, Conversations and a lot of learning points and stuff like that.

And like, you would think it’d be like a lot different in that aspect, but it’s really the same. Like, you know, you get on the mountain, it’s like, okay, well it’s like, you hear him talk. It’s like, okay, let’s go. Like, you know, don’t, don’t let the game speed up on you. Like slow it down and like, kind of do your thing.

So it’s like, you know, everybody likes everything and when it’s time to play the game, it’s time to play the game. And that, to me, like it’s very similar. So that, um, yeah, definitely not, definitely not different. Like I would anticipate it to be, I thought I [01:11:00] expected like this crazy, like, you know, difference.

Dan Blewett: [01:11:04] Yeah. Well, I think especially, you know, some of the junior college baseball I watched in Illinois last year, like I was impressed at how big and strong those dudes were like junior college baseball, obviously there’s way bigger fluctuations in probably junior college baseball than there are in. D one baseball.

I can do one, like every, every team’s pretty big. You get, definitely get some feast or famine in Juco because the resources are so varied, but the gap I’m sure is much less, depending on what firm you come from. Like if you look at, because of the team I’m talking about is, um, Well Parklands, a big strong team.

I have a bunch of kids that I used to work with that are there right now. And I know I’ve met John, the head coach there a few times. We never really spoke that much, but he seems like a super well-regarded guy who was always super polite, respectful of my teams. Um, but like his team, some big kids and the local team, um, Uh, well, um, I’m blanking on my own [01:12:00] town’s name.

Bobby, what town did I live in? And what was the normal yeah, Heartland. Heartland. Yeah, they’re a big 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:12:07] frickin strong team. 

Dan Blewett: [01:12:09] Like you watch them and it’s like, that was not a junior college team when I was playing or even five years ago. Like there’s some strong dudes, of course, my good friend and former business partners, the strength coach there.

So he’s a piece in that, but. I mean junior college, like you wouldn’t leave, uh heartlands and go to Louisville and be like, well, these dudes are way bigger than me. Like, there’s going to be some way better athletes there for sure. Because you guys recruit some of the best. That’s probably the big difference of the athleticism and the, the little intangibles.

Right. But physicality, there’s probably not as big a difference going from junior college to D one. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:12:43] Yeah. I mean, there are, yeah, there’s definitely not as far as like, is that, you know, you see more of a difference in the freshmen. Yeah. It’s basically, that’s where the divide is. I feel like, you know, the freshmen are built differently than everybody else and that’s, that’s just because they haven’t had fears.

They’ve, you know, I don’t even [01:13:00] know when I played high school baseball, we didn’t even really, we had a little bit of a workout program, but we didn’t really have anything crazy. And it was all like, And that’s why I feel like football players are always better baseball players in high school 

Dan Blewett: [01:13:10] is because of that.

Yeah. But 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:13:12] you know, if there’s not really much of a divide from the junior college guys go into there, it’s just getting used to like the rhythm and the pace and stuff like that is like the biggest thing. But now there’s, there’s some big dudes in, Heartland’s got some big guys. Um, Parkland when I was there, we had some, we had some big guys as well, so you’re definitely right about that.

There’s definitely not that huge gap and that’s, and that’s why, that’s where, I mean, also by like the difference in like mentalities there, it’s like, you get those guys at Juco are like, no, like I’m going to become, like, I’m going to grind. I’m going to get bigger. I’m gonna get stronger. I’m going to go somewhere special.

Many. You had the guys who were like, yeah. You know, so it’s, it’s all, it’s all about that too. And that’s, that’s why you said your buddy coaches Heartland, you know, it’s, it’s probably like one of the cultures they have probably built, built. There is a, [01:14:00] you know, give everybody that kind of the keys to the castle a little bit, like you put in when you get out of it.

Dan Blewett: [01:14:07] For sure. For sure. So as we wrap up here, what, uh, advice would you give to young players out there who may be 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:14:15] so 

Dan Blewett: [01:14:16] oddly enough, because I think of my elbow surgeries in my path through independent baseball. I get emails a couple of times a year from someone who’s like, yeah, I’m in college and I haven’t played Boston’s high school, but I miss it and I want to get back into it.

And, you know, should I do this as a realistic? A lot of times I’m like, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:14:32] no, 

Dan Blewett: [01:14:33] it’s not realistic. And to be perfectly Frank, like you’re not going to get signed by a protein. Like I had some like mid twenties guy asked me that I’m like, you throw 88 and you didn’t play college baseball. And you’re like two years into your real job.

No one’s going to sign you. Why would they, there’s like a million college baseball players here as good as you. And it’s like, you missed your window. Right? So there’s that side of it because there is definitely a finite window, but then there are also people like yourself, [01:15:00] who’ve held on to their dreams, pick them back up.

And here you are like, you’re still in the hunt of course. And all of us know, you still have a shorter shelf life than other guys. Right? You get, if you get a chance in pro ball, you’re gonna have to. Rock it up there fast, just like in Louisville, like in Louisville, you’re expected to contribute right away as a junior.

Right. Not, you know, take your time, get your feet under you as a freshman. So there’s always that. But what advice would you give people who are maybe pursuing a difficult improbable dream? 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:15:35] So there’s a couple of things, you know, the first thing I’d say is, you know, you see a lot on social media now and you see, I can’t stand it and it’s.

Yeah. My first thing is like, you know, remember why you’re doing what you’re doing. You see a lot of guys. Oh, I was like Don or so-and-so slept on me. Every, everybody today is I’ve gotten slept on by somebody like, okay, cool. Like, why do you feel the need to tell [01:16:00] everybody you’ve been slept on? That’s fine.

But you got the guys who are like, you know, All the people who like, you know, didn’t think right, you could do it or this, that, and the other that’s that’s what drives me to be who I am like, this is what drives me. Everybody’s negativity is what drives me. But it’s like that if you think like that, you’re already setting yourself up for failure.

So if you’re going to like try to do something, remember why you’re doing it would be the biggest one for me. It’s because I messed up my first opportunity and I wanted to try. It’s got good. Get, try and see how good I can get it. And get everything I can that’s. So that’s why I do it. You know, everybody’s negativity, which happens all the time.

Y’all can’t believe you’re playing. I can’t, you know, you’re not you’re this you’re that you’re this or that, like, okay. Like that’s just fuel to the fire. That’s already there. So it’s like, you have to already design, like why you’re doing it and making sure that you can do it at your best of ability.

Otherwise you’re just wasting your time. Like you said, like I, baseball has been like, like I’ve changed my entire life just to make sure I gave baseball, everything that could have just to see how [01:17:00] good I can get. Um, but yeah, so you get a lot of guys who, like, who really focus on doing something just because others say they can’t, and I’m like, that’s, that’s not a healthy way to do things.

And it’s a year to set yourself up for failure. And then the other thing is, would be. You know, making sure that when you do stuff like this, that you, you, you know, you pick the right place to do it and you invest time into the right people for me, you know, I invested myself into the right people. Um, I’ve gotten close with people, you know, certain people’s opinions matters to me.

Like. You know, I could have came on here and Dan, you could have been like, you know, you shouldn’t play college baseball and I’d be like, okay, like, that’s your opinion? It’s your opinion. Like, I have no issue with that. But like, to me, it’s like the people in my circle, you know, got to like, you know, my dad and, you know, coach Waldo, you know, coach Garcia.

You know those people, what would they say about my career? Like, I’d take that to heart. So like, you know, take it, don’t [01:18:00] take everything critically from people. Take it from people who really make like, who really want the best in you and the best for you. Take that advice and just kind of go with that.

You know, that’s the biggest one is investing your time with the right people. And instead of like into like a certain program or whatnot, But that makes sense a little bit. 

Dan Blewett: [01:18:18] Yeah, no, it does. Because especially with the age of the interwebs, it’s easy for everyone to have an opinion where it’s like, I don’t, I don’t need your opinion.

I don’t care. Like I’m doing my thing. Like, you don’t have context on my life, why I’m doing this, you know, or any of that. And you have to insulate yourself somehow. And so, yeah, I think valuing some people’s opinions and not others is a way you do that. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:18:43] Oh, yeah. And then you always value someone’s you always, and people always value opinions.

You just have to select who’s. You got you. And that, to me, like, that’s, that’s a huge step to becoming anything, you know, I’m sure you guys, you guys have this podcast. There’s people who are like, nah, that podcast sucks. And it’s like, nobody cares. 

[01:19:00] Dan Blewett: [01:19:00] No, no one actually says that zero, literally zero people say that.

Anthony Silkwood: [01:19:04] Yeah. And they do say that they’re probably from Chicago and they’re probably a Cubs fan. So then there’s that. 

Bobby Stevens: [01:19:10] You’re probably right. 

Dan Blewett: [01:19:13] So like the criticism does come and I’m sure for you too, people are like, I don’t want that guy on my team. He’s 26. I don’t want that guy on my team. He’s too old, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:19:21] but 

Dan Blewett: [01:19:22] hopefully more coaches out there realize that a lot of times, especially someone with your experience.

That. Yeah, we got a good leader, a good mindset guy, like a good clubhouse guy we can drop in and trust. Like I think it’s easy after our conversation today to see that you’re a trustworthy athlete to have on your squad. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:19:41] Well, you just said it was a crazy, it’s the craziest thing too, is like going, going through the recruiting stage at my age.

Is so different because like, I’m like, okay, well I’m going to coach one day. So it’s like, I want to see how they do it. And like, listen to some of them. I’m like, like, Holy crap. I would never say that to a kid. And it makes no sense, but like, you know, yeah. [01:20:00] You’re exactly right about that. It’s completely crazy.

Dan Blewett: [01:20:05] Well, it’s definitely college baseball where there’s, there is no shelf life for you. That’s what strikes me as odd. Like in pro baseball, it makes more sense. They pass up on people by age, right. Because, and I faced this as I got older, like I was 30 and just like, just coming into my own where I was probably like developmentally like 26, but I was 30 and they have 25 year olds that can do most of the stuff that I can do.

So it’s like, We got less years out of Dan. So we’re going to take this other guy, like, that’s hard to hear, like, you don’t want that for yourself, but it’s realistic. Like, it makes some sense in college baseball, they’re getting four years out of you doesn’t matter if you’re 32 or 22, doesn’t seem like it, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:20:43] you know?

Yeah. And I, you know, I got, I got laughed out on the phone. I got asked, you know, what makes you think you can play at this level? I got told I would never play division two baseball, like I, which I didn’t, you know? So it’s like, you hear all these things and it’s like, that’s why I value your opinion. Like, I could’ve been like, Oh, well [01:21:00] so-and-so said I can’t play.

So, you know, that’s it for me. So, you know, yeah. You’re exactly right. There’s no shelf life for that. And you know, and it’s, that’s what makes it fun about it. 

Dan Blewett: [01:21:10] Well, and like you said, the end goal Louisville is win a national championship. It’s not, everyone has to get drafted. I’m sure everyone wants to get drafted there.

And they want you guys to come move on to pro ball, but your team comes first and you guys want to win. And so whatever age, whatever your ability, whatever your background, like if you can help us do it, come do it. It makes sense to me. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:21:30] Yeah, it makes sense. It makes sense to me too. That’s why it’s a place I want to be at.

I’d rather be at a place that wants to win a unit goal. That’s what all the military was, was working as a unit, be able to play at a place like this. It’s it’s very militaristic and that’s what I like about it. Probably the most is like, everybody has that one goal, you know? Just to get to the next level or just to get to the point where we win the national championship.

So it’s awesome. 

Dan Blewett: [01:21:56] So Anthony, where can people follow up with you? So [01:22:00] obviously, um, you know, I have a new favorite player to root for when the college world series comes around next year. And I’m sure a lot of people will check up on you. And I know you, uh, you said you’re gonna, so if, if people, if you check up on him right away, you won’t find them on the liberal roster today because they haven’t had media day yet, but he will be there as soon as that all goes down.

So just. Be aware of that. Um, where can people find you? Is there a social media or anything, or any way to get to check on you besides the Louisville baseball website? 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:22:27] Yeah, so like all my, like my Instagram and Twitter are the same it’s silk underscore wood five. Uh, that’s basically what I’ve always used.

Um, that’s for Twitter and Instagram. It’s I always tweet about, I tweet about like baseball military and like. Stuff like that on Twitter. So like I’m pretty, pretty active on it. Um, Instagram is more of, you know, kind of like my life. Of me and my dog. So there’s that. So it’s, you know, it’s a good time 

Dan Blewett: [01:22:56] put his, uh, handle in the show notes, so you can link and you just click right to it and follow [01:23:00] him.

So, Anthony, appreciate you coming on the show, man. This was a fun talk and you’ve got a really interesting story and you’re a, well-spoken like hardworking guy. So we appreciate your perspective here. Especially as a, as a non traditional college baseball player, who’s living out a pretty cool dream. 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:23:15] No.

Yeah. And I appreciate you guys talking to me. This has been, it’s been, you know, it’s been an actual, a path to get to this, you know, get it right. 

Bobby Stevens: [01:23:23] Logistically it wasn’t, 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:23:25] but just if 

Bobby Stevens: [01:23:26] sucked to hammer down 

Anthony Silkwood: [01:23:28] and schedule. No, it’s cool. Like I watched you guys withdrawing and you know, I really appreciate you guys taking the time to talk to me and let me come out here and talk to you guys.

Bobby Stevens: [01:23:36] Yeah, it was awesome. I appreciate you coming on. And uh, for anyone listening tune in next week, we’ll have a great guest. 

See everybody next time.