Dan and Bobby recapped the hitting showdown between Jeff Frye and Richard Schenck, talked about Barry Bond and plate discipline. Plus, Asif Shah–former pro hitter–joined the call to talk about hitting approach and much more. Follow us on Twitter – Dan, Bobby and The Show.

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EP37 Full Transcript – Morning Brushback Podcast

Dan Blewett:   well, hello. It is Friday, uh, July 3rd. And this is the morning brushback episode 37, the aftermath of our, uh, hitting Twitter episode, which if you didn’t catch, I highly recommend you go back and check that out. Robert. How are things in Chicago? Sunny.

Bobby Stevens: It looks nice outside. It’s 4th of July weekend.

Dan Blewett: Yeah.

What do you got going on with this weekend?

Bobby Stevens: Absolutely. Nothing. Youth baseball, watching a lot of youth baseball.

Dan Blewett: Oh, that’s right. That’s right. It’s baseball season, kind of it’s kind

Bobby Stevens: of baseball season. It’s kind of, we’re still not allowed to go to the beaches or have fun at places season. So.

Dan Blewett: Yeah, this is true.

Uh, so if you’re out there, thanks for listening. Um, we are live on YouTube and Twitter. So if you have a comment or you want to get in our soon to be had recap of the Jeff Fry, uh, rich conversation, um, feel free to throw something out there. I’ll be checking YouTube. Bobby will be checking, uh, the Periscope comments.

So if you see us looking down at our phones, it’s kinda what we’re doing. And then, um, we’re gonna talk a little bit about college baseball today. I had an interesting, like little just brief tweaked conversation about D three draft picks, which I think is worth mentioning. Uh, we’re also seeing on at high, fast balls and we got some other stuff on the agenda today, but first Bob, since my 4th of July plans are there quick, I’m just going to see my family for the first time in awhile.

But, uh, which is great, but let’s go to the recap of our previous. Podcast. What are your takeaways before I give you mine?

Bobby Stevens: I thought, well, first of all, everyone on Twitter is like, this isn’t, this isn’t a bad debate. It wasn’t a debate. It was a hitting discussion. And it was two guys who have two totally different views on hitting.

So if you took it as like a, as a debates, you know, that expert summit type debate that Dan won a couple of weeks ago. Where you’re given a question and you have to stay on point and, and are you your points? Like, that’s never what it was going to be, because if we did that and there was mechanics, rich had everything lined up.

And if we were doing approach, Jeff, Jeff had, uh, his side of approach. So it was never, it was never a debate. It was just a hitting discussion. That being said, the discussion got a little heated or really. With a personal person shots. Um, I don’t know. It’s tough to, it’s tough to pinpoint takeaways. I mean, I think they both

Dan Blewett: kind

of

Bobby Stevens: a blended out at the end state in their lane, uh, about what they like to talk about, which is mechanics were rich and, uh, just approach and kind of.

I don’t know if it’s all approach, but mindset and just how you play the game on Jeff’s side.

Dan Blewett: Yeah. So, uh, if you weren’t in, in the aftermath on Twitter, there was just a, like a community of conversation. Like 200 new people followed us. Uh, it was, it was really interesting. And the vast majority of the comments were just like about it, not really about Bobby or I there’s a lot of thankful comments, which was nice.

No, they thought we did a good job, whatever. And then there were a handful of people who said that we did a terrible job moderating. Uh, one idiot said that I had an agenda when I asked my Barry bonds comment, which is just baffling as like an agenda. And then he said, I should have been more impartial as a moderator.

It’s like, this is my podcast. You idiot. I’m, I’m moderating a conversation between two people that hate each other. So you could say, like, I’ve said that I’m the moderator, but it’s my podcasts. I can say whatever I want, anytime I want, I can have it all be agendas. What does that even mean? The agendas like this idiot cells, a T cells batting tees.

He’s looking at a company, which if you, if you had a product, if you had a product, Oh, I don’t hate anyone. Um, he’s just a very dumb human, but if you’re selling a product, maybe just like clean up your, uh, your act on your social media page, like saying very dumb things. It seems like not the way to go. Um, but anyway, so he’s like, Oh, he’s got an, a hidden agenda.

What agenda? Like what, what does that even mean to get Barry bonds like into the presidency? Like what does it even mean you, I was trying to, I was trying to progress, I think. I mean, and if you listen to the conversation like Barry bonds is amazing. I have like Barry bonds is incredible. My point was that Barry bonds was not incredible because of his swing hitters are not swings.

Hitters are hitters. If you watch Barry bonds. Sure. Maybe he has a little more time to wait and identify a pitch, but it’s not that much more time than everyone else, like come on. And they’re all big leaguers. You’re acting like he’s got another half a second. And that even then that doesn’t tell you to not swing at a slider in the dirt, like your swing.

Doesn’t tell you that you have a little more time, but it doesn’t tell you it’s still experience. I mean, am I wrong?

Bobby Stevens: No, you’re not wrong. I mean,

Dan Blewett: it is make these decisions. You use your brain. You’re not just an autonomous swinging robot. That’s just not how this works.

Bobby Stevens: It’s just hard to quantify. It’s hard to quantify it.

Dan Blewett: How, which rich had zero as far as quantifying it.

Bobby Stevens: And that’s where you’re getting bashed right on Twitter. The asking them to quantify something. That’s probably. I don’t know if it’s on.

Dan Blewett: Yeah. So when

Bobby Stevens: you can have an opinion on it, right? Like if I think that Barry bonds a swing is 50% of the reason he’s very bonds, like, say it back

Dan Blewett: it up.

How are you going to back that up? Yeah. It’s just your opinion.

Bobby Stevens: You can back it up, but it’s, I can

Dan Blewett: also, it’s just your opinion. And if you don’t like me pushing back on your opinion, that’s really not well supported then. Okay. Like you cry about it, which is what he did. Cause after Twitter, after the show, he blocked me on Twitter and then started calling me a moron on his Twitter page.

Without giving. We know I can’t respond to it, which I didn’t need to respond. I responded once when the morning brushed back and just said, Hey, grow up. Um, you know, sorry, you got challenged on a podcast. Like, you know, whatever. Uh, it’s just baffling. I mean, like, this is just the fascinating thing. And what’s really interesting is that both of them go back and forth angrily at each other on the web.

Jeff attacks people on the web on Twitter, um, as, as rich. So like, You know, they want to like exchange like hate towards each other. Fine. I should’ve, I should’ve stopped the Judy stuff earlier. I didn’t know. He had had that clown photo of Jeff, which was just embarrassing for rich. Uh, and just like just, uh it’s what a small person would do, you know, showing up with a clown photo of, of your counterpart.

But, uh, you know, aside from all that, like, it was just such a weird spectacle and Jeff, like I liked Jeff personally. I don’t agree with the way he does things on Twitter, but like, Jeff’s always been super respectful of me and you. And like, like I could, I could hang out at a bar with Jeff, have some beers talk baseball, and we can be friends for sure.

Rich as like the worst social skills of a human eye that I know. So, I mean, it’s, it’s baffling and it was just such a strange thing. And what’s like in the aftermath, it was like, we were we’re like TV, political pundits. Just like people in all directions, like kind of, not really coming at us that much, but coming at us a little when they didn’t like, I guess what happened, which is just strange.

It was

Bobby Stevens: good. It was good prep for me. When I run for mayor,

Dan Blewett: what was it though?

Bobby Stevens: Duck and dive those, those shots on Twitter.

Dan Blewett: Did you adequately defend me from all the people?

Bobby Stevens: You know,

Dan Blewett: really defend me the

Bobby Stevens: balls I’m damned blew it, texted me and said, he’s like have my back. And I did. And I responded, yes, I did go with my feet.

My feet is all backing. I’m pro damn blew

Dan Blewett: it. One guy pride yourself on being an attack dog, but I feel like you went pretty soft defending your cohost

Bobby Stevens: I’ll call I’ll log on today and I’ll call everyone an ass hat.

Dan Blewett: I mean, I don’t doubt that. Um,

Bobby Stevens: but you’re right. It was, it was just, I mean, it’s part of the brand too.

I think with like rich is definitely has a brand of. Going after swings going after people on Twitter, like forcing them to defend, you know, what, whatever they’re saying about his teachings or their teachings or whatever, whatever, what have you. But it’s, it was, it was never going to be the conversation that everybody wanted, where.

Rich talked about his mechanical thoughts and then Jeff responded on why it was wrong because Jeff admittedly didn’t, he’s like, I don’t know what rich teaches. I just see the drills and we never did that, that stuff. And I’m not going to, and in Jeff’s opinion, he’s like, well, I’m not going to push something like that to,

Dan Blewett: to followers or

Bobby Stevens: people and say that’s real, real baseball.

Cause we didn’t do that in his, his lifestyle, his life of real baseball. And professional baseball, but it was never going to be that discussion about mechanics. Like Jeff was never going to give him a mechanical breakdown of any of the best hitters in baseball or what they’re doing. Cause that’s not what he does.

He taught, like he, he talked about his own experience hitting in professional baseball, which was mainly

Dan Blewett: approach. Mainly

Bobby Stevens: like confident mindset and being a, be a

Dan Blewett: competitor. So the conversation was never

Bobby Stevens: on the same point. Like it was never on the same level, they were discussing two different things the whole time.

Dan Blewett: Yeah. Which was, which was the challenge of it. And people, I mean the Periscope and the YouTube comments were just like a constant flow of people just discussing, hitting and asking us to try to like get certain. And we tried really hard to get, Hey Jeff, what hitting Joe’s should kids do? And he just doesn’t have them, which you and I both knew, like this was, they weren’t going to, like you said, they weren’t gonna argue the same thing.

So yeah.

Bobby Stevens: I mean, you can criticize me all you want. I could, I could care less on Twitter, uh, about that stuff moderating. I’m not a professional moderator by

Dan Blewett: any stretch. I’m not a professional interview. Like, well, here’s the other thing that was funny about this is I don’t really have an opinion on Rich’s hitting.

I listened the first time he was on our show, I was like, Oh, that’s interesting. Like, I see, like I see, like, I kind of get what you, what you’re saying. Like, I don’t have any pushback on that. Really. It just like the bonds thing. It’s like, I don’t, like, I don’t know how, like you can’t separate bonds is what he did on the field from his swing.

Like that’s, what’s hard to say, you know, it does Mike trout have the best swing ever, just because he was the best player ever. I don’t think those two exactly go together. And that was kinda my point. But like, as far as what rich, rich teaches, I don’t have an opinion. Like that was what was so weird. It’s like, I don’t care.

I don’t care. You teach, like, not at all. I don’t think it’s wrong. Like, I didn’t, that’s not any of it. Like he, like when I asked him to slow it down and his tweet later was he’s he, he, Dan denied that. I’m like, I don’t know. I asked you to slow it down because the video was going one speed. But you could make it half that speed and stop it and be like, Hey, this is the point I’m talking about.

This is the point where there were the two swings are different. That was what I was asking him to do. But he’s like, no, if you don’t see it, then you don’t get it. It’s like, well, you could slow down and help, but okay. That’s rude and weird. But, and I don’t have an opinion. I’m not a denier of any hitting.

I don’t, I don’t care about hitting. I just was like, here, I was just like here for the, you know, whatever. I was just in the same parking lot. Do you guys, that’s the thing too? It’s

Bobby Stevens: like, you don’t. You’re you’re the audience essentially. Like I understand.

Dan Blewett: Yeah. I’m just saying as if I have some agenda, like I have no agenda,

Bobby Stevens: but that’s the thing as you were, you’re the audience of the 95% of how I, I tossed in at the end of the podcast where there’s Twitter is mainly parents that want to help their kids or players that are trying to figure it out for themselves and help

Dan Blewett: themselves.

So not as a, not a, not a hitting guy. If something’s not clear to me, it’s certainly not clear to many other people. Like I’ve been in the game a long time and I understand what a good swing looks like. And I understand this stuff. I certainly don’t try or can’t teach one, but like, I understand a lot about baseball and if I don’t understand something.

There’s definitely 13 year olds that don’t understand it. So I was trying to clarify for them, I feel like that was my role. Um, but apparently that’s a really offensive thing to do to ask someone to slow the video down. So,

Bobby Stevens: I mean, yeah, just the moderating stuff in general. It’s like, what do you want us to ask when it’s

Dan Blewett: my podcast, it’s my podcast.

And I can ask what I want. That’s my song.

Bobby Stevens: People don’t there. Neither one of them were answering. The same question. So we con I mean,

Dan Blewett: there was, and we tried to get, and we tried to get them to, it was just like an, and I don’t know. I mean, it was just really thought at

Bobby Stevens: the end, when I, when I was trying to explain, like, there needs to be an overlap of what they both talk about, that we’d get some kind of common ground or not, or like, or like a, maybe like a Frank Thomas, I threw it to crack.

And Frank Thomas being in a blue Jays Jersey, I thought we’d get a little, like. Like, Hey, kumbaya moments and we didn’t have,

Dan Blewett: and I get Rich’s point. Rich’s like, look, I don’t teach approach. Totally. Like, that’s totally fine. You only choose the swing. And Richard’s like, I don’t teach approach. So I’m not gonna talk about it also like Jeff, you don’t really teach like a process for the swing.

So why are you like bashing my process? That was, I think Richard’s overall point. Which I don’t like that’s valid. Right. It just came off as

Bobby Stevens: differently. Like,

Dan Blewett: yeah, because he’s, he’s an angry, he’s a really angry person. So that’s why, but, um, anyway, it was a, it was interesting. So am I, are you glad that we did it?

Oh, I

Bobby Stevens: would do it again.

Dan Blewett: Why?

Bobby Stevens: I think we should do it every Tuesday, honestly. Just to see the fireworks. I mean, it was, you know, it’s good because

Dan Blewett: the thing is, it didn’t need to have, it didn’t have fireworks and it didn’t need to have fireworks, like the only fireworks quote unquote, or were they just like once in a while, took jabs at each other, which they weren’t really, they didn’t, they didn’t really contribute anything to the conversation.

Like it could have existed without them doing that. Just the same.

Bobby Stevens: The disappointing part was. I think at the end, they kind of agreed that there needs to be an overlap of someone teaching a kid how to swing approach. And that’s what a lot of myself included. And I said this, if you’re, if you’re teaching youth players, you can’t like youth players can’t have a swing coach who only teach them the swing.

And then they go to an approach coach and somebody that teaches them, like how to be a mentally tougher, a good baseball player. Like that guy has one in the same, whether he knows both of those things or not. So can we give both, can we give both sides to the people that are listening or two to the instructors and parents so they can help their kid and, you know, fix them a little bit mechanically and kind of give them an idea on what to do when he’s actually in the box.

Like what the swing at, you know, What kind of approach your truck. You’re, you’re what you’re trying to do with the baseball. Like I think they both agree that you need, you probably need maybe rich agrees more than Jeff does that you need both. I think Jeff is more of your swing as your swing and like, let’s make it work, but you need, like, you can’t just stand up there and not swing the bat.

So you need to have some kind of a swing. I mean, he does reference Hunter Pence has having like a really ugly. Albeit successful, productive. Right?

Dan Blewett: Um, I don’t know. Depends is great. He’s like Woody, that was my comment during the show. He’s like Woody from toy story. Just like the way he runs. It’s like, howdy, howdy.

Howdy. And he’s just so good at baseball. Like he’s a great example of not, I mean, with hitting it’s weird because I feel like hitters stances are, are less different than pitchers. Like if you look at pictures and this was, this was the one of their points. Um, I think it was Rich’s was like when, when I go through an evaluation with kids, I always, I like preface it by saying, Hey, like, and I actually used cars, which was funny that rich used the car analogy, which I thought was good.

Um, like, Hey, you know, every car has what they will have brakes. They’ll have engines, they’ll have tires, right. But they look different, right? So we’re, as we go through your mechanics, I’m gonna like bring up some major leaguers and we’re going to compare sort of, but you don’t have to look like the major leaguers.

You just have to do the big things. Like, again, all cars have engines, all cars have tires, you have to do the big things, right. That every major leaguer does, and then you can look different than them. Right. I think there’s more variability in pitching mechanics probably then, and then swing mechanics.

Cause the swing motion is a so short. Like you lift your leg up, you put it back down. And then the way major league your swing is all pretty similar, right? So, but with pitching, there’s a lot more you’re on one leg longer. You’re in the air longer. There’s a lot more places for arms and legs to go. And a more variability and Hunter pen seems like one who has more extremities flying than others.

Whereas you see, do you see more pitchers who I think are. As arms and legs, E as Hunter Pence are, rather than there’s not as many, a hundred fences. No,

Bobby Stevens: we got a on Periscope offset jumps in what’s up. I said, he says, neither one of them had any interests. Isn’t having a dialogue regardless of how much you and I wanted to.

And I don’t think it was that. I think it just, I don’t think either one of them was going to back down, especially after Jeff tried to extend like an olive branch to him in the early. And he’s like, Hey, like, I’m not going to call you names.

Dan Blewett: Yeah. And

Bobby Stevens: enriched it rich wasn’t that having it? So I think after that point, there was absolutely no dialogue is going to be had.

Um, and then Pat Patty Maz, it’s up, Patty actually tweeted at us. Uh, afterwards I talked to him a few times. He said, yo, you said young age, kids need a good swing and approach of swinging to do damage and swinging at a good pitch. Like agreed. That the thing is like, what, so how do you get like a little kid or your 10 year old son to have a good swing?

Enrich was pulling up video and he’s showing, you know, what he believes are the absolutes of the swing, but not. You know, I don’t know. I don’t know if I can give that to a 10 year old in that same verbiage and help him. I feel like I would just confuse him much. Like he was confusing either the listeners or Dan or, or anybody that

Dan Blewett: doesn’t have a hitting background.

I was like, well, you need to get a bat and feel it. And I’m like, I’m in a podcast right now. If I can

Bobby Stevens: just stand up,

Dan Blewett: just try, just try to help me like understand digitally. Cause I’m not going to go get a bat right now. I’m doing a podcast.

Bobby Stevens: Yeah. But Pat, Pat, his. His comment is correct. Like, yeah, they need to just try and swing, hit the ball hard, like try and hit line drives and then always, you know, get a strike, get a good pitch to hit.

And it’s funny that he says that because it’s always interesting when I come across a young kid, um, who’s got like good plate discipline. Like he has a good eye,

Dan Blewett: which is, I don’t know how

Bobby Stevens: you, I mean, other than being in the box and seeing thousands of pitches from a youth level, having a good eye as like a.

Is a rare thing. I think when you’re a little kid, like you usually just swing at something you can probably reach.

Dan Blewett: So it’s

Bobby Stevens: all interesting to me when I see kids like that.

Dan Blewett: Well, I feel like with this conversation of. People were, some people were trying to say that your swing is plate discipline, which is just absolutely false.

How are we do know when you have a terrible swing, especially as a young kid, you have to commit. You’re like you, your weight, it’s just really early. You commit to swinging way sooner than someone with a good swing. Like we know that, right? However, that’s not to say that you have a good swing. You can’t just wave at a slider in the dirt.

Right. Or you just swing at a pitch is three inches off the plate. That’s still, there’s still a conscious decision of this is a good pitch for me to swing at. Or this is a bad pitch for me to swing at that is not tied to your swing. That is a mental, that is a, a logical decision that you make the pitch leaves their hand.

You’re saying, is this a fastball? Yes. No, if it’s no, what is it? It’s is it a slider? Yes. No. Okay. No. Is it a change up? Yes, it’s a change up, I think based on the spin, because I’ve seen 11,000 changes in my career. This looks like a change of your body. Music has changed, then you say, okay, what’s the trajectory.

This is physics. Your brain is doing. What’s the trajectory I’ve seen 11,000 change ups. Does this change up appear to be going into the strike zone? Okay. Yes or no. The answer is yes. Is it going into the outside part of the inside part or the middle part? I’m not outside. Okay. So middle or inside. Do I want to swing at it?

Is it going to be high enough is going to be like all these questions. They flow down Hill and it’s like logical chart essentially in your brain. And so you finally say, yes, it’s go time. We’re going to swing at this pitch. Because I think it’s going to be here and now my swing goes and I’m gonna put my barrel there.

So certainly if you commit your swing too early, like you can’t lay off certain stuff, but at the same time, your swing is a physical thing. It is not plate discipline. It’s a part of plate discipline plan, but a small one, because you could absolutely have a wonderful swing. You give Barry bonds, his swing to a 12 year old.

He’s still gonna wave at tons of pitches in the dirt and swing and pitches at his eyeballs. Right. That’s still going to happen. Whereas the opposite is true. If you gave a 12 year old swing to Barry bonds, he’s still gonna take pitches that are balls, and he’s still only going to swing at pitches that are pitches he can drive.

Right? Right. You could give, you can be a very Bond’s anyone else’s swing and he would still, he would still, he would still have his own pitch recognition, his own experience, his own plate discipline. He just would have a little, he’d be a little bit handicapped because his swing would hold him back a little bit.

Right? You can’t, you can’t just say the plate discipline is your swing. It gives you more time, which gives you a little more room to make better decisions, but that’s just part of it. You still have to be, to make good decisions. Like why do some kids have terrible plate discipline? I don’t know. I mean, you see lots of young players in the minor leagues.

It just like wave at all sorts of stuff. Right. They get hit a ball, a freaking mile. But it’s not to say that it’s their decision making is poor and their pitch recognition is poor.

Bobby Stevens: It’s definitely different with youth and, and pro guys that you’re talking about because, um, youth, I feel like youth players just don’t see enough pitching period.

I mean, I can even reference back to like our winter practices inside of Chicago. I mean, we’re, we’re doing a lot of like, we’re flips T work machine work, but the, what they’re getting the least is probably seeing somebody just throw over the top at them. Like they’re like they’re being pitched to, um, and that’s, and that’s not to say that they need someone to throw full on batting practice to them all the time.

But I mean, we played when I was younger, we played a lot of like Parkland lob. Well, you know, you go to the park, you play, you know, Guys run over the top

Dan Blewett: lob ball

Bobby Stevens: and see how far you can hit it

Dan Blewett: or wiffle ball.

Bobby Stevens: I mean, those games, it’s, it’s very like it’s mimicking actual game and you’re always seeing someone throw over the top.

Now we just don’t do enough of it. Um, and it’s to your point about the, like a minor leaguer, that’s got a great swing, but he’s waving at a lot of stuff. That’s I mean, there’s a lot of, uh, uh, somebody on a Periscope Murdock says. Plate plate discipline comes down to confidence. Um, a hundred percent. I mean,

Dan Blewett: confidence.

I mean, I don’t think, I don’t think confidence is a make choices for you. I get that when you’re confident. You will maybe attack pitches better. And you know, being aggressive on either side of the ball is a good thing, but confidence doesn’t make the decisions

Bobby Stevens: will definitely help. I know what he’s talking about,

Dan Blewett: where it’s the confidence

Bobby Stevens: of like maybe when you see a pitch

Dan Blewett: that you think is a ball, you’re

Bobby Stevens: not, you’re not going to panic that you’re wrong.

Dan Blewett: Necessarily. Oh, and I had a kid on my team last year. He was, he was afraid of swing the bat. I mean, he would walk a lot, but it’s like, Hey dude, we need, we like, we’ve learned a lot the second and third and two outs, like, I need you to swing. I don’t want you to walk. And he was just like afraid to swing.

And I think, cause I think he was afraid to strike out or if he swung he’d, you know, like it was, he was looking for such a perfect pitch that he was afraid to swing essentially. So I get that, like I get the, where comments comes in, but convenance isn’t the. It’s not the machine. That’s making these decisions of why someone has like, why Kevin eucalyps was so good at identifying what he could swing on, what he couldn’t and walking and all that stuff.

Bobby Stevens: Yeah. Patty says a response to Danny says the younger player will be light years ahead, light years better with bonds, a swing. Um, he said if a small part is underestimating it and I, I don’t know if it’s underestimating it. I just think that if you. If I’m teaching a kid, who’s got what I think is a really good mechanical swing.

Let’s say he’s got bonds, a swing. I can basically spend all my time with him just hitting instead of trying to correct all his flaws, which will in turn, make him a better, a better hitter.

Dan Blewett: Um,

Bobby Stevens: so I don’t know if, I mean putting a percentage, a small part of the part. If

Dan Blewett: he had, I’m not advocating, I’m not advocating for like anything there.

I’m just saying like, when you go to the major leagues, All those guys have really, really like world-class swings. That’s what they are. They’re major leaguers. Right? And to say bonds, a swing is so much better than everyone else is. I just disagree. His swings, maybe 4% better than someone else’s a small percentage, better in someone else’s.

But Barry bonds, the hitter is just better than everyone else. And his swing changed over the years. Didn’t it? It wasn’t the same swing for his whole 20 year career. Was it? And he was still pretty darn good. His whole, his whole way similar

Bobby Stevens: he’s had, I mean, he had the same, pretty much swing. I feel like his whole career, his body changed and that helped definitely, um, which might come down to more of a confidence thing.

Cause you always hit home runs like he didn’t hit home runs, but the ability to hit home runs with maybe a

Dan Blewett: little bit louder. We’ve got to guess

Bobby Stevens: who is it?

Dan Blewett: Hark. Awesome. Coming on. So for those of you listening, uh, Austin was on our show about a month ago and he’s a former pro hitter. Um, he’s a coach in Cincinnati and you were in the Twitter melee.

How you doing, sir? You just make it come on the show, making a weird face. He’s making a weird face and not say anything, but when he, when he tunes in and we’ll get him going, but another perspective I thought was good for today for a plate, discipline and heroes there, sir,

Asif Shah: I can hear, you can hear me.

Dan Blewett: Awesome. Tell us about plate discipline. Cause you had plate discipline. Tell us how much does the swing matter in your plate discipline. And I know this varies for obviously like a major leaguer versus a. A kid, but tell us, give us, we want another opinion here.

Asif Shah: In my opinion, I think their approach is going to have to matter quite a bit and plate discipline.

You know, if you don’t have an approach, if you don’t put that as a focal point, then what’s going to end up happening is, you know, your, your mind is going to be consumed with maybe the mechanics of the swing. And, you know, as far as pitch recognition, And all that kind of stuff to kind of get thrown out the window when you don’t have an actual approach about what you’re going to do with the ball.

You know, I mean, um, if you’re dead set on yanking a ball down the line, your plate, discipline’s not going to be really the greatest, just because you’re thinking that, Hey, I can hit every single pitch down the line.

Dan Blewett: Every every, when you’re a hammer, everything becomes a nail. That kind of thing. Like you think you can pull everything.

And so you just, you try to

Bobby Stevens: ask what if, what if you change the phrase plate discipline to confidence in what you’re talking about?

Dan Blewett: Is it you still like, is it, is it all confidence?

Bobby Stevens: Is it, you know, do you feel like it’s 90%

Dan Blewett: white asking that question

Bobby Stevens: because I’m being Dan

Asif Shah: now. It’s it’s important to have the confidence and it’s, uh, you know, one of the things that I always kind of discuss with, uh, with my players is just, you know, you either build confidence through his results or you have it, uh, you know, inherently, you know, you already have it to where it’s like, I know that I’m going to be better than this guy.

A hundred percent of the time. Or, or it’s kinda like one of those situations where, you know, you’re not going to have confidence until you go to for three in a game or something like that, you know? So, um, as far as the confidence goes and as far as how much of a factor it plays into it, it, yeah, it absolutely does.

But, um, I think it’s also a matter of how you got there in first place. You know, how did you gain that competence? Was it through, was it through results or was it through the fact that you knew you worked really hard in the off season? To where every single time you get up to the plate, you knew that you, you know, that you’re going to succeed.

Bobby Stevens: It’s obviously through somebody else telling me

Dan Blewett: outside

Bobby Stevens: sources.

Dan Blewett: So let’s talk more about, let’s talk more about play discipline as I cut Bobby off. Um, how do you build it? I mean, there was a really good comment on YouTube that, uh, like being really overly aggressive is also difficult because you have to, so I wrote an article, I don’t know, like a year or two ago about, should you swing at the verse pitch?

And this was partly in response to one of my coaches for our Academy teams. A couple of years back was one of, one of the kids, not the coach. One of the, one of the players was like, Hey, he keeps throwing first pitch fastballs guys. You’ve got to go up there, be ready to swing on the first pitch. And I’m like, no, B rate, rerate a swing on any pitch.

Get your pitch. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first bit. It doesn’t matter. You throwing first was fast balls. It needs to be your pitch. If you can drive on the first pitch, great swing at it. If you can’t don’t. If you don’t get one to drive don’t you know what I mean? Um, what’s the balance between like, I don’t, I hate that hyper aggressive, like, Oh, he’s still on first perspective.

Let’s jump on them. First pitch. Like, well, what if you get a pitch on the outer third, first pitch, you just grounded out or an adult play a good job. Like what he wanted you to do.

Asif Shah: Every everybody’s going to be different in regards to that, like in regards to that, uh, that plate discipline, um, as far as what they feel comfortable with, um, there were times where I felt comfortable swinging at the first pitch.

And then there were times where I was like, I don’t, I can’t really, you know, I can’t really read the release point as well. I need to see a pitch or

Dan Blewett: something. Um,

Asif Shah: in regards to the, um, the like, I guess maybe I hit her up, I hit her basis. It’s going to have to happen that played discipline is going to have to happen through the reps that you get and what you’re comfortable hitting.

Um, if you are, if you’re comfortable hitting certain pitches, um, with a certain approach, then that’s what you look for. If you’re not comfortable with it, then you don’t need, you don’t really want to deviate from that. Um, From your comfort zone, unless it’s a situation where maybe, you know, maybe you got to get a guy over or a, you know, late in the game and Phillips back, or I’m sorry, late in the game in fields in, you got to hit a SAC fly.

And maybe it’s a pitch that, you know, that you’re not comfortable driving a gap, but you can’t hit a SAC fly on it or something like that. You know? So it that’s, that’s where kind of the knowledge of the game really has to come into play, um, to determine what your discipline is like. Um,

Dan Blewett: knowledge of self.

So for a guy like you, who could only get singles the opposite way, like you can’t swing at anything, but outer third basketballs, right? That’s not your game plan.

Asif Shah: That’s pretty much what I had to do. Is it the other way? And then clog the basis? Cause I couldn’t run very

Dan Blewett: well.

Bobby Stevens: I honestly, I, Dan set ass, like towards the end too, he was like, how do you develop that?

I just think the kids don’t play baseball enough. Like younger players don’t play baseball

Dan Blewett: enough.

Bobby Stevens: I mean, I can sit here. My, my example that I would use from my experience working with kids now is we have two twins who are 11 and their swings are not what I would consider. Like. Barry bonds. Like they don’t have perfectly

Dan Blewett: really you, you have 12 year old kids who are, don’t have very bonds of swing with

Bobby Stevens: Dan.

They’re 11

Dan Blewett: you’re trash coach. Why are you on this podcast?

Bobby Stevens: But they, what the, what they, what they have is their dad throws them bucket after bucket of just live batting practice. And it’s not like he’s trying to blow them away. He’s just, they don’t spend as much time off the tee or doing like flips, like underhand.

He just throws to him all the time. And if they take a pitch and he thinks it’s a strike, he’s like, Hey, that’s a strike. You need to try and hit that pitch. Or if they swinging a ball and he’s like, Hey, that’s like, he corrects them. He’s not doing anything that any other dad can’t do. He’s just giving them more and more reps.

And I feel like the reps that they’re getting are probably what we got as kids going into the park plan with football or whatever we did as younger players. He’s just giving them more than all the other kids are getting. Yeah. It’s just not, I mean, I don’t think it’s a secret of how you become good at something like something like

Dan Blewett: which book it was one of like, you know, there in the last, like four years, there are a bunch of books that all sort of blurred together for me.

Like the champions mind, like the talent code, you know what I mean? Like there were a bunch of those books that kind of like trying to explain, like why, you know, talent is overrated. It was another one. I like why some performers become as good as they are. And they mentioned baseball and they said basically like the reason Albert pools was so good was because he had this book that he’d seen like hundred thousand sliders in his career, a hundred thousand fastballs.

So when you get him into the major leagues, 10 years deep, He just he’s seen everything that you could possibly throw. So his brain is way faster picking out, Oh, ball like, Oh, ball slider. Nope. That’s not a strike. I can’t hit that. Like, he just he’s lightening faster because he’s processed that many, you know, just like anything else, like, uh, like if you’re a grocery store clerk, you know, on the first day bagging groceries, it’s going to be slower than like, you know, third year.

You’re just like flying them through because you just, you get it down. It’s like anything else? Right. It’s a good, it’s a good analogy.

Bobby Stevens: The King of bagging.

Dan Blewett: But no, we don’t all, I mean, if you’re you ever shop at Aldi, a little grocery store. Yes. Very underrated. They are so fast at bagging groceries. They’re so much better than everyone else.

Not even funny,

Bobby Stevens: but Clark, Zach Clark is on our, on the Periscope right now. And he said, um, swing at the first pitch as the approach equivalent of swing down mechanically, he says there’s better ways to word it.

Dan Blewett: Be

Bobby Stevens: ready. Quote, unquote would be a better way to word it.

Dan Blewett: Again, like Mike trout has had a really interesting stat that like, when he, when he swung at the first pitch, he hit like six 50, because he was only swinging at the first pitch when it was like right down the middle, like when he got his pitch and we used to just, you know, like a pitcher was like mentally, you know, Oh, let’s get the bat started.

And then just bam.

Bobby Stevens: Well, that’s like, but that’s a stat that someone will misconstrue. Right. It’s like, look the best.

Dan Blewett: Exactly. Exactly.

Bobby Stevens: But he doesn’t swing at every first pitch

Dan Blewett: it’s because he swings at these first pitches. Yeah. The swings are the ones that it would fit into a grapefruit in the middle of the zone that you can smash.

And that was so good because he played a lot of baseball,

Bobby Stevens: probably in New Jersey.

Dan Blewett: Yeah,

Asif Shah: I think, I think one of the things, as far as like the, the lack of reps with baseball is, you know, maybe, uh, cause you know, there’s, there’s that, uh, that ongoing, uh, discussion about all, maybe the kids play too much, too many games, you know, they’re playing year round and that kind of stuff.

I honestly think that, uh, you know, and obviously you can’t really do it right now, but kids don’t really watch baseball, you know? Um, I mean, I’m here in Cincinnati and I, uh, Luis Castillo he’s, you know, he’s best pitcher on the reds. And like half the kids that I, that I talk to don’t even know who he is.

I’m like, how do you not know the best pitcher in your hometown? You know, and so, uh, watching baseball helped me a lot, as far as understanding some of the, you know, some of the situation, understanding some of the, uh, I guess maybe some of the mannerisms and some of the things that, uh, the best of the best did to where, you know, I would try to apply it myself at times, you know, uh, it was my skill level at the same level as those guys.

Absolutely not. But, um, but I was able to go ahead and understand some of those things and some of those concepts. To where it would work at different, uh, different scenarios and different times of the game. And the more and more reps I got, the more successful I got with those, uh, with those approaches.

Bobby Stevens: Yeah.

Dan Blewett: Yeah. And it’s not just watching it’s you have to know what you’re watching for too. And baseball is a really confusing game where if you don’t know, like, for example, like every year we would talk with our catchers about how the best catchers in the big leagues, where as they give the target, as the pitcher goes into his windup, they put their glove down or on the ground sometimes.

So now they’re at the bottom. They can come up. Through it and stop it. Right. That’s something that catches have gotten remarkably good at in the last five years. Cause you know, there’s revolutional and pitch framing. They realize how important that was. So, but if you watch a game, you’ll never notice that.

Like you just won’t. I was the average fan. You just won’t ever notice that, that they do that. It’s such a, it’s just, it’s like in plain sight, but until someone points it out and you’re a catcher that actually cares you use, we would never think about it because you know, the cat, the miss there, you see the mid probably, and the pitcher is doing his thing.

The hitter’s getting ready. You’re excited for like the ball bat collision. It just it’s. It’s like hiding in plain sight. And so much of the game is like that. Where, unless someone points it out, Hey, watch what the CA or like watch where. So I’m writing about pitching. Um, and I’ve been talking about middle halves, thirds and corners, which I, I, I preach like this boring talking head to all the pitchers.

Uh, if you watch a game, you will, if you really watch where the catcher sets up, you’ll realize that catchers don’t set up on the corners, like splitting the black, nearly as much as youth pitchers do. Catchers are most of the time, our inner half inner third, outer, half outer, third, they’re much more in the way the plate than people realize.

It’s also just another thing that’s hiding in plain sight that people don’t, they’re watching baseball, but they don’t see that because why would they pay attention to it? But if you look at bigly catchers, that’s a really important thing. They’re not on the black of the plate, nearly as much as people think they are

Bobby Stevens: well.

And they just don’t like, yeah, you’re talking about the glove coming up. Well,

Dan Blewett: we don’t have to, but I know, I know I’m just

Bobby Stevens: I’m to, I’m going to add to that. Like, we, we played a catcher who was down on one knee and he looked very much like a Wilson Contraras or someone that’s like, get that like new, you know, nobody on base.

He’s got that. Like, you know, I don’t know if it’s a new stance or more, probably more uncomfortable stance for catcher. One day on the ground, one

Dan Blewett: leg split out wide and

Bobby Stevens: I’m watching them. I’m like, Okay. Like, I don’t necessarily, I wouldn’t necessarily teach it or, you know, preach that, but at least he’s watching, like the kids he’s trying to mimic somebody who’s really good at the sport, which is half the battle is getting them to watch the sport.

I think watching the sport helps a lot

Dan Blewett: with like,

Bobby Stevens: just to see what happens when the balls put in play. Maybe I don’t know how much it’ll help with plate discipline and stuff like that. Obviously it’ll help. Overall baseball,

Dan Blewett: but there needs

Bobby Stevens: to be, they’re not playing enough. I, I disagree that kids are playing too much baseball.

Like you’re not playing enough kids to play basketball, play basketball every day. Like you don’t, you just do it like kids that play hockey or on the ice every single day,

Dan Blewett: you

Bobby Stevens: know, there’s no reason. I know people are watching out for kids’ arms, but. Well, the football is

Asif Shah: the main one would that comes about is that, you know, you see a lot of these, a lot of these Southern teams that go ahead and they play and, you know, in the middle of December and that kind of stuff.

And I mean, you know, with us in the Midwest, we can’t really, we don’t really have that luxury to do that, but I mean, I’m yeah. I’m a believer that the kids really don’t play enough games either, or, or they don’t really practice enough. The, of those, those little things, those little nuances that we, uh, that we grew up understanding to an extent, but they’re, you know, they’re, you know, we’re kinda in that, that Instagram culture where everybody’s wanting to be the next guy that goes viral for a bat flip rather than.

You know, the next guy that, you know, that saves a game by backing up a bass. And I know that sounds very like get off my lawn, but it, you know, it’s, it’s something that, you know, that quite honestly, you know, it’s, it is an important part of the game. And, um, and as these kids go on and they go on to the next level, whether it’s college or pro ball, um, A lot of times the coaches, uh, come back saying like, this kid doesn’t know how to play baseball.

You know, he can edible really far. He can need, he throws gas, but like he, he doesn’t have a clue as to what’s going on during the game.

Dan Blewett: So I got a great, let me, let me share this and then we’ll get back onto that topic. So thank you. Um, I don’t know your name, but championship hitting on Twitter. So he tweeted, um, this article from 2014 in collegiate baseball about Barry bonds while the baseball vision of very bonds and dr.

It’s about quotes from dr. Bill Harrison, who is the most renowned visual performance specialist. The game of baseball is ever witness. So. This is a bill Harrison’s quote on bonds in testing thousands of majorly hitters, Barry bonds. And this was back in 1986. Very bonds tested out with the highest vision readings of any baseball player we’d ever worked with.

I first saw them in 1986 during spring training out of Abel. When he was not considered a legitimate major league prospect for the pirates. At that time, when I tested Barry bonds, I gathered all the information on him and left the room. Barry’s the only player who had achieved a hundred percent in each of those categories and subsequently received a hundred percent in terms of high level by Nakia laity.

Bonds was the most visually gifted of all the players. I’d evaluated since 1971, which is 15 years at the time. I had never seen a baseball player as gifted visually and mentally as this guy.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for that. Reading that article and look, and look, this still doesn’t debunk anything. I, again, I’m not hitting guy. I have no problem with what rich teaches zero. I have zero problem. My just overall point was that there’s more to some of these hitters. You can’t just say I need Barry bonds and swing.

Like Barry bonds was gifted for so many reasons beyond just his swing. His swing was a tool. He was like a master carpenter and his swing was one of his tools, but his vision and his, and his mindset were incredible. I mean, that’s pretty, that’s some expert testimony from a vision specialist. So thank you for, for sharing that I’ve got to get information

Asif Shah: Richard’s trying to do right.

There is. I mean, you know, he’s trying to sell what he teaches and say, you know, trying to essentially like. Um, over, you know, I’m not going to say he is. He is, uh, directly overlooking the other characteristics that makes very bond or made Barry bonds such a great player, but. He’s trying to sell what he teaches, which he says, replicates what Barry bonds did.

And I mean, it, you know what, like that article shows like very bonds was going to be an elite level player, even without that swing. You know? And, and I mean, I’m not going to say that, you know, that if he had like, you know, if he had, you know, like a, like a 200 hitters swing that he was going to have the same stress, but there were other factors that contributed to that.

Bobby Stevens: Yeah, but it’s as a, as a co as someone who’s teaching it, like, obviously that’s his style, right. He teaches a very bond style of hitting like mechanically. I agree with what his philosophy is that look you, I’m trying to give you what the best did. Like he’s I don’t think he’s discounting the fact that there’s other players.

I mean, we brought up old players. McCovey um, Willie Stargell all their guys on the podcast. I don’t think we’re discounting that those guys were good or successful and people have been successful without swinging just like very bonds. But if you’re looking for like an optimal way to swing, like in his

Dan Blewett: mind, I mean, there’s no reason.

Yeah. There’s no reason not to emulate bonds of swing. That’s not why wasn’t my point either. If that’s like the cookie cookie cutter. I have no problem with that, dude was amazing, but he was amazing for lots of reasons. But

Asif Shah: I think when rich goes into his discussions and I mean, I’ve had conversations over the last couple of days with, with other people that I call, I kind of gave them the link to the podcast and said, Hey, watch this in all honesty.

I think that I teach some of the things that rich, um, that rich explains also. I think I do. I’m not a hundred percent sure. Because to be honest, he’s such a jerk about explaining it,

Dan Blewett: you know, like a, slow it down a little bit. And he’s like, yeah,

Asif Shah: that’s the responsibility of an instructor is to be able to explain it to literally everybody because.

You’re not going to be there all the time for them to go ahead and, and, you know, and text you or call you or something like that and say, Hey, what do I need to do? You may need to have your dad or, you know, or somebody else be able to explain it to you, to where your dad can understand it as well. And he can get information also.

I mean, I know the terminology that he uses and everything like that, it’s, you know, like I, I’m not sure what he’s like the snap and coil and that kind of stuff. Like that might be something that, that other people can pick up on. But the fact that he literally wants to only use his terminology and he only wants to go ahead and give credit to the instructors that he, that he helped or that he kind of a mentor that’s where the problem lies because he may actually, I mean, he might be onto something, but to be honest, I don’t want to know if I’m teaching the same thing as him because he’s too much of a jerk.

You know, I mean, like, I really don’t care to go ahead and have a conversation with him about hitting because of the fact that he’s, he’s so arrogant. And so like one sided about the way that he teaches that it’s not really going to go ahead and, uh, and, and, and help. And I mean, to be honest, if he’s. If he is the 100% or like the, the top instructor in the country or ever, and he’s got this breakthrough, you know, revelation with the way that he teaches, he’s not helping by only saying things to you like, Oh, well, I can’t help you.

If you can’t see it, you know,

Dan Blewett: I was trying to help people understand it, but let’s get away from him cause that’s boring. Um, so one of our, we’re kind of going back to like, The hand, eye coordination, the hitting. So also if I alerted some of my former players that play for you, I think one of them Colton’s listening right now as they’re driving.

But, um, he, wasn’t a great example. So this kid, so if you’re a recruit out there, look for Colton teal and Tyler Atkins to my guys who play for also if they’re very excellent humans and excellent ballplayers, but Colton was one of my guys last year who we, and this was me doing my rudimentary hitting work, but like seeing flaws in his swing.

That we want to get worked out for the longterm because he’s incredibly gifted baseball IQ wise. He’s a gifted athlete and he can get the barrel to the ball. Even if you made him swing lefthanded, like he could just go up there and find barrel. Like that’s like his thing. Right. And so you start to wonder, how does he have that quality?

Because if you had taken all the kids on my team last year, and it was a good team, He was like the number one where he could just find a way to get barrel, whether he was fooled or not fooled, he could like hit the ball hard. And that’s just like, where does that? So I guess my question for both of you is where does that come from?

Why is it just hand, eye coordination that they’re born with? Is it just the vision stuff that bonds had? Is it, is it seeing a ton of pitches? Cause your dad throws a lot of VPN. His dad does throw a lot of BP to him. I mean, there are a family that practices their faces off.

Asif Shah: It’s a combination of all of that kind of stuff.

I mean, cause you know, um, if you, you know, the Dominican teammates that we had, uh, you know, when we played, they w I forget what the game was called, but, um, when they threw bottle caps with a stick, you know what I’m talking

Bobby Stevens: about? I know what you’re talking about, but I don’t know what

Dan Blewett: hit sunflower seeds of the stick too.

Yeah.

Asif Shah: I mean, that’s kind of, I mean, obviously, and that coordination develops through that, you know, um, Well, not when I was younger, I used to take like a, you know, one of those, the, those thunder sticks and my brother would throw me a, throw me a golf wiffle balls. And so, you know, that like hand eye coordination can develop through that long with, you know, along with your plate discipline, as far as, you know, in as far as the vision and understanding of pitches and all that kind of stuff.

Um, that’s where, uh, that’s where I do think some of that. Comes from, uh, and then, you know, some of it is also genetics, you know, I mean that, and that, and that’s something that, uh, I don’t necessarily like to put a huge stock into that, but it is, it is a factor, but I try to go ahead and stay away from making that a big deal because, uh, I think at times, you know, if you make it a bigger deal than it is.

People kind of lose motivation to go ahead and get better.

Dan Blewett: I agree. It’s like, it’s like telling someone, Oh, you’re so smart. You got like great job on this essay. You’re so smart. So I was like, Oh, you worked really hard on that essay. You know, that like that setting it’s a parenting thing. Yeah, for sure. Um, but it also is, it also is a quality like, and again, like we are on him, it wasn’t like, Hey, good job.

It was, Hey, we got to keep work on your swing. Like, you’re really good at getting the barrel of the ball. Like we know that, but you got to continue to work hard and get better and improve your swing. Cause there will be times when guys have. Velocity or a dirty slider that you’re not going to be able to be on your front foot on or whatever.

Like you’re going to have to have that higher quality swing. And he’s, I know he’s probably gotten there by now. So I’m

Bobby Stevens: Dominican. But when you were talking about Dominican where Latin countries in general, you know, I’ve heard Scouts say

Dan Blewett: that

Bobby Stevens: those guys are two years ahead of American guys physically.

Dan Blewett: So like a 12 year old.

Bobby Stevens: Dominican kid is physically mature as like a 14 or 15 year old American kid. Just for whatever reason

Dan Blewett: that is where you can make a birth, a birth certificate joke. No, no. I wholeheartedly agree with that because they’ve taken so many ground balls. I mean, kids physically

Bobby Stevens: like physically developed, like these kids look like men when they’re a lot younger than maybe American kids do,

Dan Blewett: but.

I think their baseball development

Bobby Stevens: is even further along. I think there are three, four years ahead. Baseball development wise, and Danny made this point before, like a 10 year old, a kid who lives in a Dominican has probably taken five to 10 times

Dan Blewett: more ground balls

Bobby Stevens: than a 10 year old in the, in the U S and you can’t, you almost can’t recover.

Like, unless you’re playing all the time, we just don’t play enough. Like kids do not play enough baseball. If they’re trying to be really, really good at it. Like you, you just, you go from basketball practice to floor hockey, to your baseball

Dan Blewett: team, and maybe you play a travel

Bobby Stevens: sport. Like these kids are obviously stretched so thin

Dan Blewett: and then

Bobby Stevens: parents wonder, like, why isn’t he the best at baseball?

He plays on a travel team or why isn’t he really good at basketball? Like he plays on channel team. Well, the kid’s doing a million things. Like they can only be so good at so many things. When their time is stretched so thin, like if you don’t want the kids study for tests, he’s not going to be as smart as he could be.

If you let them just study for

Dan Blewett: the tests,

Bobby Stevens: like as much as

Dan Blewett: possible. Well, so your point about the, the Dominican players being physically more developed, I think that’s just because the pool of them is much smaller and they’re essentially naturally selected for not any genetic sense. I’m just saying like every kid on the, in the Island tries to play baseball, right?

So if you’re a smaller kid, you ain’t making the team, you’re not going to get into the Academy. So basically the kids that get in these academies. And now they’re in this program to be trained, right? Like the trainers, train them and are going to take like a 40% cut of their signing bonus in the future.

If they get signed, like to get to, to get into one of those academies, you gotta be the best of the best on an Island where everyone plays and everyone is fiercely competitive and practicing their faces off. So I think when, when you see like every Dominican kid you’ve ever seen in the U S is like physically bigger than their counterpart U S kid, I think it’s really just because.

You, you only make it that far, if you were like the most physical from every young age, essentially. Does that make sense? Here’s selected for absolutely.

Bobby Stevens: So when I played in the Czech Republic, you were either, if you weren’t a soccer player, you went to hockey or maybe vice versa. I think hockey was their national sport, number one sport.

So everybody tried to play hockey when they’re younger. And if you didn’t make the cut to be on that club team, like whatever, their pro, whatever their highest level was, they had the that’s how European sports work, whatever the high protein is like. Let’s say the Cubs, the Cubs have a youth all the way down to youth baseball and they were identifying kids young.

If you didn’t make that program, then you went to soccer. And if you don’t make the

Dan Blewett: soccer program,

Bobby Stevens: then you either try to play basketball or baseball. So in the check, when I played baseball,

Dan Blewett: It’s

Bobby Stevens: like the kids just weren’t kids, adults, how role they

Dan Blewett: were. They

Bobby Stevens: just weren’t athletically.

Dan Blewett: The same

Bobby Stevens: as what I was used to here

Dan Blewett: is because that’s exactly

Bobby Stevens: our plan soccer and hockey.

Like they, they didn’t do both. If you were an amazing

Dan Blewett: hockey player, you didn’t also try and

Bobby Stevens: play baseball. Like you just only played hockey and it’s

Dan Blewett: different

Bobby Stevens: obviously in the U S but what you’re talking about, like the Dominican kids or Puerto Rican kids, or. They only focus on one. The U S is one of the, I feel like the few countries where it’s preached to do multiple things, you’d go anywhere else.

It’s one sport and you just go with it.

Dan Blewett: Yeah. Well, and I think the way to think about it is like, imagine if kids in Rhode Island, for example, there are only like five teams you could play for in Rhode Island because Rhode Island I’m using Rhode Island as an example. Cause it’s small, right? Imagine if there are only five baseball teams you could make in this whole state of Rhode Island and you couldn’t leave to go in other States, if you’re born in Rhode Island, you had to play Rhode Island baseball, only five teams.

So what are those kids going to look like? They’re going to be the best of the best of a whole dang state, right? And so then they go play some tournament and you’re gonna be like, dang, those Rhode Island kids are huge. Those Rhode Island kids had bombs because it’s like the best 60 kids in the whole state.

Right. And I think that’s kind of the effect with, with a Dominican, some of these other places where they’re just such a fierce competitor competition, you’re getting cut. If you’re not the one of the best and you’re training so much, I think that’s just how it would be. But like you said, that’s not a thing here.

So. You’re just going to have a huge variance between the quality of players. Right? You see like a Texas, a Texas, all star team. Those kids are big, but they’re not really going to be bigger than an all star team from New Jersey. You know, if they’re the same caliber, like they’re not like humans are humans everywhere.

They’re just, there’s, it’s just like with my small town of Bloomington, Illinois that I used to live in, there were some kids who were as big and physical as the kids in Chicago, but in Chicago, there’s just more of them because it’s 8 million people, right. Just concentration of talent and you get cut if you’re not as good.

So. Anyway. Um, awesome. Awesome. How do you coach kids out of slumps and how does play discipline fall into that conversation? Cause competence is a big one obviously, but what do you feel like most slumps are attributed to when they get really bad?

Asif Shah: Um, you know, that’s actually, that’s a good question.

Dan Blewett: I know I’m a great moderator.

I’m a great moderator, a great moderator, no agenda at all.

Asif Shah: I mean, I think slim start from. Probably, you know, at times it’s probably a lack of focus on some of the things that, uh, that makes somebody successful. Um, it could be a, you know, it could be just a, I mean, sometimes it’s done luck, you know, sometimes, you know, somebody sometimes, um, you know, guys tend to make adjustments when they’re doing the right thing already.

Like, you know, if somebody goes ahead and lines out twice and then strikes out or something, well, you know, you had two successful looking at bats, but because we’re in a, uh, we’re in a result oriented time when it comes to games and stuff, It still looks like, it still says over three under your, uh, you know, under your, uh, intox intoxicated.

And so then kids, you know, kids will kind of overthink it and they start to, um, and then they start to cut of, try to make adjustments saying I went over three yesterday. Um, and I struck out well. Yeah, but you forgot that you lined out in those two, these two, uh, other bats, you know, um, I actually did the other day Colton, if you’re, if you’re still listening.

Colton hit a ball down the right field line. That was for sure a triple like guaranteed triple and the right fielder was for some stupid reason laying on the right field line. This isn’t the first dating first ending of the game against the

Dan Blewett: team.

Asif Shah: Against you, yeah. Against the team we’ve never played against and Colmar ropes, this ball down the right field line.

And I’m like, all right, for sure. Triple right here. Cause he would get applies and the kid, it’s not like the right field or extended out or anything. It was exactly what you just did. And I got so mad at the situation. I like part of me was like, I’m going to call time out and be like, no, we’re redoing that plan.

Get back over to where you’re supposed to play it. And we’re redoing that thing, you know? And so, but, and, and, you know, times, times like that happened where kids, they see that, and then they see the immediate, they see a result. They don’t see like what, you know, the process that took that got to that result.

Um, and then, you know, there are times where kids, um, kids try harder at the wrong thing. You know, like maybe, you know, the, the slumps kind of accumulate because kids keep on trying harder at the wrong thing, rather than taking a step back and saying, Hey, maybe you should make a little bit of an adjustment right here.

And then go ahead and approach that way instead of continuing to try harder and harder and harder without understanding. Hey, you’re literally, you’re doing something wrong here from a mechanical standpoint, or maybe an approach standpoint, whatever it is. And that’s what you need to adjust rather than just try harder, just try harder.

Cause you know, I mean that’s something that we always preach is like, Hey, give a hundred percent, give a hundred percent at all times. Well, yeah. I mean, yeah, you want to give a hundred percent, but give a hundred percent of the right thing.

Dan Blewett: Yeah, definitely.

Bobby Stevens: And so I think you just have to instill, especially, it depends on the situation.

Like if you’re working with a kid. And it’s mid game and he’s like, totally slumping. Like, you know, he’s, you know, he’s

Dan Blewett: out of it. You’re just trying to

Bobby Stevens: pump them up with confidence,

Dan Blewett: pop them up with confidence, like

Bobby Stevens: psych yourself up. But if it’s like, I actually have a one on one this morning with a kid who’s, uh, his

Dan Blewett: parents reached on like, he’s

Bobby Stevens: really struggling.

I mean, I know what’s gonna happen when I go there, unless he’s doing something glaringly. You know, mechanically wrong. I’m going to still try and pump them up with confidence and just try and like get him out of his own head and just, okay. Like let’s perform the task, perform the task, you know, line drive line drive, and just kind of get them to feel like he’s good at hitting again.

Instead of

Dan Blewett: being like in that mindset

Bobby Stevens: of, I just, I stink, which has ha I mean, we’ve all been there. Like I been there a bunch of times, just you don’t sink, especially if you get to a high level of professional baseball, like you definitely don’t stink of the game, but telling yourself that and looking at the box score,

Dan Blewett: it’s like

Bobby Stevens: you just reinforcing, uh I’ve maybe I do stay I’m over for my mom for my last 20.

Dan Blewett: Yeah, so I want to transition and this’ll be an interesting discussion. I’m sure. Although. I kind of looked like crushed it with some good stats, but let me read this tweet, which, uh, this is from Eric Sims account. I like Erickson. He’s like funny. I don’t follow him, but I’ve seen people retweet his stuff.

He, uh, has has the thing or this from, at King of Juco. But that’s one of his accounts anyway. Yeah. Um, he’s a former pro guy. He liked tweets, some funny stuff in general, his messages like Juco is good. Like don’t trash, Juco, whatever. I like his message. Anyway. Um, He tweeted the years 2020 a D three guy got drafted in the third round, 79th overall this year.

And I didn’t see one player get drafted from the bottom 50 RPI D one school. So if you don’t know what RPI is, that’s like the rating of your, um, the strength of schedule. And he said, it’s simply matters less what school you go to and matters more how you develop in that school. So sounds nice before I get to how I reply to it.

Um, and my thoughts on it. What are your guys’ thoughts on that, that sentiment? So basically saying. A D three guy draft a really high, low D one guys didn’t get drafted this year. Uh, it doesn’t matter where you go. It only matters how you develop. Awesome. Go.

Asif Shah: Um, at, well I cheated cause I already saw your reply to it and

Dan Blewett: every reply wasn’t it.

Asif Shah: I agree. I mean, the fact is that like that.

Dan Blewett: Let Bobby Bobby Bobby hasn’t commented yet.

Bobby Stevens: I did read your comment also, and I’m sorry,

Dan Blewett: but

Bobby Stevens: I, I think there needs to be context, right? Like D three kids. So my former division one head coach coaches, a very, very well known division three in Chicago and area North central college.

And he had two kids on the radar to be. Drafted one was his catcher

Dan Blewett: and one was, was this

Bobby Stevens: closer. Um, I think the majority of high level hitters that are going to get drafted are coming from division one because they’re seeing the pitching it’s think it’s very hard to become a division three hitter that gets drafted high, maybe not overall

Dan Blewett: because he

Bobby Stevens: had a kid two years ago, his third baseman got drafted in the 27th round, which is good, which is it’s unbelievable.

They get drafted in general, but. I think it’s hard to justify taking like a shortstop from

Dan Blewett: a division three school,

Bobby Stevens: even if he fits the Billy six to 200 pounds, like runs, he’s the fastest kid in the, you know, in the States, he doesn’t see that

Dan Blewett: pitching every day. So

Bobby Stevens: if you’re watching him and you’re a scout, like it doesn’t necessarily translate to professional baseball of seeing 92 to 94 from a starter everyday where that kid might’ve only seen it once all summer long or all spring.

So I think division three is great. There’s definitely talented kids. There’s no doubt there’s kids that deserve to play professional baseball or

Dan Blewett: even division one baseball.

Bobby Stevens: But it’s a lot easier if you’re a, if you’re a pitcher or in this case, I guess catchers because catching defense translates at all levels where hitting

Dan Blewett: is very hard and dictating policy

Bobby Stevens: pitching bossy transfer is relative, you know, across the board.

Dan Blewett: I don’t know how, I don’t know how you would evaluate a hitter.

Bobby Stevens: Who’s not seeing the type of pitching

Dan Blewett: he’s going to see. Yeah. That’s I think definitely the thing

Asif Shah: that, I mean, that’s pretty much going to build off of what Bobby just said. It’s I mean, yeah. Like you can get a pitcher that’s throwing, you know, that’s the only night 94, 96 at pretty much any level.

And you know, that there’s a good shot that he’s going to get picked up, you know? Um, but a shortstop hitting 400 in . It’s not going to get the same recognition as a shortstop hitting two 90 in the sec, you know, I mean, and that’s, that’s the, that’s the truth. Now, could that shortstop hitting 400 B you know, you kind of have to look at the concept and context of it as well.

I mean, Is that shortstop hitting 400, just absolutely obliterating baseballs to where you can tell that this guy is just, he’s a man amongst boys and the D one schools completely missed on this guy. Then at that time, you know, I’m sure that, uh, I’m sure that, uh, you know, uh, the pro Scouts will kind of look at that and say, yeah, you know what?

This guy is somebody that, that school is missed on and we need to take a chance on him. We need to go out and pick him up, but. It’s really few and far between as far as that goes and just, and, you know, kind of to reiterate it with the catchers. I mean, catching defense is such a premium, you know, I mean, you’ve got to, if you have a catcher that can control the running game, that can manage a pitching staff and, um, and you know, and if he hits two 40 in pro ball, then you’re like, Hey, this guy’s going to have a career, you know, but, uh, but if you got a, you know, if it’s just, uh, I very rarely will see a high hitting catcher at division three.

That’s going to get picked up if he’s not a, you know, if he’s not just a Su-Preme defender, you know, it’s hard to go ahead and say, because you know, you’re like, Hey, this guy is dominating the division three level, uh, as a catcher, uh, from offensive stance, from offensive numbers. But. He’s not that great of a defender.

Can we move him into a corner position? Well, if he’s a quarter guy, then his offensive numbers need to be even better than what they were as a catcher at the deeper level. So then they kind of get into that, that tough spot right there. Um, I mean, you know, and then I think there’s the other stigma that division three baseball is, is more academic than anything else, you know?

I mean, w which is also true, very true, you know, so. There’s kind of this stereotype that, Oh, they’re not really playing against true baseball players, which is, you know, like I said, it’s a stereotype they’re playing against more academic guys. And then, you know, then you kind of get into that, uh, that whole, uh, that whole issue there as

Dan Blewett: well,

Bobby Stevens: definitely just comes down

Dan Blewett: to hitting.

Bobby Stevens: For position players at division three, you

Dan Blewett: don’t know how they’re going to handle

Bobby Stevens: better pitching

Dan Blewett: when they get there. And

Bobby Stevens: some of them might be able to

Dan Blewett: like, there’s

Bobby Stevens: I have no doubt that there’s division three position players that can absolutely bat three, four hole at an sec

Dan Blewett: school. Like

Bobby Stevens: there’s, there’s odds are they’re out there, but if without the proof, and if you’re a scout, definitely if you’re a pro scout, you, you can’t get that proof.

Like there’s no really no way. Like the kid almost has to show it. In summer ball, he needs to go to the Cape or the Northwoods league and see that pitching. And then, and then show everybody like, Hey, I could

Dan Blewett: do this, no problem,

Bobby Stevens: but even then, he’s not going to, he’s going to be the hard, hard sell to be anywhere in the top 10, the 15 rounds.

Like they’re just going to take a flyer on them late. And, and that’s great. Like, I hopefully that does get that chance late, but. He’s not going to get the, he’s not going to get maybe what he deserves, even if he truly is talented enough, because he’s not seeing the pitching. He’s just not

Dan Blewett: seem to want if you had 10 comparable players.

So you say you’re a D three pitcher and you’re 89 to 92. They could take, you know, 10, one pitches. You’re 89 and 92. Which, which are you going to take? Yeah. Like if you’re all comparable and stuff, those guys all face a way better way, better hitters the whole year. So my point in this was not to pick on D cause it’s certainly not like D three.

And the thing with college baseball is you don’t get to choose. So like essentially. For the most part, the level that you end up at chooses you, right? It’s not like, Oh, I chose D three when I could have gone D one that happens. But usually when you’re like, maybe not offer a scholarship on Dijuan or a small one, or you’re really academic kid, and you’re like, I’m going to go this amazing school rather than, you know, go to a D one that academically doesn’t fit as much.

There’s a lot of reasons, but I think it’s important. And the only reason I, I, and this wasn’t like a picking on anybody thread. It was just like, that was a misleading thing. Because number one to say like none of the bottom 50 RPI division kids got drafted this year it’s because there were five rounds.

It wasn’t normal. If there were 50 rounds, of course kids were going to get drafted from all those schools, whatever they were like, you know? So it was, it was misleading in that sense. And then, uh, if you look at it, so I went and found NCAA numbers and I did this a couple of years ago. I wrote an article that was talking about some of the same kind of stuff.

But draft data from last year or 2019, where they had a normal draft or a 1,217 draft picks, 791 from NCAA schools. And 686 were from Dijuan 10 were from D three 10. 10 out of 1200 drafts, total, where from  it’s less than 1%. So I think people just need to understand that it’s not picking on division three.

What it’s saying is that, and most of those 10 are pitchers and catchers. Almost all of them are pitchers and catchers back to what you guys both said, which is you can just call it, you can quantify it better. Right? You throw 95. You’re fine. Um, so people just need to understand, like, if, like when I was a kid, I wanted to play pro ball.

That was my only goal. So it would have been bad advice for someone to say, Hey, go play . Because it’s not going to, it’s just like effectively zero people get drafted from . So there’s obviously some examples, but that’s a very small amount, but yeah, we’re mostly, if you’re, if you’re a pitcher or catcher, it’s like one guy who’s a position player gets drafted every year from

So if your goal out there is to be a pro ball player, like that is your goal. Then you should pray. If you don’t get Dion offers at a college or at a high school, then your route is probably go to junior college and then see how you develop and transfer also. Would you agree with that? If that’s your primary goal, if your primary goal is like, look, I just wanna play college baseball.

I want to find a great school that fits. Those are the most valid reasons, but if you’re someone who’s like, I want to go for broke and give it my best shot to turn pro at the end of four years, then D three, just by the numbers. You are 68 times less likely. I mean, they drafted 68. I got the number wrong when I tweeted that I put 79, but 686 division, one drafts to 10 division, three drafts last year.

So there’s outliers for sure. But you should just know, like, if this is your goal to be a pro ballplayer D three, isn’t the, isn’t the best path. It’s just like, it’s like, it’s the worst route of that mountain. And so the Juco to then do one, right.

Asif Shah: Yeah, it’s the hardest route. I mean, if you’re a pitcher though, I mean, it could be a little bit different for pitchers, just simply because of the fact that you know, that velocity is going to matter, you know, velocity matters when it comes to pitchers and velocity is going to go ahead and that’s going to be a that’s.

I think that’s a little bit more, you know, quantifiable when it comes to your, your perspective, chances as a pro pitcher. Um, you know, and if you’re, if you’re, you know, I mean, there could be some of those, those late bloomers that, um, that the D ones, or maybe even some jucos are looking at and saying, Hey, you know, um, this guy, this guy might not be really good until his third year.

Um, but, but again, you know, if you’re, if you’re trying to play professional baseball and a,  not looking at you. Um, and you’re, you know, a lot, like you said, it’s like your goal for growth right there. Yeah. The Juco route is the route to go. I mean, that’s a, you know, a couple of years ago I sent a guy over to, uh, to Wabash Valley and, uh, there were zero division one schools looking at them at the time zero division one school was looking at them and they weren’t even looking at them in the position, or, I mean, in the schools that were recruiting him, weren’t even looking at him at the position that he played.

He was an infielder and he goes to Wabash Valley, hardly played at all as a freshmen. And then, um, he wasn’t even really projected to be in the starting lineup this past season when Corona virus hit and everything. And, but during the fall, you know, he became well, part of it was because he was at Wabash Valley.

Uh, during the fall he got, I mean, he was getting offers left and right from division one schools. And, you know, and, and he’s, in my opinion, I think he, you know, if he has another year, like he was having this past season, he’s got a chance to play professionally. And this was a guy that wasn’t getting any looks whatsoever, um, at the D one level.

And now he’s going ahead and, uh, and he’s, you know, he’s, he’s, he’s going to go to USC upstate and I mean, he had, he had his kind of his pick of offers to go ahead and go through.

Dan Blewett: So

Bobby Stevens: yeah, I mean, it’s definitely to with division three,

Dan Blewett: Um,

Bobby Stevens: you’re going to have pictures that are physically look the part, whereas you’re not going to have as many

Dan Blewett: position players

Bobby Stevens: that look the part like those Supreme athletes.

Like I’ve got a kid who’s six, six, two 50. He’s a junior.

Dan Blewett: Um, he’s mainly a football player, but he

Bobby Stevens: wants to play baseball in college now, like he kind of changed course and he’s, he’s probably projecting going division three to CS, like 80 that tops out at maybe 82, 83. Um, but physically, like, he looks like a big league pitcher.

Like this

Dan Blewett: kid is a monster.

Bobby Stevens: So if something clicks or maybe he’s, you know, I’m not a pitching guy, but if his mechanics click or something like that happens where he starts, whereas velocity upticks, it doesn’t matter

Dan Blewett: what school he goes to. Like this kid looks the part,

Bobby Stevens: whereas you’re going to go to watch a division three game and the sh the middle infielders, while they might be, you know, good glove work or something, they’re

Dan Blewett: not going to be physically

Bobby Stevens: imposing, like some of these.

Middle infielders. And you’re going to see it

Dan Blewett: a

Bobby Stevens: powerhouse division, one schools

Dan Blewett: where they’re, you know,

Bobby Stevens: six to

Dan Blewett: 200 pounds. Like they

Bobby Stevens: move really well at the

Dan Blewett: best athletes

Bobby Stevens: are always going to find their way to,

Dan Blewett: to those division three

Bobby Stevens: or division one schools. Whereas the division three schools are probably getting the most of their athletic ability, but their ceiling is just so much

Dan Blewett: lower.

Um, just physically and. And you see that quickly. Yeah. I want to, I won’t name the schools cause my friends, the coach at one of them, but I went to a, it was to like state branded schools. So one of them, he was university of Maryland. I watched them play and they were playing a smaller state school university of whatever.

And the difference in the physicality between those two schools alone was very noticeable, very noticeable. I mean, Maryland, they were just big. Like you could see every single player, like their hamstrings bulging out against their baseball pants, just physically the completely higher level than the other division one team.

And neither of these teams I’m in the OTM was not a slouch team. But just like when you get to the caliber of athletes and this was same thing. I saw a game I would watch Mizzou play maybe like four years ago in Mizzou against a smaller division one. Like they, they weren’t even like on the same planet, just like athletically, the way the kids were built, zoos players were just like animals and they had some kids who like.

You’re six, seven and you’re running the basis that fast. What are you? They have like, like people, like, honestly, like the, the people don’t appreciate the level of athleticism had by these guys and like the SDC, the ACC, the packs. Well, these big schools, these are the best athletes in the country. And that’s why, even if they’re short sockets to 70 at Vanderbilt or something, This dude, is it isn’t as like an athlete of the caliber that you just don’t find other places and they, they want that as, as protein.

So that’s a big thing. I mean, and like I said, there’s big, big noticeable differences, even amongst tears and . And then if you start comparing a big, big Dijuan school to a DC or D three, which are not slouches and strength, training is way farther ahead than it was years before, there’s still a big difference just in the way people are built and the way they move.

Yeah.

Bobby Stevens: But point being you can get drafted out of 

Dan Blewett: it’s just

Bobby Stevens: much, much more difficult to do it.

Dan Blewett: Yeah, well, and the thing is, and the other thing, it’s not a trend. Like there isn’t a trend that more players in division three are getting drafted. Um, because like the 2019 numbers, they just don’t suggest that.

Because when I looked up this same stat for an article a while ago, like 2016, it was still like 12 division three drafts that year. So it’s not, it’s not a trend that’s changing, even though player development is improving across the board. Like there are for sure more division three players who maybe they they’re 84.

And the mechanics aren’t that bad. They’re not that physical. They go to college, they add five miles per hour. Cause their mechanics get, you know, cleaned up and their coaches are great and they hit a growth spur and they get in the weight room. They had another five miles per hour. Now that 84 kids throw in 94, that’s not an unreasonable thing to happen.

That can definitely happen. But division three programs also don’t usually have a full time strength, conditioning coach. They only get like 10 practices in the fall, so they play less baseball. Um, and then the other thing is, even though player development is better where you could certainly like be on your own program and do all this other stuff as a  and AI, whatever lower tier school, um, division ones all have that same stuff and more, they have more money, they have more resources.

So this whole trend of player development, anyone can get better training. But the thing I said in one of my tweets was like, this is a high tide that’s raising all ships. Like D three players are throwing harder than ever more. 84 guys are throwing 88, but now more division guys, one guys who threw 88, I throw 92.

Like the bar has just been pushed higher for everyone. Yeah. So it’s not like,

Asif Shah: I think the theory about how, or not necessarily the theory, but I think the motor behind people saying that kind of stuff about like, Hey, you know, you can get drafted at any level of whatever it is. Is that. There’s this, uh, there’s this kind of like notion that, or, I mean, there’s like this, this thing that’s going on, where kids are saying, well, if I’m not going to go, do you want, I’m not going to play college baseball.

Dan Blewett: You know,

Asif Shah: if that’s the case, if that’s the case, then you shouldn’t then just stop playing altogether, you know, because yeah, cause I mean, what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to sell all levels of baseball. Cause all levels of baseball. The next, eh, you know, in college, baseball are going to be competitive, but you know, you can’t go ahead and get into this notion that all it’s, you know, it’s D one or bust and, uh, and you know, and I’m going to be, and I’m not going to play college baseball if I’m not playing D one.

That’s. I mean, I think that that opinion you’re, you’re, you’re selling the other levels short and you’re also being really, really shortsighted about. You know, maybe your ceiling as well, so yeah.

Dan Blewett: Yeah. Well, it’s a good discussion. And again, don’t those of you listening. This is not to poo poo on any level of college baseball.

You should find the school, that’s the right fit for you, but you should also have all the facts. Right? So if, if, if your goal is to be a pro player, there’s a path that’s going to be better for you or not as good for you. If your goal is to be a happy college student and play college baseball, your path is going to be different from that.

You should just know all these things. And when you hear, I think people glaze over this, this stat a little bit on the web. All the recruiting stuff is very, you know, find your best fit while it’s like, you should know what your future holds. It’s like, if you’re hoping to go to  and then maybe get drafted one day, your eyes need to be open a little bit.

That was, I think my biggest point. And because you don’t want to make a decision that you’re like, man, I really want to give myself a chance and then you make a decision that’s not right for you. So it has nothing to do with like your self worth or any of that stuff. I mean, playing D three baseball is an awesome thing and you should, you know, if you’re getting to play college baseball, it’s such a special experience.

It’s a great four years of your life. Maybe five year injury prone like me, you know, just, uh, so anyway

Bobby Stevens: for the coronavirus kids,

Dan Blewett: Yeah, or just zoom baseball. It’s just, I think hit tracks is the way to go. Now this is not even about the field. Just launch angle and dinners. You don’t have to run the bases. I mean, what’s better than that.

It’s like beer league get a hit tracks

Bobby Stevens: like favorite days.

Dan Blewett: Yeah, man. Well guys, this was a great decision to have also on the show. Appreciate you jumping on impromptu. I just texted, texted you as we were underway and yeah. It’s worked out well. Um, Bobby, any closing thoughts before we send it off?

Bobby Stevens: And I like asked if he can come back whenever he wants,

Dan Blewett: he passed.

Awesome. Good job. Um, how can, how can people follow up with you for those that don’t know you’re meeting for the first time?

Asif Shah: My Twitter account, I guess my Twitter account and one, one. That’s, uh, that’s kind of the, the best way I guess, and everything. Um, you know, I th I think, I think I’ve. I, you know, I’m still not really very, uh, very active as far as, uh, as far as big time hitting or pitching discussions.

I’m kinda,

Dan Blewett: you know, I’ve kinda

Asif Shah: kind of weaseled my way in the last couple of days, but I think I, you know, I might, I might, I might go back under the covers afterwards and everything, so yeah. I, you know, who knows, but yeah, that’s probably the best way to get ahold of me. Okay.

Dan Blewett: And your summer, do you want to talk about the program that you coach for in the summer at all?

You want to mention that.

Asif Shah: Uh, yeah, I mean a coach with a with star, um, where the, the Midwest team. So we’re based here, I’m based out of here in Cincinnati, but we got kids from all over the area. Um, you know, I got obviously two of Dan’s former players. Uh, I got kid from Louisville from 10 Tennessee. Um, you know, we got kids from all over and it’s a, you know, it’s a great organization, really, really fortunate to be part of the, the five star brand, the five star organization, the national team is obviously the top program in the country or, or, or one of the top, some organizations in the country.

I’m really fortunate to be able to, uh, to kind of feed off of that and build off of that. It’s something that, uh, has been a good experience as something that, uh, that we continue to, uh,

Dan Blewett: to build off of. And Bobby and I are starting our own, our own organization. Even more. It’s going to be international and it’s going to be six star, 20% more stars than us.

So it’s a don’t don’t call us, call us to play stars. Yeah. We’re

Bobby Stevens: only going to play an opposite.

Dan Blewett: In

Bobby Stevens: office tournaments,

Dan Blewett: just trolling him, just trolling him. Every time we beat you, we’re going to put another star on our, we’re going to just scratch it out the next day, eight stars. And you only get you lose one.

Yeah, but no, it also does a great job. He’s taken good care of, uh, my guys and he’s a heck of a coach. So if you’re out there looking for a team, I don’t know if you’re, you’re clearly not one here looking for players, but I’m plugging you anyway. So there you go. If you need a lot of stars in your life.

Awesome. But yeah. All right. Well, that’s gonna do it for today’s morning. Brushback thanks for being here. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, leave us a review and thank you for everyone in the comments today. We had another good discussion. Really appreciate it on YouTube and on Periscope. So appreciate you.

It we’re gonna have some guests next week and we’ll see you then on the morning brush

Asif Shah: back.

Dan Blewett: Yup.