Ahead Of The Curve with Jonathan Gelnar

Today we have on Billy Berry, Head Baseball Coach at Tennessee Wesleyan University Billy was the head coach of TWU from 2005-2015 and then returned to TWU in July of 2017 after a two year coaching stint at the Baylor School. Billy and TWU have won 2 NAIA national championships during his 2 stints and In his twenty + years of coaching, He has seen over forty former players move on to professional b...

Today were joined by Episode #1 and #5 guests Butch Chaffin and Wes Brooks. Wes Brooks is the head coach at Oxford HS in Alabama and Butch Chaffin, Head coach at cookeville HS in Tennessee.  I may have mentioned it several times on the podcast, but I want to reiterate it here. Butch and Wes are two of the best coaches in the country and they absolutely get the most out their guys and love them to...

This episode is sponsored by Athlete's Brand. Today we have on Ryan Sienko- Catching Coordinator for the LA Dodgers Ryan was a catcher at the University of Iowa, played professionally for the Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox and in independent baseball where he was an All-Star. His current responsibilities include catching philosophies and drills, deciphering receiving metrics, blocking philosophi...

Today we have on Jason Kanzler Jason was undrafted/unrecruited out of high school, tried to walk on at Northeastern University in Boston and Was cut after fall ball, He Went on to attend the University of Buffalo and became the first D1 player ever to win the gold glove award twice, won MAC player of year, won UB student athlete of year, then was drafted in 20th round by Twins as senior sign for $...

Today we have on Chris Gimenez from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Michael McCarthy from the Minnesota Twins. In parts of 10 seasons, Chris appeared in 386 Major League games and tallied 1067 plate appearances between the Indians, Twins, Mariners, Rays, Rangers and Cubs. While the bulk of Gimenez’s work came behind the plate, he was versatile enough to spend time at first base, in the outfield corner...

Today we have on Aaron Bates. The Dodgers MLB assistant hitting coach, and he’s also the director of hitting for the minor leagues. Aaron was a third-round pick out of North Carolina State by Boston in 2006, and played eight professional seasons — he logged 12 plate appearances with the Red Sox in 2009 — before joining the coaching ranks. His final swings came with the Dodgers in 2014. From there...

Today we have on Rick Franzblau. Rick is in his first year as the director of olympic sports strength and conditioning. The previous three years he served in the capacity of assistant director of olympic sports strength and conditioning. He is responsible for the supervision of the assistant strength coaches, graduate assistants and volunteer interns. Rick oversees the strength and conditioning fo...

This episode is brought to you by Marvbands. Use code AOTC for 10% off of team sets! Today we have on The King of Jewish Baseball Nate Fish. We go over what he has learned in playing and coaching in 20 plus countries. He also has experience in the world baseball classic, in Cape Cod and starting the national baseball program in Israel. And one of the coolest things about Nate is his experience coa...

This episode is brought to you by Marvbands. Use code AOTC for 10% off of team sets! Today we have on Joe Espada, Bench Coach for the Houston Astros. Joe grew up in Puerto Rico and attended college the University of Mobile before being drafted 45th overall in the 1996 draft by the Oakland A’s. Joe played 10 years in the Minors before retiring and getting into coaching. He got his first coaching jo...

Today we have on Andy Haines, MLB hitting coach for the Milwaukee Brewers. Andy is in his his second season in the Brewers organization. Prior to joining the Brewers, spent one season as assistant hitting coach with the Chicago Cubs. Under Haines (and hitting coach Chili Davis), the Cubs led the National League in batting average and ranked second in on-base percentage in 2018...Served Chicago as...

Today we have on the Chicago cubs major league hitting coach, Anthony Iapoce. Anthony was named the Cubs major league hitting coach in October, 2018 after three seasons as the hitting coach with the Texas Rangers ... prior to joining Texas, he spent the previous three years in the Cubs organization as a Special Assistant to the GM while overseeing the club's minor league hitting program from 2013-...

Today we have on George Lombard. First base coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. George has been a member of the dodgers for 5 years, after previously serving various roles in the Braves and Red Sox Minor League Systems. George’s story is one word, powerful. His mom was a civil rights activist with Martin Luther King jr. His grandfather was the dean of Harvard business school for 40 years. George wa...

This episode is brought to you by Marvbands. Use code AOTC for 10% off of team sets! Today we have on 2018 World Series champion, Andy Barkett. Andy was an assistant MLB hitting coach with the Boston Red Sox in 2018-2019. On the show, we talk about how to earn trust with our players, why learning their routines is important, we discuss game-planning, approach and why Andy thinks that hitting coach...

Today we have on the Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Hitting Coordinator, Hunter Mense. Born in Liberty, MO, Hunter attended the University of Missouri. And was drafted in the 17th round by the Florida Marlins. After his playing career, he went back to Missouri and served in several roles- undergrad and graduate volunteer assistant coach, and color commentator on the team’s radio broadcasts and the...

Today we have on Chuck Box, Head Baseball Coach and assistant athletic director at Hartfield Academy. We flipped the script a little today, and so Chuck takes us through an entire year of what they do at Hartfield. We go over individual player development plans, schedules, culture building and so much more. If you want a practical episode, this one is for you. Here is Chuck Box! Show notes courtes...

iTunes  Youtube Google Spotify   Today we have on the Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello Vitello arrived on Rocky Top following four seasons as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Arkansas. His rise to the head coaching ranks also included stops at Missouri (his alma mater) and TCU. After leading the program back to the NCAA Tournament in 2019, Vitello and the Vols looked poised to...

Today we have on Head Coach Rob Cooper from Penn State and Steve Owens from Rutgers In this episode we have over 40 years of bead coaching experience between the two, so we dive into lessons learned, how to communicate with players, how to build relationships and how the formula for recruiting and the process of building culture changes year to year and especially program to program. Here is Rob C...

Today we're talking with Alon Leichman, Milb pitching coach for the Seattle Mariners. Alon has an interesting background, being born and raised in Israel and then playing college baseball in the States. So we talk about his journey to the Mariners, which includes volunteer coaching in Cape Cod during his first summer after playing. What he learned as a bullpen coach in the World Baseball Classic,...

Today we have on Nick Winkelman, Head of Athletic Performance & Science for Irish rugby and recent author of “The Language of Coaching.” Nick's primary role is to oversee the delivery and development of strength & conditioning and sports science across all national and provincial teams. Before working for Irish Rugby, Nick was the director of education and training systems for EXOS and ove...

Today we have on Tyler Yearby Co Founder of emergence which is a dedicated resource and community for coaches and movement specialists looking to explore the ever growing world of skill acquisition through ecological dynamics. Tyler also works at Starters Sports Training, which trains baseball and softball players.  Tyler’s speciality is in skill acquisition, so we go over how we can use skill acq...

Today we have on Hugh Quattelbaum, hitting coordinator for the Seattle Mariners. Q has such an awesome background from his playing career, to being a screenwriter and then becoming a coordinator. On the show, we talk about the rewards and challenges of coaching coaches, we talk about how to execute organizational principles, we talk plan/approach and mindset and how to simplify these to help the p...

On today show we have Todd Interdonato, head baseball coach at Wofford College. Todd is in his thirteenth season as head coach of the Wofford baseball program. He was named head coach of the Terriers on June 26, 2007 after previously serving for two seasons as an assistant coach at Wofford. With 323 career wins, he is first all-time among Wofford baseball coaches in that category. Interdonato has...

Coaches vs. Covid fredhutch.org/coachesvscovid Today we have on the pitching coordinator for the Baltimore Orioles, Chris Holt. Chris Oversees the development of every pitcher in the organization and have an increased presence on the Major League side.  On the show we talk about how he builds in autonomy and lets the coaches in the system utilize their strengths, how we can embrace who the player...

Tracy Smith, the 2013 National Coach of the Year, was hired as the fifth head baseball coach in program history on June 24, 2014, and enters his sixth season at the helm of the Sun Devil baseball program. Smith has established a reputation of evaluating and developing talent as more than 75 student-athletes since 2000 improved their stock in the Major League Baseball Draft under Smith’s tutelage,...

Today we’re joined by UCLA Head Baseball Coach John Savage. Through 15 seasons as UCLA’s head coach, John has established the Bruins as a consistent national championship contender. Savage helped UCLA reach college baseball’s pinnacle in 2013, as the Bruins won their first-ever NCAA baseball title. Under his guidance, UCLA has advanced to the postseason in 11 of the last 15 seasons, hosting an NCA...