Clearing The Bases

New relationships are always being built at the the ABCA Convention but another great attribute of the convention is the ability to foster existing friendships. In this episode we spend some time catching up with our good friend, Taylor Valentine of Centre College.

As we continue along with our recordings from the ABCA convention we move to our next guest, Jim Chester of Gardner Webb University. Jim is going into his fifth year as the head coach of the Runnin’ Bulldogs. Coach Chester is an active member of the American Baseball Coaches Association and has served as the South East Region Chair, as well as being on two committees. He has also been heavily invo...

Carl Nichols is a former MLB catcher that played parts of six seasons for the Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros but what was appealing to me was his ability to teach and develop baseball players. Carl joined me on Podcast Row at the 2024 ABCA Convention in Dallas, Texas for an amazing conversation.

The mission of Baseball Dudes owner, Chris Gissell, is to guide and mentor players, their families, coaches, and his social media followers to a successful life on & off the field. Develop confidence. Teach the game. Instill Character traits that help lead to success and help develop as many leaders as he can along the way. He believes that it’s about the kids, which is why we want you to hear...

Deven Morgan is the Director of Youth Baseball at Driveline Academy and author of the new book, Skills That Scale. He has one of the best baseball minds in the country. You will be hard pressed to find someone that is more passionate about developing young baseball players. In this episode, Deven shares his knowledge and experience with us. You are only cheating yourself if you pass this by.

I had the honor of participating in the ABCA Youth Baseball Summit hosted by the Kansas City Royals at Kaufman Stadium this past November. While I was there, I had the pleasure of meeting Shon Plack and Jeff Sopha. There are too many accolades to list, but Jeff serves as the Youth Liaison for the Kansas City Royals Amateur Development program and Shon is the Manager of Sport Development for Baseba...

Nick Serio is a coach that has a doctorate in Sport and Performance Psychology. He established Athletes Warehouse in 2014 and extended his commitment to athlete empowerment with the founding of Velo University in 2020. Nick helps athletes optimize performance by facilitating cognitive and physical resiliency. His unwavering mission is to reshape the conventional perspective on the development of s...

Mental performance coach at RJ Performance Group, Jon Osborn, joins us to talk about how parents can make an impact on their child’s sports experience by understanding his Parents Do’s and Don’ts. He has created a simple chart that shares some scenarios parents might face with their young athletes and suggests what a parent should do and, more importantly, should not do! 

We continue with a recent common theme of talking to pitching coaches. Ryan Forrest was the pitching coach for former guest Mike Kazlausky of the Air Force Academy and has now moved on to Boston College. Ryan talks about his means and methods when he works with his players. We wish him nothing but the best as he embarks on his new journey with the Eagles new coaching staff.

Wayne Mazzoni is a coach, author, advisor, and has been a speaker at over 500 high schools, coaches’ conventions, and athletic director conventions. As you can imagine, with that type of background, he has an incredible amount of information to share with everyone. We cover everything from pitching velo, change ups, multi-sport athletes, player portal, post grad programs, camps and showcases and s...

We always say that there are great coaches at all levels of play, and we’ve had many conversations with some of the best baseball coaches you can find. Clay Cox is the Head Baseball Coach at Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas and is certainly among the best that this game has to offer. Coach Cox has so much to offer that we couldn’t fit it all in one episode but what we did cover will make us al...

From Masuk High School in Monroe, Ct to Villanova University to the University of Maryland to the New York Mets. Nick Lorusso has been on a journey that very few get to experience. His trek has involved hard work, self-discipline, passion, persistence, a continuing desire to improve, and a big commitment to learning. Listen in as Nick recounts his experiences while climbing the ladder to become an...

We have had many conversations with high school coaches, college coaches, authors, speakers, advisors, players, and many people involved in amateur baseball. In this episode, we get a look inside the baseball program at Archbishop Stepinac High School by speaking to Varsity Baseball Head Coach, Keith Richardson. It is an honor, for me, to be involved in this great baseball program and you’ll see w...

He’s a self-proclaimed blue-collar coach, a high school coach by choice, and he’s genuinely trying to make a difference for all baseball players. He travels the country delivering his message and breaking down fundamental skills that are so important in building a strong foundation. He was the 2017 National High School Baseball “Coach of the Year” and a two-time State of Georgia “Coach of the Year...

We invited a few travel baseball parents on the show to share some of their experiences with us. The idea came from one of our listeners and we decided to give it a try. What transpired was an interesting conversation regarding various topics with different points of view from a cross section of the country. There was a lot of ground to cover, so the episode is a little lengthy, but we thought tha...

There were a few things that have happened in the high school and college baseball world that we found to be noteworthy. We preach that there are so many aspects of the game that coaches and players need to be on top of, so we wanted to bring these occurrences to the forefront. In this episode we discuss rules, pitch counts, practicing events that happen most often in games and bunting. 

Eric Holtz is the former manager of the Israel National Baseball Team. He was the assistant coach for the gold-medal-winning Team USA Baseball team at the 2013 Maccabiah Games, and the Team USA head coach for the gold-medal-winning 18U baseball team at the 2017 Maccabiah Games. He was the Head Coach of the 1st and only Olympic Baseball team to represent Israel. He currently owns and operates the G...

Dr. Travis Dorsch is an Associate Professor at Utah State University and the founding director of the USU Families in Sport Lab. Dr. Dorsch’s research is specifically targeted at understanding the impact of parent involvement in organized sport across the stages of child and adolescent development, the role of sport participation on family relationships, and the impact of parent involvement behavi...

Alan Jaeger founded Jaeger Sports on the principle that athletes need to develop both their physical and mental skills in order to be successful in game situations. He is one of the most well respected and sought after trainers in both of these crucial aspects of baseball. Get your notepads ready because you won't want to miss any part of the best baseball information out there!

"It's not really people stealing other people's information, it's really people helping people because at the end of the day we are all in this together high school, summer ball, college ball, pro ball… we're all doing the same thing we just might be at a different level." - Taylor Valentine - Centre College and USA Baseball National Team Identification Series. Lot&ap...

We went live at the 2023 ABCA Convention in Nashville. Our last 2 interviews were with Jonathan Reinebold and Zach Casto. These two guys wrapped up our visit to Nashville with a nice tidy bow!

We went live at the 2023 ABCA Convention in Nashville. Our first 3 interviews were with Anthony Pla, Buzz McNish and Jake Lindmeier. Listen to what they have to say in this first episode and stay tuned for part 2!

From the front lines to the foul lines... we bring you the Voice of the Round Rock Express - Mike Capps. Mike worked in radio and TV news for 22 years before landing in his prized home, the Texas Rangers AAA broadcast booth for the Round Rock Express.  There is so much more to the man including authoring the book, "Grinders: Baseball’s Intrepid Infantry" where he tells the tales of the g...

There are well-known, high-level coaches that we all know and respect. Then there are relatively unknown coaches that have a great message and fully understand what it takes to be “that” coach that can change a young players life. In this episode, we pull back the curtain and give everyone a look at the man behind A Coach’s Diary, Reggie Bibb. Reggie is a young coach that brings so much to his pla...

The coaching journey can take you down many different paths. Many times, that track is a long and windy road. Coach Kirk Cabana, Head Coach of Marian University’s Ancilla College, talks to us about his, let’s say unorthodox, arrival at his current position as well as his experiences and beliefs as a college baseball coach.