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Clubhouse Stories & Baseball Life | OPE Unscripted Ep. 2 ft. Jacob Pearson
1 Playsin 9 hours
Former MiLB outfielder Jacob Pearson joins OPE Unscripted for an honest and entertaining conversation about the reality of professional baseball life beyond the bright lights of the majors. From the grind of bus rides and clubhouse culture to chasing the dream and navigating the mental side of the game, Jacob shares stories and insights you won’t hear anywhere else.
We dive into the highs, lows, unforgettable moments, and what it really takes to survive the Minor League Baseball journey. Whether you're a baseball diehard, sports fan, or just love hearing real stories from athletes, this episode delivers a laid-back conversation with classic OPE energy.
⚾ Former MiLB stories
⚾ Behind-the-scenes baseball life
⚾ The grind of chasing the dream
⚾ Funny clubhouse moments & athlete perspective
Subscribe for more OPE Unscripted interviews, Packers talk, sports stories, and off-topic conversations with fun OPE vibes.
#OPEUnscripted #MinnesotaTwins #MiLB #MinorLeagueBaseball #JacobPearson #LosAngelesAngels #BaseballLife #AtlantaBraves #OPE
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Personal Connection
00:00:55
Speaker
and Welcome to another episode of OAPE. We are the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. I am Iowa Joe. This is episode two of my OAPE Unscripted series where we just bring on anybody and everybody to talk whatever topic that I decide to talk about for that episode.
00:01:13
Speaker
This week I have ah a very special guest. um We kind of connected a couple of years back ah He was a third round pick for the Los Angeles Angels or Anaheim Angels or whatever team they decided to be this ah that year in 2017. He played in the Atlanta Braves organization for years, which is how I kind of got into it because I am, as people know, I'm a huge Braves fan going way back.
00:01:40
Speaker
Also, there's a little bit of a spiritual connection there that I might touch on in
Baseball Career and Draft Experiences
00:01:44
Speaker
a little bit. But Jacob Pearson, Jacob, thank you for joining me today. Yeah, I appreciate you having me. Looking forward to the conversations and where they go.
00:01:54
Speaker
So I set a little bit of a spiritual spiritual connection. If everybody just gives me a moment to kind of Obviously my last name is Pearson. I always try to, you know, if I, if I see somebody who's got the same name, I always try to connect with them. But Jacob also has a special name for me because i was supposed to have an older brother.
00:02:14
Speaker
He was born premature, didn't survive, but his name was actually Jacob Pearson. So when I saw that, ah when I was going through the Atlanta Braves roster and I was like, okay, well, you know,
00:02:26
Speaker
what what do we got in the minor leagues? I saw Jacob's name pop. was like, wow. And the other funny thing is, is I think he was supposed to be born in June. And I think your birthday is act actually in June. So you know's that's crazy.
00:02:41
Speaker
What a weird, that's I mean, that's, yeah, stuff like that. I mean, it's crazy the doppelgangers and and the names that kind of appear all across the country.
00:02:53
Speaker
And, you know, i have this thing where I believe a name kind of signifies the character that person's gonna be. and And it's so important to pick out a name for somebody. And we we just had another ah baby a couple weeks ago and our first son, we named him Jesse.
00:03:11
Speaker
not knowing that he was just gonna be this wild western kid but here he is he's a wild west and he's just a maniac of a three-year-old and uh so it's the names are the names are crazy and i think that um that's very cool that your brother had the same name well and the other thing is is i think your name is taylor mine yes it's tyler so we shared the jtp through it too so sweet just kind of some weird things there but um ah but i i noticed that your family loves the j names because i think you got a brother josh i got a brother josh i got a brother john i got a cousin joe i got uh and my son's name's jesse um my wife's side of the family is the same way we got jordan we got johnny uh actually a couple johnny's there um so yeah we we are deeply rooted in the j names
00:04:09
Speaker
Hey, when you got something, stick with it. I've got a cousin that on my mom's side, it's her nephew that for some reason they want to name all their kids with a names. So they they like Ayla and Aspen. and And so if it's something that works for you, go for it. Right.
00:04:25
Speaker
Exactly. Well, we didn't bring you on to talk about family, even though family is, is a I know with you being from Louisiana and down south, the the family is big time for everybody down there.
00:04:37
Speaker
um But obviously you're a former, base I say former now, you're in real estate as we were kind of talking a little bit earlier, but You did spend quite a few years in in the major leagues, ah you know, a minor league baseball, but they still consider it, you know, it's all pro ball when you when you're talking generalized.
00:04:58
Speaker
You were a third round pick to the Angels in 2017. We are more of an NFL draft type group, but, you know, it's kind of interesting to see the differences between the MLB and the and in NFL when it comes to the draft. What were your experiences leading up to the 2017 draft?
00:05:17
Speaker
Yeah. So, um, I mean, going into it, I i wasn't the guy and and nowadays like high school ball and showcase and all this stuff has has become really prominent.
00:05:29
Speaker
Well, when I, when I was coming up, that's, that was kind of when the showcase ball kind of started to kick off and they had these events. And ah and I was getting invited to a lot of these events to go to. And then leading up to the draft, I was meeting with all 30 teams.
00:05:43
Speaker
ah The scouts and scouting directors were coming to my house for dinner. um and we just, we had an idea. i was committed to LSU. We had an idea that was probably going to get drafted, but just know where.
00:05:56
Speaker
And at that time, n NIL wasn't a thing. So, you know, the money was Two different things. College coaches couldn't even buy me a meal at that point. So, um, yeah, so we were like, okay, if the money's right, I'm going to take that route and then MLB is going to pay for my college and so forth.
00:06:16
Speaker
But leading up to it, it was a lot of traveling. We were going to, uh, we went to l LA, Houston, Tampa, just to all these, um, pre-draft events, so to speak. And to meet with their, meet with their headquarters and kind of see, you know, what would be a good fit.
00:06:32
Speaker
And they were you know they're more so interviewing me than I was them. and And then, yeah, we get, you know, day one, we get several calls. That that was draft rounds one and two. we get several calls. One team actually made an offer.
00:06:48
Speaker
It fell through and then went early on day two in the third round. So um you just said that you had some talks with round one and two. So how do you know with the NFL draft there's no real toxins if they want you they're they're gonna they're gonna take you. So you're saying that with the MLB draft that they'll actually start negotiating with you on the phone.
00:07:14
Speaker
And yes. And yes. So when they'll take you. Yeah, I was definitely not a first rounder by any means. No team was calling me in the first round. I mean, there was really good guys ahead of me.
00:07:25
Speaker
I started getting calls in the second round, you know, probably 10 or 15 picks ahead of the slotted pick that they were planning on taking me. And, uh, and it was quick conversations. I'd call, Hey, would you take X amount of money? Um, you know, we'll give you this for college.
00:07:41
Speaker
And then that was pretty much the end of the conversation. And they would, they would call lists four or five guys
Trades and Career Impact
00:07:47
Speaker
and, you know, And in that was negotiating between my agent and the teams and myself.
00:07:55
Speaker
And like said, probably three or four or five other guys. And, um, the one offer we got in the ps second round was around pick 50 to 55. I don't remember exactly. Um, and they offered me and, and we came to terms and then,
00:08:10
Speaker
We're sitting there watching the TV and they, they pick another kid, uh, for half the amount of money. So it it just goes to show that they got a same profile style player, but they went under slot to get them. And, uh, they saved money to be able to use later on in the draft. And at that point, I didn't understand.
00:08:28
Speaker
the financials of the draft and how they were moving money from round one and two to rounds, you know, five, six, seven, eight, all the way to 10. I didn't understand that at the time, but as it was going on was very stressful.
00:08:39
Speaker
And I did learn that yes, teams are, I mean, it's a, they, they go in there with a game plan. Everyone does, everybody goes into something with a game plan. And at pick five, when a dude gets picked that wasn't supposed to be picked at pick five, it throws the rest of the draft off. And then, you know, by the time i'm um I was pick 85, by the time it gets to 85, it's just kind of a crap show. And so they're they're planning ahead 10 or 15 picks and they're trying to they're trying to call. And if this happens, then we're going to take him. this doesn't happen, then you're not getting picked.
00:09:09
Speaker
And at that point, I was 19 years, just turned 19 years old. I had no idea what the behind the scenes looks like. after spending seven years of in professional baseball and watching the draft every year, i just, I understood what those kids felt when they were getting drafted and, and just the anxiety and emotions that roll through the player side of it, but also seeing being there with the front office, whenever, you know, they're having these conversations leading up to the draft, they're coming and visiting the players, um, at all the affiliates and, and, you know, meeting with them.
00:09:43
Speaker
And, uh, And you you can just see they're also anxious and they're also nervous on who they're going to select. So it's chaotic. The draft, I mean, it's literally just a crap show. And I think, I mean, it's, it's good the way it works out, but it's, uh, it is very nerve wracking for all parties. Not just, not just the players, but also the teams as well.
00:10:06
Speaker
Yeah, I can believe it because what it used to be that there was like 30 to 40 rounds in the MLB draft. I think what they do, they finally cut it down to 20.
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah. So they, uh, let's see, it was 40 rounds whenever I went. Um, and before that they actually had unlimited rounds, it would just go until they stopped picking.
00:10:29
Speaker
Um, and then during in COVID they cut it
COVID-19 and Minor League Experiences
00:10:33
Speaker
down. I think COVID was only at 10 round draft. And then the year after COVID they went up to 20 rounds and that's kind of where it is nowadays.
00:10:42
Speaker
so You know, that's crazy to think because like I said, we're we're a big NFL draft podcast here and we just got done with all our our draft coverage and that and you know that's seven rounds, 250 some picks. We know what what we're looking at. We know what's going on. And like I said, with those guys, it's just something as simple as, hey, we want you. We're taking you. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
00:11:05
Speaker
And just and like you said, with the baseball, with the over slot, and the under slot money and and what we're going to take this guy because with the Braves organization, they tend are there for a while. They tend to with the first round pick, they'll take an under slot guy with whatever pick that they have. And then that way they can because, well, we're going to take this college guy later.
00:11:27
Speaker
and offer him more this high school guy later and offering him more money because we took a college guy in the first round and we're able to get him under slot so it is a very interesting situation and you know that's way above my pay grade when it comes to yeah absolutely so you get drafted um you know not saying it's not as big of deal as like the nfl but our do you have like a draft party going on during the draft or is it just simple as you're sitting there with your folks and, and whatever. And you know, if I get a call, I get a call. If I don't, then, you know, Hey, it doesn't end the next day, but do you do kind of like the NFL where you invite a bunch of people over and, and have a big meal in that?
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah. So, um, I, like to be like Michael from the office. I'm not superstitious. I'm a little stitious. My dad says it's super it's bad luck to be superstitious,
00:12:26
Speaker
um so which is just contradicting. But um we i didn't want to have this big party. And and being in a second or third round high school, you know where they're you're a high school player, but they're projecting you second or third round, that could really be you know, you're getting paid in the second round or you're not getting drafted at all because they didn't give you the money. And so I didn't want to do anything like that. I just wanted to be around family, um you know, watch the watch the draft. Now we did, after I got drafted and we came to terms about a week later, um i was set to fly out two weeks after the draft day. So about a week later, we did have a little get together at the house, um but nothing nothing draft party night. Now, if you're projected a first rounder,
00:13:15
Speaker
you know, more than likely you're going to get picked in the first two rounds or first three rounds. And, uh, and you can, you can do that. I was just, I'm like, I'm not going to have a whole get together and then me not get picked.
00:13:27
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, you hear about someone with the NFL that they were out, you know, i met a guy in green Bay one time that was actually drafted by the Lombardi Packers. And he said that he didn't even know he got drafted.
00:13:44
Speaker
until ah ah somebody called him on the phone and said, Hey, did you realize you just got drafted by the Packers? And you know, he didn't know that, or you you hear about the guys that are out just playing catch on their porch with their, with their brother or their dad or whatever. And they get a phone call from a, so it's just amazing how people end up doing that. But um so you get drafted,
00:14:09
Speaker
Where are they telling you you're going to initially start? Are you, do they have a plan for you right away or are they like, well, we're just going to and hit put you here and see how you go from, from there?
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah. So I was drafted by the angels and about two weeks later I get, I get flown out to Arizona. They tell me they're going to do all my medical screenings, physicals, all this stuff.
00:14:32
Speaker
um And you know, they're, if there There was definitely a game plan in place for me, but I just wasn't aware of it. ah I started in the AZL, played in the AZL.
00:14:45
Speaker
I didn't really know. kind of that they They told me on the front end, hey, go out here. this is a short season. go out there, play, have fun, and then we're going to reevaluate in spring training on what we think you need to do for next year.
00:15:00
Speaker
And so I had no idea. I just went out there played ball, had fun. Didn't, you know, i knew that there were teammates of mine that had been in ACL for two or three years. And I'm like, look, that's not something I want to do. I don't want to be, ah i don't want to be stuck in, you know, short season ball for three years. And at this point they still had, um, uh, I can't even remember the league, the pioneer league. It was still a pioneer league and, it was a short season, but it was like a, um,
00:15:28
Speaker
In between, it was like rookie advance or whatever. I don't remember what they called it. um But I was just an AZL rookie ball at the spring training sites, and I was ready to get out of there. And so I just ah played. I had fun. I did whatever.
00:15:42
Speaker
And i attended all the off-season camps. I wanted to be as proactive as I could because my goal was to get out of there and ultimately get to the big leagues. And, um, I'm sure we'll get to it at some point, but I was traded in December of my first year. And so I get drafted in June and traded in December.
00:16:01
Speaker
And so my, my time with the angels was very, very, very short lived. So if they had a plan, it didn't play out because I wasn't around anymore.
Financial and Living Challenges in the Minors
00:16:11
Speaker
So yeah, you did mention you got traded what, and and that was after your first year.
00:16:17
Speaker
Um, Who did you end up going to? So it's actually a really funny story. i was, I was traded. This is when Shohei Otani was coming over the United States.
00:16:31
Speaker
And i was traded to Minnesota for $1 million dollars of international signing money. And so I was a direct just cash trade over to Minnesota.
00:16:43
Speaker
The angels took that million dollars and bought Shohei Otani. ah So in it indirectly, but directly I was traded for Shohei Otani. So you're responsible for it. Yeah. Well, did you ever um ah reach out to him? I know he's like this big star. Did you ever reach out and say, Hey, I, you know, if it wasn't for me, you probably wouldn't be over here. Yeah. I wish my, uh, I wish my agent would have negotiated some piece of that contract, but, uh, no, it, it was, it was, you know, it was a piece of the puzzle, but
00:17:15
Speaker
I got out of there. I went to Minnesota and I love my time in Minnesota. Yeah. I was looking at that because it said Cedar Rapids. I'm like, okay, well I know Burlington is Because here in Iowa, they're we don't have a pro team, but there's a lot of minor league teams all over the place in Iowa. And Burlington, which is about an hour east of us, is the Angels affiliate. So i was like, well, I don't see them playing for the Burlington Bees, but I see Cedar Rapids. Now it makes a little bit more sense because of Minnesota. What was your time like in Cedar Rapids?
00:17:49
Speaker
So, yeah, I got traded in December. Showed to spring training the next year. They start me off in extended um because I'm just a i mean i'm a high school kid to a new organization, so they're figuring out what game plan they want to approach me with. and so I start off in extended spring training, you know just doing my thing, having fun, showing up every day.
00:18:12
Speaker
and A guy gets hurt, and actually, it's Akil Badu who ends up going to play for the Tigers in the big leagues. and you know he's He's bounced around the big leagues quite a bit, but he gets hurt and I'm an extended, well, they call me up to Cedar Rapids and, uh, I meet him in Kane County and just south outside Chicago.
00:18:32
Speaker
And, uh, just, just, I don't know, just click, start playing. I spend the rest of the the season there, which is just a couple months. Um, and then I start, I start back up there the next season.
00:18:46
Speaker
And my goal is to get out of Dodge. My goal is to get out of there. And the, uh, Minnesota at that point had formulated what I thought was a great game plan for me.
00:18:58
Speaker
And we had step-by-step what we're going to accomplish this week, what we're going to do to keep moving forward. And like said, ultimately get to the big leagues. And it was, it was progressing. Like, you know, we had our bumps and ups and downs, but it was, it was slowly progressing across.
00:19:13
Speaker
And, um, 2019 comes around. started to do rapids finishing, um, the Florida state league, which was high at the time. ah do well there.
00:19:24
Speaker
And then we we roll into spring training
Interactions with Major Leaguers
00:19:29
Speaker
2020. um And i i hop on the big league flight to the Dominican Republic and we go play the tigers and big league game in the DR. And so in my head, I'm thinking, you know, we're going to double a this year, triple a the next year, big leagues the next year, if everything continues to progress and obviously you get to double a things definitely slow down for a lot of guys.
00:19:50
Speaker
Um, but then COVID hits and we get back from the DR. I mean, a week later we're packing up and we're going home and, you know, they canceled the season that year. And then I get rule five drafted to Atlanta.
00:20:04
Speaker
So that's how I ended up with Atlanta was through the rule five draft. So my time with Minnesota was very thought out, very planned. And it was, it was going along, you know, as I would have expected. And, um, I actually really did enjoy, they, they treated me.
00:20:18
Speaker
amazing there. They treated me like family and that was just a great organization. I've made a lot of good lifetime friends there um that I'm still in touch with today. So that kind of touches on, like I told Jacob earlier, um I put up a couple of threads on Reddit in both the Braves and the Angels, uh,
00:20:38
Speaker
forums to ask for questions and bab1286 asked how did you manage the covid year on his reference it says he was in between stints at a ball and double a and may have been not under contract during that time um but basically it was because they they canceled the season for that year and so How did you manage it? you know Did you go out and keep training? Did you just go home and relax for a bit, but you know still kind of worked out to keep in shape? or
00:21:10
Speaker
you know How did you manage that year? Yeah, so um it wasn't canceled up front. So we got sent home like March 8th, March 10th, somewhere around there. And they kept they kept telling us, we'll be back next week. We'll be back next week. This COVID thing's going to die off. We'll be back next week.
00:21:27
Speaker
And this goes on until June. And so, you know, we, we passed two full months, April and May, two full months of, we'll be back next week, keep training. So I'm, I'm full training, full, fully practicing. I'm working out with, uh, we have a university in town called Louisiana Monroe.
00:21:45
Speaker
Um, I'm working out with them, ULM and, you know, we're all social distancing, wearing masks indoors, but we're, we're training still. And
Role Adjustments and Team Strategies
00:21:56
Speaker
up I, not I might be mistaken on this, but I, I believe it wasn't until maybe middle of July or end of July before they actually announced the cancellation of the minor league season.
00:22:06
Speaker
And so, but up until that point, I had been fully training for to go back and maybe play like a shorter season, kind of like the big leagues. They had a shorter season and, uh, and it was just, uh, you know, no fans in the stands and ah we were fully anticipating of that.
00:22:23
Speaker
Um, but when they canceled it that was kind of where we step back and relax it you know we usually end our seasons in september this time we were ending at the end of july so we basically had a month and a half early that we went into our off-season mode and they're very smart whoever created and mlb schedule is very smart and how they do it by the time september comes around if you're not in the postseason you're ready to home If you're in the post season, you're ready to win the world series and you're ready to go home.
00:22:55
Speaker
By the time the end of January comes around that short little three or four months of off season hits you, you're missing baseball so much. You can't wait to get back. And it's almost like if those schedules were mixed up six months and six months, you wouldn't be ready to finish the season yet.
00:23:13
Speaker
And you'd be dragging along waiting for season to come on. So the, the way they built the schedule. So that year, the COVID year, um we got we ended early, but I had been home since March.
00:23:26
Speaker
And so um it was like, you know, July, August. And I'm like, when are we going to play ball? We're expecting that we're going to have a fall camp. We're expecting we're going to show up and we're going to play fall ball for...
00:23:38
Speaker
two or three months in the fall. Well, none of that happened. And so we, we were off from March and to, and pretty much, I mean, we just got there February. So we were pretty much a whole year was just completely gone and we were missing baseball so much. Well, come December, they had their winter meetings to do the rule five draft and I'm over, I'm training ULM we're hitting and I get a call from and one of the guys,
00:24:06
Speaker
Uh, in the Atlanta Braves organization, he said, Hey Jacob, just want to welcome you to the Atlanta Braves. And I'm like, what are talking about? I'm like, I'm with Minnesota. And he was like, well, we just picked you in the real five drafts.
00:24:17
Speaker
And I'm like, Oh, crazy. So I'm going to the big leagues because from my understanding at the time, they have an MLB rule five draft. And I didn't know they had a minor league rule five. So the MLB, you know, they have to put you in the big leagues for the year, or they send you back to your other team.
00:24:32
Speaker
And so I'm like, I'm going to the show. Here we go. I'm going to the show with Atlanta. And ah then he was like, he explained the minor league rule five to me. And I was like, oh man. So my emotions were like here to here here all in a two and a half minute phone call.
00:24:48
Speaker
But, um but yeah, the, the time off from COVID, it was hard. It was good. it was needed for you to want to be back on that baseball field and want to like continue to play and want like just missing it.
00:25:05
Speaker
It was bad because you missed almost a year and a half of live reps. So it it, you would still do your live ABs and I would still do all this, but here in Louisiana, we don't have a big market of and MLB players.
00:25:18
Speaker
So I'm facing against college guys and no, don't get me grown. They have good stuff, but that that's the limit of my competition.
Player Development and Performance Pressure
00:25:25
Speaker
So for, for eight months, that's all I'm hitting against.
00:25:29
Speaker
And so I felt like by the time spring training rolls around again, we're running through this, this COVID stuff, still social distancing, still wearing our mask. We finally get on the field then everything just feels rushed.
00:25:44
Speaker
And it's like, okay, we got to get right back into it. Like you never got off the wagon where we were, we were off the wagon for 14 months. So, um, and, and the minor leagues had started their spring training in the, a month later in 2021, um, behind the big league. So it was, it was a lot, it was a lot going on. And, uh,
00:26:06
Speaker
It definitely took some time to get back in the rhythm for a lot of people, not myself included, but, or myself included, but a lot of people took it took some time to get back on the wagon because we've been off for so long.
00:26:17
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, it just, the COVID thing really, it messed up a lot, but it made me miss baseball so much during that time that I couldn't wait to get back out there. And then we had to deal with all the COVID stuff too. So.
00:26:29
Speaker
I think it was, led I think as fans, we agreed to, but we understood the situation. So, you know, you can't ask for much with that, but you kind of mentioned something with, with the success of the, the, uh, pro the,
00:26:46
Speaker
Big leagues, big league team affects the the rest of the system. This leads into the other question about from Jacob Powell over on Reddit from a minor leaguer. How much do you care about the success of your big league squad, not individual players, but how much they're winning and if they are playing championship level ball baseball?
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah, that affects us, I mean, tremendously. It really does. I mean, you're constantly rooting for the big league team. You're watching the big league team. It's on in the clubhouse every single day. It's not, and I think a lot of people have this misconception of you want the guy in front of you to do bad so that you can get up there.
00:27:26
Speaker
And that's not quite the case. Like, we're all friends, and it's just you're waiting for your moment. you're You're waiting for your call. It could happen on a trade.
Memorable Career Moments
00:27:34
Speaker
It could happen on anything. You want everyone to do well. You don't want to root any against anybody.
00:27:39
Speaker
body because at that point it brings back into that I'm a little stitious. You root against somebody, you're going to have bad things happen to you. And um so, no, you're rooting for that next guy. And the success in 21 with Atlanta was something that, like, just being in the minor leagues was really, really fun to watch. you had We had a ton of fans at the minor league games. We had a ton of, like, support and care. when When the big league club's doing good, everybody's doing good.
00:28:09
Speaker
And, um, so, you know, we win the world series the following year. We have better food. We have better, you know, services we have, you know, we have everything better because the big league clubs winning.
00:28:22
Speaker
If your double a affiliates went in, your big league team is losing. Nobody cares. Right. So, but if the big league clubs winning, everybody's winning. And, uh, I have a friend that's in the Dodgers organization right now, Taylor young.
00:28:35
Speaker
And the the Dodgers are obviously doing really well and they're getting treated like Kings and double A. So it's just, you want them to do well so that it's it's fun across the board, no matter what level you're at, you're getting treated fair.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it kind of makes sense. Now, do they, now, wasn't it the year after that the Braves won the, was it Mississippi won their version of the World Series or was the year before? it was the same year.
00:29:04
Speaker
It was the same year. That's it. 2021. Yeah, 2021, we had won. and then a lot of the guys that were on that part of that AA championship left to go to the alt site because we still had this whole COVID thing going on with alt sites and big leagues.
00:29:24
Speaker
And so a lot of guys left to go to the alt site. And then then Atlanta wins it. And it's it's just... across the organization, we just feel like winners.
00:29:34
Speaker
yeah so So now you were part of the, that, that, uh, double a championship team. Do they, yes do you
Transition to Fatherhood and Retirement
00:29:44
Speaker
end up getting a ring like the big league does or, or do they do anything for you guys? Like similar to what they do for the, the big league team?
00:29:55
Speaker
Um, yeah, we, we do get a ring and we get a very nice ring. it's It's not to the extent of the major league ring. with how much money is invested into it, but it is a very nice ring and it comes in a nice showcase box um but with lights and stuff. and And yeah, my ring is in my gun safe. so So it's very nice though. and they And they did that for everybody that was on that team at some point in the year.
00:30:20
Speaker
But it's not one of the detachable ones like the big league guy. No. I couldn't believe that when they were showing off that design that it comes off and it shows truest field inside. was okay, now we're getting a little ridiculous with that. but My brother, he has, so he's won two national championships at LSU yeah for baseball. And their in their last ring, it actually detaches and it's got a clamp on it to go on a necklace.
00:30:48
Speaker
So you're wearing necklace or a ring and it's it's absurd. So... Hey, I guess if if you're that good at what you're doing, you might as well celebrate it. But um so with being in the in in the affiliates, how is it, you know, what's the living situation like, you know, with the with the big league, you know, they usually have their own houses, apartments, whatever in the area. And then, of course, you know, when they're traveling, it's hotel stays and all that. what's it like for the affiliates when when it comes to being you know not from the area so you're you're having to stay somewhere is it kind of similar uh i can only speak for the organizations i played for but um pre-covid was a different ball game pre-covid we had host families we had uh you know if you wanted your own place you had to meet a certain requirement you either had to
00:31:49
Speaker
go to double a or be 25 years or older. i don't remember the requirements, but you had to have requirements. And, um, and then you, you had to find your own rent. Like you just had to rent something by yourself.
00:32:01
Speaker
And that was always a struggle. So I just typically stayed with the host family and the Midwest. When I was in the Midwest league, we had host families that were outstanding and they still, we still can't communicate back and forth. I mean, Cedar Rapids, Iowa did me amazing.
00:32:16
Speaker
I met so many great people up there. Um, now when I went to Florida, we, the, the Florida state league, um, we had a spring training housing complex with Minnesota. So the guys that were in extended, uh, spring training and the guys that went to short season, like the FCL or GCL, they had on onsite living for those young guys.
00:32:38
Speaker
And so they gave us the option Florida state league, if we wanted to live in that. And it costs us, I think $15 a day, maybe, um And so I took that route because it was just right there on site. I could just walk across. um My wife was in school and we weren't married yet at the time, but she was my fiance and and at the time she was still in school. So, you know, she wasn't coming down and I was just going to walk across the street and go to the field.
00:33:03
Speaker
Well, then COVID hits and we're going into spring training 2020 the same, the same mentality. Well, when they canceled the season, they start reconstructing a lot of things and the minor league living situations, one of them because they, they cancel host families.
00:33:21
Speaker
So we show up in in the spring of 21 and we're expecting to go live with host families. Well, at that time they just canceled them and we were out, we were headed to Jackson, Mississippi for double A and we had nowhere to live.
00:33:35
Speaker
So I ended up, um, Cause we couldn't do the host family thing. And most people were going and getting rent houses. Well, as a minor leaguer, you don't qualify for a lot of rent houses because they asked for your income. And when your income is $13,000 a year, they're like, no way Jose, like, you're not, you're not getting into my rent house. And, um, so it would be six, five or six guys, you know, piling up in a room. 2021 was the last year this happened.
00:34:04
Speaker
Luckily my parents had a camper. um And so i I pulled the camper over to Jackson. I lived in a camper all summer. And then 2022 happens, they passed this new housing act where the teams actually have to provide housing to the players.
00:34:20
Speaker
And this was huge. This was known to be happening in hockey and other sports. And this came to baseball and it changed a lot. And they had these amazing requirements.
00:34:32
Speaker
um If you were married or you had children, you get your own place. And that was fantastic because my wife now could come stay with me and not have, you know, four other roommates in the house that makes it complicated. And so the Braves did an outstanding job with me. ah They support me no matter what level I went to. They gave me own place and they really took care of me in that regard.
00:34:56
Speaker
And a couple of things that changed, they do tell you where you live. but it has to meet certain requirements by MLB. So they are actually really nice apartments um and they're spending a lot of money for them for every single player to have one.
00:35:12
Speaker
They are really nice and they do they do a good job of keeping them clean. ah You have a cleaning lady that comes every single time you go on the road. So you come back and your apartment's clean. And the schedule would be, you know, week at home, week on the road, week at home, week on the road. So your your apartment's getting clean once, you know, every week. So it's really, it is, it was a really good setup. 22. And then my last season was 23. So, you know, I got a little bitty time with the, with the good way of living, but it worked out.
00:35:41
Speaker
I was blessed to have have experienced it. Does that spoil you? So then when you get home and it's not getting cleaned as often? Yeah, definitely. It does. And, you know, an apartment's in a lot smaller space. You don't have a lot to keep up. You don't have to cut the grass. You don't have to do all these things. And now um just being in Louisiana, we live on five acres. So You got a big yard to maintain. You got you got to keep the house clean. you know And you got kiddos now, too, in the picture that are just finding a way to tear it all up.
00:36:15
Speaker
ah um But yeah, no, I did get spoiled with it. I didn't realize how spoiled I was with it until until now when I look back at it. So you mentioned that a lot of places wouldn't rent to you because, you know, they look at the financial situation. How did you guys handle? Now, with you being a third round pick, you did get a, you know, a decent bonus compared to some, but obviously that doesn't last, you know, forever.
00:36:44
Speaker
But how does how do you survive a minor league season, you know, making only this much? And then when it comes to the offseason, are you having to go out and get...
00:36:56
Speaker
uh some kind of job to support what you're doing right yes so the sign-on bonus for me and likes you know the majority of players on the field aren't getting huge bonuses mine floated me so it it it provided my off-season living expenses training expenses everything everything i needed while i was playing i was dedicating that money to that during season, I tried to live on my paycheck alone and you know, it's, it's not super hard, um, because you're getting provided two meals a day.
00:37:30
Speaker
Um, the only thing, and you're getting provided transportation, the only thing you really have to cover is one meal a day and living expenses. So, you know, if you had a house back home that you were paying a mortgage on, that's a different ball game. That's, that's two living expenses you're having to pay for that can get expensive. But for me,
00:37:48
Speaker
um Like said, during pre COVID I was living with host family. So my, my housing was covered and, and my, that one mill a day, my host families would wake up and make me breakfast. It was awesome.
00:38:00
Speaker
So I got to pocket the 13,000 bucks, you know, well, you know, it's not a lot of money, but you get to pocket it all. And that, that, yeah that does, a you know, it does go a lot further. um but then 21 was a little bit rougher because I was coming out of pocket.
00:38:17
Speaker
uh, to, to keep my ah RV at, or the camper at this campground, I was having to pay all the utilities on it. I was having to pay, uh, and, and the way most guys get around it is they, they pile six, six guys into an apartment, a two bedroom apartment, yeah two guys in each room and two guys in the living room.
00:38:34
Speaker
And you just split the cost six ways and it ends up being fairly expensive, um, fairly inexpensive, but, That's how the most, most of the guys do it, but those two meals a day and then you're stuck, you know, you're not stuck, but you are at the field the majority of the day. You're not going out and spending a lot of money. You're at work. So yeah, it's the best way to save money is go to work.
00:38:56
Speaker
yeah yeah and you know that's why you know you hear stories about back in the day that oh we went out partying and we went out did this but then they wonder why a lot of these younger guys going up or are just spending time gaming or or doing that stuff because it's inexpensive but yeah it is it's it's super cheap and it keeps you out of a lot of trouble outside of Outside of baseball. um you You always hear the stories of people going out and getting in trouble. And, you know, that could end up costing them their career depending on what they did. i mean, if you're at home playing video games, the likelihood of you getting in trouble is significantly lower. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:39:40
Speaker
um Hit on another one of these questions here real quick. Big Papa Chuck, I've got to love it Big Papa Chuck 73. Nice. Did any big leaguers on a rehab assignment do anything cool for the minor league team?
00:39:53
Speaker
Every single time. We had a guy, you know, we would have guys. I played in Rome for a little bit one summer, and Rome was an hour away from Atlanta, so they would send a lot of rehab guys.
00:40:08
Speaker
And most of the time, they're ordering steak. You know, you're getting you're getting to eat really well that night. And it was, I mean, that, that was kind of the extent of it. Like they order really good food. And if they have a, like in Mississippi, we'd have somebody come in and in Mississippi was little bit further away. So they might stay for two or three days and you're eating really well for two or three days for every single meal. And their, their tab is $10,000 to feed all these baseball players.
00:40:33
Speaker
And you don't really, you know, you're looking at a $50 steak and you're like, wow, this is really good, but you don't understand that he just came out of pocket 10 grand to feed all these people. And, uh, so they, they were always really kind and, um, no, we never had any issues on a rehab assignment. I mean, they always took great care of us.
00:40:52
Speaker
Can you give any specifics on who was the best one that, that you had, you spent time with? Um, I don't know if I can give, i don't want to get you in trouble. I don't want somebody. No, no, I don't, I don't think a name is going to.
00:41:09
Speaker
get me in any kind of trouble. I'm just trying to remember who, who all did the rehab, um, at my affiliations, uh, CJ Krohn came, uh, when I was with Minnesota and I thought it was a really cool cause he went out there and hit like two homers and two doubles and we're eating steaks at the end of the game. And I thought that was a really neat experience.
00:41:30
Speaker
Um, but we, we had some really, i mean, some really big name players come through. It's just, Like said at the beginning, you're all friends. So, you know, you're not, you're not trying to compete. You're not trying to make anything a competition.
00:41:44
Speaker
Um, you really just compare who did the best in the field. Do you know, every day, everyone treats you fairly at that. When you get to the big leagues, they really do a great job of treating the minor leaguers. straight
00:41:58
Speaker
Did you ever get starstruck? Um, I did, so my, one of my first at bats in the AZL, um, this is after weeks of testing, weeks of getting acclimated to 120 degrees. Um, all these crazy, just things that they required me to do before I could ever step foot on a field.
00:42:22
Speaker
One of my first few at bats. Madison Bumgarner was rehabbing. And so I'm facing mad bum. I'm facing mad bum litter. Like, I mean, this is 2017. He came off of what, ah the two thousand twelve fourteen the 2012, 14, 2010, 12, 14, or whatever years it was at the giants. Yeah. banana with every other year yeah And he's coming off of that. I'm like, look, I'm i'm facing literally the dude right now.
00:42:50
Speaker
And I just stood in the box and I remembered the first thing I was batting lead off. The first thing that he did was give his pitch sign. We'll see. He like, he told me a fastball was coming and I'm like, I'm in the batter's box and I'm like, are you serious? Like, this is a, this is a live game. This isn't, this isn't batting practice. This is a live game. And he tells me a fastball is coming. And I, I was like, it's Madison Bumgarner. He might be trying to mess with me.
00:43:15
Speaker
You know? So I take the first fastball down the middle. Next one. He tells me a curveball is coming and I'm like, well, what is going on? ended up striking out on three pitches because I didn't believe him the whole time.
00:43:28
Speaker
ah it You know, when he did it twice, I was like, oh, that was a great setup to strike me out by misleading me on the pitch here. So I was just, he just had me in my dome the whole time, but I was, I was starstruck.
00:43:41
Speaker
that's crazy that's good though i mean that if i had to do it that that'd be the way to do it because then like you said on the third one that would be the perfect time to to mess you up yeah um i did have to question something when i was looking because i i wanted to look at your stats before really you know do i always try to do a little background i mean i like i said i do remember you from the braves organization and then once i put names together and all that i try to follow people on that end but on one side it listed you coming out as a catcher did you start out as a catcher no i think that's on this print okay
00:44:23
Speaker
I was a catcher in like youth baseball, my freshman year of high school. Um, I was, and then I, I had a shoulder surgery and they moved me to the outfield. So, I mean, there was no scouts looking me at my freshman year high school. So there's no way that that should be on there, but maybe it's a misprint. Uh, I did catch some bullpens in the minor leagues.
00:44:45
Speaker
if that says anything. don't know. Maybe that. But I don't know. It was really weird because it had you listed as kid where I was like, I don't remember. you know And I've looked all over the place. And even ah baseball reference has you left field, center field, right field.
00:44:59
Speaker
i So from my remembrance, you were more of a don't take this as an offense or anything. No, I know too.
00:45:11
Speaker
You weren't a power hitter. You were more the, the, the base hit speed type of guy. um what's the difference when you're stepping in the box and, and, you know, obviously a power guy is looking more just to mash everything sight. What's your mindset going through when you, when you're stepping in the box?
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah. And so whenever I got traded to the, to the Braves, my role completely changed. And this was the, the tone was set right away. Look, you're going to be our Rover guy. You're going to go to whatever league we tell you to go to, and you're going to be the fourth out footer. You're not going to play every day.
00:45:48
Speaker
hey You're going to be the fourth out footer. And so trying to figure out that role, whenever I was never really in that role, prior to that, i was the everyday guy. And, uh, I move into this role.
00:45:59
Speaker
I don't really, you know, My job was to get on base and produce runs. And so I tried to have long at bats. Uh, my mindset was to go up there, not, not swing early, not get myself out early, you know, extend the, this, this arms pitch count, like get his pitch count up and then find a way on base.
00:46:19
Speaker
And if that means hitting a ground ball through the six hole, if that means, you know, we got a guy on second, I got to drive one in the gap here, whatever the situation kind of played out. That was what I was trying to accomplish then. But my goal, every bat was to make it to first base.
00:46:33
Speaker
And my goal, every bat was to extend the at bat so that we could get this dude off the bump so that our power hitters got, you know, a lesser of an arm to go up against.
00:46:42
Speaker
But like I said, you were also a bit of a speed guy. So you, you did have a number of stolen bases. What, You know, when are you relying more on the coach when it comes to the stolen base? Are you relying more on your own scouting report, your own, you know, inner clock or whatever when it comes to stealing a base? Yeah.
00:47:05
Speaker
So when I was with Minnesota, we had a thing. And it's crazy how every organization is different. So when I was with Minnesota, we had a thing where. Um, we don't like stolen bases. It was kind of analytical stolen bases didn't produce more runs than they caused, you know, we, if you got caught stealing, you cost us a base runner. So they didn't like stealing. So we wouldn't steal that much. We'd get it. We would rely on the coach for the sign.
00:47:29
Speaker
Um, when it was a good time to go. Now, when I got to Atlanta, they were free there. They didn't care. Their goal was for us to understand baseball and develop to become the best baseball players.
00:47:41
Speaker
all around They liked stolen bases. They wanted us to formulate a way to get the best jumps to get stolen bases because they they saw a runner at first is now a runner in scoring position.
00:47:54
Speaker
And that made sense for them. And they they would take the outs, hit or miss, because they were also a big power club. So if the guy gets out, the next guy can still hit a home run and and score a run.
00:48:05
Speaker
um So when I went to Atlanta, the tide shifted. I got some more freedom to run.
00:48:12
Speaker
yeah it really shows because it says that you had 19 for your best year with in between the two leagues with minnesota but then you had a couple of years with the braves organization of 19 or 25 21 and then you had a couple of down years with it but that also goes with games played and all that stuff but um so I had a question I formulated in my head, and now can't remember how I was going to put it, but so we'll go ahead and... ah ah had one over here. I have a couple more over here on the Reddit threads.
00:48:50
Speaker
oh From the Angels ah Reddit, Unbounded Range asked, and you've kind of touched on this a little bit, but we'll give them a little bit um more of an answer to it, but...
00:49:06
Speaker
he was interested in the quality of development across the organization. So I kind of asked him specifically what he meant, whether it meant, you know, up and down between low A, double A, such like that, or between the Angels and Braves. Now, obviously you've got three of them to go through. So what's the quality of development between the three different teams you spent time with?
00:49:28
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. So when I was with the Angels, you know, I'm not going to say they they weren't developing because But for me personally, what they wanted me to do was go out there and play.
00:49:41
Speaker
I wasn't going to get any kind of extra attention because all they wanted me to do was go out there and play. And then starting the following year, we were going to start going through a checklist of how we were going to get to the big leagues. Now, there were other guys that they were looking at and they were they were working with. So I can't really speak too much on the Angels because I wasn't there.
00:49:57
Speaker
It just – they told me to go out there and play, and that was kind of my first year of development. um When I got to Minnesota – they they were a lot more analytical. So we had a lot more, you know, Harvard, MIT guys walking around with their computers and like we got bat sensors, we got, you know, chest sensors. They're wanting to know how many steps we're taking a day, how much we're on our feet, how much rest and sleep we should be getting.
00:50:25
Speaker
They were really big into the recovery. It it seemed like they, I went from, you know, hey, go out there, have fun, go play baseball, like just brute baseball to, you I was at a university and they were studying me as a specimen. That's what it felt like. they The complete polar opposite.
00:50:44
Speaker
um And they, they, they, they did this with everybody. I mean, it wasn't one person. it wasn't in a top 10 prospect. It was everybody. I mean, they were breaking down everybody. And I think maybe too much time was spent on it because then you kind of, for you, you're not spending as much time actually practicing the game, but you know, they were really putting forth an effort to make you a really great ball player.
00:51:08
Speaker
Now, when I go to Atlanta, it's it's the perfect blend. I mean, they're like, go out there, have fun. This is available if you want it. And that's what I really respected because in Minnesota, it was pressed on you, which I loved it. I'm an analytical guy. So I didn't i didn't have any kickbacks to it.
00:51:25
Speaker
um The Angels, I didn't even have access to it. With the Braves, it was, hey, it's here if you want it. If you want to use it, feel free. We have all the all the resources to help you understand it.
00:51:37
Speaker
If you don't want to use it, go out there play. And I thought that was the the best blend of player development because you have some guys that are almost reluctant to whatever you tell them.
00:51:49
Speaker
So if you're you know you're not going to go up there and tell Freddie Freeman how to hit. He knows how to hit. right So it's pointless if you're forcing that on him. But the Braves, of what they did was they allowed you to have the option if you wanted to.
00:52:04
Speaker
And I thought that was really wise. In Minnesota, they you know I'm not sure if they if they had bad blood with some of the some of the great players that came through there. um i mean, there were several great players that came through there during my time.
00:52:16
Speaker
But I didn't also know what they were doing at the big league level either. They might not have been doing it there. They might have just been doing in the minor leagues. so um But I thought the Braves overall did a great job of, hey, it's available if you want it. Here's how we can use it. If you don't want it, out there and play.
00:52:34
Speaker
And I thought that was fantastic. And also goes to show that, you know, the Braves have had extended years of success and, you know, nothing against Minnesota, but they they've not really had great success for a long time.
00:52:48
Speaker
um So OSRS Sox asks, when you are in the minor leagues, how much pressure do you feel to perform well? How did you handle it?
00:53:00
Speaker
Yeah, so my first, first year, I didn't really feel pressure because I just fully, I didn't know that I was about to get traded. I didn't know any of these things. So I just kind of fully went into it. Hey, go, I'm gonna go out there. I'm go have fun. i'm show up every day with a smile on my face.
00:53:17
Speaker
And then I'm gonna just, I'm gonna do everything as I would. I'm not gonna stress about nothing. i'm not gonna change nothing. And then when I show up for spring training, they're gonna have a game plan on how to get me to the big leagues.
00:53:28
Speaker
And I had fully entrusted in that. i didn't I didn't change anything. I didn't change my swing mechanics. I didn't do, I didn't i didn't work on it. just went out there and played and had fun like they told me to. um When I got in Minnesota, when I got traded,
00:53:41
Speaker
oh my first meeting, I mean, this is spring training 2018. My first meeting is with like some of the higher ups with Minnesota and they were like, you know, you were a prospect that came out with power and speed and you didn't steal any bags last year and you didn't hit any home runs. Like what's going on? What are you doing? Like, we're gonna find, we're gonna dig down it. And I was like, whoa, I mean, I didn't, you know, it wasn't that I wasn't not trying to hit home runs and not trying to steal bags. I just,
00:54:09
Speaker
just went out there and played and had fun. Like they told me to, I didn't know I was coming here where I'm gonna get rain for it, but it, I ended up making really good friends with, with those guys and they, they put me on a track that I thought was excellent. And it, it progressed me as a player, no doubt about it.
00:54:27
Speaker
And, um, so, and that's, that's kinda, that's kinda the extent of that. Um, yeah, that's fair. I mean, it,
00:54:39
Speaker
you know, yeah every team is going to treat everybody differently. All, you know, that's why they have so many different coaches and so many different, you know, things going through it. So, so I finally formulated the question in my head and and this is just kind of a goofy off the wall one, but in your, in your mind, which is more, how do I want to put fulfilling catching the final out of a game or hitting a walk off?
00:55:09
Speaker
Hitting walk-off. One of my coolest memories, and this is a great story. Let me see I can guess it because I have one that's been in my mind since I talked about it.
00:55:21
Speaker
I remember, and I had it saved on Twitter for a while because I was like, wow, that that was you hit a grand slam with Mississippi. i don't think it was a walk-off.
00:55:34
Speaker
It could have been. It was a walk off. So is that the one ah that you're, you're going to mention here? Yeah. So the funniest story about that scenario was I was in Gwinnett that morning. I was in AAA that morning, or actually I'm sorry. I was not, I was with the Gwinnett team. We had just landed in Omaha, Nebraska.
00:55:55
Speaker
And, uh, it was, i mean, it was that morning. They, they said, you're going to fly to Atlanta. You're going to go get your truck and you're going to drive to Mississippi. They need you there. And I was like the, I was Rover, like Rover in the outfield, just whoever was, you know, not available. I'd fill in for, well, they needed me in Mississippi cause they needed another out footer. So I fly to Atlanta, I get my truck and I drive to Mississippi, which is about six hours and I get out and it's like the third inning and I'm not playing obviously cause the game's already started, but the game goes into extra innings and the coach comes down. He's like, Hey, get a bat. You're going pinch hit here.
00:56:34
Speaker
And sure enough, I come in one out, bases loaded. Like, come on, dude. I'm either the hero or I'm the worst person in the world. And sure enough, and the funny thing about it was I was facing a pitcher, and I'm not going to name any names, but I have this software that I use in off-season for training.
00:56:56
Speaker
And and it it does a great job of replicating live pitchers. It goes off several metrics um that they use. The picture that I was facing is actually downloaded in my in my software.
00:57:09
Speaker
So I've seen his stuff 10,000 times and he doesn't even know it. and So he goes out there and he, and he gets me like a one or something like that. And then he throws me a low and in fastball and it's, it's like a cut style fastball. And I'd seen it a hundred, like said, a ah hundred thousand times. I mean, I'd seen this pitch and I just dropped the head on it and off the bat, I thought it was a sack fly because I didn't quite square it up.
00:57:34
Speaker
And so I'm like, Oh, sack fly games over. Um, And then it went over the fence and I was like, wow, that was pretty good. That was pretty neat. Cause I've been in Nebraska today. I've been in Georgia and I drove through Alabama and got to Mississippi.
00:57:50
Speaker
Yeah. I remember that that clip. Cause I follow all the Braves affiliates on, on Twitter and that. And I remember that one popping up on the field. I was like, wow, that that was amazing. the that's something that you know when you're a kid that's what you you're playing out in the the the backyard with your friends and you know two outs bottom of the ninth you know grand slam and win yeah exactly so i'm not going to keep you too too much longer because i want to keep this about an hour so you can get with your family and i i know you said you got some grass to cut so but the whole bats left throws right thing how do you come up with that when you're a kid is it just where you're natural or is it your coaches are like well you you're going to have a better success if you can do this more than you can do that you know i i
00:58:43
Speaker
I didn't know. I didn't know the answer to that question until my son was born. And he picks up a baseball and he throws it right-handed and he picks up a bat and he swings it left-handed. And he's he is this was when he was a year old. I mean, he could barely stand, barely walk around and he's doing these things.
00:58:59
Speaker
And um I'm like, okay, it's just natural. It's a natural ability to pick up a ball and swing it left-handed, pick a ball right-handed, swing left-handed. Now it's it's, and you've probably seen this stat,
00:59:11
Speaker
There's not a single MLB player right now that throws left and hits right. So it's just opposite, but there's not a single player that does that right now in the MLB. And there's a lot of righty righty, a lot of lefty lefty, a lot of righty lefty, or like, you know, throw right, hit left, but there's no lefty righty.
00:59:30
Speaker
And, uh, it, it is crazy to think about that, but my son, yeah, he picks up a bat left-handed and throws right-handed. And I guess it's just all natural. Yeah. I do golf right-handed. Yeah.
00:59:41
Speaker
yeah So that is, I don't understand that one. I swing a baseball bat left-handed, I golf right-handed. Well, yeah, and like you said, the the statistics there are weird. And then you look at like, well, you don't have any, ah you have, like you mentioned Freddie Freeman, you know, he bats left, but he throws right.
01:00:00
Speaker
but you don't have any of the opposite when it comes to first basemen. You don't have the opposite when it comes to um ah catchers, you know? and And I've seen the... I'm sure you've seen videos of that where people have broke that down, where you don't really want the lefty catcher, you don't really want the lefty first baseman, but it's like, yeah, but if that's natural for them, you know, you might as well let it be natural for them. So it always comes across my mind, like, do they...
01:00:29
Speaker
grow up that way or is that, you know, something natural for them or, you know, is that something like their coaches early on tell them, hey, just just start doing this? Yeah, no, you you you grow up natural and then the way you are, you mold into a position.
01:00:46
Speaker
And so I was always a fast runner, but growing up I played catcher in third base. And then when I had shoulder surgery, you know, I couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher for a year. So I moved to the outfield where I only maybe threw three balls a game.
01:00:59
Speaker
And, uh, and then I became an outfielder and I think long-term that play made the most sense because I could go run down a fly ball. I could get it in.
01:01:11
Speaker
Um, I never always, it didn't always have the most accurate arm growing up, but being in outfield, I didn't have to. So it it ended up working out. And I think every player, no matter what age you are, I think the best thing to do is just go out there and have fun.
01:01:28
Speaker
Be natural. Don't try to do something that something someone else is doing. Just be natural, be you. And then that, what you do is going to mold you into what player you need to become. Because if you try to do something, if I go try to hit like Shohei Otani, well, I'm not six foot six or whatever, six foot five. I'm not going to hit the ball as hard.
01:01:47
Speaker
If I try to hit like Aaron Judge, you know, I'm not six foot six. I'm not going to hit the ball as hard. Um, but you know i can i can look at guys similar like brett gardner i can look at guys that had the same player profile and maybe try to mimic some things but at the end of the day you need to be natural you need to be you and go out there and just have fun and then the game will find a spot for you did you grow up a braves fan being from louisiana i know they have that whole culture down there say so they do um and i'm gonna get a lot of flack from reddit when i say but i am i've always grown up so my dad was a red sox fan
01:02:23
Speaker
And I grew up watching a lot of Red Sox games. Well, the Red Sox in the, the, in the early two thousands, the, the height of the excitement was when the Red Sox played the Yankees.
01:02:34
Speaker
And so my dad would root for the Red Sox. Well, I started rooting for the Yankees. And then I became big fans of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez. You know, they had the whole squad, Robinson, no, Mark Tixera. I mean, they had Bernie Williams make like, they just had so many good players. And, um,
01:02:53
Speaker
And I really gravitate toward them. And I've been a Yankees fan ever since. I mean, to this day, I'm still watching Yankees games, you know, never got an opportunity to play for them, but I did play against them. Um, you know, when you look at it from the inside out, like I'm, I'm watching, I'm on a field, I'm seeing Aaron judge, I'm seeing, uh, Stanton, you know, in spring training and I see how they run their organization. You know, I'm still a Yankees fan.
01:03:17
Speaker
Maybe I don't agree with everything they do, but I'm, I'm still for entertainment purposes only. I'm going to watch the Yankees. You're going to kill a lot of Braves fans with that. Cause even with me, I still have a grudge against, against the Yankees.
01:03:33
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you know, I just, that there was somebody I've always grown up watching and I, you know, you form such a, you know, all the players, you know, the history about the team, you got to continue to root for them, even though they,
01:03:46
Speaker
they aren't playing well at times and you just kind of push through that. Now there are teams like that. I have friends on like the Rangers and other teams that I root for because, you know, i'm obviously rooting for my team, my, for a friend of mine that I'm wanting to see succeed. So, I mean, the Dodgers for instance, you're going to, I'm going to get flack as a Braves player for rooting for the Dodgers, but I have friends on the Dodgers. So I wish I could remember the kid's name, but we actually there's i live like 20 minutes from kiyosakwa and there was a guy i think he played at the same time you were for mississippi from kiyosak when he started out as an undrafted went to like a camp and and i can't think of the kid's name off the top of my head but
01:04:29
Speaker
um We're kind of like Louisiana where we don't have like every once while we'll get a kid that goes in high up in the draft or something. But usually they're they're ones that went to the University of Iowa, but they're not actually from Iowa or something like that. um So you're still relatively young. I know you haven't played for a couple of years.
01:04:52
Speaker
has there been any thought of hey maybe you know try latching back on or is that pretty much all over with for you it's it's done for me um i started so me and my dad when we had this time off we started a baseball business during covid whenever the season got canceled we opened up a baseball business kept it rolling while was playing i jumped back into it when i retired um One of the main reasons I kind of got out of it was in July of 2023, my son, my son was born, my first son.
01:05:27
Speaker
Well, I got three day days at home. He was born on Friday. I had to turn on a leave on Monday to go back to playing. And, uh, I didn't get to see him again until he was eight weeks old. And, and from newborn to eight weeks old, they changed so much. I mean, they become a much bigger child. They act totally different. They look totally different.
01:05:45
Speaker
And that had a big impact on me. So what I was looking for, and I was a free agent going into the off season. What I was looking for was a deal to where either my wife can follow and travel with me and I can have my kids at all times, or I could be somewhere close to home and still get, you know, paid a decent amount for Jack for, for instance, Jackson was a great setup for me. Cause it was about two hours from the house and that's about as close as I could get, but you know, they were doing away with the Jackson team.
01:06:15
Speaker
And I wasn't getting re-signed by the Braves. So it just, it made sense for me to just completely, you know, retire altogether and then and go home and and just become a dad and find a job that best suited me. And I haven't regretted that decision and I probably never will.
01:06:32
Speaker
So. Is coaching in your future though? I do currently coach. I coach a 12 year old travel team right now.
01:06:43
Speaker
um And we we do go to some big places. We're going to Houston next weekend. We're going to be in Marietta, Georgia um at the end of June. ah So we we do a little bit of traveling. They get to experience some of the the highly talented baseball across the United States. And that that is what I'm doing now. And I'll probably continue to do until my son's old enough where I can coach him and and follow along there.
01:07:08
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I, it's, it's at, um, it's very at a younger group than I'm not jumping into high school coaching. I'm not really looking for a full-time job in it. You know, i'm I'm more so just jumping in and, and trying to pass on some knowledge that I've had and have some fun doing it. When you play eight to 10 tournaments it a year, you know, that's not, that's not a huge, huge, huge time commitment. And it's, it it ends up being a really good time.
01:07:36
Speaker
So are we going to have a Chipper Jones situation with with you and your kids where, you know, eventually you're just going to ingrain baseball into them and and he's going to be number one overall pick and I don't know, 20, 40 or whatever it is. yeah Yeah, I don't know what his year is, but.
01:08:00
Speaker
We I'm not going to be the dad that ingrains it into him. I'm like, look, you do whatever you want. He does love it right now because my ah my brothers played at LSU. I got one brother there that's a sophomore now. And so he's constantly watching baseball. We're constantly watching baseball. We're going to baseball games.
01:08:17
Speaker
He's got a set of baseball stuff in the backyard. Um, he also likes golf. And so i'm like, look, dude, I love golf. Don't be scared to get into golf. Um, but you know, if he's in anything, I think it'll be a win and I just want him to be competitive and be respectful and you know, all the things that dad wants, but he currently does love it. I'm just not going to try to drain that love from it.
01:08:40
Speaker
I don't want to, I don't want to wear it out so much that he hates it. If that makes sense. Oh, completely, completely. I understand it completely. I've known kids like that myself where, you know, they they force them into playing, you know, when the kid doesn't want to play. And, and you know, eventually the kid just be becomes regret ah remorseful. or Not remorseful. re um Where they just hate it and and they begin to... um really put that on the parents and all that stuff too, where, you know, Hey, you made me do this and I didn't want to do this. Right. So I completely understand.
01:09:17
Speaker
So like I said, I wanted to keep this, we're a little bit over an hour, but you know, I appreciate you spending the time with me. why don't you tell the listeners what you're up to and, and where they can find you at?
01:09:30
Speaker
Yeah. So right now i'm I'm working for a real estate company. um here in West Monroe, Louisiana, sell real estate all across Louisiana, uh, as Coldwell Banker Group Run Group One Realty.
01:09:43
Speaker
Um, we got, i own a baseball academy called Pearson Baseball Academy. Um, and we, we do baseball lessons, softball lessons. We work with teams. We kind of specialize in, in a lot of variety of, of player development across baseball, softball, high school, college, even some professional athletes that we work with. Um,
01:10:04
Speaker
So those are, those are kind of taken up the majority of my work life at home. I'm a dad to two kids, a boy and a girl and as Jesse and Bonnie and, um, my wife, Faith, of course, just the, the anchor to all of this.
01:10:19
Speaker
And we live out here in the country on five acres. We love hunting and fishing. We love getting dirty. I mean, we just, we just have a good time. We like to eat now. i used to have to watch what I ate. Now I just eat whatever. Um, so yeah, just enjoying life, trying to take it day by day and not trying to stress about too much. Um, you know, I've been really grateful for some of the people that have been in my life recently to kind of mentor me into the transition from baseball, me and told what to do and show up and when to do all this and to kind of,
01:10:53
Speaker
me being a business owner and me working my schedule and how to balance that with life. Because when I first started, i first got out of baseball, I was spending a lot of time, you know, answering texts at 10 PM and not being around, you know, taking a phone call late at night. And when you're a business owner, that's what you do. I mean, you have nobody to kind of tell you when your hours are so you're cut off. So, um, you know, that was neglecting the purpose of why I came home in the first place. I came home to be around my kids and to spend time with them. And I jumped right back into it. So I had some great people along the way that told me, you know, let's not answer our phone after six o'clock, you know, unless it's an emergency, let's put our phone down and spend time with our kids. And I think that's been a blessing to me and being able to stay home and, and do all these fun things, you know, and grow up being a dad and,
01:11:43
Speaker
i've I've enjoyed my time at home. But yes, you can find us at, you can find me at jacobpearsonrealestate.com. ah You can find us at pearsonbaseballacademy.com. You can do a quick Google search with Jacob Pearson Baseball or Jacob Pearson Real Estate.
01:11:58
Speaker
um We're on Facebook, Twitter, you name it, Instagram. We're on all the platforms. we're not the We're not the content creating group. We're just the we're just to get the business group.
01:12:09
Speaker
So, yeah. Well, that was going to be my next thing. and when When are you going to start the content creation? Because that seems to be, you know, you got Eric Sims that's doing his stuff and ah the bat bros and and those guys seem to be able to get get their stuff going. So are we going to see the Pearson bros out there doing their content creation sometime?
01:12:33
Speaker
Honestly, you probably will just because we we experiment a lot. And it's really when the when the three of us get around each other, me and my two brothers, it is just, it's a great time. i mean, we're laughing. We're coming up with crazy ideas and we're doing crazy things. So we might end up having a content creation at some point.
01:12:50
Speaker
um ah just I just, don't know when, and it may be in the next couple of years and it's going to be really goofy. I'm sure we might start a podcast. We might just be really goofy. I don't know, but it'll be, it'll be sometime.
01:13:02
Speaker
I'm sure soon. Who knows? and You know, I'll help you out with it. I appreciate that. Yeah. i'm going to need, it I have no, like said, no really tech savvy knowledge when it comes to that. So, well, we've been doing our podcast for almost four years now. So, uh, yeah, if you you guys start doing it, let me know and I'll give you as much info as I can on it and, and get you in the right.
01:13:28
Speaker
appreciate that. I think that'd be, that'd be a great idea for just my brother's a goofy. i'm I'm goofy, but they're they're really goofy. It'd be good to get on the podcast one day.
01:13:40
Speaker
Nothing wrong with that. but so Thank you, Jacob, for joining. um you know i I feel like a pest when I when i start messaging people about ah you know trying to get on the podcast and all that. and i Like I messaged you the other day, I get kind of paranoid when there's that long distance ah gap between communications. Like, okay, I think we're still set up, but you know, I'm just still, going to send this message just in case, yeah but I appreciate you getting on. Appreciate you talking to me. Make sure everybody goes over and gives him a follow, gives them a, a, a,
01:14:15
Speaker
Look at at the Pearson Academy, the the Realty. If you're in Louisiana area, you know make sure you go through them and and get your land and your houses. ah You can follow us, obviously, at theohana__packers on Twitter, ohana__packers edition, all over everywhere else. I'm at iowa__joe86 on Twitter. I am a little bit more on Blue Sky than I am on Twitter anymore just because it seems a little bit... less congested over on blue sky than than on the twitter machine but that's that's it for this week next week i can't remember which one i have scheduled for a guest but i know i have a couple of more guests lined up and then i'm kind of stuck i am going to throw this out there again i am looking to talk to somebody about paranormal so if anybody knows somebody with a paranormal podcast or anything like that hit me up so we can get something scheduled there
01:15:13
Speaker
But with that said, as Mike would say, go Pack Go and Aloha.