Travel Ball Talk: Recent Episodes
Rich Prado
Travel Ball Talk brings you conversations with coaches, owners & founders of the best travel baseball organizations.
Topics will include the current state of travel baseball, opportunities for improvement, recruiting, communication, tech & as many tips, tools & tactics as possible.
These will be conversations with coaches, for coaches.
In the eternal words of Biggie Smalls, “we’re going back to Cali” for this week’s podcast to meet Michael Garciaparra from GBG Baseball. While I’m sure we all recognize his big brother, Mike was a 3 sport star that was headed to the SEC to play football & baseball before being drafted in the first round, but still claims soccer is his best sport. I can’t imagine the level of competition that takes place at backyard cookouts at their dad’s house.
https://www.playinschool.com/garciaparra
This week’s guest is Ryan Thompson, VP of TB SoCal. We discuss how “The Boys” as they are known differentiate showcasing vs competing as well as 1 of the main keys of recruiting. We also get into very interesting conversation about year round playing, which is a problem everywhere, but gets magnified due to 365 days of baseball weather in Southern California.
https://www.playinschool.com/thompson
Yes. It’s true that we were all impacted by covid in some way this year. But I’ll be honest, if you scrolled my twitter feed this summer & fall, you’d never know there was anything going on. But for the organization that today’s guest runs, that couldn’t be further from reality. Joe Ellison, the relatively new GM of the Ontario Blue Jays, tells us how being north of the border essentially shut them down for almost a year. When I say “shut down”, I mean zero games for the better part of a year.
https://www.playinschool.com/ellison
This week’s call finds us in Augusta, Georgia with Roger Wilkinson, founder of Scoutz USA. At the very beginning of the covid lockdown I said that we’d begin to hear 3 phrases over & over again… JUCO, Reclass & Gap Year. We’ll, Roger has figured out an absolutely tremendous solution for prospects looking to take a gap year. He actually set up his academy prior to covid but I suspect that he’ll see tremendous growth over the next few years.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/wilkinson
Today we’re headed out to Cincinnati, Ohio to talk with Jay Basil, founder of the Cincy Flames. It was quite a treat to get to talk with Jay. He’s been involved with youth baseball longer than most of my listeners have been alive. And he’s been running elite events for over 20 years already. It was great conversation listening to comparisons between what travel ball was like 25 years ago vs today.
https://www.playinschool.com/basil
This week's guest joins us from Lexington, South Carolina. Corey Warner runs Bodyshop Baseball & P27 Academy. We’ll get into what P27 stands for. This is yet another episode in my ongoing research of academies. We’ll learn what Corey thinks makes academies such a better option for serious players than traditional travel ball.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/warner
Marty Davis from 643 Sports recently featured me on his podcast. It was a fun conversation focusing on recruiting and specifically how Play In School helps travel ball organizations & prospects.
https://www.playinschool.com/davis
Today's conversation features Ryan Serena of Rogue Baseball Performance which is located just outside of Denver, Colorado. We discuss a very important topic in today's environment. Contingency plans.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/serena
Today we head to St Louis, by way of Miami, to talk to Joe Lopez of the Gators Baseball Academy. If you're thinking about growing your organization this episode is for you. When Joe joined GBA they were doing great. Since he joined on, with his leadership, they have 7 X'd the size of their club! We'll discus how they did that as well as some thoughts on how to navigate in the time of coronavirus.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/lopez
I recently had the opportunity to participate in a great conversation on recruiting with The Baseball Bunch hosted by Jeff Leise & Tyler Goodro.
The other panelist included...
- Noah Sharp from the JuCo Baseball Blog
- Bob Hlavac from #JuCoRoute
- Casey Dill from the Palm Springs Collegiate League
- Josh Rudd, host of Quarantined Coaches & College Baseball Tours YouTube shows
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/baseball-bunch
With coronavirus causing the cancellation of the college season & the high school season we are going to see a lot of changes coming our way. I'm bringing back Tyler Courson, founder NLA & Triton Baseball, to talk about the impacts we may see with summer ball and how reclassifying or doing a post grad year could be a good move for certain kids.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/courson-2
This is a unique time we are living through. No games. Schools are closed. Lots of downtime. While it is tough and totally unwanted, there is a a way to have some good come from the bad. Your ability to communicate will be 1 of the most important skills to leverage right now. That's why I decided to bring back Mark Helsel, founder of US Elite, to learn some of the ways he's engaging his players, parents & college coaches.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/helsel-2
Today's call features Steve DiTrolio, Team Director for the Diamond Jacks. The Jacks are the home team of the incredible facility in Flemington, NJ, Diamond Nation.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/ditrolio
Today's guest is Tommy Hernandez, founder of the Dallas Tigers. He started the Tigers way back in 1993. While we could have easily spent the the show talking about famous past Tigers, we instead focused on Tommy's 5 boys. He uses boys different experiences through the recruiting process as examples for current families that are embarking on the same journey.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/hernandez
We're headed down to South Georgia today to talk to Andy Burress, owner of 5 Star Baseball. This was a great conversation that covered lots of ground including how he took a baseball team that was sponsored by & named after a local chain link fence company to the national powerhouse that we know today.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/burress
Today's guest is Duke Baxter, owner & founder of Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Duke is an energetic guy, which you can witness if you take a quick look at any of his social media. Our conversation covered the importance of playing multiple sports, educating parents & players on "Pitch Smart" and overcoming failure.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/baxter
Today we're talking to John Wells, founder of Baseball U, a very successful program based in New Jersey. Our conversation covers a lot of topics, including what a difference we've both seen in this industry over the last decade.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/wells
Today's call features Ryan Sizemore, Director of Ops & Player Development for the Mid-America Prospects. Ryan has an extensive background in working with tournament companies which provides us with some unique perspective. We also talk about the debate on playing multiple sports.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/sizemore
We're headed back to Atlanta to talk to Walker Searcy, the owner of the Home Plate Chili Dogs. We cover a lot of ground in this call but 1 subject many of you might look forward to hearing about is how Walker actually purchased this established business about 4 years ago. His perspective may help some of you listeners that are going down a similar path.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/searcy
Today’s call features Todd Stein & David Wiggins from Recruits Baseball in St Louis. 2 huge takeaways for me is how they made the shift from 1 on 1 lessons to group training at their facility & how utilizing a variety of apps & tech actually create an incredible opportunity from the standpoint of accountability.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/stein
Today’s call features David Hadeler, owner of the McKinney Marshals which is based in the Dallas area.
If words like values, goals, pillars of success or standards interest you, then you're going to want to lock into this conversation.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/hadeler
Today’s call features Wes Rynders, owner & founder of the Georgia Bombers. We get tremendous insight into what it was like playing & coaching for 1 of the best organizations in the country before deciding to leave to start his own club. We also talk about his commitment to adding as much value as possible for his players & families.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/rynders
Today's episode features a guy that spent about 15 years in the big leagues. Then, like many dad's, started coaches his own kids when they were young. Mark Guthrie eventually founded the Florida Burn with his childhood best friend & college roommate at LSU. We spend a lot of time talking about both his friends & his sons who are all still involved in baseball.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/guthrie
Today's call features Jake Robbins, VP of Showcase Baseball Academy in Charlotte, NC. Jake spends time telling us about & you can tell he takes serious pride in the Mission, Vision & Values of SBA. I know there a many teams out there that have not solidified these for themselves. Hopefully this conversation inspires at least 1 coach to attempt to define what their organization stands for.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/robbins
I make cafe con leche each morning. My friend Joe Ferraro of the 1% Better podcast totally geeks out on cold brew. On today's episode, Robert Maida, owner & founder of 9ers Baseball, in New Jersey, shares with us his unusual go to caffeine source as well as some strong tips for 1 on 1 or group communication with players.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/maida
Today's call features Spiker Helms & David Birkby, the National Directors of the Rawlings Tigers. If you're not currently familiar with the Tigers, hang tight for a year or 2. You & everyone else will know their name. The reason I can confidently make that statement will become very apparent as you listen.
https://www.playinschool.com/helms
Today's call features Scott Stahlecker & Jeff Leise from the Nebraska Prospects. We have a great conversation where I learn a lot about the landscape of baseball in Nebraska. And for the 1st time in nearly 40 episodes we discuss competing for players against... wait for it... American Legion teams. Yep. True story.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/leise
Today's call features Rich Leitch, Director of Baseball for the Toronto Mets Baseball Club. It's incredible learning about how the Canadian players & coaches have to go the extra mile, literally & figuratively, to achieve the goal of playing college baseball here in America.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/leitch
Today's episode features Jim Osting, the founder & owner Ostingers Baseball near Tamps, Florida. Jim is the classic example of the 10 year "overnight success". He's been steadily & slowly building his organization for the last decade and all of the sudden the Ostingers are near the top of the rankings at every age group.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/osting
This weeks episode features brothers from Kansas. Scott & Clark Jones are the owners of Natural Baseball, just outside of Kansas City. We have a great conversation that covers a lot topics including blending old school with new school as well as some creative scheduling that helps get their guys more looks.
https://www.playinschool.com/jones
Today's episode has us returning to the great state of Minnesota to talk to Adam Barta, the founder of Blizzard Elite Baseball. Words like "culture" & "values" get thrown around a lot in sports these days. But it's not something that can be faked. Listening to Adam discussing what they call the "Blizzard Big 5" absolutely blew me away.
https://www.playinschool.com/barta
Today’s episode is going to bring some great insight because we’re talking to a guy that quite literally just left coaching college baseball in the past few weeks. Cody Church was the head coach of Maryville College before stepping down to take a job in sales & to join Exposure Baseball. Exposure Baseball has been 1 of the top travel ball orgs in the state of Tennessee over the last several years & as we learn from Cody, they are looking beyond Tennessee now.
https://www.playinschool.com/church
Today's episode takes us to Boston, Mass to feature a former 1st Round Draft pick & current YouTube star. Matt Antonelli founded Antonelli Baseball after his professional career ended & while he was coaching in college. While finishing college & starting his organization, he also found time to grow a huge YouTube following.
http://www.playinschool.com/antonelli
Today's episode features our first program named after a current MLB All-Star. Sean Danielson is the owner of Hunter Pence Baseball Academy in Cypress, Texas.
Sean tells us how he went from being a 2 way guy, to being just a pitcher, to being just a hitter and how that lead to pro baseball & quite possibly the best signing story & nickname I've ever heard.
HPBA has been making quite a name for itself lately. This includes hosting a draft watch party for 1 of their very own guys that heard his name called in the 1st Round of the 2019 Draft. He describes the event & the last impact he thinks that event will have on their guys.
Today's episode features Mario Jimenez, the Director of Baseball at Inspiration Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
If you've been following Travel Ball Talk, this episode is a kind of convergence of 2 topics that seem to have weaved together here into 1... the idea of faith & baseball combined with the academy concept.
Prior to diving into everything that AI offers, we learn how Mario went from a completely unrecruited high school player to coaching MLB hitters.
Today's episode takes us back to Colorado to talk to Scott Hormann. Scott is the Colorado Area Director for USA Prime. This is an interesting conversation that touches on why he made the decision to part ways with the brand he started to team up with USA Prime, which is a growing organization based in Texas.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
http://www.playinschool.com/hormann
Today's episode takes us on our first international road trip. Sean Travers is the President & Director of Player Development for the Ontario Blue Jays. Sean is widely considered one of the leading instructors of infield play which is quite the compliment for someone that didn't even play high school baseball.
Our call covers how Sean's baseball path always seemed to put him in the right place at the right time. We also talk at length about how OBJ manages to leave Canada for weeks at a time to put their prospects in front of American college coaches throughout the year.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/travers
Today's call features Keith Wahl, Executive Director of Complete Game Ministries. In addition to CGM, Wahl is currently the Assistant Athletic Director, Head Baseball & Softball coach at Valor Christian Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
Our call gets into the topic of a cooperative relationship between the travel coach & the high school coach. We also take a deep dive into what Complete Game Ministries is & the impact they are having on the baseball community.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
Today’s call features Mike Colangelo, GM of Stars Baseball based in Northern Virginia. Mike obviously cares deeply about his community. He went to high school in NoVa. He went to college right down the road from his home at George Mason. After his time in the big leagues he returned to NoVa to work with local players eventually becoming the GM of the Stars and coaching high school baseball.
I’m proud to work with the Stars. We film over 100 of their guys each year. You can find film on all their guys at www.playinschool.com/stars
If your organization lacks up to date film on every single player then we need to talk.
Now, on to the show… I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
Today’s call features Greg Reinhard, owner & founder of GRB Academy based near Madison, Wisconsin. Greg is an alum of D3 powerhouse Whitewater where he was drafted in the 6th round. That’s right, 6th round from a D3. GRB’s teams & facility are growing like crazy. I wanted to chat with Greg to find out more about both.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/reinhard
Today’s call features Brian Martinez, the owner & founder of the TNXL Academy Ducks located in central Florida. The Ducks are one of the programs at the forefront of the growing niche of academies. I’ve know Brian a long time & it was a lot of fun getting the chance to dive deeper into this topic with him.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
https://www.playinschool.com/martinez
Today’s call features the only person I know from Minnesota. Steve McGuiggan is the founder of the Minnesota Mash. Before this call, I wasn’t even sure I knew they played baseball up there. After this call, I was so impressed with everything Steve & his staff are doing up there.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk…
Today’s call features my new favorite coach, James Lowe, also known as Coach Ballgame. This call is going to be a little different. Coach Ballgame does not coach travel ball. In fact, in some ways he’s the antithesis to the traditional travel ball coach.
Coach Ballgame is one of the most positive & entertaining coaches I’ve seen in a long time. I think we all have a lot to learn from him. I’d encourage you to binge on his content which I’ll link to in the show notes. Reach out to him. Bring him to your town. You won’t regret it.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
Today’s episode takes us to Charlotte, North Carolina where we talk to Jeff Schaefer, founder of the Carolina Baseball Center. As you’ll soon find out, CBC barely scratches the surface to describe everything baseball related that Jeff is into.
This conversation gets into 1 of the major topics on everybody’s mind… money & expenses in baseball. Instead of just acknowledging the problem or complaining about it, Jeff is doing something about it.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
Today’s episode features my friend Nelson Gord, founder of the Illinois Indians and current Director of Baseball for NCSA. Nelson is as deep in the trenches of travel baseball as anyone in the industry. We discuss many topics in this conversation including an equation for recruiting he simply refers to as “ONE”.
We’re headed to the midwest to talk to a coach that gave up truck driving to pursue baseball full time.
RJ Fergus is the owner & founder of Hitters Baseball near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. What the Hitters & a few other orgs have done for exposure of players in Wisconsin is beyond impressive, and much of the credit goes to RJ.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
Today’s guest is Will Nobles, founder of Carolina Combat based in Columbia, SC. He went from turning down an opportunity to help an ACC coaching staff to being someone that now exudes what it means to be a teacher, a coach & a student.
We’ll discuss why it’s important to him to fill his rosters with local kids & why he intentionally keeps the organization small. He also shares some fantastic ways he’s utilizing technology to help make his players & coaches better.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
Today’s guest is Logan Stout, founder of the Dallas Patriots. Logan might be 1 of the most productive individuals I have had on the show. He’s a serial entrepreneur & has been highly successful in both baseball & business. We spend a lot of time talking about leadership, time management, mentors, daily routines before we ever specifically touch on travel baseball.
My suggestion for anyone listening is to have a pen & paper ready because he’s providing some serious knowledge that I know for a fact he typically charges thousands of dollars for.
https://www.playinschool.com/stout
Today’s guest is John Sarna from the Chicago Scouts Association. Sarna is a Windy City guy and cares deeply about his hometown ball players. It is that care & love of the game that led him & partners to create CSA, which is set up as a platform that advocate for Chicago area prospects.
The Chicago Scouts Association combines pieces & parts of things that might seem familiar, into a unique recipe that makes it a truly 1 of a kind organization.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk…
Today's guest is Tyler Courson, founder & owner of Next Level Academy & the Triton Rays.
Next Level Academy is a boarding school for baseball players structured in similar fashion to IMG.
The concept of "academies" that are handling training & schooling for players seems to be growing. My conversation with Courson is very eye opening for anyone considering running a program like this or anyone considering sending a player to an academy.
Today’s guest is Andy Partin, founder of The Dirtbags & Impact Baseball based in North Carolina.
The Dirtbags have a long & successful history & Partin himself is known as a trend setter within the travel ball world.
1 look at him will tell you that he’s not shy about picking up heavy objects. And that’s exactly what I wanted to talk to him about. We spend the majority of our call discussing strength training and just how important it is for prospects to be strong.
Today’s guest is Ryan Wheat, Director of Recruiting & Player Development for the Legends Sun Devils.
Ryan tells us he knew early on that he was going to be a coach & he shares what he did to make it a reality.
On our call, He was not shy about sharing his thoughts on the NCAA & also what makes the Sun Devils a development program.
https://www.playinschool.com/wheat
Today’s guest is Eric Dubose, Vice President of the East Coast Sox. Dubose has a fascinating background. He went from the MLB to driving a school bus, to then running one of the most successful travel ball organizations in the country. In this conversation he does not shy away from what makes the Sox different than other clubs.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
Today’s guest is Byron Embry, handles much of the communication for Slammers Baseball. By the end of the episode you’ll know exactly why.
Based in Colorado, the Slammers have some unique challenges which we discuss on the call.
How they handle these challenges will benefit any coach that tunes in.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Travel Ball Talk.
Today's episode features a conversation with Joe Barth Jr, founder of Tri-State Arsenal.
Barth, also known as "The Hit Doctor" is an absolute legend in the world of travel baseball. In fact he has been full time in baseball coaching since the 1980's!
Enjoy this episode of Travel Ball
www.playinschool.com/barth