Yeah.
Hello, Monarch fans.
Welcome back to Hudson Homers.
It's been, I think three weeks, maybe a month, A month,
I
think.
But a lot's happening.
I think we need an update
on that, uh, opening though.
We need, we need, uh, some, some new, new photos in that opening.
We got, uh, I mean, I love, I love the guys, but we're
getting a little stale on that.
We gotta, we gotta beg who, who we gotta beg on that.
Uh, we can get that set up.
Thankfully, uh, you know, CB, you've got quite a few photos for us to choose from.
I'm sure we'll get some from fall ball as well.
There we go.
Um, but yeah, but we've got a bunch of stuff for you today.
Uh, we got Coach Marron, we got Coach Finny will be hopping on in just a second.
Uh, a lot's happened since the last episode.
We've had a draft portal is closed.
We got high school kids enrolled now.
Uh, maybe some stadium updates and anything else going on from
the summer for ODU baseball.
So appreciate you all continuing to tune in over the summer.
Uh, but we want to just go ahead and introduce our guests.
Now, CB you, you, you have any major life updates for us other than your,
uh, cat trying knock over your stuff?
I,
no.
Yeah, she is.
I dunno what she's doing right now, but she's, she started climbing
me now that's her thing now.
She, she will like, sprint, run, crawl, and sit on my shoulder.
So, which is super, a fun thing that now I have to like be on my, my head on
a swivel at all times, which is great.
Well, I'm just waiting for like the Hudson Homer's meta situation when
she jumps in and pulls your curtain down before it actually falls down.
Yeah, well that would be impressive 'cause she can't get
quite, get through this gate yet.
So just wait new.
I am, I am.
Just wait.
Awesome.
We'll get, we'll get right to it here.
We're gonna bring on our two guests for today.
Hey, coach Chris Finwood and Coach Mike Marron.
Finny been a minute.
How you
doing?
Great
guys.
Good to be here.
Good to, uh, see your smiling faces again and I'm happy we got Mike here with us.
Uh, yeah.
He'll be back on the road for the last big recruiting trip
of the summer here coming up.
So good to get him back in town and jump on the show.
I didn't even know we had such good timing.
That's awesome.
Yep.
Yeah, you do well last night.
I appreciate y'all moving.
We had the, uh, the, the going away, um, a little bit coaching,
get together with, uh, John Keane since he's heading up to Merrimack.
Yeah.
Um, and, uh, is it college Mike Merrimack college or university?
Oh,
it is, it is.
It's not university yet.
Coach Merri is frozen on the screen.
I was, I need, I, uh, next time that happens, I'm definitely taking a picture
of that's going on his, uh, contact photo.
There it goes.
It's
right there.
Oh yeah.
So Merrimack College, um, and, uh, you know, he's sitting up there next
week and, uh, as Mike reminded me, he, John's been with us 10 years,
I was gonna say.
He is been a long time.
Yeah,
yeah.
From player to grad assistant and, um, director Bob, he's done
a little bit of everything here.
Came in as a catcher, left as a pitcher, and now he's gonna be
the pitching coach at Merrimack.
And we're really, uh, excited for this opportunity for him.
Uh, he is a fantastic representative of ODU and just one of the best all
around people, um, you can imagine.
So we'll miss him.
Yeah.
Good for them.
They're good.
They're getting all, I mean, he is, he's the best.
He's, I remember he was one of those guys, you know, when he played,
obviously, I think we all know.
He didn't, he didn't play a ton and you would never know.
He came in every day with just the best attitude and he's just an all
team guy and he's, he's brought that to the coaching and I, yeah,
I'm, I'm really excited for him.
That's, that's awesome.
Good for him.
Yeah.
Awesome.
I mean, people listen, oh, go ahead, Mike.
No, I was just gonna say, just, just with John, um, yeah, again, he's been cb he,
he probably puts, you know, he's right up there for, uh, you know, in the running
for, for Old Dominion Baseball historian.
Um, I, I would, I'd probably put him up the last decade up against anybody else,
um, in terms of knowing the ins and outs of this program and, and the people.
Um, and so his impact is, is spread through now multiple teams
over, you know, kind of multiple different classes and it's great.
He's been awesome.
He's earned it, like his story's so cool because he came back and just said, I
wanted to coach and I'll, like, whatever opportunity I can get, like I will find
my way, I will work my way into, into a role and, and I wanna learn the trade.
And, um, you know, he started a couple years ago just trying
to like, you know, obviously.
Helping out in the office and practiced and going through all that, but really,
like, was on Big Mike's crew, right?
Mm-hmm.
Was was doing the bullpens.
Yeah.
And the game mounts for us.
Like that's where he kind of got his in.
It was like, Hey, we can, we can use some help doing some stuff on the field.
And he, he took right to that and man, it, it's just, it's been fun to watch his
progression, his evolution and to see, you know, the, the skills that I think
were already in there, but the ability for him to take, um, to absorb all the things
on this side of the ball, uh, on the coaching side the last couple years, and
really, um, be able to turn that around and, and put him in a position where
I think when he gets up to Merrimack, he's, he's, he's gonna do really well.
He's gonna build relationships with guys up there.
He is gonna give him a plan.
He is gonna give him some structure and he's gonna give him some ownership.
And, and I'm excited to.
To see him do that.
I know he is excited to get out on the road, start recruiting.
Um, it's a, it's a different, uh, I, uh, I've been trying to keep a, you know,
coaching at UMass Lowell for four years.
He's actually gonna be living basically like a block off campus
from where I got a chance to, you know, obviously to beat for a while.
I told him about the pizza place he needs to frequent when he gets up
there and all those types of things.
But, uh, he's, um, yeah, he's, he's, he's built for this next opportunity
and he's gonna do a great job and, and he kind of falls in line with a lot of
these other guys that we've been super fortunate to have in, in these roles
that have, you know, taken advantage of their opportunity and, and been able to
progress their coaching careers into, you know, whatever their next steps are.
Um, so he's in, he joins a really, you know, good, uh, awesome group of guys
that we've had in here and he's had a major impact on, on our day to day.
Well, speaking of progressing careers, uh, hat tip to the entire coaching staff,
including John, on all three weekend starters getting drafted and we timed it
perfectly for Mike, your first appearance here on the Hudson Homer Podcast.
You got, you got three guys going to the league.
Now
we, we.
We, uh, we are super fortunate.
These guys have been awesome representations of, of this place,
so they got a little ways to go before they get to the league.
They just got the, they got some time on that one.
They got some work to do.
Right now they just got the hats of the guys that are in the league.
Yeah.
Um, and they gotta, but, you know, just talk to, talk to,
just texting with DB earlier.
Um, he just signed and, uh, officially talked to Ben earlier as well.
Um, he was taking me through some of his day-to-day.
You know, they're going through their, their meetings right now.
And I haven't talked to Blake in a couple days, but we were pretty involved
in, in, in kind of, obviously his processes in terms of helping him kind
of get to his spot and, and, um, yeah, just can't be any, they're, they're
phenomenal representations of this place in this program and what you want
and, and Old Dominion monarch to be baseball or otherwise, like, they're,
they're outstanding representations of this program and, and this university.
And we caught up with Blake on Saturday.
Talked to him for a while.
We have that interview.
It's gonna actually gonna be at the end of this episode if you wanna hear from Blake
and his excitement on getting drafted.
But Mike, he talked a lot about your involvement with the draft process.
Yeah.
Kind of helping get his name out there, but also kind of lining up,
all right, well, if you don't get drafted, there's some opportunities
to sign as a undrafted guy.
All of those things.
So take us through that process a little bit.
'cause obviously with three guys they're likely were gonna get drafted.
Like, what was your day to day like, prepping for that?
Well, I, I mean, I think what's really, you know, for Ben and Dylan, you know,
those guys are in a little different boat, like juniors and seniors.
You know, they, there's, there's a bunch of different dynamics
that are in play, right?
Position players, pitchers, you know, guys that have some eligibility left.
Um, you know, um, so, you know, and, and Ben and Dylan both were in similar
situations, so, you know, they, um.
You know, locked on with an advisor that I think was, was really
important and valuable for them going through that process, the pre-draft
and then, you know, on draft day.
And this year was a little bit different.
Um, you know, the MLB dropped it down to two days instead of three, so
they condensed everything into those.
It was still the first three rounds.
It was the first, you know, it was the first two rounds, Finny first
two, first three, and then it was first three and then four to 10.
What was interesting different this year was that they, instead of giving
a day between rounds 10 and 11, they gave an hour, they gave a lunch break.
And, um, I think that, I mean, not to get bogged down on that, but I think
that that has a massive impact on, um, on the dynamics that come in play, guys
that aren't, you know, um, you know, and, and Ben's situation was similar
and, and had some of that come on.
Um, just in terms of as he go, obviously, you know, expected to
go before the 10th round and then.
Post 10th round.
Um, there's a lot of stuff that goes on in between those in that hour.
It used to be that day.
Um, you know, I think Ben's in a really good spot.
Obviously gets to go to the hometown team here, the hometown organization.
So, um, I think that ended up being a really good situation for him.
Um, but yeah, I mean, those guys, Dylan and Ben were super fortunate
to get invited to the draft combine.
I thought that was a phenomenal experience for them.
It was really cool.
We were only one of a couple handful of programs in the country that
had, you know, multiple, multiple pitchers out there, and I think that
was really good and, and, and helped them kind of get prepared for, you
know, what was coming in the draft.
And then with Blake.
Yeah, Blake's was like, Blake's leverage was not from an additional
year, like with Ben and Dylan.
Blake's leverage came from, he's awesome.
And everybody that came in to saw, to see him loved him.
And um, a lot of guys, you know, even for a senior guy, a lot of guys put
him a lot of, you know, area guys put him on, you know, or, or turned him in.
And I think he was able to create some leverage for that in terms of, you know,
it wasn't just one or two guys that kinda, you know, saw him and, and you know,
wanted to give him a chance, like at the end of the draft, that he had generated a,
a good amount of interest from a, a number of different teams that had seen him.
And yeah, I just think it, you know, it's, it's a little bit tricky for a
senior sometimes, you know, you get some organizations that want to try and
save some money early in those like, you know, rounds five, six through 10.
Um, do you go in that spot?
Do you go, do you go later in the, in the draft?
Do you go in the free agent pool?
Um, there's a couple different factors for guys like Blake and I think he kind of.
You know, the draft leg with anybody, you, you're running through the kind of
roller coaster and Finny always talks about you can't predict the draft.
Like you, there's a lot that goes into that and you, you, you're gonna waste your
time trying to predict and understand it.
Um, you know, I think pro, you know, probably this year, maybe more than
ever, you saw a little bit of impact of, of some, um, of some college org
or college programs having a lot more money to, to throw at some incoming
high school guys and make it maybe a little bit, uh, change in the dynamic
for, um, major league organizations.
To sign them.
Um, so, and, and these days everybody, you know, you, you're typically not getting
drafted very often until, unless there's a, you know, the teams have called you
and you've agreed to a, to a deal, right?
Like, teams aren't usually wasting time drafting and then figuring it out later.
They've already kind of Yeah.
You know, everybody's kind of agreed to something.
So I, I think there's a lot in play.
Um, Blake's situation was, was great for him.
He, again, he was wanted by, you know, a lot of teams showed interest
and he's in a great spot in Tampa.
It was really cool.
The, his, um, you know, airy guy that signed a ml, um, you know, was
obviously just, you know, we have a really good relationship with, and we
will continue to have a, a really good relationship with moving forward now that
he's the head coach at Norfolk State.
And, um, I thought that was just an awesome kind of cherry on top for, you
know, for the program and, and, and to have that opportunity for, for Blake
to, you know, to get picked up there.
Yeah, that's definitely one of the things we talked about is that there's,
that, you know, getting signed after the draft is, is amazing, right?
I mean, that's what you, you want to play pro, but just that feeling of
getting I was drafted compared to I was signed is, is, is so important.
So it's, Blake gave you a ton of credit for all the work you put
in, so that, that was awesome.
Um, it only matters.
I know you're gonna say he's good.
He's
good.
Yeah, he's good.
Everybody's like, yeah.
I mean, you just, you're just kind of like organizing the
books on the shelf, like Right.
The book's still gotta be good.
Like if I, you know, so I, I I think it's just making sure it
just got in alphabetical order.
That's pretty much our role on that at the end of the day.
And, you know, Blake created that for himself.
Like, he is done nothing but handle, been super resilient, handled immense
amount of, you know, uh, you know, Finn and I've, like, there's been a, like,
it's been an awesome relationship.
We've been able to build with him.
Um, and he's had to work through a bunch of stuff in his four years.
Like, like most guys that are had a, which is the cool thing, right?
Like you're at a place for four years and those guys, what's awesome about
them is like, you know, there was a combined 10 years that they've,
the 10 years, three, three and four.
So 10 years there, I'm an English major, you apologize.
Um, you got two English, you got three on there.
That's awesome.
Three,
three, me, Jenny, and you, right?
Yeah,
yeah, yeah.
75. Gary, you're in, you're in bad company here.
Um, but no, I mean, that's 10 years of experiences with those guys, right?
And so we are super fortunate.
We've been able to see so many, so many growth opportunities
for those guys, right?
And all those guys have been really successful at different points early
on in their career and had to go through a lot of failure and struggle.
And be super freaking resilient.
And I think someone like Blake and even Ben and, and Dylan, like all those guys
because of it's as much, because of the failures and the things they've had to
work through and grind through, I think those guys are, are well prepared for
their opportunities at the next level.
And, um, I'm, I'm looking forward to, to kind of seeing their
progression, how they, how they do.
Yeah.
It's definitely gonna help you when you get the pros and every guy's
the best guy to having that, that history of overcoming some failures.
Absolutely.
And in a similar vein with those guys and being resilient and being
with this program for a long time, can't, can't go without saying, Kyle
Edwards sign a deal to play some indie ball with the wild things.
We're obviously really excited for him too, to get the
opportunity to keep on playing.
Yeah, it is neat.
The, their manager, Tom Bath is a long time friend of mine and he
called, they were really interested in Kyle before the draft and you know,
Kyle wanted to wait and see if, you know, somebody gave him a free agent
opportunity and something like that when that didn't happen and he took it.
I think he's playing his first game tonight.
Um, Bryce let's go.
Told me, I think he's playing tonight, um, for him.
So we'll see how it goes.
And, you know, the, the draft is, or professional baseball is
just gonna keep going this way.
Yeah.
As it as it relates to hitters because they're gonna keep paring this draft down.
I mean, I'm hearing, you know, it might be 10 rounds next and then,
I mean, in 10 rounds, like they're, all they're gonna take is pitchers.
Yeah.
And, and you know, uh, and then the hitters will all be free agents or.
Whatever.
And, and so the teams, uh, the professional affiliates become
less and less than there'll be more, you know, independent teams
and things of, of that nature.
And there'll be more hitters in college.
I mean, that's just the way it can be.
Like, you know, the, there'll be more pitchers drafted.
There'll be more hitters undrafted that'll go back to school and things like that.
So, um, it'll be, uh, you know, it's kind of gotten that way a little bit
anyway, older hitters and younger pitchers, and I think it's just gonna
maybe keep going that way as a, as a, that's a interesting dynamic.
Yeah.
And for the people who don't know, uh, Kyle's with the Washington Wild thing,
that's in Washington's Pennsylvania, right outside of Pittsburgh.
So he Three on side,
yeah.
Yeah.
Pittsburgh.
Yeah, there's actually a old, a little division three school there called
Washington and Jefferson College.
Oh yeah, there you go.
There's a little tidbit for you.
Yes.
Remember them from my Randolph Macon days actually.
There you go.
I had a really basketball team, uh, at least back in 2010 and 11.
There you go.
Well, while we're talking about the draft, uh, I'm, I'm really glad, uh, Pierce Yery
and the, and the, and the interns there, uh, did the work of finding the numbers.
Uh, but you guys have had 11 pitchers since 2021 either drafted
or signed to play professionally.
That's pretty awesome.
Pretty impressive.
Any team.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I think it says a lot about, um, the development that
Mike's doing with the guys.
Um, most of the, uh, if I'm not mistaken, most if not all of those guys were not
drafted previously before coming here.
Uh, I don't think any of 'em.
So, uh, I think it says a lot about the development that's going on here.
And it's funny because the kids have to allow you to coach 'em,
you know, um, a lot of kids today get offended when you coach 'em.
Uh, and especially when you coach 'em, honestly, and I had this conversation
with an incoming freshman today, and it's just like, look man, if
this is gonna work, you're gonna have to allow us to coach you.
Like we gotta be in the mud together.
Um, and if it, if you're not gonna allow that, it's not gonna work.
Um, so that's, that's the deal.
And a lot of those guys, like were, you know, the fruit kids most
recently, certainly, um, they were, they just allowed us to coach 'em.
They allowed everything, the, the success, the failure.
Let's rethink this let's, you know, Blake Morgan reinvented himself as a pitcher.
He went from a soft tossing guy through 80% changeups, to a dude that sat 92
for, you know, seven innings every time out with a more of a couple
different shaped breaking balls.
And the changeup probably became his third or fourth pitch most days.
Um, and so he kind of came full circle and from that aspect, and it took a
lot of work and, you know, the, the people just don't see the, the mud that
you have to go through to, to be good.
They, they see the, you know, the finished product and they, they think it came
easy and for none of those three did it.
Uh, certainly.
And, and that, that includes the coaching staff.
I mean, Mike Pond, Rono beams, like all those guys were right there in
it with them trying to help 'em.
And maybe one of the best things you could say about those three is
they were very coachable, very good, you know, horizontal communication.
Um, you could be honest with 'em and you could get to the next thing
because they didn't get hung up and get all butt hurt or, you know,
start getting defensive or blaming or anything when it didn't go their way.
And a lot of people don't know all the things that those guys had to go
to and they don't need to, but we do.
And that, that's, that's the beauty of it, I think, as coaches is watching those
kids overcome this stuff and grow and get better and, you know, just become young
men and now they're gonna get a chance to go out and see what they can do and
chase their dream, uh, at the next level.
So it's cool.
Yeah, we're excited for, for all four of 'em.
And I guess potentially there could be more guys that end up in Indy Ball.
Um, it kind of goes in the summer, comes to an end.
Uh, but wanna, wanna look forward a little bit to the high school recruits,
Finny and, and Mike, if you wanna chat through 'em, um, I don't know.
CBU you pick your, uh, pick your first one that I got queued up here.
I
mean, let, let's let, I wanted to hear the guys tell me about who
they want that that's gonna tell me who they wanna talk about.
Oh, don't you do that.
You don't.
You do that.
You give the names.
We're not playing that game.
You go ahead and throw, you know the name.
There we are.
That's more like it.
You give us the names, we'll mention a blurb about them.
There we go.
We, we need Here's JJ hands.
Okay.
So JJs a, a, a really talented catcher, big, strong kid, uh,
swings the bat really well.
Um, his dad and mom played collegially at Virginia Tech.
I believe both of 'em there.
Yeah.
His
dad said he pitched a game against the monarchs at the bud.
How
about that?
Yeah.
So he is a great kid.
He is.
Got a, a big upside.
All right, let's see what the roulette gets.
All right.
Bennett, Siegel, Bennett Siegel's here this summer.
He is one of the four hitters here.
Left-handed hitting outfielder, physical kid.
Really good swing.
Had a phenomenal high school season.
And, um, reminds me a little bit of, uh, one of our former guys,
Robbie Peti swinging the back.
Ooh,
okay.
Petrow.
See?
Yeah,
that's a pretty solid comparison there.
Yeah,
we like that.
He was hitting like 600 at one point this, uh, this spring, wasn't he?
Yeah.
Bennett.
Yeah, he was.
Oh my gosh.
All right.
There we go.
Ben.
Ben's tanton.
Uh, we got Ben here.
I guess I'll, I'll go with the, the pitchers.
Ben's a, uh, right-handed pitcher from Vest New York.
Um.
Got a chance to see him little.
Uh, we had seen him in Fort Myers, um, in his junior year.
He'd come to a camp, um, uh, just a, just a really good athlete.
Um, just really liked the, really liked the presence that he brings
on the mound, the athleticism.
Um, and it's a phenomenal kid.
Um, scratch golfer, by the way.
Fun fact on that one.
I was just talking, talking to him about his last couple, uh, last couple rounds.
So, um, just a, a, a really, like, again, I mean, we're gonna probably have similar
things to say about a lot of these guys.
'cause, you know, I think we, we really value the, the person as much as
anything in terms of how we recruit guys.
So, great kid, uh, hard worker, good student, and super excited
about what he brings to the table.
Um, on and off the field.
I mean, I'll never get tired of it.
When you guys, when we talk about a guy, you're like, yeah,
he is really good at baseball.
And then just stop.
I'm gonna be like, what's, what's wrong with this kid?
What are we, what's, what's his problem?
Uh, I, I like hearing he is a scratch golfer though.
'cause obviously golf is game.
Yeah.
He was on, I know he was on the golf
team there for Vest.
Yeah.
And I don't, yeah.
And I don't know, like I say scratch 'cause I'm just hedging my
bet that like, I don't know what it's, you know, he might get mad.
He might think he's better than that.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Um, he better, way better than me.
We'll, we'll keep the golf team, uh, away from him for sure.
For a little while.
All right.
Got another picture for you.
We got, we got old Charlie Pierce here from Colorado,
another right-handed pitcher.
Um, played for really good organization with the slammers, um,
outta Colorado, outta Denver area.
And, um.
Again, right-handed picture, um, has really, like, I think the, the physicality
is really starting to come into his own.
Um, I mean, I don't know.
It's probably 6, 6 3.
Uh, again, he's probably gonna get mad if I, you know, dad's
about, call it six three.
Yeah, his dad's a dad's a big guy, and it's a four pitch mix.
It's a, it's a strike thrower.
Um, and it's a, it's a really competitive kid.
Uh, I think he was second team all state, um, Colorado this past year.
Um, infectious personality, great smile, and, um, just a,
a, like a, a fantastic human.
I think it's nickname Went to Squint because.
And he kinda always is looking at you, kind of, kind of funny like that.
I, people call him squint.
There we go.
And he, I think he's gonna be awesome.
Went,
uh, yeah, he went to Monarch High School.
There you go.
Yep.
Perfect.
Monarch through and through.
Yeah.
All right.
The, the next one may be the, the only commit that I've met
Colorado before, uh, uh, wasn't Tyson and uh, to strip, I
think are both from Colorado.
Oh, are they?
Well, Sasha was, yeah, I don't think we've had,
I think, but yeah.
Yeah.
I don't think we've had a high school kid from college.
School.
Yeah.
High school.
Yeah.
Uh, oddly enough, I was in Colorado last week at Red Rocks, and I found
out on Instagram the next day that Tora was at the same concert that
I was sitting maybe two rows away.
Did you go to the Eric Church concert?
I did.
I went to the third night.
It was just him and the guitar and, uh, Joanna Cotton came out with him,
poured down rain for like an hour.
But it was, my God, it was an incredible experience.
That's on my bucket list to see a, a concert there.
And him, he is my favorite singer, so I'm jealous, man.
That had to be awesome, Gary.
No, it was, it was fantastic.
Uh, he did three straight nights.
We were there for that, that third night.
All three were different.
Right.
The, the third night was guitar and what, what were the other two?
He did one with his band, the machine, and then the other one I think was
like a chorus and gospel arrangement.
So an orchestra?
Yeah.
That's cool.
Yeah, he's,
well, I'm glad it didn't rain like that on those nights.
It was just him and the guitar out there.
He was fine.
The rest of us were just, just taking it like there's nowhere to go
at Red Rocks if it starts raining.
So you just enjoy the moment and enhance the experience.
So it was a lot of fun.
Alright.
Who's next?
All right, next one.
Maybe the only high school recruit that I have actually met in person Cam.
And it's Cam Tellefsen.
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, cam has some similarities to Andy Garla.
Uh, certainly physically and statue wise, you know, he is a local guy.
Virginia Beach Kid Lansdown, um, big first baseman and good athlete for a big kid.
Very coordinated.
Um, you know, a lot of times those long guys have a little bit of.
Work to do and trying to get everything synced up.
And so he's in summer school as well and working hard on, you know, all of that.
And, uh, he is going to, he's gonna be a big strong guy.
He can hit it out, you know, a long way.
So, um, we're excited about, uh, getting to work with Cam.
Nice.
Yeah.
And he, he's a big boy.
I mean, I saw him over, uh, Memorial.
Yeah, we were
Memorial and Night.
I pointed him out to, to Gary.
I said, that's, that's one of our guys next year.
He is like that enormous kid.
He's like, yep.
Yeah.
All right.
Kick it over to the next pitch with potentially the best
last name on the team now.
Yes.
So Chris is a, uh, right-handed pitcher from, from Philly.
Uh, went to LaSalle, um, which is actually, um, fun fact on that one.
I actually did, uh, I took an eighth grade, or, uh, I took a math class at
LaSalle when I was in eighth grade.
Um, I did first period at, at a, in a ninth grade class, class, uh, math
class at LaSalle, and then went back to my, to my eighth grade for the
rest of the day, me and another kid.
That's my fun.
I mean, I guess these are the, these are the random things that you gotta
share on, on something like this, right?
So, oh, yeah.
And here you are.
Look at how I got here.
Yeah.
And here I am now again as an English major, so I don't know what that
says about LaSalle's uh, math depart, you know, math education, right.
But, um, no really good school there.
Really good program.
Kyle Worman runs that program there as the head coach.
And, and Chris, um, is someone who's, again, it's another guy who's kind of
really gr like another big physical writer that's really grown into his body.
Um, you know, we, we.
Committed him probably around this time last year.
Um, we had seen him down in, um, down in Hoover and, um, during
one of those 17 new events that we actually just got done, got back from.
And, um, I think he's done a really good job of, of kind of, of, of, of learning.
Um, just kind of his skill sets and, and what makes him good out in the mound.
Again, big, strong physical.
Righty was the, uh, Philadelphia Catholic League pitcher of the year this year.
Um, so, um, had a really good spring and, um, we actually have back to back
Catholic League pitchers of the year.
We had, Jace Park was the Catholic League pitcher of the year last year.
And then Chris takes the mantle this year.
So I told some guys that we, you know, we have relationships up there.
I, we gotta just, I guess we're in, we're in the market for wherever
next year's Catholic League picture of the year's gonna be.
Um, I don't know who it is, but we gotta go find them.
Um, so if you commit to
us,
it'll be you.
It'll be you, right?
If you're the, you're the guy from Philly in the class, then I guess it'll be you.
So, um, not, um, you know, obviously super excited about him.
Alright, we've got a couple more here.
Give, uh, you have an out there with Nick Felton, the Finny?
Yeah.
Nick's, um, St. John's prep up in, in DC and um, played, um, for Mark Gibbs and
Kevin Gibbs helps out with that program.
Our, our Hall of Famer, uh, Kevin, you know, was the first guy to tell
us about Nick and um, gosh, I think since we signed Nick, I don't know
when it was, but he's probably grown three inches and put on 30 pounds.
When we saw him the summer, I was like, oh my gosh, you, you ate,
who's this guy that ate Nick Felton?
And, uh, he is just super athletic, super twitchy, you know,
left-handed hit and center fielder.
That has a really good swing.
I think it translates into him having a chance to, to hit early in his career.
There's not a lot going wrong there.
And it's quick.
So, you know, for a lot of times with these young guys, you know, it's one
isn't strong enough and two, is it quick enough and what's the path look like?
And he, he checks the boxes right there.
So, um, he's, he's got chance, you know, he'll, uh, he'll get it going.
He's got a chance to have, you know, a chance to play early in his career.
For sure.
And I think I saw Baseball America just named him a third team, all American.
Oh, well that's good.
Yeah.
Well he had a fantastic year.
Um, great kid.
Both his parents were college athletes.
Um, so good stock and.
He's, uh, he is got a bright future will,
and I know, uh, I know.
Hey, I love your, uh, left-handed hitting outfielders Finny, so I checks the box
for you for this, uh, review class.
Absolutely.
All right.
I think this is the last one I have here.
Jackson Ocon.
Yes.
Yeah,
we, um, I think, you know, it's funny 'cause we, we have the, we've
stocked the cupboard with big, strong physical righties and, and Jackson's
one of those guys, uh, another one of those guys in this class.
It's funny, like we had three lefties drafted and, you know,
the four incoming guys a righty.
I mean, not so much of this is about just finding, again, like we said
before, finding the right guys.
And Jackson's a a local guy here, played for alum Pat Nichols at Greenbrier.
And um, I think one of the cool things about, for someone like
Jackson's, we've been able to see that progression over a long period of time.
Right.
We've seen him, uh, years ago.
I mean, he might've been at our, our team camp when he was playing
for drugs with the blasters.
Um, we've gotta see, you know, I remember Cody Sr. Talking about him
years ago and Cody's on staff and, and working a camp with him and
saying, Hey, you gotta see this guy.
Uh, I think he's got a chance.
And what's cool for Jackson is that, again, as a local guy, we've
been able to see that progression.
We've been able to see that growth, um, over time for him as he's grown.
Again, another guy that's kind of grown into his body and really started to,
you know, to come out and, and, uh, produce at a high level really helped
a good Greenbrier, uh, team this year.
I got a chance to see him this spring and it's a, it's a big fast ball that,
you know, he pounds his own with.
Um, he's got a good feel for, for the changeup and I think the makings
of some really good, you know, like a really good breaking ball.
And I think that's there and I, um, I'm looking forward
to seeing that progression.
'cause I think the tools and the pieces, um, and the elements are all there.
For him to go out and, and have a lot of success.
And Finny talks about that all the time with like toughness is, you know, on the
mound, you know, toughness can be equated a lot of time to guy's ability to go in
there and, and throw strikes and, and fill up the boxing challenge hitters.
And, uh, we definitely think Jackson has that skillset, um, in play already.
And, and now it's gonna be his ability to translate that to the next level here.
Yeah, I love it.
I'm, I'm a big fan of Jackson.
I haven't known him for a few years and I gotta see him pitch a
couple times this spring and Yeah.
I'm, I'm with you.
There's, there's a lot in the tank.
There's a lot of room for growth there.
Yep.
Absolutely.
And we're, we're excited to, to see these guys out in the fall and then of course
in the spring when the season starts.
I appreciate you all, you know, kind of giving us the insight.
I think I got, we got one
more I didn't have a picture of was Cole McKenna.
Yeah.
We, and then we got Will too, right, Thomas?
Mike, uh, I don't know if you, you, um, who, who we didn't
talk about Will yet, right?
I don't think, I don't think I have a baseball card for that one.
So, there you go.
Johnson Will Johnson.
Sorry.
Johnson.
Okay.
Said Thomas.
Mike, you are muted still, sir.
Yeah, you're muted, Mike.
Thank you.
First time on.
Yeah, let's start with, yeah, we, I guess we go McKenna
first and then you can, yeah.
So McKenna is,
uh, you know, another, uh, south Jersey guy and, um, what
high school was, was Cole at
Westford, played for Johnny Oler, another alum.
That's right.
He played for another hearing trends here.
Yeah.
And um, you know, Cole is a fantastic, uh, athlete.
He's just very smooth, very fluid.
He, um, you know, he looks like a guy that can play shortstop,
certainly a middle infielder.
Um, probably gonna keep progressing as he puts on weight.
He is got a good swing.
Really competitive.
He played at a, a really good high school program and summer program and,
um, we're super excited about him.
And then, um, will Johnson's, the other one, um, another short stop
junior college short stop that we got from, is it northeast Oklahoma?
Mike?
Yeah, Northeast,
yeah,
Northern, Northern Oklahoma.
College of Awa.
There you go.
However you say that, that's, we'll call it Northeast.
Yeah.
Works for me.
Guy.
We, we had him in camp as a high school player and he was
just, you know, just a tick.
Uh, not quite physical enough.
Um, but he's, he's grown a lot.
And you know, when, when Paul saw him this fall, uh, he
absolutely loved him in his first.
Phone call with the kid.
He was like, Hey, you know anything about Old Dominion?
And he was like, yeah, I came to camp there.
What?
You know, Paul wasn't here.
That's funny.
He didn't know.
And then, yeah, yeah.
I was like, oh yeah, we all remember that kid.
Like, um, he's got a lot of ball player to him.
He was playing out in the North Woods League the first half of the
summer, and then he went home to finish up a couple classes he needed.
So he, he's got a very good chance of being our, our shortstop this year.
Mm-hmm.
Um, he certainly has the skillset and he is a good offensive player as well.
Um, are y'all okay with talking about some more of the, the, the,
um, transfers that are coming in?
Yeah.
Unless we wanted to wait till August and make that the portal.
Okay.
Kind of talk, I think give us something to talk about in August.
And, you know, you guys mentioned the stadium.
I mean, it's coming along the, you can actually see the, the
footers for all the rooms now.
Um, nice on our side and then starting toward the middle.
They're starting to put the, the, uh, backstop kind of back together with
the new lines and uh, you know, the bottom of it's starting to take shape.
So that's exciting.
They had some snafus they had to work through with the city and water pipes,
and if anybody's been down there, they can, looks like a war zone with the roads
all tore up on 45th Street Park Avenue.
But, uh, they are making progress and I think in as construction
goes, nothing ever goes as fast as you, you hope, but it is moving.
And, um, you know, we're gonna be playing in there in the spring,
so we're excited about that.
Let's go.
That's what matters.
Yep.
Yeah, we're definitely looking forward to seeing some baseball back out there
and of course, having the bud completely done for that first game there.
And I guess it'd be February, right?
Yeah.
But it won't be
the bud then anymore.
That's that's very true.
I, I have to break that habit that is stuck in my brain deeply called
the hell Yeah, man.
Yeah.
That's right.
I mean, 20 years I've been calling it the buds.
That's gonna be a tough one to break.
Yeah.
But it'll be exciting and it'll be a, a really neat, neat place
to, to have is our new home.
Well, uh, now that we talked about the nice, fun stuff, Mike, I wanna
pose a question to you, uh, uhoh.
So we, uh, we we're very excited about our three guys getting drafted.
Uh, but that's gotta make it feel like a lot of work for you for next year, right?
I mean, that's, and you know, every year you come into a whole new team,
but man, you are, you're really, uh, not coming in with anybody who you're like,
okay, this guy was a guy for us last year, and then the rotation, you know?
So how, how does that feel?
What's the, what's the plan?
Uh, it feels like almost every, I mean, it's
rare when you're able to, it's rare, like we had the year
before where we could mm-hmm.
We had a pretty good sense of who was gonna be on the rotation.
Um, every year you are.
And, and you know now more than ever, right?
With, with the amount of, of, of turnover that kind of seems to exist, um, you
are always gonna be challenged with trying to find new roles and, and guys
that to try and figure some stuff out.
And, and so, um, honestly, like that's the beauty of, of, of college baseball,
college athletics maybe in general is like those guys had the opportunity to go, like
they were ready, they were mature enough.
Go.
And it's, it's now the new, it's an opportunity for us, um, as coaches to,
to work with a new group of guys and to build the next, hopefully the next wave
of guys that get to play through here.
Um, and there's some guys that give some guys some opportunity to, to kind
of take ownership of some roles, right?
Like we had, you know, yeah.
Had a ton of fun watching guys like Ethan Hubble, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Uh, finish out his year.
I mean, it was, yeah, like that's the fun stuff.
You get someone like him to be able to see his progression
over the course of the year.
And really find himself himself and find, and, and really hone
in on his, his identity and, and really start to, you know, take
advantage of who he is as a pitcher.
Um, you know, it was fun watching, you know, got a chance to, to see Kellen
Davis this summer and just being able to see his progression as a human and
as a, uh, you know, as a pitcher, you know, obviously Bailey Mattel got to
go out and start in the draft league this year, and I think that was really
good for him to be able to go and get, you know, to go into that environment
and easy environment to compete in.
Um, you're doing it in, in really awesome venues.
The energy's fantastic and he was able to go out and have a really good
summer and it was super beneficial for him in a lot of different ways.
And, um, and then you have some guys that are, you know, coming through your,
you know, hunter Baes came on strong at the end of last year, and he's gonna be
someone that we really, you know, hope and anticipate, you know, takes another jump.
Um, this next year and really starts to, you know, kind of just figure out
some pieces of, of his puzzle, right?
And put all that together.
I think he showed some, some really good flashes and glimpses of that.
Um, and so, yeah, I mean, we'll, you know, you guys get a chance to talk about, you
know, some of the, the portal guys next.
Um, obviously it's, yeah, it's just trying to find guys that, um, wanna
be about like, you know, we talk about this all the time, like guys
that really value Old Dominion for who we are and what we're about.
Um, you know, and, and really appreciate the, the day-to-day quality of life and
experience that they get to have here.
And guys that genuinely want to build relationships, right?
And, and that want, as Finn talks about, like, you know, be in a place
where they're gonna be able to be told the truth and get loved up, right?
Like, you're gonna get that here in in Spade.
You're gonna get that time and time again.
And, um.
So I'm excited about what this, this next configuration looks like.
Uh, I'm looking forward to it.
I'm looking forward to those guys that, you know, have had that experience here.
What they get to do, you know, now that they have another year under their belt,
we'll have some young guys that are, are looking at, you know, guys that
were young guys last year that we're finding themselves that, let's see if,
you know, there's always a, a lot of guys that there's a year two, you know,
listen, freshman year is hard for 100% of freshmen, whether you play a sport or not.
Um, there's some guys hopefully that they can take a jump here year two
and, and contribute and then, um, you know, our goals that we try to
find the best, the best fits that we could in the, in the portal for, for
who we are and what we're about and, and the type of culture we have here.
Like we, we talk about all the time.
Like we move as methodically as we can, um, and try and gain
as much information as we can.
Learn the people that we're recruiting, learn the families that we're recruiting.
We try and get as much as we can within the constraints of how
fast the transfer port moves.
Right?
And we are so protective of our culture, of our locker room and trying
to bring in guys that are gonna fit.
Um, you know, we're super, like, we're protective of the locker room.
We, we spend a ton of time thinking about like housing, who's gonna
live with who and how all that works out, the dynamics and who's gonna
be mentoring other people, right?
Finn, he puts a ton of time into thinking about like the mentorship of, of how he
wants to, you know, pair how we wanna pair older guys with the younger guys
and, and how all that impacts like, and so we want to try and double down on that
relationship aspect as much as we can in.
In a space, in a world that's becoming probably ever increasingly transactional.
Um, and not that, listen, it's a business.
We gotta win like anybody else, and we gotta make business
decisions like anybody else.
But we, we try and lead our recruiting, um, with getting our
guys and our, and these families to understand the, the value of the
relationship of what comes from that.
And that that's gonna be our, that's gonna be our separator, right?
We're gonna try, we're gonna coach you up, we're gonna work our tail
off to, and pour ourselves into the development processes to get you better.
And we believe if we create a really good environment and put you in
good possession positions to be successful, develop the heck outta you.
Put that time in, invest in.
Then the byproduct is you have an awesome experience and we win a ton of games.
And, and then hopefully, you know, for, for some of these guys, pitcher,
position player, doesn't matter.
Like, hopefully at the end of the day, you get, you know, get a chance
to get a ring, you get a chance to have your name up on the, or get your
picture up on the wall and you get a chance to play through this program.
Gary, just clip all that and just play that on like a
loop for the next like year.
Uh, that's, I mean, what else do you want out of a program?
Come on.
I think you're just getting me, you're getting me with all
these calls.
I've, this is just the, the, you know, putting that on with
all the calls I've been making.
Well, and, and to tease it a little bit too, uh, for next time we got, I believe
it was five pitchers and three hitters.
Mm-hmm.
Um, five pitchers.
And then the, the hitters were an outfielder who was the freshman
of the year in his league.
Um, we got a, a d two all American.
Uh, shortstop and we got a, a catcher, uh, who's a local guy, um mm-hmm.
From University of North Carolina.
Uh, and, and so we, we felt like we hit our needs on, on, on those.
And the pitchers are all, um, very much potential big contributors, we think.
Um, and Mike and them, I mean, I, I can't tell you that first three
weeks when the portal opened, I mean, those guys, like, and, and you gotta
give a lot of credit to everybody.
I mean, I, I would come in the office and man, it was like, um,
just math equations everywhere.
I mean, they set up a, an algorithm for things they were, we were looking for
and hunting for in terms of numbers, you know, walks the strikeouts and slug and.
You know, the hitters, it was, you know, same thing.
White walks the strikeouts and on base percentage and things like that.
And we didn't go after like the shiny pennies like we have in the past.
We learned a little bit, hopefully, uh, we went after guys that had a lot
of success at the level they were at.
Mm-hmm.
And they were at good levels.
Um, but they had a lot of success.
The people we talked to said the right things about 'em from a toughness, from a
coachability, from a teammate standpoint.
And when we had 'em all on campus, uh, and when we, you know, our
unofficial, uh, recruiting headquarters is freight house coffee over in, uh,
over in, uh, the rail yard district.
And, uh.
Tom Tom Wolf and his wife Chelsea.
Man, we, I think we should, should have bought stock in there before the summer.
Uh, we spent a lot of money in there and, uh, you know, but it, it was
just, you know, without our offices, it was just a more comfortable place
to, to meet and talk with everybody.
But great, really good families.
Um, we had a lot of success.
We didn't get everybody we went after, but we, we got it at a high
rate and, you know, um, so I, I feel like we got the right kids, we got
talented kids, we got tough kids.
We got guys that are gonna be able to contribute to the team culture here.
Um, and so we're, we're really pleased with that part.
And we'll talk more about them individually, um, on the next one.
But I think people that, I think people are gonna be excited about 'em.
We, we certainly are.
Well, just hearing the teaser got me pretty interested you talking
about D two, all Americans and Freshmans of the Year, and someone
coming up from UNC that's local.
I mean, it's a pretty good tease, but I, I think it was, uh, the, the last
episode we had with H was on, I just kinda asked the question like, where
do you even start in the portal if there's a thousand, 2000, 3000 kids?
And they're like, where do you start?
And it was funny, it's the math equations and pairing that down, and then it's
who do we know that knows them to tell us what kind of person they are?
So I was, yeah, to hear
that other than one maybe, uh, there was a connection, there was some sort
of connection and that, you know, we just kind of fell into one through
working and, you know, but there, there all the others, there was some sort of
connection and we, we realized that we need that here and that that's okay.
Um.
You know, but we, we, the guys were relentless in what they were going
after, and we just got a really good angle right two days ago that
Mike's been on most of the summer.
And, uh, you know, it just worked out that, uh, through some things that we
were able to get him and he's gonna be a valuable piece of our bullpen, we think.
So we're excited about that.
We got some potential starters in there.
Uh, we got some bullpen pieces in there and, you know, coupled with the
guys that are, that are coming back and coming in, uh, we think it's,
you know, it's got the makings of a, of a pretty good pitching staff.
And, and h talked about that thing a little bit, just talking about like,
you know, we, we talk about that as a, as a program like it, it helps to
have anchor points, it helps to have other people that know us and know
what this program's about and know, like, like what's under the hood.
When you get past some of the logos, right?
That, that we see on here, like, it, we, it, it, it elevates, um, an understanding
of, of kind of what the potential opportunity experience is for those guys.
When we have some people on the other side, you know, that are working with
us, that's one of the questions that I always ask is like, all right, who's gonna
be helping you in this process, right?
Outside of maybe mom and dad.
And when you do that, you find that out and then like you have
them, you know, try and get them.
It's so critical for us to get those people, those other anchor
points, to understand what Old Dominion actually means.
Like what it's about, what we're about, and, and what the day to day, you
know, quality of life is gonna be here.
Um, I think when you have other people out there fighting for you,
people that actually know you, um, this, this place, you know.
Is awesome.
And, and it's always more valuable for us when we can find those
guys, you know, that can help sell who we are and what we're about.
And so now I'm, I'm just going to assume this whole thought process
and angle is exact approach you take to now the high school recruiting.
Like as you said, you're doing right now, you're, you're out there at the,
the big events happening, uh, down south and you're going into some more events.
I'm, I'm assuming it's kind of the exact same thing.
You know, you see a kid that's like, okay, well who do we, who do we know?
And you said you do have a longer process to get to know 'em.
I know you mentioned that last time, Vinny.
Yeah.
And, and it's better now 'cause this portal has slowed the high
school recruiting down a bit.
Mm-hmm.
You know, normally we'd have had a handful of 27 commits already, and Yeah.
Who knows if they're any good or not.
I mean, you don't know.
Uh, you know, now we're finishing up the 26 class.
We're hoping to get.
Couple commitments here in the next couple days from some guys with
offers, and there's a lot of good 26 players still available out there.
Mm-hmm.
But the 20 sevens, this will be, you know, we've seen a handful these guys
have in the last three weeks and more coming up this in this next week.
But that has slowed down and that's a good thing.
You're gonna make less mistakes.
The high school kids, this is a whole new world for them.
You know, like their value is, for lack of a better way to say it, has gone down.
Um, because you're not gonna bet the farm on a 16-year-old when you
gotta, dude that's 23 coming in here with a tattoo and beard and mm-hmm.
He hits it out in the road.
Uh, and, and that's just the way it is.
We still want to base our, the base of, we still want the base of our program.
If you're looking at the pyramid to be made up of high school
kids, um, 'cause that can create some stability and continuity.
Maybe, maybe not this, everything's up for grabs in, in this whole
new paradigm of college athletics.
But that's how we're gonna try to do it.
We're still looking for the, you know, the undervalued kid, um, a little
bit and, and the, the kid that maybe is a couple years away from reaching
his peak, you know, athleticism, strength wise and some of that.
Um, we're not gonna get the kid that's already the Polish strong,
super fast athletic kid anyway.
'cause we can't win the brand game on that.
And that's okay.
That's okay.
But those guys, you'll get
' em in two years when they realize that the brand wasn't worth it.
Yeah.
And sometimes those kids are as good as they're gonna be, or they just matured
early and they got the that, and then they realize, you know, they're, look,
they're in the portal, uh, in two years because they didn't get any better.
Um, we're looking for the guy that's gonna be continuing to get better through
our strength program and training and things like that, and be able to play
anywhere that you play, you know, like by his junior year, that kind of stuff.
So that's what we're trying to get.
And when you take all that with the backbone of looking for really
good people who contribute to your culture, I mean, that, that's awesome.
That, that seems like, like I said, uh, whatever the paradigm is with freshmen
and high school and all that, the, the backbone of a good culture, it seems
like that's a really good formula.
Yeah.
That can't change like that, that's a non-negotiable for all of us, you know?
Um, what kind of kid is he?
Do we want to coach him?
We wanna be around him every day.
Is he gonna, is he gonna be a guy that, that's gonna contribute and help us build?
Because the deal with culture we've talked about before, it
can't come from the coaches.
If it comes from the coaches, it's just slogans and rules.
It has to, culture has to come from the players and you have
to fight for that and build it.
You have to help 'em with it.
Alright?
But it's culture is, if it's coach driven man, it's rules, it's not standards.
And a good culture comes from players.
Uh, any good team culture, the players are the ones driving that boat.
And, and to that, like, just, I think it was good to, you know, Finny
touched on, like, kind of talking a little bit about the algorithm, right?
Like, it, it's hard to go through, get to this point in the summer and not
bring up like, you know, what, what Paul Panic has done, you know, as the
recruiting coordinator here in terms of.
Navigating all this.
And, and so trying to loop that back to what Finny's talking about.
Like, you know, Paul did a great job of setting up the system this summer, right?
Organizing structure every time a name came through, you know, we kind of were
able to filter it out, you know, and, and, and kind of tag, you know, X amount
of guys here and, and then, you know, whether it was, you know, keen and,
and pawn and more kind of doing their background in terms of understanding
and, and then filtering out to, you know, whether it's fitting myself or h then,
then it gives us the chance to be able to invest time not in is this guy good
enough or does he fit us physically?
But then we can dive right into like, is he the right kid?
Right?
Because we've already done that work.
If, if we don't have that system set up, if Paul doesn't do the work that
he does, kind of create and organizing it and structuring it, you know,
we're, we're, we're chasing our tail a lot of the summer, you know, and
then we're having to cut corners and make some, some tougher decisions.
Some less educated decisions, but the way that, that, you know, Paul,
you know, kind of teed it up for, for everybody else in the organization, in
the program, to be able to do their role, have their role, do their job, um, it
really allowed us to kind of, kind of go after and, and, and do a really good job
spending time getting to know families.
And honestly, the flip of it, like families getting to know us, um, I
think that's a huge part of it too.
It's not just us getting to know, you know, a player and a family.
It's, it's the families and the player getting to understand
who we are, the personalities.
Like, you know, I joke, you know, it's like as a, as a Phil guys, a northeast
guy, sarcasm is my love language.
Like, you need to, you need to not show up here in day one.
Be surprised by that.
Like, we gotta spend time getting to know you.
Um, you know, like we, you know, we spent a lot of time even, it's like once you
get through those first couple calls, like, all right, let's get on a Zoom.
Let's spend some face time, like, let's get on with your parents, let's
get them involved as best as we can.
Let's get them asking questions.
Let's get them understanding who we are as people.
You know, we have to, again, that kind of term under the hood, like,
if we're gonna do this right, we're gonna get the right guys.
They gotta get under the hood and understand us, um, and know us.
And I think, you know what Paul did, what the other guys did, you know, um, allowed
me and, and h and Finny to, to kind of, kind of handle our responsibilities
and, and really do, uh, you know, it, it played for a really good structure.
And I think that process is what put us in a position where we're able to land
some guys that we are really excited about and to kind of fit the dynamic of what
we are looking for from the beginning.
Yeah.
Now we just, we're just gonna play a game.
I wanna watch this team.
Well, yeah.
Yeah,
you got all your puzzle pieces now you just gotta spin the fall, arranging it.
Good.
Yeah.
So we're hopeful this this stuff you gotta talk about in July though, right?
Well, yeah, what Mike said, I mean, Paul, Paul worked his butt off and, um,
that dude definitely deserves a vacation here for the end of the year because he
had done, wrote a bunch and, you know, it's, uh, he's been, he's been a, a
lot of fun to, uh, he's dug right into this program, man, and made his, his
presence felt in a very short period of time, uh, in a very positive way.
So we're, we're really happy and grateful he is on our team.
Well, I'm ready to commit now to Old Dominion Baseball for the upcoming season.
I have four years of terrible, uh, work ahead of me, so,
yes.
Awesome.
Well, fellas, uh, speaking of summer and vacation, y'all have gotta take
some time off eventually, but, uh, Mike, I'll, I'll start with you.
What, any fun summer vacation plans in the two seconds you have free,
I mean, I just got an hour.
Um, I, I avoided bedtime with this.
Like, I, I'm hanging like this, this is vacation's, right?
This, yeah.
Just give us the signal if we need to keep this going for a little longer for you.
I honestly, Finn Finn and I went over and saw a game tonight and I
had Tom, um, so I got the Nora's 10, Annie seven, and, uh, Tommy's three.
And so, I don't know, like, I, I, I think, I think me having Tom over there with
Finny for a couple innings gave Sarah.
My wife an actual vacation from, you know, from, from him.
I think that's needed.
Uh, we're right in the middle of potty training, a three and
a half year old boy, so you can only imagine what that looks like.
Um, but no, it's, uh, vacation for us will be, um, vacation for us.
Will actually will do futures games, uh, down in Atlanta.
We'll leave tomorrow.
Uh ha And I'll leave tomorrow for that.
We'll go down for a couple days and then I'll meet up with, with Sarah and the
kids and, and Bethany Beach in Delaware.
So Sarah's been going there with her family for forever.
And, um, my mom just got back be cool.
It's awesome.
I've never been, I've never been before.
You know, Sarah and I started dating and now that's, it's
a, like, our kids love it.
Um, we have a countdown on the calendar.
I don't know.
Annie's been counting that down for about three weeks now.
So, um, we're, we're looking forward to that.
And then probably, you know, do a little bit of time with.
With my side family.
Um, I'm doing a little bit, maybe some smaller things, and that'll be what it
looks like for the next couple weeks.
That's awesome.
Now, Finny, uh, are you planning a Red Rocks trip right now as we're talking?
Oh, there we go.
Star of the show.
We
go, oh man, countdown.
That'll be awesome.
Oh, wait, second, every day's a vacation for me, so I don't need it.
I, uh, we, we, I've taken a couple weekend vacations down to the outer banks, went
down to Frisco early in the summer.
Um, went to Duck, um, you know, 4th of July, so had a couple weekend
getaways, but, um, you know, that's, that's, that's been it.
I may, I may try to slide down and see my son Gray in Fort Myers here,
um, but I kind of wanna wait till it's cold here to go down there, so.
Yeah.
Honestly, I may, I may put that off.
That's
a, that's a December trip.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So that sounds like Thanksgiving and Christmas, uh, play golf down.
So, um, we'll, we'll, we'll see.
But yeah, Meyers
Gray.
I didn't realize that's where gray was.
You get down there, there are hurricanes, the wings.
Yeah.
Hurricanes wings.
Really good.
Yeah.
The,
um, see me, Gary, what do you guys doing?
What do you guys got?
Sorry?
What's your vacation?
Yeah,
I had uh, I had a few days of Red Rocks last week and came back.
Uh, and my, my big one, I've got circle, I'm going over to Europe in
October, so I'll be over there for about two weeks hitting Iceland,
Amsterdam, and then London for the, uh, Jags football game over there.
So that's, that's the one I got circled.
I have a fun work trip to Phoenix next week.
I heard it's beautiful there this time of year.
Yeah,
yeah, I bet.
My vacation was.
My vacation was Georgia Tech in, uh, February and, uh, Auburn
and, uh, Southern Miss in March.
That was my vacation.
There you go.
Yeah.
And exactly how I wanted to spend it.
It was phenomenal.
Yeah.
And you brought the cold weather with you wherever we was.
I did.
We we really did bring where we went.
It was, it was pretty rough.
Well, we set a new record, I think, for podcast length tonight, at least
for your, your involvement in the, in the podcast.
For sure.
We, our
part.
Yeah,
our part.
Yeah.
Yes.
We appreciate it.
This, this is fantastic.
We really appreciate it.
It's, it's, uh, it's something special to get this kind of insight to you
guys and, and I don't know how you could watch this as an Old Dominion fan
and not be excited and not feel like everything's going in the right hands.
I mean, it's, it's exactly what I wanna hear as a fan.
Well, thank you.
Thank you.
We got a good group, good coaching staff and, uh, good group of guys and,
you know, um, we're looking forward to, we'll, we'll still have, you know,
plenty of obstacles to work around this fall with the stadium stuff.
Um, but we're gonna figure out how to get around it.
We always do, and it'll just be, uh, really fun thing for all these
guys that had to go through what they did last year to see something
new being built up each day.
And that's gonna be really exciting, especially as the fall goes on
and the stadium starts to get up and, you know, all those things.
So we're, we're excited about the future.
Yeah, we definitely are as well.
Uh, but really appreciate the time, uh, fans hang tight.
CB and I are gonna be back to recap things and then also, uh,
play that Blake interview for you.
But Coach Marron Finny, greatly appreciate your time.
Hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer and we'll see you
again in probably about a month.
All.
Thanks guys.
Everybody have a good night.
Thanks.
Thanks, Gary.
Yeah, thanks.
Team B. Great Night boys.
This episode of the Monarchist Podcast is brought to you by
the pride of ODU Collective.
Their mission is to elevate the experience of student athletes through
name, image, and likeness, while also elevating the fan experience.
If you or your business are interested in getting involved,
you can reach out to us directly or go over to the pride of odu.com.
That is the pride of odu.com.
Thank you for listening, and go Monarchs.
All right.
Welcome back fans.
Hope you all, uh, enjoyed the conversation there with Coach Marron and Finny.
Uh, we got a lot from it, some breaking news we weren't aware of with
some transfer portal announcements.
We'll have more details on that in the next episode.
Yeah.
Uh, but cb I think you have some super breaking news right now.
I do.
This is breaking, so this is, we're recording this on Tuesday night.
Uh, and I, as Finny said that he thought Kyle, Edward, Edward
was making his pro debut.
He, he did and is apparently, uh, my mom was trying to call me actually
while we were, while we were, uh, sitting here there watching his game.
I'm not sure on what, but they're watching the wild things.
And, uh, he had a, a single, uh, batting left-handed, I guess he went back to,
went back to sw why he decided to go back to switch hitting in his pro debut.
Who knows?
Only Kyle Edwards could tell you that.
That's, that's the, the man, the mis, the mystery.
Uh, but so he, he got a, he got a hit in his first day a so that's pretty awesome.
Indie ball debut, hold anything back here.
Indie ball dog man.
Yeah.
Watch him hit like, you know, three 70 from the left and then ends up
into a minor league system next year.
Yeah.
And we're like, wow.
Kyle could have hit the other way there.
Um,
I mean, I would believe it.
He is so athletic.
He, he's such a, I mean, and, and you know, I, I will say again, my, my
talent level obviously was terrible.
Uh, but the few times that I tried switch hitting, 'cause I'm a natural lefty, the
few times I hit right-handed, I was like, I think I'm actually more fundamentally
a better hitter right-handed.
'cause sometimes you just, because you aren't, you don't have the same
natural athleticism from that side.
So like, I went right-handed, it was like, okay, it's all fundamentals.
Let's make sure we're doing things properly.
And so if, if, if that kind of thing is going on, it might, you,
you could maybe end up being a better, especially contact editor.
Who knows?
Yeah.
I mean, just, just get the reps and see what happens.
But glad that, uh, I do know
Kyle got, uh, replaced on the pilots by Tylers of Dallas, uh, who we had
a Grand Sam the other night for the Peninsula Pilots, and I know he's
there, so now he's Scotty's still there.
Uh, and then Evan Holman's with them.
So I'm, I'm gonna go see them tomorrow night.
Uh, hopefully, hopefully all three have been line up again.
Yeah.
If you haven't made it over to a pilots game yet, highly yes.
Recommend getting over there, especially with three Monarchs, uh, on the team.
I gotta like,
this week and next week left, and then the playoffs,
because they are, it's wild.
Noal,
they're like 25 and 10, I think.
They're a phenomenal team.
Yeah, they've, they've had a really great season.
Uh, but it's hard to believe the summer's actually coming to an end
and like, uh, I've got like a five week countdown till I'm gonna be in
Indiana for odu u football's opener.
So it's, it's really five weeks.
It's going, yeah, it's, it is basically five weeks at this point.
Where, where that's, that's gonna be because it's like what, September
6th?
Is that what it is?
Or when's the, that's like the first home game is a six, isn't it?
They play the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.
So it'll be a Labor Day weekend trip up to Bloomington, Indiana.
Uh, yeah, that was, that was good stuff.
Uh, no, I mean, that was, that was, that was really great.
It was, um, I mean, just the, the depth of information there was phenomenal.
Um, and as always, I maren completely deflecting any piece of
positive of himself away to other people, which, you know, you love.
Um, and I, I love that.
I'm, I'm glad, and the way he answered the question about, 'cause I think,
again, a lot of people, and we, we brought it up in our talks about, you
know, you replacing the entire rotation.
Well, what that, what's that gonna be like?
Well, and his answer was true, said the reality is most years,
that's kind of how it feels.
Anyway.
You into this year.
It's like, okay, you know, Blake was coming back.
You knew that, and Blake had been a starter for you.
Most the time we kind of forget that Dylan had been a starter, but also
kind of up and down and in and out.
And then Ben had started like two games.
So I mean, every, every year I, I, I like that.
I love that perspective.
They had.
It's like, look, this is just what the job is and what it is, and
you're, you're gonna bring some guys in and, and you hope and believe
that they're gonna be successful.
And I love the focus still on like who the person is and the character.
Yeah.
Because yes, we lost all three weekend starters to the draft.
Yeah.
Uh, but we we're losing Kyle Edwards, we're losing some other
guys that were really kind of the, the glue from the culture piece.
Yeah.
For this team.
So.
It, it, it's kind of that time where you have to hand it off
to the next batch of guys.
And I think we have a great batch of guys that are return.
They're gonna keep that good culture going because I mean, last year was a really
tough year with them being on the road.
They spent a lot of time together on buses, planes, hotels,
sleeping in airports, and at least that I'm aware of, didn't hear
anything about any major blowups.
I didn't hear anybody getting dumped off the team, nothing like that.
So if you can make it through that, it'd be all right.
I never, I was around them a lot and you never saw guys that would look
like they were tired of being around each other, or like, oh, this guy
again is like, they're just there.
They're hanging out with their buddies.
They, you see, they, they seemed genuinely excited every single day
to be hanging out with their buddies.
So that's, that says a lot about, like you said, that was a tough time, man.
When we were there in the airport and it was like three and four
in the morning, and everyone was still just like, Hmm, okay.
Nobody was having a bad, like nobody really was having a bad time other
than like, uh, this is unpleasant.
You're like, eh, it, yeah, they did.
They, they're you.
Because as they point out, you know, we're, you gotta win the margins, right?
You're not gonna, you're not gonna win the big recruiting
battles 'cause of the brand.
You're not gonna win big recruiting battles now because of the money.
But what you can win at is being good people and getting the right
kind of people for your place.
And, and like I said, the development which, which as they pointed out, how
many of the guys that we talk about those, all those pictures have been drafted.
Most of them were with us most of their career, if not all their career.
Yeah.
And they were not getting drafted before they got here, and then were after
they left, which again says a lot.
Yeah.
A lesser team would've imploded last year considering our record
and the travel and everything else.
But they didn't, they ended up kind of exceeding some expectations and we're
looking pretty good down the stretch.
Just ran into, you know, buzz saw, buzz saw of a team in,
in the conference tournament.
Yeah.
Um, man, I'm sitting here in my dream world thinking of.
The fact that ODU could have three guys in the starting rotation for the
Red Sox in like three or four years.
Yeah.
The Boston Hudson Sox, we love it.
Right?
We get, so we got John Hobe and, uh, Noah Dean of course who actually got drafted
by them and, and then Dylan Brown and, and our, our buddy, uh, Nick Murray,
former Dominion coach is of course there, and I'm sure he's got some, uh.
Some things to say when they come ask him about these guy.
I know I, I, I'm pretty sure him and Dylan Brown were pretty good
friends when they were both here.
Uh, and so I'm sure that he was, if he wasn't a part of it, I'm sure
he was extremely excited about it.
Probably walking around the office the next day telling, we love this guy.
Dylan's gonna come in.
We love this guy.
Yes, well hopefully may, maybe somehow Dylan ends up getting sent up to the
Greenville Drive for the last couple weeks of the season and we get that,
that three headed monster of Noah Dean, uh, and Holts and Dylan, uh, that would,
you know, but that's my fantasy world.
Obviously Minor league when they get traded 19 times before they even have a
chance to get up to the pro ball, but.
You know, well, I'll tell you what, it's a good,
uh, a good idea for anybody that might be thinking about spring
training going down to Fort Myers.
'cause they have a really nice spring training facility.
And the, uh, I've been in a couple years, but last time I was down there,
very easy access to just walk back and watch my league games and hang out.
And they're, every time I've ever been to anything with the Red Sox,
they've always been, they were really professional, really good.
And every time I've been back there too, I mean, I, one time I watched
Dave Ortiz, uh, DH in a game.
And just every inning go up in bat.
And he was, it was, they were playing the twins and he knew the coaches, so he
was actually sitting in the twins dugout.
So he hit, he hit a Hummer off a guy, and the next half inning he's
sitting next to the guy on the bench.
It's like, okay, this is unique.
Yeah, spring training is fun.
And yeah, you go to Fort Myers, catch those guys, drive north a little bit and
you can catch Blake with the rays and you gotta cross the state to go over to West
Palm to catch, uh, bin with the Nats.
The Nats and Astros split that facility there.
But similar thing, uh, all like the practice fields are outside of where
the main stadium is in the middle, so you can just really walk up and just
grab a piece of fence and you know, if you're watching a guy who's going
to the Dominican League, single aaa, they kind of throw all the minor league
guys that are 40 man there together.
So
I, I love minor league.
Spring training is one of my minor league.
Spring training is one of my favorite.
When I used to go, I would go for like a week or two and we would basically just
go to the minor league spring training.
We wait until they, we knew they, I mean it's always one of my favorite ones
ever was watching the Noah cinder guard.
Uh, pitching.
He, I think he was on, in a double A game.
I think he did, he went to a ball that year, but he was in double A Game.
It was at the Marlin's place.
And so there were four fields.
There were four games going on at once, which is rare.
Usually it's like two games, or there were four fields, all four games going on.
And by the fifth inning, the last inning that s Guard pitched every
player who wasn't actively playing in a game was watching him pitch,
because it was just like 98 mile an hour fastballs and just mowing guys.
And that was our, our buddy Connor Overton, uh, got the start against
him that day for the, when he, the Marlins, uh, he pitched,
he pitched really well too.
So he got, I know he got looked, looked at by some folks at that
time, which is important for.
Yeah.
Getting to watch George drop the hammer.
That was three Tommy John's
surgeries ago.
Yeah, that was like three Tommy John's surgeries ago.
For, for, for Connor.
Yeah.
Maybe that's a topic for another day.
Talking about the ever increasing rise of Tommy John's surgery at
like the high school level now.
It's unbelievable.
But that's a topic for another day.
Uh, stay tuned again.
We got, we've been teasing it the whole time.
Blake's interview will be right after this, so you can
listen to us and it was great.
Hear Blake.
He's awesome.
Yes.
All right.
So you, you guys listen to Blake.
Are we getting out?
Are we dumping it now?
Are we getting out here now and saying bye now, or we, what are we doing?
We're,
we're dumping it now.
Enjoy the Blake interview.
Go Monarchs.
Yes,
go Monarchs.
Hello Monarch fans and welcome back to the Hudson Homers podcast.
We are grateful to be joined today by Blake Morgan, recent
draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Blake, thanks so much for joining us and congratulations.
Thank you so much, and yeah, absolutely.
I love coming on here.
That's
great.
We're glad, glad to have congrats, man.
Right.
We're we, we were talking to Segment.
We're, we're all excited for you, man.
Like, we love all the guys, but you know, you know, you're special.
You're, you're, you're a dude man.
So we're con congrats.
But how, how was, how did, how did you find out?
Like where were you, what was going on when you found out?
Um,
so I was at, I was at my house.
My family was there.
A couple of my friends were over.
Um, and I found out it was kind of like a last minute thing.
Um.
I had been like talking with teams kind of throughout the day, and then the phone
went silent for like an hour and, um, I didn't really know what was gonna happen.
So after the 10th round, the phone like kind of went silent and I didn't really
hear anything until like the 15th or 16th.
And, um, it, nothing, like, nothing definite still at that point it
was just teams like reaching out, wondering what kind of, what my
number was, what I was looking to get.
And um, then like.
I agreed to a deal with the royals to sign post draft.
I was like, I agreed for 50,000.
Um, so I turned my phone off, like I wasn't answering
any calls from anyone else.
I got a call from the Padres five minutes later, couldn't answer it.
Um, so Marin was dealing with all that.
He's talking with a bunch of other teams trying to get my name called, um.
And there was a couple other teams that wanted to get me right
after the draft that were like guaranteeing me this and that.
And Marin was saying that if I was gonna go on draft, that I should
have stayed with the Royals, which is the right thing to do.
Like I kind of already made that handshake agreement.
So his main goal was just to get my name called.
Um, and he called me in the 19th round and he was like, yeah, you're up in two picks.
And he told me like the scout name, he told me it was ml. And so I knew that it
was a raise, but my parents didn't know or anyone else, so I didn't tell them.
I just told 'em to listen to the TV and uh, then they, they all heard it.
My mom was freaking out.
So people who don't know, that's ML Moore, who's now the new
head coach of Norfolk State.
He was a raised Correct.
I was wondering if he was the one that, that's amazing.
That's really cool.
Correct.
Yeah.
This was, this was his last year.
Um, yeah, he said he had to get his cousin before he left 'cause
we have the same last name.
So.
That's
funny.
That's awesome.
That's, that's, that's really cool to hear.
Number one, that you almost were a royal after the fact, so that's, that's great.
You had a deal anyway, so you knew right.
You were gonna be a pro.
It's also, it's, I mean, it's.
Again, tells you how great Mike Marin is and what he is doing, that he's
out there just working that phone and making sure, because it's, it's,
it's cool to go pro, but it's so much better to be like, Hey, I got drafted.
That, that's just, that there's something to that.
That that's a special moment, man.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Um, so he was, yeah, he'd been, he was working his tail off all day.
It was definitely a stressful day for me and him both.
Um, especially like dealing with DB and Ben as well.
I'm sure he was figuring things out with Ben once that 10th round had passed and
he was probably wondering kind of what was going on like the rest of us were.
Yeah.
Um, so I'm glad that Ben got that situated.
He got to go to his hometown team, which is, is awesome.
I'm That's very cool.
Excited about that.
Yeah.
Uh, had you had any conversation with the rays or workouts
with him prior to the draft?
So I didn't, that was actually the first call I got on that morning
was from the Tigers and I didn't even have the guy's number saved.
Um, uh.
Um, I didn't like, hadn't even spoken to them at all.
I'd spoken to like a good percentage of teams and they weren't one of 'em.
And the rays weren't one of them.
I mean, like, if the rays hadn't picked me, I think Marion said the
Tigers were gonna pick me six pixel later, or seven, whatever they were.
Wow.
And um, it was just so weird 'cause I had been communicating with
teams like since the fall, like.
All these teams wanted to have meetings, like we did meetings and then I did
post draft or pre-draft workouts and like the rays were never really in the
picture and kind of just outta nowhere.
It was, it was crazy.
So yeah, it was definitely a lot of Marin's doing.
Um, he was talking to people that I didn't even know kind of what
was going on behind the scenes.
So that was super cool.
Yeah.
Sounds like you had quite a few potential options there between the royal signing,
undrafted, you know, the tires looking at you and, and maybe even some other
teams down the road, but, right.
Yeah.
It's awesome to hear just kinda how that works behind the scenes.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was, it was exciting stuff.
Um, I'm, like I said, I'm happy with the way it ended.
Um, I like, I love, love where I'm at.
Um, I have some great weather where I'm at, so that's all, all super exciting.
I, I really think that's a great spot for you too, because, I mean, you
know, I, I, we, we've talked about this before where I'm like, I, I think
you're definitely a pro pitcher, but the way they've gone now, you're not a guy
that throws like 95, 98 miles an hour.
So I was always worried about it.
So it's number one.
It's great to see.
But I, I love that going with the Ray because they're so analytical
and they use, they use data.
I guarantee they know.
If they bring you in, there's whatever it is, I don't know what they're gonna
look at, but whatever it is, there's something, they're like, if we do this
and you do this and this percentage or whatever, you're gonna have success.
I, I think you're in a great spot, man.
Yeah, I, I agree.
I've heard all amazing things about the development program there, so
I'm, I'm super excited about it.
I mean, you are all big names that go through there.
Even if they don't make it to the bigs with them.
I mean, they were in there at some point and they just developed and got better,
which is exactly what I'm looking to do.
So it's exciting.
Yeah, an exciting time for the raise too because, uh, there's an ownership
change coming and the new owner is basically committed to like, we're
gonna stay in the Tampa Bay area, which is one of my favorite places to go.
Yeah.
Uh, so it, lot of, a lot of bright things in the future and plus just
the, their development angle, like CB was talking about, like, I don't
know if anyone's created more MLB ready guys than the Rays have.
Like they, they don't spend, they develop within and that's, that's
awesome to see, especially now that you are in their, in their system.
Right.
Yeah.
I'm, I'm still excited about it.
I can't wait to just get down there and start working.
I'm tired of being here and home in New Jersey in the rain and just sitting
around doing the same old thing every day.
I am ready to go somewhere.
Nice.
So I'm excited.
So
we're talking right now, it's Saturday.
Uh, and so you told me you're leaving Monday to go down to
Port Charlotte, is that correct?
Correct.
Yeah.
So my flight is Monday at 10 40.
I'll head to Atlanta and then I'll leave Atlanta at two 30 and I'll be in
Port Charlotte by like four o'clock.
Mm. And then, well, I guess Tuesday there at the, at the complex
and getting your, oh yeah.
So your first
adult job, right?
Yeah, right.
So I'll go and move my stuff in probably on Monday once I get there,
get myself settled in, and then they haven't really told me a bunch else.
Honestly.
I don't have a ton of information.
It's kind of just like figure it out as I go.
So I'm definitely excited to see it all though and get my face in there.
So that's exciting.
Is Monday also the day you officially sign, or, or have
you done that digitally already?
I assume it would be Monday or Tuesday.
I haven't done it digitally.
I think I'm gonna, I, I assume I'd be doing it there.
Gotta get the, the photo op, get the nice picture.
I mean,
that's, yeah, it's got to, I know, right?
Yeah, yeah.
We gotta get a hold of that picture.
Make sure we, uh, we push that out there for you too, because
that's a, that's a big deal, man.
That's, that's awesome stuff.
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
Yep.
Thank you very much.
Do you know anyone with the raises at all?
Like players, coaches, anybody?
I mean, I know I saw there's a couple of Georgia Tech guys you
played against this year, obviously.
Yes.
You got drafted.
So,
um, yeah, Georgia Tech Sunday guy got picked up by 'em as well.
Um, this is actually gonna be crazy name that you haven't heard in a while.
Um, I don't know if you remember Jayden Voler.
He was, yeah.
Oh yeah.
One of the, he's with the right,
yeah.
Yeah.
He was one of the commits in my class actually.
And then, I guess, I don't really know what happened last minute, but he ended
up going to a community college and then, yeah, I guess he went somewhere else
and yeah, he got picked up by the race.
He's with the Charleston River Dogs now, so
I, as soon as you said that, I was like, yeah, I definitely, 'cause I
still follow him on the social media.
Yeah, yeah.
So that's, that's, I just found out,
I found that out the other day.
I couldn't even believe it.
So yeah, that's, there you go.
That's something I'm look forward to.
I never got a chance to meet him, so that'll be a cool conversation.
Did you guys ever have, like,
were y ever in like a, a text chain or, at one point, so we had a, yeah, we
had a group chat with our class.
Mm-hmm.
Um, like all of us in the same little Snapchat group chat or whatever,
just like talking about what to prepare for and stuff like that.
Mm-hmm.
And he kind of wasn't, he was never really active in the group chat,
so he never really spoke much.
So, yeah, I've honestly, he's just kinda like a ghost to me.
So you, you know the name, but other than that.
Okay.
All right.
That's fair, right?
Yeah.
Right.
That's, well, hey, a bunch of new friends.
It's, it's, it's not like you're not like a super friendly guy or anything.
I think it'll be all a
hundred percent.
Yeah, no, I'm super excited about it and it's like everyone else
that's going will be in the same uncomfortable experience, so everyone
will be looking to find friends.
So it's, it's exciting.
I'm looking forward to it for sure.
I think my, my biggest advice to you is, 'cause I think, I
think some guys get nervous about this, but you know, you are a.
During games, especially when you're not pitching a vocal guy, you're
a team guy, don't lose that man.
Just because it's pro ball, like still be, trust me that when y'all are going
through these long, especially as you have all these guys, whatever you're
gonna be doing, if you're a complex baller, if you end up with Charleston
or wherever, like it's, it's still gonna be like a long end of the year.
Like keep, keep that.
Just keep being you man.
That's all you can control.
Just keep being yourself a hundred percent.
I will.
Thank you very much.
That's good advice.
Yeah, man.
Yeah, and there's so many monarchs that are Monarch pitchers that
are currently in the system.
I know Pearcy Arbery and his team pulled together a stat that's, so
we've had 11 pitchers drafted or signed in the last five seasons.
Of course we're seeing it with Hobe and Shrimp Buchanan and Jacob Gomez
and Noah Dean and all of those guys.
Um, have you had any, any contact with those guys lately?
But I, I'm sure if you haven't yet, you'll soon,
I want to say every single one of 'em has reached out to say
congratulations in some sort of way with.
I think it froze up for a second.
Awesome.
Um, we're, we're a big family.
We all keep Am I back?
Yeah.
Yeah, you're back now.
You're good.
Yeah.
We're all okay.
We're all a big family.
Um, yeah.
It doesn't matter if you played for one year or four years together, we
all keep in touch with each other, especially in big moments like these.
Um, at the end of the day, like.
This is one of the goals that you've been looking for your whole life.
And it's, that's the same common goal that all of us have, and we all
like recognize that in each other.
So when something like this happens, I mean, it's almost
impossible to not say something so.
I am almost wondering, like at what point do you get traded to
the Red Sox organization so we can have a full five Monarchs in
the rotation in a couple years?
Yeah.
They got Nick Murray over there pulling strings, so we'll see.
Yeah.
I I been calling 'em the, uh, the
Boston Hudson Sox.
Yeah,
that's a good one.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Well, Blake, we appreciate you spending some, yeah.
Some time with us.
Uh, you know, I know your, your world kind of.
Kind of changed pretty drastically over the last couple days, but in all
of the best ways, we're happy for you.
I know all Monarch fans will be following around for years, you know, 15 years
from now we'll still be bugging you on whatever social media exists then.
So,
yeah.
I'm Cheryl.
Thank you for having me on.
Um, I appreciate it a lot.
Um, like I said, I love coming on here.
Um, you guys have always been great to me, so I'm, anytime I can come
on and help out, I'd love to, uh, even just talk for a conversation.
I'm always down so.
I
love that Blake and I, I've told you times, I'm proud of you.
Uh, you know, you are, you're one of the best human beings.
You, you're such a good guy and I've always, just always thoroughly
enjoyed just being around you.
The baseball part is, is, is great too, but just you as a person.
So I'm, I'm really excited for you, man.
This is, this is exciting.
Just be yourself, have fun.
You can't, you can't control anything, so just go out and do your part
and just do, do your thing, man.
That's the excited for you,
man.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
All right.
Travel safe, Blake, and uh, good luck down in Florida next week.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
I'll talk to you guys soon.
Yep.
Go ahead.
See you man.
See you.