BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED
What if you could discover the secrets of the most successful coaches and athletes and become the best in the game. What separates the best coaches and players from the rest? Become the player coaches dream of having on their team. Step inside the dugout with the Baseball Coaches Unplugged, where every episode is a journey of triumph, resilience, and inspiration. Hosted by Ken Carpenter, a 27 year veteran high school baseball coach with a passion for unlocking the secrets of athletic greatness.
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BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED
3 Reasons Why Travel Players Fail in High School Baseball
Unlock a new dimension of youth baseball with our special guest, David Klein, the visionary behind MP Legends. Discover why he believes the focus should shift from winning to development and how his creation, Speedball, is revolutionizing the game for young players. From learning multiple positions to maximizing participation, David offers a fresh perspective that prioritizes skill-building until players reach varsity-level baseball.
Explore the delicate balance between fostering a passion for baseball and avoiding burnout from over-scheduling in travel tournaments. Through personal anecdotes, we discuss playing for love over obligation and introduce Speed Bowl, a game born out of the pandemic. This innovative format allows smaller groups to safely enjoy real games while keeping the excitement of baseball alive, similar to adaptations in other sports like three-on-three basketball.
As we wrap up, I draw on my experiences as a former Division I player and high school coach to share valuable insights on preparing for a collegiate baseball career. From the importance of nutrition and rest to the transformative impact of a positive team culture, we cover all bases. Join us for a conversation that stretches beyond the field, touching on the unique dynamics of playoff baseball, the significance of participation trophies, and even a hypothetical World Series scenario. Whether you're a coach or a player, these insights are sure to inspire your baseball journey.
Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, sports coaching, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.
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How important is it to win in baseball? It all depends if you're a coach, a player or a parent, and you also have to consider whether it's rec baseball, travel baseball or high school baseball. Today I sit down with David Klein, founder of MP Legends, the largest club baseball program on the West Coast. We discuss why winning should not be emphasized until the varsity level of baseball, how he created a new game called Speedball that increases reps for every player on the team. Nobody sits the bench and you get to play every position and lessons learned being a head coach in a highly affluent area. All this and more next on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne. Baseball Coaches Unplugged is a podcast for baseball coaches With 27 years of high school baseball coaching under his belt, here to bring you the inside scoop on all things baseball, from game-winning strategies and pitching secrets to hitting drills and defensive drills. We're covering it all. Whether you're a high school coach, college coach or just a baseball enthusiast, we'll dive into the tactics and techniques that make the difference on and off the field. Discover how to build a winning mentality. Inspire your players and get them truly bought into your game philosophy Plus, get the latest insights on recruiting, coaching, leadership and crafting a team culture that champions productivity and success. Join Coach every week as he breaks down the game and shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories. Your competitive edge starts here, so check out the show weekly and hear from the best coaches in the game. On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to BCU. I'm your host, coach Ken Carpenter. If you're new to the show, be sure to hit the subscribe button and check us out with new episodes every Wednesday If you're a longtime listener. Thank you again for your support.
Speaker 1:Today's episode of the Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. The netting pros specialize in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, batting cages, bp turtles, screens, ball carts and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches and cubbies. The netting pros also work with football, soccer, lacrosse and golf courses. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707. Or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom, and you can also check out Netting Pros on X, instagram, facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged, presented by AthleteOne. I'm your host, ken Carpenter, and joining me today is David Klein, founder of MP Legends and the great game that he's created called Speedball Coach. Thanks for taking time to be on the podcast.
Speaker 3:Ken, thank you for having me on today. Very much looking forward to diving in and telling your audience a little bit more about Speedball and all things that we're doing.
Speaker 1:Well, I got to start off with did you get a chance to see the Cleveland Yankees game last night?
Speaker 3:I got some snippets of it I got some snippets of it, I think I saw the judge tying home run, I believe, and then the Guardians pulled away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, if that doesn't make you like baseball after last night, I mean, I'm a big Cleveland fan, but wow, that's the great thing about it, it's not a timed event and you got to get all the outs before the game's over. And you know, Cleveland fortunately came out on the right end of things and it's always fun to meet the Yankees.
Speaker 3:There's truly nothing better than playoff baseball. There's just something about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, october is the key, I think, with college football, nfl and playoff baseball. But people often ask me you know, how do I get guests for the show? And here was one of the ways I came across it. I follow you on X and you recently posted before varsity, high school baseball winning does not matter, and you know, I read that and I said I, I got to get this guy on. You know he, I, I should have done this earlier. But why, in your opinion, does it not matter?
Speaker 3:well, I think that the process of learning how to win and how to win games, I think that matters and I think there's value there. But at the end of the day, the win and loss column at the youth level, I mean that's not what's important. And I say that because it's not necessarily what kids are going to remember either. I mean I think, yeah, maybe they'll remember some little league championships, but if we're talking about playing tournaments, every single weekend, the same tournament or every other weekend, that's fairly forgettable. And I wake up every Monday morning and I see the kids and the families posting their trophies from the weekend and how they did. And then the youth level while that time can be spent doing other things, other holistic things, but also other developmental baseball activities that will serve the child's goals better than playing games.
Speaker 3:And I think playing games and trying to win is valuable. But it may not make you and you will certainly get better just by doing the thing by playing games. But if you're truly trying to be an elite or an advanced athlete and play in high school and college and beyond, one should look at whether or not playing X amount of games over the course of the year fall, winter spring is truly serving those goals of being the best player you can be, or are you missing out on practice time and development by spending so much of your time, energy and focus on not just playing games but practicing in a way that is designed to win games First and third. Defenses, holding runners, pick plays all that's great, but when we're teaching nine, 10, 11 year olds for hours at a time at practice how to do those things when they can barely throw properly, we're not really having the wrong, we're not really approaching with the right lens there.
Speaker 1:Yes, I totally agree and something that you know, this must have been 25, 30 years ago. Before I became a coach, I umpired and I can remember being at a summer tournament in late June, early July it's scorching hot outside and the team that was playing was really good and there was a pitching change and I, you know, just talking to as a base umpire, I started talking to the shortstop in second basement and I'm like you know, you guys are really good, you know what's your record, I mean, and both of them they're like they just gave me the look of I have no idea. You know, we just played constantly, so I really don't know. And and to me I was like, wow, these guys, they're, they're here, but they're, they're not really excited about it. And, and a lot of times high school coaches find out when they get guys to be juniors and seniors, they're starting to be burned out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean we're, we're, these kids are. So many kids are playing just so many games. I mean three, four, five games a weekend. You're playing in the fall, you're playing in the winter, you're playing in the spring. It just becomes too much and it becomes fairly forgettable, right, I think?
Speaker 3:Memories, like if you ask kids you know some of their best memories from growing up, and I've done this exercise before, ken what they're typically going to say, and I've done this at the college level too I say and I've done this at the college level too I say what is your life highlight, like your peaks and pits, the very highlight of your life? They talk about Cooperstown, which I thought was really interesting, because that's different, it's a pattern, interrupt, it's not the same tournament, the same game every single weekend. And then also the things that people remember or are usually competitive experiences where they work hard over a long period of time, like a season, with it culminating with a championship or a playoff run at the end. But typically they're not talking about the, you know the, the scarecrow, bash 360, 100 tournament. You know that they played three, you know. You know, weekend over weekend, that's fairly forgettable. And so the wins and losses at the age of the junior varsity level and below, in my opinion, they just don't matter because they don't necessarily serve the goals of players at that level, which should really be A to have the most fun as possible, fall in love with the game and be the best player that you can be.
Speaker 3:So then, when it really does matter, and all the chips are in the middle, with the game and be the best player that you can be. So then, when it really does matter, and all the chips are in the middle of the table and you're 17, 18 years old and you're trying to get recruited, you're a stud player. At that time, okay, because that's when it really matters. But the goals can are different for for different ages of kids and different types of kids, right? So, if you're, my son is seven, right, I'm not really taking the long game with him and and focusing on, you know, tons of skill development right now and and all that good stuff.
Speaker 3:I just want him to fall in love with the game of baseball, right? And so gameplay is fine, you know what I mean. He's going to get better with lots of reps, but that's a little bit different than you know, a 13, 14 year old who's only trying to play in high school or eventually make it to college, and they've been playing games all the time. Well, why don't we take a fall off, okay, and really focus on those areas of our games that we need to improve, and focus just on that, with the idea that that's going to take our game to the next level, as opposed to continuing to layer on more and more games?
Speaker 1:I can recall when my son was, you know, at your son's age and even for quite a while after that, we would end the games and my whole goal was for him to be mad that the season was over, you know because and I was like cause that means he wants to go back and play when you get them the other way, where they're like wow, I'm ready to move on. I think you're starting to lose, guys. And I took that approach and my wife wondered how come we're not playing more. I want him to love it, like you're saying love the game and want to play it and not just do it because mom love the game and want to play it and not just do it because mom or dad maybe wants you to play or you know you're. You're doing it just because it's the thing to do. It's gotta be because you love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think a lot of those kids do love it and they of course they love going out to tournaments too. But going out and playing tournaments every weekend three, four, five games over eight plus months of a year that's a lot. And I'm not sure if all the kids want to play that much baseball. And even if they did, does that necessarily mean that playing that much baseball is good for them? I mean, the statistics show that players that play more than eight months out of the year have a five times greater likelihood to have Tommy John surgery.
Speaker 3:So while they may like it there's a lot of things your kids may like that doesn't necessarily make it good for them and I think that's an important distinction. And also, at the same time, I do genuinely feel that a lot of parents and families sign their kids up for travel ball and enjoy lugging their kids around the state or even the country, because it gives their families something to do and they enjoy it maybe as much, if not more, than the kids themselves, while the kids are going to be short on sleep, eating fast food, doing their homework in the car, waking up at 5 am. I'm not sure that they absolutely love that experience week over week. But I think the parents oftentimes they do. And is that okay? I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:Well, my most recent guest was Bill O'Connell. He's the head coach up at Braintree High School in Massachusetts and he was named coach of the decade by the Boston Herald and he spent the past 25 years providing a camp for kids and he talked about how it's paid off for the success of his high school program. And you know, this kind of leads into the question I have for you, which you've created something and it's called Speed Bowl, and I think this is something that you know communities around the country could use and high school coaches who run their camps in the summer. This would be a great idea. Could you talk a little bit about your Speed Bowl?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think the whole. Well, just a little bit of the history of it, ken. It was actually born during COVID and in Northern California we were told that we can only engage kids for three weeks at a time in what they called a stable pod of 12 kids. So the only way that the kids can play together they had to play within that pod of 12 or else they'd be at risk to spread COVID. So, anyways, we had to figure out how do you play real baseball games with 12 kids.
Speaker 3:So, a lot of trial and error, we figured out that you can play real baseball games. You really just need about 12 to 15 kids. You can have four hitting bases loaded plus a hitter, then you have an outfield group, so three outfielders plus a catcher, and then you have your four infielders and throw a pitcher on the mound. And what we realized that was not only could you play real baseball games in that format by rotating from hitting to outfield to infield, it was way more developmental, way more exciting and significantly more fun and engaging for kids in this fast paced modern world where they've got, you know, 65 inch plasmas and Fortnite and the world at their fingertips, this on-demand culture. I think it lines up better with the modern brain and we've seen now over four years, as we've continued to evolve and grow it, how impactful it can be and how unique of an approach it is to engaging youth players in a fun and different way.
Speaker 3:So much like basketball has three-on-three tournaments, soccer has indoor soccer, we're seeing a huge uptick in flag football, but baseball doesn't really have anything other than Little League and travel ball or any other unique approaches to the game to get kids loving the game of baseball and developing in a fun and different way.
Speaker 3:And so that's what we've created with Speedball.
Speaker 3:We basically take all the kids and then we put them in divisions.
Speaker 3:So, instead of creating a travel ball team and signing up for tournaments, imagine having tryouts or a workout and having 50, 60 kids come out and you keep them all in your program, put them in teams of five, so you could have maybe like a seven to nine-year-old division, a nine to 11-year-old division, six teams of five, 30 in each, and then you show up on a Saturday and three teams of five duke it out and then the next game, three teams of five duke it out, and it is a super fun way to create a unique experience where you have complete control over the experience itself and you're not relying on tournament providers and other teams and facility owners to create the experience and then you just sign up and you just kind of hope for the best. In this format, you can do everything locally, there's no travel, you know all the kids, you can modify the rules and it's created an experience which kids and families are obsessed with, and once kids start in speedball, they typically stick with it until they age out at 12 or 13.
Speaker 1:And this gives the kid an opportunity to play multiple positions. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:Correct. So we have a whole four different rule books for the four different levels that we offer. And then, as part of the rules, you can't play the same position two innings in a row, so you need to play all different positions. So we're having lefties out there playing shortstop, playing catcher All the kids are playing all the positions. We give every kid a chance to at least learn how to pitch, and we've heard from the families that you know my kid may not be the biggest or fastest or strongest, but during the little league season he was the most valuable player on the team because he knew every single position on the field, he knew where to be and he knew how to base run too. And you get that because during a speedball game you're getting significantly more touches, significantly more plays and our kids walk away highly knowledgeable ballplayers.
Speaker 1:And I think as a high school coach, you got to love that, because now you got a kid. That may not be a, it might be the backup third baseman, but you can say, hey, I need you in right field and it's not like you got a huge issue that you're dealing with there because you want to have that bat in the lineup.
Speaker 3:Yeah for sure. I mean you're going to have a tough time. I mean you can do it if you're elite. But if you want to make a high school program or varsity team as a freshman, sophomore or compete for a spot, oftentimes having multiple different positions that you can play and you're confident in that, uh is really helpful. And also, um, there also is the inverse of what I talked about, ken, with you know, today we have so many kids that are going out and they're getting tons of private lessons and they're becoming these kinds of cage monsters and they're they're developing some serious skills but they just don't know how to play catch or really know the game of baseball in and out. And so what you might sacrifice in speedball by not learning to hit as much kid pitching or get as much development on the mound, because we really do like the coach pitch speedball model, you get back by getting a ton of reps in the field thinking about situations, a ton of at-bats and kids that truly know this game inside and out.
Speaker 1:I love the idea and I think that's something. If a coach is listening out there, I think they need to reach out to you and see if they can add this to their summer program in their hometown. I would think.
Speaker 3:And it doesn't have to be just summer too, ken. We do it in the fall, we do it in the fall, we do it in the winter. It can be built into the end of practice. There's a number of different ways that we're helping people design speedball experiences in their communities and really it's finding the right fit for your community. So I encourage anybody listening to reach out to me, davidatlegendscampscom, and we can have a conversation about how to create something really unique and special in your town.
Speaker 1:Well, baseball has always been great for teaching life lessons. What has the game of baseball done for you?
Speaker 3:It's been everything, but I would say some of the main things is really one working in teams. I'm a super collaborative person. I love working with and alongside others, I love leading other people, and from the youngest ages I was knocking on doors and doing pickup soccer, pickup baseball, and so I learned how to create experiences for groups of people that are unforgettable, and so, for me, experiences for groups of people that are unforgettable, and so for me, the teamwork aspect is huge. And then also learning how to fail and work towards an end goal over a long period of time, the ups and downs, the wins and losses, the strikeouts and errors, and how to battle through that and constantly look at areas that you can grow and pinpoint those areas and attack them. And so baseball has done a ton for me.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't be who I am today without the game of baseball, and I think most people listening that have gone through baseball too knows that it pays off in a huge way, and I love that. For my own son, right now he's learning team experiences, how to be a part of a team, how to support others, how to respond from failure All those things are so valuable. There's really no better game or activity out there better than baseball for teaching life lessons, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Well, as a former Division I player, if you could go back, what would you have done differently to prepare yourself for college baseball?
Speaker 3:It's a really good question. You know, back then I didn't know. I worked out but I didn't know enough about sleep and nutrition and how to optimize my workouts to make myself the best that I can be. So I'd go to the gym but I wasn't fueling with proper nutrients. And so I think for those that are 17, 18, trying to get ready for college baseball, really taking care of your body and making sure that you're strong and athletic and explosive and you're fueling with proper nutrients and protein and a proper diet and sleep regimen, that can make yourself the best that you can be, that's the information that I did not have, that I think a lot of athletes nowadays, with all the information and social media, they do have more of that. But I would say, really taking care of my body and making sure I was physically strong and fueling with proper nutrients, that would have been the biggest thing that I wish I knew back in the day. That would have taken my collegiate career to the next level.
Speaker 1:Well, I needed to ask you. You know you're a fairly young guy, but you know you love the game of baseball. What would you tell, since a great deal of my audience, I get the impression, is high school coaches, what would you tell a high school coach to stop doing with their teams and what should they add to make it a better experience for their players?
Speaker 3:It's a good question. So I coached high school varsity baseball for three years and I had a really challenging experience. So my views on high school baseball are somewhat radical, but I would say they would really depend on the community that you have. So it's a tough question. So you asked what would I be doing more of or less of for a high school?
Speaker 1:Yeah, people can tell coaches you know, hey, you know you need to be doing more of this and maybe not as much of this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, I think for me, like culture is so big at the high school level, you really want a group of kids that truly love each other and support each other, and so I would be very intentional about how you create a positive culture within your high school, because that's huge. I mean a lot of families and parents nowadays. They're highly involved at every single stage, and if your kid is not really truly invested in their teammates and their program, then really high school baseball is just a backup plan for their travel ball experience and we want the high school baseball to be the main event, and I think the way that you can do that is creating an experience that kids absolutely love. They love showing up at the field, they have buy-in, they love their teammates, and so I think creating a culture and being intentional about it would be one of the biggest things that I would do. As far as things I wouldn't do, oh man, that's a tough one, ken.
Speaker 3:I think the biggest thing that I, the biggest challenge that I had and this was just me and my community, which is an affluent community Parents and the kids they all wanted to be great, but they didn't necessarily want to do all the things necessary to be great and they didn't want the extra pressure that I was putting on them, including weights and nutrition and showing up early and wearing the right stuff and and quite frankly, um, I ran that program like a college program and the families and the kids didn't like it. It wasn't fun for them like that. So honestly, I thought I was a little baby looking back on it, a little too intense, believe it or not. I might've taken my foot off the gas pedal a little bit, maybe sacrifice some development and practice time to slow down and focus more just on having fun and culture, because I think there's still a place for fun, even in high school baseball.
Speaker 1:Well, tell me about a time where you failed or maybe something didn't go your way, and how did you turn that into a positive?
Speaker 2:Hmm, did you turn that?
Speaker 3:into a positive, I mean, I think I think my high school coaching experience was like one of the biggest failures I had, but it was.
Speaker 3:You know, I don't look at it as much as a failure.
Speaker 3:It was just an area of me personally that I could have grown, which was I installed my vision of a program into a community that necessarily it wasn't a fit.
Speaker 3:And so I think something that we have to do and what great coaches do do is that they switch up their coaching style and their approach to fit the specific needs of a certain player, certain team at that particular time, instead of having to fit the team into your style.
Speaker 3:And so I think what that group needed in my affluent area that was hyper elitist and super competitive and all the kids they didn't go out, they didn't party, they didn't hang out, all they wanted to do was go back and do homework because they had a goal of getting to Stanford. I probably would have used my time at the field and really allowed it to be the truly most the best part of their day and I talk about that all the time is that baseball and the two and a half hours they spend with you after school should a hundred percent be the best part of their day, every day, and I think I maybe pushed too hard and held my kids to too high of a standard at a public high school and I think I would have focused a little bit more on culture building and having fun.
Speaker 1:Makes sense. Well, you know, here's something that, just doing the research on you, that just blows my mind. You founded the largest baseball club, blows my mind. You founded the largest baseball club baseball program on the entire West Coast and you've got 50 major league draft picks, 30 major leaguers and two Olympians. What do you do differently that other programs across the country aren't doing?
Speaker 3:It's a comprehensive 365 holistic development program and I'm primarily talking youth. When I'm talking to this, you know a lot of those players that have gone on to play professional and big leaguers and Olympians, those guys who, some of those, came up for our youth but they went on to college. But as far as engaging youth, youth, amateur athletes, from the moment that they sign up until the last email that we send them, it's all part of the experience and there are far more touch points than just engaging our kids at the field. Right. So we engage our kids before they even arrive at practice. We send them videos, we send them challenges, we send them homework, we send them arm activation programs so that when they hit your program on day one, it's not their first time picking up a ball and they're actually engaged and they're inspired and they're excited to be out there. Same thing, once they start your program in between practice sessions, they know exactly and they're excited to be out there. Same thing once they start your program in between practice sessions, they know exactly what they need to do in between games, in between practices and at the end we don't send anybody home without them knowing exactly what it is that they need to do to improve, and their parents know exactly what we recommend as well, and so it's engagement before, during and after, and it's not just teaching the game of baseball, it's teaching the game of life too, and I believe that the better that we can make our kids as human beings, the better that they will be on field, and then vice versa, too, the more inspired that we can make them on the field and the better experiences we can create on the field. That's going to affect their confidence and their perception of themselves in the world off the field too, and so being really intentional about comprehensive, holistic development of our athletes is something that we do, I'd say, better than anybody else, and this book right here this is called my Legends Life Playbook.
Speaker 3:This is what we use for speed bubble. We actually use it at the 13 to 15-year-old level too. Use for speedball, but we actually use it at the 13 to 15-year-old level too. It's 10 levels or 10 challenges for the 10 weeks of the season, and the 10 different levels are things like setting goals and having reset strategies and mindset strategies and nutrition and balance, and looking at your life and reassessing your goals, and every week, if a kid does it, he brings it in and we give them a Legends token and they can spend those tokens over the weekend. This is youth stuff here at the Legends, where we have baseball cards and all that fun stuff. So really gamifying, holistic development has been something that is truly unique and different as compared to, you know, programs that others offer for youth.
Speaker 1:Well, that's definitely different than any other travel program that I've ever come across. That's pretty amazing that you guys do that much to help the player, and I'm sure the parents really do appreciate that too.
Speaker 3:Well, the thing is, ken, is you know, like I said, we're not limited. Why are we limited with our players to engaging them only at the field? We know that. What are the kids doing off the field? Well, they're at home, they're with their parents, and so I put out a post on X the other day about utilizing parents as a secret weapon for development.
Speaker 3:So if we can tell our parents what we're doing on the field, what we're expecting of our kids, and educating the parents for as far as how they can help and support their child reach their goals, we've just unlocked two new coaches that are sitting right in that kid's house, and so we like to send videos weekly with exactly what we're going on in the field. We'll show some examples. I was taking some examples from the playoff games and showing them how these look, how they're breathing, look how they're slapping high fives, look how they're all timing each other up in the on deck circle. And we know that kids nowadays are learning, or they like to learn, through video, so we send videos, and so anything that I would typically teach them that can be done on a whiteboard or a video, I'm going to send that home to them, like I'm talking cuts and relays. I'm just going to send them a video and I'm not going to waste my time with them at the field doing that stuff.
Speaker 1:The field is for training, but I can engage them and I can educate them off the field as well, and the field is for training, but I can engage them and I can educate them off the field as well, and that's one thing that I find has been unique for our program.
Speaker 3:Well, you've got a ton of experience with this and what would you do to make travel baseball a better just better for everybody? Well, I think there needs to just be more guidelines, period Right. I mean right now you don't need any certification or background. Any parent, dad, mom, doesn't matter can sign up for a tournament, have a really great off-the-shelf educational curriculum to train coaches and parents on how to do things the right way, and I think that if we did that, we would see less burnout, less arm overuse, less problems, if we had more education for parents and coaches and we actually held them to a standard of what is okay and what is not okay for amateur athletes. I think some of the MLB Pitch Smart Guidelines were a good step with arm care, but there needs to be more of that across the board.
Speaker 3:There is a possibility of playing too many games over the course of too many months. It is a problem when you have AA teams playing against majors teams and I've seen that too and that only happens because tournament providers don't fill up one of the divisions, so they combine them all together. I think there's issues when we haven't win at all costs tournaments every weekend where we're just playing to win. So, for instance, let's think about that for a second, Like on Saturday, we got our pool play games, we're going to play everybody right and we're just going to save our best pitchers and then all of a sudden, on Sunday, you know we're going to play our best pitchers and we're going to play to win.
Speaker 3:I think there's a problem with this results-based when it all costs setup and I think that we can do more and I think there should be more league setups where kids are working hard over a long period of time for an end goal, similar to what it is like in high school and college and beyond, but tournaments every weekend. While I understand their place like in high school and college and beyond, but tournaments every weekend. While I understand their place, it doesn't resemble what real life is like and you don't get a new tournament every single weekend. In the game of life, in life, it all matters.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely. Well, we talked briefly about this before we signed on. You'll be speaking at the ABCA convention. I got to ask you know that's a pretty big time honor, and how excited are you and what topic will you be discussing that for the potential coaches that are attending the ABCA to listen to this podcast? You know what's it going to be. What will you be talking about?
Speaker 3:Well, first off, I'm extremely excited. I've been going this is going to be my I think it's my either my 11th or 12th year in a row and I've always been there, you know, front row, taking notes and trying to be the best coach that I can. And I I envisioned one day having the impact and the credibility that that you know and the credibility that you know, enough of that that I would eventually be asked. So it's a huge honor. What I'm most excited about, ken, is I'm going to be talking about.
Speaker 3:I was asked to talk about practice planning, but I'm going to take it one step further.
Speaker 3:I'm going to talk about how to create transformational experiences for kids. So I'm less focused on skill development and the mechanics of how to run a practice. I'm more concerned and more interested in sharing how to truly innovate, to make a program truly memorable and transformational, so that when a kid comes in your program, he walks out a completely different program, not just a different person, not just a better ball player, a transformed human being. And you do that by creating a super meaningful and memorable experience that is deeply felt within a child's heart. And there is some science to that and I've spent a lot of time learning about experience design and I've taken those same elements from experience design and I've applied those to baseball. The same things that that Disney does uh to, to hook kids in and and make them feel a certain way. And, uh, we do the same thing with baseball and I'm excited to peel back the curtain and share that um and give really actionable strategies for how coaches can do that in their communities.
Speaker 1:Well, that's, that's great and uh, you know, that's that's huge. They, the ABCA, has asked you to be a part of that and I want to do a little section now where I like to have a little bit of fun, Sure.
Speaker 3:Got to ask believe it or not. I think that participation trophies and not giving them makes it so that kids have an adverse reaction to losing, where of course you should not like losing. But at the end of the day you should look at losing as a necessary step to get better. And so, yeah, I do give participation trophies. No, they don't get all the same participation trophies. We get these rings and the first place teams get gold rings and the second place teams get silver rings. But I'm not going to have an eight-year-old go out there and practice with me for four hours a week over the course of 10 weeks and bust his butt, and I'm not going to give them some level of recognition at the end of the season when my only goal is to get them to come back and play more. They're going to learn about the difference between winning and losing and how to do that later on, but at the end of the day, long response to a short question, but I am passionate about that topic, for sure.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's great, though I love that idea. Well, we talked at the beginning of the show about October baseball. Who do you have winning the World Series?
Speaker 3:I think I'm going to go with the Yankees this year. I think this might be their year. I was pretty bummed to see my sons obsessed with Tatis and the Padres. It was really cool seeing what the Tigers have done and even watching how far the Mets have gone. And I think what's so cool about um, about playoff baseball, is that you see that these teams with a fraction of the payroll of the Yankees playing on the same stage, because they're, because they have that it factor, they have that mojo. Um, you know I'm a Giants fan and we had, you know, the Giants playing the Tigers a few years back and they swept him in the world series. Tigers had a much better roster with Verlander and Scherzer, but Giants had that it factor, they had that culture, they had that mojo and I think if we can create that with our programs, our teams will be the best they possibly can be. So I think the Yankees, they just got that talent and I think they got a little mojo right now with them. So I got the Yankees winning it.
Speaker 1:Well, I got the Yankees winning it. I've got to be honest with you. I hope you're wrong. I hope I'm wrong too. I'm from New.
Speaker 3:York. But the rest of my family is all Yankees fans, but I'm not. I'm a Giants fan. There we go.
Speaker 1:Yep. Well, if you could have these four players playing for you and you're the manager in the World Series, group A, which group would you take? Group a you could have shohei. Class a the closer for the indians, mookie bets and jose ramirez. Or group b aaron judge cole is your pitcher, freddie freeman and the gold glove outfielder for the Guardians, stephen Kwan.
Speaker 3:Ooh, that's a tough one. You know I'm going to go with the first because I'm a huge Mookie Betts fan. I love how he goes. He's a Dodgers, so I'm not a big Dodgers fan, but I just love how he goes about his process and I think that he would impact the others in a positive way so that he would get the most out of the others around him. I think that he would get the most out of the others around him.
Speaker 3:I think that he's so detailed. I saw something the other day he's got bats in different parts of his room or his house so that anytime he went into a new room and he had a swing thought he'd pick up a bat and he would go through his process. I mean, here's a guy who travels with his meals like a professional athlete, travels like with a suitcase with his own meals and cooks his own meals on the road, just because he's so focused he doesn't want to eat junk and so I think having someone like that in your clubhouse, who may not be a vocal leader but who leads by example, by focusing on the little things every day, those are the types of people I want in my clubhouse, and I don't know too much about all the others, but I do know about Mookie and that's the type of guy I'd want to build around.
Speaker 1:And from what I've heard he's probably the best all around athlete in baseball. I mean, he's like an unbelievable bowler. I know he's he's, he's insane.
Speaker 3:I mean I thought it was so impressive how he played outfield but then they just move him over a shortstop and he was just the stud shortstop. I mean he's. He's a great example of why it's so important to just be an all-around stud athlete.
Speaker 1:Funniest moment for you on a baseball field.
Speaker 3:Oh man, that's a good one. I'm not going to say funny, but I'll just say the most notable moment. It's a bit of a story. I'll try to keep it quick and this was a learning lesson for me.
Speaker 3:In 2010, I had a collegiate team. We were 37 and 10. We had a bunch of players from Stanford and we were playing a team up in Atwater in the championship game and um, and in the eighth inning I was on second base I was a player coach at the time and a player hits a basis, clearing double to take the lead and my buddy, he slides in at home and he was safe by like you know, by like a second and they called him out. My assistant coach in my entire team goes ballistic because we were just homered so bad. My coach, he takes first base and he takes it out and he windmills and throws it out into right field. Bench is clear. He takes his shoe out of his mouth and he hucks it and throws it out into right field. Bench is clear. He takes his chew out of his mouth and he hucks it at the coach's chest and it just sticks on his chest and just dribbles down.
Speaker 3:Long story short I, as a young coach at the time I was 23, 24, lost complete control of my team. The umpires walked off the field, ken, and we wound up essentially forfeiting or losing that game in the championship game at the end of the season. We didn't even get to finish it and for the rest of my baseball career I now have complete control of my team and I've never lost the locker room again. So I may not be a funny experience, but it was certainly a notable one. I have pictures to prove it. But it was certainly a notable one. I have pictures to prove it.
Speaker 1:But it was a wild experience and I'm never going to let my teams get that emotional ever again. Yeah, that's. I love those kinds of stories and I you know. You mentioned summer college baseball. I was watching my son's team play one night and the lighting at the field wasn't the greatest. And a kid from LSU comes up and at the end of the game hits a just like Aaron Judge last night a line drive and it hits off the scoreboard. It's sitting right above the fence but it had that netting protecting the scoreboard and the guys in the bullpen all started yelling 2-2-2. And the left fielder just picked it up, fired it into second and they put the tag on the guy and the umpire called him out and it was clearly a home run, yeah yeah, but because the umpire saw the whole bullpen and everybody yelling, they bought it.
Speaker 1:And coach player, everybody got ejected on the other team. But you know it was amazing that they all jumped in at the same time and it convinced the umpires that it wasn't a home run yeah, you see something new every day, uh, in this game of baseball, which is why this game is so special well, I I have to finish up with you know you've done such a great job today with everything. How can people, if they want to learn more, reach out to you on social media or through email or something like that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, feel free to reach out to me at david at legendscampscom. You can look us up on our website legendscampscom or legends speedballcom to learn a little bit more about speedball. Also, just look me up on on X? Um at coach David Klein or legends camps legends baseball camps on pretty much any social media platform. Uh, we post one piece of content per day. Um, we also have legends coach Academy, which is a step-by-step um certification and training program for youth, primarily youth recreational coaches to teach them how to create unique playing experiences, even if they've played no baseball or very little baseball playing or coaching experience. So I love to, I love to share, I love to help people. As much as I love helping kids learn and grow and be the best versions of themselves, I think I like helping coaches grow even more.
Speaker 1:Well, it's David Klein, founder of MP Legends and Speedball Coach. Thanks for taking time to be on Baseball Coaches Unplugged. Ken, thanks so much for having me and keep up the awesome work. Baseball Coaches Unplugged is proud to be partnered with the netting professionals improving programs, one facility at a time. The netting professionals improving programs, one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom and do this. If you want your field to look its best, contact Will Miner and his team today. My name is Ken Carpenter and, as always, thanks for joining me on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
