Matt Borgschulte is a Major League Hitting Coach for the Minnesota Twins. Formerly with the Baltimore Orioles, the St. Louis native shares his insights on hitting, training, and in game adjustments.

Josh is one of the youngest executives in professional sports. He shares his story on what he did to become the Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for an NHL team.

Our 2-cents

An interview with Erik Miller of the San Francisco Giants.

Flow state.

Creating an elite dugout atmosphere.

Evan Pratte is a former 20+ year Division 1 College Coach. Topics we dive into: 1. NCAA roster ruling 2. NCAA Scholarship ruling 3. NIL and future of contracts 4. Relationship between athletic department and the universities 5. College baseball recruiting for high school athletes.

We found a chart, thanks to Trey Hannam on division 1 hitter and pitcher counts in 2022. Here's the graphic we're referencing: https://x.com/TJHannam10/status/1843424062493569535This led to Carter saying he will let his hitters swing on 3-0 counts. I disagree, Dave says he's okay with it.

Have we swung too far one way or do you think these things are still underrated and deserve attention? Also, what's underrated? David Birkby, Carter Mize, and Spiker Helms discuss the talking points of a coach with his team.

In this episode, we're in conversation with former baseball player turned cross-fitter Tyler Christophel. The division 2 athlete has taken the lessons he learned from the game and has channeled them into a world ranking in Cross Fit. The professional has gained sponsorships, awards, and accolades since finishing his last game at Southwest Missouri …

Austin is the owner and operator of Major League University. Major League University helps players build confidence, learn mindfulness, find peak performance, improve communication, build their emotional intelligence, and grow their team cultures. We dive into all of these topics plus how to handle the weight and pressure of a big dream. 00:00-06:2…

In today's fast-paced world, building a cohesive team is more critical than ever. Join us in today's episode we dive deep into the world of team building, discussing practical tips, valuable insights, and engaging stories on how to develop a strong team culture through the power of bonding. 💪 From icebreakers and trust-building exercises to fosteri…

In today's episode, we delve deep into the transformative power of routines and how they can elevate your game to new heights. Discover the secret sauce behind the success, and learn how you too can design and maintain playing-changing routines. 00:00-6:00 Worst, Best, First, Last6:01-13:05 Routines, the secret hack to ace a test 13:06-17:11 Approa…

Obstacles can be challenging, but they can also be opportunities for growth and achievement. In this episode, we explore why anything that stands in your way is worth pursuing as an athlete. We share personal experiences and valuable insights into how obstacles can help athletes push the envelope and achieve greatness. You still have a lot of runwa…

We're in tryout season. Everyone is gearing up for the new year with anxious minds and hearts to play on the big stage of varsity baseball. The week went great, but then you walk into the coach's office and get the unexpected news...you're cut. You're next 3-4 months have completely changed in a matter of a 5-minute conversation. In this episode, w…

How many scholarships are there in your sport? What about the number of players who are playing in college? What are the chances of playing a college sport? All these answers are in this episode of the Closing Pitch Podcast. 00:00-01:45 Intro (episode highlights, lost air pods) 01:46-11:11 Total Number of College Baseball Programs 11:12-24:07 How m…

Kansas House Bill 2139 would make verbal or physical abuse of an umpire a misdemeanor. If this passes, how will the youth sports community react? Will we start seeing people being taken away in a cop car to be detained? Spiker and Dave dive into the subject. Umpire conversation on the Tiger Interview Series: https://youtu.be/5vdRvbN6OEk (00:00:04:2…

Fuel your season with the right food. We have Jillian Tedesco, the owner of Fit-Flavors, a podcaster, an author, and a mother of two to discuss how choosing the right food can effect your year. We also have her husband, Jason Tedesco, the head coach of their Rawlings Tigers baseball team, to discuss the lifestyle and the rewards of developing a str…

How many times do you see players dive? Or go hard into a bag? Or even playing their practices like games? In this episode, we discuss the best player on the team mentality. (00:00-04:47) Intro (SEC Baseball Prediction) (04:48-12:32) BPOTT (12:33-15:03) Perception is reality (15:04-22:04) The Player Test (22:05-26:11) A story of being uncomfortable…

Deven Morgan from Driveline Academy is here for round 2 of baseball conversations. We touch on winter baseball events, pitchers' arm fatigue, and how developing skills that scale. (00:00-03:12) Intro (how this episode is set up) (03:13-06:58) Leveraging technology (06:59-09:54) Creativity in coaching (09:55-13:01) Deven's ABCA Take (13:02-23:14) Do…

Coaches, think about how you want your team to be built before building it. This helps with eliminating problems like FOMO, overpromising, and rocky seasons. See the time stamps below to find the topic you're most interested in, or listen to the entire length. (00:00-02:24) New update to the show(02:25-08:16) Building out your program and team08:17…

We recently got back from the ABCA, and boy, 'do we have insights for you!' There are a lot of great projects being created in the baseball space. In this episode, we talk about the American Baseball Coaches Association Conference, where the baseball community ascends onto one location to celebrate the game, teach, and share the projects their work…

When I was playing, there were a lot of rumors about how the pro scouting community found their players. It was a guessing game in my career. In this episode, we have a National Crosschecker Scout behind the microphone. See the time stamps for the topics we touch on. (00:00-04:11) Introduction - Who is Mark Adair? (04:12-08:37) The different types …

Is it time for us to quit? We should probably sell the mics, cameras, and lighting equipment. We're never going to make it to the next stage of podcasting. Why should we have even started? WAIT, WAIT, STOP... Everyone goes through this self-doubt talk. Especially when pressure is mounting on you, how do you handle it? We explore it in this episode.…

Recruiting + Twitter + Think Different Does it feel like you're not getting traction on your recruiting? Are you not getting noticed? Here's where you could be going wrong. 00:00-03:25 Intro 03:26-09:03 Building something that lasts 09:04-20:10 Twitter + Recruiting 20:11-24:59 Passion vs. Purpose 25:00-34:48 Recruiting, your first step 34:49-36:45 …

History rhymes, and sometimes it completely repeats, but the majority of the time it's a newer version of what was in the past. How has the game evolved to become more about celebrations, and velocity, and less about winning? Is there a place in time we can point to where this happened before? Spiker, Dave, And Raffy talk about Aaron Judges' histor…

It can be tempting. It wants you to stop short. It convinces you that no one will know. It wants you to be lesser version of yourself because it’s easier. Will you compromise?Closing Pitch Twitter Follows:Spiker Helms: https://twitter.com/SpikerHelmsDavid Birkby: https://twitter.com/David_BirkbyRawlings Tigers: https://twitter.com/Rawlings_TigersLe…

How do you change the vibe of a team? What do you do when you have negative nancy complaining about the weather, turf, or umpire? In this episode, we address the mood. Will you pass the vibe check? Closing Pitch Twitter Follows: Spiker Helms: https://twitter.com/SpikerHelms David Birkby: https://twitter.com/David_Birkby Rawlings Tigers: https://twi…

Getting locked in our minds can be the tiniest prison. We can easily put ourselves in this place by traveling down the rabbit hole of emotions. How do we break out to play fast and free? Closing Pitch Twitter Follows: Spiker Helms: https://twitter.com/SpikerHelms David Birkby: https://twitter.com/David_Birkby Rawlings Tigers: https://twitter.com/Ra…

Greener pastures? Are you switching teams too early? In this episode, we speak about when is it a good time to move on. Closing Pitch Twitter Follows: Spiker Helms: https://twitter.com/SpikerHelms David Birkby: https://twitter.com/David_Birkby Rawlings Tigers: https://twitter.com/Rawlings_Tigers Learn More About the Rawlings Tigers: https://www.raw…

This is a more reflective episode. I wanted to share something I learned after listening to an interview during one of my financial classes. I'm not going to talk about finance but the psychology of pursuing a goal, passion, or desire. Mark Ritchie III mentioned a book I listed below about the psychology of trading. In the last chapter, they talk a…

Don't be discouraged; you're doing something others are unwilling to do. Losing sucks! I hate losing more than I love winning, but that's me. In a most recent post from one of our directors, it was evident that our national team took their lumps this summer. His introspective post was probably one of the best-communicated thoughts I've seen on the …

We recently were at the PBR Nationals at Lake Point in Emerson, Georgia. We saw some unbelievable talent, but one obvious thing was the ballpark's attitudes. You could easily pick out the players who were unselfish and who were selfish. The unselfish players shined like rockstars. They were talking the game, they had positive body language, and you…

The track of a player's career is fascinating. The journey is unique to each player, but there's one pitfall that potentially could derail an upward-trending player. In this episode, we talk about the 13U curse, the advantage of being in the bottom third, and how to avoid the pitfall. Closing Pitch Twitter Follows: Spiker Helms: https://twitter.com…

You need to know here when you're talking with multiple teams during the tryout process. Especially at the high school level, there are many things to consider. Over the past 5-6 years, we want to share the best way to handle the process and navigate it towards your best playing, learning, and development situation. I would love to hear your though…

Pitch counts suck! Yep, we said it, and here's why... In this episode, we speak with Jordan Oseguera who is the Director of Performance and Pitching at ArmCare.com. Arm Care specializes in pitchers' health. They want to know when and how much a player can throw in a given day. In this conversation, you're going to learn about: - why pitch counts ar…

With mics, cameras, and a social media handle, you can influence a group of people. This doesn't necessarily mean you're a leader. You can be someone pandering to a group of people because the algorithm rewards you for engagement. It's something to think about as influencers are starting to be labeled as leaders. In reality, they are only "influenc…

Its' been less than 365 days since our second edition of the Tactical Guide to Recruiting. A lot has happened and we're back on the mics to talk about it! We're in a world where athletes are getting paid, there's no penalty for your first transfer, and we're on the cusp of potentially seeing an adjustment to scholarships. What does this mean for yo…

Baseball Twitter blew up 🤯 The first start of the season, on the road, and he was cruising! Clayton Kershaw made headlines with his final bow of the game after the third out in the 7th inning of a perfect game. This caused a massive split inside the baseball community, with people calling it "a problem" and others saying it was, "100% the right mov…

This episode was previously released on the Tiger Interview Series. In this episode of the Tiger Interview Series, we have Brett McQueen of Lightning Performance. A well-accomplished athletics trainer who has trained professional and tactical athletes. Conversation includes: - how to be in mid-season form every day - taking the necessary steps to t…

FUEL THE BODY! Part 2 of the conversation with Scott Brown. Listen to Pt 1 here Instagram: Scott Brown: https://www.instagram.com/coach_brown_18/ 1st Phorm: https://www.instagram.com/1stphorm/ Rawlings Tigers: https://www.instagram.com/rawlingstigers/ Twitter: Scott Brown: https://twitter.com/Coach_Brown_18 1st Phorm: https://twitter.com/1stPhorm S…

The consistency has been keen with having teams knocking on the door of the state championship and having players reach college and professional baseball. How do you consistently structure your program to win regardless of personnel, situation, or circumstance? In this episode, we speak to Scott Brown, a former high school baseball coach who has a …

DEEP Into the archives, I went to find this episode. I was editing last week trying to find a clip from the Closing Pitch and found this piece that read 'December- Recording 03.' After listening to it, I thought this was a great piece to send out for players to watch and listen on setting standards for yourself to live by. We site three situations.…

One of my lesson clients, who I love coaching, by the way, came in frustrated. He was getting angry at his performance. It was the frustration you get when you're struggling to make an adjustment. You're learning from your mistakes, but you're not making the fast adjustment to fix them. I stopped the lesson to 'calm him down,' but to also figure ou…

"Showcases are expensive!" "They're not worth it." "The top kids get all the looks." There's some truth to the rumors around showcases, but we all might be viewing them all wrong. We have Evan Pratte, former power 5 D1 coach, and current National Director, discussing the untapped potential of showcases. David Birkby further expands the point with h…

MLB locked out + negotiations are shaky = MASSIVE Opportunity for D1 baseball to build their fan bases. College baseball has had a slow growth in fan adoption with the season being played in the colder months, but with spring training on pause and social media platforms, this could be a massive adoption. We love this play for the D1 schools. It has…

We're back, we're here, and we've got stories to share! Dave and I recently went to a Perfect Game tournament in Arizona with our National Teams. This event allowed us to see our players in a different light. It quickly reminded us that stacking experiences build the psyche of a player. We also realized this lesson in our own lives. We share storie…

This show will be the best 73 minutes you spent this week, which is not click-bait. Dr. Ellen Reed sits down with us to explain how the human mind works, how it interacts with athletes, and why we need to focus on it. Dr. Ellen Reed shares her experiences as a performance coach, mother, and professional dancer. You will be surprised how she teaches…

Deion Sanders shocked the world last month by convincing the number 1 football recruit to switch his commitment and sign with Jackson State. Who is Jackson State? A small FCS school in Mississippi with the head coach being HOF Deion Sanders. Welcome to the world of the NIL. The new regulation allows athletes to receive compensation based on their n…

There wasn't a shortage of opinion when it comes to specializing in a sport. As promised, we bring Ben Brewster on the Closing Pitch podcast to discuss his tweet that caused everyone to cry; "HOW DARE YOU!" In this conversation, we tackle this question plus the opportunity cost you could be incurred by playing year-round. To learn more about Ben an…