The Pro's List

Episode 9: Morgan Stuart

As a kid, Morgan was a stud on the field but didn't always know how to find her voice. Her success led her to the University of Washington where she won a Women's College World Series. After college, she co-founded The Packaged Deal with her focus being on defense. As a way to help athletes build their "inner defense", Morgan founded Defense Club, an online club centered around coursework and community to develop a player's mental and communication skills. Morgan uses her personal experience to guide how she coaches the next generation of athletes and offers insight into the challenges of navigating the competitive landscape of youth sports. 

Episode 8: Dave Coggin

Dave Coggin, Founder of PFA Fitness and the Pocket Path, has revolutionized how coaches teach proper arm path training. What was once an "untouchable" part of pitching mechanics, Dave found that by focusing on cleaning up the early stages of the arm path, other aspects of a pitcher's delivery would often fall in line and clean up on their own. He has now developed the Pocket Path to provide athletes of all ages a way to train simple and efficient throwing mechanics. Dave offers insight into how he developed his pitching philosophies, what he strives to teach his athletes, and where he sees the future of PFA and the Pocket Path. 

Episode 7: MLB Scouts Roundtable w/ Carlos Muniz, Jimmy Moran & Seth Moir

MLB scouts roundtable with Carlos Muniz of the Cleveland Indians, Jimmy Moran of the Cincinnati Reds, and Seth Moir, formerly of the Minnesota Twins

 

In this episode:

The evaluation process and how it has changed

What a scout loves to see...and what they might not love

The importance of getting to know players and their families

How analytics have impacted the evaluation process and ability to compare players to current professionals

Why Carlos was higher on Cy Young winner Shane Bieber than the rest of the industry

Draft strategy and why certain players get drafted in certain spots

 

Whether you're a fan looking for more insight into the scouting and drafting process, or a player getting ready for this process, this episode is loaded with great insight from three highly regarded MLB scouts. 

 

Episode 6: David Berg

David Berg was the greatest college reliever of all time. During his 4 dominant seasons at UCLA, he was the Pac-12 pitcher of the year twice, competed as a member of Team USA, and closed out UCLA's College World Series championship in 2013. David went on to play professionally in the Chicago Cubs organization before returning back to coach at his alma mater. Now that he has transitioned into coaching, David explains what allowed him to have such great success and how he's imparting that knowledge on the current UCLA pitching staff. He offers great insight into what it's like working alongside Coach Savage, how the college game has evolved in just a few short years, and what matters to the coaching staff when recruiting for one of the country's premier college programs. 

Episode 5: Amanda Scarborough

This week, we were lucky enough to be joined by Amanda Scarborough. Amanda is a Texas A&M legend, multi-time All American, director of pitching at The Packaged Deal and has her own online program, Pitch Angel. She is exceptionally compassionate and cares a great deal about giving back to the softball community. She knows how to connect with pitchers on a human level, instructing with more than her mechanical expertise. As we talk about Amanda's transition from player to coach/broadcaster, Amanda offers insight into mechanics, pitch calling, the mental side of softball, and the importance of continuing to develop while playing to win. 

Episode 4: Jon Sintes & Cass Kreitlow

This week, I went down to San Diego to meet with Jon Sintes and Cass Kreitlow of Cutternation. Jon and Cass are teaching baseball a little differently. What started as a sit-down discussion quickly turned into mechanical demonstrations and live throwing. At Cutternation, they have developed some new rules that guide their throwing patterns. They are training athletes differently utilizing new tools like the Synapse. Through their collective experience, Jon as a player and Cass as a coach, both felt player development was lacking and they decided to take a unique approach. They are passionate about the game of baseball and had some interesting ideas about how to increase the popularity of baseball by utilizing the technology readily available to teams. After our chat, I had to get on the mound to try their "three rules" and of of course, to try and learn a cutter at Cutternation. 

Episode 3: Lantz Wheeler

In Episode 3, we sit down with Lantz Wheeler. Lantz is one of the most highly sought after pitching coaches in the country and his Core Velocity Belt is now a staple in Major League clubhouses. He created the Core Velocity Belt as a way to teach efficient lower half mechanics in a simplified way. He believed that too often, pitching coaches were trying to solve problems by fixing the very end of a delivery rather than addressing the initial issues. Lantz has helped re-tool pitchers like Lucas Giolito and Lance McCullers. In our discussion, Lantz does a great job of taking complex pitching premises and explaining them with simple analogies that we can all understand.  

Episode 2: Joe Beimel

Today we are joined by Joe Beimel of Beimel Elite Athletics. Joe is a 13 year Major League veteran who came up as a starter with his home state Pittsburgh Pirates, but is best remembered by Southern Californians as an often used member of the Dodgers bullpen. Joe has been extremely busy as BEA has moved into a new facility in Torrance, CA and opened a second location in El Paso, TX. Joe joins us today from El Paso. In our conversation, we cover Joe's transition from player to coach and how he applies new training methods not just to his athletes but to also to himself. He also let's us on his own progression as an athlete and why he hasn't quite yet ruled out a comeback!

Episode 1: Josh Reidt

In Episode 1 of The Pro's List podcast, we sit down with Josh Reidt of Reidt Fitness. Josh shares how he became a strength trainer, what premises guide him in his programming, and what athletes can expect when they train at Reidt Fitness. He also let's us in on a big announcement!