S6 E10 - Xavier Scruggs - Control What You Can Control

all right my main man xavier scruggs how you doing today brother thanks for joining the show i'm doing good man thank you for having me man excited for it i'm excited man we've been talking about doing it for a long time i'm glad we finally found the time you know when we talk athletes and military. There's so much crossover. We're always talking teamwork. We're always doing all those things. So I'm really excited to talk about kind of your journey to the big leagues in Major League Baseball, but also what's been amazing to see your maturity and kind of your stepping into your new career as a broadcaster, as an analyst and all those things. And I think there's a lot of crossover in the transition from the military space. So let's start with kind of background, right? Give, you know, folks that maybe don't know your name that are from our community, you know, a little snapshot into, okay, hey, here was my journey into the big leagues and kind of getting into Major League Baseball. Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, appreciate you having me. And I think you're right. There's a lot of that crossover. It started for me at a very young age, around eight, eight years old. I started to notice that I took towards sports. You know, baseball was one that I liked, but it wasn't necessarily one that I felt was my favorite, in a sense. Played football, basketball. And then once I got to high school, I started noticing like football players were getting way too strong for me and the basketball players were getting way too tall. And I was like, you know what, we got to narrow this thing down to baseball because you don't have to run all that much. You can hit the ball and kind of jog around the bases if you hit it well enough. So naturally kind of stuck towards baseball, got the opportunity to go to UNLV Las Vegas. I was drafted out of high school, but turned it down to go to college. Both my parents went to four-year universities, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and California, Southern California. And it was something that I was like, you know what, let me go get my education, have a fallback in case something happens. Luckily, I was able to get drafted after three years at UNLV by the St. Louis Cardinals, and it was a grind for me. I wasn't a guy that was like a top prospect. I wasn't a first rounder. I was drafted in the 19th round. So I wasn't even necessarily expected to necessarily make it to the big leagues. And it was six years before I ultimately got the call up. I remember that sixth year still questioning whether or not I should be playing because I'm seeing my boys that I went to school with and friends going off getting great, getting great jobs, getting employed by some great companies. And I'm like, man, I'm still in the minor leagues making a thousand dollars a month. Like I was really like, man, should I be doing this still? And luckily played well enough, grinded it out, made it to the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals, played with the Marlins, played a lot overseas. And man, here we are now. But it was quite the road, man. It was quite the road. Yeah, I think it's cool because baseball is a little bit unique where there is that like long term grind to get to the majors like in football and a lot of other places like you go to college, you got a shot at getting in the league. And then if you're not in the league, you're out. And baseball has this kind of tiered system of like, hey, there's guys who play professional baseball for a decade and never actually go to the show. And I think it's cool because there's a lot of resilience in that, too, right? It's like, hey, man, you're still having to try to put your best product on the field every single day. But you know it's not where you want to be yet, right? Talk to me about kind of your journey through some of that minor league system. And I know you went up and down. And that's the other thing about baseball. You kind of like it's not like, hey, you got your shot. And then if you don't make it, you're out. It's like there's a there's a possibility going back and forth. That's got to be a little bit of a yo-yo emotionally. So what was your experience like as you were grinding, trying to figure out, like you said, through year one through six of trying to figure out, like, hey, how do I become a big leader? Yeah, no, that's a great question. You know, being drafted with the Cardinals, they're very well known for minor league development. So like guys that get drafted, even in the later rounds, they're able to get the most out of those guys and get those guys to the big leagues as well. So, you know, almost to a detriment of that, there was a lot of good talent to the team in which I was drafted. So I kind of had to wait my time. And I think that's where a lot of my faith came in. I'm a very faith focused guy in which I know if I put in the work, like everything else will fall into place. And if it doesn't, God will have something else work out for me. But at the same time, you know, I'm a man. I have an ego. I have, you know, feel to where like I'm playing well enough to get the opportunities. And as you mentioned, there were certain times where I took a step back from double A back to single A in a time in which I felt like I was playing really good baseball on a good track. So I think a lot of that just mental and you understand that mental grind of it is like, how can I stay focused on what I can control? And that's just getting better every day, no matter what level I'm at. And that was kind of turned to be my focus when I felt like times weren't going great. It was like, OK, how do I enjoy the moment, understand that I'm getting paid to play a sport in which a lot of people would wish that they could chase a dream in that sense? And then just how do I get better every day? Baseball is such a long season, 162 games in 180 days. there's no excuse for me not to find some way to get better every day offensively defensively base running and i made that a goal of mine and so to answer your question that was kind of my focus is okay let me make sure i have this tunnel vision to where there's almost no excuses as as far as me doing the production me getting better as a player and making sure i'm handling my business no i think that's awesome and there's a lot of parallels into special operations from that obviously one of which is you were kind of walking through your answer you know one of the things that a lot of times guys will be getting ready to go to a selection either to enter special operations or to go to one of the other more elite units within special operations and if you're just focused on that single goal sometimes you can lose kind of the forest in in because you're not thinking about what's my day-to-day like what's my step today to get after it right and so i i think there's a ton of parallels. And the other thing that, that kind of struck me is, you know, that teamwork aspect, one of the coolest things about being on a special operations team, you know, as a green beret, you've got, you know, all of these other professionals that are amazing that you're sort of, you're, you're on a team with, but you're also kind of competing against and you're driving each other together to get better. You know, one of the interesting, interesting things about baseball, like you said, as you, as you're grinding, you're competing with everybody else on the field, but you're also kind of competing in the club house because you're looking for that next call up. How did you kind of, how did you balance that between being a good teammate to those that you were on the ball club with in whatever minor league level, but also trying to excel and make sure you got your opportunity also? Yeah, no, that's good, man. And I'm grateful that it wasn't like a life or death situation. Right. But I'm thankful that like, I guess I was kind of rooted in the foundation of, you know, almost like I can't do anything about anybody else. I've got to be someone that, and I've always kind of had this mentality too, is like, if I am able to uplift others and encourage others in a team aspect type of, you know, setting, it's only going to make it better for me from a, from a mental standpoint, right? Like if I feel like I'm bringing joy to the room that I'm stepping in, that that's going to help me. And a lot of times it can be a distraction too. If I'm, if I'm over my last 12 with 10 strikeouts, Hey, I need to be locking in more on the team. Like I can't sit and sulk on myself and be like, man, woe is me. I'm not going to get the opportunities. No, like we're still trying to reach for a common goal. And that can lead to a distraction as a player. And that that's happened to me before. I remember I was in double a, um, uh, we had just finished a game in Northwest Arkansas. I was 0 for my last 15, struck out 12 times within those 15 at-bats. I remember coming back to the bus, and we're about to bus back from Northwest Arkansas to Springfield, Missouri, and I'm like, man, if I can't hit in AA, what can I do in AAA or the big leagues? Do I even deserve that opportunity? And I remember sitting around on the bus, and I was very emotional. I was crying. And I'm looking around and we had just won the game and everybody's laughing, having a good time, guys playing video games, guys watching movies. And I'm like, man, why am I so disappointed? I'm in a team setting in which I'm with some of my best buddies, my closest friends. I can't sit and sulk in this moment because a lot of people wish they could be doing what I'm doing. And it was one of those reality checks for me that was like, I can't control certain things, but what I can control is my attitude and how I react to certain opportunities. And I think that allowed me to really lock in on, hey, this is fun. Like have fun doing it. And to answer your question, that was kind of like the focus for me is like, start focusing on just enjoying the moment and controlling what you can control and be a good teammate. Because when you do those things, ultimately you're going to get your opportunity. And so that was kind of the focus at that point there. Yeah, I love it. You know, it's, it's, I wish I could remember who told me, but early in my career, you know, it's similar, but different, right? Like we go through slumps as special operators too. It's not necessarily, you know, batting average necessarily, but sometimes you're just going through a phase of life where it's like, hey, you're going through injury or you've had some issues, something happened and you're not performing quite the way you want. Right. And I can't remember. I wish I could remember who told me this. But at one point as a young guy, somebody pulled me aside and was like, hey, man, when it ain't going right for you, look around and try to help somebody else. And they're like, it's the most paradoxical thing. Like you feel like you have to concentrate more on what you're doing. Right. But they're like, man, I promise you, if you'll just try to go pick somebody else up, do something for somebody else. Like it'll break you out of, you know, the more you get self-focused and start putting that pressure on yourself. Sometimes that can be a defeating kind of pathway. And man, it's so true. It's, it's one of the hardest things to do. Like I said, when you feel like you're, you know, not where you want to be is to look around and be like, okay, Hey, what can I do for somebody else? Like it ain't, it ain't going right for me. How can I pick somebody else up? You know, as you were making that journey, I'm sure you had guys that you looked up to as teammates, right? And sometimes there's guys that you look up to because of their skill. Sometimes there's guys you look up to because of their character. Do you remember one or two guys that you looked up to that you were like, hey, that's who I want to emulate. I want to be like that guy at whatever level. And kind of secondary question to that, what were those traits that you really saw that you're like, hey, that's something I need to take in and I need to use some of that too. Yeah, no, I think there's multiple guys that I was able to look up to. I think one of the ones in St. Louis character wise, a guy, Matt Holiday, amazing player. Now his son is in the big leagues. And now it's just the idea that it was kind of lead by example, Right. And I'm talking about even stuff off the field. Like we go to a restaurant, me and me and my wife. And we're sitting down having a dinner and maybe Matt was there before me. And all of a sudden after we're done eating, the meal has already been paid for. Right. Like certain little things like that where you see, OK, guys, you know, that that leave a lasting mark showing you how to do things from a young rookie standpoint. Hey, you should be looking at this type of film. You should be doing this before your opportunity as a pinch hitter, maybe in the seventh, eighth inning. And it's just like those little things. Right. It doesn't have to be huge things in front of the team, but it may just be that one thing that somebody says. Right. Another example of those characteristics that I took away from my game is even some younger guys that I came up with. You'll see a couple of jerseys behind me. One is my jersey with the Cardinals. And OT is a patch on that Cardinal jersey. A guy by the name of Oscar Tavares, a Dominican player, passed away during my time playing with him. But one thing I'll take away from that is there was such a joy and such a smile that he played with, almost like if it was still just a young kid's game. And that's how I tried to remember it, too, is like, I got to treat this like a game that I'm playing, like a young kid backyard at the cul-de-sac at the sandlot. And so I tried to take that away. The same thing goes for my Marlins jersey. Jose Fernandez was another guy that played with passed away with the Marlins on that team But just a certain joy right And those characteristics are something that not only I want to play the game with but also want to have that after my playing days, right? In every single room that I walk into, I want people to recognize a joy within me in everything that I do. Yeah, I love it, man. That's incredible and definitely something that crosses over no matter what industry your background you're from. All right. You grind for six years. You finally get that call up. What's the nerves like walking into that first big league game after such a long time? Man, it's indescribable, man. I think there's a lot of anxiousness. There's nervousness. There's obviously that feeling of like, man, I belong here too. But it's also like you've worked so hard for one thing, right? And ultimately, now that thing is there, it's like, what can you do with it? So it gives me the chills thinking about it right now. I still remember walking into the clubhouse, and Mike Matheny was my manager with the Cardinals at the time. And I walk in, I get in before everybody else, because the rookie's got to be there first. It's probably like 12 o'clock for a 7 p.m. game. I get in there, start putting my stuff in the locker, and Matheny walks up to He's like, hey, you're in there today. And I'm kind of like looking around like, are you talking to me? Like I'm in the starting lineup. And it's just immediate, you know, immediate chills that go through your your body. Because you start to think about all the moments that you put in from eight years old or however you started the moments with your dad at the backyard playing catch. um you know your mom even tossing some batting practice uh and all the sacrifices that came along with it you know all the road trips um i talked about the bus rides in the minor leagues but um the moment is undefeated and it reminds you that dreams are real it reminds you that no matter how hard you work and no matter you know somebody telling you you can't do it um you know all the negativity that comes along with maybe chasing a dream uh it doesn't matter uh you can get to exactly wherever you want it, no matter the odds. Because we talk about, you know, sports odds. It's so, so hard to make it professionally in your sport and especially in baseball. So that was kind of the moment for me. And it was honestly the best moment I ever had. Yeah, it's awesome. You know, you listen to a lot of podcasts and a lot of like football podcasts. They'll kind of ask like, hey, what, you know, did you have a welcome to the NFL kind of moment? Do you remember a moment as you got up either with the Cardinals or the Marlins where you had that moment where you're like, wow, this is different. This is kind of the welcome to the show moment. This is a different level. Well, this will be something that resonates with you as a Braves fan. I remember facing Chris Sale for the first time when he was with the White Sox. And it's a lefty throwing, you know, 100 miles an hour. And as a righty, I'm supposed to, you know, I see lefties well. And I've always hit lefties well. but just a different type of look the ball coming from almost from the first base dugout a slider you're just trying to pick up and just trying to hope that you put the bat to the ball it's just like facing those type of upper echelon pitchers reminded me where i was at a roll this chapman same thing he's still in the league throwing 100 miles an hour for the red sauce so it's just like you certain guys that you face remind you okay this is different right i remember faking facing Jacob deGrom, who's now with the Texas Rangers. And there's just a different giddy up on the baseball to where it's almost like if you blink, you're not going to see it. So you better like stay alert, keep your eyes open and take your best swing because it's going to be a constant reminder that you're playing at the highest level and there's 30,000 fans screaming and yelling while you're trying to look at a baseball coming a hundred miles an hour. Yeah, it's always a humbling experience. It happened to me several times throughout my career where you're very good at something, right? Like I remember close quarter battle, CQB going through the house, being very good at that. And then all of a sudden doing it with some other folks that realizing there's levels to this and like, Oh, I got a new level. I've got to go climb. Right. And so even at the highest level, you see somebody else who's just amazingly gifted at their portion of it. And you're like, Oh, okay. I feel like I'm standing still right now. I got somebody else to chase. So very cool. Did that make you like grind harder? Because it made me think that like I was not where I needed to be physically nor mentally. So I was like, yo, I need to get back to work. Yeah, 100%. Well, I think that's where most elite professionals, they have that mindset, right? It's like if you see somebody else that's doing something, it's not like a woe is me. I'll never get there. It's like, all right, hey, back to the garage. Like, how do I, what do they do that I can start just picking those breadcrumbs and like, how would I get there in the next, you know, six months or a year or whatever? Okay. I need to redouble my efforts in, you know, whatever it is, physical fitness, shooting, moving and shooting, whatever for us. And for you guys, like, Hey, all right, they are different. There's a different level of velocity on some of these guys. Like what film study can I do? What can I be looking at at different counts that maybe I can get that one just millisecond of advantage that, you know, hey, if you just put your head down and say, all right, I'll never be there, then you wouldn't have gotten probably to where you were. Right. It's just that get back after it, get back in the lab and figure it out, whether it's physically, mentally, whatever. Absolutely. You know, one of the one of the cool things about your career, you mentioned playing overseas. right we have that a lot of times where not just for deployments but a lot of times guys will have to pick up their family and move overseas and get stationed somewhere for multiple years what was it like for you picking up and going to korea and having the family and also having that expectation of like hey this is a big leaguer coming over here like it was probably a little bit different than going to the show but i have to imagine there's some pressure there as well Yeah, absolutely. It was the most eye opening experience that I've ever had. And I had played in some different countries prior to that, Colombia, Dominican. But it was different when I went overseas, because like you said, you getting picked up and you going across the world and your family's coming with you. And what made it a little more difficult is me and Jessica, you know, my wife just got married maybe a few weeks before I was sent over to Korea. And it was also a situation where I didn't want to go to Korea. I wanted like I'm telling myself I'm a big leaguer. Like I deserve to be here in the major leagues. And my agent's like, OK, well, there's also opportunity for you to come back if you perform well and get an opportunity to stick with the major league team. Because at that time I had been kind of major leagues, triple A, triple A, major league, back up and down. Um, so ultimately decided to go over there and it was, it was shocking. Um, because it's not like, not like a Latin country where the alphabet is still the same, right? Like you're talking different characters. I'm looking at the buildings. I have no ideas what things are saying. This could be a doctor's office or this could be a chicken spot. Like I have no idea what I'm looking at. And you're also, you're, you're also leaning on guys that you've never played with, right? Like prior. And I'm sure the same with you. You've had certain teammates, certain guys that you've been through it with, and you can kind of lean on that. That wasn't the case, right? Like I go and everybody's Korean, a couple of other foreign players. But it was kind of me trying to figure things out along with my wife. Luckily, I had some great people around me, a great translator. Ended up playing really well over there for a couple of years. And Zeke was born in Korea, my first son, who you know very well. Um, so just to, I guess the second year when Zeke was born, it tells you how comfortable we became because we were like, all right, let's, let's go ahead and, you know, we can give birth here. Um, that's how comfortable we felt. So it was great in that sense. And then from a performance standpoint, as you mentioned is, uh, you're, you cannot take a day off. Um, you're expected to be the best of the best. And luckily for me, I kind of took pressure off of myself because I said, you know what, let me just enjoy the culture. Let me enjoy everything that baseball has to bring to me right now. And I think it really took a lot of that pressure off and I just tried to have fun. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a it's an amazing experience to go somewhere where you are a very tiny minority. Yeah. Like there's such a melting pot in the US, but the culture is more or less the same. Like you said, we're speaking the same language, all those things. You may walk into a room where you're the only person that looks like you, but you're probably not going to walk into an entire city where you're the only one and you're a different height, a different build, all those things. And so that, you know, obviously happens with us. A lot of times you go different places and you're working with another country's forces and you get down there and you're experiencing their culture and all those things. But you realize as you walk through like the mall or whatever that like, oh, there's a lot of eyes on me because I stick out like a sore thumb as a big American walking through this thing. But it is very interesting. You know, I love the United States of America. I love living here. I'm always happy to come home. But I think it's a great experience to go live somewhere else, not just visit, but actually go live somewhere and have to go through some of those things and realize like the amazing cultures that other places have. but also some of the differences that make you, you know, come back home and say, man, I'm glad to have some of the things that we have here. So I think that's a cool experience. And obviously, I want to get to Zeke a little bit later because I want to talk about as you and I met, you know, coaching our sons in baseball and all those things. I want to get to that in a little bit. But, you know, I want to get to your transition and then talk to how you've been helping others and trying to kind of lead the way on that. And so I know during COVID, you started kind of forging your own path. Talk me through how you ended up now on ESPN and MLB Network and all these things. Yeah, no, it was, man, just a lot of, you know, trying to figure out what was going to be next, right? Like, and I know you relate with that and relate with so many others in that sense. And like baseball came to a halt in 2020. I thought I would maybe had a chance to go back to the major leagues, maybe even play in Korea. ended up playing in Mexico in 2019. And when baseball stopped with COVID and, you know, the pandemic, the only thing being played on ESPN was Korean baseball. And I had obviously played there a couple of years. They asked me to come on, talk about my experiences over there. And I realized that I liked talking about baseball and then, you know, asked them if there was more opportunities to do so. And at first they kind of shooed me off to the side, Hey, go to your local high school, go to your local college, because as you know, when certain people are looking to make a transition, you know, you want to taste a couple of different things. You want to figure out what's good for you. And they're trying to figure out who's committed to one thing. But I told them like, hey, this is something I'm really interested in. Alongside of that, I try to help my communication skills, started a podcast, try to work in radio a little bit too, and try to do a accumulation of things that would help me get into media and broadcasting. And jumped on a couple more Korean broadcasts. They gave me a full Korean broadcast cast in 2020 to do as well on ESPN. And, you know, when I was done with that season, one of the main senior directors came to me and said, hey, we loved your work. We would like to give you some college games and maybe even some major league games to do in 2021. and like I was elated because he also mentioned that we would be doing it from home. And so all of this work I had done from a media standpoint was all from home while I have a family and I'm still trying to figure out, okay, what are those next steps for us during this pandemic? And it couldn't have been a better opportunity. So I just tried to run with it and got some opportunities with MLB Network, as you mentioned, and try to really do them all at the same time. That way I could be able to really enhance my platform, whether it be social media, whether it be actually, you know, linear TV, radio, whatever it may be. Because I knew that the more I did, the more that it would help me in the long run. And ultimately tried to run with that and just tried to have faith with it. Because there was a time in early 2020 when most of us didn't know what was going to happen. And then also that transition aspect of it, it was like, well, I don't know what's going to be next. But I hope, I have faith that this media thing can be next. And ultimately, it was. So I'm very thankful. No, I love it. You know, there's a couple of different things in there that I want to kind of tease out. One of which is, you know, I was talking to somebody about transition from the military and whatever. And it was somebody from completely outside the military. And they're like, hey, man, you know, people career pivot all the time. Like, why do Why do you guys talk about it so much? Why is it so different? I said well you know there a difference between working in a career for 15 20 years whatever 10 years whatever it is and then like pivoting industries That tough Don get me wrong Like that's going to take a lot. But I think there's a difference when there's like your identity is sort of wrapped up in that uniform. Like that's all you've done. That's been your single calling. It hasn't been a nine to five. It's been whether it's baseball, whether it's another sport, whether it's the military, it's like, hey, that is, yes, Yes, I'm trying to have some balance with my family and other things, but that is, you know, as much as we try to say, hey, don't find your identity in that. Yeah, it's very hard not to when that is your single thing you've been doing for, you know, decades or, you know, and just that pursuit. It's not like a normal career path progression of like, hey, I'm just hoping I can move up offices, you know, five years from now, 10 years from now. like you said it's an everyday pursuit right it's an everyday of like how do i get just a little bit better at this one task or this other skill and i think it naturally kind of indwells you and then all of a sudden you step out and you're like hey okay i'm still me right but some of the skills that i've been honing and some of the character traits i've been honing are going to definitely translate, but there's not just a one for one, like, Hey, you know, for you, there's not, there's not a job where it's like, Hey, I just need you to go hit in the cage and take a, you know, fielding practice for the rest of your life. And we'll pay you for it. It's like, right. And for us, it's like, there's, there's not as much a one for one equivalent for a lot of things we do, but I think it's, it's getting back into the character traits and the, uh, the work ethic and some of those things that help. Because what I hear, when you talk about your transition is you doing the same thing that you did grinding through the minors and in the major leagues of like, all right, there's levels to this. I see, I want to do this. How can I get reps? How can I find an edge and how can I get, you know, like you said, how can I go on all the different platforms I can to round out my skillset? Cause it's just going to make me better. And a lot of times, uh, you know, there's a, there's a hard path to figure out what is, what reps and sets do I want to get right uh that's that's kind of tough to get you know I think you know uh our mutual friend Brent who coaches with us he and I were talking about it the other day it's like we've known you for years now and it's still every time I turn on ESPN and see you it's like oh man like because ESPN the worldwide leader like that is the show for sports broadcasting Right. Right. How did you feel walking into that when when suddenly you've been working your way up and now all of a sudden you're a centerpiece of a lot of their baseball broadcasting? Well, shoot. Well, first, let me touch on kind of what you mentioned about the identity aspect, because I think, you know, there's not many industries in which you dedicate your whole life towards what you're doing. Right. And it's different when you've said, OK, at a young age, this is me. I'm doing it to the best of my ability. I'm a beast at doing it. I will take it as far as I can. And you almost shut off the idea that it's going to end at some point. That's where I think the difference is like like you can't think about that because in order for you to do your job to the best of its ability, you almost can't think about a stopping point. And I think that's where we get lost with our identity and what we do instead of who we are. And like you said, you start to figure out those characteristics. And I think for ESPN and that moment of having that opportunity was like, okay, where can I use my best characteristics? Where can I use communication? Where can I lead, use this aspect of leadership? Where can I use this aspect of analysis and being able to dissect baseball? Because I know that that's what I'm good at. And that moment for me was like a like a debut moment. Right. Like, man, I've finally gotten almost to another dream in a sense, because most people don't even get a chance to chase one dream. Right. Like so the idea of me getting to chase another dream and ultimately getting that opportunity through hard work and dedication on all of those things that transferred from the baseball side, I think was another reminder to me that no matter what you do or whatever you set out to do, whatever goal it is, if you go hard enough and dedicate enough time and effort to it, it can actually happen. And I know it sounds cliche, but but I think we both know it's real. Yeah, 100%. One of the things that that I was kind of reminded of as you were giving that answer and the one before it is, I think for you, similar for me and for a lot of guys and gals that are they're making this big transition out of uniform is is you feel like your career was maybe cut short. and that's another sort of betrayal that that is subconscious right like you don't think about that as like oh yeah i'm going through some grieving for that career of where i wanted it to be right for me it was like medically having a whole bunch of neck issues and just realizing like hey it's time you know after four neck surgeries a bunch of other stuff like it's time to do something else. But I felt like to your point, like you can't get there if you expect it to end. Right. Right. Like you have to be grinding so hard. And so I was looking at like, hey, I got another 15 years in me. Like I'm going to keep on doing all these different positions. And all of a sudden it was like, hey, I felt like God was telling me, no, you're not, bro. Like it's time to go do something else. Like how many times do I have to hit you with a two by four before you listen? And so I think for you, similarly, when COVID shut down baseball, you were still on that pathway of like, hey, I'm going to crush it over here. And I'm going to find my way back because otherwise it would have taken your drive out. If you would have known like, hey, I'm just going to play in Korea for a couple of years, you may not have been the same teammate. You may not have been the same player. And so I think there's a lot of that wrapped into the identity, too, of suddenly it's over. Yeah. Yeah. Like even if you saw it coming for six months or a year, it's still not what you were grinding towards. And that's that's a tough pill to swallow to then while you're while you're providing for a family to figure out like, OK, I got I got to figure out what's the next thing. And so, you know, did you feel that as you were as you were going through your kind of transition into broadcasting? Man, I don't know. I feel like this is probably another one of those parallels. But if I didn't have the right people in my corner, if I didn't have the right family members saying, hey, you know, you'll be OK. These are the things that you're good at that can transfer into other opportunities. If I didn't have my wife willing to go back to work for a little bit to figure out, OK, what like, how is this going to work financially? Right. Like those are the those are the ego type of questions that hits you as a man is like, wait a minute. Now, I've been able to provide one way for a good amount of time. Now you're asking me to change that and try to look for how I'm going to do that. That was troubling in a sense. And also, you know, I forgot to mention during that time, I tore my Achilles. So I also understand that the injury aspect of things. And it's like, man, am I ever going to be the same player in a sense? So maybe maybe like recognizing that the people in my corner, you know, getting in my ear, telling me certain things, you know, seeing certain opportunities when they start to arise and trying to take advantage of those and having faith that things will work out. I think that was something that really hit me hard during that time, because as we talked about, like there's certain things out of your control. But like once you start to recognize, hey, oh, here's an opportunity. Let me let me see if this works. You know, maybe this isn't a financial gain, but maybe this can help me take steps towards something in the future. OK, let me see if this works. And I think just opening my eyes to what could be other things that come along. I think that was important as well. Yeah, 100 percent. I think the community that you need to lean on, you know, sometimes you don't want to do that, especially as a man. And like for an ego, you know, it's like, hey, no, I'm good. This is me. Like, this is what I do. And then it's like, hey, actually, I need to lean on some of that support system. And back to your comment on, you know, faith. And obviously, you know, you and I know each other well. Like, faith has been bedrock to me throughout it. One of the things that it brings to mind is, you know, the beginning of James talking about, like, hey, count it as a blessing to go through a trial because it's refining and purifying your faith and strengthening your faith. But that's the hardest thing on earth to think of as a joyful thing of like, hey, I'm going through this trial because ultimately it's going to build me better out of it. In the valley, you're not thinking about how great it's going to be when you get on the other side of the mountain. But talk to me about that kind of component of your faith and kind of reinvigorating yourself and realizing like, hey, God's got a path for me. I've just got to I've got to continue grinding. It looks different now, but I'm still I'm still me. I think we go through those trials and tribulations to understand that, you know, there are certain times where we're going to fall. There are certain times where we're going to struggle obstacles. And previously, it's never failed me in the past. Right. God has never failed me in the past. My faith has never failed me. there's been some way that I've been able to come out of that. And I think leaning on those experiences were big, but also I think the community aspect that you speak about is huge because there's certain people that have gone through certain things that we haven't gone through. And if they have, they can speak on certain things and how they've gotten out of that and what they've leaned on and what they did to be able to put themselves in a better position. those are the things that were huge for me. And I try to provide those same things back now to guys I see going through the same situations, guys and girls. So it's like leaning on those past experiences, but also leaning on, you know, if I haven't been through something, I need to find somebody who has been. And, you know, we talk about as men, it's tough for us to do that. But I think, you know, a real man understands where his weaknesses are, right? And how to turn those ultimately into strengths. And I think that's what we can do better as a community of men is like lean on others that have been through it and strip down ourselves for a minute and be like, hey, I'm vulnerable. What can I do to ultimately help myself? And then we think of our family, too. Yeah, absolutely. You know, that that was the next place I wanted to go was kind of your mentorship now to other athletes as they're looking for their next path. But before we get to that, do you remember specific mentors that you've leaned on over the last four or five years? And do you remember those moments of reinvigoration from having a chance to talk to somebody who's already been through some of those experiences? Yeah, I always kind of say this, like my father-in-law, Hector Hernandez. I love me some Hector. Yeah. So he told me and my dad's kind of the same way, but he told me, you know, you're going to play three or four innings of your nine inning life. Like, what are you going to do with those other five innings at the least? So it always kind of reminded me that more of my life is in front of me after I'm done playing. Yeah. And that's this idea of like, I want to make sure I use this time wisely. I want to make sure I use it to the best of my ability. you know so leaning on my father figures leaning on another broadcaster by the name of Eduardo Perez was kind of a co-signer for me does Sunday night baseball in the booth with Carl Ravitch and Carl Ravitch being the same type but just someone that told me early on hey these are some of the things that you need to be doing he told me hey jump on the radio because it's going to be two to three hours of you non-stop talking and communicating it's going to help you in every other aspect of you trying to get into media, but also in your life too, right? Like everything is communication. So like learning that early on was big for me. Even older guys that have been in the broadcast game, Tim Kirkshen, breaking stuff down for me and talking about kind of, you know, what path that he took, like all those people are important. And even I look at, honestly, people that may not even know me, but even young creators, because now, and you too, we're in a creator space, right? Of like trying to figure out, okay, how is, how can we best package something to where people can really take it the best way? So I try to really take whatever I can from a lot of other people. And ultimately the biggest thing is, you know, just my family, just trying to listen to them and hey, because they know you best, right? Like that's going to be the biggest mentors you have is your family telling you what you're good at, what you're not good at and what you should try to continue to do. So try to lean on all of those things. No And I see it you know as a friend of yours but also just like seeing your social media man your content constantly evolving and looking for ways to influence positively not influence on behalf of like hey look at me all that type of influence I see you being very intentional about how do I package some of these things in the best way possible so that it makes the biggest impact for others that I may not be able to talk to specifically face to face. But how can I help mentor them and how can they help, you know, how can my journey help them on their path? And so I think, you know, very cool. Talk to me. You know, like I said, I've I've seen a marked kind of campaign on your behalf of like, hey, I want to help lead others in this way. How has that been going? How did that start? And, you know, kind of where do you want to take that? Yeah, it's kind of a business that I started a few years ago, understanding the struggles that I went through through transition and realizing that, you know, there's certain things that we can do to ease the process. Extraordinary Athletes is what I started that helps not only individuals, but also agencies. So you have agencies within the game of baseball and sports that represent players that can help them understand how to make the transition better. And how we can do those things is, you know, we talk about social media, enhancing your platform. What are the things that you want to do to communicate? You know, how can we figure out what's next for you? What are the things that you're good at? How do we put together content that allows you to be the best version of yourself? um websites uh looking at any form of social media and just being able to help guys really understand um there's a lot of different paths after playing your sport one of the biggest things is figuring out what what are the things that you're good at what can you take away from your sport that you can apply to the next part of your life and a lot of times we limit ourselves and even and i'll give an example of baseball like a lot of times you think okay i'm done playing baseball the next thing I can do is just be a baseball coach. And there's so many like jobs, even within baseball. But I also think about like, you know, you've been called to lead, right? Like there's been opportunities for you to lead in team aspect of things. You can lead in other aspects of life, you know, whether that be in business, whether that be in any other entity, whatever it may be, but helping individuals understand how to pull those characteristics out. And one of the most important things I ever did and it kind of something to help me transition was this idea of a Venn diagram and understand, okay, let me draw one circle. What do I think I'm good at? Drawing another circle, intersecting with the other one. What do other people think that I'm good at? That means leaning on your family. Hey, what do you think that I could possibly be good at? Is that communication? Do you think I'm good at being a coach? Do you think I'm good at being a teacher, an educator, whatever it may be, and kind of looking at the middle of those things and putting together an idea as to something I should shoot for, something I should chase after. And for me, a lot of that was, you know, the media aspect of things, communication, being able to talk to people, you know, and express things vocally. That was something that I found could help me. And now I try to try to help others find those same opportunities. Yeah, no, I love it. It's a it's kind of a 360 review of yourself, right? Like, yeah, a lot of times we have our own, you know, kind of idea of who we are, and getting really solid feedback from others that are close to you can sometimes it can illuminate weaknesses at times, but a lot of times it can illuminate strengths and things that you don't really realize that that sort of your personal brand. Right. And and others, you know, what we see in the mirror is different than what others see when we walk past. Right. There's there's there's differences there. And so I think that's a really solid that's that's mirrored in a lot of our transition programs of like trying to do some self-discovery and figure out like, OK, you know, the other Venn diagram in there. A lot of times that are put in for us is like, OK, what can I support my family doing? Right. And where do those things intersect? And they always say like, hey, if you can find something you love doing that you can support your family doing that you're good at, then you're right in the center of that. Right. Like then you're then you're firing on all cylinders and then it's just all right. How do I get better at this? Right. How do I how do I figure out my skills and and hone them to be the best I can at this? You know, we talked about family quite a bit. You and I met, as I mentioned earlier, was lucky enough to have actually both of your sons initially on our T-ball team. and now have been coaching Zeke Gally for five, six seasons now. And, you know, I love seeing, I've said it a lot of times, I don't know if I've said it on this podcast, but my favorite thing I do post-military, like I love running the foundation I run, I love being a dad, I love all those things. My favorite thing post-military is coaching. I love seeing not just my kids, but all of these other kids, especially when we have an opportunity like we've had to have them season over season to see their growth and maturity and see a kid, you know, especially like I've had a few on the girl softball side that I coach that like a girl has no confidence, can't hit a ball, all those things. And you, you work with them all season and suddenly they get a hit and you see the physical change of like that confidence and all those things. And so I'm curious with all of your background playing sports, you know, professionally at the highest level and all those things, What do you look at in your kids and say, man, I hope they get this out of sports? Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, that's a that's a great question, because I think there's so many things. Right. But I think ultimately just the integrity aspect of, you know, you're working together for a common goal, because I think if you can kind of take that away, then you can take that away and put it in every other aspect of life. Because I think ultimately, and we know this, we're not here for ourselves. We're here to help other people. We're here to take our best tools, our best characteristics and uplift others and enhance other people's lives. and I think if they can understand how they are a part of a team and how they can ultimately help somebody else by being the best version of themselves but by going back to what we talked about right like you're going through struggle lean on helping somebody else one of the best things I heard from a young player with the with the Red Sox Jaron Duran outfielder he he made his first all-star team last year and I talked to him before the all-star game in which he became the all-star game MVP I said what like what helps you when you struggle and he said at first I was very immature I used to pout you know be in the corner by myself thinking about all my at-bats and he said now I've noticed that if I like you know raise my voice more and chanting and helping for the for the other players on my team, encouraging them more, it allows me to take some of that stress off of myself. And I think that's what I want my kids to take away from is just this integrity of you're working with others, you know, for something special. And that can be taken away from sports. They don't have to play sports, but ultimately if they could take that integrity piece from it and take it into another aspect of life, that to me is when the goal has been done. Yeah, a hundred percent. You know, what I love about sports and, you know, especially youth sports is, yeah, I want each and every one of them to get better at fielding a ball or hitting or whatever else, but there's so many life lessons of, you know, sports are a microcosm for life. Not everything's going to go right for you. You're going to have to work as a team. You're going to have to figure out how to overcome things. You're going to have to figure out, like we've talked about a couple of times, Hey, I'm not as good at this as I, as other people are, or I want to be, how can I put in the work to be able to do it? I think it's awesome. I think to your point with Duran is like, if there's a guy who's not doing well personally and he is even more vocal, I think it just gets the team jumping, right? It's like, Hey man, he's not, he's not worried about his own success. He's worried about the team success and that energy just feed, you know, just it feeds everyone else. Like, okay, we're all bought into this thing. One of the things that I loved most about being on special operations teams is like everyone being committed all in for a shared goal, right? And it's very hard to find that. I think back to the transition conversation, one of the things that I've noticed is a harsh reality for a lot of folks that have had that experience is that most normal nine to five careers, it's very hard to find a group of people of that size that are all that bought in to the same thing because everybody's kind of pulled in different directions and all those things. And, you know, we have it within the military, especially within special operations. You guys have it as team members. That is the thing that I, you know, when I think about Luke and Layla and my kids playing sports, it's like I want you to know how it feels when a team rallies together to get after something. Yeah. Whether you end up winning that game or not, there's nothing more fun than when you know everybody's bought in. Yeah. Right. And that if you can take into life, if you can understand that even if I'm struggling today, even if I've struck out three times, if we're all getting after it and I can put my body in front of a ball or I can do something else to help the team, then we're all good. It doesn't matter about my individual accomplishments. And I think, you know, that is one of those things that 100 percent translates no matter where you are. If you can get a couple of other people together on your team and all get bought into the same direction, the sky's the limit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're going to fail no matter what you mentioned it like sports. You're going to fail baseball. You're going to fail the most. But but I think also to your point is there's an adrenaline rush off of that. Right. Like even if you've struggled and you can still do something for the team, that's where that that feeling comes from. That's where that that really that fire. And it's hard to find that in other aspects of life unless you really experience that. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. Well, man, I I'm super happy, happy and thankful for your time and, and so much respect for you. I will say when I first started coaching your kids and realizing that their dad's a pro ballplay, I was like, Oh, I don't know if I, uh, maybe, uh, maybe I don't want to coach. Cause that's a, uh, but you're the opposite, man. You are such a good dad. you're all about like you are not that stressful parent who's like hey Zeke's got to be in the big leagues tomorrow right like you understand the bigger pieces of the game and I love it I love your family and I appreciate the time you know any closing thoughts for you on either anything we've talked about or something we haven't gotten to before we wrap up no I think you know one of the things I appreciate most is just you know understanding that there's there's a bigger picture, right? And sports is obviously big, but I understand that people have put their lives on the line for certain freedoms that we do have in our country. And one of those is to be able to play sports. One of those is to be able to go to school and do certain things that, you know, you touched on it. There's certain international aspects in which things are different. And just the appreciation for obviously what you've done, but so many others. There's no me doing what I do without that. So there's an extreme appreciation and I'm glad that we got to have a great conversation. And I know what you're doing is pushing so much positivity forward in your industry as well. But like you mentioned from the jump, there's so many parallels and I think it's just special to see and glad that we have to chop it up. Yeah, absolutely, man. I really appreciate your time and for everybody out there listening. Thanks for listening to another episode of Softcast. All right. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Softcast. No matter where you find our show, do us a favor. Go give us a like, a follow, and share it with somebody in your network who might enjoy this episode. Also, please go give us a five-star review. It really does help other people find the show. If there's someone else that you'd like to hear from or a topic you'd like to hear about, please shoot us an email softcast at SOCOM.mil. And while you're at it, go check us out on social media at USSOCOM, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, wherever, follow along with what's going on with US Special Operations Command and with the show. And on behalf of all of us from General Fenton on down at US Special Operations Command, thanks for listening to another episode of Softcast. going,