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More Than Travel Ball: Michael Garciaparra's Blueprint for College & Pro Baseball Development
01:12:28
Discover the truth about player development with Michael Garciaparra: former first-round pick, pro scout for the St. Louis Cardinals, and founder of GBG, a college and pro development powerhouse. Subscribe now! What You’ll Learn: How MLB scouting...
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Transcript352 lines
- [00:13]
Podcast Host
All right, so we're joined today by Michael Garcia Para. The name probably sounds familiar to all of our listeners, which we have to kind of talk about. Obviously, you're Nomar's brother. Nomar was a first rounder, but you also were a first rounder. And I was just finishing telling you, I actually remember you as a player.
- [00:28]
Michael Garcia Parra
It.
- [00:28]
Podcast Host
That ages me, by the way, because I've been doing this too long, but I guess, how was that? You know, you were drafted in 2001, I think.
- [00:38]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [00:39]
Podcast Host
So when you were kind of coming up, this was a totally different time. I mean, even though it was a little more than 20 years ago, the draft has changed exponentially in that time. What's been like the biggest thing that you've noticed with. With the draft changes?
- [00:54]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, just obviously I've been doing this for 13 years now in the scouting realm, but like, just from 2001 till now, I mean, you know, you. You had to sign. You have a signing period, right. Years on.
- [01:04]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [01:05]
Michael Garcia Parra
A summer time before you have to sign a guy. I mean, I was a guy that almost got on a plane to go to Tennessee and sign the day before I was going to report to school. Right, right. And so, like, I know that that part's kind of changed, obviously, the, the slot values and different things like that. How how teams have to save money or not save money and how they. How allocate funds is definitely different. I mean, you don't have the 28th round or getting a million and a half sometimes and everything. You know, I mean, they still can, you know, how depending how teams, you know, manage your money, they can still offer those kind of things. But, you know, there was no stipulations.
- [01:35]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [01:35]
Michael Garcia Parra
It was just, you know, if you had it, you had it, you gave it, you gave it, you know. So I think in that respect, it's kind of changed and I'm probably evened out a little bit better for some of the smaller market teams and stuff like that. But yeah, I mean, you know, no draft and follows, that was a different time too. So, like, it's definitely evolved and for. For better or worse, you know, into a different animal, for sure.
- [01:55]
Podcast Host
Well, so you. You kind of wear many hats, right? You run what I think most people would think is a travel ball team, although I do want to get into. Because you don't call it a travel ball team. You say you're not a travel ball team. You're a college development and pro development organization.
- [02:12]
Michael Garcia Parra
Correct.
- [02:13]
Podcast Host
You also are a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals and Then you also play professional baseball. So guess, putting your scout hat on real fast, how do you handle kind of balancing the hype of a player and, like, the projectability and, you know, I feel like there's so much noise out there when you watch a player, it's like, oh, yeah, everybody has heard about this kid for the last five years. So you're a scout showing up to a game. Is it hard to, like, block that stuff out and just look at it more from a subjective standpoint? Like, what do I see?
- [02:44]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, I mean, even early on, you know, like, everybody's chasing rankings, right? These kids, and they love the rankings, the boards and everything. And that's all. It's all fun and it's something I think, you know, people like. There's some people that speak really bad against it and don't like it. I'm like, hey, it's just another goal, right, that a kid wants to achieve and get like. But in the grand scheme of things, doesn't really mean anything, right? In. In the grand scheme, like I said, you know, it is. You want to compare yourself, you want to challenge yourself, you want to be the best. And, yeah, those. Those. Those things kind of happen, right? And so I'm not against rankings or anything. I'm not saying they're bad or worse or indifferent. But for us, if a guy's ranked in the top 10 by any organization or he's not ranked at all, you have to yourself as an evaluator, you know, block all that out. Right, Right. Obviously, third party is third party. It matters because, hey, there's other opinions, and you want to take other opinions into perspective and say, hey, okay, what. What are they seeing that I'm not? But at the end of the day, as a scout, you're trusting your vision, your eyeballs and your opinion, right? And even in your own scouting department, you're going to have people that disagree with your opinion, and you're going to disagree with them. And I think that's healthy, right? And there's some people that like, oh, we all agree on the same thing, and everybody agrees together. And I'm like, that's probably not a scouting department you want to be a part of, because that shouldn't be it, because everybody should have different opinions. And that's when you formulate the best pick for the club, right? And that's what it's all about. It's finding the best fit for the club and the best pick at that time. You know what I mean? So, like I said, I try to Block out the rankings. Hey, you use them as. It's more information. You know, more information is better than no information, obviously, or little information. But like I said, you use it and to see where this guy's competed in different things and stuff like that. But I don't think it's end all, be all by any means.
- [04:20]
Podcast Host
Yeah, I think the ranking sometimes for every parent listening, it's, it's, it's only dangerous when they're taking the ranking as though it means something. Right. So to use your words. Yeah, I mean you see a ranking, you know that the guys ranked high, um, not necessarily a bad thing by any means. It's just information. Alex McClure I had on the podcast and he brought that up too, he said, you know, we would be stupid not to just evaluate all of the information that's readily available to us. But I think, yeah, it's dangerous when a parent all of a sudden now is taking the fact that they're ranked high and that then means I'm going to be a first round pick or that then means I'm going to sign for a million dollars.
- [04:59]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [05:00]
Podcast Host
Or $2 million, whatever it is. So another question for you. So, and this is super rare, so you not only played multiple sports in, in high school, you played four.
- [05:10]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah.
- [05:11]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [05:12]
Podcast Host
What is your view when I guess specifically talking about the four. Baseball, football, soccer and then track. I guess my first question is how did you do that in high school? Like are those, are those seasons? They don't.
- [05:22]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, the, the only seasons that overlap. So it's football first and then it's soccer and then it's baseball, track. I was fortunate enough that my track coach didn't, I didn't have to go to track practices. I just ran the 400. He just, hey, show up for the races. I, I was. Soccer was probably my best sport kind of coming up. Yeah. And, and I'll get into another story. But yeah, I would actually, my dad was the assistant coach at the time, the pitching coach at my high school. And they would put the second baseman at short and then the backup second baseman would be in the nine hole. I'd go run the 400 meter and after I was done, I would run straight into the dugout and they'd form a wall and I would put on my uniform inside the dugout and by that time it was about the first inning or the second inning and I would go into the nine hole. I love where the second baseman would pop out and then I would come in and, and play a baseball Game. I would literally change inside the dugout sometime behind a human shield and. And go right into the game. So it was a little nutty. It was, it was kind of crazy. But I just, I liked it and I thought, you know, it was cool to play a bunch of sports. I got recruited in three of them. Football, soccer, and baseball. And I mean, at one point I was thinking about playing. I was going to play multiple sports, two sports at Tennessee, football and baseball. And then.
- [06:31]
Podcast Host
Oh, wow.
- [06:32]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah.
- [06:32]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [06:32]
Michael Garcia Parra
Then I, I mean, I. It was weird. I narrowed my college down to Tennessee and Harvard, which is kind of, you know, random that those are the last two. And I would have been the dumbest guy in Harvard. I always, I say that and. But they were going to actually let me try to play three, and I was like, they never had any soccer. Yeah, they actually recruited me in soccer before the other two first and, and all three coaches recruiting me and had no idea that I was being recruited by the other coaches. Kind of funny. I went on a visit there. That's hilarious. Yeah. Yeah, it was really funny. Could.
- [06:57]
Podcast Host
Do you think kids could even do that today with, like, the whole travel thing?
- [07:01]
Michael Garcia Parra
And I, I don't know. You know, I. I wish they could because I think something that baseball is lacking is athletes.
- [07:08]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [07:08]
Michael Garcia Parra
I think we're. We're losing some. Some athletes and, and it's not the kids or parents fault to a degree. I think we're. We're. They're feeling the pressure of having to specialize so young because everybody's doing that now.
- [07:21]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [07:21]
Michael Garcia Parra
And. And I think sometimes some of the training and things that we're doing, I say we, but like, as an, as an industry or what people are thinking is it's being. It's so baseball specific, but sometimes it's taking the athleticism out of these kids. Right? Because this training is just one way all the time. As opposed to, I mean, Corey with the brewers, he scouted me and he goes, man, because you played soccer, your agility and the way you could turn and the way you made plays as short was like, definitely because of the way your hips moved and everything in soccer and your footwork. And I'm like, yeah, I think there's a direct correlation to that.
- [07:51]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [07:52]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so, like I said, but I wouldn't be doing that kind of training as a baseball player. Sure, right. You just, they're just not things that you would think about. Yeah, you spend. To be agile and do different stuff. But I think I wish players would do other sports.
- [08:05]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [08:05]
Michael Garcia Parra
Like I said, I'm an advocate of it. Like in some people's like, you know, when they come to my travel or my, my, my baseball program, they go, hey, is it okay if my son plays football or this? You know, I know most, you know, programs don't like that. I'm like, read my bio. Like I preach it, right. Because I want athletes and we're, we're set up so that they can play other sports and don't have to make every event.
- [08:24]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [08:24]
Michael Garcia Parra
I don't have an ego about it or anything. I'm like, no, go be an athlete. Go have fun and go experience other things. Yeah.
- [08:29]
Podcast Host
And I, I've, I've been very vocal about that too, because all it takes is to actually have conversations with guys like you and then you hear what you say about. Yeah, I mean, if a kid was, let's say, playing football as a scout, if he was a senior, I would assume you're probably going to maybe a game or two trying to figure out like, what's this kid's leadership, like, what's he doing on the football field that maybe does apply to baseball? What's the training? Like, how is that different? We had a kid out of the draft this year, Ryan hall out of Atlanta, star quarterback. Who. Yeah, I mean, I think if you asked him, like, he didn't go to any of the perfect game stuff and you know, a lot of times I think people would assume that to say, oh, you know, he was behind the eight ball as far as baseball goes. The kid would have never done it differently. I mean he, he truly enjoyed not only playing with all of his buddies, but just like the training aspect to it all. Yeah, he, he was a, he was a much more dynamic athlete than he otherwise would have been had he never played that. So is there, is there like a, a trait or something that you think a multi sport player has that someone who doesn't play multiple sports maybe would lack?
- [09:32]
Michael Garcia Parra
I, I don't know. I say with I, it would lack. But like one thing that a multi sport player has to do is when they're playing that sport, they have to really lock in. They don't get all the reps that let's just say a full time baseball player does or a full time soccer player in this instant or football player.
- [09:48]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [09:48]
Michael Garcia Parra
Like those guys. So they have to compete and try to kind of play a little bit of catch up.
- [09:52]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [09:53]
Michael Garcia Parra
I call it a little bit of catch up. But to some degree I think that that little break for some of them is, is warranted and Needed, especially in this game of baseball, which is such a negative sport, right? And you're dealing with failure all the time, which is why I think baseball is one of the best sports to play in the, in, in the world just for life in general, to deal with failure and, and, and to deal with all that. But like I, I feel like some of those multi sport athletes, they have to manage their time, they have to manage how they train, how they take care of their body for different sports. And I think if you just correlate that into coming into just playing baseball only, I think they have a little bit of an advantage because they've done it in different facets, right, in different ways and had to manage their body differently and the, the way they manage their time, the way they manage their, their work ethic and all that stuff. To play multi sports and to be at that high of a level in all those sports is obviously very difficult in just one, let alone two or, or three, right? And so I, I feel like, you know, when you, when you get those guys and we as scouts, soon evaluators sometimes take those multi sport guys, like man, imagine if this guy just played baseball, right? You know, and, and obviously I was, I was one of those guys. And there's been other guys like that too. I imagine if he just dedicated his, his time to this, right?
- [10:59]
Podcast Host
It allows you to dream a little bit, right?
- [11:00]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, for sure. No, 100% and, and it makes sense, you know, because I wasn't a baseball player first. I was a soccer player first. And then I got cut from the USA team when I was 16. I was in the last cut, there was 25 guys left and I didn't make the, the 20 man roster. I was very upset. I was heartbroken, I was crushed. And my dad goes, hey, let's try this baseball thing out like more full time or you know, more than just soccer. And it went really well. He just, you know, my dad obviously dealt with my brother, fifth rounder out of high school, then went to college and was top pick, you know, first rounder out of there. He goes, hey, you know, if you stick with baseball, I pro, you know, I, I promise, like hey, if you do well, you're going to get this and if you do really well, you'll, you'll end up getting signed for this. And he was right to like the penny, you know, like it was pretty crazy.
- [11:42]
Podcast Host
Reflecting back on your time then, do you think that had you not played multiple sports just from an industry standpoint of like the desire of the Mariners Wanting to sign you in the first round. Do you think that that played on their emotions a little bit? Like you brought this up, like allowing them to dream on. This kid's playing four sports, so what is this kid gonna look like if we actually just get him to focus on one and that'll like. Do you think that that was one of the biggest things that let them.
- [12:08]
Michael Garcia Parra
I'm sure it's one of the things that led them to right now. And you know, I would come off of a soccer game, a football game, and I'd go right into scout ball and I fit right in, right. So they're like, man, this guy's still competing with. These guys are coming to area codes, made the area code team did well there. And they're like, this guy doesn't do half the baseball that everybody else does. You know, just as a scout too, you imagine if he did, right? So I'm sure it did, you know, and, and you know, I think it did. And like I said once again, I think now, like, you know, we're still looking for those athletes. Right? Like, I'm still looking for the athletes. You're looking for those athletes.
- [12:40]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [12:41]
Michael Garcia Parra
And see that athleticism because that can carry them into different positions, different things and make it more versatile and different stuff like that. And so I think that definitely played a big role in it.
- [12:49]
Podcast Host
Yeah. To share a little bit about how I think sometimes the whole multi sport conversation gets like misconstrued is I had a family send me an email asking a question like, Matt, are you saying that, you know, my son who doesn't play two sports should start to play two sports because he's going to be hurt, you know, when comparing himself to, let's just say another player. And I said to the dad, I was like, no, no, no, no. Playing multiple sports. Let's just assume you've played multiple sports your whole childhood and you want to continue playing multiple sports in high school, then do that if that's what you want to do. But don't now in high school say we need to go play another sport? Like, no, no, that's, that's not what I'm saying at all. Because now it's like you're, you're trying to read the mind of a scout and you're really just trying to give them what they want rather than like, well, if it's not natural to you, you're forcing it.
- [13:34]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, yeah.
- [13:35]
Podcast Host
And it's, it's like not the focus. Well, so let's, let's jump into GBG a little bit. So obviously, it's an organization I know a lot of people know plenty about. I remember the infancy stages of gbg, if you remember, you know, back. What year was that? What was the first year?
- [13:50]
Michael Garcia Parra
12. Yeah. Summer 12. Yeah.
- [13:53]
Podcast Host
But as I brought up, you know, at the beginning of this episode, so you guys made it a point to say, we are not a travel organization. We are a college development and pro development organization. Where did that come from? And why did you feel the need to make that clear?
- [14:09]
Michael Garcia Parra
Because, like, that was my main goal, right? Like, when I first started this with my. With my dad, who helped me do this, you know, I'd worked for a travel team for, like, a year. Didn't really love the experience. My dad goes, hey, I've ran travel programs. I ran club soccer teams before. Like, mike, we can do this. Like, just, you know, I basically recruited all the players that. That played for me anyway and. And got, you know, I feel. I say lucky, but I was blessed to have guys like Eli Morgan, who's in the big leagues. He was on my very first team. But, you know, I invited 18 kids or 20 kids to a tryout. 18 of them we kept, and 12 of them turned into Division 1 athletes. And Eli is the big leaguer out of there with a couple other guys playing pro ball. But, you know, we. We set out to, like, use, you know, our family's name, right? Like, you know. Yeah, it's my brother's name. He made it super famous. But it stems from my father. People know my dad, and he's a longtime coach and everything.
- [14:54]
Podcast Host
And they're my dad meeting when we first met, talking about the team.
- [14:58]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, yeah. And so, like, And. And so our goal was like, okay, travel teams are just people that put teams together and go travel and go to tournaments. Okay? That's travel baseball. And they get these kids and they go and they, like, we want to help kids get into college, right? And if they're good enough to play professional baseball, great. We want to help them do that, too. Like, because my dad obviously did that with us. He's in that with multiple players and, you know, my brother's friends, my friends that are playing pro ball, all that kind of stuff. Like, that's our goal. Like, so a travel team just gets guys together, goes and goes play, plays in tournaments and everything. They're. That's. That's their main goal is to go win terms that's not ours, right? Like, I have a bunch of trophies, and they're all in my garage, and they're stacked up and everything. And, you know, they're in my garage. And not because I'm not proud of them, but it's because my trophies are my college commit list. All the guys that commit, like, on our Instagram and our social media, all those guys, those are my trophies, right? And then the guys that are playing professional baseball, those are the trophies, right? Like, that's how I feel. We're winning. And then, you know, helping develop good young men too. Like, and so college of elemental program is, hey, that's what we want to shoot for first, right? Everybody wants to be a big league. I get that. But, hey, one step at a time, right? And so as opposed to just going to these tournaments, teaching these kids how to compete and win, right? And it was. It's never been win at all. Cost for us is like, how do we develop them to compete and win so that we can send them off to college, right? That's our main goal. And it's not just chasing the trophy. And that's not. But chasing the competitiveness is what we want to teach. Because in college, that's what you have to be. And pro bolt, that's what it has to be about. And so that's kind of where I differentiate ourselves. And I hired. After my first year doing this, I said, I have to be different. How do I. How do I get in this landscape? When the late Mike Spears with abd. I don't. It's really weird. Long story short on him, I talked to him probably 20, 30 times. Never met the man in person, which I'm sad about, because I would just start a travel ball and he knew I was getting into. I have no idea why he would text me. He would call me. Only a couple days before he passed, he was still texting me about travel baseball, right? And the world and knowing about travel baseball and how to be different, right? I'm like, yeah, I don't want to do a travel baseball team. And he goes, well, hey, here's how you'd be different. He goes, he actually advised me to not start in the high school age group because it's super hard and competitive. Oh, yeah. I said. I said, well, I want to be different, Mike, and here's how I want to do it, right? And he goes, okay, that's cool. And so I hired a woman named Ricky Martyr, which nobody else had at the time. And people are starting to catch on. But, like, her sole focus is just to help our players and families learn the college process, learn how to. What camps to go to, what Camps, not to go to, how to. How to email college coaches, how to send them your schedule, what your GPA needs to be, what your SAT scores, all that stuff. Because I was like, how do I help more of these people? This is not my expertise. My expertise. I think I can coach, I think I can develop. I think I can put these guys in the right platform. I can talk to college coaches. I think they believe me, and I'm not going to sell them a bag of goods that they don't want. But how do I help more kids?
- [17:40]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [17:40]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so I hired her to make our program different because I want to be able to help them more with the college developmental stuff. And so she gave them a little bit more of a piece. And her son, Jack Martyr, is the recruiting coordinator at Oregon. He was a good player. He was a guy that nobody really thought much of, and he had to bust his butt and work and do all these little things to even become a Division 1 recruit, let alone a professional baseball player. And that's why I hired this woman, and she's been with me for 13 years now, and she's.
- [18:06]
Podcast Host
That's great.
- [18:07]
Michael Garcia Parra
Helped thousands of players, you know, get into college baseball, right? And professional. So that's what I feel like we. We do differently than a travel baseball program.
- [18:15]
Podcast Host
I love that. And as I'm sure you would imagine, and I. You probably get this, too. Like, I get so many comments and emails from parents, and there is this preconceived notion that travel baseball, there's, you know, there's this negative connotation with it, right? Like, oh, you're just in it for the money, and you just want to get as many good players as you can to win tournaments. And if more people actually slowed down. And this is the part that I want people to hear, it's. This is like your why of, like, why you have a program. I think every person really needs to evaluate before getting into this space if they want to be a travel baseball or like a, you know, college development program, they really need to ask themselves, what am I really doing this for? And, like, I've had to do this as an agent, as I'm sure you would imagine, because obviously it's highly competitive as well. And everybody, you know, on the surface, it's like, yeah, you're just trying to sign a bunch of good players. And funny enough, the impetus behind me starting this podcast was I was at the Worldwood bat in Jupiter, and I'm looking at every single agent, talk to the same five players, and why. Why Are we only talking to five players? Well, those five have the chance to sign for the most money, and agents make money off of the signing bonus, and they want to represent the best. But I'm looking around and I see all these other kids and all these other parents who also want this information, but nobody was talking to them. And so you've gamed the system in a way, and not for a bad thing, actually, to benefit them and say, yeah, I actually want to do the little things that no one wants to spend time doing. That's where I want to be different. That's like, I commend you. That's. That's incredible.
- [19:48]
Michael Garcia Parra
And it's. And it's funny. Like, I'll sometimes be like, when. When people ever say, oh, it's a money grabber, it's this. I'm like, we cut over 300 kids a year, like, as a. As a baseball business. And I've learned from other people in this business, like, in this industry, like, never cut anybody. Find another team, make another team, make this, do this. And I'm like, hey, like, no, we're not for everybody. And we. And not to say we want to cut anybody because we want to help develop people as we can, but we want to have, like, a standard and what we're trying to send out to the world. And it's not all pro guys, division one. It's D2, D3 NAI. We just want them to be wanting to love the game and play at the next level. Yeah, that's what we want. And people like, oh, you only care about your top teams. And they're like, there's no chance. We spend more time and effort on our D2, D3 NAI JUCO guys than we do on our top guys. Because guy throws 95. He doesn't need much help.
- [20:31]
Podcast Host
Right?
- [20:32]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [20:32]
Michael Garcia Parra
He needs guidance on what not to do some. Most of the time, more so than what we tell him to do in the phone calls. Like, those guys are the easy ones.
- [20:38]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [20:39]
Michael Garcia Parra
The harder ones is like, the ones, hey, those guys that are, you know, mid-80s or, you know, the guy doesn't have. Hasn't hit their growth spurt yet. But, like, he's a gamer, he's a ball player trying to help them find the right fit for them to get into College Basel. That's where majority of our time and effort is.
- [20:51]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [20:51]
Michael Garcia Parra
So it's not just going after the top players, because those guys don't need as much help as you can. They. They do because they can get steered in the Wrong direction.
- [20:58]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [20:59]
Michael Garcia Parra
But it's those other guys that we take a lot of pride in too. So whether a guy commits to ucla, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, or a guy commits to a Chapman or Westmont or what, what, you know, what have you, rcc, doesn't matter. We're just as happy, right? Because the time and effort that it takes for that guy and how happy I get, like I'll get a call at 10 o' clock at night and be fired up and can't go to sleep because a guy commits to, you know, a school period.
- [21:23]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [21:23]
Michael Garcia Parra
We have eight kids right now that got cut from their high school team playing college baseball.
- [21:27]
Interviewer/Co-host
Wow. Right.
- [21:28]
Michael Garcia Parra
I mean, granted we're in California where, you know, a guy can throw a mid-80s and get cut, you know, from, from a high school team. But like, you know, now he's throwing 91 or whatever, but he's playing college baseball. And that's just our goal.
- [21:37]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [21:37]
Michael Garcia Parra
So like. And I get just as much joy out of that as a guy commits to, you know, lsu. Well.
- [21:41]
Podcast Host
And tell everybody what your website is real fast.
- [21:44]
Michael Garcia Parra
Scarciapar baseball.com.
- [21:45]
Podcast Host
So the reason I bring that up. So there's. And to your point, there's a handful of things that I saw on the website that I do want to point out, which I think is fantastic. So you make a comment on there we are not just after better players, but better young men. And then you said we're not looking to be better, we're looking to be different. Right. I love that you guys said that. You guys also talk about how you play. I think it was you tr. You play or train on four Sundays a month from June to the end of December, which is again unique because so many other programs, it's like, you know, every weekend doesn't matter. We're doing it. You have to come. You. You know, one of the other things you can play on other teams and other programs, actually it's the opposite. No, you can't play on other teams. And then one of the other things I noticed was you actually bring up that there are going to be some kids that are going to be asked just to be pos. And you specifically reference like not how the conversation goes, but that there will be a conversation that happens and it's a case by case basis. But that's a perfect example. Just that last one there where it's like it's, it's personalized. If you as a scout, because you, you again, wearing two hats, like you have the luxury of if you're looking at Them from the standpoint of I played the game, you're looking at them from the standpoint of I know as a scout what I'm looking for. And then also as somebody who runs this program who knows how to develop, you're kind of looking at all of those things. So that specific thing about the pos, I imagine that's a hard thing to do because how many dads and moms in, in high school are, you know, comfortable thinking, like, what are you talking about My son, you know, he's the best hitter on the high school team. Like, he can hit. And you're watching it from this scout eye saying, like, what's your goal?
- [23:32]
Interviewer/Co-host
Correct. Right.
- [23:33]
Podcast Host
If your goal is to go play in college, you can be a hitter in high school. But if you're going to the next level, like, again, what if we devoted more time to this PO thing? So how have you found those conversations go?
- [23:43]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know what I mean? Sometimes they're, they're hard because they're, they've been taken hard.
- [23:47]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [23:48]
Michael Garcia Parra
But you know, we're about telling the truth. You know, we're. We're about telling people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
- [23:54]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [23:54]
Michael Garcia Parra
And that's another difference between, I think travel baseball teams and college developmental teams is like, we're trying to give you the right information so that you can play in college baseball or professional baseball.
- [24:05]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [24:05]
Michael Garcia Parra
And be. And being honest.
- [24:07]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [24:07]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so it's just an honest conversation. It's like, hey, there might be, there's going to be times when you want to play on our top team. And we feel like his, you know, your son's, you know, what he's going to be sought after is as a pitcher. Like, he plays third base. Okay, great. He plays third base. Well, I want to, he's. He's like a semifinal or a type of finals type pitcher for us, right? And he's a dude. If I play him at third base for the first five games, is his arm going to be like, dudish, right? Like, is it going to be ready? Because he's going to be throwing it how many times in between innings he's going to warm up before every game he's going to be playing in. Normally we're in Arizona, it's a homie 115 there, and you want him to go get seen by a college coach. He's 88 to 91, but when we throw him, he's 84 to 87. Still might be super effective. But if this is what you want him to be or this is what we project him to be in college. And in reality, I think at some points, the parents know that. Yeah. When we offer that, they know that their upsides on the mountain, they see that, but they want to hit as long as possible, and so do I. Was. Once again, I want them to be athletic. I want them to do other things that make them a better pitcher.
- [25:11]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [25:11]
Michael Garcia Parra
And I think playing a position can because of flexibility and different other things. But this conversation is just honest conversations. Like, here's why we think it's going to benefit you to be a pitcher only in some circumstances. But then we have workouts. Like last Sunday we had a workout just because you're a PO with us. Go do the infield, go do the alpha, Go do the hitting. Go do everything. No, we're still going to try to help you for your high school season, but there's certain events and certain times where we're gonna just have you as a pitcher only because it's, it's to benefit you. Yeah.
- [25:35]
Podcast Host
Well, that's where I think it's also important and, and smart of you to really help these guys identify, like, what are your, what are your goals? Like, let's actually talk about that and get that out of the way. Because if your goal is to truly be a legitimate player at the next level, that's going to require, like, you're gonna have to hear some, you know, it's gonna be a hard conversation. You have to hear some criticism on some level, and you have to be open minded to that. If, you know, if your mom or dad is saying that you can hit and your high school coach is saying you can hit, but all of these scouts, all of these travel teams, whoever it is, the information that you're getting is that maybe that's not the case. Just pause for a moment and actually think, could there be some truth to that? Because this isn't a conspiracy. This isn't like everybody's just out to get you. Yeah, right.
- [26:18]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [26:20]
Podcast Host
So put your, put your scout hat back on. Walk us through. I guess like a traditional evaluation. If you're going to go to a high school game and you're going to look at a draft or a college prospect, what does that look like? Kind of the first time you see a kid? Not after seeing him five or six times, because I know that that changes. Right. If you've seen him a ton, obviously it's different. But the first time, like, what are, what are, are you, like, stepping back a little bit and you trying to, like, look more broad or is it like more specific? How do you, how do you do that?
- [26:53]
Michael Garcia Parra
I'm kind of more broad, really. I mean, and meaning, like, I want to see what the overall package is. Right. I mean, it happened this week. You know, we're out here at area codes and I'm coach, I'm fortunate enough to coach the underclass. And, and you're first getting these, first glimpses. Some of these guys you've never seen.
- [27:07]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [27:07]
Michael Garcia Parra
But I'm looking for athleticism. I'm looking, I mean, we're, we're, we're here evaluating tools, just like you guys are as an agent. Like, you know, what are these tools? Are they going to play in the big leagues or what tools that he has that, that can be a caring tool. So I feel like you're kind of looking at the overall thing like, okay, what is this guy as a player? But then you're, then you kind of, you know, hone in on the specifics, like, as far as, like, okay, how the arm works, how the body works, where is he going to fit position wise, what does he profile as? You know what I mean? Yeah, he's the shortstop now, but he's 6:3, you know, 210 already. He's probably going to move. Right. Like some of the, some of the more basic stuff, but like, those are things that you just kind of like on a broad spectrum, you can kind of see, and then you kind of hone on, like the individual skills. Okay. How's the back going to play? You know, is there a run tool? Is there. Is. You know, is the arm good enough to plan left side? You know, certain stuff like that. So like I said, it's kind of like generalities and you're just trying to narrow it down and then put these guys in separate buckets.
- [27:58]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [27:59]
Michael Garcia Parra
Or groups. Right? Yeah.
- [28:00]
Podcast Host
And so the more you now see a kid, how does that, how does that focus now start to narrow?
- [28:07]
Michael Garcia Parra
I mean, I, I have a saying actually in my travel program that I, and I even do it when I, when I teach kids or give talks. And I have a thing saying now. It's a separate yourself always in all ways.
- [28:18]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [28:18]
Michael Garcia Parra
And I say separate yourself always in all ways, meaning you can separate yourself in a negative way too. Sure. And. But if you can separate yourself always in all ways, in a positive way, you're going to separate yourself from your teammates. You're going to separate yourself from the people that you're playing against. You're going to separate yourself from somebody else who does the exact Same thing you do in that position. So I'm looking as a scout, I'm looking for separators, right? I'm looking, what makes this player different from everybody else on the field and why does he stand out? You know, what, is he separating himself? Is, is, you know, there's, there's little gamers, there's these little guys, or like, man, this guy's armed, like these little things that are separating himself. So I'm always looking for separators because, I mean, in reality, those guys that are in the big leagues, they have separated themselves from the guys that aren't there. And to get to pro ball, they've separated themselves from guys in college and in high school. So I'm just looking for the separating tools that are going to get that player to the next level.
- [29:04]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [29:04]
Podcast Host
What's interesting is, and I'm sure you'll probably get a chuckle out of this too, is, you know, oftentimes when you go through the draft process, the expectation of a player or even their family, as far as, you know, when they think about their son, I think every parent wants to think they have a chance to be the best first rounder, big leaguer, whatever it is. And you can talk to a scout and that scout will tell you, we think your son is really good. Like, we really, really like him. And to the parent, it's like, oh, you really like him as a first rounder? And it's like, well, no, for us he's not a first rounder, but like, we like him in the seventh round, but, like, we really like this guy. And there's this disconnect with like, oh, but if you say you really like him, doesn't that only mean the first round? And, like, you don't like everybody else? It's like, yeah, I feel like that for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think that's like, it's a funny dynamic that plays out every once in a while.
- [29:58]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah. And I think once again, people don't know what they don't know.
- [30:00]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [30:01]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so, like, they don't understand that we have big leaguers in the seventh and eighth round. You have big leaguers in the 10th and 11th round. You have, you have big. I mean, at one point with the Cardinals, I mean, I think we had five big leaguers after the 20th, and those rounds don't even exist anymore.
- [30:13]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [30:13]
Michael Garcia Parra
It was crazy. They're in our starting lineup, you know, the Rosenthals, Matt Adams and. And different guys like that.
- [30:18]
Podcast Host
You're like, wow, like, shout out to big city.
- [30:20]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, yeah, there you go. But, you know, those type of guys and like, and so, like, we like him, and this is what that means. But what even as an area scout, and I think, uh, back in the day, you know, with Dan Cantrovitz was my scouting director at the time when I first got into this thing, and, and the Cardinals, we've always kind of brought, I mean, John Mozilliak, you know, always brought our scouts in and everything. And I'm glad that he did that because we, we hear other area scouts talk about their players. Right. And that we get to talk about our players. And we're not just hearing that. Like, we're not just listening or just being in the room. We want you to listen, lock in, and focus on that player. Because we don't get to see the whole country.
- [30:57]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [30:57]
Michael Garcia Parra
As an area guy, parents don't get to see the whole country.
- [31:00]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right, Right.
- [31:01]
Michael Garcia Parra
And this is kind of how I equip. That is like, if they could see the whole country and know how big this bucket of players that are have the same skill set as my son, I should be honored that they think of him as the fifth or sixth, seventh rounder.
- [31:13]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [31:13]
Michael Garcia Parra
Because to even be considered a fifth, sixth, seventh rounder, you have separated yourself from millions of baseball players throughout the world in reality.
- [31:21]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [31:21]
Michael Garcia Parra
But as a parent, I get it. They, but they don't get to see that. And that's why I thought it was really cool ever since I, like I said, I've only known the Cardinals, but we've always been guys that go to the draft room, go to meetings and, you know, collaborate with their other scouts and listen to them, because then I can see, okay, man, what, what is the SEC different from, from, you know, the pack that used to be the pack, or vice versa. Like, you know, okay, what we have that they don't just so that you can compare. But if a parent can't really do that, and you can't really do that based on a ranking video or anything like that and stuff like that. So I think that's where that disconnect can definitely happen. Or they just focus on me. Well, this is my son. And of course, you're, you're your son's biggest fan.
- [31:56]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [31:56]
Michael Garcia Parra
As you, as you probably should be.
- [31:58]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [31:59]
Michael Garcia Parra
So I, I, I don't blame them for thinking that, but I think once again, if they don't know what they don't know, it's kind of. Let me help you educate them. Right. And I'm sure you have to do that as an Agent as well.
- [32:07]
Podcast Host
Oh, yeah, yeah. The majority of our job is actually guiding them through a lot of that stuff.
- [32:12]
Michael Garcia Parra
Correct.
- [32:13]
Podcast Host
So as a scout, as you come in, you know, you're now evaluating the kind of the next class of guys. When you start having these, call them in home visits, meetings, whether it's zoom or actually in person, what are some things that you would say are kind of like red flags?
- [32:28]
Michael Garcia Parra
That.
- [32:30]
Podcast Host
And I think people need to hear this because it's. I think sometimes players and parents want to express perfection. Like, I need them to think we are perfect in every possible way. That's not realistic.
- [32:44]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah.
- [32:44]
Podcast Host
Like, everybody's different. Be yourself, be comfortable. Because you guys, when you walk into a room, like, you're going to notice if the player is really uncomfortable and he's trying, you know, you ask him a simple question and he can't answer because he's like going through his mind about what's the perfect answer to give. What's like, like some red flags that you would say that you've seen.
- [33:04]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know what, it's weird. It's like those perfect where you say, I haven't seen really many kids be like, not knowing what to really say. Because I think now I only deal with the California kids.
- [33:15]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [33:15]
Michael Garcia Parra
Most of these guys are not low profile.
- [33:17]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right, Right.
- [33:18]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, they're not hidden, they're. They're not secrets. They all have advisors and, and they've been for, like, they've been coached.
- [33:26]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [33:26]
Michael Garcia Parra
And, and, but so I don't see like a coached answer as a red flag because that's the agent's job.
- [33:32]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [33:32]
Michael Garcia Parra
That's to prepare the kid, prepare the family for these questions that we're going to ask. But when I do hear a coached answer, I try to work around it.
- [33:40]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [33:40]
Michael Garcia Parra
Like, and I'm like, okay, yeah, I just really want to be the best working this. I'm like, well, what does that mean to you, huh? They're like, wait, what do you mean? Yeah, you know, like, what do you mean? Like, yeah, like, well, I just want to be the best hitter. I was like, well, what does being the best hitter mean to you? Or what is being the best picture? I was like, I want to be the best pitcher. I'm like, okay, what? Like how, How. How do you think that's gonna. How or how. What's your definition of that?
- [34:00]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [34:00]
Michael Garcia Parra
So I try to ask questions if they're going to give a rehearsed answer, which is, I get it. They don't know what you don't know. Once again, this is what they were taught. But like, I'm going to try to get something more out of you because I want to know you as a person and how you tick or how you don't tick. And it's okay. Like I said, if, if you, you could be super quiet, shy, all this other stuff, and then a crazy animal on the mound, or you could be a crazy animal, like a little bit like wild man, but super focused on the field. Like it's all, it's all different strokes for different folks and no two kids are ever the same. They're very similar at times. But like, I want to know what that is like. So as far as red flags, it's, it's really like, I mean, I don't really even. I don't really get on the kid for some of the answers because, I mean, sometimes they're just a product of their environment or like, you know, hey, it's, you know, speak when spoken to players and stuff like that, or the kids that are super shy and everything, or they look to their parents for the answers. I'm like, you know, hey, I. We don't really like that because we're trying to interview the kid, but like, they're probably just used to doing that, right? And so you just try to get as much out information as you can to the kid or get a feel of who he is and what he's going to be. And then when we do character reports and we write, you know, what we know about the kid and their make him and stuff, we take all that into account and say, hey, is he a right fit for organization?
- [35:10]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [35:11]
Michael Garcia Parra
And you know, we have a thing called the Cardinal Way. And it's a thing, right? The Cardinals, I'm, I've been blessed to like go like work for this organization, but they expect a certain type of player, expect a certain type of mentality and, or, and if a guy's not perfect, there's no such thing, right? There's no such thing as a perfect guy. And in fact, some of those guys kind of scare me.
- [35:27]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [35:27]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know what I mean? Because I'm like this, this is, this is a little too good to be true.
- [35:30]
Podcast Host
Yeah, right. Well, that's where like, as an agent, when we're talking to the, you know, the families and the kid about these meetings, I try to make it so clear where I'm like, look, there is generally a way to handle this, but just listen to the question. Because even the thing, the thing that you followed up with, right? It's not a really complex Question that you followed up is like, all you said is, what does that mean to you? So just what is the answer?
- [35:57]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, I'm not trying to get. I gotcha.
- [35:58]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [35:59]
Michael Garcia Parra
Not at all.
- [35:59]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [36:00]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah.
- [36:00]
Podcast Host
What makes you unique?
- [36:02]
Interviewer/Co-host
This.
- [36:02]
Podcast Host
Okay. And what does that specifically mean to you? How do you train that? How do you. Why is that important to you? If you just listen to the answer, you're having a conversation.
- [36:12]
Interviewer/Co-host
Correct.
- [36:13]
Podcast Host
As, as uncomfortable as that may feel for a 17, 18 year old kid who's talking to an adult who's got all this experience and you were a first rounder and all this, you know, it's, it can be overwhelming, but it's not, it doesn't need to be complicated. I think when they try to rehearse it, that's what makes it complicated. And now it's like taking a test and trying to memorize the answer. It's never gonna work.
- [36:34]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah. Yeah. And I think, like I said, I, I feel like I'm pretty good at being engaging with kids and parents and everything. And I have my 10, 000 hours now dealing with parents for a living.
- [36:42]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [36:43]
Michael Garcia Parra
Doing with, doing the, the work that I do, not just scouting, but with, with our, our baseball program is. Yeah. I'm more of a, of a counselor and evaluator and talking to parents and kids and dealing with them, so kind of knowing, you know, how to approach situation in, in those visits and everything and to make them all feel comfortable so that it is just a conversation and not like I'm, I'm testing them.
- [37:02]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah. Right.
- [37:03]
Michael Garcia Parra
Or it's not a job. It's. It is a job interview for the kid. Right. But I don't want him to feel like, oh my gosh, this is a do or die job. I'm not gonna feed my family kind of job interview, which I feel sometimes kids, they feel like they, they treat.
- [37:14]
Podcast Host
Them the in home visit as though the draft is 10 seconds after you walk out of the door. Yeah. Like, all right, we're taking them or we're not taking them. Like, that's not how this goes. So you talked about the cardinal way a little bit. When you say the cardinal way, I start thinking about, all right, what's the makeup of the player? Because I know what the cardinal way is. You know, it. You can just look at the, the players that the Cardinals have drafted, the success that you guys have had out of the draft. Talk to me a little bit about makeup, what it means, what are some of like the biggest things that you try to focus on?
- [37:45]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, I Mean, I mean, there's no one thing, right? Because like I said, players, they all, they all, you know, beat to a different drum, right? And. But it's just like, I mean, with the Cardinals is like guys that, that buy in. And like I said, we don't. And I know our player development. There's no one way to teach. There's no one way we teach our pitchers, no one way we teach our hitters. You know, I mean, and I think we, you know, Randy Flores and our organization has done a great job of, like, having the player development people being in the room, right? Having the people that we can ask questions to is like, okay, what are we doing? How are we working on with players? How are we developing them? But, like, you know, as far as the makeup standpoint is, you know, just people that are willing to learn, right? Like that are open to learn that, open to coaching and developing and not just like, hey, I'm this way or no way. And there's been players like that, you know, there's been players like, hey, I need to do this, I need to do that, I need to do this. And you're like, okay, that's okay. But are you willing to, you know, be open minded? Be open minded. Yeah. And if. Because we even. They even tell us, like, certain pitchers and different things, like, what are they a driveline guy? Are they this guy? Or they're a heavy ball guy? Are they, you know, a long task guy? What kind of guys are they? Because they want to adapt to that. They don't want to change guys right away, because I feel that that leads to. And they feel that it probably leads to a really nice way to get someone hurt, right? That hasn't. Haven't been doing a certain thing and then you just jam it down them. That's not going to work. And these guys are so big, so fast and strong now, and teaching them something right away that they're not comfortable with, probably not the best way to go about it. So I do like that we can adapt in that way and they give us that leeway and for the kids, but, you know, just if the kid wants it, man, you, you gotta love this thing, you know, and, and I tell people this to a fault. Like, I, I didn't have fun playing baseball, right? And I did. I didn't love playing it because I put too much pressure on having to be perfect or having to be like my brother and everything. Like, I loved playing soccer. I had nobody to compare it to. I had uncles that played professionally in, in Mexico like, soccer's in, in the blood too, and everything and stuff like that. But, like, I put too much pressure on myself. And even when I coach and I teach and I'm looking at makeup, I'm like, is a guy having fun even if he's a serious guy? Like, there's, there's a competitive and a fun side to them because you got to love what you're doing. There's serious guys that love baseball, and they're serious as heck, and that's okay, but they love it. I'm trying to look for that love, and I'm, like, knocking myself for not, like, loving it. I, I put so much pressure on myself thinking I had to hit.300 when.250 was average back in the day and I was hitting over.250 almost every year.
- [40:01]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [40:02]
Michael Garcia Parra
Like, but not giving myself credit for it.
- [40:04]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [40:04]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so then I try, that's why I try to tell, like, find players. Okay, what do you like about your game? What do you think needs to improve? Like, when you're going bad? What are you looking for? So I'm, I'm trying to find different things that they're trying to find. And I'm like, okay, what's, like, their love? What's their passion? What, what, what do they think that they need to give? And do they even understand what it is? And if they don't, hey, that's okay.
- [40:21]
Podcast Host
Be honest.
- [40:22]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, just be honest with.
- [40:23]
Podcast Host
Because you're also a young kid who maybe you haven't figured that out.
- [40:25]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah. Or there's guys that haven't really dealt with failure very often.
- [40:27]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [40:28]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, and so, and stuff like that, which is, this game's gonna humble you, as we all know, you know, for, for sure. But that guy, like, is, Is he a baseball life? I want life for. I want guys that are baseball guys.
- [40:38]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [40:38]
Michael Garcia Parra
And guys that are, that are, that are bought in and, and this is, this is what they want to do. Because once again, is this guy without that love and, and desire, there's. It's going to be really hard for him to separate himself.
- [40:50]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [40:51]
Michael Garcia Parra
And when, because when it gets tough, you still have to fight through that barrier. And if you can have that love and desire to want to separate yourself from, you know, your slumps or your over fours or your, you know, four home run games that you give up or something like that, it's going to be really, really hard.
- [41:04]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [41:05]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so once again, just, you know, trying to find out what makes them tick.
- [41:08]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [41:08]
Michael Garcia Parra
It really is. Because there's. And once Again, we have different ways that our, you know, our organization deals with those guys and to try to get the best out of them.
- [41:15]
Podcast Host
Yeah, when I. I want everybody to hear this too, because I think sometimes it's easy to assume, oh, the reason you're looking at makeup or the reason you're looking at these things about makeup is because you read a book that the Cardinals gave you and it says these things are important. No, no, no, no, no, no. The end of the day, the reason why does this guy want it? That question is so important is because, you know, your organization knows, the entire industry knows. At the next level, when you reach that failure, if you don't want it, you're never going to want to do what it takes to actually separate yourself and get past that moment. Like, everybody's going to fail. We had Zach Scott, the old GM of the Mets, on the podcast, and he actually brought up a great point. He's like, look, what we would talk about all the time is how do we recreate this failure environment as quickly as possible? Because if a guy hasn't failed in the minor leagues, and I remember, like, we represented Joey Votto. He was a guy who hit every single level, and he did struggle in the minor leagues at certain levels, and he was so frustrated that he had to hit every level. And it was like, I'm, you know, I'm ready to move up. But then there was a guy like Jay Bruce who shot through the minor league system, who never failed in the minor leagues. His first taste of failure was actually in the. At the big league level.
- [42:29]
Michael Garcia Parra
So, you know, I saw him hitting the minor leagues.
- [42:32]
Podcast Host
Yeah, it's pretty good.
- [42:33]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah, he's really good.
- [42:34]
Podcast Host
But, like, you're gonna fail. So the reason for everybody listening, it's like the reason why they are focused on makeup is because they know for certain. Well, for every player, you need to have some of these characteristics. And if you don't have it yet, it doesn't mean that you can't build and grow into to having that. But if you just think, I'm going to hide my way through this, I'm going to game the system and like, be the one guy that never fails. I mean, everybody listening is probably like, yeah, of course not. That's impossible. But how they talk and, and how they evaluate the. The parents, oftentimes it's saying that, sure.
- [43:14]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [43:14]
Michael Garcia Parra
For sure.
- [43:16]
Podcast Host
You brought up something that I do want to kind of touch on, though. So you brought up your brother. Because I was thinking about this, like, yeah, your brother was a First round pick. Everybody knows what this guy's done in the big leagues. It's super impressive. You know, you hear your name and I think everybody's like, oh, yeah, you must be Nomar's brother.
- [43:30]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah.
- [43:31]
Podcast Host
How, as a player did you deal with, like, what were the things that you focused on to try to not worry about? Hey, I'm. No, yeah, I'm Nomar's brother, but, like, that's not going to define me.
- [43:41]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know what it, it was, it was a constant struggle.
- [43:44]
Interviewer/Co-host
Like, right?
- [43:44]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so like I said, I didn't think that, you know, something I, you know, and I tell young players now and even like my son, like, dude, psychologists work with sports psychologists work at things because there's things that I had to deal with in pro ball as far as failure. And I failed when I was younger too, and everything, but as far as failure on a different level. But I was adding so much extra pressure on myself, right? And, and I don't think I educated myself on what is actually good. What, what are we looking for? What, what do they need me to do or stuff like that as opposed to being like, you know, searching for that 300 number or, you know, being such a good shortstop or doing all these things? And I put a lot of unwarranted pressure on myself. And that's why even with like, my coaching philosophy and different things, like, hey, I want people not to take a pitch off. I want people to be in every game. Why don't you compete all the time? This other stuff. But I also like to mess around and have some fun, right? Because I took that game a little too serious to the point where I didn't get the enjoyment out of the game.
- [44:36]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right, right.
- [44:37]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so, like, I said that, that, that part of it, it was, it was a struggle. It was a constant struggle until the day I, I stopped playing, right? And, and once again, and you know, it goes like, the whole makeup thing, like, I had really good makeup. I, I did want it. I did love, I, I, I love baseball. I love baseball now. But I didn't love the pressure that I put myself when I played it, because I just trying to live up to a standard that was not an unachievable standard, but dang, this dude is pretty good, you know, and like I said, well, when my brother is one of the best people on the planet, right? Like, people talk about my brother and, man, he was such a good player and everything. And I said, that's awesome. I said, but he's a better human being.
- [45:10]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [45:11]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so many people are like, man, I was a minor leaguer. I came up, and your brother was always so cool to me. And I'm like, that. That's the stuff that my, you know, my parents are the best in the world, and. And they taught us, like, man, you want to be known as a good ball player, great, but we want you to be known as a better person.
- [45:24]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [45:25]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so that's the kind of philosophy that they've always taught us. And that's what I want out of, obviously out of our GBG players and even guys that we draft. I want these guys, hey, good people and, like, good, good representative of the Cardinals organization, right? And stuff like that. And that's what the Cardinals were looking for, too, right? And so, like I said, but the, The. The dealing with the failure and the extra pressure that I put on myself, I try to teach kids, and I. And I bring these things up because I want them to learn from my failures, right? Because those were my failures and those were my struggles, and. And they still haunt me. And I mean, shoot. I mean, today people like, oh, your brother's baseball program is really good. And I'm like, well, he doesn't have a baseball program, but I appreciate it.
- [46:01]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [46:02]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know what I mean? Like, they don't know, and that's okay. Like, we use the name. And people like, oh, you used your brother's name? I was like, it's my name.
- [46:08]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [46:09]
Michael Garcia Parra
And it's my. Actually my father's name, but I use it. I'm like, but if our name helps people be noticed, then use our name.
- [46:16]
Podcast Host
Yeah, of course.
- [46:17]
Michael Garcia Parra
Use my name. I don't care. Like, people are going to pick up the phone if a Garcia Par is on the thing. And when they first started, like, is this no more Michael or Ramon? Like, people didn't know. College coaches didn't know. And so like I said, there's been good and bad for me. Like, I mean, my, My brother, like, he's been super helpful, helped me with anything that I ever want with this stuff, and he helped me when we first started. And still, he's like my consigliere to this day, right? I still reached him for knowledge and, and for some advice. But. But, yeah, like I said, it was a constant struggle trying to be like, okay, am I good enough? Am I ever going to be good enough? Which was something I shouldn't have done. And that's another thing I told. I said, don't compare your self to players that are ranked. Don't compare yourself to this player, be the best version of yourself.
- [46:54]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [46:55]
Michael Garcia Parra
Because it's almost an unattainable goal, right, to even be as good as these All Stars are going to be. Hopefully you are one day. But don't measure that up and then surpass that person.
- [47:05]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [47:05]
Michael Garcia Parra
Like, go do that. But, like, don't set yourself that. I have to be on this pedestal. I got to be this. I got to be that. Like, that's not it. Like, hey, I got to be the best version of myself to get there. And then, then it'll figure out. Life will figure us out. Baseball will figure out who you are in that game once you get there. But don't try to be there right now because it doesn't work well.
- [47:23]
Podcast Host
So, you know, it's kind of crazy for people. And I understand, like, yes, your brother was a massive name is a massive name.
- [47:32]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [47:33]
Podcast Host
You were a first round pick. Like, you weren't a 19th round pick. You were a first round pick. You played nine professional seasons. Like, you've done a lot of good stuff in the game. You said something, which I do think I want to point out, which is, you know, you didn't enjoy playing the game because you were trying to live up to this thing. And the reality is, is, like, that actually comes from a really good thing inside. And that's what I want these people to hear, too, because you. Somebody could hear that and say, oh, you should have changed. And it's like, it's not you should have changed. It's like the impetus behind you caring so much was really good. You wanted people to realize that you have something, too. And I think in today's day and age, maybe kids now have almost an added benefit of having, you know, like, the mental skills coaches, like, it's. It's much more common today than it ever was back then.
- [48:32]
Michael Garcia Parra
Sure. It was almost. You were almost like, yeah, I mean.
- [48:35]
Podcast Host
Yeah, something's wrong with you if you're not talking to somebody.
- [48:37]
Michael Garcia Parra
Thirty years ago, if you went to go see a psychiatrist or psychologist, you're like, oh, dude, this guy's got mental issues. And now it's just like, we all need to go see them.
- [48:43]
Podcast Host
Right? We all should have. What do you mean you're not seeing somebody? You need to find somebody. Sure. So that's something I, I wanted to point out because for anybody listening whose kid maybe doesn't have the same dynamic, but, you know, I was talking to one of my clients. I've actually brought this up on the podcast multiple times in spring training. Funny enough, with A mental skills coach that we actually use with a lot of our players was at the dinner and we were having a really in depth conversation. I asked my client, I said, so I've had him ever since the draft. He's now 30 years old. Got to the big leagues last year after 10 seasons. Like, kid grinded through. And I said, what. What could I have told you at 18 that would have resonated so that you didn't have to spend all of this time learning this lesson, like the lesson that you now are telling me that you. You've learned. What could I have told you at. At 18? Was there anything. And I think it's almost an unfair question too, because, like, well, no, because even if you would have told me, I would have said like, dude, whatever. I, yeah, yeah.
- [49:41]
Michael Garcia Parra
Wouldn't approach.
- [49:42]
Podcast Host
His answer was interesting. So at first he goes, I don't know, let me think about it. He calls me the next day, he goes, I thought about it, I have an answer. And I love that he, like, called me after and like, was still, you know, pondering it. And he said, I think if I would have accepted that, I would have been fine. If this game never would have worked out, so much pressure would have been lifted off my shoulders. Getting comfortable in my own skin as a human being and not just as a baseball player. Because how many of these kids. And it's. I'd say it's probably worse today because they're not only a baseball player because they're a first round pick at 18 years old. Now they're the number one kid ranked in the class at 15. And so they're almost like thinking about being a professional at 15, where all of a sudden now they get to college and if it doesn't work out for them in the draft and now they have to go get a real job, it's like, who am I not as a baseball player? This is the bad thing. Exactly. And so he brought that up to me and I'm like, you know, no offense, but I think if I would have told you that, you probably would been like, get out of here.
- [50:37]
Michael Garcia Parra
Like, yeah, yeah.
- [50:38]
Podcast Host
Be comfortable in my own skin not being a baseball player. Dude, are you trying to convince me that I'm not going to be good enough? But it is, it's. It's this game everybody knows. Like, the majority of it is mental.
- [50:47]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [50:47]
Michael Garcia Parra
And like I said, like, love playing. I loved baseball. I love that I got to play for 10 years in my, like, I was a, you know, I was in the game for 10 years professionally and still in the game now, right? Like, I absolutely love baseball. I just didn't love the pressure that I put on myself and the way that I. The way I went about. And that's why that. That's what I want to convey to people. Like, there's different ways to go about it, different ways. And it wasn't a product of what my parents put pressure on me, nobody else. It was me mentally. And I was mentally strong because I battled through a lot of stuff. I battled through injuries. I battled through 40, man. Different stuff like that, being behind Jay Sutley and Jimmy Rollins with the Phillies, and, like, geez, you know, am I ever gonna get a chance? These guys are really freaking good, right? You know, stuff like that and thinking you're gonna make the team out of spring and then getting a flip. Like, it's. Baseball's a crazy, nutty world, right? But, like, I loved the experience. And people always tell me, like, well, do you think you. You should have went to Tennessee to play football and baseball? I said, absolutely not. Like, I wouldn't be where I am today. I have a wife and three kids, and I get to. I get to help kids for a living, right? And as much as I sometimes will complain about your life and everything, I realize, like, dude, I do baseball for a living, right? Like, I'm one of the luckiest dudes on the planet, and I get to literally help with GBG stuff and the scouting, we get to make help dreams come true. Like, I. I get to sleep. You know, I don't sleep that much because I work a lot, but I. I get to fall asleep at night knowing, like, man, I get to do something really freaking cool, right? And those experiences that I had, that I learned from and I. That I get to teach now and help people learn from my experiences, I think benefits baseball as a whole makes me feel really good.
- [52:12]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right?
- [52:12]
Michael Garcia Parra
And like I said, so. I mean, there's times when I want to quit, you know, doing the GBG stuff because it's overwhelming, and then all of a sudden, the kid commits, and once again, it could be the smallest school. It doesn't matter. But it just lights me up, and I'm doing this for a reason, and I'm doing it for the right reasons, and I've been blessed to do this. Like I said, I love what I get to do. I really do. I love what I get to do now. And I said, I love that I had to go through those experience. You know, I didn't know it at the time because I hated them at the time. But, man, I love that. It's helped me grow and helped me teach, you know, the younger kids of what's going on. And yeah, that's going to be strong. It's going to suck. You're going to struggle. But like, let's approach it in a different way and not put these heavy pressures on yourself. Once again, like, like the player you're talking about, it's just like, you know, this isn't your, this isn't just who you are. I, I actually did that growing up. Like, I don't have friends. I'm not as close to my friends in high school because I was embarrassed to come home because I wasn't a big leaguer. They didn't care. They just wanted to hang out with mg. That was MG back in the day. I wasn't there. I was gar and pro ball and. But I was like, they just wanted to hang out. But like, I alienated some of my friends because I was embarrassed to be around him because I was 20 years old. I wasn't in the big leagues yet and my brother wasn't in the big leagues till he's 22. Like, but for some reason I put unwarranted pressure and that's why I tell people like, you don't have to be. Don't put that kind of pressure on yourself. It was stupid of me to do that.
- [53:22]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [53:23]
Michael Garcia Parra
And nobody else was putting it on me. You know, Frank Maddox, who is a guy with the Mariners, God rest his soul, he's just like, dude, you're fine. Like, you're on the trajectory. Pat Gillick, you're fine. You're on the trajectory we expect you to be on. You know, you're, you, you weren't a full time baseball player. You're good. And you know, I thought when I was about 22 years old, like I was knocking on the door, right? 23, like, I was right there where they said I was going to be. A couple injuries knocked me out from getting called up and different stuff and things all happen for a reason. But like I said, those kind of things, like, we all get to learn from, in life and if kids can learn from you like that, that's, that's a great thing.
- [53:54]
Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah. What a great point. So I guess shifting gears a little bit again, going to the, the college development side, you know, I think everybody would agree, like, the SEC is kind of taken off as like really the conference. If you're going to go to college, like, you want to go play in the sec. At least that's what, that's what it, you know, it seems.
- [54:13]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah.
- [54:13]
Podcast Host
And rightfully so as you look at some of the players in your organization, like, if you had a player tell you, hey, coach, you know my goal, I want to be drafted, but like, I really want to go to Omaha and I would love to go to an SEC program. Is there, is there, is there something specific that you're like, well, look, man, if, if you want to go to the sec, like, that's like, it's legitimate baseball you need to have. And I'm not saying you would tell them this, but this is more like what you're looking for when you're thinking about is he capable, what's maybe something that jumps out?
- [54:43]
Michael Garcia Parra
I mean, first of all, first of all, obviously with the transfer portal and everything else that's going on right now, granted, we've been blessed to have guys like a Quentin Young or a Brady Evil and those guys that commit to these big SEC schools and everything. So you got to have some big tools and, and be able to play. But like, now I, my, my thing is jumping. I was like, go find somewhere you can play.
- [55:00]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [55:01]
Michael Garcia Parra
Because now what we're dealing with in I, I call it transfer portal season is so many players now reaching out to me saying, hey, coach, I need help.
- [55:10]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [55:11]
Michael Garcia Parra
That's what I tell people about our thing is like, we have GBG family. That's our hashtag. GBG Family. GBG Family. Like, I'm dealing now with so many kids on a shoot almost a daily basis, especially right now. Hey, this school's offering me this one. I'm in the portal, I'm doing all this, but like, hey, can you help me out? But I have no stats. And I'm like, you have no stats, man, Like, I'm glad that you committed to a big time school. I told you, hey, you might not want to commit there because if you don't play, you might be, you might be out of luck the next year and not have a home.
- [55:37]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [55:37]
Michael Garcia Parra
And unfortunately that's happening to so many kids. Obviously, the landscape in the last couple years, nobody's expected, you know, the roster spots to be limited, scholarship, changing, all that other stuff. But like, you know, well, hopefully they take the advice early on, like, hey, let's find a place that's the right fit for you, you know, but then again, the next year it could not be right. And that's the scary part of the, of the business right now for not just the players, but the coaches and everything. Else going on. But like I said, as far as those guys going, wanting to go to the SECs, like, hey, if you're going to try to go to the SEC and make an impact in some of these bigger conferences and these big time schools, I mean even the west coast, like the UCLAs and of the world of Stanford's, like you got to see yourself really being able to take someone else's spot.
- [56:17]
Podcast Host
And it truly has heightened the ability of players to compete right away.
- [56:23]
Michael Garcia Parra
Correct.
- [56:24]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [56:25]
Podcast Host
Where?
- [56:25]
Michael Garcia Parra
Absolutely.
- [56:26]
Podcast Host
It, you know, going back to when we were growing up because I'm a little older than you. But you were when you were coming to a college, you're like, I'm going this, to this place for at least three seasons, maybe more. Yeah, right. But three years and you would go there as a freshman, you probably wouldn't play much. Maybe if you're a hitter, you're pinch hit and you're getting some random starts, you're like waiting for your turn and you're learning.
- [56:47]
Michael Garcia Parra
Sure.
- [56:47]
Podcast Host
Right from let's say a sophomore, junior or somebody ahead of you. And then your sophomore year it's like you're expected to play and then your junior year you're going to get drafted or now it's like, oh no, no, no. If you're not doing the job as a freshman, then they can transfer in a number of guys. And now you're competing not just the first year, the second year, the third year and it doesn't matter, like it is a full blown competition right away. Which I think for you as a scout that's actually a great thing. As far as like, oh, this kid actually has like he, his ability is gonna skyrocket if he has the chance to go to a place and compete and then continue to develop at a good program. Like, oh yeah, this kid just showed me why he's a guy that we need to like pay attention to in the draft in three years. But it has, it's just changed the importance of playing immediately.
- [57:36]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [57:37]
Michael Garcia Parra
It's, it's, it's, it's a necessity now and I understand, like it's, it's the business of the sports, the business of college baseball and they're getting paid to win, man.
- [57:44]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [57:44]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, just like the football is and everybody else, like they're getting paid to win and you know, baseball is a game of what have you done for me lately?
- [57:50]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [57:50]
Michael Garcia Parra
We all know that. And even in as far as going back to the college developmental program, this was before the portal and everything. But I tell people once they commit. Hey, congratulations on committing. Just so you know, I'm going to. I'm trying to find somebody to take your spot on our team.
- [58:07]
Interviewer/Co-host
What?
- [58:07]
Michael Garcia Parra
I'm like, yeah, your job is to not let that happen.
- [58:10]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [58:10]
Michael Garcia Parra
I mean, I remember Hunter Green calling me back in the day, and he's like, hey, coach, you just committed to ucla. I'm like, hunter, I'm so super, super proud of you, man. You know, I'm pumped. And he was playing shortstop at the time still, and still throwing bullets.
- [58:20]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [58:20]
Michael Garcia Parra
But I'm like, I'm gonna find someone to replace you. He goes, no, you're not. There's no shot. He goes, you could try. I'm like, okay, I like it. I like it. Make sure that's true.
- [58:29]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [58:30]
Michael Garcia Parra
And. And I still say that to a lot of guys right now. I'm proud of you and everything. Hey, don't let me find somebody replace you. And I tell people I've never promised anybody that they'd start, or if I promise, they start. Hey, you're probably going to be our starting shortstop.
- [58:41]
Podcast Host
You gotta earn it, though.
- [58:41]
Michael Garcia Parra
But somebody's gonna try to take your spot, and if they do, that's just how it is. And. And parents. I've lost plenty of players because, like, oh, well, he needs to start every game. I. Sorry, I've never promised that ever. Like, what? You mean to tell me that you've never done that? I'm like, nope, I've never said those words. And I'm like. And I'm like, there's. There's things. You can call me into baseball, whatever you want, but I know I'm not going to be known as Larry, because I will never say that. Hey, you're guaranteed this or that. And I'm like, because I'm trying to find somebody to replace you. Not because I want to replace you, because I want you to play so that nobody does.
- [59:10]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right, Right.
- [59:11]
Michael Garcia Parra
Because that's the reality of the world that we're living in. In high school, they can transfer multiple times now.
- [59:16]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [59:17]
Michael Garcia Parra
In fact, we have guys that are transferring in. And. And I'm talking to our players that are taking it. You know, I. The word lollygagging or not taking things right, that came up today. It was funny. Glenn Walker at the Mets said that. And I was like, have you heard that word?
- [59:29]
Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [59:31]
Michael Garcia Parra
That's about. That was the reference we were using. And. And I'm like, yeah, like, you. I was like, you can't be lollygagging because someone's gonna Take your spot.
- [59:37]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [59:38]
Michael Garcia Parra
And I was like, okay, this is what I preach in my program because I, I want these kids to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
- [59:44]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [59:45]
Michael Garcia Parra
If I can have these kids comfortable being uncomfortable. Because that's the feeling you're gonna have in baseball a lot. It's gonna become somebody's always fighting for. There's a draft every year.
- [59:54]
Podcast Host
Every year.
- [59:54]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, I was a first round shortstop. And then guess what? The next year they took Adam Ortiz, they took Adam Jones. And you're like, you're like, what the heck? I'm like, no, that's, that's just how it goes. And he comes up with you, and he's still my boy. And he's getting inducted into the Orioles hall of Fame this Saturday. And I'm wishing I could be there for him. But. And everything. But like, yeah, like there, there's always somebody coming for you. And so now more than ever, I'm telling kids, like, you got to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I'm trying to make you uncomfortable because. Not. Because I want you to feel weird and not comfortable playing for us, but that's not. Being comfortable in a position is not normal.
- [60:25]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [60:25]
Michael Garcia Parra
Because in high school, somebody can transfer middle of the year and take your spot. It's happening left and right. In college, it's happening every year.
- [60:31]
Podcast Host
Everybody needs, like, every parent, every player listening, they have realize what you're signing up for. You want to play baseball at the highest level. It is going to be ultra competitive. There is no okay. You can chill. You know when you could relax? When you sign your 10 year contract in the big leagues, then you could relax. And I'm gonna promise you, even when you do that, you're gonna feel the pressure of now I gotta live up to the contract.
- [60:53]
Michael Garcia Parra
No doubt. Yeah.
- [60:54]
Podcast Host
So there's never going to be this time where you're like, oh, now it's. Now it's time. I, I can actually just sit back and let it all happen now and then.
- [61:01]
Michael Garcia Parra
So why, as a travel. As a guy in the travel baseball world.
- [61:04]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [61:05]
Michael Garcia Parra
Travel baseball world. Like, why would I want you to have that feeling while playing for me?
- [61:11]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [61:12]
Michael Garcia Parra
And like I said, it's not. I want you to feel weird or anything. I just want you to know, like, hey, something's always online. We always have to compete.
- [61:17]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [61:18]
Michael Garcia Parra
For every inning that we get and feel and feel blessed and lucky and honored. That we get those innings and get to play and get to compete.
- [61:23]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [61:23]
Michael Garcia Parra
At the highest level.
- [61:24]
Podcast Host
So put your scout hat back on. How have you seen. Especially recently, I would say, even in the last 10, 15 years, this dynamic of the human element of scouting with like this model driven component of scouting, you know, I think this industry is so incestuous. So you have organizations that all pay attention to what's working, right? Okay. This organization's done the best with drafting over the last five years, whatever it is, and that obviously changes. But, like, this is an organization that does a good job. What do they do? Okay, they do this.
- [62:02]
Interviewer/Co-host
All right?
- [62:02]
Podcast Host
And I think on some level there needs to be this component of you can't replace the human element.
- [62:08]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [62:08]
Podcast Host
And I've even said this for front offices who are so driven. Like, we've all heard about, like, the whole Moneyball thing and how, you know, you can look at whatever system they've created that basically tells, you know, the, the general manager, the manager, like, what the lineup should be that day. But what that model doesn't know and can't predict is like, how does this player physically feel in this day when their name's in the lineup? You don't know. And so that's where, like, the human element is always going to be an important factor. But how have you noticed that dynamic in the game over the last 10 years?
- [62:41]
Michael Garcia Parra
I mean, like I said, you, you as an agent have seen it too. Like, I mean, as far as the draft goes, there's guys that get drafted higher than you think, right? And there's guys that go lower than you think because of sometimes some stat driven models.
- [62:53]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [62:53]
Michael Garcia Parra
And not to say they're right or wrong because, you know, a lot of things are to be determined anyway, right. You know, but like I said, I, I think and, and this is something that they, they preach with the Cardinals too, is like, hey, we want to, you want to mesh the best of both worlds, right? And I think you should use them. Like, I, I use certain examples on some players that like, they say, oh, who did you like, miss on? Right? And I'm like, not gonna say name or anything, but I'm like, I didn't miss on the guy, but, like, I didn't take. Sometimes I, I use, I'm a baseball guy. I'm using my eyeballs, I'm using what I've seen and what I did. But there is times when I should have probably used some of the guy's numbers. Like, this guy doesn't walk anybody, but every time I went, he walked, you know, But I'm like, I saw all of his walks. Apparently every time I was there or, you know, there was, I mean, Kesten Hayera I'll use him an example. Like, if I had to scout him, he wasn't in my area. I saw him play four times, and I apparently saw every time he got out that year because he didn't get out very much his junior year, but I saw all of them. And his strikeouts, because he didn't have many. I'm like, but you can't just use your eyeballs then, right? I mean, he went well, he got in the big leagues, hit for a while, and he's a good player. But like, like that, that was a guy that I could say, like, you know, he didn't even play a position. That is because he was hurt his senior or his junior year when he got popped. But I'm like, I just, if I don't use any of the stats and different information, you know, that is against what my eyeballs seen, I'm an idiot. This guy's a big leaguer, right? You know, and so that's where I use that example as like, I, I was gonna text the UCI coach once. I'm like, hey, dude, I'm gonna be at the game. You might want to sit this dude out. You know, I don't know why I've run into you guys five times. You know, I remember one time they're at lmu and I'm like, oh, he's gonna get out today.
- [64:22]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [64:22]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, but like I said, there's, there's, there's that element of, hey, we, you, you need, you need those stat models. And once again, it goes back to what we talked about earlier is like, we shouldn't all agree and be on the same page on every single thing.
- [64:33]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [64:33]
Michael Garcia Parra
And so we need, we need our stack guys. We, we need those guys to help fuel. Okay, what our words and, and what were our, our things are that we're putting down on our reports and everything. How do we find the best blend.
- [64:45]
Podcast Host
Of both of those? Right?
- [64:46]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [64:47]
Michael Garcia Parra
And I think the teams that draft the best and do the best do that.
- [64:50]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [64:50]
Michael Garcia Parra
Because numbers don't lie to a degree, but they can. You know, there is just to, to your point, when you're saying you don't know what this guy's feeling that day, you don't know that. Okay? That even though the lineup says that, like, is, is this guy, how does he feel about himself? Where is his headspace?
- [65:04]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [65:05]
Michael Garcia Parra
Is he, is he a mental wreck? You know, the numbers. Don't, don't give that.
- [65:08]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [65:08]
Michael Garcia Parra
Or, you know, I, I told the story to one of our teams the other day. Who had the worst game they've ever had that I coach, and I'm like, when I see a guy have a bad game, terrible game, actually, not a bad game, a terrible game, I really want to go see his next one because I want to see how he bounces back from that.
- [65:26]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [65:26]
Michael Garcia Parra
I want to go see, okay, what's this guy's mental fortitude? What is he going to be? Is he going to be down in the dumps? Is he all this? Or is he going to be able to, you know, turn the page? Or I see him working the next day, show up early. Is he there? Is he warm? How's he warming up? How is he treating his teammates? All these different things that you kind of take into going back to the makeup stuff is like, those are things you can't quantify in a computer. You just can't.
- [65:48]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [65:49]
Michael Garcia Parra
But if you put those two things together, even the college realm or the high school stats are a little bit harder because of strength of competition and stuff like that. If you can find that mess plan. And that's. That's kind of what I think we're all doing. Yeah, that's what we're all searching for.
- [66:00]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [66:01]
Podcast Host
For sure.
- [66:01]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, I think the Cardinals obviously have a pretty good reputation for. For using that blend really, really well.
- [66:07]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [66:07]
Interviewer/Co-host
Yeah.
- [66:07]
Podcast Host
And there's no question, you know, the game is just going to continue to evolve. That's the reality. I do think there needs to be a constant awareness about, like, you just cannot duplicate a baseball guy. Going to watch a baseball player. You just can't. No. No system is going to be able to recreate that to a te. And why should they? All right, last two questions. So when you played, you played what seems like almost every position.
- [66:43]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah.
- [66:44]
Podcast Host
Did you catch?
- [66:45]
Michael Garcia Parra
I didn't.
- [66:45]
Podcast Host
Okay, so you actually caught. You didn't pitch.
- [66:48]
Michael Garcia Parra
Yeah.
- [66:48]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [66:48]
Podcast Host
Okay, so you played pretty much every position. And I imagine running your program right now, you probably get a bunch of kids saying, hey, Coach, I'm. I'm a shortstop. I'm not a second baseman. I'm not a third base. I'm a shortstop. I got to play short.
- [67:00]
Michael Garcia Parra
Mm.
- [67:02]
Podcast Host
Talk to me a little bit about the importance of a player having positional versatility and how that can be a benefit at the next level.
- [67:09]
Michael Garcia Parra
I mean, it's massive.
- [67:10]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [67:11]
Michael Garcia Parra
I mean, I bring up the story ucla, we had. They had five or six shortstops on the field at one time that were recruited at UCLA as shortstop in the top ranked team in the country at the time. It was Matt McLain, it was Mikey Perez, JT Schwartz. Kevin Kendall was playing center field. It was either Moberg at third, Mike Curiali at third base. I'm like, these guys were all recruited as shortstops, right? And could all play shortstop at one point. But they needed to move, right, because of either they grew out of the position like we talked about, like a J.T. schwartz guy just got really big, strong, could really hit. And I'm like, you have value, right? If you can play other positions. And that's my, my dad always taught me to play them all, right? And that's what, that's what I did. I mean I pitched in high school. Like, I mean when I was getting, you know, scouted. He's like, hey, Mike's gonna close out this game, just so you know. And I'd come in and maybe touch 90, 91 at the time, which is God knows what that is now, you know, the equivalent to. But like just to show that versatility because everybody's a shortstop, right? I mean on my, on my team last year I was very fortunate to have Brady Ebol, Aiden Deguayo, Tyler Wick, Quentin Young, right? Who are all these shortstops? All high ranked shortstops. I'm like, guys, you're going to go to lsu, you know, you're going to go to Oregon, you're going to go to. You like they have shortstops. You better be able to play somewhere else, right? And here's what you're going to. I'll play shortstop, but I'm going to rotate you guys even in big time tournaments. But I'm like, I want you to show that you have that versatility to do that. And so by the way, you better be able to compete right away direct to your other point. If you've never played that at a high level, it's going to be really scary when you get in a college baseball field and do that. Now you're playing in Jupiter and Worldwood bats and all these other ones and you're playing for us on the biggest stages that you can at your level and you're being comfortable, being uncomfortable. That's doing you a favor, right? Because now, yes, I can play left field. Yeah, I can play center. Yeah, I can play second. I can play third. Sweet. Go. Yep. All that does is add value to, to you, you know, I mean Dansby Swanson was a second baseman at Vanderbilt until his junior year and he goes 1:1, right? He didn't get a chance. He better be. He wanted to play. He had to get himself on the field, you know, and I tell people these. These different stories. I'm like, man, versatility is. Is gold, right? Because if you can hit, we want to find somewhere in the lineup for you to play, you know, so all.
- [69:31]
Podcast Host
It takes is watching a big league game nowadays. And you see, you know, everybody knows the platoon role is a thing. There's very few guys that are going to be everyday guys at one position, right? Very few. So what it does, it allows this organization or this team to figure out other ways to get you in the lineup. You want to play like, that's the reality. You want to be in the big leagues and, like, playing once a week. And by the way, if you're only playing once a week, you're probably not going to stay in the big league.
- [69:53]
Michael Garcia Parra
It's true.
- [69:54]
Podcast Host
So at the end of the day, like, you're not just going to all of a sudden start playing multiple positions at the next level, so why not work on it now? That's just the direction this game is heading. All right, last question. You got to finish the sentence.
- [70:07]
Michael Garcia Parra
Oh, jeez. Okay.
- [70:08]
Podcast Host
If I could change one thing about how travel, baseball culture markets kids and scouts, it would be. And then there's a second component to that. If I could change one thing about how travel, baseball culture markets kids to scouts, it would be to try to be more honest. Okay. And the reason that that would help both players and evaluators is, is because.
- [70:33]
Michael Garcia Parra
You'Re giving people a more realistic view of who they are and what they can be.
- [70:39]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [70:39]
Michael Garcia Parra
So giving them the truth now is going to help them become a better player down the road.
- [70:46]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [70:46]
Michael Garcia Parra
Like, if I'm. If I'm. If I'm selling this guy a false bag of goods or tell him how good he is and. And how much we like him and telling what he wants to hear and not what he needs to hear, I'm not doing him any favors. I feel like if we're just telling these kids what they want to hear all the time just to make them feel good and for. Have to keep. To keep playing for your team, their struggles down the road, they're not going to be able to deal with the failures. They're not going to be able to work on their weaknesses now that. That are going to arise later on.
- [71:15]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [71:16]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, I. I usually think, like, oh, this swing's not, you know, he's got a metal bat swing.
- [71:19]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right?
- [71:20]
Michael Garcia Parra
You know, and not a wood bat. Like, okay, what does that mean?
- [71:23]
Interviewer/Co-host
Right.
- [71:23]
Michael Garcia Parra
Okay, well, you're long. You get away with it. Because it's lunar bat and everything. Like, okay, but if I'm not telling you this now, even though you might struggle now, I'm trying to help you in the future. So I think it's just giving them the truth now, right? And even the evaluate like, okay, the travel ball world and hyping up now, like, okay, yeah, here's the truth. We think you're really good, but here's also things that you could get better at. And like I said, not knocking down guys, not doing anything. Because I'm all about being positive and saying the right things, but it's just being honest, right? I just feel like there's so much kind of smoke and mirrors. And once again, like, telling people what you feel like they want to hear, just keep the kids happy. I'm like, it's not about making them happy. It's about giving them stuff that's going to make them a better player so that they get to play longer. Because if these guys can't deal with failure and because they've not been given the truth at a younger age, they're done. After three years of college, they might not even get to pro ball because they weren't told the truth now.