Jacob Moreno: What the fuck? Jason Corley: What right today's been a day, buddy. Today has been a day. You ready to start this? You ready to start this? Jacob Moreno: ⁓ Yeah, just let me send this quick email. Okay, we're good. I had to send a quick email. Jason Corley: bro, you gotta stop typing in the middle of the show. I can hear it. Jacob Moreno: Okay, I gotta change the key. Well, when I'm stuff up, you know what I mean? Jason Corley: I know but you gotta you're gonna have to you're gonna have to move the keyboard maybe to your left or right or something. I don't know, but it's like it must be really close to the mic. Jacob Moreno: It actually is. So what I'll do, hold on. At night I think of you. Hold on. Now listen, can you hear? Jason Corley: Yeah. Or move the mic. Yeah. No. Jacob Moreno: Okay, I moved the computer over. So when I go to type, when I go to type, I'm just going to pick it up and move it over, but I'm going to have it in front. Jason Corley: There you go. That or that that or just turn your chair and type and I know that you ⁓ not to go to you too. You know what I mean? All right, ready. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, okay. Yeah. Uno, dos. Jason Corley: Three, two, one, two. Welcome everybody to the Travel Dads Podcast brought to you by right there Barstown Bourbon Green River Whiskey. I am your host, Jason Corley, alongside one of my best friends. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jacob Moreno, bienvenidos a otro episodio Travel Deaths Podcast. I guess we're just gonna dive right into it. ⁓ It's been an eventful day for you guys, Jason Corley: ⁓ man, what a day, dude. What it's been an eventful day. And I'm not gonna touch on I'm not gonna touch on the most recent developments, but we can touch on some other stuff, but I'm gonna leave the privacy of the current situation ⁓ out of respect for our families on our team. But yeah, our shit's falling apart it like right in front of our face. So it literally it's imploding. So when you try to do the right thing. Jacob Moreno: you Jason Corley: And you try to give families a heads up, it just all goes to shit. It literally all goes to shit. And yeah, I don't have any idea what's gonna happen. I really have no idea what's gonna happen for the remainder of this year. Let's put it that way. I know exactly what's gonna happen going forward. So ⁓ yeah, man. It's ⁓ it's just it's yeah. Jacob Moreno: So are you guys still leaving tomorrow? Jason Corley: ⁓ we're going. Whether we're going to play baseball or whether we're going to have have a vacation. We're we're leaving. Like, you know what I mean? Like, we're going. So, and we're going to the World Series because Brooks has already committed. And Hudson and some other kids on the team, they are the they've already got spots as you know as backup plans, too. So we're going regardless. I just don't know what the rest of the I have no idea what's up for Cooperstown. I have no idea what's up for the PGI. Jacob Moreno: Okay. Yeah. Jason Corley: I have no idea. It's just, it's all went to shit. We found out today, folks, that our coach is leaving at the end of the year. it's just it's it's ⁓ yeah, it's a it's a free for all. So yeah. so but I will say that and this is real life. This is this is real travel ball life, like s right here, right now. Like we're going through it. and I guarantee you we're not the only family that's going through it across this country. So we're literally going through it in real time with you guys. yeah, I ⁓ seven o'clock what's that? Jacob Moreno: So you entered the transfer portal. You entered the transfer portal. Jason Corley: I did not enter the transfer portal. I didn't have to. I didn't have to. You know what I mean? No Jacob Moreno: Okay, I thought you were gonna go be with MJ trying to find the sorority girls. ⁓ Jason Corley: Yeah, nope, nope, nope, not interested in that. ⁓ the only thing I'm interested in, Jacob, is making sure. Okay, what have we heard time and time and time again on this podcast? Whether it be from a coach, whether it be from a recruiting advice, whether it be from an ex player, what is the constant theme that we keep hearing? Jacob Moreno: To me, mean, have a plan B. Jason Corley: Plan B and that this is a business. Jacob Moreno: No, okay, yeah, this is a business. Jason Corley: This this is a business. And we've heard at the end of the day, you always have to look out for your kids. No matter what. You have to look out for your kids. Now, you've heard me say plan B. I've been preaching plan B to Jacob Moreno: Yep. Jason Corley: our our circle of people for three years. Like never ever ever go into the end of end of the season or the beg the beginning of another season without having options and a plan B because you have no idea. A coach could leave for college. A coach could get married. A coach could go through a divorce. You have like there's a thousand things that can happen that can fluctuate a the team's the team's identity going into the following year. Maybe you're just not, but you have to have a plan of attack. And you're I just in my mind, in my personal opinion, if you don't, you're doing yourself a disservice. You're doing yourself a disservice if you just if you just fly thinking that everybody's always gonna keep their word, everybody's always gonna do the right thing, and nobody's ever gonna look out for themselves. They're always gonna look out for you instead. That's just foolish. So, ⁓ yeah, so I have been contemplating what we're gonna do going into the big field, you know what I mean? For Jacob Moreno: Yep. Jason Corley: Well, for months, you know what I mean? Since the beginning of the year, I've been thinking ahead to the following year of what does this look like going into the big field, Jacob? I mean, you know that's we've had these private conversations and ⁓ I had some I had some options for HUD, you know, and th I'm thinking about HUD because Brooks is still nine and Brooks is still this is just, you know, ⁓ Brooks doesn't give two shits. Like he doesn't care. Jacob Moreno: Thank It's sort of Brooks is more like Sandlot baseball right now. Jason Corley: Brooke just wants to play with his friends and he just wants to ball out, hit dingers, and throw kids out. That's just what he wants to do. And ⁓ I'll give him that ⁓ until he until he comes to me someday and says, Dad, I I'm ready, which is where HUD is at. HUD is at that point where he's like, Dad, I'm ready. Like, let's let's focus. Okay, let then let's go, let's do this. So ⁓ yeah, so I've had a lot of conversations with a lot of great organizations and coaches and opportunities and ⁓ this morning at you know at seven o'clock I informed the team and I informed the coach that we would not be back. ⁓ we have ⁓ yeah I mean we've we've decided to go ⁓ the route of Canes National next year, Canes Midwest National with Coach Isaac Sampen and super for HUD's future. It's just it's a great organization. ⁓ I had ⁓ I I haven't had one ⁓ literally one single negative remark towards this decision. I've had mixed reviews on other things we were contemplating. You know what I mean? But not one I'm I'm telling you, not one person has been like, ooh, might want to rethink that. Or ooh, I don't think that's as good as what you got. Or everybody's been like, great opportunity for your son, great opportunity for his future. I think you're making the right decision. It's not the flashiest thing right now. Jacob Moreno: No. Mm-hmm. It's okay. You don't want the shiny car right now. Jason Corley: But at sixteen to seventeen it sure does look good. That's where we want. So I have talked to some people that I really, really care about their opinion on this. You know what I mean? And you know I have. You know you know that I have. And Jacob Moreno: That's where you want the shiny coat. Yeah, yeah. I you and I had a, me and you had a over an hour conversation a couple of days ago. You know, you just needed to vent. We talked and then, I mean, just, you know, I went through the rolodex of questions that I, you know, I think you needed to hear. And I mean, every answer you gave me was this way. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there's some other fun options out there, and you know that. Like there were some things out there that sounded really fun. You know what I mean? And so forth. But I I believe in Isaac's direction. I believe in his plan of attack ⁓ going forward for the boys. And you know, you add in the fact that he gets to come along with, Jacob Moreno: ⁓ yeah. Jason Corley: Gino Newcelli, ⁓ Willie Vanichek, and Jonasiac. ⁓ ⁓ and go start a new journey, a new chapter their lives. ⁓ And ⁓ it just couldn't it just couldn't be better it just couldn't be a better fit. So ⁓ we informed the team, we informed the coach today, then when we informed the coach, that's when coach decided to let us know that well he was already planning on not coming back. So I guess we made the right decision, Jacob. ⁓ so yeah, so ⁓ the way it's working right ⁓ Coach Isaac ⁓ is piecing this thing together. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: You know, we're just Jacob, we're literally just a couple of stallions in the barn away from having something magical to go into the high school years. So ⁓ I yeah. Jacob Moreno: So speaking of that, what are you guys looking for? I mean, you might as well go ahead and say it here because it's, mean, we get a lot of, we have a lot of parents across the country that listen. Jason Corley: We're looking for yeah, we're looking for arms. ⁓ so yeah. All right. Good point. That's a very good point. So I would say if you're out there and you're looking to make a move this year going into the 13U season on the big field, our team as constructed right now is incredibly the foundation is incredibly, incredibly well built, wouldn't you say? yeah, the foundation is is rock solid and we're looking for just we're just looking for absolute stud arms and these stud arms can also be raw. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: If there's development that needs to be had, the beautiful part about this Canes National Program. ⁓ all the reasons, dude, the resources of this are incredible. Like the resources that that the Canes National Program, I had no idea until I started diving into it and doing my homework on it. You know what I mean? And yeah, guys, if anybody's interested, you guys can reach out to us. You guys can reach out to ⁓ Coach Isaac. I will put his Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. Jason Corley: ⁓ Instagram handle on the I'll put it yeah on on on this portion here and on the description ⁓ that stuff it'll all be there. So if you guys are interested you guys can reach out to him. Obviously if you're interested you need to make sure you send him video and information because this is not tenu baseball anymore. We're going into the big field and you know he's looking for athletes and he's looking for stallions. He's looking for stallions to you know I mean to take this thing to the next level. This is not ⁓ yeah Jacob Moreno: on this portion here. you Jason Corley: This this ain't your daddy's ball no more, boys. Yeah, I'm excited. I know you are. I know you are. I know you are. It's man, he he deserves a fresh start. Jacob Moreno: So no daddy's ball, okay. Yeah, I mean, I'm excited. I'm excited for you guys. Jason Corley: an opportunity ⁓ you know, to ⁓ to further under you. I sometimes the voice just gets stale. Jacob Moreno: It just gets stagnant. Yeah. Jason Corley: Like it just does. And I am I think what I'm so excited about, Jacob, is the fact that like I know that there's more potential in these boys. It just No, no, no. No, no, no, not at all. It's just I'm saying like a different voice or a different technique. What what else is what else is locked up in there that hasn't hasn't even come out yet? That's what I'm excited about. You know what I mean? ⁓ you know, Isaac is Isaac is gonna put these boys on college campuses doing scrimmages. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, that's no shot in that's no shot as coach now. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jason Corley: before they turn 16. ⁓ you know, you get the automatic bids to WWBA, you get the automatic bids to Carrie North Carolina for for USA. ⁓ the the benefits of playing for the Canes organization are what the benefits are for playing for the Canes organization. So this is not the local level, this is their national program. ⁓ And I'm just I'm pumped. I am absolutely pumped. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. So you're not a fundraising team? Jason Corley: ⁓ maybe. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I ain't opposed to it. So no, we are not a fundraising team. and that's the other th cool thing is that I found out that once you hit the thirteen U mark in that program on the national level, those are all one hundred percent paid coaches. So this is their lives. Like this is their job is to develop us. You know what I mean? And to take these boys to the next level and Jacob Moreno: I had to. I had to. I had to. Okay. Jason Corley: To get eyeballs on ⁓ and to get ⁓ seen and to get them playing at a level. Like we don't give two shits about plastic trophies anymore or rings or any of that stuff. All we care about is what do they what are they gonna look like when they get to fifteen and sixteen you. You know what I mean? And what college campuses are they gonna be playing on, ⁓ instead of you know, dumb little tournaments here and there. Like get them he's gonna have ⁓ on campuses, scrimmaging, ⁓ you know, all all that stuff and I just Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: I'm just blown away at the leadership. I'm blown away at the organization. I'm blown away at all of it. So yeah, I mean I guess, yeah. I guess it doesn't hurt to say like if you're listening and you you you want to come play with some studs. ⁓ and I I don't mean that lightly. If you want to come play with some studs, also they have an incredible media system. So to be seen, give ⁓ give Coach Isaac a shout, give Jacob a shout, give myself a shout, and we can we can direct you over to coach. But ⁓ Yeah. So I have no idea what's gonna go on with the World Series, dude, and I have no idea what's gonna go on with with PG so or the PGI. So I actually I gave PG a heads up, like, listen, man, this may you may have boys scattered all over this country playing for different teams by the time we get to Dallas. And don't let don't like don't penalize them, you know what I mean? For for other bullshit. 'Cause that's what it is. It's just bullshit. And ⁓ it's really unfortunate. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Now, okay, now let me ask you this, because this has been a topic between you and I. Jason Corley: Well, yeah. Jacob Moreno: Now that this happened and let's say you guys scatter and you guys are all on different rosters. Are you guys considered pickup players? Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Hundred percent. Yeah, that's a you can add that to another jersey in the closet Yeah, it's the first time. So I mean I know you're trying I I mean I know you thought that that we would laugh about that and it would be funny, but it's true. It's true. Jacob Moreno: No, no, no, I know. No, it was actually a serious question. Jason Corley: Yeah, it's a hundred per no, you're a hundred percent right. We would be a thousand percent pickup players. Now I can assume, I can assume that whatever teams ⁓ you know we scatter to, they're not gonna want to let go of these kids once they see, you know what I mean, ⁓ these boys, you know, compete. Yeah, so that you know, that could be interesting. But that's another thing too, folks. I will say this. So as of right now, from what I from what I know, and if I have to do housekeeping tomorrow, no, we're off tomorrow. If I have to do housekeeping. Jacob Moreno: Okay. Yeah. what value they bring to their team. We're off till next Thursday. Jason Corley: Tuesday, bro. Tuesday. Yeah, that's true. So if I have to do housekeeping next Tuesday and correct this, but as of right now, we got we got a half a team of national players that are looking for for homes for the World Series. So and possibly PGI. So I don't know yet for PGI, but I think that's I think it's pretty likely. And I can tell you this too. I ain't putting up with this shit. So like if this is gonna be ⁓ Jacob Moreno: you for Tuesday, not me. Jason Corley: drama filled situation and we're just going to waste, you know, time, then we'll go and compete with with somebody that wants to take it serious. I that's just that's just me speaking. I ain't speaking for any other dad. So ⁓ and we'll be there. ⁓ Cooperstown is supposed supposedly still beyond. I think we can pick up enough kids to make that, you know what I mean, work, but nobody's getting their money back. So yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Yeah. So what goes on with Cooperstown? Yeah. Jason Corley: So yeah, we're down to eight kids right now for the World Series, which is why we can't we're not gonna be able to go. You can't send eight kids to the World Series, dude. So especially I mean you can't even go with ten. So yeah, so to go with eight, ⁓ it's just it's yeah. So and yes, I I listen, I'm aware you're listening. I get that. Jacob Moreno: No. You can't even go with nine or ten. Yeah. Jason Corley: Loud and clear, but I think it's bullshit that you just quit in the middle of the sea ⁓ at the end of the season the three biggest events of the year. So there's how there's how I feel, Jacob. ⁓ So it's not fair. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, mean, it's your, they're your feelings. Jason Corley: Hey, I don't also I I just as I'm sitting here talking about this, I do want to apologize. ⁓ I forgot Derek Perkins. Derek Perkins is also coming to the Canes National program with us. ⁓ incredible kid, incredible family. And I don't want to leave him out because he is part of this and we have played with him before. So, ⁓ but and I know that I can speak for him because they are one thousand percent in. as far as the other ones, like I don't I know the names, but I don't I don't I've haven't confirmed or denied that I could ever speak of their name. So I'm not going to, but everybody else I know that I can. So but ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: yeah man, tonight ⁓ it should be good. I just talked to him a little bit ago. He was racing home. ⁓ former MLB catcher Josh Crouch is coming on to join us. He just recently retired, what, two weeks ago? T ⁓ so I'm interested to hear Jacob Moreno: Yeah, two weeks ago. Jason Corley: you know what what brought him to that decision. I'm interested to hear what his journey was like that got him to the show. And then I'm interested to to hear about what he's doing next because now he's in travel ball. So ⁓ yeah he's coaching travel ball. So he went he went all the way through the spectrum. So it's gonna be interesting. He's gonna join us probably any minute here. But wh how was your day, bud? Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Well, I wish I could say it was as eventful as yours. But I mean, my phone was ringing too. Jason Corley: ⁓ Yeah, good, good. Yeah, I'll bet it was. Jacob Moreno: is hearing, no, hearing everything going on. But I mean, and amen, shit happens. know, that's shit happens. Like I get it. I understand. And like I've told you before, sometimes same voice just gets stagnant. I mean, I've been telling you that and sometimes a change is needed. And but from there, I mean, I mean, you and I've had these conversations. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: months years that you know that we've talked but besides I mean hearing the phone calls everything's been good. I went to work and you know came home. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know that you were worr I know that y you weren't really worried, but you were concerned because Jacob Moreno: My big concern was I didn't want all you guys to get screwed the way it seems to be going right now. And I told you that, like I told you to hold off and you know, wait to say something. then, because I mean that. Jason Corley: Yeah. That's that's a really good point too to bring up. Like you people might be out there wondering, like, ⁓ my God, like do are we supposed to make a decision right now and you know we're not even done with our season. No, that's not what I'm saying. I am just letting I'm I'm just explaining from our point of view when okay, when I say I'm all in, I'm all in. Okay. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: And that means that we've been fortunate enough to land in a situation where the the the organization wants to build around us. So in order to do that, they have to be able to to let f other other kids out there know, other families out there know who the court is. You know what I mean? So anyways, here's here's here's Josh. Let's ⁓ let's tag him in. You ready? Yep. Jacob Moreno: One, two, three. Jason Corley: What up, my man? Jacob Moreno: What's up, Yeah. Josh Crouch: Hey, can you all see me? Hey. Jason Corley: Yeah, can you ⁓ first of all, can you can you see Jacob? Josh Crouch: Yeah, he's just like grainy. Jason Corley: That's the Mexican. Yeah. What's going on, ⁓ dude? Jacob Moreno: Tomorrow you'll be able to see who I really am. Josh Crouch: But ⁓ I love it. Hey man, I'm just I just got done ⁓ doing lessons and ⁓ I'm sorry. Can you s can you see me? Jason Corley: No, it's all right. Is your phone is your phone a do not disturb? Josh Crouch: It's on silent. Jason Corley: Put it on do not disturb, 'cause if you get a call, it'll kill you. Josh Crouch: Okay, allow and I revisit. Okay. No, no, I'm on my Mac. I'm on my Mac. Okay. Okay, okay. Jacob Moreno: No, is he using his phone? Jason Corley: Are yeah, are you ⁓ okay never mind. Never mind, never mind, never mind. Never mind. Yeah. I thought you were on your phone. My bad. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ no, you're good, you're good, you're good. We thought you were on your phone. Josh Crouch: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no. So yeah, I just got done giving some lessons and ⁓ Whew Like it's been it's been absolutely bonkers since I've been home. So it's been about ⁓ let's see, what is it now? It's been about a little less than two weeks, so Jason Corley: You raised home. Yeah. Yeah. I literally just said when we were introducing you before you came on, I said, pretty sure it's been like two weeks. Two weeks since this since the decision was made. Listen, I don't want to get into that yet. I wanna start with just some basic things because I wanna lead up to because the decision that you made led into this now opportunity that you're involved with, which I really want to focus on. So I want to know when did your like when did your baseball when did your baseball life start, bro? Josh Crouch: Yep. Alright, so I'm from a small town and let's go all the way back here. I'm from a small town in central Florida, ⁓ Sebring, Florida. Yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yes. Dude, stop. Stop. What is it? What is it with Florida, Jacob? What is it with Florida? Every guest we've had on here ha that's either division one or in the pros has been from Florida. It I gotta move to Florida or not come home. All right. Central Florida. All right, that's where it started. Jacob Moreno: Our last three guests have been from Florida. Josh Crouch: Yep, yep. That's a hot that's a hotbed. If you wanna be good at baseball, move to Florida. Jacob Moreno: So what does that tell you? Yeah Josh Crouch: Yep. So just small country town in Central Florida. ⁓ went grew up, came through the local rec leagues, things of that nature, started to get to like the ten, eleven, twelve age group, and then we had ⁓ we had a group of guys that would play together in the rec league and then also play together in travel ball. We'd call ourselves Team Seabring. ⁓ we were we didn't do little league or anything of that nature. We were in Dixie Youth at the time. So Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: Dixie Youth is what we would do ⁓ during the rec season, and then we would go and we'd play all the way through the World Series, and then we'd also play Summer Ball together. So ⁓ I was playing with the same core group of guys from really the age of five until the age of leaving high school, to be honest with you, because we all went to the same high school for the most part as well. From our town. And we just happened to, we trained together. You know, we were just a bunch of Jason Corley: Okay, so they're kids from your town. Josh Crouch: You know, not a lot of base some dads played like low level college ball, but not like no one in the pros, like just grinding, grinding, grinding, country dads out there, like really investing in their kids. And over the years, you know, we had some some pro guys that came through the town that played back in the seventies and eighties, and they would help us out a little bit. But I think just the camaraderie of playing together from a young age allowed us to mean we went to the Dixie World's Youth World Series and we won the World Series twice. came in second and came in third. So we had a very well known group of people ⁓ by that time. Our reputation built through the rec league and through travel ball. And it's funny too, because I ran into some people in Pro Ball that were like, dude, I saw you're from Seabring, Florida. Like, did y'all play for that team, Team Sebring? And I was like, Yes, yes, that was us. And they were like, dude, y'all beat the crap out of us. And and so it was just crazy ten, twenty or fifteen years later having conversations with guys that we played against. So ⁓ and then Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: and Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Played in the youth league and then we all kind of split up and did our own travel ball stuff. I played for ⁓ when I got to high school, I played for chain national, ⁓ which now is five star national. ⁓ and then after that, my junior year, I played for the Scorpions in Orlando. So ⁓ played for them and then ⁓ committed to FIU as a junior in high school as an infielder. Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Right. Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: And then ⁓ you know, I I told you the other part of my story. I ended up ⁓ ended up signing as an infielder my senior year ⁓ and then went to a pre-draft workout and as an infielder to the Dodgers. And the guys there were like, hey man, we got some catchers gear for you. And I was like, Really? I was like, that's crazy, really. So I've because I'd never thought about playing catcher before because my good buddy Jimmy. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: the Josh Crouch: ⁓ Jimmy Peck was his name. He played Division II baseball. Amazing defender. I never thought in my life I'm never going to play over him. So I'm just going to play another position. And and so but they were like, no, we want you to try and catch. So I ended up going back there, had the fastest pop time at the event. And then really the rest was history. I mean, ended up decommitting from FIU, committing to a junior college, State College of Florida manatee, ⁓ in Bradington, Florida, and then caught caught for two years there. And then Jason Corley: Yep. I know where that's at. Josh Crouch: twenty twenty transferred to University of Central Florida and then COVID happened and I was hitting two hundred at the time. So obviously not gonna get drafted in those five rounds that they had. So then I had to go back to school in twenty twenty one, ended up having a great year and then, you know, got drafted by the Tigers. So Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay, so let's let's back up a little bit 'cause you just flew through that shit. Okay. Let's back up and let's talk about the recruit like what was it like like going through the recruiting process in high school? And were your friends being recruited? Was it just you? How how was that whole dynamic like, you know, were you the big man on campus, so to speak, at school and did that change perception of you? Did you battle with that socially? What? Jacob Moreno: Let's go. Josh Crouch: Yeah, yeah. Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. Josh Crouch: So, the easiest way to explain that is growing up, we because of the such small area that we're from, we never had people that did individual training. Like we didn't have a strength coach to go to, we didn't have a hitting coach, we didn't have a pitching coach. It was all the dads collectively doing it. So, so really it was the investment of the dads because they we had a guy that owned a feed store, ⁓ Craig Kennedy. Jason Corley: Yep. Yep. Yep. Josh Crouch: And he took care of the fields, they would bring their tractors out there, they would aerate and seed the fields. So it was like a whole community thing. And they when they the community knew that the Seabring boys were playing, like everyone's coming out. Like we had thousands of people at the state tournament watching, and there's never been anything like it from our group. So it it it was just like the dads that knew a little bit about baseball and they just like gave everything Jason Corley: Community effort. Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: us everything they had about that little bit and then we just kind of like grinded on the basics and the basics and the basics and the basics. And then over time, you know, some guys started to get sprinkled in to different travel ball teams. And then now it's like back then obviously the recruiting was a lot different. So there's some guys getting some interest here and there. And ⁓ so our senior year, my senior year of high school, we ended up having one, two, three. I think we had seven kids end up going to college out of our team in our senior class. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Not bad for a little not bad for a little pillow town. Josh Crouch: So it it wasn't bad. And no, and most of our and most of those kids were also back on that youth team. So it's like we it's the same kids growing up because we have it's a county, Highlands County is the county, Lake Placid, Seabring, Avon Park. So there was some of the kids from that travel team that would go to the other cities right next to us as well, but the bulk of us stayed in Seabring. And ⁓ so we just had like a little powerhouse there going in central Florida. Jacob Moreno: Nice. Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Jacob Moreno: Mmm. Jason Corley: How big was the score? Josh Crouch: And our school we were ⁓ five A. Jason Corley: So is that opposite of us, Jacob? Like so our biggest schools are one A. Jacob Moreno: Division 1. Josh Crouch: ⁓ yeah, no. So we have our biggest schools in Florida are nine A. Jason Corley: Okay, so it's the opposite. Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: So yeah, yeah, yeah. So we 'cause there were the schools in Orlando would be like eight A, nine A. I don't know if it's changed from when I was in high school, but when we were in high school, it was classified five A, six A, which is like there's two like fifteen hundred, two thousand, like nothing crazy between everybody. ⁓ so Jason Corley: Sure, sure. Okay. Middle of the road. Jacob Moreno: middle. Jason Corley: Yeah. Do you remember how many was in your graduating class? Josh Crouch: Couple hundred. Couple hundred. Yeah, a couple hundred. It wasn't it wasn't anything crazy. Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Right. Nothing. Yeah, nothing like yeah, I just it's always it's always interesting to Jacob and I to compare these 'cause his son goes to a private Catholic school. I my son goes to a public school in the middle of Amish country. ⁓ you know, and but w you know, down the road we've got a school that's, you know, got I don't know, five hundred kids in their in their senior class. So it's just it's all over the place. It's just always it's always interesting to Jacob and I to hear the guys that are getting the looks and the guys that are getting the looks in in high school Josh Crouch: Yeah. Yep. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Like some of ⁓ are academy kids. Some of ⁓ are little schools, like it just now it seems Jacob like it's all over. It doesn't there's no target. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: And I will say this too, back when I was in high school, I graduated in 2017. So I was 14, 15, 16, 17 in high school. That's like wait, we talked about that's right when the perfect game circuit was starting to get going, like 2012, 13, 14, then the showcase stuff really started to ramp up. So that's when we started getting involved in that stuff. And you know, that started the whole that side of things. ⁓ So ⁓ so yeah, man. Yep, yep, yep. Jacob Moreno: Mm. Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay, all right. So tell us then a little bit about so ⁓ I obviously you decommitted from FIU. What was that conversation like with your parents? Like was that yeah Josh Crouch: So It was weird, man. It was weird because I had to make the phone call to the recruiting coordinator and he like he legit was mad. Like really mad because we kinda threw it on him at the last second. And then the way that their recruiting class was is that they ended up finding out that I was Jason Corley: We're going listen, we're going through that shit right now with travel ball. Pissed off coaches, pissed off parents because people are making business decisions. So I get it. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Right. Right. And and to be honest with you, it wasn't I didn't even know it was gonna work out. I thought I was like everyone there was people that thought I was crazy. Like this dude this dude's committing, decommitting to go to JUCO to learn how to catch. He's never caught in his life. And it's just like so I I I Jason Corley: Yeah. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: I'm gonna it. Josh Crouch: I'm there and I decommit from FIU and he gets all over me on the phone call and I'm like, dude, I what am I gonna do? Like, I don't know, I know there's no catching coaches here because we're two hours away from Orlando. So that's where the good catching coaches are at. And we're like an hour and thirty minutes away from Tampa. So it's either Orlando or Tampa for the good training. So I was like, it was kind of a gut decision, and I was like, I mean, only God knows what's gonna happen to me here because Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Josh Crouch: You know, we have no guidance. We just know that this Dodger Scout said, Hey, you should probably catch. You you run a 7360, and you have a good arm and you have a little bit of power. Like that is kind of and I have a long torso and super short legs. So it's like that literally is describing a catcher. So Jason Corley: Yeah. With that that in your infield instincts. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: No, no, no. Josh Crouch: Yes. And I think that was i because I wasn't great in the infield, but I had developed some sort of ⁓ softer hands and just kind of an approach for some level of footwork. I was not good at by any stretch of the infield. ⁓ just had a decent arm. And I think that the catching position was just what he thought. And and and the funny thing is is he I think I mentioned this to you when we talked, ⁓ he is currently the triple A manager for the Dodgers. Jason Corley: Taylor B. Yeah. Yes. Josh Crouch: ⁓ Scott Scott Hennessy was his name. So if he Scott Hennessy ever hears this, like he's the reason that I made it a Pro Bowl. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Scott Hennessy, he he him and I and he and I've never talked to him after that day. He was like, Hey man, super happy to have you guys, you know, come try this out. You should try catching. And I was like, Okay. And then we just never talked to him again and just went all in on what Scott Hennessy said. And then, you know, obviously down the road I ran into the right catching coach. Jason Corley: We'll tag his ass. We'll tag his ass. Jacob Moreno: We'll tag him. Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: And it ended up working out. But it's like it was just a a a crazy story. My parents, I don't know if my parents thought it was the right decision. I think it was like a family decision where we're like, you know, we're gonna gamble on it here. But the biggest piece, the biggest piece, and shout out to Coach Tim Hill at State College of Florida, if he hears about this, their their commitment to me to catch, like when I've never caught before. Jason Corley: They were all in. Josh Crouch: With no and now I'm catching division one guys that are kickbacks from NC State, North Carolina, like Florida, Florida State, and I've never caught anything above 92 before. And nevertheless, like nasty sliders and splitters and things of that nature. So I'm I'm pretty sure if you look my stats up, I had like 23 pass balls my freshman year at Manatee, and I was like and they kept riding with me. And it was just like had did decent with the bat, didn't do anything crazy. Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: But they just kept throwing me out there. And the pitching coach Donnie Robinson, who played for like 15 years in the big leagues, he would be yelling at me and yelling at me to to to drop and block the ball. And I'd be trying to backhand it like an infielder and throw guys out at second base. And I had no idea what it was to lead a pitching staff. So there he they just kept trusting in me. I think Coach Hill might have seen the vision a little bit, ⁓ that hey man, if this guy had some work, he, you know, he'd be pretty good because I was very coachable. Like I'm looking everywhere to try and sponge some information out of somebody to try and get better at my craft. So then the the amount that the pitching coach yelled at me motivated me to find a guy over the summer to like, dude, I cannot do this again. I'm getting like cussed out from the dugout. There's 20 scouts in the stands watching our pitchers and I'm running back to the backstop three or four times a game. Like this isn't gonna be sustainable here. So I I had to I Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Right. Josh Crouch: Went to ⁓ the Florida Collegiate Summer League, and then I ran into, was introduced to a catching coach by the name of Eddie Rodriguez, and he caught in the big leagues, was a big league ⁓ you know, catching coach for the Marlins, and then now he is like a catching consult for the Los Angeles Dodgers. So I had gone to Jason Corley: Okay. Lot of dodgers ties. A lot of Dodgers ties. Josh Crouch: Yep, yep, yep. So ⁓ I went to his place, he broke me down from the ground up, really showed me what it was like to just break down everything with receiving, everything with blocking, like be an athlete behind the dish. And and then I applied everything that I learned through a little bit of summer ball playing integration, but a lot of training that offseason, like just tons of late nights in the cage on a hack attack by myself, trying to figure this out. And ⁓ YouTube videos, like man, just Jason Corley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Josh Crouch: Just really trying because at that time social media really wasn't going with a lot of the instructors and things of that nature. So I'm just doing anything I can to try and get an advantage because kids at this point have already been catching for 10 years. I haven't caught a single ball behind the plate till I get to college. So I'm just relying on like sheer, you know, God gifted ability and athleticism at this point because it's like I I don't have any of this technique now. So Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah, but this is this screams, Jacob, to the fact that like we the I guess you could say the theme that we hear a lot is is that the recruiting process as these kids start to go through the recruit recruiting process is all complete bullshit because they're these people are recruiting the kid for the potential and what they're projecting as. Like they didn't recruit him as an infielder, they recruited him as what they could see as a future catcher, which is proof. Jacob Moreno: Thank Yeah. Jason Corley: that your shortstop could be your center fielder, your right fielder could be your third baseman by the like by the time the the professional hands get their hands on a kid and mold them, it there's no telling what they can turn into. Josh Crouch: ⁓ yes. Nope. And I think that that that's well said because with the kids that I train and just catching camps that I've given over the you know, the past couple of years. Jacob Moreno: Mmm. Josh Crouch: Continue to just be an athlete and play as many positions as you can. To be 12 years old and say, I'm gonna be a shortstop, like yes, that's a great vision to have. Like everyone wants to be Derek Jeter. But the reality is not many people are gonna get a chance to do that. So you need to be adaptable and you need to be an athlete and a MOOC, yes. And you need to just you're gonna do what the game calls for. Cause if the game calls for you to play right field and that's what gets you in the lineup, then you need to go learn right field. Like Jason Corley: A mookie. A mookie. Yeah. My God, yes. Yep. Jacob Moreno: You hearing? Josh Crouch: So ⁓ so that was kind of, you know, what ran into with me. I I I'm not probably gonna play pro ball as a third baseman just because it I don't grade out well as a third baseman at all, but you know, I grade out a little bit better as a catcher. So that's my path. Jason Corley: Cure curious, curious here. You just said you just said those words, grayed out. Like, what is that process like? Like, is that wild to have somebody like what is what does that look like? What does being graded out as a pro, what does that look like, man? Nobody's ever talked about this. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: I mean, goodness gracious. So I mean that that is such a that is such a multifaceted question. I just we could go down so many tangents. So more or less they're looking. I mean, no, it's it for me it was like for some people it might be, but I think it's all the perception of it. For me, it just tells me like, okay, if they're grading me at this, then I know exactly what I need to work on. Like Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Is it humiliating? Okay. Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: By you grading me out, you're telling me what I need to go work on. I don't need to view it as a knock. I need to view it as just the fact. Like people are better at me overall at the pro level at this aspect of the game. So this is what I need to focus my time on. And I say it best to kids like this. As you continue to get older, you're gonna figure out what your strengths are. So you need to do whatever you gotta do to figure out your strengths and then keep your strengths your strengths, because that's the player that you're gonna be, and then make your weaknesses. Jason Corley: Explore them. Josh Crouch: As good as possible, knowing that they'll never be as high as your strengths, but you need to make them at least average. Like for me, I ran a 7-360. I'm never gonna run a 6-4 ever. But I just need to do what I can. Maybe I don't run a good 60-yard dash time, but I can be super athletic and mobile behind the dish, blocking balls left and right, throwing out guys, running down the baseline to back up bags. Like I can use it in a different way. It's not just because just because perfect game or a showcase ⁓ circuit says that I need to run X 60 yard dash, that does not mean that that's set in stone. Cause I know plenty of people that have not run those times that have played in professional baseball. There's different ways to use those talents. So it's all within context. Jason Corley: Yeah. So you literally could yeah. You gotta have you gotta have your tools, but but it's very, very rare to have all five perfected, is what you're saying. Yeah. Josh Crouch: ⁓ it's very rare. That's why you s that's why you see guys on TV. They're like only a few guys every draft in July have the true five tool capability. You you hear them talk about like this is a true five tool player. And when you go through the course of the 11 rounds of the or the 20 rounds of the draft, like there's only a couple of those guys that they say have true five tool potential. And potential doesn't mean it's gonna happen, it's just potential. So Jacob Moreno: Okay. Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Because most guys get derailed along the way or they just never reach their ceiling. And that's just that's just the nature of the beast. Like, you know, different whether it's different swing ideologies or maybe injuries or things of that nature, just life happens and maybe you don't reach what your potential is. So, but yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Sorry, sorry, Jacob. I know I'm running this one, sorry, but we have these little cu Josh, we have these little cues when he goes to his beard he wants to say something and I've ignored four of them, so go ahead. Jacob Moreno: No, no, you're good. ⁓ No, and you were you were talking when did you like bringing it back? When did you realize that baseball was going to be more than just a hobby or you know, just play with the boys? Josh Crouch: Go, go. Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Man, I'll tell you this right now. Like, so my dad played baseball the moment. Okay, so my dad played baseball in the military and he played he played for the army and it was just he he didn't play college or anything like that, but he always I think loved the game because obviously he played in the military and then he also played slow pitch in some competitive softball when he got done. So ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Or what was that moment? Jason Corley: Those are the guys that can't walk away from it, so they hang on as long as they can. Josh Crouch: No. Yes, but my dad also, you know, kudos to my dad because my dad was never the guy that was forceful of baseball upon me. Like my my dad and mom met playing tennis. So it's like they baseball was what I did and it's what I was getting good at, but it's just something that I think over time that I fell in love with because just how hard it is. Like the constant failure of the game brings you back, man. Jason Corley: The chess man. The chess man. Josh Crouch: It it it's it's it's a it's a it's obsessive, it's like a drug almost. It's like, man, some people view it, especially growing up, I think when they have some struggles, like man, s like I I I don't wanna do this. I mean, forget this, like this sucks. There's this is a game of failure. For me, that just motivated me to get even better. Like Jason Corley: The first time a thirteen year old gets to the big field and faces eighty five and is super discouraging and they either it's it's that decision, okay, this sucks and this isn't fun anymore, or okay, no, we gotta figure this shit out. Yeah. Josh Crouch: ⁓ yeah. And I to a to answer your question, Jacob, I think when I was growing up before I was on all those big time all-star teams that I was telling you about, there was a definite moment that I remember. There was an all-star team. I can't remember, it might have been like s eight eight, nine U. Like they created there it doesn't matter what happened, but I wasn't on that all-star team. Whether I should have been on that all-star team or wasn't on that all-star team, it is what it is. But I didn't make it and that Jacob Moreno: You Josh Crouch: Yeah, yeah. So I didn't make that Ulster team and it really rubbed me the wrong way. I was like, I should be on that team right there, and I'm gonna do whatever I can to make that never happen again. So I just proceeded to put my head down and I completely went probably to the far side of obsessive, which is tr I wouldn't recommend for a lot of people as well. Like just no life, cage, cage, cage, cage, cage, like every single day. And Jason Corley: Right. Jacob Moreno: You Josh Crouch: Then I look up and you know, 15 years later I'm still doing the same thing. So it's like I don't know, I wouldn't recommend that. But to answer your question, I the failure of the game one and then not making a team that I felt like I should make as a young kid really pushed me. Like, man, I really wanna obviously I saw people playing on TV and you look up to guys like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, but like I was just a kid that was obsessed with Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe ⁓ Jason Corley: Right. Josh Crouch: Learning the game, figuring out different aspects of the game. How can I get better? Like I would I would be the kid in technology class in middle school and high school. I'd be sitting there and the teacher has views of all the computers in the in the in the technology class on her screen. And I'm there YouTube and baseball stuff, looking up, you know, perfect game, looking at Brendan Rogers taking ground balls, perfect game, all American game. Like Josh, get off YouTube. Like just yelling at me across the class. So that that that's that's how I grew up, but Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Okay, all right. I listen, I wanna ask this before we go back to UCF and your time there. Why just because this is how my ADD works, dude, and as I think of things, I have to spit them out or I'm gonna forget ⁓ Cause I don't take notes and I don't write shit down. Why I wanna why do catchers suck in major league baseball? You guys are professionals. Why you know every pitch that's coming? Please explain this to me like I'm six. Why? You know what he's gonna throw. Josh Crouch: Well Jacob Moreno: See you! Josh Crouch: I mean yes and no. Just because I just because I know what he's gonna throw doesn't mean I can hit it. Like so that that's a story of my life. I could be I could be sitting on a fastball and that doesn't mean I'm gonna hit it. So it's like Jason Corley: What is it? Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! Jason Corley: But is it the craft that you guys just get zero time in the cage 'cause you're so focused on the staff? Is that what it is? Jacob Moreno: bullpens and Josh Crouch: Yes. It's because not only is it a defensive position, it's a relationship position with the pitching staff. But I mean there's so many facets that we could talk about. Like catchers have tighter hips, so maybe their swing mechanics are are are not as efficient. Excuses, excuses, whatever you want to call it. But Jason Corley: Sounds like excuses, goddammit. Jacob Moreno: Now, Brainly, my son goes through that plate catcher. Josh Crouch: That's what I'm saying. So it's like maybe there's some movement problems. Maybe there's obviously the low hanging fruit is we're always in the bullpen. We're always doing catching drills. We're always doing things of that nature because it's one of the four positions on the field that is a true defensive position. So it's like I mean, really three, maybe four if you include second base ish, but for sure center field shortstop catcher. Like those are defensive positions a hundred percent. So The priority is hey, we need you to lead this staff. We need you to ⁓ catch these bullpins, catch these lives, like do whatever you gotta do. And if you know, if you take a few hits offensively, like maybe not getting as much reps in the cage, then that is what it is, 'cause we're not really expecting you to produce as much as your third baseman or your right fielder or your first baseman, things of that nature. So Jason Corley: So your Perez's of the worlds are truly unicorns. Josh Crouch: ⁓ boy. I mean you see it like the Cal Raleigh, what he did ⁓ last year, like hitting sixty home runs. It's like incredibly unbelievable. Like when you see something like that happen, knowing the the amount of stress and workload that the catcher has to endure throughout the whole season and then seeing them produce as the elite offensive guy on the team, it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. So yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, I just I had to ask that for all the dads out there wondering why they get pissed off and throw shit at the TV when we're watching the tribe and jo you know what I mean and Bo Naylor cannot get on base. I just can't figure it out. But okay. All right, so let's go back to UCF. What was it like and how did the train how did that whole process go of you going from FAI or FIA ⁓ Josh Crouch: No, no, no. ⁓ so I went to State College of Florida. Yep. Jacob Moreno: You go. Jason Corley: That's right. State College of Florida. Then what? Somebody saw you at UCF? Josh Crouch: So basically the way the way I got in touch with UCF, there was a couple other schools, Florida State, Miami, looking at me, but they never, it wasn't anything serious. And Cincinnati, a couple other like mid-major schools, but when I was at junior college, our junior college had connections to them. So when I went to go play summer ball in Orlando, they would just pop on over a little bit. And I was getting some high some recommendations from some people that they knew that, hey, you know, you should check out this kid, blah, blah, blah. And then they ended up being there, had a few good games, and then obviously they had a need at the catching position as well at UCF. They didn't have an upperclassman really. So I was I was the guy. And I really UCF was actually the first offer I got in junior college and I just straight up took it. So I took it. I was like, whether that's right, wrong, or indifferent, could I have gone to another place if I waited? I mean maybe, maybe. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Who knows? Right. Josh Crouch: But also you don't know like you don't know if that's I mean you don't know if that's gonna happen. You don't know if you're gonna get your opportunity. So the my mentality on it was they s yep. And they said I was gonna they said I was gonna get playing time and I would obviously have to compete for a job, but there's an opportunity there if I produce. And ⁓ and I and I and I did. I didn't have a great year in twenty twenty, but I ended up playing. Jason Corley: When the door opens, you gotta either walk through it or move on and you gotta walk through ⁓ Yep. Yeah. And that's the only that's only two hours from home. Josh Crouch: Two hours from home. So parents were there, friends were there often. And I I I think something for me mentally as well. It was it was nice knowing that I was still in state. Like going out of state for me really wasn't because I'm a true Florida kid, man. I love the beach. So I I I cannot play in the cold. Good lord. So well, yeah, I cannot play in the cold. Some people can't, the the people in the cold hate playing in the heat. When it gets really hot and it's 110, I love bring it on. Jason Corley: Sure. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Like I I am anything below sixty degrees, dude, I got a two jackets on. So Jason Corley: Yeah, so we usually start our season in Indiana and I'm the dad that brings a torpedo heater in order to keep kids from getting frostbit. So you're saying that wouldn't work for you? Yeah. What'd you hear? Right. Right. Bur burning his batting gloves in his gloves, trying to warm everything up. Okay. So how did UCF go? Jacob Moreno: You Josh Crouch: ⁓ no, it that would work for me. I would just be the kid glued to the heater. Like I would be there the whole game. Yeah. Yeah, yep, yep. Jacob Moreno: It's 40 degrees, raining, snowing. Josh Crouch: I mean, man, it was a great, it was a great opportunity for me because I feel like it was really the breeding ground for kind of the rest of my career as a player. And then what I learned as far as a like on the coaching side, the people that I ran into there, man, it was like elite. So got there in 2020. ⁓ we ended up having a lot of junior college transfers that year. ⁓ Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. Right. Josh Crouch: first 15 or 16 games, I don't know what it was. We were 11th in the country. So we were projected to host a regional. Like it was gonna be sick. And then boom, COVID happens. Go over the summer, I was like I said, I was hitting 200 at that point. ⁓ it was really the first time I was getting incorporated in a strength program, in plyo balls, and things of that nature, because we were we were back home in Seabring flipping tires and doing sledgehammers. Like we weren't in the weight room that much. And and ⁓ so that's how I grew up. So the weight room thing was a whole new transition for me because I mean a junior college there's not really that big of a there's some weightlifting stuff, but there's not a strength coach. Like everyone's on their own. Yes. Yes. So that's the way it was. So and then obviously adapting to a D1, having study hall, having the whole nine nine yards of things that you never expect coming from a JUCO that next step up, it's a big ⁓ adjustment on you. Jason Corley: Right. Right. It's a pr it's a prison gym. It's there's a prison yes. Yes. Josh Crouch: Just even off the field stuff. There's there's a bun and then training off the field, going to see other coaches, things of that nature. So there's just a lot of stuff happening. But when we got done with that 2020 season, I went and we got the opportunity to play summer ball back again in Orlando because everywhere else was shut down. I was gonna go to the Cape, the Cape was shut down. So the Florida Collegiate Summer League was the only place open. So a lot of the really good players played there. And that's when again got a Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah, 'cause you guys had different you guys had different regulations. So it was open yes. Josh Crouch: Yep, a hundred percent. Nope. So we were playing the whole summer. So I was training and playing the whole summer. So I think the biggest thing was is at the time in twenty twenty, I was introduced to a coach there at the UCF Rock on the UCF coaching staff who his name is Andy Barquette. He was the big league co big league hitting ⁓ excuse me, assistant big league hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox when they won the World Series back in eighteen. Jacob Moreno: They never shut down. Josh Crouch: So when he was done with the Red Sox, he came to the University of Central Florida because his daughter, ⁓ there was an opening there, and I think he was trying to help out a little bit. His daughter played soccer for UCF and he lived locally. So that was just kind of a no-brainer for him to come on over and help out a little bit, got involved. No question. He started bringing in a lot of the systems that they did with the Red Sox, him working with JD ⁓ Martinez and Mookie Betts, a lot of the drill systems that they did. Now he's implementing that on 19 to 21 year old college kids. Jason Corley: Yep. Josh Crouch: And we're just emphasizing routine every day, doing the same thing every single day, every single day, because that's what these guys are doing. So if you want to go there, you need to do that too. So then he was running the scouting reports, man. And it was just like crazy, crazy the stuff that he had access to in Pro Bowl, obviously, which I would run into later down the road. But seeing that in college, I was like, this is incredible. And we got really, really good. No question why we were 11th in the country. Jason Corley: Eating it Josh Crouch: Then we come back, have that summer ball, got better, went to the same catching coach, Eddie Rodriguez, got even better at catching, then come back the next year, fix my swing a little bit as well. Bought into really what is a routine, how can I execute it? Whether I go four for four or ⁓ for four or three punches, I'm doing my same hitting routine every single day. Every single day, and just trusting in the routine and that in the long run, when we wait, when we look up at 60 games later, I'm gonna be in a good spot. So I Jason Corley: You guys had a che you guys had a professional cheat code, is what you had. Josh Crouch: We did. We did. We did. Like Troy Tulowitzki when he's when he's he's coaching, like the same thing. The same thing. It's it's it's it's it's really at the pro level you just get introduced to it's no it's not necessarily ⁓ the quantity of things, it's the quality of things. And he's teaching you how to take the quality more serious so you can get better in a shorter amount of time. So that's a lot of the stuff that I that I used from him and applied to my career. Jason Corley: Right. Right. Jacob Moreno: Mm. the quality. Josh Crouch: Which led me right into Pro Ball, man. ⁓ the the head the the hitting coach there, ⁓ UCF Ted Tom, ⁓ he's now the A ball hitting coach for the Washington Nationals. ⁓ he also super l super influential in my career as far as like he you know, very serious guy and he's like routine every single day, every single day, every single day. So between him and Andy, it's just like a great hitting environment, man. So Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: No question why everyone really, really excelled. And then I ended up, you know, having over a thousand OPS that year in in college and then got drafted. So the the the unfortunate part is that COVID really screwed me over because I was 22, not 21, and I had over a thousand OPS. And who knows if I'm 21, what happens, you know, where I get drafted. But I got drafted in the 11th round as a 22-year-old. Jacob Moreno: you Jason Corley: So wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no, dumb that down for me. So y just one year of age would have would have made you more or less valuable than is what you're saying. Josh Crouch: Well, it's it well, less valuable. It's it's gonna make you one year of a one older year of age is going to make you it's not less valuable, it's that they don't have a requirement to pay you as much money because you don't have any leverage to go back to school. Like if I if I have to go back to school, it's as a senior and then I'm gonna sign as a five a five thousand dollar to ten thousand dollar deal the next year. Whereas if I was a a a june a true junior. Jason Corley: Give me. Josh Crouch: I do have the leverage, but at that time I was what they call a COVID junior, aka a senior. So I would have to go into a fifth year after that. So they could kind of lowball you, if you will. ⁓ and I ended up signing for slot, full slot in the 11th round. so but yeah, co I have so many friends, man. COVID really messed up a lot of people. A lot of people. Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: you Jason Corley: Jake, have you talked everybody we've talked to has been through this covet thing with ball. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, the last two guys we had on to talked about COVID and how it, you know, screwed, you know, mess with their eligibility and stuff like that as well. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Jacob, did you have something? Okay. Josh Crouch: Yep, a hundred percent. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, what was one of the biggest lessons you learned being at UCF? Whether it was good or it bad. Josh Crouch: For me, I think it would be two things. It it one is like I mentioned the routine. It's as a hitter and as a baseball player, you know, baseball is a game of failure and the crap is gonna hit the fan very often. Very often. So you have to find a place of confidence within a routine. If you don't have a routine and you're just flying by the seat of your pants, you're gonna be like this all year long. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: All year long, you're gonna have good days and bad days, and your mental game is just gonna be all over the place. Whereas if I have a routine that I know, hey, these are the five things, this is the mobility routine, this is the arm care routine, this is the hitting routine that I do to make myself ⁓ perform to the level I'm capable of on a day-to-day basis, at the end of the year, everything's gonna fall into place for me because I'm gonna play with my ultimate confidence more often. If I don't have a routine, Then the confidence is gonna be splotchy. You'll be there some games and then you won't be there some games and they'll be like, man, this guy's just two hit or miss. Like, I come watch him on a Wednesday at a midweek game and he goes four for four, but then when he faces a really good guy on a Friday night, then he he doesn't perform. Well, for me, that's because that person hasn't bought into a routine. So when the game is easy and when you know that the guy on the mound's not better than you, then you're e It's easy to go. But when you know the guy on the mound's gonna be a first rounder, like and I'm not a first rounder, I gotta find a way to elevate my game to that first round status to be able to at least compete with him ninety-five, ninety-six or three different pitches for a strike, to be able to compete on a weekend series against some big teams like we played Old Miss, Auburn, Miami, a lot of those teams. And we ended up at UCF having a lot of success against those teams. And I truly think that's because as a team, we bought into a system. Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: And we all kind of like encouraged each other, dude. We know that this stuff works. It's coming from a credible source, and the people from that source make way more money than we do. So what if it's if it's good enough for Mookie Betts and JD Martinez, it's good enough for Josh Crouch. So that that that that's kind of where I really got bought into that and and sold on that. Number two, I would say the most impactful thing at UCF was that was the first time that I. Jason Corley: Right. Hundred Josh Crouch: started to put on some size and some weight and some muscle and gain weight and really make strides in the weight room. Because until then I was like, if you go back and look at my pictures, I was 185 pounds, like just a little kind of athletic scrawny looking athlete, like blah blah blah. You can call a lot of different names for it. But I wasn't like big and ready to play Pro Ball like a lot of the guys I was playing against were like can your body with stain a hunt ⁓ be withheld through Jason Corley: Right. Josh Crouch: 140 to 160 games throughout a pro season. Like I'm not gonna do that at 185 pounds. Like I need to put on some weight. So I think that getting involved in that weight room and being like, man, this is what it feels like to go a full year and truly buy into the weight room side of things, that was also a game changer for me. ⁓ and it plus it's also a lot different in college than in Pro Ball. In Pro Ball, you're playing six days a week. Like you can't really lift heavy like you do in college in Pro Ball. Probably it's much more about maintenance and staying ready for the next game and the next game 'cause it's back to back to back to back to back and you only have Mondays off. Whereas in in college you have a midweek game and then you have the three on the weekend. Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: So it's like there's a those gap of of three days where man, I got some off time, I got some time to recover. So you can increase the weight the weight room intensity a lot. So I was able to make strides and that's when I was introduced to the nutritional side of things. And I think that really elevated my game. ⁓ just because I wasn't ever used to that coming from, you know, small town. We didn't have any guys that were pushing that side of the game. So Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. And that's also too I that's probably where the a lot of business decisions, as they say, get made is in college with that free time. You know, you in that free time, you're either you're either striving to become a professional or you're striving to become a a college kid. And that's that's those off days that I that you're talking about where it that's the separator. That's the separator when you get the big boy ball, right? Josh Crouch: Yes. Yep. Yep. A hundred percent. And I think that that's a real conversation kids have to have themselves in college. There's only very few kids that can participate in the things that happen in college. And be able to be at their best every single day. There's gonna have to be some sacrifices. There's very few God-gifted five tool athletes that just show up every single day and they're the best player on the field. There are very few of those. The rest of us, normal people like myself, we have to be able to find something to buy into, like the routine, where we are like, we gotta find something to at least get us to average, man. And then the mentality takes us the rest of the way. Like, cause I I I mean if you look at Jason Corley: Well, Jacob Moreno: Heh. Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: what people have written up about me over my Yeah not Jason Corley: It's called a just so you know, it's called a NARP. We've learned that last night. What? A NARP? Nor normal what is it? Normal, average, non athletic, regular people. Okay. That's what MJ calls them. MJ MJ was explaining to us what who we would hang out with. And what did he ⁓ how do you say any NARP? A NARP means like, yeah, we just you know, you would just kick it with NARPs. And I'm like, Hold up, stop. Can you please tell the audience what a NARP? He's like, ⁓ yeah. Normal a ⁓ no, non athletic regular people. Jacob Moreno: No, a NARP. Non-athletic, non-athletic regular person. Josh Crouch: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: NARP. Josh Crouch: Non athletic regular people. Jason Corley: And I'm like, dude, that's the most racist shit I've heard all day. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Bro, bro, it's like yeah, but it's I mean to a certain point. I mean, my guy's right. Like, there's there's there's there's there's gonna be some sacrifices there, man. Like there's the freaks and then everyone else that's regular. Like, and you can't as a regular person think that you're a freak, even though mentally you want to think that, but you have to know yourself and know the player that you are. Like, man, I don't just wake up in the morning and throw 97, like I'm not that guy. Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Really? ⁓ Josh Crouch: Like I gotta work for everything that I have and and and do it every single day. So for me, I think there was a lot of sacrifices, a lot of like I'm not saying as a college guy, don't go out and participate and do the stuff that, you know, hang out with your team and and do things of that nature. A hundred percent I'm all in on that stuff because college baseball is the best time ever. Like you talk to anybody in Pro Bowl, like Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Unless you're talking about winning a World Series, they're like, man, college was the was the days, man. Like going back and just going to strive to get to the regional and super regional and the college world series, like that process and going, it's real, man. It's real. So it's like, but some guys if they really want to go play Pro Bowl, they got to take it way more seriously than other people, and they gotta lock in on every single facet of the game. Whereas some people ⁓ have the God-given talent to where they can maybe take some of that off and still get away with it. Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Yes. Yes. That's real. That's real. Yeah. Did you play with guys that their dream was just college ball and then they were good? Like that was it? ⁓ you did? Okay. Josh Crouch: Hundred percent. A hundred percent because a hundred percent because that's paying that's what's paying the scholarship sometime. So maybe they want to go be a doctor and they wanna go do that, but baseball is the means of way them to get there. So 'cause not everyone not everyone wants to be a pro baseball player and live that lifestyle. Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Is there avenue to Okay. Okay. Did you have I I Jacob Moreno: They sposed their car. Jason Corley: All right. So did you ever did you ever play with somebody that you're like, dude, like he didn't he didn't want it as bad as those of you that were striving for pros, but he had every tool that you needed to make ⁓ did you? And you're just like you kid you're just like, Bro, like why? Why don't you want this as bad as I do? And there's you're okay. Josh Crouch: Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. And no, it's a hundred percent whether it's like they have they have the tools, like the five tools that we talked about. They have ⁓ but ⁓ whether it be, you know, whether where baseball is on that priority list is maybe a little bit different. Like it's just a casual thing, or maybe they're again doing it to just just ⁓ pay the bills for tuition, like that that is what it is. But Jacob Moreno: Hehehe Josh Crouch: There's definitely guys that have had the talent and, you know, have either squandered it by their own personal decisions or they just don't care. So and that and that and that's fine. That's fine. I'm not saying it it takes a different mentality to go play Pro Ball, like a hundred percent. Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. Yeah. And there's guys with there's guys with that don't have the tools but work and get there because they did want it. So yeah, it's a two-way shoot. But yeah, I mean I think all of us, I mean, I'm fifty years old. We all have that friend in high school that were like, dude, if any of us had a shred of your talent, we would keep it and we would run with it and never give it back. And here you are just pissing this away at the pool hall, like doing nothing. Josh Crouch: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. Josh Crouch: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. Jacob Moreno: Good. Jason Corley: Yeah. So all right, so what was the draft like and how did that go? Josh Crouch: Yeah, no, I mean it's I was at ⁓ you know right when the UCF we we lost in the conference tournament to USF that year and they ended up making it to a super regional and then ⁓ at that time I was kind of sprinkling into some pre-draft workouts and things of that nature. and I had at the I was you took the words out of my mouth. So at the time I was advisor list. Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Do you have an advisor? Did you have an advis? Josh Crouch: And then I was, as we're going into the conference tournament at the end of the year, I reached out to one of my close friends and I told him I said one of my friends' dads. And I was like, hey, I I don't have an advisor. Like I don't have an agent. I I I draw up my old agent. Is there someone that you know that would you could recommend them to come watch me or things of that nature? Just is there someone that I can is there someone that I can talk to that can maybe represent? And so this guy, Tom O'Connell, was my agent for the six the six seasons in Pro Bowl. ⁓ shout out Tom O'Connell. He's gonna see this a hundred percent. ⁓ he came to the conference tournament, ended up hitting four home runs in the conference tournament, and he was like, Okay, I'm gonna take this guy. And then cause he didn't take that many guys overall, ⁓ he's he's a he's a he's not part of an agency that has many different agents underneath them as an umbrella. He's just his own guy. Jason Corley: Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. Josh Crouch: And he has one he has one guy named ⁓ Chris that helps him out. So ⁓ I came, had a really good conference tournament, and then he was telling me like as I was going to some of these pre-draft workouts and things of that nature, like, hey man, we don't really know, like I didn't know if I was gonna get drafted. Like I had a thousand OPS and there was still a question if I was gonna get drafted. So and I'm freaking out. Like I put in all this time, effort, and energy to be able to play catch up from college and Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: to for for four years basically to be able to catch up to all the other catchers in the country. And I don't know if I'm gonna get drafted. So I'm freaking out like crazy. And then we end up having a draft party ⁓ at my buddy's house and ⁓ got a call in the was it the sixth round I think and I they asked me sixth or seventh round, maybe eighth round, ⁓ to sign for like $50,000 and like way under slot, way under slot. Just as like a senior sign kind of guy. They signed Jason Corley: Okay, okay, okay. Josh Crouch: Now, obviously there's a drafts 20 rounds. You'll see in like round seven through 10, they take some guys that were older for way less money. And then they save their money for later on in the draft. So that's kind of what happened. But my agent was like, nope, we're gonna get full slot. We're gonna get the $125,000 in the 11th round or later on day three. So just trust me, ⁓ sleepless night, I'll tell you that. Sleepless night. So I was like Jason Corley: That's gotta be tough. That's gotta be tough to trust. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: I I I I mean, okay, like I trust you, you've been doing this a long time. Let's do it. So then we call and I'm, you know, one of the first picks in the 11th round by the Tigers. And then I know that we also had some calls from some other teams after that that if I didn't get drafted by them, I was gonna get taken a couple picks later. So ⁓ but it worked out with the Tigers because man, the spring training's 45 minutes from my house in Central Florida and Lakeland, Florida. So close to spring training stadium to my house. So it was Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. Right. Right. ⁓ you friends, family get to come watch, all that shit. Josh Crouch: Yep, yep, yep, yep. So that was really, really special. ⁓ 'cause you know, obviously if I was in Florida to Arizona, like you know, your parents maybe get to come out once, but my parents always came up on the weekends and things of that nature. So it was great. It was great. And then and ⁓ yeah, so the draft time was very, very stressful. I don't think it's for the guys that the guys that know they're going early, it's Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Obviously, yes, 100% stressful on them because a bunch of different things can change as far as like this team decides to take this guy instead of you. So then you're dropping down and you're freaking out. So it's just a roller coaster of emotions. But from I think guys later in the draft that are not even sure if they're gonna get drafted, like I think it's even more stressful because it's like, man, I might have to be signing a free agent contract here or something like that instead of so it's just it's just again, every person different. Jason Corley: Sure. Right. Okay. Josh Crouch: really depending upon your how did you perform, what conference are you in, ⁓ how old are you, what position do you play, what's the organizational need? Like there's so many facets that Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. So what was the Tigers? What was the Tigers organization like? That's your first taste. That's your first taste of being a professional. What was that like? Josh Crouch: So the Tigers Yeah, man, I I I I can't say enough good things about them. I mean, a as a pro, I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't know what to expect. So, but the coaches that I met along the way there, I mean, just first class, like catch a lot interestingly enough, a lot of the guys that coached me were former catchers in the big leagues. So I I think a lot of and even in the minor leagues for a long time as well. ⁓ Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: So I think the relation the the kind of person and the player that I molded into was a result of the coaches that I was around. ⁓ so yeah, man, it coming into the Tigers, we Ala Vila was the GM at the time when I was there. He's the guy that drafted me. And then after our my first full season, he got wiped and the new front office came in. So there was a completely new, and then Scott Harris, who's there now, he Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: he was the front office that had come in. So ⁓ there was obviously some changes and some different hirings and some, you know, guys getting promoted, guys getting demoted and the and on the player development side of things. So ⁓ but I could just say that the two things. The the group of guys that I got drafted with, I mean, so many good memories. I mean I still stay in contact with a bunch of them obviously ⁓ even though I got rule five to the Angels but Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Okay. Josh Crouch: I mean, and a lot of them are, you know, currently in the big leagues right now right now, like ⁓ you know, Ty Madden, Brant Herter, ⁓ Jackson Job, How Yu Lee, he just got called up, played with Kevin McGonagall, like all these guys. ⁓ it was just a great experience. Great experience for me. I I I learned so much, so much from them because in college, especially as a catcher, I think that a lot of people are. Kind of baby sat because they're gonna have a little earpiece in their ear and they're gonna say, fastball away, slider. And there's no reason or the the well, the there's a reason the pitching coach is the only one that knows why, because the pitching coach doesn't necessarily pull the catchers in on those conversations. At some programs, I I they do, but my experience between junior college and then in and at UCF. Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: We were not brought in on the scouting report side of things. Obviously, we knew what the pitcher's strengths were, but we didn't really scout the other team. So when I got to the Tigers, the biggest thing that I realized is I'm on my freaking own. Like I gotta figure out a game plan. I gotta know the other team. I gotta know my pitcher. I gotta figure out what makes my pitcher tick. And I gotta be able to execute that inside of a game plan, you know. Jason Corley: Mm-hmm. Okay. Josh Crouch: Whether the pitcher's on that day or off that day, there's gotta be an A plan and a B plan and a C plan. So it there it there's just and I gotta know everyone in the bullpen. So that goes back to your comment on why catchers don't necessarily hit. It's because it's I I think I think it's just because that's just down on the priority list. Obviously hitting in today's game is being elevated a little bit more, but you see ⁓ well the priority of hitting, whether or not it actually happens in the Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Hmm. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. True. Very good point. Yes. Yes. Josh Crouch: The the priority of hitting is definitely ⁓ increasing more. Whereas you see like like Patrick Bailey, like he got traded. Like he's a two-time gold glover. They got traded because he wasn't hitting. So and whether there's something else there, I don't know. But I played against Patrick a little bit in double A with the Tigers. So and he elite defender. He's I I like watching ⁓ a lot of his videos and try and model myself after him as far as like You know, throwing from different arm slots relating to that me being as an infielder prior. Like I wanna be an I wanna be an infielder with catchers gear. I don't wanna be one of the I'm I'm just not one of those big, bulky, six foot three catchers or guys that are super big back there, kind of just big target. No, I'm mobile, all over the place, athletic, like I and then that so I'm looking at catchers that I can emulate that have that same style of play. So but that was the thing with the Tigers, man. Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. Josh Crouch: I had a lot of catching up to do, and these coaches taught me the hey, this is how you create a game plan. Obviously, there's the analytics side of it and you do the game planning online through different databases and things of that nature. But you it all boils down to you gotta have a really good relationship with the guys in the bullpen. You need to know what makes them tick, you need to know the guys that you can get onto, you need to know the guys that you you know have to cater and go over there and pat their butt a little bit, make them feel good. Like you gotta know. Jason Corley: Yeah. So I so I have a question that as you say that and the importance of it, is that is that why Austin Hedges is so revered with our organization? Because he's apparently like obviously I've never met the guy, but he is here to specifically to civic to specifically hold the hand of the pitching staff for the Cleveland Guardians. Like I apparently he's just famous for his ability to have these relationships, and that's what you're talking about. Josh Crouch: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. See he's and and there's been plenty of catchers in there like that in the past that have had ten plus year careers because of their relationship abilities. So and I think the guys that I was coached by in the minor leagues, the that's the guys that I was coached by in Jason Corley: That's greatly. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: His son his son his son has a gift to make best friends with an oak tree if he has to. You know what I mean? That's and as a catcher, he has that ability. So, like that is a tool that Brantley always will have that a lot of kids that may have better footwork than him do not have Brantley's ability to relate to people and get them to fall in love with him. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Yeah. Exactly. No, exactly. And that and that and that's something that that's like a six tool for a catcher. That's like the uncoachable stuff. So whereas Brantley is his name, so that's what I'm saying. So Brantley, if he doesn't have as good a tools as other people in the showcase circuit, if he just makes himself presentable enough to where he can get to college and continue to build these relationships, down the road, if he gets good enough, he's gonna get a shot at Pro Bowl just because that's valuable. Jacob Moreno: Yes. Josh Crouch: That's valuable. Like at the end of the day, because there's also on the flip side, there's guys that have a ton of talent and can't manage a pitching staff and they're out of Pro Ball too. So you can't just say it's all about the talent. There is a very much ⁓ a game management and a pitching staff leading. And there's a presence to go back to hedges. He has a presence as, hey man, if this guy's back behind the dish today, like I got a really good shot. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Because I trust everything that he's putting down and I know that he has my best interest at heart. So, and that's really kind of as I went through the minor leagues, that's what I tried to emulate. Early on, I I didn't wasn't really sold out to that because I was worried about hitting. And then I had a really good offensive year. And then I realized that look, it doesn't matter if I get four hits, I still got to go out and catch those guys because Jason Corley: Right, right. Josh Crouch: If I go 0 for four and that pitcher sees me pouting and throwing my stuff at the end of the dugout, and then he knows that I'm calling pitches out there on the field and my head still like spinning from the prior at bat, that's not going to build a lot of confidence in them with me behind the dish. So I had to kind of adjust my way of thinking and adjust my approach to, hey man, it's very cliche and you hear it a lot. You got to be able to separate offense and defense, and it's very true because. When you're 110 games into it and you're going through an 0 for 20 slump, man, you're gonna feel like throwing your helmet through the wall in the in the tunnel. But at the end of the day, you may just have to push that to the side, go set it down. And the way that I can make up for that strikeout is by going out and calling a scoreless inning. So it's about reframing the priority. Like, yes, it is important to hit, and that is a big priority in today's game. But if I throw up a zero. Jacob Moreno: Mm. Jason Corley: Mm-hmm. Josh Crouch: With that guy on the mound, my catcher's ERA is every bit as important. Yes, yes. So I mean, man, to go back to some of the coaches I I I had, like they were backups in the big leagues and they were relationship guys. They weren't necessarily like your frontline starters that were catching every day. They were the guys that caught maybe two games a week, but they really knew how to go in. You knew you were gonna get a good outing out of out of the pitcher with that guy behind the plate just because he did his homework. Jason Corley: That just wiped yeah, that just that just squared those two out. Yeah. Josh Crouch: He knows the pitcher. He's gonna, you know, put his body on the line for you back there. He knows how to have a relationship with the umpire. He's doing checking all the boxes of the intangibles for a catcher. So and I learned through those guys, and that's, you know, kind of the game that I've the kind of player that I've emulated myself af after, you know, as I got later on in my career. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Jacob, did you have something you went through your beard like seven times? Jacob Moreno: ⁓ no, I had an itch. You're good. It really did. Jason Corley: Okay. All right. So I have a qu so then I do have a question that is not anything that other than just popped up as you're talking about this relationship aspect of being a professional catcher. Obviously coming through UCF and being listen, you're getting you're getting offers out of high school. You're the man at UCF, your OPS is a thousand, you're getting drafted. There's there's a there's a little bit You have to have a little bit of an ego in order to fight through the bullshit to get to be able to get to a draft. First of all, you've got to be the dude. And then you get the pro ball. And as a professional catcher, you gotta you gotta figure out how to turn that back off now, don't you? Because everything is about the rubber and you're you're the unsung hero that nobody ever gets to talk about. Is that hard? Like emotionally and psychologically, is that tough? Josh Crouch: I mean, yeah, cause sometimes I feel like you do want people to pat your back a little bit, but that's that's that's part of the game. That that that's part of I'm the one that signed up to put the catcher's gear on. So there's certain things that come with the position that I have to just be okay with. So and I know going in, well, I didn't necessarily know going in, but I figured it out quick. Like I'm not the priority here. Like it's about the dude on the mound because Jason Corley: It ain't gonna happen. And you know going in. Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: If if if the dude on the mound crumbles, we're probably gonna lose the game. So I gotta find a way to be his personal psychologist and figure out you know, if you give up two runs this inning, I gotta figure out a way to keep it at two runs. This can't spiral and we get to five runs and then have no shot coming back later in the game. So there's just Jason Corley: Do you guys ever do you guys ever mess around with like psychological classes or anything like that? Like, do you guys study any of that stuff to get to know? And how many languages do you know? Josh Crouch: I mean I would say that I would say that I know like I mean I'm obviously I mean ten percent, fifteen percent maybe Spanish. Like I understand more than I can respond just from all the Latins that I played with. But ⁓ like yeah, yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Sure. Did you ever have any Japanese like did you ever have to mess it? Like, did you ever have to catch any Japanese and you're just like, no clue. I got no idea, coach. Jacob Moreno: That's why he asked. That's why he asked. Josh Crouch: No, no. No, no. Yeah, no. Like we I played with How Yu Lee, who's in the big leagues with the Tigers now as an infielder, and he was actually my roommate in high A and ⁓ for a little bit. But yeah, no, I I a lot of a lot of English guys, plus the higher and higher you go, like double A, triple A, things of that nature, the the Spanish guys are speaking English. It's really the lower levels. It Jason Corley: It's just Jose Ramirez. He's the only one holding out. Josh Crouch: It's the whole it's it's the lower levels where they really don't and they're going through those English clashes and stuff like that. But ⁓ I mean yeah, man. Jacob Moreno: Good. Jason Corley: Gotcha. Okay. Okay. I just I was just curious because it just it's I I know that it's gotta be a psychological warfare and I just didn't know if like if you guys you know, if there's catchers out there that separate themselves because they're studying psychology in the off season as much as they're studying scouting reports and or if it's just a feel for each individual and you and it's just a best friend relationship. Okay. Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. Josh Crouch: Exactly. So I think it's a little bit of both. You can take some mental courses and read some books that obviously help you out. ⁓ because I think, you know, reflecting on my career just being done a short time ago, the mental game is probably something that I could have gotten better at. But also I will say this, and a lot of people I think would agree with this. The mental game, you can learn all you want, but until you're on the field putting it into application, it doesn't mean anything. Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: I could read a hundred books on the mental game and be really book smart, but that doesn't mean I can apply it into the game. So you need to be good. Jason Corley: Bro, bro, there's a lot of architects that have never swung a hammer. So I get what you're saying. And that's the way to dumb it down. There's a lot of architects that have designed amazing architectural structures that have no idea how to put that screw into that board. So Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Yes. So yes. Jacob Moreno: Mm-mm. Josh Crouch: Yep, exactly. And I think that's for me and what I've learned, it's about being sold out to the best interest of every pitcher on that team. Like that's what it is. At the beginning of the year, I need to go up and I need to introduce myself to them, obviously, at spring training. And then throughout spring training and then the early parts of whenever we're at the affiliate and the early parts of the season, we gotta be on the same page. I gotta know what makes you tick, like I've already mentioned. I you gotta know what makes me tick, and I gotta be level headed enough to be able to Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: bring the best version of myself defensively out there every single inning for eight or nine innings. So Jason Corley: What's the weirdest shit you ever had to do in order to get somebody back on track? Did you ever have to sacrifice a chicken? Did you ever have to put on women's underwear and ware? So it's shit's real. Josh Crouch: I mean, I I haven't personally done anything, but I've known guys excuse me. I've known guys that have gone out and like worn thongs and hit home runs and just like just like crazy, crazy. Like I hey, the we there was a guy there was a guy that I played with that didn't there was a guy that I played with that didn't wear anything underneath his pants and he went out and hit a bomb that game and it was just like dude some of the stuff that happens in the baseball locker room is unreal. Unreal. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! It's all right. It's all right if you don't want to say it to you. Josh Crouch: But it's like, hey man, if you're if you're 0 for 15 and you're still playing every day, like you gotta even though it even though it's fake, like you gotta ⁓ like fake yourself into trying to do it. Jason Corley: You got it, yeah. Yeah. Do you think that it's true that baseball professional baseball players are hands down? I think I heard a stat one time that outside of professional golfers, they're the most what's the word? Yeah, superstitious of any pro athlete on planet earth. It's golfers and pro baseball players. And is it okay? Jacob Moreno: Superstitious. Josh Crouch: Superstitious? Yeah. Yeah. Hundred percent. Hundred percent. And especially like yeah, there's hitters that there's hitters that are very superstitious, but I also know a lot of pitchers that are very superstitious as well. So it's like because the pitchers are I mean, they're very routine oriented people. Like you got you got starting pitchers that are showing up doing the same stretches every single day, doing the same throwing routine every single day, 'cause it's it's under their control. Like Jason Corley: Right. It's built in, yeah. Josh Crouch: As a starting pitcher, you only got one outing a week, maybe two if you're a guy that throws on Tuesday and Sunday in a five man rotation. Like if you're that guy, you have to lock in. So some guys really like go to the absolute max on when I walk in the door, I'm not talking to a single person, it's headphones on. I'm I'm just like mean mugging everyone the whole time. And it's just Jason Corley: Right. Right. Right. They're backing into the parking spot and not pulling in for yeah, all that stuff. Yeah. Right. Josh Crouch: Yeah, so it's crazy. It's crazy. And everyone is a different player. So it's like that's another thing as a catcher, like I already mentioned, is you gotta get used to all those different personalities, man. Cause some guys you'll be able to relate to easily, and then some guys that are from a different part of the country, you're like, Man, I gotta I gotta figure out a way to get on this page. I gotta figure out some level of like how can I connect with this dude? Like, where do we have similar interests that I can break the ice and like have a conversation with them and then I over time they get used to you. But early on, man, it's like the your pitchers are your best friend. So for me, even my manager in high aid told me that, hey, you know, this is not common, but whenever whenever you're done, if you're not playing that day, I want you to go down to the bullpen and hang out with the bullpen and hang out with the pitchers down there. To continue to develop a relationship with those people. Jacob Moreno: year. Josh Crouch: Whether just sitting in the dugout, I'm not, I can only talk to the starters. Where I got, you know, 12, 13 people down there that I I'm gonna be catching later on this week. I need to be able to get used to the relievers as well. So and spending a lot of time in the bullpen figuring out, hey, I just can't do catching drills and have conversations. I have to actually get behind the dish and catch their bullpins and figure out, hey. This guy tends to miss this way with the fastball. This is a good target that I could give him to get him to fix it. Hey, this is something if I if I go 2 0, if I throw a fastball and a fastball, I know what's his best off speed pitch that he can throw behind in the count. So I know automatically if he goes fastball, ball one, fastball, ball two, I'm dropping down a slider. And then if we get back in the count, I'm probably going to do it again because he just threw that for a strike and do do that again. Now I'm back to two. We're back in the count. So it's just like. Knowing little things like that is just and because you got to be able to know it and then apply it now with the game clock, you got 18 seconds to make a decision. And then and that's it. And then in double AA, when I was there this year, they implemented a one-step-off rule. So now it's not two disengagements, it's one. So now I got a decision to make. And if he picked over to first base, not only do I have a decision to make, but that runner is stealing. Like it's a track meet. Jacob Moreno: It's very smart. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Like they're trying to get more stolen bases to go through the roof and create more traffic on the bases because the offense obviously on the hitting side is down. So they got to find a way, another way to create traffic. So walks and stolen bases are a big part of the game as well. So I think that I think that on that side of things, there's just so many things that a catcher has to be able to focus on in professional baseball. And college doesn't prepare you for that. It doesn't prepare you for that. There's only very few programs that are Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Truly preparing you to be a professional catcher because the the the the skill the skill gap is very small. Like there's little small things that you can do between college and pro bowl, but the mental gap is is humongous because there's all so many things that you have to figure out, and the only way that you can figure them out is through reps and thousands of innings behind the plate and hundreds of different pitchers and seeing different pitch shapes. Like I said, this Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. In minor leagues, in all the levels. Yeah. Josh Crouch: I I I I said this to a kid earlier today when I was working on him with catching. I was like, hitting, you hear all the time, hitting is a game of quality over quantity. But I'm convinced from my experiences in my career, catching is qual is quantity over quality. Because I can take a couple quality reps catching this guy's bullpen, but if I'm not back there for the whole bullpen, I'm not truly learning him. So I need to be squatting and putting in the grunt work back there. Jacob Moreno: Mm-mm. Josh Crouch: Figuring out, hey, I gotta catch a hundred pitches here to figure this dude out. I can't just say, ⁓ I'm gonna take five quality reps and I'm gonna be done and we're gonna be ready for the game tomorrow. That's not how it is. Whereas hitting, you hear some guys, they walk in the cage, they take five swings, go into the house. Catching is not that way. It's well way more quantity over quality. Jason Corley: They're good. Right. Okay. All right. Go Jacob, did you have something? Jacob Moreno: Yeah, I do. You know, you were talking about the long seasons and you being a catcher. How did you keep yourself motivated? I know, because I'm sure you got up some days and you were just sore, tired and days you just wanted to be like, I just want to lay in bed all day. Josh Crouch: Yep. No, I mean, so this is part that I'm pretty passionate about is I think a lot of people in my career, they've known me to I I've early on in my career I really wasn't focused on the nutritional side of things. But then then then later in my career, through prior instances with my family, you know, grew up my mom had breast cancer, my dad, you know, had triple bypass surgery, had a heart attack several years ago back in 2023. Jason Corley: Yeah. Here we go. Here we go. Josh Crouch: So seeing him come back and recover from that, thank the Lord, ⁓ and and make a full recovery, I've realized the importance of nutrition. And I think that's the missing skill gap between a lot of people, because at the end of the day, you could be the most talented person in the world, but a lot of people miss their ceiling, like I said, because they're not on the field. They're not on the field. You can't be the player you're capable of if you're constantly getting hurt and you're blowing out your arm and you're blowing out your knee and you're th and you're messing up your back and you just won't be reach your capability. Jason Corley: 'Cause they can't recover. They can't recover. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Whereas I realized that not only do you have to really emphasize the strength side of things, the mobility side of things, the stability side of things, the recovery side of things, you also have to throw in the nutrition. And and and in Pro Ball, you're doing it every single day. Nutrition and sleep. Can't forget about the sleep and and hydration. Good lord. So Jason Corley: We just keep adding shit. Yeah. I g I get it. Josh Crouch: Keep adding, keep adding it and it really is. If you really want to reach if you listen to the guys that are at the Otani, like Otani's on top of all of it. Like he's got the plan of like, hey, this is what I'm doing every day throughout the month. This is my nutrition. This is my blah blah blah. And he just buys out to that to go back to the routine. So I believe that there is something on the nutritional side of things as well. Like, hey, I'm not saying I'm not saying you can't have cheat days and I'm not saying that, you know, you can't go to it. run through you know Taco Bell every now and then like because there's nothing else to eat, even though I wouldn't recommend that. I'd rather starve than go to Taco Bell. But like so I live like an 8515 lifestyle or a 90-10 lifestyle. 90% of the time I'm gonna lock in on my nutrition up, whether that be my supplementation through you know different supplements, protein powders, hydration packets, things of that nature. Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: But then the food that I'm eating as well. Like I gotta make sure that I'm having enough protein, like I'm having enough carbs, I'm having enough vegetables, things of that nature that have kept me on the field. Because that Jason Corley: But Josh don't Josh, don't you think though, that the reason the reason you probably it's easier for you now is because you had you had a clubhouse seat to sit and watch the best in the game and that's what it took. So you were so it just mentally it was like, okay, this there is no other option. There is no option to not do it today. I have to if I like if I like this car. I have to if I like this house. Like Jacob Moreno: You got a front row seat, yeah. Josh Crouch: Yep. Yep. Because yeah, even though even even guys that make a lot of money, they don't necessarily emphasize nutrition. But then you'll you'll see like just because they're in the big leagues and just because they're in professional baseball, that doesn't mean they got the nutrition side of things locked in. They don't have the recovery, the nutrition, the hydration. They don't have that necessarily locked in. They're just crazy god gift and talented. The freak the freaks of nature. But there's some guys like like Jason Corley: You you you had a front row seat to it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: The average normal people of the world that I was telling you that maybe because they don't have the talent, they have to lock in on something like nutrition to be able to like, hey, I'm putting on 15 pounds this offseason. The only way I'm gonna be able to put on 15 pounds and maintain that and sustain it is I gotta stay on top of my calories and I gotta stay on top of the amount of protein that I'm taking. I gotta stay on top of my supplements. I gotta make sure I'm getting enough good sleep. Like the whole nine yards. Yes. Yes, a hundred percent. Because injuries. Jason Corley: Okay. Being a pro, being a pro is being a pro. Josh Crouch: are I mean obviously injuries are skyrocketing at all levels today's game. And not only do I think is that because of overuse at a younger level, but I also think that's because, you know, food now is worse than it's ever been. Like it's not good quality food. And unfortunately, some people may not have the financial means to be able to invest in high quality food. And so you gotta find a way to work or dirt or dirt to grow it. So that's what I'm saying. You so you gotta find a way if you really Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Or dirt or dirt to grow it. Josh Crouch: want to reach your ceiling and go where you're capable of going to make that a priority in your life because because a lot of people's careers have been derailed too early because of something like that. Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. So ⁓ we get through the Tigers and then you said you were something fived. What did you say? What is that? Josh Crouch: Yeah, yeah. So I was rule five. So basically after when you're it's a draft that takes place at the winter meetings. And it is if I after my fifth season of baseball have not been put on a triple A roster, then I am eligible to be picked up by another team. They basically pay cash for me and then I Jason Corley: Okay. A bucket of balls, whatever. Okay. Josh Crouch: Yeah, more or less. It's like I think it's ⁓ I think it's like twenty five thousand dollars or something. If I'm not on a triple A roster, they can draft me, rule five draft, and then pay like twenty five thousand dollars or or maybe a little more than that. I don't know. Twenty five thousand dollars ⁓ for me and then now I'm on their team. They have to put me on the triple A roster to start in the off season, but then I can report to anywhere ⁓ in that I can go to double A, I can go to high A, it doesn't matter. Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: So, or I can go to triple A if they choose to do that. But so for me, I was rule five after the 2024 season. ⁓ so that was I got drafted in 21, ⁓ 21, 22, 23, 24, yeah. So then that was and I mean goodness gracious, that process was crazy because I was out to eat with with ⁓ one of the mentors from our church and I got a call or I got a text in the group text and said, Hey Crouch, congrats, you've been rule five, because I wasn't watching it because I had a terrible season at offensively with the Tigers that year. So I was like, I had a really good defensive year, but offensively I did terrible. So I was like, I'm not even gonna watch this. And then I got a text in the group chat, hey dude, congrats, you're going to the Angels. And I'm like, what? And and because I wasn't on social media at that time. And sure enough, Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. What? Josh Crouch: Sure enough, I got a call like 10 minutes later from someone in their front office. And then I was then I was there and and you know spent all of the then Florida boy going to Arizona. So ⁓ that was amazing ⁓ being out in Arizona and getting to experience an Arizona spring training, which is is very different than Florida spring training. Very different. ⁓ very dry, very hot. I mean it was up to 110 this past spring training when I was there. So Jason Corley: Across the country. Across the country in the north. Right. Dry. Yeah. Josh Crouch: It's just ⁓ I'm used to the humid heat. This is the dry oven heat. So ⁓ I'd take Florida any day over the that. That was just ridiculous. So, but then got it integrated into another system and and got to see the differences between the two systems and ⁓ again ran into so many coaches there that played in the big leagues for a long time, and I learned so much on the game calling side, like the relationship side as well. Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. Josh Crouch: Like my double A ⁓ my double A first base coach last year was Rod Barajas, who caught in the big leagues, ⁓ won a World Series, and now he is in the big leagues with the Texas Rangers as like a quality control slash catching coach. And he was our first baseman, so guy won the World Series, first base coach, and then Andy Shatzley was our third base coach, ⁓ who was the manager, and now he's the ⁓ Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Josh Crouch: big league ⁓ infield coach for the Angels now. So Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. All right. So ⁓ so let's just yeah, let's just let's just let's just get it there. Let's just what led you because you you were with the angels, you you go over to that organization, and then it leads you to the situation where you have a decision to make that you're you're not seeing big league time, you are seeing big league time. What is the reason that got you to the point where you're like, Okay, it's time for the next chapter of my life? What got us there? Jacob Moreno: Thank Josh Crouch: Yep. Yeah, well to be honest with you, where I was at mentally is yeah, yeah, yeah. Well I'm not gonna lie. So I I think where I was at mentally is you know, got married the prior year, ⁓ wife was pregnant, ⁓ ended up having a son, and I think thank you so much, it's been amazing. It's been amazing. So no, I think one is quite enough for now. One is quite enough. Jason Corley: I would I I would hope you'd be honest me. Congratulations. Yep. I have one for sale if you're still shopping, so ⁓ Yeah you can roll five and for twenty five grand. Well played. Well played, Jacob. Jacob Moreno: Congrats. You can rule five and for 25 grand. Josh Crouch: That's great. That's great. That's great. That's great. So I think I don't know. Something just ha I had a decent year in 2025, nothing crazy. I mean, ⁓ had a lot of improvements to make. ⁓ so I went home, didn't end up getting invited to big league camp the next year. ⁓ and then having a kid really like I mean, goodness gracious. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Like it it changed everything for me. Like yes, I wanted to make the big leagues. Yes. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Well you ⁓ having a kid, did you go from ninety ten to then sixty forty? Okay. Josh Crouch: I mean, no, because I think my wife, my wife very much she values she's a a a a real estate agent here in Middle Tennessee area and she values nutrition as well. So I think her and I Yeah, yeah. And and and guess what? Guess what? Also the funniest thing with her is is that she doesn't know a thing about baseball. So it was like completely different than anything, like she didn't even know what like a triple was. Jason Corley: She values the way your clothes fit in a ninety ten. Josh. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! Jason Corley: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Josh Crouch: So I she she's just completely in business at 23, 24 years old. And she's like, I so I'm like, this is something completely different than I've ever dealt with. So but it was nice because I was able to actually disconnect because I can't talk about baseball whatsoever with her. She doesn't understand anything, which is great. And that's in the past, I you know, I was not around people like that. It was just baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball. There was no disconnection. And Jacob Moreno: hahahaha ⁓ Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Yeah, which is great. Yeah. Right. Josh Crouch: So obviously she ended we she ended up having we had our son ⁓ in January and ⁓ then leaving to go to spring training the next year it was it was awful. Like it was awful. And I a lot of guys I know friends and buddies that are in the minor leagues right now, they're you their wives and fe they're they're pregnant. And ⁓ it just changes you mentally when he comes out because it's like, man, he just came out and a couple weeks later, I gotta go. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. They're dreading it. Josh Crouch: And I'm going to Arizona and they because he's so young, we didn't want to roll the dice, putting him on a plane. And and Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: He you talk you talk about him like he's a br like he's a loaf of bread. He came out. I don't want to Josh Crouch: That's great. No, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no. And it it was just really sad, honestly, because I was out there in an apartment all by myself. Like I'd see other people, other people, other teammates with their wives traveling with them. They have several kids. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! Jason Corley: Your face timing until two o'clock in the morning. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Josh Crouch: Different time zones, like just crazy. And I'm exhausted at the end of the day. Like I don't have that much energy to exert to it. So it it it's a for people that say I mean, relationships and professional baseball are so difficult. It really puts a lot of like kudos to the people that continue to stay together throughout the entire time because it is so much dedication on both sides have to be. Jason Corley: Yeah. Josh Crouch: put in to be able to continue to grow in your relationship because it's very easy to disconnect. You're on the road twenty four seven, you're up till eleven thirty at night. If you have a son, your son's down for bed, you don't get to FaceTime ⁓ So I think for me, it just started to switch. It was like, yes, do I Jason Corley: And just think about it. Think about it. Just think about how just how demented the idea of is of of parenting through FaceTime. Like you think about it, like Jacob, I I I talk all the time. ⁓ Josh, back in back in two thousand eleven, twelve, I was in professional archery and my wife and I had just had Hudson, who is now twelve, and we were traveling in the country and he was literally being raised for the first two years of his life in a car seat and a hotel room because of the circuit. You know what I mean? And we were like, yeah, no, not gonna happen. I can't imagine having to depend like at least I could have at least I was able to reach around back and tickle his foot. You can't even like you guys can't even do that. Josh Crouch: Yeah, no, and then on top of that, I mean, that's not even we haven't even talked about the salary. Like, thank th I mean thank thank God that thank God that my wife was providing for us, you know, through real estate. And that was that was a huge blessing because, you know, thirty-five thousand dollars with a kid, I mean, that's that's not really gonna cut it. Like, not in today's age. So it's it's it's like but yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Selling houses. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Hmm. Jason Corley: Bro. Yeah. There it is, folks. There's the reality of it. There's the reality of it right there for all of those that are like it's I can't wait for the glitz and the glamour and the 35 grand. Josh Crouch: Yep. The thirty-five you yes, you have your signing bonuses, but guess what? There's only five rounds in the draft really that profit from a serious amount of signing bonus, unless you're a guy who got drafted on like a high school guy that got drafted in the 11th round for 1.5 million. Like those are common nowadays where the team saved money, but like those are rare. It's only what so the other 15 rounds, you're getting, you know, 125,000, 200,000 or less. Some guys are getting 50. Jason Corley: Right. Right. Josh Crouch: 10, 15, 20, 50 grand. Like, then obviously you have taxes. Then obviously, you know, if you have a car, you're trying to pay off a car, and it's like, you know, I and I'll just say this now too, because I've ran into a lot of coaches in in my career, especially with the Angels as well, that coming up in the minor leagues two decades ago, three years, 30 years ago, like even 10 years ago, completely different. Like when the new C VA came in and they started. Jason Corley: Yeah. Everybody's pulling from it. Yeah. Josh Crouch: You know, mandating they pay for housing and mandating certain insurances and mandating ⁓ them pay for our hotels that have to be a certain quality and mandating that there has to be a certain quality food. Like it's definitely a better lifestyle by far than what it used to be 20, 30 years ago. It used to be crazy. Like seven, eight guys living together, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Like they're not kidding. Like that was a reality. So to to be able to endure that and make it to the big leagues, I mean hats off to you because I mean, it's hard now, but the amount of ⁓ things that we've gotten through the new through the through the players association, they've increased the standards. Like it's even with the standards, it's still a strain. It's still a strain because obviously now things are more expensive. So now the 35,000 doesn't really go as far. And then you take away, I'm gone for eight months out of the year, like only Mondays off, and then then you have the all-star break in July for three or four days, and that's it. Jason Corley: Progression. Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: And you're playing Tuesday through Sunday, and that's it. And it's like, man, you better get used to bus rides and plane flights and you know living below your means and things of that nature because there's some serious sacrifices that have to be made. So, yes, for guys that go to the SEC and our SEC, ACC Big 12, Pac 12 programs that have a lot of money and then these NIL deals, like, I mean. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: unless they're blessed enough to be drafted in the top five rounds, they're not gonna be living that glamorous, glitzy life that they were were making Jason Corley: No. And they're and they're and they're they're getting aware of that now. And they're Yeah. Yeah. And Josh Crouch: They're getting aware of that, exactly. So it's like it is what it is. What I mean, that's just the reality of college that it is right now. I wasn't fortunate enough to be a part of that era. But ⁓ I mean, d when you go to the minor leagues, you are taking a step down from Florida State, LSU, all these big programs. Like you're taking a huge step down. And and then to be able to run a relationship and a marriage and a son through all that and then Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: What if something goes wrong in your marriage or something goes wrong in life and something goes wrong with the pregnancy and something goes wrong in your playing gear? Yes, it goes wrong with the something happens during the year, and you know, you're you're you're you're you're scraping, so now you're playing less, and now you're dealing with all this on the field, and then you come off the field and you're dealing with this all off the field, and it's like you have to deal with that as a minor leaguer until you can become a free agent after your seventh year. Jason Corley: Wrong with the C B A and there's a strike. Josh Crouch: Then you can become a minor league free agent and then you could start to make a little bit of money. The only problem is that most guys don't make it to that long. Most guys don't get to make it to play six, seven seasons, and then they could sign a free agent contract. Most guys are out in two, three, four years, and then they're just recycled because there's 20 rounds every single year, every single July, there's new players. And that's never gonna change. And then Indie Ball now is more competitive than ever. So then you have indie ball players when you someone gets cut. Jason Corley: Right. Josh Crouch: Indie ball players coming in to fill that until the draft comes around and then the indie ball player is gonna get cut and then the draft guys are gonna fill that spot. So it's just like it's a hamster wheel. It's a hamster wheel. That's what it is. Jason Corley: It's wild. It's wild. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead, Jacob. Jacob Moreno: I know you guys were talking about the FaceTime thing. I don't know if you guys saw what Freddie Freeman said. He was asked about retirement because he just had a daughter and he said he's had to FaceTime raise his boys. And he said, you know, that's one of the hardest things and he doesn't know if he could keep doing it. I mean, just, you know, I thought of that when you said you didn't want to be a FaceTime dad. You wanted to be present and Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: Yep. Yep. Jacob Moreno: I so let's talk. ⁓ Josh Crouch: I mean, and to to to to your point as well, I've talked to plenty of big leaguers and and the one that comes to mind is, you know, Eric Haas. ⁓ he's in the big leagues right now. Yeah, you know Hasi. So so him and I had a conversation and I was telling him about all this stuff, and he's like, Man, a lot of people think that yeah, the big leagues is great because you're making a ton of money. You're eight hundred thousand dollars minimum if you get to the big leagues, and then obviously you got guys that are making millions and hundreds of millions and whatever. But what never changes is Jason Corley: We know yeah. We know him. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ yeah, we know that. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Problems in life. Like life happens. Life happens. It's just you have them with more money. So it's like the same problems that the big leaguers are having mentally and with their families, and with you know, just lack of seeing their wife or their kids. The big leaguers are going through that too. Their big leaguers are going through that too. So it's like, yeah, exactly. So that's what I'm saying. But a lot of people I think. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. baby mamas. Jason Corley: Yeah. Hey, more money, more problems. Yeah. Are you proud of me, Jacob? Are you proud of me? Okay, all right. ⁓ Little bit of flavor there. A little bit. Jacob Moreno: I am. I am. I am. ⁓ Josh Crouch: A lot of people I love it. I love it. A lot of people though think that, you know, just because guys are in the big leagues, they're like this invincible person that doesn't like have to deal with problems and issues, and that's just not true. Like just because, you know, I obviously never played in the big leagues, but just because I'm a professional athlete and they're big leaguers, that doesn't mean that we don't deal with stuff. Like we're we're human too. So I think that's a huge disconnect is some people are like, man, you're living this Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Yep. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Life you're in professional baseball, you're we never got to be to this position and I'm like, ⁓ like you play it five, six years like I have, and it's like, man, it's great and it's a blessing to be there and it's a great opportunity 'cause a small ⁓ percentage of people get to do it. But daggum, and it's not easy. It's not easy. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. And your four ⁓ one K looks a lot better than mine. So Yeah. You know what I mean? I mean, no, I just it's it's it's reality. Like the retirement of all this stuff and and if you're not pulling, you know, if you're not in the two percent of of big layers that have great contracts, like all of this stuff cuts into life. And it's just a battle of man, baby, how much like how much longer are we gonna try and and hope that the phone rings and it's it's the call to go? Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Ha ha ha. Jacob Moreno: It's a jackpot. Josh Crouch: Yep. So that's that's definitely what I I to go back to that, I feeling that yeah, yeah, feeling that stuff outside the baseball field and then the way things were shaping up on the baseball field, I obviously you know, I I I know what it's like to be a prospect and a pyro and a priority, and I also know what it's like when you're not. And for me, with everything that's going on outside the field and this business opportunity that I had playing two days a week Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. I asked you what got to the point of your decision. Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: And missing everything that's going on in my house. Like I just watched my son roll over six times in a row for the first day the other day. And it's like, it's great. It's it's great. It's like it's unbelievable. Thank God. But it's like I wouldn't be able to experience that if I was gone. And I'm not saying that I don't wish I was still had the opportunity to chase my big league dream. Absolutely. But life happens and Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: You know, I'm grateful for how far that I made it and for the people that I've been introduced to and that I've learned through on the coaching side of things and I'm and I've really excited for this next chapter of being able to pass that stuff on to the next generation just because giving that kind of information to kids like myself when I was growing up that never got a chance to be able to get that high quality level of information. And then now obviously social media being the pathway to that, coming out and doing content and things of that nature. And doing you know podcasts and being able to tell people like, look, this is the reality of the game. Chase it. Chase the game. Chase it as far as you can. Have your dreams. But there is also the business and the reality side of baseball. And that is what it is. Eventually, one day, either they're gonna tell you you can't put your uniform on or you're gonna realize that I'm not willing to keep going with the lifestyle to be able to sustain this. And you know, it's time for me to just move on. And I'm okay with that in my mind now. Jason Corley: Yeah. Have your dreams. It's okay to have your dreams. Yeah. Josh Crouch: And I'm super thankful and grateful for all the relationships that I've had and you know obviously both the organizations, but at the end of the day, like you the only thing that you take with you, and a lot of people do not realize this, and I really this resonated me with when I left. When you leave, like all you take with you is the relationships and the memories that you built and the friendships that you built with all your other teammates. Because guess what? When I walked in the locker room. Jason Corley: Hundred percent. Hundred percent. Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. Josh Crouch: There was another jersey in the locker with someone else's name on it before I could even step out of the building. So they're on to the next. So that's what I'm saying. It's just it you're just a pawn. And where you get drafted, there's different levels of priority. And obviously the higher dollar value guys are going to get the most opportunity for failure and the most ⁓ opportunity to advance and get to the big leagues. The other guys are gonna have to either one Jason Corley: Shit. Jacob Moreno: Holy shit. You're just a number. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: go through a lot of crap to get to the big leagues 'cause it is possible, but it's just going to extend your and obviously it depends on the organization you're in and things of that nature. But you're gonna have to go through a lot of crap to get to your goal or you're gonna realize that, hey, some stuff's happened in my life. I don't wanna do that anymore. I don't wanna do I don't wanna be away from my family and miss out on all the things of life to chase my dream. So I you know, it I'm okay with hanging it up, but I don't think a lot of people realize that it's it's Very, very business oriented. Obviously it's college is starting to turn much more into that now. And then professional baseball is a whole new level of it 'cause you have nothing's in your control. Nothing is in your control. So Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. So I talked to you a couple of weeks ago. How many days how many days were you removed from your official retirement paperwork? Were you like weren't you like like forty eight hours or something like that? Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: When I talked to you? Yeah, it was ⁓ two or three days. Yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah, like it was I mean I mean it was fresh. It was fresh off off the press. And I was like, I told Jacob, I said, Well, first of all, my conversation with you will stay private, but I told Jacob I was like, we have to give him some time to process this because you were coming down off of a high and you the reason why I'm asking you this is was the decision to walk away easier because you knew that this new that this new Josh Crouch: Yeah. Jason Corley: chapter of your life was about to take off or did this come because of the opportunity was presented because you just made that decision to walk away. And I we'll get into this opportunity is what I'm talking about. Did you know it was here? Did you know that this opportunity was here waiting for you? Josh Crouch: Yeah, no, I think say again. So yes and no. There's a couple different avenues to this. So because I wasn't playing as much as I would have liked, I took that downtime and said, I always knew I wanted to get into coaching. I've heard that my entire life through the different coaches I've been been around. I've been exposed to a lot of different hitting ideologies, different hitting coaches, different catching coaches. Yeah, clearly, right? Jason Corley: Mm-hmm. Yeah, clearly you suck at communicating. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Josh Crouch: So it's like, yeah, I mean, we're just an hour and fifty-seven minutes into this, like I told you we would be. So I I knew I was gonna be in the coaching realm, I just didn't know what facet. And I so I just told myself, like, look, I'm gonna spend this downtime that I'm not on the field, when the days that I'm catching, I'm gonna go do everything that I've always done, game plan, talk with the pitcher, and do my best to shut down the other team when we're out there on the field. But when I'm not. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Josh Crouch: I'm gonna start building this business and I'm gonna start because I have a vision and I have an idea of what I want stuff to look like based upon facilities and instructors I've been to and I've seen the positives and negatives that everyone has gone through and I'm gonna apply that to my business model. Jason Corley: The reason why I'm saying this, Josh, is because what you're saying is is you had a plan and then you had a plan B. And Jacob, you know where I'm going with this. Like And then you had a plan. So you were you could feel you could feel things coming to surface and and and and developing in your professional career and you could feel how things I don't want to say you could manifest manifest it, but you could feel things were moving and so you got proactive so that you weren't caught Josh Crouch: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Jacob Moreno: And then you gotta play in C and D and... Jason Corley: With like a deer in a headlights without a plan, right? Josh Crouch: Hundred percent. I mean, could I have kept playing? Absolutely. Like I I could have continued to keep playing and I would have just had to deal with, you know, whatever came with that. I would just have to accept that. But Jason Corley: ⁓ she's a professional by the way. Why he's saying that he's also a professional. So go ahead. Okay, go ahead. Josh Crouch: So I I would have to deal with whatever I was throwing at me, and I just wasn't really gonna accept that. So I was gonna use that time to be productive. So I was going to to have reach out to people in the area that I met doing lessons at last year, see like, hey, there's a real need for people in the middle Tennessee area and just in the catching realm in general. There's not enough people that are coming out and talking about, hey, these are the demands of catching at a high level. So Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. Josh Crouch: At 12U, we need to start emphasizing these things so that way there's not a humongous skill gap by the time we get to college and the upper levels. So exactly. So because we're so infatuated with the showcase circuit nowadays that everyone thinks that all they gotta chase are numbers on an iPad and a scoreboard, that they're not realizing the whole other side of the game. ⁓ that takes the personal development is year over year over year of consistency. And I think that. Jason Corley: To the big field. Yep. Josh Crouch: That's what my job is, is to be able to ⁓ not only show people the things where I went wrong and the and the things that also made me successful, but also give them the reality of like, look, man, you guys, in order to get to the level that you guys want, I know every kid's parents think that they're gonna be a big leaguer, but the react is the reality of it is that's not gonna happen. And there's very a very small amount of kids that are gonna do that. So Jason Corley: We know, we know. We get reminded all the time, Josh. We know. Josh Crouch: You know, so so so that's if you want the highest chance of being able to go do that, then you need to go about things a certain way, the same way that other kids that are at a young age, high school guys that have also gotten to that level, like the Kevin McGonagalls, the Jackson Jobs, the Max Clarks, like people that got drafted really high out of high school, you know, they weren't that yep, they weren't Jacob Moreno: Yup. Jason Corley: Yeah. Cole Emerson. Josh Crouch: Fo they weren't focused on the showcase the showcase circuit and the travel circuit. They were focused on the personal development side of things. I'm gonna get as fast as big as strong as athletic as smart as I can. And then knowing that when I work on myself and I develop myself, the opportunities to go to showcases are going to present themselves. Because guess what, everyone? If your kid, if your kid Jason Corley: We talked about this. Josh Crouch: doesn't have any tools if you're going to a showcase thinking, hey, we're gonna go out and showcase ourselves for all those college scouts that are watching me, but then you look up and he's throwing 75 miles an hour and he's running a eight flat 60 and his exit velo is 87, you have no business being at any other showcases. I think it's great to get a baseline and say here is where I'm at based upon my peers and this is where I need to go. And then you find a personal trainer, you find a personal hitting coach, a throwing coach, whatever you got a chef, what whatever whether that's your mom, whatever. Like my mom played chef for many years. So ⁓ but you gotta go all in on that because you've never seen a high school kid get drafted in the early rounds that's undersized, scrawny, untalented, unintelligent. Like they have they check so many boxes for the teams to be willing to put that investment in them. Jason Corley: A shaft. Okay. Josh Crouch: So if they didn't chase the showcase circuit, why do you think that you should? Like if it it if yes, exactly. And again, people people I have this conversation with people all the time. It's don't get me wrong, it's not the travel showcase circuit is very beneficial. It is a tool, but you need to use the tool correctly. There is a time to test. Jason Corley: Yeah. Well because because I'm smarter than they are, Josh. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: everything that you've worked on in an offseason and that's what the travel circuit can give you. But if you think that you're gonna get a if you think you're gonna get better at baseball by just playing baseball games, you're sadly mistaken. Like you got to put in the grunt work in the cage with with the lights not on you and you getting in there and you figuring out what you got to do to elevate your game. That's just the fact of the matter. Jason Corley: And you Sure, sure. That's coming so so and just let's just set the record straight right now, Jacob. Okay, that information is not coming from a division one baseball player. It's not coming from a travel ball coach. That is coming from a major league baseball professional. Okay. Does everybody hear me? Okay. Still, you you're a professional, professional athlete. Is that better? Is that f it's okay? Jacob Moreno: See you. Josh Crouch: Minor League. Minor League. Don't do me like that. Minor League Baseball player. Minor League Baseball player. Yeah. Yeah, that's better. Professional athlete. Jacob Moreno: Don't do me like that. Jason Corley: A professional athlete with a 90 10 nutrition regiment, okay, somewhere around there. But no, it's very important, Josh, because there's there's credibility to the information when we get it. We have a lot of there's a lot of parents that listen to this, there's a lot of coaches that listen to this, there's a lot of people that listen a lot of players that listen to this that there's a lot of counterdicting information that we seem to be pumping out through the airwaves because we have different perspectives. Not that one's right and one's wrong. But I'm just gonna be real honest with you. It's a lot different when it comes from you. It's a lot different when it comes from Eric Haas. It's a lot different when it comes from Harrison, Wenson. It's just different. It's different. It it holds a different amount of credentials and a parent's earlobes when they hear it at this level. That's what I'm trying to say. So, all right. So where are we at now? What are we doing? You're coaching now, you're training now, you're in Nashville area. What what are we doing? Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Yep. Yep. A hundred percent. So there's several sides of things, but basically the goal here is I've started I've started a you you follow me, I've started a social media page in which I'm gonna start posting content this week. So I am giving in person lessons ⁓ through my business right now. I am working with ⁓ a partner with somebody, his name is Joey Lewis, he's part of the HitLab. ⁓ here and he he also has a good social media following on Instagram. Jason Corley: Cliff notes. Cliff notes. You partnered with somebody, right? Josh Crouch: Got great stuff. ⁓ Joey played himself a little bit for the Kansas City Royals. He played baseball at the University of Georgia. Him and I really do speak the same language. And ⁓ you know, he has a really good client base here. So I'm partnering with him and working in his facility, and we're trying to build that up ⁓ as far as on the catching side as well, because there's a lot of hitting coaches in the area, but there's not a lot of catching coaches, and that's also the same true to be said on the content side of things. There Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: Everyone thinks they're a hitting coach and thinks they're gonna come out and and post content, but catching's a little different, obviously. ⁓ not everyone's obviously caught or caught at a high level, even at college. So I think it's again like I mentioned before, it's my job to provide that information. So I'm gonna do that through a in-person lessons here in the Murphy's Boro ⁓ Nashville area. I'm also working in a little bit of coaching for a travel ball team in the area. And again Jason Corley: No. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: You Josh Crouch: That's also that's also showing me the need to say the things that I'm saying because I'm hands-in on it. And I see these things that you guys talk about in the podcast. And I see kids that show up to the field. They're 16 years old. They don't have a J Bands band routine. They don't have a stretching routine. They don't have a hitting routine. And they're just, they're going into their sophomore juniors of high school and they've never been introduced to the things that are going to make them successful at a higher level. Jason Corley: Bro, I can tell you, I can tell you right now, and you everybody can laugh and roll their eyes when I say this, but even at the 12U, so our boys play on a national team. So we play a national schedule. We play against top teams in this country. And I can tell you what separates them from us is their routines in pregame. I am I wrong, am I wrong, Jacob? You it doesn't matter if it doesn't matter if they have an alley like between two fields that they have to do this in. Josh Crouch: Yep. Yep. Jacob Moreno: No, you're 100 % right, Jason Corley: Or if they've got a building. They're gonna go through their routine. You're gonna see it all the time. And that's what so the ones that they get chewed up and spit out when it comes to the elite the the top eight of the bracket or the final, you know, the final four of a bracket are the teams that have a meticulous routine that stick to the routine, and then the teams that are going out there and dicking around between you know, between games. Like, okay, we just so we just won to make it to a semifinal, but now we're gonna Now we're gonna dry hump the fence or we're gonna dick around and play hacky sack or whatever instead of going right back into the routine to get right back ready to win the championship. Josh Crouch: Hundred percent. A hundred percent. And guess what? I'm I'm also I'm not a I'm not a I don't think it's bad to play hacky sack and have some downtime and disconnect. No, no, but I I I'm I'm saying I'm saying there's credibility to that because there's also those coaches out there that are so dead set, this is the way we're gonna do it, we're gonna run this like a military, and that's also not good. So it needs to it it can't be a free for all and it can't be a military, it needs to be Jason Corley: No, I would use it as an example. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Josh Crouch: Hey, we're coming to the baseball field. We've practiced together. We have a plan. We are a team. These are the routines that we've established. And this is what we're going to go execute on the baseball field. That it's not there's room for fun and there's room for seriousness. You got to find the happy medium. And it takes special coaches to be able to continue to ⁓ come alongside the players and encourage them because I know I've been coaching some 11-year-olds. It's like herding cats. So it's like you gotta find a way to be able, you gotta find a way to be able to get those guys. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: No. Josh Crouch: to focus and and Jason Corley: Yeah, and I say that I say that as a compliment, actually, Jacob, because where I was going with that is is we have beaten a lot of teams in our warmups. Have we not, Jacob? We have beaten a lot of teams before a first pitch has ever been played. There are people that specifically have asked me, would you please turn game changer on so that we can watch the stream while you guys do your while you guys warm up? And am I wrong, Jacob? At Josh Crouch: ⁓ yeah. Jacob Moreno: Hell yeah. No, you're all right. Jason Corley: And then we see the teams that don't, and those are the teams that we we're we're out of the game. We're we're done with the game in forty minutes. Three innings and we're done. It's just ⁓ there's definitely something to having a routine, sticking to it and perfecting that routine is what you're saying. Yeah. Josh Crouch: Hundred percent. And it's no coincidence that a lot of the teams again. I played grew up playing baseball in Central Florida, and a lot of those teams exist there, the routines. And you there's no coincidence that most of those teams go on to play college baseball. Why is that? Because college teams and college recruiters want those kids because they already know about the routine. They already know about the mentality on the day-to-day basis. So it's much easier at 12 to teach them. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: How to get there by the time they're 17. And then if they've had five years of doing that, and then now they are really ingrained and really dedicated, and now that's attractive to a college coach. So he's like, I want to make them. Yep. Yep. Yep. And it's like, I can plug that into my program. I can plug that in my program right now because if I have to teach them how to do a routine, if there's a difference between if there's two kids of the same talent level, Jason Corley: Percent. Yeah. And now when those college coaches come to watch, it's perfected by that time. They're not just now figuring it out. Yep. Josh Crouch: And one of them comes to the field and he has a routine and he does the same thing every single game and the other one is just doing whatever and he's just free throwing spaghetti at the wall. Like, who do you think they're taking? They're taking the one with the plan. They're taking the one with the plan. So I think Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Right. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Okay, so you're doing lessons. Okay. You're doing lessons how and this is being held at the hit lab. Josh Crouch: Yep. Doing lessons. It's the hit lab in in in ⁓ Murfreesboro, Tennessee. And the goal here is that not only am I gonna be giving in person lessons, there's there's gonna be an expansion. And then also on top of that, I am doing ⁓ I'm building out currently ⁓ an online curriculum. So there's gonna be Jason Corley: You need it he needs we need to get him connected with Skylar. We need to get you connected with Skylar, hit ball coach on Instagram. He's incredibly popular, play ball coach. What did I say? Okay, he's one of our best friends. He's literally one of our best he has got that same thing where he does an online curriculum for rec, like for rec teams and for rec coaches. And he just started implementing using meta. Jacob Moreno: Yep. Put him and Skyler together. Yep. Play ball coach. Josh Crouch: ⁓ I I've seen him. I've seen him. I've seen him. ⁓ yeah. Jason Corley: glasses to go through and build this out. But he's got this website. I mean, I'm not saying that you don't have your shit together, Josh. That's not what he meant. But he's somebody great to collaborate with and bounce I ideas off of. Yeah. Josh Crouch: ⁓ yeah. Hundred percent. Hundred percent because ⁓ I'm doing that. I'm gonna be doing the in person stuff, I'm gonna be getting into the online space, and then I'm also gonna be doing ⁓ a bunch of content as well. And then through throughout seasonally I'm gonna be doing camps in this location, camps in this location, ⁓ just at different places of availability and Jacob Moreno: ⁓ let me know. Jason Corley: Podcast? Are you doing a podcast yet? Josh Crouch: Well, the podcast also will be getting started as well. That's that's kind of like Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. I listen, I am for hire. I can easily move to Nashville. We can easily just partner together and make this happen. It's super easy. I love Nashville. Yeah. I can't help you there. Can't help you there. No. Josh Crouch: I will tell you, I will tell you right now, there is an unbelievable need for not only coaching, but there's there's no there's there's there's not there's as far as high level coaching, there's a bunch of retired former athletes that live in the Franklin area, but it's like I was shocked at the amount of baseball that's played here and the lack of coaching that resides here as well. Jacob Moreno: Thanks. Jason Corley: Yeah. Hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. Josh Crouch: So there's a huge, humongous need because all the really good coaches, what you'll see is that they're booked out with a waiting list. And then everyone else just has to go to, you know, whatever the other, you know, run of the mill guys that they have. ⁓ so it it a huge opportunity, ⁓ which is obviously a blessing to be here 'cause ⁓ it's different than Florida. You know, you go up and up a baseball facility on Florida. I mean there's there's every corner. So ⁓ Jason Corley: Sure. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. They're on every corner. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a 7-Eleven and yeah, and and a l in a Latino waiting to show you how to work your footwork. I can only get away with this shit, Josh, because I have a Latino on my show. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Yep, yep. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha Josh Crouch: Yeah, but yeah. But hey, there's a ton of Latino infield coaches in Florida. There you're not you're not wrong about that. So Jacob Moreno: Hehehe Jason Corley: Yeah. So all right. So how can people get a hold of you? How do people find you? Josh Crouch: So again, you can you can obviously we'll be collaborating. Yep. Yep, yep, you c we will be collaborating with each other. I have a obviously a personal Instagram account, a personal ⁓ or a business account. It's called the Catching Collective. ⁓ that's my business name. And then ⁓ I'm all I'm on all four forms of social media, ⁓ or five. Not on LinkedIn. Not on LinkedIn. Yeah. Jason Corley: I will put all your links in our description, but if they're listening. Great name. Are you on LinkedIn? See, Jacob, we're not that far off. I'm not on LinkedIn, but a professional NIL guy told me that I was missing the boat because I'm not on LinkedIn. And I said, dude, I'm just trying to keep my head above water right now. Like, can we you know what I mean? Like I ⁓ Yeah. Okay. Josh Crouch: ⁓ That's how I feel. That's how I feel. So but I'll be doing YouTube, I'll be doing obviously TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And then there will be not only an online curriculum that will be available to buy out. There's gonna basically be four age groups. There will be the youth age, the high school age, the college age, and then a pro age. And you can buy the different curriculums outright. Jason Corley: Okay. Josh Crouch: for a yearly access and then on top of that I'll also be in the ⁓ online coaching one on one realm as well. Jason Corley: Are you targeting coaches or are you talking or targeting athletes with these curriculums? Jacob Moreno: ⁓ Josh Crouch: It could be it could be both because they're gonna be very in depth. It's gonna be at the youth level, it's gonna be broken down s thank you so much. Yes, yes. ⁓ it it it at the youth level it's gonna be very, very broken down to so that way they can explain it to an eight year old and every level bracket above that it's gonna be increasingly more. ⁓ that's where there will be more of an emphasis in recruiting and nutrition and athletic stuff. Like just so. ⁓ yes, sorry. Jason Corley: You're welcome. You're welcome for that. You're you're Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Yeah. Uh-huh. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. Sweet. Well, dude, listen. ⁓ I know that we we had to we had to like sit on our hands for two weeks waiting for this day to come because we both we both knew the energy, we knew what was gonna happen. ⁓ but I think it worked out perfectly because it was the right place at the right time. You and I met, we had a conversation, and I literally told you at one point I said, Stop talking, we have to say this. Stop. Just stop. Like say this. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Yeah, you have to stop me, man. Jason Corley: for the pod because it was just, you know, and I think that I think that everything worked out to give us time for you to get your things together on your side. And it worked out for us that you happen to be at this week where the amount of eyeballs that are that are watching right now are are probably at an all time high. So I cannot thank you enough for giving Jacob and I the opportunity to tell your story and to tell everybody what you're up to and what you're doing now. So please Jacob Moreno: Yeah, thank you. Jason Corley: Please, please, please believe me when I tell you I'm very, very grateful for your time. Jacob Moreno: Yep, yes we are. Josh Crouch: Yeah, I thank you. Thank you for the opportunity also for the platform and and also looking forward to collaborate on some in the future again as well. So Jason Corley: Yeah, for sure. I mean, obviously, yeah, this won't be the last time we talk, and we actually text quite a bit. So we will stay in touch. I will let you know later. ⁓ probably before midnight, it should go up. This one's pretty clean, Jacob. Like the I there's not a whole lot to do to it. Just fix the audio, fix your grainy ass, and then get it up. So this one should be up before midnight for the West Coast people, and then for sure it'll be up for everybody's commute in the morning. So I will let you know when it's live, and then as we start pumping this stuff out. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Josh Crouch: Yeah. Jason Corley: through social media, I'll collab with you and then I will put your links in the description of this so that YouTube knows that you're there and ⁓ yeah, I'll let you know when it's done. Cool? Jacob Moreno: And we'll be looking for catching clinics. We'll be looking out for your catching clinics. Josh Crouch: Yeah, I appreciate that. Jason Corley: Yeah, clinical clinics you can't will be looking for it. Josh Crouch: Hey, listen right now, I'm I'm not saying I won't travel, so you just keep me updated. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ all right. Have a good night, man. Jason Corley: Okay, have a great night. Enjoy your family and ⁓ we'll talk later. See you guys. Josh Crouch: Yes, sir. Appreciate you guys. Yes, sir. Jacob Moreno: See ya. I just want to let you know I had a migraine come in in the middle of this episode. Jason Corley: Yeah. What? I sa I I something was wrong. Something was wrong. 'Cause I thought you fell asleep. Jacob Moreno: When I put my head down, no, no, when I put my head down, my dinner started coming up. Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. Why don't you just walk away? Why don't you just say, Guys, I need a minute? Jacob Moreno: So I was good. No, I was good. I knew I could just, I just had to breathe. dude. Jason Corley: I was literally gonna stop and be like, dude, are you good? Like did you fall asleep? Because I saw you I saw you do this. And it was a really long pause. And I'm like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Jacob Moreno: No, when I went like this, yeah. No, I didn't fall asleep. I just felt it like my mouth got real watery. That's why I went to my water. I was like, come on, come on, come on. And then I was like, oh, it's right. Let me take a moment, guys. Jason Corley: ⁓ no. Jacob Moreno: Uh-huh. Jason Corley: Another good one, homie. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, it was. Good dude, Good dude. Jason Corley: Yeah, good dude. Yep. He has ⁓ yeah, professional. That's a pro right there. That that is what you call a pro. ⁓ I I really enjoyed I really enjoyed some of the some of the information and the he confirmed a lot of things. Confirmed a lot of things that that I'm currently going through, you know? Like literally going through a bunch of this stuff right now and and he yeah ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Yeah. I enjoyed his story. Yeah. Jason Corley: What was I I don't remember what he started to mention towards the tail end of that conversation, but it was pretty insightful and I was gonna re revisit it with with what we're going through. you know, currently with our team, but I can't remember. So ⁓ yeah, I don't know. But thank you to Josh Crouch and ⁓ the Richards Collective. ⁓ check ⁓ out on Instagram and if you guys are interested, hit him up on a DM. We will connect him with Skylar. I think that Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Yeah, thank you, Josh. Jason Corley: Him and ⁓ Skylar might have some insight as to what has worked and what hasn't worked, or maybe Skylar can learn something from him as far as he might have newer technology than what you know Skylar in Texas has. So ⁓ we'll get them connected and I bro, could you imagine those two talking together? Who the f could you imagine? Like who would win that battle? Who would win that battle? Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Yeah. Put us in a thread too. ⁓ my, who's gonna be the leader? That's gonna go on for days. Get your popcorn ladies and gentlemen. Jason Corley: Could you imagine those two with a cooler full of beer sitting? I'm not saying that either one of them drink. Yeah, well, I know that Skylar drinks Barkstown Bourbon and Green River whiskey. Did you like how I just did that? ⁓ but I could just imagine those two with a cooler full of beer in a lawn chair on a hot summer day, just left alone. Just those two left alone with no other humans around. Could you imagine the content? Jacob Moreno: Yes you did. Next thing you know, they're gonna fix the world. They're gonna fix the world. Put us in a group thread too. Text thread. So I have his number. Jason Corley: ⁓ my God. So right? For sure. For sure. I will. I will. I will right now. So all right, man. Let's get out of here. It's been over two hours. Let's get out of here. This one's clean, so I don't want to fuck it up. So love ya. See ya. Bye. Jacob Moreno: Okay, love you, see ya, bye.