Jason Corley: Can't see Jacob, but you can hear Jacob. ⁓ okay. You're the first guest that's been able to see Jacob. He's usually blurry as shit. Yeah. So ⁓ yeah. So ⁓ just so you know, we are our box is divided into three little boxes. So if you stay as close as you can to the center, then people will be able to see you when they when you talk. But folks, we are joined right now by He's running a couple minutes late 'cause he said practice went long tonight. So I said, Don't worry. I said Jacob's already late too. So Jacob Moreno: You get a phone call from a school. Yeah, we want it live. MJ Bollinger: Not for sure. Jason Corley: ⁓ yeah, we want that shit. Like if that dude, if that happened I mean we'll ⁓ we'll cut it out if it's like, you know, I don't know, secret information. We'll cut it out. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ I can see him. Jacob Moreno: He is the first one. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Well, I usually ten minutes before and today I was kinda a little close. I didn't get off work till about six forty. Had to eat dinner. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, you're looking good over there. Jacob Moreno: Thank you. MJ Bollinger: I mean, I just wanna let you know that it could be it could be like a ten minute conversation. It could be like I had an hour conversation. Hopefully it's i if a school does call, it's not the hour conversation. But but you know what I'm getting at. Jason Corley: Yeah. Ran a little ran a little long today. Look. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: That's. Jason Corley: let's MJ, with ⁓ we'll get to where you're at and why you're here ⁓ in little bit. ⁓ What I wanna talk about is is ⁓ how did this whole start from you? I mean, you're literally two time division one ball player waiting on a call for a third opportunity with a third organization. ⁓ And f hopefully you well, you told me your last one, the the last move you're gonna make. Jacob Moreno: Dude, I overslept my alarm. Mm-hmm. Goes off at I know. It goes off at four. Dude, I I didn't get up till five thirty. Jason Corley: This morning. MJ Bollinger: For sure. Jason Corley: Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's a that's the best part about this, is it that I think everybody like, did you see Pat Robinett's post today, Jacob, where he was like he had this long post about like this is what it's all about, like we're gonna actually hear a story. But let's start. So you you are with your f your I I I almost said foster family. You're with your what are they your host family. You're getting to know them and getting to know your team, right? Jacob Moreno: No, we understand, man. You know, you got priorities yourself to handle, so. Jason Corley: Bro, after after taking a day off? MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Jason Corley: Division one. I don't even know what right now he's in summer ball. He's like I I don't even I don't even know how to describe you, but MJ, it's Bollinger, right? B-O-L-T. Jacob Moreno: No, I didn't. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jason Corley: Who's your mind, we won't drop names of supervisors on here. MJ Bollinger: Bollinger. I I know you've botched names, so it's Bollinger. Yeah. Jason Corley: So how did this start? You grew up where? Jacob Moreno: Mm. Jason Corley: Bollinger. Bollinger. Okay. Bollinger. So there's not a it's not jur, it's gur. MJ Bollinger: So I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. ⁓ most people know SoFlo to be beaches, especially Fort Lauderdale Spring Break Central. ⁓ but Fort Lauderdale, Florida is known for elite competition in athletics, primarily in football and baseball. That's where it's a hot spot. So growing up I was really only baseball and football, a little bit of soccer when I was younger, but we kinda got out of that phase around like nine or ten years old and then Jacob Moreno: Bowlinger. I had a thought but I had to keep it off air. I just it came into me and I was gonna call you and I like, No, we'll talk before the pod, before we start recording, but you started recording. MJ Bollinger: Yep. Bollinger. Yes, sir. Yeah. It's gur, yeah. It's a little weird. Every my whole life everybody's messed it up. Like even coaches who know me will still call me Bollinger. Exactly. Yeah. So I got here about a week ago in in Mystic, Connecticut. I'm in Mystic, Connecticut, but I'm living in Uncasville, which is like twenty minutes away from Mystic. So we're just gonna say Mystic. I moved in with my host family, the Groves and they're absolutely amazing. They're taking very good care of me. ⁓ and while I've been here, you know, guys have slowly been coming in, integrating a part of the practices and today was like our first full team practice. So we probably had like Jacob Moreno: Where you at? ⁓ okay. Jason Corley: I always start recording 'cause I don't know what I'm gonna see and I don't know what I'm gonna get and I want I want record for evidence the court of law. Jacob Moreno: Well if you wanna cut it out, I can say what I was gonna say or I can just wait. Jason Corley: Yeah, go ahead and say what you want to say and it'll just piss off the all the audience. Go ahead and cut. Jacob Moreno: No no no it's gonna fuck you up, not me. I don't have a team. No, because it's a from a conversation. Just I'll talk to. I know. man. What's going on with you today? How was your day? MJ Bollinger: It was baseball and football the whole way for the most part. Jason Corley: Okay. All right. And your dad, talk about your parents a little bit and talk about how you got involved with baseball. What is your first what is like, do you have a first memory of baseball? Okay. Why would it fu why would it fuck me up? I got s I got I got Sure, there's a lot of conversations going on. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Twenty five, twenty six guys today, which is I mean that's great for this time of year, especially when the big schools are still in playoff baseball. ⁓ so we had our first big practice day, got our uniforms and our gear. ⁓ could totally bring down a jersey if you guys wanted to take a look at that. Here, I'll grab it I'll grab it really quick. Jason Corley: So all right, man, you just got home from practice. Tell us what's going on. was practice tonight? Okay. MJ Bollinger: I mean I mean, I don't like remember my first hit, but I have a I have a picture at home. My parents have a picture of my first hit and it's me like like not knowing what's going on on first base, like jumping up and down and my dad like I remember my dad was yelling at me like Stop jumping like they can tag you out. It's like five years old, like four or five years old. It's like, Come on, man. But ⁓ but I would say the first I'd say the first vivid memory ⁓ was probably my first home run. Jason Corley: everything was good, man. ⁓ a lot of conversations going on. So yeah, trying to trying to make sure that put my son's interest at it at first priority, like we always talk about. ⁓ And ⁓ know, had a really good conversation with PG today. MJ Bollinger: Well it was good. It was good. We just did we did a little bit of PFP work. ⁓ I threw lives yesterday so I didn't really like Jason Corley: ⁓ yes, go get it. Yeah. Go grab it. Go grab it. It's awesome. Yes, for sure. Yeah. Yes, I do. With store. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ yeah. Jason Corley: Okay, hold up, hold up, PFP. Explain it to the audience. Jacob Moreno: You MJ Bollinger: All right, pitcher fielding position. Pitchers are athletes and we do have to make plays sometimes. So so when I tell you we still have to work on it 'cause pitchers make the most errors during the year. So I mean we had to get some work in. I haven't fielded a ground ball in quite some time. So I had to get back and get used to that fielding position. ⁓ and then I did regular throwing today. I just went out to like sixty feet. loosened up the arm from my live A B's ⁓ yesterday. Jacob Moreno: You know I'm the guy at Jersey's, man. Jason Corley: Okay. ⁓ MJ Bollinger: Sure. Yeah. You got ankle. Yes, I do. I wonder because he took his headset off. No, that's why. Yeah, that's fine. Jacob Moreno: You gotta echo. Yeah. Ha ha ha ha. Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: I wonder because he took his headset off. Jason Corley: So that was good. Everything is getting worked out and details are getting figured out for PGI. they're gonna put us right at the entrance. So ⁓ you guys are we'll just say that. If you guys are coming out to the PGI, ⁓ gonna have our booth out there. Jacob's be out there for a couple of days. Not exactly sure how many days yet. ⁓ I'll out there for the entire event, obviously in de in Mansfield, Texas, which is outside of Dallas. but yeah, we we're gonna we're just we've got a whole ⁓ that's why. Yeah, that's fine. All right. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: I ever hit. That's gotta it's gotta be the best memory. I pulled one left center field. It went out at holiday park. ⁓ I I remember the field like I drive by it almost every day back home. ⁓ so it's pretty sick, yeah. Jason Corley: Okay. Yeah. Okay. MJ Bollinger: And then yeah, I just shagged B P, you know, shot the shit with the with the buddies and and yeah, it was great. Jason Corley: Really. Okay. Okay. And explain to people where exactly Hollywood, Florida is. Jacob Moreno: Mmm. MJ Bollinger: So Fort Lauderdale is the city the main city above Miami. So you're about twenty five minutes north of Miami and then and then and then you're about twenty five minutes south of Boca and about an hour south of West Palm Beach. ⁓ so you're the you're in the hot spot. You're in the middle of we call it the like the Tri County area. You have ⁓ like Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami Dade County. ⁓ so you're you're literally the center. Jason Corley: the PG staff has got us set up with some killer guests. Plus, we want we want to talk to you guys. yeah, want to talk to the kids. We want to have them on because this will all be 12 year olds getting ready to go up to 13. So it's time for them to start getting comfortable ⁓ with and cameras and interviews and ⁓ yeah, just talk to them. A lot of them will have already been to Cooperstown. So I think that we're gonna get some feedback on how their Cooperstown trip went. So SBA's out there right now. This is two in a row, Jacob. Two in a row from that area. MJ Bollinger: Alright, so we got four uniforms, but I only I only have two on me right now, okay? So got the fur so we're the mist we're the mystic schooners. I got my dad's number from college 34 this year, so we got the first one. It's looking a pretty sweet one. ⁓ it's like a it's like a light blue, so it's black and then light blue, and then like it's got like touches of teal ⁓ in there. So this is like the mystic. I don't know if this is gonna be home or away. Jason Corley: Okay, let's see. And what's the theme? ⁓ that's right, the mystic. Jacob Moreno: No, you're good. Jason Corley: Okay. Jacob Moreno: Mmm. Jason Corley: Okay. Sweet. Is that Navy? MJ Bollinger: Of all the crazy stuff going on. Jason Corley: Next week, Prospects team is out there, so Jacob Moreno: That's where the Casinos are, right? The Hard Rock. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be exciting. I mean, 'cause you guys go what, the week after? MJ Bollinger: Yeah, hard Hard Rock is like th the Hard Rock Hotel, which is in the shape of a guitar, is like literally ten minutes from my house. Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. MJ Bollinger: And then we got the the schooners, which I think this one's I think this one's pretty dope. Right like that. And then we we'll have ⁓ we'll have a cream one coming in eventually. And then we have a City Connect uniform that we'll play with against Martha's Vineyard on their like twentieth anniversary of launching Jaws or something, 'cause that's where Jaws was filmed. Jason Corley: Yeah, we go the week after. So which I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, you know what I mean, strategically wise, but I don't think you really get to be strategic about picking your time at Cooper Sound. I could be wrong, but Okay. And a big high school l I mean how b how big was your high school? ⁓ Jacob Moreno: ⁓ that one is sweet. Jason Corley: Yeah, that's MJ Bollinger: St. So I went to St. Thomas Quintus in Fort Lardo, Florida. ⁓ very they're known for their football program, but they've won states last two years in a row, so go Raiders. ⁓ but I would say I think my graduating class like two thousand to twenty two hundred people. And it's just a high sch or ⁓ no, not my graduating class, sorry. That is the the overall school. My graduating class is like five hundred or six hundred kids, which is still huge for a graduating class. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Ooh. Jason Corley: Okay. Jacob Moreno: You get two weeks. Jason Corley: You get two weeks to choose from? Okay. All right. So Okay. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. And then they put you I guess like it puts you in a lottery and draw. Jason Corley: Right. Right. Okay. All right. All right. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ I didn't know that. I like that shirt you got on. Jason Corley: ⁓ my god. Yeah. Okay. So yeah. So I wonder if anybody has to skip the World Series in order to go. Jacob Moreno: Holy MJ Bollinger: Thank you, yeah. I got it ⁓ in when I was in college station I got it a little thrift store. I'm a big thrifter. Jacob Moreno: I think if I'm not mistaken, a lot of teams put in for the end of July to the end of Cooperstown. A lot of big travel teams. You know what mean? Like you guys did, 'cause I think if I'm not mistaken, they said they did that week that you guys are going and then a week in August. Jason Corley: That's huge. That's huge. Jacob Moreno: That's what I... Jason Corley: Okay, okay, okay, all right, all right. MJ Bollinger: But there's some schools back home like that have like twenty two hundred as a graduating class. ⁓ but Saint Thomas was twenty two ⁓ about twenty two hundred students ⁓ overall and then we had my class like five hundred, six hundred people. I love it. I love going there and getting like n like nice quality old vintage shirts for like fifteen bucks and then you walk around you you style on all the kids in college now it's amazing. Jason Corley: Yeah. I don't I Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. Well tell us a little bit about your about growing up in baseball. Like were you because when we talked to Alex, Alex gave painted this picture that you didn't have to do travel ball because baseball and the local community was so competitive. You didn't have to go anywhere. It's like it's the same as talking to kids in Southern California and in Texas. Like travel ball is almost like a luxury to them because all all of ball is so competitive. And I'm assuming that's the way it was where you grew up. Yeah, I mean I know I I I mean I think Adrian told us on the podcast he set his up so he had enough time in between Cooperstown and you know the end of the season for his arms. but it doesn't look like they from the looks of it, doesn't look like they've had to use too many arms yet. So 'cause they just hit the ball there. But ⁓ so yeah, so shout out to them. ⁓ not sure, like well, ⁓ not going, Z T's not going. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, yeah, yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, yeah. So like that's the one thing I think South Florida ⁓ South Florida, Cali, ⁓ you know, South Parts of Texas have advantages over all these other states is like we get to play baseball twelve months out of the year. When some states some plates only get f three, four months out of the year. So growing up it was like when you were younger, before travel ball really started, like big time travel ball, like P G events, you didn't you didn't have to Jason Corley: DK's not going to Cooperstown. None of those teams are going to Cooperstown, right? That's what they told us. So Jacob Moreno: Mm, yeah. Yeah, that's what I yeah, that's what I wanna say they said they weren't no one so Jason Corley: It's definitely a midwestern, northeastern thing. Yeah, we know. Jacob Moreno: You Yeah, because I mean just if you go to that Cooperstown pickup page, you see a lot of kids from out west and down south that wanna be picked up, you know, for a team to go play. MJ Bollinger: know, go to Jupiter, go to Fort Myers to play in these tournaments. You just you played your local your local travel ball teams and then the competition was already there because every I mean South Florida I think South Florida has the best baseball players or develops the best baseball players in the nation by far. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. It's excited. I ⁓ I hope everything works out ⁓ yeah it's just ⁓ just a weird just a weird time right now because there's a lot of worries and stuff like that with you know, things and and making sure that the kids you know what mean? yeah. I know. I don't wanna get I don't wanna get into it right now, but at some point I've had it for a while, man. I've had it. Yeah. ⁓ ⁓ yeah. And do you think that's because of the Latin influence that they get naturally? MJ Bollinger: ⁓ one thousand percent. One thousand percent. I I mean I have a lot of buddies who grew up they're all all of Latin descent and they're they're either playing Pro Bowl or they're big time guys at the Division One program right now. ⁓ and then even the non Latin kids, you know, you just grow up in that the the culture because baseball is so big for them, you know, that I played in a team called the MVP Elite, ⁓ and they were based out of High Lee, Florida. I'm I was one of the only kids whose first language was English. ⁓ and and the Jacob Moreno: I like their hair. Have you? Is that Royal Blue? Jason Corley: This is the one that I was wearing at the Jennings Park and the guy came up and said, I'll give you a black P VR hat if you wear it. And I was like, Okay. I literally had Yeah. So I it's just yeah, I don't know. It it I've had it probably for two years. I yeah, I don't know. I don't mean remember I think I got it just because it was like the only colors that they had left. And I don't know. ⁓ I mean not even yeah, it's not team colors, it's not anything. So I just like the hat. Jacob Moreno: Run it. Yeah. Jason Corley: ⁓ yeah. I'm I'm a I'm I'm aware. We play you guys. We've played against all of them. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah. So so like for me it's like, you know, being the like really the only kid who like doesn't speak Spanish, like you kinda have to learn and integrate with them and you realize like this is this is their life, you know? Jacob Moreno: Yeah. I do. Jason Corley: Sometimes you just, you know, it's an impulse buy. That's what this was. So got some feedback on last night's podcast. So Okay. This is a great point because I want to bring this up, Jacob, because so ⁓ my son is twelve and we're getting ready to go onto the big field and he's he's only had one uniform in his in his closet for the last four years since he was eight years old. And obviously there ⁓ he's a pretty talented he's a pretty talented little dude and ⁓ a lot of you know, there's a lot of options this time of year. You know what I mean? Going into the off season. Jacob Moreno: I didn't get none. I got one. I got one. Jason Corley: I got a text. Yeah. I got a text from ⁓ I got a text from Cody out in Iowa building our tent and he said he'd been waiting on this one and he said shout out Cody and he said ⁓ listening to it reminds me of giving a twelve year old a red bull. Jacob Moreno: Ha. Jason Corley: I was like, yeah, that's pretty much it. So ⁓ yeah, I don't I I don't know. I don't know if Mark shared very much stuff. I've I haven't been on social media at all today. I've just been so busy with other conversations that are going on. So yeah, it's yeah, it was it yeah, it was it was a podcast. We knocked it out. So yeah, and then tonight gonna folks if ⁓ yeah, if you weren't tonight. MJ Bollinger: For sure, yeah. Jason Corley: And one of those things that as a dad you struggle with is is okay, there's an opportunity here, there's an opportunity there, but this opportunity, I literally had this conversation with Jacob. This opportunity, you might go, and that might be an incredible organization, an incredible ⁓ place to go and develop, but you might be the only one that speaks English. And I I I that's a real thing, isn't it? Jacob Moreno: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. It's a very real thing. I mean, I know I know I mean I experienced it myself. Like the kids spoke English, but like th when they speak to their families and their regular like on field communication is not English, it's Spanish. ⁓ and over time you have to like kinda understand that and you gotta have you work with you have to work with it, you know, and you have to kind of adapt to that that culture and you realize that for those kids, like that's like that's their lives. Like they're like none of those kids play football. It's it's baseball. Jason Corley: This was a impromptu conversation. Tonight we were supposed to have the night off, but I was Jacob Moreno: Which I thought we were going to and Jason's like, Nope. Jason Corley: Yeah, we did. We thought we were going to. And I was like, yeah, no time off. I I am we are gonna have a conversation with MJ Bollinger: Right. So they're they're so dedicated to it, even at a young age, you know, like I thought I was dedicated to it until I see some kid, you know, out there skipping school and he's practicing all day. Right? And I and I took the time, like I practiced a lot, you know, and seeing these kids like, ⁓ it's a different it's a different beast for them. ⁓ yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Right. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Right, swinging at tires in the dirt and their bare feet. Yeah, it's a real sh it's real shit. Yeah. Go ahead, Jacob. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, yeah. Jacob Moreno: So did you ever learn Spanish or just sit with them and pick up keywords that you knew what they were talking about? MJ Bollinger: So when I was yeah, when I was younger when I was younger I I there were a lot of key words that I'd picked up. Sadly didn't really stick with me, but when you're when you're there for, you know, quite some time and you're with them for a year, you everybody develops like a sense of like understanding like what certain things mean and understanding patterns. And so I I was pretty good at understanding the patterns and and getting used to like, okay, certain certain slang when they when they talk about baseball and you know, just Jason Corley: Coach Ferber. so w are gonna have conversation with Coach Ferber ⁓ next week, maybe sometime. talk to him the phone. He's actually headed to IMG Academy with a bunch of select 13 new kids to do testing for Game Changer, this new thing that they're doing. It's incredibly cool and I can't wait to talk to him about it. So Game Changer is investing this money into data, which don't freak out, folks. They're not taking blood samples of kids. ⁓ are running a study on they believe the metrics are the reason why kids drop off and quit baseball going into the big field because of the metrics of the kids that are very successful versus the metrics of the kids that aren't very successful. MJ Bollinger: Any like just slang and language, learning about it and then when I got older in high school I took Spanish and I I was pretty good at understanding it. I just couldn't communicate. ⁓ and then once I got to college kind of the Spanish slowly dwindled away. ⁓ but I really do wish I still I'm I wanna take an online class for it. ⁓ because it's huge. Everybody in baseball now, fifty percent of them are all ⁓ you know, Latin speaking or ⁓ Spanish speaking and it's a great way to Jacob Moreno: That are Jason Corley: And they get discouraged so they quit the game. So they're they're I am Cooper Utin is going down there for this ⁓ spending like three days at IMG Academy to do all this testing ⁓ to get all these numbers. ⁓ know. Send Cooper Uton to IMG, we'll never see him again. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: You better grab a you better grab a Japanese book too, because that shit's coming too. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ nice. Mm-hmm MJ Bollinger: Those people are crazy over there. That that talent over there, 'cause that's all they do. You know, like the only sport I think of Japan is is baseball. Like they're starting it they're starting to integrate ⁓ like football over there, but there's only a couple Japanese born football players and now you're starting to see like, okay, you have Shohei and then there's this new guy in the White Sox, ⁓ their outfielder. He's like five eight and the dude's cranking balls four hundred and fifty feet and throwing the ball a hundred in the outfield, like Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. we send our boys there? ⁓ Jason Corley: Right. So if Dennis yeah, if co if Dennis is listening right now, yeah, Dennis, I'm sorry. Yeah, you might not get out of Florida with Cooper going to IMG Academy for some testing. ⁓ I know. Yeah. They're like, damn, this East Cobb life is nice, but that is nice too. Yeah. Okay. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ yeah. You may ⁓ you may want to start looking for an apartment, a house, condo. Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Like dude, come on. Like it it's too much. Jason Corley: Yeah. But they're I I've I'm pretty s I'm pretty confident in saying that in Japan they're they're they're being made like in a factory over there. Those like those Yeah, I I swear to God. Yeah, it's like the Ro it's like the it's like the the up or the movie with Rocky where he the Russian what's the Russian's name? That dude and they like built him. Yes, Andre. And they build him in a lab. So ⁓ Jacob Moreno: That is life. You ever watch them videos on Instagram about the day in the life of a baseball player? Jason Corley: Yeah, sometimes. Yeah. There's Jacob Moreno: Brantley's sending him he was like, dude, look at this. Said they went to class from eight to ten forty. Now they're eating and getting ready to fly out to go to, you know, wherever to go play. I'm like, yeah, I mean it's the perks MJ Bollinger: ⁓ I we joke around about it. We joke around about it, but I think it's true. Like I really do think it's true. Jason Corley: All right, there he is. I'm gonna tag him in and then we're gonna pause this. MJ Bollinger: Ivon Ivon Draco. Ivon Draco. Jason Corley: All right, so let's let's so you start playing at a young age, your dad's involved, your mom's involved. When did travel ball really start to get serious for you? MJ Bollinger: good question. I mean I played baseball for fun up until like like prop yeah but like now I'm competitive like like I have fun playing it but like I don't I don't play the sport to have fun anymore right I play the sport to be a professional but when I but as a kid I would say I I really started taking like taking it serious ⁓ probably my sophomore year of high school I Jason Corley: Shut up. No, you're too competitive. Sure too competitive. Right. Yeah. Okay. MJ Bollinger: That was I was fift I just turned fifteen and I threw ninety miles an hour. and I realized that this can be a path for me. ⁓ most most summer ball before that was like, ⁓ you're going with your buddies for five tournaments, you get to go in hotels, you know, mess around in the hotels, ding dong ditch random people, and then you get to go pitch and kick some people's asses and then go home and and have a great summer. But once I hit sophomore year it Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. MJ Bollinger: It was like, ⁓ you like actually have like you have a talent at this and and this is a a God given gift and you actually need to put in work and focus on on your talent. So I would say sophomore year was just that that was the big turning point for me after high school. After that high school season. Jason Corley: Okay. Yeah. Okay. So you didn't do much traveling on the road outside of Florida before that? MJ Bollinger: No, not at all. I mean, j besides going to like Georgia, playing in Cooperstown, ⁓ like when I was younger, not at all. Like it was literally going to West Palm for a tournament, going to Fort Myers, going to Jupiter, going to the Boomba sports complex, going to Orlando. ⁓ it's so sick. It's so sick. It's beautiful. Jason Corley: Right. That place is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So okay. I thought it was new, but if you if you played there, it can't be that new, Jacob. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, I thought it was a new complex too. MJ Bollinger: Mm. Jason Corley: I thought it was new. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: It so they might have like updated it, but the Boomba sports complex like has been around since I've been like eleven, twelve years old. ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. Jason Corley: Over in Lake Mary? Yeah. All right. So we just played there this sh this spring. We we played there. And I mean it looks brand spanking. MJ Bollinger: It's a pretty dope it's a pretty dope place, huh? Yeah. You guys I don't know if you guys have been to the U Triple SA Space Coast complex. ⁓ Yeah, like like I played there all the time growing up. ⁓ the Disney Worldwide Sports Com ESPN Worldwide Sports Complex in Disney. ⁓ yeah, that's a that's a sick place too. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: About four years in a row. Yep. Okay. Okay. Did we Jacob Moreno: Play there. No, I played slow-pitched softball there. Jason Corley: Okay, I got you. I got you. MJ Bollinger: They do host big tournaments there. They do host like massive tournaments there. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Okay. All right. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, that Boomba Sports Complex was built, it says May of 2016. Jason Corley: Okay. All right. All right. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ there's so ma yeah, so maybe there's gotta be a different one 'cause I remember that Boomer Sports Complex. I was a kid going there, like Jason Corley: That's ten well, that's ten years ago. How old are you? Twenty one? Well, yes. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ shit, that is ten years old. ⁓ my goodness. Wow. You said twenty sixteen, I still think we're in twenty twenty and it's twenty twenty six. That's just ridiculous. So Jacob Moreno: hahahaha Jason Corley: That's ten years ago, dude. So that would have been you would have you were right. okay. All right. Yeah. All right. Okay. So tell us about then. So as you start taking it serious at fifteen, obviously there's there's eyeballs on you and eyeballs noticing you. d how w how was that transition going from Jacob Moreno: You've been 11. MJ Bollinger: Folks, folks, I'm getting old. I'm getting old. My back, my brain's going. Jacob Moreno: man. MJ Bollinger: Might need some medicine soon. Jason Corley: I'm assuming you played then summer ball ⁓ pretty seriously throughout your high school career w as high school season ended. What was high school like? Were you did you start as a freshman? Were you like Alex? Did they sneak you in as an eighth grader because you threw ninety? How did that whole thing work? MJ Bollinger: So so s I for I forget where he went. I think he went to MacArthur or I forget where he went to high school, but my high school my high school was just a high school. He went to ESP. He went to ESP after after two years of high school, I think. It wasn't straight straight to ESP. He was in high school for like a year or two, I think. ⁓ 'cause we played him. Jason Corley: ⁓ he went to an academ he went to an academy. He signed himself up. Exactly. Yeah, and then he went virtual. He went virtual and then he yeah, 'cause he told a story about telling his dad after he signed up. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah. So my my high school is different. It's just a high school. Like there's there's no middle school connected to it. So you start in you start as a freshman and you leave as a senior. ⁓ so freshman year, I made J V. We had three hundred kids go to our tryout. ⁓ yeah, y yeah. That so this is this is what I'm saying, how Florida baseball is different. Like most places in high school, like up north, can't even get like, you know, a full Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Jacob Moreno: Holy shit. Jason Corley: We'll have thirty. We'll have thirty. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, you guys have thirty people come to try out almost everybody makes the team, right? 'Cause you you need it. No, at St. Thomas we cut people and we had two J V teams of forty kids each and a varsity team of forty kids each. So we still cut, like I'm pretty sure that year we cut around a hundred and eighty boys from trying out for baseball. Like it's really it really is cutthroat, like down home. and so my freshman year, I'll never forget it, try out came. It's like Jason Corley: Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Cheese. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: The coldest day in the history of Fort Lauderdale. I mean. Yeah, yeah. I'm but I will say we got there and it was foggy. It I think it was like in the forties. And like you get like one four like day in the forties all day in Florida. And it was in the forties. And I'm just like, ⁓ my god, this is gonna be a terrible practice. ⁓ come around like next following week, I make the team, I made JV. Jason Corley: It was six yeah, it was sixty. Jacob Moreno: It was 61. Jason Corley: Mm. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ and we start playing J V baseball. I'm playing really good. ⁓ and then COVID happened. And I was actually this kind of funny, I would t was told this a couple of years ago. ⁓ right before like the day before we got COVID canceled, I was supposed to get called up to varsity, ⁓ to be a pitcher on varsity, but covet happened and then the season everything was cut short, obviously. So ⁓ that year gets cancelled. Jason Corley: ⁓ no. MJ Bollinger: And then sophomore year comes around and we go through trials again, but this is all like through COVID now, like 'cause sophomore year was fully online 'cause of COVID and I make varsity as a sophomore and I'm like, yo, let's go. Like I'm one of the only sophomores on varsity. And I was a cl I was a closer on on varsity and I had an unreal year. Like a lot of lot of saves. ⁓ I got a couple of really sick videos still on my phone that I'll reminisce through every now and then. And Jason Corley: Okay. Right. That's awesome. ⁓ MJ Bollinger: I actually it's kind of funny, I threw with a kid ⁓ back home when I was when I was back home for a week after I left A and and he was like, Is your is your name MJ? And I was like, Yeah, I it was random kid I met at the field and he goes, Dude, they still talk about you at my high school today. They still talk about you at Saint Thomas, like you're a living legend. And I was like, ⁓ this is this is great. Like thank you for telling me that. ⁓ but then I have a great year sophomore year. Going to summer, I play for the Philly Scout team. Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: That's sweet. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ you know, the YouTube sensation team with Elijah Green, Drew Jones. So I played for the twenty twenty twos for a little bit and then ⁓ twenty twenty threes. ⁓ you'd probably if anybody were to go on there, you'd recognize me as the Mark Pro kid, the kid whose arm was always doing that in the videos with the electrodes. That's me and all those videos. ⁓ so then I go into junior year and I'm supposed to be the closer and either third baseman or catcher, because I was a catcher in third baseman as well. Jason Corley: We know who they are. Yep. MJ Bollinger: And I get hurt my junior year. ⁓ I end up getting elbow t ⁓ so this is the first year I hadn't played football, by the way. I played football my freshman and sophomore year, and this was the first year I said I'm not playing another sport. This is when I'm taking baseball serious. So I quit football. ⁓ still a hard decision to like think about because I do love football. ⁓ but quit football and we took Jason Corley: Doing what? Okay. MJ Bollinger: a couple weeks off because during football season I'm not throwing a baseball. You know, I'm I'm hitting people in the mouth and you don't get to use your you don't get to use your UCL when you're hitting somebody. So came back around Thanksgiving time to throw again, maybe a little bit earlier, and I was like my first ball I threw with my buddy Tyler Jenkins. ⁓ he was at a school called Western. He was my first catcher ever. And I go, dude, my elbow's kinda like like aching. It's kinda like It's like a sharp pain. And I didn't think anything other. I'm like, ⁓ maybe I'm not loose. So like I got warm again, like and I was like, Okay, I feel fine. Through the first ball, I was like, Okay, I'm fine. Through the next one, and it's like just like this raging pain down my elbow and I and it's like it it feels like ⁓ like a bee was stinging me in my elbow. And I was like, What and it felt like it was like a shock and I'm like, What is this? Like this is really weird. So I take off, I go to the doctor and they're like, Dude, you d we you just have inflammation. Jacob Moreno: Only. Jason Corley: Okay. MJ Bollinger: Like you're okay. So we're gonna put you on neproxen for a week and you'll be fine. Like it's just tendonitis, so it'll go away. And I was like, Okay, perfect. So I so I take the neproxin. ⁓ we go out for the next week and I'm fine. Like no issues, and I'm like, Bro, thank God. You know, like I don't I don't have an issue with my elbow. The next week comes by and the sharp pain comes back. Go back to the doctor, he prescribes me a bigger dosage of neproxen, and I take a week and a half Jason Corley: Sure. MJ Bollinger: We I I was severely like I'm pretty sure I was severely drugged up on the proxin. I think I was taking close to like seven hundred fifty to a thousand milligrams, like a bunch of pills a day in a proxy, which now I know is like super unhealthy for your body. It's terrible. ⁓ but so I would take a week and a half off, it would be good for a couple days to a week, and then it would flare back up. And I went through that process about four times. So it lasted from like Jacob Moreno: Mmm. Jason Corley: Okay. MJ Bollinger: End of October, early November, all the way until like March of just going back and forth with like moronaproxin, different ⁓ anti inflammatory. And at some point I was just like, Dad, like I like I can't throw. Like it hurts. I can't swing because it hurts. You know, like my arm writing, like writing a pencil, my arm was tired writing because something was going on. Jacob Moreno: Mm. MJ Bollinger: You know, and I'm like, What's going on? So we go to another specialist, ⁓ Doctor Martin Weaver, ⁓ and they're one of the first people to work with PRP injections. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. I I pointed by the way because I pointed by the way because Jacob is dealing with it with this exact thing with his son right now at this moment. Like his son can't play because they're dealing with this exact I'm I think, right? Exact same thing almost. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, yeah, it's the growth plate for him is the growth plate, you know, being inflamed and open and he can't throw and you know, the first two days when he get went back at school, he, you know, text crying like I can't write my arm hurts my elbow hurts to hold the pencil hurts like so yeah, so I know I mean I went through with my I'm going through it with my son now. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Jason Corley: So dad takes you to a doctor, a real doctor. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, it it so we go to like a specialist at this point, and the specialist was like, Listen, like you can keep taking the drugs and it's like you're either gonna get better or you're not gonna get better. And he goes, You can take those drugs and you can deal with the pain and throw with a sharp pain the rest of your life, or we can do an experimental operation on your arm. And at the time it's a PRP injection, a platelet rich plasma injection. Jason Corley: Mm-hmm. MJ Bollinger: And they take whatever the bags are, blood, they take like two bags of blood out of my left arm and they spin it in a diffuser and they take the the white blood cells, the platelets, and they inject it into the area that you're you're struggling with. And the white blood cells or the platelets are the healing properties in your blood. So it's a natural procedure. You're you're not using any, you know, medicine, like you're using the medicine that your body makes for you. Jason Corley: Okay. You don't have to go to Mexico to do this, is what you're saying. MJ Bollinger: Absolutely not. It's yeah, absolutely not. So I was like I I told my dad, I'm like he was like, Dude, I think we just stay on the drugs. I think that's what we are getting at. And I was like, I told him like, Dad, like, I need to get this done. Like, it's either this is gonna hurt and it's still gonna hurt, or it's gonna hurt right now and it's not gonna hurt later. And again, this is experimental. Like I th it was either it's gonna work or it's not gonna work. And the doctor specifically told us that. So I go on the procedure. I actually have the videos on my on my old phone of me getting it done, but it's a huge needle, like that big that they stuck I don't have it, but they stuck like right in there of my elbow and I'm awake for all this. And it f it felt like I mean, if you can picture like a million bees stinging you at once on the inside, because they have to inject it back into you. And I'm bad with I'm like bad with needles and blood. So I almost passed out when they drew my blood. Jason Corley: No. ⁓ god. ⁓ Sure. MJ Bollinger: And then I said a lot of bad words when they when they put it when they put it in my elbow. ⁓ but yeah, it hurt it hurt really bad. My arm like got really inflamed because of how much they had to inject into my elbow. ⁓ your arm's like jello and when this happens, right, they're they're sticking a needle in your body. Y ⁓ like my arm for a couple of days was just like that. Like I couldn't straighten it out. ⁓ but over time that whole season my I had to recover my arm. I went to Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Mmm. MJ Bollinger: you know, ⁓ therapy for it to build it all up and I was good I didn't play that season, but I was good like literally the last day that we finished, like I was cleared ⁓ for high school baseball. So I went to go play summer ball. I d I mean I pitched a yeah. Jason Corley: Hey, hold that thought. Hold that thought. Hold that thought. Hold that thought. Jacob Moreno: man. Yeah man, my son's going through that now and it's the second time in nine months and then this time I'm like you know what the doctor was like he's done till mid-august I'm like that's fine like I'm just gonna let him rest and he's only 12 so you know what mean he's got a lot of baseball MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah, like he d he just needs to chill out for a little bit. Like pick something else up for a little bit. Just like to get his mind off Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Yeah. Jason Corley: How'd you how'd you how did your dad find the doctor? MJ Bollinger: Well, my dad's really good at finding stuff, let's just say that. And we were referred to we were he'll probably he'll probably watch that and he'll laugh at that, but he's really good at finding finding places to go to and doing his research and Jason Corley: ⁓ yeah. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Fixing fixing problems is what dad's good at. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, very good. All dads are good at that 'cause they gotta fix all the problems that their boys make for ⁓ but he found he found this doctor. I think we were also there might have been like a referral to him, but ⁓ he had worked on previous major league players doing this operation, ⁓ and he was very good at it. So we ended up going to him and it was the b I I will say like I think that saved my career in high school to like continue playing. Jason Corley: How long was your recovery with that? MJ Bollinger: Well, if you want to start it from when I got hurt in like late October, early November till January, Fair, March, April, May. We got out of school like late or early June or late no late May. So late May is when it recovered. So like we'll just start November, November, December, January, Fair, March, April, seven months. Seven months. Yeah. So I mean I missed my whole high s my junior year. Jacob Moreno: and Seven months. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: After having that breakthrough year and getting, you know, getting looked at by some pretty big schools, ⁓ that year. ⁓ played summer ball, had a really good summer with the Phillies. Then we go into senior year and I'm supposed to be our starting catcher. ⁓ and the games that I'm not catching, I'm on third base or I'm closing. And at this point, ⁓ I just skipped over a really big part. How I got how I how I got yeah, okay. Here's a story of how I got committed to San Jack. ⁓ Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. So go back and tell us. MJ Bollinger: My junior college 'cause it's happening during ⁓ junior year. So Jason Corley: So is th is this the junior college of the coach that you kept referring to on the telephone the other day? Okay. All right. All right, let's go there. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, Coach Corey. Yep. So basically junior year happens and it's one of those things like you're on top of the world. You know, you're one of I think I was one of the best baseball players in the state of Florida during that time, especially pitchers, and your kind your world comes crashing down. You know, like you can't play your sport. ⁓ every school that had been, you know, keeping in communication with me falls off for you know, reasons that I can understand because they don't want somebody that's hurt. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. MJ Bollinger: And I had one offer out of high school and it was a division two school in South Carolina called US C. Aiken. And I still Jason Corley: Wait, hold a minute. Hold a minute though. Like how does that how do you and your dad and your mom process that when you know that you're one of the best pitchers in the state? Like you're a multi sport athlete and the phone's not ringing. Like what are you battling? Like that's gotta be Jacob Moreno: mentally. MJ Bollinger: It's it's a struggle. It's it's a ⁓ I mean, baseball I will say baseball recruiting is the shittiest. ⁓ like overall, like like I don't know how old your your kids are, but ⁓ you so they haven't got to it yet, but you'll find out that baseball coaches like in football if you want somebody, you go get ⁓ You know, like you you have ⁓ right out. Baseball people like to play games and they they like to you know, they're like a tram it's like a trampoline effect, like Jason Corley: Mulph. Jacob Moreno: both. MJ Bollinger: You're you're up in the air and then you get back on the trampoline and that's when they want you, but then they spring you right back up. You know, that's kinda how I refer to it. So in my head I'm like d like I see all my like friends committing and you're happy for them. You know, they're going to schools to play baseball and you're like, Deep down I I know I I'm I'm a great pitcher and ⁓ in the most non arrogant way possible. Like I know that I have more talent than them and I have better stats than them. I I should be getting calls and I didn't get any calls. I was severely underlooked, even even with playing for the Philly Scout team, which I mean that team's millions of views on YouTube. ⁓ so severely underlooked and I get a call from USC Aken, ⁓ D two school. I'm I'm still like forever grateful for their offer because that was the only like one of the only two offers I got during high school. That was the first one I ever received. And I got to the campus, I looked around, I was just like, This is Jason Corley: Right. Jacob Moreno: you MJ Bollinger: This can't I this isn't where I wanna be. Like I I can't be here. But I don't have any other option if I wanna play ⁓ high school baseball. And so that summer going into the fall, I started looking at junior colleges. My dad mentioned, hey, it looks like JUCO's the route, you're gonna be able to play, you know, it's gonna be tough, you're gonna be a man, like you're gonna learn how to grow up a little bit. And so I started DMing JUCO's and the only JUCO that responded was San Jack and it was ⁓ Jason Corley: Right. MJ Bollinger: my coach at the time, ⁓ coach Corey Kohler, and off of one DM, he gave me a like a eighty five, ninety percent scholarship to attend school ⁓ out in Houston, Texas and play baseball. And I took a visit out there, me and my dad flew out there and we looked at the school and was it great facilities? Hell no. It's junior did No. No, I flew out on my own time to get out there and check it out. ⁓ Jason Corley: Completement. Did they fly you or did you guys fly on your own dime? MJ Bollinger: And was it again, was it the nicest facilities? Absolutely not, but deep down I knew like that's some place I probably need to go for myself to better myself. ⁓ so I committed there in like early, early fall of my s of my senior year of high Jason Corley: Okay. And what year so this is what, twenty twenty three? MJ Bollinger: This is twenty this would be the the fall of twenty twenty two going into twenty twenty three. ⁓ so I commit to them and next thing you know it's like, ⁓ there's a tournament that's gonna be played in I forget in what part of Florida, but the head coach of this team, the Sticks, ⁓ they know my head co the the coach, my associate head coach, co coach Corey, they know him personally. So Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. MJ Bollinger: Although I never wanted to play for them and I didn't want to go to this tournament, me and my dad came to the agreement that this would be a very good opportunity to like get some information back to your future college coach. So we go. I was only supposed to pitch, but I ended up hitting and playing the field. A week and a half before I started my senior year of high school baseball, I tore my PCL in my right knee and sli sliding into a bag. I hyperextended my knee. So if your knee bends this way. Jason Corley: Yep. Yep. MJ Bollinger: the bat your PCL's the back and it went right like that. So I tore I had a grade two tear in my knee and I complet we thought it was just like a spray knee and I was gonna be out for like a month or two. ⁓ it turned out that I missed my I was back for my last game of my senior year and I didn't and I didn't risk playing because I I really wanted to play and I wanted to say that I played my senior year of high school baseball. ⁓ Jason Corley: Yep. Jacob Moreno: Uggghhh MJ Bollinger: But deep down I took the the negatives and the positives and I realized that well if this flares up again my junior college might pull my scholarship and then I'm gonna go be a frat lead at FSU or the University of Florida. so it I just didn't play my senior year. I wasn't I wasn't ready, didn't get to pitch at all. ⁓ and now I'm behind, right? I haven't really played baseball for real in two years. ⁓ Jason Corley: Right. MJ Bollinger: And I I looked at it like, okay, these tournaments aren't gonna help me. They're they're not. And I s decided that I need to get in the gym and train and get bigger because I was although I was physically more mature than everybody else, I didn't get physically mature than everybody else by working out and training. It was just genetics. and so I started training at a place called Cressy Sports Performance in West Palm Beach, Florida, and that's the best decision I've ever made in my entire career. Jason Corley: Right. Okay. MJ Bollinger: of baseball was starting was starting to train there my senior year and if I can give any advice to any kid out there is forget Summer Ball. Summerball does not like you can go to a tournament or two but it doesn't help you. Summerball doesn't promote you unless you're getting looked at by pro scouts or maybe your college coach wants to go watch a game. But I got no offers out of Summerball and I had games where I had fourteen strikeouts. You know and Jason Corley: Really? Jacob Moreno: Mmm. Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. MJ Bollinger: Hopping, you know, when I'm you know, before I'm fifteen, when I'm fourteen, throwing eighty six, eighty seven for seven innings straight and getting working. and yeah, I went to go train that summer instead of playing summer baseball. Jason Corley: Did they have at this gym, did you have somebody that like specifically knew what to help you work on? Or was it just an iron sharpens iron gym, just get in there and start lifting and you figured it out on your own? MJ Bollinger: No. No, so Cresse Sports Performance is owned by Eric Cressy. He's the head strength and conditioning coach for the New York Yankees. ⁓ and he owns this he he owns this gym, so he I mean, it's it's pretty cool I'll tell you, it's pretty cool when you walk in a gym the first day and Mac Scherzer and Justin Verlander in their training and you're you're a kid. You're a kid and you're like, Wow, like I watched the Jason Corley: Okay. Okay, that's one's it. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Yeah, screw summer ball. MJ Bollinger: I watch these guys on T V and now I'm getting to train side by side with them and shaking their hands and talking to them and them letting me throw at them, go in their pitching meetings. So that summer I trained my ass off. I mean, I got physically I physically way more developed. I gained like two or three miles per hour that summer. ⁓ in bull pens, obviously. I I felt great. And then I went out to San Jacket at seventeen years old. ⁓ moved about a thousand miles away from home. ⁓ didn't have mom and dad around. Didn't know I d I didn't know how to I told you that on the phone. I went to college. I didn't know how to do my laundry. I didn't know how to cook. I hardly knew how to fill up my my gas can at that point in time. ⁓ yeah. Well see, exactly. I still don't know what it's called. That's the that's the big picture. Still the point. So Jason Corley: Didn't know how to do your laundry. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: It's your car. It's not your gas gate. MJ Bollinger: So yeah, it was just one of those things like I I went far away from home and in a short period of time I had to realize like, bro, you need to grow up. Like my roommates were all over twenty one, all over the age of being able to drink and I'm seventeen years old, can't even walk into a bar and get a X on my hand. ⁓ you know, I'm I'm still a kid. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Jacob, you are you gonna Jacob are you gonna ask him or do I have to? Jacob Moreno: Go ahead. ⁓ Jason Corley: All right. 'Cause you don't know what I'm at. Did it ever cross your mind, did it ever have a conversation about reclassing then? Jacob Moreno: I knew that's where I was gonna go. MJ Bollinger: Well, so we th so we thought about it in high school, but from a scouting perspective, from what I'd been told by a lot of scouts and a lot of coaches, being younger is so much more favorable to a scout. Especially if you go to college and you're seventeen and you're hanging with twenty two twenty well, twenty one, twenty two year olds. It looks so much better. Like look how less mature this kid is and he's sitting these older guys who are more mature and established in the game of baseball. Jacob Moreno: I've never heard it that way. Jason Corley: Jacob, we haven't heard this angle yet. We have heard the exact opposite angle. It's so crazy you're saying this. Jacob Moreno: That's me. Yeah, that's me because when Brantley graduates, he'll be 17. And everybody talks about reclassing him, reclassing him because you want him to be physically more mature, mature going into college. But this is total different angle that, yeah, so do I. Jason Corley: Well, when Brooks goes west, he would be seventeen. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, but Jason Corley: This is a to I love this 'cause this is the first time we're hearing this. MJ Bollinger: But but so that's my thing, like like I have a bunch of friends who are reclassed one, two times. You know, I've known people who have reclassed three times. And it's like it's like sure, you're you're a senior in high school and you hit fifteen Jimmies and you're like, Hell yeah, like what a great year and I'm like, it's not really impressive when you're, you know, nineteen years old and the kid you're facing is sixteen, seventeen years old. It's you kind of should be doing that. It's more impressive the other way around when Jason Corley: ⁓ Jacob Moreno: And a dog. Jason Corley: It's more impressive the other way. MJ Bollinger: You know, I don't know how to do anything in college. Nothing. When I first got there. ⁓ and I have to grow up really fast and deal with guys that like for instance, my catcher at junior college, Jake Bennett, one of my closest friends still this day. Jake Bennett, Jake Bennett had arms bigger than my legs, and Jake Bennett could hit a ball a hundred and sixteen, hundred and twenty miles at per hour off a off a wooden bat in college. And he was a y and he was Jason Corley: He was married with a kid. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: When I got there he was like nineteen or twenty years old. I think he was like nineteen or twenty. I'm like, dude, like I I'm not ready for this, but you have to find a way to be ready. 'Cause if you're not, you get left behind and you don't play. Right? Jason Corley: Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Do you get homesick? Jacob Moreno: Hmm. MJ Bollinger: Well, I didn't get homesick, ⁓ but I had a girlfriend at the time and we had been dating for like a year and a half at that point. Like a year, year and a half at that point, and never done long distance and she was still in Miami for school, so it was e Yeah, so I'm like, ⁓ she's definitely, you know, getting chirped at by all the fellas on the strip. And then Jason Corley: Okay. Ooh, and you're in you're in Krusty, Texas. Yeah. This is so reality. I hope everybody's listening. This is reality. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! MJ Bollinger: Yeah, you know. You know, so she's she you know, she's going out with her friends every weekend and having a great time, like good for her, but I'm stuck in I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, Houston, Texas. I'm not even old enough to go out. ⁓ like honestly there was no eye candy out there either. So ⁓ so yeah, I was kinda ⁓ I got a little homesick for that, just not being able to see my girlfriend, but I didn't miss South Florida. I l I always wanted to move to Texas. Jacob Moreno: Here in the middle of nowhere. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ it's kind of a Florida Florida kid thing. You wanna you always wanna try to live in Texas. ⁓ so yeah. Jacob Moreno: There's another one. Jason Corley: And I think did the Texas kids want to move to Florida, Jacob? MJ Bollinger: Everybody everybody wants to move to Florida. Everybody does. Jason Corley: No, not me. No, no, no, no, no. Jacob Moreno: Not me, I have no desire to move to Florida. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa but but we're talking about like teenagers here and everybody who's everybody who's like ⁓ my god you're at the beach every day. Like I'm at the beach four t four to five times a week back home. Yeah, like I lo I love going there, I love chilling. So people are like, ⁓ like ⁓ it's March and it's snowing I'm like, Yeah, I'm tanning right now. TV's twelve. Like, have a great day. Good morning, good afternoon, and good night. Jason Corley: Yeah. True. True. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Jacob Moreno: hahahaha Hahaha! Jason Corley: All right. So now that you just rubbed that salt in the wound, let's talk about your junior college experience, your first year there. How did that go? MJ Bollinger: Yeah. ⁓ a lot of learning to do. ⁓ there was a lot of again, from learning how to do my laundry, ⁓ to just having to grow up a little bit and take accountability for stuff. ⁓ it was hard. Like I I won't lie, I tell people this all the time. When I was at Juco I couldn't stand it. I absolutely hated it while I was there. But when I look back on it now, I'm like, Wow, I had a freaking blast. Jason Corley: Okay. MJ Bollinger: And it was so much fun. ⁓ 'cause in Juka, like, I'm be honest with you, you don't focus on school. Like the school's cake. The school's like the school's like middle, like like it's like entry classes in high school. Like they're so easy. So you get like a whole you get whatever however long you're there, a year, two years. Just play baseball. You know, and it it was so much fun. But there was also like hard parts about it. You know, like we have like an eleven hour drive from Oklahoma. We've been on a bus forever. We get home at two A.M. and I get a call at two thirty, three A.M. saying you have a tarp pole after you just showered and you just got all cleaned and you're exhausted and you have a game early, like early the next day in the morning, but you have to put the tarp on the field 'cause it's gonna pour. So you drive back to the field and it's pouring down rain and all your new clothes, the only clothes that you had washed, because your dumb ass didn't do laundry for two weeks up to that point, and the only clean clothes you have are now all muddy and soaked. Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: I know you are. I know you are. And I like did you tell your dad? Like, what did you do? Did your dad just lose his shit and laugh at you when you tell him these things? Jacob Moreno: you MJ Bollinger: So you go home and you're sleeping naked because you're like, This is BS, I didn't do any of my laundry. It's that it's that type of stuff. I'm being serious. Like it's Jacob Moreno: Yeah Ugh. MJ Bollinger: I called my I called my dad, I I remember and he's like he's like, What's up? And I I was like, Hey, what's up? And he's like, You sound terrible and ⁓ and and and I I I'll never forget this conversation. He goes he goes, You sound terrible and I'm like, Yeah, I'm really tired and he goes, What were you doing? Playing video games on them? Like, no, like we got home and Tart pull at like two thirty in the morning and he goes he goes, Welcome to life, bud, grow up and Jacob Moreno: Yeah hahahaha MJ Bollinger: And was like, Okay, thanks, Pops, appreciate it. And he's like and he's like and then he like over time he's No, that sucks. Like that that's terrible. That's terrible. ⁓ but like, yeah, I mean, there were many times where you get called in the middle of the night to show up to the field and put the tarp on the field and you know, people don't show up and now you're trying to pull a thousand pound tarp with, you know, heavy water on it and like ten, fifteen guys, it's almost impossible ⁓ to do. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. With yeah. Jacob Moreno: Mm. Jason Corley: Right. There's no there's no SEAL team mentality there. It's dude didn't show up. And but we still have Jacob Moreno: Yeah, he's still sleeping. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, like I I had a kid who I literally lived with. ⁓ I won't say his name for you know I don't I don't wanna put him on blast here, but I'll never forget this to the day I no. I mean I'll tell ya I'll I'll I'll I won't say his name but I'll tell you the story. We get we get called for a tarplet like eleven twelve P or eleven or twelve whatever at night, right? Jason Corley: We're gonna track him down, dude. We're gonna track him down. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: We've had a long, a long day and I was in bed at like seven o'clock. Like I was exhausted. Want to go to bed. I get this call like, dude, we have this tar pull, like we gotta be there. So I go wake up my one neighbor from Australia. He's like he's like, Yo, can you drive me? And I'm like, Yeah, like let's go. And he's like, Well, what about f ⁓ almost said his name. Sorry. Sorry. ⁓ so so Jason Corley: Well. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ MJ Bollinger: So so he goes he goes, What about what about the other roommate? And I was like, ⁓ yeah, let's wake him up. And so we're like we're like pounding on his door and he won't come out. The key like he won't come out. And and I'm like, Yo, we have a tartpool, like you have to show up, dude. Like we need your help. And ⁓ we hear in in his room is like, ⁓ like that and I'm like Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Because he knows. He knows. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: I'm like, bro, you're twenty two years old. Come on. Like, let's get it let's get a let's get a grip. Like, come on, dude. You let's get a grip. And he wouldn't come out. So we go to this tarp pole. We we have to pull the tarp off and roll it up. And then I don't know why we even rolled it. No, we just had to unroll it and put it on the field, but it was so hard because it was pouring down rain at that point already. So it's everybody slipping and falling. The tarp is Jason Corley: Yeah, we need you. We need you. Yeah. Okay. MJ Bollinger: Geez, it's it it's you know it's so heavy, you know, it's so hard to pull. We're you're sinking in the ground, you're you know, you're we're basically just in underwear, and we finally put the tarp on, this damn field, we put everything on it, and guess who shows up in the parking lot? Jason Corley: Thousands of pounds. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Yeah. And it stopped fighting. ⁓ Roommate. Jacob Moreno: you MJ Bollinger: He had just shown up part and he go he goes, Hey guys, like why are we starting so early? Yeah, I'm like, bro, I was so pissed off because that that was one of the nights where we didn't have everybody. You know, like there there wasn't many people there. And I'm like, dude, I don't want to be here any any less than anybody else, but like we need to get this done if we want to play. And he's like, ⁓ my bad guys, sorry. And he just like drove home. Didn't show up in the morning. I'm like, bro. Jason Corley: Ha ha. Ha Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: That's like one of the times, like I just wanted to like start some stuff in the in the apartment. I was like, This is messed up. Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. But I mean, I like I mean, looking back now, you laugh about it now, but that's life. It's life. Yeah, in the moment it sucks. In the moment it sucks, in the moment it's like, what a shitty teammate, what a shitty roommate, what a shitty friend. But then you look back now and you're like, that is so just another day in real life. MJ Bollinger: Of course. In the moment in the moment it's terrible. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ my gosh, yes. When I was there I was like, ⁓ like I'll be honest, I I don't like this kid. Like I can't stand him. He's a piece of crap, whatever. Now me and that kid talk every day. And you realize that that that's just life. Like like you guys are going through the exact same struggles and e everybody else, ⁓ you handle it in different different ways, shape, or forms. ⁓ yeah, when I was at JUCO, I hated my time there. ⁓ but Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: I pitched my ass off to get out of there in a year. And now looking fell in love with my coaches. Yeah, we started off on a little little shaky foot, I would say. ⁓ and I would say partially is just I don't think they understood my personality when I first got there of my high intensity mindset on the mound. And I'm kind of bipolar on and off the field. Like I'm I'm a goo I'm a goofball off the field. You probably wouldn't know that I played baseball. Jason Corley: You fell in love with your coaches. MJ Bollinger: Or was an athlete 'cause I hang out with more ⁓ like ⁓ the r regular students and yeah, just like regular p like just I just call we call ⁓ NARPs. Non athletic, regular people. ⁓ that's what you call ⁓ So so Jason Corley: Sur surfers. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Wait until my son hears this. Wait until my son hears this. Graydon is gonna be what is it's NARPs or narcs? Jacob Moreno: Uhhhh MJ Bollinger: Yeah. ⁓ NARP. NARP. Yeah. Non athletic regular person. So if for anybody watching out there, that's what like you refer to like regular students that aren't athletes at colleges. You call them NARPs as an athlete. Which is super disrespectful. It's like a derogatory term. It's like a derogatory term almost, but ⁓ hopefully I don't get cancelled for that. But but Jason Corley: NARP, okay. Normal, everyday, regular people. Yeah, no, I mean yeah, it's gonna be a new hashtag by Sunday morning. Yeah. So all right. Okay. So Jacob Moreno: No. MJ Bollinger: Probably will be honestly. But but yeah, so you wouldn't know that I play baseball outside of baseball or yeah, outside of baseball you wouldn't know that I played the sport, but inside of baseball I'm it's just a different animal and once those coaches understood that and they got the they got the the grasp on me, ⁓ I really fell in love with the coaching staff there and they really projected me to newer newer heights that I couldn't really imagine. Jason Corley: Okay, all right. So how long are you there before ⁓ the wheels start turning that something bigger is on the horizon? MJ Bollinger: So that year I was like an all Jason Corley: Is your arm wait, is your arm your arms good to go by now? Okay. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. My arm that that's about that was about like a year and a half after my arm issue. But it was my knee that I was worried about because I was j I was just coming off at knee injury fresh. and I had a great fall, like like shut it down the fall. ⁓ and then spring came along and I was designated as the closer. And I was like, Yes, like this is what I wanna do. I I was also asked just to PO instead of hit 'cause I went to college as a catcher as well. Jason Corley: That's right. Okay. Okay. MJ Bollinger: and I just remember having like a great year. I was an all conference closer, all region. I think I I had a great year. I had eight saves. and I had four wins 'cause our starter got TJ for the second time. ⁓ and I took the starting role my last four four out of my last five appearances were starts. So I started at the end of my year, pitched very, very well. And I just knew that at the end of the day, like I I could get to a Division One school after a year of JUCO, which is honestly it's unheard of nowadays. You normally stay at JUCO for two years and then you you go to you go to a division one or wherever your next ⁓ four year school is. But I was told in my recruiting pitch there by Coach Corey, you're gonna be a one and done. You're gonna get here in one year and we're gonna get you out. ⁓ because he thought I had the talent for that. ⁓ Jason Corley: Okay. So they're okay with this. They know they're gonna lose you. MJ Bollinger: Well, they don't want to lose you. They want to have you for two years. ⁓ it's kind of just they they wanna have you for two years, they wanna be able to keep you there and selfishly so you want your good guys to stay there as long as possible. But on the other end, on the flip eye on the flip side, sorry, it's also like, ⁓ this would look great for our program. Like this kid came here in one year and he got out and now I can promote this to other players saying that look what this kid did. Jason Corley: Right. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: He came in after not playing any high school baseball. He came here. He proved that he's not only a great pitcher, but he's one of the best in the nation in junior college. And now he's moved on to wherever school he ended up at. Right. ⁓ so and now the exit meeting was like, We don't want you to leave. But they understood that I had to leave. If that makes sense. and Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: I only had two schools out of San Jack that year. If I would have waited, I do believe that I would have had a crap ton of schools, but ⁓ in my defense I felt like I dominated that I hadn't I had s I don't think I had any losses in Juco. Like I I d I had like one blown save. ⁓ but the rest like I absolutely dominated the league. I had like a one three six ERA. Like I Jason Corley: Okay. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ MJ Bollinger: I shoved for however many innings, I think I threw like thirty eight innings that year. ⁓ I absolutely shoved. And it was between Texas State and FAU. Those were the two schools. Jason Corley: Okay. Right. I got it wrong. I w I w I I said today in the video I I what did I say? UCF, yeah. So F A U. My fault. My fault. Jacob Moreno: You said UCF. MJ Bollinger: U UCF our rivals. You're okay. You're okay. So so yeah, I was sitting I was sitting there and I was going back and forth with what school to go to because I love San Marcos. Alex Valentine was I mean, he was there or I knew he was gonna be going there. ⁓ and I was like, ⁓ like this could be a good spot to go to. I like the area. but it's just it wasn't the offer wasn't right for me to go. I couldn't afford out of state. It was too expensive. And FAU is in state. My parents had already paid for all my in state tuition and adding whatever scholarship was gonna help my family out the most. ⁓ so and being close to home, my mom could start going to games and ⁓ my Yeah, exactly. If I needed to do my laundry I could just bring it home. It's thirty minutes away. just Jacob Moreno: Hahaha Jason Corley: Yeah. Matt these are big deals. These are big deals as a kid on your own. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ MJ Bollinger: Okay, for for young kids, I mean, if a young kid turns this podcast on and watches this, you think your life is so great now that you you know, your parents do your laundry for you. Wait till like like I said, wait till you have an eleven hour bus ride. Then you get home and you literally have worn everything in your wardrobe. There are clothes everywhere in your room. I mean there's clothes on the ceiling fan, there's clothes on the Jason Corley: Yeah. That we right. Yes. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! MJ Bollinger: Like hanging up on the wall, you don't even know how they're hanging up on the wall. On the shower curtain. I mean, they're on the f bathroom floor. I mean, they're everywhere. And you realize that ⁓ I have no clothes and no wait, why why are my clothes not washed? ⁓ I have to wash them now. ⁓ like these are very big deals. Cooking is a very big deal, ⁓ once you get to college. So when I got to FAU that I mean Jason Corley: The sh on the on the shower curtain drying out that aren't dry yet. Yes. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Yes. MJ Bollinger: I know we joke around about it, but like that was also huge. Like if I want to go home and like have my mom cook for me or make me a crap ton of meals, or she wants to come to me, which my mom was perfectly fine doing that. ⁓ so I figured FAU was just great and then again my family was close there, my friends are from there, all my coaches growing up can go to games. ⁓ it's kinda like you're the not the hometown you're the hometown kid almost. I mean Boca's not Fort Lauderdale, but Jason Corley: Yeah. Or she wants to come to you. Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: you're close to home and your personality kind of fits there and you love the beach. I was at the beach every day at FAU but ⁓ you love the beach and everything kind of aligns so I had committed to FAU up to that point. Jason Corley: Okay. All right. That's yeah. And I mean, that it is a reality thing because we do hear a lot. ⁓ like Coach Chance Bean was on and we were talking about just like recruiting process and stuff like that. And, you know, ⁓ we've even had conversations with Scott Coach Scott, you know, HUD's coach, where of like, you know, listen, ⁓ you can dream as big as you want to dream. Your dreams can be whatever you want. But reality is like when it comes push comes to shove, like Jacob Moreno: Yeah, thank you. Jason Corley: what's your radius? You know what I mean? And Coach Chance Beam always talks about there being a four hour radius from your home. That should be kind of your radius of like if you can find a school to go play ball four hours from your home, life can be a lot easier than you going to Stanford in Southern California or in Northern California. Yeah. Mm-hmm. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. For sure. For sure. And I mean you also gotta think about it in like the aspect of like at San Jack, I didn't get to go home for a lot of things. I I mean I got lucky to go home for Thanksgiving. ⁓ we found a good ticket, so I got to fly home, but I d I mean I had to drive home, a twenty three hour drive for Christmas break from Houston to Florida. Again, I now I was eight I I was I was eight Jason Corley: Mm-hmm. That would freak me out as a dad. That would freak me out as a dad. MJ Bollinger: Well, it should because my car was having also issues at that time and I just got it fixed. And and I just I just wanna I just wanna put this out there. I still don't know how to change a tire. ⁓ look I I'm a Florida boy, we don't do that. We ride skateboards and we Yeah, we got tri ⁓ my god, yes, that's a g gift given by God right there, Triple A. Just call ⁓ and they fix it. Yeah. Jason Corley: Sure. God come on, man. Come on. Jacob Moreno: They got triple A. Hahaha! ⁓ man. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, or or I mean, hey, throw the earbuds in and take a nice little stroll with your flip flops on and we'll we'll make the thousand mile walk like Jason Corley: ⁓ my god, you your dad. ⁓ bless his heart. Bless his heart. We're there for a season? ⁓ Jacob Moreno: You MJ Bollinger: If Moses did it, why can't I do it? You know what I mean? Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! dude MJ Bollinger: I mean, Yeah. Yeah, we're there for we're there for one year. ⁓ and I will say, ⁓ in in all of my playing experiences, FAU has been my absolute favorite spot. ⁓ I've I have nothing bad to say about FAU. ⁓ FAU was everything to me. That coaching staff is still everything to me. That that team that I was a part of, a lot of those guys will be invited to my wedding when I eventually get a girlfriend and that she'll brought me my wife. Jason Corley: Really? Yeah. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ Can we do a podcast from the wedding? MJ Bollinger: ⁓ but but but Jason Corley: It has a car. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, yeah, we definitely can. But but yeah, so like that team that team and those people meant everything to me, you know, and they still do. ⁓ and I had a I mean, I went to FAU, ⁓ kinda still unproven, you know, like like JUCO is JUCO, ⁓ but division one is I mean Juco baseball's hard, but division one baseball, man, like everybody who plays D one was a dog at their high school, like These are the top guys that you're playing against now. And so I still had a lot to prove going into FAU. And I got there and I'll never forget it. My first day of throwing lives, out of ten batters, I gave up seven hits. Kid went four kid went four for four off of me with four four like rips, singles. I gave up like a double. I had zero strikeouts. And I was like, ⁓ my gosh, like, am I washed? You know, am am I terrible? And my coach came up to me and he goes, ⁓ Coach Tabacman, who Jason Corley: Right. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ I literally just stayed at his house like two and a half weeks ago for about a week, ⁓ when I first got here in Connecticut. probably one of my favorite coaches of all time, if not my favorite coach of all time that I've ever Jason Corley: Why? Why? What makes him so special to you? MJ Bollinger: He's a well, one, he's a players coach. He really he really looks out for his players and he understands what his players go through as he was a college baseball player himself. ⁓ he was at UNC Chapel Hill, I think his first year or his first two years. And then he ended up going to UConn ⁓ for his last couple of years. ⁓ and then he got into coaching, like even though from what I've been told that he could have played higher up in baseball, he wanted to coach and he wanted to spread his knowledge and his wisdom to the younger generations. Jacob Moreno: Mm. Jason Corley: Okay. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ so I would say that's he that he's important to me in that aspect. Jason Corley: He he got he understood you and that's how you guys two connected. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. He he he understood me. He didn't want to change me. ⁓ I thought a lot of coaches ⁓ recently or in the past that they want to change me. ⁓ change my personality, change the way I pitch and ⁓ Coach T was just he was all for me being myself. ⁓ because he knew 'cause he knew it was real. And there's and and I think that's that's the difference is like Jason Corley: Okay. MJ Bollinger: And what I preach to people is especially younger kids who are kind of crazy and psycho like myself is like be yourself and just don't be arrogant about it. Like make it true, make it real. Like you can have all the emotion you want, but as long as you keep it, you know, keep it true and genuine and you're not gonna be a prick about it. Like nobody should ever take that wrong and they just any college coach, any scout, any kid watching is like Jason Corley: Right. MJ Bollinger: Dude, that guy's got a fire lit under his ass right now. You know? Like he's got something lit under him and he really wants it more than anybody else. And Coach T is one of the only coaches who really understood that and saw that from me. ⁓ just like Coach Corey at Sanjak and Coach Wood from Sanjak and Mateo from Sanjak. ⁓ but Coach T was one of the first ones who was like, just do whatever you want to do. Like Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Have fun. And I mean I had fun at FAU. You know, like like I did my thing over there. Like I g I had speakers sent to me. So down in and the place where he warmed up on our practice field at FAU, we're listening to every genre of music. We're rocking, we're rapping, we're listening to jazz. I mean, I think I put Beethoven on one day and we were absolutely vibing to you know, good old music from the fifteen hundreds. Jason Corley: Yeah. Sure. Right. Right. ⁓ yeah. MJ Bollinger: It's amazing. It was great. ⁓ but we had that. I I brought a frisbee out that I still have to this day in my car with me, and the whole pitching staff signed it, and it was like the pitching staff frisbee doing trick shots with it, like just having a great time, you know, making bets with Coach T. Like a a memory popped up my phone the other day. He was a he's a New York Giants fan. And my buddy is a Philip ⁓ his name's Cole Frye. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Hmm Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: He's a Philly or ⁓ Philadelphia Eagles fan. So they would make bets, and one of the bets was if the Giants beat the Eagles, you have to wear an Eagles jersey and run around the field or do jumping jacks. And Coach T did it. Like I have a video of him in I forget whose ever jersey. I think it's like a Saquon Barkley jersey, ⁓ after he moved from the Giants to the to the Eagles doing jumping jacks and squats. You know, like ⁓ so I would say also like obviously Jason Corley: Right. Jacob Moreno: to eagles. Jason Corley: Jesus. Yeah. They made it fun. They made ball fun again. Jacob Moreno: You MJ Bollinger: He ⁓ yeah, and and in college, like kids have to understand that it's a job. Like like i of course it's still gonna be fun and it's gonna be exciting and you're gonna have a blast, but it's your life. Like, I'll be honest and I tell people this all the time. I wouldn't be in college if it weren't for baseball. I didn't apply myself at all. I didn't apply to one college for going to regular school. Like this is what I've like Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: put my whole life into, you know, is just being a baseball player. ⁓ so baseball used to be fun and it still is fun at times, but for the most part, baseball is my profession now and it's something that I take very serious and I work way like I actually work way too hard ⁓ for it. And Coach T was one of these guys that just made it enjoyable. Again, he made going out to the field every day feel like I was a kid showing up just Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: playing so I could go to Duffy's or Hooters after with the with the fellas, you know, to see some hot chicks. Like that's what that's how it felt, you know. ⁓ Jason Corley: Okay, so let me ask you then, if you loved it that much, why aren't you still there? Jacob Moreno: Why didn't you ask for my head? MJ Bollinger: Well, there was a couple reasons. And everybody asked me that, like, why the heck would you leave such a good situation? I was like the poster child for FAU. I I got videoed in a hot dog outfit for crying out loud walking around campus. And there's a couple reasons. One, I knew that Coach T was actually leaving the program. ⁓ so I knew Coach T was ⁓ he was gonna leave the program and Jason Corley: But yeah. Right. That's right. You told me that on the phone. That's right. And go where. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ we didn't we didn't really know he's out of college baseball now. ⁓ which w I'm still like I really would like him to get back in, but you know, he's got a family with a with a a little daughter who had just been born at the time, I believe. She was like one or two years old. ⁓ and now he has a baby boy coming on the way. and you know, he's gotta be with them and he's gotta be able to watch them grow up. I mean, I remember when his daughter was a baby and I just spent a week w living with her and she's three years old and she Jason Corley: Okay. Jacob Moreno: Mm. MJ Bollinger: We're playing Barbies and I'm dressing up and I'm like, you know, y I like I n I've known you since you've like been like a baby baby. And I'm like, you're so much older now and you don't realize it. ⁓ and I mean again, I'm just like a college baseball player. I'm not even a part of their family, but I can see it, and he's her dad. You know, like he doesn't want to miss any more of her life and and make his wife work harder, ⁓ you know, taking care of the kids so Jason Corley: I mean to the turf. Right. Right. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: He got out of college baseball, ⁓ but you know, God bless his heart 'cause he's again, he's the one of the best coaches I've ever had and like like I I love that guy with everything. Jason Corley: Well, I mean, if he's got if he's got a son coming, Jacob, he'll have his own elite travel ball organization pretty soon. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, yeah, he'll be coaching it. Jason Corley: ⁓ and then you'll go back and help him coach. MJ Bollinger: No, I I definitely will and he's got a bunch of guys and and I know a bunch of players in his corner that would get up in the middle of the night and fly if they needed to give his kid a pitching lesson or a hitting lesson or a catching whatever you know his son ends up doing. Yeah, like teach him how to pull a tarp for for college. Like we will all like I like I'll be there on a flight, like if that coach asked me to. ⁓ so I knew he was leaving. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Pull a tarp. Jason Corley: Change attire. Yeah. Okay. Jacob Moreno: That's cool. MJ Bollinger: I'm big into analytics and FAU didn't have a track man. They didn't have analytics and stuff ⁓ to make me better as a pitcher. And I just I really didn't see myself growing ⁓ any more as a pitcher at FAU. And I'll be honest with you, I got by at FAU with very average pitches because I I couldn't develop anything 'cause I didn't have any analytics or ⁓ any special pitching tools. So Jason Corley: Okay. MJ Bollinger: I needed to go somewhere that I knew that I was gonna develop and become the best form of myself as a pitcher, ⁓ to be more attracted to scouts. And and then ⁓ lastly, which was the the last thing that ever crossed my mind, but ⁓ when I when I was younger, I had dreamed of playing in front of thousands of people. Now, obviously it's in a big league stadium, but when you realize that you can either go to college first and Jason Corley: Right. MJ Bollinger: You can be the biggest name in college baseball and you have a whole university cheering you on and rooting for you. I was like, dude, that would be so sick playing at like FSU or Penn State. Now this is before I knew Penn State had they wasn't that big of a baseball school. ⁓ but but like imagine like ten thousand Kittany Lions or ten thousand seminals at a baseball game just Jason Corley: Right. Yeah, but still. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Thank Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: screaming your name when you're walking out of the pen, yeah, and doing doing whatever chance that they have, you know, I was like, this would be so sick. And it was never my goal to play mid-major baseball. It was my it was my goal to go to a massive school and be the guy there and shove and prove to everybody from that who doubted me back home that like, you know, this short, I mean, I'm six foot, but like this short Jason Corley: Right. Shop. Mm-hmm. MJ Bollinger: kinda chunky kid growing up who threw hard and not many people liked because he was so intense, just proved you wrong that like he worked his ass off his whole life and now he's at a place that you could only dream of being. so that's why I made all my decision that those were all the reasons, ⁓ in order. That that last reason was the last thing I thought about ⁓ before I left FAU. ⁓ but I made that decision and I left and again, it was the hardest thing. I lost a couple Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Sure. MJ Bollinger: good good buddies I had from it because they didn't they had no idea why. And even after explaining it to ⁓ they felt kind of abandoned and I apologize, but at the end of the day it's my career and I've lost I've lost a lot of friends. I've lost a lot of people in my life because of the sport. And the thing about a war is you gotta keep trekking until, you know, the final battle's won. And you lose people along the way and it's cutthroat, but that's the name of the game now. ⁓ so yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. I mean it's it's real. I mean, MJ, I mean it's I don't wanna I don't wanna diminish what ⁓ what you're expressing and how you're expressing it, but I it it just y what you're saying, it it still happens, but it's just it's happening even younger and younger and younger because ⁓ you know, it just yeah, there's kids that are going through it right now. There's families that are going through this right now where they're making decisions, they're scared to death to make the decisions, but they know it's the best decisions for their families. Jacob Moreno: Mm. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, yeah. Jason Corley: But at the same time, they have to do what's best for their families or for them. ⁓ you know, these kids these kids have dreams. These kids have you've you had a dream. You had a dream, you're just trying to stay on the path to to achieve it. MJ Bollinger: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And and sometimes Jason Corley: Yeah. How was the conver what was the c what was the conversation like with your dad and mom when you decided that you were gonna leave FAU? MJ Bollinger: ⁓ it was the conversation was like we don't really like they didn't really know what to do. Because I had it s like I'll be I I tell everybody this, I had it so good at FAU. Like I had it so good, I was like known around campus as the I mean, just like the the social media kid from baseball. You know, everybody on the team knew that I was the closer, I was the man I was the kind of like ⁓ captain as a pitcher. ⁓ from what my co from what my former pitching coach, Coach Tia has told me. ⁓ you know, I had a lot of friends there. I was friends with a bunch of guys in Lafrats. I grew up there for crying out loud. Like I I knew a lot of people I had everything going for me. FAU, even just the area, like I had that going for me. I know it like the back of my head. and there was a lot of speculation, like, do I do this? Do I not do this? And I made my decision not to go back about Jason Corley: Okay. Mm-hmm. MJ Bollinger: an hour and a half before my exit meeting. I had called a couple of coaches and I I knew where I stood and I called my dad and I was like, I'm gonna go up there and I'm I'm gonna tell him I'm not going back. And he was like, Are you sure this is what you wanna do? And I was like, No, but we'll see. You know, like like like and and that's life. Like you you don't know what's gonna come out of whatever w whatever decision you make. ⁓ but the Jason Corley: Truth. Yeah, truth. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: The beautiful thing about gambling, and I don't I don't promote gambling for money, but I do promote gambling on yourself and betting on yourself. And what I will tell people and what I like to share about my story is I bet on myself my entire life. There's nobody that you can count on more than but your ⁓ instead of yourself. Right. You you ha you can always count on yourself to get a job done because you can hold yourself accountable if you have the correct mindset. Jacob Moreno: yourself. Yeah. Jason Corley: Hundred percent. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ some people have that ability, like I I have that ability, and some people don't have that ability, but I had that ability to always better myself and, you know, not let other yeah. Jason Corley: That's a very real thing, MJ. That's a very real thing. As a dad. Yeah, Jacob can attest to it. That's a that's not just with baseball. And it's not just with you, but I mean, it's with it it's with a lot of things. There's lot of people that that go through life depending on on the outcome of others for their success. And then there's there's people that say, the f the hell with that. Like I I know what I want. I'm going to get it. And I'll bank on myself to get it done. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. life. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, there's there's a great analogy ⁓ that s ⁓ somebody in my past once told me it's like to tame a horse, you don't just you know you don't just see if the horse lets you, you know, ride it. You have to jump on the horse and and and jump on it and you gotta take control of it. And some and you might get bucked off, but if you get back on and you can eventually tame that horse, you know, it's that's the gate that's the name of the game. So Jacob Moreno: Jump on it. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ so yeah, I mean I was pretty nervous ⁓ going into it, but I was betting on myself and betting that, you know, I could get to a dream school, ⁓ a school that I'd always wanted to play. Jason Corley: And this is the portal, right? We're betting on the portal. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, we're betting that the portal is gonna work out for me. And again, this is super unsure. I was told it was totally gonna work before I went in there, but again, Jason Corley: you're making this on blind going into the portal. ⁓ Is this your f is this your first time or second time in the portal? MJ Bollinger: Well, technically it's the first time because JUCO, there's no such thing as a JUCO portal. Because you have to leave JUCO. You don't have to leave a four year. ⁓ so there's no such thing as a JUCO portal. So this is portal what we will call portal part one. so this is the first time I'd ever done this before. Anything remotely close to this. It's freaky. I mean, you really look at it and you realize like, dude, I just enrolled Jason Corley: Okay. Gotcha. Cake. Was that nuts? MJ Bollinger: I unenrolled from school. Like I'm not even a college student anymore. Like and there's a lot of cases now where kids don't even get picked up out of the portal by any school. No schools call them and now they don't have a school to play at. And now they they're not a baseball player anymore. And in fact, they're not even a college student anymore because they've unenrolled from from classes. So I unenrolled from all my classes FAU and I have like a week and I'm sitting there and I'm just like, This is like hard. Jason Corley: And then they're lost. Jacob Moreno: Hmm. Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Like I like and you you kind of freak out. You're like, dude, like I'm I'm not even in school anymore, like Jason Corley: Because you have zero control over it. MJ Bollinger: You have zero control over who's gonna call you and who's not gonna call you. ⁓ and it's freaky. Like it really is freaky. So I I go throughout the weeks and I've been told they listen with your stats that you had at FAU, you are going to get whatever school you want to go to in the nation. And I'm sitting there like, Okay, you can say that, but I'm like, You're not the one who's calling, right? Like and after all I've known my entire life on how college coaches are Jacob Moreno: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: You know, they will play games. So I went into it very nervous and very, very scared. ⁓ and I I have the story where I enter the portal, I get my name entered at nine ⁓ five in the morning, ⁓ and I get the email from FAU and the email from the tran the transfer portal for the for the NCAA.org and text CNM had called me at nine ⁓ five in the morning about thirteen seconds after I was entered in the portal. And again, this is a this is an eye opener, right? Because it's like, holy shit. Like are they really gonna like is it really gonna be like this? And I talked to them and they had a flight set up for me like within the next couple days and that that whole day I had like seven, eight schools calling me the rest of the day. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Is this real? Right. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ I had so I entered the port nine ⁓ five. I talked to schools from nine ⁓ five till ten thirty with only about thirty minutes of my free own free time that day. Like I was eating I was driving back home on the phone with Virginia Tech. I remember the school. Virginia Tech I got home, I had taken a shower. ⁓ I didn't even get to train that day 'cause I had three schools while I was at training call me. So I drove home and then Virginia Tech called, took a shower, and that shower Plus my like lunch, whatever you want to call it, was thirty minutes and the rest of the day was schools. All d all day long. And and I didn't have a break and like my mom would walk in the room and I'm like, get out of the room. Like like like I'm on the phone, like I don't have time. And it was Yeah. She saw that she saw that my, you know, ceiling fan looked like a puppet, you know, and she needed to pick up the clothes off of it. Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. Jason Corley: Right. Right. And she just wanted to do your laundry, damn it. Right. Right. Yeah. So all right. So ⁓ so AM. A ⁓ calls within thirteen seconds. Obviously I'm assuming that ⁓ those first initial like it that feeling of being wanted. Jacob Moreno: You You You Jason Corley: is euphoric because you just went from the uncertainty to okay, now now I have ⁓ Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Any school wants me yeah, every school wants me in the nation on like obviously I didn't get a school from every school in the country or every ⁓ well, I didn't get a call from every school in the country, but when you get seventeen, eighteen calls in two or three days, it's like, yeah, you're the man. Like and you feel great about yourself. Especially I took a visit, like an unofficial visit to A and ⁓ when I was at Sanjak with my dad, ⁓ 'cause I had never seen what a real college looked like. Jason Corley: Yeah, I know what you mean. Mm-hmm. MJ Bollinger: Like like really dove into it. And when we drove around campus, me and him, I was like, Wow, like this is beautiful. Like this is this is amazing. This is unreal. And I told myself in my head I would never get the opportunity to play here because I wasn't good enough. And that's the only time I'd ever I've I'd ever like doubted myself. And that's when I was at San Jack, like, this place is too big for me, like you'll never get the opportunity. And when they were the first school that called me, it was like, Bro, like, you've made it. Like you haven't made it professionally, but like you every doubt every de every doubt that you've ever had in your entire life about not being able to play at a big school and you know getting put down by a lot of other people in my life, people not believing in me, ⁓ this is the big middle finger to all of that saying, Look what I just accomplished. Like I am at the top I'm at the top of Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. It's it's real close. It's real close. Jacob Moreno: It's like a dream come true. MJ Bollinger: college baseball and it feels great. You know, and I took the visit out there and ⁓ I mean, I love college station. I I mean I absolutely love it out there. It's a really cool place. ⁓ the environment is super sick. And I fell in love with it instantly and I knew that I wanted to have that story of, you know, me going there with my dad and telling myself I couldn't play there and then me getting the opp future opportunity to pitch there. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: And I took it I took it on that Friday n Friday afternoon or Friday night. I accepted the offer. ⁓ so I was in the portal Jason Corley: Okay. So how did that roll how how I just just I we don't have to spend long on it, but do they fly you in, there's a vehicle waiting for you, they pick you up, they take you to the campus, where do you do they just take you take you straight to the stadium? MJ Bollinger: They drive me They take you straight to the stadium, they show you like the facilities, ⁓ you talk to the head coach for a little bit and then you go do your your like media day, like you go take pictures in all the uniforms, ⁓ whatever uniform you wanna do, they kinda have it set out for you that you put ⁓ whatever uniform you want on. ⁓ and you Jason Corley: Very attractive girls walking you around campus. MJ Bollinger: Well, it's in summer so no. So no, but but but I will tell you and Jacob Moreno: ⁓ But when you got back in the fall, they were there walking you around campus. Jason Corley: Okay. Carrying your books? Jacob Moreno: Yeah MJ Bollinger: I won't I won't I won't ⁓ I won't I won't I won't speak on that, but ⁓ let's just say we let's just say we were hanging ten for sure. ⁓ Yep. So Jason Corley: Yeah, it's fine. Yep. ⁓ my God, I hope the audience appreciates this. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Jacob Moreno: hahahahah ⁓ MJ Bollinger: But but but yeah, so I ⁓ yeah, so you take the media day, you go out to lunch, and I actually just wanted to eat at the dining hall because FAU's dining hall food was really bad. Like it sucked. And they had a athlete this is the first place I'd ever heard of having an athlete dining hall, like an athlete only dining hall. ⁓ and I went in there and when you walk in then there's steak and there's lobster and there's stuff that you get every single night. Jason Corley: Okay. Some part. Some part. Okay. MJ Bollinger: at college and you're like, holy crap, like I'm treated like a king. Like I'm treated like a professional here. And then they take me back to my hotel 'cause I stay there the night. I get a little bit of free time. I took a nap because I was absolutely exhausted w from just excitement. And then they take you back to dinner and then you talk to the head coach for a while. ⁓ and then you t they kind of take you back to your hotel. ⁓ well they also show you the basketball facility, show you the football stadium, kind of like the big attractions on campus. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: I met with an academic advisor, ⁓ because school is very important to me. ⁓ like like I I had a I had a very hard major at FAU ⁓ going going I was a cybersecurity ⁓ major. So yeah. Yeah, cybersecurity and I don't know how to do my laundry. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. Okay. Jacob Moreno: tell you what, man, if baseball don't work out for you, you sure do got a place in some stand up comedy. Jason Corley: No, he's got a place. He knows he knows his role. He knows his role. He is he yeah. ⁓ like influence is bro, it's just that's your that's your alley right there. Yes, because your personality is absolutely ⁓ it's gravitating. So, all right, so ⁓ what major, just for just out of sh for shits and giggles, what are you like, okay, I'll take that major. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, it's right there, yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah. Jason Corley: I say I'm I'm here to play baseball professionally at A and ⁓ but I'll go ahead, I'll take the book for that class. What was it? MJ Bollinger: So it it was business. Like it was just like, let's do business. You know what I mean? Like it's just like ⁓ it was like, Listen, we don't have cybersecurity. What is the next best major that I can if baseball doesn't work out, I have a job, you know? And it was you can do ag leadership or you can do business. And I'm like, Well, you can't get a job being a leader, so let's do business. I've never heard of I've never heard of a leadership job, but I've heard of a business job. Jason Corley: Right. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Right. Right. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: you MJ Bollinger: ⁓ so I was like, let's do business. This will be perfect. If baseball does go haywire, like I can start my own business. I like I'll have all the tools. ⁓ talk to them for so I talked to her name is Mindy, absolute saint. She's the best advisor probably in the nation. I'll give her that. She's amazing. ⁓ but yeah, so I I went in that night, ⁓ that Friday night and I told him like listen, I loved it here and I wanna commit here. Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. MJ Bollinger: and that was kinda it and then I went home for a couple of weeks and then I I did the the drive up to ⁓ drive from Fort Lardo to college station for the for the first time. Well, technically one, two so it was the third time I drove to Texas because college station's about hour and thirty minutes away from San Jack. ⁓ so the third trip to to Texas at that point. ⁓ actually my mom was Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. But this one was on your own. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: My mom was ⁓ dope enough to take off work for a couple of days and ⁓ do the drive with me and then she flew home, yeah. so so yeah, I I did I did drive my mom, she got me set up in my house that they got me set up with and I started I mean I didn't start school then, but I w started going to I was in college station by June thirty first. So about a month about thirty days after actually not even thirty, probably twenty five days after my visit, I was Jason Corley: And then she flew home. Okay. Okay. Jacob Moreno: Mmm. Jason Corley: Okay. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ okay. MJ Bollinger: there living there full time. ⁓ h ⁓ hell yeah. I mean like my my first day when you walk into you know that Olsen field at Bluebell Park and you just like look around with that place empty. It it it's almost it's kind of a surreal feeling. Like I walked out on the field ⁓ like bare feet 'cause I believe in I believe in like grounding and really feeling feeling what you're walking on and ⁓ I do a lot of visualization and Jason Corley: Okay. Excited, pumped, ready to go, ready to take on the world. Okay. MJ Bollinger: I got out there in the middle of the day and it it's bright and sunny the first day. I was like, Holy crap, like this is this is like I I can't I I kind of was pinching myself, like I can't believe that I'm here. You know, this is a such a cool place and I mean, I was on top of the world. I yeah, I have like a billion pictures of being on that field like at night by myself, turning the lights on and just like sitting under the lights and turning the music on in the stadium and Jason Corley: Yeah. Do you remember taking a picture or anything and keeping it on your phone? Yeah. MJ Bollinger: mean it w it was it it's a I mean it's a beautiful place. Like the area's stunning and I I mean again when you first get there coming from I mean no disrespect to FAU, but when you come from, you know, a hundred, two hundred person stadium, you know, with a berm and now you have a stadium that holds seventy five hundred to eight thousand people, it's a it's a mind ⁓ like a like a it baffles me. Like, holy crap, like I'm gonna be pitching in front of this many people. It's it's quite Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Quite crazy. It's quite crazy. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Go ahead, Jacob. Jacob Moreno: So what the you you're talking about that the very first time you got on the mound was it like overwhelming with like being at home having them 7,500 8,000 people in front of you or Was it like I just walked in I'm gonna soak in the moment and then we're gonna go MJ Bollinger: Well, technically I didn't even get appearance at AM, but when I went out there in the fall, I mean, our fall game had like fifty five hundred to six thousand people for a fall game and like FAU's fall game was like fifteen people. So I I won't lie, I've n I've never been overwhelmed by a crowd before. I mean I've pitched in front of ECU. ⁓ and ECU is probably one of the craziest it's an elite baseball program and I've had saves where I can pull up a video on my phone of me going crazy in front of Jason Corley: That's right. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: fifty five hundred to six thousand crazy pirate fans. You know, like and it's my favorite video. It's like it's like the peak or pinnacle of my career is like that video. And it just shows who I am. So Jason Corley: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can send it to me and we'll play it right here when we ⁓ when I edit this. We'll we'll like it'll break and I'll play it if you'll send it to me. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ hell yeah. I'll well let me do that right now so I don't actually so I don't forg so I don't forget. It's it's in my favorites. Jason Corley: Yeah. Okay. You do it right now. Yeah. And then when I edit this as we talk about it, I'll play it and people will get to see it, what we're what you're talking about. Because that's because I when I when we watch, you know, when we watch kill college baseball, we don't watch a whole lot of professional baseball in this house because my boys are ate up with college ball and my twelve year old has dreams of Omaha. He doesn't have dreams of major league baseball. He has dreams of Omaha. He just does. That's just the truth. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ fellow. Yeah. Exactly. So like this here, I'll just show you guys. I you guys can Jason Corley: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Joy. Yes. Yes. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ yeah. MJ Bollinger: So that's so that's like the so I can send you that and then I'll send you the broadcast. ⁓ but but yeah, I that's so that's kind of like the overall like not I mean that's like that's who I am and I was like imagine like if I can do this in front of my home crowd. Like like a home crowd where everybody's rooting for you and and screaming your name. I was like, this is just Jason Corley: Okay. Yeah, we'll play it. Yeah. Right. Right. Jacob Moreno: Mm. MJ Bollinger: This is beautiful. All right. I sent you ⁓ I sent you the one bro so I sent you the broadcast. I sent you the the nice the the the really nice one and I sent you the Sunday save, which is me like punching myself in the face after a save on a Sunday. ⁓ so I sent you a bunch of ⁓ but yeah. So when I when I first got on the mound, my first ever game pitching, which these don't affect eligibility. ⁓ Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Okay. I got him. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe MJ Bollinger: But the first game I'd pitched at or pitched at the stadium was Sam Houston and Sam Houston State University. And it's actually kinda funny. My interim head coach at San Jack, David Wood, was the recruiting coordinator at Sam ⁓ is this is the recruiting coordinator at Sam Houston State. So he actually got to watch me pitch ⁓ for my for my first SEC kind of appearance. ⁓ and I gave up a hit in my first batter, and then I got the next three people out. Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: And I didn't go crazy 'cause I gave up a hit and it was a inner squad. I kinda had a l had to have a little bit of feel. ⁓ but he came up to me and he goes, Man, this is just like so cool to see like you came from San Jack where fifteen people are watching and then you had a FAU where two hundred, maybe three hundred people are watching per game, and then it's here and it's like this is a fall game and it's the most people you've ever thrown in front of. ⁓ and then next appearance I had was TCU, which I gave up like a run. ⁓ kinda wasn't too sharp that game, but it was still pretty it it wasn't jaw dropping at that point, it was just like I was pitching. More of the Sam Houston game was like Whoa. ⁓ but I wasn't over I can't say I was overwhelmed. ⁓ it was more just like I feel like I deserve to be here. I worked my entire life to get here, now it's just about executing and doing what I have to do. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And ⁓ so then that's fall ball and then you go into winter workouts and MJ Bollinger: Yep. So we go so I go into winter, I go back home and the kid gets strep throat for about two weeks over winter break and when you're younger you can get spun up very quick to pitch, but when you're older, it's not just 'cause you're old and you know your body doesn't function right at twenty years old, but you're so used to throwing that your elbow your elbow and your your arm and the way it flows is like a rubber band. And your rubber band is very, very loose and it it it moves freely. But when you stop throwing, that rubber band like shrivels up and becomes super tight. But it's the same rubber band that's always been stretched out and has micro tears, but it's tight. So when you start to throw again and you try to get, you know, going again, that tight rubber band with frays starts trying to get stretched out again. But what's the difference between a loose rubber band that's frayed and a tight rubber band that's frayed when you pull it? A loose rubber band can expand and can work with the frays, not rip them. If you fray a tight rubber band, it's gonna pop. ⁓ so I had an unfortunate sickness where I was bedridden for about a week and a half, two weeks. Went to the hospital on Christmas, had to get two shots in my butt, and I hate shots, so to even get ⁓ close to my lower extremities was kind of scary. ⁓ Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: you MJ Bollinger: But yeah. No, it w it wasn't like that. It was more like you know, like feeling like that. But but yeah, so I had I got that done on Christmas Day 'cause I couldn't breathe on Christmas. I woke up, my th throat was swollen shut and I realized like dude, you are not gonna be ready to go back to A and ⁓ You're not. but I worked my butt off when I did get healthy to get back out there and I I showed up to A and ⁓ and Jason Corley: Mm. MJ Bollinger: Although my first outing back wasn't great. I wasn't like in the in spring workouts. ⁓ I just wasn't prepared. I told the coaches coaching staff that, and then we kind of moved on from there and I threw I threw my heart out. I did literally everything I possibly could. Coaching staff told me I was throwing great and I was doing everything they were asking. ⁓ but Jason Corley: Yeah. You said you told me that you were spending you were spending like just alone time, like on the field doing dry work and visilation or vigilation or Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah, visualization. Yeah, it's it's a tongue twister, don't worry. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Vincent? Jason Corley: I I just said. MJ Bollinger: But I would I would be on the I'd be on the field at at you know, I couldn't go to bed at some nights and I would go to the field at twelve AM, one AM, turn the lights on and do visualization on the mound or, you know, get dry reps in with towels on ⁓ in our bullpen, turn the bullpen lights on and do that. ⁓ I would be there early in the morning getting work in, trying to like, you know, really enhance my crafts that when I get in the game, you know, this is this is all This is all regular to me. Like I've been I've been working at it and I'm I'm ready to go. ⁓ but I never got that opportunity. ⁓ I never I didn't get one appearance at Texas A and I had gone up to ask for a red shirt after our second week of conference play 'cause I still hadn't got an appearance. and to be honest, I feel like there were times where I should have there were many times where I should have at least been thrown in there. Jason Corley: Sure, sure. Right. MJ Bollinger: and thrown a bone to show what I can do. ⁓ but that obviously that's not my decision. That's the coaching staff's decision. And I I never got a opportunity and what I Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. And now and now let's be fair, let's let's also add too that this is no longer FAU. This is big business college baseball. MJ Bollinger: Exactly, and like this is my career. Like like for sure FAU is my career and FAU plays massive schools, you know, we play Florida, Miami, ECU, UTSA. Like we do play great competition at FAU, but A and ⁓ like, I'll be honest with you, every week in conference play is a demon. Like you are playing you you are playing the eight to well, what it how many teams are in the SEC? Sixteen? Fourteen four Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Six ⁓ yeah, something like that. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: 14 or 16, you're playing the fourteen to sixteen pinnacles of college baseball. That's just how it is. Every weekend and every weekend there is an absolute dog. There are absolute dogs on the other side of the field. They're sixteen, right? So you play the sixteen pillars of college baseball in the SEC pr I mean SEC's gotta be one of the hardest conferences in baseball. Jason Corley: Yes. Yes. Every weekend. Yeah. Yep. Jacob Moreno: It's teen. 16, yep. MJ Bollinger: Now the last whatever it was this year wasn't necessarily that. The SEC was kind of slow, but nonetheless, I mean Georgia hit what, like a hundred and seventy something home runs this season? Jason Corley: Yeah, let's I mean let's not forget about West Virginia and the Big Twelve. Okay. I'm just saying. I'm just saying I'm just I'm just shitting you. Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ no no no yeah. Yeah, like like you have big tw you got big twelve, you have ACC, and I think those guys are starting to creep up because money's being allotted more to those schools. ⁓ and they're starting to catch up to the SEC. Those like I think ACC's either at SEC level or maybe surpassing soon. ⁓ but but I mean you're playing just crazy competition every weekend and Jason Corley: Yes. Mm? Mm. Yeah. Yes. MJ Bollinger: You know, when you work your butt off and you think that you deserve that and you're not getting an opportunity, it sucks and it's hard. And a lot of kids go through it, right? and I was told I was pitching great and I know I was pitching great. I believe it I was pitching great. Been told by my own teammates that I was pitching great, but I was just never given the opportunity, which prompted me going upstairs to ask for a red shirt to not only save my eligibility because it doesn't look like I will get my junior college year back. Jason Corley: Okay. Right. MJ Bollinger: Because of the new five for five rule ⁓ that's coming in place. I'll be grandfathered into that most likely. So ⁓ at the end of the day I won't get an extra year of JUCO. So if I were to burn this year, I would only have I I would I would only have technically a year left. Instead of now if I red shirt I have two years left of baseball. ⁓ so I really thought about it. And I was just like, I to redshirt went upstairs to go ask for red shirt and that I won't say what happened in the conversation with my head coach. ⁓ but it prompted me to be asked to leave the program. And again, this is second week of conference play. ⁓ so I had I had left the program, middle of the season. ⁓ not of my wanting because I didn't want to leave the program, but you know, it was my dream and I had wanted to go there and Jason Corley: Yeah, right. Yeah. Right. Right. That was your dream. MJ Bollinger: It just didn't work out. And one of the things that kids need to know and I think not just young kids but high school kids, parents, everybody needs to know is that it's a business. Now and you have to treat it as such. And now if you can find a place that you know they care for you emotionally and they care about their relationships, ⁓ and then they can also do business, well that's that's a great place. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A unicorn. MJ Bollinger: ⁓ but yeah, it's but there's not many places like that. And how do I know that? 'Cause I have a lot of friends in college baseball who have been screwed over or have seen other people get screwed over because of just it's just business. And that's how it is. And at the end of the day, although I don't agree I don't agree with stuff that happened at A and ⁓ it was a business decision that they made. And I think they like me for who I am. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: And I I sure hope they do. I mean, hopefully you guys like me for who I am, right? Like like ver yeah, yeah, like Jason Corley: Sure. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, ⁓ yeah, yeah. Jason Corley: ⁓ yeah, you're you you've taken over the you've taken over the role of King of Podcast now. So yeah, you're there. Yes. And I said on my video, I spent forty minutes on the phone with you and I said, I think at as a fifty year old father, brother, as a fifty year old father, I've seen my fair share of shitheads in this world, and you are not one of them, which is why we which is w what are we, Jacob? We're what two something in right now? I can't see the clicker. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Well, thank you. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, we're about two hours in. Jason Corley: Yeah. So I mean you're lasted longer than everybody else. But yes, I mean, I would assume that you have this. I would assume that as a dad, you have this I told you this on the phone, dude. Like he's gotta be just incredibly proud of you because you have this ability to ⁓ to chameleon yourself and relate to so many like to to anybody. Jacob Moreno: So she said... You Next Jason Corley: So I don't think that's I don't think that's a question whatsoever at AM. I would say it's more of a business decision like you think it is. Don't beat yourself up. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah. And and no, yeah, and and and I kinda when I f when it first happened I was I was like in distraught. I was like, holy crap, like was I really just asked to leave, like not asked. I was I really just told to pack my stuff and get out, you know, out of a school that I've always wanted to go to and it was kinda like heartbreaking. Like Yeah, you know, like I was j I was just there on a plane a couple of months ago saying like Jason Corley: He just flew me here. Jacob Moreno: Hehe MJ Bollinger: you know, I can't wait to play here and I I never even get the opportunity to play in a regular season game. ⁓ and it was pretty tough. And but then I took it as, no, this is business, man. Like and if if you wanna be a good baseball player, you gotta be a good businessman and you gotta move on. If you let this eat the eat you up and you stay in one place, well, that's when the wolves go out and they they get you. So so I had to completely get moving with my life. And so at this point Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: I still have my scholarship. They can't they legally couldn't pull that from me. ⁓ so I finished out school. I trained at San I I drove to San Jack two to three times a week, which is about an hour and thirty, hour and forty five minutes each way, ⁓ to train and to pitch and to work my ass off ⁓ to get work in because now that I I wasn't playing at A and ⁓ and I wasn't even a part of the baseball program anymore at A and ⁓ Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. MJ Bollinger: I need to find a way to get work because my baseball career isn't done. You know, like I'm still gonna I'm gonna play baseball somewhere else. And so I worked my butt off. ⁓ I was in contact with Coach Corey, my old pitching coach from FAU who's not a part of the game who hasn't been in the game for about a year now. ⁓ all my like basically all my coaches at Sanjak, former former like coaches when I was younger who have played college and A lot all these mentors that I talked to and they were like, Listen, man, you gotta find a summer ball team and another reason I love Coach Tabachman is he got me set up with a summer team. And most summer teams want you to play or they wanna have a good reason why you didn't play. Like, ⁓ he got injured or they just redshirted him. No no summer ball coach wants to hear, yeah, he got kicked off the team 'cause he asked to redshirt. Nobody wants to hear that. That's a Jacob Moreno: Mmm. Jason Corley: Right. Right. Right. Jacob Moreno: Hmm. MJ Bollinger: mean that's a major turn off, you know. It's a red flag 'cause they don't they don't know the inside details like I know. And like other people in college baseball understand them. So I got set up with a summer baseball team, which is the Mystic Schooners. I'm in beautiful Mystic Connecticut. And yeah, I trained for two and a half months. I I worked my butt off. I worked out at the recreational gym where I mean Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah, it's a red flag to them. Right. Right. Right. Yep. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Not to tube my own horn here, but I didn't play at all at A and and I was still recognized in the in the recreational gym almost every day. People shaking my hand saying, What happened? What happened? You know, like we saw that you're leaving and the amount of support even from those people, like, dude, like you're gonna play somewhere, like we know how good you are, we've seen your videos. It it was really supportive during a during a period of my life where, you know, I could have just shut down and I could have completely given up. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: But I kept moving and I trained at San Jack. I went back home for a week and then I was like, you know, like I I wanna get up there. Like I I wanna get used to Connecticut. I wanna f I wanna meet the guys, which they weren't here that early, but also just wanna see Coach De Bachman and spend time with him and his family because he's a great he's a just a great guy, great, great man, and he I knew he was gonna take care of me for Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah, I want to meet the dudes. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: a week and you know, I was gonna be able to hang out with him and, you know, he was gonna get to see some pens again, which, you know, I I know he wanted to see that and ⁓ and yeah, so I left home about a week and a half earlier than I intended to. And I left and I did eighteen hours to Richmond, Virginia, one day. And then I stayed there for the night and then I did the eleven or twelve hour drive to ⁓ where my where Coach T lives. ⁓ near Hartford, Connecticut. And I I stayed there ⁓ for about a week and a half and then I came here to to get old Mystic and I've been here ever since. And Summer Ball starts in what's the June second. So we start on on Thursday, June fourth, for our first for our home opener. And it's super it's super exciting to like shit, it's super exciting to finally play baseball again, man. Like like I haven't played I haven't played a Jason Corley: Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Boom. Jason Corley: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: I don't consider fallball real games. I don't. ⁓ they don't mean it they don't mean anything. And sta and stats wise. So I haven't played a real meaningful game in over a year now. And Jason Corley: Right. Yeah. And you are in the portal. You entered it the other the y yesterday, the day before yesterday. MJ Bollinger: Yep. So so what is today? So yeah, June second. So I entered the portal yesterday around eight fifty five in the morning. and has it been a little bit slower? Yeah, I can admit to that. You know, it's been a little slower, but it's supposed to be slower. I I didn't play at A and ⁓ and that might be a reg f red flag to some schools. ⁓ but I feel like if you talk to people who know the the really deep down roots Jason Corley: I would have a high I I would assume Jacob. I would assume that that phone might pick up after this airs. And I I well not just hope so, but just this is the point of why we do this, MJ. This is the point of why Jacob and I took these conversations from the tailgate of the truck sitting in hotels while our boys were getting ready to play the next day on the road and travel ball and took them to a microphone because we have been able to pull the curtain back on so many coaches. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, I hope so. video. Jason Corley: So many organizer heads of organizations, heads of tournament organizations, players, parents. This is what it's about. It's not not a name and not a label. It's who you are. And I this is an this has been an incredible opportunity for you to be you and for the everybody to fall in love with you. And for your dad to be proud as shit. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, the person. You know? MJ Bollinger: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I d I I I know that he ⁓ you know, me and him have have gone back and forth sometimes over some stuff, but deep down I know that, you know, he's very, very proud of me and ⁓ for what for what I've done and you know there's a lot of times where I've wanted to quit. I'll be honest with you. I I almost quit in high school ⁓ because of my injuries. I I Jacob Moreno: I'm MJ Bollinger: almost quit at Sandjack in the fall, ⁓ because of the girlfriend stuff. ⁓ and I couldn't he I wasn't mature enough. And like I almost quit at A and ⁓ after all this was done. You know, like I had that one day where I'm like, Yeah, baseball's over, like let's just go let's go study business. Yeah, it hit me. Jason Corley: I have a question. I have a question. When you got to A and ⁓ did you call her up and be like, Yeah, wrong wrong move. She should have stuck with me. MJ Bollinger: Honestly honestly no no and the and the only reason the only reason I didn't only reason I didn't is is although like although I would have l have loved to ⁓ because yeah because because the one thing this is one thing that drove me after after the breakup, which by the way, fellas, if you're going into college or you're in high school, you don't need a girlfriend, bro. You don't need a girlfriend. Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm Jason Corley: Right, the selfie from the from the field. Yes. Jacob Moreno: Hehehehehe. Hehehehehe. MJ Bollinger: And I'm gonna tell you why. Because all because although you know your girlfriend's great and like I would love a girlfriend right now and be honest with you. So ladies, if you follow if you follow the channel, please my Instagram will be in the LinkedIn bio. Hit me up. ⁓ but in high school and freshman year of college, man, like like if you really care about baseball and you want to go further, like you don't need any outside distraction. Jason Corley: Listen up. No triple. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! Hit ⁓ up! Jason Corley: It'll be in here, it'll be in here. Jacob Moreno: Hahaha! MJ Bollinger: not only just physically but mentally and emotionally. You don't need to carry, you know, the the weight of, you know, having to be a good boyfriend and then, shit, I have to throw seven innings tomorrow. You know? And I've been up on the phone with her for, you know, five hours now and it's two AM and I have a travel trip tomorrow and we leave at six AM in the morning. You know, so although I did want to do it, Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: I knew that she had she had bo she had just got a new boyfriend and it seemed like she was happy and at the end of the day, ⁓ being my Yeah, through Instagram, you know, and and thro and through through all that I realized that like, you know, the only job as a man that you have for somebody that you love is to make them happy and if she's happy that way, well then I was happy and there was no need to there was no need to rub it in and that, you know, my future girlfriend would Jason Corley: Right. Including to Instagram. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Hmm. MJ Bollinger: potentially rub it in ⁓ whenever I make that first post. ⁓ but you know, I don't talk to her anymore, but she's doing absolutely great from what I've from what I've heard from from people who have mentioned her. and honestly, I'm actually kinda ha Jason Corley: Right. Right. Yeah. I I feel like I I feel like I feel like you're gonna meet somebody in cybersecurity. MJ Bollinger: No, no, I don't want to. No. Nope. You know what I wanna I wanna meet I wanna meet some like lacrosse or soccer girl. Or or or yeah, y I think I have to go athlete. I mean sorority th ⁓ please, like if you're in a sorority, eighty pie, ⁓ A Z D, like please give me a call. Like you guys are top house on campus, you know, you guys are doing great. ⁓ Jacob Moreno: or business or business. Jason Corley: No. Yeah. Uber athlete. You gotta go athlete. Yes. Jacob Moreno: Yeah ⁓ Latina... MJ Bollinger: But Jacob Moreno: You MJ Bollinger: Yeah. ⁓ habla español. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: So you want latinas are on the table Jason Corley: Yeah. ⁓ shit man all right so what is the food what's go ahead. No finish finish MJ Bollinger: But but I will say but I but I will say that having having a girlfriend in college, my my freshman year of college was great to have because I learned that like at that point in time like I really just like I need to focus on myself and for all these young young men out there who are you know, if they're just boys still and they're becoming young men, you don't need to have all these distractions around you. Like go play baseball. Jason Corley: Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Go go love the sport that you play. And then when you become the top dog at whatever school you go to, then you'll have your option and you'll have your pick of who you who you want to date, you know, and and then that's when you in when you have that those options and you feel like you're ready, that's when you go for it. And that's what that's the boat I've been in, you know. ⁓ Jason Corley: Yeah. But right now we're still on a business trip is what we're on. Yep. MJ Bollinger: You're damn right. You're damn right. We're still on a business trip and I mean I still got still technically got two years in college. So ladies, I'm still like still open. ⁓ you know, still single. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: I just bro, I just said we're on a business trip, you can't refer back. MJ Bollinger: Hey, we're we're we're on a business trip but that doesn't mean we're still scouting. You know what I mean? Jason Corley: ⁓ shit. The mystic. The mystic. Sorry. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: Yeah MJ Bollinger: You know, college coaches don't stop scouting during the season, they keep going. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ man. ⁓ MJ Bollinger: But but yeah. Mys Mystic Schooners. So I'm supposed to be a back end guy to start. Since I haven't thrown in a while, ⁓ you know, I need to build up. I I kinda respect that, even though I think I'm ready to go. So I'm gonna start in the back end. I hope to stay in the back end and just get a lot of appearances. ⁓ and I think it's gonna be more appearances than innings this summer, which is absolutely sick. Like I I love that. ⁓ but I think towards the end of the summer I'll build it up in like long relief and potential starts. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. All right. So do you want to go back to the closing role or do you want to go into being a starter? Like has your mindset changed? Jacob Moreno: Nice. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, so yeah. Yes, yeah, I hate starting. Like I'm be honest with you. ⁓ there so this is gonna come off like very girly, but and very like like not girl actually not girly. Jason Corley: Okay. Why? I well I mean you're you're yeah, you're in the market, so yeah, they'll they'll feel relatable. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. I I'm trying to think this is gonna come off like very ⁓ what's the word I'm li soft. Yeah, it's gonna come off very soft. I have a very big problem with anxiety and being and and and just being like very jittery and like I normally can't like sit still if I'm not drinking a Red Bull or whatever, like like I need my caffeine. and st Jason Corley: So Yes, we talked about this. Yeah. Yeah. So you you like me, the the the Red Bulls have the opposite effect on me as what they do normal people. Like I can drink a Red Bull and it like levels me out. MJ Bollinger: No, Red Bulls, ⁓ Jesus, ⁓ there's there's a video of me somewhere from Sandjack. I I gotta see if one of my buddies have it, but it's me like chugging Red Bulls after Red Bulls in a FAU like you could ask my former teammates, like I would bring cases of Red Bull and put them in the refrigerator and I said, Don't touch, these are mine and I bring out four or five for a game and I'm chugging them before I'm pitching because it I mean it's really bad for my heart. I mean Jason Corley: I got anyone. W yeah. ⁓ MJ Bollinger: Mean, like don't ladies, don't break my heart because I might have a heart attack. Literally. I drink way too much caffeine. Don't do it. Yeah, no no. It's very bad for you and it also makes me unique. So don't go by Red Bulls. I need the NIL sponsorship eventually. ⁓ Jason Corley: Yeah. And children don't go chugging Red Bulls. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: The end. Jason Corley: Right. You're the second one. Alex needs a Red Bull sponsorship too, he said. So yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Maybe maybe ⁓ you guys can get that in contact with us and then we can be the two psycho closers in America and take on those robots and i overseas. Jason Corley: Yeah, who knows? I mean not to be not to not to be an asshole, MJ, but ⁓ I mean if they're if they're listening, there'll be one here first and then we'll let them know about you. Yeah, there'll be ⁓ a black cat with some wings. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: than you. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. I agree. It's gotta be like that. Hey, it's a business. It's a business, man. Yeah. Yeah, I learned that. Yep. Yep. I learned that in marketing three twenty one this year, right there. So ⁓ Jacob Moreno: It's a business and he learned that in business. Jason Corley: All right. So okay, so opening day is ⁓ Thursday, you said? MJ Bollinger: Yeah, opening day's Thursday. ⁓ I don't know if I'm pitching or not. I should get that schedule out. Okay. Jason Corley: So what happens wait, what happens if if if you're on tap to pitch and a c a call comes in? How does that work? MJ Bollinger: I have my voicemail set up right now, so ⁓ it basically basically actually, you know what, I wrote it down. I wrote I wrote it down because I needed to I needed to remember it ⁓ when I when like I said it on the phone. Let's see. ⁓ Not we're gonna you know, I text it to myself. I'm I'm gonna read it I'm gonna read it out because I wanted it to say like I want it to be ⁓ professional. Jacob Moreno: hahahahah Jason Corley: Right. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. And see. MJ Bollinger: Right, so let's there we go. Right here, okay. So it's hi, you've reached MJ Bollinger. Thanks for calling. I'm currently unavailable and may be speaking with another program, training, or at practice. Please leave your name, school, and the best number to reach you and I'll return your call as soon as possible. I appreciate your interest in me and I look forward to connecting with you and learning more about your program. Jason Corley: Okay. So ladies, you might get that one if you call. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Still leave the message and leave your number and your handle. Jacob Moreno: Mm. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. If you guys get that call, ⁓ yeah, I Steve Yep, and whatever school in sorority that you're in, so ⁓ that'd be great. ⁓ but but yeah. ⁓ wait, wait, wait, I didn't even finish about the ⁓ about the starting and closing thing. Yeah. So when I when I when I start I get really anxious and I I like to I tend to overthink things. Jacob Moreno: You You Jason Corley: Okay. Jacob Moreno: Hmm. Jason Corley: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ yeah. Jason Corley: Okay. MJ Bollinger: Like a like a lot and it actually that's something that I can't do. Like I can't overthink 'cause when I do overthink, I try too hard and that's when everything goes haywire. ⁓ so what so you're probably thinking in the back of your head, like, well, why'd you start four games at Juco? and I didn't want to. My coach came up to me and said, Hey, could you like start for us? And I said, ⁓ like no, like I I'd preferably I don't want to start, but if I have to, I will. Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Mm-hmm. Okay. MJ Bollinger: You know, and he goes, Well, you're starting in like 20 minutes, so you need to get moving. And it felt like a relief appearance. Because it's like, okay, I haven't warmed up. Because like in the bullpen and JUCO, there there's been like timers on me. I've gotten ready in like a minute and thirty-six, a minute and fifty seconds to get going. Like I've gotten ready that quick, throwing three pitches, and I talk called the coach on the walkie talk and say, I'm good, like I'm ready to go. Because my body is so used to this. Jacob Moreno: Mmm. Jason Corley: We had no time. MJ Bollinger: immediate rush of adrenaline and you know I just get really pissed off like the cortisol levels just straight up drop and it's like okay I'm ready like let me get out there let me pitch and I can go home and have a you know a nice corona dressed with the lime you know like so I that's how I am closing but starting is like starting's more methodical and peop people don't realize how much of an art pitching really is like some people like me can get going like that and it's more of like Jason Corley: Right, right. MJ Bollinger: you just take a paintbrush and you do that on the canvas. Starters are more of like Picasso. Yeah, and and and they're they're more, you know, they need to be step by step and they need to, you know, paint their picture perfect. While me, it's just like, ⁓ dude, I threw ten plyo balls and I just threw three fastballs on the black. We're rocking and rolling for today. Right? And so so if I have to start, I will, but I will like Jason Corley: Engineers. They're engineers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: You MJ Bollinger: I actually will put myself in a bad position if I wanna start. I will warm I will start getting warmed up like twenty, thirty minutes before a game. And that Jason Corley: I was gonna say, can you like tell ⁓ to like not tell you 'til minute thirty six before you go out. MJ Bollinger: Well well the issue with that is is like in in summerball is you know like you know the games that you're gonna pitch and they have to designate a starter for scouts. So and for media, yeah, so you will know if you're starting. So it would be kind of hard to be like, Hey, ⁓ don't look at the Instagram tonight. ⁓ don't don't look at tomorrow's starter. ⁓ it it it might be you know it might be Harry tonight. Jason Corley: Right. I know. And for media. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the and that's the anxiety side of it because if you're in the pen and you're pulled in for relief, you have no idea. So it is just Jacob Moreno: Hahaha MJ Bollinger: Well you it's n it's it's about it's not even about having no idea, just like when when you realize that on a baseball team there's like thirty three to forty guys on a roster, right? And let's just say it's it's a thirty four man roster, you're one of the thirty four, and you realize that you're in the pen sitting, you get called up like there's thirty three dudes on that team that are depending on you to get your ass up, to get moving and take over a game, especially as like a high leverage guy ⁓ like myself. You have a bunch of guys depending on you to get the job done. Like that's what that's your only job. Like a starter, yes, is a starter's job to get the job done one thousand percent, but a starter has leeway because they have the hitters behind them. A closer doesn't have that. A closer has already had the hitting behind them. Now the only thing they have is themselves on the mound facing the hitter. Cause they shouldn't your team shouldn't have to hit. Your hitting should be canceled off once your closer goes in the game. Jason Corley: Yeah, for sure. Mm-hmm. Jacob Moreno: Mm. there. MJ Bollinger: And it's just it's one of those things where like you have those guys depending on you and you need to like you kinda need to put whatever you have going on your head to the side and you're like, dude, I need to get ready fast rather than starting. I've been told I've been starting five days before and I will s I can't sleep for five nights. 'Cause I'm think I try to think about 'cause I'm a perfectionist, I try to think about every possible scenario and what pitch do you throw to Trey Phelps who had sixteen Jason Corley: Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Bombs on the year, what do you throw to him when he just fouled off, you know, a fastball up and in when he fouled at 400 feet? Then you throw him a slider loan away and he fouled that 380 apo. What do you throw next? You just bust him hard at in and then soft away, and he still took it. That what do you do? You don't know what to do. And that's when the brain starts putting all these bad thoughts in your head, like, ⁓ I'm not gonna be able to get that job done. Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Moreno: in. MJ Bollinger: And negative self talk is arguably the worst thing a pitcher can do. Well, it's not arguably it is Exactly and overanalyzing is okay after a game. You should over analyze after a game because that's when you realize like, ⁓ your my catcher just called a fastball middle and I threw a fastball outside. That's unacceptable. That's unacceptable because that didn't set me up for my pitch. Like if you guys watch I don't know if you guys watch Trevor Bauer's podcast, ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Right. Right. Jacob Moreno: Start over analyzing. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: that he does and his his little day in the life, but when you watch him pitch in a game, if he's like, you know, I'm gonna go cutter inside and his cutter is middle, he is so methodical in the way he thinks that that is a terrible pitch. Because at the end of the day he doesn't he can't throw what he wanted to right after that because the pitch was, you know, this much off and now his changeup doesn't break the same way off that pitch as it did the inside ⁓ cutter. It doesn't. So that's how kinda I am is like I'm I overanalyze stuff to the max after the game 'cause again, the eye in the sky don't lie, right? And when you go back on film, it's like, Wow, I had a really good game today. No, you didn't. You got away with three curveballs that you left hanging and the other team looks like Helen Keller at the plate, you know, and they can't hit. And then there's some games where you're like, I just got the shit pounded out of me, you know Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: Right. Right. Right. Jacob Moreno: You Jason Corley: Right. MJ Bollinger: I'm a crab and they were a mallet and they were smashing me. But you rewatch the film and I've rewatched games that I've lost over and over again. and you look at it and you're like, dude, that pitch was freaking amazing. That's exactly where you they called it. That's exactly where you wanted it. And they hit it. And it makes you feel better. But if you but as a closer, you can't you can't think about all that stuff before an outing. Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Like starters have to. Starters need to know every hitter that's coming up, what they've done, what their strengths are. As a closer, ⁓ you've had seventeen bombs on the air? Okay, who he who the heck cares? You know? I don't really care what you do. I'm just gonna throw the ball and see what happens. Starter can't be that way 'cause a starter's gotta be able to go five to seven. Right? So yeah. Jacob Moreno: there. Jason Corley: Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Yeah. All right. So ⁓ yeah, so you just got a couple of days of prep before opening day. So what do you guys have going on tomorrow? Jacob Moreno: Hmm. Yeah. MJ Bollinger: Yep. ⁓ so it looks like tomorrow there a couple of guys are gonna throw some pens. ⁓ some of the guys who just arrived, I threw a live yesterday, so I won't be throwing ⁓ until hopefully Thursday, you know, opening day at home is my f as one of my first games pitching. Hopefully it is my first day. ⁓ but Jason Corley: Okay. Okay. Okay. Do they do you know like where do do they stream those games? Like can we watch? MJ Bollinger: I'm pretty sure. Yeah. I'm pretty sure the NECBL has their own little ⁓ little website. Just look up N C N C B Live or whatever. I know some some of the fields are on ESPN, you know. Jason Corley: Screaming platform. Okay. All right. Jacob, will you look into that? ⁓ like ⁓ find the mystic mystic. Jacob Moreno: The American Contract Bridge Lead? Schooners. Jason Corley: Schooners. Okay. All right. And for those of you 'cause this will be up before that. So those of you that do want to follow his journey and want to watch, ⁓ we will have yeah, would this we will get you guys the information so you guys can follow and watch. MJ, I don't know if I've ever I don't know if there's ever been a moment where I and I think the audience listening right now has ever pulled harder MJ Bollinger: Yep, the schooners, yep. Jason Corley: For what was a complete stranger and now part of this family. I want you to know that, brother, you have got our full attention and our full support. And I'm telling you right now, I'm pulling for I'm pulling for you to to do this. I'm pulling for you to to to to not to we're not done. You're not done, buddy. I can tell you right now, the journey ain't over. It ain't over. So ⁓ yes, I and ⁓ listen, man, I can't thank you enough. Jacob Moreno: Mm-hmm. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Sir, thank you. Jason Corley: For spending the time with us. I can't thank you enough for answering my DM and saying, Hell yeah, let's do this. And yeah, I don't know, man. I just I can't I just I can't tell you how much of a fan I am just of you as a as a as a as a person. Forget forget fucking baseball right now. Like you're good people and I root for good people. So I just want you to know that you've got us in your corner and anything that Jacob and I can do to help you and to be whatever. Jacob Moreno: Thank you. Mm-hmm. Jason Corley: In any way, shape or form, I you and I are we're gonna we're gonna stay kumbaya for a very, very long time. And I I can't wait, you know, I can't wait for someday to to shake your hand in person and for you to meet mine and ⁓ best of best of luck the rest of the season, brother. MJ Bollinger: Yeah. Yeah, thank you so much. I really appreciate you guys like taking the time to have me on tonight. And hopefully hopefully I can come on, you know, another time and we can we can shoot the shit on whatever the new ⁓ you know, the new topics are of college baseball or just baseball in general. I'm I'm very into the pitching. Jason Corley: Dude. Well, not just that, but hopefully when you when you land and you have your first save at whatever school you end up at, and then after that we'll do it again when you get to the show. MJ Bollinger: Yeah, hell yeah, that'd be great. That'd be great. Jason Corley: You gotta manifest you gotta manifest ⁓ manifest this shit. You got to. So yeah. MJ Bollinger: You do. That's the last thing I'll say, kids. People who are watching, manifest it. Like like I didn't get here by like the I the only time I ever doubted myself was in JUCO, but since a little kid I've envisioned myself playing in front of thousands of people and I have done it. I've done it when I was at FAU, I did it in the fall at A and ⁓ you know, I've accomplished that goal, but I know that I want more. You gotta Always put it in your head that you're gonna be it at one spot one way or another and you gotta get there no matter what. Jason Corley: Yeah. All right, brother. Have a great night. Get some rest. I know you're not going to because you're going to be texting and you're going to be waiting for the phone to ring and so forth. And your head's not going to shut down because you're going to replay this whole thing in your head as you try to shut down. I already know. I already know. I just want you to know, buddy, nothing but love and respect. And we will stay in touch. And I'll be in touch with you in the morning when this baby's live. Jacob Moreno: the X. MJ Bollinger: Perfect. Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it. All right. Have a great night. Bye. Jacob Moreno: Thank you man. See ya. Yeah you too. Jason Corley: Yeah. See ya buddy. Have a good night. See. Best podcast ever. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ Yeah, so Jason Corley: Best podcast best podcast we've done. Jacob Moreno: Yeah, oh for sure. For sure man. I 100 % agree and it's it was good that it was with a college baseball player. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Like he was so authentic. Jacob Moreno: ⁓ And it's the NECBL network. Jason Corley: Okay. And all right, say that again. Jacob Moreno: to watch them. NECBLNetwork.com. You gotta buy a subscription, but you can watch them. Jason Corley: Yeah. All right. Okay. All right. And I'm sure that they I'm sure there's probably some I mean, you never know. There there could be like FUBO TV or any of those. Sometimes they have, you know what I mean? Those packages. But yeah, I will put his Instagram link in the bio, just like I do for all of our guests that are on here. So if you guys want to go follow MJ and follow his journey, you guys know exactly where to find him. It'll be in the description of all this. He's gonna be tagged and collaborated with on all of our little shorts that we do. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Jason Corley: ⁓ Jacob, do you want to tell everybody who made this freaking possible? Jacob Moreno: and the sorority girls he wants them to hit him up. All right, quick shout out to our guys at Barstown Bourbon and Green River Whiskey because let's be real, after a full day at the field, sitting in those chairs, chasing foul balls, dealing with the weather, you've earned it. These are two of the best in the bourbon game right now. Smooth, high quality, no shortcuts. So whether it's a big tournament win or just surviving the weekend, pull yourself some good. Barstown Bourbon. Jason Corley: Yeah. Jesus Jones. Jacob Moreno: Green River Whiskey, making travel ball weekends a little better. Jason Corley: Also, folks, tonight's segment is brought to you by Cuddle Doos, Travel Ball families. If you've been thinking about adding a four-legged teammate to the roster, now is the perfect time. 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That wasn't bad though, was it? Trying to sell so ⁓ actually our kennel. So that's ⁓ so that was ⁓ self that was self advertising our kennel because ⁓ yeah I I had this I'm like, why are we not ⁓ using our own business? Where so anyways, but ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Yeah. No! No, not at all. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jason Corley: Again, shout out to MJ. What an incredible dude. I'm I'm pulling for him, man. Dude, he's good. What a personality. Like what a personality. Like so many, you know, so many kids, so many pitchers, so many k high level athletes get looked at as robots. You know what I mean? And the only ones know who they are are those that are in the clubhouse and dugouts. So ⁓ Jacob Moreno: Aw dude, hilarious man. Me too. He's fucking hilarious, dude. ⁓ for sure. Yep. Mm-hmm. Jason Corley: Yeah, just super thankful to him. I'm gonna stay in touch with him. I know, yeah, and and actually when we get off of here, I'll do a thread with all of us so that you can his number and he can have yours. ⁓ because you're sometimes easier to get a hold of than I am. And ⁓ there's moments where you're in the truck driving and you might just want to give him a holler and just see how his day is going, knowing that he's on his own and could be battling, you know, his own demons or yeah, you're just you're like that. That's that's that's what you are. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yeah, well that was one thing I wanted to touch when he talked about his injuries between his junior and senior year and what we did, it just kept flowing and I was like, I'm not gonna bring it to a halt. Jason Corley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I he never mentioned that he never mentioned battling mental health from the injury. He just mentioned the anxiety and the bipolarism with me on the phone of just that's in his DNA. Like he's done that with everything. And ⁓ he would, you know, he had mentioned to me on the phone how about how, you know, he couldn't when he was at A and ⁓ and he couldn't sleep because he just felt so unprepared after getting sick. Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Yeah. Jason Corley: ⁓ over Christmas and he just the anxiety was just overwhelming, you know, and how did it affect him personally? How did it affect his attitude? Who knows? But you know what I mean? And and he he probably doesn't know. He's he hasn't been removed from it far enough to no look back and say, Man, you know, maybe maybe my anxiety at that time with being sick and dealing with the injury and trying to get back, maybe it was. Maybe it was too much for A ⁓ at the time. And maybe I didn't see he won't know. He doesn't know. He doesn't know. And nobody Jacob Moreno: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he won't know until about 10 years down the road when you reflect on everything. Jason Corley: Right. Right. Just just right. Just like he reflects back on his junior college days and where he's like it when they time it sucked. And now it was the funnest time of my life. So dude, I I mean seriously, like his stories are pulling the what did he call people? Normal everyday NARP. Regular people. Jacob Moreno: NARP, non-athletic regular people. ⁓ So Alright I'm about to piss myself Yeah, me too. Alright. Love you. Jason Corley: ⁓ dude. All right, man, let's get out of here. I've got to take I've got to go to the bathroom so bad. So all right. All right. Love ya. See ya.