Jason: Should we do the clap? Do you think we should? Yeah. Since we're here. see if we can nail it. Yeah. Three, two, one. So, buddy, we are we are in one of the coolest places I've ever seen in my entire life. dude, this this legit, man. I just we walked in and we were just like, And I would say that first and foremost, one of the coolest things is is this whole So today, folks, for those of you that don't know, we are doing a custom fitting for the entire ZT Prospects national team that is here at the Perfect Game PGI World Series or national championship over in Mansfiansfield. Mansfield is it Mansfield? Yeah, Mansfield Texas. Mansfield, Texas. And we'll get to that here in just a minute because we started that podcast yesterday and we I really don't I really don't wanna just gloss over that. Like it's something that we definitely wanna want to talk about more. But this whole thing came to be because when I had the owner of War Stick on, Ben Jenkins, I was in Florida and you were not on that day. I did it from the beach. You did it from the beach and you called and you're like, Hey, just did a podcast on the beach. I'm like, Yeah, okay I and and to be honest, like Ben was at a hotel because he was on the road with his fifteen U son who was playing in a tournament, and he was just like, Listen I don't have a lot of time. And he's like, I've got about a two hour window if you want to try to do this. And I was like, I don't have a lot of time either. And I've got a nine year old who really wants to go to the beach. So we're gonna take this stuff with us and we're gonna see if this worked. And it turned out to be such a huge, huge blessing because I got to know Ben. Ben got to know me. I got to fall in love with not just the man as a dad, but also The company. The the company, the empire that he has helped build or he has built from the ground up with help from you know from a couple of his friends, Ian Kinsler and Jack White. So in the conversation, we were talking about you know, this whole thing with the whole battle of the summer, you know, came to be because that was his that was his idea of doing it, number one. And then it came to be where he just really has a passion. For because he's a baseball dad, he has a has a passion for reframing what a success successful at bat looks like because he knows the struggle. He played, he's got, you know, his best friend Ian Kinsler, and then he's got his son that, you know, that that plays very, very high level elite travel ball. And he just it's it was so refreshing to hear a man that owns a bat company talk about like what a successful bat even looks like. And now we've got to stop. glorifying just the home runs. Yeah, just the balls that go over the fence. And I was I was blown Jacob, I was blown away at like I was like, you're right. Like why why aren't we talking about this more? Yeah. That's what led to the contest. Yeah, the battles, you know, the guys that take the pitchers eight, twelve, fifteen, seventeen pitches at bats and then, you know, they may not get a hit. They may get walked, but they're the ones that are putting more and more pitches on the guy's arm. Yeah. You know the helping the other guys out on deck or in the dugout and letting them know, hey, this is what he's throwing, this is what looks like. And I mean that is a bad one. Yeah. So So it was yeah, it was a really cool conversation and it led to him he found out that we were gonna be coming to Dallas for the PGI. Yes. And that led to him inviting our entire and and at first it was kind of funny you guys because I didn't Okay. In this in this industry, in this business, we get a lot of promises made. Yeah. And very, very few ever come to fruition. I'll just be honest with you. I know that people think that we get a lot of shit for free and a lot of things, but I can tell you that a lot of promises are usually made and very few are ever kept. And it was just, it was so when he when he made the offer to us to bring a couple to bring the kids over, he said, bring the boys over. And when an owner of a company says that, I immediately don't want to bite off more than I can choose. So I was thinking, okay. three or four kids we'll bring over and he's like no bring the roster and I was like with all due respect do you know what you're getting yourself into yeah you called me do know what you're getting yourself into and called me and you're like hey he said bring the roster and I'm like well I mean like the whole roster you're like right the whole roster the whole roster right so yeah and I'm not gonna lie to you so and the there's more to this story This was all taking place during Omaha, during the College World Series. And I'm in Florida. I'm not sure what hotel Ben was in. And then the College World Series was going on, and Dominic and Gino were in Omaha for the c for the College World Series to watch WVU. And as I tweeted this thing out, I actually sent something out to the team. I was like, just got off a podcast with the owner of Warstick. He's inviting the entire team when we get to Dallas to come in and the boys can do a custom fitting, which they're upstairs right now. You can hear the dings. You can I don't know if you well, I can't hear him. Can you hear him? Yeah, I can hear Okay. they're upstairs right now with two pro baseball players going through hit tracks and getting custom fit for bats that fit them. They're upstairs right now doing this as we're downstairs in this off limit speakeasy that they've got going on here. And As I told the team in our team chat that this was happening, Dominic is in Omaha and he's like, Well, fuck it. Let's walk over to the Worsted booth. Cause they had a Warstick booth in Omaha. He walks over to Worsted and Jake, the pro that's upstairs right now. Jake is in the Worsted booth in Omaha, and he's like, Hey, he's like, Well my best friend back home has got himself a podcast and he said that y'all are gonna have us out. And Jake's like, Yeah, we just got the same text. And it was like immediate like it just for those of you that that are unfamiliar with this with this business, very rarely does word travel that fast. It just validated everything. It validated everything, and I was just like, Man, this guy is so real. Yeah, he's so real. Like he did not have to do that, but he got off the podcast with us, picked up this phone, and called his team and said, Heads up, you know, when there's a there's a national, there's a 12U national team coming to town, we're gonna treat them like royalty. And they have. So those boys are upstairs right now. As they get done getting fit, we're going to have them come down and we're gonna talk to them about what they just experienced upstairs. one of the cool things that Sean, so Sean is our point person here at War Stick, he's from what I understand, he's Ben's right hand man. He kind of runs the show for Ben. he needed sizes and weights for what the kids are currently hitting. But going into the big field, all of that changes because everything goes to a drop five. Yep. And everything's so all of that's gonna change. The the days of the boomerang bats are over after this weekend. You know, I mean this this this week at the PGI is the last chance these boys are gonna get to sh to hit these drop eights. Yep. So we told them we were like, you know, hey, like Pretty much all of them are in a drop five. Some of the big boys are in a drop three. And they ranged in lengths because you know, like HUD's a thirty and some other kids are thirty-two, thirty-two. Stuff like that. So that because one of the things that Ben was very, very passionate about, and it seems like the boys upstairs and and Jake is passionate about is is a lot of these kids come in what they call brainwashed into thinking that if it's not a fully composite bat, if it's not this, or if it's not that, then I'm not gonna be able to hit the ball over a 200 foot wall, which all every single one of these kids can hit a ball over a 200 foot wall with a wood bat, let alone the boomerangs that are out there. So it's just a really cool experience for these guys. it's been a a really humbling thing to watch a company as popular as Warstick is. I know that they're not huge in the younger ages 'cause they focus a lot more on high school, college, college, and pro ball. But to have a company that doesn't really have a whole lot of skin in the game when it comes to the w up until this point. Yeah. They've got new bats now coming out for the you know, the drop tens and the fully composites that they're really proud about, but our boys can't use them anymore. Anymore, yeah. Brooks can. And let's see, Andy Steziak, the Like those boys can. You know what mean? But for them to not have what I'm gonna call skin in the game and still go above and beyond to give these boys this experience is really, really cool. So and speaking of which, we just got dropped in. Come on over, come on over on this side. So we're gonna be joined right now by I'm I I be I keep calling you Ben's right hand man, 'cause I think that's what you are. Yes. So I'll let you get your headset on and make sure that I don't know which channel he's on, Jason. He's on three. He's on three? Okay, I can hear you. Can you hear can you hear yourself? yes, I can. yeah, yeah. That sounds good. That sounds good. Okay. Sean, I want to introduce you. What is your last name? Spraddling. Shaw Spradling. I got it in the email, but in twenty twenty six you don't know if somebody like changes it. Yeah. Well the password here is like, you know, they take the A out, yeah. And when you see my last name spradling, a lot of people just assume it's spaulding like the basketball. So I normally have to tell people how to pronounce it. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. All right. So we were just explaining to everybody a little bit about like obviously how Ben and I met through the podcast and how this entire day came to be and how incredibly special it I I I've I know that it is. And I I I believe that the boys appreciate and respect how special this is because with all due respect, you guys don't really have a whole lot of skin in the game when it comes to the younger ages. And you haven't to this point, right? it's just recently that you guys have gotten into the full composite world in the drop ten world. I mean, I know you've been there, but it's not something that you guys have ever. You're marketing more money more now. Correct? yeah. No, I I I mean for the War Stick has been a mainstay in most B B core lineups. That's the Right. I I get what you're saying because on the on the youth side it's it's been something that has whether it's USA or U Triple S A, it's been almost more more word of mouth. then like very heavy marketing, which we absolutely love because of that cultish vibe. It's like if you rock with us, like we're gonna rock with you, kind of thing. So yeah, okay. And so for us it was a big deal because this didn't have to happen. But I think Ben saw the passion and and Ben's conversation with me on the podcast was really, really trying to reframe this brainwashing that kids have that of You know, if it's not a comp if it's not a fully composite bat, it's not going to go 200 foot over the wall when these kids are so talented now. They can hit it with a with if you if you break a stick off of a pot off of an oak tree, they can do the same thing. So I just thought it was really cool that Ben opened this experience up for the boys for them to A get a taste of what the war stick life is like, because they this isn't appearing on a lot of their feeds right now because they're younger. You know what I mean? They're not in those high school ages. So explain to the audience what is actually happening upstairs. Yeah. It's a great question because we I mean, it it's pretty cool what they're getting to do right now. we wanted to exactly like what you said, and I know you and Ben talked a lot about this, we want to dispel the belief that there's a one size fits all bat, whether that's on the USA side all the way up to the big leagues. Like If you go up to the majors, you see 250 different wood models because everyone what matters to the pros is like swinging what fits them best. Their swing, their body type, their style. So why why are we not doing that on the youth side? It's kind of our thought. So what they're getting to do upstairs is an actual bat fitting. So we have the the full team up there with with our guys, like we said, the full team. Yeah. Yeah. Full team there going through a bat fitting. Each one of them is gonna get the opportunity to step in the box off the tee. They're getting warmed up right now. With who? Tell them with who. Yeah, so we have two guys running the bat fitting, Jake Whitesides who played pro ball for for many years, very knowledgeable on wood bats and metal bats, and then Jordan Davis, who played college ball some time in the minors as well, and he runs all of our team warstick teams. He's very knowledgeable on the youth side. So specifically our U Trip and USA. He also runs the store. So anybody that comes in, like he sees them swinging and he knows exactly what to tell them of like that might be a little too end loaded for you. That might be too balanced. Like he he does all of those he does that daily. Yeah. So they're going through a bat fitting in the sense of like they're walk stepping into the plate. They're trying every different U Triple SA model that we have. Because we don't wanna we're never gonna be the brand that says, like, this is our best bat. Right. Like this is this is the number one bat because There's no number one bat if everyone swings something that's different for them. Yeah. So they're trying the full U Triple SA lineup upstairs and to see what fits them best. right now our U Triple SA lineup is our Bone Saber One Piece, our Bone Saber Hybrid, and our Bone Saber Composite. So we got a full alloy, a alloy and hybrid, an alloy and composite hybrid, and then a full composite model. Okay. And then the full composite model, it stops at drop eight. correct. Yes. Okay. All right. So that's more for twelve feet below. I believe so. We we might have a drop ten. I might have to fact that. I'm saying the oldest that you can go in that is a drop eight. So twelve U would be the the limit for that because you don't have the drop fives. No, they have a drop five up there. they do. I did not know that. Full composite drop five options. Okay. and I will say this you have you guys have been very open and transparent too about the break in period with that bat. Correct, yeah. So we've just the research that we've done is like on the full composite bats, we've noticed that. A longer break in time is correlated with more durability. Yeah. The bat's gonna last you longer. So it's like the bats that are hot out the wrapper, great. Like if you need it for a a tournament this weekend or you're like ready for the season and you know what you want to swing, that's gonna be great for you. But ours take time to break in. You just have to break it in properly. Sure. It's not anything crazy. It's like fifty swings at fifty percent. You just rotate the bat, fifty swings at seventy five percent. and once you're done breaking it in, it will be as hot as like pretty much any other composite out there. But it's gonna also last you a lot longer. So like our thing is like we think that this is the best overall U Triple S A composite bat because it has that peak performance plus peak durability. It's gonna last a lot longer than most of the U trip bats out there, which I mean, as we all know is a big issue with U trip composite. yeah. Yeah, you get guys that come in in one tournament break their bat, and grab another one and then the process of sending it back, getting a new one. It could be weeks and weeks. I mean, with that, guys go probably all year with it and It lasting and not having to worry about it breaking. Which is good. I mean, I like that. Which is like exactly why we have our and I'm sure we're gonna talk about this too, but like we just started our sixty day trial. that's right. We gotta talk about this. Yep. So we have only for the U Triple S A bone saber composite because that's the one that we wanna show the durability the most. We just started it last week. Yes. 60 day trial. If you guys go to my Instagram page, I reshared their story about this. Yeah, yeah. So 60 days free. You don't have to pay up front, you get the bet for free. You get to try it for two months. Use it in games, practice, cage, how whatever you want. 60 day trial. If you want to return it within that 60 days, you don't pay a dime. Because we we know, like we know that our bats are durable enough to withstand that. And we know we're we're confident that players are gonna like them once they actually get them in their hands. So at the end of that sixty days you decide you want to send it back, you don't pay a dime. Or you keep it and that's when the that's your bet. And it's lasted you all season, it's gonna last you another season. we have a great customer support team too. So please, if you have any issues with any breakage or anything like that, feel free feel free to reach out. Now, are guys like Jordan available to call in and ask questions to? Like are they available or they do when I say that, like You say your customer service team, is he part of that or or is he just hands on here at the building? He's he's just hands on here. Gotcha. He does run our store, but we don't have a direct line to call in at the moment. There's a reason for that. Yeah. Be on the phone all day. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean hopefully we will ha have a phone number in the future to call, but not not quite. Sure. But you also like that takes away then from the experience of coming here. Like if he's on the phone all day long, then that takes him away from being here. Yep, and getting people to walk through the door. Exactly. Okay. Would you guys say that your bread and butter is your wood line? so we started as a wood company. Right. But over the last I mean, especially with BB Corps and how successful like people players love our our B B Cor bats. Like it it now that we've been a couple years in the BB Corps game, it's been about a decade now. I would say we're a lot more known for our metal than our wood. Okay, right so we do have a couple big leaguers, a couple minor leaguers, a couple players in high school and college that use our wood bats in the summers. I would say that our bread and butter is probably our our metal bats though. Okay. And what is your out of everything, what is your tops like what's what's your flagship bat that's like been your top seller of all time? All time, probably the bone saber hybrid BB Corps. Okay. I was number one ranked for it was like the longest ranked number one ranked bat until recently. In college. on in college. The baseball bat bros for like probably two years, year and a half or so. Okay. the Bonesaber hybrid's been a a best seller for a long time. time but now like we we don't want players to just swing that because it's ranked number one or or however it's ranked or just because their teammate swings it. Yeah. Like which is why we are expanding our BB core lineup to have all swing weights. Because it's a pretty it's a it's a balanced bat. It's a little bit lighter swinging. So we want to make sure that we have from very balanced to a more end loaded bat for everybody in the lineup. nice. Okay. Okay. All right. So how many kids do you guys have through upstairs right now? How many do you have left? How's it going up there? It's good. they w at the time that I left, they were all still hitting on the T's, they're all getting warmed up. Gotcha. So we're about to start actually getting them through the bat fitting. They're all gonna go about seven, eight swings each with we're gonna go through bone saber one piece, then we're gonna do bone saber hybrid, then we'll do bone saber composite. Okay. Which is also in the swing weight spectrum as well. Like bone saber one piece is the lightest option and then the bone saber composite's a little bit More L. Gotcha. Okay. Is Wyatt up there? Is he shooting? Is he shooting? Yeah, he's up there. He's doing great. We made sure that he's set up well. Good. All right. Well, listen, we will catch up with you in a little bit. or we're going to cover a couple more things. Thank you. Thank you. Like seriously guys. Like from the bottom of my heart, I I I said it before you came on. It it's it matters a lot that Ben offered to do this for the boys. Yeah, because like Jason said, we get a lot of people that say, Yeah, we can do this, we can do it. But nobody that's as far as it Nobody ever comes through. He validated and everything, made it you know, and made this possible for the boys. And great experience, you know, especially all of us coming down to Dallas and he opened his store up and you know, to take care of the boys and we really do appreciate that. Thank you. I mean, for us too. It's it's it's cool to get to like connect with the players and get to know I mean w we're definitely we pride ourselves in being the the personable brand, the one the ones that actually have those relationships. So like Even just getting to talk to a lot of those players up there, like is pretty sweet for us. And as the day go and as the morning goes on, they're gonna open up even more and more and more 'cause they're kids and they're gonna get comfortable on your yes. Mine will get comfortable. And and you'll be like, you'll be like, hey, I alright. And then you guys keep your eye I mean, this is I tried to tell them and I tried to tell the parents weeks in advance. Like this is an incredible opportunity for networking going into your high school years. Yeah. Like you literally in the off public access basement. Of one of the coolest baseball brands in the industry. Like you better soak it up. How long have you guys been in this like this building? Because this building's nice, man. It's I think it was right after COVID. So about six years now? Yeah, I think he talked about it on the podcast. I've only been here for about two years. So where did you come from before? Just out of curiosity. So I made a That's a longer story. Long story made as short as possible. Which he has his own podcast. No, I I this is I I pivoted total different industries. I worked at Apple for five years. no, that makes all the sense in the world. No, makes all the sense in the world because Bet like I'm not gonna call Ben a hippie, but Ben, I I've tried to explain him to everybody. He he beats at his own drum. And that's what that that's that makes all sense. Yeah, come from Apple here. So all right. Well, we'll let you get back up there. We're probably gonna pause in a couple minutes because I want to come up and see this and I wanna check it out. But thank you. Thank you so much. Thank man. I appreciate Thank you so much. Appreciate it, buddy. All right. so there you guys have it. The guy that we were just talking about, Sean, was down here and explaining what's going on upstairs. also giving you guys an idea of the whole premise and purpose of us being here with the bat fitting and I just again dude, I cannot reiterate enough how special of a moment this is for these boys. That they I hope that they yeah, I hope they appreciate this. Yes, I hope they do and I hope this is memory that lasts forever. Like you know, we got to go in and got fitted by ourselves, not as we just went. Not like this was a not like there's a line outside the block for the public. Like they This is private. They're not even open on Mondays. There would be champagne flowing if they were old enough. Yeah, probably. But Yeah, I just I think it's a really, really cool idea. we're gonna get to talk to some of the boys as they come down out of the fitting, but as Sean said, you know, they're still getting warmed up. Yeah. So this black and gold down here. It's a vintage feel. Yes. And who said it? This so we're in a speakeasy. It's not open to the public. We're downtown Dallas. Yeah, downtown Dallas. And down downtown. It's a speakeasy. There's it's only I guess what did he say? Private events and employees? Yeah, he said that they had a draft party here the other night. so they had a draft party for some of their I'm gonna I'm assuming sponsored college athletes. so they sponsor the entire Missouri baseball team. And I'm sure that they've I'm sure they've got other players throughout the country that they sponsor through NIL and other stuff. And all that stuff is changing, man, and is bleeding into high school now that it's that it's legal and and you know, so forth. So it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting as it goes forward. like I said, I I really hope that the boys I don't remember a lot from being twelve years old and and turning thirteen, but I think that this I think something like this would have an impact on me going forward as far as b brand loyalty and and stuff like that. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. yeah. They get a s you a spe nice opportunity, special opportunity to Then just like you said, networking. As they get older, they can say, Hey, you know, they took care of us. I want to swing their BB core or whatnot. You know what I mean? And Well, they're up they're upstairs hitting with Jake. That's what I mean. So I mean it's like the g the the guys that are the guys that are running through the the machine, like they're locked in because they're like, Okay, this is not just some dad. Yep. Like this is the guy that this is the guy that does the custom fitting for war stakes. So they're probably hyper alert up there, is what I'm saying. yeah, I'm sure they are. It'll be interesting to go up there and see. But speaking of which, I do want to touch on this because last night we had a team dinner. yesterday was our first day of pool play over at the PGI. the PGI. It's incredible. Yes. Beautiful fields. You guys, I can't we've heard what did we hear a parent say yesterday? That it was the best complex in the country. Best complex in the country. And that was coming from a a parent that plays a lot of stuff at East Cobb. Yeah. Yeah, but they also travel the country to play, so they know. They know, and it was I will say this. Jacob and I were talking about this on the car ride over this morning. I will say this. it is an incredible, incredible the station's at sixty three, right? Fields at station sixty three. Fields at station sixty three. It's not that big of a deal that I fucked that up. Like why are you like why do you think I know 'cause you looked at me like, am I right? I know did I finally get it? I did. the fields at station sixty three. The complex is next level beautiful. It is next level. I mean, to think of to just to sit here and think about where I was playing at twelve years old and the fields that I was playing. Park Rec Stones. I'm telling you guys that this is this is built for kings and queens. Yes. Over there. It really, really is. And I cannot I words are not gonna do justice. And this is not listen, the f fields at station sixty three. They don't pay they're not paying a shit to say this. We don't even get free Gatorade or water at the facility. So this is not this is not a PG promotion. PG ain't paying a shit to say this. I'm telling you that this is next level epic. if you have an opportunity to enter and play in a tournament at this facility, you gotta do it. You gotta jump on it. It's worth every penny that you pay in your gate fee. It's worth every penny you pay in your tournament entry fee because this place is special. Because I and we we talked about it at dinner last night. This place didn't just think about the ball player and the coaches and the dads. They thought about the whole family. In two separate sides of the fields, you have restaurants, you know, air conditioned with a three sixty well yeah, almost a three sixty view of all the fields. So they thought about the moms and especially the younger siblings, man. The yeah, ones that get hot, frustrated and need to be cooled down. Grandparents that Want to come but are scared to be out in that blistering heat. Yeah, because it was 103 less yesterday. It was 103 yesterday. Those poor boys on the field. I'm just gonna I'm tell guys, man. Like that's the only we talked about this in the car ride over. Like that's the only thing that keeps us kind of leaning towards East Cobb is because of the amount of shade from all the pines, the Georgia pines over there. It just seems like there's I don't know, man. it just seem I don't I don't know. But it that's the only thing Well for me too is because of driving. Yes. That was the other thing. Yeah, that's the other driving. I drive as much as possible. This was the first flight. No. The second flight for us of the year. Everything else has been driving. So you take away like it's a pain to have to fly for baseball. It it really is especially for you, because you got HUD's bag. Then you got all the camera stuff. Everything that they do has to be a flight. That means the East Coast. Yeah, yeah. If the East Coast is coming this way. But so for us in the Midwest, I would say that, you know, I tend to lean more into the East Cobb because head down I seventy five and in eight hours you're there. You know what I You're done and you're in the Mecca of baseball. But outside of that, East Cobb, East Cobb can't hold the jock strap of this place when it comes to being able to get around. Like you have no Atlanta traffic. No Atlanta traffic. You don't have everything is right there. You don't have to drive 45 minutes to another field that you don't know is dirt or turf. Everything is just immaculate here. Now I will say that I do have a little bit of feedback. If Tony is listening or if PG is listening, here's what I would say. So when you walk into these restaurants, that there's two of them, like Jacob said, and you can literally sit and watch all of the games around you. yeah, this was a good point you brought up yesterday. so All of them have TVs. There's two TVs everywhere. Here's a little here's a little food for thought. Okay. Diamond cast should be on all of those TVs that are in because there's two TVs in front in front of the window or above the windows of whatever window you're looking out. If you had the diamond cast playing on those, the people, the moms and the grandparents and the dads, or whoever is inside watching those games could at least see the scores of what's going on. That would drastically change and it would give it a feel. Of what I've been told Cooperstown is like because they were talking about Cooperstown. You can go to any local bar and in and all the local bars, all the TVs are showing the broadcast. Yep. Except for like Except the ones behind the bar. Right, where like I think they said the World Cup was on or something like that or some golf. But if if over at the restaurant, if you had now there's a couple big TVs in the center, you could leave those on their weather channel or whatever you want. Other sports you wanna watch. There's t there's TVs above the big picture windows that show the field of what your kid is playing on. If you guys just put Diamond Cast and Broadcast Diamondcast up there, that would completely change a lot of it. It could and and it would also bring more it would also bring more people into the restaurant to patronize and buy spend money. So but literally that is the only the wait, we have one I have one more pet peeve. The backstops aren't padded. No, so that ball bounces. They're solid concrete. Yes. So the catcher can miss the ball, get a one hop, and still throw the runner out. We found it so we there was a couple of us having a conversation about this yesterday. We were like, Man, all this attention to detail and the back the backstop isn't padded. So, but that's that's just us giving you feedback. Our opinion means nothing. It doesn't matter whatsoever. So but yeah, the the the fields and the the complex, there's a massive water park there. and again, it's just the way it's set up, you're not Walking forever. I mean, it's just it's just beautiful. I would say I did think of one more thing. Okay, what it is? No. The netting. Why? Why do we not have this netting over top? Yeah. You have all the you have all of the you have all of the structure to do the netting, to hold nets over top because just the because that's the only thing is that as these parks get newer and they get better, they get more compact and closer together. Yes. So the foul balls from field A. are coming over to field C on the backside and you cannot hear. So you don't know it's coming. and these kids, you guys, these kids are they're like I said before, Twitter. These kids are really, really good and they're hitting the ball really, really hard and they're hitting it really, really high. And when that thing comes down, it hurts. It's coming with force, man. It hurts. So I I think there's a couple things that they could that they could change going into the future, but that's just us nitpicking and that's just us Giving feedback 'cause I did not see a suggestion box. Did you no but they are I mean, this fields are beautiful, all turf. It's just they're awesome. They're all stadium seat. We did see Tony hanging out in the air conditioning quite a bit though. Yeah. We did. Which I mean I would too. Yeah, it's hot. Yeah. You were actually too. No, y yeah. Especially when your kid's not playing. Yeah, yeah. Why would you Yeah, go sit. I can watch I don't have to hear nothing. I can go sit. Yeah. So Which he was bombed. I mean, you saw the picture I posted last night. He was sitting there. Yeah. I was like, What are you thinking, dude? He's like I wish I was out here playing. I said, I know him. We'll be back out. Yeah, you'll be back. He'll be back. And this has been really I think it's been really good for him to be able to hang out with the Z T boys. Yeah. You know what I Because he knows a lot of them and he didn't know some of them. And he's now he does. Now we're hanging out. And he's getting to hang out. So it's been really, really cool for him. as far as the games go yesterday, Beto was in here just a few minutes ago. He's tired, clearly. Yeah. so we're not gonna bug him. I think he's upstairs probably now watching the boys. But yesterday was the first day of pool play. the boys came out of it two and gave up far too many runs that they shouldn't have. But I will say this the very first game that we played, the boys look like a bunch of boys that had never played together before. Yeah. Which is exactly what they are. A bunch of boys that never played together. So I would say what there's there's five that came from California. Yeah. There's five that came from California. There's four of us that came from the Midwest. Then you have A few from the east coast sprinkled in there, and then you have you have Luke from Cedarburg Rapids, so kind of like in the center of the country. Yeah, yeah. So it's see to me it's not Midwest. I don't understand why people think Iowa is Midwest. What would you call it? Pacific? I know I'd just call it West. I'll just call it West. Like I don't know, that's just me. Like I think of Midwest stopping in in Missouri. Well, people say Nebraska is Midwest. No, that's yeah, so I know. I used to I used to guide hunts in Lynch Lynch, Nebraska, and that was not to me that wasn't Midwest. I mean, I understand that it's considered that you know, on the map, but I just in my own head I don't think of it as Midwest, especially not Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I just think of that as being out there in the in the But mean you guys came out two and so Yeah, we came out two and you could definitely tell that the second half of the second game Boys were getting more comfortable being around each other. It's really funny to watch Maddie Vasquez and my son HUD in the middle of the infield try to communicate when they've never communicated before. They didn't even know who each other were before the week started. And now you're trying to ask them to communicate between cuts and cutoffs and picks and back picks and everything else. who's getting the bag, who's not getting the bag. And it's it's it's inter it's it's interesting because. You watch how one kid was coached on the West Coast and then you watch how one kid was coached in the Midwest. In the Midwest. You know what mean? And it's two completely different ways of playing the game. Yeah. They're neither one of them are wrong. No, but no. It's just two completely different ways of playing the game. Like HUD, HUD has taken every throwdown. HUD has taken pretty you know what I mean? But that's also because he was a short step. I know. And he's playing. You move him over to second base and he's just like, You got it? I got it. Who you Me? Who who's got this? It's like that Spider Man meme. You ever seen that Spider Man meme? There's three Spider Man, they're all pointing at each other Yes, yes, I have. Yes, I have. So it's in a but it's you could tell that as the day went on, him and Maddie started. They got comfortable. Well, they also went and played hacky sack together, which always helps. That's always a great thing. But I told him I was like, we need to take you two with it one hacky sack and lock you guys in a room for about eight hours. Yeah, we'll figure it out by now. And you guys won't have to say nothing. but it's really cool to watch those two. Very, very talented kids play together in the middle of the infield and just kind of how the whole thing is orchestrated and how Beto has it orchestrated, you know. that was something else that was very interesting to to me and to all of our parents in the Midwest and to HUD was we had our practice the first night, about two hours and for 40 minutes they sat down on the on the carpet and just talked strategy, you know what I mean, and the details of the game. Yeah. And that's just not something that HUD's used to. he's used to going HUD is HUD and our boys are used to letting depending on their athleticism to go and beat teams. Yeah. Not being strategic about it. But this is the this is the type of tournament where the details and the strategy matter. yeah, the little things matter. They have to. so he was he was he was like a kid in the candy shop of like this is he was hearing a lot of new termage, you know what I mean? And he was seeing a lot of different things and didn't know that we could even call that kind of a play. Yeah. But then you think about it, you're like, well, of course we can. We're very, we're very talented. We can do that. We can pull that off. We move, yep. Yeah. So so anyways, that was fun. And then shout out to Willie yesterday, that home run. Yeah, shout out to Willie. We were down. Yeah. We were we were down. It was not looking it was not looking. Six five. Six five and two run shot, wins the game. Willie Vanachek puts one over the wall, wins the game, puts us ahead, time limit it Yeah, because they tried to stall. They tried to stall and and we got out of the inning, we were able to get up to bat, and I think Willie was second at bat. I he was the second at bat for that. Hold on a second here. I gotta turn this thing on, do not disturb. Yeah, Willie was the second up for that at bat and put a piss missile over the right foot. Literally. Yeah, sh shot off his bat. And it was it just it's really good for Willie. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it's just and that ignited the the boys because Willie's a very, very passive, quiet kid, with a big stick and a great arm. He's a silent leader. He's a very silent leader. And for him to be able to come in and make that moment, it was it was just really, really cool because it was also it was also validation for Beto. Because he's like, I believed in you. This is why I asked you to come. Yep. I believed in you. So, which is why I invited you to be on this team this week. And here you are getting us through pool play. So it was just, it was a cool thing. So, okay, let's me and you take a break. Let's walk upstairs and check it out. and we're also gonna see if we can find the AC and crank it up because it is cranking here. All right, we'll be right back. okay, so welcome back. We just went upstairs to see what was going on. what you what do you got to say for yourself? Me, I just I shared I I shared some stuff on on Instagram from upstairs. So if you're if you're watching this podcast a couple days later or whatever or tonight or whatever and you wanna know what we're referring to, you can go into my Instagram and look on my reels and see what the boys are doing right now. dude. it is awesome. Because it is pretty spectacular up there. It is spectacular up there and it looks like they're all taking it very serious and it looks like they're I Did I see just a pile of Warstick betting gloves that had been ripped open too and all the kids were wearing Warstick batting gloves? Yeah. Yeah. My kid walked up with the blue and pink ones. Like, like these, like these ideas. we need to announce the winners of the contest. Yes. Okay. You wanna tell everybody what the contest was? So the contest it was a battle. You know battle, you know, you were up there ten, twelve, fourteen pitches. Didn't have to lead to a hit, didn't have to lead to a home run. You could strike out, walk. But it was the course of putt guys, these pitchers, having them throw different you know, throw more and more pitches in one at bat. Yep. And you know, that's a p that's Not all battles, not all glorified is just a home run. Those battles should be also be glorified because you've worked on you know, you've worked the pitcher into more arms, you've seen more pitches, you can tell your buddies, hey, you know, this is what he's doing, this is what he's doing. But like I said, it doesn't have to leave it could be a strikeout. Yeah. But as long as it was a battle, you know, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen pitches. That was the contest and we had submissions in and we came up with three winners. Yeah, we came up with three winners and how you were able to enter the contest was was you had to take your the video of of your battle that you went that you went in with against a pitcher and it it we didn't put parameters like it could have been a two pitch or a three pitch. It it just it unfortunately the bar was set kind of high from the very beginning, you know, with h with HUDs. So everybody kind of thought, well, it had to be at least that or more, which it didn't need to be. but you had to post it on Instagram or TikTok, and then you had to tag myself, you had to tag Jacob, you had to take Warstick, and then PG Youth. the three winners that we got for our nine U division, and so we were gonna do we were gonna do drop 10, drop eight, and drop five. But we didn't get any submissions for drop five. Like we didn't get any older submissions. So we went ahead and we did a we did a drop 10, and then we did two drop like eight, fives, whatever they want to choose. And what it turned out to be is we had our nine new winner, and their Instagram handle is at AMC17 underscore 2035. And I reached out to them this morning at about four o'clock in the morning when I was up. And Asked them for their contact information and told them that they won. I can't remember if they replied or not just because we've been slammed and so busy with the kids. But that is our drop 10 winner. he's a 9U kid playing 10U right now. Yes. and so he'll still be playing 11. So a drop 10 will be perfect for him. It'll work for him. Yep, it'll work for him. and if it doesn't, then feel free to use that as a g as your own giveaway and give it to somebody you want. But war stick in you, you got Guys will we'll get you hooked up with them. Great opportunity for you to network, great opportunity for you guys to meet these incredible people. And then one of our 12 Us is so it comes from a 12U division. I think he also plays 13U. Yes, out of out of out of Indiana. Indiana Bulls, right? Wasn't it? No, not I don't think it's the Bulls, but I think it is Indiana. Okay, and that their Instagram handle is at CP17 underscore official. and I I think his dad gave me South Bend. South Bend. Yeah. Okay. And then the last the last winner of the contest was HUDD because Huddy's was the longest of the summer so far. his was almost a five-minute at-bat, and it was 12 pitches, and that was against SBA. and if you guys want to go see Huddy's, his is posted on his Instagram, it's at HUDCorly2032. And I know this sounds really weird, it's really awkward because it's our podcast and it's my kid that won it, but I don't really give a shit. It was the best battle of the summer. Yeah, it was. What was it? 14 pitches? 12. Twelve. Twelve pitches on the and on the third. thirteenth, I think on the thirteenth he got a double. So that was at the time That was for his hit dogs team and that was against the number two team in the country, SBA Bolts National. So that was down in in Georgia. That was early in the in the year. But so congratulations to those three. Yep. And Warstick will be in contact with you. You will be in contact with Worsted. Actually, Worsttick already has your information because I sent it to him this morning. and so forth. But outside of that, man, we need to get a couple kids down here and and see how the see how the the fitting is gone. okay, so boys, let's introduce yourselves. You go first, tell us who you are, your first name, your last name. which parent you like the best. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Hey, I'm Colin Clavern. I'm from Oshir, Mississippi. I like hunting. fishing, I like playing baseball and I don't know, it just really makes fun for me. Yeah. Okay. And you, Mr. I'm Luke Prim, I'm from Cedar Abbas, Iowa. I like to also hunt, fish and play with my friends. Yeah. Okay. So you guys, this is a new experience for everybody, let alone just you guys. Tell us your tell us your impressions of walking in this morning, what you saw, was it ex was it what you were expecting? Is it dope? Is it still just tell us tell everybody that's back home or everybody that's watching what kind of an experience you guys got to go through this morning? I thought it was pretty. Yeah. It's cool. I'm having fun now. The hit tracks is pretty sweet. Have you guys ever used that before? Yes sir. Okay, all right. So just out of curiosity, you guys so are either one of you guys under a bat contract right now? Yeah, I'm each and one of each other. Okay, so was this was this an interesting data? was it something you expected? Where did you did you learn to How do I say this? I don't have to say did you I don't wanna say like did you fall in love, but did you enjoy Did you have a great experience? Yeah. D like f like checking something new and seeing what it was like. It's it's pretty cool. I I really like the bat designing stuff that they did. Like the they had a bat that was sick yeah and they had like tattoo bats and everything yeah so they had the I think the tattoo bat that came out was an Omaha thing and that like that's just a sick like the whole concept of that thing is sick. But what did you guys so what did you end up getting fitted for like size and weight that was it any was it what you thought it was gonna be or was it was it completely different? It was completely different. Okay so tell me I thought I was gonna get the hybrid but the alloy had like a really swing weight and so I had a higher extra velocity on that one. Okay. And it felt like way more balanced in my hands. So I got fitted for that I would okay now did they do anything with you guys with knobs up there? No. Okay. I wasn't sure because I didn't know if they're gonna go though yeah. Yeah. I did I wasn't sure or not, So let's talk a little bit about the weekend. Yesterday we got through pole play. Everything went I mean it didn't go great, but we got through it. Did you guys feel could you guys feel the energy of a bunch of kids that had never played together, playing together, trying to figure it out on the run? Kinda with I mean was that the same kind of feel that you guys had out there on the field? Yeah. Okay. Now how do you think today's gonna go? I think get two dubs 'cause yesterday in the first game, it was our first time with a team and everything and so like we were just trying to figure things out and the offense was really slow until like the until we got the that big inning. And then I think today we're really gonna Together. Yeah. Do we know who's throwing today? Do we know yet? No. Okay. All right. I mean this won't air until after the game, so it doesn't matter, but I just didn't know if he if Coach had already told us who was throwing today or not. So okay, all right. trying to think anything else, Jacob? No, I mean batting how the batting goes feel. yeah. How were the goals? Really? Yeah. Right here. Okay. Okay, so they just so so just you guys know, that wasn't on the table. Like I didn't know that was happening. Yeah, I didn't know you had to happen. Yeah, so I just walk up there and I see that just there's just empty packages laying all over the floor. I'm like, okay, I guess they're giving them gloves too. So all right, well listen, man, thank you guys so much. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I hope you guys are so I hope you guys are super grateful to Sean and Jake up there for doing that. I think it's pretty cool. And yeah, we don't do we know, did we get delayed at all? Yes, I think we did really three to five now. I don't know if they changed it, but I heard it was three to five. Well it makes sense. 'Cause I mean it was I'm sure everything was pushed back and out. So okay, alright. do me a favor, go find me two more go find me two more boys, send them down here. Yes sir. All right. Thank you. All right, you're welcome. So yeah, so that's interesting that like what they think that they're gonna get fitted for and then what actually gets fitted for are completely different, you know what I mean? Which is which was the whole concept of this thing. So but it's funny listening to listening to to Luke because he's like, Yeah, I thought I was gonna have a 32 and I got fitted for a 30. 30 and a half. It's so funny when he's like Easton's still better. Yeah, I know, I know. And that's listen, a lot of them are gonna say that because that's what they're used to swinging. They've got 100%. They can swing whatever they but they should be able to swing whatever they want to swing. And Ben doesn't want anybody coming in here just reading off a script. He wants, you know, he wants to know because it's not just that, but like he's a bat manufacturer. He wants input from the kids on what they like. Because then he can go out and say, well, okay, what is it about that that you like? Because then maybe we can incorporate that into our design. So it'll be yeah, I just I thought it was super interesting. I thought it was super cool, and and shout out to the boys. they're a great group of kids, man. Yeah, they are. They're a great group of kids. So I'm super excited about that and yeah, we're gonna get a couple more kids down here and then we'll be right back. Alright boys, so introduce yourselves, tell us who you are, and tell us where you're from. You can go first. w wait where? Bassett, California. Bassett, California. Okay, where is that? Where's Bassett, California? Like in West Lovino? Like La Puente? Telbuzzel. Typical hood kid right there. Bassett is a small little town in the San Gabriel. Basically East LA would be the closest. Okay. Okay. Okay. East LA. Okay, all right. And you, my friend? My name is Sebastian Zamora. I am from Paris, California. Okay, so you guys now do you guys both play for Beto locally as well, correct? Yes. So you guys are with him all the time. He knows all of the the dirt that there is possibly on you. How long have you been playing for Beto? Five years. Two years. Okay, all right. Okay. So, real quick, how do you guys think yesterday went? I know that it wasn't pretty. We've already talked to Coach about this, but how do you guys think it that it went and what are you expecting out of your team, not just yourselves, but your team today going into day two and having another day to hang out together, having another day to get to know each other, having another day to break the ice? Tell us what tell us what you think. I feel like the first day we're And then the second the second game, giving more quality A Vs, playing team baseball. Yeah. And then going into today I feel like we're gonna be a good squad to put a lot of runs and give up less runs. Yeah. Do you think the first game is because you guys have haven't all played together? Yeah. There's just a group of you guys that do and then everybody came in. It was different? Yeah. trying to get figure out how everybody else plays. And it's and it's also it's extremely hard, even though you guys know this, I'm not gonna say anything you don't already know, but it's extremely hard not to take your at bat back into the field with you. It's re y you're human. It's human nature. And so as as the boys are getting to know each other and as the boys are trying and things are not being successful at the plate and we're going two, three innings without scoring a run or it carries out into the field, whether you want it to or not. It does because they're human. Yeah. do you feel like that once that and then once we get that first runner on, it's almost like the whole tension of the team comes back down to normal and now we can start playing ball. It's just we just gotta get that one person on the bags and start moving, right? Isn't that kind of how you how you guys operate? Yeah. Okay. what tell me about what happened upstairs. Tell me about your experience going on upstairs. And that was pretty good. Like trying the new like trying the bats. Yeah. Was it what you expected to happen today? What did you think was gonna happen today? I thought I was just gonna get a bat. Yeah. You thought you were just gonna come in and get a free bat and that because that's the typical thing that bat manufacturers do. But upstairs they spent time with you guys. Did you learn anything about yourselves or about your swings that you were not expecting? Because we've already heard that Luke went from a big boy bat down to a little kitty bat, is what we were told. Did you guys learn anything about your swings or about the data that that Jake and Hit Tracks was able to tell you that you weren't expecting? With what? What model was it? The composite. The composite one. Okay. Okay. And what about you? For me the distance went down on like like the hitting. Com from what compared to what? From Supra or like Okay. No you can say it. We're not I it's yeah, yeah, you can say you're not gonna cut off. huh. Cut off. Yeah, no no no no no I because we're not gonna like we're not gonna get you guys into trouble with your bat manufacturers. compared to what you swing, so upstairs, did you find like was it the was it the hybrid model? and then there's an aluminum or what was aluminum hybrid composite. Okay, did which one of those three did you did you feel the best? or gave you the best data? The one piece. The one piece. That's the second person that we've heard say that that one piece aluminum. What about you? Okay, the one piece. Okay, so yours was the one piece composite, one piece composite for you as well? Was it composite or aluminum you? Okay, what was yours? Okay, all right, okay. So, and as far as you guys have never been here before, right? And you definitely have never been downstairs in the speakeasy because it's not open to the public. Pretty cool experience for you guys to come in and for Warstick to do this? Yeah. Okay, cool. Well listen, thank you guys for your time. Best of luck today. Show up, show out, and let's let's go get Let's win an addy. Okay. Alright, I want you guys to introduce yourselves and tell us where you're from. Orient, Ohio. Orient, Ohio. Yeah. And who do you play for back home? the Girl City Titans. The Ghost City Titans. I'm Andrew Peavy. I'm from North Carolina, Faitville. Fayetteville, North Carolina. Okay. And who do you play for locally? Z T East. Okay, so you play for Coach Greg back home with the E Squad. Is there? Okay, so do you just real quickly, is this your first tournament with Z T National Prospects? no, I played in the Houston one thousand. Okay. How did you find them? How did he find you? I think he found me through Greg. Okay. Alright. So did you have an ex so you had previous time with Greg in Z T Okay. Okay, that makes more sense now. Because we're I'll be real honest with you. Like we're all trying to figure it out. Like how did this How did this connection happen that you know Orient Ohio and I don't even know where Orient Ohio is. So just south of Columbus, Grove City. So you know where the Grove City exit is at? You know where the Okay, they're right over in that area. That's general technique. But it's not north, Telio. So we won't ask you guys about yesterday because we know yesterday sucked. Even though we won, it wasn't we weren't we're not proud of it, okay? And we learned a lot of things as a team. It was a it was a day for a lot of new new parts, new puzzle pieces to try to be put together, and we got it figured out, which is all that matters. It's all that matters. What are you guys looking for? What do you guys expect out of yourselves today that's gonna be different than yesterday? Better approach out plate. I'm gonna start off with a two strike approach like into the plate. Okay, so what does that mean for you? sure. So your load not as big. So I'm assuming when you say your load not as big, for you that's your stride. 'Cause you always you do look like a stretched out giraffe sometimes in it. No, you do. Like I love you, but you're I'm just like this kid, like you're you're from one line of the batter's box to the other line of the batter's box. So okay, so you're gonna shore that up, you're gonna shorten it up or what? Yeah. Okay. All right, and you? I mean really a cheerleader. Andrew Andrew or Andrew only cares about batting, just so we know. okay, yeah, go ahead. No, finish. So I'm a PO, so really I'm just a cheerleader in the dugout. Hey, he knows his role. He knows his role. I mean yesterday but tell him what you did yesterday. Yesterday I got an A B bases loaded. Yes. I think two outs and I hit a single two RBI. Right. Yes, yes. And that's a big moment because 'Cause it's little things like that that come I don't wanna I don't know if they if they come that way, but they happen they happen unnaturally and they galvanize a dugout. Because we all know the backstory of how that at bat came to be, but at the same time, that moment was one of those moments that the entire team rallied around when we were looking we were w you guys were calling for straws, trying to find something to get the momentum going and to get the juices flowing. So that was a really, really incredible thing. Hundred percent. Like he said, he's a pitcher only and he got the opportunity hit and he came in and did the job. Curious, curious. It's not something I was gonna ask you about, but I'm gonna ask you about since you're Very well spoken. What is it like? What's your mindset like knowing you're going to a national event as a PO? like is that hard? No, I think really just go down and have fun. Okay. With your friends, have fun and then when your moment Gums just do a great job. Yeah. Okay. Selfishness. Alright. So let's talk about upstairs. Okay? When you guys walked through the door off of the street after you guys parked the car, was it what you were expecting? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So you guys were expecting to walk in. If have you have any of you ever seen Warstick before? Did you know what this place was about? Did you have any experience besides besides what? What do they call it? They when you just when you watch somebody's Instagram. and troll like did you guys troll it like Wursteck before you came over so you had an idea? Not really. Okay, all right, all right. So what did you upstairs you guys went through a bat fitting. Okay, did you guys go through all three models yet? Yeah. Okay, so what what turned out to be, did anything surprise you? The composite. It was heavy at first and I started getting used to it, but I hit my max PR with it, so did you? Okay. So and that was the one piece composite? Or was it the hybrid? Okay. The two piece composite. What about you? I really like the hybrid one. I think I had my best round with that one. Okay. Did you learn anything from Jake up there or was he just watching the numbers? he was really just watching the numbers. Okay, all right. And I see that you guys are still sporting the gloves. Do we like the gloves? The gloves. Okay. Okay, all right. So we found out that we're playing a little bit later today. So what are we gonna do when we leave here? What are we doing? What's on the what's on the schedule? Food. Food. Did you guys how can you guys be hungry? You guys killed the whole burrito box upstairs. Dude, you had like ten. I mean it is what it is, right? It is what it is. Okay. All right. Well listen guys, thank you so much. Have have a great day. Go ball out. Can't wait to watch you guys. Thanks for coming down. Thank you. Okay, you're welcome. Alright, ladies and gentlemen. We're joined again by the man of the hour, the man of the week. Hell, the man of the month. Coach Beito. first and foremost, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You did not have to do what you did. And I say that because you provided an opportunity for four boys that were lost at sea to come aboard and to be able to finish their season not just any way but the right way. So first and foremost, I wanna thank you for that. secondly, how does how's it going? Like this is I know this is have you ever had a team filled this much with this least amount of experience together? Well, I can tell you one thing, it's not the most comfortable thing to come into a turn a big especially a big tournament. Yeah. Right now. Yeah. Right, they're here for a reason. Yeah. Yeah, I've heard you say that about ten times this week. Yeah, no, for sure. So it's one of those things that is just a little bit more exciting as we're going, you know what I mean? It's like you know, the first game we had the jitters, yeah and got out the way. we got to see them come from behind. Okay. Yeah. You know, you have a good team in the world, so yeah. sitting back there watching them swing, I'm just like, man, they they fall perfectly into the lineup. defensively, they're sound. And Yeah, we we have to perform better. Putting away games late in in in the late innings is is the biggest challenge I gave them. I told them yesterday, hey, my biggest challenge to you is close the door. When when you're when you're comfortable, when you're up leading. I think you know, we allowed three runs in the last game, in the last inning. Yeah. And it was just like we have to learn how to just shut that door. And and because obviously, in a big tournament like this where you only have a certain amount of teams advancing. Last three rounds of I win. Your team. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. Which changes the entire dynamic dynamic of the tournament. Absolutely. Yeah. And that's and so that's what I'm like now coming into game day two, I'm starting to kinda Three Today or do we save just in case we do get put Space in that bracket we're right off the bat. Testing the water I guess to to to see. I know you know, we have plenty of pitching, but it's just it's just a matter of not allow as many runs yeah you know as we did yesterday today do you think i do due to that you just said that do you think a lot I'm not gonna say a lot of the runs because what do we give up total? What eight nine? No thirteen. Thirteen. Okay. So we give up thirteen runs in two games. That first like how much of that is just straight lack of communication and lack of chemistry? team we play I mean the first team we played they got two solo shots which you give those you give those to them up a hundred percent but the other three Lack of I something new. Yeah. And you know that first game it's kinda like Right. So say and getting getting those innings in, you saw it right away, like Yes. Once we started getting runners on base, it was like, Yeah, this is what we do. Okay. All right, let's go do it. And as to and begin Yes. No no no approach. Just like everybody wanted to swing for themselves. Yeah. And so that's what Yeah. Yeah. you know, if you play for your team, you'll still you're still gonna get noticed and it's gonna show as a in you know obviously stats of being tracked, right? Right. But to me the We've called. Yeah. I've always said that the the best stat that matters is the opinion of your coach. 100%. Because you can you can go to the plate and you can go O for four, but if they're great O for fours that got the team where they needed to be it it mattered to you and you took that with you and you're the one that has the conversations with the organizations. Trust me, I've talked to swing and miss and it's a good swing and it's a good pitch and swing at, you're gonna hear me say, so what? Do it again. Right. I don't care. Even if it's strike three, so what? Yeah. You had the right mindset. Yeah. it's baseball. You're gonna you're gonna fail, you're gonna miss. You got beat. You're you're gonna succeed too. Right. But it's just This guy was being selfish and he swung at a ball at his neck and he did Right. part it's been a little task with some of these boys. Not you know not saying you're guys' boys or not saying no no no yeah but some there's you know certain kids that you do have to sit them to the side. Right. Our team is two and all. Right. Don't be selfish. Right. Yeah. This is a lot cooler at the end of the day if you're if if you were unselfish and we got the win than it is if you were selfish and we lost and went home early. But but it also might be they've never had anybody tell that. You know what I mean? You know, they've it's always been about I'm not necessarily saying it's me, me, me, but they've never like you said, they're in their they're in their feelings, but we're And they've never had somebody come sick next to them, hey man. Who cares? Yeah. And we still won, right? It's over. Yeah. What can we do about it now? Yeah. So wh why are you wasting your energy and thinking about it still? Well do you think too you think too that like I mean, y you've got a pack of dogs, man. Like and they are the alphas everywhere they've been. Yeah. And now they come together and they don't have to like you I heard you s I don't know if it was at practice or if it was yesterday at one of the games, I heard you say something like it may not be your day. It may not be your bat. Lean to the in lean into your next dog that's next to you. 'Cause you don't have to carry all the weight here. That's why there's nine there's nine the nine, ten, eleven, whatever you got on your nine that's why there's that many kids out there, know. Yeah. That's when you know you have a good team. Yeah. Because what does everybody expect? Everybody expects the top of the lineup to get on base, right to be in bombs, right? Right. But sometimes that's not how it goes. Right. It's the bottom of the lineup that picks up the the slack, so to say. Yeah. As a as a coach. Right. Right. So those are the things that kind of Space button. Yes. Yeah. Awesome. So any do we have any update on time sort of day? Do things get pushed back? Not not yet, but I know they are running behind. I keep looking Yeah. Unless I'm just not good in them, but Really? Okay. say at least one team, one game. Right. So that potentially could be something that they got you guys at three. So it's just one hour. So one hour. Yeah. Okay. got you guys at three. Three and five then. Three and five. Yep. But some of those some the but from what I heard, the games that are going on right now are still the first games. From this could even be later, is what you're saying. No, yeah, it's eight o'clock games. Yeah, it's definitely gonna go later. Okay. All right. Well, good, because I think that this take I think this was this is gonna take a little longer. Well, I think they're spending a little bit more time because the boys are eating it up. So they're s they're they're doing their due diligence with the boys and not cutting short, which is awesome. No, that's right. Yeah, I I saw that right away. What's your what's your experience up there sitting there watching this whole thing? This this is wow. This is a dream, right? Like sick to be able to come and hang out here, man. Right. I'm talking some baseball here with some guys, you know, and and you know, this this is Okay. Okay. Yeah, so it's really cool. It's cool. even with the with the batting cage with the vibe ceiling batting cage. Just the vibe. It's just or as the kids say the aura? The aura. The aura. That's what my kids tell me. All right, coach. Well, listen, best of luck the rest of the day. we'll get we're gonna get a couple kids down here. We've already had a couple. we're gonna get a couple more, and then we're gonna wrap up and try to go get some food and get ready for the game today. So thank you so much. Thank guys so much. Absolutely, appreciate it. All buddy. Yeah, thank you. There's coach. No person. Okay folks, we're now joined by two kids that don't belong to us, but I feel like they belong to us a little bit. Willie Vanachek and Gino Newcelli. guys, I hope and I can say this to you 'cause I'm more comfortable with you because I've known you guys a lot longer. I hope you guys understand what today was like you guys realize how badass this was, right? Okay. Okay. So tell me what were you expecting compared to what you what smacked you in the face when you walked through the door. I was really expecting it to be bigger. Like facility. Okay. Yeah, I I did too. Because you would assume a bat manufacturer would be big walls, high ceilings, and just shelving and not as intimate as this is, right? So this is very I don't know. This is just it's yeah, it's just a very intimate feel. It's just very cozy. he does a really good job. They've done a really good job of just making it feel almost like a clubhouse mentality. okay, so yesterday we know how yesterday went. I want to touch real quickly because you were the man of the day yesterday. You came through in a spot, obviously, your bat, your barrel, got the ball rolling. But yesterday you were able to help us get in what I wouldn't say was a very awkward situation. Of being down and putting us instantly up with that two run homer. I want to know what was going through your head at that at bat because you are a very, very quiet leader. You're you just all you it's just how you are, Willie. It's just how you are. What goes through your head when you're struggling in the first game, and I say struggling for a 12 year old, but you're not getting the pitches, you're not getting the barrel and the ball the way you want it to, the way you're typically used to getting it. What went through your head when you saw that pitch and you had that opportunity to? I was just trying to go Okay, so that was your mentality was to go over there and double the gap and but you just saw the piss missile just go over the wall. Okay. What goes through your guys' head, okay? Because you guys are you're not in that moment. It's not you. Tell us w What do you what goes through you as a as a twelve year old teammate when you guys just cross that that hump of one of your teammates taking that ball over the wall? What goes what what happens? What do you feel? You all get excited, especially going up by one run. Yeah. In that tight situation. Yeah. Okay. Is it for you too? Because I mean you guys have played together. For you is it, we know Willie's gonna do it. Yeah. Yeah, I I right you what? Because I had that same feeling. I was thinking Willie's gonna come out, it's gonna be a home run. Yeah, I guess you're Yeah. Yes. Yeah, and that's it That like that's sick. Yeah it's sick to think that we expect that from a twelve year old. Yeah. Like okay, that like the twelve year old's gonna come through and because I I'll I'll be I'll be very, very honest with you, the same feeling comes comes when when you're up at bat. Yeah. Like, okay, well we know that there's gonna be a barrel and a ball. It's just where's it gonna go? I guess is where it's at. So all right, quickly before we let you guys go, upstairs, what what did you find out about yourselves, about your swing or about what you are swinging that surprised you upstairs with the data? In the fitting. Say it. I I just like felt So which one was that? Do guys know? The composite. The composite. Okay, so the composite is what? More balanced? More balanced to inloaded. Yeah. Okay. So what did you guys get your highest numbers on? The composite. The composite. Now was it the w two piece the two piece composite. Okay. Now what size was that? Thirty one. Thirty one drop five? Yeah. Okay, so a and everything up there is a drop five, right? There's no drop eights. Okay, all right. is it something that you feel like you wanna roll with going into your thirteen new season? Possibly. Yeah. Okay. Just want more time with it. They've been around media a little bit more. Yeah, they've been around media. Possibly. We'll see. We'll see what yeah, we'll see what the offer looks like. Okay. what are we doing here after we get done here at War Stick before we play we have any are we sacrificing the chicken? Are we doing anything? Definitely food. Hope hope it seems to be that how many burritos did you smash upstairs? I only had one 'cause PV ate them all. All right, fair enough, fair enough. Well listen guys, I love you guys. You guys are like sons to me. I love you. Go have an incredible day and I can't wait to guys to see you guys do your thing on the field. Thanks. Okay. All right, Let me know that you can hear it. Can you hear yourself? Yeah. Can you? Alright, pull your mic up just a little bit. Okay, folks, we are joined by baseball royalty. I'm just like I know I got the smiles over here. Coaches, coach just leaned back because he's like, this is gonna be good. This is gonna be good. Mr. Danny, Mr. Matt Vasquez, tell everybody where you guys are from. Okay, where is that? Because we've already heard East LA, where's Whittier? Like if you're looking at the state, where is it at? It's like borderline Okay. the street and it's Orange County across the street and it's LA County. Okay, so literally crossing the tracks. So Southeast of California. Southeast of California. Okay. All right. And you have an older brother, right, that plays ball? Or is he done? No, he's done. He's done playing ball. Okay, he's done playing ball. Danny, you are you are a dad, number one, first and foremost, but you're also coaching this weekend with Beto. give me your give me your feedback on yesterday. scratching through, clawing through to get through it, but we got through it, which is all that matters in the grand scheme of things. How do you how do you look at what happened yesterday as far as the new boys that are in town, the new boys hanging out playing together, and what you expect, how you expect that to be different today going into day two? I think most definitely we were making the adjustments as we were going progressing through the games. Yeah. I think obviously we started a little flat the first game when with our with our bats. I think we were trying to Do you think flat or tight? More tight. Well I I felt like we were over swinging opposed to being a little situational hitting and getting some guys on bases because that's exact kinda what we talked about is Let's apply pressure by getting base runners. Yeah. You know, and some of these at bats we were kind of swinging, you know, for the fence as opposed to being able to get some base runners and stuff. And I felt like we made those adjustments, started hitting the ball a little harder, especially on that second game. That second game, yeah. It most definitely got our bats live. And and it just brought a little bit of confidence to these guys. These guys know what they could do. Right. You know, and I think that first game, I think it was more of like, let's get you know, comfortable with each other, you know, me and you talked about it about getting these guys kinda communicating, becoming best friends type of deal. You know, in a matter of I literally said I was like, You and you and Huddy need to take the hacky sack and get locked in a room for eight hours together. And go figure go figure it out. Go over there, talk about each other's girlfriends. No man, we ain't gonna no, no, no. I told him I go you guys gotta be able to communicate just for the fact that we need to know what we're doing. We need to know And I think that's big when you h get these national teams, when you get these kids that, you know, obviously get to play together. We all know they're good. Right. You know, we all know they're good at what they do. We just need them to kind of be intact, kinda what we can. coming and having a new second baseman. Not knowing how he moves, not you know, I know you probably had second baseman that you guys don't even think about it. You guys just slide back and forth. You he's gonna be here, I'm gonna here. Is it hard when you know having HUD at second base like okay he's not You just let it go? No, it's been easy. Huddy, like we've talked about like how we're gonna inter swap, like know how to covering the bag and stuff like that, like stuff like that. So that way. We talked about this before you guys came on it when it Jacob and I this morning. It's so interesting to see the differences in styles of coaching. Okay, so like for you, like you've been taught by him, you've been taught by him a West Coast style versus a Midwest style of playing the game. You know, like you've been probably in a situation where you've been able to you've had enough talent around a lot of your career. And I say career, you're 12, but you Know I mean? To where you've been able to relegate some responsibility so that you can manage the shortstop position, where you might get a kid that comes from a different situation where he's had to do it all and he's not used to giving up authority, or he's not used to depending on he's never been able to depend on anybody else. So I I I I find it fascinating how the kids can come together and within, let's see, six, within eight innings. These 12-year-olds have got figured out. Eight innings of baseball. Because you played six, then you went two into the next game. And I also find it so interesting how you guys feed off of each other when all you we said we said it earlier. You just need one kid on a bag. And it changes the complete complexity of the entire dugout. Exactly. The tension goes from here to here. And I okay, all we got somebody on the website. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. okay, coming into this morning, what did you expect to to experience when you walked through the front doors compared to what actually happened? What were you expecting this? morning. I was just expecting a lot of like stuff like gear and stuff like that, but it's it's a lot more like coming down here. It's like just spit spots to sit right here. It's it looks cool right here. Yeah. And then all the all the paintings all the Did you have any concept of what Warstick was before you guys got here? Yeah. Okay, so you were familiar with the brand. I the older the older son familiar with the brand? Yeah. Okay, alright. I because that seems to be their MO, we talked about it earlier, how they focus a lot on the high school on the high school ages and so forth. all right, what did you find out about yourself upstairs on the machine and with Jake? that I I hit better with unliterats. With end loaded bats. Now which model was that? Was that the composite? It was the composite. It was. Okay. All right. So, Dad, what are we what are we doing today? What needs to change today compared to yesterday in order to get two more wins today in pool play? I feel like the momentum we gotta carry on from that last game. Okay. but as far as we just need to play that team baseball, like let's go back to what we talked about Hoodie and and Maddie, it was more of the the communication part. Right. You know, let's talk, let's find out. Cause obviously right now, you know, we we we said we have to figure out how we're gonna play with each other and stuff like that. The only way we're gonna know is how we're gonna play with each other is to communicate. Yeah. You know, we don't we're not mind readers, we don't So I I feel like that that ice was already broken. Yes. You know, we we had a good time yesterday after the games and stuff like that and I feel like going into it we're gonna we're gonna be a little bit more loose. We're gonna be a little bit more With good basic good quality at bats. Yeah. I feel like that's something that me and me and Coach Bettle talked about is they were, you know, the approach was a little bit different from the first game to the second game. You know, so as long as we keep that same approach on that second game, I feel like the talent alone is gonna carry carry us to another two wins, hopefully. You know, obviously we gotta put it out there and baseball. We play some good teams. Yeah, you know, the two teams I think that we play, we're not gonna Take lightly. No. and I feel like we we go out there and and we play our game, I think we there's no stopping us. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Well listen guys, best of luck today. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for coming down this morning and giving Ward Stick your guys' time. And yeah, can't wait to see you go do your thing on the field today. Okay, all right buddy. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you, buddy. Thank guys. Yep. Thank you guys. That was good. That was good. The boys did good. Yeah. Yeah. They'll get better and more comfortable over time as time goes on. it is funny though to see the ones that have been in front of cameras and the ones that haven't been. Like Gino like Gino Wheeler. Yeah, it's nothing to them. Andrew's getting there. Maddie's good. Yes. it's all part of the process. Yeah. And I can tell you, this whole squad better get comfortable with it because they're all a very, very talented group of kids and they're gonna have cameras and microphones in their face for a lot of years. A long time to come. A very long time to come. So okay, well let's let's wrap this up and get out of here. I cannot thank War Stick enough, man. I cannot thank Ben. I cannot thank Sean. I cannot think Jake and the rest of the guys that are upstairs and and the and the ladies that are upstairs. I think somebody I think I think they provided burritos and Starbucks for all the families today, which was incredible. They didn't have to do any, they didn't have to do any of this. No, they didn't. And they did all of this. So just a huge shout out. If you guys want to follow along their story and their journey, I know they're up there shooting a ton of content themselves, of the boys and for the boys, and they're doing some some pretty in-depth interviews on. Upstairs as they come in and go out of the cage. if you guys want to follow them, you guys can follow War Stick on their social media platform and can't thank them enough for everything they've done for us today. We're gonna wrap up. We're gonna go get some food, get the boys back to the hotel, and get ready for day two of pull play. Thank you everybody for for tuning in and joining. And we'll see you guys tomorrow. Love you. See ya. Bye.