The College Recruiting Illusion: How Most Families Waste Time Chasing a Mirage (with Coach Walter Beede)

Todd Arkell  00:01

Welcome back. This episode is brought to you by hard 90 baseball gear, 100% badass. So Walter, what are they? I think Troy's gonna I know I love that tag life. He's gonna love that read. So, yeah, we talked about the anxieties. And, you know what? Kids are coming from everywhere. I mean, I spoke to a coach as part of this series that got somebody coming from the Netherlands. I mean, the Netherlands, for crying out loud. Do they play baseball, right?

Walter Beede  00:33

Yeah. I mean, they, they actually were in the top, I want to say six in the World Baseball Classic. But remember when you say Netherlands, you're also alluding to Curacao and Aruba, and you're talking about Xander bogarts and a few other athletes, but this is where the biggest Magical Mystery Tour is currently taking place, is unbeknownst to you know, hundreds of 1000s of parents in the good old USA, they don't recognize the talent now is coming in from everywhere.

Todd Arkell  01:07

Yeah, no kidding. It's, it's, it is? It is unbelievable. So what patterns do you see in parents that are handling recruiting well? And then on the flip side, where do you think things tend to go off the rails?

Walter Beede  01:26

I would say the parents that handle things well get an early start. They tend to recognize the need for, you know, and we keep using this word evaluation, you know, if parents want to throw development out at me, and then in response, I want to throw back evaluation. And you know, when you have a real, true, independent evaluation, you know whether it's a scout, Major League Scout, former major league Scout, former college coach, somebody that really has the ability to evaluate talent, those parents that take the time to identify weakness and kind of areas that need work, and those that kind of are keeping a journal and awareness with regard to nutrition academics, getting that foundation settled underneath their student athletes at their freshman year, they really do extremely well when the bell rings in their junior and senior year. I think a lot of the parents, and I don't blame parents, you know, you know, a lot of times I'll, I'll hear from parents, Oh, you don't like travel ball all. You're very opinionated. And, you know, whoa, whoa. I don't say I don't like travel ball, and my biggest thing is, is that if you leave your student athlete to the hands of someone that may be out over their skis, you know, with regard to dealing with coaches, the now timeframe of coaches. You may be, you know, it's like musical chairs. The music may stop. You may not have heard it. So those that are late to the dance, as far as you know, I have a lot of high school juniors and seniors that are 611, 58, that there's a lot of there's a lot of catching up you have to do there, you know, there's a lot of short stops that run a seven two to seven four, you know, that's not going to play at the collegiate level, you know. And then there's the guys that really throw strikes, and they control the running game, and they throw 82 to 84 okay, that has a place, but it's not going to be at the division one level. And I think a lot of parents that have spent a lot of money, where they throw money at development, they end up figuring out, I have no recourse. I can't go back and buy back time. I don't have a lot of options. Without options, you don't have opportunities. And as you alluded to when we first got started, the parents that chase the exposure are often getting exposed. Their athletes get exposed, and so they're ill prepared for the time crunch of 12 months. You can't fit much into 12 months. You can into 48 months, but not 12,

 

Todd Arkell  04:19

yeah, it's, it is definitely, I agree with the whole and looking back and seeing it, right? Oh, development is great, but going into some of these events and, okay, somebody, you know, you ran a 60 time, you threw five baseballs from the outfield to third base and home plate, you hit 10 baseballs, and they measured a bunch of things. And maybe that tells you where you are at the moment, but I do think there needs to be evaluation and constant evaluation around that kind of stuff. I mean, I would say it's, I think it's hard with teenagers to really harp on the sleep side of things. But. I, I'm reminded of a story. We were my son and I were at Spring Training, oh, probably 10 years ago at least, and there was this big kid, and I don't remember his name, and it was, it was on the backfields. He was a Red Sox pitcher. He was huge. He was probably 6566, he looked well over 200 pounds. He was throwing hard, and I was joking with my son, Oh, you think you can hit that guy? And and there's some people standing around, and then there was this kind of tiny guy there, and somebody asked him a question, Oh, do you want to get an autograph? He goes, No, no, my son would kill me. And I kind of looked at him, and I said, is that your son? And he goes, Yeah. And I said, I looked at him. I said, how tall was the mailman? Sorry. And he starts laughing. He goes, because he was like, maybe five eight, and this kid was huge. And he said, All I know is he ate a lot of vegetables, and he slept a ton. So, you know, I go, Okay, does that seem, seem like a, like a logical thing? And I mean, I can tell you this, my wife's a nutritionist, and, you know, we've kind of kids don't always listen to their parents, and you're trying to okay, you need to do this, and you need to do that. And I know I saw you had Cressy on a little while ago, and he talked about eating and athletes writing down just keep it doesn't even have to be that hard just make note of what you were eating. And then there are also apps you can kind of that tells you, sort of what, what's in there. And then you really know if you're actually eating enough. Because, you know, as an example, my son was 180 so six, almost six to 180 he had a bad illness last fall. He lost almost 20 pounds, actually, and he was probably a little at the time when he lost the weight. He probably was under 180 because they've been traveling for about a month, right, and playing. And so he started, kind of did some recuperation and rehab and everything else, and started back in the gym and eating like it was a job. And he went from he's one, he's now back to 180 from 159 in about six weeks, eight weeks, he's putting on a little over two pounds a week. So if you're eating intentionally, like his macros are getting too deep for all you people out there, I don't know, but there's macros are like, 1800 calories a day. Well, he's trying to eat 3030 500 on top of the workouts, right?

 

Walter Beede  07:31

I think a lot of parents will say, you know, tell me the gadget I have to get, or the guru I have to put my son with. And I'll always say, Well, you really don't need the gadgets. And I can promise you, you definitely don't need the gurus. Yeah, you know, here it is like, in order to gain a pound, you have to be in a surplus. You have to be in a caloric surplus. Doesn't mean you're going to sit down and eat, you know, a whole bunch of pizza, ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, but, you know, you just kind of have to have an understanding, okay, my body burns 2800 calories a day. I need to make sure I get 3300 or I need to get close to 3500 calories a day. You know that I need to be doing the strength and the things that get my body to be efficient and effective, with regard to athletics, and so it's not that complicated, and it's really, I think, much better investment if we're talking about time as a resource. Because, let's face it, if we're really being honest, and parents want this honesty, I'll always say there's two currencies you know that college coaches are really investing, and those currencies are innings pitched and at bats. And if you can't get at bats, or you can't get innings pitched because you're not big enough, you're not strong enough, you're not going to, you know, open any eyes. So do you want to invest in a $500 bat? Do you want to invest in $100 an hour lessons? Or do you just want to make sure that, hey, man, I really want to know if I'm getting a good meal plan here. And a good meal plan is just sticking notes on Tupperware and saying, Here's, you know, steak and cheese with mushrooms and red peppers and, you know, the here's the calories and here's the protein. And as you alluded to, the the apps that we have access to can do all the heavy lifting. We just have to input the information.

 

Todd Arkell  09:39

I mean, there's even ones you just take a picture, and it's reasonably close. But you know, honestly, for parents who are listening, going, Yeah, I got to figure it out. My wife literally just wrote on paper and stuck it on the kitchen wall and said, By the way, five eggs, two pieces of toast, five slices of bacon. This is. Is x amount of calories, like so here's a bunch of options for breakfast, and this food is in the house. You may make it yourself, right? Here's how you what you need to eat for lunch, right? And, you know, I a couple different d1 guys I talked to, I remember them saying, okay, Noah, just get a mask gainer just before you go to bed, and eight ounce, eight ounces of milk, and put a couple scoops ice cream in there as well, and rip it up. And then, you know, it doesn't have to be 20 ounces of whatever, but just that's as the topper of the day type of thing, right? Like get an extra 800 calories or whatever before you go to bed and sleep. So it can be that easy.

 

Walter Beede  10:42

It's so it's so it's so relatively simple. And I will always, always, always try to get parents to understand that it is a reality. It is a fact, that the margin of separation at the collegiate level, between a making a roster and B being an active participant on a roster is so razor thin, and it always comes down to those athletes that are doing the little extra every single day. They're building a foundation one brick, one day at a time. They're not trying to play catch up during, say, February through June. They're doing it all summer, all fall, all winter. And ultimately, they look back behind them and there's a whole bunch of bricks that they put down that they know is a foundation, whereas the other athletes and families that are not taking the time to do a brick every day you can't play catch up when it comes time to be a 20 year old or 22 year old at the college.

 

Todd Arkell  11:52

No, it's, it's, it's definitely, definitely something. And I wish that more, also more baseball organizations kind of really at an early day talk to parents about, here's what you need to do. And this is hey, by the way. Like you said, Oh, if you run a seven, four, well, if you knew that when you were 14 as opposed to when you were 17, you'd have a lot more time to do something about that, right? So if you know what those metrics are, and you say, you know, again, there's differences everywhere, right? But you know, if you run a seven three and you're an outfielder, but you hit 50 bombs, nobody cares that you run a seven three, because you don't have to run fast. But chances are you're not 18 and hitting 50 bombs at any level of college baseball. So maybe there's, there's outliers, but, you know, it's like, if you knew what they were, and I think that that's the thing too, is if you could be realistic and just go look back and say, Hey, where did where do they need to be, like, what is it, you know, you know, like, I talked to a lot of coaches, if your kid isn't a catcher, a pitcher, a middle infield or a center fielder, then they're going to have to stand out in other ways, right? Like, obviously, they have to be good caliber in the premium positions on the field, but that's where they're recruiting first. If you can play those positions, that's awesome, and then go out to the corners, and if you're in the corners, you probably better be a good hitter, and you probably better be a left handed bat. And you know, there's a, there's a bunch of things that go into that. And I think when people realize that, they go, okay. Because, I mean, I had a, I had a coach who took my son on a couple years ago and really spurred his development forward, and he said to me flat out, if he wasn't a left handed bat, I wouldn't have taken him Correct. I was like, oh, okay, it was that close, right? If he just swung for the wrong side, right? So it's like, there are and it was even funny he was he played in that in the Blue Jays future showcase up here in Toronto a little while ago, where the Blue Jays pick 150 kids from across Canada to participate lots of college coaches. It's kind of a pro event too for scouting. But my dad was sitting there watching, and he said to my son afterwards, he goes, every guy on your team was a left handed bat that game, every guy that was interesting.

 

Walter Beede  14:23

Well, I mean, that's a reality, you know. So you try to explain to parents, okay, if my son, first of all, if you look at various major league teams, suddenly all of their outfielders are former center fielders or their former shortstops, and they've been converted. I mean, if you look at the padres tatis Jr, former shortstop, now I'm an outfielder in that the big thing is, is they're athletes. Now, if I get an athlete with speed and he hits from the left side, now, parents will always say to me, why is that such a big deal? And I'll say, Okay, here's the bottom line, 85% of all college major league pitching is right handed. So a left hand hitter is a premium, because they are going to be facing the opposite hand. You know, the the ball, the vision, the stronger eye, all of that. So a left hand hitter supposedly will have an advantage, as you know, facing all righties. And conversely, left handed pitchers. That's why you want right handed hitters. But 85 to 90% of of college and professional pitching is right handed. So if you look at an SEC lineup, you look at an ACC lineup, generally, they're stacked in the middle with big boy left hand hitters. And you know, you try to explain that to parents, and they'll be well, that doesn't make sense. That's not fair. Well, that's the reality. And so University of Virginia, when oak was at UVA, when Brian O'Connor was at UVA, and now he's at Mississippi State. He would always say, and him and Kevin McMullen, I go out and recruit shortstops. I just recruit as many short stops, and then I move him around. You know, one guy might be a little bit thicker down below. He's my third baseman. The other guy might not have as strong an arm. He's going to go to second. And the other guy might not be as as fluid with the defense he's going to center field, but athletes play, and so when it comes to the margin of separation, high school, it's a lot wider. College, it gets very, very, very thin. And in major leagues, it's razor thin. It's like carting garlic with a razor blade. I mean, the reason why there's only been 27,000 men that have ever played at the major league level, which is, you know, over 140 years, is because a, there's not a lot of teams. And B, the talent it takes to get there is elite. And so if you're not preparing for that level, and college is that level, then ultimately, whether it's a left hand hitter, well, whether it's with foot speed, obviously we've alluded to the size and the strength, but you know, sooner rather than later, you want to get those things addressed and evaluated, so you really have a good idea of what direction your student athlete is capable of attending.

 

Todd Arkell  17:26

It's just injecting a little bit of realism. And you know, I was going to say, like, how do you how do you help players balance their ambition with realism while still keeping it exciting?

 

Walter Beede  17:40

Well, here's the delicate line you have to walk. You know, every single parent that will say Division One, Division One, Division One, Division one. Okay, I always try to get parents to understand 12,000 division one student athletes. Of that number of the 12,000 6000 are pitchers. So if you just go 6000 pitchers, 6000 position players. Of the position players, 3000 are spectators that wear a uniform and sit in a dugout, and then the other 3000 are active Division One athletes that are active in participating. Same can be said, albeit a little bit bigger number, but pitching so you really have six or 7000 active athletes that are participating, and so you try to get parents to understand, is your student athlete? Does he really want to play? Is he want to participate? And are we really looking at college in its entirety? Meaning, from an academic, from a geographic, from a social, a cultural experience that is a one time event over four or five years. And if you are, if you got an injury that prevented your student athlete from playing baseball, you're going to be happy with the school that you've chosen if they don't get to be a student athlete, if they're just a student and I think if we put a lot of parents on truth serum, they're all chasing the baseball rabbit. And you try to tell parents, well, that that baseball rabbit, man, he he's going to go. He's He's not long for this world. He may last through your senior year in college. He may last one year of college, as many athletes are finding out this year. But ultimately, you're not going to play professionally. For the most part. You're certainly probably not going to be a major leaguer. So you do have to have some candid, honest discussions, but you'd be amazed with the amount of parents that will say, I really don't care if you don't care if he gets a degree. He doesn't care if he gets a degree. He just wants to go and play baseball. Okay, well, I went that route, and other than getting a beer and a bag of chips at a local bar, I don't have a lot of other things hanging from my wall. My boys do, and they had. Of a time in college, and I think that's really what life is all about, those four or five years of becoming a man or an adult. That's really what the whole process

 

Todd Arkell  20:11

is about. Yep, 100% so what do you what do you hear from college coaches? Would you say a common denominator that they say they value in recruits.

 

Walter Beede  20:26

I would say patience, meaning, you know, if you are a college student athlete, there are three things that are must haves, that are non negotiables, and they try to get athletes to understand that, and that is one you better be ready to manage the workload that you're going to endure, whether you're here as a JUCO a division three, an NAIA. I just talked to Brad Shelton at the University of the Cumberlands down in Kentucky, Dave Serrano at Johnson University in Knoxville. They're NAIA schools, and you know, their workload is just as intense, obviously. Dave Serrano a former Cal State Fullerton University at Tennessee Team USA. I mean, this is a Hall of Fame college coach, you know, and he's always telling me, these boys that are 19, that just they have trouble managing the workload so the day, hours in the day that they have to be available, most high school athletes are not aware. And two, the physical demands on the body and what that means, as far as prioritizing sleep, obviously prioritizing hydration, and then we, as we talked about earlier nutrition, but the final one is baseball instincts. There's not a good foundation within the current developmental system, and there's nobody to blame. You know, parents want to talk about high school coaches and travel coaches didn't do this. Didn't do that. Well, the problem is the high school athletes aren't watching enough games. They're not watching enough practices. They're not focused on, you know, game awareness, game situations, and so college coaches are having to spend time with athletes to get them to understand those nuances of the sport, which means you have to be patient. There's a developmental process that you missed. And so when you come into college, if you're so hyper focused on starting, starting, I got to be a starter. Oh boy. You're part of a team. You earn your role. You have to excel in your role. But I think college coaches, they know the game is older. They recognize the game is older. They're taking their time. They're slow to evaluate athletes. They value people such as you, know you and I, people that have been around the game that can give them honest feedback. I don't think the days of people being able to call coaches like recruiting services, people that used to hustle families and say, Hey, Coach Beatty, do me a solid take this guy. Put him on your roster if it works out, great if it doesn't, no big deal. I did my part got him into school. You know, coaches used to have red shirting and gray shirting and all these terminologies. Those days are long gone. So I would say that coaches now have not a lot of patience and not a lot of room at the end. So you need to do your best to be as prepared mentally and physically when your feet hit campus your freshman year.

 

Todd Arkell  23:43

So what are you hearing from coaches about how the transfer portal is affecting High School recruits?

 

Walter Beede  23:50

I think, a lot like this week. For instance, I talked to Coach Schulman at Georgia Tech. Yesterday, I talked to Coastal Carolina coach Valentine at Michigan. And you know, one of the things that they all say, all to a man, is that the high school classes are smaller. Used to be anywhere from 11 to 15. High school athletes would be a part of the recruiting class, and now majority of the recruits are arms or shortstops, but maybe three to five high school athletes and the rest, they fill in with Portal and JUCO. And here's the really misunderstood dynamic from parents. College coaches are all but sending up red flare gun signals to say, hey, we're holding roster spots into late May and June. Now they're holding them for the portal because they know ultimately they'll be able to plug in some holes. But that also means the high school athletes still have room. Still have time. So recruiting is no longer about who can be the first one in the door. It's really about who can be the most prepared. But the fact of the matter is, every college coach at every level, including JUCO, will tell you that their classes just had a great discussion with Weatherford and as well as dusty hard at Blinn. You know, these are two of the most prominent Division One JUCO programs in the country. Weatherford is going to have 24 division one, you know, sophomore graduates going into four year colleges, and 24 of their athletes are going to be Division One athletes, you know, and Blinn is about that McClellan blend, they're going to be about that same number LSU Eunice. And so they replace those athletes with division one fallbacks that, you know, didn't get any at bats, didn't get any innings, and then they find those high school athletes that are very projectable. So I would always tell parents, now, yes, there's not as much room for the high school athlete that is not physically ready for college baseball used to be, I'll take a guy who's projectable, you know, I'll redshirt him for a year and then put 20 to 25 pounds on him, and then he'll be a red shirt freshman. But those days are done, so parents and athletes need to do a better job of, again, being physically and mentally prepared for when that freshman year and when you're on deck and you're, you know you're a college you know you're a high school senior about to be a college freshman. You need to make sure, physically and mentally, you're on par with that current college athlete. You're not competing with your college your high school peer group. You're competing with college athletes for college roster spots.

 

Todd Arkell  26:58

Yeah, I think I saw post today. Think Johnson Community College said they have, I think it was seven or eight of their players offered, are offered early d1 admission, right? So that was their largest ever. Is what they is what they said. So, you know, it 100% true. It's, I think the landscape is just shifting. I mean, I think my biggest advice to parents would be, stay educated, follow people like yourself. There's, there's other people out there, but, you know, just try to educate yourself and ask questions, I think is probably the best thing you can do, right and seek out the people that are giving you these answers that don't have any financial gain really to come from it. Well, I think

 

Walter Beede  27:49

you have a young man from Canada that Troy had connected, Benji cayudo. He's now at Evansville and elite academic young man, but he did a very smart he made a very smart transition. So did Troy's on Logan. They basically took an extra year and utilize that for development, both physical and mental maturation. But I always tell parents, the key part of this equation is they did not chase. A lot of families are chasing. They see a sand dial and, you know, it's dripping sand, and they think, oh my gosh, it's almost running out of time. No, Whoa, no. There's no such thing as running out of time. It's basically you can have, what are you doing with that time? And so like a guy like Benji, left hand hitting very, very fast, very, very strong, catches plays infield and can play center field. He's very, very versatile. So the lesson there is, you know, having more arrows in your quiver is always going to help with regard to opportunities. And so if you take the time and you really get your body and your mind right, and then you you don't have to be a PO you don't have to be a shortstop only. You don't have to be a catcher only. And I think a lot more athletes now are kind of taking their athleticism and creating a body of work that allows them to say, Hey, Coach, wherever you want to put me. You know, I'm comfortable anywhere you want to put me. Give me a shot. And I think that's something now more than ever, where a lot of coaches are saying to me, now more than ever, the two way athlete or the versatile athlete, they're getting a much longer look with regard to, you know, opportunities to get between the lines, no, 100%

 

Todd Arkell  29:48

and, I mean, I think, do you see that like, okay, for Canadian kids, there are a considerable amount of baseball players especially take what we call a gap. Year or known as a post grad year only. You're not going to school here, but you got to utilize that time, right? You know, you've got to you got to maximize. You're going to take it off. You can't be just lying around playing video games. But are you seeing, you know, I guess in the US, it's usually, hey, we redid grade eight so that we can end up in high school. You know, that's kind of the reclassing by repeating a grade at a young age. Are you still seeing that a fair bit in the US happening

 

Walter Beede  30:32

absolutely and to be honest with you, I've done a 180 on this topic, and the reason is because, as a dad, I watched my youngest son graduate high school at 17. He turned 18 after he graduated, so he was very young. His freshman year in college, he got his rear end kicked. His sophomore year in college, he did a lot of damage, and the reason behind that was just physical and mental maturation. So if we're taking the playbook from college, in other words, major league baseball in college are basically telling us we want older, mature, physical athletes. Okay, if that's the case and your student athlete is on path, you know, to graduate at a relatively younger age. Okay? Academically, they can handle it. A lot of parents will say, Well, I don't want to repeat because he's academically. I don't want him to plateau. Okay, that's not necessarily the case. You can maybe do AP or honors. Some guys will definitely do the post grad year. And I'm a big proponent of the post grad year with regard to accumulating hours at the college level that will transfer into your college it also gives you that that year of physical maturity when I say that living away from home, living with a roommate, being accountable for your laundry, or Going to the cafeteria, making sure you're eating right. There's something to be said for that reclass if we're really doing so with a plant, if you're just doing it for the sake of, Oh, I hope this works out. Okay. Might not really make a lot of sense, but most parents will push back and say, Well, really doesn't need to do it. He's a really good student, or she's a really good student, okay? The one time in your life, the one time in your life where you can kind of get a do over. We used to call it that when we were kids, you know, we couldn't get along. You didn't, didn't agree on a call, okay, do it over, do over. But the one time in your life where you can make that happen is as a kid. And you know, whether we want to say 18 or 19 year olds or kids, I happen to think they're still kids, but you can do that year. And if I said to you, okay, you got a B plus, and you really still need to gain 15 pounds. Let's take another year, gap year, post grad year. Let's get that A in that subject, and let's maybe take a few college classes, and let's put on that 15 pounds and be better prepared to be a college student as well as a college student athlete. So yes, I think that's the biggest growing segment of youth sports today is going to be the gap year, the post grad year?

 

Todd Arkell  33:30

Yeah, I think, I think you're right, and I and I wonder, like, when all these new things get voted on, if they determine and you can tell me what you're hearing because, you know, it's always a good progress prognosis or pregnant. What am I trying to say? I can't even speak. But if the JUCO world ends up being not counting towards your four year, NCAA or na AI, Naia, LJ, eligibility. That's going to put a lot of a lot of pressure on that system as well, because a lot of people are going to want to go that route and, you know, use it maybe as a development route, right?

 

Walter Beede  34:18

Yeah, I now that is what we refer to down here in the US. Is the Diego Pavia law, and that was a one off. I don't think in the whole reason why the NAIA and the NCAA Division Two are it's gone from being tabled to actually being put on for out for vote for the fifth year is to basically say you're going to have five years of eligibility. We know we took away the red shirt at the division one level. So basically, you're going to have two years of JUCO and you'll have three years of a four year school. That's quite that's like getting the best of all worlds. And in reality. Buddy. Because you know, before you'd have two years of JUCO, two years, you know, you'd have five to play four. Well, now you're going to have five years. So I think ultimately it's going to become this unified path. I don't think they'll ever say, Okay, well, JUCO is not going to, you know, because in theory, you know, you could go to JUCO as a 19 year old graduate, as a 21 year old or in play at a four year school, if they had five years of eligibility until you were 26 or in some cases, even 27 which would be insane. But where you know, if you would have told me I'd have 2425 year olds in college, I would have laughed. And here we are. That's kind of the new norm, but I will tell you that the JUCO world is bursting at the seams, bursting at the seams. There's, there's not as many JUCO schools as you think now, West Coast, California, Arizona, they're kind of like their own animals. And the division two, they don't have housing. The Division One schools and JUCO have housing. But my point is, is that there's 303 current division one, you know, NCAA, Division One baseball programs, you know, there's slightly more. We only have 55,000, you know, slots, college baseball. You know, even if we said there's 60,000 Okay, 60,000 is not a big number when we go from 19 to 24 or 25 year olds. So therein lies. The bigger issue is, Major League Baseball next year probably is going to eliminate half the rounds of the major league draft. We've gone from 60 to 40 now we're at 20. It's probably going to go to 10 or 15. There's going to be a combination of the International and the high school students. The draft is right now, 83% college athletes. So all that's going to do is push more athletes into college with, you know, lesser spots. So if you think it's tough now, in about two years, it's going to be really, really tough.

 

Todd Arkell  37:13

Yeah, it that really, I agree that that's really played into it because, you know, guys like Kevin kiermaier, like 40th round pick, they don't exist anymore. So they probably stay in college as long as they possibly can to see if they can, you know, keep that path going. And it, yeah, it's, it does change the landscape a lot. And I do, I do agree, MLB has really kind of changed that by not wanting to have as many development teams, is not as many levels, right? Just kind of reducing all of that stuff. And it's in, it's, you know, it's interesting, because you'd argue that the game of baseball at the professional level has probably never been stronger from a, you know, just interest in the game and and the athletes, and yet they're finding ways to try to trim

 

Walter Beede  38:06

Well, let me ask you a question. If I said to you, you know, let's inevitably we know that the game is growing globally. One look at the World Baseball Classic, and all you have to do is look at who is the top team in the World Baseball. Classic. That would be Japan. Let's look at the Major League World Series. Who were the two shining stars on the best team in Major League Baseball, Los Angeles, Dodgers. They are from Japan. So if you start to really do a deep dive, and we're all going to drink the truth serum, the bottom line is that Major League Baseball is going to be expanding into a global capacity, you know, over the next five to 10 years. I do think you're going to see one or two more teams in Canada, obviously, one of which will be Montreal. I think the other will be Vancouver. I do think you're going to see a team in Mexico, probably two teams. I do think you're going to see some teams potentially in Japan that will become part of Major League Baseball. The biggest part of this is that the roster spots are now going in 1985 to 8990 the African American athlete in Major League Baseball, I think, had ascended to approximately 38 to 40% now it has shrunk to less than 10% and now we have a Latin, you know, contingent of Major League Baseball, professional baseball players that is slightly under 50% so if you let that sink in, and then I say, Oh, by the way, if I look at, you know, the Asian, you know, and I consider Australia part of that. If you look at the Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, and you look at Australian athletes that are currently in. Professional baseball, those numbers are beginning to accumulate rapidly. So we just have to look at the sport is growing all around the world. So college, you know, Stanford, has a young man from Japan that bypassed going into the world of professional baseball in Japan and is now at Stanford. That is not the outlier anymore. There's a lot more of those athletes. So parents really need to be, you know, look at the JUCO world, a lot of Latin American athletes. You know, Albert Pujols was a, was a, you know, a classic example. So it's definitely going to be changing the landscape dramatically. And if parents are not watching, it's going to end up, you know, by 2030 which I can't believe I'm saying it, it's going to get here sooner than later. And by that time, I think the whole, you know, college and major league partnership, because that's what it's ultimately going to be, is really going to be only the strongest and the fittest will survive.

 

Todd Arkell  41:05

Boy, if they put teams in Japan, that's going to be one hell of a road trip.

 

Walter Beede  41:10

Well, you know what they'll do is they'll just do the, you know, that Pacific, you know area, and it will probably include all the California and Seattle. You'll have a West and an East, and you know, you'll go over there for a month and come back and vice versa. There's going to be a global expansion because of the success of the World Baseball Classic. And all you have to do is look at the brightest stars on the biggest payrolls, and whether we agree with it or not, the best pitcher or the two best pitchers or the best hitter, you know, they're from Japan, and so that is not something that's lost in the world of professional athletics.

 

Todd Arkell  41:54

It's definitely rising. Walter, thank you for the insight, parents. I hope you and athletes who listen. I hope you, I hope you listened. And to use Walter's word, drank a little true serum when it comes to your development and moving forward. And I appreciate your time, Walter, thanks for joining Todd.

 

Walter Beede  42:13

Thank you so much for having me on and Happy Holidays to you and your family. Boom, we'll wait.