Karl Ravech on the state of college & amateur ball + his new show

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Yes, one of the stars of Dirt from the Dugout just announced Karl Ravitch joining us right now from ESPN. Of course, Rabby, great to have you on. Congrats on the launch of the show. We're super excited about this part of the FT network, of course. So first off, just give us the lay of the end. How'd you get into this?

00:00:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I got older, which is a problem, and when you get older, you start to realize there's time to maybe give back a little bit.

00:00:29
Speaker 3: Having been around little.

00:00:30
Speaker 2: League baseball and college baseball, I reached out to or actually I was reached out to by Justin Mussel, who's my partner with all this, and Justin's involved in the recruiting world when we both had a similar approach to baseball. We want to try to help parents, in particular, deal with the different ways that you can get from wherever you are to wherever you want to be and emphasize that it's not linear. You don't necessarily need to have private lessons and go on the circuits. You can stay with your high school team.

00:01:07
Speaker 3: Uh. And we were doing that.

00:01:09
Speaker 2: Through the expertise and the experiences of guys that have done it before. We had Mark de Rosa on who obviously was your WBC coach. He's got a kid that's going through it now. He played in the majors, you know, all the all the boxes that he could check. And we're going to do that with a variety of people. And I when I say variety, I mean we're gonna have David ross on back, Showalter, college head coaches like Jim Schlosnegel and Brian O'Connor, to name just a couple. Jesse Cole, the owner of the Savannah Bananas, is going to come on to talk. You know, it felt like there's a lot of parents who kind of get led down pass it they don't necessarily need to, and we just figured, you know what, we love the game. I mean, we love the game of baseball. You all love the game of baseball. How can we do our part to perhaps help parents enjoy it as opposed to maybe be stressed by it and be anxious by it and kind of call out your kids on certain things. There's just a way that we'd like to see them do it, and the best way to do it is to have these experts who have played, coach managed Hall of famers. Dusty Baker is another guy coming on, And the best part about the whole platform is you at home get a chance to ask those people questions directly. Whatever questions you may have, you ask, they answer. So that's what makes it, we think unique. And it's a big business. Obviously, youth baseball recruiting is a big business, getting into college, all these things.

00:02:47
Speaker 3: I just a quick story.

00:02:48
Speaker 2: I was with Schlasnagel last weekend for Texas and you know, he said, like most of my time, a big chunk of it is taken up with figure heuring out the financials, which was never a comment you'd hear, you know at the collegiate level years ago.

00:03:08
Speaker 4: Rabbie, when you first came on with the graphic down there, I thought you had your robe on. So I was going to say thanks for dressing up, so I appreciate you and.

00:03:16
Speaker 3: Not a rod, not a robe.

00:03:18
Speaker 4: I was like, wow you so instead you instead of going robe, you went full Jim Bowden. So I really appreciate you dressing up to come on this show.

00:03:25
Speaker 2: So if I can get a j you only get a hat to put on backwards. I could do that. No, no, no, you have way. You know your hair is your hair is way too good, We'll leave that.

00:03:34
Speaker 4: That's why I have That's why I have to wear a hat because my hair is always messy, so I can just cover it up and not have to worry about combing.

00:03:40
Speaker 3: It so as it catcher.

00:03:42
Speaker 2: Does it feel odd not to have kind of the mask or hat on giving you a baseball play?

00:03:47
Speaker 3: Does it feel a little strange? Just y, Yeah, I would imagine wear.

00:03:50
Speaker 4: A hat all the time when people yeah me for wearing a hat. But anyways, so my question is you cover MLB, you cover college, you cover little league? How do you do you tell parents, like people ask me all the time and you're in this too, Well, my son's going to make the major leagues. And half the time I look at him and I'm like, your son's not going to make the major leagues. I can there's a ninety nine point nine percent chance your son's not. So how do you navigate this with your new show trying to explain to people really how hard it is and the difference between little league college in each of the major leagues? Because Across and I both have sons playing college baseball, so we're.

00:04:25
Speaker 3: Living it now.

00:04:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, and I would defer to people like you, people like Durosa and others who have played it. But when you see it at the little league level and you see a star who is eleven, it doesn't mean that he's going to be the star at fifteen or eighteen, or won't then again be the star you.

00:04:46
Speaker 3: Know at twenty one.

00:04:48
Speaker 2: It's an unknown and I think you're right about That's one of the reasons that we got into this is because so many people will and when you're in the Little League World Series, I'm fortunate to see the best of the best players. Little League baseball at times can be slow and frustrating, and you all went through that. But once you start to put teams together that excel and certainly win tournaments and regionals and supers and get to Williamsport, they're better players. And it's to some extent understandable where a parent would say just wait to see. But you guys know, it's like less than one percent that ever make it to the major leagues, and maybe a little bit higher that make it to professional baseball.

00:05:36
Speaker 3: The point is, no one knows. I'm sorry.

00:05:39
Speaker 2: It's very difficult to slap five stars and a kid when he's eleven or even fourteen because he happens to be the biggest kid on his team, and in three years he may be the fourth tallest kid on the team or the shortest kid. So we're just trying to attach some rationality to what is an irrational pursuit in a lot of ways, but also encourage like, great, you should follow the dream and hear how these people manage to do what you and your son want to do. And that's really the goal of the show to kind of just open your eyes up to the different ways to do things. And if private fielding, pitching, hitting lessons are part of what's in your toolbox, we think this is another another tool to have in there because of the experience and your direct access to the people that have made it to where you and your son want to go.

00:06:36
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00:07:35
Speaker 5: Do you think Major League Baseball is helping amateur baseball because you're gonna be looking at college baseball, little league, and you know, kids in high school, all that stuff. Do you feel like when Major League Baseball eliminates minor league teams, eliminates baseball in certain cities that didn't have anything, do you feel like they're helping that process or like, oh, you got to throw ninety eight miles an hour, so you better be throwing ninety two by the time you're third.

00:08:00
Speaker 3: If you want to make it to the big leagues. Rati.

00:08:04
Speaker 2: I think that Major League Baseball's objectives should be to make sure that the major league product is the best it can be, and that doesn't mean they're dismissive of minor leagues or minor league cities. I think major League Baseball recognizes that college baseball has advanced to a place where you could certainly make the case that there are many college baseball programs that probably will serve the young man as well, if not better than a minor league program will so.

00:08:40
Speaker 3: And look the commissioner.

00:08:42
Speaker 2: I know well, he has been very, very adamant in his support of the Little League World Series, the Little League Classic. I don't think they run away from youth baseball, the minor league question and shutting some teams down. I can understand the frustration in those cities. I was a you know, I live in Connecticut. The Hartford Whalers left. One of my next door neighbors was Glenn Wesley, who played defense. It sucks, like your prior segment. Injuries suck when teams leave. It sucks. It really does, because it sucks the life out of a lot of people who related to that team.

00:09:19
Speaker 3: Look forward to the season.

00:09:22
Speaker 2: Contrition that I don't think is ever very good for a sport, especially if you're trying to grow the sport. But I do think that Baseball's interest has to be on their own product, and I think that their product is better because of the way that the college game is being played now with all the advances that they have.

00:09:42
Speaker 3: So you know, it's it's.

00:09:43
Speaker 2: Kind of a diluted answer to your question, but I don't think that they are are not helping improve the quality of baseball at every level.

00:09:52
Speaker 3: I don't.

00:09:53
Speaker 5: Do you see college baseball being the minor leagues of the big leagues in the future League Baseball. Your friend Rob Manfred, he said, you know, you know, Rob starts funding the power schools. I mean, you do the College World Series where you know, if the SEC breaks away from the NCAA completely, do they start funding them to be their minor league feeder system. Do you see that in the future.

00:10:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a that's a long bridge to walk over for me.

00:10:25
Speaker 3: I don't.

00:10:26
Speaker 2: And again, if the SEC or the ACC or the Big Twelve breakof the reasons the Big ten they're doing it is football primarily, and then basketball and then Somewhere on that spectrum is baseball. I think major League baseball. Look, I think objectively, if you're major league baseball, you look at the college game and realize, this is good. They have incredible facilities, they have access to nutrition, they have access to trainers, you can prepare kid.

00:11:00
Speaker 3: Is that?

00:11:00
Speaker 2: I think the competition in the in the best conferences prepares them for the major leagues. You know, certainly success at the minor league level, and look at how many you know young guys, And this is why I think the sport of baseball, Major league baseball is in such good shape. How many guys have come out of the collegiate programs and succeeded within one, two, three years at the major league level. It is a high number, and they are producing at a high level. So I don't know how you'd look at the college game and think it's anything but beneficial to the major league game. But but when whether they ever funded and you get rid of minor leagues, I don't see that. I think minor leagues for many towns are such lifeblood parts of those towns.

00:11:48
Speaker 3: I can't imagine.

00:11:51
Speaker 2: I hope I don't see in my you know, in my time where we get rid of them.

00:11:55
Speaker 3: I hope that doesn't happen.

00:11:57
Speaker 2: Hartford, where they have the yard goats, there's a big connection to the city. You know, Binghamton has a big connection. All these towns that have teams have really nice connections to their communities. And they don't have Major League baseball. So I hope those things don't go away. And they and many of those communities don't have college baseball. You know, let's let them play baseball.

00:12:20
Speaker 4: Carl, you're talking about college baseball. And again, I have a son in college baseball. He went through the recruiting process, he went through all the you know, the travel ball tournaments. And I'm a big proponent of playing little league with your friends. I'm a big proponent of playing high school baseball with your friends. And I know there's academies out there that you can go to that'll make you better. But I'm a big proponent of going to your prom and hanging out with your friends and doing all that because it makes you a better person in life. Right, how do you tell parents, because again I keep going back and saying this, but parents ask me all the time, what did you do for your son? Well, how do you go to parents and say not every path is the same. Right, You don't have to pay seven hundred and fifty dollars every weekend to go to a showcase and get a number put on you. Coaches will find you if you're good. Right, How do you explain this on your show? Because I have a hard time explaining you don't.

00:13:06
Speaker 3: You don't have to pay one.

00:13:08
Speaker 4: Thousand dollars a week to show up at a tournament or for get one at bat, take VP and run a sixty and they put a number on you. And then if two weeks later you pay another better money and they put a little higher number on you. Because it's just such a hard because everyone thinks they're fall behind if they don't go to these things.

00:13:25
Speaker 2: Well, I think you age. You just did a good job of it. You know you did a good job of it, and I think I would again. I would put it on you if and if when you were a guest on dirt from the dugout, I'd ask you the same question. There are to me, there are enough players who have made it to the major leagues or have gotten invited to colleges who didn't go necessarily the route that you just talked about with expensive lessons and travel showcases. I'm not saying that that's wrong. I just don't think it's the only way to do it. And I know, oh this, Tim Corbyn and Vanderbilt. Literally any coach that I've spoken with will tell you to the points you were making about going to the prom or hanging out with your high school buddies and playing baseball with them makes you a better person. They emphatically remind me that I take kids that played multiple sports, So the specialization of baseball at a particular age maybe what has to happen, But not when you're eleven, you know, not when you're twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

00:14:35
Speaker 3: I don't think that's when you should do it.

00:14:37
Speaker 2: They like these guys I just mentioned and others hockey players, We like football players. We love soccer players. Their footwork is phenomenal. If you are playing one sport and playing at year round, your body isn't making the necessary adjustments to make you the best athlete. Oftentimes, as pitchers, you're blowing out your arm.

00:15:00
Speaker 3: There are a.

00:15:00
Speaker 2: Myriad of reasons not to specialize until you get to a particular age. And I think that the other point you made, which is very pertinent DJ, and I've heard it from a lot of players. If you're good enough, they will find you. Now the parent push back on that as well. What if he's not good enough? How do I get the player to be good enough so that he is the good enough guy that they get recognized and then get opportunities. That's a legitimate question. So let's bring on a college coach. Let's bring on a recruiting coordinator. Let's bring on Mark Deroso, Let's bring on Buck Showalter. Let's bring on current player. Ask them how they did it, and if the predominant answer is I had private lessons, I went to this academy, I was on this travel team. Well that's where the conversation leads, and then the parent will have to make a decision.

00:15:55
Speaker 3: I don't think it leads you there.

00:15:57
Speaker 2: I've certainly dealt with enough high level as coaches and major league players who emphasize like please please, you know, RAVI remind every kid that plays baseball the number one most important thing they can do while they're really young is make sure it's fun. Please make sure that they're having fun doing this. Because I know this, and you guys can attest to it. And I'm sure your sons can attest to it. It was a lot more fun enjoyable. Playing little league baseball, it was a lot more fun, but less so. You know, playing high school baseball, it's a lot more competitive, and there are days that are fun. But playing college baseball, like it starts to diminish because it becomes a business, it becomes.

00:16:44
Speaker 3: Your way of life.

00:16:45
Speaker 2: And I do think and I've had again asked a lot of these guys, these college coaches, that's the one, like, please go have fun. I remember conversations with people like Nomar Garciapara, have fun, you know, the late Hall of Fame, Joe Morgan Man. I loved it when I was a kid. Bill all tell you that you guys will probably say the same thing.

00:17:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, and the kid has to want it too, not the parent. Yeah, that's another That's that's another big one, because the kids parent, the parent didn't make it for whatever reason, and the kid has to want to make it. And that's the That's what I tell all the boys at coach high school baseball. You have to want it yourself. You have to put the work in. Speaking of one of the things that you do is the college world Series. I don't think people. I think in the previous or in the recent years, people have started to watch more College World Series. People even watch the women's College World Series, which is which is must be TV for me for both. Do you think we'll ever see a day where we have the draft in Omahall because there's so much going on around College World Series around Omahall.

00:17:53
Speaker 3: What a great event it is.

00:17:55
Speaker 5: You guys do such a good job of bringing in like just different aspects of the game at stadium that people are like, I never see this.

00:18:02
Speaker 3: This is awesome.

00:18:03
Speaker 5: Wouldn't it be awesome for Major League Baseball to say we've got most of the draft picks here? Couldn't we do it at this time or not even most? But they have a decent amount and their teams are there and you can have that support.

00:18:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm smiling because this is a conversation that, trust me, has been had for years. We remember we brought a major league game to Omaha. I forget I think it was the White Sox and somebody else, but the major League. We had a major league game in Omaha, Nebraska. Because at one point Major League Baseball and the college baseball game were close. They were getting closer, and the idea of the draft going to Omaha makes sense on a million levels. What baseball needs to do is figure out the right time for the draft. I know there are stories of kids that were drafted while they were on the field in Omaha or at a super regional. It's not great, like that's non ideal, but it's all tied in with the portal.

00:19:06
Speaker 3: It's all tied in with where these kids are going.

00:19:09
Speaker 2: You're right in that you get eight teams there with you know a handful of players. That's that's going to be circumstantial on the teams that get there. But yeah, most of them are on those teams that make it to Omaha and the other kids season is over. So could you get them to Omaha and do a big, blownout draft. The college game has to figure out how many rounds the draft is going to be. They're they're working on that right now. Could be ten, could continue to stay where it's at, could be reduced to five. But of course I think the College World Series should be a bigger event because of things like the draft. What we did with the Little League World Series bringing a major league game there, you could do that, you know, do that again, fire that back up. I don't know if either of you have been there, but you know, the beautiful part of the College World Series is for those twelve days, there are a billion tournaments for kids that are younger, which means they're playing all day and then they get a chance to go and watch, you know, the collegiate players at the College World Series at night at TD Ameriage rad. It is I mean, it is a It is a baseball world in Omaha. The city embraces the sport, it embraces the College World Series. We should have the draft there at one hundred percent.

00:20:33
Speaker 3: We should.

00:20:33
Speaker 2: It is a conversation that has been had, and feel free to continue to amplify it.

00:20:39
Speaker 3: I love the idea.

00:20:41
Speaker 1: I'm with you. Yeah, I don't want it to go away, right aj. I want us to keep remembering that this could happen, and it almost happened.

00:20:48
Speaker 4: Plus, they have a great zoo there, and they have that shot contest which is amazing to watch the results of all the shots that everyone takes for team, which is also not kid friendly but adult friendly for.

00:20:59
Speaker 3: The parents of teams.

00:21:00
Speaker 2: We just discouraged the shot contest and then a trip to the zoo because really bad things can happen that.

00:21:06
Speaker 3: We don't want.

00:21:07
Speaker 2: Ye.

00:21:08
Speaker 4: Yes, well, never know, you might fall in like the lion cage or something.

00:21:12
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, by the way, before I just before I go. So we have the raised Red Sox to not on ESPN, and you guys were talking about injuries, and like, how about the raise is to Cratzy's point of teams that can absorb injuries. So there's no Pepio matches out, Uceta hasn't pitched and they've gone you know how many games now in a row with giving up three runs or if you were thirteen. So there's an absorption of injuries and an acceptance of it.

00:21:38
Speaker 3: And you're right. The one thing you now hear.

00:21:40
Speaker 2: From all of them, including McClanahan, who pitched the other day, says, this is the most together clubhouse we've ever had I've ever been a part of. So they're all banged up like every team in baseball, and yet they're winning and you know their story and being as close as they are to the Yankees may be the biggest or one of the biggest surprises so far this season, like where the Rays are or the fact that we don't have a team over five hundred in a division. Well, the idea that the pod Raiser this close to the Dodgers, but there are teams that absorb injuries and do it well. And you were talking about Bregman. Well, here we are in Boston and there's no Bregman and they miss him.

00:22:19
Speaker 1: Yeah that's a good point. Yeah, last one here I didn't realize, but I'll definitely check that out tonight. And we let off the show or abbe talking about the Rays and their run. I mean, who saw the Rays in this spy Again? We know it's early, it's early May, but a lot of the time we were talking about the al least like, oh, the Yankees should be in a good spot, Blue Jays Orioles rebound. You know, we'll see Red Sox coming off playoffs, and it's like people forgot to even mention the Rays. Our show did the same where we're like, oh, like the Rays are in their own tier. You know, they're not going to be a threat, and then here they are looking like, you know, at least a wildcard threat, if not right now almost keeping up with the Yankees.

00:22:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, kemn Aaro is a superstar around it a great you know, there's a great story behind Torondo. I guess one of their scouts went over to try to get eyes on Randy or Rose Arena, and a Rose Arena didn't show up at whatever this workout was going to be, and all of a sudden, they discovered Jonathan Ronda and he's now become a, you know, a real superstar type player on that team. It's it's historically been a team without stars, like we understand that, and they've traded away many of their stars, so to speak. But as I said to Mark Topkin, who does a great job writing for the Tampa Bay local newspaper there and covers the team, it's like, you know, you check into the Hotel Tampa Bay to improve yourself as a pitcher, and Matt's was doing that before his injury, so all of those guys seem to go there. It's like going somewhere outside of the United States to get a treatment for something that the US kind of frowns on.

00:23:47
Speaker 3: But I'm going to go over.

00:23:48
Speaker 2: There to get that treatment. It's like, you check into Tampa Bay and you become a much better pitcher. So they were a very good story this year. We'll see they've got five sweeps and here come the Red Sox all of sudden starting.

00:24:01
Speaker 3: To bubble a little bit.

00:24:02
Speaker 2: We'll see how legitimate it is, but they obviously just swept the Tigers and it hasn't been a smooth sale here, that's for sure in this city.

00:24:10
Speaker 4: Carl, do me a favor, Say hi to Rama Vasquez. Wait, well, yeah, no, he's Alex Cora. No nos veraitec oh no, sorry.

00:24:19
Speaker 2: Just no, I won't say this, And it is it's it's it is strange being here, given the circumstances and not having Corey here. It's very strange. Like there's a and obviously I worked with him. Edwardo is close with him. Ross David Ross is doing the game tonight with us, knows this system really well.

00:24:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's hard.

00:24:40
Speaker 2: To look at the team who just dismissed a guy that is universally regarded as one of the top managers in the game and think you're better. But it's quite clear they you know, they parked the car in the Breslo garage and it's his now to uh.

00:24:56
Speaker 3: To do with it what he wants, and it's on him.

00:24:59
Speaker 2: So that's the that's where this that's where this team is and they've won a couple in a row. And what I love about the players, and you guys can appreciate this, they have to quickly turn the page like what we're gonna wallow in the mire of Wait a minute, are you know? They just they moved our manager. I just love the way that players play with each other. And for you Hope the name on the front of the uniform, like we're trying to win games. It sucks that he's gone. Many of us really liked him and really respected him a lot. But man, we got to win. You know, that's what we get paid to do. And you you know, pregame win streak, you kind of feel like it's it's so the sun comes up. Like I'm looking outside here, the sun the sun came out. Alex is gonna be fine. Who got another job whenever he wants one. But you, as players have have learned how to how to deal with whatever curveball gets thrown at you and get up off your ass and and hit and catch and pitch and throw and run. You you I really respect that about players.

00:26:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. And for Cora, I mean five minutes later he had already gotten a call, so he's going to get a million more all off season long too. People trying to talk him to get back in, which I'm sure he'll do, but getting some family time so well, Rabbi, Well you appreciate the extended time. Again, congrats on Dirt from the Dugout launching. Super excited for this to grow and to also, like you said, make an impact with so many parents, kids, young families, all of that, and also have a great call tonight.

00:26:26
Speaker 3: We'll be watching. Thank you very much.

00:26:28
Speaker 2: We're grateful to follow territory and certainly look forward to seeing you guys down the road.

00:26:32
Speaker 3: Thanks again, very much.

00:26:34
Speaker 1: Thank you, appreciate you for Rabbi talksing all right here it is, by the way, a little look at the first episode Dirt from the Dugout. You can subscribe to it YouTube podcast, get yourself in their app program as well, which I highly encourage you to do because there's a lot more in there and that's where you can answer the live questions, so there's a lot to do on that front. Again, it's justin Muciul with Carl Ravich. Mark de Rosa was on the episode, but many many more to go. The parent Dugout is the app that launched, so if you want more information there go check it out.