Dear Baseball Gods,

Host families, hotels, training room floors, dorm rooms, crowded one-bedroom apartments shared by five teammates? Yep, that’s life on the road. I share some stories from my time living with host families, with a hoarder, sleeping in the clubhouse and spending my summer on an air mattress. Tune in for the real story of the places I slept, and where countless players before me laid their heads.

Kevin Vance returns to the show to talk spin rate and how it affects a pitcher’s arsenal, approach, and ability to get hitters out. We discuss best practices in teaching pitchers to pitch and share stories about how each of us pitched based on our spin rate. We also talked about pitch tunneling, sabermetrics and how baseball analytics are changing the game, and what we can do to bridge the gap between stats guys and baseball guys.

Mike Reinold, one of the world’s experts on pitching injuries and performance, joins us to share some stories from his time as the Athletic Trainer for the Boston Red Sox. Does the public really know what’s going on with Major Leaguers when they take the field? What do guys at the Big League Level do to prepare to play each day? We also discuss pitching injuries and some of Mike’s recent, ground-breaking weighted ball research.

Mitch Osnowitz, current minor league pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, joins us to discuss his big arm and how it has transformed his career. Upon not hearing his name called in the MLB draft, Mitch went to a tryout. A scout asked him to pitch, and he promptly threw 96mph off the mound. Since then, Mitch has been working to convert into a pitcher and bouncing around from team to team as he learns. Listen in as he shares his experience.

Matt Zielinski has played in the Frontier League, Atlantic League, Italian Baseball League, and the winter leagues of Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Listen in as he explains how he made his way from a high school in Pennsylvania to a Division-I University, and then came back from injuries to pitch professionally in amazing places against some of the best players in the world.

Former Division-I baseball player, Tom Meaney, comes on the show to discuss the parallel between sports and business. We talk about why motivational books are often useless, why New York bagels are so great, and discuss the qualities that athletes possess that prepare them well for “the real world.” Are on-field skills helping athletes achieve more in business later on in life?

Dan has had Tommy John surgery twice, and he takes 10 popular questions in this Q&A episode of the Dear Baseball Gods Podcast. He tackles popular myths, fears and concerns, layered with a large dose of his stories, experience and wisdom on recovering well, avoiding Tommy John surgery altogether, and on keeping youth pitchers healthy.

It took me a long time, but doing things the right way, over time, eventually made me into a respected athlete who led by example. A handful of stories illustrate how I grew into my sport, and developed an improved ability to lead. Developing leadership qualities took time, and it took me rising to challenges, sometimes getting into heated arguments, and occasionally almost coming to blows with teammates. Taking a stand for your beliefs and for proper conduct isn’t easy.

In this episode, we are joined by current University of Rhode Island pitching coach, and former minor league pitcher, Kevin Vance. Listen in as we discuss the deeper side of baseball: transitioning into coaching following retirement, dealing with failure and slumps, what it’s like to be “filler” within an MLB organization, how draft round and signing bonuses affect promotions, why life isn’t fair and our shared love of the slogan, if you don’t like it, play better. 

In this episode, Dan tells the story of how he broke into professional baseball. After finishing his college career undrafted and recovering from Tommy John surgery, finding a team to take a chance on him was difficult. Listen in as he reveals how networking, professionalism and seized opportunities helped him get his foot in the door and launch what became a long, successful career.

This story starts on the day of a major crossroads in my career: Undergo a second Tommy John surgery, or hang up my cleats.

In this introduction, I discuss who the “Baseball Gods” are, and why they’re a theme of this show. Dear Baseball Gods is show that will tell the stories of no-name players (myself included) who did big things in sports, but never quite made it into household names. There’s a lot of hard work, talent, resolve and luck that goes into becoming a celebrated, famous athlete, and any deficiency in the three can derail a promising player. Listen in as we unearth some amazing stories of players who lost their grip on the mountain as they closed in on the summit.