Rapsodo Baseball Podcast (Seth Daniels & Brian Page)

Welcome back to the Rapsodo Baseball Podcast. In our relaunch of the podcast, Rob Friedman AKA The Pitching Ninja joins the show to talk about his recent trip to Spring Training , what his takeaways were as well as looking ahead to this 2024 MLB Season and some pitchers to keep an eye on. 

The Big Donkey aka Stephen Schoch of D1 Baseball joins the 2nd episode this season and left us with a hilarious interview. 

We dove into his experience with the transfer portal and how he ended up at Virginia. His stories continued with his rise to fame in college baseball and how he's giving back to the game. 

Don't miss his review of the best hot dogs in college baseball and what could have been if NIL was around during his playing day.  

Welcome to The Rapsodo Baseball Podcast!

Seth Daniels (Director of Diamond Sports) and Brian "BP" Page (Recruiting & MLB Relations) share the origin story of Rapsodo Baseball, how they got involved, and share some of their favorite stories about the humble beginnings and the excitement growing with major college programs and Major League Baseball.

Mike Rathwell joins Seth and BP to share his story of going from light-hitting backup catcher in high school to helping revolutionize the way players train as CEO of Driveline Baseball, and announces the details of a partnership between Driveline and Rapsodo to create the ultimate data and player development experience.

Veteran MLB pitcher and current KBO dominator Dan Straily joins Seth and BP to discuss his career, living and pitching in Korea, the need to constantly evolve, and how Driveline and Rapsodo have impacted his career.

Detroit Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyd talks about his journey from the Oregon State bullpen to the Detroit Tigers rotation, how Rapsodo PITCHING 2.0 helped him crack the MLB Top 10 in strikeouts last season, and making the world a better place through kingdomhome.org.

Eric Jagers is a 24-year-old pitching coordinator for the Cincinnati Reds. He joins Seth and BP to discuss how he turned a "career-ending" injury at the University of Iowa into a "career-building" opportunity with Driveline.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas chats with Seth and BP about building and evolving the arsenal that took him from the MLB to Japan and back.

Texas Rangers hitting coach Callix Crabbe joins Seth and BP to chat about hitting, coaching, and how he uses technology to train players at all levels. Then Tyler Daily from True Sports talks bat fitting in the Rap Up.

In this special Father's Day episode of The Rapsodo Baseball Podcast, Seth and BP welcome their favorite guests yet - their dads!

Rob Friedman joins Seth and BP to talk about using his Pitching Ninja platform to grow the game, and developing FlatGround to showcase as many pitchers as possible.

Seth and BP chat about this year's MLB Draft, how technology is changing the scouting process, and how to get on Rapsodo's National Player Database. 

Seth interviews Mississippi State's pair of first round picks - Justin Foscue and Jordan Westburg.

Ari Kaplan has been a pivotal part of baseball's data and analytics revolution. He joined Seth and BP to talk about projections for the 2020 season, building the Cubs analytics department, and helping big league clubs evolve over his 30 year career.

Cincinnati Reds prospect Hunter Greene joins Seth and BP to talk about growing up in the Compton Youth Academy, throwing 102 mph in high school, becoming the #2 overall pick in 2017, and how he's using technology to improve his game.

In this data deep dive, Mississippi State University pitching coach Josh Johnson chats with Seth and BP about developing pitchers and the qualities he looks for during the recruiting process.

Chris Fetter talks to Seth and BP about how he helps Michigan pitchers reach their full potential, what he looks for in the recruiting process, and his emotional ties to Ann Arbor.

Seth and BP go deep on movement profiles and how understanding them can help pitchers develop the most unique and effective arsenal possible. Throughout the discussion you'll hear from professional pitchers and coaches including Dan Straily, Eric Jagers, and Hunter Greene. 

Then stick around for the Rap Up to learn how you can save $125 on Rapsodo Certification courses.

Seth and BP talk about the challenges of recruiting and scouting in 2020, how technology has helped players get seen, and how the combination of video and data will continue to create opportunities for players and scouts alike.

Most people view technology through the lens of performance, but in this episode Tyler White of Gestalt Performance joins Seth and BP to discuss the role Rapsodo can play in injury prevention and rehabilitation. 

Deck McGuire joins Seth and BP to talk about how technology has changed the way he trains, break down a wild World Series, and how much fun it is to listen to mic'd up players.

Former MLB catcher Rafael Lopez extended his baseball career by embracing data. Now, he's helping others do the same as a member of the Rapsodo team. Then the guys share some great Black Friday discounts in the RapUp.

For our 20th episode, we welcome our first Cy Young winner to the Rapsodo Baseball Podcast!

Trevor Bauer joins Seth and BP to talk about being a pioneer of pitch design, how his (then) unconventional training methods caused friction with coaches and teammates in high school, and the ways he's working to share what he's learned with players at all levels.

Mentioned in the show:

Rapsodo Certified: https://certified.rapsodo.com/
Momentum: https://watch-momentum.com/
Trevor on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BauerOutage

Most people associate Rapsodo with pitching, but in this episode, MLB infielder Eric Sogard joins Seth and BP to talk about how he incorporates data into his training as a hitter. They talk about his approach in the cage, training with velocity, and how his college days at Arizona State molded him into the player and person he is today.

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller joins the podcast to talk about his development as a pitcher, including how he accidentally developed a slider and how data has changed his approach to offseason training.

Also, our own Dillon Saffle discusses Rapsodo Pro Staff and asks Mitch about the 2020 MLB season.

In our first episode of 2021, Eric Minshall joins Seth and BP to talk about helping pitchers achieve their potential at his training facility, The Cincinnati Throwing Club. Eric walks us through his a coaching journey that ranges from the high school level to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

They also discuss Cincinnati Throwing Club being a Rapsodo Certified Facility and the ways RapScore can open doors for players.

Links:
Cincinnati Throwing Club
Eric on Twitter
RapScore
Rapsodo Certified Facility Locator

John Lampros is a hitting instructor and the owner of Two-Five Baseball in California. In this episode of the Rapsodo Baseball Podcast, he joins Seth and BP to talk about his data-driven approach to training hitters, when and how to incorporate data into younger players' training, and ways to keep players competitive in the cage.

Links:
Two-Five Baseball
John Lampros on Twitter

Carlos Collazo is a national writer for Baseball America who covers recruiting, prospects, and the MLB Draft. He joined Seth and BP to talk about the short and long term impacts of COVID on scouting and how data and video can help players and clubs.

Links:
Baseball America
2021 Top 100
Rapsodo National Player Database
Carlos on Twitter

Deven Morgan is the Director of Youth Baseball at Driveline, where he helped create the company's Youth Development certification and, this year, launched the Driveline Academy. In this episode, Deven joins Seth and BP to talk about how Driveline is trying to change the youth baseball landscape by focusing on skills that scale.

Links:
Deven on Twitter 
Driveline Youth Development Certification
Driveline Academy

Elizabeth Benn is Senior Coordinator of Baseball Operations with Major League Baseball, where she plays a major role in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Her work includes MLB's Take the Field initiative, which aims to create job opportunities for women in areas of the game they are traditionally underrepresented, like coaching, scouting, player development, and baseball operations.

Links:
MLB Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Liz on Twitter

Seth and BP share a unique view of Spring Training. The guys detail their experience working with MLB clubs, share stories about their favorite complexes and interactions, and talk about how the approach to data and technology has evolved in recent years.

At the end of the episode, the guys share the details of an Opening Day discount on all Rapsodo Certified courses.

Are you Rapsodo Certified? If not, take advantage of our opening day sale! Get $150 Rapsodo Certified Courses with code PLAYBALL. Offer valid from April 1st-4th. https://certified.rapsodo.com/baseball/intro-to-rapsodo-baseball-certified/

Want a sneak peek of Rapsodo Certified? Take our Certified FREE course.

You already know your favorite MLB team uses Rapsodo Hitting and Pitching units, but you might not realize how many of their coaches and players use Rapsodo's Mobile Launch Monitor (MLM) on the golf course.

This week, we dive into the golf side of Rapsodo with our North America GM, Art Chou. He joins Seth and BP to talk about the MLM and announce Coach Connect, an exciting new partnership between Rapsodo and Golf Digest.

The Atlanta Braves selected Kyle Wright with the fifth overall pick in the 2017 draft. In this must-listen episode for pitchers and pitching coaches, Kyle talks to Seth and BP about being introduced to Rapsodo while pitching at Vanderbilt, and how he continues to use data and pitch design to sharpen his arsenal.

Seth and BP are back in the Rapsodo office to discuss last weekend's PDP Premier Northeast event at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and how young players are asking better questions about their data. Then they share five important data benchmarks scouts look at when evaluating pitching prospects, and how Rapsodo users can get noticed.

Upcoming ABCA Webinar

Rapsodo Baseball Learning Center

Last week, a parent sent a PDF of his son's Rapsodo Pitching Report to Seth and BP and asked them to evaluate the data and give some advice. In this week's episode, they break down that player's report, explain what his data says about his arsenal, and share their advice for what he can do to separate himself from the competition.

Seth and BP talk a lot of pitch design on the podcast. Since most of those conversations include a reference to their 2020 interview with Eric Jagers of the Cincinnati Reds and Driveline, we thought it was worth sharing again for newer listeners.

Jagers is considered one of the pitch design experts in the game of baseball, and since this interview, he has been promoted to assistant pitching coach with the Reds. At 25, he's among the youngest coaches in all of Major League Baseball. 

In this interview, Jagers tells Seth and BP how the injury that derailed his playing career led to the beginning of his coaching career, and the guys go deep on data.

Rapsodo's Analytics Manager, Nicholas Rossini, joins the podcast to preview the upcoming MLB Draft Combine. Nicholas dives into his deep well of RapScore knowledge to highlight six players - three pitchers and three hitters - to keep an eye on.

Baseball America's JJ Cooper chats with BP about the upcoming MLB Draft. They discuss the impact COVID had on scouting, a potentially historic crop of high school shortstops, and the ways data will impact what front offices value in future drafts.

Hours after his 11th inning home run in Cincinnati, New York Mets outfielder Kevin Pillar chatted with Seth and BP about how professional hitters are using technology to their advantage, and shared his thoughts on Major League Baseball's midseason crackdown on sticky substances.

Kevin Poppe is the owner of Dynamic Sports Training (DST) in Houston, Texas. In this episode, Kevin sits down with Seth and BP to talk about what it's like to see his athletes get drafted, how certain players used the pandemic as an opportunity to improve at their craft, and the impact of foreign substances on baseball.

Few hitting instructors understand data and analytics like Rick Strickland. In this episode, Rick talks about his career in the game, how golf launch monitors changed the way he trained baseball players, and how he uses Rapsodo to help hitters make it to the next level.

Seth and BP discuss Rapsodo Team Memberships then throw it back to our 2020 interview with St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas. In this interview Miles talks about how he built and refined the arsenal that made him a successful MLB starter after spending time in the bullpen and playing in Japan.

David Kopp is in his first year on the University of Florida coaching staff. Previously he was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Florida Atlantic. In this episode of the Rapsodo Baseball Podcast, David talks to Seth and BP about how he uses data to maximize player development.