18: Lewis Brinson | What Baseball Parents Get Wrong About Stats, Pressure & Development

Show Notes

Former MLB outfielder and first-round pick Lewis Brinson joins Bobby Minor on the Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast for a conversation every youth baseball and travel baseball parent should hear.

Brinson was selected 29th overall by the Texas Rangers in the 2012 MLB Draft out of Coral Springs High School. He went on to play six seasons in the Major Leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants, and his career later took him to Japan and Mexico.

In this episode, Lewis talks about the parts of the baseball journey parents rarely get to see.

He explains why parents can put way too much stock in batting average, exit velocity and other metrics at 9U and 10U, what actually mattered in his development as a young player, and why youth baseball shouldn’t start feeling like a business before baseball is actually a player’s job.

Lewis also gives an inside look at what being a top MLB prospect really means. More attention. More expectations. More opportunities to fail. And, sometimes, more pressure than a young player knows how to handle.

He shares what he learned after being traded by the Rangers in the Jonathan Lucroy deal, becoming a centerpiece of the Christian Yelich trade to Miami, and returning home with enormous expectations placed on him.

The conversation also gets into hitting development, why every kid shouldn’t be taught to swing like Aaron Judge, how parents can get more value from private lessons, what longtime big leaguers have in common beyond talent, and what a parent should say on the ride home after a bad game.

If you’re raising a young baseball player and trying to make better decisions about travel baseball, player development, hitting lessons, youth baseball stats, pressure, expectations and the long-term journey, there’s a lot in this one.

Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast with Bobby Minor

Timestamps

00:00 Lewis Brinson joins Chasing Baseball Dreams
01:13 Getting traded by the Texas Rangers
05:01 When the business side creeps into youth baseball
07:17 Lewis Brinson’s travel baseball experience
08:23 What actually mattered in his development
10:42 Why parents put too much stock in youth baseball stats
13:31 The problem with radar guns and exit velocity at 9U
14:37 How Lewis fell in love with baseball
19:29 Florida or professional baseball? Making the draft decision
24:15 How baseball recruiting has changed
26:59 What being a “top prospect” really means
31:27 The people who shaped Lewis Brinson
34:05 The Christian Yelich trade and the pressure of coming home
41:39 Why Lewis listens to players who’ve been there
44:51 Hitting instruction and copying Major League swings
49:42 The toughest pitcher Lewis ever faced
51:20 Lewis Brinson’s favorite MLB ballparks
54:16 Why baseball stays uncertain even after you “make it”
59:55 In-and-Out: advice every baseball parent can use
1:05:12 Lewis’s favorite baseball memories
1:07:24 Favorite baseball movie
1:08:16 What might have been with the Texas Rangers
1:09:36 Lewis gives Bobby some hitting advice
1:10:37 Where to follow Lewis Brinson

What is Chasing Baseball Dreams?

You're spending thousands a year on travel baseball. A better team. A bigger showcase. More lessons. A higher ranking. And you still have no way to know if any of it is actually working.

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That's not an accident. That's the machine.

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Chasing Baseball Dreams is the only baseball parent podcast hosted by someone with no financial stake in where your money goes. I don't run a travel team. I don't sell lessons. I don't coach for an org. I have no reason to steer you in the wrong direction. I'm Bobby Minor... former Division 1 player, 35+ years coaching select baseball and high school, former travel organization director, over 1,000 college recruiting assessments, and a college baseball dad who almost lost 2 sons to this game for 2 very different reasons, with one currently playing college baseball.

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Every episode, I sit down with former Major League players, college coaches, scouts, and baseball dads who've lived through the same grind you're in right now. People who've been inside this industry long enough to tell you the truth about how it actually works.

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Here's what you can expect.

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Real conversations about what actually matters at each age from 8U to signing day. The questions you should be asking before you commit to a team, a coach, or a showcase. The stuff the industry doesn't want you to hear, from people who've been inside it long enough to say it out loud. And the truth about recruiting, development, and where your money is actually going.

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No hype. No recruiting promises. No "get your son seen" nonsense. Just the one voice in this space with full-stack credibility and no financial tie to the machine that's taking your money.

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New episodes weekly. Follow @chasingbaseballdreams on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook for daily content between episodes.

Bobby Minor | Host: And welcome to Chasing Baseball Dreams. Today I'm joined by Lewis Brenson. If you don't know Lewis, Lewis was a first-round pick by my hometown Texas Rangers, taking 29th overall in the 2012 MLB draft out of Coral Springs High School. I love the Coral Springs area, by the way. Went on to play six seasons in the big leagues with the Brewers, Marlins, and Giants. And he was one of the top prospects in baseball.

Lewis Brinson: Yeah.

Bobby Minor | Host: During his playing career and his career's also taking him internationally to Japan and Mexico. So, Louis, thank you for taking the time to join us here at Chasing Baseball Dreams.

Lewis Brinson: Yeah, man. Appreciate you guys having me on. good, excited to talk about some some interesting topics to help out some people.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah, no no doubt, no doubt. ⁓ know we were talking before we started the recording, we're talking about, you know, you're with the Rangers and traded to Milwaukee in the Jonathan Lucroy trade, which ⁓ as a fan of the Rangers, I mean I was glad when we got Lu Croix. I feel like I feel like Ketcher since Pudge, Ketcher's kind of been that, you know, position here in Texas where it's just you know, I there's only one Pudge, so it's kinda hard to live up to him. But so I was happy in the moment, but

Lewis Brinson: Mm. Yeah.

Bobby Minor | Host: But you were kinda telling me like that was I mean, you were still young. You're young in your cor your career and it was like a a big disappointment. ⁓ why don't we think just a little bit about like, you know, just what it felt like, what you learned from it, how you grew from it?

Lewis Brinson: Mm. Yeah, that was first and foremost, yeah. There's no replacing Pudge. There's no catcher now, then, you know, Pudge is one of one. But yeah, going through it, obviously, being a top prospect, you know, I had friends, I had l you know, friends that I still keep in contact with now, Joey, Alfaro, Mazzara, like ⁓ grew up we grew up together in that organization. So going into two thousand sixteen, I was I coming off a really good year, best year in the minor leagues. you know, pla player behind AJ Reed for minor league player of the year and all the minor leagues. I had a great great year, went three levels in two thousand fifteen. So going into two thousand sixteen, my first big league camp with the Rangers, you know, in same locker room as Adrian Beltray and Elvis Andrews and Josh Hamilton and and all these like, you know, late Ranger legends, that when I first got drafted and go in the locker room, get to see those guys. I'm like, man, one day I'm gonna play with these guys. So, you know, again, organization that kinda raised me in the baseball world. going into two thousand sixteen, that trade deadline, there was a lot of talk about me possibly being in a trade. Rangers needed a catcher at the time, to get back to the playoffs and, you know, I was one of the names swirling around and I didn't really wanna believe it. I told my I've been I was talking to my agent all year, I'm like, Hey man, is this gonna happen? Am I gonna get traded? And He was like, listen, all I'm hearing is your possibility. I don't think they would break you and Joey and Mazzara and all these guys up, and they really like you, and just keep playing and you know we'll see what happens on on the trade deadline. So, you obviously I keep playing and ⁓ starting to hot at the trade deadline, you know, probably to ⁓ the Rangers' advantage to to you know kind of sweeten the deal and trading me. And ⁓ trade comes about. And you know, I'm trying to avoid all my teammates 'cause they're like, Man, why are you still here? You're getting traded, man. What are you still doing here? Blah, blah, blah. I'm like, God, shut up. You guys have no idea how much pressure and, you know, anxiety I have right now. Forty minutes before the trade line. I'm in the training room getting ready for the game that day in Frisco. And think it was Ken Rosenthal or one of the insiders for MOB Network, across the screen, saying, All right, the Rangers are finalizing a trade with just ⁓ Jonathan Lucroy from the Brewers and it will include number one prospect Lewis Spencer. And I'm watching the TV and I'm like, and ⁓ Luis Ortiz was traded with me, he was on the training table getting ready. And ⁓ our trainer immediately takes his hand off him 'cause obviously he's not with the organization anymore, so you don't want to hurt him. And ⁓ yeah, I got traded and immediately my heart sank. I called my mom, I called my agent, I'm like, Hey man, is this for real? And he's I think so, man, just give me a second. if it is, congrats. If it isn't, if it's just a rumor that's messed up that the Rangers would even put you in there, blah blah blah blah. So it was and ⁓ I was upset, man. I was I was upset. I was I didn't realize the the business of baseball yet and that we are pieces and on on a puzzle. You know I'm saying we're pieces on a on a board that they you know organizations just move around to try to fit what they're trying to do that year. And ⁓ you I was really upset. I I left the organization again that raised me and I knew it was an opportunity to be with the team that wanted me. but yeah, initial feelings was hurt. upset, mad, angry, all the emotions ⁓ that weren't good and then obviously get into it you start to realize like, ⁓ you're going organization ⁓ that wants you and is ⁓ a part of their future.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. Wow. I can only imagine. So okay, you just mentioned like at the professional level, like it's a business and and players are pieces you know, your your products. How much of that do you think parallels what we're seeing in in youth baseball, travel baseball these days?

Lewis Brinson: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think a good amount, but kids and parents nowadays don't I don't think they really need to worry about that at such a young age. I think kids and seen it a lot growing up with, you know, some of the guys that I grew up with in South Florida. South Florida hotbed for talent, right? Of for baseball talent here, Texas, Georgia, ⁓ California, those states are hotbeds. You get to play baseball year round. you're ⁓ I guess the political side of it can creep into Travel Ball and all these teams and all these Scout teams and the Ranger Scout team and the Padre Scout team and the Blue Jay Scout team and who's on what team. But business side of things I don't think should be creeping into Travel Ball. I feel like a lot of kids that aren't maybe at the elite level yet of playing on all these scout teams and maybe some kids that are late bloomers kind of get ⁓ washed of the game because they're, you know not a part of scout team or not a part of said program or you don't go to this said you this this facility that all these other guys get to go to I think takes the fun out of it, right? I think it takes the fun out of being able to go out there and just enjoy a game. Because once you get drafted, it is your job now. once you get to College now. I mean, with all the NIL, you know, it's all you it's your job. You know what I'm saying? These guys are getting paid to play baseball. So I I think just with youth sports, let's keep it youth sports. Let's let these kids have a good time. Let's let them enjoy the game. Let's let them learn the fundamentals. if are good enough to get drafted, they're good enough to go to a school and play baseball, then great. That's awesome. But At the same time, the business of baseball should not creep in until it is a business, until you are doing it for a job, in my opinion.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah, no, that's good. so who did you play travel b ⁓ see here in Texas we always we we always call it select baseball. But now I've been calling it travel ball 'cause that seems like what everybody else calls it. But who did you play travel ball for in high school?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. so let's in high school I played for Team Mizuno. it was a team that my hitting coach, ⁓ Coach Gomez down here put together with a team that I played with in Boca, actually up here, his name was Coach Ron. before I got to high school, we all had a team and we were really good up in Boca and then some of those guys got together when we got to high school and we created a travel team called Mizuno Edge. So I played for them I played for Elite Black, ⁓ South Florida Elite. a lot of people that know Elite Squad, you know, know their program is is top notch. Yeah. So ⁓ in East Cobb with them, a couple of tournaments in Jupiter with them. the Sock Scout team for one scout team tournament. but mainly Mizuno and Elite Squad a of tournaments here and there. Mm-hmm.

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay, cool. So okay, I know you started playing baseball like really young. I think like I think around the age of four. you said by the age of ten you were playing year round. Okay. When you look back now, what mattered most in your development at those ages and what do you think parents put too much stock in ⁓ these

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. Back then, what what was most important? I mean, think the like I said, the fundamentals of baseball. having fun, having a good time, enjoying your teammates, enjoying traveling with your teammates, enjoying playing baseball year round. I know a lot of kids up north don't have the opportunity to do that. They travel down here for the summer to play, and then for fall ball, they travel to different locations to play baseball. So take advantage of the fact that I was down here being able to play baseball year round. that was first and foremost. but me back in the day, like I wasn't the best guy on my team all the time. I was just fast. I had power. I had untapped power. I didn't know how to control it yet. I didn't know how to control the strike zone and all that. I was just a raw athlete, you know, if you will, ⁓ playing baseball. You know, I loved it and I committed myself to it. I knew from a young age that all I wanted to do was play baseball and I wanted to play in baseball in the major leagues. So I think that a big component in me being to want to learn the fundamentals and want to get better at the little things and wanna develop my game at a young age. ⁓ but it wasn't so ⁓ I wasn't thinking about development at a young age. Like from when we say young age, I mean from like the age of like ten to thirteen. Like I wasn't really trying to develop my game or like eight to thirteen. I wasn't trying to develop. I was trying to I was gonna, you know, develop by playing more. ⁓ I was always playing more baseball than everybody else. So like my development didn't really come until I was in late middle school and then going into high school as far as like developing and getting better. Nowadays I feel like parents too put too much stock into like metrics batting average. I I I can't tell you how many parents come up to me if I'm, you know, assisting coaching with one of my hitting coaches teams or You know, I go to a tournament or I pop up here at a game or here, you at Wampier. Sometimes I go to Wampier's team's practices and a dad'll come up to me and he'll say, ⁓ yeah, my kid last week, man, he hit 550 in last week's tournament. I'm like, How old is your son? he's say he's 10, he's turning eleven next week. You that worrying about how much he hit? Like, did he have a good time? Did he play well? did he have a good time? ⁓

Bobby Minor | Host: ⁓ yeah.

Lewis Brinson: Did he play good defense? Did he pitch well? Did the team win? at the end of the day, when you get called up to the big leagues, you're getting called up because you can help a team win ball games. Yeah, you might double you might dominate in the minor leagues. You might dominate double A, double A and AAA, but they call you up because, hey, I think this guy can help us win ball games at the end of the day. So like let's try to develop winning. How did he help the team win? Yeah, helping the team win by hitting five hundred is definitely huge. Great.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: But if your son hit three hundred versus five hundred in a tournament, like I get we can technology is advanced nowadays and we can tell when twelve year olds hit five hundred in a tournament, but like I really don't think like we need to be putting that much stock, especially at a young age, in what a kid hits in a tournament. Like in a ten year old's tenued tournament. Like let's not keep the batting average. Let's not let him have the anxiety of looking up at a scoreboard. Cause when I got to when I got to my the minor leagues and when I got to Pro Bowl, any guy will tell you W when you're not doing well, that scoreboard, that big scoreboard in center field, right field, left field, whatever it is, ⁓ and your batting average and it says two ten or it says two twenty, like you try to avoid it, but you can see it and everybody else can see it. So that just adds pressure and adds anxiety. So like let's not add that anxiety to a ten year old kid's baseball journey yet just yet. You know what I'm saying? Like let him enjoy playing the game. When he's done playing the game, if he didn't do well, let's talk about what you didn't do well. Let's not yell at each other in this car. Let's not not talk to your son because he lost the team the game on an air at throw to plate. Like let's focus on the positive, especially at a young age. As we get older, then we can start to hey man, we've been working on this, ⁓ you you're just you're these are stupid mistakes. Like let's start to

Bobby Minor | Host: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: develop that then, fourteen, fifteen, when they should know better. But at nine, ten, they really don't know any better. You know what I'm saying? So I think parents just put too much stock in like the numbers. Like let's throw out numbers. Let's have a good time. Let's worry about winning. And if we don't, cool, let's come back tomorrow. Let's try to win tomorrow's game. But I think parents nowadays just put too much stock in the numbers and metrics and my kid has an exit below. I'm gonna stop you right there. Like kid's nine years old. Exit vullo should not matter right now. In my opinion. Again, this is my opinion.

Bobby Minor | Host: Dad walking around with the pocket radar, stay hanging out behind the

Lewis Brinson: Yeah, like s let's let's stop. Let's stop with the whole on my nine year old son and projected exit event and projected all this. Like just let the kid go out there and play. He's gonna be tired of all these numbers by the time he gets to high school and he's not even scratched the surface of numbers yet.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. No, that's good, man. That that's really good stuff. Hope the parents out there are listening. and hey, you see too bad you don't play you're not playing today because batting averages are so bad at the major leagues, they don't even put your batting average up anymore. They're putting your OPS to try to make it look better.

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. Love. Average up there, sometimes you're like, God, does that say 200? my goodness gracious. I know it's May, but Jesus. So yeah, I I I definitely I know guys appreciate that because as many times, I'm telling you, it's a thing. Like if you ask any pro guys, like some guys like, man, I don't even worry about my bag, I don't even look up there. But your your head just sort of kind of l sometimes creeps, and there's so many screens and big league ballparks, like you you can't help but catch a glimpse sometimes.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ yeah, no doubt. ⁓ so I wanted to ask so you started playing when you were four. How were you introduced to the game of baseball and who who helped foster that love for the game?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. Mm-hmm. mom, really. it was kinda just natural. It was I was a you know, three year old, four year old kid crying every time my mom didn't ⁓ hold me. she actually excuse me, she told me the story of she was trying to get things done. My dad was at work and she would be at home and she's trying to the house and she's trying to do this, she's trying to cook and every and everything and I'm going crazy. I won't settle down. And one day she was, you know, watching TV in the kitchen and baseball came on and I just sat there and just watched and I was quiet. she was like, So I got everything done, and by the time I got back, you were still watching the game. So from then on out, I just put you in front of the TV and you would from a very, very young age, you know, put you in front of TV, I'd put baseball on, find it, and sit you there and I'd get things done around the house, and then you know, we'd go out. So I was like, so she told my dad maybe we should sign him up for baseball. Maybe I might like it and here we are today. ⁓ ⁓ I guess my mom just trying to calm me down figured out. ⁓ I the love of the game started at a young age. ⁓

Bobby Minor | Host: All right. Hey, so all those people out there that think it's boring to watch baseball on TV, not always.

Lewis Brinson: Not always, especially for a two year old that won't calm down. Try putting baseball on, see what happens. Just see what happens.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. So who who's your favorite team growing up and your favorite player?

Lewis Brinson: my the Florida Marlins at the time. Florida Marlins growing up down in South Florida all day. growing up in at Pro Player Stadium and then Wampierre was my guy growing up. so it was pretty cool when I got traded to the Marlins, they set up a whole, you know, meet and greet. I had never met him before. my mom had met him at a at an event. Me and my my mom and my ⁓ godmother went to an event and they got his autographs, so I was freaking out. ⁓ but when I got traded, the Marlins combat contacted me and found out he was my favorite player growing up and he had lived around the corner from where I trained, so they set up a whole meet and greet and it was it was awesome. Yeah, it was awesome. I got to play catch with him. I was, you know, twenty three at the time. I felt like a, you know, year old kid getting to play catch with his his idol. So it was it was pretty cool. ⁓

Bobby Minor | Host: ⁓ wow. That's awesome. A buddy of mine actually was a first base coach for the Marlins for a year or two back when I think Freddie Gonzalez was the manager. ⁓ this is before, this is like in the early two thousands, ⁓ mid two thousands. But anyway, when Gonzalez got fired mid season, and so my buddy resigned as a show of support. as far as I know, that was the last time he ever coached in the major. So I know, maybe he would maybe he would do it over again. So you know it's yeah.

Lewis Brinson: Mm. Right, right. And Freddie got to Freddie got to coach again. ⁓ you got to manage and coach again. So I mean, hey, you know, it works out differently from everybody.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So when did you when did you I know you said you were always fast, at what age did you start playing outfield primarily?

Lewis Brinson: Mm. Primarily in high school. played outfield and shortstop, like I feel like any kid th that's the fastest, most athletic kid on the team, you play play outfield, you pitch and you play shortstop. or anywhere. but I think ⁓ in high fall ball, I was playing shortstop and took a ball just botched it, didn't vent down far enough and my coach after the game is like, Hey, you're gonna play outfield for us forever. You're never gonna play shortstop ever again. I was like, Dang man, really? He's like, Yeah, man, go out to right field and catch everything that comes out there. I was like, Okay, cool. So ⁓ that was probably was probably my sophomore year, right? ⁓ Yeah, sophomore year. I played mostly outfield when I got to high school, but like fall ball would mix around and shortstop a little bit. ⁓ but like during the season I was playing right field. And then when our center fielder graduated, I played

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay. Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: That was yeah, sophomore year when after that year ⁓ played center field from from there on out. ⁓

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay. was just curious. I 'cause I I kinda figure I bet I bet he probably played shortstop when he was growing up, so yeah. Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: Yeah, you know, all kids did. And I had a nice arm, you know, going to short stop. I just couldn't I couldn't get the fielding the ball down. I couldn't I couldn't do that. So they're like, Yeah, just field it in the air instead of on the ground. Shouldn't be any bad hops in the air.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. Yeah. My son, my son's a sh he I mean he's a he's a true shortstop. He's playing at a D two school here in Texas and they their first inter squad on Saturday and he played center field. He played center field in the inter squad, so you know, ⁓ Yeah. Yeah, he's pretty fast. He's pretty fast. He's probably not Louis Brenton fast, but he's I mean he's he can run.

Lewis Brinson: Mm. Okay. Hey man, you never know. You never know. Is he is he fast? okay. Yeah, you never know, man. I mean I'm not fast anymore, but I don't need but yeah, you never know. It's fun out there.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. Yeah. So let's let's talk about so you are when you're in high school you were committed to to Florida. ⁓ then you got drafted in the first round by the Rangers out of high school. So you had you're faced with with that decision. So if a family's ever fortunate enough to face that type of decision, what do they need to understand that they probably don't know yet? And what led to your decision to sign versus going to play at at Florida?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. Right. I mean it's just it kinda depends on the family's priorities. obviously, you know, the money money but with NIL now, you know, you might wanna you have some more things to weigh. but for us, I mean, it was just me and my mom. My mom had to ⁓ make all the she had to do all the research, she had to kind of figure everything out for herself. There were like scouts and colleges that were helping her out, but you know, everybody was swaying every piece of information towards their side. So whatever benefited she would kind of feed that they would feed her that. And she, my mom's very, very smart and could new when people were trying to deceive her, connive her a little bit. So she did her own research and she found a couple of people in the world that she trusted, in that, you know, kind of regard. And it was kind of she told me, like, hey, listen, Florida wants you, wants you, all these other schools want you. she obviously wanted me to stay close to home. ⁓ stay in Florida. I wanted to stay in Florida. so ⁓ was It was big big time as far as like schools, and Florida. And once they calling, I mean, first of all it's cool for me. You know, it's Florida's the number one school in the nation in baseball at the time. So I'm like, man, Florida wants me. They want me to come on a unofficial visit and they want me to, you know, visit the campus and all this other stuff. So that's cool in a that like, you know, colleges, D one colleges are hitting you up and Showing up to your games and showing up to your tournaments and stuff. but at the same time, like it it it's like said, it's more of a priority of the family. Like, is it a priority to go to college right now, or is it a priority to further your start your career now while you're 18 years old? and do you have non-negotiables as far as like, you know, first five picks, first ten picks, first fifteen, first two rounds? Like, do you have the round? Are getting shorter and shorter. It was ⁓ I think 60 rounds when I was in high school. So if you're going like fifteen and below, maybe ten below, it's like, okay, we might want to go to college and I get the number that we want. but you know, for some families, it's like, all right, we need some money now. ⁓ this is a great way for you to make money, and this a great way for you to further your your dream of playing baseball. So have at it. Here we go. ⁓ I've had friend that, you know, ⁓ that was a thing that was a factor for him. ⁓ it was like, man, you know, families kind of struggling with money right now, making money right off the bat, that could help us out. you know, sometimes that's the case. ⁓ but there's different cases for dis different families. Again, for me, ⁓ mom was like, Hey, listen, you're going to college unless you get X amount of money. And I was like, okay, all ⁓ mom, I mean you make the decision, but I really wanna I really want to go play road baseball. You know, saying I wanted to go to Florida, you know, have the college experience. Again, Florida was the number one school in the nation, so that would have been cool.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: some f some of my friends from high school were going to to Florida. But the same time, like I wanted to start my career. I wanted to see I gonna I wanted to get drafted by a team in Arizona so I could go out to Arizona and like be away from home. You know what I'm saying? But at the same time, like yeah, I wanted to go to college and experience that. ⁓ but at this at the same time things happened in the the way they did. We got the number that we were looking for. and my mom was like, right, listen. Go ahead, be safe, do the right things, talk to the right people. you know, don't listen to everybody, you know, giving the mom talk. But that was our situation. But for certain people, especially nowadays, you know, the way you get scouted to college and like I said, NIL and all these different factors, it can sway families differently than when I was in high school.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. That's good. did the Rangers automatically include money ⁓ your in your contract to cover you for and when you decided to go back to school or go to school?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They did. They usually do. know, all teams usually do. Those those high school kids that get drafted out of high school. they they usually include tuition books, everything, room and board, everything that that that covers your if you want to go back to school, if you want to go to school ⁓ online school, ⁓ while playing, some guys took advantage of that. But yeah, they did. ⁓

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. Okay. and obviously like I mean, ⁓ recruiting in general has changed so from, you know, when you're go when you're going through the process. how what grade were you in when you I'm I'm assuming you verbally committed to Florida first before wh how old were you when you verbally committed to Florida? What grade were you in?

Lewis Brinson: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ I was I was ⁓ my junior year. so I was ⁓ I was s ⁓ I turning seventeen, so I was sixteen at the time, but I was I was ⁓ seventeen technically.

Bobby Minor | Host: ⁓ wow. Okay. ⁓ wow. I I was I was thinking it would have been earlier just because I know back then, like a lot of I mean, you know, w my son graduated in twenty three and so even when he was in the eighth grade before recruiting rules started changing, he had buddies that were ver you know, ver verbally committing to big schools even in the eighth grade. Which is which is crazy to me. ⁓ and one of his buddy one of his buddies actually committed to Florida and went there. it I didn't I don't think he played and then transferred. I don't even know where he transferred to, but

Lewis Brinson: Mm-hmm. Right. Which is That's insane to me. Like I said, it's everybody's different but I wasn't like a top guy until my year. So my freshman I started on varsity. I hit an eighth in that lineup. ⁓ I was ⁓ I was Bambi. was, you know, it's still growing. I was, you know, didn't have a feel of my legs yet, my arms. Like I didn't really like my body wasn't in sync with my brain yet. So

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: it you know, I wasn't really I didn't really like develop into the player that everybody was looking after until my sophomore year. So like I had a really good sophomore year then people were like, okay, you know, that was that was pretty good. This kid's tall. This kid's lanky, definitely could fill out. He has the body, you know, he has the the skill set. But let's see what happens next year. And then next year, same thing. you did well in some summer tournaments and then junior year did well. So that's it started to pick up a little bit and from that ⁓ before that junior year, my that summer, like I said, I have a really good summer and then that's when the scouts and the the colleges and the pro scouts and stuff started happening. So yeah, I didn't commit till I guess late, but I feel like everybody committed like late back then, like their junior committing to a school in eighth grade is insane to me. That's pretty crazy.

Bobby Minor | Host: ⁓ I know. Dude, I tell people if I if I had a dollar for every player that I know verbally committed early or lot times com I think committed to the school the name on the front of the jersey and never played an inning for that school, I would be I would fund your golf career right now. I would have I would have that much disposable income. I'd be your financial backer in your golf journey. Yeah, it's just crazy. So ⁓

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. That's insane. That's insane.

Bobby Minor | Host: ⁓ so obviously like we talked about this, like you were you were one of the top prospects in baseball. Okay. ⁓ once you got into Pro Bowl or to the major leagues, like what did that actually mean? And like what do parents like what do parents misunderstand about what it means to be a top prospect?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. mean, as as like in the minor leagues, like being a top prospect means you get more attention, right? ⁓ you get more attention from the media, you get more attention from newspapers, you get more attention from the team. you know, when your son is a top prospect in any organization, your son gets more chances to fail than all the other players in the minor leagues. All you know, in that organization's system. So for me, ⁓ my first year I was in rookie ball, it was me, Joey Gallo, No Mar Mazzara, Ronald Guzman, just to name a few guys, like we were the top guys. You know what I'm saying? We were the top prospects. Nomar got five million dollars come out of the Dominican, me and Joey got paid, ⁓ Faro got paid. So like we were the focus and knew it. And at the time, like We were definitely treated a little different. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not complaining about it. I'm like, ⁓ whoa is me, everybody hated us because we were the top guys. You know, it it was what it was. And I a at a young age, it was like, man, I can kind of feel the hate in the room a little bit. You know what I'm saying? Like all the other guys in the organization, like we're obviously getting more chances to fail. We're getting more attention. always in a separate BP group on another field with all the coaches, you know what I'm saying? While everybody else is doing drills and stuff over here. ⁓ They're making sure we're getting the work in that we need to over here. it's just a it's just a fact. It's just the nature of the beast. They put a lot of they ⁓ invest a lot of money in that group of ki kids over there. So like they're gonna make sure that they get their investment. so that's a that's one thing that you have to understand when you're a top prospect. It's great. You know what I'm saying? That means you're good. That means a team thinks you're valuable, a team thinks you're really, really good. And other teams can see that as well. So that kinda puts you in trade talks and that puts you in maybe the top conversation of like, all right, we're keeping an eye on this guy. This guy can help us in the big leagues. but as far as like being in an organization that you are a top prospect in, like I said, you get more chances to fail. top prospects definitely get more ⁓ more slaps on the wrist than anything. ⁓ as far as like failing not only on the field but off the field. Somebody's late for a bus. Somebody doesn't go to show up to practice on time. Somebody's not You at stretch at a certain time. you didn't show up for weight room at a certain time. Like they get you all you do is hey man, we need you to do this better. And then, you know, you're you're kinda like I said, it's just a slap on the wrist. Whereas ⁓ guy could have his job online. You know, another guy could probably get released. It's like, dude and they would tell guys, usually they would tell guys like, Hey man, you you're not the type of dude that can be missing stuff. You should be here thirty minutes early before everybody. ⁓ to even

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: you know, be considered. And like I said, coaches were were very, very honest. It's a grown man sport. We're i it's a grown man. Once you get drafted, man, once you get once you're getting paid to play, you're getting paid to play. This is your job. So there's no sugar coating stuff. Obviously there's things they can't tell you, ⁓ that the organization, you know, top of the organization in the front office are about, just for, you know, confidential reasons. But at the same time, like You know, you're a grown man. This grown man to grown man. You know, this is a thirty-four, four, thirty-five-year-old coach talking to a twenty-year-old, like, yeah, we're different in age, but like you're getting paid by the organization. I'm getting paid by the organization. So like we both have jobs in this, and I'm, you know, your job is to help me be the best I could be on the field, but you know, i there's no sugar coating, man. Like I've seen coaches tell plenty of guys that weren't those Top prosper is like, hey man, you you can't be missing stretch. You can't be late to anything. You can't be late to a bus. you can't hit 200. You can't hit 220, 230, 240. You need to hit 330 to be even considered in the the topic of conversation. And it's just the nature of the beast. So parents, when your player is a prospect, he's definitely gonna get more chances to fail and off the field, and I all you know, more eyes will be on.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: For sure.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah, that's good. who in journey, let's just from from high school on, high school through through th through professional baseball, who is the biggest influence on you in your baseball journey?

Lewis Brinson: ⁓ biggest one I've had I've had a a a a lot. I've had you know every everybody that's had you know helped me along the way. They know who they are and you know, they know they're appreciated. but my mom and ⁓ Gomez, ⁓ Alvaro Gomez, he's ⁓ my head coach that was down here. He's my trainer down here. I have a trainer, ⁓ Mike Alesi down here that was my you know, was my trainer for a good amount of my career. He's helped me with, you know, nutrition, with ⁓ working out with how to stay healthy during years. but I'd say probably my obviously my my my father passed at a young age. Father passed when I was 11, so it was just me and my mom. Her brother came and helped out. ⁓ my uncle, ⁓ Jimmy. He came lived with us when he passed and you know that was a huge help to my mom. So shout out to him. I had a nice shout out to him at my wedding. but him and ⁓ Definitely Alvaro Gomez. ⁓ he was my hitting coach, mentor, father figure. He came in, seemed like God put him in my life at the exact right time, like a couple months after my dad passed. Tough love. You know, nobody, you know, he he made me cry out of practice one time. He's like, listen, man, because I was hard headed. I thought, you know, I knew I was good and he came in yelling at everybody. He's a very like hard-nosed, you know, hard, tough low tough love guy, big tough guy. but

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: a bigger heart and knew what it took to get the best out of somebody. so, you know, I'm you know, kinda lolly guy gonna practice one day and he comes in and pulls to the side and obviously knew that my father had passed. So he's like, Man, listen, man, you go through life, nobody's gonna care that your father passed. Nobody's gonna give you an edge ⁓ because father passed away. And that kind of like obviously to a eleven, twelve year old kid, that kinda hurt. You know, that hurt my feelings a little bit. I'm I'm over there crying, but ⁓ He you know, as you get older you may it make sense. You know, nobody in life is gonna you know, everybody goes through things. You're not gonna be special because you lost somebody, everybody has lost somebody of significance to them. So, he was that father figure, he was the guy that helped me kind of mold my mind and my skills into getting drafted and getting to the big league. So definitely him and my mom as far as like those like big pillars. Again, so many people have helped me along the way. and I appreciate them, but I I put those two at the top for sure.

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay. Man. ⁓ so we talked about the trade from the Rangers, what that felt like, and you know, to me you're a key a key part of a pretty major trade, the Rangers getting Lucroy. So you also were traded from Milwaukee to Miami as a major piece of the Christian Yelitch trade. So but now you're back home, everybody knows who you are. are probably these huge expectations. So how did so ⁓ did that trade

Lewis Brinson: Mm. Mm. Yeah. Yeah.

Bobby Minor | Host: Like how is that trade different than the first trade? And what did that experience teach you about pressure that parents should understand when their own kids start getting attention?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah, so that one was definitely different. I was kind of expecting this one. I wasn't expecting where to go or like who I was gonna get traded for, but after getting traded the first time, you're like, Okay, you know, there's a possibility this happens again, you know, and you know, names swirling around the off season. I was actually my way to Brewers Fest before the season when I got the call from David Stearns and My agents tell me is like, hey man, this is a possibility. So just keep your phone near you, keep your phone on. It could happen. I'm not saying it's going to happen. And David starting to I see his number pop up and I'm like, hey man, where I didn't even say hi or anything. I'm like, where am I going? And like, man, you know, first of all, congratulations. Appreciate everything you did for the organization. You know, really have a bright future, yada, yada, yada. But we traded you for Christian yellow that you're going back home to Miami. And I'm like, you know, thank you. It didn't hit me on the call. It did not hit me initially on the call. ⁓ that I was going back home. But he's like, Okay, man, I really appreciate the opportunity. Thank guys for making, you know, kids' dream come true, making his biggest debut. thank you guys so much. Good luck to everything that you have going on in the future, blah, blah, blah. Goodbye. And then as soon as I hang up, I'm like, wait a minute, did he say I'm going to Miami? Wait, I I'm from South Florida. So that means ⁓ Like it just like two and two and two and two started hitting my head and I was like, wait a minute, that means I'm not gonna be able I'm not gonna have to travel. I'm gonna be playing at home, I'm gonna be playing for my hometown team. ⁓ my god, I'm probably gonna get to meet with like all these different emotions started popping up. And no, that one was like, ⁓ my god, I'm going back home and probably gonna start in the big leagues next year and I'm probably gonna play center field for the Mi for the Miami Marlins. Like, ⁓ my god, like it it was awesome. It was it was amazing. And then obviously, like I said, all the pressures of being traded for Christian Yellich, being the number one guy, you know, the headliner in a trade like that, to be like the, you know, what people were donning the savior of an organization. I'm like, whoa. Like, ⁓ my god. Like I have pre I have expectations myself, but like to see that in the Miami Herald, hometown kid, you know, you know, hopefully, you know, he can ⁓ this organization around and all this other stuff. This is how the Marlins start and all this other stuff. And yeah, it was a lot of pressure and I put a lot of pressure on myself to live to those expectations instead of living up to my own. and obviously we saw the results. Like did not have a good first couple years of my career with them. it was a great time. It was literally my dream to for the Miami models, to play for the Florida Models at time of put to play for the Marlins. Like that was my dream. I wrote that in a journal in elementary school of like, what do you want to do in the future? It's like I wanna play or I'm going to play. ⁓ Major League Baseball for the Florida Marlins when I grow up. Like I literally wrote that down. So manifested that at a young age. So little kid dream came checked off. but as far as like dealing with pressure, I didn't really know how to deal with that until like three years into my my Marlins career, honestly. I obviously wanted to be the rookie of year. I wanted to lead the Marlins tour World Series, I wanted to bring a championship back to the city. I wanted to make my mom proud and all the people that helped me get to that point. which I did at the end of the day, my mom retired that year that I got traded, so she got to see all of my home games, which was, you know, a blessing in itself. So that was awesome. But as far as like putting pre there you you already have pressure on yourself. So for parents and kids that are good, that are getting a lot of attention at a young age, quiet the noise by off the noise. Like Stop paying attention to what everybody else's expectations are for you and worry about your own. your own, like if you're doing everything that you can to exceed own expectations, you'll be fine. You're never gonna amount to the expectations that other people have of you. Ever. Never, ever, ever. Even if you're a Hall of Famer, ⁓ well, he should have hit, you know, 600 home runs instead of 500. Blah blah blah. Like somebody is always gonna have that ⁓ one like he should have did X. ⁓ So far as like what I've learned and you know growing and having all these different experiences, like just exceed your own. Try to exceed your own and you won't be as if you don't achieve. Because, you know, you have your own ex expectations. You might not achieve those things. it doesn't happen perfectly for everybody. ⁓ you know, if that was the case, everybody would be rich living in South Beach on a big old house. So that that's not the the ⁓ the reality. this. So at end of the day, like just turn off the outside noise. I know it's tough nowadays with social media, and it just blown up every kid's spot as far as like this kid is in a town full 60,000 people, and he's going crazy. wouldn't think we would be able to find this kid. But now we can find him. We know what he does. We know what he eats for lunch every day. We know what his parents did when they were 13. We like we know every single thing about every little kid or every teenager that comes up that's supposed to get drafted. So for it's just about quieting that noise. being able focus on what you need to focus on, being able to focus on your work. If this is something that you want to do, if this is something that your child is, ⁓ you can usually. If your ki if your child is committed to baseball or whatever sport, if they want to keep getting better, if they want to keep playing, after failing, especially like having a bad weekend at a tournament, like, nah, I'm gonna I'm no I'm gonna I'm gonna be back. And they wanna keep going to that training session, they wanna keep getting better, they wanna keep watching baseball, they wanna keep learning from big leaguers, they wanna keep hearing what big leaguers have to say instead of the co no offense. to the coach that runs his own facility in the middle of Texas. Like, no offense to that guy. I'm sure he knows, you know, baseball a little bit, but like, let's listen to the ten, fifteen year vet, what he says about baseball. That's what I still do as far as what I'm working with CBS. Like I try to learn from like the guys that have been doing it for a while. The guys that are Hall of Famers. The guy that the guys that have done accomplished everything that I wanted to accompl I listen to those guys. 'Cause those guys have dipped in, they've done that.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: So I would say if your kid is wanting to watch games, wanting to go to baseball games, wanting to learn the field, then ⁓ feed into that. You know what I'm saying? Like continue to feed into that. But all the outside expectations, like you're never gonna be amount able to amount to them. So just block them out completely. Have your own family's expectations for your son or your daughter, whoever it is that you, you know, that you're taking care of. And Work on those expectations and block out everybody else's.

Bobby Minor | Host: That's good, man. That's good. Yeah, ⁓ a good friend of mine, he always says success leaves clues. So, you know, if I want to be successful in something, I'm gonna look at the people that have been there and done that. And dude, it would probably blow you away. Like I've interviewed, I would say some pretty legit people. People, you know, guys with you know, yeah, you know, but but their parents, there are people out there that will comment, that will try to dispute. And I'm not saying that Dustin Pedroya knows everything about everything, but

Lewis Brinson: Mm-hmm. I saw Dustin Majora, I'm like, I'm I'm in. I'm in. I want to talk to this guy. Yeah. No no.

Bobby Minor | Host: But he knows a whole lot about this this this game and this journey and you know, parents that'll that'll push back. And I'm like, you know, I hate to say it, but your kid's probably gonna be the one when he's fifteen, he's probably not even playing baseball anymore. So, you know.

Lewis Brinson: I mean i yeah I mean at the end of the day, like I definitely have I definitely don't know everything for sure. I I'm I'm still learning. yeah, I played six years in the big leagues and I made it great. I know a lot more than you know, you know, a lot of the the the the world as far as baseball. ⁓ but there's also a bunch of guys that had been there done that and done it for a lot longer than I have that know a lot more and they still don't know everything. So For you, at like for the comments, like I get comments all the time, well, you didn't do, and son, and you know what? I watched this documentary one time and he said, like, listen, bro, I don't want to belittle anybody, but at the end of the day, if you never step foot on a big league baseball field or you never step foot on a pro baseball field and you have a I'm not saying you can't have opinions, because everybody's entitled to their own opinion. But at the end of the day, and Dustin Pedroya you know, David Ortiz ⁓ and Ripkin and Andrew Jones and all these guys that have played the game at a very high level for a long time for, you know, tremendous organizations. Like, let's let's be let's our common sense and like, okay, maybe we should listen to this guy. Not saying listen to me. Again, I know a little bit about a little bit, and those guys a lot about a lot and still don't know everything. So let's let's try to like Not combat what they have to say Yes, again, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But like, let's use common sense and like, okay, Dustin Bejoia played X amount of years in the big leagues and was one of the smallest guys to ever do it, and still made a amazing career out of himself and playing for the Boston Red Sox, second base ⁓ day for the Boston Red Sox. Like, let's let's listen to this guy. Let's try to blueprint what he did. Don't do it exactly how he did, because it's not gonna work out for you exactly it worked out for Dustin Bejoia. Like let's let's take nuggets. take clues. Like you said, let's take nuggets from what Dustin Badroya and all these guys that have played 10, you know, 10X ten more years in the big leagues. And like, let's listen to those guys. Let's see what they have to say. And let's not be so quick to like reverse and like let's be not so quick to be like, well you're wrong in this aspect. Like let's let's a little bit. Again, title to your own opinion, ⁓ but

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay.

Lewis Brinson: Those guys that have played it and experienced it on the highest level, let's let's give them their flowers and let's maybe listen a little bit.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. And and I think, you know, I and I won't I won't name names, but especially like in the in the hitting world, you know, there are guys out there on social media that have never played, never played at the highest levels at all, that have kind of made a name for themselves. And I think a a big part of their their strategy is try to what guys that have played the game are saying. You know what I mean? And ⁓ I'm I trying to say it in a way without

Lewis Brinson: Mm.

Bobby Minor | Host: like directing it towards anybody in particular, but there's one person that comes to mind and, you know, it it's it's just here this is what I'm gonna say. Like, can you learn the mechanics of of the swing? Absolutely. But unless you've been in the box and faced ⁓ you know, an eighty nine mile an hour slider down and away from a major league pitcher, you cannot speak from experience. It's theory, you know what I mean? And like I always wanted my son, my oldest son that ended up being a golfer and my youngest son playing baseball now.

Lewis Brinson: Yeah.

Bobby Minor | Host: To work with guys that have been there and done that. Because if they haven't, it's all theory to me. So, ⁓ yeah.

Lewis Brinson: I definitely agree that. I definitely agree with that. And I as far as like the comment on that. So for example, if if you have a hitting coach never in the big leagues, never played past Haye A, or never made it to Pro Ball, but they've worked with or been or listened to Bonds, Albert Pujols, Gwyn like speak about hitting, you can learn. For sure. Now in the experience of actually being in the box, yes, that's a thing. Like the you need to experience facing Jacob deGrong over and over and over to actually know like how to hit a ninety-eight upshoot rising fastball that feels like a hundred and five. Like you need to be able to experience that and like get in the box and actually figure out, make the adjustment to be able to hit that for sure. But to of be you know, ki kinda ⁓ back those guys up as far as like those guys that haven't played in a pro, you know, pro pro atmosphere, pro ball. Like you can definitely learn from all these guys. If you've definitely worked if you worked with guys, if you listened to guys, you sat down and actually like watched the video or in person listened to a big league top notch hitter, top of the line hitter talk about hitting, you can definitely learn all that you need to learn as far as like a swing and mechanics and what guys are thinking and approach ⁓

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: And plate discipline and all the swing decision, all these different things. But at the same time, far as being to, ⁓ you kind of speak on different guys, ⁓ like guys require different things. I cannot hit like Aaron Judge. I'll ⁓ Jose Altuve cannot hit like Aaron Judge. Your 12-year-old, 13-year-old, 14-year-old son ⁓ cannot hit Aaron Judge. He is not Judge. These all these parents and all these different hitting philosophies that are trying to make their philosophies and trying to make their swings or kids' swings like a Aaron Judge or like a Cody Bellinger or like a Jordan. Like, yes, the mindset and they keep their weight on their backside and how they ⁓ and how they keep their head still. Yes, those like my those like minuscule adjustments and those like kind of fundamentals of a swing, yes, those you need to apply. But as far as like

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: their setup and how they move, body types are different. You know what I'm saying? Like certain guys aren't gonna be able to do that. That's not gonna work for you. And that's why everybody's batting stance is different. That's why whenever you try to copy somebody's batting stance, it looks a little bit off. It doesn't really work for you like it did for them. You're not gonna be a Hall of Famer just because you hit like a Hall of Famer, as far as like physically. So I think that's something that a lot of parents and a lot of hitting coaches and facilities

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: need to realize like John is different from Greg and Greg is different from Mike and Mike is different from Lewis. We have to figure out how these guys, all these guys tick. ⁓ from a hitting pro from a hitting approach, yes, we can have a hitting approach as a team, how we're gonna attack this guy, we can all that can all be the same. But as far as like our hitting styles and how we approach hitting, like everybody's different. I think parents and coaches need to hear that for sure.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah, good stuff. And so and let me clarify, because you brought up a good point and you said it way better I did. I'm not saying that if a guy hasn't played at the highest levels that you can't learn from him ⁓ all. I was I was I was speaking I was speaking specifically to the people that have never played at the higher levels and they're trying to build their brand by attacking the guys that have and acting like they don't know what they're talking about. so okay, you mentioned DeGrom. I'm obviously a big de Grom fan. ⁓ he's he's been helping helping the Rangers out this year.

Lewis Brinson: Mm. Right, right, right, right. I know what you're saying. Mm-hmm.

Bobby Minor | Host: Who's the toughest pitcher you ever face at the major league level?

Lewis Brinson: He's definitely up there. but for me, it was Steven Strasberg. I get this question a lot. It was Steven Strasberg, man. He was just I it don't know. It just his fastball changeup combination. He wasn't scared to come inside. And at the time when I was facing him, ⁓ I big league fastball inside. Like, if you can get it in off the plate, like I I didn't really know how to get my hands extended from it. I didn't know how to beat it to the spot. And he had a sinker and he had a changeup that were 10 mile an hour.

Bobby Minor | Host: ⁓ yeah.

Lewis Brinson: difference. His slider, his curveball, he had a little like upshoot cut fastball that he didn't mean to throw. it I don't think I ever got a hit off of him. And if I did it was a dribbler past him and he couldn't get it and I beat it out. But it Steven Strasberg for me was one of toughest guys. I mean I got the pleasure of facing DeGrom in his prime, Max Scherzer in his prime, Steven Strasberg in his prime, Noah Sindegaard in his prime. I'm like I had the pleasure of facing all these guys that were just

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay.

Lewis Brinson: Absolutely disgusting. in the in L in the NL East, ⁓ no Nola his prime, like Air Nola, like it's just all these guys were like ⁓ at peak of their careers and I had the the pleasure of being able to face all these guys. I'm not making an excuse, I'm just saying. But ⁓ yeah, Strasberg for sure. For me, just tough. Tough, tough, tough. I didn't like I didn't I didn't like seeing him when he was on the schedule and we had to go to n the Washington. I'm like, is Steven pitching? I'll face Scherzer all day. I don't care.

Bobby Minor | Host: Mm. Yeah. Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: But a Steven Strasburg picture, ⁓ my god, we got him the first day, great. So

Bobby Minor | Host: He he was a good one. ⁓ what was your favorite what's your favorite stadium to play in?

Lewis Brinson: Mm. ⁓ I had a couple. So Wrigley Field, big one for me. Just the baseball ⁓ baseball of of Chicago and Wrigley Field was was awesome. First time I went there, we were playing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday series and we were the Marlon like we were re in rebuild mode, you know what I'm saying? Really nobody on the roster that really anybody at that ballpark knew and it was sold out every night. ⁓ And I like, Man, this is this is baseball right here and then I mean

Bobby Minor | Host: Mm-hmm.

Lewis Brinson: The Ivy and the stadium and just the culture, the Oregon, like it was just it was great. ⁓ so Wrigley Field and Chicago is one of my favorite cities too, so that helps. the Dodgers, I mean kind of speaks for itself. Chavez Ravine feels like you're playing on a stage, amazing. ballpark's loud, it's amazing. Those speakers in center field are electric. I'm playing center field and it feels like the music's like literally flowing through me ⁓ out to stadium, so that was great. And then Chase Field in Arizona. Made my debut there. Feels like I'm playing in a pinball machine. it was just I you know, I love going out to Arizona, great place and then that that stadium is really, really cool to me. And not maybe a lot of guys don't think so, but I I just think it's it's cool. It's like dark in there, but at the same time like, you know, obviously the lights lighted up, but I thought it was a cool stadium.

Bobby Minor | Host: Mm. Yeah, cool. Yeah, I've actually been to Chase. I went, so I just my I just turned 60 last month. Shared the same birthday as Dustin Petroya, August 17th. And on my birthday, my wife and I, this is a bucket list item, flew to Chicago, and I got to see the Rig see the Cubs and the White Sox at Wrigley. And was already I mean, which which was cool, you know, the rivalry, but it was the game where PCA hit a leadoff home run for the Cubs and he had a walk-off home run for the Cubs. So ⁓ it a a pretty cool game. But see, that's what I was wondering. I was like

Lewis Brinson: ⁓ okay, nice. She's

Bobby Minor | Host: I was telling my wife, 'cause it was just like outside of the state outside of Wrigley, before the game, just the energy everywhere. And I was like, ⁓ is it like this all the time or is it just because it's the Cubs and the White Sox? So

Lewis Brinson: It's it's it's amazing. No, it's like that. When I like again, when I went as a player in two thousand eighteen and then again when I went with the Giants, same thing. We're playing Sunday night baseball. So it was a little bit more energetic, you know what I'm saying? It was, you know, bit only game at night, you know, only baseball game going on at night that night. So it was a lot more energetic. But every game that I had been to, yes, it is it is around Wrigleyville. Wrigleyville Wrigleyville is a thing and it is lit, it is energetic, it is exciting.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: you know, the culture, people were excited for Cubs baseball, like even when they were losing, like it was like that. So that's why I think, you know, a lot of people would say like Wrigley Field is just like a baseball one of baseball's heavens. Hm. Yeah, for sure.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. ⁓ no doubt. And I Finway's up there too. ⁓ that's on that's on my bucket list. I'll have to get Pedroya to hook me up so I can go up to Finway.

Lewis Brinson: ⁓ yeah, you got yeah, you got it you got the you got the guy to hook you up. You got the main guy to hook you up, yeah.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. all right, well I'm I'm gonna begin to land the plane. And this has just just been awesome so far, Liz. I really appreciate it. so obviously like you played in the major leagues. You played in Japan, you played in Mexico. What would surprise most baseball parents about how uncertain the game can still be, ⁓ even everybody thinks that you've made it?

Lewis Brinson: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, as far like so make sure I'm understanding the question. So as far as like playing in different places or baseball in general?

Bobby Minor | Host: What just in in general, because like certainly like I mean, you know, getting drafted was part of making it, but I mean making your making your major league debut with the Brewer, so you played in the major leagues, you played around the world. Everybody everybody would say, Hey, Lewis Brenson has made it, but in spite of, you know, thinking that you made it, how uncertain can baseball still be?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. Mm-hmm. It could be very uncertain. know, I and and I this is like a a thing with myself. Like making it is me, and ⁓ you can ask any baseball player, like probably winning a World you know, making it to the Hall Fame. but for me, like making it the big leagues, and obviously I wanted to be I never really had the dream of being a Hall of Famer. I wanted to win a World Series. I saw ⁓ You know, I would watch the World Series every year. I saw the Marlins win the world. So I'm like, man, that would be just ultimate feeling to hoist that trophy and be able to dog pow your teammates at the end of that. That would be amazing. But I wanted to be a ten year big league center fielder. Like that was my dream. I would say I didn't accomplish that, but I did make it to the big league. So like as far as, you know, uncertainty the uncertainty of like what baseball can hold, like you just you just don't know. It's a game of uncertainty. It's a game of failure. That's what makes it so That's what makes baseball so intriguing because it's the hardest game to play. It's the hardest thing to do in sports is to hit a baseball. Sorry. Anyone can fight me on that and we'll sit here till the end of time and we can talk about it. But the the fact that you can fail three out of ten times and still be a Hall of Famer. You fail three out of ten times a job, you're finding a new job. So and still hit three hundred. And the fact that it's just so hard to be successful at that's why we celebrate ten years so much. When a guy gets ten years, we throw a huge party in the clubhouse. Like we bottle Don Perrian, we get him some wine, we take him out, like that's a huge accomplishment. but the the just unsureness of what baseball can hold is is beautiful. And I I think that's what You know, this game is what's both so beautiful about this game and for pla for parents that are like, ⁓ you know, and and players at the same time are and I hear it all the time, football players, basketball players, like I stopped playing baseball because I just couldn't hit that ball, man. I was failing too much, like I was getting upset, like it sucked. I couldn't hit nothing after, like I wasn't supposed to throw my equipment, like I can't do that. So like it was, you know ⁓ You know, it's not for everybody, but again, if you have a if you have a son, a daughter that wants to play softball, baseball, like it's just such a beautiful game. It's so hard. But when you do succeed, like it's so rewarding. but the uncertainty of it, like going over to Japan, going to Mexico, like I I wasn't sure if I was gonna come back. I wanted to come back when I went over to Japan. It an amazing experience. That's a whole another podcast talking about Japan, but It was an amazing experience. It was something that I was not sure of going over. it was something I kinda took a leap of faith on. And playing baseball is in my like my opinion, is a leap of faith. Yeah, you wanna be able to go in and control everything. It's just not the case. Once that ball leaves your bat, it's up to fate at that point. and then once it leaves your hand, it's up to fate. Yeah, we can kind of try to control where it goes. ⁓ but after it leaves your hand, we can't control where it goes next. So far as like going over there, going to Mexico, like those were, you know, fa at those were later on in my career. No, those were kind of like family decisions and like my personal decisions are right, do I wanna keep playing? Do I wanna make it back to the big leagues? Do I have a chance to make it back if I go over here and I do well? So my whole baseball career has been uncertain. You know what I'm saying? ⁓ you know, I had a vision of what it would look like at the end.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: But you know, you never know. That's why the process and the journey is amazing and and and beautiful to be a part of.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah, that's good, man. There's so much there. And for anybody that that wants to disagree with hitting a baseball being the hardest thing to do in sports, just think about like, okay, NFL, Dak Prescott. If Dak Prescott completes three out of ten passes, he's not gonna be playing very long, you know. In basketball, Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan shot thirty percent from the floor, he wouldn't be Michael Jordan, you know. In golf, you love golf, you hit thirty percent of your fairways, ⁓ you make thirty percent of your butts, know.

Lewis Brinson: You're not gonna be playing too much longer.

Bobby Minor | Host: You're gonna be caddying for somebody. You might be caddying for somebody, but you're not gonna be playing, you know. It's just it's just it's different. And you look look at guys, I think of like I saw a video of Marshawn Lynch taking BP. I think off Randy, I don't know, it's with the Diamondbacks. You see guys that are incredible athletes in other sports, even that might have played a little baseball, get in there and take BP and it just it just looks so unnatural. You know, it's like I I bat left handed. It's like me getting in there trying to bat right handed, you know. It just it just it wouldn't it wouldn't look right. So

Lewis Brinson: You're not on a tour anymore. Yeah, not ⁓ Yeah. Yeah.

Bobby Minor | Host: All right, so let me I w I wanna we'll we'll kind of wrap it up. I'm gonna something I do, I just call it in and out. It's gonna be four quick questions, rapid fire, rapid fire answers, you know, fifteen to twenty seconds. We'll do in and out and then I'm gonna ask you just a couple of ⁓ just a couple of personal baseball questions real quick and we'll we'll wrap everything up. So it's time for in and out with Lewis Brenson. all right, Lewis, first question if I'm the dad of a twelve year old, what should I care about more than the name on the front of his jersey?

Lewis Brinson: Mm-hmm. his effort. You care about his effort and tell him to worry about the n you're playing for the name. You're playing for the name on the front of the jersey at the end of the day, but you want people to remember the name on the back. You never know who is going who is watching you. even at twelve years old, you never especially nowadays, kids committing in in middle school. but you never know who's watching you. But I I would care more about his efforts. If he goes out there and shows effort every time And he wants to keep going out there, that's what I care about more than the name on the front.

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay, that's good. second question What's one thing that a parent can do that helps a player more ⁓ just throwing money at another lesson?

Lewis Brinson: Find out what he actually needs to work on instead of just, you know, putting him with a and I and I put this lightly, putting him with a babysitter to just watch your kid for two hours and just swing and just swing and just swing. If this is something that you want your kid to do and this is something that your kid is serious about, find out what he needs to work on throw money at that instead of just throwing money for him to take some swings. Cause then you just just Take them to the cage and have them hit a couple ball balls for an hour and then take them home. But instead of like wasting money on a just a lesson, let's let's train something. Let's train our eyes. Let's train our our hips. Let's train something. Let's train our swing to be able to be efficient. So like when we come back, we're getting better. It's not just okay, go take a hundred swings and then we'll go home. All right, next week you're gonna take a hundred more swings and then we'll go home. Like, let's make sure we're training the right things.

Bobby Minor | Host: All right, that's good. third question. What's one trait you saw in big leaguers, especially those guys with that the ten plus year careers, what's one trait you saw in those guys that really had nothing to do with talent?

Lewis Brinson: Mm. They were good teammates. They were really good teammates. They were really good people. They were really good teammates. obviously they're good on the field ⁓ they knew how to prolong their careers and they knew how to have success when they weren't having success. but they were really, really good teammates. They're really good people. They looked out for each other. They would help out a guy that was struggling. They could see ⁓ he would to come to the park and he's struggling. They had been there, been there, done that. So like they were really like Curtis Granderson, Cameron Maben, Neil Walker, like just names that come to mind that had played ten plus years in the league, like they were awesome teammates. And that's why they played longer than maybe people thought they should. because I want that guy on my team. I want that guy teaching my young guys how to be a big leader and how to be an everyday big leader and how to be a bench guy and how to because they had a but they had done it all. ⁓ so they were really, really, really good teammates.

Bobby Minor | Host: All right, that's good. All right, last question. Here's the slow roller. Bad game, ride home. What's the best thing a parent can say?

Lewis Brinson: Let's focus on what we did right today. Let's focus on the positives of today. No matter if there was zero positives and it was all negative. Did you give effort today? Did we run out every fly ball? Did we run out every ground ball that we hit? when you made an error, did you forget about it quickly? let's on positive instead of like, hey man, we need to yeah, you need to fix this, you need to fix that, we need to fix your grip. We need if you're a pitcher, you need to fix your grip, you need to fix your elbow, you need to fix your legs, whatever. ⁓ But let's try to point out like if you're a parent actually watching your kid's game, point pay attention to his positive because he might not understand, you know, ⁓ what things happen. You're always as a kid, you know, ten to thirty even in high school, you might they might not be able to focus on what happened positively that day. So you as a parent, you being an adult, being able to find some things that a kid did that day, hey man, you got you got two walks today, dude. Yeah, you struck out twice, but you only had two of bats because you got two walks. You controlled the strike zone. That's good. Yeah, the kid the kid was good. Team at your your team had ten strikeouts today, man. The kid was nasty. You gotta tip your cap sometimes. You know, you're not gonna get hit every time. And then you go into the this game's hard, all that. But focus on the positive things. Then he'll start to focus on the positive things. Now those ride homes aren't as quiet when you when you do have a bad game. Because you're going to have bad games and you're gonna have multiple bad games, sometimes multiple in a row. So as a parent on that ride home, let's talk about only positives and then we'll we'll work on the negatives. We'll work on the things that he needs to work on, he or she needs to work on. Focus only especially if you see the kids down. Especially if you see the kids' spirit is down. What did we do right today?

Bobby Minor | Host: That's good, that's good. So that was in and out with Lewis Brenson. All right, Lewis, last couple of questions. As a fan of the game, and I can tell you love you love baseball, just like Pedroya, what's your all-time favorite baseball memory? It could either be something personal in your career or just something that you're a part of, something something that you witnessed.

Lewis Brinson: mean, I gotta I got that's a tough question, man. I've had a I've had a good amount. man. Watch I mean as a kid, okay, I'll go kid and then ⁓ adult. kid, Marlins winning World Series. Like I don't think you guys understand how big of a Marlins fan I was. seeing your favorite player, Juan Pierre, Dontrell, Mike Lowe, ⁓ you know, Pudge, Miguel Cabrera, like all those guys that I watch on a day-to-day basis, Jeff Conine. ⁓ winner World Series, was amazing. that was that was a big one for me as a kid. and then getting drafted, and being able to make my mom proud and see her cry with all the hard work and things that she sacrificed and now I'm getting drafted, now I'm getting able to pay off her house, get her a car, not have to, you know, give her money every month, like that was a huge, huge thing for me. And then you know, making my debut was was big, was big for me and in in Chase Field. That was that was huge. ⁓ being able to hear my name announced. I was the first batter to lead off the game. I didn't have to wait. watch walking up there day game in Arizona, seeing twenty five, thirty thousand people. obviously weren't at home, but being able to be a part of that and like, all right, here we go. Like seeing that first pitch go by my face, like, ooh, okay, here we go, we're in the league. so it it that was that was it gives me it gives me goo goosebumps now thinking about it. but that was ⁓ Big moment for me. I had a bunch of other ones, but like those are like big keystones moment that moments that come to me come to mind right now.

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay, that's good stuff. Hey, now unfortunately I never got to watch the Rangers win a World Series as a kid. I had to wait till an adult, you know, but I know what it's like. I mean, twenty, you know, twenty three, just finally seeing it happen as a fan of the game. All right. Last question. Favorite baseball movie?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. ⁓ favorite baseball movie? Probably Sandlot. Probably Sand probably probably Sandlot. I'm I'm missing one. I'm miss I'm missing one. W w it's on the tip of my tongue. What is it? But I mean San I think a lot of people are Sandlot probably. ⁓ the major leaguers, yeah. Probably d major league two, yeah, yeah. Major league, Sandlot.

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay. San Lot, major league, first major league, a lot a lot of guys like major.

Lewis Brinson: I've heard a couple of guys say bench warmers. I'm like, guys, come on.

Bobby Minor | Host: ⁓ no, seriously, come on now. Bull Durham Bull Durham is mine, but you got field of dreams, you got the natural, you know. Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: Yeah, yeah. I watch Field of Dreams. It's just sentimental for me. I love it. It's a great baseball movie. Don't don't anybody that watches don't don't take that the wrong way. It's just like like like almost sad. But it's ⁓ it's a great it's a great movie. I love the Field of Dreams game. I gotta go to that one here. I love the fact that MOB does that. It's awesome. And by the way, to all Ranger fans that watch this and to you, Bob, I really wish ⁓ that I have made it up to the to the big leagues with the Rangers. Like I really ⁓ Re I don't think people realize like how sad I was that I wasn't I wasn't gonna be able to. Hopefully I was hoping later in my career, like me, Joey and Maz would reunite and that would be amazing. But we talk about it. We we ⁓ when the World Cup was going on down here, Mazzara visited Joey and we were all in the house talking about it. Every time we get together, like, man, what could have been 'cause Joey ended up going to the outfield. So like if he would have played left, I would have played center, Maz would play right. Like we had this whole thing mapped out and then

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. ⁓ yeah. Yeah.

Lewis Brinson: I really wish I could have, you know, saw that there maybe in another lifetime or another dimension I did, but I really wanted to make my debut with the Rangers. So I just wanna put that out there. Yeah, I would have loved that.

Bobby Minor | Host: That would have been exciting, man. I have a power left ⁓ power bats from both sides on the corners and the speed up the middle. That that would have been a lot of fun. Hey. All right, so so this is my real last question because you made me think of something. So in two weeks, I'm gonna be in Iowa at the field of dreams playing in a a s a celebrity glow ball softball game with a bunch of baseball influencers. So any words of wisdom?

Lewis Brinson: ⁓ It would have been it would have been great. Yeah. Gl is it baseball or softball? Softball. Okay. Okay. Listen. It's at night though, it's glow it's

Bobby Minor | Host: Softball, softball. Yeah, but it's yeah. It's glow ball, yeah, they turn off all the lights, everything glows in the dark.

Lewis Brinson: Okay, so I've never played baseball at night with no lights. So for softball, I need you to swing on plane. You gotta you gotta chop. We're gonna try to we're try we're gonna try to hit the the top to middle half of the ball. We're not gonna hit the bottom because you're gonna pop it up every time, or you're gonna hit a ground ball. So we're gonna we're gonna try. As the ball's coming this way, we're gonna try to meet it here, chop down back spin. You're gonna impress some people. There we go.

Bobby Minor | Host: Okay. Okay. Right. Okay. Sixty year old, I'm gonna be out there doing I dude, I haven't swung a bat, I haven't done I mean, I've hit fungos and stuff to my son and everything, but in terms of me up there, I'm just gonna try I'm gonna try not to pull a hamstring or something.

Lewis Brinson: Yeah. Yeah, make sure we stretch. Make sure we stretch. We get some we get some mobility drills in, some some high knees, some sprints, some butt kicks, yeah, all that. So it'll be good. It'll be fun.

Bobby Minor | Host: Yeah. So I'm gonna do it. So all right, Lewis, man, I really, really appreciate it. ⁓ it's been great stuff. So where where if people wanna keep up with you on social media, where can they follow you?

Lewis Brinson: Yeah, so at LewisBrins twenty five. That's my my Instagram handle. I'm on TikTok too. I'm not really on there. I gotta be on there more, but I'm not really on there too. and then ⁓ CBS Sports HQ. I'll be should be talking about ⁓ some baseball here soon. ⁓ I've been on with them and then ⁓ hopefully back with them for the playoffs again, calling the playoffs, so that'd be fun.

Bobby Minor | Host: Cool man. Appreciate it, Lewis.

Lewis Brinson: Yeah, appreciate it, Bobby. Thanks for having me.