31: Brian Jacobus | TCU Commit's Dad: Why High School Baseball Came First

Show Notes

Ben Jacobus started in center field, hit leadoff as a freshman, and helped Corona del Sol win the 2025 Arizona 6A state championship. Now he's committed to TCU.

His dad, Brian Jacobus, played professional baseball after being drafted by the San Diego Padres. He's coached high school baseball, run travel baseball organizations, and experienced the recruiting process firsthand as a parent.

One of the biggest takeaways from our conversation? Brian built Ben's baseball development around preparing him for high school, and he believes there are things high school baseball provides that travel ball has a hard time replicating.

In this episode of the Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast, Brian shares the decisions they made along the way, including some he'd handle differently.

In this episode we cover:

• What Ben experienced winning a state championship as a freshman and why high school baseball was so important to his development
• What high school coaches look for when deciding whether a freshman is ready for varsity baseball
• Why Brian believes choosing the right coach matters more than playing for a famous travel baseball organization
• How Brian handled being both Ben's dad and his coach, including the mental side of the game
• Why Ben reclassified from the 2028 to the 2027 graduating class, and Brian's concerns about holding players back to gain an age advantage
• How TCU recruited Ben, what happened when other schools entered the picture, and why Ben ultimately chose TCU over Arizona State
• The red flags parents should watch for before committing to a travel team
• Why Brian believes families waste money on national tournaments and showcases before their sons are ready

Brian also shares something he wishes he'd emphasized earlier in Ben's development, even with all his years of experience playing and coaching baseball.

If you're spending money on travel baseball, preparing your son for high school, or starting to think about college recruiting, this conversation will give you plenty to think about before making your next decision.

🎙️ Host: Bobby Minor

⚾ Guest: Brian Jacobus

🎧 Podcast: Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast

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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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Brian Jacobus: It's really hard to replicate that in travel ball, especially on the national level of travel ball, because they don't practice. And y you know, you show up to a tournament and that's good, you have a bunch of good players and stuff, but I think there's so much so much development with culture and and with discipline and learning how to practice.

Bobby Minor: Welcome back to the Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast. My guest today is Brian Jacobis. Brian was drafted in the 40th round by the San Diego Padres, played professionally for three years. He used to run BPA Arizona in new level. Now he runs Ghost Lab. He's coaching an 11-U team with his son Ben this fall. He's also an assistant coach at Corona Del Sol High School, where his son Ben helped win the 2025 Arizona State 6-A Championship as a freshman, and Ben is now committed to TCU, which is five minutes from my house. I'm really excited about that. There's a lot that we're going to get into. So, Brian, welcome to the Chasing Baseball Dreams podcast.

Brian Jacobus: Thanks Bobby, happy to be here and this is really cool man. I've kinda s watched your your content develop over the last year or so and It's it's really great that you're branching out into a podcast now and and putting more stuff out there. It's it's awesome. I really like your content and appreciate the work that you're doing. It's tough to navigate this stuff out there for for parents and wading through what's what's real and what's not real and and I've struggled with that as a as a as a parent and as a coach. And so like it's it's really important content that you're putting out there. And I think that it shows in in your viewership and your followers and and all that stuff.

Bobby Minor: No, I really appreciate it, Brian. And we're we're indirectly connected by a couple of mutual acquaintances. Darren Larson, who was was also involved with New Level up in Washington, who's VP of youth development with perfect game, and then Joey Taylor from Team Mom.

Brian Jacobus: Yep. So yeah, Darren and I I coached both of Darren's kids at Piolp High School. so that's where I where I met Darren, Lee and Zach, both good baseball players. Darren's passionate about baseball and you know I I've known him since his U Triple SA days and and then Joey Taylor is one of my best friends that kind of he didn't follow me down to Arizona, but he I we moved down here first and then he had an opportunity to sell his business and and and moved down here and I think he's he's enjoying life down here quite a bit.

Bobby Minor: For sure, for sure. So just based on those two friends, is it safe to say that you like to hang out with guys that are not very opinion opinionated?

Brian Jacobus: Yeah, yeah, no kidding, right? Those guys th they have well I think that's probably why we get along so well. Is because

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: we're passionate about some some topics for sure.

Bobby Minor: Yeah, no, they're both great guys and I r I love people like that. Like just shoot me straight. You know what I mean? I don't have to

Brian Jacobus: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: figure out what you're thinking or or what you're feeling, and you know, just tell me tell me what tell me what it is, and I don't have you know, I don't have thin skin or anything. So all right, so so let's jump into it because I want to make sure that that we get to touch on everything. So Brian, so Ben was just a freshman when Corona won the six A State Championship in twenty twenty five. He went three for four in the championship game, and you were there coaching. So take me back to That season? Like, like, what did you see been experienced and learned through that championship run that was different from all the years of travel baseball?

Brian Jacobus: Yeah, well the that's great. And I I owe a lot to the coaching staff at at Corona del Sol. And when we moved down to Arizona during COVID, I was pretty particular about what high school we were gonna align with. And Dave Webb and Stan Lukatich and Tanner Vesley on the on the staff there are just the lights out. And I knew that like I'm really passionate about high school baseball and and I wanted Ben to be i on a program in a program that that that shared those same values. values and and it's always been about the coaches for me. So getting him getting him hooked up and aligned with with Coron Del Sol was was really instrumental in in his career. And so we moved down here when he was in sixth grade and went to a school called EPA, which is a public school in Chandler, but it caters to students that have extracurricular activities. So they go from they go from third to eighth grade there. And they go from 7:30 to 12:30 at straight shot, lunch is from 12:30 to 1245, and then they have 13 buses that that transport kids to their training facilities. and

Bobby Minor: Mm.

Brian Jacobus: it's a public school, so it's awesome. and 60% of the students are females, they're like gymnasts and dancers, so it's either baseball players

Bobby Minor: wow.

Brian Jacobus: or like gymnasts and dancers, but it was really cool. So, with all that being said, it gave them a lot of opportunity, and what I didn't know. Is that that Coach Webb would put him in a hit group at six group in a varsity hit group at six in sixth grade? So he came to practice with this

Bobby Minor: Wow.

Brian Jacobus: every day. And like he was on the field, the dials don't change. Like, so

Bobby Minor: Mm.

Brian Jacobus: that was huge for his time on the field, getting him ready to be able to perform as a 15 year old freshman. So those reps and that time on the field was was huge for him. But but I didn't know, like, you know, when he He's 13 14 years old, he's like you know, 5'6, 120 pounds. And by

Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm.

Brian Jacobus: the time he was he was a freshman, he played his first high school game at the same height and weight that I played my last high school game. And so

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: he was like 5'10, 5'11, 160 pounds. That's where I graduated at. So fortunately,

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: like you know, you can't control that, but he was physical enough to be able to be able to get on the field. And I remember having a conversation with my wife. I'm like, hey man, if he's not like if he's not. Five nine 145 pounds when it's time to go, he ain't gonna get on the field. He's gonna get his doors blown off. So fortunately, he works out and he grew and stuff, and and and it worked out to where he was able to get on the field and kind of hit the ground running. Had some really, really good upperclassmen that took him out under his wing and showed him ropes, didn't let him No BS, you know. And so I'm forever grateful for not only the coaching staff, but but the players on the team that that like took him under his wing and said, Hey man, you're this is how we do things around here. And he had already been practicing with them for a couple years, so that helped, but you know, it's different when you get on the field. And he he really needed a lot of that support and I'm grateful for those guys for sure.

Bobby Minor: yeah, but it sounds like a an amazing experience for a freshman. So

Brian Jacobus: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: so you've run a couple of travel ball organizations, you also coach high school baseball. Let's say a dad tells you his son would be better off skipping high school baseball and just focusing focusing on travel baseball year round. Knowing what you know from both sides, like what would you tell that dad before he makes that decision?

Brian Jacobus: I would tell him to reevaluate that decision because I don't know, it's like I'm super passionate about high school baseball. I think there's a ton of value in it. and I dun I don't see a lot of times where really good players play for bad high school teams. Like most of the top ranked players, like ranked with PG or whatever, they play for good high school teams. Like like

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: ask ask the guys at Etowa if if they enjoy playing for Etowah or Team Elite or the guys at Venice like playing for Venice or CBU. I'm sure they like both, but there's a lot of passion that goes into high school baseball and and here in Arizona, what's unique about I think the high school landscape in Arizona is like there's like thirty or thirty five teams within an hour radius that can beat you. Like there is

Bobby Minor: Mm.

Brian Jacobus: really concentrated like if you kind of look at the the baseball belt SoCal Arizona Texas Georgia Florida you know I I feel like there's pockets of each state that are spread out you know I got four or five teams here that are really good four or five teams but here in Arizona everybody's in the valley like it's close and our schedule is ridiculously tough and a lot of our opponents play the same team so I would I would tell that person to to really really evaluate that and I mean most districts are open to enrollment anyway, so find the right coach and the right program and and I think that high school baseball can provide tremendous value. Like no matter if you're in a northern state or if you're in the baseball belt. Like and that's where I learned a lot of this stuff is from working with Mark Wees in Piul at Pielp Washington. He's a legendary coach. He's awesome and you know the passion and and and the in the the ability to get everything out of your players is is huge. And It's really hard to replicate that in travel ball, especially on the national level of travel ball, because they don't practice. And y you know, you show up to a tournament and that's good, you have a bunch of good players and stuff, but I think there's so much so much development with culture and and with discipline and learning how to practice. It like you have to know how to practice. Like if you're gonna play college baseball, you have to practice good. And you have to really practice hard and you just don't get that in travel ball as much. You can train on your own and have a hit guy and a strength guy and all that stuff, but but really learning how to be a good member of a team, striving for one goal, I I don't think you can replicate that very very easily outside of playing high school baseball.

Bobby Minor: Yeah, those are I mean, all really great points. And I know with my son Julian, like we moved we moved when he was in the sixth grade, specifically so he would be in the you know, in the feeder for a particular high school in Fort Worth, Pascal High School. At the time it was the largest six A school in Fort Worth. They're now five A, but when he was there all four years there were six A to down the street from from TCU. and so but

Brian Jacobus: Yeah. It's awesome.

Bobby Minor: we did but we did it for academics but also for baseball. A couple of major leaguers that came actually three major leaguers, Brian Milner, way back in

Brian Jacobus: Mm-hmm.

Bobby Minor: the day. I don't know, D Brian, did Brian go to Paschal? His son Hobie Milner, who still pitching in the majors right now, and then Hermond Duran, who played in the majors for the Rangers, but they both went to Paschal. But a grade high school, and there's just something different about You're going like you're you're with like a lot of the players, you know, you're in class together, you're going to lunch together, you're working out together, you're hanging out together, you're doing all these things over four years versus like you know, Julian after his junior year in high school played on a really, really good travel team, the Sticks twenty twenty three scout team, tons of amazing ball

Brian Jacobus: The program.

Bobby Minor: players. But like they never practiced, you know, it's just we would show up to the tournaments and play. He played on the D Bat United Connie Mac World Series team. Same thing. You know, no you're just playing with these guys and again great great ball players great experience but it's very different than what you get playing high school baseball at a good high school where where to me the name on the front of the jersey actually does mean something. So it's yeah so

Brian Jacobus: Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah, that's what you know, I everybody like Whenever your kids like anybody who starts out on this journey, right? Like your kids four or five years old, starting them T ball, six years old or whatever, what's everybody's goal? Everybody's goal is for them to play high school baseball. Because you know your go your your son or your son is going to high school. So if he's going to go to high school, like, you know, that's why everybody wants them to be a good high school player. You don't know if he's gonna go to college or play pro ball or any of that stuff, but one thing is for sure, they're gonna go to high school. So let's build him a player to be a good high school player and You know, that's that's kinda what we use perfect game as 'cause the end of the day the the goal for us was for him to be a really good high school player, be the best high school player that he could be. Now how do you go about doing that? Well, we use perfect game as a as a as a avenue to get him a lot of time on the field against the best competition that he could play against. And I think Perfect Game for that, as a tournament provider you could take the rankings and flush down the toilet as far as I'm concerned, but as a tournament provider, they do a great job of of of of allowing players to play against the best players in the country locally and nationally. So so that's kinda, you know, w our avenue was like everything was built around high school baseball. Like that's the first step. And we can go from there, but like, you know, playing against the best competition and with the best players that you can play with has always been like important to me, with the goal of like, it's all about high school.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. Good s really good stuff there. So let's let's talk about high school. So Bendon was leading off as a freshman on a Corona del Sol team that was loaded with talented upperclassmen. I mean several D one commits. From a coach's perspective, what does a freshman have to show you to earn that kind of trust? And what are parents often overlooking when they're trying to prepare their sons for high school baseball?

Brian Jacobus: Consistency and physicality. I'd say one of the biggest things that oftentimes gets lost gets left off the table i i is your ability ability to move and your ability to be physical. So like yeah, he's only fifteen, but he's pretty strong fifteen year old and move really well. So like if you can't if if you're if you're not a good mover and you can't play defense a as a young guy, because oftentimes the the bat's not gonna be most freshmen hit lower in the lineup or are coming in as reserve, but it If you can't play defense or can't run the bases, like it's gonna be really hard for you to get off the field or get on the field, excuse me. so that's the number one thing is being physically ready to play. And the second thing is being a good player. Like you're gonna be asked to get your bunts down. You're gonna be asked to when the ball comes to you in the outfield, throw it to the right the right base and run the bases the right way. So I would say they gotta work on physicality and a broad skill set to where your coach can count on you to do everything. So yeah, Ben can get his bunts down. Ben can hit behind runners and and things like that. He knows what to do with the baseball. So all of that comes into play for your high school coach making a decision whether or not you can get on the field. And I would say you gotta know how to practice really well. Like our guys,

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: like like we practice hard. They practice hard at Pialp High School with Mark Wees, we practice hard at Carol Sol with Webb and Lukatic and those guys. And if you don't practice well, you're not gonna play. So that's the bottom line. Like those are where your opportunities come from. Your opportunities come in practice and then you then then you see if you can perform in game.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. Couldn't have said it better myself. I know, you know, j

Brian Jacobus: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: another big thing I would say, the only thing that I would add to that is as a freshman you have to be able to handle the speed of the game at the varsity level. Especially at I mean we're talking legit programs. It's sh it's just different, so you gotta be ready for that. so

Brian Jacobus: Yeah, for sure. And like well w and l and getting back to perfect game, like, you know, w when When Ben was 9, 10, and 11, he played on MVP Hustle, number one team in the country, played for a guy named Louis Leo Ruiz. He's hard, man. Like he's hard on these guys. If you don't execute, you gotta do it the right way. And then he played for my friend Eric Smith, who runs Ghost, who does an awesome job, and really holds players accountable. So and then he played for Jared Sandler at BPA, who is the toughest coach to play for, hands down, but that's what Ben needed. And all of the dis decisions that I've made. Have been like, you gotta play for the right guy. You have to play for a coach that's gonna prepare you to get on the field in high school. So not to pat myself on the back, I've made plenty of mistakes, but one thing I didn't one mistake I did not make was he's always played for the right coaches that were right for him at the time. And they held the players accountable and if you don't execute you're not gonna be on the field, you can take a take a break and you know, and just that level of account of accountability at the young ages really I think helps players and Ben in particular get ready to see what it's like in the real world. What it's like in high school, what it's like in college, stuff like that in terms of, you know, just being a consistent player. through practice and and and games and everything like that.

Bobby Minor: Yeah, that's so so true. Let me ask okay, let me ask you this. This I pro before before I interviewed Dustin Pedroia and posted some of those reels that have gotten crazy views and comments and everything, I'm pretty sure my most commented on video was one that I did several months ago where I was trying to explain to parents that like travel ball, fourteen and under, it's pay to play. I mean I you know, I don't care how you slice it, how you dice it, for the most part, if you're paying You know, two, three, four, five thousand dollars for your son to play, he's going to play. Okay? You're

Brian Jacobus: Right.

Bobby Minor: not gonna let him sit there and ride the bench and you're dropping all this money. But when

Brian Jacobus: Right.

Bobby Minor: you get to high school, it's not pay-to-play. And so

Brian Jacobus: Mm-mm.

Bobby Minor: it's a it's a it's almost like culture shock for a lot of players. And so, you know,

Brian Jacobus: A lot of them it is, yeah.

Bobby Minor: so just because your son isn't playing, it doesn't mean that it's politics. And I've had so many parents cry about how it's all politics in high school baseball. What do you what are what are your thoughts on that? Do you think it's all politics in high school baseball? And I'm not saying that they don't exist at all,

Brian Jacobus: I think there's I think there's

Bobby Minor: but I just say it's not anywhere near as much as parents want to convince themselves.

Brian Jacobus: I think there's very little politics in high school baseball to be honest with you because It's not pay-to-play, like you said. Like this is these coaches are highly motivated, they want to win games, they're gonna put their best players on the field that they can. And we had a situation before we won the state championship, we had our worst year at Corona ever. 2024 was the worst year at Corona del Seoul, and it's because we had a lot of seniors at that time who were entitled and thought they should play. And this is before Ben got there, he was an eighth grader, but we had a bad year, and and these seniors had some entitlement issues. And and Coach Webb and Coach Lukich and the guys they they played the best players. Not not re not with you know just because you're a senior, and we we had a tough time with that. And so we kind of changed some things in in our program, and Webb articulated those things very clearly. Like this this is a performance-based program, and you earn everything. Everything is earned, nothing is given. And that's kind of been the mantra we've gone with for the last couple of years and and I I can tell you that you know there's times when guys need to come out of the game and need to take a break and and they're not performing at that level and and it really doesn't have anything to do with politics. It has everything to do with how you practice and how you perform in game.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. I spot on. So, okay, obviously you played professional baseball, you've coached for years, you've ran organizations, so you've got a lot more baseball knowledge than the average dad. Okay? But with Ben, your son, how do you how do you know when to step in with advice and then when to back off and kind of let him figure out things for himself?

Brian Jacobus: that's a great that's a great question. I'm a pretty vocal coach. Like when I'm coaching him, I'm coaching every play and not just him, every player, but like for for him, he's a highly motivated guy. And I watched one of your podcasts or the clips with Buttry the other day and he's talking about you know having having a guy that's motivated. So I really haven't had to really push him a whole lot and say, you know, excuse He's been pretty pretty self-motivated. Is over his career, which thank goodness is in our rearview mirror now, what was his ability to remain under control on the field when things didn't go his way. that's when I step in. Like that's when I step in and say, look, man, that's not the way we do things. But from a from a skills perspective, I really haven't had had a A whole lot of stepping in to do with that because he's pretty good, he's motivated and stuff like that. But you know, I would let like I see it all the time, I just gotta let your kid play. You know, you you you gotta let him play and deal with failure and deal with the emotions that come with that. And the guys that play the longest in this game are the guys that fail the best. No question about it. Like It's our goal like I want him to ha not it it wasn't always like this. But right now, nothing in this game phases him. Nothing. Like it's it's he's gone from the one of the most immature players on the field to one of the absolute most mature players on the field and he's more mature than I am in in in many cases and it's like, man, did did that turnaround really help? And and so that's the that's the focus on that. So that so like I I d I don't really get in with Like when to step in with him, unless it had been like an emotional thing. Like you you gotta stay the course, man. Like you can't play angry, you can't play upset, you gotta you gotta play this game and just understand that like there's gonna be ups and downs and and there's gonna be challenges, and dealing with adversity it is gonna help you in in in in life beyond baseball. And that's when I where I would step in most of the time as opposed to your tech like your your ground ball technique isn't the right way or you're coming around the baseball a little bit. I just let them play from that standpoint and step in when when necessary for kind of the emotional type stuff is my experience.

Bobby Minor: All right, good stuff. And you made me actually just made me think of something. I've shared this before in other episodes, but Bill Monogal used to be the golf coach, men's golf coach at TCU. And I

Brian Jacobus: Okay.

Bobby Minor: was talking to him, I was talking to him one day, and I said, Coach, when you're watching a high school golfer, what are you looking for? And he said, When I see him walk off the green, I don't want to know whether he just made Birdie or Bogey. And so it's

Brian Jacobus: Hundred percent.

Bobby Minor: that same mindset, I think what you're talking about just being even kill. Like like if a college coach is watching your son, he shouldn't be able to tell whether, you know, he just went four for four or over four, whether he just hit a bomb or just struck out with the bases loaded. So because it's gonna happen, you know, just like in golf you're gonna hit bad shots. Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: It's it's easier said than done though, because like we're dealing with high high level guys that are extremely motivated and their passion runs deep and having the fire burn bright and and the and the fire burn While also trying to be under control is a huge challenge. Like I have two sons. I have a 26-year-old who stopped playing baseball when he was 15. And yeah, I he was the guy that I would have to light the fire. You know, I would have to light the flame to get him going. And with Ben, I knew when he was one year old, two years old, I wasn't gonna have to light the flame. I was gonna have to temper the flame. And

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: those are that that's an easier scenario. for me because I ran hot, my wife runs hot, like we're passionate about stuff. And so that was that was I always say you can it's easier to like dampen the flame or temper the flame than it is to light the flame.

Bobby Minor: Yeah, that that's I mean that's really good. so I want to talk about something that I actually I actually love talking about this topic because it's kind of a hot button topic in today's baseball climate for youth baseball. Ben moved his graduation year, so he reclassified from twenty twenty-eight, not to twenty twenty nine, but to twenty twenty-seven. That's a pretty significant decision for a family. So walk me through why you guys decided to do that and what would you tell another parent who's considering reclassifying their son? And I'm I wanna say you're the third you're the third dad that I know of that I've had on my podcast, Ben Jenkins, Lou Collier. Ben Jenkins is the CEO of Warstick, Lou Collier, former professional player, his son Cam is playing double A for the Reds, and now you with your son Ben. Third third dad that actually reclassified The opposite way, where you're graduating

Brian Jacobus: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: early versus trying to be fourteen and a half playing 13U baseball. So walk me walk me through that and what would you say to another parent?

Brian Jacobus: well I always wan s so he had a really good fr he had a really good freshman year and we and I know how hard it is to win a state championship. And we we won a six eight state championship, I we won a couple up pu all up, you know. I know how hard that is. And the chances of doing it again is probably pretty rare. So it's hard not at that point, yeah, he hit three nine he had three ninety-six and played center field and leadoff every game on a state championship team. So it's hard not to say, Okay, what's next? Like

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: like, you know, so and I've seen time and time again if he's if if a player is, you know, four Fourth year into varsity baseball, that fourth year oftentimes becomes less productive than than it could be because it's like a challenge in taking pitches. Like you're not gonna get any pitches to see. So, like, and I I always kind of wanted him to play up. He always he always played up seven you, eight you played, played up locally, nine you, ten you, all that stuff. And so it really got down to the point where okay, you had a good year, I think you're probably gonna. To be good on high school pitching after three years. A fourth year, you're probably gonna be it's probably gonna be a walk fest, and you're just gonna be challenged with not swinging at bad pitches. And really, you know, I didn't want him to face that as a 28, I didn't want him to spend the season facing 29s and 30s a lot of times. I would rather him spend that time facing 25s and 26s. So whether that be college or pro ball or whatever it B, I would I would just want him to play against older guys and against the best guys that he can play against. And it it seemed like at at that point in time, and I'm still like he's injured right now and he didn't reclass him back down. So

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: that's still like I want to push him to to play against the best guys that he can play against, and I think that was the right decision for for him.

Bobby Minor: So so what would you say so what would you say to the parent that's wanting to reclass but do the opposite? They think that, you know, I need to reclass my you know, reclass my fourteen and a half year old son so he can repeat eighth grade and dominate. What would you say to that parent? Like do you think like I'm with you. I'm

Brian Jacobus: That's the tha that's gonna create a false reality. of what of what's really out there because being the oldest guy and the most physical guy playing against you know lesser physical players i is not in my opinion a recipe for success. I think a recipes for success is to challenge your player and to get you know to put them in an environment where where they are pushed instead of you know just racking up great stats and and and beating up on guys that are that are way smaller. So I would disagree with with that and really try to caution people against that because you know when it comes to like evaluators, oftentimes they want to see that the glass is half full, not that

Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm.

Brian Jacobus: the not that the it's a finished product. And and if you're consistently playing down, you're more of a finished product than your opponents are. And so I would I would try to be the opposite of that for sure.

Bobby Minor: I think it's crazy because I think one of the things that will will get a parent fired up more than anything is when they find out that their eleven you son and their eleven you team has just got beat in the championship by a team that has a an eligible player that was actually twelve. You know, and

Brian Jacobus: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: it's so frowned upon and so looked down on and it's such such a big deal, but yet Parents are doing that legally, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: I don't like it at all. I don't like it at all. I I don't think it makes a lot of sense for player development. I think it might be a short term fix, but to get your son s some better stats or or have some more success. But this is a hard game and I think that's probably not the right decision to do. I would I would continue to push him. Every player develops at a different time. Whether they're ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, eighteen. Everybody develops at a different time and I I would I would keep him playing against his the appropriate age group for sure.

Bobby Minor: I I agree, I would I would always I would tell any parent, minus a player that is just struggling make big time in the classroom academically, outside of that, I would say wait and see what happens in high school. And if you feel like he still needs an extra year, then take a gap year or you know, do a postgrad

Brian Jacobus: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: year where you can where he can really, really benefit, you know,

Brian Jacobus: I agree.

Bobby Minor: and then you know what I mean, but anyway.

Brian Jacobus: Yeah, I totally agree. I don't I don't think it makes a lot of sense to to reclass down. But there

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: was a there was a trend of that. Like it's less common now, but like five or six years ago that was a major trend. Like there were everybody was and some of the rationale he's gonna redshirt his freshman year of college anyways, I might just have him red shirt right now. Well it's like, well kind of defeating the purpose a little bit, I think.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. And hey, I'll tell you right now, you have a lot of re-classes in Arizona right now that are you know, that are fourteen, fourteen and a half playing thirteen U baseball. So it it's still

Brian Jacobus: That's yeah.

Bobby Minor: happening. So let's let's switch gears just a little bit. Let's talk about Ben's commitment to TCU. Okay?

Brian Jacobus: Okay.

Bobby Minor: Go Frogs. How did that how did that whole process actually unfold? When did TCU first show interest? Like what were they looking for in Ben and what ultimately made TCU the school he wanted to play for?

Brian Jacobus: Okay. yeah, so he reclassed from a twenty twenty eight graduate to a twenty twenty seven graduate in the middle of June twenty twenty five twenty twenty-five. So yeah, so

Bobby Minor: Till last year, yeah.

Brian Jacobus: last year, so August first is the day, right? That you can start getting phone calls. So he had like six weeks to be recruited. He he had six weeks to be recruited. So I knew before he he reclassed that he was gonna get a call from Arizona, Arizona State, and Texas. Because we have players on our T we have we have a we had a player named Brett Crosslin who was at Texas. Texas came and watched watched us play, watched Brett, then had a really good game. And so I I knew they were gonna call. Arizona and Arizona State were always there. but other than that, I didn't know anybody was gonna call outside of that. And I was like, this is cool. Like that that's enough. Like that that that'll be that'll be fine. And then so w when we decided to reclass, that's when I kinda broke away from BPA and Jared Sandler is an awesome coach, but we had a disagreement about the timing of of his reclass and he wanted me to wait a year. I didn't want to wait a year, I said he's ready. He said I'm revealing my hand too early and I said, Well, he's ready. I don't want him playing fifteen U. I want he just got done playing eighteen you. Like I don't want him to

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: play fifteen you this summer. So he we disagreed on that. So he ended up leaving and and going and playing that summer la for for usa prime detroit tiger scout team and he played the 15 16 and 17 u wwba all three of them not i don't know many players that do that but we were in georg thank god i have my wife is is really behind us in this and she she let me and ben stay out in in georgia for a month and playing all the wwbbas and then that led right into the PBR futures Event, and so with that, that's really where like most of his exposure came through. And come to find out, like TC, like one of the reasons why he went, he he goes to Corona del Sol in my initial research. Is we host the Boris every year, like the Bor the Arizona Boris Invitational, huge tournament here

Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm.

Brian Jacobus: in the four corners. And I wanted Ben to play in those tournaments, so we host the Boris and come to find out. Like a lot of schools did see him play in the Boris, and TCU

Bobby Minor: Mm.

Brian Jacobus: is one of those schools. So, like when TCU called and stuff, it's like, well, when did you see him play? Was it just at Futures or at WWBA this summer? no, we we but we saw him play back at the Boris and we wrote him wrote notes down then. So I'm not sure all of the schools that that ended up calling him saw him at the Boris. A lot of them probably saw him at WWBA in in the futures, but that's That's kind of how how TCU came into it. And then it's funny, like you kind of figure out like so you get all the get all the calls on August 1st, right? And they're set scheduled building relationships for the first few weeks and and then setting visits and stuff. And and his his Texas visit was scheduled for November 19th. And you kind of figure out really quickly where you are on the pecking order in terms of where your visit is scheduled. So they ended up camping. And so I remember driving in the car with Ben and I was getting bad vibes and it wasn't really good energy because Texas had just canceled, and he had like you know six six or seven schools that wanted him to come on a visit and stuff. And I remember looking at him, and this was right before his TCU visit, and TCU is doing an awesome job of recruiting him, and it's a great fit for him. And I'm super grateful that that he's committed there. And then he had AS. You the next week, and I said, and I go, Do you just want to say screw everything and cancel everything else? And he had a bunch of peers around here committing to SEC schools, and he no longer had any SEC schools talking to him, and so he was bummed out about that. And I was trying to tell him that's not what it's about. Like that we didn't do this just so you could get SEC calls. We did this so you could be the best baseball player you could be, and so then I so then he ended up canceling everything outside of T outside. TCU and ASU went on the TCU visit and it's just like baseball heaven. Like it was they just knock your socks off there. They do a phenomenal job recruiting. The coaching staff is completely dialed in. And if it was me, I honestly probably would have committed on the spot when they offered him Friday. But like I said earlier, he's sometimes a little more mature than I am and a little more well thought out. And wanted to go to the ASU visit and went into that visit with an open mind. after TCU and and really made a decision based on you know though those experiences and both coaches staff ASU does a good job too Willie's got his guys doing doing a good job Sam Peraza Jeremy Ricardo they're they're doing a good job so it and it's 18 minutes from my house like

Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm.

Brian Jacobus: that's where they play I go practice every day if I wanted to so believe me like it was a tough decision for us our us as a family but ultimately I I left it up to him and work he wanted to to be and and felt most comfortable and he fell in love with the campus and fell in love with with the coaching staff and and the culture that they've built there. So that's kind of how that all took place for us.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. Well I can s I can say Fort Worth is an amazing city. It's the tenth largest city in this in the in the country, but it doesn't feel like it. And it's a cool place. I love I love the TCU campus. I d literally drive by it every day and you know, the baseball stadium, like everything is really first class, so he's gonna have a lot of fun fun here in Fort Worth and I'm excited to watch him play over at least the next two years, huh?

Brian Jacobus: Yeah, that's gonna be awesome. He's excited too. Yeah. Yeah, he's excited to get out there. It's and also like part of the decision making was like I wanna watch you play, man. Like I haven't done all all this and never gonna see you play or make it a huge inconvenience. So it's a really short flight from Phoenix to DFW and you know I could leave here at noon and meet him for dinner at six o'clock local time, no problem. So that was a factor too. Like making

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: it easy on mom and dad, like that's a that's a big factor. So yeah, I'm I'm I'm happy for him to be a TCU. Those guys are great.

Bobby Minor: Alright, so a couple couple more questions and this this has all been really, really good. So, you know, since you've ran a couple of travel organizations, what's a question you wish more parents would ask before paying to put their son on a travel team? And and what kind of what kind of answers should make a parent think twice about making that commitment?

Brian Jacobus: Who's the coach? What's the what's the coach w What's the coach like? how does he develop players? does he hold people accountable? Does he does he make them do it the right way? So every question that I would have before I wrote a check would be who is the coach? And how does that coach manage manage my player? And I think like I told you earlier, it's like every decision that we've made has been coach b coach-based, really. And so I think those are questions. That are often overlooked. They want to play for a famous team, but you know, I watch those guys play and they don't do it the right way. And you know, so I I I would ask or I would have that parent really be most concerned about who's the coach. He's the guy right in the lineup, and you know, every every day. So that's a really big part of it. I think most a lot of times people go into it with Trying to find the famous team or or the team that gets the most clicks or the most likes or the most recognition on perfect game, and that's just because they spend a lot of money with perfect game. It has nothing to do with how good the coach is at developing players. Like the goal should be to have your player developed at the highest level he can. And I think most of that is driven from the coach. So that's what I would be really focused on. Play for the right guy.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. So what what kind of answer what kind of answer would you tell a parent, hey, that's a red flag?

Brian Jacobus: I would watch them play. And I would see how the game turns out. And if there's behavioral issues or guys aren't doing it the right way or there's they're they're not hustling out ground balls and they're just g strolling back to the dugout and nothing happens, they don't get removed from the game, that would be a huge red flag for me. Like if

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: if they have if you have a couple famous players on your team that are not held to the same standard that everybody else is, that would be a huge

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: that would be a huge red flag.

Bobby Minor: I I think I would a I would add to that and you can tell me what you think about this also. If they can't tell you if your son tries out and they offer him a spot and they want you to pay it at the very least pay a deposit and they can't tell you which team he's going to be on and who's going to be that coach, then I would say that's a red flag also.

Brian Jacobus: Huge red flag. Yeah, a lot of these organizations have multiple teams at each gauge group. You're

Bobby Minor: Mm.

Brian Jacobus: paying for the age group, then next thing you know, you're on you're on a different team than you expect to be on, and and they they have a a sub-quality coach, let's say, and you know, eight or nine guys and they're always picking up guys. It's that sucks. So so yeah,

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Brian Jacobus: to your point, I I I I agree with you there with that for sure.

Bobby Minor: Alright, so this this is where this is where we'll wrap it up. I I've said it multiple times already. You play professionally, you've run organizations, you coach high school baseball, your son committed to TCU. Looking back, what's one decision that you've made during Ben's baseball journey that you'd handle differently if you if you had a do over?

Brian Jacobus: that's a good question. if I had a do over, Gosh, I would honestly not I I wouldn't do a whole lot different, but I probably would have caught we've always emphasized mental toughness and and mental skills. And it got to a point where it was a real challenge. And you know, if I if I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn't have let it go that far. so I I really would have focused, made a different decision on on on really understanding the the mental side. of the game, what mental toughness it takes, and trying to have that more as a as a component to his development than then it ended up being maybe a little later than I thought. So I would have I would have focused on that. He started lifting when he was you know age to lift and stuff like running and stuff. But I would say the biggest thing would be I would put a emphasis early on on being the most mentally tough player that you can be in really really having that be a focus on his development earlier rather than later.

Bobby Minor: One one bonus question before we wrap up. What is the what is the biggest thing that you think parents waste money on? You're a financial advisor. Biggest thing parents waste money on that they waste money on? What's what's the biggest thing you say, you know what, this is not this is not the wisest way to spend your money?

Brian Jacobus: traveling nationally when the player's not ready. Whether whether that be going to USA baseball NTIS or or going to the WWBA when there's four hundred and thirty-five teams and your team has no chance to win and you're just getting boat raced every game. Like I I would say really limit tracks at the end of the day s most colleges recruit regionally still. For the most part, there's a handful of elite players that are gonna play college nationally, but Generally speaking, if you're gonna play college baseball, you're probably gonna play pretty close to your home. And so I would say, you know, just really understand like you're probably wasting a lot of money on all those travel events that you don't really need to. And most local markets have good enough baseball to where you can, you can I believe time on the field is extremely important. And so that doesn't mean that you have to play in Georgia every weekend, you know, or Florida. Every weekend. So I would say, you know, just be careful about how many times you go nationally. You just don't really need to. And like the showcases and stuff, like at Perfect Game Rec, $799. It's like just to up, just for like, like Ben's ranked super low right now because he didn't go to his showcase. It's like his times aren't updated. It's like, well, who cares? So like travel, showcases, you know, stuff like that, like just think about that a little bit than just like doing everything. I don't think you need to do everything. That being said, Ben's played a lot and we've traveled a lot, but I would say probably didn't need to quite as much.

Bobby Minor: Alright, good stuff. So Brian, if anybody wants to follow you on social media, where can they find you and follow you?

Brian Jacobus: bjacobas14 at gmail or at Instagram is that's my email address. but my firm is Salt if you want to email me.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. If you wanna email Bri if you wanna email Brian, there's his email.

Brian Jacobus: my financial business is Salt River Wells. you can find me there. But yeah, I'm pretty active on Twitter and and and Instagram with BJacobas14.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. So you can hit up Brian, all that money that you're gonna save now by not traveling, he can help you invest it. And it'll give you kind of a a cushion or a parachute if your son is one of the ninety percent that don't play baseball beyond high school. He can he'll he'll make sure that you're still in a good spot. So all right Brian, thank you so much. Good luck

Brian Jacobus: Yeah, exactly. Thanks, Bobby. That's a nice plug.

Bobby Minor: to Ben and I I can't wait to to to meet y'all in person next time you're in Fort Worth.

Brian Jacobus: We're gonna be out there November thirteenth through fifteenth for for a twenty twenty-seven visit. I'll hit you up when we're there.

Bobby Minor: Absolutely do it. I'll I'll take you I'll take you to a really good barbecue place. So all right, Brian.

Brian Jacobus: I love it. Sounds good. Thanks Bobby. Appreciate it.

Bobby Minor: Take care.