32: MLB Vet Jay Jackson | Why Are Parents Flying 8-Year-Olds Across the Country for Baseball?

Show Notes

Why are baseball parents flying 8-year-olds across the country for travel baseball? Former MLB pitcher Jay Jackson questions the youth baseball rankings, expensive tournaments, and pressure that have become so common at an early age.

Jay spent 17 years playing professional baseball, including time with six Major League teams and in Japan. In this episode of the Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast, he joins Bobby Minor to share what he learned about player development, choosing the right opportunities, handling disappointment, and helping young players enjoy the game.

In this episode we cover:

• Why Jay believes parents put too much importance on baseball rankings for 8U–12U players
• The money families spend flying young players across the country for travel baseball tournaments
• How Jay went from being projected as a second-to-fourth-round draft pick to getting selected in the ninth round
• Why he chose Furman University and how academics, family, and his relationship with the coach influenced that decision
• What playing professionally in Japan taught him about fundamentals and the quality of practice
• What Jay looks for in young pitchers that parents often overlook
• What a dad should say to his 12U pitcher after giving up six runs
• The emotional story of his son spending 166 days in the NICU and what Jay hopes his children remember about him

Jay also shares the years he spent waiting for his Major League opportunity, what happened when he didn't make Toronto's Opening Day roster despite a strong spring training, and why he created the S.M.I.L.E. Zone to help young players with the mental side of baseball.

If you're a baseball parent trying to decide which teams, tournaments, rankings, and opportunities are actually worth your money, this conversation will give you plenty to think about before you spend another dollar.

🎙️ Host: Bobby Minor

⚾ Guest: Jay Jackson, former MLB pitcher and founder of the S.M.I.L.E. Zone

🎧 Podcast: Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast

Connect with Jay Jackson:

Instagram: @jaxland58

S.M.I.L.E. Zone community: https://smilezone.app/

🔔 Subscribe to Chasing Baseball Dreams on YouTube so you don't miss future interviews with Major League players, coaches, and baseball parents. You can also listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

#JayJackson #YouthBaseball #TravelBaseball #BaseballParents #ChasingBaseballDreams

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.

Jay: people are flying their kids that eight years old across the country to go play in tournaments. Like that makes no sense to me, honestly. Like, there's just like if you love baseball that much and your kid loves baseball that much, and you're not doing it for yourself, like I'm pretty sure you could get him to be with his friends and play somewhere closer,

Bobby Minor: Welcome back to the Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast. I'm laughing. Because I feel like whenever I do it, I sound like I'm trying to be like a radio announcer. Welcome back to the Chasing Baseball Dreams podcast. But seriously, welcome back to Chasing Baseball Dreams. Today I've got former Major League pitcher Jay Jackson with me. Jay spent 17 years in professional baseball. He pitched for six Major League teams, pitched in Japan. He's been all over the world. He was originally drafted in 2008, but didn't get his big league call up until 2015. Now he's coaching and mentoring young players traveling all over the country back and forth between Florida and Utah but Jay I appreciate you being here man

Jay: No, I appreciate you having me. It's such an honor and a pleasure to be here and thank you for just for sure having me have and be here for sure.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. And Jay and I we go way back, like three weeks ago. We met we met in Iowa at the Field of Dreams. We were both invited to participate in the the Field of Dreams, the celebrity baseball influencer event, which I still don't know why they didn't ask you to be to to be in the home run derby. Just I know you're a pitcher, but still.

Jay: I was hoping they were going to. I guess I just asked too late, honestly, but I don't think it was just 'cause I asked too late. I think that, you know, me being a pitcher they were just like, No, we're gonna do it

Bobby Minor: Yeah. Now how c how good could you hit when you were like when you were growing up?

Jay: I was actually a two-way player up until I got drafted. And then my technically my first official at bat, I think, or first one of my first two official at bats, I actually hit a home run. So

Bobby Minor: well.

Jay: I mean in the pros, like I I wasn't too shabby as a pitcher. I think my career was pretty bad. But I think in the pros, like ultimately it was terrible. I don't think I ever got a hit, but those guys are a little bit that's why they're pro pitchers and not you know, in the minors anymore, right? I wasn't a professional

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Jay: I wasn't a professional hitter at that point. I was a professional pitcher. So I can understand why I didn't have any, but I hit pretty well throughout my whole college career, I felt like, and then even like I said in the minors when pitchers could hit, I felt like I was pretty decent. So I got the jobs done. I got some bunts down, I got some RBIs. I think I had every offensive category that you could have. I had a I have a check mark beside it in the minors.

Bobby Minor: All right. Who so who do you think who's the best hitting pitcher that you've ever seen?

Jay: it's gotta be Shohei, right?

Bobby Minor: Well, okay, okay, okay. Let's back up. Let's back up a few like not counting Shohei. Yeah, you got me there. I I forgot. before

Jay: This was a show here's gotta 'cause I fa I got to face him and see him when he did both like consistently, right? So he's gotta

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Jay: be he's gotta be mine for sure on that, but I'll I'll I can

Bobby Minor: Okay. Before they added the DH in the national league, who's the best hitting pitcher you've ever seen?

Jay: I think there's probably two or three guys, right? That just pop off the top of my head that I can think of. And one of them's my friend Dontro Willis is in there for sure. Dontre

Bobby Minor: yeah. Yeah.

Jay: could really swing it. also I would say Carlos Zambrano. Got to see him up

Bobby Minor: Mm.

Jay: close and personal when I was with the Cubs when I got drafted and going to big league spring trainings and seeing you know, the pitchers hit and how we used to all hit together and stuff like that. And then one other guy that I always like to see well two other ones now that I think about it too. One was Zach Grinky who I can always remember getting

Bobby Minor: Mm.

Jay: hits all the time. And then Madison Baumgartner. So

Bobby Minor: yeah, okay, mad bum for sure. I don't know did you ever see Giovanni Gallardo hit?

Jay: I saw him a few times, yeah.

Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah, he's he I th he I don't know about just pure hitting, but I know he'd hit some bombs. He's actually from Fort Worth and we went to the same high school a few years apart, but you know, he he was he could swing it a little bit. all right, so Jay, you've talked about expecting to be drafted anywhere between the second and fourth rounds, but you ended up going in the ninth. How did you keep somebody else's evaluation of you from affecting what you believed about yourself as a player?

Jay: You know, it's tough. You have to go through it and you have to see the bigger picture ultimately, right? You have to know what your dreams are and what you're trying to accomplish realistically. And I think that's ultimately what it was, one. But two, having a great support system to help me believe in that and want to go further and do greater things and figure it out and not quit on my dreams just because somebody else told me no, right? 'Cause sometimes and a lot of times it takes not only yourself, it takes the people around you to make sure that that you know you keep striving for what you're going for because you can't always be upbeat and happy yourself as much as I try to. I still can't. I need also other people to give me those energies and those vibes and make sure that I'm still remembering who I am and why I'm doing the things I'm doing as well because they believe in me as well too.

Bobby Minor: That's good. So like what kind of conversations that you were you having that led you to believe that you might be picked as soon as this night as the second round and then what ultimately happened that that caused you to drop to the ninth round? Which still I mean nine first ten rounds is still pretty legit.

Jay: Yeah, first ten rounds, especially at that time, was definitely legit, right? And that's the

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Jay: only time everybody was in the slot too, though. So you had to normally take whatever that was. After the tenth round back then, you could ask for whatever or really go back to school because it just didn't equate. But I got those questions just because I was a two-way player in college in my junior year. I hit close to three forty and I was playing baseball very well at a high level and I was honestly for most of that year in the NCAA I was leading the l I was leading the nation in wins or I was tied for the nation and wins. I ended up being like nine and at a certain point and I had like

Bobby Minor: wow.

Jay: a sub three, sub two ERA at a certain point too. So I was having a really good year and so just me being able to pitch in hit, I was getting offers to do Both possibly because I was at the time I was still fast, too. I was running like a 6'6, 6'7, 60 at the same time, too. So I was playing really good baseball, and I felt like you know, all the conversations I was having just because of the level I was at at that time, and the fact that me being technically a younger junior, I was at the time still 20 and I was a junior, so I still was developed mentally, they could still work with it. It wasn't like I they were getting you know a fifth-year senior or something like that, they were getting a very young junior. at the time too so they were getting to my earlier in their career and so I was getting told a lot of those things. I was getting told that from a lot of scouts, a lot of you know area scouts. I went down to Atlanta for East Cobb for a couple workouts for the Atlanta Braves and those guys told me you know I was gonna be anywhere between the second they gave me the numbers from anywhere between the second and like the sixth round and so I was projected pretty high at that time and so you know I don't know what happened. I after I didn't get Picked in the first day. I'll I'll get you a copy of the book as well, but it's in my book that after I didn't get picked in the first day, you know. I heard from everybody. I heard from like twenty teams after the first day of the draft that were like, well you didn't get picked, like what's it gonna take for you to sign? I'm like, Well now, you know, it's more like can I go back to school? Like should I go back to school and have a better year? Because even if I'm a senior, I'm still a young senior at this point, so I still

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Jay: have a little bit of leverage. So it was okay, what's the best options? And then ultimately the second day started happening as well and again I didn't even know that I was drafted, so then it came down to just kinda Of negotiations, and at that point, I had actually, like I said, went up to Cape Cod because I was supposed to play in the Cape Cod League that summer and taking BP, negotiating with you know the guys from the Cubs, and I was actually supposed to start at first base the first couple games because our first baseman up there at the time I think was supposed to be Ben Paulson, I believe. And he was they were in the college world series. So I was actually gonna get to play the infield and play a position against you know the best pitchers in the nation to see. how I stacked up actually and I was gonna take that chance but then ultimately we came to a good number and my agent and my friends and family we all decided it was better for me to go ahead and start my career early just to see and give myself the best chance and took the opportunity.

Bobby Minor: Right? Pretty wild story, but now here's what I heard in all of this. Here's what I heard in

Jay: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: all of this. You were Shohei before Shohei. Yeah. Yeah.

Jay: Somewhat. You know, somewhat. I'm not gonna say that I was or I wasn't, but you look at like that time in baseball, I feel like we had a lot of those guys that were doing that. Like I was my career I think as a two way player stacks up there with a lot my junior year definitely stacks up there with a lot of guys in in baseball history. I don't know where it does, but I know that you know, I didn't have too bad of a junior year. I was like nine and two I believe and then hitting wise, like I said, I was close to three forty with I think I had eight home runs and I ended up not being able to hit the last I think two or three weeks of the season of the regular season going into the playoffs because I had dove head first into home play on a tag up play and I cut my hand my left hand on the catcher Shenguard and so I cut it completely open and I had to get it stitched up so I couldn't hit but they still let me they still let me pitch I would I would actually go out there and pitch and they would just tape my hand up a little bit so I could actually just barely be able to fill the ball and catch and I did that for a couple weeks and then once the stitches healed up I was back to kinda hitting again.

Bobby Minor: How many steels did you have?

Jay: in the career I think I had maybe close to thirty, but I think my junior year I think I had maybe ten. Like eight to ten maybe, somewhere in there. Like I probably could have had

Bobby Minor: Okay. right. All right. See.

Jay: more, but I ended up like they told me not to take off as much my junior year just because of the I was I was playing first base, I was playing outfield sometimes, and I was our Friday night starter. So and then on our

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Jay: Friday nights when I would start, I would start and then I would come out of the game starting and go to D H. So

Bobby Minor: You no days off. No days off. It sounds like sounds cliche, but it was it was reality for you. So all

Jay: Nein, I would yeah.

Bobby Minor: right, so let's talk talk a little bit about college. So you chose Furmin, partly because

Jay: Mm-hmm.

Bobby Minor: it allowed you to stay close to your younger sister. So I know family's really important

Jay: Yes.

Bobby Minor: to you. I've got parents spending thousands chasing the biggest biggest college programs for their sons, okay? That they're all about the name. What would you tell those families about choosing a school that's actually the right fit?

Jay: That's the biggest thing. That was one of the biggest things for me. I mean, one Fermin gave me a great offer and great deal to go there. And it was just one of the more academically successful schools too, which my parents were big on academics as well. But then like you said, me being close to family and the coach there, I say he tricks me, but I'm thankful that he did ultimately because of the career that I did have. But he told me that I was gonna be able to play college basketball there too. So I was gonna be able to play two way baseball and then also be able to play basketball as well. Gonna give me a chance to do that because he actually did it in college. And so he had actually been talking to me honestly since my freshman year high school, not like as recruiting me, but we he had a couple other recruits that were gonna go to Furman on the same team, like that I would play on in the fall, and he saw me, and then we just built a good relationship just talking through other teammates, seeing how he was and how much he did care about people ultimately. And I think that's what's missing in a lot of the baseball programs nowadays, and that's what I realized was missing, and that's what ultimately is. led me to create the smile zone too is because a lot of the guys that I ended up coaching last year when I was a coach for the MLB Draft League with the West Virginia Black Bears and those guys and we ended up winning the championship they told me that they developed more with me in that couple months that they had me and they really only had me about a month and a half, two months apiece really and they said they realistically developed a lot of them. I'm not going to say everybody because I know some of them I wasn't able to help as much as I probably could have should have ultimately and I hope they understand that that's not my intention obviously but the ones that did and I did help they said they developed more with me and had more success with me than they had realistically in the last four to five years, six years from high school and college. So you know, I mean it and I wasn't really analytical. I wasn't that data driven. I I played the game long enough to understand kind of what was going on to a certain certain degree. But I feel like You know, we've lost that kind of touch with the kids where it used to be the the the coaches cared and wanted us to develop because we were gonna be there for three years and we're gonna be able to help at a certain point and they could piece this together and fit a team together. Now I feel like they worry about their not their ego so much, but they worry about their wins, right? They worry about how much and how quick they can get the wins and how much and how long they can stay because I mean everything's about money and the ultimate statistics now. But I mean people have to realize still at the same point, there's only been around twenty five thousand major league baseball players ever. truly ever. Like that's the one percent of the one percent of the one percent to a certain degree. And so ninety-nine percent of the kids, as much as we want to say that they're gonna be that we're gonna strive to be that, we're we're not. We're some of us are gonna a lot of us are gonna fall short, but we can still enjoy the game and love the game and have a great foundation and not leave the game, you know, upset and being pissed off about certain things because the right people weren't around us. We didn't have the right support system, right? And it was about the numbers, not about us being in And learning the lessons that should be learned and how we can be better people and use that to make other people happy and use the game to be happy ourselves.

Bobby Minor: That's good stuff, man, parents. I hope you're out there listening. this is pure gold from from Jay. So, all right, so you got drafted, you moved through the minors pretty quickly early on, but then it seemed like you you got you spent years in triple A before finally getting called up. So during those years when you weren't getting, you know, that opportunity, what kept you going and what were you doing to get better?

Jay: Family, family, faith, honestly a lot of a lot of both of those just you know, going through being a prospect and then falling off the kind of organizational map per se. But I was still again, I was still young at the time. I was think was like three years into triple A or something like that, and I was still like twenty two and so I was really young and I was in 'cause I made it to Triple A when I was I think twenty one and yeah, so twenty two going in To my third year in AAA. I think I was turning 23 after the season, so something like that. But yeah, family just realizing like making sure I was happy and realizing the dream and that they were gonna support me. Like I said, it goes to the support system ultimately, and the people around us and who we ultimately put around us. And I had great parents and great people around me throughout the seasons of my life that were able to keep me going and have me have reasons to keep going. And I think one big changing point in my life. I I always tell the story is I was about to get married to my ex-wife and we were laying in bed and literally we were supposed to get married that offseason and at the time I a lot of people I don't think really understand how bad the pay was for minor leaguers back in the day. But you know, we were making less than you know a thousand bucks a month at some cases, plus you had to pay rent and everything else in different cities and you're traveling and you're trying to have a family and live and all these things. And so I'm trying to figure out is baseball gonna be the route that I'm gonna go because you know I'm not getting paid a lot and I needed to go to Winter ball, and a lot of us use winter ball to kind of supplement our incomes throughout the years. and I've been laying there and I just asked God, I was Hey, if baseball's what I'm supposed to do, like let me know and like give me a sign because you know I need to figure out for this family and for myself like what's gonna happen. Because I was like, I know we'll always figure it out, but I need a sign to know like if I need to keep continue pouring all this that I have into this or if it needs to be something else realistically, right? And literally the next day or the two days later. Agent calls me and like, hey, have a team that's willing to sign you for the offseason and they're gonna let you go home for your wedding, but you can't go on a honeymoon, but you can go home for your wedding. As long as you come back, they're gonna allow you to do that and pay for your flight there and your flight back and pay you and not like take those days out of your pay either. And all this I was like, okay, perfect, okay, thank you. Okay, this is what I'm supposed to do. And so realistically, like after that day, like I just started enjoying baseball so much more because I was just more grateful. Grateful for just being out there and the time out there, and I feel like that just changed my mindset and changed my life. We were I was talking to some kids and some parents actually, and one of my other coaches that works with me with the smile zone. I was talking to some parents about that today. It's like the mindset shift that you have to have through a lot of this stuff to continue going, but to figure out, like, okay, what's where am I at with myself and what am I enjoying with this? Because if I'm not enjoying it, then the journey is gonna be worse than me even wanting to play in the money or anything else, like I'm gonna regret it. So just that was my mindset shift that I had and you know the the guy who was with me his name's Jalen Davis he you know kind of said the same thing. He ended up playing for I think four more five more years after me and him had we were in rehab together for the Giants and he said that he was kind of in a bad spot and then he met me and kind of the same thing. Like I was being grateful even though I was in rehab I had just torn my hamstring completely and I had torn it and then pitched in that after afternoon in that game and then after I did that I figure I found out that I had tore it and he was in rehab and he was just kind of upset going through the rehab and the motions and being around me kinda helped him. So, you know, it's just that mindset shift and he said that's when his mind shift shift kinda happened and he ended up getting back to the big leagues again, playing well and retiring happy and now enjoying the game of baseball again and wanting to give back, right? I think that's the thing.

Bobby Minor: That's good, that's good. So you also spent several years playing and pitching in Japan. What did you see over there and how players practiced and developed that you wish more youth baseball coaches and parents understood here in the States?

Jay: I don't know if it's understand it, but it's take the good and pick the positives out of it, right? It's the fundamentals that they work on a lot of times. It's not, you know, the flashy stuff or trying to go viral. It's literally the work that they put in, even though I like to say a lot of times they do a lot more Quantity than quality work. I think the quality of the work's definitely the most things that you can do. I think if you get, you know, good reps in all the time and you're focused on those reps and you're disciplined on those reps, those are gonna be better than just doing reps, but you have to make sure that you do the reps. And I think that's what we don't realize. Like all these flashy plays that these big leaguers make and these plays that these big leaguers make are because their fundamentals are so solid that then instincts and athletics take over. And I think that's what we forget is that once you're good at the fundamentals and have a good foundation then great things happen because you're able to rely on those foundations and those fundamentals to get you through those moments, right? Like guys don't just rob home runs just because you know they're they're super talented there, yeah, but they've worked on those things. They have good foundations and fundamentals and know exactly where the walls at. They work on this stuff every day. And it's not to make the play, to make the highlight play. It's just they're going to make the play and then everything else takes over.

Bobby Minor: That's that's good stuff there. Man, I just realized my logo, my podcast logo, it's usually right here on my screen and it's not there. So it just it just threw me off. so and people need to realize like like it's not like you've been out of the game like for years and years and years. Like, I mean, you know, in twenty twenty-three, so three years ago, you had eight scoreless outings and spring training with Toronto, okay? But you still didn't make the opening day roster. What did that experience teach you about baseball decisions that parents need to understand when their own son isn't getting the opportunity that they think that he earned?

Jay: It's you know At that point, you know, you you have to take the lemons and turn into lemon eight to a certain degree, right? Like that's where I look to look at it. That's what my dad tells me and that's what we keep trying to do. And I mean, after that spring training, I had a great spring training, I didn't make the roster, but I had a clause in my contract where I could like get out of the team and go find a better situation and which I did and then, you know, the first thing Toronto said was, you know, if you don't hear and you don't get a big league offer, we're gonna give you the best. Offer that you know anybody else is going to give you, and you're gonna be you know our first guy that we call. And I'm like, okay. And I and that's one thing that I take for I don't take for granted from Toronto, but they were they were people of their word a lot, too. So it showed me, you know, baseball in your workings, you have to trust people at the same point, but you have to be again, it's the support system. Like I said, it goes from my family from getting me through all the tough times to trusting you know the Blue Jays front office that they're gonna be truthful to their word and believing them in. Support that they gave me not only through spring training, but through that year, which we'll talk about later, because I know this is a question coming up as well. But the support that they gave me and the people around me, right? And that's ultimately the community that we're building with the smile zone and the people that we're wanting to have around, you know, the next generation of kids and parents that are going through this with them is you know the positive and happy support system that you we can give those kids and the community that we can give them to make sure that they're great and happy and want to do positive things for more. people and continue that c continue the smile away.

Bobby Minor: Good man, that's good. That's good. no wonder you smile so much when we're at Field of Dreams. Now now I get it.

Jay: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: so after playing professionally for 17 years and then coaching pitchers in the MLB Draft League, what's something that you look for in a young pitcher that most parents wouldn't even think to pay attention to?

Jay: The joy of the game. I mean, I feel like we put so much pressure on these kids because we're making it so like almost professionalized at such a young age now that we're not letting these kids just have that joy of the game anymore and letting them just have fun with their friends again. Like we're making everything a competition and let them have the competitions between each other because they'll ultimately be competitive because they're kids in a competitive sport. But we don't need to put that pressure. I think we you have to look at that joy and the dead and the discipline that the that some some of these kids have. have to what they're doing. Like if they're enjoying themselves like throwing you know 10 pitches in a row and wanting to hit the same spot, let them enjoy it. If they get hit two of them or three of them, like okay, well. But he threw he threw 10 strikes in a row. Be successful in that, you know what I mean? He's enjoying doing that. Like that's the whole thing. And you know, I think that's the main thing because the more they can have fun with it, the more confident they'll be with it to make mistakes and continue to grow at it and be better at it and try to figure ways out of it later on in life. Yeah.

Bobby Minor: So, okay, you spend a lot of time teaching the middle side of baseball through your smile zone. Okay. So I'm gonna ask you a question and then we're gonna come back to smile zone because that way you can tell tell people give people more details on it, because they're like, what is the smile zone? Like is he a dentist? Is he an orthodontist? you know, what what does he do? But so

Jay: Mm.

Bobby Minor: let's say, so picture a 12-year pitcher, okay? He

Jay: Mm-hmm.

Bobby Minor: just gave up six runs and he is crushed. He's getting in the car with his dad. What should that dad say to him on the ride home? So answer that, and then we'll come back. And I want you to tell us more about the smilezo.

Jay: What should the the dad should just tell him first of all that he loves watching him play. Like I enjoyed being there with you, right? Like You know, how like are you like first of all ask him if he's happy. Like that's my dad that was the first question my dad asked me. I put a little spin on it, but the first question is, are you happy? Like if you're happy like, okay, why are you not happy? It's like, okay, well, I didn't have a good inning. Well, you know, then you find the good things in that inning. You know, you find the positives to help him learn and then he learns from those good things instead of okay, at the end of the day, you ask yourself the goods and the bads, what could you do differently? How can you be better? Regardless of it's perfect or not. Right. But at the same point, you find out the positives first and work on those and learn from those. And then you can learn from the negatives because they're gonna come with it. But you can't just harp on the negatives and be why do you do this? You have to first ask them, how do you like how do you feel? Are you happy? Like I love being there for you first. Like I'm only there for you first, right? Like I'm not there, like you shouldn't be there for you. You should be there for them. Like that's number one. So after that, then you can listen to okay, now we can figure out what's the next steps. How can we make you better? How can you learn from this too?

Bobby Minor: good that's good so okay so tell us a little bit more about the smile zone

Jay: So the Smile Zone is now a free community where we've built it into a free community where anybody can join. So hopefully we'll have you join as well. Bobby, we'll have you on there and have you as one of our affiliates too. But it's a free community that we're on there with me and a few guys from all around baseball, where it's gonna be former pros in the free community that's gonna chime in from time to time. We're gonna have, you know, some possibly Savannah Banana players, some cosmic baseball players from time to time chime in that are gonna give advice in the free community. But in the free community, You get, you know, just a just a bunch of good positive people. I have a bunch of my coaches that, like I said, come on from time to time and are in there that give advice and show everybody what they're doing. It's kind of like a social media, good positive social media thing for parents, kids, coaches, everybody that's just wanting to be. It's a free community for everybody, but then you get into the curriculum, which is baseball specific. But in the free community as well, we have different mindset questions that go out every day, and also a training. Vault of baseball, like videos from our coaches about different situations are why we're gonna have different themes for each week that we're gonna start putting on there as well. But it's gonna be just everybody's gonna be on there to just talk, you know, baseball questions, life questions. Again, you never know who might pop in the free community. But then the true smile zone is the 48-week curriculum that I've built. That's the mindset curriculum that's baseball-centric right now, where each week is a different mindset thing for. kids and they just learn how to be better people and better players off the field which will translate to better success and more confidence and more resilience and how to handle things on the field in the situations that are gonna ul ultimately be the edge, I think, in a lot of players and a lot of organizations.

Bobby Minor: That's good. So what does smile stand for?

Jay: Smile stands for start making intentional life efforts. and like I said, it's the whole essence of it is to make happy, positive people and have a great support system and make sure kids, like I said, are enjoying what they're doing. And the cool thing about the Smile Zone is in the premium community, once you buy the curriculum, which the curriculum I just had somebody mention it today that you know, all these kids and parents are spending money on like being in national baseball teams and these AU teams and all this stuff, and spending so much money, right? But they said that they didn't want to spend more money on making their kids better with the smile zone because they felt like it was only for the kids that are looking to get further in baseball where this program's not just for that. It's for everybody, especially the curriculum, because it's gonna make every kid better on and off the field. And if 95% of these kids don't make it to the big leagues, then you still want to have a good foundation for them. You still want them to be better people and you still want them to know who they are and not leave the game upset, right? So it's not just for kids that wanna be professional baseball players. I hope that most of the kids do, but this is for every kid kid every parent the like that's just you know a great way to learn from people that have been in certain situations but the best thing about it as well is if you kids do want to be a professional you can also hire us as mentors as well so then you can get the added bonus of you know talking personally for an hour or 30 minutes a month to a former big leaguer if that's what your kids want to do as well.

Bobby Minor: That's really, really good. Lots of lots of value there. And you you don't have to pay anything if you don't want to. You can be a part of the free community. So I'm I'm gonna ask about other things. So where can people find out about the smile zone?

Jay: You can find out about it with following me on Instagram at Jackslin58 J A X L A N D 58. You can also find, you know, I'm connected to the SmileZone, the SmileZone IG is Smile underscore zone app on IG. But the main website where you can find all the information, join the free community, is smilezone.app. So you can find everything on that website, and that gives you the rundown of the curriculum topics, the different phases we have, all the different coaches that we have. That'll be your mentors, that'll chime in, that'll be there for you. But then also you can get information on my personal website, therealjackson.com, J-A-Y Jackson.com, where I have a free mindset guide. You can get linked to the community. You can get also a free copy of my book. All you do is pay for shipping. And you get a our free cre a free weekly newsletter that I put out as well.

Bobby Minor: So is there a fake J. Jackson out there? Since you're the real

Jay: There might be. There might be. I hope there's not. I hope if there is a fake one that he's smiling too. I hope he does I

Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jay: hope he holds it down for me enough that he continues to smile and he's not doing something else. But like yeah, I I hope there's not a fake one.

Bobby Minor: Okay. All right. so just a couple more questions and and we're gonna we we will wrap up this episode. For players that are eight to twelve, what would you say to the parents? What do you think are it's a two part question. What what are what are what's something that you think parents worry way too much about when their kids eight to twelve? Something that doesn't matter the way they think it matters, and what do you think is the biggest waste of money for those same players?

Jay: eight to twelve is rankings. Like you're eight years old. Like there these rankings the attention span of most eight to twelve year olds are like Zero, right? It's I was just talking to a parent today about it. Like once you get to like eleven, twelve, thirteen, which is when most kids stop playing these sports because that eight to twelve we've made such a pro rankings based system and we're focusing on the wrong things, right? That the kids that are now getting older don't play. But I think we focus on those rankings too much and again we spend money on All these tournaments far away where flying kids people are flying their kids that eight years old across the country to go play in tournaments. Like that makes no sense to me, honestly. Like, there's just like if you love baseball that much and your kid loves baseball that much, and you're not doing it for yourself, like I'm pretty sure you could get him to be with his friends and play somewhere closer, and you can get a team together, great tea kids in your area that'll do the same thing. You can stay in that area where it's driving distance. Because honestly, for me that's what I did. My we only flew like a couple places when I was growing up in AAU baseball. Most of our games were in the Southeast. We all stayed close together. We had a bunch of great guys. We all went as far as we all kind of wanted to take it or as far as we could take it right and I don't think any of us felt bad about it, you know, but I felt like we didn't spend a lot of money that we that we were flying all over the place and that my parents were getting asked for me to go to these camps and stuff like that. I got asked to go to you You know, top hundred perfect game stuff, area code stuff. And my parents were like, you know what? Like, if you're as good as you say you are and you want to play against other people, like they'll find you where you're at if you're that good, right? And so I was like, I respect that. And I wish I would have went to some of the more like prestigious ones, because I think I probably would have got drafted higher and my career could have been a little bit different. But everything happens the way it's supposed to. But I think that's what we spend too much money on, is like flying kids places and you know trying to put on the perfect facade for these kids to To be viral and be social media stars or have virality and stuff like that, right? I don't think that's what we need. I think we just need to have the kids enjoy the game, learn the fundamentals, play the game the right way, and continue playing that game from 12 to 13 to 17, 18. I think that's why, again, it goes back to the smiles, and those are our target audience kids. It's like that 11 to 17, 18-year-old age range because we learn, I feel like most of us, like as old as I am, I'm not that old, right? But But I feel like even the generations before me, we learned a lot of our life lessons and a lot of our support that we had and the people, good people around us, and that were trying to make sure we were doing positive stuff, were normally through sports. And we had good mentors and we had good people around us because they were like, okay, you're doing something positive. Where now everybody wants to be on their phone, they're looking at social media, even though we're on social media right now, right? I'm hoping people are watching this and they want to join my community. But it's what's your algorithm? What are you plugging into your algorithm ultimately, right? And I'm trying to be a Bridge to a community not only in baseball but in life that is a positive, happy, joyous community where if you want to be a baseball player, we have the mentors and have the people and have everything you need to be there, and you're gonna get more than you're probably gonna get from most of your coaches because they've not been anywhere near the level that all our coaches and the people that are around me are. Because I was talking to one of the kids' parents today about where are you really gonna find five to six guys that have big league experience and have been in professional baseball. Playing professional baseball ten plus years apiece, but also have been in the game longer than that and are willing to give back to the kids and you get to hear us talk and be around each other and get that knowledge that you're probably not gonna get from anybody else. Like one of my kids I recently just had, he's been working with me for like a month and a half, and he went from one like the third third tier pitcher on his on his silver team to like the second or number one on his gold team within You know, a month and a half, and it wasn't just because of the arm talent. He's even said, and his dad said it's because of how he's on the mound now, how he feels on the mound, and that's what you get when you realistically get with mentors, right? And anything you get to learn those different things. Like if you're a businessman, you normally have a business mentor. If you're a surgeon, you normally have you know you're interning, right? But baseball is the only place where you most of these guys now are getting developed by people who've never played, which is

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Jay: Crazy to me. But then people look at me and what I'm doing, and I'm not trying to step on their toes, right? But we're not getting, you know, the feedback that we really want right now. And I understand it, but it's I think it's gonna come, and I feel like what we're doing is the right thing, and as long as we are focused on the kids and focused on doing the right thing and giving the right value, that it's gonna grow and it's gonna be the right thing for a lot of people. It's gonna be very, very beneficial for the right for the right people and for the right group of people. It's gonna change, you know, the trajectory and you know, a lot of community.

Bobby Minor: do the right thing for the right reason, you can't go wrong. So now

Jay: There go.

Bobby Minor: and you made me think it's to me the only time it makes sense to fly when you're younger, if you live in Alaska, okay, I get it. You know what I

Jay: Yes.

Bobby Minor: mean? Like there's probably not a lot of baseball in Alaska. It's not easy to get around. Okay, but no, you know, I'm saying that kind of tongue in cheek, but like seriously, so really good stuff there. So all right, Jay, we're gonna switch gears completely and this is where we're gonna kinda wrap up our time together. you've talked very openly about your son spending a hundred and sixty-six days in in ICU, okay? After everything you and your family went through, what do you most want your sons to remember about you as a father long after they've forgotten you played in the major leagues?

Jay: That I was there and I was happy. You know what I mean? Like I try to be there for him as much as I can and even like I said, that season was crazy and I tried to be there as much as I could and I hope that you know when he looks back on it and he sees all this stuff and I have the actual game the lineup card from the again the day he was born, I actually pitched in that game which was crazy. I was actually got caught up the night before and so they were asking me if I was gonna play or not because she actually like I said, people don't know she had the Baby at like two o'clock in the morning, and I was actually getting on a flight at like 6 a.m. to go to Chicago from New York. So I actually pitched that day,

Bobby Minor: Yeah.

Jay: pitching that game. I got the win, and so I want him to realize that, like, you know, we fight through everything in resilience, but like to be happy and enjoy life, he's already the strongest person I know. So now it's just enjoy your life. I hope you and hope he understands that I was there for him and that I lived and I tried to be as happy as I can for him and every and the whole family, honestly. But definitely try. To make the best impression, the lasting impression for him to be, you know, the the next smiley jay for sure.

Bobby Minor: Smiley Jay, that's your nickname?

Jay: Yeah.

Bobby Minor: Alright, well yeah, okay, makes sense. So, all right, Jay, I I appreciate you so much. One last time, where can where can people find you and follow you on social media?

Jay: Follow me on social media at Jacksland58 J A X L A N D 58. And then you can follow the Smile Zone Smile underscore zone app. And then you can follow me on TikTok too. I'm at Smiley J Jackson on there. So I just started my TikTok. I didn't think I was gonna do one, but I've officially done one now. So but yeah, you can follow me on all of them and yeah, just chime in. But also I'm also All always on the app. I get notifications for it all the time. And like I said, we're trying to give as much value to as many people as we can to just be a more positive source. So smilezone.app, everybody come join the free community. It's again, it's free. You and you're getting value out of it. And we're trying to just, like I said, make sure we're there for the next generation of kids and parents and coaches that they can just be better and happier and better people and better leaders and everything else. And we're starting to smile and we're starting a softball division soon too. So be on the lookout for that.

Bobby Minor: Okay. Crazy question. Do you know CJ Beatty? Okay. I know, I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jay: I do know CJ. CJ CJ's all over the place all the time. I know CJ I know CJ's always doing something. He hit me up and then he'll he'll go float in the wind for a little bit and then I'll catch CJ again.

Bobby Minor: Yeah, no CJ's a great guy. All right. Last question.

Jay: I love CJ.

Bobby Minor: This is the absolute last question. You get out on a mound tomorrow, what are what are you gonna top out at? Where can you top out right now? Smiley smiley J Jackson.

Jay: right now I might be able to I might be a top out without hurting myself. If I was gonna hurt myself, I could probably get ninety, but if I'm not gonna hurt myself, probably like eighty five to eighty seven.

Bobby Minor: Okay. All right. Just curious. So J Man, I really, really appreciate you. good luck in all that you do and thank you so much for stopping by.

Jay: No problem. Thank you for having me, Bobby.