How does the grit and determination to become a professional athlete translate into the real world?

In this episode of Business Blindsports, James welcomes Major League Pitcher, Logan Verrett to talk about his journey of not being the best throughout most of his childhood, to digging in and winning a World Series ring.

Logan talks about his constant drive for resilience, dedication, and mental fortitude. He discusses why, although, he wasn't an athlete where everything came to him natural, he took his love for baseball and decided not making it to pros wasn't going to be an option.

Logan shares his journey including stories from his season in Korea, navigating cultural differences while enjoying the local hospitality and cuisine. He also shares insights into the mental game of baseball, the importance of a positive team environment, and how these experiences have shaped his business acumen in real estate. Logan also discusses some lighter moments from his career, including quirky pregame rituals and locker-room antics, and he offers his perspective on social media trends and their impact on mental toughness.

To connect with Logan, you can visit him at: https://www.compass.com/agents/logan-verrett/

Episode Breakdown:

• Logan shares his journey into his love for baseball
• Logan discusses his experience and his season in Korea
• Did Logan think he would make it to the pros right away?
• Why playing other sports was so crucial to his success
• When baseball really clicked for him
• Why children who excel at a really young age can hit problems later on
• Why athletes struggle with mental toughness despite talent
• Why Logan took on a Mentor role for aspiring players in baseball
• Why it's so natural for players to move into coaching
• Why clubhouse camaraderie is essential for lasting in baseball
• How supporting other's success can improve your own
• Building mental resilience requires incredible drive
• Mentorship and hard work lead to success
• Player pregame rituals

Everybody like, all my other friends that had that dream, it seemed like they always had, like, this backup plan. Like, this realization that, like, it's probably not a reality. Mhmm. I'm gonna go do this most likely. Hopefully, play college ball, but, like, most likely go do that afterwards. And I was like, nope. That's like, I don't care. Like, I know I'm not good enough yet, but I'm going to be good enough.

Welcome to Business Blind Spots podcast. Today's guest is former Major Leaguer pitcher, Logan Verret. He has translated his experience as a professional athlete into building one of DFW's top luxury real estate brands. Looking forward to learning more about him and his journeys. And, for more information on today's guest, go to the show notes. Also, please go to our podcast episodes on any major platform, podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music. Like, subscribe. Do us all a favor.

Thank you. How are you doing?

James, thanks for having me, man. It's an honor. Man.

The whole point of the show is to learn about you and your journeys and your challenges, which I'm sure you've had a lot, or maybe not. And and, maybe some people here listening to this podcast can learn some stuff through your journey that will make their journey a little better.

Yeah, man. I hope so. It's it's been a wild ride over the last 33 years. Seen a lot of different places, done a lot of different things, and here we are now DFW selling real estate. So

Well, there's a lot of it in in DFW to sell, but, let's go back to the beginning. So you were a Texas Rangers?

I was. So, yeah, originally drafted by the New York Mets. Went to Baylor. That's where I met my wife. So I guess that's kinda you wanna take it way back, which is ages ago now. But yeah.

I think I think are we even allowed to have a Baylor bear on the show? I mean, aren't we I

saw the TCM Cup over there. Yeah. I mean,

sorry, buddy. It's a little better. Yeah.

I'm more comfortable now. No. So that's yeah. That's where I met my wife. I got drafted by the Mets in 2011, kinda came up through the the system with them, ended up making my debut with the Rangers in 2015, which was, I mean, just, like, a dream come true. Right? Like, you're born in Texas. You're raised in Texas. My wife's family had season tickets.

I actually had, like, a a former teammate from Baylor that was on the team. So, I mean, just dream come true. Right? Pretty short lived. I was only there for about a month and, low man on the totem pole, so I was kind of the last one in, first one out. The second we had an injury, They shipped me back, traded me back to the Mets. I went back to triple a, ended up going back up to the big leagues, though, a little later that season, and we ended up making it to a world series that year. So that was Amazing. Pretty awesome.

Pretty fun run. Just goes to show you. I mean, everything happens for a reason. Right? Played with the Mets for a couple years after that. Got traded to the Orioles in 2017. Kind of bounced back and forth between the big leagues and triple a with them. At the end of that season, got designated for assignment, and my agent called me and said, hey, man. Would you ever be interested in playing overseas in Korea? And I had had a teammate on the Orioles that year that actually had done that and said it was amazing.

He had nothing but great things to say.

They love baseball over there.

Oh my gosh. It's like a World Cup soccer match. Right? Like, every single game with, like, the fans and the singing and the cheering, They're into it. Yeah. It's like their number one sport over there. So I said, yeah. I would be interested. You know? Like, what do you got? And, about a month or so later, he had a an offer from one of the teams over there, and I told my wife, I said, hey.

What do you think about this? And she's probably the one that was, like, pushing me to do it because she's way more adventurous. She loves to travel. She did a study abroad program when we were in college and lived in Maastricht. And so she was like, yeah. Let's go. We had a 10 month old son. She's like, yeah. Let's go.

Okay. And so we yeah. We we we played 1 season overseas in Korea. Had an amazing time. Anyways, came back. I mean, this is you're getting the full blown Yeah. Logan Verrett story right here. You know? But we came back after that season, ended up going to double a the next year with the a's and blew my elbow out.

And so Wow. That's kinda when, like, that light bulb went off. Like, baseball didn't last forever. You know? And I was, what, 7 years into my career at that point, And, I mean, most careers don't even last that long, you know, unless you're like a perennial all star or something like that. And so so I'm thinking, okay. I mean, I got a 12 to 14 on 3 half process on my elbow anyways. Like, what in the heck am I gonna do if I come back and I can't throw a baseball like I used to? What is plan b?

Mhmm.

And so that's kinda when the real estate door opened up, and we started going down that path. And, yeah, here we are.

So what was what was Korea like? I have I I you gave me just a 100 questions, but

Man, I'll start with they do spring training in the states, which was kind of kind of funky. And so we're in Tucson, Arizona, and I'm one of 2 Americans on the team. Right?

Mhmm.

Which is wild. And it's not like Spanish or another language that you kinda know a little bit. Right? Or you can, like, pick up one quickly. Like, no. You're I mean, you're you're like a newborn baby. You don't know, like, anything that they're saying. Yeah. So I had a translator that went with me everywhere.

The other American on the team played on the on the team the year before, so he kinda, like, took me under his wing. Right? And, like, showed me the ropes, told me what to do, what not to do. Because, I mean, that culture, it's all it's all respect and discipline. You know what I mean? It's very, like, straightforward. Yeah. Like Yeah. Which I love it, though, because when we finally got over there and we're living there, I mean, everything was so clean. The people were so nice.

Like, it was so safe. We had our like I said, we had our 10 month old son. Mhmm.

We

would take him to restaurants, and the restaurants are kinda like New York City. Right? Where, like, they're really small, and they're a lot of them are, like, family owned and, like, they that's that's all they do. They wake up, they go to the restaurant, they take the ultimate pride in, like, the product that they're putting out on the table for you, but they also take pride in, like, the customer experience. And so they would come and get our baby and, like, clap their hands and, like, I'm, like, what are they what are they doing? And my wife is, like, looking at our translator, like, what are they doing? He's, like, give them your baby. Like, what?

That's so bizarre. And he's,

like, yeah. They're they'll, like, hold it and walk around with them so you can enjoy your meal. And we're like

Oh, my

god. Okay. Yeah. Here you go. Yeah. Like, next thing we know, like, they're outside, like, walking around, like, the fountain and stuff like that.

That's so cool.

And we're just sitting there, like, hanging out, drinking soju, eating Korean barbecue, like, and our son is, like, entertained. It was amazing. Yeah. Like, he took his first steps over there. He had his first birthday over there, which was absolutely hysterical. He got dressed

in Seoul?

So we lived in in Masan, which is about 45 minutes outside of Busan. So if you're if you're looking at a map, like, Seoul is, like, obviously the big city. Right? Mhmm. That's the New York City. It's massive. It's on the north side.

It's, like, 12 9, 10 9 people there.

And, like, the entire, like, soul I guess, like, what we would call, like, a metroplex. Right? Like, DFW, there's 25,000,000 people. Oh

my god.

It's insane. Yeah. It's all high rises and stuff like that. Like, it just and it just goes on for miles.

So that interrupted you. So the first birthday?

First birthday. My wife's like, we're gonna have we're gonna throw him, like, a traditional Korean birthday. And so, like, he's wearing, like, the traditional, like, ham hanbok, like, like, full get up. He looks like a samurai warrior, and he's running. And it's, yeah. I mean, his birthday is May 18th. I think we might have had it, like, a week or 2 after that or something. We had some family flight, and it is so hot.

My son is sweating. Like, he's got this huge, like, handball going. It is the pictures are amazing, though. Yeah, man. We, like, thoroughly enjoyed our time over there. It was the food's incredible. That's probably, like, number 1. The food's incredible.

So my favorite foods, I Korean barbecue. Their their Korean hangover soup.

Yes. Oh, my god. You know what's funny is,

I'm hungry too.

We should talk about. Shouldn't had this podcast at lunchtime.

So hungry.

We had a Baylor reunion trip with, like, my, like, closest friends at Baylor. We we usually do it once a year. We rented an Airbnb last weekend at at, in Granbury. We're driving home, and me and my wife were like, oh, god. It's a marathon of drinking. Right? We felt like we're in college again. We're not. Like, we can't hang like we used to.

Yeah. So we're driving home. I'm like, hey. What do you think about ordering some, kimchi soup, having it delivered? And she's like,

it's the best idea you've ever had. Yeah. And

we did. I mean, we crushed it. And it was like the perfect day for her. And it's kinda cloudy and kinda rainy, kinda cold. And it's just yeah. The food, I mean, it's just unbelievable. And the experience too, like, you cooking it right there at the table. Mhmm.

You got Soju with you. You got some beer. Like, the youngest one at the table always has to pour. Mhmm. So my translator was the youngest. So he always had to pour. He had to cook. Nice.

You know? Win win. Yeah. Exactly. Unbelievable experience, though. Yeah. I loved it.

Did you expect to be drafted? Did you have heads up that they were gonna draft you?

I did. When I was in high school, like, I was it's like an okay player, I guess. You know, like, I figured I could go play in college, at least somewhere. You know? And then I think it was going into my senior year. I I had a really good summer, you know, and, like, started getting recruited by, like, big 12 schools, some SCC schools. TCU was one of them. You know, so I'm like, oh, man. These are colleges I've heard of before.

Like, okay. That's exciting. And I had an, like, an unreal senior season. I think it was, like, 4 a player of the year, all that stuff. So I thought I was gonna get drafted out of high school. I didn't, which is a good thing. I needed to go to college. I needed to do all that.

To college, I had a really good freshman year. I got invited to the Team USA trials with, like, Gary Cole and Trevor Bauer and Sonny Gray and, all, like I mean, just the names there were guys that are still playing in the big leagues, you know, guys that were 1st rounders. Anyways, so after my freshman year, I was like, man, this is like a legitimate route for me going to play professional baseball, making it to the big leagues, sticking around for a while. Like, this could be a career for me

Mhmm.

Which is what I always wanted. You know, every kid, like, Little League, stuff like that, they'll they'll be like, yeah. I'm gonna I wanna be a big leaguer one day. Like, that was me. Mhmm. And then, like, as you get to middle school, junior high, high school, whatever, like, you kinda start to realize, like, alright. Maybe I'll be, like, an engineer or, you know, whatever you Truck driver. Yeah.

You know? Like, whatever. You know,

you're having to write, like, reports in English class. I'm like, what are you gonna be when you're gonna when you grow up? You know? Mhmm. I, like, wrote about baseball. Like, that's what I'm gonna do. Mhmm. And, like, it started, like, realizing, like, everybody like, all my other friends, I had that dream. It seemed like they always had, like, this backup plan. Like, this realization that, like, it's probably not a a reality.

Mhmm. I'm gonna go do this most likely. Hopefully, play college ball, but, like, most likely go do that afterwards. And I was like, nope. That's like, I don't care. Like, I know I'm not good enough yet, but I'm going to be good enough. You know? And so, like, after, you know, Saturdays, Sundays, after school, I was up at the field with my dad.

So what what age are we talking? High school, middle school?

This was probably, like, 6th, 7th grade. Mhmm. Yep. I just moved from The Woodlands to Corpus. And in The Woodlands, I was on, like, this incredible select baseball team.

Mhmm.

And this was kinda before you had, like, 8,000 different select baseball teams. Right? And, like, you start playing it at 5 years old.

Back when it really, really mattered. Yeah.

Right? No

offense to anyone on select now. But Right.

Like, back when it was, like

It used to be really hard to

get on select. It did. And and their the quality of competition was, like, really good. You know? It's like teams were stacked. You know? And I was playing right field if I was lucky. But I was on the team, you know, because I had the potential, I guess. Right? Like, I thought I was one of the best players on the team, but obviously, like, I'm getting stuck out in right field. I'm batting, like, last.

You know? But I loved every second of it still because we were winning games. I love the guys on

the team, and then I moved to Corpus, and they really didn't have any, like, select baseball teams. Baseball was big there,

but they didn't have you know, like, it wasn't like it was in Houston.

Mhmm.

You know? So if you wanna play Select, you had to go to Houston or go to San Antonio. And so, you know, we had our little league team that I played on and all stars and stuff like that. Everybody also, this is kind of a side note, I guess, but, like, I was small. I was a lot smaller than most everybody else. And so and this is 6th, 7th grade when people started having growth spurts. Started in puberty and all of a sudden, like, you know, they're they're getting hair under their pits, and I'm over here just, like, 5 foot nothing, £90 soaking wet. You know? But I was becoming pretty athletic, and I wanted to keep up with those guys. Right? So I played every sport they did, football, baseball, basketball, track, everything.

But when I had spare time, like, baseball was my passion. Mhmm. And so like, dad, we're going up to the field. We're gonna hit or you're gonna hit me ground balls. We're gonna work on diving plays. We're gonna work on backhands. Like, whatever it is that can separate me being smaller to where I'm as good, if not better than everybody else. You know? And so yeah.

I mean, I just That's awesome. Poured the time into it.

How long did you have to do that until you really started seeing results or noticeable differences?

I'd say I mean, it was a good it was a good couple of years. I remember

Oh, man.

Specifically, like so probably 3 years because 6th, 7th, 8th grade, like, I was, you know, on the team, I was always, like, one of the one of the good players or whatever, but, like, still small and just kind of, like, there was a difference, right, between me and some of the other guys, it seemed like. And then my freshman year, I was still small, but I was hitting balls to the wall. Like, one hop in the wall, hitting balls off the wall. Like, that's when it clicked. Mhmm. Man, I'd like, everybody's like, what happened to Logan? You know? Like Yeah. He's smoking the ball. And, so that's kinda like when it seemed like for me at least, I'm like, okay, it's clicking.

It's It's starting to take off. It's going the right direction. I never really pitched. Like, I didn't I always tried, but I could throw strikes. Like Yeah. And We had some other guys on the team that were, like, amazing pitchers and like, alright. That's fine. It's not the route for me.

And I never really, like, had this strong desire to pitch either. Like, I wanted to be Craig Biggio. Right? Like, that's the guy that I grew up watching. I wanna be the guy, like, dirt on my jersey, diving in the hole, making a play and like The guy. Yeah. Yeah. Like, the gamer that's out there every single day. Mhmm.

And that was yeah. So probably a good 3 years of just, like

Wow.

Steady work, my mom taking me to batting lessons, like, once or twice a week. Like, my parents put in the they put in the the investment, man, like, the time, the money, everything, like, to make it happen. Like, obviously, eternally grateful to them for that because without that, I mean, I just Yeah. I needed to be pushed. Right? And then once I started seeing some results, it was a mutual like, they're pushing me, but I'm pushing them to, like, hey. Can we go to the stages? Can we go whatever.

It sounds like that might have been really the foundation for your career, that work ethic that you kinda started really developing over those few years.

Would you agree? Absolutely. I mean, not to keep it, like, in high school years or whatever, but my senior year, we had a squad, man. Like, we went 42 and 1

Oh, wow.

Won the state championship. We tender and rolled the state championship game. Like, the one game we lost was a preseason game at the Astros double a field in Corpus

Mhmm.

In front of a sold out crowd. And we're playing Moody, which was, like, the other, like, in town rival for us. And they had a squad too, and they beat us, like, they beat us by, like, 3 runs or something. I was the, like, number 1 pitcher, and then our number 2 pitcher was a stud. He went to Oklahoma, got drafted. But I remember, like, I had to, like, stay on him and be like, hey, man. We gotta go run. Right? Like, we like, if you pitched yesterday, we gotta run.

I'll run with you. You know, like, I just never lost that. Like like, this is our mission this year is to win state. If you're not running after you pitch, like, we're not putting in the work. It's not gonna happen. You know? So, like, I kinda carried that into college. Right? Like, as a freshman, like, I'm a nobody.

You know?

Like, I haven't done anything yet, but they'd split us into groups for, like, fall ball, like, workouts, like 5 AM workouts up at the field. Like, they'd split us into groups of 4. Right? And I'm the young freshman, like, just turned 18. And I'm, like, pushing the older guys. Like, come on, guys. Let's let's go. Like, you know, the we're exhausted, but, like, let's finish strong here. You know? Not to, like, tune my horn.

Be like yeah. I just it somehow or another, like, it carved out this, like, leader mentality, this leadership mentality kind of during those, like, defining high school years of, like, okay. What direction are you gonna go? Are you gonna be a leader, a follower? Are you gonna be that guy that's pushing everybody to be better so that the team can be better? Or are you gonna be the guy that's, like, relying on other people for the success?

Well, it sound it sounds like, not a dig, but it sounds like you just were never really the most talented one on the teams, but you seems like you were always willing to put in the work more than a lot of people.

I think, I think you're spot on with that Yeah. Because you see it a ton now, right, with, like, these and it's always been this way, but, like, you have these kids that are studs at 5, 6, 7, 8 years old. Right? And they're like, man, these get you know, they're they're on all the premier teams, they're on all the select teams, all star teams, all this stuff. Like, if you're good your whole life, like, what do you have to work towards? Like, right? Like, what are you striving towards? Like, my son right now, like, I'll be brutally honest. Like, he's not even close to being one of the better players on his baseball team. He did flag football in the fall. Was not even close to being one of the better flag football players. But I want him to be on those teams that he is like I was Mhmm.

When I was in Houston. Like, I was on that team that was the best team, but I wasn't the best player. But I wanted to be. I saw it. I'm like, that's what I'm going to be, you know, and I'm gonna work towards it. If I was on a team where it's like, alright. I'm one of the better players, but I'm not a good player, then you stay in that, like, same lane. You know, you're never doing that.

Like, you're never striving to get better because why do you need to? You're already one of the better better ones. But you see it with, like, these 7, 8, 9 year olds now and their parents and stuff. You know, it's really hard to, like, bite your tongue as, like, a former Major League Baseball player that lived through this. Right? Like, this kid's gonna get burnt out. Mhmm. Or the second he starts not being the best one, he's gonna be like, you know what? I had my run. You know? Like, I'm still good enough to play. Like, he's not you know, like, you build that foundation of in that work ethic at a young age.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's resilience. Exactly. Like, the second you you have a little bit of adversity, what are you gonna do? Mhmm. You know, like, you're gonna cower, cower down, back down. You know, find a way to fight through it. Like Mhmm.

I think that that would be my story. Like, I feel like I had adversity every step of the way in my young baseball career. Mhmm.

I

didn't pitch until my senior year. You know, I pitched, like, 3 games my junior year. And then my senior year, I was 18 and o on the mound, like, just dominant. You know, like but I kept that work ethic. Like, I wasn't a pitcher, really, but I kept working at it, kept working at it. And when I grew and things clicked, that's when it, like, the it paid off, you know. Like, you see the the fruits of your labor.

Yeah.

But it doesn't stop there because you get to college and you're, like, okay. Dang, man. Wow. These guys are good.

They leveled up.

Yeah. Time to level up. Mhmm. Exactly. And, again, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna be like, well, at least I made it to college, you know, like, whatever. I'll be I'll be a bullpen guy. I'll get in there every now and then. It's like, no.

Like, I wanted to be the Friday night starter. I wanna be the guy on the team going up against the better the best player on their team. Right? Like, head to head, me and you. Mhmm. And that's what I became. Like, my sophomore year, my junior year, I was our Friday night starter. That was always the goal. You know? And then you get drafted, And now you're around 1st rounders.

You're around 30th rounders.

Mhmm.

Like, what do you you know, we all got to we're all at the same level. Right? We're all professional baseball players. We just all took different routes, and we're all gonna face adversity. You see it all the time. Like, 1st rounders, they've had the red carpet laid out for them the whole way. Mhmm. And then they make it to the big leagues or not even. They see they they they hit a little adversity along the way.

Like, they don't know how to get through it. Mhmm. And it's, you know, like, it's almost painful to watch because you're, like, you have all the tools. You're way better than anybody in this locker room, but you don't have it up here. You don't have it mentally to get through. Is that? I think it's just because I mean, not that you're you're coddled. Right? Like, as like a as a first rounder or, know, if you're the best player on your 10 year old team and then you're the best player on your high school team, best player in your college team, or you you know, and then you're a high draft pick. You make a lot of money without even doing anything yet, really.

And then, man, once you get to triple a, like, that's kinda where the cream rises to the top. Like, that and then, obviously, the big leagues is just even more so. Like but triple a, there's so many guys in triple a that are Major League Baseball players. And just timing wise. Right? Like, they're either behind somebody that's a perennial all star. They're just kind of stuck in a system where it's log jammed, But they're I mean, they're all there's no there's no bad players in triple a. Like, double a, you still kinda get that, like, this guy shouldn't be here kind of a thing. Right? But triple a, I mean, you're you're facing guys who were in the big leagues last week.

You're facing guys that are gonna be in the big leagues next week, and they're gonna stay up there for 10 years. I've had a handful of pictures that I've been fortunate enough to play with throughout my career. And and as I got older, I kind of started becoming like this, I guess, like a mentor role almost. Right? Like, at the back end of my career, where these guys would come to me and, like, ask me, like, what am I doing wrong? Like, how is this like, why am I not being why am I not successful right now? Like, I wanna make it to the big leagues. I had a guy. I won't say his name, but I had a guy in my last season of of professional baseballs in triple a, cry on my shoulder after he got pulled out.

Damn.

And he and the pitching coach got into it in the dugout, and this guy's big. And I'm, like, trying to hold him back. Right? And he's 22 years old. I'm 30. Like, I'm trying to hold back this guy. I'm tiny. I'm, like, what am I doing? You know

what I mean? And so You're not small, but you're not, like a 6 5

Yeah. Like 250 guy. I'm 62190, and I'm going up against this guy who's like 65, like 220. And I'm, like, trying to hold him back.

And he's upset.

He's in, like, full just seeing red. Anyways, I get into the clubhouse, and he's, like, crying on my shoulders. Like, man, I want it so bad. I want it so bad. And he just he just got absolutely rocked to this game. Just rocked. Like, couldn't get a guy out. You know? And I I was just totally grabbed his shoulders.

I'm looking him in the eye, like, tears rolling down his face. I'm like, you have everything and you have it all. Right? Mhmm. Like, you just need to, like, put it together here. Like, you're the best player on this team right now. You're the best pitcher on this team.

Mhmm.

Like, I watch every single one of your bullpens that you throw. I watch every single game you pitch, like, intently. Like, I'm looking for things because I know you're gonna be a big leader for a long time.

Mhmm.

I wanna get you there faster than anybody else on this team. Right? Like, because my career is, like, almost over. Like, I you know, I'm not gonna go back up and play another 5 or 6 years in the big leagues. Like, I'm just doing this because I truly love it, and I know I have a couple more years to, like, offer. And if I can get back up to the big leagues, amazing. Right? Like, that would be the best way to end my career. But if that doesn't happen for me, I'm okay with that. Right? Like, I'm perfectly fine with that.

I had an amazing career. I had an amazing run. I had my time. So if I can pour into these, like, young kids and that was that moment. You know? And I'm like, from then, like, I think fast forward, like, a month later, he got called up to the big leagues.

That's awesome.

You know? I was like, me and you, we're gonna work every day. We're not gonna work on, like, physically pitching, but you have that. Like, your stuff is unbelievable. You know, you got a fastball that touches a 100 miles an hour. You know, one of the best curveballs I've ever seen. Like, if you you wanna work on a change up, I'll try to help you out with the change up a little bit because that was kinda like my pitch. Right? Like, so I felt like I could I could teach that a little bit. But I was like, we're gonna work mentally.

Like, whatever it is. We started taking, like, cold punches together and stuff like just anything. Right? I got those. Dude.

I got one in my place.

Do you?

Yeah. It's tough.

How often do you do it?

Every morning.

Yeah? How long? How long? One, how long do you do it? How long have you been doing it for?

So I've done it off and on, but I just I bought a chiller and a tub and put it, you know, I have a downtown space.

Yeah.

Put it up in there, and so I'm on 3, week 3.

Okay. So you're fresh into it.

Oh, yeah. But I hate it so much. Yeah. And and and the water is only at 42 degrees.

That's cold though.

That is so cold.

That's not It's painful. That's yeah. Like, that's yeah. You're getting in there and it's needles.

And that just it yeah. But the mental fortitude it builds. Yeah. You know, is is incredible. But, anyway, so I wanna hear more about working with this guy. This is an amazing story.

Yeah. Was one of those moments, like, in life or in your career when and I had done this not to this level where I had a guy crying on my shoulder. Right? But I've done this with a lot of the younger players over the last couple years of my career, and I had asked I had been asked by a handful of, like, man, would you ever go into coaching, or will you come watch my bullpen? Like, will you be like, I'm gonna get to the field early and throw a bullpen. Will you watch it with the coach so that, like, I can bounce ideas off of you or pick your brain afterwards? I mean, I had guys that like, no offense to any of the pitching coaches I ever had. I had some amazing ones along the way, But I had some guys towards the back in my career that were like, man, I've learned more this year from you than I have from our pitching coaches. Mhmm. You know, and that's not to knock any of the pitching coaches I had because they were all great. Yeah.

You have to be great just to be in that role A 100%. Coach. Right? A 100%. And I just think that, like, I realized what I had to offer. And I realized how to approach certain guys. Because everybody's gotta be approached differently. Mhmm. Right? Like, I'm not gonna talk to you the same way that I would talk to Joe Smith.

Right? Like

Mhmm.

You gotta pick up on, like

Leadership style.

Guys' characteristics. What works with them? You know, some guys just need a kick in the ass. Like, dude, come on. What are you doing? Just throw that ball. Just throw it. And other guys need, like, hey, man. Look. Let's let's work on your grip or let's work on

Yeah.

You know, what do you think about this? And, you know, like, you just have to realize what kinda how to connect with them. Mhmm. And I think that's what makes a good coach, you know. Not that I ever really had a desire to get into coaching because that's a that's a grind.

Beat down. Mhmm. Do you do you still continue to mentor people outside of baseball now?

Yeah. A little bit. I mean, it looks a little different now. I mean, I really I I mentor new agents that we hire. That's a totally separate, you know, like

Kind of, but the mindset needs to be there. Right? Yeah. I mean because you're a sales person

Yeah.

Is is a realtor and it takes a while to get started. So you've gotta be able to embrace that grind from the start. Right?

Mhmm.

Okay. So from someone who's never in shock or I never will be. I know that comes as a shock to you. I'll never be a professional athlete, Maybe with chess or something, but,

I mean, pickleball's, you know, really taking off and that could be your speed right there.

See, there you know, there's some middle aged women who've really conquered that market. I think I'm I'm so down.

You just put the tights on and, you know, compress it. Yeah. And just embrace it. 2024. That's right. You know? I mean, whatever you wanna be.

What what what is, the mindset like? Once you're, a professional athlete, You you said that you have to work harder than everybody. You personally made it a point to work harder than everybody. So does that make you enemies in the locker room, in the bullpen, in the dugout? Do do people push back?

Man, what I've found over the course of 12 years in professional baseball, the guys that push back, the guys that put up walls, they don't last very long. Mhmm. Right? Like, there's guys in Major League Baseball right now that are strictly there because they're a good clubhouse guy. They're a good player, but they're probably not as good as a guy that's waiting behind in the trenches. Right? Triple a or double a or whatever. But he's a good clubhouse guy. He's there because he leads with just, like, team camaraderie. And, you know, he keeps it light in the clubhouse, but he knows when to, like, make it serious.

He's a guy that could could hold a team meeting and have everybody's attention even though he's not a starter. You know, like, there's guys that have made it. So if you're in a clubhouse and you're this you're causing problems, like, your ass is gonna be out Quit. Because the players aren't gonna put up with it. The coaches are gonna pick up on it. The organization's gonna realize it. Mhmm. I mean, I mean, there's no there's no sacred space in the clubhouse whenever you're a guy like that.

Right? Like, the word's gonna get out. It's gonna get out in your organization so that the front office is gonna hear about it. They're either gonna bury you. It's where, you know, you know, you never play. And then when you're a free agent or whatever, like

No one will pick you up.

No one's gonna pick you up because they're calling the front office from that team. They're like, hey, what do you got on so and so? And say, hey, man. He's he's he's a problem. Mhmm. He doesn't buy in. Right? It's all about buying in.

Mhmm. We're all

trying to win. Everybody's goal like, it's it's baseball's kind of a weird game because it's a team sport. But also, unless you're in the big leagues, you're playing for yourself. Right? Like, you're trying to get to the big leagues. You're trying to be better than the guy that's pitching tomorrow and the guy that pitched yesterday. You're trying to be better than the guy that's batting in the lineup behind you. Right? Like

That's a ton of pressure.

So exactly. But the only way you can do that is by all 9 players coming together or all 25 players on the team coming together. I mean, like, man, let's go out there, have some fun, and win. Right? Like, if we're not trying to win, we're just out here playing for ourselves, you're gonna lose every single game. It's gonna be a miserable clubhouse. You're not gonna have any fun, and it's a long ass season too. Right? Mhmm. Minor league is, like, a 145 games.

The big league's a 162. And so if you're out there and you're just playing for yourself and you don't have any fun, you're rooting against the guy that's pitching today because you pitched yesterday, right, like and you wanna be the one that gets called up, you're gonna be miserable. And in all likelihood, I mean, you're gonna perform worse because you're not you know what I mean? It's it's kinda karma or the universe or whatever you wanna say, but, like, when you're rooting for somebody else to succeed, it's pushing you harder to succeed as well. Right? Because if they do good and you want like, you don't wanna be the best of the worst. Right? Like, they all go out there and they give up

Biggest losers?

Yeah. Like, I made it here because everybody else sucked. Right? Like, I wanna be the best of the best. And so, like, yeah. I mean, you drive yourself crazy.

You ever see someone turn their attitude around, though? Yeah.

Yeah? I have. Is that pretty common? I wouldn't say it's common, but I'd say it's possible. Mhmm. And it might last and it might not last. You know, it might it might turn around for a month and then go back to being just this, like, you know, Debbie Downer in the clubhouse. You know, those guys are

Call those a buddy in the Marine Corps. Pardon my French. We can edit that out. But if somebody's out for themselves and the stories that you're telling are really correlating well to my experience in the in the infantry. Right? Well, you guys are

a team too. Right?

Yeah. 1000%. Even more so, like Yeah. Can we, circle back to some stuff? Yeah. I'm so I'm taking notes. Right? So I have resilient, undersized, hard work, do the work, mindset, giving back, buy in. It's all it's all themed. You know? So how was that translated that mindset, how was that translated into you now being a business professional? God, I I hate myself for asking that question because it's so cliched.

But

No. I mean, it's a it's a really good question. Right? Because, I mean, you take all of that and then go try to start a business or be an entrepreneur or whatever. You need all of that right there. Because you're gonna be undersized when you're first starting out no matter what you're doing. You're gonna be a low man on the totem pole. You're not gonna go into a new industry and be a top producer or be CEO or, you know, partner or whatever it is, you're gonna be undersized. And so how do you how do you get past that? Right? Because that's hard.

It's hard mentally to be, like, putting in the work every single day, and it's, you know, it's taken a while to see the results. But I think consistency. Right? Like, you have to be consistent with your day to day. Mhmm. So what does that mean? Well, for me now, it's different. I'm not waking up every morning, going to the gym, and then going and playing catch and trying to get ready for spring training. Like, I'm waking up in the morning. I'm going to the gym, and then I'm coming home, and I'm sitting I'm making my kids breakfast, I'm taking them to school, and then I sit down, I look at my calendar for the day.

Like, what do I got? I make sure that I'm not missing anything. I'm responding to emails. I'm setting meetings. I'm getting in front of people. Right? Like, those are the day to day grinds that I have to do now. But if I take a week off of that, I just maybe lost out on a deal or you know, I mean, it's that that karma. The universe knows, like, if you're putting in the work, you're gonna see you're gonna see the payoff from it. If you're not, now you're gonna be like, what what happened? Why is, you know, why is my business not going anywhere? Feels like we're spinning our wheels.

You know? It's like, no. You gotta put the work in every day. It doesn't matter if you're, you know, you're a little tired. You'll wake up and you gotta go go do it. You know, I'm at the gym 5 AM every single morning because that's the one I can go. That's the time I have to go do it. I don't wanna get out of bed at 4:45, but I, you know, I'm once I get to the gym, I'm good. And my morning's off to a good start.

If I miss the gym in the morning, I'm I'm dragging all day. You know? I feel like I've already lost the day instead of, like,

getting up

Beat yourself up a little bit. You. Yeah. Yeah. Taking that cold shower. Right? Like, I don't wanna do it. I don't have a cold plunge like you. I wish I did.

But I take that cold shower every morning. I'm like, alright. Let's go. It's time to get to work. What do we got for the day? How are we gonna go dominate it? You know? Yeah. Who are we talking to? How can we make their day better? How can we bring value to them? You know?

So if if you're not if you're not a former professional athlete with an an and I'm not juicing you up, you've you've gotta have an incredible amount of drive and resilience just just to do just to become who you are and also just like the fight through triple a into the major leagues. Because that's gotta be a mental beat down knowing that it's so hard to get called up, knowing that not knowing if you will even get called up. So let's say that someone is trying to do something, trying to build mental resilience, mental toughness, that fortitude, what kind of advice would you give them for how to become that?

Man, that's a really good question. Like, how do, yeah, how do you teach somebody toughness that doesn't have you know, it's not it's, like, innately built into them.

So can I can I well, think about that?

So Yeah.

Here's why I asked the question. So I have a pet peeve. Every it seems like every time I get on Instagram, I see, like, these former operators, these navy seals or whatever, and they're taking, like, Joe Blow, and he's got a t shirt and a number, and they're pouring water on him. You know what I'm talking about?

Yeah.

No. I'm not gonna you're gonna be a and I'm these these men

And you're gonna just like beat it into them?

They're paying 5,000, $10,000 for that experience. Yeah. It doesn't resonate well with me. So the my question to you is is if you you were dealing with, you know, I'm like, hey, man, I'm thinking about going to this program where this Navy SEAL is gonna beat the crap out of me and teach me how to how to be a mentally resilient. Do you have any advice that maybe I might be able to follow instead of paying $5,000?

Man, not not that you've stumped me, but don't waste your money. Right? Like, number 1, you gotta want it. So you're showing right there that you want it. Mhmm. So you have the drive inside. Right? You're willing to pay $5,000 for somebody to go pour water on you and scream at you and belittle you so that you can come out on the other side and be like, I'm a man now. Like, I you know, I'm gonna be successful.

Yeah. Like, it

tells me right there, like, you have the drive Mhmm. Internally. Like, it's there. So how do I compartmentalize that and and exude that from from a for myself without having somebody scream at me to do it. Right? I don't know. Go buy a David Goggins book.

Read that. Gotta carry the boats.

Yeah. Like, read that, and then tell me you're you're not a little bit motivated. Right? Like, you don't have to have anybody scream at you. Find a mentor. Find somebody that's doing what you're doing and has been doing it for years or they're or they're highly successful at it. Mhmm. They love you find somebody successful in your industry, they love it when you call them up and be like, tell me everything. Yeah.

I wanna be you. Like, they love being stroked like that. You know what

I mean? My business career and and business mindset absolutely changed when I found a couple of really solid mentors.

Yeah.

1 was an old angry Irish guy. I won't say his name, but he was, you know, he was a CFO of an airline. He was he was involved with the UFC at one point. He's highly successful. And this guy, I asked him for help with Irish whiskey, because I I love whiskey. And so he took me to a well known bar in Dallas, ordered a bunch of very expensive whiskey, just tiny pours

Yeah.

And lectured me for 2 and a half hours as I tasted the whiskey. And that developed into this amazing business relationship where he's given all these tips and tricks, and it was incredible. Yeah. So I I couldn't agree more with your mentor comment.

I think, I mean, that's that's the ticket right there because you have somebody that's been in your shoes. Right? Like, they didn't wake up one day and become a top producer at a real estate firm. Right? Or a CFO of an airline company. Right? Like, they they worked their ass off and they grinded, and they probably had a mentor too. Right? Like, it's just it's pouring back into that's what people that's what I love doing with baseball. Right? Like, at the back in my career, I loved pouring back into the younger players. Because now I turn on a game with and I'm watching with my son

Mhmm.

And be like, I play I I played with that guy. Like, I helped him get to where he is. Right?

I love that.

Jonah Haim, catcher for the Rangers. Right?

Mhmm.

He was my catcher in double a when I was 29 years old.

Oh, wow.

Double a. That's when I came back from Korea. Mhmm. And I told Jonah right then in that season, like, you're gonna be a big leader. Like, I I've thrown to a lot of catchers, a lot of catchers. You have what it takes.

He's an amazing player.

He's unreal. Yeah. Right? I'm like, the way that you, like, receive the ball. Right? Like so I mean, that's that's physical. That's number 1. But, like, also the mental game that you play with your pitcher. And so that's just an example. Right? Like, I mean, I can talk about Jonah or or a handful of other players for another, you know, 2 hours, but pouring that just comes back to pouring into the younger players.

And then now you you know, I see it. I get to watch a game with my son and be like, I know him. I played with him. Like

That's pretty cool.

And I'm feel like a part of that success story a little bit. Right? Yeah. But, yeah, like, if you need you're gonna pay somebody $5 to, like I

don't mean to put you on the spot with that. I just, I've been seeing a lot of that stuff on social media lately. It just really I don't wanna say that people are charlatans because some people do need a little bit of discipline in their life, but there's a way to go about it. And I

Yeah.

It's just kind of kind of annoys me. I've got, it's like my my little brother. He gets into, 37 degree cold plunge.

Yeah.

And he will sit there for 5 minutes, man. He's like, I'm not Not

even a big deal to him.

Oh, it's a big deal. He'll FaceTime me and he's you know, but he's like, I'm I'm not getting out until I can breathe and talk. Okay?

Yeah. And you like, your body comes down and Yeah.

And it's it's this mental mental toughness that I really admire. But alright. So let me ask you a question. You know, I have got a 1,000 questions about locker rooms and clubhouses. I'm sure you've got a great bunch of crazy stories. But is it really like Major League? You know, it's my one of my favorite movies of all time.

Yeah. You got

You know?

What's his name? Jojo, like lightning and some of this wild card stuff.

We we sacrificing, pregame. Well, let me let me rephrase that. What's the craziest pregame ritual that you saw? You don't have to name names or anything. But

Man, let's see. One of the shocks to me when I first first got into professional baseball was all the Latins love to wear perfume when they play.

Excuse me?

Yeah. All the Latins love to wear perfume. So they go to Bath and Body Works, and they buy all these, like, fruity smelling perfume. Like, hey, man. If I smell like a if I smell like a chick that I'm trying to hook up with out there, like, I'm motivated.

Oh, my god. That's awesome.

I'm like, do you know what?

Actually Can

I try it? Yeah.

That sounds brilliant.

Be like going to their locker stealing some Yeah. When they're not looking, going out and fidgeting.

My My girl's watching this. I'm sorry. I promise I will stir your perfume.

Yeah. Just your lotion.

Yeah. Just your lotion. That is I would never have thought about that and, you know, because, Latin culture is very machismo. Yeah. Right? So Exactly.

Because that some guys gonna take, you know, 1 or 2 shots pregame just to calm the nerves a little bit, which

I can see that.

I do have a a funny story about that. It was 2016, and I never really drank. Like, I'd never drank ever before a game.

Yeah.

It just got me just why why did I need to? You know, like, I would get nervous before games and whatnot, but that was always normal and stuff. Yeah. So, anyways, 2016, I'm in New York, playing for the Mets, and I had gotten a call from our pitching coach, like, the night before. Like, hey. I think I was starting for deGrom. So deGrom was supposed to start the next day, and he you know, something happened. He's needing an extra day, and so, like, you're gonna you're gonna spot start for him tomorrow. I was like, alright.

Well, this is I mean, we're, like, a week into the season, maybe 2 weeks into the season. We're coming off of losing in the World Series to the Royals. That made the opening day roster. We went to Kansas City, played the Royals, and we're now we're back in New York. We just had opening day in New York. And, I think I'd only pitched, like, one inning so far that season. And they're like, you're gonna you know, so I'm still, like, you know, nervous every outing. Right? And the phone rings, and you're spot you're starting tomorrow.

So I'm just like, You know, I'm excited. I'm like, yeah. Like, that's you want those opportunities, but you can't help but, like, feel nervous about it

at the

same time. So I get to the field, and I'm kinda pacing back and forth between the clubhouse, the locker room, and the weight room to stretch out, the training room to go, you know, get some tape and stuff, whatever. And the pitching coach and the bullpen coach were in the meeting room that where we would have, like, our scouting reports and stuff like that. And I saw them in there. They're like, hey, man. What's going on? You good? I was like, yeah. No. I'm fine.

They're like, yeah. Come in here. They called me in, poured me a shot of a drone, took it because I'm, you know, trying to listen to my coaches. I'm coachable. You know what I'm saying? Coachable. I'm coachable. They go down to the the the weight room. I do some stretching, get ready for the game.

I'm walking back to go get my jersey on and start heading out to the field to, to warm up. And, so, hey. Get back in there. Alright. And they pour me another shot of Patron. I take the shot. So I'm feeling totally relaxed now. They're like I'm warming up, like, boom boom.

Like, just dials it. And I went out and pitched, like, 6 innings, no runs, like, just locked in, you know. And I was like, maybe I should do this every game.

I mean It's a slippery slope, but Slippery slope. This could be a totally different podcast.

Yeah. Exactly. And that was the end of my career. Yeah. Yeah. No. But it was

awesome. I just,

you know, I have this, like, veteran pitching coach and bullpen coach that have played many years in the big leagues, and they're you know, this is what you need right now. You just need to calm the nerves, go out there, have some fun. Like, you're gonna be fine. It was a day game against the Marlins. You know, I remember it like it was yesterday.

That's cool, man.

Yeah. And that was, like, just random. But

I'm gonna start bringing some Patron in, you know. I had a, I did a podcast one time with

the Diabra son, if you

cancer. Let's go. This guy was a cancer researcher, and he his his one of the cool things he had done is he had, was that biopsy? He had cultured he had cultured He

studied. Yeah.

Tom Brady's Hoop. Hoop

Mhmm. And Hector. Does that remind your young boy's dream?

Yeah. He he was nervous to come out of podcast, so we

I think he did a whole bottle

of whiskey. I don't, you know, he was dedicated to his craft. That's right. He's a scientist. But,

So you had some whiskey at the podcast?

Yeah. A whole bottle. It it didn't last. But, so he would he would actually, every other sentence he would stop and clap his hands and say, I'm gonna redo that. It was so much fun. But

I love it.

Let me ask you one more question before I get you out of here, man. I really appreciate your time.

Yeah. No. It's been fun, man. We keep this going as long as you want.

Absolutely. I I I think you got a lot to offer people who are trying to figure life out and who wanna be a little tougher. So if someone's listening to this podcast and that's kind of their vein, what advice would you give them? What lesson do you think they should take away from you and your experiences in in your successes?

Yeah. Man, I think it doesn't matter what you're doing. It stuff's gonna be hard. Like, every day is hard. Right? Like, you wake up, you don't wanna get out of bed 99% of the time, just get up. Right? Like, it's not gonna get any easier. Get up and do it. Like, embrace the challenge.

You know

what I mean? Like, every day is a different challenge, whether it's going to the gym, whether it's perfecting your craft in a in a sport or or going and trying to close a deal in real estate or whatever. Like, every day is a challenge. Embrace that. Like, this is an opportunity. Like, every challenge is an opportunity. It's how you have to look at it. Right? Like, just have a this cheesy, but, like, have a go giver mindset. Right? Like, of and that's a great book, by the way.

But have that mindset of I'm gonna go out and every single day with the mindset of I'm gonna help somebody.

Mhmm.

Selfishly, I might help myself in the morning by going to the gym or whatever it is. And then from there, I'm pouring into other people. How can I help them?

Mhmm. You

got a problem. How can I help you? Right? Like

Servant leadership is finest right there.

Exactly. And that, like, you'll see the return on that tenfold. You know what I mean? Like, going out there and having this victim mentality of, like, woe is me. The world's out to get me. Mhmm. I lost that deal. This guy got promoted over me to, you know, to the big leagues or whatever. Like, you can fold Mhmm.

And cash it in, be miserable, and go home a failure, and that's your life.

Mhmm.

Or that's an opportunity. You take that opportunity. You get better from it. You learn from it. Like, I'm learning every single day still. Mhmm. Obviously, I mean, 33 years old. I have nothing figured out.

Nothing figured out yet. Right?

Yeah.

But I feel like I have a pretty good foundation of what to do daily to put myself in the best position to be successful. I am gonna lose deals. Mhmm. It's gonna happen. But what do I do when I when that happens? How do I learn from it? You know what I mean?

Mhmm. So you said victim mentality, victim mindset. I am waging my own personal jihad on the victim mentality. I can't stand it. I don't I don't care where you are religiously. I don't care where you are from a family income background. I don't care education wise. Like, the world is yours.

Right?

We live in the best country in the world. Like Oh

my god.

There's never been more opportunity

Yeah.

In the history of America to to be successful.

Man, I, I've done a ton of traveling. I know you have too. I, and don't let me run over our time or whatever, but I I backpacked India once Really? For almost 3 months. And the level of poverty Yeah. Staggering. Like people sleep under this one family, I'll never forget it, they slept under a cardboard box. Right? Right by their fruit stand and they'd wake up, fold the box up

And go to work.

Go to work at the fruit stand. And and the kids were playing and laughing, and the the the men, the father and mother were smiling.

This so happened.

About like $40 of fruit. I didn't want it.

Yeah.

But it was like, they were just so happy. And I was out in BFE. On the the the tip of India, a place called Kanyakumari.

Okay.

Right? And, and in in for some reason, that particular has always stuck with me. Like, there was no woe is me. It's okay, let me get up and work, let me feed my family today.

Yep.

Sell some fruit. And, yeah. I I really like that answer. Anyways, I appreciate you coming on, man. I could get stories out of you all day, but I know you gotta get out of here and and continue on becoming a real estate mogul.

Gotta get some actual work.

Yeah. Actual work. The Brett team, we will include all his links in our our show notes. If you're looking to buy or sell a piece of real estate anywhere in DFW, hit them up. They're wildly successful for a reason. They're very good at what they do. Like and subscribe to show on all the major podcast platforms, Spotify, Apple. Check us out on YouTube.

I really appreciate you, man.

James, this is a awesome Thank you. Love to hear. Thanks. Great.