Baseball Dads Podcast

Paul Reddick

Paul Reddick interviews parents and professionals about the best and worst things they've seen their sons and players do for training, dealing with injuries, and playing the game.

  1. 1d ago

    I Can Fix Noah Syndergaard

    Noah Syndergaard recently said something that immediately got my attention: “I just want my identity back.” After bursting onto the scene as one of the most electric pitchers in baseball, Syndergaard has spent the last several years dealing with injuries, mechanical changes, declining velocity, and eventually the yips. He has worked with some of the best mechanical minds in baseball, and according to Syndergaard, almost all of them found something different that needed to be fixed. I think that may be part of the problem. In this episode of the Baseball Dads Podcast, I explain why I would not start by trying to repair Noah Syndergaard’s mechanics or quiet his mind. I would start with the part of him that took a late-blooming, unrecruited kid and turned him into one of the most intimidating pitchers in Major League Baseball. Kafka called it “the indestructible element in oneself.” That part of Noah Syndergaard is still there. And if you can reconnect him with it, then you can begin making the physical, mechanical, and strategic changes he may need as the pitcher he is today. He doesn’t need to be tamed. He needs to be unleashed. Timestamp Highlights00:00 – The Noah Syndergaard quote that stopped me: “I just want my identity back.” 01:45 – Why I stopped coaching only mechanics and started looking for the heart of the player. 03:10 – Remembering “Thor”: what made Syndergaard one of the most electric pitchers in baseball. 04:35 – Injuries, mechanical fixes, and how becoming hyper-aware of his delivery contributed to the yips. 06:15 – The part of Noah Syndergaard’s story I never knew: he was an awkward, bullied, late bloomer who received no college offers. 08:00 – How does an unrecruited late bloomer become a top-of-the-rotation pitcher for the New York Mets? 09:35 – Why Major League Baseball is not simply populated by the most physically talented players alive. 11:00 – The heart, guts, sacrifice, and mentality required to pitch at the highest level, especially in New York City. 12:30 – Why Syndergaard cannot be reduced to velocity, metrics, mechanical positions, or movement patterns. 14:00 – “There is nothing about Noah Syndergaard that should be tamed. Noah Syndergaard should be unleashed.” 15:15 – Kafka’s “indestructible element in oneself” and the part of Syndergaard that refuses to quit. 17:00 – Why I would not begin by trying to quiet his mind or control his psychology. 18:30 – What happens when an athlete performs beyond what his conscious mind and physical capabilities seem able to produce. 20:00 – The problem with specialists: if you go to a carpenter, every problem eventually looks like a hammer and nail. 21:15 – Dwight Gooden as one of baseball’s greatest examples of the indestructible element. 23:00 – How Gooden reinvented himself after losing the dominant fastball that originally made him great. 24:30 – Syndergaard may have to become a different pitcher, but that transformation has to begin from strength rather than fragility. 26:00 – Why evaluation, constant mechanical awareness, and endless corrections can suffocate the very qualities that made a player great. 27:30 – The work I want to talk about more: mechanics matter, but baseball is drowning in information about mechanics while almost nobody talks about what makes players great. 29:00 – Final thoughts: reconnect the player with the indestructible element inside him, then set everything else free.

  2. Aug 11

    Baseball Instruction Has A Problem | Why I’m Coming Back Now

    After several years away, Paul Reddick is back on the Baseball Dads Podcast. In this episode, Paul explains where he has been, what happened after exiting his baseball companies, and why he feels pulled back into the game now. At the center of the problem is what Paul calls manufactured complexity: an instruction industry that constantly needs new drills, new metrics, new terminology, and new ideas to keep players and parents engaged, even when those things do not necessarily make players better at baseball. Paul also shares what is coming next, including new episodes on the problems with pitching instruction, hitting instruction, recruiting, and mental game coaching, plus free Zoom sessions, live demonstrations, and a renewed focus on helping baseball dads use the game to raise strong young men. Timestamp Highlights00:00 – The Baseball Dads Podcast is back, and Paul explains where he has been. 01:20 – October 2000: burned out, overloaded, unhealthy, and looking for a way out of nonstop pitching lessons. 03:00 – How a simple website, book, and VHS tape turned into a massive baseball education business. 05:00 – Why Paul eventually exited the company and what he did during the years away from baseball. 07:00 – Why the “baseball brain” never shut off. 08:30 – Coaching as a gift, and why Paul feels a responsibility to share what he has learned. 10:00 – What changed in baseball instruction while Paul was away. 11:30 – The low barrier to entry and the rise of instructors who may know how to market better than they know how to coach. 13:00 – The problem with misinformation, recycled ideas, and concepts that were debunked years ago. 14:15 – The rise of manufactured complexity in baseball instruction. 15:15 – Why the industry keeps inventing new drills, measurements, terminology, and novelty. 16:15 – “They’ve mastered the heavy bag, but they can’t win a fight.” 17:00 – Why being better at drills and metrics does not automatically make someone a better baseball player. 17:45 – The principle Paul built his businesses around: People are impressed by someone who can complicate, but impacted by someone who can simplify. 18:45 – What’s coming next: episodes on pitching instruction, hitting instruction, recruiting, and the mental game. 19:30 – Free Zoom sessions, live demonstrations, velocity, hitting power, sinkers, and recruiting. 20:30 – The deeper mission of Baseball Dads: using baseball to raise great men. 21:00 – The meaning of 23, 33, 43 and why those ages matter more than stats, rankings, or whether your son plays Division I. 22:00 – What to expect next from the Baseball Dads Podcast and upcoming Zoom sessions.

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About

Paul Reddick interviews parents and professionals about the best and worst things they've seen their sons and players do for training, dealing with injuries, and playing the game.

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