Episode 1 - Houston Astros cheating scandal, sign stealing, Carlos Beltran and more

We are finally back! Tyler welcomed a new baby boy at the end of May forcing TBBP to take a couple months off. But we are back in action and MLB is too (almost). In this episode, we recap some of what has happened while we were gone and what baseball is going to look like during the 60 game season.

Steve Rodriguez has quite the baseball resume... See below from Stanford Baseball's bio on Stevie: "Steve Rodriguez enters the 2020 season in his first season as a Stanford assistant coach after spending the previous three seasons with UCLA as the Director of Baseball Operations. A student-athlete for the Bruins from 2009-11, Rodriguez played six seasons as a member of the Arizona Diamondback and Atlanta Braves organizations (2011-16). A native of Lomita, California, Rodriguez played 147 games at catcher with UCLA, making 137 starts across three seasons. He finished with a career .215 batting average with 10 home runs and 64 RBI while serving as catcher for future first-round picks in the Major League Baseball draft Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer. During his three seasons, the Bruins pitching staff owned a 3.33 earned-run average with over 1,700 strikeouts. In 2010, Rodriguez was a member of the United States Collegiate National team. Rodriguez was selected in the 15th round of the of the 2011 MLB amateur draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks and made it to as high as Double-A with both the Diamondbacks and the Braves. He hit .221 in his professional career with four home runs and 79 RBIs. Rodriguez had one of his best seasons in 2014 when he was promoted to Double-A Mobile and hit .267 with a .352 slugging percentage and scored 11 runs in 60 games for the BayBears." Thanks for watching and listening!! Please like and subscribe for more content like this!! *Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushback_baseball_podcast *Listen on Simplecast: https://the-brushback-baseball-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes *Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-step-brothers-baseball-podcast/id1495557153 *Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1vgY95Jt26aR2QRU0K1vo2

Tyler and David discuss some of the latest news around MLB including the punishment (or lack there of) to Alex Cora and the Red Sox, and MLB's plan to resume play. We also share and discuss our All-Time team, here is the roster breakdown: - Starting 9 - 1 Bench Infielder - 1 Bench Outfielder - 5 Starting Pitchers - 4 Relief Pitchers - 1 Closer Thanks for watching and listening!! Please like and subscribe for more content like this!! *Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushback_baseball_podcast *Listen on Simplecast: https://the-brushback-baseball-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes *Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-step-brothers-baseball-podcast/id1495557153 *Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1vgY95Jt26aR2QRU0K1vo2

In this episode, Tyler and David sit down with Billie Plunk who is married to former Big League veteran Eric Plunk. Billie and Eric have been together since they were only 17 years old throughout the whole journey from the Minor Leagues, Major Leagues, and life after baseball. Being a spouse of a professional athlete gets overlooked quite a bit, yet it's such a challenging position. Billie offers great insight from this unique perspective! Thanks for watching and listening!! Please like and subscribe for more content like this!! *Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushback_baseball_podcast *Listen on Simplecast: https://the-brushback-baseball-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes *Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-step-brothers-baseball-podcast/id1495557153 *Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1vgY95Jt26aR2QRU0K1vo2

In this weeks episode, we sat down with Tyler's cousin-in-law Casey Pauli. Though Casey was born in Iowa, he graduated out of Scottsdale, Arizona's Saguaro High School. He was an awesome middle infielder who earned a scholarship to Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) where he was Second Team All-Region in 2004. Casey eventually transferred to Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa) where he earned Third Team All-ABCA Region honors in 2006 & First Team All-ABCA Region honors in 2007. Upon graduating from Wartburg, Casey started his coaching career at both of his alma mater's: spending 1 year as assistant coach at Wartburg and 5 years as assistant coach at Kirkwood. Most recently, Casey spent the last 4 seasons as an assistant coach at Prairie High School in Cedar Rapids. He also met his wife Cari (formerly Cari Kinzenbaw) at Kirkwood and the two transferred to Wartburg together. Cari was also a decorated softball player as well: at Wartburg, she was and Academic All American and First team All-ABCA Region in 2006. Cari's father, Fritz Kinzenbaw, was long time owner of the Red Top baseball team of the semi-pro: Iowa Valley League. Casey (and Tyler) both played for the "Toppers" in the summer. Just recently, Casey became an owner of a DBAT baseball facility located in Marion, Iowa. They opened doors in early February 2020 and have about 21,000 sq. ft. of turf and 15 batting cages. If you're in the area and are interested, please go check them out!!

We've finally been called up to the Big Leagues (...well, that is in terms of video podcasting). In this episode, we sit down and talk with New York Yankees catcher: Kyle Higashioka. "Higgy" gives us some insight into how he battled through the Minor Leagues for 9 years and welcomed change in order to make it to the Major Leagues. He discusses his debut, his first MLB homerun, his swing change, what it was like to catch Mariano Rivera, and much more.... Thanks for watching and listening!! Please like and subscribe for more content like this!! *Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC68A4FBydeLLvOkjjqwC11w/ *Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushback_baseball_podcast *Listen on Simplecast: https://the-brushback-baseball-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes *Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-step-brothers-baseball-podcast/id1495557153 *Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1vgY95Jt26aR2QRU0K1vo2

Robbie Robinson and Tyler first met in AA Springfield with the St. Louis Cardinals, and eventually ended up coaching together for the Battle Creek Bombers of the Northwoods League. Robbie has been to nearly every corner of the coaching world, leading him to his current position as coach for the Minnesota Twins Triple-A affiliate - Rochester Red Wings. He has spent time as a player or coach at all of the following levels: Brea Olinda High School, Irvine Valley College, Riverside City College, Point Loma Nazarene University, Valparaiso, Missouri State University, Mankato Moondogs (Northwoods League), Battle Creek Bombers (Northwoods League), Springfield Cardinals, Twins Dominican Summer League, Twins Gulf Coast League, Rochester Red Wings & time as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles. In this episode Tyler, David, and Robbie discuss topics like: - the amount of preparation required to become a successful manager/coach (learning under Mike Shildt, Dennis Rogers, etc...) - what scouts look for in a player, how they evaluate... - kids growing up playing baseball in the Dominican Republic - coaching MLB veteran players like (Nelson Cruz, Josh Donaldson...) - dealing with failure/mental game - How bad Tyler is at throwing batting practice... - How the Minor League guys are staying ready for as season during this postponement... - and more... Thanks for watching and listening!! Please like and subscribe for more content like this!! *Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushback_baseball_podcast *Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC68A4FBydeLLvOkjjqwC11w *Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-step-brothers-baseball-podcast/id1495557153 *Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1vgY95Jt26aR2QRU0K1vo2

As mentioned, Boyd Robertson spent the better part of 3 decades sitting next to and becoming friends with the Dodgers Hall of Fame broadcaster, Vin Scully. Boyd has been nicknamed as "Vin Scully's right hand man" and "The Booth Boss". Tyler and David got to (virtually) sit down with Boyd and hear about his path from his small hometown in Oklahoma to becoming the Stage Manager to both greats, Chick Hearn and Vin Scully. He also shares what it takes to put together a professional broadcast and the amount of preparation that is required. Thanks to Boyd for taking the time to talk with us. Hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for watching and listening!! Please like and subscribe for more content like this!! *Watch and Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC68A4FBydeLLvOkjjqwC11w?view_as=subscriber *Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushback_baseball_podcast *Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-step-brothers-baseball-podcast/id1495557153 *Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1vgY95Jt26aR2QRU0K1vo2

**We apologize for the lesser audio quality in this recording. For those who are listening via a podcast platform vs. watching on our YouTube channel, we recorded remotely through Skype in order to practice social distancing. Thanks in advance for understanding** In this week's episode, we (remotely) sit down with Tyler's former UCLA teammate/roommate, and current MLB agent: Chase Brewer. Chase gives us a taste in what it's like to be an agent, and how he got there. We also get Chase's perspective of the current state of baseball and the ripple effect the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is having on players, organizations, fans, and more. Thanks for listening!

Though we went off on a couple tangents at times, this week's episode covers what it's like to play in all different weather conditions, rain delays, and staying mentally locked in no matter what. Tyler talks about one of his biggest errors in his career in front of one of his childhood heroes. We also cover how Willie Calhoun got hit in the jaw, and what it's like to get hit in the head with a pitch.