Bunting Sucks, WWE is Baseball, and 8 Million Kids Nobody's Serving
Episode Description
After a two-month hiatus, Deven Morgan returns with a raw, reflective episode covering the whirlwind July-August travel season that tested his family physically, financially, and emotionally. He recounts Danny's first 90-foot home run (and the alleged fence-climbing mission to retrieve the ball), tournament experiences from Spokane to Pullman, and getting asked to leave a dugout after defending a rattled pitcher. The episode pivots to a thought-provoking Savannah Bananas experience that challenges Deven's entire developmental philosophy—watching warmups where catching behind-the-back is practiced as a skill, and 47,000 fans chanting that bunting sucks. He wrestles with what happens when millions of casual youth players are exposed to performative, WWE-style baseball instead of traditional three-up-three-down competition, and whether the industry is prepared for that shift. The episode closes on an emotional note: dropping his daughter off at college, the reality of an empty trunk, and hard-won perspective on getting your money's worth as a parent before time runs out.
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro & AxeBat discount code
02:15 – July-August travel ball reality: costs, hotels & family time
05:06 – Spokane: Danny's first 90-foot homer & (alleged) fence-climbing retrieval mission
13:28 – Getting asked to leave the dugout after defending a pitcher
24:17 – MVP International Caribbean trip: Dominican & Puerto Rico games
29:44 – Shirt off his back: privilege & poverty in the Dominican
34:26 – Savannah Bananas: 47,000 screaming "BUNTING SUCKS" & what it means
41:11 – WWE vs. wrestling analogy: performative vs. competitive baseball
47:33 – The 8 million casual players nobody's serving
53:40 – Deadlift troglodytes & resistance to data-driven development
55:25 – Dropping daughter at college: empty trunk, ugly cry, get your money's worth
01:01:30 – Outro: swing reports, onboarding protocols & Freddie Gibbs
Links
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⬇️ Host ⬇️
Deven Morgan
https://twitter.com/devenmorgan
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