Complete Players Start Here: Lessons from the GameChanger Scout Team

Athletic Intelligence Episode 8 Transcript

Complete Players Start Here: Lessons from the GameChanger Scout Team

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[00:00] Coach Ferber: That's where learning happens is you allow them to fail. You bring it in, you say, ask them. Why do you think that happened? 

[00:08] Narration: That's Jason Ferber head coach of the first ever GameChanger Scout Team and one of the most well-known coaches on Instagram. Recognized for his uncanny ability to connect with players and guide them through development and recruitment.

[00:21] In this episode, he joins Aman Loomba, GameChanger’s SVP of Product, and Alex Trezza, Senior Manager of Baseball, to discuss the inaugural GameChanger National Scout Team Training Camp, unpack how mindset and metrics work together to build better players, and look at how data can help parents and coaches support young players in reaching their highest potential while fostering a love of the game.

[00:49] This is Athletic Intelligence from GameChanger, a show where we go deep inside the world of baseball and softball, uncovering the tech that's shaping the game.

Meet Jason Ferber, From Central Park Volunteer to Elite-Level Coach

[01:02] Coach Ferber got his start coaching baseball by volunteering in Central Park in New York in a time when he felt lost and was looking for something to bring him joy. 

[01:11] Coach Ferber: When I got to the field just being out there, I started swinging a fungo and, and getting the guys together. Any real baseball guy knows is just, it takes you to another place.

[01:20] It takes you to a place you disappear. All your worries and other stuff disappears because you're focused on helping a kid. 

[01:26] Narration: From then on Coach Ferber found himself dedicated to the game. The course of his career shifted when he began working with a player named Ben, someone he believed had the potential to reach the next level.

[01:38] Ferber took Ben and another player from his volunteer team to try out for a more competitive team. 

[01:43] Coach Ferber: There was about 50 kids at this tryout and the guy goes, him and him, both kids that I took, they're like, yeah, we'll take both of those guys right away. It was like, not even. Yeah, we'll take those guys to play.

[01:53] And so the guy who was running the whole thing, he comes over to me at the end and he says, who are you? Like his dad or something, or his uncle or what? I said, no, I was, I was coaching him on the 17, and he was like, confused. I said, these guys are just the best players on my team. And the guy, he goes, I'm just confused.

[02:09] I said, why? He said, well, most coaches don't give their best players away. Why would you do that? I said, oh, well I'm just volunteering. And I was just noticed that these couple of kids were on a higher level and then he, and he was like, man, that's really cool that you would go to that extent. He said, do you like the idea of working with higher level players?

[02:26] I said, well, sure. I don't know who does it. I mean, why wouldn't you wanna work with high level players?

Motivation Over Mechanics: What Great Coaches Prioritize

[02:37] Narration: Coach Ferber learned quickly that the best coaches aren't necessarily the most knowledgeable, but are the best at motivating their players. 

[02:44] Coach Ferber: I always will say that coaches continually tend to overvalue knowledge and they undervalue motivation. To win games, I can't rely so much on putting guys in the best exact defensive setups and all.

[03:00] I have to motivate them to make them believe they're the best player in the world, that every day when they come out there, regardless of their performance, they're still better than everybody on the planet Earth. And that's what I try to focus on is, focusing on the things that they do well, obviously, working on things and work on weaknesses, but not amplifying them to a point where players already know when they mess up.

[03:22] They already know when they take a, a three, two fastball down the middle and they, and they already know you don't need to say anything. 'cause if they don't have a reaction, I want that kid off my team. If he doesn't care. 

[03:33] Aman Loomba: You mentioned that if you see a player who's not able to recognize, you know their own mistakes, they may not be the one for your team.

[03:39] What are the things you look for in a complete player, you know, beyond raw skill and talent? What are those intangibles that really make the difference? 

What Makes a Complete Youth Baseball Player?

[03:47] Coach Ferber: To me, it's not super complicated. I like players that wanna learn, they wanna grow. They're open-minded. I want players that you can tell quite easily that

[03:58] There's nowhere else on planet Earth that they would rather be than on a baseball field. Whether it's practice or a game. Not just, I wanna be in the game and during my walk off home run, but show me the guy that he shows up a half hour early to practice as he's taking reps when I get there. 'cause I'm showing up.

[04:14] 30 minutes and he shows up around the time I'm showing up, and you could tell that he finds beauty in the struggle. He enjoys the idea of learning something new every day, and he doesn't have to be a first rounder. He doesn't have to be a pro guy. If he wants him, he's hungry for knowledge and he's gonna go hard? I'll take that guy in a second.

[04:33] Alex Trezza: Those intangible things that you're talking about, that's skillset, right? How does that come into play in the recruiting process? Like you see coaches want that more than the skill. It's a combination like does one outweigh the other. 

Talent vs. Trajectory: How Metrics Influence Recruiting

[04:43] Coach Ferber: Look, there's a speed of the game, obviously at every level, and we know because of metrics and things, how fast you need to run to be able to compete, how hard you have to throw a baseball, how hard you hit a baseball, and how often. Right?

[04:57] So the physical tools, you have to start there because it could be on the bubble and you, you might not be there yet, but it has to be somewhat close, where if you're not there, you have the drive and you have the passion and you wake up every day. And I know, based on me evaluating you over the years, that every three months, those physical numbers are changing.

[05:16] It's not a problem if you're a little bit below average in speed, and you're average in power and you're a little bit above average in defense, and and you're a little below average in arm, but those ones that you're below average in if they're not changing, we have an issue. Once we get past the physical skills and we say, this guy can play at that speed of the game, those other intangibles.

Character Counts: Why Teammate Energy Matters

[05:37] I feel like when college coaches watch my games and they come and there's, you know, 20, 30 colleges sitting around the backstop and everybody like asking questions, I'm giving them rosters, a guide pointing out things. There's a lot of different questions those guys ask. I believe they look for their other teammate's reactions quite a bit.

[05:54] Meaning if another player hits a home run and you're not coming out celebrating and you're not as juiced for him as when you hit the home run, I think that's a character flaw.

Inside the GameChanger National Scout Team Training Camp

[06:08] Narration: Character was key for Coach Ferber while at the helm of the first ever GameChanger National Scout Team. This summer GameChanger gathered 26 of the top 12u players to form the GameChanger Network, a group of elite athletes from across the country who will compete at a USSSA event this fall in Southern California.

[06:27] GameChanger brought the 26 selected athletes together for a high level training camp at IMG Academy. Here, Coach Ferber, his coaching staff, including Assistant Coach Chaz Meadows and the GameChanger team focused on development. It was an opportunity to give meaningful in-game feedback and sharpened skills in real time.

[06:51] Alex Trezza: Some of the things that happened there, like I'll give you an example. Grabbing a kid and pulling 'em aside when maybe he took his turn too wide, right, and got thrown out at home plate. I looked at moments like that where we were able to coach with those kids is really valuable to them, which I don't think happens in a norm normal like tournament event setting where it's just like you go in, you play your games, you go home, right?

[07:11] There's no evaluation, there's no feedback. Talk about that value that I think we provided for the kids, but. Go into maybe some examples and, and, and talk about that a little bit. 

Coaching in Real Time: Pausing the Game to Teach

[07:22] Coach Ferber: So first of all, when you're on a time deadline with baseball, it creates a whole, whole slew of problems when it comes to development, because development, in essence, it involves patience and having time.

[07:33] Meaning, even the simplest thing like having an infield outfield, before a game to show, have a kid showcase his arm, get kind of comfortable out there and things like that. Yeah. 

[07:41] Alex Trezza: Which you'd never see. No one's taking infield outfield at these tournaments.

[07:42] Coach Ferber: Right. So just the ability to be able to stop a game, because now we're not playing for a trophy.

[07:51] We wanna evaluate and see how the kids play the game, but also in the middle of the game with umpires, kid hits a ball in the gap, somebody's outta position. Let the play develop. Let the play happen. Time out real quick. Umpire. Okay. Time, and I'm not coming out to talk to them about maybe Chaz or you, whoever goes out, grabs the middle infield together.

[08:10] Guys, where were you at in that situation? Oh, I was at, why were you over there? You were at a position to even start to play, so let's run that back, or whatever you're doing. I had situations where a lot of the kids that were here, first of all, we have to make sure that we identify. Who these kids were.

[08:26] These were the top 26 kids at their age group in the entire country. So when you have kids at that level. They come from all different sorts of teams. Some of those teams are run very professionally and are very high level teams. Others are kids that we identified that play for a team that's not a well-known team, and they don't typically get the best or the highest level of coaching as far as instruction goes.

Creating Safe Spaces for Elite Talent to Be Coached

[08:48] So you have to take that into consideration. And also, a lot of these kids, some coaches are afraid to coach them a little harder because they don't want to lose them. They don't want to risk the kid going to his dad, man, coach told me I shouldn't be here. He embarrassed me in front of everybody did, did this and that.

[09:06] So I'm outta here. I'm going to play for this other team. So when you're have the ability to be in a closed circuit like that, and the kids understand how much knowledge, baseball knowledge, and coaching, and they really trust the fact that our only goal is to see them shine. I'll give you a perfect example.

Letting Players Call the Game: A New Way to Learn Pitch Sequencing

[09:22] At the tournaments, when it's win or go home win or go home and you have to stay in the event. Generally every coach calls the pitches for the kids. They call the game because they can't risk the kid throwing the wrong pitch in the wrong count one time and the kid hits a double and the game's over, and then everybody goes home.

[09:40] When in reality, that's the only way you learn not to throw that pitch in that count. How else will you learn unless you get tally whacked with two outs and a two strike double, and you just throw the wrong pitch? Here at the game, I had the pleasure of being able to sit back and tell Ben Hamlin or the other catchers back there, dude, you call the game in between innings, we're gonna talk about what the pitch selection is.

[10:04] I'm gonna pay a very close attention to the sequences, who the hitters were, who was on base, how many outs there were, and then we're gonna go over and see if you and I were matching up on whether you should be throwing a curve ball or a fastball on that count. That's where learning happens, is you allow them to fail.

[10:20] You bring it in, you say, ask them why do you think that happened? Why did you throw that pitch? Sometimes they have a good answer. I saw he was late on this pitch coach and I thought, alright, that's something. Go. I don't know, I just threw it. 'cause the catcher put the sign up there, I threw the slider, I just left it over the plate.

[10:35] So that's one of the biggest things I loved about the event, is that it wasn't high pressure. I gotta win. I gotta win. I gotta win every second. Totally different feel.

[10:47] Narration: When evaluating players, there are a few things that Coach Ferber looks for. 

The Role of Physical Development in Player Evaluation

[10:52] Coach Ferber: We're all human. The first thing I'm doing is have to see what they look like physically, and at that age, 12 years old, about to turn 13. You've seen Aman, I'm sure 13-year-olds that are bigger than 16-year-olds, 15-year-olds that are smaller than 12.

[11:08] At that age, it's, so there's no, you can't do it by age as far as it's just windows of development, right? Who hit puberty, who didn’t? Who's more physically developed? We had kids that hadn't hit puberty at all, that were really good, good actions, and you could tell they were gonna be good, but the forces that they produce are not

[11:24] going to be even close to a kid that is already developed. So I'm always, you gotta judge somebody based on the physicality a little bit. Then you get into the nuanced things of, I personally like the kids that understand how to smile and compete at the same time. I think that's a big piece of it for me because that's what I like doing and now I don't judge somebody that all they do is compete and they don't smile.

What Ferber Values Most in Young Athletes

[11:45] 'cause there are kids out there that they can't smile. They have to be all business all the time. I do look for guys that have a blend of that, that have some feel when it comes to, I know how to approach and talk to an adult. Kids that are able to communicate in a mature fashion, even though they're a little bit younger.

[12:02] That's helpful to me. I also look for kids that ask for help that are willing to ask for help. 

Trackman, Pelotero, Pocket Radar — Training Camp Tech

[12:09] Aman Loomba: Tell us about the technology that y'all were using down at this scout event and maybe the role that tech plays in your coaching process in general. 

[12:18] Coach Ferber: So we had baseline analytics. It's almost like a mobile unit of metrics so that it was perfect for what we were doing because not every single baseball facility has that technologies or they're not going to be

[12:30] open to you using their stuff 'cause it's expensive. So we were using Trackman to basically get the metrics of balls coming in thrown and also the exited batted balls. The metrics that we tested were speed, we ran thirties. We had did a functional strength, so like a seated med ball throw where you're just basically taking both hands and pushing a med ball as far as you can push it, broad jumps to see what explosiveness is, to just go from a standing position and jump.

[12:56] And batted ball things. We weren't really testing arm strength at that time just because at that age you can do it from time to time. I don't feel like it's as important as a metric at the younger ages as some people place on it. I look at arm action more than arm velocity, and the reason why is because

Why Arm Strength Isn’t the Only Indicator That Matters

[13:15] velocity in kids that age varies from day to day. When you see a professional pitcher, if their velo is down seven miles an hour, they're probably injured. They probably need rehab. But kids at that age, because they don't understand their workload and intensity and like how their body’s moving in space, they might start out throwing a pitch 86 miles an hour.

[13:37] The first three pitches. They're not throwing strikes and then all of a sudden they're 80 miles an hour and they're throwing strikes. You don't typically see that when as kids get older and more developed. So that's why I don't put a huge, huge value on just the velo by itself. But that's how the metrics were playing.

[13:53] And also, we had Pelotero there too, 

[13:55] Alex Trezza: When you were talking about arm strength at that level. They're also playing multiple positions. They're running, you know, back and forth in and outta the field to different spots, so I think that fluctuation, that's the reason for it, right? It's not specific. They don't know the workload, all those things.

[14:09] So we did use Pocket Radar, but not in a normal way with like tracking velo, but we use it in a cage as another metric for exit velo. So talk about that too. It's like, because we use those three things kind of together, right? We had the Trackman, we had the Pelotero for player development, and then we also had the Pocket Radar on top of that.

[14:26] So talk about that part that we did in the cage. 

Pocket Radar: Affordable Tech for Everyday Players

[14:29] Coach Ferber: So Trackman is obviously when people think about the peak of accuracy and precision and things that you need at the highest level, it's probably looked at as the most accurate. However, not every facility and not every player has that kind of money to spend on a piece of technology.

[14:46] Pocket Radar is an excellent, excellent option for the everyday kid that just wants to understand what his numbers are. 

[14:54] Aman Loomba: Have you ever had a time when the data or the tech said one thing, but your eyes, your observations were telling you something else, and how did you square that? 

Feel vs. Real: When Metrics Disagree with a Player’s Gut

[15:04] Coach Ferber: Well, yeah, multiple situations.

[15:06] I see that a lot. If somebody said to me, you have one metric that trumps everything. You only have one. It's a hard decision, I would say sound because if we take away every piece of technology that we have, a wood bat hitting a, a leather baseball, what the sound is will tell me pretty much what I need to know about how loud the contact is and how consistent it is.

[15:31] And the sound doesn't lie, right? There are things that happen in real time. That are too fast, that happen in a pitch delivery or a swing sequence. It's happening too fast for us to see it in our, with our naked eye. You'll make an adjustment with a hitter. Trezza has probably seen this a million times and like hitter feels like his hands were way back here, or he's getting this much separation, but they're like this much separation, but he feels like it's like back here.

[15:59] So you show him the video with the tech and you slow it down to like just slow motion and he's like, that doesn't feel like that at all. They're like, yeah, but look at the metrics. That was the hardest ball you hit all day. The one where you felt weird. Was the hardest ball you hit. The other one where you felt good? The metrics didn't respond to say that, right? 

[16:18] Alex Trezza: That's like the feel versus real, right? And that that can really help a guy, uh, get better quicker. It was like, man, I didn't even know I was doing that.

Using Data to Support Lineup and Position Changes

[16:31] Narration: Kids will play different positions at different points in their careers and data informs those moves. At the GameChanger National Scout Team Training Camp, players were guided through how to read and apply the numbers for themselves, but the value goes beyond the athletes. For parents, data can take the guesswork out of tough moments — why their child is moving in the lineup, shifting to a new position, or struggling to adjust

[16:54] as the game speeds up. For coaches, it provides an objective way to communicate decisions that might seem personal. That's especially important during transitions like the leap to the big field. 

[17:06] Coach Ferber: One of the biggest things about there is the transition from the little field to the big field is a huge piece of any baseball player's career.

[17:13] You see a lot of kids quit the game at that point. Heavier bat, bigger field. It becomes real, right? And a lot of kids get a lot of frustration based on the fact of how much success they were having to, I can't even buy a hit. That's really, really bad, tough feeling for a kid. And so when we're helping a kid,

[17:31] say, I know you played shortstop for the past five years. I know that's where you and your dad have been practicing every single day for hours. But guess what? Right now, playing second base is going to keep you in the game here, and it's gonna keep you adding value. And I know you were hitting third and second on your other team over here.

[17:49] You're hitting eighth. Why? Why this and that? Because you have people that trust and care, and I've seen it so many times and the metrics that we were talking about, that technology is helpful to show the numbers to the parent that says, why is my kid moving from shortstop to second base? Why did you put him in the outfield?

Helping Parents Understand Tough Coaching Decisions

[18:07] I say, ma'am. Coach Trezza, he was timing from the ball off the bat to first base from the time he caught it to first base, and your son is a second and a half behind everybody else. This has nothing to do with who we like and who we don't like, or what his haircut looked like. It has to do with how fast he can cut down the field, grab the ball and throw it to first, and that's it.

[18:28] So it's objective. 

[18:29] Aman Loomba: Speaking of having kids and, and being a parent, is there any advice that you'd offer to the families of kids who are playing baseball right now? 

What Parents and Coaches Can Do to Keep Kids in Love with the Game

[18:39] Coach Ferber: Anybody 12 years old or under, I believe they're playing the Imagination Game, is what I called it. They call it at that level, the imagination game for a young player, meaning I'm dreaming that I can be Mike Trout, Derek Jeter, whoever, what my job is as a coach or a parent.

[18:55] Both of those people. At that stage is keeping the kids' imagination intact. That's it. What I wanna avoid doing is I wanna avoid snapping him into reality and saying like, that's not realistic. Because if I can just keep his imagination intact, and then I take this kid with pretty good skillset. It checks out, you can play.

[19:16] He might not be a first rounder, but now I have this kid who really is dreaming big and he's also enjoys practicing as much or more than he likes to play. Make no mistake about it, there's a lot of great coaches out there, so it's, but it also only takes one coach to make it not fun anymore. And so I feel like, to answer your question, one of the biggest things as a parent I can be doing is

[19:39] asking more questions than telling kids what to do. I believe that it's their time on the field. It's not my time. I feel like if I'm just asking my kids these type of questions, what was your attitude like today? Was it the best attitude that you could have had? How much effort do you think? Was it 50% effort you gave?

Effort, Empathy, and Encouragement Matter More Than Stats

[19:58] Was it 80%? Was it a hundred percent? Was it 110? What effort level did you put out? Right? Did you pick up a teammate today? This is important, really important to me because it shows. You that have empathy for other people and you can get outta your own way. And those are the kids I find, go very far. You know, these type of characteristics is what makes great people at a, at a baseball player. That's why I try to focus on those.

[20:27] Narration: Technology is only one part of the equation. It can track speed, strength, and skill. But real growth comes when those numbers are paired with motivation, trust, and empathy. In the end, the goal isn't just metrics, it's developing complete players, athletes who understand the game, support their teammates, and continue to find joy in baseball at every level.

[20:50] This has been Athletic Intelligence from GameChanger. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow, rate, and share it. I hope you'll join us next time as we uncover the tech that's shaping the game.