The Johnny Salami Podcast - CJ

Episode Date: January 22, 2021

On this episode I sit down with CJ Dandeneau. CJ is a well known baseball player from Rhode Island who was recently drafted by the Pirates. We talk a lot about baseball as well as CJ's aspirations moving forward.

CJ, thanks for coming, man. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me on. This is wild, bro. This is wild, man. I'm still, like, soaking this in right now, dude. You know what I mean? Because we've never had, like, a full-on conversation.

It's kind of like Andrew Whalen. Like, he just kind of came on. I was like, hey, man, let's do this, you know? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But, dude, I remember the, uh, I was just thinking, like, dude, like, even back in the day, like, if somebody came up to me and was like, dude, like, you're going to have a podcast one day, and, like, CJ's going to come on, I'd just be like, dude just be like dude i'm calling the cops like you know but what's been going on dude i know like a lot's been going on

obviously but yeah for sure um i i want to like talk about baseball but just get to know you really man like you know like as a human being yeah for sure pretty cool man yeah a lot's going on i mean i was back in the day like when i like i said before when i saw you at cumberland like whatever a couple months ago i'm like oh it brings me back to the days i remember middle school basketball i think it's probably like my my last vivid memory of you and joe oh really you remember that dude oh yeah oh i was throwing up three i don't know if you remember now but i remember because you are you a year younger than me the same age same age same age so i remember going to my court

i just drove by and went here but i remember those days yeah yeah man i remember joe playing defense on you and it was like the first time he ever came up to me and was like dude i think my ankle's broken and i was like i mean that sucks dude like i don't know what to tell you i was just like the fat kid who just like shot threes dude. You guys weren't fat. You were just big body. Nah, man. We were like the bad news bears, dude. Every time we faced you, man, it was like... We were just like the bad news bears, man.

I remember... I obviously read some of the history books about you, dude. And word on the street was like you were a legend. But then we saw you in person. And we had some baseball coach who was like from like Tennessee, dude. And he had like legit tits. And like one time he made fun of my weight, dude. And I go, I go, yo, nice shirt, dude.

Is that your sister's shirt? And like, dude, he made us run for like 45 minutes straight, but it was like 100% worth it. But when we faced you, he was like, yeah, like I just want you guys to know like you're probably not gonna make contact but i just want you to like believe in yourself dude what type of fucking coach are you man yeah that's some good confidence right yeah dude and you just struck out everyone like and then there was one kid who was like i'm just gonna close my eyes and try to hit the ball and he actually made contact i think it was like a foul ball but we were all like dude you fucking killed it man that's funny but that was like in middle school i feel like it was so long ago but

yeah man i remember a lot of stuff yeah i think that's like it's probably like not obviously what everyone thinks about you but like if you bring up your name they're just like wow like i remember striking out against that kid you know what i mean so those are the glory days though man like i feel i don't really like baseball that much. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like it had to. It's either you love it or you hate it sports. I think I used to love it, man. It was like, and a lot of people feel that way.

Some people stop at, like, Little League, you know. They're like, I just, like, I don't like it anymore. For me, it was like after college. I was just like, I just, like, I don't like this anymore. But it's changed, so it's, you know. The game has changed a lot. Yeah. But, like, what got you into baseball, like, originally, like, when you were younger?

I don't know. I mean, I started really young. I just, I mean, I don't really remember when I was, like, three and four. But my dad used to say, like, every morning before, like, preschool and kindergarten, I had, like, this little machine, like, this little tee, basically, with, like, a pedal on it. And you would get up, and you would hit the pedal, and the ball would pop up. Oh, yeah. My dad said that I would have to hit, hit like 50 to 100 every morning before school.

Damn, bro. So I don't really remember doing that. I remember the machine. You were like how young? Were you like five or six? I think like three, whatever preschool. Like three, four. It's a prodigy, man.

It started really early. But my dad always supported it, and my grandfather. So they were always there, and they loved doing it. Yeah, man. I just always had like a fascination with like throwing stuff it's so weird it's like the bo jacks yeah did you play like farm league or yeah i played all the way through like all the way through whatever t-ball and then farm league yeah i did pitch and then you get into little league and stuff dude farm league was so much fun man that was like when i started man i remember going to tryouts they had like tryouts

i was like what the fuck is this i just put us on a team dude yeah man we had to like hit off a tee dude and it wasn't even like like farm like you're not even it's not t-ball like you're literally like trying to hit a fucking ball yeah and like the tryouts are like all right you're just gonna hit it off this tee and i was like all right i mean that makes sense i guess i was with like my friend dude like we were just watching like 50 people ahead of us like try to hit the ball off the tee dude they were just beating the shit out of the tee dude the tee was broken by yeah and i was so immature dude so i was literally like pissing laughing dude like i could not stop laughing and i was like so confident that i was like i was like dude it's a team and i'll just hit a home run like farm league bro i'm like 300 pounds like i got this dude to went up man like fucking broke the

tea like my friends laughing and that was like my first experience i was like this is gonna be a long fucking journey man you know what i mean yeah but i mean do i still remember that to this day man i remember so many things from farm like farm league man i remember when they like farm league you're talking about when they did like like, the pitching machine, right? With, like, the soft balls, kind of. Yeah, it was, like, basically, like, you can't strike out, like, you're playing with soft, like, not soft balls, but, like, the softer baseballs. So, like, if you struck out, they'd be, like, all right, go to first. I remember I hit a fucking bomb once, dude. Like, it went so far that, like, no one went to get it.

And I was, like, was like overweight so they were like this kid doesn't even belong here anyway dude and uh they just watched the ball and like i'm like i ran to third and by that point i was literally in cardiac arrest dude i was like calling it for backup and they were like yeah like go back to first and i was like why go back to first yeah i was like let me go home like fucking let me walk home dude they were just like no man like like we don't do that shit around here i was like dude the fuck so that was formally man that was pretty crazy man yeah just showing everybody up probably not honestly man like that's probably like what was going on in my head dude i probably like i probably like let go of the bat dude hit like an oncoming car i was like i fucking crushed that dude but so it was like

kind of like a family thing like you like you were kind of like raised and not forced into it but like raised into it yeah for sure i mean yeah my dad didn't really play past high school um yeah he actually he went to bryant and i think he actually was playing football his freshman year and then didn't do so well in the classroom so his dad's my grandparents were like yeah that's it figuring out really cool so but yeah but they were never huge into baseball but they always supported me so yeah i'm just good in that aspect but another thing going back to farm like i remember that like that's when i started like by realizing like not me and myself but like my parents were like oh like he's he's being a lot better than most kids that he's playing with yeah dude and they had like they had a rule at least in my little league that

three once you got to three and, or if you had three balls, if you threw a strike, it erased all the balls. So if it was 3-0 and they threw a strike, then it would be 0-1. So when I would hit, if I got 3-0, my dad would just be like, swing. So you could get more pitches. I remember being like, really? I want to go first. I just remember being overweight, dude. That's all I remember, like, really? Like, I want to go first. I just remember fucking, I just remember being overweight, dude. That's, like, all I remember, man.

I remember that, and, like, some kid wore diapers when he played. I was like, dude, yeah. I was like, get the fuck out of here, dude. Like, it's either he was doing, like, fucking squats at age five, or he was wearing a diaper, dude. Because, like, we were all like, yo, that kid's wearing a diaper, bro. There was, like, a four-inch padding in his pants. We were like, it can only be one thing man it's gotta be yeah man i remember throwing fucking i thought i was throwing chad i was probably throwing like two miles an hour but i remember

if you hit three kids in a row you got taken out of the game yeah i used to cry yeah i used to hit kids all the time and i'd start crying yeah i would i think i would feel bad for hitting you feel bad for the kids i just felt bad for the kids? I just feel bad for myself. I was like... I would always have to go over to the other coach and be like, look, I'm sorry. And he'd be like, you're a fucking dick. Like, kids are in the hospital now.

But yeah, man, I remember doing that all the time. They'd just be like, yeah, man, you fucking almost killed our kids. Like, get the fuck out of here, dude. Yeah, it was like, nobody's that accurate. It just happens. It's like, what do you think's going things gonna happen you know what i mean but yeah man like you were just like such a standout man like uh it was just fucking scary to see dude like that's all like people were shitting themselves like they were just like what's gonna happen you know yeah i never i never thought like that when i was younger yeah that's what like uh like even when i asked

you to come on, I was like, like you kind of built the reputation in my head. I was like, this kid must be like really nice. You know what I mean? It's like we've never talked, but like everyone was like, you know,

this kid's like a great kid. But like, I think growing up, like, you know, when you play some of the private schools, like especially me, you know,

like eating sunscreen, like just being in the corner, like kids were just like, dude, don't talk to that kid. Like he'll ruin you. And I was like, all right, man, like I'll just stay stay over here man like so yeah man it was nice to just like you know find out that you were just like a nice guy in

general i was like yeah man a lot of people say like you also like don't give a shit what other people think and that's also pretty cool too man yeah i mean i've always been uh i've always been an even keeled type of kid that's coaches and stuff have always said that to me my parents always said that to me um but i almost think like you're talking about like it's almost like i almost think that people told me that uh even being even-keeled was that they told me too much that that was a good thing and as i got older and like my baseball career grew and i got better and better and when i started to get to that college level like i was still like that nice kid who felt bad, which is a shitty mentality to have

when you pitch at that level. I remember you talking with Chris about you have to have that FU mindset, especially when you get to those higher levels. That's something I never was good at. I was always taught be nice, respect people. That's always how I grew up. I never learned that.

Once I did start to learn that kind of mindset, that's when my mental side of baseball came out.'s hilarious dude that's so funny dude that's like not what I expected at all man like just playing against you like if I'm going up to bat against you I'm like well first thing on my mind it's like I'm fucked like I hope nobody watches this and like the other thing was just like you were so like deadpan on the mound like you seem like wicked focused dude like no homo dude I remember I watched you run out to the mound once and like, you just had like this majestic trot, dude.

And I was like, you know what, dude, like I'm going to try that, dude. I remember like vividly the game, like I was pitching against you guys and like, I run out to the mound.

I'm like, dude, I hope they see this shit. And my mom texts me and she's like, yo, did you forget to wipe like your ass? And I was like, what?

She was like, why are you running like that? And I was just like, dude, I'm just trying to be like CJ, bro. Yeah, man. You just had like a swagger to you, bro. Just like, holy shit. Like we're about to get fucked up at like, yeah, never, never really. Like that was never really in my mindset, like swagger type until like, until probably not even to like my junior year in college that I didn't think that that was something that I needed to do. Yeah, man, you had a swagger to you, dude. You also had, like, mechanics that I wanted to.

No homo again, but, dude, it was just, like, I always wanted to, like, be on my back leg, you know, like, create force that way. And I would tell people about it. I'm like, dude, this is how you got to do it. And they were just like, no, man, like, you're never going to be able to do that. And, like, I never could because i never had like i don't think people realize like how much flexibility you need like how much athleticism you need um but yeah man i like studied that for like a while and you were like one of the the few who like

you know like a lot of pages like they stand tall they do like the tall and fall but like you had that like you created so much power just like holy shit man like be cool to be like that you know just letting you know, dude. I give all the credit to my dad. I never had a pitching coach until college, probably. Well, besides my pitching coach at college. All the mechanics that I grew up learning was all from my dad. Were they kind of like, it was simple stuff, though?

Yeah. It was kind of just a lot of coaches now. I mean, I train a lot of youth guys now too. And like that 10, 11, 12, even 13 and 14, like into freshman year in high school, like a lot of coaches are like, oh, like trying to get into all this biomechanical stuff, which is great when you're already advanced, when you're already strong enough and maybe 16, 17 in high school and starting to look at college and stuff like that. But at that young age, it's all about athleticism.

And that's something that I really tried to shift my training towards now and just trying to let the kids just figure out their movement patterns for themselves as opposed to trying to constrain stuff. Yeah, man. That's what fucked me up, dude, honestly. Even, like, I think when we trained, like, one winter together. Like, you already had, like, your mechanics down. But I think a lot of coaches were like, look, John're literally lactating like you need to like you need to like lose

fucking weight dude and uh they were just like yeah this kid just like a fucking football player thinks he can play baseball and i was just like dude i'm just happy to be here man like you know what i mean like i'm just trying to make it out here i'm like yeah they're like look man like you gotta fucking lose your tits bro like gain some like flexibility all this other shit man and then like even after that i've like lost a fuck ton of weight and they were like look man like they were talking about all this like mechanical stuff and i just had to like move away from like what i already knew like i didn't think i was like a bad pitcher like i thought i was like you know i didn't look like a pitcher but i felt like if i was like if i just kept it simple like if i had a rhythm going yeah

like that's something no like coach ever brought up to me who was like mechanical they were like you need to have like a fucking rhythm like you're dancing out there yeah because like if i'm thinking about mechanical i'm just i just feel like a fucking robot dude i'm like my fucking my leg has to be here my arm has to be here yeah and then that's what i feel a lot especially when like when i the training that i do like some somebody that might not be as advanced in the tech like in the um the type of work wording that you use for the biomechanics stuff like in the um the type of word wording that you use for the biomechanics stuff like if you go to you might say something that comes out really well in your mind and the kid will look at you like what are you talking about like you're like yeah

they're like what i'm like i'm like proud of myself i'm like wow that came out really good like that should have been good i have no idea what you're talking about so then i'm like oh like i gotta dumb it not dumb it down, but like pull it back and just something that relates to each person. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. So like, I mean, we'll get into that, but like, um, so like you got drafted, um, and then take me from there.

Like, obviously like I follow you, but I'm not like, you know, like I saw you at the gas station the other night, like, you know what I mean? Like, so like, take me through that. Like you get drafted, like what round, like what round was it? Like, how did it go down? down really late I was a fifth year I had um elbow surgery in my freshman year not Tommy John just a minor nerve surgery so I had the fifth year I graduated in four years and then I was doing my master's and at that point I'm like masters I had a internship lined up with Prudential I'm like ready to get like just enjoy the last year and

then I'm in like a spectacular year and getting drafted really really late 37th round um minimum signing bonus but i take it bag of chips and that was by the pirates yeah by the pirates 37th round and then after that they sent sent us out to pittsburgh to sign our contracts it was awesome it shows the stadium like i felt like felt like a big leaguer yeah and then they go right to right to camp in Florida, and that's when it all starts and you get treated like dog shit. Really? Yeah. Like in training camp?

Yeah, training camp. Give me a few examples of what goes down. Like, I don't know. You're just basically on your own. I mean, you don't really have any communication. Unless you're like a top, I don't know, top 10 round guy, top 5 round guy. Yeah. Good bonus.

Like most of the guys at the bottom are just pick a stick and if it's like throw a dart if it sticks like yeah you work hard and stuff but it's really tough it's it's a when they say it's a grind like it's really just a lot a lot a lot of work for not really much in return so you have to absolutely love it to to stay with it yeah do you think you kind of like lost some love for it? No, I didn't lose love for it. I really enjoyed – it's, like, a cliche thing to say, but you love the process. Yeah, like the grind. Yeah, I had fun doing all that stuff, like waking up, having a routine,

and really competing with yourself. I had a lot of fun with that. Yeah. Yeah, no, definitely. I still love the game. I watch baseball as much as I can. Yeah, man, that's pretty wild, dude. Even just getting drafted in general, man. Like, if I ever got drafted, you know, like, even if it was, like, a different league, you know,

I'd just, like, put up a plaque on my wall. I'd be like, you fucking killed it, man. But, yeah, man, even getting drafted in general, bro, like, I remember, like I said, like, I didn't follow you too much, like, in a creepy way. But I just remember, like, you know, I saw that you signed with the Pirates, and I just, like, I was going back to, like, your UConn days and stuff like that and i was just like looking at your era and like all your stats i was like what the fuck dude like you were fucking killing it man like you know i mean some kids like who i know like uh not just who i know like who i know of that just went to

the college level like even like pitchers like their eras are like fucking 12 and you're just like dude what happened man like this kid i thought this kid was a stud man yeah but i mean it really surprised me i was just like like good for what happened, man? Like, this kid, I thought this kid was a stud, man. But, I mean, it didn't really surprise me. I was just like, like, good for you, man. But what, like, obviously you got signed by the Pirates, but, like, previous to that, when you went to UConn, like, what was that? Like, your senior year at LaSalle, because you went to LaSalle, what was that like? And, like, did you know for a fact you were going to play college baseball

or was it kind of like, no? Yeah, no, I definitely knew. That was definitely the dream i mean i remember i don't know when it's i don't remember today like kids are committing so early and stuff and i think it's awesome like people are developing a lot earlier i was kind of a late developer and throughout high school um i didn't throw very hard i was kind of like a like i said before i was always nice or like i had mechanically sound but i never really threw hard um yeah but of like a like i said before i was always nice like i had mechanically sound but i never really threw hard um yeah but yeah probably probably like my sophomore year junior year i started to get better um that's when i knew like i was gonna play college whether i don't know what

division or not or what not but i remember when i first started thinking about college i was like florida like i always want to go to university of florida for some reason yeah and then like you start to realize junior year senior year i'm like yeah i don't really want to go to florida to play baseball i'm like i don't want to stay in the england area um and then at that level it's like well how good are you i remember getting some offers from low d1 schools in the beginning like wagner college uh hartford sacred heart stuff like that um and then i remember and then i think the summer going into my junior year i started to throw a little bit harder and then i started getting a couple offers from the bigger time d1 schools and yeah uconn just kind of stuck out to me i was i

think that i always wanted to go to a big name school like a school that if i was talking to somebody they say where'd you go and they just knew the school like no matter where you were in the country yeah um so i think that was one of the reasons why but did they like accept you with open arms or were they kind of like listen like you're a pussy like you got to figure this out it's like a lot of schools are like that it's the same type of thing that i said with the pirates and like in their recruiting process you're like god they're like oh we love you we love you this so we have that like you got a great family got this yeah and then once you sign then you're on campus it's like right to the bottom of the barrel yeah it's like everything even like jobs they're like yeah you can go they're just like yeah you remember that

conversation we had like last year like that was nothing bro like yeah that's wild man but yeah dude it was a great time so what was like uh what was like the onboarding process like like you got a tour obviously at the campus i mean everyone does like maybe you like you stayed overnight they were you know like you're like excited and stuff yeah the way uconn did it was i i went to a camp there um it's actually funny because i wasn't even invited to the camp i literally emailed the coach and was like hey i'm coming to the camp like oh wow this is me yeah i think he had seen me once before um but i did like for not probably the best camp that i ever had seen me once before um but i did like for not

probably the best camp that i ever had so yeah they offered me it was a two-day camp they had offered me a scholarship the next day after the camp and they were like you have whatever a few weeks to decide like if you want to come here or not i think i had one more visit left um um but they i remember the clears they ended up playing with him after but this kid brian daniello was a shortstop like took me around campus like i remember like now that i was been there like when recruits come like i know how the process works so like if they like you they have one of the guys that they know can talk to people like they say hey brian go take him around campus and like he'll take one of the players will take the family like in full practice gear like around the around the campus

remember him bringing me into the locker room and stuff and showing me i don't even know if he knew that i was a gear guy but i'm like i love like nike and all that stuff like oh yeah it makes me like excited i don't know why but he brought me to the locker room he showed me yukon's a big nike school and he had like 30 pairs of batting gloves like it's like all the gear and stuff and i was like sold then like he could have just walking back to his field and i was in you big gear guy dude yeah yeah i don't know why i used to be like that that's stuff like i probably that's probably one of the reasons why i thought florida was like so awesome because they had nice colors like blue and orange oh yeah yeah you see like florida and vanderbilt

and all that shit man you're just like whoa dude yeah they get especially now with all the custom stuff they get some pretty cool stuff yeah i started off like not liking gear like when i was younger like dude i used to literally not even have a fucking bag i would just show it to the field the fucking bat and a glove like connected to i'd be like i'm ready to go i'm like kids were just like fuck that kid like but then i got uh then i kind of got into it man and i was just like yeah i just go to like walmart or something dude and then i went to walmart and i nah, like my, I got like blisters right now. So then I got back into it,

but yeah, man, that's just kind of weird to think about like the whole gear thing, dude. I was like that with football too, man. I was just like, whatever I can wear that makes me look like more intimidating.

Like I'm going to do it. Yeah. Like it looks like people like, I don't know if other people do that, but when I see somebody in there, like, and especially in baseball, like you can tell like usually if somebody is good or not not just by the way that they wear the uniform yeah dude

i kind of wish i could go back just to like not wear like any of it dude just so kids are like full bad for me dude imagine that just wearing like no socks dude just like shoes no batting gloves that's why those guys the guys now that don't like especially in MLM with wood bags and stuff that don't wear batting gloves they're like oh that man that guy's a grinder yeah

who was that one dude fucking uh I can't remember Evan Gattis is one of them he's on the I think that's his name I think he's on the Astros he used to be like a janitor

at a school what? yeah he was like nah I'm not doing this anymore and try it out now he's in the league really? yeah

damn bro he's got a big beard Really? Yeah. Damn, bro. He's got a big beard, no batting gloves, but. Yeah, man. That's almost psychotic in a sense, dude. That's like football. There's that fucking defensive end on the Saints who doesn't wear any gloves, and you're just like, dude, what's wrong with you? Yeah, it's crazy. But he's fucking, he's a stud, dude.

It's like the Pro Bowl. He's like, all right, man, keep doing what you're doing. Yeah. Yeah, that's wild, man. So you can tell me to fuck off at any point but like so you got released by the pirates yeah no yeah i'm not yeah i got when the covid hit so like we when covid started coming on we were in spring training probably like feb i think it was february or so and everyone flew down there no one knew what was going on like the communication was terrible i No one knew what was going on. Like the communication was terrible. I mean, nobody knew what was going on with COVID at that time.

So kind of just going, we had our business, whatever we were doing, our practice. And then they sent us home after like two and a half weeks, I want to say. And same thing, no communication. Like we didn't know if we had to be ready to come back in a month, two months, three months, fall. So I still worked out through through i did everything every day and

then i got a call i think it was june 10th or 11th like yeah we're releasing you so from like march to june i was just wasting pretty much like all my time like so at that for that reason i was kind of like fuck like this sucks like i just yeah not that i wasted it i mean i was still enjoying what i was doing but at the same time i could have been like moving on to something so fuck dude but fuck man yeah so it kind of just happened quick and like i'm like shit like that was i've already played my last baseball game probably yeah so like yeah i mean once you started bringing up like all finance thing i was like wait a second dude like i mean i didn't know obviously they got released but so like when that happened obviously it's like a like a shitty business obviously but were you just kind of like i'm done with the sport or like do you think you'll go back

like at first i mean i was old at the time like i was already a 50 or so i mean i'm already 24 like all the kids i was playing with especially in the lower levels are all like 18 19 20 like 21 at the max and i'm like do i really want to try to sign again, like this low minor league contract? I'm going to be 25 next year. So like I said before, I had already had an internship lined up with Prudential. So I'm like, all right, I got to get my licenses and whatever. If some team wants to sign me, maybe like come this fall or whatever during the summer, like sure.

Like I'll be ready. But after that kind of passed, like you said, I transitioned and I finished my licensing. So yeah. Yeah, man, did you, um,

what was I going to say? So like what, uh, like you're doing training now and then the whole, like the financing too. Yeah. So I did. So obviously for my baseball record,

like I do a lot of, my dad owns a indoor facility, a facility in North. Yeah. I've been there all about, all about sports. Yeah. We should train there in the winter, dude. I didn't say anything to you, but I was there, dude. indoor facility a facility in yeah i've been there all about all about sports yeah we should

train there in the winter dude yeah i didn't say anything to you but i was there dude but yeah so i kind of just been doing um like individual baseball and uh actually i have one softball girl um but just kind of hitting pitching i kind of started a brand this this year uh cjd performance so kind of just brand myself just trying to connect um the services that i offer there with my name um but yeah i just do working out prudential during the day and then i run over there at night and do my personal training there so i'm just staying involved in the baseball community i kind of look at it as a way that my playing career is over but i've played for so long and i've played for so many different coaches at different levels that

yeah i feel like i just i've experienced a lot throughout the game so i'm kind of just regurgitating all that to the next generation yeah man you got all that knowledge dude yeah you know you fucking not kidding dude like think about all the coaches out there right now dude just can't even hit a ground ball dude you show up you're like bro i got this man it's crazy man yeah i've heard a lot of things yeah man some kids are just like not lucky man to have a good coach i mean i've had my fair share of coaches you know like the guy i just told you about the one who wears a sister shirt dude like that guy was a fucking prick man like that guy was a fucking asshole dude and he cried on our last

game dude so funny man he just started crying dude i was like dude not only do you wear your sister's shirt but dude you're a fucking pussy bro yeah no i'm just upset he made fun of my weight dude he would always fucking call me fat and stuff and i was just like dude i'm gonna blow up this guy's fucking car but yeah man i was just thinking about like i thought about coaching a lot like not i would never fucking coach dude like they wouldn't let me coach dude let's put it that way but uh no man like i remember when i went to college like like, when I went to CC, like, Ken Hopkins is over there. Dude, it took me, like, a week to realize, like, dude, this is the best coach I've ever

had, man. Like, the guy's just a full-on fucking legend, man. And he would say, like, he wouldn't even, like, talk about baseball that much. He'd just be, like, he would just say, like, the funniest shit, dude. He'd be, like, he'd, like, be talking about, like, girls and stuff. He'd be, like, listen, listen man girls are fucking nuts dude but if you can find one that's like as nuts as you like you're gonna be fine and i was like dude that makes so much sense bro like it's not positive it's not negative it's just like right in the middle man you know yeah i found that a lot of the coaches at yukon um obviously great baseball minds but yeah they teach you

especially in college it's like the most developmental portion of your life basically yeah i mean i think so but they teach you like so many lessons like that apply to baseball but that just apply to some that you you don't really realize it when you're being taught and then like i realize it now like a few years later uh you're like wow like those like those meant a lot more like yeah to me than just baseball 100 dude but yeah those are the coaches that i think really have impact on on people so you had some pretty good coaches there yeah for sure what about a lasalle like what was that like was that was kind of like a free-for-all it was just like no no dude you guys like i don't know man because it's weird like you know i went to public school like cumberland like when you look at lasalle and hendrick and you're like these guys are probably having like

orgies at night like you know what i mean like at least hendrickson dude hendrickson was an all guy i was talking to dante baldelli about this i'm like dude you went to an all dude school and you still got pussy bro like that's insane man you know what i mean like there's people like struggling out there dude but yeah man like what was what was lasalle like though like and why'd you go to lasalle like was it like uh was it like recommended to you was it like uh yeah i mean i my dad grew up in North Providence. So he was kind of near LaSalle. His parents gave him the option to go there. He was like, no, I want to stay North Providence.

I don't really, it was kind of, it was a combination of baseball. Baseball at North Smithfield wasn't the greatest. I think they were like D3 or D4. Oh, really? So my parents didn't know if that was going to be kind of a burden on like a recruiting process which ended up not being that big of a big deal going to LaSalle for the

recruiting process but um and then kind of academics too but it was kind of just like they gave me the opportunity they didn't push it on me or anything like that if they're like if you want to go to LaSalle like that's great like yeah we'll support that if you want to stay in that's great too so I ended up going there um but it was it was not a shit show it was definitely the opposite of a shit show yeah but yeah very very structured really damn dude yeah man you so you played like with tyler walsh and all those guys yeah yeah yeah man yeah i just remember like uh i don't know man i told like it's just like so funny like having a conversation with someone who like got drafted like played division one sports like even talking to dante dude like i couldn't stop laughing because like

back then i was like everyone was like i don't know man they would like alter their image around like dudes like if if somebody on my team like saw you they'd like change their personality but like i always just dreamed of just having like that casual conversation at third base dude you know what i mean whether it be about like spanking or something dude just something like wicked chilled out just be like the weather's fucking sick today bro you know what i'm saying like i wouldn't want to like alter like i was just like not one of those guys who like would alter my image around people who i thought you know like the big swinging dicks you know what i'm saying but yeah man that's that's just like what i was like i guess i don't know but to be sitting here now just kind of fucking hilarious

you know what i mean no those conversations should be going on yeah i don't know why people do that well there are some pricks man like you definitely meet some pricks especially a hendrick and dude some fucking ass wipes man but i'm just kidding i've never even met anyone from there but it's just cool to watch man just to like observe people and whatnot yeah man i saw a lot of that going on dude but then like um what else i'm gonna ask you dude i have the shittiest fucking memory dude but um i honestly didn't even want to bring up the drafting thing but like i was just like wait dude this guy's talking to me about like finance and stuff like you just like like what happened then i like you know it took me

a while but like i put the pieces together man but like what type of coach like you so are you just gonna take like all of these elements into like training and whatnot are you just going to kind of like be yourself yeah no i'm definitely going to take a lot of what i've learned um like i said at uconn like i was well started in high school i had honestly high school right into college i've had i had all coaches that had the same type of morals and goals and stuff like that which i thought was awesome coach uh jeff marcon he's still the football coach i was out he doesn't do baseball anymore but oh really um he started out like like lessons and just trying to go about your business the right way and like that's something that i've always taken with me um yeah going back to the level-headed type thing like i think

yeah almost that it might have been i focused on that too much which kind of took away from that edge like that swagger oh yeah that i wish that I probably developed a little bit earlier. But, yeah, I definitely take from Coach Penders, Coach Mack, Coach Horgan, Des, you don't know those names, but those are all the guys at UConn. But they all stand for the same things. And a lot of Coach Penders, the head coach, had a lot of great sayings and stuff that he would relay to the players.

So I find myself myself especially now when i communicate with my guys using a lot of the same type of terminology so yeah but like you said like you said um like at one point you realize you can't be like too level-headed like what was that moment like when you realize like i gotta be like a fucking shark out here you know what i'm saying um probably well my freshman year in college i had surgery so i didn't i couldn't really impact the team obviously with my like but my skills like pitching i wasn't playing so i kind of just like would sat back like listen like people always be like what are you staring at me i'm just listening like sorry i don't want to be the awkward kid over here but yeah i feel like i didn't have it wasn't like

my time to speak like i was young i was just i would try to absorb everything that was being told and i just realized i fucking call just realized I fucking called a dude. It's a theory music song, dude. Dude, I was like, what the fuck? Hold on, let me turn this off, dude. I was like, yeah, I'm like, am I hearing shit right now? I didn't even hear it. Dude, I didn't even know it was, man.

I was just like, listening to you talk. I just started hearing this fucking music. I'm like, dude, are you fucking hallucinating right now? I was like, fuck, dude. So creepy, man. People are going to be watching and be like, what the fuck is that in the background, dude? Sounds like a haunted house, dude. I thought you turned it off, though.

I think I did hear it. Oh, yeah, dude. What the fuck, man? Holy shit, dude. That was creepy, man. Dude, I was like, what the fuck? What were you talking about, though? The coaching, yeah. um yeah the sharp mentality so like the moment that you realized yeah so i was

like that like the injury like i've seen back just listening obviously and then like i started pitching again i remember thinking like i would think in my mind like yeah like i'm good enough to pit like that was like the first mental battle that i had like what am i actually good enough to play here like i came in didn't pitch at all my freshman year like i'm sitting here like just constantly contemplating like am i good enough to pitch you like like am i even like why did i come here like am i even gonna play like blah blah and then you kind of like get some innings uh i read your freshman year i started off like well i did well and like everything was great and then i I started to get a couple of bad items. And then as soon as you have a couple of bad items, same thing.

Like, am I really good enough to play here? Like these guys are better than me. And then I'd think like, like, why that, why am I thinking like this? Like, it's so stupid. And I started to realize like junior year, like these kids would come in and just like have so much swagger and like, and like the coaches would feed into it and they would just like be good i'm like like i can be just as good if not better than some of these kids like i need i need to start acting like that but it was so out of my comfort zone to kind

of not be cocky but like basically be cocky i mean yeah those kids would come in here and be like i'm the best like give me the ball like that stuff and i was never like that i was always a passive kind of kid so yeah do you think like uh was it like someone in particular where like you would fuck up an opportunity and you just be like i don't think i'm gonna get this back and then like they'd be like listen like we know you're good enough like we're gonna give you another opportunity it was like was there ever a moment like that no that one that was like a lot of kids not even myself but other kids i saw it happen to a lot the kids that were really good that would start to feel sorry for themselves and and especially at the division one level there's so many guys that they can just keep feeding in so like if somebody starts to like think like that and they're mentally declining

the coach will just okay have a seat like here's the next guy so like the coaches especially at that level like the coaches don't pat you on the ass so to say like oh yeah i'm like oh no buddy you're okay like we'll give you a chance it's like see you dude we got we got six other guys that can throw 92 miles an hour like have a seat on the bench until you prove to me that you're good again so yeah that almost makes too much sense yeah a lot of kids that were dudes in high school came into college expecting that they're gonna be good and might have not done so well the first couple times and then just pissed away the opportunity so you think like the best word of advice is just to kind of like follow the process

really? Um, yeah, follow the, I mean, work hard, obviously. Yeah. Um, coach Penders always used to say when- Get a therapist. I always took this with me. Coach Penders always used to say like when, uh, when preparation meets opportunity, success is in the future.

I don't know why that sticks, that resonates with me. That's fucking deep, dude. So I would always think before a competition that people would say, are you nervous? And he would always say, you shouldn't be nervous. I mean, you have jitters and stuff, but if you've put in the preparation, if you've worked hard and you've done everything you're supposed to have done up to that day, that's the opportunity.

Now just go have fun. And most of the time, if you've done the right preparation, you're going to be all right. Yeah. Dude, I'm trying not to laugh because i get johnson whales dude during tryouts i like the nicest bullpen i was like dude my fucking arm feels like i feel like a bionicle dude and then dude so i get a blood clot in my arm we'll get emotional dude like i'm like fuck man like i'm gonna die dude literally like i have a

blood clot in my arm i'm trying to throw dude i'm just like fucking nailing the ground dude i have no idea where the balls are gonna go dude they had me throw a legit bullpen at tryouts dude first pitch i'm like literally like in my head i'm like i have no idea like i'm almost like telling kids to like keep their eye open you know because kids are like chewing seeds like they're talking about like whatever dude stupid shit i'm almost about to be like listen guys you might want to fucking strap up. But I'm just like, you know what? I'm just going to let it fly, dude. You know, that's what they say.

Just let it fucking fly, dude. That's what the bullpen coach said. He's like, bro, just let it fucking hang, dude. I'm like, all right, man, dude. First bitch, I fucking launched the ball into the fucking stands, dude. Like, it wasn't like I hit the ground, dude. Like, I literally threw it in the stands. All you hear is, like, a loud clunk, dude.

Luckily, like, no one was sitting up there, dude. And I'm like, the kids are like, what the fuck just happened? Like, is there, like, a squirrel in the fucking, like, in the bleaches or something, dude? And, like, I laugh now, but back then dude i was like i'm fucked man like this is over but like i don't know man i just got wicked emotional i remember crying dude when i got cut no i didn't i don't think i got caught i think it was when i realized like my arm is so fucked up dude like i was just like am i gonna be able to jerk off no i'm just kidding i was just like am i ever gonna be able to throw again and like it didn't work out man but i was laughing

just because like i just thought like, what you just said. Like, if I had that sense of confidence after that, dude, that would be so fucking funny. That's the biggest thing. Like, I see kids all the time would just come in, like, and be like, oh. Like, we had a lot of junior college transfers. Oh, really? Junior college. Like, I never, like, looked down at people like that.

But some people were like, oh, junior college. Like, a lot of people that were at uconn were like big time recruits out of high school we're like oh junior college and they would come in like with that swagger and they'd be really good like they just sometimes they just people just don't get opportunities but it just goes to show like it's not really about it is about your skill and your talent like that but it's the mindset is huge yeah man did we play to junior college that uh was connected to uconn i forgot what it's called every point every point yeah i mean they were always nasty and they had uh matt harvey's dad as the pitching coach yeah yeah so one of the kids that came from there the kid's name is john russell was he a lefty

no he was right but me and him had been pretty good pretty good friends but he came to uconn freshman year like trying for the team didn't make it they were. But he came to UConn freshman year, like, try out for the team, didn't make it. They were like, oh, like, go to UConn Avery Point. Like, go get some basically, like, you're not good enough to play right now. Like, go over there, play with those kids, like, that you'll be better than, and then come back, and then maybe next year we'll give you an opportunity. And he did it. He followed him, came back, and he came back his junior year.

He was our closer. All-American, ended up getting drafted to the Giants, like, the 12th round. So it's crazy. Like, some guys come in so highly recruited and yeah nothing and then some guys come in with nothing and leave with everything yeah man a lot of those junior college kids man it's like it's a huge like a mental fight for them you know like not to be a dick but like academically some of them are like extremely questionable. But dude, you see him, like you see him in the classroom and you're like, dude, like, like you're like, you know, like you're in an English class and you think it's like Latin,

dude. Like that's how crazy it is. You're like, dude, you know how to fucking read, man. Like, and then you see him on the field, dude dude they're in like 400 foot home runs you're like okay like we gotta figure something out man but yeah dude i remember playing avery point i was just like uh they were like yeah like matt harvey's dad is the uh the pitching coach and this guy is just like uh we'd face some lefty he was just throwing like 90 dude i was just like yeah i'm just like i'm like on the bench eating chipotle i'm just like i'm happy to be here you know it might have been doug domnarski really does that name sound familiar dude he was just like an absolute stud man like he was throwing like 90 lefty and like we had these refs the junior college like uh umpires i mean fucking refs fuck am i talking about but like the umpires man like the junior college fucking terrible dude

they're like some of the worst umpires man and this kid i remember him i have he threw a ball in the dirt and and you just hear a strike. And my coach is like literally having an aneurysm. He's like, are you fucking serious right now? So like Matt Harvey's dad was like, dude, just keep throwing that. Like, dude, I swear. I'm not even fucking with you, dude. He just keeps throwing in the dirt, dude. Strike, strike, strike. Like our kids are like standing on the plate. They're like, yeah, you can't do that. But like, that's how bad it was, man. Yeah. But I remember just like eating Chipotle on the plate like you can't do that but like that's how bad it was man yeah it's crazy yeah but i remember just like eating chipotle on the bench i was like this is a good show man but dude every point there was there was a point we were playing them dude i swear to god

at bat after at bat it was like home run home run i think there was six consecutive home runs it was like a like a record or something you know it's like what's going on every point is really yeah we had a lot that kid doug that i just said he said, he came to UConn too. I think he was a year older than you and I. So I don't know if that was the same time or not. Yeah, I'm not sure, man. But when you do this training thing, so is it like a subsidiary of All About? Or is it like, are you going to make it an actual business?

Or is it more of like a side hustle? No, it's a business right now. It's all reported and stuff like that. My dad owns a business right now it's it's it's all reported and stuff like that i mean i have um my dad owns a facility right now um but he doesn't plan on keeping it for too much longer he's had it actually started go back to what we first started talking about and literally we had my all-star team i think my 11 year old year was going to be pretty good the next year and the guy that owns the building that all about sports is in um his kid was also on the team my dad we had a cage in our backyard he's like hey the guy's name is mike hey mike you think like we could put the cage

inside your building like for the winter so that the kids can hit and like be ready for next year we had a good team he's like yeah sure blah blah so we did that we hit and i remember the following year we did it again and we had like two cages and then we had like a couple we got a pitching couple pitching machines and then 12 years later, it turned into this facility. So my dad really never opened it as a business, and then it kind of turned into a side business for him. Yeah, I mean, it's legit, too, man. Is Brian still hit there? Yeah, they go.

Coach Owens left now, but Coach Owens would take the guys in there sometimes in the winter. It's close by Brian. I never saw it previous to what it was, but I just heard it kind like kind of start off small and now it's like pretty fucking big, man. Yeah. It went from like two cages to four cages with a couple of pitching machines. And then I think we expanded probably like five years ago, four or five years ago. Yeah. So it's pretty big. So like are you always training kids there?

Are you like you're going outside too? Or is it kind of just like primarily? No, it's mostly there. Yeah. During quarantine, I mean, during quarantine, it was tough. Sometimes I was just like meet kids at certain fields or whatever if there was availability there but yeah most of the time all my training is done through there so what is like your intake process like do you go to like through like a screening process you're just kind of like word of mouth

like hey cj trains these kids like like how do i get clients not not necessarily just that but like well yeah i guess but like when you do get them like what do you like put them through you know what i mean yeah so usually if if they're in the season or kind of like already ramped up we'll kind of i'll kind of just go through we use a rap what's called a rap soda i don't know if you know what that is but it's basically like a pitch tracking uh technology so kind of go through some numbers for the younger kids like i said it's different you don't really go through that kind of stuff with 12 13 14 year olds but as they get older kind of go through that and some video um but the first time i meet with guys i kind of just like let them go just kind of

let them go through what they normally do just kind of observe um what goes through their mind what their process looks like um and then kind of go from there but um you don't necessarily want to change things that aren't broken, so to say. So kind of figure out what they've been doing, what they do really well, and then kind of figure out what they don't do so well, and then kind of go from there. What if some kid is, like, completely broken? You're just like, look, man, you're fucked.

Because that's what's weird about baseball, man. Like, you can say all you want, but, dude, some kid, you're just like, look, like, you're not going to make it. You know what I mean? Because it's, like, the hardest sport, dude, you know? But that's the other weird about baseball man like you can say all you want but dude some kids are just like look like you're not gonna make it you know what i mean because like it's like the hardest sport dude you know but that's the other thing too like i talked about with the coaches that i've that i've been lucky enough to have like yeah you're gonna come into people that just really necessarily don't have a chance to play at a high level yeah but it goes to way more than just baseball like i know i know it's not to get too deep again yeah it's like i mean you spend time with these kids you see them like every week if not multiple times

a week like if you can at least leave an impact on something else besides baseball and you feel you've done something so yeah bro that's kind of beautiful man it's beautiful dude i try to i try to i try to i try to at least get that that side across yeah like the real life the real world stuff across just apply stuff like like hey like i've given you a five-day program if you're only gonna do one day like that's not gonna get you anywhere it's like anything like someone tells you to do something and it's gonna be for a reason like if you just disregard it and only do one like you can't expect to be fully prepared yeah so like say like you know you're training kids and like you're killing it man like kids are bringing it into the classroom they're

like yo i have this coach cj you know and your teacher's like i need to meet the cj like you're fucking crushing it dude and like you get so many clients that like you can like do this full time is that something that you would do um let's see it'd have to be for a while right now i'm not i have the clients that i have like i'm not really going after new clients too often. So it kind of is where it is now. I mean, my times, I'm already doing like probably 75, 70 hours a week, at least with baseball and work now. Oh, really? Once my advisor book of business kind of builds up and I might not have to necessarily spend too much time full time there, then I might be able to do a little bit of both. But right now, definitely Prudential is my number one priority. Oh, really? Yeah.

So you went to college for finance? Yeah, I did economics undergrad and then financial risk management in grad school. Oh, really? When did you know you wanted to stick with finance? Did you always know or no? Both my parents are in business. My mom's at a bank and my dad's with a credential too. So I've always known business background, but it's something that I kind of, I didn't, I never really knew exactly what my dad did honestly, like growing up. Um, but after I finished college, I knew like a debt, just sitting at a desk job,

we were talking about earlier, like it's boring.'s boring it's like um so i think the client relationship that being an advisor offers is intriguing to me so yeah we'll see how it goes yeah yeah so yeah man take a certain fucking character dude i'm not gonna lie like it's reminding me of like what you just said about baseball it's kind of like if you don't put in the work like you're basically fucked yeah you know what i mean like wolf of wall street type stuff like it's pretty fucking crazy man but yeah man i didn't know i like uh i don't know man it's so weird talking about finance dude i just feel like i haven't been around it and like because i haven't i haven't been around in like fucking a while man you know like i've just been delivering packages for six months i'm just like i forgot

so much shit man and uh just weird to like have these conversations like even when you brought up the licensing i was like wait a second dude i have my licenses i was like but it sucks man because like those companies like you know they hold the licenses and there's all this fucking bullshit yeah it goes along with it to like yeah like you know it costs money for us to hold them like so minor basically used this man but yeah man i never knew i wanted to get into finance even when people find out that i have a finance degree they're like wait a second okay it's a fucking wild man you don't necessarily know like what it entails yeah no finance man is so broad dude it's so it's so cool though i feel

like out of all the majors in college it's like the most useful yeah it's the biggest i think it's a lot of people think like you gotta be obviously you gotta be educated but it's like the most useful yeah it's the biggest i think it's a lot of people think like you got to be obviously you're gonna be educated but it's not necessarily about like how much you know about finance it's more just like meeting with people like developing relationships and then being able to like get these people to trust you and be vulnerable with you and like yeah really understand like where their concerns are and then like if you have concerns about money, obviously like that's a big concern. If you feel as though somebody that can help you with that

and relieve that type of like strain and thought, like what keeps you up at night? Like if I can help you with that and like fix it and like make sure you're all right, then you feel better about your financial situation. Yeah, man, that's literally all it is. It's just building relationships and you meet like, yeah, man, it is crazy.

Like, the more experience I got, I was just like, dude, some of these people, like, some of these, like, advisors are just, like, your average Joe. But they're just, like, so outgoing and, like, energetic. Like, they just, like, bring out the best in people. And I was kind of, like, the opposite. I'm like, what the fuck do you want from me? Like, I, like, I never, I, like, sometimes, like, because I'm good at reading people, so I can tell if someone's like a dick or like you know a nice person so like with nice people you know I just be like

I just I'd always be like people would be like dude you're too relaxed I'd be like is that like a bad thing dude like I'm just here man you know but it always fucked me up because I was like I'm here but like in two hours I'm gonna be telling dick jokes you know what I mean so like that always fucked me up you know what I mean I'm like, it wasn't even the process of like creating relationships. I'm like, what if I create a relationship with this person and then they find out like who I really am. You know what I mean?

Cause no one's looking at me like that kid's going to tell dick jokes later. They're like, that kid's fucking, that kid's going to play hide and seek by himself. Like, you know what I'm saying? So when you bring up like the prudential thing, I'm like,

I don't know, man. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah. I guess there's got to be a way to kind of like differentiate between the two i don't know i don't know man i'm pretty fucked up so like i thought about it a bunch dude like it's kept me up at night man but i don't know man i just like especially with everything going on now with like

big tech dude they censor everything man so it's like even if you say like the most miniscule thing it's like you know they'll dig deep and just be like you remember when you said this on johnny salami's podcast like yeah there's a there's a lot of social media stuff but there's definitely ways to make sure it's done right so yeah yeah man you have that fucking positive attitude that i need dude like you're like dude there's a fucking way like dude there's no way yeah you gotta figure it out there's always fucking way. Like, dude, there's no way. Yeah, you gotta figure it out. There's always a way. Yeah. All right, brother, man.

It's been an hour, dude. I'm sure you have to go, but dude, this was awesome, man. It was great to, I'm sorry about the fucking creepy music in the background, dude. Dude, like halfway through,

I was like, what the fuck is that, man? You could tell how the mood changed, too, like afterwards. But dude, honestly, man, I wish you the best, dude. I appreciate you for coming, man. I had a good time talking to you.

You're a great guy, dude. What's the name of the business again? CJD Performance. Okay, so I'll tag that in there, man. Sweet. Let the people know. And like I said, man, I really appreciate you coming on, dude. And it was great talking to you, man.

Absolutely. Yeah, thanks for having me, man. Thank you.