My guest today is Trevor Bauer, who is arguably the very best pitcher in Major League Baseball. In 2020, he had the lowest Earned Run Average of any pitcher and won the National League Cy Young Award, which goes to the top pitcher in the game. I wanted to interview Trevor not only because he's an excellent pitcher, but because he takes a radical approach to the game. He's a physicist and a scientist. A scholar and an entrepreneur. And you don't find that combination very often. Furthermore, he might be the most polarizing figure in baseball. Some people love him; some people hate him. But every fan has an opinion on him. Off the field, he's the founder of Momentum, athlete-driven media company that uses storytelling to connect athletes and fans. To build it, he started a podcast and a YouTube vlog where he talks about pitching mechanics and what it's like to play professional baseball.
Personally, this was one of the coolest episodes I've ever recorded. I grew up as an avid San Francisco Giants fan, and I still remember getting to the field early to get autographs and catch baseballs during batting practice. This interview would have made little 8-year old David proud, and I'm lucky to share it with you today. Please enjoy my conversation with Trevor Bauer.
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Show Notes
2:18 - How Trevor would change the way baseball is marketed and to whom it should be pitched.
5:45 - Why updating the game for a modern audience would be difficult, despite what Trevor believes would be a successful move.
11:23 - Why there aren't many unique fields like in San Francisco or Boston.
15:10 - How baseball is not being evangelized well by the people who could be doing it most easily.
19:51 - How general scientific literacy can and should be improved through sports.
23:28 - What it takes for Trevor to scientifically design his pitches and then implement them in a game.
31:00 - The business of baseball, and how Trevor has learned to maneuver its quirks and difficulties.
37:13 - If could choose anybody, who else in the sports world and beyond Trevor would want to talk to.
42:15 - How Trevor looks into the future to superpower his game.
48:07 - The dangers of getting too in-depth in analyzing your game, and how it can hurt you.
54:43 - Why you should practice analytically and perform intuitively.
56:13 - What breathing techniques Trevor employs in his game.
58:18 - The different aspects of building a business and how Trevor is handling each element differently.
1:07:30 - Why Trevor's actual goals in his work and his game aren't covered by the media.
1:10:44 - How his father helped Trevor succeed in baseball by giving him the tools he needed to work hard.