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From The Mouth Of A Pro: Jason Kanzler

February 16, 2016

Charlie Karstedt

Assistant, New York

For the past five years I’ve been making a living training and coaching ball players at all levels.  I’ve had the pleasure to train every caliber of player from little league, high school, college, and professionals.  Each level of player brings a different set of goals with them.  One common thread however is that they all want to improve their current skill set in order to reach a higher level someday.  How they go about this and with what attitude they approach it is what separates the elite from the average.  Of course growing up every young boy wants to “go D1” or “get drafted”.  I hear it on a daily basis from players and parents alike. If and when this does not occur and they’re not a highly sought after prospect, many tend to begin making excuses and finding places to point fingers for why they did not succeed.  From there it’s usually game over for their career.

Jason Kanzler is an exception to this.  A high school player with no Division-1 interest, cut from his first college program, yet eventually drafted.  We sat down and had a candid conversation with Jason, who is a New York native from Rochester and a Penfield HS graduate.  He shared his story and gave some fantastic advice for players coming up with dreams of making it.

From The Mouth Of A Pro

PBR:  It’s always great to see players from New York go onto have great collegiate and professional baseball careers.  Could you please give everyone a little insight on where exactly you came from?

Kanzler: I started playing baseball in my hometown of Edison, NJ when I was 8. I moved to upstate NY when I was 11 and continued on to play at Penfield High School.  I wasn’t recruited by any colleges, so I went to Northeastern University as a full-time student and tried to walk-on to their D1 baseball team.  After 2 weeks of walk-on tryouts, I was cut.  That summer, while playing American Legion baseball, a volunteer coach at the University at Buffalo noticed that I might be able to play at the college level.  He put my name in, and I made the quick decision to transfer to UB and play for the Bulls.  Four years later I was drafted by the Twins.

PBR:  In the baseball world you always hear people talk about how north east players are at such a disadvantage in comparison to southern or west coast guys due to climate and ability to play year round.  I personally feel that is used as a crutch, or an excuse far too often by players and parents.  Though the weather doesn’t always cooperate to be outdoors, I think if creative, players can get plenty of quality work indoors with limited space.  What are your thoughts on this perception?

Kanzler: North east players are only at a disadvantage if they operate under the assumption that you need to be outside to get better at baseball.  I believe this is patently false.  The vast majority of baseball skills, as well as the physical qualities needed to play the sport at a high level, can be improved at most modern indoor baseball training centers.  In terms of exposure, it IS more difficult for scouts and college coaches to commit resources to the northeast.  That’s why it is important to be an active advocate of your own abilities, and hone your abilities to the point that they can’t ignore you, no matter how far they have to travel to see you.  And once word gets out about a player, it spreads like wildfire.

PBR: High School players are flooded with camp flyers, recruiting services, video companies etc...What advice do you have for players and parents in the recruiting process in this new age recruiting world where showcase events, social media, and technology play such a huge role?

Kanzler: My advice is to understand that the entire process is a double-edged sword and to always remember how this new age of recruiting has effected the actual recruiters.  They are flooded with hundreds of videos every season.  For pitchers looking to go to a power conference school, velocity is king — the magic numbers are probably at least 90mph for righties and 86mph for lefties.  For position players, a few swings from various angles (slow motion a plus), preferably from live at bats, three to five reps of a specific positional skill (ground balls for infielders, receiving for catchers, drop steps for outfielders), and any way to quickly and concisely show off natural athleticism.

PBR: Transitioning from one level to the next in baseball certainly brings about changes.  What have you noticed were the biggest differences from high school to college and then college to minor league ball?

Kanzler: The biggest difference between high school and college ball was the sense of brotherhood with my teammates that I felt in college.  When you spend almost every waking minute (besides class time) with your teammates, you begin to view them less and less as teammates and more as family.  They become your best friends.  You win together and lose together and hold each other accountable.  It’s an awesome sense of camaraderie.  In pro ball, unfortunately, that sometimes can completely evaporate.  With the amount of moves made every season, it is very hard to develop long lasting team chemistry, especially when people are constantly feeling the pressure of performance weigh down on them.

PBR:  Young players seem to get advice from a hundred different avenues, some good some bad.  What has been some of the best advice you’ve ever received?

Kanzler: The best advice I ever received was from one of my mentors, Tommy Weber, who told me that “excellence is a lonely place”.  What he meant was that if you truly want to be great at something, you will eventually find yourself preparing and practicing all by yourself, after everyone else has called it a day, literally or metaphorically.  And in order to be great, you have to be a master of the small, boring details.  This can become tedious, tiresome, and sometimes mind-numbing. With this in mind, when you make the conscious choice that you want to be excellent in something, you must also accept the reality of the situation — it will be very difficult, and many times you will find yourself alone in your journey.

PBR: As we grow older we always have thoughts run through our minds of, “if I only knew then what I know now.”  When you hear this phrase what comes to mind?

Kanzler: Immediately I think of one of my favorite quotes of all time: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”  There will always be coaches, parents, teammates, friends, etc who have different theories on how you should do certain things in order to get better.  And almost every time they are truly acting out of good will and want nothing more than for you to get better.  But that doesn’t mean they are correct in what they are teaching.  Which leads me to another favorite quote of mine: “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.”

PBR: Congratulations on becoming a father! Has becoming a Dad changed your outlook on your life in baseball and how you go about your business?

Kanzler: Before becoming a father, baseball was basically the most important thing in my life.  Now, my entire perspective has shifted, and I realize that baseball is one of the least important things!  I think this is great, as I can finally understand what “it’s only a game” actually means and how that phrase can be applied to almost any venture in life.  Having a child changes everything!

PBR:  I know you’re a gym rat and an avid learner when it comes to finding the newest and most efficient ways to train.  Is there anything in particular you’d tell high school prospects to focus on when it comes to their training at a young age?

Kanzler: Now that’s something I could write a book about!  I think one of the most important things is understanding just how important the center of the body is for all athletic endeavors (think glutes, hips, core).  Whenever I go to the local YMCA when I am visiting family over the holidays, I inevitably see young high school athletes wasting time in the gym.  A good rule of thumb is that with respect to what you are training, the farther away its focus is from the center of your body, the less useful it is.  Second, if you have the opportunity, join your high school’s track team and pick the 100m dash and 110m hurdles as your events.  You will learn invaluable technical skills associated with running (which is the most basic athletic movement), and probably get humbled in the process.

PBR: Nutrition is something that seems to get neglected in high school athletes and yet it is vital to their performance in the weight room and on the field.  Obviously as players advance levels in baseball they become a little more informed on this importance.  What feedback or advice would you have for high school ball players to get in good eating habits now to help their performance long term?

Kanzler: Here is a simple rule: only eat things whose ingredients are themselves.  Example: broccoli (ingredients: broccoli).  That means things like bread (ingredients: flour, yeast, sugar, etc) don’t make the cut.  Don’t try to get all bro-sciencey as a high schooler by worrying about macros and nutrient timing.

PBR: Thanks so much for sharing your time and knowledge with us.  

Kanzler:  Of course.  Always a blast giving some candid inside info.


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