Former MLB outfielder and first-round pick Lewis Brinson joins Bobby Minor on the Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast for a conversation every youth baseball and travel baseball parent should hear.

Brinson was selected 29th overall by the Texas Rangers in the 2012 MLB Draft out of Coral Springs High School. He went on to play six seasons in the Major Leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants, and his career later took him to Japan and Mexico.

In this episode, Lewis talks about the parts of the baseball journey parents rarely get to see.

He explains why parents can put way too much stock in batting average, exit velocity and other metrics at 9U and 10U, what actually mattered in his development as a young player, and why youth baseball shouldn’t start feeling like a business before baseball is actually a player’s job.

Lewis also gives an inside look at what being a top MLB prospect really means. More attention. More expectations. More opportunities to fail. And, sometimes, more pressure than a young player knows how to handle.

He shares what he learned after being traded by the Rangers in the Jonathan Lucroy deal, becoming a centerpiece of the Christian Yelich trade to Miami, and returning home with enormous expectations placed on him.

The conversation also gets into hitting development, why every kid shouldn’t be taught to swing like Aaron Judge, how parents can get more value from private lessons, what longtime big leaguers have in common beyond talent, and what a parent should say on the ride home after a bad game.

If you’re raising a young baseball player and trying to make better decisions about travel baseball, player development, hitting lessons, youth baseball stats, pressure, expectations and the long-term journey, there’s a lot in this one.

Chasing Baseball Dreams Podcast with Bobby Minor

00:00 Lewis Brinson joins Chasing Baseball Dreams
01:13 Getting traded by the Texas Rangers
05:01 When the business side creeps into youth baseball
07:17 Lewis Brinson’s travel baseball experience
08:23 What actually mattered in his development
10:42 Why parents put too much stock in youth baseball stats
13:31 The problem with radar guns and exit velocity at 9U
14:37 How Lewis fell in love with baseball
19:29 Florida or professional baseball? Making the draft decision
24:15 How baseball recruiting has changed
26:59 What being a “top prospect” really means
31:27 The people who shaped Lewis Brinson
34:05 The Christian Yelich trade and the pressure of coming home
41:39 Why Lewis listens to players who’ve been there
44:51 Hitting instruction and copying Major League swings
49:42 The toughest pitcher Lewis ever faced
51:20 Lewis Brinson’s favorite MLB ballparks
54:16 Why baseball stays uncertain even after you “make it”
59:55 In-and-Out: advice every baseball parent can use
1:05:12 Lewis’s favorite baseball memories
1:07:24 Favorite baseball movie
1:08:16 What might have been with the Texas Rangers
1:09:36 Lewis gives Bobby some hitting advice
1:10:37 Where to follow Lewis Brinson