Bob Tarpey spent 20 years building a career in professional baseball's medical world, working his way up through the Blue Jays, Mets, and Angels organizations before finally reaching the Major League level this year. Along the way, he earned Midwest League and Eastern League Athletic Trainer of the Year honors, was named PBATS Minor League Athletic Trainer of the Year, and represented the World Team as ATC at the MLB Futures Game.

In this episode, Bob joins Inside Athletic Training to talk about his path from a Carolina Mudcats internship in 2002 to Director of Minor League Medical for two different organizations, and what it's actually been like stepping into a Major League clubhouse for the first time. He shares what prepared him for the jump, what surprised him, and what two decades in the game taught him that no amount of experience could have fully prepared him for.

For more information about PBATS and athletic training, visit pbats.com.

The Research Rundown continues with Episode 6, where host Joe Rauch (Philadelphia Phillies) sits down with Jacob Newburn (Texas Rangers) to unpack one of the hottest trends on the training room floor: red light therapy. From wearable clothing, and infrared saunas, red and near-infrared light have exploded into the recovery space — but what's actually happening at the cellular level? Drawing on his co-authored research for PBATS, Newburn breaks down the wavelengths that matter, how photobiomodulation actually works, what the data shows on pain, inflammation, and DOMS, and how athletic trainers can separate credible products from the noise.

For more information about PBATS and athletic training, visit pbats.com.

In this episode of Inside Athletic Training, we sit down with Derek Lawrance, Assistant Athletic Trainer for the United States Men's National Team. Derek just came off one of the most intense and high-profile assignments any athletic trainer in the country could have — serving on the medical staff for the U.S. squad during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted right here on American soil. From the preparation and logistics of keeping elite international players healthy through a tournament of that magnitude, to the pressure and adrenaline of working on the biggest stage in global sports, Derek takes us inside what that experience was really like. We also dig into his career in professional soccer, how he got to the national team level, and what the day-to-day demands of working in professional soccer look like for an athletic trainer.

For more information about PBATS and athletic training, visit pbats.com.