On this episode of the Circuit of Success, host Brett Gilliland interviews two-time Major League Baseball All-Star Trevor Rosenthal. Rosenthal shares his journey to success, emphasizing the importance of hard work and trusting the process. He also talks about the differences between being a starting pitcher and a relief pitcher, his routine and preparation for game day, and his experience playing with Yadi Molina. Rosenthal shares his plans for the next five years, which include completing his Tommy John rehab process and investing in relationships with his family.
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Full YouTube Video: Unlocking Success with MLB All-Star Trevor Rosenthal
Speaker Brett Gilliland: Welcome to the Circuit of Success. I’m your host, Brett Gilliland. Today, got a cardinal player with me, man. I’m fired up. Trevor Rosenthal, what’s going on, my man? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: That’s right. Baseball has in full swing. What’s up, Brad? Thanks for inviting me to come on the show. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Absolutely. Like the old hat lunch there. You got that on your shirt. You got a buddy there. I got a a new, relationship from back in the day. So I get some hats. You get some hats stuff getting made. They’re good stuff. We’re not being paid to say that, we’ll give him a little plug here. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Definitely. It’s a good plug. St. Louis voice through and through. Got a support local Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s right, man. That’s right. So, well, you are Trevor Rosenthal. You are a, two thousand and fifteen major league baseball All star. Single saves leader for the cardinals, and what was that? Two thousand fifteen as well for forty eight. Beat my boy Is he there. Didn’t you? You had to beat Is he? What didn’t isn’t that who you beat? Was Jason? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. Scratch him out by just a couple and Lee Smith as well. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Nice. Nice. Two big names for the cardinals. And then, see, yeah, so single saves leader that year. And then two two thousand fifteen, you were the third youngest pitcher with forty plus saves and back to back season man. That was, it was awesome. So fun to watch you. But before we dive into it, being from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, I gotta ask you, were you a Cardinal fan or a Royal fan? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: I’d say a little bit of both. There was some great players on both teams, certainly, pool halls or Saint Louis and pretty cool story, actually getting able being able to watch, Carlos Beltran, and also is that growing up in the St. Louis area. Beltran was a teammate, and that two thousand fifteen year, Grinky was an all star game teammate of mine. So pretty surreal experience to have. Now at thirty three years old, I have the young bucks coming up to meet telling me these same stories, and I realized, man, maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that to Carlos Beltran. I think I probably didn’t Speaker Brett Gilliland: make it Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: feel too young. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Yeah. I used to grow up watching you play. So, if you can’t tell us what’s major the man you are today, man. You don’t just, you know, grow up and then become a major league baseball player. There’s a lot there and love to dive into that and start the conversation there. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Oh, yeah. That’s a big question. Definitely has you know, could dive in deep, but I think, you know, it’s fortunate to have great parents, first and foremost, born in Carney, Nebraska, my parents own my dad owned, a restaurant with a business partner in Carney, and watched him work hard and operate that, as a young, young child from age one to Gilliland then at six years old, My dad was about actually my age now, and he decided to go back to law school. Wow. So moved into the Kansas City, Lisa, Missouri area. Back, became an attorney. And, I think a combination of those two things, one being exposed to the farm life, the constant work. I think that that requires then seeing my dad put himself, through a a rigorous course and course work with with education and you should change career paths. Really just rubbed off on me. I think more than anything, grew up as a a normal kid playing sports and eventually had the opportunity to become a professional baseball player and being able to apply that discipline and work ethic that I was that was demonstrated for me as a kid. I applied that to the opportunity I had in the game. Was very he’s very good and paid huge dividends. And he’s, and, yeah, thank you for taking that. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. I think it’s I’m always fascinated, man, by guys. Like, you didn’t grow up I mean, probably pitched and all that stuff right growing up, but you I know you went to play junior college baseball, I believe. Right? And you were a short stop. And and so Like, how does that conversation go? It’s like, hey, you’re no longer gonna be a short stop, man. You’re moving to a picture. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Conversation is a tough one. As most pitchers will tell you. No one wants to be just a pitcher only. That’s Speaker Brett Gilliland: Right. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: It’s fun. He got up to the play. It’s fun to hit home runs. I mean, stick a long ball. Right? Speaker Brett Gilliland: Right. Exactly. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: But, yeah, at at a certain point, you can’t hit nine five or you’re swinging at the breaking ball and the dirt over and over again, you might have to take advantage of the powerful right arm at arm. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. That’s awesome. Because I know it wasn’t Jason Mod. Wouldn’t he, catch her, I think, first? I mean, there’s tons of stories, Ankyo, all these guys. It’s, just amazing to me from to get to the level that you guys get to and it wasn’t your main position. It just shows you how athletic you are, and and and again, a mindset, which we’ll talk about. So, So let’s let’s talk about that. So when you when you’re pitching, what’s what’s Trevor Rosenthal mindset on the mound? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. That’s a that’s a it’s a it’s evolving. I think at the end of the day, to sum it all up when you get on the mound, when you get into competition, you have to have some pretty clear and concise thoughts and it starts with confidence. Without confidence, it’s gonna be hard to compete or win at any level, especially against competition is the best in the world at what they’re doing. Yep. My my confidence a lot of times comes from preparation, that has put me in that situation. And then also a mindset of I’m not in an alone. We’re lucky fortunate enough to be in a team sport and have bunch of guys behind me that are are supporting me and really trying to give their best just as I am to have success on that field. So those two things being confident in myself and being confident in the team that that’s behind me. Are are really the clear thoughts. And then from there, you know, we could go down the list that that goes into the preparation of of scouting, and workout, workouts, sleep, diet, all the contributors that go into that preparation. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. And and I think what I like now, it seems more than ever. I don’t know if it’s social media or what it is, but you’re finding more and more people focusing on sleep and hydration and, you know, all the things that are so important. Again, whether that’s business or baseball, it is a focus of yours and I’m one of the things I wrote down today is the off season kinda prep versus the in season prep. What was that like? Did that differ for you much? Was it the same? What was that like? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: It is a lot different. I think it goes to different stages almost where in the off season, there’s there’s a buildup. We’re trying to really just prepare our body as much as possible. We use that free training phase to continue to build the body, but then also adjusting the mind. To the the season ahead, the challenges that are gonna be ahead. And then throughout the season, it’s a game of adjustments. It’s a game of recognizing the competition, getting their feedback from your results and constantly, adjusting to achieve the goals that you have and ultimate goals winning. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I’m into that. Taking some notes here, writing something down I thought of. So, so talk about that. So let’s say it’s game day today, you know, the difference between being a starting pitcher and a, relief pitchers, you know, you assume, hopefully, especially the roles you were playing, you’re probably gonna pitch If not every day, you know, you’ll get a day off here and there, but you gotta go with the mindset every day that you’re going in. Right? So so what was that like? You know, it’s It’s 01:10 on a on a Thursday afternoon here, and the game’s not till 07:10. Let’s call it. What’s going on right now for Trevor? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: 01:10. Right now, we have completed the night before. Gilliland end the night with a little recap of how my day went performance wise, maybe make some notes on things that I would like to change or repeat for the following day. So I had a good night’s sleep. Breakfast, a good meal. Are you losing me? Do we cut out? Am I good? Speaker Brett Gilliland: No. I got you. I got you. Sorry. There’s a little delay, but we’re good. I got you. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Okay. Okay. Okay. So right right about 01:00, we’re headed down to the ballpark. Usually, I’m using that time to be on the phone. During the drive with, family friends can take an advantage of that time to catch up and build or maintain some relationships. And then Once we get to the park, it’s, more or less, kind of phone and lock their phone off, and we start the build up for the game. And both of things with, physical physically the body and the mind. I think that’s the difference, the biggest difference of being a professional athlete versus a business leader or, a normal workforce is you have to prepare two things. We’re preparing the body and the mind. And a lot of the time, the how the body feels can affect how the mind feels, and that’s an interesting game that you learn to play. But I’ve learned over the years, the mind is is very powerful. And so a lot of, what what I’ve done and what I’ve learned is to do everything possible to keep that positive mindset and build that momentum and and from the the time I walk in the door and until 07:00 when the first pitch comes is trying to create as much positive momentum as possible and and bring that into that game, mate. Lucky enough to have great teammates that that help with that as well. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Well, I think it’s too. What’s different is if I come in and have a bad day at work today, they’re not gonna write an article about it. It’s not gonna be all over social media. Right? But you give up the old the old two strike, you know, two out home run, man. Everybody’s gonna be talking about it. And the hell, you know, how’s he do the, you know, all the stuff. Right? And and how much of that do you control that in your mind? Do you think much about it? How do you get through that? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. It’s the good and the bad about playing every single day or being a relief pitcher and having to be available every day is it’s it’s great because you can turn the page and you get a new opportunity, but it’s also bad because, things can start to snowball pretty quickly and not able turn the page and and you’re carrying day to day out with you what happened the night before or what that reporter says. It can really, really get in the way of, it’ll be roadblocks and what you’re trying to accomplish. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yep. Yeah. I, one time mention his name again here. Iseringhausen, he said, you gotta have a short term memory. You know, you gotta be able to turn the page quickly. And so you can’t think about that thing, not not to keep bringing up home runs, but you can’t think about the home run last night because that was last night. Now it’s Thursday night. I gotta go dominate and and become this guy in the mountain. You agree with that? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: I agree. And and that’s where the routine, where the preparation is so important. And if you’re able to create enough of that momentum or enough of the routine or enough x y and z habits that that you’re focused on completing a lot of times we hear people talk about falling in love with the process, which I think goes right to right down to what you’re doing to prepare and all those steps that you’re taking. And the the goal is is I wanna clear mine and I want a body that’s ready to perform and if we back up to that 01:00 arrival time, take all the we have we have our time filled all the way up until game time. There’s not you’re not leaving a lot of room for those negative thoughts. And think that’s really important, for anybody and and certainly negative emotions, we’re gonna weigh you down and and that’s you get that feeling of being stuck or you can’t have the, you know, you’re going backwards. You never really been able to stay in one spot. You’re either going forward or you’re going back and when you understand that or you operate in a place where you have that belief. Much more beneficial to keep rolling forward than keep going back. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. So do you what was the goal planning process like for you? Did you I mean, like, take two thousand fifteen, for example, All Star forty eight saves for the year, single season record for the cardinals. Like, do you sit down the season and say, I wanna have x amount of saves or is it more of, again, you talk about passion for the process. Is it more of that and then the results just happen? What was it like? Yeah. That’s Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: I’ve done both. I’ve I was fortunate, early on in my career for whatever reason, was into journaling, was into goal setting and and just taking actually recording them and writing them down and having specific goals and and reverse engineering on how to get there. And I’ve done, both ways where I’ve written down statistics that I would like to achieve. But I found more than anything, the the goals that helped me to get where I wanted to go were were based on more things that I could control. A big big one. I would say number one most of the time was just being a great teammate. And for whatever reason, it it it translated into taking pressure off of myself or when I showed up every day was I was focused more on the energy and and the things that I could do to help help the guy sitting next to me or the things that I could learn from a veteran player that he was sharing with me. And that was a big part of building my confidence and building I guess the opportunities to be successful. And then from there, it was, you know, talking about work ethic and I understood that if I really showed up every single day and didn’t focus on the the feedback or, I guess, I guess, more results that I was getting positive or negative, I showed up every day and just truly worked diligently. Worked hard at what I was doing. I could trust whether or not I was successful or not that I I really just gave all that to have it. And those were the two things that I decided I willing to go to the gray volume. I can look myself in the mirror at the end of my career, at the end of the season, and understand that I at least did those two Gilliland I’m gonna be able to sleep well tonight. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. That’s a big deal. Put in the effort, man. The effort matters. What when you think about you know, those habits and Gilliland let’s even talk more now today. What what are the things that are no mis items? You know, if I followed you around with the camera, What am I gonna see day in and day out that Trevor Rosenthal doing then and now? So I’m sure some of them are still the same. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. Wow. That’s that’s So many things. I’m I’m big on big on nutrition. I think nutrition’s important. I don’t know if that I’m not supposed to say not Gilliland any type of order, just what’s coming to my mind. Yeah. You’re gonna you’re gonna see a guy who who takes care of himself. He eating Gilliland sleeping well, prioritizing. My physical health is gonna be something that you’re you’re gonna see. I think going back to being a good teammate is being respectful, treating people the way I would wanna be treated and bringing positivity into every situation no matter what it is. And then from there, I think continuing to learn, being a student of life, of the game of all things that I’m involved in, and especially profession or careers. I I’ve always wanted to keep a mindset that I’m new and I’m I’m just learning and I have a lot to learn and a long ways to go. So I I’ve been active in continuing to read books or seek out information from individuals. So and and and count down the road before me. Right. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. I love that. So who would you say some of your mentors are now? And, you know, in the past, you know, even before professional sports were their mentors during right now, you know, in the future, like who do you see there? Do you go to for advice now? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: You have been so lucky to have so many great mentors growing up. There were multiple former professional players, athletes that had read some of that Gilliland into, in to my everyday training that I was able to build upon. And then, man, being in a in an organization like the St. Louis cardinals, there’s you’re just surrounded by just high character individuals, but then you’re talking about Jason Iseringhouse, and then these guys who are wearing the red jackets, they do such a good job of keeping them in the organization, keeping them involved. And those guys just wanna give back, and they they wanna be a source. And so I’m so thankful for all of them. All of those guys pointing in to me. But one guy that that has really stood out more than anybody was, Matt Holiday. Matt was a teammate of mine for majority of my time in Saint Louis, him and his wife Leslie are amazing people. And he, for whatever reason, so took went out of his way to take me under his wing and kinda put his arm around me from day one and make sure that very minimum, he was shining a light on the path for me to to follow. And it was up to me to follow or listen, but, Yeah. Matt’s had an incredible career and a tremendous impact on and off the field. So I’m fortunate that that there were guys like that, Matt, and The cardinal’s organization, leather jacket wears, even all the way down to, managers that I had in the minor leagues that we’ll never really know their names. Those guys really had a strong impact on myself and a lot of my teammates. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Let’s let’s dig more into that holiday relationship. I mean, we talk about this at work. It’s values alignment. Right? I mean, I think you guys probably my experience is, you know, you’ve always got a smile on your face. He’s he’s an uplifting guy. I’ve been around him a couple times, and he seems you know, to be very positive and thinking big and doing the things you wanna do. You get your Christian values together. Right? So, I mean, I think the values alignment is what sticky. Would you agree with that? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: I would. And it’s interesting because we come from very different backgrounds, but but we do. We did bond over a lot of Gilliland I think, aside from our faith and and just walking a little bit different way than, you might expect from a a superstar or top prospects. Walking with a little bit more humbleness and a desire to serve more than you receive, think we’ve really bonded over over work ethic and Gilliland. And I think he saw that in me at an early age, and I certainly saw that in his Ronnie forearms. When I first met him. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Could break you in half. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Oh, he would. He it was impressive. I was lucky. We we actually were able to train together in the off seasons in Saint Louis for multiple years. And, man, what a what a great athlete and specimen of a month or he he is. Now I I I had a hard time keeping up, but I’m trying to find other ways that I could maybe edge out. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s right. How cool is that for his son, man, to be the number one pick in the Major Lake baseball draft? That’s just phenomenal. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. I was thinking about this the other day. We like I said, Matt’s been a huge influence, and we actually have the same, baseball agent. And we were talking about Matt’s involvement in my career and other player’s career and how how much he’s helped out and and really what I was thinking is is you know, Matt, if you listen at the middle, you just listen to Matt and does what he tells you, you’re gonna be alright. You’re gonna Whatever whatever you whatever happens, you’re gonna be okay. He’s not gonna run you astray. I think a testament to that is nothing better than your own son. As a dad, you have a tremendous amount of influence over your children and to see the success that Jackson is having now. I think is a testament to how great of a a leader, Matt, how it is. So you Speaker Brett Gilliland: think we’ll see him in the big leagues soon. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: I yeah. I mean, it’s a it’s a tough industry, but he seems to be taking it in stride at a young age. Seems like it’s just a matter of time at this point. But it’d be exciting. I’ll I’ll I’ll be there. I told Matt, I’m like, let me know when you when you get that call because I wanna be there. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Jump on the first plane and be there. So let’s talk about some of your your best moments in baseball, man. That’s, you know, obviously you’ve been around some big games. You were a stud in the, two thousand thirteen world series as well. So, like, is that the pinnacle? Like, what what was some of the best moments you’ve had in your baseball career? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: It’s so hard. They’re also amazing. Another question that I’ve I’ve played nothing out of eight or nine times now eight or nine different organizations, you know, a common question is, you know, what’s your favorite stage, stadium, what’s your favorite team, your favorite moment, And when you’re in the major leagues, I mean, that’s just such a dream come true. They’re all amazing. Your debut to getting the first call, making a world series appearance, an all star game appearance, really every day that you get to show up and walk in that locker room is is pretty thrilling and hard not to appreciate. So it’s it’s very difficult for me to pick one out. And, I think as I just continue to reflect and and also, you know, just continuing to work and move forward and and seeing what future opportunities look like for me and my career. Just appreciative of of of of just that of the opportunities and that’s such a such a thrilling highlight even to be having a conversation like this today and reflecting on so many amazing moments, that I’ve been able to be a part of. I mean, nothing that I would have dreamed of as a as a kid that I would have called Carlos Beltran, Matt Holiday, Godier, Melina, my goodness, being able to throw a baseball to him over and over again. What a Speaker Brett Gilliland: — Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: It’s crazy. Speaker Brett Gilliland: — Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: what a thrilling time, for me and me to have in this life’s life. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. You know, it’s funny. I just was having this I just gotta have a business lunch and somehow, the person knew. So Yadi was my neighbor for years. And, you know, I told a funny story. I said, you know, most of the time you go and your kids, they go to birthday parties and they walk out. They got like bubbles and like, you know, gum and some candy and like a nice little bag. You know, my wife always makes nice bags for kids when they leave when they were kids were Gilliland it was different at Yati’s house. Man, you’d leave the birthday parties and you’d walk out with like an autograph baseball. From Yadi or Molina. Or, you know, he was, and during the season, you know, summer league baseball for the kids. It was tough, but off season, he’d during off days, he’d be at the game and all of a sudden, there’d be two hundred people watching our little seven year olds play baseball together. But, you know, you watch a guy like that, man. And and it’s incredible to see even when he was out with little kids on what he was teaching them. And and so my I tell those stories because he’s an amazing guy, but what was it like when you’re pitching to yada or Molina? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. There’s Elite competitor, obviously, the talent is on another level, but, the work ethic was second to none. Better than he was a second tonight. There was a very eye opening moment. It actually happened in my major league debut. Have given up a hit, a walk, maybe runners on first and second, and, you know, my heart’s racing, excited. You know, like nothing I had ever experienced in my life, making your major league debut. I remember stepping off the mound, getting the ball back, and actually Rafael for Paul was our short stop. And Speaker Brett Gilliland: — Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yep. I remember very vividly him just encouraging me and and just, you know, typical attaboy. Like, let’s get baseball type of lingo. But with this deeper sense of of passion and and just coming from a place where it’s like, okay, this is like yachty, yachty, you know, Rafael Frecall, a story baseball player, a veteran, he’s achieved. All these amazing milestones, he’s towards the end of his career, and I’m just beginning mine. And I have the support of this guy. I mean, It it was just what it just filled me with a with a flame. And yachty was the same way. And I think from that day forward, under standing that as hard as I was working on the mound as much preparation and sacrifice and discipline I had put in to give myself that opportunity or to take advantage of that opportunity, Yadi was behind the plate doing the same thing, if not more. Wanting the same amount or if not more success for me is. Yeah. Man, what a what a teammate to have? Speaker Brett Gilliland: Did you ever shake him off? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: It’s so funny. He’s, so short answer. Yes. Long answer. I don’t know if this is the doc down. I’m sure it has, but yachty had this on on a couple occasions, depending on how the game was going. Usually, it was a lot sided and things weren’t going well. But he if you if I’ve seen him do this multiple times once to me, but if you shook him off too many times, he would give you he wouldn’t give you a pitch sign. He would just give you like a just throw it. Just whatever you want. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Oh, wow. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: And, I mean, amazing, right? You’re talking about some pitchers throwing a hundred miles an hour and Wayne wright type curveballs and man, the guy had no fear. He was he was he was he’s a special special individual. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So it’s probably his way though as well to say, alright. Dude, you think you got it all figured out? Just come on. Bring it. I’m not gonna make I’m not gonna make the call. You you you think you got it figured out. Bring it. Right? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. And, yeah, there was times where I shook him off and, you know, he came out to the man to talk to me and we would settle on, on something, but It’s interesting that that question comes up so often because it gives an illusion that yachty has a stubbornness or, know it all kind of mentality. And and it’s really nothing of that of that nature. I think it stems more from competitiveness. And and if he understands that as a pitcher, you have a reason for what you’re doing or if he sees the work that you’re doing and you develop relationship. There’s no, like, presumed, I guess, I guess, outside animosity that actually taking place. He’s, truly just just wanting what’s best in that situation to help somebody. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I thought it was just so cool a couple years ago that I think it was a young guy on Houston, I think it was. Right? He tried to pick him off at first, and the guy got back there. Did you see that? And then he’s like, you know, he takes his helmet. I was like, here. Go. Go to second. Try me, man. I know I’m late in my career and the guy on a change up throws it down to second, guns him. And he just walks off. I’m like, dude’s a badass. It’s pretty amazing. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: And there’s so many of those moments, I mean, I mean, that’s what’s amazing. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. That’s awesome. So you talked about, you played, I think you said seven or eight teams. What, I mean, what was it like playing for the cardinals? I mean, having the birds on the bat compared to the these other teams. Not to knock any other teams, of course, but what was it like playing with the cardinals? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. I think I mean, it’s different. I definitely cardinal organization at a spe in a special place in my heart. It was drafted by the cardinals. Came up through the minor leagues, debuted, and add a ton of career success and highlights that happen, with the birds on the bat. So, it’s tough to compare really anything else to that. I will say as I gone through different organizations and matured in the game, matured as a person. It’s been very enjoyable to learn the ins and outs, especially on the business side and and how different organizations, implement, development, talent development, scouting development, All these different pieces that go into the game that you don’t necessarily see or understand as a young player. Difference from organization to organization. Right. A lot of them. You can see why they might not have as much success as an organization might say. Yeah. Same does things a certain way and when you hear the card in a way, that is something that, stems from A lot of those guys that we’ve talked about, they’ve they’ve passed along the tradition of winning and culture that has a way of of reading that type of success that’s expected. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Well, let’s hope we get back on that, on that winning train. Right? It’s been a it’s been a tough season for the cardinals to say the least. So, last couple of questions here, man, that call to the minors. What was your or to the majors from the minors. What was that like? Was that a special moment? Obviously, it’s a special moment, but, pretty cool story there. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Very cool story. Actually, I was so I was in AA, which is rare to get the call from your AA. Manager to come up to the maintenance. Okay. My wife was actually in town. We had just gotten married in the off season before. My wife was in town. I was a starting pitcher at the time. And in between starts, you have different duties. My duty that day was to be in the stands with the radar gun charging pitch speeds for armpitcher for the opposing pitcher. And my wife had surprised me to come in town, so she was sitting. I may always get her sit, like, couple seats away or a road back to make it you know, like, I’m I’m here to work in, but we can we can talk a little bit in between innings. And so, the game goes by. Manager calls me into the off office after the game. And going into that office, I was certain I was in trouble for talking to my wife during the game, which is the most I wrote a part of the situation. But it gives me the call. It gives me the information. It tells me I’m going up to the big leagues, and I’m able to my wife’s there, so we’re able to celebrate it’s an amazing moment. It’s not completely unexpected, which was really cool. And then being young and and having an opportunity that, I mean, you just every child, every young ball player dreams are coming to the major league, but I tell that story because I think that mindset of that I had of thinking I was in trouble. I mean, that’s been from, me understanding, like, you know, this opportunity I have is so special and, I expected that that opportunity. So much. I respected the organization. I didn’t wanna do anything to ever hurt that. You know, other than having bad performance on my field. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: I think that really helped me as I gotten some major leads and continued have success, I think it it helped me to stay focused and not get distracted by, a lot of the other things that come along with being a major league baseball player. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So you get the call, you get, so I guess you were, what, in Springfield, Missouri at that time, or where were you at? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. Springfield, Missouri, Hammond, Parkfield, a great place to play baseball baseball baseball. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So you’re so you get the call. So then you physically getting like a vehicle. You’re you and your wife getting a, you know, got a bag and you you head up to Saint Louis and and you you park, you walk in. I mean, what is that like? You walk in that major league locker room for the first time. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. Now today after ten years of major league service, it seems normal. But at that time, Speaker Brett Gilliland: But that first one, right, you’re walking in there. There’s, you know, I guess pool halls would have been gone at that time. Right? But then you got Yadi and Wayneo and these guys. And so what’s that like? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: It’s just everything at that level is just so big. Just the locker room, you know, the the food that’s available is ten times what you have in the minor leagues. The the uniforms are always pressed and clean to perfection everything in your lockers everything, from the the visceral experience to having the interviews. You have these big cameras with microphones and quarters and suits and lights. You know, you go from playing in a stadium with a single deck of seats to a stadium now that has has three decks of seats. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: There’s all these things, like I said, that seem normal now because I’ve gotten accustomed to it, but I remember at twenty two years old, walking into this, and it’s just, I mean, an incredible rush of adrenaline to understand. Okay. Like, there’s people actually showing up to come see me play per se. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Well, and also too, I gotta think, you know, I’m in the money business. So you gotta think that first time you look at your bank your checking account after, you know, probably playing baseball for a month versus the minor league double a what you get paid. It’s like holy crap. Like, this is the real deal. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: That was a cool, experience too that I, I kind of forget about, but, because I I was drafted twenty first round. Didn’t have a big signing, but I, so I never really seen commas in a check before. And, when when you get called up and you sign your your major league contract that they’re selecting, there’s all I guess, all the legal that goes into that, but it actually took place just in the equipment room and the laundry room next to the dryer with, with the traveling Secretary, but I remember looking down and seeing the amount that I was gonna be paying the thinking Oh, like, you know, I’m I’m good. Like, I made it. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s awesome. Yeah. Now I get the pension to ten years. All that stuff is beautiful, man. Congrats. So, what’s what’s the focus, man? What’s the next five years hold for you? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah, that’s so going through a rehab right now of, Tommy John actually hurt my elbow the first day of this season, which with Detroit. So I have about a twelve month recovery process on that. And I really just, at this point, taking it day by day, and going back to a lot of those fundamentals. Like we talked about earlier, where I’m taking care of myself, making sure physically mentally, you know, taking moving the ball forward continually every single day, and that will eventually lead to me completing this rehab process. How my body’s feeling, what my performance looks like. And then, if I wanna pursue opportunities to continue to keep playing at that point, then also continuing to learn, reading books, taking a online class here and there to continue to expand our challenged myself, I think, more than anything. I really enjoy that. And then, being a dad, enjoying my family, my wife, and kids, That’s something that is, you know, it’s it’s very rewarding and as much as rewarding as it is to be a professional and to have the compensation and the rewards that come along with being a high achiever. Nothing that compares to the limited amount of time that we have to be dads and then to invest in relationship with with the spouse. House. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Best job in the world, man. Well, Trevor Rosenthal has been a complete honor to have you, man. It’s been awesome. Loved watching your career with Saint Louis, and, we’ll continue to watch your career. And, so I hope that arm gets healed up and get you back on the mound, and, we’ll see you out there. But, working on listeners to find more of you. Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. We’ve been posting some more content. Recently on the x platform, formerly Twitter. Instagram is a great place. I try and be active on both of those. Mediums and, yeah, would love to interact with anybody that you’d like to follow. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I think you got a new logo you made too, didn’t you? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: Yeah. The boys at Hat Launch again. Shameless bug, but they helped me out putting together a logo, and I’ve been sporting it recently. I’ve actually had a lot of really cool feedback and people who are friends and family that would like to be involved with that. So maybe there’s something there. Maybe there’s a business in the future. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: And what’s the goal with that? You know, is there anything with that? Or is it just because it’s cool or are you gonna do something with it? Speaker Trevor Rosenthal: I think at this point, it’s more or less, doing the things that Matt Holiday did for me. I have a lot of earned experience in the game and and in life and to share that. If one thing helps one person, it was all for it. But, you know, the brand and the social media stuff. That’s just today’s today’s world. And so, trying to figure it out just like everybody Speaker Brett Gilliland: I like it, man. Just feedback for you. I love seeing that, you know, the workouts and just, you know, it then it inspires me. Alright. I gotta go that next mile, man. I gotta do a harder workout today. When you see that type of stuff. So I appreciate you doing it all, man. And it’s been awesome having you on the Circive Success, brother. Thanks for being with me.
