The Gaucho9 Podcast

Twins minor leaguer and former Gaucho standout RHP Cory Lewis joins the podcast this week carrying some impressive hardware after an outstanding 1st year of pro ball.  Lewis was named the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year after helping to lead the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a Midwest League Championship in 2023.  Our conversation revolves around his success this summer, the 5 pitch arsenal, and how he got his famous nickname 'The General' - special guest appearances by Assistant Coach Dylan Jones and Gianni Bloom.

Marcos Castanon just finished up his 2nd full year of pro ball playing in the San Diego Padres organization.  Marcos was one of the Gauchos best hitters in his time at UCSB and this year hammered 39 doubles between High A and AA which was 4th among all Minor League players in 2023.  Castanon helped the Lake Elsinore Storm win the 2022 California League Title and hit in the middle of the order for the AA San Antonio Missions' playoff run in '23.  A first time guest on the podcast, Castanon shares his enthusiasm for hitting and improving his skills on the infield.

Former 1st Round Pick Michael McGreevy hops on the podcast this week to talk about his summer pitching in AA Springfield and AAA Memphis.  McGreevy has been quickly climbing the ranks within the St. Louis Cardinals organization and has become one of their top prospects.  After setting multiple career bests this summer, McGreevy enters a critical off-season with hopes of making the big club out of Spring Training in 2024.

This week we break down the phenomenon of digital influence with Red Sox minor leaguer Christopher Troye.  Troye spent the majority of the summer in AA with the Portland Sea Dogs and was selected to represent the Sox on the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League.  The right hander has turned up the heat across his social media pages (Instagram @christophertroye and X @christophtroye) and has caught the attention of some popular Boston sports podcasters (shoutout Jared Carrabis and the Name Redacted Podcast)

The Gaucho9 Pod is back celebrating our 100th episode!  And kicking off the fall slate with a big pod featuring the return of Associate Head Coach Matt Fonteno as well as a very candid interview (32:54) with 2 stars of the summer in Jr RHP Matt Ager and Jr 3b Zander Darby.  Coach Fonteno returns to the Gaucho coaching staff after spending the last 2 years at USC and Cal Poly, we talk recruiting strategy and catch up on some Bay Area sports chatter.  Matt Ager spent the summer with the USA Collegiate National Team in Cary, North Carolina while Zander Darby held down the hot corner for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the Cape Cod League.

It's your Gaucho9 Podcast Summer Special featuring MLB All-Star, World Series Champ & Cy Young award winner, Barry Zito!  Barry recalls his time at UCSB playing with Coach Brontsema and breaks down some marquis moments in his MLB career and even gives a shoutout to fellow Gaucho Jim Rome.  Plus we finally conclude the players of the week draft season with UCSB Analytics, it was a close race to the finish!

The final week of the regular season is upon us as the Gauchos head to the Islands for a 3 game set with Hawaii.  The BigWest title is up in the air and UCSB continues to push for a postseason bid so we brought in former Gaucho HC Bob Brontsema to try and read the tea leaves for the upcoming week and share some memories about the 1983 Regional Team, the Hammerheads, and Gauchos on Fire.  Check out Mark Patton's article about the 1983 Gauchos on Noozhawk.  We finish up with the Week 14 Draft with Gaucho Analytics and Gianni Bloom.  Broc Mortensen ties the all-time career home run record on Saturday with a solo shot to right field.

It was a busy week for the Gauchos who went 3-2 vs LMU, Long Beach St and Cal Baptist, Corey Nunez capped off the week with walk off single in the 10th inning on Monday night against the Lancers.  On this week's episode we ask a number of players about their favorite animated movies, we sit down with Pitching Coach Dylan Jones and the players say hi to their Mom's on Mother's Day.  We finish the pod with our player of the week draft with UCSB Analytics and Gianni Bloom.  Through 49 games UCSB is 33-16 (16-8 BigWest) 42 RPI.

Gauchos split the week 2-2 against Cal Baptist and UC Riverside, move to 30-14 (15-6 BigWest) with 3 weeks to play in the regular season.  UCSB sits 2 games behind 1at place Cal State Fullerton with 9 conference games remaining.  Jonah Sebring earned BigWest Player of the Week after an outstanding week hitting .444 with 2HR 9RBI 4SB, Matt Ager and JD Callahan each set career highs in K's, and Broc Mortensen hit his 41st career home run and is now 1 away from tying the school record.  Today we have Matt Ager interviewing the host (apologies for the faulty audio), a report on current Gauchos in the Pros, and our week 12 draft with Gaucho Analytics and Gianni Bloom.

The Gauchos sweep UC Davis at home over the weekend to move into sole possession of 2nd place in the BigWest at 13-5, 28-12 overall.  Friday's walkoff win was the 400th career victory at UCSB for Head Coach Andrew Checketts.  Gauchos RPI sits at 32 as they get ready for 4 road games this week at Cal Baptist and UC Riverside.  This week is a road pod production as we talked to resurgent starter JD Callahan about his starting role and draft our players of the week with Gianni Bloom and Gaucho Analytics.