The Gaucho9 Podcast

It's that time of year again, football is over and UCSB Baseball is ready to take center stage!  On this action packed season preview pod we breakdown the Gaucho's 2022 schedule (2:28) which features 4 Regional teams from 2021, then we talk to 5th year C Gianni Bloom (17:37) about the depth of the pitching staff and swing adjustments, finally we finish off with Head Coach Andrew Checketts (30:03) by making our best effort at comparing the potential of this 2022 team with that of the 2016 CWS team before they took the field for that magical season.

Opening day is less than 2 weeks away so we decided to bring on 3 first year Gauchos the gauge their excitement.  INF Zander Darby, OF LeTrey McCollum, and INF Justin Trimble are talented Freshman who will play important roles during the 2022 season.  In this hour long interview we get to know these young Gauchos and get a glimpse of how much they have already learned while at UCSB.

Gaucho Alumni Weekend is back!  Former Gauchos Tommy Jew and Jack Dashwood stop by to talk about their UCSB experiences and update us on their first full summers in professional baseball.  We look forward to seeing all the Gauchos young and old at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium AND the golf course this weekend.  Visit ucsbgauchos.com and head to the baseball page for details and tickets.

In this brief update, we stop by with Coach Checketts to preview whats on tap for the Gauchos in 2022

Before the Gauchos step aside for the Holiday's we had to visit with UCSB Baseball Analytics to check in on the player development progress from the Fall season.  We introduce Maxine Wang who interned for the Toronto Blue Jays over the summer and has been assisting on the pitching side with Sean Isaac.  If you were curious about negative induced break on a curveball, this is the podcast for you!  Happy Holidays from the Gauchos.

Michael McGreevy and Chris Troye were essential to UCSB Baseball's success over the past 3 seasons.  The 2 combined to throw over 200 innings and were leaders on a strong pitching staff that complimented the opportunistic and powerful Gaucho offense to the tune of a 99-33 record between 2019 and 2021.  They won a BigWest Championship in 2019 and competed in 2 NCAA Regionals at Stanford and Arizona and sit down today to talk about their UCSB experience.  

The Gaucho9 Podcast has reached 10,000 downloads and we couldn't be more stoked! Thank you to all the listeners and guests, it's been a fun ride.  This week we have a current Player and Coach together for the first time as Jason Willow and Donegal Fergus hash it out while covering a variety of topics from bicycle selection, passing a baserunner on a homer, and being a 5th year guy, plus I break down the top performers from this years Minor League season as 31 former Gauchos saw action in professional baseball in 2021.

Fall scrimmages are under way which means we have to sit down with UCSB Analytics.  Spencer Stewart is back as the Director of Analytics focusing on the hitting side of the cause, plus we introduce our new Director of Player Development, Sean Isaac who played 3 years in the Los Angeles Angels organization and comes to UCSB from Beimel Elite Athletics.  We cover some new technology as well as first impressions of the 2022 Gauchos.

Fall Ball continues on as Jordan Sprinkle and Nick Oakley stop by to talk baseball.  Sprinkle spent the summer playing for the Team USA Collegiate National Team and he shares some of valuable lessons he learned playing amongst the nation's elite players.  Oakley was born and raised in Santa Barbara and expresses how honored he is to wear the Gaucho uniform.  Big thanks to a new presenting sponsor, Smart Office Interiors!

The Gauchos are back in action for the Fall of 2021 and we want to kick things off with Associate Head Coach Donegal Fergus who returns to the UCSB dugout after spending time with the Minnesota Twins.  We talk baseball family, coaching trees, ballpark vibes, and the thrill of competition as we get ready for another great fall season.