Kevin Gergel played at Georgia Tech, became an All-American catcher at Kennesaw State, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners — and saw his pro career end almost before it really began.

So when his son Kellan was four years old and starting T-ball, Kevin and his wife Teal created their philosophy that has shaped every decision they've made around travel baseball ever since:

The goal was not to raise the best 8-year-old on the field.
The goal was to raise the best 18-year-old.

That philosophy changed how they approached travel baseball, development, exposure, pressure, failure, and the parent-player relationship.

In this episode, Matt Hannaford sits down with Kevin and Kellan Gergel for a real conversation about what most baseball families are missing: the long game.

Because exposure is not the goal.
Exposure is the byproduct of becoming the kind of player worth watching.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- The philosophy Kevin and Teal built their decisions around — and why it reshaped everything they did from T-ball through high school

- Why Matt argues that exposure is a byproduct, not a goal — and how most travel ball parents are getting things backwards

- The moment Kevin realized that trying to fix his son's batting stance was the wrong approach

- 90% of players say the mental game is the most important part of baseball — but how much of their time spent training actually reflects that

- Austin Riley's 2019: didn't make the Big League team out of spring training, but despite that, hit 15 home runs in three weeks in AAA, called up, hit 9 more in his first 18 big league games and then hit a wall forcing him to make an adjustment

Kellan is 15, stands six-foot-one, and plays for the East Cobb Mariners — one of the most talent-dense travel areas in the country. His coach Kenny Falk played at Kennesaw State with Kevin, got drafted by the Tigers as a AAA closer, and runs the program on a development-first, blue-collar philosophy. Kellan wants to play college baseball. His current goals are velocity on the mound, driving the ball harder at the plate, and working his way from JV to varsity at Blessed Trinity in Roswell — the same program where Joseph Contreras, the senior who pitched for Team Brazil at the WBC and got Aaron Judge to ground into a broken-bat double play, throws bullpens next to him.

Matt walks Kellan through the mental exercise he ran at an event in San Diego with high performance coach Johan Martinez Khalilian — asking a parent of a player to name a complaint, then tracing the complaint back to the underlying vision. Kellan deflects it in a way that tells Matt everything he needs to know: this kid already has the frame most pro athletes spend years trying to build. Matt learns of Kevin's nightly ritual when Kellan was young — telling him "you have what it takes, you have what it takes" — and the parallel humble huddle the family built around it.

The conversation also touches on an unusual family lineage. Kellan's mother Teal is the daughter of Dusty Rhodes and the sister of Cody Rhodes, the current WWE Undisputed Champion. Kevin walks through what his brother-in-law's "undesirable to undeniable" mindset has meant for how Kellan thinks about betting on himself — and why the family's grounding in faith, family, and work has held up across three very different sports at three very different levels.

Matt closes with a rapid-fire round. When he asks Kevin to finish the sentence "my biggest fear for him on the baseball field is..." Kevin's answer is the line that frames the whole episode: my biggest fear is that he'll feel like he has to perform. I've already had more joy watching him play than I will ever need.

ABOUT MATT HANNAFORD

Matt Hannaford is the president and CEO of Aligned Sports Agency and the host of the Most Valuable Agent podcast. Over 25+ years he has negotiated more than $2 billion in MLB contracts, representing Manny Machado, Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, Austin Riley, and Liam Hendriks, with prior exposure to Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza, and Trevor Hoffman. He gives you the insider playbook on college recruiting, the transfer portal, and MLB Draft decisions.

LINKS & RESOURCES

https://www.aligndsports.com/

https://eastcobbbaseball.com/teams/

Watch Next: https://youtu.be/S9tGzT3foYM

#TravelBaseball #BaseballParents #MLBDraft #YouthSports #MostValuableAgent

Almost every pro baseball player Matt Hannaford represents has the same wound — and it traces back to their relationship with their dad. In this live event, MLB agent Matt Hannaford and high performance coach Jo Martinez Killian sit down with parents and young athletes to walk through the pattern Joe has seen in nearly every major league locker room he's ever worked in, and what actually breaks the cycle before it starts.

Subscribe to the channel for the insider playbook on what pro scouts, agents, and performance coaches actually see in elite players — and what most parents get wrong long before the draft conversation ever happens.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why Norway produces more elite athletes per capita than any country in the world — and the sports rules they enforce before age 13

- The three-word reframe that took one of Matt's clients from AA to a home run on his first major league pitch

- How to turn a complaint into a vision you both agree on — the exact script

- The difference between expectations and agreements, and why expectations are a pathway to resentment

- Why "I don't wanna see my kid struggle" is the instinct that steals the one thing they actually need from you

Matt reads a letter from the father of a division one SEC pitcher with a zero ERA who is draft-eligible — a letter that made Matt call Joe the same day and say we have to do this live. The dad writes that his son, at 20, told him flat out he cannot relax around him anymore because every conversation turns into criticism. The dad's response is the line that frames the entire episode: there are times I wish he would just step away from baseball so he can feel how much I love him and how it has nothing to do with performance.

Jo breaks down the framework he uses with pro athletes across MLB, NBA, NHL, and NCAA locker rooms. Where there is no vision, the people perish — but most parents are leading from complaints instead of vision, and from expectations instead of agreements. He walks through the four-step move that turns an expectation like "I expect you to respect me" into an agreement both parent and kid actually own. He names the fawning pattern coaches see in kids who have learned to pacify the adult in front of them instead of saying what they actually want.

Matt shares the moment Jo called him out on a client call — Matt jumped in to answer a question Jo was still working through with the player, and Jo told him afterward: you stole his growth. The question was his weight to lift. That single exchange is the frame for the entire conversation with youth athletes and their parents. The instinct to take struggle away from your kid is the instinct that leaves them unable to carry anything hard later. Struggle is the gift. The discomfort is where the identity gets built.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 — The Letter From a Division One Dad

6:30 — Norway's Sports Rules Before Age 13

7:50 — His Dream Not Mine: Jo's Soccer Story

26:59 — Why Success Is Also Poison

37:59 — You Stole His Growth: The Struggle Is the Gift

40:38 — Complaints Are Vision in Disguise

1:02:42 — Expectations Lead to Resentment

59:15 — The Three-Word Vision That Got Zach Cole Called Up

1:19:31 — Disempowered vs. Empowered Language

1:30:51 — Baseball Does Not Make a Good God

ABOUT MATT HANNAFORD

Matt Hannaford is the president and CEO of Aligned Sports Agency and the host of the Most Valuable Agent podcast. Over 20+ years he has negotiated more than $2 billion in MLB contracts, representing Manny Machado, Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, Austin Riley, and Liam Hendriks, with prior exposure to Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza, and Trevor Hoffman. He gives you the insider playbook on college recruiting, the transfer portal, and MLB Draft decisions.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Alignd Sports Agency: https://www.aligndsports.com/

Episode with Jo: https://youtu.be/rR-yZoLEQ3s

The Dad Effect: https://youtu.be/6opkFoZD-sY

#CollegeBaseball #MLBDraft #YouthSports #BaseballParents #MostValuableAgent

Your son may play 80 games in a single summer, but he can't tell you what he worked on at practice last week. Sound familiar?

Today's guest is Justin Cryer, former professional player, Ole Miss Rebel, former Houston Astros area scout, and now Director of Sports Marketing at Marucci.

Justin joined Matt at Marucci's newly opened Hitter's House in Scottsdale, Arizona, during Spring Training for a conversation that hits on everything from player development and scouting to travel ball and parenting. And beyond his role at Marucci, Justin brings another valuable perspective to the table: he's also a travel ball dad and coach for his 10-year-old son's team.

If you care about helping your son develop the right way, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Subscribe for the insider playbook on recruiting, the draft, and building your son's baseball career the smart way.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✔ What MLB scouts actually evaluate in your son — and why body type and character matter, sometimes more than the box score.

✔ The development-first framework: why you should flip the priority from exposure to development and what that looks like practically week to week

✔ Why Justin fought travel baseball for his own son — and what changed his mind

✔ What happens inside an MLB draft room that would surprise you — including why some top draft prospects can go undrafted

✔ Why making your son play another sport might be the best thing you do for his baseball career this year

Justin Cryer is a former Ole Miss pitcher who spent five drafts as an area scout for the Houston Astros covering Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida. He scouted Alex Bregman and put one of the highest grades in the organization on Kyle Tucker. Justin now leads Marucci's Marketing Department and gave us a tour of their Hitter's House in Scottsdale, Arizona — a baseball performance lab, bat fitting facility, and pro player training space. Justin coaches his 10-year-old son's travel team alongside former big leaguer pitcher Will Harris.

In this episode of the MVA Podcast, Matt Hannaford sits down with Justin at the Hitter's House to get the dual perspective you can't find anywhere else: what the professional baseball industry is actually looking for in your son, and how a dad with that insider knowledge is navigating travel ball for his own kid. Justin explains why the speed of youth baseball is forcing parents into decisions they're not ready to make, why 50 games and 50 practices beats 100 games, and why the best thing he did for his son was make him play flag football even though his son didn't love the idea. Whether your son is 10 or 17, this conversation will reshape how you think about his development.

ABOUT THE MVA PODCAST

Matt Hannaford is an MLB agent who gives you the insider playbook on college recruiting, the transfer portal, and MLB Draft decisions. The Most Valuable Agent Podcast helps parents and players navigate the system with confidence.

#MVAPodcast #CollegeBaseball #TravelBaseball #YouthBaseball #MLBDraft #BaseballDad