Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Schmidt.
Hi Kyle, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My entire life has revolved in some way around baseball. I began playing baseball at a young age and have always enjoyed being on a field wherever that may be. I played high school baseball at Smithville HS in Smithville, Texas before having the opportunity to play for four years at the University of Richmond in Virginia. I received my B.S. in Business Administration with a Concentration in Marketing. After my senior year concluded in 2019, I was drafted by the Minnesota Twins and have been playing with the organization since. After that first season of professional baseball, I had a desire to start giving back to younger athletes while also supporting myself via baseball during the offseason. As such, I began offering lessons while doing a light amount of coaching for the club team (Action Baseball Club) that I had played with during high school. The owner of that team was also finalizing the opening of a training facility in Leander, Texas at this point (180 Performance Center), which would provide a space to continue instructing during the offseason of 2020. However, since Spring Training was postponed along with basically all other sports, that timeframe was pushed up and I began instructing privately at 180 that summer (2020). One of my former club teammates and I had discussed creating an entity and business based around the baseball instruction, and so KGS came to be. We have been fortunate to create meaningful relationships and develop our athletes since!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t feel like anything ever is. Personally, there have been obstacles, doubts, etc. throughout my playing and professional career. As far as KGS is concerned, the initial outbreak of COVID was challenging in that it limited what we could do with regard to the athletes coming in the building, our own training, and life itself. Personally, missing out on an entire season of playing was much different than anything before – we had been playing year-round for over a decade. Navigating a year of uncertainty personally and professionally was one of the largest challenges that we faced.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about KGS Baseball Development LLC?
KGS Baseball offers private and group training for baseball and softball players while also serving as an Ecommerce platform retailing training products, services, and other baseball related goods. The motivation for KGS came from the desire to give back by providing information and knowledge about the game at a high level to athletes in the area. KGS was co-founded by Kyle Gray who was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2018. To put it simply, it is our mission to help you become a more complete baseball player. “Keep the Game Simple” (KGS) is our tagline and we believe in simplifying the complexities of this game so that you can improve your skills on the field. We recently released and developed a training tool for catchers that promotes stronger and more efficient mechanics while receiving the ball and are excited to see both the presence of the product and the company grow. We feel that the interaction and communication with the athletes we train is something that sets us apart. We have seen that the athletes who come in not only develop their skills on the field but also develop their character which has been nothing short of rewarding. I would say that is what we are most proud of: the opportunity to create leaders on and off the field and witness the success of those who we get to assist in their own pursuits/careers. Those relationships are definitely something special to us.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I think that anything worth doing involves some risk. KGS in itself has been a risk – there is no guarantee of clients, sales, reach, or market capture regardless of any kind of investment/capital. However, I firmly believe that without risk there is no meaningful reward. Deciding to leave my home state for four years and move on to playing professionally all over the country for eight months each year has carried its own risk – still, taking these risks involving baseball has helped to put me in a position to give back to up and coming players. Hopefully, they will get to be in our shoes later in their career if that’s what they want and that’s what they work towards. Generally speaking, I think that you should try to identify your tolerance for risk and make decisions accordingly, whether that risk be based on social, financial, effort, relationships, jobs, etc.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@kgsbaseball.com
- Website: www.kgsbaseball.com
- Instagram: @kgsbaseball
- Facebook: @kgsbaseball
- Twitter: @kgsbaseball
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK6hDraB734c5hJlI3grCPA
Image Credits
Minnesota Twins William Parmeter
