We sit down with the exceptionally talented Cameron Kim, the infielder for UCLA’s baseball team. Join us as we dive deep into Cameron’s journey, his experiences on and off the field, and his aspirations for the future.
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I’m Cameron Kim I’m a UCLA baseball infielder and welcome to the baseball playground welcome back to the baseball playground this is your host Jacob Odell and I have a super special guest Cameron Kim yeah thank you for having he’s from UCLA absolute stud of an infielder he
Was a two-time all CIF and three-time all League pick at Norco and batted 510 with 31 RBI as a junior just an absolute dog man so welcome to the show brother thank you thank you for having me man so just to get right into it man you’re at
UCLA you are coming from Norco and what the heck happens leading up to the UCLA commitment to the signing day how do you even end up in that position so I had uh been playing for the soout Giants and like eighth grade uh a lot of like uh
Recruiters would come out to our games and there was a game specifically we were playing at uh it’s called like Maverick field in West Coen or something like that and USC and UCLA were there and mind you my dad’s like a huge USC fan and so I had gotten hit by a pitch
And Coach Ward was there and he was like Hey like let him hit again they didn’t let me hit again and so he had they just left you know like they they had dipped and uh uh they invited me to a camp like probably couple weeks later or might
Have been yeah a couple months later maybe and uh went to the camp bald out met a whole bunch of like cool people and stuff like that a couple people who are committed now yeah and uh that was my freshman year so I had committed as a
Freshman uh I was the second after Dean West and then uh those four years I I felt like I didn’t have a lot of pressure on me because I was like it was already out of the way blah blah blah like I was just having fun with it and then senior year
Uh signing day it was so fun like all my family came out and all my friends and it it was it was a blast yeah oh yeah man we had you know rock on the show you mentioned earlier and uh Rock was telling us about how you know he’s
Playing for Thousand Oaks and just like you know there’s Scouts everywhere radar guns on you you would go to like the Showcase events and and everything and talk about the the pressures of being at a showcase I know that you mentioned you know you’re already committed you’re
Just like you know what whatever I’m having fun but what is it like having you know Radars on you you know everybody looking at you talk to me man it’s interesting it’s a it’s definitely a new feeling if it’s your first time doing it you’ve never really done
Anything like that before you know it’s a the Showcase process it’s a little slow paced so a lot of like standing around waiting for people to do their thing um but I mean it’s fun like I definitely think it it like helps you get used to the pressure like as you get
Older and stuff like that but um it definitely was fun uh in the circuit I got to meet like a whole bunch of new people so like showcases and stuff I got to meet a whole bunch of friends and like we’re all still friends to this day
And little things like that but um it definitely it definitely helps with pressure in the future like going to things like that so young um it’s kind of funny my little brother just did his first PBR showcase last night and or yesterday not last night but um he he
Had a lot of fun with it it was a new feeling for him uh cuz at Norco you don’t like really play you play in front of your city you know like the city shows up cuz Norco is just so TI nit um but I mean it’s it’s not it’s different
You know playing in front of like Scouts with guns on you and things like that it’s definitely fun it’s fun for sure like it excites you yeah yeah is how old’s your brother he’s 16 16 so he was he was uh before Grant Gray came back from football cuz he’s a dual
Um he was my second baseman for the whole fall and like a little bit of the spring so that was that was really fun being able to play up the middle of my brother yeah D that’s that’s so cool is he planning on going to UCLA where’s he
Looking to go um he’s still sophomore so the recruiting process is a little you yeah a little different um but he’s he’s talking to a couple schools uh but his his I think his dream school is USC yeah really he wants to he wants to go over there dude that’d be
Wild I know I know yeah so I I think you could do I he’s definitely like in the works with that but we we’ll see on September 1st yeah cuz you’d be a junior and he’d be a freshman no I’d be a senior and he’d be a fresh yeah so I
Hopefully if if life goes away his plan then I wouldn’t play against him but um but that that would be cool to play against my brother yeah damn right man I I saw you on uh youth prospects right and there’s that day in the live video
And you know in our pre-show we were talking about you know your day in the life videos that you wanted to start man so run me through that real quick like what’s the thought process why want to get into uh kind of showcasing your life
Man um I I feel like I’ve always been like an outgoing person like super talkative and I could start conversations with anybody and I mean having overtime LJ like so close like personally like just friendship wise uh it it definitely like gave me a good
Resource to have and he would come to my house and stuff and film things for like me and Austin Ro league and uh and ever since then like I got to school I moved in in the summer like really early in the summer and I was rooming with Jaye
And stump and yeah he was like Hey like let’s do a day in the life Ryan wants to do Day in the Life blah blah blah we filmed it and it got 200k views my Instagram real got like 500k views so he was like dude like we got to keep doing
This so we ended up filming another episode that’s supposed to come out pretty soon hopefully uh but yeah it’s uh it’s pretty it’s pretty cool working with youth prospects like it’s literally just like a camera following you around just like little documentary you’re doing your thing you know like having
Fun like joking on camera and stuff like that but it’s definitely like youth prospects is they’re good people do you think that like content has changed the game of baseball of how people perceive it you know n nil deals are coming out of things right like like run me through
That how how are you planning on leveraging the content that you might be creating because that’s something that not a lot of people talk about for college players yeah um I think I think uh content creation for like baseball is huge because we don’t really have the hype that football and basketball have
You know so I think just being able to like get your name out there and you know I like honestly like it’s cool to have like people know who I am and stuff like that but at the end of the day like I I play baseball you know they know me
Because of baseball so like being able to build like the name of baseball and like the game of baseball just like on YouTube and Instagram like social media and stuff like that like little kids will watch and I think I think it’s huge like for nil especially people will know
Who you are Brands will hit you up and stuff like that so is definitely cool like look at Max Clark man you know Max Clark his life has changed because of content you know so many other people are trying to emulate that now because of the opportunities that they are
Presented by right um you know we had Paul SK on the show and he was like yeah man like companies just hit me up all the time and it’s like what dude like yeah here’s a million dollars here’s a million dollar you’re like what dude
It’s so wild so um but anyways off the topic of content man I want to dive into your approach right how you are on the field because I’ve watched film on you man and I love watching film on on dudes who just are are better than me because
I’m still in the game right like I’m like I’m like dude what can I learn from this guy right so the way that you carry yourself on the field is like nobody else I’ve seen man you just have that Swagger to you you play with the enthusiasm run me through how you even
Got there man like like is that just talk about I love talking about this because like people would think that I’m taking the game as a joke cuz I laugh a lot on the field I smile a lot on the and I’m always talking and people were
Just like oh like you need to stop messing around blah blah blah but like dude like I’m having fun laughing and playing just as good as anybody else if not better then like what’s the problem you know my older brother uh like he trains me and like he’s always been my
Hitting coach he played ni niia baseball and so he like he has like the grit in our family like that guy like grinds right and so he told me he was like dude at the end of the day like it’s baseball like it’s a little kids game like have
Fun with it you know so there’s definitely times where I like get mad at myself I I’ll throw a glove at the ground or something like that you know like things like that but um yeah I’ve always just been trying to like just have fun just smile like remind myself
Like I was a little kid when I started playing this game you know keep it that way have fun with it you know that’s the reason why I play um and then like just I’ve always lik meeting new people making new friends and so like when it
Comes to the game of baseball like you make friends that you’ll know for the rest of your life you know especially if you guys all make it together like that’s that’s the biggest thing like you’re going to you’re going to have those friends for the rest of your life
You know yeah um but I mean I’ve always just tried to play hard I’ve always uh tried to give him my all just like put a lot of effort into it like when I was growing up my youth coaches would always just like be humble put a lot of effort
Into your game like stuff like that so I’ve always kept it with me um just yeah the biggest thing for me is just always have fun with it I always tell like when I would do like my inome visits and stuff like that Scout said oh like
What’s the reason you play because like I loved it when I was a little kid so I’m just going to keep carrying that on you know yeah I’m glad you mentioned that man I want you to dive into the inhome visits real quick uh while we’re on that topic m
What is that like what is it like having a scout come into your house with Mom and Dad and you’re just like oh my gosh like all right this is for Real so uh I don’t know if it’s like this for everybody because I mean like kids like
Like I mean let’s see some examples here like me like Dean West like Roman Martin for example like all of the SoCal kids we’ve been in Scout ball for such a long time so we’re around Scouts all the time so we get to know these guys blah blah
Blah they’re the same guys that are come to our house so I think just building a relationship with the scouts beforehand like throughout High School helped me a ton so when they would come to my house ask me questions like I was so comfortable already you know like they’
Ask me a question I’d already know the answer because we’ve already talked about this before so I think that helped me a lot um being able to just like let them meet your family like let let my dad talk to them let my mom talk to them
My brothers they’d always mess with my brothers and stuff like that cuz I have three of them you know so we were always all down there like in my living room just talking and stuff but um it was it was definitely like interesting there were a couple where like I had never met
This Scout before and it was a little more like uh like nerve-wracking but um it it was like I think like when I’m older and I’m telling my kids about my experiences like that’s definitely going to be one of the tops just like meeting with all these teams and talking to them
About you know me you know as a person and not not like not even as a baseball player as a person that’s that’s huge you know so is that more of what the conversations look like is the coaches aren’t necessarily looking at you know your stat sh and stuff they’re just
Trying to get to know you as a man yeah so I mean they’re going to they’re going to talk to you they know you’re a baseball player they know you’re good at baseball or or else they wouldn’t be talking to you you know so when it comes
To like things like that like the inome visits and talking to coaches and stuff uh they’re they’re always looking at the makeup like you would hear like oh 80 grade makeup like this kid has 80 grade makeup like they like you as a person you know like they think you’re like a
Cool guy they think you’ll fit in when it comes to playing professional baseball with dudes you’ve never met before around the country you know so it’s little things like that like being able to hold a conversation with somebody like something as simple as that yeah you know so yeah it’s things
Like that yeah definitely man and and you know when a coach is looking at you as a player they’re trying to see where your personality fits into the team right so when looking at UCLA you had that you know pre-commitment I would say as your freshman year right so are you
Meshing well with the guys at UCLA or is there guys you know like you’re like damn I don’t like these guys or are you just like you know what f it I’m going with the flow man well there’s definitely guys that are like a little more standoffish I wouldn’t say they’re
Like jerks or anything so like we all we all get along like our team this year is really close like we we do a lot of things together and stuff like that um but I mean there’s not there’s not anybody on the team that I’m like dang
Like stay away from him but uh there you can definitely tell the older guys are like more mature like they just they go they go about their business and they just get their stuff done and like little things like that just you could tell like for example like when you were
Talking to paules like I watched that podcast you know like he’s just like he’s a grown man like he’s talking like a grown man he he doesn’t look like he looks like he’s like like Hulk or something but but I mean he’s still like he’s still young you know he’s 21 years
Old and um but you could tell like just the the 2year age Gap like I’m 19 he’s 21 I think 22 maybe2 I think yeah um like you could tell like I’m still a little kid like I still like laugh and like Giggle and stuff like that and he’s
Like he’s super serious like he also was was it the Navy or the army or something he play for yeah so like I mean he’s definitely like learned things Ace he’s definitely learned things from like being in the Air Force and stuff and everybody has like a different
Background so I think that’s the coolest part is like meeting like my new teammates and stuff and like the older guys getting to know their background why they are the way they are so that that makes it fun I get now who’s your favorite teammate that you have right now it’s not Dean
West I’m well I’m going have to I’m just going to be biased and say it’s my roommate R yeah there you go we live together so I have to like him for for everybody who’s listening or watching Dean West is sitting on the couch right
Now he’s just vibing so I love it man I love it um talk to me about you know what you’re feeling in the box right like you know a lot of guys have their their routines that they go through trying to get them prepped you know deep
Breath or looking at a focal point on their bat or a pitcher talk to me what are you thinking you know when you’re on Deck um yeah for sure my junior year it was like super calm like I would like I would be in the Box I was super relaxed
I could hear myself breathing that’s my biggest thing hear myself breathe so I’ll take a big breath like make sure I could hear it you know and um my senior year I was a little more rushed I and I noticed that like after the season ended like I didn’t hear myself breathe I
Wasn’t like taking the extra second stuff like that you know and I feel like my junior year I was so successful because of the relaxation in my body and just like how my mindset was I was so like calm and didn’t let anything anything really affect me
Um in my senior year I was definitely more rushed like especially in my head like I was just thinking too much you know and then during the fall at UCLA my first fall uh I hit really good I I I thought I did a lot better than I
Thought I was going to do and um the biggest thing like coach Pat would be like hey like focal point like you need to find a focal point so focal point mixed with breathing and just like staying relaxed in the box like hear yourself breathe find a Tempo a slow
Tempo you don’t want to be rushed you know so um that’s definitely help big time the focal point just hearing myself breathe that’s always like what I’ve kind of tried to carry into college um but yeah that’s what’s your focal point the the r on my Rawlings icon there you
Go yeah for me it’s like a little little dirt mark from like my cleat that I like TA or something man so yeah my it’s the r on my icon and then um if I’m like like deeper into account and I like need to find something else to calm me down
I’ll look at the right field foul pole yeah yeah that works too um talk about two- strike approach man like a lot of coaches are now moving towards the two- strike approach like take out this stride just plant the feet get a base hit foul something off what’s the two-
Strike approach for you guys over at UCLA uh it’s different for everybody so that that’s one thing about UCLA is it’s very uh like individual you know like everybody kind of has their own thing and coaches are okay with that because it works for them um in high school my
Two- strike approach was the same thing as the rest of the at bat you know I’ll just swing as hard as I can okay yeah and then I get to college and the pictures are just so much better like you have to take out movement you have to take out like literally like
Little milliseconds here and there and um I started like probably week three week four I started stri like no striding kind of I I remember watching like videos on like Tommy tanks and how he would like start like his front foot like slightly open but like still wide
And like in his legs so I started doing that and I mean it helped me become successful so right on man talk about John Savage mhm right coach Savage coach Savage man man uhhuh what does he like he’s a cool guy yeah quiet standoffish does his own thing um super like that
Guy you could tell he works so hard like he’s at the field at like 5: in the morning you know doing his thing in his office um loves baseball loves baseball absolutely loves baseball that guy like he lives breathes eats baseball you know so talking to him if you want to like if
You have a baseball question talk to coach Savage you know and I mean he’s a pitcher guy so he doesn’t really talk to the position players all that much but I mean we still talk to him a lot in the locker room and in his office and um but
He he’s like he’s interesting he’s funny like super funny like I don’t think he means to be funny but he’s funny you know but um like goofy funny yeah like goofy yeah he’ll say something like he just makes like funny jokes and stuff like that and um but like he’s super fun
To play for like he’s very easy going and um he gets on us when he needs to get on us and things like that he’s he’s really cool respect him a lot have they done anything with uh you guys as freshman to kind of uh make the transition into college easier because
For a lot of high school players going to a D1 school they might be like dude I I don’t know like it’s a whole new environment especially for like some guys that might be going across country or whatever it may be I know you’re more
Of like local but what was that like at UCLA um for me I well Norco practices are very very similar to UCLA practices so I I I was used to it like right away you know and like the tempo is just a lot faster everybody’s like running
Everywhere you can’t walk on the field like things like that you know um but the coaches are definitely like easy going they understand that like it’s your second week it’s your third week like you’re going to mess up you know so I think that’s the biggest part about
Being in college like the coaches understand and like like if it was the last week of fall and I’m still messing up like they’ll get on me for sure you know like like Signs and things like that like I deserve to get on or to be
Get on you know because it’s the last week of the fall like I should know this stuff so um when it comes to like the coaches like they’re they’re they’re like they’re reasonable you know like they understand so pretty cool right on man yeah who who’s been like a mentor
One of the upper classman or someone that’s helped you out you know to transition into UCLA well this is this is interesting because I I have two so Cody shrier he’s like yeah oh he’s like always talk on the field like always be loud always be vocal um like like play
Your game like play your game within Bruin baseball you know that’s like the the biggest thing I’ve gotten from Cody is like play your game inside of bre baseball so like do do what like the Bruins would expect you to do while playing your game you know um and then
Jack Holman he’s a local guy from my area so he went to Eda we played against each other a lot we didn’t really talk to each other until his last summer he was playing for CBM Ruchi so I got to know him a little bit and then being
Teammates with him in college made it even better because now I get to know like his routine and like little things like that like he would stretch for 40 minutes before he hit holy [ __ ] yeah like that guy is extremely flexible like wow he takes pride in his work so so
Like the mixture of those two guys like just helped me a lot like not only you know getting used to college baseball but getting used to Brewing baseball getting used to like having your routine like being prepared you know yeah what does that mean Brewing baseball so I
Mean I’m I’m sure everybody kind of has their own thing every College um ours is like I mean what you would think it is like just play hard and like be do your thing be your gritty Bey yeah so like things like that yeah right on man talk
About leadership roles right you know know like the seniors the upper classmen they’re they’re leaders you they’re almost like role models to you guys but you’re all D1 athletes you guys are all cream of the crop dudes who are just absolute studs on the field so you’re constantly competing but there’s always
Somebody on the field who’s a leader what are some of those qualities who’s a leader for UCLA at the moment or that you think or is it kind of everybody yeah so uh so D Dal Reyes re one of our infielders MH is honestly like by far
The best Captain like I’ve ever played under you know like I was a freshman in high school I had captains as they were seniors and um but that guy like works like he just does everything right like everything there’s not like I mean don’t don’t take this the wrong way like
There’s not like tools that stand out about him but the fact that he does everything right makes him such a good baseball player you know um so he he’s just like that guy like really works hard like really works hard like he plays like through injuries and stuff
Like that like he’s just a tough guy you know um so he’s one of our leaders um Cody shrier is one of our leaders and then Luke J is the pitcher leader J yeah yeah J’s a cool guy too um little more quiet but he’s he’s definitely like if
You if you’re closer closer to him like get to know him he’s he’s cool like really cool laidback you know like does his own thing um and shrier is like he’s just one of those big helps like he’ll remind you if like if you’re off task
Like hey like get back on it so it’s good having like leaders you know um but like you said we’re all D1 athletes we all do the same thing um at the end of the day it just comes to like experience like those guys are older they’ve been through it you know
And we haven’t so that’s why they’re our leaders yeah how does somebody become more coachable where they want to you know just adjust and be better themselves because a lot of people are like well I’m just going to do my thing and that’s that my way and that’s it so
Talk about coachability it just comes to having like it comes down to having an open mind like if you if you have an open mind and you’re willing to get better then you’re going to try new things you know like uh like even when it comes to like swing adjustments or
Like like focal points like for example like little things like that like hey like you should try to find a focal point like it’ll help you calm down like if I were to tell that to like my little brother he’ll be like no like I’m not
Going to listen blah blah blah like I’m I’m good enough you know but like he he’s gotten better to the point where it’s like hey try this and he’ll be like okay I’ll try it and then it works and then like some things don’t work for you
You know but some things do yeah so um I think it definitely like comes down to having an open mind uh being coachable is like I think that’s huge like you don’t want to you don’t want to play for a coach who’s not GNA have that he’s
He’ll get on you you know right so being coachable is just having an open mind being willing to try new things right on man yeah so you’re at Norco um in high school did you guys have a weit room there like a strength coach at all or
Were you kind of lifting on your own uh we Tuesdays and Thursdays we were trained by integral so now they’re called futures um and it’s ran by a guy named Nick Kern he won a College World Series at UCLA yeah so he uh UCLA baseball love and I uh super super tough
Guy he was he deal he dealt with a lot in college and things like that like I got to know his story here and there and super tough guy like super respectable and he’s young too which which makes it even better like dang like he’s young and he’s still like this mature and
Tough um so being a like Tuesdays and Thursdays we’d work out with him we’ do speed training on for an hour and then we’d go to the weight room for an hour and just uh it made it fun because it was like around your team you know but
At the same time everybody’s getting their working so that that was fun and then uh my last like when when senior season ended I was using the football weight room I was pretty close with some of the football players so they would just let me in and yeah we had we had
Like an outdoor outdoor weight room where we would train with the baseball team and then uh the football weight room was obviously indor and really nice a lot nicer yeah so talk about going over to UCLA the difference of High School weightlifting to you know you’re
A D1 athlete you’re lifting a lot more heavyweight you well at least what I saw from the the Day in the Life video with used prospects or whatever man you guys are doing a lot of like resistant band training and stability work talk about that um yeah so like in high school
You’re more like oh I’m going to lift to get big you know and now in college it’s more like oh I’m going to lift to get mobile and be able to move and stay flexible and like you could see a difference West Coast baseball versus SEC baseball like out there those guys
Are huge just naturally just gifted you know um over here farmer exactly yeah yeah exactly yeah just giant it’s crazy but like being over here on the West Coast and being able to lift the UCLA I think the coolest part is that we share the same like gym as like all the
Other teams besides football and uh basketball so like being able to be in there with like other athletes see how they train everybody’s doing the same thing trying to stay mobile and be as you know as a athletic as you can be um that that’s the biggest thing is like
Everybody just wants to be athletic you know uh there’s a couple of people that are like yolked like absolutely huge but like they move you know like AJ Salado for example one of our seniors like he he’s like 6’2 like 220 but that guy like he’s a blue Runner like which is like
Really good like when it comes to however we say it but um but yeah he he runs like a 6660 like that guy just moves he’s huge you know but he’s super athletic like Carson Yates he’s another big guy on our team and he’s still super
Fast you know like we just we’re trying like our team just tries our best to be athletic and strong at the same time so we do like certain certain like strength lifts and then more explosive work more explosive work and mobile like flexibility and stuff like that yeah
Dude right on yeah what’s your favorite part about UCLA man probably living in the same dorms as like all the Freshman yeah so like I was just telling Dean this like at at home I can’t just walk into the room next to me and like like there’s nobody in the room
I can walk into the other room yeah and like there’s like six guys hanging out in that room you know like it’s just a brotherhood like that’s the coolest part just being so tight-knit with your guys yeah that’s the best part for sure I’m going to take a little 180 here for you
Man mhm you’re a Hooper a little bit yeah little little bit of a Hooper man yeah da in that talk to me about that man because a lot of baseball players would like stay away from playing other sports cuz they’re like you know what I
Don’t want to get hurt I don’t want to do anything but a lot of the guys at UCLA or at least from what I’ve seen online man you know they go out they’re playing flag football they’re doing uh basketball they’re doing pick up games and stuff talk about that um I really
Like going out and doing things like that with my teammates because like it keeps us on our toes like competitively you know so like it keeps us like you know it’s in our nature to be competitive you know um but basketball when it comes to basketball I love I
Love basketball you know like if anybody were to ask me what’s my favorite sport I say basketball every time really I love basketball yeah um I didn’t play for my high school team I was asked every single year and during the halftimes and stuff like that go out
There and dunk and do a bunch of like cool stuff and yeah and I learned how to Windmill like my sophomore year and so that was that was big for like Scouts they loved it I posted on Twitter yeah and a lot of Scouts hit me up hey like
Can you send me that video because they wanted it in their draft rooms because uh it shows like you’re athletic you know wow it shows that you can like adapt to different things and stuff like that and um I didn’t play on the high school team but I played aou and played
Basketball growing up and stuff like that played a lot of pickup with my friends and yeah I mean I always tell everybody like if I practiced how like I practiced baseball I thought I could have gone to like a low tier D1 sure yeah but I didn’t I never practiced
Basketball it was always baseball so yeah you’re just athletic as hell man just see that’s the thing people people call me athletic I I’m not very like fast like I I’m like fast but like I’m not like fast you know like like deep like yeah quick yeah yeah I’m more like
I’m not as Twitchy as some people so like I’m more like fluid you know like I move fluid yeah um and that’s like the biggest thing for me is just staying like in other like like when I have kids like when I grow up like I’m they’re going to play multiple
Sports you know like they’re not just going to stick to one because I think like like movements in basketball could be so useful in baseball like being able to like off off a side dribble and shoot a ball like you could feel that same feeling when you’re loading into your
Back hip and you’re swinging you know so it’s things like that that like that’s why I love basketball so much it’s just like kept me athletic you know it helped me because if I didn’t play basketball if I didn’t mess around playing basketball I’d probably wouldn’t be as
Athletic as I am now so yeah dude being able to Pivot in a corner or you know even like little things like jumping like you’re gonna have to jump eventually for baseball like line drive over your head you’re going to have to jump you know so like things like that
Yeah yeah it’s cool M talk about the Showcase Styles you know you have your uh your pro style event where you know you’re kind of sitting around waiting for your turn for stuff and then you have your in-game events right what is that like you show up to a showcase me
Through how that whole thing works whether you’re with you know PBR or you’re with perfect game run me through that so PBR and perfect game they they have events where it’s like game like where it’s like game simulated and they also have events where it’s like you get
10 swings four ground balls sure like things like that and I mean I’ve always preferred like the the the game simulations or like area codes for example or USA um those are all games you know you get to see who’s a real baseball player and instead of seeing
Who’s a showcase player and I’ve always felt like I was more of a baseball player because I don’t have like crazy good arm I don’t have like crazy Pop I feel like I’ve just always played the game hard in the right way right so I feel like that’s carried me throughout
My career um but there’s definitely like dudes that are like specimens who will go to showcases and just launch balls at 110 miles per hour and damn it’s just it’s crazy you know must be nice yeah I know right must be nice man um but yeah like the showcases they’re they’re
They’re useful for sure like getting your name out there getting um colleges to to come out and watch you and stuff like that like area codes for example like I did I did area codes all three years plus the two select games my little brother went to his first area co
Try out last year he didn’t make the squad but a ton of college coaches hit him up because there were so many like in attendance MH and it just like it really helps your recruitment process wow okay did you ever send any emails to coaches did you ever reach out to
Coaches yourself or was it all kind of just I go to these events and people just started reaching out to to me um yeah people just started reaching out to me I I wasn’t I didn’t really like know how the process went cuz my older brother he didn’t play division one
Baseball you know like so uh he like got cut from his high school team thought he was going to quit kind of thing and then ended up going and playing four years at a university you know um so like we didn’t know how the process went and I
Was playing for the Giants like I said earlier and like these coaches would just I don’t know they see it I like it you know kind of thing and like I got invited to my first offer was from CBU coach Adcock offered me like going into
Freshman year I wasn’t even step foot on high school campus yet wow yeah and um that that was pretty cool I was like oh Dad I want to commit so bad and he was like just wait just wait yeah um but yeah it definitely like I don’t know it
Helps a lot like just going to those showcases and things like that and um yeah for sure when you committed your freshman year to UCLA right were there other schools that were still trying to hit you up trying to you know poach you almost in a way yeah how was that uh it
It was cool um I think I was just so young I didn’t really think anything of it and then you don’t really like grow to appreciate it until you get older you know um but I was I was big on Arizona and USC so like it was UCLA and then probably second
Place was U OFA and then USC was third wow and Jay Johnson was at U OFA at the time and like I absolutely love Jay like great great recruiter great coach great person um so I was definitely in the mix with those two schools and then uh I I
Committed so early that like you know I didn’t really worry about other schools other schools hit me up like I had I had I had a good amount of offers you know but I wanted to go to UCLA like that was my dream school and cuz I’m a big
Russell Westbrook fan yeah yeah so yeah more basketball dude I know I know but um yeah it was those other two schools that were really in the mix yeah okay and did you um did you ever feel like you committed too early do you wish that
You kind of waited a little longer kind of tested the water see how you played or what was that I mean yeah there’s definitely times where where I was like dang like if I waited I could have taken a visit here here here but I mean I feel
Like everything happens for a reason so I’m I’m just that type of person you know it worked out yeah it worked out for sure and why dwell in the past man you’re here in the Pres exactly like uh I mean it it would have been cool if I
Could have taken my visits to other schools but I mean the UCLA visit was enough for me like I was yeah I loved it so I mean it was worth it in the end yeah yeah mhm damn right man well I got last three questions for you bro cool so
Hardest questions we call our last three outs what is your favorite food I’m big on like pasta really I can I can put down pasta yeah I can put down pasta man yeah but um if I had to choose a fast food restaurant raising kan’s for sure big kan’s guy my older brother
Works for Chick-fil-A so he eats a lot of Chick-fil-A and he it was just like too much you know like I was just always eating chick-fil so um they opened a canes next to my school in Norco and me and my teammates would go like every
Lunch and it was just like dang this place is so good like it’s so simple too you’re literally it’s either a sandwich or chicken strips and the sauce is like amazing and I love sweet tea so I’ll drink swe fire dud it’s so good um yeah Raising Canes or pasta uh raisen K
Sponsor him I know please reach out I know you want Chick-fil-A to sponsor you too man that would be nice that would be nice I love Chick-fil-A too that’s good [ __ ] man uh question number two man what’s your favorite movie The Wolf of Wall Street interesting okay why I just okay don’t
Get me wrong like it’s illegal as hell you know like to do what he did but that dude like figured it out like he lived his life you know so I mean that’s that’s why I liked it he he he didn’t miss man he didn’t miss dude he he got
Caught but he didn’t miss you know yeah for a couple years he was exactly he got to live his life yeah MH finally who’s your favorite baseball player of all time Dead or Alive people are going to think I’m weird for this but t uh Tim Anderson
I’ve always been a Tim Anderson fan wow we haven’t heard that one yet on the show man I just like his energy like he’s always like smiling always SW fun yeah and when it’s time to get serious he gets serious yeah and he’s a good family man so dude that’s so important
To man you see guys on social media all the time MLB guys who are just like just straight to the point they like F this F that whatever and then there’s the dudes who are just super family like he’s always posting his family like I watched
I watched one of his he did like a little interview podcast thing M uh before one of his games and he was talking about like his his kids and his wife and stuff like that and like his journey and I like I thought that was really cool you know beautiful man and
One day you’ll have that too bro you be you’ll be in the pros and you’ll be like yeah’s here’s my wife here’s my two kids you know three sport athlete kid over here I know right I love it committed for three Sports committed for three Sports dude Jesus call that guy Kyler
Murphy well cam thank you so much for being on our show brother seriously thank you for having me yeah appreciate it my name is Cameron Kim I’m a UCLA baseball infielder and go check out the other episodes on the baseball playground
