Allow me to introduce myself as a career educator. My job is to identify, develop, and bring out the best in individuals. My favorite side job has been coaching and leading my son’s (Brady Gallo) travel baseball team for the past nine years. I have had the best spot in the world to watch him and his friends do what they love, while helping them develop into some high level baseball players.
I worked in sales a few times before I got my teaching license. I graduated from Purdue University with a degree in communications and marketing, so I know what it takes to try and sell a person on a product or an idea. The problem was, that I never really found anything I believed in or loved to sell. I hated the idea of trying to sell someone on something for the sole purpose of padding my own pockets. That is why I wanted to get into the world of teaching and coaching. I wanted be able to impact people’s lives and help them reach their potential.
It is also why I am writing this message now. I know what my son has to offer a baseball program at the next level. I know how important continuing his baseball career beyond high school is to him. So, I’ve come full circle because it is my goal to help sell anyone that isn’t sure or isn’t convinced about who Brady is as a ballplayer, that they will be missing out on landing a great person who happens to be a really good pitcher.
So, before I get into things, let me clarify what Brady is not:
- Overpowering against an entire lineup of high level hitters. Brady isn’t going to rare back and blow the ball by college hitters multiple times through the lineup.
- If he doesn’t have good stuff or command, he’s going to be hit. Brady has command of multiple pitches, but if he is a little off against a high level team he’s going to get hit. However, he will always limit the damage and avoid the huge inning.
If you’re still reading, then let me tell you what makes Brady special and why I’ll go to battle with him any day on the mound against any team in the country:
- He will not be outworked. Brady puts in the work that others talk about, but don’t always do. As Brady’s father, I know that instead of going out with friends on Friday or Saturday nights, he goes to the gym to get stronger. While he has constantly put in the work and has added over 40 pounds of muscle since starting high school, he works in silence. He isn’t the kid to post constant pictures or videos broadcasting all of the work he’s doing to get noticed by others. He knows that hard work is done when others are not watching or asking. He does it for himself, not for the approval of others or because his parents want him to. However, he also puts in all of the work on his own because he has never been the top guy on our team growing up. At various points growing up, he was probably in the bottom third on our roster in terms of production. While he was never at risk of being cut, he understood that if he wanted to continue seeing the field and significant at playing time on the team with his friends he needed to start putting in the extra work outside of practices and games. He was teammates and neighbors for years with a kid that has commited to Purdue University and another player who has hit 90 MPH and commited to Indiana Wesleyan. He worked hard to maximize his potential and to be considered the top guy on our team, and last summer he was clearly one of the best on our team. He got the ball against the best on our schedule. It was the role he wanted and the role he earned. He will accept his role when he enters your program as a freshmen, but he will bust his tail to be top contributor before he exits.
- He is a pitcher. Yes, he has developed into a guy with a good arm because of the work he has put into the weightroom, but growing up he rarely could just throw the ball by most high level kids and teams. He had to learn how to hit spots and mix pitches when facing top competition. As a result, he is now a strike-thrower that has great command of multiple pitches. He also knows how to set up hitters and not fall into patterns. He has also been conditioned to start. When you see jim hit a “max fastball” number, understand that he is going to sit right around there the entire outing. We have the pitching charts to demonstrate that there is not much of a dip between pitch #1 and pitch #85 in velocity. When you see that he is hitting 87-85 MPH, that is where he’s going to stay for 5-6 innings. Bottom line, you will not have to teach him a ton of mechanical refinement to increase velocity or work on command. He also did a great job when called on the relieve this summer as well, so he is very versatile. While he may not have the raw talent of a kid hitting 90MPH, I would trust him to get outs against the same lineups as a kid who throws 90 down the middle or with minimal command of secondary pitches.https://twitter.com/canesGL2024/status/1536406290708238336
- He has been conditioned to start his entire career. In travel baseball, we have faced a number of guys that PBR loves because of the max fastball, but by the second time through the lineup they have come down 3-4 MPH from the first inning. The “max fastball” is something that cannot be taught or coached, but maintaining velocity throughout an outing is something that is learned from developing consistent mechanics and hours in the weightroom.
- Brady is also a great culture guy. He is a tough-minded, hard-nosed guy, but he is the first to congratulate his teammates when they do well. He will always be looking to pick other guys up and celebrate their success. However, he uses others success to motivate himself to do better. When he comes to your program, he will not be intimidated or jealous of others talents and success. He will just use that to drive himself to get to that level, but he’ll be in the dugout cheering them on instead of hoping they fail so they can get an opportunity. He is also fantastic with younger players that look up to him. He helps with younger teams and speaks with them about what it takes to maximize their potential. He also does a great job of speaking to our younger teams about how to create a winning culture. His high school coach would also attest that he does a good job of working with the underclassmen to develop culture and inclusion.
5. Brady simply wants the ball against anyone. He does not pay attention to rankings or opponents, so he literally has no fear of anyone and expects to beat whoever he faces. He’s the definition of a dawg. When we were 13U he faced the Hawks Gold out of Michigan and we got run ruled by the Perfect Game Top 50 organization. The following summer he faced them and did not give up an earned run over 6 innings. https://gc.com/game-5ef8f0c6df88c9c9d2dade78/stats. This past summer he faced them when we had no other pitchers left. He gutted out 6 innings to give us the win, and handed them 1 of their 2 losses on the summer. Once we finally got PBR Indiana to come and give him an extensive look, he mowed down the Indy Sharks going 5IP 3H 0R 6K’s 2BB. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DawlEXTjcU8 Later that day, the Indy Sharks beat the Bulls Black. The Indy Sharks also finished as runners up in this year’s ABC Championships at Grand Park. Additionally, he had no run outings against the STL Naturals and Indiana Primetime this summer. He also faced Impact Sports Academy from Green Bay twice with multiple Missouri Valley commitments covering 8 IP and allowing 3ER in both combined appearances. He also picked up a relief win over Mac N’ Seitz in Kansas City, and they went on to win the entire event. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MVKpFNBFQOA In the fall of 2021, he defeated the Indiana Canes and went 2.2IP allowing 1H 0R 2Ks vs the nationally ranked 2025 Canes Midwest team before exiting after being struck by a line drive. https://app.virtualcombine.com/profile/7a066b99-9967-4faf-8f04-6ad90a2e5abd/photos/expanded/video/c4af71c0-2baa-11ec-956f-a588f87e92bf/baseball
6. In addition to what he does on the field, he is also an outstanding, honor roll student.
I am putting this together because this kid is an absolute competitor and undervalued in the 2024 recruiting class. I know every coach says that about their players, but I am not risking my reputation and the reputation of this organization for just any player. If you have any hesitations, I would ask you to speak to the director of our organization, Brian Blondell, about him. (canesgreatlakes@gmail.com or 574-310-3924) You would also get high praise on him from our assistant coach and player at Indiana Wesleyan University, Tyler Bortone. (574-855-8423) Another point of contact would be longtime assistant coach, Tim Trenerry (574-339-6105) whose son is commited to Purdue University.
As of this writing, Brady recently was diagnosed with a torn labrum suffered during a high school fall workout doing pulldown throws without proper warmups and programming. He wants to compete and be on the field with his high school teammates, so he has decided to postpone surgery and push through as long as he can, which shows the character he has and how much he values winning over personal performance or injury. He had hit 85MPH at a couple fall camps and would have been at 87-86 by this spring/summer with his workout routine. He had very good showings at camps at Western Michigan, Grand Valley State, and SIUE. Since deciding to play this spring and resuming throwing, he has still been hitting 84 MPH at his high school bullpens.
In 2021, he was our 2 starter, and in 2022 he was our #1.
2021 (Summer and Fall) 52 IP 6-3 49H 47Ks 10BB 2.69 ERA 1.13 WHIP .238 BAA
2022 34.2 IP 9G 5GS 7-0 33Ks 19BB 2.22 ERA 1.29 WHIP .202 BAA
This kid will always have a special place in my heart not just as my son, but as a ballplayer that dozens of opposing coaches have praised. I will fight for him to play at the school of his choice at the next level. If you decide to bring him on board, I know you will look back on what a great decision and addition that was for your program. You won’t hear a word from me, because all I want is 4 more years of watching my son do what he loves beyond high school.
Mike Gallo Head Coach Canes Great Lakes
574-850-8808 mike.gallo314@mikegallo314
@canesGL2024
The World According to Gallo 
And he had a really great, great, great grandfather named Al.
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