Johnny Monell Jr: From The Bronx to the Big Leagues to Batting Gloves

In this conversation, Johnny Monell Jr. shares his journey from growing up in the Bronx with his father having a professional baseball background to navigating the complexities of the sport as a player, instructor, and entrepreneur. He discusses the evolution of baseball fashion, the challenges of minor league life, and the importance of mentorship in youth training. Monell also reflects on his international experience in Korea and the launch of his own line of batting gloves, emphasizing the need for quality and innovation in sports equipment.

Visit the Johnny Monell's store to Browse the JM220 batting gloves and the rest of his gear.

Transcript

Jeff Perro (00:43)
all right, so here we go. Everybody, welcome to another episode of Catch Up with JP. I am Jeff Perro the host. I am here this week with Mr. Johnny Monell Jr. He spent some time in the big leagues with the

Johnny Monell Jr (00:45)
Yeah, let's do it. I'm ready.

Jeff Perro (00:57)
the Giants in the match. Welcome to the show today.

Johnny Monell Jr (01:00)
I appreciate, thanks for having me, Jeff. It's been a while since we've seen each other. I remember the last time we probably seen each other, it's probably crossing each other in the hallways of the San Francisco Giants Complex when you were working.

Jeff Perro (01:05)
It's been a while.

That's the

Johnny Monell story I want to get to. I don't talk about myself much in this, but I worked with the, Augusta GreenJackets in 2008, the Giants, Low A ball team. And I went to spring training with the Giants. minor league spring training. There's what Johnny, 150 guys there, 200 guys, mad house in there. And this is my one year I was there for six weeks. And of all those guys that I met, man, I met Mr. Johnny Monell

Johnny Monell Jr (01:26)
Yep, mad house.

Jeff Perro (01:36)
This guy seems like a cool cat. wasn't with my team the Augusta GreenJackets that year. This guy seems like a cool cat. I followed his career and followed him since then. Now here we are. Life after baseball for both of us. Talk to Mr. Johnny Monell.

Johnny Monell Jr (01:48)
Absolutely. It's been a great ride. Many friendships along the way and many great people like yourself doing the hard work behind the scenes I've always respect that. Having my dad in the game always taught me, You always take care of the people that take care of you.

Nah, I respect you guys. I love you guys. Absolutely.

Jeff Perro (02:07)
He is a cool guy that I respected

just from working with for like six weeks. I was like, I'm going to follow this guy. He's going to do something. And you did. So you grew up in the Bronx. Your dad played professional baseball. What was like growing up. What's the baseball scene like as a youth, a high school guy coming up with your dad playing pro ball too.

Johnny Monell Jr (02:13)
Hell yeah.

Boogie down, baby

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of hard. Like you having your dad being a professional baseball player growing up in inner city New York and not having the facilities or I guess the resources to find training or facilities. And at that time, those things were nonexistent. And you probably had one batting cage per every borough probably. And I don't know, fact check me on that, but not many places where kids from the inner city can participate in. as far as now, how the game is being.

broadened and and more facilities are popping up on throughout the United States But as far as growing me in New York, know There's a lot of things that you had to stay away from as far as troubles distraction. I mean from You know from violence drugs you name it. I had to go through school metal detectors in high school. So You know, it's not your safest neighborhood, but not your worst neighborhood either so it's

You always had to look behind your shoulders to make sure everything was all good. as far as me just watching my dad's career as a young kid, I obviously gravitated to the game and I fell in love with it. And being able to see him go through it as a professional and also as my dad allowed me to have a little perspective early of the professional scene. And once I showed up...

I just knew that I had to take care of what I do best and be able to showcase that every single day until I decided to put the cleats up. And it was always going to be on my terms, at least allow myself to play myself to make that decision. Especially in this game where nothing is guaranteed, right? Because there's always someone behind you ready to rock and roll or take your job or simply just better than you, right?

Being able to see that young allowed me to work through the challenges, basically put my blinders on and really focus in and realize that baseball can take me places. It gave me an opportunity to go to college for absolutely for free. I spent two years there to develop and also get an education to better myself as a human being and going from the Bronx, New York to...

Orlando, Florida was definitely a culture shock the first couple of weeks. You're not used to people saying good morning or hello to you when you're passing by. So that was definitely something to get used to. then just having good circle around me, you know, with my family, you know, working really hard to put me through whatever I could go through in college. You know, they still had to support me as I had to eat. Right. But

My family did an amazing job supporting me and helping me through the first two years of college and definitely taking a little bit of burden off them, being able to have a scholarship and showing that this game could provide. And knowing that early, was something that I wanted to go after and chase. That was my way out. I didn't see myself do anything else. I was very, very stern that I wanted to play baseball.

You know, getting drafted out of high school and trying to make that decision whether I go play pro and go into college, you know, that decision was very easy having my dad in my corner and understanding like, hey, you're drafted where you're at. You might not get the playing time, especially if they're not giving you the paper to play. I mean, when you get drafted, they give you money, you're gonna play. That's just the bottom line. So you prove yourself and get that opportunity, which doesn't come often as a...

maybe a back end of the draft guy and you have to prove yourself. and it's hard, especially if you're not a guy that, you you're not a bonus baby or a guy that they, you know, they invested in. you know, once your name gets started putting the lineup and you start producing, people start paying attention. So, you know,

The Giants, they drafted me out of high school and I just knew I wasn't ready. And college allowed me to grow, not only as a human being, but as a ball player. Coach Nicholson, Mike Nicholson down at Seminole Community College did an amazing job. I he had 11 draft and follow guys come in a freshman year. To think about that, right? Like 11 kids just got drafted out of high school, comes in.

Jeff Perro (06:52)
Prop, that's a.

Johnny Monell Jr (06:55)
Like how do you manage those egos? How do you manage them to play college baseball here in Florida at a good competition level, if not D1? I mean, you got guys doing mid, low 90s in this league. So at the time it was a melting pot of just people just getting picked off on the draft in that league. So it was a strong experience. I had some adversities going through it, learning, changing some things up to adapt. And that's where I really

I guess shown the resilience of showing up every day and not getting down on myself and really just working towards the end goal and the end game and just learning myself as a player, whether behind the plate or as a hitter. Because I knew there was more development there. Again, I'm a Northeast kid.

Jeff Perro (07:42)
You

knew that if you did go back into the draft, you weren't going to get drafted and then go to the big leagues right away. were going to, development was key to your success.

Johnny Monell Jr (07:50)
Yeah, so as far as having my dad and I having a serious conversation at 18, 19 years old then the second go around, it was a little bit easier because I had my first year of college under my belt and I wanted to stay. I wanted to prepare myself just in case if I didn't get drafted that sophomore year that I would have an education ready to continue to go on to another program. And it worked out.

I I ended up getting drafted my sophomore year and I signed with the Giants again. So I got drafted three times, twice in college. And then once I signed, it was like, all right, it's go time. I'm with the Giants. They had an amazing, I felt like I was spoiled in that organization.

Jeff Perro (08:35)
that was that an easy

decision for you to easy decision to sign that contract or did you consider okay

Johnny Monell Jr (08:39)
Yeah, I was ready. I was ready. I

was ready. The way I was hitting and throwing on behind the plate, like I was ready to take that leap. Like I felt like I was playing really well up to those standards to say, you know what, like I could handle mine. And like, I'm curious to see what's on the other side. Like, you know, and it worked out great. I mean, I have no regrets as far as my careers or decisions I made, especially early. But again, like,

know, having my dad, having my, you know, my mom wanted me to go to college. That was important. And now I look back at that, you know, just the two years that I was in school, it allowed me to, you know, run a business five years after baseball.

Jeff Perro (09:24)
You don't have kids yet, correct?

Johnny Monell Jr (09:26)
We're actually expecting. We're expecting in September. Yeah.

Jeff Perro (09:28)
Yes, congratulations.

The world now knows Mr. Johnny Monell Jr. is exoecting maybe the third. I don't know. all right, good. Congratulations, Congratulations. But you have all the kids you work with now. And this experience you have, the kids that you have, I'm sorry, your students that you have are going to come to that point where I go to college, I go to this college or that college, do I sign this contract because I got drafted in the 24th round.

Johnny Monell Jr (09:35)
Now we're the girl.

You're the girl. Hell yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Jeff Perro (09:56)
So now you have that experience that you have to offer for the next generation of.

Johnny Monell Jr (09:58)
Yeah, I mean, I have plenty

of wisdom experiences. I've been faced with many choices in my life and I try to pass down that wisdom as much as I can and just reminding them to control what they can control. And those messages are definitely going to be passed down. Even my secrets will be passed down to my lineage, of course. So, yeah, for sure. But now, the facility with the kids, the community here in South Jersey where I have my baseball training facility, I mean,

Jeff Perro (10:16)
They've got to go somewhere.

Johnny Monell Jr (10:28)
The families, the community have embraced me and I've been working with so many kids that have moved on to college, trying to make that decision. it's always cool to go down memory lane to remember, like, hey, I was also faced with those challenges or those questions that I have to ask myself. And those are some tough questions that 18, 19 year old have to make to figure out, like, hey, this is the beginning of where I start growing my roots.

Jeff Perro (10:54)
And some of these other kids, I mean, your dad played pro ball, but their dads didn't. So they'd have to have somebody give them a little walk down the pathway of which direction they could choose. That's great. So you finally signed your first professional contract with Giants in 2007. Six years to reach the big leagues. looked like you went pretty much up the minor league ladder, how it's expected to. You spent some time in rookie Ball, short season, low A, high A, double A, triple A.

How is that every year going in there every year and feeling like you were getting somewhere?

Johnny Monell Jr (11:28)
I wanted to be a dog every year. I wanted to make sure that it was not just the Giants, it was every other team that was potentially watching us. And at that time, the organization was rich with prospects, rich, especially while they were winning, you know, a lot of the homegrown talent. you know, I feel like the Giants spoiled me as a...

Jeff Perro (11:51)
What was that guy's

name? Something Posey What was his name? That one? Yeah, exactly.

Johnny Monell Jr (11:55)
Buster Posey, Buster Posey is pretty big deal. And listen, he

got drafted a year after me and he was on fast track, but he did four years of college and he was a stud. Like when I saw Buster Posey for the first time, the guy was a dog. was ahead of his time. I mean, the guy shot up through the system so fast, right? Deservingly so. Like the guy was a solid plus defender and he can hit.

mean, name of the game, you hit, they're gonna find a spot for you. And if you play a premium position and you do it better than the other guy, you're gonna play. those are the, again, every organization is faced with that type of question every year or decade or every three years with a new player that comes before free agency comes for the guy that's probably on the way out. And if they're gonna keep somebody around or how do they...

Jeff Perro (12:23)
is.

But that kind of blocking, you also create the opportunity for you to, like you said, play for the other 29 teams.

Johnny Monell Jr (12:55)
but like thinking about that, like you go about that attitude knowing that, you know, every year I just, knew that where I was picked, I knew where and how I needed to go about it. And quite frankly, everybody that draft, they drafted in front of me, I wanted to be better than them every day

but it was just a matter of like what I set myself out to do and what I wanted to do.

Jeff Perro (13:22)
Being a part of a team, but also competing

Johnny Monell Jr (13:25)
every day. And then like the Giants taught me how to play baseball. They taught me how to play National League style baseball. And we were spoiled. I mean, look at the people that we walking through those hallways. Everybody has either 10, five plus years in the big leagues. And if they don't, they have some type of intelligence that they bring better than some of the coaches that may have played in the game so long. But then you have Hall of just walking around.

Jeff Perro (13:52)
they have rings on their fingers?

Johnny Monell Jr (13:54)
Rings in

the fingers you got I mean at the time Management was all former Yankees Brian Sabean Fred "Chicken" Stanley Dick Tidrow rest in peace former Yankee all Yankees so like me growing up in the Bronx. I knew that Righetti Yankee So like I'm like low-key like I know what these guys want I know how they Know there's no question why they won the World Series Bruce Bochy's genius

Jeff Perro (14:22)
Great mentorship and leadership, teachers with the giants.

Johnny Monell Jr (14:25)
So I mean, I've hear of you talk to other guys or maybe you have friends that play in other organizations. I don't hear that. You don't hear like how they treat the former players. I mean, I remember having dinner at Willie Mays' house during spring training. Having lunch with Orlando Cepeda. I'm like, is this real?

Jeff Perro (14:40)
That's awesome.

That

kind of stuff really fires you up to work on your craft and to get to the big leagues as well. That kind of culture.

Johnny Monell Jr (14:51)
Absolutely,

you hear their stories you hear what they've got had to go through as a player. I mean in place I mean It was easier to go to the ballpark Knowing that you're gonna see those guys and also play in front of them

Jeff Perro (15:07)
doing things that way up through your six years in the minor leagues helped you reach the big leagues. You're promoted. Yeah, for sure. The spring trainings. and a winter ball. Yeah. You play winter ball just about every year in Puerto Rico, right? That's a long year.

Johnny Monell Jr (15:13)
A grind

Grind.

yeah, loved it.

I'm gonna tell you what, Puerto Rico played a massive part on my development as a player because I would go after every season, season finishes September, I'll take three weeks off, go to Puerto Rico and get another 140 at-bats against AAA big league pitching. Like I learned how to hit lefty,

Jeff Perro (15:39)
Quality coaches down there.

and quality coaches down there be another set of set of eyes

Johnny Monell Jr (15:43)
Yeah, I mean,

I managed, was blessed. My manager was Lino Rivera, which was a long time, great Puerto Rican manager in the league, well respected. And then it gets better. You got Alex Cora as your manager, GM at the time, and also your former teammate. So like, yeah, I mean, you look at some of the guys now, some of my former teammates on that roster, you have Alex Cora managing the big leagues. You have,

Aaron Bates, former teammate, good friend of mine, hitting coach for the LA Dodgers. Andy Gonzalez, former Marlin, third baseman. He's the assistant coach for the Rockies, hitting coach for the Rockies up in the big leagues. Quentin Berry third base coach for the Cubs. A lot of these guys are still in the game because they played the game a certain way and...

They know how to articulate and coach or get the best out of their players through talking.

Jeff Perro (16:43)
No, just that too, but you get that extra little bit of coaching or whatever during the winter leagues. But also you get to showcase yourself because that's more eyes to get to see Johnny Monell against a big league quality, pitching and competition up there.

Johnny Monell Jr (16:52)
Absolutely.

And the thing about it, I went through six year contract with the Giants, got to the big leagues in 13, immediately just traded in the off season and was an Oriole in 14. then you want to talk about bouncing around. I went from Giants six years, going to the AAA All-Star game, going to the big leagues, going to the Winter Ball, staying ready. You got traded to Baltimore. I'm like...

All right, well, you got Matt Wieters over there, and there's a competition for backup job. Okay, went toe to toe, had to go in the office and look at Buck Showalter for him to tell me, hey, you did a good job, you gotta go to AAA. Then go to AAA Don't Play. So you're like, wait, what's going on here? So then all of a sudden, you take it for a grain of salt. When you get your opportunities, you work hard and you do it. Obviously, you...

behind the scenes I was talking to my agent, like trying to figure out like what's going on. Like I just came off of a monster year, played well, just it's really hard for me to understand. But coming into a new organization when they have their guys that they see that they have in positions, it's just a different story. And then I get.

Jeff Perro (18:13)
2013, that monster year, Winter Ball, there's other teams that didn't forget who you were. There's other 28 now teams, they didn't forget who you were.

Johnny Monell Jr (18:18)
No, for sure.

Absolutely not. And then when you do that, you come back and you get traded to the Dodgers to finish the year, right? And then you're like, all right, you played a little bit and you're like, okay, now I'm a minor league free agent. I barely had a year to play. What's going on when you get a call from the Mets less than 24 hours when free agency opens? They're like, hey, we really like you. We want you to...

To compete for the backup job, we're gonna give you a split Major League contract. If you make the team, great. If not, you're gonna go to AAA, making some good money. But you have 24 hours. I said, my agent at the time, what do you, yeah, call him back and say, hell yeah. I mean, New York, New York kid, bro. Like, you know what mean? Like, New York Mets, I have an opportunity to make my hometown team a one, at least one of them.

Jeff Perro (19:06)
Sounds like a great deal. Yeah.

Johnny Monell Jr (19:16)
Game, let's go.

Jeff Perro (19:16)
Your Mets

the Mets they drafted you nine years earlier So they obviously saw something where they wanted you then was that was there a connection to that was it the same personality, you know?

Johnny Monell Jr (19:20)
You did.

I don't know. mean,

I don't know. My thing is like, I don't know how long do they backtrack and if they did, like did somebody else see me, right? Like, I don't know. That's something that I'm just happy they did.

Jeff Perro (19:35)
It worked out. Yeah, it worked out. You don't need to question why, but it did. two years with the Mets and you got your second stint in the big leagues there.

Johnny Monell Jr (19:42)
Yeah, and that was fun because we went to the World Series that year. We were National League champions. like, that was dope. I I was on the, I didn't make the team. I put a good fight in the beginning, had to go in that. Listen, I went in that room four times in my career to like have a big league manager say, hey man, you did a really good job, good showing in spring training. You got to go to AAA. After a while it gets old.

Jeff Perro (20:04)
But.

Johnny Monell Jr (20:10)
And like I remember sitting in Texas, because I rode it out to the last weeks of camp and I went to the exhibition games

In Texas when we were before we started season no one knew What they were the Mets were gonna do and I'm like do I get an apartment and then at the time we were playing at Vegas The Mets were in Vegas and I already set rules to myself before I even said

This is what you're not going to do and this is what you're going to do. Because in that town, you can get lost. There's a lot of distractions. And I took it upon myself that I was like, I mean, I'm not a big drinker. And I wasn't a guy that went out. So for me, it was really easy. I mean, there was times we did go out on off day responsibly, you know? But Wally Backman said it best. He was my manager.

Jeff Perro (20:41)
Distractions distractions. Yes

Good, good, good.

Johnny Monell Jr (21:05)
Three rules, show up on time, play hard, and take it personal. That's it. That's it.

Jeff Perro (21:12)
I

was a clubhouse manager for the Birmingham Barons and he was there for years. And man, the stories from that guy. There's so many like mythical stories about Wally Backman. And when he said Wally Backman was manager in Las Vegas, I was like.

Johnny Monell Jr (21:28)
Legend.

Jeff Perro (21:30)
Yeah,

but I don't know if that's the town for Wally Backman because a lot of those stories that I've heard could have happened in Vegas. No, he was a good guy to have out there though, a good guy for AAA I like those rules,

Johnny Monell Jr (21:38)
Legend. Nah, but like, you know, absolutely,

but Wally was a smoker too. And he would like smoke in the dugout, like down in the tunnel area. And he would mess with me and he would put his fucking cigarette butts in my damn bag. Like after he does. I would come out of a road trip, like going to my bag I'm like, what the hell is that? This is a freaking ashtray in my glove.

Jeff Perro (21:58)
Go to warm up the pitcher and be like, what's in my, what's in there?

And people are like, oh, there's all those cigarette butts in JMo's bag, man, that JMo chain smoker. So then you got your two years with the Mets, you spent some time in the big leagues in, what was it, 2015? Correct? And then 2016 comes, you're back in AAA with them and 2017. How did you end up in Korea? How was that experience?

Johnny Monell Jr (22:05)
Nah, but it was good time.

Ew.

funny

Korea was like, I don't know, I guess in 16, they did approach my agency and they asked if I was interested in leaving at the back end of the season. And they offered me a dollar amount to do that. And I said, well, if they're willing to pay for half a season, what would they be willing to pay for a full season? So I was like, you know what?

I'm going just keep banging, finish the year, whatever happens, happens. I'm going to be a free agent either way. Win-win. Win-win. mean, if you look at the track record, I wasn't concerned, humbly saying that because I knew I could hit I have service time. It was just a matter of someone giving me opportunity and me taking advantage of those opportunities. And every step away in the minor leagues, I did that. I showed up. I post.

Jeff Perro (23:03)
at the of the year.

Johnny Monell Jr (23:26)
especially at my position. I just knew if they were willing to pay for half the season, I was real curious to see what they would pay for the full season. So at that time, like, all right, well, if I'm gonna be bounced around up and down, let's think about some potential life-changing money that would set me up after baseball a little bit better than I would in the major leagues.

And once I did that, finished the year strong, I remember riding back from a game of winter ball and they were like, all right, well, I had two teams call me, had the NC Dinos and KT Wiz in the picture and NC Dinos offered and within like 45 minutes they pulled back and I like announced it, everything on Twitter and they didn't re-announce it and then they ended up signing Xavier Scruggs

end up working out better for them because they end up winning the whole damn thing. then, I mean, I love Xavier. That's my guy. He's doing some great things. He's doing great things. And it is what it is. They went with the right-handed bat and I wasn't really a first baseman, so I had to do a position change. KT Wiz was an expansion team that just was introduced into the league. It was like,

Jeff Perro (24:27)
He's got a lot. He's a star, but he's doing now for sure. Yeah. Absolutely.

Johnny Monell Jr (24:47)
two years, three years old, I would say. So they're still developing their own farm system. they had some core players that were pretty good, but then you see around the rest of league, it's like, hey, their core players are better. The core players on the other teams are better than the core players on this Korean team. So I went there and they offered more than the NC Dinos.

I was like, let's go. I wish I would have had more.

For me, it was more of a culture shock going to Korea. You see how I'm communicating with you. English, Spanish, I don't care if you don't, I'm gonna talk to you if you're my teammate. It was very hard for me to do that, to communicate within the dugout and like, yo, what's it look like? You're just talking game, talking shop, in between innings. So that was different for me. And then I felt like, I felt like somewhat alone.

Jeff Perro (25:53)
Did you have a translator?

Johnny Monell Jr (25:54)
We did have a translator, but check this out. translator was only one available for three American guys and the two other American guys were pitchers. So the pitchers would do their thing and I'm the only infielder position player. So other teams have two translator for the group. So if they're split, there's someone there for you at least.

but my experience wasn't the greatest experience for me. And it was just hard to talk to people.

Jeff Perro (26:21)
I understand

Baseball,

baseball is the same over there, nine innings, 60 feet, six inches and all that, but being a part of a team.

Johnny Monell Jr (26:31)
It's nine innings, great, but like my thing is like, okay,

after game I could call my dad, I could call my mom, could call my brothers and sisters, could, but I was 14 hours difference. So like after games I would come home and it'd be like you know, you go over, and it's in a different language.

Jeff Perro (26:49)
Guess I'm watching tv

Johnny Monell Jr (26:53)
like you good hat, like, and it's like English has the subtitles and my ADHD don't work like that. Like I can't watch that. So It was just tough for me to do something like, I mean, it's simply like going to supermarket and getting food,

Again, I'm not trying to sit here and dog the organization and they were a new organization. Other organizations probably had, I hear stories, you see how Xavier Scruggs displays his experience. I mean, he's introduced into culture, his kids were born there. that made me feel really good to know that he was taken care of like that. And my experience was completely different.

And the food, right? Like, I mean, the food was different. The food is different. mean, I'm a Spanish guy.

Jeff Perro (27:37)
you're

Johnny Monell Jr (27:38)
they would have their culture food, I guess. It could be fish, kimchi, you name it. But I couldn't do it every day. That was different. And I would ask for cheeseburgers. No, I didn't.

Jeff Perro (27:50)
Did you spend the whole season?

Johnny Monell Jr (27:53)
Got the

Jeff Perro (27:54)
So then, ah the axe Gotcha. OK.

Johnny Monell Jr (27:57)
I came home, I played winter ball.

Tampa, signed with Tampa. And when I got with Tampa, I got released in camp. I literally came home four days and I was with the Mets, back again to finish up.

Jeff Perro (28:16)
Somebody somewhere in the Mets loves you.

Johnny Monell Jr (28:19)
I know. I mean, I did well. I did well. mean, listen, I feel like I had a good track record wherever I went, you know, I just stayed in my lane and did my thing.

Jeff Perro (28:22)
That's it.

made an impression buddy.

Well, they made an impression from that, from your work ethic, from just the way you ball, you made an impression on people and on all 30 teams and teams around the world too, I guess. So you got a 2018 season, toward the end of season, you hung them up. Uh, what, went into your decision on that?

Johnny Monell Jr (28:38)
That's who I-

what is this?

I was in a position to where it was like, okay, I was with the Mets at that time and Thomas Nido was on his way up to the big leagues. And I mean, when you're around the games, you start paying attention to things. And I was in a position like, hey, like what's life gonna be like for me after baseball? I mean, I see how these coaches communicate with each other in the minor leagues, see how frustrated they are potentially.

not happy where they're at, back in the seat, yeah. And it's like, listen, the people that I've worked with and the managers that I've had, certain managers are and you hear how, who said what and this, that, like it's...

Jeff Perro (29:25)
You're riding the buses you're back in a ball riding buses

Johnny Monell Jr (29:45)
drama-filled in that coaches room. But some organizations have their ship tight. where it's like, yo, we're all in it together. There's no drama between who's going to get the double-A, triple-A job, who's going to replace Bruce Bochy if he retires and leaves. mean, that's the things that, a little bit of stuff like the  Terry Collins or between front office with the Wilpons and

But again, that stuff trickles down also in the coaching space at the major league level. So I've been asked, I would love to, obviously in the major leagues would be great, but you gotta pay your dues. I was torn between doing it my own way, going, I was single, no kids, I was 32 at the time.

Could I stick around two, three, four more years bouncing around being a backup or a guy that plays Sundays in AAA and knowing I could be an insurance policy, not guaranteed, and then what? I mean, I've seen it all around me. Like, I've seen it every organization with the older guy in AAA that's always gonna get those chances.

Jeff Perro (31:04)
Your dad opened his academy in 2003, right? I think it's 2003. So did you kind of feel like you had a job waiting for you there?

Johnny Monell Jr (31:07)
Yeah, he opened it up.

No,

no, because when my dad had opened up to his thing after, and he was doing it with travel teams and it wasn't like the way I had set in mind of how I wanted to do it. But the name itself, like he founded it, created it. But then when my brother and sister were born, he wasn't able to maneuver the facility or...

will operate the facility at full capacity, being where it was at and where he was living. So as far as being an hour away from home, knowing that my stepmom is pregnant with already a three-year-old, that is kind of hard to maneuver. So he shut down the facility after 2000, After 15, shut it down.

No more teams, like gave up the building up in Vineland And I finished in 18, 19. And after baseball, I was kind of in that like, what am I going to do after ball? Right. I went and got my real estate license. I said, that ain't for me. I ain't working for nobody. Can't do it. No chance. Good money. No, no, no, no shots at those that are having success in the real estate market. But

Jeff Perro (32:24)
I love how people do that. That's not for me.

Johnny Monell Jr (32:31)
I didn't wanna do that. I love baseball. I shit, sleep, eat baseball. You keep that in there. Other than that, I wanted to coach. I would do lessons coming home either way. Any year I was playing, the time that my dad would do lessons, would chime in.

Jeff Perro (32:42)
Don't worry, I already said I'm keeping it.

Johnny Monell Jr (32:57)
get my work before in and then watch his kids or his lesson split the sessions where I would do help my dad and then But this was after he gave up the building where he couldn't do with the teams anymore. And then after I did my real estate exam and I was like I passed it and I'm like, all right, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this at all.

Jeff Perro (33:24)
instant regret.

Johnny Monell Jr (33:25)
So I

started looking around for buildings and space and I started putting my thoughts together and I'm like, Pops, what are your intentions with 220 Second to None? You're already in this community, I wanna be in this community.

He's like, yeah, absolutely. Boom. We did all the paperwork, got everything situated, and it was go time. was like finding a building, finding a space. Found it.

I want the building to be up to Major League quality. I need everything in there to be as used for every type of player. Full on weight room. We got about 2,500 square feet of just weight room and about 9,500 square feet of turf where we put in five batting cages. We have Hit Trax We have all type of tech gadgets like blast motion sensors.

We also have iPads that play on the side to replay the swing after a delay. We have quite a bit of things that allow these players to basically be the best version of themselves in there. With great coaches out, we have people that work in the weight room, our coaches that help out with the players in the cages. We have coaches that we also have a speed agility section where we allow these players to be the perfect athlete their time or the.

throughout their monthly membership to prepare for the season. And I'm like, hey, How can I get these kids to buy in and create a culture here through this facility? And for the last five years, I've been blessed with

all the families that allow me the opportunity to be a part of that process. And it's tough to trust someone with that process, right? And being able to find that person that allows you to be the best version of yourself, being able to communicate, articulate, and be able to express yourself, right? And being able to see these young minds grow.

within the cage or in a space of how they even go about treating each other outside the cage. How they communicate when they come in the building. How they talk to each other during reps, whether it's banter or just, you know, guys being guys. But, you know, when you got a bunch of guys in the room and you see who's doing what and you see...

the reasons why he hits the ball so hard, you see the reasons why that person works so damn hard, and you see why that person is so successful. I mean, listen, like, I'm done. I can't, like, I go in there, I hit, I still got a little bit, but like nothing close to where I was at 10, 15 years ago. But like, when they see other kids in their space, and you're able to facilitate a culture or a dynamic where these guys are getting after it.

They wanna drive the ball. They want colleges to give them money to go to school and help their families. They wanna come in there and be the best version of themselves to go out there and showcase like, yo, this is what I've been doing over the last two and a half months while I don't know what you're doing, but look why I'm having success. Look why I'm hitting the ball. Look why I'm throwing people out. It's just having the attitude and...

the mindset to go about your craft a certain way. Absolutely.

Jeff Perro (37:00)
having a place for you guys to grow. It's great. As you've

created that culture, you've gotten the obstacles out of the way for them so that they could grow themself.

Johnny Monell Jr (37:11)
Yeah, and it's all routine based, right? Like coming in, being have that structure and discipline to go about it and having the guidance through guys that play in the game.

Jeff Perro (37:22)
and they're able to do that discipline and routine to grow themselves. That's a great way to do things, Jmoe

Johnny Monell Jr (37:28)
Yeah, mean,

I still rock my backpack like I'm going to the field. I enjoy it. Like I have my coffee Yeah, it's like me going to early work every day. Every day early work.

Jeff Perro (37:34)
That's great, man.

It's something you used to do for 140, 160 games a season. Now you get to do it 365 if you want to.

Johnny Monell Jr (37:48)
185 with Winter Ball. Don't count me short.

Jeff Perro (37:51)
Winter ball, okay. Yeah,

so that's a lesson 365, but you could do that if you wanted to, man. That's cool. Glad you found something that you enjoy. That you can interact with these kids and help them grow and that man that gives you some, I don't want to say purpose, purpose sounds silly gives you some purpose. That's great, man.

Johnny Monell Jr (38:07)
Yeah,

mean, I wake up every day knowing I have a responsibility. Like these kids are fresh, they don't know nothing but a hole in the wall. And I try to give them perspective and absolute truth every day. And this game sucks. This game is like, you can think you can manipulate, but you can't. You could only control what you control, right? And it's your attitude and how you go about your business or your work ethic.

And if these guys can get an understanding, and girls, and girls, because I got some girls up in that program too, and softball is something that we're gonna start expanding within 220, and bringing the same type of culture that the boys have throughout the off season for the girls as well,

baseball's taught me a lot as far as just respect, discipline. could, you, girls have the right to learn through that, sport as well, so.

Jeff Perro (38:58)
How do you interact with people? Yeah.

The

kids you have, sure, a few of will have some nice college careers, maybe touch professional baseball, but they're going to grow into be teachers, bankers, real estate agents, firefighters. You're teaching these kids skills to go on for their lives from what they do.

Johnny Monell Jr (39:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

it's been an absolute pleasure over at 220, man. I love it. I love it. My wife tells me, are you sure that's work? Do you call that work?

Right? Yeah. Hell yeah.

Jeff Perro (39:30)
You're so lucky man, you did something you love good

tied into 220. You're coming out with your own line of batting gloves, the JM220s. What made you want to do that and how do you do that?

Johnny Monell Jr (40:06)
I have a playground, my baseball training facility that allows me to test, right? And also see what

the players are wearing these days and how they are going about their swag or drip as they say on the field. So you definitely see more of  a flashy generation of players that are not afraid to mix it up with color and make the game, more vibrant with, displaying who they are through the things that they choose to wear on the field.

everyone's watching and watching to see what their favorite players are wearing. So being able to come together with Hustle and...

go through the whole logistics and being able to create you know, I want to be able to provide a product that I stand by, you know, because there's a lot of, yeah. Yeah. So like, as far as, you know, communicating with companies that do reach out to me to promote their brand and understanding that, hey, I've been a part of this game.

Jeff Perro (40:58)
It's got your name on it. It literally has your name on

Johnny Monell Jr (41:11)
as a player, understanding the contracts that we get for wearing these stuff or the equipment that they provide for us or going in the contracts with exclusive branding deals like Nike, Under Armour, the household names that you see in the major leagues. And one day I woke up and I was like, why not me?

Jeff Perro (41:36)
You got other mom and pop bat companies, glove companies, all that. All these people are trying to get in the game and do their own thing and battle with the big boys at the same time.

Johnny Monell Jr (41:40)
Absolutely.

Absolutely. And honestly, like just seeing how I guess the big boys treat the youth player as far as product, it's not the same product that they put on the field at the major league level. And going through that process behind the scenes, going through material and making sure that the right material is used to make sure that this product is strong, again, flashy at the same time, durable and comfort.

is the boxes that we wanted to check off or at least I wanted to check off before even putting a product out there. And right now we're in the pre-order stage, with my batting gloves, part of the JM220 collection. and we're, I'm pumped. pre-orders are, are piling in, you know, with the, the following that I have or the players that, you know, I work with showing support and, you know, being able to market the brand and.

be able to stand behind something that I was involved with and being able to put something super creative together, is everything that I wanted to do after baseball.

All right, all right, well, all right, so we're super pumped. I'm super pumped. I partnered with Hustle, amazing team. Tim and Ben are great. to bounce ideas off of, was just, it was easy to partner with them, especially what they've been doing in the community, empowering kids, empowering young athletes in our community through the brand.

Right? They do a lot of stuff behind the scenes as far as teaching them entrepreneurship, life skills, just leading a positive way through the brand. And it was really, really easy for me. Tim came to my wedding. Like, I mean, we have a great relationship. So the trust and the ability to put something together and be creative, it was there. We always sit down like.

where we kind of like throw things off each other, just talking, right? And that impact of being able to have a product where maybe players...

that work with you or maybe wanting to try out other products. And I loved batting gloves growing up, right? Like I didn't have the means of having multiple pairs. And then when you get to the professional baseball, you're boxes, different colors, right? I mean, I'm wearing batting, I mean, I'm transferring them over. like seeing what feels good, what I like, and then seeing what pretty much everyone wears.

Jeff Perro (44:14)
Yeah.

Johnny Monell Jr (44:24)
The game was different when I played, but now seeing all these colors, all these prints, I'm like, this is dope. I wanna do that. And I was like, with the following and the stuff I have, I think it would be a good opportunity to create something that I see every day fail for these kids. I see kids literally rip out batting gloves from the store. I'm not gonna dog any brands, but.

These batting gloves that they will rip out from coming from Dick's they would put them on 10 swings, 15 swings, strap rip. Gloves tore up, brand new. Or over time, obviously wear and tear, but like, I also think how they're taking care of the gloves and that's my job to create content behind the batting gloves to help create the awareness of taking care of your batting gloves. That also explains why we have a certain case that comes with our batting gloves to allow

our batting gloves to breathe and have a little bit more longevity. But as far as being able to link up and be creative with my partners over at Hustle, it was easy. I mean, going through the logistics of figuring out what material, who's gonna make it, how, how much, how many we need, take us through the color process.

I must have gone through hundreds of swatches of all types of materials, all types of leather to figure out what is everybody else using and what are they missing.

Jeff Perro (46:06)
Why is it failing and what can I do better?

Johnny Monell Jr (46:09)
Yes,

and it's like, all right, cool. Like for me, it's like hot summer days and using your batting gloves. You're gonna sweat through your gloves. The question is, how do you retain the sweat? Check that box. Two, how do you create comfort around the hand and make it feel comfortable and snug where there's no type of like looseness or where it allows the leather to create friction between the palm and create creases where now it shreds and rips? Like little things, right? Like, or just managing.

the storage factor of how you put your gloves away. Especially if you don't have a locker room where you can sit them out and air dry them and you're traveling with the bag. Hence the case that we put together for that. So being able to go through our manufacturers and figure out who's  the manufacturer and go through that process, constant communication, there's a language barrier. So you gotta make sure every little detail is done correctly.

It's taken over us a year. Right now we're in the middle of pre-order stages. Deliveries could be out by the end of the month in early May. So we're looking to be on the field in the summertime and hopefully catch a huge wave and hopefully get some big league players rocking it out this summer on the field and see if we can continue to create solid color waves and styles that these kids love. I mean, I see it every day. They come in with all types of products, right? So.

I was like, why can I leave something behind potentially where I can leave my mark in the game through creativity and understanding the knowledge behind the equipment that these players need.

Jeff Perro (47:52)
Yeah, when those things start coming out from real life, man, I'm sure we'll find them on your 222nd and None social media I can't wait to see these things in real life in action.

Johnny Monell Jr (48:00)
Yeah, I mean,

we're just starting, we're a small company looking to take our mark and hopefully, our players that use our product are happy.

Jeff Perro (48:13)
Mr. Monell like man, that's great. That's the great things you've been doing and for years at 220 Second to None I can't wait to see all these betting gloves take off. So yeah, we'll be we'll be following you man. We'll be following you Thanks for hanging out with us today and go get those baby pictures. Congratulations expecting a baby girl. yeah, man

Johnny Monell Jr (48:23)
appreciate it. Sure.

Jeff, thank you, man. I appreciate

you having me. It is great to see you, man. It's been a long time since I've seen you, and it's always great to chat. Always great.

Jeff Perro (48:40)
I'll be

seeing you, man. can catch up again sometime, all right?

Johnny Monell Jr (48:43)
Absolutely, absolutely. Thanks, Jeff. Have a good one, brother.

Jeff Perro (48:46)
Thanks man, I'll talk to you.