Kyle Schmidt: On the Intersection of Business, Coaching, and Development

From business to relationships, Kyle Schmidt is all about the development process.

The Portland Sea Dogs’ defensive coach has experienced nearly every level of baseball. He played his college years at the University of Richmond, reached Triple-A with the Minnesota Twins, and has now coached at multiple levels throughout the Boston farm system.

Schmidt’s original goal was to earn a scholarship and a degree through baseball, setting him up for a future career in a business-related field. He accomplished that goal, but his plans changed when the Twins selected him in the 33rd round of the 2019 MLB draft.

“Professional baseball was always extra in my mind,” said Schmidt.

As Schmidt continued to work towards the upper levels of the Twins’ farm system, he noticed a gap in the tools and equipment available to train the way he wanted to as a professional athlete. So, earlier than he expected, Schmidt combined his business intellect with his understanding of the needs of high-level catchers, and created the CRT belt (catcher resistance training).

“I have always been a fan of strength and resisted training for catchers,” said Schmidt. “It’s just resisting the movements that we make with our glove while we're catching, and that promotes strength and efficiency.”

His solution was simple: instead of rigging up a resistance band to a cage or anchor somewhere in a facility, he built a wearable belt with an attached resistance band that connects to a catcher’s glove-side wrist.

“Five years later, it's become somewhat of a staple in catching space,” said Schmidt. “It's still small and still very niche, but it's been really cool to apply philosophy, belief and approach as player and coach to product design and business as a whole.”

Philosophy, belief and approach are key elements of catching. Catchers, arguably more so than any other player on the roster, have to operate within different “silos,” as Schmidt calls it. Catchers have their defensive skills and offense at the plate, but they also have to build relationships with all of the pitchers on the staff, and maintain the presence of mind to move between said pitchers and call games, which Schmidt described as both challenging and rewarding.

As Schmidt’s playing career was coming to an end, he began to recognize the parallels between the development of a product from a business perspective and the development of players moving through systems where the necessary skills and requirements change at every level.

“I really love the development process,” said Schmidt. “I love seeing people get better, whether it was trying to help fellow players or the clients and amateur athletes that I've worked with in the off seasons. I fell in love with that process, and I flipped from not wanting to coach and be done with baseball whenever I was done, to knowing that I wanted to do it long term.”

When the Red Sox made major personnel changes in late April, it caused a domino effect that shook up coaching assignments throughout the entire organization. Schmidt, who has worked for Single-A Salem for the last two years, was abruptly sent to Portland.

Adjusting to Double-A brought new challenges, but Schmidt embraced the new role.

“The environment is much different, and I think that makes it so that you have to prioritize different things,” said Schmidt. “Inside of this environment, you feel you're two steps closer to where you want to be, in Boston. And I think that being able to further blend development and playing winning baseball is a bit more important here than it may be elsewhere, where you want to make sure that you're prioritizing the ability to get players to this level, as opposed to helping them take the next step.”

Still, success looks different for every athlete. As a coach, Schmidt finds as much fulfillment in helping a player reach that next level as he does in impacting how players think, act, and approach their daily work.

“You could talk about specific defensive skill traits or metrics; their ability to influence a pitching staff and their ability to be in the clubhouse as items that would make me very proud, for example,” said Schmidt. “[I’m proud] seeing them develop and grow not only as players, skill wise and intangible, but also as people, as human beings and as leaders.”