During the pandemic every person was overcome with boredom. Many were simply filling those hours with Netflix documentaries like ‘Tiger King’, while others were looking to develop new skills to hopefully profit from.
Commack’s Charles Galiano – a former minor league catcher of the Milwaukee Brewers and owner of Seven Tool Catching – fits into the latter. While working at Team BEAST facility in his hometown, Galiano had an idea spring upon him while in the cage.
“I thought to myself it’s absolutely crazy nobody has thought to put weighted balls through the machine,” said Galiano. “I knew it was a novel idea and it would be a big hit so I kept my mouth shut and didn’t tell anybody except my family,” he added.
The timing couldn’t have been better.
With the stay-at-home orders in place, unable to conduct his training lessons, he had nothing but time. Galiano stated that over the next 3-4 months he used his time to put his plan into place. It wouldn’t be easy considering that weighted balls were not made to go through pitching machines. He did not let that hinder him, as he contacted a manufacturer that would be able to design the baseballs.
“I had two requests – low-seams and full-grain leather,” he said. “Driveline and other companies that use weighted baseballs use split-grain leather which means they are dangerous if put in the machine. So we kept the seams low which is good for accuracy and can be used in the machine,” he added.
The only caveat being that this would be more expensive, but he was prepared to make that financial commitment knowing this would be a hit in the catching community.
In the meantime, he was able to get incorporated, copyright the product, get a website set up, write the machine-training philosophy and contact his connections. One of the many advantages of playing pro ball is developing lifelong relationships with players all over the country. Using those relationships, he was able to set up a strong network all over the country where his product could then be marketed.
Once launched, he also used the power of social media.
“Social media was big, but also the catching community. Even though it’s big, it’s small,” he said, meaning that word can travel quick. And the results are rather remarkable as he was able to not only launch the product in July during a pandemic, but also get the following Major League Baseball organizations to place orders
- New York Yankees
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Seattle Mariners
- Minnesota Twins
- Colorado Rockies
There’s also a world of collegiate baseball that was able to be tapped into and he took full advantage of that. Below are just the Division-I programs that placed orders. And keep in mind they did this during a pandemic when most of them had little-to-no budget for athletics.
- Texas Christian
- Mississippi State
- Duke
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Minnesota
- Oregon State
- Northeastern
- Rhode Island
- Missouri
Additionally, Galiano stated that he has 11 affiliates throughout the country that push the product out to their clients in states such as Oklahoma, Florida and Virginia. Some of these include Midwest Catching Academy, Prime Time Catching, 1.90 Catcher Development & Training, Catching Genetics, Ballers Baseball and Dominate the Dish Softball.
So why has this caught on so quickly despite only launching in six months ago?
“Machine training has been stagnant for years,” he said. “Nobody has pushed the envelope. Nobody has pushed training to the next level. I’m manufacturing these balls that basically don’t exist,” he added. So the demand has been huge.
The weighted balls come in five different weights – 3 oz, 4 oz (for underload training) and 6 oz, 7 oz and 8 oz (for overload training). The overload training is perfect for catchers looking to get stronger hands and minimize their “blowback” or movement of their glove upon receiving the pitch. This is great for catchers of any age who are looking to improve their strength. The underload training is just as valuable. It’s perfect to teach young catchers to practice soft hands behind the dish, but it’s also great for learning at high speeds without the risk of injuries. Contrary to belief, this is very important with professional catchers.
“If you’re a catching instructor in pro ball, and you have a catcher making $70 million or $100 million over the life of his contract, you don’t want him breaking a thumb during training. If that happens, you’re fired,” he added.
When asked about consumer behavior, he noted that most people will order 5-10 balls, but they also like to test different weights and once they decide which one they like, “they will load up on that,” he said.
Just two weeks ago, his work received some well-earned recognition at the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Convention. Competing against 300 other products including those created by companies like Driveline and Wilson, Galiano’s C25 Training Product earned the “Best of Show” Award.
“Winning that was pretty sweet to me,” he said. “I didn’t know a ton about the ABCA, turns out it’s the world’s biggest baseball convention.” he said.
And the amazing thing is that he’s not done.
“The next move is to just keep spreading the world through the baseball community,” said Galiano. “This is just the first of a bunch of products that I already have lined up behind it.”
The golden opportunity for him will be during next year’s ABCA Convention which will take place on January 6-9 in Chicago, which is expected to host 7,000 coaches. Galiano will be speaking at the main stage with his partner Charlie Greene, the catching coordinator for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Galiano is just five years removed from playing college baseball and has already started two companies. Sky is the limit for this Commack native.
