—Systemic change begins with personal change—
Brent Michael Suter is a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball. He just re-signed with them through 2021.
Raised in Cincinnati, he was a four-year letter winner in baseball and basketball, all-league and all-city in baseball. His basketball team won the 2007 state champions, with a four-year 85-5 record. His baseball teams won three conference titles. He was also a National Merit Commended Student, class salutatorian, academic All-Ohio, and National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society.
Brent went to college at Harvard, where he was named All-Ivy in baseball and graduated with a degree in environmental science and public policy. The Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in 2012 in the 31st round. He debuted on the mound for the Brewers on August 19, 2016.
He is also developing himself, his teammates, the Brewers organizations, and the Brewers fans to act environmentally. He wrote of his stewardship and teamwork in Winning Over My Baseball Teammates to Strikeout Waste.
Some stats on his play:
Suter, 30, was 4-0 with an 0.49 ERA in 18 1/3 innings over nine appearances last year after returning from Tommy John surgery in 2018.
He pitched a career-high 101 1/3 innings and made 18 starts in 2018 before tearing his elbow ligament in July 2018. He also made 14 starts in 2017.
He is 17-11 with a 3.63 ERA in 223 innings over four seasons with the Brewers.
If you haven't listened to Brent and my first two episodes, I recommend listening to them first. Also, I recommend reading Milwaukee Brewers’ Brent Suter Sharing Love and Joy. I haven't approached the environment from a religious view and Brent and I spoke about plenty of interesting things the first two times, so we didn't get to it. Lately listeners have probably heard how much William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and their peers have become role models. I wrote Brent to see if he knew more about them and could share. He said he was happy to. I'm not used to talking about religion in public, but he was and was happy to record. I reread the story about his Christianity and was pleasantly surprised to see words he connects with his work that I do---joy, light, love faith, kindness, service, mission---that are the opposite most environmentalists seem to. They look at stewardship like chore, obligation, burden, sacrifice. I've started saying "I don't have to steward. I get to." Taking responsibility for how my acts affect others and changing my behavior to avoid hurting them doesn't hold me back from flying. It connects me with humanity. If you asked if I expected my work would overlap this much with someone based in Jesus relative to nearly any scientist or environmentalist, nearly all of whom tell me they don't want to do more, I wouldn't have believed. As much as science determines the problem, the solution will not come from science but creating purpose and meaning. If you consider yourself religious and religion motivates you to act in stewardship and I sound like I'm missing more than Brent and I covered, contact me. I'd love to learn more.
If you love hearing people at the peak of the human condition behind the scenes, you'll love this episode with Major League Baseball pitcher Brent Suter. I think you'll also hear the subtext of food connecting his family already and his teammates soon. Sports and food I love sports, competition, and athletics. I love food, meaning fresh vegetables and fruit. This conversation with Brent, I felt like a kid in a candy store. This is one of the shortest times between episodes. As I mentioned at the end of last episode, Brent decided to commit to shopping at a farmers market after we stopped recording. He knew of places near him that he had meant to visit. He did the next day, then again the next weekend, and made some vegetable stews of his own, which he loved---the result, the process, the learning, and more. The mental game of professional sports Prepare yourself for the future of athletics---eating delicious and healthy for himself as an individual, an athlete, a husband, and a human. He also indulged me in sharing about the mental side of professional sports, what facing a batter feels like, how he trains, how he handles success and failure. I hope you enjoyed our conversation even half as much as I did. Covid-19 note: Is it safe to eat produce from farmers markets? Yes and please do. Previous guest Marion Nestle is one of the world's top food experts and these posts of hers compile useful information: Is it safe to eat produce from farmers markets? Yes and please do. Is it safe to eat fresh produce? Yes (with caveats) Enjoy farmers markets, enjoy vegetables, and enjoy banding together as a national and eventually global team
I met Brent through guest Tia Nelson, both Wisconsin celebrities---she in politics, he in sport---who work with the Outrider Foundation. He is this podcast's first MLB pitcher in string of athletes from the Olympics, NFL, Americas Cup, beep baseball, and more. I bring athletes because they excel in the key leadership domain of personal growth and development. In a world based on polluting, environmental action requires challenging yourself to grow and develop. Early leaders like this podcast community have to swim upstream, acting against cultural norms. Besides winning on the diamond, as you'll hear from Brent, he is also developing himself, his teammates, the Brewers organizations, and the Brewers fans to act environmentally. Professional athletes not being known for hugging trees, he's choosing to take on challenges he doesn't have to. In this episode he shares why and how. We also talk about the professional athletic experience---what it's like being on the mound, to work your way to the majors with no guarantee, to recover from injury, and more.