CURVE Sports sits down with Chad Hinds of Marucci Prospects — a nationally recognized program built on development, exposure, and doing things the right way.
Since 2006, the Prospects Organization has helped place over 340 players into college baseball programs across all levels, while continuing to grow its national footprint through its partnership with Marucci Sports.
Chad shares:
The mission behind Marucci Prospects
Building a platform for development and exposure
Relationships with college coaches and pro scouts
Growth through the Marucci Franchise Club
The future of player development in a national landscape
This is about creating opportunity — and delivering it at the right time. Stronger Together.
My name is Matt Gerber, executive director of Curve Sports at the Allegiance. Today I'm joined by Chad Hines from Marichi Prospects. Chad, I appreciate you joining me today.
Thanks for having me. Absolutely, brother. Well, Marichi Prospects, a nationwide house name, one of the newest members in the Allegiance.
I just want to spend a little time today getting to know you, Chad, to understand your "why." Then we'll learn more about the Prospects, specifically, and how they're going to run their program and what's important to you. And then we'll wrap up here, talking about the Allegiance, where we're going, and what excited you about being a part of what we're doing.
First of all, how were you in baseball? I played NAE baseball back in the '90s. And from then on, I moved on from the game, probably for 13 or 14 years, until I had a 5 or 6-year-old son who showed me an interest in baseball. And then, it's the old adage of, hey, you played past school, you're going to be the coach.
So, that started when I was 7 or 18, and it just kept going. But that was really... It's kind of funny how you play the game your whole life, and then you wake up, get a job, go home, have kids, get married, and all that. And then you go back to school and it's like, hey, it's like riding a bike.
It doesn't feel like you've strayed from the game. But, you know? A new perspective. With young guys, trying to encourage what maybe you were encouraged to use when you were a kid.
And so that was it, you know? Obviously, I played the game, I strayed for a long time, like a lot of parents do, and then I came back to it. And, you know? Fast forward to today, and here we are in 2026, and I've been doing this for several years now. That's pretty cool.
Okay, tell me about... We know the prospect started about 20 years ago. So, maybe tell me about its origin story, and then how you got involved, when you got involved, and what that was. Sure, yes.
The prospect started in the early 2000s, and he started with a couple of very high school teams. A lot of kids from the SEC, ACC, Big 12, draft picks, among those teams. And really, exposure first.
It was all about exposure. It was a time when that took precedence over everything else. But it began with development.
It was about finding the best players in the country, surrounding those talented guys with a team, and going out and playing. And, obviously, you know, you were playing against this team. At that time, at your average level.
So, it really started there. I got involved about five years later. And I really started as a director, like I said, about five or six years later.
And, you know, my goal was really to build on what was already in place. And that was, really, how can we go from a lot of talented school agents to, how can we build this 9-to-18 age group? And that was my goal. And, you know, it's taken time to get there.
We started building the youth. And, yes, today we're stricter, more, you know? 9 to 18, equally displaced, where you wanted to get to, what we wanted to expand. But, you know? Before it was all about exposure.
And we were very successive. And, you know? We played like kids. And, you know? A lot of professional guys, a lot of great players.
But that can't really be sustained as an organization. You have to build. Most organizations are built from the ground up, starting with youth.
We've built from the ground up, starting with a top-level school. And that's fine. That's where we started, where we've come from to where we are today.
Yes, that makes a lot of sense. So, what problem would you say you're trying to solve, that you're currently trying to solve, or that you're trying to solve in the market? What was the thing you wanted to gravitate toward that made you say, as someone who hasn't been in baseball his whole life, right? That went away and now it's back. What was it as a father, as a dad, that made you say, hey, we can do that better, right? Is there anything that stands out to you? Yeah, I think seeing how, you know, Jeff's dad, I don't know, the coach, with that pretty talented kid, you know? He wants him to play, to play short-term and in the middle of the field, even if he's a left-hander.
But, you know what? There's a lot of that. And that, you know what? I'm going back to, you know what? 7U, 8U. I was trying to close myself off from the right people, for the right reasons, you know? Who's in this for the long haul, sincerely? And it's not, it's about this group of kids, this group of teams.
And really, you know what? Put your best foot forward and try to do things the right way, again, with the right people, for the right reasons. And that, I think, is what separates us today. We generally have some good organizations in baseball, but we have some of those organizations that, you know, continue to play with two outside players.
And, you know what? It's all about, hey, you can struggle with the paycheck, you can be a traveling baseball player. That's not what it used to be, that's what it is today. And just, you know what? Try to change the narrative as much as we can, as individuals, as an organization, and, you know what? Document what we do.
Here's our calendar, here's our development plan. And, you know, being transparent with families about, you know, where the kids are, where we want to take them? And I think more of that needs to happen. And, you know, you see organizations doing it the right way, really being transparent with families and kids, and playing with better schedules, really challenging teams.
You know, we're not chasing trophies. We want our fair share of trophies, but that's not the goal. I have a hand in a lot of the schedules, and we create the schedules to go play, you know, 500, 600 baseball.
We don't want to go to 38 and 2. What did that do for us? And that's where I really see it, you know? You go on social media and you see all these clubs. Hey, we won all these tournaments. Okay, is the kid getting better? That's it.
You put the kid first. You know? You start thinking, okay, how can we make this player better, this team better, and overall, the organization better? Yes, 100%. I love that.
With that in mind, player first, you know? Not chasing trophies. That would answer my question of, you know, what's different about you guys? Well, first, your development first, you know? And you're focused on, you know? The player instead of necessarily the team. Although I love baseball because it is, in my mind, one of the only baseball sports, to a certain extent, but it's an individual sport within a team game, you know? So, you have to be focused on that player.
But as you start to focus on development, two questions here. If someone were to walk into one of your team practices, is there anything in particular you think they would notice or point out? And then, picking up on that, are there two, three, four words that come to mind that describe your organization's culture? Yes, I think if you walked into one of our practices, you would see organization, structure, resources, you would see fundamental repetition. That's where we want to start, that's where we want to master.
You know, we've come a long way. You know, like I said before, we were an Exposure First Organization and we've shifted more towards development, obviously, but we're still a hybrid. There are some players we've maybe acquired—16 players—and they're ready to be expelled, so we're going to focus more on the Exposure side for those guys, but you know, you talk about culture, and I think that's still evolving, especially with, you know, Indiana's rebranding to Marucci, obviously, with Curve Sports, so I think that's still evolving, but, you know, three words, probably: acquire, develop, and expel.
You know, we want to acquire younger players, we want to have a strong hand in that development, and then we want to expel them at the right time for that player, and every player has their own timing, their own timing. So, you know, I think that adds up to where we are today, and that, you know, can evolve over the next, you know, 18, 24 months, but that's what we're hoping for. Yeah, I think that, for me, you know, the same thing as the parents, you know, development, and you can be expelled through exposure, right? And a lot of kids are today, right? They go out at the school level and they're looking for exposure, and they're not ready to be expelled, or they're trying to expel themselves to the wrong place, right? And when you do that, you're going to get expelled again and again, right? And so, I think, you know, where you're at, is having this balance between development and improvement, and then, you know, also when you're ready, going out there and trying to get into colleges, like everyone has that goal, is important, but, you know, we've talked a lot before, Chad, about the pendulum and travel football and new sports, right? Like, you know, when it first became a business and really focused, I think, on this side, which was player development, right? And then the elite of the elite had the opportunity to go and play in some really good tournaments and face some guys, right? And then, you know, I think a lot of the reasons you described, even when the average started, you know, there was this great opportunity because the recruiting was happening earlier and earlier, right? Seventh and eighth graders were being recruited, and it wasn't just for SEC and seventh and eighth graders and seventh and tenth graders, it was all the way down, right? There was a weaving effect, right? So, if you weren't there and they didn't see you early, you were behind the elites, and that was true, right? You could be a kid, you know, during that time period, who was, you know, a junior in high school, and was Latino, and I know I've experienced it, it would be like, hey, this kid is better than, you know, three-quarters of the kids who are committed, and all the schools would be like, well, sorry, we're done, we're full, and there was no opportunity for that kid, right? Well, nowadays, obviously, it's the opposite, right? With the way the rules are and all, it's given, I think, the whole industry the opportunity to take a breath and understand that the pendulum is swinging back toward development first, and that you want to play, you want to have fun, right? Those are important things as a kid, like, you don't want to, we don't want to create these boxed monsters, right? But at the same time, you know, the empathy in playing all the time and the exposure can be pushed down the path a little, and I think, you know,The more organizations we have that do this, and not only do it but change their operational model around these things, right? The best offices in the industry will be there, and those are the types of groups we're looking for when it comes to Allegiance curative sports, right? So let's talk a little more about club identity and culture with the prospects.
How would you define success for a player in your organization? That's a good question. We've talked about that a lot over the summer and winter, and it's really, you know, developing a kid to achieve whatever their next goal is. When you're talking about youth players, you know, obviously, their goal is to make the senior school team.
Also, you know, as a young kid, how quickly can you get to that high school level? But the high school kids, you know? How can we create opportunities? You know, multiple opportunities for you, at any level of play, from a college perspective. So it really depends on the kid, you know, okay? It's appropriate, and, you know, what we see are three different levels, if you will, you know, it's like our middle school and our high school, and we want to make sure they develop at a pace to be ready for that next level. I mean, you know, middle school baseball is becoming more and more popular in our area, so obviously you have the middle school kids playing on the big league teams, you know, how do you get a kid who isn't, like you said, a high school player? How do you prepare him for high school? It's a long road from 5-6, you know.
So, you know, it really depends on the age group, the player's level, and that's what we want to do. You know, we have our top-level teams, we have our mid-level teams, and then we have a couple of development teams. How quickly can we expedite that process? Yeah, and I think that's one thing you just mentioned, that's changed in the last, you know, 10 years at Travel Wall.
You know, originally it was, at least, just the older kid playing. For me, you know, a lot of people in the industry look down on or say how bad it is for organizations to have multiple teams. I look at it differently, Chad.
I think people like you and the people who write for organizations that are part of what we're doing, those are the types of people we want to have on multiple teams, right? Because we want them to understand, like you said, that there are different levels, right? If you're a high-level player, this is what you have to achieve, right? You have something different than the guy who, you know, has to, you know, hold on and continue to improve to reach his goal, whatever goal, and, you know, having good baseball players who are providing opportunities, to me, is what this industry needs most, and, you know, the more consolidation there can be around the people who are doing well, I think the industry will be better. So, you know, the people who are listening to this, the parents who are listening to this, you know, just because your kids are on the development team of an organization like the Prospects, it's not a bad thing, right? You're surrounded by good baseball players, good coaches who are going to be invested in your kid and make him better, and they're not just going to tell you what you want to hear, and I think that's really, really important, right? Yeah, and another thing, going back to that, to trust the process as well, you know, I could go, I could go name after name with those kids, and, you know, 11, 12, you know? At that 13, those kids ended up playing ProBase, you know? It's because, you know, whether they were baseball players, they kept at it, they had a chip on their back, or whatever, so you just have to trust the process, whatever, whatever plan in front of you, trust that process, but, absolutely, it's up to the kid, you have to put in the work. Yeah, and I think, you know, we're going to get into this a little bit more about having realistic expectations about, you know, what you're up for, right? And understanding that, you know, this career for your son is a marathon, not a sprint, and, you know, I was listening to a podcast the other day, it was a soccer podcast, but they were talking about how the U.S. soccer program is, purposely, not taking the most talented, the biggest pre-teen, or pre-pubescent, 13-year-old in their national programs, they're looking for the most projectable kids, because in soccer it's different from baseball, when, you know, the U.S. team, baseball, they have to win 12-year-olds, so they're going to take the best, the biggest kid, right? In soccer, they're looking for a program that develops kids over time, so that 12-year-old, when he's 19 or 20, can play in the World Cup for the U.S. team, right? And, so, the people in our sport, for me, are the college coach or the pro team, right? What they're looking for, at a young age, even in high school, is, you know, are you constantly improving or are you staying the same?Right? If you're that 12-year-old who's going to throw 80 kilometers per hour, you're throwing 80 kilometers per hour when you're 16 years old, right? And, so, understanding as a parent, this is a stepping stone, a ladder, and like you said, I think all of us who have been in the game for a long time, we have a litany of names we could pull from our heads, of kids who weren't the best when they were 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, even if you look at the big leagues today, if you look at Team USA, if you look at, you know, Scooble, if you look at Miller and all these guys who, you know, will tell you they were late developers, right? So at the end of the day, you want to be your best later in life, not at the beginning, so trust the process, find someone you trust.
The prospects do a good job in both areas. So we talked about player development for a bit, what is real player development to you, both from the field and also from a kind of responsibility standpoint at the organizational level? When I think about real player development, I think about the whole player development, and not just from a skill standpoint, but football intelligence, instincts, as a player in general, and that's what we've been trying to instill here in recent years when, you know, we've been able to get our players on the field. You know, we have, you know, maybe we have that kid who, you know, can throw you from right field, can throw you from third base to right field, the kid has a weapon, but, okay, now you understand, player, you know, what's the right game there? And it's like, you know, everyone has a great arm, but what do you have between your eyes? And that's, you know, more and more colleges are looking, hey, is this kid coachable? Do you understand the basics, you know, of what we're trying to do here? And I think, you know, to talk a little bit about how we can help prepare the kids for high school baseball as well, because as it is, you know, you have a lot of great high school coaches here, but you have some who are high school science teachers who have been doing this for 20 years, and he didn't play the game at a high level, he doesn't really understand it, so how can we help him as a coach to better develop players coming up through his ranks? So we, in that way, and having communication with those kids, what are we trying to do with the player? But, you know, it's a lot, between years, it's, you know, baseball, EQ, instincts, and obviously the tools.
Yes, absolutely. And from an organizational standpoint—and maybe you're doing this now, maybe not, maybe it's something you want to look at doing—how are you giving that support to the parents and players? How do they understand where they stand and, you know, what their path forward is? Well, we want to establish a baseline as quickly as possible, and that's generally in trial or soon after, and as we progress into next week, like getting touchpoints on some of those measurable metrics, and then, you know, at the end of March and April, before we have to let them go back to high school, or, as it's called in baseball, middle school, like, see, okay, where did we get to? And then we have to adjust that plan. If we didn't see the kinds of improvements we were hoping for, well, let's look at ourselves. Was it something we did wrong? Did we not have that player more accountable? What was he doing in his own space, behind the scenes, when nobody was watching? So it's a sort of collection of data that we're going to look at if that child didn't progress as they should have.
Yes, I think that's a good point. What you just said is, you know, programs, you know, training facilities, whatever, you know, most of the time you're going to the top, you know, maybe three times a week, you know, typically, maybe two practices, right? And so, for the players to understand that, you know, what you can do on a daily basis, right? To improve your game is really, really important, right? The tools are going to give you, but only the person who, you know, grabs the key or, you know, puts the key in is going to be the one who's successful, right? So you have to use those tools. Why do they do it for so long? We only have to nephew someone, you know, an office, you know, our plan has to be very strong, but we also have to have a kind of backup plan for when things aren't going well on the ground with them. Yes, 100%.
And we'll talk a little bit at the end about some of the tools that, you know, they provide us with, that might help you do that at scale across your organization. So let's spend some time talking about growth and future vision for your organization. Two questions here.
What does sustainable growth look like to you? And how do you balance, you know, local roots with, you know, big ambitions for, you know, growth across the country? Yes, it's... Can I repeat the question? Yes. What does sustainable growth look like to you? And then, how do you balance, you know, the local roots you have and started with the ambitions to, you know, take this nationally, essentially? Right. I think sustainable growth first with retention.
You know, we've been very fortunate; I've had a bit of a knack with that method for the last few years. We're at around 80% retention right now. We want to be at 90%+.
We're growing that way, so that's positive. You know, locally, you know, like when we started as Indiana Prospects back in the early 2000s with, you know, a couple of teams. You know, we still have those values of, hey, we're, the mothership is based in Indiana.
You know, we have several players from all over the country playing for us here at the mothership. You know, it's about maintaining those Indiana values, where we came from, the talent that initially came to the table, and that's really our barometer of who we want to continue being. And how do you create that across the different age groups, throughout the entire organization? You know, what we do with the affiliate model—12 affiliates in 10 states across Canada—is really replicate the success we had, and that's the model we built in Indiana, and we replicate that across the country.
You know, they're going to have their own flavor, they know that very well, but how can we get some best practices, some lessons, and really learn from that and be able to make that affiliate, or help make that affiliate as robust as we are here on the mothership? Yes, I love it. And so, where do you want to see this organization in 3 or 5 years? You know, I think it's going to continue to grow. We've grown quite a bit in the last 3 years.
I think it's going to continue to grow, but, you know, I'm not looking to be the biggest organization in the country. That's not the goal. I've been very selective about scaling slowly with the right people, for the right reasons, because, you know, I've spoken to a lot of people over the year, very interested people, and I can tell, you know, within the first 10-15 minutes of a conversation, are they sincere about this? Is this someone I want to work with? Is it all about the money, or is it about the child? And that's how I prefer the conversation.
First and foremost, you have to be a tree of faith, because you're going to wear the uniform, you're going to use the products, obviously, but it has to be about the child, it has to be about creation. I want to see, what are you currently planning? What are you doing? How can we increase that? So it's going to be slower growth, but it's going to be growth in the right way, because, you know, we don't want to add anyone in, because there are going to be challenges we don't want to face. And we're going to call it what it is.
Today, here, you know, at the end of January 2026, we know, we have a global brand that we need to maintain. We have a partnership with current sports that we need to maintain. So, you know, there's more responsibility on our hands than there ever has been.
It's very important. Yes. And it is important.
And, you know, again, one of the things that makes us really great at Curvesports is, you know, these shared ideas and working together and being stronger together. And I think one thing that really struck me there is, you know, people are what matter, right? If you have the right operators across the country who want to be part of something bigger, you know, every time you go to an ABCA or whatever, you know, a gathering of coaches from all over the country, and you hear, you often hear a lot of the same things, right? The same issues, the same desires, right? From the grassroots. And so, again, our goal at Curvesports is to listen to those people, you know, to provide a platform through our clubs like The Prospects, for them to come together to be part of something that's bigger than what you're doing today, so that we can all make a change in this industry and start putting it back the way it should be, right? And that's the subjective theme here at Curvesports and the alliance of what we want to do.
So finding the right people, not just at your level, but, you know, even the guys who are running 10-team organizations across the country who are doing a great job and want to be part of something bigger, you know, this is their opportunity to be a part of that, and, you know, through someone like you. So what excites you most about, you know, the next chapter and the next iteration of The Prospects? And, hopefully, that will involve maybe an answer to the question of why you decided to join the Curvesports alliance. You know, it's funny because if you hadn't reached out to me, I would have reached out to you because, you know, I've done due diligence with you guys, and I'm sure you do due diligence with us.
It just comes, you know, starting with the franchise, you know, with the franchise group status with Marichi Ferg. We've been with him for 11 years now, and knowing that there's another entity out there like you that can add value to what we're doing... You know, it was a mess. I'm excited about what we've been doing at Boots on the Ground over the last few years from a development and growth perspective.
Now we're able to collaborate with you and the added value you bring. I feel like, you know, our offering is as strong as it can be, and that's what excites me. What's the future? Well, you know, we need to get everyone excited about what you have to offer, and that's not always easy, but, you know, we have to do our part to get everyone on board and really take advantage of your offerings.
But, you know, moving forward, it's just the continued added value of partnerships like Marichi, like you, you know, that brings it kind of full circle. And I feel like we have something to offer that most organizations don't. Yes, 100%.
So, you know, when we talk about, you know, the offerings we have, I know, let's back up a bit, we talked about player development and how difficult it is to potentially scale, you know, through an organization. Are there other things specifically within the CurveSports offering and the app that you thought would help you scale that and that you're looking forward to using? Absolutely, the library, you know, I'll talk specifically about the scaling instruction. You know, we've addressed that before and often because we saw a kind of deficiency with our players in general.
So we took that instruction into account and broke it down. And now we're going to go through the others to see what's actionable right now. Where do we need to fill it in right now? So, you know, there's a lot there.
We need to go through that, what it means for us, what it means for different age groups. But absolutely, the offers are things that, and we have some things we can add.
We can also add to the app things we've used in the past, but it's just an information platform, video, and instructions. It's amazing. So, a couple more questions here.
These are the funniest ones for me. We'll start with the biggest. If there was something like a traveling football commissioner and you'd signed up for it, what would be the first thing you'd do? I'd roll out a non-negotiable, universal code of conduct that players and parents would sign.
That would be where we'd start. What area would that code of conduct focus on? What problems do you see? Let's play the game the right way. Let's respect the game.
We're going to respect the opponent. The players' fans, the parents' fans, whatever, we're going to act accordingly. We're going to go back to the way we were, where it's more bearable.
We're going to encourage our players, we're going to support our players. But I'm a bit old-fashioned. We're going to go back to the way we used to be.
I love it. And often, if you can fix the attempt, many of the other problems you could answer with that question can be fixed. I think one thing our founder, Sandy Ogg, says a lot, which I've taken from him, is that your values need to be aligned before you can create any kind of value.
And in today's sports, focusing on the values of the parents, the players, the organizations, is super important. And trying to return to some kind of, if we can, some form of loyalty between... It's a two-way street, too. I'm a parent.
I know my perspective on all this has changed a lot since becoming a father of athletes. At the end of the day, the parent, the player, and the consumer should all be getting the most out of a situation. But also, if the organization does a good job, like you said, they'll get 80% of the attention, trying to focus on getting the other 90%.
That tells me that the parents feel they're getting their values from you. And it's probably because their values, the parents' values, and your values are aligned. And finding those kinds of people is incredibly important.
Two more questions here. One will be about player development and skills. The other will be more from a leadership perspective.
What, in your mind, is the most underrated skill in baseball, and something you've seen kids have that has propelled them to be more successful than perhaps their skill set might indicate? I think one of the simplest is just playing baseball. I think a lot of that is instinct, baseball IQ, but absolutely work on it. I think a lot of kids have probably forgotten that, they don't have the time to do it, they haven't gotten around to doing it.
Come on, Pache, hit it. Don't hit it. I think it's huge.
Kids who play baseball have good instincts. I think you're off the mark. Yeah, and if... I'm sure if you interviewed a bunch of schoolboys, one of the first things they probably have to teach—I'm not even saying re-teach, but they probably have to teach—is how to pitch baseballs properly.
And I couldn't add more to that. Knowing when it's time to move from first to third place and make those tough tournaments happen. And even for kids who think baseball is boring, one thing I always tell them, especially for school kids trying to get exposure, is that if a school bus comes around, you're a hitter, he'll come watch you play.
If you're lucky, maybe you'll get 15 strokes. That's really luck. Most of the time they're just trying to make a call and get 5 to 10 strokes.
So maybe, in, let's say, 10 shots, maybe in those 10 shots, you're 4 for 10, you're doing great. You have 4 shots, and maybe you hit twice. So, now you have 8 bullets in play.
In my mind, it's eight opportunities to show how fast you can run home to first, how fast you can run around the bases. Those are the things that college kids are always looking for, and I think the parents and players don't always understand. It's the moment when they get that clean hit, that right-handed hitter gets that clean hit on the 5-6, and he just takes a nice stroll around first base.
Sometimes, yes, that's great. That's a good thing to do. We're not telling you to give up.
But the kids who are watching you play also get the mindset that it's time for me to show what I can do, to play the game hard, and to play the game the right way. Actually, I have two more for you. What do you think is the biggest myth in youth baseball? The U-Kid Stad 12 is going to be a Stad 16.
We've talked about this before. I love Stad Blumers. I've seen so many cases where we've had players like that.
They were the best version of themselves at 12-13 years old. Former Blumers, full Beards. That's real.
I think a lot of those kids have jumped ship. They've been the best players on the field for so many years. They're not continuing to work hard.
I think there's a lot of truth to that. Yes, 100%. Last question.
For you, as the leader of your organization, and likely a leader in your community and in the things you do, what defines being a leader? What does being a leader mean to you? In my case, I think I'm very fortunate to have the team I have with TJ Weir, Hayden Hines, and Austin Stout. These guys are very passionate. They're capable.
And they believe in their goals. And I believe my job is to help them improve. Perhaps that means sharing information, mentoring, coaching.
But I believe that leadership and success are on my side; if I do better, I'll do my job. Absolutely. You have a phenomenal team, guys you really care about.
Not only, as you said, Mother Earth, but also the opportunity we've had to integrate and have conversations with the guys who are running your partnerships. A lot of good people throughout the team. And the kind of people that, as you know, we want to be involved with in sports.
And we feel we can make a big difference in this industry moving forward. So, Chad, I definitely appreciate the time today. Welcome to Allegiance and Cur Sports.
And I'm looking forward to the next few years of exciting moments and growth for both of us. Me too. I'm grateful for the opportunity.
I appreciate you having me, Owen.
