coach on the road once again introducing you to the MLB stars of the game and I got this young upand coming and I got this young upand cominging heart Thrive tending through Chicago audience introduce introduce yourself to my audience oh well I'm Duke Ellis man I'm from a small town in Texas and this is my first time in the big city and I've never been more excited let me tell you so um this is a dream come true and I'm excited to be here so what what is like for a Texas country boy to be in a big city something new uh shoot it's a lot louder uh a lot more people honking at me and yelling at me just CU I'm you know there's about three red lights in my town so uh man it's it's it's a great experience and I know having the family here all week and everything else having them experience here experience it with me here made it a lot easier to like settle down and you know find my place here and you ain't even experienced Russ hour traffic in Chicago yet no I'm trying to stay away from that as much as I can me too I've been here all my life you broke in with your rookie debut against the Cubs over rley field so I mean how special was that moment I do well I mean just like anybody I mean having your debut in Wrigley Field one of the oldest baseball fields in the game it's like that is like what you dream about that's what you think about that's what you see people and like say that's why I want to be like when I when I grow up and to have that as my debut that's a memory that like I won't forget the smell of the field I won't forget the lights I won't there ain't nothing about that day that I will I'll forget about especially being a reg and I saw mom I saw the whole family out there just hug and kissing you cry my my yeah my sister my mom so my mom was my first call when I got the call and a you think I got hit by a car or something that she would crying screaming and and me and my S my sisters are tight you know I wish my middle sister like Morgan could have been here but my older sister mean her tight too and to see her like she was tearing up she said the whole plane ride all the way here and like when I stepped across the field she started crying again like having that like support and like what we've been through together as a family to get to this point is like it's awesome to have them here with me are you said Mama was screaming holling crying Ruma has and you was tooy I going put you on the spot Co I would I wouldn't say screaming and everything else I I started tearing up just a hair just because you know it's it's been a tough road for me you know um I wasn't I was a late bloomer um I was told a lot like you know I wasn't even good enough to play D1 baseball so you know I had to handle a lot of adversity and to get here and like have the guys accept me into the clubhouse and make it easy not easy but like easier to go into the game and do what I have to do like it's it's been awesome and the guys in the clubhouse have been great you know picking me up after you know I've made a couple mistakes so far and like for them to like hey dude it's all right like you know we've all been there it's like just you know get your feet under underneath you get your feet wet and you're going to be good and you know to have them kind of say that to me and you know kind of pick me up and everything else um I feel like we're going to be in a good spot well I think for the last few days you just been walking up Cloud N I don't think your feet touch the ground yet no no uh-uh no not yet but um they will soon they will that I mean hopefully today is you know it's a new day and shoot I'm feeling good today so hopefully I get in there today and I can I can do my thing so what is like when you get that call up that you going to the big leags man for me it was was breathtaking it was uh to be honest I went to skip and how how everything went down at right when he said you know like we're calling you up to the big leagues my first question was like so I'm not coming in here getting traded or released and he was like no sir like you're going to the big leagues and that like everything kind of dropped and like it just that not relief but like everything that you've done up to this point it's like it wasn't a waste of time it was everything I've done was worth every bit I've done every sacrifice every you know you know if you lose a friendship through it just cuz you have to make the sacrifice it was everything was worth it to this point so what happened after you got that call you got on the plane and headed to Chicago I did I had a I flew 6:00 in the morning flew to Philly and then Philly to here and then about you know six seven hours later I was in Wrigley still in the base I bet that was the longest trip ever no actually it was the fastest there was the fastest 2hour flights I've ever had in my life they flew by no pun intended and uh it I got to the field and that whole day was really fast you probably helped the pilot fly that place I might have told to step on it a little bit like get me there so you get to wrigly walking at B Park I me all of a sudden you pulling up did you even know where to go no of course not uh uh well at Wrigley it wasn't too tough um they kind of guided me through it now when I got here it was like I don't know where I'm at so I ended up in center field when I first got here and I had to walk all the way around inent from over here so uh you know I'm a just slowly but surely I'm a Justin finding out where everything where everything is and um it's it's good now so you have test security who you are they know who this young face was walking through there no of course yeah when I when I first show up here is like I showed my ID and they're like what you you with the white socks or the Red Socks and you know that was that was cool it was like well hopefully I can you know let you remember my name in a good way and so you don't have to ask me that question again I'm with y'all with the white socks you know and then you walk through that tunnel I mean what was it like going through that tunnel for the very first time and most fans never get to see the tunnel most don't even know it's a tunnel that lead to the locker room yeah so what was that feeling like uh surreal um it was uh I was at the most piece as I've been in in a in a long time when I was walking down it was so I my first start I was the first one to you know walk through the tunnel just to I can get my breath under control and my anxiety a little bit under control and it was the quietest like walk I've had and it was the most peaceful walk I've had and then when you come up and you come out to the Dugout and you see the lights and you see the fans and the stands it's like like wow like we're actually here and this is hopefully what we're going to be doing for a while then I guess once you got in the locker room and met the guys you found out it ain't no different than high school college you got a bunch of characters on the team oh yeah yeah I mean you have your different personalities and everything else and like this team like you know we're going through some adversity but like how they handle themselves with their everyday prep and like how they can keep a good head on their shoulders and pick each other up and how the clubhouse is staying positive you know through a tough time it's it was awesome and and it was uh easy to come into the clubhouse not easy but like easier to come into a clubhouse with guys like that just because um they all they know we all know like this game isn't easy and you're going to handle adversity and like how these guys have you know controlled themselves go about their everyday prep is it was awesome and I just kind of follow in that footsteps of you know we're going to put our work in every day to go win a baseball game and we're going to have fun doing it so how many times have you been called rookie so far shoot about two or three times now that's all yeah not too much you got a little way you still got a season yeah I still I still got a little bit all right last couple questions I know you got to get in there get ready for the ball game uh you got a little White Sox connection I guess your dad played in the big leagues yes my dad did play in the big leagues not with the white socks he came up with the white socks got drafted by the white socks came up and then he uh later on made to the big leagues you know won the World Series in 01 with the Diamond Backs um played on multiple teams and like yeah it was having that to follow up and to follow the footsteps of that uh me and my dad had a pretty uh you know connecting moment there like you know we're in the same small fraternity together now and we can actually finally say that together um I think he he took that as like I mean he did it he he was hard you know what I mean he was hard on me but like without him being as hard as he was on me like honestly I probably wouldn't even be in the game anymore cuz I wouldn't be able to handle the failures I've had and the adversity I had to go through I probably wouldn't have gotten through it without him being so hard on me when I was in a younger age so having him around was it's been awesome let our audience know who your dad is uh Robert Ellis he was a right-handed pitcher um through gasoline and uh his nickname was the bull so you know he was he had a little a little you know a little fire underneath him um cuz I don't think you get a nickname The Bull unless you have a little bit of fire underneath you so but he was a competitor he loved the game and shoot he he breathes the game and that's my dad and he got a ring he got a ring 2001 with with the Diamondbacks he show you that ring shoot yeah oh yeah it's it's it's in my safe in my room actually so you doing with the ring well anytime I get to go home I get to admire it and you know hopefully I get to get one myself with it coach with the young hot th for the Chicago White Socks in his rookie season yes sir thank you for having me thanks a lot thank you all right the main thing first they have to have the opportunity they have to have different Outlets to be able to develop um that player you have a a average player you know they're raw talent and so they need at least two or three maybe even four years of development to get to that next level you know to get even part of their talent you know with with other players so um we need leagues like is to be able to Showcase League have uh players another opportunity uh you know to Showcase and develop that Talent um but it it takes time sounds like an exciting time again it's uh it's needed definitely need some more developmental leagues to give uh ball players an opportunity uh just to progress and see where they're at there there's those Diamonds in the Rough there's those players that are hit in gems uh they haven't been discovered yet that's uh it sounds like that's what the league is for just to give them another opportunity uh some more exposure some more experience you know advance and see how far they can go click on the Subscribe button and become a subscriber