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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PERFECT GAME LAUNCHES NEW PODCAST WITH INFLUENCER
NELSON “NELLY” GONZALEZ AND STEP UP
Debut Show to Feature Special Guest Miami Marlins All-Star Jazz Chisholm
Premieres tonight on PerfectGame.TV at 7 pm ET
Sanford, Florida (Tuesday, April 30, 2024) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, announced a partnership with The Step Up, a multi-media company, to produce the Step Up Podcast, a bi-weekly show hosted by social media influencer and youth baseball coach Nelson “Nelly” Gonzalez, that will feature guests from around the world of baseball and entertainment. Gonzalez will be joined by co-host Allie Hinkley. The first show drops tonight on PerfectGame.TV and the PGTV app with special guest, Miami Marlins All-Star Jazz Chisholm.
The Step Up, co-owned by Gonzalez and Home Team Sports, is a pioneering sports marketing and media brand that is anchored by The Step Up Podcast, which sits at the intersection of baseball and youth culture. The Step Up Podcast will feature a lineup of guests from across the spectrum of baseball and entertainment, including former and current MLB stars, top amateur players from across the country, coaches, scouts and executives along with actors, musicians and more. Each episode will offer a unique perspective on the game, highlighting its impact on individuals and communities.
“This partnership has been in the works for a long time and it’s wonderful to see it come to fruition,” said Perfect Game CEO Rob Ponger. “Nelly’s relationship and involvement with Perfect Game runs deep and we couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with him on projects and create content with The Step Up that will speak to the current and future generation of baseball players and fans.”
As a respected figure in the youth baseball community, Gonzalez brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the podcast having been a travel coach for Florida Travel Baseball (FTB) since 2013.
“Baseball is more than just a sport,” said Gonzalez. “It’s a culture, a community and a platform for inspiring stories and I’m pumped to be working alongside Perfect Game, which is the absolute leader in youth and travel baseball. We can’t wait to bring our blend of sports and entertainment to fans everywhere with the Step Up Podcast and introduce a new perspective to talk about the greatest game on the planet.”
Starting tonight, the Step Up Podcast premieres on PerfectGame.TV and the PGTV app, Perfect Game’s streaming service, at 7:00 pm ET and will air every other Tuesday in that timeslot. PGTV is available for streaming on Roku Channel 237 as well as Fubo, Vizio, Apple and many other outlets. The podcast will also be available on Perfect Game’s YouTube channel. Future guests will include former American League MVP Mo Vaughn, Marlins outfielder Nick Gordon and recent ACC Player of the Week, University of Miami outfielder Blake Cyr.
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Media contact:
Greg Casterioto / Gcasterioto@perfectgame.org / (267) 246-5709
About Perfect Game
Perfect Game is the world’s largest elite youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, producing over 9,800+ events, hundreds of thousands of games, and showcases each year across the country. Perfect Game is dedicated to giving amateur players exposure to take their game to the next level, whether that be in college or in the professional ranks. At Perfect Game events, players are performing with top-level competition in front of college recruiters and professional scouts from all over the country. Because of this, these events prove to be invaluable to college coaches as well as Major League Baseball, as they can scout a large population of talented ballplayers in one location. To date, more than 2,034 players that have played in a Perfect Game event have also played in Major League Baseball. Since 2003, 14,466 Perfect Game alumni have been selected in the MLB First-Year Amateur Player Draft. In the 2023 Draft, for example, 95 percent of all players selected had played in Perfect Game events, and every player selected on the Draft’s first day had previously attended Perfect Game events.