Passion, Resilience, Process: AU Baseball Alum Changing the Game

 BY ZACH WADLEY ’14

 5 MIN. READ

Having spent his entire life around baseball, Greg Vogt ’12 knows the game.

As a player during his time at Anderson University, he excelled on the mound. As a high school coach, he’s won titles. Now, he’s a trainer for a new generation of athletes and is committed to helping baseball’s youth find their passion for the game, just as he once did.

A right-hander from Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana, Vogt considered multiple Division II and III schools in the state upon his graduation, but sprung at the opportunity to play at AU with former travel ball teammates, and the decision paid off. 

Vogt went 26-8 in four seasons and his name now dots the AU record books. During this time, the Ravens earned a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference title and Vogt was named to the All-HCAC First Team three times.

Vogt graduated from AU in 2012 with a degree in education, a mind filled with baseball strategies, and a passionate heart for coaching. He found success as the varsity pitching coach at Noblesville High School, helping guide the Millers to a state title in 2014. He also made stops at Zionsville High School, the Indiana Bulls travel baseball club, and Prep Baseball Report before launching his own company, PRP Baseball.

PRP Weight Room

PRP stands for passion, resilience, and process. Housed in Finch Creek Fieldhouse in Noblesville, Vogt and his team train baseball players of all ages to maximize their game. 

“When I was starting the company, I wrote down things that were important to me on a yellow legal pad,” said Vogt. “Passion, resilience, and process were the first three things I wrote down, and I thought it worked. I then asked a player who was studying graphic design to come up with a logo. I liked the first one he sent me, and this whole thing really started to take shape.”

And once it took shape, it took off. Vogt and his staff came from humble beginnings, with just a few students and a small facility, but today, athletes travel from as far away as Texas, Nebraska, and Florida to train over the summer at PRP’s state-of-the-art facility.

While players of all different positions and skill sets can train at PRP, Vogt specializes in pitching, and the passion in his voice is palpable when he speaks. A scan of his personal Twitter account shows video breakdowns and analysis of some of the game’s best arms, like Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, as well as the athletes he trains today. Pitching is an art, and Vogt treats it like one. Just as no two painters work in the same way on a canvas, Vogt preaches to his athletes that there’s no cookie-cutter blueprint to pitching. No two pitchers have to be alike to find success.

“You would only find a couple of similarities in the mechanics, training style, or pitch design of the game’s best pitchers, and even high school or college pitchers,” said Vogt. “That’s what fascinates me about pitching.”

No two pitchers are the same and no two athletes are, either. For Vogt, his training sessions vary from those who have pitched professionally, to younger players just getting their start. While working with such a wide array of athletes can create challenges, Vogt has a simple message he wants to get across to each player he works with: baseball and the pursuit of success should be enjoyable.

“Working with professionals is fun,” said Vogt. “But it’s just as fun working with 8-10 year olds and seeing the joy they get from training and learning something new. Maybe they only play ball for three years, or maybe another 10 to 15; regardless, we want them to learn baseball and find it fun.”

Vogt with athletes

These days, Vogt doesn’t have to go far to find a couple of boys eager to play the game — they live right inside his house. Greg and his wife, Whitney, are proud parents of Parker (five) and Griffen (three), with another boy on the way.

For Vogt, it’s a balancing act to manage being a dad, while also maintaining a company that requires plenty of night and weekend work. Still, he’s learned to juggle it all through the years, and has also learned how to manage people and get the most out of his athletes and staff. For that, he credits a few role models he had at AU.

“Doc [Diana] Jones comes to mind,” said Vogt of one of his education professors. “It wasn’t what she said, but how she relayed it. She cared for you and wanted you to do things the right way. Everything started with a passion. She wanted us to show kids that first, we cared about them and their success. The second thing was finding that success, but it was more important to show kids you care.”

On the diamond, Vogt played for legendary baseball coach Don Brandon. AU’s baseball field is now named after the former skipper, whose 1,100 career wins ranked second on the active list and were fifth on the NCAA Div. III career coaching wins list at the time of his retirement in 2010.

“Coach Brandon was one of the best managers of people I have ever been around,” said Vogt. “Now, with managing a full staff, that has become very impactful for me. Brandon was such a people-person, and I try to emulate that in what I do.”

With PRP entering its fourth year, Vogt is thinking about the future and how the company can continue to grow and help athletes. Perhaps it will be more facilities, more programs, or more off-site training, but one thing will remain constant for Vogt: he wants players to enjoy the game, both young and old.

Anderson University is on a mission to educate students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 20 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult and graduate programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized among top colleges for its business, computer science, cybersecurity, dance, engineering, nursing, and teacher education programs. Anderson University was established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God.