Ever wonder what minor league baseball players do on their day off? Or where your favorite athlete lived before they became high-paid superstars? Now there’s a show that gives viewers of a birds-eye view into personal lives of tomorrow’s New York Yankees.
Live sporting events drive the majority of viewers to regional sports networks, forcing executives to get creative with programing. The Fox-owned YES Network’s reality style show, “Homegrown: The Path to Pinstripes,” is doing just that by featuring ballplayers that might not play for the Yankees for several years.
“Homegrown” is a reality-style program that showcases the next generation of Yankees, following the team’s top prospects on and off the field. YES Network president of programming and production John J. Filippelli thinks showcasing young ballplayers at the minor-league level with unique behind-the-scenes access accomplishes two goals: It provides viewers with compelling content while also preparing fans for the network’s true money maker, which is live games that will be played down the road.
“We believe that it’s really important that the fans get to know and embrace the next generation of Yankees players … the Yankees have a long list of really terrific prospects in the pipeline,” Filippelli told TheWrap. “At the end of the day, this isn’t about ratings. It’s about educating people.”
Filippelli hopes that “Homegrown” will result in fans being familiar with new Yankees before they even step on the field for their first game. In fact, the YES Network even cuts into live Yankees games with updates of major events occurring at the club’s minor league affiliates. Filippelli feels these steps will help the Yankees “sell their stars” of the future, which has been an issue around MLB in the past.
“A show like ‘Homegrown’ can change that. When they get to the big leagues, there will be some understanding of their personality and talent level,” he said. “It’s selling the Yankees… they get to know the names.”
YES senior associate producer Blayke Scheer explained that “Homegrown” works because it reveals what athletes do off the field in the era of Snapchat and Instagram when younger viewers expect the extra access.
“These kids that are coming up through our minor league system right now are of that generation. They’re used to having cameras around them, their parents have taped every game that they’ve ever been to,” Scheer told TheWrap. “It seemed very natural to pitch them the idea of giving behind-the-scenes access.”
A typical episode of “Homegrown” airs multiple times and, unlike actual baseball games, stays relevant for an extended period of time, meaning YES can replay whenever it needs to fill airtime. The first two episodes in the series have drawn roughly 316,000 cumulative viewers and the format makes it ideal for online consumption.
Since debuting on May 1, video clips of “Homegrown” have been viewed more than 361,000 times across the various YES digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, YESNetwork.com and Instagram.
Filippelli actually wanted to launch the series several years ago, but didn’t feel the Yankees had enough youngsters with the potential to emerge as household names. Nowadays, the Yankees focus on youth and entered the season with the No. 3 ranked farm system among all of Major League Baseball with possible stars such as Gleyber Torress and Clint Frazier, according to Baseball America.
“We didn’t really have enough to make this work,” Filippelli said. “Now is the perfect time to do this show because it gives the fans a chance to get to know who these players are.”
Filippelli said he would encourage other regional sports networks to try something similar, but other clubs might not be as fortunate when it comes to gaining access. YES executives are aware that “Homegrown” wouldn’t be possible if the minor league affiliates didn’t cooperate but, luckily for Filippelli, that hasn’t been an issue so far.
“In baseball, nobody has gotten that kind of exposure,” Filippelli said. “We’re getting unprecedented access to do this.”
Scheer said the current generation of prospects are so talented and personable that it reminds her of the Derek Jeter-led championship teams of the late 90s and early 2000s. But most importantly, at least to her, they translate to compelling TV which is essential to the New York-based network is home to the Yankees and Brooklyn Nets.
“We pride ourselves in being at the forefront of regional sports networks,” Scheer said.
Filippelli summed up the show by saying, “When tomorrow becomes today, our mission has been accomplished.”
The next episode of “Homegrown: The Path to Pinstripes” premieres on Thursday, June 8 following the postgame coverage of the Red Sox at Yankees game on the YES Network.