Christopher Messina, a Dunkirk High School graduate in 2010, recently celebrated his one year anniversary on the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society podcast, and while it might not be for everyone, Messina has always labeled himself as a ‘podcast guy.’

“I mean I’m a big podcast guy — I listen to podcasts myself,” said Messina in his interview on the anniversary podcast. “There really isn’t anything out there baseball specific — there’s football, soccer and hockey but nothing just for baseball.”

Messina is currently in his third season as the strength and conditioning coach of the Boston Red Sox AA affiliate Portland Sea Dogs. Prior to joining the Red Sox organization, he spent one season with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization with their Appalachian League affiliate in Bristol, Virginia. Messina completed his undergraduate work at SUNY Fredonia and his graduate work at Salisbury University. His previous experiences include interning at Texas Christian University in 2014 and working the Arizona Fall League with the Surprise Saguaros in 2016.

During his time with the Pirates, Messina met the president of the PBSCCS, Brendon Huttmann, and from there he reached out and conducted sample episodes. He then started working on the logistics of making a podcast.

Submitted Photo Pictured is Frank Jagoda and Chris Messina during Messina’s time at Dunkirk High School in 2010.

“I think more than anything, they were just testing to see how committed I was to it,” said Messina. “That was in January, and the first episode was in August. So from January to August, it was just prepping, getting ready, making sure were going down the right path and just convincing them that I was in this for the long term.”

Messina says that finding time during the season isn’t always easy, but he tries to record a bunch in the offseason and attempts to do at least one podcast per roadtrip to stay on pace.

As for how Messina got to this point, his high school coach Frank Jagoda says it doesn’t surprise him to see how successful Messina has become.

“Chris was always very conscientious and particular to detail when he played baseball,” said Jagoda. “A lot of things were detail-oriented. He’s always done things the right way, very meticulous.”

One thing that Jagoda pointed out, that is often forgotten, is just how smart Messina was, even at a young age. Messina has always been looking for ways to better himself, even back when he was a high school student.

Submitted Photo Pictured is Messina’s trading card from 2017, in which he is stretching out current Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers.

“He was a gym rat, even in high school,” said Jagoda. “Even when we’d take our trip to Myrtle Beach, they’d bring the weights with them. That’s just how he is.”

Messina started out of high school as a chemistry major at SUNY Buffalo and didn’t enjoy it, so he transferred to SUNY Fredonia, where he studied exercise science and played baseball. It wasn’t until Messina went to graduate school at Salisbury University that he started getting into strength and conditioning programs and learning more about them.

“SUNY Fredonia didn’t really have a strength program there — a bit of personal training, but I didn’t get any experience strength and conditioning there,” said Messina.

As far as working in professional baseball, it’s not something anyone can endure. Being away from home for long periods of time and not having a regular schedule can be big challenges of the job. Jagoda says Messina’s work shows how he’s able to do it.

“I’m sure he’s doing a lot of background work to get to where he wants to be,” said Jagoda. “To love the game as much as he does — it’s not easy to be as high up as he is. And with his work, I’m sure he’ll bump up even higher. The sky is the limit for this kid.”

Messina has considered a lot of options outside of strength and conditioning such as engineering and teaching, but he says strength coaches all have it in their blood.

“We as strength coaches just want to help people, educate and make an impact on people,” said Messina. “I think it’s just in all of our blood as strength coaches — we just like to help people any way we can.”

Even his peers take notice of how hard Messina works, as he was just named the Eastern League Strength Coach of the Year, becoming the first to do so in the Red Sox organization.

Jagoda also mentioned that he was in the early works of getting Messina to help him make a video to send out to local high school coaches to show the best ways to implement strength and conditioning programs in their schools.

For his podcasts, Messina reaches out to strength coaches all across baseball to set up interviews and most of them always take time out of their busy schedules to be on his podcast.

“He puts himself out there by doing the podcasts,” said Jagoda. “It’s a great way to get your name known and make connections with other people in the business. He’s put his head to grindstone and worked very hard.”

The PBSCCS Podcast can be listened to for free at baseballstrength.org or on the iTunes podcast app.