About
Joel D. Bradley
Author • Former Baltimore Orioles International Scout • Entrepreneur
Today, Joel writes, publishes, and builds — books, a podcast, an independent press, and a registry meant to change how international baseball talent is seen. What follows is how he got here.
The Dream
The Beginning
Joel D. Bradley grew up in Waxahachie, Texas, where a love of competition and teamwork took root on neighborhood ballfields — Little League summers, Friday nights under the lights, and a name in the local paper on the mound.
Every journey begins with a dream. Mine began on neighborhood ballfields.
The Student
University of Miami
After growing up in Waxahachie, Texas, Bradley attended the University of Miami, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in Creative Writing in 2001. Miami is what brought him to South Florida.
Bachelor of Arts
English — Creative Writing
Graduated 2001
My years at the University of Miami combined a passion for athletics with a formal education in writing. Studying English with a concentration in Creative Writing laid the foundation for my future as an author, allowing me to combine storytelling with decades of experience in baseball, leadership, and innovation.
The Coach
Coaching & Player Development
Before his professional scouting career began, Bradley spent years in coaching and player development — at Deerfield Beach High School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Plantation High School and Broward College. Coaching became a laboratory for developing players, building teams, and learning that leadership is measured by the growth of others.
Leadership is measured by the growth of others.
The Scout
Baltimore Orioles & International Scouting
From 2012 to 2018, Joel D. Bradley served as an International Scout with the Baltimore Orioles, evaluating amateur talent throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia — building relationships that continue to shape his work today.
You learn to see what a player might become, not only what he is.
The Relationships
The People Along the Way
A career in baseball was never simply about statistics, scouting reports or transactions. Along the way came friendships, encounters and relationships with people throughout the game — connections made in dugouts, back fields, ballparks and conversations across decades in baseball.
The reports fade. The people don't.
The Builder
What's Next
The work has expanded well beyond baseball — into writing, publishing, technology, entrepreneurship, and media. Same instinct, new fields: look for potential, and ask whether there's a better way to do things.
Books
Swipe Wright: Dating in the Age of the Disposable Heart, Death By Data, and The 7-Player Baseball Revolution — satire, argument, and ideas worth arguing about.
Explore the books
The Disposable Heart Podcast
A media project exploring modern dating, technology, human behavior, and the people behind the profiles.
Explore the podcast
International Baseball Registry
An effort to bring identity, structure, transparency, and developmental information to the international baseball ecosystem.
See the registry
Ellis County Books
An independent publishing venture focused on books, ideas, and stories worth sharing.
Visit Ellis County Books
Why I Do This
I've spent most of my life looking for potential — in players, in stories, and in ideas.
Whether through baseball, books, technology or conversation, I've always been interested in seeing what others might overlook and asking whether there's a better way to do things.
If something I write, teach or build causes someone to see the world a little differently, then the work has been worthwhile.
Let's Connect