Head baseball coach and PE teacher Bryan Resnick created his YouTube channel Domingo Ayala in 2009 as a casual hobby with friends in the dugout. Now, with over 223,000 subscribers and a total of 42 million views, his lighthearted pastime has become a thriving community. 

The idea for his channel emerged when Resnick was in college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas after he was inspired by jokes between his baseball teammates to create exaggerated baseball parodies. As his channel developed, Resnick created over 200 videos with a humorous twist, all starring his alter ego: Domingo Ayala. 

“Playing baseball and being around your baseball teammates is kind of like a family,” Resnick said. “You’re having fun with them, and you goof around with them. [The channel] just came out of being around those guys every day and just having fun with my teammates.”

The channel first gained popularity in 2011 after Resnick posted a viral parody video of over 3 million views titled “How to Hit a Home Run.” Since then, his content has expanded to other platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook. While his channel occasionally features guest appearances of his friends or MLB players, Resnick remains the driving force behind his channel, dedicating hours to filming and editing each video. 

Renick’s humor allows viewers to connect with his content and brings levity to baseball so viewers of all ages can enjoy his videos. 

“I found [his channel] when I was eight, and it was really funny,” baseball player and junior Cooper Marinelli said. “He brings the funny side of baseball because I feel like baseball is too serious now, and he brings the fun back.” 

While this popularity has allowed Resnick to collaborate with big names in baseball, such as former MLB player and current coach Troy Percival, his channel also allows the Portola High baseball team to bond with each other through inside jokes and references, according to baseball player and senior Rider Cooper. 

“We always like to take quotes and say it during practice and just yell out funny things when someone does something that relates to the quote,” Cooper said. “The team loves it, and we all know about it and can crack jokes.”

Over the summer, Resnick plans on creating more videos and traveling to different batting facilities in places such as Portland, Nashville and Seattle to perform as Domingo Ayala live for children. His channel is a platform to connect with people who enjoy the game of baseball, being a way to find the humor within the sport and express his passion for content creation. 

“It makes me feel good about what I do because, at the end of the day, that’s why it was created,” Resnick said. “It was me and my teammates, having fun on the baseball field and our downtime and making fun of the things that sometimes are stressful in the game of failure. It can be stressful, but you sometimes have to sit back and make fun of yourself.”