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Minor Play In Sactown · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:08
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory nork a Detroit Tigers podcast. I'm Kieren Steckling.
0:12
Speaker 1: With me are a couple fundamentally sound players. Austin Jackson,
0:15
Speaker 1: Cody Stavenhagen. What's up, guys, how we doing?
0:18
Speaker 2: Good? Good? Son? Good? Yeah?
0:23
Speaker 1: Well, I have to say, uh, the fundamental fundamentally sound
0:27
Speaker 1: thing was on purpose, because what we watched this week
0:31
Speaker 1: from the Tigers was a lot of things not necessarily
0:35
Speaker 1: fundamentally sound. And then we'll we'll touch on that series
0:39
Speaker 1: here to begin with, in case you guys forgot, that's
0:42
Speaker 1: a three eight loss on Monday, a six seven loss
0:47
Speaker 1: in extras on Tuesday, and then Wednesday a game that
0:50
Speaker 1: was really never competitive, a seven nothing loss. And I
0:54
Speaker 1: have to throw it to Cody here first, because Cody
0:56
Speaker 1: and I were on before the series and I thought
0:59
Speaker 1: he was correct at the time in fairness, but Cody said,
1:02
Speaker 1: you know, Tigers running the bases, making teams beat themselves,
1:06
Speaker 1: not making the bad play. I think they got their
1:09
Speaker 1: swagger back. We're like, oh, yes, swaggy Tigs like that might.
1:12
Speaker 2: Be the thing.
1:13
Speaker 1: It leads for these three games. It wasn't necessarily to think.
1:16
Speaker 3: Cody not a lot of swag out in Sacramento. That
1:20
Speaker 3: was That was a rough series. I don't really know
1:22
Speaker 3: what to say about it other than another example of
1:25
Speaker 3: this being baseball, right. The things have been all over
1:29
Speaker 3: the place kind of for the past month. I do.
1:32
Speaker 3: I think it was most disappointing just to see the
1:34
Speaker 3: poor quality of play. You're gonna win some, you're gonna
1:36
Speaker 3: lose some. You can you have one more control over
1:40
Speaker 3: whether you catch pop flies or make throws from short
1:43
Speaker 3: step to second base. You know, I thought Terrek Scougle
1:46
Speaker 3: we talked about that game already, but I thought Trek
1:48
Speaker 3: Schoogle pitched a great game and then it unraveled on
1:51
Speaker 3: him real quickly in one inning. The other two games
1:53
Speaker 3: you're starting, pitching quality was was pretty poor. That continues
1:57
Speaker 3: to be a real problem.
1:58
Speaker 2: Remember I was.
1:59
Speaker 3: Talking about this in j Everyone's just now figuring out,
2:01
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, maybe the rotation is a little bit of
2:03
Speaker 3: a concern. Some good, some bad from bullpen. But yeah,
2:06
Speaker 3: I think the Tigers beat themselves as much as anything.
2:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think too, that's the I think that's
2:13
Speaker 4: the frustrated part. Like you said, you're gonna win some games,
2:15
Speaker 4: You're gonna lose some games, right but the quality are
2:19
Speaker 4: the poor play, I guess of how you're losing these games,
2:23
Speaker 4: and at this time of the season, that's a little worrisome.
2:28
Speaker 4: You know, there's some things that probably could have win
2:30
Speaker 4: different this past series that might would have changed or
2:33
Speaker 4: even the series before that, But you just don't like
2:36
Speaker 4: to see the poor play right now, you know, even
2:39
Speaker 4: even with the lead you have, it's like, we need
2:41
Speaker 4: to get some things straightened out though, you know, because
2:45
Speaker 4: where we're trying to be at come postseason time, and
2:48
Speaker 4: it's just that's not gonna fly right now.
2:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I've always maintained that, like, you know, obviously
2:55
Speaker 1: it's a long season. I can handle losing, I can
2:58
Speaker 1: handle bad stretches, but I still got to kind of
3:01
Speaker 1: see the ingredients of the team that got you to
3:04
Speaker 1: this point. And this was a three game series that
3:08
Speaker 1: like it just didn't for the most part, and especially
3:11
Speaker 1: the unraveling of school might have kind of just kind
3:13
Speaker 1: of set things in motion sometimes, you know, mountains, mole
3:17
Speaker 1: hills become mountains, and I felt like I just didn't
3:22
Speaker 1: see enough of that. And part of the talking point
3:26
Speaker 1: this week was the fact that it's weird you're playing
3:30
Speaker 1: in Sacramento. You're playing in a minor league ballparks, not
3:33
Speaker 1: the first time that they've done it this year. And
3:35
Speaker 1: I'm not even trying to set up like excuse making
3:38
Speaker 1: or anything like that, but if you're looking at a
3:40
Speaker 1: variety of factors, they just happen to be in at
3:42
Speaker 1: the same time. But I'll ask you, Austin, is there anything?
3:47
Speaker 1: Is there anything different? Does it feel different? Is there
3:50
Speaker 1: an are a change or anything like that when you're
3:54
Speaker 1: playing in these pristine major league ballparks with all the
3:57
Speaker 1: sands and all the people and all the bells and whistles,
4:00
Speaker 1: and now you're playing a game with the same stakes,
4:03
Speaker 1: but you're in a much tighter, smaller, more standard environment. Like,
4:08
Speaker 1: is there anything is it different at all?
4:12
Speaker 2: Yeah? It is different. I Mean the biggest thing that
4:15
Speaker 2: I noticed.
4:16
Speaker 4: I remember when I played, I forgot what that little
4:20
Speaker 4: league game was that we played in, you know where
4:24
Speaker 4: they have all the little league kids around, and you know,
4:26
Speaker 4: you try to make.
4:26
Speaker 2: This makeshift field up real quick. It's super cool.
4:29
Speaker 4: But the lighting is the biggest thing that I like
4:33
Speaker 4: took away from there was like it was different. You
4:36
Speaker 4: know in major league stadiums, Man, you become accustomed to
4:40
Speaker 4: this luxury that when when you have a slight different
4:43
Speaker 4: than that, you're like, how dare they? Like like I
4:47
Speaker 4: can't even take this, I can't even play on this field.
4:51
Speaker 4: I mean that's how you feel because you've been I
4:53
Speaker 4: mean from every direction.
4:55
Speaker 2: It's like you ain't no darkness on the field. So
4:57
Speaker 2: when you when you.
4:58
Speaker 4: Play in a in a minor league stadium and they
5:01
Speaker 4: don't have the lighting like they typically have in a
5:04
Speaker 4: major league stadium, it's different, man, Like it's it's darker.
5:08
Speaker 4: You know, everything's darker, everything's grim. It's like, how did
5:11
Speaker 4: I do this? I don't ever want to go back,
5:15
Speaker 4: like you had to grind your way through that. But
5:17
Speaker 4: it is different, right, it is different, And it'd be
5:21
Speaker 4: one thing like I'm sure it's like, well the other
5:23
Speaker 4: team have to play with it, play in it. But
5:25
Speaker 4: it's like they got used to it, you know, they
5:27
Speaker 4: got used to playing minor league style baseball again, so
5:30
Speaker 4: they they're.
5:30
Speaker 2: In that like that grind.
5:32
Speaker 4: But again, like we we'll talk about you know, hey,
5:36
Speaker 4: it's a baseball. You got a back, This is the
5:39
Speaker 4: same game. You got a glove, you know, if we're
5:41
Speaker 4: talking differently, they win. If they win, you know, they're like,
5:45
Speaker 4: you know, this isn't even that bad. I kind of
5:47
Speaker 4: like playing here, but since you lost, it's like and
5:50
Speaker 4: with this and that. So yes, there is something to it.
5:54
Speaker 4: But I just think we're talking differently. If they were
5:56
Speaker 4: playing better right.
5:57
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, and that's uh, you know, I think it's
6:03
Speaker 1: one of those aspects that look, it's probably true that
6:06
Speaker 1: it is different. You just said it's true, but like,
6:09
Speaker 1: you know, still sixty feet six inches, still still ninety feet,
6:14
Speaker 1: you know, in between bags, like and you still gotta
6:16
Speaker 1: you still gotta make the play.
6:18
Speaker 2: Live out the small you know, you kitchen little you
6:22
Speaker 2: know what I mean.
6:24
Speaker 4: I was like Dan bro like, you know, like everything
6:26
Speaker 4: is just like I'm.
6:29
Speaker 2: Going to get out.
6:29
Speaker 3: They didn't got a walk all the way to right
6:31
Speaker 3: field to go to the clothhouse. That's why A J
6:34
Speaker 3: didn't talk back to the umpire. You don't want to
6:36
Speaker 3: make that walk out.
6:36
Speaker 2: I want to do that. So this is to get
6:39
Speaker 2: in here, playing to get out. I was gonna be
6:41
Speaker 2: done all right.
6:44
Speaker 1: Well on that note, you know, last last time we
6:48
Speaker 1: had Austin on, he was you know, he was preaching
6:52
Speaker 1: and So the Tigers now are you know, on a
6:55
Speaker 1: three game Bluen Street. We're recording this before the series
6:57
Speaker 1: opener against Kansas City. So I think the Tigers need
7:02
Speaker 1: a little bit of a raw rod speech from our
7:05
Speaker 1: man Ajax. So, like, you know, they're not playing like
7:08
Speaker 1: they're capable of. They're making mistakes that they shouldn't make.
7:12
Speaker 2: They know it.
7:13
Speaker 1: But Ajax is gonna get them right right here, right now.
7:16
Speaker 1: Ajax is gonna get them right. So Austin, what do
7:19
Speaker 1: you got for us, buddy?
7:20
Speaker 4: Well, see, you know, I could go into the raw
7:22
Speaker 4: rod speech, right, I could go into the come on dad,
7:25
Speaker 4: you got to grind it out and do all of that, okay,
7:27
Speaker 4: And that might pump some That pumps you up for
7:29
Speaker 4: a little bit.
7:30
Speaker 2: I've been there, done that.
7:31
Speaker 4: Then somebody come in there and give you one of
7:32
Speaker 4: them speeches, and then you all fired up when they leave,
7:35
Speaker 4: and then after you like, okay, but how do I
7:38
Speaker 4: do that? What does that look like? What does the
7:41
Speaker 4: fire sparking me look like? I don't know, I'm tired.
7:45
Speaker 4: It's it's I don't understand what that means. Like, you know,
7:48
Speaker 4: you're getting the game. It's the same thing that happens
7:50
Speaker 4: over again. Right, So it's like those type of speeches.
7:54
Speaker 4: They're cool, but you know, no, what do we really
7:56
Speaker 4: need to be focusing on right now? Right like we
7:59
Speaker 4: have to at this point in the season. We really
8:02
Speaker 4: got to hone in on our like preparation. Still getting
8:06
Speaker 4: your fly balls, still getting your ground balls. A matter
8:08
Speaker 4: of fact, put yourself in those those challenging situations.
8:12
Speaker 2: It's not about how many you do right at this point.
8:14
Speaker 2: You're tired. You know, you want to reserve a lot
8:16
Speaker 2: of the you know, the stuff for the game.
8:18
Speaker 4: But you I think that you need to focus in
8:21
Speaker 4: on putting yourself in those challenging situations till the coach
8:25
Speaker 4: come out there and hit you some hard ground balls.
8:27
Speaker 2: Focus and put you take your mind to being in
8:29
Speaker 2: the game. Runner on second base.
8:31
Speaker 4: I need to keep this throw low right here, having
8:34
Speaker 4: him hit you some hard ground balls. We're on your
8:35
Speaker 4: footwork and getting rid of the ball. Putting yourself in
8:38
Speaker 4: those challenging situations like you would in the game, and
8:41
Speaker 4: how you would want yourself to look in the game,
8:43
Speaker 4: and how you would want yourself to react in the game.
8:45
Speaker 4: Because when we do hard things a lot, they become
8:48
Speaker 4: a lot easier. I think that is like the mindset
8:52
Speaker 4: that that I would try to preach to them. You
8:54
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, like, continue getting your work in,
8:57
Speaker 4: challenge yourself not hitting good with running and scoring position.
9:01
Speaker 2: Well, guess what.
9:01
Speaker 4: Mentally, I'm gonna take myself down here in this cage
9:03
Speaker 4: and I'm gonna I'm gonna crank that the pitch machine up,
9:06
Speaker 4: and I'm gonna put my body one mentally, I'm gonna
9:09
Speaker 4: be in that O two count because that's what we
9:10
Speaker 4: can do. We can visualize really well. As major leaguers,
9:13
Speaker 4: especially major league hitters, we visualize a lot. I'm gonna
9:16
Speaker 4: put myself in that O two count. I'm gonna put
9:18
Speaker 4: my my physical self in the way I wanted to
9:21
Speaker 4: look hitting O two with the runner on base, and
9:24
Speaker 4: I'm gonna practice that, and I'm gonna fight those pitches
9:26
Speaker 4: off because out of that pitch machine you might get
9:28
Speaker 4: a four steamer and then you might get a sinker
9:31
Speaker 4: know what, But that's putting you in that position like
9:34
Speaker 4: you would want, like it would be in a game.
9:36
Speaker 4: So if I practice those things mentally and I challenge
9:38
Speaker 4: myself to do those things mentally and physically, when I
9:42
Speaker 4: go into the game.
9:43
Speaker 2: I'm prepared already.
9:45
Speaker 4: That's how I have to think at this point in
9:47
Speaker 4: the season, when now what they're what ten and a
9:50
Speaker 4: half games up, All of these games are gonna be
9:52
Speaker 4: challenging games.
9:53
Speaker 2: Because I don't want to. I don't want to.
9:55
Speaker 4: Be where I'm at in the season and play this
9:57
Speaker 4: will all during the season and then get to the
9:59
Speaker 4: last game the season. Now we three games up, Yeah
10:02
Speaker 4: we made it, but like, what kind of momentum do
10:04
Speaker 4: we have going into the playoffs? Now we've been playing
10:06
Speaker 4: terrible baseball. I don't want that at this point in
10:09
Speaker 4: the season. I want to put myself in back in
10:12
Speaker 4: those challenging positions that I'm gonna be at in the game.
10:15
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be an O two count so I'm gonna
10:17
Speaker 4: be with two strike counts in the game. So I
10:19
Speaker 4: want to I want to prepare myself. I want to
10:21
Speaker 4: practice like that so when I get in them positions
10:23
Speaker 4: it's easy. I want to practice maybe ten explosive jumps
10:27
Speaker 4: over my head on ball, you know, on balls over
10:29
Speaker 4: my head as an outfielder. That way in the game,
10:32
Speaker 4: I just react because I've already done it. I've already
10:35
Speaker 4: put myself in those challenge challenging positions in practice when
10:39
Speaker 4: it when it when it didn't count, but I mentally
10:41
Speaker 4: took taking myself there to when I get in the game,
10:44
Speaker 4: It's like I already did this. I've already practiced, uh
10:48
Speaker 4: in my mind with the runner being on second, him
10:50
Speaker 4: hitting me ground balls and me coming up and keeping
10:52
Speaker 4: a low throw that way, when that boom that happens
10:55
Speaker 4: in the game, it's like, that's why I was able
10:57
Speaker 4: to because I've already done it.
10:59
Speaker 2: So that's what I would do.
11:00
Speaker 4: I know I cooked a little bit, but I would
11:02
Speaker 4: just challenge them dudes to stay locked in like that.
11:04
Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
11:05
Speaker 4: Pitchers don't just go out there and throw you know,
11:08
Speaker 4: any you like the raidar gonna break. But can you
11:10
Speaker 4: make that pitch when the pitch is needed? You know
11:13
Speaker 4: what I'm saying. That's the visual visualization. I would take
11:16
Speaker 4: it to a bullpend centil like I'm pitching to whoever
11:20
Speaker 4: that I'm about to play this night. This is his
11:22
Speaker 4: his weaknesses. I'm gonna focus on that. I'm gonna hit
11:25
Speaker 4: that that spot with this pitch. I want to make
11:27
Speaker 4: it look like a strike and a strike and then
11:29
Speaker 4: make it you know, fall off for a ball. Those
11:32
Speaker 4: are the things that I really felt that I wish
11:34
Speaker 4: that I would have had during my plan time instead
11:37
Speaker 4: of just you know, going into a postseason and finishing
11:41
Speaker 4: the season really good. But then that doesn't that didn't
11:44
Speaker 4: translate over to the postseason. It didn't just because I
11:47
Speaker 4: finished my you know, regular season of good, it didn't
11:51
Speaker 4: translate over. And I think at times if I would
11:53
Speaker 4: have stayed locked in on that, like what's my what's
11:56
Speaker 4: my process each and every day?
11:58
Speaker 2: How do I how do I stick with that?
12:00
Speaker 4: How can I challenge myself and continue to challenge to
12:03
Speaker 4: challenge myself even though we're ten and a half games up?
12:07
Speaker 2: How can I stay locked in?
12:08
Speaker 4: And that's what I think that that preparation, preparing yourself
12:12
Speaker 4: because playoffs is going to be tough at bats, It's
12:14
Speaker 4: not gonna be no more chill at bats like that,
12:17
Speaker 4: every at that, every pitch is gonna matter. So why
12:20
Speaker 4: not keep or start preparing myself for those moments?
12:27
Speaker 1: Practice practice uncomfortable, practice being uncomfortable. That's uh there, yeah,
12:33
Speaker 1: and and and then you'll and then you'll be prepared.
12:35
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that. All right, it is
12:37
Speaker 1: at this time as we are on a Friday that
12:40
Speaker 1: we are going to do our Draft Kings chart topping
12:45
Speaker 1: player of the Week, brought to you by Draft Kings.
12:52
Speaker 1: The crown is yours. So the guy that I wanted
12:55
Speaker 1: to highlight today was Dylan Dingler. And and we've talked
13:01
Speaker 1: a lot about Dylan Dingler this year for good reason,
13:04
Speaker 1: but I wanted to kind of zero in on it
13:06
Speaker 1: a little bit. And Cody's on location right now. We'll
13:08
Speaker 1: explain why that is here in a second. Uh, but
13:12
Speaker 1: Dylandingler right now is arguably the MVP of this team
13:18
Speaker 1: not named Trek Schoogle, right and and with with what
13:22
Speaker 1: he's done taking over for Jake Rogers in a way
13:26
Speaker 1: that no one, even the most optimistic Dingler guys could
13:30
Speaker 1: have foreseen, has been nothing short of impressive. And I
13:35
Speaker 1: it got me thinking about how much of an asset
13:38
Speaker 1: it is to have someone as elite defensively as Dingler,
13:41
Speaker 1: and as it's not elite offensively, but but as strong
13:46
Speaker 1: offensively as Dingler is, and what that does to the
13:49
Speaker 1: makeup of the team. So, Austin, I'll let you continue
13:51
Speaker 1: to catch your breath a little bit, so I'll throw.
13:54
Speaker 1: So I'll throw it to Cody Uh, what do what
13:57
Speaker 1: does Dingler mean to this? To the Tigers team and
14:01
Speaker 1: then explain where you are and why and why you're
14:03
Speaker 1: on location right now, because I think it does tie
14:05
Speaker 1: tie in a little bit.
14:07
Speaker 3: Yeah for sure. I mean remember what spring training, all
14:11
Speaker 3: off season we're talking about the amount of question marks
14:13
Speaker 3: that Tigers had. This was a big one. We're like,
14:16
Speaker 3: what if Tingler doesn't hit? What if you have to
14:18
Speaker 3: send him down? What if you got Toomas Nito catching
14:21
Speaker 3: a lot of games in the big leagues? That hasn't happened.
14:24
Speaker 3: Tingler has been a question answered in a big way.
14:28
Speaker 3: He leads the Tigers position player and Fangrass wins above
14:31
Speaker 3: replacement and Baseball Reference war does not include framing for catchers,
14:36
Speaker 3: so for catchers, we're there gonna at Fangrass. He's at
14:39
Speaker 3: three point four. He's been more valuable than Riley Green
14:41
Speaker 3: and Spencer Torgelesen and Carry Carpenter, you name it. Tingler
14:45
Speaker 3: has been that big of a contributor. You said he's
14:48
Speaker 3: played elite defense. He's played a lot at catcher, which
14:51
Speaker 3: can be a difficult thing to do. I'm in Cleveland
14:54
Speaker 3: right now with some of my national stuff right and
14:57
Speaker 3: about Kyle Roley, who catches more than anyone in the league.
15:01
Speaker 3: He wouldn't be able to hit fifty homers if he
15:03
Speaker 3: wasn't also posting behind the plate, and that changes the
15:06
Speaker 3: complexion of your team when you have a guy doing that.
15:08
Speaker 3: Dingler not fifty homer guy, but you're right, there are
15:12
Speaker 3: some parallels in terms of this guy has been a
15:15
Speaker 3: complete staple for you behind the plate. Also, he's doing
15:19
Speaker 3: this in his first full major league season, which I
15:20
Speaker 3: don't think we should overlook. He was a question mark
15:22
Speaker 3: because he was young, he was unproven. Aj Hm just
15:26
Speaker 3: talked about Dingler being an old soul being, you know,
15:29
Speaker 3: a guy who kind of has this veteran presence beyond
15:32
Speaker 3: his years. He totally is. It's easy already to forget
15:35
Speaker 3: that this is his first major league season. I was,
15:38
Speaker 3: I don't want to say, a doubter, but maybe I
15:41
Speaker 3: was just a little skeptical and like Dingler's transition to
15:43
Speaker 3: the major leagues because it's hard and it's even harder
15:45
Speaker 3: for catchers. Well, I couldn't be more impressed as we stand,
15:49
Speaker 3: you know, sitting here talking about it in August.
15:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the under the part that doesn't show up
15:57
Speaker 1: in the stat sheet. Is it's not just that he
16:00
Speaker 1: catching a lot and is the number one catcher, but
16:02
Speaker 1: he is the commanding officer of that pitching staff. And
16:07
Speaker 1: that is you said right there first full season and
16:11
Speaker 1: he he did, he didn't they didn't force feed him
16:14
Speaker 1: a lot last year? Uh when when he finally got
16:17
Speaker 1: or got to call it post trade deadline, after the
16:19
Speaker 1: Carson Kelly trade. But like the fact that he just
16:22
Speaker 1: ascended into this so smooth and so seamlessly, is hella impressive?
16:28
Speaker 1: And and Austin, I wanted I wanted to ask you,
16:30
Speaker 1: like you you played with a with a pretty dang
16:33
Speaker 1: good catcher too, and and Alex Lavila and that was
16:36
Speaker 1: the guy that was a you know, a regular, steady
16:39
Speaker 1: presence for those Tigers teams and and a good ballplayer
16:42
Speaker 1: to boot. I'll describe some stats uh here in a second.
16:45
Speaker 1: But what does that do for a squad to have
16:47
Speaker 1: a have a backstop like that, even from your literally
16:50
Speaker 1: your perspective being in center fields, you know, seeing things
16:54
Speaker 1: just you know, opposite of him, Like, was it due
16:57
Speaker 1: to have such a stable, productive presence behind the play
17:00
Speaker 1: in such a hard position.
17:02
Speaker 2: Well, I'm gona be honest, with you.
17:04
Speaker 4: When I was playing, I didn't I didn't really understand
17:10
Speaker 4: the magnitude.
17:11
Speaker 2: Of what it meant to have a good catcher back there.
17:14
Speaker 4: Like I was so focused on on on my stuff,
17:16
Speaker 4: you know, getting my stuff done. It was like good catch,
17:19
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Like good catch back there,
17:21
Speaker 4: good frame, you know, Like, but you realize it's just
17:25
Speaker 4: like after you laugh, you realize after that, it's just
17:30
Speaker 4: so much more to that though, you know what I mean,
17:32
Speaker 4: It's more than just throwing a number down. And I
17:36
Speaker 4: guess at that time they was using fingers still, but
17:38
Speaker 4: now it's different.
17:39
Speaker 2: But it's more than that.
17:41
Speaker 4: You know, you have to you have to know so
17:44
Speaker 4: much off the field about that that those the pictures
17:47
Speaker 4: you're dealing with, all different type of pictures, all different
17:51
Speaker 4: type of pitches, different You have to know their tendencies,
17:55
Speaker 4: their weaknesses, not to know not only to mention, knowing
17:57
Speaker 4: that hitters weaknesses and their strengths. You know, there's so
18:02
Speaker 4: much that that they have to be that they have
18:04
Speaker 4: to be locked in on and you and then you know,
18:07
Speaker 4: knowing relievers, knowing who's coming in at what what time,
18:11
Speaker 4: and knowing the game plan like orchestrating the game plan,
18:14
Speaker 4: like you have to orchestrate this game plan with your pictures,
18:18
Speaker 4: and the pictures gotta trust you, you know what I mean.
18:20
Speaker 4: They gotta trust that you're gonna be there where you
18:22
Speaker 4: say you're going to be when I throw this pitch.
18:24
Speaker 4: And then have them having to know what the pictures
18:29
Speaker 4: movement is doing. You're you're having to do that for
18:31
Speaker 4: multiple guys knowing what because not everybody's ball moved the same,
18:35
Speaker 4: not every sinker moves the same, not every slurve or
18:39
Speaker 4: guy's got kick change. Now guys got all these different
18:42
Speaker 4: variety of pitches that they have to know and they
18:45
Speaker 4: have to really understand how that got pictes. So I
18:49
Speaker 4: just think that it's it was so much more than
18:52
Speaker 4: I realized. Man, it's it's it's really like having a quarterback,
18:56
Speaker 4: I guess you know what I'm saying, like like back
18:58
Speaker 4: there and not to mention the which I didn't realize
19:02
Speaker 4: the receiving aspect of it until I was done and
19:05
Speaker 4: somebody was showing me a highlight of maybe Galla Righter
19:10
Speaker 4: game or maybe it was it was some game, some
19:12
Speaker 4: Tygers game, and it was being the back there catching
19:15
Speaker 4: and I was like, yo, like it I didn't. I
19:20
Speaker 4: never I'm telling y'all, I never really paid attention to
19:24
Speaker 4: that because why I mean, I just like, again, just
19:26
Speaker 4: I see him catch the ball. But when I saw
19:28
Speaker 4: how his glove was working, he was just putting it
19:32
Speaker 4: on those corners. Dude, I was like, nah, bro, I
19:36
Speaker 4: could catch thing. Like it's it's the art to it.
19:39
Speaker 4: So these you know, having not only a catcher back there,
19:43
Speaker 4: like you said, they could orchestrate the game plan that
19:45
Speaker 4: knows the pictures in and out. But then you got
19:48
Speaker 4: a catcher that can swing the bat. That changes the game. Man,
19:52
Speaker 4: That changes the game when you this not just the
19:54
Speaker 4: guy that's going up there and the only reason he's
19:56
Speaker 4: in there just because he's catching. Like, no, this dude
19:59
Speaker 4: can swing the bat. And I played with a few
20:01
Speaker 4: catchers in my time in the league that they could
20:04
Speaker 4: swing the bat, and they were also just generals back there.
20:07
Speaker 5: Man.
20:07
Speaker 4: So it's everything that's it's it starts I think with
20:11
Speaker 4: that with the guy behind the plate. I think it
20:14
Speaker 4: starts with the guy behind the plate because the pitcher
20:16
Speaker 4: has to trust with that with that catcher is putting down,
20:19
Speaker 4: he has to trust the game plan and he has
20:21
Speaker 4: to also trust that if he sees something and he's
20:24
Speaker 4: able to go off of that. They got to be
20:26
Speaker 4: able to trust that. The manager's got to be able
20:28
Speaker 4: to trust that guy back there. So it's I think
20:31
Speaker 4: it starts with that guy. Now that I'm out and
20:33
Speaker 4: I'm on the outside kind of looking in, I think
20:36
Speaker 4: it starts with that catcher.
20:39
Speaker 1: All right. And that brings me to my pick of
20:42
Speaker 1: the week, and that is Dylan Dingler to have two
20:45
Speaker 1: plus total bases. When I submitted this, it was at
20:49
Speaker 1: plus one eighty five full disclosure. Last I looked, it
20:51
Speaker 1: was at plus one five. So they're they're catching on
20:54
Speaker 1: to I'm not saying I moved the line. I'm not
20:57
Speaker 1: saying that. I'm not saying I did it. I'm not,
21:00
Speaker 1: but I'm but I'm not saying that two plus total
21:02
Speaker 1: basis set Lugo on the mound Friday night.
21:05
Speaker 2: Uh.
21:05
Speaker 1: He's a he's a fastball sinker and uh and cutter
21:09
Speaker 1: pitcher also throw curveball in there. Dingler two ninety seven
21:13
Speaker 1: off the four seam. He has an expected batting average
21:16
Speaker 1: of two seventy one against the cutter, and he has
21:19
Speaker 1: a three run value against the sinker. So uh so
21:23
Speaker 1: I like I like I like the odds there for
21:25
Speaker 1: Dingler to do some damage against Lugo. And also you
21:27
Speaker 1: talked about game changing in Austin. Uh Dylandingler is a
21:31
Speaker 1: three twenty one hitter with runners in score in position,
21:34
Speaker 1: so he is a all around game changer and that
21:37
Speaker 1: is why he is our chart topper of the week.
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Speaker 1: All right, and uh, just to kind of tie a
22:14
Speaker 1: nod on the on the catching stuff, I went and
22:17
Speaker 1: looked up the war for the two more noteworthy catchers
22:22
Speaker 1: this century for the Tigers, obviously, that's Pudge and the
22:25
Speaker 1: alf afore mentioned alex Avila. I'm just gonna read their
22:29
Speaker 1: their wars and they in their peak years with the Tigers.
22:33
Speaker 1: Puche comes in O four, he was a four point
22:35
Speaker 1: five war player, then a two point eight war player.
22:38
Speaker 1: World Series Season six, three point one dipton O seven,
22:43
Speaker 1: it was a point seven war player. As he's getting
22:45
Speaker 1: older obviously, and then in two thousand and eight, the
22:48
Speaker 1: year he was traded. I didn't know this Cody the
22:50
Speaker 1: year he was traded to the Yankees. I remember where
22:52
Speaker 1: I was when that happened. I was a kid. I
22:53
Speaker 1: was devastated, Like for Kyle Farnsworth, not realizing the bigger
22:57
Speaker 1: picture and all that stuff.
22:59
Speaker 2: Uh.
23:00
Speaker 1: Two point five war with the Tigers when he got traded.
23:02
Speaker 1: Two point five when he got traded.
23:05
Speaker 2: Uh.
23:06
Speaker 1: And then Alexavilla. His first full year twenty ten, he
23:10
Speaker 1: was only a point one war player, but then he
23:13
Speaker 1: jumped twenty eleven five point one war for Alexavilla, then
23:18
Speaker 1: two point two point six, and then two point one
23:22
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen. So the point of me saying all
23:26
Speaker 1: those seemingly random numbers is that we're witnessing one of
23:29
Speaker 1: those seasons that we're gonna highlight, you know, of the
23:33
Speaker 1: for the Tigers as a catcher from Dingler. And then
23:36
Speaker 1: another point that I wanted to bring up Cody was
23:39
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty MLB draft, the Tigers draft class, so
23:43
Speaker 1: the five round COVID draft, because we were talking during
23:48
Speaker 1: that time about what are they gonna do? Do you
23:50
Speaker 1: like this pick blah blah blah, Torque, Dingler, and Keith,
23:54
Speaker 1: we're all we're in that draft class. Also trade Cruz,
23:58
Speaker 1: who maybe we'll see, and then engage Workman, who did
24:02
Speaker 1: get some major league time this year obviously with the
24:04
Speaker 1: Cubs after the World five situation. That's three everyday starters
24:11
Speaker 1: on a team that is at this point near the
24:15
Speaker 1: top of the American League that that they got from
24:18
Speaker 1: that draft. That's a that's a two time thirty home
24:21
Speaker 1: run season guy in Torque, that's a you know, borderline
24:25
Speaker 1: maybe just below all star level catcher, and Dingler and
24:30
Speaker 1: somebody who turned out to be one of your more
24:32
Speaker 1: versatile pieces, including leeoff Man and Cole Keith and teams
24:36
Speaker 1: like a decent Hall to look at decent.
24:38
Speaker 3: Hall there just for al.
24:44
Speaker 1: So there's a so yeah, that's uh. I just wanted
24:49
Speaker 1: to point that out and you know, some people don't
24:51
Speaker 1: like it when you when you say justice for out,
24:53
Speaker 1: but you know what he might have cooked there, man.
24:56
Speaker 3: He It was a really weird draft class. If you
25:00
Speaker 3: go back and look, the Braves got some value out
25:02
Speaker 3: of that picking Spencer Streider, the Orioles got some value.
25:06
Speaker 3: Not a lot of other teams actually did well in
25:08
Speaker 3: that draft. The Tigers are up there in terms of
25:11
Speaker 3: having the best twenty twenty draft.
25:14
Speaker 2: That's awesome.
25:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's funny, funny how things work out. We
25:18
Speaker 1: we overanalyze everything, and we and we and we instantly
25:21
Speaker 1: react and then you know, five years later, five years later,
25:26
Speaker 1: this happened. So all right, uh, obviously Cody, you're not
25:30
Speaker 1: on location. But is there something that you're looking for
25:35
Speaker 1: in this In this Kansas City series we talked about
25:38
Speaker 1: the starting pitching earlier.
25:41
Speaker 3: What I'm looking for?
25:42
Speaker 1: So yeah, go ahead, like.
25:43
Speaker 3: What let's I mean, let's see someone not named Erk
25:46
Speaker 3: Scoobi have a good start, right, I mean that the Tigers,
25:49
Speaker 3: I believe, ran twenty first and starting pitching e r
25:52
Speaker 3: A in the second half. It was a little bit
25:56
Speaker 3: of a concern. It's becoming a bigger concern given that
25:58
Speaker 3: Casey Mises just has not looked like it did in
26:01
Speaker 3: the first half. Given that Jack Flaird, he's been up
26:04
Speaker 3: and down all the year. We've seen some good outings
26:07
Speaker 3: from Charlie Morton, We've seen a couple poor outings from
26:09
Speaker 3: Charlie Morton. He's forty one years old. I would argue
26:12
Speaker 3: some of that's to be expected. And then Chris Paddock
26:15
Speaker 3: straight up, he just hasn't been very good in the
26:17
Speaker 3: Tiger's uniform. So it's hard to have a lot of
26:20
Speaker 3: confidence in this rotation right now. We talked not long
26:22
Speaker 3: ago the bullpen had been better because starters were going
26:25
Speaker 3: deep in games. Well, that didn't really happen in Oakland
26:29
Speaker 3: tested the second kind of the losing end of your
26:32
Speaker 3: bullpen a little more. Drew Summers we saw looked pretty
26:36
Speaker 3: shaky in his first couple outings. Like your bullpen's going
26:39
Speaker 3: to be exposed more if your starters aren't going deep.
26:42
Speaker 3: I think that's gonna especially prove true who Kieran in
26:45
Speaker 3: the playoffs? That question looms who's the Tigers Game two starter? A.
26:49
Speaker 3: I don't know the answer to that question. B. I
26:51
Speaker 3: think the Tigers answer, like we have talked about before,
26:54
Speaker 3: is like, well, we don't really care. We're going to
26:56
Speaker 3: be comfortable using the chaos approach, using our bullpen a
27:00
Speaker 3: lot in the playoffs. We don't necessarily need start to
27:03
Speaker 3: go four or five, six, seven innings. But I think
27:06
Speaker 3: maybe you do, because how many relievers do you really
27:09
Speaker 3: trust right now? I think Will Vest for sure. I
27:12
Speaker 3: think Kyle Finnigan for sure, and that Troy Melton and
27:16
Speaker 3: he could be used in a variety of roles. But
27:18
Speaker 3: after that, I don't know. And if you want to
27:20
Speaker 3: win a five seven game series, I'm not sure that
27:23
Speaker 3: Tigers have the bullpen depth to make you feel real
27:26
Speaker 3: comfortable in that setting. You need to see mis flairty
27:30
Speaker 3: one of these guys unlock something and get on a
27:32
Speaker 3: roll where they're consistently giving you good outings here in
27:35
Speaker 3: the final month.
27:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I agree with you, Cody.
27:39
Speaker 4: I think that's that's gonna be important to you know,
27:41
Speaker 4: figure out the starting situation. I offensively, I know there's
27:45
Speaker 4: some you know. Since you touched on that, I'll just
27:48
Speaker 4: touch on the offense, Like I feel like they're they're
27:51
Speaker 4: gonna need to start locking in on hidden with runners
27:54
Speaker 4: in scoring position. I mean, it's just I know, it's cliche.
27:59
Speaker 4: It's like, oh, we just not hit well. I mean,
28:00
Speaker 4: that's that's gonna be huge. Again when we started talking
28:04
Speaker 4: about pressure game, pressure situations, which playoffs is gonna be.
28:08
Speaker 4: Every at bat is going to be a pressure at bat.
28:11
Speaker 4: They're not gonna be any regular season at bats. All
28:14
Speaker 4: the at bats, all the opportunities that you get mean
28:18
Speaker 4: something because they they're they're limited, you know what I mean.
28:20
Speaker 4: So I think that I would like to see them
28:23
Speaker 4: start to hit better with runners in scoring position, whatever
28:28
Speaker 4: that looks like, because I think that's just gonna be important,
28:32
Speaker 4: especially coming to the end of the season and having
28:34
Speaker 4: that momentum going into playoffs.
28:38
Speaker 1: All right, Yeah, I agree with everything both of you
28:41
Speaker 1: guys said. And we're gonna take one more break and
28:44
Speaker 1: then we're gonna I didn't prepare Austin for this, but
28:46
Speaker 1: we're gonna ask him the most important question that has
28:50
Speaker 1: been asked on this podcasts Barbecue or KC Barbecue. But
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Speaker 1: You all right coming back here. If there's something people
30:04
Speaker 1: need to know about Cody is that he is not
30:06
Speaker 1: he is not down with the Casey barbecue. He's made
30:09
Speaker 1: that he's done. He's done that rant on this podcast,
30:12
Speaker 1: not on this feed, not with not with the Foul
30:15
Speaker 1: Territory people. But but it's it's it's well established. I
30:18
Speaker 1: would say, uh. And and you know, I don't say
30:21
Speaker 1: it as strongly as Cody does, but the sentiments are
30:24
Speaker 1: there from my end as well. So Austin, So you're
30:28
Speaker 1: also a Texas guy, but you but you spent plenty
30:32
Speaker 1: of time playing baseball, including Kansas City. What what do
30:36
Speaker 1: you think what's better Texas or Kansas City?
30:38
Speaker 2: Yeah?
30:39
Speaker 4: Man, I've had it. I've had it in Casey. I
30:43
Speaker 4: wasn't I wasn't blown away. You know, I think I
30:45
Speaker 4: was my expectations. I set my expectations high, man, I did.
30:50
Speaker 4: I can't remember the exact place. This was not like
30:55
Speaker 4: this is one of those places where we're like, hey,
30:56
Speaker 4: you got to try this place where you come in.
30:59
Speaker 4: It wasn't like fancy or anything. And and you know,
31:02
Speaker 4: I don't know if that had a little bit to
31:03
Speaker 4: do with it. The presentation was a little off, I
31:06
Speaker 4: think if I can remember, so I was already I
31:08
Speaker 4: think I went into it with the wrong mindset.
31:10
Speaker 2: And you eat barbecue before a game.
31:12
Speaker 4: It ain't really like you know what I mean, it's
31:14
Speaker 4: like but no, but but Texas barbecue, man, Like it's
31:18
Speaker 4: just it just hit different. As matter of fact, Tory
31:21
Speaker 4: got a restaurant, tender smokehouse.
31:24
Speaker 2: He Tory got a good little place. Now I to
31:28
Speaker 2: shut out the tender smokehouse man, Tory, go check it
31:31
Speaker 2: out when you come in.
31:32
Speaker 4: Come to Texas. Man, think of Frisco little lamb. I
31:37
Speaker 4: think he opened up somewhere else. You can google it.
31:39
Speaker 4: But you know that's that's that's pretty good, pretty good barbecue. Man.
31:43
Speaker 2: It's a what's the what's the other one out there
31:45
Speaker 2: in Frisco. It's pretty good.
31:48
Speaker 4: Hutching boy, Hey, Hutchings be hitting boy.
31:52
Speaker 2: Hey hey Detroit man, get you some much as minute.
32:00
Speaker 4: Hutchin's changed the game for me though, for real, Like
32:02
Speaker 4: on barbecue, I was like, okay, I'm I'm.
32:07
Speaker 2: I get it now, I get it.
32:11
Speaker 1: You know.
32:11
Speaker 4: Sometimes it can be a little too salty, you know
32:14
Speaker 4: what I mean, Like just let the tender. Like I
32:16
Speaker 4: like that tender barbecue, not softy barbecue, you know, and
32:20
Speaker 4: a lot of places got that, especially in Texas. It's
32:23
Speaker 4: about that smoke babies tender, you know what I mean.
32:27
Speaker 4: Gotta put that wood on there. That that wood, that flavor.
32:31
Speaker 2: You know what I mean. Not the soft sauce.
32:33
Speaker 4: Don't make it. It's the tender, the flavorness of it.
32:37
Speaker 2: And that's what we got. So I'm going Texas, all right.
32:40
Speaker 1: I'm hungry, So we gotta get out of here. Uh
32:44
Speaker 1: uh beg everybody for falling along. I till your territory
32:47
Speaker 1: underscores Where you can find us YouTube, Instagram, Apple, Spotify,
32:51
Speaker 1: leave us a review. You guys know what to do.
32:52
Speaker 1: Tiger Territory shop dot com. We appreciate all of you
32:55
Speaker 1: so far. Austin Jackson, Cody Stavenhagen, I'm Karen Steckley. Everybody,
33:00
Speaker 1: have a great day.