Latest / Foul Territory / Daniel Bard talks retirement decision & mental health struggles

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Daniel Bard talks retirement decision & mental health struggles · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Daniel Bard, longtime Big leaguer who just announced his retirement,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: joining us here on FT. Great to have you on
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the show. Thank you for the time. Congratulations on the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: retirement announcement. How you doing. What a run man?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it, guys, thank you all for having me.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: It's it's been kind of a crazy week getting back
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: into dad life.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: What went into it. So I know, you know, you
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: signed a minor league deal with Seattle in June. You
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: were in the Triple A affiliate there, and then at
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: some point did you say, hey, this is time and
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: here's why.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It was actually really sudden and kind of unexpected
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: even for me. Signed the deal back around June. First,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I was coming off flexer tendant surgery and my elbow
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: and I really just wanted to kind of give it
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: one more run and try to have some fun and
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: make that, you know, rehab worthwhile. So got to deal
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: with the Mariners, had a chance accept a Triple A.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Threw the ball pretty well. You know, it wasn't in
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: my peak form for sure, but it was it was
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: enough to get out for sure. But you know, I
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: went home from the All Star break and it would
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I fully intended on heading back to the team and
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: at least getting to my next opt out date, which
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: is about a month away. And I don't know if
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: you guys can relate a little bit, but I just
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: it was at that point I went to head back,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: get on the plane the next morning, and I was
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: packing my bags the night before, and I just it
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: did not feel worth it anymore. My kids needed me
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: at home, and I still there's still an urge to
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: play in a way, like I still love the game
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: of baseball, which I think is a good thing. The
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: last time I retired seven or eight years ago, you know,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: I was kind of burned out and really just didn't
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: did not love the game. So this was totally different.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: This was getting pulled in a different direction by my
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: family and couldn't be more happy about it.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: Doesn't that make it more relieving that that's the reason
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: that you're going, Like you're like, wait a minute, I
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: could still throw But you know what, maybe I'm gonna
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: change some diapers. I'm not sure how old your kids are,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: but maybe I'm gonna go chase around some some kids
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: at at you know, at their field or at their
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: dance or their swim whatever it is yeah.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: That's that mine are a little bit older, and I
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: think that's it was a little easier for me when
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: they were babies. You know, you get to leave the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: diaper changing and now it's uh, you know, they got
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Little League and like you said, they got swim and
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: gymnastics and you know, they got you know, elementary school
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: kid problems that sometimes you need your dad for. So
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: you know, you keep up as much as you can
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: on the phone, but it's just not the same as
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: being there in person.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Daniel, Was that the moment, like what was that moment?
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Like did you pick up the phone right away or
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: call and say I'm done? Or did your wife give
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: you a big hug? Did your kids come and give
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: you a big hug? Because every time I always say this,
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: there's a moment for everybody, and you say, you know what,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: I don't want to do this anymore. As much as
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: we all love baseball, there's just the juice isn't worth
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: a squeeze, right, It's like, all right, my kids are
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: in an age. So that moment was your wife crying
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: and giving you a hug? Were your kids giving you
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: a hug? And you called and said, you know what, No, moss.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Oh I was the one doing most of the crying,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: which is not like me, but that's kind of what
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: led to it. Was. I was packing up the night before,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: about eleven o'clock at night. I was supposed to get
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: on a seven am flight back to Tacoma, and I
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: could not. I put the kids to bed, left my
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: daughter's room, pretty emotional because I knew I wasn't going
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to see him for over a month, and it just
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: kind of hit me like a wave of emotion, like
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: this is where I need to be. I don't need
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: to be packing up and leaving these people right now.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: And it's always hard, you know, there this isn't a
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: new thing where it's hard to hard to leave yours
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: when you know you're not going to see them, but
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: this was like ten times the normal emotion that I
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: feel leaving them. And so I, my wife and I
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: talked for probably two hours that night, just talking through it,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: like what does this mean? Is it going to happen?
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: And she was just extremely supportive, and you know, she said, hey,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: if you want to keep going, we're here. You know,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: if you want to be done, we're ready for you
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: to be home as well. So couldn't have been more supportive.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: She left it up to me, and I'm grateful for that.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: She just supported me the whole way. And yeah, so
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I woke up the next morning. The kids were expecting
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: me to have already left for the airport. And see
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: the look on their faces when I said, hey, we're done.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I'm staying home from now on and just the gave
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: me a big hug. And you know, they love supporting me.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: They were always there. They love being in the clubhouse.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: But I think they were ready. So it made it
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: feel like the right decision.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Before we get to your career. Did your kids say anything,
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: because you feel like, because I know when I when
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: I finally told my kids, I mean I told them
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: like the whole year that I was gonna be done.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: It was COVID, so it was weird. But they were
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: like no because they had just had My boys were
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: like no, like we get to go in the clubhouse now,
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: can't be done And they started crying about it. And
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: then it was like, so, did your kids say anything
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: or were they just like, cool, let's just go outside.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: More the more the latter, more than let's go outside.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: You know, My time in Colorado was really special getting
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: We were there for five years. That became our second home.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Denver was the clubhouse. The kids were in there two
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: or three times a week, jumping on everybody in their lockers.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: So they knew everybody, from the security guys to the
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: clubbies to the trainers. They knew everyone. Everyone knew their names.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: It was great. So that was home. But you know,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: that was that ended last year and we're moving on
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to a different phase. And I, you know, gave it
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: a little bit of shot here with the Mariners and
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: got kind of what I wanted out of it. You know,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I was hoping to get back to the big leagues.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: But honestly, I went into it just saying, hey, I'm
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: going to prove to myself that this rehab you know, worked,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: and that I got back physically, that I threw strikes,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: got some outs, and you know, I wasn't playing on
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: cutting it this short. That that wasn't the plan at all.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: But that's just how life goes sometimes. Krats.
• 6:26
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• 6:29
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• 6:33
  Speaker 1: cards or to buy a card, but not go through
• 6:36
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• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I'm going online doing auctions. I want it all in
• 6:41
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• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I'm going to Arena Club.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: It's all one place. You know you're getting a good price,
• 6:47
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• 6:50
  Speaker 4: new to it, you don't want all the other crappy cards.
• 6:53
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• 6:55
  Speaker 4: start your collection and if you get them on Arina Club,
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: your collection will look.
• 7:00
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• 7:04
  Speaker 1: cards in those slab packs that we talk about every week.
• 7:07
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• 7:09
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• 7:11
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• 7:15
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• 7:18
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• 7:21
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• 7:23
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• 7:25
  Speaker 4: As the resident minor leaguer here, I have to say,
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: and I tell people this story. In two thousand and eight,
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: I was in my sixth season, I think in the
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: minor leagues. You know, I still hadn't been in the
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: big leagues yet, and I was twenty eight in Double
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: A and freaking justin. Masterson comes in and he's starting,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: and he's throwing these bowling ball sinkers at ninety seven
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: and ninety nine, and I'm like, you know what, it's okay.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: I can't get a hit against him, but the rest
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: of this Portland Sea Dogs staff I can get a
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: hit against. And then Daniel Bard comes in for like
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: I don't know, like six seconds that you were in
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: Portland and you were throwing ninety die miles an hour.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: And I remember leaving that game in Portland saying, I'm
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: never gonna make the big leagues if these guys are
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: constantly coming out. So I want you to know that
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: you gave me no hope to make the big leagues
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: back in two thousand and eight when I was still
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: struggling to try to crack the big leagues.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: You did all right, man. I just just you know,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: I was trying to help you out, you know, make
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: it look harder and make the next guy lookal easier.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Now I was I remember that that which who were
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: you with at that point?
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: New Hampshire?
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh we played you guys a lot. Yeah, I
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: knew I knew I played against you, I could just
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: couldn't remember where it was. And yeah, those are some
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: good battles, some good teams. I think there was probably
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: six or seven big leaguers on both both of those teams.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that was one of those years where I
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: just things were starting to click for me and I
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: was trying to just ride the wave.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Did you think it was going to end up being
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: the way that it was? I mean, obviously, you know,
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: we'll get into the things that you struggled with and stuff,
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: But when you have that fast of an assent and
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: it was like you were hyped up. I mean we
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: were playing in New England, I was in New Hampshire,
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: you were in Portland. Boston's you know, a quick cab
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: ride down the down the coast there, Like there was
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: never any like question you were going to be part
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: of the Boston future. Just epic bullpen. How are those
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: years when you were like a pick out of North
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: Carolina and coming through the system, Like as a minor
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: leaguer in the Boston system, you are always like you
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: are on more on display than other teams because not
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: other organizations, because you're just in the minor league system.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: From Lowell to I get it, you go down to
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: where were they at that time, Greenville, you know, but
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: then you're in paul Tucket, you're in Portland. Do you
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: feel like that's you had a different experience during those
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: years than other people? What have has prospects coming up?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I think so. I mean this is you know, pre
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: social media. The Internet's not what it was now so
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: but the Red Sox fan base has always been rabbid,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: and they knew they know their guys, they know who's
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: drafted high, they know who they gave money to, and
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: there's always been a presence, you know, online of just
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: fans that care a lot. And then they yeah, you
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: kind of get blown up. And to say that I
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: knew I was going to be a part of that,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: you know, Red Sox team in a few years, I didn't.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I mean I hoped I would, and I knew I
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: had the talent, but that was you know, we could
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: talk about that more, but it was just it was
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: always I felt like I had to earn it and
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: it never felt automatic to me. And my first year
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: in the minors was was awful. I mean I was terrible.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: I was the worst picture on my eight ball, team
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: a year after being drafted in the first round, which
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: is not a very good feeling. So I think the
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: year you're you're referring to was that second year when
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: they moved me to the bullpen and things start to click.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: But it was never never felt automatic by any means, Daniel.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: People that don't know your story don't understand what you
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: went through. You know, leaving the game, you had the yips, right,
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: you had the yips. You couldn't throw a strike, whatever
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: it was. Can you explain how you came back from that,
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: because nobody comes back from that, and you did it.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, it took some years, but you came back
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: and became a very effective major league picture again.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I describe it as there I kind
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: of I think for the yips to happen to someone
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: in my case in particular, I think it was there
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: was no one event. There wasn't one day where I
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, I've got it. It was a gradual
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: thing over the course of probably a year plus, kind
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: of a perfect storm that that set in. I think
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: there was some physical, underlying, physical condition stuff going on.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: I had some tos and then you have the poor results.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: The villa diminishing man, getting a little little bit worse,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: and then you start mentally going, shoot something, something's not right.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Why am I only throwing ninety two and it's not
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: hitting the right side of the plate that I wanted to,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: So you start trying harder. It's this perfect storm and
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: your body's not you know, I was. I was three
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: years with seventy five plus appearances. I wasn't hurt, but
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: you know, at that point, your arm's kind of hanging
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: three years in pitching in playoff races, and you know,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: it kind of just the wheels fell off in that
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: fourth year. So for me, it was like a perfect
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: storm for it to happen, and it was kind of
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: a perfect storm for me to get out of it.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: I grinded through the miners for the next five years
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: with very little to show for it. Got a handful
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: of innings in those five years. It wasn't much throwing
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of bullpens on backfields down at spring training sites,
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: a lot of extended springtime, which is not where you
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: want to be as a you know, a four year
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: big leaguer. But I could, I can honestly say that
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: and trade it. Obviously it would have been nice to
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: have those seven years a big league time in big
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: league salary, but for what it did for me as
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: a person, kind of resetting me, bring me back down
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: to earth, helping me have a little more, you know,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: empathy for people going through different mental health issues, mental
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: health challenges. I didn't know anything about that world going
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: into this, and when it happened to me and I
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: had to deal with my own stuff, it just helps
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: you feel for people that go through all sorts of things.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: And the brain's a crazy thing, man, It's we still
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: know so little about it. I mean, I've talked to
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: every supposed YIPS expert there is out there, and there's
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: some really smart ones, but the good ones will admit
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: that it's they don't have it figured out. And I
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: would say the same thing. I don't have it figured out.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: I don't have a magic pill or an answer, but
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: I do know that when I retired in twenty seventeen,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: the two years I spent coaching, I think that was
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: the best thing for me. Totally moved on from playing,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: no interest in doing it again, and I just kind
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: of poured all my energy into being a dad. And
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: then I took a coaching job with the Diamondbacks, and
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: I was kind of mentoring their minor league guys. And
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: part of that was telling my story, my ups and downs,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: which I had never really talked about before. You know,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I'd kind of kept it all closed up. And I
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: think that was kind of my therapy, was telling my
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: story fifty times to a bunch of different minor leaguers
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: and coaches and getting honestly a lot of positive response.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: You know, I viewed myself as a failure at that point,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: and I would tell my story, and you know, the
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: response I would get was, hey, man, that's awesome. You
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: got four years in Boston. I'd give anything to have,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: you know, two days in Boston. I'm like, yeah, ye,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: look if you look at it that way. And then
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: other people would say, man, I can't believe you grinded
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: through it for five years. I would have quit after
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: a month. I was like, yeah, yeah, it might be
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: stupidity too, but yeah, I guess I did grind. I
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: did grind for a while, and so I started to
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: view my own story just a lot differently and in
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: some more positive light, and slowly, just I was playing
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: catch with some guys, which I couldn't do for a
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: long time, couldn't throw half the balls over their head.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: And I was playing catch with some players that I
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: was coaching and started to come out good, started to
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: feel fun again, and just kind of that second year
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: of coaching, it kind of just got better and better.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: As the summer went to where I started, players started saying, hey, man,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: you need to play again. I'm like, I can't do that.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: I can't grind through that again. You have no idea
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: what I've been through. And I kept hearing it from them,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: kept hearing it, and it just planted the seed that
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: I took into that offseason and kept throwing, got my
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: arm and actually, you know, game ready shape again and
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: just to see what was there. And I threw a
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: bullpen and it was ninety five for strikes and I couldn't.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: I couldn't believe it myself. And my wife told me
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: at that point, She's like, well, what are you going
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: to do? And I was like, probably go back to coaching.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: She was like, well, if you do that, like you're
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: gonna this is gonna eat at you for the rest
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: of your life, Like you know, you got the ability
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: to throw back and then didn't do anything with it.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: So I was like, you're right, we got to do this.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: And so on my agent out of the blue, he's like,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: what's what's up man, He's like, I haven't heard from
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: you in a while. I'm like, hey, man, I need
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: you to set up a tryout. I could hear it
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: in his voice like disbelief, like okay, okay, yeah, yeah
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: we can. We can set that up. I think he
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: knew that, like teams might just you know, completely laugh
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: it off. But it worked out, and I'm thankful to
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: the Rockies and the other other teams that showed interest.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: And you know, it worked out beyond my wildest dreams.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: What's the someone? You know, if someone else is going
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: through the yips right now, maybe you don't want to
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: use the word yips, and maybe you.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Know I can.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: Okay, I didn't know that.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I know some people are uncomfortable. I've lived at my
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: last ten years.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: So what's the hardest what's the hardest part? Is it
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: thinking everybody's going to see you throw this ball over
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: that person's head or is it the physical? Like I
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: am so focused on throwing there and it is not connecting.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: My brain and my arm are not connecting. What's which?
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: Which is harder because when you're throwing on a side field,
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: you say you threw thousands of bullpens without ever getting
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: in a game you knew other people were watching.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean sometimes it was me a catcher and
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: a pitching coach on a backfield. I still couldn't throw
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: a strike, and it would be like a pitching coach
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: that I loved, you know, it wasn't someone I was
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: like scared or tried to trying to impress. When it's there,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: it's there, and it sucks. But yeah, there's the embarrassment
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: is probably the worst. You know, when you do it
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: on a bigger stage, or you're throwing a bullpen in
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: front of teammates or coaches and you know you want
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: to show them how good you are and it just
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: doesn't doesn't doesn't want to happen. But that the embarrassment
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: is rough. But it's Yeah, I think the when I'm
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: sitting there alone and a bullpen throw into a net
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: and I still can't make it do what I wanted
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: to do, the frustration is just unimaginable.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, quick question for you about your Rockies experience.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I know they gave you a shot. You had a
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: good time there. What did you notice there that was
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: missing and how difficult it was for let's just focus
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: on pitchers to survive the environment. I mean, really, if
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: you look back, they had some success early in the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: kind of expansion years. Then there was a little run
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: towards the end of the tenure for Dano doubt and
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: now it's been a long time where the Rockies are
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: really in Abyss. So what are you witnessing there last
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: time you were around the Rockies organization?
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I learned a lot in my time there,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: just what it's pitching at altitude, what it means, what
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: it does to the baseball, all the effects that it has.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: And I just think they were behind on figuring out
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: analytically what the ball's doing. Differently, I think they're starting
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: to now, but I think they were a little bit
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: of an old school mindset, old school scouting team. And
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: you know, I think until very recently, and I think
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: that hurt him that you play in the most unique
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: environment in all of baseball, and you got to be
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: ahead of the game. You got to find a way
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: to make that place an advantage and not a disadvantage,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: because every team that comes in there to play you
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: is you should be more prepared for that environment than
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: they are, and that's just not how it's played out
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: the last few years. You look at the Rocky teams
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: that have been good, and it's they dominate at home
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: and they play you know, close to five hundred ball
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: on the road, and that's kind of I think that's
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: the only way they're going to have any kind of
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: sustained success. So, you know, I know the pitching group
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: that I was there with was working hard to figure
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: out ways to pitch at altitude, and then you have
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: the problem of taking what you do at altitude and
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: then how do you pitch on the road and have
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: success in both places. No, it's equally hard. I think
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: for hitters, you know, they're seeing the ball move two
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: different ways home and road, and I don't know the
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: solution for that. I think they're starting to use more
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: of the VLO machines and the spinball machines to see
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: that movement, you know, when they do leave Denver. I
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: think that's helped a little bit. You see guys like
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Hunter Goodman going off Mickey Moniacs having a great year there,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: So it can be done. It's a hard thing to
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: sustain though. It's just a tough environment. There's so many
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: things working against you.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: All right, Daniel, before we let you go, I will
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: be remiss if I don't ask you. How in the
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: world did your two thousand and six UNC team not
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: win the National Championship? You had two first round picks
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: and you and Andrew Miller, yead Ianetta, Rob Wooten. Let me see, Federovich,
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: we can do this roster. Who else did you guys have?
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: Adam Warren was on that team. Wow, I'm like, wow,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: this team was loaded for bear. You guys didn't win
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: the World Series? What the heck happened? And why did
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Andrew Miller go to Florida? It still drives me crazy.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: I don't I don't know, but I'm glad he did.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: We're still good friends, and I think he wanted to
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: get out of Gainesville. I mean, who wants to out
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: of Florida? Florida? Right?
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Anyways, now, it was we were a good team. That
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: was That was I looked back on. That's my probably
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: my fondest baseball memories was that that year, that run
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: with that team, and we were I don't know if
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: you noticed or when you look this up, but we
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: were We were in the final, the game of the
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: National Championship, and we lost three to two, So we
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: were about as close as you could get without winning it.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Oregon State got us two years in a row, so
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: I still hold a special place in my heart for them.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: Oh wow, Okay, I mean I knew you guys made
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: it far. But what mean Yes, Andrew couldn't throw a
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: strike in that game, so he walked a couple guys,
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: and that's.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: Why you lost.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: No, he was he was dominant that year. So I
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: pitched the third game. I pitched into the eighth inning.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: He came in in relief for me, which was I
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: think his first relief outing of the year. It was
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: just kind of a winner, go home game and he
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: was thrown a hundred out of the pen. So, uh,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: they scratched out a run. I think we made it.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: We made a couple of errors. I think I made
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: an air at one point the cost us to run.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: So it was unfortunate. We just came down to one game.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Anything can happen, true.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: I think was good that team was loaded, by the
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: way loaded.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Their team was.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what I'm saying was that the Elsbury Oregon State
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: teams when Jacoby Elsbury.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Elsbury, he's a year older than me, so he left.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: He got drafted the year before five they had Darwin Barney,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: uh MITCHI Cannon, who I think is coach coaching there.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: They had to get some good team. They had some
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: scrappy arms too, that could just great college pitchers that
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: could just they could spin it and they could tow strikes.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: They get out, got it and well Belichick lead them
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: to the national championship in the next year.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: I hope. So I don't if anything that win or
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: lose is going to be entertaining. So I'm looking forward
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: to the fall. You got your time.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: You got your time, Daniel, Daniel, this was awesome. Thank
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. Congratulations on the retirement
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: announcement and we'll hit you down the line.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: Awesome. Thank you guys for having me. This is fun.