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Breaking down the Nationals roster shuffle and power surge · District Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Erik shell
0:09
Speaker 1: House from bat Boys Baseball and joining me today Kevin
0:11
Speaker 1: Franzen of the Washington Nationals and Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic.
0:16
Speaker 1: The Nationals opened up their series last night against the Cubs.
0:18
Speaker 1: Couldn't get the job done, but they got another one today,
0:21
Speaker 1: another tomorrow and welcome to the big leagues. Jackson Kent
0:24
Speaker 1: expected to make his debut later on today. David Peterson
0:28
Speaker 1: will get the ball for the Cubs. Very familiar face
0:32
Speaker 1: for the Nationals, though, of course the corresponding move just
0:35
Speaker 1: became official. Spencer, tell me what you were seeing in
0:38
Speaker 1: the clubhouse last night as Miles Mikeliss is no longer
0:42
Speaker 1: a member of the Nationals.
0:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty But as we were talking to
0:48
Speaker 2: Jake Irvan last night, we kind of all overheard Mike
0:52
Speaker 2: Lists giving his goodbyes and having his kind of final
0:56
Speaker 2: hugs with the rest of the guys in the roster. Again,
0:59
Speaker 2: I think that anytime you bring in a vet on
1:03
Speaker 2: a one year deal, you're not exactly sure what type
1:07
Speaker 2: of leader you're going to get. But as we talked
1:10
Speaker 2: about with Littel as well, michaelss and Littel, both of them,
1:16
Speaker 2: you know, setting up team dinners for the staff, kind
1:19
Speaker 2: of helping us of those guys alongside as well. Again
1:24
Speaker 2: had an ear a close to six with the Nationals.
1:26
Speaker 2: So from a purely on field production standpoint, not what
1:30
Speaker 2: he was looking for and not what then looking for,
1:33
Speaker 2: but he really had some value behind the scenes for
1:37
Speaker 2: this I think at least deserves to be stated. And
1:41
Speaker 2: I think it's it's good almost to let him reach
1:44
Speaker 2: his ten years of service, right they let him go.
1:48
Speaker 1: Yes, very very classy move by the Nationals on that,
1:51
Speaker 1: and Kevin, I want to get your thoughts on it.
1:54
Speaker 1: You know, this is a we've been talking about the
1:55
Speaker 1: youth movement all season with this team. Miles Michaelis did
1:59
Speaker 1: not fit that scrip. What does that do when you're
2:02
Speaker 1: a younger player in the clubhouse, you know, you know,
2:04
Speaker 1: having especially for the starting rotation, having a presence like that.
2:08
Speaker 1: Having it removed now late into the season, I imagine
2:12
Speaker 1: it rocks the guy's a tiny bit.
2:15
Speaker 3: It will.
2:16
Speaker 4: I don't think more on the pitching side of it.
2:19
Speaker 4: I think on the personal side of it, that's that's
2:21
Speaker 4: about it. I mean, I feel like it's you know
2:23
Speaker 4: the sports world where you know the next man up
2:26
Speaker 4: mentality is something, but you don't have the next man
2:29
Speaker 4: up mentality when it comes to friends. And Miles Michael
2:32
Speaker 4: has done such a good job, you know, getting those relationships.
2:35
Speaker 4: He and exactly tell both of them doing such a
2:37
Speaker 4: good job in creating those you know, relationships from the
2:42
Speaker 4: young player's perspective, even like the older guys that have.
2:45
Speaker 3: Been there for a while.
2:46
Speaker 4: So you know, it sucks, it's part of the business.
2:50
Speaker 4: You move on, but you don't move on from the friendship.
2:53
Speaker 4: And that's the part that I think most people forget
2:56
Speaker 4: is like, well, yeah, who cares about it. They're just
3:00
Speaker 4: GFA or releasing a guy that wasn't good. It's like, okay, great,
3:04
Speaker 4: that's that's your perspective, you know, for the the player's perspective,
3:07
Speaker 4: from broadcasters perspectives, you know, from writer's perspectives. I mean,
3:11
Speaker 4: it's a it's it's a friend or it's a foe,
3:14
Speaker 4: it's a it could be someone that you've battled or
3:17
Speaker 4: you know in a way, or it could be someone
3:20
Speaker 4: that you've really relied upon. And and you know, he's
3:22
Speaker 4: helped out in so many different regards for for us,
3:25
Speaker 4: especially on National's TV. Miles Michael has been fantastic. Uh
3:29
Speaker 4: you know three of them. I mean zachly Tel was
3:30
Speaker 4: great and then obviously with Foster Griffin. So you have
3:33
Speaker 4: three guys that had done such a good job and
3:35
Speaker 4: then shun us, you know, because.
3:36
Speaker 3: It's like, oh, well you're TV. You're going to interrupt
3:40
Speaker 3: everything right here?
3:41
Speaker 4: No, no, no, they they treated it like knowing what they're
3:43
Speaker 4: supposed to do with it, which is uh, helped build
3:45
Speaker 4: a brand, help whether it's their brand or or the
3:48
Speaker 4: Nationals brand.
3:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, we keep throwing up Zach Lettel's name around here
3:52
Speaker 1: to start the show today. Really quickly shot out to him, Man,
3:55
Speaker 1: great debut with the Diamondbacks the other day. I'll have
3:58
Speaker 1: to swing by and say what's up to him out
4:00
Speaker 1: you're in the desert, see what he thinks of this
4:02
Speaker 1: scorching weather. But back to the Nationals, Spencer, you thought
4:06
Speaker 1: this is relevant Brad Lord could get some more work
4:08
Speaker 1: in as a starter. I really loved the idea of this.
4:11
Speaker 1: I want to get your all's thoughts. But man, he
4:14
Speaker 1: is excelled in that role this season as far as
4:16
Speaker 1: an opener, and I'd love to see him start getting
4:19
Speaker 1: opportunities to stretch out the arm again and maybe go
4:21
Speaker 1: through a second time through the rotation. Kevin, you're making
4:25
Speaker 1: a bit of a face, But what are your thoughts
4:27
Speaker 1: on that?
4:31
Speaker 4: I was making to face it Mark Walter selling the
4:35
Speaker 4: Lakers over a fraud deal anyway. Yeah, look, I just
4:41
Speaker 4: don't I don't like jerking guys around, especially late in
4:44
Speaker 4: the year. You know, he had an il stint. If
4:48
Speaker 4: they wanted to do it, they could have. They could
4:49
Speaker 4: have done it and built him up that way, you know.
4:52
Speaker 3: Through the reap process. But it just depends on it.
4:56
Speaker 4: He'd done such a good job in various roles. I mean,
4:59
Speaker 4: the opener role was fine. I saw him you know,
5:03
Speaker 4: as a as a seventh inningan swing guy, you know,
5:06
Speaker 4: not like early on. I just saw him like he
5:09
Speaker 4: showed that he gets some good outs, big outs, And
5:13
Speaker 4: I think it was about usage in watching. You know,
5:16
Speaker 4: those back to back outings weren't always great, but you
5:19
Speaker 4: look at you know, his stuff and where it plays
5:22
Speaker 4: just not enough swing a miss. So you could sit
5:24
Speaker 4: there and say like, well, all right, so if you're
5:26
Speaker 4: gonna go start a roll, you got to find a
5:30
Speaker 4: little bit of swing a miss. I get certain hitters,
5:33
Speaker 4: but the right he's had no chance.
5:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that at least what is compelling
5:39
Speaker 2: for me because we've talked all season about some of
5:41
Speaker 2: those guys in Triple A and how they're only going
5:45
Speaker 2: to get called up when they're ready as opposed to
5:47
Speaker 2: when a spot opens it. I follow me a little
5:51
Speaker 2: bit on this point where I don't know if we're
5:53
Speaker 2: going to see Brad necessarily start for the rest of
5:55
Speaker 2: the season, but I think it's maybe a filler position
6:01
Speaker 2: to a certain extent until Louis Paralysis is ready, and
6:05
Speaker 2: the extent that, hey, maybe you're not going to stretch
6:08
Speaker 2: Bred out to like six innings or seven innings or
6:10
Speaker 2: anything like that. Like I'd be shocked if they do that.
6:13
Speaker 2: But if he can make a couple spots starts where
6:15
Speaker 2: he's throwing fifty five sixty pitches, which again off the
6:19
Speaker 2: il you really need to be careful about. But if
6:22
Speaker 2: he can have some of those efficient early outings, have
6:25
Speaker 2: Trevor Youngman in the bullpen and Alice shows that he's
6:29
Speaker 2: one hundred percent ready, I think kind of a case
6:33
Speaker 2: of the national saying, hey, this is our best available option.
6:36
Speaker 2: But and he said anytime you're coming off the il
6:38
Speaker 2: and getting stretched out in a role that you weren't
6:40
Speaker 2: necessarily in before. It'll pause on that front.
6:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, Spencer. Last night during the game too, you were
6:49
Speaker 1: holding a live chat throughout the game and taking fans questions,
6:53
Speaker 1: and I'm just curious, what were people asking about the game?
6:57
Speaker 1: Was there like a theme that stuck out in questions
6:59
Speaker 1: that were being out where you were jumping around. Was
7:01
Speaker 1: there a favorite that stuck out to you? But what
7:04
Speaker 1: was the vibe from the Nationals fan base that you
7:07
Speaker 1: were taken in that last night?
7:10
Speaker 3: Yeah?
7:10
Speaker 2: Again, I think the biggest curiosity came around the pitching
7:12
Speaker 2: right as well as sim platoon stuff, but we can
7:16
Speaker 2: save that for another time. But for the pitching in particular, again,
7:20
Speaker 2: I talked about this a little bit on the last episode.
7:23
Speaker 2: The Nationals both probably need, or at least if they
7:27
Speaker 2: really want to compete in twenty twenty seven, it wouldn't
7:29
Speaker 2: hurt them to have an ace or a number one,
7:32
Speaker 2: number two type guy at the top of that rotation.
7:35
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna look down as I'm kind of saying this,
7:37
Speaker 2: I came up with a starting pitching you could see
7:43
Speaker 2: theoretically pitch for the Nationals next season. There's about again,
7:47
Speaker 2: like twelve to fifteen guys where you say, hey, it's
7:50
Speaker 2: some I'm not saying on opening day, but at some
7:52
Speaker 2: point next season they could be starting games. If you
7:55
Speaker 2: really want to stretch it, I could go probably a
7:56
Speaker 2: little bit longer than that. But a lot of these
7:59
Speaker 2: guys are either kind of mid rotation types. You think
8:01
Speaker 2: about again a Conniley early who has a ton of upside,
8:04
Speaker 2: but there's kind of a cap on the velo and spin.
8:07
Speaker 2: You think about again, I think I'm bullish on the organization,
8:12
Speaker 2: is bullish on probably number three type. And then you
8:16
Speaker 2: have you have some upside arms between Susanna between the court.
8:20
Speaker 2: I have no idea if Alejandro Rosario is gonna be
8:22
Speaker 2: ready for next season, but that's like a huge upside
8:26
Speaker 2: guy coming off of TJ. If he can get it
8:28
Speaker 2: back together have this mix of arms, but you don't
8:31
Speaker 2: necessarily have outside of maybe Kaid like a set it
8:35
Speaker 2: and forget it. This guy is going to command the
8:39
Speaker 2: ball at the top.
8:41
Speaker 3: And so for me and for.
8:42
Speaker 2: Fans, what is interesting to kind of how do all
8:46
Speaker 2: these pieces kind of fit together, and who is maybe
8:50
Speaker 2: that the national is going to be interested in this
8:52
Speaker 2: offseason if they do decide to kind of go out
8:54
Speaker 2: and get a true guy to lengthen their contention window.
9:00
Speaker 1: Let's take a break when we come back some on
9:02
Speaker 1: this day in NAT's history. I'm excited for this one, Franny.
9:06
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10:08
Speaker 1: Perhaps the Nationals can start to channel some twenty fourteen
10:11
Speaker 1: energy later on today, because on this day in twenty fourteen,
10:15
Speaker 1: the Nationals kicked off a ten game winning streak that
10:18
Speaker 1: is tied for franchise best. Kevin, you were a part
10:21
Speaker 1: of that team. Talk about what it takes to go
10:24
Speaker 1: on a ten game winning streak this late into the
10:27
Speaker 1: season too, after the battle tested season. But talk about
10:31
Speaker 1: some of your favorite memories there. If I'm not mistaken,
10:33
Speaker 1: that's the three walkoffs in a row too.
10:35
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah. Yeah.
10:39
Speaker 4: You gotta have talent, serious talent, and that team was
10:42
Speaker 4: as talented as anybody that we've you know, I think
10:46
Speaker 4: in Nationals team history.
10:48
Speaker 3: The pitching was insane.
10:50
Speaker 4: Look at the bullpen work kept you know, the leads
10:53
Speaker 4: that we had. We had a few comebacks in that,
10:55
Speaker 4: but a lot of that was dependent because our bullpen
10:58
Speaker 4: kept everything close, so we had a chance at that.
11:01
Speaker 3: So that was fun times. Man.
11:05
Speaker 4: We were so good. I mean, people asked like, how's
11:08
Speaker 4: it happen? I was like, we were effing good.
11:11
Speaker 3: Thought out.
11:13
Speaker 1: It was a dominant squad. You think about how they
11:15
Speaker 1: bounce back after the twenty thirteen season. Overall too. Matt
11:18
Speaker 1: Williams man, what a guy. I always think about the
11:21
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen team whenever I'm working at Chase Field and
11:24
Speaker 1: I see the big Matt Williams heads. The racing present
11:27
Speaker 1: not as good as the racing presidents, but the racing
11:29
Speaker 1: former mascots out here, whatever you want to call them,
11:33
Speaker 1: really quickly. Want to remind our listeners to subscribe to
11:36
Speaker 1: the District Territory podcast. You don't want to miss any
11:38
Speaker 1: episodes throughout the rest of the season or into the
11:40
Speaker 1: off season. Once we get to a thousand subscribers, we're
11:43
Speaker 1: going to give away this Eli Willetts sign baseball card
11:46
Speaker 1: also got a bobble headlined up once we hit two hundred.
11:48
Speaker 1: We're coming up on it. So, as I mentioned earlier,
11:51
Speaker 1: the Nationals dropped the opener eight to six last night,
11:54
Speaker 1: But let's kick it off by talking about Harry Ford
11:56
Speaker 1: right from the get go, man making a difference. His
11:59
Speaker 1: abs skill have just been ridiculous this season, Kevin. Someone
12:04
Speaker 1: mentioned something in the broadcast last night, not just the
12:06
Speaker 1: ones that are catching a lot of the zone, but
12:08
Speaker 1: the ones that are very close too. I kind of
12:12
Speaker 1: dropped for a second in the first sitting there, see
12:14
Speaker 1: in a first inning challenge. But man, I don't question.
12:17
Speaker 1: I try not to question Harry anymore.
12:22
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I mean, here are the big leagues,
12:24
Speaker 3: he's been great, dude. In the minor leagues, he was awful.
12:27
Speaker 4: I mean, so it's not one of those things that
12:29
Speaker 4: I sit there and say, like, oh, yeah, I trust
12:31
Speaker 4: everything he says because or does because again he was
12:36
Speaker 4: uh man, I want to say it was like eighteen
12:39
Speaker 4: for forty eight something like that.
12:40
Speaker 3: As a.
12:43
Speaker 4: Catcher in the minor leagues, that's not good, right, So
12:48
Speaker 4: you were wondering what it was going to end up being,
12:49
Speaker 4: and he had a couple of good ones yesterday. And
12:52
Speaker 4: guys can make adjustments. We get that whole thing. I
12:55
Speaker 4: love that part of it. And at the end of
12:58
Speaker 4: the day, can you use him to your advantage? And
13:02
Speaker 4: rightfully so, I think believe he did. Yeah, he was
13:07
Speaker 4: nineteen for forty eight, sorry, nineteen for forty eight.
13:09
Speaker 3: It was forty percent.
13:11
Speaker 1: It's pretty damn close.
13:12
Speaker 6: Yeah.
13:12
Speaker 4: So if you sit there and go, uh, is this surprising,
13:17
Speaker 4: I'd say one thousand percent.
13:19
Speaker 3: Yes. Yeah.
13:21
Speaker 2: I also think one of the interesting things with abs
13:23
Speaker 2: is like, because it's so new, I don't think any
13:26
Speaker 2: of us know exactly what sample size to be looking
13:30
Speaker 2: at to be saying like, this guy is good at
13:32
Speaker 2: it or this guy is bad at it. That's actually
13:35
Speaker 2: a conversation I've kind of been meeting to have with
13:36
Speaker 2: Bobby Wilson that maybe Franny, you've already planning to have
13:40
Speaker 2: as well.
13:42
Speaker 3: For me.
13:42
Speaker 2: Again, the kind of what is standing out is the
13:45
Speaker 2: framing hasn't been exceptional, but it hasn't been bad either,
13:49
Speaker 2: And that's one where I maybe look up a week
13:52
Speaker 2: or two from now and say, you know, what do
13:56
Speaker 2: we see of him as a framing catcher, because that
13:59
Speaker 2: is something that stabilizes a lot quicker. So by the
14:03
Speaker 2: end of August, I'm really curious to see if he's
14:05
Speaker 2: in the positives or in the negatives. And the fact
14:07
Speaker 2: that he hasn't been bad, I think is again a
14:11
Speaker 2: testament the Triple A and the major league coaching staff.
14:14
Speaker 4: I think the one thing that stood out about him
14:16
Speaker 4: that is surprised a lot has been his adjustment throwing.
14:19
Speaker 3: I mean, that was the big question coming in.
14:22
Speaker 4: He's had consistent one, he's had a one seven nine,
14:24
Speaker 4: He's at a one five, three, eight, nine, uh, and
14:27
Speaker 4: like four of his last like six pops down to
14:30
Speaker 4: second base.
14:30
Speaker 3: So that's that's good to see.
14:33
Speaker 4: Now there have been obviously it's like one of one
14:37
Speaker 4: of five that have stolen in those in those, but
14:42
Speaker 4: they're not on him. I mean there there are some
14:44
Speaker 4: ridiculous jumps that these guys are getting that he's made clothes,
14:47
Speaker 4: which is attestament to him and putting some work in
14:50
Speaker 4: and getting that quickness going, because that was gonna be
14:52
Speaker 4: a big thing for Bobby to have to you know,
14:55
Speaker 4: try to clean up and and and solidify for himself
14:57
Speaker 4: to be a you know, every day catcher to be
15:00
Speaker 4: able to throw it.
15:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've seen that even right where. I mean, first
15:06
Speaker 2: of all, I'm almost certain that Harry Ford is the
15:08
Speaker 2: first player at the park almost every single day. He's
15:11
Speaker 2: started beating Dylan into the park, which is neat, but
15:15
Speaker 2: I mean, Frandy, I feel like I see Harry out
15:17
Speaker 2: there working with Bobby more than I see any other
15:20
Speaker 2: player out there working. And it's not like other guys
15:22
Speaker 2: aren't working, right, So it's something where he's obviously putting
15:26
Speaker 2: intention into that and you're starting to see a payoff.
15:30
Speaker 4: Well, I think he knows right, Like, I mean, the
15:32
Speaker 4: stuff has been put out there. The beautiful thing is
15:35
Speaker 4: their you know, their player meetings and then having to
15:38
Speaker 4: identify the things that they need to do and then saying, oh,
15:41
Speaker 4: here's the plan, let's go and do it.
15:43
Speaker 3: Now.
15:43
Speaker 4: It's on the player, right, It's not on the coach,
15:46
Speaker 4: it's not on the organization. It's it's on the player
15:48
Speaker 4: to get out there and go do his thing. And yeah,
15:52
Speaker 4: I love it, love it.
15:54
Speaker 1: The most fascinating thing following ABS all season for me,
15:57
Speaker 1: as you've been pointing out on the broadcast all the time,
15:59
Speaker 1: Fran it's these guys that have had like some experience
16:03
Speaker 1: with it. That just the younger guys that, yeah, the
16:06
Speaker 1: younger guys for sure clearly crushing it. Like Harry south
16:09
Speaker 1: Stewart ridiculous his numbers, but yeah, these these guys a
16:15
Speaker 1: little experience underneath their belt using the ABS.
16:18
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say again, I wouldn't say Harry's crushing it.
16:21
Speaker 4: I'd say on the pitchings or the catching side of
16:23
Speaker 4: it right now, in the big leagues he has. In
16:25
Speaker 4: the minor leagues he was terrible. And then you look
16:27
Speaker 4: at you know, south Stewart, what I love is that
16:29
Speaker 4: he's not afraid.
16:31
Speaker 3: That guy.
16:32
Speaker 4: I like guys that are not afraid to do it,
16:33
Speaker 4: and and the right guys, I would say, the guys
16:36
Speaker 4: that are gonna do damage a lot, A guy like
16:39
Speaker 4: salth Stewart, perfect example, Tyler Stevenson had one hundred. I
16:43
Speaker 4: think he's had one hundred and two challenges this year
16:45
Speaker 4: and he's over seventy percent, which is insane. You know,
16:50
Speaker 4: you got to be willing to do it, but you
16:51
Speaker 4: got to be willing to put in the work to know.
16:54
Speaker 4: And and I feel like catching wise is not about
16:57
Speaker 4: the younger guys on that one. It's more about the
16:59
Speaker 4: hitting guy as being the younger guys who have had
17:02
Speaker 4: the abs who understand the bottom of the zone. I
17:04
Speaker 4: think because we can all agree top of the zone
17:06
Speaker 4: is almost like a crap shoot.
17:08
Speaker 3: The bottom of.
17:09
Speaker 4: Zone, I feel like, is that the one where guys
17:11
Speaker 4: got to know. And because the top of the zone
17:14
Speaker 4: there's a couple, you know, curveballs that we could all
17:16
Speaker 4: look at there and be like that was a ball
17:19
Speaker 4: and it clips it and you're like, damn all right,
17:21
Speaker 4: I get it, Like there's a there's a whole reason
17:24
Speaker 4: behind that. Your eyes are going to tell you, so
17:27
Speaker 4: the bottom of the zone. The guys that the younger
17:29
Speaker 4: guys have been. I again, if you could break it
17:32
Speaker 4: down by age and where they were last year, I'd
17:35
Speaker 4: say ninety five percent of them have been in the
17:37
Speaker 4: minor leagues.
17:41
Speaker 1: Let's let's get into the offensive recap last night, because
17:44
Speaker 1: I mean, this is two of the best in baseball
17:46
Speaker 1: going at it showed to him and Naga. He's had
17:49
Speaker 1: a bit of an issue keeping the ball in the ballpark.
17:51
Speaker 1: And the NAT's had three home runs last night. Bottom
17:53
Speaker 1: of the first inning, CJ put him out to an
17:55
Speaker 1: early two to nothing lead. Cubs got one back, but
17:58
Speaker 1: then Jacob Young in the bottom of the second inning
18:00
Speaker 1: his tenth home run of the season. The Nationals now
18:03
Speaker 1: have four players with ten home runs and ten and
18:05
Speaker 1: stolen bases Jacob Young, James Wood, who's of course on
18:08
Speaker 1: the injured list right now, daleen Lyle, and CJ.
18:12
Speaker 3: Abrams.
18:13
Speaker 1: H Franky, you talked about it in the broadcast last night.
18:16
Speaker 1: Was more surprising ten home runs or the opposite field
18:18
Speaker 1: home run at Wrigley earlier this year. I just didn't
18:21
Speaker 1: have ten on my bingo card for Jy. I knew
18:25
Speaker 1: that I always believe the power numbers would jump up.
18:29
Speaker 1: But this has been an incredible breakout for him from
18:32
Speaker 1: a power standpoint, and just overall for this offense, it's ridiculous.
18:36
Speaker 1: Dylan Cruz also had a home run last night. They're
18:39
Speaker 1: the only team in baseball though, I believe with four
18:42
Speaker 1: players with the ten stolen bases and ten home runs.
18:46
Speaker 1: What does that mean to you?
18:47
Speaker 4: All that the offseason work that Jay did was real
18:53
Speaker 4: and it was a freedom that was allowed to him
19:00
Speaker 4: because there was there was a lot of get on
19:03
Speaker 4: top of baseball ground balls. And people are gonna say, like,
19:05
Speaker 4: we're shitting on the old you know, front.
19:10
Speaker 3: Office and all this stuff. It's not. It's just a fact.
19:13
Speaker 4: And it's like if people can't understand what was being
19:16
Speaker 4: told to him every single day, get on top of
19:18
Speaker 4: the baseball ground balls. Bunt, you gotta bunt twice a game.
19:21
Speaker 4: You get a bunt once a game. You gotta do this.
19:23
Speaker 4: It never allowed him a freedom, and I feel like
19:26
Speaker 4: this offseason allowed him a freedom. And to me, it
19:31
Speaker 4: was understanding when you're fast, you got twitch. You got
19:34
Speaker 4: this fast twitch muscle that can't explain, right, but there's
19:39
Speaker 4: a quickness and a pace that he has. When he runs,
19:42
Speaker 4: he's gonna have it. There's an athleticism when he runs,
19:44
Speaker 4: he's gonna have it when he hits. And I feel
19:46
Speaker 4: like what his stuff that he did with Travis Fittter
19:49
Speaker 4: this offseason at drive Line to get on plane to
19:53
Speaker 4: swing harder, but to figure out what it means for
19:56
Speaker 4: him to swing on playing. It's like, there's there's certain things.
19:59
Speaker 4: Swing on playing is one thing, but like knowing what
20:01
Speaker 4: you're doing and making those adjustments and catching the right
20:04
Speaker 4: pitches at where they are. Uh, most of them this
20:07
Speaker 4: year have been up in the zone. But I do
20:09
Speaker 4: believe to do his damage and that's that's awesome because
20:13
Speaker 4: again it's identifying where you're doing it. But you know,
20:16
Speaker 4: more importantly than the ten home runs for me, for
20:18
Speaker 4: Jy is his second half has been ridiculous. Like we're
20:23
Speaker 4: talking about a guy that has over one thousand ops
20:27
Speaker 4: in the second half, not talking about it enough. Who's
20:30
Speaker 4: taking advantage of this opportunity even though it is a
20:33
Speaker 4: little bit more platoon oriented with it. I just you
20:38
Speaker 4: love the person, You love the work that he put in,
20:40
Speaker 4: but you love it. You love the fact that the
20:42
Speaker 4: work that he paid it paid During the off season.
20:45
Speaker 3: It's paying off.
20:46
Speaker 2: Now you see him get to this comfortable place with
20:50
Speaker 2: his swing. I was kind of nudging at this post
20:53
Speaker 2: game and he didn't fully bite, so I don't necessarily
20:57
Speaker 2: know that actual, but he's gotten to this place with
21:01
Speaker 2: his swing where you saw a lot of slug Earlier
21:03
Speaker 2: in the season. The on base was taking a little
21:07
Speaker 2: bit of time to come together, and then he had
21:09
Speaker 2: that rough patch and I want to say May or
21:12
Speaker 2: maybe I think it was actually June where where I
21:16
Speaker 2: think he was also battling through some stuff just from
21:19
Speaker 2: a physical standpoint. He comes back in July and it's
21:23
Speaker 2: like the OBP is near, you know, four hundred. I
21:26
Speaker 2: think it's over four hundred, the slug is close to
21:29
Speaker 2: five hundred, the batting average is around three hundred. It's
21:33
Speaker 2: all this sort of stuff lining up where the are
21:37
Speaker 2: there and they're spot He's comfortable at the plate, taking
21:41
Speaker 2: the right pitches, and as you said, Travis Fitta helping
21:45
Speaker 2: him this offseason, helping Dylan and Triple A as well
21:49
Speaker 2: when he was the Red Wings assistant hitting coach for
21:52
Speaker 2: a bit there. It's all these kind of elements coming
21:56
Speaker 2: together where there's a reason we've seen these guys sustain
21:59
Speaker 2: it throughout the course of the year. Yeah, they'll go
22:01
Speaker 2: through lolls, but you have the right coaching and more importantly,
22:04
Speaker 2: from the player's standpoint, they have a plan and a
22:07
Speaker 2: methodology in place where they're going to be told the
22:10
Speaker 2: same sort of thing throughout the course of the year.
22:13
Speaker 2: And that thing is not swing down in the ball
22:15
Speaker 2: or try to get on top of the ball, or
22:17
Speaker 2: try to have one bunt hit. Like you know we
22:21
Speaker 2: heard with Jay Why last year, in the year before, it's, hey,
22:25
Speaker 2: we know you're a great athlete. We know you can
22:27
Speaker 2: be a great hitter even if the results haven't been
22:29
Speaker 2: good in years past. And what do you know, you
22:31
Speaker 2: add confidence, you add talent to athleticism, You're in a
22:34
Speaker 2: pretty good spot.
22:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's the old adage of you can't do
22:38
Speaker 4: something well, why not that That's how they used to
22:41
Speaker 4: coach in the big leagues. I remember, like I will
22:44
Speaker 4: always say, my second day in the big leagues, had
22:47
Speaker 4: three hits in my first game. Second day, face braind
22:49
Speaker 4: of web. Next day, it's like we got to meet
22:52
Speaker 4: us in the the cage. Your swing's not gonna work.
22:55
Speaker 4: It's like, wait, why I had three fifty all last year,
22:59
Speaker 4: like I don't what the hell do you?
23:01
Speaker 3: Why are you saying it's not gonna work?
23:03
Speaker 4: And as an athlete, it sucks to hear that, like
23:06
Speaker 4: it can't work, Like you can't do this, can't do
23:08
Speaker 4: that right, and that weighs on you as an athlete.
23:13
Speaker 4: Twenty games here in the second half, he has nineteen hits,
23:16
Speaker 4: he has five doubles, a triple, two homers, twelve RBI.
23:20
Speaker 3: And ten walks to seven strikeouts. He's rolling.
23:24
Speaker 1: Let's keep it rolling, yeah, Chile, j why and maybe
23:27
Speaker 1: next year twenty twenty. That's how I like to you know,
23:30
Speaker 1: I just I shoot for the stars man right away, Yes, immediately.
23:36
Speaker 1: We'll come back and talk about James Wood was swinging
23:38
Speaker 1: the bat the other day, how he's been coming back
23:40
Speaker 1: along from his injury.
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24:44
Speaker 1: Now, this guy hits a hell of a lot of
24:46
Speaker 1: home runs thirty so far on the season. James would
24:48
Speaker 1: Spencer you tweeted out the other day he took some
24:51
Speaker 1: try swings and the one reply to this tweet made
24:54
Speaker 1: me laugh. Is this bad or good news? So I
24:56
Speaker 1: want to ask you here, Spencer, like is this bad
24:59
Speaker 1: or good news? He's already dry swinging a bat as quickly.
25:02
Speaker 1: Does it signify anything important?
25:06
Speaker 3: Good news?
25:07
Speaker 2: I guess. But it's like, I'm way, way careful on
25:11
Speaker 2: this injury stuff because with obliques you never know. With
25:15
Speaker 2: injury news, you never know. Again, they sound more optimistic
25:19
Speaker 2: than pessimistic, but I would never go so far as
25:22
Speaker 2: to say, hey, he'll be back in X number of days.
25:25
Speaker 2: I know Paltimony again hopped on the radio today and
25:27
Speaker 2: actually said there's a chance that within the next few
25:31
Speaker 2: weeks he could be back here. But it's really irresponsible
25:34
Speaker 2: for me to make any sort of claim that, like, oh,
25:37
Speaker 2: he'll be back. But yeah, taking dry swings ten days
25:41
Speaker 2: after you hit the IL with no bleak issue is
25:46
Speaker 2: more good than bad. It's kind of how i'd put it.
25:48
Speaker 2: And the Nationals have hit well, but obviously could use
25:52
Speaker 2: his fat back in the lineup.
25:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, And when I started looking at his last thirty games,
25:57
Speaker 1: last fifteen, last seven, I think it's obvious that the
26:00
Speaker 1: injury was starting to hinder his ability a little bit.
26:03
Speaker 1: And I'm just curious, like, maybe what is one sixty two,
26:07
Speaker 1: which is full strength James would look like to dream
26:09
Speaker 1: upon those numbers. I don't know it's nightmares for the
26:13
Speaker 1: other twenty nine teams, but it's sweet, sweet dreams for
26:15
Speaker 1: me every night when I think about what this guy
26:17
Speaker 1: does without an eye Elston mixed in this season, it's
26:22
Speaker 1: just been incredible.
26:23
Speaker 4: Well, we finally got we finally had guys past them.
26:26
Speaker 4: I mean PCA, No, Bragman and Bush and Gunnar Henderson
26:30
Speaker 4: all passed him in play appearances finally yesterday.
26:35
Speaker 3: You know it took that long.
26:36
Speaker 4: It took that long to get there, but you know
26:38
Speaker 4: he's still fourteen ahead of Matt Olson with run scored
26:43
Speaker 4: and fifteen ahead of PCA. Yeah, I don't think he
26:47
Speaker 4: was dealing with as long as you think he was.
26:50
Speaker 4: I think it happened to that moment. And so the
26:52
Speaker 4: numbers were the numbers because they were struggling.
26:56
Speaker 2: Well, the one I guess Caveat or Asterix, but here
26:59
Speaker 2: is two for at once. First, he maybe was dealing
27:06
Speaker 2: with something a little bit before this, and like you
27:09
Speaker 2: saw it on some of the runs to first face
27:13
Speaker 2: or some of the stuff in right field. At the
27:15
Speaker 2: same time, the underlying numbers well worse than the seats
27:20
Speaker 2: over the last fifteen thirty games suggests that he had
27:23
Speaker 2: some also pretty bad bat ball luck during that stretch,
27:27
Speaker 2: so it was like, if you can pull it back up.
27:30
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what the batting average, OVP and
27:32
Speaker 2: slug were listed at, but it was like pretty low.
27:36
Speaker 2: But if you look at the expected stuff, it was
27:38
Speaker 2: more like, hey, this guy's hitting. It's more like a
27:41
Speaker 2: two fifty three, fifty four to fifty type hitter, which
27:44
Speaker 2: is not as good as James has been for the
27:47
Speaker 2: rest of the year, but still a quality Big leaguer
27:49
Speaker 2: in there.
27:52
Speaker 1: So Jackson Kent later today, tomorrow Kaide Cavali and Kevin Gosman,
27:57
Speaker 1: and then after this not an off no off day,
28:01
Speaker 1: but three days in New York and then finally the
28:03
Speaker 1: Nationals get another off day, right because it had been
28:05
Speaker 1: so long since they'd had one. But you look at
28:09
Speaker 1: the schedule beyond that. I hate to size up opponents early,
28:13
Speaker 1: but I feel like it lightens up. The Nationals are
28:15
Speaker 1: thirteen and a half back in the NL East, but
28:17
Speaker 1: five back of the National League Wildcard, and I had
28:20
Speaker 1: to bring up the National League Central standings because yeah,
28:23
Speaker 1: I mean, all those teams are essentially in the mix.
28:25
Speaker 1: It's just been crazy in the NL this year. But Franny,
28:32
Speaker 1: the Nationals see if familiar face later today and David Peterson,
28:36
Speaker 1: what will you be looking for the offense to do
28:40
Speaker 1: to get a win today?
28:43
Speaker 4: Hopefully, dude, with only the Cardinals have been able to
28:45
Speaker 4: do and score ten runs against him. Other than that
28:49
Speaker 4: as a as a Chicago Cup, it's like a one era.
28:53
Speaker 4: I mean, it's been fantastic. One start. He's gave up
28:57
Speaker 4: ten runs against the Cardinals. He's three to zero, six
28:59
Speaker 4: stars in six starts, thirty four and a third, twenty
29:02
Speaker 4: five hits, seven in runs twenty two, k's ten walks.
29:06
Speaker 4: I mean, really, you have all these things that you're
29:09
Speaker 4: you're looking at with him. Most importantly is he's using
29:14
Speaker 4: less of the curveball. I throw him more heaters, whether
29:17
Speaker 4: it's the four seamer or two seamer. Stay on the heater,
29:21
Speaker 4: pick him up, get underneath it, and stay off the ground. Because,
29:25
Speaker 4: by the way, this this infield is pretty.
29:27
Speaker 1: Good, all nine of them. Man Is, the Nationals were
29:33
Speaker 1: rallying back into the game last night. You just saw
29:36
Speaker 1: how good that Cubs defense was. Of the plays they made,
29:39
Speaker 1: Nationals were gashing balls. It feels unfair to say, like
29:43
Speaker 1: the Nationals just couldn't come up with the big hit
29:45
Speaker 1: last night because in my eyes they baseball is an
29:48
Speaker 1: unfair sport and they had the big hit a few times.
29:50
Speaker 1: The Cubs just took it away from him. The guys,
29:53
Speaker 1: is there anything you want to toss him before we wrap.
29:55
Speaker 3: Up today's show.
29:58
Speaker 2: No, just excited to see Jackson Kent.
30:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, same, debuts are always fun.
30:02
Speaker 3: Your blood.
30:03
Speaker 1: Let's go, let's get after it. Do not forget to
30:06
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast, of course, do not want to
30:09
Speaker 1: miss the thousand subscribers giveaway or the Juan Soto bobblehead
30:13
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30:15
Speaker 3: Maybe that might be.
30:16
Speaker 1: Coming up in next episode if we get to two
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Speaker 1: inchid subscribers, but we'll do that when I get back
30:21
Speaker 1: to the house here in Arizona. Until then, take care
30:23
Speaker 1: of yourselves everyone, See you later.