Latest / Foul Territory / Vinnie Pasquantino, Jac Caglianone, & Michael Wacha @Royals Camp

Transcript

Vinnie Pasquantino, Jac Caglianone, & Michael Wacha @Royals Camp · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hey, we're here with the past. Watch Minnie pass Quintino
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: here at Royals camp. And you've been here for three weeks,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: as he waves to MIKEL Garcia right there in the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: star Pine for the entire first half. Yep, to make
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the All Star team. You got here? What'd you say
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: three weeks ago?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Three weeks ago? Yeah?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Because why?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Two reasons?
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: One WBC two trying to learn how to hit in April,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: so I figured getting outside in warm weather would be
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: would be a way to do it.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Is there any trash talking between Team Italy and Team
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: USA in your locker room?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Not yet.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: You and Winter have a running back and forth.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: No, we live together, so we uh haven't had too
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: much yet. I'm sure as we get closer we will,
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: but no, not yet. I don't know if that's a
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: massive rivalry.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Do you guys?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: You guys are both in Houston, right, Yeah, we're both
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: together Houston like you and Jack and Jack and.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: I will fly together. Bob can take care of himself.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: No team Itdaly, we're flying All team, which would be good.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: So we've we've got a workout on March second. We've
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: got a game against the Cubs March third, a game
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: against the Angels March fourth, and then we head out,
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: so it's getting close.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Oh wow, Yeah, you can start games win here.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Uh well, the first real game is like March seventh,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: but then no, no, no, I meant Friday, Friday, Yeah, Friday.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: But I've been here for three weeks, So.
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: Does that matter? Does that matter that you've been there
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: for three weeks? Like have you been getting the work
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: in or you like I should have stayed at home,
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: like I need my time at home.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: No, it's it's been good because the weather Nashville, the
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: weather got so bad right before I left. It was
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: good motivation to get out, so it was.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I think I've gotten fourteen at bats so far, which
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: has been nice. So just try to get as much
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: live pitching as humanly possible, get off the trajector machine,
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: do whatever we can to get some timing down, and
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: then see what happens once.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: The game start.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Different.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I know it's different, especially with no reports guys
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: are working on stuff.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: It's definitely different. But you gotta do something. You got
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: to make.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's still like, I don't know. I always
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: like spring training. It was either really good or really bad.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: There's no in between, and then the season started and
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: it was like everything you worked on, everything just completely
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: went away, and.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: You're just like, all right, I gotta get it's true.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: It is insane how much different it is when pitchers
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: are trying to get you out.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Versus just working on bats.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Have you broken in those fourteen.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Zero I'm not a massive bat breaker?
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Are you a tracker?
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: No? I swing, I'll swing.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: I haven't swung at the first pitch yet, but we've
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: gotten some good swings off and no broken bats just yet.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: I've been rotating three bats in get them all broken in,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: and yeah, I like.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I like that. There's no broken ones yet.
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: So you didn't answer. You didn't answer the fourteen at bats.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: How have you done? Because that's I mean, people are
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: making their fantasy draft picks right now. How have you done?
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: Because either way, the Royals pitching either sucks or they're
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: nasty and you're gonna have a great season.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: It's been good, it's been good. I've gotten beat a
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: few times. I've I've done some damage a few times.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: So I'm not giving you an to their crafts. Nice try.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Our pictures are awesome, but but so are our hitters.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: When you get a hit. This is the sasquatch come
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: out of like the field out there and walk around.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's in spring training too, so he's got to
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: get to work on his game. He's gonna get into shape.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: So although it's not as hot so it's it's probably
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: more comfortable for him right now, especially if the temperature
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: could stay where it's at today.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: No kidding, no kidding. We saw Michael Garcia walk by.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Is he different now that he's rich.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: He just got here, so we're uh, oh, he just
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: got here like now, like three or four days ago,
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: so we're still testing those waters. But he's been he's
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: been awesome. You have to buy spreads because the problem
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: is is, uh, Bobby's got a larger one, so it's
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: still on Bobby.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: It was actually smart by mikel to do it for
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: that amount of money because then Bobby still takes care
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: of everything.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: At least we make him take care of everything.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so Bobby complained though, but Lugo is actually the
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: bread winner of the clubhouse this year, so really, so
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: it's going to be on Lugo to take care of everybody.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he's excited about that.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: Oh wow, yeah, whoa whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. I mean,
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: don't don't act like everyone else is getting paid like
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: this is this is royal family. You got broke off
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: a little bit of something too, now, huh.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah I did, Yeah, I did. So we didn't have
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: to go into a room. That was cool. Being able
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: to get a two year deal done, that was uh,
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: that was good. So we're happy about that. And yeah,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: it's nice to be uh nice to be off the
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: rookie rookie contract.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: But we're worried about winning ball games.
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: Now.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Every time you strike out, some fans gonna yell Vine
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: exactly two your deal, you steak, you're not living up to.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Imagine when I grounded to some double plates. Exactly if
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: I double plate, it is gonna be insane. But hey,
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: that's okay, I'll take it. I'll take that pressure. Expectations
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: a terrible thing.
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: Vinny, Hey, Benny, I want to get your take on
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: the rules that are getting laid out. We've already known
• 4:57
  Speaker 6: about the core of a AS Challenge system, but I
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: want to get your take on any of the intricacies
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: that we're learning. And then also i'd like to get
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: your thoughts on the coaches staying in the box. Let's
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: actually start there. So did you see that rule where
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: the first and third base coaches have to stay in
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: the box. I'm sure the team already probably went over that,
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: or you know what the process is for anything new
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: that the league brings to the table.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think I think there's multiple ways
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: to answer this question. It's gonna eliminate. I know pitchers
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: are happy because it's going to eliminate some things that
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: have happened within the game that I don't know, maybe
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: have lent to some areas where coaches are able to
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: tip off pitches and now they have to stay in
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: the box. I've got a pretty good relationship with most
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: of the first base coaches, so I'm really excited.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: You watch this before.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: No, I didn't care, but you would pay attention to, like, Okay,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: if you're facing a certain team, if the guy starts
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: moving or if he stays still, do I need to
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: like there's different things like that to check some balances,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: to make sure, Okay, make sure our pictures are protected,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: that they're not doing anything. Maybe try to talk to
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: him a little bit more, get them, you know, because
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: you kind of know who's doing stuff based off of
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: how much they talk to you. If they're not talking
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: to you at all when there's nobody on base, there's
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: probably something, probably something.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Going on there.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: So but I'm gonna be all over the umpires be like, hey,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: make sure he's in the box, which will be fun.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: So I'm going to more take it as a fun thing.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, I never understood why there were boxes if
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: you don't have to stand in them. Anyway, what's the
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: best chirps I ever heard? Were in in rookie ball?
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: It is my first ever professional series. Chris Widger was
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: our manager and he wasn't in the box and the
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: fans in Bristol, Tennessee were letting him have it. It
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: was insane. They were just get in the box, like
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, it was so funny. There was more that
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: they said that I can't say, wait year, but it
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: was so good.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: And then the ABS, I don't know what are the
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: rules with it?
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Like what do you mean the intricacies with the strike son?
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: Just like learning it, Just like learning the abs.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Who's going to challenge?
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: Are you allowed because you don't make as much as wit?
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: Are you going to be allowed to? Can do you
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: know where the upper corners are all that stuff?
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: You know. I mean the easiest answer is no, because
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: even on the backfields we have a TrackMan strike zone,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: which is more of a it's more of a consistent
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: strike zone than ABS. And I don't mean that as
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: ABS is bad. I just mean ABS changes towards your height,
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: but the track man that we have doesn't.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: So I don't know. I don't know how it's going
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: to go.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: It's weird because you would I think you would naturally
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: think older guys should get the challenges, But I think
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: I might have a different mindset of that, where I
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: think guys who have used it before should probably be
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: the ones to challenge because they, I mean, the guys
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: coming up now know the strike zone better than I've
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: ever seen, just because they've been doing this zone for
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: two years now, I think, so they've been training it,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: so they have the best idea. I think it's similar
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: to when I was coming up the pitch clock was
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: going and all the older guys were complaining about it,
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: and I was sitting there saying, you know, this is
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: going to be amazing. Hear pictures talking about how they're
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: gonna get away from you know the first year with
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: the pitchclock, how pittuers kept trying to do crazy things
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: to try to mess with it, And that's kind of
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: gone away because it's more just okay, we're just playing baseball.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Just do it in a more timely manner. I'm hoping
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: that this will happen with ABS, but I just don't
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: feel like I am able to give an opinion on
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: it because I've never done it. We did in spring
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: last year. I think I used it twice. I think
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: I like it in the fact that it takes away
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: the egregious call. But I'll be curious to see how
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: the technology works and making sure you know everything is
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: everything is good.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: But I'm excited about it. I think change can be good.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: A couple of things. One, what'd you measure in at
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: did you get measured?
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I think it's tomorrow. Oh okay, But
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: that's one thing.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Judge is like six seven and then he went down
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: to like six five. So do you like scrunch Are
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: you going to scrunch down a little bit?
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what I am confused about, because with two strikes,
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I squat down more. But I'm assuming my zone won't
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: change there.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: That's gonna be a problem.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So I so.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: I there's almost a part of me that wishes they
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: would just do a stand strike zone and it's just
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: like you and l twov.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: But I know that would be the thing. It's like,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: but at least he could train it. He can learn.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: It probably doesn't work, but that's then everybody could train it.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: If it was one strike zone, it would be the
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: same and it would just be one.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Of those things.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Does it go off your batting stance, because like you've
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: got the guy that squats down like Pete remember Pete
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Rose used to be all start and smaller than.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: I'd love to get the old guys takes on the
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: strike zone like that.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask George when I see him, what those
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: guys like? Nothing.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: I think that's just a part of I think it's
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: a part of getting older, as you, like, I can't wait.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, I I'll do it with the guys in
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: the minor least be like man like playing in Bristol, Tennessee.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: You never had to do that. You never had to
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: play a high school field with chicken wire as the locker.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: So that's that's my old man thing. But yeah, it's good.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: I think it'll be net positive.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: I played in Bristol by the way, mid pitch the
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: lights went out on the whole field, perfect to cancel
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the game.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: That's great pitch. I remember walking up to that place
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: for my first game. This is what I signed up
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: for pro ball. Hook to pro ball, all right.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: And the last thing for on the abs for me
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: is did you see where they're not on TV? Because
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: on TV, like we have the little fox box and
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: it puts the dot and it changes colors of.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Its striker ball.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: They're gonna take that away because they don't want you
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: people in the dugout or and the replay people having
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the advantage. But I don't understand it's delayed anyway, so
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I don't understand the advantage or disadvantage to that.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: This is a win for my father, big win. He
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: hates the strike zone on TV. Why because he he
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: just thinks it's dumb because it's and I agree with
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: him in the fact that it's not correct.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there we know that. But still it's cool for
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the fans like not to strike the ball.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's not because then they think you said
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: hold up.
• 10:49
  Speaker 6: Yeah, because I think you're teeing it up wrong. Aj.
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: The box is still there. They're just not going to
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: indicate if it's ball or strike.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah that's what I So the box will still be there. Yeah, yeah, No, I.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: Just don't want many to go down this whole road
• 10:59
  Speaker 6: of his dad being upset.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: But there is I think we played the the Mets
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: a few years ago and they use like a tiny
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: little dot that is not the size of a baseball.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: So I don't even know how they come up with
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: the sizes of the dots that they use. I know
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: I'm being a jerk, but I just I don't know.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Is there even a definition of a strike zone in
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: the rule book?
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's supposed to be the bottom of the in
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the somewhere up in here.
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: But the thing is that's yeah, and your.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: Hips did you have a big strike zone and live
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: at bats like when you were catching when you strikes.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: But what about what about when you were hitting?
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: We always joke around that, like Freddy for me, and
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: who was here last year is with San Diego. Now
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: he he has a massive strike zone when he's catching,
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: but when he's hitting nothing.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: It is a strikerttcher, you know. But now we have
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: the technology.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Like yesterday, Uh, I was facing Alex laying and it
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: wasn't catching. He was behind me and there was a
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: change up right below the zone and Sally wanted to
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: strike it.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: It was one oh, but the it said ball.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: So I'm sitting there thinking, well, I think I should
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: get rewarded for a good for a good stop and
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Sal was like, no, it's a strike and said no,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: that's a ball.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: I go to, what are we doing here? But it's
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: live at bad so it doesn't really matter.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: But we need to have a big thing where you
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: didn't want to wear your pants up because I gave
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the umpires where your knee was right, because everyone wore right,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: so that was if you were taller, you wanted to
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: wear longer pants so they couldn't tell where the bottom
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: of the striker was.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: I used to have that theory playing first base that
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: if I wore my pants down and I would stretch
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: for a ball, the umpire would think that I was
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: coming off the base because they see the pant move.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: I've gotten over that one because I look so bad
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: with my pants up. I look so fat with my
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: pants up. It's actually insane. Yeah, fat people, fat people,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: should not want to never I did it once or
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: a few times in twenty twenty four. I think last
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: year was the only year I've never not worn my
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: pants up. No wonder, I had a pretty good year.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: Last one. Last time you were on, we discussed the
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: whole striker ball from your pops. How did the live
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: at bats go? Obviously he was my opinion, he was
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: probably wearing you out too much, and that's why you
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: came down to Arizona early because you were sick of
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: getting beat by Pops. But a lot of people want
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: to know how it ended up going the rest of
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: the off season.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: The weather got so bad we never got to do
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: it again, so we weren't able to get outside. So
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: he wins the off season, which is tough for me
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: walking away a loser. But I'll see him in Atlanta
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: for opening series. Maybe we'll get in a cage somewhere
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: and there you'll be there, yer, Maybe you could be
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: the umpire. Oh I was freaking love that.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: I love We have a Fox game to start the
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: season Saturday, Saturday. I'll be there for you the Royals
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: National TV see that opening weekend.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I sure hope.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: So, oh little sale itis.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that looks fun in front of you. I don't know.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: I saw an article that came in front of you.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: Normally Bobby's been hitting in front of me.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: So just so you know this, Bobby goes deep off
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: sale like the first at bat. So when I caught
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: you when he first came up, if a raighty went
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: deep in the next hitter was a lefty. I had
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: to call slider because the next picture what was because
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: he was so mad that he was just and I'm like,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I just need to know this is gonna
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: just hopefully it doesn't hit you in the head. Yeah,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: he'd be so mad. I think he's gotten over that
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a little bit.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Just hey, anytime you could take your ob pople once
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: you take him. So we have the face guard. Why
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: we have the face guards protect the face. You never
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: know what will happen.
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: So what did the article say that you were talking about?
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: They put the lineup out already before you guys had it.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: Q gave an interview and he apparently sighed mentioned that
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: I might hit lead off a few times this year,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: which would be amazing.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Obp obp just got to get it up a little
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: bit more. And then we can make it happen. And
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: then walking.
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: Wow, go say had a moose. We're gonna let him run,
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: but he's got a busy day. Vinny. Great to see
• 15:04
  Speaker 6: you and great to catch up as always, got chat soon, Thanks.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Royals Camp. Here with Jack cagleone the biggest UAB Blazer
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: fan I have met in a long time since he
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: had to wear a Blazer's hat on Saturday, since the
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Blazers took down Kratz's Florida Gators Friday night in the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: opening game of the season. So welcome, mister U A. B.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here now.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: We already talked off the air and everyone that knows
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I'm a Florida fan. I actually said you should have
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: went one one. I couldn't figure out why you didn't
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: go one one in the draft. I was. I was
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: pumping him off for what two years Cratzy.
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: Rightly, so rightly, so I want to hear why he didn't.
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: But anyway, go ahead, go Ada.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: But Friday night, my son caught against his Florida Gators,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: took him down, and Tolbert had you. I guess you
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: guys had a bet, had you? The pictures were all
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: over the the Graham and Twitter. How did that feel?
• 16:04
  Speaker 7: Definitely wasn't my best moment, for sure. He walks in
• 16:07
  Speaker 7: the field, he has a way just hat in his hand.
• 16:09
  Speaker 7: He's like, come on, come on. He put me front
• 16:10
  Speaker 7: my locker, been put the hat on, posting on a story.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Ah oh well all right, So before we get into it,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: you went to Florida. We mentioned it. I thought the
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: White Sox are gonna draft you here in Kansas City. Now,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: why didn't you go one to one? Did anyone tell you?
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Because I obviously watch every I've done Sully for thirty years, right,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Sullivan, the coach of the Gators. All he did
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: was hype you up. I watch everyone your again. My
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: family thinks that I have a crush on you because
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: they think it's hilarious. I even text him, and my
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: daughter just text back, Oh, you won't be able to speak.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Krats already got on you before we went on the air.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: So I couldn't figure it out because I and I
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: know Bridgie, the guy who drafted you, very well, and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: I talked to him about it. He said, best power
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I've ever seen. Great athlete makes adjustments. What I mean
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the Royals are happy to have you, and you ended
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: up in a great place because you got to the
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: big league so quick. But did anyone give you any
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: indication why you I don't want to say slid, but like, no.
• 17:12
  Speaker 7: To be honest with you, I had no idea. I
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: mean you, I'm sure you remember the day of the draft,
• 17:17
  Speaker 7: how hectic that was.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I was different.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: We didn't have MLB network, we didn't have Twitter, we
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: didn't have nothing. We I had a cordless phone. Right,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: they called and I'm like, hello, Yes, this is the Twins.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: We drafted you seventieth overall. Okay, Scott will be in touch.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: He'll call you next week. Thanks. Yeah, cool.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:36
  Speaker 7: I mean it was just a lot of back and
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: forth with my idents and everything like that, and you know,
• 17:40
  Speaker 7: it was one of those where it's in God's hands
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: and I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
• 17:45
  Speaker 7: I'm happy to be here with this organization, and you know,
• 17:48
  Speaker 7: they've been nothing but awesome so far.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: So I'm happy with me.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Sliding.
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: I called exactly that, but yeah, slide, sliding, sliding five
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: whole spots down to number six. Yeah, good, good for you.
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: Glad it worked out since we're hitting on this since
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: we're hitting on college. Now that you're here, now that
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: you've arrived in the big leagues, I know you haven't
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: hit as well as you wanted to yet, but you
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: went through a little bit of the minor league stuff.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: Do you still wish you pitched or do you watch
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: the pitchers and go, oh, man, their lives suck. They
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: don't do anything.
• 18:24
  Speaker 7: I mean, I'd be lying if I said I didn't
• 18:26
  Speaker 7: miss it, for sure. I feel like that was such
• 18:30
  Speaker 7: a huge part of my game, you know, in college
• 18:33
  Speaker 7: and everything like that, I focused honestly more on the
• 18:35
  Speaker 7: pitching side than I did on the hitting side, and
• 18:36
  Speaker 7: I think it kind of freed me up mentally. The
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: not really think when I was hitting so to go
• 18:43
  Speaker 7: through like the first year of pro ball, really just
• 18:45
  Speaker 7: focusing on hitting and starting to break down swing patterns,
• 18:48
  Speaker 7: swing pass and stuff like that.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: It was all new to me. You know. So college
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: is different.
• 18:52
  Speaker 7: You know, guys usually just have two pitches you can
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: really just eliminate one of them. And then you get
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: up here and you have guys like Seth Lugo with
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: eight pitches, and you know, it gets a little gets
• 19:03
  Speaker 7: definitely a little a little tougher, but now having guys
• 19:05
  Speaker 7: like Vinnie, the way he breaks down the game, he
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: sees the game a little bit differently. It's been great
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: to work with him and kind of see his insight
• 19:11
  Speaker 7: on it.
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: Watch watching how everything that you have to go through
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: in the big leagues, even even in the minor leagues,
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: like preparing for a game. Does it put more does
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: it make you more in awe or just shocked by
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: what Otani can do because your level people don't People
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: might not know you're left handed and you threw one
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: hundred miles an hour left handed. So you sit there
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: and you go, Okay, well this guy should be able
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: to throw in the big leagues. But does it give
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: you a like different sense or is there still just
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: a little bit like I'd like to throw an inning
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: or ten appearances out of bullpen for the boys.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: I saw you pitch, say no, I saw you pitcher
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: last year, say no.
• 19:51
  Speaker 7: I can't say no like I Obviously what he does
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: is it's special. I mean, nobody's doing it. That's why he's,
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: you know, one the best players in the world right now,
• 20:01
  Speaker 7: and you know, to have the opportunity to I mean,
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: I've joked with Q a couple of times on the
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: bullpen days, and I was like, hey, if the the
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: bullpen needs it, you know, I used to throw back
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: in the day and was kind of messing around with
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: him and didn't go anywhere obviously, but.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Finally just go like this and show everybody. I mean,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: it's it's still there. Yeah, I mean we're good. We're good, Cratzy.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Here's what I don't think most people know is he
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: was actually recruited as a pitcher more than a hitter,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and then he had to have his arm surgery. So
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: then they were like, hey, why don't you try hitting,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: like what middle of your junior year, and he just
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: started mashing and then they're like, oh, yeah, you could
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: be pretty good as a hitter. Also, he actually was
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: more of a you were actually more of a pitcher.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, slowy.
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: I still give him fits for it all the time.
• 20:50
  Speaker 7: He told me I had two way and then when
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: I got to campus had TJ. As soon as I
• 20:54
  Speaker 7: got there, he told me that I was just gonna
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: pitch and and you know, do the hitting progression and
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: stuff with TJ. And next thing you know, he's like, yeah,
• 21:03
  Speaker 7: you shouldn't come on this Vandy trip. Take some VP,
• 21:06
  Speaker 7: start getting into the swing of things, and you know,
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: a week later I was in the lineup and never left.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, crass, By the way, I don't mean this mean
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: at all, but I like, I watched you pitcher last year,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: like just hit you, just hit. I mean you could
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: come in because just hit. I mean, listen, I don't
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: mean that rudely. I couldn't pitch either, But.
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: The command will come.
• 21:26
  Speaker 8: The command will come at well point what we actually
• 21:30
  Speaker 8: like work on instead of like I was a thrower.
• 21:32
  Speaker 8: I'm not gonna sit here you I was a thrower,
• 21:35
  Speaker 8: but if I actually had like all the data that
• 21:39
  Speaker 8: they have nowadays.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, you could pitch. I think I could, but
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: you couldn't.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: You can do both.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: You think you think you could do both the big
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: league level.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: I mean we don't know. We haven't tried it yet.
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: Yes, don't don't let him, don't let him convince you.
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: Don't let him convince you.
• 21:54
  Speaker 9: No, do it.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: You can do it, like trusting in it. Like no
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: nobody throw. Very few dudes throw from the left side
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: like you. Yes, you didn't throw as many strikes as
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: you would like, but you know what, you can figure
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: that out right, exactly.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: Take a little bit off and he'll be ninety five
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: instead of one hundred.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Hey, listen, I mean he faced the you faced the
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: two handed guy right your angelo.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, he only threw righty though, really him, Yeah he.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Didn't throw both handed. They made him a right hand
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: or they just traded him too. Yeah, I mean you
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: see how hard that is. Now you mentioned Showy. Imagine
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: what Showhy does. He hits fifty homers and he goes
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: out and pitches throws one hundred.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, some fourth that the homers is a pretty dang
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: good year.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I think the rolls would be have if you just
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: hit fifty. What what do you what are you looking
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: forward to this year? Now that you've had some time
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: under your belt. You had some struggles. Everyone kind of
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: nobody comes up here, and the very few I shouldn't
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: say nobody. I mean even Mike Trout had to go
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: you know, I had to go through some growing pains.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Everyone kind of goes through a little bit of growing
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: pain when they get to the major leagues. Very few
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: people just get here and just explode on the scene
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: and never never have a little bit of a downtime.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: What did you learn from what you went through last
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: year because I would assume that's probably the first time
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: in your life you ever had any kind of struggles.
• 23:13
  Speaker 7: It was I mean, growing up always was what I'd
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: like to think, one of the better players on the
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: team and stuff like that, as most major league players are.
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: But yeah, last year was definitely.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: One of those.
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: Not trying to put too much weight into it, to
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: be honest with you, that's good. It's tough in the
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: moment for sure, because you know, everybody wants to come
• 23:33
  Speaker 7: up and have success, but to go through the levels
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: and have really good success and kind of, you know,
• 23:41
  Speaker 7: get socked in the mouth up there, and taking this
• 23:45
  Speaker 7: offseason to kind of take a step back, realize what
• 23:47
  Speaker 7: I've learned, you know, what worked, what didn't. But the
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: biggest thing for me was kind of going back to
• 23:53
  Speaker 7: what got me there. Honestly, feel like I kind of
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: fell down rabbit holes when things weren't going well. Was
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: still hitting balls hard, but had nothing to show for it,
• 24:01
  Speaker 7: and thought it was swing, thought it was a before
• 24:04
  Speaker 7: of other things. And having that offseason to kind of
• 24:08
  Speaker 7: take a step back and recalibrate at the mine right
• 24:11
  Speaker 7: and everything like that kind of opened me up for this.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: Year, How could minor league baseball? Have you have prepared
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: you more for the big leagues, because a lot of
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: people are like, ah, the minor leagues is now, especially
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: in Triple A. You know, it's just not the same competition.
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: I'm not I'm not throwing shade any of those guys.
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: I spent a ton of time in the minor leagues,
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: but it's just not the same level at all. How
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: could you have prepared differently if you were to go
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: back to the beginning of last year when you had
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: to go to the minor leagues, which if people don't
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: know you dominated.
• 24:45
  Speaker 7: Honestly, for me, it probably just to be the quality
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: of contact. You know, like Omaha or Triple A. You're
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: clipping balls at eighty four and they're going out to
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: left field. But if you do that at Kaufman, that's
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: sixty anymore.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Bobby moved in for you guys, not anymore.
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: That's a two hundred and sixty foot flyout. So just
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: kind of being more real with yourself rather than buying
• 25:10
  Speaker 7: into like the false results of things, and really just
• 25:15
  Speaker 7: not being so result driven. I think that's kind of
• 25:17
  Speaker 7: also what shot me in the foot. Vinnie said it
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: best last year to me, he was like, it's a
• 25:24
  Speaker 7: it's a processed driven game, but a results based business,
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: so to kind of fall in love with the process
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: more so than chasing stats, chasing numbers. I think that's
• 25:34
  Speaker 7: when you know, kind of like the stars of a
• 25:36
  Speaker 7: line and ball start finding more gaps.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's that's mature for for a guys. True so young,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's a mature, very mature answer. You
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: mentioned Vinnie. Vinnie's Captain Italy. I don't. I don't know
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: what you have Captain America. Bobby's Aaron Judges Captain America.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: What is Vinnie? What do you call Vinnie for like
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Captain Pizon or something? There you go, there you go,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: new nickname for Vinnie, I asked him earlier when we
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: talked to him. There's been some trash talking walk a Bobby,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: you guys play each other coming up in Houston. Is
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: there trash talking yet? Has it started?
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Not yet?
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Because said he punched your ticket the other day, punched
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: my ticket on three pitches, So yeah, he's starting.
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: I took a cookie curveball right down the chuote, not
• 26:26
  Speaker 7: looking for a curveball first pitch from Walker. I was
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: looking for that parachute change, up ended up getting the
• 26:31
  Speaker 7: parachute change up the second pitch, swung right over it
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: and then painted heater on the black away.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: And that's just.
• 26:40
  Speaker 7: He's Michael Waker for a reason. I'm gonna just tip
• 26:42
  Speaker 7: your setting you up. You know that for WBC? Right, Yes,
• 26:45
  Speaker 7: that's back pocketed.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: If you face him at WBC, you gotta be ready
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: for the first curveball. Right. Oh yeah, so you just
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: got it. That's the process.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: It's it's already logged in.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's good.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Alright.
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: Last year you were a rookie, did you do a
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: good job of singing on the bus?
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Ah?
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Not really.
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: I didn't have time to prepare, to be honest with you,
• 27:10
  Speaker 7: And I had to sing Pink Pony Pink Pony Club
• 27:14
  Speaker 7: on the bus song.
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: No, I had had had the lyrics, and.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: You have to sing the whole song because I sung.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: Like forty five seconds before they cut me off.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Wow, I had never even heard that song until he
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: probably he probably doesn't even know what Adam Aman is,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: But Adam Amin is the guy I work with on
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Fox all the time, or played by Playgun, and he's
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: also a DJ. And I went and watched him in
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Chicago and he played that song and I had never
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: heard that song in my life, and it came on
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and the whole there was probably five hundred people in
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: this little bar we were in. It went crazy. So
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: the fact that you had to sing that, yeah, I
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: wouldn't even know. I wouldn't even know where to start.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Even if they gave me the real lyrics, I'd be like, what.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: That's how it went.
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: I remember I looked at Lorenzo when I was singing.
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: He looked at me and he was like, don't look
• 27:56
  Speaker 7: at me, looking down on the mic in my hand.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Any other good bus stories from last Year's a rookie.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: They put you in the bathroom. Ever, you wouldn't even
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: fit in the bathroom.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: I did me.
• 28:07
  Speaker 7: It was me, Noah, and gosh, there's another. I'm trying
• 28:16
  Speaker 7: to remember who else was on our team. We're playing trivia.
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: We're in Seattle, and we ended up losing trivia. It
• 28:23
  Speaker 7: was about Seattle, and I don't know a lot about Seattle.
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: We had about fifteen minutes after the bus ride and
• 28:28
  Speaker 7: there were three of us, and no, it was not
• 28:29
  Speaker 7: a small guy either. So we were just crammed in
• 28:32
  Speaker 7: a bathroom for fifteen minutes.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: You're from Florida. We don't know a lot about Seattle. Florida, Florida, Seattle.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: You can't get much farther away at all. So when
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: I'm you know I have to fly to Seattle, I'm like, oh,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: I get my six and a half hours of rest
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: on this flight. Yeah, so yeah, so yeah. In fact,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: that wasn't fair. Whoever whoever called you up and made
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: you ask answer question about Seattle. That wasn't That wasn't
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: a fair fighter. Right before we let you go, we
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: want to show this for everybody so that we know
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: that I was not lying when I said this. But
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: you have never looked better in your life. And that
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: will forever be on the UAB Baseball website forever. That
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: there is the biggest blaze put that. Of course they did.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: I should. I should send that to Sully and be like, look, Sully,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: we've we've converted him.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: That's awesome.
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: That's a true genuine smile as well.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: By the way, uh, your favorite volleyball team is it?
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: What?
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Atlantata Vibe? Atlanta Vibe? Okay, his fiance played with my
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: daughter in high Schoolcrats. If that makes you feel old
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: or young, however you want to put it. They played
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: together in high school and they're.
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: Way older than me. You're way old than me. I'm
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: totally fine with it.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: So anyway, so yes, they played together. Now Ellie is
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: a professional volleyball player, and my daughter has quit volleyball
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: and just decided to go to Florida for the education.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: So yes, but Jack, thanks for joining us. We appreciate
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: nothing but the best. You have a great season.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: Thanks for having me.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: In surprise Arizona Surprise. It's my ex teammate and Cardinal great,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: not Royal great. Michael Walka, what's going on? A? How
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: are you all?
• 30:12
  Speaker 9: Good man?
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: How's spring training going so far for you?
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 30:15
  Speaker 9: No, it's been going really well. Uh yeah, what are
• 30:18
  Speaker 9: we about? A weekend with the Yeah, got my first
• 30:23
  Speaker 9: live in under the belt a couple of days ago. Uh,
• 30:27
  Speaker 9: just one up, but everything's bouncing back good. Uh, feeling
• 30:31
  Speaker 9: strong and any punches one punchy?
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 30:34
  Speaker 9: Who was yeah? Uh cag leone? Yeah?
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Is that revenge for the basketball game a couple weeks ago?
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah? For real?
• 30:43
  Speaker 9: Yeah, freaking me to a m to finished strong here.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Let's go all right, Well, when do you when do
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: you pitch in a game? Do you know?
• 30:53
  Speaker 9: Uh, I've got another live on Thursday, and then uh
• 30:57
  Speaker 9: it's five days after that, so I guess the next
• 31:00
  Speaker 9: Tuesday you ran from today.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: Since now you're.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Captain America with Bobby Witt, wait for this plane to go.
• 31:07
  Speaker 9: Sorry, right next to the.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Jeeves by the way, the raptors are flying over.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's very sweet.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: But uh, now that you're Captain America, you and Bobby Witt,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: how do you ramp up for the WBC?
• 31:25
  Speaker 9: Uh, it's actually gonna be pretty similar. Uh, you know,
• 31:28
  Speaker 9: just talking with Sweeney uh our pitching coach here in Casey,
• 31:33
  Speaker 9: and with Pettit and DeRosa, Uh, what's the USA just
• 31:37
  Speaker 9: kind of what they expect from me. Uh, you know
• 31:41
  Speaker 9: whenever those games start up. We kind of went back
• 31:44
  Speaker 9: and forth on on where I would be and uh,
• 31:47
  Speaker 9: build up wise, and everything's pretty much within a couple
• 31:50
  Speaker 9: of days or so where I was kind of last
• 31:53
  Speaker 9: year building up for the season. So, uh, the ramp
• 31:55
  Speaker 9: up is gonna be very similar. You know, nothing nothing expedited,
• 32:01
  Speaker 9: I guess I would say, uh to get ready for TMSAU.
• 32:05
  Speaker 9: Everything's gonna be kind of on schedule. So I'm I'm
• 32:08
  Speaker 9: excited that it all worked out and uh, you know,
• 32:11
  Speaker 9: excited to get out there with those guys.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: For sure.
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: You went back and forth. What does that mean you
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: guys were arguing?
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: What was that?
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: Oh? I said you guys went back and forth? Does
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: that mean you guys were arguing?
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: No?
• 32:26
  Speaker 9: No, there was just uh, just conversations with Pettit on
• 32:30
  Speaker 9: uh and DeRosa on what they kind of needed for me,
• 32:33
  Speaker 9: and then finding a schedule and uh ramp up with
• 32:38
  Speaker 9: Sweeney and uh and then yeah, going back to them.
• 32:41
  Speaker 9: But yeah, no, no arguing a lot of support from
• 32:45
  Speaker 9: from the Kansas City guys here, uh, which is awesome.
• 32:48
  Speaker 9: You know you hear of of some some other organizations
• 32:52
  Speaker 9: that don't really support their guys and stuff. But uh yeah, uh,
• 32:56
  Speaker 9: these guys here are great and want us to go
• 32:58
  Speaker 9: out and yeah represent the Oils, represent our country and
• 33:01
  Speaker 9: uh yeah, something that I'm I'm very excited for.
• 33:04
  Speaker 5: The Royals have always been good at sending prospects, but
• 33:08
  Speaker 5: also like they always want to support the International Baseball
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: part of it. This is your second time we're in
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: a team USA Jersey. Correct you played in college too, right.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: That's right? Yep, yep.
• 33:18
  Speaker 9: I was yep, part of the USA collegiate team as well,
• 33:23
  Speaker 9: but uh yeah it was something very cool there as well,
• 33:27
  Speaker 9: and you know, never could have imagined kind of doing
• 33:30
  Speaker 9: it again in the pros, but uh yeah, excited for
• 33:33
  Speaker 9: the opportunity to, Yeah, put that USA jersey on again.
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: Do you still have the other jersey? Well, you have
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: like a we have one next to the other one
• 33:43
  Speaker 5: when you when you're done like framing them side by
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: side or do you have any idea where that jersey is?
• 33:49
  Speaker 9: Oh yeah, yeah, that jersey is at my parents' house.
• 33:53
  Speaker 9: It's all framed up, and uh yeah, we'll we'll find
• 33:56
  Speaker 9: a spot for that new one for sure.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: When you so, you said Jack Vinnie or on team
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Italy you're pitching for us? Do you know if you're
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: starting or are you gonna come out of the bullpenfer
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: for USA?
• 34:09
  Speaker 9: I mean, I don't want to give away too much
• 34:11
  Speaker 9: of our strategy and stuff, but yeah, you.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Said you right, So you guys play here not that
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: long from now, about three weeks Italy plays USA in Houston. Yeah,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: do you show him your repertoire in early BP before
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: you actually might have to pitch against him when it
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: counts more?
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: I know that, No, there was.
• 34:34
  Speaker 9: There was definitely a little strategy going into that live
• 34:36
  Speaker 9: because yeah, Vinnie was was part of that live as well.
• 34:39
  Speaker 9: I ended up walking him on yeah four straight uh
• 34:43
  Speaker 9: or maybe five pitches, hit him in a spot where just.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: So he remembers it instead of you know, you don't
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: want to hurt him, just just kind of maybe in
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: the thighre so he has a little mark and you
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: can remember that.
• 34:54
  Speaker 9: Yeah, exactly, Yeah, get off my dish type stuff. But yeah, no,
• 34:59
  Speaker 9: it's it'll be cool to see those guys as well.
• 35:01
  Speaker 9: Maybe pass on a few scouting reports to the guys
• 35:04
  Speaker 9: if if I'm if I am not facing those guys.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: I guess if you're not.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: That sounded like a little bit of a I might
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: have been a little bit of a hint there.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: I like it.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: I like it, but today, I mean, I know you're
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: not gonna to get into strategy. But does it matter
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: because it's it's still basically spring training for you as
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: long as you get your innings. Doesn't matter if you
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: do it as a starter or coming out.
• 35:24
  Speaker 9: Of the bullpen, right right, I think there's definitely an
• 35:27
  Speaker 9: opportunity where I am piggyback in. Uh, you know another
• 35:31
  Speaker 9: starter schemes or early on. Where can we have one
• 35:34
  Speaker 9: of those guys that are pretty good?
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: Right right?
• 35:36
  Speaker 9: Yeah, No, it's a it's a stud lineup for sure.
• 35:39
  Speaker 9: It's a it's a it's pretty cool. Yeah, looking at
• 35:42
  Speaker 9: all the guys on the roster and yeah, a lot
• 35:44
  Speaker 9: of talent. Uh, I'm glad I'm not facing our roster
• 35:48
  Speaker 9: our lineup for sure, so it looks like, yeah, hopefully
• 35:51
  Speaker 9: put up a lot of runs.
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: Is there a text chain or anything? Is there a
• 35:54
  Speaker 5: group thread going around for Team USA yet?
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: Uh?
• 35:58
  Speaker 9: Yeah, there's a little group chat. Uh, not too much
• 36:01
  Speaker 9: going on in it, you know, just some a little
• 36:05
  Speaker 9: something here and there, I guess uh on some play
• 36:08
  Speaker 9: in getting to get into Houston and things like that.
• 36:11
  Speaker 9: But uh no, I imagine those things will We'll start
• 36:14
  Speaker 9: getting fired up here.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: Uh pretty soon.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Does Judge give you his number? Does he you have
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: to you have to go through somebody to get to Judge?
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I did not have his number.
• 36:23
  Speaker 9: Uh yeah, uh yeah, never met him before, but uh
• 36:28
  Speaker 9: obviously played against him for years now. But yeah, glad,
• 36:32
  Speaker 9: he's glad he's on our squad.
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: Is there anybody on the team that you haven't played with?
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: Like like an er Judge that you're like, I kind
• 36:39
  Speaker 5: of would like to see him for like two weeks,
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: not that I want to face him or even if
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: it's a picture, like if there's a guy you're kind
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: of most intrigued about on Team USA, I.
• 36:50
  Speaker 9: Mean I would say there's a lot of guys, you know,
• 36:54
  Speaker 9: I've I've crossed paths with a few guys in different areas,
• 36:57
  Speaker 9: I guess, uh throughout my career and things like that.
• 37:00
  Speaker 9: I think it'll be awesome to yeah see Bobby again
• 37:05
  Speaker 9: out there for sure. But yeah, Judge is one of
• 37:07
  Speaker 9: those guys, uh Harper, Yeah, Scooble schemes, Web. Those guys
• 37:14
  Speaker 9: are're some studs there. Uh cross paths with Joe Ryan
• 37:19
  Speaker 9: and uh Garrett wit Locke. Uh you know, it's uh
• 37:24
  Speaker 9: it's a lot of studs uh out there, and so yeah,
• 37:28
  Speaker 9: just uh excited to talk shop in the in the
• 37:31
  Speaker 9: clubhouse and uh see how everybody kind of goes about
• 37:35
  Speaker 9: their business getting ready for the season and and getting
• 37:38
  Speaker 9: ready for games. Uh, something that you don't normally see
• 37:42
  Speaker 9: uh when whenever those guys are with their normal clubs.
• 37:45
  Speaker 9: So uh yeah, it's uh it's something I'm definitely looking
• 37:48
  Speaker 9: forward to.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: When you see Joe Ryan. If you've watched Stranger Things,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: just say, man in that life, he turned into the
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: bad guy quickly. I mean, you know, but he came
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: back at the end. So I was proud of Joe Ryan.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: If you've seen I've never seen it. I think it's
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: season two or three. I think it's season three. When
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: they're in the mall and he looks like one of
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: the main characters.
• 38:09
  Speaker 9: It just grew a mustache, okay, and he like, tell
• 38:11
  Speaker 9: he's got a sash every now and then he does
• 38:13
  Speaker 9: you know, you know, he's he.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Very looks very similar to the guy. I don't know
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: what the guy's name is, but he has a character
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: character talk to him. Very true. You're Kansas City career
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: has been great so far. How proud of you are?
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: After the way it started in Saint Louis right twenty thirteen.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: You had all the hype as the young kid, the
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: young stud and then you know, some injuries, some things
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: kind of going off the reilis and then here you are.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: I don't want to say resurrecting, because you never like
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: went away, but you just came here. In these last
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: few years, You've been great for the royal. So how
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: proud are you of all the work you've put in
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: to get to where you are now?
• 38:48
  Speaker 9: Yeah, No, it's uh, it's something that yeah, I definitely
• 38:52
  Speaker 9: uh A am proud of you know. Uh, you know,
• 38:57
  Speaker 9: those those early years and Saint Lewis had taught me
• 39:01
  Speaker 9: a lot, uh And I feel like I take a
• 39:03
  Speaker 9: lot of those things that I learned from those guys
• 39:05
  Speaker 9: in in Saint Louis and carry them on till this day.
• 39:08
  Speaker 9: You know, I had a lot of great mentors, a
• 39:11
  Speaker 9: lot of great veterans there, like yourself.
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, but yeah, the.
• 39:17
  Speaker 9: Wayne Rice, the Holiday Yachty Beltron, you know, multiple carpenters. Uh,
• 39:24
  Speaker 9: you know there there was multiple guys that I was
• 39:27
  Speaker 9: able to take stuff from on how to be a
• 39:29
  Speaker 9: better baseball player, how to be a professional on and
• 39:32
  Speaker 9: off the field, and try to try to soaked all
• 39:34
  Speaker 9: that in and yeah, like you said, had some good years. There,
• 39:39
  Speaker 9: had some injuries, some some tough years, but you know,
• 39:42
  Speaker 9: just always stayed true to myself and just kept working
• 39:45
  Speaker 9: my tail off in the off seasons knowing that I
• 39:48
  Speaker 9: could get back to to competing out there the way
• 39:50
  Speaker 9: I know I can, and so just had had some
• 39:54
  Speaker 9: I guess it was kind of a crazy six year
• 39:56
  Speaker 9: stretch there with six different teams. Uh, just kept signing
• 40:00
  Speaker 9: one year deals with different squads, and you know, was
• 40:04
  Speaker 9: able to find a home here in Kansas City and
• 40:07
  Speaker 9: was able to Yeah, this will be my third year here.
• 40:11
  Speaker 9: I've had two pretty successful years here with getting to
• 40:16
  Speaker 9: the postseason in twenty four and then just kind of
• 40:18
  Speaker 9: missing out there in twenty five. You know, just like
• 40:22
  Speaker 9: you said, some injuries type stuff kind of kind of
• 40:25
  Speaker 9: held us, held us from getting where we wanted to be.
• 40:27
  Speaker 9: But building off of these past two years in Kansas City,
• 40:32
  Speaker 9: you know, I feel like we got something special here
• 40:34
  Speaker 9: with with the guys in this clubhouse and looking for
• 40:37
  Speaker 9: a big year here in twenty six, getting back to
• 40:39
  Speaker 9: where we we know we can be.
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: You've done well in case, but they're moving the fences in.
• 40:46
  Speaker 5: Did they consult you pictures about that? Because I know
• 40:49
  Speaker 5: some ex Royals hitters who are like what we were
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: saying that for years and now and now they're going
• 40:55
  Speaker 5: to move it in. Like did they consult you guys
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: or are they just like ah whatever, dudes wear it.
• 41:01
  Speaker 9: Yeah, No, it was Uh, it was just a message
• 41:05
  Speaker 9: in the in the off season saying that, hey, we've
• 41:07
  Speaker 9: got a got a zoom call with with the whole
• 41:10
  Speaker 9: team and staff, you know, at a certain date. And
• 41:14
  Speaker 9: you know, I thought that was kind of weird. Uh,
• 41:16
  Speaker 9: you know, didn't really know what was going on. And
• 41:18
  Speaker 9: then Bobby kind of sent out a text to the
• 41:21
  Speaker 9: group chat saying, uh that you know, the word is
• 41:25
  Speaker 9: that the fences were moving in. So yeah, there was
• 41:27
  Speaker 9: definitely no consultant on uh, on the picture side of it.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: Uh, Bobby, Bobby has a huge contract, Like, Bobby, you
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: want the fences moved in. The fences in for you, Bobby,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: no problems.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 41:40
  Speaker 9: Salby was like, hey, I've been telling you all this
• 41:42
  Speaker 9: for how many years?
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: To move this?
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: By the way, why is Kansas City in Missouri? Anyone
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: ever asked you that?
• 41:49
  Speaker 9: I mean, it's just on both sides.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: The main part is in Missouri. I don't think you'd
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: be in Kansas.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: Have you been to Kansas?
• 41:58
  Speaker 9: I live in Kansas.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 42:00
  Speaker 9: Yeah, it's kind of like my hometown Textakana, Texa, Canada, Texas, Texagana, Arkansas.
• 42:05
  Speaker 9: You know, there's a there's a state line there as well.
• 42:08
  Speaker 9: So yeah, it's kind of familiar territory for me where
• 42:12
  Speaker 9: I grew up.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Before I let you go, I asked you you brought
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: up Wayne Right. Did you think that Wayne Wright would
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: end up in TV? And then did you ever think
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: that Wayne Right would end up being my partner on TV?
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: I I could see Wayne Right on TV for sure.
• 42:26
  Speaker 9: I feel like he talked about it quite a bit
• 42:28
  Speaker 9: on his uh kind of post career, on what he
• 42:32
  Speaker 9: wanted to do. I know he's very talented, you know,
• 42:37
  Speaker 9: just whether it's music. I know he's getting albums out there,
• 42:41
  Speaker 9: releasing albums. H oh, yeah, I haven't listened to a
• 42:46
  Speaker 9: little Hey y'all. You know I've heard that because he
• 42:48
  Speaker 9: plays that all like that just warm up the game.
• 42:52
  Speaker 9: So that's fun. Yeah, you should get yeah, a little
• 42:55
  Speaker 9: show up there every now. But uh yeah, I know
• 42:58
  Speaker 9: it just comedy like s an. I know he would
• 43:00
  Speaker 9: love to host that one day. He always talked about that.
• 43:03
  Speaker 9: But yeah, just very talented guy. I knew that he was.
• 43:08
  Speaker 9: He was he was gonna do some big things, you
• 43:10
  Speaker 9: know after his yeah playing days for sure.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: All right, Michael, thank you appreciate you joining us. Have
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: another great year.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: And let's go here we go. Thanks guys,