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Mike Shildt on Birdland Territory · Foul Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome in, latest edition of Birdland Territory, and we got
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Speaker 1: a special guest today, former big league manager Mike Schilt,
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Speaker 1: who worked in the Oriole Farm system this year. This
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Speaker 1: time last year, Mike was managing in the postseason. He
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Speaker 1: managed the Padres the last two years to 93 wins
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Speaker 1: in 24, 90 in 25. Before that, fans know he
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Speaker 1: managed the Cardinals. Just a long life in baseball that
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Speaker 1: took him back home in a sense, I guess you
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Speaker 1: would say, Mike, to the Orioles, where you once were
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Speaker 1: a clubhouse, uh, guy way back in the day for
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Speaker 1: the Charlotte Orioles. When they were double a, your parents had, uh,
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Speaker 1: born in Maryland, moved to Charlotte and you fell in
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Speaker 1: love with the Orioles and met a young man in
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Speaker 1: Cal Ripon, Jr. The clubhouse of the Charlotte Orioles back
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Speaker 1: in the day, your first connection to the orange and black, right?
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. I'm an Oriole guy.
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Speaker 3: Listen, you know, I, uh, like you mentioned, my dad
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Speaker 3: proposed to my mom at the old Memorial stadium. Dad's
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Speaker 3: from Baltimore. Um, Yeah, a lot of Baltimore roots, you know,
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Speaker 3: uncles and aunts. And then moved to Charlotte. My mom
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Speaker 3: gets a job with a double-A club in Charlotte with
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Speaker 3: the O's. And, you know, one of my fondest memories,
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Speaker 3: sitting there in the living room chanting, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie,
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Speaker 3: you know, with my dad. So, yeah, I mean, full circle,
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Speaker 3: dream come true to be a part of the Oriole organization.
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Speaker 1: Well, and you were that this year. In fact, you
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Speaker 1: told me less than two weeks after you had resigned
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Speaker 1: from managing the Padres that You were contacted by the
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Speaker 1: Orioles and it was kind of, as you put it,
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Speaker 1: a no brainer to join the club where this year
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Speaker 1: Mike Schilt was the Orioles upper level coordinator of instruction.
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Speaker 1: Samuel Vega had that job at the lower levels. And Mike,
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Speaker 1: tell me about your year on the O's farm. You know,
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Speaker 1: kind of a long winded thing here. But how you
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Speaker 1: how what does that role mean exactly? What's what are
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Speaker 1: some things you did on the farm this year?
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So, I mean, listen, I applaud Mike Elias for a
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Speaker 2: lot of reasons.
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Speaker 3: Um, you know, Mike recognized that, um, you know, there
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Speaker 3: needed to be a little bit more experience and a
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Speaker 3: little bit different way of thinking about our player development system.
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Speaker 3: And I would, you know, he reached out to me
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Speaker 3: and of course, you know, Cal being a part of
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Speaker 3: the organization was the cherry on top for sure. And so,
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Speaker 3: you know, you get in and just recognize, um, just
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Speaker 3: take inventory what's going on, what's happening. Didn't want to
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Speaker 3: rearrange any furniture, just wanted to observe and, and create
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Speaker 3: relationships with people. And at a starting point, you know,
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Speaker 3: we've got some really, really talented, you know, really highly
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Speaker 3: competent people in the organization. I'm glad you mentioned Sam,
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Speaker 3: you know, as partner with Sam's me and Sam.
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Speaker 2: I'm not really into upper level, lower level. I mean,
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Speaker 2: there's a delineation of the.
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Speaker 3: Of the levels, but you know, Sam Vegas, a really
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Speaker 3: talented young coach that has a, you know, does amazing
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Speaker 3: things and has a really, really bright future for the Orioles.
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Speaker 3: And in this game and got with Sam and ultimately,
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Speaker 3: you know, was able to go to big league camp
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Speaker 3: and get to know Albie and that staff a little
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Speaker 3: bit and have a lot of history with them. And
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Speaker 3: really ultimately figured out what they want to do, you know,
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Speaker 3: relative to how they want to style of play, you know, fundamentally,
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Speaker 3: you know, situationally, but plays first and thirds fly ball priority.
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Speaker 3: I would just make sure we take that language and,
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Speaker 3: and take it down and make it so it trickles
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Speaker 3: down so it can trickle back up to the big
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Speaker 3: league club.
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Speaker 2: And, you know, started to put in some processes once
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Speaker 2: you started to look.
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Speaker 3: In and realize where things were in the organization, where
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Speaker 3: the strengths were, where areas of improvement were, and started
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Speaker 3: to implement some processes that will lead to, you know,
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Speaker 3: my experience. And that's, you know, sustainable player development success
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Speaker 3: for your sustainable big league club.
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Speaker 4: Mike, I'm just curious, what, what excited you about going
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Speaker 4: back down to the minor leagues and just being around
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Speaker 4: young players again, after spending a bunch of years in
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Speaker 4: the big leagues, like you did and, you know, post-season
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Speaker 4: your last two years of San Diego, uh, after you
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Speaker 4: left there, what, what just excited you about going back
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Speaker 4: down and dealing with the kids again?
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Speaker 3: It's probably a long answer you want, Brad, but, um,
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Speaker 3: you know, I started out cutting my teeth, you know,
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Speaker 3: I'm a field guy, you know, coaching, teaching.
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Speaker 2: Getting in the weeds.
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Speaker 3: Um, 12 years, won't bore you with that, but 12
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Speaker 3: years on the amateur side at different levels.
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Speaker 2: Collegially, high school showcase, American Legion, you name it, I've
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Speaker 2: done it.
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Speaker 3: You know, I'd coach anywhere they'd let me coach somebody and,
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Speaker 3: you know, get into a really established.
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Speaker 2: Organization in St.
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Speaker 3: Louis and 13 years of player development there and a
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Speaker 3: lot of grassroots.
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Speaker 2: And, you know, that model changed in St.
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Speaker 3: Louis where it went from a little bit more, of,
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Speaker 3: you know, trading your prospects and more into developing your
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Speaker 3: prospects to help on a, on a big league club. And,
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Speaker 3: but the, um, criteria at that time didn't change. And
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Speaker 3: that was championship players for a championship team. And I
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Speaker 3: just enjoy that 13 years of helping feed an organization
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Speaker 3: that went to four world series one, two, and, you know,
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Speaker 3: really blew my mind when I actually ultimately got to
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Speaker 3: manage the club and, you know, with the playoffs there
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Speaker 3: as well, and naturally championship series.
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Speaker 2: But, um, you know, Brad, uh, as I looked up
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Speaker 2: and I said, you know, okay, where am I at
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Speaker 2: right now in my career? What have I done?
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Speaker 3: Can't believe I had the opportunity to manage. Who's to
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Speaker 3: say I won't think or want or have the opportunity
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Speaker 3: to do it again? It's on the table potentially. But,
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Speaker 3: you know, really, I just really wanted to get back
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Speaker 3: and help serve and ultimately help young players and ultimately
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Speaker 3: some young staff, you know, get to where they want
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Speaker 3: to go and help them get the most out of
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Speaker 3: their God-given ability in an organization that is dear to
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Speaker 3: my heart.
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Speaker 5: Mike, you said earlier you didn't come in this past
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Speaker 5: season and made all these sweeping changes. You wanted to
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Speaker 5: take inventory, which is the prudent thing to do, but
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Speaker 5: is it fair to say that there will be changes
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Speaker 5: enacted in your second year on the gig, and what
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Speaker 5: were maybe some areas of weakness or areas that you
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Speaker 5: think need to be tweaked?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Tim, I feel like we'll definitely continue.
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Speaker 3: I'm a you know, continual involvement kind of guy, you know,
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Speaker 3: you put a process in and one of the things
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Speaker 3: that is really fun, but also it can be challenging is,
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Speaker 3: you know, listen, we talked about a way. And when
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Speaker 3: I came up with the organization with, with Charlotte and
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Speaker 3: observe in Baltimore and study in Baltimore, there was the
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Speaker 3: Oriole way. And then, you know, the Orioles were the
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Speaker 3: winningest organization for 54 to 79 and all of major
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Speaker 3: league baseball. And you go to a single list, there's
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Speaker 3: a Cardinal way. And so, you know, everybody's got a way,
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Speaker 3: by the way. And then you look up and you realize, okay,
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Speaker 3: what is the way we're doing things? And that way
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Speaker 3: continually evolves. And ultimately that way is a collaborative effort
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Speaker 3: together in a like-minded setting where we can talk and
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Speaker 3: work through and vet and then come up with the
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Speaker 3: best practice for the Orioles, but it's constantly evolving.
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Speaker 2: So again, observations of just where we are. Again, admittingly,
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Speaker 2: the organization would have said that you know, fundamentally and,
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Speaker 2: and how we think and teach, um, is something that
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Speaker 2: wasn't at the forefront or thought about, you know, highly. Um,
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Speaker 2: so just at a starting.
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Speaker 3: Point there, again, without being that big league camp with
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Speaker 3: that group, you know, how do we want to do
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Speaker 3: our cutoffs through ways? How do we want to call
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Speaker 3: the baseball and a fly ball, all the different things,
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Speaker 3: controlling the running game, PFP things that are, are, you know,
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Speaker 3: feel like they're more nuanced, um, and can be on
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Speaker 3: the back burner, but show up every day, especially as
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Speaker 3: we watch the playoffs now, it ultimately dictates whether you
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Speaker 3: shake hands at the end of a game. At least
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Speaker 3: it can be a big part of it. So started
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Speaker 3: the process of really that collective teaching and mindset throughout
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Speaker 3: the organization. And it starts with the staff because our,
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Speaker 3: our staffs are full force multipliers for our, for our players. And,
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Speaker 3: and just standardizing what those things look like was, was
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Speaker 3: the entry point to that. And, as I alluded to earlier,
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Speaker 3: a lot of really, really bright, hungry baseball staff members
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Speaker 3: in our player development department.
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Speaker 2: And they were fantastic to partner with.
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Speaker 3: As we've talked a little bit with Steve previously and
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Speaker 3: is out there, you know, Cal got involved. I mean, heck,
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Speaker 3: when you have not only the, you know, one of
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Speaker 3: the best players in the history of baseball, but also
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Speaker 3: clearly an oral legend. And those things are clearly separating um, attributes,
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Speaker 3: but then you have what I think is really the
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Speaker 3: separator for Cal, which is, you know, you're talking about a,
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Speaker 3: a super high level baseball IQ that looks at things,
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Speaker 3: has the experiences clearly, you know, his dad, Ripken senior brother, Billy,
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Speaker 3: you know, this is a absolute baseball royalty family and
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Speaker 3: getting Cal involved to help standardize, teach, share, grow, um,
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Speaker 3: was a real asset for the development of the department
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Speaker 3: and the staff. And, you know, just the continuation of
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Speaker 3: those things, I know I'm talking more in general terms,
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Speaker 3: but we clearly are getting more specific and now have
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Speaker 3: identified the next areas, not only to go deeper in
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Speaker 3: the areas we covered and wider, but then also some
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Speaker 3: exploration in some other.
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Speaker 2: Areas that still need some attention.
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Speaker 1: Mike, I told these guys that one of my most
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Speaker 1: fun hours of the baseball season in 2026 was spent
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Speaker 1: sitting with you and Frederick and talking about baseball, man.
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Speaker 1: I could feel the passion come through, the knowledge, and
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Speaker 1: I'm sitting next to a guy who's managed 561 winning
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Speaker 1: percentage in Major League Baseball Manager of the Year in 2019,
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Speaker 1: came close to other times. So, I mean, he knows
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Speaker 1: his way around the ballpark, but you mentioned to me
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Speaker 1: during that interview that, and you're, and obviously this is
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Speaker 1: obvious to any keen observer. Baseball has gotten a little
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Speaker 1: bit away from situational baseball. We're so obsessed with spin
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Speaker 1: rate and velocity on pitches and how far and hard
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Speaker 1: you can hit the ball. that sometimes players don't know
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Speaker 1: how to advance a runner or keep the double play
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Speaker 1: in order or hit the cutoff man or bunt up
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Speaker 1: a guy. How can you help or how are you
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Speaker 1: trying to help the Orioles minor league players learn that
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Speaker 1: part of the game?
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Speaker 2: Well, you hit the nail right on the head.
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Speaker 3: The industry, you know, we all know and don't need
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Speaker 3: to cover too much ground that we're all pretty aware of.
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Speaker 3: And it really starts from an amateur. And I mentioned
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Speaker 3: about things trickle down the trickle up, but things trickle
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Speaker 3: up to just from the beginning. And, you know, amateur
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Speaker 3: baseball is way more skill development related. That's how players
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Speaker 3: are getting monetized or getting signed based on these metrics
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Speaker 3: and measurables. And you can't fault anybody for, um, chasing
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Speaker 3: what the, you know, what the industry tells you that
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Speaker 3: you're going to be rewarded for. Um, but Oh, by
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Speaker 3: the way, the game actually starts and the scoreboard comes
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Speaker 3: on and you play to the scoreboard. And the beautiful
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Speaker 3: thing about it is that's never going to change. Um,
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Speaker 3: the game is the beautiful thing of many about baseball
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Speaker 3: is it's situational comprehension. And, you know, as George Kissel,
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Speaker 3: who was in St.
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Speaker 2: Louis for 66 years.
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Speaker 3: And a huge part, and basically the founding father and
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Speaker 3: the curator of the Cardinal way for, you know, seven decades,
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Speaker 3: you know, he would say, you know, the game.
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Speaker 6: Has a lot of situations and it requires a lot
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Speaker 6: of tools and you better have a lot of tools
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Speaker 6: in your toolbox and, you know, more, consistently and generically
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Speaker 6: as i say this now it is somewhat relative to
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Speaker 6: baltimore but just in the industry um you know the
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Speaker 6: teaching of the game the situational understanding of the game
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Speaker 6: just in the beginning part of the awareness forget the
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Speaker 6: ability to actually execute like anything that starts with just
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Speaker 6: an awareness of what the situation calls for and then
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Speaker 6: it becomes the training because championship players think and do
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Speaker 6: for themselves. And it's our job to do that with
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Speaker 6: the players so they can understand and recognize in real
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Speaker 6: time in high leverage situations what the situation is, but
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Speaker 6: then have the ability to execute it. And so we're
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Speaker 6: on that train of creating the awareness of what the
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Speaker 6: situations are and then following up with the actual ability
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Speaker 6: to have a lot of the tools that Because you
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Speaker 6: look up in the game and, you know, everybody looks.
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Speaker 3: At the game from different lenses and that's fine. But
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Speaker 3: the lens I look at it from is how to
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Speaker 3: win the game and what is going to be required
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Speaker 3: to win the game. And, you know, listen, you know,
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Speaker 3: I've studied, been a part of, won a lot to
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Speaker 3: your point. You know, I had a lot of really
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Speaker 3: talented players. Let's don't kid ourselves on that one. But,
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Speaker 3: you know, the fact of the matter, you do your
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Speaker 3: part to put them in the best position to win,
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Speaker 3: not only in strategy, but also in just the of
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Speaker 3: development and the training and the mentality of seeing the game,
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Speaker 3: playing the game. And, you know, look, you see the
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Speaker 3: industry now and, you know, Milwaukee, I was over there
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Speaker 3: managing a club for years and you study successful organizations, Cleveland, Tampa,
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Speaker 3: I was able to get out this year and see
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Speaker 3: other organizations. I'll go over and see Milwaukee's triple a
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Speaker 3: club play Rick sweet.
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Speaker 2: They're triple a manager.
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Speaker 3: You know, I managed against Rick a hundred years ago
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Speaker 3: in triple a. when he was the AAA manager in Milwaukee,
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Speaker 3: you know, and Rich got the second most wins of
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Speaker 3: all of minor league baseball history. And you go into
13:44
Speaker 3: Tampa and you see Morgan Insberg over there and he's
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Speaker 3: managing the AAA club and guy with real experience. And
13:50
Speaker 3: you go out and watch him play and there's a
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Speaker 3: method to what they're doing and how they're doing it.
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Speaker 3: And you study the Cleveland club and, you know, so
13:56
Speaker 3: you're getting the point of it that the organizations that
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Speaker 3: are consistently successful, they've got that nice blend of what
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Speaker 3: are important. And these technologies and these measurables and the
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Speaker 3: analytic things that help you create clarity of a lot
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Speaker 3: of different things and make things to where you can
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Speaker 3: make them more simple and actionable, they're super important in
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Speaker 3: the game. But as we're doing now in Baltimore, creating
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Speaker 3: that sweet spot of how to put it all together
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Speaker 3: and blend it to where we can rightfully be back
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Speaker 3: as the Orioles, one of the best teams, and then
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Speaker 3: ultimately the best team in Major League Baseball.
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Speaker 4: Mike, Steve had kind of told us to stop for
14:34
Speaker 4: the show, and I just got to know, he said
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Speaker 4: you're one of eight managers to never have professional experience
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Speaker 4: to manage at the major league level since like 1900.
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Speaker 4: I'm just curious, when you got started without any professional experience,
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Speaker 4: was that tough when you first got going as a
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Speaker 4: minor league coach? Or did that help you not having
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Speaker 4: any where you had a different perspective of everybody else
14:56
Speaker 4: around you? I was just curious about that experience. I
14:58
Speaker 4: had to ask that while we had you on here.
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Speaker 3: Yeah Brad I mean you know listen um now thankfully
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Speaker 3: and I'm not saying I'm some kind of trailblazer because
15:06
Speaker 3: I'm not no you know back in in the early
15:09
Speaker 3: 2000s you know if you didn't play major league or
15:12
Speaker 3: professional baseball you just weren't in you just weren't going
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Speaker 3: to get into player development and understandably so and so
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Speaker 3: the short of it is I went through the 12
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Speaker 3: years of the amateur side and I went to a
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Speaker 3: major league scout school um and a gentleman named Gary
15:27
Speaker 3: Randall a long time in awesome area scout for a
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Speaker 3: major league scouting bureau and a real mentor of mine,
15:34
Speaker 3: suggested I go.
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Speaker 2: To the scout school.
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Speaker 3: So I go to scout school and with no real
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Speaker 3: intention of scouting, just wanted to better myself as a
15:40
Speaker 3: baseball guy. And a year later, John Mazalek with the
15:43
Speaker 3: Cardinals called and said, hey, you know, understand you're interested
15:46
Speaker 3: in a scouting position. You went to scout school and
15:48
Speaker 3: it got really favorable reviews from Steve Marcos, the gentleman
15:52
Speaker 3: that ran the bureau. And I said, no, I'm not
15:55
Speaker 3: really interested in scouting. He said, well, why'd you go
15:59
Speaker 3: to school?
16:00
Speaker 2: I said, I don't know.
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Speaker 3: Just because I thought it'd make me a better baseball guy.
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Speaker 3: Seemed like a good idea. And he said, well, we've
16:06
Speaker 3: got a scouting job in the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee
16:08
Speaker 3: over to Nashville. Would you be interested? I said, if
16:11
Speaker 3: you let me coach in the summer and to their credit, they,
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Speaker 3: they did. And I'd go, I'd go do my scouting territory.
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Speaker 3: And then I'd go for four years and I got
16:23
Speaker 3: a Mark D. John, You know, they parceled out. I'd
16:26
Speaker 3: go a little bit at a time, the first year,
16:28
Speaker 3: second year. And Mark Dijon said, hey, listen, I'll come
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Speaker 3: back and manage a rookie club. DJ had played for Sparky,
16:38
Speaker 3: had coached and played for Leland, and was on La
16:42
Speaker 3: Russa's big league staff for seven years. And amazing mentor,
16:47
Speaker 3: taught me a ton, wouldn't be where I am without him.
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Speaker 3: But ultimately said, you know, Mike wants to be in
16:52
Speaker 3: full-time player development. I wasn't a great scout, evidently, you know.
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Speaker 3: So they didn't know what to do with me, Brad.
16:58
Speaker 3: They put me in player development. And, you know, to
17:01
Speaker 3: your point, I was a little apprehensive that they would
17:04
Speaker 3: look and frown upon the fact that I hadn't played.
17:07
Speaker 3: And while I did get some of that from opposition,
17:11
Speaker 3: especially as you get higher, kind of the good old
17:14
Speaker 3: boy network kind of thing, I never got that in St.
17:18
Speaker 2: Louis.
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Speaker 3: I was welcomed with open arms, players, staff. they appreciated
17:24
Speaker 3: the fact that the one thing that I knew I
17:26
Speaker 3: could do is put my head down and listen and learn.
17:29
Speaker 3: And I took a ton of notes for some, I mean, listen,
17:32
Speaker 3: the four managers, um, that were there were, you know,
17:35
Speaker 3: red Shane D's, Whitey Herzog, Joe Torrey, Tony La Russa. Um,
17:39
Speaker 3: and I just absolutely picked their brain. And of course
17:42
Speaker 3: you had Mr. Kissel and it was just baseball royalty there.
17:45
Speaker 3: So they never judged me. They let me, um, give
17:48
Speaker 3: me a partial that a little bit more every year to.
17:51
Speaker 2: Be able to kind of learn and do.
17:52
Speaker 3: And I was always a little over my skis, but without,
17:54
Speaker 3: I always had a safety net and they always were
17:56
Speaker 3: right there to, to not only catch me, but also
17:59
Speaker 3: to educate me.
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Speaker 2: And so I never felt.
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Speaker 3: Any, any anxiety or any, any concern about having not played.
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Speaker 2: They welcomed me, they grew me.
18:08
Speaker 3: And ultimately it turns out, you know, around double A,
18:13
Speaker 3: they were grooming me to, they all thought I was
18:15
Speaker 3: going to manage in the big leagues. And I was
18:17
Speaker 3: just trying to hold on for dear life to manage
18:19
Speaker 3: the springfield.
18:22
Speaker 1: Hey, Tim, before you jump in, I want to get
18:24
Speaker 1: a break in and we'll come back with Mike Sheltz,
18:27
Speaker 1: who this year served as the Orioles upper level coordinator
18:30
Speaker 1: of instructions. And we'll continue more with Mike here in
18:35
Speaker 1: a minute on Birdland Territory. Mike Sheltz is with us
18:39
Speaker 1: today on Birdland Territory, a proud member of the Fowl
18:43
Speaker 1: Territory Network. And Brad, you mentioned that list of eight.
18:46
Speaker 1: Mike's the only one on that list to have one
18:47
Speaker 1: manager of the year in Major League Baseball, which he
18:50
Speaker 1: did with the Cardinals in 2019, third in 2021, and
18:54
Speaker 1: in 2024, second to Pat Murphy of the Brewers, whose
18:58
Speaker 1: team is going to try to win the World Series
18:59
Speaker 1: here in a few days. And Tim, your turn. You
19:02
Speaker 1: got a question for Mike?
19:04
Speaker 5: Like I got a question about player development and this
19:08
Speaker 5: isn't just an Orioles thing. This is all 30 teams
19:11
Speaker 5: in baseball where you're seeing players develop at the major
19:15
Speaker 5: league level. And, and we always joke with Brad, you know,
19:18
Speaker 5: like you got Samuel, besides 21, 22 years old, Jackson holidays,
19:23
Speaker 5: 22 years old, but how hard is it to kind
19:28
Speaker 5: of walk that line?
19:29
Speaker 2: Right.
19:29
Speaker 5: Where you, You know, do you want a left handed
19:32
Speaker 5: bat facing left handed pitching or do you want to
19:35
Speaker 5: play them every single day and just try to instill
19:37
Speaker 5: all of that confidence in? But you're trying to secure
19:40
Speaker 5: a playoff spot. There's just so many balls in the air.
19:44
Speaker 2: That you have to juggle.
19:45
Speaker 5: How difficult is that kind of navigating that development process?
19:50
Speaker 2: At the major league level?
19:52
Speaker 3: That's the, that is the job now, you know, and
19:54
Speaker 3: it's really still incumbent upon the development department to accelerate
20:02
Speaker 3: as best they can players that physically are jettisoning their
20:08
Speaker 3: way and understandably and rightfully to the big leagues and
20:12
Speaker 3: try to not only help them, you know, with some
20:15
Speaker 3: of the situational understanding the game, but you alluded to it,
20:20
Speaker 3: the mental emotional side that comes with, you know, the,
20:23
Speaker 3: all the trappings of major league baseball and the microscope
20:26
Speaker 3: that it falls under, especially on clubs that are, you know,
20:30
Speaker 3: competing and have expectations, which I love to, to, to
20:34
Speaker 3: be a playoff world series caliber championship, big league team.
20:38
Speaker 2: And so.
20:41
Speaker 3: The importance of that, you know, for example, I don't
20:46
Speaker 3: think I'm going to be out of school with this,
20:47
Speaker 3: but with like when Jackson Merrill came up in, in 24,
20:53
Speaker 3: you know, Jackson had two things.
20:54
Speaker 2: One, he's trying to break into a big league club
20:57
Speaker 2: and two, he's changing positions. We had a real need
21:02
Speaker 2: for outfield Jackson shortstop, of course, Baltimore kid. phenomenal guy.
21:09
Speaker 3: And just, you know, that was part of the equation too,
21:13
Speaker 3: you know, just to make up really high, the desire
21:15
Speaker 3: to play, just a baseball player. So when we realized,
21:18
Speaker 3: you know, this is a guy that can go out
21:20
Speaker 3: and play outfield, which took me about a spring training
21:23
Speaker 3: game to figure that out.
21:25
Speaker 2: And then we put him in the center. It's like, yeah,
21:26
Speaker 2: this looks right. He was comfortable with the position change.
21:29
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
21:30
Speaker 3: Then there's the decision about, you know, the platoon. And again,
21:33
Speaker 3: there's no absolute answer to it. It is, representative of
21:36
Speaker 3: how your club's made up and philosophically how you think
21:39
Speaker 3: about the game. But, you know, one of the things that,
21:43
Speaker 3: you know, I was, I believe in is, you know,
21:46
Speaker 3: we have an obligation, especially with a talent like that, um,
21:50
Speaker 3: that we feel like it's going to be a 10, 11, 12,
21:53
Speaker 3: 15 year big leaguer.
21:54
Speaker 2: And then the experience of.
21:56
Speaker 3: Of seeing the development and seeing how guys like Yachty
21:58
Speaker 3: and Albert and guys like that were brought along as
22:02
Speaker 3: everyday players, um, you know, the decision was made, like,
22:06
Speaker 3: I'm not going to hit for this guy. And to
22:09
Speaker 3: your point, you're also, like, every game matters. That game
22:13
Speaker 3: in April clearly matters. So you are in between both places. And,
22:18
Speaker 3: you know, it's a hard, it can be a challenging
22:20
Speaker 3: place to be in, but that's why we have our jobs.
22:23
Speaker 3: You know, that's ultimately what we are there for. And,
22:26
Speaker 3: you know, to say, okay, I'm not going to hit.
22:28
Speaker 3: Jackson's going to be an everyday player where he's got
22:29
Speaker 3: a chance to be an all-star and ultimately invested in,
22:32
Speaker 3: which the organization rightfully did.
22:34
Speaker 2: He's going to play. He's going to get those at-bats
22:36
Speaker 2: against lefties.
22:37
Speaker 3: And, you know, listen, and they don't show us whether
22:40
Speaker 3: he can or can't, but it's not going to be,
22:43
Speaker 3: at least at that time, a knee-jerk reaction. He's going
22:47
Speaker 3: to go play. He's going to settle in. But, again,
22:49
Speaker 3: it depends on your roster. It depends on your philosophy.
22:52
Speaker 3: If you've got other guys that also can play. I mean,
22:56
Speaker 3: you know, I grew up, again, an Oriole guy, and
22:58
Speaker 3: it was Lowenstein and Renneke, you know, between in the
23:01
Speaker 3: left field and I was talking to Cal a couple
23:04
Speaker 3: weeks ago, and I didn't know this, but between that
23:06
Speaker 3: platoon system, that was basically an MVP platoon of that
23:10
Speaker 3: year that they had had. But he also shared with
23:13
Speaker 3: me that it wasn't an absolute platoon in that because
23:17
Speaker 3: Renneke would get the majority of the playing time, but
23:22
Speaker 3: he would still play against them, right, based on his
23:24
Speaker 3: swing path. So even then, Earl and the group knew, like,
23:27
Speaker 3: you know, he's a global hitter. This guy's a sinker guy.
23:30
Speaker 3: It's a good matchup.
23:32
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
23:33
Speaker 3: It wasn't like it took a ton of high level
23:36
Speaker 3: analytics to, to think about those things. And, and Earl
23:39
Speaker 3: was a big, I mean, he was on, he wanted
23:42
Speaker 3: a three on Homer and he wanted to on base percentage,
23:46
Speaker 3: you know, and, and it won. And so, and oh,
23:49
Speaker 3: by the way, he wanted to let you to catch
23:50
Speaker 3: the baseball too and play defense and make sure you
23:53
Speaker 3: play fundamentally sound. So as 10, as I tend to do,
23:57
Speaker 3: I can give a long answer. Um, I always want
24:00
Speaker 3: to make sure I get some depth of the content,
24:03
Speaker 3: but it can be a challenging thing to do, but
24:06
Speaker 3: a necessary thing to do now to wrap it up, Tim,
24:09
Speaker 3: to make sure that your staff has teachers on it
24:13
Speaker 3: because the process of development never stops. Having Yachty as
24:18
Speaker 3: a growth-minded guy at 38 years old, still thinking about
24:21
Speaker 3: a better way to play the game, see the game,
24:25
Speaker 3: but really important for young players that are coming up
24:28
Speaker 3: and getting their because they're so physically gifted now that
24:32
Speaker 3: they just get to the big leagues quicker, and there's
24:34
Speaker 3: some economics in play.
24:35
Speaker 2: With it as well.
24:37
Speaker 1: Very interesting, Mike. In San Diego, you manage some big talents.
24:41
Speaker 1: There are some big personalities, all the big dollars that
24:43
Speaker 1: are in the game right now. How does a manager
24:46
Speaker 1: navigate that with their clubhouse?
24:50
Speaker 3: It's ultimately a partnership. That partnership is not, oh, you
24:56
Speaker 3: get the big leagues, now we're going to partner with you.
24:59
Speaker 3: we're going to partner with players in the, in the,
25:02
Speaker 3: in the minor leagues, they come up, you know, there's
25:04
Speaker 3: always just a partnership because it's their careers. And, you know, Brad,
25:07
Speaker 3: I'm sure you can appreciate this. You know, it's, you
25:10
Speaker 3: want to be able to have the voice to weigh
25:13
Speaker 3: in on what's going on. I always said, there's two
25:14
Speaker 3: things that, that we owe you as a staff. We
25:18
Speaker 3: owe you a question of, Hey, I don't, I don't understand.
25:21
Speaker 3: We owe you an explanation. If we're going to invest in,
25:25
Speaker 3: put our time, energy, effort, and rightfully have our jobs
25:28
Speaker 3: for a reason as well.
25:30
Speaker 2: You know, we're going to bring something to you and
25:31
Speaker 2: we're going to share it with you. You have a
25:34
Speaker 2: right to say, hey, I don't understand what you're saying.
25:36
Speaker 3: I'm going to encourage that because our job is to
25:38
Speaker 3: get our information into your head and you go execute
25:41
Speaker 3: because it's a player's game. And then secondly, that's also
25:45
Speaker 3: most importantly is, you know, I don't agree. I see
25:48
Speaker 3: it this way. And so you mentioned a big league
25:52
Speaker 3: side of it, the one, I mean the clubhouse in
25:55
Speaker 3: San Diego, awesome group of guys, Manny, Toddy, Bogey, Crony,
25:59
Speaker 3: Joe Musgrove, Hugh Darvish. Um, you know, the guys that
26:03
Speaker 3: were rightfully invested in Joe Musgrove, um, all those guys were,
26:08
Speaker 3: you know, invested in is now it's a collaboration of, okay.
26:11
Speaker 2: What do we want to, how do we want to,
26:13
Speaker 2: you know, what are non-negotiables as a group? Everybody gets
26:17
Speaker 2: to weigh in.
26:17
Speaker 3: And by the way, in a team setting, not including myself,
26:20
Speaker 3: not everybody's going to get what they want.
26:22
Speaker 2: Um, but we've got to come up with, you know,
26:25
Speaker 2: what our preferences are.
26:27
Speaker 3: And then we as a group come up with what
26:28
Speaker 3: our non-negotiables are and our standards. And I like what
26:32
Speaker 3: Albie said, he talks about high standards with high support.
26:34
Speaker 3: I just love how that's framed. I believe in it
26:37
Speaker 3: completely and echo it to our minor week side, but
26:41
Speaker 3: ultimately it's about listening. It's about partnership and it's about
26:45
Speaker 3: being together for a common goal.
26:47
Speaker 2: And that's what this is about. But it is about
26:50
Speaker 2: being able to listen to your clubhouse and, give them
26:53
Speaker 2: a rightful voice because, you know, they've earned the right
26:56
Speaker 2: to have it.
26:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's a great approach to it all.
27:00
Speaker 4: That was a great answer. Kind of just with your
27:05
Speaker 4: spin on the minors, what excites you about the next
27:07
Speaker 4: wave of players for the Orioles fans that are listening
27:10
Speaker 4: to this podcast?
27:12
Speaker 3: The future's bright. You know, listen, patience is an interesting word.
27:19
Speaker 3: Fan bases don't want to hear it. I'm not overly patient. However,
27:24
Speaker 3: the development of a system and processes that need to
27:26
Speaker 3: be put into place requires some time.
27:29
Speaker 2: So some patience is required, but we are running the race.
27:33
Speaker 2: But we're running the race right now in our player
27:35
Speaker 2: development system with some real talent.
27:38
Speaker 3: You know, when we got back into Adderley trade, you know,
27:43
Speaker 3: we had real talent. You know, I had seen a
27:46
Speaker 3: sewing pitch a couple times.
27:48
Speaker 2: I mean, real now stuff. Good.
27:51
Speaker 3: Good, you know, three, four pitches, command up and feel
27:55
Speaker 3: for him, repeatability, makes adjustments good aptly. I like the
28:00
Speaker 3: way he competed. You know, a guy that we can
28:02
Speaker 3: really get excited about. You know, I didn't get a
28:05
Speaker 3: chance to see him, but as a car player, the
28:09
Speaker 3: position player, the guys who went in there in the
28:11
Speaker 3: system that I trust highly said, you know, this is
28:13
Speaker 3: one of our best position players in the system.
28:17
Speaker 2: Witherspoon, nice arm. We got back there.
28:20
Speaker 3: So we got some real talent back in, in that are,
28:23
Speaker 3: that are, you know, bode well for our future. And
28:25
Speaker 3: then the guys that are in the system that were
28:27
Speaker 3: already there. I mean, daily own, you see them come up.
28:30
Speaker 3: You came up by the bullpen contributed, didn't make situations
28:34
Speaker 3: bigger than they were, you know, got the guys on
28:36
Speaker 3: the ground, carried himself. Well, as a bright future, you know, like,
28:40
Speaker 3: you know, has an arsenal to go in and be
28:42
Speaker 3: a starter, you know, Jersey pitcher of the year, I mean,
28:48
Speaker 3: I saw him first game of the season in Spartanburg
28:51
Speaker 3: to open up the, um, high club with the high
28:54
Speaker 3: club and Frederick. Um, and it went, Ooh, it's pretty,
28:59
Speaker 3: pretty good. Um, and absolutely good stuff knows how to
29:04
Speaker 3: use it. Then you talk to him and he's got
29:07
Speaker 3: the right kind of mindset, you know, whatever the it
29:09
Speaker 3: factor is really dedicated, head on straight open.
29:13
Speaker 2: You know, we talked about the mental emotional side to it.
29:15
Speaker 3: You paint up a little picture of what that can
29:16
Speaker 3: look like and, We'll get in the weeds with that.
29:19
Speaker 2: But he picks up on it. See him next time.
29:20
Speaker 3: He's kind of incorporated it, thinking about it. Now it's
29:23
Speaker 3: a conversation. So you say, OK, he's on his way.
29:27
Speaker 3: You know, the hunter kid, the lefty. I mean, between Jerza, Hunter, Bateman,
29:32
Speaker 3: you know, three lefties that all have a chance to
29:35
Speaker 3: start and legitimately contribute. And one of the things that
29:39
Speaker 3: I've always. created the bar of is you know championship
29:42
Speaker 3: player for a championship team that's how I was groomed
29:45
Speaker 3: to think and so these are guys that you know
29:47
Speaker 3: can legitimately help us win division you know and help
29:51
Speaker 3: us in the future now we still have a job
29:53
Speaker 3: to do ultimately the player gets the credit they've got
29:55
Speaker 3: their work to be done a little bit of a
29:59
Speaker 3: not a hidden guy, but Micah Ashman, reliever in Chesapeake,
30:04
Speaker 3: put together some crazy good numbers.
30:05
Speaker 2: Another lefty.
30:07
Speaker 3: So then you had the Quinn kid, righty with the
30:10
Speaker 3: nice arm, breaking ball. So the pitching side, you know,
30:13
Speaker 3: the good news is I can still talk about five
30:16
Speaker 3: or six more guys, you know, and still feel good
30:18
Speaker 3: about it and didn't get a chance to see some
30:21
Speaker 3: of the lower level arms that people are excited about.
30:23
Speaker 3: So it's really, we got a really good scouting system
30:26
Speaker 3: that came in. You know, looking at the guys that
30:29
Speaker 3: are coming in from amateur scouting and, you know, Will,
30:33
Speaker 3: the scouting director, is doing a great job. And Kobe Perez,
30:36
Speaker 3: international scouting director, does a great job. And so the
30:39
Speaker 3: talent's there. And then positionally, it's like Irish can.
30:42
Speaker 2: Hit, man. This kid can hit.
30:45
Speaker 3: You know, had a little bit of a hiccup with
30:48
Speaker 3: a slight meniscus tear at the end of the season.
30:50
Speaker 3: And Frederick is back in the Arizona Fall League just
30:53
Speaker 3: barreling balls all over the place. Vance Honeycutt. You know,
30:58
Speaker 3: look at the four homers and four bats in spring training.
31:01
Speaker 3: And then, you know, got things kind of clicking a
31:05
Speaker 3: little bit towards the end of the year, promoted double A.
31:07
Speaker 3: I mean, his last 25 games or so there, great.
31:10
Speaker 3: Off to a good start in the fall league. So positionally,
31:14
Speaker 3: you know, we got some guys that are, you know,
31:16
Speaker 3: doing some things. You know, Bradfield put together a solid year,
31:20
Speaker 3: taking those next steps like defense, base running, some of
31:24
Speaker 3: the nuanced things that, He can come up and, you know,
31:27
Speaker 3: at a starting point, be that good fourth outfielder, you know,
31:30
Speaker 3: go pinch run for Albie, play a little defense, that kind.
31:33
Speaker 2: Of thing, taking it back and a buck down.
31:35
Speaker 3: Those kind of things. So I get excited, as you
31:37
Speaker 3: can tell, about our players. And like I say, there's
31:40
Speaker 3: more on both sides of the ball we can talk about,
31:42
Speaker 3: but there's some real talent down there. There's big leaguers
31:45
Speaker 3: in our system that, you know, we do our part,
31:47
Speaker 3: they do their part. They can come up and contribute.
31:52
Speaker 1: Pretty exciting stuff, Mike. Thank you for taking the time
31:55
Speaker 1: to spend with us today. I think Oriole fans, uh,
31:59
Speaker 1: got a real glimpse of some things that went on
32:01
Speaker 1: this year in the system. And I, as I said,
32:03
Speaker 1: I love talking to you about there's 90 foot increments
32:06
Speaker 1: and get the first out of the inning and old
32:08
Speaker 1: school things that match up with the new school technology
32:11
Speaker 1: and data. And we see it with the teams that
32:14
Speaker 1: are still playing. So you gotta have it all at
32:17
Speaker 1: this point in the game. And, um, Sounds like you
32:20
Speaker 1: had a blast this year on the farm in Birdland.
32:23
Speaker 3: I had a blast. You know, we got some work
32:26
Speaker 3: ahead of us. You know, we got some ground to cover,
32:28
Speaker 3: but we're going to cover.
32:29
Speaker 2: We're going to cover quickly.
32:30
Speaker 3: And I'm ready for the Orioles to take their rightful
32:33
Speaker 3: spot back to where I grew up.
32:35
Speaker 2: And that's the, you know, the industry leader.
32:40
Speaker 1: Mike Schill, thanks for taking time today. Continued success. And
32:44
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you being a part of our show. Thanks, Mike.
32:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, awesome talking Oriole baseball with everybody. Appreciate it. Thanks, Mike.
32:53
Speaker 1: Mike Shelton with us today on Birdland Territory. Thanks for
32:56
Speaker 1: tuning in, O's fans, and we'll see you next time
32:59
Speaker 1: on Birdland Territory.
33:02
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33:04
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