Latest / Birdland Territory / Jackson Holliday struggles in 2026. What could 2027 have in store?

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Jackson Holliday struggles in 2026. What could 2027 have in store? · Birdland Territory

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Orioles had quite a series at Citi Field. They swept
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the Mets by winning the final game 7-1. They hit
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: four home runs in each of the last two games.
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  Speaker 1: They haven't done that all year. In fact, they've only
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: had seven games this year, four more homers, two in
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  Speaker 1: a row. And we're taping this in advance of them
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  Speaker 1: starting the series at home against the Brewers this weekend.
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  Speaker 1: So as we tape it, their two-and-a-half backup now be
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  Speaker 1: White Sox, who are the wild card. The Guardians have
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  Speaker 1: passed them. It's crazy, but the math still works. We
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  Speaker 1: still know it's an incredible long shot. That hasn't changed
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  Speaker 1: for weeks. Today on the show, we're going to get
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  Speaker 1: into some maybe bigger range topics, I guess, if you will.
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  Speaker 1: Not so much specific to any of these Mets games,
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  Speaker 1: but important to the Orioles today and moving forward. And
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  Speaker 1: one we want to start with is Jackson Holiday. Goes
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: on the I.L. with less wrist inflammation. three games, he
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  Speaker 1: would be eligible to do so.
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  Speaker 2: He's still young.
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  Speaker 1: We know that he turns 23 in December, but we're
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  Speaker 1: over a thousand plate appearances now. Jackson's had a rough year.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't always a rough year, guys.
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  Speaker 1: On August 1, his OPS was 751. That's robust. That's
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  Speaker 1: not bad at all. That's headed for a good year.
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  Speaker 1: But now at the end, August and September really struggled.
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  Speaker 1: I'm wondering what it means moving forward. I think– and
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  Speaker 1: I'm not jumping off his bandwagon, and I'm pretty sure
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  Speaker 1: the Orioles aren't either. But at some point, I think
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  Speaker 1: we're expecting more out of Jackson.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so, Steve.
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  Speaker 4: And I think this year we saw glimpses of the
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  Speaker 4: player that we hope to get from him in the future.
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  Speaker 4: But like you said, his overall numbers just aren't going
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  Speaker 4: to maybe show that. I feel like there was– certain
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  Speaker 4: months where you're like, okay, this is, this is the
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  Speaker 4: player that he's going to be.
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  Speaker 3: And it's just kind of, when you look at the
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  Speaker 3: numbers at the end of the year, under a hundred games.
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  Speaker 4: Played, it's just kind of not going to be the
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  Speaker 4: type of year that you would hope he was.
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  Speaker 3: Going to have.
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  Speaker 4: And I think you can't forget about the handmade injury
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  Speaker 4: that he had coming out of spring training and then
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  Speaker 4: the setback he had from that too. And it's just
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  Speaker 4: tough when you're a young player, which he still is
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  Speaker 4: going to be for the next two or three seasons,
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  Speaker 4: it's tough unless you're getting every day at bats and
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: you're with the team every single day. It's tough to
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: develop as a major leaguer. So I think we saw
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: the glimpses that we wanted to see. I just think
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: moving forward, you'd like to just see a little bit
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  Speaker 4: more consistency on the offensive side of the ball. And
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  Speaker 4: I think defensively he held his own. I think he's
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: getting better. It's a position he's still kind of learning.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: But just a little bit more consistency moving forward, I
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  Speaker 4: feel like, is the main thing you want to see
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  Speaker 4: from Jackson Holliday.
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  Speaker 5: I'm going to stick with my thoughts that I had
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: after the hammy injury where I'm, I'm pretty forgiving of
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  Speaker 5: this year for Jackson, just because that injury happened at
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: such an inopportune time where Jackson's still so young, just
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: 22 years old. And for him to miss essentially all
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  Speaker 5: of spring training, he had no great grapefruit league action.
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: three separate rehab stints coming back from the hand-made bone surgery.
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  Speaker 5: That just really set him back. And then when you
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: consider the fact that when he did return, this Orioles
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: team was really underperforming, and we're kind of looking for
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: a shot in the arm. And it's been up and down,
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: to say the least, for Jackson. You can look at
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: his month of July, where he had a monster month, guys.
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: 368 batting average, 921 OPS.
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  Speaker 5: But yeah, it's been a rough month. finish to the
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  Speaker 5: year in August and now September. But with Jackson, I'm
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  Speaker 5: viewing next year as a big year for him. No
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  Speaker 5: way around it. You know, you'd like to see him
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  Speaker 5: take a big step forward. He'll be 23 years old. Steve,
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  Speaker 5: you mentioned all the plate appearances under his belt at
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  Speaker 5: this point.
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  Speaker 6: And, you know, Brad, you mentioned second base.
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  Speaker 5: Obviously, he came up being a shortstop, but there's a
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  Speaker 5: lot of games under his belt at that position at
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  Speaker 5: this point. I see 2027 being a big, big year
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  Speaker 5: for Jackson Holiday.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, me too.
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  Speaker 1: How do you think he's dealing with fan criticism? He's
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  Speaker 1: a 1-1 pick. There have been three such picks in
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  Speaker 1: Oriole history. First pick, first round. I mean, that throws
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  Speaker 1: a lot on you. Like some before him, he rose
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  Speaker 1: to become the number one prospect.
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  Speaker 2: The spotlight was so white hot.
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  Speaker 1: Even with his dad's background and his background in baseball,
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  Speaker 1: I think he was always dealing with crazy expectations that
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: were always going to be a challenge.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think when you're the 1-1, you have
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  Speaker 4: this crazy expectation that, this is a Hall of Famer.
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  Speaker 3: And it's kind of just one of those things.
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  Speaker 4: I think the way he performed in the minor leagues,
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  Speaker 4: you expect him to come to the big leagues and
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  Speaker 4: just be one of these guys when he's 20 or
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  Speaker 4: 21 years old that just takes the league by storm.
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  Speaker 3: And unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way very often.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, there's the players that can do that every once
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  Speaker 4: in a while, but it's just, you're looking at once
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  Speaker 4: every five years or 10 years that a player like
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  Speaker 4: that comes along. So I just think I think he's
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  Speaker 4: handled it well with all the expectations and the, the
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  Speaker 4: pressure that has been on him. But I just think
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  Speaker 4: it's like, Tim, like you're saying, I think next year
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  Speaker 4: is a big year. And I think if he underperforms
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  Speaker 4: again in 2027, that's when I feel like the pressure
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  Speaker 4: is really going to start to come down on him
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  Speaker 4: and we'll see how he handles it then.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah.
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  Speaker 6: I'm with you a hundred percent, Brad.
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  Speaker 5: I don't want to say make or break year for 2027,
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  Speaker 5: but it's, it's really.
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  Speaker 6: Important and there's no way around it.
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  Speaker 5: And, And look, Jackson, to his credit, you can go
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  Speaker 5: back the year he was drafted. He wasn't seen heading
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  Speaker 5: into that season as the 1-1, but he busted his butt.
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  Speaker 5: He had a monster senior year at high school, ended
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  Speaker 5: up earning that 1-1 spot.
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  Speaker 6: And then you look at his production throughout the minor leagues.
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  Speaker 5: I think it was Jim Callis that came on with
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: us at the fan, and he was saying, He was
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: the most impressive prospect he's seen since A-Rod. So the
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  Speaker 5: expectations have always been really through the roof when it
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: comes to Jackson Holiday. But like you said, Brad, when
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: these guys, you know, Jackson making his debut at 20
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  Speaker 5: years old, like, gosh, man, you're playing against grown ass men.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: And.
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  Speaker 5: He just had his prom two years ago, you know,
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: like it's, it's tough, but I will say Steve, to
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  Speaker 5: your question, we were talking about Samuel Bisayo last episode
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  Speaker 5: and how, where's his confidence, you know, with him scuffling
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  Speaker 5: down the stretch. I think I have more concern about
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  Speaker 5: Sam being more of an emotional player where Jackson has
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: always been this polished individual and, And that's because he
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: grew up in a clubhouse with his dad and.
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  Speaker 6: He's been around this.
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  Speaker 5: So I'm not necessarily worried about Jackson's confidence just because
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: to me, he's always been mature beyond his years in,
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  Speaker 5: in large part because he grew up in this environment.
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  Speaker 2: He, he always faced though.
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  Speaker 1: It's for, I remember his first spring training the year
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  Speaker 1: he would make the major leagues.
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  Speaker 2: The spotlight was so hot. Oh yeah. I was down
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  Speaker 2: there in Sarasota.
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  Speaker 1: Every day, another national guy would come into the Oriole
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  Speaker 1: Clubhouse and not go for Gunner or Adley. They made
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  Speaker 1: a beeline for Jackson Holiday. Here's Jeff Passan. The next day,
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  Speaker 1: here's John Heyman. The next day, here's Ken Rosenthal. The
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: next day, here's MLB Network. They're all going to Jackson.
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  Speaker 1: All these bigger players who have achieved more have a resume.
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  Speaker 2: They're walking right past them to get to Jackson.
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  Speaker 1: And I watch it every day, and I'm like, man,
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  Speaker 1: this kid, The spotlight is as high as it can get.
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  Speaker 1: I thought he handled it well, but it's always has
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  Speaker 1: been a challenge for him. Let's take a break and
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: come back and we'll talk more about that and some
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: other topics as we talk about Jackson Holiday season and
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: what we're looking at going forward for him on Birdland Territory.
• 8:17
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• 9:19
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Jackson Holliday on Birdland territory, the white
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  Speaker 1: hot spotlight.
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  Speaker 2: He's always faced.
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  Speaker 1: And I think late in the year, the plate discipline
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  Speaker 1: really has gotten away from him. And I went to
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  Speaker 1: see just how much, and I was a little shocked
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: by this stat. In his last 23 games, he has
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: not walked. He has 23 strikeouts to zero walks. His
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: on base is lower than his batting average to 13 yards.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: At the end of last year, he was walking a ton.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: For parts of this year, he was walking a ton.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how to read into that. Even if
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you're hurting and you're a little tired or whatever, that
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  Speaker 1: is glaring to me.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Steve, I think the one thing I can say
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  Speaker 4: is just from my own personal experience seeing younger hitters,
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: they want to hit themselves out of slumps. So a
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: lot of times they don't want to get deep in counts.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: They don't want to see a ton of pitches. It's
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: almost like they get back into the mode when they're
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: in high school or guys that are in college. It's like,
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: go up there, first good pitch you see, go after it.
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  Speaker 4: And a lot of times it's about seeing pitches. It's
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: about kind of seeing where the zone is. And I
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: think a lot of young hitters just get kind of
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: lost in where the zone is, where a strike is,
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: where a ball is. And you just say, screw it
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  Speaker 4: at some point. I'm just going to go up there
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  Speaker 4: and if I see something straight– I'm going after it.
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  Speaker 4: Even though it's a dotted fastball away, you're like, I
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: was looking fastball.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: I got fastball.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that's where maturity comes as a hitter
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  Speaker 4: is you're looking for a certain pitch, but zoning that pitch.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that's really what it kind of boils
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: down to when you see zero walks over his last
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: however many games.
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  Speaker 3: To me, that's what I see as a pitcher.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: If I was going to go face him, I'm seeing
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: this kid is going up there and he's seeing the
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: pitch that he wants to hit, but he's just not
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  Speaker 4: seeing in the right zone. So you start attacking on
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: the edges and that's how you can get a lot
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: of young hitters out.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's pretty stunning, Steve. I didn't even realize it
• 11:15
  Speaker 6: was that bad.
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: And prior to the break, I brought up his red-hot
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: month of July, the 368 batting average, 921 OPS. His
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: walk-to-strikeout ratio, he had 16 walks to 11 strikeouts. So
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: that tells you it's a complete 180 from that point
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: to where we are ending the season.
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  Speaker 6: And Steve, that was always something that was so.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: elite for Jackson holiday coming through the minors. You look
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: at his 108 career games at the triple a level.
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: He had an on base percentage over 400. That's spectacular in,
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: in that. So that hasn't translated to the consistency at
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: the major league level yet. And yeah, down the stretch that,
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: that that's just a, that's a pretty rough ending.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Brad is onto something there. You're trying
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: to hit your way out of tough times. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: You hit the pitch on the corner, you ground out,
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  Speaker 1: you never get close to a walk and your batting
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  Speaker 1: average goes down and your confidence takes another hit because
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: you just made another out.
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  Speaker 2: And as mature as he is, we've all seen it.
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  Speaker 1: Baseball beats you down, whether you're 32, 22 or 42.
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  Speaker 1: If you're not playing well, you live with it every
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: day and it's got to be tough for him. What
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: we don't know, And this happens all the time with
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the Orioles, I assume with other teams. We find out
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: in December, the second half, he was dealing with that
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: wrist longer than we thought. And that might be why
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: his August OPS is 495 and September's 520. If that's so,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: you almost wish they'd tell you so you know. And
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: fans would know, okay, there was an asterisk by this
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: kid's stats.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: But we don't know that right now.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I just think it's one of those things
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: I know as Oriole fans you want to say, he's
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: a 1-1, we need him, he's got to be better.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: He's 22 years old, and unfortunately it was a little
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: down year, but like we said, the injuries went into that.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: And I just think if he can go back, and
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: scrolling through his splits, I noticed right off the bat,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: ahead in the count, 733 OPS, behind in the count, 389.
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: And if you could just tell him, hey, Jackson, we
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: need you to just see more pitches, get yourself in
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: the hitter's advantage. You're talking well above league average when
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: you're ahead in the count and you are below replacement
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: when you are behind in the count. And once you're
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: able to establish the zone, let's go with that this offseason.
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: Let's work on getting in better counts because that suits
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: you better as a hitter. And it's just kind of
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: one of those things where you just got to just
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: temper expectations.
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  Speaker 3: And I think he's going to get there.
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  Speaker 4: It's just, he's 22 years old and he's still trying
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: to figure out the player that he is at the
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  Speaker 4: big league level, which can take a little bit of time,
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: which I know is hard for a one, one and
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: for a team that really needs a player like him
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  Speaker 4: to really step up and be the player that they
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: expected when they drafted him.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: He's a huge, huge part of this thing. And unfortunately,
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: you know, we've had this conversation a lot where, uh,
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: a reason why the Orioles are in their position where
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: they're at is because these young guys haven't taken the
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: next step. And Steve, when you were bringing up the
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: injury aspect of it, maybe he has been over the
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: past couple of months, and this explains the downturn. Heck,
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: I remember Gunnar Henderson. We didn't know about the shoulder
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: injury until.
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: The Birdland Caravan. He brought that up in.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: February, months after the season. Then you think, oh, well,
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: that makes sense why he only hit 17 home runs
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: in 2025. So maybe that will end up being the
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: case for Jackson Holiday, but time will tell.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I still am on his bandwagon, and I do not
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: advocate what I'm about to say, but it must be
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: at least in the back of the minds of Oriole management.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: You've got this log jam now at third. CES has
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: come on. Westberg might come back. Mayo's having this year.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: How are you going to get all these guys on
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the field? One of them could go to second base.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Westberg can play anywhere. You can put him at second
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: base and he and Gunner would look great up the middle.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I don't see that happening, but it's not impossible.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I would say today.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think so.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: And I think it's just kind of one of those
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: things that things kind of sort themselves out and, It's
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: tough to sit in the offseason and say, well, we're
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: going to put this guy there and that guy there.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: You've got to kind of like let it all breathe
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: and just kind of see where it goes from there
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: because it's hard.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: It's going to be hard for these.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Guys who had great second halves to really step up
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: and do it again next year. And that's the most
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: frustrating part of baseball is I feel like you finally
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: feel like you figured it out. You go into an offseason,
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: you come back next year, and you feel like you're
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: a completely different player. So I think Jackson Holiday is
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: the second baseman, if not the shortstop, if Gunnar Henderson
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: ends up going somewhere.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: For the future for this team. But his play on
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: the field is going to dictate that.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: And I think after having two back-to-back down seasons as
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: a whole for this team, you're going to have to
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: find the guys that can perform the best and give
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: this team the best chance to win. So it'll be
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: interesting to see how it shapes up in 2027 and
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: where Jackson Holiday fits in this lineup and on this team.
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: Yeah, boring. Something.
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: crazy happening for me. He's, he's the opening day, second baseman.
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: I don't really think that that's up for debate, uh,
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: for me at least, but you know, with Jackson holiday,
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: I know we're going to get into Dylan Beavers later
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: on in the show, something that this team needs guys,
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: they need a consistent lead off guy. They just Taylor Ward,
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: I guess, was that for a big chunk of this year.
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: And yes, he got on base and the power numbers
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: really plummeted for him, but Since that point, we've seen
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: Gunner in there. We've seen Jackson in there. We see
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: Dylan Beavers in there now. Reese Hines let off.
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: The other day. They just haven't had a consistent leadoff guy.
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: And whether that's going to be Jackson Holiday, Dylan Beavers,
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: or door number three, we shall see.
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: But I think that needs to be a big focus
• 17:19
  Speaker 6: this offseason, too. They need a consistent leadoff, man.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, Jackson's got the eye for it his whole career.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: He's gotten away from them here at the end, as
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: we noted with those stats, big time.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: It's just not himself right now. Why is that? I
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: think we'll have to sort that out over time. But
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: easy to root for.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: And I've seen few kids as hyped, not by him,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: by everybody else, as Jackson Holiday, who dealt with it
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: so well. To me, he's a Pete Alonzo in the making.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: That's the kind of character and leadership I see of Jackson.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: He doesn't have the resume and the stats. But one day,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: if he is playing all-star caliber, I think we'll see
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: this kid is something special.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: And Brad, you brought this up in a prior episode.
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: You know, guys talking to Pete, like, I understand they
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: are much different profiles as players, Pete Alonso and Jackson Holiday.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: But if I'm Jackson Holiday, that's someone I want to
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: talk to this offseason, right?
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, for me, I understand the different profiles,
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: but Pete knows how to hit.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: He's a polished major league hitter, and I think lean
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: into him, and he's got it right at home. I mean,
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: his dad was as polished of a.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Hitter as you should have over 15 years, I believe,
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: in the big leagues.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: So he's got a lot of people that I just
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: feel like you get to a certain point where you
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: want to find out who you are, but then it's
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: not a bad idea to kind of bounce ideas off
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: of guys, and I think– He has two resources right
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: at his fingertips between his dad and Pete.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: And I think this offseason he should just really lean into.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: Those guys and find out what made them the successful
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: hitters that they were for a decade plus in the
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: big leagues. And he can be right there because he's
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: shown it all to this point. And like Steve said,
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: he's just got a great head on his shoulder. So
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: you throw all those things together, you're going to have
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: yourself a good big leaguer.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: O's fans, if you jump off the Jackson Bulldogs, holiday.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Bandwagon right now you do so at your own risk
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: or someone else is going to take your seat and
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: you may never get it back because that kid we
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: think is going to find his way in the major
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: leagues as buck show walter told us a million times
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: delayed not denied hopefully that's going to be the case
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: for jackson let's get into some other topics in a
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: moment on birdland.
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: Territory Back in the day, Kratzy and I were looking
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: for tickets. It was so hard to find a seat
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: or anything available. You'd have to go online and there
• 19:48
  Speaker 7: was nothing there. But now with SeatGeek, they make it
• 19:51
  Speaker 7: so much easier for you. They have the green light special.
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: What does that mean? It means when the green light
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: is on, you can get some of the best seats available.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Go to SeatGeek.
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: Kratzy understands how.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Easy it is.
• 20:01
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I know you used to scalp your tickets. But look,
• 20:04
  Speaker 9: it's way, way better now because you get to just
• 20:06
  Speaker 9: go right on SeatGeek. and find your postseason tickets. I'm
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: not even going to fast forward to the postseason. I'm
• 20:12
  Speaker 9: going to say the run to October because some teams
• 20:15
  Speaker 9: aren't in yet, so right now is the time to
• 20:17
  Speaker 9: get it, and those seats are available.
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: And it's playoff time, the best time for baseball. And,
• 20:21
  Speaker 7: of course, I have a code for you all. You
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: can use code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set
• 20:27
  Speaker 7: of MLB tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off MLB tickets
• 20:31
  Speaker 7: with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: in the description to download the app and have the
• 20:36
  Speaker 7: code automatically sent Add it to your account so you
• 20:39
  Speaker 7: can use it later.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: All right, guys.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: What about Dylan Beavers in the leadoff spot? I mean,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: this guy knows his way around the strike zone. Walk
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: rate's a little above average. Probably needs to cut down
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: on the swing and miss a little bit. When you
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: hear Albert Az talk about him, he really likes Dylan Beavers' game.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: There is no question. He is a Beavers fan, and
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: he could be a leadoff guy, I think.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, to me, if you had to write in a
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: 2027 lineup right now, I just feel like he's proven
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: he can hit in the leadoff spot. I think he's
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: done an admirable job there, and he's kind of gotten
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: on base. And I feel like, Tim, to your point,
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: finding a leadoff guy for this lineup in particular and
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: the way it's constructed– I feel like you go a
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: really long way to their offensive success. And I think
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: this year not having that guy, I think really is
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: a huge point to why they weren't able to put
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: up the runs on a consistent basis because they were
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: constantly churning that spot. They're for somebody else and trying
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: to find somebody else to be there in that spot.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: And I think someone who leads off for a lineup,
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: the more you do it, the more comfortable you get
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: and understand what the team is looking for. And I
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: think Dylan has done a good job at that. And
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: if I were going to write the lineup today, if
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: you had to tell me, give me a leadoff guy,
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: I think Dylan Beavers would be my leadoff guy in
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: 2027 for this team.
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: I just really like his eye.
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: I really like, for the most part, you get a
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: professional at-bat, and you look at, despite him being such
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: a young player, especially in games played in terms of MLB,
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: this is still his rookie season, his chase rate, he's
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: in the 84th percentile in chase rate, which is really,
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: really impressive. So this isn't someone expanding the zone, and
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: something that I continue to hammer is when it comes
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: to Dylan Beavers as well. And I know this kind
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: of goes beyond the leadoff spot, but Craig Albert has
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: saying it's slow heartbeat. You know, he's a very clutch
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: ball player in terms of runners in scoring position, well
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: over 300 batting average, two outs runners in scoring position,
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: well over 300 high leverage, uh, spots well over 300.
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: I'm a Dylan Beavers fan.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: Um, and, and Obviously he's a friend of Birdland territory.
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: So, you know, we root for him extra hard, right?
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: And he told me a couple of times, he has
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: gotten better at hitting with two strikes.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, if you're going to be a good hitter
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: in the major leagues.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: That's always important because these pitchers are so good, man,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: they're going to get to those counts. And if you're
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: going to take a few pitches, you're going to have
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: to hit in deep counts sometimes to two, one, two, three, two, whatever.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: And you have to be able to, Know the zone.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: If they're going to walk you, walk you. Don't expand.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: And yet hit close pitches too. To hit with two strikes, man,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: that's a real challenge.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and we saw, you know, talking about Taylor Ward,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: when he was the leadoff spot, I almost felt like
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: he was almost too unaggressive. You know, like he was
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: taking his walks, which is great. You want that for
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: a leadoff guy. But there's that fine line, like Steve said,
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: about being able to pull the trigger with two strikes
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: or to take your walk. And I think Dylan Beavers
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: has really gotten better.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: And it takes practice.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: And it takes practice at the big league level to
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: understand what these pitchers are trying to do. And you
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: have so many different arms that come at you throughout
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: a game to understand what each guy is trying to
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: do with two strikes.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: It just takes practice. It takes at-bats.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: And I think having Dylan Beavers get those at-bats in
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: the leadoff spot is only going to benefit him and
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: the team as a whole as we move forward.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: The one downside with all of this, guys, and I
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: know we've kind of beat this horse to death repeatedly.
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: Dylan has only had 61 plate appearances against left-handed pitching.
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: So we still just haven't seen the runway for him
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: to face left-handed pitching. The same with Sam and Colton Couser,
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: who we'll talk about. You'd like them to have more
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: plate appearances against left-handed pitching under their belt, where... I
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: don't want to platoon for the leadoff spot, ideally. Every
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: time a left-handed starter is there, oh, well, Dylan Beavers
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: can't lead off tonight.
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: I don't want that to be the case.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: No, very good point. And so we're going to see
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: how some of this plays out.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Saturday will be a special day at Oriole Park at
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Camden Yards.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: We're going to touch on why coming up.
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: Trey Mancini will retire as an Oriole on Saturday.
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: There will be a ceremony before the game.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: Birdland will show this guy love yet another time.
• 25:15
  Speaker 6: A few players adored as a correct word, I think,
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: to use here.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: In Baltimore, Trey, you guys know the history that he
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: dealt with cancer.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Sixth or seventh round pick out of Notre Dame. Those picks,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: a lot of them are not supposed to make it.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: And boy, did he make it. He's got a World
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Series ring, not with Baltimore, sadly. He even came back
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: and played in the major leagues briefly this year. I mean,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: what can't this guy do?
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's amazing.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: And I'm so happy for Trey to get to go
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: back to Camden Yards and get one final goodbye.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: And I think a lot of.
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: Players would love to have that opportunity, but nobody has
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: deserved it more than him. Just everything he's had to
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: go through. And like you said, Steve with the world
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: series ring and kind of almost retired basically, and came
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: back this year and had one last shot at the
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: big leagues, which is awesome to get to go and
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: have that one last shot. And I just think it's,
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: it's awesome that he's getting to come back and just,
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: just really be able to appreciate the fans and the
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: fans appreciate him one last time. And it go basically
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: retire as an Oreo, which, is a great honor. And, uh,
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: anytime a team does that, it goes to show what
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: kind of, not only player he was, but the person
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: that Trey was and the teammate that he was. And, uh,
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: it's just, it doesn't happen for many guys and not
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: many more deserving than Trey Mancini.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that that's exactly it.
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: You know, we spent so much these past couple of
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: episodes talking about Pete Alonzo and the response that he
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: got at city field. And, and, you know, it takes
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: a special player. It both of those apply to Trey Mancini.
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: You know, he, he was absolutely beloved by this fan base.
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: He embraced this community.
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: He was out and about, you know, his relationship with
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: Mo Gabba was unbelievable. You know, very, very deserved. And,
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: and Brad, you make a good point. You know, not,
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: not every player gets this, but thankfully trade is getting
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: this on Saturday.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, really special. I think you touched on it there.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: The relationship with Mo Gabba was really special. It just
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: brought out the heart of Trey Mancini, which I think
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: we already saw, but now we get to see it
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: in a different light, how he embraced this young man,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: and they genuinely loved each other, and he became good
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: friends with Sanse, his mom.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: That was something, man.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's extremely special, and I think any time You're
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: able to take that bond beyond the field and go
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: into the community and really connect to the community you
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: play in in a big way, which Trey was able
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: to do and Mo was able to do. I just
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: think it makes it that much more special. And that's
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: a reason, not the reason, but a big reason why
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: Trey is so loved in the Baltimore community, because he
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: was able to go beyond the field and really make
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: an impact where a lot of players wish they were
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: able to do what Trey was able to do.
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: It's just one of those things where Trey Mancini is
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: just a genuine, authentic person. He's not looking for the cameras.
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: He's not looking to be in the limelight. He's doing
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: it because he wants to do it.
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: That's a testament to him.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: The Orioles have some former players they call ambassadors. I
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: think Eddie Murray is on that list. I don't know
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: if Trey would want that role or maybe find a
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: few games where he can be on the broadcast or whatever.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: It feels like this relationship needs to go forward. And
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: I think I'm sure the Orioles and Trey will brainstorm
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: some ways to make that happen. As he said, he's
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: not quite sure what comes next in his career at
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: this point. But coming back to Baltimore a few times
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: a year, even if it's just that, would still be
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: pretty special. So I'm sure they're looking for ways to
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Make that happen. More Trey and Birdland is a good thing.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Hope he has a great, great weekend, guys. Any shout
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: outs before we wrap up the show?
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: No, just the Orioles fans show up this weekend. They're
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: still in it.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: I mean, we've been talking about this for months now,
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: and I feel like I've made I know.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: I personally have made terrible predictions. So at this point,
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: just some predictions. it.
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: It's the last weekend of, of baseball in Baltimore this season,
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: and they're still in it. The elimination number is not zero.
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: So head out there, give these guys a lot of
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: support and you just never know come next Sunday or,
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: you know, two Sundays from now, you just, you never know.
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: They could be at the top of the spot card thing.
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: It's been wild season.
• 29:59
  Speaker 6: It's crazy.
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: They're going to be alive in the final week of
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: the season. Mathematically, they won't be. They gained a half
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: game yesterday.
• 30:07
  Speaker 6: Who knows?
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: Depending on how tonight's game turns out with the White Sox,
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: they could gain another half game and be within two games.
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: Before first pitch tomorrow. So who knows what's going to happen?
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: Vernon, here's your best strategy. Don't look at the standings.
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's true.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: Just from there, look at them and go, oh, they're
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: going to game out. I didn't know that. Mm-hmm.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: It seems like the less focus on it is the
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: better for them all. Well, just to let our loyal
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: viewers know, we usually have a Sunday show. Because of
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the Sunday night game this week, we won't, which is
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: why we are cramming a lot of shows earlier into
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the week as we have this week. So just so
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: you know, if you're looking for it Sunday, we won't
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: be here then, but we're always here on demand on
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: our YouTube and podcast network. So thanks for checking in today.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time on Birdland Territory.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: If you made it this far, you'll love this next video.
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: Check it out right here.
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: And make sure you subscribe to Birdland Territory for more
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: Orioles coverage like this multiple times a week.