Latest / Foul Territory / Giants Spring Training report w/Susan Slusser + Mookie Betts works out with Yoshinobu Yamamoto

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Giants Spring Training report w/Susan Slusser + Mookie Betts works out with Yoshinobu Yamamoto · Foul Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: We're joined now by splash Hit Territory regular guest and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle covering the San Francisco Giants,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Susan Slesser. Always great to see you, Susan. You recently
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: wrote about the Giants send Bryce Eldreds down amid woeful
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: offensive spring showing tell us more about that.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Good to be with you, Hello, my friend, longtime no see.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Bryce Eldridge was the most closely watched player in camp,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: absolutely no doubt about it. The Giant's top prospect and
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  Speaker 2: possibly a major consideration for their full time DH roll.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe fill in a little bit of first, he's still
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: learning first. That's actually coming along pretty well. It was
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: the bat this spring that strikeouts were high, nearly forty
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  Speaker 2: percent strikeout rate. He's young, he's twenty one. There is
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  Speaker 2: absolutely no downside to sending him down to get regular
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: playing time and bring him up when he's hot. Teams
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: like to do that, get the hot bat in the
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: lineup when they bring somebody up. But as much as anything,
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  Speaker 2: this is about somebody like gerar In Karnacion, who's out
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: of options, has played really well all spring, including defensively
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: hit one of the longest home runs I've ever seen
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: at Scottsdale Stadium for sixty three last week. This guy's
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  Speaker 2: having a great spring. Out of options, Luis Matos is
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: out of options. You sent Bryce Eldridge down. There's the
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  Speaker 2: potential you can keep both guys a little more roster flexibility.
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  Speaker 2: Those are both players that I think other teams would
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  Speaker 2: jump on, you would have very little chance of keeping them.
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  Speaker 2: So I think there are a lot of things going on,
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  Speaker 2: But the main thing is this is not going to
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: do anything but probably help Bryce Eldridge in the long run.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: But ultimately you need one hundred and sixty two games
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: with the best players. The Giants feel like going into
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: spring that Bryce Eldrig was going to be one of
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  Speaker 3: their best players to help them because of the fact
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  Speaker 3: that they didn't solidify the DH hole that they have
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: in the offseason.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that they have numerous options at DH,
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  Speaker 2: and I don't necessarily think you have to have one
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  Speaker 2: designated designated hitter right Eldridge would have been fine swinging
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: a hot bat. I don't think there's any doubt he'll
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: be up and he will contribute to this team at
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  Speaker 2: some point. But if you're not quite ready, you're not
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  Speaker 2: quite ready if you want a hot bat. And there
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  Speaker 2: great the competition for sort of the last spot on
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  Speaker 2: the roster, last couple spots has been really heated. They've
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  Speaker 2: got some really good options there. So Gerari in Karnacion
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  Speaker 2: I think would be fine at DH. You can run
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  Speaker 2: Devers through there quite a bit. He'll mostly be at
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  Speaker 2: first where he's been quite good, and I think he
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  Speaker 2: under Ron Washington, I think he's going to be very good.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Luisa Rise wants to play second base, He's going to
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  Speaker 2: start off there, but I would think at times he
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  Speaker 2: will be an option at DH. So many possibilities there,
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  Speaker 2: and that's I think with the buster posey front office
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and what Tony Vytelo, having flexibility and being able to
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  Speaker 2: use the right guys at the right time is really paramount.
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  Speaker 2: And I think bringing up Eldridge when he's ready and
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  Speaker 2: really swinging it well like look he has not. He's
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  Speaker 2: actually said he does not feel comfortable in the box
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  Speaker 2: right now. Tony Vytello said he walked past him the
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  Speaker 2: other night after a three strikeout game and he was
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  Speaker 2: talking to the hitting coaches about not quite feeling comfortable.
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  Speaker 2: You need it, especially a twenty one year old to
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  Speaker 2: feel comfortable when he's up.
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  Speaker 3: But is there any way that he can cut that down?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I get it, you're not a swing coach,
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  Speaker 3: but when you look at his minor league stats he
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  Speaker 3: had last year, he had one hundred and twenty seven
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  Speaker 3: strikeouts in one hundred and two games. He had one
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  Speaker 3: hundred and thirty two strikeouts in one hundred and sixteen
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  Speaker 3: games the year before. And now you're looking at a
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  Speaker 3: guy that struck out, like you said, almost a forty
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  Speaker 3: percent clip in spring training, Like is that they brought
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  Speaker 3: him to this point? I know last year was kind
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  Speaker 3: of like, Okay, we have to kind of rush him
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  Speaker 3: because we need that spot. But he's having some success
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  Speaker 3: on some points. But you're always going to have that
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  Speaker 3: strikeout thing or evaluation of him looming.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's gonna have some strikeout to his game. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think that's ever going to go away, but
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  Speaker 2: you certainly want to reduce the percentage. And when he's
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  Speaker 2: not striking out, you want to reach in base. You
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  Speaker 2: want him hitting homers, you want him you know he
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  Speaker 2: Tony Bright tell us it's something interesting yesterday, like he
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  Speaker 2: hasn't had enough reps base running because he wasn't getting
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  Speaker 2: on base. They're really trying to Now, look, right, Z,
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  Speaker 2: Eldridge is not going to be a big bas dealer
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  Speaker 2: or anything, but they're trying to push the action. See
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  Speaker 2: who can do what on the basis, who can handle
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  Speaker 2: the bat with guys on base in various situations. Eldridge
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  Speaker 2: was not quite there to do that because he wasn't
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  Speaker 2: on base enough. So, yeah, he needs to be performing
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  Speaker 2: if he's striking out and he wasn't. You know, he's
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  Speaker 2: so close. There's just no doubt he will be up
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  Speaker 2: this year and he will be very good. This is
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  Speaker 2: a big league player. The scouts all universally have said that.
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  Speaker 2: But the scouts have also said all spring there is
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  Speaker 2: no downside to leaving him in the minors for a
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  Speaker 2: month or two. Let him get into the flow, let
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  Speaker 2: him get going, be in a position to succeed when
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  Speaker 2: he's up, and then you hope he's up to stay.
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  Speaker 1: Logan Webb Susan said that he took offense. I'm paraphrasing here,
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  Speaker 1: there's not his words Forbatim, but took offense to folks
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  Speaker 1: saying that Team USA didn't care about the worlds of
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  Speaker 1: Baseball Classic, and I'm glad that he said it. I
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  Speaker 1: know they cared. They may not have showed their emotions
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  Speaker 1: in certain ways, but that's okay. Have you had a
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  Speaker 1: conversation with him by chance or just kind of what
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  Speaker 1: was he like when he came back to Giants camp
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  Speaker 1: regarding the WBC.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Logan web would take that very much to heart
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  Speaker 2: because a few people care as much about the game
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  Speaker 2: about competition. Like you've seen him on the mout. This
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  Speaker 2: is a bulldog. He wants to win. But he and
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  Speaker 2: I think everybody on team, all the WBC teams were
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  Speaker 2: so proud, so happy to be part of the national team.
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  Speaker 2: And I think criticism like, look, they're may be not
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  Speaker 2: as demonstrative as some of the other teams, but I
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  Speaker 2: don't think that's an indication of caring or not caring. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: that cared, I mean, that's that's kind of silly. But
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: you've got a game in Miami with a very pro
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  Speaker 2: Venezuela crowd, which was fun, like that was great, super loud.
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  Speaker 2: Any team they're playing is probably going to look a
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  Speaker 2: little maybe flatter in comparison because they don't have the
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  Speaker 2: entire crowd behind them, so I think that was all silly, Susan.
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  Speaker 3: One of our one of our blocks that we're gonna
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  Speaker 3: be talking about later is aces and not aces. So
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: since we're on logan web is logan web an ace
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  Speaker 3: in this league?
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  Speaker 2: Oh are you kidding me? Leeds the league and innings
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  Speaker 2: and basically every year all Star. I think this will
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: be his fifth Opening Night's start, wants the ball team leader. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 2: there's just no I think he is not talked about
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  Speaker 2: enough nationally. He's in the Cy Young race every year
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  Speaker 2: one hundred percent. I mean, he is a top five
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  Speaker 2: to six starter in the league. That's an ace.
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  Speaker 1: Love it, Love it, Susan. With Tony Vittello, let's talk
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  Speaker 1: a little bit about the change in guard there with
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  Speaker 1: the new skipper. I understand, obviously coming from the college
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  Speaker 1: ranks at Tennessee, he might be implementing a couple of
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  Speaker 1: new drills that these MLB players aren't quite used to.
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  Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit more about the giants sweating
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  Speaker 1: the details under his new implementation of some drills.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think this is one of the main reasons
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  Speaker 2: that Tony Bytello is here. Buster Posey, I think felt
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  Speaker 2: like not that there was a lack of work eth
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  Speaker 2: ethnic ethic last year previous years, but I think he
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  Speaker 2: wanted to see more hence especially pre game drills, maybe
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  Speaker 2: more frequent drills. And Tony Vaitello, I mean, you talk
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  Speaker 2: about somebody who knows his drills and does them at
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  Speaker 2: gain speed, which I've never seen. I've never seen especially
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  Speaker 2: some of these infield drills done as quickly. And Ron
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  Speaker 2: Washington fits into that perfectly. He's the taskmaster, he says.
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  Speaker 2: If everybody does everything correctly, they can get through their
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  Speaker 2: drills in four minutes. If they don't do it perfectly,
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  Speaker 2: it's back to the You know, it's going to take
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  Speaker 2: as long as it takes until it's perfect. But it's
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  Speaker 2: boom boom boom. It's fun to watch. And then they
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  Speaker 2: do pop up priorities like college teams do it. They
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  Speaker 2: absolutely blare like the loudest possible newsic like it's ears liitting.
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  Speaker 2: The first time it happened, I was like, who in
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  Speaker 2: the is doing this?
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  Speaker 4: At the PA?
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  Speaker 2: You tell them to turn this down, but it was.
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  Speaker 2: It's absolutely to mimic the crowd noise. Right in college,
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  Speaker 2: they have to do that because they don't necessarily get
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  Speaker 2: the opportunity to have these big crowds, So at the
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  Speaker 2: even more important I think at the big league level,
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  Speaker 2: and that's the team loves it. Plus I think it
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  Speaker 2: gets them a little pumped up with the music.
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  Speaker 3: What is the player's reaction to not that what you
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  Speaker 3: were just saying, but the expectation that if it's four minutes,
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  Speaker 3: we're going to do it perfectly, Because sometimes big leaguers
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  Speaker 3: in spring training are like, I'm kind of not just
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  Speaker 3: going through the motions, but I'm getting my first steps down.
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  Speaker 3: What's their reaction been to the way he runs his drills.
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  Speaker 2: I think they love it. You know, they're all competitive people,
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  Speaker 2: and this makes it fun. It makes it a competition,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and you're competing against yourself when you're trying
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  Speaker 2: to do something like that. But the best part is
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  Speaker 2: especially for somebody like Bryce Eldridge. Eldridge told me, like I,
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  Speaker 2: when the game time comes, I don't have to think
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  Speaker 2: I've just been doing this and I did it perfectly
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  Speaker 2: the last time I did it, I know I did
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  Speaker 2: it perfectly and at game speed. So they're getting as
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  Speaker 2: close to game action as they possibly can, which, so
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: you know, eric is very hard to do during the
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  Speaker 2: spring during any sort of drill. This is about as
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  Speaker 2: close as you can come. So for somebody like Bryce Eldridge,
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  Speaker 2: somebody like Louisa Rise who is really working hard to
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  Speaker 2: be a better second baseman, these things matter. They absolutely do.
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  Speaker 2: We'll see how it plays out when the actual regular
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: season starts, but I mean, everybody is feeling really good
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  Speaker 2: about it. And I will say their defense has been
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: good and aggressive. They are, absolutely especially with the outfield
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: they had. The Giants had the worst outfield defense in
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: the majors last year kind of by far and a
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: little bit surprisingly that Harrison Vader, and then this spring
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: they've been doing incredibly aggressive work in the outfield, both
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: in drills and in games. They want everybody going for everything.
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  Speaker 2: It looks so much better. So I mean, we'll see,
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  Speaker 2: but that's so far very encouraging.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Susan Eric and I had a conversation at the top
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: of the show about the Miami Marlins and now most
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: recently the New York Mets implementing kind of a relaying
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: of signs, if you will, from the dugout to the
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  Speaker 1: catcher to call pitches. Do you think with a young
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: manager in terms of MLB experience and Tony Botello would
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: that be something that the San Francisco Giants would consider
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: me doing that a little bit more, even if it
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: was just a suggestion the catcher, And of course the
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: pitcher has the final say, But is that something that
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: they might move towards.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting Bytello has asked that early in the
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: spring by another outlet and sort of said like, yeah,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: consider that. When I talk to him about it several
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: weeks later, I think that idea had at least for
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: now been put to the side. I talked to Buster
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  Speaker 2: Posey about it. He said like, yeah, you know, we
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: would consider it, because we would consider anything, like we
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: take everything under advisement, of course, But when you've got
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Patrick Bailey as your catcher, that's just not something you're
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: going to do. I mean, he is any you know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: he's a platinum glove catcher, right, He's tremendous. So, uh,
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  Speaker 2: they are not going to do that for now. And
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I talked to Bailey and I talked to Logan Webb
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  Speaker 2: and they both said, no, that's not something they're interested in. Like,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: if they had to, they would, but I don't know
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  Speaker 2: why you would do that with Patrick Bailey. Now, hey,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: if you have Daniel Susak, who's a Rule five catcher,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: probably going to make the team. If he's in there,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: maybe all bets are off maybe now and then you
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: you know, call some pitches from the bench. But I
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: don't think this is going to be part of the
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: giants regular repertoire certainly most of the time. And I'd
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  Speaker 2: be a little surprised if they moved to it this year.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: Susan, make sure you remember how Buster reacted when you
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: asked that, when you asked that to him, because he
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: was lying to you. Because there is no way Buster,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Posey Hall future Hall of Fame catcher, is going to
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: sit on his ivory tower and go, you know what
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: we need in a big league team, somebody else calling
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: the pitches, you.
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  Speaker 2: Know what I I yes, I would say that, except
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: for Buster has surprised us a little. We think he's
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: very old school, and he is in many ways right
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: and hard nos catcher, absolutely he is, but he goes
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: very outside the box to hire Tony Vaytela for instance.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: You know, he went huge swing getting Raphael Devers, like
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: he'll surprise you, so I do think. And he's got
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: a front office with a lot of sort of you
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: know people who like to push, like push the envelope,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: so maybe you know, somebody convinces him they might do it.
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  Speaker 3: Buster likes to win, and I think the other decisions
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: that he made lean into winning. I think the pitch
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: calling thing, I don't know. I would love to have
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: the conversation with him when he's not on camera and
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: he doesn't have a quarter zip on, when it's just
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: the boys hanging out ex teammates hanging out, maybe at
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: his maybe at his Wall of Fame induction. We'll talk
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: about that. But I want to talk because we were
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: talking about college a little bit, and you had Drew
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Gilbert on the show. Normally, a player like Drew Gilbert,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: somebody that's not an everyday starter, all star type of thing,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: doesn't get the type of fanfare or necessarily even the like, Hey,
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: we talked to Drew Gilbert about what Tony Mattella was like, like,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: do you feel like his role is larger than what
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: his playing role is going to be or do you
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: feel like his playing role and what he's going to
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: be able to do on the field will kind of
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: be amped up a little bit now that he has
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: a little bit more experience in the big things great question.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure he's on the opening day roster. He
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: is somebody we will see, I think, quite a lot
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: during the season, in part because what Drew Gilbert brings,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: along with great defense and the ability to get on base,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: is the energy. We saw that last year. He really
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: drove a Giant's winning street late in the season with
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: just his sheer exuberance. He's so fun to watch. He
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: fires up teammates. It's kind of kind of a nut,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: especially in a dugout, in a very good way. Right.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: He's the kind of guy that other teams can't stand,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: that goes back to college. And obviously if I Tello
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: knows him very well, you know he's a Tennessee guy,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: so there's already that familiarity. I think all of those
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: are great things. The energy is a great thing. We
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: will see him, But he brings a lot more than
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: just you know, some pretty good play as a potential
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: fourth outfielder type. He's a play with your hair on
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: fire type of guy, and I think everybody needs one
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: of those from time to time.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Susan, I know that you came over to the Giants
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: more recently and you've covered the Oakland Athletics now Sacramento
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Athletics for a very long time. But I am certain
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: that you know about Barry Bonds and have talked to
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: him and all of the things. So now he is
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: going to serve as a guest analyst of course, on
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the coverage for Opening Night with Netflix, which is great.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: But it's funny to me how some of those that
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: have been prickly with the media have joined the media.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: What do you think Bonds will bring because he's such
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: a pilethora of knowledge, obviously, but he picks and chooses
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: who he gives that knowledge to. What do you think
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: his analysis will bring to something like that? Just knowing
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Barry as you do.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, nobody talks about hitting as well as Barry Bonds.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: And of course, if the second Barry Bonds starts to talk,
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: any hitter should listen to him. Any hitter, I mean,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: whatever age this is, I mean, he's just a genius
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: when he comes to hitting. It's a pleasure to hear
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: him talk. But you're right, he's priply he does not
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: speak much to the media, particularly the local media and
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: the Bay area writers. Anyway, I think he's a little
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: bit more open sometimes. Two things like TV appearances. He
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: did some last year. He's just so good. I wish
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: he talked more. It can be frustrating for a writer
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: when you want to talk to him about hitting and
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: he's like, I'm not talking today, but I am really
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: really looking forward to hearing what he has to say
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: prehim postgame on Opening Night. He knows the giants. He's,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: you know, around a lot. He's often in the hitting cage,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: which I mean, how phenomenal for giants hitters, especially young hitters.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: It's it's a great development because he has a lot
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: to share. I wish he would share it more, and
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: I'm glad that he is. And it's funny that you
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: talk about the prickly guys sometimes going into the media,
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: you guys might have one there. He was a little prickly,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: and he and I kind of like talk about that sometimes.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: Are you talking about me? I was always so nice, Susan.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Who you're talking about? You're talking about Kevin Polar, aren't you?
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Is that who you're talking about?
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: It is a former giant.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Sure, I don't know any other giants. I don't know
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: any other giants that were now were prickly. I hope
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: you're not talking about Aj, he was never pretty.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: He's an angel, but angel, he's never.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: You would never say that. But AJ did get on
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: Barry Bonds last year on our show at the BBW
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: A's and he was amazing. I was just as surprised.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: But it is kind of sad when the best player
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: to ever wear a uniform in the major leagues you
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: don't always get to hear. So I'm super I'll tune
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: in just to hear him speak.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, he's an encyclopedia and he absolutely is must watch,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: must listen to TV. And if you didn't happen to
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: see the interview when he was with guys last year
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: at the Gala, please check it out on foul Territory.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: It's well worth your time. Susan. Always appreciate you taking
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the time to be with us. We look forward to
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: catching up with you, obviously reading your stuff in the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: San Francisco Chronicle and as a regular guest on splash Territory.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: Have a good day, fantastic bas guys, my pleasure. Well, okay,
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: back live to foul Territory. I've seen a lot of
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: wacky things in my day, but what is this? This
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: is Mookie Betts doing Yoshinobu Yama Moto's workouts.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: He's fully bought into it. Eric, it's this m Now
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: he was throwing javelins and now he's carrying YadA sense
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: on his shoulders. Again. Again there's javelin throwing. There's what
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: looks to be like some sort of shot put throwing
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: as well. Twenty twenty seven, sit in the ward goes
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: to Mooki Bets because he got bored at short stuff.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: What do you make of this new I mean it's
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: working for Yamamoto.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: He was the World.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Series MVP, but now MVP Mooky Bets perhaps on the
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: scene with YadA sense on his shoulders.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: What are we doing?
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: I mean, we are trying to emulate the good things
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: that elite people do. Is that Yaamoto. Yamamoto is definitely
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: elite in what he does to train to get ready,
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: how his body moves, and that's really all that is.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Look if a kid go goes and builds a rocket
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: and launches it like Yamamoto's throwing a javelin, you know
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: what I think it You know it's not gonna work
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: quite as well. But there's a lot that goes into that.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: There's there's a lot of thought process in Okay, what
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: is he trying to feel? He's not like running up
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: and throwing the javelin. It's not necessarily going as far
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: as yamamotos is, but it's how his body is moving
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: in sequence. We're watching it right now for the podcast crowd.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: He has YadA sense. Mooki has YadA sense on his
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: shoulders and he's just stepping sideways. He's not going into
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: a deep lunge. He's in a safe position. And it's
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: really about how his body's moving. And ultimately, if your
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: body moves correctly, you have enough strength, enough, enough physicality,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: enough flexibility, you can last in entire season plus the
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: postseason and you'll be healthy. And that's really what that's
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: really why you're doing these drills. And if anybody's gonna
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: like like really master something, it's something like it's somebody
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: like Moki muky. He picks it up any pretty much
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: masters it compared to like the average folk. But then
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: if he continues to work at it, this guy's a
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: limit for a guy like this. He changed to shortstop.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: He changed a shortstop last year from right field. He
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: was originally a second basement and he played shortstop for
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: the world champion Dodgers. That is a crazy thing that
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: I think people gloss over and I'm like, well, Mookie's
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: just really good. He can bowl too, but it's everything
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: and he wants to get better.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: He is a three hundred bowler. What do you think?
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: And I'm not asking you to be a doctor or
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: yata sense or a sense of any sort. What do
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: you think though it does carrying somebody on your shoulders?
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Is that more for just alignment?
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Body alignment?
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Like?
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: What balance? Okay, how does that translate as being a shortstop?
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: How does that help him?
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Do you think everything in baseball, every position you play
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: is all about balance, if you're leaning one side or
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: the other. I'm sure we saw him moving to his
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: right our left on the screen. I'm sure he did
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: the same thing back. A big thing in Japanese. I
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: don't know about other sports, but in Japanese baseball training,
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: they really work on balance and the ability to do
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: the same thing from both sides. I used to watch
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: you Darvis after he would pitch. I never played with him,
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: but I played against him. He'd throw. He'd come out
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: the next day and he'd throw with his translator left
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: handed he would throw the exact number of pitches that
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: he threw right handed the day before in the game
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: left handed, to the point where he would long toss
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: left handed. And it was all about balance for each
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: side of his body. And so yeah, I mean putting
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: somebody on your back. People would be like, what if
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: Muki hurt himself? You're right, That's why you do it
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: with somebody who knows exactly what they're doing. He's not,
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: you know, arching his bag, he's not. There's so many
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: things that I think can help, and so many workout
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: There's been so many workouts since I started in two
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: thousand and two in professional baseball. Working house working out
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: has changed completely from where we were. But the reality is,
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: if you don't work hard at whatever you're doing, you're
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: not going to get anything out of it.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you this because you had mentioned you Darvish,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: who would come out with his trainer his interpreter rather
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and throw left handed or from the left side. He
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: is part Iranian and he is part Japanese. Obviously we
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: know that Yoshinobu Yamamoto is Japanese. You think we should
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: be tapping more into the Japanese style of body development
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: and working out. I mean, there's something obviously to be
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: learned from their style. That's my first question. Second question
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: is you mentioned also that things have changed dramatically over
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: the course of working out since you've been playing. What
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: are some of the more unique things that you've seen
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: in your time.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, well, the first question, yes, we should tap
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: into it, but not as the end all be all.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: Just like anything heavy ball workouts, Olympic workouts, stretching, mobility, recovery,
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: all that stuff. Learn more about it as a big
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: ly player. All that stuff is doing. Yeah, you might
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: hit the ball five feet farther, you might throw it
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: one or two miles an hour harder, but ultimately all
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: that stuff. If you're not willing to listen to what
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: a Japanese trainer has to say, what a powerlifting trainer
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: has to say, what your athletic trainer, your ats that
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: are on the team has to say, your massage therapist.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: If you're not listening, you're going to miss something that
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: could possibly keep you on the field, that could possibly
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: help your team win a world championship. And your second
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: question was what's the craziest thing that I ever saw?
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: I always tell the story of the craziest thing that
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: I did. When I first got drafted, the Blue Jays
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: had the Blue Jays had strength coaches at every level.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: They were one of the first organizations to do it.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: We had a interim strength coach at Alberta up and
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: up in Alberta Medicine Hat Alberta. We're the Medicine Hat
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: blue Jays. At the end of the season, they gave
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: us a pamphlet, a booklet that had each day of
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: the off season and you could write out what you
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: know your weight was in each of the workouts. Well,
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: at the end of the one workout there was cuff exercises,
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: rotator cuff exercises, so essentially your for your shoulders and
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: to keep you healthy. Nobody explained any of it to me,
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: So I went in just the way I went into anything,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: as hard as I could possibly go. And I got
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: to the point where in the off season there's an
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: exercise where you basically hold your hands here like this
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: and you put your hands out. It's basically called no
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Money's and it's for stability of your shoulders. And by
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: the end of the off season, I had ninety fives
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: and I was doing I mean, I'm fifty fives. I
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: was doing fifty fives at the end of my workout.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: These no moneies. Okay. We go into first day of
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: spring training and the athletic trainer stands up front. He's like, okay, guys,
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: we're gonna work on our shoulder cuff exercise, you know,
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: so that we have shoulder stability. And all these exercises
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: we're doing with five pounds or less, you can even
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: do them. Just look at band and I'm like, and
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: I'm doing fifty five. I was like, holy crap, that
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: could have been mad. So I was an idiot.