Latest / Foul Territory / Gavin Sheets Joins Friar Territory: Padres Hot Start, What's Behind His Career Turnaround?

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Gavin Sheets Joins Friar Territory: Padres Hot Start, What's Behind His Career Turnaround? · Foul Territory

0:04
Speaker 1: Hey, hey, welcome in to another episode of Friar Territory
0:07
Speaker 1: Here on the Foul Territory Network. I'm Kyle Glizzer alongside
0:11
Speaker 1: Mike Cameron. We've got a very special show for you today.
0:14
Speaker 1: Gavin Sheets will be joining us a little bit later on.
0:17
Speaker 1: Gavin obviously has been integral in the Potters eight and
0:20
Speaker 1: two start. Potter's went in to Chicago over the weekend,
0:23
Speaker 1: dropped the first two games of the three game set,
0:26
Speaker 1: pulled out a very very impressive comeback win eight to
0:29
Speaker 1: seven in the series finale. Now they head out to
0:32
Speaker 1: Sacramento for a three game set against the A's City
0:35
Speaker 1: Here at eight and two, it's been a very very
0:37
Speaker 1: impressive start this season.
0:39
Speaker 2: Mike.
0:39
Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about the importance of getting
0:42
Speaker 1: off to a hot start this year. When you look
0:44
Speaker 1: at this schedule, Potter's opening with thirteen games and fourteen days,
0:48
Speaker 1: and those first ten games come against the Braves, the Guardians,
0:52
Speaker 1: the Cubs, you knew it was going to be a
0:53
Speaker 1: gauntlet for them. To come out of that stretch. Eight
0:56
Speaker 1: and two bodes really really well for the rest of
0:58
Speaker 1: the month. If you made of the Padres during this
1:01
Speaker 1: hot start, what has been the biggest thing that has
1:04
Speaker 1: stood out to.
1:04
Speaker 3: You, uh, just the efficiency of the offense from guys.
1:11
Speaker 3: As we introduced one of your guests, you know in
1:14
Speaker 3: Gavin Sheets and some guys coming through, we knew that,
1:18
Speaker 3: you know, the Tatisias and the Machado's and.
1:22
Speaker 2: Uh bo blah blah blah blah blah. Let's see a
1:25
Speaker 2: few other guys. I mean, Jackson Merrill.
1:28
Speaker 3: I mean, we know that these guys were integral in
1:31
Speaker 3: the start and them getting off to a good start,
1:34
Speaker 3: and obviously them getting off to a good start has
1:37
Speaker 3: led to them to be at part of the top
1:39
Speaker 3: of the division, which bows well right now because the
1:43
Speaker 3: Giants are hot, the Dodgers are playing very well, and
1:47
Speaker 3: so you know, with those three teams out in the West,
1:50
Speaker 3: in the n O West, is very good for them
1:52
Speaker 3: to get off to a good start to allow themselves
1:55
Speaker 3: some space.
1:56
Speaker 2: Just in case some things pop up.
1:58
Speaker 3: But I'm sure they would like to continue to play
2:01
Speaker 3: good baseball as they go into this next series against
2:04
Speaker 3: the Athletics.
2:06
Speaker 1: I guess it is soccer though It's fine MLB, we
2:10
Speaker 1: can call.
2:10
Speaker 3: That, Okay, okay, okay, but yeah, I mean it's just uh,
2:15
Speaker 3: it's always good to get off to a good start,
2:17
Speaker 3: you know. And I think that when you get off
2:20
Speaker 3: to a good start, it allows some of the younger
2:24
Speaker 3: players to not feel pressured. It'll it'll also allows some
2:29
Speaker 3: of the older players to not try to do too much.
2:32
Speaker 3: So the I feel like the baton has been passed
2:35
Speaker 3: around throughout the lineup, which is always good because it
2:38
Speaker 3: creates a lot of problems for the other teams when
2:43
Speaker 3: guys are passing baton and getting the job done.
2:46
Speaker 2: And they have done very well, and.
2:50
Speaker 3: In these first series is against some very good teams
2:52
Speaker 3: and also took advantage of slow starts of some of
2:55
Speaker 3: the teams that are supposed to be some of the
2:57
Speaker 3: better teams in the NL this year.
2:59
Speaker 2: And and they played al.
3:02
Speaker 3: Team also, so so it's definitely good.
3:05
Speaker 2: It's definitely good for them.
3:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Potters right now top ten in the majors
3:09
Speaker 1: and both run scored and e RA, So they're getting
3:12
Speaker 1: contributions from the lineup, they're getting contributions from the pitching staff.
3:16
Speaker 1: I think what stood out to me as the Potters
3:18
Speaker 1: got off to that seven and oh start the best
3:20
Speaker 1: in franchise history, it is the resilience. Again, get off
3:24
Speaker 1: to seven to oh start. Dropped the first two games
3:27
Speaker 1: of the series at the Cubs, and going into the
3:30
Speaker 1: middle innings of yesterday's game, they were looking out of sweep.
3:34
Speaker 1: They were up three to nothing in the first inning
3:36
Speaker 1: and then lost it right away at the bottom of
3:38
Speaker 1: the first Kyle Hart struggled with his control, wasn't able
3:40
Speaker 1: to get out of the first inning five to three deficit.
3:43
Speaker 1: That became a seven to three deficit, and the Potters
3:46
Speaker 1: just kept shipping away. You know, Jackson Merril had a
3:49
Speaker 1: big two run home run, you know that got scored
3:51
Speaker 1: another run to make it seven to six. Gavin Sheets,
3:54
Speaker 1: who will be our guest, had the game tying RBI single,
3:57
Speaker 1: and then Fanwotatist Junior scoring on a many chadows ground
4:00
Speaker 1: out that looked like it was going to be an
4:02
Speaker 1: inning ending six, four to three double play. Justin Turner
4:05
Speaker 1: failed to catch the ball. But the Pathers just kept
4:08
Speaker 1: putting pressure on. They kept chipping away, they kept putting
4:10
Speaker 1: the ball in play, they kept having good at bats,
4:12
Speaker 1: they kept making quality contact. And we've seen throughout this
4:15
Speaker 1: eight and two start. I've talked about it before, I'm
4:18
Speaker 1: going to talk about again just the resilience three of
4:21
Speaker 1: their first four games against the Braves, they were trailing
4:24
Speaker 1: or tied going into the seventh inning. They won all
4:26
Speaker 1: of them. Talk about the Cub series, Look, the first
4:30
Speaker 1: couple games were not the cleanest. We talked about the
4:33
Speaker 1: Potters were playing great all around baseball those first seven
4:36
Speaker 1: games go on the road, and look, no one's perfect
4:39
Speaker 1: all the time. We saw all of their starting pitchers
4:42
Speaker 1: struggle with their control. Randy Vasquez and Dick pavette F
4:45
Speaker 1: each walked runs in in the early innings in their starts.
4:48
Speaker 1: Kyle Hard, as I mentioned, didn't get out of the
4:49
Speaker 1: first ning of his start. Potters walked twenty three batters
4:53
Speaker 1: in twenty five innings during the series. We saw some
4:56
Speaker 1: defensive miscues, whether it was errors or just balls in
4:59
Speaker 1: play not being into outs that should have been. And
5:02
Speaker 1: despite it all, they managed to remain competitive. That opener
5:05
Speaker 1: against the Cubs, again, a lot of things weren't going
5:07
Speaker 1: their way, and yet you look at it. It is
5:10
Speaker 1: three one of the ninth inning. They had the time
5:12
Speaker 1: right back and base Ryan Presley just made a good
5:14
Speaker 1: pitch to get Jay Cronaworth. But they were still in
5:17
Speaker 1: that ballgame. Saturday, it got away from them Sunday and
5:20
Speaker 1: then again facing a sweep, I think a really gritty
5:24
Speaker 1: comeback again. This is a team that's never out of
5:27
Speaker 1: a game. And I think too they usually ability to
5:30
Speaker 1: play great all around baseball, but it's also important to
5:33
Speaker 1: be able to still compete when it's not your day,
5:36
Speaker 1: when things aren't going perfectly, and the fact you're still
5:39
Speaker 1: in the ballgame and the factor able to pull off
5:41
Speaker 1: a comeback win when a lot of things went against you. Again, Walks,
5:45
Speaker 1: we saw a back to back box from Logan Gillespie.
5:47
Speaker 1: I mean it was not a pretty game, they still
5:49
Speaker 1: pulled it out. I think that speaks to the character
5:52
Speaker 1: and the resilience of this team that just keeps showing
5:54
Speaker 1: up again and again.
5:56
Speaker 3: Most definitely, I mean when you have this type of
5:59
Speaker 3: resilien is with the with your with your team, with
6:02
Speaker 3: some of the youth that they have. They also they
6:05
Speaker 3: also have been basically very clutch late in games, and
6:10
Speaker 3: and a lot of that is due to some of
6:12
Speaker 3: the guys you know, like just looking at uh some
6:14
Speaker 3: of Tautisa's stats, I mean he's OBP is very high.
6:19
Speaker 3: I mean you got Jackson Merrill slug in the ball
6:21
Speaker 3: like very well. I mean, so you got guys that
6:23
Speaker 3: are doing it. I mean, obviously many is the most
6:26
Speaker 3: been the most consistent in the middle of all of this,
6:29
Speaker 3: and they play good defense also, something that we talked
6:33
Speaker 3: about early on, especially on the on the left side
6:35
Speaker 3: of the field, and uh, they've seen to work out
6:38
Speaker 3: very well. I mean, we we continue to look at
6:41
Speaker 3: this team and we we view them and you know
6:44
Speaker 3: that first road trip, going into the cold weather, when
6:46
Speaker 3: you've been in the warm weather all the whole time,
6:48
Speaker 3: you know, that could have an impact on some of
6:50
Speaker 3: the guys getting a feel for what it's like going
6:52
Speaker 3: to Chicago and in the first part of April. So
6:55
Speaker 3: the impact you know, for some of the pitchers that
6:58
Speaker 3: that probably had a little.
6:59
Speaker 2: Bit of an impact on them.
7:00
Speaker 3: But you know, they were able to be resilient once
7:03
Speaker 3: again and stave away from begetting swept and got right
7:07
Speaker 3: back on track. And now they're right back on the
7:08
Speaker 3: West coast in the hot weather when they go gets
7:11
Speaker 3: facing against the Athletics Sacramento Athletics ft FAM.
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Speaker 1: the right foot again going into the next series. And
8:47
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about that actually with Gavin Sheets,
8:49
Speaker 1: who's kind of to join us. We're going to bring
8:51
Speaker 1: him into the show now. Gavin, good to see you.
8:54
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today.
8:55
Speaker 4: What's up, guys. How you doing doing all right?
8:57
Speaker 2: Yeah? How you doing?
8:58
Speaker 4: How you doing rather doing well on yourself? Good?
9:01
Speaker 2: Good good good good.
9:03
Speaker 1: So Gavin, first of all, thank you so much for
9:05
Speaker 1: joining us. Obviously, it's been a tremendous start to the
9:08
Speaker 1: season for you, starting with that pinch hit game tying
9:11
Speaker 1: home run in the opener, all the way through to
9:13
Speaker 1: yesterday game tying RBI single to help the Potters come
9:17
Speaker 1: back and beat the Cubs eight to seven. A lot
9:19
Speaker 1: of key RBI doubles and between then just really really
9:22
Speaker 1: impressive start all around. What would you say has been
9:25
Speaker 1: the biggest key to your early season success here, particularly
9:28
Speaker 1: in the batter's box.
9:31
Speaker 5: I think the biggest thing for me is just getting
9:32
Speaker 5: back to playing winning baseball, you know, putting all the
9:35
Speaker 5: individual stats to aside, putting the individual numbers and everything,
9:39
Speaker 5: and just saying, how am I gonna help win the
9:40
Speaker 5: game tonight. I think when you play like that, it's
9:43
Speaker 5: just the numbers take care of themselves. You just focused
9:46
Speaker 5: on how A might get the job done and this
9:48
Speaker 5: at that, and then it kind of simplifies things for you.
9:52
Speaker 5: You know, you're just trying to get a job done.
9:53
Speaker 5: You're not trying to put up numbers. You're not trying
9:55
Speaker 5: to hit home runs or doing anything like that. You're
9:57
Speaker 5: just trying to put up number, put up guys to.
10:00
Speaker 4: To win the ball game on that given night.
10:03
Speaker 2: That's good. Yeah.
10:04
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask you, man, I know we've kind
10:07
Speaker 3: of like, you know, I've played in Chicago, you played
10:10
Speaker 3: in Chicago with the White Sox per se, and now
10:13
Speaker 3: you're in San Diego.
10:14
Speaker 2: Is it just a.
10:15
Speaker 3: Better feeling, you know, playing in the place I know
10:19
Speaker 3: it's a very you know, big ballpark per se, but
10:23
Speaker 3: to have that, you know, you getting the opportunity to
10:26
Speaker 3: now to be with the San Diego Padres. The energy
10:28
Speaker 3: is live there. They've been a playoff team for the
10:31
Speaker 3: last couple of years, and now you get a chance
10:33
Speaker 3: to enter in it in your own domain and kind
10:35
Speaker 3: of set your new template for us what you are
10:39
Speaker 3: as a player.
10:40
Speaker 2: What's been the biggest difference.
10:44
Speaker 3: In playing in a warm weather city and coming from
10:49
Speaker 3: Cole Chicago and now you're getting a chance to really
10:52
Speaker 3: kind of like let your talents really show, although that
10:56
Speaker 3: you know, you did show some in Chicago, but now
10:58
Speaker 3: you're getting a chance to do it with a very
11:00
Speaker 3: really good team in San Diego.
11:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that warm weather to start the season
11:04
Speaker 4: is a real thing.
11:05
Speaker 5: I think we all saw that as a team coming
11:07
Speaker 5: back from Wrigley right now, but no, I think you know,
11:10
Speaker 5: playing in San Diego last couple of years as an
11:12
Speaker 5: away fan, the one thing or a way team is
11:14
Speaker 5: the one thing you realize is, man, this fan base
11:16
Speaker 5: is electric. That was something I was super excited for
11:19
Speaker 5: and definitely wasn't disappointed with in the opening home stand.
11:23
Speaker 4: Another thing is just knowing the star power that this
11:25
Speaker 4: team has.
11:25
Speaker 5: That was something that intrigued me all off season with
11:28
Speaker 5: when I was looking at where I wanted to go
11:29
Speaker 5: and who would be a good fit for me.
11:31
Speaker 4: And you know, you look at this roster up and down, whether.
11:33
Speaker 5: It's the bullpen having to face the bullpen last year,
11:35
Speaker 5: the starting pitching, and then this this lineup that you
11:38
Speaker 5: know is now locked in the first six hitters for
11:40
Speaker 5: the next ten years almost and that's just something super
11:44
Speaker 5: exciting to be a part of.
11:45
Speaker 4: And knowing that.
11:46
Speaker 5: You know, look, I come in here and you know,
11:48
Speaker 5: I'm not trying to be a star player. I'm not
11:49
Speaker 5: trying to be the guy in the lineup, but instead
11:51
Speaker 5: I'm trying to add depth this lineup, to flip it
11:53
Speaker 5: right back and get it to Toddy and these guys
11:55
Speaker 5: and you know, and make make pitchers nights and nightmare
11:59
Speaker 5: with this lineup.
11:59
Speaker 4: So, you know, it's just been it's been a great
12:03
Speaker 4: fit so far.
12:05
Speaker 5: But playing in front of this fan base and being
12:07
Speaker 5: in this lineup has been has been exactly what I
12:09
Speaker 5: was hoping it to be.
12:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, Gavin, you mentioned, it's been a great fit and
12:13
Speaker 1: all the positive vibes all the way around playing with
12:15
Speaker 1: this team in this lineup. Obviously, baseball is such a
12:19
Speaker 1: mental game, and you made some physical changes as well,
12:22
Speaker 1: with your stance being a little more upright, standing a
12:23
Speaker 1: little taller. But how much of your success would you
12:26
Speaker 1: say is mental? You've mentioned before that you just feel
12:29
Speaker 1: like you're you're having fun again when there was a
12:31
Speaker 1: one or two year span where you know, just we're
12:34
Speaker 1: having as much fun.
12:36
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's this game is you know, Mike,
12:39
Speaker 5: you know this, it's it's ninety percent mental and the
12:41
Speaker 5: rest of its skill and mechanics. You know, even yesterday,
12:44
Speaker 5: I feel like just seeing the growth I've had as
12:47
Speaker 5: a player and getting the joy back. And I mean
12:48
Speaker 5: even yesterday starting over three or three punch outs. You know,
12:51
Speaker 5: this was last few years. That's that's a long game
12:54
Speaker 5: for me. You know, it's you're looking at oh for
12:55
Speaker 5: five or but just sticking in it, you know what
13:00
Speaker 5: somebody earlier trying to win the game, you know, get it,
13:01
Speaker 5: getting a big hit late in the game, and you know,
13:04
Speaker 5: flipping the script on the whole game. You know, for me,
13:06
Speaker 5: that was a huge growth day to see and you know,
13:09
Speaker 5: and create credit to the guys around here and the
13:12
Speaker 5: coaching staff, like, hey, you're gonna get a big one
13:13
Speaker 5: this game. Stay in it, like just the confidence that's
13:16
Speaker 5: that's built into you, and just to mentally stay in
13:18
Speaker 5: the game and say, yeah, you know, I got two
13:20
Speaker 5: bigger bats come in and and obviously a bigger beat
13:24
Speaker 5: the eighth inning there, but just mentally staying in it
13:27
Speaker 5: and staying confident.
13:30
Speaker 2: Very nice. You're very well put. You know.
13:32
Speaker 3: My thing is, as we continue to talk about the
13:34
Speaker 3: hitting process that you've been into, you have a hitting
13:39
Speaker 3: coach now that was you know, one of my hitting
13:41
Speaker 3: coaches in my last couple of years in Boston and
13:43
Speaker 3: Victor Roriguez. How has he assisted you with some of
13:47
Speaker 3: some of the changes you made and how can he
13:50
Speaker 3: continue to help you as you seem to becoming more
13:55
Speaker 3: of an every day guy. So that means you're facing
13:57
Speaker 3: lefties now, you know what, what kind of changes have
14:00
Speaker 3: you put in play now that's gonna help you continue
14:04
Speaker 3: the success that you've had so far as we continue
14:07
Speaker 3: to season.
14:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, the nice thing about Victor is, you know he
14:10
Speaker 4: keeps it simple.
14:11
Speaker 5: You know we're gonna be you know, the Petco Park
14:12
Speaker 5: hitting and keep it in the middle of the field.
14:14
Speaker 5: You know, it's a big ballpark. We're gonna be gap
14:15
Speaker 5: to gap and just keeping it simple has been great.
14:18
Speaker 5: You know, he's not talking about mechanics. He's not talking
14:20
Speaker 5: about hey, you know, do this with your shoulders or
14:21
Speaker 5: do this with your hands. It's like, how we're gonna
14:23
Speaker 5: stay in the middle of the field, How we're gonna
14:25
Speaker 5: drive the baseball low and hard, stay in the middle
14:27
Speaker 5: of the ballpark. We're not gonna you know, we're gonna
14:29
Speaker 5: put uh pressure on the defense at all times. And
14:32
Speaker 5: just that simple mindset, you know, you know how he
14:35
Speaker 5: is just happy, go lucky guy, just always positive, like
14:38
Speaker 5: you're gonna match today, Like this guy's got nothing for you.
14:41
Speaker 5: Just that that stuff that's going in your mentals. And
14:43
Speaker 5: and then just keeping it simple. He's like, you know,
14:46
Speaker 5: we got to swing that works for you. So we're
14:48
Speaker 5: not gonna tinker. We're not gonna do this. We're gonna
14:49
Speaker 5: keep a gap to gap and we're gonna simplify and
14:52
Speaker 5: we're gonna do work tonight.
14:54
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:54
Speaker 4: Gap.
14:54
Speaker 1: And you mentioned again just the benthal and the approach
14:56
Speaker 1: aspect has but really really key with Victor Rodriguez. You
14:59
Speaker 1: did do the work on the physical side on your
15:01
Speaker 1: own the off season, working with your dad, Larry Sheets,
15:03
Speaker 1: of course, a long time big league DH first basement outfielder. Visibly,
15:08
Speaker 1: you've talked all about you. You changed your posture and just
15:10
Speaker 1: looking at video from last year to this year, you
15:12
Speaker 1: can see you're standing a little more tall in the box,
15:14
Speaker 1: just a little more upright. What has that change done
15:17
Speaker 1: for you? Because just looking at the numbers, your bat
15:19
Speaker 1: speed is up. Do you feel more athletic in the stance? What?
15:21
Speaker 1: What has that changed done for you?
15:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is is the change
15:25
Speaker 5: of posture, getting my direction going to center field, being
15:28
Speaker 5: more athletic, and my swing getting into my legs a
15:30
Speaker 5: little bit more, you know, using the ground. Like you said,
15:33
Speaker 5: I think the the swing speed has been up, which
15:35
Speaker 5: you know wasn't even a focus that we had, but
15:38
Speaker 5: it was just kind of a product of the changes
15:39
Speaker 5: we made. But yeah, getting getting it all my direction
15:42
Speaker 5: going to center field and keeping it a one piece
15:44
Speaker 5: swing and not getting you know, not getting pool happier
15:47
Speaker 5: spinning off the baseball and just getting the motion going
15:51
Speaker 5: forward and being athletic.
15:54
Speaker 2: Very well.
15:55
Speaker 3: I look, I know we talked a lot of baseball here.
15:57
Speaker 3: We talked about your swing so much. How have you
16:00
Speaker 3: adjusted enjoying San Diego where you're living at it? You know,
16:03
Speaker 3: like those things are important some people, you know, some
16:06
Speaker 3: people like really miss out. They just think big league
16:11
Speaker 3: ball players are just these program guys or whatever it
16:13
Speaker 3: may be, and they're going and that they're doing these things.
16:16
Speaker 3: But there's another part of life, you know, to this
16:19
Speaker 3: to your comfort level that allows you to do that.
16:21
Speaker 3: You got like you got like three big guys in
16:24
Speaker 3: there are making a lot of money over there in
16:26
Speaker 3: San Diego, and you know, how have they assisted you
16:30
Speaker 3: in getting adjusted? You know, I know you're from Maryland,
16:32
Speaker 3: so yeah, you get a chance to do West Coast
16:34
Speaker 3: ball and you know, San Diego is.
16:36
Speaker 2: It's part of my home. I mean, look I was
16:39
Speaker 2: there at a Savior.
16:40
Speaker 3: So where are you living at man And how is
16:43
Speaker 3: those those changes going for you and your family?
16:46
Speaker 2: How has that been enjoyed enjoyable for you? So far?
16:50
Speaker 4: It's been incredible.
16:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, about as far far from Chicago living as you
16:55
Speaker 5: can get out here.
16:55
Speaker 4: It's it's living in North Park.
16:57
Speaker 5: So I'm in just the family neighborhood and about two
17:00
Speaker 5: blocks from all the restaurants and everything, which has been
17:02
Speaker 5: incredible and you know, you got the beach ten minutes
17:05
Speaker 5: from you and yeah, it's been awesome and my wife
17:08
Speaker 5: and I are absolutely loving it. We've got a baby
17:09
Speaker 5: on the way in July, so we got a nice
17:12
Speaker 5: house to bring our little girl into, which is exciting.
17:15
Speaker 5: And no, absolutely loving the San Diego lifestyle and just
17:20
Speaker 5: the vibes around the whole city. Great food, just people outdoors,
17:24
Speaker 5: enjoying life. And now it's been awesome.
17:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, definitely a great place. I feel very very
17:29
Speaker 1: fortunate to have grown up there. And and like you said,
17:31
Speaker 1: just the energy and the people it really does just
17:34
Speaker 1: brighten your day. And you know, the other thing is
17:36
Speaker 1: you've been embraced by this fan base very very quickly.
17:40
Speaker 1: You know, again, right off the bat, you certainly did
17:42
Speaker 1: your part to ingratiate yourself with that pinch hit home run.
17:45
Speaker 1: Then kept it up after one of your doubles, and
17:47
Speaker 1: during the Cleveland series you had forty three thousand people,
17:51
Speaker 1: you know, chanting your name, Holy Sheets, Holy Sheets. What
17:56
Speaker 1: was that like for you again, just having you know,
17:58
Speaker 1: forty thousand people again a weekday during the school year
18:01
Speaker 1: in April and just having that that love showered on you.
18:05
Speaker 4: Man, It was crazy.
18:06
Speaker 5: You know, you try to you try to be stoke
18:07
Speaker 5: on the field and you know, I act like, you know,
18:09
Speaker 5: the fans are just noise. But that was standing on
18:12
Speaker 5: second base just kind of looking around. That was that
18:14
Speaker 5: was pretty special. You know, I haven't really had a
18:16
Speaker 5: moment like that in my big league career. I mean,
18:18
Speaker 5: some some moments in the postseason in twenty one, but
18:20
Speaker 5: you know, to have that and five games into the
18:22
Speaker 5: season or four games whatever it was on a Monday
18:24
Speaker 5: night and have a sawid crowd doing that in the
18:26
Speaker 5: rain in San Diego, I mean it was.
18:29
Speaker 4: You can't really put into words how special that was.
18:31
Speaker 5: And you know, the way this fan base has brought
18:33
Speaker 5: me in and just just made me feel welcome and
18:36
Speaker 5: just like the team has.
18:37
Speaker 4: So yeah, that was.
18:38
Speaker 5: That was pretty special. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
18:40
Speaker 5: surecot that one and be like, no, that wasn't a
18:42
Speaker 5: big deal. That was That was pretty cool. That was
18:43
Speaker 5: pretty cool.
18:45
Speaker 2: Good stuff, man, good stuff. Look.
18:47
Speaker 3: I don't have much more to ask you, but other
18:50
Speaker 3: than the you know, I know you coming out of Chicago,
18:53
Speaker 3: the adjustments that you've made, how has some of the
18:56
Speaker 3: guys around you, I know, you You and j Hay
19:01
Speaker 3: are different type of hitters. I mean, you have a tremendous,
19:04
Speaker 3: tremendous amount of veteran leadership around there. It's always good
19:08
Speaker 3: to play with guys who are very good because you
19:11
Speaker 3: get a chance to see what they go about doing
19:13
Speaker 3: on a consistent basis over there. And I think that
19:16
Speaker 3: the one thing that you guys have is a guy
19:20
Speaker 3: that plays center field that is very young, but he's
19:23
Speaker 3: been very good so far.
19:25
Speaker 2: Like, what are some of the.
19:27
Speaker 3: Things that you can you can see and ask on
19:29
Speaker 3: the bench from a left handed perspective. That's allowed you
19:34
Speaker 3: to become, you know, a little more comfortable in San Diego,
19:38
Speaker 3: a little more comfortable with the pitching.
19:39
Speaker 2: Obviously.
19:40
Speaker 3: I saw you in spring training and you hit a
19:42
Speaker 3: couple of nukes against some of our lefties and.
19:44
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, he don't figure out something, and.
19:47
Speaker 3: You know, and but now the opportunity now to be
19:51
Speaker 3: able to lean on those guys and get some information
19:54
Speaker 3: from those guys.
19:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's been to Carl actually just left
19:58
Speaker 5: practice with Jay. He's been one of my guys. Is
20:01
Speaker 5: going for this this start of the season, and just
20:04
Speaker 5: an incredible group overall. But you're right, I mean, the
20:07
Speaker 5: veteran leadership here, it's it would be a waste if I.
20:09
Speaker 4: Didn't pick anybody these guys' brains.
20:12
Speaker 5: And you know, I had a great conversation with with
20:14
Speaker 5: Manny a couple of days in the spring training just
20:16
Speaker 5: picking his brain. You know, he just talking to him
20:18
Speaker 5: hitting and we just sat there in the lunch room
20:20
Speaker 5: and just talked for like fifteen minutes about hitting, what
20:22
Speaker 5: his thoughts are, what his feels are. I mean, there's
20:25
Speaker 5: so many you go up and down this lineup, there's
20:27
Speaker 5: so many great hitters that have that have played for
20:29
Speaker 5: a really.
20:29
Speaker 4: Long time and played at a really high level.
20:33
Speaker 5: You know, some Hall of Fame guys in this lineup,
20:34
Speaker 5: which is is incredible, and you know everybody's kind of
20:37
Speaker 5: in their prime still, which is so cool. And you know,
20:39
Speaker 5: just sitting in the cage and watching guys go through
20:41
Speaker 5: their routines and you know, not even talking to them,
20:43
Speaker 5: but just watching the way they go about their business,
20:45
Speaker 5: and you know, what's the routine, how do they hit
20:47
Speaker 5: these pitches? You know, that's been that's been pretty cool
20:50
Speaker 5: to see just the work that these guys put.
20:52
Speaker 4: In behind the scenes.
20:53
Speaker 5: And you know, not only how great they are, but
20:55
Speaker 5: just their work ethic and you know, having these conversations
20:58
Speaker 5: and feeding off these guys, and yeah, it would be
21:01
Speaker 5: it would be a waste not to pick all these
21:03
Speaker 5: guys brains.
21:05
Speaker 1: Gavin, I want to go back to Victor Rodriguez for
21:07
Speaker 1: a second. He was a minor league teammate of your dad's,
21:10
Speaker 1: so there's some familiarity there. How much of relationship did
21:13
Speaker 1: you have with Victor before coming over to San Diego
21:15
Speaker 1: And how is that familiarity maybe helped smooth the transition.
21:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been huge. He's like family to me, you know,
21:21
Speaker 4: my dad and him.
21:22
Speaker 5: He still talks about my mom cooking for both of
21:24
Speaker 5: them after games and stuff. But when he was in Cleveland,
21:28
Speaker 5: we would when I was in Chicago, we would always talk,
21:30
Speaker 5: sit out there and VP and just talk. And you know,
21:32
Speaker 5: I think he saw me at some of my best
21:34
Speaker 5: moments in the big leagues, and he saw some changes
21:35
Speaker 5: that that we both didn't like in twenty three and
21:38
Speaker 5: twenty four. So, you know, getting back to kind of
21:42
Speaker 5: what I was doing in twenty one and twenty two
21:43
Speaker 5: and being able to talk about that, and you know
21:45
Speaker 5: the fact that he had familiarity with me and was
21:47
Speaker 5: watching up close and got to see that and so
21:50
Speaker 5: getting back to that, but just knowing that whatever he's
21:51
Speaker 5: bringing to me is out of love. You know, it's
21:54
Speaker 5: just that connection, that family connection where hey, he sees this,
21:57
Speaker 5: he wants to make these adjustments, and I know where
21:58
Speaker 5: it's coming from. You know, I know where it's coming from.
22:01
Speaker 5: It's hard, and it's like you just HiT's so much
22:02
Speaker 5: easier to buy into that. So like the changes we
22:04
Speaker 5: made in spring training, and you know, it's really easy
22:07
Speaker 5: to work with a guy like that where you know that, hey,
22:09
Speaker 5: everything he's bringing to you is in your best interests.
22:14
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and the follow ups. You know, your big league
22:17
Speaker 1: your big league career or sorry, your dad's big league
22:19
Speaker 1: career ended before you were born, so you didn't get
22:21
Speaker 1: a chance to really grow up in clubhouses like some
22:24
Speaker 1: of the other players that said, how much did you
22:26
Speaker 1: know your dad's career give you access to big leaguers?
22:30
Speaker 1: And who were some of the guys maybe you pick
22:32
Speaker 1: their brains growing up as you developed into a player yourself.
22:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it was huge. I got to go
22:38
Speaker 5: you know, all they wasn't playing. I was at Camdon
22:40
Speaker 5: Yards with them all the time. You know, doing stuff,
22:42
Speaker 5: and him and Cal were extremely close. They were drafted together,
22:46
Speaker 5: roommates all the way up and then actually Cal's sun
22:49
Speaker 5: was two years old than me my high school, so
22:50
Speaker 5: my dad and Cal we are high school coaches, which
22:52
Speaker 5: was a lot of fun to say the least. But
22:55
Speaker 5: you know, Cal has always been a huge mentor for me,
22:57
Speaker 5: being able to pick his brain, talk to him, hit
22:59
Speaker 5: with him off season. You know, there's not not many
23:03
Speaker 5: better baseball minds than his, and to have him as
23:06
Speaker 5: as just a resource that I can have at anytime
23:09
Speaker 5: has been a blessing. And you know, he's been great
23:12
Speaker 5: to me. And obviously my dad and him are extremely close,
23:14
Speaker 5: and so I would say that that's been one of
23:16
Speaker 5: the guys that I've that really leaned on throughout my
23:18
Speaker 5: career and especially early on in my career. But yeah,
23:22
Speaker 5: my dad's been a huge, huge support system. And I
23:25
Speaker 5: think the biggest thing is just how to handle the mentals,
23:28
Speaker 5: how to handle being a professional, handled the everyday grind.
23:32
Speaker 5: You know, it's not as much hey what are my
23:34
Speaker 5: mechanics looking like? But you know, hey, what are you
23:36
Speaker 5: thinking in this situation? How do you handle this? And
23:39
Speaker 5: so he really prepared me for just kind of the lifestyle.
23:44
Speaker 2: Good stuff, good stuff. Yeah.
23:45
Speaker 3: Look, I obviously fall in the same category as your dad,
23:50
Speaker 3: you know, so I try to be I guess, I
23:56
Speaker 3: guess a sounding board more said anything, because you know
24:00
Speaker 3: that today's baseball is totally different than when your dad
24:04
Speaker 3: played than when I play. You know, the lingo is
24:08
Speaker 3: totally different.
24:11
Speaker 2: How much.
24:14
Speaker 3: Of when you talk to your dad it's about some
24:18
Speaker 3: of the new age technology things that are taking place,
24:22
Speaker 3: or is it just more of him listening to you
24:27
Speaker 3: as you give out the information of what you're seeing
24:31
Speaker 3: and what you're feeling, and how does that translate into
24:35
Speaker 3: helping you intoday's time. You know, I have a tough
24:39
Speaker 3: time sometimes when I'm talking to my kid about the game,
24:43
Speaker 3: and I just want to know where his mind is
24:46
Speaker 3: more so than anything else. And obviously I know that
24:49
Speaker 3: that comes about and we understand. I definitely understand and
24:52
Speaker 3: know how hard the game is. And what are some
24:56
Speaker 3: of the things that your dad is able to pass
24:59
Speaker 3: along to you that is deal simple things that are
25:03
Speaker 3: probably not talked about in the game as much, but
25:06
Speaker 3: they're in the game per se, you know, So I
25:09
Speaker 3: just want to kind of get your observation from that perspective.
25:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
25:16
Speaker 5: It's kind of that old school new school and and
25:18
Speaker 5: I think one of the great things about the Padres
25:21
Speaker 5: and some of the success we're having is we're an
25:23
Speaker 5: old school team. You know, we're not strikeout, put it
25:26
Speaker 5: in play, be low, hard in the middle of the field,
25:31
Speaker 5: which is which has been really nice, because I think
25:33
Speaker 5: that's that's a side of baseball that should never go away.
25:36
Speaker 5: And I think when it does, you start to you
25:39
Speaker 5: start to tinker too much, and you lose the the
25:42
Speaker 5: goodness of baseball. And so when I was talking to
25:44
Speaker 5: my dad about some of the adjustments we were making
25:45
Speaker 5: in spring training, and you know that the new school
25:47
Speaker 5: stuff is great, like the biomechanics stuff and and the
25:50
Speaker 5: data that we have and all this information that we have,
25:53
Speaker 5: and just kind of breaking it down with him and
25:55
Speaker 5: just kind of interest he had and all this all
25:58
Speaker 5: this data and these three D scans and all this
26:01
Speaker 5: stuff that could go on. You know, to him, it's
26:03
Speaker 5: like this is crazy to me, but you know, just
26:05
Speaker 5: talking through some of the stuff. But then you know,
26:08
Speaker 5: then I start to tell him some of the stuff
26:09
Speaker 5: we found, he is like, oh, so you do want
26:11
Speaker 5: to be swinging down.
26:11
Speaker 4: You don't want your shoulders like.
26:14
Speaker 5: Oh, so he's like this new school stuff's really teaching
26:17
Speaker 5: everything that I've been telling you for twenty eight years now.
26:21
Speaker 4: So he loves to he loves to throw in some
26:24
Speaker 4: some stuff.
26:24
Speaker 5: But yeah, yeah, so it's funny, like just talking about,
26:27
Speaker 5: you know, driving my shoulder down and getting into the ground,
26:30
Speaker 5: and he's like, oh, so maybe I'm not too crazy.
26:32
Speaker 5: Maybe this nineteen eighties baseball isn't too bad, is it.
26:35
Speaker 3: I feel Yeah, I feel you. I do the same
26:37
Speaker 3: thing today the same time.
26:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, So we have all those conversations. Was great.
26:42
Speaker 5: But at the end of the day, I mean like,
26:44
Speaker 5: you know, he just understands how hard the game is,
26:46
Speaker 5: and you know, he wants to be a sounding board
26:48
Speaker 5: for me and and just understands, you know, the velocities
26:51
Speaker 5: that we're seeing now and all this.
26:53
Speaker 4: He watches games and he's like, I just this.
26:54
Speaker 5: Guy's throwing ninety eight and only throws fastball two times,
26:57
Speaker 5: and he's like, I just don't understand. And so he
27:00
Speaker 5: gets how hard this game is and where we're at
27:03
Speaker 5: right now is a sport. But he also understands that
27:06
Speaker 5: that nineteen eighties baseball still still works.
27:10
Speaker 2: It definitely, it definitely does. I mean baseball transcends.
27:13
Speaker 3: I mean the simplicity of the game is the simplicity
27:16
Speaker 3: of the game still. I mean, we added a lot
27:19
Speaker 3: of features to it, but it's still you still got
27:21
Speaker 3: to get a good pitch hit and you got to
27:23
Speaker 3: get the barrel one of baseball.
27:25
Speaker 2: Y you know, I like it. I like it.
27:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you mentioned your dad. After his career, he
27:30
Speaker 1: became a very successful high school coach at Gilman School
27:32
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, one of the best programs in the Northeast.
27:35
Speaker 1: So not only did you just work with him, you know,
27:37
Speaker 1: as his son, he was actually your high school coach.
27:40
Speaker 1: It's very very natural for followers and sons to clash
27:43
Speaker 1: a little bit in the teenage years. How was it
27:46
Speaker 1: having your dad as your coach when you're coming up
27:48
Speaker 1: at a high school?
27:50
Speaker 4: Now, it was great.
27:51
Speaker 5: A lot of people say that, they're like, oh, man,
27:53
Speaker 5: he was your coach, how'd that go? And now it
27:55
Speaker 5: was awesome, you know, it was great for I think
27:58
Speaker 5: our relationship just grew through that even more. Or you know,
28:01
Speaker 5: when he when he took over, it was there was
28:03
Speaker 5: hardly even a baseball program. There was like there were
28:05
Speaker 5: like three and sixteen the year before he took over,
28:07
Speaker 5: and then his first year they're twenty seven and five.
28:10
Speaker 5: So he really turned the program around and kind of
28:12
Speaker 5: brought like a pro style to it, just the way
28:16
Speaker 5: we practice.
28:16
Speaker 4: The way we played.
28:17
Speaker 5: And then obviously, you know, he called Cal and asked
28:19
Speaker 5: him he would coach with him for you know, while
28:21
Speaker 5: Ryan was still in high school, which was which was
28:23
Speaker 5: really cool, really special.
28:24
Speaker 4: I think for them, they had as much fun with
28:26
Speaker 4: it as as we did.
28:28
Speaker 5: But yeah, just just being able to play for him
28:31
Speaker 5: and you know, just kind of have that that father
28:33
Speaker 5: son relationship but also that that coach coach relationship was fun.
28:36
Speaker 5: I mean, we definitely had our battles and you know,
28:38
Speaker 5: our arguments on the field, you know, swing and misted
28:40
Speaker 5: a curveball and asked if I've ever seen one of
28:42
Speaker 5: those before. So we would always you know, get into
28:44
Speaker 5: it a little bit, but overall it was it was
28:48
Speaker 5: an incredible experience for both of us.
28:51
Speaker 2: Very well. Put.
28:52
Speaker 3: I mean, I understand when you have a pro style
28:55
Speaker 3: type of guy comes down, you're obviously your dad's gonna
28:59
Speaker 3: be mild mannor he's not to be one of those
29:01
Speaker 3: rock guys.
29:01
Speaker 2: That we see on social media.
29:03
Speaker 3: Now, I mean I think you know, when you put
29:06
Speaker 3: these things in place, you put like you don't be
29:09
Speaker 3: out there for four or five six hours. You go
29:12
Speaker 3: get the work done and you get the guys off
29:14
Speaker 3: the field and you get more out of it, and.
29:16
Speaker 2: That in that disparity.
29:19
Speaker 3: My thing is, I know we talked about your dad
29:22
Speaker 3: and everything else. When are they gonna have the Gavin
29:27
Speaker 3: Sheets Holy Sheets T shirt day in San Diego?
29:34
Speaker 4: Oh man, I don't know.
29:35
Speaker 5: I've already seen someone are getting made and I'm getting
29:37
Speaker 5: tagged in all.
29:38
Speaker 4: This and it's crazy. Man, I'm just I'm just playing baseball.
29:42
Speaker 4: Let I'll let all that stuff the people that handle that.
29:45
Speaker 5: But no, it's been it's been fun to see that,
29:47
Speaker 5: and just the fan base round around has been has
29:50
Speaker 5: been incredible.
29:52
Speaker 1: Have you been a stopped around North parking Off people
29:54
Speaker 1: start to recognize you, buy you drinks or you're and
29:56
Speaker 1: your your wife drinks anything.
29:57
Speaker 5: Like that slowly and surely yeah, not still not many,
30:01
Speaker 5: which which is nice. But you know, every once in
30:04
Speaker 5: a while you get a kind of side eye and
30:05
Speaker 5: then say something to you. But now that's fun and yeah,
30:10
Speaker 5: it's just it's just cool. Love in San Diegoes.
30:13
Speaker 2: Definitely.
30:14
Speaker 1: Well, we know, we know you got to get out
30:16
Speaker 1: of here, you got a game to play against the
30:18
Speaker 1: Sacramento As, But thank you so much for joining us, Gavin.
30:21
Speaker 1: We really really appreciate it. Congrats on all your success
30:23
Speaker 1: and we look forward to watching you throughout the year.
30:26
Speaker 4: Thanks, guys, this was a blast. Appreciate having me on.
30:29
Speaker 2: Good luck, stay healthy, buddy.
30:30
Speaker 4: Thank you appreciate it.
30:32
Speaker 1: All right, all right, once again, that was Gavin Sheets, Mike.
30:37
Speaker 1: I mean, as you can see, he's a very talented
30:40
Speaker 1: player who also understands the mental side of the game.
30:43
Speaker 1: Has good having his shoulders. And look, you talked about
30:45
Speaker 1: the depth of this lineup. We knew coming into the
30:47
Speaker 1: year that Financeatist Junior and Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill,
30:51
Speaker 1: all these players who are all stars. If they stay healthy,
30:55
Speaker 1: we're going to perform. The question was at the bottom
30:57
Speaker 1: of this lineup, particularly the bottom thing. And again, it's
31:01
Speaker 1: a long season. We're ten games in, but you know,
31:04
Speaker 1: you know, I joke this should be the Gavin Sheets podcast.
31:06
Speaker 1: I feel like we talked about Gavin Sheets every episode,
31:08
Speaker 1: but it's because he keeps performing. I mean, his his
31:11
Speaker 1: ascendants has really transformed the outlook for this entire team
31:16
Speaker 1: and the bottom of the lineup's ability to continue producing
31:19
Speaker 1: and get it back to the top.
31:21
Speaker 2: Uh, definitely.
31:22
Speaker 3: I mean, as we say what, you stick him in
31:25
Speaker 3: probably the middle third of the lineup and it just
31:29
Speaker 3: extends it, you know, with another better of his capabilities.
31:33
Speaker 3: And obviously, look, we're talking about a guy who was
31:35
Speaker 3: a you know, big, big, big second round draft pick
31:38
Speaker 3: out out a way fart so he's known to be
31:43
Speaker 3: a part of the the elite hitters in a lineup.
31:48
Speaker 3: Is just taking some time to put these things together,
31:51
Speaker 3: and obviously we hope that that continues. Obviously it's just
31:54
Speaker 3: only ten games, but the fact that he's gotten this
31:58
Speaker 3: off to a good start and now it's going to
31:59
Speaker 3: be some time. There's gonna be down sometimes over the
32:03
Speaker 3: course of a season, but just hopefully that he can
32:06
Speaker 3: continue to develop some consistency throughout the season which will
32:11
Speaker 3: allow the rest of the rest of the lineup to
32:14
Speaker 3: thrive the way they're capable of doing.
32:15
Speaker 2: And it just happens.
32:17
Speaker 3: So it happens that Gavin She's is a big part
32:19
Speaker 3: of that going into this year.
32:22
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So with that, I kind of want to ask
32:24
Speaker 1: a big picture question here. We're only ten games in.
32:28
Speaker 1: It's important never to go crazy in baseball over a
32:31
Speaker 1: small sample size, good or bad. Yeah, before the season,
32:35
Speaker 1: you and I both talked about we felt like this
32:37
Speaker 1: was a good Padres team that was going to be competitive,
32:41
Speaker 1: but ultimately we felt like, just give them a strength
32:43
Speaker 1: to the NL. Maybe some of the concerns we had
32:46
Speaker 1: about the roster. They would finish just outside the NL
32:50
Speaker 1: playoff picture. Again, a good team and competitive team, but
32:53
Speaker 1: just outside. Again, you don't want to go crazy over
32:58
Speaker 1: ten games that set to ask you, has anything you've
33:01
Speaker 1: seen changed your outlook for the Padres and what you
33:06
Speaker 1: think they could potentially be capable of moving forward just
33:08
Speaker 1: because they have played so well.
33:11
Speaker 3: Well, you know, look, we didn't. I don't think anyone
33:15
Speaker 3: thought that the San Francisco Giants were going to be
33:19
Speaker 3: as good as they've been so far. But the key
33:23
Speaker 3: thing is that, you know, outside of you Darvish in
33:28
Speaker 3: a few other pictures, maybe like they've been very healthy
33:33
Speaker 3: so far. I think the health and the production of
33:37
Speaker 3: this team will put them right into the mix, especially
33:40
Speaker 3: if you continue to get the production you know, out
33:43
Speaker 3: of sheets and continue to get the production out of
33:48
Speaker 3: Bogart's and Cronworth, which are very integral piece.
33:52
Speaker 2: We all just kind of know and think that Arise.
33:57
Speaker 3: Tatis, Merrill and chat To are going to take the
34:01
Speaker 3: bulk of you know, what's supposed to happen with this team,
34:06
Speaker 3: and they probably can get you know, a look look a.
34:10
Speaker 2: Little better defensively.
34:12
Speaker 3: But if you continue to get the offensive production out
34:14
Speaker 3: of the guys that are on the field, I think
34:17
Speaker 3: it's gonna bode well for them. They've seen the match
34:20
Speaker 3: up very well against teams. They're not really afraid of
34:23
Speaker 3: the Dodgers, you know, considering that they they've kind of
34:26
Speaker 3: taken them to the edge already.
34:28
Speaker 2: I think the Dodgers knows about the Sant Diego Padres.
34:31
Speaker 1: Uh.
34:31
Speaker 2: It's just going to be these you know, when you're matching.
34:34
Speaker 3: Up against the teams like the San Francisco San Francisco Giants,
34:39
Speaker 3: how well are you going to play against them? You
34:41
Speaker 3: expect for them to play well against the Colorado Rockies,
34:45
Speaker 3: and so, you know, with that being said, I just
34:47
Speaker 3: think that the the confidence and the consistency with the
34:52
Speaker 3: production that they're getting will can change the outlook of
34:56
Speaker 3: the playoffs. You know, given that some teams are not
35:01
Speaker 3: playing very well right now in other divisions, and you know,
35:04
Speaker 3: with that being said, like their Braves and some other
35:06
Speaker 3: teams got off to a very slow start.
35:08
Speaker 2: So you know, San Diego just has a very good
35:12
Speaker 2: head start and.
35:13
Speaker 3: Being able to do that, hopefully they can continue the
35:15
Speaker 3: health of the staff that they have now and guys
35:19
Speaker 3: in the bullpion, which we know somebody is going to
35:22
Speaker 3: struggle somewhere. It always happens on all teams. It's just
35:26
Speaker 3: a matter of can the continuity of the team continue.
35:29
Speaker 3: And once again, it all starts with the guy mister
35:32
Speaker 3: electricity at the top, El Nino. So I mean, I
35:37
Speaker 3: think that is the probably one of the biggest things
35:39
Speaker 3: that the team has continued in their success.
35:41
Speaker 2: And we know Arise is coming at some point.
35:43
Speaker 3: He's going to be shooting missiles all over the place
35:45
Speaker 3: and dropping them all over the field at some particular
35:47
Speaker 3: point in time.
35:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he started too. He's at ten for his
35:51
Speaker 1: last twenty seven of free seven.
35:55
Speaker 2: There too.
35:56
Speaker 1: You know, I think for me, every year, we look
35:59
Speaker 1: at teams during the offseason, look at the rosters, assessed strengths, weaknesses,
36:03
Speaker 1: what we think will happen, Who will do well, who
36:05
Speaker 1: won't where a team might be more complete than another,
36:09
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, when you step
36:12
Speaker 1: between the lines, we see who teams really are. We
36:15
Speaker 1: can look at teams on paper all we want, but
36:18
Speaker 1: there are plenty of teams throughout baseball history where they
36:23
Speaker 1: look right on paper and then they step between the
36:25
Speaker 1: lines and the hitters are expanding the zone and swinging
36:28
Speaker 1: from their heels, or the pitchers aren't executing, or they're
36:30
Speaker 1: playing sloppy defense, or base runners are making boneheaded decisions,
36:34
Speaker 1: or some combination of the above. Lots of teams that
36:36
Speaker 1: look great on paper, but they don't play good baseball.
36:40
Speaker 1: When you have a talented team that is playing good baseball,
36:44
Speaker 1: that's when special things happen. And I think for the
36:46
Speaker 1: Padres what has stood out primarily those first seven games
36:50
Speaker 1: was they played good baseball. And then, even like you said,
36:53
Speaker 1: no one is perfect every day over one hundred and
36:55
Speaker 1: sixty two games. It's a long season. There's going to
36:57
Speaker 1: be bad days or days where you're just not as sharp.
37:00
Speaker 1: But even on those days when you're not as sharp,
37:01
Speaker 1: you're still able to find ways to compete and grind
37:04
Speaker 1: out at bats and you know, come up in big
37:06
Speaker 1: moments and at the very least be competitive to the
37:09
Speaker 1: very end, if not pull ahead and win it, that's
37:12
Speaker 1: a good sign. So I think this relentless, aggressive baseball
37:16
Speaker 1: we are seeing from the Padres, like you said, with
37:19
Speaker 1: good health, and if they can keep that up over
37:21
Speaker 1: the course of the season, I'll own it. I'll be like, yeah,
37:24
Speaker 1: I already have had the thought like I was light
37:26
Speaker 1: on this team just with the quality of baseball they're playing.
37:29
Speaker 1: You know, I said, I thought that'd be an eighty
37:31
Speaker 1: five win team. You know, eighty seven was kind of
37:33
Speaker 1: the cap. Yeah, but when you actually watch them play
37:36
Speaker 1: how they play, the aggressiveness, the relentlessness, the attitude, you know,
37:41
Speaker 1: if they can keep it up all own it was like, yeah,
37:43
Speaker 1: I've already had the thought, like I was light on
37:45
Speaker 1: them this they're playing really good baseball and that's going
37:48
Speaker 1: to make them better than what I thought.
37:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, the biggest thing I've seen is just
37:54
Speaker 3: the competitive ad bassd they continue to have throughout the
37:58
Speaker 3: game against some you get some of those mineral leavers
38:01
Speaker 3: in and uh and they're battling man and they're finding
38:04
Speaker 3: ways to score runs. You know, in those situations, which
38:09
Speaker 3: are you know, can be sometimes in big league baseball
38:12
Speaker 3: games if you're not anybody six or seventh then and
38:16
Speaker 3: then you're pretty much out because of the type of
38:19
Speaker 3: pitching that are in in these bullpens now.
38:21
Speaker 2: But these guys have this mindset, uh.
38:26
Speaker 3: You know, as we were listening to Shee's talk about,
38:29
Speaker 3: you know, some of the things that Vick Roriguez is
38:31
Speaker 3: constantly put in their mind, like and he said it
38:34
Speaker 3: was refreshing, you know, just that you can take a
38:37
Speaker 3: lousy single or two you know, you know, like some
38:41
Speaker 3: of the analysts today are saying, oh, you know, you
38:44
Speaker 3: got to hit the loan ball because you know it's
38:46
Speaker 3: going to take three hits to get you know, a
38:48
Speaker 3: score run and la blah blah. But that's part of baseball,
38:53
Speaker 3: you know, trying to put those things together.
38:56
Speaker 1: A good outcome I will yes, yeah, outcomes to.
39:01
Speaker 3: Literally and and then you see the aggressive style of
39:05
Speaker 3: base runner they have, which is aggressive but smart in
39:08
Speaker 3: a sense.
39:09
Speaker 2: I saw them the other day with two outs.
39:12
Speaker 3: Arise was on first and it was on first and
39:15
Speaker 3: Tatisa's on third against Cleveland. The double steal, like those
39:21
Speaker 3: little little things like that when you stealing runs here
39:24
Speaker 3: and there and if they continue to play good defense
39:27
Speaker 3: with the way the pitching staff have kind of gotten
39:30
Speaker 3: off to getting them an opportunity with these hitters five, six,
39:34
Speaker 3: seven hitters that they got, who are who don't just
39:37
Speaker 3: go up there slugging. You know, they're trying to They're
39:40
Speaker 3: trying to bang you off a wall somewhere up the middle.
39:43
Speaker 3: They're trying to hit the ball everywhere. So you know,
39:46
Speaker 3: it makes for tough outs. And when you put together
39:48
Speaker 3: tough outs over the over the over the the retirement
39:54
Speaker 3: of alignment of a lineup, it makes it very tough
39:57
Speaker 3: for a team to beat you, especially when you're playing
40:00
Speaker 3: at home. You know, that's that's always a good, good
40:04
Speaker 3: gift to have. It's been a good home team. But
40:07
Speaker 3: this type of baseball they play, can you can take
40:09
Speaker 3: it anywhere, and it's just don't amount of time before
40:12
Speaker 3: you know, those guys started to put you know, getting
40:14
Speaker 3: themselves to get it where they started to slub the ball.
40:16
Speaker 1: Also, no question now the Padres had to face the
40:21
Speaker 1: A's three games in Sacramento and look the ball flies there.
40:25
Speaker 1: It's a PCL park and it's low walls and Triple
40:28
Speaker 1: A stadiums are smaller than big League teams. I think
40:30
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't realize that that the dimensions
40:32
Speaker 1: are smaller, you have lower walls. We saw the first
40:35
Speaker 1: series when the Cubs went into Oakland. I mean they
40:38
Speaker 1: put on a show, you know, piling up double digit
40:41
Speaker 1: runs like it was nothing. The Potters have a really
40:43
Speaker 1: good chance here to go in and really pile up
40:46
Speaker 1: some runs in a hurry. Playing in this ballpark. And
40:48
Speaker 1: the A's pitching staff is not great. I will say
40:51
Speaker 1: the A's have a lot of good young players in
40:53
Speaker 1: their lineup. You look at Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker, of
40:56
Speaker 1: course former Podra one of the trades. A J. Prewler
40:58
Speaker 1: probably would want to have back Brent Rooker for Algory.
41:01
Speaker 1: But even guys like Shay langaliers a lot of power,
41:04
Speaker 1: good defenders starting to figure out the pure hitting piece
41:06
Speaker 1: of a little bit Tyler Solderstrom I've loved since I
41:09
Speaker 1: saw him at the Area Code Games, covered him in Stockton,
41:11
Speaker 1: covered him in Las Vegas. Started a little bit, but
41:14
Speaker 1: now he's starting to figure it out. He can really
41:15
Speaker 1: really hit. There's you know, Jacob Wilson, the shortstop. Jack
41:19
Speaker 1: Wilson's kit I think is probably gonna win al Rookie
41:21
Speaker 1: of the Year. So the A's have some really, really
41:24
Speaker 1: good hitters in this lineup, but the pitching is still
41:26
Speaker 1: a little short, especially once you get past Luis Savarino
41:29
Speaker 1: and Jeffrey Springs. Again, I think the Potters have a
41:32
Speaker 1: great opportunity to go in and start putting up some
41:35
Speaker 1: some ten to twelve run games here in Sacramento. And
41:38
Speaker 1: we talked about the importance this hot start, and you know,
41:41
Speaker 1: those first ten games, we talked about it before the
41:44
Speaker 1: season that was gonna be a bit of a gauntlet.
41:46
Speaker 1: The fact that eight to two now you get three
41:48
Speaker 1: games against the A's and three games against the Rockies
41:51
Speaker 1: before you come back and face the Cubs at home.
41:53
Speaker 1: The Potters are in really good position to be fourteen
41:57
Speaker 1: and two, thirteenen and three before the Cubs come to
42:00
Speaker 1: town next week. I mean again, they carry business against
42:04
Speaker 1: the A's and Rockies like they should, They're going to
42:07
Speaker 1: just continue to be in a great spot really for
42:09
Speaker 1: the for the entire year. Get off to a start
42:11
Speaker 1: like thirteen and three, fourteen and two, that can that
42:14
Speaker 1: can make a big difference when you look up at
42:15
Speaker 1: the end of at the standings at the end of
42:17
Speaker 1: the year, Uh.
42:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, considering you know, I think they have enough guys
42:22
Speaker 3: that where you can't really take your foot off the gas.
42:25
Speaker 3: To understand, you can't take your foot off the gas.
42:28
Speaker 3: There's much respect for the open uh Sacramento A's athletics,
42:34
Speaker 3: and you know, and and look, you got to be
42:36
Speaker 3: respectful to the Rockies also in a sense. But you're
42:41
Speaker 3: going in with knowing that, Look, we got a chance
42:44
Speaker 3: to really set ourselves up this month, you know, getting it,
42:49
Speaker 3: getting off to a good start of these next two series.
42:51
Speaker 3: I mean, when you're playing this well now, your focus
42:54
Speaker 3: is is try to win series. Man, if you can
42:57
Speaker 3: focus on winning series when you're playing good baseball, then
43:01
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of wins start the snowball
43:04
Speaker 3: when you get get going like that, and it's very
43:06
Speaker 3: well much needed in this division. Considering that, Look, you
43:11
Speaker 3: can't worry about the Giants. You can't worry about LA
43:13
Speaker 3: because you know LA is going to be there. But
43:16
Speaker 3: you also know that the Giants are playing good baseball,
43:19
Speaker 3: So you got to be on your p's and q's.
43:21
Speaker 3: You don't want to fall too far behind in the standings.
43:24
Speaker 3: And right now they're right in the thick of it
43:27
Speaker 3: in the middle of it and playing good baseball with that.
43:29
Speaker 3: So that's a good feeling going into these series and
43:32
Speaker 3: you just try to continue that as you move forward
43:34
Speaker 3: through the season.
43:36
Speaker 1: All right, Mike, before we wrap up, one last question,
43:38
Speaker 1: how much jewish you'd gotten a chance to play some
43:40
Speaker 1: big league games in Triple A Ballpark and a pc
43:43
Speaker 1: BAK Definitely some numbers.
43:46
Speaker 2: Man, I tell you.
43:47
Speaker 3: You know, Look, I didn't play in the PCL very much.
43:52
Speaker 3: I got a chance to play in Vegas a few times. Yeah,
43:57
Speaker 3: but that's when they had that big high wall out
43:59
Speaker 3: there and thing, obviously, And then they used to be
44:03
Speaker 3: when I was playing a Triple A Tucson used to
44:06
Speaker 3: be I think like the Astros for a little while.
44:09
Speaker 2: Also used to be the d Bex for a minute.
44:12
Speaker 2: But man, I would love to play.
44:14
Speaker 3: I would love to go to Sacramento right now for
44:16
Speaker 3: three days, you know, especially in April. Oh Man, it's
44:19
Speaker 3: a good it's a good opportunity to get the ball
44:22
Speaker 3: up in the air as many time as you can.
44:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, short dimension, slow walls. Again, We'll see what the
44:28
Speaker 1: Potter's offense is able to do, especially coming off of
44:30
Speaker 1: scoring eight runs against the Cubs and the finale on Sunday. Mike,
44:34
Speaker 1: this has been a pleasure as always. Thanks for joining
44:36
Speaker 1: me and we'll see how the Potters do this upcoming week.
44:40
Speaker 2: Always col very good one, very good one today.
44:43
Speaker 1: All right, everyone that I'll do it for another episode
44:45
Speaker 1: of Friar Territory here on the Foul Territory Network. Go ahead,
44:49
Speaker 1: give us a review, a like, subscribe. It helps us
44:52
Speaker 1: out on the algorithm, so definitely let us know if
44:54
Speaker 1: you're enjoying the show. For Mike Cameron, I'm Kyle Glazer.
44:58
Speaker 1: Thanks for watching and listening. We'll be back a little
45:00
Speaker 1: bit later this week with Heath Belt. Have a go on, everybody.
45:07
Speaker 4: M