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Andy Dirks Joins Tiger Territory · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger's Territory, part of
0:07
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Detroit Tigers podcast. Kars Decle here,
0:11
Speaker 1: Cody staved Hagen, Austin Jackson and joining us for the
0:13
Speaker 1: first time. Your voice of the Detroit Tigers, Andy Dirk,
0:16
Speaker 1: How you doing.
0:18
Speaker 2: Do an outstanding gentlemen? You said the boys of the Tigers.
0:21
Speaker 2: I haven't. That hasn't resonated with me.
0:23
Speaker 3: Yet, but I feel like I feel like I have
0:26
Speaker 3: to talk different.
0:31
Speaker 1: Well, you're stepping into a you know, a bigger role.
0:34
Speaker 1: It's on a new role, but a bigger role here Andy,
0:36
Speaker 1: and Uh, I'm just curious. What's your off season been like,
0:39
Speaker 1: you know, knowing that you're gonna be, like I said, well,
0:42
Speaker 1: not just one of the voice, but kind of one
0:44
Speaker 1: of the face of Tigers baseball over there at FanDuel.
0:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty similar to last offseason.
0:49
Speaker 3: I got four kids that I chase everywhere the real
0:53
Speaker 3: estate business.
0:53
Speaker 2: But I have, you know, knowing that I.
0:56
Speaker 3: Got a little bigger role, probably kept up with some
0:58
Speaker 3: off season moves a little bit more than last year.
1:01
Speaker 3: But I was doing the radio side, you know, before
1:04
Speaker 3: I kind of they just asked me to do a
1:06
Speaker 3: couple of games, which led to a couple more and
1:08
Speaker 3: now finally, you know, they said, hey, we're I don't
1:12
Speaker 3: know if we're dumb enough to try you on TV,
1:14
Speaker 3: but something along those lines, you know. And it's like
1:17
Speaker 3: when there's no other guys to fill a role and
1:19
Speaker 3: you just happen to be there, They're like, we ain't
1:22
Speaker 3: got nobody else.
1:22
Speaker 2: Put Dirks over there.
1:28
Speaker 4: You should probably give yourself a little more credit. Andy,
1:30
Speaker 4: you were a big hit on the broadcast, especially in
1:32
Speaker 4: the booth with the Natty the tail end of last season.
1:36
Speaker 4: But I'm curious, is this something you ever imagined yourself
1:39
Speaker 4: doing when you were playing or after your career ended.
1:42
Speaker 4: Is this an avenue you saw for yourself.
1:44
Speaker 2: No, not at all. I mean other than now that
1:48
Speaker 2: I look back.
1:49
Speaker 3: So when I was a kid in grade school, I
1:51
Speaker 3: always was in trouble because I talked too much. And
1:54
Speaker 3: AJ can probably attest to the fact that I can
1:57
Speaker 3: be a bit of a blabbermouth, like I'm being right now.
2:01
Speaker 2: I don't know when to stop. So the teachers would say,
2:04
Speaker 2: you know, go in the corner. You need to. You
2:06
Speaker 2: got to pay attention, And.
2:08
Speaker 3: One teacher specifically said, hey, you got to learn not
2:11
Speaker 3: to talk so much or it's not gonna work out.
2:12
Speaker 2: Well.
2:13
Speaker 3: Now I get paid to talk. It was like, hey,
2:17
Speaker 3: there's a place for everybody. I just didn't know what
2:18
Speaker 3: it was that was where it.
2:19
Speaker 2: Was going to be for me. Hey, I got I
2:23
Speaker 2: got one for you.
2:24
Speaker 5: Though, Derk said, as a as a former player, what
2:27
Speaker 5: are some things you think that that have helped you
2:30
Speaker 5: since you have played at that level with with broadcasting?
2:34
Speaker 3: Uh, I mean as far as an analyst perspective, it
2:37
Speaker 3: would be very difficult to do that job unless you've
2:39
Speaker 3: been in that box, unless you've roam that outfield, played
2:42
Speaker 3: in the infield, whatever it was.
2:44
Speaker 2: At that level.
2:45
Speaker 3: There's just a certain way that I think a player
2:48
Speaker 3: sees the game, and you know from the time you're
2:51
Speaker 3: in at young but especially when you get into professional
2:53
Speaker 3: baseball because college baseball is different than professional baseball, and
2:57
Speaker 3: then from Triple A to the big leagues is a
3:00
Speaker 3: big jump. Like now that I look back and I
3:03
Speaker 3: can kind of reminisce on you know, my career, I'm like, man,
3:06
Speaker 3: there are things you learn just because you're in it.
3:08
Speaker 2: Every day, talking it.
3:11
Speaker 3: Like we were in the hotel rooms talking about where's
3:14
Speaker 3: the arm here, where's this here? And now that I've
3:17
Speaker 3: kind of transitioned out of baseball for a while and
3:20
Speaker 3: not really been in the game per se, but more
3:22
Speaker 3: in like a working environment, it's like, that's what I
3:25
Speaker 3: do every day.
3:25
Speaker 2: You start getting good at that, and I just can
3:27
Speaker 2: speak to things.
3:28
Speaker 3: That from a player's perspective that the fans probably wouldn't understand,
3:33
Speaker 3: like how you deal with failure, that these are human
3:36
Speaker 3: beings out here, like ninety five. Just because a lot
3:39
Speaker 3: of guys throw, it doesn't mean it's easy to hit locations.
3:42
Speaker 3: What a guy's maybe thinking in the box when he's struggling,
3:45
Speaker 3: how he's feeling when he's going good, you know outfield reefs.
3:49
Speaker 2: There's just so much to.
3:50
Speaker 3: The game that you don't realize that, you know, until
3:53
Speaker 3: you step out and then your kids starts playing, and
3:56
Speaker 3: you know, you start seeing other people's perspective on baseball.
3:59
Speaker 3: You know, Johnny's dad, you played in high school, and
4:04
Speaker 3: Johnny's dad knows a lot about baseball, and you're like.
4:07
Speaker 2: Whoa, why are we doing that one?
4:10
Speaker 3: You know, and then you try to teach young kids
4:12
Speaker 3: and you're like, oh, they don't even know what I'm saying.
4:15
Speaker 3: Were talking about staying connected and like different terminology. It's
4:19
Speaker 3: like they that's a foreign concept. So I think it's
4:22
Speaker 3: cool to be able to kind of bring some of
4:24
Speaker 3: that to a broadcast. But yeah, players perspective, especially the
4:28
Speaker 3: way I was, because I was talented, but I wasn't
4:30
Speaker 3: like the number one prospect and could just get by
4:34
Speaker 3: on pure athleticism alone. I had to figure out the
4:37
Speaker 3: game inside of the game, run the base as well,
4:39
Speaker 3: play good defense, learn how to put good at bats
4:42
Speaker 3: on guys who were better than me, you know, pitchers
4:44
Speaker 3: that had really good stuff.
4:46
Speaker 2: So that part of it helped me too. Well.
4:50
Speaker 1: You talk about like how complicated the game is, and
4:53
Speaker 1: nobody's disputing that. But one of the things about your
4:56
Speaker 1: style is that you kind of boil it down to
4:59
Speaker 1: it's like form. So when we first met Austin, we
5:02
Speaker 1: were talking about you the broadcaster, and I was like,
5:05
Speaker 1: you know, he just he just talks like, look, look fastball,
5:08
Speaker 1: oh oh and if you get full, oh well it's
5:11
Speaker 1: only one. But if you're looking fastball, you connect, then
5:13
Speaker 1: it's worth it, you know, like like simple stuff like that.
5:16
Speaker 1: Is that always how you thought the game, like, you know,
5:20
Speaker 1: coming up and then in the big leagues and you know,
5:22
Speaker 1: really your whole life, did you always kind of approach
5:24
Speaker 1: it that way? Because broadcast you do have like a
5:27
Speaker 1: simplistic style that I think connects with the listeners.
5:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hu absolutely, man, Like if it's not simple, I
5:35
Speaker 3: can't execute it.
5:36
Speaker 2: I'm just not that smart.
5:38
Speaker 3: Like some of these guys have these PhD philosophies and
5:42
Speaker 3: they're talking about you know, launch angle and spin rates,
5:46
Speaker 3: and I'm like, that's awesome news, but how does it
5:48
Speaker 3: translate to usable information like in my whole life?
5:52
Speaker 2: Like if I can't use it, why know it?
5:55
Speaker 3: Like even stats like in business, it's like they start
5:58
Speaker 3: talking about these numbers.
5:59
Speaker 2: Dude, I'm like, what's that mean? And how do I
6:01
Speaker 2: apply it? Like I don't want to know.
6:03
Speaker 3: I don't need to know about this percentage variable point
6:07
Speaker 3: seven percent of this person said this. I'm like no,
6:11
Speaker 3: because if you can't take action on it, it's meaningless.
6:13
Speaker 2: So like when I.
6:15
Speaker 3: Played, I knew that the simpler I made it, the
6:19
Speaker 3: easier it was to execute.
6:21
Speaker 2: So win in doubt.
6:23
Speaker 3: As the fastball, I'm going to hit it back up
6:26
Speaker 3: the box, like because what it would always happen is
6:29
Speaker 3: you start thinking a lot about your mechanics, and you
6:31
Speaker 3: start thinking about the picture and his pitches and how
6:34
Speaker 3: many angles he's bringing, and next thing you know, you're
6:37
Speaker 3: not really even being able to be athletic and react.
6:40
Speaker 3: So I just took away my god given ability and
6:43
Speaker 3: I handed it to the pitcher because now I'm not
6:46
Speaker 3: I'm not being an athlete, and I'm you know, when
6:48
Speaker 3: you're an athlete, there's certain things like I see some
6:50
Speaker 3: of the guys today when they get into the athletic
6:53
Speaker 3: positions and they just use that god given ability and
6:57
Speaker 3: because they've they've swung the bat five hundred million times
6:59
Speaker 3: and they get in that good athletic position, boom things happen.
7:03
Speaker 3: But when they try to get cute and they're standing
7:05
Speaker 3: there and they I'm gonna get my bat path just
7:08
Speaker 3: like this right here, and then.
7:11
Speaker 2: Some fal ball. Sometimes you have to look.
7:14
Speaker 3: Ugly in the box man, like sometimes you're gonna be
7:17
Speaker 3: way out on your front foot, but you just use
7:19
Speaker 3: your hand eye and just let it happen and you
7:21
Speaker 3: get a base hit, you know, And for me, I
7:25
Speaker 3: think for most people, if you can simplify complicated concepts
7:30
Speaker 3: to where you can actually use them, it's beneficial because
7:33
Speaker 3: if a concept is so complicated that you can't apply it,
7:35
Speaker 3: who cares? And like go back to first principles. A
7:39
Speaker 3: lot of times, what I've learned is the more you
7:41
Speaker 3: can eliminate, the better off you are. So if your
7:45
Speaker 3: brain's thinking about five hundred million things, a lot of
7:50
Speaker 3: those don't even matter anyways. Like when you talk about
7:54
Speaker 3: what works for one guy, it's not gonna work for
7:56
Speaker 3: another guy. Some guys you tell them, hey, you got
7:59
Speaker 3: to hit the top of the baseball, like you got
8:01
Speaker 3: to come like your batpath, come down on the ball.
8:04
Speaker 2: Well, in today's game, people say that's taboo. You don't
8:06
Speaker 2: say swing down on the ball. That's bad.
8:10
Speaker 3: Well, for some guys when they do that, what it
8:12
Speaker 3: does is it gives them the right batpath. Of course
8:15
Speaker 3: they're swinging up on the ball. They're still getting launch angle,
8:17
Speaker 3: they're creating space, but they're on their back leg too
8:20
Speaker 3: much and they're doing they're coming down here trying to
8:24
Speaker 3: create the angle instead of letting the angle happen with momentum.
8:28
Speaker 3: Right for instance, it's it's like what you feel and
8:31
Speaker 3: what is real are two different things. You can you
8:34
Speaker 3: can feel like your hands are this high and you
8:38
Speaker 3: go back and you look and your hands are really normal.
8:41
Speaker 2: Yeah.
8:42
Speaker 3: So that's the game inside, the game with your head
8:44
Speaker 3: that you're constantly playing. And what I learned is what
8:47
Speaker 3: I've learned is the simpler you can make that game
8:50
Speaker 3: with yourself. You can actually achieve the goal right you
8:53
Speaker 3: want to, you want goals, you can achieve. So if
8:56
Speaker 3: if I'm thinking it hit the ball up the middle
8:57
Speaker 3: and I hit a hard ground ball to shortstop, hey,
9:00
Speaker 3: I still accomplished my goal. I hit the ball hard. Yeah,
9:02
Speaker 3: I was a ground ball. I'd rather have a line drive,
9:04
Speaker 3: but I still have something to work off of. And
9:06
Speaker 3: that's why I never really slumped a ton. I never
9:09
Speaker 3: had like long, extended slumps like you see some guys
9:12
Speaker 3: go through.
9:14
Speaker 5: So okay, like you were saying about, uh, you know,
9:18
Speaker 5: like what what doesn't work for one guy, you know,
9:20
Speaker 5: it might not work for another guy, you know, And
9:22
Speaker 5: we kind of spoke a little bit yesterday, joked around about, uh,
9:25
Speaker 5: you know, how the game is just evolved, the pitching,
9:28
Speaker 5: strike zone, all that stuff is just.
9:30
Speaker 2: It's just so different than when we played.
9:33
Speaker 5: But do you think that there's some of the information
9:37
Speaker 5: that is used now do you think that could have
9:39
Speaker 5: helped you if you would have understood it. Because I
9:42
Speaker 5: always think back at like, you know, at the at
9:44
Speaker 5: the tail end of my career, when a lot of
9:46
Speaker 5: this information was really starting to you know, be integrated
9:50
Speaker 5: in the game, and I just I was kind of
9:52
Speaker 5: like you.
9:52
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't want all of that.
9:54
Speaker 5: I don't it's it's it's too much like you said,
9:56
Speaker 5: I just want to be an athlete up there. But
9:59
Speaker 5: then you see there's some guys that it's actually you know,
10:02
Speaker 5: it extended their career or it changed their career, you
10:05
Speaker 5: know what I'm saying, Like you got a guy like
10:08
Speaker 5: uh who I'm thinking justin Turner, you know, a guy
10:12
Speaker 5: who kind of revamped his career and you know went
10:15
Speaker 5: on to be like a superstar. So guys like that,
10:18
Speaker 5: where that information was, they they bought into it. Do
10:23
Speaker 5: you think that you, if you would have understood some
10:25
Speaker 5: of that stuff a little bit, you would have tried
10:26
Speaker 5: at least tried it and maybe it tried to apply
10:29
Speaker 5: it to your game a little bit.
10:30
Speaker 3: Yes, five thousand percent. Because I was willing to listen
10:33
Speaker 3: to the guy at the Taco Bell drive through and I, hey, dirks,
10:37
Speaker 3: you know what you need to do is your elbow?
10:42
Speaker 2: My elbows up right?
10:44
Speaker 3: So I think it boils down to if you can
10:48
Speaker 3: get this this great information, because today's games got way
10:51
Speaker 3: better information than we had when you start talking about
10:54
Speaker 3: spin rates and what we know now the game today,
10:57
Speaker 3: the hitters know what the pitchers are trying to do
10:59
Speaker 3: more or so than we did. They have these iPads
11:02
Speaker 3: that have every at bat they've ever had. They can
11:05
Speaker 3: go to exactly the picture whenever they face them. Whatever
11:08
Speaker 3: it is, whatever they want, they have, right, what's the
11:11
Speaker 3: guy done in his last game, what's his what was
11:13
Speaker 3: his pitching percentages?
11:15
Speaker 2: And things like this.
11:16
Speaker 3: But also I think with your swing, I think the biomechanics,
11:20
Speaker 3: the understanding of biomechanics has accelerated to a level now
11:24
Speaker 3: that's that hitters can use. So before it was like
11:28
Speaker 3: there wasn't the information wasn't as usable and we didn't
11:31
Speaker 3: grow up with it. Now the guy who's who's in
11:35
Speaker 3: the big leagues now that's twenty five, he started using
11:37
Speaker 3: this information when he was fifteen, So that's a huge difference.
11:42
Speaker 3: So it's not a foreign language to him, like when
11:45
Speaker 3: we were like, hey, hit the nail. You know, he
11:48
Speaker 3: knows when they say like the degree of this bad angle.
11:51
Speaker 3: He understands that concept because he's been around it. Right,
11:55
Speaker 3: So you could say, man, why am I hitting? Why
11:57
Speaker 3: am I hitting so many ground balls? Well, well, let's
12:00
Speaker 3: look at your path. Is it your timing or your path?
12:03
Speaker 3: It's one or the other, right, Because if you're hitting
12:06
Speaker 3: too many ground balls, if you're late, you're gonna hit
12:08
Speaker 3: more ground balls. That's just a fact. And then also
12:11
Speaker 3: what pitch selection. I think pitch selection now is way
12:15
Speaker 3: more dialed in than when we played. For sure, they
12:18
Speaker 3: can look at these pitches and say, hey, this is
12:21
Speaker 3: where your hot zone really is Austin, Like this ball
12:26
Speaker 3: up in a way like that is not for you.
12:28
Speaker 2: Do not swing at that ball. Don't think about swinging
12:31
Speaker 2: at it. You don't have to hit that ball. Trust
12:34
Speaker 2: that the pitcher is going to make a mistake in
12:35
Speaker 2: your zone. Right.
12:37
Speaker 3: As opposed to when we played, it was kind of like, man,
12:39
Speaker 3: I got to learn to cover all these yeah, and
12:41
Speaker 3: I got to hit homers and do extra based power
12:43
Speaker 3: with all these different pitches. And that's that was frustrating,
12:47
Speaker 3: especially when guys started throwing up in the zone more
12:49
Speaker 3: for us, it's like we've hit the ball down our
12:51
Speaker 3: whole life. First pitch down away fastball, like that's where
12:55
Speaker 3: pitchers pitched Sinker down and away, Synker down away, whatever.
12:58
Speaker 2: So we groove that swing now.
13:00
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, in about twenty eleven, twelve thirteen,
13:03
Speaker 3: right in there, they changed the strike zone.
13:05
Speaker 2: They went up with it.
13:06
Speaker 3: Guys started throwing more four seams with high spin rates
13:09
Speaker 3: up there, and that swing just isn't our natural path
13:12
Speaker 3: because we're used to coming down through the ball and
13:15
Speaker 3: starting that bank down here.
13:18
Speaker 2: We didn't know that you could Coco Crispit, you know, yeah,
13:23
Speaker 2: oh yeah, wack it like.
13:25
Speaker 3: That, right, So Coco knew that he's a little ahead
13:29
Speaker 3: of his time with it with this swing. But no,
13:32
Speaker 3: the information that these players have. I think it's finding
13:36
Speaker 3: the balance though, like, because there is a point where
13:40
Speaker 3: when your brain is cluttered, you don't see the ball.
13:43
Speaker 3: And if you don't see that baseball coming in, man,
13:46
Speaker 3: I don't care. I don't care how pretty your swing is.
13:48
Speaker 3: I don't care how locked in you think you are
13:51
Speaker 3: with my mechanics and all this. The ball is going
13:54
Speaker 3: to come in and if your eyes aren't picking it
13:56
Speaker 3: up and seeing what's a good pitch to hit or not,
14:00
Speaker 3: and then being on time your toast. So there's those
14:03
Speaker 3: different elements and that's where these guys can work on
14:05
Speaker 3: the off season.
14:06
Speaker 2: They're working in spring training right now to try to
14:09
Speaker 2: hone in.
14:09
Speaker 3: Like you see, tort just hit another homer today, but
14:13
Speaker 3: he kind of changed his posture.
14:15
Speaker 2: He got a little up. And what's funny was in the.
14:17
Speaker 3: Interview he said, Yeah, I'm just you know, I'm kind
14:20
Speaker 3: of just going to that old school approach of trying
14:23
Speaker 3: to hit the ball the other way.
14:25
Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, oh yeah, if you're hitting the ball the.
14:30
Speaker 3: Other way, your bat pass working right, that's all that is,
14:33
Speaker 3: so in his mind looking at the ball the other ways,
14:37
Speaker 3: getting his bat path on the right plane.
14:40
Speaker 4: And Yeah, I actually wanted to ask you about Spencer
14:43
Speaker 4: Torkles and obviously one of the most interesting storylines for
14:46
Speaker 4: the twenty twenty five Tigers, guy who's having a really
14:48
Speaker 4: good spring. What do you think the mindset is for
14:51
Speaker 4: a player like that, a former top prospect who's now
14:55
Speaker 4: kind of on the edge on the roster bubble and
14:58
Speaker 4: having to make some significant changes.
15:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've never been a one one. Austin wasn't a
15:03
Speaker 3: one one. We don't know the one one life, Austin,
15:06
Speaker 3: what round you get drafted and you were high.
15:08
Speaker 2: Though, right, that's eighth round. Eighth Yeah, see I was.
15:11
Speaker 2: I was an eighth rounder. We were eighth rounders.
15:13
Speaker 3: We don't know about the one to one life, but
15:16
Speaker 3: but we with him, he knows it's a make or
15:19
Speaker 3: break year.
15:20
Speaker 2: Like there's no if ans or butts.
15:21
Speaker 3: He's passed prospects bat status now right as far as
15:24
Speaker 3: age is concerned, and he's gotten a good amount of
15:28
Speaker 3: opportunity in the big leagues. One of the problems is
15:30
Speaker 3: he plays a position that you have to hit consistently.
15:34
Speaker 3: Like if he's a you know, if he's a solid outfielder,
15:38
Speaker 3: that bat's manageable. But when you're gonna roll out on
15:41
Speaker 3: and play first base every day, you got a thumb,
15:44
Speaker 3: like there's no way around that. You got to hit
15:45
Speaker 3: for some power and you got to be consistent in
15:48
Speaker 3: the box. And he's shown signs of improvement. He's also
15:51
Speaker 3: shown signs of stubbornness, like throughout his career where he'll
15:55
Speaker 3: get to hitting the ball well with that old school approach,
15:58
Speaker 3: you know, trying to try to make sure he's working
16:01
Speaker 3: through right center field, and then all of a sudden
16:03
Speaker 3: he's just pull happy, and he wants to pull that
16:06
Speaker 3: baseball so much because he's got he's got good power.
16:11
Speaker 3: You know, I'd say for first base, it's average, like
16:14
Speaker 3: he's not like plus plus plus power, Like he's not
16:16
Speaker 3: hitting the ball, you know, four hundred and forty feet
16:19
Speaker 3: to right center opo or dead central.
16:21
Speaker 2: But he's got plenty of pop.
16:23
Speaker 3: But what happens is then all of a sudden, he
16:25
Speaker 3: gets feeling good and then he goes back to that
16:27
Speaker 3: pole mindset. But right now in spring training, he's locked
16:30
Speaker 3: into that right center gap, and then every time he
16:33
Speaker 3: gets an advantage count he's hitting, it changes his posture.
16:36
Speaker 3: He's come up a little bit. But in the interview
16:39
Speaker 3: he seemed pretty relaxed. But it's easy to be relaxed
16:41
Speaker 3: when you're when you're banging, when you're hitting. It's what's
16:44
Speaker 3: he gonna do once, if you know, depending on how
16:48
Speaker 3: the roster works out, If he's playing first base and
16:50
Speaker 3: he gets to Detroit, when he's hitting good, everybody's happy,
16:53
Speaker 3: you know, no big deal. It's when that first struggles
16:56
Speaker 3: come through the season. So when he hits his first
16:59
Speaker 3: like zero for twelve, twelve, zero for fifteen, one for fifteen,
17:03
Speaker 3: you know, gets up with the runners and scoring positions
17:05
Speaker 3: four times in a rower, punches out twice hits two
17:07
Speaker 3: week round balls.
17:08
Speaker 2: How's he deal with that?
17:09
Speaker 3: Because that's the Torko sin that we need to see
17:12
Speaker 3: on the other side still be able to compete. I
17:14
Speaker 3: don't care if he gets out. I just want to
17:17
Speaker 3: see competitive at bats, like if i'm if I'm management.
17:20
Speaker 3: If he's putting competitive at bats day in and day out,
17:24
Speaker 3: I live with that because you know he's gonna the
17:26
Speaker 3: numbers are gonna come.
17:27
Speaker 2: It's those stretches of kind of non competitive at bats.
17:30
Speaker 3: Gets in his own head, easy case, and you go
17:33
Speaker 3: from a guy who's just raking to a guy who
17:36
Speaker 3: strikes out like eight out of ten times on at
17:39
Speaker 3: bats where it's like he's not even there.
17:41
Speaker 2: Right. So that's that's all Torqu's got to do.
17:44
Speaker 3: Just get that consistent element in there.
17:48
Speaker 2: Well.
17:48
Speaker 6: Keeping with the topical stuff.
17:50
Speaker 1: The Tigers right now are more or less down two
17:54
Speaker 1: center fielders three if you you know, with the back
17:56
Speaker 1: tightenings with Wentzel Perez, we got two outfielders here, Cody.
18:00
Speaker 1: So I kind of figured like, like, have you either
18:02
Speaker 1: of you guys, Andy or Austin like experience like a
18:06
Speaker 1: shoulder strain like Matt Berling's going through on his and
18:08
Speaker 1: it's his throwing arm, right, Cody, Right, it's just throwing arm.
18:11
Speaker 1: And then with Parker Meadows an upper nerve issue again
18:15
Speaker 1: on his throwing arm. You guys have any experience with
18:17
Speaker 1: those injuries? What what that's even like for those guys?
18:21
Speaker 2: Good? Yeah, No, I've been where I can't even throw baseball. Like.
18:27
Speaker 2: There's times the one one advantage to the outfield is
18:31
Speaker 2: you only have to hopefully make four or five throws max.
18:36
Speaker 3: Some games you don't make any, and what you gotta
18:39
Speaker 3: rely on is all right, I just got to I
18:42
Speaker 3: got two in the tank today. I'm not even playing catch.
18:45
Speaker 3: I'm not even warming up. Hey, Austin, I'm not even
18:49
Speaker 3: in between innings. It's like, I'm good playing with the right.
18:54
Speaker 3: So there's times that you're gonna be dealing with these injuries,
18:58
Speaker 3: and obviously in spring training you're not gonna push through, right.
19:01
Speaker 2: That's not the time to be the tough guy.
19:04
Speaker 3: But there's times where everybody's arms hanging short stops infielder
19:08
Speaker 3: outfielder first. But it doesn't matter pictures, they're gonna have
19:11
Speaker 3: arm issues. Number one thing like with the nerve issues,
19:15
Speaker 3: make sure that that's that's straightened out. Number two is
19:18
Speaker 3: for Verlin he Virlin can play third two Now that's
19:21
Speaker 3: a different position. You cannot at third base have a
19:25
Speaker 3: have a arm that's bummed or not not performed.
19:29
Speaker 2: That's that's a long throw.
19:30
Speaker 3: If you've ever went behind third base on a big
19:32
Speaker 3: league ninemen and where they play and look at first
19:35
Speaker 3: you're like.
19:35
Speaker 2: What they throw us that far? That accurate every time?
19:39
Speaker 3: Right, So for me, it's like, hey, just get it
19:43
Speaker 3: serviceable hit to be able to hit the cut off
19:45
Speaker 3: man Parker Meadows doesn't even have to throw the ball.
19:47
Speaker 3: I don't care the way he can go get in
19:48
Speaker 3: the center. Just run it in, like like he's gonna
19:53
Speaker 3: save more runs by going and getting it than he
19:55
Speaker 3: ever will with his arm.
19:57
Speaker 2: Right.
19:58
Speaker 3: And that'll also because what we I think, what we
20:01
Speaker 3: really don't, we would prefer to put Riley in left
20:04
Speaker 3: center fields a lot of Miles, that's way. That's a
20:06
Speaker 3: lot of Miles and Riley. He's a bigger guy. You
20:09
Speaker 3: know that many miles on Riley. And he's had some injuries,
20:12
Speaker 3: he's had some shin problems, and stuff, try to limit
20:15
Speaker 3: his miles, keeping him in left as much as possible.
20:18
Speaker 3: He'll probably play a little bit in center to start
20:20
Speaker 3: the year. But yeah, as first throwing man, look at
20:23
Speaker 3: Johnny Damon had a really good career and that dude
20:25
Speaker 3: couldn't throw it. So if you can go get it,
20:30
Speaker 3: I don't care how you throw it. You know, they'll
20:33
Speaker 3: take the extra base once in a while, but make
20:35
Speaker 3: it up, make up for with the glove.
20:39
Speaker 5: Yeah, Now he's everything you said. It's about being just
20:42
Speaker 5: smart with it, you know, just just hitting the cutoff man,
20:45
Speaker 5: making like making the.
20:47
Speaker 2: The the best throw for that situation.
20:50
Speaker 5: Like you said, trying to be a hero when you
20:52
Speaker 5: know something is you got to you know, a hanging
20:54
Speaker 5: arm is nothing's good ever gonna come from that.
20:57
Speaker 2: And that's that's basically that's what we're doing. Anyway.
21:00
Speaker 5: We're just trying to manage the runner from going to
21:03
Speaker 5: the extra base. And it's just about hitting that cut off. Hey,
21:06
Speaker 5: you're an infielder. When I throw it in there, you're
21:09
Speaker 5: an infielder. You got to be able to field the ball.
21:11
Speaker 5: If it's a little low.
21:12
Speaker 2: You know, I'm keeping that point low. I'm skipping it
21:15
Speaker 2: in there.
21:15
Speaker 5: If my arm is saying, there's plenty of throws where
21:18
Speaker 5: I'm like, you're an infielder. When this ball come in,
21:21
Speaker 5: it's gonna be low. I'm telling that right now.
21:24
Speaker 2: So you better start working on them scoops because that's
21:26
Speaker 2: what it's ball.
21:27
Speaker 5: I'm telling you right now. So nah, man, it's tough.
21:30
Speaker 5: It's tough, man. But you know, when we played, we
21:33
Speaker 5: played through a lot of injuries. You know, everybody did,
21:37
Speaker 5: and that's kind of how it was. You weren't coming
21:39
Speaker 5: off the field.
21:40
Speaker 2: So whether that was the best thing probably for us,
21:43
Speaker 2: probably not.
21:44
Speaker 5: I think guys are a lot smarter now with taking
21:46
Speaker 5: care of their bodies, you know, and there's a lot
21:48
Speaker 5: more information and a lot more ways to get you
21:51
Speaker 5: out there. You know, this just evolved since we played.
21:55
Speaker 5: So I think these guys are doing the right thing
21:57
Speaker 5: by making sure it's ready to go and that they're
22:00
Speaker 5: healthy when they get out.
22:01
Speaker 2: There, no doubt.
22:03
Speaker 3: And Austin makes a good point as an outfielder, it's
22:06
Speaker 3: game management. So we had good pitching staffs in Detroit
22:09
Speaker 3: when we played, and we knew like our goal was
22:12
Speaker 3: to keep runners from advancing as many bases as possible,
22:16
Speaker 3: Like we didn't. We weren't out there to try to
22:17
Speaker 3: gun do guys down at home and throw it to
22:19
Speaker 3: the backstop and let guys take extra bases. We ran
22:22
Speaker 3: balls down and we kept the ball in the pitcher's
22:25
Speaker 3: hand as much as possible. So you see the guys
22:27
Speaker 3: that do the diving play and you know, in front
22:30
Speaker 3: of them, and the ball skips behind them, Like.
22:32
Speaker 2: No, the way we played is that's dumb. Like if
22:36
Speaker 2: you do that, you're dumb.
22:37
Speaker 3: You got Burlander, your sures are on the bump, and
22:39
Speaker 3: you just gave a guy a leadoff triple. Keep the
22:41
Speaker 3: gu on first, keep the double play in order, like,
22:43
Speaker 3: don't be an idiot, but maybe and then when the
22:46
Speaker 3: diving play comes, it.
22:47
Speaker 2: Comes yea off to the side. Whatever. But that's a
22:51
Speaker 2: really good point with the pitching staff.
22:52
Speaker 3: The Tigers have outfield play is go get it and
22:56
Speaker 3: and keep your throats low, manage the game.
23:00
Speaker 4: Tigers do tend to rank near the top in terms
23:02
Speaker 4: of the percentage of flyballs converted to outs. Their positioning
23:05
Speaker 4: tends to be really good too. But let's have some fun, Andy,
23:09
Speaker 4: what what kind of teammate was ajax.
23:12
Speaker 2: Oh I loved aj man aj Kepta.
23:14
Speaker 3: He was really good at keeping the club house relaxed
23:17
Speaker 3: because I don't know if you know Aj very good
23:20
Speaker 3: enough to know that he's got he's got a decent
23:22
Speaker 3: personality and he's actually he can be funny on occasion.
23:28
Speaker 3: Sometimes we laugh just because a haha, you know, to
23:31
Speaker 3: make him feel good, hilarious. He had great impersonations of people,
23:37
Speaker 3: and AJ always had a smile no matter how we
23:40
Speaker 3: were doing. Because in a long season, man, there's some
23:44
Speaker 3: tough days to get up.
23:45
Speaker 2: You know.
23:46
Speaker 3: It's like, man, I got to put the clown suit
23:48
Speaker 3: on and go out there and play again today, like
23:51
Speaker 3: and and for people who've never done it, it's like, man,
23:54
Speaker 3: I would love to, you know, have my passion be
23:56
Speaker 3: my work. And we love baseball, but it is. It's
23:59
Speaker 3: a long season. There's the same guys in the clubhouse
24:03
Speaker 3: day in and day out. Some of them drive you
24:05
Speaker 3: nuts if you let them, and you got to build
24:07
Speaker 3: those relationships inside the clubhouse are very important, and you
24:10
Speaker 3: gotta have guys that you can kind of count on
24:13
Speaker 3: to where when the energy is kind of the or
24:16
Speaker 3: or there's a lot of pressure, you know, like hey,
24:19
Speaker 3: maybe we've lost the last three games, four games, and
24:22
Speaker 3: we're two games out in the division and we're we're
24:25
Speaker 3: heading into August and the media is all you know, Cody's.
24:29
Speaker 2: Over there right now. I don't know if they're gonna
24:31
Speaker 2: do it this year.
24:32
Speaker 3: You know, that's your job, that's your job. But but
24:35
Speaker 3: then you know the pressure from the city. You get
24:38
Speaker 3: the pressure on you, and then maybe you're struggling a
24:40
Speaker 3: little bit and you're feeling pressure for your career. And
24:43
Speaker 3: guys like AJ are very important for a clubhouse because
24:46
Speaker 3: they keep it light. They keep your understanding that, man,
24:50
Speaker 3: this is still a game. Guys, we're gonna have some
24:52
Speaker 3: fun and we're gonna make fun of each other, and
24:56
Speaker 3: and we're gonna keep it as light as possible so
24:58
Speaker 3: we can go out and perform, right, Because if you
25:01
Speaker 3: got the stress and the pressure, there's already enough of that.
25:03
Speaker 3: But if you can kind of break that up a
25:05
Speaker 3: little bit, man, it helps guys perform a lot.
25:08
Speaker 2: It's not football. You can't be raw crush. You know
25:12
Speaker 2: that you're gonna last about twenty five games. You're gonna
25:16
Speaker 2: be asleep.
25:22
Speaker 4: How does that go over when a guy does try
25:24
Speaker 4: to do that in the clubhouse, have like the football
25:27
Speaker 4: mentality raw ras stuff, I roll up.
25:31
Speaker 2: I mean, because people.
25:34
Speaker 5: Like guys aren't dumb, you know, guys figure that type
25:37
Speaker 5: of stuff out.
25:37
Speaker 2: It's like that's gonna last about a week.
25:39
Speaker 5: He's not like like Dirk, you say you're gonna be
25:41
Speaker 5: sleep here in a minute, like you better get you
25:44
Speaker 5: better go in there and get you a sandwich, grab
25:46
Speaker 5: you some water, come over here and maybe put them
25:48
Speaker 5: headphones on and chill a little bit, listen to some
25:51
Speaker 5: classical music for a little bit, like relax, because everybody's
25:55
Speaker 5: blood pressure is just skyrocketed.
25:57
Speaker 2: We didn't even know that, Like we don't even know
25:59
Speaker 2: our blood pressure was bad.
26:00
Speaker 5: But you know, half half of us out there dealing
26:03
Speaker 5: with ailments and blood pless blood pressure issues. And and
26:07
Speaker 5: like Andy said, man like we the clubhouse was like
26:10
Speaker 5: the most the best place for us, like it from
26:14
Speaker 5: from top to bottom. Like guys that didn't speak English
26:17
Speaker 5: that well, it didn't matter. Like we all we were
26:20
Speaker 5: such a close, close knit group in there, and that's
26:23
Speaker 5: that's super You around those guys more than you're around
26:26
Speaker 5: your family.
26:27
Speaker 2: So you you rely.
26:29
Speaker 5: On those relationships, those stories, those old school stories with
26:33
Speaker 5: some of the veterans you know, and just clowning clowning
26:36
Speaker 5: on each other keeping things light and you you have
26:39
Speaker 5: to have that. It's just it's monotonous every day to
26:42
Speaker 5: come in there and just take it serious every single day.
26:46
Speaker 2: Uh, we're gonna joke around with me.
26:48
Speaker 5: We're joking like I needed that for myself too, my
26:52
Speaker 5: own personal you know sanity, Like I needed to to laugh.
26:56
Speaker 5: And I just feel like bringing that laughter if I
26:58
Speaker 5: could bring that to somebody else, I mean, lighting up
27:01
Speaker 5: their day because you don't know what guys are going.
27:02
Speaker 2: Through off the field.
27:03
Speaker 5: You know, everybody's going through their own personal issues that
27:07
Speaker 5: you're having to bring to the stadium. So if you're
27:09
Speaker 5: able to, you know, be around a bunch of guys
27:11
Speaker 5: that can keep it light and we're you know, we're
27:14
Speaker 5: all after the same objective, then you know that's that's
27:17
Speaker 5: the goal, man, to go out there and enjoy playing
27:20
Speaker 5: with one another. You know, you got my back, I
27:22
Speaker 5: got yours, and I'm gonna pick you up when when
27:24
Speaker 5: you're down.
27:25
Speaker 2: Hopefully you do the same with me. So that's that's
27:27
Speaker 2: how we wear man.
27:28
Speaker 5: The clubhouse was we had a great We had great
27:30
Speaker 5: clubhouse every every year.
27:34
Speaker 2: Andy.
27:35
Speaker 1: I'm curious for your perspective on this, and you know
27:38
Speaker 1: you and Austin kind of fell into this category for
27:41
Speaker 1: a lot of Tigers fans back in your days. But
27:43
Speaker 1: is there is there a guy on this year's Tigers
27:46
Speaker 1: team where it's just like, you know what, I just
27:47
Speaker 1: like this guy's game. It's not necessarily he's the best,
27:50
Speaker 1: it's not necessarily he's your favorite, but it's just like
27:52
Speaker 1: this guy playing playing the game.
27:54
Speaker 6: I just I just like it. I just like watching
27:56
Speaker 6: this guy play.
27:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, they're so young.
28:01
Speaker 3: I feel like it's funny because now I'm thirty nine
28:04
Speaker 3: and I go in the clubhouse and I'm.
28:06
Speaker 2: Like, dude, these guys are young. Was I that young
28:08
Speaker 2: when I played? Right?
28:11
Speaker 3: I like Vierling's game. I've always liked Vierling. He's a
28:14
Speaker 3: competitor and he's steady, Like he's a guy. You put
28:17
Speaker 3: him out there, you know what you're gonna get, solid
28:19
Speaker 3: right handed bat. He plays good defense. He's a good
28:22
Speaker 3: clubhouse guy, good team guy. He came over from the Phillies, right,
28:27
Speaker 3: so he wasn't like up through the system like some
28:29
Speaker 3: of these guys have been up through the system, so
28:31
Speaker 3: they have that super like tight knit like Torque and
28:34
Speaker 3: Riley and these guys, I mean, they literally grew up
28:36
Speaker 3: together in baseball. And then you get a guy like
28:39
Speaker 3: Erling who's kind of come from the outside into the
28:41
Speaker 3: organization and he is like a plus plus human right,
28:47
Speaker 3: And he's a guy that every time AJ puts him in,
28:50
Speaker 3: he just keeps playing.
28:52
Speaker 2: Other guys go down, he just kept playing. He just
28:54
Speaker 2: keeps playing.
28:55
Speaker 3: And those are kind of the unsung heroes I think
28:58
Speaker 3: sometimes of organizations. And obviously we have some super exciting
29:03
Speaker 3: young talent like Parker Meadows the way like I played
29:07
Speaker 3: with Austin, who's the best center fielder I ever played
29:10
Speaker 3: next to. He's got that same ability, like it's a
29:13
Speaker 3: it's this weird ability. Ye, he's fast and he's long,
29:16
Speaker 3: but like he can just get to the ball. Like
29:20
Speaker 3: there's certain guys that then there's just a handful of
29:23
Speaker 3: them in the big leagues that can just get to
29:25
Speaker 3: the ball. It's like between the read and their speed
29:28
Speaker 3: and the the kind of that sense that they have
29:32
Speaker 3: when they roam center to where what it does is
29:34
Speaker 3: it helps you move away from them if you play
29:38
Speaker 3: the corners. So like when AJ is playing center, I
29:41
Speaker 3: know I can move away from Aj because AJ's got
29:43
Speaker 3: the gap more more than most other guys would ever get,
29:46
Speaker 3: which allows me to take away more line or shallow.
29:50
Speaker 3: So like that's why that's why Verlander and schurz A
29:53
Speaker 3: were good at all. I mean, you know, I mean Austin,
29:58
Speaker 3: those guys possibly not even household names, you know, fringe guy,
30:05
Speaker 3: and we turn them into all start.
30:06
Speaker 2: It's pretty flight.
30:08
Speaker 3: They're both Hall of famers, so you know when you
30:11
Speaker 3: get but when you can play against extra guys. But
30:13
Speaker 3: go back to your question. For me, ver Ling's kind
30:16
Speaker 3: of a blue guy for the team. He's got some experience.
30:19
Speaker 3: He's been in the postseason twice now, He's a plus dude.
30:22
Speaker 3: Younger guys can come to him. He's an open book.
30:26
Speaker 2: But yeah, that'd be my probably blue guy. Yeah, I
30:31
Speaker 2: I mean you said it for me. I'm probably a
30:33
Speaker 2: little biased.
30:33
Speaker 5: But meadows Man, I think it's something about the easiness
30:37
Speaker 5: of the way he goes and gets it. I mean,
30:40
Speaker 5: he has he has really an uncanny ability to just
30:43
Speaker 5: get to the ball. And I don't it's I mean,
30:45
Speaker 5: I'm sure that he is fast. I mean I don't
30:47
Speaker 5: know if you line him up on the line and
30:49
Speaker 5: you run the sixty, if he if he blows it
30:51
Speaker 5: out the water I'm not sure, but it's it's the athleticism,
30:55
Speaker 5: the easiness that he gets to the balls and it
30:58
Speaker 5: looks like he's just chilling, Like it looks like this
31:01
Speaker 5: is just another day at the yard. Like literally, like I,
31:04
Speaker 5: you hit a ball out there, and I'm just gonna
31:06
Speaker 5: go get it. You know, there's not a lot of
31:09
Speaker 5: uh jazz and all this this showiness. Although I like
31:13
Speaker 5: his I like his energy though. You know, we talked
31:16
Speaker 5: about that one day. I was like, hey, man, I
31:17
Speaker 5: like I like that energy, man, Like, that's something I
31:20
Speaker 5: wish I would have shown a little bit more of.
31:22
Speaker 5: But yeah, it's just something about watching a guy in
31:26
Speaker 5: the outfield that it's just able to go just get
31:28
Speaker 5: the ball and it looks like they're not even really trying.
31:31
Speaker 2: And he has that ability. So that's my guy. Andy.
31:36
Speaker 4: Ever run into you in the outfield, Austin, Nah?
31:39
Speaker 5: Nah NOA we now we we man, We were so
31:42
Speaker 5: on the same page, man, Like.
31:43
Speaker 2: That's that's another thing. Like you we're looking all the time.
31:46
Speaker 5: We're constantly looking, checking and seeing, you know, the distance
31:51
Speaker 5: that that we have between each other. But Andy, I
31:53
Speaker 5: already know he getting ran over if he hit me.
31:56
Speaker 5: It's solid it's solid over here. Brother, you ain't you
31:59
Speaker 5: know what I mean?
32:01
Speaker 3: In twenty eleven, there's a lot of things I might
32:04
Speaker 3: call Austin. It wouldn't have been.
32:10
Speaker 2: All right, I got you.
32:12
Speaker 3: Maybe we had good chemistry because Austin's smart too, so
32:18
Speaker 3: he's not just fast. So some outfielders are fast, and
32:21
Speaker 3: I've played with a lot of different guys out there,
32:23
Speaker 3: and some guys are super fast and they're athletic, but
32:26
Speaker 3: they're not that smart.
32:27
Speaker 2: They're dumb when.
32:28
Speaker 3: It comes to understanding the read and whose balls where,
32:32
Speaker 3: and where the guy was before the ball's hit, and
32:34
Speaker 3: who's hitting and who's pitching, Like there's a lot that
32:37
Speaker 3: goes into it to understand the situation. I was thinking yesterday,
32:42
Speaker 3: I was thinking, you know, did me and Austin ever
32:44
Speaker 3: screw a ball up?
32:45
Speaker 2: And there was only one I could think of, and
32:48
Speaker 2: I think it was in Cleveland.
32:50
Speaker 3: There was a ball hit to left center and we
32:52
Speaker 3: kind of converged and at the last minute we kind
32:54
Speaker 3: of both pulled up and the ball hit and I
32:56
Speaker 3: think that was our I don't know, or first year
32:59
Speaker 3: playing together. And after that we could kind of looked
33:02
Speaker 3: at each other and it was like unsaid that'll never
33:05
Speaker 3: happen again. It was just it was one of those
33:08
Speaker 3: those those moments that was kind of like, oh, okay.
33:11
Speaker 3: I didn't realize how much range Austin had because when
33:16
Speaker 3: you don't, you know, coming up through the minor leagues,
33:17
Speaker 3: you play with some other guys that are pretty good,
33:19
Speaker 3: but nothing like elite center field, big league center field
33:23
Speaker 3: type of speed. So when I was on that ball,
33:27
Speaker 3: like all of a sudden, I realized Austin's there, and I'm.
33:29
Speaker 2: Like, what, Like, why are you here? You were over
33:32
Speaker 2: in right center. You shouldn't you shouldn't even have been here,
33:35
Speaker 2: and he could have caught it. And then I go, WHOA.
33:38
Speaker 3: So I had to learn, you know, that range ability
33:41
Speaker 3: is much different with a guy like Austin than guys
33:44
Speaker 3: I'd played with in the minor leagues, which when I
33:47
Speaker 3: hit I noticed it on the other side of the ball,
33:49
Speaker 3: because you get to the big leagues, man. I hit
33:51
Speaker 3: a ball up the middle of Kansas City one time,
33:53
Speaker 3: a little ground ball. It almost hit I think Jane
33:56
Speaker 3: Shills was pitching boom right off the mountain.
33:59
Speaker 2: Wuck hard skip. I'm kind of going down to first.
34:01
Speaker 3: I start to round a little bit at Escobar, Dude,
34:04
Speaker 3: he gumbay arm out there, he turns, he throws it
34:07
Speaker 3: behind his head and I'm out. I was like, that
34:12
Speaker 3: never happened in the minor league. That's a hit that
34:14
Speaker 3: should have been a hit that should be illegal. So
34:17
Speaker 3: you can at a big league level as a defender
34:20
Speaker 3: in the outfield or wherever, you have to learn. So
34:23
Speaker 3: if you're playing against next to a guy like Parker
34:25
Speaker 3: Meadows or Austin Jackson, if you're on the corners, you
34:28
Speaker 3: have to be aware of who's playing center. Like if
34:31
Speaker 3: winso Perez, he's not going to range as far as
34:33
Speaker 3: Meadows right, So you know, if you're playing left, I
34:36
Speaker 3: can go get it a little more in the left
34:37
Speaker 3: center gap, because the key is if you've got elite
34:41
Speaker 3: center fielder, get out of their way. So a lot
34:43
Speaker 3: of times if a ball is hit to left center
34:45
Speaker 3: or let like kind of left short left center, in
34:48
Speaker 3: Austin's in center, my immediate break is not to the ball,
34:52
Speaker 3: it's to back up where if another guy is playing center,
34:56
Speaker 3: my immediate breaks to the ball to make sure that
34:59
Speaker 3: he's tracking. Then if he's tracking, all cut. But I
35:02
Speaker 3: had trust in Austin. I know, I know if Austin
35:05
Speaker 3: was in the center. I know if he can get
35:07
Speaker 3: to it, he's gonna get to it or it's gonna
35:08
Speaker 3: be really close. I give him the full rain on that,
35:11
Speaker 3: because he's got a better chance of making the web
35:13
Speaker 3: gym than I do. And I'm coming around the back side.
35:15
Speaker 3: And that's the to manage the game, because even if
35:17
Speaker 3: Austin misses and I get there quick, I still maybe
35:20
Speaker 3: have a chance at second.
35:22
Speaker 2: Right. I mean, that's that's different level, boys, big level.
35:32
Speaker 2: That's that's some different baseball.
35:37
Speaker 1: Oh well, uh, why don't we Why don't we wrap
35:41
Speaker 1: up with this? We appreciate Andy, Uh you taking time
35:43
Speaker 1: with us.
35:44
Speaker 2: Uh.
35:45
Speaker 1: Expectations for this year's Tigers squad coming off a playoff berth,
35:50
Speaker 1: you know, breaking the streak both birth and you know,
35:53
Speaker 1: winning a postseason game, Uh, more or less the same team,
35:57
Speaker 1: a couple of different changes here and there, but more
36:00
Speaker 1: less the same team.
36:00
Speaker 2: What are you?
36:01
Speaker 6: What are you kind of your expectations for this season?
36:04
Speaker 3: I think they should they should win the Central. I
36:08
Speaker 3: mean the Central's tough. You got Cleveland and Minnesota. They're
36:11
Speaker 3: not slouches, right, and they're gonna play both those teams.
36:15
Speaker 3: The Central beats each other up pretty bad. And the
36:17
Speaker 3: Central's got really good pitching throughout, so especially in the
36:21
Speaker 3: top three teams. But I think with our pitching that
36:24
Speaker 3: we can roll out our bullpen, man is so deep,
36:27
Speaker 3: Like it just keeps getting deeper and deeper, and you
36:30
Speaker 3: keep seeing guys and I know that like throughout the
36:32
Speaker 3: course of the season, Like starting pitching, we got, you know,
36:35
Speaker 3: three guys that we know or should be pretty legit
36:38
Speaker 3: and then two who's it gonna be? But we have
36:41
Speaker 3: lots of options there. But man, if you can have
36:43
Speaker 3: a bullpen, I remember Kansas City in like thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,
36:49
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden you get to like the
36:51
Speaker 3: sixth inning and it's over, man Like they start rolling
36:54
Speaker 3: dudes out and you're like, man, this.
36:55
Speaker 2: Is so brisky.
36:56
Speaker 3: Vess you see a hand if he pitching today, if
36:59
Speaker 3: he's sawing sack like that, Like that's a different level
37:02
Speaker 3: of stuff. Lots of good arms out of the bullpen
37:06
Speaker 3: makes for a really tough squad to be consistently and
37:09
Speaker 3: then offensive production. You get everybody a new year. You
37:12
Speaker 3: got you got Glabor Torres, who's on an earn it year.
37:16
Speaker 3: He chose to go on an earn it contract, which
37:19
Speaker 3: speaks a lot. I mean, he could have took a
37:21
Speaker 3: cush year, you know, longer term deal, but he's wanting
37:24
Speaker 3: to put a year out that puts him on the
37:26
Speaker 3: radar and free agency next year.
37:28
Speaker 2: Torkelsen's on approve it year.
37:29
Speaker 3: So these guys got a lot to play for, and
37:31
Speaker 3: when you got stuff to play for, all of a
37:33
Speaker 3: sudden that bat might speak a little bit more.
37:36
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think I think win the division is the I.
37:40
Speaker 3: Mean I don't see where what other goal there would
37:42
Speaker 3: be for for this team after what they did last year.
37:48
Speaker 6: Yeah, well said, well said?
37:49
Speaker 1: All right, Well, you guys can follow us on all
37:51
Speaker 1: the socials and YouTube at Tiger Territory. You can follow
37:55
Speaker 1: Cody on X formally known as Twitter at Cody steven Hagen.
37:57
Speaker 1: I am at Kierano to score Steckley Andy. Where can
37:59
Speaker 1: people find you?
38:01
Speaker 2: Oh? You can find me at a J A Jacks
38:04
Speaker 2: ten my fake Twitter handle that I act like no Twitter.
38:12
Speaker 3: I think X is uh Andy Dirks twelve. I got
38:15
Speaker 3: an Instagram, the the real Andy Dirks. Yeah, that's one
38:18
Speaker 3: of those.
38:19
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm that guy.
38:23
Speaker 2: I saw it.
38:24
Speaker 3: I saw Todd Jones had the not fake Todd Jones
38:28
Speaker 3: and then after I did mine, I realized I'm like
38:31
Speaker 3: Todd Jones is like fifty years of forty fifty years.
38:33
Speaker 2: Old, am I?
38:35
Speaker 3: Oh Andy, you got to ask the twenty year old
38:38
Speaker 3: about the social media, not the not the older guy, Todd.
38:44
Speaker 2: Todd's always like my social media. Man, I got two
38:47
Speaker 2: thousand followers on it, like Todd. I don't think that's
38:53
Speaker 2: like a lot? Is it that? Nothing?
38:59
Speaker 6: Oh? My goodness.
39:01
Speaker 1: On that note, what a great way to close. UH
39:04
Speaker 1: Coach Davinagg and Austin Jackson. I'm Kieren Steckley. Thank you
39:06
Speaker 1: again to Andy Dirks for joining us. I want to
39:08
Speaker 1: remind everybody to have a great weekend.