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Max Anderson Joins Tiger Territory · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, we are happy to welcome Max Anderson to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the podcast. Max Rising Tigers prospect. He's out in the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Arizona Fall League right now. He's been tearing it up
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: out there. Max, Thanks for joining us.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, happy to be here.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: So Max, you know, Arizona Fall League. Let's just kind
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: of go right there. It is very current, Like how
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: does that happen?
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: Like how are you approached?
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Like you know, like how far in advance do you
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: kind of know this is gonna you know, your season's
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: going to extend a little bit, and then just sort
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: of like the day to day of participating in this.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: In this you know, you're concentrating your game, but also
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: like you're in a random house right now. It's not
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: your home, Like, how how does that happen from a
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: player's perspective?
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: And what's it? What's the experience been like for you
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: this year?
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so we we kind of find out about a
• 0:51
  Speaker 5: month month left of the season and then kind of
• 0:57
  Speaker 5: it's nothing glamorous or anything.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: It's just kind of a fun call with.
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: So, I mean, some guys in the in the front
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: office with the Tigers and they'll call you and say, hey,
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: we'd like you to represent you represent us in the
• 1:10
  Speaker 5: Fall League, and you know, it's kind of something that
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: you can't really turn down, so everybody usually says yes, but.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: No. So that that was.
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: Pretty cool to get that call and be able to
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: just talk and kind of see that the Tigers like
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: they kind of thank you pretty highly if they're wanting
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: to send you here. And I mean, as far as
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: being down here, it's it's awesome. I mean, I was
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: just got off the phone with my my with my
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: parents and they're in forty degree weather and it's freezing rain,
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: and so it makes it a little easier.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: To be out here in ninety degree weather.
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: But kind of the day to day here, I mean
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: we just i mean night games pretty relaxed, just kind
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: of like the season, like get a sleep in a
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: little bit and you know, trying not to stay in
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: bed too long, and then we'll go to the field
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: work out every day. For me, that's kind of a
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: big part is trying to get my body in the
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: best shape for you know, next year, because in a sense,
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: this is kind of still like the start of your
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: off season. Uh so kind of making that balance so
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: you're still able to play, uh play good, but also
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: getting your body ready for the next season is kind
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: of a tricky thing that the Tigers have helped helped
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: me with.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: But I'm having a blast out here.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: I mean the guys that we're playing with, I mean
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: the guys that I'm living with, they're they're awesome, a
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: great time to be around. And uh, you know friends
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: that have came in with came to the in to
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: the pro baseball uh, that I have had for the
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: two and a half years i've been been here.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: So so what wait, what's your what's your compound? Like,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: we know you're you're with Kevin mcgonag, Well who else
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: is there? And what what do you guys do in
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the downtime?
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: Yes, so Carlos like Erika, he's a pitcher. He's also here. Uh,
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: we all came came in the same draft class, so
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: we were pretty close and it was nice that we
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: got to live together. It's just us three and uh,
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: kind of a pretty pretty normal Arizona house. It's got
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: to pool out back, so we do a lot of
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: just kind of hanging out in the pool.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: All three of us like the golf.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: So, uh, it's kind of kind of worked out nice that,
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: I mean, no complaints. They put us in a great
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: spot in Arizona. There's I mean countless things to do
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: that in your free time. So we've been busy.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Well, you know you mentioned a couple of guys there
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: and your class, very highly regarded class. I'm curious, like
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: you being a second round pick. You know McGonagall mentioned
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Max Clark at the top there. Like when you're in
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: the day to day in the miners, you know, grinding, grueling.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: Do you and even in the games against your opponents.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: Do you like look at hey, do you look at
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: yourself as like I'm a second round pick. I should
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: be doing this. This is my timeline. I carry myself
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: a certain way. And b do you look at your
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: teammates slash your opponents like, oh, that guy was a
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: top five pick, that guy was a first round pick.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: You know this player got this bonus? Like, does does
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: the ore exist for the guys that like, you know,
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: people like us talk about but you're seeing them with
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: them day to day?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: Uh for me, this is definitely gonna sound like a
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: stock answer. But I I like, personally like I don't
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: I don't see myself like as any like anything special, And.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I feel like I've kind of been like that my
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: whole way. Like when I was a.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: High schooler and I went to like a camp somewhere
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: and talked to the coach and I was going home,
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: and I was like, gosh, I guess I'm getting recruited now,
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: Like I never thought this would happen. Like I just
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: kind of don't see things in a sense, like don't
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: take them more than what they are, If that's the
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: right wording. I think it's it's tough, like when you like,
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: for me, like I'm a huge baseball fan, so like
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: I've followed like prospects and drafts my whole life. So
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: like when I see guys that like we're drafted high,
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: like I definitely recognize it. And when you're playing them,
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: Uh but I think that's also a key to succeeding
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: in baseball, is like trying to take the name off
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: their back and just take the person for who they
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: are and being able to play like cause like you
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: go up and face like a Paul Skins or Chase Burns,
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: like those guys are good pitchers alone, Like if you
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: let their name do they're talking for them, Like it's
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: gonna make it even harder to.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Get a hit off them.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: Uh, so you got to just be able to play
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: baseball and kind of see everybody as the same, even
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: though that I mean, in the grand scheme of things,
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: I mean, people are a lot better.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: They got drafted for a reason that high and kind
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: of all that.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought up that high school story because
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get into your story a little bit.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: You grew up in Omaha, actually spent a little bit
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: of time there. Nice town, great zoo, right, oh yeah,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: and then you went to the University of Nebraska's right
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: down the road. I guess what type of player were
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you in high school? And why were you surprised when
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: you started getting recruited.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: So in high school, I mean I had an older
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: brother and he was he loved baseball. He wasn't very good,
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: so I kind of always I always watched him play
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: baseball and watched everything that he did, and he, I mean,
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: he loved it, and so in my mind, I was
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: just playing.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: And just kind of whatever happens happens.
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: I never I mean, all everybody goes to like showcases
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: and plays travel ball nowadays, didn't. I didn't do any
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: of that really ever until my junior fall so I
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: played I don't know if you guys know, legion baseball
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: like high school. Yeah, so I played that in the summers,
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: and I didn't do any travel ball, so I didn't
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: really know what was out there, like if any college
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: coaches like liked, how if I was good or not,
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: like realistically didn't really get a see like uh kind
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: of weigh myself against like other top ranked prospects.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 5: So to say in high school, how I got recruit
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: I went to just a bunch of camps in the fall,
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: like college baseball camps, and they were great.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: To me.
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: It was pretty cool to be able to just see
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: a bunch of different colleges and almost take it as
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: like a visit to the college town. Even though that
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: I mean probably fifty percent of them didn't like, didn't
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: think I was good enough to go there, so but
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: it was it was pretty cool. I mean, I I
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: had kind of a weird recruiting story. So I was
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: going to committed to text A and M when I
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: was a sophomore and went to a camp and I
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: was a sophomore called them and then then kind of
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: just committed like within it all within like a month
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: and then like so that COVID draft, that five round
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: draft that happened, and just kind of they had a
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: lot of guys that were supposed to get drafted a
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: normal draft and didn't get drafted, which naturally happens. So
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: then kind of just didn't work out there, and it
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: just happened that the Texas A and M staff got
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: hired at the hitting coach got hired as the head
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: coach at Nebraska, Will Bolt, and within like twenty four hours,
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: I was going to Nebraska and it was the best
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: best decision in my life.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: It was awesome.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so funny how things work out sometimes exactly exactly.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Which were you a multi sport guy in high school?
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I played basketball as well. I was not very good, though.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: I came off the bench and with average about the
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: same amount of fouls as points.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Hey, hey, everyone, you gotta have one of those guys
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: on your team.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: I liked it exactly.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Well, well, then you you spend three years at Nebraska,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: then you know, you get drafted by the Tigers. So
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: that's a to me from the outside, that feels like
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: a pretty accelerated timeline for someone you know, surprise, you
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: get recruited, and then you know you end up at Nebraska,
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: like you said, and all of a sudden you're a
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: second round pick. So like the draft process, I'm also
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: curious about Max, Like how was that for you? Did
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: you have any idea like where you were going to go?
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Did you kind of have your mind made up like
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: at that time or like yeah, what was that Like?
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I I mean you kind of get a grasp
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: of where you could go. I mean with the with
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: the MLB draft, I mean everything's so crazy with like
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: there can be like deals made beforehand and kind of
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: all that crazy stuff that can happen. So you don't
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: really know until like you get drafted that things are
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: going to happen. And I I didn't. There's probably a
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: mixu of like four or five teams that I felt
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: like were pretty interested in me, and then it just
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: kind of so happened that the Tigers were the ones
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: that took me and my I was more personally, I
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: was more nervous, uh, for my buddy getting drafted, Bryce Matthews,
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: like because he he was.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Like first rounder.
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: I was like, this kind of crazy and it's kind
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: of surreal moment for me to watch him and then
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: like he gets drafted and it turns over to me
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I might get
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: drafted tonight.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Too, Like it's pretty cool. Uh So it was.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: It was an all around just surreal moment and ended
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: up three. I mean, two of my pretty close friends
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: Mike Bovee got drafted too, to the Brewers right after.
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: Uh So being able to see i mean, two of
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: your buddies that you've played baseball with kind of your
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: whole life get drafted is also a pretty cool moment,
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: uh in a night for just you as a person.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: So the Tigers, So the Tigers were not one of
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: those four or five teams that you were thinking.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Is that?
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: Am I reading that correctly?
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: I meant at the beginning of the day, I didn't
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: didn't really have the Tigers on my horizon and then
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: worked out for the best.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: About that.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll do one more question then we'll get to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a break here. But but before we move on, you know,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: you said going to Nebraska was one of the best
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: decisions of your life. What was it that made that
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: such a formative time for you as a player as
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: a person When you look back when your time in Nebraska,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: what are the things that really come to mind.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, first off, just having I mean my
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: friends from from growing up or there. They weren't playing baseball,
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: but they were going to college there, so having them
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: there was it was a definitely big time plus people
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: to see them and family was really close so they
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: could come and watch every game, so that was a
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: huge part, just the friends and family aspects of things.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: And then going there, I felt like I grew as
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: a player a lot.
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: I felt like I was kind of just kind of
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: like a didn't know much, like just kind of a
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: baseball player coming out of high school, didn't really play
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: high level, like the highest of level baseball, didn't really
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: know how good I was. And I felt like Nebraska
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: kind of just fine tuned some things for me, helped
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: me a bunch defensively, and helped me a bunch just
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: mentally getting to the right spot, and kind of turned
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: me into the player I am today.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: So for any listeners who don't know, Max hit four
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: fourteen with twenty one homers his final year at Nebraska,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: not a shabby stat line.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Treated me good.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Well, let's let's get to some some professional ballplayer timeline
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: stuff with you. Everybody, asked, like, you know, major league players,
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Like what was your you know, welcome to the major
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: league's moment? And that hasn't happened for you yet, So
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: when that does happen, we'll get you back on we'll ask,
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: but like, what about the welcome to the Miners moment?
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Is there like a like you know, like either on
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: the field, off the field all this stuff. Because I
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: we have Austin Jackson as a part of our podcast
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: and he goes, you know, how much do you really
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: love baseball? You know, going through that grind, So like,
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: is there a welcome to the Miners moment for you?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Max?
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: I I kind of was going in the same spot,
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: like I think the biggest welcome to the Miners moment
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: is playing one hundred and thirty whatever games you play,
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: and just I mean for me, that was a big
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: difference from college. But I can't imagine like a high
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: school guy going to straight to full season, like that's
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: a lot a lot of baseball to be played, and
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: you're getting drafted high like they're expecting you to play
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: five six days a week. So I think just the
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: sheer like length of the season I think is to
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: welcome to the minor leagues for me and probably a
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: lot of guys just trying to keep your body together
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: so you can, i mean take six hundred a bats
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: and you know, not stay healthy.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: So you mentioned early or you know, working with the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Tigers to develop off season plans things like that. You know,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I've heard you had really an important formative off season
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: before this past year. What have you learned so far
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: about what it takes to get your body ready and
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: this past off season in particular, kind of what did
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: that look like for you?
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, kinda kind of just taken serious what you do
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: and just kind of how you go about it.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Like I think.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Training like you can you can take it a few
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: different ways, like you can just do it and you know,
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: check the box and say that it's been done.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Where you can do it for a reason.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: And I'm a big believer in just doing stuff for
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: a reason and not like just doing a bunch of
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: eyewashed for no reason.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: That's not going to get you anywhere. So just having
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: a reason behind everything we do.
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: Back in Omaha and then here as well, Like there's
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: like I like to be able to figure out like
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: what's just going to help me do Like in the
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: next season, and I feel like that's helped me put
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: other a plan to be able to stay healthy and
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: just be able to handle a minor league season and
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: kind of show up to spring training in the best
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: shape that I Can's.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: What's that look like you're talking more like functional strength
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: type stuff or what's an example of going from some
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: eyewash thing to something that's really making a tangible impact
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: in what you do.
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think a lot of stuff with like jumping
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: an agility I think is huge for minor leaguers because
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: you're I mean for infielders, you're doing a pre pitch
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: for I mean probably like ten thousand times or more
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: throughout the year. So doing your jumps and making sure
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: your quads and hammies are they're ready to go when
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: you get started in the spring. So a lot of
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: quick agility stuff and a lot of jumps I think
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: for me was very important. And then being able to
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: maybe shave off a few pounds and be kind of
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: lighter on your feet so you can feel good and
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: feel light playing in the infield. You know, every step matters, Uh,
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: when getting getting the few extra getting a few extra
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: outscrumballs for your pitcher, Uh, so those things kind of
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: go hand in hand, uh you know, being a little
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: lighter and then having a little more agility under your belt.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I think it was those were the huge things for me.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Where where's your comfort level that you know, the various
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: positions that the that the Tigers have had you, you know,
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: perform at in the infield, and and and honestly, I'm
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: actually curious about this, like more generically too, because we
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: see at the major league level what Colt Keith has
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: gone through, you know, you know, you know, being you know,
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: third base, second base, third base again and in the
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: even first base too. Uh so, So, so what has
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: that experience been like for you? And then just kind
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: of if you can just kind of illustrate like how
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: those things are different and what the challenges are at
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: you know, at each position.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah, uh so I came in, played in second base,
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: played my last year of college at second base, and
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: played i mean the full season.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: I'm fairly comfortable there.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: I feel like second base for me at least, is
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: just more like you can sit back a little more
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: more of like a thinking position rather than third base
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: to where you i mean, you're basically playing hockey goalie
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: over there.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Especially now.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: I mean, these guys are hitting the ball one hundred
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: and twenty over there at you, and you kind of
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: just a kind of just a punching bag for him.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: So you's got to you got to find a way
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: to lock in there for I mean a short amount
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: of second seconds and it's not a lot of thinking,
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: and sometimes that's good for a lot of people, and
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: sometimes it's not. In second base, sometimes you think too much,
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: and sometimes that's good for people, and sometimes it's not.
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: It's just kind of taking the mindset into the game knowing.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Kind of what you're gonna do. You're still fielding ground
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: balls that you've done your whole life.
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: I'm not gonna say it's easy anything, but it's it's
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: still hard to be able to switch positions and being
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: able to kind of take two different mindsets into a game.
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: But it's been good to me. I feel feel pretty
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: comfortable at either position right now. So just kind of
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: more taking more ground balls. I feel like infield is
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: a thing where you can kind of take a lot
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: of reps and improve, and there's some things maybe in
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: life that that's not the case, but you can just
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: take a lot of reps there and try and just
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: you know, get more use to everything.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: It's all really you can.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Do, all right, Maxim, I'm just gonna keep it real
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: with this question. You've not yet played a major league game.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess you've already gotten a little bit of
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: taste of like the business realities of baseball. Like the
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: summer Tigers are in first place, there are trade rumors
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: everywhere people like me or like Max Anderson could be
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: someone who makes did any of that? Did you catch
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: wind of that? Did that impact you at all? This summer?
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: I honestly think the Tigers do a pretty good job
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: of it of keeping it like.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Kind of off of like.
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: Our minds almost, And it definitely will catch I mean
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: catch everybody by surprise when you do get traded, because
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: you just kind of are going about your day, and
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: I mean, we still have to play our week of
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: baseball games the week of the trade deadline, so it's
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: kind of crazy.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: We had a few experiences this year.
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: One of my good buddies, Jim Jarvis, got traded to
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: the Braves, and that was like we were finishing our game.
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: He walks out of the clubhouse like to take a call,
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: and we're like, oh, he's calling his mom or something
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: and he comes back and he's like, oh, getting traded,
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: like and then everybody's like what, Like I was just
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: out of nowhere, Like yeah, And that's that's for the
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: most part, how it goes. And I think that's definitely
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: kind of like give and take, like pros and cons.
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: But I think gets better that it's not like they're
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: not like constantly saying like, hey, we could do this,
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: this and this, and then you got to go out
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: and face ninety eight and it's just like I'm thinking
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: about everything right now. It's it's a tough thing to balance,
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: but it's a realistic thing and that's why it is
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: a business. And you kind of know what you're getting into,
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: uh when you when you when you get into it,
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: and then when you finally see it becomes real.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Uh. But yeah, it's it's uh, it's.
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: Everything you make it and you just kind of got
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: to keep on thinking about baseball and not the stuff
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: outside and whatever happens happens.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: I guess it's one of those things that it's like
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: partially a compliment because like again it's like people like
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: us where we're just like making fake trays that are
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: completely meaningless. But it's like, well, if you want to
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: get a good player, you have to give up something
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: good in return. So it's like, you know, these people
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: are like, well, you know Max is doing you know,
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: pretty well here, maybe he could help be part of
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: a package you get this asset. By the same time,
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: it's also saying, well, I guess we don't like them
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: that much. We're willing to part with him. So it's
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: like it's like a good way compliment. It's kind of
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: you know, I can only imagine what that's like to
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: go through, but for sure you've paid several compliments to
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: the Tigers organization today, Max, and so like they're well
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: regarded with the farm system and the organizational structure and
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: all that stuff. And from the outside and mainly from
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: the outside, it's all just like, oh, these are good
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: players and they might become good major league players. From
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: the inside, why why are the Tigers a well run organization?
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Why is the farm system highly regarded and successful and
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: like all these things?
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: From your perspective, yeah, I think I think genuinely, as
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: easy as it is, I think it's because they just
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: care about like the guys that they drafted.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: They they They've always kind of preached that.
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: Like they want to draft the right guys, and I
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: think that kind of that same mentality goes with like
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: having the right coaches in place, and that makes a
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: big difference in a player's career, is having you know,
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: you have guys that want you to succeed. And I've
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: heard stories not like now, but like in the past
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: of like other organizations, like there's some some coaches just
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: kind of want to get their name connected to a
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: player and then move up. I don't get that sense
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: in the Tigers organization, Like these guys like really want
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: their players to succeed and just like want to do
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: anything to help you. So I think that's a pretty
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: awesome thing to be able to. I mean, I had
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: no choice of where I was going. It was I
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: like just got put here and they drafted me and
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: it just turned out to be great for me. And
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: that these guys like you can talk to them whenever,
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: Like we have hitting coaches that will pick up the
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: phone and just kind of talk shop with you whenever.
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: And infield guys that no more than anything I could
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: ever imagine in about infield that I have never.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Even thought of. That I'm doing now.
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: Uh, so they've they've expanded, uh expanded my knowledge of
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: the game and helped me out a bunch.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: What is an infield tip that you had never even
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: thought of that now you're thinking about.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: All the time.
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: Oh man, Uh, A lot of stuff with pre pitches
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: to take off like time and agility, I mean to
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: take to add to add like agility and help you
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: cover a lot of it, a lot of ground, like
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: just like there's always the normal like pre pitch of
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: what you're doing. And then they come up to you with, uh,
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: you know, this new thing to try and you're like.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Whoa, that feels good? Like where'd you think of that?
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: And like, I don't know, it's just it looked faster
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: when we saw someone else do it, and we thought
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: we should try it. And you know, it's baseball. You're
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: looking at what other other other people are doing and
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: you know you gotta to copy that game. You're just
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: trying to be the best player you can. But yeah,
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: it's it's crazy how much they look at the game
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: and care for their players.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Actually, growing up in Omaha, what team were you a
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: fan of? Who's your favorite player?
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: So growing up I was always a fan of the Royals.
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: It's just kind of the closest team. And then my
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: favorite player was Alex Gordon because he's from Nebraska and
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: then went to the Royals, so kind of the Nebraska
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: career path, almost as close as you can to Nebraska.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: So we were always fans of.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: Him and he was an awesome, awesome baseball player for
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: a long time.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he certainly was all right, A little bit of
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: like an off the wall question here, Max. Not a
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: lot of baseball players wear glasses, so so I'm curious.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: I'm curious, like, you know why you kind of chose
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: was into to go that route, Like on the field,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: there is there anything an interesting behind that.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Nothing too interesting there.
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: I mean when I was in high school, I so
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: I first got in glasses and they're like, why don't
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: you try contacts like you play baseball. And the first
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: day I started wearing my glasses was my senior year
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: at high school and we had a game that night
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: and so I and so I put them on. I
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: was good, and then I tried to put in my
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: contacts for the game. They're like, you probably shouldn't wear
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: your glasses might break and stuff couldn't get my contacts
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: in and I got so mad and like just was
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: so pissed off, and so I put my glasses on
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: and I went out there and had a great game.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: I think I hit two home runs with my glasses on.
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: So from that moment on, I never even thought about contacts.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: But I just rolled with glasses.
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: And that was back when I just wore glasses like
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: these for my game.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Like I didn't have any I didn't have any specs.
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: I was just wearing my Harry Potter glasses out there
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: to play baseball and it worked out.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: And then got to Nebraska and they finally hooked me up.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: I said, you can't wear these for the game, like
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: you need some actual oak Ley's.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: So it was there, you go, that's an upgrade. Did
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: they tell you to try to go contacts at any point?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: And you were like, no, there was.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: There was never that much of a push.
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: I was always I mean, I think they knew the answer,
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: so that probably helped him to try and push me.
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: But uh, nobody's really ever tried to make the change.
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: I guess the thing about it probably is if he's
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: doing good, why change anything? I guess maybe, but uh, yeah,
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: I just I'm a fan of him, and I've gotten
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: so used to him.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I could play without him now.
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you ever get you ever get.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Rizzed on the field for glasses, like, you know, opponents,
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know Big ten baseball, college baseball.
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, fans can be ruthless.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: Uh you know you ever you ever hear from the
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: crowd or even the opponents, even in the minors anything?
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: Uh more in college, when I was a freshman and
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: we went to Arkansas, I was getting a lot of
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: I was playing third base then too, so not a
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: not very far away from the home home fans and
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: the home dugout there, so they were letting me have
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: it there.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Hey, well that's all good, Max. If you keep on
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: this trajectory, maybe we'll have a bunch of fans in
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the stands at Camerica wearing some some Max Anderson glasses.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: One day for sure. Yeah, that'd be awesome.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: All right. Well, I think that's all I've got, Kierany,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: got anything else from Max?
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: Well, just on that.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: I think this is a good way to wrap it up.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Like we've talked about off seasons and all this stuff,
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: Like what is your expectations for twenty twenty six. I
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: can tell you what the fans expectations are and what
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: ours are for twenty twenty six. But like when you
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: look at like this, you know it's all the same
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: and you know, blah blah blah and all the cliche stuff,
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: but yeah, the cuff of something that is a childhood dream.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: So like, what is your expectation for twenty twenty six
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: and how are you kind of preparing to meet that moment?
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: For me, I mean, had a great offseason last year,
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: so trying to do a lot of the same stuff
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: that I did that past offseason. And then I mean
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: show up to spring training and you know that's that's
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: really where I mean, they they got a lot of
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: their decisions already made, and there's probably a few few
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: maybe you know, swing spots that they're going to make
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: decisions on. But all you really can do, like I guess,
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: like with the trade deadline, like things are out of
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: your hands. Like all you can do is play as
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: good as possible. And you know, at the end of
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: the day, like the old saying from a baseball guy,
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: like if if you hit, like, they're going to find
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: a spot for you.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: So I think just got to play as good as
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: you can and you know, hope for the best.
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: As as easy as that sounds and boring as it
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: sounds like, they're there's no magic stone or any secret
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: affront in baseball, Like it's still the still.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: The same game.
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: So yeah, just gotta just gotta keep going and keep
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: hitting and you know, hopefully things turn out good.
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a good mindset to have.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: And it's easy to get caught up in all this
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: other stuff, especially in this era social media, all that stuff,
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: but you know, it's what happens between the white lines
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: is ultimately gonna They're gonna determine everything, and everybody's timeline
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: is different and it will happen when it's supposed to happen,
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: right exactly.
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: All right, Well, I.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Want to thank Max for coming on with us. A
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: reminder you guys can follow us on Twitter, follow us
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: on Instagram, YouTube trying to Grow YouTube, Tiger Territory Shop
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: dot com featured Tiger Territory merch like this sweet hoodie
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: that I have on right now. Uh So for Cody Stavanhangen,
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: I'm Karen STECHLEI thank you and Max Anderson everybody have
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: a great ti