Latest / Foul Territory / Padres SP Michael King on Karl Ravech's Dirt From The Dugout

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Padres SP Michael King on Karl Ravech's Dirt From The Dugout · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Carl Ravitch, Justin Musil. Welcome to the latest edition of
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Dirt from the Dugout, all part of the Parent Dugout.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Very special guest. I know we say it every week.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: This is a very special guest we have on today.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: But a reminder before we jump into it, you got
• 0:15
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• 0:16
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• 0:18
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• 0:22
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• 0:26
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• 0:29
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• 0:32
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• 0:38
  Speaker 2: as you and your child go along this journey to
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: become whatever it is in the great world of baseball
• 0:44
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• 0:48
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• 0:52
  Speaker 2: to join us at theparentdugout.com.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: All right, news.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: So the story here, before we bring in Michael King,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: who is a bonafide ace in the big leagues, certainly
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: the ace of the Padres, years.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: And years and years and years and years.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: And decades and centuries ago, Michael King's dad and I,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: his name was Jim, worked together in Binghamton, New York.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Jim was the news anchor and I was the weekend
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: sports anchor there. And we had an absolute blast and
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: we became very good friends. In fact, he doesn't, Jim
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: doesn't live far from me. I played golf with him
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: less than a week ago. We maintain a friendship, but
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I've known literally Mike since he was slapped on the
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: butt and said, welcome to this new world of ours.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So it has been an absolute treat to watch him
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: grow up, to watch him succeed, to watch him move
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: teams and the struggles and all of it. It's been wonderful.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: But as I tell everybody, you know, Michael is is
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: is a better person than he is a pitcher. And
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: there are a very few people who you would think
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: I would I would think are better than Michael as
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: a pitcher. So questions, please get him in there. Let's
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: welcome my good friend and the Padres ace Michael King
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  Speaker 2: to the podcast.
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  Speaker 1: All right, King. I mean, I'm not sure I could
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: set you up any better. Was any of that false?
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: That's the nicest you've ever been to me. I really
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: appreciate it. Normally you're a ball breaker. I like that
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: intro a lot.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: No, we can, I mean, we got about 50 minutes here.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I can break some balls on this, but it is
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: great to see all that you've done. He's a new dad.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about that. But again, we invite people to
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: ask their questions in the YouTube chat. As we, as
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: we do this, it's early out there. Now, do you
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: have to get up very early because of baby grace
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: or are we, this is part of your schedule?
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: I got either a great baby or a great wife
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: because she has been sleeping 12 hours since she's like
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: five months old. So she goes 730 to 730. So
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: I'm good. What?
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: Wow. That's not normal.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: She was a really bad sleeper early on, but my
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: wife definitely got her to suck her thumb, put herself
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: back to sleep, and now she's good. So it took
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: a little bit of training, but she's a great sleeper.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Good for you. And I know your wife, Sheila, is amazing.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And you guys are going to do a great job
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: on this. Let's get into the baseball journey for you.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, you're a New England kid. You play in
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: cold weather climates. Justin's a Minnesota guy, so he can
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: relate to it. You obviously had to overcome a number
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: of different challenges, if you will, that kids in Texas
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: and California don't. Tell everybody about sort of how you
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: got into baseball. baseball in a Northeast community and how
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: you stuck with it and where it's obviously led you.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Well, I also think that taking into account the cold weather,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: you actually get a lot of break from baseball. So
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: I tried to look at it as a positive and
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: say that my arm was a lot more fresh than
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: these Texas and Florida and California guys that are playing
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: throughout the year. I never lost that spark for the
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: love of baseball because come winter time, it was basketball
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: and I was able to to totally turn off the
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: baseball brain when it came to that. So I actually
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  Speaker 3: felt like I was blessed to be in an area
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  Speaker 3: like that.
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  Speaker 2: He's perfect for this. He literally is ideal already. We've
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: had one answer.
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  Speaker 4: You're hitting on so many things already, Michael. Appreciate you
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: hopping on here, buddy. Appreciate your time. And I know
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: you're busy and you're getting down the stretch here. But
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: so I want to go to the cold weather, man,
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: because this is something that I think is It's super
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: interesting where, you know, it used to be that the
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: seasons flowed based on seasons, right? I mean, you'd flow
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: to a different sport. Now they're overlapping. We talk about
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: a lot on the show, but I also have seen
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: from a scouting perspective. And when we talk about college
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: recruiting and some of that stuff, there's a ton of,
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: in fact, Skylar Mead, um, it's one of my really
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: good friends, the head coach at Troy. They love going
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: North for arms, right? Because of what you're talking about.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: There's not a lot of overuse. There's, there's more in
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: the tank. There's upside. I think there's some real truth
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: into a lot of that. Can you talk a little
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: bit about that and what your routine was like? Let's
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: just say as a high schooler, flowing from the different
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: seasons and how much you threw and what your off-season
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: training was like. I'd love you to take us through
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: that because I think in today's world, people think that
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: you need to be going all the time to keep
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: getting better, right? I'd just love you to share kind
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: of your backdrop and your story on that.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So I played basketball in high school as well.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: And I really think that that helped me stay athletic
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: and stay, I guess, present in where I'm at. I
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: did my whole baseball season throughout the spring. We played
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: summer ball. So I had a good six, seven months
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: of baseball and then come fall, September, September, October, November,
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  Speaker 3: when school started to back up, it was all basketball.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: And I mean, my, I guess I'll say confident self
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: thought that every time I was playing basketball as a six,
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: three center in Rhode Island, that I was going to
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: go pro in basketball. So I was able to shut
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: off the baseball brain and focus on basketball. And I
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: think that playing multiple sports, that's one thing that whenever
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: a parent asked me, what should I tell my 10
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: year old? What should I tell my 12 year old?
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: It's play as many sports as possible. And I think
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: that getting to baseball specific Latin makes you lack athleticism.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: It also is a totally different team dynamic. And like,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I always think of baseball as a team sport, but
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: it's an individual sport within a team sport. When I
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: was playing basketball, I had to rely on the other
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: four guys that were on the court. It was a
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: totally different sense of team that then I was able
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  Speaker 3: to bring to the baseball field when that season started.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: So my whole off season, I guess I was playing
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: basketball and just staying athletic. And then as soon as
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: that season ended, which was right around December, January, I
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: then had January, February, March to get going for the
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: April baseball season. And that is when I, I, Understood
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: the routine and was also now getting super excited for
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  Speaker 3: the baseball season to start. It's not like it was
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: this whole 12 month process that I was now tired
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  Speaker 3: out from baseball. So I had a good three months
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  Speaker 3: of buildup, a throwing program, a little bit of a
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: lifting thing. And I just thought it was great to
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: be in the batting cage, throwing long toss into a net,
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: even whatever I could do just to get ready for
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: that season.
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  Speaker 2: And the other part of that too, Mike, is that
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  Speaker 2: you're involved in competition. The competitive side never took a rest.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if it was basketball or baseball or
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: golf or whatever it was that you were participating in.
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  Speaker 2: We've heard from many guests on our show about when
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: these guys get to the major leagues or even college,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: they can do all the things that the showcases teach you.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: We can hit a ball hard. We can throw a
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: pitch with a lot of spin. But when it comes
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: to actually competing and trying to win, sometimes that is lacking.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think that the basketball and the other activities
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  Speaker 2: you were involved in made sure you recognized the things
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  Speaker 2: that went into winning as opposed to just throwing it
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  Speaker 2: hard or shooting a free throw?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. And I think that that that's not quantifiable to scout.
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  Speaker 3: You know, if you have that desire to win and
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: I think of it a lot when I, when I
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: was a reliever and I would get put into these
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: crappy situations, it's just the desire to, to win for
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  Speaker 3: the team that then helps you actually get out of
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: those situations. And I mean, you'll see analysts out there
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: say that inherited runners and that kind of stuff is,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: is not an actual step. But when you look at like,
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: I hate the word intangible, but it's like the intangibles
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: that a guy has, it develops from a young age.
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  Speaker 3: It's that competitive nature. It's that desire to win that
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  Speaker 3: then makes it so the development obviously is a piece
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  Speaker 3: to it. But at the end of the day, if
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: you don't win, then you didn't succeed. And that was
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: exactly how I approached basketball when I was golfing with
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: my dad and he never let me beat him. I
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: think that there were some, like some, some good lessons
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: to be learned in those, in those instances.
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  Speaker 1: For sure.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, when we talk about competitiveness too, I think it's
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: super unique because when you're on the mound, I mean,
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: you know this better than I do, but it is
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: so much about the elite mindset of mano y mano,
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: I'm just better than you are, right? And I want
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: to kind of go back to your youth playing days.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: At what point, Michael, did you start seeing that, you know,
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  Speaker 4: as you're kind of getting better and better, At what
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: point did you start believing like, man, I got a
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: real shot in this thing to really go places, you know,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: college and beyond? When was that for you?
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  Speaker 1: I think he was four.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, and I don't want to I don't want
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: to come across as like cocky or confident, but I
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: didn't want to play a sport if I didn't think
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: I was going to make it to the highest level.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to play a sport if I wasn't
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: going to win. And so like, yeah, even in Little League,
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: my mom always tells the story If I went from
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: like the church league to the elite little league that
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: was in Rhode Island and all these other parents are like,
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: he's not going to make it there. That's such a
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: tough league. And it was like, no, I'm going to
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: be good enough and then be the best little leaguer.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: And then I'm going to go to high school and
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Bishop Hendrick in Rhode Island is the best athletic school
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: in high school. And I was like, I'm going to
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: be the best baseball player, the best basketball player, whatever
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: it is when I get on that team. And, And
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: I fully had a ton of respect for my teammates.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: I had a ton of respect for my coaches. I
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: learned as much as I possibly could, but I also
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: had to have that confidence that I was going to
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: be the best player. And once I started seeing those results,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: that's when I was like, okay, I know college ball's
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: in play. I know getting drafted's in play. And now
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: I can actually compare myself to these other elite athletes.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: We'll get back into the BC days and the high
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: school stuff, but we do have questions here from our members.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: And these are really what this is all about. So
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: the first one's from Royce, Mike. He says, If you
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: could talk to the 16-year-old Michael King, so 16-year-old guy,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: what would you tell him that he was worrying about
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: that ultimately really didn't matter nearly as much as you
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: thought it might? So what were you really worried about
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: when you were 16 that in hindsight, you're like, probably
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: didn't need to worry about that?
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I really think, and I think this might be controversial,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: the development aspect of the game. I would be focused
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: on mechanics or sequences or getting in the cage and swinging.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: And I think that at 16 years old, you're not
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: able to make those developments. It is fully competition and
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: learning how to win. And I think that that is
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: what gets ingrained in your head. So then when you
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: actually have awesome coaches and awesome talent around you, you
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: can actually develop and move the needle in that direction.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: So at 16, strictly think about winning, competition, and really
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: just have fun with it. And I think that obviously
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: winning is fun. And it was just like I wanted
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: to make sure that I was the best possible version
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: of myself instead of just going out there and just
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: winning and winning as many championships as I can because
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: I think that translates better.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: So just one other quick one, Justin.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: So I was doing the Little League World Series and
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Michael's dad reached out to me and said, hey, Oral
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Hershiser's in the booth with you. Any chance that maybe
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I could drive up there and have Michael meet Oral?
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: And to his credit, Oral said, of course, bring him
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: up here. So I forget how old you were then.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: And I think it probably speaks to what you just
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: talked about.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm guessing, what were you about? 13,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: 14 years old? Younger?
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: I would have said a little older. I probably would
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: have said like sophomore, junior in high school. It's probably 15, 16.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: So did he get deep into the mechanics?
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Like what did he tell you that you remember from
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: that because you just sort of talked about at 16,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: you know, everybody is telling me to spin it this
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: way or grip it this way. And you're like, no,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to win the battle, the one-on-one game against
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: the dude that's up there.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I can't worry about that. What did Oral Hershiser share
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: with you?
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: So this is big props to obviously you and my
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: dad for putting me in contact with him. You obviously
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: know him very well. He is a scientist. He is
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: a doctor when it comes to pitching mechanics and sequencing
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: and It was way over my head at that age.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: It was way over my head. And credit to my dad,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: he asked Oral if he could take video and we
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: never posted it anywhere. It is still an icon on
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: my computer of the Oral Hershiser tab because there are
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: so many times where I will go back to this
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: and be like, I feel like I've heard something like
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: this or I'm feeling this in my delivery. Let me
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: see what Oral had to say to 15-year-old me. And
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: I don't know if he even wants this out there,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: but I saw him in LA cause he obviously calls
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: the Dodgers games and I saw him in LA and
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: he came right up to me that following you your
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: whole career, we had a great conversation and it's just
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: like guys like that, that now I'm using my dad
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: and his resources to then use his resources to get
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: in touch with guys that are at the elite elite
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: level of the game to then help me out in
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: my career. And I don't think I gained anything from
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: it at 16 years old, other than being like, I
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: just met an absolute legend. but now looking back at
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: it because he's so scientific with it, all of the
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: stuff that he was saying is relevant to me at
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: 30 years old pitching.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: That's great. That is a really cool story, man. So,
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: so when you think about that stuff, you know, it's,
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: it's cool and you get an awesome platform to Michael
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: with the, with the youngsters and you get a chance
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: to meet kids, make their day, all that stuff. And
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: I know that's something that is important to you. If you,
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: if you do any research on you at all, that, that,
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: you know, you're just gracious and with your time and
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: your access and all that. Um, Can you just share
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: a little bit about how an experience like that with
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: Oral though has impacted you to try to use that
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: to impact other kids?
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: Oh, I think about that all the time. And that
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: was Oral's first thing when he said yes, that he
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: would do it was that all he wants to do
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: is continue to leave the game a better place. And
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: now he can see, he had no idea who I was.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: I could have been one of the worst athletes in
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: the world and he was still giving his time to me.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: And I think that being able to, leave your mark
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: on the game and then also help other players who
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: probably in 20 years, when I'm trying to help a
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: young kid out, knows way more about the current state
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: of the game than I do, but I can give
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: my little tidbits to, to possibly help this kid is
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: something that I don't know. I don't think you can,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: you can put it into words and, and oral wanted
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: to do it. I see a lot of, when I
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: was with the Yankees, we had a ton of alum
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: come back and try to help us out. Andy Pettit
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: being one of them that was in our locker room
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: all the time. we're now with the Padres. We have,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: it's awesome that we have a lot of ex Padres
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: coming into the locker room to, to give their expertise. And, um,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: I was fortunate enough to have people around me be
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: in contact with these guys well before I even got
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: to the big league. So, um, it's definitely something that
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: I will, uh, strive to do for the rest of
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: my life.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now the pay it forward thing is a real,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: is a real deal.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: And it's real in a lot of, it's real in
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: a lot of industries. You know, the being a mentor
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: is a really valuable thing that you, you will remember
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: a lot, uh, a lot after you've done playing baseball,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: we have questions here. This has to do with what
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: you touched on, whether it's oral or anyone else kind
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: of giving back, but learning as well and your education
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: and the path you took. I mean, Boston college is
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: not a big E school. You know, it's not a,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: it's not a West coast school and yet you had
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: great success. So Maverick asked this question. He said, Michael,
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: you went to BC looking back at your recruiting process.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: What do you wish high school players understood about, about
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: choosing a college baseball program. And I guess the caveat
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: would be, were those other big schools recruiting you? And
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Justin is the recruiting expert on this podcast. So you
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: guys may kind of go off on a tangent on
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: this conversation, but it's quite clear BC served you very well.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Extremely well. And that's a great question. And I actually
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: will go to my high school guidance counselor. He was
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: actually my basketball coach at the time. And he said,
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: I want you to take baseball out of it and
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: choose the school. And I definitely had some bigger schools
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: that were looking at me. But when you look at
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: the Boston College education, being an hour away from home,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: how people develop with a Boston College degree to very
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: successful non-baseball jobs, I said that it's a no-brainer for me.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: And so being able to take baseball out of it,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I could fully see myself on that campus and thriving as,
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: as an individual student, not just an athlete, which I
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: thought was phenomenal advice. And BC was still in the
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: ACC and I kept thinking, yeah, I'm not going to
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Florida state UNC, these big time schools that produce number
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: one overall picks. But if I can go seven shutout
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: against Florida state and strike out that first overall pick
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: three times, then the scout's going to open up their
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: eyes to me. So I always felt like, yeah, we
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: were a little bit grittier as a Boston college team that,
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: at the time didn't even have a stadium. We were
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: on the, basically the football parking lot is, was our field.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: It gave me a little bit of an edge. And
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: I think we wanted to go out there and shove
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: it up against the best competition that we could get. Yeah. Yeah.
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: Michael, I want to touch on this a little bit
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: because you and I are both friends with Mike Gambino.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Bino is a good buddy of mine. I think he's
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: one of the best coaches in the country. I think
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: he's one of the best program developers in the country and,
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: And he did it at BC with a lack of
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: resources that the other schools had. And I think when
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: you start looking at a comparison game of success with
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: the lack of resources that he had. Now, he raised
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: a lot of money and he did a lot of
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: things there, as you know now. But it's just remarkable
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: what he was able to accomplish there with all the
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: winning when you're going against teams that just have– like
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: extensive resources that you just cannot compete with, which I
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: think is one of the more amazing feats in, you know, in,
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: in college baseball, when you can do that. But Bino
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: was an impact on you. I, you know, you can
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: look across, you know, the big leagues right now. There's
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: other BC guys represented. I, I think it's really cool
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: to see what you were able to accomplish. And I
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: say this all the time. I'd love you to share
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: about this, but like when you connect with the right
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: college and, and you connect with the right staff, and
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: you get the opportunity, and you can continue to develop
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: after high school, that gives you the best shot for
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: the future. Can you just talk a little bit about
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: your experience at BC, props to Bino and the guys
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: there when you were there, but can you just talk
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: a little bit about that and how much that impacted
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: your progression forward and how that landing at the right
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: spot has impacted you for years beyond?
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think outside of Gambino as a coach, I
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: think he's a phenomenal recruiter. and he understood the guys
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: that it would take for a Boston college to compete
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: in the ACC. And my junior year, we ended up
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: going to a super. I think that he was in
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: looking back at it. I remember being like, this is
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: kind of a crazy recruiting process because I went to
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: UNC and I didn't see a lick of their campus.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: I only saw the baseball facilities and how awesome their
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: stadium is and all the behind the scenes, the locker room,
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: all that kind of stuff, Clemson, the exact same thing.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I go to Boston College. They don't show me an
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: ounce of athletics. It was strictly the campus. And then
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: I sit down there in a meeting with Gambino and
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: he says, I don't think you're good enough to pitch
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: in the ACC right now. I'm taking a chance on
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: you that you will develop into a pitcher that can
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: actually help us in the ACC. And I remember coming
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: home and sitting there talking to my mom like, what
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: do you mean? I think I'm better than all these
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: guys that are at BC right now. Like, and so
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: it almost became the motivation of, I want to prove
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: you wrong. And looking back at it, me thinking that
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: that's a bad recruiting tactic. It was more so him
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: trying to get the right guys, the guys that wanted
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: to actually prove that they were good enough to pitch
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: in the ACC that wanted to be able to shut
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: out Florida state. And that then created an awesome chemistry
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: in the locker room because we were all these hard-nosed
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: guys that wanted to go out there and prove ourselves.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: And that's ultimately what he ended up doing at BC.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: And now he's, he's trying to do it at Penn state.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Also the college system is now crazy with the NIL
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: and transferring and all that stuff. So I I'm shocked
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: at the state of college because of how different it
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: was when I was there. And for a guy like
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: him to be able to take on all these changes
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: and still have a successful program is talent.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Spin it forward for a second. Then two things I
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: want to just get back to you. You talked about,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: I want to know about BC, the school, just in
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: case baseball isn't really my future. How serious were you
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: about baseball not being your future? Because on one hand,
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: you're like, I'm going to go beat everybody's butt no
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: matter what level I'm at.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: So therefore, I'm going to be a major leaguer.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: And yet you chose a place where it wasn't necessarily
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: the easiest road to the major.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: So that's the first part.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: And then the second part is, if Michael King were
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: at BC or any other place today, and I don't know,
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Vanderbilt comes calling you.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Do you think you'd be inclined.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: To say, I need to listen to NIL dollars and
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: opportunities that are going to make me the best baseball player,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: student person I can be?
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Both great questions. I think that Boston college for me, not, I, I,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: I heard Pedro Martinez as a young kid say he
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: didn't have a plan B and he's like, I'm, I'm
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: watching the, all these college kids that get these awesome
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: degrees and they're okay struggling in the minor leagues because
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: their plan B is still an awesome degree from a college.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: And Pedro Martinez said, I don't have a plan B.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: I only have a plan A and that is where
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: all my attention is going. And that makes me have
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: that fire. And I never wanted that. So I, I already,
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: I still have not graduated from Boston college. It was
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: only three years. And I told my dad, Pedro Martinez
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: said this, and I don't want to go back and
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: get my degree and then, If I have a couple
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: of months where I'm struggling in low A and I
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: got terrible food and terrible housing just to be like,
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: you know what, this isn't for me. I want to
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: give it my all. And then if the game tells
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: me I'm done, I can go back for a year,
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: finish my degree and go. So as much as I
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: had Boston College as a backup plan, I never wanted
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: it to actually amount to anything. So Pedro is in
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: my ear saying that. Hey, everybody.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Welcome again to Dirt from the Dugout. Carl Ravitch alongside
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: Justin Musil. Our guest, of course, is Michael King. We'll
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: get to part two in a moment, review part one.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: But a reminder to everybody out there, Dirt from the
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Dugout is part of a much bigger platform in which
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: you can benefit from.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: It's the Parent Dugout. Go to theparentdugout.com. Become a member.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: It affords you the opportunity to listen to the great
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: guests like Michael King and Dave Roberts and others that
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: we have had on.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: But it also allows you to ask Justin and me questions.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: It allows you to interact with other parents as well.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: It is a must-have.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Component in your tool belt on your journey along the
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: great spectrum of baseball. Whether you're coaching or a parent
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: of an eight-year-old or an 18-year-old, join, please, our growing
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: community at theparentdugout.com. Well, Muse, I told you Michael King
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: would be an interesting guy, and I'm left with this
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: idea of you growing up where it's snowing all the time,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: and he was able to put the glove down and
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: focus on basketball and and just be a competitor and
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: is convinced that the sort of well-rounded nature of growing
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: up in a cold weather climate afforded him the opportunities
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: that maybe other kids don't get that play year round
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: and made him a better athlete, if nothing else.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, so many lessons in this, but I mean,
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: it's just this idea of, you know, he talked about
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: switching sports and getting that mental break, right. And just
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: becoming more athletic in basketball. And he kind of shared,
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: you know, his upbringing and, you know, we talked about
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: his velocity in college, right, Ravi? I mean, that was
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: something that I found interesting and he really took the uptick,
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: you know, in college. And then after college, he took
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: another uptick and just that development and learning the different pitches.
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, it was just a phenomenal conversation. So much
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: to learn for youngsters, parents, coaches, like there's just so
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: much in this that you can take away from this conversation.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt, including the idea that most successful baseball players, pitchers,
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter what position you play, you've got to
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: be a sponge. I mean, he told the story of
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: meeting Oral Hershiser when he was 15 or 16, and
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: the idea that it's not an insult. Don't take constructive
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: criticism personally. The goal is to make you the best
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: player you can. And he said he spent four years
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: at Boston College. Now, we ask him, so if you
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: weren't at BC, or when you were at BC, would
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: you have considered baseball? Now the portal, NIL money. And
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: that's where we pick up part two of our conversation
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: on Dirt from the Dugout with Michael King. The NIL,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: like if all of a sudden you're year one somewhere,
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: New Hampshire, BC, it doesn't matter. And some bigger school
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: has NIL money. Like does Michael King remain at BC
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: or wherever? Or do you have to consider those things?
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: I would never say you should not consider it. I
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: think you have to look at the position that you're in.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: You said Vanderbilt is still an awesome academic school. Obviously
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: it has a much higher clout than a Boston college
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: baseball wise. And you got to look at yourself and
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: you got to say, Hey, I think that the pitching
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: coach here or hitting whoever it is, whatever position you
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: are is really going to help me develop. And I
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: know that this coach is going to stay here for
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: the duration of my degree. And this guy is going
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: to help me develop, or this team is going to
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: help me develop. I have great chemistry with these guys
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: and the degree is also something that I can't pass
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: up on. I don't know how much money is actually
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: getting thrown around. I would have loved to see what
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: I could have gotten as a Rhode Island recruit, but
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: I would not change my college experience at all. So
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: I think it's a very hard question, but definitely something
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: that I would consider.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: And I think going into that a little bit, I
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: think it's super... difficult to judge the players that are
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: take that are going in the portal and taking advantage
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: of that because it is a business now and it's
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: just in in a similar way to professional baseball where
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: if they don't perform for a year at some of
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: those sec type schools or the big money schools they're
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: also out probably as well so it's it's it's no
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: different than like taking advantage of your of a contract
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: for a professional and and they're we're not talking ten
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: thousand dollars here i mean I'm dealing with guys that
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: are getting 400, $ 450, 000 for a year. I mean, that's
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: not chump change. So like you're, I think it's just
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: hard because we put the, a lot of the blame
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: sometimes on the players and it's really just the system
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: that we're in. But it's also just, just like you, Michael,
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: like you're going to take advantage of, you know, a
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: good contract because it's like, well, this is my time.
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: And as soon as this is done, if I don't
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: perform there, they're letting me go anyway. So like, it's
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: kind of creating this environment that's really challenging and for
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: coaches and for players, because now it's, it's a little bit,
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: it's a, it's a very different culture that, that you experienced.
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: And I want you to kind of touch on that
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: a little bit because the culture now is, is a
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: little bit more of like, I got to get mine.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: And it is the same with the coaches as well.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: Like they have to keep their jobs. And so it
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: creates this like separation, if you will, Michael, can you
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: just talk about, okay. So like, that's the reality of it.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: But what is your advice to to younger players, maybe
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: college players or high school players that are coming up?
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: How can you stay focused on the team and focus
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: on what you're trying to accomplish while you also have
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: this thing hanging over you on the side that it
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: really kind of is a business now? How can you
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: you know, what is your advice to those guys to
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: stay focused on just being the best teammate, being the
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: best player they can be and not letting that distract
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: them too much with with their you know, time at
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: a practice, their time in the weight room, like in,
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: in the camaraderie that they're building.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: I want to shout out Gambino one more time here.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: When I was at Boston college, he said that it's
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: a four year scholarship and it was not a one
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: year thing. He knew that UNC was handing out 25
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: scholarships to incoming freshmen and gonna have five or six
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: of them get drafted. And then another five or six
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: of them get cut in fall ball. And then they're
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: left with the rest of their, freshman class. And once
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: you get cut, you lose that scholarship. Gambino honored that scholarship.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: He said, if I'm going to take a chance on
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: a kid, I'm not going to ruin his life by
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: then having to kick him out of Boston College because
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: he doesn't have a scholarship anymore. And I will say
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: there were times where that almost upset me because there
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: were guys on the team that had massive scholarships that
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: And weren't even playing because they weren't very good. But
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: Gambino whiffed on it and he owned up to it.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: He said, I now have to field the team that
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: could win with guys with a little bit less of
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: a scholarship, which I thought was very honorable. And that's
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: the type of guy that Gambino is. But to your
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: other question, I guess I'm going to continue to go
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: to Gambino here. I don't want to say it's a
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: similar situation, but last year I'm going into my free
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: agent contract and I know that there's the free agency looming.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: So it's a similar thing of like, If you're performing
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: well and now it's a business and you're in college,
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: that idea of, oh, I could transfer somewhere else and
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: get a ton of money is always in the back
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: of your head. And I think that adds a ton
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: of pressure and totally changes how you play when you're
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: actually out on the field. And Gambino said, if you
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: strictly focus on winning, if your team wins the game
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: and you help the team win the game, everything else
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: will fall into place. And so last year, I did
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: not care about my personal stats. I didn't care about
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: anything else. besides win the game and if i'm winning
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: the game when i'm pitching teams are going to want
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: me in free agency right and i added that to
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: aaron judge talking about the best way for him to
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: be the greatest player is by making everybody else around
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: him good and if i'm able to be a sounding
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: board for my teammate or help him in any way
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: it takes my own focus off of myself so now
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: if i'm strictly thinking about winning and strictly thinking about
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: my teammates being better players then it totally eases my
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: mind and takes all the pressure off and I can
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: just go out there and compete and win games. And
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: then at the end of the day, I go and
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: look up and say, okay, now I have these numbers
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: and these teams are going to come after me because
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: I was able to win however many games. And I
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: think it's the exact same thing in college. So great point.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: And we think it's easy.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: We think it's the exact same thing for high schoolers
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: who are trying to get to a college. The idea
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: that you have to do this every day of your life.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: If you are the best player, no matter if you
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: do it, three times a week or seven, they will
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: find you. Like you to your point, the other organizations
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: see Michael King doing what he's doing in San Diego.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: They're taking notice. It's not like they're ignoring it and saying,
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: we don't think about Michael King. They all, they all
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: think about these things. So let's get into your, I mean,
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: it's amazing because you're, you're a veteran now at the
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: major league level. Like you're not a rookie anymore. It's,
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: it speaks to the age that we all are and
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: where you are.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: How has the.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Evolution of Michael King, what have you seen when you
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: look at yourself from your first year to your third
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: year to where you are now? This speaks to young players.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: How do you blend in with a new team? How
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: do you listen to a new coach? How do you
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: make yourself the best teammate possible? How has that changed
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: over the course of your professional career?
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: I think it's taking a ton of advice from everybody
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: that I come in contact with. Um, I had awesome
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: coaches throughout the minor league system. I actually loved our
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: pitching coordinator with the Marlins who, as soon as he
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: got let go, I got traded over to the Yankees.
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: And I think that the, he was a phenomenal pitching
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: coordinator for us. I then get to go to the Yankees.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: I have awesome coaches. I have awesome players throughout. And
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: I vividly remember as soon as I got called up
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: to the big leagues, I was sitting in the bullpen
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: and Adam, you know, who at the time I think
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: had 10 years of service time and he was on
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: a $ 30 million contract. was asking me as many questions
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: as he possibly could about my development throughout the minor leagues.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: And I remember being like, why is he taking such
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: an interest in me? And I should be the one
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: asking him questions. And it was him saying he has
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: not been in the minor leagues in 10 years. He
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: has not had developmental coaching in 10 years and wants
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: to know what's being taught now that he can now
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: take into his big league career. And I remember thinking
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: that's the greatest thing in the world because he you
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: are a 10 year big leader. You don't think that
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: you figured it out. And that's exactly why he had
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: such a long and awesome career that he did. And
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: so in my head, it was, and I still have
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: tried to do it. As soon as a rookie comes up,
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: it's talking to them about what they're working on, what
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: other coaches have found that is the next best thing.
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: You say, I think of pitch pitch types and it
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: was like the sweeper was the thing. The sweeper was
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: the thing in 21, 22, if you can get ahead
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: of it, the kick change is now going on this year.
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: And it's like, if, these developmental coaches in the minor
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: league that honestly don't care about winning. They care about
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: making you a big leaguer are teaching certain things that
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: I can learn because the coaches that I currently have
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: are strictly focused on winning, which is a great thing,
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: but now I need a little bit of a development.
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: And I think that you can learn that a ton
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: from your, your teammates and the minor league coaches that
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: you had. So I was blessed to have great people
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: around me. And now it's really just taking that into
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: account and learning from it. I'll give a quick example.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: Ethan Salas just got called up. He's 20 years old.
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: Might even be 19. I don't even know what he is.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: Catcher in the big leagues at 19, 20 years old.
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: You have zero experience whatsoever. He gave up, he's calling
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: a game, gives up a two run homer yesterday. And Ruben,
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: our pitching coach, talks to him about the sequence that
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: he went through and why it was the wrong pitch
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: that gave up a home run. And he comes up
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: and sits next to me in the dugout and we're
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: talking about it. And the development that this kid had
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: at 19 years old of saying this was the sequence
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: that we went to. This was the scouting report. And
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: I called this pitch, but it ended up being a
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: home run. And I'm sitting there like, I don't think
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: at 19 I was thinking about this, let alone being
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: able to talk to big league pitchers about this. So
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: even just talking to a 19-year-old helped me think about
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: if I was in that situation, what pitch I would
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: go to. And so it's all about those relationships and
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: making sure that you can continue to learn from everybody
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: that you come in contact with.
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: That's so good, man. I love it. It's also one
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: of those things too, where, you know, Michael, I think
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: it's just kind of some advice that I would take
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: out of that from a younger player standpoint is, you know,
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: when you're looking at the things that you need to
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: do to get better, you know, there's always things you
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: can do to get better for as long as you
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: will play baseball. And so sometimes kids get offended by that, right?
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: If someone gives them straightforward feedback or, you know, something
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: that they need to get better with. And this is
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: a great example of don't be offended. Take that, take
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: that constructive feedback and utilize it. Big leaguers are trying
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: to get better every single day. It's such a good
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: example for the youngsters that you're just never going to be,
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: you know, at a point where there's not something you
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: can do to get better. Can you just talk a
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: little bit about that in your, your strive and in your,
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: your goals for, for getting better? You've been in the
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: big leagues now for a little while. I just love
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: you to share that because I think that's a real
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: problem where parents and players don't really want to hear
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: it when it's not offensive. It's just a part of
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: the game.
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Now I'll shout out my other college coach, Jim Foster.
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: He was the pitching coach when I was there. He said,
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: as a coach, if he stops trying to learn, then
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: he's become a bad coach. And I remember thinking because
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: I went to Tom House when I was a sophomore
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: in college and I came back with a bunch of
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: different ideas. And I was open and honest and said,
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: I talked to the pitching guru, Tom house. And he said,
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: give me everything you got. Like I want to, and
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: he was not offended at all. He was a pitching
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: coach that wanted to learn and become a better pitching coach.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: And I took that, I took that to heart, you know,
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: and I said the same thing as a player, I
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: become a bad player. If I stopped listening to everybody else,
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: I think you've got to figure it out, you know?
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: And I do think that there are guys that I
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: have come across that, take on almost too much information
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: and don't know how to filter out what is actually beneficial.
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: And that's where you have to have the mentors, the
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: guys that you can kind of bounce these ideas off
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: of and have a guy say, you know what, that's
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: all good and well for a different type of player,
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: but it doesn't apply to you. So now you've got
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: to put that, put that one aside and continue to
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: go on the things that work best for you. And
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: I think that that all comes down to having the
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: correct people around you to be able to bounce these
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: ideas off.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: Back to the questions with Michael King, the San Diego
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Padres ace. Danny's got a question. He says, how much
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: of becoming an elite pitcher is learning how to actually
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: pitch and set up hitters or developing nasty pitches?
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Or is it both?
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: I guess I would say both. I probably was, I
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: think my path was the best. I was 88 to
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: 90 in college. I didn't have an off-speed pitch. I
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: had to learn how to pitch. I had to learn
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: how to sequence. I had to learn how to read swings.
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: because I didn't have this electric stuff. And then because
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: I was able to have that knowledge, and then I
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: got bigger, stronger, learned how different pitch grips that then
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: made my secondary pitches better, started throwing harder. I now
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: could combine some nasty movement with some great sequences and
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: the knowledge of breeding swings. I always said that this
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: is probably since I was 18 years old, that my
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: greatest strength as a pitcher was knowing the hitter's weakness.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: And Now having some strengths of my own to be
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: able to really exploit a hitter's weakness made it a
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: lot easier game. And so I think that the development piece,
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: like I said, is something that needs to be taught
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: after the, the knowing how to win piece. And that's
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: where I got 16 years old. I wanted to develop
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: how to win. You got to get yourself out of
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: some sticky situations. You got to know that all I
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: got to do is score one more run than this
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: other team. And then once you actually get to the, staging.
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: career where you can develop, you can actually really thrive
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: and flow through a minor league system to the big leagues.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: So was there ever an exam that you really screwed
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: up on? Because it feels like you had this confidence.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: you were an 88 to 90 mile an hour guy.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: And here you are today, you know, 96 to 98
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: on a great day, but two seamer, four seamer, kick change, sweeper, slider. Like,
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: are you at all amazed at where the 16 year
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: old or the 25 year old was compared to today?
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Or did you legitimately think this was a natural progression?
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: And pretty soon I'll be one of the top five pitchers,
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: whatever in the major leagues as a starter. I mean,
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Can we be honest here for a second?
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: I always had that confidence and I never wanted it.
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: I'll credit my parents here. I never felt like it
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: became cockiness. I always just felt like I was good
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: enough to be that guy. And if I didn't have
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: it that day, I was going to make sure I
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: worked hard to have it the next day. And so
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: I remember, I guess, in terms of development, I felt
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: like when I was in college and everything, my stuff
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: was still better than everybody. And maybe that was just
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: blind confidence. There were guys that threw harder than me.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: There were guys that had great breaking balls. It wasn't
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: until I got to pro ball. I got drafted in 2016.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: The first round pick by the, by the Marlins was
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: Braxton Garrett. He's in the big leagues with the Marlins now.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: And he spun a breaking ball in a bullpen. And
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: I remember saying, there is no chance that for the
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: rest of my life, I'll be able to spin a
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: breaking ball as good as Braxton Garrett. So that was
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: the first time that I felt like I, physically couldn't
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: do something and so I and I've never been able
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: to throw a curveball and Braxton's curveball was so good
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: coming out of the draft and so it's just like
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: I then kind of realized okay I'll never be able
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: to do that yeah I look at Mason Miller I'll
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: never be able to throw 104 miles an hour there
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: are things that other guys have that are obviously at
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: this level but I'd like to think that I can
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: try to develop certain things that make me just as
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: good or or.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Better yeah.
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: I want to, I want to touch on that a
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: little bit though, because when you talk about the development
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: of pitches and, you know, I think it's something that's
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: talked about a lot, but it, I think sometimes kids
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: can try to get into that like fifth, sixth pitch
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: when they, when they really need to focus on like
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: their two to three.
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: And that like the, the, the North Carolina pitching coach
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: is a really good friend of mine. And he always says,
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: I need my guys. I need to have two elite pitches.
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: If I can get to three, Now we're at a
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: different level. So people don't even realize that is a
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: top five program in the country at the college level
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: competing for national championships, and they're looking for two elite pitches.
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: I don't think people truly understand what an elite pitch is.
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: But can you just talk a little bit about that?
• 42:26
  Speaker 4: Because I see guys start spreading out their pitches. I
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: got five, six pitches, and it's like, right, man, but
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: you only have one good quality pitch. So why don't
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: we focus on the two or three firsts? Can you
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: talk a little bit about that and what your advice
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: would be to the younger guys on how to develop
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: those pitches and when to start adding them?
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: That UNC coach is absolutely correct. I mean, there are
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: guys thriving. The biggest example is Mariano Rivera. He had
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: one elite pitch and he's the greatest closer ever in
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: the history.
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: Of the game.
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: There are continued big leaguers right now that are my
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: teammates that I think throw too many pitches. And it's
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: not because they're not nasty. It's because he'll throw, I'll
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: get into the nitty gritty. If you throw a four
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: seamer that has 18 vert, it's elite. If you throw
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: a sinker that has five vert, it's elite. But then
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: when you start mixing him and you just threw a
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: four seamer and you throw it with a two seam
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: kind of feel, now it mixes into a really, really
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: bad pitch. And I think that you really have to
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: master one fastball, one breaking ball, one change up to
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: be a starter in the big leagues. And then when
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: you actually can get that feel for, okay, this is
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: where my hand has to be on this pitch. And
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: I know it every time, regardless of the pitch that
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: I threw before or the pitch that I'm going to throw.
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: It then becomes an elite pitch package. I think Walker
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: Buehler is the prime example of he knows exactly where
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: his hand is at release on every one of his pitches.
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: And you see the pitch shapes are the same consistent
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: throughout the whole game. And he's been doing it for
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: however long. But he never had or he didn't start
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: with a seven pitch pitch package. It all became, I
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: mastered this and I knew that my wrist position was here.
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: My fingers were here. I was on this part of
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: the scene and then I go and you can make
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: those one pitch adjustments because you felt, Oh, okay. I
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: was here on this pitch, but I know exactly where
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: I need to get to. And I think that these,
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: some of the young kids coming up are so excited
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: because they throw 10, 11 pitches and it's like, yeah,
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: but now it's 10, 11 average pitches. And when you're
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: in a big jam, you can't lean on this one
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: elite pitch because you are so confident that it's going
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: to be the out pitch. And I guess I have
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: the best example of Hugh Darvish. Hugh Darvish is 40
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: years old, probably throws 16 different pitches. And it slowly
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: developed into 16 different pitches. He came in with the
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: four that he had, and then it just continued to thrive.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: So for young kids at home who have a two-seamer
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: and a four-seamer, and those are the elite pitches, and
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: the two-seamer is not working that day, what's the advice
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: to navigate around it?
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: Throw all four seamers?
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: How do you navigate a day, young pitcher, old pitcher,
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: when your A stuff is now B plus, if not
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: B stuff?
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there are plenty of games this year that I
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: probably had C or D stuff, but I still had
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: to get big leaguers out. My sinker is my best fastball.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: I developed a four seamer a couple years ago, and
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: if my sinker was not good that day, I'd definitely
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: lean on my other pitches early on and know that
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: my mechanics are slowly going to start to come together,
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: and then I'll be able to get that feel for
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: the sinker back. Don't give up on it. Don't give
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: up on the reach in a game. I will never
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: give up on it because it's my bread and butter.
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: If I'm going to have success in a game, it
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: has to be because of my sinker. I will spend
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: the few pitches that you get in between innings, all sinkers,
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: instead of being able to mix in all my other ones.
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: I'm really trying to work on that to get that
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: feel back. Um, but I, and then it, for me,
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: it goes to scouting report. And if I can then
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: start to gain confidence because, okay, yeah, this guy can't
• 46:02
  Speaker 3: hit a change up. I might throw him four straight
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: change ups because I can't throw a sinker today, but
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: I get that out. And now, okay, you get that
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: first out and now you kind of have a little
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: leeway to throw a sinker. And if you miss the sinker,
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: even if it's a hit or it's a ball, you
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: can now get into it because you already have one out.
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: And there are certain times where you can kind of,
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: I don't want to say have fun, but, um, mess
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: around to make sure that you start to get the
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: feel for these pitches back.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: That's great. That's great advice. That's really good.
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: And Mike, I want to, I want to just touch
• 46:30
  Speaker 4: on that really quickly because when you, when you look
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: at these pitches and what we're doing, what I want
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: to take the scouting lens, which I, you know, which
• 46:36
  Speaker 4: I've been in and, and have a lot of experience in,
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: but like, I actually love it when I see a
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: guy struggle with a pitch and then eventually they start
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: finding some feel on it and they can kind of
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: work it in, in that third, fourth inning, but you
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: see them never abandon it. you know, like I understand,
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: like it's about getting out. So there are times where like,
• 46:55
  Speaker 4: you might do that with your third best pitch, but
• 46:57
  Speaker 4: when you're talking about like your one or your two, right?
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: Like you have to figure out how to get some
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: feel in that. So I will say from a, from
• 47:04
  Speaker 4: a scouting perspective to all the youngsters out there listening
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: and watching, like from a scouting perspective, if you see
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: somebody work through that and find that feel in the second, third,
• 47:14
  Speaker 4: fourth inning, it's like an impressive sort of evaluation where
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: it's like, man, it, Hey, he has an ability. He
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: has a feel right. How many times do you hear
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: that word? Right. Like he has a feel he can
• 47:25
  Speaker 4: overcome that. And that adjustment and that that ability to
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: adapt in game is so important. You touched on it
• 47:31
  Speaker 4: a little bit. I'm going to kind of divert to
• 47:33
  Speaker 4: another question that I that I want to get to.
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: So you talked about that feeling in and you said
• 47:39
  Speaker 4: you've had, you know, CD stuff and you still have
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: to get big leaguers out. Can you talk about that mentality, man?
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: Because it is just so critical for kids to understand.
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: They're so busy looking at what the velo is, right?
• 47:52
  Speaker 4: They're so busy checking on that stuff now. And sometimes
• 47:55
  Speaker 4: it's like, just get the out, man. Just get the out.
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: You might not be at your peak velo today. That's fine.
• 48:02
  Speaker 4: Your arm is not always going to feel great, but
• 48:05
  Speaker 4: you still have to get out. Can you just share
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: a little bit about that? What is your mindset when
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: you're in the pen? As you probably know, Arm doesn't
• 48:13
  Speaker 4: feel great. Stuff doesn't feel good. Still have to go
• 48:17
  Speaker 4: and start. You still have to win the game for
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: your team. Can you talk a little bit about that, Michael?
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: Because I think that's something kids really need to hear, man.
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: I think the games that I'm able to still throw
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: a quality start when I have my C or D
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: stuff are the ones that I'm the most proud of.
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: They're so much more memorable than the seven shutout with
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: 10 strikeouts because I just had everything that day. And
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: I knew that I was going to go seven shutout
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: with 10 strikeouts because I all four of my pitches
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: were elite. The games that I go out there and
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: even in the first inning, I'm like, Oh brother, I
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: got nothing right now. I'm facing the Dodgers and you're
• 48:55
  Speaker 3: out there like, okay, the Dodgers kids could easily just
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: dominate me right now, but I got to mentally lock
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: in to actually be able to get through this. And
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: I think that there are two things that I really
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: go on. One is the scouting report. Scouting report then
• 49:08
  Speaker 3: becomes a huge thing for me. I'm going back to
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: my Gambino here. He always said that if you study
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: for a test and you know every ounce of information
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: for that test and you go into that test, there's
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: no nerves involved at all because you know, like the
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: back of your hand, if you don't study for anything,
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: you show up to that test, you're going to be
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: nervous about that situation. And now if I don't even
• 49:28
  Speaker 3: have my strengths and I'm in that situation, I'm done.
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: So I always study hard and I make sure that
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: I have the scouting report for these hitters. And then two,
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: I lean on my catcher. My catcher is the one that,
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: and I always try to have really good relationships with
• 49:43
  Speaker 3: my catchers. And I've been fortunate enough to have a
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: ton throughout my career, even going back to little league.
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: Like I had guys that I love talking baseball with.
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: And when I was struggling and didn't have my stuff
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: and could easily be emotional about how bad my stuff
• 49:56
  Speaker 3: is right now, I had a catcher that I could
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: lean on to say, this is the report. This is
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: what we're going to hit my glove, get to the target.
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: And we're going to grind through this. And then it became,
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: It didn't become so much pressure on just me to
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: figure it out. It was like, OK, I got my
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: team behind me and my catcher is just as involved
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: as I am. And we're going to grind through this.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: That's great. So here's one that comes in from Dom.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: Games on the line.
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: And I can share this experience sitting next to Curt Schilling,
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: Jeff Brantley, any number of really great pitchers. The name
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: that sort of gets answered to a question like this.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: is generally not like Aaron Judge or Manny Machado. It's
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: like some weird name. Is there anybody now, or because
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: you're in your career, you don't want to share it,
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: but is there one guy you don't want to see,
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: you know, coming up to the plate in a game
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: on a line situation?
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: I got two. And one is a bigger name, and
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: that would be Alex Bregman. Alex Bregman has always had
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: phenomenal at-bats against me. I think I've gotten him out
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: once and it was like 110 mile an hour line out.
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: If anything, I'm pitching around him and walking him if
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: it's a big situation. But another one that had still
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: a phenomenal career, but I could not be more thankful
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: that he retired this year is Trey Mancini. Trey Mancini
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: owned me and I hated seeing and he was with
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: the Orioles. So now I'm coming into a big situation
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: and I'm always facing a righty as a reliever on
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: the Yankees. I come into the righty lane and it's
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: Trey damn Mancini. And I'm just like, I got nothing
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: for you, dude.
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: There's no answer to this test. What was it like
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: facing the Yankees? Like, does that, is it different when
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: you go face your old team?
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: I think it would have felt a lot different in
• 51:41
  Speaker 3: like 24. I, I, I avoided them in 24. I guess,
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: unfortunately I was begging our pitching coach to change the
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: rotation around so I could face them. But this year,
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: the only active guy in their lineup, on their uh
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: position player wise was austin wells and i loved wells
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: wells was my personal catcher when i became a starter
• 51:59
  Speaker 3: there um but they i mean the turnover is is
• 52:03
  Speaker 3: crazy all the staff members were the same i was
• 52:05
  Speaker 3: able to see aaron judge because we were friends and
• 52:07
  Speaker 3: he actually made the trip out here um but it
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: was garrett cole carlos rodon and austin wells those are
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: the only three guys that were there on my 2023
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: team so i think in 24 if i had eight
• 52:18
  Speaker 3: of the nine were all guys that I played with
• 52:20
  Speaker 3: last year, then it would have felt a lot, a
• 52:22
  Speaker 3: lot different, but it was all new faces. Right.
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: That's great. All right, Justin, you want to get to
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: the kitchen sink, buddy?
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Let's go to the kitchen sink here. All right.
• 52:38
  Speaker 4: All right, Michael, let's, let's go to the kitchen sink here.
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: These are very straightforward, very simple. We're going to just
• 52:43
  Speaker 4: throw questions at you. Quick hitters. Is Aaron Judge a
• 52:47
  Speaker 4: gentle giant or a ferocious fighter?
• 52:51
  Speaker 3: I'd say a little of both. I've seen him carry
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: my daughter, who's 20 pounds, and he's the gentle giant.
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: But there's nobody I want in my foxhole more than
• 53:01
  Speaker 3: Aaron Judge.
• 53:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, great answer, man.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: Understood.
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: All right, next question on the kitchen sink for Michael. Mike,
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: if you had one golf course in the world to play,
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: in the world, what would it be?
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: It's got to be Augusta. I mean, there's no other
• 53:14
  Speaker 3: answer besides Augusta. My dad and I really want to
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: do a Pebble Beach trip, so Pebble's up there, but
• 53:20
  Speaker 3: Augusta's got to be everybody's number one.
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: You think Ravi goes on that? Ravi goes on that
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: all the time? Is Ravi included on that trip?
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: We'll see. We'll see.
• 53:29
  Speaker 4: Hey, what are you shooting these days, Michael? What does
• 53:32
  Speaker 4: a round look like for you?
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: I'm a four handicap, but it doesn't play as much
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: when Gavin Sheets is a plus one, Kyle Hart's a
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: plus one, Jackson Merrill's starting to play a ton. Manny's
• 53:45
  Speaker 3: a 14 Machado he's a 14 but he'll pop off
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: 78s and I'm just like this it's it's a tough
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: world we're living.
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: In right now.
• 53:54
  Speaker 5: It's amazing you guys have time man all right let's
• 53:57
  Speaker 5: go to the next one what's easier to change a
• 53:59
  Speaker 5: diaper be the father of a newborn or be on
• 54:02
  Speaker 5: the mound in the last three innings protecting a one-run lead.
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: It's still gotta be changing the diaper. And like, I
• 54:13
  Speaker 3: love my daughter. So I'll do all the nasty. I
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: want the blowouts, all that stuff. So I can give
• 54:18
  Speaker 3: a little bit of space to my wife where she
• 54:21
  Speaker 3: doesn't have to deal with it the whole time. So
• 54:23
  Speaker 3: I'd say it's easier to change the diaper. But then again,
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: it's very fun to be in a one run lead.
• 54:32
  Speaker 4: That's great.
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: And here's the last one for you, buddy. Who provided
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: the most valuable advice to you when you were young?
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: Was it mom or dad?
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: It was a hundred percent. My mom and I love
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: my dad. He was the guy that never said no
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: to me, would play with me all the time, would
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: go out and be the very present dad, hit grounders
• 54:52
  Speaker 3: to me. If I ever asked him to play, he
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: always said yes. But my mom was definitely the mental
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: side of it. And I know Rav knows that. My
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: mom's got it all figured out. So if it's going
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: to those two, my dad was the one that always
• 55:05
  Speaker 3: played with me. My mom was the one that gave
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: me good advice.
• 55:09
  Speaker 4: We went to.
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: I was at I was at Jim and Michelle's mom's
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: wedding and we were singing rap songs. That's how that's
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: how bad it was back then. I mean, that was
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: not good.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: Really bad.
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: Thankfully, this was like before cell phones because the evidence
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: would incriminate and be career ending.
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: So that was a long time ago. What type of
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: rap song?
• 55:29
  Speaker 4: What type of rap songs, Ray?
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, it was like the Sugar Hill Gang. I mean,
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: this was again, this was the 80s. It was not
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: not real rap.
• 55:36
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: Bubble gum wrap, I think is what we called it.
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: Just one other quick one before we get to the
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: MVP for me, because I think there are people who
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: are watching here, you know, reliever, starter, just to kind
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: of a quick one. Kids are going to be asked
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: to do everything. Like, is there, do you just embrace
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: whatever role you're in? Do you say, look, I know
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: when you were in New York, you wanted to start
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: games and now you're starting games. But if the team
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: needs you to close games, like how do you deal
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: with that? Because all these kids are going to be
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: asked to play different positions and start and release.
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: It's really hard to not have a definitive role. But
• 56:11
  Speaker 3: that role where you can be starting a game, you
• 56:14
  Speaker 3: can be coming in the third inning, you could be
• 56:16
  Speaker 3: coming in the 11th inning and extra innings is very
• 56:20
  Speaker 3: valuable to a team. So I always just tried to
• 56:22
  Speaker 3: find the positives in those. I don't think I will
• 56:25
  Speaker 3: ever feel that adrenaline rush that I felt when I
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: would come in with runners in scoring position in a
• 56:29
  Speaker 3: big game. You can't feel that as a starter. But
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: I also will not get four straight off days as
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: a reliever where I can really focus on my body
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: to get better for that fifth day and be able
• 56:39
  Speaker 3: to pitch on that fifth day. So there's so many
• 56:41
  Speaker 3: gives and takes that I definitely just try to find
• 56:44
  Speaker 3: the positives in those roles and then just embrace them.
• 56:47
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: Great.
• 56:48
  Speaker 4: So good.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: Wrap it up, Justin.
• 56:51
  Speaker 4: So, all right, Michael, last thing here, we're going to
• 56:54
  Speaker 4: go to the MVP. We ask everybody this, who is
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: your most valuable person in your life?
• 57:01
  Speaker 3: It hands down my wife. My wife, I definitely chose correct.
• 57:07
  Speaker 3: I know that there's that old, like 90% of your
• 57:10
  Speaker 3: happiness or unhappiness comes from your, the partner that you
• 57:13
  Speaker 3: choose in life. She has, and she didn't know anything
• 57:16
  Speaker 3: about baseball when we started dating. And now she's like
• 57:19
  Speaker 3: the only person I talked to about baseball. So she's
• 57:21
  Speaker 3: my mental skills coach. She's the one that Obviously, I
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: see her as a mom and it just melts me.
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: And so she's definitely the strongest woman in my life
• 57:30
  Speaker 3: that has definitely made me a much better person and
• 57:34
  Speaker 3: also a baseball player.
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: She's a wonderful person. Baby's a wonderful little baby. And
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: you've really shined here, Michael. I knew it would be great.
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: And it's wonderful to see you continue to develop and grow.
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: Wish you the best of luck in the rest of
• 57:48
  Speaker 2: the season. and success in the off season as well.
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: Can't wait to see you and play with you and
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: kick your butt. That's fine by me.
• 57:54
  Speaker 3: Outside of the last one, but thank you for having
• 57:58
  Speaker 3: me on.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: Thanks, Michael.
• 58:00
  Speaker 4: Appreciate it, man.
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: Thanks again very much for being with us. That is
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: Dirk from the dugout for this week. Please always go
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: to theparentdugout.com. There's so much information out there for you.
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: This is about us and people like Michael King and
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: Dave Roberts and talking to you about your journey in
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: this incredible sport of baseball.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: We look forward to seeing you again.