Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly joins North Side Territory

Transcript

Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly joins North Side Territory · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic, Patrick, The
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Cubs offense continues to roll nine runs scored against the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Pirates in Pittsburgh on Tuesday Night. It's like it they're
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: just not slowing down right now. They have you know,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: there's a game here or there where they may be limited,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: but it's not extended slumps, not yet at least where
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: we're not yet to May. But Carson Kelly's mashing Peeka,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Armstrong's mashing Sa Suzuki's on a on a little heater
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: as well. Uh, these guys that they hit four home runs,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: even even Dansby Swanson came through with a home run.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: A little shakeup of the lineup from Craig Council with
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Carson Kelly bed and cleanup and and Dansby Swanson moving
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: down Michael Bush in there against the lefty. I mean
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of positives right now going for the Cubs,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: especially offensively.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: No doubt you had a good piece up in the
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Athletic on Carson Kelly just kind of the changes he
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: has made over the years, and I think this is
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: a guy that they're getting at kind of the right
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: time in his career. You know, he had been kind
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: of a you know, potentially an air apparent to YadA,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Air Molina and Saint Louis, part of the Paul Goldschmidt
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: trade going to Arizona. Seemed to have found something with
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the Tigers. Was a trade deadline edition last year for
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: the Rangers. And you know, he's not gonna be very
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: bonds the entire season, but like just being competent, above average,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: a very good defensive edition as well, someone who pairs,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: you know, almost perfectly with Miguel Amaya, like you can
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: see one through now. I guess he's now more like
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: the cleanup hitter. But one through nine. Things starting to
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: gel in a way that I think is sustainable. Maybe
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: they won't be number one in every category for the
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: entire year, but if they stay healthy, it seems like
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: they have a pretty good thing going, which is why
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: we wanted to have a certain guest on today.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Dustin Kelly will be joining us soon, the hitting
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: coach for the Cubs. You know, hitting coaches get a
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: lot of heat which things aren't going well.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: We don't hear from them much.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: But things are going well, or at least we don't
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: hear the complaints or I should say, the praise from
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: mans saying like how about that hitting coach? Look at
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the offense? Nobody says that. And I'm not saying like
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the credit goes to Dustin Kelly, right, Like he doesn't
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: get all the credit, Like this is the players get
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the credit. That's why I say the players should get
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the blame when when things are struggling, like that should
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: be the number one thing you look at. But and
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Kelly comes from a background of you know, he was
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: he was in the Dodgers system. It was he was
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: brought in to be a minor league hitting coordinator. He was,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: you know, he was like he was there for what
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: a year before he took over as heading coach, two
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: years before he took over my sitting coach. He wasn't
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: in the order that long. But just an easy guy
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: to talk to, very soft spoken, I guess. But you
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: can tell the passions there for for what he's doing. Uh,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: it seems to be clicking well. And it's not just him, right,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: John Mayley's there. They have a good hitting infrastructure. It's
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: a it's a good group of guys that seemed to
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: be doing a strong job communicating and kind of handling
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: all those duties.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Uh with with the with the lineup.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the history you alluded to is certainly
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: something that hovered over the position when when Dustin Kelly
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: was promoted and fairly rapid fashion, the theo Epstein jed
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Hoyer administration did not have a ton of patients with
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: hitting coaches. Now that is sort of the nature of
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the job. I think the hitting coach position has become
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: this really thankless job just with how technology really seems
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: to favor pitching and defense. So the Cubs have made
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: some strides in that area. And then you know, at
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: any given time, if you're dealing with, you know, whatever,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: twelve thirteen hitters, you know a significant group of you know,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: percentage of that group is going to be struggling at
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: any giving time. And then with the way the modern
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: game has evolved, there a lot of players have their
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: own sort of like private swing coaches, and you know,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: if it feels great in the winter, right when there's
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: no defense, there's no pitcher, and the swing feels great,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: there's no results, and then when you kind of get
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: that thrown back at you, it's a little different, and
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: you hit on this shada of last year. What Dustin
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Kelly and his group did with Pete Crow Armstrong and
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Miguel Emile last year extremely impressive. I mean, just ask
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Craig Council and like, why this group was brought back
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: and why they've kind of continued along this path is
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: because when you can take two young, eager to learn
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: hitters who have some aptitude and athleticism and make real
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: time changes on the fly to kind of unlock that talent,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: like in June, July, August, like that is what great
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: organizations do. And I think that you alluded to. I mean,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: our listeners will hear it just to his voice, his
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: kind of demeanor, a very good listener, very patient, very
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: player centric. Not that he has some sort of he
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: obviously has beliefs and philosophy, but it's not really about
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: his personality his experience.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: In the game.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: It's more of really kind of being there for the players.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: And you saw it with Pete, you saw it with Amaya,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: and I think this is kind of the next phase
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: of that. Kyle Tucker obviously helps, but there was kind
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: of a foundation in place before that trade with the astros.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, let's take a quick break and we'll
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: be joined by DK soon enough.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: Kratz.
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: Let's talk about the number one recommended dermatologist hair growth
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: supplement brand. And it's a brand that you are just
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: starting your journey with.
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: I'm using what about one and a half two months
• 6:51
  Speaker 6: into my journey, it's a six month journey. See where
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: see what I can get? See a little thicker, fuller everywhere,
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: filling it out. I don't know, we'll see what happens.
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: I'm very excited to see the neutrofoil results with KRATS.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: And don't show us your hat yet.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: Okay, you gotta stay tuned through this journey. And if
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: you want to join KRATS for this journey, you can
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: start your hair growth journey with neutrofol for a limited time.
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: Neutrofol is offering FT listeners, ten dollars off your first
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: month subscription and free shipping when you go to nutrofol
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: dot com and enter the promo code foul.
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: Find out why.
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: Over forty five hundred healthcare professionals and stylists recommend Neutrofoil
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: for healthier hair nutrifold dot com spelled n U t
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: r A f o l dot com promo code foul.
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: That's neutrofol dot com promo code foul.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: All right, right on time, Let's let's bring in Cubs
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: hitting coach Dustin Kelly, Dustin, thanks so much for joining us.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: It looks like you're in your hotel room out in Pittsburgh.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: A fun night yet again in Pittsburgh offenses rolling. We're
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: having you at the perfect time, right like the offense
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: is going, Let's let's get Dustin Kelly on. He can
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: you can boast about all the amazing things this group
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: is doing.
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: It's always good to talk to media when the offense
• 8:13
  Speaker 7: is rolling. I will say that much. But enjoy talking
• 8:16
  Speaker 7: to you guys. Thanks for having me on.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Well with us.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: I know you're in Pittsburgh now, but after a couple
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: of home stands at Wrigley one of the things that's
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: kind of jumped out to us is it seems like
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: as a staff and the players in the clubhouse have
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: tried to sort of embrace Wrigley Field. And you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: I think for generations, players and front offices have tried
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: to figure out how to sort of tame it and
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: kind of make it a home field advantage. What can
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: you kind of just walk us through as a staff,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: you know, going back to maybe say like the end
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: of last season into spring training, how did as a
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: group you approach that challenge of Wrigley Field.
• 8:58
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think I mean we've always known that Rigley's
• 9:01
  Speaker 7: a special place and that we have an advantage there.
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: The fans, the commitment to the fan like everything that
• 9:07
  Speaker 7: when you walk through the doors there, you know that
• 9:10
  Speaker 7: like you're in Cubs Land. The weather, that's a different factor.
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: And I think that's kind of what you're alluding to,
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: is you know, last year was such a weird weather
• 9:18
  Speaker 7: pattern with just the way the wind blew in and
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: it was so it just wasn't advantageous for the hitters.
• 9:27
  Speaker 7: And I think a lot of times you think that
• 9:29
  Speaker 7: that's going to change, and you're thinking, Okay, like all right,
• 9:32
  Speaker 7: next week, it's going to be better.
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: When you get back, it's gonna better.
• 9:34
  Speaker 7: That just didn't happen last year, and I think like
• 9:36
  Speaker 7: as a staff, we kind of started talking about, Okay,
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: how do we how do we make this an advantage
• 9:41
  Speaker 7: for us? We play here every day. We know that,
• 9:45
  Speaker 7: you know, it's not going to be a great place
• 9:47
  Speaker 7: to hit today. So when we're talking in hitters meetings,
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: when we're talking to our players, what can we do
• 9:52
  Speaker 7: to make our players feel confident that this is still
• 9:56
  Speaker 7: an advantage for us. So throughout the off season we
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: kind of came up with the thing embraced Wrigley. You've
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: probably heard that from a couple of people, and that's
• 10:02
  Speaker 7: exactly what it is. It's like, this is our home turf.
• 10:05
  Speaker 7: We know what it's going to be like today. We
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: know that it's not going to be a great time
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: to hit. So what can we do offensively to make
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: sure that we're giving ourselves as the best chance, whether
• 10:14
  Speaker 7: that's hit and run, whether that's butt, whether that's having
• 10:17
  Speaker 7: an approach of like a low line drive. We got
• 10:19
  Speaker 7: to pull this guy. We've got to stay OPO with
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: this guy. So it's just more conversations and awareness. You
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: still have to go out and execute, which is the
• 10:27
  Speaker 7: hard part, but we're just bringing more awareness to what
• 10:29
  Speaker 7: the situation is and how we think is a staff
• 10:32
  Speaker 7: we can attack that particular.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Day justin I mean, it's obvious the impact Peter Armstrong's head.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: So far this season, he's frankly playing at an MVP
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: level with the all around game that he has right now.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: But this was obviously a process.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: It took a little while to get to this point
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: to see this, PCA. Can you tell us a little
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: bit about what happened last summer, how you guys work
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: together to kind of get it to there, and then
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: there are more changes. He's not the same hit or
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: that he was in August and September, at least mechanically,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and obviously he's impacting the baseball impressively. Get what happened
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: over the offseason and and how how is he to
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: work with and then as a as kind of a
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: student of the game.
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it even goes back further than that when we
• 11:20
  Speaker 7: first when we first made that trade for him, Obviously
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: he was still hurt at the time, but I was
• 11:25
  Speaker 7: the coordinator at that time, so spending a lot of
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: time with Pete, you know, in Arizona as he was
• 11:31
  Speaker 7: getting healthy and then kind of through the minor league ranks,
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: and you know, everybody always knew that he was going
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: to play great defense and he was going to really run,
• 11:38
  Speaker 7: and you know, there's questions about the bad. I don't
• 11:40
  Speaker 7: think internally we had the questions about the bad as
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: many people externally. But we knew that we're going to
• 11:47
  Speaker 7: have to find something with Pete that was going to stick.
• 11:51
  Speaker 7: He's so athletic and he's so twitchy that the way
• 11:54
  Speaker 7: that he moves is just like in this constant state
• 11:56
  Speaker 7: of like flow almost, and that's a challenge for guys
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: when they're hitting, because they just want to feel relaxed
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: and they want to just kind of feel like feel
• 12:06
  Speaker 7: the flow in the batter's box. But what that would
• 12:08
  Speaker 7: lead to sometimes was just like, you know, not laziness,
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: but just inconsistency.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: And you know, going.
• 12:14
  Speaker 7: Through that process with him last year of you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 7: you've started a little narrow and then it was like, okay,
• 12:19
  Speaker 7: let's widen up and let's do a little lake kick.
• 12:21
  Speaker 7: And it's just been we're trying to find the best
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: version of Pete but still allowing him to have like
• 12:29
  Speaker 7: that flow and that rhythm and the athletic ability to
• 12:32
  Speaker 7: go in there and just.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: Like be athletic and play. And I think that's.
• 12:36
  Speaker 7: Kind of what this year has like morphed into from
• 12:39
  Speaker 7: what it was last year with the lake kick, the
• 12:41
  Speaker 7: non lake kick, and then back to the lake kick,
• 12:44
  Speaker 7: and then this year it's kind of like a hybrid
• 12:46
  Speaker 7: of like it's a little bit wider, there's a little
• 12:48
  Speaker 7: bit of a knee tuck, and Pete's put a ton
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: of work into that, and I think, like this offseason,
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: it was, Okay, how do we simplify this, how do
• 12:56
  Speaker 7: we make sure that, like what I'm doing is going
• 12:59
  Speaker 7: to be the same every day? And that's a hard
• 13:02
  Speaker 7: task to put your head around, like it's going to
• 13:04
  Speaker 7: be the same every day.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: It's not.
• 13:05
  Speaker 7: But at least he has a really good foundation of, Okay,
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: this is what I wanted to be, this is how
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: I'm going to attack baseballs. And you know, we have
• 13:12
  Speaker 7: an unbelievable staff. John Maylee works incredible with him. He
• 13:15
  Speaker 7: had him in the minor leagues as well. So there's
• 13:18
  Speaker 7: a lot of people that have seen Pete for a
• 13:20
  Speaker 7: couple of years now and really support him. And you know,
• 13:23
  Speaker 7: just you're seeing what support staff and then a really
• 13:27
  Speaker 7: good player can go out and do.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Dustin in spring training, Craig Council, in his very dry
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: way that you know so well, joked about Kyle Tucker
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: that I told the hitting coaches you're gonna love him.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: He doesn't hit a lot and he's really really good,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: meaning you sort of a minimalist. He kind of does
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: his own thing. But at the same time, you know,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I was talking to Eagle Horner the other day and
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: he said, you know, Tucker has been great in terms
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: of bringing energy enthusiasm into the club house. Else like,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: as well as you guys have been playing, there have
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: been some tough losses and.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: That you guys have bounced back.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Can you just kind of explain that dynamic, which from
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: the outside is a little hard to square of, Like,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: this guy's kind of on his own program. He doesn't
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: need a ton but he's also it sounds like, completely
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: ameshed in the group and a big part and a
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: driver of that energy we're seeing on the field.
• 14:21
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think with Tuck it's kind of what you
• 14:24
  Speaker 7: see is, you know, just this very like locked in,
• 14:28
  Speaker 7: kind of like low key playing the game at a
• 14:31
  Speaker 7: certain pace, and that is him to a certain extent.
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: He's got a low heartbeat. He's obviously played in some
• 14:37
  Speaker 7: massive games, and he hasn't, you know, an incredible amount
• 14:40
  Speaker 7: of confidence. He just knows that he's really good and
• 14:43
  Speaker 7: there's nothing that a pitcher has that can beat him.
• 14:46
  Speaker 7: There's nobody that's going to be able to get him
• 14:48
  Speaker 7: out in those certain situations.
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: But you know he does.
• 14:51
  Speaker 7: He has a personality in the background and the cracks
• 14:54
  Speaker 7: jokes and you know, I think, like as it's hard
• 14:57
  Speaker 7: to come into a new team, right.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: Especially when you you can't up with the.
• 15:00
  Speaker 7: Astros and you know, it's been in a World Series
• 15:02
  Speaker 7: and you've been with a group and a staff for
• 15:04
  Speaker 7: a long time to then get traded and come in
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: and you know, have to fit in. And I don't
• 15:09
  Speaker 7: think that we ever thought there was going to be,
• 15:11
  Speaker 7: you know, a process for him fitting in, but it
• 15:13
  Speaker 7: takes some time. And our guys have, you know, fallen
• 15:17
  Speaker 7: in love with him, and I think he's falling in
• 15:18
  Speaker 7: love with our guys because you know, he's able to
• 15:20
  Speaker 7: crack jokes and have fun. But man, when he gets
• 15:23
  Speaker 7: into the game, he is locked in and he knows
• 15:25
  Speaker 7: exactly what kind of plan he's going.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: To try and execute.
• 15:28
  Speaker 7: He has a great recall with pitchers and how guys
• 15:31
  Speaker 7: are going to attack him, and he knows that he's
• 15:32
  Speaker 7: not going to get pitched the way that the report
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: says he's going to get pitched. It's not going to
• 15:37
  Speaker 7: be forty two percent fastball. You know, he's going to
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: see the three percent slider or the three percent curve ball.
• 15:42
  Speaker 7: He just it's just they attack him different, and he
• 15:45
  Speaker 7: understands that and he embraces it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Really.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Dustin and Matchhaw obviously struggled in a short stand of
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the big leagues. Had I believe thirty five games at
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Triple A before this season. I think there were a
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: couple of games at Triple A he was hit. Listen,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Now he's crushing the ball. Uh, not a surprise that
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: he's doing well at Triple A. But what was the
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: message that was sent to him that that was shared
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: with them when he was sent down? And kind of
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: is this more a mental reset? Are there mechanical tweaks,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: approach tweaks, What what is the focus for him while
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: he's down there?
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: Probably a little bit of everything.
• 16:22
  Speaker 7: I think like the first message was, hey, this is
• 16:25
  Speaker 7: an opportunity, and you know, like you got an opportunity,
• 16:30
  Speaker 7: and then this is now an opportunity to go make
• 16:32
  Speaker 7: some adjustments and like mentally reset kind of get back
• 16:36
  Speaker 7: to what Matt Shaw is And I think, like what
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: we've seen and I hadn't seen him play live a lot, right,
• 16:42
  Speaker 7: He just hadn't been in the organ and playing in
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: the minor leagues, and then obviously the shortened spring training,
• 16:46
  Speaker 7: and so it's like, what can we do, how can
• 16:49
  Speaker 7: we help you when you go to Triple A to
• 16:51
  Speaker 7: get back to like what Matt Shaw is, And what
• 16:53
  Speaker 7: Matt Shaw is is like a peer hitter. And I
• 16:56
  Speaker 7: think we've all kind of seen that through college and
• 16:58
  Speaker 7: through the draft process and the minor leagues, and that
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: that part of it just didn't show up in his
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: early stint in the big leagues. And there's a lot
• 17:06
  Speaker 7: of guys that really struggle, you know, in their first
• 17:09
  Speaker 7: you know cup of coffee with the big leagues and
• 17:11
  Speaker 7: they do have to go down and Jets talked about
• 17:13
  Speaker 7: it with you know, some of the guys that have
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: done it here, and I think the message was, hey, like, yeah,
• 17:18
  Speaker 7: we are going to make some you know, approach changes
• 17:21
  Speaker 7: and make sure that like we're attacking the pitches the
• 17:23
  Speaker 7: way that we've talked about attacking pitches and being on
• 17:26
  Speaker 7: fastballs and driving fastballs, and then some of the mechanical
• 17:30
  Speaker 7: stuff of like we saw with him just kind of
• 17:32
  Speaker 7: moving around in the box quite a bit and not
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: having a consistent setup, and those things start to happen
• 17:38
  Speaker 7: when the game speeds up on you, and I think
• 17:41
  Speaker 7: like this is a chance for him to go back
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: down there and slow the game back down and really
• 17:45
  Speaker 7: kind of lock in of like, Okay, this is what
• 17:47
  Speaker 7: I'm trying to accomplish, and I am Matt Shaw, and.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: When the time is right, come right back up here
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: and help a team win a game.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Jet Hoyer has over the years kind of said, how
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: hard you know, any hitting coach's job is, just because
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: at any given time you're gonna have maybe four guys
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: who are just like miserable and trying to get out
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: of something, or could be half the group. You know,
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Danby Swanson the end of the first homestand it was all,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: isn't it great?
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: You got that?
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: You know, surgery done?
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: Don't you feel so much better? You look great?
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: And then it was that tough road trip he gets
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: dropped in the lineup. But response, what are you seeing
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: from Dansby at this particular moment, Knowing that it's a
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: long season. He does have a very long track record,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: but there are things that every hitter sort of has
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: to work through at different points exactly.
• 18:36
  Speaker 7: I think like every hitter goes through these kind of
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: spells of like you know, it's a thirty day or
• 18:43
  Speaker 7: a twenty day, and the best ones maybe it's twelve
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: to fifteen. But you see all of these guys kind
• 18:48
  Speaker 7: of go through these these ebbs and flows of like
• 18:51
  Speaker 7: whether they don't feel good mentally or physically, or their
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: swing just doesn't feel right, or they're getting pitched really tough,
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: and everybody kind of goes through one thing with Dan Sby,
• 19:01
  Speaker 7: and I think like fans recognize this, and you guys
• 19:04
  Speaker 7: definitely do as well as like he wants to win
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: and he's doing everything he possibly can to win, and
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: like even if offensively it's not there during this stretch
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: right now, like he's playing great defense, he's running the bases,
• 19:17
  Speaker 7: he's beating out you know, double play balls, he's going
• 19:20
  Speaker 7: first to third, and like I think, like when you're winning,
• 19:23
  Speaker 7: it's easier to continue to do that.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: But I think with Dansby, like he's just out there
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: to win.
• 19:28
  Speaker 7: He's doing whatever he can, and not that he's not
• 19:30
  Speaker 7: putting in the works but in a ton of work
• 19:32
  Speaker 7: behind the scenes, but like there's a winning attitude that
• 19:35
  Speaker 7: comes with him, and it's like you wouldn't know that
• 19:38
  Speaker 7: he's oh for twelve or twelve for twelve if at
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: the end of that night that Go Cubs Go is playing.
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: I mean the look on the face is a smile
• 19:47
  Speaker 7: and he could be over twelve or over fifteen, you know,
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: going to that stretch.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: But if we win that night.
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: Like it's it's all smiles and ready to get back
• 19:55
  Speaker 7: to work again tomorrow. And that's a trait that we've
• 19:58
  Speaker 7: always known he's had. Obviously, we want him to, you know,
• 20:01
  Speaker 7: succeed and have a great offensive year. He just hasn't
• 20:05
  Speaker 7: really hit that stride yet this year. Last night was
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: a step in the right direction. Obviously, got that hanging
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: slider that he pulled down the line, that he stayed
• 20:12
  Speaker 7: square and stayed behind it.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: So that was a good sign last night that he.
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: Was able to stay on that slider and elevate it
• 20:18
  Speaker 7: to the pull side.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: Dustin.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Before I let you go, I want to talk about
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Carson Kelly a little bit. I know a lot of
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the work that he's put in happened before he arrived
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: with the Cubs.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: It's been like a two year process for him.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I think something he told me was like, part of
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: this is right now just keeping the guard rails up,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: which is I feel like something you've probably told me
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: along the way too. Like some of it it's like
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: when someone's locked in, just like kind of you're building
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: guard rails so they don't fall out of their mechanics.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: What did you notice when he showed up in camp
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: where I know he's not going to hit like Barry Bonds.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I think we all understand that, But did you see something?
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Could you see real changes and did it pique your
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: interest and kind of can you explain how he's doing this,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: how this is so different than what he's looked like
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: in the past offensively at least, how he's impacting the baseball.
• 21:12
  Speaker 7: Yeah, the first thing that stood out to me was
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: he was so convicted and just had a really good
• 21:18
  Speaker 7: answer for why he's doing it and kind of the
• 21:21
  Speaker 7: process that he's gone through. And I think like that's
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: where even if you talk to like Justin Turner, guys
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: that have gone through swing changes, they really stick when
• 21:29
  Speaker 7: those guys can verbilize it and they they're committed to
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: it and they understand why it didn't work before what's
• 21:36
  Speaker 7: working for them now, and they can talk you through
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: almost like step by step of like where they've been
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: and where they're at Nowty. That's what I noticed with
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: Carson is like, Okay, like this is real, right, He's
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: gone through this. He understands why he's doing it, how
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: he does it, and he knows right away, which is
• 21:53
  Speaker 7: a hitting coach's dream when it feels a little bit
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: off and he can pinpoint what it is and the
• 22:01
  Speaker 7: less things that those are, whether it's like staying in
• 22:04
  Speaker 7: the back hip or I feel jumpy on my front
• 22:06
  Speaker 7: side when that's just like one or two things for
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: a hitter, like what it is with Carson, like we
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: can recognize it, like after one swing he can make
• 22:13
  Speaker 7: the adjustment, or he can say, hey, go check this
• 22:16
  Speaker 7: out on the iPad after this, see what you think,
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: and like right away he knows. And I think that's
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: where you know that a hitter, the changes that he's
• 22:24
  Speaker 7: made are going to stick.
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: That's where Carson's at right now.
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: And I think like he talked me through the whole
• 22:30
  Speaker 7: thing the first twenty five minutes that I had met him,
• 22:33
  Speaker 7: and we've really stuck with the same exact plan the
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: entire time, and what you alluded to, like I like
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: to talk about. It is on the guardrails at the
• 22:42
  Speaker 7: bowling alley right right when you take your kids.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Bowling and they do those little inflatable things. That's what like,
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: I just don't want you to go into the gutter,
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: So I'm just going to inflate myself. I'm goin to
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: push you right back towards the middle.
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: It may not be a strike pin every time, but
• 22:57
  Speaker 7: I'm going to just keep you moving forward. And that's
• 23:01
  Speaker 7: like what I joke about with our hitting coaches, like
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: that's kind of what our job is, like, don't let
• 23:05
  Speaker 7: anybody go into the gutter.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: Just keep them moving.
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: Forward and they can ping pong back and forth, but
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: as long as they're making their way towards the end goal,
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: we're going to be all right.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: That's the That's a perfect analogy. Before we let you go,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: I just had one more. Just get a very broad one.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: You have, you know, a strong background and player development.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: This process has been kind of a multi year thing
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: for the Cubs. You got the superstar in Kyle Tucker,
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Craig Council's second year, there's it seems to be a
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: lot kind of going into this start here. How would
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: you describe just kind of going to work every day. Like,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: what are kind of the vibes around the cages and
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: the dugouts on the planes. What's kind of your snapshot
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: of this first month of the twenty twenty five Cubs.
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think like coming into spring training, it was
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: like business and I think we understood that we we
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: have what it takes, like that the roster is built
• 24:00
  Speaker 7: to win right now, and I think like that instantly
• 24:04
  Speaker 7: brings like a sense of like camaraderie and like, hey,
• 24:07
  Speaker 7: we let's go do this. And that started early in
• 24:11
  Speaker 7: spring training. Obviously that Japan trip was really cool for
• 24:14
  Speaker 7: us to go out and like put that to the test,
• 24:17
  Speaker 7: and then we've been rolling with that ever since, and
• 24:20
  Speaker 7: I think like that's what the vibe is, is like
• 24:22
  Speaker 7: we're confident, we know we have what it takes, and
• 24:25
  Speaker 7: it's like we can't wait to show up and play
• 24:28
  Speaker 7: in Pittsburgh tonight, because like you have that mentality of
• 24:31
  Speaker 7: like we are going to win tonight or we're going
• 24:33
  Speaker 7: to go take it to the starter tonight, and like
• 24:36
  Speaker 7: that's what the kind of the mentality of, at least
• 24:37
  Speaker 7: for the hitters that we're around and how we talk
• 24:40
  Speaker 7: to him is like let's go like we can't. We
• 24:42
  Speaker 7: don't want off days right now, like we want to
• 24:44
  Speaker 7: go out there and go play.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: That's Dustin, thanks so much for joining us. It's it's
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: been fun to cover this team when when offenses are rolling.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: I think it's the most like it's it's really the
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: most fun thing to watch. Like offenses, you know, it
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: comes and goes it times, but right now it's it's
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: been fun to cover the team and fun to watch
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the offense go. It seems kind of relentless, so I'm sure.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you're having fun, uh watching it all and
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: coaching these guys because the fans are loving it and
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: it makes our jobs easy to write about this, so.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: Keep it up.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us. We'll talk to you
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: in Milwaukee and back of Wrigley.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: That's good. Thanks, Bella appreciate Take it.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Easy, all right, Patrick, Let's take a quick break and
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: then wrap this up.
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: FT fan, We're excited to introduce you to Rowback with
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: the subtle dog logo and there's two stripes on the
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: back of every product.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: Krats, what are you rocking for us today?
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: I got the polo, so when I'm out on the course,
• 25:45
  Speaker 6: I stay cool. The sweats wick in a way you
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: barely even feel like it's on.
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that is a Rowback Polo classic solid and stripes.
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: If that's for you, go for print polos are there
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: as well. Use the code foul at rowback dot com
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: for twenty sent off your first purchase.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: That's f O U.
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: L on R H O B A c K dot com.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, two more in Pittsburgh, then they head
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: to Milwaukee. Is it their first This is the first
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: NL Central, right, yeah, first NL Central games. Uh, there
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: was a little mini scare last night. We should just
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: touch on that, like showed him Naga. Everything that I've
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: read from our fellow Beat writers Matty Lee and Megan
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Montemorrow Jordan out there, they seem to be it seems
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to be suggesting that everything's fine.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: That it's just cramps. You know.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: We I'm not going to jump to any negative conclusions
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: just yet, especially if it's both both legs. It sounds
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: like a cramping issue. It sounds like it's nothing to
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: be concerned about. He sounded like he's going to make
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: his next start. I think we'll we'll wait and make
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: sure that that happens. But it sounds like all is
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: well there, so you just kind of assume that that's
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: nothing to you know, freak out about just yet for fans.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's funny. Shota came in with a
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: lot of understandable questions about his game and now it's
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: just sort of a given that he's an All Star
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: level performer and a cy Young Award contender and the
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Cups can just keep rolling him out and hopefully that's
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: the case because he's a just a fantastic pitcher to watch,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: great entertainment value. I'm with you in terms of the
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: early takeaways seem to be like a relatively minimal issue,
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: but yeah, the Cubs are at that point where it's
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: going to be harder to sort of absorb more and
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: more significant injuries to their starting group.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, you don't. You don't want any more knocks to
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the rotation. Kate Horton had another awesome outing at tripa A,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: by the way, so we'll keep an eye on that
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: because I think it is relevant. I'm not saying he's
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: coming up next week, but I don't think we're going
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: to be This is not an August September thing. Assuming
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: he continues to pitch like this and and stays healthy
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: because they're you know, this is a team that's competing
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: very clearly. They're a good team right now, and you
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: want to keep that rolling. And sometimes what we saw
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: in fifteen and sixteen right like was like like you
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: sometimes you need that injection, you know, like that little boost,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: and like a star talent prospect like Kate Horton is
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: exactly what they'd like to inject. And it may sometimes
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the front office likes to time that right, you know, like, oh,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: we've hit a little three game losing. Yeah, yeah, here's
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Kate Horton, right, So I feel like they do like
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: to do that. You don't also want to wait too long.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: So we'll see when when that happens. But I think
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: it's going to happen at some point this summer. Craig
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Council didn't even deny it, he admitted it was. It'll
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: happen at some point this summer. So we'll see what
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: happens with Kate Horton. Looks like showed is fine, and
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: you're right what you said about like I'm almost taking
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: for granted how good show it is, Like he's a sigh,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: young contender again, he just I did not expect him
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: to repeat last year. He's putting up similar he's doing
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: it a little differently, but he's so far the results
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: are there, so we'll see if he can keep it
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: rolling and if the Cubs can keep it rolling. Thanks
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: again to Dustin Kelly. This is north Side Territory, Foul
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure to rate, review and subscribe.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to the YouTube channel. Subscribe to The Athletic where
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening, and everyone take it.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: They lost