Latest / Foul Territory / Kody Clemens loving Twins life

Transcript

Kody Clemens loving Twins life · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: He'll throw a fake one over your head way up,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: not even near me.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: But luckily I didn't have to face him when he was,
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: you know, still playing like my oldest brother.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Did.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Great to have Cody Clements joining us right now from
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: the Minnesota Twins.
• 0:17
  Speaker 4: Cody, thanks for joining us. I know you'll like this.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Let's just start by talking about your team for a moment.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: So you joined this team what about a month ago,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: and look pretty damn good since you joined the party.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: How you doing been good?
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on guys.
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, of course. So so what do you think changed?
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, and what did you hear about before you
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: joined the club that wasn't going right that had suddenly
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: turned around?
• 0:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I mean all through spring training with Philadelphia. You know,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I wasn't stupid to it. I knew what the roster
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: construction constructed looked. It looked like, so I knew there
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: were so many left handed bats. I didn't really know
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: it was in store. I had a great spring and
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: they obviously kept me on on the team, and then
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: it kind of fell into the first couple of weeks,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: you know, not getting any time to play. They did
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: tell me that it was gonna be hard to find
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: playing time for me, and so I kind of just
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: sat back and you know, got all my work.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Done as best I could, and stayed there.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: And then there in New York, I just got DFAD
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: after the game and they just said, look like it's
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: obviously we can't find any playing time for you here,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: so we're gonna let you go and we hope the
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: best for you. And then went home, had a couple
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: of days in Houston, and then got the call that
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I was being traded over to Minnesota. But it's been
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: a blessing at this point. Got some consistent playing time,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: which has got you know, my rhythm and timing back
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: and everything. So it's just honestly, it really worked out
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: in my favor.
• 1:57
  Speaker 6: Cody, first of all, this has got to be the
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: Clement Show because we've had you, we've had your dad,
• 2:02
  Speaker 6: we've had your brother on so I mean, we might
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: have to rename this the Clemens Family Show because you
• 2:06
  Speaker 6: guys are by far the most represented family we've ever
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: had on the show. So that's pretty awesome to start with.
• 2:12
  Speaker 6: But then what happened. You mentioned getting DFA and getting
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: in Minnesota and you get to play all the time,
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: But what did Rocco, say when you walked into Minnesota,
• 2:19
  Speaker 6: because was there a clear path for you to get
• 2:21
  Speaker 6: playing time once you walked in, because if you look
• 2:24
  Speaker 6: at their team, they thought they were pretty set, but
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: you've come in and just kind of taken over. Yeah.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, as soon as I got into Minnesota, went
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: into the roca's office and just told him, you know, hey,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: I'm here. I play a lot of positions. I'm open
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: to playing and doing whatever you guys need me to do.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: I did tell him that I've never really gotten the
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: opportunity to have consistent playing time in my big league
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: career so far, and he loved it. He just said,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: we're excited to have you and we're looking forward to
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: getting you out there.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: And that was really it.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: There wasn't really a clear path of, hey, you're going
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: to play every day or nothing. He just told me,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: you know, it's looking more like first and second base,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: corner outfield, third base every now and then.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: But focused on second base.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: And I said, all right, And you know, he got
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: me in there, and luckily, you know, got the consistent
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: playing time to get back into the rhythm that I
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: really had in spring training.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: And it's it's been great so far. Now.
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: You've mentioned it a couple of times already, the consistent
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: playing time, And I don't think people realize just how
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: valuable that is to a player to be able to
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: find that rhythm, to know that you're in there every day,
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: and to keep seeing the ball, the live pitching each time.
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: Last week or so, with all these big stats coming out,
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: is there anything else that you've been working on, anything
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: else that you've been in a change, or that you've
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: made it a point of emphasis when you're in the
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: cage before a game, is there? Because I mean, you're
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: going hot right now, So is there something that you're
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: really focused on getting ready before each game?
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: I mean the one drill I guess that I've implemented
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: to my routine was just to get.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: My bottom and more direct to the ball.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: That's really it got back to some high tea that
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I used to do when I was younger.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: That's really it in the cage.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: But to be honest, it was just like getting my
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: timing back, you know, playing I don't know, I got
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: maybe six at bats or something like that in Philadelphia
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: and they were all, you know, weeks apart, So getting
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: on time to you know, a high, high heater or
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: ninety five plus was really the key for me to have,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: you know, to be early and be able to react
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: to pitches.
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: You might have just answered my follow up question because
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: I like giving some of our viewers a little insight
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: onto what hitters do and how they get ready. So
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: you said you like getting your lower hand through. You're
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: working on that right now, bottom hand. Yeah, was there
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: a reason for That's how you came to it? Was
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: it someone suggested it or it said You're like, I
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: need to get to that high fastball and I'm getting
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: to drop down with it.
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: I want to punch through with it.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: What was there?
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: Was there a reason for this?
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Cause?
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Matt and Trevor, I guess the hitting coaches they
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: sat me down in Cleveland when I first got my
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: first couple starts with the team and just said, hey,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: let's talk about some things.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Like they you know, pulled up a ton of stuff
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: and said.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Your bad angle is a little different or something like that,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: and they just said, you know, suggested that I need
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: to get a little bit more direct with my bottom hand.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I mean we thought it was the top hand because
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I am right hand dominant. But for some odd reason
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: my right hand wasn't getting there wasn't as direct as
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: my top hand, so that was really the only drill,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: and they were the ones that suggested it.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: I like it. I like it.
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: Everything works differently for different players, so I mean you
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: could point the bat straight backwards. You can always try
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: that and just bring it forward to go.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Whatever gets you directly.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: If you're a card collector or you'd like to get
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: into card collecting, may I suggest Arena Club and slab packs,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: which means that you can rip the packs digitally and
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: of course get the card that you want.
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: It's also the most trusted name in the game.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: And I would rather rip packs these days on my
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: phone than sit next to you and have you grabbing
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: one of my physical packs if I was grabbing one.
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you don't need me grabbing your packs because last
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: time you grabbed one it ended up like this card,
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: so let's not have that. And that's why Arena Club
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: is great. They send them to you in these fancy
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: protectors like the Scout Brown card that we have here,
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: and they'll come safe, they're already graded. Or you could
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: do like I do and just leave my cards in
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: the showroom and never actually see them physically. Yeah, but
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: they're safe protected, and if I want to sell them,
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: I can't.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Buy sell trade.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: They offer full transparency, showing every card in the slab
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: pack with the likelihood of pulling each one, so you
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: know exactly what's available before you buy. Get twenty percent
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: off your first slab pack or card purchase by going
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: to Arena club dot com, slash foul and use code foul.
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: Cody, Cody, What what position do you like playing the best?
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: You said? You mentioned? I mean you like first Do
• 7:06
  Speaker 6: you like the middle infield? Do you like pitching? Perhaps?
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say I like playing second base the most.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: I feel like I'm in the game. You know, you
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: got to do a lot of stuff up the middle.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: But honestly, I just like being out on the field.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Doesn't really matter what position. I just like being in
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: the lineup. But yeah, I would say second base is
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: probably the most fun for me.
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: What about catching? What about catching?
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: You tried that when y'all I haven't caught the Orioles
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: did want to draft me as a catcher in twenty eighteen,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: which is an odd odd thing. Asked if they can
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: draft me as a catcher, and I was like, I've
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: never caught before.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: So turned that.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Home down and you still haven't, right, I still haven't
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: caught now, Okay, it takes.
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: It takes. It takes real men to get back there. Yeah,
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: anyone can play. Anyone can play second base. Okay, anyone
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: second base?
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: I respect it.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: You respected.
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: He's a prime candidate for all nine positions in the game.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: It's true.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I've this year when we were in Baltimore. I think
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I started at first, moved a second, moved to right,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: and then went back to second. And I'll tell you what,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: I've never done that before.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: That is some serious versatility.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: And hey, we know the Twins like to platoon, so
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: it helps to have someone like that who can bounce
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: around as they're doing that throughout the game. Question here,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: some fans were asking about bat speed. So the bat
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: speed I think is up for you this year. Is
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: that's something that you look at pay attention to. And
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: we had a conversation about this last week with you
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: know Sarrus who was on our show as a guest,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: and he said, you know, some front offices are starting
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: to evaluate young prospects based on a number and kind
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: of setting a delineation of Okay, if they're not, you know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: showing signs that they can get to whatever the number was, seventy,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: then we're not going to consider them in the same way.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: So wanted to get your thoughts if that was something
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: that you talked about.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny you asked that.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: I've had a couple of reporters ask me about it,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: and honestly, it's something that I've never looked at at all.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: So they said that my bat speed was up a tick.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: And they were asking me if I worked on any
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: drills or anything to improve there, And to be honest
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: with you, I've never I know, I don't know. I
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: don't know the answer to that.
• 9:30
  Speaker 6: Well, Cody, I gotta ask this your dad. Obviously everyone
• 9:34
  Speaker 6: knows your dad, Roger and Rocket. Hey, your dad threw
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: up me more than one time. Has he ever thrown
• 9:39
  Speaker 6: at you when you would take bp off them, like say,
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: you take them deep or something, gets some langery and
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: might run one up in here?
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Well not really, I mean he'll he'll throw a fake
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: one over your head way up not even near me.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: But luckily I didn't have to face him when he was,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: you know, still playing like my oldest brother did back
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: in like five or whatever. But no, he's never he's
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: never drilled me before, but I'm sure he's thought about it.
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: Okay, all right, good, that's good. That's good. At least
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: we know he draws the line somewhere.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Right, so right, yeah, exactly.
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: That's okay, Yeah, that's all. But I mean it's got
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: to be cool though, right. Your dad will take you
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: down there and throw BP to you. And he's around
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: and obviously he knows baseball as good as anyone, as
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: well as anyone. I mean, does he like baseball, moar?
• 10:24
  Speaker 6: Or does he like golf?
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Wur now?
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: Because I see him a lot on golf cours.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: That's a good that's a good question. I think it's
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: probably fifty to fifty. He gets out on the course
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: a ton now, and it is, like you said, it's
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: pretty cool. You know, he's sixty two years old and
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: he uh there, he is right there. Sorry, And he
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: still throws batting practice. I mean he does his cuugh
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: work every day and his shoulder works still. I think
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: it's just ingrained in him and he continues to work
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: out and it's just seared into his mind.
• 11:01
  Speaker 6: Wh wha wait wait, did you say he still does
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: his cuff stuff like he does the he does all
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: of like these and like the bands and all that stuff.
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: It's sixty two years old.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he does still work everything.
• 11:12
  Speaker 6: Tell him next time I see him on the golf course,
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: I'm gonna wear him out and be like, dude, you
• 11:15
  Speaker 6: played for thirty two years, like it's time to let
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: him go.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, trust me, he needs he needs, he needs to,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: but it's just seared into that brain of his.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: I swear.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: How involved does he are you talking after every game?
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Are you telling him don't tell me too much about
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: my swing since I'm a better hitter than you, even
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: though you're a legendary pitcher.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he's involved. I know he's watching the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: games for sure. It's nice he comes and travels and
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: comes to watch me play every so often. But yeah,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: if there's anything about the swing, I don't let him
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: get deep into conversation there. If we want to talk
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: about bunting, I'm all for it because I know he
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: tries to square around a ton back in his day.
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: Well, yeah, I wouldn't want to hear what he has
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: to say about your swing in terms of just like
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: the fundamentals of it. But does he text you, Like,
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: let's say he notices something that he would pick up
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: on a batter and how he would attack you. Then
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: is he that kind of advice that he would give you.
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: Then he's like, I was, you're opening the middle. I'm
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: going to come in on you if you can stay
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: over the middle.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he will.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: He will look at how the picture attacks hitters, and
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: and that's kind of how he depicts on you know,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: obviously a picture. If he sees somebody diving or whatnot,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: they're going to come in or vice versas. So yeah,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: he he kind of will watch my swing and see,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: you know, hey you're kind of diving out or whatnot.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: You're exactly right.
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: Hey, you guys are in Tampa, right, you guys are
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: in Tampa. How's this? How's the field? How's this? How's
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: the how's the minor league? Major league ballpark?
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: The conditions are are fine. I think it's it's it's
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: like the field surface is good. It is weird playing,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: it's just like a weird vibe. And then the only
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: thing that's tough is like the twilight and the lights
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: being a little bit lower than a typical big league stadium.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: But other than that, the surface and everything plays play
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: is fine?
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: Is it better than Sacramento?
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I haven't been there yet. I go, I thought you
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: got it.
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: I thought you went there. You didn't go there with
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: Philly this year. Didn't they already go?
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: They they just played them. I think that we sorry, yeah,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: but we go. We go in a few days here,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: So I'll let you know.
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: We're gonna have to check back with you because they're
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: starting to complain a little bit out there in old
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: Sacramento that this place isn't the greatest place we thought
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: it was going to be.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I've been seeing comments about it. Has there
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: been any comments about Steinberger? Has anyone said anything?
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: No, No, Steinburg is better because listen, it's the Yankees.
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: At the end of the day, the Yankees. They have
• 14:03
  Speaker 6: everything there. So it's not like, you know, the Yankees
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: are gonna go cheap and say, oh, we're cheaping out
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: on something. The Yankees have everything. The Raiser are just like,
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: we'll just move in and take it over.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, No, it's it's nice. I mean they've got
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: all They've got that new weight room and uh, the
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: cages out there for us for the visiting side, and
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: it's it's like brand News.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: So it's it's pretty nice.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the turnouts have been pretty good there too, obviously,
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: people excited to have them, you know, for many people
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: closer to home, closer to the city in Tampa versus
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Saint Pete Cody. Awesome to have you on man, Thanks
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: for joining us. Keep doing your thing. It's been fun
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: to watch the Twins gone this heater.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, thanks for having me.
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: When you get to the ballpark today. Make sure you
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: thank Mike Herman for me being his favorite player of
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: all time. Just say I just to thank you for
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: him being your favorite player of all time.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: All Right, I'll check in with them, Okay, thanks, thanks,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: thanks go Yeah, thanks you guys,