Latest / Foul Territory / Astros 1B Christian Walker joins

Transcript

Astros 1B Christian Walker joins · Foul Territory

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Here he is Christian Walker, first baseman from the Astros
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: joining us right now. Christian, really appreciate the time. Great
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: to have you on you having fun. I know it's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: not like the perfect smooth sailing season yet for the team,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: but seeing guys coming back. So, how's your number two
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: in Houston been for you?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Mem It's been good. It's been good.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: I think I think if you asked, you know, any
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: of us, if you'd rather get off to a hot
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: start and then try to hold onto it, or you know,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: start somewhere in the middle and try to ramp it
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: up and hit the end of the season with momentum,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I think I think we'd all choose the ladder there.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: So I'm proud of the guys. I'm proud of you know.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: It starts with the staff and the mentality and the calmness,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: you know, the approach to how we get this thing
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: back on track. It would have been really easy to
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: panic and freak out and change everything, but you know,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: we we we stuck to the script. We we trusted
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: that our guys were coming back and we had some
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: unfortunate luck early and honestly, it's been great that the
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: clubhouse is great, the guys are great. I get to
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: watch you or Don Alvarez hit every day, so how
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: bad could it be.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: We we definitely want to get to that at some point.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: But you said about the like calmness, the calmness in
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: the clubhouse.
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: Has it always been that way the whole whole.
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: Time you've been there, and even like, you know, when
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: you're in free agency, did you feel that from Joe
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: Aspota when you were talking from Dana Brown when you
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: were talking to him, And has it been consistent the
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: whole time, because you guys have gone not just this year,
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: last year.
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: There's been ups and downs for sure. Yeah.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: And don't get me wrong, it's it's it's not like
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: a calm you know everything's going to be all right.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: It's it's it's it's like ultimate trust in the guys.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: It's you got a staff who has watched some of
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: the best lineups play together for a long time and
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: and I think they just really trust their guys, you know,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: when it comes down to it, they know how to
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: win games, they know how to get the most.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Out of a player.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: I remember my first conversation with Joe last year after
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: I signed, and we were talking about spring training, stuff,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: and I mean his first question to me was what
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: do you need to get ready for spring? What kind
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: of schedule do you like? When do you want to
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: get into games? How many games a week do you
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: want to play? He was putting the ball in my court,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: and that that made me.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Feel feel trusted and brought a lot of confidence.
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: Talk about a little superstitious too. I heard your big
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: time superstitious guy. Especially you know, if you got a
• 2:37
  Speaker 6: colt streak going on, talk to me about some of
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: the things that you've done before. I know these fans
• 2:43
  Speaker 6: that are listening here are going to get a few
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: laughs here. What you got going on?
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, brother, you know, like we'll do anything
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: for a hit, Like tell me it hits on the table,
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: it's getting done.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: There's no shame in that.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: I try to.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I try to mix up all the little things I like,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: you know, changing the facial hair, or going pants up
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: or pants down today, sleeves one sleeve, two sleep different colors,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: white cleats, great, like, any combination of things to make
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: it feel like I'm mixing it up without changing who
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: I am. I don't I don't want to be in
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: the box thinking that I need to do things differently.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: You know, I don't want to be second guessing myself
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: or or my abilities. So if if wearing a fresh
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: pair of spikes or mixing up my batting glove color
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: makes me feel like, you know that that switched the energy.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: That's that's that's what we're looking forward, looking.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: For something to just just kind of kind of make
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: the energy on the different side.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: Can you give us the most outlandish one? Because I
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: saw that food, Manchu, you were rocking that thing.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: You had crazy huh.
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but you had some, you had some.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: You had an absolute hot streak and then John's stayed
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: there forever, and I was fine with it. But but
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: tell us what was the craziest one that you're like
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: that that was that was hot for a while.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we I mean weird stuff. I had a thing
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: where I felt like I needed to eat candy. We
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: had what I call it cage candy. I try to
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: keep our batting cages stocked with candy, but I felt
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: like there was a minut where I felt like I
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: couldn't taken that bat without a mouthful of candy. But
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: but it was leading to hits. The mustache thing. First
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: at bat with the mustache Homer. Uh, like you know
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: you do something like that. It's like, oh yeah, maybe
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: I'm maybe I'm just a mustache guy forever. But you know,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: crazy stuff. Personally, I got nothing really in my in
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: my history that's like crazy crazy. I've worn I've worn
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: other guy's batting gloves. I remember wearing Dave Perult's batting
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: gloves for a while.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: I think I.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: Clipped a Homer with him. You'll wear other guys, other
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: guy's pants. I'll watch, I'll pay attention to which shower,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: which showerhead you or Don gets in because that guy
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: can't do anything wrong right now. It's like working for him.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: I'm I'm just gonna mirror everything that guy does as
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: long as I can.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Yes, have you put one of your Don's bats in
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: your bat bag to have them talk to your bats?
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've Yes, I used I brought I brought on
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: his bats up to the plate. I hate axe handles.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: I don't really particularly like the model. I'm like, I mean,
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: there's got to be something in this thing. So took
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: it up there, broke it on the first at that.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: I was like, all right, that's that's a sign this
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: this isn't for me.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: You're you're just you're just not him. You're not You're
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: not yistin, You're not your Don. You're not you're not yistriing.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: But no, okay, so you had candy in your mouth,
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: I mean yeah, yeah, if it was like blowpop, what
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: if it was a blowpop like jazz?
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Come on now, yeah, I see what you're doing. I
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: see what you're doing here. I'm too clumsy, man.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't trust myself not to stab myself in the
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: face with that thing. This, this is a this is
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: a big rig moving out there. I don't know if
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: I can handle the lollipop stick.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: Okay, that's that's fair. So tell us about your Don.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: Tell us about your Don and what besides the funny
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: stuff that like, you're gonna hop in the same shower
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: as what I heard with your Don. But that's what
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: I heard. That's what I heard, and what we're gonna
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: cut it that way. But what do you see on
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: a daily basis that you're like, wow, this is way
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: different than like every what everybody else is doing.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: What I appreciate about your dons? So for me, it's
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: it's the consistency. I know, that's like a results thing.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: But I've played with a lot of guys with a
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: lot of power. I've played with guys who can hit
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: three p thirty. The ability to do both of those
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: things every day is what's so impressive. And it's it's
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: hard to explain because he's smart. You watch it on
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: the surface, and he's a pretty laid back guy. He
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: cares a lot, but he's he's a pretty low energy guy,
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: and it's easy to look at him and be like, oh,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: this is just god given, or you know, it's he's
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: gifted and he's got a great skill set, and that's
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: you know, the stuff has to be in the toolbox.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: But his his ability to be like tactical and and
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: watch strike three get called out looking chalk it up
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: to I wasn't looking for that pitch, go back out
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: his next at back, get the pitch and hit it
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: four forty.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: You just you see it every day.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: It's like it's not an accident and it's not by chance.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: He's not just better than everybody. This stuff is on purpose.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: It's intentional. He knows how guys are going to pitch
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: to him, he knows what makes him good, he knows
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: what he does when he gets into trouble and it's
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: a dangerous, dangerous recipe when he's got a skill set.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: Like he does. Are you more impressed with his power
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: or are you more impressed with his hitting ability because
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: very few people hitting the game like he does with
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: power and hitting ability.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, oh, the hit ability for sure, for sure. I
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: know he's got jews. You expect him to hit forty.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: To do it with a three twenty five and eleven
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: hundred ops. That's it's the most impressive thing that I've
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: seen long term, for sure.
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: Are we missing out as fans not seeing him in
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: the home run derby?
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure for sure.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: But that's like not his style, Like I wouldn't expect
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: him to do Like he's a hitter. He's a hitter.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: He's a power guy. He can launch balls. He knows
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: how to do that. His VP is a show. I
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: think I've seen him take VP on the field in
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: spring training. That was the last time I watched him
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: hit on the field. He's dialed, he knows, he knows
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: what his swing feels like when he's when he's good
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: to go. You see him take his cage work.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: It's not it's not like a weird, thoughtful what's everybody
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: seeing My hands feel different like he's just it's ultimate trust,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: it's confidence, the presidence that he has in the box
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: he carries with him around the clubhouse, on the field
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: all the time.
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: It's great.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: I've learned so much from watching him play and I've
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: enjoyed it.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: So question for you in terms of awards, You know,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: if a guy DHS a lot, he doesn't get as
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: much love with numbers, with MVP talk all of that, Right,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: he certainly deserves to be involved in the discussion. How
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: do you think someone in his spot can overcome not
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: playing every day defensively? And you're the perfect person to ask, right,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I mean you have definitely, you know, had just as
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: much going on defensively. In terms of your name, you've
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: been one of the elite first basemen defensively for a while,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: so that's part of who you are. So the question
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: is you know when you're matching up someone like you're
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: not against Bobby wit Junior. Jordan's got the clear cut
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: average on offense, right, or the advantage on offense, but
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Bobby is an elite shortstop defensively, Like, how do you
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: think if you were a voter, right, if you put
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: yourself in their shoes?
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: How would you look at that?
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: And also, I think some of the parts you're describing
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: are tough, right, Like you're giving us stories on how
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously he improves the lineup, presence everybody around him,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: even what you're seeing from him. But for people that vote,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: it's mostly numbers related.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Should it be? Yeah, that's a great question, great question.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: I think it's just harder to do it as a DH.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's it's like a DH doesn't deserve
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: to be an MVP, or they're not doing all their
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: you know, like they're doing half the stuff. I think
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: like go off of war, like defensive run saved, defensive
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: metrics going to war, offensive metrics, going to war. We
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: have a way to measure how much value you bring
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: to your team, you know.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: I guess there's a lot of stats things can be
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: cherry picked.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: A guy like Bobby Waitt, Well, he's got as an example,
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: guy like Bobby Waitt, like his his defensive game moves
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: that needle big time. He's he's e lite at the plate,
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: he's elite in the field, and that's why he's considered
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: one of the best players in the game and you know,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: maybe that I've ever seen, but like, you can't knock
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: a guy for being a DH. You can't say no,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: you know he doesn't deserve it. I think if if
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: the war numbers are there, if he's helping the team
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: win games just as much or more than a guy
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: who play the field. Personally, I don't think it matters
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: if you play the field or not. I think we're
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: talking about contributing and how valuable you are to your team,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: and to me that comes down to one, maybe two stats.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Yep, great answer. Okay, question for you. Specifically on the
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: last win for the Stros. We saw the Jordon Grand
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Slam of course off of Joe Ryan, but what led
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: to that is jose L Tuove challenging a pitch that
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: was wide right and continuing the inning. The inning would
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: have ended. So I forgot about this and some writers
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: reminded me about it at some point in spring training.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Jose L Tuova legendary player, going to be a Hall
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: of Fame with the whole deal, was like, yeah, I'm
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: not going to really mess with the challenge system. I'm
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: not going to use that. And you know how he
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: is now playing with him for a year and a half.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: He's probably not trying to get in the way. It
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: doesn't His probably nightmare in life is using one and
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: being wrong and then the pitcher can't use it the
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: next inning. But he's fifteen for twenty one, he's one
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of the smallest players in the game. He has a
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: small strike stone. He should be doing that, and he's
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: leading your team in that chart. So take me through
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: what happened there between spring training and now for him
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: to realize how important it would be.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it's uh. I mean, punching out
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: in spring on the ball off the plate doesn't sting
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: as much as is doing it with you know, with
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: a guy on third and and and the game on
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: the line. I think.
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: He's a competitor.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: He's the ultimate competitor. I think I think he believed that.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: I think when he said that initially, he believed it
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: probably through a lens of like I don't need another
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: layer of like a potential excuse or another thing to
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: occupy my brain. And that was a little bit of
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: my approach too. And then you you learn like, oh,
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: I do have a feel for it. You know, I
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: think that ball was off. You go back and check
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: it was off, so you know you're right a couple
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: of times you get you get ones wrong.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: But I think I think he's too much of a
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: competitor to let to let a moment like that slip
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: when he when he's when he's caught up in it,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: circle him back random too. We should check tape on this,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: but I'm pretty sure you're done has challenged a pitch
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: all season. Wait another not one? Another weird layer to
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: his like confidence and like, I don't care who you
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: are or what you're doing, you're not moving me and.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: What I do.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Like, yeah, we should check that, but uh, I feel
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: like I feel like hasn't been one all year, which
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: is even cooler time.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: Somehow we'll check it out, probably get the answer during
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: during this yere But so your Don's pretty much I mean,
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: I was even going to ask about you were donald,
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: but your Don's pretty much that guy you go golfing
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: with that you can drive the ball probably like twenty
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: yards of farther, but he's always in the middle, always
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: putting for birdie, and he just annihilates you the entire time.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: Is that what you're saying?
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And then you ask him about it, and then
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: he's like, well, yeah, he uh. He threw me a
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: curveball my last at at and I hit it one fifteen,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: So I'm not looking for the curveball. And you're like, yeah, duh,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Like why don't I do that?
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: But in your head, in your head, you're sitting there
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: with your food man chew, and you're like, yeah, but
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: he threw me a curveballs. No, what, he's probably gonna
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: do it. He's probably gonna I'm gonna look for it,
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: oh fastball.
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: All right, you have a ton of power and we're
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  Speaker 4: just talking about Altuve and I don't know what your
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: VP looks like playing without Tuve. We went over to
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: Japan together and then we played for like a month
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: and a.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Half in Houston together.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: Do you or does somebody else, now that care is
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: out try to take him out in BP rounds of
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: Home Run Derby?
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Uh?
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Honestly, his work has changed a lot. He a
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: guy who has spent so much time in the big
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: leagues and is chasing so many cool things Hall of Famer,
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: his ability to like be vulnerable and just like I'm
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: going to go no stride today because my leg kick's
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: not feeling sexy.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: And I need to put the ball in play and
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: helped the team win.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Here, like the guy's fourteen years fifteen years into an
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: awesome major league career and he shows up every day
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: like how can I help the team? And whatever the
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: answer is, he's willing to do that. It's it's it's amazing,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: it's it's it's cool. It's a humbling thing to to
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: spend time around the guy. But his work is all
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: have to say that his his work on the field
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: is changing. He's he's, you know, a decade and a half.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Into this thing and he's still finding the way to
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: make adjustments and be better. And it's it's impressive.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: That's boring because he used to take on Karrey and
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: he would hit ball's farther and then he would Kara
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: would have to give him money. And Karrey, it was
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: only like a year and a half into the big league.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: It's been anyway, that's everybody.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Everybody turned thirty and then you just stop hitting homers
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: in VP.
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: Like that is that is not true? That is not true.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: I played aall was forty and I was hitting homers
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: in VP because that was my game. But I have
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: to ask you, did you have conversations in the offseason
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: when you were one of the names that was bantered about, Oh,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: they have too many people in the infield. Now you
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: guys are looking to fill all your spots with with
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: the injuries that you guys have. Did Dana Brown or
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: did anybody from the front office come to you with
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: trade not speculation, but more like don't worry about it,
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: you're on this team, or hey, we don't know what's
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: gonna happen type of situation before the season.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: This year, Uh yes, Spring Spring was was that.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: I feel like I try to communicate well with everybody.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: I learned pretty early.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: I felt like this front office communicated well and they
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: were honest about things. And I mean last year I
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: was I was garbage the first half and there was
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: a moment of like, you know, who knows what this
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: we try to do? Or you know, if they try
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: to send me somewhere else or whatever. And Dana was
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: like very very upfront of like, hey, somebody called, no,
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: we're not interested. Just wanted to let you know before
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: it turns into something else. So I've never had a
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: reason to doubt anything Danis said or any message you
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: was sending to the players. So I felt like pretty
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: early the talks were happening, and I just I didn't
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: hear anything. I was confident that they would have reached
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: out and the like, hey, we're entertaining some things, just
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: to let you know, I never heard of that.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I didn't think anything of it. I showed up to Spring.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: One of the first conversations was like, hey, the media
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: is going to try to get this into a story
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: or a thing. So you know, you're our guy. We
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: want you here. Just focus on the season. So I
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: didn't really look into it much. I trusted what was
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: being said, and it's what's worked out.
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: That was supposed to be the last one. Now this
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: is the last one. You're having a good year. Everybody says, ooh,
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: we want Mike Trout and the home run Derby. He's
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: not going to do it. You played near Philly. What
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: would a home run derby invitation? Let's go, let's go
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: two routes. You make the All Star team, they invites
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: you to home run Derby. Do you play? You don't
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: make the All Star team. They invite you to home
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: run Derby? Do you do it? Because you went to
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: school outside of Philly?
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Option too? Probably not.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: I think there's a I don't know. I feel like
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: I would want to do it in a way where
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: I was voted in as an All Star and then
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: made the home run Derby as an All Star.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: First personally, I think it's a great thing. It's an honor.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: I think, looking back at all this in ten years, fifteen,
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: twenty years, you had the opportunity to do a Derby
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: and chose not to.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: I could see that.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: I could see myself feeling some kind of way about it.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: It's tough now, man, Like, I don't know, the Derby
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: felt like I remember the Derby being so cool for
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: a long time and then I don't know, like somehow
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: it feels like it's changed over the last few years.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it was the time limit or
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: guys deciding that they were, you know, not doing it
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: do potential injury, you know, like whatever the reas.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: I feel like the coolness has changed, and I would
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: love for the Derby to get back to it's it's
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: it's rude, Like I remember looking forward to that more
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: than the game when I was coming up, and and
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: I think it can get there. I just think I
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: think a lot of guys have a real decision to
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: make when it's like staying healthy seems harder than ever.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: I'm thirty five now, like, yeah, I want to I
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: want to have My goal is to have a great
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: season and and win a World Series. I get how
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: cool it is. I don't know where I'm at on
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: the whole thing, to be honest, I think it's probably
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: a lot different when when when the opportunity is really.
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: On the table, ruined it. You said Fraser ruined the
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: home run deer.
• 20:43
  Speaker 8: But that's what you're saying, right, Yeah, it's his fault
• 20:49
  Speaker 8: timers gone though they announced like a month ago no
• 20:52
  Speaker 8: more swings.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: And then like fifteen swings or something. I think I
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: think it's a great, great adjustment.
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: He's busy.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: He's yeah, hey, jord on Challenge one one pitch April seventh,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and he won the challenge.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Oh perfect, Yeah, leave it there.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: He's a cool one for one. What is that crats
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: for Triple A Derby?
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: Oh it's my Oh it's it's my Pennsylvania State championship medal.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: I thought we were just showing I just thought we
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: were showing things off.
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: I didn't know it's not that new.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Jersey Little League stuff. You know, that's the that's the
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: PA stuff.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that p that's that real John that everybody needs.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: That's like, that's why Jersey wants to be Pennsylvania. We
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: got it, We got it.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: God, let you guys do your thing, you Pennsylvanians Christian.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, dude.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great to talk to you. Really enjoyed the catch up.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, luckwise. Thanks Agn