Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / KINGFISH REVISITED: "I've seen more swings lost in the batting cage before games than I've seen gained"

Transcript

KINGFISH REVISITED: "I've seen more swings lost in the batting cage before games than I've seen gained" · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Helly Angel fans, Welcome back to Halo territory. I am
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Mike di Giovanna, former La Times baseball writer, with our
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: regular co host Mark Trumbo, the former Angel slugger, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: welcome back Tim Salmon for part two of our conversation
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: with the former Angels right fielder and current broadcaster.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Well, Tim, can you talk.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: A little bit about the drills hitters enduring now compared
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: to what was normal even ten years ago into when
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you played? And do you think high velocity pitching machines
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: right now make guys more focused on pulling the ball?
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Okay, we don't have enough time on this podcast.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: That's how I broke it at the two parts.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Tim, Yeah, oh gosh, where can we go with this?
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Uh, without a doubt, there's so many more drills out
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: there and training aids, And I mean I think a
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: training aide us was a broomstick using a woofle golf ball.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: I mean that was about as you know, as weird
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: as we got out there. And that was one thing
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: that you know, I think about Joe Madden. He was
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: always bringing different things, but not the stuff that you
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: see today. You know, back in the minor leagues, we're
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: always doing funky stuff with heavy bats and stuff. But
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: the training aide. Look, I get it. I mean kids
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: spend somewhere for a time in the cages growing up.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I mean even when I was coaching high school, these
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: guys got hitting coaches. They're in the cages way more
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: than we ever were. We were more focused on going
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: out and actually playing the game, you know, and you know,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: pitching to each other on a field somewhere and you know,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: playing that aspect.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: So they're probably more dialed in.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: But the problem is is, I always say prohesies by analysis,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: I think you can do too much. I've seen more
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: swings lost in a cage before a.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Game than gained.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I always go back to George Hendrick,
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: our famous first base coach.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: He was.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: I loved George the year he won the batting title
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: in Saint Louis. He goes fish, He goes, you know,
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: any times I took BP after the All Star break,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: and I go, how many goes? None? He shut up
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: at six o'clock and played the game. He says, I
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: know how to hit. My swing's fine, He goes, I
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: got to keep my head fresh, my eyes fresh. Why
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: don't even go out there and wear myself out anymore.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: And it's true. And when you play the game, and
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: you've played for a number of years, you recognize this
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: is a marathon. It's about staying mentally fresh and healthy
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: the best way you can.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: And that's why when I look at my trout. Let's
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: go back to Mike Trout.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: You know, he spent so much more time in the
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: cage hitting, it seems like in the last five or
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: so years plus years than he did like the first
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: you know, it seemed like this guy just rolled out
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: of bed and hit. You know, he'd take his VP
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: and whatever. And you know, I think the game has
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: become where there is so much more extra work being
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: put into it. It's like, okay, at some point, is
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: this wearing the guys down?
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: And you know, you.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Warm up a guy like Mike Trout at one o'clock
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: and then he's got to play at seven.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Warm up, cool down, warm up, cool down, and you
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: wonder why he pulls a calf. You know, I just
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: wonder if there's almost.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Well it was a term in our day, you know,
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: is there a lot of eyewash going on to show that, hey,
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: we're doing everything we can. You know, I mean you
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: would agree, I mean or understand that. I think Mark
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: would you.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: Oh, I know the term.
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: And I think that in my own opinion, I don't
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: like these high velocity machines. I think that if if
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: because I've talked in depth about it with a few
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: guys around the game. They they what happens sometimes, especially
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: with the three wheel, And this is going to go
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: a little geeky. We might come up with a saying
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: for when I you know, but the three wheel machine
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: can put in parts on the ball that is very
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: unnatural and unlike a real pigeon. And there's no arm
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: to time either. So you're seeing a ball with tremendous
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: RPMs and the only way to really hit it cleanly
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: and not well, and there's there's a kind of your
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: hands start to ring too. But when they're gassed up
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: is to really get the bathead out and pull these
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: things because those high spin fastballs, you can't go the
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: other way. And if you're grooving a swing to combat
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: these machines, which I guess inferior to combat they around
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: the game. And I still think velocity is only as
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: relevant as how well the guy hides the wall, because
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: if you get a you know, a long armed, iron
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: micish looking dude.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: I don't care.
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: You know, even the worst hitters can start to come
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: around and put some wood on it. So I kind
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: of wondered, and I had seen, you know, we talked
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: about Logan on the previous show, but some of the
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: off season training he did with drive Line was chasing
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: the exit velocity and it was extremely pole oriented. My
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: own opinion was that it. I guess we tagged it
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: as somewhat of a red flag and I said that
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: that swing path is really kind of one dimensional in
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: it's so far this year, a lot of pull contact
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: on the ground. You hit some balls hard, but I
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: know Wayne Randazzo on the broadcast yesterday was saying, wow,
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: I'd be sure and nice to be tapped back into
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: the right center power. And part of it, too, is
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: is if you don't set some of these angles and
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: don't have the intent to go to right center, you
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: don't really go to right center. And so I think,
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: you know, maximum length in the hitting z own is
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: what every hitter probably wants. So if you're a little
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: fooled and out in front, you still got some bat
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: to work with.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: And if you know the pitch is by you. My
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: favorite hit Trout got recently. The home runs were awesome.
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: He got one of those vintage Trout kind of bloopers
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: into center against the Reds the other day, got jammed,
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: but because he had a great bat path, he got
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: rewarded with with that single, and I have to think
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: that helped his confidence. Now, maybe something else did. I'm
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: sitting here at home on the couch like everybody else,
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: but I think that was great.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: My question now is.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Going to let me come, let me comment on a
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: couple of things you said there there. Yeah, you know
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: you were talking about the pitching machine.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: We never hit. We hit when we have.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: Every cage has a pitching machine, and you know what, Yeah,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: it's good for if you're a bench guy, you know,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: going there and seeson velocity. But as an everyday player,
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: I never wanted to time my swing. I went no
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: stride and it was just about working my hands. I
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: want to try better. A matter of fact, when I
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: was d h and I'd go in there bun off
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: it just to track my eyes. You never want to
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: time yourself off a machine. But the reality is people
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: that have brought this to the game, or people that
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: haven't played at a high level.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: They don't understand that. They really don't.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: I've never might trout, and those guys have said they're
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: not going to do that anymore this year because they
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: know that it's not the right way to do it.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: You want to work on velocity. Talk to Rudy haer Emio,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: the longtime hitting coach for the Rangers. Amazing, one of
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: the best out there. You know how you work on velocity,
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: It's really about timing from the release point to the bat.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Put your l screen up closer, make the guy finish,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: and get himself set earlier. That's what it comes down to.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: That's it's about getting yourself ready early. So that's that's
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: a big thing for me. Is that the same thing
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: with the machine. Kirby Puckett told me years ago. He said,
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: the only machine I hit off is a curveball machine,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: because he goes, everybody can hit a fastball.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: You're all out of bed and hit a fastball.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: He goes, When you're tied up on a fastball, it's
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: because you didn't start early enough. And like you said,
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: you cannot time a machine. You have to see an
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: arm to get that. Your hands loaded, you know you
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: always say when he kicks, I kick, you know, when
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: he gets to the arm slaught my hands are loaded.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: You have to have that done early to hit a
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: ass ball. And so much of the time these guys
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: are timing off the machine and then they get in
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: the game and they're not even starting their swing until
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: they see the ball.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: That's too late. That's why the fastball is by you.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: But here's the other thing.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say this, and I'm not going to
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: go into depth with this, all right, velocity is only
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: as good as the gun that's in the technology that's
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: tracking it. The technology today tracks it in the hand,
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: all right. The technology when I came up, tracked it
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: at the plate. Okay, there's a differentiation called gravity and
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: deceleration that happens. So you know, when you're seeing velocities
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: at ninety five today, those are velocities at ninety five
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: we saw because it was ninety five at the plate.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: It wasn't ninety five all of the hand, and Major
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: League Baseball's own websites and stuff, they show it's between
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: a six and eight mile hour decrease. So without going
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: in too much on that, I just want to say that,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: you know, the game is better in some ways and
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: it's not in others.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: But the velocities. There might be more guys.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: Coming out throwing harder, but they're not throwing harder than
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the hardest guys we always saw throwing. And so I
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: do know what I'm talking about when I say, hey,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: when Randy Johnson through ninety seven, that would be one
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: hundred and four today, you know, Or Roger Clemens through
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: ninety five ninety six. It was by every hitter in
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: the game. Not because the hitters weren't good. It's because
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: ninety five or ninety six at the plate is a
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: lot different than ninety five out of the hands.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: So all right, there we go, go ahead, Mark.
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: I growing up, I thought all you guys saw was
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: eighty eight with a little bit of sink.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: I didn't know. It's a joke.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, had five miles an hour to that. Now, now
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: you're a ninety three, and guess what the.
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: Game is with the ball on both sides of the ball.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: It's got to be a concerted effort. The extit velocities
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: are mentioned a lot, you know, And that's a new thing,
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: and I think fans are into it. I think you
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: and I probably maybe not as impressed at times, but
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: it's here.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: So can over Fell was a three hundred lifetime hitter
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: and he swung a wet noodle up there. I think
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: he flared every single year ever hit and he was
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: a three hundred. So exit velocity doesn't mean anything to me. Hey,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: I'd rather be four for four with four broken bat
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: singles than zero for four with amazing exit velocity.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Who cares?
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: I mean, I agree with you if you're swinging a
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: la times and you get the job done.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Better to you.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: Sorry, Mike, I think we should on that. Know, we
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: do need to take a quick.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Break for a word from our sponsors, and then we'll
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: be right back with more. Professor Tim Salmon.
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• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Halo territory, and I believe speaking of velocity,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Mark Trumpell had a question about Jose Sorriano.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, that guy, So Jose Sorano.
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: It appears as if he's moved towards the third base
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: side of the mound this year somewhat. I saw a
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: breakdown and I was looking, you know, I've been looking
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: for some notable things to point to in his improvement.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: His pitch mix has changed. He's using more forcing fastballs
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: and he's got one of the most devastating knuckle curves.
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: I mean, well, it's a curveball, but you know he
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: does throw it with a knuckle up, so that's a
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: knuckle curveball. But he's got a four pitch mix, still
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: has a tremendous sinker, and he's using a split too.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: Opposing teams cannot look forward to seeing that name on
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: the whiteboard in the upcoming series right now, can they.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: I don't think so, you're right. I mean, I think
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: forcing fastball. He's been trying to throw it seems like
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: the last few years, but he was he just couldn't
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: command it. And you know, one thing you hate to
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: do when you have a fastball like his is give
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: a hit or too many good looks at one that's
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: outside the zone. This year, he's able to. He's throwing
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: it in the zone at the top of the zone.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: He's being super effective for him. And is that something
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: that carries over the rest of the year, hopefully, Because
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: to have a forcemer on top of that sinker, you
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: get all these hitters, you know, chasing out in front
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: looking for that sinker, and all of sudden you got
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: to one that just stays on the same plane that's
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: by you. So I think that's a huge pitch. The
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: knuckle curve is just phenomenal. It's ridiculous actually comes out
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: of that same slot and guys don't even they're swinging
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: at fastballs, they don't even see it.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: And then he's got a split finger too.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: I think it's enough that, you know, it's always about
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: eliminating pitches, and before when he was really like, oh,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: he's pretty much heavy sinker and a occasional you know,
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: if he's not thrown a sinker for a strike, you
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: know you can, you know, you can have your way
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: with him.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: And maybe look for that knuckle curve.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: But right now with four pitches that he's kind of
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: around the zone with at his velo, he's tough. He's
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: a tough cookie right now, without a doubt.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Tim, what are your early thoughts about the ABS system?
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: And as someone who had a pretty good eye at
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: the plate, you think there might have been a few
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: times in your career where it would have been helpful.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Well, it would have been much easier in our era
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: because the zone was like six inches outside at times.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: I really find it's to me, it's it's unbelievable to
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: see guys that you know, they take a pitch it's
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: literally an inch off the plate. I don't know if
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: I could have saved that, because I think in our
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: era that was pretty much like a pitch over the
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: middle of the plate. I mean, you were swinging at
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: those pitches, the stuff that the kids take today as
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: close pitches. We were just you had no choice but
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: to fol those often our day because the zones were bigger.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, you were you know, if Hirschbeck was behind
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: the dish, it was like, you better put your front
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: feet on that inside of that white line because it's
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: in the other box. You know, you scouted the umpire
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: so much more so back in the day, and you know,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: I think about like shoe box Cousins, Dryl Cousins would
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: be an umpire for today's game. I mean it was like,
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: if it wasn't over the plate, it wasn't a strike.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: And so you know, I go back to him and think, Okay,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: that's what it would be like playing today. And when
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: there was one that was just off the plate, you
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: knew Darrow wasn't going to call that a strike.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: And so I like the abs.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I think it's pretty cool for the fans, and I
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: do think it's the way they've developed it.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: It's pretty quick. It you know, makes things happen pretty quickly.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: And I've been saying for years that you know, those
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: close pitches, I mean it swings, It can swing account
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: for a hitter or a pitcher and just make a
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: huge difference in the outcome of the game. And uh,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: you know, so to get it right I think is great.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: But again I think unless it's really egregious, I think
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: I'd have a hard time challenging the ones that were
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: on the corners.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, would you know, Mark.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: You're asking the wrong guy. No, And I don't think
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: I would have been a good candidate to do it.
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: I admittedly did not have anywhere near the batters Ie
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: you did, and I don't think some guys do.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: Not picking on anyone, but maybe Neto as.
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: Opposed well, you know, and by the same time, I
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: would think Channel would have an excellent best record, and
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: he's actually struggled with it. I think he's either zero
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: for four, one for five, something like that. Moncatta has
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: had a couple then did not go his way. I
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: think Trout's probably one that I, you know, if he
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: wants to take a ride.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: One thing too is a young player, and I think
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: probably the same for you. There was no latitude from
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: umpires to you know any kind you know, shut your mouth.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: You know you didn't.
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: You didn't really earn that right to are, you know.
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: And these guys aren't arguing, they're just challenging it. But
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: it was a different dynamic, and I think you were
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: in some respect. And is it better, is it worse?
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: It's different, and that's the way it.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Is, just different.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: I think I would have liked it. I think you're right, though.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: I mean in our day, you didn't. You know, the
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: question would have been, you know, you don't like that pitch,
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: watch the next one, you know, the wait so you
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: see the next one, you know. So it was definitely
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: the umpires had more play into it. So from that standpoint,
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: I liked the fact that that you're kind of taking
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: the umpires out of it to some degree, at least
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: the ones that have the really wide zones. But it
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: is interesting to go back and watch some of these
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: umpires that missed twenty five during the course of a game.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: And you know, I got this little on Instagram. I'm
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: following them and it's like, holy cow, those were like
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: really egregious.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: How did miss that one?
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: You know, it's like so it's it's it's benefiting the
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: game for sure.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: I don't know how that I think that, you know,
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: they're some of I don't think any current umpires have commented,
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: but I'm not I'm pretty certain they're not loving it.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: The ones that are doing a great job, it's probably great.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: And some of the other ones it can spiral, I'm sure,
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: just like playing, it can really get in their head.
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: If you you know, bunk two three in a row,
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: you probably have to start questioning what you're looking at.
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: You know, you're right, Maybe maybe a trip to the optometrist.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: Or some Uh. The does have a new manager this year.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: I think everyone's aware of that.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: But what have you seen from Kurt so far as
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: in terms of his leadership? Has you know, he got
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: thrown out the other day a little bit of fire,
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: but he seems pretty calm, cool and collected, very positive
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: in his comments generally, and it seems like the team
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: is playing maybe more relaxed than in previous years.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Well, he was just on this team a few years ago,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: so he knows probably a lot of the players and
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: I think because he's so close in age with these guys,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: he can relate to maybe the things that really motivate
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: them differently than a guy like Ron Washington could, or
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: you or I could. He he's closer in ah to
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: those guys. So what do I like about him? I
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: like the fact that he's super knowledgeable. He's a catcher.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: He's played what seventeen years. I mean, this guy knows
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: the game. He's been behind the dish, he's seen everything.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: He understands how to handle pitching staffs. I think there
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: was some games at home where we questioned, you know,
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: a couple moves and I wouldn't say question, but you're like, okay,
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: that's interesting. You know he's going a little bit longer,
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: or he went he pulled that guy a little bit short.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: So I think that's the part of getting to know
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: really what's going on in his head and what he's
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: seeing that as a season progresses will have a better
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: idea of And that's the part that really intrigues me
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: the most. I mean, you know, the catchers do look
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: at catchers that our managers do look at the game differently,
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: and it's going to be interesting to see how he
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: does it. My personal relationship with him, we've had great conversations.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: I think he's he's a great candidate, you know, to
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: be a manager in this game, whether it was he
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: or anybody. I mean, he has as much of a
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: track record and experience and all the accolades, and you know,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: he's done it.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: So it's his time and I hope it works out
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: for him.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Timmy spent the final months or the final month of
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three season as an advisor with the team.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: You were in uniform and in the dugout for games.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: What were your main takeaways from that experience and how
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: did you sort of compare it to what you expected
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: and did it influence your thinking at all about coaching
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: versus broadcasting moving forward.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Very much? So there you go.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: When I put that intervrow on for a month, I
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: felt like I put it on for a year. So yeah,
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: my life is I like my life right now. Oh
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: you guys might be losing to here.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Oh well, okay, anyway, we.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: Might have some technical difficulties coming here. Maybe I'm not
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: supposed to be answering this question.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: My experience was I was there totally to basically given evaluation. Okay,
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: how are analytics working for this team? And how are
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: they not working for this team? Everybody's using the same
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: amount of analytics. Why does this team keep being at
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: five hundred? And My biggest takeaway is is that analytics
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: is a great tool. It's a tool and a tool belt.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: You have to have it, but you can't drive every decision.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: There has to be some human element in this. That's
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: what I really felt like. That was the big takeaway.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: You know, at the end of the day, players are
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: why you win.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, you can say all you want about the
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: Dodgers analytics teams and the thousands.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Of people they have employed.
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: They have the highest payroll and the best players in
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: the game. Okay, that's why they consistently win. If Oklay's
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: won every year, then you would say okay, or I
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: guess the case, you could say it was Tampa.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: You know, they probably won the most, you know, with analytics.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: But again, they had great drafts and they had great
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: talent coming up. So you know, you're not to make
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: average players into gris with analytics. I don't believe they
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: might make them into serviceable players, but I don't think
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: you're going to make him the great players.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Well, tim me, your career spanned a stretch in which
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the Angels went from a last place team in nineteen
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: ninety nine to World Series champions in two thousand and two.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: It's such a transformation, even possible right now in Anaheim.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Maybe not in three years, but in this team. You know,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: what does this team sort of have to do to
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: turn things around?
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, for the first time in years,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: you're rebuilding your the foundation, the corps, with the young players,
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: and I think building a team run guys like netto
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: guys like Joe Adele now finally coming around Shaana well,
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: you know, Shaanawell is another one that we haven't really
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: spoken a lot about, but to me, he's a Wally
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Joiner type that I mean, and maybe in another organization,
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: maybe he's just now getting to the big leagues, you know.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, he really skipped some development and we've had
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: to watch it up here. But he gets better each
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: year and he's got a maturity to him. So again,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: I think there's enough core guys. I think, you know,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: look at it on the pitching side, with Soriano, maybe Kohanowitch,
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: You're seeing Joyce, You're seeing some really good strong arms
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: that remind you of some of those organizations that were
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: able to turn it around when they had this good
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: core of youth. So what's it gonna take. It's gonna
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: take these guys to kind of come in their own
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: and start like Washington, Ron Washington always you say, you
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: know what's on the back of their baseball card. Hey,
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: now we can go out there and bank on these
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: guys in this kind of production. All right, now, let's
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: fill in the pieces. But you know, unfortunately the last
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: few years, this team hasn't been one player away from
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: winning a World Series. I mean, everybody wanted to sign
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: Blake Snell. Last year, Blake Snell would have won for
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: this team. I mean we had there were so many
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: holes in the lineup and everywhere else. So you have
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: to get a point where book good core guys back
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: fill it and let's go out there and get the
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: free agents. You know that you need to do it.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: With excellent Uh hope we still have you?
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: Not here?
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Can I know I can see my videos? Maybe it's
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: my internet. I don't know.
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: Well, well, a little power through We've already uh gotten
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: this far. I'm gonna pivot Mike. Uh, and I was
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: hoping this is something I've been wondering Tim, if you
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: can talk about your current role and some of the
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: challenges of doing the pre and post game, like how
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: it was when you started. What were some areas that
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: you had to work pretty hard on to improve the quality?
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: I know doing this podcast consciously constantly aware of not
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: using certain words and trying to use less filler and
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: just speak in a way about the game. That kind
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: of is clearly uh, you know, for the viewers to
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: be able to translate best have you have? You had
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: to work on that, and is it you know some uh,
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: you know, being prepared obviously matters, but are some other
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: things that make a good broadcaster?
• 22:54
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: I think the first one is is that you know,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: I like to talk, well, everything's time for at it
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: in the pregame show, so you know what, you have
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: fifteen twenty seconds to get in and out of your point.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: So that was probably the biggest thing.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: And the other thing is prep You know, if I'm
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: on the set with two other guys and we're going
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: to talk like prout, I don't want to repeat anything
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: they've said, So you're always preparing with two or three
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: different takes on something.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: You know, you know ahead of time what we're going
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: to talk about.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: So I think that's partly too, is prepping in that
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: way of coming up with something different. I think from
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: a player's standpoint too, my take is always Okay, here's
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: what the analytics and what the numbers say.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: What does it really mean? What is the player thinking?
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: What's he going through? So I always try to come
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: from that angle, you know.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: So those are some of the things I've learned as
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: far as technique and filler words.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: And all that.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a challenge. I mean my early years.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: My wife's like, why are you talking so fast? I'm like,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: cause I got a guy in my ear telling me
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: we're going to break or you know, you know, hard
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: to just talk with somebody in your ear and they're
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: counting you down and you got you got three more sentences,
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: but you only have time for one.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: I got to sit in with Buck Martinez and my
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: ex teammate Caleb Joseph while they did the TV broadcast.
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: It floored me how quickly things move and how quick
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: you need to get in and out with your points,
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: and then how how in the world do you have
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: a bathroom break. You're not doing this exactly, but forty
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: five seconds at most to get all the way down
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: the hall and get all the way back. And they said, really,
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: ideally you don't you don't have to go during the game.
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: But I have a lot more respect I think as
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: the player. Sometimes you think it's it's a really easy gig.
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: You know, you're just talking about the game. How hard
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: can it be? But I think the more I've done
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: this too, you listen back and it's like, man, could
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: have delivered that better, or this was a little clunky,
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: and you want to do the best job you can.
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: Everyone's a competitor, I mean, if you're you know, so
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: I was just interested in and that was a great answer,
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: so thank you.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: Right, well, if you're one of the things, and I'll
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: just say this, like what well, I was just going
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: to say. One of the things too, is the pregame
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: show because it's time formatted. I mean, it's hard on,
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: hard off at you know, you got eight minutes for
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: the segment and we're going to cover five things, and
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: so there is a little bit of a dance between everybody.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: You're kind of reading off, you know, Gooby or you know,
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: Patrick or Erica, and you're just kind of like, okay,
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: they kind of let into it with a longer response.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: I got to be quick in mind or vice versas.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: So there's a little bit of a dance in that
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: because you know that you're going to have a producer
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: walking you through and timing you down to a commercial break.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: So it's different than doing play by play. They're trying
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: to fill time and airtime a lot of the time,
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: but not so much on the print post.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, as you can see on YouTube, we are
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: having some technical difficulties with Tim's speeds. So we're going
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to close with one question, Tim, not a trick question.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: You close your career with two hundred and ninety nine
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: home runs. If you came back today, how many at
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: bats would it take to hit number three hundred.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: Well, honestly, it would probably take a good couple hundred.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: But I will say this that I don't think I
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: can make it through.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Pen because I'll be broken down. I just help them.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: I just have flexure, tend to reattash. My body's breaking
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: down by crazy right now.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: So sorry, here, Well we're gonna close on that note, Tim, Sam,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: and thank you so much. For joining us for two
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: episodes this week, Mark Trumbo, thanks for joining us on
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the ride that's gonna be it for us on Halo Territory.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Please like and subscribe and we will see you next week.