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Astros Offensive Coordinator Dan Hennigan joins Crush City Territory · Foul Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
0:07
Speaker 2: Welcome into another edition of Crush City Territory. I'm Chandler Rome,
0:10
Speaker 2: joined by Tyler Stafford and a very special guest, the
0:13
Speaker 2: new Director of Hitting an offensive coordinator for the Houston Astros,
0:18
Speaker 2: Dan Hennigan. Dan, how did it feel to be introduced
0:21
Speaker 2: with that title, maybe for the first time since you
0:24
Speaker 2: got the job a couple of weeks ago.
0:26
Speaker 3: It's an interesting title, but I was excited. I'm excited
0:28
Speaker 3: to be back with the Astros and get an opportunity
0:31
Speaker 3: to keep things moving in the right direction, hopefully.
0:37
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people this may be their
0:39
Speaker 2: first time, you know, seeing your face, hearing your voice.
0:42
Speaker 2: So I've got a lot of stuff I want to
0:43
Speaker 2: get to know. I'm sure Tyler does as well. But
0:46
Speaker 2: I think first what would be prudent is to maybe
0:48
Speaker 2: give people a little bit of introduction, maybe who you are,
0:51
Speaker 2: how you got here, you know, just if you could
0:55
Speaker 2: maybe give people a little bit of background just on
0:57
Speaker 2: your journey to this point. You went to a school,
1:01
Speaker 2: a college, and this is not foreign to the Astros.
1:04
Speaker 2: You went to a college that I quite frankly have
1:06
Speaker 2: never heard of, called Franklin Pierce University, where you were
1:11
Speaker 2: a very good baseball player and got to got to
1:14
Speaker 2: the independent league for a little bit, got a little
1:16
Speaker 2: bit of minor league experiences. Give give the viewers and
1:20
Speaker 2: the listeners maybe a little bit of your journey and
1:22
Speaker 2: how you got to where you're at right now.
1:24
Speaker 4: Okay, very good is debatable.
1:27
Speaker 3: I was Okay, we played on a turf field and
1:31
Speaker 3: I just smacked balls through the four hole.
1:34
Speaker 4: But yeah, I played college baseball. I guess I was.
1:38
Speaker 3: I was the weird good enough to continue playing, but
1:42
Speaker 3: not good enough to get drafted or signed. So I
1:44
Speaker 3: went in. I was the youngest player in the Atlantic League.
1:47
Speaker 3: I was the first person born in the nineties in
1:49
Speaker 3: the Atlantic League. UH. And then the Dodgers gave me
1:53
Speaker 3: an opportunity, and in the first inning, you can find
1:55
Speaker 3: this somewhere. In the first inning, I made a diving
1:58
Speaker 3: play up the middle at short spun through the first
2:01
Speaker 3: we got the out, we went to throw it around
2:03
Speaker 3: the horn, and I like couldn't pull my arm back,
2:04
Speaker 3: and I like flung it to the third basement toward
2:07
Speaker 3: my labor room. So I played one game for the
2:08
Speaker 3: Dodgers in a UH, sat in a sling for a
2:12
Speaker 3: while and started going down this hitting rabbit hole and
2:15
Speaker 3: trying to figure out why I sucked so bad?
2:19
Speaker 5: Well, can you can you reverse diagnosed? Now? Looking back?
2:23
Speaker 5: What what could you have done better?
2:25
Speaker 4: Oh? Completely disconnected. It was all hands.
2:28
Speaker 3: It was it was like the Charlie Lal chop at
2:31
Speaker 3: it and I'm five foot nothing, So it was. It
2:34
Speaker 3: was a tough combo of all hands, nobody and and
2:39
Speaker 3: physically nobody.
2:41
Speaker 4: It's a tough combo just slapping.
2:45
Speaker 2: So I'm wondering like, as you're playing, as you're you're
2:48
Speaker 2: playing in college, you're playing an indie ball and then
2:50
Speaker 2: you get, uh, is coaching on your mind? Are you
2:53
Speaker 2: thinking like I want baseball to be my life? Or
2:56
Speaker 2: is did you have maybe one of those aha moments
2:58
Speaker 2: where you kind of thought, oh, like this is what
3:00
Speaker 2: I want to do. Was this always kind of your
3:02
Speaker 2: your career path in your mind?
3:04
Speaker 4: No, it wasn't. Uh.
3:07
Speaker 3: I guess the AHA moment would be while I was
3:09
Speaker 3: in the sling, I was watching one of the coaches.
3:12
Speaker 3: This is right when some of the cell phones started
3:14
Speaker 3: getting slow motion, and one of the coaches was talking
3:19
Speaker 3: to one of one of our hitters and was like,
3:22
Speaker 3: that's not it, that's not it, and then he finally
3:24
Speaker 3: crushed one and he's like, that's what I'm talking about,
3:26
Speaker 3: and I like looked at the slow mown it was
3:28
Speaker 3: that was the one he didn't do what the coach
3:30
Speaker 3: was saying. And I kind of realized, like, oh my god,
3:32
Speaker 3: how many times have I been just blindly listening to something?
3:36
Speaker 3: And of course these coaches meanwhill and a lot of
3:38
Speaker 3: times feel versus real, and it could mean different things
3:41
Speaker 3: for different people. But that's where I kind of realized, like,
3:43
Speaker 3: why why have I not taken the ownership of my
3:47
Speaker 3: own career. I'm just kind of like blindly being like
3:50
Speaker 3: the yes, sir, good coach, yes sir. So that that
3:54
Speaker 3: was sort of the aha of like I need to
3:55
Speaker 3: figure this out. But that was more on the competitive side,
3:58
Speaker 3: because in your head you always think I'm still I'm
4:01
Speaker 3: still gonna make the big leagues, which I had no shot.
4:04
Speaker 3: But uh so that that was like the real, aha,
4:08
Speaker 3: I need to figure this out. But even then, I
4:10
Speaker 3: was doing lessons and stuff in the off season, just
4:12
Speaker 3: trying to pay bills and my competitiveness and just trying
4:16
Speaker 3: to continuously learn and experiment, and I probably checked up
4:19
Speaker 3: a bunch of hitters and then slowly realize there's not
4:23
Speaker 3: like one way, there's a bunch of different ways to
4:25
Speaker 3: get some results once you understand how their their body
4:28
Speaker 3: moves and how the swing shape is.
4:30
Speaker 5: So Chandler probably already knows this. So this is probably
4:34
Speaker 5: a dumb question, but can you can you walk through
4:37
Speaker 5: just on I don't know. Let's pick a random Tuesday
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Speaker 5: game in May that the Astros are playing. What are
4:45
Speaker 5: you doing the night before?
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Speaker 3: Like?
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Speaker 5: What what does your kind of day look like to
4:51
Speaker 5: best prepare for a game coming up?
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Speaker 4: You're talking about this for this coming year?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, like what do you are? You know, what
4:58
Speaker 5: do you what do you think it'll look like?
5:00
Speaker 4: You know?
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Speaker 5: Like, what what does it? What does it mean to
5:02
Speaker 5: be the offensive coordinator?
5:04
Speaker 4: Yeah?
5:04
Speaker 3: So I mean during the game, I'm going to be
5:06
Speaker 3: in the booth. I'm gonna have a headset. We'll try
5:09
Speaker 3: to run like a spread offense.
5:13
Speaker 4: No, I think. So part of my role is the
5:17
Speaker 4: same as.
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Speaker 3: Last year, and that that was like this director of
5:19
Speaker 3: Hitting and essentially that was to build like repeatable, a repeatable,
5:25
Speaker 3: scalable process for how we prepare, how we can integrate
5:29
Speaker 3: the different departments and make sure that we're moving the
5:32
Speaker 3: needle with the with with the young guys, and and
5:35
Speaker 3: you know, we kind of get crushed in in the
5:38
Speaker 3: in the ranking system of our prospects because we've been
5:41
Speaker 3: drafting really late for a while. That's what happens when
5:44
Speaker 3: you win a lot of games, and we've also traded
5:47
Speaker 3: a lot of good prospects to continue winning. So I
5:50
Speaker 3: think we were ranked like twenty eighth from Baseball America.
5:52
Speaker 3: But and I'm I'm proud that in our hit plus
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Speaker 3: stat that Baseball America does using objective data, came in
6:00
Speaker 3: fourth this year with the twenty eighth ranked prospects, and
6:05
Speaker 3: a lot of that was because we had like really
6:07
Speaker 3: cool buy in from our minor league coaches, our hitting
6:11
Speaker 3: coordinator Aaron Westlake, and all the different departments, Like our
6:14
Speaker 3: sports science group did an amazing job, and our new
6:17
Speaker 3: S and C coordinator allowed me to be the most
6:20
Speaker 3: annoying person ever, and we built out a screening process
6:22
Speaker 3: and r indeed did like really proud of that whole group.
6:25
Speaker 4: Jacob Buffalo, who.
6:26
Speaker 3: Has since got a pretty cool job with the Cardinals,
6:29
Speaker 3: but last year he was a major help. And then
6:31
Speaker 3: of course our GM and agms, so that part isn't
6:36
Speaker 3: going away. I'm still going to try to move the
6:37
Speaker 3: needle on the processes and how we can integrate everything
6:43
Speaker 3: on more of what you're asking and probably what fans
6:46
Speaker 3: would care about.
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Speaker 4: We'll just be the game planning side, and like.
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Speaker 3: So if the question is with the day to day,
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Speaker 3: we're hopefully I'm taking the heavy lifting off of the
6:56
Speaker 3: coaches where they can focus on being in the cage
7:00
Speaker 3: and working with those guys. My role is to provide options,
7:04
Speaker 3: essentially like clean, actionable game plans based upon what the
7:09
Speaker 3: opposing pitcher and who we think the relief pitchers are
7:13
Speaker 3: going to be that day or that series, how we
7:16
Speaker 3: as a unit can hopefully put together something that isn't
7:21
Speaker 3: just about like ambushing or taking all the pitches, but
7:24
Speaker 3: finding the right strategy for that specific team to put
7:29
Speaker 3: runs on the board and not just have a really
7:31
Speaker 3: good batting average to get a lot of hits, but
7:34
Speaker 3: like truly win ninety feet at a time and see
7:38
Speaker 3: if we can start to get back up to I
7:40
Speaker 3: think we were twenty first last year and run scored
7:42
Speaker 3: per game, and I would love to be back in
7:44
Speaker 3: the top ten. So I mean, ultimately, like the coaches
7:47
Speaker 3: and the hitters, they can pick what fits them, but
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Speaker 3: I'm basically gonna collaborate with them and build out here's
7:54
Speaker 3: the options based on the shapes and patterns of those
7:57
Speaker 3: pitch shapes and our swing shapes. So we'll have a
8:00
Speaker 3: unified thing that the team is trying to do, and
8:02
Speaker 3: then also personalized things for each of our hitters. So
8:04
Speaker 3: we lean into their strengths and hopefully we get these
8:07
Speaker 3: like little micro advantages, and you're not. We're still gonna
8:10
Speaker 3: get We're still gonna have games where we get shut out,
8:12
Speaker 3: and everybody's gonna say that we need to get fired,
8:14
Speaker 3: and maybe they're right, but we're also gonna have games
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Speaker 3: where like that second or third time through the lineup,
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Speaker 3: it starts to wear on them a little bit, and
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Speaker 3: maybe we start to get a couple more walks, and
8:26
Speaker 3: then the relief pitchers by the end of a series
8:28
Speaker 3: have had to throw more innings.
8:30
Speaker 4: Stuff like that.
8:31
Speaker 5: So I've got a just general hitting philosophy question for me.
8:38
Speaker 5: Pitching there seems to be more of like an attack approach, right, Like,
8:44
Speaker 5: you've got your pitches. These are the ones that you
8:46
Speaker 5: do well. You spin this ball, well, you throw this
8:48
Speaker 5: ball in this location, well, and it's like an attack
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Speaker 5: plan against a hitter. A hitter to me, whenever you
8:56
Speaker 5: talk about prepping for a pitch cure oftentimes comes off
9:01
Speaker 5: as almost defensive. It's like, well, if you're in this count,
9:05
Speaker 5: look for this over here so you can spoil it
9:07
Speaker 5: or whatever. When you're game planning as a hitter, do
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Speaker 5: you see yourself as being the attacker or is it
9:17
Speaker 5: how do I protect against what this picture can do?
9:20
Speaker 4: To me? It depends on the count.
9:23
Speaker 3: But no, I would like us to be and I
9:25
Speaker 3: say this often, I would like us to be the predator.
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Speaker 3: We understand the rules, and especially this coming year, we
9:31
Speaker 3: know what the strike zone is. We know that the
9:33
Speaker 3: rules they have to eventually throw a ball in that
9:35
Speaker 3: strike zone unless we can continue to chase. So if
9:42
Speaker 3: we know that we can essentially build our trap, we
9:45
Speaker 3: know that this ball has to try to cross it.
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Speaker 3: I would like for us to be in positions where
9:51
Speaker 3: each of us individually can get into their personal best
9:55
Speaker 3: position to attack and be the predator you mentioned.
9:59
Speaker 2: I've off of those two questions, I have like fifteen
10:02
Speaker 2: following out of me too. So you mentioned and this
10:06
Speaker 2: is something that Dana Brown was pretty vocal about at
10:09
Speaker 2: the GM meetings last week. Is about establishing a hierarchy
10:14
Speaker 2: within the hitting staff, just in terms of duties, in
10:17
Speaker 2: terms of and you mentioned you wanted to take some
10:20
Speaker 2: of the pressure and maybe the responsibility off of the
10:23
Speaker 2: new hitting coaches, Victor Rodriguez and Anthony Iopasse. I guess,
10:27
Speaker 2: first of all, can you I presume you have had
10:30
Speaker 2: many discussions with those two gentlemen since this has been finalized.
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Speaker 2: Just what has it been like your early discussions with them?
10:38
Speaker 2: And I guess how do you envision once spring training
10:41
Speaker 2: and once the season rolls around, how do you envision
10:44
Speaker 2: the three of you kind of working together to make
10:47
Speaker 2: this hitting staff kind of coalesce and become together.
10:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we have spoken. The talks have been the
10:55
Speaker 3: first part of the question was how of the talks
10:58
Speaker 3: they've been great. I think we're still, of course getting
11:00
Speaker 3: to know each other.
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Speaker 4: I'm excited to learn.
11:02
Speaker 3: From them, and obviously they're both very impressive and have
11:08
Speaker 3: have a good resume. And in terms of with the
11:14
Speaker 3: players in the cages, Vix the big dog, he's he's
11:17
Speaker 3: the number one.
11:19
Speaker 4: Is that what you're asking?
11:20
Speaker 2: I mean, you know so that I mean, that's that's
11:22
Speaker 2: data made no bones about that that vict Victor Rodriguez
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Speaker 2: is the the head hitting coach.
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Speaker 1: He will be the number one.
11:28
Speaker 2: Anthony I Aposse will be his assistant, and then you
11:31
Speaker 2: will be kind of the director of hitting and game
11:34
Speaker 2: planning and passing things on to them. So I guess
11:37
Speaker 2: just in understanding that we're having this conversation on November twentieth,
11:42
Speaker 2: and things can obviously will evolve as spring training and
11:45
Speaker 2: the season goes along. But I guess, how do you
11:48
Speaker 2: three guys maybe envision the process being streamlined on a
11:53
Speaker 2: on a day to day basis when Eason does start.
11:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, So I will kind of handle the like
12:01
Speaker 3: in the I'll handle the future essentially, so I'll prep
12:05
Speaker 3: for everything that that's going to happen.
12:07
Speaker 4: I'll lay out how I think we can how we.
12:10
Speaker 3: Can win, like and and that's not just this is
12:13
Speaker 3: what this picture has and this is what he throws
12:15
Speaker 3: and like any questions, all right, have a good game.
12:18
Speaker 4: More so like this is this is how we really.
12:20
Speaker 3: Think we can have an advantage in this series or
12:23
Speaker 3: in this game. I'll lay out multiple options. We will
12:27
Speaker 3: talk with the players about what they feel comfortable with,
12:30
Speaker 3: what they don't feel comfortable with. I will then present
12:33
Speaker 3: that to to Joe, Joe and and Vic look at
12:37
Speaker 3: what they like about it. They make the final call,
12:40
Speaker 3: and from there like that, that information gets disseminated to
12:44
Speaker 3: the players. At certain times, I'll I'll run the meetings
12:50
Speaker 3: and the presentations and some of the educational stuff, especially
12:53
Speaker 3: early on, but ultimately, you know, Vick will look at it,
12:56
Speaker 3: dissect it, see see what feels best, and and then
12:59
Speaker 3: we'll go into the game with a unified message that
13:01
Speaker 3: we all feel really good about.
13:04
Speaker 2: And you know, you look at how how do you
13:09
Speaker 2: think the last two years as the as the minor
13:12
Speaker 2: league hitting coordinator, as being the stuff you don't how
13:14
Speaker 2: do you think that's prepared you for this role?
13:17
Speaker 1: You said a lot of it.
13:18
Speaker 2: You could be doing some some similar things that you've
13:21
Speaker 2: been doing the last couple years.
13:22
Speaker 1: How do you feel like that's prepared you?
13:23
Speaker 2: And how do you feel maybe you can take some
13:25
Speaker 2: of what you did there and maybe translate it to
13:28
Speaker 2: the big league game planning things like that.
13:32
Speaker 3: It's prepared me because there's so many smart people in
13:35
Speaker 3: this organization that, as I continued to push for, I
13:41
Speaker 3: mean put simply like we have this unbelievable pitching like
13:45
Speaker 3: bible for lack of a better term, and it's it's
13:48
Speaker 3: there's like it's so deep and and it's got years
13:53
Speaker 3: and years of information baked into it and built upon it.
13:56
Speaker 3: And on the hitting side, while there was unbeli fievable
14:00
Speaker 3: minds that went through that process and minor league coordinators,
14:04
Speaker 3: there wasn't a true system. It was like that coordinator
14:06
Speaker 3: did really well, and then he went in this other team,
14:08
Speaker 3: poach him. And then this guy came in, did really
14:09
Speaker 3: well in this other team, poach hum, and it was
14:11
Speaker 3: like it was just open. So we had to build
14:15
Speaker 3: something out that was that was scalable to get seventy
14:17
Speaker 3: five prospects to improve and also make it customizable and
14:21
Speaker 3: personalized in its own way. And the only way to
14:24
Speaker 3: pull that off and make it autonomous in any capacity
14:26
Speaker 3: was to be able to integrate with all the different departments.
14:29
Speaker 3: And all of those different departments have people that are
14:31
Speaker 3: way smarter than me, So learning from them, picking their
14:35
Speaker 3: brain and like never really losing my north star on
14:38
Speaker 3: what I know I needed and what I know is
14:41
Speaker 3: going to move the needle for us, but also getting
14:43
Speaker 3: their input how their brain operates has allowed me to
14:46
Speaker 3: like really take in all these different different like lenses
14:50
Speaker 3: of the of the same thing we're trying to tackle.
14:53
Speaker 4: So that has allowed me to look.
14:55
Speaker 3: At Okay, this is how a pitching coach calls the game.
14:58
Speaker 4: This is how a pitcher looks at it. This is
14:59
Speaker 4: how it Kept Sure likes to call it.
15:01
Speaker 3: This is how the advanced team tries to do things.
15:04
Speaker 3: So in that regard, I think that has allowed me
15:07
Speaker 3: to become.
15:08
Speaker 4: A little more versatile.
15:12
Speaker 3: On the other side of it is in my separate life,
15:16
Speaker 3: this is something I've already been doing for a couple
15:18
Speaker 3: of years and you know, proud of the results we have,
15:21
Speaker 3: and we have a good ROI with our clients, and
15:24
Speaker 3: so this isn't new in many ways, it's just new
15:27
Speaker 3: in in this public eye.
15:31
Speaker 5: Who's the best hitter you've ever seen?
15:34
Speaker 4: I've ever seen? Yeah, very Bonds.
15:37
Speaker 5: Okay, what what I mean? Is there something from Barry
15:42
Speaker 5: Bonds that you think is that I mean obviously right,
15:47
Speaker 5: like he's the greatest hitter of all time, But you know,
15:49
Speaker 5: as you watch him as somebody who diagnoses hitting, you know,
15:54
Speaker 5: are there are are there things that stand out that
15:56
Speaker 5: are not like other worldly just magical powers that Barry
16:00
Speaker 5: Bonds had. You know, like you can't just give everyone
16:03
Speaker 5: that bat speed or whatever. But like of the things
16:06
Speaker 5: that you can control as a hitter, it doesn't have
16:09
Speaker 5: to be Barry Bond specifically, but you know, are there
16:11
Speaker 5: are there things that you notice in hitting that you
16:13
Speaker 5: think is a universal This could help you could help
16:18
Speaker 5: anybody improve? Does that make sense?
16:20
Speaker 4: I think so? Yeah?
16:23
Speaker 3: So yes, And we have with our sports science group
16:25
Speaker 3: and some of the biomechanic stuff we've been able to
16:27
Speaker 3: build out. We we can identify like if if you
16:32
Speaker 3: take these like pillars of what we believe matters, you
16:37
Speaker 3: can take let's just say there's seven pillars, Okay, because for.
16:41
Speaker 5: Us that seven Uh I kind of want to know
16:45
Speaker 5: the seven pillars now.
16:47
Speaker 3: I can't, I mean management, but uh okay, all those
16:52
Speaker 3: seven let's say the three of us are all Hall
16:55
Speaker 3: of famers obviously with our amazing athleticism obviously, Oh yeah,
17:02
Speaker 3: we could like our like MLB the show version of that. Yeah,
17:05
Speaker 3: like our of the seven, like bar graphs, you know,
17:09
Speaker 3: like like.
17:10
Speaker 4: Sliders, very different.
17:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so you kind of lean into Okay, if
17:15
Speaker 3: you're if this thing is impossible, maybe that's a genetic issue.
17:19
Speaker 3: Maybe that's like a mobility issue. Maybe that's a strength issue.
17:21
Speaker 3: Maybe it's just something you're not good at right now.
17:23
Speaker 3: And we don't think or your appropriate reception so bad
17:25
Speaker 3: that when we try to work on it with you
17:27
Speaker 3: like you do the total opposite thing we just asked for.
17:31
Speaker 3: We can still lean into certain things and kind of
17:34
Speaker 3: like you said, move the sliders on the other pillars
17:36
Speaker 3: to get to where you notice like a silver slugger being,
17:42
Speaker 3: I guess is the best way I can put it. So, Yes,
17:44
Speaker 3: in terms of are there things that every successful hitter has, yes,
17:50
Speaker 3: how good they are at each of those things does
17:53
Speaker 3: sort of slide and it's different. I think the thing
17:55
Speaker 3: that makes bonds so dominant was six of the seven
18:02
Speaker 3: were at the ninety nine mark.
18:05
Speaker 2: You know, we're back with Dan Henigan uh as offensive coordinator.
18:10
Speaker 2: Hope Texans play later tonight. Hope the Texans offensive coordinator
18:14
Speaker 2: takes a call from you, maybe throwze ball a little
18:17
Speaker 2: bit more. Maybe it's a spread offense, but you know,
18:21
Speaker 2: in talking about this Astros team in this offense specifically,
18:25
Speaker 2: this is an offense that throughout this Golden Era has had.
18:29
Speaker 2: We just talked about pillars a couple of the pillars
18:32
Speaker 2: of the Astros Golden era since you know, twenty eighteen
18:35
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen has been you know, they don't strike out,
18:38
Speaker 2: they put the ball in play, and they take you know,
18:41
Speaker 2: pretty dog and patient plate appearances, and that is something
18:45
Speaker 2: that you know, the numbers say, and you know, both
18:47
Speaker 2: Joe Aespotta and Dana Brown have said that, you know,
18:50
Speaker 2: in the last couple of years that that has gotten
18:53
Speaker 2: away from you guys a little bit. We Tyler and
18:57
Speaker 2: I have talked extensively on this show about you know,
19:00
Speaker 2: everyone wants to blame the hitting coaches. Everyone it's it's
19:03
Speaker 2: the hitting coach's fault when no one produces well and everything.
19:07
Speaker 2: You know, My thing Dan has always been that, you know,
19:10
Speaker 2: it's either a personnel issue or it's a philosophy issue.
19:14
Speaker 2: And I wonder, just in general, if you've got a
19:19
Speaker 2: group of personnel that does things one way, that you know,
19:24
Speaker 2: swings a lot, that chases a lot because they're able
19:27
Speaker 2: to put the barrel on the ball wherever it's pitched,
19:31
Speaker 2: is it is it easy to get guys that have
19:35
Speaker 2: been doing it this way for a long time, that
19:38
Speaker 2: have gotten to the big leagues, that have gotten to
19:40
Speaker 2: the pinnacle doing it this way? Is it easy to
19:43
Speaker 2: get them to I'm not saying completely overhaul their approach.
19:47
Speaker 2: I'm not saying you're going to turn a free swinger
19:49
Speaker 2: into a guy that never swings. But is it easy
19:52
Speaker 2: to get them to sway more toward the middle or
19:57
Speaker 2: is that more of a gradual process that you think
20:00
Speaker 2: you know needs to be done.
20:03
Speaker 4: No, it's not easy. And then, but I do think.
20:11
Speaker 3: Part of the whatever you want to call it, part
20:14
Speaker 3: of what has allowed me the opportunity to work with
20:18
Speaker 3: some players that have been in All Star games, that
20:19
Speaker 3: have been a home run derbys, that have won a
20:22
Speaker 3: batting title is the fact that if everybody likes to
20:26
Speaker 3: hear about themselves, and if you can present and educate
20:30
Speaker 3: information about that player in a way that resonates with
20:34
Speaker 3: them and show them sort of a light at the
20:36
Speaker 3: end of the tunnel of this is not only a
20:39
Speaker 3: thing that we think you could do better, but it's
20:42
Speaker 3: also something that would be very rewarding for you, you know,
20:45
Speaker 3: like I think that when if you do, and that
20:48
Speaker 3: could be completely different for different people. It could be
20:50
Speaker 3: a world series ring for one person and being able
20:53
Speaker 3: to afford a yacht for the next person, whatever that
20:55
Speaker 3: may be. But if you can or both, you know,
20:58
Speaker 3: but if you can provide that in a way that
21:01
Speaker 3: resonates with that player and properly educate and get them
21:05
Speaker 3: to see and potentially even feel like it was.
21:08
Speaker 4: Their decision in many ways it is.
21:12
Speaker 3: I think that's where you start to see players be
21:15
Speaker 3: willing to make the adjustments. And I mean, I think
21:17
Speaker 3: even like a hobby bias last year is a decent
21:19
Speaker 3: example of the I think you worded it well of
21:21
Speaker 3: like moving at least closer to the middle.
21:25
Speaker 5: So you know, I know that obviously most these things
21:29
Speaker 5: are proprietary. I don't want you just giving out trade secrets.
21:33
Speaker 5: But as a data nerd myself, I assume you get
21:37
Speaker 5: to collect a ton of just fun data. Could you
21:42
Speaker 5: just talk about the advances in hitting science and the
21:47
Speaker 5: things that we can measure, you know, I think five
21:50
Speaker 5: ten years ago, if you try to talk spin rate
21:52
Speaker 5: with the average baseball fan, they would not have understood
21:56
Speaker 5: that or certainly like tunneling or you know, things like that.
21:58
Speaker 5: But I think they get that now. I think most
22:01
Speaker 5: people who watch baseball understand what spin rate is and
22:05
Speaker 5: those types of things. I don't think there's anything like
22:07
Speaker 5: that in hitting? What type of data points are there
22:11
Speaker 5: just in general for people to be aware of.
22:16
Speaker 3: I mean, like bat speed and swing length are starting
22:19
Speaker 3: to show up, like just on National TV now and
22:25
Speaker 3: just I guess for most viewers, Mooki is one of
22:29
Speaker 3: the few that's sub seventy mile per hour that can
22:31
Speaker 3: still do damage consistently. There's a couple others out there,
22:34
Speaker 3: but he's just the one that pops in my head.
22:36
Speaker 3: Most of the guys, you do want to see them
22:38
Speaker 3: like at least low seventies, if not mid seventies, And
22:42
Speaker 3: so that's one that you're probably seeing a lot. There
22:44
Speaker 3: is hit what's called hit spin, So there is like
22:48
Speaker 3: a stat of how does the ball come off the bat,
22:51
Speaker 3: and if you can be below sixteen hundred RPMs, you
22:54
Speaker 3: are flushing that ball like to the point where it
22:57
Speaker 3: actually might not be conducive to traveling for a long time,
23:01
Speaker 3: but at least you know, like this guy's really squaring
23:02
Speaker 3: the ball up.
23:04
Speaker 5: So that would I mean, the spin, I guess that's hey,
23:07
Speaker 5: if you're hitting it dead on, it's just going to
23:09
Speaker 5: come back out.
23:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, it could be.
23:12
Speaker 5: Yeah. It does it differentiate between positive and negative like,
23:17
Speaker 5: if you get under the ball, is that a different
23:20
Speaker 5: spin number than if you get over the ball? Does
23:22
Speaker 5: that make sense? Like it's two thousand rpm if you
23:24
Speaker 5: get under it, different than two thousand rpm if you
23:28
Speaker 5: over it.
23:28
Speaker 3: Absolutely yeah, So I mean the more over it you are,
23:31
Speaker 3: I mean my terrible swing would would I would truly
23:37
Speaker 3: roll over. Your wrist would roll over and the barrel
23:39
Speaker 3: would hit the top of it. The more common ground
23:42
Speaker 3: balls you're now seeing are actually more of like the
23:45
Speaker 3: barrel working up the if you just do like a
23:48
Speaker 3: two dimensional X and Y axis, like up the y
23:50
Speaker 3: axis too much and you're like essentially playing ping pong
23:54
Speaker 3: with it. So yeah, the top spin definitely affects you,
23:57
Speaker 3: but it can also benefit you.
23:59
Speaker 4: Like Jas mccorn was someone who.
24:01
Speaker 3: For a couple of years straight outperformed a lot of
24:05
Speaker 3: expected metrics because of his odd spin and like it
24:09
Speaker 3: it just kind of landed in front of a left
24:11
Speaker 3: fielder and like it should have probably gone right to
24:13
Speaker 3: the leftielder or stuff like that.
24:14
Speaker 5: So yes, there is there a pitch in baseball that
24:18
Speaker 5: creates like a very abnormal you know output from hitters,
24:25
Speaker 5: Like you know, does fromber sinker just have like a
24:28
Speaker 5: demonstrably higher spin rate off the back. Are there any
24:32
Speaker 5: like that off the top of your head that you
24:33
Speaker 5: can think of that like, oh, this guy just does
24:35
Speaker 5: something different than everybody else.
24:37
Speaker 4: Oh, I see what you're saying.
24:40
Speaker 3: I mean, you get you get a good bowling ball
24:43
Speaker 3: sinker righty on righty or lefting on lefty on lefty,
24:46
Speaker 3: like in on their hands, and that's going to come
24:48
Speaker 3: off with a.
24:49
Speaker 4: Lot of side spin with a very low exit be low.
24:52
Speaker 3: So I mean that's still effective and the four seamer,
24:55
Speaker 3: like you guys had dealt with it for a while
24:57
Speaker 3: with Verlander, where yes it gets a lot of swings misses,
25:00
Speaker 3: but it can also aid the hitter if he's able
25:04
Speaker 3: to get to it and allow it to travel further.
25:07
Speaker 3: I believe like a slider with like a good firm slider,
25:11
Speaker 3: if that's squared up, that's the one that goes the
25:13
Speaker 3: furthest because it sort of already has for the hitter backspin.
25:17
Speaker 5: Interesting.
25:19
Speaker 2: You mentioned something earlier about you know, the ranking the
25:24
Speaker 2: outside rankings of you know, the astros farm system of
25:27
Speaker 2: you know, and part of that is you've traded away
25:30
Speaker 2: you mentioned you traded guess, have traded away prospects you
25:33
Speaker 2: picked low in the draft. You didn't have draft picks
25:35
Speaker 2: for a couple of years for some reason. I guess
25:39
Speaker 2: I'm wondering where you feel like since you got since
25:42
Speaker 2: you got into the system a couple of years ago
25:45
Speaker 2: and you started implementing some of this stuff, where do
25:47
Speaker 2: you think you guys have made the biggest strides in
25:50
Speaker 2: terms of your hitting development And where do you think
25:54
Speaker 2: you guys still have you know, room to even grow
25:57
Speaker 2: and get even better.
26:00
Speaker 3: I mean, at the risk of repeating myself a little
26:03
Speaker 3: bit here, like the hitting development, it truly has been
26:06
Speaker 3: the multi departmental integration, which from the experience that I
26:11
Speaker 3: was around, it wasn't there yet. Everybody was very invested
26:15
Speaker 3: in doing everything possible and coming up with unbelievable strategies
26:19
Speaker 3: for improvement, but they weren't really like cohesive we built.
26:24
Speaker 4: You know.
26:24
Speaker 3: I feel confident in what we were able to accomplish
26:27
Speaker 3: last year because of the fact that we had so
26:30
Speaker 3: many different good minds from different categories coming together. So
26:35
Speaker 3: how can we continue that is to make the integration
26:39
Speaker 3: even more impressive.
26:40
Speaker 4: We have some things that we're doing with.
26:42
Speaker 3: R and D that I think can allow us to
26:46
Speaker 3: make even quicker decisions on how we want to improve
26:49
Speaker 3: players and have a really good sense of exactly what
26:52
Speaker 3: that adjustment can do for the player. The other thing
26:57
Speaker 3: that I would and this is without you know, having
27:01
Speaker 3: any understanding of what the scouting and amateur look like
27:05
Speaker 3: before I got there. But Campendino and his group has
27:09
Speaker 3: has been uh ego lists in terms of they have
27:14
Speaker 3: their things that they believe in, but they're also very
27:17
Speaker 3: willing to hear what we're trying to do with players
27:21
Speaker 3: and really create like this true handoff system of like
27:25
Speaker 3: these are scouts that are working their butts off for
27:28
Speaker 3: months at a time, leaving their family, traveling around the
27:30
Speaker 3: country trying to find these players, they find ones that
27:32
Speaker 3: they're convicted in and they're essentially like handing their babies.
27:35
Speaker 4: Off to us. And a lot of times it was sort.
27:39
Speaker 3: Of this process of like nobody on the PD side
27:43
Speaker 3: maybe understood exactly why that scout liked this player so
27:46
Speaker 3: much and what what they foresaw that player becoming later
27:49
Speaker 3: down the road, and they maybe changed it because they
27:52
Speaker 3: saw something different and maybe both of them are technically right,
27:55
Speaker 3: But now we have we're kind of like pulling on
27:57
Speaker 3: two ends where now we've we have a really good
28:00
Speaker 3: setup and I'm very excited about the latest draft, and
28:04
Speaker 3: I think it's going to continue to be like a
28:08
Speaker 3: true pipeline, which is a hard thing to get with.
28:13
Speaker 3: People work a very long time to become a scouting
28:17
Speaker 3: director that it's a big honor. And so when you
28:20
Speaker 3: get one that's willing to each that point and say, okay,
28:24
Speaker 3: show me what you got and how can I be
28:27
Speaker 3: even better? I think that's really special. And so shout
28:30
Speaker 3: out to Campendino and his entire group. They have done
28:32
Speaker 3: an awesome job of leaning into some of the some
28:35
Speaker 3: of our pillars on the PDS side and some of
28:37
Speaker 3: the things that we have seen work working with R
28:40
Speaker 3: and D to see what matters and what doesn't and
28:42
Speaker 3: continuously being willing to say, like, what, we gotta throw
28:46
Speaker 3: that piece out, Like I know, we did that for
28:48
Speaker 3: three years, but oops, instead of like just like staying
28:51
Speaker 3: strong and being like no, like this is gonna work
28:54
Speaker 3: when they find data that maybe something doesn't.
28:56
Speaker 5: All right, and I've got I'll go ahead.
28:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, and now I guess I'm now that you get
29:00
Speaker 2: to lend your expertise to the major league side and
29:03
Speaker 2: the major league lineup understanding that the off season is early.
29:08
Speaker 2: It's early in the off season and we can't even
29:11
Speaker 2: pencil in yet definitively what kind of personnel you will
29:14
Speaker 2: have when you get to wes Palm, just given what
29:16
Speaker 2: could happen with trades and signings and things of that nature.
29:20
Speaker 1: I guess I'm.
29:20
Speaker 2: Wondering, is there one thing in your maybe in your
29:23
Speaker 2: discussions with with Victor and Anthony, that that you guys
29:28
Speaker 2: either want the offense to improve upon, or is there
29:32
Speaker 2: one thing that you want this lineup to be known
29:35
Speaker 2: for that maybe has has gone away in the past
29:39
Speaker 2: couple of years.
29:41
Speaker 3: That's a cool question, all right, I really like the
29:44
Speaker 3: second part. I liked it so much, or I forgot
29:46
Speaker 3: the first part.
29:47
Speaker 1: Say the first part, answer the second part.
29:50
Speaker 4: So it was what do you you guys want to
29:52
Speaker 4: be known for? And what do you guys I.
29:55
Speaker 2: Guess maybe where do you see where do you see
29:58
Speaker 2: where do you see room for improvement? And and then
30:00
Speaker 2: maybe what in your conversations with Victor and Anthony, maybe
30:03
Speaker 2: what do you guys want to be known for or
30:06
Speaker 2: known as as an offense with you with you three guys,
30:10
Speaker 2: maybe running it.
30:13
Speaker 1: Right?
30:13
Speaker 4: Okay, I would like there to be.
30:20
Speaker 3: True conviction and purpose in every bet and certain games
30:26
Speaker 3: that may be being aggressive. That's not going to be
30:31
Speaker 3: super often, but that may be the case. In the
30:33
Speaker 3: Blue Jays just showed that you can be extremely aggressive
30:36
Speaker 3: and ambush things. And when a lot of playoff games,
30:38
Speaker 3: the Rangers did it in twenty three, they jumped on
30:40
Speaker 3: teams they just ambushed. However, there's also teams like the
30:47
Speaker 3: Dodgers that just wear you down. I guess what I
30:51
Speaker 3: would like to be known for is what I would
30:55
Speaker 3: like our team to be known for, is that every
30:58
Speaker 3: single game you are versatile enough.
31:03
Speaker 4: I'm going to use a basketball analogy.
31:04
Speaker 3: I want like five guys that can play the four
31:09
Speaker 3: and the point.
31:09
Speaker 4: Like I want to be able to be versatile enough where.
31:14
Speaker 3: Our three hitter can handle a certain pitch in the
31:17
Speaker 3: O count, but is also willing to take multiple strikes
31:21
Speaker 3: if it's not in a certain part of the zone,
31:23
Speaker 3: get to that three to two count and still feel
31:25
Speaker 3: convicted that they can win that at bat and move
31:28
Speaker 3: the chain. And for us to be willing and able
31:32
Speaker 3: to dramatically alter our identity game to game if it
31:37
Speaker 3: gives us an advantage against that specific starter and that
31:40
Speaker 3: specific group of relief pitchers we think we're going to face.
31:43
Speaker 3: So I guess I would like to be known for
31:45
Speaker 3: the fact that teams can't really do one thing against us.
31:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean when you can build
31:54
Speaker 5: a lineup out of you know, like you said, just
31:56
Speaker 5: making each pitch for the opposing team difficult too. You
32:00
Speaker 5: know what you saw that at times last year with
32:04
Speaker 5: the Astros. You know, obviously we all know the idea
32:06
Speaker 5: of like the length of the lineup, right, you know,
32:08
Speaker 5: if you've got seven eight pretty good hitters throughout that
32:12
Speaker 5: can just weigh down a team, you know, throughout a game,
32:16
Speaker 5: and so that that's certainly gonna be important. I had
32:20
Speaker 5: a did you have any follow up channel? Because I've
32:22
Speaker 5: got a hypothetical question I want to ask throw the
32:26
Speaker 5: hypothetical at him. Okay, all right, so you can be
32:30
Speaker 5: thinking of your pillars. I'm gonna just make some up
32:33
Speaker 5: for me. But I'm gonna give you a hypothetical of
32:35
Speaker 5: three different players. We're gonna assume that they're average at
32:38
Speaker 5: everything else, everything else is equal, but they do one
32:42
Speaker 5: thing really well. The first one has like elite bat speed,
32:48
Speaker 5: second guy has elite bat to ball skills. You can
32:51
Speaker 5: just make contact with anything everywhere. The third guy has
32:55
Speaker 5: elite plate discipline, just will not chase outside, can recognize
32:59
Speaker 5: where which is are gonna be What what of those
33:03
Speaker 5: three hitters do you think would be the best vetaball?
33:08
Speaker 5: So if you just make contact, if you know you're
33:11
Speaker 5: you're gonna be fine.
33:15
Speaker 3: I have we have historical data that we can take
33:19
Speaker 3: someone that can make a lot of contact and generate
33:24
Speaker 3: bat speed.
33:26
Speaker 5: Okay, that was I was going to ask that.
33:27
Speaker 3: And then beyond that, and then what we are in
33:30
Speaker 3: no way like the cutting edge of that, Like every team,
33:35
Speaker 3: not every team, but but a good chunk of the
33:37
Speaker 3: league can also do that.
33:39
Speaker 4: This latest year we had.
33:45
Speaker 3: We had in many ways proven at least amongst a
33:49
Speaker 3: group of players that had outrageously bad chase rates in
33:52
Speaker 3: the minor leagues, we were able to move the needle
33:54
Speaker 3: in in a way that we were not able to
33:58
Speaker 3: do previously. So I'm very happy with that. I do
34:00
Speaker 3: think some of the stuff we referred to it as
34:03
Speaker 3: windows and weapons, but like are the strategy we implemented
34:07
Speaker 3: and sort of the customize the customization of how we
34:11
Speaker 3: were able to do that even for the minor league guys,
34:13
Speaker 3: even some of them in the like low way and
34:15
Speaker 3: fail being able like we by the end of that year,
34:19
Speaker 3: we saw the most pitches in that league. We were,
34:22
Speaker 3: you know, near the very top and runs per game
34:26
Speaker 3: and walk rate in zcon or how often you make
34:31
Speaker 3: contact on a pitch you decide a swing at that's
34:33
Speaker 3: in the strike zone. And this was a group that
34:36
Speaker 3: everything in our our system would tell you like, they're
34:39
Speaker 3: going to chase way too much, They're going to swing
34:41
Speaker 3: way too much.
34:42
Speaker 4: And in one year we were able to change that.
34:45
Speaker 3: So we have the data that we can we can
34:48
Speaker 3: mess with an approach, we can alter that we can
34:50
Speaker 3: absolutely even just without a batspeed program, even just like
34:53
Speaker 3: cleaner kinematic sequencing or I already gave some love. But
34:58
Speaker 3: our our SNC coordinator, Zach r if we give him
35:02
Speaker 3: the idea of this as a player, he can come
35:04
Speaker 3: up with a plan.
35:05
Speaker 4: And make it better.
35:07
Speaker 3: Those guys are going to move faster and swing harder.
35:09
Speaker 3: The vision, the depth, perception, the understanding of like where
35:13
Speaker 3: my bat is in space. That's a much harder thing
35:16
Speaker 3: to teach someone. And the hardest thing about hitting as
35:19
Speaker 3: opposed to pitching, I would say, is you apply something
35:22
Speaker 3: to the ball It's like an input and an output.
35:25
Speaker 3: You you did that thing, the ball now does this thing,
35:27
Speaker 3: and physics runs its course. On the hitting side, you
35:30
Speaker 3: could have the perfect kinematic sequence and still missed by
35:33
Speaker 3: eighteen inches. So if you have someone that just inherently
35:36
Speaker 3: does not have a good feel of how they can
35:38
Speaker 3: make a bat touch the ball, that's hard. But I
35:41
Speaker 3: feel pretty confident that if we can get the bat
35:43
Speaker 3: to touch the ball, we have enough data and I
35:46
Speaker 3: think I would like to say I have enough creativity
35:49
Speaker 3: that we can create different angles to make the ricochet
35:53
Speaker 3: is and the geometry game of baseball play out better
35:56
Speaker 3: for us.
35:57
Speaker 4: I think that's the hardest part.
36:00
Speaker 2: Like you just described a little bit of the Astors
36:02
Speaker 2: current major league lineup, Like there are guys that swing
36:06
Speaker 2: a lot, but there are there are guys that swing
36:08
Speaker 2: a lot in that chase.
36:09
Speaker 1: But there are guys that do.
36:10
Speaker 2: That because they have such good bats to ball skills,
36:13
Speaker 2: because they have such good way to put the balloon
36:15
Speaker 2: the ball, Like, is what you just.
36:17
Speaker 1: Said, is that transferable?
36:19
Speaker 2: Like you said it worked in Fayetteville with a lineup
36:22
Speaker 2: of guys that on paper it would seem that they
36:25
Speaker 2: would not do. Like, is that able to be translated
36:28
Speaker 2: to guys on a major league team that have been
36:32
Speaker 2: doing this for a very very long time, and they're
36:34
Speaker 2: not as young as those Fayetteville guys that can maybe
36:36
Speaker 2: be molded a little bit.
36:39
Speaker 3: I can say with certainty on the on the private
36:41
Speaker 3: side of things with personalized players, absolutely we've already seen it.
36:47
Speaker 3: As far as a team, I have to do.
36:49
Speaker 4: A good job. I was not a good hitter, you know.
36:53
Speaker 4: So if if I.
36:54
Speaker 3: Don't do a good job explaining to players that are
36:57
Speaker 3: already significantly better than me that these are things that
37:00
Speaker 3: can also make you better, and here's the plan that
37:03
Speaker 3: gives you personally the best opportunity, then they probably won't
37:07
Speaker 3: do it, and they probably will continue to do what
37:10
Speaker 3: they feel most comfortable with and how they feel when
37:13
Speaker 3: fight or flight kicks in, what is going to give
37:15
Speaker 3: them the best chance. But if we do a good
37:17
Speaker 3: job of educating, and Vic and Bosie are outstanding at communicating,
37:23
Speaker 3: if the three of us can get through and really show, like,
37:27
Speaker 3: you know, Kobe was constantly trying to get better year
37:30
Speaker 3: after year, and I think that's where you get the
37:31
Speaker 3: real killer instinct, and I think we have that in
37:33
Speaker 3: our players here. So it's up to us to make
37:36
Speaker 3: sure that we make them feel comfortable and making some
37:39
Speaker 3: of those adjustments and being confident that this is a benefit.
37:42
Speaker 2: Philly guy bringing up Kobe, All.
37:46
Speaker 5: Right, do you think that you.
37:49
Speaker 4: Would have said AI, but he didn't practice? But AI?
37:54
Speaker 5: Do you think that you have a good sense? I mean,
37:59
Speaker 5: obviously and things that can do this? But I don't
38:02
Speaker 5: know just hearing you talk about how you can approve
38:05
Speaker 5: so many other things you can improve approach, you can
38:08
Speaker 5: improve even bat speed, those types of things. But there's
38:11
Speaker 5: something innate about, you know, just the vision and things
38:15
Speaker 5: like that. Can you tell looking at a spreadsheet if
38:19
Speaker 5: someone has like the ability to hit or not? I
38:26
Speaker 5: know that's the silly, but I mean, like if you
38:28
Speaker 5: haven't seen them hit. Like if you've got a list of,
38:30
Speaker 5: you know, two hundred minor league free agents and your
38:34
Speaker 5: task is to find one that you know might turn
38:39
Speaker 5: into something right like, and you're just looking at that data,
38:43
Speaker 5: is there something that you look to first to say,
38:46
Speaker 5: you know, let me sort is it? Like bat speed?
38:49
Speaker 3: Is it?
38:50
Speaker 5: You know, whatever? Like if you're just looking through a
38:52
Speaker 5: whole bunch of names and you're just trying to figure
38:54
Speaker 5: out who has potential in here? What would you look
38:56
Speaker 5: at first?
38:58
Speaker 4: So to your first question, like, who's not going to
39:00
Speaker 4: pan out? If I saw very little chase and also
39:06
Speaker 4: saw very little contact, that's scary. Those those are scary
39:11
Speaker 4: for me because it's just hard.
39:14
Speaker 3: When I was with the twins, like that was sort
39:15
Speaker 3: of my job, like we were the objective was to
39:17
Speaker 3: kind of be like, you know, eventually like the Rays
39:21
Speaker 3: of the hitting world, where like the Rays do a
39:23
Speaker 3: good job identifying this no name and we think if
39:25
Speaker 3: we acquire him, he can do something for us.
39:26
Speaker 4: I think the askers have done an amazing job with that.
39:30
Speaker 3: Falviu was was doing a really cool job, and and
39:33
Speaker 3: and Levine of trying to do that on the hitting side.
39:37
Speaker 3: And and so I got to kind of poke around
39:39
Speaker 3: with some theories and see what we could find. That's
39:42
Speaker 3: a tough one that you really don't see if they
39:45
Speaker 3: aren't chasing and they with a lot like they better
39:49
Speaker 3: launch balls because that's a that's you very rarely see
39:52
Speaker 3: that one make it to like double A and still
39:54
Speaker 3: pan out.
39:57
Speaker 4: Uh, what was the other part.
40:00
Speaker 5: Like if you're okay, so now you say these people
40:03
Speaker 5: have potential or you know they don't have the crazy,
40:07
Speaker 5: no chase rates, and they're they're not whiffing or whatever,
40:09
Speaker 5: Like what measurable are you sorting by quickly to say like, okay,
40:14
Speaker 5: who's standing out in these or these are the ones
40:16
Speaker 5: that I think are important.
40:20
Speaker 3: So on a spreadsheet, I don't know if I could
40:22
Speaker 3: confidently be like that's the guy. Yeah, spreadsheet and some video,
40:27
Speaker 3: some side angle, some some center field angle.
40:31
Speaker 4: I think you can start to make cleaner decisions.
40:33
Speaker 3: And some of that's based on the biomechanics and the
40:35
Speaker 3: swing shape, and then also seeing.
40:38
Speaker 4: Of the categories you mentioned earlier.
40:40
Speaker 3: If you if you get good swing decisions and good mechanics,
40:47
Speaker 3: you can start to do some cool stuff with that.
40:49
Speaker 3: If you get good, if you get good batspeed, good
40:55
Speaker 3: kinematic sequence.
40:57
Speaker 4: But like the ground ball.
40:58
Speaker 3: Rates really higher, the or the the spray charts really bizarre.
41:02
Speaker 4: I feel pretty good about.
41:04
Speaker 3: We can manipulate angles and start to make that ball
41:07
Speaker 3: go places that we think is cooler for us.
41:10
Speaker 4: So those guys I feel pretty good about. Now.
41:13
Speaker 2: I'm just wondering what Tyler and I would look like
41:15
Speaker 2: on a spreadsheet if you put a if you put
41:18
Speaker 2: our skill sets on a spreadsheet, whether we would make
41:20
Speaker 2: it or not.
41:21
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with no. But who definitely no. I'll
41:26
Speaker 1: work for I'll work for the league minimum. That's what
41:28
Speaker 1: I'm saying.
41:29
Speaker 2: If all you got to pay me is a league minimum,
41:31
Speaker 2: just give me an invite to camp.
41:32
Speaker 1: I'll do it.
41:33
Speaker 4: Absolutely, Yeah, I'll take I would love the league.
41:36
Speaker 5: How fast if you if you were given the task
41:40
Speaker 5: of giving me six months to swing a bat as
41:44
Speaker 5: fast as possible? Going from I haven't played baseball since
41:47
Speaker 5: high school, barely in high school, how fast do you
41:52
Speaker 5: think I could swing a bat?
41:54
Speaker 4: And six we start?
41:56
Speaker 5: I mean literally thirty three year old dad who has
41:59
Speaker 5: not played baseball in a while. But if I'm in
42:01
Speaker 5: good enough shape, if you're if your only focus is
42:04
Speaker 5: to maximize my bat speed, how fast do you think
42:08
Speaker 5: I could swing a bat?
42:09
Speaker 4: I think we can get you to. I feel good
42:11
Speaker 4: about mid sixties. I feel good.
42:13
Speaker 5: Oh no chance, that's crazy. You think you think that much.
42:18
Speaker 4: Of it pretty? But you can get there.
42:21
Speaker 5: That's I mean. Jose L Twobe swings sixty nine. There's
42:26
Speaker 5: no way that I'm swinging anywhere near that fast. That's crazy.
42:30
Speaker 3: He's doing that when he's when he's trying to square
42:32
Speaker 3: something up coming very fast at him. If if you're
42:34
Speaker 3: just okay boring pitches, we can we can go okay, all.
42:39
Speaker 1: Right, he's just talking about like you airing it alet Tyler.
42:41
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, what's.
42:42
Speaker 5: The fastest that you've seen?
42:46
Speaker 4: Oh uh.
42:47
Speaker 3: We had a guy he actually is in playing in
42:49
Speaker 3: Mexico right now. His name is Narciso Crook. In our building,
42:53
Speaker 3: I'm not sure what he did in games in our building.
42:57
Speaker 4: He's gotten up to the high eighties, like eighty eight,
43:01
Speaker 4: eighty six on certain swings.
43:02
Speaker 3: Well, it's like he has come in. He's come a
43:06
Speaker 3: very long way. He got a very quick cup of
43:08
Speaker 3: coffee with the Cubs in the big leagues, and actually
43:10
Speaker 3: I think he did pretty well up there. But that
43:13
Speaker 3: was outrageous batspeed. And he's he's still working butt off.
43:16
Speaker 3: He comes in in the offseason and we met him
43:18
Speaker 3: much later in his career, but that that is some
43:21
Speaker 3: outrageous batspeed.
43:23
Speaker 5: For for context for everyone. Last year, do you have
43:26
Speaker 5: a guess who led the major leagues in average batspeed?
43:30
Speaker 1: Dan, I have a guess, Stanton Stanton.
43:33
Speaker 5: Stanton Stanton averaged eighty point six and he swings like
43:38
Speaker 5: a maniac, so mid to high eighties is insane. I
43:42
Speaker 5: mean again, but.
43:44
Speaker 3: If you put out two a that date is coming
43:48
Speaker 3: from Hawkeye.
43:49
Speaker 4: If you put out two on a blast, his stuff
43:51
Speaker 4: might say seventy six. Oh really Yeah, So.
43:55
Speaker 5: There's that much of a difference. Now, in measuring, that's
43:58
Speaker 5: not like universal across teams or minor leagues or anything
44:01
Speaker 5: like that.
44:03
Speaker 3: In theory, it's universal, but you you definitely get different readings.
44:06
Speaker 3: The I m u's the Yeah, I am an INERTIAW
44:10
Speaker 3: measurement unit.
44:13
Speaker 5: What does that mean?
44:15
Speaker 4: It's just basically a speedometer. That's how you need Okay.
44:18
Speaker 5: Oh, it's it's in the knob of the bat.
44:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think okay, which is different than markerless, which
44:23
Speaker 3: would be Hawkeye.
44:26
Speaker 5: Oh, this is fun. We could we could do this
44:28
Speaker 5: for a while.
44:29
Speaker 2: We're kind of moving into words I've never heard before,
44:31
Speaker 2: so I think that, uh, I think that may be
44:34
Speaker 2: our Q to wrap it up a little bit. But Dan,
44:37
Speaker 2: before we let you go, I am gonna give you
44:39
Speaker 2: a plug here you've been saying in our building. In
44:41
Speaker 2: our building, you know, Dan is going to be the
44:42
Speaker 2: hitting coordinator, the the director of hitting, and the offensive
44:45
Speaker 2: coordinator for the Ashers.
44:46
Speaker 1: But he does have.
44:48
Speaker 2: Another another side hustle. It's called Brain and Barrel.
44:53
Speaker 1: If you'd like.
44:53
Speaker 2: To get more and learn more about that, there's a
44:56
Speaker 2: great video of Dan talking about hitting and his approach
44:59
Speaker 2: to it Brain and Barrel hitting dot Com if you'd
45:03
Speaker 2: like to check that out. Dan, anything else you want
45:05
Speaker 2: to Dan? Anything else you want to anything else you
45:08
Speaker 2: want to plug about Brain and Beryl and just kind
45:10
Speaker 2: of what you guys do there and why that's up. Well,
45:13
Speaker 2: it's been influential and kind of how you've grown your
45:15
Speaker 2: your your hitting philosophy.
45:18
Speaker 3: No, this is this is for the Astros, and I'm
45:20
Speaker 3: excited to I'm excited to see the Astros get back
45:24
Speaker 3: to where we want to be.
45:25
Speaker 4: But I appreciate thank you for doing That's.
45:27
Speaker 1: Why I waited until forty six minutes in to do it. Dan,
45:31
Speaker 1: This was great, man.
45:32
Speaker 2: I told you we keep you for fifteen or twenty minutes,
45:34
Speaker 2: and I lied, so, but this was excellent conversation. We
45:38
Speaker 2: really really appreciate you given us a couple of minutes
45:40
Speaker 2: and what I know is a very busy time for
45:44
Speaker 2: you trying to trying to get everything together and ready
45:47
Speaker 2: to go for spring training. And we really really appreciate
45:50
Speaker 2: this was a fun This was a fun interview.
45:53
Speaker 4: No, I appreciate you guys.
45:54
Speaker 3: Thanks for being welcoming enough throwing me any landmines today.
45:57
Speaker 3: That was nice of you.
45:58
Speaker 2: Never never, never, Now, wait till the season starts. There
46:01
Speaker 2: it is, wait till the season starts. As always, guys.
46:04
Speaker 2: We will be back next week right before Thanksgiving to
46:08
Speaker 2: talk about you know, what the ashers do at the
46:10
Speaker 2: tender non tender deadline, what the what the roster looks
46:14
Speaker 2: like going forward, and some Thanksgiving talk. We'll be back
46:19
Speaker 2: next week, but until then, you can rate and review
46:22
Speaker 2: us on Apple. You can rate and review us on Spotify.
46:24
Speaker 2: You can subscribe to the YouTube channel. See you get
46:26
Speaker 2: notified every time you post. We post a new episode
46:29
Speaker 2: like this only Dan Hennigan. You can follow Tyler at
46:31
Speaker 2: Tyler C. Stafford on X you can follow me at
46:34
Speaker 2: Chandler Underscore Room. Dan, are you on Twitter or x
46:36
Speaker 2: or whatever it's called Now, we're not all good for you.
46:42
Speaker 2: Good call, but keep a lookout for Dan. If you
46:46
Speaker 2: don't like the play calls in the first series of
46:49
Speaker 2: the year.
46:50
Speaker 1: You know who to blame. You can blame the offensive coordinator.
46:53
Speaker 2: So thanks again, Dan, this was great and we will
46:55
Speaker 2: Talk to you guys soon.
46:56
Speaker 5: Remember in life you can always just swing harder.
47:00
Speaker 4: Five