Latest / Foul Territory / Giants OF Drew Gilbert joins Splash Hit Territory + Astros OF Jake Meyers joins Crush City Territory

Transcript

Giants OF Drew Gilbert joins Splash Hit Territory + Astros OF Jake Meyers joins Crush City Territory · Foul Territory

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All right, it's another episode of Splash Hits, and Susan
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Susser joins us.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: She's nice enough.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: After a long day of writing seventeen articles about the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: giants that come on and we have a special guest today.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: What are my all time favorites?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Drew Gilbert, after a long day at the yard, he's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: still at Scottsdale.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Stadium, joins the show.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Drew?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: How you doing?
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: You're not even in the clubhouse.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: I gotta change that, You're.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Right, They don't know, just leave it the way it is.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: How's your spring going?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Dude? Like to fill me in?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: We talked down the other day on the bench.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: But how you doing? No, I'm good, I uh uh.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: You know, it's been fun, I think, uh, you know,
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: obviously a little bit different spring, you know, but being
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: will be around the guys. Get an opportunity to show
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: up every day and have an opportunity to get better
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: is something that you cherish, regardless of your circumstance or
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: you know who you are, right obviously having Tony, you know,
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: it's familiar for me and I think it's been great energy.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Well what's that like?
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, playing for your your college coach. I was
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: real close to my college coach. I can't imagine playing
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: in the big leagues for I mean, I mean, were
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: you the reason Tony came to San Francisco?
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: Oh no, no, that is not you know, I he's
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: got some good jokes, but now he got here because
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: of what he's done.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: And obviously I wouldn't be here without him. But no,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: he's he's been awesome.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Man.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: I think, uh, you know, the guys getting to know
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: him and kind of understand what he's all about.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: You know, he's been great.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: You know, he makes things fun, you know, but he
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: pushes us and.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Uh, you know, he makes us better and he works
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: as good.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: But you know, it's what we need, man, It's what
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: you got to do if you want to win a
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: lot of games in this league, because I mean, everybody's
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: just trying to get a little bit of an edge,
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: you know how it is the margin freyer in this
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: league is minimal, so we're all just fighting to, you know,
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: find that extra edge, and you know, brings an edge
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: every single day.
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: Were you surprised when he came to San Francisco? Like
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: when when it first started, like like popped up on
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: your radar where you're like, whoa, there's no way.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: I think just your initial human reaction is you know,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: I don't want to say surprise, but you're like, wow,
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: that that would be you know, like super crazy, right,
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: that's just the natural instinct. But you know, I think
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: the more you think about it, uh, you know, the
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: more it made sense, right, And the more you think
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: about it also you're like, man, this could really work.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: So obviously we haven't started any you know, regular season games,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: but I have total belief in him, and I think
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: all the all the guys do as well.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: What's your relationship like with him? I mean, is it
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: like player manager, player coach or could you just be
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: just shoot the s with them about anything? And what
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: kind of influence did he have on you in your
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: career when you were at Tennessee.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, I think, and not even me in particular,
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: just you know, going for any player. He toes the
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: line so well, like having that you know, like player
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: to coach relation while also being like, you know, like
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: if I need to go into his office and talk
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: to him about something to me, whether it's you know,
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: personal or you know, ball related, like he's very easy
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: to go in there and talk to so. But at
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: the end of the day, like he garners the respect
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: of everybody in the team, and you know he's got
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: good presence.
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: Uh.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: And you know I've always thought like his ability to
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: you know, like put the switch from like you know,
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: he's he brings the intensity in practice every single day
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: and then he's super cool. You know, it's not like
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: you know, it's not you're walking around eggshells around him, right,
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: But you also respect the hell out of him, and
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: you know you gotta he holds you to a certain
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: standard that you got to bring every single day.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: He's pretty intense. Do you think he's gonna get thrown
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: out of a lot of games this year? I mean,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I love the guy, dude, you know him way better
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: than I do. Is he going to show that intensity
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: for one hundred and sixty two games? Do you think
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: there's going to be a difference in the way he
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: coached at Tennessee and manages in the big leagues?
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: No, I don't think it's going to be as big
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: of a differences people think. I mean, I saw him
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: do it every single day for three years, you know,
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: regardless of it who was a game or practice Helly
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: probably was more intensive practice, so and we practiced every
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: single day.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: So I don't I don't see.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: Any reason he's not gonna be able to bring it
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: for one sixty two. Obviously it'll be unique to him
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: because it's the first time he's done it, but that
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: goes for everybody, right Like you know, guy willing, I
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: get the chance to, you know, make the team, it'll
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: be my first time playing one hundred and sixty two
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: games or being a part of one hundred and sixty
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: two games. So I think everybody goes through it's it's
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: the first time he's done something, but that goes for
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: anything in life. The first time you do something, you
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: know it's gonna present challenges that you aren't prepared for
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: because you just haven't done it.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: He's a guy that he adjusts really.
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: Well with things, so but he also does that well
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: while sustaining true to himself.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: So I see no problems arising.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Where did you get this pedal to the metal attitude?
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Because that's why Giants fans fell in love with you,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: That's why your teammates fell in love you with you
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: last year. That's why I did too, because that's the
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: way I used to approach the game.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: So where did you get this this.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Pedal of the metal attitude?
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: I don't know if it's somewhere like I got it from.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: It's just kind of who I am. I don't I
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: don't try to be someone I'm not, you know. Uh,
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: it's I try to be organic. I don't want it
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: to be like fake or anything. You know, It's just
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: who I am, you know, And I try to stay
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: true to myself.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: I always been a guy who you know, wants to
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: work hard every single day, and you know, maybe that
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: creates a little bit of an edge and just kind
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: of let it out in the field.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: Were you the kid like couldn't sit still in class
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: and it was always running around.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: I do have ADHD, so that that was really tough
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: one to figure that out.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: I just talked about wanting you guys to be a
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: team that other teams don't like, kind of like Tendessee was.
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: Can you see that, like you guys, especially when you
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: got there, you guys kind of show a little bit
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: on the field last year.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think, yeah, absolutely, I think it's it's.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: More so up and I am. I trying to say this.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: Like when your desire to compete, isn't you just it's
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: not like you're necessarily trying to disrespect the other team.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: But you also you don't really care for him, right,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: You're you'll do whatever it takes to beat them. You know,
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: it's not like you're trying to be friends with them.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: You know, we all have friends on other teams. But
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: in between the Lions, it's it's it's not about that.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: They all say all is fair in love and war, right,
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: and at the end of the day, this is kind
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: of a war one sixty two.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: So that's how we're going to approach it.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: You know, we've got boys and other team maybe getting
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: dinner after the game, but in between the Lions and
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: I don't, I don't.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: It's not really about that. So yeah, I think it's
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: it's organic.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: You don't want it to be forced, right, It doesn't
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: need to be like this corny like, oh, let's make
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: everybody hate us, but and not that, and not that
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: Buster's saying that. But I think Buster wants it to
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: be intense. That's what he's getting at. And I think
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: that's all what we want.
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: You want up with the kind of like this neat
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: relationship with Matt Chatman that I think sometimes fans are like, wait,
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: what's going on? There is Chatman mad? And it was
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: just I thought it was hilarious. How would you describe
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: your relationship with Matt Chatman and how it developed last
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: year the San Francisco Strangler.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Yes, talk about that.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: No, I think you know, you kind of get you
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: get traded over, and you know, you get thrown into
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: environment where you don't really know anybody. You're kind in
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: the middle of like a playoff race, so it's like, well,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: I mean he's got to be my best friends right now,
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: so you know, and he's he's been great. You know,
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: he's always been great to me and great tell other
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: teammates and obviously he's a hell of a player.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: But no, I mean, Chatman's the best.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: He's just just an awesome dude, great competitor and got
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: to obviously spend some time with him this off season
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: two because I've moved out here now. He's been great
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: to me and uh appreciative towards him, and god, he's
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: my teammate.
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: Were harmed in the dugout at all?
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, were hard, But talk about that.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Talk about that for a second, because like back in
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the day, it was like rookies are seen or not heard,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: and we had to tiptoe a round until like the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: veterans accepted us and they brought you right in last year.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, you were a shot of energy in everybody's arm.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: You added life to the ball club, and they just
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: let you do all your stuff. Fans fell in love
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: with you. It seemed like they fell in love with you.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Talk about that for a second.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: How maybe that's changed a little bit for rookies in
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball now.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I don't know exactly.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: I think there's some of the things, like you know,
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: I think you need guys to be comfortable with who
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: they are to be their best, right, Like when rookie
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: comes up, like if you're on a winning team, like
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: you know, I would want him to feel comfortable so
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: he can play his best so he helped the team win, right,
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: I don't care for twenty third forty, Like, I just
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: want you to be at your best. So whatever really
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: you got to do, you know that that'd be cool
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: with me. Obviously I'm still a rookie, so I don't
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: want to sound like I'm talking like a veteran, but
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: I think maybe that was kind of their mentality and
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: which I can appreciate. And also along the way, behind
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: the scenes, you know, they're helping guys out, you know,
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: teach them.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: The ropes, but also tell them.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: That, hey man, we want you to yourself, you know you,
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: we want you to help us win, which anyone, anybody
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: can appreciate.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's been awesome. You talked about the trade.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: That's I mean, first of all, get traded with bladdd well,
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: so that's good. You got a buddy come along with you.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: But it's the second time you've been traded in your career.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: What was that like?
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: I mean, you get drafted by an organization and then
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: you're suddenly kind of on the move very couple of years.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Sure, it's definitely a whirlin. I don't want to sit
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: here and say it's fun.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Like, you know, I don't think you enjoy packing your
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: life up and getting shipped all over the place, but uh,
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: you know, it's the reality of the business. So uh
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: you know, you don't you don't pop about it. You
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: look at is, look at it as another opportunity and
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: another organization wants you. So super grateful to Buster and
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Zach for bringing me over here and believe it in me,
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: and hopefully I can prove them right and help Giants
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: win some more games.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, then you get traded for Justin Verlander then played
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: with them last year. Was like, dude, I got traded
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: for you.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: You're all a favor for sure. No, Justin he was awesome.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: We talked about that.
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: Obvious, say crazy that that happened, But yeah, whatever a
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: career he's had.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: How's the wing doing, How's how's your arm?
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: And how you feeling? Is nice?
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: I think as throwers, you know, we throw so much
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: throughout our lives that sometimes we kind of run into
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: some some crud and some crap, but thankfully kind of
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: worked through it and you know, getting pretty close.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: So it should be, uh, should be ready to rock
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: here pretty soon.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I was looking at the your senior year, you had
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: ninety seven strikeouts and forty nine innings. As a picture
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: like you brought it from the left side right, what
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: ninety five ninety six?
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Where'd you throw? Yeah?
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah around there?
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Did you ever think about being a picture in pro bawl?
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: How did that whole evolution happen?
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Where I'm just going to outfielder?
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I actually went to school as that was
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: a two way, but that was mostly a picture. So
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: when I came out of high like if I was
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: going to get drafted a high school, it was going
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: to be as a picture.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, the emergency picture. Yeah you know, the shoulder
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: wants to hang in there. But yeah, yeah, sure they
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: want me to Christian. Yeah, Costs. We gotta get cost
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Is earning that job.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: All right, last one for me. I don't know if
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Susan is anymore, but like you missed some time in camp.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: You're an excitable guy. I feel like that's how I
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: relate to you. Do you feel like I'm trying to
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: make the team in two weeks and I got to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: get four hits and three at bats, And are you
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: are Do you have that mentality or just going out
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: there and approach it on a daily basis, or are
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: you trying to make up for lost time.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: I think everybody has like the natural human thoughts, like, yeah,
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: you want to make the team, but I can't make
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: the team like today, you know, hitting I can't make
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: the team hitting five five hundred foot home runs today.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: You know, it's just not the reality of it. So
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: I just approached it as like, well, this is just
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: what the situation is. Today's a new day. Regardless of
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: what happened yesterday. I can't know anything about it. So
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: I can't do anything about the fact that I missed
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: a couple weeks. That's over.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm here today and I.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Have an opportunity to compete and get ready for my season. Obviously,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: would you like to have results, Absolutely, but at the
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: end of the day, Spring trains about getting ready for
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: your season, so everything kind of sorts itself out, and
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: you know, at the end of the day, I want
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: to help the Giants win games.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: So that's all I that's all I can control.
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: Well, the good thing is Europe last year, so the
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: organization knows you really well at the big league level,
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: and then I think the manager knows you.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: So sure.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I mean my favorite I think one of
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: my favorite things about Tony is like and I'm and
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: this will you guys will see, but like, favoritism isn't
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: his thing, you know. He one of the reasons I
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: even wanted to go play for him was because he
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: told me he didn't guarantee me anything. He said, you'll
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: get what you earn and I always can appreciate that,
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: so that'll be the same thing here and I'll appreciate
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: that as well.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: All right, go shower, go get ready, go bite Robbie
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Ray or something. We really appreciate you coming on today, dude.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Take care.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: What's up?
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Everybody?
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: Welcome into another edition of Crush City Territory on Chandler Room,
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: joined by Tyler Stafford and everyone's favorite corn Husker and
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: the Astros starting center fielder Jake Myers.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Jake, what's up, buddy? What's up? Guys? Thanks for having
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: me on.
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: Appreciate this a little bit, uh sort of an off
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: day to day for you. I didn't have to make
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: the very very very long bust trip to Bradenton to
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: play against the Pirates. There were some live abs that
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: happened on the backfield. I didn't stick around for all
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: of the live AB's. Did you take any or now?
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think I took five or six. It's nice
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: to kind of start getting AB's every day and try
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: to get into rhythm. Nice.
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: Do you facing him?
• 14:02
  Speaker 7: I yeah, yeah, and he has some good stuff. It's
• 14:05
  Speaker 7: really fun to to face him and kind of, you know,
• 14:08
  Speaker 7: see how he pitches because he's he's a really good pitcher.
• 14:12
  Speaker 8: Tell me, tell me about the slider. What does that
• 14:14
  Speaker 8: thing look like in the box?
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: It just is deceiving to your eyes. It just doesn't move.
• 14:20
  Speaker 7: I think in today's game, the everyone's fighting for so
• 14:23
  Speaker 7: much movement that it plays did not move. And that's
• 14:26
  Speaker 7: kind of how his slider works.
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's uh, it's been the talk of camp. I
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: didn't know a backup slider could become the talk of camp,
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: but here we are that, uh, that the backup slider
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: has become one of the main talking points. But otherwise
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: pretty boring camp here in West Palm Beach. Not much
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: has happened, which is good, Jake, because you don't want
• 14:46
  Speaker 6: you don't want a ton of news in camp. You
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: don't want things to be happening. You don't want me
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: to have to work. That's that's bad when I have
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: to when I have to work a bunch of camp.
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: Let's uh, let's talk about your season last year. Obviously,
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: on the you bring the glove every day. The defense
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: is never in question. You've distinguished yourself as one of
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: the better defensive center fielders in baseball. But with the
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: bat last year, the end zone contact rate went way up.
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: The on base percentage went up, the whiffs went down.
• 15:18
  Speaker 6: What did you do last year or what did you
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: notice last year that allowed you to have the offensive
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: breakthrough that you had.
• 15:26
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think the main thing is just focusing on
• 15:29
  Speaker 7: what I wanted to hit. I think in this league
• 15:32
  Speaker 7: they really try to get you to think about a
• 15:34
  Speaker 7: bunch of different pitches and chase outside the zone. And
• 15:37
  Speaker 7: I just wanted to set a really good approach, keep
• 15:40
  Speaker 7: it a little bit more simple, and have a lot
• 15:43
  Speaker 7: of really quality abs. And that kind of ended up
• 15:47
  Speaker 7: at the end of the year when I looked at it,
• 15:48
  Speaker 7: I had a lot of quality abs and a lot
• 15:50
  Speaker 7: of quality contact.
• 15:52
  Speaker 8: You hit three hundred on off speed pitches last year?
• 15:57
  Speaker 8: Is that real? How did you do that? Why are
• 16:00
  Speaker 8: we so good at off speed pitches last year?
• 16:03
  Speaker 7: I think partially because I got him a lot, and
• 16:06
  Speaker 7: so I kind of started to look for him and
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: got comfortable hitting him.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: But I mean, I owe I owe a lot of
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: it to to Troy Snicker as well.
• 16:17
  Speaker 7: He I had worked with him for four years and
• 16:20
  Speaker 7: he kind.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Of really helped me focus on what I wanted to
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: work on.
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: Last offseason, and and going into the season, I was
• 16:27
  Speaker 7: really confident with it, and so it kind of grew
• 16:30
  Speaker 7: on that through the season and you know, kind of
• 16:34
  Speaker 7: kept me in rhythm.
• 16:35
  Speaker 6: I'm glad you brought snit up because I want this
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: is a general question because it's one that I get
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: a lot. It's one that Tyler and I have debated
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: on this podcast a good bit because fans or this
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: is just something that keeps coming up, and it's kind
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: of the role of a hitting coach and the role
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: of kind of what a hitting coach kind of does
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: for you guys. So in general, well, you don't have
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: to maybe be specific to Troy, but what what is
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: your ideal hitting coach, Like, what does a hitting coach
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: do for you? And what do you think makes someone
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: good at that? What what is the best thing a
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: hitting coach can do for you?
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: Uh, they they can understand kind of how I think
• 17:20
  Speaker 7: and how I talk about hitting and talk me, talk
• 17:25
  Speaker 7: me through some things to help maybe remind me when
• 17:28
  Speaker 7: I'm I'm forgetting about a couple or I'm losing focus
• 17:31
  Speaker 7: on what I'm focusing on, uh, and then also setting
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: up the picture that we're facing, helping me really really
• 17:38
  Speaker 7: dial in how I want to attack that guy but
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: I mean the main thing is is just kind of
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: keeping you on track, keeping you focus on the things
• 17:48
  Speaker 7: that make your swing tick and give you the best
• 17:52
  Speaker 7: chance to compete in the box, because that's that's ultimately
• 17:55
  Speaker 7: us as you know, athletes and baseball players, that's what
• 17:57
  Speaker 7: we're great at, is competing, and I think sometimes we
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: can get outside of it by focusing on some different stuff.
• 18:04
  Speaker 6: Josh Reddick will come on here and talk about you know,
• 18:06
  Speaker 6: hitting coaches are kind of like psychiatrists, right, They kind
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: of they're there to really just kind of listen to
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: you guys vent something, because look, you don't get to
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: this level. You don't get to be a big leaguer,
• 18:16
  Speaker 6: an everyday big leaguer if you don't know how to hit,
• 18:19
  Speaker 6: if you don't like know the basics of hitting, and
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: you don't have a good swing, you don't have a
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: good load like things like that. Like when you get
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: here you kind of have it down, pat. Is it
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: more about having a guy that can just listen to you,
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: that you can go vent to, or that you can
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: just kind of talk through things, maybe more than them
• 18:36
  Speaker 6: looking at your swing saying all right, step this way,
• 18:39
  Speaker 6: or do this with your hands or bring your load
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: or do something like that.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: One hundred percent, Yeah, one hundred percent.
• 18:45
  Speaker 7: I think I think to your point, it is really
• 18:48
  Speaker 7: about us needing another pair of eyes, you know sometimes,
• 18:53
  Speaker 7: and we'd all love if we could just all do it,
• 18:56
  Speaker 7: you know, do it on our own, which some guys can.
• 18:59
  Speaker 7: Some guys can, you know, they're super talented and gifted, and.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Like you said, we know how to hit.
• 19:04
  Speaker 7: I think just sometimes having someone else, another pair of
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: eyes to help you kind of sort through some things
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: because you know, the pictures are really good too, so
• 19:12
  Speaker 7: you got to make adjustments.
• 19:14
  Speaker 8: You know, you mentioned you know, a lot of your
• 19:17
  Speaker 8: success last year. Obviously we talked about just cutting down
• 19:20
  Speaker 8: on swings and misses and things like that, but you
• 19:23
  Speaker 8: went straight back up the middle like ten percent more
• 19:27
  Speaker 8: than you had done the previous two seasons. Was that
• 19:30
  Speaker 8: a every at bad are you walking in consciously thinking
• 19:33
  Speaker 8: I'm trying to stay through the middle here? Is it?
• 19:36
  Speaker 8: Is that a you know, part of a different approach
• 19:39
  Speaker 8: that just led to you hitting it more up the
• 19:40
  Speaker 8: middle or was that really what you were thinking every
• 19:42
  Speaker 8: time up there?
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: I think I think it's part of.
• 19:47
  Speaker 7: Maybe part of the journey of mechanically what we had
• 19:51
  Speaker 7: worked on is just kind of staying through that the
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: middle of the field and not coming off.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Of it to the left.
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: And so yeah, like, that's that's cool to hear. I
• 20:01
  Speaker 7: didn't I actually didn't know. I stayed through the middle,
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: you know, ten percent more. That's that's cool to hear. Yeah,
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: you were there is there is a conscious effort to
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: try to stay through the middle of the field, and
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: and so it kind of shows more success by doing that.
• 20:15
  Speaker 8: Yeah, you were thirty two and twenty twenty three, thirty four,
• 20:19
  Speaker 8: and then last year forty two. Uh so you were
• 20:22
  Speaker 8: I mean straight up the middle almost half the time
• 20:23
  Speaker 8: when you put the ball in the air. So yeah,
• 20:26
  Speaker 8: that's a that's a pretty good way to lead to success.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: I would say, absolutely absolutely.
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: That's interesting, Jake, Like, I'm sure you've talked to Korea
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: about Korea is like the guy that is always looking
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: at his baseball savan He's always looking at fangrafts, always
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: looking at all of his advanced stats, knows everything. Like
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: are you a guy that looks at you maybe the
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: underlying metrics a lot. Do you look at your savant page?
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: Do you look at that stuff or do you just
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: kind of try to stay away from that and just
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: kind of play your game.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I try to stay away from it me.
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: Like knowing knowing that myself, that's not going to provide
• 21:02
  Speaker 7: me a whole lot of value doing that me personally,
• 21:05
  Speaker 7: and so I just try to focus on every single
• 21:08
  Speaker 7: day what I know works for me, what I know
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: helps me focus on the things I need to focus
• 21:15
  Speaker 7: on and what makes my swing tick and kind of
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: just do that in a routine way and try to
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: get in a rhythm with it every day.
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: Let's talk about your defense. Is there one catch in
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: your in your head, Like, do you have in your
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: mind since you've been in the big leagues your favorite catch,
• 21:33
  Speaker 6: like the best or your favorite catch that you've made
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: in the big leagues.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's tough. I would have to say probably probably.
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: Josh Hater on the mound, a catch at the top
• 21:48
  Speaker 7: of the wall in center field late late in a
• 21:51
  Speaker 7: game like a one run game, that that I make
• 21:53
  Speaker 7: a catch at the top of the field, top of
• 21:55
  Speaker 7: the fence thing two years ago.
• 21:57
  Speaker 8: There you go. My hot take is that you do
• 22:01
  Speaker 8: not get enough credit around the league because you get
• 22:05
  Speaker 8: such good jumps on everything that you turn what should
• 22:08
  Speaker 8: be a diving catch for most people into you standing
• 22:12
  Speaker 8: under the ball and just catching it at your chest.
• 22:15
  Speaker 8: Do you feel that, like, can you tell like what
• 22:19
  Speaker 8: how do you get such good jumps on everything?
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: First off?
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Like?
• 22:21
  Speaker 8: What what what is it that you're doing that other
• 22:25
  Speaker 8: people have not figured out?
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: I think I think the big thing, Uh, the big
• 22:31
  Speaker 7: thing for me is that I was so lucky to
• 22:33
  Speaker 7: have my dad, who played minor league baseball all the
• 22:36
  Speaker 7: way up to Triple A.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: He was a center fielder.
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: And then I also played for Darren ursad for at Nebraska,
• 22:42
  Speaker 7: and so I was talking about jumps and playing center field.
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: I mean when I was five years old, you know,
• 22:49
  Speaker 7: like that was the that was the first thing that
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: my dad, you know, would taught me how to do.
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: And and I was focusing on that when I was
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: really really young. And so I think just that it
• 23:01
  Speaker 7: being kind of natural to me because I've done it
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: so much that getting those jumps is kind of second
• 23:08
  Speaker 7: nature to me.
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: Was your dad as athletic and as gifted of a
• 23:12
  Speaker 6: defender as you are?
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: No, no, no way, no. He liked to tell me
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: he was, uh, and I'm sure he.
• 23:19
  Speaker 7: I'm sure he was really good because the guys that
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: have put the guys that played with him tell me
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: he was a really really good center fielder and player.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: So I'm sure he was good. But I like to
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: talk smack.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 23:30
  Speaker 8: While we're on the subject of Dad, this is uh.
• 23:34
  Speaker 8: You're not gonna get asked this question a lot and interviews.
• 23:37
  Speaker 8: Your middle name is Berkshire. Yep, like Warren Buffett's company.
• 23:43
  Speaker 8: Is that? Is that what you're named after?
• 23:45
  Speaker 7: No, I'm not I get that often. Come on, but
• 23:47
  Speaker 7: my my mom's maiden name is Berkshire.
• 23:50
  Speaker 8: Really, so you're the heir to the fortune?
• 23:53
  Speaker 7: No, no, no, no, uh, no connection at all. My
• 23:59
  Speaker 7: grandpa worked across the hall from Warren Buffett. So but
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: but no connection at all.
• 24:04
  Speaker 8: But there it's in Omaha, right, like.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: It's yep, yep, he lives in oh she's a.
• 24:09
  Speaker 8: Berkshire from Omaha. And you don't think that you're getting
• 24:11
  Speaker 8: some of that trillion.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Dollars at some point, man, I don't think so.
• 24:16
  Speaker 8: Do a DNA test. You need to file something.
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: While we're on the Dad thing, I was thinking about
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: this earlier today. We've had We've had a number of
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: players come on this show since it started last year,
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: and Jake I think you're the first dad. I think
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: you were the first player that we've had that has
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: children that has been Yeah, we've had We've had Hunter,
• 24:38
  Speaker 6: we had Ryan Weiss, we had Nate Pearson.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going down the list.
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: I don't Bryce Matthews, Like, Yeah, we've had all guys
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: that don't have kids.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: You have two kids.
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: What is that like like being on the road. I mean,
• 24:51
  Speaker 6: Tyler's over here, Tyler's three kids. But being on the
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: road as much as you guys, as much as ball
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: players are on the road, you know, I think if
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: I remember right, both of your kid have been born
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: in season kind of what has that been like being
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: a dad while also being a big league baseball player.
• 25:07
  Speaker 7: Yeah, First of all, I wouldn't be able to do
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: without my wife, Maddie.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: There's there's no way I would be able to do it.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: She's a she's a superstar.
• 25:17
  Speaker 7: She does a great job of bringing them to Houston
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: when we're at home and I get to spend a
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: lot of time with them.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean it's I really wouldn't be able
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: to do without my wife. Honestly.
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: Uh So that that's really the secret behind it?
• 25:33
  Speaker 8: Good answer, Yeah, is the is the dad strength real,
• 25:39
  Speaker 8: like the the you know, the day after your kids
• 25:43
  Speaker 8: are born, you get back to the field, like do
• 25:44
  Speaker 8: you because I mean you're just so tired as as
• 25:47
  Speaker 8: you know, you're just but how how is it real?
• 25:50
  Speaker 8: Like do you feel different when you walk in there?
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, I do. I think it is real.
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: I think there's something to it and definitely uh accumulate
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: over a course of maybe a year of holding him.
• 26:04
  Speaker 8: I think so too.
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: I think that's maybe where it comes from.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think I think it's a real thing.
• 26:12
  Speaker 8: Yeah, he's just walking around with a twenty pound weight
• 26:14
  Speaker 8: on you all the time. You're you're gonna get gains
• 26:17
  Speaker 8: even if you don't know it.
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: Absolutely As someone that is such a gifted defensive outfielder
• 26:24
  Speaker 6: as you are, Jake, I wonder what you thought of
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: of the way Cam Smith transitioned from you know, at
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: literally at this time last year, it was when he
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: started his transition to right field. Then he ends the
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: season as a goal glove finalist in right field. For
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: those of us that don't know, like, how difficult is
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: it to do what he did? And what did you
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: think of him defensively playing next to him?
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: As much as you did in right field. Yeah, I
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: mean Cam's a special player.
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: I mean that that's where I want to start with that,
• 26:56
  Speaker 7: because he's going to be a superstar.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: In my opinion, his transition from.
• 27:02
  Speaker 7: Infield to outfield is probably the best I've ever seen,
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: to be honest with you, because I mean, to be
• 27:10
  Speaker 7: a Gold Glove finalist is extremely hard, and to do
• 27:14
  Speaker 7: it the first year you've ever played in a position
• 27:16
  Speaker 7: like that. That says enough to where to to won
• 27:20
  Speaker 7: his work, work ethic and to his his ability out there.
• 27:23
  Speaker 7: I mean, I think I think he will win a
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: Gold Glove out there as he stacks up more experience.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: But I mean, it's just you can just tell it's
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: natural to him and.
• 27:34
  Speaker 7: The way he sees the ball off the bat, the
• 27:36
  Speaker 7: way you know he gets jumps and he makes plays
• 27:38
  Speaker 7: out there. He made some huge plays, the ways he
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: the way he backed me up, you know, maybe when
• 27:44
  Speaker 7: I made a mistake or one or two.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Uh, it's just really special. No one knowing where he
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: needs to be. Uh.
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: You know that that accumulates over years, and he was
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: able to do it in a couple of months.
• 27:58
  Speaker 6: You You and I talked about this few times last season,
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: but at that point al Tuve Jose was playing left
• 28:05
  Speaker 6: and Cam was playing right. Those are two pretty inexperienced outfielders,
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: and you kind of had to be the You had
• 28:12
  Speaker 6: to be the captain out there. You're the center fielder.
• 28:14
  Speaker 6: You kind of are running the show out there. I
• 28:17
  Speaker 6: guess as Cam kept progressing, did you find yourself having
• 28:21
  Speaker 6: to to yell and shout less and less? Did you
• 28:24
  Speaker 6: find yourself like having to help him out less and less?
• 28:27
  Speaker 6: And how cool was that to watch him kind of
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: grow into his own as an outfielder and kind of
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: not need you or not need like a lot of
• 28:35
  Speaker 6: help out there, to let his athleticism and his instincts
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: take over.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was awesome.
• 28:42
  Speaker 7: The first maybe the first month or month and a half,
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: you know, I felt like, you know, we would talk
• 28:47
  Speaker 7: through a lot of situations, maybe with a pitching change
• 28:51
  Speaker 7: or you know, stuff like that. We were talking through
• 28:54
  Speaker 7: things in the dugout and practice. But like you said,
• 28:58
  Speaker 7: after a month and a half or so, it was
• 29:00
  Speaker 7: kind of, you know, let it, let it loose, and
• 29:03
  Speaker 7: he got after it and he was he was making
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: some awesome plays and you know, throwing guys out.
• 29:10
  Speaker 8: Is is this the first year that you felt like
• 29:13
  Speaker 8: the old guy out there, like what I.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: Felt it a little bit last year. I felt I
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: felt it a little bit like.
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: You said, being the guy to maybe talk through some
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: things and defensive practice and stuff like that.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: That was really cool. But it's been really cool for me.
• 29:31
  Speaker 7: To, you know, kind of share my experiences and try
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: to help people out because I really enjoy that.
• 29:37
  Speaker 6: You maybe more than anyone I've covered. Jake, your name
• 29:42
  Speaker 6: comes up in trade discussions and rumors every off season
• 29:47
  Speaker 6: and every deadline. You and I have joked about this.
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: I think there was one deadline one year where you
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: looked at me and said, Hey, I'm still here. How
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: do you handle that? And have you found like the
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: perfect way to handle it? Because you've had now many
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: many times to to have to confront this, like do
• 30:05
  Speaker 6: you ignore it? Do you reach out to Dana or
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: Joe or whomever's in charge at that time, kind of
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: how do you go about compartmentalizing that, uh and maybe
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: even ignoring kind of what's out there in trade roomers.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: I think over the course of the years, I got
• 30:21
  Speaker 7: a little bit better and better at it.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 30:23
  Speaker 7: I know this is a business, and uh, what's best
• 30:27
  Speaker 7: for the team you know, sometimes could be me getting traded,
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: and so I understand that, but it's it's really out
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: of my control.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: So I try to I.
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: Try to focus on what I got that day, and
• 30:36
  Speaker 7: you know, if the call comes and I get traded,
• 30:40
  Speaker 7: then you know, I gotta I gotta deal with that.
• 30:42
  Speaker 7: But I absolutely love being here and playing for the Ashros.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: I've been here for five years.
• 30:47
  Speaker 7: Now and I've learned a lot, and I absolutely love
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: winning with the Ashros.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: So you know, while I'm here, I'll savor every every day.
• 30:59
  Speaker 6: As you look forward to the twenty twenty sixth season,
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: I think I think if I asked you what the
• 31:05
  Speaker 6: team's goals are, I think we know those. We don't
• 31:07
  Speaker 6: need to vocalize those. It's to get back to the playoffs,
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: and it's to win the World Series. That's always individually
• 31:13
  Speaker 6: for you, maybe outside of team goals, what what are
• 31:18
  Speaker 6: your individual goals going into twenty six Whether that's something
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: you'd like to improve upon, something you'd like to you know,
• 31:24
  Speaker 6: get better at, or something you'd just like to maintain.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean.
• 31:30
  Speaker 7: Going off of kind of what I did last year,
• 31:33
  Speaker 7: of being being a consistent player, staying healthy is at
• 31:37
  Speaker 7: the top of that, I mean, I gotta stay healthy,
• 31:40
  Speaker 7: be out on the field so I can I can
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: help the team win as much as I possibly can.
• 31:45
  Speaker 7: But just have quality abs and and you know, if
• 31:49
  Speaker 7: that's getting on base in a game, so stealing a bag,
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: so you know, Altuve or Jordan or Carlos can hit
• 31:56
  Speaker 7: me in or Christian Walker.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: That's That's when I'm trying and do and but but.
• 32:01
  Speaker 7: To grow, maybe slug a little bit more, find find
• 32:05
  Speaker 7: areas to slug, get myself in plus counts, and and
• 32:09
  Speaker 7: you know, maybe maybe let it eat a little bit more.
• 32:11
  Speaker 7: So that that's kind of where where I want to
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: be this year.
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: It's one thing you've done a good job of, and
• 32:17
  Speaker 6: you've talked about it in camp or already, is getting
• 32:20
  Speaker 6: getting yourself in leverage counts, getting yourself ahead in the
• 32:24
  Speaker 6: count to where they're going to throw you something you
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: can slug. If you look at two years ago, you
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: were swinging a lot early in the count. You're swinging
• 32:34
  Speaker 6: a lot at the first pitch. You were swinging a
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: lot at one, two or three pitches in the event,
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: because the numbers showed that when you swung at the
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: first pitch of a plate appearance or when you were
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: within the first two or three pitches, that's when you
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: had the most success. So where is that balance between
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: being aggressive when you know you're you're good early in
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: the count, but also wanting to get into account where
• 32:53
  Speaker 6: you're going to force a pitcher to come over the
• 32:54
  Speaker 6: heart of the plate and let you maybe hit for
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: some power.
• 32:58
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think I think it is really dependent on
• 33:01
  Speaker 7: the pitcher we're facing in the situation.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Definitely, early in the early in my career, I.
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: Was definitely way more or very aggressive and had success
• 33:13
  Speaker 7: doing that, and I think I do feel comfortable doing that.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: But last year I started to learn how.
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: To to see some pitches and and get myself in
• 33:23
  Speaker 7: better leverage counts more consistently. And so now that that
• 33:28
  Speaker 7: had that experience last year, I feel like I can
• 33:30
  Speaker 7: build upon that this year.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Well, Jake, this was fun.
• 33:35
  Speaker 6: We really appreciate this during spring training, taking some time out,
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: and more importantly, before Nebraska plays an interval a very
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: important NCAA tournament game this week. You were the one
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: that informed me that Nebraska has never won an n
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: c DOUAA tournament.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Game and it's school's history.
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: Does that change this weekend. Do the Cornhuskers finally get
• 33:58
  Speaker 6: an NCAA tournament win.
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: Look, guys, I'm not gonna lie to you. This is
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: the biggest basketball game in Nebraska history right here, and
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: you know what, I'm feeling good about it. But that
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: doesn't mean that doesn't mean history can't repeat itself. So
• 34:14
  Speaker 7: we're we're gonna be on our toes. We're gonna try
• 34:17
  Speaker 7: and watch it on Thursday. It's at twelve forty. I'm
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: gonna try and lock in. But I'm feeling good about it.
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: I think I think this is the team that's gonna,
• 34:26
  Speaker 7: you know, take us out of the history books in
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: a negative way.
• 34:29
  Speaker 8: There you go. Well, I'm just a couple of years
• 34:33
  Speaker 8: older than you, But I went to Texas A and
• 34:35
  Speaker 8: M and grew up in Aggie, so we were yelling
• 34:38
  Speaker 8: at each other without knowing it all all growing up.
• 34:41
  Speaker 8: So got a long history there. So yep, that's that's
• 34:45
  Speaker 8: fun and also not a lot of success. I can
• 34:47
  Speaker 8: relate to that quite a bit of not having that.
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: Yeah, Nebraska and Troy Thursday, it's a night game. Asher's
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: playing a night game, So Jake Myers will be locked
• 34:59
  Speaker 6: in to the corn Huskers and the Troy Trojans, Jake,
• 35:02
  Speaker 6: this was great. Thank you very much again. Good luck
• 35:05
  Speaker 6: this season, continued health, and I will see you tomorrow.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Thank you guys. Thanks for having me on. This
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: is awesome. I really appreciate it.
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: Thanks Jake, Thanks Jake, Thank you guys,