Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Andre Pallante on 2026 Resurgence, Offseason Plans, Platoon of Catchers, The Future of the Cardinals

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Andre Pallante on 2026 Resurgence, Offseason Plans, Platoon of Catchers, The Future of the Cardinals · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Jim Hayes with Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn, and a
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: special guest, 12-game winner Andre Polante is joining us. Hello, Andre.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on. I know these guys are
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: your former teammates, so we're hoping it's a pitcher's roundtable.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: But I'm going to start with a question, and then
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: we'll rotate a little bit. My first question, Andre, is this.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: You won 12 games, tip of the cap to you.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: You had an ERA of what? 3.83, if I could
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: read my chicken scratch here. Really solid numbers. It would
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: have been better to get a couple of rough starts
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: toward the end of the season, but overall really good.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: What was your main takeaway, would you say, from this
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: season where it seems like you really came into your own?
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it really has to do with understanding
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: myself as a pitcher, just kind of understanding like, you know,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: these are my strengths.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: This is what I do really well.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: And then how to compliment those and not letting anything
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: kind of take me out of that, regardless of the,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: you know, whether it's results based, whether it's scouting report based,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: whatever that is really just understanding who I am as
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: a pitcher and really just staying committed to that.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: You got to get out of here early at some point.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: So go ahead.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Give them some questions.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: Dre, I agree with Jim. Awesome year, man. Fun to
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: watch you guys. You know, we talked about it a
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: lot on here. The style of baseball you guys played
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: was really fun to watch. Solid defense, starting pitching, pitching overall.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: You guys dealt with some adversity with some injuries with,
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: you know, a lot of things. So, but you guys
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: powered through and beat expectations. So talk to me a
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: little bit about the culture that you guys are building
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: and and how you guys kind of eliminated some of
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: that outside noise, uh, to have a successful year that
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: you have.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I think, uh, as a whole, as
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: a team, it was so awesome to see a lot
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: of the younger guys come up and perform well.
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: And, you know, we see some guys live up to
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: their potential.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Um, especially like, you know, Jay walk having as great
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: of a year as he had, um, you know, seeing, uh,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: you know, just a lot of guys come out and
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: really show out and show what they're capable of. And
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: there's a lot to be excited for with the Cardinals.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: You know, these guys are good.
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: We're all really good. And, uh, being able to show them.
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: So that's obviously great.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Um, pitchers, I mean, like McGreevy showing up, showing like,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: you know, he's, he knows so who he is so well, he's, uh,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: so consistent. Um, so having him come up, get a
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: full season on there, but it was awesome to really see.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: So you, you've been through a little bit of, uh,
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: up and down, right? Everybody has it. Uh, I think unfairly, um,
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: major league baseball players catch flack, uh, for not being
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: perfect every year, right? Like, I took a similar career path,
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: so I feel like I can say this, and I
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: don't think you're going to take offense to this, but
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: last year wasn't the year you wanted to have. You
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: get another full year this year, you switch up some usages,
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: and you have an awesome year. Tell us a little
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: bit about some of those adjustments that you made, because
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: I'm looking at some pitch usage, some spin adjustments, approach adjustments.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: Take us through a couple of the things that your
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: mindset shifted toward for this year.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think I really developed a clear understanding
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: of how I attack my hitters, you know, left-handed hitters,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: right-handed hitters. To left-handed hitters, you know, I've got a
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: kind of cutty fastball that plays great up and into them.
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: And, you know, I kind of like.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I always knew that was my strength, right? Like that's
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: why I was in the big leagues for the last
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: five years, whatever it is. That's been the core of
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: my uniqueness and what's made me really good. So I
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: think like understanding that and, you know, challenging myself to
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: be the best pitcher I can at that as well
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: as developing supplemental stuff to that. So to lefties with
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: the up and in fastball, I changed the mentality with
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: my curveball, where when I was in college, in the minors,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: that was always a put-away pitch for me. I changed
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: that mentality to be, okay, this is a pitch I
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: want to land for strikes whenever I want, whenever I
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: need to, in order to get me.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: Back in counts and keep hitters guessing.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: As well as using more sliders and development of a changeup,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: just giving more looks that can kind of take hitters
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: off that up and in spot, which I know is
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: my strength. And the righties, it was kind of like
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the understanding of like, I never really had a true.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: Identity with them.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I really struggled with them when I first came up
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: because I've kind of got that cutty fastball and the
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: slider and the curve ball, everything I threw moved away
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: from them. So it was really hitter easy for hitters to,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: you know, develop an approach against me. And, um, you know, they,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: they hit me really well until I kind of had
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: the development of the two seam, which both you and
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Lance were there for, uh, you know, I brought it up, uh, with,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: you know, I almost headshot some righties when I was
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: first running that pitch, but, uh, This last year, I
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: felt like I really honed in the command of that,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: and it was really consistent for me. But I developed
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: basically the basis of my game plan is my best
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: pitch varieties is a slider down and away. It's a
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: pitch I need to execute, but it's a really good pitch.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: And then what can I do to complement that? And
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: that was the development of the two-seam fastball, which I
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: would throw up and in, the curveball, which I would
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: land for strikes to slow them down when I'm not
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: sure if they're hunting between.
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: The two of those, as well as how to use
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: my forcing a bit better.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: So some of the stuff that you did, you know,
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: you had a few less starts this year just with
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: a short time on the IL, but with 300 less
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: overall pitches, you didn't completely eliminate your four-seamer to righties,
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: but you limited a lot, you know, just over 129 starts.
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: Your sinker usage tracked, and it looked like you probably
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: used a little bit more of those to righties. And
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: then it looks like your slider usage also shifted up.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: So is that kind of that know your strength uses
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: that you're talking about. Was the four-seamer down and away,
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: was that kind of a pitch that you said, hey,
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: what am I doing giving up hits on this when
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: my sinker is going to be so much better down there?
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think the sinker elevates the slider
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: a lot more, right? I think they tunnel better. Like
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the four-seamer and the slider, the tunnel is basically the same.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: You can kind of take the same swing at either
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: one of them and make the adjustment hit both. Whereas
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: the sinker is got, it tunnels, but it also has
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: got so much separation with the movement that it gets
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: to a different part of the zone. You have to
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: swing at it differently if you want to make good contact.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: So that really just elevated it. So, and then, yeah,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: with understanding that my slider is my best pitch, regardless
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: of the scouting report, regardless of the situation, I'm going
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: to throw that to a hitter. That's where you saw
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: the increased uses there, as well as the foreseam was
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: just kind of like a, just the pitch that got hit,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: you know, it was just a pitch that, did not
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: perform odoritis. So throwing that less is always better when
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: it's a pitch that doesn't perform. But I think I
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: learned that it's best in like, you know, limit damage
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: counts when guys are looking for either of the two
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: and I can kind of surprise them, kind of like
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: a cutter.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: Lance, in 2024, did you think that you would now
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: later hear Andre Palante talking about pitch tumbling?
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Did he just say that? No, there's a one time
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: we had to talk about chasing a sweeper. So there
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: was times where The beautiful brain of Andre also got
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: him in trouble early on in his career because he
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: is such a perfectionist. He wants to be great. But
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: what he learned and what we're talking about now is
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: he's figured out who he is, what stuff plays for him,
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: and now he's slowly adding on to what he does well,
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: which is where the split, a.k.a. kick change, is coming
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: into play and the things that he's adding on to him.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: And I think that what we've talked about in our
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: past is you've eliminated the walks because you know who
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: you are now too, which is why I think our
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: numbers were even better this year. So where do you
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: think you're at on that now that you're not chasing
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: things that you're physically not capable of doing with your
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: arm slot and you're listening and doing what we talked
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: about from the get-go is know who you are. So
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: you know how to attack hitters. Yeah.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's easy to just say, Oh,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: I should have listened to Lance my whole life. Um, but, uh,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe I should have maybe Lance and Kyle
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: a little bit more, but I had to tune out
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: a lot of the BS. So, but you know, yeah,
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, definitely, like you said, tunneling super important, like
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: learning what pitches cooperates was a big deal for last year.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: And hopefully, you know, keep taking on that, keep building
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: on that and have more success in the future.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Before we let Kyle go, I wanted to ask you,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: so these guys were both your teammates, right? Both of them,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Chopped full of pitching wisdom. So tell me who was
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: a better teammate and who was a better guy to
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: go ask for information. That's what I want to know.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Throw somewhere under the bus. He wants you to throw
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: somewhere under the bus. I'm going to take it because
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: I know how this goes. Kyle was a good cop.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: I was a bad cop. I told Dre to get
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: his head out of his ass. Kyle patted Dre on
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: the ass. So that was our... That was our role.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Those were our roles as veterans at our time.
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, one of them was like, yeah, you know, Andre,
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: I really believe in you. You're going to figure this out.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: You're great.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: Your girlfriend's amazing. I don't know why you guys aren't
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: engaged yet. Like, you're awesome.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: Another person was clapping apple pie out of my hands
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: and telling me to get lost on the bus or
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: go bring him snacks or something.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: Go bring him a new dress.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: Shedders in the back. I think I told you the
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: shedders in the back one time.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you guys can decide for who I'm talking about.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Well, let's be honest. There's always that one guy on
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: each team, and Kyle knows that, that shows up and
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: thinks they've got 10-5. I mean, and Dre did it
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: to himself. I remember he got mouthy like day three
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: of spring training, and Kyle goes, oh, my God, this
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: kid has no idea I.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: Was thinking of day one. I was thinking of day one.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: And so, so people understand 10, five, right? You're talking
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: 10 year service time, five with one team, Andre, when
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: you get that, what can't happen?
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Um, you can't be, I want somebody who doesn't know
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: what it entails. I love that. I've been chasing something.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: He doesn't know what it gives you. It means you
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: can't get treated without your approval.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: You got no trade clause and five years to get
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: you no option. So you're not to five years yet.
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: So watch yourself.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: So anyways, yeah, I, I think it was day one
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: or day two that between, I think Burley was a
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: little bit less comfortable the first week, but Burley and
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: Lance have a lot of similarities there. But I'm pretty
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: sure Andre saw Lance and I come into spring training
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: and he just wanted to stir the pot with a
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: couple other, fellow starters right out of the gate. And
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: Lance and I had lockers right there in the corner
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: on the way to everything. So Andre had nowhere to
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: go except walk right past us every time. It was great.
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: All right. One thing we know about Andre is he
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: cannot not say something if it's on his brain too.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: So we learned that real quick and that, that made
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: good fun. I really did. So I enjoyed it.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: I got to run, but I got one more question.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: And then I'm sure Lance will go into tunneling on this.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: But I want to talk about the kick change because
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: I see some to lefties. I don't see very many
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: to righties. Is that something that you plan to work in? Because,
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: you know, as we talked about with, you know, not
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: throwing a sweeper and how your release point works with
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: your pitches, your kick change and your slider go opposite
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: on the observed movement. So tell me a little bit
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: about your kick change and if there's any more plans
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: for it.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that was a pitch, you know, like
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: before I came out to spring, it was great.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: When I got out to spring, completely forgot how to
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: throw it.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: I had no idea where it was going. The movement
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: was wrong. The location was bad. And I kind of
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: like figured it out towards the beginning of the year.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: I thought I lost it, like the middle of the year.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: You know, there's even clips like I threw one in
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Cincinnati and it moved the wrong way. It cut and
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: the hitter, De La Cruz, swung and missed at it.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: The catcher completely whipped on and hit the umpire right
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: in the face. So part of it was just, like,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: trying to develop, like, how do I get this pitch
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: more consistent? Which about the halfway point of the year
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: and on, it was really good, very consistent. And then
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: it just became about a comfortability thing. I don't preset
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: the kick change, and it's a weird grip. So for
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: me to, like, try and dig in and get it, like,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: my whole posture changes. I'm pretty sure everyone on the
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: planet can tell when I'm going to throw it. But
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: that's the goal for this season is, yeah.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God, oh, my God, he called it. Yeah.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: It's like a kid throwing it and literally, yeah, I
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: like that one. First slider of the day.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: But yeah, so the goal is to preset that. So
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: that way there's a little bit more deception with it.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: So I can use it with guys in base. And
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: I was using it with guys.
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: In base towards the end of the year anyways. But yeah,
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: specifically righties.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: I threw one when I was coming back from a
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: live BP and threw it to Pedro. And it was
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: probably the best one I've ever thrown in my life.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: So there's definitely plans to use it more, especially to righties,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: because it's one of the highest missed pitches in the league.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: It's like I change up right on right. So, yeah,
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: that's definitely a goal of mine to get that into
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: more usage.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: All right. Well, my only tip for you, Jim, I'm
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: going to have to run. So I'm going to give
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: Andre my only unsolicited tip he didn't ask for. I'm
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: going to tell him anyways. When you get to spring,
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: I know last spring training was a little different. You
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: were coming off of a down year. You wanted to
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: kind of prove the adjustments you made. So the kick
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: change probably wasn't a priority. I would suggest to you
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: when you get to spring this year, every at bat,
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: whether live BP or in the game, use a kick
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: change before you use your spin. I did it about
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: every year the first couple starts to make sure that
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: my changeup was on point when I went into the year.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: It's a field pitch, right? As you now know, it's
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: a big time field pitch. Not like slide or set
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: it and forget it. Throw that kick change every at
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: bat before you throw your spin. I think we'll be
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: locked in by the time you get to the end
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: of March. Or as Jim says, it's going to be
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: the end of July because of the lockout. So watch
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: out for his negativity the rest of the time here.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: But he doesn't think you guys are going to even play.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: So I think the end of March, you'll be ready
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: for the season. But, Dre, appreciate your time. Sorry I
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: got to run. As always, call me a second if
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: you got anything. But appreciate you being here, bud.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: Appreciate it.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Gibby.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: See you, Kyle. And, Kyle, by the way, it's not
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: telling the truth. I believe cooler heads will prevail. And
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: they will eventually figure this thing out. At least that's
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: what I'm hoping. Let me ask you this. The season
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: you guys put together as a team, you guys, I think,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: outperformed a lot of what a lot of predictions were,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: what a lot of people thought you guys could do.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: And I noticed, even when there was like a dry
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: spell where you guys weren't playing good, you guys bounced back.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: A lot of comebacks and everything. Young team that really
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: believed in itself. And I'm just wondering, like... For the
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: fans that don't get to see it, because you guys
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: are a tight-knit group, who are the guys that are
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: some of the leaders in the clubhouse that maybe they
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: might not suspect? I think you get Burleys in there,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Masons in there, Walkers. We get that. Give me some
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: guys who have a leadership role that maybe fans wouldn't
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: know about, guys that are not afraid to say something.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Just curious.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think obviously you've got the main leaders, right?
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: And I think because we're all it's not like we
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: have a vocal leader. It's not like someone goes up
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: there and it's like, all right, guys, you know, now
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: we've now we got now we go wherever, you know,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: wherever that would look like or entail. But I just
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: think because no one feels uncomfortable, no one feels like
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: they're below anyone. No one feels like there's this hierarchy
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: at all. It really feels like guys feel open or
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: free to just kind of be themselves or do what
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: they feel like they need to. And I think, yeah,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: you you see that with just the comfortability, even like
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: the big moments.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Everyone's expecting the best of themselves. And so, yeah, I
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: just think just kind of group buy in and stuff
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: like that.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: Would you say, well, I think most people would say
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: you guys outperform, especially projections this year. Right. I think.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: Gibby and I have always talked about, especially with Jim
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: is we love the talent you guys had and people
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: didn't realize how talented people are. So obviously this step
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: with Jordan and JJ coming up, you've got guys that
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: are taking those next step. Talk about as a whole,
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: what you think this group can do going in the
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: future as a core and where are some things that
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: might prevail you guys to be a playoff contender next year?
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, you know, maybe I'm biased and I'm
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: sure you're biased as well, but I think obviously having a,
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: starting pitching is the most important thing when it comes
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: to just overall success. And I think a lot of
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: what we saw this year from the McGreevy, his consistency,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: he's always going to be consistent. You know, he shows
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: up every day the same. His stuff is always moving
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the same. His command's great. You know, he's going to
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: be a rock. Just, you know, you always know what
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: you're going to get from McGreevy. I think Leahy showed
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: signs of, you know, how good he can be. And
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: I think when, you know, after having the workload spiked,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: he'll be a little bit more stronger, a little bit
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: more prepared. And I'll be able to keep like, you know,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: what he gave up, like what, two runs or less
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: for like 12 straight starts in a row. Yeah, I
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: think that's something you can get starting to expect from him.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: You know, like he's really good. His stuff's amazing. His
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: command's great.
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: He's a hard worker.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: You know, it really starts with starting pitching for sure.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: And that's probably because I'm biased. And then the core
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: of the lineup, I thought you really saw the strides.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: You know, JJ's got such a consistent approach, you know,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: his ability to kind of shrink the zone, make you
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: make pitches to him. and then take advantage of your mistakes.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's a great hitter. He's going to have
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: success for a long time. Um, Jaywalk breaking out, showing
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: off the power, showing off everything we knew he was
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: capable of that we've all seen, but just kind of
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: like gets lost in the, you know, just the tough
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: kind of stress you had, you know, it's not easy.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: It's not easy to learn how to do big, especially
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: when you're 20, you know, was he 22 and 21?
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: And this last year was 23. Uh, most guys don't
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: even debut until way older than that still. Um, so
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: I think, uh, And Burley's been super consistent. Burley's a
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: great hitter. He's one of the best hitters in the league.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: He doesn't get the respect he deserves for as good
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: as he is. And I think when you've got a
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: guy like that hitting in the middle of your lineup,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: he can really elevate everyone else. So I think just
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: all that entails that we'll be very good coming up,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: and there's a lot to be excited about.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: With Libby, you know, he had a rough season. He
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: had a lot of good starts in there. I know
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: you guys are all tight in that starting rotation. How
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: tough was this season for him? Because I always say
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: on this show, it's like Libby territory because we're all
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: pro Libby because he's such a good guy. But what
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: did you see? What did you guys talk about trying
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: to get him on track?
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, hey, trust me, I wish I wish
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: every one of us had the answer for everyone else
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: because then you give it to them and then everyone's great.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah. But we're always working at it. We're always paying attention.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: We're watching the starts. We're seeing the work he puts in.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: We're seeing all that. I think most importantly, you start
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: off with saying that, you know, I said it, I
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: want to say about three years ago, I was sitting
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: down and spring training and my roommate was John. And
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: it was like John and his, his wife and my
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: girlfriend and I were also in there. I'm like, if
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Libby can't start in the big leagues, no one can.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Like his stuff is amazing. He's a great pitcher. He's
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: got the command. He's got the stuff. He's got the
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: work ethic, all this stuff. Like we all really believe
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: in him. And I especially believe in him a lot.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: um and i think you know it's just part of
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: the part of the game i know i don't know
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: if gibby gibby said talk to me about it before
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: i don't know if he's brought it up in this
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: meeting but uh it was just like you know you
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: have stress in your career where you get exposed you
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: know exposed for either your weaknesses or you know sometimes
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: it's mentality that gets you away from what you're good
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: at or whatever that is and you know it's a
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: tough it's a tough thing to go through i felt
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: for him you know i just had gone through that
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: like last year. I know exactly where he was at
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: mentally and with a lot of that stuff, or at
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: least how I felt about it. But I think, you know,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: if anyone's going to work their tail off to get
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: back and get right, it's going to be him. I think,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: you know, he's going to obviously work harder and like
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: making the spin more effective and all that stuff. And
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to see what he comes up with, because
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: if I know him, he's going to be almost unrecognizable
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: with how much work he's going to put in on
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: himself this year.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: No, I've comped him to you in the past coming
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: from last year to this year. That's the hope for
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: him next year, in my opinion, is, hey, you have
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: your first year fully starting, right? You had that the
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: year before, had some success. League kind of figures you out.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: You have some bad luck. You run away from contact
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: because every ground ball gets through, and then the walks mount,
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: and then big innings mount. I feel like in Libby's
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: bad starts, it was very similar to that. So people
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: don't realize you're going to get kicked in the sack
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: a little bit. to learn how to get through those
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: things and let the game slow down for you. Right.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: So hopefully for Libby's sake with his stuff and going
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: through these times, the game will slow down for him
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: like it did for you. And that's my hope for
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: him going forward. I know, like we said, we're all
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: big Libby's fans. Just like when you came in and
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: did what you did this year, we were like, Hey,
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: give Palante a chance. Like bad stuff happened the year before.
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: And that will happen in this game, but give them
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: a break because they have this stuff to pitch. So no,
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: we're right there with you. Um, I know Jim loves
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: all your catchers. He wants you to choose who's your
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: favorite catcher to throw to and put the rest of them,
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: one or two of them, under the bus. But as
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: a staff, you have to love the different catchers you
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: guys have to throw to because they're all warranted to
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: be back there and warranted for playing time, and they
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: all bring something different. So kind of touch on those
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: guys right now because you've got a good group.
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I know personally, Ivan was
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: so great for me back there.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: I don't know what my year was with him back there,
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: but he was phenomenal. He always seemed to call the
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: right pitches at the right times. I don't know what
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: I don't know what magic sauce he had for that,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: but he was great, especially for Pedro. What Pedro did
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: was honestly incredible. I don't know what point of the
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: year it was, but almost like two thirds of the season.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: He was tied for the league lead in Thunderstone out
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: and like a third of the games played. which is
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: incredibly hard to do. Like, it's hard to do when
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: you are playing every game, and then he was doing
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: it in less than half. So you can clearly tell
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: he's great back there at what he does. He's great
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: at throwing guys out, great at calling a game. He
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: does a lot of really good stuff. And, you know,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: I hope he gets more opportunities here in the future.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: And then Bernal, I mean, he came up and I
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: thought he did a great job with me. I thought
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: he was, you know, worked hard. He always tried to,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of get the feel for what I
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: like to do. And, I mean, when I would see
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: him hit, I don't know, I don't know what his
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: scouting report is, but every single time he came up
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: to bat, I felt like in like a big moment,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: I would see him hit some fastballs above his head
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: at like 99, some incredibly good fastballs up in the zone,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: and he just hammered them. So I don't know if
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: he's just great at that, but whatever it was, it
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: was really incredible to watch him, you know, come up
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: here and have that success. And for me personally, I
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: will never throw him a fastball up just from what
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: I've seen.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Andre, last question, then we're going to let you go. Um,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: what's for dinner tonight?
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: What are you cooking?
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: Uh, dinner tonight's gonna be pretty simple. Uh, I just
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: got back. Uh, I'm just visiting my family out in
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: California right now. So, uh, probably just order something in. But, uh,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: when I get back home, I've got some, uh, Gibby
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: sponsored pans that he recommended to me. And I'm really
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: excited to make these new recipes that our new chef
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: has sent over to me. So, uh, we'll be making
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: probably a cavatelli alla vodka, a pistachio crested lamb or
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: Wagyu sticky rice will be next on the menu.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Sounds good.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: Hey, hold on. I got one thing. Two off-season things
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: to work on, right? Kick change to righties and make
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: sure your skit on the mic, it gets locked in.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: You got to have a go-to and get the boys
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: going on road trips.
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: Definitely room for improvement there.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: I don't like getting booed every single time I hop
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: on the mic, so we got to get something going.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: There's a good chance you get booed even if you
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: have a great skit. That's kind of the skit when
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: you get on the mic. All right, well, I'll let
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: you know what that is when I come up with
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: something good. If you need any help, Gibby and I,
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: we've seen some good ones. All right.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Get to work on that. And again, thanks for the time.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: We'll see you for the next episode. Hopefully that one
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: won't suck.