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LUGNUTS Weekly: Detmer’s No‑Hit Gem and the Lugnuts’ Wild Week · The House Always Wins Media Network | A’s Baseball Podcasts

0:00
UGNUTS Weekly. Happy Mother's Day. Belated Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.
0:09
Monday, May 11th. Jesse Goldberg Strasser. Jesse, how are you, sir?
0:17
What's up, man? It's good to see you.
0:20
Hey, it's great to see you as well, man.
0:24
Absolutely. Greatest song ever invented. I still don't know. Like I said, I don't know how it hasn't won a Grammy.
0:30
Last week, we got a lot to talk about this week. I want to talk a little bit about the art of developing these players.
0:39
What are teams looking for? Are fans, are organizations getting less patient with them?
0:48
And we'll discuss that a little bit later.
0:51
You had first row seats for a long period of time to seeing Henry Bolte develop,
0:59
and he has been on an absolute tear as of late.
1:03
I want to get your take on him in a few minutes.
1:06
The series at South Bend started ugly, losing the first four games,
1:11
but geez, the Lugnuts sure bounced back. And part of that bounce back was Nathan Detmer with a no-hit bid
1:21
that he took, I believe, into the seventh inning, I want to say.
1:26
He allowed one hit, and I believe it was his first start for Lansing this year.
1:30
He just got promoted from low A.
1:34
And I think he kind of fits in that development type of mode we're going to talk about a little bit later
1:39
because he's been struggling a little bit. He struggled last year.
1:43
He went to fall ball, didn't have the best fall ball, and he's had some success in Stockton this year,
1:49
and it seems like he's turned the corner.
1:51
But first, let's talk about that series at South Bend.
1:54
Lost the first four, dropped the next two.
1:58
First thing I want to ask you about, my man, favorite prospect as far as pitching,
2:04
you knew it was coming, Stephen Echevarria.
2:06
Didn't have the best of outings. I didn't see the game, so I only saw the box score.
2:11
I'm hoping that the box score didn't represent his outing.
2:15
So I think he was thrown off his game, and in fact, Boney, I'm going to connect this to Nathan Detmer.
2:20
Okay.
2:21
There were dominoes that were falling, and another domino is going to have to fall.
2:25
Jackson Finley was promoted up to double A.
2:28
I saw that.
2:29
They needed an arm. He was our starting pitcher who was ready.
2:32
He had impressed. You and I had talked about him.
2:34
So he goes up. He's our Tuesday starter.
2:37
Echevarria suddenly, surprise, Stephen, you're pitching a day earlier than you expect.
2:41
Yeah, right.
2:42
I think he was off his routine as a 20-year-old,
2:44
and I think that we're going to see something much better from him now that he gets back on his routine.
2:48
The trouble is, Jackson Finley then landed on the injured list.
2:51
So I'm wondering, does this mean that Midland is going to need another starting pitcher this coming week?
2:57
But I think that's all it was, was Stephen was just off of his routine,
3:01
and you could tell something was off about him, even though he was trying to fight through it on Tuesday.
3:06
If Midland does need another pitcher, who gets that call?
3:09
Does it go to Echevarria?
3:10
Right.
3:11
The top two candidates would be Echevarria or Zane Taylor.
3:15
This was a cursed series through the first four games.
3:18
Okay. Etches off his game.
3:20
It goes wrong. Lansing loses.
3:22
Fine. Let's come back Wednesday.
3:23
Let's see what Samuel Dudden can give.
3:25
You know what he gave?
3:26
He gave five scoreless innings.
3:28
Great.
3:29
And then he leaves and South Bend scores three runs against DeBell Mercedes in the sixth.
3:33
And that's it. It's over.
3:34
We lose three to one.
3:35
Now you're going, well, crying out loud.
3:37
It's okay.
3:38
We got Zane Taylor coming back on Thursday.
3:40
Zane comes back on Thursday.
3:41
He gives up one hit to the first three innings.
3:44
Suddenly a storm comes in and it's burned.
3:47
And we're delayed for an hour and a half and we can't use Zane anymore.
3:52
And we lose as they bomb the pen.
3:54
So now that doesn't go out and be great.
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And we lost him.
3:58
We're gone.
3:59
That's the first three games.
4:00
What's going to happen in game four.
4:02
Right.
4:03
For Bobby boaster leads off with a blast opposite field.
4:06
And then he comes up again in the third inning and he leads off and he launches one out to left.
4:10
And we're gone.
4:11
Now we're feeling good.
4:13
Now it's three, nothing.
4:14
We've got Kyle Robinson on the mound, but Kyle loses his command.
4:17
They come back.
4:18
They tie the score.
4:19
And then two relievers who've been good for us.
4:21
Tucker Novotny, Jose de Cochea.
4:23
They don't have it.
4:24
They don't have it.
4:25
There's an error that leads to unearned runs.
4:27
And suddenly we lose 14 to six and they're gone.
4:29
What in the world is happening?
4:31
It's four cursed games.
4:33
Yeah.
4:34
Right.
4:35
And out of nowhere shot suit.
4:36
Sean from Taiwan.
4:37
Yes.
4:38
Had his struggles this year.
4:40
I would argue he's been the most ineffective starting pitcher.
4:43
He goes quality starts.
4:45
Yes.
4:46
Six innings, three runs.
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They only score those runs in one ending.
4:49
The rest of the time he's outstanding.
4:51
We win.
4:52
And it's gone.
4:53
Now we're back on target.
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And that leads into the Detmer gem where he dominates.
4:58
So we lose four.
4:59
We went to, but by the end, we're gone boy after shot and Detmer.
5:03
And we know how good Zane is and doesn't look great.
5:06
And you feel etch.
5:07
We'll get back on track.
5:08
It's so funny how six games can come together over the course of the
5:11
week.
5:12
And you go, this was feeling terrible.
5:14
This is now feeling great.
5:17
The A's drafted Detmer in 2022, fifth round pick out of A&M.
5:22
They had some high hopes for him.
5:24
He really hasn't been that guy as of yet.
5:27
He's 24 years old.
5:29
And you could say that for the high a level,
5:33
that's a little bit on the older side.
5:36
He had a rough fall ball as well.
5:38
Stockton and low ways pitched well, 2.96 ERA.
5:42
And now for him to come up at Lansing and just absolutely deal.
5:46
What's your take on Detmer?
5:47
What's his ceiling?
5:48
Is he there yet?
5:49
Or is this, like I said, just an issue of fans organizations,
5:54
maybe more fans being a little bit more on the impatient side.
5:57
Okay.
5:58
So with the, with the choice of, is this real or what's going on?
6:03
Yeah.
6:04
I'm going to say this is real.
6:06
And here's why you see that the, the four words there,
6:10
the art of development.
6:11
Yeah.
6:12
When Nathan Detmer joined us last year,
6:14
his breaking ball was a sweeper and he was a pitch to contact dude.
6:18
Big dude, six foot, five inches tall, broad,
6:22
shouldered physical right-hander.
6:24
There's a lot about him that you look at him.
6:26
You look at Kyle Robinson and you go, oh,
6:28
we got Texas tech with the six, six Robinson.
6:30
We got Texas A&M with the six, five Detmer,
6:32
two physical right-handers out of Texas and Detmer came in last year.
6:36
And he didn't walk guys, but there was just so much contact.
6:39
Yeah.
6:40
Base it here, base it there.
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And so he went right back down to Stockton to figure things out.
6:44
And you saw what happened.
6:45
You mentioned Arizona fall league.
6:46
Yeah.
6:47
There's no more sweeper.
6:49
He has found this sharp slider that goes.
6:54
And this slider looks great.
6:57
And when you couple that with a 94 to 96 mile an hour fastball,
7:01
plus he's got a cutter plus the change.
7:04
In fact, Booney, let me take a step back, roll the reel.
7:08
One and two.
7:09
And here it comes.
7:11
Swing and a miss, strike three.
7:13
And the 0-2 delivery.
7:15
Strike three.
7:16
Still has 10 RBI in his last seven games.
7:19
The 3-1.
7:21
Through that glove, he delivers.
7:24
Slider swings through a low fastball for strike three.
7:27
That was more of a cutter.
7:28
Out of high school in the Cubs org.
7:30
The 0-2.
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Swing and a miss.
7:32
Wow.
7:33
Swings through a high fastball.
7:35
Back-to-back strikeouts for Nathan Detmer.
7:37
This next offering will be his 71st.
7:39
Big boy.
7:40
2-2.
7:41
Yes.
7:42
Alivo swings through a high slider for strike three.
7:44
6-4, 2-30.
7:45
6-5.
7:46
6-5, okay.
7:47
Yeah.
7:48
He's grown.
7:49
1-2.
7:50
I think he went too far.
7:52
He sure did on the home plate umpire, Dylan Reeves.
7:55
Hall back offers up at an outside slider.
7:58
Nathan Detmer is rolling.
8:00
7 strikeouts in 6 hitless innings.
8:03
And he was throwing that slider for strike one, strike two.
8:06
Boom.
8:07
Fastball would come back.
8:08
Here's a little bit of the cutter.
8:10
But that slider was money.
8:12
And because that fastball is mid-90s,
8:14
suddenly his pitches were looking like weapons.
8:17
He could throw that slider whenever he wanted.
8:19
Guys, you saw right there.
8:20
Now that it's a weapon, let me throw it to you
8:22
and let me break it off the outside corner
8:24
and you can't stop yourself.
8:25
And that's why I saw a Detmer who is a different pitcher
8:29
than we had last year.
8:31
That's exciting.
8:32
That is very, very exciting.
8:34
How does Dean Taylor look in his first few innings?
8:37
He gave up a double in the first.
8:39
And that was the only hit.
8:41
The fastball velocity is ticking up.
8:44
There's just still this thing with him
8:47
where I think his command can continue to sharpen.
8:50
I know that he's a super hard worker.
8:52
And every single time I watch him pitch,
8:54
I think to myself, there's better stuff ahead.
8:57
And this is coming off.
8:58
What did he do?
8:59
Five and two-thirds innings scoreless last week.
9:02
So in every outing this year, he's either gone scoreless
9:06
or he's given up two earned runs and that's all.
9:09
And I love that I look at all this,
9:11
all these scoreless outings or two runs and that's it and go,
9:14
he can be better.
9:16
He can be better than this and he will be better than this.
9:19
Wow. Yeah.
9:20
That's interesting you say that.
9:22
When I talk to A's fans,
9:23
they're always interested in signing or trading for your Joe Ryans,
9:30
your superstar type players.
9:32
The problem with that that I keep telling them is like,
9:35
hey, in order to trade for a player like that,
9:39
not only do you have to give up a load,
9:41
but then you have to sign the guy to just an unreal contract
9:44
because these pitchers are so expensive.
9:46
And how can you really say that?
9:49
Maybe the future of the A's rotation
9:53
a way in Lynn, a Jamie Arnold, a gauge jump,
9:56
a Zane Taylor I included that is better than a Joe Ryan in two,
10:00
three years.
10:01
We don't know that.
10:02
And that's such a key thing with development.
10:05
But with that being said, go ahead.
10:07
Yeah. Let me add to that.
10:09
I want competition.
10:11
I want a lot of guys trying to force their way upwards.
10:14
I want Mason Barnett to be battling against Gunnar Hoagland to be
10:17
battling against gauge jump, to be battling against way on lean.
10:20
I want these guys to force their way forward.
10:22
I want to see from high Lansing that Etcheverry is a guy and that
10:26
Zane Taylor is a guy and that Detmer is a guy and onward.
10:29
I want as many potential major league arms as possible.
10:33
And that way you can, as the A's go,
10:35
here are the guys that won the job.
10:37
And here are the guys that maybe didn't win it,
10:39
but other teams like, and boom,
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we can trade them for something that can help us.
10:43
We need as much competition from quality guys who can help as
10:47
possible.
10:48
Interesting. So you mentioned Gunnar Hoagland.
10:50
I think Gunnar Hoagland is the best out of the bunch.
10:52
If he can get healthy, I think he's so darn good.
10:55
Everyone forgets about when he got called up last year,
10:59
his first start in Florida just absolutely dealt six innings.
11:02
And he had a couple of starts after that where he was effective as well.
11:05
And just the injury bug, man, it's just a heartbreaker on those.
11:09
It's more of a heartbreaker when you hang all of your hopes on one
11:13
person, if you were out there going,
11:15
I need Jamie Arnold to be great. I need him to be the guy and that's it.
11:20
Then you could be in trouble if he isn't. And if he is great, it works out.
11:24
But if you've got Jamie Arnold and company,
11:27
I think history has shown us that a ton of pitching prospects,
11:31
whoever it is, pitching prospects break hearts.
11:34
So you just need to have as many as possible.
11:37
You need to keep on cultivating that talent.
11:39
And I think you continue to draft pitching.
11:43
I firmly believe that and sign internationally like with Morales,
11:48
like way on lean, like wherever you can find talent, find talent.
11:52
Yeah.
11:53
Bobby Bozer continues to impress four for five on,
11:57
I believe on Friday had three hits on Saturday.
12:01
I want to say first three games of the series.
12:03
He was our first three games of the series. He was quiet,
12:06
but who wasn't quiet. How's Bobby Bozer developed?
12:11
He's so funny.
12:12
He's my recency bias kind of player because he'll have a game where he'll
12:17
swing through sliders or he'll take a pitch right there and I'll go, okay,
12:21
he's got things to work on. And then the same game,
12:24
he'll do something amazing.
12:26
He is such a high ceiling kind of talent. The speed is there.
12:31
The defense is there.
12:32
Let me show you one of his home runs that he hit.
12:35
He had two home runs in the same game.
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Belted the left field. This is back at the fence.
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And this is going to leave the yard where to go. It's gone.
12:42
It is welfare.
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Bobby Bozer with a multi home run game already.
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Solo shot.
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I'm going to replay that there.
12:49
Yeah.
12:50
And the broadcasters, I believe are going to come in.
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This is either one of them.
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Solo shot.
12:55
And the lug nuts lead it 3-0.
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I'm going to replay that there.
12:59
Yeah.
13:00
And the broadcasters, I believe, are going to come in on the back.
13:02
Belted the left field.
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This is back at the fence.
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And this is going to leave the yard where to go.
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It's gone.
13:07
It is welfare.
13:08
Bobby Bozer with a multi home run game already.
13:14
Solo shot.
13:15
And the lug nuts lead it 3-0.
13:17
Wow.
13:20
What a dart.
13:21
Wait, where did that land?
13:22
I have no idea.
13:23
I did not see it as soon as it entered the background of the sky.
13:26
As soon as it entered the stratosphere.
13:28
Yeah.
13:29
I mean, geez.
13:30
Wow.
13:31
That was smashed.
13:32
Change up running in.
13:34
And Bozer got it turned around.
13:36
Oh, my.
13:37
Let's see if I can find it here on the replay.
13:40
Malivo looking up for it.
13:42
Boy, that is way back near the team store.
13:46
Okay.
13:47
I let that in from the broadcasters because he hit a home run
13:52
in Lansing over this year.
13:53
This year that went over the center field wall that went over the
13:56
batter's eye that went over everything.
13:58
Yeah.
13:59
And I watch him in BP and I watch his power and I go there's more
14:03
there.
14:04
There's more for him to tap into.
14:06
I don't think that I understand how powerful he is and how powerful
14:11
he's going to be.
14:13
He's still growing.
14:14
He's still developing.
14:15
He just did one year at Florida.
14:17
He transferred in from South Florida.
14:19
His tools are loud.
14:21
So I think that he's a fascinating guy to follow to see how good he
14:25
can be.
14:26
How's he defensively?
14:27
Good.
14:28
Yeah.
14:29
Good.
14:30
Yeah.
14:31
It's just keep on getting reps.
14:32
Keep on making the routine the routine,
14:34
but he's capable of great stuff.
14:35
Used him at short used him at third.
14:37
I sat down and talked to him and he said,
14:39
I can play center.
14:40
I can play wherever you need me to be.
14:42
If you need me out there, you got me great teammate.
14:45
Great guy.
14:46
And yes,
14:47
he was known coming into this year as more of a glove guy than a hitter.
14:51
Jesse.
14:53
I want to talk to you a little bit about how difficult the jump is from
14:58
one level to the next.
14:59
And Jacob Wilson got hurt yesterday.
15:03
I hope he's okay.
15:04
I hope it's a 10 day stint on the IL.
15:06
He gets fixed.
15:08
Call it a day.
15:09
But if it's more serious,
15:11
they're talking about him missing a good majority of the year,
15:14
which.
15:16
We hope that's not the case now from A's fans out there.
15:21
The first thing they're thinking is like, Hey, listen,
15:23
let's bring up a Leo devise.
15:25
Let's bring up a younger guy, whoever it may be.
15:28
And I'm telling him, listen,
15:29
because they see Daryl Hernandez at the plate facing major league hitting.
15:34
He's hitting, he's doing okay.
15:35
Sit to 10 to 15.
15:37
So, you know,
15:38
but Daryl Hernandez crushed it in Vegas last year when he was up there,
15:43
he is a good major league baseball player.
15:46
And I'm like, guys, listen.
15:47
The jump is, is so huge from one level to another.
15:52
Can you expand on that a little bit?
15:54
And how difficult would it be for a guy?
15:57
Not only with the age, not built,
15:59
fully physically developed to make a jump from double a.
16:04
To the majors, not like it would happen,
16:07
but just how difficult would that, whether it's JKG or Leo,
16:11
Leo DeVries.
16:12
I think that you've got a couple of different things at play for one thing.
16:16
Vegas is a great hitting place.
16:19
So when you look at the numbers in the Pacific coast league,
16:22
you constantly have to ask low down.
16:24
Yeah.
16:25
Are things getting exaggerated here?
16:27
Or is this something that's going to play in the major leagues?
16:29
And then the scouting reports, the way that everyone gets attacked,
16:34
it is so detailed at the majors and then guys can execute to that point.
16:39
So are you able to counter scout?
16:42
Are you able to understand this is what they're doing to me.
16:46
So this is therefore how I'm going to have to react to it.
16:50
And then it becomes the battle against oneself.
16:53
Are you mentally tough enough to go through that major league slum?
16:58
When totally there's,
16:59
there's so much more external noise in the majors than there's ever going to
17:03
be in the minors.
17:04
Sure. Sure.
17:05
No, absolutely.
17:06
That makes sense.
17:07
Speaking of the PCL,
17:09
Henry Bolte has been on a historic tear and I would usually credit that to
17:15
the PCL.
17:16
I'm sure it has a lot to do with it,
17:17
but at the same time,
17:18
Henry Bolte had a huge,
17:20
huge spring training and I made the argument that,
17:23
Hey,
17:24
I thought Henry Bolte should be the one to win the center field job over
17:27
Denzel Clark.
17:28
I understand why they took Denzel Clark,
17:30
but Henry Bolte has been unbelievable.
17:34
He started out slow in Vegas.
17:36
And as of late,
17:39
God,
17:40
you've had a first,
17:41
you had a first row glimpse at him for,
17:43
I believe a full year.
17:44
He was in a high a Lansing.
17:46
What's your take on Henry Bolte,
17:48
his ceiling.
17:50
And where do you think he goes?
17:52
It was two years ago.
17:53
It was just two years ago.
17:55
20 years,
17:57
Yeah.
17:58
And when he gets drafted,
17:59
the scattering report on him is he's very strong.
18:02
He's very fast.
18:04
He's big,
18:05
but he strikes out a lot.
18:06
And the bat is going to need some time.
18:09
There were questions about the mechanics.
18:11
And if you look at all the strikeouts,
18:13
there were a lot of strikeouts,
18:15
but his strikeouts were different from other players.
18:18
And I'm thinking of,
18:19
let's say an arm and Taros.
18:21
We've seen a lot of guys strike out a lot over the years.
18:24
And with their strikeouts,
18:25
you would just say,
18:26
there's a hole in the swing.
18:27
The pitchers have found something.
18:29
Henry's strikeouts were not that he was constantly making adjustments.
18:34
And in big spots.
18:35
And in fact,
18:36
I was just looking at this yesterday because it was the two year
18:38
anniversary of him coming up.
18:40
And delivering a two out game tying double in the ninth inning.
18:44
He came through in big spots.
18:47
The other team would bring,
18:48
bring in a big arm and Henry would find a way to come through.
18:52
And so even as he was making his own adjustments,
18:55
even as he was getting reps,
18:56
there was just this feeling of he's still raw.
19:00
He's still young.
19:01
The older he gets,
19:03
the routines are right.
19:05
He's putting in the work.
19:06
I sat down with him this past spring training.
19:08
Is that right?
19:09
It was the same thing.
19:11
He's just going,
19:12
putting in all the same work,
19:13
just continuing to make sure that I'm doing things the right way.
19:17
He's getting older.
19:19
He's still not that old.
19:21
22.
19:22
How powerful is he?
19:24
How fast is he?
19:25
How skilled is he?
19:27
He was not a very good defensive outfielder in Lansing.
19:30
So he put in the work because it was just about reps.
19:32
And now he's a better defensive outfielder.
19:34
All of those different things.
19:36
It's the art of the development.
19:37
It is the A's drafted him,
19:39
understood that it would take some years to get him to the point,
19:41
but understood if they got him there,
19:44
that the ceiling was all star.
19:46
And that was MVP possibly.
19:48
Yeah.
19:49
She's straight at bats with a base hit doubles and homers and triples.
19:55
Come on.
19:56
And using the whole field over the place.
19:59
I mean, he is unbelievable.
20:01
He like the word that comes to mind for me is exciting.
20:03
He is an exciting player to watch when he comes up, you lean forward.
20:08
Can he be a MLB center fielder?
20:13
I mean, MLB center fielders are different.
20:15
I mean, they go get the ball.
20:16
Yes.
20:18
I think he's capable.
20:19
Like Denzel,
20:20
you're looking at one of the better defensive center fielders in
20:22
baseball.
20:23
So let's, let's set Denzel aside.
20:25
Yeah.
20:26
Yes.
20:27
Henry Baltay can play center field in the major leagues.
20:28
Got it.
20:30
Speaking of the art of development and kind of what brought up this
20:34
topic is a few things.
20:36
The Cardinals come visit Sacramento and they play the A's in a three game
20:40
set start tomorrow.
20:42
And their star player right now,
20:44
who's an MVP candidate and the Cardinals are having a surprisingly great
20:47
year is Jordan Walker.
20:49
Jordan Walker was a 2020 first round pick out of high school and Cardinals
20:55
fans for a number of years.
20:57
We're calling him just a bust when the kid's still young.
21:00
And now all of a sudden you start to play a little bit, right?
21:04
He's starting to get to that level.
21:06
I talked to Timmy Fitzgerald last week,
21:09
the voice of the Stockton ports,
21:12
who was talking about taking your time with these prospects and said,
21:15
Hey,
21:16
maybe not rushing a kid to the next level is such a good idea.
21:20
Would a guy, for example,
21:22
like Steven Echeverria be having development be quicker.
21:27
If he started in the Arizona complex league,
21:29
is it wise?
21:32
And I remember speaking with you as far as challenge type of calls for
21:38
certain players.
21:39
Like a Jamie Arnold is in double a, which is a challenge for him.
21:42
And he's been good for the most part.
21:44
He's having his hard time and gauge jump has been up and down as well.
21:50
Our kids.
21:52
And we saw in the last thing I want to talk about is Luis Morales.
21:55
He got rushed up.
21:56
I felt last year, he looked great struggling.
21:59
Now he got brought back up for who knows why.
22:02
And didn't look good.
22:05
Our kids being rushed.
22:07
Are we,
22:08
are our organizations rushing guys or is it different with every single
22:12
player?
22:14
Yeah,
22:15
I think that it's not only a little bit different,
22:18
but I think it's different between hitters and pitchers.
22:21
I think back to the Jose Bautista story where he's bounced organization
22:24
organization.
22:25
And finally lands with a hidden coach who tells him you gotta be earlier.
22:29
You gotta be earlier.
22:30
And he's heard this his whole life.
22:32
And so in a fit of frustration,
22:34
he gets his leg kick going way too early and he crushes the pitch.
22:38
And then coach goes, now you're on time.
22:40
You just don't know when it's going to click.
22:43
And sometimes for guys that takes them getting older,
22:47
that takes them having an idea of perspective and it takes the brain
22:51
matching up with the physical skills.
22:53
Sure.
22:54
A Jordan Walker.
22:55
The skills didn't leave the power.
22:57
Didn't leave.
22:58
It was always there.
22:59
It's just having the ability to put this with this and just make sure.
23:03
Guys are constantly looking for mechanical changes.
23:06
Oh, if I just do this, it's going to make me great.
23:09
Oh, all I need to do is change this.
23:11
How is this shoulder?
23:12
How's this elbow.
23:14
And so much of the time,
23:15
what a coach is trying to say to a player is play ball,
23:19
set your brain aside and go out there and play.
23:22
If they throw it, hit it.
23:24
If they hit it, catch it.
23:25
You throw it like, don't be worried.
23:27
And it's, it's just getting this to the right point.
23:31
For pitchers.
23:33
The reason why I separate them is there's such a great idea of what is
23:37
the stuff?
23:38
What is it shape?
23:40
And how are you trying to tunnel off of it?
23:42
And will that work?
23:44
And if all the pitches are going the same way,
23:46
or if you're not getting enough swing and miss on a certain pitch,
23:49
do you have a formula that's going to be able to work?
23:52
And can it work to both the right handers and left handers for batter?
23:56
It's just, will this swing work?
23:58
Will these mechanics work?
23:59
Are you making the right swing decisions?
24:01
Are you swinging at the right pitches?
24:03
And are we understanding that this plays regardless of your pitch
24:07
identification, right?
24:09
Batters and pitchers are so different.
24:12
That's why I say with the Luis Morales,
24:14
it's very much into the stuff diagnosis.
24:17
I compare it to a car gets pulled into the shop and it's like, all right,
24:22
let's go through a status check of all this stuff.
24:24
And let's see, is it this, is there something else going on?
24:27
And making sure that a pitcher is able to execute to the highest level with
24:31
everything that they're trying to do.
24:33
Whereas with a hitter, Hey,
24:35
are you making the right decision in the first place?
24:37
Are you late?
24:38
Are you early?
24:39
Okay.
24:40
And we can go from there.
24:41
There's so much that goes into it.
24:43
And then you just need to understand how's the guy's head.
24:47
There's his head right now, but could his head be thrown off tomorrow?
24:51
Can he withstand it?
24:53
That's where we come back to sometimes for a guy,
24:55
just getting older to give a guy a matter of perspective is really good,
25:00
but you never know when a guy's going to get to that point.
25:02
Yeah, no, absolutely.
25:04
What are the discussions?
25:06
What happens in the discussions with organizations?
25:08
And let's take a, let's take a Stephen Echevarria, for example,
25:13
just because he was such a high regarded type of prospect.
25:18
When he signed out of high school side above slot has the great stuff.
25:22
Wasn't stopped in,
25:23
in Lansing and really hasn't had a stretch as far as now numbers we're
25:28
talking where he's looked dominant as far as numbers.
25:33
Again, are, what's the discussions going on there?
25:36
Are they like, Hey, is this the guy or are they continuing to develop?
25:40
Or it's like a perfect right on schedule.
25:42
What happens inside those discussions?
25:44
The discussions are just working with them to make sure that each experience,
25:48
each start is a learning experience.
25:50
And I'm going to go back to last year.
25:52
There was a start last year where he got shelled and his manager last year,
25:56
Daryl Kennedy, who's now managing this year with Stockton said to him,
26:01
We're going to look back on this someday and laugh these 20.
26:05
He's 20.
26:06
And it goes back to the age old question.
26:10
If I draft this guy, who's a three year, four year guy out of college.
26:15
And we give him two years to make the major leagues.
26:18
He's in the majors at 26. He's in the majors, 25.
26:21
What do you think about this?
26:22
Or if I take this guy out of high school and we give him four years to make
26:27
the major leagues,
26:28
I'm going to take him for five years to make the major leagues.
26:31
Well, that guy's going to be 22, 23. Yeah. Would that be?
26:35
It's, it's just the constant echeveria in the lab.
26:40
But I remember going in last year and talking to him at the very end of the
26:44
season.
26:45
And he was understanding pitching at a very different way at the end of the
26:48
year than at the start of the year. Okay.
26:51
So right now what I see from etch is I see a guy who just every now and then
26:56
he gets thrown off by different things. Yeah. Great.
26:59
That's what high A is for. Sure. I mean, my gosh, Booney,
27:04
let me tell you for me to start this year, there was an emergency root canal.
27:09
There's been bedbugs.
27:10
You just don't know what's going to happen.
27:13
It doesn't work. Hey, things that are beyond your control. Great.
27:18
Figure it out. No one cares. And it's the same thing for the players.
27:21
You got no idea all these other things going on and it's like, great.
27:25
Figure it out. April. I joke that you can throw in the trash can.
27:29
May starts to get real. And so that's why with etch, I go, all right,
27:34
this is how things run in South bend.
27:36
Let's see how things go at home against quad cities.
27:39
Let's see how things go the previous week. Quick story.
27:42
I remember being in South bend when Noah Cinder guard was a lug nut. Okay.
27:46
And they destroyed him.
27:48
And I remember him telling me after the game that he was then throwing his
27:51
angry ball because he was just so furious.
27:55
It's embarrassing as a pitcher.
27:57
And Noah was pretty much the same age as Steven. Yeah. Right.
28:01
You just don't know. You don't know. That's what this is for.
28:05
You want to see it happen now.
28:06
So it doesn't happen when a guy's in the majors and you make a great point
28:10
with 20 years old. I mean,
28:11
we compare him and Zane Taylor and we think they're past cause etch has been
28:15
around. Well, Zane Taylor is 23 years old.
28:17
Etch is 20 years old. What's he going to look like at 23?
28:20
Henry Bolte is going to get the call up.
28:23
I mean, eventually sooner rather than later.
28:26
I'm not in the meetings,
28:27
but you think that there's somebody who's going he's five for five again.
28:32
Yeah. Right.
28:33
There has to be discussions.
28:36
Like that's the thing. Jacob Wilson gets hurt.
28:38
Well, infielder is therefore needed.
28:40
Bolte is an outfielder, but at some point that calls coming,
28:45
he's handling his business and it's going to be great when the call does
28:48
come. Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be a fricking lot of fun.
28:51
You were talking about a play that happened in over the weekend.
28:56
Can we check that out? Yeah. So we could call this cricket.
29:01
We could call this a tennis hat volley. I'm going to set this up for you.
29:04
Riley Hugie H U G E like yes, he's on the mound. He's a lefty.
29:10
He's got a great curve ball and he's going to be able to solve the South
29:13
bend batter lane L. Espinosa and watch what happens.
29:16
Lansing would be seven and a half games back at first place.
29:20
Here's Espinosa putting a ball in the dirt in play chopper to third.
29:25
Actually hold on here.
29:27
I'm going to slow this down for you, Booney. Okay. Keep it rolling.
29:31
Keep it rolling.
29:32
And you'll see out because I slowed down the replay for you to see what
29:36
actually happened on this pitch.
29:38
And now the umpires are saying Snell is out. Okay.
29:41
That's what I was thinking. So there's now a huge holdup.
29:45
I'm glad I was like, Hey,
29:48
I believe they're now calling Cade Snell out.
29:53
First of all, Espinosa putting a ball in play. That was a 58.
29:57
It hit in front of the plate. Not sure how he hit that.
30:00
He should have a golf club at this point.
30:03
So that's one of the weirder things that I've seen recently.
30:07
Lansing would be seven and a half games back at first place.
30:11
Here's Espinosa putting a ball in the dirt in play chopper to third.
30:13
Oh my God.
30:14
I talked to Davis Diaz afterward, the third baseman.
30:17
And he was like, she's got it out of instinct. I don't know.
30:20
Let's go to second. And Davis was talking about,
30:22
can you imagine if that guy actually took a real full swing,
30:26
how far could he have hit a bounced pitch?
30:29
That is absolutely wild.
30:31
The Lugnuts Quad Cities coming to town.
30:36
Big series Lugnuts are at 13 and 20 Quad City, but 16 and 14 right now.
30:41
It doesn't look like any set starters are set.
30:45
Could Etch or somebody get the call up to Midland?
30:49
Well, here's what we got currently for our starters.
30:51
So every Monday I check in,
30:54
get the starting pitchers from our manager, Javier Godard.
30:58
So we will be looking at Steven Etch of area going on Tuesday,
31:02
Samuel Dutton on Wednesday, Zane Taylor on Thursday,
31:05
Kyle Robinson on Friday,
31:07
shot Souchon on Saturday and Nathan Detmer on Sunday.
31:11
That is the current expected six man starting rotation.
31:14
How fast do things happen when somebody gets called up?
31:17
Like what's the, what's that whole thing like?
31:20
Oh, it's, it happens fast.
31:23
And I like being the last person to know I don't need to be the first.
31:26
You tell me when it goes on.
31:28
And then I send in the emails to everyone.
31:31
I update the rosters.
31:32
I'm running the rosters all around, all over the place.
31:34
Same thing.
31:35
If Quad Cities makes a roster move, they got to let me know.
31:37
And then I'm running the roster downstairs and making sure that our
31:40
coaches know because roster moves things.
31:43
Oh, how about that?
31:44
How about that?
31:46
Just where the A's are calling up.
31:48
Wow.
31:49
Hey, straight A's.
31:50
Thank you for the information.
31:52
Much appreciated, man.
31:54
That is that's exciting.
31:56
I assume we don't have any corresponding move with that.
32:00
The only thing I'm concerned about with that is that the Wilson injury
32:04
is serious, which would put them on the 16 ADL, which would make a room
32:08
because which would make room for Bolte because he was on the 40 man,
32:12
60 men.
32:13
I mean, there are going to be ripple moves.
32:15
So we're going to see guys going from double A to triple A.
32:18
It's going to be fascinating to see who we're going to see guys going
32:21
high A to double A and single A to high A.
32:24
It's this is why I talk about I like to be last.
32:27
It's Jonathan Mayo.
32:29
It's the reporters who hear and report.
32:32
And then I get the official email.
32:34
I get the official notice when everything is official and then I can
32:37
let people know it's it's fun to hear that the whispers of things
32:43
happening, but I have heard things change midstream.
32:47
Yeah, what's up?
32:49
But it's it's so fun to say, OK, there's something that's happening
32:55
and how roster moves go, how these transactions go.
32:59
It can happen at any time of the day.
33:01
It can happen in the middle of the night.
33:03
It's if you're an athletic trainer, that is their job to really work
33:07
on all of the transportation, the clubhouse managers and all the work
33:13
that they have to do.
33:14
Huge respect to everybody working throughout the organization.
33:17
Yeah.
33:18
Just to make sure you notify the player, you make sure that they've
33:21
got the flight, you get everything all smooth, that there is so much
33:24
that happens behind the scenes and it happens like that.
33:28
Unbelievable.
33:29
Jesse, I want to thank you again.
33:34
As always, an exciting week for nuts, baseball for A's, baseball
33:38
for minor leaguers, man.
33:40
Hey, and the greatest song ever created, man.
33:44
Bolte! Bolte!
33:46
A little Bolte.
33:48
Can't wait to see you next week, brother.
33:49
You take care.
33:50
Have a good day.
33:51
Have a good rest of the week, bud.
33:52
Thank you.