Latest / Foul Territory / FT at Rangers camp: Vandy boys Kumar Rocker & Jack Leiter

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FT at Rangers camp: Vandy boys Kumar Rocker & Jack Leiter · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Just eliminate all expectations. Yeah, you get all your outs
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on the jokes from the you know, the teammates and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: other parents are talking about it, but it doesn't matter.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: We've got Rangers starter Kamar Rocker with us right now
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: on foul Territory.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Good to see you. How is camp going for you?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: And have you reached the point where you're like, we're
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks away from the season, let's speed
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: this out.
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, and thanks for having me.
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: And it's starting to get good here in a second,
• 0:29
  Speaker 5: and I'm excited to see what this season holds.
• 0:32
  Speaker 6: Are you in the rotation?
• 0:34
  Speaker 5: Uh, that's the goal where we're trying our best, but
• 0:37
  Speaker 5: got to earn your spot here.
• 0:38
  Speaker 6: Oh come now, come on, Like, what do you mean
• 0:40
  Speaker 6: you got to earn your spot here?
• 0:42
  Speaker 5: Got to keep working for it. There's some things that
• 0:44
  Speaker 5: need to get figured out for sure.
• 0:46
  Speaker 6: Have they had any conversations with you? No?
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: I think it's all about the terminal performance at this point.
• 0:51
  Speaker 6: Are you and Jack led are going to go in
• 0:53
  Speaker 6: a cage match and whenever it comes out makes a rotation.
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: I hope both of us get to have a nice
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: fun season together.
• 0:59
  Speaker 6: Well, come on, come on. All right, So I saw
• 1:02
  Speaker 6: you pitching Vandy on a Friday night in gains Will
• 1:04
  Speaker 6: you shoved against the gate against my Gators in Gainesville?
• 1:08
  Speaker 6: And then I saw I've seen you throw rehabs a
• 1:11
  Speaker 6: couple of times at Globe Life, and all people are
• 1:13
  Speaker 6: talking about is your stuff? Your stuff? Your stuff? How
• 1:15
  Speaker 6: good is your stuff?
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: I think it plays.
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: I think if I keep it in the zone and
• 1:20
  Speaker 5: I make it competitive, I think I got a chance
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: to kind of go through ball games pretty easy.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Best pitch definitely curveball, slider?
• 1:27
  Speaker 6: Which one in general? So you throw two different ones? Yeah,
• 1:30
  Speaker 6: I just like to spin it. I think you're too big.
• 1:33
  Speaker 6: You need to be a four seam. I'm gonna just
• 1:35
  Speaker 6: blow it by you.
• 1:36
  Speaker 7: Guys.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Try to protect that, protect a little bit.
• 1:40
  Speaker 7: Protect the heater. What does that mean? What does that mean?
• 1:42
  Speaker 8: Because we talk about it all the time, like this
• 1:44
  Speaker 8: dude's got a big heater, but I guess everybody's got
• 1:47
  Speaker 8: a big heater.
• 1:48
  Speaker 7: What does that mean for you?
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, keep all the weapons on the table.
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: You never want to show one thing or think that
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: they're game playing in a certain way.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: So kind of work around your strengths.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Here, Comar, can you tell me about the pitching lab
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: that the Rangers have. I feel like that's like a
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: top secret, confidential word in baseball, but many teams now
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: have that, and I think, you know, there are a
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: lot of young pitchers out there who are like, I
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: don't have a pitching Like I can't afford a pitching lab.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: What is that?
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: What really is there that helps you get better as
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: a pitcher?
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: I think I think, I mean, I don't think they
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: want me talking about it, but just the cameras are
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: just the cameras, The technology in there, it's just continues
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: to get better and better. And when it comes to hitters,
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: you're seeing what hitters have now, which is the next
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: level two. The pitchers are still waiting for some good stuff,
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: but now they get everything to help you, from rap
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: SODO to cameras, how you're moving force plates, things like that.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Everything you can ask for.
• 2:43
  Speaker 7: Is that what you need? Do you need it?
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Like?
• 2:45
  Speaker 8: Are you like, Eh, there's a little too much. I'm
• 2:47
  Speaker 8: gonna just go ahead and spin it.
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: Like I said, right, I think I think there's times
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: in your career where you can definitely go to it
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: and like kind of not chase the numbers, but help
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: the numbers kind of emphasize what you're doing, and I
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: think it could be useful to a lot of people
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: in the clubhouse.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Me personally, I try to keep it as simple as possible.
• 3:05
  Speaker 6: Why are why are the pitching labs so far ahead
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: of the hitting labs? Because I think all the all
• 3:11
  Speaker 6: I think all the stuff, I think all the stuff
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: is geared toward pictures, the rap sotos, everything you know,
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: everything is is is oh, look we can high speed camera.
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: You're released. Right. They don't have anything like that for
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: a hitter. Yeah, right, they can't. They can't make you
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: you know, I'm gonna change the bad angle by like
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: an eighth of an inch. It's gonna make the ball
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: go out of the park. Right, It's why is it so?
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: It's just so advancer pictures?
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: I think I think it goes back to, like, I mean,
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: what the hitters. The hitters have a timeout. Now, the
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: hitters have to jack. The hitters have different ways to
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: see the pitchers multiple times. I think for us, we're
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: still playing like the chance game. So I think whatever
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: we deliver and we're giving to the plate has got
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: to be our best stuff. Compared to the hitters, they're
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: just playing to react and using their eyes.
• 3:52
  Speaker 8: Okay, I like that you were talking about spinning the ball.
• 3:55
  Speaker 8: One more question for that, what if you were still
• 3:58
  Speaker 8: allowed to use spider tack? How much would that increase
• 4:02
  Speaker 8: your numbers in that pitching lab.
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: I mean, I'd like to find out, but I'm not
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: I'm not sure how much it would.
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: Uh.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: I think I got a good grip on the ball
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: these days, and like, I don't know if I want
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: too much more than that.
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: First of all, let me see like a I mean,
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: his hand is his big old hand, right, he's got
• 4:22
  Speaker 6: kind of the long fingers crouds. He doesn't need spider tack.
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: The only time you ever used spider tack was when
• 4:26
  Speaker 6: Tim Corbin had him in Lighter use it in Vandy, Right,
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: he's like, oh, watch, you guys can become first rounders.
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: Put the chunk on your hands. You never know what
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: it might happen.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Spoken like a true gator.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: As a gator right there.
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: I want to know, because I've been to Nashville a
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: bunch of times. Yeah, what's it like going to Vanderbilt?
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: I mean, you guys had the whole Vandy boy thing going.
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: Sure, I think the biggest difference when you look at
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: college sports, is the main team on there. I guess
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: you could use Duke for an example. The basketball team.
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: When it comes to baseball, Vanderbilts a team you're not
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: necessarily sharing weight room. Everything's kind of catered to where
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: y'all and fans come up and they expect you to win.
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: And I think that's one of the best parts about
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: going to Vanderbilt. And then the city of course, I
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: mean the city.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: I guess some people don't, but man, Roby hockey, talk,
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: live music, I.
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: Like, good for you, listen, listen. The thing about Vandy
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: is every my son is a senior in high school.
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: He's done the whole travel ball c Every team had
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: a the whatever color that the green olive.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah they had.
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: Every team has one of those. Every team has. You know,
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: there's a high school in Orlando that's the Windy Boys,
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: because yeah, they want to be Vandy boy. I mean,
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: you guys kind of revolutionize the uniform game, the nickname game,
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: and everyone was looking at you guys. Then he went
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: out one, which obviously was the best part.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: And I think I think winning just makes it better.
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: But when I was getting recruited, like I love colors
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: of teams and things like that in uniforms definitely drew
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: me in there.
• 5:49
  Speaker 8: Do you think there needs to be less minor leagues
• 5:52
  Speaker 8: because of schools like Vanderbilt? Do you think Vandy can
• 5:55
  Speaker 8: produce big leaguers like minor leaguers used to be produced
• 5:59
  Speaker 8: in organizations or do you think they should stop taking
• 6:02
  Speaker 8: teams away.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: I think it's a little bit of both.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: I mean when we were producing players now before, like
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: the next year was an I l for me, so
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: I was never given any money or things like that.
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: But the the way the way the miners, the way
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: the miners in the college programs are playing now, I
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: mean when money's in the equation, I think it's hard
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: to develop and grow kids.
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: How much would you have made? How much would you
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: and Jack have made in Vandy if there was nil
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: like it is today.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: Sophomore year was COVID year for me, and then I
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: think that was Jack speeshoning. But I think you give
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: us two years, I think we could have came out
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: with two million.
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: It's unbelievable. I mean, why would you go to the
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: minor leagues if you can make two million dollars play
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: a Vandy go to Broadway every night, right, Man, I'm man,
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: can I go back? I got illigibility level? That sounds
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: like an awesome.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: Go back you were you didn't go to college.
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: AJ, That's what I'm saying. I want to go back.
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: I want to go back and go what What does
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: Corvin do? What is Tim Corey and do? Because you guys,
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: you know, have a long line now of guys coming
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: out of there and then getting to the big leagues quick,
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: I guess was Pranke's kind of the first guy, and
• 7:09
  Speaker 6: then you have Sonny and then for sure now there's
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: just a whole line of guys.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: Once it once it went Price Sonny, and then you
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: had that class of like that, your Scrimcheets Bueller guys
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: like that. He he reemphasizes the fundamentals, and I think
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: when you do them every day like that, and you
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: work out every day like that, when you get to
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: the miners, it's kind of you kind of learn it's
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: on you to kind of get your work in and
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: you realize it's not going to be as strenuous as
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: the programs we ran through there. So he definitely makes
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: it harder to get it easier on the back end.
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: How many big league camps. Have you gone to now?
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: This is my second one I went. I went to
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: the first one when I got drafted.
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: Okay, so last year you were in minor league camp,
• 7:47
  Speaker 8: you're hearing okay, yeah, all this stuff about hey, they
• 7:49
  Speaker 8: won the they won the World Championship the year before.
• 7:52
  Speaker 8: Now that you're in it and you're hearing the talk
• 7:55
  Speaker 8: in the clubhouse, maybe even in the off season, how
• 7:59
  Speaker 8: much does it become real? Like, Hey, we're going for
• 8:01
  Speaker 8: a World Series? Are you like, you know what, I'm
• 8:03
  Speaker 8: just trying to make a team.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: Uh No, I think it's very real.
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: I think anytime you have a chance to win, and
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: the guys in the clubhouse believe that, it makes the
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: environment a lot more fun because you're going out there
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: and playing for something. But I'll never forget rehabbing TJ
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: and then watching them go through their playoff run and
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: just being able to sell on the couch and it's
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: it's somewhere you don't want to be again.
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: Who's your guy here?
• 8:22
  Speaker 7: To?
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: Grom G I love watching the grom But.
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: If you have a question, who's your guy you go to?
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: I mean, you got you got good names here, You've
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: got some good.
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: Guys I think Eva is the most open. I think
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: he's he's on your film, he's watching the games. He
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: can help you make adjustments immediately, and he's a great.
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: So Gram doesn't carry his hair short.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: If you go to if you go to to Grom
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: with anything, he's gonna answer.
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: But but it's also like I throw one hundred and seven, right,
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: I see everything, So it doesn't I don't really know
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: what you're talking about.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: The best thing you can get from the Groam is
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: definitely just watching them about it. He goes his business,
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: for sure, because it's it's a special bullp and every
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: time you go out there and you watch him, of
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: course every time as much as I can.
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: All right, good, that's smart. That's smart.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: People would pay to watch that bullpen.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: So when you when you watch him right now over
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: the last few weeks, what do you see? Do you
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: think that not only you know, his stuff looks just
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: as good as it ever has, at least from what
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: you've seen on TV before you got to the Rangers' org.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: And I know it's always been, especially in recent times,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: a struggle for him to stay on the field consistently,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: and he's been very open about that. Do you think
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: that you know he's going to be able to be
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: his durable self from back.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Earlier in his career.
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: And I think it goes into the work he's put
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: in and definitely his attitude, like just being in a
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: good move, getting off of rehab and wanted to be
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: out there with the guys. I think that goes a
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: long way in someone's career. Just positive thinking in general.
• 9:48
  Speaker 6: Now, before we let you go, I have to ask
• 9:50
  Speaker 6: this because your dad didn't play baseball, right, why'd you
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: pick baseball because you're big enough to play football? Yeah,
• 9:58
  Speaker 6: so why why baseball not football?
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: Baseball was challenging at the time in high school, and
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: then around.
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: Football was easy.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: It was getting easy. Oh wow, it was getting easy to.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: The point and I had I had to become a
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: little bit more physical and definitely wasn't tough enough at
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: the time. But I think my dad's name would have
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: got me into some situations like that where I had
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: a chance to shine.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: But baseball was my challenge. I enjoyed it more. And
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: then a round ball around bat it's hard to beat
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: that game.
• 10:24
  Speaker 6: Could you hit?
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: See?
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: I would start off hot.
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: I'm talking hot, like forty five, five hundred and then
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: by the end of the season, I'm just really it. Yeah,
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: but not a lot of Like I have power, I
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: didn't really know to get it out. It was like
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: right field center, like didn't really pull the ball away.
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: So so your was your ryptonite sliders, because that's a
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: lot of people are like a cratched kryptonite with sliders.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: I'm swearing that sliders and definitely if it's out my eyes. Okay.
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: See, so that's why you like to the ball. You
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: you do what you think you can't do. So like
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: you know, as a catcher, you call pitches that you
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: were like, I couldn't hit that pitch. Like, that's why
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: you throw sliders.
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: And that's what I'm learning to These catchers are smart,
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: the ones have been playing. You're smart.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Well comar, it was awesome to talk to you. Really
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: appreciate the time, enjoyed the conversation. Good luck, good health.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: We'll catch you during the year.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: Okay, Hey, big fans, thank you.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: We've got Jack lighter on foul territory.
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: Jack.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Good to see you having fun in camp, especially now
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: that you've got, you know, some big league time under
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: your belt.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, sir, thank you for having me. It's been
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: great so far. Weather out here is perfect and it's
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: been nice being around all the guys. How you feeling,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I feel great. I feel really good. Stuff's in a
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: really good spot. Mindset's in a good spot. And uh,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: just excited.
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: Would you punch four in a row? Yesterday? I did?
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I did between a lot of walks yesterday was yesterday
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: was you know, one of the one of the bad ones.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: But try to just kick those off.
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: In spring training and spring train, what are you working on?
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean working on this new change up which
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I'm excited about.
• 11:56
  Speaker 6: And uh, is it like the super cool thing kick
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: change up now? Thanks? Like the weird fingers?
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's weird. But when it when it catches
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: right and I throw it the right way, it's it's
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: pretty nice.
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: What do you mean when it catches right? When it
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: catches the like if the wind has to be blowing
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: a certain way.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know all the science behind it, but uh,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I just I just trust this grip and throw a fastball.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: And sometimes it kind of it's kind of like a splitter. Honestly,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: it's hard, and uh sometimes it kind of cuts across
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and other times it's just want to do as long
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: as it's got depth, I don't care.
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: So you just wanted to go down. Yes, So as
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: a former catcher, I want to know, yeah, is going
• 12:33
  Speaker 6: this way or is it going this way?
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: See, Higgy's been good about that.
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: He doesn't know.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: He's like, he's like, I don't I just it's nasty.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: He's like, it's a good pitch, just trust it. Throw it.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: He's giving kind of a middle down target. It's just
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: finding the times to throw it. Because I threw in
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: a couple hitters counts yesterday, and in those counts he
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: wanted to be in the zone and uh, you know,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: yesterday it was it was getting me into some bad counts.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: But when I'm ahead, it's been good.
• 12:58
  Speaker 6: Okay, good, Yeah, that's it. Listen, get ahead and the
• 13:00
  Speaker 6: account you have good enough stuff if you just get ahead. Yes,
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: in this league, we had we had your college team
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: out of teammate out here, Kamara Rocker, and we were
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: talking about you guys, and you guys are fighting for
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: rotation spot. Have they said anything to you about where
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: you guys stand rotation spot, bullpen spot.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: No, they haven't said anything. And to me, it's just
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: not for us to worry about. I see us both
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: pitching for a long time and in the same rotation
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: at some point, and uh, like we did at Vanderbilt.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: It's it's a lot of fun.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: But he was the Friday night guy. You weren't the
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: Friday night guy.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: It was Saturday.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, yes, he Uh.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I mean he earned every he earned every right for
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the fridays in college, and it was fun to watch him.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: It was fun to watch him go about it.
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: So I asked him, I said, if you guys it's
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: one spot and you guys have to have a cage match,
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: who wins.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's got the size, he's got he's got
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the reach, we got it. If we got a cage fight,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I gotta I don't know. I guess get him to
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the round and maybe just try to keep him close
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: because he's got he's got the he's got the extension
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: and probably some strength on me.
• 14:08
  Speaker 8: Well, it doesn't have to be a cage fight like fighting.
• 14:11
  Speaker 8: It'd be like a cage like you know, multiple choice
• 14:15
  Speaker 8: problems or cage.
• 14:16
  Speaker 7: Like what could you beat? What could you beat? Kamarin?
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I think we're both bad at golf, but I think
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: I could beat him in golf. I think, uh, I
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: got him in ping pong and multiple choice. Yeah, I think, uh,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: some math equations, some quick times tables I'm pretty good at.
• 14:36
  Speaker 8: It'd be like a pentathlon. You could have a you
• 14:38
  Speaker 8: could have some type of It doesn't have to be
• 14:40
  Speaker 8: just physical. Wrestle it out like that. Somebody could get hurt.
• 14:42
  Speaker 8: You can, you can mess up your money maker.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: That's a good point, uh, jack question for you. I
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: worked with.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Your dad out for a long time, and I mean
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: you're not the only big of course with you know,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: a big league or family member whatever, right, there's plenty
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: of others in the bigs. The reason I'm so curious
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: to ask you about al is because I know him
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: and I know how thorough and intense he is. So
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: what is he like for you now as a dad
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: who played in the big leagues and you are a
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: big lea league pitcher, right, forget how it was as
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: a kid or anything like.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Right now? Does he send you a full recap after
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: any outing that you have? What is it like for
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: him to watch you? And how involved does he want
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: to be?
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he's he's very involved, as he should be.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: He's uh, he's had every every role in my life.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: And baseball coaches. Is one of them, and he's had
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: a huge, huge impact on me in my career. And
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: I would say he is he's very he's very involved,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and sometimes we have very different personalities. He's he like
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: you said, he's he's intense, he's very animated. I try
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: to keep it more even keeled. And sometimes I have
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: to tell him in our conversations, like you know, I'm
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: I'm different than you. Our brains work in different ways.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: But no, he's he's the best.
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: Here's way smarter. He went to Vanderbil. He didn't go
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: to Vanderbilt.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: No, he didn't.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: He didn't go to college. He went to Penn State Online.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Does that counts?
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: I'm must say, you know what, I didn't go to college.
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: You know i' must say I went to Penn State
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: Online too. I want to depend State online too. Do
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: you think do you think there's more pressure on you
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: because of your dad? Because I have a son and
• 16:32
  Speaker 6: Kratzy has a son that play baseball, and there are
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: times where you not that you feel sorry for him,
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: but you you there's almost some sympathy for him because
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: they have you had lighter on your name. My son
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: has Prazinski on his back right, So every person's like, oh,
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: I'm every parent tells their kid, Oh, that's Al Lighter's
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: son that you're facing. You got if you get a hit,
• 16:51
  Speaker 6: you got to hit off Al Lighter. Do you feel
• 16:54
  Speaker 6: like there's a little bit more pressure on you, especially
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: maybe not now because now you're you're you've been in
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: the leads, you pitched them, because but I'm talking like
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: high school, then into college and then even in the
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: minor leagues.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: I think so, yeah, I think it's just part of it, though.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I think it's always been that way. I think when
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I was younger, twelve years old, didn't pitch. I wasn't
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: wasn't good enough, wasn't big enough, strong enough to pitch
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: on my travel teams. I would work it with my
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: dad in my backyard and then I'd go play second
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: base and that eighth or ninth in my travel team lineup.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: And that's where I kind of learned, like, just eliminate
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: all expectations. Yeah, you get the all your ouse on,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: the jokes from the you know, the teammates and other
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: parents are talking about it, but it doesn't matter, and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: put your head down and work and you'll get where.
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: You need to be okay. So that's how you dealt
• 17:43
  Speaker 6: with it, because yeah, because because people ask me all
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: the time, how does your son deal with it? And
• 17:46
  Speaker 6: he kind of tries to do the same thing. But
• 17:49
  Speaker 6: there's also smart ass kids and smart ass coaches on
• 17:52
  Speaker 6: other teams and they'll say something, you know, my son
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: strikes out and they're like, you're not as good as
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: your dad, right, So it's it's refreshing for me to
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: hear somebody say, you know, I just got rid of
• 18:01
  Speaker 6: expectations and was myself. That's that's a huge step.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it if you use it right, it
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: fuels you. It fuels you to work really hard when
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: nobody's watching. And uh, you want to prove everyone in
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: yourself right for where you can where you can get to.
• 18:17
  Speaker 7: What's a successful year for you? This year?
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I want to make a I want to make an
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: impact on the big league team at a at a
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: high level. And uh, I I'm very familiar with you know,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: what what my potential could be, and I want to
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: I want to reach that or and help the team
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: win a lot of games. I want to, you know,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I want to embrace the good and the bad and
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: uh not be so so hard on myself, and that's
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: one of my goals this year is to uh enjoy it,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: enjoy it, have fun, continue to work hard like I
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: always do, and uh hopefully compete at a high level
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: and win a lot of games.
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: Starter Reliever.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: I see myself as a starter, Ferris, Ferris.
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: But you see yourself as a starter.
• 19:04
  Speaker 8: And we kind of had this discussion about with Marcus Stroman,
• 19:07
  Speaker 8: like he's been established as a starter.
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: You're not established yet.
• 19:10
  Speaker 8: If they call you you're in triple A. You've been starting,
• 19:13
  Speaker 8: You've been making every one of your starts, and they're like, hey,
• 19:16
  Speaker 8: we need you in a pen in the big leagues.
• 19:18
  Speaker 8: Is that a knock to a pitcher's ego? Is that
• 19:22
  Speaker 8: something that you're like, it doesn't matter, it's the big leagues,
• 19:24
  Speaker 8: the team's winning, We're gonna win the West. Or is
• 19:27
  Speaker 8: there still like that like ego in there that you're saying,
• 19:31
  Speaker 8: I know I can still start.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: I think I'll always think I can start. I think
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the way my brain is wired and my routine and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: how much I've fallen in love with the process and
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the routine. I think I am a starter with my mindset.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Being in the bullpen last year. In September, I had
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: to adjust being with guys like Chaf and Robertson and Yates.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: They were very helpful and like, why are you doing
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: all this stuff?
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: You're in the.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Bullpen now you don't have to do all Like the
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: routines are not the same. So I mean, I'm going
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: to attack any role that I have with with everything
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: I've got and whatever the team thinks is best. That's
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do and try to help them win
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of games. But uh yeah, it's it's a
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: different routine, it's a different mindset, it's a different process,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: and that's all part of it. But I will always
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: think that I'm I'm a starter, even if you know
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: I spend years as a reliever, I'll think I can
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: do the uh you know, Michael King, uh Lugo, whoever else,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: guys who have who have done the switch back.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: I'm I'm a starter.
• 20:29
  Speaker 8: You ever been starstruck? Obviously big league big league kids.
• 20:33
  Speaker 8: You know they're hanging around people there, you know, their
• 20:35
  Speaker 8: lockers next to Aaron Judge when their dad was in
• 20:38
  Speaker 8: the like. Have you ever been starstruck recently or like
• 20:42
  Speaker 8: at any point in you know, in your recent life.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean when I was little, it was often
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: being in the clubhouses. Uh, my dad was just my dad,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: but I was a big baseball fan. So being around
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: guys like Jeter, a Rod, Sheffield, Cano, it was uh
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: those were those were some starstruck moments. But uh, recently,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say so.
• 21:05
  Speaker 7: Uh.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I mean we talked about Kumar honestly, seen my senior
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: year of high school, he was, you know, mister mister everything.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: At at Vanderbilt freshman year he did, he did it all.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: He won the national championship. Uh, one of the best
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: pitchers in the country. And then I come in my
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: freshman year, which was his sophomore year, and uh, to me,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: he was he was a stud, he was a star.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: And now he's now he's Kumar, he's my teammate. And
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: it's kind of the same way with de Gram, Schurezer
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: last year, Yates, Seeger, everybody, all these all these guys
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: with big names that that uh, you know, I went
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: through middle school, high school, and they're they're they're doing
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: it at a high level, winning sy Young's it's uh,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: you come in and and you do quickly see like
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: everybody's everybody's doing the same thing. Everybody's attacking their routine,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: their process. Some guys just have it more figured out
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: than others. But uh, yeah, I would say, initially it's starstruck,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and then they quickly become teammates.
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: Your dad. So I'm gonna ask about Comar this again.
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: We've talked to him already. I want to know he
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: had an answer for us. If you guys were in
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: the nil world right now, how much would you two
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: have made? He had an answer, He had an answer.
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: It seems like it's all all fagazy.
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Everybody's thrown out different numbers, and I've heard that there's
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: you know, middle Relievers in the SEC making six hundred
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars, and I've also heard that some of it's
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: not true. So I don't know, But uh, that would
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: have been an interesting thing.
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: You say, you guys would have been in the millions
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: you two together.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I would uh, from what I've heard, I would say
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: that's probably a possibility.
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: Here. How did you guys not win? In twenty one
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: my daughter goes to Misissippi State and that's like the
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: only thing they've ever won in there. The history of
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: Mississippi State is that championship. So how did you guys
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: not win? I mean, I know it's baseball, but I
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: mean you look at you the team you guys had
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: that year. How did you guys know win? We?
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe we just ran out of gas.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I mean it's baseball. It's a three game series. I
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: know we won game one and then kind of got
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: our got our ass kicked in game two. In game three,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: it wasn't much of a game either one, but I
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: mean that was that was memorable either way. I pitched
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: that first game and shove too. I remember when when
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Mississippi State made it, they beat Texas and there were
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: videos of like school buses full of people in Starkville
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: loading up to go to Omaha. And Vandy's got a
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: great fan base, but it's a much smaller school. So
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: we had about, you know, maybe two thousand people in
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the stands for that game, and there were twenty three
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: thousand Misissippi State fans. It felt like I was at
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: an SEC football game and I was on the mound
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: for it. So it was cool.
• 23:43
  Speaker 8: You guys, I mean elite program, elite baseball program. You
• 23:47
  Speaker 8: went to the highest final game and everything. I went
• 23:51
  Speaker 8: to a small Division III school and I still have
• 23:53
  Speaker 8: friends on the baseball team that I keep up with.
• 23:56
  Speaker 8: We meet with all the time. Who's some dudes.
• 24:00
  Speaker 7: Oh you can't hear it? Okay, well I'll tell.
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: You said still in touch with? Who do you keep
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: in touch with?
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: From college?
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: From college or high school?
• 24:11
  Speaker 7: From college?
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: Both college and volpey? I'm assuming Volpi.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Uh. We had our high school USA team in eighteen
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: U which was I mean, looking back ten years from
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: now is going to be something crazy and Bobby Witt,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: c j Abrams, Riley Green, Dylan Cruz, Pete Crow, Armstrong,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Corbyn Carroll, Volpi, it's uh, and the list goes on.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: There were Drew Romo, like twelve big leaguers on that
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: team as high schoolers. So some of those guys for
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: sure college. I mean that that was my most memorable time.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: And I love Vanderbilt.
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: I go back.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I work out at Vanderbilt in the off season, so
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I still I'm around the guys, and we have a
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: good group of probably fifteen twenty pro guys that work
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: out of Vandy, and I live there in Nashville, so
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I keep I try to keep in touch with a
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: lot of people and then obviously just high schoo buddies
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: and everything else.
• 25:02
  Speaker 6: So does your dad ever come to you and we're
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: letting you go after this? Is your dad ever come
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: to you and said just throw the cutter? Because I mean,
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: he all you do is cutters in right? So has
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: you ever just said, look, Jack, just just know the
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: cutter to the lefties every pitch. You'll be fine.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: He loves he loves the cutter, of course, and I've
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: messed around with cutters. It's it's a comfortable pitch, kind
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: of just offset of four seam and throw fastball. And
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: I still consider that one of the pitches I have.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: I haven't thrown one in the game yet this spring,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: but I'll bring it out and catch play, throw one
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: in a bullpen. It's just a it's a comfortable pitch,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: and I do love the cutters. So who knows there
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: will be a point in my career maybe I maybe
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I hit a wall with velocity and start start moving
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the ball around a little more, sink it, cut it
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: and kind of do the crad be.
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: So proud of you if you threw a cutter and
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: you broke up out Like finally, my son has.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Return yes, yes he would.
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Well, Jack, if you can hear, appreciate the time man.
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: Appreciate it, guys, Thank you and Jack later. Texas Rangers