Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Did we just witness Tarik Skubal's final start as a Tiger?

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Did we just witness Tarik Skubal's final start as a Tiger? · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: And welcome in to another episode of Tiger Territory, part
0:12
Speaker 1: of the Foul Territory Network Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm Kieren Steckley,
0:15
Speaker 1: and I got with me a couple of dudes that
0:17
Speaker 1: know how to wing it.
0:18
Speaker 2: Coe Stavenhagen, Austin Jackson. What's up, Fellas? How we doing?
0:22
Speaker 3: What's going on with Fellas?
0:23
Speaker 4: Hey, I don't know if we're winging it. Hopefully the
0:25
Speaker 4: front office isn't winging these next few days. Hopefully got
0:28
Speaker 4: they got their ducks in a row. So there's a
0:30
Speaker 4: lot going on.
0:31
Speaker 1: Well, well, here's the thing. This is an emotional day
0:35
Speaker 1: in Tigerland, right you have the school will start the
0:38
Speaker 1: all the emotions of seeing that. But it's like, hey,
0:40
Speaker 1: you know up seven oh seven to one, and you
0:42
Speaker 1: know it might be a good day after all. Nah,
0:46
Speaker 1: And it turned out not to be a good day.
0:47
Speaker 1: And so everybody's in their fields in some fashion. And
0:51
Speaker 1: I think I always try to like summarize like a
0:54
Speaker 1: lot of complicated feelings into one or two sentences, and
0:58
Speaker 1: really this today was just a reminder of everything that's
1:01
Speaker 1: kind of what comes to mind. It was just a
1:03
Speaker 1: reminder of everything, Like but this team could be what
1:06
Speaker 1: this team actually is. Excellent starting pitching, offense that is capable.
1:10
Speaker 1: Obviously saw that in the past two days, and even
1:13
Speaker 1: like havoc havoc on the base pass today underrated part
1:15
Speaker 1: of what happened in today's game, just like just being
1:18
Speaker 1: aggressive and kind of forcing the Orioles into uncomfortable situations,
1:23
Speaker 1: but also the bullpen Cody, but also injuries. But also
1:28
Speaker 1: even though I don't think it made a huge difference,
1:30
Speaker 1: also not great defense, not an error by deliberatorres, but
1:33
Speaker 1: not getting out there in the eighth inning on that
1:35
Speaker 1: feeler's choice.
1:36
Speaker 2: It was a reminder of everything, man.
1:38
Speaker 1: And so here we are the Tigers are like what
1:40
Speaker 1: they are, fifty one and fifty eight, staring down the
1:44
Speaker 1: barrel of the trade deadline, and it just kind of
1:47
Speaker 1: feels like the inevitable is this was the last time
1:50
Speaker 1: we saw Trek Scuogl in a Tiger's uniform. Cody, you
1:53
Speaker 1: were there, you were an eyewitness to everything. Kinda kind
1:57
Speaker 1: of take us there a little bit, even the past
1:59
Speaker 1: couple of days in the lead up too, because I'm
2:01
Speaker 1: sure that's part.
2:01
Speaker 2: Of the story.
2:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's been a lot, man, it's been heavy.
2:07
Speaker 4: I feel like, I've used that word at various points
2:09
Speaker 4: throughout this season, and that's because there have been a
2:12
Speaker 4: lot of heavy moments this season, and none more so
2:14
Speaker 4: than what we're seeing right now. Scoogle's dealing with questions
2:18
Speaker 4: pretty much every day, whether it's from the media, who
2:20
Speaker 4: knows what it's like, you know, talking with his family,
2:23
Speaker 4: the things he's seeing pop up on his phone. I
2:27
Speaker 4: think there was a part of him that was looking
2:29
Speaker 4: forward to this start, knowing it was going to be emotional,
2:32
Speaker 4: knowing he was on the cusp of a thousand strikeouts.
2:36
Speaker 4: You know, you could kind of see him walking out
2:39
Speaker 4: onto the field. He to me, he looked, he looked
2:41
Speaker 4: a little emotional.
2:42
Speaker 5: Man.
2:42
Speaker 4: I don't know if his eyes were getting red or what.
2:44
Speaker 4: And he stepped out there and it was game on,
2:46
Speaker 4: and he gets the thousandth strikeout on the first batter
2:49
Speaker 4: of the game. Everything seems like it's gonna be great,
2:53
Speaker 4: it's gonna be kind of this fitting farewell, and then
2:57
Speaker 4: it just kind of was and wasn't at the same time.
3:00
Speaker 3: Time.
3:00
Speaker 4: This whole game was kind of a microcosm of this season,
3:03
Speaker 4: where you had some high highs and you had some
3:06
Speaker 4: low lows, even schoobl I mean, he pitched really well.
3:09
Speaker 4: Not his best stuff, but he pitched really well, retired
3:12
Speaker 4: fourteen straight hitters. At one point, goes out for one
3:15
Speaker 4: more inning and just well, there's a walk, there's a single, Okay,
3:18
Speaker 4: you get one more batter, and just leaves a pitch
3:21
Speaker 4: over the middle. He's walking out, still gets a big cheer,
3:24
Speaker 4: still gets ah, you know, acknowledges the crowd would have
3:27
Speaker 4: been a little better if we got to see the
3:29
Speaker 4: outing end when a typical Schooble strikeout and the roar.
3:33
Speaker 3: And the yell.
3:33
Speaker 4: We didn't quite get that. But hey, it's all right,
3:36
Speaker 4: they're up seven to one. I'm sure people are thinking,
3:38
Speaker 4: I don't know, I don't know, they might buy You
3:41
Speaker 4: see what aj Hinch said before the game, when when asked,
3:44
Speaker 4: you know what he thought about the front off is
3:46
Speaker 4: letting Scooble start this game? He said, Hey, we're you know,
3:50
Speaker 4: our mindset here is winning. That's how I talked about
3:52
Speaker 4: the team, That's how Scott and Jeff talked about the team.
3:56
Speaker 4: But then Scooble leaves the game and then it's like,
3:58
Speaker 4: oh yeah, like this bullpen man is a problem. And
4:02
Speaker 4: there's some elements of this team where it feels like
4:05
Speaker 4: sometimes you just don't have quite enough, but then you
4:08
Speaker 4: battle back. Then Tour gets a big homer next r inning,
4:11
Speaker 4: So you're just fully strapped in the roller coaster. Man,
4:14
Speaker 4: you go through all that three hours, thirty minutes later
4:16
Speaker 4: the Tigers lose. There's seven games under five hundred. If
4:20
Speaker 4: I had to guess, we might have just seen Trek
4:22
Speaker 4: Scuble as a Tiger for the final time.
4:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, I think everyone's kind of omnipresent
4:30
Speaker 1: about this, Like you mentioned like school ball and the
4:32
Speaker 1: emotions like, and he did kind of feel like a
4:35
Speaker 1: little bit more observant, I guess would be the way
4:38
Speaker 1: to put it, uh, you know, going out there. And
4:41
Speaker 1: then even like when AJ finally did take him out,
4:44
Speaker 1: like he gave him like an extra little pat on
4:46
Speaker 1: the on the chest, And I thought Dingler gave him
4:49
Speaker 1: a little extra like kind of recognizing like this could
4:52
Speaker 1: be the last time I take out the best pitcher
4:53
Speaker 1: in baseball from a game. This could be the last
4:55
Speaker 1: time that I catch the bet best pitcher in baseball
4:58
Speaker 1: in a game. And I thought they to recognize that too, Austin,
5:03
Speaker 1: what what is that like? Like, can you can you
5:06
Speaker 1: put yourself in the situation of being in that clubhouse
5:09
Speaker 1: and just kind of having this whole thing just kind
5:13
Speaker 1: of hang over like a like a dark cloud about
5:15
Speaker 1: what's going to happen. But but then again, like you
5:17
Speaker 1: still got this is your livelihood. You still got to
5:19
Speaker 1: focus on your job.
5:21
Speaker 2: Like how do you how do you do that? I
5:23
Speaker 2: guess would be my question.
5:25
Speaker 5: Man, You know, I thought about that as well. I mean,
5:29
Speaker 5: just kind of watching him. It was actually cool to see,
5:32
Speaker 5: to be honest, like, I love to see the human
5:35
Speaker 5: element in professionals, you know. It It lets you know
5:39
Speaker 5: that they're still professionals. They still deal with emotion just
5:42
Speaker 5: like everybody else. But the thing that I think we're
5:45
Speaker 5: able to do really well is compartmentalize those things the
5:49
Speaker 5: business side from the game.
5:51
Speaker 3: We've been doing that, you know, our whole lives.
5:54
Speaker 5: Basically, we've always had to deal with outside distractions and
5:58
Speaker 5: then come in and in are you know, expected to perform.
6:02
Speaker 5: And that's that's just how we that's how we're brought up,
6:06
Speaker 5: that's the way that we that's the way we have
6:08
Speaker 5: to be as professionals.
6:09
Speaker 3: And yes, I've been in that situation.
6:11
Speaker 5: I've been obviously you know, you know, me being traded
6:15
Speaker 5: in the middle of a game. But I've also been
6:17
Speaker 5: in the clubhouse when other guys are are coming up
6:21
Speaker 5: in the headlines of being you know, possibly being traded,
6:24
Speaker 5: and it's it's tough, you know, because it's like that
6:26
Speaker 5: elephant in the room and you don't really you don't
6:29
Speaker 5: really want to talk about it, but you know it's there, right,
6:32
Speaker 5: you know it's there. But again, you you realize there's
6:36
Speaker 5: a job to do. We're super task oriented, and you
6:38
Speaker 5: know that you still have to go out there and
6:41
Speaker 5: perform no matter what.
6:43
Speaker 3: You know that's that's what's expected of you.
6:45
Speaker 5: And anytime that you put a jersey on, you know,
6:47
Speaker 5: the ends and out the business side of the game,
6:50
Speaker 5: you know that you could be you know, potentially your
6:53
Speaker 5: last at back, your last pitch, anytime you step on
6:56
Speaker 5: a field. So again, I think we just do a
6:58
Speaker 5: really good job at compartment mentalizing those things. But to
7:02
Speaker 5: say that we don't think about it like we might
7:05
Speaker 5: say the politically correct thing, you know, to the media,
7:08
Speaker 5: because that's what it's what we've been taught to do.
7:11
Speaker 5: But I mean, you feel it. You do feel it.
7:13
Speaker 3: Man.
7:14
Speaker 5: You've you've you know, you've got you built this fan base,
7:17
Speaker 5: you know, and they've gotten to see you grow in
7:20
Speaker 5: your struggles, you know, and and and then you know
7:23
Speaker 5: all the success that that he's had in particular, so
7:27
Speaker 5: you know, it's it's tough. And again, like seeing him
7:30
Speaker 5: and seeing the emotion, the raw emotion, you know, it
7:33
Speaker 5: was genuine. You were like, man, Okay, this this is real.
7:37
Speaker 5: You know, like you said, him looking around, observing everything.
7:40
Speaker 5: He's probably looking at things he's never you know, probably
7:43
Speaker 5: cared to look at, and uh, you know, knowing that
7:45
Speaker 5: this could be potentially his last, his last start as
7:48
Speaker 5: a Detroit Tiger. But I think he's he's handled this
7:53
Speaker 5: so well and I don't expect anything different. And that's
7:57
Speaker 5: that's just what we're again, that's how we're built. We're
8:00
Speaker 5: bill to be able to take, you know, these type
8:02
Speaker 5: of things and still go out and perform because that's
8:04
Speaker 5: that's what is expected of us. And yeah, but man, again,
8:09
Speaker 5: I say I always say, I'd be lying if I
8:12
Speaker 5: said that. You know, I wasn't thinking about that, you know,
8:16
Speaker 5: when it happened to me, I was.
8:17
Speaker 3: Absolutely thinking about it.
8:19
Speaker 5: But I still knew that I wanted to go out
8:22
Speaker 5: and give my you know, my team, the best possibility
8:26
Speaker 5: chance to win and do whatever I could do to
8:28
Speaker 5: win that.
8:28
Speaker 4: Game, guys. And even after the outing, I think schoogles,
8:32
Speaker 4: you know, his postgame interview was kind of all all
8:35
Speaker 4: that array of emotions was tangible. He was kind of
8:39
Speaker 4: reflective and talking about his thousandth strikeout and his journey
8:42
Speaker 4: to that point, how it reminds him of his story.
8:45
Speaker 4: He's talking about appreciating the fans and the reception and
8:48
Speaker 4: then the trade. I think this is the most I've
8:51
Speaker 4: seen him look a little bit like just worn down
8:54
Speaker 4: by the trade questions because he's heard it over and
8:56
Speaker 4: over and he handles him better than most guys, honestly,
8:59
Speaker 4: but he's you know, at one point is like, I
9:01
Speaker 4: feel like I've answered this a million times, because he has.
9:04
Speaker 4: He has answered a million times and just played this game,
9:06
Speaker 4: this heartbreaking loss, and the most I've seen him like
9:10
Speaker 4: just kind of start to look a little bit exhausted
9:12
Speaker 4: by the whole whirlwind, by the whole by the whole
9:16
Speaker 4: saga that he's been on.
9:18
Speaker 5: It sounded different a little bit, Cody, I ain't gonna lie.
9:21
Speaker 5: I was like kind of feeling him with I was like,
9:23
Speaker 5: man like he had me locked in. I was like, man,
9:26
Speaker 5: like I'm watching the soap opera right now. Like I
9:28
Speaker 5: was really like, like I felt the emotion, man, So like, again,
9:32
Speaker 5: I love to see it because we don't typically get
9:35
Speaker 5: to see that. We get to see the bulldog. The
9:37
Speaker 5: dude is on the mound, you know, he's he has
9:39
Speaker 5: this presence on the mouth. But when you get to
9:41
Speaker 5: see that side of him, man, it's it's really cool
9:43
Speaker 5: because you know he's still human.
9:46
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think there's an element of you know,
9:50
Speaker 1: we focus on size, we focused on all these metrics
9:53
Speaker 1: and even just like you know, smart like you know
9:56
Speaker 1: baseball IQ. But there's an emotional EQ, the EQ element
10:00
Speaker 1: to these top notch athletes that they have to you know,
10:03
Speaker 1: develop and go through and like you said, Austin, like
10:06
Speaker 1: still performing your job even though all these things are
10:09
Speaker 1: are bouncing around that really are outside of your control.
10:11
Speaker 1: But again, you still gotta go and do your work.
10:13
Speaker 1: And the fact that they do so often and Schoolble
10:16
Speaker 1: just did is obviously commendable. All right, guys, I gotta
10:20
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10:23
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11:35
Speaker 1: the probably the first I would say, Domino to fall
11:38
Speaker 1: in this kind of like lead up to the trade deadline,
11:41
Speaker 1: even though it technically wasn't a trade for now, was
11:44
Speaker 1: Jake Rogers being DFA by the Tigers, the move directly
11:48
Speaker 1: to bring Hobby back to back from the IL. Obviously
11:52
Speaker 1: Eduardo Valencia is going to be the backup catcher now. Uh,
11:56
Speaker 1: that one had to talk about human element, Like I
11:59
Speaker 1: said that one had to be. It seems like that
12:02
Speaker 1: sent to ripple Cody, including with Schoogle, including with a.
12:05
Speaker 2: Lot of guys.
12:05
Speaker 1: Longest ten year Tiger, he's been on the Tigers longer
12:09
Speaker 1: than we've been doing this podcast, and I feel like
12:10
Speaker 1: we've been doing this a while now at this point.
12:13
Speaker 1: So what can you kay share with us of the
12:16
Speaker 1: reaction to the guys in the clubhouse when you know
12:20
Speaker 1: maybe the most popular dude is no longer there.
12:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was probably the most like just reaction I've
12:27
Speaker 4: since from the other guys to a single transaction in
12:31
Speaker 4: my time doing this job. And for a second, I
12:33
Speaker 4: was like well, is this just me given you know,
12:35
Speaker 4: some of you guys know, I grew up playing against Jake.
12:38
Speaker 4: Our travel teams practiced on opposite ends of the same
12:42
Speaker 4: you know, Big dirt Field in West Texas, and he
12:45
Speaker 4: played on my Arrival High school and I've known him
12:47
Speaker 4: for a long time. It's like, is this me? And
12:48
Speaker 4: I was like, no, dude, this is you know, this
12:51
Speaker 4: was the consummate glue guy. This was the guy who,
12:54
Speaker 4: even though he wasn't the best player, was maybe the
12:57
Speaker 4: closest thing they had to a leader, especially amongst position players.
13:00
Speaker 4: A guy who could be hilarious in one breath and
13:04
Speaker 4: then kind of like a wise you know, uncle or
13:07
Speaker 4: brother or something in another breath. I think he meant
13:10
Speaker 4: a lot to a lot of different players, especially the
13:13
Speaker 4: core group that has kind of been here over the years.
13:17
Speaker 4: You know, Trek Scugel, Casey Maiz Carry Carpenter, Riley Green, Spencer, Torkolsen,
13:23
Speaker 4: Carry Carpenter said torn up. You know, Trek's talked about, Hey,
13:27
Speaker 4: that that was tough, and some of it might be.
13:29
Speaker 4: I think it was probably a little bit of a surprise,
13:31
Speaker 4: even to the guys in that room. The ed Edward
13:34
Speaker 4: O Valencia man, he's earned this roster spot and he's
13:39
Speaker 4: another very popular guy kind of amongst the younger groups.
13:41
Speaker 4: So congrats to edwardo Valencia. But he's made this roster
13:45
Speaker 4: puzzle a little bit different. And I kind of thought
13:49
Speaker 4: the Tigers, if they were to move on from Jake,
13:51
Speaker 4: would at least wait until after the deadline, until after maybe,
13:54
Speaker 4: you know, if they were to move Schooble and things
13:57
Speaker 4: just start to look different. They did a few days earlier,
14:01
Speaker 4: maybe just out of attempt to win as many games
14:04
Speaker 4: as they can. You know, they just felt it was time.
14:07
Speaker 4: But that's still a big move. And I don't think
14:09
Speaker 4: a move a front office makes light that makes lightly.
14:13
Speaker 4: Removing Jake Rodgers from that room has an impact on everybody,
14:16
Speaker 4: and not just the night he was told or the
14:19
Speaker 4: next day. I think that's going to be felt. The
14:22
Speaker 4: absence of Jake Rodgers is going to be felt in
14:24
Speaker 4: the room for the rest of the season.
14:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, Cody, Because you know, there's just certain things in
14:30
Speaker 5: this game right now where there's so many analytics and
14:33
Speaker 5: we all have all these measuring metrics and things like that,
14:37
Speaker 5: but there's just there's just sometimes you can't measure a
14:41
Speaker 5: glue guy like you can't measure the impact that he
14:44
Speaker 5: has in a clubhouse. And you know, I know there
14:48
Speaker 5: you still have to perform, but there's there's a certain
14:53
Speaker 5: thing that in a clubhouse, that brotherhood that keeps everybody connected,
14:59
Speaker 5: that keeps it, you know, in the struggles, in the
15:01
Speaker 5: good games, you know, to keep everybody level headed. It's
15:04
Speaker 5: it's something to be said about that guy. And I
15:07
Speaker 5: don't think you know that that guy gets enough appreciation
15:11
Speaker 5: enough in today's game, because you know, there there aren't
15:14
Speaker 5: these veteran leaders like there used to be. There used
15:17
Speaker 5: to be a clubhouse full of those type of guys,
15:19
Speaker 5: and now the game has gotten you know, a lot younger.
15:22
Speaker 5: But man, it's just something to be said when when
15:24
Speaker 5: a guy has so much impact on not only just
15:28
Speaker 5: in that clubhouse, but on guys' lives. You know, you
15:31
Speaker 5: talk about how it could be funny sometimes or how
15:34
Speaker 5: he could be serious when it was time for that.
15:36
Speaker 3: But I mean, I'm.
15:37
Speaker 5: Sure because I play with those type of guys that
15:39
Speaker 5: they just help you out with life, you know, because
15:42
Speaker 5: baseball gets tough, you got outside distractions to get tough,
15:46
Speaker 5: and when you got a guy in that clubhouse that
15:48
Speaker 5: can just bring it all together.
15:49
Speaker 3: Man.
15:49
Speaker 5: It just just makes it enjoyable to come to the clubhouse. Man,
15:54
Speaker 5: you you gonna, like you said, that's gonna have an
15:57
Speaker 5: impact on this on this club for for little bit
16:00
Speaker 5: and you know they're gonna feel it again. It doesn't matter.
16:04
Speaker 5: I don't like to say, well, you know, he wasn't
16:07
Speaker 5: performing or what. That's fine, but I know that from
16:11
Speaker 5: sitting in clubhouse and being a part of some really
16:14
Speaker 5: good teams, there was always a guy in there that
16:17
Speaker 5: kept the clubhouse together when it got crazy. And those guys, man,
16:21
Speaker 5: you gotta have them on your team.
16:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've always I've always been one that values the
16:29
Speaker 1: hidden value, I guess and and Jake Rogers was that
16:32
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. And I know, Austin you've
16:34
Speaker 1: talked about different dudes that you know had that. I
16:36
Speaker 1: think I think DK, don Donnie, Kelly uh would would
16:39
Speaker 1: would fit into that category.
16:41
Speaker 2: Uh And And.
16:43
Speaker 1: I don't want those guys out of baseball. I know
16:46
Speaker 1: Jake's gonna be in baseball. I don't want to like
16:48
Speaker 1: over overdo it here, but like I want those guys
16:51
Speaker 1: still on Major League I want those kinds of guys
16:54
Speaker 1: on my favorite baseball team. Because I do think that
16:57
Speaker 1: there is value in that hidden value. And and and
16:59
Speaker 1: he just kind of had it just kind of run
17:02
Speaker 1: its course. And there's gonna be a lot of guys
17:04
Speaker 1: I think on this team that kind of fit into those,
17:07
Speaker 1: you know, good guy categories. But you know, it kind
17:09
Speaker 1: of runs its course. And that's okay too. And that's
17:12
Speaker 1: okay too. Jake's gonna have a nice long career. And
17:16
Speaker 1: and and he'll always be remembered as the guy who
17:19
Speaker 1: was one of who was like the verbal catalyst. But
17:21
Speaker 1: that amazing run in twenty twenty twenty four, But don't
17:24
Speaker 1: let the Tigers get hot, you know, and that you
17:26
Speaker 1: know that, and that's that's special too.
17:29
Speaker 3: It's amazing things.
17:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's there's oddly still a market for these these
17:34
Speaker 4: backup catchers and guys just like Jake Rogers. It really
17:36
Speaker 4: seems like the Tigers are anticipating maybe being able to
17:39
Speaker 4: work a straight a small trade before he even clears waivers.
17:43
Speaker 4: You go look around at contenders. Man, the Texas Rangers
17:46
Speaker 4: need a catcher. The uh, the Tampa Bay Rays need
17:48
Speaker 4: to catch her that. I don't know if the Orioles
17:50
Speaker 4: are contenders or not. They got two catchers on the
17:53
Speaker 4: I l you know, his batting average may not be good,
17:56
Speaker 4: even the defense wasn't quite as good in a very
17:58
Speaker 4: small sample this year. But Jake can call a game
18:01
Speaker 4: behind the plate, Jake can receive and throw really well,
18:04
Speaker 4: and there's at least some level of pops still in
18:06
Speaker 4: that bat. So he's probably now entering the phase, that
18:09
Speaker 4: backup catcher phase where he might be on a different
18:12
Speaker 4: team every year for the next few years. But we
18:14
Speaker 4: are going to see plenty more of Jake Rogers.
18:18
Speaker 1: And you know, the flip side of that with this
18:22
Speaker 1: specific transaction is that it meant Hobby Bayas returned. And uh,
18:27
Speaker 1: and I put this on X and I still believe it,
18:29
Speaker 1: like we can. It feels a little sorrow there for
18:32
Speaker 1: the first whatever eighteen minutes of this podcast.
18:34
Speaker 2: Uh, We're gonna have a look at live it up
18:36
Speaker 2: a little bit.
18:37
Speaker 4: Man.
18:37
Speaker 2: I just still love watching Hobby play baseball.
18:40
Speaker 1: Like I It's still just like tickles me, Like I
18:43
Speaker 1: love watching him in center field track down balls and
18:46
Speaker 1: and feel and you know, it feels like he's trying
18:47
Speaker 1: to catch every single ball at his kneecap, you know,
18:50
Speaker 1: no matter where it is on the field. He's always
18:52
Speaker 1: got to catch it low and he just got He's
18:54
Speaker 1: got a little presence to him. He's making things happen
18:57
Speaker 1: on the base pass. He's he's hitting the ball. Like
19:00
Speaker 1: I just I just enjoy watching Hobby. I missed it, man,
19:02
Speaker 1: it has been a long time.
19:04
Speaker 2: It had been a long.
19:04
Speaker 1: Time since we had seen Hobby man long time. And
19:07
Speaker 1: then and then they like, you know, they score fourteen
19:09
Speaker 1: or whatever it was on Tuesday, and then seven today.
19:12
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, man, we're gonna write columns about his
19:14
Speaker 1: hobby the boost of this team needs.
19:17
Speaker 2: Well, that didn't turn out to be the case.
19:19
Speaker 1: But still cool to see Hobby bouncing around at k
19:21
Speaker 1: America Park again.
19:23
Speaker 3: Still has value, Still canna have value.
19:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, Hobby in some ways is not the opposite of
19:30
Speaker 4: a glue guy, because I guess the opposite would be,
19:32
Speaker 4: but he's like the positive opposite of.
19:34
Speaker 2: A glue guy.
19:35
Speaker 4: Like he's to himself. He's not really the raw rab leader.
19:38
Speaker 4: He's probably not the guy a lot of other people
19:41
Speaker 4: are going to for advice. But it's funny how over
19:43
Speaker 4: the course of five years, Hobby's kind of become a
19:47
Speaker 4: really popular teammate for simply being Hobby. For being who
19:51
Speaker 4: he is. Everyone kind of knows. Hey, he's a little quirky, Yeah,
19:55
Speaker 4: that's Hobby in the corner. He might show up a
19:57
Speaker 4: little late, whatever, but when that guy gets on the field, man,
20:00
Speaker 4: he's a dog. And even if his numbers aren't what
20:03
Speaker 4: they were in his prime or whatever, like, he does
20:05
Speaker 4: some special things on the field. I think guys really
20:08
Speaker 4: appreciate his talent, his ability, and one thing overlooked like
20:11
Speaker 4: his desire to win. Hobby in a lot of regards,
20:14
Speaker 4: has been a winning baseball player, and especially over the
20:18
Speaker 4: last year plus with this team. You know again, the
20:20
Speaker 4: selflessness of it, of moving to the outfield, of not
20:24
Speaker 4: playing every day, of playing a different role in the
20:26
Speaker 4: way he's embraced that. I think guys appreciate that too.
20:29
Speaker 4: So it doesn't really make up for the loss of
20:32
Speaker 4: Jake Rogers, but it was an odd like still kind
20:34
Speaker 4: of a positive jolt to have Hobby Bias back in
20:37
Speaker 4: more ways than one.
20:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, and before we get too deep into this episode,
20:43
Speaker 1: I did want to remind everybody that we have at
20:46
Speaker 1: foul Territory a special trade deadline day show and we
20:50
Speaker 1: have a promo that we can play for you guys
20:52
Speaker 1: to promote that.
20:54
Speaker 6: There is one place to be on trade deadline day
20:57
Speaker 6: watching Foul Territory of course, ask Aeric Kratz and Scott
21:01
Speaker 6: Brown will be live all afternoon speaking with insiders, reading
21:05
Speaker 6: tea leaves, and reacting to unfolding deadline drama. Join us
21:09
Speaker 6: on the FT YouTube channel at one pm e T
21:12
Speaker 6: and stay locked in through the six pm deadline next Monday.
21:15
Speaker 6: Foul Territory Network. It's baseball the way it should be covered.
21:23
Speaker 1: All right, so be sure to check that out. And
21:24
Speaker 1: of course we will have a reaction to whatever moves
21:27
Speaker 1: the Tigers do or I guess technically, don't uh make
21:31
Speaker 1: a come trade deadline time? All right? U, let's kind
21:36
Speaker 1: of stick with the with the Valencia Jake Rogers piece
21:40
Speaker 1: of this Cody Uh, he was O for what five today?
21:43
Speaker 1: Was Valencia? So like we don't have to overreact like
21:46
Speaker 1: he would if we would have done an episode last
21:47
Speaker 1: night where he hit two home runs. But I'll tell
21:50
Speaker 1: you what, Like you know, you mentioned the popularity thing
21:53
Speaker 1: that's been spoken up enough that like I do believe it,
21:56
Speaker 1: Like everybody goes out of their way to talk about
21:58
Speaker 1: this guy.
21:58
Speaker 2: He's we've we've met before.
22:00
Speaker 1: He's a great story of perseverance, like my dad's like,
22:04
Speaker 1: where'd this Valencia guy come from?
22:05
Speaker 2: I was like, well, he's secondly been.
22:07
Speaker 1: Here a while, but like but like he he has
22:10
Speaker 1: gone through the system and he's earned his spot now
22:12
Speaker 1: and he's making the most of an opportunity. And I
22:14
Speaker 1: do think in addition to you know, the team's record
22:19
Speaker 1: or whatever, the Tigers, this is a vote of confidence
22:22
Speaker 1: that we want to see what you can do with Wardo.
22:24
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
22:25
Speaker 1: Is that is that fair to say, like this is
22:27
Speaker 1: part of the equation, like if he if they didn't
22:28
Speaker 1: see anything in their worth exploring, I'm not I'm not
22:32
Speaker 1: sure they make this move.
22:33
Speaker 2: Is that fair?
22:35
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, definitely a little bit of a move toward
22:37
Speaker 4: the future. While also I mean they think their lineup
22:39
Speaker 4: is getting better with Eduardo Valencia in it, and we've
22:42
Speaker 4: already seen it, although in a small sample. But yeah,
22:45
Speaker 4: Stude can hit the ball a little bit, That's kind
22:47
Speaker 4: of all he's done, especially throughout the last couple of years.
22:50
Speaker 4: And the Miners guy who had a long road through
22:52
Speaker 4: the system, like I forgot until talking to Spencer Toorkles
22:56
Speaker 4: and Spencer Toorkles and played in high a with Valencia,
23:00
Speaker 4: and then Valencia didn't make it into the big leagues
23:02
Speaker 4: until this year. So he's had to take the long
23:04
Speaker 4: road here, cross paths with a lot of different guys
23:07
Speaker 4: and kind of became a guy Troy Melton's really leaned on. Yeah,
23:11
Speaker 4: popular teammate. Still some things to answer, like is he
23:14
Speaker 4: you know, he's improved behind the plate, that's good. Has
23:17
Speaker 4: he improved enough behind the plate? Or can he play
23:21
Speaker 4: first base? Or are you just simply taking him for
23:24
Speaker 4: the stick. That's really going to be the big question
23:27
Speaker 4: with him. But man, why to start? He's off to
23:29
Speaker 4: authentic guy, wears his heart on his sleeve, and that's
23:32
Speaker 4: one reason people love him.
23:35
Speaker 1: Four at bats or assuming four home runs in twenty
23:38
Speaker 1: three at bats to begin his major league career, I
23:41
Speaker 1: don't have it in front of me, Austin. You remember
23:43
Speaker 1: how long it took you to get four home runs?
23:45
Speaker 3: Sure?
23:45
Speaker 5: Man, first year? I think my first year. I mean,
23:52
Speaker 5: I mean he can swing the bat. I think as
23:54
Speaker 5: long as you're swinging the bat and you're producing at
23:57
Speaker 5: the plate, we can find a place for you. Obviously,
24:01
Speaker 5: I don't want you to, you know, get hitting a home
24:04
Speaker 5: run and then giving a run back to him. But
24:07
Speaker 5: if you're swinging the bat and you're productive, I think
24:10
Speaker 5: at this point the journey that it took him to
24:13
Speaker 5: get here, I think he's willing and ready to prove
24:16
Speaker 5: that he can do just about anything to stay here
24:19
Speaker 5: at this point.
24:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, and uh, and you know this is a guy
24:24
Speaker 1: who was, like I said, a late riser and one
24:26
Speaker 1: of those guys that you probably had never heard of
24:29
Speaker 1: unless you were like really in deep into like the
24:31
Speaker 1: prospect lists and the daily updates from the affiliates and
24:34
Speaker 1: all that stuff. And if you want to try to
24:37
Speaker 1: do that, we actually have a code for you, guys.
24:40
Speaker 1: You guys can go to sign up at Baseball America.
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Speaker 1: the best play used to learn about old prospects on
25:01
Speaker 1: the move. This trade deadline season now through Monday, So
25:04
Speaker 1: there's a there's a deadline in a deadline now through Monday.
25:07
Speaker 1: You guys, can get thirty percent off any digital annual
25:10
Speaker 1: subscription with promo code Tiger thirty. Uh, all right, I
25:15
Speaker 1: did want to make note of something a little bit
25:19
Speaker 1: baseball ism. I know it's been kind of a like
25:21
Speaker 1: big picture podcast so far, but I did want to
25:24
Speaker 1: make note of a little trend that I was noticing.
25:26
Speaker 1: I wanted to look at the numbers. I was like, man,
25:28
Speaker 1: specer Torkolsen is going after first pitches a lot, and sometimes,
25:33
Speaker 1: like you know, I'm like, all right, it's given this situation,
25:37
Speaker 1: like maybe it wouldn't be the worst idea, just kind
25:39
Speaker 1: of see one and then you know, and then kind.
25:42
Speaker 2: Of assessed from there.
25:42
Speaker 1: Of course, the old baseball ism being like your first
25:45
Speaker 1: pitch is probably the best pitch you're going to see
25:48
Speaker 1: spits in the face of that.
25:49
Speaker 2: But I went looked at the numbers.
25:50
Speaker 1: So that extra ending home run that Torque had first
25:54
Speaker 1: pitch of the at bat tour came into today for
25:57
Speaker 1: the season, batting two ninety with a six seventy seven
26:00
Speaker 1: slug on first pitch first pitches, and that was his
26:04
Speaker 1: fifth home run of the season on first pitches. So
26:07
Speaker 1: I'm curious, Austin, do you have like just a general
26:10
Speaker 1: baseball philosophy thing do you I'm sorry I didn't prepare
26:13
Speaker 1: you for this, but do you have a general philosophy
26:15
Speaker 1: on first pitches? You know, take or you know or
26:19
Speaker 1: you know, maybe it's your best pitch, go go up
26:21
Speaker 1: for it. Like, what was your philosophy back.
26:23
Speaker 3: In the day.
26:25
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, obviously I was a leadoff hitter, you know,
26:29
Speaker 5: a majority of my career. In a lot of times
26:32
Speaker 5: the situation would dictate if I was going up and
26:36
Speaker 5: being aggressive earlier in account. So, but I was always
26:41
Speaker 5: a big believer that that first pitch is, like you said,
26:45
Speaker 5: typically the best pitch you're gonna hit. And when pitchers
26:49
Speaker 5: and teams start realizing that you attack, then they make
26:53
Speaker 5: the adjustment. But until they do that, you know, I'm
26:55
Speaker 5: a big believer of being aggressive early in the count,
26:58
Speaker 5: especially if they're gonna try to you know, groove of
27:01
Speaker 5: fastball in there or get me over off speed pitch
27:04
Speaker 5: that's that's catching too much of the plate. I think
27:08
Speaker 5: that we start to get ourselves in trouble as hitters
27:11
Speaker 5: when we start taking too much, especially when we're trying
27:15
Speaker 5: to see pitches and we're not really feeling that good
27:17
Speaker 5: and we take that first pitch down the middle, and
27:19
Speaker 5: then we go reassess that at bat and look at
27:23
Speaker 5: the pitches that I got to actually hit that at bat,
27:26
Speaker 5: And I said, and I look, and I'm like, the
27:28
Speaker 5: first pitch was the best pitch. And you and you
27:31
Speaker 5: hear that, and you see that time and time again.
27:34
Speaker 5: So again, I mean, yes, the situation will dictate, you
27:37
Speaker 5: know how aggressive you are early in the count.
27:40
Speaker 3: But that first pitch.
27:41
Speaker 5: I mean I used to see guys, you know, specifically
27:45
Speaker 5: speaking Miguel Cabrera. I mean, if he got a first pitch, curveball, fastball,
27:50
Speaker 5: anywhere that got too much of the plate, he was aggressive.
27:53
Speaker 3: And whether he he hit it or not, you know,
27:56
Speaker 3: a lot of times he might file it off.
27:58
Speaker 5: It just it's set the tone for that at bat
28:00
Speaker 5: with the picture knows I can't miss over the plate,
28:03
Speaker 5: and a lot of times that's what it is. It's
28:05
Speaker 5: it's really setting that tone and letting that picture know
28:08
Speaker 5: they're not going to be any free strikes. Every pitch
28:12
Speaker 5: you throw that that catches any part of this plate,
28:14
Speaker 5: I'm attacking it. So I mean, I love I love
28:17
Speaker 5: the game plan of going up there and being aggressive
28:20
Speaker 5: on that on that first pitch because a lot of
28:22
Speaker 5: the times that's the best bitch you're going to get
28:24
Speaker 5: that at bat.
28:25
Speaker 3: They're trying to get ahead.
28:26
Speaker 5: Pictures are taught to get ahead, and they've been teaching
28:28
Speaker 5: that from you know, my son's age nine, you all
28:31
Speaker 5: the way up.
28:32
Speaker 3: To the big leagues.
28:32
Speaker 5: Pitchers want to get ahead with quality strikes and a
28:35
Speaker 5: lot of times you know, they miss, you know, trying
28:38
Speaker 5: to be too cute with it, so.
28:41
Speaker 3: A good picture a lot of times. I think a J.
28:44
Speaker 4: Hench has even said this openly over the years, like Torkle,
28:47
Speaker 4: Sin can rotate between being too aggressive and too passive.
28:51
Speaker 4: I think it's interesting this year he's striking out more
28:54
Speaker 4: than he ever has in his career. He's also been
28:56
Speaker 4: more passive on first pitches than he ever has been
29:00
Speaker 4: in his career. He swung at the first pitch thirty
29:02
Speaker 4: one point five percent of the time last year. This
29:05
Speaker 4: year's down to twenty five point two percent. His overall
29:08
Speaker 4: swing rate has been pretty steady, but it's slightly lower
29:11
Speaker 4: than ever so kind of sounds to me like he's
29:14
Speaker 4: watching a few more strikes that, in addition to some
29:17
Speaker 4: chase and some whiff, is leading to the elevated strike totals.
29:21
Speaker 4: Neither the overly aggressive or overly passive version of TORQ
29:25
Speaker 4: is great, but I would prefer the one that leans
29:27
Speaker 4: toward aggressive because, as you mentioned Kieren, when he just
29:31
Speaker 4: unloads and gets on time and acts like an aggressive hitter,
29:36
Speaker 4: like it's in there. This is a guy with a
29:38
Speaker 4: powerful bat. So I would prefer that version over the version,
29:42
Speaker 4: you know, watching a pitch that he could be.
29:45
Speaker 1: Driving, especially in that situation. By the way, I had
29:50
Speaker 1: to go back to a previous topic for a second.
29:52
Speaker 1: I had our producers look it up.
29:54
Speaker 2: Austin.
29:55
Speaker 1: It was on September seventeenth of your first year that
29:58
Speaker 1: you hit your fourth career home run, and that was probably.
30:02
Speaker 2: About at bat five eighty ish. So uh so just say,
30:09
Speaker 2: but you did get four. You did get four your rookie,
30:13
Speaker 2: so we want to make sure you got credit for that.
30:17
Speaker 3: I appreciate that, all right.
30:20
Speaker 2: Obviously there's a.
30:23
Speaker 1: You know, more things we could get into, but I
30:25
Speaker 1: think we I think we hit on like the most
30:27
Speaker 1: important stuff and the most timely of stuff like, uh,
30:31
Speaker 1: this today felt like a it did feel like a.
30:34
Speaker 2: Farewell and uh and.
30:37
Speaker 1: And it was perfectly encapsulating of everything that's gone on.
30:41
Speaker 1: Like I said, a reminder of everything with this team. Uh,
30:45
Speaker 1: we're going to have more tread debt, trade deadline discussions
30:49
Speaker 1: later in the week. Is there anything else, guys you
30:51
Speaker 1: wanted to get into before we jet out of here?
30:56
Speaker 4: Austin, I don't know if you'll be with us for
30:57
Speaker 4: the next one you trade and scooble or not.
31:00
Speaker 3: Hey, look, I'm looking at it.
31:02
Speaker 5: It's it's not it's not goodbye, it's just we'll see
31:05
Speaker 5: you later.
31:06
Speaker 3: So let that kind of interesting.
31:08
Speaker 5: It's not good guys, we'll see you later.
31:12
Speaker 3: But you know.
31:13
Speaker 4: That's striking out. Thirteen of our guys next year.
31:22
Speaker 1: Have the contract off already, That's what aust is saying,
31:24
Speaker 1: have that contract off already this offseason. Hey, all right,
31:30
Speaker 1: you guys can follow us on x fromly known on
31:32
Speaker 1: Twitter at Cody Stavenhagen, I'm at Kieran Underscore Steckley pot
31:36
Speaker 1: page at Tiger Territory Underscore YouTube, Apple, Spotify.
31:40
Speaker 2: You guys know what to do. We appreciate all of you.
31:42
Speaker 1: So for Cody Staveenhagen, Austin Jackson, I'm Kieran Steckley.
31:45
Speaker 2: Everybody, have a great day.