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Transcript

Cardinals Closers Takeover · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Cardinal Territory, part of the File Tortory Net
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory Network. I'm Trevor Rosenthal, your host today. Katie
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: WU has allowed me to take over, and for good reason.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: We have some very special guests. We're talking to not
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: only myself, but two other Cardinals closers, Cardinals legends, as
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I would like to call us. Uh, there's no more
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: badass position on the A on a baseball team than
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the closer. I mean, let's just be real. We see
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in today's age, we see Ryan Helsley coming in, the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: lights go off, the music gets cranked up, and it's
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: just the most exciting time of the game. When when
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the closer comes into the game, we know that our
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: team's about to win and we're looking for the electric stuff.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: We're looking to get that lights out performance and then
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: go shake hands. So this is gonna be a really
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: special episode, Uh, specifically for me. I mean, these are
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: two guys, uh that I that I really looked up to,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: that I continue to enjoy watch play. So yeah, let's
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: enter into this conversation. I like to introduce, first and
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: foremost U current Cardinals roving pitching instructor and former cardinal closer,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: who said a bunch of records, uh uh, Saint Louis
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: native Jisringhausen. And then also we have the current called
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: cardinal closer, Ryan Helsley. Jason, how are you doing today?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Good? But how are you? It's good to see everybody here.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good to be here. How how's how's mister Helsley?
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: How we do it? How's spring training going? How you feel?
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: And I've been really good, you know, excited to get
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: back out there and get the games and stuff like that,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: and you know, kind of getting brought up speed and
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: you know, this time there is always fun. You can
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: work on some new stuff and you know, tinker with
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: some things here and there before you know, get.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: Into the games matter. So it's been good. Body's feeling good. Good,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: the games have started, and you know we'll be back
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: to Saint Louis or shortly.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So, like I mentioned, I mean, we all have
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: experience coming in the ninth inning, which is which is exhilarating.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: One thing that I feel like we all have in common,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and most relievers have in common, is that we're all
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: failed starters. I wanted to be a starting pitcher and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: that didn't work out. So I ended up getting into
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the bullpen and then the relief role. But for me,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: like you know, it was always the competitive nature of
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: just wanting to be the best of being being in
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the bullpen and not really thinking about myself as a seventh,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: eighth or ninth inning guy, but just going out and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: wanting to do the best job I possibly could. And
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: then that kind of filtered me down to being the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: ninth being in the ninth inning, uh, through my performance
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: and through those opportunities coming up and becoming available. So uh,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: but Jason, I want to hear from you, like kind
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: of what what what was your experience of how you
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: ended up in in the relief role. Maybe what were
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: some of the things that helped you to really excel
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: in that role.
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: Well, I was when I got drafted in ninety two.
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: Showing my age here, but yeah, I was. I started
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: through the minor leagues in the first three years of
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: my big league career and then had Tommy John and
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: just my elbow wasn't bouncing back like normal, so about
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: after about sixty pitches it was kind of feeling jellowy.
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: So they moved into the long relief role that would
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: have been in ninety nine and then at that time
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: I got traded to Oakland and Billy Bean is the
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: general manager there.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: As soon as I got there, he said I was
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: going to be closing for him. So it's just I
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: sat in the bullpen.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: With an old veteran, Doug Jones, and he explained all
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: the nuances of closing to me. And you know, I
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: finished that year with like ninety saves and then we
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: made the playoffs and then my first save opportunity in.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: The playoffs was in Yankee Stadium.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: So it's that story was you know, I'm out there
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: trying to I think I walked the first guy and
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: the catcher come out, Ramon Hernandez and John Bey comes
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: over the mound and I I can't feel my legs.
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: I was so nervous, it's scared to death. You know
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: if Yankee Stadium, the only feels like the crowd.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Is right on top of you.
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: And uh so that was a learning process for me,
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: was just sealing down the jitters, you know, putting that
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: fear of failure into adrenaline. But I say, you said failed,
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: uh failed starters, I'm saying injured starters.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: How about that more less? But yeah, I mean, that
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: was my whole thing.
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: And then then I had to relearn my process of
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: getting ready being like I always tell our kids now,
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: our best our best ability is our availability, right, So
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: trying to cut down on my throats during the day
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: and just making sure I was.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Ready to go every line, every night. It was my
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: biggest adjustment.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Oh very nice. Uh Hellsley, what about you? Man? What
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Jason mentioned his You know, he remembered very specifically the
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: first time he had an opportunity to get a saved.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Do you do you remember the first time that you
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: had the opportunity to come in and close it out?
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, was in Pittsburgh in twenty twenty.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Uh during COVID and h Yachty was catching obviously, and
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: I don't remeber who else face him, but he called
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: the fastball inside it. I think it was a two count,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: and I shook to a slider. I think he fouled
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: it off fastball and again shook the slider all the time,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: walks out, you know, doesn't say a word to me,
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: grabs the rosen bag, just tosses up, throws it down
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: and walks back to behind home plate. And he just
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: sits down and like gives me one of these you know,
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: and somehow the you know, right down the middle and
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: he found it off, thank god.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: And uh he just sat up inside.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: The next pitch and I threw a fastball in and
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: the guy struck out living and I was like, well,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: I guess I'm.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Never gonna shake out you again.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: You know, learned my lesson there the hard way almost,
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I think that was the first time.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: That's a that's a cool story. I think we all
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: had the good fortune of working with mister Molina, right,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: is he You were in the Yadi era.
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: Also, Yeah, I guess like five I think was his
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: two thousand and five man have been his rookie year
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: before two thousand and six.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Uh, he was a rookie behind Metheni.
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: Mike Metheni, So I mean Yadi was I always when
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: people tell me to compare the two, I would say,
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: Mike was like a robot, did everything, perfect technique, perfect
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: throwing technique, and Yadi was just got given ability and
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: he was just an amazing student of the game and
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: has absorbed everything. But yeah, I've had the fortunate of
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: my during my cardinal career of having those two. It
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: was pretty amazing. I wasn't worried about bouncing a O
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: two curveball to either one of them.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: No.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And what always stuck out to me with Yadi
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: was was the god given ability and his extreme work ethic.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: But I mean, there was no fiercer competitor than Yadi
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: air Molina on the baseball field. I mean you would
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: see it sometimes with his temper with umpires, but you know,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: being a teammate of his, uh, it really off. And
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: and especially you know in our role coming in the
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: ninth inning, it's uh, it's it's it's like Pete Pinnacle
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: of competition. Like there's we're either walking off the field
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: a winner or you're walking off the field a loser.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: There's there's no between. There's not really another role in
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the game that's like that where it's it's just it's
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: so the result of the game that solely comes down
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: to the closer. And and so I don't know what
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: what how do you guys feel about that? Is that something? Okay,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: let me ask this Jason for you now, outside of baseball,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: like post career, looking back, is there any way that
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: you have been able to scratch that itch? I mean,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: is there any way that you've been able to reclect
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: replicate that feeling outside of baseball.
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: No, I mean that that when when the gate swings
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: open and you're running out there to go to the
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: ninth inning. Uh, it's hard to replicate that. I mean,
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: the adrenaline flow is something special. And but no, I
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: can't find anything. You know, you try to golf, you
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: try to do things like that. You know, at our
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: at my age fifty seven years old, it's I've kind
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: of given up the softball and the basketball, and I'm
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: not starting pick a ball.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: I'm not that old yet, so I h but.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: No, it's it's hard to find the itch. I mean,
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: I think that's what I missed. You talk about I
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: missed the guys that I missed the competition. So that's
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: part of what I don't think that's ever gonna leave
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: us as long as we're alive doing what we did.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: So uh, I yeah, I just have to say I
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: missed the competition.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: That's great. Yeah, I agree. And one thing that gets
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: me fired up now is watching Hellsley come in. And
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: and really when I when I see guys like him
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: come in, I can tell in his warm ups like
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I can tell those first couple of throws that he
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: makes when he gets on the mount of like okay,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: like this guy's got today. These guys don't stand a chance. Uh,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: he's about to mow him down. And for me, like
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: when I was when I was in the closing role,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: even you know, when I wasn't playing in general, I
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: could feel that. For me, it was when I showed
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: up to the park and we went out to play
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: catch before before the game, I could tell how my
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: body was feeling, and I would get a sense of like,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: all right, today is gonna be a good day. Hell's
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I'm interested to hear. Like, how do you think about that?
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Is there a moment during the game or pregame where
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: you're like, okay, I got I have my good stuff today. Yeah.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, as you guys will know, there's hardly you know,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: there's very few days where you feel at your best
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: being in the closer real So it's trying to you know,
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: just trying to figure out a way to get out
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: every single day. But there's definitely days, like you said,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: when you feel like, all right, I got a little
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: motion in the tank er.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: You know, it just felt it feels a little smoother
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: and easier coming out.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it all the boils down to it,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: you know, just trying to take it one day at
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: a time and you know, rolling with the punches.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: You know how it is. You know, you're the hero
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: one night and the zero the next. So it's just
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: for me.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: It's like, you know, I do the same room warm
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: up routine every time in the bullpen.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: You know, I don't really.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: Not that I'm not caring about execution, but I don't
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: put too much stock in it. You know, It's more
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: about how my body's feeling. And you know, once I
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: get out to the game, it's you know, just cut
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: the narrow focus and just let it rip and see
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: what happens.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, you know, the the narrow focus is
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: so important. I think it's you know, an the closure role.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: You have to have your blinders on. You have to
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: just think one pitch at a time. You can only
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: be having so many thoughts and not really over complicated.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Really sticks to the fundamentals. Uh, there's a lot of
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: correlation to life with that. I think. You know, people
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: that are able to keep focus usually do well in
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: whatever they're trying to perform at. You know, but but
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: something you know that that creeps in and being with
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: a team, like in an organization like the Saint Louis Cardinals,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: there's so much history, you know. It's it's such a
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: renowned organization and the group of people that we are
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: able to associate with Jason with having the all time
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: saves record, with Ryan and I having single season saves records.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: You know, we're we're like a pretty special group. And
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: and to me like that always like motivated me to
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: to want to not just go out and play for myself,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: but as I was representing something bigger and like Hellsley,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, how do you think about that? I mean,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: in today's game, it's it's even more different than when
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: I played. It's definitely different from when when Jason play. Jason,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I don't even know if like Instagram or Twitter was invented.
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: We didn't have phones back then, kid, when I first started.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: That's why we got to have more fun than you guys,
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: because there was no record of anything that we did, so, uh,
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: we probably had more fun than you guys.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it was a different time for sure.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah that Yeah, I'm jealous. I couldn't imagine not having
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: somebody telling me how bad I am after every single day.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Uh huh that I go out and pitch, but I
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: mean with all the with that all the outside kind
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: of like pressure and hey, like you know, whether it's
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: good or bad. Uh, Hell's like, like how do you
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: think about that? Like how are you able to kind
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: of keep yourself grounded, keep yourself focused? You know, you've
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: had some big years, You've had a lot of success.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: You're you're playing for a really special organization. You know
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: kind of what what helps you in this role in
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: particular to stay so focused?
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, honestly trying to get rid of all my social media,
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: especially during the season.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: You know, I delete the apps off my phone, and
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: you know.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: It's it's cool when you're doing well, you know, everybody's
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: talking good about you, But all it takes is that
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: one night, you know, and everybody hates you and somebody's
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: like been all requesting either pay for their lost bed
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: or you know, someone's dm and on Instagram telling you
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: how bad you are. And you know, so I really
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: try not to look into too much of that, And honestly,
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I think to spend like family time, you know, seeing
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: the kind of the bigger picture, you know, getting away
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: from the field and having a break with that and
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: just trying to be president, being a dad, you know,
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: and being able to separate the two. And you know,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: I've had a lot of good mentors in Saint Louis,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: you know, and Adam Wainwright and Goldie and you know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: those guys Kyle Gibson who've had kids and you know,
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: have played for a long time. So just seeing how
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: calm and cool they are, and you know, honestly, I
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: think the biggest thing for me was, like, you know,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: just seeing how day to day those guys were, you know,
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: not letting stuff like carry over. I think that showed me,
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: you know, if some of the greatest guys I've played with,
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: they're able to you know, to kind of let it
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: roll off their backs one night to the next and
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: not carry things over because as you guys will know,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: you got to show, you know, ready to prove.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: It each and every single day. So it's good or bad.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: You know, That's kind of the mines that I try
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: to have is you know, not let stuff carry over,
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: good or bad.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: You don't have to do it again the next day.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, huge credit to you. It's it's hard
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: to do already but even harder, harder to do in
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: today's day and age, when not only do you have
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: like the outside distractions and then outside influence. But I
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: mean it's just it's just a lot of pressure, right,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Like you can see other people doing well, we all
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: we all want to do the best we can. So man, yeah,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: kudos to you. I mean it really shows I know,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: uh speak for Jason. We're both impressed with the with
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: the type of man you are. But you know, we
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: love seeing you go out there and close the ninth
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and hope to see you do that a bunch of
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: times this year. Uh So that kind of makes me
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: think in the role that is the that you have
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: now with the Cardinals, you know, being a roving instructor
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: working with all these kids trying to identify the next
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Jason Issterninghousen and Ryan Helsley like like what are you looking?
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: What do you see it? What are you seeing? With
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: guys that are coming up, like, I don't know what
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: do you what are you seeing it? What are you
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: looking for? How you're trying to help them?
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm mainly, like I said, I've got two daughters now,
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: got like one hundred and fifty sons. So I mean
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: I'm following their Twitter accounts, I'm following their Instagram making
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: sure they're not posting anything dumb or anything like that.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: So we have that.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Part to deal with, and then we're also trying to
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: figure out what I want to do more than anything is.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: You know, we we have a lot of starters, we
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: have a lot of relievers, and we're trying to for me,
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: I try to find the kids that aren't afraid to fail.
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: You know, when they do fail, it doesn't look like
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: somebody kick them in the you know, you know what.
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: So I mean, it's just a it's an ongoing process
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: of trying to figure out who the tough ones are.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: I mean, we always say, you know the game, it's
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: easy to get to the big leagues. I think in
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: today's game, it's just hard to stay there for a
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: long time. And letting these guys know that and then
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: trying to teach them proper routines. I mean they're coming
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: from major colleges, major conferences, and they've never even heard
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: a routine. You know, everybody held it, has held their
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: hand through all these years. If they were always told
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: where to be for college, you know, they've got this
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: at this time, this at that time, and now we
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: have to treat them like men. I'm not going to
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: hold their hand and teaching them the responsibility of what
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: it means to wear the cardinals, the birds on the
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: bat across their chest and carry.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: On through the tradition of so many people.
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, from the Bob Gibson's to the
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: lou Broncks, to the Red Shandies.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: You know, the Kissel, the Kissels, the Bruce Shooters.
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: I mean, we can go on and on with names
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: Ozzie and Willie and it's your tradition. And you guys
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: were talking about that fear of My fear was just
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: letting down my teammates, letting down my city, letting down
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: my family. So turning that fear of failure into adrenaline,
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: trying to find the whys with some of these kids,
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: like why are you doing this? I mean, is it
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: for money? Is it for women? Is it for what?
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: What are they doing it for?
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: And then trying to take that message and then trying
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: to teach it into a routine and why we do it,
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: and just trying to get these have these kids navigate
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: through a six month long season, you know, not twenty
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: some games in college.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: You know, it's just it's.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: A different process and just getting these kids to buy
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: into what we teach.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: It's it's it's an ongoing process for sure.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. Like I think about like my why,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: and it's become a lot clearer to me now. But
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: you know, looking back, like I didn't have another choice,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: like I was. You know, I was the kind of
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: like a troublemaker in high school. I was. I was
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: a junior college kid that really narrowed my options by
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: not excelling academically. And once I got drafted, it was like,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: all right, well this looks like the really the only
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: path for me and getting into pro baseball. It was
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: like there was no plan B. And I think that
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: helped me, helped me in a lot of ways. But
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: like when you were talking about that, I was thinking
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: of myself of like my why, Like every day that
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: I would show up to the ballpark, from from rookie
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: ball to when I got to Saint Louis and the
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: big leagues, was like, hey, I got one shot at this,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: I better not mess it up. There's nothing like the
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: opportunity to be a professional baseball player to pitch at
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the highest level. And then I mean, Chuck's like getting
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to be a closer for the Saint Louis Cardinals, Like, Okay,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: I better figure this out. And and you mentioned some
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: really incredible names. Uh, and and I was I was
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: fortunate to be around some great mentors. Is he you
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: were one of them. I mean you were around a
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: lot while I was playing, and you were a great influence.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: But just learning how to how to go about things
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the right way, it helped me. It helped me to
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: maximize my why. But I don't know, Hell's what are
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: you thinking? What? What's What's What's a little bit of
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: your why? We talked about it some like you're a
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Midwestern guys. You know you're just gonna show up and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: and do the best you can and work hard. Is
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: there anything that you kind of add on to that?
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: I think like for me, you said it on a
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: is like you only get one opportunity, and that's the
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: way I try to approach every day and know I'm
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: always trying to get better. And that's kind of going
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: back to the guys I've played with, like Yati and
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Albert and Arnotto and Goldie. You know, it's like talking
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: to them, you know, I know they're hitters, and none
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: of them are pictures besides Wueno, but you know, they're
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: obviously close to being Hall of Famers, all of them,
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: if not already. And I think the common thing it
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: was just that they're always trying to get better each
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: and every day, you know, like it didn't matter what
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: they did yesterday or what you know, kind of start
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: they had last time out. It was always trying to
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: fine tune and always trying to keep that feel and
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: just always working and you know, never being satisfied. And
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: I think it's just trying to make the most, you know,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: of every opportunity that I.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: Get, and honestly not living with regrets.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: You know, I think living with regrets is one of
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: the biggest things in life that can you know, kind
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: of hold us back and you know, give us some
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: of those bad feelings that we don't want to have.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: But you know, I try to live.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: Each and every day, you know, not regretting like man,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: I stay up late playing video games or whatever.
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: You know, only got four hours of sleep last night.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: We got a twelve o'clock game, and now three to
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: two in the ninth, you know, and I believe the
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: lead I was feeling, you know, not quite like myself.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: It's like all that stuff matters, you know, and it's
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: you know, you don't really think about that stuff as
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: a kid, but you know, when you get to the
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: highest level, every little bit makes the biggest difference, you know,
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: at that level, you know, and it's most of it's
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: between the ears. So just trying to figure out ways
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: to you know, gain gain that edge and you know,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: to stay sharp. But it's it's hard, Like you guys said,
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: it's such a long season and it's it's hard to
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: adjust to that, and you know, you're getting the best
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: in the world day in and day out, and everybody's
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: trying to win. So I mean it's it's it's a grind,
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: you know, and you just you know, just try to
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: give my best every day.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, So lets I gotta follow up on that. Uh uh,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: what do you think gives you like the biggest competitive
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: edge mentally in the game.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: I think just compete with myself honestly, like trying to
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: get more out of myself and pushing me. You know,
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, when I'm when i'm bad or
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: not at my best. I'm thinking about you know, who
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: I might be facing that night, or you know if
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: last year Aaron judging one subtle, I want two punch.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: It's like, oh, that's all tasks for anybody in the game,
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: you know, But you know what, I'm at my best.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: It's like it doesn't matter who's in the box.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: I'm you know, kind of.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Got that, like you said, those blinders on and that
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: mentality that you know as a picture of your best
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: when you're attacking guys and making them have to swing
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: the bass. So that's kind of what I try to do,
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: is just have to attack them attitude, and you know,
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna go right at them, and you know.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: If they're gonna get it, hit him as well be
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: the first pitch.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: So I'm just gonna try to attack them and you know,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: put the pressure on them.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: What about you, is it? What what do you feel
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: like is your your biggest like mental competitive edge? When
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: you were in the.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: Role, I think it was just the competition between me
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: and the hitter. You know, I didn't concentrate too far ahead.
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: I went pitch to pitch, you know, and I was
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: just going to concentrate on executing that pitch. I know,
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: if I executed my pitches, I could get anybody out.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: But you know, it's it's changed a lot because of
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: the way the hitters hit now then before. You know,
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: there wasn't a lot of strikeout guys back in the day,
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: so to speak, and making them. All I tried to
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: was miss the barrels of the bats and keep them
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: in the ballpark. I mean, we were such good defensively,
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: I was doing myself a disservice if I didn't let
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: them put the ball in play, because we had gold
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: glovers all around the field. And but yeah, that might
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: I think my greatest I always say short term memory.
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: I mean I wasn't worried about whether I did good
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: or bad. I mean once I once I took a
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: shower and had a couple of cold sodas or whatever
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: it might be, that that day was over, you know,
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: and I went on to the next day, and that
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: was no matter. If I, you know, threw nine pitches,
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: you know it will struck out three guys, or if
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: I gave up the world.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: It didn't matter. It was just the same mindset every
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: single day.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: That's a hard thing to do. I would say the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: same thing, is like, hey, I would joke around like
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I suffer from a short term memory loss, and that
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: that was intentional. It was like I don't want to
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: think too highly of myself. I don't want to think
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: well of myself either. It was like I'm just going
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: to show up and keep doing what I can do.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I also think like what I had, and you guys
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: probably suffer from this too, is like I had an
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: unhealthy amount of self confidence. And I would tell myself
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: all the time like I would I would describe it
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: as like humble confidence where I didn't want to exuberate it,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: like I didn't want people to see it. But in
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: my mind, like when I'm on the field, like there's
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: nobody better like and and I had to tell myself
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: that because naturally, like it's easy to remember the times
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: I failed or maybe why I don't feel good that
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: day or something like that, that self doubt that would
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: creep in. But I would always have to, you know,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: continue to kind of pump myself up. And I would
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: say like that that was probably my biggest mental competitive
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: edge is believing like hey, there's nobody better. I'm gonna
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: win every single time, and uh, I could probably think
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: of some guys uh on the cardinal roster that that
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: I picked that up from. But that's that's really cool.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: So let's let's let's talk about arsenal because I feel
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: like each of us has a little bit different arsenal
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: that we're working with. You know, obviously we're all you know,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: talented and to be able to play at the level
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: that we played at. But uh, is he what do
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: you yeah run us through kind of uh fastball, breaking ball,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: change up? What what can we expect from you on
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: your best night?
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Uh?
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: Well, I was going to have a four seam fastball
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: and then a cutter and then a big curveball. And
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: but before there was you know, vertical break and all
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: this stuff. You know, we we knew what played off
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: of what. So a big curveball, I could throw a
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: fastball up in the zone and that was before we
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: had all the numbers that said that's where you were
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: supposed to throw it anyway, So we knew what worked.
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: We and you know, we knew what we had so
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: we can get people out. And but yeah, it was
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: just a hard fastball that kind of cut a little
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: bit and then a bigger cutter and then a big
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: curveball that I could throw. And I got to the
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: point where I could throw my cutter on both sides
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: of the plate and I would I would speed up lefties,
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: jamming them and then dropping back door breaking balls to
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: them and then throw high fastballs up in the zone again,
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: swing through it.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Hell's all right, we know, we know, you gotta we
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: got a big arm. Break it, break it down for us.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: What what are we working with here? What can we
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: expect to see on Ryan Ryan Helsley's best night this year?
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I started my whole minor league career,
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: so I feel like, you know, my arsenal's kind of evolved.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: You know, it was a four pitch guy in the
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: minor leagues and then got to the big leagues and
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: was fastball like slider, slash cutter, you.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: Know, kind of all on early on in my career.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: And then you know, the last few years, you know,
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: gotten a better feel for my curve ball again. And
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: this spring I've actually been messing with like a true
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: cutter again. So I mean, maybe four pitches.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: I feel like every off season, guys are watching a
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: teaker and you know, come to camp with, you know,
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: another weapon to get guys out, because these guys are good,
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: you know, just so just trying to open up both
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: sides of the plate and you know, give them different looks.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: But you know, most night's probably gonna be heavy fastball
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: slider though a might dumping a curve ball to get
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: guys off off the b though a little bit.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, your stuff's nasty. Brother, I don't know if easy
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: and I can can can hang with you on that heat. Man,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: you got it. You're a strong dude. I I you know,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the same as you guys. Like coming up as as
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: a starter and in the cardinal system being a starter,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: it was really like honed in, like preach to us
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: over and over again, like you got to pound the
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: bottom of zone. You gotta get ground balls. And and
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: similar to you, Jason, like I didn't know what induced
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: vertical break meant, Like I didn't know that my fastball
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: had life on it and that I could throw at
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: the top of the zone. So I really got used
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: to pounding the bottom of the zone. But it had
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: a similar effect where I would get a lot of
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: takes and and so that's how my arsenal like really
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: started to develop is getting ahead at the bottom of
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: the zone, getting that take and then kind of opening
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: it up right, like not really changing my sites where
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: I was aiming my fastball, but as I got deeper intoccounts,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: as I worked ahead, my fastball would naturally rise up
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: into the top of the zone even though I was
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: aiming low and uh. And so that's what I felt like.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: My arsenal was kind of based off of the life
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: of my fastball, but also also command, like I took
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: a lot of pride in getting ahead and Troy and counts,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: and so that was that was really important to me.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, so you guys, uh thinking about being in
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the bullpen uh as a closer. Was there any I
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: guess Okay, So at the end of the game, when
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the game ends, was there any like certain celebration you
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: guys have. Do you keep it cool? Is it like nonchalant,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: like been there, done that, I've closed out this game
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: a bunch of times? Or was there like something special
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: you had with some guys on the team or the catcher.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Hell's you go first.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: I'll try to just keep it pretty simple, you know.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: I was I've never really been like a flashy guy
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: or trying to.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: Make it all about me.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: If we lose the game, it's my fault. But we
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: all won the game.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: So just try to everybody in normal handshake and dath mug,
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: you know, get some high fives.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: And try to get after him again tomorrow.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: What about you is he? I know you were out
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: there fist bumping, cartwheeling. What do you got?
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: No, I mean, my whole thing was, you know, it
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: was always a high five and then a punch in
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: the chest of my catcher and then high five everybody,
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: and then I'd always give the ball to a little
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: kid when I was leaving the field. I've got three
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: balls in my on my mantois, my hundreds, my two hundreds,
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: and my three hundred, so I gave every other one
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: of them away, and so that was kind of my thing.
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: I always made people happy. So yeah, giving up a
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: game ball was pretty special to the kids.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: What a good guy man. Oh yeah's heartwarming. That makes
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: me feel good to hear that three hundred saves. What
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: an incredible hells Where are you at? I'm your safe ticker.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: I want to say, like eighties, maybe look the high
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: eighties somewhere around there and I'm not too sure.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: But you're knocking them out like you're you're getting up
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: there quick.
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: Like last year they goed up pretty quick. But I
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: mean you never know.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: I mean you've seen guys have fifty saves one year
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: and they only get twenty five opportunities the next.
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: You know, you just never know. You just got to
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: make the most of them when you get them.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: That's what makes to me, like three hundred is is
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: so impressive. Do you, Jason, do you know how many
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: guys are in that club?
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Uh? I want to there's probably twenty some. I think
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: there might be more than that now.
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: I don't know that was at one time, but I mean,
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: you know, when I look at Trevor and Marianna with
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: six hundred, I'm just like, holy smokes.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, they doubled me.
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: And uh but you know, you think about it's that's
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: twenty years of thirty saves. I mean, these guys were
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: racking them up left and right, and you know, Marianna
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: did it with one damn pitch with a cutter, you know,
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: and Trevor had his change up. I mean, it's just
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: watching those guys and that's where I learned my cutter
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: was from Marianna. I wish I would have learned Trevor's changeup,
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: but it was impossible to throw the way he threw it.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: But uh yeah, I mean it's just it's longevity.
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: You know, you look at Hills, it's like ten years
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: of thirty saves, if you put it that way, and
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: it's just it's a it's a milestone that you know
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: that you never think about. But as they start racking up,
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: then you're like, because I thought I was going to
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: retire with ninety seven because I had had an elbow
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: surgery and I came back to get seven more. But
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: I always thought i'd have seven shy on my boat
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: one day because I was seven shy at three hundred,
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: so that was always But I got to three hundred
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: and then I don't even have a boat now, so
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: it's no big deal.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Now you just have seven hundred kids, seven hundred sons
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: that you're looking out.
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's like hurting cats down here.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Well, I know, you're you're a man with the job.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: And I say that because, like, you know, being the closer,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: you're kind of you're kind of forced into a leadership role,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Like you know, you have the team but like the
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: bullpen is kind of a unit. It's like a team
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: within a team, and being the closer, I feel like
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: it brings them all like guys look up to you like, okay,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: like you're a guy. If there's something to be said,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: you got you're kind of in a position to say it.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: And I like that, Like I liked you know, I
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: want to you know, obviously, we're all competitive. We want
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to win one of get the best out of our group.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: And I always thought of myself of like, yeah, like
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: let's go out here, let's talk about it. What do
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: we do. What can we do a better job, whether
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: it's the running game, whether it's throwing first pitch strikes, Like,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: let's sit down and let's just have a conversation. Are
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: those Were there any moments like that for you guys
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: in your career where you know you viewed like this
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: unit of like hey, like we're a team within a team,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: and I'm kind of taking responsibility of the direction of
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: this team. Jason, what do you think about that?
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean that's totally what I thought my job was.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Like we I always took my bullpen out to.
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: Dinners and stuff like that and hung out with everybody
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: we had a usually with. My group was pretty tight knit,
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: and we hung out together, and we went to dinners together,
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: we had you know, roads, sodas together, things like that.
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: You know, were just always a tight knit group. So
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: we pulled for each other. And you know, as the
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: ninth any guy, you're the safety net for everybody else.
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: That's how I always looked at it. So, you know,
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: it was always trying to be big brother to everybody
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: and keep everybody under control, make sure we did the
• 30:59
  Speaker 5: things all the right way.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: What about what about Hell's what what's the what's this
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: crew looking like right now? How has your experience been
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: in kind of that leadership role within the within the
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: bullpen unit.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, last year was like my first year
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: of I guess being the true closer. You know, every
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: year before that it was kind of like you know,
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: Swiss Army knives throw the seventh and eighth one up
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: plus every year every night and then so like last
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: year was a fun year for me, just you know,
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: it's a lot being locked in every night, you know,
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: but it's also fun having a chance to pitch every day,
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: and they contribute that often. But you know, we haven't
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: we have a great group. I'm really excited. We got
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: a lot of guys down there with with some good,
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: good weapons, and we have a few guys are younger
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: guys that I think that'll obviously make the team, and
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm excited to see them and see how
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: they compete. And you know, I think is a hit
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: it on the head, you know, I think, try to
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: be that leader, and you know, try to take guys.
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: Out as much as you can, and you know, just
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: just build that bond down there.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: You know, like you said, there your team within a team,
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: and we got each other's backs down there, and it's
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: a lot of fun, you know. I mean, you guys
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: can probably test it. It's you're not that you're not
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: watching the game, but you gotta kind of joke around
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: a little.
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: Bit every time down there.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: You know, because you play one hundred and sixty two games,
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: you're not locked in for all that innings most of
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: the time. You know, there's a couple couple of scrambles
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: down there when the phone rings every now and then.
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: But we keep it light, man, and we're competitive, and
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: you know, we got a good group down there, and
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: I'm excited to be part of it.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Hey, with the pitch clocket. I mean things move faster now.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: You don't have as much time to relax.
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: You hardly got any time to shake it anymore.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: Dude.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: It's like, come in and throw three woman pitches and
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: you're still out of breath by the time the first.
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: Guy gets in there.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: You gotta be in peak physical conditions to go out
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: and pitch. Now, where do you guys open up this year?
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: Are you guys at home or you opening up on
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: the road.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: I think we have Minnesota and then the Angels and
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: then we go to Boston for the first road series.
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure where we go after Boston.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Well, you're gonna have to take the boys out for dinner.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Keep up with the tradition. Yeah, of that closer role. Well, uh,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: I can't thank you guys enough. Our time flew by
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and this is really special for me.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: You guys are both incredible. Thanks for coming on and
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: having this conversation. I think the fans are really gonna
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: enjoy it. Uh so uh for Jason Izriinghausen, Ryan Helsley,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Trevor Rosenthal. We're here on Cardinal territory talking closers with
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Cardinal Baseball. But part of the Foul Territory Network. Thanks
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: for tuning in. This is awesome. Thank you so much guys,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: and uh, we'll have to do it again soon. Hell's
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: great luck, best of luck this year, Jason, keep you
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: got you gotta find the new one. I mean, who
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: knows if we're gonna have Hellsley back next year, So
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: we're gonna You're gonna have to work on creating that
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: that next protege. So we're working on it. Appreciate you
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: guys time today, and uh we'll catch up soon.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: All right, triv thanks, thank you. He was on the
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: New jap