Latest / Foul Territory / New Cleveland RP Shawn Armstrong

Transcript

New Cleveland RP Shawn Armstrong · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: That's right.
0:04
Speaker 2: He's nine with the Cleveland Guardians and he joins us
0:06
Speaker 2: right now on FT. It's Sean Armstrong. Sean, great to
0:08
Speaker 2: have you on the show. Thanks for the time, man,
0:10
Speaker 2: and tell us how it all went down.
0:13
Speaker 1: It's love, guys. How's it going? I mean it was
0:15
Speaker 1: it was the fun.
0:16
Speaker 3: It was a fun off season, man, I mean or
0:18
Speaker 3: still in an off season, but yeah, I mean trying
0:20
Speaker 3: to kind of go through the free agency process and
0:23
Speaker 3: you know, weighing in the options, weighing in all the
0:25
Speaker 3: different you know, teams and so forth as well, and
0:28
Speaker 3: obviously the familiarity with being drafted by Cleveland that was
0:32
Speaker 3: a huge bonus for me. And then you know, debuting
0:35
Speaker 3: with those guys and having the same front office, seating,
0:38
Speaker 3: medical staff, and then you know, being able to take
0:41
Speaker 3: mine now kids back there with me to experience Cleveland again.
0:45
Speaker 1: I'm I'm really excited to join that organization. Sean.
0:49
Speaker 4: What's the what was their pitch to you?
0:51
Speaker 1: What was there?
0:51
Speaker 4: What was the Guardians big pitch to get you to
0:54
Speaker 4: sign there? Because I'm assuming you had other opportunities because
0:57
Speaker 4: you had a great year last year. You got to
0:58
Speaker 4: close some games, you had a under two and a
1:00
Speaker 4: half era. You pitched in a ton of games. So
1:02
Speaker 4: what was Cleveland's pitch Because they already have a closer, right,
1:06
Speaker 4: I mean, they have Kate Smith and Hunter Gadtis and
1:09
Speaker 4: some other big studs down there. So what was Cleveland's
1:11
Speaker 4: pitch to you to get you to go there?
1:13
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, they were.
1:14
Speaker 3: They were in my top five anyways, whenever it came
1:17
Speaker 3: down into the offseason, and again it came back to
1:20
Speaker 3: the developmental aspect that I know that they have with
1:23
Speaker 3: the pitching department. And I know Carl Willis, he was
1:26
Speaker 3: in trip a whenever I was there, And again, I
1:29
Speaker 3: kind of being a journeyman, I really don't care where
1:31
Speaker 3: I pitched, you know, I'm excited to just go join
1:34
Speaker 3: a really good bullpen. They've showed that over the past
1:36
Speaker 3: few years, and I think collectively, you know, Cleveland's done
1:39
Speaker 3: a really good job in the pitching department from top
1:42
Speaker 3: to bottom, you know, overall, ever since I was there.
1:46
Speaker 3: So I mean again, it was it was in my
1:48
Speaker 3: it was one of my top five teams to go
1:49
Speaker 3: back to.
1:51
Speaker 1: You know, I wanted to go up and it's kind
1:53
Speaker 1: of one of those things.
1:54
Speaker 3: Where you know, going there and signing, you know, potential
1:57
Speaker 3: two year deal and you never know when it's your last,
2:00
Speaker 3: you know, if that's where I debuted and that's where
2:01
Speaker 3: I finish, I mean, that's kind of a blessing in
2:04
Speaker 3: disguis to be able to go out that way.
2:07
Speaker 1: But again, it really wasn't a big sel pitch for me.
2:09
Speaker 3: They showed, you know, their interest, they were I was
2:13
Speaker 3: their number one target, and that's a value that's very
2:15
Speaker 3: valuable to me. But then again, having the familiarity with
2:19
Speaker 3: the training staff at the front office and then along
2:22
Speaker 3: with some of the coaching staff, and I've heard nothing
2:23
Speaker 3: the good things about both, So I mean I'm super
2:25
Speaker 3: excited to get there and join those guys and get
2:28
Speaker 3: to know the young pitching staff.
2:31
Speaker 5: Ye had the baby face Sean Armstrong picture up there earlier.
2:35
Speaker 5: When you look at that picture, and hopefully our director
2:38
Speaker 5: WILLI will put it back up. But when you look
2:40
Speaker 5: at that picture, what do you think, goly that guy
2:44
Speaker 5: knew nothing about this.
2:45
Speaker 1: Or what do you think? Ah?
2:48
Speaker 5: Man, I wish I could still do this because I
2:50
Speaker 5: remember when you and Clevenger used to play catch against
2:53
Speaker 5: each other on the half field in spring training.
2:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean obviously I'd like to steal roll out
2:59
Speaker 3: of it and Night ninety nine. It's not It's not
3:02
Speaker 3: that easy anymore. But no, I mean again, like they
3:06
Speaker 3: were always genuine to me. They were always genuine my
3:08
Speaker 3: family when I was there, you know, and Chris and Turning,
3:11
Speaker 3: those guys that are still part of the front office.
3:13
Speaker 3: Like we sat down and I went up to Cleveland
3:15
Speaker 3: and had about an hour long conversation just about how
3:19
Speaker 3: I feel like I've I've grown up as an individual
3:21
Speaker 3: and a baseball player as well. And yeah, I would
3:23
Speaker 3: I would tell myself a lot of things if I
3:25
Speaker 3: could go back to the you know, the twenty four
3:27
Speaker 3: to twenty five year old whenever I debuted of things
3:30
Speaker 3: that I know now. But at the same time, man like,
3:33
Speaker 3: I feel like something in my career I've remember taking
3:34
Speaker 3: it for granted, and you know again, having an opportunity
3:38
Speaker 3: to go back there where I wish I would have
3:40
Speaker 3: pitched in a lot more meaningful innings whenever they went
3:42
Speaker 3: to the World Series and gosh, we could get back
3:44
Speaker 3: to the World Series with Cleveland again, I mean that
3:46
Speaker 3: would be just, you know, again.
3:48
Speaker 1: A full circle moment. So it's super excited to go
3:50
Speaker 1: back there.
3:52
Speaker 4: What did you learn What did you learn last year
3:55
Speaker 4: in Texas? Did they do something to change some things
3:58
Speaker 4: that you were doing? Because you've all always been pretty good,
4:01
Speaker 4: but last year, I mean you took another step. So
4:03
Speaker 4: did you change your repertoire? Did you add a pitch?
4:05
Speaker 4: Did you start throwing a knuckleball?
4:07
Speaker 1: What did you change?
4:09
Speaker 3: I think that, I mean the biggest thing adding a
4:11
Speaker 3: sweeper obviously was was a big thing to the Arsenal.
4:14
Speaker 1: But I think something that Jordan Tigu's I can't speak.
4:17
Speaker 3: Highly enough about him, you know, being a first fear
4:18
Speaker 3: bolking coach and now the pitching coach for the Rangers.
4:21
Speaker 3: Something that he really instilled in all of his guys is,
4:23
Speaker 3: you know, like being the own best version of yourself.
4:27
Speaker 3: And he and he instilled confidencing guys that way. Like
4:29
Speaker 3: the sweeper, Like you know, when I started throwing it
4:32
Speaker 3: back in Tampa with the with the high induced vertical
4:35
Speaker 3: break and other things, people we didn't really know what
4:38
Speaker 3: it was. And he started doing a bunch of you know,
4:42
Speaker 3: data driven stuff behind it and just like trust.
4:45
Speaker 1: It, throw it, throw it, throw it, and put pressure
4:48
Speaker 1: on me to throw that pitch in a bunch of
4:49
Speaker 1: different situations.
4:50
Speaker 3: And then you know, having you know Mad Dog as
4:53
Speaker 3: a pitching coach, he would He used an example in
4:55
Speaker 3: spring training.
4:56
Speaker 1: I'm not going to use the exact verbiage that he
4:57
Speaker 1: used in spring training.
4:59
Speaker 3: But he said, pitch like a cab, right. You know,
5:02
Speaker 3: He's like, he said, if you ever rode in a
5:04
Speaker 3: cab in New York, it's heading the heading to the
5:07
Speaker 3: front seat, heading to the back seat, heading to the window.
5:09
Speaker 3: You're going left, right, forward, back. He's like, pitch that way.
5:12
Speaker 3: And that's something that I feel like I've always kind
5:14
Speaker 3: of done in my career, has been a little bit
5:15
Speaker 3: predictable on the side of the arsenal that I was using.
5:19
Speaker 3: And that's a challenge to myself to be in that
5:21
Speaker 3: twenty three to twenty eight percent of of every pitch
5:24
Speaker 3: that I've that I had in my arsenal, and if
5:27
Speaker 3: I threw the same pitch twice, there better be a
5:29
Speaker 3: good reason behind it. And that's just something that I
5:31
Speaker 3: really challenged myself going into early season. And then you know,
5:35
Speaker 3: Higgy Jonah, they bought into the philosophy behind me. And
5:39
Speaker 3: I mean, and honestly, I mean, when I stepped on
5:40
Speaker 3: the mount last year, there was there really wasn't a
5:43
Speaker 3: second guest. We were always on the same page.
5:45
Speaker 1: You know.
5:46
Speaker 3: My scouting reports went along with their scouting reports, and
5:49
Speaker 3: it was just a really special blend. And that's something
5:51
Speaker 3: that I'm looking forward to in Cleveland. So I've heard
5:53
Speaker 3: nothing the great things about Naylor and Hegy, So I mean,
5:56
Speaker 3: having those two guys behind the dish and the way
5:58
Speaker 3: that they worked diligently with their UH pitching staff, I
6:01
Speaker 3: feel like it's going to be a good mix too.
6:03
Speaker 4: Sean is Cleveland talked you about starting because the only
6:05
Speaker 4: team you've started for is the is the Race. So
6:08
Speaker 4: every time we have a guy that is signed as
6:10
Speaker 4: a reliever and we asked him, hey, did they talk
6:12
Speaker 4: to you about starting? Luke Weaver the other day, Hey,
6:14
Speaker 4: they talked to you about starting again. So have the
6:16
Speaker 4: guardians talked to you about starting again? Because you have like,
6:19
Speaker 4: what how many starts? You have eighteen career starts all
6:22
Speaker 4: with the Rays.
6:24
Speaker 3: They haven't mentioned it, but I mean, ironically, I'm adding
6:26
Speaker 3: another pitch. I'm adding another pitch right now. So like
6:28
Speaker 3: that's something that Carl said. He's like, you're going to
6:31
Speaker 3: be one of the only you know, set up guys
6:32
Speaker 3: in the big leagues, you know, with five different pitches.
6:34
Speaker 1: So like, yeah, I mean, I don't I don't care
6:37
Speaker 1: where I pitch.
6:37
Speaker 3: Mean, obviously i'd be lying to you if I said
6:40
Speaker 3: I didn't want to be in leverage situations. I mean
6:42
Speaker 3: that adrenaline that I get, you know, when you're going
6:44
Speaker 3: out there in the seventh, eighth, ninth inning, when the
6:46
Speaker 3: tie ball game or a lead, I mean, it's it's
6:49
Speaker 3: it's unexplainable. So I mean I want to continue to
6:52
Speaker 3: be in those roles. And but again, going to a
6:54
Speaker 3: new team with a really good bullpen, you gotta go
6:56
Speaker 3: earn it. So I mean, I think results will speak
6:58
Speaker 3: for themselves, and you know, go out there and get
7:00
Speaker 3: out and take the ball whenever they ask. And that's
7:02
Speaker 3: really all I can do. The rest is up to
7:04
Speaker 3: the you know, the coaching staff and all that. But
7:07
Speaker 3: I don't care where I pitch, you know, if they
7:08
Speaker 3: want to go out there and do thirty starts and
7:09
Speaker 3: might have to increase the pay.
7:10
Speaker 1: A little bit, but I'll do I'll do whatever they
7:13
Speaker 1: want me to do.
7:16
Speaker 5: Adding what pitch are you adding to your arsenal, old man, Sean.
7:21
Speaker 3: It's a little bit of a seeker, So we'll see,
7:23
Speaker 3: we'll see how it comes in spring training. But uh no,
7:26
Speaker 3: I'm more of it's kind of it's a it's a
7:28
Speaker 3: similar variation of the kind of like the death change
7:32
Speaker 3: up that people are calling it or the kick change.
7:34
Speaker 3: It's just a it's a scene shifted weight variation where
7:38
Speaker 3: Jordan Tie is working on it a little bit with
7:40
Speaker 3: me in September and we've kind of dove into it
7:43
Speaker 3: and really incorporated it into that ninety one hundred and
7:45
Speaker 3: twenty feet to fill kind of the carry cut across
7:48
Speaker 3: the ball, and so far on track, man, it's been
7:52
Speaker 3: it's been pretty good. I mean, we want something. We
7:54
Speaker 3: wanted something that was going to be below seven vert
7:56
Speaker 3: and if I can get it below that with the
7:58
Speaker 3: way my two scene four scene play and the way
8:00
Speaker 3: that the sweeper is, the horizontal movement is kind of irrelevant,
8:04
Speaker 3: but you know, the pullpins that I've thrown it and
8:06
Speaker 3: it's been six bird out of the twenty three horizontal and
8:09
Speaker 3: it's been it's been pretty good. So we'll see how
8:12
Speaker 3: it plays whenever when a batter stands in the box.
8:14
Speaker 3: But I'm getting comfortable with it now and it's not
8:16
Speaker 3: something that I'm truly gonna focus on it's more of
8:19
Speaker 3: something to pair with my force scene, to have the
8:22
Speaker 3: vertical movement difference, and something to have to be able
8:26
Speaker 3: to throw you know, below the zone to left handed.
8:28
Speaker 1: Batters as well.
8:29
Speaker 3: But I mean, and bullpens is pretty fun to throw.
8:31
Speaker 3: So we'll see how again, we'll see how it goes.
8:33
Speaker 3: Whenever a batter steps in the box.
8:35
Speaker 4: Can you can you speak English for us non analytic
8:38
Speaker 4: people like berts and horizontals and this and that, and
8:42
Speaker 4: I'm just kidding people. People are gonna be like, what
8:43
Speaker 4: the heck is he talking about?
8:44
Speaker 1: If you don't know?
8:45
Speaker 4: So you're this is what? So you're a bullpen all
8:49
Speaker 4: off season guy. You don't take a break because you're
8:51
Speaker 4: already talking about throwing bullpens and we're January fourteenth. You're
8:55
Speaker 4: a one inning guy, man, Like, don't you want to
8:57
Speaker 4: give your arm a little break?
8:58
Speaker 1: And did wait a little bit? Are you just full
9:00
Speaker 1: go all off season?
9:02
Speaker 3: I mean, I've tried it, and I've tried to where
9:03
Speaker 3: you're taking four to six weeks off and then I
9:05
Speaker 3: always kind of felt like I hit that dead arm
9:07
Speaker 3: phase late in March early April, so you know, I
9:10
Speaker 3: come home, I take you know, a week off of throwing,
9:13
Speaker 3: and then I go into a two day you know
9:15
Speaker 3: variation mixed with the mobility stuff, and then go to
9:18
Speaker 3: four days a week in November, five days a week December,
9:22
Speaker 3: six days a week January. And I'm throwing two bullpens
9:25
Speaker 3: a week with a with a kind of an arc
9:27
Speaker 3: long toss in between right now. But no, I mean,
9:30
Speaker 3: I just found that, you know, keeping the arm moving
9:33
Speaker 3: is better for me and for the routine and the
9:35
Speaker 3: health standpoint. I feel better keeping it going and keeping
9:39
Speaker 3: the body moving, and especially the older I'm getting, I'd
9:43
Speaker 3: prefer to keep everything going instead of have to start
9:46
Speaker 3: com odor up again from ground zero. So you know,
9:49
Speaker 3: as far as like lifting and mobility and CARDI like,
9:51
Speaker 3: I don't, I don't really take any time off. I
9:53
Speaker 3: feel like, you know, taking a little bit of time
9:56
Speaker 3: off of the game intent is equally as beneficial as
10:00
Speaker 3: taking completely everything off for a variation at the time.
10:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes it makes total sense. I mean I
10:08
Speaker 1: get it.
10:08
Speaker 4: But who's your catcher who catches you because you're throwing
10:11
Speaker 4: two bullpens a week?
10:12
Speaker 1: Who do we have?
10:13
Speaker 4: All we had somebody on that long ago. They're like, oh,
10:14
Speaker 4: I get cal Rawley to catch me in the off season.
10:17
Speaker 4: Remember someone up in Seattle. It wasn't Schooball. Somebody was like, oh,
10:21
Speaker 4: I just cal Rawley catches my bullpens in the off season.
10:24
Speaker 4: So who do you get to catch your bullpens in
10:26
Speaker 4: the off season.
10:27
Speaker 3: Brian O'Keeffe actually catches my bullpens there in the offseason.
10:30
Speaker 3: He's a triple A journeyman catcher. He's kind of been
10:33
Speaker 3: between jobs right now, but he's been great to me
10:36
Speaker 3: over the past three years. And then before that it
10:39
Speaker 3: was Adam Schaeffer. He was in the Mariners organization. He
10:43
Speaker 3: called me for a little while. But over the past three,
10:46
Speaker 3: three four off seasons, it's been Brian O'Keeffe. He's been
10:49
Speaker 3: catching me and a group of guys here in Raleigh,
10:51
Speaker 3: North Carolina.
10:52
Speaker 1: Can you pay him? It's Raleigh, by the way, I
10:54
Speaker 1: don't know if you saw that clip. Did you do
10:58
Speaker 1: you pay him? Do you give him? Get him a
11:00
Speaker 1: little something on the side.
11:01
Speaker 4: How do you take care? Because you know pictures need
11:03
Speaker 4: to start taking care of.
11:04
Speaker 1: Their catchers matter. Oh you said it right there. Man
11:06
Speaker 1: always take care of the catchers. So of course I
11:08
Speaker 1: always tip Bryan at the end of the year.
11:10
Speaker 3: I mean he he comes in, I mean, i'd be
11:12
Speaker 3: lying if he's not completely happy when he comes in.
11:16
Speaker 3: He's a he's a grumpy old man. But hey, he
11:18
Speaker 3: comes in there. He gives us positive feedback. When we
11:20
Speaker 3: hang one, he tells us, you know, I knocked that
11:22
Speaker 3: shit out of the ballparks. I mean, he's a good
11:24
Speaker 3: candidate to have behind play here in the offseason. He
11:27
Speaker 3: makes it funny, keeps it light, and you know, like
11:30
Speaker 3: he's videoing us and receiving so like we can mix
11:32
Speaker 3: some match video, all sorts of things.
11:34
Speaker 1: So he's been great to me, He's been great to
11:37
Speaker 1: all of us.
11:37
Speaker 3: And so yeah, to answer your question, absolutely, we take
11:41
Speaker 3: care of him at the end of the off season.
11:43
Speaker 2: I believe it was Matt Boyd who was on our
11:45
Speaker 2: show recently who said he throws to Riley, which would
11:48
Speaker 2: make sense if Riley's up in Seattle at the time,
11:50
Speaker 2: and then Boyd lives in the area there. Okay, I
11:53
Speaker 2: want to go to the Rangers as a whole. What
11:56
Speaker 2: did you observe from your spot last year that didn't
12:00
Speaker 2: work for the team right? Why didn't they make the playoffs?
12:03
Speaker 1: And what was the.
12:04
Speaker 2: Team reaction when you know, there was talk during the
12:07
Speaker 2: season about really, I don't even want to say it's
12:10
Speaker 2: like clubhouse issues as much as there was a big
12:12
Speaker 2: debate about how much guys hang out before the game
12:16
Speaker 2: versus actually working on their own craft.
12:21
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm kind of indifferent when it comes to
12:22
Speaker 3: that conversation, just just in regards to like, I mean,
12:26
Speaker 3: Kratz can kind of speak to this something I played
12:28
Speaker 3: with him, Like when I get to the ballpark, I have,
12:31
Speaker 3: you know, an hour time before that, I hang out
12:33
Speaker 3: with the guys, play cards, you know, stuff like that.
12:35
Speaker 3: But after that, man, like I'm super routine oriented, so
12:38
Speaker 3: you know, like it stretches at three thirty. I'm in
12:40
Speaker 3: the training room at two, and then I'm in the
12:42
Speaker 3: weighting room from two thirty to three thirty. And then
12:44
Speaker 3: after that, you know, I'm back in the training room
12:47
Speaker 3: after I get off the field, using modalities, doing different things,
12:49
Speaker 3: and then I go to the wet room and doing contrasts,
12:52
Speaker 3: and I go eat dinner. That's my time to kind
12:55
Speaker 3: of hang out with the guys is when I'm eating,
12:57
Speaker 3: and then you know, I'm locking a cage for nine innings.
13:00
Speaker 3: I'm spending my time with the bullpen guys down there.
13:02
Speaker 3: But you know, I think there's a lot of things
13:04
Speaker 3: they get misconstrued in regards to clubhouses, especially whenever you're
13:08
Speaker 3: only there for a short time, you know, specifically like
13:12
Speaker 3: my time with Texas.
13:13
Speaker 1: You know, like my philosophy in that is like you have.
13:16
Speaker 3: Superstars that become superstars, and you have superstars that become
13:20
Speaker 3: all stars based on their routine and what they do
13:22
Speaker 3: and what makes them different from the guy next to them.
13:25
Speaker 3: I don't think that necessarily makes someone a bad teammate.
13:29
Speaker 3: I think at the flip side of that too, you know,
13:31
Speaker 3: like the baseball season is a roller coaster. There's a
13:34
Speaker 3: lot of positives, there's a lot of negatives. If you
13:36
Speaker 3: ride the emotional roller coaster, it's gonna be a long season.
13:39
Speaker 3: And I can say that's one thing that as a clubhouse,
13:42
Speaker 3: we didn't do last year. We didn't ride the ups
13:44
Speaker 3: and downs like we still. You know, our job was
13:46
Speaker 3: to go out there and win baseball games. That's what
13:48
Speaker 3: we try to do. It didn't the outcome, didn't you know,
13:52
Speaker 3: see what we were trying to do from the start
13:54
Speaker 3: of spring training, but I never really got the gist
13:57
Speaker 3: that there was, you know, a bad juju, you know,
13:59
Speaker 3: I was.
14:00
Speaker 1: Those guys made me.
14:02
Speaker 3: Probably one of the most comfortable that I've been in
14:03
Speaker 3: the clubhouse in my career from day one. I mean,
14:07
Speaker 3: I wanted to spring training at grom and even for
14:10
Speaker 3: my locker buddies, that's who I'm between, and I'm like,
14:13
Speaker 3: you know, it's all my life.
14:13
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm kind of.
14:14
Speaker 3: Like google out a little bit because these are two
14:17
Speaker 3: guys I've looked up to my whole career, you know,
14:19
Speaker 3: but at the end of the day, like they're just
14:21
Speaker 3: as much of a clown as the rookie next to me.
14:23
Speaker 3: But you know, but they keep it that way and
14:25
Speaker 3: make guys feel comfortable in that regarding and you guys
14:28
Speaker 3: know how it is in clubhouse. Man, Like the pitching
14:30
Speaker 3: staff and the position players. There's a little bit of
14:33
Speaker 3: separation between those two, you know, like we're on two
14:35
Speaker 3: different schedules. Meetings are different, VP's different, you know, our
14:39
Speaker 3: stretch times are different. And then when you know after
14:42
Speaker 3: the game, you know, when you have an older team
14:44
Speaker 3: for the vast majority like that, especially at home, you know,
14:47
Speaker 3: like I spend my time in the ballpark from one
14:49
Speaker 3: point thirty to eleven o'clock. You know, I'm going home
14:53
Speaker 3: to see to see my kids, you know, because even
14:55
Speaker 3: if it's eleven o'clock, my son still wants to go
14:57
Speaker 3: home and play baseball in the living room wherever we
14:59
Speaker 3: may be. So that time is, you know, like it's
15:02
Speaker 3: valuable to me, and I think it's very valuable to
15:04
Speaker 3: the rest of the guys there that have kids as well. Now,
15:08
Speaker 3: I say, like Marcus sendmeon on the road last year,
15:10
Speaker 3: phenomenal job of trying to get guys together for group dinners,
15:13
Speaker 3: go out for a beer, whatever it may be. You know,
15:15
Speaker 3: I mean I was I think I missed one last
15:17
Speaker 3: year that sent me and asked us to go to So,
15:20
Speaker 3: I mean, he's a phenomenal guy there.
15:21
Speaker 1: He did a great job with that.
15:23
Speaker 3: But just like playing rids, man, we have card tables,
15:25
Speaker 3: you know, you have guys that are playing video games.
15:27
Speaker 3: You have guys that are reading books. You have guys
15:29
Speaker 3: that are doing whatever it is they may be doing.
15:32
Speaker 3: So you still have your little groups and niches. But
15:34
Speaker 3: I think as a whole man, I thought I thought
15:36
Speaker 3: we were a pretty close group. Everyone kind of leaned
15:39
Speaker 3: on one another, even whenever some misaps and things happened.
15:42
Speaker 3: But again I think sometimes, you know, with the media,
15:44
Speaker 3: like everything else, a lot of things kind of get
15:47
Speaker 3: miss like misconcepted, especially if you're a guy that hasn't
15:51
Speaker 3: been there, you know, the entire time, and you do
15:54
Speaker 3: come in and see the rough patch.
15:55
Speaker 1: Yeah you can, you can kind of get that vibe.
15:57
Speaker 3: But again I think that, you know, can there be
16:00
Speaker 3: closer things to be done in a clubhouse? Sure, you know,
16:04
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean, yes, you know, there is some
16:06
Speaker 3: like but in every clubhouse there's clicks. That's just how
16:09
Speaker 3: it is. But again, I think that, you know, when
16:11
Speaker 3: you have as many superstars and veterans that were on
16:14
Speaker 3: that team last year, you know, everyone has the routine
16:17
Speaker 3: and everyone sticks to the routine. And but when we
16:20
Speaker 3: were scuffling, nobody pantied. But at some point in time
16:23
Speaker 3: there is some change that's needed. And I think that
16:26
Speaker 3: that's kind of what see Y and Ross and those
16:28
Speaker 3: guys are doing this past offseason to try and get
16:30
Speaker 3: that team back to the World Series.
16:33
Speaker 5: I played with you, but your pregame routine before, when
16:36
Speaker 5: you were in Columbus, I wore a Columbus Clippers hat
16:39
Speaker 5: just for you. Today it was there was Hackey sack.
16:44
Speaker 5: Do you do you steal Hacky sack or your your
16:47
Speaker 5: old bones just not working the same as they used to, grats.
16:51
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what, men, when I was in Tampa,
16:53
Speaker 3: we Hackey sacked every single day before the game.
16:56
Speaker 1: That was kind of like our our like warm up stuff.
16:58
Speaker 3: We did it every day on the field as a
16:59
Speaker 3: bullpen and you know, like being a part of that
17:02
Speaker 3: bullpen for four years. That was the closest group that
17:04
Speaker 3: I ever haven't been a part of. With Tampa didn't
17:07
Speaker 3: hacky sack much. In Texas. We did more of a
17:10
Speaker 3: lot of football routes, a lot of football throws as
17:12
Speaker 3: far as the pitching staff goes.
17:13
Speaker 1: But again, even though we.
17:15
Speaker 3: Didn't Hacky sack, we were still a really really close
17:18
Speaker 3: group and that those those young guys will always kind
17:22
Speaker 3: of hold a special piece to me. I'll say, young guys.
17:24
Speaker 3: Chris Martin's old like I am. But those guys were
17:27
Speaker 3: great man, and you know, like, but yeah, we still
17:31
Speaker 3: hackey sacked in Tampa, and we kept it for four
17:33
Speaker 3: years and didn't hacky sack much last year.
17:35
Speaker 4: Though, Okay, Chris Martin's got that gray gray hair too.
17:39
Speaker 1: By the way, he's like.
17:42
Speaker 4: A guy got a little some he's full gray on top,
17:45
Speaker 4: so he's not that old. So I don't know what happened,
17:47
Speaker 4: but you guys wanst have Hacky sacked him run into
17:49
Speaker 4: gray hair.
17:50
Speaker 3: Well, he's got four kids in a full cattle ranch.
17:53
Speaker 3: He's trying to run, So I'd probably be great headed
17:54
Speaker 3: too if I was trying.
17:55
Speaker 1: To keep up for all that and play baseball. Good point, good,
17:57
Speaker 1: good point, good point. All right, Well, how did you
18:00
Speaker 1: like Rowdy? Tells?
18:01
Speaker 4: What'd you think of Rowdy?
18:02
Speaker 1: Tells? Loved him? Look good?
18:05
Speaker 4: Because if you because we had him on yesterday and
18:07
Speaker 4: he was saying how much he hates pitchers and especially
18:10
Speaker 4: relieved pitchers, and how I can't say that now they're
18:13
Speaker 4: no fun. Yeah, So no, we have Rowdy on all
18:16
Speaker 4: the time, so I was hoping, actually you would say
18:18
Speaker 4: he was terrible so we could just play this clip
18:20
Speaker 4: for him all the time. So we're gonna have just
18:22
Speaker 4: say terrible, and then we'll edit it to where it
18:24
Speaker 4: says that you said he was terrible as the team.
18:26
Speaker 3: The funny thing about me and Rowdy last year we
18:28
Speaker 3: actually like got into it like a little bit on
18:31
Speaker 3: the plane ride and everybody thought we were super serious
18:34
Speaker 3: and we weren't at all. You know, like we came
18:36
Speaker 3: in and I hugged him afterwards, and he and he'd
18:39
Speaker 3: made it was kind of a running joke after that,
18:41
Speaker 3: and I'd come into it. I'd come in after the
18:44
Speaker 3: game and didn't pitch that day. He's like, you didn't
18:46
Speaker 3: do shit today. And then he'd come in after a game.
18:48
Speaker 1: And I pitched that day, He's like, about time you worked.
18:51
Speaker 3: And then I started giving it back to him because
18:52
Speaker 3: he started like d H and late in the game
18:54
Speaker 3: and like if he would like pop out or something
18:56
Speaker 3: like that, I'm like, you did't shit today, you know,
18:59
Speaker 3: like this was just kind of a running joke between
19:01
Speaker 3: the two of us.
19:01
Speaker 1: So, but no, he's a great man, I can't. You know.
19:03
Speaker 3: I thought he was very good for our clubhouse when
19:06
Speaker 3: we brought him in, and no matter what the circumstance
19:09
Speaker 3: or anything they asked him to do, he always did
19:11
Speaker 3: it without a complaint.
19:12
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a pros to proto man.
19:13
Speaker 3: So I'm still I'm still waiting for my invite to
19:16
Speaker 3: go deer hunting with him. But that's a that's a
19:17
Speaker 3: conversation for another time.
19:20
Speaker 1: True true you know rowdy, rowdy can't hunt. We all
19:23
Speaker 1: know that.
19:24
Speaker 4: Him and him and Jock yelling at each other back
19:26
Speaker 4: and forth though was also awesome, each of them calling
19:28
Speaker 4: the other one fat, which I heard of as that
19:31
Speaker 4: was great because you're like, wait what anyways?
19:34
Speaker 1: All right, you went to ECU.
19:36
Speaker 4: You live in Raleighah. Now, as Chad Ocho Sinko so
19:39
Speaker 4: eloquently called it on a show the other day, not
19:42
Speaker 4: Raleigh Raleah because that's how you say it. But my
19:44
Speaker 4: son is playing college baseball and he is traveling to
19:47
Speaker 4: ECU to play this year. Is there any place that
19:51
Speaker 4: I need to make sure that I hit while I'm
19:53
Speaker 4: in ECU?
19:56
Speaker 3: Sub Dogs Subdogs a bar is a local. Yes, it's
20:01
Speaker 3: literally how s up Dogs. They're famous for hot dogs
20:04
Speaker 3: and hamburgers, but you can get them any way you want.
20:08
Speaker 3: Their sub crushes are phenomenal if you're into drinking a
20:12
Speaker 3: little bit of a subdog vodka that they created their
20:15
Speaker 3: own brand. But yeah, that's that's one of the That's
20:18
Speaker 3: a college staple in in Greenville, North Carolina. It's right
20:22
Speaker 3: there on campus, so it's a it's a good spot.
20:24
Speaker 3: You can go there and watch any game you want.
20:26
Speaker 1: To go to.
20:26
Speaker 3: But Subdogs is is definitely a staple in Greenville, North Carolina.
20:32
Speaker 1: Do they have vegan hot dogs?
20:34
Speaker 5: Because AJ only it's vegan hot dogs.
20:37
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know.
20:38
Speaker 3: I don't know if you'll fit in very well in
20:39
Speaker 3: Greenville if you're even being hot dogs.
20:41
Speaker 1: So okay, all do what you believe.
20:47
Speaker 4: If you believe that, Sean, don't don't believe that, and
20:51
Speaker 4: he's definitely not taking you.
20:52
Speaker 2: Hunting well, Sean, this was awesome. Thanks for the time.
20:58
Speaker 2: We really appreciate it. We love talking to guys, you know,
21:00
Speaker 2: about their signing experience, and the off season is a
21:03
Speaker 2: good time to get some extended time. So thanks for
21:05
Speaker 2: doing this. So you yeah, we'll catch in spring training
21:08
Speaker 2: or you know, maybe you'll get a phantom callar text
21:11
Speaker 2: from AJ when he's.
21:13
Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, I don't mean at the end of spring training, so.
21:17
Speaker 2: It's at the end of okay, so we'll report back.
21:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, get my number from Gratzy and and if you
21:22
Speaker 3: go there, seriously let me not let me know what
21:24
Speaker 3: you think about it.
21:24
Speaker 4: If I do I get a free meal, if I
21:26
Speaker 4: mentioned your name or is that only good for Trey
21:28
Speaker 4: you Savage?
21:30
Speaker 1: I think if you go there and mentioned Harold Varner,
21:32
Speaker 1: the third, the golfer.
21:33
Speaker 4: I know Harold very well.
21:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, that'll get that'll get your free mill.
21:37
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna do much for you there, but Harold
21:39
Speaker 3: Varner will definitely get your free Okay.
21:42
Speaker 2: Boom, there you go, Sean, good stuff man.
21:45
Speaker 1: Enjoy the rest of the off season. Thanks guys, I
21:48
Speaker 1: appreciate it.