Latest / Foul Territory / Giants closer Ryan Walker

Transcript

Giants closer Ryan Walker · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You know, we're not playing the game of sending people up,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: sending people down and changing their team chemistry all the time.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You know, he doesn't seem to be a big believer
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in that.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: We've got Ryan Walker from the San Francisco Giants joining
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: us right now, super reliever Ryan. Great to have you
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: on first of all, but can I call you closer? Like,
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: how do you like to get introduced? Obviously you've done
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: a lot of closing for the ball club, but how
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: do you like to get introd.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter to me, honestly, I always personally say reliever.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Saying closer sounds kind of arrogant.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: I don't know why. For me, what about super reliever?
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: I feel want to say that. That's fine. I mean, no,
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: I got to say closer.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: You gotta say closer.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: It's not air, I know. I don't know. It's something
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: in me that doesn't want to do it.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but now they're gonna take this when you go
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: to arbitration and they're gonna say, well, you actually went
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: on this really super esteemed show foul Territory with X player, guess,
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: and you didn't want to associate yourself with being a closer.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: So we're going to diminish your value. No, you say
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: I'm a closer, you get a shirt that says I'm
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: a closer, don't get a tattoo, because you never know,
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: starters make way more in free agency. So there's that.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: How much do you like closing? I mean when you
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: come into the game in the ninth inning, like, how
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: much of a rush is it? How much is it
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: something maybe that you look forward to your entire pitching life.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, I love it.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a position I want to be in. I
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: honestly never thought I would ever be in this position,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to be honest with you, just I just I don't
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: know why. I never saw it in my cards. But yeah,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: it's definitely a dream position for sure.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Now being in it.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: It can definitely suck at some points more than other
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: jobs in the bullpen, but that's also very rewarding at
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the same time.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Wait, why do you say that, Why do you say
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: you never saw your off in this position?
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, I've never really been like
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: this massive goal guy. I've been more so just tiny goals.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: And my only goal in the big leagues to be honest,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: was to keep a job and have a job. I
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: don't care where it is. We've had Douvie as the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: closer as well, you know what I mean, And obviously
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I never wished any little season upon them, but you know,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: so there. It's just never been in my It's never
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: been in my minds. But obviously cards fell the way
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: they did and it worked out for me to be
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: in the position, and I'm very happy to be here.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you took advantage of the situation. You absolutely dealt
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: put yourself on the map to be that closer. What
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: is the difference in your heart rate, your feeling, or
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: how hard it is for you to get up for
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: a game when you come in in the eighth, when
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: you come in in a knife, How different is.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: It for you? It's very different.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I've always described it as my first time closing was
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: like my debut all over again. You're in just such
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: a different atmosphere. The crowd's a lot louder, you're over,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: You're almost always facing the top of the order or
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the heart of the order, and especially when you're only
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: up by one, it's like it really really gets your
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: heart pumping. You're up by one, you're facing judge and
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: it's like, all right, that's that's a hunker down here.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: But that's what makes it fun to use that to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: your advantage and you get a little extra edge out
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: of it too.
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: I want I want to ask a little about some
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: of your teammates here. I play with a guy as
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: well warm of floor as I mean, this guy is
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: just is a guy you don't want to see late
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: in the game because he's absolutely dominant. Talk a little
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: bit about him and his leadership role and what he
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: brings to the team and how he's helping his squad prosper.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Wilmer is great.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: He's he's got a great bat along with a good
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: eye too. He's very dangerous at the plate. As a leader,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: He's he's a quiet leader. He leads by example and
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: when he speaks up, everyone listens. He's an awesome guy
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: to have around and obviously he's been around the game
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: for a very long time, so a really good guy
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: to learn from for the younger hitters too. But man, yeah,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I seen him at the plate so far has been awesome.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: It was pretty shocking to me in our a series
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: when they walked yest to get to to get the
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: flow I was. We were all like, all right, I mean,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: we'll take it too. I guess like we'll take our
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: best hitter currently at the plate with faces loaded, and
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: it obviously worked out, not even by his bat but
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: by his eye. So he's been a great He's been
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: a huge part of the scene.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: When you sit down and bullpen in San Francisco and
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: it gets colder and colder, do you kind of wish
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: you were in another city, Not that the city isn't awesome,
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: but how cold it is. Just randomly certain nights you're like,
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: oh my gosh.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Not necessarily, we gotta we gotta it a bench down there,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and that that's hot. It gets so hot that you
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: can't even sit on it. So I mean, we're we're
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: pretty we're pretty warm down there, and it really makes
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: up for all of it.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't think I would.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, I like playing at that stadium, even if
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: even if it is cold, Like it's just a fun
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: atmosphere to be in.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: So I've always enjoyed that, all right.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: For everybody who hasn't seen you pitch, obviously they don't
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: watch baseball, but you have a unique delivery. Can anybody
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: else warm up at the same time as you? Because
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: from what I remember of that new bullpen, you can't
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: throw on the right on the right mound? Am I correct?
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Or have they expanded it for you?
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: They haven't expanded it for me, but yeah, I typically
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: say on the left side of the mound. Otherwise there
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: are some places I don't know where, but I will
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: definitely fall off the heads. We actually have a room
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: in between mounds and most places due to where we
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: can both throw, so it's never really been an issue.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: If you're a card collector or you'd like to get
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: into card collecting, may I suggest Arena Club and slab packs,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: which means that you can rip the packs digitally and
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: of course get the card that you want. It's also
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: the most trusted.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: Name in the game.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: And I would rather rip packs these days on my
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: phone than sit next to you and have you grabbing
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: one of my physical packs if I was grabbing one.
• 6:51
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you don't need me grabbing your packs because last
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: time you grabbed one it ended up like this card.
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: So let's not have that. And that's why Arena Club
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: is great. They say them to you in these fancy
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: protectors like the Scout Brown card that we have here,
• 7:05
  Speaker 6: and they'll come safe. They're already graded. Or you could
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: do like I do and just leave my cards in
• 7:09
  Speaker 6: the showroom and never actually see them physically. Yeah, but
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: they're safe, protected, and if I want to sell them,
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: I can't.
• 7:15
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• 7:18
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• 7:21
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• 7:24
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• 7:26
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• 7:29
  Speaker 2: code foul.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: Okay, all right, a little bit, a little bit of
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: off field. I got some inside information. Are you good
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: at remembering people's names on your team?
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: On my team currently? Yeah? Yeah, okay, I think so. Yeah.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: Okay, then why did it take you an entire year
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: to know what your agent's actual name was?
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: My agent's name?
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, uh, I don't know.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I I thought I just thought he was a different name. Okay,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: It's not like I forgot it. I've always known of
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a name. It was just the wrong name.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: Okay, So you got you got bad information early? All right,
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: So my next, his name is His name is Alex,
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: and you thought his name was Dave for about a year.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: He told me, He told me he thought it would
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: be a funny, funny story. But along with that, yeah,
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: along with that, who is the best athlete in your family?
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: In my family?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Me?
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Your wife?
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Uh sorry, I came literally my immediate family. Oh no, no, no, definitely,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: my wife is definitely more athletic than me.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: That's not even a question.
• 9:00
  Speaker 7: Could you beat her? Could you beat her in volleyball?
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: No shot, how good way we've played. I mean, she's elite.
• 9:09
  Speaker 7: We've played together and it never works out in my favor.
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: We'll play at the end volleyball every once in a
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: while and she'll just make a fool of me. But
• 9:19
  Speaker 7: she's elite.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, you see her college stats, and she's got
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: these records, and she was she was just such a
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: leader on the court as well.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: I couldn't I couldn't amount to her.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Ryan, I'm going to jump in here, because you know,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: there was some we got a lot of like college athletes.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: We've got minor leaguers, high schoolers that watch and listen
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: to this show, and of course we talk, you know
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: about velocity and Spain and all this stuff, right, that's
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: a big part of the game today. But I do
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: want to get your perspective on how important it is
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: to have deception, how underrated that can be. The two
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: words for me that send out with someone like you
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: deception and variety, right, even if you don't grow oneh three.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: And I know a lot of kids are being judged
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: by velostity because that's the easiest way to evaluate talent.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: You can thrive and succeed. And teams are looking for deception.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: They're looking for a bullpen that has a bunch of
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: guys that do things super differently. So that was my
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: layman term explanation. How do you describe that for a
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: lot of pictures, Yeah, young pictures out there.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean i'd say it does play a huge
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: role in your delivery. Again, like you said, people don't
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: ever really talk about it. I feel like like it's
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: not like a main stat like you said. But I've
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: known money of pictures who don't throw hard. I mean,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I got a buddy with the Diamondbacks in my leagues.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: It was eighty eight to ninety, but he blows it
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: by people like he's swing ninety nine because his deception
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: is just unreal. So I think having that deception is
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: very important. I think it is hard to I don't
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: know how teachable it is. Sometimes I feel like it
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: could be pretty hard to teach, depending on the delivery.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: But yeah, if you can figure a way to keep
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: that ball hidden as long as possible, whether it's using
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: your leg or being a little crossfire or whatever, it is, Like,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I think it brings a lot more to the table
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: than you would expect, for sure, because now you're perceiving
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: like even if you do if you do ninety one, yeah,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: like I said to ninety one, but your deception is
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: is really good. Like that's perceived completely different to the hitter.
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: So yeah, and that's part of it too. So I
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: mean as a hitter when I played it used to
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: go out. You see a guy that's not throwing, it's
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: hard like, oh man, this is the guy that you
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: know pays the bills. And that guy usually dominated me,
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: of course, And that's part of you know, lack of
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: not knowing. That's part of being humbled. That's part of
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: being a veteran, and you know, seeing more stuff. Talking
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: about veterans, I want to talk a little about justin Ferlander.
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: He's has a nerve problem in his pack going on
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: right now. Have you had good conversations with him about
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: pitching and has he been a pretty good leader so
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: far with the team.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he's been a great leader with the team.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: I personally haven't had a lot of pitching conversations with him,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: but I know other guys have. He's just a valuable
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: guy to have around the clubhouse to learn from. He's
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: done it longer than anybody, so he's been very valuable
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: to us. I've definitely touched him a few times. The
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: last time I touched him was just an apology for
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: blowing his second his game is for the second time,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: which I felt pretty bad about that. He's he's a professional.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: You know, he gets it. We're all trying our best
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: out there and he's let's just see him that he
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: handles it so well. A lot of knowledge should be
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: picked from him.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: What did he What was his response when you apologize
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: to him?
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: That's what he said.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I said, amen, like I'm sorry, like this sucks, like
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: I don't I'm not trying to do that. His response
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: was just like, hey, man, don't even don't worry about it,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Like I know, you're trying your best out there like
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: it is what it is like, you know, and that
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: meant a lot to me. I understand. I knew he
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: wasn't gonna just blow me up. He's not that kind
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: of a guy. That I'm hearing that from him just
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: kind of made me more confident for the next time
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the opportunity arises, and you know, not be so worried
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: about it.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Doing his day.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: You know, it was pretty it was handled very professionally
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: and said he's a great dude to have around.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Hey, Brian, last one for me.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: So yeah.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Berlanders added to the mix here. Domics added to the
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: mix here. You know, I had a lot of the
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: guys from last year who've taken a good step up too.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: But what about the impact of having Buster Posey really
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: with a strong voice in this organization now? Right, you're
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: able to see the transition here. What's it like to
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: have someone who, first of all, is an absolute legend,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: right he is a San Francisco Giants legend as a
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: human being. He knows this franchise in and out. What's
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: it been like? I mean, do you have combos with him?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Are there things that you know he's talked about that
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: you feel like have made a difference. I know talking
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: to some people around the organization that right around spring training,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: I want to say he talked to the team like,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: we are going to play fundamental ball, do things right,
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: and reward the people that do that. Did that resonate?
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. It's brought a lot of relaxation around
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the organization. In my opinion, having someone with such a
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: massive baseball amount of baseball knowledge and also be able
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: to run the team well is huge. He's very personable,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: which is nice. He doesn't walk around like he's you know,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: not approachable or he can't talk to him because he
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: makes the decision.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: So he's just he's there to talk to you if
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: you need to.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: When I was going through my little stint of rough outings,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: you know, he just meet him and Bob talking about it.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: You know, the fact that he's there and understands is huge.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: You know, we're not playing the game of sending people up,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: sending people down and changing changing the team chemistry all
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the time. You know, he didn't seem to be a
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: big believer in that, and he really believes in his
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: guys he has right now, which is awesome. It's been
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: a huge change for everybody, honestly, all.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Right, last one for me here Hayden bird Song had
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: sixteen or seventeen starts I think last year, and then
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: he comes to the bullpen. Is it hard to try
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: to transition even younger pitchers are less experienced pitchers into
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: the bullpen, and like just the lifestyle of people yelling
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: at him because Starter's sitting a dugout that kind of
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: live more of a pampered life. Did you guys get
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: on bird Song for being down there and then all
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: of a sudden, this dude absolutely deals when he's coming
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: out of the pen.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think it just depends on the guy.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I think Birdie handled it really well. Obviously, the warm
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: up Routeaine everything is thrown out the window. You know,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: you gotta be ready in an instant. But I think
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the team also did a pretty good job on making
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: sure he was prepared to get the job done. You know,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of quick like hey, bird you
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: need to be ready and to stand the pitches. They
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: handled it really well. And Bertie's just a guy who
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: doesn't you know, he just wants to pitch and he
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: wants to compete and do well, so wherever that businessing
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: is he, I think he also feeds off the energy
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: of the people trying to make fun of him out
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: here and make fun.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Of us in the bullpen.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Like it's more of like a all right, cool, like
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: this is getting me even more prepared for the game,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: So keep doing it.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: He's going hadling it really well.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: And obviously he was dealing, and that ways back to
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: starting and dealing again.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: So well, Ryan, this was great. I hope you enjoyed it.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Really appreciate the time. Great to have you on here
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: for chat. Good luck the rest of the way here.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Dude, thanks for having me