Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Mangum delivers, Griffin adjusts, and Oneil Cruz heats up

Transcript

Mangum delivers, Griffin adjusts, and Oneil Cruz heats up · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey there everyone. Welcome to Buco Territory presents it to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: you by the Foul Territory Network. I'm Platinum Key aka
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Mark Enjoining me today as always is my co host
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Josh Harrison. Usually we have Noah Hailes here as well,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: but we're recording this Thursday night, so I guess Noah's
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: down doing some like draft thing in Pittsburgh. I don't know,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: it's like the small event going on, but it's like
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the NFL Draft or something. But so it was a
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: little bit preoccupied this evening covering the draft for the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Post Gazette. Looking forward to having him back on the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: show Monday. So just Josh and I, how are you
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: doing tonight?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Josh, Well, I'm good. I'm good. How about to Mark?
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I excited to talk some Buccos baseball. So today we're
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: going to go over Jake Maingham delivering in the clutch
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and just what he's brought to this team thus far.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about Connor Griffin as he adjusts
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: to the main You know, he's I think when this
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: episode airs it's going to be his birthday, so he
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: will no longer be a teenager upon release of this episode.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: But so if we refer to him as a teenager,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: that's why. But yeah, nineteen year old shortstop making his
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: adjustment to the major leagues. And then we'll round it
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: out with Jay Now, which Josh is going to highlight
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: one of the howter hitters the Pirates recently. You may
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: have a good idea who that might be, but we'll
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: start things off here by talking about Jake Maingum so
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the mayor, as all the Starkville, Mississippi residents where Mississippi
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: state is. Yeah, and you meet Jake, you understand really
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: quickly why he has that nickname. Just making national news,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: quite literal national news, not just sports news. Tossing a
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: ball to you know, a brother and his sister in
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the stands that went mega viral. That's just who he
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: is when they aren't cameras running. And we've seen a
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: lot of that for the Pirates, where you know, he's
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the guy that brought the coney in to the dugout
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: where vibes were low. He's like, Hey, I'm a veteran leader,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know how to solve this. Let's bring in
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: a funny little gimmick and get the vibes right. So
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: my first question to you, Josh is, uh, what's the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: guy like Jake mingham bring to the team both on
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: and off the field.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Uh, it's infectious one. As you mentioned the media, you
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: know the news story with him, you know, getting the
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: ball to the siblings. You know that one shows the
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: selflessness of you know, Mangum. But then you take a
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: flip side and you mentioned you know within you know,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the clubhouse and a dugout. You know, he doesn't play
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: every day, but you know, whether whether he's playing or not,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: you know, he's the same guy energy and and guys
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: feel that. You know, even guys that you know maybe
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: playing every day, they're like, oh man, you look at
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Jake and he's on the bench. It's like, okay, yeah,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Jake's bringing it. You know for guys that might not
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: be bringing it every day, not that that they want to.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: You know, guys are wired differently sometimes, you know, seeing
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: a guy like Jake, you know, might might get that
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: that you know, the whole team, you know what ain't
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: come being as funk too long because you know, guys
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: like Jake aren't going to allow you know, a slide
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: to continue to happen. That's not to say that he
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: can you know, affect outcome to say, oh, we we're
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: not gonna lose this many games in a row, or
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: we're not gonna go this many innings hitless. It's about
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: keeping the vibes up. And you know it really started
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: earlier this year with him in a cone as you mentioned,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: and you know, that's something that I'm sure you know
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: when the offensive struggle comes, you know they're gonna be
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: looking at, hey, man, let's just hoste the comb like
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: you know, it's something that that every every team kind
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: of needs. Is kind of that that that pulse, the
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: heartbeat of the team that you know, you got to
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: ride the ebbs and flows of the game. And having
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: a guy in the season and having a guy that
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: that is gonna bring it every day, you know, regardless
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: of if he's four for four zero for four, that
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: says a lot because you know, this game is mentally
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: challenging and sometimes, you know, when you're going through that rut,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: you know, it's hard to find that motivation, you know,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: to to really get amped up because you know this
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: game can kick you while you're down. But you know,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: and it shows, you know, he had the game win
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: the RBL last night, even though O'Neill ended up, you know,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: putting icing on the cake. But you look at that
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: two strikes first and third, one out. If he doesn't
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: put that ball in play, now you know they're they're
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: looking at the situation, Oh, we just got to get
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: one out, you know, and he put the ball in
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: play and they can't throw around the runner, and you know,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: it's literally what you need, especially at that time where
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: you know, first game they lost, you're looking to you know,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: win a second game so you can go into you know,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: the series, you know, third game, you know, with that
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: rubber match, hoping to get a series win, and just
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: another thing of coming off the bench, not playing every day,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: and you know, whether it's him being on the basis,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: you know, I think the other day I saw him
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: drop down a bun. Yeah, And it's just one of
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: those things where providing a spark any way that you can,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: the mayor delivers a man of the people, and uh,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I think even the fans themselves, you know, appreciate when
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: he's out there because I mean, he's a guy that's
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: going you know hard the whole way.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're not gonna see him hit for power, right,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: He's not going to be out there getting like hitting
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a home run every single day. Yeah no, but he's
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: contributing in so many ways. And I really think what
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: you said, Josh, where coming off the bench is not
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: a problem for him, Right. You can tell he's still
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: locked in if he's hitting or if he didn't play
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the day before, like, he's still bringing that same energy,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the same vibes. I've been really impressed with the quality
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: of his at bats.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: The Pirates broadcast loves to mention quabs where uh there's
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: their little like yeah, yeah, Greg Brown, yeah. Uh. And
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: so when they're like, oh, that's a quab, yeah, qab
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: quality at bat and uh, every single time Jake Ingum
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: steps up up, Like even when we saw him last
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: night when he fell down in the count zero to
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: two and the ninth inning like that, he still reached
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: out just to make sure he put got some kind
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: of contact on the ball. He adjusted his swing and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: he's just giving the Pirates whatever they need in that
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: kind of game scenario. So, yeah, he doesn't bring the power. Yeah,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: he's not going to have the highest like ops ever,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: but he gets on base when he and when he does,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: he's putting the ball in play. To do it where
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: it's a lot of singles and good things happen. So
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: I've been really impressed with Jake on and off the field,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: and very excited that he's a pirate. So we're going
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: to take a quick break. Unless you have any final
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: thoughts on that, Josh.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: No, I think we pretty much did it. Like you said,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: nothing really to say other than you know, ye.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Ye, all right. We'll stop real quick here for a
• 6:51
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• 8:02
  Speaker 1: we're gonna have a little discussion on counter Griffin, as
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: we mentioned at the opening, about to celebrate his birthday
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: today on Friday, the Big two zero. I know, I
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: was also thinking about, you know, how it was going
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: to hit major league pitching on my twentieth birthday. Josh,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: you probably were actually college are Yeah. No, yeah, he's
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: he's gonna walk into the dug out. They're going to
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: call him bunk and everything. Yeah, but yeah, no twenty
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I mean I was foreseeing it in the future. Yeah, yeah,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: you were prepared.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my jennior year, I was getting ready to see
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: the lower level of professional baseball, but nonetheless still professional baseball.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: And that that actually brings me up. My first question,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Josh shut So obviously counter Griffin only played I think
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: five or six games in Triple A to begin this
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: year prior to getting the call up. So really is
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: going from Double A to MLB? What's that transition? Like, Josh, like,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: how much of a difference does it really make? Are
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the pictures that much better in MLB compared to Double
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: A and Triple A?
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Uh? Yes and no. As far as stuff, I mean,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: you're gonna have guys in Double A that have just
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: as good as stuff. Sometimes you'll see guys with better stuff.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: You know that throw harder, has a better breaking ball,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: or this or that. But at the same time, you
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: know there's a reason they're in the minor leagues and
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: not in the big leagues. One, they may be young
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: that may just be getting their feet wet in the
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: minor league's. Two, it could be a situation where the
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: guy has big league stuff, but he's not big league ready,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: meaning consistent. You know, he might have big league stuff
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: but can't find his own. You know, he might have
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: things to work on. So when when you're talking, you
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: know that jump from Double A the Triple A to
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: the big leagues, the talent level doesn't really jump out
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: to be like, oh man, these guys throwing much harder,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: these guys are hitting the ball much you know harder,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: or any of that. You know, you just see a
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: lot more consistency. And what you'll find at the Triple
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: A level is you'll have a blend of guys that
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: are just coming up from Double A. You'll have a
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: blend of guys that are being in Triple A for
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: a couple of years. You have some guys that are
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: you know, on that on that express between you know,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: the big leagues, in the triple and which right there
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: is no different than what you see in spring training.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: You know, so when you're in spring training, you're a
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: mixture of even guys down to you know, hig a
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: low eight. But for the most part, you know, a
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: lot of guys you see in Double A, Triple A
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: you've probably seen, you know, throughout you know, big league
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: spring training, whether y'all played the back half of the
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: game or you got the spots start here there. But
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: one thing that baseball is is a game of adjustments,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: and you know, he's being presented with that a lot
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: faster and at a more rapid paced than you know
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: most people his age. You know where most people are adjusting,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe level the level or pitch to pitch.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: You know, he he's adjusting at the highest level with
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: the best players. You know, so his ability to adjust
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: already shows that. I mean, we're talking about a kid
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: that got switched to shortstop just a little over a
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: year ago one of minor leagues, you know, minor league
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: go glove, and that was in a major league. So
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: the ability to play shortstop and play defense is there.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: So he's already shown there's gonna be no different in
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: the big leagues. He's gonna have to field ground balls,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: throw them to the right basis. But what happens is
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: a lot more different pressures. You're you got guys that
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: you know understand baseball where they're they're gonna take advantage
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: of any mistake, Oh, any little bobble. He's the guy
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: running down the base, isn't pulling up. Oh you don't
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: know where the ball goes when the ball's hit to you, Oh,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: it's gonna find you. Or just things that might have
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: you've been able to get away with at some of
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: the lower levels might not make it in just case
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: in point. You know, he's had his fair share of
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: making some you know, really athletic plays, nice plays, but
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: making the routine plays. And one play that I'll talk on,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: not the harp on, but is the play that's past
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: home stand against the Nationals where it led to I
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: think like two or three runs where he tried to
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: go touch second, made the throw that kind of went
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: up the line. And yes, you can make an argument
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: that there was you know, a little bit of interference
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: or whatever. But that's also a case of I don't
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: want to say the game speaking up on him, because
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I don't if the game would have sped up on him,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: you would have saw him bobble the ball when he
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: fielded it. He knew what he wanted to do, he
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: just didn't have as much time as he thought. And
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: that's a moment where you do that. In the minor leagues,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: those umpires are probably called on some type. You know
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: what I mean, there's something you know to where there
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: now he's going to learn and say, you know what,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: the most important thing is to get him out. So
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: making that adjustment of saying, you know, sometimes that routine
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: play is just getting it out. Even when I think
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: and I can, I know I can do this, but
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: you know what, sometimes the situation of the game might
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: say save that one. But at the same time, But
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: at the same time, we're talking about a nineteen slash
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: almost twenty year old, you know, doing this at the
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: highest level. That is no different play than I will
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: tell you that I would have tried to make myself,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: or you know, a Hovey Bayaz would have tried to make.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: So we're not sitting here saying that this kid is
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: not making routine plays even at the plate he's adjusting
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: to I mean, everybody knows who he is, you know.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, nobody wants to give up the first homer.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Not only that, nobody wants to let him get hot,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: because you can, as you said, you can see the twos,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: you can see the ability to play, and you can
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: see it. I mean, he's finding different good things about him.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Is he's final way get on base, whether it's a hit,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: my pitch, just a walk. He's gotten some lightening hits,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: lightening RBI so shows that he the game. Yeah, and
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: it's just a matter of just continue to adjust. It's
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: a different animal at the major leagues. And he's, as
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: you said, obviously learning it after only five games in
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Triple A, which is a big feat because if you
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: look at that, not even their team, you look across baseball,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: you wouldn't be sitting here and be like, oh man,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: he's overmatched. He's not doing any thing that is raising
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: our brows to be like, oh, he's playing outstanding defense,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: making the plays. And as you said, the hitting is
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: gonna come. That is one thing that I think they
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: were not necessarily worried about him getting off to a
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: hot start. So I think the adjustment more so is
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: going to be one on that defensive side of knowing, Okay,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: take the for sure out, which, as I said, that's
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: the only play that I can think of to this
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: date that you know, and that's kind of a you know,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: one of those Hey, you live and die with those
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: plays when you when you know that you can make
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: those plays and you just learned from it. But offensively,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: as I said, you're I think you'll start to see
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: him to get more adjusting to being comfortable. As I said,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: when when you're not hitting the greatest, but you're still
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: finding a way to get on base, trust me, that's enough,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: because it's one thing to not be hitting and not
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: getting on base. Because now you're really like, Okay, what's
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: it like to be on base? Now? When you get
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: on base, you might press trying to go first the third,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: getting on base with walks and you know, a hit
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: by pitch, you're still you know, obp you're getting on base,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: you're part of like offensive moving And that's why you're
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: seeing him getting those hits late in the game because
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: he's still you know, finding the way. A I'm on base,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: I can put pressure on it on the defense, on
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: the pitcher. So like, like I said, the adjusting part is,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: you know, he's still nineteen slash almost twenty, and you
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: know there's nothing that you would sit here and raise
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: an eyebrow to say he looks overmatched, because if that
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: was the case, you'd be already giving him breaks and oh,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: let's give him a mental day, like he's out there
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: helping win ball games on the defensive side. I mean
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: that is ultimately his.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Base to when he does get a base. Yeah, yes,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: And I mean we've he's only I think he's had
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: sixty two at bats so far throughout his entire major
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: league career. At what point if he's still batting under
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: two hundred, you know, with like an ops around like
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: five or six hundred. At what point would you start
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: to become concerned, Josh.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: I'd only become concerned if it's really affecting the team's
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: you know, overall play and performance. But at the same time,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: you have to take inventory of what you have.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, well, considering the other options at shortstop. Yeah, yeah,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: he's got a long lead.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: It is a good experience for him because I mean,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: as I said, these are adjusting moments and until somebody
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: comes along, if that was the case, to say, okay,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: we he's your shortstop, you're gonna ride it out. And
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: as I said, as I said there, I mean not
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: to throw it out there. I mean, would you trade
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: his numbers with Lindor And that's just Lindor hasn't gotten
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: off to a great start. I think you just hit
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: his first home run. Not that kind of said the
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: home run. I'm just saying, offensively a guy.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: It happens to the greatest players.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean. So, like the big
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: not necessarily panic. But I think you be okay with this,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: you know, because he's not even somebody that's considered the
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: worst offensive guy looking at the stat metrics, So you're
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: okay with him doing that and giving you good defense.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: And then last question for you, would you try and
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: adjust his swing mechanics at all or would you say,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: you know, like, let's wait, it got you this far
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: to be the number one prospect, the superstar or future superstar,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: or would you start tinkering with things in it right
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: now as he's trying to adjust that mobile hitting.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: That That is a touchy subject as far as as
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: a conversation that one he has to have with the
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: hitting coaches.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah type of answer.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but and one of those things. It has to
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: be a relationship, you know. They can't just be like,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: oh man, i've noticed through your first sixty two at
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: bats you're not doing this. This is what you need
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: to do, Like you know what I mean. They I'm
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: sure in spring training they know a list of drills
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: he likes to do. They probably know what he likes
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: to feel. It's just a matter of repeating that. And
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: sometimes when you're searching for a phil, you know, you
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: got all eyes on you, you got the hitting coach,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: the assistant coach. Thing, you might have a veteran hey man,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: you know, and it's a lot and sometimes I think
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: you just gotta let a guy be because did they
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: tinker with him before he got to this point.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't think as much.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And my biggest thing is if it got you here,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: it can certainly keep you here. Yeah. That's one of
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: my biggest pet peeves. I was even told earlier in
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: my career in the minor leagues the way that I
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: hit when I carried me through pro ball, I was
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: hitting like three seventy at the time, and I'm like, okay,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: and I just but at the same time, it's like,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: in your eyes, what am I doing? The numbers like
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: I'm getting on base.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: So for him results it's not all right.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: But sometimes you can't get results oriented.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Because I mean sometimes yes, and sometimes when you're chasing results,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: you you got this prized you know, phenom rookie that
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: everybody wants to get off to a good start.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Oh we gotta hey, hey, we gotta make sure and
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: and sometimes like hey, let him be because something will
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: click for him to be able to communicate to you. Hey,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I know what y'all saying, but this is what I
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: need to feel because at the end of the day,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: before all of this, who did he hit with him?
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: And who I'm not sure I know he works a
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: lot with his dad.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Dad. Yeah, my point exactly, and not that dad is
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: gonna step on toes. I've played with guys who dads
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: were very instrumental and they're bringing up and you know,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: you'd see him on the side of you know, the
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: after the game they're talking and it's like, there's got
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: to be a happy medium, because I'm sure Connor is
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: probably in a tough spot to where he will you know,
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: every all odds are on him and he's gonna do
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: what feels comfortable to him. But he's trying to pick
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: and pull what information makes sense when realistically I would
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: just tell the young man, do what got you there,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: be comfortable, be confident in that, and take it from
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: there because I'll be honest with what got you here
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: is why you're here.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's what got you one hundred and forty million bucks. Yeah,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you keep keep doing that, all right, and
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: moving forward here, we're gonna have our Jay Hey nown segment.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: So take it away, Josh.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Hey now goes out to none other than O Nil Cruz.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: My man's been swinging the hot stick man and uh,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: you know, we've highlighted this offense. But being up at
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: the top of that line of being a catalyst. Man.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: You know, we we've talked about, you know, O'Neil on
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: various occasions, just the player, just you know, defensively, offensively.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: I'm liking what I'm seeing from him, just regardless of
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: what the situation is. He looked like he's ready for
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: the moment and just been impressed with you know, once
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: again we're talking about off of lefties, man, and that
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: right there lets you know that he put in the work.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, man, they needed that win
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: last night, Mangham got the you know, go ahead RBI
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: and and who then you know O'Neill didn't come and
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: put the icing on the cake and just absolutely destroy
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: a ball that you know, he can't even throw off
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: the top of the falcaul. And you know, that's just
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: vibes for guys to know, like, hey man, you know,
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: and he got robbed at the home run the night before.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: You know that, right there is a guy that you
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: can tell is like, hey man, that's a nice guy
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: to have at the top of the lineup. When you
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: got lou swinging and you got O'Hearn behind him. Ozuna
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: has been coming around like he's been doing what he's
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: supposed to at the top of the lineup, and you know,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: it's been nice to see and that that is my
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: my hate. Now segment goes out to O'Neill, Cruiz keep
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: doing doing the top of the lineup.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I just want to ask how much of
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: an improvement he's made against left handed pictures and what
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: that is up for this Pirates team, because now you
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: can say, all right, we have a nine hundred ops
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: center fielder who's gonna have seven home runs and ten
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: steals already, and we get to play him every single day.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: You know, there's like, I think an idea in the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: offseason that you may have to platoon Cruise with like
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Mangum even just against left handed pitching because it was
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: such a struggle. And then this year, I mean, he
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: almost has this many. I think he has three or
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: four home runs off of lefties when he had eleven
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: hits against left hand last year. And so, like, I'm
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: harping on it so much because it's such a significant improvement. Also,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the like his mental the way he's like locked into games. Uh,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: last night or the last game against the Rangers, he
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: struck out three times, against Jack Ledder, right, and so
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: he comes in, he's having a terrible, terrible day at
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the plate, and then just smacks this moonshot of a
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: home run to just cap off the win, you know,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: And so I like that he still is coming in confident,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: coming in ready to hit. He's been patient at the plate.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: He's not chasing as much, which that was something last year.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: You'd see he just take these massive hacks and wild
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: with a lot. It's like, yeah, if he makes contact
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: that that ball is not going to have any skin
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: left on it, like it's going.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: In the atmosphere.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: But he did it right. And so now this year
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: you're seeing him not only you know, make better contact,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: but better swing decisions. And I think he's gonna be
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: an All Star this year. I really really do. We
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: said that earlier on this show before the season, and
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: everything that we had hoped for from O'Neill Cruz these
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: past few years is seemingly coming to fruition. It's still early,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: it's still a small sample size, lots of baseball left,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: but you can only My only takeaway is I'm so
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: so so encouraged by O'Neil Cruz because if you can
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: add Cruise on top with Lao or hern Ozuna coming
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: into form, get holdits on base a lot. I mean,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: this offense has a lot of talent and at the
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: plate that can if you know, if Cruise is striking
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: out those first few I bets, you still had Loo
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: keeping you in the game. You so I know her
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: in keeping you in the game. So yeah, it's uh,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: it feels pretty encouraging, and I think that's the great.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: The best Jay now for this week that you could
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: have picked was Cruise because what a week he had,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: all right and everything. Yeah, No, final thoughts would just
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: be make sure hit that subscribe button. I really appreciate
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: everyone doing that. It's been really nice to see the
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: steady growth and it means a lot to us. So
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: whenever you leave a lake or a comment, I know
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I at least will definitely see it and very much
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. And if you're enjoying it, why not wrap
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: some Buck of Territory merch. I think, Josh, you maybe
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: have the Buck of Territory shirt on right now? I think, right,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: gotta do represent But yeah, that's a that's all I
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: got for you guys this week. No, it will be
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: back on Monday and hopefully we're recapping a series win
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: over the Rangers. So uh, this has been the Bucko
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Territory Podcast, presented to you by the Foul Territory Network.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Thanks