Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Matt Adams joins the show! Talks Kershaw homer, Cards fans, and more!!

Transcript

Matt Adams joins the show! Talks Kershaw homer, Cards fans, and more!! · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
0:11
Speaker 1: I'm Jim Hayes, and today we have a special guest,
0:14
Speaker 1: Matt Adams, you know him as Big City Matt. We
0:18
Speaker 1: get to you in just a minute, but on this show,
0:20
Speaker 1: we always start with a pitch, and that pitch is
0:24
Speaker 1: if you like Cardinal Territory, we'd like you to subscribe.
0:28
Speaker 1: So we want to get to our goal of seven thousand.
0:31
Speaker 1: We want to grow the program, So go ahead and
0:33
Speaker 1: reach out and hit that subscribe button.
0:37
Speaker 2: Now for Big City. Hi, Matt, how are you and
0:40
Speaker 2: how you doing? Doing good?
0:42
Speaker 3: Jim, how you doing? Thanks for having me.
0:44
Speaker 2: On doing great?
0:45
Speaker 1: So I wanted to talk about your career, focus on
0:50
Speaker 1: your time with the Cardinals. But let's go over the
0:53
Speaker 1: resume then I'm going to just do it off the
0:56
Speaker 1: top of my head. Here I might look down, but
0:58
Speaker 1: ten years in the Bigs, two stints with the Cardinals,
1:02
Speaker 1: two stints with the Braves, and you have a lovely
1:06
Speaker 1: World Series ring that you won with the Nationals. So, Matta,
1:11
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask you, when you look back at your career,
1:15
Speaker 1: it's not too far removed. You're still a young guy,
1:17
Speaker 1: very handsome, by the way, what are the things that
1:21
Speaker 1: stands out? Please say Curshew, please say Kurshel. But what
1:24
Speaker 1: things stand up.
1:27
Speaker 4: Definitely the Kershaw Homer and you know, the twenty fourteen
1:30
Speaker 4: playoffs that I feel like that moment really solidified myself
1:35
Speaker 4: in you know, Cardinal history, made a name for myself
1:39
Speaker 4: at the major league level.
1:41
Speaker 3: Seeing the highlights, you know, running running on the show right.
1:44
Speaker 4: Now, fifty thousand plus in Bush, going crazy. I feel
1:49
Speaker 4: like my feet did hit the dirt all the way
1:51
Speaker 4: rounding the bases and then celebrating with my teammates and stuff.
1:55
Speaker 3: Once I touched Home played, you know, seeming.
1:59
Speaker 4: Into witskoe crazy like to be able to do that
2:02
Speaker 4: at home Game four.
2:05
Speaker 3: We knew that we needed to.
2:06
Speaker 2: Win that game.
2:06
Speaker 4: We did not want to go back to Doctor Stadium
2:08
Speaker 4: for Game five. So so that moment for sure, But
2:13
Speaker 4: you know, I would say more than that, probably just
2:17
Speaker 4: all the moments hang out, you know, my teammates and
2:20
Speaker 4: stuff in the clubhouse like that. That's what I missed
2:22
Speaker 4: the most is sharing sharing that clubhouse with a lot
2:27
Speaker 4: of great dudes and you know, talking shop, talking to game,
2:31
Speaker 4: getting to know everybody.
2:32
Speaker 3: That's what I missed the most, you know, the Kershaw thing.
2:38
Speaker 1: If I had done something like that, which I've done nothing,
2:41
Speaker 1: but I would go back, say on a random Tuesday afternoon,
2:46
Speaker 1: lounging around in my sweatpants and socks or whatever, I
2:50
Speaker 1: would pop that video in or call it up on
2:52
Speaker 1: my phone just to remind myself of that. Do you
2:55
Speaker 1: ever do that just randomly? Let's take another look at that.
3:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
3:01
Speaker 4: I used it a lot in moments whenever I was,
3:04
Speaker 4: you know, kind of struggling, going through a little bit
3:06
Speaker 4: of a slump in one of those you know, down periods. Offensively,
3:11
Speaker 4: I'll pull that clip up, uh, and it just takes
3:14
Speaker 4: me back to that time, that moment. You know, I'm
3:17
Speaker 4: getting chills right now thinking about it. But uh, yeah,
3:19
Speaker 4: I used it. I used it a lot, you know,
3:22
Speaker 4: pulling it up I had. You know, I played in
3:24
Speaker 4: Mexico in twenty twenty four. All my teammates they wanted
3:27
Speaker 4: me to pull it up every day. Those guys wanted
3:30
Speaker 4: to watch it and just see the seeing the crowd
3:31
Speaker 4: going crazy, seeing the homer off Kershaw. So yeah, I
3:35
Speaker 4: definitely used it more than what I would would have
3:38
Speaker 4: imagined that I would have used during my playing career
3:42
Speaker 4: for sure, And.
3:43
Speaker 1: Of course we really start the program by showing that
3:46
Speaker 1: because it's a great, a great moment, and as I recall,
3:50
Speaker 1: it led to a little controversy this past season in June.
3:54
Speaker 1: I'm sure you remember this or read about it. So
3:57
Speaker 1: Kershaw was warming up to start against the Cardinals in
4:00
Speaker 1: Saint Louis and the Cardinals are showing that on the
4:04
Speaker 1: jumbo tron as they should, you know why because Cardinal
4:07
Speaker 1: fans love you love that moment. And apparently Kershaw didn't
4:12
Speaker 1: like that very much. He said, it's not surprising from
4:15
Speaker 1: those guys. He called it bush Lee. How did you
4:19
Speaker 1: find out about it? And love were your thoughts on that? Yeah,
4:23
Speaker 1: I was coaching.
4:25
Speaker 4: I was a Tripoi bench coach for the Padres organization
4:28
Speaker 4: as Pastures, so we were you know, I got out
4:31
Speaker 4: the field and I had all these I think I
4:34
Speaker 4: had one hundred and twelve or one hundred and fifteen
4:36
Speaker 4: text messages from friends, family, ex teammates with showed me
4:41
Speaker 4: the clip of the jumbo tron, you know, having that
4:45
Speaker 4: moment being played. So I was like, what's going on
4:48
Speaker 4: in that? You know, hopped on X and started reading
4:52
Speaker 4: all about it, and I was I was. I was
4:55
Speaker 4: kind of shocked that he he made those comments, but
4:57
Speaker 4: you know, he's a he's a competitor. He you know,
5:01
Speaker 4: he didn't really take kindly too. But from what I remember,
5:04
Speaker 4: I think he went out there and I think he
5:05
Speaker 4: had a pretty good start. So I don't know if
5:06
Speaker 4: that I think that may have backfired a little bit
5:10
Speaker 4: for the Cardinals, But yeah, I think I think it
5:14
Speaker 4: was cool. I think the fans loved it. You know,
5:15
Speaker 4: I had a lot of a lot of people reaching
5:17
Speaker 4: out to me saying that that, you know, they remember
5:20
Speaker 4: at that moment where they were in time. A lot
5:23
Speaker 4: of people were at the game, so it was cool
5:25
Speaker 4: to kind of reminiss and go back to that that
5:28
Speaker 4: period of time.
5:30
Speaker 2: You know, inside baseball here.
5:32
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember Phil the shooter, our
5:34
Speaker 1: guy Phil, camera guy, yep, very good guy. Anyway, he
5:39
Speaker 1: was around Kershaw after that, went on the Jumbo Tron
5:42
Speaker 1: and was shooting him through the nett and Kershaw did
5:45
Speaker 1: throw a ball at Phil and I didn't know at
5:49
Speaker 1: all he threw a ball and our guy Phil. And
5:51
Speaker 1: for the record, I think everyone knows Kerkshaw is a
5:55
Speaker 1: really good guy. And like you said, competitor trying to
5:58
Speaker 1: get locked in. So I get that. So when you
6:01
Speaker 1: think about your your cardinal career and ten years in
6:07
Speaker 1: the big leagues, pretty great. Who were the guys that
6:10
Speaker 1: helped shape you and helped develop you that you played
6:13
Speaker 1: with when you were just getting started with the with
6:15
Speaker 1: the Cardinals.
6:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
6:17
Speaker 4: Uh, two of the guys are on the on the
6:18
Speaker 4: cards coaching staff right now, John Jay and Daniels Scazzo.
6:22
Speaker 3: David Freeze was another one, Tony Cruz.
6:27
Speaker 4: Those those were the kind of the guys that kind
6:29
Speaker 4: of took me under their wing, kind of you know,
6:31
Speaker 4: showed me what it was like to be a true
6:32
Speaker 4: professional on and off the field in the clubhouse, in
6:35
Speaker 4: the community, and then you know, how to prepare on
6:38
Speaker 4: a nightly basis to go out there and and and
6:40
Speaker 4: do what was asked of myself. But uh, two of
6:44
Speaker 4: the guys I know kat that that are post on
6:47
Speaker 4: this show, Matt Holliday and Lance Lynn. They I think
6:50
Speaker 4: they were two great veterans that kind of, you know,
6:53
Speaker 4: helped me along my path not only in my cardinal career,
6:58
Speaker 4: but also some of the stuff that they talked about
7:01
Speaker 4: in the clubhouse I carried with me, uh through my
7:04
Speaker 4: whole playing career, and then you know, as a coach now,
7:06
Speaker 4: I wanted to, you know, give back to the guys
7:08
Speaker 4: that I coached to kind of help them along the way.
7:10
Speaker 3: Just I think the Cardinals do such a great.
7:12
Speaker 4: Job of doing their homework when they when they draft guys,
7:15
Speaker 4: whether they signed guys free agent wise, we just we
7:19
Speaker 4: do such a good job of, you know, making sure
7:22
Speaker 4: that that environment inside that clubhouse is great. It's a
7:24
Speaker 4: family atmosphere and and everybody gets what they need to
7:27
Speaker 4: do to go out there and perform at a high
7:29
Speaker 4: level at night in and night out.
7:32
Speaker 1: If we're being honest though, and you're a large guy,
7:36
Speaker 1: you're a big city, an imposing figure. You you were
7:42
Speaker 1: terrified mat Holiday, I.
7:44
Speaker 2: Know you were.
7:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, he's he's also a big human.
7:49
Speaker 3: He you know, he's he's jacked out of his mind.
7:52
Speaker 4: He's super strong, and he doesn't show a lot of emotions,
7:55
Speaker 4: so like you never really knew if he was upset
7:57
Speaker 4: or if he was in a good mood.
7:59
Speaker 3: He's just he was laser focused and locked in.
8:01
Speaker 4: And you know, but he's a great dude, great human,
8:05
Speaker 4: and you know, he helped everybody out in that clubhouse
8:09
Speaker 4: and and just gave a great advice and you know
8:13
Speaker 4: it was always was always willing to help me out
8:15
Speaker 4: whenever I had a question or whatnot. So it's it's
8:19
Speaker 4: awesome to you know, now see his two sons be
8:22
Speaker 4: able to you know, do it at the highest level
8:24
Speaker 4: and just really really good family and really happy to
8:28
Speaker 4: to be able to call him a friend and then
8:30
Speaker 4: be able to share a clubhouse and field with him.
8:33
Speaker 2: Good guy.
8:33
Speaker 1: But to be honest, again, I like honesty. There were
8:37
Speaker 1: times where like between you and Gritchard, I'd say, hey,
8:40
Speaker 1: can I grab a quick sound bay from You'd say,
8:43
Speaker 1: can you wait till later?
8:44
Speaker 2: I don't want holidays.
8:47
Speaker 5: Early on I did not like I didn't I didn't
8:49
Speaker 5: want to get ragged on by the by the older
8:52
Speaker 5: vetteran guys in the clubhous. So I would always I
8:55
Speaker 5: remember this to this day, I always asked, you can
8:57
Speaker 5: we do it outside the clubhous.
8:58
Speaker 2: We do it in the hallway and kind of away
9:00
Speaker 2: from those.
9:00
Speaker 5: Guys, because I did not want to get I did
9:03
Speaker 5: not want to get ragged on.
9:04
Speaker 2: For sure.
9:06
Speaker 1: It was a it was a rough crowd in the club.
9:08
Speaker 1: Asked no question about it during those years. So again
9:12
Speaker 1: we talked about your ten years and then you retire.
9:15
Speaker 1: You signed that one year, one day deal with the
9:18
Speaker 1: Cardinals so you can retire a Cardon. You want to
9:21
Speaker 1: run with the Nationals, but you live in the Saint
9:24
Speaker 1: Louis area.
9:25
Speaker 2: Why was it important to you to retire as a Cardon? Yeah?
9:30
Speaker 2: You know the Cardinals, you know, they took a chance
9:31
Speaker 2: on me.
9:32
Speaker 3: They drafted me. They allowed me, you know, you know, a.
9:36
Speaker 4: Kid from small town in central Pennsylvania, to be able
9:39
Speaker 4: to live out my you know, childhood dream of you know,
9:42
Speaker 4: playing major League baseball for them. I just I felt like,
9:46
Speaker 4: you know, I played with the Cardinals the majority of
9:49
Speaker 4: my ten year career, so I just fell and now
9:53
Speaker 4: you know, meet my wife here, having a family here
9:55
Speaker 4: in Saint Louis. I just I felt like it was
9:57
Speaker 4: just a full circle moment to be able, you know,
10:00
Speaker 4: you know, signed up one day contract to be able
10:02
Speaker 4: to retire Cardinal.
10:03
Speaker 3: And I honestly didn't really know how Mo and.
10:06
Speaker 4: The Cardinals would react to me reaching out and asking
10:09
Speaker 4: if I could do it, but you know, they welcomed
10:11
Speaker 4: me with open arms and got it done.
10:13
Speaker 2: And I'm super super grateful for that.
10:15
Speaker 1: And obviously they liked you that they brought you back
10:19
Speaker 1: after trading you away. So I want to ask you,
10:21
Speaker 1: what's it like when you know you're a cardinal and
10:24
Speaker 1: then they tell you you're being traded away?
10:27
Speaker 2: Like, what were the emotions like for that? Yeah? Crazy?
10:31
Speaker 2: I was.
10:31
Speaker 3: I was actually, uh, you know, getting ready.
10:35
Speaker 4: I think it was an six oh five games, six
10:37
Speaker 4: thirty five game whatnot. And you know, I was just
10:41
Speaker 4: getting out of the shower and doing getting ready to
10:43
Speaker 4: do my pregame room team, throwing my headphones on and whatnot.
10:46
Speaker 4: I just got through my locker and you know, I
10:49
Speaker 4: get this tap on my shoulder. Hey, you know, skip
10:52
Speaker 4: me to see in his office, and you know, a
10:54
Speaker 4: lot of stuff when rolling through my head. I want
10:56
Speaker 4: to either get released or or two I'm getting So
11:00
Speaker 4: I walked in there and whatnot, and you know, sitting down,
11:04
Speaker 4: Mike's in there and kind of you know, could tell
11:07
Speaker 4: that he wasn't super comfortable with what he had to
11:09
Speaker 4: tell me.
11:10
Speaker 2: So I knew it wasn't great news.
11:11
Speaker 4: But you know, they said that, you know, I was
11:15
Speaker 4: getting traded to Atlanta, and I knew that, you know,
11:17
Speaker 4: Freddie Freeman had broke his wrists so here and that
11:20
Speaker 4: I knew that I was gonna get a lot of
11:22
Speaker 4: playing time, so I was super grateful for that, But
11:24
Speaker 4: also Saint Louis was all I ever knew up to
11:28
Speaker 4: that point, so I had to, you know, I packed
11:30
Speaker 4: my locker and packed my apartment, and I had to
11:32
Speaker 4: leave all my close friends behind, and that was hard.
11:36
Speaker 3: I remember it was a Saturday night game.
11:39
Speaker 4: I was in the lineup Sunday Day game in Atlanta
11:42
Speaker 4: facing Strasburg. Went over five to four strikeouts, and and
11:45
Speaker 4: you know, and I'm you know, you can't you say
11:48
Speaker 4: you like, honestly, I'm just I'm gonna be honest.
11:50
Speaker 2: I went back to my.
11:51
Speaker 4: Hotel room and I cried because I was like, I'm
11:54
Speaker 4: such a failure. I wasn't happy about getting traded away
11:57
Speaker 4: from Saint Louis. I'm you know, I show up my
12:00
Speaker 4: first impression, I go oh for five with four strikeouts.
12:02
Speaker 3: I'm like, this is not gonna be great. But uh,
12:05
Speaker 3: looking back.
12:06
Speaker 4: On it, who it ended up being one of my
12:08
Speaker 4: better careers at the big league levels. So super grateful
12:11
Speaker 4: that they, you know, they found a spot for me
12:13
Speaker 4: and then you know, trade me away to get some
12:16
Speaker 4: everyday playing time, which which prolonged my playing for it,
12:19
Speaker 4: which super super grateful for but uh it was hard,
12:23
Speaker 4: you know, leaving uh some close friends and uh the
12:26
Speaker 4: fan basically the Cardinals behind. But I ended up coming
12:30
Speaker 4: back and uh making it home and and and whatnot.
12:33
Speaker 2: So it's it turned out just fine.
12:36
Speaker 1: I remember when they traded you back to the Cardinals,
12:39
Speaker 1: I think the team was in LA. I walked into
12:42
Speaker 1: the clubhouse a little early, and you were like the
12:44
Speaker 1: first guy saw with your jersey up there. What was
12:47
Speaker 1: that moment like for you finding out you were coming
12:49
Speaker 1: back to the place that you really loved to play in.
12:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was, uh it was wild walking, you know.
12:56
Speaker 4: And and that's a that's another full sort of moment
12:58
Speaker 4: because I made my debut and in twenty twelve in
13:01
Speaker 4: Dodger Stadium Sunday Night Baseball. And then in eighteen I
13:05
Speaker 4: got traded back there, and we're in Dodger Stadium again,
13:08
Speaker 4: so I, you know, different clubhouse, you know, down on
13:12
Speaker 4: the main level to the to the dugout field level,
13:16
Speaker 4: the newer clubhouse.
13:17
Speaker 2: But I wanted to get there earlier.
13:18
Speaker 4: I wanted to get settled in, and I wanted to
13:20
Speaker 4: you know, just take it, you know, like you said,
13:22
Speaker 4: I looking at my jersey up in my locker and
13:25
Speaker 4: just kind of sat down looked at that and I
13:28
Speaker 4: just took a deep breath and I was like, man,
13:30
Speaker 4: I'm home.
13:30
Speaker 3: And that was that was a great feeling.
13:33
Speaker 4: And then not too long later, Kart comes running around
13:36
Speaker 4: the corner from the food room with a salsa because
13:39
Speaker 4: that was like the big thing going on that year
13:42
Speaker 4: was was his salsa thing, and that was what got
13:44
Speaker 4: the team hot. But you know, I was super super
13:47
Speaker 4: happy to be back with that group of guys and
13:51
Speaker 4: put that you know, jersey back on my chest.
13:54
Speaker 1: Cool I for whatever reason. I mean, you're a nice guy.
13:57
Speaker 1: I had a nice career in Saint Louis, but the
13:59
Speaker 1: fans really took to you. First of all, you had
14:02
Speaker 1: the great nickname, always nice to everyone and a good player.
14:06
Speaker 1: But when you came back as a visiting player and
14:10
Speaker 1: you get the standing Oh, and then when you were retired,
14:13
Speaker 1: you just were in the stands with your wife and
14:16
Speaker 1: you get a standing.
14:16
Speaker 2: Oh.
14:17
Speaker 1: Why do you think you have that kind of relationship
14:20
Speaker 1: with with the fans in Saint Louis.
14:23
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's just you know, I'm a big
14:25
Speaker 4: people person. I love, uh you know, I love pleasing others.
14:29
Speaker 2: I love.
14:32
Speaker 3: You know, those guys, the fans.
14:34
Speaker 4: They spend their hard earned money to come watch us
14:36
Speaker 4: play and play a kid's game at that And I
14:40
Speaker 4: always wanted to make sure that I took time with everybody.
14:43
Speaker 3: And you know, that was something that I was raised on.
14:45
Speaker 4: My parents did such a good job of, you know,
14:48
Speaker 4: raising me that way, and I wanted to, you know,
14:50
Speaker 4: make sure that I never changed if I did ever
14:52
Speaker 4: make it to.
14:53
Speaker 3: The major league level. I never wanted to change who
14:55
Speaker 3: I was.
14:56
Speaker 4: And I really held that close to my heart and
14:59
Speaker 4: thankful that I did that, because you know, my reputation,
15:02
Speaker 4: uh speaks of wonders throughout the game of baseball, but
15:06
Speaker 4: but off the field as well. I I just think
15:08
Speaker 4: I'm I'm respectful and and I go about it the
15:11
Speaker 4: right way. And and you know that's I think that
15:14
Speaker 4: hit home here with a lot of the the fans
15:16
Speaker 4: here in Saint Louis, and you know, they're they're just
15:18
Speaker 4: they're great people. They're they they understand the game of baseball,
15:21
Speaker 4: which you know, as players, we love whether you're visiting
15:26
Speaker 4: player home player, you make a great play, do something
15:29
Speaker 4: cool with that, you know, offensively they're going to give you,
15:32
Speaker 4: you know, standing out and and make you know that
15:34
Speaker 4: that they appreciate your hard work and and your effort.
15:37
Speaker 2: And that's that, you know.
15:39
Speaker 3: Ultimately, I just I love the fan base.
15:42
Speaker 2: I love you know.
15:43
Speaker 4: My wife and I will be walking our dogs, uh
15:45
Speaker 4: you know, around town and we'll get stopped and people
15:48
Speaker 4: just want to talk about carting baseball, which is awesome.
15:51
Speaker 2: It's it's just.
15:52
Speaker 4: It's a great place to live and and and the
15:54
Speaker 4: fans just are are amazing. So uh, I just I
15:58
Speaker 4: just love it. And yeah, just super respectful and I
16:03
Speaker 4: think they gave it right back to you.
16:05
Speaker 1: Fans in Saint Louis are great, There's no question about that.
16:08
Speaker 1: So last year you were coaching in the Padre system
16:14
Speaker 1: triple A coach, bench coach with the Chihuahuas. So what
16:18
Speaker 1: are you up to now? What are you looking to do?
16:20
Speaker 1: What do you think the next act for Big City
16:22
Speaker 1: might be?
16:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, looking to looking to get back here
16:26
Speaker 4: with the Cardinals organization. You know that, like like you said,
16:29
Speaker 4: this this is you know where the majority I spent
16:33
Speaker 4: my career at.
16:34
Speaker 3: I want to be a cardinal. That's why I retired
16:37
Speaker 3: a cardinal.
16:38
Speaker 4: I want to get back to the organization and you know,
16:40
Speaker 4: hopefully uh, you know, some materialize. It has got some
16:44
Speaker 4: uh some things in the works, but we'll see, we'll
16:46
Speaker 4: see how that shakes out these next few weeks. But
16:49
Speaker 4: uh yeah, really I want to stay involved in the game.
16:52
Speaker 4: You know, I want to.
16:53
Speaker 3: I want to coach, I want to you know scout.
16:55
Speaker 4: I just I want to do whatever I can to
16:57
Speaker 4: have a positive impact on the game of baseball. And
16:59
Speaker 4: I love for that to be here in Saint Louis
17:01
Speaker 4: with the Cardinals and dipping my toe in the media stuff,
17:05
Speaker 4: you know, helping you out doing the podcast.
17:08
Speaker 2: Uh you know, I did Hot Take.
17:10
Speaker 4: Central two point Oho with you and Cam Jansen and
17:12
Speaker 4: and you know now doing.
17:14
Speaker 3: The Cardinal Territory. Uh really enjoy, you know.
17:17
Speaker 4: Jumping in front of the camera, especially when you got
17:20
Speaker 4: good people that do it as well and just talk
17:23
Speaker 4: to game of baseball. It's it's something that I love.
17:25
Speaker 4: It's I got a strong passion for it. So I
17:28
Speaker 4: have an open mind.
17:29
Speaker 2: I want to.
17:29
Speaker 4: I want to do as much as I can to
17:32
Speaker 4: you know, promote the game of baseball, especially here in
17:34
Speaker 4: the Saint Louis area. So we'll see, uh see where
17:37
Speaker 4: that next chapter leads, but hopefully it's uh staying close
17:41
Speaker 4: to home and and and as a Cardinal.
17:44
Speaker 1: And they're good at the media stuff too. I think folks,
17:46
Speaker 1: folks watching will enjoy this segment. I want to ask
17:50
Speaker 1: you about the Cardinals, but I just want to touch
17:52
Speaker 1: on the coaching thing one more time. So what did
17:55
Speaker 1: you enjoy about coaching? Because you struck me as a
17:58
Speaker 1: very patient guy. I know you were always eager to
18:01
Speaker 1: help other guys out in the clubhouse.
18:03
Speaker 2: What did you like about coaching in Triple A?
18:07
Speaker 4: I loved like obviously, you know, I retired to twenty
18:11
Speaker 4: four and then jumped straight into coaching at the at
18:14
Speaker 4: the highest minor league level, you know, one step away
18:16
Speaker 4: from from the major.
18:18
Speaker 3: So I feel like I was super relatable to those guys.
18:20
Speaker 4: We had an Order Order Club, Order Trip Away Club
18:23
Speaker 4: this past year with the choilists, so it was it
18:26
Speaker 4: was really cool. Guys would lean on me in the
18:29
Speaker 4: cage and their pregame work. They'd come up to me
18:32
Speaker 4: during the game. I coached first base, uh so it
18:36
Speaker 4: was just the help of the infield. So guys really
18:39
Speaker 4: leaned on me. They wanted to know, you know what
18:44
Speaker 4: I saw picture wise, approach wise defensively if they're you know,
18:49
Speaker 4: if their first step was a little bit off. They
18:52
Speaker 4: really trusted my eye and they really trusted what I
18:56
Speaker 4: had to tell them. So I'm really didn'toid just diving
19:01
Speaker 4: in hording into those players and helping them in any
19:04
Speaker 4: way possible. But uh, just I think the main thing
19:08
Speaker 4: was just being able to relate to them, understanding that,
19:11
Speaker 4: you know, we had some guys that were up and
19:13
Speaker 4: down guys, which was hard, some guys that were knocking
19:17
Speaker 4: on the doorstep to make their debut. But just so
19:20
Speaker 4: I got it from all all avenues and just really
19:25
Speaker 4: enjoyed relating to the different players that we had, and
19:28
Speaker 4: and you know that was that was the really really cool.
19:31
Speaker 2: Part about it.
19:32
Speaker 1: You know what else is cool. We have merchandise available
19:37
Speaker 1: on Cardinal Territory. See Matt, here's another pitch. So you
19:40
Speaker 1: go to Cardinal Territory shop dot com and we got
19:44
Speaker 1: the hoodies, we got the hats, we got the t shirts,
19:48
Speaker 1: we got pretty much everything. So if you like Cardinal
19:50
Speaker 1: Territory and you want to treat yourself, get at one.
19:57
Speaker 2: We got everything Cardinal Territory Shop.
20:01
Speaker 1: And just so you know, Matt, it took us a
20:03
Speaker 1: while to get our free merch that includes like Holiday
20:07
Speaker 1: and Lancelinn and Kyle Gibson. So if you're expecting something,
20:12
Speaker 1: you got a little bit of a way. But I
20:14
Speaker 1: did want to circle back to the Cardinals. So when
20:17
Speaker 1: you played, they want anything like the rebuilt. Right now,
20:21
Speaker 1: they're in a rebuilt right that brought in hind Bloom
20:23
Speaker 1: has done a wonderful job of stockpiling young talent, and
20:27
Speaker 1: now a lot of that young talent is going to
20:30
Speaker 1: get a path, as they say, and the Cardinals know
20:34
Speaker 1: that this is going to be sort of a developmental year.
20:37
Speaker 2: They hope to be competitive. But when you played, there
20:40
Speaker 2: were no rebuilds.
20:41
Speaker 1: What's your take on what you're seeing from the Cardinals
20:43
Speaker 1: right now?
20:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's hard because, like like you said, like I
20:50
Speaker 4: like I came up and like we like we were
20:52
Speaker 4: expecting to go deep into the October from day one,
20:56
Speaker 4: and we did that my first four or five years
21:00
Speaker 4: with them, we were in the playoffs, competing for a championship.
21:03
Speaker 4: And and I think the rebuild is is tough, especially
21:07
Speaker 4: for fans. I know that they're anxious, they're you know,
21:12
Speaker 4: they're wanting Cardinal Baseball to get back to the way
21:14
Speaker 4: that Cardinal Bank that they that they're used to seeing,
21:18
Speaker 4: you know, day in and day out, winning games, winning.
21:21
Speaker 3: The division, going deep into the playoffs.
21:24
Speaker 4: And I think they are on their way, you know,
21:26
Speaker 4: like you said, you touched on it earlier.
21:28
Speaker 3: Hin Bloom's doing a wonderful job.
21:30
Speaker 4: I think what he's what he's done so far, He's
21:33
Speaker 4: stockpiled the farm system. It's their highest ranking that they've
21:37
Speaker 4: had in the last fifteen to sixteen years, so that's huge.
21:41
Speaker 4: But I think that the team this year, I think
21:44
Speaker 4: they're gonna surprise them people. I think I think they're
21:47
Speaker 4: gonna be competitive. I think it all comes down to pitching.
21:50
Speaker 4: I think they got the offense, you know, to push
21:53
Speaker 4: some runs across the plate and to be competitive. But
21:56
Speaker 4: I think I think the pitching is going to be
21:58
Speaker 4: the question. Market If these young arms, you know, can
22:02
Speaker 4: can stay healthy and get the job done, I think
22:04
Speaker 4: they're gonna be okay. I think, you know another one,
22:06
Speaker 4: I think bringing in Dustin May Ryan Stanik. I think
22:09
Speaker 4: bringing in some of these veteran arms, it can kind
22:11
Speaker 4: of help lead you know, the younger arms, you know,
22:15
Speaker 4: help them, you know, take care of their arm, take
22:17
Speaker 4: care of their body, but it takes the to do
22:19
Speaker 4: it over the course of one hundred and sixty two
22:21
Speaker 4: game season. I think that's important. And I think the
22:24
Speaker 4: mesh of the team I think, I think it's gonna
22:27
Speaker 4: be good. And like I said, I think they're gonna
22:28
Speaker 4: be I think they're gonna shock some people this year.
22:31
Speaker 1: And I agree with you one hundred percent because it
22:32
Speaker 1: always comes down to pitching and we'll see how the
22:35
Speaker 1: rotation holds up. They have some pieces that might do
22:39
Speaker 1: very well, so we'll wait and see. But give me
22:41
Speaker 1: two names, two of the young guys that you're excited
22:45
Speaker 1: to see.
22:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm really I'm really excited to see how jj
22:51
Speaker 4: whether it performs. You know, I think it's his job
22:54
Speaker 4: to lose at second base. I think seeing him and
22:58
Speaker 4: Mason went up the middle spinning plays is going to
23:02
Speaker 4: be exciting. Electric I think his number is what he
23:06
Speaker 4: did last year over one hundred and nine games. I
23:09
Speaker 4: think it speaks wonders to what he can do. You know,
23:12
Speaker 4: you're just hoping that that translates to the major league level.
23:15
Speaker 4: So another one is Joshua Bias that I think this
23:20
Speaker 4: kid's going to be a stud forty six extra base
23:24
Speaker 4: hits last year five hundred slug almost a four hundred
23:28
Speaker 4: on base percentage. These two kids do damage when they're
23:32
Speaker 4: at the point, so I'm excited to see what they do.
23:35
Speaker 4: Their Their defense is pretty solid. They can both move
23:39
Speaker 4: pretty well. JJ's going to be a thread on the
23:41
Speaker 4: base pass. So I'm excited to see how these two
23:44
Speaker 4: guys how their careers start. But I'm really really excited
23:48
Speaker 4: to see how the twenty six season goes for these
23:51
Speaker 4: two young kids.
23:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, Bias is a big kid, sixty three to twenties,
23:56
Speaker 1: number four prospect in the organization right now, and he
23:59
Speaker 1: did a lot of hour damage and just really a
24:02
Speaker 1: double a limited number at bats, So he's got a
24:05
Speaker 1: huge upside. And I agree with you about JJ, Like
24:08
Speaker 1: I said it on the radio and I'll say it again.
24:11
Speaker 1: Like I didn't just think, well, will he make the team.
24:15
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna. I mean, I think it's clear
24:17
Speaker 1: he's making the team. I thought that before they played
24:20
Speaker 1: the first spring training game. I honestly think he's gonna
24:24
Speaker 1: win National League Rookie of the Year. Now I know
24:26
Speaker 1: that's putting the cart before the horse. I just like
24:28
Speaker 1: what I've seen and the you know, there's pressure on kids,
24:32
Speaker 1: especially if you're the number one prospect like JJ is.
24:35
Speaker 1: But he's had that pressure every year in the minors
24:38
Speaker 1: being the next big thing, and he's and he's worn beautifully.
24:43
Speaker 1: So I just think his I think his talent's gonna
24:46
Speaker 1: shine through this year one hundred percent. I think another thing, too,
24:49
Speaker 1: is I think he's demeanor.
24:51
Speaker 4: I think the way he carries himself, I think it's
24:53
Speaker 4: it's you know, he's well beyond his years, and it
24:57
Speaker 4: reminds me a lot like obviously this is a a
25:00
Speaker 4: high comparison, but when Soto got caught up, when iverized
25:04
Speaker 4: with the Nationalists, the way that he went about his business,
25:07
Speaker 4: the way he carried himself, you know, just super laser
25:11
Speaker 4: focus locked in. You knew that the pressure was going
25:15
Speaker 4: to be there, but you know, he acknowledged it, but
25:17
Speaker 4: he didn't let that weigh him down.
25:19
Speaker 3: He you know, he prepared himself at night in and
25:22
Speaker 3: night out.
25:22
Speaker 4: And I see that a lot with JJ and just
25:26
Speaker 4: hearing what you know, some guys are saying around camp
25:29
Speaker 4: he's carried himself like a big leiguer and and that's
25:32
Speaker 4: awesome to see some from such a young age and
25:35
Speaker 4: the number one prospect, so I'm really excited to see
25:38
Speaker 4: how this year goes for him.
25:41
Speaker 1: Matt, I gotta tell you that you're already above the
25:45
Speaker 1: other major leaguers and are on Cardinal Territory because your
25:48
Speaker 1: internet works and you showed up on time and we
25:51
Speaker 1: appreciate it, and I just want to say you're a
25:54
Speaker 1: great guess. Hopefully we'll get you into the mix on this,
25:57
Speaker 1: but I always enjoyed talking to you and and thanks
26:00
Speaker 1: for making.
26:01
Speaker 2: Some time for us.
26:02
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Kat, thanks for having me on.
26:05
Speaker 1: All right, that's gonna do it for this edition of
26:07
Speaker 1: Cardinal Territory. We'll see you next time for the next episode,
26:11
Speaker 1: and hopefully that one won't suck.
26:14
Speaker 5: H