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Interviewing Pirates' Jake Mangum · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Buco Territory, presented by
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: the Foul Territory Network. I'm your host Noah Hiles. Joining
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: me as always are my co hosts Josh Harrison aka
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: j Hay and Platinum Key aka Mark. And as you
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: can see, we have another guest on the show, new
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Pirates outfielder.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Jake Mangum, joining the program for the first time. Jake,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Bucko Territory.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me. Guys, happy to be here.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: I'm happy you're able to join us, especially from Mississippi.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I know you had to hustle back home before you know,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: this winter storm just destroyed everything in the country right now,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: I mean we were talking about the weather and everything.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: You had a little taste of the Pittsburgh cold.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Are you prepared, you know, to play some cold baseball
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: games here in March in a couple of months.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah. My experience and Binghamton, New York and Syracuse really
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: I think prepped me for that. I was a rumble
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: pony and I was a Syracuse met Upstate New York's
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: not too far from Pittsburgh, so I'm used to it.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: And it's cold Mississippi right now. It's you know, in
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: the twenties, and I got a good taste of it
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: yesterday and Pittsburgh woke up with a ton of snow
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: on the ground. Drove the rental card to the airport
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: and it was the first time I've driven anything like that.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: But shout out to Pittsburgh Airport got us out of
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: there last night at like five six pm. I had
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: very little faith we were going to get out of there,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: but we did and got home last night and we're
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: all safe. So we're good.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Awesome, awesome. All right, Well, we got a lot of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: questions for you.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna give the baton here to Platinum Key and
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: he'll get us started off.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: So, Jake, thank you so much for not only hopping
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: on the podcast here but also making it to Pirates Fest.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: I mean to risk the traveling back to Mississippi during
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: this massive storm. I just really appreciate your commitment to
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: show up for US fans and really awesome to get
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: the chance to meet you. So my first question was
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: what was how was players FETs for you? What was
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: your first impressions of Pittsburgh, the players, the fan base,
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: What was all that like for you.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, first of all, thanks for coming to say
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: hello Saturday. It was nice to get to know you
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: a little bit. And as far as fan Fest goes,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: it was awesome. Everyone was super kind. It was nice
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: to kind of meet some of the new guys that
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: I'm now going to be teammates with. When you're the
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: you know, when you are the new guy, it's it's
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: sometimes tough. But everyone was awesome, super nice. Got to
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: know everybody. Everyone seems awesome. Everyone kind of seems like
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: they were really excited about this season and hoping to
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: win some baseball games. But the fans were awesome, super
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: welcoming and really knowledgeable about Pittsburgh sports.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: That's for sure awesome. And I really loved that you
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: were saying autographs right in front of a bunch of
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: signs that just said no autographs around them. You're just
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: going up offering it people. So I really love what
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: you're doing, what you're already doing for the fan base.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: So my next question, Your first career hit was actually
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: against the Pirates last year in March thirty first into April.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: You went eight for twelve, picked up your first hit
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: off of Carmen mcginski. You picked up a single off
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: of Paul Skeens had three steals four RBI. Has that
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: series been brought up at all as you've met your
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: new teammates.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: NA, very little hip it has. But yeah, that was
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: a special special night for me. For sure. Your first
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: base hits one you never forget. And yeah, that was
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: a really cool series man. Like I said it, you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: I started pro ball a little later than average, and
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: to finally get a shot to play in the big
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: leagues and to have four hits to night I get
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: my first hit was definitely a memorable one that I'll
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: never forget and it was really cool.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and Pirates fans didn't forget it either, I'll tell
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: you that much. That series was the Jake Ingham series.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: And so it's nice to have you in the Black
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: and Gold now.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm happy to be here.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Love it.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: So I was doing some research and I saw that
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: you gave up your scholarship your junior and senior year
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: while you're at Mississippi State and played on the walk
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: on for two years in college. Can you explain the
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: decision behind that?
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So I got drafted in twenty nineteen as a senior.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: That was right before nil started, so we were sharing
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: eleven point seven scholarships between twenty seven guys with eight
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: walk Ons and college's thirty five man roster eight walk Ons,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: twenty seven scholarship. Look in the state of Mississippi, we
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: don't have a pro pro team to rally behind everyone's
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Atlanta Brays fans, New Orleans Saints fans. The demographics a
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: little weird, but our state kind of revolves around college sports. Uh.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: My dream as a kid was to play SEC baseball,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: and I was fortunate enough to go to Missippi State as
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: a freshman. That was awesome, But after my sophomore year,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: we kind of agreed that we'd take away the scholarship
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: and we did double it. My sophomore year, I was
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: on a three. I was on a thirty three percent
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: scholarship my freshman year, sixty six sophomore year, zero zero, junior, senior,
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: and you know, just trying to get the best players possible.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Our our dream was to win a national championship in
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Mississippi State, and that's a big reason why I stayed
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: four years. I got drafted as a sophomore to the Yankees,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: junior to the Mets, and a senior to the mets
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: uh just being a kid from Mississippi, like I genuinely
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: wanted to bring a championship, to help bring a championship
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: to Mississippi State. We fell short of that. We went
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: to al Mahall twice and went to four super regionals.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: We were we had great teams, a lot of change
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: and turnover four head coaches in four years. But yeah, man,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: just trying to get the best talent possible to Missipi
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: State to win some games and love it.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, nice to see that they finally upped
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: the scholarship limit for next year. I think it's thirty
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: four or thirty five now for the full team.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: So yeah, man, I don't don't it. Don't even get
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: me started about what the NCAA is doing right now.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: I think I think that they're not doing a very
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: good job of putting guidelines down. It's kind of the
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: wild wild West right now. But yeah, so when I
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: was there, I was just trying to get the best
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: players we could on eleven point seven scholarships.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: That's awesome, And hey, congrats on the Natty. That's so
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: so cool because I know how much they Yeah.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: Today they wanted the first season without our class I
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: left in nineteen COVID was a wash and then they
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: won it in twenty twenty one and it was a
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: big deal from the university. Yeah, it was our first
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: championship in any sport and we needed.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: It bad and so related to Mississippi State here, I
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: hear you may someday be a podcaster as well. Down
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: the line the More Cowboy podcast with Brandon Walker and
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: the updates for all the Mississippi State fans out there.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm glad you brought that up, Brandon. I'm
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: mess with Brandon a lot about that. We've been trying
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: to get that off the ground for a while, but
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: whenever we announced that Brandon and them moved to Chicago
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: and the barstool kind of scene kind of changed a lot.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: But yeah, we're gonna do that eventually. We're just both
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: kind of busy right now, but yeah, that'll happen one day.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: Well, you're going to be natural whenever it does happen.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: Look forward to tuning in. I'm gonna pass it back
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: over to know It here.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jake, before I get into my questions, just wanted
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: to show you this was my prize and my family
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: white Elephant gift.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: My cousin Ryan is a freshman.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: He's a part of their golf program with Yeah dude,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: great golf program.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: They golf out at Old Waverley in West Point, Mississippi.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: It's like one of the nicest golf courses I've ever
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: played at. It's sick to check it out.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, I definitely plan on getting down there, and if
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I wanted to let.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: His first year, his first fall as a freshman, have
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: that to himself.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: But I was like, yeah, once you're settled in, I'll
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: be heading down to Starkville for a couple of fall.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm about I'm about to I'm about to leave
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: for Florida. But do next all season pull up, We'll
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: go to a football game, We'll take I'll take you
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: a golfing out of Waverley. Masciok. It's uh, we got
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: some really good golf around here. Ah.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I love that. I love that.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: I Actually my first question actually starts in Mississippi.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: It goes to Jackson Prep.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: I had an opportunity to go down there talk to
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: a lot of people because I did a big story
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: on Connor in August. I went to grit training. I
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: went to Jackson Prep. Talk to a lot of people
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: that you're probably familiar with. Yeah, I got to see
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: the culture of that place, the culture of the baseball program.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: And then obviously you were a part of a very
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: unique college baseball culture as well, with SEC baseball being
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: what it is down there and build it that winning
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: culture that obviously I mean, you weren't on the national
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: championship team, but like you noted, your senior class kind
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: of laid the foundation for guys like Will Bednard to
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: come in and you know, take that to the next
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: level and get that ring. And then you're also part
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: of a very unique culture. Professionally, the Tampa Bay Rays
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: have a very unique professional organization, I think, one that's
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: probably more unique than most other professional teams. So I
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: wanted to kind of ask an encompassing question, how did
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: each step of your journey kind of shape you and
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: the different cultures that you've been a part of as
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: a player.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: You know, for me, we had a really close high
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: school team, we were really good, won three state championships,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: had a lot of guys going to play college baseball,
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: you know, and then we go to college and it's
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: the same thing. It's a big culture piece we have
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: a big fan base. This is really really die hard
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: about baseball. You know, in the SEC, it's a lot
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: of football schools, but Missisippi State's a baseball school. Duty
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Noble Field is a special place and I highly recommend
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: any baseball fan it should be on your bucket list
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: to go check out. And then as far as pro
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: ball goes, you know, you try to carry over what
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: you learned your whole life. I grew up with a
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: football background, and culture is a very big piece of
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: what I was taught as a kid. I call me
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: old school, but I think a culture is something that's
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: really really vital, and you know you're kind of losing
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: a little bit of that with the transfer portal era.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: But it really seems like the National Championships and football
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: this year really have a nice culture, you know, with
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: with with what Signette's preaching in in at Indiana. But yeah,
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: I mean culture is a big piece. Locker room. Locker
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: room like togetherness is a big thing, you know, having
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: faith in the guys behind you in the lineup. You know,
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: I'm not I'm not gonna hit a ton of home runs,
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: you know, I hope to hit more this year, absolutely,
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: but a big piece of what I bring to the
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: table is getting on base, getting their scoring position, and
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: having faith in the guy behind me to drive me in.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: We're having faith in the guy on base to score.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Stuff like that. But yeah, it's just a big combination
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: of culture.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Mississippi's got a big baseball culture, and I try to
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: take what I've learned my whole life and apply it
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: to the pro ball level.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Jake, just looking at your game, I think I don't
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: think I'm speaking out a turn when I say you're
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: kind of a throwback player, right, I mean, you're like
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: a gritty guy. You know, you're never going to be
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: seen walking around the bases or loafing it out in
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: the outfield. But again, you were a part of some
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: organizations who do things very news school. How have you
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: been able to kind of blend the analytical side of
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: the game to your gritty, you know, traditional old school
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: way of playing it.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Well, look, I you know, I just grew up playing
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: with a football mindset. You know, my dad, it's kind
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: of like my closest person throughout the years of teaching
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: me how to play the game. And I've had a
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: lot of great coaches along the way. But yeah, I'm
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: what I bring to the table is I'm gonna run hard.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: I'm going to try to go catch everything that has
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: a humping in the outfield. I'm going to try to
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: be a good teammate and put myself in a position
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: where guys can drive me in and if there's a
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: runner on third base, less than two outs, so I'm
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: going to touch the baseball and get them in. You know,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: I understand that we're in an era of home runs
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: and you know of that type style of play, and
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: I think that that's very important to teams winning. But
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: I also believe that there can be a diverse lineup.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: I don't think solo home runs win baseball games. I
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: think two and three run home runs win baseball games.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: I think eliminating runs scored when you're on defense is
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: a big piece of it. If there's anything I learned
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: from my rookie year as a twenty nine year old,
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: it's that the value of ninety feet is very important.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: I think one of the first times b Lao actually
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: like kind of took me to the side was one
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: time he had a single and I scored from first,
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: And I'll never forget what he told me after I
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: scored and he kind of, you know, let me know
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: that that was an awesome thing, and you know all
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: this other stuff. But there's different ways to win baseball games,
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: and I'm doing my best to help to prove that.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: And at the same time, I'm trying to get better.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to slug the ball more. I want to
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: hit more doubles this year. I want to hit more
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: home runs, you know, I want to do a better
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: job of slugging the baseball. But like I said, there's
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: different ways to win baseball games, and I'm here to
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: help any way I can.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: My last question for you is, from the moment your
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: name was announced in this trade, you were very present online.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I mean you were reacting to it on Twitter. I've
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: seen you go on a whole bunch of podcasts. Obviously
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: your presence was felt at Pirate Fest. It just seems
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: like you're a guy who's very comfortable in his own
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: skin in the spotlight. Where did this personality come from?
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Where did this media savviness, I guess come from. Have
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: you always been like this or is this something you
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: made an effort to kind of be to, you know,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: give back to fans in the game.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: We wouldn't really play a sport if it wasn't for
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: the fans. MLB baseball wouldn't be what it is if
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: it wasn't a fan base. At my college, Missippi State,
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: we take a lot of pride in it being a
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: baseball school, and what makes it a special place is
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: the fact that we get sixteen thousand people packed houses
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: to support the baseball team. It wouldn't be the same
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: place without the fans. So it always starts with the fans.
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: And remembering that I was a fan first. When I
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: was a kid, I was a fan. Sure, I played
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: t ball, baseball, kid pitch, baseball, all that stuff, but
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: like going back to day one and I was a fan,
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: and I I just remember as a kid like I
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: thought it was the coolest thing ever. Whenever players would
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: come up and sign my baseball and you know, sign
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: a bat, I had taking time out of their day
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: to say hello and thank me for being here. That
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: stuff meant a lot to me. And I just always
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: said when I was a kid that you know, if
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: I ever get the opportunity to do that, I'm gonna
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: try to be a light. And you know, it doesn't
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: take it doesn't take a lot of effort to see,
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: you know, negativity anywhere. It's pretty easy to find that everywhere.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: So I'm gonna try to be positive and try to
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: be a light.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Awesome, awesome.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Well there's another guy like that when I was growing
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: up in Pittsburgh. He wore number five. Now he's my
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: co host, so I'm going to pass the interview over
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: to him and let him ask a couple of questions.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Now, Man, I appreciate those words.
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: Noah, Jake, appreciate you being on the show. Man. My
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: co hosts have done a great job. But answers ask
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: us some questions which have given me some insight to
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: you as a ball player. But even your answers also
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: gave me an insight to maybe who you are as
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: a person. And correct me.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: If I'm wrong.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: I want to revisit your time in Mississippi State where
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: you went from scholarship to walk on basically, and I'm
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: familiar with the whole eleven point seven scholarships and the
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: whole nine. But what also heard in that was somebody
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: who was extremely confident in themselves too, Because any any
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: person you know in that position most likely is going
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: to be looking at transfer looking, Oh, how can I
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: get more money or whatever the case may be. It
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: also sounded like you or somebody's like, Okay, I'm confident
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: in my abilities. I know I can still contribute in
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: At the same time, you know that's part of being
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: a team player. Correct me if I'm wrong there. But
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: what I saw that in every step of the way.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: As you talked about your story.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know, I kind of get knocked on
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: for being a twenty nine year old rookie. But I'd say,
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: looking at that is if you dive into that a
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: little bit. I also had a lot of confidence that
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: I was going to hit when I got the pro ball.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: I came back for my senior year. I came back
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: for my junior year, and in the college landscape, if
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: you come back for your senior year, you're signing a
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: death wesh. Basically, I signed for plantat Yeah. Yeah, I
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: signed for a plane ticket, I signed for a locker.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: And I was twenty three years old when I got drafted.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: But I was confident enough to go back to school
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: and try to finish what I started. And at the
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: end of the day, I think it's ridiculous that you
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: get knocked I signed to go to a four year
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: school and you get penalized for staying all four years.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: It's crazy, but I wanted to finish. When I started
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: at Mississippi State, it was home to me, like I
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: stayed home to play college baseball, and it meant a
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: lot to me to bring a championship there. We fell
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: short while we were there, but like you know, like
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: they said we did, I feel like we laid the
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: foundation for them to win it in twenty twenty one,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: but also had a lot of confidence in myself to
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: go hit and pro ball twenty three year old draft
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: ee twenty four years old gets canceled due to COVID.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: So I'm a twenty five year old rookie playing his
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: first season of pro ball in low way baseball, and
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: I knew I had to hit immediately. I knew if
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: I didn't hit that first season, I would have gotten
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: cut and tossed to the side. But had a lot
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: of confidence that I was going to hit it every
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: step and that's what I've done. Twenty five years old,
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: first year of pro ball, twenty nine year old rookie,
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: and you know, good Lord Willing, I've been able to
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: hit every step of the way, and I don't plan
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: for that to stop.
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: No, man, that's refreshing to hear speak here speaking from
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: another guy that carried themselves with a lot of confidence.
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: Trust me, that's refreshing to hear. On Pittsburgh fans one
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: are also going to love that. They can feel it.
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: I can feel it. But I'm gonna tell you, twenty
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: nine ain't old man. Back when I was playing, which
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: wasn't longer.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you. You considered your prime literally, thank
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: you man. Yeah, it's speak like a guy, as you said, at.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: An age where you understand not only yourself, how you move,
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: what you need to improve on, and these are things
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: that a culture you speak about. I can remember my
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: time in Pittsburgh. That was part of all of our
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: culture was we knew what our strengths were as a
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: team individually, and we knew how to build off of
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: that and playoff of each other's strengths. But at the
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: same time, we held each other accountable. And from the
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: outside looking in, it's something that Pittsburgh is missing with
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: the culture and being a new guy. I asked the
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: same question, Ryan O'Hearn, and it's not anything that you
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: ever have to feel like it. But I was a
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: guy who's traded. I was a guy who signed as
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: a free agent. Be in new places, and as you
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: progress and you understand yourself more, you understand the game more,
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: you kind of take on a leadership role. Do you
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: see yourself as you say, you only a rookie and
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: have one year, but your experiences don't make you sound
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: like a rookie. Could you see your self taken on
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: somewhat of a role, not necessarily like as a leader,
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: but helping some of these young guys like, hey, man,
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: you got to run that ball out. No, you need
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: to be here. You need to be there because these
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: are things that winning baseball teams do.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: Look, I was fortunate enough to be with b Lao
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: in the same locker room as him. I can't speak
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: for O'Hearn. I haven't been his teammate yet, but I
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: did play with Jordan Westburg in college. I asked him
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: about O'Hearn and he said, dude, one of my favorite
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: teammates ever. You're gonna love him. And I respect Westburg's
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: opinion a lot, so I have full confidence that o'haran
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: is going to be an absolute dog in the locker room.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: But man, b Lao was our position player leader in
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: the clubhouse last year for Tampa. He did a terrific
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: job at that. But I believe that these things happened organically.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: I'm not coming in trying to be a leader on
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: this team. I'm just trying to come in to play
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: my butt off and kind of let things happen as
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: they will. And one thing I'll say about this weekend,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: we go to panc Park, get two workouts, and while
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: we're in Pittsburgh and I had the chance to actually
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: hit with Spencer Horwitz in the cache. It was a
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: lot of fun to pick his brain to see how
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: he operates. He is a hard working dude, and now
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: I understand why he had success last year. It wasn't
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: by accident. I had the chance to talk to had
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: the chance to talk to DK and Matt, our manager
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: and hitting coach. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I cannot tell you
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: enough how fired up hand to play for those guys.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: And I think as a whole we're going to have
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: from what I learned this weekend and what I know
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: is coming in from the additions we picked up this offseason,
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: I think we're going to have a just eighty grade clubhouse.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Is full of guys that want to get better, that
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: are striving to be the best version of themselves. And
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: that's really all you can control. As you know, Josh,
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: like baseball's kind of out of our control a little bit.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm sure you lined out at one hundred
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: and ten miles an hour plenty, just but the one
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: thing you can't control is how hard you work and
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: how hard you play. And I think we have a
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: really good collection of guys that are going to do
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: that to the best of their ability.
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: Hey, that's two things that I tell my kids. Two
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: things you can control, attitude and effort. And at the
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: end of the day, that's whatever happens after that you
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: know was meant to be. But you know, I don't
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: want you to look at the success or the failure.
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: Didn't say dang, I could have done more. So that's
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: question here you speak that way, man.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Josh, what do you got from with Pittsburgh? Man,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm kind of learning on the fly here, but like,
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: what what do you got with I'm pretty it's pretty
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: freaking awesome to see how much they care about sports
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: in Pittsburgh, the whole Black and Gold thing like that sick.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: And then.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: What do you got, man? What should I know going
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: into your one for being new to Pittsburgh.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: So one, you've already welcomed yourself or introduced yourself to
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: a fan base by Twitter by saying I'm excited to
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: be here. You you talk about being a sports town.
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: I wasn't drafted by the Pirates. I was traded in
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: the minor leagues. But from the minute that I was
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: traded over got caught up. And the word that Noah
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: described your playing style, I've gotten that that you know
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: where to be described as an old school player, and
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: you know, yes, it's an old school player. But at
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: the same time, I mean what I consider old school
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: player as a ballplayer. Somebody that's engaged, somebody that's looking for
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: the extra ninety, somebody that's looking to prevent the extra ninety,
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: looking for any way to help their team win. And
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: that's what I did on a nightly basis. And the
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: fans could feel that energy. And when I tell you,
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: it didn't matter if I went old for four, you know,
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: or four for four. They knew that the energy that
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: I brought was a winning attitude along with the other guys,
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: and I would just say, man, everything that you're saying
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: and speaking and how you want to not how you
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: want to play, how you do play. Man, I think
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: you already are one step there. But I will say,
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: do you have a favorite football team?
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Mississippi State football?
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Man. I know it's tough.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: It's tough for me. It's tough for me because when
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: I was a kid, my uncle was playing for the Panthers,
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: and I don't remember my dad playing for the Bears,
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: so it's been kind of tough. One of my closest
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: friends is Gardner Minshew. He's with the Chiefs right now.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: So the last i'd say the last ten years, it's
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: been the last seven years. Now, he's been in the
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: league for seven years. For the last seven years, it's
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: whoever minshe was on. It was the Jaguars, the Colts,
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: the Raiders, and now it's the Chiefs. So currently it's
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: whoever Gardner minshe's playing for. Man, I gotta be lord
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: on my guy.
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: No. I can respect that. Because I'm from Cincinnati. I
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: didn't grow up with a favorite football team or a
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: favorite sports team. My uncle played eleven years in the
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: Major League coach for forty so I was always rooting
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: for who he was coaching for at the time, and
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: when I was growing up, he was coaching for the Dodgers.
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: So I'm like, hey, I'm rooting for the Dodgers because
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: you know, if they made the playoffs. In my head,
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: I was going to the playoffs, which I really wouldn't,
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: but you know, I'm.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: Pro experience. Like what did you learn the most from Ount?
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: Like I was like a big dougget from Mount so
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: My uncle John T.
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: Bons Shelby, he was actually the Brewers outfield coach when
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: I was with the Pirates, so I got to see
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: him all the time in division, and I can remember
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: it took three years for me to like really get
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: a chance to play. I was up and down for
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: three years, never got a chance to play. And I'd
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: be like, oh, you know what I gotta do. You know,
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: I'm staying ready, And he's like, tell you what, you'd
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: rather be the twenty fifth man on the bench than
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: down in triple A, Like you've already done what you
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: needed to there. He said, you want play away from
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: you know, being in there, But even if you go
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: down to triple A, don't change who you are. Never
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: give him a reason to say that you're not working,
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: and that you're not showing up. And that was something
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: you know, I took the heart. I mean, my uncle
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: played eleven years, got two World Series, and I can
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: just remember twenty fourteen, you know, three weeks into the season,
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: still haven't started and some injuries happening, and I get
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: in and play, and you know, I go on to
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: have my first All Star year. But he was uncle
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: telling me, hey, stay ready, don't ever let them say
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: you're not ready, and don't give them a chance to
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: say that you're not working.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: And yeah, dude, I kept also that. I learned that
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: really quickly. Last year twenty twenty four I won the
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: Triple A batting title, and uh in Durham. So I'm
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: like going to camp last year thinking like, man, I'm
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: gonna break with the team this year, like this is
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: this is the year I'm gonna get my shot. Well,
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: I break Triple A and sure enough, the whole state
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: ready mindset. I've tried not to lose that over the years,
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: and uh, my first day with Durham this past year,
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: an hour before opening day, I get the call and
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: I got caught up. March thirtieth, I was in Norfolk, Virginia.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: And you know what's crazy is is I wrote campus
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: the seventh outfielder, I'd say on the depth chart for
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: Tampa Bay Rays last year. Yeah, two injuries happened before,
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: like before the second game of the year, so like, yeah,
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: do that whole thing about staying ready. Man, it's real.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: Like I was the seventh outfield of breaking camp last
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: year and I ended the year with over four hundred
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: bats as a rookie. It's crazy how quickly things can
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: change in this game.
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: Your your role as a player can change any given
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: day that I'm with I'm with that dude, your uncle,
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: your uncle. That that's that's real stuff right there.
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: Man. Hey, I held true to it, and I mean
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: it's one of those things where people like us that
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: they consider old school ball players or whatever. We don't
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: take anything for granted. And one thing that I always
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: and I'll leave you with this before we you know end,
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: is you know people would say that, and I would
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: always take it a step further say, oh, of course
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: I'm not taking anything for granted, but I don't want
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: you to mistake my hustle and my things for not
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: being able to play this game. Because a lot of
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: times they will over you know, shadow your ability to hit,
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: your ability to play defense. Why, oh man, this dude
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: works hard. Everybody in the Major League for the most part,
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: is gonna work hard, you know, so hold true. And
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: that's another confidence thing where it's like, hey, I'm gonna
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: work hard, but no, I can play this game as well.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: I feel you man, It's yeah, it goes back to
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: what I said. I went back my senior year because
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: I knew I was gonna hit in pro ball, you know,
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: and I think, like I think right now, hit hitting
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: three ten in the in the UH in the Triple
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: A level and hitting just shy at three hundred in
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: the big leagues level, I have a lot of confidence.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: Good Lord will and I'm gonna continue to hit. But
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: you know, I do know a part of my game
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: is playing hard, and I try not to I'm never
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: gonna try to do that, you know, try to be
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: humble along the way, but also confident. I think there's
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: a fine line of being confident but not cocky, and
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: it's uh, it's as an as competitors, it's it's hard
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: to you know, remember where that line is sometimes and
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: you do your best to remain humble and confident at
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: the same time.
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: Yep, and I'll tell you the same thing. I don't
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: say good luck, which I mean good luck would stay healthy.
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: I know you'll do what you're doing. Pittsburgh sounds like
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: they got themselves a keeper.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, appreciate that, guys. Guy, I can't thank you
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: all enough for having me on, fired up to be here,
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: and we're gonna do everything we can to bring some
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: wins this year.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: That's awesome to hear man. We appreciate you coming on.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: I want to remind everyone watching to hit that subscribe
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: button if you haven't already. On a mission now to
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: get three thousand subs. We'll have plenty of Bucco baseball
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: to talk about here, so on behalf of Jake mangum
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: my co.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Host Platinum Key, and Josh Harrison.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: I'm nohile saying thanks for tuning in to another episode
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: of Buco Territory, presented by the Foul Territory Network.