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Mason Montgomery Talks Breakout Season, MLB Playoff Hitters · The Craig Way Show

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Back here on a Yacht Rock Wednesday. And yeah, we've
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: been talking a lot of football. Who wouldn't on a
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Texas OU week? We're going to hear more. We're going
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to hear from Longhorn's head coach, Steve Sarkeesian, a little
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: more from him coming up and more on the NFL
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: games of this week as well. What we always do, obviously,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: is keep everybody updated on what's going on with the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball playoffs, what with Guardians and White Sox underway,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and then the Dodgers and Braves follow. And then tonight,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Yankees and Rays, game three of that series, and then
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: game four. of the Padres and Brewers. But let's get
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit of an expert opinion on this. Now,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: we're very pleased to be joined by one of the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: real up-and-coming outstanding closers in baseball, Mason Montgomery of the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Pirates, who had 18 saves this year and is
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: really on the rise. What you may not know about
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Mason Montgomery is that he's from this area. He's a
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Leander High School product. And what you probably, I'm going
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to guess, that you really don't know, that long time
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: ago in a galaxy far, far away, Mason Montgomery was
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: part of a really stud flag football team when he
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: was really young that had Dylan Leach on it, the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: son of our statistician, Steve Leach, and my own son,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Jason Way. That Chargers team was hard to be... Mason,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Do you even remember playing on that
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: flag football team back in the day, the Chargers?
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, man. You know, very vaguely. I do remember playing
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: flag football, but... And I know we were good, but
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I don't remember the specifics.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: You guys were pretty good. I remember that. And I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: remember you were really the star of that. But we
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: started to see you really blossom when you were pitching
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: in high school for Leander. And you were drafted out
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of high school by the White Sox, but elected to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: go to start out with Texas Tech. before you went
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: back into the June amateur draft and then were drafted
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: by the Rays. Tell folks a little bit about that
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: path that you had, you know, from Leander High and
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: then deciding to go to Texas Tech and then going
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: into the draft and first starting out with Tampa Bay
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: before you wound up with the Pirates.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say like junior year of high school
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: is whenever I kind of started getting a little bit
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: of traction from like the colleges and the area and,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: you know, like did the different D1s, Texas Tech, TCU,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: you know, ended up committing to Texas Tech. And then,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: you know, from there going into my senior year was
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: when I kind of started getting some MLB scouts show
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: up to games and whatnot. And I kind of realized
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: that I had an opportunity to, you know, potentially get
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: drafted out of high school, which is what ended up happening.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: But yeah, ultimately I decided I just wanted to go
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: to college and, you know, do my three years there,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: four years, but... Yeah, after that, I was, you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: in that tech from 2019 to 2021 and then ended
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: up getting drafted in the sixth round to the Rays.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: And I was with the Rays from, got 2021 to
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: actually probably last December. 2025, and then got traded over
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: to the Pirates and had my first full season with
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: the Pirates this year.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: All right. Let me ask about it. There are folks
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: who know all about Coach Tadlock at Tech. They also
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: know how he is such a hitting-oriented guy. Now, you
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: guys had pitching coaches as well, but what was it
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: like to pitch for Tim Tadlock in Lubbock?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: No, it was fun, man. Yeah, I had a blast there.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, Tim Tadlock, J-Bob, we had Matt Gardner was
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: our pitching coach. He has a great staff. I think
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: that was the reason I wanted to go there is
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: because all the coaches and the support staff were awesome. Yeah,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: it was certainly fun. I'll tell you, whenever I was there,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: we could definitely hit That was our— and the love of wind.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: The love of wind helped a little bit, but yeah.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: No doubt about it. Okay, so then you got drafted
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: by the Rays, as you mentioned, and spent a couple
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: of seasons there in 24-25, and then, of course, winding
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: up with the Pirates. This year— you really exploded onto
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the scene. 18 saves, the 2.88 ERA, you know, the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: whip of 1.034, the strikeouts were there as well. What
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: was the biggest difference? And I hear a lot of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: pitchers talk about development, and over time, things start to click.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Was it like that for you? Was there any one
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: thing that helped one pitch really launch you into the
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: season that you had this year for the Pirates?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'd say there's a couple things. I think,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: you know, I'll give you one specific as far as
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: pitching side of things. And I think there's one specific,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: you know, from the mental side of it. From the
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: pitching side of it, about a third of the way
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: through the year, I added a sinker. And after that,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I really started seeing a lot of success and just more,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: you know, swing and miss and soft contact. And then
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: the mental side of it, which I think is probably
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: the bigger thing, was going in 2025 with the Rays,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: kind of having some ups and downs and moving from
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: the big league team down to the AAA team. It
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: wasn't the smoothest first rookie year. And then coming into
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: this last season with the Pirates, I kind of made
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: a decision to stay consistent and commit to my approach
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: and not change anything, no matter how things are going,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: good or bad, and just focus on the plan at hand,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: which is just kind of one pitch at a time,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: getting that guy out.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: When you were with the Rays at AAA, was that Durham?
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Durham Bulls? Yeah, Durham Bulls. I grew up in Greensboro,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: so I know about the minor league teams over there
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and that sort of thing. I hear pitchers talk about
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: this often, that sometimes it can be a struggle within
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: themselves in terms of what the pitching coach, especially at
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the minor league level, not that they're bad coaches, but
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: that they have a certain idea about what pitches they
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: want you to develop or your approach and what you
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: know and feel most comfortable with. I've heard a lot
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: of head coaches at the college level talk about being
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: convicted in the pitch you want to throw. Was that
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: part of the development as well as being able to
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: manage that and balance things? what they were trying to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: get you to do and what you also felt you
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: knew that you could do best.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah I mean certainly I think that's something that probably
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: most athletes experience throughout their entire life you know going
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: all the way back from when I was you know
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: 12 years old up until now I think each coach
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: has good things to give you but I think it's
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: important for you to know yourself and kind of pick
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: and choose and maybe try things out and then if
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: it doesn't work for you you say hey like That's
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: not working for me. But, you know, on the conviction
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: side of it, you know, we always say as a
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: pitching staff and just as pitchers, you know, let's say
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the catcher calls a certain pitch in a game, but
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: I'm not thinking I want to throw that. It's always
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: better to to you know shake him off and throw
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: which pitch you're convicted in because that's gonna you know
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: you feel good about.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: It yeah no no doubt about it and uh i
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: would imagine you probably get some uh interesting conversations especially
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: at the minor league level but also the major league
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: level if you shake off a pitch and the catcher
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: that we do and shake me off i mean you
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: ever have any of those conversations.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah i mean i think usually they're pretty good about
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: it you know the catchers get it um you know
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: they they also kind of are you know they're on
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: our team they're They're also not wanting us to throw
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: anything that we're not convicted of. So, like, if we
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: shake off, they're totally fine with it. And most of
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: the time, you know, they trust how we feel and
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: we know what's coming out good. And maybe the curveball's
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: not feeling good. Maybe the slider's not feeling good. So, yeah.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Visiting with Mason Montgomery, the Pirates' closer and former Leander
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Lyon here on 1300 The Zone. Mason, the Pirates went
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: 82-80 this year, which was a major step forward. Folks,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: in case you didn't know, finishing with a winning record.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: And you guys were in the wildcard picture down and
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: up to like the last week to two weeks of
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the season as well. What has, since you were kind
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: of a late arrival on the scene in Pittsburgh, but
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: what was your impression of the step forward that the
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Pirates took? And then I want to ask you also
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: what it was like to pitch in PNC Park and
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: that ballpark. It's a beautiful, beautiful ballpark. What is it
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: like for pitchers to work at that ballpark?
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it was awesome being a
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: part of that group. Obviously, the Pirates had struggled a
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: little bit in recent years, but yeah, I think it
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: was a huge step forward. Um, you know, we got
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: a lot of new guys in the clubhouse, including me. Um,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: and yeah, it was just fun to be, you know,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: a part of the team. I think everyone kind of
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: had the same mindset, like, you know, we're here to win,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: you know, and we're going to win together as a team, not,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: you know, individually. So being a part of that was good,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: you know, finished, uh, in a good spot, you know,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: obviously we, we wanted to go further, but, um, definitely
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: not a failed season by any means. And yeah, PMC
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: is amazing. Um, I always say it is a little
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: bit better for the fans because you get to see
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: that view, you know, me in the bullpen. I'm not
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: looking at the.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: The bridges and the rivers?
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. But no, it's a great stadium. You know,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: when it gets packed out, it's real loud. It's a
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: fun time.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Would you say it's a pitcher-friendly ballpark or is it
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: more hitter-friendly or does it depend on if the wind's
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: coming in or how does it play?
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: I would say it is... More pitcher-friendly, for sure. I mean,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's– if anything, it's closer to even.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: It's definitely not hitter-friendly. Yeah. Because the left field and
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: then all the way to like the back of the
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: bullpen or where the bullpens are, it's super deep. And
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: then right field is like a little short, but you.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Got a wall.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Um, what's it like playing for Don Kelly at manager?
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, he's the man. Yeah. He's a, he's a great manager.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: He's a, you know, players coach. He's good to be around. Um,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: easy to talk to fun guy to play for.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I I've, I've been in Pittsburgh several times, so I
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: know Pittsburgh's a lot different than Leander. So, uh, did
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: it take a little bit of adjustment? Do you like
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: living up there? Do you, do you headquarter there in
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the off season or do you come home? How does that,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: how does that dynamic work for you?
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I come home. I do live in like the
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Austin area for the off season. I love it here. But,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: you know, Pittsburgh's nice. I mean, I liked it. You know,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: I like it because I feel like it's like a,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: you know, it's like a big city, but it doesn't
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: feel that big. You know, I think everyone's kind of
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: close knit. You know, it's got the downtown, but it
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: kind of has this chill vibe to it. And then,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: you know, the suburbs there are, comparable to you know
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: the suburbs of austin um i like it it's a good.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: City we're visiting with pirates closer mason montgomery of course
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: uh local product from leander here on 13 under the
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: zone all right mason this is the other reason i
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: wanted to have you pop on uh we're seeing the
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: teams that are left to the major league baseball playoffs
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: having come through the wild card rounds now and uh
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers are up 2-1 on the Braves and of
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: course the the White Sox are trying to to finish
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: off the Guardians the Rays are going to be trying
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: to do that the Padres and Brewers stand at 2-1
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts on now first of
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: all did you face all eight of these teams during
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the course of the season.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Uh we played all of them I pitched against I
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: think I I don't think I ever threw against the
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Yankees this year. I think that might be the only team.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: But yeah, we did play all of them.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I'd like to get your thoughts. uh as a pitcher
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and a guy who faced these lineups uh and and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: your thoughts let me let me start with the team
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: that had the the best record that you had to
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: deal with out of your own division the milwaukee brewers
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: you saw them a lot uh how about how about
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on the brewers and that lineup and how
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: you how you when you were coming out of the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: bullpen there to try to to either in the eighth
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: or the ninth get a hold or a save what
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: what was the mindset you had when when the homework
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: that you did on this brewers team.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah i mean good team i think uh You know,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: they do a good job of sticking to their approach.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I would say generally they don't like to chase much. So,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: you know, whenever I was pitching against them, I kind
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: of had a priority of being in zone, especially early.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The Padres, of course, have the big names. They
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: have a Manny Machado, obviously, and they have Fernando Tatis Jr.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: and other guys, Ty France. What kinds of challenges did
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: the Padres present for him?
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a good team as well. I mean, every one
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: of these teams is good. Everyone can hit. I mean, yeah,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: I think it's just about sticking to your approach with
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: the Padres. I think, you know, they obviously got their
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: guys that can do some damage, right? So, you know,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: getting ahead and then trying not to give a too
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: good of a pitch, you know, especially if you're in
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: a pitcher leverage count or a hitter leverage count, you know,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: try to kind of give something that they can't absolutely,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: you know, hit.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: In the Braves-Dodgers series, which stands 2-1, let me start
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: with Atlanta and get your thoughts. This is a team
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: that has some guys hitting it out of the ballpark,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: but they also went through some spells where they didn't
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: hit an awful lot of home runs. But they have Acuna, obviously,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: and we've seen Michael Harris have a big season for them.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And Matt Olson, how about your thoughts on the Braves
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: and what the challenges that their hitters presented?
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're good. I remember, I think I threw against
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: them maybe once or twice this year, a good team. Yeah,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, you said it, you know, Michael Harris, Matt Olsen.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, from my point of view, as
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: a lefty who usually comes in to face lefties, I
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: feel like their left-handed hitters are pretty good against left-handed pitchers,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: which obviously isn't always the case. Yeah, I think Michael
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Harris is good. Matt Olsen hits everyone. So, yeah, it's
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: all about, you know, sticking to the approach.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right. And so then there's the Dodgers, and
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: you got left-handed. You got Shohei Otani, and you got
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Freddie Freeman, and you got Max Muncy. You got those
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: guys as left-handed hitters as well. What was your thought
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and your approach when you faced guys like that?
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, don't get behind. Don't want to get behind to
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: those guys. Pretty much everyone in that lineup can hit,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: you know, probably over 10, 15 homers a year. Obviously,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: you have a couple that can hit well over that. Yeah,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: I think those guys, you can't put yourself in a hole.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: And the other thing is they're not going to chase
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: out of the zone early, at least from my experience.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: So you've really just got to attack them straight on
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: and then kind of let them get themselves out.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: I don't know how much you got to see of
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: the White Sox and the Guardians. Did you have much
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: opportunity against them and your impressions of those two ball clubs?
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I pitched against both of them twice, actually,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: both in their ballparks. Really good teams. I think the
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Guardians are real scrappy. They're good at having longer at-bats,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: not necessarily trying to do anything too big. you know,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: getting the bat to the next guy and just keep
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: on passing it. So I think that's a, I mean,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: that's a good thing for their lineup. I think you
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: just gotta, you know, like I said on the Dodgers,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: almost let them get themselves out. Like, don't try to
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: do anything special. And then the White Sox, yeah, they've
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: got some dudes. I think they've got maybe three or
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: four guys that have over 30 home runs. So, I mean, yeah,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: just again, don't fall behind. And if you do, then,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: then try to give them something hard to hit, and
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: then maybe they can roll over or something and hit
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: a pop fly.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Okay, and you mentioned you didn't face the Yankees. How
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: about against your former ball club, and what was that
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: like coming out of the pit and going up against
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: the Rays, knowing the Rays as you knew them and
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: know them when you went out to deal with them?
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was fun. It's kind of fun because At
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: that time, when I pitched against them, I had a
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: curveball that I didn't have the previous year. And I
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: did break one or two of them off, and it
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: was kind of funny. The next day, they're like, dude,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: we didn't know you had a curveball. But it is good.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, they're a good club, obviously. I think they
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: do all the little things right. I think that's why.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Similar to Milwaukee, I feel like it's kind of a
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: similar team. They do the little things right. They can
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: pitch well, obviously. They can hit well. They move guys over.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: They bunt.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: They steal. So I think as a pitcher and just
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: as a defensive, you just got to do the fundamentals
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: right and not let them take advantage of mistakes.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: All right. A couple of fun things. Let me just
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: get some quick responses from you here. Who in the
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: major leagues this year gave you the most trouble? What
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: hitter gave you the most trouble?
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, gosh. I'll tell you, Corbin Carroll, I think He
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: hits me really well, and he's a lefty too, so
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: he shouldn't hit me as well as he does, but
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: he does. Okay.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Is there a big-name player that, for all of his accomplishments,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: you had your way with him? You were able to
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: get done what you needed to get, whether it was
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: a strikeout or just get him out on the ground,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: ball or a pop-up. Is there one guy with a
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: big name that you had a lot of success against
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: this season?
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Um, I would say I think I had like maybe
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: three or four at bats against him this year. And
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: I think I got him.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Wow. He's going to be the MVP and you got PCA.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: He's good. He's good. It's not an easy at bat.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Trust me. But I think I came out on top.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Mace and I really appreciate you taking the time. This
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: was an awful lot of fun. I hope to visit
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: with you again sometime. We're excited for the progress you
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: made and the steps forward. And we look for a
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: big season for you. Oh, I got to ask you.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: How many pierogies have you had in Pittsburgh? And have
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: you been to Primanti's to eat sandwiches?
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: I have been to Primanti's. I've been there once. It
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: was good. Yeah, no complaints. It wasn't unbelievable, but it
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: was solid. And then I think I've had like two pierogies,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: like once or twice, and they're good. I don't think
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: they're crazy good. Yeah.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: It's a different culinary experience up there, isn't it?
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: It is. It is.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: It's all right. Hey, Mason, so much fun. I appreciate
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: you taking the time to join us. Wish you the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: best of luck, and we'll look forward to visiting with
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: you again sometime. Thanks for taking the time.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Yep, absolutely. Thanks, guys.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: All right, that's Mason Montgomery, the Pittsburgh Pirates closer. Leander
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: High School product. Up next, more from head coach Steve
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Sarkeesian when we continue on 13 Under the Zone.