Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / BRING THE HEAT: Walbert Ureña mixes 99-mph fastball with wipeout changeup

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BRING THE HEAT: Walbert Ureña mixes 99-mph fastball with wipeout changeup · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Well, hey, Angel fans, welcome back to Halo Territory. I
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: am Mike DiGiovanna, former LA Times baseball writer and host
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of the show, joined by Mark Trumbo, the former Angel
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: slugger and our regular co-host. Well, Mark, Angel split a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: series with the Twins after another rough one. Rough one
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: or tough one, I'm not sure. Maybe both on Sunday.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: An 8-0 loss in which, my goodness, I'm not sure
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the Angels did anything right.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Mike, I don't know about that.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: There was a lot of good stuff that happened out there.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Some of the bounces, a little bit of bad luck,
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: but it really wasn't that bad of a ball game
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: if you take away all of those things that contributed
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: to the eight runs and none for them. But in
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: all seriousness, Dean Kramer did pitch a very nice game,
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: former teammate of mine.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Dean was promising. He was a young player with the Orioles.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: I was rehabbing on my way out, but I think
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: I may have been able to impart a little.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Bit of wisdom.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: He has the mentality. He is a fierce competitor out there.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: And I think what we saw today was him missing
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: a lot of barrels. The Angels also seemed quite determined
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: to burn their challenges already out of the challenges by
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: the top of the second inning. The leadoff hitter has
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: a penchant for challenging during day games, I've noticed, and
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: doesn't usually win those. So it only goes... Really got
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: worse later on, Jose Siri with an unnecessary jump catch.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I know you really like him in his theatrics, but
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: that led to a double.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: And then Estero's got a throwing error on a strike
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: to second. I think something happened where Zach was unable.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: To catch it.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: And then Siri, I don't know if he didn't get
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: a good read or what, but he didn't break very
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: hard to back up. The runner scored. So I think
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: that was the epitome. in front of the faithful crowd
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: showing up on the last home game of the year
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: to watch that. Tough?
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the only guy who had a rougher
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: day than the Halos was the official scorer who somehow
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: gave I forget who hit the ball to Siri at
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the wall, gave him a double on that. And somehow
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: by a steroids, got the air on a clean throw
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: to second base. It looked like Zach, as he should,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: is probably expecting a slide on that play. I don't
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: know what the runner was thinking, going in, standing up.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe he thought it was a foul ball or whatever.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Maybe he was deep, but that was just a weird
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: play all around. But the last person I felt like
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: on that play who deserved an.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Air, I would suspect that could be challenged and reversed.
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: I'm yeah.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: I don't know what, uh, He or she, the official scorer,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: they may have found him, you know, outside the park
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: hanging out. That's not a baseball person to me or
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: someone that just didn't get a good look. I don't
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: know how it exactly works with their replay. But the
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: officiating today, too, was a tough day for the home
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: plate umpire.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And Laz Diaz, last comment, is an extremely nice guy. No,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I'm serious. Oh, no, he is.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Of the generation that are being ushered out. And he
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: had some comments and the broadcast was picking on him
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: a bit. But I mean, he legitimately gave every bit
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: he had when I played. He was a character. There
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: are none of those really any longer. For better or worse,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: you want to get the calls right. But the personalities
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: are gone. I think they're all young stiffs and ought
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: to be fairly robotic. And you probably have to be
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: with the scrutiny they're under, but, um, I can, I,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: I feel for Laz because, uh, this is not, you know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: how anyone wants to end their career. I think he
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: accepted the buyout, but, uh, him, Angel, CB Buckner, many others, um,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: you know, they get, they get their fair share.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: So tough.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, our regular listeners know we like to
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: keep things positive on here as always.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Right, Mark.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: So if, uh, In the spirit of that, the highlight
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: of the weekend for Angel fans had to be the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: start by Walbert Ureña on Thursday night. Guy Lowe's four hits,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: strikes out nine, and walks none over seven shutout innings
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: of a game the Angels won five, four, and ten innings.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: And we're going to focus a good amount of today's
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: show on the 22-year-old. The rookie right-hander now is 9-10
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: with a 2-7-4 ERA in 28 games, 26 of them starts.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: On the season, he has 140 strikeouts, 67 walks, and
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: that's in 144 and one-third innings. And I think one
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: of the things that's most impressive in his, he walked
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: five in a three and two-third inning start against Cleveland
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: on August 25th. And Urania has walked a total of
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: three and 28 innings of his next four starts. So
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: let's hear what manager Kurt Suzuki had to say, first
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: of all. after that start on Thursday night.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: What do you think of the uranium?
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: That might have been one of the best starts I've seen, honestly,
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: like up there that I've ever caught either. I mean,
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: it was impressive.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: It was 100. His changeup was incredible.
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: I mean, the last game we were talking about him
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: leaving some pitches up, made an adjustment.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Today was virtually unhittable. And, you know, he was pretty
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: darn good tonight.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Wade Meckler also had some interesting things to say about Urena.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Let's take a listen to that real quick.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's unbelievable. You just watch this stuff
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: from the outfield, and it looks like a bowling ball
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: at 101 miles an hour, you know, just from that
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: high slot, and then.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: The fastball just stays up.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: I hope I never have to face him.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: It was unbelievable.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Hard to believe, perhaps, that he's a rookie.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: I mean, what do you see?
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, he's a rookie, or he doesn't look like one? No,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's just so poised up there.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: You know, you see him when guys are in traffic.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: I feel like he strands everyone when guys get on.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Same guy, nobody on base, traffic, doesn't matter. I mean,
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: I think he knows how good his stuff is, and
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: he knows how hard it is to hit his stuff,
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: and he just attacks guys.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: So, Mark, for the non-Big League hitter among us, what
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: does Wade mean when he says his fastball looks like
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: a bowling ball at 100 miles an hour? Ironically, you
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: might be better suited to answer. I don't know where
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: that saying came from.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: I really don't. I know what it means.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: The heavy sinker, the heavy sinking fastball. That's what I
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: thought it meant.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: I would assume, like watching a high-level bowler, I don't
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: know if you are or not.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: I assume you might be pretty good.
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: I am not.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: My father was actually an excellent bowler, met my mom
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: at a bowling alley in a bowling league.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Another story, but no, I am not very good. Okay.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Well, anyhow, watching high-level bowlers, they impart that spin on
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: the ball. I don't think I've ever seen a professional
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: that doesn't have that significant curvature. That's my guess as
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: to what the reference was initially saying. trying to tie
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: in what it means as a hitter, especially for same side,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: right hit, right-handed hitter, right-handed pitcher. I'm going to use
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Bartolo Cologne as an example. That thing was a bowling ball.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: And one thing that is not seen, but felt is
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: what a bowling ball feels like connecting with the part
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: of the bat. That's not supposed to be used necessarily.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: A lot of times too, it's late movement. It'll be
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: described as heavy. And I mean, even playing catch with
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: a guy that has literally, I believe it's velocity with
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: the absence of spin or at least the backspin. It's
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: got a lot of side spin. Anyway, playing catch with
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: a guy that has one is no fun. It's going
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: to you know, you think you're catching it closer to
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: the web and it'll be in the palm over and
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: over and over. probably not the ideal catch partner unless
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: you're into that kind of thing. You like to inflict
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: pain on yourself. But watching Walbert, without actually facing him,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: I think you can tell just by the hitters and
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: the foul balls especially. And one thing, I mean, hardly
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: anyone this year has made adjustments against him. Not a
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: singular team. Some have had some success, but there's no
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: cohesive approach I've seen work against him, which Really speaks
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: to how hard, I mean, it'll take multiple years probably
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: for teams to kind of get a grasp on if
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: he's able to replicate what he's doing now or even
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: close to it. He's got some weapons and one in particular.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll get to that change in a sec, but
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I want to, you know, we raved about his stuff
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: going as far back as spring training when he started
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: showing up on the Stuff Plus radar. But for a
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: good chunk of the season, his pitch counts were getting
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: up because of walks and just sort of an overall
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: maybe lack of pinpoint command. But, boy, these last four starts,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: he is really– I don't know if it's an adjustment
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: he's made on his part, but do you notice anything
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: that has led to that really improved command? Because he's
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: getting into– he had a complete game. Granted, it was
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: eight innings, but still his first complete game in one
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: of those starts, seven innings. I thought he had another
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: inning in him, but it is– we're in late September
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the other night. But anything you can point to as
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: for why his control is so much better right now?
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: That's one of those things. I doubt it's anything mechanical.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: His mechanics are very repeatable. I haven't seen anything all
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: year that leads me to believe that they need any.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Kind of tweaks.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: It would be more of a mindset thing. It could
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: be something talking to his catchers. just a little bit.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, I can go and look a little closer
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: at what sometimes walks, they're not always created equal. Some
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: guys are four-pitch walk guys. That's way less than ideal.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Sometimes guys get ahead and then are– nibbling is, is,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: is the term I'm going to use. It's what most
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: people would use. And then two, two count three, two
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: count and they eventually lose them. Uh, Walbert is sometimes
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: the easy walk guy. And I think throughout his minor
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: league career, it's, it's been an issue.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: And it is the.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Singular issue that, uh, when we had, you know, on
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: keeps guys from rating him, uh, higher, some of the
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: peripheral advanced stats, you can call it junk, uh, science
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: or whatever, uh, They're not always as flattering when it
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: comes to him, but the bottom line is the back
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: of the baseball card is what I will use when
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: describing him because he has been nothing short of dominant
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: this season. And when he attacks hitters, I mean, he
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: should be aware by now his stuff plays against anybody.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: I don't care who you are. It's got enough velocity,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: enough movement. You don't have to worry about what the
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: back of the jersey says in the box.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: All right, we're going to take a quick break for
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: a word from our sponsors. When we come back, we'll
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: have more on Wilbert Ureña.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: So Jay, do you ever find yourself crashing in the afternoon,
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: needing a boost, but not wanting to have caffeine that
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: you know is going to ruin your sleep?
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah, definitely. I found myself on the golf course
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: a lot lately. And sometimes, you know, it can be
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: long days out there. So I reach in my golf bag.
• 11:32
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• 11:35
  Speaker 6: keep it in my golf bag. And it's part of
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: my golf bag, as I said.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: And so what are some of your favorite effects of
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: the ultra pouches?
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: Definitely, you know, gives me a little bit of focus,
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: that little bit of energy that I'm looking for and
• 11:50
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• 11:53
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• 12:17
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbo and
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Mike DiGiovanna. While we know about Walbert's fastball, it seems
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: like an easy gas at 101, 102 times. But as
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: explosive as his fastball is, his changeup is probably his
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: best pitch. In fact, baseball savant rates Urania's off-speed run
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: value in the 100th percentile. Let's take a look at this.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: This is impressive right here, his baseball savant page. Take
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: a look at all that red. And red, as you
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: might guess, is very good. Off-speed run value in the
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: 100th percentile. Mark, what else is this chart telling us here?
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: As you said, red is good. Blue is not as good.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: It's actually titled poor. This is.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is a very good chart when we're
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: looking at these things. For some, it might look like
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: a video game. For those listening, they list a number
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: of different categories. I'm not going to go through all
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: the abbreviations. You probably don't care about all of them. Anyway,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: his fastball velocity, 100 is the max. So he's a
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: 94th percentile, extremely high. The average exit velocity is... Um, it's,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: you would think that that might be, uh, they're hitting
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: the ball hard against him. It's actually the opposite. He's
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: in the 84th percentile at generating weak contact. So well,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: well above average, uh, 71st percentile and whiff rate, getting
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: a lot of those, um, towards the bottom. I'm, uh,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: unfortunately my screen's a bit cut off, but let's look
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: at that off speed run value is matched out a
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: hundred percent. You cannot get any higher, and his changeup
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: ranks as the singular best changeup in baseball by a
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: fairly wide margin. And that is, by and large, how
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: he has been able to have the incredible success that
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: he has had.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's look at his repertoire. The changeup averages almost
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: 91 miles per hour. My goodness, when I was coming up,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: that was a pretty good fastball. His sinker, pretty heavy
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: sinker at 98.1.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Four-seamer, a little firmer, 98. And I.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Was surprised the sweeper, I never, I don't consider it
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: a plus pitch for Wobbert, but it's led to a
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: 155 average and only a 207 slugging percentage in pitches
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: ending with that, in at-bats ending with that pitch. The
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: change-up numbers are pretty good there too, 173. in a
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: 238 slugging percentage against. Mark, do these numbers for the
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: sweeper especially lead you to believe that maybe this can
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: be a plus pitch for him at some point? And, boy,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: this guy, I don't know, maybe his four-seamer is not
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: as plus a pitch as I make it out to
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: be because it is pretty straight. But, boy, the sinker,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: the changeup, and a sweeper seems like a pretty good mix.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: To answer your question about his sweeper, absolutely. It is nasty.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: He's got a good one.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: He's been hesitant to use it, and I can understand why.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: I think it's a newer pitch for him, and there's
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: no doubt his confidence level in that pitch is not
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: near as high. I believe if he had to throw
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: a strike, he would probably throw his changeup, almost certainly.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: If absolutely everything on the line needed to throw a strike,
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: he's going to lean on his changeup, which is his
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: best pitch. Now, the thing about his changeup, You described
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: the velocity. That velocity is enough on its own to
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: challenge hitters' timing, creating swings that are late.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Jamming people.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: When you have to respect a guy's velocity on his
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: off-speed pitch, you're in for it. The fastball, as far
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: as a sinker and foreseamer, I can't really tell the
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: difference watching on TV. They classify everything, but for all purposes,
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: I think you should just view it as the same pitch. Um,
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: they all have a little bit of the same element.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: So the fact that he's able to throw, let's call
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: it a two seam or split the difference, but, uh,
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: and it sits at a hundred miles an hour, 99,
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: a hundred, a hundred and one. Uh, he creates that
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: separation that you're looking for eight to 10 miles an hour,
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: despite his change of being so hard, the fastball is
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: so much harder than that, that, hitters have that gap
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: that is very uncomfortable to cover. You get anywhere in
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: that eight-mile-an-hour difference. You sit on one or the other,
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: you can't cover both. And with him, I think hitters
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: have to sit on the changeup. I mean, that's how
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: I would approach him. Now, the thing about it is
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: his changeup is not remotely straight. It has exceptional movement.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: He's got 17 inches of horizontal run to the arm side.
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: So that's the type of thing that is going to
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: be chasing you, following you home as a right-handed hitter.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, no, you're going to have to get the
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: good part of the bat on it somehow as it's
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: just continuing to come inside. And with left-handers, they run
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: the real risk of running out of barrel. You're attacking
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: something that is quickly moving away from your bat and
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: your swing plane. So it's hard to guess what you're
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: going to need to do All the while in the
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: back of your head, this guy throws 101 miles an hour.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: You can't ignore that. Anytime you see on the scouting
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: report velocity that has those kinds of numbers, it just
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: plants a seed. I mean, since you were in Little League,
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: that pitch registers as really fast. And so you can't
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: get that out of your head. Sitting off speed sounds
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: great in concept.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Harder to do. He's also got a ton of vertical drop.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: It's 29 inches.
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: It's not only going across, it's going down, creating a
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: really tough time for hitters trying to figure out, A,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: where you're going to try and hit it. I keep
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: thinking from a right-handed hitter's perspective, I'm going to try
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: and probably go the other way, but it's really tough,
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: and the numbers bear out. I mean, nobody's making hard
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: contact against any of his pitches, really.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Is it unusual, the fact that he seems to be
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: able to throw for a strike and a strike to
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: ball as well for Chase?
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: I assume... those.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Strikes are starting out even higher in the zone than
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: some of the strike-to-ball change-ups.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they are.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying every one of these change-ups has the
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: same movement profile, but I think the ones he uses,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: especially for the whiffs, have more so. Now, how he
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: does that and imparts that kind of spin, better explained
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: by him than me, but I know pitchers sometimes will,
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: you know, the grip can either become a little looser,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: a little firmer, Maybe they're imparting a little extra spin
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: via wrist action. Either way, him pounding the zone is
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: the recipe for success for him. He is absolutely a
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: guy that can get hitters out in the strike zone,
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: and he's been doing an excellent job. His poise and
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: mental makeup leave nothing to be desired. He's just been outstanding.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Hey, Kurt Suzuki, the manager, had some other interesting things
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: to say about him. This was actually before his start.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: on Thursday night.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been fun to watch, really.
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: I mean, the 100-mile-an-hour fastballs consistently with the nasty change-ups
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: and sliders, but I think the consistency has been really good, right?
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: And even the games where he kind of struggles a
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: little bit in the beginning, he finds a way to
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: grind through it and give us a chance to win,
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: which I think is a huge thing for a younger pitcher.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Do you think there should be a serious conversation around
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: it for a rookie of the year kind of candidate?
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I don't see why not.
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: I think for sure, right, what he's done has been impressive,
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: and I think... Every team that he's pitched against, every
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: player has always meant something. Like, man, that guy, it's
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: impossible to hit him. But I think that's a credit
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: to him and his hard work.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: What do you think about the durability he's shown? Yeah,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's right up there with Ben Joyce.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: I mean, he's not at that Joyce level of fitness
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: and all those type of things, but he's right under there.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: He works hard.
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: His routine in the weight room, in the training room,
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: doing his... arm carry and all that stuff has been
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: tremendous so it's been uh he's been definitely a positive
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: thing for the.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Team well i actually have an american league rookie of
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: the year vote this year and i am 99.9 sure
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: that walbert will be among my five uh guys on
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: that ballot however it is going to be tough to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: unseat cleveland left-hander parker messick who has a 5.8 war.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Walbert's is 3.9, still very good. Parker is 12-9 with
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a 2.57 ERA in 30 starts. He's got 178 innings,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: 186 strikeouts, 47 walks. And I think Kevin McGonigal, the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Detroit infielder, who has a 6.8 war and is a
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: real superb all-around player with an 804 OPS, 26 doubles.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: 17 homers, 70 RBIs, 95 runs, 93 walks, 91 strikeouts.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: They're probably going to be my top two on that ballot. Walbert,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure where I'm going to place him. The
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: only other pitcher I think who stands a chance right
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: now is the Boston pitcher Peyton Toll. He's 9-6 with
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: a 3.02 in 25 starts. And position player-wise, he has
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: some pretty good bats. Kazuma Okamoto with a Toronto third baseman.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: He's got 24 doubles, 33 homers, 88 RBIs. Munataka Murakami,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: the White Sox slugger first baseman, has really tailed off
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: in the second half, but he's still having a pretty
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: nice year with 32 homers, 69 RBIs. Carter Jensen, the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Royals catcher, is having a really good year. Chase DeLauder,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the Cleveland.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Right fielder DH having a very good year. I don't know, Mark,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: looking at that list, it's a pretty strong rookie of
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the year list, and I know you finished second as
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: a rookie in that voting. Boy, is this about as
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: good a crop of rookies as we've seen in this
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: league for a while? Stiff competition. I didn't realize quite
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: how deep it was. I did know that Murakami, probably
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: the halfway point this season, looked like.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: He might run away with it. And, uh, yeah, those
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: numbers dipped a big time, but still, uh, having overall, uh, nice, uh,
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: very nice season for his rookie campaign and white socks,
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: I believe we're still duking it out. Um, if they're
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: not in first place, they're, they're right there. And that
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: will probably be in many people's mind, a disappointment if
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: they're unable to secure.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: One of these playoff spots.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: I don't know, man. I, I, Wolbert being the hometown guy, tremendous,
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: but stiff competition. Messick, he's very much impressed me.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: Sometimes he's faced the Angels. He, I believe, breezed through them.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: And nice guy. But position player is always– I've got
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: a soft spot, probably being one.
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: Sure.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Some of those numbers are really good. You know what?
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: I'm glad I don't have to vote. These things– I vote.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: It's very tough because when you have so many that
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: are deserving– What does it come down to?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Just the numbers? Just got to take the emotion completely
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: out of it?
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know that it comes down to completely numbers.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I know sometimes if I have a real two guys
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: who I consider really head on, like I'll sort of
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: apply the MVP criteria. You know, was this guy more
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: valuable to a winning team? Perhaps maybe that's where Messick
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: might have the advantage over McGonigal. I had the AL
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: MVP vote last year with Cal Rowley and Aaron Judge,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: and man, I got all sorts of hell from Yankee fans,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: but I went with Cal Rowley. I just thought a catcher,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: he didn't catch like 80, 70 games. He caught like
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: 120 games, the most demanding position on the baseball field,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: physically grueling, 60 homers. I forget all his other numbers,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: but they were pretty darn, yeah, is Judge a better hitter?
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Then Cal Rowley, yeah, he probably was. He is, and
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: he was last year. That's how amazing Judge is. And
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: he's a fine defensive player, too, in the outfield. I
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: just thought, you know, it was a historic season for
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: a catcher.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I went with him. I don't fault you for it.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I think that he, you know, did, I mean, when
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: you look at the team's success, I think without him,
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: the Mariners probably didn't have a chance or anywhere near
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: the chance that they did.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Uh, likewise, judge contributed enormously.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: I think the Yankees overall, probably the better club in,
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: in some areas, although the Mariners, uh, tons of pitching, um,
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Kate Anderson actually had a nice start for those that
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: like to, uh, you know, his early, uh, mediocre performances. Uh, anyway, uh,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: I guess I wanted to ask you, uh, a quick, uh,
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: there's a handful of angels or at least three or
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: four that their season came to an end. I think
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: that they announced, um, Moncada, we kind of were counting
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: on him. I hadn't heard anything and then I think
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Francis Romero may have said something about Moncada's season is done.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: That's disappointing.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Very disappointing. I think he could have tweeted that in
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: June and been correct.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: That was a good one. I never got an update.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: You wonder, what's he up to? Where is he?
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: How many updates? But But once we found out he
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: was injured, it made more sense. We got on him,
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: you know, we did, I did. Lack of hustle and
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: other things early in the year, but I think he
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: was probably playing hurt the majority of the time. Nolan,
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: Sean Well is going to be done for the year.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: I saw, you know, the compilation of his statistics, and
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: I think some of these sites just said, what do
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: you think? And I saw a number of people echo
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: your sentiments. Nice for a seventh hitter. Yeah. And it
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: really is an odd fit, and I can't really make
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: any more sense of it now than I could before.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Great bat-to-ball skills, improved on the defensive side, but that pop,
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: you just can't ignore it. And I think George Clausen, too,
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: is going to be done. But John O'Neill is the
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: one I'm very interested in on what a vision the
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: team has. I did see that they were talking about,
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: yet again, some targeted work. to get more pop out
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: of him weighted balls weighted bats I don't think that's
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: going to do much I think you need to embrace
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: what you have because when he has tried to chase
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: the power those are when he goes into those dry
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: spells and it doesn't look remotely like the version of
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: him that people do like do you.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Feel like he can still be a I don't know
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: about a number three hitter but a very solid contributor
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: offensively if he can get those doubles up to 35
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: you know 30, 35 with, you know, 80 to 90
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: RBIs as opposed to.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: You know, what we've seen this year. You got to
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: do it.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: And I'm going to need to see, I'm going to
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: need to see him do it, um, to keep projecting
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: and hoping for more. I think we've, you got to
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: next season, um, is big for him. I think that
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: he's a young guy and rushed and everything else, but
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: I think it's time to put up the numbers that
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: the team needs. And if not, I would agree with
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: you that the power production is simply not high enough
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: to play first base. If he finds a way to
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: be more versatile and play some corner outfield and make
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: himself more of an asset in that regard, I'm not
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: counting on any more stolen bases, but it is an
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: issue that a team that wants to contend will have
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: to deal with.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I know he's still a young player and he was rushed,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: but how many years, he's been around here for a
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: while now, how many years do you feel a guy,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: how many years does it take for a guy to
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: be established like this is what this guy is? Can
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: he change himself in the fourth or fifth year or
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: after three years, which I think is where he's at?
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Is this the Nolan Shanwell, the best we're going to
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: hope from him? Is there any I mean, I feel
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: like physically, I don't know.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: How much stronger he is. I believe it is. I
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: believe it is.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: And that's not a critique. He does some things exceptionally.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: His on-base capabilities are awesome. I think we did say
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: to really start moving the needle, to really lean into
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: that strength.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Trout, for example, I believe drew his 100th walk.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: A hundred is an enormous total, but Nolan is going
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: to have to sniff that. I think the Tigers player McGonigal,
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: you mentioned is over 90 walks. So if Nolan can
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: get to that level, then you're starting to put him
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: into a category of a guy with a 400 on base.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: But I know he had some thoughts on his season.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: I don't think standing all winter, I think one year,
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know what that was about. His offseason workout
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: was simply standing for the majority of the day.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Do you remember that?
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: I do not.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was an odd story, but he was just, uh,
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: decided he was going to strengthen his lower body by
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: standing all day. And, uh, I don't think he's continued
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: on with that, but I remember seeing that and saying,
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: that's the first, um, you know, and other, other players too.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: We talk about, um, you know, Zach Netto today was
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: an unfocused game for Zach. This is the version of
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: him that, uh, why, uh, John Moselec had that conversation
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: after a game. It's because of games like this. Um,
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: You know, the fielding wasn't exceptional. Although the defensive runs saved,
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: they shoot up by the day. And that stat, I
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: need to know more about. We're going to need a
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: guest on here that can explain that one to me.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: Because sometimes the numbers don't match the eyes. But the Angels,
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: what do they have? To avoid 100 losses, they've got
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: six games remaining. Well, going into the week, they are 60-96.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: After Sunday's loss, they need to go 3-3 in their
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: last six games, 2-3. West Sacramento play the A's, four
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: in Seattle against the Mariners to avoid losing 100 games
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: for the first time in franchise history. However, and here's
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: where they might have to do some threading of the needle,
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: they don't want to finish better than the San Francisco Giants.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: Right now, the Rockies have an MLB-worst 57-99 record. The
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: Athletics are 61-95, a game better than the Angels. The
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: Giants are 64-92.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: So if the Giants were to lose out and the Angels,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I think, go four and two, I don't know who
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: has the tiebreaker between them and the Giants. But either way,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: if you're going to finish this poorly this year, you
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: want to finish in the bottom third because that gives
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: you a really good chance of getting that top pick
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: in next year's draft. And as we know, that could
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: be a big difference maker for the Angels and I
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: hope we have a draft. I'm assuming we have a
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: draft next year. I'm assuming, hopefully we have a season
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: next year.
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: I think at some point we will, we will dive
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: into the CBA and the negotiations. It's a topic that I,
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: we were encouraged to cover it immediately. And I said,
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: absolutely not. I mean, yes, hot takes people like those,
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: but I don't do hot takes that are not informed
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: or remotely informed. So, We can even get some guests
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: on to try and explain these things. I know a
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: number of our viewers are very educated in this regard
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: and labor negotiations. And I have seen both sides this week,
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: or at least I think Jim Bowden and somebody else
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: were telling each other that they were totally wrong.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: And we'll dive in a little.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Deeper to try and more comprehensive coverage of baseball as
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: a whole.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Well, this season is coming to an end soon enough.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: We've got a whole offseason to get into these issues.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: We can have Evan Drellich still shaking on. These guys
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: cover this stuff and are well above my pay grade
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: as a semi-retired baseball writer. Hey, we're going to close
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: the show with that. Thanks for watching. Thanks for tuning
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: in today. Please like and subscribe, and we'll see you
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: next time on Halo Territory.