Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Jason Isringhausen Talks Cards Pitching Prospects and Career Stories

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Jason Isringhausen Talks Cards Pitching Prospects and Career Stories · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Jim Hayes and we have a special special guest. He's
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a Cardinal Hall of Famer. He's currently a special advisor
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: with the Cardinals, also a pitching instructor. He goes by
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the name Jason Isringhausen, but you probably know him as
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: is He. Hi is He? How are you today? Hi?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Jim? How are you today? Buddy? I like your shirt.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: I like that tarps off.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: To the ballpark.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: When you're gonna be like Alan show off the physique.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Well, I did it once, but I had one of
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: those muscle shirts. T shirts look like that. But if
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: we get to seven thousand subscribers, I'll think about it.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: But probably never. The real answer is probably never, So
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: is he. I appreciate you coming on. I know I've
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: been kind of poking at you to come on. I'm
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: glad you're on. Uh. Tell us about your role, Uh,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the pitching instructor. I know you rove, you go to
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: different places. Tell the folks a little bit about what
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: you're doing.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Uh. I guess my title is. I want to say
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I'm special advisor to him? UH and Surf and Matt
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: pierpont our drug drug pitching. I just kind of go
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: where everybody needs me to go or tells me to go.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: And you know, we work on pitching, we work on
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the mental side of things. We work on you know,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: just life in general. And I and I work with
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of our our coaches sometimes too, not so
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: much on analytics, but mainly on you know, I have
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of young coaches and teaching them how to
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: deal with kids that kind of aren't much younger than them.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: These kids are really smart, I give them that, but
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: you know, they haven't been through uh life quite as
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: long as we have. And you know, we always say
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: we're all running the same race as Jim and I
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: have a head start on some of these kids. So
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: we and you know, I just I share life experiences.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I share things that happened in my career. I share
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: how to deal with failure. You know. I was just
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: down in Florida with the FCL kids and we have
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: a young man there, Xavier Cruz, who has really got
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: a good arm, and I was watching him pitch. He
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: had kind of a bad game and he came up
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to me a couple of days later, just by himself,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: with his translator and just asked me how I dealt
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: with failure through my life and through my career. And
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: so having kids like that come up to me and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: ask me those kind of questions, you know, it shows
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: me a lot that the kid is invested in his
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: own career, you know, and he's willing to learn, and
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: he's willing to ask questions. And that's kind of what
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I'll go down to a bullpen where somebody's throwing a
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: bullpen and sit down on the bench and start talking
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: to one guy and then two and three, than four,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: than five, and then I kind of start the conversation
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and kind of get out of the way and let
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: them bounce ideas off each other. And that's you know,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: and that's how we used to do it back in
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: the day, you know, sitting around the table after a
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: game and having a couple of road sodas and just
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: talking shop, you know, and getting these kids to talk
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: shop is is what we need more of. I love
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: the analytics. I think they're a very big part of
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: the game and a special part of the game, but
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: getting these kids to just talk about baseball's pretty special too,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: don't you think.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: That that's a balance that teams have to deal with today. Yes,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: and fusing analytics because you can be better using analytics,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: but also kind of staying in touch with the past
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and taking a little something from the old school guys.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Don't you think that's the balance they have to strike.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And that's what we talk about. I mean, that's what
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Hym and I talk about, and Surf. I mean, there's
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: a lot of teams that have gotten away from having
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: old guys like myself around. You know, it was always
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: nice when I was when I first got with the Cardinals,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: where I could sit with you know, you're sitting in
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: the clubhouse or you're sitting on the bench and you're
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: talking with Red Shandy's or Lou Brock or Bob Gibson
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: or Bruce Suiter. Uh, you know, those days are gone.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, unfortunately our legends have passed and and now
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I'm stuck with the guys. But we got myself and
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: we got Yadi, who's around love to get out with
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: around more. There's some more guys that have the opportunities
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: to come around, and hopefully they will. Him has been
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: great about bringing some guys back, but we also have
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: to be careful of what the messages we try to keep,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: try to keep it under wraps about how you know,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: we go about things with the Cardinal There's no special sauce,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: you know that we call it the Cardinal Way, but
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: it's just harden those and trying to not get away
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: from that and also bring in the new age of
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the analytics and teaching these kids how to do things
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: the right way on the field, but also the new
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: way also, you know, with the spin rates and everything
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: else that goes along with that, you know, trying to
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: convince kids not to always chase those numbers. You know,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: I still love kids that can throw pitches down the
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: way for a strike and just not try to blow
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: it by everybody. So you know, there's a fine balance
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: between those two things of finding the kids that can
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: throw one hundred miles an how like the kid from Milwaukee,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the Mizerowski, And then you got guys who are throwing
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: ninety but can pinpoint it and throw it exactly where
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: they want it and still getting people.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Out so prospect wise, and I'm not talking about the
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Cardinals necessarily, but it seems everyone can throw a hundred,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: and then the guys like McGreevy who throw ninety, but
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: as you mentioned, pinpoint where they want to go, those
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: seem to be more of a rarity. It seems like
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: baseball has fallen totally in love with the guys that
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: throw a hundred.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Well, but then you know, there's part of me and
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: there's part of some of us that still talk. You know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: baseball is like, maybe the guys that throw ninety are
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: the gonna be the the outliers now, right, Maybe they're
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: gonna throw below hitting speed for these kids now, and
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: maybe those guys come back if they have the great controls.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: So we don't know. You know, baseball is funny how
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: it bounces from you know, year to year, five years
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: to five years. How we used to pitch down in
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the zone, throw sinkers. Now we throw up in the
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: zone for strikeouts, and you know, the hitters are trying
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: to combat the way we pitch, and then we're trying
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: to combat the way they swing a bat and you know,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: at the launch angles, so we throw it up in
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: the zone to get him to pop up or swing
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: a miss. So everything's everything's changing. That's never going to
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: change in baseball. There's just so many moving parts from
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: year to year. So you know, I think it's our
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: job as an organization, just like every organization is you
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: try to stay ahead of that curve.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: And everything cyclical in baseball to me, like something that
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: was out five years ago finds its way back, and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: it's a big circle as pictures adapt and hitters adapt
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and things that didn't work will now work today. To me,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: that's how I look at it. How much do you
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: get to spend with the top prospects like a Liam Doyle?
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: How much have you spent with him? And what are
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: you seeing from him?
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Liam? As a special person? I mean in more ways
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: than one. He's a great kid to be around. He's
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: very high strung, as you've all noticed. I mean you've
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: seen the highlights of him pitching at Tennessee and how
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: wound up he gets. He has kind of curtailed that
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: and controlled that a little bit. But he is learning
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: how to become a pitcher. Yes, he can throw upper nineties,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: but learning how to pitch is what he's doing now.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: And realizing that he can't throw us fast by fastball
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: by everybody now is it was a you know, probably
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: a little kicking the pants to his ego a little bit,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: you know, but double A is a pretty good league,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: especially in the league that we're in, in our Double
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: A in the Texas League, and the ball flies in
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the Texas League at a lot of parks. So he's
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: learned how to use his split more. He's yearned how
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: to learn all of his breaking balls and how to
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: utilize those and how to pitch off each pitch, you know,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: and it just comes with experience. You know. Used to
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: be kids would get three, four or five hundred and
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: eights in the minor league before they get to the
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: big leagues. And now you get guys I mean, you know,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: take Polante for example. You know, he was in Double
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: A one year and the next year he's been the
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: big leagues ever since. So some of the kids are
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: coming from you know, big programs, and you look at
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: somebody like Paul Schemes right out of college, you know,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Rookie of the Year, starts the all start game, things
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: like that. So the days of guys getting their reps
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: in the minor leagues have somewhat dissipated. So just trying
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: to get him as as quickly ready as we can
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: and hopefully guys in the big leagues don't get hurt
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: and they perform, and we don't have to bring these
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: kids up so quick and and give them a chance
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: to get their get their feet wet in the maor leagues,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: learn how to fail, learn how to succeed, and everything
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: in between.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: And some of these kids are so gifted that they
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: do things we've never seen before, at least I haven't,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: like Jeranzelo Sanja both.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, and it's and it's great. It's great what
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: we're doing with him too. You know, Matt matt Our
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: director of pitching, you know, had him in Seattle, So
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Matt came from Seattle. And what we do almost every
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: game is, you know, we dictate a few a couple
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: of left handed hitters in each lineup that he can
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: face left handed. So it's something that he likes to do.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: It's something that he practices. I think he has set
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: new personal personal highlights and villo with both arms this year.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: So it's something that you don't see. I've never seen
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: it before, especially somebody did that. Talent wise. I can
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: throw you know, mid upper nineties almost with both arms.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I don't I don't see how it's possible, how the
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: body can, but it's something that he's trained and it's
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: fun to watch. I don't know all the rules of
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: how to do it and what we can and can't do.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I know you can't switch in the middle of it
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: at bat and things like that. But I think the
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: hitter has the last say on which way he's going
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: to face Low when he faces him, whether it's gonna
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: be right handed or left handed. So you just never
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: know what's gonna happen. But Saint is one of our
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: top prospects now and doing a great job and and
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: is learning a lot, uh from our staff. And you know,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: we're just making everybody better and that's all we can do.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Is there another name or two that you want to
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: put out there of guys young young pictures that have
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: really impressed you that maybe Fanns should be on the
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: lookout for some time down the road.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean we have a good group of kids
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: in Double A right now. You know. Gave Molina is
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: another lefty. Everybody's heard of Quinn of course. Jacob Oldle
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: is a kid that just came up from Palm Beach.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: She went to Peoria, who is a high octane kid,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: a high energy kid. Uh, he's gonna be on the
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: move probably And uh, you know, he he's uh Tommy
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: John a couple of years ago. So I don't know
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: how much inning she'll get this year, but he has
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: shown them a lot of promise, a lot of starters.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: That we have.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: But the thing that I'm happy with is that we
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: got some guys coming back from Tommy John, you know,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Cooper Jersey, d k Roby, Uh, some guys like that
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: who have been hurt and who is going to fit
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: nicely into our our crop at pitching. So hopefully, you know,
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: everything works out the way it should and we get
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: to keep all these guys and we don't have to
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: trade anybody away to get some guys. But like I've
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: told you and others, the future looks bright for the
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Cardinals on the pitching side. You know. Uh, if mister
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Deuitt and him think that we need to go out
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: and uh, you know, sign a big thumper when it's time,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: then that would be great. But right now, this the
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: pitching core that we have is pretty exciting. And as
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: you know, a few of those starters will become relievers
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: at some point. You know, we saw Bryson Motts come up,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Pete Hansen, guys in Triple A, so you know, I
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: I'm happy with what we've got in the drafts coming up,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: and I'm sure that that flow and his and his
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: people will be uh right in ready to go and
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: pick what's best for us. I'm not positive what pick
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: we have, but I'm looking forward to seeing who we
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: get for sure.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Our guest is Jason i Isringhausen. You're watching Cardinal Territory
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: on the Foul Territory Network more with Izzy coming up.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: My dog Bella would do anything for a treat, and
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: I want to give her a treat that will take
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  Speaker 2: care of her long term.
• 13:27
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• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: One of the guys that raves about Jason Ezringhausen as
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: a person but also an instructor is Matthew Liberture. He
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: told me that when he had his ups and downs
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: and they sent him back down, you were the guy
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: that kind of reached out and helped him along. That
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: we're seeing is he tried to establish himself Libby as
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: a starter. What do you see from that guy? Because
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I think he's still young and what we've seen is solid.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I think the upside on him is tremendous.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Oh, I mean, so do I I mean, you don't
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: have many lefties that can throw the baseball like him.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: You know sixt' six, those mid upper nineties banger, curveball,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: great slider. Everybody I know. I've heard a lot of
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: people talk about how great he was as a reliever,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: which he was, but you know, as we always say,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: a lot of relievers were failed starters, and he's not
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: failing as a starter. He's only going to get better.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: He's learning how to do this, and he's learning how
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: to do this at the at the top level, right
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: So it's it's not easy. Pitching in the big leagues
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: is very tough. I think with all the new things
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: we have with the strike zone and all the ABS
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: system and things like that, I I don't know, you know,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: speeding up the game fifteen seconds between pitches, I don't know.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: If there's a lot going on, you got people, you've
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: got computers talking in your ear about what pitched to throw.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: I had just there's a lot going on inside these kids'
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: heads right now, and it takes a while for things
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: to slow down. And Livvy is a special talent. Lad
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: We got him from Tampa and I hope no matter
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: what role he's in, he's going to be a big
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: part of the Cardinals' future going forward. I just look
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: forward to watching Libby pitch. I love watching him pitch.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: I know him very well. We've had a lot of conversations,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: and I know how much He cares about what he's
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: doing and his craft, and he's a thrower. He loves
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: to throw. He's I mean, knock on wood. He hasn't
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: been hurt in anyway. So I just hope that Dusty
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: and the crewk you know, tinkering with this and that
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: and just getting better because he's got all the tools
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: to become a top tier starter and it's just sometimes
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: it takes time. He also always wants the ball. That
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: guy's got a rubber arm. He said when he was
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: a kid, he would pitch every game if they'd let him,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: and they were like, you're gonna hurt your arm. And
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: like you said, knock on wood, he never has but
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: the adjustment like an elite starter. Then you had a
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: hip and an arm.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, you had more surgeries than any player I
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: can ever remember, and you reinvented yourself as a guy
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: coming out of the bullpen and had a great career
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: as a reliever. Right now with the Cardinals, like we
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: have Griseppo who was a starter coming out of a bullpen.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: We have Leahy who was a starter, Uh then goes
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: to the bullpen and was really good there. Now starting again,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: what is that transition like for a picture, going from
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: one very distinct role to enough.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: I think it's well, I think it's all in between
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: the years. To be honest with you, I think you know,
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: all these guys have elite pitches. You know, they all
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: have swing and miss pitches. I think I think when
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: you're only going through the line you know, both of
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: these guys you're talking about, Groceppo and Lay they're kind
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: of when they were in the bullpen as Lay well,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: he was kind of the start off as kind of
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: long man and then went into a one inning role.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: And I think the hardest part is, you know, you
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: have to as a starter, your goal is to go
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: as long as you can, right you want to outlast
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: the other starter. That's your main goal and give your
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: team a chance to win. And when you're going through
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: the lineup, you know a few times you sometimes have
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: to save pitches so to not give the hitter an
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: advantage you know, later in the game. And I think
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: as a reliever, you can throw the whole kitchen sink
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: at them, you know, every time, because you're going to
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: face them once. So I think that's got a lot
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: to do with it. And I think that if you
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: look at like the eras through innings and things like that.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's so many ways of looking at it,
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: but I think it's more than anything is being able
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: to know yourself and what you have, what swing and
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: mispitch you have? What you have, when do you use it?
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: You know that race to two strikes is what we
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: talk about a lot in the minor leagues, And the
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: thing of it is is once you get to two strikes,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: can you finish hitters?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Do you have the swing and mispitch that you can
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: throw one or two balls out of the zone or
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: do you have to bounce it? You know, it's just
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: learning yourself. Like I said before, it comes with repetition,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: It comes with knowledge, It comes with learning the league,
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: It comes with the scouting reports. It comes with you
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: know your catcher. You know, do they do their homework?
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: Are you comfortable with your catcher? You know, I never
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: had a problem with bouncing a curveball with Yadi air
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Molina or Mike Methini behind home plate. So if I
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: got to two strikes, I was bouncing a curveball behind
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: a plate and I knew that they would stop it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: You know, do you have that? Do you have that
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: confidence in your catcher. You know, there's so much that
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: goes into this. We could talk about it all day,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: but you know, like I said, it's gonna come with
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: the experience with these guys. And they're still young, and
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: they still you know, Leahy's first year of starting in
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: the big leagues, it's been you know, trials and tribulations
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: so to speak, and has his ups and down the
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: peaks and valleys and he's working through it. And with
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Dusty and Julio and all the guys, they're getting there
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: and it's fun to watch. It's fun to watch them
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: evolve and become better, and they have.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: And I think, I think, especially lately, I think he's
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: going to be a decent starter. He was so good
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: out of the bullpen. He's got a lot of pitches
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: and for a guy who's so quiet when he's on
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the mound, he's intense, like there's no question we got
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to take another quick break. We're talking with is he
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: back with more?
• 20:32
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• 21:32
  Speaker 1: As he pitched sixteen years in the Big League. Started
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: out as a as a big prospect as a starter,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: then had to have seventeen thousand surgeries, ended up being
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: an elite closer. My first question, because I know you
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: you're in your fifties now, but I want an honest answer.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Do you think.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: If you were called in to do it. Could you
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: walk into an MLB game and get one hitter out
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: right now?
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Could you do it?
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: Oh?
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yes it It only takes one good pitch. I
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: mean that's all it matters. I mean like it's like
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: I tell these kids, it's like you're one pitch away
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: from getting out of the inning. All I gotta do
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: is make one good pitch. Now. I have to make
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: that one good pitch before I make a real crappy
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: pitch so it doesn't go over the fence. But if
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: I could throw a first pitch cutter and hit the
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: outside corner, more than likely I'm going to get a
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: ground ball or a pop up somewhere, and that's my
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: one out and I'm good to go, and I would.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: I can do it. I know I can. That's awesome.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: That's so awesome when you think, when you think about
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: your career, what stands out to you? Because it is true.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I mean I remember when you were with the Mets
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: and you were on the cover of s I with
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: the other guys, Pulsifer and the other guy and uh,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: and then he had all these yeah, Wilson, I'm sorry,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: and then you had to figure it out and be
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: a relief picture. What stands out to you about your career?
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Uh? I, you know, I don't really have a great
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: answer for that. I think Daddy didn't raise a quitter.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Is what I always tell myself. Perseverance. I guess it
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: all started when, you know, in the manor leagues, I
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: was like a forty fourth round draft pick, and I
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: was in other clubhouses with guys that were like one
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: in the first and second rounders, and you know, they
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: got all the money back in the day, and they
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: had the nice cars and I and I wanted that stuff.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: So I had that chip on my shoulder that one
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: of the reasons why I wore forty four was because
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: of the round I was drafted in to remind myself
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: that why I'm here, and I had to fight to
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: get to where I was. And I don't know, I
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: guess this perseverance. I mean, yeah, I've had a lot
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: of surgeries, three Timmy John's, and that's like the only
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: thing that doesn't hurt on my body is probably my elbow.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: But you know, hip replaced, knee, replaced parts of my back,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: replaced my neck, you know, knees. Uh, It's just it's
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: part of it. It's part of when when you tear
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: your body apart like we do as professional athletes, it
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: just goes with the territory. But I was never afraid
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: of throwing after a surgery. I think that's one of
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: the things that probably helped me because as soon as
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: the doctor said that I was good to go, then
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I'd go at one hundred percent. There was no backing
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: off until something else popped. So, you know, that's just
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: kind of the way I went about it everything, And
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: I think that's why I was better suited to become
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: a reliever because everything was so you know, full throttle.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: But that was then. Now today, the starters are the
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: same way. I mean they they air it out for
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: eighty pitches. They don't care if it takes three innings,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: two innings, four innings, five, six, seven, whatever it is.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's go, you know, balls of the wall
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: for as many pitches as you get. Where it used
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: to be like coming up to the minor leagues, if
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: we didn't throw a complete game, it was a bad start,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: whether it took. I think my best was eighty seven pitches,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: and I think my longest was one hundred and forty six.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Pitches to get through nine innings in the minor leagues.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: But you know, we were the guinea pigs. I guess
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: you could say it because after we all three the
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: three guys that we mentioned, we all blew out. Is
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: when the pitch counts came about. And now there's so
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: much emphasis on workload in the minor leagues. It's it's
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: pretty amazing. But the question that you asked me is,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: I don't really have a great answer for you, Jim,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: about my career. It's just something that I wanted to do,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: and you know, I wanted to be the best. I
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: wanted to be in the most games as the Really
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: I want the thing that only thing I looked at
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: we used to get that little stack of papers of
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: all this, all the stats, and all I wanted to
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: lead the league one was games finished. That's the only
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: thing I cared about. So it wasn't really a save stat.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: But I wanted to be in the game as much
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: as I could, and sometimes I went out there when
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: I wasn't one hundred percent. But that's the way it is.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: I don't think anybody is one hundred percent because a
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: lot of guys today, though, will not go out there
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: if theyre not one hundred percent. And that's the sad
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: part of it.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Now, there are probably a million busy stories out there
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: about you as a player. We're not going to go
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: we're not going to go into all of them here.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: But we don't this This is the wrong this is
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: the wrong television for that.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: But here's the one that I want to tell because
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I think it says a lot about you as a person.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: So the Cardinals get to the World Series in six,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: you're not there because you had hip surgery, right, And
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: they get through and WAYNEO has his coming out party
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: closing it out, and uh, there's everyone celebrating, and the
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: photographers were like, we're going to take a picture of this,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: and they got all the relievers together. They said, we're
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: going to take a picture of all the relievers and
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: they would not take the picture until you were in
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: it because they said, of even though you were hurt,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: the amount of impact you had with your guidance for
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: that staff. And to me, that told me a lot
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: about you. I know you're not a me guy, but
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: what do you remember about that? Because to me, that
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: was a telling moment.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Well, if you think about who was all on that
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: roster and six when you got I'll start at the
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: back we go. We know Josh Kenny, Tyler Johnson, Randy
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Florid As, Brad Thompson. I mean, these are all young
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: kids at the time, and just talking to them about
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: you know, what's it going to feel like? What's like
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: It's almost like the scene in Hoosiers when he's you know,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: he's measuring the goal post or whatever and the basket.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: It's the same baseball game, you know. The only thing
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: difference is we got famous people singing, we got airplanes
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: flying over, and you got red, white and blue banners everywhere.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: But it's still the same baseball game. And it's the
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: guys that can slow the game down and control their
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: breathing are the guys that are going to succeed. And
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: it's the guys that get spun up, you know, I'm
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: going too fast are the guys that crack down their
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: leg And just talking to those guys about things like that,
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: and talking with WAYNEO about like when we started the
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: whole playoffs, I'm like, listen, we've got three rounds of
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: playoffs to get through. I need you to get I
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: need you to get the dog pile on the mount
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: three times, and you know we talked about that. I
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: asked him, you know, have you ever been dog piled
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: on the mound. He's like no, And I said, we
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: need to do it three times and we got through it.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: You know, the rest is history with Wayno, you know,
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: the strikeout of Beltron to get to the World Series,
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: the strikeout of Inge, and then his magical career with
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: the Saint Louis Cardinals. Just couldn't be more proud of
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: those kids, could be more proud of Wayno. But and
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: this I thought that was my job. Marty Mason and I,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: you know, sat them all down and talked to him.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Cal Eldred was there in that group too, so let's
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: not count out old man Eldred. So he was in
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: the mix of everything. So uh, you know, it was
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: just one of those things where I couldn't leave the guys.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: I mean I was It's kind of like now with
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: my girls in the sports that there and I'm more
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: nervous for them. I was more nervous watching those guys
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: performed than I ever would have been being out there.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: So that's my first taste of coaching, and I thought
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: maybe somewhere down the line, this might be something for me,
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: but not yet. I had a few more years left
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: in me, so I mean it was just one of
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: those things that magical run. You know. It started with
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: Rafael Barrard making that diving play in San Diego. I
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: mean it just things like that what sticks out in
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: my mind and not leaving those kids size was important
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: to me, and that gear a coach was born and
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: you're still doing Izzy. Thank you for spending a little
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: time with us. I was trying to track you down
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: because I knew you'd be a great guest and you were.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: You got it, Jim, anytime you know that.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: All right, that's gonna do it for this edition of
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Cardinal Territory. We'll see you next time. Hopefully that episode
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: won't suck.