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Jake Bauers joins Brewer Territory · Foul Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Brewer. I'm your host,
0:09
Speaker 1: Kurt Hope here alongside my palace Corey and JP. But guys,
0:13
Speaker 1: we don't just have JP with us today. We've also
0:16
Speaker 1: got JB. Jake Bauers coming to you live from somewhere
0:22
Speaker 1: some hotel in Chicago. Looks like you guys are pretty
0:25
Speaker 1: high up. What Florida you got there, JB?
0:28
Speaker 2: This is uh, this is floor twenty four. We're not
0:31
Speaker 2: quite on penthouse level yet, but we're working our way up.
0:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.
0:35
Speaker 1: That's that's that's yelly yelly status. Right, That's that's yeah,
0:39
Speaker 1: that one, no doubt. Well, well, Jake, just to kick
0:44
Speaker 1: it off, things are going good for the Brewers right now.
0:46
Speaker 1: You guys have won I don't know most of your series,
0:49
Speaker 1: all your series since late April. The vibes are good,
0:53
Speaker 1: the boys are hot. What's kind of been clicking for
0:56
Speaker 1: for the offense, for the pitching, for the defense, for
0:59
Speaker 1: for you guys as a whole in this little stretch
1:01
Speaker 1: where you guys have gotten back to sort of playing
1:03
Speaker 1: Brewers baseball?
1:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think I think you said it
1:07
Speaker 2: right there. It's uh, there's no trick, there's no uh
1:11
Speaker 2: there wasn't one moment where everything kind of came together.
1:14
Speaker 2: I think, I think this is the sort of baseball
1:17
Speaker 2: we've been working on since we showed up in spring training,
1:19
Speaker 2: and I mean even earlier than that the last couple
1:21
Speaker 2: of seasons. So, uh, everybody kind of fell into a rhythm. Uh,
1:26
Speaker 2: focused on the preparation day in and day out. And
1:29
Speaker 2: you know when when you got twenty six guys all
1:32
Speaker 2: focusing on that and pulling on the same rope, and
1:35
Speaker 2: you're bound to find your stride at some point. I think.
1:40
Speaker 1: For you, with the start that you've had at the
1:43
Speaker 1: pood no court, take it.
1:45
Speaker 3: Take no, no, no, You're good.
1:47
Speaker 2: You're good.
1:49
Speaker 1: Okay. JP just asked just for you personally. When you
1:51
Speaker 1: look at the start to the season you've had. Obviously
1:53
Speaker 1: we've we've we've talked throughout spring and now into this
1:57
Speaker 1: a little bit in the season. What's your approach?
1:58
Speaker 3: Ben?
2:00
Speaker 1: How important to your success has been the way that
2:05
Speaker 1: you approach your bets and and kind of like the
2:07
Speaker 1: change you've had in your approach to the game.
2:11
Speaker 2: I think it's everything. I think it's everything for me.
2:15
Speaker 2: There's a lot of clarity on what I'm doing in
2:17
Speaker 2: the box right now that I haven't had since since
2:21
Speaker 2: I can remember. I mean, I would have to go
2:22
Speaker 2: back to the minor leagues. It's purely about competing. Right now,
2:27
Speaker 2: there's no you know, Murph talks a lot about divided attention.
2:31
Speaker 2: There's not a lot of divided attention right now. And
2:33
Speaker 2: I think in the past, I'd be in the box
2:36
Speaker 2: trying to hit a guy who's throwing one hundred miles
2:38
Speaker 2: an hour, thinking about where my hands are, what my
2:40
Speaker 2: back hip is doing, and you're just kind of setting
2:43
Speaker 2: yourself up for failure in moments like that. And right
2:47
Speaker 2: now it's all just seatball, hit ball. And so the
2:50
Speaker 2: simplified approach for me has has made a tremendous difference.
2:56
Speaker 4: Where you go ahead, Now that's more I mean, obviously
3:00
Speaker 4: what you're saying right there, it seems like it's more mental.
3:04
Speaker 3: Broch compared to more I guess physical.
3:08
Speaker 4: So looking at it this year for you, this has been,
3:11
Speaker 4: I mean a fantastic year so far going on.
3:14
Speaker 3: And yeah, I wanted to hear your thoughts.
3:16
Speaker 4: A guy that I played played with, played against Daniel
3:20
Speaker 4: Vogelbach coming in, you know, as he have you all
3:24
Speaker 4: been clicking? Has there been something that that he's been
3:26
Speaker 4: helping y'all out with.
3:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. He's really good when it comes
3:33
Speaker 2: to approach and what you're looking for and what you
3:36
Speaker 2: want to eliminate. He talks a lot about specific pictures
3:41
Speaker 2: and the traps that they try and set for you. Right, Like,
3:43
Speaker 2: guys don't have success looking down and in because of
3:48
Speaker 2: that twelve six curveball that's going down to your back foot,
3:51
Speaker 2: so you want to look more up and out. And
3:54
Speaker 2: I think when you think like that, it makes it
3:57
Speaker 2: a little bit easier to not chase to swing at
4:00
Speaker 2: the pitches that you want to hit as opposed to
4:03
Speaker 2: trying to go after it just strikes, because if you
4:07
Speaker 2: fall off the fastball down and in and there's a
4:10
Speaker 2: banger twelve six curveball coming on the back end of that,
4:13
Speaker 2: chances are probably swinging at the curveball in the dirt
4:16
Speaker 2: as opposed to just letting them have the fastball down
4:18
Speaker 2: and in and waiting for something you know that you
4:20
Speaker 2: can handle.
4:23
Speaker 1: Hoping balance, like thinking through all of that stuff, processing
4:29
Speaker 1: the chess match and what the pitcher might be doing
4:32
Speaker 1: to you, while also keeping in mind what you talked
4:35
Speaker 1: about earlier, and like what your primary focus has been
4:38
Speaker 1: of like, I just want to see the ball and
4:40
Speaker 1: hit the ball.
4:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's something. I think it's something as
4:46
Speaker 2: a hitter that you try to commit to more when
4:50
Speaker 2: you're in the hole on deck, and then when you
4:52
Speaker 2: get in the box, you just trust that your intention
4:56
Speaker 2: is right and you'll be able to execute it. I
4:59
Speaker 2: think the more blank your mind can be in the box,
5:03
Speaker 2: the the better chance you're gonna have. I mean, because
5:06
Speaker 2: there's that bats I've had this year too, where I'll
5:09
Speaker 2: start overthinking it and next thing you know, you're you're
5:14
Speaker 2: off track and you're away from the approach. I had
5:17
Speaker 2: one of those last night where I think it was
5:21
Speaker 2: my third at bat against ground where he's stuck. He's
5:24
Speaker 2: stuck an oh fastball down, and I took it because
5:28
Speaker 2: we're giving him down right because of the curveball, and uh,
5:32
Speaker 2: it just got in my head. I'm like, Oh, he's
5:33
Speaker 2: stuck a fastball down, Now what? And then I chase
5:36
Speaker 2: a curveball, sales a fastball up, and chase another curveball down.
5:39
Speaker 2: So it's it's at bats like those that I think
5:42
Speaker 2: you try and minimize and the better that you can
5:45
Speaker 2: stick to the approach that the plan that you have
5:48
Speaker 2: more times than not, you're gonna You're gonna give yourself
5:50
Speaker 2: a shot.
5:53
Speaker 1: We love our dog Bella, who splays out in the
5:55
Speaker 1: open sun on our floor like she's an underwear model.
5:58
Speaker 1: And that's why we love her so much. To scratch
6:00
Speaker 1: her belly.
6:02
Speaker 2: She's a cutie, that Bella.
6:04
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6:54
Speaker 3: Sorry, JP, I'm so man, my man. I mean also
7:00
Speaker 3: had a great event last night, dude.
7:02
Speaker 4: I mean with Brown you obviously ball and he goes
7:07
Speaker 4: in what.
7:10
Speaker 3: It was last night?
7:12
Speaker 6: So I've been impressive too.
7:15
Speaker 4: He throws the same curve ball in the exact same
7:17
Speaker 4: spot five times. Yeah, you swung at him twice.
7:20
Speaker 3: But you realize whatever was?
7:23
Speaker 6: Hey, we back see the ball up? I thought that
7:28
Speaker 6: was pro tracker.
7:30
Speaker 3: Uh. Sorry JP for over ahead.
7:32
Speaker 7: Man, You're good, Jake, I just got a question in
7:36
Speaker 7: your in you're basically your entire pro career, which has
7:39
Speaker 7: been almost like fourteen fifteen years somewhere in that, right,
7:42
Speaker 7: you've been in the game that long?
7:44
Speaker 6: Why and and uh?
7:47
Speaker 7: As far as hitting wise, like your every every year, right,
7:51
Speaker 7: your approach changes or your swing changes a little bit,
7:53
Speaker 7: But what's the biggest adjustment. I feel like pitching in
7:57
Speaker 7: your professional career has gone from a point where you've
8:01
Speaker 7: you you're used to facing you know, like low ninety
8:04
Speaker 7: starters till every starter feels like it's coming out with
8:07
Speaker 7: gas now. And as far as for for on the
8:10
Speaker 7: hitting side, do you do you think that with all
8:13
Speaker 7: this velocity is has has velocity become easier for you
8:17
Speaker 7: guys to catch up to or do you guys just
8:19
Speaker 7: think you're getting better fine tuned to it? Or I
8:22
Speaker 7: mean as far as on the hitter side of things,
8:24
Speaker 7: what is what is this velocity uptick with pictures gone
8:27
Speaker 7: for for your mental state and also the hitting side
8:30
Speaker 7: of things.
8:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think there's a lot of that
8:35
Speaker 2: goes into it. I think in the past, velocity almost
8:41
Speaker 2: had like a intimidation element to it, right, Like you know,
8:46
Speaker 2: you see a guy coming out of the pen and
8:48
Speaker 2: he's throwing ninety eight to one hundred. It used to
8:51
Speaker 2: be like, oh, man, like, I gotta get it going.
8:55
Speaker 2: I we gotta be ready for the heater here. But
8:58
Speaker 2: now you're on the bus, go into the yard and
9:02
Speaker 2: you're just expecting at some point, I'm seeing a hundred
9:05
Speaker 2: tonight and that just is what it is. And then yeah,
9:09
Speaker 2: I mean there's there's also an element to seeing it
9:11
Speaker 2: more and more, just like anything else, you get a
9:13
Speaker 2: little bit more comfortable with it, but it's also still
9:19
Speaker 2: it's hard, man, Like, it's hard. These guys are coming
9:21
Speaker 2: at you. A lot of guys aren't scared of hitters
9:25
Speaker 2: in the box, it feels like, and they're going to
9:26
Speaker 2: come at you with their best basketball and you just
9:29
Speaker 2: got to be ready to go.
9:30
Speaker 1: Well, one of those guys, where's number thirty two? He's
9:34
Speaker 1: on your team. He's tall, he's lanky, he's the miz dude.
9:38
Speaker 1: What what can you say about what he's doing right now?
9:44
Speaker 1: And your perspective as both a hitter but also as
9:47
Speaker 1: a teammate and someone who saw him last year and
9:50
Speaker 1: has seen the progression to where he is now.
9:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been it's been crazy to watch man because
9:59
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a guy last year that you know,
10:01
Speaker 2: I think he'd probably be the first to tell you
10:04
Speaker 2: that he wasn't he wasn't pitching up to his potential
10:08
Speaker 2: last year, and then to see him come in this year,
10:11
Speaker 2: it seems like he's pounding the zone a lot more.
10:14
Speaker 2: Which when you're pounding the zone with one hundred and two,
10:19
Speaker 2: I got to imagine as a pitcher, it's making life
10:21
Speaker 2: pretty easy. I mean, I know none of this is easy, right,
10:24
Speaker 2: but when you can get ahead and get to O
10:27
Speaker 2: two with two fastballs, pretty much anywhere in the zone.
10:32
Speaker 2: I think that's something that you got to lean on
10:34
Speaker 2: for sure. And then I think there's also an element
10:37
Speaker 2: to him that people might not see, but like he's
10:40
Speaker 2: competitive and I think he has an idea of how
10:44
Speaker 2: good he is and I think he wants to live
10:46
Speaker 2: up to that. And so it's been cool to see him.
10:49
Speaker 2: It's been cool to see him work. It's been cool
10:51
Speaker 2: to see him get deeper and deeper into games. And
10:54
Speaker 2: you know, now you're seeing with his cramping stuff, like
10:58
Speaker 2: he's he's fighting to figure that that out, right, because
11:00
Speaker 2: I mean, I know, I got to imagine it's a
11:02
Speaker 2: starting pitcher, Like you want to be going CG shutout
11:06
Speaker 2: as much as you can, right, especially when you know
11:08
Speaker 2: it's when you know it's right in front of you.
11:10
Speaker 2: So that's something I'm sure we're going to see soon.
11:14
Speaker 1: Is there a confidence to him?
11:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no doubt. And uh it's sneaky, man, It's
11:20
Speaker 2: sneaky because he is a little bit of a goober, right,
11:24
Speaker 2: Like he's got his got his Pokemon cards. He loves
11:28
Speaker 2: the he loves all the trading cards stuff, and he's
11:31
Speaker 2: not the most outspoken guy. But also like he's he's
11:35
Speaker 2: coming that guys man, and he's not scared. He's not scared.
11:41
Speaker 6: Corey, No, no, I didn't. Okay, Pokemon, Pokemon.
11:51
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, just paying just paying Pokemon cards.
11:53
Speaker 2: What we were saying, yeah yeah for him and McGill
12:00
Speaker 2: and paint again.
12:01
Speaker 1: Whoever's on your team is are you Are you into
12:03
Speaker 1: the trading cards? Have you gotten into that case?
12:05
Speaker 2: No? No, man, no, I I did have some Pokemon cards.
12:10
Speaker 2: I used to watch the cartoons when that when I
12:14
Speaker 2: was a kid. But no, no, I uh, I kind
12:18
Speaker 2: of came out of that a little bit. JB.
12:23
Speaker 1: Who's the most competitive guy in the team that, Like
12:25
Speaker 1: you're talking about MSUs competitiveness. I'm wondering, like if just
12:28
Speaker 1: in like a game of cards or whatever, who's who's
12:34
Speaker 1: like the fiercest competitor.
12:37
Speaker 2: Oh, Fierce's competitive. I mean it's hard not to say
12:41
Speaker 2: wild Bill back there. Okay, yeah, I mean he's not
12:45
Speaker 2: playing cards too much in the clubhouse, but you know
12:48
Speaker 2: when when seven o'clock rolls around, that guy's going to
12:52
Speaker 2: be ready to go.
12:54
Speaker 1: I was thinking maybe Salve for cards.
12:58
Speaker 2: Not Cee salth We me and Salle played cards. We
13:01
Speaker 2: played cards almost every day. I don't know that he's
13:05
Speaker 2: like the fiercest card competitor. Okay, there's definitely moments where
13:09
Speaker 2: I mean we've been together for a few seasons now,
13:12
Speaker 2: so I can I can push his buttons a little bit,
13:14
Speaker 2: he can push mine, and you know, some of some
13:17
Speaker 2: of those games might end with some cards being thrown
13:19
Speaker 2: on the table, but uh, it's it's all in good
13:23
Speaker 2: fun at the end of the day. With us.
13:26
Speaker 6: What's the card game of choice?
13:28
Speaker 2: We have a we have a season series of casino going.
13:33
Speaker 2: So we sit down, we try and we try and
13:35
Speaker 2: play one or two games a day. I think I'm
13:40
Speaker 2: up to in the series right now. It's like nineteen
13:43
Speaker 2: to seventeen or something like that. So we'll keep that rolling.
13:47
Speaker 2: We'll see where it is up.
13:49
Speaker 1: Do you start counting that at the beginning of the
13:50
Speaker 1: year or is that from back to spring?
13:53
Speaker 2: Uh? Opening day? Opening day game. Yeah, we got a
13:57
Speaker 2: little wager on it. So those games, I mean, if
14:02
Speaker 2: you're not careful like you and you're not locked in
14:05
Speaker 2: for a few days in a row, it's gonna get
14:07
Speaker 2: away from So.
14:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, JP, I know, JP. I know you had something
14:15
Speaker 1: about uh sort of the teams Bowers has been with.
14:19
Speaker 7: Yeah, Jake, you've been with some great organizations. I mean
14:22
Speaker 7: I've I've been a part of quite a few of
14:24
Speaker 7: the ones that you've been a part of. And just
14:27
Speaker 7: as far as going from like obviously in the big
14:31
Speaker 7: leagues you were what it was Tampa, Cleveland, Seattle, New York, Milwaukee.
14:36
Speaker 2: Is that the order is that right?
14:39
Speaker 7: As far as organizations and being part of them, which, like,
14:43
Speaker 7: I know it's tough to go against the org that
14:46
Speaker 7: you're with right now and say, you know which one
14:48
Speaker 7: you've liked the most, but give us a little insight
14:51
Speaker 7: on like what which which organizations you've enjoyed, and what
14:55
Speaker 7: what parks and everything like that, like as far as
14:58
Speaker 7: clubhouses and what it's your favorites in your list.
15:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, so again, like this is not just
15:07
Speaker 2: because I'm here now, but this has by far been
15:10
Speaker 2: my favorite spot. And that might be just from playing
15:14
Speaker 2: in the playoffs the last two seasons and you know,
15:17
Speaker 2: getting in there and and having some moments and you know,
15:21
Speaker 2: getting closer with everybody here throughout the past you know,
15:24
Speaker 2: three seasons. But also I feel like there's an element
15:28
Speaker 2: of like I've had some ups, I've had some downs
15:32
Speaker 2: and everywhere I've been and I feel like I'm almost
15:35
Speaker 2: a product of all the organizations that I've played in.
15:39
Speaker 2: Coming up in Tampa. I think Tampa operates along the
15:43
Speaker 2: same lines as we do in Milwaukee. There's a there was,
15:47
Speaker 2: at least when I was there. I don't know how
15:48
Speaker 2: they're doing it now. It's been it's been a minute,
15:51
Speaker 2: But when I was coming up in the minor leagues,
15:54
Speaker 2: a lot of it was pre exit, velocity, pre launch angle,
16:00
Speaker 2: stuff like that, more about, hey, we're going to try
16:02
Speaker 2: and win these games. You know, we're in double A,
16:04
Speaker 2: button guys over, getting guys in from third, and so
16:09
Speaker 2: I think that really that really kind of set the
16:12
Speaker 2: tone on the way I thought about the game of
16:15
Speaker 2: baseball is it's always been about winning the game. And
16:18
Speaker 2: you know, I think that's something we do a great
16:20
Speaker 2: job of.
16:20
Speaker 1: Here, JP, your strike or JP JB your strike up
16:26
Speaker 1: numbers are down this year. Something I haven't asked you
16:28
Speaker 1: about all you're really even in the clubhouse. What what
16:32
Speaker 1: do you think has gone into that? Is it swing decisions?
16:35
Speaker 1: Is it anything with mechanics, with with pitch selection? What
16:39
Speaker 1: do you make of that?
16:42
Speaker 2: No, I think it just goes back to the to
16:44
Speaker 2: the focus and the intent and the clarity in the
16:46
Speaker 2: box right, Like again, like if you're thinking about mechanics
16:51
Speaker 2: and someone's throwing a hunter, that balls by you. Because
16:54
Speaker 2: by the time you decide that you're in a good spot,
16:57
Speaker 2: it's it's far too late. And and it's really just
17:02
Speaker 2: about I'm in there and I'm fully present, I'm in
17:06
Speaker 2: the moment, and I'm seatball, hit ball, and so really
17:12
Speaker 2: like I can't stress enough, Like I think back and
17:16
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't know how I ever even put
17:18
Speaker 2: the bat on the ball before, because I'm telling you,
17:21
Speaker 2: it's it's a it's a serious mental fog when you're
17:26
Speaker 2: in your setup, you're in your stance, waiting for the
17:29
Speaker 2: pitcher to throw the ball, and you have a checklist
17:32
Speaker 2: of four things that you decide you need to cross
17:34
Speaker 2: off before you can swing the bat, and it's it's
17:37
Speaker 2: just too late. It's too late to make a decision.
17:40
Speaker 2: You're gonna give rush, the game's gonna speed up on you.
17:43
Speaker 2: And so a lot of that has really slowed the
17:45
Speaker 2: game down for me.
17:48
Speaker 1: When you see, Okay, Corey.
17:51
Speaker 4: I know, I just started getting into that baseball savant
17:55
Speaker 4: that Kurt's been telling me about.
17:57
Speaker 6: I saw, dude, obviously, look gets early.
18:00
Speaker 4: But everything everything's trending up right now with your your
18:05
Speaker 4: hard hit percentage chase obviously being down, everything is looking great.
18:12
Speaker 6: I did want to ask you too.
18:13
Speaker 4: You know, JP's kind of mentioned you know, your career
18:18
Speaker 4: so far minor leagues, major leagues, but you know, I
18:22
Speaker 4: saw some today. We were both in the same draft
18:24
Speaker 4: class in thirteen.
18:26
Speaker 2: So what was it?
18:29
Speaker 4: What was it that I guess made you want to
18:31
Speaker 4: decide to go pro. You know, this was thirteen years ago,
18:34
Speaker 4: rather than go to the University Hawaii.
18:39
Speaker 2: Oh man, that's a good question. I'd have to say,
18:44
Speaker 2: gut feeling more than anything. I think since I was
18:49
Speaker 2: a kid, I knew that this is all I wanted
18:51
Speaker 2: to do, and going to the University of Hawaii would
18:55
Speaker 2: have been a great experience. I'm not sure how much
18:57
Speaker 2: better at baseball it would have gotten. I probably would
18:59
Speaker 2: have gotten pretty good going to the beach and hanging
19:02
Speaker 2: out and maybe get a nice tan. But I think
19:06
Speaker 2: I knew I wanted to play baseball, and I think
19:10
Speaker 2: I knew that's that's all I wanted to focus on.
19:13
Speaker 2: And it wasn't an easy choice. I mean, the seventh
19:16
Speaker 2: round it didn't pay like the first round, I mean,
19:19
Speaker 2: obviously you're seventeen years old, so any signing bonus is
19:22
Speaker 2: more than you got. But at the end of the day,
19:24
Speaker 2: I think it was about what's going to put me
19:27
Speaker 2: in the best spot to continue to grow as a
19:30
Speaker 2: baseball player and give me the best chance to play
19:32
Speaker 2: in the big leagues.
19:34
Speaker 1: What like, did you expect to maybe go a little sooner,
19:38
Speaker 1: get a little more, a little little more of a bonus.
19:43
Speaker 2: I think if you ask seventeen year old me when
19:45
Speaker 2: I got drafted, yes, I expected to go sooner. Now
19:48
Speaker 2: that I'm thirty, looking back on it, I definitely can
19:53
Speaker 2: say that I was nowhere near the first round. I
19:56
Speaker 2: wasn't polished. As a first basement, you got to be
20:02
Speaker 2: hitting for power. I don't think I had a ton
20:04
Speaker 2: of power at the time. I think my first year
20:06
Speaker 2: in rookie ball, I hit one home run, and so yeah,
20:12
Speaker 2: I think the younger, less mature version of me would
20:15
Speaker 2: have said, yeah, I expect to go sooner. But also
20:17
Speaker 2: the thirty year old version of me sitting here right
20:19
Speaker 2: now can tell you I think it worked out how
20:21
Speaker 2: it was supposed to.
20:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you kind of like jumped on the
20:24
Speaker 1: prospect scene. Was that was it pretty quick like with
20:27
Speaker 1: the padres, or when did you sort of start to
20:31
Speaker 1: get some attention in the rankings and whatnot in the
20:36
Speaker 1: minor leagues or yeah, in the minors, Yeah, yeah, in
20:38
Speaker 1: the minor leagues.
20:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say.
20:42
Speaker 3: So.
20:43
Speaker 2: My first pollseason, I stayed back and extended for two
20:46
Speaker 2: three weeks or something like that, and then I got
20:49
Speaker 2: the call up to Low A and played well, I
20:53
Speaker 2: mean played well enough to I think get on the
20:56
Speaker 2: top thirty list at the time. I remember, I remember
20:59
Speaker 2: being on the bus headed somewhere and I think it
21:03
Speaker 2: was actually Trey Turner who showed me like, oh hey, look,
21:06
Speaker 2: you're on the list. I remember that being a pretty
21:09
Speaker 2: cool moment for me. And then yeah, I mean from
21:13
Speaker 2: there it was just I tried to keep my head
21:15
Speaker 2: down and keep growing as a player, keep producing wherever
21:19
Speaker 2: I was, and yeah, I just kind of slowly climbed
21:22
Speaker 2: my way up there. It's like looking back, looking back
21:26
Speaker 2: like that, prospecting in the minor league was like everything, man,
21:29
Speaker 2: and then yeah, now here sitting here, it's like, man,
21:33
Speaker 2: that it truly means nothing.
21:35
Speaker 3: Yeah.
21:35
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, what were some of the difficulties, I
21:39
Speaker 1: guess are hardships when you go from prospect to this
21:43
Speaker 1: team to that team, to that team to this team,
21:45
Speaker 1: and you kept getting some chances but couldn't really find
21:48
Speaker 1: your footing or ever establish yourself as a regular guy.
21:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think getting traded after my rookie year was
22:03
Speaker 2: one of the more difficult things that I think I've
22:05
Speaker 2: gone through in the game, especially because I didn't have
22:10
Speaker 2: like this lights out rookie year either. I mean I
22:13
Speaker 2: played well right when I first got called up, and
22:15
Speaker 2: then really really struggled for the first time in baseball,
22:20
Speaker 2: and I was trying to figure out how to struggle
22:22
Speaker 2: in the big leagues as a twenty two year old
22:24
Speaker 2: who had never really faced any kind of adversity like
22:29
Speaker 2: that before, and then getting traded on top of that,
22:33
Speaker 2: Now I'm a young kid, new organization, don't know anybody,
22:38
Speaker 2: and it was really hard for me to find my way.
22:40
Speaker 2: So and that kind of journey, too, I feel like
22:47
Speaker 2: is almost still going. Like I really, I think last
22:50
Speaker 2: season was really the first season where I actually felt
22:55
Speaker 2: settled for the first time in the big leagues. And
22:59
Speaker 2: so all credit to the Brewers as well. Man with
23:02
Speaker 2: the culture that that we have here, they make it
23:04
Speaker 2: easy to come in and be yourself. So that's something
23:07
Speaker 2: that I've really enjoyed.
23:09
Speaker 1: All right, Jake, I think some Bruis fans might be
23:13
Speaker 1: curious to know why you walk up to some ethereal
23:19
Speaker 1: roy ayers my life in the Sunshine? What's is there
23:22
Speaker 1: a backstory? Because you know, in like you know how
23:25
Speaker 1: it is in this modern day of baseball, guys are
23:27
Speaker 1: walking up to like either Country or you know, Jackson Churio,
23:33
Speaker 1: like reggaeton beats or likes, or like modern hip hop.
23:38
Speaker 1: No one's going back to whatever that is the seventies
23:40
Speaker 1: or eighties. What's the what's the thinking?
23:43
Speaker 2: I don't know that there's any like real thinking behind it.
23:47
Speaker 2: I was on a little bit of like a soul
23:49
Speaker 2: music kick last year when I when I switched over
23:52
Speaker 2: to it, there was also an element of and remember
23:56
Speaker 2: the Titans. The quarterback that comes in they call Sunshine.
24:00
Speaker 2: Obviously he's from Huntington Beach, So I'm from Huntington Beach,
24:06
Speaker 2: so a little little connection there, but no, I mean,
24:11
Speaker 2: and it's also like I'm I'm trying to be calm,
24:13
Speaker 2: I'm trying to be relaxed. I don't I don't want
24:15
Speaker 2: to get jacked up. I want I want things to
24:18
Speaker 2: move slowly. So when I'm walking up to the plate
24:21
Speaker 2: and it's just a nice, nice little vibe, I feel
24:25
Speaker 2: like it kind of just like keeps me where I
24:27
Speaker 2: want to be in a sense.
24:29
Speaker 1: Sure, absolutely, I'll put you on the spot here with
24:33
Speaker 1: another one. You you can have you win a game,
24:35
Speaker 1: right you're sitting in the the cafeteria, the food room
24:39
Speaker 1: as what he always refers to it. You can sit
24:42
Speaker 1: with three teammates at those small tables, any three teammates
24:46
Speaker 1: for your post game, post win dinner. Who are you picking?
24:53
Speaker 2: Oh man, you really put me on the spot.
24:55
Speaker 1: I'm really putting on the spot. This is actually the
24:57
Speaker 1: question I can get you in trouble, not the other stuff.
24:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I might hear about this. I'll go, I
25:04
Speaker 2: gotta I gotta say with my guy South, me and
25:07
Speaker 2: him always have a good answer back and forth. Uh Ashby,
25:12
Speaker 2: I think Ashby makes the cut. And then third one, Yeah,
25:17
Speaker 2: I'll go, I'll go big Wu, I'll go big w.
25:20
Speaker 2: We'll get we'll get two position players, two pitchers. That
25:23
Speaker 2: way there can be that little rivalry back and forth.
25:26
Speaker 2: And then uh yeah, I mean there's always there's always
25:30
Speaker 2: some good lines in there. That are that are going
25:32
Speaker 2: to keep you laughing with those three.
25:35
Speaker 1: Absolutely, that's that's a that's a good group. That's a
25:37
Speaker 1: good group. How how how has your relationship with Yelly?
25:41
Speaker 1: Not a guy you mentioned there, but you guys have
25:42
Speaker 1: had lockers close together. You're one of them.
25:45
Speaker 2: You set me up, You set me up.
25:47
Speaker 1: And I did s and now and now and now
25:50
Speaker 1: let me let me let me you with a chance
25:53
Speaker 1: to speak about your pal. You guys are two of
25:56
Speaker 1: the other states when I'm the team now, basically, how's
25:59
Speaker 1: that relationship grown over the last couple of years.
26:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's grown a lot. Man, It's grown a lot.
26:06
Speaker 2: And I've I've gone to Gellie a lot with with
26:10
Speaker 2: certain questions. I mean, being being one of the older
26:15
Speaker 2: guys on the team. I mean that's a that's a
26:17
Speaker 2: first for me, and and that I think comes along
26:20
Speaker 2: with a set of responsibilities in the clubhouse, which is,
26:24
Speaker 2: you know, not easy to navigate it. I mean, especially
26:28
Speaker 2: you know for a guy like me. And I mean
26:30
Speaker 2: maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit here, but it's
26:32
Speaker 2: not like I've lit the big leagues on fire, you know.
26:36
Speaker 2: It's it's been uh eight years of kind of just
26:42
Speaker 2: hanging on most of the time and and trying to
26:46
Speaker 2: trying to just keep my job, and so I sometimes
26:51
Speaker 2: feel like I don't carry all the weight that that
26:55
Speaker 2: a veteran should. So it's been nice to have Yellie
27:00
Speaker 2: to talk to kind of bounce things off of. He
27:04
Speaker 2: He kind of keeps me on the right track with
27:05
Speaker 2: everything mentally, and and he's helped keep my perspective clear
27:10
Speaker 2: on a lot of things. For sure, Corey, that.
27:18
Speaker 6: Will help out that hook. I mean, one thing to
27:23
Speaker 6: kind of.
27:26
Speaker 4: For you is that, yeah you mentioned earlier, it's when
27:29
Speaker 4: you're bouncing around like that from team to team. Yeah,
27:32
Speaker 4: it's hard to it's hard to really get comfortable. So
27:34
Speaker 4: we started to see last year, you know, you started
27:39
Speaker 4: coming back into the Brewers and starting to feel place.
27:44
Speaker 6: Sure, you know, it didn't happen too much.
27:48
Speaker 4: I guess you're, yeah, got on the team being thirty
27:53
Speaker 4: years old. How does how does that compare for you
27:58
Speaker 4: or how does that, I guess relate for you from
28:02
Speaker 4: that You're where thirty year old was basically a young
28:05
Speaker 4: guy like on the Yankees. I guess the Rays and
28:08
Speaker 4: the Brewers are kind of similar. But yeah, how does
28:11
Speaker 4: that feel? I guess to be the the veteran guy
28:14
Speaker 4: at thirty years old.
28:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's definitely weird. Yeah, And like I said,
28:22
Speaker 2: I mean I think it's something that I noticed in
28:25
Speaker 2: spring looking around. It was like, oh, like and you're
28:29
Speaker 2: you're an old guy right.
28:30
Speaker 3: Now, right.
28:33
Speaker 2: I think it says a lot too about kind of
28:34
Speaker 2: where the game has gone in the past. In the
28:37
Speaker 2: past few years. You know, those those veteran clubhouse presidence
28:41
Speaker 2: type guys aren't necessarily getting the opportunities that that the
28:46
Speaker 2: young guys are anymore. And so, like I said, I
28:50
Speaker 2: think I realized that it kind of came with a
28:52
Speaker 2: little bit of responsibility and that's something that I'm still
28:55
Speaker 2: trying to try to learn that role and grow within
28:59
Speaker 2: it and do what I can to help the clubhouse
29:02
Speaker 2: as much as possible.
29:05
Speaker 1: All Right, Well, Jake, we're about to talk at about
29:07
Speaker 1: thirty thirty minutes here. Well we'll wrap soon, Corey, unless
29:10
Speaker 1: you do you have anything, I got I got one
29:11
Speaker 1: more so if you got something.
29:13
Speaker 6: Let me hear go ahead.
29:14
Speaker 1: Man, Okay, Look, it's well it's.
29:17
Speaker 6: A big responsibility.
29:18
Speaker 3: Man.
29:18
Speaker 4: The guys are vibing, so keep it up for sure, man, Yeah,
29:22
Speaker 4: no doubt appreciate.
29:23
Speaker 1: It, just to kind of put a bowl on things.
29:26
Speaker 1: You guys are Wriggly Now, obviously I'm curious, ay what
29:29
Speaker 1: your thoughts are on playing at Wrigly and that environment,
29:32
Speaker 1: and be what your what's your one or two or
29:35
Speaker 1: maybe even three, what's your favorite road stadiums to play
29:39
Speaker 1: a game in?
29:39
Speaker 2: Our Yeah, playing in Wriglely, I feel like, especially as
29:44
Speaker 2: a brewer, is it's it's tough. It's tough. I mean,
29:49
Speaker 2: we got the lineup the other night before the first
29:51
Speaker 2: game here, and I saw I was playing left field.
29:53
Speaker 2: I would be lying if I said I didn't wake
29:55
Speaker 2: up nervous about going out to play left field and
29:58
Speaker 2: Wrigley Man, And so I was kind of nervous throughout
30:02
Speaker 2: the entire day about it. And I just had to
30:05
Speaker 2: like psych myself up and kind of talk myself into it,
30:08
Speaker 2: like it's it's gonna be all right, Like just go
30:10
Speaker 2: just go play the game. Those fans, those fans are
30:14
Speaker 2: on top of you. They're they're not scared of you.
30:17
Speaker 2: They're gonna get after you a little bit. And for me,
30:21
Speaker 2: it's just keep my head down and try and keep
30:24
Speaker 2: my focus. I know some guys, some guys turn around
30:27
Speaker 2: and have fun with it. But for me, that's that's
30:29
Speaker 2: not a fun experience. So, uh, did.
30:34
Speaker 1: They have any good ones? Any specific any specific ones
30:37
Speaker 1: stand out to you where you like, you're not turning around,
30:39
Speaker 1: but you're like, okay.
30:40
Speaker 6: That was good.
30:41
Speaker 2: So luckily, luckily the other night we jumped ahead pretty
30:45
Speaker 2: good and so they kind of that kind of kept
30:47
Speaker 2: them quiet. I got a little rowdy during their during
30:50
Speaker 2: their rally. I think it was in like the fifth
30:52
Speaker 2: or sixth any when they when they put up a
30:54
Speaker 2: few runs and then I moved to first base and
30:57
Speaker 2: I was out of there, and that was like a
31:00
Speaker 2: world off my shoulders. Man, I don't have to run
31:02
Speaker 2: back out there. So so nothing the other night. And
31:07
Speaker 2: then as far as top three stadiums, I've always been
31:10
Speaker 2: a fan of playing in Houston. I really like going
31:13
Speaker 2: to Houston. I don't know, something about the ballpark is
31:15
Speaker 2: just I like it a lot. Atlanta, Atlanta is a
31:19
Speaker 2: great place to play. And then I think Minnesota, Minnesota too,
31:25
Speaker 2: I really like that ballpark.
31:27
Speaker 1: When it's not gusting twenty mile an hour winds and
31:30
Speaker 1: from rightfield.
31:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I've never seen that there before, which which
31:35
Speaker 2: was crazy. And then you know, they bounced me out
31:38
Speaker 2: to left field in the ninth inning, and of course
31:41
Speaker 2: the first two balls are hit by Way and the
31:43
Speaker 2: second one is going back towards the infield and I'm
31:46
Speaker 2: trying to I'm trying to catch that thing. So yeah,
31:49
Speaker 2: it wasn't great. I don't think baseball is a windy sport,
31:53
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. I know there's rain outs. No,
31:55
Speaker 2: there's rain outs and all this stuff. I think we
31:57
Speaker 2: should start doing like windouts or something.
32:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, only if it's blowing in, if it's blowing out
32:05
Speaker 1: at Wrigley.
32:07
Speaker 2: Well, I mean even then, like yeah, yeah, it gets
32:10
Speaker 2: in your head and then you end up bounding four
32:12
Speaker 2: balls into the ground or something like what couldn't have
32:15
Speaker 2: gone worse?
32:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's right. I thought it was. It was
32:21
Speaker 1: perfect last night when Bryce sits that ball to left
32:24
Speaker 1: center and he kind of holds the pose and like
32:26
Speaker 1: it didn't get up by a whole lot. But like,
32:28
Speaker 1: that's a guy who has played at that stadium and
32:30
Speaker 1: played with the wind there before. He absolutely like he he.
32:34
Speaker 2: I thought he missed it. I thought he missed it.
32:36
Speaker 2: I was sitting ye standing next to Vogue, and I
32:38
Speaker 2: was like, I just missed it. And Bogey turned me.
32:40
Speaker 2: He's like, I got it, and I was like, oh damn,
32:42
Speaker 2: you did get it?
32:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you thought you got George of Minnesota, so
32:47
Speaker 1: did I. I feel like I have a pretty good judge,
32:49
Speaker 1: Like our press box angle is pretty good, and I
32:50
Speaker 1: thought you got both them. And then I felt like
32:52
Speaker 1: a complete idiot.
32:55
Speaker 2: Yeah you and you and me both.
32:56
Speaker 1: Man, oh man, that's that gets it. But hey, you
33:00
Speaker 1: got one at Wrigley. Got it over there, over the scoreboard,
33:03
Speaker 1: to the scoreboard.
33:05
Speaker 2: I think it was off the scoreboard, off the scoreboard.
33:07
Speaker 6: Okay, that's that's tough right there.
33:12
Speaker 1: That's yelly Land. That might be like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
33:16
Speaker 1: that's yelly lamb. Well, hey, on the and on the basket,
33:19
Speaker 1: in the basket, on the scoreboard, to the bleachers, wherever
33:21
Speaker 1: it all, it's all going to count the same. Jake
33:23
Speaker 1: you You've been off to a great start this year.
33:25
Speaker 1: Keep it up. We appreciate you joining us, Thanks for the time,
33:28
Speaker 1: and thanks to everyone else for tuning in to this
33:30
Speaker 1: episode of