Latest / District Territory / The Nats aren't ready, but they're building

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The Nats aren't ready, but they're building · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: from Bat Boys Baseball, and joining me today, Kevin Franzen,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: color commentary for the Washington Nationals, and Spencer Nussbaum of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: The Athletic. You boys were both out in San Diego
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and L.A. for a disappointing road trip, 0-6, but Kevin,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: you opened the show the other day saying, It was
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the most September-y of Septembers. Like, this day is the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: most September-est day. The discussion you had with the clubhouse manager, right?
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm curious. It's a Sunday night game to a
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Monday day game. It's as September as it gets.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: That's scheduling.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: It's not, I mean, it's not relevant into what it's
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: not relevant in the whole grand scheme of things. It's,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: it's trying to create some fodder during the whole thing, right? Like, uh,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: you're going up against two playoff, not containing. There are
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: two playoff teams, right? Like you look at the Padres,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: that's a playoff team. They, all the talent that they have. Um,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: and you, you talk about the travel, you got to
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: get over it and you got to go out and play. And,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: and it's, it can't be about like the, the poor, um,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: you know, timing on, on schedules, everyone goes through it
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: throughout the years. Um, so my, my, it was more,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: that was more for play.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Well, put a smile on my face, but, uh, the,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: unfortunately the play that followed after was just not very, uh,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: exciting on the net. Well, not to say it wasn't exciting,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: but just disappointing for the nationals. You can't sugarcoat it.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: They're 38th blown save setting a major league record. Spencer,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you were also there the other night, just, uh, I
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: don't know, what was the feeling like, I guess, in
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the ballpark there for Padres fans? Was there a sense
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: of looming to any degree with how this bullpen has
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: pitched lately?
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I could take this in a number of different directions.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: The direction that stood out to me the most was
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: actually what I saw and heard in the clubhouse after
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: the fact, right? And this is something that I think
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: is probably evident to Nationals fans, but if you're not
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: in the room, it's hard to understand. Nationals fans don't
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: want to hear that these guys are trying as hard
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: as they can. I'm sure there's a segment of Nationals
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: fans that don't care how hard these guys are trying
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: when the results aren't following. But we talked to Eric Tolman,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: we talked to Riley Cornelio, and we talked to Jared
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Simpson on the day where they set the blown saves record.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Riley was as broken up as I think any pitcher
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: I've talked to all year. And he pitched three perfect
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: innings at the start of that game.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: He is someone who I think can put himself in
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: the shoes of the guys who more or less blew
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: that game for the nationals. You think back to April
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: and the overarching sentiment here is the nationals have put
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: a ton of guys in positions they have never been
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: in before. I think it is for their benefit, but
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: you do have to consider just how heartbreaking it is
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: for these guys who have never pitched in the big
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: leagues before, for the most part, to be the ones
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: who ultimately set this record. And they talked over and
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: over about how they will help each other get through
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: this and they're working as hard as they can. But
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: there really was an acknowledgement that this can never happen
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: again in that clubhouse. And I thought that was... really
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: interesting just being in there after the fact. Yeah.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, look, there's a lot true to that. I mean,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: ultimately it comes down to this. Like, they're getting put
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: in spots in the big leagues that, you know, maybe
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: in other organizations they wouldn't be put in this place.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: And that's a good thing, you know? And they got
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: to look at that. Like, I saw Riley after the
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: game and, you know, we're on the elevator. I'm like, dude,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: that was awesome today. And like you said, he was
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: pretty still broken up about it. I'm like, This whole
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: thing can't be about the team part of it sometimes.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: You've got to take some, especially, and it sounds bad,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: but in these moments, you've got to have some selfish wins.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: And the selfish wins are, Riley's trying to build up
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: some confidence here in the big leagues. And he had
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: a hell of a start. He had a great outing
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: the last time out against the Braves, except for one pitch, right,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: with the home run. And other than that, I thought
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: it was one of his better outings that you're going
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: to see. And then you stacked on two days in
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: a row. I'm like, man, you've got to get these.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: That was awesome. And he's like, thanks. But like, yeah,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: it just sucks. I'm like, I get it. I know
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: the whole thing. Whatever. I'm proud of you. Like, that's
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: the part. And so each individual, you're going to take
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: it into, like, it's the greatest sport, right? We love
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: this sport. It's all individual battles within a team game.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: And you've got to win your individual battle. And that's it.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: You know, and the end of the day, like the
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: team stuff is going to take over. And, you know,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: I find the clubhouse at times like too much on the,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you know, taking losses too hard. You're not going 162-0.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: And not every loss is bad. And for fans out
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: there that think like, oh, they should be disappointed. It's like, no.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: You know what? Sometimes on some of the bone saves, yeah,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: you could be. But like Eric told me the other day,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: not bad.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Didn't walk anybody. He wasn't walking guys. Forcing the issue.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Forcing them to get in zone and you think about
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: the hunters out there and you think about Manny Machado
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: and you think about what he did. He went way
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: out of the zone to get that change up up
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: in the zone to get the two RBI. It just happens.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: That's the stuff. You pushed it. That's the one thing
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I do want to see a little bit change. I
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: get it. Losses aren't great, but they need to change
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: a little bit of that that mentality in there, like
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: F it, we're over it and we got to go.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Not the, not day of like, this is the end
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: of the world. It's not the end of the world
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: when he comes, comes down to it. Cause I feel
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: like a lot of that's starting to spill over now.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And I'm, I'm glad you brought this up for any,
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: cause I'm, I'm writing a story very similar to this
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: for the end of the year. It is something that,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: you know, you could, I don't know what the ultimate
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: number is in terms of the number guys in that
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: clubhouse who, hate losing. It's a lot. The guys who
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: hate losing to the degree that it's unhealthy is a
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: strong word, but could be changed is strong. And I
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: think that, and Blake and I have talked about this. I'm,
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: I'm writing this, like he absolutely falls into that bucket too.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: And I get it as the manager, maybe the responsibility
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: is a little bit different. But there is a degree
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: to which hating losing is unhealthy. And it sounds ridiculous
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: when I put it like that, it'll sound a lot
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: better when I put it on a sheet of paper, but, um, no,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, it is, uh, if not an epidemic on
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: the team, something that I think is absolutely, as you said,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: carrying into their play right now. Um, and I think
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: for all the focus on, um, you know, development that
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: we talk about and the things on the you know, I,
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: I think ultimately matter for this organization. The, the two
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: people who, or I should say two groups of people
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: who can't stand this are the players and coaches in
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: that clubhouse and the fans who are watching the games.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: And when those things come together, I get that it
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: feels omnipresent that, that losing, um, means everything. It matters,
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: but I think they are tracking in the right direction.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: And that's why you have to look at, again, the
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: developments on the pitching side, the developments on the hitting
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: side while acknowledging absolutely they, um, they probably blew more
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: games than they should have this year.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: So let's get into this losing part of it because
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: I think that's a fascinating thing and what we've seen
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: as far as the improvements because there are, as much
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: as the negative is on the losing part, what are
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: the huge positives? I think there has been quite a few,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: and I think the bullpen actually is one of the
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: positives because we've started to see a little bit more
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: stuff coming out of that pen. Now, strikes, all that
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: stuff comes a part of it. but we're seeing some
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: guys like when you get an Eric Tolman, what is
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: he going to be?
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: But what I know is that 98 plus in the,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: in the show.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: And he's attacking the zone. You're going to have moments
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: when you get beat like he had, he did the
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: other night, but he was attacking. Right. We've seen it
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: with Yovani Cruz. We're seeing it. I mean, the splitter that,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: that Luis Perales threw yesterday and he's thrown obviously all year,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: but the first one consistently we saw yesterday, that was gross. Um,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: You know, we can go on and on about Will Dion.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: We could go, you know, in depth, the good stuff
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: from Jared Simpson, too. There's a lot of positives in
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: this whole thing out of this losing part. Now, I
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: think it all has to, you know, even out at
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: some point. We're going to go there, I think, at
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: some point. But I think it really comes down to mentality.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: If you're going to, you know, wallow in self-pity and
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: all this stuff during losses, the big leagues are going
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: to get you. And we're seeing that right now. Because
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: the big leagues, it's an unrelenting 162.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Well, let's take a quick break. When we come back,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: the Nationals did make some team history or tie some
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: team history. You can dive into some of that when
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: we get back. That's positive, right?
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Perhaps.
• 9:34
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• 10:36
  Speaker 1: So with his 10th home run on yesterday's game, Wednesday's
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: game in San Diego, I'll be at a loss. Gabriel
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Ruiz hit his 10th home run, giving the nationals 10
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: players with 10 home runs. I don't think anyone, anyone
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: could have anticipated, uh, the resurgence key is having, but
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: to see him get to the 10 home run mark
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: was very exciting.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Spencer.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I didn't know if some of these guys are going
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: to reach it like Jacob young before the season. It's
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: encouraging to see that they have this power that was
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: not found last season. Um, And I'm curious, do you
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: think Jose Tena or Albie Ortiz could get on a
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: little run here and break some Nats history and have
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: 11 guys with 10 home runs?
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: I find that pretty unlikely. I guess the thread to
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: pull on that I'm really curious about or at least
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: has interested me all year, because I think back in
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: probably May or so, right, we had the conversation about
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: how sustainable all of this was. I think both Rainey
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: and I brought up the point that They're doing the
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: same thing in the minor leagues, right? That is happening
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: in the major leagues. And I've been talking to people
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: around the organization a lot about this recently, about the
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: fact that, yes, they have maximized, it's a weird word,
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: but I'll use it anyway. They've maximized James Wood. They
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: have helped CJ Abrams have a career year. Louie, who
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: was a great hitter before, they found another level in
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: him and he found another level in himself. But you
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: see at basically every affiliate, there are guys who were
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: not hitting for power before and they're doing it now.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: I talked to, um, one of their minor league hitting
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: coaches just the other day. And he said, um, he
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: kept on saying different parts of the job that were
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: his favorite. He said at the end of the day,
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: his absolute favorite part of this job is guys who
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: have not hit for power before starting to learn that
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: they can hit for power. Um, I think it is, again,
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: if we want to, you know, dumb it down, it
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: is what makes this game fun. Um, if we want
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: to amplify it or jump into the nuances, um, it
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: is the fact that this organization can teach guys to
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: lean into their strengths and that strength does not have
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: to be just one thing, right? Like you don't get
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: 10 guys hitting 10 homers who haven't done it before
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: without having a really deep and broad coaching staff, analytics
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: staff behind them. It, you know, for all of the
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: improvements in the organization this year, this is the one
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: that like, I feel like I could spend 10 hours
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: talking about because it is, it is remarkable how deep
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: they've been able to go in their improvements.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: 28 guys in the Meyer leagues have 10 or more
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: homers this year. That's awesome. That's a huge, that's a
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: huge win for the organization right now. And I think
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: like the year over year jump that we're seeing, I
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: think is, is palpable, right? Like, I mean, they had
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: 11 last year, 11 guys, 11 guys hit 10 or
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: more homers last season. They got 28. I want to
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: reiterate that it's not everything. Guess what? But it is
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: because you know what? What does the organization need more of?
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: They need more slug, right? They need to do more damage.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: And they're seeing guys do that. They're seeing guys walk
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: at a higher clip. Like last year, could you guys guess?
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Let's say the top three minor league walk numbers.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Can I get a reference point? Do you know who's
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: number one this year or what is number one this year?
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: As far as like, it's going to be Eli, right? Yeah.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Eli Willits.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Who's probably drawn 80 or something.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Um, it's not. Yeah. Last year. He's not number one.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: Last year. Oh, I was going to say last year
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: is probably 2030. I mean, like it was low. It
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: was very low. 61, 61, 60, 57.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Sam Peterson was at 60, I believe. Uh, And then
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Yo-Yo was 57. Luke Dickerson, right now, has 106. Eli Willits, 94.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Sam Peterson, 70. Rafael Ramirez, 66. Christian Franklin, before he
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: went over, 65. In the trade, Coy James, 65. Yermi Cabrera, 64.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Elijah Green, 61. So you have eight guys that match
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: the total or more from last year. I mean, like,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: I'm just looking at the numbers right now from the
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: entire season and going, good God. Like, the numbers on
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: base is just astounding to me. Having a plan, going
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: up there, and then showing the consistency. Like, Luke Dickerson
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: had 106 walks, and we're not, you know, like, everyone's like,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: it's not about the walk. That guy has changed a
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: lot of the way that he has been– hitting this
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: year and it's another part of that growth, right? Another year,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: another plane, another experience that we're seeing from him. Yeah.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: And I mean, Franny, you can speak to this better
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: than I can, but.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Um, not from walking.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: I can't.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: But I think you've watched guys do it up close. Um, no,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: but you, you know, power to a certain extent is
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: easier to teach, uh, than swing decisions are.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Um, my first two years on the beat, Yep. My
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: first two years on the beat, that is what I heard.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: I think even this year is bearing that out, right?
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: And so when I hear in spring training in the
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: first couple weeks of the season, hey, we think we
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: can really help guys teach swing decisions, learn better swing decisions.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: I go into that skeptical, right? Because I've seen a
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: lot of guys who have tried to improve that over
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: the years, and it's just not easy. The fact that
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: you have all these guys in the minor leagues who
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: went from bad to okay, okay to good, good to great.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: It is not everyone, but as you mentioned, like Luke
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Dickerson having over a hundred walks this year is, is
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: dumbfounding to me as someone who, you know, spends time
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: looking through this stuff and had no idea of that.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Their walk to strikeout rate is still below average in
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: the minor leagues, but they were dead last, last year, dead, dead,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: dead last. And they no longer are. It is, you know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: as simple as putting a medicine ball behind the plate.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: It is as simple as telling guys before games here
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: is where you should swing and having guys do that
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: work for themselves. Um, I am saying it as a
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: simple as these things, but in reality, it is all
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: of these tenants coming together. Um, it's having a clear
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: message and it's, it's letting guys know this is good.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: And this is what is going to make you a
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: big leaguer one day. And I think when guys hear that, um,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: it resonates.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Well, how about this one? Okay. So if we were
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: to go way to runs career plus over a hundred,
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: year over year, right? Like actually there's, it's 46 guys
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: this year is 38 guys last year. Um, and a
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: couple of guys that we're seeing like, you know, the
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: high nineties and it's a, it's an all encompassing, it's
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: the best offensive stat you could, you could use. I think, um,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: as far as just everything's weighted, everything's about your, where
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: you are at, right? So the a ball numbers and
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: all that stuff and, and park, park, uh, park factored
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: into it. Um, seeing 46 guys over a hundred is huge, right?
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Last year at 38, but it was like a big
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: drop off after that. Like it wasn't like there's a
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: 99 and 98. It just like kept like, it was whatever.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: And I look at that and I'm like, that's a
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: significant number, eight increase, right? Like you're almost at 50 guys,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: the Meyer leagues. That means you're doing damage. Not only
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: is it just top end, it's bought. Like you're starting
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: to build like these deeper lineups down there. And guess what?
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Some guys, not all these guys are going to emerge, right?
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: A couple of guys will, but the more the merrier, right?
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: The more, more chances you have with, with seeing guys
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: with some production down there, I think is going to
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: be huge as we go forward, because I feel like
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: we've seen the production that we, we want to see
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: up here in the big leagues. Now, as it happened
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks, I get that whole thing,
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: but there is a pretty good baseline that they've set
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: for themselves as far as moving forward. And I think
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: this year was a huge developmental win for the organization,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: especially going up to double a now. Yeah.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: But just before we get into that transition, cause there's
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: one final point I really want to hit on here.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: Cause I think fans can hear, um, what you just
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: outlined and there are some who will get it. And
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: there are some who will say, why do I care
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: that the, you know, 48th ranked hitting prospects in the
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: national system, uh, became a good hitter.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: And it, I think it's absolutely a fair question, um,
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: because I don't think it is as intuitive as, as
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: one might understand. Um, The way I would lay it out,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: and there are probably reasons that I'm missing here. A,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: when you go to make trades in the future, teams
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: who are interested in those guys will give you a
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: more attractive package if you are acquiring a big league talent. Secondly,
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: and this is obvious, but the more competition you have
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: within a farm system, the better. The more wins you
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: have within a farm system, obviously the better. And beyond that,
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: if you get to the point where you are ultimately
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: trading away prospects because you are comfortable with what you have,
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: you need to be okay with what's backfilling in that system, right?
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: Like if you are trading away, they're not trading away
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Eli Willits, but if they are trading away Eli Willits,
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: they need Devin Fitzgerald to step up. And if Devin
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Fitzgerald steps up, that means the guy behind him has
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: to step up. And if the guy behind him steps up,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: the guy behind him has to step up. The system
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: has to be constantly turning. And when you are able
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: to teach something throughout a system, you are able to
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: rise the tide of an entire system, you are in
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: a really, really good spot. Obviously, Eli's development is probably
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: more important than any other hitter in the system or
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: close to it, right? Because you need superstars in the
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: big leagues. But you need to backfill as well. And
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: I think that's why what Franny brought up is so important.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Let's wrap up today. Let's jump into the Eli Willits
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: promotion to AA. He's talked to the media before about
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: having some lofty goals about when he wants to arrive
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: into the big leagues. But Franny is someone who came up.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: How different will it be for him facing up against,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: you know, that progression from A to AA? You really
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: start to see some scruff.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: It's the biggest year. it's the biggest, it's the big,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: it's the biggest jump that he's going to find, uh,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: up until he gets from double A to big leagues
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: like that. That's how big of a jump it is. Uh,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: double A to triple A, nothing really, uh, that crazy
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: when you, when you think about it. But to me, um,
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: you're going up against guys with that are on more
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: on the cusp, I think because of the arms on
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: the cusp of going to the big leagues, uh, higher prospects,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: higher end, you know, VLO triple A guys. And it's
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: changed over the last couple of years, but I could
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: go back 20 years and say a lot of those
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: guys were old veteran guys that pitched in the big
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: leagues back and forth towards the back end of their career.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: They knew how to pitch. They knew how to set
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: you up. They knew how to reswings. You're getting guys
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: with high-end velo with now probably on most occasions two-plus
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: pitches and then an occasional third. In A-ball, you're getting
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: guys that are one-plus pitch. Randomly, we'll have two. on
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: any given night. And then, you know, you might get
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: a back end of the bullpen guy that you're going
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: to face. It's nasty. You're getting multiple of those now
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: in AA. You're going to get those in Harrisburg. We've
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: already seen him, you know, have walks already in his,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: in his first game, right? Two strikeouts, two walks. And
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: you're like, like, I don't care about the hits right
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: now with him. I don't, I just want him to like,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: just experience these things. Cause the one thing that we've
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: consistently heard throughout this entire process is no one has
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: quibbled on the fact that like this guy can flat
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: out play shortstop. Yeah. Like it is not that like he,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: he grinds out a B's Reggie, his dad and I
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: were talking, we talked for like an hour the other day,
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: one of my former teammates. And he's like, it's just
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: hard to get like, cause you're watching him play and
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: you're going, you're, you're lining out to the track or
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: you're flying out to the track. It's you're trying to
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: tell him like, dude, just get another year. Maybe two years,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: those balls are out. Those balls are off the wall
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: because that's a part of the experience, part of getting stronger.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: He's 18 years old. He's 18 years old. He's in
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: double A now at this. I love that they challenged him.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: They could have challenged him and put him back in
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: a weird way. They could have put him back in
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: low A for the postseason and get more extra bats there.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: They didn't. They did what? They went to double A.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: and you're looking at a full year here in the show,
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: and it's not an easy thing to do in minor
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: league baseball to play through September, play into September. Your
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: body's a wreck. He's, what, 112 games, I think, already
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: this year? You can tell what he was with us
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: the other day. We had him on the minor league
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: base runner of the year, and he was talking. He
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: was smoked. He was good. That's what you want to see.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: You want to see those guys like that. You want
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: to have that experience. You want to know how, how
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: do they come out of this on the mental side?
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: And I've already, like, you could already tell the kids
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: aced it.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah. He's, I mean, he's supposed to be like going
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: to prom right now, right? Like that's supposed to be
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: where he's at and he's crazy. Yeah. Homecoming.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Let's go homecoming. Sure. Let's not skip. Let's not skip homecoming. Give,
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: give it. It's like what it's due respect.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: It wasn't that long ago for me. So, you know,
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: but I, I can remember something like that. Oh, is
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: that an age shot?
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah, myself, of course.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: I know it was a while back for you, Franny. No,
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: but in terms of the jumps between high A and
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: double A, just to kind of hammer this point home,
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: because I've had this discussion a lot over the last
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: week as I've been asking around about Eli, as well
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: as just about the farm system generally. In single A
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: and in high A, the pitchers will pitch to their strengths.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: And in AA and above, not only is the velo nastier,
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: not only are the breaking balls nastier, not only are
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: you seeing more pitches, but they are also pitching to
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: your weaknesses, right? And for someone like Eli, who has
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: that preternatural back-to-ball skill, who has elite swing decisions, who
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: is as good in an advanced report meeting as anyone
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: they have in the system... it is crucial for him
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: to get this sort of experience before next season, right?
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: Because if you are thinking about the absolute fastest track
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: to get to the big leagues, and I think, you know,
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: to put a number out there is unreasonable without actually knowing.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: But he is clearly progressing very, very quickly through the system.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: And if you want to challenge him, you need him
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: to see something like this before the end of the season. So, yeah,
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: hats off to him for doing this.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: You've heard the same things defensively, though, right? I mean,
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: with him, as far as what everyone talks about. It
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: just looks right. And you've seen him in action. It
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: just looks right. Yeah. That's a great way to put it. Yeah.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: And if I were to dive in just a little
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: bit further, we talk about the strength and conditioning, right?
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: The arm is good for someone who's that size. He
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: will probably bulk up a little bit more and that
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: arm will get even better. And then... in addition to
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: the power, we're talking about a real five tools instead
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: of an elite three and a good two. Um, and so, yeah,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: but if, if we're talking about what it looks like
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: at shortstop, I mean, throwing out the word Lindor is,
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: is dumb and stupid. Cause that is like the one,
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: one guy in the big leagues, um, or at least
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: was for a while, I should say, um, throwing out
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: some of the other names of top shortstops in baseball is,
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: is unfair, but, um, That is what it is supposed
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: to look like. Yeah.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Well, I think that'll conclude pretty much everything we'll dive
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: through today. I'll remind our viewers and listeners really quickly
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: to subscribe to the District Territory podcast over on YouTube
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: or follow along on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your shows.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: And we'll see you in the next one.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Peace.