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Auburn HC Butch Thompson - Texas Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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Man, am I ready for Friday night six
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o'clock to get here. I'm get back to
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coaching instead of playing StubHub and
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going around talking to a lot of folks
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this week. It's been awesome. It's
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exciting. Week two got 90% of this SEC
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play and we need to absolutely we've
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been talking about being present. Boy,
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do we need to be present this weekend
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and locked in to try to be as
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competitive as we can against this Texas
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Longhorns team. Um just a great team
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when I look at them uh first and um
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George gave me some neat stuff to where
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you know you look at kind of the end
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right at the end of 2024 season the last
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21 regular season series that both teams
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have played I think they're the best in
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the country. I think Texas has won 19 of
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21 series and we've won 18 out of 21 and
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uh so something has to give. Both teams
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have won a bunch of series and then both
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pitching staffs are underneath a two
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erra. Um at this point I think it's one
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and two in the league and probably
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pretty close to that in the country as
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well. Um and what was it 229 strikeouts
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and 33 walks and 165 innings. So both
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pitching staffs have been incredible.
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Um, I I do think it's the most one or
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two in my gut, if I'm not being a coach
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and as an casual observer, um, one of
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the two best in my opinion rosters in
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college baseball for this season. Um, so
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there' be a handful. Um, offensively,
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uh, another patient group. Um, we just
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played the most the highest run scoring
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team in Georgia Tech who had walked more
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than they struck out. Texas is close,
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but when you start looking at as I just
1:52
try to describe patience to you as a
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huge strength of Texas's offense or how
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they run, um, like an O count for
2:00
example, they have the lowest lowest
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swing rate in the Southeastern
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Conference. these guys are going to
2:06
commit from a philosophy standpoint,
2:08
execution standpoint to force you to
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throw strikes. We've tried to make that
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every bit of our identity and tried to
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jump off a cliff with that, but they're
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going to force us to be able to throw
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strike one. Um, and they're going to
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hold the barrels until you make them
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start moving them. We'll see if they
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have a different plan coming in for this
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weekend because we've laid some tracks
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and been able to do that. But Georgia
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Tech was was one of those tight teams
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with patience and uh it was the first
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game this year we did not throw 60%
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strikes. We were 59% strikes. We walked
2:42
more batters. Um but you know Alvarez
2:48
and Chatterton and Cormier they
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absolutely overcome it to their credit
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because they had 16 strikeouts and did
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not allow an extra base hit in a ball
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game. So, my point is Texas is going to
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run an offense that's going to force you
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to throw strikes and evaluate the strike
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zone, control the zone, um, just like
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Georgia Tech did. So, hopefully we can
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take some of those features into the
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game, but also commit to to really being
3:16
in that strike zone and getting back in
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that strike zone uh, to compete against
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these guys. But top to bottom, they're
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not going to run out of arms. They got
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uh athletes all over the field with
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tremendous depth as good as we will play
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this year. But a amazing opportunity for
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our fans. Alumni weekend, we're going to
3:38
have a block party. Saturday is what I'm
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hearing out there. The weather is going
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to be great. Immediately following game
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three at the end of a long awesome
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series hopefully, uh we'll have a
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basketball game, round two, NIT with our
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basketball team across the street. So,
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um if you're if you're into our program
4:00
and you're into Auburn athletics, man,
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this is a this is a great weekend that
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setting setting up with two top five
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teams playing in SEC play. Brian,
4:13
>> coach, going back to Tuesday, um you
4:15
don't get back until late Sunday night,
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Monday morning. Were you worried about a
4:18
little bit of a a hangover and what does
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it say about your team, but you really
4:21
didn't have one?
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>> I was impressed. I think that's I might
4:24
be more impressed with that. Everybody
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sees between the lines when the game
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goes on. I was with them. So, I know
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what it felt like getting up Sunday
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morning. First off, the double headers
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take something out of you. Um, and then
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Sunday we got the guys up, did our
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chapel, did our breakfast. We went over,
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we worked out, moved them around a
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little bit, showered, went to St. Louis,
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sat there, spent a lot of time talking,
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hanging out with folks, just waiting.
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Um, we leave St. Louis and fly through
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Michigan, I think, to get back to
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Atlanta somehow. We went up and over and
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around and, uh, Bub wasn't smiling the
5:02
way he's always been smiling. Uh when we
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got up to about 10,000 ft. Uh
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and then yeah, I think I laid down about
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2:00 Monday morning. It was not late
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Sunday night. It was early Monday
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morning. And uh guys got in here. We
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tried to make some adjustments, take
5:19
care of them on Monday, and they were
5:21
ready to play Tuesday. So I was probably
5:23
the most impressed by that. But we've
5:26
had a ton of adversity. Somebody asked
5:28
me like the wins and losses and you know
5:30
where I'm at currently on that and I
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know we got to win but I just that's not
5:35
going to help us win by hoping to win or
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focusing too much on it. Um we we had a
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ton of adversity with the lights going
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out playing a double header. Uh our
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number one slotted reliever going down.
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Um we're having adversity like crazy and
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these guys keep responding and that's
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what I'm rewarding. Those are wins to me
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that I'm trying to get them to focus on.
6:00
Uh so they're doing a great job with
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that. But that was probably the most
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impressive thing I saw how much how
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ready they were to play. I hope we did a
6:07
good job with our off day yesterday.
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We'll try to get our minds back set
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today. This practice is so important to
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to shift gears and get into u and
6:18
prepared for um you know the next
6:20
challenge. And now all the Missouri
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stuff, all the Georgia Tech stuff, it
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has to be in the past. and we got to get
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back in the present today and it's just
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not going to stop. There's going to be
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some crazy things come up this weekend
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that that are going to test us and and
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we just we see it. I need to try to get
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myself and these players thinking it's
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normal, but they impressed me this past
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week.
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>> Andy and then Bill
6:42
>> coach, a year ago there, one of the
6:44
things that stuck out about their
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offense was how good they were with two
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strikes.
6:48
>> Yep.
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>> At the plate. Do you see that trait
6:50
again this season?
6:52
>> Yeah, and I think that's the patience
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with I was trying to outline from the
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beginning of the bat. I think it shows
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up at the back end of the at bat. Uh
6:58
Samuel Dutton threw a great ball game.
7:00
They run him out by getting a two-out
7:02
hit with the runner at second base in a
7:04
single. I think that was a three to2
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ball game. I think game two was about
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seven to three. And you know, we felt
7:09
like it was a pretty competitive ball
7:11
game. But they drug us to death. I think
7:16
they absolutely beat us up from the
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standpoint that when they did get a
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runner at second base, when they did get
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to two outs, we could not get off the
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field. That's what I remember about the
7:26
series last year, just two outs. They
7:28
kept getting a hit and we couldn't. And
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then um you know, they just they worked
7:34
us enough game two to get their two out
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hits to to win game two. So now we're
7:38
down 02. and they just dug deep enough
7:41
in our pitching staff to where we broke
7:44
and they just run away and I think they
7:47
wound up walking us off game three and
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just three, four, five guys got in there
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late to pitch and just, you know, they
7:53
had fun with us. So, there's no revenge
7:56
or anything like that. It's just us
7:59
being caught up in the moment now. But I
8:01
I know exactly how last year went and
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the things that we can break down and
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talk about. Uh, but they got a
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completely new team. half our teams
8:09
knew. That's why it's hard to play that
8:12
game anymore, but they they worked us
8:14
pretty good. You know, they played one
8:15
game on the road this year. I don't know
8:17
if that's going to be a factor or not.
8:19
It may be nothing. So, get them here at
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Plainsman Park and and playing baseball
8:24
will be totally different um this series
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from last year's series, but I
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understand last year's series by
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reviewing it so much because you're
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trying to glean something. They got a
8:33
couple athletes can really get down the
8:35
line. The other thing that we've got to
8:37
do a really good job with is our 43 for
8:39
49 stolen bases. We're going to try to
8:41
put in some new material today from
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catcher pitcher middle infield of trying
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to do some things to try to combat how
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successful they are is stealing bases.
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We'll need to because every 90 ft can be
8:55
critical if you play a good tight tough
8:58
ball game. Um, so we'll try to sharpen
9:01
up some of that stuff and uh hopefully I
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think what we've done great with this
9:06
year is being able to get off the field
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with two outs and uh but I remember that
9:10
being the difference in the series last
9:12
year is we they get them on, get them
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over, we get to two outs and you're like
9:17
you're one pitch away from getting out
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of this inning and they converted time
9:20
after time and we didn't. We did not do
9:23
a good job with their pitching at all
9:25
last year. Uh it was a sliderfest. They
9:29
don't give you what they want. They can
9:30
land breaking balls. Valantis, who was
9:33
finishing games, was throwing curve
9:35
balls out of the sky and landing them
9:38
and we chased them. Um, and we just we
9:42
did not show up offensively last year,
9:44
except for Ike Irish. It was the best,
9:46
most impressive weekend I've ever seen a
9:48
player have basically in this league.
9:50
But we were a one-man show and he's
9:52
gone. So, the rest of us and some of
9:55
these new pieces are going to have to
9:56
step up this weekend. But Ike was
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absolutely he was our offense in Austin
10:02
last year.
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>> But uh update us on injuries and and
10:06
then on top of to sort of go along with
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that. I mean with Eric and Bristol, it's
10:10
been good to see Todd and K.
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>> Yeah.
10:14
>> Very positive, right? I I I love uh Todd
10:18
too is growing defensively. The last
10:20
play of the game against Georgia Tech
10:21
was a slow roller and he absolutely got
10:24
to it, converted it and got the out. I
10:26
was just so excited. I always love the
10:28
third out of a ball game because there's
10:29
no clock or nothing. Well, we got too
10:31
many clocks, but there's no clock that
10:33
ends the game. And I just love that play
10:37
he made. And now there's more trust that
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if he's in there, he can stay in there.
10:42
Um, Bavar is good. I think he could have
10:46
played Tuesday, but you know, his 85%
10:49
and stuff like that, and this is such a
10:51
long way. Um, I think he's good. I I
10:55
think he I expect him in practice and be
10:57
ready to go, but I love how Todd and
11:00
Belaloo have just hung in there and
11:02
circle back around. We need everybody.
11:04
We're we're one of those teams that need
11:06
everybody. So, I expect Gavara to be
11:08
Gavvara to be closer to 100% because of
11:11
what we did Tuesday and and you know,
11:14
Todd Clay's ready to play every day and
11:16
got off to a slow start offensively, but
11:18
all that's in the past. Tuesday, he he's
11:21
he's got us some hits here. Um he went 0
11:24
for 16. He didn't go 0 for a 100red or
11:27
anything. And I think he's probably
11:29
about 500 over the next 15 at bats or
11:32
pretty close to it. So I love what he's
11:34
doing. It feels like we're gaining a
11:36
little depth and we thought we got a
11:38
little thin there. Um Bristol U I love
11:42
him. Such a competitor
11:45
spark plug for us. We need him out
11:46
there. We want him out there, but he's a
11:48
liar. And uh I've tried to play him two
11:52
games and we've had to take him out in
11:53
the middle of ball games because he's
11:55
lying uh to us. Um and
12:00
he text me yesterday our off day like
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I'm great. I'm ready to roll. And I
12:04
don't trust him anymore. Uh trust him as
12:07
a player. I don't trust him telling me
12:08
he's healthy. Uh I'll have to I don't
12:11
know some crystal ball or something.
12:13
He's is the hardest to gauge now whether
12:15
we're going to put him out there
12:16
tomorrow night or not. We'll see how
12:18
practice goes, but I don't trust him
12:20
anymore. I know that I'm a liar. There's
12:23
a little strong verbiage there. I'm
12:25
saying that as a joke. Um, I love I love
12:29
that's I love it that way. The guy's
12:31
willing to do anything to get out there,
12:32
but soon as he gets one of these full
12:35
speed moves, you know, it's just like a
12:37
pulled hamstring. The pec there, big
12:39
muscle going over to the shoulder, get
12:42
smaller muscles, and he's just tweaking
12:44
it like crazy. I don't think it's going
12:45
to get healthy until we give it some
12:48
time. So, um, we're not going to put him
12:50
out or anything like that for this
12:52
weekend. He can do a lot of things, but
12:55
can he go full speed? That's what we're
12:57
waiting on. And I don't want it to
12:58
linger with his situation. And so, he
13:02
and I have got to find a better way than
13:04
we've worked together the last 10 days
13:06
on deciding whether he's going to play
13:07
or not today. U Drew Whan is um seeing
13:13
doctors. We have done an MRI. I think I
13:16
can report it's not the the obvious
13:19
where it's just cut in half. Got to go
13:21
do something. So, the family, the our
13:23
doctors got to make some decisions.
13:26
Second opinion needs to happen. This is
13:28
big. So, I guess it's a little more of a
13:30
positive report than it looked when he
13:32
went down after the one pitch, but y'all
13:34
know how tricky these things are. Um, I
13:37
think we have something scheduled with
13:39
the with with the Andrews, our team
13:41
doctors and stuff to to get in the
13:43
second opinion on Monday and go from
13:45
there with him whether he's going to try
13:49
to come back or whether u you know he
13:52
would need a procedure. We're we're
13:54
still sifting through that. So, in one
13:55
week's time, that's where we're at with
13:58
it or less than one week. And we're
14:00
going to probably take till the middle
14:01
of next week to decide the course of
14:03
action for him. So, I I do think there's
14:06
something significant happened. I think
14:08
the MRI revealed that, but the course of
14:10
action is we'll have to wait a few more
14:12
days on Griffin Graves is throwing a
14:14
bullpin today. Um, we've been uh going
14:18
at his pace. Um, but that is a necessary
14:22
step. So, that's not in a game. Um, and
14:26
I don't still don't know how long u, but
14:28
let's see how he gets through a bullpen
14:30
today. That is a step. This is the first
14:32
time we got back up through a bullpin
14:34
today. We'll see how that goes. I hope
14:36
he feels great with it, but uh it has
14:39
been slower than expected and it's taken
14:41
longer to get back to the mound, but um
14:44
I hope this is a start of trying to take
14:47
a little more aggressive step if he can
14:49
get through this bullpen today. We'll
14:51
have to wait and see on that.
14:53
>> Two more. Jason
14:55
Butch with Wing out. Is is LJ a guy that
14:57
that has seen maybe his opportunities
15:00
grow the way he's pitched the last
15:01
couple of times out of the whole team?
15:04
>> I Yeah, I I'm going to say for me and
15:10
Tford all the credit. Foxh Hall's doing
15:12
an amazing job. They I don't deserve
15:14
nothing.
15:16
But Cormier specifically, he's growing
15:19
and I trust him. So that's about all you
15:22
need to get an opportunity. I again I
15:25
thought that was a big moment for him
15:27
the other night and he has just
15:28
continued to grow in his outings and yep
15:32
I think he's growing and I trust him. So
15:34
he's in there. Y'all already know what
15:37
um Brewin Hler what their jobs are when
15:40
we get to the last two or three frames.
15:42
Uh I think Jet Johnston has thrown the
15:45
ball extremely well. Um Chatterton's
15:48
another one of those starters that's
15:50
done that. I was waiting on somebody to
15:52
ask me like, "What are you going to do
15:53
with Alvarez?" And I'm trying to not be
15:55
a knee-jerk coach and I'm going to try
15:58
to trust some of these other pieces to
15:59
fill it out. And I don't want to force
16:01
anything. I want the game to tell us. I
16:03
think we're pretty fortunate right now
16:05
to be a program to have a guy throwing
16:08
in the fourth spot. I don't think
16:09
Alvarez is our fourth starter. What I
16:12
think Alvarez is throwing on Tuesday and
16:14
throwing lights out is what I think. And
16:17
I think whoever's on the mound for us is
16:19
our number one pitcher. And I do think
16:21
Cormier is growing and can can pitch for
16:24
us. Um I I love Chatterton's one inning
16:28
the other night. I didn't like the
16:29
second inning as much, just the tempo
16:31
and stuff, but I believe in him greatly.
16:34
He's been through our league. Um and I
16:37
just don't want to buck those four
16:38
starters until the I'm forced to. And uh
16:42
so we're going hold hold and Jet
16:45
Johnston and Chatterton and Cormier and
16:49
I do think you got a couple other guys
16:50
that haven't pitched that could come in
16:53
there and do some work. You've seen
16:54
Gatwood a little bit. Marcel Culich,
16:57
you've seen Harden just a little bit. I
17:00
still think we got some guys that can
17:01
pitch more before we rattle that
17:03
starting rotation cage because they've
17:05
done such a good job.
17:08
>> Last one, Adam. I did just real quick in
17:10
terms of the the health updates. I did
17:12
want to ask about Eddie Mrick. I guess
17:14
I'm just curious like kind of where he's
17:15
at, but then I had another one too.
17:17
>> I think he'll be officially cleared. I
17:20
called and asked for permission if he
17:22
could um pinch it this week because I
17:24
thought about it last week. Okay.
17:25
>> I'm like, can he have an at bat for us?
17:28
And um I think we're at the point and I
17:30
I was I was granted permission to to put
17:34
him on there. He'll be on our 34 man
17:36
roster this week. And uh um yeah, you
17:40
could see Eddie Magical getting it bat
17:41
and you could see him fully fully
17:43
cleared to do
17:45
uh the coach's decision of anything you
17:47
wanted to do as early as next Tuesday or
17:50
into next weekend.
17:51
>> And then just going up against this this
17:53
Texas pitching staff, as as far as
17:55
finding success against them
17:56
offensively, I guess just is is patience
17:58
the biggest thing that that you're
18:00
preaching to to your guys or I guess
18:01
just what's what's kind of the biggest
18:02
thing you're preaching to your offense
18:03
in terms of trying to find success
18:05
against this? Yeah, I I want us to have
18:06
a little I think it came up from our
18:09
meeting this morning. A little bit of a
18:13
a a plan for the whole game, at least
18:16
maybe even the first time through the
18:17
lineup. Maybe like the football scripted
18:19
mentality of something we're going to
18:21
try to do from information that we're
18:23
researching on to try to figure
18:26
something out. Um, you know, our our
18:30
slow start was not being able to get on
18:32
a fast ball. We're a little bit better
18:33
there. We still got some older players
18:35
which has made us a younger ball club.
18:38
Um we had some older players get off to
18:40
slower starts, guys with experience
18:42
with, you know, hund couple hundred more
18:45
at bats than others. Um we wound up
18:49
becoming a younger ball club. So I still
18:52
believe in some of these. I believe in
18:54
Logan Gregorio and that's why I want us
18:56
to be present. I think that's another
18:58
good example to tell the ball club today
19:00
when we're in here. You look at the
19:01
scoreboard, he's hitting 115. You're
19:03
looking right field and the ball's
19:04
bouncing off the the batting thing.
19:08
That's what he can do if he's present
19:10
and not looking at the past, what his
19:11
average is. So, we got to keep coming.
19:13
But again, the percentage of fast balls
19:17
to breaking balls. You can never get off
19:18
the fast ball. And I think we're forcing
19:21
pushing ourselves to ask these guys to
19:24
come up because if you just stand there
19:26
without a plan against these guys, they
19:29
can they can absolutely get after you.
19:33
Is there any cliffnotes, shortcuts,
19:36
something we can commit to offensively
19:38
at least to get us started? U we just we
19:41
did not like we thought we went four out
19:44
of five, five out of six games of really
19:46
disrupting a starter. We felt like we
19:49
lost that a little bit at Missouri and
19:51
didn't claim anything. They we we got to
19:54
the second at bat against all three
19:56
games against Missouri and I didn't see
19:58
a bloody nose. I didn't see a black eye.
20:00
I didn't see anybody limping. I saw more
20:02
confidence out of their starters. Um I
20:04
don't we we want to change that if we
20:07
can. So I I think we might take a little
20:09
bit of a calculated risk in trying to
20:12
come up with some kind of plan, see if
20:13
it'll work. If not, we can throw it away
20:15
and have three more batch left as a as a
20:18
group. But I want to see something a
20:20
little more organized against these
20:22
exceptional exceptional starters.