Latest / Foul Territory / Jayson Stark on Mason Miller’s epic run, Phillies vibes + A’s talk w/Ken Korach

Transcript

Jayson Stark on Mason Miller’s epic run, Phillies vibes + A’s talk w/Ken Korach · Foul Territory

0:04
Speaker 1: The great Jason Stark joining us. Great articles out there
0:07
Speaker 1: in the Athletic that you should check out from him.
0:09
Speaker 1: This week, we're gonna get to Mason Miller in a
0:10
Speaker 1: little bit. We'll start with the Phillies and actually one
0:12
Speaker 1: other note too before we begin. Jason Starkville podcast is back,
0:16
Speaker 1: so I'm always listening to that, so make sure you
0:19
Speaker 1: check that out as well.
0:20
Speaker 2: It's awesome, Jason. Great to see you man.
0:22
Speaker 3: How you doing.
0:23
Speaker 2: Happy Friday?
0:24
Speaker 3: Always great to see you guys. It's been a little
0:26
Speaker 3: bit of a crazy week in Philadelphia, but I'm good. Yeah.
0:30
Speaker 1: So let's walk through that, and you can obviously like
0:32
Speaker 1: mix in just the entire week in general, because I
0:34
Speaker 1: feel like we've talked about three teams for like eighty percent.
0:37
Speaker 4: Of the week.
0:38
Speaker 1: Red Talks, let go of Alex Korra, Phillies, lego of Thompson,
0:41
Speaker 1: and yes they did. And now Topper is watching Phillies
0:45
Speaker 1: games and seeing three wins to start here. And then
0:47
Speaker 1: we just found out that the Mets, at least for
0:48
Speaker 1: an how are keeping Mendy? So let's go to Philly.
0:51
Speaker 1: What did you see the last few days? Everything changed?
0:54
Speaker 4: Right?
0:54
Speaker 2: Don Mattingly drew up a different playbook and there it is.
0:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, baseball's mysterious. I don't know if you set guys
1:00
Speaker 3: saw this note bouncing around. But since the Phillies let
1:04
Speaker 3: Rob Thompson go, no team in Philadelphia has lost Flyers sixers,
1:09
Speaker 3: Phillies six and zero. Eagles, I believe, are also undefeated
1:13
Speaker 3: in that time. So I don't know what is happening,
1:16
Speaker 3: but it's been quite a strange week. Look when the
1:20
Speaker 3: Phillies made this decision, I think the firing of Alex
1:26
Speaker 3: Cora was a huge lynch pin. The moment I heard
1:30
Speaker 3: about it as somebody who knows how close Dave Dombrawski
1:33
Speaker 3: and Alex Corra are, I thought to myself, Alex Corra
1:37
Speaker 3: is going to be the next manager of the Phillies.
1:39
Speaker 3: I just don't know if it's going to be next
1:41
Speaker 3: year or next week. And I think there was a
1:45
Speaker 3: time over the weekend where they thought this might actually happen,
1:50
Speaker 3: where Alex would go right from Boston to Philly. Then
1:54
Speaker 3: that isn't what happened. And you know, if you're going
1:57
Speaker 3: to turn to a plan B, it turns out Don
2:00
Speaker 3: Mattingly's an awfully good plan B.
2:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, but is there anything different like the team is
2:06
Speaker 5: the exact same. The fact that Alec Baum got the
2:09
Speaker 5: sack fly to win the second game yesterday and Kyle
2:11
Speaker 5: Schwarber went four for four as fourth hit tied the ballgame.
2:16
Speaker 5: Did Don Mattingly have anything to.
2:18
Speaker 1: Do with that?
2:20
Speaker 3: A million things have happened in the last three games
2:23
Speaker 3: that it felt like never happened when Rob was still
2:25
Speaker 3: the manager. And I'm sure Rob's sitting there scratching his head,
2:29
Speaker 3: going what the heck? But I do think that we're
2:35
Speaker 3: underestimating the impact of a change like this. Listen, all
2:40
Speaker 3: the winning that's taken place here over the last four
2:44
Speaker 3: seasons took place with Rob Thompson as the manager, and
2:49
Speaker 3: you know, the guys in that clubhouse, I got the
2:51
Speaker 3: sense really were shaken by what happened. This is a
2:57
Speaker 3: guy that they loved and cared about, who they knew
3:01
Speaker 3: loved and cared about them. They got him fired. I
3:04
Speaker 3: really do think that got their attention. And I also
3:08
Speaker 3: think there's been an attention to some small details that
3:15
Speaker 3: just didn't seem like they were at the forefront for
3:19
Speaker 3: much of this year since Don took over. And you know,
3:23
Speaker 3: you can connect dots, there's a lot of things that
3:26
Speaker 3: we could read into the last three games. Clearly the
3:30
Speaker 3: reason that Rob Thompson got fired was Dave DOBRASKI looked
3:35
Speaker 3: at this team and thought, we're not over the hill,
3:38
Speaker 3: we're not old, we're just underperforming, and we're still good enough.
3:43
Speaker 3: And the last three days tell us he was right.
3:46
Speaker 3: What do you guys think?
3:48
Speaker 5: I mean, clearly, because they won, and that's all it's
3:50
Speaker 5: about in the big leaes is winning. But here's the question.
3:54
Speaker 5: Last year we heard the scuttle bought about Nick Costianos,
3:57
Speaker 5: and then I heard some people saying, well, you know,
4:00
Speaker 5: there's not much big league aura on the coaching staff,
4:05
Speaker 5: like Kevin k Long didn't you know, didn't play, and
4:08
Speaker 5: the guys that have big league time, it's not a
4:10
Speaker 5: lot of big league time. Do you think this team
4:13
Speaker 5: of superstars needed somebody like a Don Mattingley who has
4:19
Speaker 5: this big league aura, this Hall of Fame type of aura,
4:23
Speaker 5: to win more ballgames?
4:26
Speaker 3: Eric, I think you're onto something here. And a lot
4:31
Speaker 3: of people concluded that Donnie was just Rob two point
4:36
Speaker 3: zero because the temperament seems the same from afar. But
4:40
Speaker 3: nobody needs to be told what Don Mattingly did in
4:44
Speaker 3: his life and times. He was the king of New
4:47
Speaker 3: York baseball for a decade, and when he says something,
4:52
Speaker 3: I do think it carries a little different weight. And
4:55
Speaker 3: if you can look back on his time as a
4:57
Speaker 3: manager in LA and Miami, I think there are definitely
5:01
Speaker 3: instances of that. It's funny. I said to him the
5:04
Speaker 3: other day, nobody needs to tell you how long a
5:06
Speaker 3: baseball season is. Is there a season from your past
5:10
Speaker 3: that you can draw on at a time like this
5:12
Speaker 3: where maybe you guys got off to a bad start,
5:16
Speaker 3: your team got off to a bad start, and it
5:19
Speaker 3: ended a lot better than that. And he said, go
5:20
Speaker 3: back and check my time in La. So of course
5:23
Speaker 3: I did that, And here's what I found. Twenty thirteen,
5:27
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen, in June, they were nine and a half
5:31
Speaker 3: games out the first year, ten games out the second year.
5:35
Speaker 3: Finished first both years. So I dug in on this,
5:38
Speaker 3: because of course I did. Here's what I found. The
5:41
Speaker 3: only manager in the history of baseball whose team was
5:45
Speaker 3: at least nine and a half games out two years
5:47
Speaker 3: in a row and roared back to finish first is
5:51
Speaker 3: Don Mattingly those two seasons. So he's been there, He's
5:55
Speaker 3: done this. I actually showed that to a couple of
5:58
Speaker 3: players during the week and they were kind of shaking
6:01
Speaker 3: their head. It could all be coincidence, but I think
6:06
Speaker 3: there is something about Don Maddingly that's a little different.
6:10
Speaker 3: There is a presence and an aura.
6:14
Speaker 5: All right, the best closer of all time, the most
6:16
Speaker 5: unhittable closer of all time. Does it only take a
6:20
Speaker 5: few innings here at the beginning of the year to
6:22
Speaker 5: say Mason Miller is or is it more than just
6:25
Speaker 5: your opinion that Mason Miller is right now the most
6:29
Speaker 5: unhittable pitcher of all time?
6:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I want you or anybody to convince me I'm
6:34
Speaker 3: wrong about this. Here's what I did. I went back
6:37
Speaker 3: to last August, started with the game after he gave
6:41
Speaker 3: up his final run of last year, went through August, September,
6:46
Speaker 3: postseason WBC, and all of this season. So that's actually
6:50
Speaker 3: a lot of months of baseball. And in that time,
6:54
Speaker 3: one hundred and forty one hitters came to the plate.
6:57
Speaker 3: Seven of them got a hit, eighty seven of them
7:00
Speaker 3: struck out. Think about that, man, eighty seven strikeouts, seven hits,
7:05
Speaker 3: no extra base hits, and not a single adding thirty
7:08
Speaker 3: nine in a row. Allowing more than one hit, and
7:11
Speaker 3: I thought, this is insane, This isn'mpossible, No real human
7:16
Speaker 3: being could do this. And so I dug into the
7:20
Speaker 3: stats and tried to compare that stretch to any other
7:23
Speaker 3: pitch or any other closure whoever lived, to see if
7:26
Speaker 3: I could find anything like it in terms of strikeout
7:28
Speaker 3: rate opponent average. Then I called Billy Wagner and Trevor Hoffman,
7:33
Speaker 3: two Hall of Fame closures, and you know, if they
7:38
Speaker 3: were going to talk me out of this, I just
7:41
Speaker 3: stood down. Was just the opposite. When I asked Billy Wagner,
7:45
Speaker 3: how would you compare Mason Miller to you? He said,
7:48
Speaker 3: it's not even a comparison. When I read those numbers
7:51
Speaker 3: to Trevor Hoffman, he said, you'd be hard pressed to
7:54
Speaker 3: see somebody do this in whiffle ball. Okay, so I
7:58
Speaker 3: am going with it most unhittable closer ever. Look, he's
8:03
Speaker 3: got to do it for nineteen years to be Mariano,
8:06
Speaker 3: he's got to duplicate sixteen years of dominance to be
8:10
Speaker 3: Billy Wagner. But for this period of time, I don't
8:13
Speaker 3: think we've ever seen it. Feel free to tell me
8:15
Speaker 3: I'm wrong.
8:18
Speaker 1: Todd Father it's getting a little warm out, and I mean,
8:21
Speaker 1: let's hit some concerts, let's hit some baseball games. And
8:24
Speaker 1: where am I going to go to find those tickets?
8:26
Speaker 1: And if you want to sing the answer you can.
8:28
Speaker 6: We're going to seek hey, hey, listen. Ultimately, at the
8:31
Speaker 6: end of the day, it is getting warmer and people
8:33
Speaker 6: want to leave the house, and it's time to leave,
8:35
Speaker 6: go see a ball game. I guess where you can
8:37
Speaker 6: find the best tickets, best spots, best places to go.
8:41
Speaker 3: Seat Geeks got it all, man.
8:42
Speaker 6: They got their red and their green signs, letting you
8:45
Speaker 6: know which good in bed, all that good kind of stuff.
8:48
Speaker 6: They make it really simple for you at the end
8:50
Speaker 6: of the day, for a guy like me who's running around,
8:52
Speaker 6: I just need five minute thing. Bang bom, I got
8:54
Speaker 6: my seat.
8:55
Speaker 4: Yeah.
8:55
Speaker 1: Each ticket's rated on a scale of one to ten,
8:57
Speaker 1: so you know you're getting a good deal. And of
8:59
Speaker 1: course the code for you Territory one zero for ten
9:02
Speaker 1: percent off your next set of tickets at Sea Geek.
9:04
Speaker 1: That's ten percent off any tickets with promo code Territory tent.
9:08
Speaker 1: Make sure you click the link in the description to
9:10
Speaker 1: download the app and then have the code automatically added.
9:13
Speaker 1: To your account so you can use it later. Thank
9:15
Speaker 1: you to seed Geek, MLB's official ticket marketplace.
9:19
Speaker 5: All right, I'm going to look somebody's name up and
9:21
Speaker 5: then i'll get back to you. I got to look
9:22
Speaker 5: it up because it was one it was one year.
9:24
Speaker 3: Hereever it is, I've looked him up.
9:25
Speaker 5: I promise I'm gonna it was one of the most
9:27
Speaker 5: dominant performance I've ever seen. But anyway, I'm going to
9:30
Speaker 5: go to the fact that should the Padres be throwing
9:33
Speaker 5: him more than just one inning? This is a large
9:36
Speaker 5: human being with these numbers, should it be? Are they
9:40
Speaker 5: not getting quite the distance out of what he is?
9:44
Speaker 5: Is as unhittable as he is.
9:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a that's a really interesting question. You know,
9:51
Speaker 3: it's modern baseball, it's life in twenty twenty six, and
9:55
Speaker 3: this is how closers are used. But it is it's
9:58
Speaker 3: especially interesting with him because I know, in this role
10:02
Speaker 3: he's mostly a two pitch pitcher. He's got five pitches.
10:05
Speaker 3: He's he's got enough pitches and pitchability to start to
10:10
Speaker 3: the point where they thought about it, and then he said, no,
10:14
Speaker 3: thank you. I kind of like doing what I'm doing.
10:17
Speaker 3: But does he have as you just said, the build,
10:21
Speaker 3: the body, strength, the pitches, the pitch ability to pitch
10:25
Speaker 3: more than three outs three punch outs. Absolutely, workload is
10:30
Speaker 3: always going to be an issue with any closer, but
10:33
Speaker 3: this is a really intriguing thing that they could definitely entertain,
10:37
Speaker 3: which maybe it's too early in the season to see it.
10:42
Speaker 6: Yeah, I would have to agree with the one hundred
10:44
Speaker 6: percent on that there's sky's the limit for this guy. Man,
10:47
Speaker 6: And I think you've made a really good point on
10:50
Speaker 6: all of this, and I think it's fascinating to see
10:52
Speaker 6: what he's doing. It's really good for the game of baseball. Jay,
10:56
Speaker 6: So like for me.
10:57
Speaker 3: God, would you want to step in there and face this?
11:00
Speaker 6: I would love the challenge, but I knew I don't
11:02
Speaker 6: think I would well, you know what I mean, Like
11:05
Speaker 6: my competitive juices would love to face just like when
11:08
Speaker 6: I faced the role as Chapman. I think I was
11:10
Speaker 6: Ozer for twelve I couldn't get a hit off him,
11:13
Speaker 6: but the challenge was always accepted, you know, So yeah,
11:17
Speaker 6: it would be very hard. Now, I want to shift
11:21
Speaker 6: back to what you're talking about. Two good closers there
11:23
Speaker 6: the Hall of famers that played the game. What do
11:25
Speaker 6: you think Marianna Rivera would say if you had a
11:28
Speaker 6: conversation with him, with one of the most effective pitchers
11:31
Speaker 6: ever to be in baseball as a closer too as well.
11:33
Speaker 6: I'm not trying to bombard you with this or you know,
11:36
Speaker 6: make you pick and choose, but I want to hear
11:38
Speaker 6: what you would say. What do you think he would say,
11:40
Speaker 6: you know, don't forget about me, or yeah, yeah, you
11:42
Speaker 6: know what, he's got an opportunity to be the best closer.
11:45
Speaker 3: Well, look, in this piece I wrote, I didn't dispute
11:50
Speaker 3: the notion that this is the greatest closer who ever lived,
11:53
Speaker 3: and did it for nineteen years and pitched in sixteen postseasons,
11:57
Speaker 3: and nobody he has to explain to me, you Mason Miller,
12:04
Speaker 3: what that is, what that meant, what the stature of
12:06
Speaker 3: that guy was. But he never really did this. You know,
12:13
Speaker 3: the strikeout rate here of Mason Miller is what makes
12:17
Speaker 3: it unprecedented. Marianna had some crazy stretches, and I looked
12:22
Speaker 3: at quite a few of them, but I mean, if
12:26
Speaker 3: we're going to stack up broken bats, I'd say, Marianna wins.
12:29
Speaker 3: If we're going to stack up swings and missues, this
12:31
Speaker 3: guy wins. Now, if he does it for another fifteen years,
12:35
Speaker 3: then he has a shot to be Mariano. If he
12:37
Speaker 3: pitches in sixteen postseasons, then we can talk about whether
12:40
Speaker 3: he had Marianna's career. But that's really not what I'm arguing.
12:44
Speaker 3: I'm saying right now, in this window of time, this
12:47
Speaker 3: is crazy, all right.
12:49
Speaker 5: I have the name, and I had to look it
12:50
Speaker 5: up because I watched it twenty fourteen Wade Davis. Not
12:54
Speaker 5: quite the swings and missus, but it was August till
12:58
Speaker 5: he gave up his first extra hit. His whip. His
13:02
Speaker 5: whip was obviously ridiculously low. I mean, anyway, go look
13:07
Speaker 5: it up twenty fourteen way Davis. It's not quite the strikeouts.
13:10
Speaker 5: Nobody's touched these strikeouts and he's gotten this span. But
13:14
Speaker 5: let's see where it's at the end.
13:15
Speaker 3: Of the year. Yeah. Look, I looked at way Davis.
13:18
Speaker 3: I looked it up a million guys. I looked at Chapman,
13:20
Speaker 3: I looked at a hater, Edwin Diez's best stretches, Craig kimberl,
13:26
Speaker 3: Eric Ganie. I honestly went through them all, and there's
13:31
Speaker 3: some stretches where you could sort of talk yourself into saying, Wow,
13:35
Speaker 3: it doesn't get any better than that. And I would
13:38
Speaker 3: take every guy I just named. I would take Way
13:41
Speaker 3: Davis twenty fourteen version. He could pitch for me any
13:44
Speaker 3: night of any week, of any month of any season.
13:48
Speaker 3: But it wasn't this. It just wasn't. Because of this
13:52
Speaker 3: swings and missus. Hitters literally cannot hit the ball. You know,
13:58
Speaker 3: before he gave up that run the other day, even
14:00
Speaker 3: that was kind of weird. This season one hundred and
14:03
Speaker 3: five sliders, zero hits and a seventy two percent rate.
14:08
Speaker 3: Plus he's thrown one hundred and four like hit that.
14:12
Speaker 1: Nope, nope, no, Jason, Yeah, we Jason. We had Ramon
14:20
Speaker 1: Lariana on a week and a half ago, and he
14:25
Speaker 1: said in a political friendly way that sometimes he considers
14:31
Speaker 1: just not even needing to really be in ready position
14:34
Speaker 1: Lario is pitching.
14:37
Speaker 5: He said, I will play, He said, I will play
14:39
Speaker 5: one pitch this year with my glove off. That's how
14:45
Speaker 5: dominating has been.
14:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, why wouldn't he? You know, I know those fielders
14:50
Speaker 3: come in handy, but they're pretty irrelevant with this guy's
14:53
Speaker 3: on the mount.
14:54
Speaker 2: It's crazy.
14:55
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
14:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I watched one.
14:56
Speaker 3: Where it's like you're not are right, You're not disputing this.
15:02
Speaker 5: I think we're really think I think we're missing it.
15:05
Speaker 5: I think you hit it perfectly, and we need to
15:08
Speaker 5: really pay attention and see what he is doing because
15:12
Speaker 5: it is exactly what you said. But I don't think
15:15
Speaker 5: I don't think enough people are seeing it.
15:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, is that a San Diego thing? Is that our fault?
15:21
Speaker 2: I did my part, Now you're doing your part, and
15:25
Speaker 2: we're trying to do the same thing. We bring him on.
15:27
Speaker 1: He's a fun personality to talk to, but yeah, I mean,
15:29
Speaker 1: you're just seeing things from him that I think you
15:32
Speaker 1: need to appreciate it.
15:34
Speaker 2: It's like show hey, right, but.
15:35
Speaker 1: You want to talk about him for years. Yeah, it's
15:37
Speaker 1: one ending and actually the biggest thing probably is to
15:40
Speaker 1: be honest. It's just I mean, yeah, there's late games.
15:43
Speaker 1: I happen to be a late night guy, so it's
15:45
Speaker 1: perfect timing for me to watch the ninth inning. But often,
15:48
Speaker 1: you know, Jason, that when Mason Miller is stepping up
15:50
Speaker 1: half the time this year it is almost one in
15:53
Speaker 1: the morning on the East coast, so when you talk
15:55
Speaker 1: about him, not everybody gets to see him. Then he
15:57
Speaker 1: pops up in a series against like the Phillies or
15:59
Speaker 1: the Mets of the Yankees are whoever, and they're like,
16:02
Speaker 1: we need to trade for this guy.
16:03
Speaker 2: You're not getting that guy.
16:05
Speaker 3: Whatever team you for, he's gonna pitch against your team,
16:08
Speaker 3: you know, the other team. So you don't want to
16:12
Speaker 3: miss that show.
16:13
Speaker 1: No, exactly. Well, Jason, thank you so much for joining us.
16:16
Speaker 1: Really appreciate the time. We love talking to you. Check
16:19
Speaker 1: out Jason's articles in the Athletic Start feels back and
16:21
Speaker 1: running to have a great weekend.
16:24
Speaker 3: Hey, you too great to talk to you.
16:25
Speaker 4: Guys.
16:35
Speaker 2: Hey, let's talk to Ken Quack right now.
16:37
Speaker 1: Excited to be joined by Oh, hold on, a little
16:39
Speaker 1: flip of the camera first, Ken, if you can just
16:41
Speaker 1: give me one one turn of the camera and then
16:44
Speaker 1: we can This.
16:45
Speaker 4: Is this is where they wanted me to be, So
16:48
Speaker 4: give me one weapon.
16:51
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm your live director on the show.
16:54
Speaker 4: Trying to follow instructions. Okay, I might have to hold it.
17:00
Speaker 1: All boys, there it is well, maybe we can Okay,
17:03
Speaker 1: hold on, maybe back you up or flip you a
17:05
Speaker 1: little bit just so we could see you a little better.
17:08
Speaker 2: Uh, there it is perfect.
17:11
Speaker 4: Now you did it.
17:12
Speaker 2: That is perfect.
17:13
Speaker 3: Okay.
17:13
Speaker 2: We really appreciate it. Thank you for setting it up.
17:16
Speaker 1: I like to do the directing on the fly here,
17:17
Speaker 1: but it's great to have you on long time. Thanks
17:21
Speaker 1: radio announcer for the a's so so ken, thank you
17:23
Speaker 1: for joining us and tell us what you're seeing.
17:25
Speaker 2: Right, So, a lot of late night a's action.
17:27
Speaker 1: That's looking pretty positive so far this year, and we're
17:29
Speaker 1: about to hit I don't want to say too loud
17:31
Speaker 1: because of last year.
17:33
Speaker 4: May.
17:34
Speaker 2: Remember May? Last year?
17:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, May was a disaster. You know. It was crazy
17:41
Speaker 4: about about that was that they went to Dinner Stadium
17:44
Speaker 4: and they won the first game of that series. They're
17:47
Speaker 4: eleven to one. Nick Curson his first major league home run,
17:50
Speaker 4: Jacob Wilson hit two, and they got to twenty two
17:53
Speaker 4: and twenty and we're thinking now they're on their way.
17:56
Speaker 4: So the last thing we expected was that they were
17:58
Speaker 4: going to lose twenty out of twenty one, right, I
18:01
Speaker 4: mean that was just crazy. So you know, I kind
18:04
Speaker 4: of doubt it's gonna happen again. But they really have
18:07
Speaker 4: played well and I think they're a better of all
18:09
Speaker 4: club this year.
18:12
Speaker 6: Yeah, I agree too.
18:13
Speaker 3: And you brought up a name, Nick Kurtz.
18:15
Speaker 6: I mean, listen, this guy he got intentionally walked the
18:18
Speaker 6: last game. He's been walked in nineteen consecutive games, tying
18:22
Speaker 6: Ted Williams or third longest streak. Talk a little about him,
18:26
Speaker 6: you know, he had that monster rookie year and just
18:28
Speaker 6: how he's just coming into his own as one of
18:30
Speaker 6: the top players in the league.
18:32
Speaker 4: Well it's not. You know, he doesn't get them and
18:34
Speaker 4: he putious to hit and that's the main reason why
18:36
Speaker 4: he's walked in eighteen or what nineteen straight games on
18:40
Speaker 4: the verge of Sign Williams. So it's it's been remarkable
18:45
Speaker 4: to me to see his discipline in his maturity because
18:49
Speaker 4: he didn't start the year last year in the big league,
18:51
Speaker 4: so he's only played literally one year of major league baseball,
18:54
Speaker 4: and he only played a handful of games in the
18:56
Speaker 4: minor leagues. And yet now he's a mark man. And
18:59
Speaker 4: so by the time the fourth or fifth inning rolls around,
19:03
Speaker 4: you look at the opposing bullpen and their best reliever.
19:06
Speaker 4: He knows where Nick Kurtz is in the lineup, even
19:09
Speaker 4: that early in the game. So he's had to stay disciplined,
19:13
Speaker 4: and I think it's kind of a hard thing for
19:15
Speaker 4: a young player to do, but he has and he
19:19
Speaker 4: hits the ball so incredibly hard. You know, he hit
19:22
Speaker 4: a double drove in a run yesterday against Kansas City.
19:25
Speaker 4: That's the right center one hundred and fifteen point seven
19:28
Speaker 4: miles an hour, and there was no way the outfielders
19:31
Speaker 4: lane Thomas was playing center field. He kind of went
19:33
Speaker 4: across like you would expect a center fielder to do.
19:37
Speaker 4: Then the ball was just buying and all the way
19:39
Speaker 4: to the walls. So he's a pre remarkable kid.
19:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, that ball was torched. It almost looked like a
19:45
Speaker 5: knuckled the center too. But anyway, but is that part
19:49
Speaker 5: of is the reason he's walking? Yes, he has great
19:51
Speaker 5: play discipline. Yes, he's you know, waiting for pitches to
19:53
Speaker 5: hit and do damage on Is that because maybe the
19:57
Speaker 5: protection isn't quite what we thought it was going to be.
20:00
Speaker 5: Of what Chay Langoleres is doing, I think he's very
20:02
Speaker 5: underrated and we know what these other guys could do.
20:05
Speaker 5: But I thought this this lineup would put up six, seven,
20:09
Speaker 5: eight nine runs a game, and we quite haven't seen
20:13
Speaker 5: that yet because I think this pitching staff isn't going
20:15
Speaker 5: to keep up. But is this lineup coming a little
20:18
Speaker 5: bit like are they going to need to get hot?
20:20
Speaker 5: For this may to be the great may.
20:23
Speaker 4: It's a great question, Eric, and I think they will
20:25
Speaker 4: hit better, and they haven't hit their stride offensively for sure,
20:28
Speaker 4: But in terms of protection, he's been leading off a lot.
20:31
Speaker 4: He's led off more than any other spot in the lineup,
20:35
Speaker 4: and Langoleres has been batting behind him quite a bit.
20:37
Speaker 4: And Langoleres is like he's like the first month almost
20:41
Speaker 4: MVP in the American League. He's been so good. So
20:45
Speaker 4: I just think they're really wary of curse. They don't
20:47
Speaker 4: want to pitch to him. But the other thing is
20:50
Speaker 4: nick that Brent Rooker was on the IL and he
20:54
Speaker 4: didn't ever rehab assignment. Since he's come back, he's played
20:56
Speaker 4: three games. It's very tough. I think when you've been
20:59
Speaker 4: out to it, and I think he'll he'll find his stride.
21:03
Speaker 4: And so I think when Rooker finds his stride, that
21:07
Speaker 4: he's going to make the rest of the offense a
21:09
Speaker 4: whole lot better.
21:10
Speaker 5: All right, Well, the other half of the ball is pitching.
21:14
Speaker 5: Is this pitching a facade for the first month? Is
21:19
Speaker 5: it exactly what you thought it was going to be,
21:22
Speaker 5: or are you worried about what the rest of the
21:25
Speaker 5: season could.
21:27
Speaker 3: Have in store for the A's.
21:30
Speaker 4: I feel better than I did like three or four
21:32
Speaker 4: days ago, because Severino has given them two straight really
21:35
Speaker 4: good starts, because he struggled and they were sitting around
21:39
Speaker 4: five hundred and his ERA was six point twenty. But
21:43
Speaker 4: then he went to Texas and he pitched great last
21:45
Speaker 4: Friday night in the game in which the A's had
21:47
Speaker 4: three home runs in the top for the first inning.
21:49
Speaker 4: He came back and pished maybe the best game he's
21:52
Speaker 4: pitched in Sacramento the other day against the Royals. So
21:57
Speaker 4: he can still be a top for the rotation guy.
22:00
Speaker 4: Thing about the pitching that may have been surprising, as
22:02
Speaker 4: you guys know, you never know from one year to
22:05
Speaker 4: the next regarding a bullpen. They are so changeable. Guys
22:08
Speaker 4: can have a good year in the next year they don't,
22:10
Speaker 4: or somebody who hasn't pitched in the big leagues for
22:13
Speaker 4: two or three years all of a sudden wins up
22:15
Speaker 4: as your closer. So Mark Conse has done a masterful
22:19
Speaker 4: job with the bullpen of mixing and matching, and the
22:23
Speaker 4: guys down there really adapted from the standpoint that maybe
22:27
Speaker 4: they don't have defined roles, but they've adjusted really well.
22:31
Speaker 4: To that and the other thing. And I'm not telling
22:34
Speaker 4: you guys anything you don't know that defense and pitching
22:38
Speaker 4: go hand in hand. It's hard to pitch if your
22:40
Speaker 4: defense is lousy. And by the numbers, they've had the
22:43
Speaker 4: best defense in baseball this year. They've only committed six errors,
22:47
Speaker 4: which pretty is remarkable. We're sitting here on the first
22:49
Speaker 4: of May and they've committed that the least errors in
22:53
Speaker 4: baseball and they have the best fielding percentage in baseball.
22:56
Speaker 4: So that's one part of their game that has taken
22:59
Speaker 4: a huge leap forward.
23:01
Speaker 5: Who are you most impressed with on defense? I mean,
23:04
Speaker 5: now that you said it was gonna be, one of
23:05
Speaker 5: my questions was you have Jack Wilson at shortstop. You
23:08
Speaker 5: have Shay Lange Leers, who I said, I.
23:09
Speaker 4: Think you have Jack soon. You have Jackson a short.
23:12
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I said Jack, my old teammate,
23:14
Speaker 5: Jack Wilson. You have Jacob Wilson, and then you have
23:17
Speaker 5: Lawrence Butler and right field, and you have Clark in
23:20
Speaker 5: center field. Like there's there's a lot. But who are
23:23
Speaker 5: you most impressed with on a day in and day
23:25
Speaker 5: out basis.
23:26
Speaker 4: Defensive Jacob Wilson by far, I've never seen a player
23:30
Speaker 4: make this big elite from one year to the next
23:34
Speaker 4: because and I think it got under his skin maybe
23:36
Speaker 4: a little bit, because I guess for good he had
23:39
Speaker 4: such an incredible offensive here last year and he started
23:42
Speaker 4: the All Star Game and shortstop as a rookie. His
23:46
Speaker 4: defense has been remarkable and it's not you he's had.
23:51
Speaker 4: He's had almost seventy consecutive see he said, an all
23:54
Speaker 4: time means franchise record for consecutive airless games as short
23:58
Speaker 4: and maybe people might think, well, he's just making all
24:01
Speaker 4: the routine plays. He's making great plays. So he's been fabulous.
24:06
Speaker 4: And to me, I don't think there's anybody in baseball
24:09
Speaker 4: who's playing a better shortstop than he's played. And Bobby Crosby,
24:14
Speaker 4: who was, as you guys know, the rookie of the
24:16
Speaker 4: Year for the A's back in the early two thousands
24:19
Speaker 4: at short, he's really worked with him. And Jacob deserves
24:21
Speaker 4: a lot of credit because he's really worked on his
24:24
Speaker 4: game and he's worked on the physical aspect of it too.
24:28
Speaker 4: He's stronger, he's quicker, his first step has gotten a
24:30
Speaker 4: lot better. So he's been sensational in short.
24:34
Speaker 5: Ken, did you see the play in the first inning
24:37
Speaker 5: the other day. Do you remember the play in the
24:38
Speaker 5: first inning? Where do you think Jacob purposely dropped that
24:43
Speaker 5: ball or do you think it gotten in the sun
24:46
Speaker 5: or over the state? No, that is I need to know.
24:53
Speaker 5: There's a reason I need to know. I need to
24:55
Speaker 5: know if he did it on purpose, and could they
24:57
Speaker 5: have doubled or could they have gotten salvy at first
25:00
Speaker 5: if McNeil had thrown.
25:01
Speaker 4: It the first yes, I think so.
25:05
Speaker 5: So he did it on purpose. So then the umpires
25:08
Speaker 5: missed it too.
25:09
Speaker 4: Well, you could draw that conclusion we missed it too
25:13
Speaker 4: on the air because he you know, we thought, first
25:17
Speaker 4: of all, it was a broken bat, and I'm thinking, okay,
25:20
Speaker 4: maybe he was distracted by the broken end of the bat,
25:23
Speaker 4: and then maybe it was the lights and all that.
25:25
Speaker 4: So if he was doing it on purpose, it wasn't
25:30
Speaker 4: the first time this year.
25:32
Speaker 6: Ah okay, hey, listen, I find a way. And we've
25:38
Speaker 6: all been we've all been it before down there before,
25:41
Speaker 6: trying to find a way. My question to you is
25:43
Speaker 6: we talk about all the pieces that they have. This
25:46
Speaker 6: guy's doing here, this guy's great, They're figuring out a
25:48
Speaker 6: ways to win. Who's leading the charge. Who's that guy
25:52
Speaker 6: in the locker room in your opinion right now, that
25:54
Speaker 6: is everybody's looking at, you know, for leadership as they're
25:57
Speaker 6: moving forward here, because when you move forward, you need
26:00
Speaker 6: you need that fearless leader because eventually stuff's going to
26:04
Speaker 6: happen where they're not going to win all these games.
26:05
Speaker 6: They're gonna need somebody to get them to bounce back
26:07
Speaker 6: and get them go. Who's there fearless leader right now?
26:10
Speaker 4: I think the unquestioned leader on the ball club is
26:13
Speaker 4: Brent Rooker. He has the longest tenure with the team.
26:18
Speaker 4: He said, over one hundred home runs for the A's
26:20
Speaker 4: in just over three years, and he is the guy
26:23
Speaker 4: that people look to. He's not afraid to speak up.
26:26
Speaker 4: The coaches are cool with it, like even around the
26:29
Speaker 4: batty cage, if he notices something, he can step in
26:32
Speaker 4: and add a tip or two. So they really looked
26:36
Speaker 4: at him, I think for leadership. And the other thing
26:40
Speaker 4: is is that when you have a guy like Kurtz,
26:43
Speaker 4: this really big dude who can carry a team. And
26:47
Speaker 4: I think when you have a guy like that, it
26:50
Speaker 4: kind of makes it takes pressure off the rest of
26:52
Speaker 4: the guys on the team. So but I think. I think,
26:55
Speaker 4: and they would say this that Rooker is the unquestioned
26:58
Speaker 4: leader on the team.
27:01
Speaker 5: Tell me about Paulos Cortes and what you're seeing in this.
27:04
Speaker 5: I mean, it's not even a hot streak. It's like
27:06
Speaker 5: a multen lava streak.
27:08
Speaker 4: That's the other day. Yesterday I said, let's can we
27:12
Speaker 4: just put like a single in the scorebook before he
27:15
Speaker 4: even gets to the plate. He got to four h
27:18
Speaker 4: six two days ago. Now he doesn't have enough at
27:22
Speaker 4: basketball five, but he's he's played almost seventy major league games,
27:25
Speaker 4: including last year, and he's hitting like three ninety. Now
27:29
Speaker 4: he's the guy that is really targeted in as a
27:32
Speaker 4: minor league free agent. He was a six year free agent.
27:35
Speaker 4: He was a third round pick of the Mets out
27:37
Speaker 4: of South Carolina, and when he was available before last year,
27:40
Speaker 4: he was a targeted, you know, non roster minor league
27:45
Speaker 4: free agent that has really blossomed. And he was only
27:50
Speaker 4: like a two fifty two fifty five hitter in TRIPLEA
27:53
Speaker 4: and the Mets organization. He walked a decent him out,
27:55
Speaker 4: He had a good on base, he had pretty good
27:58
Speaker 4: power at South Carolina. But last year when he began
28:02
Speaker 4: the year in TRIPLEA. He played every day, and he
28:05
Speaker 4: said that was the first time in two or three
28:07
Speaker 4: years that he knew that he played six games in
28:10
Speaker 4: a week, and that really helped his development, gave him confidence.
28:14
Speaker 4: He started going the other way a little bit more
28:15
Speaker 4: to left field, and he's an exceptional hitter. I still
28:20
Speaker 4: think he has more walks than strikeouts, and for a
28:24
Speaker 4: guy five to seven, he packs a punch, you know,
28:27
Speaker 4: a former met farmhand. He goes to City Field and
28:29
Speaker 4: his two home runs in one game there, so that
28:32
Speaker 4: was pretty cool for him.
28:34
Speaker 2: Incredible, incredible. I hope he keeps it up.
28:36
Speaker 1: I know sometimes these stories kind of flash and then
28:38
Speaker 1: the league adjusts, but you know, you root for these stories,
28:40
Speaker 1: so can I hope he keeps it up. And it's
28:43
Speaker 1: the quality of contact numbers are good, so that maybe
28:45
Speaker 1: ye gives us hope.
28:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm excited.
28:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, well he does.
28:50
Speaker 3: He is. You know.
28:50
Speaker 4: One of the reasons they targeted was that he had
28:52
Speaker 4: the very good contact rate and also outstanding field for
28:57
Speaker 4: the strike zone. So those two, those two things, if
29:00
Speaker 4: they go hand in hand. I'm not saying he's going
29:03
Speaker 4: to be immune to a slunk, but I'd surprise, I'd
29:05
Speaker 4: be surprised if he like became a mediocre hitter all
29:08
Speaker 4: of a sudden.
29:10
Speaker 2: Right now, I'm with you, Yeah, Like, this looks like
29:12
Speaker 2: a big leaguer.
29:13
Speaker 4: Right.
29:13
Speaker 1: He might not be a star, but it looks like
29:15
Speaker 1: the guy that belongs here and was overlooked for a while. Ken,
29:18
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Awesome hearing you on on calls
29:21
Speaker 1: for the games. Appreciate the time and have good calls
29:23
Speaker 1: this week and have fun anytime.
29:25
Speaker 4: You guys have really enjoyed it. Thanks.