Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Interview: Skip Schumaker joins the show

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Interview: Skip Schumaker joins the show · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: The same with Cardinals are en route to Arlington, Texas
0:09
Speaker 1: for a three game nder League series against the Rangers,
0:12
Speaker 1: So naturally we have to bring on everyone's favorite person
0:14
Speaker 1: to the show. Skip Schumacher, Welcome the Cardinals territory. I'm
0:17
Speaker 1: thrilled to have you. How are you?
0:19
Speaker 2: I am great.
0:20
Speaker 3: Everyone's favorite person's a tough that's a tough intro, but
0:23
Speaker 3: thank you all.
0:24
Speaker 2: I'll try to try to take that one. But I'm
0:26
Speaker 2: excited to be on with you, of course.
0:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. It's always great. I know when I
0:30
Speaker 1: always put out little feelers on which guest do we
0:32
Speaker 1: want coming up here the series. Here are some you know,
0:35
Speaker 1: favorite former Cardinals, and naturally you're on the top of
0:38
Speaker 1: the list. So we just give the people what they
0:40
Speaker 1: want here. What can I say?
0:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess so, So.
0:44
Speaker 1: We'll just start a little bit about you know why
0:47
Speaker 1: we're talking in the first place. Over the off season,
0:49
Speaker 1: for those of you who missed it, Skip joined the
0:51
Speaker 1: Texas Rangers as a special advisor to President at Baseball Operations,
0:54
Speaker 1: Chris Young. It's a new organization for you. Skip. What
0:57
Speaker 1: do you like about the Rangers so far?
1:01
Speaker 3: Well, I didn't know what was going to happen at
1:02
Speaker 3: the end of the season, you know, with my situation
1:06
Speaker 3: in Miami and trying to figure out the next steps
1:08
Speaker 3: and not to jump to anything into anything too quickly.
1:12
Speaker 3: I just wanted to be in a really good situation
1:14
Speaker 3: around really good people. And see Why is at the
1:18
Speaker 3: top of the list. He reached out right away. I've
1:21
Speaker 3: known see Why for a number of years now, played
1:24
Speaker 3: against him. I played against Sea Why in high school
1:26
Speaker 3: at eighteen years old, so I've known see.
1:27
Speaker 2: Why a long time.
1:29
Speaker 3: And then obviously the people that he has around him,
1:31
Speaker 3: Dayton Moore, Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, like all the people
1:36
Speaker 3: that I've Nick Hunley, that I've been around for a
1:38
Speaker 3: long time are in that group. And I get to
1:42
Speaker 3: learn from grow with, and that was the main thing.
1:44
Speaker 3: And by the way, I get to learn from a
1:46
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame Bruce Bochie is pretty special for me.
1:50
Speaker 3: So it just all kind of worked out, and really
1:54
Speaker 3: grateful for that. Also, my son is going to TCU,
1:57
Speaker 3: so it's like twenty five minutes away in a couple
1:59
Speaker 3: of years, so I'm just very grateful for this opportunity.
2:03
Speaker 1: Have you learned anything about the Rangers so far? This year?
2:05
Speaker 1: I'm going to have this episode double as a very
2:07
Speaker 1: brief Cardinals Rangers preview. Is I'm still figuring out what
2:11
Speaker 1: exactly the Rangers are.
2:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, first of all, they're pitching has been so good.
2:15
Speaker 3: They're starting pitching with the healthy Jacob de Gram.
2:17
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a unicorn.
2:19
Speaker 3: He is when healthy, one of the best pitchers still
2:23
Speaker 3: in the major leagues.
2:24
Speaker 2: In Valdi, I didn't realize how good Evo was.
2:28
Speaker 3: You know, you you kind of advanced teams when you
2:30
Speaker 3: go in to play them and you only get three
2:32
Speaker 3: game series maybe see him five or six times a year.
2:35
Speaker 3: I didn't realize what type of leadership he had, you know,
2:38
Speaker 3: in that clubhouse, the stuff he had, this real true
2:43
Speaker 3: ace mentality that he has. And then obviously, you know
2:47
Speaker 3: you're looking at the offense and you know, we've struggled
2:49
Speaker 3: a little bit this year, been kind of these peaks
2:52
Speaker 3: and valleys, and you're waiting for these guys to get
2:55
Speaker 3: going and unfortunately how to make a few moves during
2:59
Speaker 3: the season. But I think, you know, seekers coming back
3:02
Speaker 3: here in a few days, which it's going to be huge.
3:04
Speaker 2: You need aircraft carriers. You've heard that before, and he
3:08
Speaker 2: is that guy.
3:08
Speaker 3: He's a guy that can just put a team on
3:11
Speaker 3: his shoulders and you know, roll off a number of
3:14
Speaker 3: wins and go into these eight, nine, ten game winning streaks,
3:17
Speaker 3: which you know we're going to have to.
3:19
Speaker 2: Get to to get back to where we want to be.
3:21
Speaker 3: But when you have a leader in Bruce Bochie, he's
3:24
Speaker 3: seen it all and is forty plus years in the
3:28
Speaker 3: big leagues, So I think there's a lot of stability
3:31
Speaker 3: in that organization, and I think there's it's only a
3:33
Speaker 3: matter of time before these guys get hot again.
3:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it'll be a good matchup for the Cardinals,
3:37
Speaker 1: who I'm you know you follow along. How could you
3:39
Speaker 1: not so many of your friends are on the coaching staff,
3:42
Speaker 1: and also I know you just have a an appreciation
3:45
Speaker 1: for the organization. But for Saint Louis coming in after
3:48
Speaker 1: their series against Baltimore, I mean, this is a team
3:50
Speaker 1: that's played the best defense in baseball, So I wonder
3:53
Speaker 1: how that, combined with the Rangers lack of offense is
3:56
Speaker 1: going to vote for Texas's bats, and they've been pitching.
3:59
Speaker 1: The Cardinals have really well. We've talked about on this
4:01
Speaker 1: show the sustainability of it, whether or not it can
4:04
Speaker 1: last throughout the entirety of a season. But right now
4:06
Speaker 1: those guys are throwing the ball well and they're executing,
4:08
Speaker 1: so we'll see. I think the Cardinals are one of
4:11
Speaker 1: the surprise teams in baseball so far. I know, coming
4:13
Speaker 1: into the season, my personal expectations were rather low. If
4:17
Speaker 1: you've watched the earlier episodes of Cardinal Territory, specifically the
4:20
Speaker 1: spring training vibes. I wouldn't say I with the most
4:23
Speaker 1: bought in person on the active roster, but they've done
4:26
Speaker 1: a very very nice job of turning things around. What
4:28
Speaker 1: do you make of the Cardinals this year?
4:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, first of all, to your earlier point, the defense.
4:35
Speaker 3: Texas has a really good defense too, So they remind
4:38
Speaker 3: me a lot of each other right now as far
4:40
Speaker 3: as like the defense and what they valuate their values of,
4:42
Speaker 3: like pitching in defense.
4:45
Speaker 2: The Cardinals, I think.
4:47
Speaker 3: It started with Nolan Ornado showing up to spring training
4:51
Speaker 3: and just being that dude and not making it a distraction,
4:55
Speaker 3: letting the media and the teammates know, like, I'm here,
4:57
Speaker 3: I'm ready to win, let's go.
4:59
Speaker 2: Whatever happened in season happened.
5:01
Speaker 3: But I think it starts with him and him having
5:04
Speaker 3: the ability to say I'm a Saint Louis Cardinal. There's
5:07
Speaker 3: a tradition here. I'm still want I still think we
5:10
Speaker 3: can win. And then him going to the front office
5:13
Speaker 3: or all even saying I'm willing to hit six just
5:15
Speaker 3: shows you where he's at in his career and that
5:18
Speaker 3: winning is the most important part of his day, which
5:21
Speaker 3: just you know, it's not surprising to me knowing Nolan
5:23
Speaker 3: for so long, but I think it's just been really
5:26
Speaker 3: cool to watch his maturation throughout the years. Olie Marmle's
5:30
Speaker 3: done a fantastic job with that club. I think I've
5:33
Speaker 3: had Brent Brown as my hitting coach. He is phenomenal
5:37
Speaker 3: at game planning and getting the buy in that you
5:39
Speaker 3: know those guys need. We know who John I know
5:42
Speaker 3: who John Jay is and Descalzo obviously there's some street
5:46
Speaker 3: cred where they know what winning looks like in that clubhouse,
5:49
Speaker 3: and you know, those young players can go to them
5:51
Speaker 3: with just about anything because they've seen it all. And
5:54
Speaker 3: I think when you have a staff like that, it
5:56
Speaker 3: just goes a long way and they have fun. There's accountability,
6:01
Speaker 3: there's stability now and I think not enough. I know
6:04
Speaker 3: you probably have talked about I know you have. But
6:06
Speaker 3: Brendon Donovan is an absolute stud and it's somebody that
6:09
Speaker 3: you've mentioned, Katie.
6:10
Speaker 2: I've watched you speak because I think you're really good.
6:15
Speaker 3: I think he is somebody that you can really build around,
6:18
Speaker 3: and that is a franchise type of player. He's a
6:21
Speaker 3: cardinal type of player who plays the game right. You
6:24
Speaker 3: know what you're going to get every single bat, first, left, first, right,
6:27
Speaker 3: middle of the infield, he can play the outfield. He's
6:30
Speaker 3: just a special player that, like everybody can look too
6:34
Speaker 3: younger player, older player, like that's how you should play
6:37
Speaker 3: the game.
6:38
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up about Brendan Donovan in particular,
6:41
Speaker 1: because he reminds me of the type of player that
6:43
Speaker 1: would have thrived on your Cardinals teams when you and
6:45
Speaker 1: Scalt and j were there in the twenty tens. Because
6:48
Speaker 1: he is so gritty. I've said this before on the show.
6:50
Speaker 1: He's like your textbook Saint Louis cardinal in terms of,
6:53
Speaker 1: you know, he wants to play every day. You can
6:55
Speaker 1: play him everywhere, and he's more than serviceable no matter
6:58
Speaker 1: where you put him offensively, in defensively. And coming into
7:01
Speaker 1: the season, Donnie was one of those guys that was
7:03
Speaker 1: kind of caught in between from an identity standpoint. He
7:06
Speaker 1: wasn't an established veteran with the club, but he was
7:08
Speaker 1: a little too old to be in the I don't know,
7:11
Speaker 1: we're not supposed to say rebuild, but the transition part
7:14
Speaker 1: of the club. They knew that they were going to
7:16
Speaker 1: count on him for the future, but they just didn't
7:18
Speaker 1: know to what extent. And instead of being confused or
7:21
Speaker 1: unsure about his identity, I think Donnie just came in
7:23
Speaker 1: and said, well, I'm just going to play and make
7:24
Speaker 1: sure they know exactly what they have in me and
7:27
Speaker 1: what we're seeing after the first fifty games or so
7:29
Speaker 1: was you're seeing exactly what you said someone the organization
7:31
Speaker 1: can build around in the future.
7:33
Speaker 2: He's exactly what you're looking for in a winning team.
7:36
Speaker 3: And you know, whatever they wanted to say, you know,
7:39
Speaker 3: they wanted the younger guys to play, or the rebuild
7:42
Speaker 3: or whatever transition period they were in, it doesn't matter
7:45
Speaker 3: what phase you're in in an organization. You want Brendan
7:48
Speaker 3: Donovan on your team because he knows what the work
7:52
Speaker 3: should look like. During batting practice, you see him, he'll
7:55
Speaker 3: put a screen in front of first base if he's
7:57
Speaker 3: not hitting the bag right and just rep and rep
8:00
Speaker 3: it and rep it. Just these little things, these little
8:03
Speaker 3: details that he cares so much about, that like win
8:06
Speaker 3: the margins.
8:07
Speaker 2: And when you have a team that doesn't have.
8:09
Speaker 3: These like you know, Aaron Judge or Showhey or these
8:13
Speaker 3: like incredible superstars, but you just have some really good
8:16
Speaker 3: talented players that are trying to find their way. But
8:19
Speaker 3: you also have a Nolan Ernando who's going to be
8:21
Speaker 3: a Hall of Famer, Like, how do you win the margins?
8:23
Speaker 3: And you have guys like Brendan Donovan That's how you
8:26
Speaker 3: do it. And my guess is Brendan Donovan, now at
8:29
Speaker 3: his whatever third fourth year in the league, is probably
8:31
Speaker 3: telling these young guys, no, you hit the bag with
8:33
Speaker 3: the right foot, or now this is how you take
8:35
Speaker 3: your secondary leader.
8:36
Speaker 2: No, you should be taking early VP.
8:39
Speaker 3: I think he's probably got that in him now and
8:42
Speaker 3: he's always had it before.
8:43
Speaker 2: But you're right, he's not like, you know, this ten
8:46
Speaker 2: year vet. He's not this rookie.
8:47
Speaker 3: But I think he's so respected that I'm guessing he
8:51
Speaker 3: commands some of that in the room. And again, it
8:54
Speaker 3: just goes back to that coaching staff, the coaching staff
8:56
Speaker 3: has been really good in developing these guys.
8:59
Speaker 2: All.
8:59
Speaker 3: He has been a developer his whole career and it's
9:03
Speaker 3: just a testament to what he's done with that club
9:05
Speaker 3: as well.
9:06
Speaker 1: Perfect segue to our next section. I would really like
9:08
Speaker 1: to talk about the coaching staff, because, like you mentioned,
9:11
Speaker 1: you are familiar with so many of them. But before
9:13
Speaker 1: we get to that, we've got to take our first
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9:16
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9:18
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9:33
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9:34
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9:36
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10:19
Speaker 1: I love that Scott has like the world's smallest dog,
10:22
Speaker 1: so fitting for him.
10:23
Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna say anything, but yeah, So.
10:27
Speaker 1: Let's from an over arching view. You know so many
10:32
Speaker 1: of these Cardinals coaches, not just from playing time or
10:34
Speaker 1: from your time on the Cardinals staff, but an or
10:37
Speaker 1: for your time in Miami really that I feel like
10:39
Speaker 1: you were one of the best people to talk to
10:41
Speaker 1: about just what they've accomplished. And we'll start with Ali Marmel.
10:44
Speaker 1: You were s Benge coach in twenty twenty two and
10:46
Speaker 1: lots to like about what happened in twenty twenty two,
10:48
Speaker 1: except of course the very end of the season. But
10:51
Speaker 1: that was always first year as a manager, and you
10:53
Speaker 1: guys were just kind of in it together and figuring
10:55
Speaker 1: it out. How have you seen him grow from year
10:57
Speaker 1: one to year four. Now and why do you think
10:59
Speaker 1: he had he's seeing the success that he is right now.
11:02
Speaker 3: Well, I think you're always, you know, each year you
11:05
Speaker 3: learned something either from your experience, your coaching staff, former
11:10
Speaker 3: guys you know, or different players. I think he's he's
11:14
Speaker 3: grown into a manager that who he really.
11:17
Speaker 2: Wants to be.
11:18
Speaker 5: Now.
11:19
Speaker 3: I had him his rookie year. You know, we were
11:21
Speaker 3: I was learning Ali, he was learning me, and we
11:25
Speaker 3: kind of grew into this like really good friendship and
11:28
Speaker 3: uh that I'll you know, I'll be friends with Ali
11:30
Speaker 3: forever just because of how much I respect him. I think,
11:33
Speaker 3: you know, as a former manager, you always look back
11:36
Speaker 3: and think about how you could have done things better,
11:39
Speaker 3: whether it was you know, how you're getting guys better,
11:42
Speaker 3: how you're talking to him as a group in the clubhouse,
11:45
Speaker 3: how you're reacting to media. All these things you're learning
11:47
Speaker 3: as you grow, uh into the manager you're trying to become.
11:51
Speaker 2: And he's he's gotten to the playoffs, he's.
11:54
Speaker 3: Taken young teams, you know, to places where a lot
11:58
Speaker 3: of media members didn't think they would get to so far,
12:01
Speaker 3: and it's been it's been really fun to see him
12:04
Speaker 3: also acquire the staff that he thinks is ready to
12:07
Speaker 3: take this group to the next level. In my opinion,
12:11
Speaker 3: you have to have a really good coaching staff to
12:13
Speaker 3: cover your blind spots because you don't know everything about
12:17
Speaker 3: the game. I feel like you should hire the expert
12:20
Speaker 3: in hitting, and the expert in pitching, and the expert
12:23
Speaker 3: and infield play because you don't know everything. It's impossible
12:26
Speaker 3: to know everything. And I think he's done a really
12:28
Speaker 3: good job of acquiring the experts in a lot of
12:32
Speaker 3: these areas in the game, and it's really helped them
12:34
Speaker 3: take that that that organization to the next level. You know,
12:38
Speaker 3: Stubby Clapp is one of the better infield guys in
12:41
Speaker 3: the league. Knows base running. Him and Pop Warner can
12:44
Speaker 3: dissect the pitcher as good as anybody. And obviously I've
12:47
Speaker 3: talked about you to you about Brent Brown and what
12:50
Speaker 3: I think of him and what he did for us
12:52
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three in Miami. You know he is,
12:55
Speaker 3: He's relentless. He gets guys to buy in. So there's
12:59
Speaker 3: a I could tell all day about. You know a
13:01
Speaker 3: lot of those guys on staff, but I think they're
13:03
Speaker 3: in a good place. They're in a really good place,
13:05
Speaker 3: And I'm just happy for Ali because you know this
13:09
Speaker 3: was I'm guessing haven't talked to him about it, but
13:12
Speaker 3: like a lighter off season for them with the whole
13:16
Speaker 3: Aeronauto thing, you know, you know, hanging over the off
13:19
Speaker 3: season and hanging over his head most likely, and then
13:22
Speaker 3: to get him to like become like bought in is
13:25
Speaker 3: pretty pretty impressive.
13:26
Speaker 2: So I'm happy where he's at.
13:29
Speaker 1: I mean, you know firsthand what it's like to come
13:32
Speaker 1: in as a manager and take a club that people
13:34
Speaker 1: had relatively low expectations for and guide them to success.
13:37
Speaker 1: I mean, you were the twenty twenty three mL Manager
13:39
Speaker 1: of the Year with Miami for a reason, and you
13:41
Speaker 1: took a young, inexperienced ball club and made them playoff contenders.
13:46
Speaker 1: Can you see this Cardinals coaching staff doing that same
13:48
Speaker 1: thing this year?
13:50
Speaker 3: I can, because I mean you think about who's on
13:52
Speaker 3: that staff. Daniel descalzos on a winning person. First of all,
13:58
Speaker 3: he's a really good person, but he's one in Arizona.
14:02
Speaker 3: He's one a Saint Louis as a player. John Jay
14:06
Speaker 3: has one as a coach. He's one as a player.
14:08
Speaker 3: Brent Brown has one as a coach, one as a player.
14:10
Speaker 3: So you think about all these guys that through their
14:13
Speaker 3: experiences with young teams and really and veteran teams, they've
14:17
Speaker 3: they've seen it all. So you can only go back
14:20
Speaker 3: on what you've experienced. And I've said this before, I
14:23
Speaker 3: only know everything I know is because I've learned it
14:27
Speaker 3: from somebody, and they have been in. Brent Brown and
14:31
Speaker 3: the Dodgers organization learned a ton I'm assuming, oh, I
14:34
Speaker 3: know that for a fact. But he's also really good
14:37
Speaker 3: about with his own ideas, and Olie Marvel has been
14:39
Speaker 3: in this organization a long time, but they also, in
14:42
Speaker 3: my opinion, got guys from other organizations finally that were
14:46
Speaker 3: I can give you new ideas and implement them and
14:51
Speaker 3: then take this place to it to the next level.
14:53
Speaker 3: And I think that's where John Jay has been really
14:56
Speaker 3: beneficial and Brent Brown's been really beneficial, and obviously Scalzo,
15:00
Speaker 3: you know, seeing what Arizona has been doing for a
15:01
Speaker 3: number of years. I think when you see all that
15:04
Speaker 3: coming together, this is what you get.
15:06
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about John Jay because a
15:08
Speaker 1: big talk about this Cardinals team, like we talked about earlier,
15:11
Speaker 1: has been the defense, specifically the outfield defense and when
15:14
Speaker 1: you ask the players, when you ask Ollie, it's easy
15:18
Speaker 1: to see just how much the outfielders have bought into
15:20
Speaker 1: the John Jay school of outfielding. Really, and we'll start
15:23
Speaker 1: with Lars Neubar, who was never a bad outfielder by
15:25
Speaker 1: any means. He was above league average, but he's managed
15:27
Speaker 1: to take significant strides forward. Going to what I think,
15:30
Speaker 1: you know, one of the most effective left fielders in
15:33
Speaker 1: the National League, Victor Scott the second always had the talent,
15:36
Speaker 1: you always had the raw ability, but his John Jay's
15:40
Speaker 1: ability to unlock something with Victor to turn him into
15:43
Speaker 1: the next level of center fielder, a Gold Glove caliber
15:46
Speaker 1: center fielder after less than a year in the major leagues,
15:48
Speaker 1: is super impressive. And then, of course, what has been
15:51
Speaker 1: going on with Jordan Walker to take from where Jordan
15:53
Speaker 1: was in the last couple of years offensively and to
15:55
Speaker 1: bring him to league average, and to see the everyday improvement,
15:59
Speaker 1: whether that's first step, whether that's sprint speed, whether it's
16:02
Speaker 1: the read off the bat. The Cardinals have one of
16:05
Speaker 1: the better outfields in baseball one because of the work
16:07
Speaker 1: the players have put in. But they're not buying in
16:09
Speaker 1: unless they believe in their coach with that messaging. You've
16:12
Speaker 1: known John Jay Fair a very long time. He was
16:14
Speaker 1: part of your staff in Miami, longtime teammate of yours.
16:17
Speaker 1: I know you're not surprised about the results here, but
16:20
Speaker 1: what makes John Jay so effective as an outfield coach.
16:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, first of all, we talked about Brendan Donovan
16:25
Speaker 3: being so good and someone you can build around.
16:27
Speaker 2: You mentioned Lars Newbar.
16:29
Speaker 3: I was so impressed with the year I had with
16:31
Speaker 3: watching Lars new Bar in that clubhouse and getting guys better.
16:35
Speaker 2: And he wants he himself wants to be great.
16:39
Speaker 3: And when you have that quality and then you implement
16:42
Speaker 3: a John Jay and like I can make you great,
16:45
Speaker 3: I want to be great.
16:46
Speaker 2: Here we go.
16:47
Speaker 3: That's where you know you get from good players to
16:49
Speaker 3: great players. And I think Lars Newbar can be a
16:51
Speaker 3: great player in this league for.
16:53
Speaker 2: A long time.
16:54
Speaker 3: You don't see many outfield coaches actually take reps in
16:57
Speaker 3: the outfield with the players. Right is taking three groups
17:01
Speaker 3: of reps of shagging getting these guys to show exactly
17:05
Speaker 3: how it should look like with the first step where
17:09
Speaker 3: the positioning should be, the routes to a ball, because
17:12
Speaker 3: he's actually taking the flight balls with them, which you
17:15
Speaker 3: just don't see in today's game. It's a lot of
17:17
Speaker 3: like here, put in the machine, shoot it and go
17:20
Speaker 3: get the ball, where John's like having somebody else do it,
17:23
Speaker 3: and he's repping it with them and talking it through
17:25
Speaker 3: him and the reasons why. And I think he's, uh,
17:30
Speaker 3: he's really good for the veteran guy. I guess, I
17:32
Speaker 3: don't know, I guess large as the veteran guy yet,
17:35
Speaker 3: but but the older of that, I guess that group
17:38
Speaker 3: of you know, compared to the other guys that are
17:40
Speaker 3: on uh, in that outfield. But he's really good at
17:43
Speaker 3: teaching it and simplifying it and having like the message
17:46
Speaker 3: be simple. And when you can have simple messaging that
17:49
Speaker 3: these guys can relate to.
17:50
Speaker 2: It just goes a long way.
17:52
Speaker 3: And I think that John Jay Uh, you know, he's
17:56
Speaker 3: good in anything that you give him, Like he could
17:58
Speaker 3: be really good at base running, and he could be
18:00
Speaker 3: really good at you know, whatever you give him, he's
18:02
Speaker 3: gonna dominate in because he's an all in type of guy.
18:05
Speaker 3: He's like obsessive, Like you see him probably skateboarding all
18:08
Speaker 3: the time, like I'm gonna just try skateboarding. And then
18:11
Speaker 3: he's just like gonna be obsessed with it and like
18:13
Speaker 3: try to dominate that. Whatever it is, he's gonna try
18:15
Speaker 3: to be great at it. And what's great about John
18:17
Speaker 3: is like I had him a few years ago. He
18:20
Speaker 3: never coached before, and I just like, all right, you're
18:22
Speaker 3: gonna be the first base coach. You're gonna be like
18:24
Speaker 3: you have to like figure out these tips and tails
18:26
Speaker 3: and oh, by the way, you got to make Jazz
18:28
Speaker 3: a center fielder that he does not really want to be.
18:31
Speaker 2: A center fielder.
18:32
Speaker 3: Good luck, okay, And so like he took him and
18:37
Speaker 3: was like, right away off season, I'm going to I'm
18:40
Speaker 3: grabbing Jazz. We're gonna be in Florida together, and before
18:43
Speaker 3: we even go and even start spring training, we're gonna
18:46
Speaker 3: build a foundation. We're gonna build a relationship first and
18:49
Speaker 3: then set a foundation. So we get into spring training,
18:51
Speaker 3: he knows exactly what I think he should be doing
18:54
Speaker 3: instead of like being day one, Okay, this is what
18:56
Speaker 3: we're doing.
18:57
Speaker 2: He did the same thing in Saint Louis.
18:59
Speaker 3: He got there in spring training before spring training, got
19:02
Speaker 3: these guys together, and I think, you know, John holds
19:08
Speaker 3: guys accountable.
19:10
Speaker 2: He's tough. But again, it's the simple messaging that I
19:13
Speaker 2: think goes a long way.
19:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're spot on. That sounds exactly what
19:17
Speaker 1: Victor Scott and Jordan Walker went through before spring training,
19:20
Speaker 1: and you could see it from day one that they
19:22
Speaker 1: were different outfielders. They weren't starting from day one. Their
19:25
Speaker 1: day one was weeks ago. And it's funny what you
19:27
Speaker 1: say about that Jay Shaggan in the outfield because a
19:30
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, I've been around these guys enough
19:32
Speaker 1: for even if I'm standing by the dugout, I can
19:34
Speaker 1: basically tell who's who in the outfield by their body mannerisms,
19:38
Speaker 1: how they're running. And I was like, who is this
19:40
Speaker 1: guy flying all over the place and wearing a hoodie
19:43
Speaker 1: when it's seventy degrees beanie on up against the wall
19:46
Speaker 1: and I'm looking close to I'm like, that's John Jay.
19:49
Speaker 1: And I just fell out laughing because it was so
19:52
Speaker 1: funny to see him still look like he was a
19:53
Speaker 1: player out there, just going out and taking routes. But
19:56
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think guys really respond to that.
19:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, to make fun of him wearing
20:01
Speaker 2: a hood it was like in.
20:02
Speaker 3: Saint Louis, it was one hundred degrees and he's shagging
20:06
Speaker 3: with the hood on. But he would wear this like
20:08
Speaker 3: hood and it would only see like his eyes were
20:10
Speaker 3: the only thing peeking out. And it's because he wanted
20:13
Speaker 3: to be locked in without any distraction, so he could
20:15
Speaker 3: focus on the hitter and nothing else. So he was
20:17
Speaker 3: zero zeroing in on the ball and the bat, the
20:21
Speaker 3: ball hitting off the bat, and so he would do
20:24
Speaker 3: that everywhere, and so I thought he was just being
20:26
Speaker 3: like an idiot, you know, like all right, yeah, yeah,
20:30
Speaker 3: and but.
20:31
Speaker 2: He actually he still does that he did in Miami.
20:34
Speaker 2: He's doing it Saint Louis.
20:35
Speaker 3: But it's a focus thing of like I'm like removing
20:39
Speaker 3: every distraction, focusing on the hitter.
20:41
Speaker 2: And then he's trying to get other guys to buy
20:43
Speaker 2: in on that too. So it's pretty impressive.
20:45
Speaker 1: All right, Well, when I see a bunch of the
20:46
Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals coming out with beanies in July, I'll
20:48
Speaker 1: know exactly.
20:49
Speaker 2: He exactly exactly.
20:51
Speaker 1: All right, we'll get to a couple more segments, But
20:54
Speaker 1: first though, one more ad read, which I'm killing today.
20:56
Speaker 1: By the way, let's hear from Cargo's.
20:59
Speaker 4: Pod father and I are from Jersey, so we're used
21:01
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21:06
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Speaker 4: car Gurus.
21:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think, honestly, the best part about this
21:12
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22:00
Speaker 3: Skip.
22:00
Speaker 1: Is that a ben In Woods T shirt you're wearing?
22:02
Speaker 2: It is? Yeah? He Woods twenty four.
22:06
Speaker 3: I wear these things to work out, like all the time.
22:08
Speaker 3: They sent me a bunch of comfy shirts and I
22:10
Speaker 3: love those guys.
22:11
Speaker 2: They are great.
22:12
Speaker 1: Oh that's cool. I have exactly zero from them, so
22:14
Speaker 1: I will remember that for those of you in Saint Louis.
22:17
Speaker 1: Ben and Woods is a San Diego radio show. They're
22:20
Speaker 1: the flagship for the San Diego Padres and that's actually
22:23
Speaker 1: where I met Skip when I was an intern in
22:26
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen fresh out of college. Skip, you were the
22:31
Speaker 1: first coach, right, I was sure if you were assistant Yeah, not.
22:35
Speaker 2: Assistant to the manager or whatever.
22:37
Speaker 1: They gave me very the office like title for you.
22:41
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
22:42
Speaker 1: So it's great to just kind of to be able
22:44
Speaker 1: to like grow my career and have you be such
22:46
Speaker 1: a consistent presence in it. You knew me when I
22:48
Speaker 1: was like very timid, unsure. I'm sure Allie wishes he
22:53
Speaker 1: had that version of me. He has a superable version
22:56
Speaker 1: of me. Lately this year especially, I don't know what's
22:58
Speaker 1: getting into me, but I have been outlandish in pregames,
23:01
Speaker 1: so I'm trying to work on it. But yeah, Ben
23:04
Speaker 1: It Woods a great radio show.
23:05
Speaker 2: We love though they are, they're some of the best.
23:08
Speaker 1: So you have a bunch of things going on for you,
23:11
Speaker 1: not only you work with the Rangers, but it was
23:12
Speaker 1: recently announced last month that you were going to be
23:14
Speaker 1: the bench coach for Team USA and the World Baseball Classic.
23:17
Speaker 1: Just how cool was that.
23:20
Speaker 3: One of the highlights of my career was being able
23:23
Speaker 3: to play on Team USA in two thousand and six.
23:26
Speaker 3: I was selected with a really young group and I
23:31
Speaker 3: was playing triple.
23:32
Speaker 2: A actually, and they had guys like gosh.
23:36
Speaker 3: Billy Butler and Aiden Hard and you know, some like
23:39
Speaker 3: really young nineteen twenty k Suzuki. But we were trying
23:43
Speaker 3: to we would go to Cuba and we're trying to
23:46
Speaker 3: qualify for the Olympics. And I met Paul Seiler, who
23:49
Speaker 3: was the CEO of USA Baseball, and we just hit
23:53
Speaker 3: it off and we ended up winning the thing and qualifying,
23:56
Speaker 3: and it was just such a special time to put
23:59
Speaker 3: Team USA or USA across your chest and wear the hat.
24:03
Speaker 2: It was just really, really special. And I've never I've
24:07
Speaker 2: just been.
24:09
Speaker 3: Hoping one day I could get back and play or
24:13
Speaker 3: coach with them in some capacity.
24:15
Speaker 2: And when Mark de Rosa called me this a.
24:18
Speaker 3: Couple of weeks ago, about a month ago, and asked
24:20
Speaker 3: if I was willing to be his bench coach, I
24:23
Speaker 3: mean I was through. I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe
24:26
Speaker 3: that I got to do.
24:27
Speaker 2: This thing again.
24:29
Speaker 3: And then the names that he was talking about that
24:31
Speaker 3: are going to be on our roster that haven't been
24:33
Speaker 3: out there yet. It was just like too good to
24:36
Speaker 3: be true. So very grateful. The staff is amazing. Get
24:40
Speaker 3: to learn so much from these guys. I'm looking forward
24:42
Speaker 3: to learning from the best in baseball, like coaches and players.
24:48
Speaker 2: But you know, it was so cool to watch last WBC.
24:53
Speaker 2: I mean it was amazing.
24:54
Speaker 3: I was in Florida, obviously, so I would during spring
24:57
Speaker 3: training I would go and watch Venezuela versus Port or
25:00
Speaker 3: the Dominican and it was like forty thousand people just
25:03
Speaker 3: going crazy. And then obviously the USA versus Japan at
25:07
Speaker 3: the very end. Obviously USA didn't win, but what a
25:11
Speaker 3: great thing it was for baseball. The experience I had
25:14
Speaker 3: extreme fomo that I wasn't part of it, So to
25:17
Speaker 3: be able to part of it, be part of it
25:19
Speaker 3: now is really special for me.
25:21
Speaker 1: I love the World Baseball Classic. That same time frame,
25:24
Speaker 1: being out in Jupiter, the Cardinals had like over half
25:26
Speaker 1: their roster playing in the WBC, so I pitched the
25:29
Speaker 1: athletic I was like, Hey, these spring training games, like
25:32
Speaker 1: the guys that were focusing on they're actually in the
25:34
Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic. What if I went to Miami and
25:36
Speaker 1: did you know, I think it was the first game,
25:39
Speaker 1: like the quarterfinals, so I got to see Venezuela Puerto Rico.
25:42
Speaker 1: I got to see Puerto Rico versus the dr and
25:44
Speaker 1: it was just an insane environment. It was one of
25:47
Speaker 1: the coolest baseball things I've ever experienced. I saw Albert
25:50
Speaker 1: Poohle seven hundred firsthand, so that's saying something. I love
25:55
Speaker 1: the World Baseball Classic and I'm so excited that you'll
25:57
Speaker 1: be a part of it. I won't ask you for
25:59
Speaker 1: any spoilers, but for the names that are already out there,
26:01
Speaker 1: Aaron Judge, Paul Skins say less. I'm already in on
26:04
Speaker 1: on Team USA. So I hope I get to You know,
26:07
Speaker 1: this is me pitching to the athletic Let me do
26:09
Speaker 1: it again, please, because it was just really I think
26:13
Speaker 1: one of the things that baseball has really gotten right,
26:15
Speaker 1: just to see the passion that everyone has when they're
26:17
Speaker 1: playing for their country. You're seeing some of the best
26:19
Speaker 1: in the game in a different environment. I loved it.
26:22
Speaker 1: I loved every second of just being a participant of it.
26:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm with you.
26:25
Speaker 3: And the fan base is coming out of different areas
26:28
Speaker 3: and like you know, Miami is you know, we have
26:30
Speaker 3: a very Latin community that which is coming in pouring in,
26:34
Speaker 3: and you just saw the passion they had for their
26:37
Speaker 3: countries and like if I saw like ten different instruments,
26:41
Speaker 3: you know, going and throughout the game, didn't matter what
26:43
Speaker 3: the score was.
26:44
Speaker 2: It was so much fun to watch.
26:46
Speaker 3: And then you know, going to different countries and playing
26:49
Speaker 3: and I think, you know, I don't know where they're
26:51
Speaker 3: at with that, but I'm hoping.
26:52
Speaker 2: That you know, this can go to you know, more
26:56
Speaker 2: in the d R and more in Puerto Rico and
26:58
Speaker 2: Venezuela and whatever.
26:59
Speaker 3: Hopefully you know, it's some point that can happen too,
27:01
Speaker 3: because it would be really special to see, you know,
27:04
Speaker 3: the fan bases get to experience watching the best players
27:08
Speaker 3: play for their countries.
27:10
Speaker 1: Well, before we get you out of here, we have
27:12
Speaker 1: to talk about perhaps even the more important tournament going on.
27:15
Speaker 1: Your son, Brody is in his high school baseball team
27:17
Speaker 1: is in the playoffs out in California. You mentioned he's
27:20
Speaker 1: a TCU commit. Give us a scouting report. On Brody,
27:22
Speaker 1: what's he got to do?
27:24
Speaker 2: Hell?
27:24
Speaker 1: Locked in? Is he?
27:25
Speaker 5: Right now?
27:25
Speaker 3: He's pretty locked in? You know, I'm very grateful to
27:29
Speaker 3: have this reset in my life. I haven't been home
27:32
Speaker 3: this time of year and twenty years, right, I mean,
27:34
Speaker 3: it's just been a long time. So getting to see
27:37
Speaker 3: my son play high school baseball for the first time,
27:40
Speaker 3: getting my see my daughter play high school soccer for
27:42
Speaker 3: the first time this year, and then obviously going on
27:46
Speaker 3: this little playoff run that he is on. Is I
27:49
Speaker 3: get to fill my cup up and then whatever happens
27:52
Speaker 3: next year. You know, I'd love to jump back in,
27:54
Speaker 3: but I think the fact that I got to do
27:57
Speaker 3: this and just watch him play, I just get to
28:00
Speaker 3: take it all in and just sit back and just
28:03
Speaker 3: enjoy it. But you know, they play, Uh he's in
28:07
Speaker 3: the Trinity League, which is a you know, very good
28:10
Speaker 3: league out here and maybe the best in the nation.
28:13
Speaker 2: Honestly, it has the modern Days and Jay Sarah and
28:15
Speaker 2: Bosco and just like Powerhouse.
28:17
Speaker 3: He goes to Santa Margarita if they play Crispy High
28:21
Speaker 3: School today and uh, if they win, then they go
28:24
Speaker 3: to the championship against everyone's heard of this Corona team
28:27
Speaker 3: with like all these number one potential picks potentially against them.
28:32
Speaker 2: They beat Bosco, so it's one game away from the championship.
28:35
Speaker 2: He had a good year All Trinity League. You know,
28:38
Speaker 2: he's he's doing well.
28:40
Speaker 3: So it's but he's about winning, which I'm very you know,
28:43
Speaker 3: I really love that about him. He can well, I
28:48
Speaker 3: just think that winning is winning takes care of everything else.
28:51
Speaker 3: And he's Chris mallag in Santa Margarita has a really
28:55
Speaker 3: good culture and so I'm I'm lucky that he's in
28:58
Speaker 3: a program like that.
29:00
Speaker 1: Well, this podcast is officially pro Brodie Schumacher. So we
29:03
Speaker 1: are rooting for you, Brody. We are rooting for you
29:05
Speaker 1: Skip as always. Thank you so much for taking the
29:08
Speaker 1: time to do this. Like I mentioned, you continue to
29:09
Speaker 1: be a Cardinals fan favorite. In fact, one of my
29:12
Speaker 1: favorite memories of you is the twenty twenty three opening
29:16
Speaker 1: day Cardinals Marlins. Oh no, it's twenty twenty four. I'm sorry.
29:20
Speaker 1: Vibes weren't like super high about the team at that point,
29:22
Speaker 1: and you and Willie McGee got the loudest fan ovations
29:27
Speaker 1: on opening day in Saint Louis as you were the
29:30
Speaker 1: opposing manager. So that says a lot about what Cardinals
29:33
Speaker 1: fans think about you.
29:34
Speaker 2: I know that was such a special moment.
29:35
Speaker 3: My family flew in for that and for them to
29:39
Speaker 3: hear that ovation and was something I'll never forget. And
29:44
Speaker 3: I just obviously loved my time there, and thanks for
29:46
Speaker 3: having me on and always going to be a fan
29:50
Speaker 3: of Saint Louis.
29:51
Speaker 2: Shockingly, no, not shocks.
29:53
Speaker 1: At all, Skip, Thank you so much, Cardinal Territory. We're
29:56
Speaker 1: back with you after the series in Arlington, and I'll
30:00
Speaker 1: be back to break things down maybe another series win.
30:03
Speaker 1: Who knows for Skip Schumacher, I'm Katie Who. This is
30:05
Speaker 1: Cardinal Territory. Thanks as always for watching. H