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Is Paul Skenes back? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory, presented to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hiles.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Joining me, as always, are my co-hosts Josh Harrison and
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Mark.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: It is Friday, August 28th. The Pirates are set to
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: begin a three-game set in St. Louis, where they will
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: look to win another series after taking two of three
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: in San Diego. Not going to get that six-win road
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: trip like we hoped to see them, challenge them to
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: really achieve Uh, but right now, I mean, they're three
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: and three on the road trip. So you could still
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: have a winning road trip, be only a couple of
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: games under 500. Uh, if you sweep the Cardinals heading
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: back to Pittsburgh, two and four, two and four, excuse me.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: You're right. You're right. You're right.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: So yes, they would have to sweep to have a
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: winning road stand or road trip, uh, in these nine games.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: But the big highlight from this past series was Paul Skeens.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: He had a really good start. Best start he's had
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: really since May. We're going to talk about that. We're
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: also going to talk about Andy Rodriguez.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: It's ironic.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I feel like the first couple topics on this rundown
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: were the same just.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: A week ago. But we've had updates on both, so
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about them both. And then, of course, we.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Will round out our Friday show with Jay Haynow. our
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: weekly segment on Friday. But guys, we got to start
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: with Skeens. We ended Wednesday's show saying we were recording
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Tuesday afternoon. Paul Skeens pitched Tuesday night. And I remember
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: that guy. That's the guy I covered for 2024 and 2025.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: That's the guy who his stuff plays. The fastball was
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: leading the charge. He was getting swing and miss. Everything
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: in the arsenal was working. He gave six innings of
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: shutout ball, three hits, four strikeouts. no walks that looked
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: like Paul schemes. That's the player that the pirates have
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: desperately been wanting to see for so long.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to throw it to you guys, but.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: First let me just say this credit to the pirates
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: coaching staff for building in those rest days and figuring
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: it out. I was leading the charge of saying, Hey,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: shut this guy down. Um, And I'm not ready to
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: declare him back yet. It's just one good outing. But
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: it was a good outing on the road against a
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: very formidable opponent, a playoff team. And that's an incredibly
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: encouraging sign for him to get right.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: So credit to Skeens for making adjustments.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Credit to the Pirates for giving him time to work
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: this out.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: But, I mean, Mark, as a.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Fan, you've got to be very relieved to see him
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: look like that earlier this week.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it felt so nice because we have not seen
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: Paul Skeens throw a scoreless outing since May. We haven't
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: seen him go past six innings since July. So we
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: saw both of those things happen against the Padres, against
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: a really good team on the road. So you've got
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: to be encouraged. She only threw 87 pitches. So that's
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: in line. He's only been throwing like around like 85
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: pitches is where they've been pulling him. His fastball velocity
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: was up again. He was sitting 97 to topped out
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: at 98 with his four seam. The sinker he was
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: throwing that that was faster as well. His slider looked great.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Got some really nice swings and misses on that. The
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: sweeper was playing all right. yeah, he looked like the
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Cy Young candidate that we remember. So as a fan,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: that was extremely encouraging. We needed that little confidence boost
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: to be like, oh yeah, this guy can be, or is,
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: I should say.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: A dog.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: This is our ace. This is why he's Paul Skeens.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: We just hadn't seen it a little bit, but we
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: got that reminder again on Tuesday, and that was really refreshing.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: And Josh, as a guy who's been on a team
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: with elite talents who have slumped, how big is that
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: in the clubhouse? Like take, take us into the clubhouse
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: after that game. Cause I'm sure the boys had to
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: have been in the fact that they won that game,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: won nothing too. That's the type of game that you
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: have Paul schemes, schemes on your team to win.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: How big was that? Even if they're out of the race,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: how big was that win for them?
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: Um, that, that was what I was going to mention
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: was they ended up winning that game, won nothing. And,
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: those are ultimately the games that you lean on guys
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: like Paul for pitching performance to where even if they
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: don't score while he's in it, just to keep your
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: team in the game. And one of those things where,
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: you know, I'm sure Paul is, you know, starting to
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: piece things and probably, you know, starting, you know, to,
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: to feel something as though, okay, we can build off
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: of this.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: And for a lot of guys in that clubhouse, I know.
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: You know, we pull for each other and I'm sure
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: as excited as, you know, The team was, it was
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: really just everybody having that support to know that when
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: this guy is right, you know, our team builds off
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: of that. And given that, you know, they won one
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: to nothing, you know, that was a start that they
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: had been longing for from Paul Skeens.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: And, you know, when you got one.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: Of your guys that is struggling, especially that's supposed to
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: be your guy, one, it lets everybody in that clubhouse,
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: which they didn't already know, is he's human. You know,
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: but two, it's also like, you pull for that guy
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: because you know your team is only so good without
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: that guy not performing at his best. And if you
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: get that guy corrected and back on his right ship,
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: the team can ultimately build some momentum off of that
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: just because that's a guy that should be leading the
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: charge for the pitching staff.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: And just to follow up with that really quick, we
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: were talking last episode about how guys don't really have
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: the chance to learn about how to deal with adversity
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: in too much. And Paul Skeens has not had to
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: deal with a lot of adversity in his pitching career.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: So I think if there's one benefit to take away
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: from Paul Skeens' struggles this year, it's that it happened
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: in a year where the Pirates probably weren't going to
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: make the playoffs, even if he was right. I mean,
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: it was like right on the edge.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: No, I got to push back there. This is the
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: worst year for it to happen. This was the worst
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: year for it to happen. Because if he didn't struggle
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: this year, they'd probably still be in the playoff race.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: True.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: So I'm sorry.
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: No, push back. I like that.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: But nonetheless, that's still valuable adversity. That's still valuable adversity.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Paul Skeens was the only thing succeeding for the Pittsburgh
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Pirates for two years. And now his failures kind of
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: cost them. And I think that that is worth documenting.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: And that's also worth noting for him. It's like it's
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: good for him to feel like he let the team
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: down in a way because it's good for him to
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: sit in that and learn how to deal with that
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: emotionally and mentally and learn how that pressure can impact
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: his play moving forward.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: It's going to make him better in the long run.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: So hopefully it helps the Pirates in the long run,
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: maybe next year even.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: But yeah, that's.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: And he seems to be changing his mechanics. So I
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: think those extra days. Yeah, he lowered his arm slot
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: a little bit. So he's trying.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: And we're seeing the success finally come to fruition for him.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: I was just going to mention he's piecing some things
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: back together. And that's kind of what you can see.
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: I think he's making the best of the situation. And yeah,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: obviously it was a bad time for him. It was
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: a bad year for him to have a bad year.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: But as we said on this show, once they fell
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: under 500 and kind of fell out of this race,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: the primary goal was getting Paul Skeens back to being
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Paul Skeens. And if that can happen between now and
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: the end of September, then yes, it's still a disappointing season.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: But you feel a lot better about.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: The 2027 Pirates than you would have if Paul Skeens
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: had to be shut down because he couldn't figure this
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: thing out. So definitely something to monitor as we continue
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: moving forward. We're going to take a quick break. When
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: we come back, Andy Rodriguez, another long injury for the
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Pirates catcher.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: We'll talk about it on Bucko territory.
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: It's time to remind everyone why baseball is glorious, especially
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: nowadays where you could think your team is out of it,
• 8:29
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• 8:31
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• 8:35
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• 8:38
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• 8:41
  Speaker 6: before the playoffs actually begin.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Well, speaking about being out of it, I'm an American
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: League East guy, and I'm talking to you Toronto fans.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to you Baltimore fans. A couple of weeks ago,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Probably not a reason to come out to the games.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Look at the standings right now. Both of you teams
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: are right back in this wildcard race.
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: Rangers fans, we can go on and on. Mariners fans,
• 9:02
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• 9:04
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• 9:07
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• 9:11
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• 9:14
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• 9:25
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, Andy Rodriguez.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: The news was announced earlier this week, Wednesday, I should say.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Wednesday afternoon, the Pirates announced the catcher Andy Rodriguez underwent
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: surgery to repair the labrum in his left hip. The
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: surgery ends his 2026 season. He's expected to resume baseball
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: activities in seven to nine months, which will impact his
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: 2027 season as well, as opening day is scheduled for
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: March 25th, which is seven months.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: From the time of that writing.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: So he's going to start baseball activity around the time
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: that presumably Major League Baseball season is scheduled to start
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: next year. So he's going to be on the IL
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: to begin 2027. He was in AAA to begin this
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: past year because he got hurt in 2025 and he
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: ended in 2026 hurt. He didn't play all of 2024
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: in the major leagues cause he was hurt. And yeah,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: it's just, it's just a string of injuries. And now
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: you're looking at a catcher who's had two arm surgeries
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: and a hip surgery.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: So I'll throw it to Josh to start. I mean,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: how do you view this guy?
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: And we've asked this question before this month about Eddie Rodriguez,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: but I mean, how do you view him moving forward?
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Is this a guy that you can expect to continue
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: playing the catcher position after that rap sheet of injuries?
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: And he's not very old. I think he's like what?
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: 26.
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: I was going to say 26 early on.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Um, that's a lot in a little bit of time.
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: And as you mentioned, um, two arm injury or two
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: arm surgeries, I think you said, or whether it was
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: surgeries or injuries and then a hip, you know, that
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: catching is a position that requires a lot of throwing
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: and requires a lot of squatting. So I don't, I
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: wouldn't sit here. I'm not one to doubt anybody's ability
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: to recover. I myself recovered from my fair share of injuries,
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: but at the same time, you have to be realistic about,
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: you know, the demand of the game and the position
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: that you play. I wouldn't sit here and say that,
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: you know, it'd be smart to really bank on using
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: him as, you know, one of your primary catchers. Obviously
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: we know when he was playing or when he is
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: playing that he's valuable and he provides, you know, some,
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: he definitely provide some help offensively, but it's a situation
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: where you probably reevaluate and whether he, you know, whether
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: he's got in his bag and you approach him or whatever,
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: it might be looking to possibly see what, he can
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: do first base or corner outfield, something that might allow,
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: but I don't really know how much that is in
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: his bag. Obviously you ask the player, I'm sure he's
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: going to be like, no, I still want to catch.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: And I'm not saying that that's not out.
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: Of the question, but it's also, you're only as good
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: as you are when you can be on the field.
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: And lately, you know, he hasn't been there and floors
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: has stepped up to kind of put his name in
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: the mix. And you're only as good as you are,
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: as I said, when you're on the field. So, I
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: think they're going to go out and have to be
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: creative and figure out, you know, they're going to have
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: to pay even more attention to that position than they,
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: than they thought they were going to have to this
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: off season, just from standpoint of he's not going to
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: be ready in spring, which means he's going to be
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: delayed for that. And he's already going to be delayed
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: just from the amount of games he's already missed.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: And just to piggyback off of that, I, I think it's,
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: it's time for any to move on from catcher. Um,
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: even if he's able to recover, uh, his body just
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: clearly can't handle the, the text that that position puts
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: on your body. Um, the one positive for Andy is
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: that his, I think his bat is probably the most
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: valuable part.
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: Of his game.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: Um, so if he was like a defensive first catcher,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: that'd be really concerning. Uh, he can still bring value
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: to the lineup. but the one thing for the pirates
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: is they're kind of set at first base and.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Corner outfield and second base.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: And second base. So it's like, where does he fit
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: in on this team? And do you want to have
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: him on your 40 man roster for an entire winter?
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: Cause he's about to enter arbitration here. So, I mean,
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: as I love Andy Rodriguez, he's one of the most
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: fun baseball players. One of the best guys in this
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: clubhouse constantly just, positive all the time um but at
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: the same time like as a front office i i
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: wouldn't be shocked if he's non-tendered um just because of
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: all the injury concerns of the positional concerns moving forward
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: now um yeah he brings value but that's that's a
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: tough pill to swallow to keep a guy like that
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: on the 40 man all winter i i mean he's
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: valuable but what are your thoughts noah.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Um, I think you keep them just because you can
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: try to figure something out with them, right?
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Like who knows what.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: The future has in store for any of these guys,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: you know, if Spencer Horowitz goes down or Nick Gonzalez
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: goes down or whatever.
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: Um, right.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: But I agree in the sense where it's like, yeah,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: catching should probably no longer be the top position for
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: this guy. It could be something that he contributes with.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Maybe you have him catch once a week or he's there.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: But I mean, you can think of plenty of guys
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: who came up as catchers. IKF was a catcher and
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: he couldn't sustain it. John Jaso had a long concussion
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: history and he ended up, yeah, there's Josh's former teammate there. Um,
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Scott Hattaberg famously in Moneyball, right? He had the arm
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: issues and they had, they, they found another value for
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Scott Hattaberg in, not just in the movie, also like
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: in real life, the 2002 Oakland Athletics.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: I think Cervelli, Cervelli a little bit played first towards
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: the end due to concussions.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: And that's, that's just the reality of the position is
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: some guys just cannot survive the physical aspect of it.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: And it's not an indictment of their toughness. Like you,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: you just can't play baseball with a torn labrum in
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: your hip or with a mess.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Like, or concussions or stitches in your hands or whatever
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: else has happened to him. You can't play if you're
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: not healthy and he can't stay healthy playing catcher. He
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: can hit. And yeah, You're always going to need that.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: So it's on the pirates now to figure out how
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: to get the most of this asset. Even if it
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: is as simple as teaching him first and second base,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: playing him long enough to trade him and just get
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: something for him. That way you don't get nothing because
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: he was one of the headliners in a trade package, uh,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: early in this Charrington era. So a top 100 prospect,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: it'd be a shame if they got nothing out of it. Um,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: and who knows if they can find a way for
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: him to contribute. Maybe they keep Nick Gonzalez at third
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: base and, uh, have him work on it all off season.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: And Andy Rodriguez is the second baseman of the future.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Maybe he platoons between second and first or finds a
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: corner outfield spot.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Who really knows?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Um, but catcher just doesn't seem like it's in the
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: cards for him longterm, which is, is tough because that's
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: obviously his primary position. But again, he's not the first
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: guy who came up as a catcher and was faced
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: with this dilemma of, all right, do you want to
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: keep trying to do this and ruin your career?
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Or do you want to pivot and.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Try to find a way to provide value in other areas?
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Because if you're getting on base, like he was this year,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: if you're able to provide a little bit of slug
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: as a switch hitter who.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Teams will find a spot for you. I mean, look
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: no further than the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: There are plenty of small market teams that would love
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: to play you out of position just because you can
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: contribute offensive value. So it's not, I think, fair to
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: write them off entirely, but the idea of ND continuing
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: to catch, I think, is maybe not in the best
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: interest of anyone.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: It's the most physically demanding position.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Only one you haven't played, right?
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: I mean, I played it in college.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, not pros.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Not pros. We can save that.
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: No, but we'll save that for another day. But, yeah,
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: that's why I said it's the most physically demanding.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: All right. We're going to take another quick break. When
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: we come back, we're going to hear more from our
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: pal Josh on our weekly segment, Jay Hay Now, here
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: on Bucko Territory.
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: One of the things that I wasn't very good at
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  Speaker 7: was playing Major League Baseball. One of the things that
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• 18:57
  Speaker 1: What do you say?
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: All right, now to build off a little bit of
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: the last segment, I did catch three games in college
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: at UC, so I know a little bit about the
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: most demanding position on the field, and you got to
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: see everything in front of you. So leading up to
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: today's J.A. Now, seeing everything in front of you, I
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: want to highlight Bubba Chandler. Bubba's the guy that we
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: came into the season talking about, you know, if he
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: could just figure out how to be around the zone
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: and get to five innings, you know, get, get, you know,
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: get five, possibly six, you know, to, to lengthen, you know,
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: the bullpen. And from, from what Bubba's been doing from
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: the start of the season until now has been very encouraging.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: His ERA has gotten lower every month, I believe.
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: And I had looked up some numbers, and pre-All-Star, his ERA,
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: I think it was 477, and post-All-Star, 295. And obviously
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: we've talked about this season, starting pitch and at one
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: point bullpen.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: All these things.
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: Bubba has been a guy that kind of under the
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: radar through all of those things that we've highlighted of
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: what needs to improve. Bubba has quietly been under the
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: radar improving every month.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: So for me, J.A.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: Now, as we get close to the end of August,
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: just wanted to tip my hat to Bubba Chandler, man.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: It's been really encouraging. seeing what he's been doing.
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: And that's kind of what you would, you know, kind
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: of hope to ask for from your fifth starter. Um,
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: and it looks to see that he's been improving and
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: that's all you can ask for.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead, Mark.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: Uh, what I've been really impressed with, with Bubba in
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: particular is he's finally starting to get his command back
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: and limit the walks. Um, since, since the all-star break,
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: he's only thrown 13 walks. Um, And so that's really
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: been helping him go further in these games. But we've
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: also seen him attack the zone more, just have confidence.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: And this is a guy that was, you know, coming in,
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: he was the top pitching prospect in all of baseball.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: And we're seeing that now come to really fruition. And
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: I'm so excited for where Bubba's going to be going.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: His last start was a little weird. His velo was
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: kind of up on certain pitches, down on others. Uh,
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: but the off speed and like breaking stuff looks pretty good. Um,
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: so yeah, I'm, uh, I'm really encouraged with where the
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: trajectory that Bubba's on, uh, as Josh said, just getting
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: better month after month after month, uh, which is what
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: you want from a rookie starting pitcher. You know, not
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: every starting pitcher is going to walk in and be
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: Paul Skeens with the sub two ERA as a rookie. Uh,
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: it takes a little bit to get adjusted to the
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: MLB level, to learn how to get through the order
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: a few times, um, how to lengthen yourself, how to,
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: maintain that throughout a full season as well. So the
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: fact that Bubba has been consistently getting better as the
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: season has gone on, that has been just really encouraging
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: to me. Noah, what are your thoughts on Bubba?
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, nothing more to add really other than like,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: I think it's easy for people to expect Bubba Chandler
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: to be amazing or to have expected Bubba Chandler to
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: be amazing because we've seen So many electric starts from
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: these young arms, be it Paul Skeen's winning rookie of
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: the year, Jared Jones, and his first two-month taste of
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: the major leagues in 2024. Ashcraft looked good as a rookie.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Burroughs looked good as a rookie. Johan Oviedo did really
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: well in his early days in Pittsburgh. There are so
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: many instances where it was like, you heard about the prospect,
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: the prospect arrived, the prospect delivered. But success is not.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: linear. Um, it's not the same story for everyone. Bubba
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Chandler is very young.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Um, and I, I think something that also just needs
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: to get emphasized here is this dude showed up throughout
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: the whole season. He maintained a normal starter schedule. They
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: didn't have to build in a ton of rest days
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: for him.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: He was ready to go.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: And, uh, he's only going to get better from that.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: I'm sure that was challenging because in minor league baseball,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: it's a little different of a, of a workload and
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: a schedule and everything. Um, but the way he's kind
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: of maneuvered this, and as you guys both pointed out,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: it's gotten better as the years progressed. He's still nowhere
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: close to scratching the ceiling of his potential. Um, And
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: that's a good thing because he shouldn't be at his
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: best at this age.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: He should be getting better. And that's what he is.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: And I think heading into next year, you feel confident
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: that Bubba Chandler can probably be like the number three
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: in this rotation with Paul Skeens and Braxton Ashcraft being
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: some iteration of the one and two, probably the way
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I just said their names that I think moving forward. Yeah.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: You feel good about Bubba Chandler.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: You have questions about Jared Jones just because of, his
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: health concerns this year. And obviously the way Mitch Keller's
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: entire season played out prior to the injury. And then
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: obviously with the injury included above.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: A Chandler, I mean, he sustained, he got better. There's
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: a lot to build off of.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: So this was a good year, I think, regardless of,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: you know, how the team and everything went out.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: He was, he was what they needed them to be
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: this year.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: I think for the most part, if your starter, if
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: your fifth starter has a, sub four, three earned run average.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: It's pretty good. Number five starter, especially if he's a
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: rookie in his early twenties.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: So I want to remind everyone to hit that subscribe button.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: If you haven't already no funny transition today, I couldn't
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: think of one. So I'm just going to come out
• 24:39
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  Speaker 2: the Bucko territory team store, got a lot of great
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: stuff there to check out and purchase guys. Any final
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: thoughts before we wrap up another episode?
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: Just shout out O'Neal Cruz. That monster home run off
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: of Mason Miller. Love seeing that with two outs in
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: the top of the ninth. Anyone that was still up,
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: that was so electric. A little shout out for Cruz
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: consistently playing some great defense too. He's been a lightning
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: rod for this team since coming back.
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, shout out O'Neal. Really got nothing other than make
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: it interesting, go to St.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: Louis and Who knows? Give us something to talk about.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: We'll have stuff to talk about. I'll promise you that
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the remainder of the season.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Keep tuning in to listen. He's PlatinumKiaKMR. He's Josh Harrison.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: I'm Noah Hiles signing off saying thanks for tuning in
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: to another episode of Bucko Territory presented to you by
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: the Foul Territory Network.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Take care.