Latest / Foul Territory / Catcher Dalton Rushing joins DT

Transcript

Catcher Dalton Rushing joins DT · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: It is one thing to have a player come on
0:02
Speaker 1: our show when they have a game. It's another thing
0:04
Speaker 1: entirely when a player is kind enough to come on
0:07
Speaker 1: our show on an off day. Dalton Rushing, we appreciate
0:10
Speaker 1: you very much. Thank you so much for being here.
0:12
Speaker 1: It's such a pleasure to get to know you a
0:13
Speaker 1: little bit. First and foremost, congratulations on the postseason birth.
0:18
Speaker 1: I know that it's a foregone conclusion to most that
0:20
Speaker 1: the Dodgers are going to get in, but it doesn't
0:22
Speaker 1: mean it should not be celebrated. And for you, it's
0:26
Speaker 1: your first as a big leader. Take us through that
0:27
Speaker 1: moment for you.
0:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't really know what to expect. I walked
0:35
Speaker 2: in the clubhouse after Like, obviously everyone knew that was
0:38
Speaker 2: kind of us clenching a spot in the playoffs, but
0:40
Speaker 2: we're not clenching the division, and so I guess there's
0:44
Speaker 2: two different celebrations to it. And like I said, I
0:47
Speaker 2: didn't really know what to expect, and we come in,
0:50
Speaker 2: we have a toast for the team and all the
0:52
Speaker 2: accomplishments on the year, and obviously there are a few
0:54
Speaker 2: left to go. But yeah, it was a cool first
0:57
Speaker 2: experience and I'm looking forward to clenching a division and
1:00
Speaker 2: really getting to see the party a little bit.
1:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, part of that party, of course, it started with
1:06
Speaker 3: twenty two on the mound. You have the pleasure, the
1:08
Speaker 3: gift of catching Clayton's final regular season home start. We
1:12
Speaker 3: don't know what the postseason, of course, looks like for him.
1:15
Speaker 3: I know you've already spoken on it, but just take
1:17
Speaker 3: us through it now. Your couple of days are moved
1:19
Speaker 3: catching Clayton Kershaw. I mean, this is a baseball god.
1:23
Speaker 3: As much as he would hate to hear that, just
1:25
Speaker 3: being able to catch it, staying in there after taking
1:27
Speaker 3: that foul ball off the wrists and all of that.
1:30
Speaker 3: I mean, you weren't coming out of that game, But
1:32
Speaker 3: what did it mean for you to catch twenty two
1:34
Speaker 3: in that final outing?
1:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty special. Doc gave me the head
1:40
Speaker 2: night before. Hey, you have Kersh for his final home
1:43
Speaker 2: start of the regular season tomorrow. It's like prepare and yeah,
1:48
Speaker 2: I was excited as soon as I heard that. It's like,
1:50
Speaker 2: you get to be a piece of history, arguably the
1:53
Speaker 2: best left handed pitcher to play this game, and just
1:58
Speaker 2: to be able to be servant of him out there
2:02
Speaker 2: that day and just kind of see his process one
2:06
Speaker 2: more time. It's it's special. Everyone's heard about his routine,
2:09
Speaker 2: the way he is the guy, the way he is
2:11
Speaker 2: as a teammate, just how to a t he is
2:14
Speaker 2: and yeah, I got to see it one last time
2:17
Speaker 2: at out the stadium and it meant the world to
2:19
Speaker 2: me and my baseball grew up at this point.
2:21
Speaker 1: Welton, what do you what do you think is the
2:23
Speaker 1: biggest takeaway from catching Kersh or just watching him go
2:27
Speaker 1: about his business on a daily basis, Because it's not
2:30
Speaker 1: just like eyes are on Kersh every fifth day. Eyes
2:33
Speaker 1: are on Kersh all the time.
2:35
Speaker 4: Every day every day.
2:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like I said, I think it comes with
2:40
Speaker 2: being who he is and doing the things that he's
2:42
Speaker 2: done over the last eighteen seasons, being able just to
2:46
Speaker 2: create a name for himself the way that he did
2:48
Speaker 2: over so long. And I mean, yeah, like you said,
2:51
Speaker 2: you see the respect every single day we had a
2:56
Speaker 2: rival hold the whole dugout standing up, clapping for this
2:59
Speaker 2: guy and making sure that their love is felt on
3:01
Speaker 2: the other side of the build. And I think that
3:04
Speaker 2: spoke for itself. Both teams are in playoff situations, giants
3:07
Speaker 2: are pushing and you see them take the time out
3:10
Speaker 2: of their middle of the game.
3:11
Speaker 4: And just show respect. And that's that's exactly what he deserves.
3:14
Speaker 2: He's he's led by example to not only Dodger players
3:19
Speaker 2: for the last eighteen years, but also just opposing teams.
3:23
Speaker 2: Guys show up in LA and like, the first thing
3:25
Speaker 2: they want to see is Clayton Kershaw. Clayton Kershaw and
3:28
Speaker 2: it's yeah, just like I said, to be a part
3:31
Speaker 2: of that last game there at Dodger Stadium in the
3:33
Speaker 2: regular season with him and kind of live it out
3:37
Speaker 2: I guess right behind him, it was it was unbelievable.
3:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is that is really cool something you could
3:43
Speaker 3: you could take ahead. You know, got a long career
3:46
Speaker 3: ahead of you. Let's get into the Dalton Rushing part
3:49
Speaker 3: of this Dalton Rushing interview to your rookie season, as
3:52
Speaker 3: we all know, maybe hasn't gone quite the way you've
3:56
Speaker 3: you've hoped so far. How would you assess a year
3:58
Speaker 3: one for Dalton rushing? What are you working on now?
4:01
Speaker 3: Kind of biggest challenges when you're not out there playing
4:04
Speaker 3: every day. I know you've been asked this a bunch,
4:06
Speaker 3: but still I'm assuming kind of the thought process changes
4:09
Speaker 3: for you as you keep getting deeper and deeper into
4:11
Speaker 3: the season.
4:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I learned new things that work from time to time,
4:16
Speaker 2: And honestly, I think the biggest thing that I've learned
4:19
Speaker 2: in this role is the importance of why I'm here,
4:23
Speaker 2: why I'm in this role, what I need to really
4:26
Speaker 2: take pride in in the situation, and that's the catching set,
4:30
Speaker 2: just trying to dive in, run the staff as well
4:33
Speaker 2: as possible, make sure I have every pitcher's back. I'm
4:36
Speaker 2: supporting them through every single pitch, every inning. And I
4:40
Speaker 2: think that's something that even the front office here really
4:43
Speaker 2: wanted me to take the pride or take pride in
4:46
Speaker 2: this year, because I mean, everyone knows it's sporadic playing time.
4:50
Speaker 2: You can still be a good player and do the
4:51
Speaker 2: things that you want offensively, but that's not expected, especially
4:56
Speaker 2: the catchers. So being able to one just help on
4:59
Speaker 2: the defensive things and understand that it's baseball.
5:03
Speaker 4: Baseball is It's a hard sport.
5:05
Speaker 2: It really is, and sometimes you find out being a
5:09
Speaker 2: role player is even harder than what maybe you have
5:13
Speaker 2: thought it was leading up to it, and it's it
5:15
Speaker 2: really is a tough, tough spot. But I'm going to
5:18
Speaker 2: keep the main thing, the main thing, And however many
5:21
Speaker 2: games I can win back there, that's that's my goal, Sultan.
5:24
Speaker 1: Even though you're a rookie, I think the game has
5:26
Speaker 1: changed significantly even since you were just first started catching.
5:30
Speaker 1: I know two part question, if you don't mind. First
5:33
Speaker 1: of all, who were some of your catching role models
5:36
Speaker 1: growing up in terms of who you wanted to emulate
5:38
Speaker 1: your game after and then all of a sudden, it's
5:40
Speaker 1: almost like you got to kind of change the way
5:43
Speaker 1: you catch in terms of framing and putting your leg
5:45
Speaker 1: down and put you know. Just I'm married to a catcher,
5:48
Speaker 1: so I'm interested to see what you think about, you know,
5:51
Speaker 1: catching on one knee and those types of things. If
5:53
Speaker 1: a ball, you know, ball gets in the dirt, you
5:55
Speaker 1: got a runner on third. Just how has it changed
5:58
Speaker 1: for you in terms of your style and who did
6:00
Speaker 1: you like coming up?
6:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say the.
6:05
Speaker 2: As far as the catching role models, I was always
6:07
Speaker 2: a big fan of Molina his years throughout Saint Louis
6:12
Speaker 2: just kind of the way the style of catching that
6:15
Speaker 2: he kind of brought it into baseball. It was a
6:18
Speaker 2: little different, and he was he was kind of known
6:21
Speaker 2: for his arm, so that was something like growing up
6:23
Speaker 2: as a little kid, I was like, all right, Like
6:25
Speaker 2: I just want to have a really strong arm. And
6:27
Speaker 2: then obviously, throughout the years, like you learn the in
6:29
Speaker 2: and outs and understand catching a little better. And as
6:33
Speaker 2: to like the new school of catching, I would say,
6:36
Speaker 2: it's really just it's learning to adapt how to adapt
6:41
Speaker 2: to some of these pictures. Obviously pitchers are only getting
6:45
Speaker 2: better and better throughout the years. So it's like understanding
6:49
Speaker 2: what gives you the best or the least margin of
6:51
Speaker 2: error as far as how comfortable you get back there,
6:55
Speaker 2: how are you going to set up for this pitch
6:57
Speaker 2: versus that pitch. It allows you to have better understanding
7:01
Speaker 2: of how you can still strike and still, like I said,
7:05
Speaker 2: have the opportunity to throw a.
7:06
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7:09
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7:11
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7:16
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7:20
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7:22
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7:25
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7:30
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7:48
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8:11
Speaker 3: You know, one of one of the parts of catching
8:13
Speaker 3: for you this year is that you have an insanely
8:16
Speaker 3: deep and insanely talented starting rotation to catch with snell
8:19
Speaker 3: Yamamoto Glass now being filthy, Rita Kershaw Sheen just disgusting yesterday.
8:27
Speaker 3: What are you? What is it like kind of being
8:30
Speaker 3: back there behind the dish, watching these dudes operate and
8:33
Speaker 3: knowing that you are are part of the tandem right
8:36
Speaker 3: now that is piloting or helping pilot the best starting
8:40
Speaker 3: rotation in baseball.
8:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would I would say it's obviously these pictures,
8:47
Speaker 2: we have all of these all stars, Cy Young's, all
8:53
Speaker 2: these guys that have all these accolades to their name.
8:57
Speaker 2: But also, like you had mentioned Mhan, like these guys
9:00
Speaker 2: are they have the stuff, They've always had the talent
9:03
Speaker 2: to go out and do the things that they've been doing.
9:06
Speaker 2: But I think from our side of things, it's how
9:09
Speaker 2: do we have them as confident as possible on the mountain?
9:13
Speaker 2: And I know, for like Blake Snell's sense, if he's
9:17
Speaker 2: confident up there, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball.
9:20
Speaker 2: And so it's it's like that, I think honestly with
9:24
Speaker 2: the whole starting rotation Yamamoto, show Hey, obviously you give
9:28
Speaker 2: show Hey confidence, he just he becomes even better than
9:31
Speaker 2: he already is. So yeah, it's it's build confidence in
9:35
Speaker 2: these guys and understand that you're gonna be on the
9:38
Speaker 2: same page for ninety percent of the time, and then
9:40
Speaker 2: that ten percent of the time, how do you understand
9:43
Speaker 2: how each other is thinking?
9:44
Speaker 4: And then I think that really.
9:46
Speaker 2: Helps for the future as far as working with these
9:48
Speaker 2: guys again over and over again, Dalton.
9:51
Speaker 1: One question that a lot of folks have on their mind,
9:53
Speaker 1: and we have to ask it because if you look
9:55
Speaker 1: at all thirty teams in the league, I think most
9:58
Speaker 1: of us would say that sometimes the bullpen keeps us
10:01
Speaker 1: up at night, and that is the case with the Dodgers' bullpen.
10:03
Speaker 1: But obviously the pieces are there when you were behind
10:07
Speaker 1: the plate and you were catching guys like any of
10:10
Speaker 1: any of them, the Bulleten, Tanner, Scott Kirbyates, Michael Kopek,
10:13
Speaker 1: Alex Vessia, Anthony Vonda, whoever it is, Blake Tryn And
10:17
Speaker 1: how do you know, let's start with Tanner, Scott. How
10:19
Speaker 1: do you know when Tanner is right? What is his stuff?
10:22
Speaker 1: What's his demeanor? How do we get him there?
10:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think you said it best with
10:29
Speaker 2: like the demeanor side, I think you you see confidence
10:34
Speaker 2: and some guys, some guys can pitch with no heartbeat,
10:37
Speaker 2: and it's understanding who those guys are and your staff.
10:41
Speaker 4: And uh yeah, I don't.
10:43
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say there's anything for Tanner. It's it's it's
10:46
Speaker 2: just a game of baseball. Sometimes this game can kick
10:50
Speaker 2: you when you're down, continue to kick you. But I
10:53
Speaker 2: think something to be very excited about is how Tanner's
10:56
Speaker 2: looked the last few and the thing that he's trended
11:00
Speaker 2: up in And I think he's in a really good
11:04
Speaker 2: position leading up to the postseason to obviously come in
11:07
Speaker 2: play his role and give us a chance to close
11:10
Speaker 2: out every single game that he possibly can. And I
11:13
Speaker 2: think we all still have every bit of the confidence
11:15
Speaker 2: in the world. You've seen this guy pitching big games
11:18
Speaker 2: over the last few years, and I don't think if
11:22
Speaker 2: you're going off those results, you ever question his ability
11:24
Speaker 2: to do so.
11:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we know there's a lot of talent
11:28
Speaker 3: in that bullpen. It's just about there's only so much
11:31
Speaker 3: you can do to either steal a strike or influence
11:33
Speaker 3: your your guys on the mound there. But there's something,
11:36
Speaker 3: even if it's just setting up wide and awkward to
11:38
Speaker 3: lock him in. You know, we're we're trying everything we
11:41
Speaker 3: can at times. But I have a strong, yeah, I
11:45
Speaker 3: have a strong feeling that when when it gets to October,
11:49
Speaker 3: these these boys will be locked in. Uh, somebody who
11:52
Speaker 3: is going to be important for this team in October
11:54
Speaker 3: is you And obviously right now you're a little banged up.
11:57
Speaker 3: How is that hand risk, how is the shin and
11:59
Speaker 3: all that, And it'd be stupid and not ask you
12:01
Speaker 3: how you're feeling.
12:03
Speaker 4: No, it's good.
12:04
Speaker 2: It's September leading in October. You you're not going to
12:09
Speaker 2: feel one hundred percent regardless of who you are, whether
12:12
Speaker 2: you're a guy that's played one hundred and forty five
12:14
Speaker 2: games this year or you're a guy that's played twenty five,
12:18
Speaker 2: you're not going to feel great. It's a long year
12:21
Speaker 2: off the field on the field, obviously, and at this
12:24
Speaker 2: point in the year, I personally feel better than I
12:27
Speaker 2: have in the past Physically, I haven't had the taxing
12:31
Speaker 2: and games on my body as much as I.
12:33
Speaker 4: Have I've had over the past few years.
12:35
Speaker 2: So I think I'm in a great position, and I
12:38
Speaker 2: think the main focus needs to be just to make
12:40
Speaker 2: sure we can have everyone that we need to be
12:43
Speaker 2: healthy to give us a chance to win as many
12:45
Speaker 2: games as possible in October coming forward.
12:47
Speaker 1: YEA, everybody is somewhat banged up at this point in
12:50
Speaker 1: the season. There's a difference between being hurt and being injured,
12:53
Speaker 1: and hopefully you guys are just banged up and not injured.
12:55
Speaker 1: Let me ask you your opinion, Dalton, I'm curious what
12:58
Speaker 1: you think about the ABS system. At some point it's
13:01
Speaker 1: going to be implemented league wide, So what's your opinion.
13:04
Speaker 1: You're back there obviously, what's your opinion of the automated
13:08
Speaker 1: ball and Strike system.
13:10
Speaker 4: I just think it.
13:13
Speaker 2: Holds from an umpire standpoint, it holds umpires to a
13:17
Speaker 2: standard that they will be graded by each and every
13:20
Speaker 2: game to the public in front of thousands of fans.
13:26
Speaker 2: But at the same time, I also see the side
13:28
Speaker 2: of the human nature, like human aspect of baseball, Like
13:32
Speaker 2: umpires are going to mess up, They're going to miss calls.
13:34
Speaker 2: So like I can't honestly give you a full on
13:38
Speaker 2: answer which way I would like to go, because I
13:41
Speaker 2: see both sides. When I steal a strike as a catcher,
13:43
Speaker 2: it's a really good feeling. When I have a ball
13:46
Speaker 2: called two balls off the plate against me as a hitter,
13:48
Speaker 2: it's not a great feeling.
13:49
Speaker 4: So it goes.
13:52
Speaker 2: It goes hand in hand. I'm pretty fifty to fifty
13:55
Speaker 2: on it. I do think it's going to come. I
13:57
Speaker 2: think it's on its way. It's k for take it
14:01
Speaker 2: for whatever you want. You know, could be great for
14:05
Speaker 2: the game, could be terrible. But I do think they're
14:07
Speaker 2: going to put it in the big leagues next year.
14:11
Speaker 3: The final one I had for you here because listen,
14:14
Speaker 3: you're the envy of a lot of people. You are
14:16
Speaker 3: a major league baseball player, something a lot of us
14:20
Speaker 3: don't have the talent. I absolutely don't have the talent
14:22
Speaker 3: or the ability to do it. You get to be
14:24
Speaker 3: out there seeing all these ballparks, seeing fans getting crap
14:28
Speaker 3: for being a Dodger, the best team in baseball. Have
14:32
Speaker 3: you had that sort of like Wow, this is the
14:35
Speaker 3: big league's moment. Yet in your career are you still
14:38
Speaker 3: I mean, you always seem somebody like you have a
14:40
Speaker 3: very calm pulse, a very easy demeanor. But I'm sure
14:43
Speaker 3: there's a point where you step back you're like, dang,
14:45
Speaker 3: this is a bit different right here.
14:47
Speaker 4: Yeah.
14:49
Speaker 2: Honestly, I would say just like playing in Dodger Stadium
14:54
Speaker 2: is probably the biggest like oh, this is the big leagues,
14:57
Speaker 2: because I mean, I think you have of the big
15:01
Speaker 2: leagues and you have the show like that. That's the difference.
15:03
Speaker 2: You play in some places and it's like, Wow, this
15:06
Speaker 2: is this isn't the big leagues, this is the show,
15:08
Speaker 2: And so I would say Dodger Stadium is one of
15:11
Speaker 2: those atmospheres. But I never really had the, I guess,
15:18
Speaker 2: the feeling until Kershaw start the other day, and it
15:21
Speaker 2: was like.
15:22
Speaker 4: Wow, like it didn't really feel like a game.
15:25
Speaker 2: It felt like it was more of like a moment
15:27
Speaker 2: in baseball history, not just like another game every day,
15:31
Speaker 2: you know. And so yeah, taking the field that night,
15:34
Speaker 2: it was for sure like, oh, wow, this is a
15:36
Speaker 2: little different. This means a little more than just nine
15:39
Speaker 2: innings of baseball.
15:40
Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome. That's something you can take with you forever.
15:43
Speaker 1: You can tell your grandkids that you caught Clayton Kershaw's
15:46
Speaker 1: final regular season start at Dodger Stadium, an unbelievable eighteen
15:50
Speaker 1: year career. Before we let you go, I wanted to
15:53
Speaker 1: share something with you when you got called up to
15:55
Speaker 1: the big leagues. I don't know if you know, probably not,
15:57
Speaker 1: but I started a nonprofit dog rescue foundation called Gidri's
16:01
Speaker 1: Guardian Foundation in twenty nineteen when I was still in
16:04
Speaker 1: Los Angeles covering the Dodgers, and when you got called up,
16:08
Speaker 1: one of the dogs that we brought into our rescue.
16:10
Speaker 1: He was pulled out of the shelter, off of the
16:13
Speaker 1: euthanasia list, as many of them are on a daily basis,
16:16
Speaker 1: and I named him Dalton after you. And fast forward
16:21
Speaker 1: a couple months we had him in foster care, but
16:24
Speaker 1: Dalton recently over the over September thirteenth and fourteenth. There
16:29
Speaker 1: he is on a hotel bed, so obviously he's not
16:31
Speaker 1: in a shelter anymore. He's living large. He got adopted recently,
16:35
Speaker 1: and that's him on his way from California to Oregon
16:39
Speaker 1: to his adoptor, who lives in Oregon and is a
16:42
Speaker 1: massive Dodgers fan. And the irony of it is when
16:45
Speaker 1: I told Eric, who is now his dad, who's a
16:48
Speaker 1: huge Dodger fan and all the big supporter of my foundation,
16:51
Speaker 1: I said, I named him after Dalton Rushing and he said,
16:54
Speaker 1: I know, and he goes ironically, Dalton has been said
16:58
Speaker 1: to look like me, and I looked the picture of
17:00
Speaker 1: Eric Garcia, his dad, and I look at you, and
17:03
Speaker 1: I'm like, my goodness, Dalton could be Eric's younger brother.
17:07
Speaker 1: So it was meant to be so anyway, So you
17:11
Speaker 1: have a pup out there named after you. And he
17:13
Speaker 1: kept the name Dalton. He didn't change his name, so
17:15
Speaker 1: Dalton Garcia is cheering for his namesake to so deep
17:19
Speaker 1: into the postseason. Honestly, Congratulations on the call up, Congratulations
17:26
Speaker 1: on the year that you have had, Congratulations on your
17:29
Speaker 1: first season birth. We look forward to to watching you
17:33
Speaker 1: succeed and thrive with this club. Enjoyed the remainder of
17:37
Speaker 1: your off day, and seriously thanks thanks for taking the
17:41
Speaker 1: time to be with us. We really appreciate get to
17:43
Speaker 1: know getting to know you a little bit better.
17:45
Speaker 2: Perfect, Yeah, I appreciate you, guys, I really do. I
17:48
Speaker 2: was a good time on here today and look forward
17:51
Speaker 2: to getting back on the show with you guys.