Latest / Foul Territory / Brandon Nimmo and Jake Burger join FT live @Texas Rangers camp

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Brandon Nimmo and Jake Burger join FT live @Texas Rangers camp · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: All right, we're back here Rangers camp with one of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the newest Rangers, Brandon Nima. Is that still strange for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you to hear that you're not a New York met anymore?
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Definitely, But I mean enjoying the heck out of it.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: It was, you know, definitely a big surprise in the
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: off season, but just became abundantly clear that I was
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: really really wanted here by the Rangers. And you know,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: I mean you you can resonate with this. As a player.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: You want to you want to be where you're wanted,
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: You want to be where you're appreciated, and uh, you know,
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: the Rangers made it abundantly clear. And uh so now, uh,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I'm a Texas Ranger and excited about it. Decided to
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: get get the season going and get to know all
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: the guys in the clubhouse. But yeah, definitely it's it's weird,
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: but I'm settling in nicely. The guys have been nothing
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: but amazing to me and really just helping me to
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: settle in here.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: One of the big things I always say is the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: first time he changed teams is the hardest. Yeah, your
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Mets traff pick came up through the system. You were
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: met So your family all has mets gear, they all
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: have that, but what did they do with it all?
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: What did I do with it all?
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: That is actually my wife is still trying to figure
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: that out by like all the clothes that are in
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: New York. She is still trying to figure that out.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: And it's so funny how that is one of the
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: things that you're like, Okay, what do we do with
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: this now?
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I had Mitch Garver on yesterday right late, signing for
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the marriage. Yeah, well he has seventy seven, but his
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: numbers eighteen. Oh my god, so his wife has all
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: but dad's eighteen. Stuff from the marriage. Well, you know
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: they've made deep runs in the playoffs onefs. Yeah, every
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: wife has a new jacket. And I knew this and
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that out game right yep. So now he's like, well
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: when I make when I if I make the team,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I know I got to go get eighteen back so
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: my wife doesn't have to change her wardrope.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: I know, my wife was so upset with me when
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: I when I changed to twenty four. I said, I said,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: you know what, it's going to be a new chapter.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: We're just gonna start, you know, the slate just brand new.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm gonna change the numbers. We're gonna go back
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: to my high school number. Uh, twenty four wasn't available
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: with the Mets, and so I'm gonna go I'm gonna
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: go with it with the Rangers. And she was like,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: but what am I gonna do with all those clothes
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: that I have number nine on? And she she's still well,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: she's like still to this to this day. She's like,
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: she's like, I.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Gotta go up there, and now what am I gonna do?
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: What am I gonna do with this money?
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: But I know it's like it's okay, it out perfected
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: that it's gonna be great.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. We gotta get it, get a.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Whole new wardrobe for But it is funny the little
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: things that you have to do when you switch teams, uh,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: that you didn't really think about, you know, and you're like, oh, yeah, okay,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: I guess we do. We gotta get a whole new wardrobe.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: We gotta get you know. But it's all good stuff.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: It's all good stuff. Like you said, I mean, first
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: time doing it, so so you know, there's a lot
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: of newness that goes along with it. But they've been
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: nothing but accommodating with everything that we've been doing. And
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: so now I think being on the other end of it, uh,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: you know, is a is a sigh of relief. You know,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: you're kind of you've got a lot of irons in
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: the fire at that point. Once you know, once we
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: made that that switch, it it wasn't an easy one
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: as far as logistically. We we lived in Saint Luci.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: You know, the training was right across the field, like
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: right across the highway, and you know, we kind of
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: just waited for people to come down to us. So
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: then finding the rental here, still in the house in
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: New York, getting the new one in Texas, you know,
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: there was a lot of a lot of things, a
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: lot of moving parts going on. But now being on
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: the other end of it, very very very happy to
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: be here and then I'm settling in nicely and yeah,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: I get to experience Arizona spring now.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Nim went Marrorfield here.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: Happy for you as you're in Texas now. But about
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: a different kind of transition going from New York to Texas.
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: And that's the that's what's gonna be going from play
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: and grass every day to plan on turf every day.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: Have you thought about that, thought about what that's gonna
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: be like and kind of started setting that sort of
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: prep work because it it's a big difference. Yeah, you're
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: so right with it's a small difference that people overlook,
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: but we are we're actively trying to uh find solutions
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: for that. We've talked about switching to turfs uh completely.
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: We've talked about shaving the cleats uh down on the metals, uh,
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: you know, even just a quarter maybe half to be
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: able to get a little bit better traction on the turf,
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: but not too much where you're you know, rolling an
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: ankle or something like that. Still want the traction in
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: in you know, the box.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: And so you got to think about that as well.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: And so we're also thinking about time off the field,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: you know, trying to limit that as much as possible
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: so that it's not so hard on the joints and
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: on just to wear and tear of seven months running
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: that marathon.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: We've definitely talked about it.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: I'm talking with the players as well, and active conversations
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: with the training staff. Uh. But we are, we are
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: trying to come up with solutions. It is, unfortunately going
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: to be a little bit of trial and air for us,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: just because my body's probably gonna respond differently than someone else's.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: But there's one hundred percent a lot of talk going
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: on about that, and it's a subtle difference, but a
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: big one in the game. And so we are throwing
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: around a lot of ideas.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Here, hold up trition before you go, what you're wearing
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: this year?
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I got I got the Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: I wore these last year.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Are you the first one?
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: No?
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: No, I got I think Bregman morel last year. And
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: then uh, so I had the Planner fashion. I don't
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: know if you have.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: It right now. It hurt you.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: It's terrible, terrible.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, exactly twenty twenty four playoffs. I got it,
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: and uh and you know, so we made the switch
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: to to find some new cleats after that, and uh
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: went to Marucci to get fitted for the bat and
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: I came out with some cleats, and uh, I've had
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: it since and.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: It's they've been great. They they were great for me
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: last year.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: So I made the switch last year and we had
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: a lot of success with it, staying on the field
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: and and not having the foot problems.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: And so I've I've switched to that.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're we're definitely we're talking about, like I said,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: like possibly shaving down the cleats a little bit, having
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: having a little bit of a give there. But there's
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: a lot of there's a lot of things have been
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: thrown around. Fortunately, you know, I've got an experience like
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: slow like three game four game spurts on it, and
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: I know it makes a difference. But uh, we're gonna
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: take some of that experience and try and hone down
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: on on what's best for for us.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: But uh, I am.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: I am looking forward to to playing indoors in April
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: and May.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: Hey, Brandon Weker here, I wanted to ask him about
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: that lean up off spot. Skip Schumacher said on Tuesday
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: that you'll likely hit lead off. And we know that
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: the Rangers kind of cycled through multiple leadoff options in
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty five. But the leadoff role, it seems that
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: that's where you've been, you know, the most effective and
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: you thrive in it.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: How do you feel about it? Yeah?
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean early on in my career, I was,
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: you know, an on base guy and that's that was
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: my job and was able to do that pretty well,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: very comfortable there. I've hit there a lot in my career,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: even in the minor leagues, and so I am very
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: comfortable there. You know, there's there's two things that hitting
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: and leadoff does. Is, you know, one guarantees you and
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: at bat. You know, in the first inning you're gonna
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: lead off, You're going to see you know, try and
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: try and maybe see some pitches or whatever the team
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: plan is that day, You're going to go go try
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: and execute that right from the beginning. Then the other
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: thing that leadoff does is it guarantees you're at bats
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: throughout the season and so more at bats, more opportunities
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: to do well. And so for me after that point
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: after the first inning, like it doesn't really matter now
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: now it's whatever situation you come up in, but just
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: setting the tone for that first at bat, being able
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: to give a little bit of a report to the
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: guys behind you, that's the big thing about leadoff. And
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: then past that, it's gonna come down to what our
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: team approach is that day, and uh, you know, we'll
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: see how that all works out, and I'm sure we'll
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: come up with different approaches, but uh, you know, the
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: leadoff spot guarantees you, you know, you're gonna get a
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: lot of at bats throughout the season, and you're gonna
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: be hitting in that first inning and and seeing the
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: guy first off. So so for me, I'll go into
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: it with that approach that I've kind of had in
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: the past. But it's gonna it's gonna come down to
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: how we are approaching it as the team as well.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, leadoff guy, you open in Philly? Are they gonna
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: boo you in Philly?
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: There's there's a there's a pretty good chance.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, and then keeping it I don't know, and you
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: go deep.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Philly and I are extremely familiar and uh, you know
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: we've had we've had good times and uh, you know,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: it's uh, it's been a heck of a relationship. We've
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: had some really big games there. It's been a lot
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: of fun. That atmosphere is always a blast.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: They always let you let you know, you know what
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: they're there, and uh, I appreciate that. They're very loyal
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: and very passionate. They haven't hit me yet.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: They've missed me a couple of times, but uh, but no,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: they haven't hit me with anything yet.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: But no, it's been uh, it's been fun.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: For sure. It's been a fun atmosphere. And uh, I
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: wouldn't I wouldn't be surprised, but you know, who knows.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: I'm not on the Mets anymore, and so I'm not
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: I'm not that like you know, uh, that that rival.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Uh And so I don't know. I don't know what
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: the reception will be like there. Uh, you and I will,
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: we'll find out each other. But uh, you know, all
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: I know is it's a fun place to play in
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: and I've done Opening Day there before, uh, and it's
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: it's a blast.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: I've played playoff games there before. Uh, it's a blast.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: The energy will be high, and uh, it's gonna it's
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: gonna be a lot of fun. But it is gonna
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: be a familiar place for me very very first game.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: So that is nice. But uh, they have great, great
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: pitching staff.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: And decide if you're gonna swing at the first pitch
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: when you're walking into the plate.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we'll we'll, we'll probably decide that.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: You're not just talking about that game, but I'm talking
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: about every game, every game, every game leadoff, When did
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: you decide if you were swinging at the first pitch
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: as the pitch is being delivered. You go up there
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: and say, I'm swinging at this pitch no matter where
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: it is.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: Well, I saw who was pitching, and I said, if
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: it's the Grom, I don't want to I don't want
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: to take three strikes.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Or if it's.
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: Somebody that I was familiar with, I know what this
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: fastball looks like coming in, and yeah, I'm gonna get
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna get a first pitch fasketball here.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I'm I'm going for it, right.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: I think I think the biggest decision maker for me is,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: like he said, like that familiarity and that and if
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: you if you kind of have an idea of what
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: you're what you're gonna get, but you're still looking in
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: an area. I My mine is never like hey, I'm
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: swinging regardless, like I'm still looking in an area and
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: and if it shows up there here, you.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Know, here we go. But uh, I will usually decide that.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: When I'm going through tape, and I'll decide it usually
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: like uh, two three hours before the game.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: Okay, Yeah, you're more disciplined than me. I want to
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: ask you about something. I want to I think I
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: think it was yesterday I saw it because you you
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: have the patented walk sprint the first base, which I love.
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: I think it's I think it's super cool. I saw
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: your teammate Corey Seger do with that yesterday.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Was that a bet? That? Did he lose a bet?
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: To you? What happened there?
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Uh?
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: No, that was complete surprise to me. I'm not I'm not.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure if he did that for me or what.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: But uh, I I appreciated the heck out of it.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: And uh, you know, biggest thing for me is I mean,
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: I I try to play the game with respect.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: I tried to play it hard. My dad, I know
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: you still do it.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: You're still doing it, still doing it, try and go
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: out there every day and do and do that. But
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: it's you know, for me with Corey and then you
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: you you be you, you know, and uh and I
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: appreciate him feeling make me feel welcome. And uh they've
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: been they've like I said, they've been nothing but like
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: open arms and and made me feel very welcome here.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: But you know, anything anything that I can do to
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: try and and uh rub off on on these guys,
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: you know, I I'll do and and I think it's awesome.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: But that was my way of playing the game hard.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: I I always feel really good when I went in
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: at bat and I walk and I, you know, it's
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: kind of my way of getting to first base quickly,
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: getting onto the next thing, get the signs, and let's
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: let's move on. I was never that kind of guy
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: that just like kind of took off the equipment there
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: and you know, just walked to first base. It just
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: wasn't my personality. And I got to be who I
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: you know, who I was, and and so I don't
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: expect other guys just because now I'm on the team
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: just sprint the first base, not at all. But you know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: I've even I've even had to learn to tone it
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: down a little bit, you know. Uh, like you said,
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: as we're getting a little bit older, you gotta you
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: gotta learn play a game smarter, not harder, and uh,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: tone it down a little bit, biggest things of being
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: on the field. But still respect the game. Still still
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: play the game hard. And I love the Corey threw
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: that out there.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: We love that, Brandon. I have another question for you.
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: It doesn't have to do with baseball, but it is
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: a very patriotic question. We heard the two guys were
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: watching Team USA in the clubhouse today, which it took
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: about a couple of hours.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Was late, by the way, he was late late.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: He was late.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: He missed like the first three periods and he showed
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: up for overtimes. And I just want to get that
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: out there.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: I was ready. I was ready.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: I knew, I knew when I we we knew that
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: it was going to go to overtime.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: I was ready. I was ready for for when it mattered.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: But what was your question? I'm so sorry, I know.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: It was just that what was the reaction in the
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: clubhouse when you saw that goal going? Because I mean,
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: we we've heard a lot of different takes from it.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: We saw George Springer was taking BP and a U
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: A team USA hockey jersey.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Oh heck yeah, yeah right, I love that. I love that.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: I you know, we we were ecstatic.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: There was obviously a few uh Canadian guys in there
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: that were a little a little upset about it, but uh,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: we at the clubhouse, Uh just we all roared when
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: when that goal went in, and uh we were high
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: five in each other and us a chance started.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Uh so you know, we have such a blast.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Uh it's competitive, right, Like we were all very proud
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: to be Americans and to be uh you know, born
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: in this country or come to this country and like
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: trying to enjoy the freedoms that this country gives us.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: And so we're all really proud to be Americans. And
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: when we see you know, the US coming out on
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: top there really I mean, you know, as underdogs there,
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: I think it just ignites in us that competitive spirit
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: and that patriotic spirit that we all loved.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: You had to choose the right TV though, you guys
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: don't understand. There's like eight tvsh and they were all
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: in different times.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Yes they were.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: The one was ahead of and whichever one you were watching, yes, like,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: well the one you guys were all watching was like
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: twenty seconds ahead of all the rest, yes, so you
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: could tell. And then there was one no one could see.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: So if you heard a cheer, exactly something was happening,
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: you're exactly right, Yeah, there was. It's not streaming, so
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: like they're all like a couple of seconds off. So
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: you had to pick the one that was that was
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: the earliest that we were all watching that one, and
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: it was I mean, it was a blast, what an
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: amazing game, and uh, you know, but we're just We're
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: so glad to.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Get sure the picture of Hughes half with the American flag.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Oh, they haven't seen it, but I did see when
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: they afterwards were showing he's the one that got the stick, right,
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: Oh yes, I mean that's so that's so American right there,
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: I got.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Mouth, he's got the flag. Yes, he's missing like three
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: team just just a grinder. I I love it.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: So, you know, obviously we were we were paying attention,
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: super competitive guys in that clubhouse, and so we were
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: all pulling for the US uh to uh to get
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: it there at the end and three on three hockey's crazy.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: I mean I haven't I haven't really seen that. So
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: uh that was that was nuts.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: A lot of action there at the end, and uh
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: yeah we were we were all going going nuts when
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: that goal went in.
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: So nim But so obviously you're coming in to play outfield,
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: be a leadoff man. But now as you're getting older,
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: you've got a little more responsibility, uh that that you're
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: gonna have to have and uh talk about your your
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: roles as kind of a leader in that clubhouse now,
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: especially with the guy like like Langford and Carter, like
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: what do what do you what do you see yourself?
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: How do you see yourself mentoring them and and take
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: on a m under your wing and showing them the ropes.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's a great question.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: I I had mentors myself, Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson, even
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: David Wright, and you know, they just showed me kind
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: of how how to conduct myself both on and off
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: the field, how to try and find the one percent
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: and the edges that you can win that you can
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: you can find a little bit extra that gives you
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: the edge in this game. This game, you know, is
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: a marathon.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: And I tried to play the game really hard when
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: you know, like in the beginning it was layout for everything,
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: put your body on the line each and every day.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: And it was actually Jay Bruce that came up to me,
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: was like, hey man, I love the way that you
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: play the game, but I need you out there for
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: you know, one hundred and fifty one hundred and sixty games.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: And in order to do that, I know, I need
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: you to play smarter, not harder. And that really struck me,
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: you know, as a as a younger guy, that I
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: needed to kind of re evaluate that so that I
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: could be available more often and do good things more often.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: And I think it's my turn to try and import
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: some of these things, some of the wisdom that I
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: that I learned along the way to you know, Carter Uh,
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: to Langford and to all all the young guys that
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: that are here. And also, you know, just coming from
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: other organizations, you guys do things slightly different and you find, Okay,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: well this really worked for me here, but then this
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: is kind of how we do things here, and and
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: you try that out and you see how it works.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: And so I think bringing these different thoughts to the
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: clubhouse and being able to communicate and talk about it
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: is how you lead best. You show you lead by example.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: I'm really big on that. You know, first and foremost,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: it doesn't always look the same, but as long as
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: the intent is there, you know, we want guys to
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: be using their brain. You know, this can be the
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: biggest separator in this game is the wisdom, the knowledge
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: you know, knowing the game of baseball, that baseball IQ.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: We have everyone that's extremely talented here in the big
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: leagues and you're just trying to find that little bit
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: of an edge that will will give you the the
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: ability to win the game. I mean a lot of
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: times it's it's wonder or lost on one or two pitches.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: So for me, my job is to try and mentor
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: those guys and have them really start using, you know,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: the mind in order to be the separator and just
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: some of the things that I've learned along the way,
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: pass it on to them and let them try it
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: out and if it works, great, If it doesn't, that's
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: all right too, but just giving them a few different
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: ways to look at things, to think things through. And
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: I was so fortunate to have great mentors in my
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: career that has allowed me to get to this position,
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: and I want the same for them. And the more
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: that they're on the field, the more that they are
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: able to use their mind and let their talent really shine,
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: because we all know they're extremely talented, the better it's
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: going to be for the Texas Rangers. And so that's
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: my goal and that's my responsibility on this team.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: Brandon, I wanted to ask you before I get to
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: a fun question.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: I wanted to.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: Ask you about Skip Schumacher. We talked to him earlier
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: and just maybe his goals for the team, and after
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: watching what Boach did last year for the Rangers, and
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: obviously watching Boats throughout his entire career. What has been
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: your impression of Skip and the jobb he's doing, because
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: that's not always easy coming into a team and taking
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: over for especially a Hall of Fame caliber manager like
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: Boach right.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: No, obviously, like you said, very difficult, very difficult position
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: to fill coming in after a Hall of Fame manager.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: You know, I think that first things first, I love
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: the way that Skip managed and like just presented himself
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: when I was across the line from him when he
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: was with the Marlins, I thought he made his team better.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: I thought he made his team one that was very
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: formidable and feared and everybody knew that they were gonna
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: have a fight on their hands when they played them.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: And I think he brings that same uh, you know,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: intent to the Rangers.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: He understands this game is very difficult. He played it,
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: and he played it at the highest level, and he
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: brings some of the knowledge from playing the game to
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: the managerial spot, but also knowing that this is what
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: I should expect from you each and every day, and
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: uh and and him being a very good communicator in
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: that as well. And that's what I've noticed in the beginning.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: I think really good managers are very good communicators. Uh,
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: they know, you know, how how hard this game is
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: and what to expect from their players and what the
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: players should expect from their manager. And once you nail
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: that down, you know, I think you let the relationship
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: build on itself. And it's not gonna look the same
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: from each player to each player. His his and my
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: relationship with him is going to look different than Corey's.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: Cory's relationship with him is going to look different than
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: why it's uh, you know, but I think him being
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: in contact with us and being a great communicator, which
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: is already shown, is going to lead to success for him.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: All Right. Your favorite manager that you've played for, because
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: you've had I've had a few is Terry Collins. Collins
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: you have Mickey call and Carlos Beltron.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: For a few months, but I did get to spend
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: some time around him.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you had and a lot like seven
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: or eight years.
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: I know.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: People, you know, it's funny because you mentioned like, uh,
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: you know, you've been on one team, but like, I've
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: had a lot of turnover in that one team.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: And uh, and so I have learned how to how
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: to deal with new people and how to how to
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: filter and and foster those relationships.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: You know, I obviously you're putting me on this there with.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Trying to pick a favorite man this question. There's only
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: one answer. Yeah, okay, Skip, I mean you get the
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: manager you're played for now, exact the lineup.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. Skip Skipp is amazing.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: Like I said, I have so much respect for him
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: being across from him with the Marlins and I our
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: relationship is has started off so well. And again I said,
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: he's communicated so well with me, and I think it's
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: been it's been great. But I've learned so much from
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: all the different managers that I've had, and honestly, I
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: wouldn't be in this position if I didn't have that
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: exact road, you know that that I've had, and I've
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: learned so much from the different manager and I think
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: it's it's allowed me to know that there's not one
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: way to do things right. Like I've seen different types
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: of managers and different uh you know methods produce great results.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: And I've also seen you know, people that when I
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: thought like, oh, well, we're doing all the right things,
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: it not produced the results that we were looking for.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: And so I think as I go here, I'm still
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: trying to figure out, you know, what's best and what's
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: not and what will work in this situation. I think
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: it depends a lot about your clubhouse and who you
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: have in there and kind of what's the best way
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: to motivate and what's the best way to lift people up,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: because I mean, aj, you know how much failure we
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: have in this game. You have to be able to
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: lift people up. But you know, I I I definitely
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: don't have a favorite manager. And I'm looking forward to, uh,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: my relationship with Skip and we are gonna, uh, We're
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: gonna attack this thing full on head you know, headlong
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: into it and try and give it.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Our best effort.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: But I love the vibe that I'm getting off of
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: him right away, and I'm really excited to get into
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: the trenches with him. And I think that grindiness and
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: and that's kind of the player that he was, and
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: that's how I started off my career as well, and
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: I still try and play with that with that chip
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: on my shoulder, and I think I see that right
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: away from Chip or from Skip, and I'm just like, yeah,
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: we're we're very similar personalities and we're gonna we're gonna
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: get along great. So I'm I'm really looking forward to it.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: Brandon. I have one more question for you and then
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: we're gonna let you go.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: But this one is one, and it's a hard hitting one.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: It's a hard hitting one.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: I'm ready, I'm prepared.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: You're in Texas now, right. We heard that before baseball
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: you wanted to be a professional bull rider, mostly because
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: of your dad and being in rodeos. So obviously I
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: would imagine with your contract, bull riding is somewhat out
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: of the equation right now for fun and.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Games, but really completely are you gonna go at least yeah,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: are you going to go.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: At least watch some rodeos while you're in Texas?
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I love rodeo.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: I grew up in Shy and Wyoming obviously, like you know,
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: and so world's largest outdoor rodeo there once a year
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: in July, and just absolutely absolutely love rodeos.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: I'm all about it.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: My family grew up in it, and uh, I couldn't
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: couldn't be more excited to experience more rodeos. I don't
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: think I'm gonna be able to hop on a bull
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: but we will. We'll save that for for after after baseball.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: Well we'll do some like live stream of it or
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: something like that, perview exactly.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: But uh no, I I love it. I love Rodeo.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: I have so much respect for it, and I am
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: excited to see some more Rodeos after baseball.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: You heard it here.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: First, Brandon's gonna join us on Foul Territory. We're gonna
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: do a live stream of him riding a bull.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I can't wait. It's gonna be a blast.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: It'll probably end up just like my uh when I
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: was eight years old and had to do it and
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: bucked off, stepped on, and I'm like, man, I don't
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: know if this was for me.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Hold, were you in the All Star Game in Texas
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: to know I was not? They had a bull you
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: could ride? Did they really in like the clubhouse?
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Oh my god?
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: I got to go on and it was a mechanical
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Oh man, you got to do what I was terrible.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: I can imagine.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: Don't realize how hard it is until you try it.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: But anyways, yeah, definitely I apologize.
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Brandon, thank you so much for the time.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: For the inside.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: It truly was a joy.
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: We wish you well this season. Don't get on a
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: bowl because we want to watch you all season long.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: In that leadoffs, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on, and yep we're looking forward
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: to it as well. Thanks for having me on.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Guys here, but Jake Berger, ex White Sock, great x
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: white Sock, first base, first rounder and first did you
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: play first for the White Soks? Okay, so I got
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: that right too. Now you're a Texas Ranger, you've been
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: here for a few years. What's chambeling like so far?
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: It's good.
• 27:36
  Speaker 7: You know, I'm really excited for this year. Skip obviously
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: coming in and played for him in Miami and we're
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: really fired up for it. Obviously made some good additions,
• 27:44
  Speaker 7: traded for Mackenzie Gore, had fits against him when I
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: was playing in the NL East. But you know, it
• 27:49
  Speaker 7: seems seems like we're rolling in the thick of it.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Now. Did you lobby for Skip to come here once?
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Boats said I'm out.
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: Not necessarily because he was already in kind of our
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: front office role.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: For seen Berg. What do you think about Skip coming over?
• 28:03
  Speaker 7: I mean, I think the world of him, and uh,
• 28:06
  Speaker 7: he's a manager. I'd run through a brick wall four,
• 28:08
  Speaker 7: So I'm really fired up for it.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Sorry, what what have they said to you? Because first
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: of all, you're a fantastic shape. So did you lose
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: some weight this offseason? Did you say man.
• 28:20
  Speaker 6: Knocked out some plates?
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Did you really like I was loudy when Rowdy was
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: here last year, did he tell you to do pilates?
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: No?
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: No, I heard that like indirectly that he was a
• 28:29
  Speaker 6: big plates guy.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:30
  Speaker 7: And my but my wife's been harping on me about
• 28:33
  Speaker 7: it for like five years now, and then obviously last
• 28:36
  Speaker 7: year a weak quad wrist, it's like, all right, let's
• 28:40
  Speaker 7: like add something that's gonna kind of protect some soft
• 28:43
  Speaker 7: tissue stuff. So kind of did it religiously three three
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: times a week and felt really good.
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: So yeah, Berg, speaking about your let's let's talk about
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: your wife for a second, because there's been a question
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: that I've had for a long time. I've never got
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: a chance to talk to you about. So there was
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: a I guess a couple of years ago you were
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: going through a little something in your wife. She was
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: your hitting coach. She gave you a little tip. Where
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: does that come from? And does she she got some
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: baseball softball background, or she just know you well enough
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: to know when you're going when you're kind of going bad.
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: I think I think she knows, uh, just kind of
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: when I'm going bad. I remember specifically we were in
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: Oakland at the Coliseum and I was kind of going
• 29:22
  Speaker 7: through it the month of June, and you know, I
• 29:25
  Speaker 7: kind of got to that that last resort where I'm like,
• 29:27
  Speaker 7: all right, baby, like you know me better than anything,
• 29:29
  Speaker 7: like let's take a look at it. And you know, she, uh,
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: she saw something with kind of my hip load, and
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: she kind of corrected it. And the next day I
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: think I hit like a home run at like one
• 29:41
  Speaker 7: hundred and twelve.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Like just absolute mammo.
• 29:44
  Speaker 7: So she hasn't really given me much advice since she's
• 29:47
  Speaker 7: she's probably just gonna leave on a high note.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: But you know, I think it doesn't matter. She got
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: that one exactly.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: He got that one exactly.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: Also, she got Patti's thing right, Jake, Like, I mean
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: three times a week pilate. Have you seen any of
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: those viral videos of guys trying to do their girlfriend
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: or their wife's workout at pilates and then finding out
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: it's immensely harder than they ever would have imagined. Was
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: that your experience?
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: When I first like got into it, she she's actually
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: like a certified trainer, like in plates, and so I
• 30:21
  Speaker 7: was doing it with her, and I'm like, I can't
• 30:23
  Speaker 7: do this anymore because she was perfecting my form do
• 30:26
  Speaker 7: a tea, which is a good thing, but I'm like,
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: this is way harder than you think it is for me.
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: And so, you know, we we kind of started doing
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: classes together and you know, it's it's way harder than
• 30:38
  Speaker 7: you think. But I mean, my obliques, my soft tissue,
• 30:42
  Speaker 7: everything feels unbelievable, and you know, I think everybody should
• 30:46
  Speaker 7: at least give it a try.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: So, when you guys do pilates, does she only instruct
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: you or do you guys go to do you go
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: to class together?
• 30:53
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we got to class with a different instructor.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And then the real question is, well, so she's
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: on a reformer next to you, does she correct you
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: while she's doing her work out with another teacher?
• 31:02
  Speaker 7: No, she doesn't do that. She's she's pretty good about that.
• 31:05
  Speaker 7: She just knows that. Like she's way advanced compared to me. So, like,
• 31:09
  Speaker 7: you know, I still got the training wheels on a
• 31:10
  Speaker 7: little bit, and she's like doing some stuff that I
• 31:13
  Speaker 7: can't even dream of doing.
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: And I don't think even if I don't want to
• 31:16
  Speaker 6: do that, I know if I do it for like
• 31:17
  Speaker 6: ten years, I don't. I still don't think I could
• 31:19
  Speaker 6: do it.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: But then if you took her to do like bench
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: press and yeah, girls, you'd be like, what's wrong with you?
• 31:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: I've actually asked her.
• 31:24
  Speaker 7: I'm like, I've never seen you run full speed, like
• 31:26
  Speaker 7: I want to see you like sprint, and she has
• 31:29
  Speaker 7: refused to so far. But eventually I think, you know,
• 31:33
  Speaker 7: I'll crack her and maybe maybe see if I can
• 31:35
  Speaker 7: give her like get a hard ninety out there.
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: As you as you combat father time with pilates? Is
• 31:42
  Speaker 5: there talk about your swing wise as you get older.
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: Is there something you're working on with your swing to
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: you know father time is gonna beat all of us.
• 31:52
  Speaker 5: Is there something specifically you've been working on. Is it
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: just trying to get more stay more mobile? You're happy
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: with where your swing's at? What do you working on
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: this winner?
• 32:01
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm happy with where it's at now. You know,
• 32:03
  Speaker 7: I felt like last year kind of was trying to
• 32:06
  Speaker 7: do too much and adding a lot of tension throughout
• 32:09
  Speaker 7: my swing. And so I'm just trying to get back
• 32:10
  Speaker 7: to being who I am and just being athletic, you know,
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: and kind of being myself. I'm not gonna be a
• 32:17
  Speaker 7: guy that's gonna have a ten percent walk, right, you know,
• 32:20
  Speaker 7: I'm gonna swing the bat and being convicted to myself.
• 32:24
  Speaker 7: And then there's some mechanical adjustments that I made with
• 32:26
  Speaker 7: my setup that you know, kind of freeze up my
• 32:28
  Speaker 7: swing a little bit more. I felt like my hands
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: were kind of creeping up too high and weren't able
• 32:32
  Speaker 7: to kind of recover when I when I was moving
• 32:34
  Speaker 7: on the ball and cutting off my swing a lot.
• 32:37
  Speaker 7: And so I was looking at kind of my numbers
• 32:40
  Speaker 7: last year and like overall, like the the metrics are
• 32:43
  Speaker 7: pretty much the same. It's just I wasn't getting the
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: ball in the air to left as much, so, you know,
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: I was trying to free myself up out front.
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: Jake, perhaps some similarity are not similarity, but some comfort
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: with Skip Schumacher. Right, you were with him in Miami.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: You said at the beginning of the show you'd run
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: through a brick wall for him.
• 33:04
  Speaker 6: Tell me why.
• 33:06
  Speaker 7: Yeah, he's he's awesome. You know, he's unbelievable communicator. And
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: I know it's a cliche thing to say, but you know,
• 33:12
  Speaker 7: I think he's one of those guys that I truly
• 33:14
  Speaker 7: respect in this game and just everything I've learned from
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: him in Miami when I first came over and then
• 33:21
  Speaker 7: even to now, you know, he's he's always been there
• 33:23
  Speaker 7: both on the field and off the field, and he
• 33:25
  Speaker 7: does that for everybody. And so I'm just excited to
• 33:29
  Speaker 7: get to camp and I'm excited for these this good
• 33:32
  Speaker 7: group of guys to get around him and see his
• 33:35
  Speaker 7: managerial style and you know, he's he's got our backs
• 33:37
  Speaker 7: no matter what.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: When you talk about Skip and you played for him
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: in Miami and then he was let go, like unceremoniously,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: what what do you think happened to Miami? I know
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: you weren't there that year before he came over here
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: last year to kind of fill a front office role,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: But what do you think happened to Miami? Because he
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: was good? I mean, I know they switched front offices,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: but Skip was good and you guys made the playoffs
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: in twenty three in Rolling and then all of a sudden,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: you're like, oh, Skip can't get an extension and he's gone.
• 34:04
  Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, I think that's just the name of
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: the game. You know, when you have a new front
• 34:08
  Speaker 7: office come in, you kind of have different of opinions,
• 34:11
  Speaker 7: and you know, I think that's just what happened there.
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: Obviously that that twenty four year didn't go the way
• 34:17
  Speaker 7: we planned. We traded a rise in May and then
• 34:21
  Speaker 7: kind of traded a lot of guys at the deadline
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: too and lost a hundred games. So you know, obviously
• 34:26
  Speaker 7: that's that's not where you want to be and obviously
• 34:29
  Speaker 7: a differen thing of opinions, and that just it is
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: what it is.
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: I've always I've always thought a good manager is a
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: good therapist. Like, can you give me some specifics on
• 34:39
  Speaker 5: skip and what what specifically you think makes him such
• 34:42
  Speaker 5: a good manager.
• 34:43
  Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, I think there's two probably stories that
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: that I can share, and one is in twenty twenty four,
• 34:51
  Speaker 7: my April was terrible and he was just kind of
• 34:54
  Speaker 7: with me every step of the way, saying, it's a
• 34:56
  Speaker 7: long season, Hey, you're gonna you're gonna get back to
• 34:58
  Speaker 7: who you are, and he kind of gave me that
• 35:00
  Speaker 7: leash to fire off in the second half that year,
• 35:02
  Speaker 7: and then you know, the more personable one is Uh.
• 35:06
  Speaker 7: He's the first person that I told about the diagnosis
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: with Penelope and down syndrome, and him and his opinion
• 35:14
  Speaker 7: and his respect I think made me bring that conversation
• 35:18
  Speaker 7: to him first just to kind of navigate those waters.
• 35:21
  Speaker 7: And then also he played with Albert Pooles who has
• 35:24
  Speaker 7: a daughter with downsent room as well, and so he
• 35:26
  Speaker 7: kind of saw it from from the player's perspective as well,
• 35:29
  Speaker 7: and so just I value his opinion, and I know
• 35:32
  Speaker 7: a lot of other guys in this in this league
• 35:34
  Speaker 7: do as well.
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: You value his opinion, Jake, But he's coming in taken
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: over for obviously a legendary manager and Bruce, what kind
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: of challenge has come with that? And how capable do
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: you think he is of meeting that challenge? You speak
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: so highly of.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Him, Yeah, I think, Uh.
• 35:54
  Speaker 7: I think Boach is incredible and I'm so grateful to
• 35:57
  Speaker 7: have played under him and learned from him and just
• 36:00
  Speaker 7: all of his wisdom throughout this game. And you know,
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: I think it's he's different than Boach in a sense
• 36:07
  Speaker 7: of has more energy and you know, I think he'll
• 36:11
  Speaker 7: sprint and get an umpire's face every now and then do.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: That anymore, by the way, about anything.
• 36:18
  Speaker 7: But you know, I think that the good managers are
• 36:22
  Speaker 7: always made up of the same mold. And I think
• 36:24
  Speaker 7: SKIP obviously played for Tony Larusa and then kind of
• 36:28
  Speaker 7: was shaped up by Tony LaRussa. And you know, I
• 36:30
  Speaker 7: think I played for Tony, I played for Coach, I
• 36:33
  Speaker 7: played for Skip. So you know, a full managerial chain
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: there that I that I played for. And I think
• 36:38
  Speaker 7: they're all made up of the same mold. And that's uh,
• 36:40
  Speaker 7: the their competitors first, and they care about each one
• 36:43
  Speaker 7: of their players, and you know, it's it's us versus
• 36:46
  Speaker 7: them every single night. There's there's no any other bs
• 36:49
  Speaker 7: out there. It's, uh, we're going out there to to
• 36:52
  Speaker 7: win every single pitch.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: You mentioned your daughter and and the challenges that she's had.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: What kind of challenges does that present to you as
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: a baseball player that's gone so much and your wife
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: and then you can have a big foundation. Do you
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: guys still have the Burger foundation that? Do you want
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: to you want to talk about that first?
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: Well?
• 37:08
  Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I mean none of it happens without Ashland
• 37:11
  Speaker 7: and my wife. She's our rock and she's a saint,
• 37:15
  Speaker 7: and you know, she's the one driving Penelope to her
• 37:18
  Speaker 7: therapy sessions and her doctor's appointments and uh, just lets
• 37:22
  Speaker 7: me play baseball. And you know, I'm very grateful for that.
• 37:25
  Speaker 7: And we started the Burger Family Foundation because of Penelope
• 37:28
  Speaker 7: and the community that poured their love into us when
• 37:31
  Speaker 7: we got the diagnosis originally, and we wanted to give
• 37:34
  Speaker 7: that love back, and we're really kind of excited where
• 37:37
  Speaker 7: it's going. We had an awesome softball game in Nashville
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: with a lot of big leaguers and country music artists.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Whit and I didn't get invited.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: What's up with that?
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: What?
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: I don't know, we would have got an invite before
• 37:47
  Speaker 7: you But why is that?
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: But no, it was. It was awesome interviews over come
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: on you want me to get to gram Yeah, yeah,
• 38:00
  Speaker 6: sure no, but so that that was awesome.
• 38:06
  Speaker 7: And then you know, I think our goal is to
• 38:09
  Speaker 7: start this ranch where we're going to employ adult with
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: down syndrome on it and kind of have a farm
• 38:13
  Speaker 7: to the table.
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: Store and restaurant.
• 38:15
  Speaker 7: And we're already kind of in the pre steps there.
• 38:18
  Speaker 7: But first and foremost, it's like, hey, let's give the
• 38:21
  Speaker 7: funds directly back to these people, and so we're paying
• 38:24
  Speaker 7: for therapies for for parents that can't afford it, and
• 38:26
  Speaker 7: then at the same time, we're also helping local businesses
• 38:30
  Speaker 7: employ adults with Down syndrome. So it's just been super
• 38:33
  Speaker 7: cool to just see that that love kind of shared
• 38:35
  Speaker 7: both ways.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: How do we get people involved.
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: Burger Family Foundation dot org.
• 38:39
  Speaker 7: It is the easiest way, there's some I think the
• 38:42
  Speaker 7: easiest way is there's some really cool merch that that
• 38:44
  Speaker 7: my wife kind of came up with the designs. There's
• 38:47
  Speaker 7: cool camo line. There's she's a very neutral color type girl.
• 38:51
  Speaker 7: So there's uh some really cool like neutral color hoodies
• 38:54
  Speaker 7: and T shirts and stuff. And you know, our our
• 38:57
  Speaker 7: thing is Down syndrome is cool, and we're trying to
• 38:59
  Speaker 7: make a cool and not scary for parents when they
• 39:01
  Speaker 7: get that initial diagnosis. We want them to feel loved
• 39:04
  Speaker 7: and a part of a community. That's the coolest community
• 39:07
  Speaker 7: on earth.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: Bird.
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: I got the three of us sitting here watching what
• 39:13
  Speaker 5: just happened at different times. I mean it was electric
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: from three different places. What was it like in the
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: locker room watching the US take down Canada in overtime?
• 39:23
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: That was sick.
• 39:24
  Speaker 7: We uh we started our meeting a little a little
• 39:27
  Speaker 7: earlier so we could all watch it in the clubhouse,
• 39:30
  Speaker 7: and cal Quan Trail's in there and he's actually, you know,
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: he's pitching for a team Canada and the WBC, and
• 39:37
  Speaker 7: you know we and then Tigues are pitching coaches Canadian
• 39:40
  Speaker 7: as well, so you know, they were getting some shots
• 39:42
  Speaker 7: fired at them. But you know, I grew up playing
• 39:44
  Speaker 7: hockey in Saint Louis and I love the sport. And
• 39:48
  Speaker 7: that's probably the only time that some of those guys
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: will watch a hockey game.
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: But let me tell you ot and a gold medal game,
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: there's nothing better.
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: Was that the quickest bat meeting of all time?
• 39:58
  Speaker 6: Oh my god?
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: I mean we were through it.
• 40:02
  Speaker 7: Nemo's like, hey, everybody, like we should we should donate
• 40:06
  Speaker 7: like ten percent more than you're going to because they
• 40:08
  Speaker 7: got us in and out.
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: And you know, we got to watch and watch the game.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: That's great. By the way, the guy who scored the
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: winning goal was the guy who got hit in the
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: face and lost his use it. So someone said that
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: they should take the gold metal make it into the tooth,
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: and everywhere he goes he's like, oh the tooth I
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: got gold tooth is a gold medal. All right, before
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: we let you go. You're Catholic, correct, I'm Catholic. You
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: know who the biggest white Sox fan in the world is, right, Yeah?
• 40:33
  Speaker 6: Pope Leo?
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So do I need do I need to in
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: order to get invited to your softball game? Do I
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: need to set up an audience with the Pope for you?
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: And then maybe I could get invited before with.
• 40:45
  Speaker 7: I think so I was, I was really helping for
• 40:47
  Speaker 7: an invite to the Vatican when he got elected.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: But working on it. Yeah, No, I'm working on for myself.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: But like, like I invite to your softball game, your
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: invite hasn't come yet.
• 40:58
  Speaker 7: Yeah, you have to buy extension and invite me to
• 41:01
  Speaker 7: the Vatican and then we'll see what we can do.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: About because it's probably gonna be in the summer though,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: so you might be bad. No, I mean you call in?
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Can you call skip? Like Skip? I got a chance
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: to meet the Pope and I take a couple of
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: days off.
• 41:12
  Speaker 7: And that is it is electric. I think it's probably
• 41:14
  Speaker 7: one of the better excuses you.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: Can It's about the best you can do, right.
• 41:17
  Speaker 6: I don't think it's gonna fly.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine, Can you imagine you call Skip Skip
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: By the way, I got invited to meet the Pope,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: and uh, I'm gonna need the weekend off. And then
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: God forbid the Rangers missed the playoffs for like one game.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: They'd be like Burger, you couldn't even get help from
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, man.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Vegas for three days. You can go to the Vatican
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: for three days.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, Jake, thank you very much for joining us.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: All the best with your Burger Family Foundation, and hopefully
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: we'll get to play in the softball game for sure.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: Now we'll see what we can do with an invite.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: You know, it'll be fine.