Latest / Foul Territory / Former World Series Champion Ryan Klesko Shares Championship Memories w/Ravech | Dirt From The Dugout

Transcript

Former World Series Champion Ryan Klesko Shares Championship Memories w/Ravech | Dirt From The Dugout · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, well, speaking of a man that knows all
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: about World Series, his catcher back then was Javi Lopez.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Let's bring Ryan Klesko into Dirt from the Dugout, and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: we appreciate old Rhino joining us there. Rhino, thanks so
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: much for being with us, man. So, I mean, this
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: is the first sort of hunting hat, shades look we've
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: had on the show. We love the authenticity. Where are you,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and what are you doing, brother? Oh, man, I'm down
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: here in.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: The south.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So hold on. Let me call a timeout. So you
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: may need to, you may need to relocate because all
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, while we heard you earlier in the pre-show,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: you're all breaking up. So we don't hear you quite
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: well right now. So let's see if we can fix
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the audio and get him to rejoin us. And while
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: he does that, we can talk more about what Klesko did,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: his catchers playing with Hall of Famers and, He grew
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: up in California. He's clearly a hunter and a fisherman now.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: And in his current life, he is informing kids and
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: parents about baseball. What I think is really neat about
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: having him on the show is I think everybody has
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: different ways to go about doing that. Our message fundamentally is, A,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: we want you to enjoy the experience as a player.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And we want you to sort of learn from different people.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: There's no linear way to get from point A to
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: point Z. Correct?
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: I mean, there's just so many different ways to get there.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: Kids develop at different rates.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: And, you know, we talk about this all the time, Ravi,
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: but I just encourage kids like in parents, if the
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: kid just loves to play and let's just say they're
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: an average 10 year old, but they just love to play.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: Just stick with it for the love of the game.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: you know, not everybody's going to become a big leaguer,
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: but they might have some amazing experiences down the road, man.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: And so, yeah, everybody gets there different. And obviously Ryan was,
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: it'll be great to talk with him because I mean,
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: he was a, he was a phenom, right.
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: And, you know, he had a lot of expectations.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: And it really came through with a lot of those expectations,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: which isn't always the case, but not everybody's a phenom either.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: So yeah, there's just a lot of different ways to
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: get there, man. And you know, I just, It's the
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: players who love it and stay with it and keep
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: working and are willing to sacrifice to get there.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, here's the good news. I can see a whole
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: bunch of questions already in the chat session, which is great.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: So we appreciate that when we get him back on
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and working, we'll get to him. I think it's important
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: to note the same way, and we'll ask Ryan this
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and have asked others, this concept of make sure you
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: keep it fun. Well, the truth is when you first
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: went to play baseball, the major leagues, were they even
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: a thought like that never, ever occurred to me. And
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I don't think it has anything to do with my
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: own ability, but you're talking about your own ability when
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: you're like six years old, who's thinking about the major
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: leagues at six.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Kids like me, Ravi.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's, that's, that's all I thought about, man,
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: that I had one, one thought in that was to
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: play professional baseball from when I was probably five years old.
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: That's the only thing I ever wanted to do.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: Like, And so I understand the kids that feel that way,
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: because that's that's what I felt. And that's that's what
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: I thought I was going to do when anyone asked
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: what I was going to do.
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: I said, play professional baseball like that's all I thought about.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: And yeah, so.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: That's how I that's how I was my whole life.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: And I'm around kids like that now. But but it
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: isn't always like that. You know, there are kids that.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: You know, just go and play.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: And then all of a sudden it becomes a passion
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  Speaker 4: and a love, you know, at 12, 13 years old,
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: like that's okay too. So not everybody who gets there, man,
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: like thought that they were going to do that since
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: they were five years old.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: That's not always how it works.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: I get that. That's stunning to me. All right. I
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: think we have Ryan back. We've reestablished connection. Oh man, Rhino,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: what happened to the shades? You think the shades were
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: what was causing that problem?
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just, I figured the shades, being that you mentioned,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: it might want me to take them off.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: I thought they were very cool. So what happened in
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: this conversation? Say hello to Justin, my partner here. Yeah.
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: What's up, Brian?
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: How are you, sir?
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: Good to see you, buddy.
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  Speaker 1: He just, he just said, we're talking about kids and
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I know you, you know, you, you deal with them
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  Speaker 1: all the time. He just said when he was about
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: five or six years old, when he first started playing,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: he wanted to be a major league baseball player. I
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: know when I started playing baseball at that age or
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: even later, Major League Baseball never literally entered the equation,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: nor did professional soccer player, professional basketball player, tennis player,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: whatever I was doing. Is that a mindset? And for you,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: who ended up being a very successful Major League Baseball player,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: do you remember the first time you got a glove
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  Speaker 1: and a uniform and said, I'm going to be a
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  Speaker 1: Major League player or I'm doing this because I want
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  Speaker 1: to do it and it's fun?
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  Speaker 2: I don't think I realized I was, I mean, I
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: always was good in and played and enjoyed the game,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: but I don't think I really ever realized that that
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: was something that, uh, that was on my radar to
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: probably maybe high school. Um, you know, some of the
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: scouts were start showing up. I started, you know, I was,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: I was actually drafted as a left-handed pitcher.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: People don't realize that, but I was, I was on
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: the radar.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: I was on the junior Olympic team, uh, usa baseball
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: as a po i was a i was a po
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: um i was left-handed uh i think i topped out
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: eventually my junior year in high school about 94 95
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: miles an hour uh but i was always recruited and
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: drafted as a um as a pitcher uh and i
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: hurt my elbow right before the draft coming off the
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: olympic team and on a on a uh kind of
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: we're playing some colleges and and um one scout one
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: scout saw me take um batting practice and playing a
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: game and put me in as, as a, as a
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: power hitter for MLB. But other than that, Braves actually
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: drafted me as a pitcher. So I was one of
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: those guys that just played first base and pitch. So
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: I was very fortunate when I hurt my elbow to
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: be able to take some swings with the Braves and,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: and never, never, never pitched again. It just was a
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: freak accident on the mound. I caught a spike and,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: and hurt my elbow. But back then, Tommy John was
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: out of the question when you had Tommy John pretty
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: much Back when I played means you were done. So
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: just a very fortunate turnaround. I was talking to Trevor
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Hoffman a couple weeks ago. So when we played against
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: each other, Mark Loretta, Trevor Hoffman, Phil Nevin, we're in
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: the same kind of area in Orange County, California. Trevor
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: was the star shortstop, and I was the PO. And
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: he ended up breaking the all-time saves leader before Mariano
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: beat him. But it was a big switch around. So
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I always tell the kids, if you can do both,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Do both hit and pitch and do.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Everything until someone tells you otherwise.
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  Speaker 1: Well, what a valuable lesson. That's great. And thank God
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: for the one scout. Thank God for the one scout
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: who said that dude can hit. That's great.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: And Ryan, I mean, when you look back at your
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: career too, and just thinking about, you know, the early days,
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: I guess, as you coming up, I think what you
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: just kind of shared is such a good lesson though.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: When you look at baseball players, like you can take,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: you know, yourself and move you to different positions. You
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: can do different things. You talked about Trevor Hoffman, who
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: was a great shortstop. We can talk about a lot
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: of players. Joe Nathan, right, is another one that comes
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  Speaker 4: to mind that was a different position than switched over
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: to pitching. Can you just talk a little bit more
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: about that and what your advice is to, you know, youth,
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  Speaker 4: high school, even college kids that are sort of early
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: on in college and maybe moving around and staying versatile
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: with what they do?
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just a matter of going out there
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  Speaker 3: and having fun.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: You know, Mookie Betts is a big believer and, you know,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: he played all the sports, you know, do all, do
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  Speaker 2: everything you can to improve your skills and your body.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: I love guys that, you know, growing up, we surfed and,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and getting in the pool and swimming and, and surfing
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  Speaker 2: and playing all.
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  Speaker 3: The sports develops a lot of that stuff.
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  Speaker 2: I know a lot of these kids nowadays, they, they,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: a lot of them stick to one sport. So I'm
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: a firm believer in playing all the sports and, and
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  Speaker 2: developing your skills. I think a lot of our people
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: are so hard back in the day. I truly believe
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: because I got on my bike, I rode eight miles
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: to the beach. I was in the water four or
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  Speaker 2: five hours, you know, four or five days a week.
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  Speaker 2: And I, I developed a strong back and core, uh, and, and,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: and shoulder and elbow. And, and, and I went to
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: pitching lessons. And my main thing is with these kids
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: is make sure my opinion on this is my opinion.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: So I went to pitching lessons my whole life. work
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: two jobs a single mother um both both my sisters
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: are really good softball players you know that you can
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: afford to put three kids in a college so you've
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: got to do academically or sports or both um it's
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: to go out there and and uh you know make
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: sure that i think now in u.s we play play
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: play play and then train once in a while where
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: a lot of these kids overseas are training training training
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  Speaker 2: and playing i'm a big believer in getting helping your
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: skills and doing more It seems when they get older,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: going to the gym, making sure their nutrition's right, making
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: sure that someone's working on your swing and your pitching mechanics.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: I think here in the U.S.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: We play so much, we don't train as much as
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: we should versus overseas. Those kids are training Dominican, Venezuela,
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  Speaker 2: Puerto Rico, Japan. they're taking, you know, 100 to 300
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: ground balls a day. They're taking, you know, 100 to
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: 400 swings a day.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: They're practicing. They're honing their skills. I don't think we
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: do that as much in the U.S.
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: No, I think that's fair. And the signal is a
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: little shaky, so we'll stick with it and we'll hopefully
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: not have to change it again. It's interesting, you know,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: you brought up the training and we've had other people
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: on this show who've said you really should focus on
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: just getting out and playing as opposed to overemphasis on training.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: That's in some ways a Kids forget how to play
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the game, like what it takes to win a game,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: where you should just react instead of being so programmed
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: and analytic and all those things. I'm trying to figure
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: out what that delicate balance is for a player. Because
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: on one hand, we've had, I don't know, Pedroia on
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: this show and Cora and Boone and Ueno and just everybody.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: They all have different opinions, which is the beauty of it.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: but overtraining versus let's play more. What do you make
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: of that? How do you balance it? What do you suggest?
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, it just depends on where you're at.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: It depends on where you're at in your skill set,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: you know, and you're going to rely on a lot
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: of these recruiting, a lot of these good high school coaches,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: training centers, you know, getting with the right coach and
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: the right system is important, right? And, you know, like
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: we run the, Fortunate to help run the Atlanta Braves
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: scout teams, 15 through 18. Mark DeRosa comes in and helps.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: He's got some younger kids. Marquis Grissom with MLB. You know,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of guys that I lean on. And
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: I think it's a mixture. You know, I think a
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: kid needs to get in. I grew up hitting in
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: pitching lessons and hitting off the curveball machines and the
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: fastball machines and learning things.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: Now to hit velo and learning how to lay out pitches.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: So I, like I said, a lot of the kids
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: now locally, I'm not saying that, you know.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: They just, you have to play the game.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I totally agree with that, but I'll give you an example.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: I'm not that good of a golfer. I can go
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: out there and hit golf balls all day long. I'm
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: not going to become a pro unless.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I get it.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Before you continue, we've got to try to reestablish it.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: We're not deterred by it. This happens when you do
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: things this way, but you, your audio keeps cutting in
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: and out and it's really hard to hear. So let's
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: try to reestablish one more time and then bring you back.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: We're not deterred. Justin and I can fill the time.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: That's not a problem. You want to try now?
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: All right. Thank you.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Let's let him reestablish. So he brought up a bunch
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of things. I don't know where you fall on this
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: because I think the beauty of the program, and I
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: promise we'll get to all the questions, is this idea
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: there are just a lot of different ways to do it.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: But we've heard people, like he just said, in the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Dominican and in other parts of the world, Training, training, training.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I see it in Williamsport with the Japanese players. Like
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: you talk about training. I mean, training, training, training. They
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: practice six to eight hours on each weekend day, Saturday
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and Sunday, six to eight hours. And they really don't
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: do much during the week. There's no chance that you're
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: going to keep the majority of kids' attention in this
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: country for six to eight hours consistently practicing. on both
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Saturday and Sunday. And yet you have others saying, you
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: got to play more. I got to see you play.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: I think maybe Showalter's like, we got to play the
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: game so we know what base to throw to and
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: all those other things.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think what Rhino was getting at here was
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: just that you're looking at a lot of different things.
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: You're looking at, you know, I think his idea is
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: a lot of like, okay, so a lot of the
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: club teams, travel teams, they play a lot of games,
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: which is good, you know, in tournaments, but then they're
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: not practicing. And so my stance on it is I
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: think there's a good balance here, Ravi, that needs to
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: be taken. And I do think that sometimes it can be,
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: you know, they're playing a ton, but then they don't
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: go get a bunch of just reps in a practice session.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: And then the flip side is true, as we've seen this,
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: where sometimes players even think it's better to take.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: A season off And just train.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: And then not play any games. And I don't think
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: that's the solution either.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: And of course, a lot of there's variables of injuries
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: and all that that are playing into that.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: But to me, it's a balance.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: And I feel like, you know, it's tough for families
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: to find that balance now. And I think that's what
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Ryan was getting at was just, you know, making sure
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: that they're getting enough practice time.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: And you mentioned the long practices. I totally understand it.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: But if you, if you have good coaches that run
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: a really good practice, Ravi, they can really run a
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: good practice in a, in a two or three hour
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: span that you're getting a bunch of ground balls, you know,
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: a bunch of BP, like, you know, there's some efficiency
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: stuff that you can do now that, you know, that,
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: you know, has really changed things and how fast they
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: can get through stuff.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: I think Rhino may be back with us again here
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and bring them back in. Hey, so, you know, Rhino,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: you tell this story, you were a pitcher and, you
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: were a really good pitcher. You were going to be
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: drafted and maybe play at the next level as a pitcher,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and then you have this injury. So for kids that
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: have to deal with things like that, how did you
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: deal with the notion of giving up something that you
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: love to do, pitch, and refocus on hitting? How did
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: you deal with that? What's the advice?
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: It was tough. I just kind of was always love
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: both doing both things.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Um, I just say, you know, assess, assess what you
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: have and, and, and, and continue to get better. You know,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: a lot of these kids that are strong arms, you know,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: like Trevor Hoffman had a strong arm and really couldn't
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: hit very good.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Uh, couldn't hit the slider. So he told you he.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Went on the pitching, but you know, I, you know,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: you know, assess the injuries.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: Don't try to play through injuries.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Um, nowadays there's so many, so many good different things
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: you can get there. The PRP, the, the, some of
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: the kids are all getting on peptides, um, Uh, injuries, uh,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: there's so much ways that, you know, that the, the surgeries,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: if they're coming back after Tom and John and throwing,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: you know, you know, eight, 10 months later, there's some,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: the technology is so much better now jumping back on
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: the field, you know, you know, at the, at the
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: age that I usually, um, coach at and stay around
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: as a teenage age, you know, 15 to 18. is
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: really getting them on board with the nutrition and the
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: training and the weights.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: You know, it's always about velo, right?
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: I can tell you, I talked to probably a hundred
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: colleges in the last two weeks, three weeks, we just
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: finished with Jupiter up and with PG and a lot
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: of these schools. Now that the system has really changed
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: in the last few years, when it comes to the
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: older kids, there's less roster spots. You know, the colleges
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: used to carry 40 guys. Now it's down to 34.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: So now the average college player is older. So a
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: lot of kids are having to go to junior college
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: and prove their worth down there. So a lot of
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: this stuff is changing. But the main thing is you
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: have to look like a college player out of high
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: school now compared. 10, 15, 20 years ago, they can
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: look at you and go, okay, we've got to put
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: 20 pounds of muscle on, and we've got 40 roster spots.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: We can redshirt them. We can hold on to them.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: That's not the case nowadays. The college coaches are paid
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: to win. They have to carry less players. They want
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: a kid that looks like a college player out of
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: high school coming in, so that's kind of where our
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: focus is. My focus now is nutrition, getting stronger, getting
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: the velo up. I can tell you, these D1 schools
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: are not going to look at a kid that's throwing
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: 86 to 90 miles an hour. They want 91, 98.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: They want a kid that's looking like he's ready to
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: go and command the strike zone, or else you have
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: to go off to junior college. And a lot of
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: these guys, hey, junior college is great. You know, you
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: can look at some of these guys. You know, Paul
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Skeens was, I heard, I don't know if this is true,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: but I heard he was throwing 89 off the bump
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: his senior year in high school.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: So that doesn't mean you can't get developed, but it's.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: A perfect example of him going off to college, getting
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: stronger every year. Next thing you know, he's still in
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: 103 miles an hour and in college was perfect for him.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: So there's a.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Lot of, there's a lot of apps out there, AI
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: apps that can help you with your swing. You can
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: download AI apps, help you with pitching mechanics now. But
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: my main thing is get, get somewhere where you feel
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: like your kid can go and get bigger, stronger, faster,
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: and get good, good training.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: It was, would be my emphasis on.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Kids 10, 12 to 15, 12 to 16, 18 years old.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Good answer. Thank you. Yeah.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: And Ryan, when you're talking about that too, I think,
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: you know, the way the landscape is now you referenced
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: junior college, we could, you, we could throw D two
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: and D threes in there now as well, because essentially
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: they're all, they're all a pipeline for, for furthering, you know,
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: development and stuff. And we've seen that now with, with
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: some guys that have, played division three baseball even and
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: gone and played at division one schools and, and it
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: really helped. So I appreciate the insight on that. I
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: want to go to, I want to go to the
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: world series.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: Run that you had.
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: I think obviously it's a great time to talk about
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: that with the world series going on. I mean, you
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: played on some really talented teams. The lineups were just loaded.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: Your pitching staff was just loaded. Can you just share
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: a little bit about the culture that you guys had
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: in the Braves organization that was, I mean, that Bobby
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: Cox has done, you know, did such a good job
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: with and had done such a good job with. What
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: was it like being in that clubhouse and what was
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: the culture like and how do you try to try
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: to emulate that in any sort of leadership that that
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: you have in today's in today's game?
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, obviously.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: The day I got drafted and playing with an organization
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: that was already, you know, already starting to win, you know,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: they were at their bottom of the barrel.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Like, you know, worst to first.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: But the culture of being around, just, I'll give you
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: the first spring training I go to, so that way
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: people can sit in my, I go to there.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: I'm 18 years old.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: I go down there.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: I'm looking at Warren spawn, Hank, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: They're all in the hitting cages and walking around spring
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: training and they're bringing in, you know, hall of famers and,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: and they're out working with these guys, Frank Howard. They,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: they created some ballplayers, the scout, Paul Schneider did a
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: great job at drafting guys. And man, I can tell
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: you what, it was a winning atmosphere. It was, it
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: was about getting back on the board and playing championship baseball.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: And it was a team sport. It was, it was
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: all about the team.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: And then I tell you what, I mean, I played
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: on a team in like A-ball in Sumter, South Carolina,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: and I think our whole starting lineup in like five
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: pitchers went to the big leagues except one guy. And
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: that's unheard of. We had Vinny Castillo at third, which
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: played for the Rockies. We had Ramon Carabao made it
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: for the Cardinals. Mark Wohlers was in our bullpen. Melvin Nieves,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Donnie Elliott got traded. I mean, we were loaded. But
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Being around guys, Hall of Famers, and getting that instruction
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: every spring training. Willie Starzler used to call me in
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: the minor leagues on the road and talk about the
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: middle part of the game, which we don't probably touch
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: on enough in youth sports and even college, is what
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: your approach is and what pitches you're swinging out and
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: laying off breaking balls early in the count. Ned Yost
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: was great with that with me in the minor leagues
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: about laying off off-speed pitches early in the count. Man,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: we just had so much so much talent and so
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: much knowledge from future or for guys that are hall
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: of fame.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: And some of them are actually passed away. Now, God
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: rest their.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Soul is I, I, if I, if I didn't have
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: that structure with the Atlanta Braves, I don't know if
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: I'd ever made it. I don't know if I'd have been,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: you know, in the big leagues for how many years
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: I was, I played, I don't know, 15, 16 years.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah. 16 years. Brian Klesko joining us here on dirt
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: from the dugout. I think it's important for kids. We
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: can get into the mental part, but your willingness to,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to A, did you know who Willie Sturgill truly was?
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: And then maybe more importantly, your willingness to accept the
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: phone calls and then accept the conversations, whether they were critical, complimentary,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: whatever they were. It's such a valuable lesson for some
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: of the kids that might feel entitled. They don't really
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: want to listen. They don't know who the heck in
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the world is actually telling them these things. How did you...
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: listen to, recognize the value of it? Did it take
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: you time or did it just come naturally?
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, that's a great question.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: I knew Willie Starger because I love watching the Pirates
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: for some reason. Kent Chicovi always pops up in my
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: mind when I was a little kid. Great uniforms, great
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: hats for the Stars. Right. I don't know what it
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: was about the uniforms and the hats and that team.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: But watching them growing up, obviously I grew up in
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Orange County watching the Dodgers and Angels.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: We caught a lot of games.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I saw Nolan Ryan, Reggie Jackson when I was a kid,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Kirk Gibson my high school year hit that home run
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: against Dennis Eckersley.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: So I was around all that. I knew a lot
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: of those guys.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: And any type of help from those guys, you always
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: take it in and listen. And obviously, as you get older,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: you have plenty of hitting coaches. You've got to take
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: what works for you and kind of send everything out
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: the door.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: But most of the time, they're always right.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: The one thing you do have, as you get older,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: you've got to be able to learn to listen and
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: try it and not put too many things on your
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: mind in the box. Yeah. Um, you know, you gotta,
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: you gotta try things in the cage. And then once
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: the game starts, you gotta, you gotta just focus on
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: getting good pitches to hit the training stays, the training.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: I think a lot of times these kids have so
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: many things going through their mind, why they're playing the game,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: the dad's yelling, you're dropping your hands.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: The coach is yelling, you're stepping in a bucket. It's
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: just too much.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: And so we work on that during the training part
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: of the, of the time.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: And so, um, you know, and like I.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Said, I, I always, I knew that, that there was a,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: say a hundred guys in the room, um, I knew
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: that only six or seven of those guys were going
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: to make it to the big leagues and I wanted
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: to be that guy. So I stayed, I got there early.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: I stayed late. I listened.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: I did as much as I could. I, my first,
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: my first time in the big leagues was an outfielder
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: and I never played a day in the outfield in
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: my life until it was funny. I'll tell you this story.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: We were playing in Puerto Rico. I was 19 years old.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Sandy Olimar senior took me to Puerto Rico as a young,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: one of the youngest kids ever to be, you know,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: American player over there. And Albert Bell at the time,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: now it's Joey Bell, or it was Joey and then Albert.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Right. That's right. He got kicked out of a game.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Sandy pulls him out of a game. He hit a
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: fly ball and didn't run it out, and the outfielder
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: dropped the ball and he got threw out going to
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: first base. Well, Sandy took him out of the game
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: as a disciplinary act, and they put me in left field.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: So that was the first time I ever played an
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: outfielder in my life.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: And then so next thing you know, I'm starting left
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: fielder for the Atlanta Braves. Wow. because Ron Gant got
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: hurt on a motorcycle accident in the off season or else,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: or else I would have been traded, probably traded or
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: been sent back to the Meyer league. So I always
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: tell kids learn as many positions as.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: You can, because I ran pretty good.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: I ran a six, seven 60.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: But I'd never played outfield before.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: So I always tell them, learn another position. So that way,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: if you get to the big leagues, I had Fred
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: McGriff in front of me. I don't think I was
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: breaking that lineup unless Ron.
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: Gant gets hurt.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: So, Justin, let's just recap. He's got one scout who
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: thinks he can hit, which thank goodness. We got Albert
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: slash Joey Bell who doesn't run out of balls, so
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Busco ends up in left field. I mean, the circumstances
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: by which you sort of have these little life rafts
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: being thrown to you are unbelievable. And by the way,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: for kids, you know, for kids, you're not going to
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: even realize in the moment, like some of the breaks
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: that you're getting, which lead to things that happen on
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: your way to wherever it is you go. Those are
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: great stories, Ryan. Great.
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: And Ryan, I want to ask you about, you know,
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: the taking advantage of those opportunities. And then we'll get
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: to some of the questions here because we have some
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: great questions from some viewers. But I want to talk
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: a little bit about that because, you know, when you
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: talk about big leaguers and successful big leaguers, it seems
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: like they are just always ready to seize the opportunity.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: And you have to just be ready to seize it.
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: And you can sit, you can pout if things are
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: not going your way. Or you can just be really
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: prepared and ready when it does come your way, which
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: is exactly what you did.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: Can you talk about that a little bit?
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, when you talk about the developmental years, you
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: get drafted, you're 18 years old, but then it takes time, right?
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: It takes a lot of development to get to the
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: big leagues. Can you just talk about the mental toughness
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: and the ability to just always be prepared to seize
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: the opportunity versus... maybe pouting about someone else in front
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: of you. Oh, Fred McGriff is at first. It's, I mean,
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: I have no shot here. Obviously you can choose to
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: think like one way or the other. Can you just
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: talk a little bit about how you stayed the course though,
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: and just continued to work until you got your opportunity
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: and then you took advantage of it?
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm a prime example.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: And especially when these kids are struggling, you know, we
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: just came up off of Jupiter and these kids all
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: want to do good. Cause all the major league teams
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: and all the colleges there, it's like, I'm a prime example.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: I give them examples.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: I'm like, the one time I hit a ball off
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: the fence and I thought it was a home run,
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: Bobby and I only got a single Bobby Cox took
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: me out of the game.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: I got, I got, I get disciplined. You know, there's
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: been time.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: I started my career 0 for 14. I got called up.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: I went 0 for 14 on my call up. I
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: lined out a few times. My baseball card had all zeros,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: one walk, one RBI. And then I got called back
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: up the next year, got sent back down to the
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Meyer League. So I didn't start off like walking up
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: to home plate and hit a home run. Like I struggled.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: I had to go back to winter ball. Um, you know,
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: there was a time that I thought I was going
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: to get traded. I got sent back to the Meyer leagues.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: We had log jam at first base. Um, I started off,
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: I got called back up again. I proceeded to go. Oh,
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: for my next five. So I started my career. Oh,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: for 19 in the big, in the major leagues. And
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: I finally got a 27 hopper. up the middle would
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: barely miss the pitcher's glove in the shortstop in the
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: second baseman dove.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: On my 20th at bat.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: And I was, you're talking about screaming for that ball
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: before it even got through.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: And it was like a monk, you know, a monkey
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: got lifted off my back. You know, I was like,
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: I finally got a hit.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: And then from there, I think I had a very
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: successful next couple of months. I ended up hitting, I
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: don't know, three 43 50 the rest of the year. Um,
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: but man, I tell you what, I grinded it out and, um, and,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: and learned that the baseball's tough. Um, you know, I,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: I had disciplinary actions where I, you know, I hit
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: a ball. I thought it was gonna be a home run.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: I got a single, you know, everybody's, you know, been
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: set on the bench for a few days. Um, I've, I've, I've,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Made an error in the World Series. Ball got in
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: the lights. I've been in every bad situation. Ken, so
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: when I'm coaching, I relate to those. I'm like, hey,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: there's nothing that you've been through that I haven't already
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: been through that you just got to learn to have
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: a short-term memory in this game and always focus on
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: next pitch. When I talk to my kids, I'm like,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: in this game of baseball, the only thing you can
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: focus on is the next pitch.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: The next pitch, the next play.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: And that relieves a lot of this stress and a
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: lot of this anxiety. These kids are just like, hey,
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: you can't do anything about what happened last at bat
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: or last pitch or last game. All we can focus on.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: is going forward because this game's.
• 29:41
  Speaker 6: Based off of failure yeah yeah awesome stuff here's an
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: off the offbeat question do you does anybody ever say
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: you look like John Kruk because I mean I'm telling
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: having sat next to that dude including back in I
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: think 1995 when we were covering your world series I'm
• 29:59
  Speaker 6: staring at you and I'm like, geez, there's a lot
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: of similarities here between you and Kruk.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: And I've seen him with beard. I've seen him without
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: beard and this sort of great personality too. But I digress.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Here's a question for you, which is very appropriate, Ryan.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: This comes from Maverick Miller, one of our subscribers. You
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: were 24 when you won the World Series. Do you
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: fully appreciate what you'd accomplished at that age? Do you
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: remember when you were 24 and what were your thoughts
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: having won the World Series?
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: It was awesome.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, you can't really explain the feeling other than
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: just euphoria and like going back to when you were
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: like five years old.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: It's like, is this really happening?
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: And there's been several of those moments, you know, the
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: first time I hit a home run at Dodger Stadium
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: against Oral Hershiser, which I just got done watching him,
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: you know, a few years earlier in the seats as
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: a high school player is running around the bases. Like
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to act cool when I'm running the bases.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: But in my mind, I'm like, oh, my God, oh,
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: my God, I just hit a home run off Oral Hershiser,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: you know. But that's the way it's feeling. You've got
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: to you've got to find ways. And obviously it's spending
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: time in the minor leagues. of refocusing yourself and, you know,
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: going into the world series. And, you know, I didn't
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: start off great when I hit those three home runs
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: in the world series at Cleveland. You know, I, I,
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: I had Omar Vassell made two great plays up, up
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: in the middle. I didn't, I don't think I got
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: a hit until like the third, maybe the third or
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: fourth game.
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: And, you know, it was just one of those things
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: to where you.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Just got to just keep, keep focusing and just like
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: next at bat, next at bat. And I know that,
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: you know, obviously the big home run that David justice hit,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: you know, um he was he was struggling in that
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: world series i don't even know if he even had
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: just but a hit or two and he's just struggling
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: but he hit one of the most iconic home runs
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: to give us a one run lead to help us win.
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: It um so that's why that's why you have to focus.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: On that next pitch and that next that next deal
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: you know and you know my mom used to and
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: i tell the story my mom kind of Caught bullpens
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: up until I was throwing about 85, 90 miles an hour.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: She put on the gear, worked two jobs to put
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: us on hitting pitching lessons. But that third home run
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: I hit in World Series in Cleveland, she was sitting
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: out in right field with all the Cleveland fans because
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: I was young.
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: I wasn't their veteran. I didn't get great tickets.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: My mom actually caught the baseball, the third home run
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: I hit off Mesa. It actually hit my mom. My
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: mom caught the ball.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: You're kidding.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: What? No.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: That's amazing, man.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: There's a longer.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: Story there if you have time. She got knocked over
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: by a bunch of Cleveland fans. The ball come out
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: of her hand. We end up losing the game, I think,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: by one run. But after the game, my mom was
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: all scraped up. She was like bleeding on the side
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: of her face. She looked like she went through like
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: the you know, she was playing football and I get there,
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I go, mom.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: What happened?
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: You fall. She goes, no, that ball you hit. I
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: caught it. And the fan, the fan knocked, knocked it
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: out of my hand.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: And I got, I got knocked over by 10 people
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: and he's standing next to her and he's got the ball.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: He goes, she goes, I want that ball. But he
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: wants a Greg Maddox Jersey, a Tom Glavin Jersey and
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: a David justice back. And I'm like, No, like, you're
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: not getting all that stuff. So I, and I go,
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: he knocked you. Well, you know, everybody's going for the ball.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: So anyways, long story short, I go, look, I'll get
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Greg Maddox to sign a ball.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: If you'll give that ball to her, he gave it
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: to her.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: And I went in the clubhouse, got Greg to sign
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: a ball and she's got the ball in the, in.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: The, in the man, up in the mantle.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: So that was good.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: But you know, that, that was, that was real.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: I think out of all the special moments for me
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: and all of baseball, as hard as she worked and
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: what she did for me to drive me to hitting
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: pitching lessons, cleaning houses on weekends and, that story sticks
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: to me the best when it went in the world series.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: You know, that, that to me is a special moment for,
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: for me in my life is to build it, to
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: build her, to have her experience that and to be
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: able to do that.
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: That is one of the greatest stories I've ever heard. I, I, Hey,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: I never heard it. I don't know if you, you
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: probably have shared it. I'm stunned by that story. And
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: there's clearly a lot more we got to flush out.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: about mama K we're going to get to her in
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: just a moment. So 95, I'm sitting there, you know,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: covering that world series for the first time.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: When you say covering Ravi, when you say covering, what
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: do you mean by covering it?
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So 95 was my first year on baseball tonight
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: and baseball tonight traveled to every world series. So we're
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: doing shows during the day. We're doing post-game shows. Cleveland,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: I remember in 95, because Peter Gammons was there with us,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: was freezing cold. I mean, brutally cold. And then you
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: get to go to Atlanta, and it's great. But Cleveland
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: was brutally cold. But, again, we talk about this particular series,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: and you mentioned, like, the Brewers team is really talented. Like,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: that 95 Indians team was ridiculously talented. With Bell, they
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: had great hitters. They had, I think, Charles Nagy. Manny.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: Manny, Jim Tomei.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Manny, Bell.
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Kenny Lofton.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: Kenny Lofton, yeah. Yeah, so they were formidable. It wasn't
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: like because the Braves were really in the beginning of
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: being that dominant team where you almost expected them to
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: compete and win World Series. And they ended up winning one,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: which is another incredible lesson for fans in Milwaukee who
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: know how precious an opportunity like this is for a
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Jackson Churrio. who's what 23 years old to get an
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: opportunity 22 to win a world series. He was 24,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: you know, Ryan was, and I'm sure you look around
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: and you're like, Oh, there's Chipper.
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: There's justice. Well, Maddox, Glavin, Smoltz, Wohlers, like we're going
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: to do this every year and they didn't win another one. So,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: you know, this, this assumption when you're in an organization
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: or the team's having success, I don't know, does it
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: get lost on players that there's 29 other teams trying
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: to do the exact same thing that you're doing? And
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: just because you made it there, there's hardly any assurances
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: that you're going to go back next year and do
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: it again? Yeah.
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: I mean, you think about how difficult it is to
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: get there. I don't think it's lost on the players
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: in today's game, especially the players in the Brewers clubhouse.
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: I think they know the journey that it took to
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: get there.
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: I do think, Ravi, I'd be curious to get Ryan's
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: take on this, but, you know, when you looked at
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: the Braves teams, right, when they were just rolling and
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: they were getting there every year, right, they're winning that
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: division every year. And, you know, they go on that
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: incredible streak that they went on with division titles. But
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, I would think that it would be hard
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: not to feel like, all right, we got one, but
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: we're we got to get more, right? And I've heard
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: Smoltzy talk about this a little bit. Like with what
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: we have here, I mean, one is great, but like
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: we should get two or three out of this thing. Like,
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: but it's not that easy. You know, you got to get,
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: you have to be healthy at the right time. You
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: have to get the breaks at the right time. There
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: are a lot of great teams, you know, when the Braves,
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: you know, we're going through. So, you know, yeah, man,
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, just, it's really hard to get there and
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: it's really hard to win it. And so many things
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: have to go your way. It's just, yeah, I don't
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: think it's lost on players today. I can see how
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: with the Braves, though, in those times when you're getting
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: there over and over and over, you feel like it's
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: just part of like what's going to happen.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: But I think that's part of the veteran presence in
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: a clubhouse versus somebody who's so young at 24 or 22.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: Because when you get there as a 22-year-old, I do
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: think it's hard to for you to have the maturity
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: to say to yourself, I know how lucky I am.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: And I think that's, that's where the question came from. Like,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: did you fully appreciate what you'd accomplished at that age?
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's any way you can fully appreciate
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: it because I think you do draw some assumptions. Like
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I have all this talent on this team. It's a
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: great organization, super station. Everybody knows the Braves it's America's team.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: Of course we're going to. It's like the Cowboys now,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: you know. No, you don't just win the Super Bowls
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: because there's a star on your helmet. You don't just
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: win World Series because you have an A on your
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: helmet or your hat and you play for the Atlanta Braves.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: It's quite clear it doesn't work that way because the
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Yankees and their fans think since 09, we're going to
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: keep winning or we won three in the late 90s.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: All right, Rhino, we're trying again.
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 38:38
  Speaker 5: Hey, there he is.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: There he is. I drove down the road, man. I
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: got a different service.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Give us a little Mama K love then.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: So, you know, it's she, you know, just going and
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: driving to pitching, hitting lessons and working extra jobs and
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: catching bullpens.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: And, you know, I remember. she built a, I remember
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: I threw.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: A bullpen and I, I bounced the ball off the plate,
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: hit her in the leg and she missed work for
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: about five days. So I come back and she'd already
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: went to home Depot and completely built the pitch back
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: with netting. She goes, I'm not catching you anymore. Cause
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: I can't afford to miss work. So, uh, you know,
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: it was, it was, um, it was great. You know,
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: my whole goal was to make it to the big
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: league just so she can watch me play. She had,
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: she had some, uh, health issues from a work-related accident
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: at work. So I didn't know, I didn't know how
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: long she was going to be with us. So my,
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: I was trying to get to big leagues as fast
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: as I could.
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: She's doing good now. It's just there was some issues
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: at work there.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: But, man, my whole goal was, you know, between her
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: and Willie Stargell just constantly teach me about the mental
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: part of the game, not just the swing as, you know,
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: learning the pits and the valleys and, you know, the
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: ups and downs and really learning how to deal with
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: failure and And later on.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: There was obviously a lot of guys.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: You know, Bruce Bochy, I played for two managers my
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: whole career, and both of them, in my opinion, are
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Hall of Fame managers, and Bruce Bochy and Bobby Cox.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: You know, if it wasn't for the help that I
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: had from those surrounding people, my Little League coach, you know,
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Gene Webb, you know, my Little League coach, you know,
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: when I go back home, I take him to lunch
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: and tell him how much I appreciate and love him.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: Just all those people that touched your life throughout your
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: career and your baseball career. If I didn't have those
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: people in my corner, I'd have never made it.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: That's such a great story. Good on you for doing
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: that with your little league coach. And just quickly, what
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: do the neighbor's kids think about the cool mom who's
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: wearing catcher's gear and catching you? I mean, I can't believe–
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: what was their impression of that?
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: It was just normal.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: You know, she'd cook meals for them or all the
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: neighborhood kids, and we'd play pickleball and over the line.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: And just, you know, both my sisters are really good
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: softball players, so I think it was just the norm.
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: I got dragged around to all the softball tournaments regularly.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Since I was like four years old, you know, and,
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: you know, and playing travel softball, you know, and when
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: travel softball was, it was, I mean, and it's really
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: dang good softball and California and baseball still, you know,
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: all those experiences is.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: Great, you know, and, you know, like I said.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: It's almost like the internet keeps it almost like the
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: internet just keeps kind of fading in and out.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Look, he's been wonderful. We're going to apologize to all
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: the folks here. I guarantee this. We'll be able to
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: get him back on when he's in a better spot.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: But I will say over the course of about 50 minutes,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: the parts that we did here, Justin, he offered a
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: great deal of important advice for the parents and the
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: kids out there. And the last one may have been
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: the best for me. He still goes and takes his
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: little league coach out to lunch every to thank him
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: for what he did. None of the lessons that he
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: received were lost on him.
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, really cool, man. I mean, I think he's well
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: known as a really good guy. And I think, you know,
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: he shows it. He's obviously been very successful. And I
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: think he brings a lot of great lessons of, you know,
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: when he's talking about what people mean to him, it
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: still matters to him. He still gives them credit, which
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: I think is really cool. After all that success that
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: you can still look back and reflect on the people
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: that really impacted him.