Latest / Foul Territory / FT at Braves camp: Chris Sale, Pierce Johnson, Grant Holmes

Transcript

FT at Braves camp: Chris Sale, Pierce Johnson, Grant Holmes · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Say, hey, this is going to be my last year.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: You know, I thought last year was going to be
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: my last year and how that went out for me,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: It's it's more of let's take this a day at
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a time.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: What's up, FT fan.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: We're back at it again here in Braves Camp with
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: not only one of the best pictures that I've ever seen,
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: I think we all can say one of the best
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: pictures AJ's ever caught, hands down, cy Young Award winner,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: come Back Player of the Year, triple crown. What haven't
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: you done other than punching me out a few times?
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Chris Sel sitting down with us today, He's good.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: To have you, my friend.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Probably the only thing I haven't done is make AJ
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: completely happy with anything I do.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: So he's still working.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: And we're still muting him right now because he's cursing
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: you out right now. But it's good to have you, man.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: I wanted to talk to you after an incredible year,
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: tons of success in the past right, coming off some
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: quirky injuries here and there, What was your initial focus
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: coming over here to Len Braves? You know, just initially,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: what are you thinking when you hear about the move
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: being made.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, first thing was just be healthy, right. I've talked
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: a lot about it in the past. Going into that
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: off season after the twenty three season was the first
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: time I was really going into an off season not
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: dealing with a shoulder and elbow finger whatever it was.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: So I really had the whole off season to really
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: get my body back where I needed to be. Previous
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: off seasons dealing with stuff. You know, I wasn't picking
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: up a baseball till like January, and that's that's just
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: that kind of puts you behind the eight ball. I
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: really like kind of getting going, you know, in November
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: and getting things moving around and just kind of knocking
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: the rust off early so then you can start building
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: as the off season goes. So number one on the
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: list was was what, Yeah, exactly a man the post.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: So let me ask you, during that process, was there
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: a point where you go, dang, I feel good, like
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: I'm feeling like my old self again, or hey, the
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: brains are about to get the guy that that I
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: know I am and the guy that they're hoping that
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: I could be any of that or you or was
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: it like a little bit of a mental curve as well,
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: like okay, new plays, new face, let me feel things out.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: You know, when did that happen? Where you go, Okay,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I'm back.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: So I would say that it was it was it
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: was a little bit of both, right, So we get
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: going into the off season, and at the end of
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: twenty three, I strung like two or three like decent
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: starts together, you know, where it was like, okay, like
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: that that was you know, that was something you can
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: hang your hat on going into an off season.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Once the off season.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Got going and I started you know, working out, getting
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: you know, throwing, getting off the mount, I was like, man,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: like I feel good, but I felt good before just
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: you know, things kind of unraveled, so it was like okay,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: like you know, it's still kind of on ice a
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: little bit where.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: It was like, Okay, I feel good, I feel confident.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: But I've been in this spot before, and then everything
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: kind of unraveled. So it was like it was really
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the mental grind of just taking everything as it came
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: and not getting too far ahead of myself, like Okay,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: today was a good day, but that doesn't mean three
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: weeks from now is going to be great. So like
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: every day was just like, Okay, I appreciate the gains
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: you get when you get them, but don't get too
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: far ahead of yourself.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: So okay, before I let AJ go, Before I let
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: AJ go, I want to talk about that when you
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: miss time as a player, I've been there before. What
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: type of appreciation did you have a gratitude or were
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: you even more enthused to be like, damn, I really
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: missed this game, you know what I mean?
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: How important was it to get back on the field.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that, well, you know how it goes
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: any anytime you're you're taking away from something the only
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: thing that's really on your mind. I mean, you're you're
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: sitting at breakfast with your family just staring out into nothing,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: going like.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Nobody cares about you.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: When am I going to play again? And so it
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: can it can consume you. And when it consumes you,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: it becomes like a burden.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: But the thing I've was really lucky and I can't
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: stress enough, is like being surrounded by a lot of
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: really good people that kind of helped me keep kind
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of pushing forward, you know, family, friends, teammates, trainers, doctor,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, the list goes on and on. So you
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: know it was that mentality of really wanting to play
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: but not being able to some of the frustration. But
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the one thing I can really kind of say is
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: just try to, you know, fall in love or appreciate
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the process to getting back, because if you do that,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: you know, if you're just bitter the whole time doing
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: this rehab, you're going to get back and you're still
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: going to be kind of better if you can just
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: kind of appreciate the process and take what comes that
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: appreciation comes back, you know, tenfold when you get back
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: out there.
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: Did you learn that when you got that tired beard
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: you have?
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Hey, I actually shaved this on the off day. I
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: walked and looked. I don't look in the mirror very often,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: as you can probably tell, but.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Neither does a Jane.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I walked, I went to the bathroom and I looked
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: at myself. I was like, what you what is going on?
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was like my whole like this whole
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: situation was just like connected. My beard was like down
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: to here and you can see all my gray hair
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: when my beard's long. So I try to, you know,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: trim it up, look a little bit younger.
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: Hey, I know that feeling. Trust me.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: On that one.
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: I know, I totally get that. Now My question is
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: is why, why? Why happy with what you're doing. I'm
• 5:06
  Speaker 6: happy with what you're doing. Are you kidding me? I'm
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: very happy with what you're doing. The reason I'm happy
• 5:11
  Speaker 6: with what you're doing is you want to say, Young,
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: are you kidding me?
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: Chris?
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: You got to win a sy Young, I got to
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: go to the awards ceremony and watch your tired speech
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: that you gained.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: The only thing I was mad.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: At me introduce.
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: Nothing against Corey Kloever, but I think I would have
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: had a little bit more fun than Kluver when he
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: introduced you.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I will say this, I definitely appreciated having klouver uh
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: introduce me. And it was kind of a double edged
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: sword because I even made a joke about it. I
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: might have been standing up there sooner if if if
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: it wasn't for him, so having him introduce me and uh,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: you know, we had to get him out of the
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: game for me to.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Be able to get this thing.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I can only imagine what your grand introduction
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: for that would have been. But hey, more inspiration for
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: next year, right, Like, if I win it again, maybe
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: you'll be the guy I will Yeah, we'll see.
• 6:03
  Speaker 7: Ft fam Arena Club is the modern way to collect
• 6:07
  Speaker 7: cards or buy or sell, or trade or even grade.
• 6:10
  Speaker 7: And we're highlighting slab packs because this is the new
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: way to rip open a pack and get a really
• 6:14
  Speaker 7: good card. Aj But also if you're not into the card,
• 6:18
  Speaker 7: like I know you pulled a Bob Gibson card recently,
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: you can get an offer of ninety percent of the
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: estimated value and just accept it on the spot and
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: give it right back and maybe try again with another
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: slab pack.
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: I ain't get rid of my Bob Gibson autographed card.
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: Bob Gibson ain't card signing cards anytime soon, so I'm
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: keeping this one. It gets graded for you, there's no mess.
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: The only thing I wish they had bubblegum. Can they
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: virtually send me some bubble gumps? Cut Other than that,
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: it's awesome. You can buy sell cards, they grate them
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: instantly for you, and physically you can also get the
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: cards if you want them, So I'm all for this.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
• 6:50
  Speaker 7: Yeah, those cards are in your showroom in the app,
• 6:53
  Speaker 7: and then of course you can get the card physically
• 6:54
  Speaker 7: sent to you. So right now you can get twenty
• 6:56
  Speaker 7: percent off your first slab pack or card purchase by
• 6:59
  Speaker 7: going to a naclub dot com slash foul. That's arenaclub
• 7:03
  Speaker 7: dot com slash foul code foul for twenty percent off
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: your first purchase.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: So, coming off of last year, a great year, here
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: we are. We know how health is important for this
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: team for you as well. What's the workload looking like
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: this year is or is it hey, I'm gonna go
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: as I feel I'm gonna do what this team needs
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: or where like where are you on that end?
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: You and snit?
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I'm I'm actually feel confident about this year.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: So if you look at kind of the track record
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: like it's it's it's a weird thing with starting pitching
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: where it's like it's tough to do until you do it,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: but when you do it, you can kind of keep doing.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: So twenty three I was like just over one hundred innings.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Last year I was like one seventy, So you know,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: you know, through kind of climbing the ladder, I feel
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: like I'm at least should be able to do what
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: I did last year. You know, if everything goes well,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: anything can happen in a you know, throughout the year
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: in sports or whatever. But I do feel confident to
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: be able to at least with the workload standpoint. Numbers
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: are they kind of do what they do right, But
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: from a workload standpoint, I do feel like I'm ready
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: to kind of either be exactly where I was last
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: year if not take a you know, a step.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Let me ask, this is Drake Bowin, the only guy
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: that you've kind of got into his head about not
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: shaking the catcher?
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Are you working on that with everybody?
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: Just trust the guy I put it down, let's execute, Like,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: where does that come from?
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Was that just not overthinking it?
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: So I'm you never you never?
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: My point that it kind of plays into the story
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I'm about to tell. So I've never you know, when
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: you grow up in Little league, like you're only really
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: throwing fastballs, right, and then you get into high school
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: and then your coaches are calling the pitches. You get
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: into college and I remember it was Dan Roselle. Uh,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: he was my pitching coach my freshman year and I
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: gave up some runs, had a bad outing and he,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: you know, he was like, you know what what was
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: going on?
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: And I told him, I said, you called the wrong pitch.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I when I tell you he ripped
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: into me.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: It was oh yeah, it was. It was a good one.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: This was like this was a two thousand and seven yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: And I just hit the point he kept trying to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: make was it doesn't matter what pitch you throw, it's
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the location you throw it in. These guys are getting
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: sixty mile an hour fastballs thrown to him during VP,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: and they're hitting the top of the cave right rounding
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: out to the short stop. So he was very adamant
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: about I don't care what pitch is called.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: You have to execute.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: And then again like I get you know, I get
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: drafted in the first round. I signed pretty quick. You know,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: you can't be a first round or calling the shot
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: in the new club. Yeah right, and then I get
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I get to the big leagues really quick. AJ is
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: my catcher. I can only imagine what that would have
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: looked like.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: He was actually kind of scary back then.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he don't know him he can be intimidated,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: so you know, it was just very very much like
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I had gone my entire career from the the from
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the first pitch I ever threw in my life to
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the big leagues, and I've really never shaken it.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: Cat your off.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: So and I'm kind of lazy im to the weight
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: room because it's fun the training room doing shoulder program.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Like I don't want to have to go study. The
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: whole reason I left school was to play baseball.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: I don't like the studying is now done a day's job.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Let me go out there and worry about competing and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: executing and I'll let I'll let them figure out.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: The smart logistics behind it.
• 10:24
  Speaker 6: Chris, you were smart, you know what? Because you learn
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: from Chris or not from christ from Mark Burley. You
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: learn from Mark Burley not to shake me off, because
• 10:30
  Speaker 6: he shook me off one time. This is a true story.
• 10:32
  Speaker 6: In two thousand and two. We were in Japan. He
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: was pitching, I think in the Tokyo Dome, and he
• 10:36
  Speaker 6: shook me off to a change up to a left
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: handed hitter might have been Matt Suey, and he hit
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: it off his head or his shoulder and he missed
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: the rest of that Japan series. And from that moment on,
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: he never shook me off. So he taught you well,
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: because if you would have shaken me off. You might
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: have taken one off that ugly muggy.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: Or it might have knocked some sense into me. Actually.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: But and Burley was a good A good got to
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: be around early in my career because not only with
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: that aspect and not shaking stuff, but just kind of
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: how he viewed you know, bullpens and pace of play
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: like that. Like I know, I know some people have
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: you know, their their thoughts on some of the new
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: rules in baseball. I've always been a big fan of
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: the pitch clock because you know, Burley was no bs.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: It was it was right here, get in the box,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: get I'm standing on the mount, get the ball and
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: throw it like there's really nothing else that needs to happen.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Like let you know, I don't know, and I remember
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: him saying this, I don't know if it's gonna be good,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: bad or somewhere in the middle, but it's gonna be quick.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no one wants to be here all night.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I definitely appreciated that, you know, from him,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: you got another one.
• 11:44
  Speaker 6: Well, I was just gonna say, uh, what do you
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: gonna do as an encore this year? I want to know,
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: because you know, say young triple Crown got to the postseason.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: What's what's an encore for Chris.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: Sale this year? I'd like to get another ring. You know.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: That's again like with last year and what what kind
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: of happened with you know, as a whole from from
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: our entire you know team, the organization that we faced
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: a lot of adversity really from from the jump. Our
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: our opening day lineup had like four innings together the
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: entire year, you know, and a lot of our big
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: name guys went down with injury. Is you know this
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: and that, and you know even you look at like Ozzie,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: you know, he came back sooner, couldn't hit you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: left handed, and and that was you know, putting himself
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: out there to help the squad mentor with his hip.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Even even jo John, I mean you look at Joe,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: he had he pushed off a season ending knee injury
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: to stay out there for us, which is insane to me.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: So you know, I think, you know, health being the
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: key to all of this. We we have a lot
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: of those same guys back. The core the core of
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: our lineup is back and and they're dangerous. And then
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: you throw Ronnie on top of that, we get Spencer back.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: You know, we get those guys back, you know, earlish
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: in the year. I really really like where we're at.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Okay, so I've been thinking doing this whole new thing.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Let's play a game one a blank. It's building a blank.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: The Braves get back to the World Series if they
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: can blank.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Stay healthy, honestly, because I mean again, like you look
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: at the season we had last year, and.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: It was still made the playoffs, by the way.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Right, and and it was guy after guy after guys.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: It just seemed like and and like our everyday guys.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I mean you look at our guys in our lineup
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and our specifically our position players.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: They play every day.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: You know, Olsen's over there first base for the last
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: like five years or something crazy like that. Riley takes
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of pride and posting. I mean, you got
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Mikey out in center fielder's a freaking cheating and he missed.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: He missed a lot of time last year too, and
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: you saw when he came back and got his footing,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: it was it was it was go time. So you know,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: it's with some of our new additions, and I think
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: with our pitching staff being where it is now and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: what last year and building on that, we're a dangerous scene.
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: Hey, with all them grays in your beard? Is this
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: your last year? Are you going to retire after this?
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: Because I mean, you know, we talked about Mark Burley.
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: Mark Burley got.
• 14:12
  Speaker 8: Him a statue in Chicago coming. You know you're going
• 14:14
  Speaker 8: to miss that. You're not gonna be able to come
• 14:16
  Speaker 8: because oh you know you might have to pitch that day.
• 14:18
  Speaker 8: God forbid you skip a start and come to a statue.
• 14:20
  Speaker 8: But are you going to retire at the end of
• 14:22
  Speaker 8: the year because you're a free agent?
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: So, I mean, gray Beard you're talking about, you.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: Know how hard are it is to get out there
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: every fifth day?
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Man?
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: Is this it for you?
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: Oh? Man, that's that's a good question.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Well again, I think I'm kind of looking at this
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: kind of like my my rehabs and my off seasons.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: I can't get too far ahead of myself, right, you know,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Let's say I sit here right now and I say
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I want to play for five more years, and then
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: my freaking arm falls off in June. You know what
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: am I really doing? And or say, hey, this is
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: going to be my last year? You know, I thought
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: last year was gonna be my last year and how
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: that went out. So I think for me, it's it's
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: it's more of let's let's take this a day at
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: a time. I mean, I know it's like one of
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: the most cliche things to say in baseball, but that
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: truly helped me so much last year. Yeah, and just
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: and appreciate where I'm at and what I'm doing, who
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: I'm doing them with at the time, and just not
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: you know, getting in over your skis can can be
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: a dangerous thing in baseball and in sports. I mean,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: this is such a long season, so it's like, let's
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: let's you know.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: Stay and see where this goes and if it's good
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: and then we see and if it's not, I guess
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: we'll still see. So I mean you should say it.
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: If you're gonna win another so Young, then you should
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: be like, oh man, this is my last year, because
• 15:36
  Speaker 6: then you win another so Young, you go out on top.
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: You know, teammates can carry off after you win the
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: World Series and you could be like.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Rudy right, well, the World Series would would be definitely
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: more of a an an appetizing thing. I mean, again,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the the individual accolades are cool. There's no question. I
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: definitely appreciate it, and I don't want to undermine it.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: But we're all here for one thank No one in
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: that clubhouse is talking about an MVP, a Silver Sloughter
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: All Star game.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: Like, we all show up here and do the work
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: to win a world series.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: So if we want a world series, that that would
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: be a pretty good, pretty cool moment. And that's that's
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: kind of what we're looking for.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: If you want a real series, I'm not letting you
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: hang it up.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: You got to bring it back.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: I don't want to hear that, but no, listen, we
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: appreciate it, man. We know you got a busy day.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Best of luck this year. Man, let's go to keep
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: doing it. I'm glad I don't have to see you anymore.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: Hey, I'm not doing this unless you're in person next time.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: Listen, I've been two years in row. I missed the
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: Bridge's not my fault that I got kids.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: Hey, this is your old organization.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: I'm not my fault I have kids. It's exactly your
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: fault you have kids.
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: Thanks so appreciate it, Love you, pal, Good luck.
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: I have a great year, and I'll see you in
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: San Diego.
• 16:51
  Speaker 9: Pierce Johnson joining us right now, we're on TV.
• 16:53
  Speaker 7: We're all over the place. Pierce, great to have you.
• 16:56
  Speaker 7: I mean, how can I not say hello and recognize
• 16:58
  Speaker 7: the shirts?
• 16:59
  Speaker 9: So what's up the shirt?
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 17:03
  Speaker 10: You know, I was a starter throughout the minor leagues,
• 17:05
  Speaker 10: but you know how most of us that are relievers
• 17:07
  Speaker 10: now do get pawned off into the bullpen. But you
• 17:11
  Speaker 10: know it's just kind of a fun little thing. I'm
• 17:12
  Speaker 10: kind of a class clown here, so I thought this
• 17:14
  Speaker 10: was pretty fitting for me to wear.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Hey, let's let's stay there.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Not the typical bullpen repertoire, though you're you're the guy
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: that you use all your stuff and you are not
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: scared to go to any pitch anytime. Is that was
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: that a part of transitioning to the bullpen? Was that
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: a part of the process or they still going, hey,
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: you got a lot of pitches that you can get
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: guys out with.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: What's your approach out there?
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: Well?
• 17:36
  Speaker 10: When I was a starter, you know, I was mixing
• 17:38
  Speaker 10: in the change up, trying to establish that and all
• 17:40
  Speaker 10: sorts of other things. But I was throwing four pitches
• 17:42
  Speaker 10: and I was not effective, right, and then when they
• 17:45
  Speaker 10: when they put me in the pen, they were like, Hey,
• 17:47
  Speaker 10: your breaking balls your best pitch. Obviously you have a
• 17:49
  Speaker 10: good fastball. We're going to just kind of exaggerate those.
• 17:51
  Speaker 10: Go out and throw as many breaking balls as you
• 17:53
  Speaker 10: want and then kind of pitch off that. And I
• 17:56
  Speaker 10: feel like everything kind of fell into place when I
• 17:57
  Speaker 10: finally bought into.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: That coming here to you. I told you the vibes
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: were great. I know you guys had to show and go.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: Snit gets it. But are if you guys still kind
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: of bouncing around, you know, a little little pep in
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: their step. You guys seem extremely excited about being in camp.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: You guys are healthy.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: A lot of people aren't talking about what you guys
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: did injured and talked about with the bullpen you know
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: was able to do.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: You guys were lights out for this team last year.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Where are you now on that?
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: And how do you feel about you know, not a
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: lot of new faces, but the chemistry and the energy
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: around camp.
• 18:27
  Speaker 10: This season, well, I mean that was one of the
• 18:28
  Speaker 10: reasons I wanted to come back here, is because the
• 18:29
  Speaker 10: chemistry is so good here from top to bottom. I mean,
• 18:32
  Speaker 10: it's it's true, Snit's going to give you the truth,
• 18:35
  Speaker 10: you know, Alex is going to give you the truth,
• 18:36
  Speaker 10: and really, as a baseball player, just hit you with
• 18:38
  Speaker 10: the truth pill, whether it's good or bad. I just
• 18:39
  Speaker 10: want to know so I can work on what I
• 18:41
  Speaker 10: need to work on. And then you show up in
• 18:43
  Speaker 10: the locker room and it's just great vibes. It's got
• 18:46
  Speaker 10: really good team chemistry. Everybody gets along. It's just a
• 18:48
  Speaker 10: really good, you know, collective group. And I think it's
• 18:51
  Speaker 10: fun to show up to the art every day, whether
• 18:52
  Speaker 10: you're playing well or not, you just you know you're
• 18:54
  Speaker 10: gonna have fun at the yard that day and have
• 18:55
  Speaker 10: a chance to win.
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: Pierce when you you know, we're talking about your up
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: atoire and this and that. Tommy Cainley, who's a frequent
• 19:03
  Speaker 6: guest on here at those like through like seventy five
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: change ups in a row in the postseason and you
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: throw over seventy curveball. Have you ever gone to like
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: Cranny incident and said, you know what, guys, I'm gonna
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: go Lance McCullers and just throw all curveballs.
• 19:18
  Speaker 10: There were actually a couple outings last year I did
• 19:20
  Speaker 10: go all curveballs, and uh it was good. I was successful.
• 19:24
  Speaker 10: I mean, it is my best pitch that's what got
• 19:25
  Speaker 10: me in the big leagues. That's what kept me in
• 19:26
  Speaker 10: the big leagues. But I definitely told them, I'm like, hey,
• 19:29
  Speaker 10: we're gonna need to dial that one back a little
• 19:31
  Speaker 10: bit because come August September, after throwing that many curveballs,
• 19:34
  Speaker 10: you know, forums a little source, so we're gonna have
• 19:36
  Speaker 10: to mix in the heater a little bit. But we
• 19:38
  Speaker 10: definitely had some conversations about it.
• 19:43
  Speaker 7: Hey, Pierce, I want to jump in about you know,
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: last year, So how crazy was that last stretch for
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: the team? Obviously didn't end up getting in, but not
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: just what you guys went through, but also this whole
• 19:57
  Speaker 7: scheduling snappoo. What do you remember from that? And do
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: you guys wish that it was planned out better because
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: we were all screaming on a show like this, Hey,
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: bad weather in the forecast. This looks like it's gonna
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: be a mess. Did you guys feel that way too, Yeah.
• 20:12
  Speaker 10: A little bit, a little bit. It just kind of
• 20:14
  Speaker 10: stinks you got to play doubleheader on the last day
• 20:16
  Speaker 10: of the year, which that was bad memories for me.
• 20:17
  Speaker 10: Excited I've given the bomb to Lindor to send us
• 20:20
  Speaker 10: to Game two where we had to win or go home,
• 20:22
  Speaker 10: and you know it was just hard because then you
• 20:24
  Speaker 10: got to travel across the country. Then you got to
• 20:26
  Speaker 10: play in San Diego against a team that's hot. They
• 20:28
  Speaker 10: had a day off. Everybody in the penned throne. You know,
• 20:31
  Speaker 10: our hitters just had eighteen innings of baseball. It was
• 20:33
  Speaker 10: just something that you know, you just kind of got
• 20:35
  Speaker 10: to roll with the punches, sadly, but it didn't make
• 20:38
  Speaker 10: it hard on us. But at the same time, we
• 20:40
  Speaker 10: made it to the playoffs when we were really banged up,
• 20:44
  Speaker 10: and you know, we still it was the next man mentality,
• 20:47
  Speaker 10: and I think Holmes and Chwellenbach and you know, Eli
• 20:50
  Speaker 10: White and just all these guys really came up and
• 20:52
  Speaker 10: filled in those roles so well that if it wasn't
• 20:55
  Speaker 10: for those guys doing what they did, we wouldn't have
• 20:57
  Speaker 10: made the playoffs.
• 20:59
  Speaker 6: Hey, Pierce, what was that last day like? Because we've
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: talked to guys. We talked to guys on the Diamondbacks
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: about that last day where they were watching you guys
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: and they were hoping the Mets or you guys swept
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: that doubleheader. You guys lose the first one, which was
• 21:12
  Speaker 6: unbelievable game by the way. I mean, I'm sorry that
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: you gave up the home run, but it was an
• 21:16
  Speaker 6: unbelievable game as somebody that was watching as a baseball fan.
• 21:19
  Speaker 6: And then you go to game two and you're thinking, man,
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: we got to win. The Mets are like, well, we're
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: gonna take this game off and it was a close game.
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: How nervous were you guys during that second game saying, gosh,
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: we have to win. But man, we used a lot
• 21:31
  Speaker 6: of our bullets in the first game, and the Mets
• 21:34
  Speaker 6: have a bunch of guys out there that are just
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: happy to be out there playing a big league game.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt.
• 21:39
  Speaker 10: I mean, it's just one of those things where you
• 21:41
  Speaker 10: know you have to go up to the play with
• 21:42
  Speaker 10: a good approach every single back because every pitch matters.
• 21:44
  Speaker 10: And it's just so much more exaggerated that day because
• 21:46
  Speaker 10: it literally is winner go home. And as the bullpen,
• 21:49
  Speaker 10: you know, we were all ready to go two games
• 21:51
  Speaker 10: in one day. I mean we were all talking down
• 21:53
  Speaker 10: there like, hey, whatever we gotta do, we got to
• 21:55
  Speaker 10: do it because anything can happen in the playoffs, right, Like,
• 21:57
  Speaker 10: who's to say that, you know, Smith Shaver doesn't throw
• 21:59
  Speaker 10: a shutout game one, and uh, you know, our hitters
• 22:01
  Speaker 10: come through and you know, score a couple of runs
• 22:03
  Speaker 10: and now we're up a game in San Diego, or
• 22:06
  Speaker 10: we tie the second game and it's just one of
• 22:08
  Speaker 10: those things where everybody just kind of collectively came together
• 22:11
  Speaker 10: and we just you know, put it together at the end.
• 22:12
  Speaker 10: But it was a close game till the very end.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: You had a good year last year, great your first
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: year with the Braves last year. Have they told you
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: your role this year? Are you slotted to be that
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: set up guy for Iglesias? And if you are, how
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: does that change your mentality? Or you go out there
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: again talk about your best pitch of bread and butter,
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: and then too the league makes adjustments.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Are you planning on mixing a few more heaters with that?
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: Right? You know?
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: This year?
• 22:39
  Speaker 10: Can I tell you my scattering report? I don't want to, no.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Matter of fact, the division is watching. No, But I
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: mean yeah, I definitely told them. I was like, look,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: I can't throw that many curveballs in a year.
• 22:49
  Speaker 10: I definitely want to mix it up. I'd like I
• 22:51
  Speaker 10: like my fastball, I really like my cutter. So it's
• 22:54
  Speaker 10: two things that I can implement more and maybe get
• 22:56
  Speaker 10: guys off the curveball just a little bit because it
• 22:59
  Speaker 10: got me a lot of groundball, a lot of double plays.
• 23:01
  Speaker 10: But I'm definitely anxious for the role. I don't know
• 23:04
  Speaker 10: what my role will be. I mean, I'm just happy
• 23:06
  Speaker 10: to be a part of a really really good team
• 23:08
  Speaker 10: that's tight knit. We're built to win, and whatever role
• 23:11
  Speaker 10: they put me in, I plan on, you know, running
• 23:13
  Speaker 10: with it and doing the best I can.
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: Pierce. You grew up in Colorado, right, you grew up
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: in Colorado? Are you a Rocky fan growing up?
• 23:20
  Speaker 10: Actually, my dad work for the Padres growing up, so
• 23:23
  Speaker 10: I really was a Padres fan, and then obviously moving
• 23:26
  Speaker 10: to Colorado that that is the hometown team, so I
• 23:28
  Speaker 10: got to go to a.
• 23:29
  Speaker 9: Lot of games.
• 23:29
  Speaker 10: So I'm pretty lucky to be able to play for
• 23:32
  Speaker 10: the two teams that I cheered for growing up.
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: Yeah, agreed, But but my question is more about the Rockies, right, Like,
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: you pitch there, you know what it's like to pitch
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: at Corsefield.
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: And then you mentioned a competitive team.
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: We get on the Rockies all the time for not
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: I don't want to say they're not trying, but they're happy,
• 23:47
  Speaker 6: they're content, they get their two and a half to
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: three million fans a year, and the fans all it's
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: a great experience. They have Dinger coming out of eggs,
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: and they have the Christmas Tree Farm in center field,
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: and they've got blue Moon and they've got all these
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: cool things going at Corsefield.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: But they don't win.
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: What do the Rockies need to do to And I
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: know you don't know the answer to this, but I
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: always say on you they need to try something crazy
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: like the Razor. They started shifting and did openers and
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: just bought in. But what do you think the path
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: for the Rockies to win? Does it go back to
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: the Blake Street bombers or they just try to outmash
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: everybody and have a bunch of dudes with those sinkers.
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: Do they need to figure out a pitching type because
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: it seems like they're always back and forth. Oh, we
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: need sinkers, we need high fastballs, we need good defense,
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: we need home run hitters. What's the success full path
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: for the Rockies to be a consistent winner?
• 24:33
  Speaker 10: I think today with how prevalent analytics is, I think
• 24:37
  Speaker 10: they should figure out what the best pitches are in
• 24:39
  Speaker 10: Colorado and then target those pitchers that have that stuff
• 24:43
  Speaker 10: so that their stuff is maximized on the road, and
• 24:46
  Speaker 10: then help guys transition because when you're pitching in Colorado
• 24:49
  Speaker 10: at altitude and then you got to go to Saint
• 24:50
  Speaker 10: Louis in the middle of summer and it's superhuman and
• 24:53
  Speaker 10: all of a sudden, your breaking ball is doing more,
• 24:54
  Speaker 10: and your fastball's riding, and your sinker's doing different things.
• 24:56
  Speaker 10: Like having somebody to help you adjust to the elements
• 25:00
  Speaker 10: and figure out, Hey, when you're in Colorado, this is
• 25:02
  Speaker 10: what you need to do, and when you're in you know,
• 25:04
  Speaker 10: sea level and humidity, this is what you need to do.
• 25:06
  Speaker 10: When you're in cold, you know, hot, whatever may be.
• 25:08
  Speaker 10: Kind of figure out that thing. And then when it
• 25:10
  Speaker 10: comes to the hitting side, I think you know Blake
• 25:12
  Speaker 10: Tree bombers, Yeah, I mean that was an incredible lineup.
• 25:15
  Speaker 10: It I mean, everybody's batting over three hundred. Everybody had
• 25:17
  Speaker 10: thirty plus pumps. It was that was a really cool
• 25:20
  Speaker 10: team to watch, right But with how big the outfield
• 25:23
  Speaker 10: is in Colorado, and then you also have a big
• 25:25
  Speaker 10: outfield in Arizona, you gotta you know, San Diego plays
• 25:28
  Speaker 10: fairly deep at night, you know, La, depending on how
• 25:31
  Speaker 10: the weather is. I mean, you got to have a
• 25:33
  Speaker 10: really fast outfield. I think that changes things, and Doyle's
• 25:36
  Speaker 10: fit that role really well. I think you have a
• 25:40
  Speaker 10: solid defense to kind of minimize the damage that you
• 25:43
  Speaker 10: can and then figure out how you can get a
• 25:45
  Speaker 10: pitching staff to maximize their stuff at altitude and kind
• 25:49
  Speaker 10: of target those guys and maybe even like the CJ.
• 25:51
  Speaker 10: Cron type where he's kind of not having success maybe
• 25:55
  Speaker 10: in Anaheim or whatever, and then all of a sudden
• 25:57
  Speaker 10: he comes to Denver and he's banging, right.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: He just he lets the ball elevate.
• 26:02
  Speaker 10: And you know, and gets to trot around the basics.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: So mate, that's a good that's a great comp right there.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: I like that.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: Let me ask you about this talk about the analytics
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: and the information because a lot of people think analytics
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: is something more than information, right, it's just information about
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: how you're going to have success. What's the difference we
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: talk about analytics the information here in San Diego.
• 26:25
  Speaker 10: San Diego was really analytically driven. It was kind of cool,
• 26:29
  Speaker 10: like after every outing we got a little report card
• 26:31
  Speaker 10: in our locker and it gave you like spin rate,
• 26:33
  Speaker 10: spin access, you know, release height, release, you know, link
• 26:37
  Speaker 10: or whatever, you know. It's just they had everything for you,
• 26:40
  Speaker 10: so you could kind of go back and be circle
• 26:42
  Speaker 10: which one is like, hey today I was really good
• 26:45
  Speaker 10: at my fastball, really good at my curve ball, and
• 26:46
  Speaker 10: you can kind of see like, all right, now, this
• 26:48
  Speaker 10: is where I need to be with those pitches, you know,
• 26:50
  Speaker 10: And I think we have it here too, but we're
• 26:52
  Speaker 10: more of an old school like, hey, just trust your eye,
• 26:54
  Speaker 10: kind of do that thing. We have all the data.
• 26:56
  Speaker 10: But when I was in San Diego, we were very
• 26:58
  Speaker 10: prevalent when it came to the the analytics side.
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: What about Colorado? You didn't mention Colorado. We just talked
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: about them. Where were they analytically? Were they low? Were
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: theyre somewhere in the middle?
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: Fairly low?
• 27:11
  Speaker 10: But I mean they still had the information when you
• 27:13
  Speaker 10: needed it, right if you were somebody who was really
• 27:15
  Speaker 10: kind of you know, driven to look at that those
• 27:18
  Speaker 10: kinds of things. Because now everywhere you go, it's you know,
• 27:21
  Speaker 10: you throw a bullpen, there's gonna be a track man
• 27:22
  Speaker 10: you're you're throwing, you know, before the game on the mound,
• 27:25
  Speaker 10: just a couple of pitches, there's a track man. There's
• 27:27
  Speaker 10: you know, edgeatronics seeing how your release point is and
• 27:29
  Speaker 10: all those kinds of things, and we didn't have it
• 27:32
  Speaker 10: as much in Colorado. I think that's something that if
• 27:35
  Speaker 10: they really did implement that that that would be kind
• 27:38
  Speaker 10: of a game changer for some people, especially for the
• 27:40
  Speaker 10: young guys too, because I feel like colleges and even
• 27:42
  Speaker 10: high schools now are just absolutely abusing that thing where
• 27:45
  Speaker 10: every time those kids are touching the mound, it's they're
• 27:48
  Speaker 10: reading some sort of data, whether they know how to
• 27:50
  Speaker 10: read it or not.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask that reading data is important.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: You talked about all those little things, which one of
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: those things for you are like the cues.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: You talk about this.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: Spin rate, the extension where you look at it you go, Okay,
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: I was a little off today because this wasn't there
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: or that was there. Because I think it's important that
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: these young kids understand which numbers they need to be
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: looking at, because you don't need to look at all
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: of them, but which numbers for you? Are you they
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: It rules you back in and get you back on track.
• 28:16
  Speaker 10: I like to see extension and make sure I'm getting
• 28:18
  Speaker 10: out there far enough spin rate obviously, especially for my curveball,
• 28:21
  Speaker 10: like I live and die on that pitch, right, I
• 28:22
  Speaker 10: got to make sure that that is spinning and spinning tight.
• 28:25
  Speaker 10: And then for my fastball, it's it's this, it's the
• 28:28
  Speaker 10: tilt or the spin axis. So if I'm anywhere like
• 28:32
  Speaker 10: a one thirty, I have that arm side run and
• 28:35
  Speaker 10: it's kind of a non competitive fastball. But if I'm
• 28:36
  Speaker 10: one fifteen to one o'clock, maybe even twelve forty five,
• 28:39
  Speaker 10: I have the better ride. I throw it through my target.
• 28:41
  Speaker 10: I'm more competitive with that, so I don't dive too
• 28:44
  Speaker 10: much into it, but I know which ones that I
• 28:47
  Speaker 10: need to look at it.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Do any of those tell you I might be fatigued
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: a little bit? I think definitely.
• 28:53
  Speaker 10: Extension. You know, it's one of those things where like
• 28:56
  Speaker 10: if you're not getting extension, the ball is not going
• 28:58
  Speaker 10: to be I might have the pop out of the ball,
• 29:00
  Speaker 10: or the four team might not have the same ride
• 29:02
  Speaker 10: to it. I might not get that extra spin at
• 29:03
  Speaker 10: the end. And I feel like that's something for me
• 29:06
  Speaker 10: that I can almost tell when a hitters really on
• 29:09
  Speaker 10: one of those pitches. It's like, you know, maybe there's
• 29:11
  Speaker 10: something off today and we need to take a look
• 29:13
  Speaker 10: at this.
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: I love that, Hey, Pierce, last one from me, I
• 29:17
  Speaker 7: mean you pitched in Japan.
• 29:19
  Speaker 9: Right, you pitched for Hanshin.
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: Sorry I say that again.
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: Who did you.
• 29:23
  Speaker 9: Pitch for in Japan? Was the Tigers?
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: Tigers?
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: Okay, So what did you think just now of the
• 29:29
  Speaker 7: Tokyo Series and where baseball has come from even you know,
• 29:32
  Speaker 7: not that long ago?
• 29:33
  Speaker 9: Was it five ish years ago? To where we are now, with.
• 29:36
  Speaker 7: Of course all of the talent coming from there in
• 29:38
  Speaker 7: the place just being baseball bananas.
• 29:41
  Speaker 10: Oh yeah, I mean they treat their baseball like we
• 29:43
  Speaker 10: treat our NFL, right like it was absolutely incredible. But
• 29:47
  Speaker 10: I'm super stoked that they, especially the Tigers, right they
• 29:49
  Speaker 10: went to and oh beat the Dodgers and the Cubs,
• 29:51
  Speaker 10: and so that was pretty cool. I was cheering for
• 29:52
  Speaker 10: those guys. I was, you know, messaging in one of
• 29:55
  Speaker 10: my buddies on the team and my translator and we
• 29:56
  Speaker 10: were talking. But I love it, man, and I wish
• 30:00
  Speaker 10: people could experience the Japanese kind of feel and atmosphere.
• 30:03
  Speaker 10: It's so different, it's so unique. It's they truly cherish
• 30:07
  Speaker 10: their baseball and their players, and it's cool to see
• 30:10
  Speaker 10: because obviously we've brought over some superstars from there, and
• 30:12
  Speaker 10: I still think there's some really good ones to come too,
• 30:15
  Speaker 10: But really it's kind of putting Japan back on the
• 30:18
  Speaker 10: map and then baseball app aspect, and I think there's
• 30:21
  Speaker 10: gonna be more guys to come, and I think some
• 30:23
  Speaker 10: bats are are soon to come our way. And yeah,
• 30:25
  Speaker 10: there's some talent over there, and I don't think people
• 30:27
  Speaker 10: understand that it's there's some really good baseball over there.
• 30:30
  Speaker 10: And you know guys, guys have had success over here.
• 30:33
  Speaker 10: I mean obviously Otani and then you bring over Sasaki
• 30:36
  Speaker 10: and Kakuchi's here Darvish. I mean, it's really good pitching
• 30:41
  Speaker 10: and I think there's some hitters to come soon.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: Last thing I want to ask you, I played for
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: the Braves four year.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: AJ was my teammate.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: But as you've been here, can you just talk about
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: like what is the Braves way?
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Like what does that mean to you? As you've seen.
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: The history, how cherished this franchise is, Like what is
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: the Brave's way?
• 30:58
  Speaker 10: It's being professional on off field, It's showing up every
• 31:02
  Speaker 10: single day, getting your work done, and then going out
• 31:04
  Speaker 10: and playing every single day. Like look, guys are gonna
• 31:07
  Speaker 10: take their days much deserved. But we don't change our
• 31:10
  Speaker 10: lineup ever. I mean, we were platooning left field and
• 31:13
  Speaker 10: that was like the only thing. And then your catcher.
• 31:15
  Speaker 10: But your catcher's not going to catch one sixty two, right.
• 31:18
  Speaker 10: But man, I mean, everybody here's a workhorse. They they
• 31:21
  Speaker 10: do their job. They show up every single day prepared,
• 31:23
  Speaker 10: ready to go. And I tell everybody, like the first
• 31:25
  Speaker 10: day I got here was crazy, Like the game was
• 31:27
  Speaker 10: at seven twenty. It was like seven o'clock and like
• 31:30
  Speaker 10: music was playing, but it wasn't bumping in the locker room,
• 31:33
  Speaker 10: and you just saw everybody just kind of like at
• 31:35
  Speaker 10: one time, everybody just put their uniform on, grab their
• 31:37
  Speaker 10: stuff and went out and it was just like they're
• 31:40
  Speaker 10: ready to go to war, like it's today's there's a
• 31:42
  Speaker 10: battle today, and everybody's dialed and ready to go. There's
• 31:45
  Speaker 10: there's no I mean, we keep everybody accountable, but you
• 31:47
  Speaker 10: don't really have to when everybody's so dedicated to their
• 31:50
  Speaker 10: craft and they just show up every single day and
• 31:52
  Speaker 10: they just do their job. And everybody seems to pick
• 31:55
  Speaker 10: each other up too, which you know obviously Team Huge
• 31:57
  Speaker 10: is is huge.
• 31:58
  Speaker 6: Love that Cam. You can't put us in the same
• 32:02
  Speaker 6: category as where Pierces in.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Man, I know, bro, we're just trying to win.
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: We were trying to win a game. They're trying to win. Hey,
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: I was there his first win and we gave him
• 32:14
  Speaker 5: a beer shower. Pittsburgh. We were going to win another one.
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: Hey.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: At one point, Piers a j We're in the clubhouse.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: You're like, come on, guys, let's do this.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: Come on, we don't want to lose a hundred, J goes,
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: what'sn't there's between losing.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Ninety nine and one hundred. Come on, guys, hundred. No,
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: thank you, brother, appreciate it. Hey, thank you for having me.
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: Appreciate it. Here we go.
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: We saved the best for last, best hair for sure.
• 32:38
  Speaker 7: Grand Holmes joining us right now from Braids camp.
• 32:40
  Speaker 9: This is the last interview camp.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: Answer Chafing and Drew Chaffin wish he had a headful.
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: Of lots on this same mustache. Mustache.
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a little bit figger.
• 32:52
  Speaker 9: Yeah, Grant. Great to have you on, man. How is
• 32:55
  Speaker 9: the end of camp here?
• 32:57
  Speaker 7: And how amped are you to be part of this
• 32:59
  Speaker 7: team now for a full season ride?
• 33:01
  Speaker 9: You know, as a starter, you know, it's been fun.
• 33:06
  Speaker 11: You know, it's it's nice coming into camp having an
• 33:09
  Speaker 11: idea of what they want you to do.
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, I'm pretty excited for the year.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: Okay, you're excited. But let me ask you this.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: How much pressure do you feel at times when you
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: go out there, you take the mound and you know
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: that you have the most luxurious hair in the game, Like,
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: does that put pressure on you to get the job done?
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: Because this flow right here.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: If I'm a hitter, I'm like, I gotta get this
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: guy right, Like I can't. He looks too good for
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: me for me to let him get me.
• 33:34
  Speaker 9: Out right now.
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't. I don't let him bother me.
• 33:38
  Speaker 11: You know, I'll just try to go out there and
• 33:39
  Speaker 11: do my thing, whether it be starting or relieving, you know,
• 33:43
  Speaker 11: just go out there and take the ball with their strikes.
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: So we talk about that, talk about doing your thing.
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: I just told you as we sat down. I don't
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: think a lot of people are talking about this pitching staff, bullpen,
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: starting rotation. What are you looking to bring to this
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: starting staff as we you know, get ready to exit camp.
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: You know, just being consistent.
• 34:02
  Speaker 11: I think that's the biggest thing as a starter, you know,
• 34:06
  Speaker 11: being consistent getting the ball every fifth, sixth day, whatever
• 34:09
  Speaker 11: it may be, going out there and you know, keeping
• 34:13
  Speaker 11: you know, the bullpen out of the game as long
• 34:15
  Speaker 11: as possible.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so that's that's my.
• 34:18
  Speaker 9: Goal, Grant.
• 34:19
  Speaker 7: We'd been looking forward to chatting with you. Can you
• 34:22
  Speaker 7: introduce your story to our audience, you know it's national,
• 34:25
  Speaker 7: global audience, whatever you want to call it, that that
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: doesn't know about your path long time in the minors
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: and how you ended up here and even you know,
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: some of the changes that were made where we end
• 34:34
  Speaker 7: up in the bullpen and then find yourself here as
• 34:37
  Speaker 7: a starter. Can you take us through the ups and
• 34:39
  Speaker 7: downs a little bit?
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 34:41
  Speaker 11: You know, I got drafted in twenty fourteen by the Dodgers,
• 34:46
  Speaker 11: spent a couple of seasons there. End of sixteen, I
• 34:51
  Speaker 11: guess at a trade deadline and got traded to the
• 34:54
  Speaker 11: Oakland A's and you know, I spent the next six
• 34:57
  Speaker 11: years there and kind of found my career kind of
• 35:01
  Speaker 11: going downhill, you know when you get to the PCL,
• 35:03
  Speaker 11: like I feel like a lot of other people do
• 35:05
  Speaker 11: as well.
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 35:08
  Speaker 11: I guess it was the twenty two I got released
• 35:11
  Speaker 11: and the Braves signed me.
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: Which was, you know, was kind of cool. They're just
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: coming off.
• 35:16
  Speaker 11: A world series, you know, signing a kid that just
• 35:21
  Speaker 11: was putting up like an ad r A and the
• 35:23
  Speaker 11: p CL.
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: You know, it felt pretty good. Give me a little
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: bit of fire to.
• 35:27
  Speaker 11: You know, want to get better and continue their career,
• 35:32
  Speaker 11: you know, and got over here, learned a slider, and
• 35:36
  Speaker 11: you know the rest is history.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: I was just gonna ask what changed?
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: Like was that? So?
• 35:41
  Speaker 5: Was that?
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: It was that?
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: So?
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: That was all you were missing? Was that slider? We
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: talk about the ups and downs? That was it?
• 35:47
  Speaker 9: One pitch that and you know, pitch usage.
• 35:51
  Speaker 11: The slider has worked really well for me lately. And
• 35:56
  Speaker 11: I mean obviously I think last year I picked up
• 35:59
  Speaker 11: a couple mile and a half on my fastball average
• 36:01
  Speaker 11: fastball and you know, I guess it's just cleaning up
• 36:04
  Speaker 11: some mechanics and mostly pitch usage.
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, what do you mean.
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: You found a slider and you taught you a slider?
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: What does that mean?
• 36:13
  Speaker 6: Because doesn't every other organization teach you a slider? I
• 36:16
  Speaker 6: don't understand, Like, what would.
• 36:18
  Speaker 5: The Braves do?
• 36:19
  Speaker 6: Did Rick Kranitz or somebody say hey, we're gonna change
• 36:22
  Speaker 6: your grip, We're gonna change your release saying we're gonna
• 36:24
  Speaker 6: change the.
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: Way you pull it down? What does that mean? When
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: you say, I found a slider.
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: You know, as a new pitch.
• 36:31
  Speaker 11: I had only thrown curveball, change up, you know, fastball,
• 36:35
  Speaker 11: you know, and and the pcl it was, you know,
• 36:38
  Speaker 11: the curveball doesn't really curve, you know, it's it's more
• 36:41
  Speaker 11: of like a spinny ball.
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 36:44
  Speaker 11: I got over here with a little bit of humidity
• 36:46
  Speaker 11: and the curveball started coming back, and they were like,
• 36:50
  Speaker 11: you know, the braves there fastballs up, sliders down. So they,
• 36:55
  Speaker 11: you know, taught me a slider and I've been you know,
• 36:58
  Speaker 11: throwing it ever since. So, I mean, just learned a
• 37:03
  Speaker 11: new pitch. It's it's crazy how how one pitch can
• 37:07
  Speaker 11: can change your career.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: I know. That's what I'm gonna say.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: A j and everybody raised about the Dodgers and what
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: they get from the Dodgers, and you talk about Oakland
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: to hear that it took that long for somebody to go, hey,
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: let's try a slider. And here we are now and
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: we ain't looking back. I want to I want to
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: add to that. I want to ask you, you know,
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: talk about those long that long journey in the minor leagues.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: At any point did you almost lose hope or think
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it's going to happen.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: They what kept you going.
• 37:37
  Speaker 11: I had the thoughts, but you know it they only
• 37:41
  Speaker 11: lasted a little bit, you know, obviously kind of give
• 37:46
  Speaker 11: it a little bit, you know, to dwell on those thoughts.
• 37:49
  Speaker 11: But then you know, got to get back into the
• 37:51
  Speaker 11: the positive thoughts and knowing that I haven't achieved my
• 37:55
  Speaker 11: dream yet, I was still you know, pushing and grinding
• 37:58
  Speaker 11: too to better myself self to get to that point.
• 38:03
  Speaker 7: Hey, Grant, So now that you know, hey, I'm I'm
• 38:05
  Speaker 7: in the rotation, I've taken a big step in my career.
• 38:08
  Speaker 9: What are some goals for you?
• 38:09
  Speaker 7: And if you can mix in you know, I would assume, hey,
• 38:12
  Speaker 7: you've got enough dirt in your spikes, whether it was
• 38:14
  Speaker 7: up here or obviously in the minors, that you can
• 38:17
  Speaker 7: just let it eat as far as innings or do
• 38:19
  Speaker 7: you have to be careful with a workload plan?
• 38:22
  Speaker 11: Oh no, you know, I started early on in my
• 38:25
  Speaker 11: career and I feel like I take care of myself
• 38:30
  Speaker 11: and I think I could, you know, have the many
• 38:32
  Speaker 11: innings I end up doing throwing, you know, it's I
• 38:36
  Speaker 11: don't think there's no limit or you know, sitting stone
• 38:40
  Speaker 11: like Hey, this is what we're looking for. You know,
• 38:43
  Speaker 11: it's just out there and compete and you know, recover
• 38:48
  Speaker 11: between those those days that you have off until your
• 38:51
  Speaker 11: next start.
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: Grant, did you do a basketball poll? Did you do
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: a pool?
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: I did not?
• 38:57
  Speaker 5: You didn't do one? Why not not do that?
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: They do?
• 39:02
  Speaker 11: You know, I'm not a I don't really watch basketball.
• 39:06
  Speaker 5: But if you had to pick a team to win,
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: who would you pick?
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: Florida Florida?
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: You better say Florida is silent Florida.
• 39:15
  Speaker 6: I know you're from South Carolina, but you better say Florida.
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: Florida was Dam's gonna's gonna reach across and smack.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: You from Hey, Hey, I ain't gonna lie.
• 39:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Florida.
• 39:29
  Speaker 9: That what y'all do?
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right right over left, speaking of Florida Carolina.
• 39:35
  Speaker 5: But he signed Florida.
• 39:37
  Speaker 9: I was gonna.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna ask him.
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: Being from South Carolina. Did you grow up I'm from
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: North Carolina, Ashville. Did you grow up a Braids fan?
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: Because most of us, when you're from the South, you
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: grew up a Braids fan. So to put this this
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: uniform on, does it mean that much more than you
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: and your family?
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: Like you got the ticket requests going crazy.
• 39:55
  Speaker 11: Not so much of that, you know. I try to
• 39:57
  Speaker 11: kind of keep.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: Getting taxed these tickets.
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: I told Mark, Hey, family players, get text for the tickets. Okay, guys,
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: so I know you may stay close to grand but
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: we only get so many.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Just make sure that you're actually just tell them the truth.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: I got six, that's it.
• 40:12
  Speaker 11: Yeah, but you know, growing up a brace man, it's
• 40:14
  Speaker 11: I feel like it gives me that much more fire
• 40:17
  Speaker 11: to put on the uniform, growing up watching you know,
• 40:19
  Speaker 11: the legends that this this organization has produced.
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: Pretty cool. Thank you. I appreciate the compliment. Thank you.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah right, I don't think they produced this.
• 40:33
  Speaker 9: Well, Grant. It's an awesome story.
• 40:34
  Speaker 7: We're excited to watch you work this year again here
• 40:37
  Speaker 7: in the rotation for the Braves. Thanks for hopping on
• 40:39
  Speaker 7: here for the first time. Loved having you. Good luck
• 40:41
  Speaker 7: this season. We'll try and grab you during the year too.
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: Okay, thank you, guys. I appreciate it.
• 40:46
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I appreciate you.