Latest / Foul Territory / White Sox closer Grant Taylor joins, Recently retired Jon Berti & Giants reliever Dylan Smith on FT

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White Sox closer Grant Taylor joins, Recently retired Jon Berti & Giants reliever Dylan Smith on FT · Foul Territory

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: All right, Grant Taylor, closer for my first place and
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Kratz's first place and Chicago's first place. The only baseball
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: team in first place in Chicago, by the way. Grant
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Taylor is the closer for the Chicago White Sox. Grant,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: thanks for coming on with us. I'm glad Bob Bechdahl
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: finally did his job and got you to come on here.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: So how are we doing, pal?
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: No, we love it.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: We love it. We love having you. I love having
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: White Sox. People on, by the way, check out my shirt, FoulTerritoryShop.com.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this guy. He did
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: all right last night.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: I think I may need one.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: All right, we can get you one. How about Sam?
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Before we talk about you, let's talk about everybody else
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: on this team. Sam Antonacci, how good has he been?
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, when he hits leadoff, but just in left
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: field in general, the spark bug, you know, when he
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: goes by and he elbows guys at first base.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, he does all this little dirty work.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's been impressive.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Like you said, left field, like he would– I think
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: he started playing left field in spring, and he's been
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: great out there. He's made a few saving catches for me,
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: kind of getting the offense going, letting Mune and all
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: those guys come up with guys on base.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: So it's been great.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Who's scrappier, Sam Antonacci or my draft?
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: Ah.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Only one can be the most. We don't steal offense.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: We don't say they're both really good.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: I'm going to go Antonacci because of the hit-by-pitches. I mean,
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: I think he's got the White Sox record right now.
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: That's fair. Well, everybody else that ever played for the
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: White Sox was soft. So, now it was kind of
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: a low bar. But is there– you talked about spring training. Antonacci, obviously,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: nobody knew who he was outside of White Sox fans.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: And then WBC.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: WBC.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Did you guys have the mindset that you knew you
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: would be in the playoff hunt? You got to be
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: honest that in spring training was that conversation being had?
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, definitely among the clubhouse.
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: I mean, like Mune didn't come from Japan and sign
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: here to lose ballgames. So there was kind of an
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: expectation that we were going to go out there and
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: compete and, you know, take big steps forward individually as
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: a team.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: And if that led to the postseason, then that's what
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: we were prepared for.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: All right, Grant, listen, I'm a White Sox fan. I
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: played for the White Sox, okay? Nobody saw you guys
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: in the first place.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I wanted you guys to do well, obviously. I root
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: for you guys. You know, I'm at the ballpark. I'm
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: going to be at the ballpark on Friday when you
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: guys are on the road, you know, supporting the fans.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: But you say there were big steps, right?
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Well, big steps mean you lose 100 games, you lose
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: 120 games, you lose 100 games. Big steps would be, hey,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: we go 500 or we lose 85 games. You guys
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: are above 500, and right now, I don't want to
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: jinx you, you're the two seed in the American League
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: with a bye.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: How cool is that?
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: That's pretty sweet.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: But, like, honestly, to go, like, 500, there's been a
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: lot of times where, you know, wild card teams are
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: 86 wins or whatever. You just win four more games,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: and you're a postseason team. So you might as well,
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: if the goal is 500, you might as well go
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: for the postseason.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: I like that.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I like that. That's fair. That's a good comment. Who
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: in the team are you most– surprised you the most
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: this year not that you thought they were bad but
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: just the way they play day in and day out
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: through the grind of 162 game season I think.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Peters um you know didn't really know him coming over
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: yeah he traded to.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: Us in the offseason or early spring um yeah he.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: I think just kind of came out crazy, you know,
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: hit when 300 close to the all-star break has been,
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: I didn't realize how good his defense was, you know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: never played with him. He's been, you know, I've never
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: played with, I mean, I guess I have played with
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: gold glove center fielders, but I mean, he's pretty, pretty
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: legit out there. So he's kind of been the most
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: surprising for me, honestly, just being able to maintain that. And,
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: you know, the past couple of weeks I've been pretty,
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: pretty special too. It was a four home run games
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: in a row.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: By the way, Grant, as a, as a, also a
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Savannah banana alumni, nothing a Savannah bananas do surprises anyone.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: So just, just Tristan did it before he got to
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: the big leagues and some of us do it after
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: we get to the big leagues.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Right. So it's different.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: It's a, but you know, we all, we, all of
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: us Savannah bananas, we stick together.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: We, we, we stick.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Together, but as a, as the closer now, right. You've
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: kind of, have taken this role and you've been great
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: with it.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: And one time the White Sox were talking about you
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: being a starter. Do you still want to start or
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: are you happy closing games out and getting that adrenaline rush?
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there's value in both. You know, I
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: enjoy pitching in the ninth.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: It's a lot of fun.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: You know, one run ball games late and they're pretty sweet.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Can't really be upset about pitching those.
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: I do think there's, you know, pitch really good starting
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: position in the minors. I think there's still an opportunity there.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: We'll have conversations in the off season about that right now.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: I'm just focused on pitching when my name's called.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Do you need to upgrade your closer entrance? Like, do
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: you appreciate your closer entrance or when you watch other teams,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: are you like.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: Kind of want that? I think we could do a
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: little bit better. Okay.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: What would that, what would that look like?
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: A lot of times, a lot of times like we'll
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: come into games in the ninth and there's not like the,
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: you know, we have the LEDs and they're not flashing. Um,
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: you know, there's not really any interest for guys or
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: there's been a couple of times where like my, my
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: song in the ninth coming for a save, like doesn't
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: get played until my name's announced and I get like
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: 10 seconds of it. Um, so I don't feel like
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: I get the full, you know, treatment going in. So
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: there's some, I mean like even like Evan Gaddis has
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: one coming in to like the seventh sometimes it's pretty sweet.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Um, So maybe I do need to upgrade. You do.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: You do.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: By the way, Grant, it's Hunter Gattis, not Evan Gattis.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: We don't want to make those guardians angry, okay? Yes,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: we don't want to make them angry, okay? But here's
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: my question for you. Who makes that call? Who do
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I need to call? Because Gene Honda likes to talk,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: so you're not going to cut him off mid-inning, right?
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: The announcer, the PA guy for the White Sox. He's
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: got a show voice. But who do we need to
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: call to get your entrances? In right field. Do I
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: need to call Scott Reifert? Do I need to call
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Bob Bechtel? Do I need to call Jerry Reinsdorf? Chris Goett?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: I got no idea.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Who's the person we need to call? I don't know
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: who's up on the school board. Jeff? Maybe I'll talk
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: to Bob today.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: And then what's your song now? So what is your
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: song now? It's the guitar solo, Freebird.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Okay, that's fair.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: We could get like eagles flying across the state.
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Across the scoreboards.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: We could come up with all kinds of cool stuff.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: But which closer do you like now? Which interest do
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: you like now?
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Mason Miller's is pretty sweet.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: Unfortunately, we got to see it when we were in
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: San Diego and it was pretty electric. You know, the
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: corn corn's pretty sweet. You know, the whole stadium pitch black.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: Everyone's going crazy. And then he throws absolute cheese. So
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: his prequel. I guess that's fair. I guess that's fair.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: If you've got a cool intro, you can't throw poo.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: I guess you've got to throw hard up there. But
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: have you seen the fans grow this year?
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Because one of the things that Lou Bob, Luis Robert,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: said when he left New York, I mean, when he
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: left and he went to New York, he was like, well,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: you know, I just didn't see any fans. And when
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: I watch games from you guys, it seems like as
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: your record is growing and getting better, the fans are
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: just coming out. And it seems like an electric place
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: to play.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they've been unreal.
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: Uh, you know, it's, it's been just surprising, like even Monday,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: Tuesday games, um, sometimes midweek day games, you know, there's,
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: they're filling it out. You know, there's guys in the
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: top deck this year and that wasn't really the case
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: a lot last year. Um, and you're even seeing it
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: like around Chicago more like, you know, walk around, go
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: to a coffee shop and there's guys wearing white socks, hats,
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: guys wearing white socks shirts, uh, where I didn't see
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: that quite as much last year. Um, It's been fun.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: We've had a lot of support. It makes the games
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: a lot more exciting, too.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Let me explain something to you, Grant. The better you
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: guys do, the more fans will come out and the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: louder it'll get. I promise you. I've seen both sides
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: of it. I've been on teams that we weren't very good.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: The fans quit coming. Couldn't blame them. I've been on
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: teams that have been somewhat decent there on the south side,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: and they come out. and they'll support you like nobody's business.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: So you're starting to see the good side of it,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and it's really fun to be on the good side
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: of the White Sox fans. So I appreciate you saying that.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: As someone that's been through the ups and downs, I
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: appreciate everything that you say, and trust me, the fans
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: will appreciate everything that you said.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: You're on a great run.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I know we don't want to talk about it, but
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: you've been on an unbelievable run here, especially since the
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: All-Star break. Is it just the pitch mix that you've changed?
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: You kind of ditched the cutter, more sliders, more curveballs?
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Or is there something else that you've changed in your
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: own life or your own pitching?
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think a little bit of both.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: I added the sinker this year, started throwing the slider
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: a lot more. So being able to throw, especially the slider,
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: being able to throw it in the zone, being able
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: to throw it as a chase pitch has been huge.
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: It just kind of opens up the options. But I
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: think there's been a big emphasis this year on race
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: of two strikes and first pitch strikes for me. where,
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: you know, I was solid at race two K last year,
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: but you know, my first pitch wasn't great. So I was,
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: you know, always started in a one Oh cow, um,
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: got a lot better at it towards the end of
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: the year and had a good August and September. Um,
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: but just, that was like really the only focus this
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: year going into spring. was, you know, I'm going to
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: get ahead early and allow myself to get guys out. Um,
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: and I think that's been probably the biggest driving factor
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: and my success is just getting to getting to two strikes, um,
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: without wasting pitches.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Who institutes that for you? Who comes to you? Is
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: it Walker McKinvan? Is it, the whole pitching, coaching staff.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: And did you take a little bit of time to
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: believe that the race to 2K was actually important?
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's Zach Bove.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: His big philosophy is that's a large majority of what
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: we talked about. I had Wes Johnson in college, who's
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: the Twins big league coach for four years. And he
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: was big on race to two strikes. So I had
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: done it, you know, going into, you know, the minor
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: leagues and, you know, going into the big leagues.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: I just wasn't very good at it last year.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: And so then I had some conversations with, with Bo
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: in the off season. That's one thing we talked about,
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: you know, going into spring. That's another thing we talked
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: about being a big emphasis for, you know, not only myself,
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: but the rest of the staff. And so it just
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: kind of put it back on my radar. And so
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: I had seen some success in the past. And when
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: he brought it up, I was like, Oh yeah, that
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: makes sense. Like that's, It's pretty obvious now that we
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: talk about it.
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Well, no doubt. No doubt. Two strikes is huge. All right.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: So you mentioned it. We're going to go there. LSU.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: You went to LSU. Have you called Paul Skeens this
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: year and said, hey, Paul, I throw harder than you
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: do now?
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: No, I haven't said that.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: But when we played him last year, he did introduce
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: me to one of his teammates as the guy who
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: throws harder than him. So I guess he knows it. Okay,
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: that's great. That's great.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Do you talk to him often? Do you talk to Paul?
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we probably talk on the phone once a month,
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: you know, text probably once a week, once every other week.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: We keep in touch, but, you know, you all know, like,
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: the schedules are pretty tough during the season.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: So we talk more in the offseason than we do
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: during the season.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Do you watch other games? What did.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: You say?
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, do you watch other games? Like, do you tune
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: in when your LSU teammates are on TV like Paul Skeens?
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: So, I mean, we always have the games on in
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: the clubhouse. I'll watch those.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: And then we have the iPads in the dugout, or
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: I guess in the bullpen. So, on days that I'm down, I'll,
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: you know, figure out who they pitched against, and I'll
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: go and watch their outing. And you can watch an
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: entire outing in, you know, a half inning. So, I
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: might spend, like, the first– half of the first inning
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: watching a game before I'm even doing anything. You know,
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: check out how they did and then, you know, watch
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: our game and get locked in.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Okay, that was good.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Make sure that you watch them before you get locked
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: in because we don't want White Sox fans yelling at
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: you for not paying attention. Which one of your LSU
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: teammates do you keep in.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: Touch with the most? Garrett Edwards. He's in the minor
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: leagues with the Rays right now.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: You know, probably yeah definitely talk to him the most
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: okay that's fair.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Uh how many how many guys are in the big
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: leagues i mean skeens tommy white right you.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah skeens tommy white uh dylan cruz um paul gervais
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: i think is currently in the big leagues but he
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: wasn't on the the 23 team he was on the
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: 22 um and then i didn't play with gage jump
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: he was the year after me but he's in the
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: big leagues now um And he, I think he got
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: drafted in 24.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: So yeah, he's had a pretty quick, pretty quick move up.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Got it. All right.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: So before we let you go, we have to go here.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Is LSU going to be a football school again, now
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: that they have Lane Kiffin or are they still going
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: to suck and lose the Florida all the time?
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: I think they are. I think they are. Yeah.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: I was seeing videos in the off season of them,
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: you know, going into the stadium and doing like a,
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: almost like a hell week.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: They're on the bikes.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: They're, you know, going crazy on the bikes, doing sprints,
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: sled pushes and stuff. I like, I think it's kind
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: of a different mentality of like, they were, they're here
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: to work and, you know, kind of making them go
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: through the ringer. So when they get, you know, fourth quarter,
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: everything's on the line, you know, they've been there, done
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: that and they're tired and they've had to push through it.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: I think there's been plenty of stuff that I've seen,
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: you know, like that about them, kind of teaching hard nose, um,
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: hard nose football. And I think you saw the success
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: with Kiffin at, at Ole Miss. Um, and yeah, he's
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: got a lot of guys that are from Ole Miss
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: that are at LSU now and a lot of their
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: coaching staff as well.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: Uh, so I think it would be exciting. I mean, I'm,
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: I'm hopeful.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: So are we, so are we, so are we.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Anyways, you guys don't even know how to spell go Tigers, but,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: That's a whole different story, Grant. We don't have time
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: for all of this.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Let's just hope the people in Baton Rouge are ready
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: for Lane Kiffin and what all he brings. And hopefully
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: he doesn't quit in the middle of the year when
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: they're doing well and.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Go somewhere else. Just saying. It's happened before, like last
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: year when he left Ole Miss.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: So, Grant, thank you. Go White Sox, obviously, for me.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: And also go get your Sam Antonacci on FoulTerritoryShop.com. Grant,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I'll make sure I get you one. And also ask
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Mooney to see his because I gave him one. when
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I was there for the Aussie retirement, Jersey retirement.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: You had my Sam, an Antonacci shirt? No, I did not.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Because I did not have one. I didn't have one
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: at the time, but I will. I will. I tell
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: you what, when I, I don't know, I won't be
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: able to get it in time because I'm going to
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: be there on Friday. You guys are on the road.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Next time I'm in town, I'll make sure that Sam
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: gets a Sam Antonacci. The fact that Sam doesn't have
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: a Sam Antonacci shirt is kind of actually awesome. So, Grant,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: we appreciate it. Keep doing what you're doing, buddy. Go
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: White Sox. Like I said, go Gators. And hopefully we'll
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: see you guys in the postseason.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: Go Sox. Thanks for having me.
• 16:23
  Speaker 7: Hey, remember the other day we talked about how John
• 16:25
  Speaker 7: Birdie was calling it a career after eight seasons in
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: the bigs at 36 years old? Well, here he is
• 16:30
  Speaker 7: joining us right now, the young man who now enters
• 16:33
  Speaker 7: the world after playing Major League Baseball his entire life.
• 16:36
  Speaker 8: Speedster, great career.
• 16:37
  Speaker 9: John, great.
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: Thanks for joining us. We've had you on as a
• 16:40
  Speaker 7: current player. Does it feel weird now to be introduced
• 16:42
  Speaker 7: that way?
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: No, not really, honestly. I feel like I've been adjusting
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: pretty good, but yeah, it's definitely a different lifestyle for sure.
• 16:53
  Speaker 8: Take us through that part. So what led to the decision?
• 16:56
  Speaker 7: Obviously, you know, going through your career that had, I think,
• 17:00
  Speaker 7: a lot of cool storylines to it. What was your
• 17:02
  Speaker 7: thought process just over the last few months to be like, OK,
• 17:05
  Speaker 7: this is the time where I'm going to say, cool,
• 17:08
  Speaker 7: I've done what I wanted to do and I'm going
• 17:10
  Speaker 7: to spend some time at home?
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it was just a lot of things
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: that ended up being. Truthfully, you know, the WBC was
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: an awesome way to kind of finish my career. as
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: you guys know, former players, of what it takes to
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: put the work in every day. And it just was
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: less and less appealing to me. And for a guy
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: like me, who loves to grind normally, that kind of
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: was a telltale sign for me that it was probably
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: time to hang him up.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: What team will you remember yourself as? Are you a
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Blue Jay forever, since you kind of had that chip
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: on your shoulder in the bushes?
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's a great question, something I really haven't
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: thought about too much. Obviously, most of my pro career
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: was in the Blue Jays organization. Most of my big
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: league career was with Miami, but was on a team
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: that went to the World Series with New York. So, yeah,
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: I mean, probably a Blue Jay or a Marlin, I guess,
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: just from spending the most time there.
• 18:09
  Speaker 9: All right.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: What's your favorite memory then? I mean, this is easy.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: This is the easy questions that we're getting to. Then
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: we'll get to the tough ones later.
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: So, well, that's the thing. coolest memory would be probably
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: being a part of a world series team, right. That went, uh,
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: being Yankee and, um, going to world series. Um, but
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: one of my favorite memories, I guess, outside of, you know,
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: making my debut or first big league hit or Homer
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: would be, probably the 2023, um, season just because being
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: on the Marlins and, um, putting together a playoff team, um,
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: through 162 games was, was pretty special. And, um, I
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: had a good year offensively and we had a great
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: year as a team. And so that was probably clinching, um,
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: where we're in Pittsburgh, uh, to clinch. And then, um,
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: so yeah, it was great. It was awesome.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: John, did you go back and forth at all? Was
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: this an easy decision? I know it's never easy to
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: walk away, but did you go back and forth and think,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: What, I could do this again?
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: So truthfully, after I got let go by the Cubs,
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: I kind of was just like, you know what, I
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: think I might be done. I almost didn't play in
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: the WBC. My wife was like, hey, like, it's a
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: fun opportunity. You should probably just do it. And I
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: was like, all right, fine. So kind of pushed myself
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: the past off season to make sure I was in
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: shape and ready to go. And one of the best
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: decisions I ever made. So I'm grateful my wife made
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: me do it. Played for Team Italy in the WBC.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: And shortly after the WBC, I was like, man, I
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: know I can still do this. I can be a
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: productive player. So I came home, was training a little bit,
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: trying to stay ready, had some opportunities and some offers,
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: but nothing that ever really fully enticed me. So I
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: kind of, I guess, went back and forth at that point,
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: but once I kind of realized nothing sounded interesting, that
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: it was probably time to hang it up.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: You made your debut at 28, and now you have
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: eight seasons. Now, do you have full eight seasons? The
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: reason I ask is, will you get your gold card,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: or did you get your gold card?
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: I will not get my gold card. I'm short of
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: eight seasons, but most guys that I've talked to that
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: have their gold card have never used their gold card.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: You know what I mean? It's a cool thing to have, obviously,
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: and something that I would have loved to have gotten,
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: but Um, you know, I've played enough, been in enough
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: big league games that, uh, you know, I don't need
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: to go to a big league game anytime soon.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: John, I have a gold card.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: I've never used it.
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: I'm just telling you, but it's pretty awesome to see. Yeah.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: But when people, people, uh, when they started showing them
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: like on Instagram and Twitter, people, people ask me, Hey,
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: do you have one of those? And I'm like, I
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: know I have one. but I don't really know where
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: it is. I had to go find it.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: I had to go digging around to try to find
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: it because in mine, how about this?
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Mine is so old. It's signed by Bud Seelig. It's
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: not even signed by Rob.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: That's awesome.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Mine's so old.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: It's a Bud Seelig.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Maybe I could sell it like on eBay or something
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: and get some extra money.
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: Is it a solid piece there? Is it, or is
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: it paper from back then?
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: It's solid. I mean, I don't think it's gold, but
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: it's solid something. It's solid gold plated, baby.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah. There you go.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: I'll have to see if I can find it.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: I'll have to bring it on at some point.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: It's a, it's you know enough guys obviously and not
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: even if even if you weren't doing what you're doing
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: you know enough guys like if you really wanted to
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: go to a game i'm sure you could get a ticket.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah no i know i need tickets tonight so i'm
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: at the braves dodgers game tonight and i need tickets
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: so my son's coming to the game so you know
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: oh thank god i played for the braves picked up
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the phone called the pr guy hey uh i need
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: some tickets tonight okay no problem.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: So It is a good thing, especially you play for
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: a bunch of teams. You start meeting people as you know,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: what will you miss most? Was it the locker room?
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Is it the clubhouse? Is it the bus drives at flights?
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: What do you think you'll miss the most?
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: It's that's the only thing I miss right now is
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: the things you had just mentioned. It's being around the
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: guys every day, the clubhouse, the, the plane rides, the
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: bus rides, um, all that fun stuff. Um, but the
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: actual playing of the game, I haven't missed just yet. Uh,
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: I'm sure at some point I'll look back on it,
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: but you know, I, it was a few weeks ago.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: I woke up, it was a Sunday morning and I
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: was hanging out with my daughter and it's like 9am.
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: And I was like, what would I be doing right now?
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: If I was still playing, I'd be like, well, I'd
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: probably be heading to the field if not already at
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: the field for a Sunday day game. It's like 95
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: degrees out, probably had just played a Saturday night game.
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: So running on low sleep, it's the grind of August.
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: I was like, that doesn't sound very good. So I'm good.
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: So yeah, That was kind of at the point also
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: just being like, you know what, I think it's time
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: to move on.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. You'll have no regrets. You'll have no regrets.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: You'll enjoy it. You mentioned the clubhouse, or maybe AJ
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: mentioned the clubhouse. It just came out, and it's in
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal's article. Cattell Marte had friends come into this
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: food room. Talk about some of those things that you
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: saw when you played that you were like, Wait, what?
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: When I found out about this, I was like, you
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: can't have people. You can't have your buddies in the
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: food room, let alone take a to-go box for your
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: wife to eat the food from the spread room. But
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: what were some of the things that you saw? And
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: comment on that.
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: I had not heard that story. And if you could
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: tell by the look on my face, I'm pretty shocked
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: by that. I had never seen... The only time I
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: had ever seen maybe something like that, I guess, was
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: when I was... in high A back then Dunedin Blue
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: Jays was the high A team uh it's probably around
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: 2013 and Jose Reyes was on a rehab assignment and
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: he walked in with like six dudes that were just
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: part of his entourage that one had the music one
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: would grab them drinks or food or something like that
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: and I'm just like man is that what the big
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: leagues is like did you just get like four or
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: five of your closest buddies just doing what that you
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: know doing whatever for you but Um, obviously that's not
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: the norm. Um, but no, I didn't hear about Marte
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: having guys, uh, his buddies in the clubhouse. I had
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: heard of guys taking food post game, maybe for a
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: to-go box for their wife or something like that. But, um,
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: that's probably the extent of it.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: What do you think the state of the game is
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: right now, as far as like how you feel like
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: these next round of CBA negotiations or all this talk
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: about parity?
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't know what the answer is, obviously. I
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: don't think a salary cap is necessarily the way to go.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: There's a lot more that goes into it, obviously. As
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: a fan, as a former player, just interested to see
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: what happens. Obviously, I'm not privy to a lot of
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: those conversations anymore. As for the game itself, players seem
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: to be better than ever, throwing harder, running faster, hitting
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: the ball harder. Um, I just hope that we continue,
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: you know, to reinforce a lot of the fundamentals of
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: the game and a lot of the small things, um,
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: that I know at the kind of the youth level,
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: it sounds like from what I'm understanding is kind of
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: getting lost, um, along the way, but players abilities are
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: a lot better now than I feel like they were
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: then even when I played, um, guys are really good,
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: but I also hope, um, From an analytics standpoint, I
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: think sometimes we go a little too far in that realm,
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: and I would hope that analytics is a great thing
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: and can be a great tool, but I think baseball
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: in general can get too far to that side and
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: would love to see it kind of come back a
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: little bit towards the middle where some of the other
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: things kind of weigh in as well.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: John, you can't say from when I played. You played
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: less than a year ago, so until that... Although you
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: got released about.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: A year ago.
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: I guess I'm more so from when I was coming
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: up in the minor leagues. I guess that's what I'm
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: more on.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: When you grinded it through Dunedin and Dennis Holmberg and
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Omar Malave and the mate.
• 26:29
  Speaker 10: There you go.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: All the Blue Jay historic coaches. But you said about
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: the salary cap, and even with the way your career went,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: you were never going to be, because of your advanced
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: age that you made it up to the big leagues,
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: you were never going to be one of those top echelon,
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: makers of money you were never going to make tons
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: of money even though you were a good piece of
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: any team you were on with a salary cap major
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: league baseball saying well john you would actually have made
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: more money in your career do you still feel the
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: same way if you knew you could have made an
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: extra million or two during your career.
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: That's the the issue is i don't know if that's
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: the case you know what i mean i don't know
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: if a salary cap necessarily solves that um i do
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: think that Yeah, I think there was a stat at
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: one point. I might have been going through COVID, so
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: I don't know how accurate it is, but it was
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: like 60% of the big leagues was making a million
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: dollars or less. But the big league average salary was
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: like four and a half million or something like that.
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: So I do think an average player should be able
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: to command four, five, six million dollars a year or
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: whatever it might be, which might not be the case
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: right now. So I just don't know how to solve that,
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: and I don't necessarily believe a salary cap solves it
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: the way maybe the owners want you to think it will.
• 27:50
  Speaker 8: Oh, it's going to be a fun combo. Yeah, great answer.
• 27:53
  Speaker 8: It's going to be a fun combo.
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: It's going to dominate our show for quite some time
• 27:58
  Speaker 7: in the offseason. Let's finish on a high note here,
• 28:01
  Speaker 7: on a fun note. what are you most excited to do?
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: It could be a hobby. It could be an everyday thing.
• 28:05
  Speaker 7: It could be a one-time thing.
• 28:07
  Speaker 9: It could be a trip.
• 28:07
  Speaker 7: Like what's one thing on the John Birdie bucket list
• 28:10
  Speaker 7: that you feel like you haven't been able to do yet,
• 28:11
  Speaker 7: but you're going to do it.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: Well, bucket list wise, I would say I'm going to
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: go vacation at some point to Italy. So, you know,
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: for the, the homeland, you know, for my WBC brothers,
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: but I've gotten back into hockey. So I've been, I
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: bought all new goalie gear and been playing in a
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: summer league. So, Um, that's been a big hobby of mine.
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: That was my other sport growing up. And so it's
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: been awesome to get back on the ice and still
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: compete and, uh, have some fun doing it.
• 28:42
  Speaker 9: Love that.
• 28:42
  Speaker 10: So you're going to get in a league.
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: So good old beer league, you know.
• 28:49
  Speaker 7: Make sure someone takes the video.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: That's the first person on FT that's ever said that
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: coming on after they quit or retired, whichever words you
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: want to use and said, I'm going to go play hockey.
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that was my other sport growing up.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: I loved it.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: It was a tough decision from high school, which one
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: I was going to pursue. And so a couple of
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: buddies texted me. They wanted me to come play on
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: their summer baseball, just adult men's league. And I was like,
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: I'm not a baseball player anymore. I'm a hockey player.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Don't do it, John. Do not do it. You have
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: nothing to win by doing that.
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: It's a lose-lose unless I hit four, you know, 500-foot homers.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Every game. But you have to do that every game
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: or else they're going.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: To be like, oh, this guy's just as good.
• 29:35
  Speaker 9: This guy's terrible.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: I could have been him back in high school.
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: I got a big leaguer out. He's not that good.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: But, you know, I hurt my arm.
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: Back back and now yeah exactly exactly it's fine i'm
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: a hockey player now it's no big deal he's getting
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: just a.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: More nose hockey up there in minnesota where.
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: He does this i've heard of it so i gotta
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: i gotta get you know get the rust off a
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: little bit before i i try to go down that
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: path because i'm sure he's he's real good All right.
• 30:00
  Speaker 7: Well, next time you come on, we'll ask you about the,
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: the hockey excursion with the, with the beer league.
• 30:05
  Speaker 9: So have fun, dude.
• 30:06
  Speaker 8: Congratulations on an awesome career. Thanks for joining us.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having me guys.
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: Giants reliever, Dylan Smith joining us right now. And we're
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: thrilled to have you on here, Dylan. Thanks for the time.
• 30:21
  Speaker 8: How you doing?
• 30:22
  Speaker 10: Yeah, I'm doing well.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: How are you guys?
• 30:25
  Speaker 8: We're good. We're good.
• 30:26
  Speaker 7: How's life in the show? I mean, tell us not
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: only how things are going for you, but for our fans, too.
• 30:32
  Speaker 8: Like, your story.
• 30:33
  Speaker 7: Give us a little bit about, you know, how you
• 30:35
  Speaker 7: got into what you're doing here now in the show.
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so I started, so 2021 I was drafted by Detroit,
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: third round. I went up through the minor league system.
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: I ended up debuting last year with Detroit Tigers. Then
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: I got DFA earlier this year, right before the season.
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: So I was in spring training with Detroit. Then I
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: ended up getting traded over to the Giants and spent
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: time in AAA for about a month and a half
• 31:04
  Speaker 6: to two months.
• 31:06
  Speaker 10: And then from there, I've been up ever since.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: Do you feel like you're taking care of when that's happening?
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Like most of the time when we have dudes on
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: here that are stars, they're like, yeah, you know, even
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Aaron Judge just came out and was like, well, I
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: don't want to rehab into minor leagues. Do you feel like,
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: especially with the CBA coming... that you're taken care of
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: in those situations. You went to spring training there, then
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: your DFA, then you're sent down to the bushes and
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: the bushes is now a big league stadium, but it's
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: not when you're playing there, is it taken care of
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: for you? And do you have what you need?
• 31:38
  Speaker 10: Yeah, I feel like I have what I need so far.
• 31:40
  Speaker 6: I feel like everything's been an easy transition, especially when
• 31:43
  Speaker 6: I came over, um, from my agents to the staff
• 31:48
  Speaker 6: and the team, I feel like they made it easy
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: transition for me.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: Okay. Yeah.
• 31:53
  Speaker 11: That's, I mean, everything you talked about, man, transition, Kratz
• 31:58
  Speaker 11: talked about a little bit. And then you mentioned being,
• 32:01
  Speaker 11: I think, right at the end of spring training, you
• 32:03
  Speaker 11: said you were DFA'd and traded to the.
• 32:05
  Speaker 9: Giants, right?
• 32:06
  Speaker 10: Yeah, opening day.
• 32:08
  Speaker 9: Opening day. And drafted in 21, you said?
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 32:12
  Speaker 11: I've played for multiple teams. I know Kratz has as well.
• 32:16
  Speaker 11: But you were presented with it. kind of like a whirlwind,
• 32:19
  Speaker 11: really quick. And, you know, for five years or so,
• 32:22
  Speaker 11: you only knew Detroit, you know, and that system, right?
• 32:25
  Speaker 9: And then you get traded.
• 32:27
  Speaker 11: Was this simply just a case of, you know, just
• 32:30
  Speaker 11: needing an opportunity?
• 32:34
  Speaker 9: You know what I mean? Like, not that you didn't have,
• 32:36
  Speaker 9: but is this.
• 32:37
  Speaker 11: A case where, like, just given an opportunity that, you know,
• 32:39
  Speaker 11: this is what you've always wanted, which is what every
• 32:41
  Speaker 11: player wants, but is there something that you, like, you
• 32:44
  Speaker 11: got another set of eyes, set of hands, or is
• 32:45
  Speaker 11: this just something that you're like, I just needed an opportunity?
• 32:49
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I just feel like I need an opportunity. I
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: feel like with Detroit, I got, you know, kind of
• 32:53
  Speaker 6: squeezed out in the roster crunch. But I feel like
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: ever since I've been over here, I feel like it's
• 32:58
  Speaker 6: been God's blessing and God's timing, you know, where the
• 33:01
  Speaker 6: doors have opened for me.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: And that's how you got to plan it. You got
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: to be ready. And then when an opportunity comes, you
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: glorify him and do that. But one of the things
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: that your assistant GM, I think that's his title, Zach
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Manasian said yesterday, one of the guys that's doing really
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: well in these leverage situations is Dylan Smith. When you
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: hear that through the path that you've gone, maybe not
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: always the number one guy, does that give you confidence
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: or do you just say, you know what, I got
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: to go out and I do my job every single day?
• 33:37
  Speaker 10: Yeah, it gives me confidence for sure.
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: You know, especially when you have an organization believing in
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: you and you got Manasian and Buster Posey and everyone
• 33:46
  Speaker 6: behind the scenes that, you know, We're looking for you
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: to do well, and it just helps you go out
• 33:50
  Speaker 6: there and play better.
• 33:53
  Speaker 11: So I know you've kind of been like the ninth
• 33:56
  Speaker 11: inning option lately. Is that something that you could see
• 33:59
  Speaker 11: yourself really settling into? Is that something that you want
• 34:02
  Speaker 11: to do, or are you just like, man, I want to,
• 34:04
  Speaker 11: you know, is that something that you feel comfortable doing?
• 34:07
  Speaker 11: Because obviously it's a position that every team needs, and
• 34:10
  Speaker 11: obviously you're like, oh, give me the ball.
• 34:12
  Speaker 9: I'm going to take it whenever. But is that something
• 34:13
  Speaker 9: that you want to settle.
• 34:14
  Speaker 11: Into, or– Do you have aspects of being a bridge guy,
• 34:18
  Speaker 11: you know, or, you know, I'm trying to get a
• 34:20
  Speaker 11: feel for your backstory because sometimes you do, you get
• 34:23
  Speaker 11: put in a position that you might not have necessarily
• 34:26
  Speaker 11: prepared for. And sometimes that might be the organization seeing
• 34:29
  Speaker 11: something in you that you're like, hey, I've never thought
• 34:31
  Speaker 11: about this.
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I've always wanted to be a closer
• 34:35
  Speaker 6: or started in the big leagues, you know, with everyone
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: granting me the best opportunity. And right now I feel
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: like being a closer is something that I've always wanted
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: to do. So because the high-pressure situations don't really phase me,
• 34:47
  Speaker 6: I go out there and I treat it like it's
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: a game, which it is. You go out there, have fun,
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: pitch by pitch, and do my thing, and everything else
• 34:55
  Speaker 6: will fall in.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Line. What kind of entrance do you need? When you
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: solidify yourself as a closer, what kind of entrance do
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: you need? We ask every closer this.
• 35:07
  Speaker 10: I think the lights off are pretty phenomenal.
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: When the lights are flickering on and off, I think
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: that's the best one, and then the speakers are blaring
• 35:14
  Speaker 6: loud with my music.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, but if you were to create your own, yes,
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: the lights flickering on and off, kind of melding other
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: guys that you've seen in the game, what would you
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: add into it? And what song do you come out to?
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know what song you come out to.
• 35:33
  Speaker 10: Yeah, so for me, let's see.
• 35:35
  Speaker 6: I like a mix of how Mason Miller comes out
• 35:38
  Speaker 6: and the Roldis Chapmans, maybe a little highlight video of
• 35:41
  Speaker 6: me striking out some guys on the screen coming in,
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: the lights flickering off, then on, and maybe like a
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: spotlight camera following me all the way into the game.
• 35:54
  Speaker 10: And I use Harden to paint by Walker Flogging.
• 35:57
  Speaker 9: Okay.
• 35:59
  Speaker 11: Hey, that'll have me ready to go out there and
• 36:01
  Speaker 11: make a dive and play for you. Hey, that Harden
• 36:06
  Speaker 11: to paint. When you're going out to pitch that ninth inning,
• 36:09
  Speaker 11: as you have, do you click into, like, another mentality?
• 36:13
  Speaker 11: Because right now you seem like a, you know, super chill, fun-loving, like,
• 36:17
  Speaker 11: going guy. But, like, when those lights clicking off and on, like,
• 36:20
  Speaker 11: is there another side of Dylan that is like, okay,
• 36:23
  Speaker 11: I'm here, and this ain't the Dylan that y'all see
• 36:25
  Speaker 11: as the nice guy.
• 36:26
  Speaker 9: This is the Dylan that's about to go hard in
• 36:28
  Speaker 9: the paint.
• 36:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so for me, when the ninth inning comes on,
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: pretty much it's a different mode. You know, I'm in
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: there in attack mode every pitch, ready to get you out.
• 36:40
  Speaker 9: All right.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: Are you glad that the bullpens are not on the
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: field in San Francisco? I mean, I don't think there's
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: anybody left that had to warm up because you guys,
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: when I played for San Francisco for the minute that
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: I was there, the relievers were in the dugout and
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: they were like, and relievers are weird. Sorry, you guys
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: are weird. But being in the dugout, is it a
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: different environment being out there?
• 37:04
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, it's a different environment for sure. You know,
• 37:06
  Speaker 6: I felt like When the bullpens were on the field,
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: you know, I spent time in AAA, in the National League,
• 37:12
  Speaker 6: where bullpens were on the field. And so you always
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: have to call time because someone spikes the ball and
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: it goes past. So I'm kind of happy that that's
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: not the situation right now. You know, I'm happy that
• 37:23
  Speaker 6: we have our bullpen in the outfield where you don't
• 37:26
  Speaker 6: have to worry about those things.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 37:30
  Speaker 11: I just want to commend you on something that, you know,
• 37:33
  Speaker 11: guys that play this game, play any sport, um they're
• 37:37
  Speaker 11: gonna be good days they're gonna be bad days and
• 37:39
  Speaker 11: it's easy to you know close out a game and
• 37:42
  Speaker 11: strike out the side or you know hit the walk-off
• 37:45
  Speaker 11: home run and get in front of reporters and oh
• 37:47
  Speaker 11: man I was looking for a good pitcher I was
• 37:48
  Speaker 11: being aggressive in the zone um one thing that stood
• 37:51
  Speaker 11: out to me about you was um and not to
• 37:54
  Speaker 11: pour salt in the wound but you know as I
• 37:56
  Speaker 11: say you have good days bad days you you had
• 37:59
  Speaker 11: a rough outing against the Reds and it was harped
• 38:02
  Speaker 11: on how you stood in front of your locker and
• 38:05
  Speaker 11: answer questions. To me, that, that is something that's going
• 38:08
  Speaker 11: to take you a long way, but is that, is
• 38:10
  Speaker 11: that how you've always been? Or is that something that
• 38:12
  Speaker 11: you're just like, you know what? I kind of learned
• 38:14
  Speaker 11: this or is that just, you'd like, you know what?
• 38:17
  Speaker 11: You win some, you lose some, but you know what?
• 38:19
  Speaker 11: I can shower this off as we say in baseball
• 38:21
  Speaker 11: and be back the next day. Cause especially as a reliever,
• 38:23
  Speaker 11: that's a, that's a tough trade to have. I've been
• 38:26
  Speaker 11: with position players that would leave the locker room. So
• 38:30
  Speaker 11: for you to do that, is that, just something that
• 38:32
  Speaker 11: you're like, you know what, are you good at having
• 38:34
  Speaker 11: a short-term memory?
• 38:36
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I feel like I've learned to grow to have
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: a short-term memory. You know, every day, like you said,
• 38:41
  Speaker 6: it's not going to be your best day. You got
• 38:43
  Speaker 6: to come to the ballpark ready to play the next day.
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: You know, that's the good thing about being a reliever.
• 38:47
  Speaker 6: You always get an opportunity, maybe a quick turnaround the
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: next day, you'd be able to get back in there
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: and go shine, you know. But I feel like it's
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: always been, it's kind of a tough situation, you know,
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: especially when you, felt like the game was in your
• 39:01
  Speaker 6: hands and, you know, it slips away to go talk
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: to the media. But I feel like that's just part
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: of being a man and, you know, just going about
• 39:09
  Speaker 6: business a different way.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: All right. Talk to us about the jefe, Tony Vitello,
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: the man who he went hard in the paint the
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: other day and got thrown out of y'all's day game
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: and didn't get to see the, it didn't go your way,
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: the exciting part of that game and everything. But tell
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: us about him and seeing how he's handled this down
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: season for the Giants when all he's ever done is
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: win everywhere he goes.
• 39:35
  Speaker 10: Yeah, you know, Tony's been great.
• 39:37
  Speaker 6: Honestly, I just feel like he's learning the system as
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: well as we are, but I feel like he's a
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: really good manager and he's put us in a lot
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: of good spots, you know, especially how the season's been going.
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: It's not great and how everyone else anticipated, but I
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: feel like he's been motivating us to keep pushing, keep pushing,
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: just go out there each day, play the game the
• 39:56
  Speaker 6: right way. And things are going to fall in our way,
• 39:59
  Speaker 6: you know? So I feel like he's, he's been working
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: behind the scenes, trying to keep everyone motivated to go
• 40:04
  Speaker 6: out there and handle business.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 40:08
  Speaker 11: You, you and Kratz already covered the bullpen question with
• 40:11
  Speaker 11: it being out in the bullpen, but you pitching later
• 40:14
  Speaker 11: in the game, obviously back into the game, is it,
• 40:18
  Speaker 11: Who's the character down in the bullpen that.
• 40:20
  Speaker 9: Keeps things light or whatever?
• 40:22
  Speaker 11: Because every team's got a character down there. Is there
• 40:26
  Speaker 11: somebody that you can think of, or is it kind
• 40:27
  Speaker 11: of a collection of guys?
• 40:29
  Speaker 10: I feel like it's a collection of guys.
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: When you have Jesse Chavez as your bullpen coach, he's
• 40:36
  Speaker 6: a funny one that keeps everything light out there. We
• 40:40
  Speaker 6: have a dude named Carson Seymour. He also is a
• 40:43
  Speaker 6: good person to be around. So I feel like those
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: two people keep things interesting out there. And things are light,
• 40:49
  Speaker 6: you know, where you can have fun and kind of relax,
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: you know, where tensions aren't really tight.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: I still believe that Jesse Chavez was the one that
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: licked the urinal cookie when we were rookies with the Pirates.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: He denies it and says it was somebody else, but
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: you need to ask him about that. He's going to
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: be like, no way, Crash keeps telling people that. But
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: that's not a question, okay? That's more of a comment.
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Is there a difference in the little bit that you
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: were with the Tigers? And I say a little bit.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: You probably felt like you were in the minor leagues
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: for a long time. Do you feel like there was
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: a difference when you went up to the big leagues
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: in how they approached your game calling compared to how
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: you're approaching the game calling with the Giants? Because your
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: numbers are drastically different. You have great numbers in the
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: tiny little sample size except for the strikeouts, which the Tigers'
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: pen has never really had that many strikeouts.
• 41:44
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I feel like both sides have kind
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: of worked with it a little differently. I feel like
• 41:49
  Speaker 6: with the Tigers, like they knew me coming up through
• 41:52
  Speaker 6: the system, so I felt like they were just trying
• 41:54
  Speaker 6: to utilize all my different pitches in a short span
• 41:57
  Speaker 6: of time. Whereas with the Giants, you know, I've gotten
• 41:59
  Speaker 6: a fair share of opportunity here where I feel like
• 42:02
  Speaker 6: I've been able to kind of be myself a little
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: bit more. You know, I feel like there's been no restrictions.
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: You know, they've kind of just told me, go out there,
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: have fun, use all your pitches. We feel like you
• 42:12
  Speaker 6: could do this better. than you did here, and that's
• 42:16
  Speaker 6: kind of how everything's been going.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: All right, last one. Have you pitched at Sacramento as
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: a big leaguer?
• 42:27
  Speaker 9: No.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: No.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: Because I was going to ask you, I want you
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: to think about this. So when you're out there, when
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: you play against the A's at some point, maybe not
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: this year, I'm not sure if you have them anymore,
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: or next year, and I want you to answer back
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: to us, what the difference is, how the field is
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: maintained for a minor league game compared to a big
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: league game.
• 42:47
  Speaker 10: All right, I got you.
• 42:48
  Speaker 6: I'll make sure I think about that next time.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: Just think about it for me because that field is
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: getting absolutely run through because y'all are playing on it
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: every single day.
• 42:56
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 43:01
  Speaker 7: Yeah, different field for the minor leaguers versus the major leaguers.
• 43:06
  Speaker 7: Different baseball too, right?
• 43:08
  Speaker 9: Yeah, it is.
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: Did you experience that?
• 43:12
  Speaker 9: It's supposed to be the same ball.
• 43:14
  Speaker 11: Well, baseball's the same, but I was going to say
• 43:16
  Speaker 11: something about them playing, but I forgot it's not the
• 43:18
  Speaker 11: Battle of the Bay anymore.
• 43:19
  Speaker 9: I was going to say they should be playing soon,
• 43:24
  Speaker 9: but no.
• 43:28
  Speaker 8: No, but the baseballs, I mean, well, Sacramento for minors
• 43:32
  Speaker 8: is triple A?
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 43:35
  Speaker 7: Okay, so Kratz, remember we were talking about that the
• 43:36
  Speaker 7: other day? Double A is the Different baseballs, AAA and MLB.
• 43:41
  Speaker 9: AAA uses big league ball now, I think.
• 43:44
  Speaker 10: Right.
• 43:44
  Speaker 5: They do.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: They switch that to 18 or 19. AA does not.
• 43:49
  Speaker 10: I thought in Texas League they did. I thought.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay. Maybe they have. We'll look into that. But
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: it hadn't been big league balls, and guys were complaining
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: about how, like, soft the the cover of the ball
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: was and how much of a difference it was because
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: it just came to light with uh kate anderson.
• 44:11
  Speaker 7: Oh gotcha the new mariners you know the one of
• 44:15
  Speaker 7: the top pitching prospects kate anderson um he went from
• 44:18
  Speaker 7: double a so he skipped triple a so you go
• 44:21
  Speaker 7: right from the you know the different baseball teams there
• 44:24
  Speaker 7: yeah yeah you know obviously as you know dylan it's
• 44:29
  Speaker 7: it's a pretty big gap as it is but when
• 44:31
  Speaker 7: you're also changing the baseball right away, they're actually, there
• 44:34
  Speaker 7: was a story out this morning. They're kind of tracking
• 44:35
  Speaker 7: that to see, you know, how they're doing some type
• 44:39
  Speaker 7: of study internally with him on that.
• 44:41
  Speaker 8: But anyway, I can go down that rabbit hole all day. Dylan,
• 44:44
  Speaker 8: it was great talking to you. Hope you enjoyed it, man.
• 44:45
  Speaker 8: Thanks for joining us. Keep doing your thing. Finish strong.
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 44:49
  Speaker 10: Thank you for having me.
• 44:53
  Speaker 7: And there is a splash hit territory, San Francisco giant show.
• 44:56
  Speaker 7: If you'd like to listen to that, go check it out.
• 44:59
  Speaker 7: Jeremy Affelt, Scott Osler and special contributor Susan Slesser on there.
• 45:03
  Speaker 7: Lots of Giants talk.
• 45:05
  Speaker 9: Go check it out.