Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Previewing USA vs. Mexico, Termarr Johnson impresses

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Previewing USA vs. Mexico, Termarr Johnson impresses · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Buco Territory, presented to
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network. I'm Noah Hiles and
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: joining me as always are my two wonderful co hosts,
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Josh Harrison aka j Hay and Mark aka Platinum Key.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Another week of street spring training down in the books.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: I'm reporting live from Bradington like I have been. The
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: guys have been following along from Afar.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: We've got our key of the week to start off
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the show.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Check in with the World Baseball Classic and are all
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: hands on deck segment where we're gonna look into a
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: pretty big key no pun intended of the Pirates form
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: system for this week's segment. So let's get it started
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: off with Mark, Mark, what's your key of the week.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So my key of the week of what I'm
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: gonna be watching for this week during spring training is
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: how that final starting position is gonna shake out in
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: the rotation. I think there's probably five guys on the
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: team right now who have an argument to take that
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: final spot, or split it among two of them, or
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: even add another guy that's not even on the roster yet.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: So the first guy I wanted to talk about who's
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: had a pretty good spring so far, as Hunter Barco, lefty.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I think he's like twenty two or so, twenty three maybe,
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: but got some nasty stuff tops out around like ninety five.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Already has nine strikeouts to spring and seven point one
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: innings pitched. He's only allowed three runs, but has had
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: some command issues. He's had six walks, but he's making
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: an argument to bring something to this rotation that they
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: don't have right now, which is a lefty starter, So
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: that would be nice. Another guy who's already going to
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: be on the team no matter what I'd say, is
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Carmen Macinski. It's just what capacity is he going to be?
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Is he going to be an opener? Is he going
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: to be a starter that gets stretched out? Going to
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: be first guy out of the bullpen if they get
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: into a jam. So it'll be interesting to see if
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: any of like between Barco and Maginski, if one of
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: them takes a big step forward, makes the argument that
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: they can take over that spot. And you got some
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: other guys too, You got we haven't really seen Jose
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Orchidi yet. He's only pitched one point one innings, kind
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: of had a rough outing, gave up three yearned runs.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Mike Clevenger has surprised me. I'd say this summer, I
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: wasn't the spring. I wasn't expecting him to make such
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: an argument for that final roster spot. But he's pitched
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: eight innings, only given up four and runs and has
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: six strikeouts, so he looks like he has an argument,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: and but again not on the forty man roster. And
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: then finally you got Thomas Harrington, who looks to be
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: back in form. He's thrown six innings this spring, only
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: allowed one eared run, only two strikeouts, but he's getting
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: out and eating innings and he's doing it pretty efficiently.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: So I'd like to have seen out of Thomas Harrington.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: But that group is still I think the water's pretty
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: muddy around. Who's going to emerge out of that? So
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: That's what I'll be looking for, is my key of
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: this week is who's going to stand out among that group?
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Mark, we spoke with Ben Cherrington on Sunday morning
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: and I actually brought this up just because about the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: number five spot, and he actually his answer was very
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: you know, diplomatic as a GM would say, but also
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: I thought actually made some sense. He said, we're not
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: necessarily thinking of it as a number five starter right
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: now because they're kind of looking at the bull the
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: whole pitching calculus as a whole like because the he
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: basically said, look, we know what we have with Paul Schemes,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: we know what we have with Mitch Keller, but everything
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: else is kind of, you know, still up for review.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And he's very confident in his options. But Bubba Chandler
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: is the guy who's pitched what five.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Games in the major leagues yet seven, So, yeah, you
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: might be getting.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: A little over your skis if you're just like, Okay,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: well all right, we're gonna start him in this role
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: and we're just gonna expect him to.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Be our number three all the way through.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: And yeah, Brax and Ashcraft we talked about his injury
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: history and how he's.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: He's gonna have his workload monitored.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: So he's a guy that probably won't pitch throughout the
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: entire regular season in the starting rotation.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: So do they want to start that now? Do they
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: want to start that to the end of the year.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Is he a guy that they maybe want to start
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: in the bullpen the beginning of the year, and then
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: that way, as the games get more important, he stretched
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: out a little bit more and then he goes into
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: the rotation, say June, I don't know, I don't know
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: if that would meet their timing needs, but would it
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: meet the individual's needs? And then depending on what they
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: have there, they look and see what else is remaining, right,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: you see, is it worth burning a forty man roster
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: spot to create a space for Mike Clevenger if he's
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: continuing to throw ball well, Thomas Harrington, like I pointed
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: out before spring training started, I said, this is a
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: guy who no one's really talking about. He's a former
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: top one under prospect. He had a really bad year
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: last year. I think timing kind of screwed him up,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: just with the way he was up down in April
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: and never really found his rhythm. But this is a
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: guy who's still super young and has a lot of potential.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: And then you have other guys like Karmen Machinsky has
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: experienced starting games.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Archidi obviously has experienced starting games. So they but I think.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Before they figure out how these guys are going to
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: be placed into certain roles, or if they even get
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: creative with that fifth role, they've got to figure out
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: the calculus ahead of them with Braxton, with Bubba Chandler,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: or if someone can perform high enough to where one
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: of those guys ends up being the number five, and
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: like if Hunter Barco looked good for the rest of spring,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: it's like, hey, you know what, maybe he's the number
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: three and the other guys are are four and five.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: So I thought it was a really interesting answer. I
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: think it was again very diplomatic, and he didn't he said,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: he said a little bit without saying too much. But
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: at the same time, I think there was a really
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: good nugget in there from what then had to say.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll just add to that a little bit. I
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: think that's definitely a good kid. A week as we
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: sit here, we've mentioned that fifth starting spot or as
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: you say, they might get creative and not necessarily call
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: the fifth starting spot. But you know, some of the
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: guys that you highlighted and put it up and put
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: up that video of that's all encouraging because we talk
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: about depth and I just wanted to highlight Barco.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: Is he the only lefty that seems to be in
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: a mix?
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: Yes, right now?
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's like their only lefty non roster or
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: forty man roster.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: That's like probably gonna start games for them this year.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, yeah, he's got he's got a little bit
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: of deception. It looks like he has the ball a
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: little bit. I was just looking at some of those
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: those clips. I think that's something that obviously can help him,
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: because obviously, if they wanted to keep a lefty, there's
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: not really one that I would.
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: Say is a competition with him.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, you know, some of those
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: other arms that you all mentioned, I think it's a
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: good thing when you got that in the arms battling
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: for you know, just one spot. It's, yes, unfortunate, somebody
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: may be you know, not gonna get it right away
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: or whatever, but you got that many guys going for
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: a fifth spot, you and you know, a good position
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: because if you figure out three and four and as
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: you said.
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: You know, if that you know, bumped maybe one of the.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: Other guys to five, that takes certainly takes pressure off
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: of those guys.
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: But at the end of the day, it's a good
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: problem to have.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, and one one last thing on Barco.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: I watched him pitch in Lakelands Saturday against the Tigers.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I was impressed with how he looked. He got roughed
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: up the second time through the order. Detroit had its
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: a squad out there.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, their whole lineup.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: It was pretty close to what will be their opening
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: day lineup. I mean, this is a guy who's the
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: top one hundred prospect. And after the game, when I
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: was talking to him, I was really curious because I
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: said on the show numerous times he's my slow cooker
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: candidate for this spring. But I said, I asked him,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: I was like, what's your build up look like this year?
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: And he said, this year when he arrived at camp,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: they said there's no restrictions, go out there and compete,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: try to win a spot.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: And so I was surprised to hear that.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: And that tells me that, like he it seems like
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: they wouldn't be opposed to him winning that job, Like
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: that would that would that would be like the easier
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: option of it where and if he's not ready and
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: obviously Jared Jones isn't ready because of injury, that's when
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: they're going to get into the calculus of what SHARING
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: talked about of like, all right, do we want to
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: get a guy who can maybe give a little bit
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: more length or be comfortable having a bullpen game for
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: however long. So yeah, Barco's certainly an interesting candidate. He's
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: going to be the fifth guy eventually in this rotation.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: It's just is it now?
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I don't think that they would worry about
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: it service time too much in that regard.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: If he's ready, I think they're ready to deploy him.
• 9:04
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• 10:09
  Speaker 2: We'll move on now to our World Baseball Classic segment.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: All of our World Baseball Classic coverage is brought to
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: you by our friends at Fox one, which is live
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: stream all of your Fox favorites together in one place,
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  Speaker 2: including all WBC games over the next few weeks, and
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: after that the best MLB action all season long. All right, guys,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: So a really big World Baseball Classic game tonight. It's
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Monday Night against Mexico USA. Mexico really big rivalry game
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: and certainly certainly some local interest. Paul Schemes on the
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: mound for Team USA. I'll put all my cards on
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: the table. I was so excited for this. I thought
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: it was happening Sunday night.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I anticipating.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I'm even like texting other writers like you guys coming
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: over to watch this game?
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: No wonder why no one respond it just can't wait.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah right, yeah, they're like, what is he talking about?
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: No, but.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I'll just say this. You look at how many athletes.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: It seems like some of the biggest athletes in sports
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: have had their moment on the international stage with the Olympics,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: with everything that's been going on, and you watch the
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: World Baseball Classic, so.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Many guys have had their moment.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: I mean O'Neil Cruz had a big moment this weekend
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: with the with the moonshot that he hit, which you
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: can watch right here. Junior Camonaro had some some nukes.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, Juan Soto hit a walk off on Sunday
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: to make it a twelve to one Mercy rule game.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Show.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Hey grand Slam, Ozzy Albus hitting the first walk off
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: home run in World Baseball Classic.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: Kick history, A seventeen year old getting Aaron Judge.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Is done with Yeah, son hit a yeah, two of them.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: There's been so many big moments and this is Pittsburgh's moment,
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: and that that's cool because you know, growing up, obviously
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: I had pirates to watch in the World Baseball Classic.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, one of them is on this show with
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: me right now.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: But in recent years it's kind of been bullpen guys,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: it's been minor leaguers. But tomorrow Skeen's Day is a
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: worldwide event, and that is that's special.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: That's something.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was the it was what we experienced
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Saturday with Scuoball and it was so electric for Scooball.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: What was the narrative after that game?
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: He was telling reporters, I gotta have a conversation with Detroit,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: even though it's a contract year, even though we just
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: went to war and arbitration, all that aside, I want
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: to pitch one more time experience this. This skiens the
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Schiens Global Day against probably one of their top three
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: rivals in this tournament. It's and the location, yeah, and
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: rowdy tiles teammate as well, but you got the Mexico
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: element to it. It's prime time, it's Monday night, it's
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: it's Mark.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I I'll just throw to you. I mean, how excited
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: are you for this? Man? Oh?
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: I am beyond excited. I don't think I've looked forward
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: to a Monday in a really long time, and I
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: cannot wait. I guess it's it's Monday now if you're
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: listening to this. But I am so excited for tonight
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: seeing Paul Skeens go out and do this on the
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: national stage. He's gonna shove and this is a good
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Team Mexico lineup like Jaron Duran, Alejandro Kirk, Nick Zales,
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Joe Randy. So yeah, I'm excited for it. Uh, it's
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: gonna I'm sure Paul knows that the US is one
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: in three against Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I think the only time Team USA is won was
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: two thousand and six in the inaugural season, so they
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: lost like eleven to five back in twenty twenty two,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: so you need to get back at them for that.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I mean it's it's gonna be electric. I
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: can't wait.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Josh Schemes aside, what's been your assessment of Team USA personally?
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: I would like to see them get on pitching a
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: little bit early.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Seems like they're waiting a little too long to put
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: these games to bed, and now that there's gonna be
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: more quality competition, I would like to see.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: You know, the first time through the order, get ahead
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: of it.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: What says you when you're looking at how they've played
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: for these first two games.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: Not to take anything away from the first two opponents
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: they played, I think, as you said, it's gonna be
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: a much better test, and given those other other games,
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: I think some of those at bats are gonna be
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: a little bit slower because you're not familiar with the
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: guys on the mound. And then at the same time,
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: those guys are saying, you know, judge or I'm not
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: trying to leave a over the play, So guys are
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: kind of I don't want to say, pitching around, but
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: they trying not to make a mistake. Where Team Mexico
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: there's gonna be a lot more big leaders. It's gonna be,
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: as you say, a rival. I think they will look
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: to be a little bit more aggressive because there will
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: be some more familiarity. And not saying that they took
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: the other games lightly, but it's just like you don't
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: really have much to go off of. So yeah, you know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: you're gonna kind of let them play their hand, especially
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: when you're gonna consider yourself the stronger, you know team,
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: you know, no panic. So you know, they got a
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: line up full of guys that understand that. But I
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: think Mexico may be a little different. I only want
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: to say sense of urgency, but a different approach.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: I would say, Yeah, it was funny the first game
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: you saw like Aaron Judge giving a scouting report to Schober.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: From first base first base.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's because like it's like, yeah, like some of
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: the guys literally were in social studies class earlier in
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: the Yeah, the most perfect game subscription to get the film.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Like, other than that, you're not watching an.
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: I tell you what.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: Major League Baseball has a way to get video of
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: a lot of you know, so I'm sure any video
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: that's floating out there of any guys that they have,
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: I'm sure they're giving them what they can. But at
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: the same time, as you said, it ain't gonna be
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: much video on a seventeen year old kid that might
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: be in high school. Ain't gonna be much video on
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: a dude that might be a mechanic. Yeah, So it
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: just takes it back to I think that's also why
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: you see a lot of excitement in the Classic, because
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: it's old school baseball. It's almost like you know what.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: We might not know much about this guys, but we
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: just got to play ball, you know. And that's where
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: you see a lot of that excitement because it's literally
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: a bunch of big kids out there that's just playing
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: the game.
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: That's why every run, every home run is like Game.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: Seven, because y'all out there and it's like reminiscent of like, hey,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: we won't know who on the other team.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: Sometimes you do, but they just out there playing.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: And it's you know, it goes back to like when
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: you when you played high school ball, right, Like that
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: thing on your chest means a little bit more to you.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Obviously, it means.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Something to you when you're planning for an organization that
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: trated you and took care of your.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Family and all that stuff.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: But you know, when you're playing for your hometown or
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: in this case, your home nation, it's it's more. It's
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: it's bigger than money and everything. It's it's lineage. It's yeah, it's.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: You're not representing that city or state that you're playing for.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: You're representing you know, the whole country, right.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Right, So be sure to tune in from the World
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Baseball Classic through the World Series to the World Cup
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: to NASCAR IndyCar with Fox One. You get it all
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: live starting start your seven day free trial today. Offers
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: are subject to change. Download Fox one today and stream
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: the World Baseball Classic live March sixth through fourteenth. Go
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: to Fox one dot com for complete terms and conditions.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Fox one Streaming Now, final segment of the day.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Now, all hands on deck.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: We're gonna pick one subject you know all the way
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: in on and I think a good individual duigh in
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: on is Tamar Johnson. There's obviously been a lot going
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: on in the Pirates' farm system since Tamar Johnson arrived.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: He was a top five pick.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Then the year after he was drafted, the Pirates drafted
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: a guy named Paul Skins, and then the year after that,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: their first round pick was a guy.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Named Connor Griffin. So Tomorrow, in a way got lost
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: in the shuffle a little bit.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: I think, just because some of the guys who were
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: drafted in the first round after him got to the
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: big leagues or are knocking on the big league's door
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: a lot faster than he made it, or is exceeded
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: his progression, I should.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Say that people kind of forgot about him.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: But this is still a guy who's twenty one years old,
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: probably going to be in Triple A, not far away
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: from being on the forty man roster, not far away
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: from really being a big league player. And he's having
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: a really good spring. He's made some swing changes, he's
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: being you know, he's upgrading defensively. I wouldn't say he's
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: an amazing fielder yet, but I think he's a lot
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: better than what he's been in the field compared to
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: recent springs when I've seen him play.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: And this is a guy I think Pirate fans should
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: still be excited about.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I think he is an asset to the team, either
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: as a future infielder or a potential trade chip, depending
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: on how they want.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: To utilize them. So, Josh, I'll start this by asking.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: You when when you look at a young guy when
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: how difficult can it be when you see other guys
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: who were drafted after you, other guys who arrived after you,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: that they're they're, you know, maybe on a faster track
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: to the major leagues. How tough can that be to
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: remind yourself, you know, hey, man, run your own race.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: You're gonna get there when you're ready.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: As you said, it can be tough for some people.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: Other people have a better way of dealing with it.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: But I don't think it's anything easy for anybody that's
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: ever been in it.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: But at the same time, that's part of the game.
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: You know, the old cliche of control, which you can control,
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: that's where that comes into play.
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: But you know, you're talking about tomorrow. He's a twenty
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: one year old.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: It's crazy that we're sitting here talking about a twenty
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: year old, twenty one year old who hasn't made the
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: major league yet that you know, most people back you know,
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: some years ago didn't debut to their mid twenties. And
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: you know, it's not like the two guys you mentioned
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: that are you know, getting a limelight ahead of him
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: or two nobody's you know, one of them is gonna
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: putch tonight as this is something for you know, in
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: USA against Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. And the
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: other is you know, the number one overall prospect in baseball.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: So I don't think those are two people that you
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: really hang your head on. But at the same time, uh,
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: it does you know that that's part of the game.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: Is like, Okay, I've been in it a little longer
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: than him, and but that's part of the game, and
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: it's a testament to tomorrow because I've seen a little
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: bit of adjustments of what I've seen from last year
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: to this year, just toning down the swing a little bit,
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: or maybe his leg kick and got a good eye
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: at to play. But I think for him, you know,
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: being consistent with that, being a good back to ball guy,
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: you know, not having strikeouts, toning that down, being able
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: to control his own and then as you said, Noah,
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: the better that the more that he works at defense
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: and gets better at that, to me is probably you know,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: I haven't seen him enough, but hearing you say that,
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: it's probably one of the things that's probably a big
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: divider too, because it's not just about offense, and you know,
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: if he needs to work on defense, not saying he's
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: a terrible defender, but that just could be something. It's like, hey,
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: we just need you to clean up a few more things.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: And talking about a twenty one year old man, we're
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: not talking about a twenty eight twenty you know what
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: I mean. So with that, I'm like this, this this
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: kid didn't even play in college, you know, so we're
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: not even a twenty one year old kid that played
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: in college. These are kids that coming straight out of
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: high school that are learning the craft, and I think
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: he's gonna be fine. And as I said, watching the
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: adjustments he's made with you know, approach, and then you
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: couple that with I know they're gonna be putting them
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: to work with you know, getting some you know things
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: done at second base.
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: I think the future for him was bright.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: You know, as you said, might not be right away,
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: but you know, it's always a work in progress.
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: And you can see that the spring is you know,
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: definitely heading the right direction.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I'll just jump in off of that because
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: I don't think we'll see Tamar Johnson in Pittsburgh this year.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: We'll probably see most spend most of his time in
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: Triple A, if not exclusively in Triple A. But I
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: think next year is really where we start to see
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: what the Pirates plan is for Tomorrow. If Low doesn't
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: come back, is Tomar gonna step in and be that
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: offensive second baseman. You know, Low and Tomorrow have kind
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: of similar games where they're both shorter, have quite a
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: bit of pop in the bat, don't really play the
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: best defense at second, but justify it with the the
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: offense that they bring. So I think Tomarket slot in
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: really well on this team next year, assuming there is
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: the next year, and it's just nice to see him
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: look confident this spring. I think having guys like Paul
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: Encounter around really help because it takes a lot of
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: that pressure off, like we've talked about with O'Neal Cruz,
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: where he doesn't have to be a top ten prospect
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: right now. He can work on in this game, sit there,
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: not worry about any of the pressure aspect, and just improve.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: And so I'm excited to see what Tremark can bring
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: to the majors in twenty twenty seven.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one final note on tomorrow before we wrap up
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: the show. Just my first week being down here, I
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: still haven't figured out where his locker is because every
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: time I'm in the clubhouse, I see him sitting next
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: to another veteran holding a bat, just being like, you know,
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: and I'm not eavesdropping, like I always make sure to
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: give my distance on those conversations, but I always just
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: see him, you know, talking to Ryan nohearn and like
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: do something like this, and like it's he's like so
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: engaged in the conversation and I'm not suggesting that he
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: wasn't like that in the last the last couple of
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: springs I was down here, I kind of saw him
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: doing some similar things.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: But like again, like I still don't know where.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: His locker is in this clubhouse, and like I've been
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: here for a week because and I see him in
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: the clubhouse a ton, but he's always sitting next to Ohearn.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: I've seen him next to Lao. I've seen him next
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: to Connor Griffin. I've seen him around Brian Reynolds. I mean,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: he's all over these guys young and old, just picking
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: their brain and getting to know them. And really, that's
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: what spring training's for when you're twenty one years old,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: when you're in double A, Triple A, it's that's that's
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: why they put you in the clubhouse at Leecom Park
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: as opposed to keeping you at Pirate City.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: So good to see him making the most of that.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: And good to see him helping up or helping out
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: young guys like that, because I I've it seems like
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: this roster is a lot more cohes Like this clubhouse
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: already is just a lot more cohesive than the last
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: year or so. So awesome to have leaders like Ryan
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: O'Hearn and low come in and coach those young guys
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: up and say, here, be a sponge around me. Here's
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: what I know.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: All right. Before we log off here, want to remind
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: everyone to hit that subscribe button if they haven't already.
• 25:22
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• 25:24
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• 25:27
  Speaker 1: does that.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Also check out the team store, the Buco Territory team Store.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: Got to give a shout out to my uncle Johnny.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: His his Bucco Territory merch he told me is in
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: the mail on the way. He anticipates it being arriving
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: at his house on Monday. So let's he listens to
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: this and be like Uncle Johnny. Yeah, be like Uncle Johnny.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: You like some yeah, be like unk. All right, So guys,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: any final thoughts before we log off here today.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Be.
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: Sure tune in on that Monday night game.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't. I don't think we have to tell
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: them that.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, if you're listening to this, you're watching.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, big thanks to everyone. Is always keep tuning in.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Tobacco Territory presented to you by the Foul Territory Network
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: take care,