Latest / Foul Territory / MLB Power Rankings + Laz Díaz calls out “nasty” climate for umps + Driveline’s modern swing influence

Transcript

MLB Power Rankings + Laz Díaz calls out “nasty” climate for umps + Driveline’s modern swing influence · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hot Corner, powered by MLB Nine Innings Rivals 26. Those
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: are some names we'll talk about here as we go
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: over power rankings. AJ and Kratz have their lists. Let's
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: do this. Whoever our magic man behind the scenes, Jeremy,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: pops up first gets to run through their power rankings.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Dealer's choice is director's choice here, and there are some
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: differences with you guys, so don't play that game.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Fine.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Raise your hand. Who wants it first?
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: This is all on Jeremy.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: No, no.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Now it's Jeremy's choice. So Jeremy has to make the decision.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: We're not making that decision.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Don't do that to me, Ricky Bobby.
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: I'll put my hand up. Okay.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Thank you. It's getting awkward. Jeremy can't make a decision.
• 1:03
  Speaker 6: I thought this would be very simple, and when I
• 1:06
  Speaker 6: did it, it wasn't as simple as I thought it
• 1:11
  Speaker 6: was going to be. I went Brewers as the one seed.
• 1:14
  Speaker 6: I went power rankings. A lot of things went into
• 1:18
  Speaker 6: the power rankings for me, how they've been playing, how
• 1:20
  Speaker 6: they've played through the season. And some tiebreakers for me
• 1:25
  Speaker 6: when I was trying to choose between teams, how I
• 1:28
  Speaker 6: think they're going to play in the postseason. I think
• 1:30
  Speaker 6: the three best teams... are exactly as I have them, Brewers, Dodgers,
• 1:35
  Speaker 6: and Braves. I think they're best lined up to win
• 1:39
  Speaker 6: in the postseason, and they're three of the most winning
• 1:43
  Speaker 6: teams in baseball right now. I think my controversial pick
• 1:47
  Speaker 6: for myself was the Padres at four, but I couldn't
• 1:51
  Speaker 6: put an American League team ahead of them, and I
• 1:53
  Speaker 6: almost put the Cubs in between the Yankees and Rays
• 1:58
  Speaker 6: in But I also had the Yankees and Rays, which
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: I have the Rays at five, Yankees at six. I
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: had those switched, but then Judge got hurt, so I
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: switched it back. And I don't think the Yankees are
• 2:12
  Speaker 6: as good without Judge, and so I kind of moved
• 2:14
  Speaker 6: that forward going that way. So I said, okay, the Rays, five, Cubs, seven,
• 2:21
  Speaker 6: Phillies at eight. I really feel like my bottom three teams, again,
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: are very flawed. I think the Cubs are less flawed,
• 2:31
  Speaker 6: but I think my bottom three teams are very flawed,
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: and it's the Phillies, Red Sox, and White Sox. And
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: I could have put the Guardians in there. I think
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: the Guardians have a chance. I didn't because I'm making choices,
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: and I'm not straddling the fence with my 10th pick.
• 2:48
  Speaker 6: But I think the Guardians will win the division, but
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: I don't know if they have– the shtick to push on.
• 2:59
  Speaker 6: But I can, as this finishes, as the season finishes,
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: you can see me pick the Guardians winning the American League.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: So that's where I'm at. Okay, good.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I have follow-ups. And they're both involving breaking news. Number one,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: AJ will like this. Breaking news. I don't know if
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: you caught him saying this at one point. He thinks
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the Yankees are not as good with Aaron Judge. Breaking news.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I said chalk.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I said that's a chalk comment.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I'm not making fun of you. I'm just saying. We're
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: giving Aaron Judge's player card a little bit of love here.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Zillow on line one, Aaron Judge on line two.
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: I don't think... Well, Aaron Judge doesn't respond to my
• 3:37
  Speaker 6: text messages, so he can stay on line two.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: But.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Comments like that is why.
• 3:42
  Speaker 7: I said.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Maybe comments like me from yesterday, although everyone agreed with me,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: but that's another story.
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: I said, I think the Rays are better than the
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: Yankees without Aaron Judge. So there's... There's my, there's my,
• 3:58
  Speaker 6: why I flip flopped them.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Boom.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: That's one. This one's even bigger. The amount of people
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: in our comments that think Eric Kratz hates the Padres
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: is just strange because I listen to every word of
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: our show every day. And the only thing you can
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: ever point to is maybe that Eric brings up if
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: a player has been busted for PEDs in the past,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: and there's been 10 of those, maybe more players that
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: we've brought up. So sorry that he's honest. that has
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with the equation right now. It's just, oh,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: how dare he bring something up from a player's past.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Eric Kratz has the Padres at four on the power rankings.
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: That's a big move, but I also had the Padres
• 4:36
  Speaker 6: making the playoffs before the season started when we go
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: back to our choices.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: And I think it's a good team.
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: I think I made a very honest, truthful statement that
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: Padre fans have taken about half of my interview and
• 4:52
  Speaker 6: run with it the entire season. And I appreciate them,
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: you know, telling me that I got the amount of
• 4:59
  Speaker 6: home runs that Fernando Tatis was going to hit correct.
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: And so I love you Padre fans. I think it's amazing.
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: I think your team, while not perfect, is coming into
• 5:11
  Speaker 6: the end of the season hot. But my question will be, yes,
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: it's always good to be hot, but The Padres have
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: played against below 500 teams during that hot stretch. And
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: I know you have to beat the teams that are
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: in front of you. I'm saying, what type of hot
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: do you need to be when you're rolling into the playoffs?
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: That's my only question with the Padres. Because if it is, like,
• 5:36
  Speaker 6: true hot and they are really... You could see a
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: Brewers-Padres World Series.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Wait, no. I'm sorry. NLCS. I said World Series. Brewers-Padres...
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: And LCS.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: That would be interesting. Okay. AJ, you're up. Okay.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: Mine's quick. Cause I don't know. I don't know all
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: the gargled. I was just gargled out. So I'm just quick.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Dodgers are one. Cause they're always one in my Brewers too.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Cause they are the best. They have the best record.
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: Braves three.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: And then we go Tampa and New York.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: I think Tampa is the best American league team.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: And I think New York is right behind them. They
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: had Aaron judge.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: It'd be a lot closer, but he's not looking like
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: he's going to play for a little while.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Then I go Cubs. The reason Cubs are so far
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: down is.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: Adam Modavino said they don't have great pitching and they
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: just lost Alex Bregman. The Padres, I don't trust their starters.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: I don't trust that lineup against big teams. Phillies, their
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: bullpen scares the living crap out of me and they're
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: all nothing offense.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Then we go Red Sox. And then I went 10A,
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: White Sox, 10B, Guardians.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: Because basically they're tied and I think the White Sox
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: are going to win the division.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: So they're 10A and the Guardians are going to get
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: the wild card. So they're 10B.
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: Where's the separation for you? Where's the separation for you?
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: I'm not even going to say that you straddled the
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: fence with that pick, but Where's the separation in the
• 6:51
  Speaker 6: sense of teams that you feel like I don't even really,
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: I don't really see them doing well in the playoffs.
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: Do you have that in your list?
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: The separation for me is the three nationally teams are
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: the best three teams. And then the Rays, I feel like,
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: cause they get a buy. And then I, I mean,
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: the separation is the top four teams, honestly. And then
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: from there, it's like, okay, I mean, it could go anywhere.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: And the separation of the 10 is the White Sox
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: are going to win the division and the Guardians are
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: going to be the wild card. So the White Sox
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: will get the rest of their pitching and, have a
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: pretty good chance of getting to the ALCS, if not farther,
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: because they're going to get that buy and get to
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: save up their pitching.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: So then say it with your chest and make them
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: the 10.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: I did.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: I said they're 10A.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: But they're tied right now, basically, so I went 10A
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: and 10B because I don't want Jason Kipnis coming on
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: here yelling at me like he did last time he
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: was on here.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: I was going to look.
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: I was going to look to see if Fox is
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: doing the Guardians game and AJ is hovering.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: We have NL.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Nope. He's just being weirdly nice to the Guardians right now.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's like a respect your opponent kind of thing.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Whatever it is, good list from both of you. All right,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: so if you have questions, comments, concerns, I know I
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: saw a couple people already freaking out about the Padres
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: at four. I actually see where Kratz is going there.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: They're playing really good ball. Bullpen's good. Offense has been
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: so much better.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: They're going to have to travel to Atlanta though right now.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: They're going to have to travel cross-country to Atlanta.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Not an easy path.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: They could get bounced. I'm no doubt about that. Just
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: when you're looking at teams right now, this team is humming.
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: I'm going to get crushed by Claudia for this one. Sorry,
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: producer lady. AJ, do you think the Guardians are better
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: than the White Sox? Even though– because if they end
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: with the same record.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: No, not if the White Sox win the division. No,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: that's what I'm asking. Who loves the Padres more, you
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: or Ken Rosenthal?
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: We have to get to next. That's the question of
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: the day. That's what I'm saying. Are the Guardians better
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: or no? The White Sox better than the Guardians?
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: I just said no.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: When the White Sox win the division, that means they're better.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Okay. Boom. Everyone else can answer because we're going to
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: post this as its own video, so comment below and
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: you can take your rivalries to the next level at MLB.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Nine innings, rivals 26. You can take on the World
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Series with those 2026 live cards that we were showing
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: you during this little chat and the game now features
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: baseball legends. They have the Set up with the National
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Baseball Hall of Fame. Available as brand new cards. So
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: QR codes on the screen. It's a free game. Get
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: in on the action. We'll be right back.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Steer right now.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Hump Show is back. Laz Diaz calling it a career.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: He took the buyout and he spoke in an article
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: written by Bob Nightingale in USA Today about the nasty
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: MLB client as he ends a storied career. I mean,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I think this is the money quote we go right to.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I tell these young guys, there's so much pressure in
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: this game. So if you're not going to have fun
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: in this game, don't do it. Do not do it.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: It's not worth it. There's just so much scrutiny and
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: negative stuff now. It's nasty. We don't get the recognition.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Everybody is putting us down. Like with Angel Hernandez and
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: CB Buckner, they get so much criticism. and they're great
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: umpires but everything is just so bleeping.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Negative where do.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: We start with the umpires that were great that he
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: called out that get called out online because now we
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: can run clips back and see when they're wrong all
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I want to do, you know what I want to
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: do to start this AJ is if I was sitting
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: next to last, right. All I would want to show
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: him right off the jump is Angel Hernandez trying to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: basically haze Wyatt Langford by calling three pitches that everyone
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: on the planet knows are not strikes as strikes, right.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Just to prove a point and send a message to
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: a rookie. I would want to show him that and say,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: how would you like the public to reply to that?
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: Uh, yeah, well, Listen, Angel, Angel was an interesting fellow.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: They came from a different time. So you have to
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: understand there's different time. The umpires, um, have it tough. Listen,
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: they have no home base. They have no home fans.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: They're traveling all the time. Everyone is against them. They
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: can do no wrong, no right. Um, I understand that
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: part of it. So it's a very, it's under pressure
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: now at.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: The ABS replay. Um, Yeah, it's a tough job. But
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: you know what? There was guys that handled it fine.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: Honestly, Laz was one of my favorites to deal with,
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: not just because he lives in Orlando, not just because
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: he was a Marine. He always had a smile on
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: his face. And you could get in an argument with
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: Laz and he would be like, ah, you know, next day,
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: see you later.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: And he'd laugh at you. You were an idiot last night.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: I know, Laz, I apologize. And he'd say, you know what?
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: I made a mistake too. So Those makes a good umpire.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: If you can understand when you've made a mistake and
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: say to the player, hey, I made a mistake, I'm sorry.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Most players are like, okay, that's cool. I forgive you, Laz,
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: or I forgive you. And as Angel Hernandez once told me,
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: he was so happy when replay came in because it
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: didn't matter what his call was, they'd get it right
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: on replay.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: So he was kind of right.
• 12:00
  Speaker 6: I mean, you can be a good umpire or you
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: can be an umpire that, like AJ said, has a smile,
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: conversates with you, and still not be a good umpire.
• 12:10
  Speaker 6: There's plenty of umpires because now we have a way
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: of saying, you know what? This guy's not good.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: How do I know?
• 12:17
  Speaker 6: Because he misses three pitches a game, six pitches a game,
• 12:20
  Speaker 6: whatever it is. If that is the climate that Laz
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: was talking to, then you know what? Job descriptions change.
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: Laz Diaz was... the first umpire that I played in
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: a major league baseball game. He was behind a dish.
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: My first at bat, I got up in the bottom
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: of the first inning. I popped it up. I came
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: back out, got another at bat, got out again. And
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: when I came back out to catch the next time,
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: he taps me on the back and rubs my back.
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: And he goes, hey, we're going to get you a
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: hit next time. And he talked about like, I forget,
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: I'm going to try to get the exact quote. He said,
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: you can't manage the game. Because there's a lot of
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: technical stuff was his quote. And my next at bat,
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: I was facing Bud Norris. Cutter, cutter, cutter, cutter. First pitch, ball, 1-0.
• 13:13
  Speaker 6: Next pitch, ball. Inside, cutter started in and broke back
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: over the plate. And Laz goes, ball. Like very, very
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: descript ball. Different than any other ball. So now it's 2-0.
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: Next pitch, Bud Norris had to come out over the plate.
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: I got my first hit. Laz knew what it was
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: going to take for me to get a hit to
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: get guys on the plate. That was him managing the game.
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: Now it's all black and white.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: You're right. You're wrong.
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: You can't make a decision. And I think that's what
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: he's mad about, but he's umpired for a long time.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, AJ, I do think it's important for umpires
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: to manage the game. That's kind of a big part
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: of what you do now, since other things are decided,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: whether it's a challenge or a replay review, all of that, right?
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: You still have to manage the the way that the
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: game is being played, if the rules are being implemented correctly,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the pace of the game. And then also the job
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: of the umpire is to be invisible. The best umpires
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: are the ones that you don't know. Oh, I haven't
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: heard of that guy. Oh, he's been in the league
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: for 15 years. Well, that's because he hasn't had a
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: viral moment. And that is your job. I always have
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: looked at every umpire and referee and official as you
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: are accepting a role where we don't want to hear
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: from you or know about you because you're just doing
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: things right. Am I off on that?
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: No, but no, you're right on that. The best umpires,
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: it was like a catcher.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: If you go through a game and nobody knows you're
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: back there and you had a good game, as far
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: as I was concerned as a catcher, that was, if
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: I didn't have to chase a ball, if I didn't
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: do anything crazy as a catcher, I just did my
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: job and.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Nobody knew about it.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: And you know what?
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: I had a pretty damn good game as a catcher
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: because nobody knew that I was there. Same as an umpire,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: an umpire, just do your job. We used to, you know,
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: the big thing he used to always yell at umpires.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: No one's here to see you angel. No one's here
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: to see you last. No one's here to see you,
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: Joe West. And they just laugh or whatever.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: But, Yeah, you're right.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: If an umpire just did his job, nobody complained, nobody
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: got ejected, everyone was happy, smiling, then they did their
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: job the proper way.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: And challenges are fun, ABS. Challenges are fun because we
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: get to call it out if someone's wrong. This is
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: our first year of this. It's been a roaring success
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: in my mind. I think that we knew that it
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: was going to be a roaring success, and we're not
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: even scratching the surface of how fun this is going
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: to be. You know when it stands out the most? October.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: if someone's off, everyone's watching the same games now coming
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: up in October, it's going to be awesome. So Laz,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I know the game ain't what it used to be.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: And sometimes that's bad, right? Like three true outcomes world,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: which we're trying to get away from a little bit,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I thought got boring and the length of game got
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: a little bit crazy. The umpire side of things, I
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: think we've been nailing. You're taking some decisions out of
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: the hands of umps that are very difficult, or at
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: least allowing those decisions to be corrected. That's a dub.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: So Yeah, respect for Laz for doing this for a
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: long time, but respectfully agree with what he's talking about
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: with the game. It's in a much better place.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: With all these teams, Crouch, clinching postseason burst. Jeez, a
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: lot of teams have already clinched. You know what that means?
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: SeatGeek.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: You can plan ahead and start buying your postseason tickets
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: on SeatGeek.
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: Just because you're not a fan of those teams, though,
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: doesn't mean that these last games of the season aren't
• 16:22
  Speaker 6: going to be electric.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter who you're playing. You're playing the worst team.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Your game matters. You're playing the best team. The game matters.
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: You've got to get on SeatGeek and look ahead for
• 16:31
  Speaker 6: when your team's in the home.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: Find the seat you want. If it's green, it means
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: a good deal. If it's red, eh, not so much.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: But you might love the seat and you might love
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: the angle and you might get a foul ball. So
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: go on SeatGeek, find the game you want, find the
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: matchup you want, and go watch the game because it's
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Major League Baseball and it matters down the stretch.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Pennant Fever is on.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: You can use the code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: next set of MLB tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: MLB tickets with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: the link in the description to download the app and
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: have the code automatically added to your account so you
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: can use it later.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Hey, let's talk to Julian McWilliams right now. He joins
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: us from CBS Sports, wrote a fascinating article on the
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: state of modern hitting. Julian, great to have you on
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the show. And before we dive into that article, know
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: you covered the red Sox for a while. So I
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: just want to get your thoughts since it's a very
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: happy day for red Sox fans, or at least it
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: should be. They're a playoff team and they have Chad
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Tracy and Craig Breslow lined up for a while. So
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: first off, good to see you. Thanks for hopping on,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: but just want to get your thoughts before we get
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: all nitty gritty hitting. Hold up a little mute. All right.
• 17:41
  Speaker 7: So we'll sit on mute. Thanks for having you guys. Um,
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: they got their guy and, um, I think as AJ
• 17:48
  Speaker 7: put it, you know, it puts Craig Breslow in somewhat
• 17:52
  Speaker 7: of a situation that he wanted with a guy that's in,
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: with him being in full control. I'm not saying that
• 17:59
  Speaker 7: Chad Tracy isn't able to do his job, but with
• 18:01
  Speaker 7: the modern manager today, Alex Cora didn't necessarily fit that build.
• 18:05
  Speaker 7: He comes from the Dave Dombrowski tree where Dave gave
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: total authority to, or a lot of authority to his managers.
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: Once their input, But with Craig there, you know, obviously
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: they talk about a collaborative effort. That's been a word
• 18:20
  Speaker 7: that's been used here in Boston because I still live here.
• 18:24
  Speaker 7: But dating back to the high and bloom days with
• 18:27
  Speaker 7: the manager and and they have that with with Chad
• 18:30
  Speaker 7: Tracy in terms of just being fully on board with
• 18:33
  Speaker 7: what the team ultimately envisions. And look, I think this
• 18:37
  Speaker 7: is a good match for especially if you're going to
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: go young with this team. The league is getting younger.
• 18:42
  Speaker 7: And there is something to be said for the manager
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: like Cora, who necessarily doesn't want to develop guys at
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: the big league level, right? He wants to come in
• 18:51
  Speaker 7: and have the squad that he can. Alex does really,
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: really well with stars and star players, as you saw
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: with Mookie Best, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogarts. The list goes
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: on and on back in the day. Chris Sale, David Price,
• 19:03
  Speaker 7: like he's good at managing those things. But when you're
• 19:06
  Speaker 7: looking at a team now and where the league is going,
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: it's going a lot younger. And you need to be
• 19:12
  Speaker 7: able to be with these guys sort of and fit
• 19:15
  Speaker 7: their needs for what they want. And Chad Tracy, as
• 19:17
  Speaker 7: he came up, he knows a lot of these guys.
• 19:18
  Speaker 7: He knows Roman Anthony. He knows Christian Campbell, obviously, we'll
• 19:21
  Speaker 7: get into. He knows a lot of these younger guys,
• 19:24
  Speaker 7: Peyton Tolley, coming through the system. He knows these guys
• 19:28
  Speaker 7: coming through the system. So good on him, man, because, look,
• 19:31
  Speaker 7: he came into a situation that I felt was totally
• 19:34
  Speaker 7: unfair to him. And to some degree, he and the
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: front office have delivered. So I think they see this
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: as sort of vindication. As I spoke to someone, they said,
• 19:44
  Speaker 7: we feel vindicated.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: In all of this.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, now we'll have a good runway here. Three years
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: after this year on his contract for Chad Tracy and
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: then Breslau.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Many years now to go with the club options picked up.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Let's get to this. Cause I want to make sure
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: we have time for it. And our guys want to
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: chime in with you. The article is in CBS sports
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: from Julian. It's really good.
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: Give it a read.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: We won't even touch the surface of how much is
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: covered in there, but, how a polarizing hitting approach took
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: over MLB and what happened when it stopped working for
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: a top prospect. There's some good quotes in there, even
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: from Pete Alonzo in a different way here, but let's
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: start with the headliner, Christian Campbell. Remember him getting paid
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: a lot of money and was a huge success story.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: So can you take me through his story and how
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: it relates to the article?
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:30
  Speaker 7: You know, it's, it's, it's funny because I first started
• 20:32
  Speaker 7: this story in spring training and it was a story
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: about bat speed and in terms of his bat speed
• 20:37
  Speaker 7: use useful. in today's game. And then it sort of
• 20:41
  Speaker 7: extended itself to driveline because I was actually in Arizona
• 20:44
  Speaker 7: at the time. So I said, you know what, let
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: me go out and check out this facility. And from there,
• 20:49
  Speaker 7: I started thinking like, huh, Christian Campbell is sort of
• 20:53
  Speaker 7: the lab rat, for lack of a better word in
• 20:57
  Speaker 7: all of this. And he's the guy that is sort
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: of the example for everyone across, especially maybe across the
• 21:05
  Speaker 7: Red Sox, but for baseball, especially as the success story,
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: you see a guy come through this through, uh, through
• 21:12
  Speaker 7: the system. This is heavily implemented with driveline. He never
• 21:16
  Speaker 7: really hit a home runs in college, always hit the
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: ball on the ground. And suddenly he has this meteoric
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: rise through the system using this system as we call driveline.
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: And then all of a sudden he gets to the
• 21:27
  Speaker 7: big leagues. They give him the extension and it's all
• 21:30
  Speaker 7: of a sudden downhill from there. Um, and he was
• 21:34
  Speaker 7: not able to adjust and the system itself didn't do
• 21:37
  Speaker 7: him any favors because as we know, sort of with
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: the driveline approach, sometimes they can get you on track.
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: And as you know, AJ and Eric, like you guys
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: have played, I've played on some level independent ball and
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: college baseball. And I understand like when you feel like
• 21:53
  Speaker 7: something works, it works, but then when it goes away
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: and all of a sudden you're just plugging holes and
• 22:00
  Speaker 7: you don't know what to do, and you don't have the,
• 22:04
  Speaker 7: I guess, the infrastructure in place other than the formula
• 22:07
  Speaker 7: to get you back on track, that's what's happening to
• 22:10
  Speaker 7: Christian Campbell now, and especially this season. He was searching
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: this entire season. They told him, go back to your
• 22:17
  Speaker 7: college swing, you know, try to refine that, and he's like,
• 22:20
  Speaker 7: I don't know the feel of that. I don't know
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: what that feels like anymore because I've been trusting this
• 22:26
  Speaker 7: system for three plus years. So, That's where I landed
• 22:30
  Speaker 7: on Christian Campbell as sort of just the example for
• 22:33
  Speaker 7: the rest of the league when, sure, you can get
• 22:36
  Speaker 7: me to a process and get me to a place
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: where I find success, but when the league adjusts, what
• 22:42
  Speaker 7: do you do now, driveline, to ensure that I have
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: the same amount of success?
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: But Julian, isn't there a driveline?
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: There's like a driveline or two guy in every organization.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Isn't there?
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: So shouldn't they be able to, I mean, a lot
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: of these guys played in little leagues, so shouldn't they
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: be able to get you fixed right away, right? I mean,
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: shouldn't they be able, every organization, I don't know if
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: that's true, but it feels like every organization has one
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: or two of a driveline employee in them. So shouldn't
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: they just, isn't it just a system that they have?
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: So shouldn't they just be able to pick up the
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: phone and call the founder and say, hey, this guy's
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: messed up. Let's fix him with using our formula. That's
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: where this doesn't make sense to me because with all
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: these employees that have all been hired, it should be
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: a pretty simple thing.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: Like, hey, we'll call this guy and he'll know what
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: to do.
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, look, as you mentioned, there's 70, I
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: asked Kyle Bodium something, I said, how many guys you
• 23:33
  Speaker 7: guys have working across baseball? And he said it's 70
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: to 80 plus guys. And look, I think as we
• 23:40
  Speaker 7: get into this system a little bit more, and as
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: we get into the system of them being hired and
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: taking out sort of the quote unquote traditional hitting coaches,
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: which in fact, I think is BS, like they're not
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: traditional hitting coaches. I think that's like just saying that
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: there are these guys from, from the dinosaurs saying Pete
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: Fatsy doesn't understand data is sort of a slap in
• 24:01
  Speaker 7: the face of Pete Fatsy. Like, the guy understands data
• 24:04
  Speaker 7: and hitting. Like, let's get that correct. Like, Tim Hires
• 24:07
  Speaker 7: in Atlanta, the guy understands data and hitting. Dave Bush,
• 24:11
  Speaker 7: who was in Oakland for a long time, the guy
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: understands data and hitting. But when you get him in
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: the trenches with the guy, That's the difference between driveline
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: and quote-unquote your traditional hitting coach, is that can you
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: get in the trenches with these guys? Can you be
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: in the crapper with these guys when they're down on
• 24:31
  Speaker 7: their luck, when they have nothing going for them, and
• 24:33
  Speaker 7: being able to understand them?
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: So.
• 24:36
  Speaker 7: They try to make hitting seem, a lot of them,
• 24:38
  Speaker 7: I'm not going to say all, but a lot of
• 24:40
  Speaker 7: them try to make it seem like they figured it out.
• 24:43
  Speaker 7: And that just goes to show that you don't know
• 24:45
  Speaker 7: much about hitting itself because hitting is hard, man. You
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: cannot figure out hitting the way you figured out pitching
• 24:51
  Speaker 7: because it's not a controllable variable. In some sense... You're
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: on the defense. You are the defender. You're responding to
• 24:58
  Speaker 7: the action. It's not your traditional offense where you're creating
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: it like a la basketball or a quarterback. No, you're
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: not dictating the offense. The pitcher is dictating the offense.
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: If he executes the offense, his offense, that's one or
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: the other thing, but he's dictating it. And if somebody's
• 25:15
  Speaker 7: dictating something, As a hitting coach or as a hitter,
• 25:19
  Speaker 7: you will never, ever, ever have it totally figured out.
• 25:22
  Speaker 7: So I think that's what's missed here with a lot
• 25:25
  Speaker 7: of these guys. And granted, I don't want to dump
• 25:27
  Speaker 7: on them because they have done a lot for a
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: lot of players. And some players who I respect have
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: sworn by it. But let's not forget about the players
• 25:34
  Speaker 7: who they have entirely screwed up, who would not go
• 25:39
  Speaker 7: on the record. because they don't want to necessarily attach
• 25:42
  Speaker 7: themselves to that because it could make themselves look like, hey,
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: I might not be the best guy to be employed
• 25:50
  Speaker 7: by a team. So that's why I had all these
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: guys off the record because not only is it a
• 25:55
  Speaker 7: power issue, it's a labor issue in terms of guys
• 25:59
  Speaker 7: who don't necessarily agree with everything that they're talking about
• 26:03
  Speaker 7: sort of get shunned out if they're not that top-tier
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: star like Pete Alonzo.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Have there been.
• 26:10
  Speaker 6: long-term successes through the driveline program. I'm not even talking
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: just hitting, but today we're just talking hitting because the pitching,
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: I see guys do it and I see them get
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: this like huge jump or hitting. You get this huge
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: jump and then it goes into what you said where
• 26:26
  Speaker 6: it's like, ah, now I can't make adjustments. So have
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: there been long-term successes, not just one year, two year successes?
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: Because when you make the money in the big leagues,
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: it's because you stay around for a long time.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:39
  Speaker 7: I haven't seen it. Not, not yet. At least not,
• 26:42
  Speaker 7: not to my knowledge. I know there are a couple
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: of guys like, you know, JP Crawford was doing it
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: for a while. Then it went away. You know, Jordan Walker,
• 26:49
  Speaker 7: people gave, I mentioned him in the story, but there,
• 26:52
  Speaker 7: there was a, there was also a blend with Jordan
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: Walker with their hitting coach and, and drive lines to
• 26:57
  Speaker 7: be able to get things done. And I don't think
• 26:59
  Speaker 7: Jordan Walker gets to the point where he is without
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: the St. Louis brass doing what they did with him
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: in terms of being able to fix and build his swing.
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: And not only build a swing, just build the mentality
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: here as well with him. That's a lot what's missed
• 27:13
  Speaker 7: here is that, man, you can talk mechanics all you want.
• 27:17
  Speaker 7: You can talk bad angle all you want. What's the
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: guy thinking? What's he feeling up there is completely different
• 27:26
  Speaker 7: than the launch angle or whatever. Because if you're not
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: feeling that mentally, if you're not confident in what you're doing,
• 27:32
  Speaker 7: the move that you're making, you're not going to be
• 27:34
  Speaker 7: able to achieve that, as you guys know to a
• 27:36
  Speaker 7: better degree than I do, obviously. So I haven't seen
• 27:40
  Speaker 7: the long-term success stories. I know there probably have been.
• 27:44
  Speaker 7: I know guys like Brent Rooker, who I don't think
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: needed driveline, but He swears by it. He went there
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: in the offseason. But then you look up, OK, he
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: gets hurt. He has an oblique. That's another thing that
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: we have to talk about, too, like the injuries that
• 27:56
  Speaker 7: that pop with these guys. But it definitely seems to
• 27:59
  Speaker 7: be something that's short term. And this is why there
• 28:03
  Speaker 7: needs to be a connected chain with it. We'll say, OK,
• 28:06
  Speaker 7: if you bring me this one piece, a solid piece
• 28:08
  Speaker 7: of of gold. Let's connect it to some end links
• 28:12
  Speaker 7: to make it an entire complete chain here versus just
• 28:15
  Speaker 7: having this missing link that's just out here, just floating,
• 28:20
  Speaker 7: and all of a sudden you end up being a
• 28:21
  Speaker 7: story like Christian Campbell.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: All right, so I.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: Don't know how to phrase this properly, but I know
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: when I talk to a lot of scouts, they're looking
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: for adjustability in swings, right? So can you adjust to
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: the pitch? Because you mentioned all the variables. And again,
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: I'm not deep into this.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: I've taken my son to a hitting place called Maven.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: It's in Atlanta. They were awesome for my son. It
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: was more about the way I was taught to hit.
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: It wasn't like a one-plane swing and all that. That's
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: the question I always have when I see these places
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: and I talk to people that go to these places
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: is they kind of have the same swing.
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: I'm not even going to say his name. You know
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: who he is, the guy on Twitter who fights everybody.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: I don't have to say his name.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: But, right, he teaches a swing, and then everyone tries
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: to learn, you know, the same plain swing, the one
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: swing that, you know, I take the same swing no
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: matter what the pitch is.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: How much has that been in effect?
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: Because most of the guys, again, when I talk to scouts,
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: they say, man, I want a guy that has adjustability
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: in his swing. It's just not the same swing and
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: hope he hits his bat. So are these places teaching
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: the one swing approach, or is there something else that
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: they're teaching?
• 29:30
  Speaker 7: I do think that there is– They have been humbled
• 29:34
  Speaker 7: in some sense, right? Because even look at what the
• 29:36
  Speaker 7: Red Sox have done.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: The Red Sox, they haven't.
• 29:40
  Speaker 7: Done this with a driveline approach. In fact, it's been
• 29:43
  Speaker 7: the complete opposite. In fact, it's been what the previous
• 29:47
  Speaker 7: coaching staff wanted this team to do from the beginning
• 29:50
  Speaker 7: of the season was, hey, hit the ball the other way,
• 29:53
  Speaker 7: drive him in, bunt him over, get the next guy over,
• 29:56
  Speaker 7: have some malleability in your swing.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: So.
• 29:59
  Speaker 7: They've done that going anti-driveline, even though they have probably
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: the most driveline guys within their system. And to answer
• 30:08
  Speaker 7: your question, I do think that they're getting to a
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: point now where they're looking at their system and saying, hmm,
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: if we keep doing it this way, we're going to
• 30:17
  Speaker 7: get exposed. But I don't necessarily know what they've landed
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: on as the answer, other than we're going back and
• 30:24
  Speaker 7: we're adjusting our thinking, adjusting our approach, But they haven't
• 30:29
  Speaker 7: necessarily said what that approach is because one of the guys,
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: he did say when I was out there, he said, yeah, sure,
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: we want you to get to the pull side. But, like,
• 30:37
  Speaker 7: to what extent does that do damage to your swing?
• 30:40
  Speaker 7: So I do think that there is now becoming a
• 30:43
  Speaker 7: little bit more malleability in that. And, look, the pendulum
• 30:46
  Speaker 7: always swings in baseball, guys, as you know, back to
• 30:49
  Speaker 7: somewhere in the middle because– Five, six years ago, a
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: guy like Chandler Simpson probably would not be on a
• 30:55
  Speaker 7: big league roster because people said stealing bags is not valuable.
• 30:59
  Speaker 7: Speed isn't valuable. Let's just hit home runs. Bad to
• 31:01
  Speaker 7: ball guys aren't valuable. It's why Luis Arias has been
• 31:04
  Speaker 7: on 50 million teams in 50 million years because people,
• 31:08
  Speaker 7: crazy enough, don't see value, a lot of value in
• 31:11
  Speaker 7: his bat until they need it, until the playoffs come along. So,
• 31:15
  Speaker 7: I do think that we're going to get back to
• 31:17
  Speaker 7: some center ground here. But the problem is with driveline
• 31:21
  Speaker 7: especially that I think, guys, is there's too much marketing
• 31:24
  Speaker 7: in it. There's way too much marketing in all these
• 31:27
  Speaker 7: things to say why they are different. And that's going
• 31:31
  Speaker 7: to come back to bite you. I'll give you an example.
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: I've never seen, and I'm talking about John Sotteropoulos, excuse
• 31:37
  Speaker 7: me if I pronounce his name wrong, the hitting coach
• 31:40
  Speaker 7: for the Red Sox. I've never seen a guy, a
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: hitting coach, a skill coach, on the MLB network prior
• 31:47
  Speaker 7: to a series against the Yankees, a pivotal series, doing
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: a hitting approach lesson or whatever he was doing. Like,
• 31:55
  Speaker 7: shouldn't that be preserved for the manager? Typically it's preserved
• 31:58
  Speaker 7: for the manager. I've never seen it. Correct me if
• 32:00
  Speaker 7: I'm wrong. I've never seen a skill coach on there. So,
• 32:03
  Speaker 7: and that can come back to bite you because, oh,
• 32:05
  Speaker 7: by the way, he lost three out of four games
• 32:06
  Speaker 7: in a pivotal series that year. And their offense has
• 32:08
  Speaker 7: not been the same since. So you're marketing fine. But
• 32:15
  Speaker 7: at a certain point, you get guys in that locker
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: room seeing you doing the marketing, but you're not in
• 32:22
  Speaker 7: the trenches. Hitting coaches are the hardest people to find.
• 32:25
  Speaker 7: They're like CIA agents. As a reporter, I can find
• 32:29
  Speaker 7: a pitching coach. I can find a manager. I can
• 32:32
  Speaker 7: find a first base coach or a base running seal coach.
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: Hitting coaches, Pete Fancy, I could never, ever find the guy.
• 32:39
  Speaker 7: And it's always because they're not marketing. They're in the trenches.
• 32:43
  Speaker 7: They're in the cages. They're doing the work. And not
• 32:47
  Speaker 7: saying these guys aren't doing the work, but mass marketer,
• 32:52
  Speaker 7: if you're going to be a hitting coach, that's a dangerous,
• 32:54
  Speaker 7: dangerous thing to do.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: I can't argue.
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: Julian, real quick, you hit on it, and I want
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: to ask you about this.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: You mentioned injuries.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: Is there a injury history with guys that go there?
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: Just real quick, I mean, you mentioned Brent Rooker, but
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: is there others that have gone there and then have
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: an injury history?
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: There have.
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: And in fact, oblique injuries have been on the rise.
• 33:14
  Speaker 7: I think I count like 45, 46 this year. And
• 33:16
  Speaker 7: I spoke to a doctor about it, actually. And that
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: was one of my parts of my story that I
• 33:22
  Speaker 7: had in there. But I ultimately had to ask it
• 33:24
  Speaker 7: because the doctor just basically said to me, he was like, look,
• 33:27
  Speaker 7: like there definitely is a trend here. But just like
• 33:31
  Speaker 7: in baseball where pitching is ahead of hitting, and similar
• 33:35
  Speaker 7: in the medical field, pitching data in terms of injury
• 33:38
  Speaker 7: is ahead of hitting data when we're talking about injuries
• 33:41
  Speaker 7: because we're just not there yet. So he definitely acknowledged
• 33:44
  Speaker 7: that there's a trend here in trying to get to
• 33:47
  Speaker 7: a move, whether it's like intercostal issues that guys have
• 33:51
  Speaker 7: dealt with. I think Tristan Koss has dealt with that
• 33:53
  Speaker 7: last year. Wrist injuries. Roman Anthony had the finger injury.
• 33:57
  Speaker 7: You're seeing more finger injuries. Brent Rooker had an oblique.
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: James Wood had an oblique injury. You're seeing these injuries
• 34:04
  Speaker 7: on the rise, but right now there just isn't the
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: data necessary, the research to back it because we're just
• 34:13
  Speaker 7: too much in its infancy phase.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: And I promise you all, we have not scratched the
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: surface of the article. It is long. It is worth
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: the read. So go check it out, right? We all
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: checked it out. And Julian, great to have you on, man.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: We'd love to have you back. You're the man. Appreciate you.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: And also, a couple people said following while they were
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: in the chat. So the follow on Twitter is at
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: by Julian Mack. Appreciate you, man. And thanks for writing this.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: I think it's important information to share within the game.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: So we wanted to get you on.
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: Thank you.