Latest / Foul Territory / New Astros pitcher Mike Burrows joins Crush City Territory

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New Astros pitcher Mike Burrows joins Crush City Territory · Foul Territory

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: What's up?
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Everybody?
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome into another edition of Crush City Territory and share
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: in the room, joined by Tyler Stafford and a very
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: special guest, one of the very many new Astros pitchers
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: acquired this offseason, Mike Burrows. Lucky enough to have him
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: join us from Connecticut, where it is very cold, not
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: as cold as it is, not as nothing you'll experience
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: here in Houston as it's seventy degrees on this January day. Mike,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: how are you doing? What have the last few weeks
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: been like? Is this kind of whirlwind has come to
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: an end and you've been able to settle down a
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: little bit and know what the future holds for you.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely a whirlwind of a day, but holidays rolled around,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: got time with family, and yeah, we're just kind of
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: here now, so getting ready for spring training at a
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: month left.
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: There you go, What does it look like when when
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: a trade goes through? I mean, what all is going
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: through your head? Who's calling you? What? What does that
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: look like for that first hour after you find out?
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I found out through fantasy football group chat with
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: a bunch of guys, so it's, uh, it was just
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: kind of one of those you know, a little bit
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: of a shock, don't know if it's true. You're looking
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: at Twitter, and then agent calls says, sources are confirming
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: it's true, and then you go through the whole medical
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: review time period before you officially get called that it's
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: uh that it's done.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: So you're in your fantasy football group chat is just
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: going off of hey you got traded.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty much.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: It was just kind of like you know, Burrows of Houston,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Houston question mark and.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was I mean just it was such a
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: random thing.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: I heard murmurs through you know, winter meetings, but those
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: kind of settled down. All I'm thinking about is Christmas,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: getting Christmas shop and done, and just yeah, randomly get
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: a text like that. It's just kind of like the
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: start of my day. Pretty much.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: That's the first successful trade that I've seen go through
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: in a fantasy football group chat. I can't get anybody
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: to trade with me in my league, So congrats on that, thanks.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Is it a baseball fantasy league or is it a
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: kind of guys from home fantasy league?
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: It was it was guys that are in my agency.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so they so they maybe they really had
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: a kind of vested interest in what was going on,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: just knowing that they've probably been through too. I'm sure
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: there's some guys in that group that had been traded to.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Did you ask them for advice at all? Or was
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: it just kind of more you know, you need to
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: figure out if this is true first and foremost.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: No, no advice. I mean it's the same same game,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: just a new team.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: So I mean, I'm sure if I have questions, I
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: got a lot of guys I could reach out to.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: But I think if I got questions, they'd probably just
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: reach out to the new organization.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: There you go, speaking of that, since you have since
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: like the Holladays have settled down and everything, how many
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: people have you reached out to with the Astros? Who
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: has reached out to you and kind of what have
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: been your early impressions of what you've heard from either
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the pitching guys, either from maybe some of your new teammates,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: whether you've talked to Joe, kind of what have you
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: heard from the Astros organization?
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, talk to Dana, Joe, Ethan, Josh, you know, as
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: far as Josh and Ethan just.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Kind of the pitching side.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Talking about where I'm at, what I've been doing stuff
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: like that, Dana and Joe. It's like just excited, excited
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: to have me and you know, ready to go pitch
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: in October. So that's kind of been where the conversations
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: were and just kind of, you know, just exciting conversations,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: stuff that you want to hear, stuff that gets you going,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: gets you ready for the for twenty twenty six.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: You you know, grew up in the connecticutor you were
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: committed to Yukon out of high school? Correct? Yeah, did
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: you grow up Yukon fan? Was that a baseball team
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: that you followed a lot?
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: So?
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I actually I grew up watching Springer play, That's what
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I was gonna ask.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, during those times, so those were very exciting years
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: for the baseball program. I grew up a Yukon basketball fan,
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: so yeah, I mean it was I was definitely a
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Yukon fan. I loved the conference that they were in
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: at the time. Everything was South except for our home games,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: so when I was home, it was cold, it was
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: it was you know, I was close to close to home,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: close enough for people to come watch. And then when
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: who were not there, we're South.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: What what was Springer like in college out there? Just
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: ripping dangers out there. What what that look like?
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it was impressive. They had a really good team.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: I think Barnes was on that team. Nick im ed
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: they had they had some dudes on that team. Yeah,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: it was, it was, it was. It was a really
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: good team. So it was fun to watch, and yeah,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: it was. It was what made me kind of want
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: to go there.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: It was years after that I committed. So, yeah, do.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: You have a core Yukon basketball memory from you from
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: your childhood? And obviously they were They've been good forever,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: so I imagine had to see some some pretty iconic
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: things as a Yukon basketball fan.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I wouldn't. Yeah, I wasn't like a diehard.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: I went to some games, but Kemda's run with Yukon
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: was like probably the most exciting for me. That's some
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: of the stuff that I remember most. And then Shabaz
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: coming in shortly after that and stuff like that.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean there's a lot of exciting moments.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: I love that they just went back to back, you know, yeah,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: just kind of more so like that's that's when I
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: started really liking Yukon, or that's what dream me to
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Yukon was the basketball program I covered.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: I went to Texas A and M and worked at
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: the newspaper there and I covered the women's basketball team,
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: and every year, you know, for every women's basketball team
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: at the time, it was just how long will the
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: season last until you have to play the Yukon ladies,
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: And so that was that was a lot of fun
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: as well. So you got it. You got a lot
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: of dominance over there.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's let's go through a little bit of
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: kind of how your career has how your professional career
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: has evolved a little bit. You know, you had TJ
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: twenty three, correct, correct, Yeah, so last year was maybe
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: your first like fully healthy year coming back off of
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Tommy John. How'd you feel last year and how do
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you feel like that? You know, everyone kind of looks
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: at Tommy John. They put the twelve to fourteen the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: sixteen month timeline on it, and then I think there's
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: this expectation. I don't know if it's from fans, I
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: don't know if it's just from people that are conditioned
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: to seeing twelve to sixteen months and then they just
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: expect pitchers after that timeframe to be raring back, just
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: as they were pre surgery. When I think we've all
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: come to realize that that's not the case. You probably need,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: you know, another eight to ten months of just throwing
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: of getting back into routine before you really feel like yourself.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Did you have that? Is that kind of how it
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: went for you? And kind of how was last season?
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Kind of being in that year out removed from TJ,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: how was that for you?
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it's true.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: There's definitely a long period of time where you're not
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: You're back, but you don't feel like yourself. So I
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: think one of the harder parts was like coming off
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: of TJ and going right into the second half of
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: a season and just trying to figure it out and
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: get back into get back into the swing of everything
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: because you felt so far removed for so long, and
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: you know, then you're just kind of back in it
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: so quick. And then, I mean I really didn't feel
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: like myself again until probably June of last year, and
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: then things started to really kind of kind of roll
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: and started to get some stuff back mechanically, started to
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: feel like just normal again, like ill, and there was
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: no stiffening in that area anymore.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: There was. It was just started to loosen up. Again,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: you started to really feel like yourself. And I think
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of guys that feel that way that.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Kind of go through the through that that second half
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: of TJ because it's a lot such a long point
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: to get back, but there's more that comes after that,
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: just to get back to a normal state of where
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: you were before.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: I think Astro's fans watched you get back to normal
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: your your third start back. I think that was the
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: game that you kind of figured it out. Five and
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: a third, no run, six strikeouts. Is that is that
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: when you were starting to feel kind of back to yourself.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I start, Yeah, I mean I started to feel
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: better around that time, and that it took me.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Two starts prior to get to that.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: I was I had to figure some things out in
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: those first couple of starts. I kind of, you know,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: first one, you know, maybe maybe a little unlucky. Second
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: one just kind of got carved in. So it was
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: like I gotta figuregured it out. And I ended up
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: figuring out that one against the Astros.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: Mm hmm, yeah, you go ahead, Taylor.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I said, you never know in this game with
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: like butterfly effect, and you never know if like they
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: were watching you that start and just like, oh, man,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: like this kid, like he's got something like we may
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: need to keep our eyes on him as a as
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: a trade target, as somebody that we'd want to maybe
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: ask about after the season. So it's always funny to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: know how those things, how those things work. If whether
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: you pitching well against the Astros in front of you.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Dana was on that road trip. I remember you pitching
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: it well in front of all those guys, and he
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, like, let's let's keep our eye on him.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. Maybe.
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: I mean the Astros also missed the playoffs by one game,
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: so I think we can blame you personally for the
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: Astros missing that.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: So last year your first full you debuted in twenty
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: four through three innings in the big leagues. But so
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: last year, for all intents and purposes, was your first
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: almost full year in a big through about ninety ninety
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: five innings. What was the biggest thing you took away
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: from having as close to a full season as you've
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: had in the big leagues? Just the level of competition,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the adjustments that are made day in and day out
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: from start to start. I guess what were some of
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: the biggest things you took away from last year as
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: your first real taste of big league life.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, bad ones come, you just need to
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: pile up the good ones.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there were. There were definitely speed bumps.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: There are things that you know happened throughout it, But
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: it was just kind of like staying level headed, moving
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: through it, continuing figuring out why it went wrong, and
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: realizing that pitchability was my best friend. Pitching off of fat,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: off my fastball, make sure the fastball is being located.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: Like it's really hard to walk into a start and
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: just be like, this isn't here, So you need to
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: have it. You need to have everything when you go
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: out there, regardless of how you feel. So figuring out
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: different ways to lock in certain things, you know, because
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: there's some days where something doesn't feel right, but you know,
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: what's my way of getting getting to a better spot
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: with that pitch or or you know whatever it may be.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: The amount of deception that that plays into the pitching,
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: as well as metrics and and even just pitching, there's
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: just a lot that goes into it, more so than
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: or more more than most people would think. So just
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: making my way through the speed bumps and figuring out,
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: you know, why the good ones were good and why
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: the bad ones were bad.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Looks like you added the sinker in July. Is that
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: a pitch that you'd always had or did you learn
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: that last year?
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: I threw everything in high school, and then when I
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: got into pro ball, I did the same thing.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Covid hit and I just decided, let's work backwards.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: Let's make a couple of pitches really really good. Ran
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: with a for scene with ride and uh, you know,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: a curb, and just kept adding from there year to year,
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: and now we're back to adding the two scene back again,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: because I just think as a starter, I think most
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: guys are going towards the two fastball approach, and you know,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: I figured, why don't why not try it? So I
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: actually threw it against Arizona just as a let's just
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: throw it, let's go, let's.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Use in the game. What better opportunity than in games.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: So worked on a little bit up to that point,
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: but just decided to throw it, like, you know, what's
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: the worst that could happen? You know, it gets hit, Okay,
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: It's just you know, using game I think was was
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: the best thing for me, and just saying whatever, I
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: don't need an offseason for it.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Six scoreless innings of three hit ball against the Dbacks
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: when you threw it, So I guess it worked out
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: pretty good. Yeah, you will have a full off season
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: to work on it this time around, because I'm sure
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: you saw, and I'm sure Dana and Joe of and
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Ethan and Josh have maybe told you that, you know,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Dana TODs on the media zoom call that they do
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: want to increase your two or usage. He brought up
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Hunter Brown as as somebody that they have done this with.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Obviously it worked very well for him, as we have
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: seen the last year and a half. When you hear that,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: is that something that now going into catch play going
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: into you know, as you start ramping up before you
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: get to West Palm Beach, do you make a more
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: concentrated effort to throw the sinker more or is it
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: just you're gonna kind of do what you normally do
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: and then get to camp and then maybe let the
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Astros guys kind of maybe give you a more detailed
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: account of kind of how they want you.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: To do this a little bit of both.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: So, I mean, I'm throwing it the way I've been
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: throwing it for you know, six months, seven months now,
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: so I'm going to continue.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: To throw it that way.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: But if there's tweaks that need to be made during spring,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: maybe to the to the grip or maybe just a
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: queue or a you know, a different type of feel
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: for it, you know, I think it's going to be
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: more minor adjustments than anything, you know, a major reworking
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: of it. So you know, continue to throw it the
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: way I do and let them make a slight adjustment
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: on it maybe come spring.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: Have you always had the pitch ability that you have
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: with the changeup, because I feel like a lot of
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: times that's kind of the last pitch for pitchers to
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: really figure out. It's a it's a really tough pitch
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: to throw. You throw it a ton and have a
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: lot of success with it. What you know, walk us
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: through just that that pitch. What's the grip you're rolling with? Why?
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: Why does it work so well for you?
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a vulcan change. Back in twenty one, I
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: was just throwing fastball, curveball, and I was doing well.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: I didn't feel like I need to throw another pitch.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: But you know, obviously come higher levels you're gonna need
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: more pitches unless you just unless I want the reliever route,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: but I wanted to be a starter, so change up
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: was the first thing I tried to add back. But
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: I was just riding it. I was throwing it like
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: a just a slow fast ball. So the vulcan helped
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: me kill spin and kill vert and then just kind
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: of ran with it from there. Just maybe slight adjustments,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: but ever since then, just throwing it both sides, both
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: sides of the play, trying to throw it to both hitters,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: trying to, you know, just throw it in awkward situations,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: three two counts, brunners on bass, stuff like that.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: You don't see a ton of right on right change
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: ups unless it's a really really good change up. I guess,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: winning your mind, did you get the confidence to be, like,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: you know what, this doesn't just need to be a
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: pitch against lefties, Like I can go right on right,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Like I feel enough confidence in this pitch and I
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: can throw it in any count against any hit or
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: no matter what side of the plate they're on.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just throwing it to righties, you know.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: I think probably credit to my catchers and pitching coaches
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: back then just make me throw it in those situations
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: against righty's and becoming comfortable with it.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: It's yeah, once I realized.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Like I can get swinging miss on both sides with it,
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: you know, that becomes a lot a lot more of
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: a weapon rather than it being an exclusive lefty pitch
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: or something like that.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: You struck out ninety seven guys last year. Do you
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: know how many you got on the change up?
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Probably have fifty?
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, fifty strikeouts on the change up. I mean that's
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: a that's a good pitch for sure.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we were just talking about, you know, implementing more
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the two seam, implementing more of the sinker. I'm sure
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: as you looked at the results against your four seamer
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: last year, probably not what you envision you. That's probably
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: a pitch that it's probably some results you weren't a
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: little bit better against the fourceamer. How much do you
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: think introducing the two scene can help that? Just giving
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: guys different they're not selling out for the riding fastball,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: like giving guys a different look. How much do you
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: think that can make? Those two things can go hand
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: in hand of maybe you adding the sinker and then
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: the forour seamer getting some better results for you.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, definitely, that's that was one of the bigger
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: reasons to add it was because the four seam was
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: just kind of I mean, it was getting smoked more
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: times than not from from how it felt to me.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: You know, it's the big leagues, like these guys can hit,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: you know, they're they're really good players. So I think
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: just adding that second shape with the fastball really helped them,
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: you know, kind of be a little off balance going
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: into an at bat rather than selling out to a
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: heater and maybe a certain counter seeing that kind of
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: spin and selling out to it. And so I mean,
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: I think it definitely helps definitely with the rightis too.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: I think my righty splits have always been a little worse.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: That's why I added the slier. That's why I'm now
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: adding the two seams to neutralized righties. Curveball change up
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: has always been good to lefties for the most part.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: So it really does sound like we're retelling the Hunter
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Brown story from two years ago, because this was everything
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: that was plaguing Hunter right like just right he's were
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: killing him before. SEMO was not performing as it should
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: and the and the all speed stuff was actually pretty
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: good and all it took was just adding that one
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: pitch and now he's kind of at the top of
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the sport. What I guess from Afar, I don't know
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: how much you've gotten to watch him, but just what
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: is it if you have gotten to watch him a
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: little bit, what has it been like to maybe watch
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: his resurgence, And how do you feel about now being
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: on his team pitching behind him in a rotation?
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, No, it's definitely exciting to your point, like understanding
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: that there's some similarities.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of things that I could
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: learn just by talking to him.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: So you know, I'm definitely excited to be in the
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: same rotationism and just kind of see what worked for him,
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: what what you know made him excel especially last year.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: But you know, yeah, it's it's definitely a great opportunity
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: to be with a guy like that, you know.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: I remember in a in a psychology class I took
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: in college, they went over the most stressful things that
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: can happen in life, and it was like, you know,
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: relationship change, getting married, changing jobs, and moving uh, and
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: I feel like you're just hitting them all and like
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: in a month, how are you How are you managing
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: all of all of these things all at once. It's
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: a big year for you.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a big year.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, getting married. I don't feel like really
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: changed much with me and my now wife. But it's
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: you know, it's it's it's just a blessing really, It's
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: it's something that you know, we talked about the the
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: trade and stuff and you know, just going over like yeah,
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: like God puts you an uncomfortable scenarios for a reason
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: at times. So it's like it's it's a bit uncomfortable
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: because I have to relearn a whole new organization. I
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: have to get to meet new guys, and but that's
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: also a blessing itself, to meet new guys and and
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: start new with and fresh with the new organization, you know,
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: because everything happens for a reason.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: So I just got I believe in that I.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Could have probably looked this up beforehand, and I probably
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: should have. But have you played with anyone that's in
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: the Astros system or was it in the big league
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: within the big leagues with them last year?
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: I don't think so.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Oh so you're you're coming in like completely brand new?
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Right? Is that Is that daunting for you? Do you
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: like it that way?
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: No, it's I mean nothing to me.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: Maybe when I was younger it'd be a little more daunting,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: but I kind of found who I am by now
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: twenty six and a little more comfortable with where I'm at,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: where I'm at in my career and you know, understanding
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: who I am, and yeah, that's like, I'm not going
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: to change who I am and walk in and meet everybody,
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: and that's going to be that, you know, and figure
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: out who everybody is, figure out how everything's operating there,
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: and it shouldn't take too long.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: I feel obligated to ask you this from a from
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: an asher's perspective, because we can tie these two things
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: in pretty UH seamlessly. But Brent Strom was on staff
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh last season. Obviously Strom He's work in Houston
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: has still is still resonating. Josh Miller is one of
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: his UH proteges. Bill Murphy, the new pitching coach in Pittsburgh,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: one of UH Strami's proteges. Well, what was it like
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: working with Strami? He's a he's a hoot man. I
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: love talking to him. I love h I love being
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: around Stroman. What was it like with him, maybe with
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: some lessons you learned from from working with Brent Strong.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, No, Strawmy is great. Strawmy held me a lot
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: with uh with my delivery. I was kind of I
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: was stepping a lot towards the left handed hitter early
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: on in the air during spring training, and he was
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: like very at him. He's like, dude, you need to
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: step in line, like and everything's going to fix itself.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: You need to maybe even step a little crossfire. It's
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: going to fix itself. And it took me a few months,
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: but we eventually got there. And you know, just working
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: with him, talking to him, going over going over video,
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: just looking at stuff. But he, yeah, he was great.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: I love Strawmy strom He's a little more old school
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: than a lot of these guys now, but you know
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: that it's it's still timeless stuff, you know. And he
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: helped me a lot with with with my throw and
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: got me where I needed to be.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: Obviously, you know, every team goes into every season with
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: expectations of success. You know, everybody starts oh and oh,
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: and you've you've got the season in front of you.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: But I would imagine there's a little difference between you know,
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: a Pirates team that's been rebuilding versus an Astros team
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: that well now has missed the playoffs for the first
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: time in about a decade. But you know, is there
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: is there any difference in mentality of being on a
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: team that has expectations of, you know, we expect to
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: be in the playoffs, not just a hope to be there.
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: Do you see yourself having any sort of difference in
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: how you approach the game or how you approach you know,
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: being on a team with with those expectations.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think I mean, if you talk to.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: The guys in Pittsburgh like we expected to win, you know,
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: like that's that's what you that's what you go out
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: there to do. So I mean it's just you know
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: a matter of Okay, the results didn't happen, but you know,
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: the mindset was still there, and I don't think anything
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: like that will will change. It's definitely it's different in
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: you know, maybe a fan base talking about their team
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: or looking at their team like, you know, the Houston's
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: gonna expect to make the playoffs fan base wise, and
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: Pittsburgh might just be hopeful or something like that. But
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: as far as the players go, we expected to win,
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: we wanted to win, we were there to win, so
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: you know, those results just didn't shake out. But I
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: don't think, Yeah, I think the mindset's the same for
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: a lot of players, regardless of you know, you know,
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: looking at your record, and I don't think anybody's going
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: out there just.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Like, oh man, we're not going to win. But yeah,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I don't think anything for me is going to change.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, to put a on your Pittsburgh days. For those
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: of us not blessed to have the sort of seat
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: that you had to watch Paul Schemes every fifth day,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: can you just describe what it's like to watch him
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: from the best seat in the house do what he
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: does every fifth day.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's special.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: I think what's better is the four days leading up
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: to it, getting to see who he is before he
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: gets to that fifth day. And everybody sees him on
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: his fifth day, but there's four days leading up.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Like he works very very hard.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: He's very routine based, and it's nothing that that shakes
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: his routine. So it's like, I mean, that's that's how
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: you get to that fifth day. That's how you dominate,
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: is you know, making sure that you're hitting every step
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: you need to get to that fifth day. But watching
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: him pitch, it's yeah, specially he's really getting That's.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: The understatement of the century. As to kind of close
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: it out here, Mike, we told you we'd keep you
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: for about twenty minutes, and we're all over time. But
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: to close it out a little bit, just as you
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: do get ready to go to West Palm Beach and
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: get to spring training. I guess what excites you the
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: most about joining this ASTRAS organization? Joining the team, as
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Tyler said, is has a ton of expectations on it
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: every year, you know, believes it is a championship contender
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: every time it gets to West Palm Beach. What excites
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: you the most about about this opportunity and what would
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: you want fans to maybe know about you If this
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: is the first time they're hearing your voice, seeing your face,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: what would you like them to know about what you're
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: going to bring to this organization when you report in February.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope, you know. I just want to meet
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: their expectations.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: I want to win with this team, and I'm just
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: excited to be a part of it, you know, and
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: go out there every fifth day and help a team win.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: I have a very important question, and it is what
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: what is the beard routine? Because I've watched the Ashes
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: for a long time and you're you're already on the
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Mount rush More up there with kaykel On on Astros beers.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: What is going on?
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: There really isn't I I'm trying to grow it out
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: right now. I'm trying to get at a higher line.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: But I got a haircut tomorrow. You guys miss me,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: or you guys got me a day before I get
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: this thing cut. I'm kind of shaggy right now, but
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: there's there's nothing crazy to it. It's just like getting
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: rid of, you know, loose hairs and keeping it, keeping
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: it looking maintained.
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: Look, I've also got the red going. But I can
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: only handle this. It does not look nearly as good
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: if I if I grow it out. So you got
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: a lot to uh to uphold over here for sure,
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: and the beer.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Got expectations there.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're already on a mount Rushmore of the Astros.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: No pressure, It's just it's you, Dallas Kyke and Evan Gaddis.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: I was gonna say Gaddis too. That's that's the third
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: one I could think of.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: On a mount rushmore of beards. Mike, this was fun.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate you taking some time in the off
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: season to to introduce yourself to the fan base, to
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: talk to us and kind of break down what has
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: been a hectic a couple of months for you. Hopefully
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: January is a lot calmer. Hopefully you get to settle
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: down a little bit before getting to West Palm Beach
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: in February. So thank you. This was a lot of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: fun for everyone listening. If you'd like to, Mike or
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: you on x so Instagram, want to plug your handle
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: so the fans can follow you at all.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: I'm on Instagram Mike burrows with a zero as the O.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Mike Burrows the zero AZEO on ig You can follow
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: me on x at Chandler Underscore Room. You can follow
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Tyler at Tyler C. Stafford. Please, as always, rate and
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: review us on Apple and Spotify. Please like this video
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: if you're watching it on YouTube. It really really helps
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: our algorithm, so please just hit the like button on YouTube.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to the YouTube channel so you can get notified
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: anytime we post a new podcast or anytime we go
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: live again. Mike, this was great. We really appreciate you
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: taking some time in the off season to join us
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: and will talk to you guys soon. Thanks for listening.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: Bye.