Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / CONGER LINE: Former Angels catcher and current Orioles bullpen coach Hank Conger has joined the chat

Transcript

CONGER LINE: Former Angels catcher and current Orioles bullpen coach Hank Conger has joined the chat · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: And with the 25th pick overall pick of the 2006 draft,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the angels select Hank Conger catcher out of Huntington beach
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: high school. Well, look who it is. Hank Conger joins
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the show today. The former angels catcher and currently Baltimore
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Orioles bullpen coach. Hank, how you doing today? You believe
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: it's been 20 years since that monumental moment in your life.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: It's a, It's 20 years flown by. I was actually
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: talking to my family recently about it. And yeah, 20
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: years now with two kids.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Pretty much.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: I assume Rob Manfred. Were you Rob Manfred in that role?
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Well, I guess in 2006. Yeah, this was Hank missed
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: out on the whole MLB Network National TV draft. I
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: don't know if you feel a little gypped, Hank, but
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I assume that was still a pretty big moment regardless.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, it was a huge moment. I remember at that
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: time it was just only audio. So my area scout,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: shout out to Bobby Desjardins. But he calls me during
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: the draft and this is when it actually got announced.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: And so he was kind of messing around with me
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: and my family, asking how the draft was going. And
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: then all of a sudden he goes, well, looks like
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: we drafted you. And then my whole family just erupted
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: at that moment. So it was a good moment.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: All right, well, hey, I am Mike DiGiovanna, former LA
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Times baseball writer and host of the show, joined by
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: my regular co-host, Mark Trumbo, the former Angels slugger.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Well, Hank, we'll get right into it.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: We're pretty, almost a whole full first round into the playoffs,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: and man, every October, it feels like half the relievers
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: we see on TV are lighting up the radar guns at.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: 100 miles an hour plus.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Are guys really throwing that hard, or are we watching
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: a mix of max effort outings, short stints, and radar
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: guns that may be a tick hot. From the bullpen,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: what numbers are you trusting when they flash across those screens?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a combination of both. I think
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a lot of the guys, the juices are flowing. But
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: in actuality, these guys are throwing hard. I mean, I
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: get to see it every day on a daily basis
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: in the bullpen. It is max effort. I mean, that's
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: just how things are and how guys throw these days.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: But it's just... really a combination of everything. But during
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: the game, you look at the velo, you're kind of
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: seeing what guys are doing. Obviously there's some days where,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: you know, they could be fatigued or just a little
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: tired and then they're pitching maybe two out of three.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: For me, it's just, I tend to, I like looking
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: at the movement too on the pitches as well, just
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: to kind of see what the shapes are looking at.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Like if it's matching up with like what they're normally doing.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: So that's kind of the two things that I really
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: look at as I'm kind of like just watching their
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: outings from the bullpen.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: Well, I think that question came.
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: I think I was the one that came up with
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: that because I sit here and watch and if, I mean,
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: it's three, four guys, a team and then starters too.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: And it was very rare.
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: But when you saw triple digits, when Hank and I
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: were coming up, that was just a couple of guys
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: around the league. Now we're not here to debate measuring
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: out of the hand measuring, you know, halfway. I think
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: that it, it appears these guys are throwing absolute gas.
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: So hence why hitting is pretty tough these days and
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: trying to pull everything makes it even tougher. Well, when
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: the pitches don't line up with the spot, but one
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: thing on our last episode, Hank, I think that you
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: are uniquely qualified as you've done it in Minnesota. I
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: wanted to know what the role of a bench coach is.
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: We've been talking about potential managerial hires that may make sense.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: They may bring Kurt Suzuki back, but, One thing we
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: were stumbling over is what does a bench coach do
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: today in the game?
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: What is the role of a bench coach?
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: So I think simplified, just if I had to give
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: like one statement right off the bat, it's really just
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: kind of a way to find a way to just
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: take some stuff off of the manager's plate that you
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: can kind of help out on a day to day basis.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, getting to be. you know, now coaching my
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: sixth year now and seeing a lot of the things
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: that the managers go through. It's a lot. They handle
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: a lot. They're handling media twice a day. They got
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: to keep in touch with everybody, whether it's like front
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: office players, medical staff and all that. So it's just
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: a matter of trying to find to delegate certain things
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: to try to help the manager out. And so you
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: look at things like that on a daily basis of
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: like what you have to go through as far as
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: communicating with the players, talking with them, seeing how they're doing.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: It's really just a matter of showing a lot of
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: these players a lot of love. As far as the
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: game comes, you're really looking at roster management, in-game management,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: bullpen usage, and all of these things that come together.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: It's really a mixed bag of a lot of things
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: that come on a day-to-day basis.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Are all bench coaches not necessarily created equal, Hank? Because
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: we've speculated with the Angels and John Gibbons this year,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: just didn't seem like he was that much involved. I
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: don't know if we're projecting that on him or not.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: But then you see, you know, other bench coaches in
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: the game, maybe the ones who are trying to get
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: managerial jobs every time, especially in the playoffs, they're right
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: next to the manager because you know the camera's going
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: to hone in on them. Do certain bench coaches on
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: certain teams maybe have a lot more input than maybe
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: you see on other teams?
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I think it kind of varies. I mean, I think
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: it also kind of varies depending on the manager and
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: the manager's personality. If they need somebody next to them
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: all the time, kind of like talking out loud. I,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: you know, for me being in the bench a couple
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: of years back and being alongside like Rocco and Jason,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I would kind of see like how all three of us,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: along with our pitching coaches would kind of interact and,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: it's just different personalities. And I know for a lot
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: of guys like talking out loud, bringing up certain situations
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: as the game's going on, looking at, you know, an
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: inning ahead or two innings ahead of like what can
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: possibly go on and just kind of like just talking
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: out loud, talking through situations in that case, it just
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: all kind of depends on just what is really the
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: manager's personality.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: So ABS challenges feel like they've become a real big
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: part of managing a game, especially in these playoffs.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Man, we've seen some teams are all over the map
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: using challenges early and then they lose them late and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: we see how much that costs them. How are staffs
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: deciding when to challenge? Who is making that call? And
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: how much of it is still feel versus the data
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you're looking at in the moment?
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of things that have been going on.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is the first year that's kind of
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: gotten put into everything. So I think a lot of
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: people are still kind of gathering information. you know, the
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: processes and the data of everything and, you know, what
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: to look for because it's still so new for a
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: lot of guys. But as you guys can see during
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: the season and especially now in the playoffs, like this
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: is a real difference maker. This is where, you know,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: a count that can go from like 1-1 to 2-1
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: or 1-2 really changes the outcome of the game. So
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: you look at it, it's in our game now. And
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: we as teams and organizations, we got to find ways
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: to continue to improve to like to find out like
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: what advantages can we get with this as far as
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: like reps for our catchers, our hitters, whether they look
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: at like a trajectory or they're constantly like looking at
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: pitches in the zone or anything like that, just to
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: get like extra reps to try to help them. We're
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: going to have to continue to find ways to kind
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: of improve on that. But there's, yeah, there's definitely a
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: lot of advantages and things that kind of, you can
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: deep dive in with the ABS.
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: Can you briefly explain what the trajectory is just for
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: those that.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: May not know? Yeah, I mean, it's just basically a
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: really super expensive machine that's in the batting cage. And,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: you know, you see this screen and then you can
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: basically just upload any type of player with as long
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: as it's not like a crazy different slot, like a
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Rogers type guy. But, you know, you can get a
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: certain slot and then you'll have the same pitch type
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: so that you can kind of get reps there. just
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: to see like what the pitcher's throwing and like just
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: getting reps of just the shapes, the shapes, the velo,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: everything like that. So it's, it's really neat. I think
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: a lot of guys have taken great use to it
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: and it's, you know, benefits guys greatly.
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: So I could set up like Yamamoto's splitter, get up
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: there and find a way to get some bat on
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: that thing.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: Because I don't see a lot of guys.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: Good luck to anyone trying to hit that pitch.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: It's kind of like a video game combo of a
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: video game and a pitching machine.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: Right, Hank?
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Basically. I mean, that's, that's really it. It's crazy. I mean,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: I've actually on the pitching side, sometimes it's, we kind
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: of joked around, but we would have some of our
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: relievers and I would just be like, Hey, why don't
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: you just stand in on yourself and just take a
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: look at like how your two seam or your sliders
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: moving just to kind of like picture it. Because a
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: lot of the times the pitchers, when they're on the
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: mound or they're throwing bullpens, They don't quite understand the
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: shape or the velo or the speed that's actually coming
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: out of their hand because the feel versus the reel
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: kind of tends to get skewed a little bit with
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: them when they're throwing every single day. So it was
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: kind of cool. You'd get guys to just stand in
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: on there and just kind of see their own pitches.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: And do visiting teams have access to the trajectory or
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: do they only get to use that at home or
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: is it sort of a courtesy thing? When you're the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: home team to give that.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: It's a home advantage. It's a home field advantage. Yeah.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: I know there's like some rules with like the Wi-Fi serving.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: So like in-game stuff that you can't really. So there's
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: a lot of rules that are attached to it once
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: the game starts.
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: Not letting the other team use my prize pony.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Whatever.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: Making money like you're making to afford.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: That thing mike i i don't how much do you
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: know how much they cost hey half a million yeah
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: about a half million wow all right all right.
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: What i do want to ask you worked with catchers
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: you were a catcher um Earlier in the year, and
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: I think part of the problem was the Angels had
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: a catcher that they moved elsewhere, but really struggled with
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: the one-knee stance. And in addition to trying to frame pitches,
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: and I kind of want to know how things, after
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: a full season this year, as far as catchers go,
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: how important is framing right now? I know it was
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: monumentally important in the last, what, five to 10 years?
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: And catchers would be looked at as absolute premium players.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Now, how.
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: has ABS possibly altered that? I still think it's very
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: important because you want to get every strike you can,
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: but I don't know if there's been some trade-offs and
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: give or take, or, you know, maybe you can just
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: clarify a little bit what's going on.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's, it's still huge. And I think you see
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: the evolution of the catching stance, the one knee down stance,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: particularly with our team too. We really like when guys
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: are in the right knee down stance, it kind of
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: gives them a lot of benefits and the throwing and even,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: even with the blocking as well. But again, I think
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: the notion is like, oh, everyone's focused on the receiving.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: It's like, no, we're focused on everything. You really want
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: your guys to be complete players all across the board
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: and try to improve in every facet. The reality is that, yes,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: if you are a premium receiver in this game, your
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: defensive numbers and metrics, it just weighs out way heavier
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: on the receiving end because you are catching players. a
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: hundred plus pitches every game. And that's where it gets
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: affected the most. And that's where you can kind of
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: change the course of a game is with some of
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: the receiving. And I think over the past five years,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: you see it, you know, you would see the Jose
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Molina's and all these guys who were like premium, premium receivers,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: where they were just such a clear cut above, you know,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: a lot of the other catchers. But I think the
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: game now is in a really good spot with a
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: lot of good defensive catchers. So that gap has really
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: kind of narrowed down. But there is still a gap
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: where the premium guy compared to the guys who kind
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: of struggle receiving. But the ABS, it changed. It has
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: changed a lot. But I think receiving is really huge
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: because at the end of the day, if you're a
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: good receiver, you're still putting pressure on hitters to make
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: a challenge when you do end up stealing a strike.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: And you guys seen it now. You guys watched a
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: lot of the games like First, I think we kind
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: of realized like a lot of these umpires are pretty
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: good when you're looking at like a quarter of an
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: inch to like an inch off the plate. There's a
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: lot of close calls that you, and I get that
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: there's like three, four inches where kind of people just,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: you know, they like to make fun of it, but
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: you know, the umpires are really good. And I think
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: you've seen like a lot of the catchers and hitters,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: they really kind of understand the strike zone. So that
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: like half inch inch is just, it's, it gets tough.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: And so it's just, As a catcher, if you're making
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: good moves and you're a premium receiver, you're consistently putting
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: pressure on the hitters and on the umpires to make
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: the right call.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Well, we're taping on Thursday morning. We're almost through the
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: division series round of the playoffs. Man, it's been a
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: great postseason so far. Most games, very low scoring, very
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: taut and tense. Pitching at a premium, clutch hitting at
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: a premium. I really, with the exception of that Cleveland
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: White Sox game, game three, they've all been really low
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: scoring and tight. So in light of that, Hank, like
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: if you could only cherry pick three strengths, say for
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: a playoff team, what would they be? I mean, you
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: have like starting pitching, bullpen, contact hitters versus power hitters,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: infield defense, outfield defense. What actually separates the clubs that
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: are still playing in October.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: From Looking at all these teams now, yeah, I would
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: love to have starting pitching. I would love to have
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Maury Hone and Miller on the back end of my bullpen.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: But if you look at all these playoff teams, they
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: all really can kind of do it all. Every team
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: has a bullpen that has guys that throw 98 to 100. Um,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: a lot of them have like just good offense, good defense.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: So it's just, it's tough to cherry pick, right? You,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: you want everything in this game. Like for me, it's,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: it's been really exciting to watch the Brewers really play.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: And maybe I'm being a little biased cause we kind
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: of lost to them, uh, towards the end of the year.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: And we kind of ran into them when they were
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: playing really well. And then they kind of really played
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: like that all year. But, um, you know, it really
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: comes down to like, just, you the little things of
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: just being able to execute. And then I think you've
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: kind of seen it too, where like some of the
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: dudes that are dudes and they end up kind of making,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: getting those big hits and they get paid to kind of,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: you know, do what they're supposed to do. So there's
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: a combination of a lot of things, but yeah, I just,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: just watching it and just, I think that's the part
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: for me when I'm watching a lot of these baseball games,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: especially in the post season, you watch the little things and,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: that can kind of possibly turn into big things. Like
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: perfect example was, I think I was watching the Braves
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Dodger game. Albies hits that double and you watch two
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: sides of that baseball where you watch him and like,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: if he was able to give maybe two more hard
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: steps out of the box, is he on third base
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: with no outs? And then I look on the receiving
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: end where I'm like, wow, if Pahas doesn't hustle and
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: back up Teoscar right there to get that ball to
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: get it in, does he cut that run from going
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: to third base? So there's a lot of different intricacies
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: when you're watching the playoff baseball because everything gets magnified.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: When you're watching it 162, it's easy maybe to kind
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: of brush things off, but all these things add up
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: to become playoff winning teams.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Another one of those little things, I think we've seen it,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: we saw it in the Padre Brewers series, I believe
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: it was game two, With Mason Miller supposedly tipping pitches,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: are the teams that get this far maybe a little
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: bit better? I guess we call it the dark arts
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: of picking up cues from the pitcher, relaying signs from
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: second base. I think we've seen that a few times
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: in these playoffs too, and that's perfectly legal. Are they
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: a little better, or is that just a coincidence, you think?
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: You see it. I'm not going to name certain teams,
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: but you know, you're, you're watching it. And especially for
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: me in the bullpen and I, I'm trying to protect
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: our pitchers too, but we're, we always have a constant
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: watch of what's going on. And, you know, for me, it's, it's,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I've always believed whatever happened, whatever's happening on the field, it's,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: it's happening on the field. Like it's, it's all fair game.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: So I don't really get upset when people are trying
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: to relay. It's like, it's our job one to, really
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: protect our pitches and to try to combat against that.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: But there's just so many things and there's just, there's
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: so much video. There's a lot of teams now who
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: have numerous members on the staff. Whose only job is
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: to really look at things like that, whether it's a
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: look at base coaches, runners at second, looking at the catchers,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: whether or not they're tipping with nobody on base, all
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: these things. And it's just another aspect of just the,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: finding little ways to win and you got to find
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: a way to either take advantage of that or to
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: protect yourself from that.
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: I think that's great. I wanted to include that question
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: watching Miller. And I saw some things I've for a
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: while now tried to find things. I've been asked to
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: find things. I guess I have a little bit of
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: ability to do it. That's a tough one with him.
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: I mean, maybe with his arm sleeve to some degree,
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: There was a bit, he's got a little bit going on,
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: but it is a lot harder than it seems to
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: really trust that you're getting them right. It's very hard
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: to relay from second base because the second you get
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: one wrong, you wonder, you know, I can't trust this guy.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: And meanwhile, the guy's throwing, I mean, that's, that is
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: premium gas. There's no juice gun there, but last night
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: it looked like Miller might've been a little bit rattled.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: I mean, as a pitcher, I don't know how you
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: conceivably change your, entire makeup if it was his arm
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: sleeve alone then then that could probably be altered but
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: uh that's something we've long wondered and i guess what
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: we're talking about the strengths of teams trying to tie
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: it into where the angels are as a team that
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: is obviously not you know this is not a finished
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: product this is um hopefully the worst season they're going
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: to have but trying to figure out how they're going
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: to build a contender the dodgers being the highest payroll
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: and then there's i think the other remaining what five
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: teams are or less than that now uh but they
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: are not.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: So what do the Angels lean into? What are they
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: going to do? This is my question, right, Mike?
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: I want to know on the pitching side, the Angels
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: have a lot of, it's one of their strengths, actually.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: But what, around the game, what are teams salivating over
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: as far as pitch usage, pitch types, pitch shapes? I mean,
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: what's in trend? The change-ups seem huge this year. And
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: I don't see a lot of fastballs with a ton
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: of movement, especially in the playoffs. It seems like A
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: lot of these guys are throwing these low release darts almost.
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: Maybe you can just help me out with that.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is everything. I mean, you watch from
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: a lot of these guys. I think Velo, yes, it
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: does play a huge part because at the end of
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: the day, when we we talked about this earlier, you
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: look at like a lot of the backend guys, how
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: hard are they throwing? I mean, they're, they're kind of
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: near triple digits. So, but there's a lot of things
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: that go into it. And, you know, for me going back,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: like I enjoy like watching the Brewers backend because you
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: got two guys that who are essentially closer-type pitchers, but
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: they've got two different types of profiles. You've got Abner,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: who can go... He can go east-west because he's sinker-slider,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: so he can match up with certain guys like that.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: And then you've got McGill, who's just going to straight
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: come at you with a forcing curveball, and he's going
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: to go with a north-south arsenal. So you've got two
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: different styles in the bullpen where you kind of give
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: teams different looks with different matchup profiles. But there's a lot.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, the game of pitching is just watching it
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: and being– you know, in it now for the past
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: couple of years, being a catching coach and then now
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: being a bullpen coach, the adjustments that are being made
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: with like tinkering with the guys like slider or having
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: them try to like work on like a kick change
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: or a regular change, or even like a splitter. You
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: seem like a lot of splits this year, the advancement
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: and the adjustments that are made on the pitching side
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: are just so quick. And I don't think people realize
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: like how quick the adjustments are made with these guys.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: which makes the hitting harder and harder every, every single year.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: So to answer your question, I think it's a lot
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: of different profiles. You can have some low slot guys
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: with like some high forcing ride. You've seen it. You've
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: seen some East West guys who can run kind of
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: the sink or slide and a lot of different profiles
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: that way. So it's just really a combination of like
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: a lot of things. And for a lot of teams,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: when they're acquiring certain guys or trying to take flyers
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: on certain pitchers, It's a matter of like, hey, do
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: you think like we can get him to maybe develop
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: a little bigger shape slider that can separate from his
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: foreseeing fastball? Or do you think we can maybe kill
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: spin off of a change up here that can kind
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: of create some front back separation? So I think this
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: goes into the collaboration of like acquiring certain players and
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: then trusting the development staff and your coaches to be like, hey,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: can we tap into something to maybe unlock a certain
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: pitch or get a guy to get to the next level.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Are these really good teams, uh, using that in their
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: construction of the bullpens that you mentioned that different styles
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: of Abner and, and Gil really good example.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: Look at the Dodgers.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Now they have two closers at the back end with
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: a lefty Tanner Scott and Edwin Diaz, a righty who
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: couldn't be more different than Tanner Scott. Is that really, uh, consciously, uh,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Are teams constantly thinking about this as they construct the
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: back of their bullpens? Or is that just sort of
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: a lucky coincidence for some of these teams? Because, boy,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I can't even imagine. And, you know, the guy who
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: pitches the eighth is not going to face the same
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: hitters in the ninth, but maybe he will. I just
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: can't imagine as a big league hitter just trying to
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: deal with all this stuff.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it is a mix of both. But
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: I think at the end of the day, there are
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: teams that kind of look into this. You know, for
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: some teams, they obviously have closers and pretty traditional closers.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: But you look at the use of how the bullpens
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: are used for majority of the teams during the year.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: And then you've guys seen it now during the postseason
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: where the high leverage guys, you know, Didier coming in
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: into like the fifth or sixth inning or whatever, where
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: they're matching up in the highest leverage spot. Or you
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: have a certain guy who does have good carry on
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: his fastball. maybe matches up against maybe the four or
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: five hitters in the lineup and that might be the
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: best pocket for him to kind of face in the
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: seventh inning rather than the eighth and then you can
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: kind of vice versa flip around guys like that so
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: it's not so much of having like a traditional spot
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: but just making sure that you can kind of match
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: up guys and really the more kind of different looks
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: that you have in the bullpen with certain teams i
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: think it just gives you some flexibility of being a
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: little bit more creative and like how to use guys,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: especially if teams don't have a traditional closer that just
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: solely pitches in the ninth inning. Yeah.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: So Hank, you coached in the KBO Korean baseball organization
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: with the Lotte giants before we came back to the States.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: How has the game taught over there versus how it
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: is taught here? Are there any big stylistic differences and
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: what does a player, what does player development actually look.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: Like over in that league?
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I had such a blast there. And not only
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: for me to go over there, but just to learn
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: their style of play as well. And you kind of
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: understand why things are done the way that they are
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: being done. You got to realize South Korea, it's a
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: pretty small country. So you have 10 different teams in
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: that country. So the talent pool of like finding guys,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: like you're going to have the Hassan Kim's, the Jung
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: who leaves, who are like the superstars there who are
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: performing really well here in the States. And then, but
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: then you're also going to get probably a mix of
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: guys who just got drafted, who are like 18, 19.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: So it's like, it's really kind of mixing and matching
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: like big league players with like rookie ball, a ball
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: players in, in some sorts, because there's, I think most
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: of the teams there, they only got one minor league system,
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: quote unquote, the developmental league so developing a lot of
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: these younger players alongside with the big league team on
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: a daily basis was probably the biggest challenge but it
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: was probably the most exciting thing showing up every single
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: day to the ballpark is getting to like have these
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: guys constantly learn and just having the patience of just
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: understanding that they have to learn at the kbo's big
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: league level and just continue to kind of progress, develop and,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: you know, shape, shape these baseball players.
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: I want to piggyback off that. I have another question.
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: Who is, you know, which team impressed you the most?
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: I've heard enough Brewers references that I'm just going to
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: put them down.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: To the pick.
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: And you know what?
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: I agree.
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: We'll see, you know, they're going to have to get through,
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: you know, who, but of course, of course. They ran
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: into a team that had all the momentum in the world,
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: and they were the better club, the deeper club. I
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: was wondering if Mason Miller was going to be asked
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: to get nine outs last night. And I was just like,
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: what kind of plan is this? And he wasn't. He
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: was pitching the high leverage, as you said. But they
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: almost did it, too, if Potter is with Manny. But
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: so close.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: At player development, learning at the big league level is
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: very tough. And I think.
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: We've talked about on here, and you and I both
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: were teammates in Salt Lake City. I remember the numbers
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: being more normalized. I think a lot of the talent
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: in AAA has gone to Mexico. I think it seems
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: like the competition may be a little watered down. The Mariners,
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: for example, aren't even sending their top pitching prospects to
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: the PCL any longer. They prefer to AA straight to
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: the big leagues. So for a team like the Angels,
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: the player development is absolutely vital to get right right now. How,
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: how do guys that are Christian Moore is going to
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: be my example. But, but not, you know, just as
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: an example of a guy that needs more seasoning, it
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: doesn't seem like winter ball is still an option. How
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: are guys developing that, that, you know, our borderline big
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: league ready, but just not quite there. I mean, what,
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: what is a plan? And the Orioles have young players too,
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: that may fit that bill. What, what do they do now?
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: Cause for us, it was winter ball, but maybe, maybe
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: that's changed.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's changed. There's not many guys who really are
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: going to winter ball. But to answer your question over
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: the player development, yeah, it's the million.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: Dollar question, right?
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, a lot of these players now, that's just
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: the way it is. A lot of these high prospect,
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: high draft round picks, they just move through the system quickly.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: I remember back when we were playing, I hate saying
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: back in my day, right, Mark? But I remember. I
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: remember guys would always be like, and you would hear
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: former players, former big leaguers who were like 10-year vets,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: and they were like, yeah, it would take like 1,600
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: at-bats or plate appearances for me to kind of feel
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: like I'm developing in the minors, to feel like I'm
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: ready to kind of get up to the big league level.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: And the way that the game is now is just like,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: we as coaches and as organizations, we just have to
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: find ways to continue to develop players when they get
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: to the big leagues. And that's just, you know, that's
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: just how it is. And that's where the game is going.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: It's getting younger and faster. And so you find these
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: ways to just continue to teach these guys and have
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: them continue to develop and learn. But yeah, especially at
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: the minor league level. And I, I truly do believe this,
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: but yeah, you and I, we both, we both kind
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: of struggled to certain points, right? Whether it was like
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: earlier in our minor league careers or later, and then
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: you kind of like develop it and found out and,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: you know, vice versa for me as well. But, you know,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: you gotta, guys have to fail. And I think that's
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: the reason why you kind of move guys up to
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: different levels is just, you gotta have them learn how
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: to fail and learn how to handle failure. So developing
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: here is just, it's a lot different than what it
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: was five, 10 years ago.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Well, you came out of Huntington Beach High School, as
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: we said, Hank, and the Angels just took a Huntington
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Beach High product in the first round. uh Jared Grinliger
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: have you had the chance to see him play at
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: all uh your old high school coach Benjamin Dewar coach
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: both of you guys had some very high praise for
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: his tools and his potential have you seen much of
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: this kid.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: I've been hearing about him since like eighth grade for
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: the first time. And so, and it was a little
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: easier because his brother, his brother was also a catcher
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: at Huntington Beach high school, which I think he's at
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Tennessee right now. And I think he's doing pretty well.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: So obviously followed the family. Haven't gotten to see him
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: play all that much just because of our schedule, but
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: Benji's always raved about him. I got to talk to
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: a couple of scouts and people who had seen him
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: before the draft and for the past year or so. And,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: it's it's a unique talent i mean watching the hitting
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: watching the contact skills i was really impressed with him
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: on the bump too with the way that the ball
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: kind of comes out of his hand so it's exciting
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: i mean it's exciting to see him and the way
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: that he's gotten to the development that he's gotten over
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: the past couple years so i think the angels have
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: found a really good talent and i'm really excited for
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: this guy for the next couple years.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I know Mark has one very important question that we're
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: going to close with, but I did want to ask you,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you're a big viewer of Halo territory,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: but on a recent show, we speculated on some potential
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: future angels managers and your former teammate over here had
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: four guys and you were on that list. Is this
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: something you see in your future? Something you'd like to
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: see in your future? And if so, how do you
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: sort of get from where you are to that level
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: at this point? Yeah, I appreciate it.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's always flattering when somebody brings up your
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: name for that type of job. It sounds cliche, but
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: there really is. There's really only 30 of those jobs
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: out there. And it would be a privilege to be
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: able to manage. But for me, looking at my career
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: trajectory as a coach too, I've always just believed that
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: continue to learn, continue to understand, continue to get better
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: at whatever I've been doing. I've been very fortunate in
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: the past six years now to do a lot of
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: different roles, whether it's, you know, a first base coach,
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: catching coach, assistant bench coach, and now like a bullpen
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: coach and really kind of tapped into a lot of
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: these different things. But for me, it's just improving myself
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: on a daily basis and, you know, wherever the chips
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: may fall. But yeah, I think that would be a
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: great challenge here in the future. And I would totally
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: be up for it. But right now I'm just really
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: focused on, you know, how can I be the best
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: bullpen coach? And I've really enjoyed that role. And, you know,
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: I look forward to showing up every day with the boys.
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: Just couldn't help yourself, could you? The old L.A.
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: Times beat writer had to go off script. Get one
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: of those hard-hitting, high-pass rules in there.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: Scripts are made to be broken, Mark. You should have
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: learned that.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: That's fair.
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: I think they've saved your rear more than once. Anyway, yeah,
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: I do have one more question. I wanted to ask
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: the viewers, too. Mike has an unbelievable bobblehead collection.
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: I've never seen it.
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: A bobblehead collection like this guy has, mine in the back,
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: tends to be shaking its head.
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: If anyone wants to see it or have an episode
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: where it's a little, you know, a fun one, funny one,
• 33:10
  Speaker 5: maybe we can do that. But we'll end with a
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: very important question. Not near as important, I guess, as
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: the last one. But can you give the Halo Territory
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: viewers your recommendation for the best Korean barbecue in town?
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: You do know Korean barbecue. I knew this was coming.
• 33:27
  Speaker 5: I'm writing this down. I'm writing this down. You've never
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: been to a Korean barbecue.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: Sure I have.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: We've got a couple right here in Tustin.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: But go ahead, Dan.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: DG, you look like a peanut butter jelly type guy.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: Oh, Jesus. No, no, no.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: We're not. You know what? As the older... I've gotten
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: now I've actually come to have a more of appreciation
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: towards like Korean traditional dishes, which consists of like a
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: lot of soups and noodle dishes and all that. But, um,
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: one that I really, what are you giving me a
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: side eye for? That's, that's a real thing.
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: A place where you come out stinking like the food,
• 34:08
  Speaker 5: the smoke's flying in your face.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: The real deal. I don't want some old school.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: Okay. You know what?
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: I'm going to give a hot take as a Korean person.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: Like, going to a Korean barbecue place and cooking your
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: own meat that's not marinated isn't really the most authentic
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: Korean thing there is. It's really like you're eating it
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: with the banchan, which is the side dishes of the
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: kimchi or the spicy cucumber, or matching it with some
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: noodles or a hot soup. That's what the essence of
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: Korean food, Korean barbecue is. But I will say, There's
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: a place that is in Barden Grove, and they just
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: opened one up in Fullerton, I believe, a couple years ago.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: It's called Morongok. I know it's funny. It's ironic because
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: it says it's a moron, but it's Morongok. That's probably
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: one of my favorite Korean places to go to. They
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: have the best cold noodles and spicy cold noodles, and
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: you pair that up with some marinated short rib or
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: some thin brisket. It's the best for me, and that's
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: probably the thing that I miss the most over the
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: course of the season.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: Well, Mark, maybe we can procure our first local Halo
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: territory sponsor.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: The lines are always out the door at these places.
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: They last forever. You've got to get there at like
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: 2.30 for dinner. They're very crowded.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: I will say this. It's like Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: Remember that? Yeah, lines, three-hour wait.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: And, Hank, welcome to the world of victimhood of Mark
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: Trumbo's side-eyes.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: I get at least two or three a week, and, yeah,
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: they are vicious. That's how you know.
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: That you made it.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: That's how you know that you made it. You guys,
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: don't worry. I had plenty of side-eye at-bats in the
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: minor leagues when I had some poor at-bats and I
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: was in the dugout, so Mark would give me plenty
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: of side-eyes.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: Stay with it, man.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, Hank Conger.
• 36:06
  Speaker 5: I know Joe joking at the end, but extremely educational.
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: Quite honestly, it seems like you're talking circles around me
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: as far as a lot of this stuff goes. And
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: it just shows how far the game has come. I mean, no, really,
• 36:19
  Speaker 5: like a lot of this stuff, you got to stay
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: fresh and you got to ask the questions and you're
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: doing that.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: So Kudos to you. I like the goatee as well.
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: We'll let Mike finish us off here.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: Well, Hank, great to catch up with you and talk
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: to you as usual. Hey, we really appreciate you guys
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: tuning in, watching us today on YouTube. Please like and subscribe,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: and we'll see you next time on Halo Territory.