Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Matt Adams Talks Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II Demotion, Fan Energy

Transcript

Matt Adams Talks Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II Demotion, Fan Energy · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Jim Hayes with Big City, one of our favorites, Matt
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Adams is our guests.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Matt, how you doing doing great? Jim, thanks for having
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: me on.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Always a play for you.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: We love talking a big City.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: So as it stands right now, the Cardinals have won
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: six in or other they're playing today. They're nine games
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: over five hundred. So they had a little turmoil, they
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: had a little skit, and they bounced back in a
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: big way, won a couple games in the Big Apple.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: We'll see if they get the sweet but they're red
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: hot when you look at what they've done so far
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: to this point. Still a lot of baseball to play.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: What is the biggest surprise about the Cardinals in your view?
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, My view with them is exactly what you just said.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Their ability to bounce back after a tough stretch, coming
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: back sweeping the Reds now they're on the verge of
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: having a chance to sweep the Mets, which is a
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: solid team. I just love the way they're playing the game.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: They're playing the game the right way, taking care of
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: the baseball on defense, and their offense is surprisingly you know,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: pushing runs across the plate. So I'm very, very excited
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: about this team. And like you said, Jim, there's a
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: lot of baseball left to play. But this young team,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: they're they're hungry, they're driven, and you know Ali's got
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: them prepared and and they're playing the game the right way.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: This is kind of why we need to have other
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: people besides Lancelin and Kyle Gibson on because they would
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: say it's the pitching. It's always a pitching. They're kind
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: of right though. To me, the biggest question mark about
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: this ball club and I agree with you everything you said,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: but my biggest question mark was would the starting rotation
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: be able to hold up? Because, right, you have guys
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: going from bullpen to starting rotation like Kyle Lahey you
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: have got it, like Libby trying to put in a
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: full full season as a starter. You have guys like
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: uh like May bouncing back from injury. So all of
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: a sudden, you wonder, will this guy hold up? Can
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: that guy hold up? We all know that the talent's
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: in there, but can they do it for a full season.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: We're not at a full season yet, but we've seen
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: starting rotations with veterans breakdown at this point in the
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: season and suddenly got three on the on the I
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: l these guys have not only been healthy, but these
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: guys have been really solid. Don't you agree with that?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree with that.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, watching May's first few starts were
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: a little little rocky, but he's a better who's a
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: veteran on that team. He knows how what he's got
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: to do to get himself prepared and bounce back from
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: those first couple of starts, and and and now he's
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: getting the run support. His stuff's electric. He got a
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Hunter Dobbins going today, which is is cool to see him.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: You know. Then move the six man rotation. I love
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the rotation.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: I love the way that the guy is and I
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: think Libby touched on it, you know, a few days ago.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: He's never been this excited that cheer on the other
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: four guys going out there and you know, grabbing the
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: ball and starting.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: So you got it.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: You got a rotation that is fully back in one
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: another and wanting to see their best stuff night in
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: and night out. So I'm super pumped with the way
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: the rotation's going, and and with them being young they
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: they're taking care of their bodies, they're taking care of
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: their arms, and I believe that this consistency is going
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: to carry throughout the full course of the season.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Young guy like McGreevy also looking to do it for
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a full season. He seems to be fine. He seems
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: to be like to me, he looks like he's in
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: it for the long haul. He's been that good. And
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the thing with May he had two rough starts too,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: two to start the season, and since then and since
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: then he said, I just got to get a heading counts.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Getting the heading counts. He's been doing that and as
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: you mentioned, his stuff is electric. The thing that I
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: disagree with you about the Mets now when healthy, When healthy,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: they might be a solid team. They're dealing with right
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: some big injuries, there's no question. But you look at
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: a ball club that has a payroll in excess of
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: two hundred million dollars, and I look at him and look,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the record will back me up, and I think most
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Met fans would agree they are not so good right now?
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Right Yeah, Like you know, you called me out on
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: on on my statement, and rightfully so, no, I agree
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: with you one thousand percent. I think when you have
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: a payroll like that, there's so many superstars on that
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: team that all they seem to care about is themselves.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: When you have that big payroll, you have a lot
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: of me, me, me. When in this game, it's got
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: to be you know, you got to be looking out
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: for the team, got be looking out you know what
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: I what can I do to help this team win
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: on a nightly basis? And that's what's so cool about
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: this Cardinals team is they're doing that. They're they're playing
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: baseball unselfishly and they're going about it the right way.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: And that's why they're taking care of the Mets the
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: way that they have it at home. And then you know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: now on the road in New.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: York, Crouch, you know, I travel all the time, and
• 5:24
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• 5:27
  Speaker 4: MLB games.
• 5:28
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• 5:32
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• 5:35
  Speaker 5: in my area. I'm gonna look for an Orioles game.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna look for the Phillies game, the Mets game,
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: the Yankees game. But you know what else is coming up?
• 5:42
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• 5:46
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• 5:48
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• 5:50
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• 5:59
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• 6:19
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• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I watched the Cardinals and I see energy and young
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: guys who believe in themselves. Didn't listen at the start
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: of the season where everyone's like they're going to be
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: a sub five hundred team. I stipulate a lot of
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: baseball left to play, but so far, the Cardinals look
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: like they're in it.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: To win it.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: One of the things about the offense where I totally
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: agree is the offense. I mean, I didn't think this
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: team would be a home run hitting team. Sometimes they'll
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: out slug you, sometimes they'll just wait for the key
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: base hit. But the offense has been pretty consistent. And
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: as someone else put it, you put Jordan Walker in
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the middle of a line, any offense is going to shine.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: So you look at what Walker is doing right now,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: nine to twenty six ops, three zero three batting average,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: seventeen homers, and to me, outside of any stats or numbers,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: it's what I see. He hits everything hard and he's
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: totally confident. He went through that one stretch where he
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: struck out a bunch of times and it didn't look
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: like he was lost. It looked like he was mad
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: at himself, which I thought was a good sign. When
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: you see Jordan Walker and what he's doing, what's the
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: most impressive thing to you?
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: One word comes to mind, and that's confidence. I think
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: he's playing the game on both sides. In the ball
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: in the box, in right field, he's playing the game
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: with total confidence and believing in himself that he's the
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: better player on that field, whether it's in the box
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: against pitchers or he's in the affleute. He wants the
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: ball hit to him. He's like, Okay, I'm going to
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: show you that I can go get.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: The ball and I can you know, I can throw
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: your butt out.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: I just I think he's playing with a ton of
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: confidence and he just loves He's having a lot of
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: fun playing this game right now. And you know, he's
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: on pace to be the first Cardinal ever to do it,
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: have a thirty thirty season. So I like, I'm super
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: pumped with the way that that he's playing the game.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: And like you said, Jim, he had that little rough
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: stretch where he was, you know, this swing looked like
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: it was a little out of whack, maybe swinging too hard,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: strengthening out a lot, but he got himself back to where,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: you know, the Jordan Walker that we're seeing on a
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: consistent basis that three zero three average the homers, and
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: and the cool thing about it, it's faulful to foulful.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: He's not just straight pull in pull mode. He's taken
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: what the pitchers are getting him, and he's he's driving
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: the ball, especially.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: The ball down.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: I you know one homer that sticks out to me
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: is I believe it was a change up down maybe
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: a tick under the zone, and he drove it out
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: to the big part of the field, dead center field.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: So I like, I just.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Love the way that that, you know, what his game
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: has evolved to this year, and he's just playing with
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: a lot of confidence.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: And he's fast, as you point out, he's got ten
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: stolen bases. I mean, he can fly. And the thing
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: that really gets me about him is even when he
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: hits a grounder, he hits it so hard that it's gonna.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Find a hole.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: It's like he's not an average player. He will smoke
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: a ball on the ground that to someone else might
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: be a routine play. And that's the benefit of barreling
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: things and the power that he has well.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: And I think, to me, like what I what I
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: see with him doing this year compared to some years
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: in the you know.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Years past.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: He's cutting down, you know, his his swing speed a
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: little bit and and you know, the numbers may may
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: not back me up on this, but what it looks
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: like when I watch the games, either live at Bush
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Stadium or on TV, it just looks like he's more
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: you know, in tune with his mindset of just whyt
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: to get the bat to the ball, so he he
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: wants to make contact and he's you know, like I
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: said earlier, he's just taking what the pictures are getting.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: He's not trying to do too much. And he's a
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: super strong kid. Where you know, if the pitcher leaves
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: that ball out.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: With the big part of the play, he's gonna he's
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: gonna do some damage.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: So that brings us to our Daly Dinger pick brought
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: to you by Fan Duel.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Head over over tofanduel dot com slash podcast to get
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: in on the fund swiping for the fences. With FanDuel,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: they are an official partner of Major League Baseball. I
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: love the post production stuff that they throw in there.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: My pick is gonna be Jordan Walker.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Why not?
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I the right he left, he doesn't matter. He's just
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: crushing baseballs. I always put on Twitter. He hates baseballs.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: He plays like he hates baseballs because he punishes them.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Who's your pick?
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: I'm going with Burley Biscuits. I think he's going to
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: drive the ball to the big Appleen right there in
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: center field at Cityfield.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: So I'm I'm going with Burley.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: You know, Burley is to me a complete hitter. They
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: look at the numbers, he's in two ninety one. I
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: think that's like twenty points over his career average. He's
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: got nine homers. But here's the thing about Burley three
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: fifty seven with runners in scoring position. That guy is
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a tough out with guys on base. When you were playing,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: did you change your approach at all when they were
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: runners in scoring position.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't necessarily say I changed my approach. I just
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: had it in the back of the mind, back of
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: my mind where if it was a runner on second
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: base less than two outs, I was, I was, I
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: wanted to get a good pitch where I can get
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: my job done and get that guy to third base
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: so that way the get the guy behind me could.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Drive him in.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: And more times than not, if I got that pitch
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: and my mindset was, you know, stayed a big part
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: of the field up the middle gap to gap that
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: I was, I was getting a hit and I was
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: driving that guy. I was not only getting them over,
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: but I was getting them in as well. And I
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: think that's what Burley does such a good job of,
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: is he can go down the third base line if
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: it's a tough pitch away from him, or you know,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: if a pitcher tries to come in. He's so tight
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: and connected with that swing on the inside pitcher, on
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: the inside part of the plate where he's gonna drive
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: that ball. So I think I think his mindset, his approach.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: I don't think he changed. I think he takes chances
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: early on in the count oh count, one oh two,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: oh count, and then once he gets, you know, to
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: those two strips, I think he shortens up a little
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: bit and he just wants to put the ball.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: On what.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: And you bring up a good point because Burley uses
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the whole field.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I mean he'll go the other way.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: You were that way. But Burley, he's a big guy,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: right and he doesn't look like a finesse player. I
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: think you had some of this too. Don't you think
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: people tend to label the big guys who will, in
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: total honesty, look like they could be softball players. Don't
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: you think that people label them as like all or
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: nothing gunning for Homer guys. You weren't that way, neither
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: is Burley.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: No. I I do believe that, you know, if you're.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: A bigger guy, you're gonna get labeled as, you know,
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: an all or noth any guy because they think that
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: you can't, you know, you don't want to just hit
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: singles because they don't expect you.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: To steal bases.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: But if you stay gap to gap in that mindset,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: you're gonna drive the ball, You're gonna hit doubles, you're
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: gonna you know, every once in a while. I remember
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: one year that I was playing, I had six triples
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: and and and in mind you it was because the
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: outfielders either doe for balls or they ran into the
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: outfield fence and the ball got away and took me
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: a little extra time to get the third base, and
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: I need the oxygen tain once.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: I got there.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: But uh no, I think I think as long as
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: he sticks with that mindset of staying gap to gap
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: and you know, taking what the pitcher gives him, he's
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: gonna be just fine. He is not an all or
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: nothing guy, and he's showing it year after year after year.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: That's why that's why he won a silver Stutter last year.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: You're not you're not an all or nothing guy, and
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: you're able to You're able to win a silver Stutter.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: If if I had to get so now I've said
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: this before on this on this podcast, I think he's
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: gonna win a golblove at first base. I don't know
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: how closely you watch it, but sometimes people tend to
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: discount the importance of defense at first base. But he
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: picks everything at first base. He knows where to throw
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: the ball. He didn't always play first base. Heck, he
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: was a pitcher too in college. That guy can do
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: a lot defensively. I think that might get overlooked.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: He's just he's a well rounded baseball player.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: He does it on both sides of the ball, like
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: you know, like we said about you know.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Jordan Walker.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: But but he's smooth over there. I was always, you know,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: envious of left handed first basements because I just I
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: think they're smoother than right handers. And uh and and
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Burley is that he's smooth over there. He's got good hands.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: He works down below the ball, and he gets through
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: the ball. When he's picking the ball, he to me,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: it always looks like he is anticipating a bad throw.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: And as a first baseman, when you get to the bag,
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: you always if you're in anticipating a bath throw, you're
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: gonna you're gonna be in a good.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Position to you know, to help your infers out. And
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: he goes into the hole into the four hole. When
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: JJ's pushed over a little bit. He does a great job.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: That's got good range. I think he's a well rounder player.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: We're we're both fans. We're gonna take a quick break.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Here break here, You're watching Cardinal Territory on the Foul
• 15:37
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• 15:54
  Speaker 1: So as the Cardinals continue to surge, Victor Scott the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: second Matt, as you know, was a sent to Memphis,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: a sort of reset. We've all seen the flashes of
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: what he can do. Certainly as a young guy. I
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: think one day he will be a weapon at the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: major league level. But it's a reset.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: If I think back to your career, I think once
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: you were up, you stayed of. But what do you
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: think it's like for a young guy who has been
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: a and had some struggles. Obviously they're trying to work
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: with his swing a little bit because we've seen the
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: impact he can have on games. What do you think
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the mentality of a young guy going down it can't
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: feel good, especially when you've done some really good things
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: at the big league level, as Victor has done.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I believe that he's probably frustrated at
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: himself for struggling a little bit the way that he has.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: But I think he's such a good minded baseball player
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: where he's well above his years in that regard where
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: he knows the task at hand. He knows that he's
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: got to go down to Memphis, he's going to get
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: every day at bats. You know, there's there's not gonna
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: be a lot of pressure on him down there, and
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: he can work. He can he like you said, Jim,
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: he can reset his mindset, his approach and get back
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: to being the Victor Scott that made you know, you know,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: made him be the everyday center fielder for the Cardinals.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: And I think the biggest thing is is to not
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: lose sight of that, that goal of being the everyday
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: center fielder for the Cardinals, even though that you just
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: got sent down, because the team still believes in him.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: So if he goes down there in Memphis with that confidence,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: knowing that the team still believes in him that there
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: is a spot on this roster for him. Once he
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: shows them that he's kind of done what they've asked
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: him to do down in Memphis, then he's going to
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: be back up there and he's going to be just
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: fine because he does impact games both defensively in centerfield
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: and at the plate. You know, he can he can
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: lay the pun down he gets on base, he can
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: still second, he can still third, and then you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: before you know, he's touching home plate and runs across
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: the board. So I think the biggest thing for him
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: is just go down there in Memphis, play game that
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: he knows how to play, and you know, work on
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: some things, fine tunes and things, and he's going to
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: be back up before everybody knows it.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: It's not easy. So you make the big leagues, right,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: even if you have some some short term success right
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: out of the gate, especially baseball the way it is today,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: everybody is going to get a book on you and
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: they're adjusting to you, and you have to adjust back,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and then they're adjusting to your adjustments. What do you
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: remember about your first taste of the bigs and the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: struggle to sort of find your lane.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's exactly it.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: You know that, you know, even even if you have
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: one or two days in the big leagues, there's going
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: to be a book out on you on you know,
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: what you do offensively, how you play defensively.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: So you have it's a game of adjustments.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: You got to be able to, you know, make adjustments
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: pitch to pitch because that's what those pitchers are doing.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: And you know, on the defensive side, if you're not
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: making adjustments, if you're not working your butt off to
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: improve defensively, the ball will find you and it will
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: expose you. So yeah, I think the biggest thing was
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: is just going in with a plan, having a mindset
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: that hey, like you know, yesterday's in the past and
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: today's a new day where I have to, you know,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: depending on what that picture is going to try to
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: do to get me out. I have to make adjustments
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: based on give his game plan, and I have to
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: develop a game plan, and that game plan you may
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: have you know, two or three different game plans where
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: you know, you step up there to the box and
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: you know, game plan A, he deters from that you
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: have to go to play and B plan C. So
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: it's just the biggest thing is just understanding that it's
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: you know, adjustments pitch to pitch, and that's going to
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: help you out tremendously.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: When you first got to the bigs and you were
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. How much did the hitting
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: coach at the time help you. I can remember who
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that was and how much the leadership support system maybe
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: college coach or you know, a personal coach that how
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: do you navigate that at least how did.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: You in your case? Yeah?
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: For me, you know, my my first big league hitting
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: coach was was Mark McGuire. So being able to lean
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: on that guy, you know, pick his brain. He was
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: a big power hitter, even though he was right handed,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: he had a great he had great you know insights
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: to how pictures were gonna attack me, even though that
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: I was a rookie. So leaning on him was huge.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: But also leaning on my teammates John Jay, Daniel Descalzo,
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: David Freeze, even Yati Skip Schumacher. Having guys like that
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: around me, where I could you know, pull up some
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: video if they were in the video room and be like, hey,
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: what do you think about this? What do you think
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: you think this picture is gonna go with this? Picture
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: or another pitch, and having having those guys to bounce
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: some ideas off, you know, kind of helped me understand
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: how how to game plan, how to do my homework,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: how to watch video at the big league level, was
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: huge for my career.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Last thing, so the Cardinals, you know, over the last
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: couple of years, kind of let down the fan base.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Some of the fans were like, we're not showing up
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: and it seems like a whole new ballgame now. So
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: heind takes over. I think he's been great about reaching
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: out to fans, to media, being real transparent with everything
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: he's trying to do. So they beefed up an additional
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: coaching staff. They change the energy. I think all these
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: have been great at that as well. And they got
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the tarks off guys in the outfield, in the you know,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: in the in the stands, trying to pump up the energy.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: And it does feel different now. Part of that is
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: you got a young team with a great attitude in
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: their nine games over five hundred. But you live in
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Saint Louis. You chose to stay here. You're a guy
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: about town. Do you sense that the fans are coming back?
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, you know, there's this team.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: They got the fan base back, you know, and it
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: started off of him.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: He hein's done a great job.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: I've done you know, a handful of events down a
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: stadium where you know him kicked off in the events
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: and spoke to to the fans that were in attendance,
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: and and they're all loving him. They're loving what he's doing.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: He's a great baseball mine. He's you know, he's a
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: breadth of fresh air for the organization. And he's he's willing,
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: like you said, Jim, he's he's transparent. He's not trying
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: to hide anything. He's letting the fans know what he's thinking,
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: what he wants to do for the organization. And he
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: wants he wants playoff baseball to be back here in
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: Saint Louis, as does everybody, as does a fan base.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: So I think I think it's off to a great start.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: And the tarts Off section that I mean, that helps tremendously.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: That that's energy that you know, you know, once you
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: step foot out on the bushfield, you got those that
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: section rocking in right field, in the in the bleachers
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: doing the rule call. You got the the guys celebrating
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: whether they get a single double or they hit a
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: home run, they're singing into that, you know, that group
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: of people out there and in the right field bleachers
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: you're waving, the waving the shirts.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: I love the energy around the town, around town, and
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: I think it's here to stay for sure.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: All right, just so I get a commitment from you,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: next time you're at the ballpark, right text me and
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: then we will take the cameras with you as you
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: go out. Will you go tarps off with the boys,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and we'll put.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: It out TV.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: My thing and I'm putting it out in the you know,
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: trying to manifest it. Talking with some people at Anheuser
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: Bush how they how they've done kind of the toast
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: before the game. I want to I want to get
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: down on the Cardinals dugout and do the toast, crack
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: of Budweiser, take a sip, and then do the tarps
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: off from Cardinals dugout.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: I think that I think that gets place rocking.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: That's wait, so you're talking to people now about making
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: that happen. That's breaking news.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: I'm putting it out there in the universe. Let's let's
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: let's come up with a date where I can uh,
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: I could do this, either that or I'll go out
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: and tarps off section get the crowd going.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Let's see, let's give a little give.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: Me a little bit of time to work on my figure.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: I want to make sure I look good when taking
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: the shirt.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Off to wave it around, so well, you look much
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: better than me at any rate. Hey, Big City, always
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: a pleasure catching up with you. Thanks for the chat.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for this edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: We'll see you for the next episode and hopefully that
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: one won't suck.