Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Matt Holliday Talks Cardinals & Jackson's Demotion

Transcript

Matt Holliday Talks Cardinals & Jackson's Demotion · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  So how about these these Redbirds last weekend they get
• 0:04
  swept by the Brewers. Then they have their their
• 0:06
  biggest win of the season with the walk off.
• 0:09
  They follow that with a with an awful loss and you're just kind
• 0:12
  of wondering is this kind of like last year's team Then they
• 0:14
  respond really well, even the loss yesterday to the Mets.
• 0:19
  I I feel like this team, it is certainly different than than
• 0:22
  last year in many ways, but they they they seem to show a lot of
• 0:25
  fight this year, which is good to see.
• 0:27
  Yeah, I mean it's it's still, you know, early.
• 0:29
  You're still trying to figure out, you know, it's still like
• 0:33
  in that process where everybody's kind of figuring out
• 0:35
  roles and and you know how everything's going to look.
• 0:39
  But I have been encouraged. Obviously having a guy like
• 0:41
  Sonny Gray taking the ball every fifth day, you feel like you're
• 0:45
  going to win that game. And having an ace like that is
• 0:48
  always comforting because even though you may lose a couple
• 0:51
  games or you, you know you feel like you're you know maybe to
• 0:55
  have that guy take the ball every five days is always is
• 0:59
  always comforting you have that that horse And so I think that's
• 1:04
  definitely different this year and then and then I think the
• 1:06
  rotation is just better So and then you know obviously having
• 1:11
  Helsley healthy is is is is important because he wasn't a
• 1:15
  lot of time last year. But some of these offensive guys
• 1:19
  you know you just want to get him going.
• 1:20
  You know you want Jordan Walker to be a be the the force that
• 1:24
  that you know you know it can be and and you know obviously
• 1:28
  Goldie and and Nolan that you know you hope that the power
• 1:31
  numbers start as the weather gets warmer and the wind gets a
• 1:35
  little more hitter friendly and and you know the the the power
• 1:39
  starts to come around to where they start to score more runs
• 1:42
  and and bunches so but you know I I think they're hanging in
• 1:45
  right around 500 and and you know I did get a chance to watch
• 1:49
  Milwaukee when I was in Baltimore they played Milwaukee
• 1:52
  so I I was watching closely and and you know I think they have a
• 1:56
  good team. I know the Yankees just beat him
• 1:58
  up you know a couple games in a row.
• 1:59
  But you know I'm watching pretty close.
• 2:02
  It's going to be you know it's going to I I haven't seen, you
• 2:05
  know, some of the other, you know the Reds or you know maybe
• 2:09
  you know the other teams in the division.
• 2:10
  But I I do think Milwaukee's going to be a good team to the
• 2:12
  end. I love how you brought up Sonny
• 2:14
  Grey because he's pitching right now so well.
• 2:16
  It's like must watch television, to be honest with you.
• 2:20
  It's just it's almost aggravating though because you
• 2:23
  want more Sunny Grays in this game.
• 2:26
  I don't understand like you know why not have 3 sunny Grays in
• 2:30
  your rotation? Well, you know, I think that
• 2:34
  that's one of those things where he's figured out who he is as a
• 2:37
  pitcher and he's extremely competitive.
• 2:41
  I got a chance to play with him in New York and and that wasn't
• 2:44
  his brightest season. But in being around him and
• 2:49
  knowing like his bulldog mentality, like that's it's
• 2:52
  special. Like he's his stuff.
• 2:55
  You know to some degree if you just looked at in a vacuum might
• 2:58
  be you know I don't want to say ordinary but because you know
• 3:02
  you know he spins the ball incredibly but if you just you
• 3:05
  know sort of took his his velocity and and and some of
• 3:08
  that you would you would think well there's there's a lot of
• 3:10
  guys that can throw you know what he does but there's there's
• 3:14
  a there's a competitive spirit in in him that's that's special.
• 3:18
  I mean he's he's tough he's very, very particular he's very
• 3:23
  serious about his job. So there's there's there's
• 3:26
  something about him internally that that's hard to find And so
• 3:30
  yeah you would you you know you would love to have three or four
• 3:33
  of him. I mean I mean he's he's one of
• 3:34
  the best pitchers in the league. But I think sometimes when you
• 3:38
  when you look at guys and you say well he's not that big he's
• 3:41
  not that physical his stuff you know from the from you know just
• 3:46
  kind of a a a broader picture maybe doesn't look that you know
• 3:50
  top of the league it it's there's there's a lot more to it
• 3:54
  with him. So yeah I'm with you I I wish
• 3:57
  they had three Tony Gray's or four of them.
• 3:59
  But you know, I think some of those other guy, I think having
• 4:02
  Lance Lane around, I love his mentality.
• 4:05
  You know, I love Lance's intensity and and his, you know,
• 4:08
  his, you know, his will, you know, to be good.
• 4:13
  So I'm encouraged by the rotation.
• 4:15
  I've seen, you know, some other guys, you know show some, some
• 4:18
  good, good signs. But yeah, I mean, I'd love to
• 4:21
  have, like I said, a bunch of Sonny Grey's.
• 4:24
  Hey, I was telling a story that when I got traded here, my mom
• 4:27
  and dad would come watch me play live a lot.
• 4:29
  And, you know, and, you know, ninety 9998% of the time,
• 4:32
  everybody's pretty positive. But that one Jackass behind my
• 4:36
  dad would say a couple things and they would look at each
• 4:39
  other and be like, OK, enough's enough and then all of a sudden
• 4:42
  they wouldn't come watch me play live anymore.
• 4:44
  How do you handle that when you travel around watching the boys
• 4:47
  play? Like, can you just brush that
• 4:48
  off? Do you ignore people?
• 4:50
  Because it's it's it's not the majority, but it's maybe that
• 4:52
  one dude. Does that drive you nuts like it
• 4:54
  did my parents? I mean, you know, to this point,
• 4:57
  you know, I try to give off a presence that says if you say
• 5:01
  anything that I don't like, it could be a problem.
• 5:05
  You know, if you try to give that presence off, you know, I
• 5:07
  try to try to make sure they feel my presence.
• 5:11
  I'm just kidding, but, you know are.
• 5:14
  You. They do.
• 5:15
  Are you? You're a big dude.
• 5:16
  I. Oh yeah I am I it it does sting.
• 5:19
  Like you know people say stuff about me or you know it's it's I
• 5:23
  don't I don't really care but when they when they when they
• 5:25
  say stuff about your kids you know it it it it makes that you
• 5:29
  know I'm sure like your dad it makes that you know that that
• 5:33
  that rise up in your soul where you could you know you you it
• 5:37
  makes you want to you know fight people because they're your kids
• 5:40
  you know and you know how how how much work they put in and
• 5:43
  and how much effort and and you know how much it means to them
• 5:45
  And then you know people just pop up and throw a throw a
• 5:49
  flippant comment you know that that towards your kids and they
• 5:53
  never really know nothing. You know most of the time they
• 5:55
  don't know anything about the sport you hear the rest of their
• 5:57
  conversation and and you want to just tell them like you should
• 6:00
  just be quiet you know people don't know how dumb you really
• 6:04
  are. So I could see that I haven't
• 6:08
  had that experience just yet but I'm sure it's on the way you
• 6:10
  know and a lot of times you know games like and amateur games I
• 6:15
  can I can get down the line and kind of stand off by myself if I
• 6:19
  if I start to feel you know that.
• 6:22
  That uprising of people running their mouths.
• 6:25
  Who, who had the meanest fan base?
• 6:27
  Like playing in the outfield? We've got like, did they get on
• 6:30
  you out there? Yeah you know I think the the
• 6:34
  the Dodgers and the Giants mostly because you know being in
• 6:39
  in Colorado all those years you know you just felt like you
• 6:41
  played them all the time and and they're pretty harsh and and and
• 6:46
  those two fan bases in the outfield.
• 6:49
  But you know a lot of the you know the the Cubs you know you
• 6:52
  had some funny you had some people that actually had good
• 6:55
  good material and then you had the some of the dumb stuff and
• 6:58
  so but they were they were loud and and you know at times you
• 7:02
  know could get a could get a you know get you going a little bit
• 7:05
  and then but I I I think some of the ones that that I thought
• 7:11
  would be worse. You know I didn't think
• 7:13
  Philadelphia was as bad as you know I'd kind of expected going
• 7:16
  in I'd heard all the the things you know from the the Eagles and
• 7:19
  and you know sort of all the reputation of Philadelphia.
• 7:22
  I didn't really think it was that bad And then you know
• 7:25
  Boston I thought maybe and and the Yankees you know being East
• 7:29
  Coast and and never really felt you know that that much there
• 7:34
  either. So you know, I think that the
• 7:37
  times that I, I, I thought was, you know, I thought to myself,
• 7:40
  wow, that was that was really vulgar.
• 7:41
  We're mostly San Francisco and and and LA.
• 7:45
  So Matt Jackson obviously gets called up, struggles, gets sent
• 7:49
  down. What was your message or
• 7:51
  conversations with him like? And we're thinking, I mean, is
• 7:54
  this, is this maybe the first time he's ever really struggled
• 7:56
  in baseball in his life? Yeah, I mean, look, it's it's a
• 8:00
  hard game. You know, I think that you know
• 8:04
  he's 20 years old and and so sometimes just a perspective
• 8:07
  reminder of you know, hey you know you're 20 you've already
• 8:10
  played in the major leagues. You know you're you're you know
• 8:13
  it it you know you have to make adjustments I think really you
• 8:17
  know and just me on a on a look outside looking in he had gotten
• 8:21
  into a little bit of a kind of a a mechanical habit right before
• 8:25
  he got called up. So it was kind of a thing where
• 8:28
  you go in these cycles as hitters where your mechanics are
• 8:30
  are super good and and you're you're able to handle all the
• 8:34
  pitches and you're barreling balls and your outs are hard and
• 8:37
  everything is going you know really well.
• 8:39
  And then your mechanic slip and you know he's sliding forward a
• 8:42
  little bit and his and his mechanics have gotten off and
• 8:45
  and it almost simultaneously getting called up.
• 8:47
  And so you know then you know the the the Major League
• 8:50
  pitchers can expose your weaknesses you know on a nightly
• 8:54
  basis a lot a lot more effectively than than minor
• 8:57
  league pitchers and there's no soft landing spots.
• 8:59
  You know he his first I don't know several games with the two
• 9:04
  starters from Boston were both you know pitching really well.
• 9:07
  And then the two starts he got us against Milwaukee.
• 9:10
  One was you know Freddie and Peralta and and then the other
• 9:14
  one was was Re or Ray or however you say his name.
• 9:18
  Both are pitching really well. So you know if your mechanics
• 9:22
  aren't tight and you're facing some of the best pitches in the
• 9:25
  league it it, you know it can get sideways in a hurry.
• 9:27
  But it is it is probably the first time where he's had an I
• 9:31
  mean he's had a few you know one for for twelves in the minor
• 9:34
  leagues but this probably the the first extended slump he's
• 9:37
  had in baseball in his life and and he's handled it really well
• 9:40
  I'm I mean I'm really proud of of who he is as a person and how
• 9:44
  he deals with with struggle and and so it's been it's been it's
• 9:49
  been good just to walk him through help help in any way I
• 9:52
  can walk him through you know hey this is part of the deal.
• 9:56
  I mean you know just it is what it is Everybody who struggled
• 9:59
  you know and it did has played baseball struggles and and you
• 10:03
  know it's like people say in in baseball there's those that are
• 10:06
  humble and those that are about to be and that's just the way it
• 10:09
  is when when when you're trying to trying to hit a baseball.
• 10:13
  And Speaking of mechanics, anything you're seeing from
• 10:16
  Nolan Arenado or Paul Goldschmidt?
• 10:19
  We've seen, you know, Goldie's struggling with sliders, the
• 10:22
  Cardinals as a whole struggle against high V low.
• 10:25
  And then you're also kind of hearing about Nolan Arenado.
• 10:29
  He's getting on base, but is he trying to maybe change his swing
• 10:31
  and not pull the ball enough when that's kind of been his
• 10:34
  bread and butter and he's got one Homer right now?
• 10:37
  Yeah, you know, I think the the the thing about those guys is
• 10:42
  they know themselves really well.
• 10:44
  It's just hard. Hold on just a second.
• 10:48
  You're good. Take care of them dogs.
• 10:50
  Them doggies. Yeah, yeah.
• 10:54
  You know, when you talk about, you know, Nolan, he's always
• 10:58
  thinking about a swing and he's always like he's he's probably
• 11:02
  in his living room, you know, at night, like taking dry hacks,
• 11:05
  trying to figure it out. And so these these guys are are,
• 11:10
  you know, they're the best of the best for a reason.
• 11:13
  So I'm confident that they'll figure out whatever mechanical
• 11:16
  issues they've got going on. But you know it's one of those
• 11:20
  things that the league is like I was talking about with Jackson,
• 11:22
  like the league is is that right now I think, you know the
• 11:25
  pitching the velocity is up higher than it's ever been and
• 11:29
  they're actually throwing more off speed pitches maybe than
• 11:31
  they ever have. And so it's it's it's a
• 11:34
  difficult time. I I think as the like I said
• 11:38
  earlier as the weather gets warmer the pitchers stuff kind
• 11:41
  of backs up a tick. You know they all come out to be
• 11:44
  start the season guns a blazing and and all their velocities and
• 11:47
  all their pitches are super sharp.
• 11:50
  So I think I think as the summer goes on and and they get more
• 11:52
  innings under their belt the pitching will will back up just
• 11:56
  a tick and so I I expect obviously more production out of
• 11:59
  those two guys in particular but it's always a grind man.
• 12:02
  I mean I think you know as as hitters you're always thinking
• 12:05
  about your mechanics and and you try not to and and you try to.
• 12:09
  You know you watch old video of when you were killing it and you
• 12:11
  say OK, what was I doing different.
• 12:13
  And you try to figure out just a little what's something little
• 12:17
  subtle that that might unlock my power or might get me back
• 12:21
  hitting the ball all over the field instead of being sort of
• 12:24
  out and around the ball and maybe pulling the ball too much.
• 12:27
  Or, you know, it's just it's such a fine line because like
• 12:30
  you said, Nolan has been really good at pulling the ball for
• 12:33
  homers, an extra base hits. But if you're constantly, you
• 12:36
  know, thinking about pulling it, it can create some really bad
• 12:40
  habits that make you on the ground to the full side way too
• 12:43
  often. So you have to be able to still
• 12:45
  get your hits and and stay on balls that are moving away from
• 12:48
  you and hit them the other way. So people say, well, pulling the
• 12:52
  ball in the air is the most, you know, slug.
• 12:55
  Well, we all know that. But you can't build your swing
• 12:58
  to the pool side in the air. Like it's, you know, it's, it's
• 13:02
  just not how it works. Like you have to keep the bat
• 13:04
  and the strike zone for a long time and be able to, you know,
• 13:08
  use the whole field. If the guy throws you sliders
• 13:10
  down the way, you can't pull them in the air.
• 13:13
  So that's that's one of those things where you know, we're
• 13:15
  always, you know, hitters thinking about, you know, how do
• 13:18
  I do this and how do I get to this result.
• 13:20
  And you have to have a really good approach.
• 13:22
  And sometimes our approach gets out of whack 'cause we chase the
• 13:25
  result. I'm.
• 13:27
  I get you, man. Hey, great insight as usual,
• 13:29
  Maddie. We appreciate it, dude.
• 13:31
  All right. Good to.
• 13:32
  Good to hear from the couple of the new guys I know.
• 13:34
  Yeah. We miss them too.
• 13:36
  Old guys we. Miss them too it.
• 13:39
  Was a much better show without Jim.
• 13:40
  I agree. Yeah.
• 13:41
  I don't want to say it, but you did so.
• 13:44
  Less interruptions. Less coughing.
• 13:46
  That's a. Lot of things.
• 13:47
  Less dumb questions. Yeah, that's right.
• 13:50
  All right, Maddie. Be cool, buddy.
• 13:51
  We'll talk next week. Right on.
• 13:52
  See you. Maddie Holiday, right there,
• 13:54
  live from Oklahoma, doing his thing.
• 13:57
  Dodging tornadoes. He's, He's.
• 13:59
  The best he's the. Baseball savant, Dude, I.
• 14:01
  Like he's the greatest he's. The cool guy.
• 14:02
  I told you he called. I knew he would do that, dude.
• 14:05
  You know, I think it's cool too. So imagine you, you are the dad,
• 14:08
  your kid is playing in the big leagues for the first time.
• 14:11
  So you have the emotions of parenting.
• 14:14
  But also, you know he's watching that swing, right?
• 14:17
  Like he's not just enjoying the moment as a dad.
• 14:19
  He's also technically can can let him know if he's falling out
• 14:23
  of whack a little bit, yeah. He's like the de facto hitting
• 14:26
  coach and you. Don't even need to know the game
• 14:28
  to know your kid, too. Like, you know, like, even I
• 14:31
  always bring it back to my parents.
• 14:32
  Like my dad knew when I wasn't doing things right.
• 14:34
  He's not going to tell me, hey, get the puck off the wall this
• 14:36
  way. But he just knows that I didn't
• 14:38
  do it the right way or whatever the case is.
• 14:39
  So you're doing both. You're evaluating your kid.
• 14:42
  You know you're happy to be there, but you're kind of
• 14:44
  coaching yet. Being a father, trying to enjoy
• 14:47
  the moment. There's a lot going on, dude.
• 14:49
  A lot. Going on 100% and I will say
• 14:50
  this, I I would think though that Matt Holiday is probably a
• 14:55
  better hitting coach than a lot of the big league hitting
• 14:57
  coaches. That's what I mean by that
• 14:58
  specifically. I think he's AI know I said this
• 15:01
  once he didn't like the term guru, but he is a swing doctor.
• 15:04
  Like there's a reason MLB players go to his facility in
• 15:08
  the offseason to work with him. The Swing Doctor.
• 15:10
  I like it.