Latest / The Layback Podcast / Jacob Kmatz, Tampa Bay Rays MiLB Pitcher (Ep. 55)

Transcript

Jacob Kmatz, Tampa Bay Rays MiLB Pitcher (Ep. 55) · The Layback Podcast

0:00
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Lay Back podcast.
0:02
Joining us today is fifth rounder to the Rays right-handed
0:07
pitcher, Oregon State alum, Albuquerque native Jacob Kamats.
0:12
We got connected with Kamats. Gosh, I don't know if it's
0:15
technically through Oregon State and what we do there with the
0:19
Bees or if it's through Campos and everything he's doing with
0:23
Albuquerque Baseball Academy. But I guess we just kind of hit
0:26
you from both sides and you had no choice but to pick up a Flex
0:30
Pro Grip device and just start at some point.
0:33
But anyways, Jacob, thanks for coming on today and really
0:36
looking forward to getting into this conversation.
0:38
Yeah, I'm excited to talk some shop.
0:41
I guess also kind of following suit with some of the other guys
0:45
that were just bombarded by flex pro grip, whether it was through
0:48
college or Campos, your partner in crime to an extent.
0:52
Aiden May you're following him up.
0:54
I know you'll offer a better performance.
0:56
You, you had to do that constantly during this past
0:59
college season, right? You just had to pick up his slop
1:02
on a Friday and just all the time down their throats on
1:04
Saturday. All the time he'd go out there
1:06
and punch out 14 and I'd have to try and one up him and get 15,
1:09
but that never happened. And then also now probably in a
1:16
tougher spot rather than you trying to follow up Aidan May
1:19
Friday to Saturday. Is your brother trying to wear
1:22
comats across the back of his jersey at Oregon State now?
1:26
Yeah, no, it's actually kind of cool.
1:27
And they gave him the same number, so he's just got the
1:31
same jersey, I guess. But he's been shoving and he
1:34
threw on Tuesday against Wazoo and threw well, so he's looking
1:38
good. I'm excited to see kind of the
1:40
rest of the season for him. Heck yeah.
1:42
So well, you just brought up Wazoo on Tuesday and I
1:46
completely forgot about that because I saw that when I was
1:48
going through Twitter and baseball schedules the other
1:51
day. Wazoo and Oregon State, man,
1:53
what it what's going on here? Why is a PAC 12 game and it's
1:57
still the PAC 12 to me? Why is the PAC 12 game being
2:00
played on a Tuesday? And also, just what the hell is
2:03
going on with like conferences in Oregon State now?
2:07
I know, it's so weird. I was actually, I was on the
2:09
phone with Door probably a week ago and I was like, you got the
2:11
PAC 2 Championship coming up this week and so they got a
2:14
double, double header I guess Tuesday, Wednesday and then I
2:17
think down the road they play at Wazoo for a couple mid weeks
2:21
too. But it's bizarre and I don't
2:23
know it, it's crazy. I was salty about it last year
2:26
when we were playing. I mean, it was, it is what it
2:29
is. He just kind of, I think they're
2:31
handling it well and doing what they can with it.
2:34
So they're just not in a conference right now,
2:36
technically. Right, right.
2:38
They're just independent ball and they're going all around.
2:41
I think they opened out in surprise and then they went to
2:43
Round Rock, TX played a few good teams there, went to Arlington,
2:47
played a few good teams, went home, they played San Diego.
2:50
They play a bunch of the West Coast Conference.
2:52
I know they play some Big 10 schools that obviously play at
2:54
Oregon. They go to Hawaii, which is
2:57
cool. Never got to do that.
2:58
I don't think they've got a good schedule.
3:00
A lot of Rd. games which win those.
3:02
Your RP is looking at a good spot.
3:04
Yeah, pros and cons, I guess. Exactly.
3:06
They're going on some awesome trips, but you constantly got
3:09
the chance to hoist a trophy. Yeah, I mean, maybe, maybe they
3:13
will. I don't know.
3:14
They're they're nasty this year. They.
3:16
They've got some big time arms in on the bump in the pen.
3:21
I mean how many dudes are throwing 95 plus there I.
3:24
Know it. It's actually, I mean, I don't
3:27
even know. I don't know.
3:28
The question is who's not throwing 95 there?
3:31
Honestly, I don't know. They're looking good, It's
3:33
exciting. I think I saw something after
3:36
the first like four games of the season, maybe 11 pitchers had
3:40
thrown and eight of them hit something 94 or higher.
3:44
Yeah, yeah, it's nuts. It's cool.
3:47
I mean, it's a testament to the work that they put in there too,
3:49
'cause you've got guys that I played with last year there that
3:52
were 8992 guys and now they're touching fives and sixes and
3:57
it's like that's some real work like right there.
4:01
And some awesome stuff happening on that Oregon State as well,
4:04
building out the Dam Analytics apartment that is not DAM with
4:08
an N that is DAM. Yes, they're the Beavers.
4:11
It's a really good pun. Everybody smile when you hear
4:14
that. Hopefully that that in the
4:16
pitching lab. Yeah, no, it's because they got
4:19
that that big hitting facility out in center field and got a
4:23
few weight room racks in there. I think they have a couple I
4:25
pitch machines. I think it would be cool to step
4:27
in and see what it looks like, but I'm also a little scared.
4:30
And then some good conditioning spots and then they they
4:33
transform the old hitting cages with McKay pass left field into
4:38
a pitching lab. And Aiden and I went up there in
4:42
the fall in October to go see Zach and do some football game
4:45
stuff. We were able to see the
4:46
beginning parts of it, but seen some of the pictures and videos
4:50
that door sent us. It's, it looks like it's a, it's
4:53
going to be a, an arm factory for the next, I don't know
4:57
however long they got it going. Not that Oregon State already
5:01
hasn't been an arm factory, It's just going to be more so.
5:04
Yes, everybody's sitting 100 and has 15K per nines.
5:10
Yes, yeah, throw in the most insane brakes you've ever seen.
5:13
20 inch carry heaters, 22 horizontal sinkers.
5:19
Yeah, All right, well, we got some of the joking out of the
5:22
way. Talked about Oregon State.
5:24
I still think it's comical that your brother's in the same
5:27
uniform. Major shout out to all the EQ
5:30
managers out there. But also I, I'm sure they were
5:33
like, perfect. We can save about 20 minutes
5:36
unstitching this name and just leave it here because we know
5:39
he's coming next year. Yeah, yes, I'd be lying if that
5:43
thought didn't cross my mind. Perfect.
5:45
And you guys are roughly the same build, I'm assuming, so you
5:49
know, you're from the same family.
5:51
Yeah. So yeah, just that easy.
5:54
Like here, here's your XL jersey.
5:56
Just keep it. There we go.
5:58
He's making that thing look a little tighter than I did.
6:03
That's all right. He's got to chase your name down
6:04
in some record books. You, you've still got that.
6:08
But all right, let's step it back now.
6:10
Let's talk about the journey. So where everything got started
6:13
in Albuquerque, the baseball pathway for you, and not too
6:19
much of a question here, I'm just going to pass the keys,
6:21
take the car and drive. Yeah, so obviously born and
6:24
raised in Albuquerque and then growing up I played every sport.
6:27
I got into everything that I could and I just loved being
6:31
active and playing and whatever. And then when I got to high
6:34
school was really when I was, I guess 8th grade year was when I
6:38
started pitching. When I got to high school was
6:40
like, OK, if I really want to be good at this, I want to put all
6:43
my time into it. So I stopped playing football,
6:46
stopped playing basketball, went in there and just started
6:48
playing baseball. And 8th grade year was when I
6:50
joined a BAI, played for a few other teams, just kind of
6:53
friends growing up. And then went to ABA and started
6:57
with that, got in with, you know, Ryan Brewer, Mike Foot,
7:00
Kind of went from there and throughout the years it was just
7:03
playing with different travel teams and then started getting
7:07
some college looks. Freshman, sophomore year, junior
7:09
year went out to A tournament in Arizona.
7:12
Oregon State was there and they saw me.
7:15
And you know, that was I was a team that I really loved
7:18
watching ever since the 2018 on it 2017 when they were just had
7:22
that insane team that didn't end up winning in 2018.
7:24
They obviously won it. That was kind of my dream
7:27
baseball school. And when they came calling, I
7:29
was like, that's a no brainer to me.
7:31
But I obviously I got to sit back and be like, OK, is this
7:34
really the best choice? And I was like, I, I have this
7:36
opportunity, I'm going for it. So I went there and then the
7:40
next season COVID hit. I put on, I don't know, 15 to 20
7:44
lbs from that junior to senior year.
7:47
And then had my senior season, went to school, decided that's
7:50
what I wanted to do instead of playing pro ball.
7:53
And so went there and had a good freshman year.
7:56
I didn't know what I was doing. It was just, hey, you've got the
7:58
ball, go pitch. And I was like, all right, let's
8:01
do it. Like, I don't care.
8:03
It doesn't matter when or where I'm throwing.
8:05
I'm excited to throw. And so I had a good season and
8:07
then going into the next year, I had a few things I wanted to
8:10
change and could have led to what was going to happen in the
8:14
future. A little bit with UCL sprain,
8:17
ended up getting PRPI, kind of was dealing with that for the
8:21
whole season, I know for at least 7-8 weeks.
8:25
And it just kind of gradually got worse and worse and got to a
8:28
point where I was throwing 86 and didn't know where it was
8:32
going. I think I, that was the first
8:33
time in my life that I walked the bases loaded and walked in a
8:36
run and I was like, something's just not right and right.
8:41
And so got through 5 innings and I was never once asked like, how
8:46
do you feel? I was just always like, I'm just
8:48
going to keep pushing ahead. And I was asked like, OK, hey,
8:52
you don't look right. Like how are you?
8:54
I had to be honest. And I was like, I think
8:56
something's messed up. And so went through that and
9:00
then I missed the playoffs, which was tough.
9:04
I think that was that was the only time my college career that
9:06
I wasn't on the roster. And it was for the most
9:09
important time of the year. So that what that wasn't easy,
9:11
but got a lot of good learning moments from that.
9:14
And that kind of threw out there.
9:15
And then had last year felt like it was a good season, fun.
9:18
We had a great team, didn't get it done, but a lot of great,
9:22
great moments and then get drafted by the Rays.
9:24
And now I'm sitting in Port Charlotte on the balcony,
9:28
getting some sun. It's a really quality, high
9:31
level overview. So now we're going to step it
9:33
back and I apologize, but I'm going to make you break down
9:36
kind of each. Step of the process.
9:38
But outline was great. OK, so let's go back to the
9:43
early days when recruiting started.
9:45
It sounded like you you said your sophomore year was when
9:47
recruiting kind of picked up and then you ultimately committed
9:50
your junior year. OK.
9:54
So at the time, how hard were you throwing?
9:57
What other positions were you playing or were you APO at that
10:00
point? And maybe what schools were in
10:03
the mix? Yeah.
10:04
So my freshman year, I think that was my first offer from New
10:08
Mexico. Before they even came call I was
10:11
like I want to go somewhere out of state just see something new.
10:14
My freshman year I was probably 81 to 83, tall skinny dude.
10:18
I was 6 to 150 lbs from their sophomore year.
10:23
I was 8487 and I was at the time I played a lot of outfield,
10:28
first base, third base. Ada and I were the only two I
10:32
don't know good headers on our high school team for the most
10:35
part. Sorry to the boys that were on
10:37
the team, but that's just the facts.
10:39
And had actually a couple offers to go two way at some schools
10:43
and I was talking to schools like Xavier, New Mexico State.
10:48
It bounced around and then I think it was pretty slow.
10:50
My sophomore year in the junior year was when it really picked
10:52
up Nebraska, Kansas State, Wichita State, Texas Tech,
10:56
Oklahoma, Arizona, and then Oregon State came along and that
11:00
was when I made my jump to like 8891.
11:03
Those were all for pitching. I wish I could say I had a two
11:06
way offer to Oregon State, but I definitely didn't.
11:09
You could have just left that part out.
11:11
And you know. Thought like you could really
11:13
swing it. Yeah, no, no.
11:15
I mean, maybe if we didn't swing wood bats in high school, but.
11:18
You were a wood bats. In high school team yeah, we
11:21
were I think New Mexico could be wrong but I think we're one of
11:25
maybe two states that only used wood I think it's like Maine or
11:29
New Hampshire or something like use wood.
11:31
I don't know some someplace like that, but they they last year
11:35
was the first year they changed the BB 4.
11:37
But I don't know, it was crazy. You're built for pro ball.
11:41
I know. Yeah.
11:42
Just put me out there with my bomb bat.
11:45
That's right. Is that what everybody's?
11:46
Want, yes, yeah, no one wanted to pay the extra buck in case
11:50
they broke it, but yeah, it was good.
11:52
And then junior year made that jump to 8891 and then committed
11:56
to Oregon State, I think October of 2019.
11:58
And from there it was it was full vision on the beeves.
12:02
What do you kind of credit the velocity gains to throughout
12:07
high school? 81 to 83 is very hard as a 1415
12:11
year old. There's no question about that.
12:12
I feel like that doesn't get enough love because the only
12:14
thing that gets shown on Twitter now is 14 year olds throwing 90
12:18
which is insane. But 81 to 83 makes you a top
12:25
tier high school baseball player.
12:28
In doing that at 15, I I think that gets overlooked like crazy.
12:32
The average high school pitcher is throwing like 75 miles.
12:34
Per hour, yeah, but. You you made significant jumps
12:38
every single year. So was it a commitment to the
12:41
weight room training plan or just filling out and becoming
12:45
more of an adult? I think from, I didn't start
12:50
lifting until my sophomore year. So I think freshman year that
12:54
was pure jeans, just just talent.
12:57
And I was I, I didn't really do any.
12:59
I just played going into sophomore year.
13:03
I guess before that I was going to like the community gym with
13:06
me and some of my high school buddies and we just go sit there
13:08
and RIP curls and whatever, just try and look huge.
13:13
So that was the the beginning steps of my weightlifting stuff.
13:16
Then I got into an actual affiliated gym with ABA with
13:20
Diego Baca and he's been great. I've been with him ever since.
13:23
And so I started doing that and I made a big jump just because I
13:27
was actually getting stronger. I wasn't just getting the biceps
13:29
going, putting some force on the ground.
13:31
And that was when I made that 8047 jump.
13:34
And that was quick. It was like in the matter of a
13:36
month or two, I think that was all.
13:38
I don't thanks to the the lifting from there.
13:40
It was just continuously getting into the way to ball programs
13:44
and trying to improve movement patterns.
13:47
And I think that next jump was the 8891 where I'm matured a
13:50
little bit more, filled out a little bit more, put on a little
13:54
more weight. I guess I've had another one
13:57
recently. I guess since we're on the
13:58
topic, it's touching fives. It's like, I think that was more
14:02
of a maturation thing. And then in the offseason, we
14:05
can get into that a little bit of exactly what we focused on
14:07
this year. Yeah, something a little
14:10
different every single time it seems like.
14:13
That's kind of what it's going to be, but that's good
14:15
foreshadowing for what we'll get into down the line with
14:17
offseason training. However, you brought up
14:21
something, we're going to take a little detour here.
14:23
You brought up weighted balls and picking those up in high
14:25
school. Don't worry, I'm not going to
14:27
villainize anything. I got a plyo ball right next to
14:30
my laptop. So don't don't think I'm going
14:32
to say like, dude, you could have died throwing that thing or
14:36
something. Your arm could have fallen off.
14:38
So you picked it up in high school and that maybe at the
14:42
time, thinking back, what was that 2017 ish when you started
14:47
throwing plyo balls, at that point they were still kind of
14:52
like counterculture. What was the exposure to them
14:55
and are they still a part of your routine?
14:57
Kind of how do you use them? Yeah, for sure.
15:00
I mean, I guess I'll say this first is like on the opposite
15:03
side of not using plows. I think when you're a kid, just
15:05
play baseball, just love the games, like just love playing
15:09
and being around your friends and don't overcomplicate it.
15:12
I was, I never knew what driveline was, never knew any of
15:14
this. And then so you got in Tim
15:17
Compos and in a BAI think my freshman year and he's got 4
15:22
kids and the back cages doing all these plow balls and stuff
15:25
and you're like, I don't know, it opens your eye like what is
15:29
that? And so you kind of get
15:31
accustomed to like that being around and then end up getting
15:34
in with compost. It was kind of like, well, I
15:37
don't really have any other ideas on how to get better.
15:40
And this guy seems like he really knows what he's talking
15:43
about. So I'm going to buy in.
15:45
And I think I, I was like, OK, I'm going to do it for this
15:48
winter and see how I'm feeling. And I always felt great.
15:52
So I'm going to keep doing this because seems like it's working
15:55
and compost never stops trying to get better.
15:57
So that's a good person to want to be around.
16:00
And so he he's really just the one that's introduced pretty
16:03
much everything that I utilize now.
16:05
Yeah, I use them all the time. Still on my recovery days.
16:08
I won't touch one. I'll just throw them with
16:10
baseball, but a lot of like movement pattern stuff.
16:15
So early on, pile balls for you, you didn't even really know what
16:19
you're getting into with. And just like those other guys
16:22
who are throwing kind of hard are using them.
16:24
Let me see if that works for me. Basically, that's great.
16:27
But hey, it was guided. We should probably really stress
16:30
this part. When you picked it up and
16:33
started doing it, it was guided by some significant experience.
16:37
In this post, he did the research.
16:39
He's been utilizing them for a while.
16:41
So it's not like you just Willy nilly thought, well, let me just
16:45
throw this thing hard. It was right.
16:48
For exactly, exactly. It wasn't like I saw Trevor
16:52
Bauer doing it and bought him and then just threw him and to
16:56
my brick wall at my house just on my own.
16:58
There was a lot of good feedback.
17:00
Now I I have watched my fair share of Trevor Bauer videos to
17:03
learn some stuff but. For sure, I'm still hoping
17:07
myself that one of those videos is going to click and all of a
17:10
sudden that 95 is going to show up for me.
17:13
Yeah, there we go. Yeah, hopefully I'll be joining
17:16
you in spring training one of one of these days.
17:18
There's a spot here if you can ride the ball and throw a 95.
17:22
I can ride the ball can't throw a 95.
17:25
I can do one of those things if they'll take me now getting back
17:29
on path I I let us down this other this other route, but we
17:33
got we got to keep this rolling. You're super busy.
17:36
I know on this off day. So yeah, we we went down this
17:40
plyo ball route. We were talking about your V low
17:41
gains. We're in your junior year where
17:43
you ultimately do commit to Oregon State.
17:47
You said it was your dream school at this with 88 to 91
17:53
mark. I'm assuming that puts you as
17:57
one of the hardest throwers in the state of New Mexico at this
18:00
time. How were you able to stay
18:04
motivated when I'm assuming you started garnering some attention
18:10
like you? You get a top ten school in the
18:13
country to sign you and you're probably every park you go to.
18:19
You're the guy that people want to see.
18:22
What kept you motivated? I mean, I think in the moment it
18:26
was kind of it was starting to talk to MLB scouts and it was
18:29
like, and if they think I have a shot to get drafted, I'm going
18:33
to work really hard to try and make this happen or open
18:38
people's eyes. And I was short sighted in that
18:41
sense. I don't I really don't think I
18:42
had too much of A long sighted view for anything growing up.
18:48
For the most part, that's been a development in my mentality over
18:52
the last year or so. And these guys think I can do
18:54
this going to try and prove them right.
18:57
Didn't end up happening. But then I got to school.
18:59
It was also kind of like, OK, well, every other kid is the
19:03
best in their state, going to Oregon State, going to the LS US
19:06
and stuff like that. Like I have to be at the top of
19:09
my game to go in there and actually play.
19:11
So it was kind of that thing of just I want to be making the
19:15
team. It was just short sighted in
19:16
that sense. It wasn't anything crazy.
19:20
I guess I didn't realize that you were garnering draft
19:23
attention coming out of high school.
19:25
And did you did you get calls during the draft or were you
19:29
like, foot in the ground? I'm going to Oregon State.
19:32
So like guys, don't even worry about it.
19:34
We were kind of in limbo. It was I I said a number where I
19:39
was like, OK, if I get drafted, I can live comfortably for the
19:44
next six years off of this. And if it's not that I'm going
19:47
to school. And I think that was too high
19:49
for teams. I never really had too much back
19:52
and forth talks, just a few text messages here and there.
19:55
But it wasn't anything crazy. And it was pretty much after day
19:58
two. It was like, all right, I'm
19:59
going to school, let's do it. And at the time I was actually
20:01
playing, I was in Bend, OR. I'm playing in the West Coast
20:05
League because the Oregon State coaches have sent me there, I
20:08
guess, calling him out for a second.
20:09
It was. So Kyle Noback was on the 2018
20:12
national championship team. He was the head coach of the
20:14
Bend, Bend Elks at the time. And so he really wanted me to go
20:17
to Oregon State. And I get a call from him and
20:20
like the fourth or fifth round, during the 4th or fifth round,
20:24
get a call, pick up and it's him.
20:25
I'm like, dude, that's that's not cool.
20:31
Like I was I was pumped because that right around then was like
20:34
kind of when I was here and made stuff may happen.
20:37
Yeah. Anyway, just kept playing for
20:39
the Elks that summer and and then went on to school all.
20:42
Right. Well, that's that's also really,
20:46
really shitty move, but hilarious looking back on it and
20:50
what I was ultimately going to say.
20:53
Incredible experience that you got to play in the West Coast
20:55
league going into your freshman year.
20:57
There's nothing like summer college baseball.
21:00
And I know given your workloads all the time at Oregon State,
21:03
you probably was that your only season playing summer ball or
21:07
it? Was.
21:08
Yeah, yeah. So I mean, I'm, I'm a firm
21:11
believer that everybody should do it once more for the
21:15
experience. I get that it might not be the
21:18
best thing for the developmental cycle for every single guy, but
21:21
my favorite competitive baseball memories are in summer.
21:26
Yep percent and I loved it. I thought it was awesome.
21:30
I think I got there because our high school season started
21:33
pretty late because of COVID so it ended in middle of June so I
21:37
got there late end of the season.
21:39
I only was there for maybe the last.
21:41
I think my first game was 4th of July and saw maybe the last
21:46
month of the season. But it was awesome.
21:48
I loved it. The only thing was like I got
21:51
these bus rides through the middle of nowhere Washington.
21:55
I can't even imagine what pro ball would have been like right
21:57
now. So like I think I made the the
22:00
right decision to to go to school for a few years and and
22:03
get on some planes. It's like minor league Rd.
22:07
trips, minor league 4 minor league Rd. trips.
22:10
It's the prep that you'll now have to go through.
22:13
Exactly. You're, you're likely to be in,
22:16
I forget the name of what, the Southern League or something
22:19
like that, where Rd. trips aren't going to be that crazy.
22:22
I mean, your longest one's going to be what, five hours or
22:25
something? Maybe 6?
22:26
Yeah, something like that, Yeah, It shouldn't be too bad, no.
22:30
Versus like West Coast League. I mean, I played in the Alaska
22:33
League, so we were looking at the occasional like 7-8 hour
22:37
trip. West Coast League very similar.
22:40
No scenery you're looking at just hills and hills of dead
22:44
grass. And it's like, all right, we got
22:46
four more hours of this, but. Beautiful.
22:49
Yeah, Yes. All right, again, getting back
22:52
on track. So your freshman year, how much
22:54
time do you get your freshman year?
22:56
Are you in the rotation right away?
22:58
No, I I was just, I didn't know what I was going to be.
23:02
I think it was built up as sort of a starter.
23:04
I was going to be like that fifth starter for mid weeks and
23:06
then possibly throw out of the bullpen on the weekends.
23:09
And unfortunately we had a couple injuries happened and it
23:12
was just kind of like next, next man up.
23:14
It was pretty early because we had an injury pre season to our
23:17
Sunday starter, a Will fresh who's with the Cubs now.
23:20
And then Week 2, Jake Fennings, our Saturday guy, went down with
23:23
shoulder. And so I I got the ball and just
23:26
kind of kept running with opportunities.
23:28
I never saw myself in that position.
23:30
I was always just kind of like, yeah, I'm I'm just going to
23:33
throw and I never thought about it on a deep sense, but ended up
23:37
getting opportunities and it was, it was pretty surreal when
23:40
you look back on it, but it was awesome.
23:44
Statistically, how did you do? Or were you just kind of ride in
23:47
the high of being a weekend starter at Oregon?
23:50
State, I mean really, I beat myself up about it sometimes I
23:53
think I care more about statistics my sophomore year
23:56
than I did my freshman year because I saw the success I had
23:58
my freshman year. I was just trying to win and I
24:01
knew we had a good team. I was like, as long as I can go
24:04
5 innings of good ball, I think we have a good shot to win
24:07
because of the lineup we had. So I mean, look at my my stats
24:11
were good. They weren't anything crazy.
24:12
Think I had like 77 innings maybe with 65 punch outs.
24:19
Like it was OK. I didn't walk many guys let up a
24:23
lot of solo homers. I I think I'm second all time
24:26
Oregon State list of home runs. But it was a solid season and I
24:31
didn't really read too far into it until, I think reflecting
24:34
after the end of the year. Then do you approach your
24:37
sophomore year as like, I'm the guy, this is on me, if we're
24:42
going to win, it's because I perform that kind of deal.
24:46
Yeah, I think that's that's kind of where I took it,
24:49
unfortunately. And if I had to do it over
24:51
again, I'd change some things. But you know, when the the
24:54
season ended, I went looked at all my numbers.
24:56
I'm like go lefties hammered me. So try and figure out my change
24:59
up, get that going and then end up being the Saturday guy.
25:03
And again, in a way I was a little bitter about it for sure,
25:07
just because it was like, Dang, I had the success last year,
25:10
like the Friday guy's gone, I should be bumped up, right?
25:14
That's just simple, just how it works and that's not how it
25:19
works. You don't just get free
25:20
opportunities for what you did unless you've been in the big
25:24
leagues for 10 plus years, then you then you get to come back
25:27
around. But kind of pitched that year
25:29
and I did. I had a worse year.
25:31
I was throwing slower. Could be from a number of
25:33
things, I'm not sure, but I've tried to theorize on it.
25:36
But yeah. Well, we're going to dive into
25:39
one of the theories. I know you said you tried to
25:42
change some things in the offseason.
25:44
It's really when you started to tinker.
25:45
You just mentioned they're adding the change up.
25:48
Also you mentioned it earlier in the episode, you were dealing
25:54
with UCL spring or ultimately diagnosed as a UCL sprain
25:59
requiring PRP. So when did that forearm flare
26:03
up happen? How long were you battling it?
26:06
And also this is probably bad podcasting on me.
26:10
I was about to ask another question and say what did you
26:13
change in the offseason? So 2 just entirely different
26:17
paths. Like, what did I change going
26:19
into that off, like after my freshman year, going into
26:22
sophomore year, Yeah. Yeah.
26:24
So what were those mechanical adjustments?
26:26
And then what happened with the injury?
26:27
Yeah, we'll put the UCL sprain on the back burner for a moment
26:31
and we'll pick that up later. Yeah, I was trying to throw
26:33
harder and I was just throwing a lot and I was trying to make my
26:37
mechanics look like something some cookie cutter approach that
26:41
wasn't exactly how my body should move anatomically.
26:45
And so I started truthfully, I saw Cooper derpy and I was like
26:49
like he's nasty. Let me try and get the same hip
26:52
shoulder separation as him. Let me get my vertical shin and
26:56
my my lay back in a certain point.
26:59
And it was just kind of trying too hard with a lot of things
27:03
and didn't make me athletic. I got super robotic.
27:06
I tried to develop a change up and I think that's kind of what
27:09
led to some of the injury stuff was I dropped my arm slot so
27:14
much trying to get over on top of it and just turn it over that
27:19
I think my body just wasn't used to throwing at that angle.
27:22
And so over a course of the season it just kind of
27:25
diminished. And so those were like the main
27:28
things I really didn't have. I never really set too many
27:31
goals until this last year and that it really didn't follow
27:34
them. So it was kind of a just get
27:37
stronger, get stronger, throw a better change in and I didn't
27:41
really have a process of how I was doing it, but that was kind
27:44
of the the main idea of that offseason ended up being what it
27:48
was the year after so. It so maybe summarizing very
27:52
simply, you tried to chase down things that probably weren't in
27:58
your best interest, maybe not having a full picture of what
28:01
direction you should have gone. And then as a result, your body
28:05
was exposed to stresses that right not prepared to handle.
28:10
All right, well, simple enough. We can move on from that and
28:14
let's let's talk about the injury.
28:16
So you guys really good ball club.
28:19
You're heading into playoffs, maintain the Saturday roll.
28:22
It sounds like Velo kind of starts to drop over time.
28:27
You hit the point where you're only throwing 86 as a Saturday
28:31
starter in the PAC 12, which I wouldn't say bodes particularly
28:35
well. How were you fighting through
28:37
that and still able to manage some success?
28:41
Yeah, I know it was. It was kind of just a thing
28:44
where it was like, I'm getting outs and we're winning games and
28:47
so if I can go out there if I'm hurting, but I'm getting outs
28:51
and they keep putting me out there, I'm going to keep doing
28:53
it. I was taking a lot of ibuprofen
28:55
and trying in between the weeks and I was so dumb.
28:58
I was throwing too much. And in the mid weeks I was like,
29:02
I'd have a bad start and then I would throw literally 40 pitches
29:06
in the bullpen and I wasn't able to recover.
29:09
But yeah, it was just, you know, I'm going to keep, I'm not going
29:13
to say anything and I'm just going to keep trying to win.
29:15
And it got to a point where I was like, we're losing every
29:18
game I pitch because I'm that bad and it hurts.
29:21
And so like I said, it was probably 8 to 10 weeks of the
29:25
season where I was feeling it. And then got to that last start
29:29
and it was nearly every pitch where I was like, something's
29:32
not right. I just walked six guys and let
29:35
up three bombs. Like I got to say something.
29:38
So that's kind of the gist of that.
29:40
And what the diagnostic process look like, you go in, get an
29:43
MRI, ultrasound or? I went and got an MRI and came
29:47
back saying that I had a proximal tear and it was kind of
29:52
all right, like you're not going to throw.
29:53
And I said, well, let me just like I wanted to throw.
29:56
I said, OK, if we get to Omaha, I'm throwing.
30:00
And like, yeah, no. And I was like, all right, well,
30:05
So what now? Like, what are we going to do?
30:07
They recommended going six weeks of no throw and then building up
30:10
again. And I kind of took a different
30:12
approach where with compost using pulse to navigate that
30:16
space. And I was like, I've got all
30:18
summer, all fall. At first, PRP wasn't on the
30:21
table and I was like, well, if I have this time, like it can't
30:24
hurt. So I decided to do that.
30:26
Surgery was never in discussion, which was awesome.
30:28
Grateful for that. But so we go through it and, and
30:33
I took my, my time all the way up until December, I took a
30:37
pretty lengthy build up process and really just started looking
30:41
at my habits of like, OK, going back and trying to pinpoint why
30:44
did this happen? And it could have been a number
30:46
of things, but it's like, OK, I need to clean up my nutrition.
30:49
I need to clean up my, my body, hydration, sleep, focusing on
30:54
sleep, just the things I can control.
30:56
I wasn't controlling. And so from there it was like,
30:59
OK, if I can do everything in my power to not let this happen
31:02
again, we'll be in a good spot. And if it does, then maybe I
31:06
just have a weak UCL and we get it fixed.
31:09
It was, it was kind of a lot of lot of different thoughts going
31:12
in my head. But we, we, I think we, we chose
31:15
the right thing and the rehab process was, was good.
31:20
Yeah. OK.
31:21
So you pretty much treat the entire fall as a rehab.
31:26
And then once again, you don't get moved up in the rotation.
31:30
You're the Saturday guy yet again, this time the Friday guy
31:36
being your best bud, Aiden May. So how'd that feel when your
31:42
buddy transfers in? You've been teammates forever.
31:46
Did it hurt a little less this time knowing it was Aiden or did
31:49
that bother you more? No, truthfully never really
31:54
bothered me and it was awesome because I remember talking to
31:58
him and I was like, why am I not pissed?
32:02
And I was like, no, I think it's because like I know how hard you
32:06
work and like you deserve your nasty.
32:09
Like there's a reason that he went in the second round because
32:12
he is nasty. And so having that guy at the
32:15
front of your rotation, I'm like, I get to watch him pitch.
32:17
I don't care when I throw. And I kind of got back in that
32:20
mentality of like this team can win a natty, so I'm going to do
32:23
whatever I can. I don't care when I throw, Just
32:27
throw me out there and I'll get it done.
32:30
It was fun. It was really fun.
32:32
And take a step back. It is pretty surreal to throw
32:35
alongside him at a school like that when we never really
32:39
envisioned that growing up either.
32:41
But it was cool. Probably felt like Little League
32:44
just handing the ball off to your best bud.
32:46
Yes, exactly. Yeah, That's that's so cool.
32:51
I know there's a couple articles about you guys doing it
32:55
together. Sadly, it took you guys a few
32:58
years to reunite, but unbelievable that it happened.
33:03
Let's let's talk through the junior year a little bit now.
33:06
You guys obviously were a really successful team.
33:09
It's a it's a shame that you guys fell short because you
33:11
definitely could have won it all if things played out a little
33:14
bit differently. But now maybe what you're
33:19
working through personally is what I want to get to, because
33:23
I'm sure the draft is looming. You likely have a really good
33:26
idea that your name is going to get called.
33:28
But did you have an idea of when that was going to happen and
33:32
how? How did you manage that
33:33
throughout the year? Yeah, it was.
33:36
I think I was lucky because like my senior year of high school, I
33:39
was going through the draft process and I still had to go
33:41
pitch and it was kind of similar to our high school team was
33:44
really good and we were just focused on winning state.
33:47
A lot of the guys that were draft prospects, we all kind of
33:49
said let's just win, let's just focus on winning and everything
33:52
else will take care of itself. Really just try to get ourselves
33:56
in the best possible shape to go out there and just win the game
33:59
and do what you could do. And the draft was going to
34:03
figure itself out, and it did for most guys.
34:07
Yeah, I, I guess it's easy when you can kind of put your arm
34:11
around each guy that's in a similar position, be like, yeah,
34:14
well, the draft's going to happen whether we like it or
34:17
not. No matter if the result is what
34:20
we want, we can't really control it.
34:22
Exactly what we. Can do is win the day, so let's
34:26
do that exactly. So that was harped on early on.
34:29
It was that was our team vision. The whole year was just winning
34:33
the national championship. So it was, it was a lot easier.
34:36
I think it would have been tougher.
34:38
You know, we were on a team that wasn't very good.
34:40
I'm not sure how you you navigate that as easily, but we
34:44
were definitely lucky. For sure.
34:46
And then you ultimately get the call from the Tampa Bay Rays,
34:49
obviously an organization well known for development and really
34:54
just getting guys to throw harder.
34:56
I know that's a, that's a big piece of what they do.
34:58
Did they hit you with somewhat of a plan?
35:02
I understand some of this might be under wraps that you can't
35:04
exactly share, but did they give you a vision to a certain extent
35:09
of what they see for you coming down the line?
35:12
Or maybe some insight of why they wanted you?
35:16
Yeah, I mean, a lot of it was we, we see that you can spin the
35:19
ball well and you have a good analytically good heater, let's
35:23
get you to throw a little bit harder, let's develop a slider,
35:26
let's improve your change up. And so that was kind of the base
35:29
thing from day one and kind of go from there.
35:31
And then this offseason, I did a lot of work with compost to kind
35:35
of OK, this is what they envisioned for me.
35:39
They know way more than I do. So let's kind of follow what
35:43
they're asking of me and see where that takes us.
35:45
And compost. This is what we're trying to do.
35:47
So how do we do that? So we built the process
35:50
throughout the whole offseason in the weight room.
35:52
We're going to move fast all the time.
35:54
I've always been just trying to lift heavyweight and I'm just so
35:58
slow. And so let's do sprints, let's
36:01
do quick movements and just get just get those fast switch
36:06
muscles moving. And so that was all offseason.
36:09
Did that and then developed the sliders and pitch design, stuff
36:11
like that. But it was a lot of good back
36:13
and forth with both sides. So before we get into the
36:17
offseason, when did you report to Port Charlotte after the
36:21
draft? And I know you didn't pitch in
36:24
game with the Rays last year or yeah, I guess technically last
36:29
year at this point. So what did your initiation into
36:32
the Rays organization look like? I came down and I was able to go
36:36
to the Trop and sign and take some pictures and tour the
36:40
stadium. That was pretty cool.
36:42
And then came straight down to Port Charlotte and it was all
36:44
the draft guys. And we're just kind of getting
36:46
accustomed to things, meeting new people, having a lot of
36:49
meetings with the process development, player development,
36:52
nutritionist, stuff like that. Just getting just good
36:55
information from their side, having meetings with the
36:57
pitching department. And then it was a lot of just
37:00
OK, this is what we're going to work on.
37:02
We're just throw bull pens and try and fix few things and see
37:06
what we can work on and then get after in the weight room.
37:08
We actually did throw in. I guess it's kind of like the
37:11
FCL. It's called the Bridge League.
37:13
It's after the FCL season. So we threw in a few of those
37:15
games, but it was like inner squads.
37:17
You're rolling innings and stuff.
37:18
So it was like getting out there and getting your work in.
37:21
But a lot of people diss on Port Charlotte.
37:25
I don't have a problem with it. When I when you go from the
37:29
desert to having the beach 30 minutes away, I'm like, this is
37:32
awesome. So I've enjoyed it, but yeah,
37:36
it's been great. I haven't had any any time where
37:39
I'm like, I'd rather be somewhere else.
37:41
So I'd love being here for sure. We'll be sure to clip that for
37:46
the Port Charlotte marketing department.
37:49
Yeah, yeah. Hey, the draft guys love it.
37:51
So it sounds like even the summer, to a certain extent,
37:55
after you got picked up, was treated a bit like an offseason.
37:59
You were on a throwing program, a lifting program and just
38:02
getting accustomed to the Ray's Way.
38:06
OK, awesome. So then you get turned loose in
38:10
the true offseason the the late fall or did you have any camps
38:14
or anything in the fall that you had to go to?
38:16
I had a shrink camp for about a week and a half, I want to say
38:19
the first week of November. So we we went home, the
38:23
hurricane hit down here and so they sent us home early in the
38:25
end of September. And so I was home for a month
38:28
and a half, came back for the strength camp, and then I was, I
38:31
was back home in Albuquerque until we came out last week of
38:34
January. OK.
38:36
And I guess brief pause from the normally scheduled content to
38:40
say when you reported back in November, did you go through
38:44
Saint Pete at all to see the damage or?
38:47
No, I flew into. Where did I fly into?
38:50
I don't even remember Fort Myers.
38:52
Fort Myers. And then I flew out of Sarasota,
38:54
so I didn't even see any of that stuff.
38:56
I didn't get to go to the beach. Nobody here had a car, so we
39:00
were just vans and back. But I mean, even just around
39:04
this area, trees are blown over. And it was, it was kind of
39:06
crazy. I was going to say that probably
39:08
would have been a surreal moment to an extent to go from signing
39:12
in the trop and your only memory there really is this
39:15
unbelievable monumentous moment. Monumentous is not a word, I
39:19
apologize, momentous moment. So hand up screwed that up.
39:24
I've done that typing a handful of times as well, so trust me,
39:27
I'm not that dumb audience. I can I can at least stop myself
39:30
after I make the mistake, but I'm sure that that would have
39:34
been really strange so I I just had to ask.
39:36
Yeah, no, I actually saw it twice since being down here.
39:40
We've gone up to Saint Pete a couple times.
39:41
Tampa. It's crazy.
39:43
It's every time I drive by and like, that's still bizarre to
39:47
me, but it's nuts. Yeah, it's strange.
39:50
I I've been back down to Saint Pete a few times since the
39:53
hurricane has happened. Just every time I drive by the
39:56
drop, it just kind of left shaking my head or in awe of
39:59
what it was. Yeah.
40:01
Oh, it's. We're on the other side of it.
40:03
Hopefully it doesn't happen again so.
40:05
Yeah, Fing, fingers crossed. Knock on some wood.
40:08
All the above. Yeah, But all right, so
40:10
offseason plan now jumping ahead again.
40:13
Regularly scheduled content. We're back to it, the offseason
40:16
plan, you talked about trying to move fast.
40:19
Were you implementing velocity based training?
40:21
BBT you had that? Every single day, every, every
40:26
time I was lifting BBT was a part of it in some form or
40:28
fashion because we use the the Proteus at home as well.
40:31
And so using that and then V true of the BBT and we were
40:36
using it for everything, for dumbbell bench and rows,
40:41
obviously squats, deadlift, split squats, everything.
40:44
So we use that. And then there was, we use tech
40:47
for everything. You have pulse and then Flexpro
40:51
arm care. We've used that for like the
40:53
shoulder and back of the shoulder stuff.
40:56
And so, yeah, it was it was a week by week.
40:59
It was it got pretty boring just because it was like I'm doing
41:03
the same stuff over and over and over.
41:05
But I know that this is what I need.
41:09
And so all the guys there, the Diego Baca, Tim Campos, Zach
41:13
Mang, all those guys, Nick Romero, the the PT guy, if we'd
41:16
go in there and get treatments done with them, but put together
41:18
a great plan to kind of all right, you got to move quicker
41:22
and this is how we're going to do it and just follow the plan.
41:26
Question on this facility side of things.
41:29
You have obviously spent a lot of time at ABA in with compost
41:34
and we talked a little bit about it offline when we weren't
41:38
recording. That really does feel like home
41:40
to you. It's where you want to be.
41:42
I would love if you could talk about I guess what you look for
41:47
in a facility or why ABA means so much to you.
41:52
Obviously you feel that like kind of family or home ask
41:55
connection, but maybe to you like what what's the separators
42:00
of facilities now? Yeah.
42:02
I mean, for me, it's just knowing everybody there and
42:06
understand that they truthfully all want the best for you and
42:09
are working day in and day out to try and figure out how to do
42:14
that. You got all the buddies there
42:15
that are doing the same thing that you want to and that is the
42:18
same for most places out there. But finding a coach that you can
42:22
fully trust and they know you and you know them.
42:24
And I think it's a perfect fit. And I haven't really wanted to
42:30
go anywhere else just because I know that I have gotten better
42:34
through them. And it's it's a way to give back
42:37
to and go and help out the young kids at nights.
42:40
But yeah, everybody there wants wants the absolute best for you
42:44
and are always pushing for better.
42:47
So it's somewhat of a people thing to an extent.
42:50
Pretty much every facility at this point has all the tech,
42:54
they have all the bells and whistles.
42:56
So it's finding somewhere that you align with from what I
42:59
understand. Yeah.
43:01
I mean, yeah, they have. I don't know what else they
43:04
could have. Maybe AI don't know a force
43:07
bound and compost is already thinking about that.
43:10
So I'm sure. So.
43:12
So we're on that. A sauna.
43:15
Sauna would be nice. I do actually have a personal
43:18
one that I I can put together, so maybe I'll I'll bring that
43:22
in. Is it one of those the infrared
43:24
portable ask ones? No, it's like, it's like a steam
43:28
box. It's like a sauna steam room
43:31
mix, kind of. I don't, I love it.
43:36
I got it. What was that last winter?
43:40
Not this previous one, the one before that.
43:41
But that would be cool. Maybe that Adrian and I got to
43:45
get on that and donate a sauna to to ADA.
43:49
That'll be the first thing you put your name on in there is the
43:52
Comats in May sweat box. Yeah, there we go.
43:56
Perfect. I'm sure Compost would love
43:58
that. It's kind of funny, though, you
44:00
think about how can these facilities even add more, add
44:03
more value. I know Compost would go crazy of
44:06
having like a new force mound in there or something, some sort of
44:10
actual force plates that not just for jumping, but for actual
44:16
sport. Yeah.
44:17
Then you just try to round it out for complete Wellness.
44:20
And that that's where all these gyms are going now.
44:22
It's just, it's almost like, how can you keep people there?
44:25
Oh, it's got everything you need.
44:26
So I love it. I plan on going back there every
44:29
single offseason. Heck yeah, yeah.
44:31
I mean, all the people that I've ever interacted with at ABA
44:35
would make me want to go back. Now I'm not sure if I'm willing
44:38
to take the four hour plane ride over there, but who knows.
44:42
But we'll see. Everybody seems pretty
44:43
hospitable. You got to come hang out for a
44:45
couple weeks in this offseason. That's right.
44:47
Hey, don't, don't twist my arm, man.
44:49
I'll figure out a way. I'm not sure my wife will be too
44:52
happy about it, but I'll I'll figure it out.
44:55
Yeah, there we go. Now I I do want to pick up again
44:59
that offseason, plan the throw fastballs harder, improve the
45:03
slider, improve the change up. Let's talk about the specifics
45:06
now. You You struggled with a very
45:09
similar concept back your sophomore year of college.
45:12
So how have you been able to stay dialed in, remain athletic,
45:17
remain yourself while still focusing on improvement this
45:20
time? Around, I think it's the base
45:23
level of like understanding what you're good at, don't let those
45:26
go away and then see where you need some work and really hammer
45:31
those spots. And so I knew that I carry the
45:34
fastball well, I throw really good curveball and I have good
45:37
feel for both. So let's make sure those don't
45:40
change. So constantly checking, OK, like
45:42
are we in the right spot? And then from there it's just be
45:46
athletic, just moving athletically, letting your body
45:48
work the way it needs to with also getting to those numbers on
45:52
the pitching side of it, like I said, I think it was majority of
45:55
the weight room, which helped me move quicker, which also on the
45:59
on the pitching side of things, it was the goal was like, OK,
46:02
you're going to long toss. I've always been a let's just
46:04
lollipop it out there as little effort as possible as far as you
46:08
can. But then we kind of take a step
46:10
back. It's like, OK, get this on a
46:11
line and practice throwing hard because that's the only way
46:15
you're going to develop it. And that's actually something
46:17
we've worked on here with the Rays as well and Christian
46:20
wonders and few of those guys in in the pitching department.
46:23
So pretty much just be athletic, move, move quick and try to
46:31
throw the piss out of that thing.
46:33
Because I've always been a a command dude that's just let me
46:36
hit this little minute spot and understanding too of I guess
46:41
backtracking a little bit of what they like, what the Rays is
46:44
just throw nasty stuff middle, middle and let it work.
46:48
And I think that's something that Major League Baseball is
46:51
kind of throwing on and taking in as their own as well as just
46:55
throw, throw nasty stuff in the zone and throw strikes.
46:59
And so I think doing that has freed up my body to allow it to
47:03
throw a little bit harder because I have more room for
47:05
error in the past, I'm trying to hit this tiny, tiny little spot.
47:09
And so obviously if my body's not going to be able to let
47:12
itself do that at maximal force, I guess I was a long wooded
47:16
answer kind of bounced around, but there was a few good things
47:19
that we have targeted to do that.
47:22
I like what you said about kind of removing the fear of making
47:25
the mistake and then it enables you to get higher output or
47:32
reach that new level. So it's allowed you to change
47:36
where your intent is instead of the intent of I cannot miss Or
47:43
this has to be so dialed into the location that it probably
47:47
prevents you from going all gas, no breaks right now.
47:51
You spent an offseason or because of the philosophy of the
47:55
Rays, accepting that stuff in in just the raw sense, the overall
48:01
movement, your arsenal outplays perfect location.
48:07
So if you just let your stuff work, you can.
48:11
You can accept small little decreases in control or little
48:15
things like that that will continue to up your game or up
48:19
the projections of what you can be.
48:21
Exactly, exactly. That was very well put.
48:24
Thank you. With this, I think it's the
48:27
perfect time for us to just talk up Christian Wonders for a
48:31
moment. It's for whatever reason, I
48:34
don't know why you and I haven't talked about him yet.
48:37
I think it's because I constantly forget that Wonders
48:39
is in the Rays organization now, just because all of my
48:43
interactions with him have been with the Padres.
48:46
But Wonders is as smart as they make them.
48:48
That dude is a walking encyclopedia for human movement
48:53
and baseball ball flight. Yeah.
48:56
Yeah, yeah, he's been, I, I know a decent amount of the
49:00
terminology. And sometimes you spit
49:01
something. I'm like, I have no clue what
49:03
you just said. And he is a smart baseball mind.
49:07
And that, that's the other awesome thing is like the people
49:11
that I'm talking about with ABA, the Rays have that too.
49:14
And it's every pitching coach there is, like, how do we
49:17
maximize this dude's potential? And he's kind of at the
49:20
forefront of that. And from what I've seen, the
49:23
conversations we've had have been great, seeing how he works
49:27
with guys and he's like the master Plio guy.
49:30
He just understands that stuff. So you just kind of listen to
49:34
him tell and he he does it. I don't know, he just does it.
49:37
What's your biggest take away or learning moment specifically
49:41
from wonders so far? Yeah, I've been kind of
49:45
recently. It was like, it's so simple and
49:49
probably thinking I'm going to say something crazy, but he told
49:52
me it was like, did Usain Bolt become the fastest runner in the
49:57
world by jogging? And like like, no, he's like you
50:00
look like you're jogging when you play catch.
50:03
So to try and be the fastest person in the world, hardest
50:07
thrown person in the world, you have to train like it and you
50:11
have to have that intent every time with it and just being
50:14
intent full with everything that you do.
50:16
On the throwing side of things, every throw matters.
50:18
So I'm getting the most out of it.
50:20
Yeah, that's awesome. I love when some of these people
50:23
can have unbelievable education, speak with such sophistication,
50:28
and then a major take away can just be, hey, in order to throw
50:34
hard, you need to throw hard. And in order to do that, you
50:38
need to move fast. So you should do it.
50:41
Yes, exactly, exactly. And it's like, yeah, you're
50:46
right. Why did?
50:46
Why did I never think of that? And yeah, that's, that's the
50:49
craziest part of like, all this stuff can get so convoluted and
50:53
complicated that you just don't think about how simple some of
50:58
these things might actually be. Yeah, of course.
51:01
Now the movement and coordination of throwing
51:03
baseball is insanely difficult. Yes, sequence all that.
51:07
It's not like it is as simple as, hey, just try to throw
51:10
really hard and it'll happen. There's a lot of stuff that goes
51:13
into this. Right?
51:14
Exactly right. Yeah.
51:16
Well, that, that's awesome. I I really love wonders.
51:20
And now I'm jealous that you get to interact with him daily.
51:23
I I'm probably going to shoot him a text after this.
51:26
There we go. Now I do want to talk a little
51:29
bit about the specific metrics that you're chasing down because
51:33
I know you, you said to me in a text like what you're trying to
51:37
get out of your slider. So how do you focus on like a
51:41
specific result that you're trying to achieve but still kind
51:45
of toe that line of I need to get outs?
51:49
Like how do you compete with a track man versus compete with a
51:53
hitter? Yeah, and I think I'm trying to
51:55
transition into that that phase of things and words now it's
51:59
just get dudes out and trust that the work that you put in on
52:03
the track man, to pay dividends in the game.
52:07
And so I caught myself in live the other day.
52:11
I threw a slider and I was like, hey, what was that?
52:12
And they were like, don't worry about it, just just pitch.
52:15
It's like, fair enough. It is definitely hard for, I
52:21
know Aiden as well as a lot of guys that are very into a
52:25
analytically, it's like you want to know what it's doing because
52:30
if it's not doing what you need to, then you can change
52:33
something or you know, hey, I don't have that pitch today.
52:35
So I think there's a happy medium.
52:38
But with a slider, it's like if I can keep it in a small range
52:43
of 2 ± 2 inches vertical or horizontal, then I think I'm
52:48
good and I just need to throw it in the zone.
52:49
Outside of that, just trying, like I said, keep it simple.
52:52
A lot of the stuff is very simple.
52:54
We just overcomplicated in the bullpens.
52:56
It's like, OK, what focus are we having today?
52:59
Are we trying to do pitch design?
53:01
Because then I can throw a pitch, look at the iPad like,
53:04
OK, I need to do this. I can need to manipulate the
53:07
ball, I need to change my grip a little bit.
53:09
Or it's like, hey, our intent today is sequences to hitters
53:12
just execute pitches and then afterwards you can see where the
53:17
numbers doing what you wanted to with that game intent.
53:20
So there's a little bit of both. It's not it's not easy for me.
53:24
I always want to know what every single pitch is doing.
53:27
Making that transition is going to be different as we go.
53:30
Makes complete sense to me. I know that's a constant battle
53:34
and I think that's the tough part of being a smart, heady
53:39
pitcher is you, you always want to stay in front of those
53:43
things. Granted, I didn't play at the
53:44
level that you currently play at, but that's that's kind of
53:47
the world that I operated in. Why I always struggle like just
53:51
analysis by paralysis to a certain extent of wanting every
53:55
single thing on a piece of paper on an iPad to be perfect instead
53:59
of just accepting that if it gotten out, it was a good pitch.
54:03
Exactly. And I think that's something
54:06
with my change up right now too, kind of spinning of just an
54:09
example is like my change up analytically is bad, but it gets
54:14
outs and it gets whiffs and it doesn't get hit.
54:16
That's an example where it's like, OK, how do we how do we
54:19
put away the thoughts? Like I want to make this better
54:23
on the sheet of paper, but if it's really good in the game why
54:27
do I need to change it? Some of that goes back to our
54:30
offline discussion, really briefly.
54:32
You talked about some of the other episodes that you checked
54:35
out, and then the importance of Arsenal design, how individual
54:39
pitches fit into the grand scheme of things.
54:41
Because yeah, your change up in isolation might be crappy, but
54:47
if it plays really well off of your fastball and off of your
54:51
curveball and with your slider, it doesn't matter that by itself
54:56
it's crappy. Because your change up doesn't
54:58
exist in a vacuum, it exists with the rest of your arsenal.
55:03
Exactly. And it's all how you use it.
55:05
And that that's the art of pitching is like, yeah, if I
55:09
threw my change up, if I go out there and I have 90 pitches in
55:12
and out and I throw it 70 times, I'm probably I'm probably not
55:15
throwing 90 pitches. I'm probably out of there in the
55:18
third inning. Yeah, it's it's all relative off
55:21
of your other movement plots. It's like, OK, I ride my heater
55:25
at XML and I need my change up to be 10 inches less than that.
55:30
If I'm there and it's good off my heater and I can throw it in
55:33
certain zones. Now it's different.
55:35
OK, my heaters bad, I need to make my change up better.
55:38
So yeah, it's making everything look like a fastball.
55:41
That's the whole thing of pitching is make the pitch look
55:44
like it's hittable and something they want to swing at.
55:47
And then at the last second it does something that they're not
55:49
expecting. Or maybe that's the only time
55:51
that you're going to hear any audio this diesel trucks driving
55:55
by. But so trying to make everything
55:58
look like a heater and like let their eyes get big and then at
56:01
the last second it does something.
56:03
And maybe the numbers don't tell that, but hitters give you good
56:07
feedback. So that is I think something
56:09
that I'll, I'll learn this year too, of trying to go back and
56:14
forth with the two because previously I was always just get
56:16
outs. And then I started learning more
56:19
and more about the analytical side of things.
56:21
And so I'm like, well, listen, I should only do that.
56:24
So now it's how do you how do you bring them both together?
56:28
Maybe the simple reminder there is the raise also.
56:31
Pay people to do that for you, yes.
56:35
You get paid. I remind myself that sometimes,
56:37
yes. Jacob, I think that wraps up
56:41
most of my baseball questions. I do have my non baseball little
56:48
segment for you and it's just about life as a rookie in
56:54
professional baseball. You have entered a part of life
56:58
that not many have. You are married.
57:01
So I'd love if you could talk a little bit about the personal
57:05
life, the other stuff that you guys have going.
57:07
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, she's awesome.
57:09
So yeah, Michaela, my wife, she, we've been date, we were dating
57:13
for five years beforehand. I think it's get gets
57:18
misconstrued. A lot of people are like, oh,
57:19
you're getting distracted. I see it as like, no, I, I've
57:24
built such a good relationship with this person.
57:26
They know me and she lets me do what I need to do to get my
57:30
stuff done to be prepared for baseball side of things.
57:33
And I have that person and it's 2 versus everybody else versus
57:37
one versus everybody else. I'm taking the 2.
57:39
So she's been awesome. And I'm curious to see how it
57:42
goes this year. Just different experiences.
57:45
But there's no one else I really want to spend life with.
57:48
So that's why I got on an E Force.
57:50
But it's been good. We share a unit with another
57:53
couple, so we get to hang out and have some some good time
57:56
with them. But we go to the beach a lot.
57:59
She's stuck inside doing homework a lot of the time.
58:01
She's still trying to get her degree.
58:03
She got her degree but now is trying to get into ultrasound
58:05
school. So she's grinding on her own.
58:07
And then when we have some time we'll go to the beach or
58:10
something. But no, she's great.
58:12
Maybe the more pressing question.
58:14
Here is can she take you yard? No, no, zero chance, zero
58:20
chance. We have this, we have this
58:22
argument all the time, but no, she she always wants to to catch
58:27
for me. She wants to she she caught at
58:29
GCU. So I think you knew that and she
58:31
tried to catch me one time I threw her the the curveball and
58:34
smoked her in the leg. I'm like, you are never catching
58:36
me. And if you couldn't even catch
58:38
that, there's no way you're hitting it.
58:40
So yeah, we have, we have some good conversation about that.
58:43
But again, like that, that's another great piece about her
58:46
that I love is she understands the game and she understands the
58:49
grind. It's easy.
58:50
She makes it easy. I'm sure she's helped with many
58:54
moments throughout your life, but specifically in baseball,
58:58
has she ever been the one to point something out to you that
59:02
is actually benefited your game? And it's more it's like the it's
59:10
like the after the outing, I have a couple walks.
59:11
I didn't fill it up too well. And she's like, hey, you should
59:14
just throw more stripes. And it's like, thanks.
59:19
Like, yes, and I hadn't heard that from Ready bells and
59:23
obviously that's true, but you know, something like that.
59:25
And but it is cool because we'll talk about like, OK, well, this
59:29
is how she calls sequences the hitters at UC and it's a little
59:32
different, but at the same time as the base level, same, same
59:35
level. So you pick up a little things
59:37
like that. And so that's how they did it
59:39
and maybe that's comparable. So just little Nuggets that you
59:42
can kind of translate from softball to baseball.
59:46
That's pretty cool. I, I hope this moment doesn't
59:49
happen, but I kind of would love if it did.
59:52
Like if you got out of your pitch percentages, you stop
59:56
throwing your best stuff or something like that.
59:58
I would love if you told me one day she got on the phone with
1:00:01
you or she just met you at the dugout gate.
1:00:04
You're just like, throw your best shit more.
1:00:06
I would love that, I would love that and I'd probably punch out
1:00:09
the side next inning. That's OK.
1:00:10
Be so elite. Yes.
1:00:12
Movie inbound. Yes.
1:00:14
Write it now. Disney's calling.
1:00:18
Yeah, goes on to win Cy Young after a low a conversation.
1:00:22
That's right. Yeah.
1:00:23
But then of course we would have to tie it in where like somehow
1:00:26
all 11 of the catchers in the organization get hurt and she
1:00:31
has to strap up and next thing you know, like she she plays in
1:00:35
the division clinching game and yeah, that's well, right.
1:00:39
She makes it to. The big leagues before May and I
1:00:42
I get test. That's where everything
1:00:45
devolves, yes, but before the podcast evolves too much, I just
1:00:49
wanted to talk about that a little bit.
1:00:50
I, I like tapping in the personal life that that was
1:00:53
awesome for you to share. I really appreciate that.
1:00:56
Yeah, well, thanks for asking because that doesn't get asked
1:00:59
too much. Besides, like, oh, there's the
1:01:02
married guy. Yeah, yeah, there's the idiot
1:01:05
that threw his life away. Like no, I'm just, I'm playing
1:01:09
chess y'all playing checkers. But yeah, it's a great way to
1:01:12
look at it. Hey, I'm married too.
1:01:13
Got a kid on the way. So I'm, yes, I'm right with you.
1:01:16
Part of the reason why I don't know if I'll be able to swing
1:01:18
the Albuquerque trip this offseason.
1:01:21
Maybe in the maybe when a boy or girl, I can't remember.
1:01:24
Girl on the Web. Yes, so she can come learn some
1:01:29
some softball moves in a year or two.
1:01:31
It sounds perfect to me, Jacob. That does it for me.
1:01:35
I appreciate all the time today. Is there a way people can follow
1:01:38
you? I know you're not the biggest
1:01:40
social media guy, but I there might be somebody out there that
1:01:44
wants to follow what you're doing in your career.
1:01:46
I'd love if you could shout. I mean, I think yeah, I'm not
1:01:49
super active, but on Instagram and Twitter or I guess X, it's
1:01:53
just Jacob Kmatz at Jacob Kmatz, no underscores or periods or
1:01:59
anything. So pretty simple.
1:02:00
So you should be able to find me.
1:02:03
There can't be too many Jacob commands is out there.
1:02:05
Yeah, if you if you, I guess there's a better I can shout out
1:02:09
Zach as well as just just look up commands and you'll find
1:02:12
either Zach or I. So there we go.
1:02:15
Yeah. If your brother's follower count
1:02:17
starts increasing from nowhere, just love the lay back.
1:02:21
Yes, lay back bump. Exactly.
1:02:24
Perfect, man. Well, thanks a ton for hanging
1:02:26
out with me this morning. That does it on my end.
1:02:29
And to all the listeners out there, thanks for laying back
1:02:32
with us.