Latest / Foul Territory / Hot new 1st base defensive metric explained + Alec Burleson joins FT

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Hot new 1st base defensive metric explained + Alec Burleson joins FT · Foul Territory

0:08
Speaker 1: Let's get in the weeds. Nerdler nerds unite new stat
0:13
Speaker 1: out which first baseman is best at receiving throws. Our
0:18
Speaker 1: friends at Baseball Savant has new data to show that,
0:21
Speaker 1: and it's Alec Burleson, who's in his first full season
0:25
Speaker 1: at first base with the Saint Louis Cardinals. He is
0:28
Speaker 1: leading and receiving outs above average over guys such as
0:32
Speaker 1: Freddy Freeman Matt Olsen. This stuff I haven't really gotten
0:36
Speaker 1: to dive in too much yet, but when you're looking
0:39
Speaker 1: at how first basemen are perceived in the game, I mean,
0:43
Speaker 1: Alec Burlson is dealing with a legit middle infield and
0:46
Speaker 1: Mason win JJ weatherhole. I certainly don't want to be
0:49
Speaker 1: behind Mason Wins triple digit throws to first. This is cool, though,
0:53
Speaker 1: because I think we're able to give first basement a
0:55
Speaker 1: little more love. Obviously, you see Freddy Freeman Matt Olsen
0:59
Speaker 1: over the last five years their value in just receiving throws.
1:02
Speaker 1: But Alec Berlson is certainly making a name for himself
1:05
Speaker 1: as one of the up and coming first basemen.
1:07
Speaker 2: In the league.
1:09
Speaker 1: You guys have played some first base, as we've talked
1:11
Speaker 1: about some experienced first baseman up in this chat, Kratsi'll
1:16
Speaker 1: start with you, how hard is it to play first?
1:20
Speaker 1: And how great is it to see a stat that
1:21
Speaker 1: kind of shows that to the casual fan.
1:25
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know that the stats shows it
1:27
Speaker 3: to the casual fan, because we're making stats. Like when
1:30
Speaker 3: you start looking down the list, one of the things
1:32
Speaker 3: that you don't remember is the fact that Freddie Freeman
1:35
Speaker 3: and Matt Olson play every freaking day, and so to
1:39
Speaker 3: have that much of a gap, it's a new stat.
1:42
Speaker 3: I wouldn't disagree with the stat. As most stats, I
1:45
Speaker 3: rarely see him and I go I never would have
1:48
Speaker 3: thought that Freddy Freeman was that good. I never would
1:51
Speaker 3: have thought that Matt Olsen was that good. Like you
1:55
Speaker 3: know that the eye test tells you that, yes, they're good,
2:01
Speaker 3: but the number test also confirms it. So you know,
2:05
Speaker 3: that's because I don't understand exactly.
2:08
Speaker 4: I do get it.
2:09
Speaker 3: How it's like you know where the ball is and
2:11
Speaker 3: you're making to catch all that stuff. I can tell
2:14
Speaker 3: you who some of the best are, and I can
2:16
Speaker 3: tell you who looks like they're, you know, kind of
2:19
Speaker 3: struggling out there. But how hard first base is? That
2:22
Speaker 3: was the first thing that you said, first base. As
2:25
Speaker 3: Ron Washington's character said in Moneyball, it's not that easy.
2:31
Speaker 3: And I think a lot of teams pay the price
2:34
Speaker 3: for thinking that first base is easy. The Mets and
2:39
Speaker 3: they just go ahead and put someone else over there.
2:42
Speaker 3: But I think teams that want to win kind of
2:46
Speaker 3: devalue this a little bit and just throw whoever over there.
2:50
Speaker 5: Terrifying first base is absolutely terrifying. These guys hit the
2:55
Speaker 5: ball so hard, and for me to be an outfield like,
2:58
Speaker 5: they hit the balls hard to me and right field,
3:01
Speaker 5: and fortunately I never got one hit on the bullet
3:03
Speaker 5: right at me. But man, the way infielders throw the baseball,
3:07
Speaker 5: baseball is aren't supposed to move like that. I took
3:09
Speaker 5: a throw from Carlos Korea that moved probably six feet
3:14
Speaker 5: from left to right or right to left, I guess
3:16
Speaker 5: it'll be from my perspective, and I was just blown
3:19
Speaker 5: away by it. So it takes a special breed to
3:21
Speaker 5: stand over there and and and show the real meaning
3:24
Speaker 5: of a first baseman. And I'm probably the farthest person
3:27
Speaker 5: away from this, this nerd knowledge of baseball, but with
3:32
Speaker 5: player perspective, we understand how it works. We just can't
3:35
Speaker 5: speak the nerd talk. So like Cratzy talked about range,
3:39
Speaker 5: how he picks the ball where it has and the
3:42
Speaker 5: you know, the body of where he's comfortable, how to
3:44
Speaker 5: how hot does he get. We understand those things. I
3:46
Speaker 5: can't just break him down for you. So I know
3:48
Speaker 5: guys like playing against Mattelson, watching him come up in
3:51
Speaker 5: the in the athletics organization, I knew he was going
3:54
Speaker 5: to be a fantastically defensed, a good defensive first baseman.
3:58
Speaker 5: Watching Freddie, and Freddie's been in the league for so long,
4:00
Speaker 5: everybody sees it because he's been easily one of the
4:03
Speaker 5: best first basemen in the last twenty years to play
4:05
Speaker 5: the game in baseball, legit Hall of Famer. So you
4:08
Speaker 5: see these guys every day and you understand what they
4:10
Speaker 5: can do. But I can't put it into an algorithm
4:14
Speaker 5: and speak to things like we're looking at you know,
4:16
Speaker 5: we see on the panel. So these guys makes perfect sense.
4:19
Speaker 5: And you look at guys like Christian Walker, who's up
4:21
Speaker 5: there as well. Julie Gurioh who's not even in the
4:23
Speaker 5: game is one of the top lists. Having to play
4:25
Speaker 5: with him was a lot of fun as well. So
4:27
Speaker 5: you get to appreciate those guys as a player, But yes,
4:30
Speaker 5: I think they can go very undervalued in this game
4:33
Speaker 5: because plays they make may not make the scorebook or
4:36
Speaker 5: the jumbo tron. But baseball guys know the moves and
4:39
Speaker 5: plays they make save baseball games.
4:42
Speaker 3: And rarely as a shortstop or a second basement. A
4:47
Speaker 3: third baseman winning a Gold Glove with a brutal first
4:49
Speaker 3: baseman usually they go hand in hand. Even though the
4:52
Speaker 3: first baseman may not win that gold Glove, he's over
4:55
Speaker 3: there picking a lot of mistake or some mistakes that
5:00
Speaker 3: the best shortstops make. I mean, I was on the
5:02
Speaker 3: team when Jimmy Rollins won a Gold Glove. Jimmy Rollins
5:07
Speaker 3: in practice, he would rarely throw a ball that would bounce.
5:11
Speaker 3: When I'll see this Escobar was playing shortstop, I worked
5:15
Speaker 3: out a lot at first base because Salvador Perez would
5:20
Speaker 3: never take a day off. So I'm like, okay, well,
5:22
Speaker 3: if they need somebody, I would be able to step
5:24
Speaker 3: in there. So I had to be ready. I'll see
5:26
Speaker 3: this Escobar. Every ball he would throw in practice right
5:29
Speaker 3: to my chest, right to my chest, so when the
5:32
Speaker 3: ball did get bounced, it was rare, and you need
5:35
Speaker 3: that first basement, like an Eric Hosmer who's able to
5:37
Speaker 3: pick that ball. But Josh said, he said, it's terrifying.
5:43
Speaker 3: I was in spring training and in spring training and surprise,
5:46
Speaker 3: as the Royals, you always play the Rangers. Well at
5:49
Speaker 3: that point in twenty fifteen, the Rangers had Prince Fielder
5:53
Speaker 3: and I go. It was bases loaded towards the end
5:56
Speaker 3: of the game spring training. It was a night game
5:58
Speaker 3: two and they go the bench coach. I look right
6:02
Speaker 3: into the I look right into the dugout, and the
6:04
Speaker 3: bench coach goes, hey, hey, grit, grit, play in, like
6:09
Speaker 3: we want you to play in.
6:10
Speaker 4: Prince Fielder was up. I was like, you play in.
6:14
Speaker 3: I'm gonna play right here there in no way I'm
6:16
Speaker 3: taking a snaphook from Prince field Er like it's gonna
6:19
Speaker 3: get to me quick. I got a good arm, I'll
6:21
Speaker 3: be able to throw it. I'll get the force out
6:23
Speaker 3: at the plate if you But I'm I'm living to face.
6:25
Speaker 3: I'm living to see that that b game on on
6:29
Speaker 3: field seven tomorrow. I am not taking a line drive
6:33
Speaker 3: off my shinberger here in spring training game.
6:37
Speaker 1: Not gonna have no definitely not all right, guys, So
6:41
Speaker 1: you've been through a lot of different eras of this game.
6:44
Speaker 1: I think, you know, back in the day, first base
6:47
Speaker 1: was your your left handed kind of bigger guy, power position.
6:51
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like teams are valuing first base and
6:54
Speaker 1: their first basement with that specific mold anymore. Josh, I'll
6:57
Speaker 1: start with you. Are you seeing a change in how
7:00
Speaker 1: first basement are evaluated internally and the kind of player
7:02
Speaker 1: teams are looking for there?
7:05
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think it just goes back to it,
7:07
Speaker 5: and it's not just first base. You see a lot
7:09
Speaker 5: of route of while the players, guys that struggle middle
7:11
Speaker 5: infield gets shoved to the outfield just to keep them
7:13
Speaker 5: out there and keep their bat in the lineup. So
7:15
Speaker 5: I think that's probably more of the bigger pictures. Guys
7:17
Speaker 5: just have a more valuable bat to be put in
7:20
Speaker 5: a position that's not as important to them. I guess
7:23
Speaker 5: to break it down and be the best way. And
7:25
Speaker 5: if we can keep this guy in the field, he's
7:27
Speaker 5: going to drive in more runs and he's going to
7:29
Speaker 5: say for us at first base anyway, So in their
7:32
Speaker 5: heads it really works out for him in that perspective.
7:35
Speaker 5: But yeah, like I said, just the underappreciation for this
7:39
Speaker 5: position just keeps falling, and it makes you really appreciate
7:42
Speaker 5: those really really elite guys who can play over there
7:45
Speaker 5: and hit the ball at the same time, like Freeman
7:47
Speaker 5: and like Mattlson.
7:50
Speaker 3: So much gets muddled. So much gets muddled with value
7:53
Speaker 3: of players. Teams are afraid to pay, you know, do
7:57
Speaker 3: the Ruben Tomorrow mistake of giving Ryan Howard the money,
8:01
Speaker 3: which I don't think is a mistake, like you give
8:03
Speaker 3: a guy that absolutely bangs when you didn't have the
8:06
Speaker 3: DH that kind of cash. But throughout history, you know,
8:10
Speaker 3: you look at the most valuable players that played first base.
8:14
Speaker 3: It's kind of like relievers. How relievers are failed starters.
8:19
Speaker 3: Very few guys come up as first baseman. Very few
8:23
Speaker 3: guys are like, yeah, you know what I'm gonna I'm
8:25
Speaker 3: gonna always be a first basement in the bigleyes. Usually
8:28
Speaker 3: they're a left field or that moves to first and
8:30
Speaker 3: learns it and then they hit one hundred thousand home runs.
8:33
Speaker 3: Like that's the kind of thing that some teams view
8:36
Speaker 3: it that way. But then you also have, you know,
8:38
Speaker 3: your guys who are the greatest defensive first basemans of
8:42
Speaker 3: all time. And forgetting my buddy's name, I am such
8:46
Speaker 3: a bad friend, but I mean a Keith Hernandez he
8:49
Speaker 3: used to I mean, I'm not sure how many gold
8:51
Speaker 3: gloves he had. Now in the game, you have a man.
8:57
Speaker 3: I am just blanking on all names. But either way,
9:01
Speaker 3: like names like Mark m maguire played first base, Eddie
9:05
Speaker 3: Murray played first base, Todd Helton played first base, like
9:07
Speaker 3: guys who banged, and then they learned to play the position,
9:12
Speaker 3: and the better ones play there defensively. So it's not
9:17
Speaker 3: it's it's not one size fits all, but I think
9:20
Speaker 3: there's a value there, and I think the stat could
9:22
Speaker 3: probably give teams more value in different ways.
9:26
Speaker 2: And let's you.
9:26
Speaker 1: Guys make a great point about the value because Alec Burlson,
9:30
Speaker 1: again this year's leader, is probably one of the more
9:32
Speaker 1: undervalued players in all of baseball, and he is actually
9:35
Speaker 1: one of the more undervalued Cardinals up until this season.
9:38
Speaker 1: I mean, this was a guy that came up through
9:40
Speaker 1: the Cardinals system and when Saint Louis was doing their
9:42
Speaker 1: weird transition year, like, yes, we're trying to contend, but
9:45
Speaker 1: also like player development at the same time, let's do both.
9:48
Speaker 1: It was Burlison who saw the majority of his playing
9:50
Speaker 1: time cut so the Cardinals could prioritize the Nolan Gorman's
9:54
Speaker 1: and the Jordan Walkers, even though Burlison was outperforming those guys,
9:59
Speaker 1: and he just kind of kind of warrant. And we'll
10:01
Speaker 1: we'll hear from Alec Burlson later in the show. But
10:03
Speaker 1: you talk about someone who's been undervalue throughout his career,
10:06
Speaker 1: even perhaps by his own organization, Burlson comes to front
10:10
Speaker 1: of mind. Very cool to see him getting some credit
10:13
Speaker 1: here defensively. Also what he's been doing for a very
10:15
Speaker 1: surprising Cardinal squad this year.
10:17
Speaker 2: Been good to see ye one percent.
10:21
Speaker 3: And they probably could have saved some money had they
10:24
Speaker 3: not gone out and signed Wilson Contreras and said, okay,
10:28
Speaker 3: you got to play first base. They just they just
10:31
Speaker 3: poorly evaluated what type of catcher Wilson was, so they
10:34
Speaker 3: had to put him and his bat somewhere. You see
10:37
Speaker 3: the value he's bringing for the Red Sox now, And
10:40
Speaker 3: that's what I feel like the last few years under Mow,
10:42
Speaker 3: his last few seasons as a general manager, it felt
10:46
Speaker 3: like there was a lot of miscast players that were
10:49
Speaker 3: never getting that consistent every day at bat at a
10:52
Speaker 3: certain position, or they were doing well, got sent down.
10:55
Speaker 3: They were doing poorly, moved position to position, and it's
10:59
Speaker 3: good to see a young guy. I like this being
11:01
Speaker 3: able to solidify himself at one position and helping the
11:05
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12:18
Speaker 1: Welcome back to foul Territory. Our next guest is Saint
12:23
Speaker 1: Louis Cardinals first baseman Alec Burlison, kind enough to join
12:27
Speaker 1: us before a key series against the Phillies in Philadelphia. Burley,
12:31
Speaker 1: bet you thought you'd seen the last of me. Thanks
12:33
Speaker 1: so much for joining the show.
12:35
Speaker 2: How are you today? I'm doing well, Katie. Thanks for
12:38
Speaker 2: having me.
12:40
Speaker 1: All right, let's just get right into it. Your ball
12:41
Speaker 1: club has played some real good ball and there it
12:44
Speaker 1: seems like every week I'm hearing something new about the
12:46
Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals, new guy coming up. We just saw
12:49
Speaker 1: what Joshua Bias did and his historic debut. You've come
12:53
Speaker 1: up through the Cardinals system. What is different this year
12:56
Speaker 1: with this young core than we saw in seasons prior.
13:02
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think the big thing is but we're just
13:05
Speaker 7: having a lot of fun. I think obviously we want
13:07
Speaker 7: to win every game, but.
13:10
Speaker 2: You know, our.
13:10
Speaker 7: Expectations are to come to the field and put ourselves
13:13
Speaker 7: in the best position to have success. And you know,
13:17
Speaker 7: let the wins and losses kind of uh, you know,
13:20
Speaker 7: take care of themselves.
13:21
Speaker 2: So it's a really fun group. It's a really fun clubhouse.
13:25
Speaker 7: I've I've enjoyed the season a lot and looking forward
13:28
Speaker 7: to what we can do here down down the stretch.
13:32
Speaker 3: Is it more fun than other years or is it
13:34
Speaker 3: just more fun because you're winning more?
13:39
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously winning probably contributes to that, but.
13:44
Speaker 7: No, I just think with the young guys, like it's
13:49
Speaker 7: it's definitely weird being the older guy.
13:50
Speaker 2: In the locker room, I'll tell you that.
13:52
Speaker 7: But you know, everybody is enjoys being around each other.
13:59
Speaker 7: You know, we're having fun together away from the field,
14:02
Speaker 7: so and you know, like you said, winning probably contributes
14:07
Speaker 7: to that. But you know, it's just a really good group.
14:10
Speaker 7: And really enjoyed this group a lot.
14:15
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:15
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like I just want to talk about you know,
14:17
Speaker 5: you've made the shift to first base, which Arion Cratzy
14:20
Speaker 5: and I talked about earlier about how terrifying it is
14:24
Speaker 5: for guys to play over there. Then some guys are
14:26
Speaker 5: just naturally gifted over there. How hard or easy for
14:30
Speaker 5: you was that transition going to the outfield to first
14:33
Speaker 5: base and not only just playing first base. But man,
14:36
Speaker 5: you're a fantastic first basement obviously, at the top of
14:38
Speaker 5: the list in the league of first basement, So can
14:40
Speaker 5: you tell us about that.
14:43
Speaker 7: Yeah, so I grew up playing first base, like that's
14:45
Speaker 7: where I played, you know, growing up, and then kind
14:49
Speaker 7: of all the way through college I played mostly first base,
14:53
Speaker 7: and then when I got drafted by the Cardinals, they
14:56
Speaker 7: drafted me as an outfielder, and you know, played all
14:59
Speaker 7: out through the miners and then didn't play a game
15:02
Speaker 7: at first base in my professional career till I got
15:04
Speaker 7: to the big league.
15:04
Speaker 2: So you know, I'm pretty comfortable over there.
15:08
Speaker 7: Obviously, you know, college or high school first base is
15:11
Speaker 7: a little bit different than the big league first base,
15:13
Speaker 7: so that took some adjusting. But you know, once I
15:16
Speaker 7: got my feet under me, and you.
15:19
Speaker 2: Know, I had a lot of good guys.
15:20
Speaker 7: Obviously Goldie was around him for a couple of years,
15:23
Speaker 7: and then you know, Wilson last year he was pretty
15:25
Speaker 7: good over.
15:25
Speaker 2: There too, So.
15:28
Speaker 7: You know, once I got comfortable and obviously been around
15:31
Speaker 7: this these guys on the infield with Mason and JJ,
15:35
Speaker 7: been around them a lot, and you know, know how they.
15:39
Speaker 2: Operate, so it's it gets a little bit easier, but yeah,
15:42
Speaker 2: I love being on the in field with those.
15:43
Speaker 1: Guys early, with with those maybe unfamiliar with your early
15:48
Speaker 1: Cardinals lore. I think you wrapped it up pretty concisely there.
15:53
Speaker 1: There was a lot of maybe back and forth on
15:55
Speaker 1: what was best for your development and your early seasons,
15:58
Speaker 1: and even up to last year with the Cardinals going
16:00
Speaker 1: through that transition season, it was you who saw your
16:03
Speaker 1: playing time cut early on, despite you being one of
16:05
Speaker 1: the better performers out there. And I remember a conversation
16:08
Speaker 1: we had in Milwaukee last year about that where you
16:11
Speaker 1: were like, it's going to work out in my favor.
16:13
Speaker 1: I just have to trust the process here and trust
16:15
Speaker 1: this organization, and to your credit, you did that. Not
16:17
Speaker 1: a lot of guys would have been able to handle
16:19
Speaker 1: that grace in which you did. And you're seeing the
16:22
Speaker 1: rewards here, the number one receiving first baseman in all
16:25
Speaker 1: of baseball, the starting first baseman for the Cardinals, and
16:28
Speaker 1: seeing just a lot of success and being one of
16:30
Speaker 1: those franchise spaces that hein Bluem and Ollie Marmele had
16:34
Speaker 1: hoped to kind of establish this year. What has been
16:36
Speaker 1: really fun and rewarding for you personally, about this season
16:39
Speaker 1: given what you went through early on.
16:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, kind of like you said, I.
16:47
Speaker 7: You know, I think coming up through the minors as
16:48
Speaker 7: an outfielder, I don't know if I get to the
16:49
Speaker 7: big leagues, you know, as quickly as I did. Obviously
16:53
Speaker 7: there was Goldie there for a few years, so I
16:56
Speaker 7: don't know if there was a need for first basement
16:58
Speaker 7: at the time. So you know, I think that was
17:02
Speaker 7: my quickest route to the big leagues.
17:05
Speaker 2: And you know, it wasn't pretty out there.
17:07
Speaker 7: You saw it like the outfield, if I could get
17:09
Speaker 7: to it, I was gonna catch it.
17:10
Speaker 2: But the problem was getting to the balls. So you
17:15
Speaker 2: know I did. I did. Okay, I'll give myself a
17:16
Speaker 2: little bit of credit in the outfield, but.
17:19
Speaker 7: Yeah, kind of like you said, uh, just kind of
17:22
Speaker 7: sticking to the process, understanding that you know, I just
17:28
Speaker 7: wanted to do whatever I needed to do to be
17:29
Speaker 7: in the lineup every day, whether that was you know,
17:32
Speaker 7: play the outfield, d h uh, and then you know,
17:35
Speaker 7: fill in at first base whenever, whenever that was needed.
17:38
Speaker 2: So you know, for me, I'm just.
17:41
Speaker 7: Glad that I kind of stuck to that and you know,
17:43
Speaker 7: didn't kind.
17:44
Speaker 2: Of throw my hands up and be like why, why
17:46
Speaker 2: why am I in this situation?
17:47
Speaker 7: And but you know, with the Cardinals, like they did
17:51
Speaker 7: a great job of uh, you know, communicating and telling
17:54
Speaker 7: me what was going on. And then you know, obviously,
17:58
Speaker 7: you know, this year, first base was was mine for
18:03
Speaker 7: you know, mine for the taking. So I decided to
18:05
Speaker 7: really hone in on that skill. And so yeah, it
18:09
Speaker 7: all worked out in the end, but you know, still
18:12
Speaker 7: got some work to do for sure.
18:14
Speaker 3: Does playing a different position change how you're at bats?
18:18
Speaker 2: Go?
18:19
Speaker 3: We we try as big leaguers to not take our
18:22
Speaker 3: defense to our offense, our offense to our defense, but
18:27
Speaker 3: be honest, Like, you came up as a first baseman.
18:29
Speaker 3: You said it, and they were like, hey, you got drafted, boom,
18:32
Speaker 3: you're an outfit. You're like, okay, well I guess I
18:35
Speaker 3: can hit here now you're in the big leagues. And
18:37
Speaker 3: you're like, all right, well, okay, this doesn't honestly affect
18:42
Speaker 3: your offense.
18:45
Speaker 7: Yeah, I found that when I played the outfield, I
18:50
Speaker 7: thought about my bats a lot because there's nobody else
18:53
Speaker 7: out there to really talk to.
18:54
Speaker 2: You're kind of out there on your own. And then
18:58
Speaker 2: you know, once you get the first base, like.
19:00
Speaker 7: You're in every play, You're you're always you know, if
19:04
Speaker 7: you're holding a guy on like you're in the game,
19:05
Speaker 7: you can't think about your bet. So and then obviously,
19:09
Speaker 7: d H, I had all the time in the world
19:11
Speaker 7: to think about my bet. So, yeah, playing first base
19:14
Speaker 7: allows me to kind of, you know, free my mind and.
19:18
Speaker 2: Front from it.
19:18
Speaker 7: Bats and you know, flush whatever happened or positive or negative,
19:23
Speaker 7: and then you know, just just separate the two.
19:26
Speaker 2: But yeah, in the outfield, I found.
19:28
Speaker 7: Myself a little bit more frustrated, just because you know,
19:31
Speaker 7: you've just got so much time to think out there,
19:33
Speaker 7: and you know, you try your best, but yeah, first
19:36
Speaker 7: base makes that a lot easier.
19:39
Speaker 3: And Josh said, it's a shorter run between the dugout
19:43
Speaker 3: the first too, so I can I can appreciate that. Yeah,
19:46
Speaker 3: I can appreciate that too. You know, your legs are
19:48
Speaker 3: feeling good. But you've mentioned it, you've kind of clazed
19:50
Speaker 3: over it twice. You said nobody had talked to out there,
19:54
Speaker 3: and you said, I really enjoyed playing with Mason and
19:57
Speaker 3: jj on the infield.
19:59
Speaker 4: So is there like, are you a chatty Kathy out there?
20:02
Speaker 3: Or is there like, do you guys play games where
20:04
Speaker 3: like JJ sees the pitch and you're like, you hear
20:07
Speaker 3: him go and you're like, oh boy, here comes a
20:10
Speaker 3: change up. Like are there things inside the game that
20:14
Speaker 3: you guys are all like playing back and forth off
20:16
Speaker 3: each other.
20:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's definitely some secrets I'm not gonna share, but yeah,
20:24
Speaker 2: I definitely. You know, somebody gets on first base, I'm talking.
20:27
Speaker 7: To him, talking to the first base coach, talking to
20:30
Speaker 7: the umpire, Like, I wouldn't classify myself as a chatty kathy, but.
20:39
Speaker 2: If I'm gonna if i'm gonna be right next to somebody,
20:41
Speaker 2: I'm gonna talk to him. So I'm right next to JJ.
20:43
Speaker 2: We talk a lot.
20:44
Speaker 7: Mason's always talking out there. So yeah, I wouldn't say
20:49
Speaker 7: I'm a chatty Kathy, but I'm gonna have a conversation
20:52
Speaker 7: with you if you get the first base.
20:57
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21:57
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean your first basement, you got to be
21:59
Speaker 5: able to talk to whoever's out there. You got so
22:01
Speaker 5: many guys coming over to visit you every game, on
22:04
Speaker 5: any given situations. You make friendships out of it over there.
22:07
Speaker 5: I mean if not, it is completely awkward. If you're
22:10
Speaker 5: not saying anything, you just give them an old Ada
22:13
Speaker 5: boy and move on. You know, when I played, it
22:15
Speaker 5: was always about how you hitting them house things, going
22:18
Speaker 5: after your family, So a little conversations that, you know,
22:20
Speaker 5: for me was always cool because it gives you a
22:22
Speaker 5: little escape away from the game for a second, talk
22:25
Speaker 5: to another guy. You get to know one of the brotherhoods.
22:27
Speaker 5: So I know, you've got to be chatty over there.
22:29
Speaker 5: What's what's the most common thing you're talking about to
22:32
Speaker 5: a base running once he gets to first base.
22:37
Speaker 2: I mean, it could really be anything. You know.
22:39
Speaker 7: Sometimes I play the game within the game, and if
22:42
Speaker 7: I know it's a base stealer, I'm trying to, you know,
22:45
Speaker 7: distract them from from stealing a base.
22:47
Speaker 2: I'm trying to talk to them, maybe keep.
22:49
Speaker 7: Them over there for you know, one or two more
22:51
Speaker 7: pitches so we can turn double play, or you know,
22:55
Speaker 7: it could literally be about anything baseball and not baseball, family,
23:02
Speaker 7: what what they're what we're doing after the game, Like,
23:05
Speaker 7: it literally could be anything. So that's always I always
23:10
Speaker 7: leave that kind of up. I don't ever really push
23:12
Speaker 7: the conversation in any any direction.
23:15
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it literally could be anything at first base.
23:20
Speaker 7: And I think that's the that's the fun part about it, is,
23:23
Speaker 7: like you said, you've been build those friendships and then
23:27
Speaker 7: you know, obviously we're playing the Phillies and We saw
23:29
Speaker 7: them last week, so you know, it'll be good to
23:33
Speaker 7: talk to those guys and just.
23:35
Speaker 2: You know, just see what's going on.
23:38
Speaker 3: Have you tried anything creative to keep the base Steelers
23:41
Speaker 3: from running, because one hundred percent of the guys that
23:44
Speaker 3: don't steal don't make it like if you tried the
23:46
Speaker 3: old like as you think the picture is gonna throw
23:48
Speaker 3: like old time time out, toma tum like something that
23:51
Speaker 3: like distracts the runner.
23:53
Speaker 4: And has it worked or has it not worked?
23:58
Speaker 7: No, I haven't really tried anything besides just trying to
24:02
Speaker 7: talk their ear off at first Base. We just we
24:07
Speaker 7: just left Cincinnati, and anytime Ellie gets over there, like
24:11
Speaker 7: I'm I'm talking to him, he's he's a great dude.
24:14
Speaker 7: Half the time, it's just conversation. But you know, sometimes
24:17
Speaker 7: it might be to try to keep him at first
24:19
Speaker 7: but no, I can try and mix that in. I
24:25
Speaker 7: can think about it and try and mix it in,
24:26
Speaker 7: maybe working on it this offseason, but you know, normally
24:31
Speaker 7: it's just the conversation, trying to keep him close.
24:33
Speaker 2: And yeah, that's about it. Really.
24:38
Speaker 1: This has been just personally and professionally a huge year
24:42
Speaker 1: for you, you and your wife Mary, welcome to your
24:44
Speaker 1: first child, your first time dad to Braxton. You've also
24:48
Speaker 1: really been a face in this new Cardinal era. I
24:51
Speaker 1: think coming into the season there was a lot of question.
24:53
Speaker 2: About what you guys would look like.
24:55
Speaker 1: You know, fans were told be expecting a rebuilt and
24:58
Speaker 1: you guys said, perhaps not when you think about just
25:01
Speaker 1: how much the Cardinals have meant to you and how
25:03
Speaker 1: much fun you're having being kind of the new franchise face.
25:07
Speaker 1: How much of it means to you to extend your
25:09
Speaker 1: career in Saint Louis and be a part of this
25:11
Speaker 1: long term.
25:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. You know, I love Saint Louis, My family
25:18
Speaker 2: loves Saint Louis.
25:19
Speaker 7: Obviously, all of the guys here I've played with for
25:22
Speaker 7: you know, either we played the miners together or we've
25:24
Speaker 7: been we've been with the Cardinals in the big leagues
25:27
Speaker 7: for a while. So yeah, I was thinking about that
25:30
Speaker 7: at the trade deadline this year, like, obviously we're we're
25:33
Speaker 7: building towards something that.
25:36
Speaker 2: You know, it's going to look really good in the
25:38
Speaker 2: next couple of.
25:38
Speaker 7: Years, and I would like to think I've I've been
25:41
Speaker 7: a small part of that, and you know, in the
25:44
Speaker 7: off chance this trade deadline that I was traded, Like
25:48
Speaker 7: I you know, it would have kind of hurt.
25:50
Speaker 2: A little bit just to leave that and leave what,
25:52
Speaker 2: you know, a little bit.
25:53
Speaker 7: I've contributed to to what this is going to look
25:55
Speaker 7: like in the next few years.
25:56
Speaker 2: So yeah, like I said, I love.
25:59
Speaker 7: Sayt Lewis, the fans and the staff and the players,
26:05
Speaker 7: like it's.
26:07
Speaker 2: Very comfortable, feels like home.
26:08
Speaker 7: And yeah, like you said that this is gonna look
26:11
Speaker 7: I'm not sure what it's gonna look like in the
26:12
Speaker 7: next few years, but I would definitely like to be
26:15
Speaker 7: around for it and and you know, contribute to a
26:18
Speaker 7: lot of winning baseball in Saint Louis.
26:22
Speaker 2: Two things.
26:23
Speaker 5: First of all, great flow, great hair. Second of all,
26:29
Speaker 5: I have this is one question I'd love to ask guys.
26:32
Speaker 5: So for you, what was like your first like superstar
26:35
Speaker 5: moment You're going to cover first base after this guy
26:37
Speaker 5: got on first base and in your brain going holy crap, this.
26:41
Speaker 8: Is so and so standing next to me, it was
26:48
Speaker 8: probably it was probably my first game at first base.
26:53
Speaker 7: We had in twenty two when I got called up.
26:57
Speaker 7: We clinched the division in the Waukee and I played
27:01
Speaker 7: first base the next day, and you know, Yelich gets
27:06
Speaker 7: over there.
27:07
Speaker 2: He was one where I was like, all right, I'm
27:09
Speaker 2: in the big league. This is pretty cool.
27:10
Speaker 7: And then McCutcheon was over there that year, and just
27:15
Speaker 7: those two guys really stand out, you know, obviously watching
27:18
Speaker 7: him for a long time, but.
27:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, not now.
27:22
Speaker 7: It's it's weird because, like, you know, I don't want
27:26
Speaker 7: to make anybody sound bad, but they would kind of
27:28
Speaker 7: you know, you're the rookie, you're the young guy, your
27:31
Speaker 7: first base. They kind of, you know, I don't want
27:33
Speaker 7: to say, talk down, but it's kind of like, hey, buddy,
27:35
Speaker 7: welcome to the big leagues. And now it's like, you know,
27:38
Speaker 7: we have conversations, like I said, about anything, and so
27:41
Speaker 7: that that that's that's a pretty cool to see how
27:45
Speaker 7: that developed over the years. But yeah, those two kind
27:48
Speaker 7: of stand out just for my my first game, first
27:50
Speaker 7: game at first in the big leagues.