Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Pirates' Ryan O'Hearn joins Bucco Territory
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory,
- 0:13Speaker 1: presented by the Foul Territory Network. I am your host,
- 0:15Speaker 1: Noah Hiles and joining me as always are my wonderful
- 0:18Speaker 1: co host Josh Harrison aka j Hay and platinum Key
- 0:21Speaker 1: aka Mark. And as you can see, we have another
- 0:24Speaker 1: guest on the show. This one comes in the form
- 0:27Speaker 1: of a big free agent signing the Pirates made this offseason.
- 0:31Speaker 1: New left handed power bat Ryan O'Hearn joins the show. Ryan,
- 0:34Speaker 1: Welcome on to Bucko Territory.
- 0:36Speaker 2: Man, what's up Ellens? Thanks for having me, Thanks for
- 0:39Speaker 2: coping me right. Welcome.
- 0:42Speaker 1: So, Ryan, Pirates fans are obviously really excited to see
- 0:46Speaker 1: you take the field on the North Shore this spring.
- 0:49Speaker 2: I'm sure.
- 0:50Speaker 1: I mean, I've seen you do a couple of interviews already.
- 0:53Speaker 1: Hopefully we can give a couple of different questions that
- 0:56Speaker 1: you haven't been asked and dig into everything that is
- 1:00Speaker 1: Ryan O'Hearn, what makes you? And we're gonna get started
- 1:03Speaker 1: right now with one of the biggest diehard Pirate fans
- 1:07Speaker 1: that I know, Mark aka platinum Key Brian. If you're
- 1:10Speaker 1: on Twitter at all, Ryan, I recommend giving him a foul.
- 1:13Speaker 1: He is like the king of Pirate social media. He
- 1:16Speaker 1: just posts clip after clip after clip, just nothing but
- 1:19Speaker 1: Pirates highlights. He's going to be the one to start
- 1:22Speaker 1: this interview, so go ahead, Mark, kick it off.
- 1:24Speaker 3: Yeah, Ryan, thank you so much for hopping on. I
- 1:27Speaker 3: just want to say Pirate fans are extremely excited, man.
- 1:32Speaker 3: I absolutely love the confidence, the belief in this club
- 1:37Speaker 3: and just the way that you express your goals for
- 1:40Speaker 3: this team moving forward. It's refreshing to hear someone committed
- 1:44Speaker 3: to winning and believing that this is a baseball club
- 1:47Speaker 3: that can do that, that can be competitive. So my
- 1:50Speaker 3: first question is what goals do you have for your
- 1:53Speaker 3: time in Pittsburgh, for you, for the team, whatever.
- 1:58Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, you can talk a game,
- 2:00Speaker 4: but we still got to go play the games. But
- 2:03Speaker 4: I you know, I believe that what's the point of
- 2:05Speaker 4: joining something if you don't think that you can succeed there,
- 2:08Speaker 4: you know. And I've spoke on it quite a bit
- 2:11Speaker 4: about the roster and kind of looking at what the
- 2:14Speaker 4: Pirates already had coming into the offseason and what they've added,
- 2:17Speaker 4: and you know, I'm a believer in the team that
- 2:20Speaker 4: we could go out and surprise people. And you know,
- 2:24Speaker 4: I've said it a lot, but it really does start
- 2:26Speaker 4: with pitching, in my opinion, And you know, you got
- 2:29Speaker 4: the best picture on earth to start, and then you
- 2:33Speaker 4: know you got great young arms with great stuff behind him,
- 2:37Speaker 4: and so I think that's a great place to start.
- 2:39Speaker 4: And you know, trying to decide where I wanted to
- 2:41Speaker 4: play next year or well this upcoming year, you know,
- 2:45Speaker 4: that definitely was stood out to me.
- 2:48Speaker 2: And as far as goals for the.
- 2:51Speaker 4: Season, you know, I think I have no problem with
- 2:53Speaker 4: stating like, hey, I want to make the playoffs, Like
- 2:56Speaker 4: why why why play a season if you don't, if
- 2:59Speaker 4: you're not trying to make the playoffs, or if that
- 3:01Speaker 4: isn't a goal, you know, I think obviously you got
- 3:04Speaker 4: to take it one day at a time. It's a
- 3:06Speaker 4: long season, and you may have a bad you know,
- 3:10Speaker 4: stretch at some point, but I think the best teams
- 3:14Speaker 4: find their way out of that and find a way
- 3:16Speaker 4: to get that good mojo going and the good vibes.
- 3:19Speaker 4: And you know, as much as you want to talk
- 3:22Speaker 4: about goals right now here in January, we got to
- 3:25Speaker 4: be in that one day at a time mindset doing
- 3:28Speaker 4: whatever we can to find a way to win a
- 3:29Speaker 4: ball game every day, and then you know, hopefully we'll
- 3:32Speaker 4: look back and we'll be right on the custom of
- 3:34Speaker 4: but at the end of.
- 3:34Speaker 2: The year, exactly love it.
- 3:36Speaker 3: Are you going to be at Pirates Fats coming up
- 3:39Speaker 3: here next weekend? I know fans are excited to maybe
- 3:42Speaker 3: get a chance to cea hear from you, maybe meet
- 3:44Speaker 3: you briefly.
- 3:45Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be there. I'm leading Friday morning.
- 3:48Speaker 3: Excellent, Absolutely love it. So I was going through your
- 3:52Speaker 3: game logs. I noticed you had a home run against
- 3:55Speaker 3: the Pirates in twenty eighteen that was off of Stephen Brolt.
- 3:58Speaker 3: But let me to my next question, and I noticed
- 4:00Speaker 3: that you hit an m or you hit a home
- 4:02Speaker 3: run in your MLB debut, right, yeah, James Shields, Yeah,
- 4:08Speaker 3: j oh wow, all right yeah, can you just walk
- 4:10Speaker 3: in to me, James, What was it like being called
- 4:12Speaker 3: up to the show? What was that day like for you?
- 4:16Speaker 1: Oh?
- 4:17Speaker 4: Man, it was awesome, you know, obviously dream come true,
- 4:21Speaker 4: you work.
- 4:22Speaker 2: I was an eighth rownd.
- 4:23Speaker 4: Pick, never made it on a super high on any
- 4:27Speaker 4: prospect lists, I mean, and then you know, I spent
- 4:30Speaker 4: four years in the minor leagues, got a chance to
- 4:32Speaker 4: get called up in July of twenty eighteen.
- 4:37Speaker 2: My parents made it.
- 4:39Speaker 4: Brother's sister had family there hit that homer off of
- 4:42Speaker 4: James Shields and you know something I'll remember forever.
- 4:45Speaker 3: That's awesome. Then my final question, so I have to
- 4:49Speaker 3: change hats right in. Actually, oh that's awesome. Change hats
- 4:54Speaker 3: here real quick to ask you a question now we go.
- 4:57Speaker 3: I'm a fellow diehard Packers fan. We were talking before.
- 4:59Speaker 3: I hear you're also an owner, owning a couple of shows,
- 5:03Speaker 3: family with season tickets. When was the last time you
- 5:06Speaker 3: were at Lamba?
- 5:08Speaker 4: So Week eighteen of last season, I went to Lambo
- 5:12Speaker 4: with my dad and brother in law and a couple
- 5:17Speaker 4: uncles and we watch the Packers play the Bears in
- 5:19Speaker 4: about minus seven with the wind chill, and it was
- 5:24Speaker 4: they lost, which you know, you never phone losing too
- 5:27Speaker 4: the Bears. But anytime you get a chance to go
- 5:29Speaker 4: to Lamba and watching Packers play is pretty cool. So yeah,
- 5:33Speaker 4: definitely a Packer fan. I know we're struggle a little
- 5:36Speaker 4: bit right now, but hey, we'll get him next year.
- 5:39Speaker 3: Awesome, appreciate it. Thank you again for having jumping on here.
- 5:43Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.
- 5:45Speaker 1: All right, So Ryan, I'll take over now, a lot
- 5:50Speaker 1: of people obviously are familiar with what you achieved in
- 5:52Speaker 1: Baltimore and in the back end of last year with
- 5:55Speaker 1: San Diego, But I want to ask about your time
- 5:57Speaker 1: in Kansas City because it wasn't the easiest start to
- 6:02Speaker 1: your major league career. Right, it was some negative war seasons,
- 6:05Speaker 1: you got optioned. I'm sure you know during that time,
- 6:09Speaker 1: there were a lot of difficult lonely drives back to Omaha. Right,
- 6:14Speaker 1: Can you just take us back to that time and
- 6:16Speaker 1: maybe tell us that those hard times, Oh sorry about that. Yeah,
- 6:23Speaker 1: can you just take us back to that time and
- 6:24Speaker 1: you just kind of tell us how those hard times
- 6:28Speaker 1: really shaped you into the ballplayer that you are now.
- 6:34Speaker 2: Yeah, you said it.
- 6:35Speaker 4: There was a lot of hard times in some down
- 6:37Speaker 4: years in Kansas City, you know, where I was just
- 6:40Speaker 4: trying to fight to stay on a major league roster,
- 6:43Speaker 4: and you know, I credit a lot of those the
- 6:46Speaker 4: difficult years is you know, I really appreciate getting to
- 6:49Speaker 4: play now because it's been taken away from me before.
- 6:52Speaker 4: And you know, when someone tells you, hey, like you're
- 6:55Speaker 4: not on the team anymore, you go on Triple A whatever,
- 6:58Speaker 4: and after that happens a few times like you know,
- 7:00Speaker 4: it's you realize how hard it is to stick in
- 7:03Speaker 4: the major leagues. And I learned a lot of lessons
- 7:06Speaker 4: on the bench in Kansas City. I got to watch
- 7:08Speaker 4: a lot of baseball, that's for sure, and learn from
- 7:12Speaker 4: coaches and and kind of figured out how to stay
- 7:14Speaker 4: sharp as best as I could, and that like pinch
- 7:16Speaker 4: hitter role. And then you know, maybe you get one
- 7:19Speaker 4: a b a night, one start a week, you know,
- 7:22Speaker 4: whatever it may be. You learn to embrace your role.
- 7:25Speaker 4: You try to be the best teammates that you possibly
- 7:27Speaker 4: can and just make the most of it. And yeah,
- 7:32Speaker 4: so I think those times in Kansas City definitely shaped
- 7:36Speaker 4: me in ways and kind of prepped me for my
- 7:39Speaker 4: next opportunity to get regular playing time.
- 7:43Speaker 2: And when I got to Baltimore, I was like ready
- 7:45Speaker 2: to go.
- 7:47Speaker 4: So I think when I was on the bench a
- 7:49Speaker 4: lot like I took advantage of that time and I
- 7:52Speaker 4: tried to get better as best as I could without.
- 7:53Speaker 2: Playing in that many games.
- 7:55Speaker 4: And you know, I think a year after years of
- 7:59Speaker 4: that and learning from hitting coaches in the off season,
- 8:02Speaker 4: and then by the time I got to or I
- 8:04Speaker 4: got to Baltimore in twenty three and I got a
- 8:07Speaker 4: chance to play quite a bit. I was just ready
- 8:09Speaker 4: to rock and it seemed like So, you know, I
- 8:12Speaker 4: definitely credit those down years in Kansas City because without
- 8:15Speaker 4: those times, I don't have the same resilience. Probably I
- 8:18Speaker 4: don't have some.
- 8:20Speaker 2: Of the skills that I have now.
- 8:21Speaker 4: And definitely on the mental side of it, being able
- 8:25Speaker 4: to stay, you know, locked into the game, not give up,
- 8:30Speaker 4: you know, just overcome some tough times I think have
- 8:34Speaker 4: really benefited me in the last few years.
- 8:37Speaker 1: You talked about embracing your role. What type of role
- 8:40Speaker 1: do you hope to have for this Pirates team.
- 8:44Speaker 4: Oh, I want to hit in the middle lineup. I
- 8:45Speaker 4: want to drive in runs. I want to play wherever
- 8:47Speaker 4: they need me on any given night. I know how
- 8:51Speaker 4: baseball is nowadays. There's a lot of different lineups and
- 8:53Speaker 4: guys rotate and they keep that DH spot moving and so,
- 8:57Speaker 4: you know, whatever they need me defensively, I'll be ready
- 8:59Speaker 4: to go. And then as far as hitting, I want
- 9:00Speaker 4: to I want to play every day. You know, I
- 9:03Speaker 4: want to face lefties, righties. I want to hit the
- 9:05Speaker 4: middle lineup and drive me runs. I don't want to
- 9:07Speaker 4: strike out. You don't want to hit some balls in
- 9:09Speaker 4: the river I want to do whatever we got to
- 9:11Speaker 4: do to help the team win.
- 9:12Speaker 1: Have there been any conversations about where they anticipate you
- 9:16Speaker 1: playing the bulk of your innings this year?
- 9:19Speaker 2: I'm not super specific.
- 9:21Speaker 4: This just kind of told me like a similar role
- 9:23Speaker 4: to I've had what I've had the last few years,
- 9:25Speaker 4: which has been you know, first base, DH, you know,
- 9:28Speaker 4: right field whenever they need me. But you know, I'm
- 9:32Speaker 4: in I'm thirty two, but I'm in pretty good shape.
- 9:34Speaker 4: I feel like I can go out and play wherever
- 9:35Speaker 4: they need me.
- 9:37Speaker 1: And then my last question for you is I was
- 9:39Speaker 1: doing a little recon. I was talking to Andy from
- 9:42Speaker 1: the Baltimore Banner, who says hello, and he was telling
- 9:45Speaker 1: me about your cool bat you had for the All
- 9:48Speaker 1: Star Game and and what it kind of meant, how
- 9:52Speaker 1: it was a little bit bigger than just you know,
- 9:54Speaker 1: about yourself, and it's a cool baseball story. Just wanted
- 9:57Speaker 1: to give you the opportunity to kind of tell that
- 9:59Speaker 1: story a little bit and what what it signified.
- 10:03Speaker 4: Yeah, So at the All Star Game, I used a
- 10:04Speaker 4: bat signed by all the players on the newtown Edgemont
- 10:08Speaker 4: Challenger team, which is a group of guys that are
- 10:13Speaker 4: you know, they have some disabilities, but they love the
- 10:15Speaker 4: game of baseball. And I've made appointment to go up
- 10:19Speaker 4: and see him every off season and you know, go
- 10:21Speaker 4: to their practice. My agent coaches them, works with them.
- 10:25Speaker 4: He's very close with a lot of the families. And
- 10:26Speaker 4: I've come to love the boys over the years. Uh
- 10:29Speaker 4: They've made out, made it out to games in Philly
- 10:32Speaker 4: to see me play.
- 10:33Speaker 2: They came out to Baltimore last year.
- 10:37Speaker 4: So when it came to the All Star Game, they
- 10:39Speaker 4: all signed a bat for me and you know, made
- 10:41Speaker 4: this awesome video and you know made it really special
- 10:45Speaker 4: that I could rep those boys and give them some
- 10:47Speaker 4: love on on the biggest stage at the All Star Game.
- 10:49Speaker 4: But uh, a lot of love for those boys. Man,
- 10:52Speaker 4: the Challenger Angels. They're great people. They really do bright
- 10:55Speaker 4: in the day. Like anytime I get a chance to
- 10:57Speaker 4: see him, my face hurts from smiling when I would
- 10:59Speaker 4: go to leave, just because they like, they bring great
- 11:02Speaker 4: energy and you can tell how much they love baseball.
- 11:04Speaker 4: And you know, just human angels is what I call them.
- 11:08Speaker 4: So uh, definitely they got a special place in my heart.
- 11:12Speaker 2: Awesome.
- 11:12Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break to hear from
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- 11:14Speaker 2: When we get back.
- 11:15Speaker 1: Josh Harrison interviews new pirate Ryan o'hearan.
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- 12:22Speaker 6: All right, here we go.
- 12:25Speaker 7: First off, welcome again Ryan as Noah and you know,
- 12:28Speaker 7: my boy Platinum Key said, welcome, appreciate you coming on
- 12:30Speaker 7: the show. And I just got a couple of questions
- 12:33Speaker 7: for you. I feel like I've learned a lot just
- 12:35Speaker 7: listening to Noah. Noah and Mark asked you a couple questions.
- 12:38Speaker 7: But my first question is going to be kind of
- 12:40Speaker 7: piggybacking off of what Noah asked you about your role
- 12:43Speaker 7: on this team. Obviously you said you want to hit
- 12:45Speaker 7: in the middle of the lineup, you want to drive
- 12:47Speaker 7: and runs face right, hes face lefties. Listen to your
- 12:49Speaker 7: story very very very similar to mine to where I
- 12:54Speaker 7: was on that express back and forth between trip Lela
- 12:57Speaker 7: in the Major League, you know, three years before I
- 13:00Speaker 7: got a chance to play every day, just wanting that
- 13:02Speaker 7: opportunity and listening you speak.
- 13:05Speaker 6: You know, you speak with a lot of confidence because
- 13:07Speaker 6: you've been through the ringer.
- 13:08Speaker 7: So I wanted to ask about your role, not that
- 13:11Speaker 7: it is part of your role, but do you foresee
- 13:13Speaker 7: with this being a younger offensive team that you can
- 13:15Speaker 7: kind of take on a little bit of that leadership
- 13:18Speaker 7: role to kind of help these guys make, you know,
- 13:19Speaker 7: some of those adjustments that you know, as you said,
- 13:22Speaker 7: you learned a lot on the bench, you learned from
- 13:24Speaker 7: hitting coaches. I saw myself, you know, learn a lot
- 13:26Speaker 7: of those moments, and whether I wanted to or realize
- 13:29Speaker 7: it or not, I think I was able to give
- 13:31Speaker 7: a lot of information to guys that otherwise may have
- 13:33Speaker 7: not been through what I had been through.
- 13:37Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt.
- 13:38Speaker 4: I mean, I'm not going to roll up in there
- 13:39Speaker 4: like giving speeches like hey, I'm a guy listening to
- 13:41Speaker 4: me talk, But you know, I'm I'm want to help
- 13:45Speaker 4: out and you know, build relationships with all the guys
- 13:48Speaker 4: as much as possible. If I feel like something needs
- 13:51Speaker 4: to be said, I have no problem saying it. Like
- 13:53Speaker 4: you said, we've uh, you know, seen a lot of
- 13:56Speaker 4: baseball and you kind of seen how you know, good
- 14:00Speaker 4: work and how maybe not so good leaders work. And
- 14:04Speaker 4: you know, if I feel like I'm there's something that
- 14:07Speaker 4: needs to be said, like I said, I'll say it.
- 14:09Speaker 4: I don't really consider myself like the most vocal leader,
- 14:14Speaker 4: but you know, there's a time and a place and
- 14:17Speaker 4: anything that I can pass along to these guys and
- 14:21Speaker 4: then I'm all for it and like and I want
- 14:23Speaker 4: to learn from them as well.
- 14:24Speaker 2: You know, it's you never stop learning in this game.
- 14:26Speaker 4: It's not like I've got to a point where it's like,
- 14:29Speaker 4: all right, I figured everything out.
- 14:30Speaker 2: Because that's completely false, you know.
- 14:32Speaker 4: But I think good players, especially at good offenses and
- 14:36Speaker 4: meetings and things like that, everybody talks, you know, because
- 14:40Speaker 4: maybe some guy in the room has had success off
- 14:43Speaker 4: a pitcher that I just can't figure him out, and
- 14:45Speaker 4: you know, like to be able to bounce that off
- 14:47Speaker 4: each other and you know, figure out a way that
- 14:49Speaker 4: you can go get this guy. As a team is
- 14:50Speaker 4: everything seems like the best offenses I've been on are
- 14:54Speaker 4: you know, they talk to each other. So yeah, if
- 14:57Speaker 4: I can assume something type of leadership role, like that's awesome.
- 15:02Speaker 4: If not, like you know, I'm just gonna roll up
- 15:04Speaker 4: in there and be myself and really looking forward to
- 15:06Speaker 4: get to know the guys and see what they're all about.
- 15:09Speaker 7: You're not for sure, I totally understand everything you're saying,
- 15:13Speaker 7: and sometimes, as you said, you're not the most vocal guy.
- 15:16Speaker 6: And you don't have to be everything that you said.
- 15:19Speaker 7: I'm sure it's gonna show on the field because you said,
- 15:21Speaker 7: wherever they want you to play, wherever they want to.
- 15:23Speaker 6: Line you up, you ready to go.
- 15:25Speaker 7: And trust me from somebody that played in Pittsburgh, that's
- 15:29Speaker 7: that's something that's already gonna have the fans, you know,
- 15:31Speaker 7: rooting for you. And I've played against you and i
- 15:34Speaker 7: know what you bring. So that's something that I'm excited
- 15:36Speaker 7: to see and to hear you speak about. But we
- 15:39Speaker 7: also know baseball is a game of adjustments, man, And
- 15:43Speaker 7: just like you are mentioning, you've played for a few
- 15:45Speaker 7: different organizations, I have as well, you know, being traded,
- 15:48Speaker 7: going through free agency. There's a lot of things that
- 15:51Speaker 7: go on behind the scenes that you know, to the
- 15:54Speaker 7: naked eye or to the everyday fan might not notice,
- 15:57Speaker 7: but to us it means everything because we're big on routines.
- 16:01Speaker 7: And what do you think has been your biggest adjustment
- 16:05Speaker 7: changing from organization to organization?
- 16:07Speaker 6: Is it the coaching?
- 16:07Speaker 3: Is it?
- 16:08Speaker 7: You know, getting with a hitting coach, knowing how to
- 16:10Speaker 7: you know, say oh oh I need to do first
- 16:12Speaker 7: base or outfield like that was one of my biggest
- 16:15Speaker 7: adjustments was knowing that I am specific to I like
- 16:18Speaker 7: to go in a cage at a certain time before
- 16:21Speaker 7: the game, and I'm getting there. So when I got
- 16:23Speaker 7: traded and I signed, you know, I kind of had
- 16:25Speaker 7: to find my footing with guys that.
- 16:27Speaker 6: Were already there.
- 16:29Speaker 7: What would you say has been some of your most challenging,
- 16:32Speaker 7: you know obstacles when you say going from you know,
- 16:35Speaker 7: Kansas City to Baltimore to San Diego and obviously now
- 16:38Speaker 7: here Pittsburgh but a little different territory.
- 16:41Speaker 6: But you know, they all are saying, you know, you're
- 16:42Speaker 6: changing different places.
- 16:45Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, I'm moving from organization.
- 16:48Speaker 4: Organization is tough because you know it's like you go
- 16:50Speaker 4: from one place where you know everybody's name and the
- 16:52Speaker 4: whole building to somewhere different and you're the new guy
- 16:55Speaker 4: and you got to adjust. But uh, I mean, in
- 16:57Speaker 4: my experience, for the most part, like all baseball players
- 17:00Speaker 4: seem to be the same, you know.
- 17:01Speaker 2: Like you got your gamblers, you got you know.
- 17:04Speaker 4: You got your like whatever it may be. Like guys,
- 17:08Speaker 4: they tend to fall in the same categories. You find
- 17:10Speaker 4: your boys, the ones you hang out with on the road,
- 17:11Speaker 4: like all of that so and then at the same time,
- 17:15Speaker 4: you know, you got your coaches, like who's my guy?
- 17:17Speaker 4: Who am I gonna work with in the cage every day?
- 17:20Speaker 4: Which strand coach? So I kind of like line up
- 17:22Speaker 4: with my day and all that, you know. So I
- 17:25Speaker 4: have things that I do throughout the day that you
- 17:28Speaker 4: can do anywhere. And I think you just at that,
- 17:31Speaker 4: you know, you know what to do, you know how
- 17:32Speaker 4: to get yourself ready to do your work, and you know,
- 17:36Speaker 4: you make relationships along the way. And then, uh, I'll
- 17:40Speaker 4: say one thing when I try. When I got traded
- 17:41Speaker 4: to San Diego last year, it's like you only get
- 17:44Speaker 4: two months with the group, and it's like, I don't
- 17:46Speaker 4: know if I'm gonna be here after this.
- 17:47Speaker 2: Season or not, But uh, you know, you try.
- 17:50Speaker 4: I try to learn somebody's name, Like every week, somebody
- 17:52Speaker 4: in the in the building, somebody knew every week.
- 17:54Speaker 2: Just because.
- 17:56Speaker 4: You know, just treat people with respect, man, treat people right,
- 17:59Speaker 4: learn their names, learn about them. And I think ultimately
- 18:03Speaker 4: that's gonna translate the more comfortable you feel somewhere, the
- 18:06Speaker 4: more people you get to know, the better you're gonna feel.
- 18:08Speaker 4: And then play out on the field. So I get
- 18:12Speaker 4: two years. You know, as it stands right now, I
- 18:15Speaker 4: get two years with the Pittsburgh Pirates. I can't wait
- 18:17Speaker 4: to get up in there and learn everybody's name, learn
- 18:20Speaker 4: about them. I'm excited I get a spring training to
- 18:23Speaker 4: kind of break that in because we all know how
- 18:24Speaker 4: important spring training is, you know, you that's where you
- 18:28Speaker 4: really make your your bonds to start the season and
- 18:31Speaker 4: you get to know these guys, and so I'm looking
- 18:34Speaker 4: forward to that, and I'm looking forward to Pirates fast
- 18:36Speaker 4: as well. There's gonna be a ton of guys out there,
- 18:38Speaker 4: so it'll be cool to get to know them a
- 18:39Speaker 4: little bit. Hopefully we can grab dinner or something. But yeah,
- 18:43Speaker 4: for me, and like you know, man, it's all about relationships.
- 18:46Speaker 4: The more comfortable you feel, the better you get to
- 18:48Speaker 4: know everybody. That kind of stuff translates out on the field.
- 18:53Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely.
- 18:55Speaker 7: And another thing that I'm gonna piggyback just to go
- 18:58Speaker 7: with adjustments and a lot of people already know. But
- 19:02Speaker 7: you recently have a big adjustment. You know, you just
- 19:04Speaker 7: had a brand new baby girl. So adjustments are also
- 19:08Speaker 7: gonna be made on the road, and uh, these are
- 19:10Speaker 7: things that you know a lot of people you know yes,
- 19:13Speaker 7: they know you had your kid, but it's also an
- 19:15Speaker 7: adjustment for you, your wife, you know, baby girl, and
- 19:19Speaker 7: just one of those things where what do you think
- 19:21Speaker 7: the biggest adjustment is gonna be? Obviously we know sleep,
- 19:23Speaker 7: but is it gonna be you know, is it gonna
- 19:25Speaker 7: be sleep? Is it gonna be being away from them?
- 19:27Speaker 7: Because I know for me, I can miss sleep. You know,
- 19:30Speaker 7: I felt like I played better when my family was there,
- 19:33Speaker 7: so that was one of the biggest adjustments. So what
- 19:35Speaker 7: do you think is the biggest adjustment possibly this season,
- 19:37Speaker 7: you know, adjusting to life with you know, a new
- 19:40Speaker 7: kid or being away from that kid, missing those moments
- 19:43Speaker 7: because these are these are real life things that happen.
- 19:46Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you know that there's it's that's something
- 19:49Speaker 4: I haven't experienced yet. And you know, going on the
- 19:52Speaker 4: road and being away from your family definitely just got
- 19:55Speaker 4: harder for me because I got this baby at home.
- 19:57Speaker 2: But you know, and that's.
- 20:00Speaker 4: Gonna it's gonna be tough, there's no doubt about it.
- 20:02Speaker 4: But you know, luckily, man, I have a great wife
- 20:04Speaker 4: and she's she can hold down the fort. I got
- 20:09Speaker 4: in laws, I got my parents come to town and
- 20:12Speaker 4: help out quite a bit. We got a great support system,
- 20:14Speaker 4: so that's definitely gonna help. And my wife's like I said,
- 20:17Speaker 4: my wife's great.
- 20:18Speaker 2: She gets it. She knows the business. She's been with
- 20:20Speaker 2: me for years.
- 20:21Speaker 4: Man, We've gone through this, uh these seasons together where
- 20:24Speaker 4: it's like I gotta go on the road, she stays home,
- 20:26Speaker 4: that kind of thing. So it's gonna be hard. It's
- 20:29Speaker 4: gonna be an adjustment, for sure. But you know, I've
- 20:32Speaker 4: seen guys go through it, and I know it wears
- 20:34Speaker 4: on them, and uh so I'm gonna just deal with
- 20:37Speaker 4: it the best that I can.
- 20:38Speaker 2: You know, there's nothing else that we can do.
- 20:40Speaker 4: And hopefully I'll be still playing by the time Harper
- 20:43Speaker 4: is old enough to come and come on the road
- 20:45Speaker 4: and all that.
- 20:46Speaker 7: Oh yeah speak that it two exist, that's for sure.
- 20:49Speaker 7: But yeah, the support system is definitely big. And before
- 20:52Speaker 7: we get out of here, I'm gonna ask you one
- 20:53Speaker 7: more question, because, as I said, routine, all these things
- 20:56Speaker 7: kind of tie into each other. I'm a very picky eater,
- 20:59Speaker 7: So switching team the team, you know, you're gonna have
- 21:02Speaker 7: certain staples and cities of food that you should eat
- 21:05Speaker 7: and should not eat, different clubhouses, and my question was
- 21:09Speaker 7: honestly gonna be. Are you like a superstitious person as
- 21:12Speaker 7: far as what you eat before the game, because me
- 21:14Speaker 7: being very picky, I would every team I went to,
- 21:17Speaker 7: I needed a smoothie before the game with no banana,
- 21:20Speaker 7: any fruit, but no banana, and I would do like
- 21:22Speaker 7: a peanut butter and jelly or something like. I couldn't
- 21:24Speaker 7: eat much before games where I got some teammates, It's like, nah,
- 21:27Speaker 7: I need that grilled chicken with you know, rice and
- 21:30Speaker 7: this or that. So do you have anything that you
- 21:32Speaker 7: have to eat or you just kind of go with
- 21:34Speaker 7: the flow.
- 21:36Speaker 2: I'm going with the flow for the most part.
- 21:37Speaker 4: Like I don't want to I want to eat something
- 21:39Speaker 4: that's gonna feel like you know, it's gonna stick to
- 21:41Speaker 4: my ribs like I'm gonna I don't want to feel
- 21:43Speaker 4: like I'm hungry at all during the game, and like
- 21:45Speaker 4: I like to snack a little bit during the game.
- 21:46Speaker 2: But no, nothing like that. Where did this superstition come from?
- 21:51Speaker 2: By the way, did you eat something like no?
- 21:54Speaker 6: Like, no, it wasn't a superstition.
- 21:57Speaker 7: I just could never eat before game just because I
- 21:59Speaker 7: wasn't hungry and it would take me like an hour.
- 22:02Speaker 7: I was a very hot energy guy. So you know,
- 22:05Speaker 7: once the game is ready, you know, I'm like, I'm
- 22:06Speaker 7: ready to play, you know, and it's like now I
- 22:08Speaker 7: don't want nothing. You know, if I wouldn't playing, I
- 22:11Speaker 7: think I would eat more. But when I wouldn't play,
- 22:13Speaker 7: I was like, let me get a smoothie and then
- 22:15Speaker 7: I would eat after the game. But you know, everybody's
- 22:18Speaker 7: different and it wouldn't necessarily a superstition. But I know
- 22:20Speaker 7: some dudes that are like, oh, I went four for
- 22:23Speaker 7: four because I had, you know, baking eggs and pancakes
- 22:26Speaker 7: for breakfast.
- 22:26Speaker 6: I'm gonna do the same thing to morning. I'm like, naw,
- 22:29Speaker 6: you just hit good pictures, bro.
- 22:32Speaker 4: Yeah, dude, I mean honestly, Like for me, it's day games,
- 22:36Speaker 4: like day games. If I show up and I'm like donut, sausage,
- 22:40Speaker 4: egg and cheese, some like just not eating super healthy
- 22:45Speaker 4: in the morning, like second inning.
- 22:46Speaker 6: I'm like dying.
- 22:47Speaker 4: I feel like, but if I show up, like, you
- 22:49Speaker 4: gotta make that decision right when you get to the yard,
- 22:51Speaker 4: Like I'm gonna do it, d you know what I mean,
- 22:53Speaker 4: Like I'm gonna have a couple eggs with no bacon.
- 22:57Speaker 4: I'm gonna have like green juice and like something healthy.
- 23:01Speaker 4: Then it's like, damn, all right, I started my day
- 23:03Speaker 4: with good decisions. I'm gonna go to the gym. I'm
- 23:04Speaker 4: gonna go do my pool workout, like I'm gonna get
- 23:06Speaker 4: it ready to go, and then you're thanking yourself in
- 23:08Speaker 4: the sixth inning, you.
- 23:09Speaker 2: Know what I mean?
- 23:10Speaker 4: Like I feel good today, but there are those days
- 23:12Speaker 4: where I show up in that sausag jake and cheese
- 23:14Speaker 4: is looking for like next thing. I know, I got
- 23:17Speaker 4: an old fashioned donut in my mouth, and I'm like,
- 23:19Speaker 4: damn it, this is gonna be a grind today. But
- 23:22Speaker 4: every now I just try to eat stuff that makes
- 23:24Speaker 4: me feel good.
- 23:24Speaker 7: You know, everything's good in moderation. But yeah, that's all
- 23:28Speaker 7: I pretty much got for you. Best of luck this year, man,
- 23:31Speaker 7: And more than anything, you know, I just wish health
- 23:34Speaker 7: to people that are playing. You know, a guy that
- 23:36Speaker 7: played for thirteen years, you know, play with a lot
- 23:39Speaker 7: of guys that didn't get to play as long, that
- 23:41Speaker 7: didn't have as many injuries or more. I just like
- 23:44Speaker 7: to wish people good health because I know if you're healthy,
- 23:46Speaker 7: you're gonna do what you do, man. And I'm excited
- 23:48Speaker 7: to see you where the where the black and yellow
- 23:50Speaker 7: and put on for the four one two. That's the
- 23:52Speaker 7: area code of Pittsburgh if you didn't know.
- 23:53Speaker 2: All right, Josh, thank you so much.
- 23:56Speaker 3: Man.
- 23:56Speaker 2: I always enjoy watching you play competing against you.
- 23:58Speaker 6: So I appreciate having you on the show.
- 24:02Speaker 2: For sure. Yeah.
- 24:03Speaker 1: I think that stands for all of us that Ryan,
- 24:05Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on, and thank you for
- 24:08Speaker 1: you know that that last answer that was that's valid
- 24:11Speaker 1: even for us who cover baseball. You know, you go
- 24:13Speaker 1: down press dining, you see the suits and everything. It's like,
- 24:16Speaker 1: oh man, I'm gonna have to grind through writing this
- 24:18Speaker 1: game story X trainings.
- 24:20Speaker 2: I don't know if I got it. Yeah, I'm gonna have.
- 24:24Speaker 1: Bad questions in the postgame pressors now because I like crap.
- 24:27Speaker 2: During the game.
- 24:28Speaker 1: So now, but in all seriousness, thank you for coming on.
- 24:32Speaker 1: I want to remind everyone watching this to hit that
- 24:34Speaker 1: subscribe button if you haven't already. We're trying to get
- 24:37Speaker 1: to three thousand subscribers and we can't do it without
- 24:39Speaker 1: your help, So hit that subscribe button if you haven't already.
- 24:43Speaker 2: On behalf of Mark.
- 24:45Speaker 1: Aka Platinum Key, j Hey aka Josh Harrison, Ryan O'Hearn
- 24:49Speaker 1: I am Noah Hailes. Thank you for tuning into another
- 24:51Speaker 1: episode of Buco Territory. We'll see you again soon.