Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / MORE IN THE TANK? Nolan Schanuel looks to add power without sacrificing contact and average
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: Hell, Hey Angel fans in Welcome back to Halo territory.
- 0:11Speaker 1: I am Mike the Giovanna, former La Times baseball writer
- 0:14Speaker 1: and host of the show, joined by my regular co
- 0:16Speaker 1: host Mark Trumbo, the former Angels slugger Mark. How you
- 0:20Speaker 1: doing today?
- 0:23Speaker 2: Great? Great?
- 0:24Speaker 3: I'm excited to talk some Angels baseball. They got a
- 0:27Speaker 3: couple of players we're going to focus on. Yeah, first baseman.
- 0:32Speaker 1: Yeah, We're gonna start with Nolan Seana Well, the Angels
- 0:36Speaker 1: first baseman is batting three fifty three with an eight
- 0:40Speaker 1: seventy four ops, thirteen walks and only eleven strikeouts in
- 0:45Speaker 1: twenty three games since June twenty first, but he only
- 0:49Speaker 1: has one home run and seven rby Eyes in that span.
- 0:52Speaker 1: I caught up with Nolan before Wednesday. Is one nothing
- 0:55Speaker 1: lost to Saint Louis And let's hear hear a little
- 0:57Speaker 1: bit about.
- 0:58Speaker 2: What he had to say.
- 1:00Speaker 1: I just want to talk to you a little bit
- 1:01Speaker 1: about your hitting lately. Your average has gone up I
- 1:04Speaker 1: think twenty five to thirty points in the last month
- 1:07Speaker 1: or so. What's going on in the box that's working
- 1:10Speaker 1: for you?
- 1:10Speaker 2: Yeah? I think just confidence is one thing.
- 1:15Speaker 4: Now. They're just really worked on getting my direction right
- 1:18Speaker 4: in my swing. I know my angle is a little
- 1:21Speaker 4: off a little earlier in this season due to dealing
- 1:25Speaker 4: with some pain in my angle, So just being able
- 1:28Speaker 4: to have that balance back and everything. It's done a lot,
- 1:31Speaker 4: and I think my attack plan is just to hitdline
- 1:33Speaker 4: drives and it's been working out.
- 1:36Speaker 2: In hindsight.
- 1:37Speaker 1: The apple injury, what was it doing? How is it
- 1:41Speaker 1: affecting you earlier? And how different is it.
- 1:43Speaker 2: Now in the body?
- 1:44Speaker 4: Yeah, I think earlier it was hard because it was
- 1:47Speaker 4: my left side, so it's hard to like sit back
- 1:49Speaker 4: and adjust off speed. And now that it's healed, it's
- 1:53Speaker 4: a lot easier and I'm able to sit back on
- 1:56Speaker 4: the outspeed and drive it the other way.
- 1:58Speaker 1: You seem very comfortable hitting with two strikes almost even
- 2:01Speaker 1: more so.
- 2:02Speaker 2: Is that true? Yeah?
- 2:03Speaker 4: I would say, like dumbed down my two strike posts
- 2:08Speaker 4: a little bit widened out and kind of did a
- 2:13Speaker 4: toe tap instead of a leg kick. So I think
- 2:16Speaker 4: that's helped me out a lot.
- 2:17Speaker 2: Yeah. Well walks are also going out.
- 2:19Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 2:20Speaker 1: Is that a byproduct hitting behind Mike Trout or something else?
- 2:25Speaker 2: Honestly, I couldn't ie. I think I just.
- 2:29Speaker 4: Been able to lay off more pitches outside of his
- 2:31Speaker 4: own and then been able to pile off some stuff
- 2:35Speaker 4: as close. And I think that's kind of relates to it.
- 2:38Speaker 1: Yeah, you talked in spring training about wanting to hit
- 2:40Speaker 1: for more power.
- 2:42Speaker 2: Did that?
- 2:43Speaker 1: Were you changing things a little maybe even more subtly
- 2:47Speaker 1: in the box, maybe more than you even thought you
- 2:49Speaker 1: were early in.
- 2:50Speaker 2: The season, and that impact anything at the plate?
- 2:52Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I was trying to cheat to pitches
- 2:55Speaker 4: more and that's not the hitter I am. And I
- 3:00Speaker 4: think kind of just going back to my old ways
- 3:04Speaker 4: and just being able to see pitches deep and be
- 3:07Speaker 4: able to shoot singles and shoot line drives everywhere is
- 3:09Speaker 4: kind of one of my strengths. So I think going
- 3:12Speaker 4: back to that helped out.
- 3:14Speaker 1: Do you think you will try to at least explore
- 3:17Speaker 1: more ways to generate some power without sacrificing your contact
- 3:21Speaker 1: and average?
- 3:22Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's that's something that will probably have
- 3:25Speaker 4: to work on in the off season.
- 3:26Speaker 2: But I think that.
- 3:29Speaker 4: I can go overload, underload bet and work on that
- 3:32Speaker 4: and that probably has something that I can transfer over
- 3:36Speaker 4: the season.
- 3:37Speaker 1: Any players, former players you might shoot for input on,
- 3:42Speaker 1: maybe whose profile sort of match yours at this stage
- 3:44Speaker 1: of the career.
- 3:45Speaker 4: And.
- 3:47Speaker 2: I guess we'll have to see yea.
- 3:49Speaker 4: I know, I work out with a bunch of guys
- 3:51Speaker 4: in the off season, so probably just spitball with them
- 3:54Speaker 4: and talk about it.
- 3:55Speaker 1: So all right, that'll work, Oh Mark, A fair amount
- 3:59Speaker 1: to unpack and pretty brief interview. First of all, what
- 4:03Speaker 1: does Nola mean when he says he quote got the
- 4:05Speaker 1: direction right in his swing.
- 4:09Speaker 3: I think he's probably talking about the direction of being
- 4:12Speaker 3: able to use the whole field. I know early on
- 4:15Speaker 3: it goes hand in hand with what he was talking
- 4:17Speaker 3: about going back to his old ways. The hitter we're
- 4:20Speaker 3: saying now, I think is the version of him that
- 4:26Speaker 3: is the most productive as it currently stands. With his
- 4:30Speaker 3: hitting mechanics and his approach and everything the way it is,
- 4:35Speaker 3: he's getting I mean two to three hits a night.
- 4:37Speaker 3: It seems like yesterday in the day game he didn't
- 4:41Speaker 3: get any hits, But the last stretch has been very
- 4:45Speaker 3: productive and he's taking a lot of walks too. And
- 4:47Speaker 3: I think it's mainly because it's the approach that is
- 4:51Speaker 3: what got him drafted.
- 4:52Speaker 2: Now.
- 4:53Speaker 3: The power in college, I don't know, he seemed to
- 4:58Speaker 3: really blossom and think that kind of it was part
- 5:02Speaker 3: of the overall package that was appealing drafting him and
- 5:07Speaker 3: feeling like he was major league ready. But this is
- 5:09Speaker 3: kind of where that development in the minor leagues might
- 5:12Speaker 3: come in. Players can explore things like developing power without
- 5:18Speaker 3: the pressure of looking up there at the enormous JumboTron
- 5:21Speaker 3: and seeing you know, major league stats and the major leagues.
- 5:25Speaker 3: You know, they are playing for keeps, And to his credit,
- 5:28Speaker 3: he has explored some things to try and tap into
- 5:32Speaker 3: more power. He's obviously aware that it's a topic and
- 5:35Speaker 3: will continue to be one, but it's a hard thing.
- 5:39Speaker 3: I have some thoughts on what he could do, and
- 5:41Speaker 3: we could talk about that a little bit later, but
- 5:45Speaker 3: I think for right now, it wouldn't be wise to
- 5:48Speaker 3: do anything other than trying to continue and expand upon
- 5:53Speaker 3: just being the hitter that he is, and you know
- 5:55Speaker 3: he is contributing.
- 5:56Speaker 2: He's contributing quite a bit.
- 5:58Speaker 1: Have you noticed the two the adjustment with two strikes,
- 6:01Speaker 1: going from the leg kick to the toe tap. I
- 6:03Speaker 1: know zach Netto made a similar adjustment when he got
- 6:06Speaker 1: to the big leagues. How does that change things for
- 6:08Speaker 1: a hitter, especially with two strikes?
- 6:12Speaker 3: The thing with a toe tap. I'm not seeing a
- 6:14Speaker 3: real defined toe tap. I'm saying them getting the front
- 6:17Speaker 3: foot down early more akin to what the Rangers did
- 6:22Speaker 3: really well for many seasons, kind of a Rudy Heromeo thing. Nelson,
- 6:27Speaker 3: Cruz did it, I and Kinsler did it. Guys like that.
- 6:30Speaker 3: You got to match that up and you can't drift
- 6:33Speaker 3: if you're going to get your front foot down early.
- 6:35Speaker 3: So I think that's a combination. Nolan part of what
- 6:38Speaker 3: SAPs his power as he hits against a softer front side,
- 6:41Speaker 3: meaning his front side is bent more than a guy
- 6:45Speaker 3: that stays behind the ball, so to speak. Jordan Walker
- 6:50Speaker 3: is a good example. I was reading about him. He
- 6:54Speaker 3: has elite bat speed. He might be the I think
- 6:56Speaker 3: Camon Arrow's the fastest batspeed in the league. In Walker's too.
- 7:00Speaker 3: He's always had that ability, but he hasn't in years
- 7:03Speaker 3: past been able to put it together like he has now.
- 7:06Speaker 3: And it wasn't what he kind of and the people
- 7:11Speaker 3: he worked with realized was it was a mechanical issue,
- 7:14Speaker 3: not a bat speed issue. Nolan probably has elements of
- 7:18Speaker 3: both that he could refine a little bit, but I
- 7:21Speaker 3: think that at some point he is hitting more against
- 7:24Speaker 3: his or using his backside better now. I think that
- 7:28Speaker 3: was what was injured earlier, his left leg. But he's
- 7:30Speaker 3: going to have to tap into that even more in
- 7:34Speaker 3: different ways. Sometimes he has that backfoot kind of slide. Now,
- 7:38Speaker 3: Altuve is probably the best example I can give you
- 7:41Speaker 3: for us somebody who slides with their back foot, but
- 7:44Speaker 3: it doesn't always match up with bombs. A guy like
- 7:48Speaker 3: Frank Thomas.
- 7:49Speaker 2: I mean, he's a.
- 7:50Speaker 3: Lot bigger than Nolan. He hit with kind of that
- 7:53Speaker 3: floating backside, but you know he's a behemoth.
- 7:58Speaker 1: And then we asked Kurt Sanuki about this the other
- 8:01Speaker 1: day and the question Nolan has raised his average by
- 8:05Speaker 1: thirty points in the last twenty games, but it's been
- 8:07Speaker 1: a lot of singles. Do you think that's the best
- 8:10Speaker 1: version of Nolan? Seanwell and Kurt's answer, I think it's
- 8:13Speaker 1: one of them. He's also strong enough that he's going
- 8:16Speaker 1: to run into some homers, but right now he's kind
- 8:18Speaker 1: of getting himself in a groove and throwing line drives
- 8:20Speaker 1: out there. I always tell him, don't get bored with
- 8:23Speaker 1: those line drives. He's showing everybody he's a good hitter.
- 8:26Speaker 1: I think that's something that's hard to do in this
- 8:28Speaker 1: game with the pitching nowadays to do what he's been doing,
- 8:31Speaker 1: so to me, that's almost more impressive. Impressive. Mark this
- 8:37Speaker 1: whole thing with Nolan and the power and the lack thereof.
- 8:40Speaker 1: We talked a lot of it about it, and Nolan
- 8:45Speaker 1: mentioned in the interview that early in the year he
- 8:48Speaker 1: was cheating to pitches. What does he mean by that
- 8:51Speaker 1: and how did that sort of impact him early in
- 8:53Speaker 1: the year.
- 8:55Speaker 2: You don't know what cheat into pitchers means.
- 8:57Speaker 1: Well, I mean he's obviously looking for a fast ball
- 9:00Speaker 1: and you know, getting the getting the off speed and
- 9:03Speaker 1: looking silly. But is that they're moored to it.
- 9:05Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm not a big big lead getter.
- 9:08Speaker 3: I think I think what he's talking about is probably
- 9:10Speaker 3: swinging harder now. They what they do track is competitive
- 9:13Speaker 3: swings over a certain mile per hour, and Nolan has
- 9:19Speaker 3: the ability to get his bat speed. I believe he's
- 9:22Speaker 3: eighty five miles an hour. He can swing faster, he
- 9:26Speaker 3: just does it very seldom. And I think I don't
- 9:30Speaker 3: know if that is exactly I think it's measuring overall swings.
- 9:34Speaker 3: So those could all of those swings could have ended
- 9:36Speaker 3: in no production. They could have ended up in whiffs,
- 9:39Speaker 3: to be honest with you, but he can do it.
- 9:42Speaker 3: It just is not what comes naturally to him and
- 9:46Speaker 3: what he does and what comes naturally to him. Some
- 9:48Speaker 3: guys would kill for and getting bored with hitting line drives.
- 9:54Speaker 3: I man, that's tough to hear. If if that is
- 9:57Speaker 3: something that players today, if it's not cool enough, because
- 10:03Speaker 3: I would have glad they've taken it all day long.
- 10:05Speaker 3: Now you do want to hit for some power to
- 10:07Speaker 3: I think Nolan, what we talked about earlier in the year,
- 10:08Speaker 3: two more doubles would be the place to start, and
- 10:14Speaker 3: high majestic home runs you know what, we'll see maybe
- 10:18Speaker 3: that's in the cards, maybe not, but more doubles would
- 10:21Speaker 3: improve the slug in percentage and ultimately get the ops
- 10:25Speaker 3: a little bit higher than it is now.
- 10:27Speaker 1: All Right, we take a quick break for a word
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- 10:31Speaker 1: up our conversation about Nolan Shamo and talk a little
- 10:34Speaker 1: bit about read Detmer's Joe Ado and Wilbert uringya.
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- 11:39Speaker 1: Com and Welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbu
- 11:43Speaker 1: and Mike Djvon all right, Mark, you're the Angels hitting
- 11:46Speaker 1: coach or you're hired by Nolan Shanowel in the winter
- 11:50Speaker 1: to work with the Angels first baseman. What would you
- 11:53Speaker 1: suggest how would you help them generate more power?
- 11:58Speaker 3: I think it comes down to finding a way to
- 12:01Speaker 3: incorporate more bat speed more often. And he's got to
- 12:06Speaker 3: feel it would be a process. It's not something that
- 12:11Speaker 3: you're going to do with you know, the snap of
- 12:14Speaker 3: your fingers, but probably using some of the things like
- 12:17Speaker 3: hit tracks and other tools to measure. Guys like show
- 12:21Speaker 3: Hey use it daily. I mean we talked about that
- 12:23Speaker 3: with Plunk. It's a big part of his routine and
- 12:26Speaker 3: it gives him the feedback he's looking for. And I
- 12:29Speaker 3: think with Nolan, what he could do is measure the
- 12:33Speaker 3: majority or all of his swings over the winter and
- 12:36Speaker 3: kind of come up with a baseline of a launch angle.
- 12:39Speaker 3: He's looking for, maybe something around twenty five degrees and
- 12:43Speaker 3: try and get as you know, his explossity cringe having
- 12:47Speaker 3: to say exblocity, but try and get it closer to
- 12:51Speaker 3: ninety five plus as opposed to something you know, maybe
- 12:56Speaker 3: closer to eighty five at times.
- 12:59Speaker 2: Doesn't mean he.
- 12:59Speaker 3: Can't be pretty active. But if it is the power
- 13:01Speaker 3: part he's got to start having. You know, it's more
- 13:04Speaker 3: of a math equation than anything they've been able to
- 13:08Speaker 3: define how hard you need to hit it, and you
- 13:10Speaker 3: know the rough launch angle needed to hit home runs.
- 13:13Speaker 3: And if you look at it like that, then that
- 13:16Speaker 3: is one way to go about doing it. I wouldn't
- 13:19Speaker 3: say trying to just pull the ball like crazy, that
- 13:22Speaker 3: that does not his game. But I don't know if
- 13:24Speaker 3: he's got enough sock to hit opposite field the home
- 13:27Speaker 3: runs either, So more right center would be probably direction
- 13:33Speaker 3: wise where he's going to see. But again, you know,
- 13:35Speaker 3: just just getting the ball a little bit higher. I
- 13:37Speaker 3: think his average launch angle this year is closer to
- 13:39Speaker 3: ten degrees. If he could inch that up to twelve
- 13:42Speaker 3: to fifteen, that would probably improve things too.
- 13:45Speaker 1: And what about when he talks about overloading underloading his bat?
- 13:49Speaker 1: Is that just the weight of the bat. Is there
- 13:50Speaker 1: something else involved there?
- 13:53Speaker 3: Those are specific bats that are used Mookie. You can
- 13:57Speaker 3: read about him using those as well well. Usually you
- 14:01Speaker 3: don't want to deviate a ton, but one of the
- 14:04Speaker 3: versions of the bout is going to be plus ten
- 14:07Speaker 3: to fifteen ounces on your bat. And then the other
- 14:11Speaker 3: one will be maybe about the equivalent. Under So, the
- 14:15Speaker 3: heavier version builds kind of bulk muscle strength, and in theory,
- 14:20Speaker 3: the lighter version is going to build more of the
- 14:23Speaker 3: quick twitch whip swing speed part of it. And if
- 14:26Speaker 3: you combine them, the thought is that you will have
- 14:30Speaker 3: better bat speed.
- 14:31Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's talk about Reid. Detmer's left hair
- 14:34Speaker 1: and gave up one run and two hits in five
- 14:36Speaker 1: and a third innings of Wednesday's lost to the Cardinals
- 14:40Speaker 1: on a sweltering day in Anaheim. As trade rumors continue
- 14:44Speaker 1: to swirl about Reed. He's allowed one run and six
- 14:47Speaker 1: hits and eleven in the third innings of his last
- 14:50Speaker 1: two starts against the Tigers and Cardinals. And here's what
- 14:53Speaker 1: Reid had to say about all that after yesterday's game.
- 14:58Speaker 1: The book and all the outside right now, everything going
- 15:01Speaker 1: on leading that deadn't close up at the beginning.
- 15:03Speaker 2: You will to start a block out all that stuff
- 15:05Speaker 2: right now.
- 15:08Speaker 6: Try not to readain that. Obviously, you see stuff all
- 15:12Speaker 6: the time. Try to staying our social media. It's just
- 15:18Speaker 6: one of those things.
- 15:19Speaker 2: It is what it is.
- 15:20Speaker 6: Obviously, I'm here now and I'm doing my best I
- 15:26Speaker 6: can to help this team win and get to where.
- 15:29Speaker 2: We want to be, and that's all my focus is.
- 15:31Speaker 6: But yeah, I means he's tried to er everything is
- 15:36Speaker 6: it's out of your control.
- 15:37Speaker 2: No, yeahs well reads.
- 15:41Speaker 1: Overall numbers this season aren't spectacular. He's three and seven
- 15:45Speaker 1: with a four point zero five ERA and twenty one starts.
- 15:48Speaker 1: He's got one hundred and thirty six strikeouts, though, and
- 15:50Speaker 1: only thirty seven walks in one hundred and twenty innings. Mark,
- 15:54Speaker 1: We're I think we're less than two weeks away from
- 15:56Speaker 1: the deadline. Now, do you still think Reid can command
- 15:59Speaker 1: a pretty nice for turn as the Angels do decide
- 16:02Speaker 1: to trade him.
- 16:04Speaker 3: Absolutely. His back of the Baseball Card numbers are not extraordinary.
- 16:09Speaker 3: You're right about that, but I think a lot of
- 16:13Speaker 3: that probably correlates to the defense it's been played behind him.
- 16:16Speaker 3: It got better in his most recent start, but overall
- 16:20Speaker 3: this season he has not gotten any support. His underlying
- 16:23Speaker 3: metrics are actually extremely strong in some areas. The strikeouts,
- 16:27Speaker 3: he's in the eighty first percentile, so that's obviously very good.
- 16:33Speaker 3: His expected stats, the expected batting average of two to eighteen,
- 16:37Speaker 3: indicates he's spent a lot better than what some of
- 16:40Speaker 3: these other metrics show too, and his stuff the stuff
- 16:44Speaker 3: plus we talk about that. I mean, he's got elite
- 16:46Speaker 3: breaking stuff. It's slider in particular in his curveball, and
- 16:51Speaker 3: you put all of these things together and it is
- 16:54Speaker 3: a very very attractive package. Would it's hard to totally
- 16:58Speaker 3: dismiss the back of the baseball car numbers, but in
- 17:01Speaker 3: his case, I think it's smarter to go with the
- 17:04Speaker 3: advanced statistics in terms of evaluating what Reed has really
- 17:08Speaker 3: done this year.
- 17:10Speaker 1: Yeah, he said two of his really his better starts
- 17:12Speaker 1: of the season, these last two. As these trade roomers
- 17:15Speaker 1: get louder and louder, how are you sort of handling
- 17:18Speaker 1: that mentally speak to the character this kid and maybe
- 17:23Speaker 1: even make more track to do a potential suitor.
- 17:28Speaker 3: It appears as if he's doing the best he can
- 17:30Speaker 3: to battle these questions. I'm sure he's tired of him.
- 17:34Speaker 3: You can kind of sense that in the way that
- 17:36Speaker 3: he responded, not in a bad way, But I don't
- 17:39Speaker 3: know anyone that wants to continue to beat this dead horse.
- 17:43Speaker 3: He's obviously a guy that people want, and the Angels
- 17:46Speaker 3: are not in contention. This season may not be next season.
- 17:51Speaker 3: So when you're trying to find teams that are going
- 17:55Speaker 3: to potentially trade people like Eroldis Chapman was available. Now
- 18:00Speaker 3: he's apparently very much not available, and that team has pivoted.
- 18:04Speaker 3: I don't know what is it, fourteen or fifteen in
- 18:05Speaker 3: a row.
- 18:06Speaker 1: Well, they won fourteen in a row, I think, and
- 18:08Speaker 1: then they finally lost Wednesday, and the second game of
- 18:12Speaker 1: a double header. Took a double header to get him
- 18:14Speaker 1: in the lost column. Yeah, they're right back in the
- 18:16Speaker 1: I think of things. I cannot see a world ast
- 18:18Speaker 1: Chapman going anywhere. You think the Red Sox fans would
- 18:21Speaker 1: tolerate that at the way they're playing.
- 18:23Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they were a team that early on you
- 18:26Speaker 3: could you start to say, hey, this guy could move,
- 18:29Speaker 3: this guy could move. And now you take a whole
- 18:31Speaker 3: team off the table. And maybe there's a couple others,
- 18:34Speaker 3: but the league as a whole still has so many
- 18:37Speaker 3: kind of sniffing around teams. Yeah, especially with the expanded playoffs,
- 18:41Speaker 3: that you just don't know, it could be your year.
- 18:45Speaker 3: But there are some teams that are definitive bottom of
- 18:49Speaker 3: the type, bottom of the league, bottom of the barrel,
- 18:52Speaker 3: and the Angels are one of those.
- 18:53Speaker 2: Record wise, Yeah, I was really.
- 18:56Speaker 1: I was a little surprised when I read this the
- 18:58Speaker 1: other day, but the Red Sox actually had the worst
- 19:01Speaker 1: record in the American League before they went on that run.
- 19:04Speaker 1: I don't know if that gives Angels fans any hopes
- 19:06Speaker 1: that it can be done. I think the Red Sox
- 19:09Speaker 1: a lot more was expected to them coming into the
- 19:12Speaker 1: season in terms of them being competitive. But wow, what
- 19:15Speaker 1: a turnaround.
- 19:16Speaker 2: I know.
- 19:17Speaker 1: I saw my first year in the Beat the Angels
- 19:18Speaker 1: had an eleven game lead over the Seattle Mariners in
- 19:22Speaker 1: late July or mid August, and they somehow blew that lead.
- 19:27Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't think the foundation and the depth
- 19:32Speaker 1: and the overall talent is in place for a run
- 19:34Speaker 1: like that, but man, it sure can make fans hope.
- 19:37Speaker 1: Everyone take one more quick break for a word from
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- 19:41Speaker 1: Adell and Walbert Urina.
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- 21:18Speaker 1: And Welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark TRUMBOE Mike
- 21:21Speaker 1: dg Ivanna. All right, Joe Adell snapped an oh for
- 21:25Speaker 1: twenty four skid with a homer and Monday Nights three
- 21:28Speaker 1: two one of the Cardinals. He also took a hit
- 21:31Speaker 1: hit by pitch with the bases loaded the walk that
- 21:33Speaker 1: game off and he hit another to run homer and
- 21:36Speaker 1: Tuesday Nights five one went over the Cardinals. Let's hear
- 21:38Speaker 1: what Joe had to say after Tuesday Night's game. The
- 21:43Speaker 1: adjustments you're making more mental and approach related than physical.
- 21:48Speaker 2: A little bit of both.
- 21:49Speaker 9: I think over, you know, the week before going into
- 21:53Speaker 9: All Star breaking kind of like the couple of games
- 21:56Speaker 9: I scuffled, I was too big of my swing, just
- 21:58Speaker 9: taking two bigg swings. I think I've simplified a little
- 22:01Speaker 9: bit and just trying to think about getting into a
- 22:03Speaker 9: two strike approach and being a little more quiet at
- 22:06Speaker 9: the play so by better contact because of it.
- 22:08Speaker 2: So I guess pske.
- 22:10Speaker 9: Fifty to fifty kind of mental and then kind of
- 22:12Speaker 9: flows into the physical part.
- 22:15Speaker 1: Mark, what have you seen from Joe this week? He
- 22:18Speaker 1: went on a tear last year. Is this any kind
- 22:21Speaker 1: of indication that maybe he's ready to go on another
- 22:23Speaker 1: this year?
- 22:25Speaker 2: I think you answered it.
- 22:27Speaker 3: This is the version that I think Joe's hoping for,
- 22:30Speaker 3: that the fans are hoping for. Maybe other teams would
- 22:35Speaker 3: be more interested in too. It's interesting another guy.
- 22:39Speaker 2: And we've heard this.
- 22:40Speaker 3: I guess Nolan also earlier in the show, said he's
- 22:42Speaker 3: kind of gotten smaller in his swing, shortened up, gone
- 22:48Speaker 3: to more of a two strike approach. So it's interesting
- 22:52Speaker 3: that that, you know, usually you're going to hear that
- 22:55Speaker 3: you're you're rarely going to hear guys say that they're
- 22:58Speaker 3: you know, their swing is bigger. That was the adjustment,
- 23:01Speaker 3: But sometimes that is actually the better adjustment. It's a
- 23:04Speaker 3: feel versus real thing. I think Joe is limiting the
- 23:08Speaker 3: amount that his head is moving. I talked about being
- 23:11Speaker 3: way down in the legs. He's still doing that, but
- 23:14Speaker 3: he's staying down in there a little bit better. And
- 23:16Speaker 3: I think that that may be one of the adjustments
- 23:18Speaker 3: he incorporated consciously. Subconsciously doesn't matter, but you know, he's
- 23:23Speaker 3: able to get some of those balls that he was
- 23:26Speaker 3: fouling off. They're now put into play and with a hangar,
- 23:30Speaker 3: you know, like the curve ball the other day that
- 23:32Speaker 3: he demolished. That's what you want to do with a
- 23:34Speaker 3: pitch that guy, you know, makes a mistake on you know,
- 23:39Speaker 3: souvenir in.
- 23:40Speaker 2: A good way.
- 23:41Speaker 1: Yeah, Walbert Iurana came out breathing fire Tuesday night. He
- 23:45Speaker 1: threw sixteen pitches of one hundred miles an hour or
- 23:49Speaker 1: more in the first inning against the Cardinals. He had
- 23:53Speaker 1: thrown sixteen pitches of one hundred miles per hour more
- 23:56Speaker 1: total in his first seventeen games this year. And he
- 24:01Speaker 1: dialed it back after the first and allowed only one
- 24:03Speaker 1: run and six hits and six innings with five strikeouts
- 24:06Speaker 1: and a walk. Mark, Did you find it odd that
- 24:09Speaker 1: Walbert was throwing gas and a twenty eight pitch first
- 24:11Speaker 1: inning in which he gave up two hits, and was
- 24:14Speaker 1: more of a pitcher over the next five innings, in
- 24:16Speaker 1: which he gave up one run and four hits.
- 24:21Speaker 3: I mean, it's fun to watch by gas one hundred
- 24:25Speaker 3: and one, you know. But the thing is, so his
- 24:27Speaker 3: grades at least pictureless plus. He got a C as
- 24:32Speaker 3: far as his stuff that day. And if people are
- 24:36Speaker 3: interested in some at least one said they were. Why
- 24:39Speaker 3: did Walbert get a C for his stuff when he's
- 24:42Speaker 3: throwing one hundred and one and Chase Burns got an
- 24:44Speaker 3: A plus and he's throwing ninety six well in today's world,
- 24:49Speaker 3: and what is trendy for pitching and what gets great
- 24:52Speaker 3: at the highest is the upshoot fastball, the one that
- 24:55Speaker 3: appears to rise. Now Walbert's is the opposite of that.
- 24:58Speaker 3: So despite the fact that it's triple digits, it's not
- 25:04Speaker 3: exploding up in the zone. And his change up is
- 25:10Speaker 3: a very nice off speed pitch, but it's his loan one.
- 25:13Speaker 3: Although his slider grid's excellent, he's just not confident enough
- 25:16Speaker 3: I think at this point to use it as much
- 25:18Speaker 3: as he probably will if I'm sure he's being encouraged
- 25:22Speaker 3: to try and use it more. But when he's getting
- 25:24Speaker 3: such quality results, it's kind of hard to get him to.
- 25:28Speaker 2: You know. It wouldn't be.
- 25:29Speaker 3: All that smart either, but I think to become the
- 25:32Speaker 3: complete starting pitcher. And to his credit, yes he was
- 25:35Speaker 3: throwing gas, but if it's not efficient, what's the point.
- 25:38Speaker 3: He's just working really hard. I saw Ben Joyce at
- 25:41Speaker 3: one hundred and three the other day down in Tempe.
- 25:44Speaker 3: But again, you know, it's just for Walbert being a
- 25:47Speaker 3: starting pitcher. You want to get six innings seven innings
- 25:50Speaker 3: into the game ideally, and throwing a ton of pitches
- 25:54Speaker 3: in the first inning is not the greatest way to
- 25:56Speaker 3: do it. But again, you know, opposing hitters aren't really
- 25:59Speaker 3: able to make sense of what to do against him,
- 26:01Speaker 3: and he's been an extremely bright spot for this club. Yeah,
- 26:04Speaker 3: he's only twenty two and he's already established himself as
- 26:07Speaker 3: a force and assortation. I am hesitant to call him
- 26:10Speaker 3: an ace because we we threw that turm around with
- 26:13Speaker 3: Surrey in April a lot, and look what happened. But
- 26:16Speaker 3: let's listen to what Kurt Suzuki had to say about
- 26:18Speaker 3: Walbert after that game and sort of addresses his long
- 26:24Speaker 3: term future.
- 26:26Speaker 1: Well, the both of the season through now, where have
- 26:28Speaker 1: you seen Wulbart grow the most?
- 26:31Speaker 2: Sason?
- 26:31Speaker 10: Yeah, the stuff has always been there for him.
- 26:33Speaker 2: I think it was.
- 26:34Speaker 10: You know, I've said this before. It's his composure, his
- 26:37Speaker 10: demeanor on the mound, not let the game speed up.
- 26:40Speaker 4: You know.
- 26:40Speaker 10: I think when he first started in the big leagues
- 26:42Speaker 10: in the bullpen, it was it sped up a little bit,
- 26:44Speaker 10: which is normal for a younger guy. And when he
- 26:47Speaker 10: came back, he saw him kind of control his emotions.
- 26:49Speaker 10: And when he can harness his stuff like that, he's
- 26:52Speaker 10: gonna be pretty special.
- 26:55Speaker 1: We've seen this kid pitch out of numerous jams, tight
- 26:57Speaker 1: spots all season long. Mar do you think like the
- 27:01Speaker 1: maturity and composure he has shown at his age is
- 27:06Speaker 1: as much of a predictor of longer term success as
- 27:09Speaker 1: his overall stuff.
- 27:12Speaker 3: I think it's obvious that it's a strength. He is
- 27:16Speaker 3: very composed. I don't see why that would change at all.
- 27:19Speaker 3: I think it's just his nature. Now he may struggle
- 27:22Speaker 3: at times, he's going to that's the major leagues. Nobody
- 27:27Speaker 3: really is immune. Joe he struggled, Movie Betts has struggled.
- 27:32Speaker 3: These guys are great. Even Mike Trout at times has struggled.
- 27:36Speaker 2: There you go, But.
- 27:39Speaker 3: It's just it's it's if he already has this built in,
- 27:42Speaker 3: then it's not something he's going to necessarily have to
- 27:45Speaker 3: really work on. It's going to be something he can
- 27:47Speaker 3: use to his advantage to limit those times when when
- 27:50Speaker 3: maybe it's not going his way. But how he's currently going, uh,
- 27:54Speaker 3: it's just excellent. I mean, he's not a guy that
- 27:57Speaker 3: was factored in to begin the year, and he's very
- 28:00Speaker 3: much a core piece of this team. And if there
- 28:04Speaker 3: is somebody that is untouchable, I would say it's most
- 28:06Speaker 3: definitely him. Last thing I have Wade Meckler started.
- 28:11Speaker 2: In the last ball game. We finally got him in
- 28:13Speaker 2: the lineup. It's nice swings. Penny one noticed, but it
- 28:17Speaker 2: was good to see.
- 28:18Speaker 3: And the other guys have been hitting too, so they're
- 28:21Speaker 3: going to have to kind of mix and match. Josh
- 28:23Speaker 3: Low has had nice abats, to be remiss, not to
- 28:26Speaker 3: say he hasn't, but I think Meckler, you know, he's
- 28:29Speaker 3: hitting three thirteen or so, the on base percentage is
- 28:32Speaker 3: way up there, and he plays a nice left field,
- 28:35Speaker 3: so I will see. I know Frasier is coming back,
- 28:39Speaker 3: and I think Darniel's coming back, So maybe on one
- 28:42Speaker 3: of these next shows you can get into what you
- 28:44Speaker 3: would do to try and kind of get those guys back.
- 28:47Speaker 3: Onto the roster and you know some of the shuffling.
- 28:50Speaker 1: Yeah, Hey, we want to close the show with a
- 28:52Speaker 1: play that you might have missed if you weren't watching
- 28:54Speaker 1: closely or didn't see a replay on TV. So the
- 28:58Speaker 1: third inning Tuesday Night, Cardinals catcher Yvon Herrera hits a
- 29:02Speaker 1: double playground of the third basement Vaughan Grissom, who bounces
- 29:06Speaker 1: his throat on purpose to second basement. Oswald Perrazza, who
- 29:10Speaker 1: makes the catch, throws to first to complete the double play.
- 29:13Speaker 1: The reason there's a certain time in the early evening
- 29:18Speaker 1: when the sun shines right through one of the tunnels
- 29:21Speaker 1: on the third base side of Angels Stadium, and if
- 29:25Speaker 1: the balls hit the third it's right in the second
- 29:27Speaker 1: basement's eyes.
- 29:29Speaker 2: So the Angels, to.
- 29:30Speaker 1: Their credit, have actually talked about this scenario, and Parazza
- 29:33Speaker 1: gave Grissom a little hand signal before that at bat,
- 29:38Speaker 1: indicating that he wanted them to bounce the throw. And
- 29:40Speaker 1: sure enough, Grisom, it looked like he almost spiked it
- 29:42Speaker 1: into the dirt, like a bounce pass, like a Magic
- 29:46Speaker 1: Johnson one hand, you know, linked to the court bounce
- 29:49Speaker 1: pass that he used to make in those for the
- 29:50Speaker 1: Lakers and it worked out pretty well. So Mark, how
- 29:55Speaker 1: about that for ingenuity on both those player's part.
- 30:02Speaker 3: I knew right away what had happened and why he
- 30:05Speaker 3: did it. I was said, that's a high level baseball play.
- 30:09Speaker 3: I think it helps too that Boon also plays second base,
- 30:11Speaker 3: so he's acutely aware of what that looks like as
- 30:15Speaker 3: far as the sun and it is a big deal
- 30:16Speaker 3: even at first base of times too, it can come,
- 30:19Speaker 3: you know, blaring. And the odd thing was that Alex
- 30:22Speaker 3: Fragman also did it, possibly on the same day or
- 30:26Speaker 3: the day before. But I always said to this, you know,
- 30:29Speaker 3: is there some leak White group chat. We're encouraging this,
- 30:33Speaker 3: but I think it was just one of those serendipitous
- 30:36Speaker 3: things that both guys did it.
- 30:39Speaker 2: But it's very effective.
- 30:40Speaker 3: I'm not sure everyone feels comfortable doing it, but it
- 30:43Speaker 3: is avoid you know, some of these things.
- 30:47Speaker 2: There's my dog. So that in the show.
- 30:51Speaker 1: We'll close the show of that. Hey, thanks for tuning in,
- 30:54Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Please like and subscribe and we'll see
- 30:57Speaker 1: you next time on Halo Territory.
- 31:00Speaker 10: Okay,