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Auburn HC Butch Thompson - 2026 Opening Weekend Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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If you got a question, just raise your
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hand. I'll call on you.
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>> Yeah, it's time. It's time for us to to
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go out and play another team. Um, you
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know, our preparation has been great. I
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think from the standpoint where I stand
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as a head coach, just this team has been
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as enduring and enjoyable to me as any I
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can remember just since we started in
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August. They've given us our our coaches
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a fair shake. I've never enjoyed being
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on the field more with the team. Um, off
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the field is another matter that the
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whole world is talking about right now,
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but I've never enjoyed being on the
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field. Um, and I'm ready to see where
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we're at. I think we have more different
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ways to go with this team than we've had
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in the past. So,
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it's usually a little more buttoned up
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going into the season. We we have a lot
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of we have more questions to answer, but
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I'm excited to start that journey and
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start playing somebody else to see where
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we're at. Um, our non-conference
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schedule is making us jump right into
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this thing. There's early travel.
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There's really good teams. Uh, there's
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all these things that are that are
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happening. There's 13 or 14 position
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players that we think deserve a shot to
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run out there and see if they can
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contribute and how they add to the
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synergy. You know, what makes the best
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lineup, what makes the best defense, uh,
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what makes the best pitching staff. We
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named three starters, pitchers who we
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absolutely believe in. We waved a flag
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and the winner, the three winners of
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that get a chance to be starters for us
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the first weekend. Um, but I'm also
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excited about the three guys that'll
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come in right behind the starters for
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this first weekend because they have the
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potential to to go compete and I feel
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like if we would name three other
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starters, we could it feels like we
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could we could be just as competitive.
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So, what does that mean? Is it is our is
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our higher end not there or is our
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higher end in a bunch of numbers? Um, I
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don't know. But, um, you know, I'm
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excited to to get this thing started
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with these guys. I'm excited for
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Mariano. I'm excited for um, uh, you
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know, Sanders, who's been in the program
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and got 15 appearances last year. To see
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him take the next step and see how he's
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just continued to throw more and more
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strikes, has been great. I'm excited for
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our captain to to be right around 70%
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strikes and a guy that's had trouble
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with injury each year. um to be put
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together and ready to go for this year.
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Um but I'm just as excited about Drew
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Whan. I'm just as excited about Andreas
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Alvarez. I'm just as excited about
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Christian Chatterton. You know, two of
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those three have been with us and we've
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invested in them. Andreas Alvarez
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started a super regional in hopes of
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winning a game and helping us start
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working toward either, you know,
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extending our season or helping us to
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get to Omaha. So, we believe in those
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guys. You know, Chatterton's finished a
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game to help us win a series. you know,
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at Tennessee and in our league and all
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that stuff. So, um I'm I'm excited about
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a lot of different things, but um it's
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time to get out there and put the
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uniform on against another opponent.
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>> Ryan, what you mentioned 13 or 14 guys
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in the lineup possibly. Will you make a
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an effort to get all all those guys in
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there at some point, whether it's
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starting or or checking in or how what's
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sort of your plan for the weekend?
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>> Yeah, a lot of different ways. My
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biggest plan for the weekend is figuring
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out what Sunday looks like with Friday
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and Saturday being beautiful and Sunday
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isolated, you know, or we're expecting
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thunderstorms, uh, isolated tornado
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gust and things of that nature. So, or
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would we wind up having to play a double
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header on Saturday that would really
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force you? I Chase Freigh looks not
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catching two games if we were forced
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into a double header for sure. Um, so
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you know, you got Steel and Gregorio
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that's been competing for that spot and
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those two guys have been playing some
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left field, too. So, I can see both of
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those guys getting in there this
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weekend. But, you know, one of them
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might catch if we wind up playing a a
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double header. Um, Ethan Bingaman's
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undeniable. The freshman's our hottest
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bat right now going into the season.
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He's kept coming. You you have some
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anchor pieces like Freighic and Rembert,
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Bub Terrell, Gravara.
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Gravara gonna play shorter third. You
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know, he's probably going to play both.
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We probably got to look at different
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combinations. We got to go from like
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what we've seen in practice, shift to a
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game, what the coaches think and get to
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the concept of the players making the
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lineup out. And the only way I know how
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to do that is get them out there. even
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if we get clipped or there's a setback,
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every day we're trying to go out and
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give the best we got. You know, we owe
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it to whoever's on our schedule,
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whatever game it is, to play with a
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consistent standard and consistent
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effort. And whenever you don't do that,
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that's a failure in in in something,
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mental toughness or preparation or being
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together
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or distractions, whatever that may be.
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But um for me coming to work for these
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guys getting out there playing a game uh
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their job is to give a consistent best
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standard and best effort every time we
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take the field. So um I think I'm a
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little more concerned about pride if you
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want me to keep trying to answer the
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question. Um, you know, I think it's one
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of the seven deadly sins and I worry
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about pride of a player like me me and
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I'm I'm gonna be looking closely when
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there's the lineup's going to be so
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different for these first few games and
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can change more often and guys coming in
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and out of lineups that I think things
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can change enough. I'm not looking who's
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in the game always as a head coach. I'm
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looking to see who maybe is not in the
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game and are they still with the team?
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Do they still have a good look in their
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eye? Are they still holding to a
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standard and effort that what we ask for
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whether they're in or out of the lineup?
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Same thing I think you can tell about
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the the pitching staff. We're like, you
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go three starters, you might could go
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three other starters that are just as
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good. I want those other three guys that
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are not. I think they're just as good. I
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don't I don't see how the fifth, sixth,
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seventh inning is not as important or
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more important than the first few
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innings of a ball game. I want a
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pitching staff that gets to the point
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where the championship teams I've been a
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part of, the whoever's on the mound is
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your number one pitcher. That's how we
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should play behind him. That's how we
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should act. That whoever's out there in
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whatever situation, whoever's currently
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pitching for us is our number one
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pitcher. So maybe a maybe a dream on my
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part, but those are things we're still
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trying to sell.
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a removal of pride and let us go out and
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play for a month and get locked in for
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those 10 SEC weekends and let's see who
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can help us. Let's see if we can find a
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combination that we haven't even thought
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about that might wind up being the best
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way for us to go.
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>> Well, you sort of answered part of that
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question that I was going to ask. just
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talk about uh putting together a lineup
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because uh you've got you've got the
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potential to really have threats pop up
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and down the lineup no matter where they
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are.
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>> Yep. And I think we can run a six or
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seven man left-handed lineup. We got two
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switch hitters. When you go Lucas Steel,
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Ryan Farber who's really come on um the
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last couple of weeks we're getting
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excited that they can Farber and Gravara
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can can hold that down. Can Gravara and
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Belaloo play a whole season? We never
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want to make excuses in our program and
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I don't think we did but um you know
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having Gavar and blew out that last week
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and we played so good in that regional
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them two boys not being able to post for
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that and then um I think Fabian had a
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broke finger and we just we said can you
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play and he really couldn't have an at
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bat but he played because the other two
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were out we had to have him. Um, I think
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I'm excited about Gavar and Paloo. Like,
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I'm praying for their for their health
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for this year because I want everybody
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to see what I know that they can do if
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they get to play a complete season. I do
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think it would help our our ball club.
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But, um, yeah, we're we're excited to to
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kind of see all these different things.
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Gabe gave me six sheets of paper and a
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lineup on each and who was left out each
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time. Because every time you make a
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lineup, you're like, "But these two are
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out." I don't I've been presented
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lineups before, but I haven't had
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asterisks at the bottom. It says, "But
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these two are out." Um, that that means
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something to me. like they should be in
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there, but in this setup versus this
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type pitcher and if you want to see this
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guy short, if you want to see this guy
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at first, well, these two guys are out.
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So, that speaks to me loud and clear.
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And I do think it has a chance to be
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positive if I can keep my team together.
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This is a new challenge for us because I
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think we've been in ball games in the
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sixth, seventh inning or later and we've
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gone like looked at who's coming up.
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This might be a good chance to pinch hit
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but looking at that left and right
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handed hitters that are available. You
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didn't feel like you're really making a
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step. And a lot of these times we've
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been punting and staying with what we
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got. Now I think we can absolutely we
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need a lefty here. Oh, here's a lefty.
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Oh, here's two or three real options.
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Here's two or three real right options.
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You got a freshman like Ty Thompson, the
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fastest guy on the team. All right, so
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we can pinch hit this guy. He can get on
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base. Ty Thompson can go run. And then
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we still have somebody could go out and
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play defense the next half if we wanted
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to to do that. I'm excited, but the
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coach is going to have to do a better
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job. We're going to have to if we're
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going to have the opportunity to have
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more moves, we're going to have to make
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more moves and look at more moves and
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and and figure out like how we can
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really run to to put ourselves in the
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best chance, especially late in a ball
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game if you're trying to chase somebody
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or or um you know, I think the one area
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that's been a concern for me has been
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you overall defense and you when you're
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top 10 in the country at doing something
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that's hard to just give up. And I I I
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know it feels like that the college
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game's getting more offensive.
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I know it is. We go through these trends
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and it keeps building out. It's back
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offensive, but we have to be able to
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defend the field. What's the balance of
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that, you know, from offense defensive
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standpoint? So, we got to keep figuring
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that out and make sure we can get our
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best team on the field late. But, we
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might take a look at some risk. I think
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some teams have went a long way in our
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league the last few years of being able
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to put a couple of bats in the lineup
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and still being able to defend the field
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adequate enough to to be the last team
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standing.
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I'm I'm I'm hunting for that. I'm
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hunting for the next steps for us to do.
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And everybody's been happy. Everybody's
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been aiming as high as they possibly
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can. There's, you know, 100 teams
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thinking they're going to Omaha, as they
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should. But all that's over now. Now
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that the hype's over, now we're down to
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playing games. But I have to be honest
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with you because your your question's
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deep to me because I've been asking
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myself the same thing. What am I willing
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to do and take a look at? What risk are
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we willing to take not to do the same
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thing over and over to see if we can
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find a little more squeeze out of this
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roster that could go a lot of different
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ways to to do some things that some some
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really good teams in our league have
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been able to do a little bit more than
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us the last few years?
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>> Kind of a loaded question, but uh what
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are some things about those three
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pitchers that gave you the confidence to
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start them this weekend? And then can
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you talk about the uh development from
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Sanders?
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>> Yeah. Uh they threw the most strikes.
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That was the biggest thing. And that
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wasn't everything, but that was one of
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the big flags we waved. Griffin Graves
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would have been in there with the lap
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pull, so he's out this weekend, but
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Griffin would have definitely been in
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there. It may have been three left. He's
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throwing this weekend, you know, but uh
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the three guys that got the start, that
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was kind of the the chase we set before
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them, and those guys absolutely did it.
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And I mean, come on now. Two or three
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years ago, Jackson Sanders was the
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number one uh prospect in his class. So,
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let's He was going to He was He was
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coming. Had a bright future. Um the
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industry knew it. Um threw out of the
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pin some. He might throw out of the pin
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this year. you know, he's getting a
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chance to start this weekend, but you
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know, somebody's got to fill the shoes
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of uh, you know, like Myers last year
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who probably had the best year of any
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pitcher on our staff. He saved so many
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games and come in and and bridge the gap
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and came in behind starters and cleaned
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up stuff or just gave us great length
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and and helped us steady the thing or
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build a lead and keep going. So Carson
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Myers, that role needs to be done, but
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you know, it's a sinker sinker ball out
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of Jackson and got more used to that
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right-handed, but a left-handed sinker.
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The offspe stuff feels like it's getting
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a little bit better, but I think he's
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probably ingame. uh talking about our
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squad games compared to ingame last
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year. I think he's moved from that 55%
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to that 65 66% and being able to
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leverage account more consistently is
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everything for somebody that was the
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number one pitcher in the country, you
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know, as a left-hander when he was
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coming out of high school. The
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experience that he got from last year,
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we didn't use him as much at the end of
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the year, but it was just we didn't
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leverage counts as well. and and so it's
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amazing what that 10 to 12% strike
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percentage has done for him of the
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misses are not as big. So like if you're
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if you're shooting at targets and then
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you pull it up that the grouping is is
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smaller and better and he's getting more
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swing and miss instead of the big
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misses. So just maturity and he has his
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stuff set really good right now that u I
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think the team's excited for. Um, I do
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think we have to whenever you say sinker
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baller, you better have an infield,
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especially your left side ready to
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defend. So, our board's going to have to
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make plays. They're going to have to
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defend balls. If Gavvar is at third or
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Todd Clay's at third, they're going to
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have to get swinging bunts, balls that
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are chopped. They're going to have to
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attack, take proper angles, and they're
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going to have to be able to throw off of
14:45
one foot. Sometimes these in between,
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especially early in the season, the
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sinker ball sinker ball guys require you
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to absolutely defend especially the
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ground ball um much much more. So I
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anticipate that. But you know with those
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ground ball sinker ball guys, if it's
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going to gloves it's really good. If
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it's going through it's a challenge. But
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you know he also has I would I would
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imagine he's leading us in double plays.
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The power of being able to throw one
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pitch and get two outs via like a double
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play. Those are some things that sinker
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ball guys, man, when they get on a roll
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and can make one pitch and get two outs,
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they can get going. So, I just we all
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have trust and confidence that he's
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starting to look like everything that we
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thought he was going to be. And I sure
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hope he can reproduce what we've seen
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the last few weeks for for everybody to
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see on Saturday.