Latest / Foul Territory / Astros pitching coach Josh Miller joins Crush City Territory: new additions, Hunter Brown’s rise

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Astros pitching coach Josh Miller joins Crush City Territory: new additions, Hunter Brown’s rise · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: What's up everybody. Welcome into another edition of Crush City Territory.
0:09
Speaker 1: I'm Channel Room, joined as always by Tyler Stafford, and
0:12
Speaker 1: sometimes we're joined by Josh Reddick. Today we upgraded in
0:17
Speaker 1: the Josh department. We have Josh Miller, the Astros pitching coach.
0:21
Speaker 1: Starting a tradition. I think, Josh, because last year we
0:24
Speaker 1: had you on about a week before pictures and catchers
0:27
Speaker 1: reported to to preview the pitching staff, you kindly agreed
0:32
Speaker 1: to do it again. It was a good year for
0:34
Speaker 1: you guys pitching wise last year, so I'm gonna I'm
0:36
Speaker 1: gonna credit Crush City Territory with the success that you
0:39
Speaker 1: guys had pitching wise last year.
0:41
Speaker 2: Okay, happy to talk to you guys again. Have some
0:44
Speaker 2: exciting pictures in camp here that'll get started next week,
0:47
Speaker 2: so we'll put credit where credit is due. Thank you
0:50
Speaker 2: guys to getting us off on a good foot last year.
0:54
Speaker 1: If you're watching on YouTube, you can see that Josh
0:57
Speaker 1: is at dike In Park right now. He's outfitted, he's
0:59
Speaker 1: he's he's dressed like a coach. He's dressed like he's
1:02
Speaker 1: been working today. He's in the coach's office, just coming
1:05
Speaker 1: off the field. You've had a few guys in throwing bullpens,
1:09
Speaker 1: throwing live vps, so things have really gotten started already, Josh.
1:13
Speaker 1: I think that's the kind of the misconception that some
1:14
Speaker 1: people have is that you guys, it's not one of
1:18
Speaker 1: these things where these guys roll off their couch, go
1:20
Speaker 1: to West Palm and they're gonna throw their first bullpens
1:22
Speaker 1: like this. Uh, stuff starts very early. Kind of give
1:25
Speaker 1: us a sense of where some of these guys are
1:27
Speaker 1: in their ramp ups and kind of what going to
1:31
Speaker 1: West Palm like, what transitions will be made. Then.
1:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the game's changed quite a bit. Even
1:36
Speaker 2: back when I was playing in the minor leagues twenty
1:39
Speaker 2: twenty five years ago, you know, there was you had
1:41
Speaker 2: to get an off season job, you couldn't really train
1:43
Speaker 2: year round. It was a it was a different animal,
1:46
Speaker 2: and things have started to, you know, become trend more
1:49
Speaker 2: like it's a year round thing. For these guys. They
1:52
Speaker 2: put in a ton of time training keeping their body right,
1:54
Speaker 2: and you know, there's there's different thoughts to to how
1:58
Speaker 2: you keep the arm going in the off season to
2:00
Speaker 2: get it ready for next season. There's really not much
2:03
Speaker 2: downtime and we've had a good crew of guys here
2:05
Speaker 2: at the ballpark that uh, you know, have stayed in
2:08
Speaker 2: the Houston area and we you know, open up the
2:11
Speaker 2: clubhouse and the complex to to them, and you know
2:14
Speaker 2: we're here to you know, help guide them through the
2:17
Speaker 2: preparation process so they could train appropriately and be ready
2:19
Speaker 2: for spring. You know, the guys are usually on a
2:23
Speaker 2: structured program where they they might play catch a couple
2:25
Speaker 2: of times a week after the season, keep the arm moving,
2:30
Speaker 2: and then they you know, add some volume, some intensity
2:33
Speaker 2: to the throwing sessions. They start throwing off the mound
2:36
Speaker 2: sometime in December or early January. And you know we're here.
2:40
Speaker 2: We have our our bullpen catchers. Javier Bracamante, Caleb Nuniez
2:43
Speaker 2: are local. I'm I'm local, Joe a Spot of the
2:46
Speaker 2: manager's local, a couple of their coaches, Tommy Calmore, Jason Bell.
2:50
Speaker 2: We all come in and you know, help help the
2:52
Speaker 2: guys and and provide any anything they need to get
2:55
Speaker 2: them ready for spring. You know, most of these guys
2:57
Speaker 2: are ready to face hitters. We started that week some
3:00
Speaker 2: guys you know, throwing pitches from the mound here at
3:03
Speaker 2: Dyke And Park to hitters, and we'll transition into that
3:06
Speaker 2: in West Palm and then the games are right around
3:08
Speaker 2: the corner. So excited about the group we've had here
3:11
Speaker 2: and the group that have been training abroad at their homes,
3:14
Speaker 2: and and excited to get started at spring training.
3:17
Speaker 3: When when guys are coming back, you know, you haven't
3:19
Speaker 3: seen them in a in a couple of months, and
3:22
Speaker 3: you know you're getting ready for spring training. Obviously I'm
3:24
Speaker 3: assuming they're not you know, throwing max effort or anything yet,
3:29
Speaker 3: Like what are you as a coach looking for to
3:32
Speaker 3: just see that progress is where you want it to be,
3:36
Speaker 3: or how can you tell somebody has had a good
3:38
Speaker 3: off season.
3:39
Speaker 2: Well, every everybody's a little bit different. One person might
3:42
Speaker 2: need to train differently than another. Some people can take
3:46
Speaker 2: more time off, some people need to keep the arm moving.
3:50
Speaker 2: Everybody's you know, we're in constant communication of giving a
3:54
Speaker 2: roadmap or a game plan on things that you know
3:56
Speaker 2: may have went really well that we want to continue
3:59
Speaker 2: doing going into next year. Some things that need to
4:01
Speaker 2: be short up a little bit and have a little
4:03
Speaker 2: bit of a plan that they can tackle with their
4:05
Speaker 2: off season training. You know, yeah, we we we don't
4:09
Speaker 2: really like it if they're if they're going, you know,
4:11
Speaker 2: redlining in in December and you know, using some of
4:15
Speaker 2: that uh energy and effort and and maybe a little
4:19
Speaker 2: too soon in the calendar, but uh, you know, we
4:22
Speaker 2: want them peeking at the right times. And I think
4:25
Speaker 2: it's reasonable to not set expectations super high. You know,
4:28
Speaker 2: we don't want we don't want to see Hunter Brown
4:30
Speaker 2: throwing ninety nine his first spring start here in a
4:33
Speaker 2: few weeks. But you know, you got check checkpoints and
4:38
Speaker 2: mile markers along the way that you want to see,
4:40
Speaker 2: and you want to see hit and you want to
4:41
Speaker 2: see some things tackled, like maybe it's another pitch or
4:44
Speaker 2: command of a certain pitch, or maybe a small delivery
4:46
Speaker 2: tweak that all these guys are tuned to and and
4:49
Speaker 2: uh they put the work in and it's uh, you
4:51
Speaker 2: know something that it's my job and and our our
4:54
Speaker 2: new assistant pitching coach, Ethan Katz's job to stay in
4:57
Speaker 2: contact with these guys and and answer any quest, vide
5:00
Speaker 2: any feedback.
5:01
Speaker 1: That I'm glad you brought up, Ethan, because I wanted
5:05
Speaker 1: to get there before we get to the guys on
5:07
Speaker 1: the pitching staff. Obviously a lot of turnover this offseason
5:12
Speaker 1: on the pitching side. Obviously, Murphy now the lead pitching
5:15
Speaker 1: coach to the Pirates. Congratulations again. I know, Josh, you
5:19
Speaker 1: and Murph worked together for so long. I know that
5:21
Speaker 1: had to be thrilling for you to see him get
5:23
Speaker 1: that promotion. But as he exits, Ethan comes in. We've
5:27
Speaker 1: had Ethan on the pod before. He spoke very glowingly
5:29
Speaker 1: of you, Josh about the interview process and how that went.
5:33
Speaker 1: I'm curious as you're going through that process and you
5:37
Speaker 1: and Ethan start to talk, are you guys, is it
5:40
Speaker 1: more that you guys see things the same way, you're
5:42
Speaker 1: using the same words, same languages, or is it some
5:45
Speaker 1: things that maybe he saw a little bit different that
5:47
Speaker 1: you opened your eyes too, and maybe there's a little
5:50
Speaker 1: bit of a fresher perspective coming in. Just give us
5:53
Speaker 1: a little bit of an insight as to what it's
5:54
Speaker 1: been like early on working with Ethan.
5:56
Speaker 2: Sure, like you said, you know, Murphy and I very close.
6:00
Speaker 2: We worked together for a long time, going back to
6:02
Speaker 2: the minor leagues. He's an integral part of the you know,
6:05
Speaker 2: the pitching success that we've had here throughout the system,
6:08
Speaker 2: including the big leagues. The last handful of years. Excited
6:11
Speaker 2: to see him, you know, go and grow with a
6:13
Speaker 2: good pitching staff over in Pittsburgh. Him and I are close,
6:17
Speaker 2: and I expect to remain close with him going forward
6:20
Speaker 2: and wish him the best.
6:23
Speaker 1: You know.
6:23
Speaker 2: The interview process was pretty long, and we we talked
6:27
Speaker 2: quite a few candidates, but Ethan Ethan Katz stood out
6:30
Speaker 2: as you know, a guy that that has worked with
6:33
Speaker 2: high level pitchers in the past at the major league level,
6:35
Speaker 2: is a very very smart attuned to uh, you know,
6:39
Speaker 2: pitching vernacular. Uh. He can he can speak the analytics,
6:43
Speaker 2: he knows his stuff, had time in San Francisco, got
6:47
Speaker 2: up to the big leagues with them, and then and
6:48
Speaker 2: then ran the White Sox pitching department for the last
6:51
Speaker 2: handful of years, and we just felt really good about
6:54
Speaker 2: him as a person, about his knowledge base. We're still
6:56
Speaker 2: gonna get get to know you uh type scenario. You
7:00
Speaker 2: but him and I have been working very closely, and
7:03
Speaker 2: you know, he's you know, made calls and spoken with
7:06
Speaker 2: all of our players on the roster and and you know,
7:08
Speaker 2: we're looking forward to get in uniform and and get
7:11
Speaker 2: get our turfs on the field and and get up
7:13
Speaker 2: and run it. In West Pond.
7:15
Speaker 3: Don't get don't get Josh Reddick going about needing to
7:18
Speaker 3: wear your cleats around. That's that's all he says you
7:20
Speaker 3: need to do. That's the last part of getting in
7:22
Speaker 3: baseball shape. He talks about how hard it is to
7:24
Speaker 3: where cleats for three hours.
7:26
Speaker 2: Well, it is. It is something I always said that,
7:29
Speaker 2: you know, to get ready for spring training for a picture,
7:31
Speaker 2: you should, uh you know, get up and then go
7:34
Speaker 2: to the mall and run a lap and then walk
7:38
Speaker 2: around for like four or five hours. And you know,
7:41
Speaker 2: that's that's the life of a picture, at least it
7:43
Speaker 2: used to be back in the day. Uh. We don't
7:45
Speaker 2: make the guys really shag BP anymore. So it's more
7:48
Speaker 2: individual focus. Gets the box, get there, get their uh
7:51
Speaker 2: their arm ready for for the season.
7:54
Speaker 3: But uh yeah, no no more after no more BP.
7:57
Speaker 3: After last year, we're gonna we're we're gonna avoid that.
8:01
Speaker 2: Sound good.
8:02
Speaker 3: Sounds like we need a field trip to the galleria
8:05
Speaker 3: and just get everybody out on the ice rink, get
8:07
Speaker 3: the get the hearts going.
8:08
Speaker 2: That would add add a little another element of danger
8:11
Speaker 2: here a good ice skater, but I have seen many
8:14
Speaker 2: people take a take a spill.
8:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, the turnover is not limited obviously to the coaching staff.
8:21
Speaker 1: Dana made no excuse. Dana made no way to hide it.
8:26
Speaker 1: From the beginning of the off season. His his focus
8:28
Speaker 1: was pitching, pitch and pitching. And they have given you
8:31
Speaker 1: a lot of new faces, a lot of new arms
8:34
Speaker 1: in general. I'm curious, you know when there isn't when
8:36
Speaker 1: there is such a stated directive in the off season
8:39
Speaker 1: of we are going to go sign a bunch of pitchers.
8:41
Speaker 1: How and obviously Dane is the one making the final call,
8:44
Speaker 1: he constructs the roster. But but how much are you
8:47
Speaker 1: involved maybe in the process of does Dana send you, hey,
8:51
Speaker 1: we're looking at this guy, we're talking about maybe trading
8:53
Speaker 1: for this guy. Or is it a situation where you
8:56
Speaker 1: see it like we see it, of oh, they signed
8:58
Speaker 1: this guy, like let me go look at his video,
8:59
Speaker 1: let me see what we got here. Or is it
9:01
Speaker 1: kind of a blend of both.
9:02
Speaker 2: It's a it's a blend of both. But most most
9:04
Speaker 2: of the time, you know, Dane is going to clude
9:06
Speaker 2: Joe and I into any type of high level decisions
9:08
Speaker 2: that that are bound to be made. We got a
9:10
Speaker 2: ton of smart guys that work in the office and
9:12
Speaker 2: look through this stuff, and we communicate with them often
9:16
Speaker 2: and you know, give our input, give our thoughts. Uh.
9:18
Speaker 2: Sometimes they'd here too, sometimes they're not. But we're all
9:21
Speaker 2: part of the part of the equation that goes into
9:23
Speaker 2: making these decisions. And ultimately it's Dana and Joe and
9:26
Speaker 2: and uh, you know they make the calls on the
9:28
Speaker 2: on the high level roster decisions, but they take our
9:31
Speaker 2: input for sure. You know, I've been you know, given
9:36
Speaker 2: quite a few guys to look at in my tenure
9:39
Speaker 2: here and feel good about the guys that we've acquired
9:42
Speaker 2: this offseason, and and we'll get our first look at
9:44
Speaker 2: him here in a few weeks.
9:47
Speaker 1: I think, Uh, the one guy that you guys acquired
9:51
Speaker 1: that I think has gotten a ton of fanfare and
9:53
Speaker 1: I think everyone is most excited to see is Tatsuya
9:56
Speaker 1: e And I I heard you had an interview on
10:00
Speaker 1: MLB Network Radio shortly after and it sounded like you
10:02
Speaker 1: were a stun that you guys landed Tatsuya Emi, as
10:06
Speaker 1: you know everyone else was, because just had not been
10:09
Speaker 1: someone that you guys were linked to. Obviously, with the
10:12
Speaker 1: posting deadline, it created some external factors. But now that
10:16
Speaker 1: you've gotten to Joe mentioned last week that you guys
10:20
Speaker 1: have had some zoom calls with him, that you guys
10:21
Speaker 1: have kind of started to set his schedule a little bit.
10:23
Speaker 1: And as you've kind of started to break him down
10:26
Speaker 1: and look at the stuff, what what do you think
10:29
Speaker 1: you guys have here in Tatsuya Emi.
10:33
Speaker 2: I mean, he, you know, looks like the uh, you know,
10:36
Speaker 2: electric high level pitcher that you know can come and
10:39
Speaker 2: dominate a game. You know, he moves very athletically, the
10:43
Speaker 2: ball jumps out of his hand. He's got some unique
10:45
Speaker 2: secondary weapons that think we think will play. He commands
10:48
Speaker 2: his pitch as well. He's got some some charisma and
10:51
Speaker 2: some uh you know, some energy about him that I
10:54
Speaker 2: think will play well here for the fans. And you know,
10:56
Speaker 2: we're excited to excited to get started. And again, like
11:00
Speaker 2: with Ethan Katz on the coaching staff, with Tatsuya we're
11:02
Speaker 2: still in the get to know your phase and we'll see,
11:05
Speaker 2: you know, how the acclamation of you know, from the
11:08
Speaker 2: MPB schedule to the MLB schedule and what that looks like.
11:11
Speaker 2: But you know, it seems like in our early conversations,
11:14
Speaker 2: all systems are go. He's he's up for anything. He's
11:17
Speaker 2: he's willing to do what's needed and what's best for
11:19
Speaker 2: the team, and you know, we're excited to get started
11:22
Speaker 2: with him.
11:22
Speaker 3: All right, I want to nerd out a little. You
11:24
Speaker 3: mentioned the secondary stuff with Emi. He has a very
11:27
Speaker 3: unique slider. It seems like one of those and correct
11:32
Speaker 3: me if I'm wrong, but it seems like one that
11:33
Speaker 3: was more in vogue fifteen twenty years ago. It's one
11:36
Speaker 3: of those sliders that is it dives more than it
11:39
Speaker 3: does sweep across the zone. And if you know, it
11:42
Speaker 3: feels like recently, the you know, the big secondary stuff
11:45
Speaker 3: in the big leagues is you know, the big sweepers,
11:48
Speaker 3: the ones that really move across the plate. How does
11:51
Speaker 3: having a slider like that change the way that you're
11:57
Speaker 3: you know, you're tunneling your other pitches, Like how does
11:59
Speaker 3: his play differently off a fastball than you know, a
12:04
Speaker 3: larger like sweeping slider.
12:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is unique. The pitch kind of does dies down,
12:09
Speaker 2: doesn't have much you know, horizontal movement, actually might have
12:13
Speaker 2: some you know backward arm. Yeah. You know, you'd say,
12:19
Speaker 2: looking at his arm slot, which is a lower slot,
12:20
Speaker 2: you'd expect him to, you know, to get the outside
12:22
Speaker 2: of the ball and sweep a breaker, but it doesn't
12:25
Speaker 2: do that. So there's some uniqueness to the way that
12:27
Speaker 2: pitch moves, and it can you know, assume it helps
12:32
Speaker 2: its performance because hitters don't get to see a pitch
12:34
Speaker 2: that does that that often, especially when he's able to
12:38
Speaker 2: command it at an elite level and throw it at
12:40
Speaker 2: a high velocity. You know, we like those characteristics and
12:44
Speaker 2: expect the pitch to perform pretty well here too.
12:47
Speaker 1: I feel like we could do this whole pod on
12:49
Speaker 1: Emi because I have like a lot of questions about
12:51
Speaker 1: him in general. But something you mentioned a little bit
12:53
Speaker 1: earlier is that the acclimation process from MPB to MLB,
12:58
Speaker 1: and that's something that I mean, this is made a
13:01
Speaker 1: big deal of when you guys signed him, like you
13:02
Speaker 1: guys have not this is a first for the Astros organization,
13:06
Speaker 1: Like he is believed to be the first pitch the
13:09
Speaker 1: first player to ever come straight from MPB to play
13:12
Speaker 1: for the Astros. Obviously with a pitcher who he pitched
13:16
Speaker 1: every fifth day and NPB you come here, you guys
13:19
Speaker 1: are going to open in a six man but there
13:21
Speaker 1: could be times this year where he pitches every fourth day.
13:24
Speaker 1: How have you as a pitching coach. I'm going to
13:27
Speaker 1: presume that this is something you've never had to do
13:30
Speaker 1: hands on either, right, Like assimilate a guy from MPB
13:34
Speaker 1: to MLB.
13:35
Speaker 2: Well, it's similar. It's similar to acquiring a college pitcher
13:39
Speaker 2: in the draft, you know, and you tend to want
13:42
Speaker 2: to go more conservative at first while they get acclimated
13:48
Speaker 2: to professional baseball and are pitching on a you know,
13:51
Speaker 2: a more dense game schedule. So you want to you know,
13:55
Speaker 2: lower volume, lower pitch counts, lower innings totals as they
13:59
Speaker 2: get used to pitching every fifth or sixth day as
14:01
Speaker 2: opposed to every seventh day. And you know that's it's
14:05
Speaker 2: not all too you know, different from what the MPB
14:11
Speaker 2: schedule is. But I'll just say that, you know, uh,
14:14
Speaker 2: Tetsu is not a not a nineteen year old or
14:16
Speaker 2: twenty year old college player either. He's a twenty seven
14:18
Speaker 2: year old, you know, elite athlete, and you know we're
14:21
Speaker 2: gonna listen to him and get his subjective feedback and
14:24
Speaker 2: kind of make you know, sound decisions as best we
14:27
Speaker 2: can as we get to know him and get ready
14:29
Speaker 2: for the season.
14:31
Speaker 1: The one thing when you and again this is talking
14:34
Speaker 1: to other people that have watched him pitch as is
14:36
Speaker 1: talking to maybe scouts and other people in the industry,
14:39
Speaker 1: They they quite the one thing that keeps coming up
14:42
Speaker 1: about him is the fastball. Is maybe that the fastball
14:45
Speaker 1: is a little straight, maybe that it maybe doesn't have
14:48
Speaker 1: the characteristics that maybe just jump off of video or
14:52
Speaker 1: analytics wise, I guess as you've looked at his fastball
14:55
Speaker 1: and as you've looked at the characteristics of that pitch,
14:58
Speaker 1: where do you think it is and how how do
15:01
Speaker 1: you think it could play at the big league level.
15:03
Speaker 2: I mean, he's got elite velocity. It's it's mid upper nineties.
15:07
Speaker 2: You know, he throws it in the zone. Maybe there's
15:09
Speaker 2: some some areas of the zone he could target a
15:11
Speaker 2: little more effectively and efficiently to help it play up.
15:15
Speaker 2: But we you know, we don't have any We don't
15:17
Speaker 2: think it's a it's a short fastball. We think it's
15:19
Speaker 2: a good fastball that that will be able to play
15:21
Speaker 2: and especially in conjunction with his his slider, which is unique.
15:25
Speaker 2: He throws a change up and a split. He has
15:26
Speaker 2: a curve ball that he makeses in as well. You know,
15:29
Speaker 2: we think that the fastball will be able to do
15:30
Speaker 2: its job and play just fine in his arsenal.
15:34
Speaker 3: So when you know, when the ashers are acquiring somebody
15:38
Speaker 3: and you're talking to them for the first time and you're,
15:41
Speaker 3: you know, you're kind of digesting what they have versus
15:44
Speaker 3: what you think you can help them improve. How do
15:47
Speaker 3: you how do you balance just letting them know, Okay,
15:51
Speaker 3: here's here's what you do well, versus you know, here's
15:54
Speaker 3: what we're gonna do. You know, I guess how soon
15:58
Speaker 3: into the conversation are you letting them know that they
16:00
Speaker 3: throw a sinker now, even if they don't know it.
16:05
Speaker 2: You know, it's something that we usually would would bring
16:08
Speaker 2: up in a in a more formal setting, typically during
16:10
Speaker 2: spring training. We do this every year with every picture,
16:13
Speaker 2: you know, have some type of performance review and then
16:16
Speaker 2: some type of roadmap for the work in spring training
16:20
Speaker 2: and the work during the early parts of the season
16:22
Speaker 2: that we think can drive performance positively, you know, And
16:27
Speaker 2: it's it's never we're not pounding the table and saying
16:30
Speaker 2: you need to do this. You know. We also realize
16:32
Speaker 2: that these guys need to be comfortable with the pitches
16:34
Speaker 2: that they throw and when they throw them. But you know,
16:37
Speaker 2: we suggest things and then get their feedback. And go
16:40
Speaker 2: from there. You know, these type of things like I
16:45
Speaker 2: like I mentioned, we want it to be in a
16:47
Speaker 2: more formal setting, uh, with some you know, bells and whistles,
16:50
Speaker 2: maybe a buttoned up presentation, some some not just me
16:54
Speaker 2: talking at somebody, get some of the high level smart
16:58
Speaker 2: guys in the room as well, and it's a it's
17:01
Speaker 2: a back and forth and it's a it's something that
17:03
Speaker 2: we do, like I said, with everybody every spring training
17:06
Speaker 2: and then and go from there, start the conversation and
17:10
Speaker 2: go from there.
17:12
Speaker 1: Speaking of sinkers, another guy that we've had on the
17:14
Speaker 1: pod this offseason, Mike Burrows, another new member of your rotation.
17:21
Speaker 1: He made it very clear that he has a sinker.
17:23
Speaker 1: He has a sinker and he wants to throw it more.
17:26
Speaker 1: It is something that he was working at toward the
17:28
Speaker 1: end of his tenure with the Pirates last season. I
17:31
Speaker 1: get more broadly than just the sinker stuff. What about
17:35
Speaker 1: Mike Burrows? You guys saw him first hand last year
17:37
Speaker 1: pitched against you guys at PNC Park as a member
17:40
Speaker 1: of the Pirates. What about Mike Burrows excites you? And
17:43
Speaker 1: this is a guy that's a young pitcher. It's still
17:47
Speaker 1: kind of maybe learning his way in the big leagues,
17:49
Speaker 1: hasn't been in the big leagues that long kind of
17:51
Speaker 1: where do you think maybe there are steps for development
17:53
Speaker 1: and growth and what excites you the most about Mike Burrows?
17:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, another another good acquisition this offseas in. You know,
18:01
Speaker 2: feel really really strongly about Mike. He got kind of
18:05
Speaker 2: on the map and on the scene in the big
18:06
Speaker 2: leagues last year and had some success. Did at a
18:10
Speaker 2: sinker and it and it and it performed pretty well
18:12
Speaker 2: and we are gonna ask him to throw it some
18:13
Speaker 2: and he's on board with that for sure. But he's
18:16
Speaker 2: a you know, kind of a high energy writing, goes
18:20
Speaker 2: some hard fast balls, has a hard slider, really good curveball.
18:23
Speaker 2: The change up is probably his best pitch.
18:25
Speaker 1: You know.
18:26
Speaker 2: We feel like the a sinker you know, could could
18:29
Speaker 2: play up and helped his other stuff play up, while
18:32
Speaker 2: we saw with Hunter Brown the last couple of years.
18:35
Speaker 2: But it's a you know, really high, high ceiling arm
18:38
Speaker 2: that we feel real good about.
18:40
Speaker 3: When you've got a guy like Burrows who has, like
18:42
Speaker 3: you mentioned, the change up is elite. I mean, he
18:46
Speaker 3: is very very good with the change up. Hitters had
18:48
Speaker 3: almost no success. They hit one forty seven on his
18:51
Speaker 3: change up last year, and he threw it twenty four
18:53
Speaker 3: percent of the time. When you when you have a
18:55
Speaker 3: guy like that that got hit around on the primary stuff,
18:59
Speaker 3: but you know you've got good secondary stuff. What what
19:03
Speaker 3: is the process for Is it increasing the usage of
19:07
Speaker 3: that secondary stuff? Specifically? Is it tweaking the fastball so
19:11
Speaker 3: that it can play better off a changeup?
19:12
Speaker 1: Like?
19:12
Speaker 3: How do you take something that's already very successful a
19:16
Speaker 3: quarter of the time and try to keep that you
19:19
Speaker 3: know for every pitch.
19:21
Speaker 2: Well, that's the that's the name of the game, is
19:23
Speaker 2: trying to find the find the recipe for success. You
19:26
Speaker 2: know that the simple thing is, hey, just throw the
19:28
Speaker 2: pitch more. But you know there's gonna be some upper bound,
19:32
Speaker 2: some threshold where it's gonna lose its effectiveness and you're
19:36
Speaker 2: gonna have to find that find that area.
19:38
Speaker 1: You know.
19:38
Speaker 2: I think with Mike, he definitely could probably throw his
19:41
Speaker 2: change up a little bit more, But we think that
19:42
Speaker 2: maybe throwing his sinker a little more could help his
19:44
Speaker 2: other stuff too. There's some things he's working on with
19:47
Speaker 2: his slider that might allow it to play up. So
19:50
Speaker 2: you know, we feel feel good about Mike's uh overall
19:54
Speaker 2: repertoire and you know the small things that he's doing
19:57
Speaker 2: to to short up coming into camp U I did
20:00
Speaker 2: to see him in person. I know he's been, you know,
20:02
Speaker 2: living training up in the Northeast this offseason. We've had
20:05
Speaker 2: some good conversations and uh pumped to get working with
20:09
Speaker 2: him next week down in West pump.
20:11
Speaker 3: I mean, I watched Chris Devinski go to an All
20:13
Speaker 3: Star game throwing a change up every pitch, so you
20:16
Speaker 3: know it's it works sometimes.
20:17
Speaker 2: Yes, it's Tommy Cainley good. Yeah, ninety change ups worked
20:21
Speaker 2: in the worked in the show for a long time too.
20:24
Speaker 1: Do you have you did you reach out to Strami
20:27
Speaker 1: at all about Mike Burrows.
20:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got great feedback from Shami and others within
20:33
Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh organization about about Mike. Love the guy, love
20:38
Speaker 2: the competitiveness, the work ethic. We all positive feedback about.
20:42
Speaker 1: It would seem to me, I'm just a I'm just
20:46
Speaker 1: a lowly reporter. I just like project these things, But
20:48
Speaker 1: it would seem to me, You're going to go into
20:50
Speaker 1: spring training with four rotation spots that are pretty pretty
20:56
Speaker 1: set in stone. Hunter Brown, who will we will talk
20:59
Speaker 1: about Hunter Brown. I know we're twenty minutes into this
21:01
Speaker 1: and we haven't talked about Hunter. We'll talk about Hunter.
21:03
Speaker 1: Don't worry. But you've got Hunter, You've got Christian Javier,
21:06
Speaker 1: you've got Tetsuya Emi, and you've got Mike Burrows. That
21:09
Speaker 1: would seem to be the four that you know, you
21:11
Speaker 1: could probably say right now have pretty firm holed on
21:14
Speaker 1: a rotation spot. Joe has been pretty forthright that you
21:19
Speaker 1: guys are going to open the season in a six
21:20
Speaker 1: man rotation, so that would leave two spots kind of
21:23
Speaker 1: back there, there's a lot of names and you got
21:26
Speaker 1: and one thing Dana did this winner is he gave
21:28
Speaker 1: you a lot of options. He gave you a lot
21:30
Speaker 1: of depth, and he gave you a lot of guys
21:33
Speaker 1: that are going to be vying for that spot. Josh,
21:35
Speaker 1: it could be like one of the most fierce competitions
21:40
Speaker 1: I'd think in my time covering the team, I can't
21:43
Speaker 1: remember going in the spring with a competition like this
21:46
Speaker 1: for the final two rotation spots. I guess how exciting
21:49
Speaker 1: is that for you that you guys have a lot
21:50
Speaker 1: of different guys that could, if they pitch well, that
21:53
Speaker 1: could crack the rotation and kind of how do you
21:56
Speaker 1: size that up? How you size those two open spots up,
21:58
Speaker 1: you know, as a week before where you get to
22:00
Speaker 1: West Palm.
22:01
Speaker 2: It always always feels good to have have pitching depth
22:04
Speaker 2: and competition during camp for sure. You know, a lot
22:08
Speaker 2: a lot of guys that we feel good about. You know,
22:10
Speaker 2: we got Spencer Araghetty, finished the season on the injured list,
22:14
Speaker 2: but he's got dynamite stuff that we've seen play at
22:16
Speaker 2: the major league level before aj Blue Ball, you know,
22:19
Speaker 2: finished the season with you know what, twenty scoreless innings
22:22
Speaker 2: that you know, it was really dynamite for us down
22:25
Speaker 2: the stretch. Jason Alexander really held things together like like
22:28
Speaker 2: glue last year and he'll be in there pitching. You
22:31
Speaker 2: got Lance mccullors, who's you know, been a huge member
22:34
Speaker 2: of this organization and it's got great stuff if it's on.
22:38
Speaker 2: You know, we got tons of tons of good arms.
22:39
Speaker 2: We we acquired another guy from from the Asian market
22:42
Speaker 2: and Ryan Weiss, who's a big physical writing that we
22:45
Speaker 2: He came in during fan Fest week and through for us.
22:48
Speaker 2: He's got a super unique split change up thing that
22:51
Speaker 2: that he commands pretty well. And he's a big physical guy.
22:54
Speaker 2: Like I said, we got Nate Pearson who we acquired
22:56
Speaker 2: early in the off season. He'll be you know, on
22:59
Speaker 2: the mend from am a little elbow thing, but he'll
23:02
Speaker 2: be stretched out as a starter during camp. You know,
23:04
Speaker 2: a ton of guys to feel good about. I didn't
23:07
Speaker 2: even probably touch on all of them there, but you know,
23:10
Speaker 2: it's good to have depth, and it's a good group
23:13
Speaker 2: to you know, have have compete during during spring.
23:16
Speaker 3: So you're gonna have all of these guys stretched out
23:19
Speaker 3: and you know kind of thinking in that mind frame
23:23
Speaker 3: of starting pitching, but you also know that some of
23:26
Speaker 3: those guys you know, are probably going to play some
23:30
Speaker 3: roles in the bullpen, you know, in addition to triple
23:34
Speaker 3: a starting and you know, keeping stretched out and all
23:37
Speaker 3: of that kind of stuff. How does that change how
23:40
Speaker 3: how you're approaching with them, you know throughout the spring training.
23:44
Speaker 3: You know, when do you kind of know, Okay, this
23:46
Speaker 3: person's probably not gonna be the rotation. Does it change
23:49
Speaker 3: the way that you're approaching them as a coach or
23:52
Speaker 3: the way that they're approaching getting ready for the season
23:55
Speaker 3: if they think they're going to be a starter versus
23:57
Speaker 3: a reliever.
23:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a big thing for a picture to know,
24:00
Speaker 2: you know, what role they're preparing for. You know, having
24:04
Speaker 2: having guys that have the flexibility to you know, change
24:08
Speaker 2: on a dime due to circumstances is huge for me
24:12
Speaker 2: because you do need to make that make that choice. Hey,
24:15
Speaker 2: we got to get you ready for a reliever. We
24:17
Speaker 2: might need you to throw, you know, three out of
24:20
Speaker 2: the next six or seven days to make sure that
24:22
Speaker 2: you're bouncing back and can handle that once the season
24:26
Speaker 2: ends up. So it's a it's a math problem. You
24:29
Speaker 2: kind of run out of time as you get deeper
24:31
Speaker 2: into camp and and you know, having a guy be
24:34
Speaker 2: on a starter schedule all spring and then say, hey,
24:36
Speaker 2: you're just going to the bullpen. You know that's fine
24:38
Speaker 2: on paper, but we have to treat that a little
24:42
Speaker 2: differently once the opening day comes. We can't just use
24:44
Speaker 2: him as a traditional reliever. If that's the case, the
24:47
Speaker 2: body's probably not going to be used to it and
24:49
Speaker 2: not ready to bounce back after an outing as a
24:53
Speaker 2: guy who's been training as a reliever would. So, you know,
24:56
Speaker 2: there are things that we need to think about and
24:58
Speaker 2: there is a decision point where it would be nice
25:00
Speaker 2: to know, hey, this guy's you know, we're gonna transition
25:03
Speaker 2: you to a t more of a bullpen roll for
25:05
Speaker 2: the last X amount of days of camp, and that's
25:08
Speaker 2: what you're looking at your role for the start of
25:10
Speaker 2: the season, So we can prepare them that way. You know,
25:15
Speaker 2: might not be given that opportunity to make that decision
25:18
Speaker 2: when when appropriate, but we'd like to have an idea
25:22
Speaker 2: and transition guys and give them some runway.
25:26
Speaker 1: And as we have as Tyler and I have talked
25:29
Speaker 1: about on previous pods, because you guys are opening in
25:32
Speaker 1: a six man rotation, and because you know there's a
25:35
Speaker 1: lot of games and a lot of days early in
25:37
Speaker 1: the season, and there's gonna be guys even in your
25:40
Speaker 1: rotation that maybe their first or second time through the
25:42
Speaker 1: rotation may not be stretched out to ninety five to
25:45
Speaker 1: one hundred and five pitches. Yet it's going to reinforce
25:49
Speaker 1: the importance of you know, having swing guys in the bullpen,
25:52
Speaker 1: maybe doing some piggyback starts or some design tandem starts
25:56
Speaker 1: that first run or two through the rotation. So I
25:59
Speaker 1: guess in that vein like how vital could guys like
26:03
Speaker 1: blue Ball, who has done it before, who has been
26:05
Speaker 1: the back end of a tandem start before or you know,
26:08
Speaker 1: Ryan Weisse if if you know, maybe there's not a
26:10
Speaker 1: spot in the rotation for him, he can do that
26:13
Speaker 1: out of the bullpen. You look at Spencer Aarraghetti has
26:15
Speaker 1: done that before in the minor leagues. Like, how valuable
26:18
Speaker 1: will that role be, especially early in the season.
26:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it could could play huge. You know,
26:24
Speaker 2: we'll we're gonna get to camp and get everybody kind
26:26
Speaker 2: of going and and we'll we'll line up what we
26:28
Speaker 2: think is the best the best way to get through
26:31
Speaker 2: the get through the games. But you know, we're starting
26:33
Speaker 2: with a seven game homestand we got to pitch at
26:35
Speaker 2: least nine innings in each one of those games. We
26:37
Speaker 2: got to figure out who's going to do it. And
26:39
Speaker 2: then we go on a road trip and you know,
26:42
Speaker 2: you know there's a couple off days sprinkled in there
26:44
Speaker 2: that should provide some reprieve. But then we have thirteen
26:47
Speaker 2: games in a row, and you know it's gonna kind
26:50
Speaker 2: of force our hand a little bit on how we
26:51
Speaker 2: deploy guys. But you know, we'll sit down, put our
26:54
Speaker 2: heads together, pick up the pieces after spring training, so
26:57
Speaker 2: to speak, and line the guys up as best we can.
27:01
Speaker 1: All right, twenty seven minutes in, we're gonna mention the
27:04
Speaker 1: reigning Cy Young finalist and the unquestioned ace of your staff,
27:08
Speaker 1: Hunter Brown. I don't like we talked about it on
27:13
Speaker 1: the pod Josh earlier this season, but I think when
27:18
Speaker 1: he went out in his first start of the year
27:19
Speaker 1: against the Nets, and this is just ingrained in my mind.
27:23
Speaker 1: I think it was Lindor Soto and Alonso he faced,
27:27
Speaker 1: and it was ninety nine. It was electric ninety nine.
27:30
Speaker 1: Like my jaw was on the table, like, I did
27:32
Speaker 1: not know that was in there. I did not know
27:34
Speaker 1: that was coming. Like when you saw that, was it
27:37
Speaker 1: just like, oh, man, like we're in for this kid's
27:40
Speaker 1: in for a pretty special season. I know you had
27:41
Speaker 1: probably thought it in the spring training, but to see
27:44
Speaker 1: that first inning against those hitters, were you as kind
27:47
Speaker 1: of just eye as wide as we were, and just
27:50
Speaker 1: how did that maybe set the tone for the season
27:53
Speaker 1: that Hunter had.
27:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was an electric start to his season.
27:56
Speaker 2: You know, he had had a pretty good spring. Yeah,
27:59
Speaker 2: we've been we've had high hopes and thoughts of what
28:02
Speaker 2: his performance would be going back, you know, for four
28:06
Speaker 2: years or so. But to see that was it was
28:09
Speaker 2: like a oh Man, here we go, you know. Unfortunate
28:13
Speaker 2: he really he carved like a perfect cutter up and
28:16
Speaker 2: into Soto and he got the barrel to it and
28:18
Speaker 2: hit a home or it kind of dragged dragged the
28:20
Speaker 2: outing a little bit for him. But yeah, it was
28:21
Speaker 2: a good It was a good first one. Again. I
28:25
Speaker 2: don't want to see him throwing ninety nine in spring training.
28:28
Speaker 2: I think, you know, well, we'll ease into a spring
28:31
Speaker 2: training build up and get rolling there, but you know,
28:35
Speaker 2: expecting big things from Hunter. He's he's been here in
28:38
Speaker 2: Houston since the second week of January and been working
28:41
Speaker 2: out here and things have looked great and we're we're
28:44
Speaker 2: excited to get started again.
28:47
Speaker 1: This is gonna sound like a dumb question for a
28:49
Speaker 1: guy that just had the season that he had, and
28:52
Speaker 1: is I mean, was unquestionably one of the best pitchers
28:55
Speaker 1: in the American League. Where can he get better? Because
28:58
Speaker 1: you hear ballplayers all the time time, even like the
29:00
Speaker 1: best of the best, even like the Otani's and the
29:03
Speaker 1: judges of the world, say like, I can always be better.
29:05
Speaker 1: I can I can always get that a little bit better.
29:08
Speaker 1: Where can he get better? Where can there be some
29:11
Speaker 1: some evolution? Even if it's small, kind of minute granular things.
29:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's some small, minute granular things that we think
29:19
Speaker 2: he could he could tackle and he agrees that, you know,
29:22
Speaker 2: can help him maybe miss miss some more bats against
29:24
Speaker 2: right handed hitters, maybe drive account a little more in
29:27
Speaker 2: his favor against lefties. We'd expect guy with his stuff
29:32
Speaker 2: to strike out more guys probably now he's he's really
29:36
Speaker 2: hard dominant with the four seam two C mix, so
29:39
Speaker 2: that's going to lend a little bit more contact. But uh,
29:42
Speaker 2: you know, just some small things that we think he
29:44
Speaker 2: can shore up and and you know, move the needle
29:47
Speaker 2: a little bit. But I think you would ask everybody
29:50
Speaker 2: here in the office and in the in the clubhouse
29:52
Speaker 2: if we could just dial up a you know, a
29:54
Speaker 2: repeat of the performance, we would we would take it
29:56
Speaker 2: and we would be all very happy about it.
30:00
Speaker 1: I think the thing that's also been impressive, Josh, and
30:02
Speaker 1: we've discussed this a little bit. You know, he is
30:04
Speaker 1: now this is three years in a row that he
30:06
Speaker 1: has reset his career high and innings pitched like, he
30:11
Speaker 1: keeps increasing workload and it doesn't look like it's really
30:16
Speaker 1: wearing on him much. I mean late late in the
30:19
Speaker 1: season last year he was as dominant late and as
30:22
Speaker 1: you guys were clawing for a playoff spot as he
30:24
Speaker 1: was at the beginning of the year. Does that just
30:25
Speaker 1: speak to just the conditioning that he is in or what?
30:30
Speaker 1: What do you attribute the fact that as there's been
30:33
Speaker 1: so much concern around the sport workload wise and not
30:36
Speaker 1: wanting that you guys have been successful with each year,
30:40
Speaker 1: this guy throwing more and more in him coming out
30:43
Speaker 1: of it healthy and still dominant late in the year.
30:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, he's he's been a little different than
30:49
Speaker 2: most guys. He's you know, he's thick, he's strong, he's
30:51
Speaker 2: he's he's diesel, you know, and you know he's he's
30:56
Speaker 2: handled the work. He sets his sights out on on
31:00
Speaker 2: in some bulk innings, and he wants to you know,
31:02
Speaker 2: wants to get to two hundred and wants to be
31:04
Speaker 2: the guy and wants to do all those things. And
31:06
Speaker 2: you know that's step one, is to have a guy
31:09
Speaker 2: that wants to do it and wants to take on
31:11
Speaker 2: the workload. And you know, he does put in the
31:13
Speaker 2: work and does a great job with our strength staff
31:16
Speaker 2: and staying on top of things in the training room,
31:17
Speaker 2: and he's got a good process about his routine, and
31:21
Speaker 2: you know, I think you know, all the guys have
31:24
Speaker 2: their own certain ways about things, but for him, what
31:26
Speaker 2: he does really gets him ready to post.
31:30
Speaker 3: So we briefly mentioned Christian Haavier earlier. Obviously coming back
31:35
Speaker 3: from injury last year, you know, was really just more
31:38
Speaker 3: about are you healthy? Can he come back?
31:42
Speaker 1: You know?
31:42
Speaker 3: And so I mean it was obviously just great to
31:44
Speaker 3: see him back on the mound and you know, getting
31:48
Speaker 3: through starts. What do you expect from him this season
31:52
Speaker 3: after coming off the injuries and you know, really hasn't
31:56
Speaker 3: played a full season since twenty twenty three, What are
31:59
Speaker 3: the expect to What are I mean, is there innings limits?
32:03
Speaker 3: But I mean, you know what what are you kind
32:04
Speaker 3: of expecting of him from from this season?
32:07
Speaker 2: I mean, it was, like you mentioned, great to see
32:09
Speaker 2: him get back out there and compete on a major
32:11
Speaker 2: league field. We saw stuff kind of tick back up
32:13
Speaker 2: closer to pre injury levels. Expect him to be a
32:17
Speaker 2: little a little finer, maybe get to get closer to
32:20
Speaker 2: what he what we saw in twenty twenty two, when
32:23
Speaker 2: you know l Repteel was was dominant, you know, but
32:26
Speaker 2: we're gonna we're gonna see the good in visits and
32:28
Speaker 2: visit fastball from him, a sweeper, the same stuff. The
32:32
Speaker 2: change up, which was added in twenty three is still
32:35
Speaker 2: a you know, a big piece and and something that
32:37
Speaker 2: we think he can he can lean on. He's been
32:39
Speaker 2: throwing in the Dominican. He's feeling good. We expect a
32:44
Speaker 2: full workload from Christian and are excited to get him
32:47
Speaker 2: going again in spring.
32:50
Speaker 1: Quickly to your bullpen where you have to feel excellent
32:53
Speaker 1: about the back end. Brian abrew you as your setup guy,
32:57
Speaker 1: Josh Ador is your closer. Can obviously those roles can
33:01
Speaker 1: flip on any day if you need, but you feel
33:03
Speaker 1: great about those two guys, And I think that was
33:05
Speaker 1: also the case last year. Going in the last year,
33:08
Speaker 1: you and there was a lot of uncertainty, I guess
33:10
Speaker 1: from us and from people that cover the team going
33:13
Speaker 1: into camp of just like who's going to get the
33:15
Speaker 1: ball to the back end, and then you guys just
33:18
Speaker 1: kind of answered the questions with a bunch of you know,
33:21
Speaker 1: quite frankly, guys that were not on my radar, guys
33:24
Speaker 1: that you know in our eyes, Guys that were kind
33:27
Speaker 1: of just or guys in tripa that that really took
33:30
Speaker 1: the next step. I'm thinking of Brian King, Steven Okert,
33:33
Speaker 1: Caleb Ard who no longer obviously had to get off
33:37
Speaker 1: the roster as part of the moves this year. But
33:41
Speaker 1: as you look at the middle of the bullpen going
33:43
Speaker 1: in the spring this year, where do you give us
33:47
Speaker 1: some guys that you think could comprise maybe that bridge
33:51
Speaker 1: to a bray You and Hater and maybe how important
33:54
Speaker 1: they're going to be because Joe has been pretty forthright
33:57
Speaker 1: that he wants to stay away from four outs from
34:00
Speaker 1: Brian Abrady You in April and May, and the same
34:02
Speaker 1: with Josh Hater who had the injury to him last year.
34:05
Speaker 1: Kind of who are going to be those guys that
34:08
Speaker 1: absorb a lot of those leverage outs maybe between the
34:11
Speaker 1: sixth and the seventh and the fifth.
34:13
Speaker 2: And we saw, you know, last year, a trifecta of
34:16
Speaker 2: lefties that were just super good for us, and Steve Okert,
34:20
Speaker 2: Bennett SUSA and Brian King. They're all back and expect
34:23
Speaker 2: them to, you know, to repeat their performance. It's gonna
34:27
Speaker 2: be hard to improve upon it. You know, we feel
34:29
Speaker 2: real good about that group. We acquired Danielle del Santos
34:33
Speaker 2: last year and he pitched some really big innings for
34:35
Speaker 2: us in you know, July, August, September. He'll be back.
34:40
Speaker 2: We had a Rule five pick from the Cincinnati organization,
34:44
Speaker 2: Rodery Munoz, who's got a really unique, interesting slider. He
34:47
Speaker 2: throws pretty hard, and you know, we'll see what it
34:50
Speaker 2: looks like in camp when he gets in there. Jaden Murray,
34:53
Speaker 2: who's been working out here in Houston, was added to
34:56
Speaker 2: the roster last year and was also pretty dynamite for
34:58
Speaker 2: us down the stretch. You know, he'll get a crack
35:00
Speaker 2: at some things there. Some of those guys that we
35:03
Speaker 2: mentioned as starting options might fall to a bullpen roll
35:07
Speaker 2: if if we we deem that necessary, and they'd all
35:09
Speaker 2: be ready. You know, all those guys were mentioned earlier.
35:12
Speaker 2: We have some off you know, some non roster invite
35:14
Speaker 2: guys that are interesting and exciting. Peter Lambert coming coming back.
35:20
Speaker 2: It's got a you know, a link the major league
35:22
Speaker 2: track record and then pitch in Japan last year. He'll
35:24
Speaker 2: be back on a minor league deal. Cody Bolton was
35:27
Speaker 2: a guy that we acquired uh end of last year.
35:30
Speaker 2: He finished the season in sugar Land. He'll be in
35:32
Speaker 2: camp as an NRI I. We got some guys internally
35:35
Speaker 2: that pitched well in uh Michael nor Hudson, Leech Limber, Santa.
35:42
Speaker 2: We saw Logan van Why last year. He was taking
35:46
Speaker 2: off the forty man roster in the offseason, but his
35:48
Speaker 2: back and he'll be in camp. So we got a
35:50
Speaker 2: you know, a pretty good group of guys that we
35:52
Speaker 2: feel good about. You know, the last few years, we've
35:55
Speaker 2: seen some some guys that are not on the radar
35:57
Speaker 2: come in and really perform and make their way on
36:00
Speaker 2: our team. You know, we saw Luis Contreras a couple
36:02
Speaker 2: of years ago. We had Steve Ookert last year just
36:06
Speaker 2: come in and really really shine during spring and earn
36:10
Speaker 2: a role and pitch some meaningful innings for us. So,
36:12
Speaker 2: you know, we feel good about the group we have.
36:15
Speaker 2: They're gonna have to do. It's gonna have to perform
36:17
Speaker 2: during camp, but you know, we we expect good things.
36:23
Speaker 1: Tyler won't ask it, so I'll ask it. He's a
36:25
Speaker 1: big AJ blue ball guy. Tyler really likes AJ blue Ball.
36:30
Speaker 1: He he is a starter in every sense. He's part
36:33
Speaker 1: of the triple A rotation. Had made his major league
36:36
Speaker 1: debut as a starter, has made some traditional starts, but
36:39
Speaker 1: we saw him last year, come out of the bullpen,
36:41
Speaker 1: and when he was able to run it up a
36:43
Speaker 1: little bit, he got a little extra juice on it
36:45
Speaker 1: when he knew he had little short spurts. Like the
36:47
Speaker 1: stuff really really ticked up with the understanding that, like
36:53
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier, everyone in that group is probably
36:55
Speaker 1: gonna be stretched out in camp and then you guys
36:57
Speaker 1: make some decisions, but maybe for the law long term
37:00
Speaker 1: with aj blue ball kind of where where do you
37:03
Speaker 1: think he profiles best?
37:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think you look at the the player.
37:09
Speaker 2: You look at the body, the long, leanness, the stuff,
37:12
Speaker 2: the dots like he's a he's he's a starting pitcher,
37:16
Speaker 2: but you know, if team need requires it, he's shown
37:21
Speaker 2: that he can be a reliever. And and you know,
37:23
Speaker 2: the stuff was was great last year in September, you
37:27
Speaker 2: know it was it was dynamite to see him come
37:30
Speaker 2: up and have success, especially his his major league debut.
37:32
Speaker 2: He threw the ball so well and was really dragged
37:35
Speaker 2: by Like the last battery faced was a Crawford Box
37:39
Speaker 2: Grand slam on an executed slider. It was like, oh man,
37:43
Speaker 2: you know it's it was a tough one to feel,
37:45
Speaker 2: but I'm glad he was able to get back to
37:47
Speaker 2: the big leagues last year and find some success because
37:50
Speaker 2: he is a great kid, somebody to root for. You know,
37:53
Speaker 2: I'd expect he's gonna he's gonna play a role on
37:55
Speaker 2: our team this year. Whatever role that is will will
37:58
Speaker 2: be determined, But you know I expect from Aj, whether
38:03
Speaker 2: that's as a starting pitcher or really mm hmm.
38:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, Chandler is a hater. I don't know why. It's
38:10
Speaker 3: very rude of him. Part of it is because I
38:12
Speaker 3: have a very soft spot in my heart for Brad Peacock.
38:15
Speaker 3: Uh and and blue Ball reminds me a lot of him.
38:18
Speaker 3: Through ninety eight change ups last year, did not give
38:20
Speaker 3: up a hit on one. It's pretty good. Uh So
38:24
Speaker 3: you know, I'm sure he'll find a spot somewhere.
38:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, real quick before we let you go. Because everyone
38:30
Speaker 1: loves prospects. I think the one, the one pitching prospect
38:35
Speaker 1: internally from you guys that I think draws a lot
38:37
Speaker 1: of attention is Miguel Yoa, who was on the forty
38:39
Speaker 1: man who got protected. He's on the forty man roster now.
38:42
Speaker 1: So we'll be in camp, in big league camp. Last
38:45
Speaker 1: year in big league camp, maybe struggled a little bit
38:48
Speaker 1: to find the strike zone was and that's kind of
38:50
Speaker 1: been the The knock on him a little bit is
38:53
Speaker 1: that he does not throw a ton of strikes, but
38:56
Speaker 1: the stuff's elite. What are you expecting to see from again,
39:00
Speaker 1: maybe in his second big league camp, maybe he his
39:03
Speaker 1: minds at ease a little bit more. He's maybe not
39:05
Speaker 1: going to be overthrowing as much. Kind of what do
39:07
Speaker 1: you expect to see from him? And what what future
39:09
Speaker 1: do you think? He has?
39:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, really special fastball, similar career arc to Christian Javier
39:16
Speaker 2: in the minor leagues, you know, really tough to hit,
39:19
Speaker 2: really good fastball, gets swings and misses. Maybe a little
39:22
Speaker 2: bit radic with his command. We need to see that
39:24
Speaker 2: improve a little bit. And he's aware he's making some changes.
39:27
Speaker 2: They made some some changes during the season. Sean Buchanan,
39:30
Speaker 2: our triple A pitching coach and him, you know, clean
39:34
Speaker 2: some things up second half of the of the year
39:36
Speaker 2: and and we saw some improvement. Expect him to hit
39:39
Speaker 2: the ground running and maybe be a little more comfortable,
39:42
Speaker 2: uh in in a big league camp environment. I'd expect
39:45
Speaker 2: him to pitch on a starter schedule. But again, it's
39:46
Speaker 2: a guy that could profile as a as a reliever,
39:49
Speaker 2: depending on how things shake out and how things go.
39:51
Speaker 2: But you know, he's, uh, he's got a special fastball,
39:55
Speaker 2: he's got some some interesting secondary pitches. And you know,
39:59
Speaker 2: the name the game is to be able to command
40:01
Speaker 2: him and throw strikes and and minimize the walks and
40:04
Speaker 2: that allow him to have success. And and you know
40:06
Speaker 2: we're gonna work to improve that that area.
40:09
Speaker 3: You know, there's the saying is there's no such thing
40:12
Speaker 3: as too much pitching. I think you guys proved that
40:15
Speaker 3: last year. Do you know, off the top of your
40:17
Speaker 3: head how many guys you had throw more than ten
40:19
Speaker 3: innings for you last year?
40:20
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, I know that. I know that, Like I guess,
40:25
Speaker 2: I mean, I would say, like twenty.
40:31
Speaker 3: Twenty seven, twenty seven is exactly right. Twenty seven guys
40:36
Speaker 3: through ten or more innings for the shows last year.
40:39
Speaker 2: So that's not even counting our counting our best guy, which.
40:41
Speaker 3: Was you lost your star reliever in Chas McCormick.
40:45
Speaker 2: That's what I was gonna say. Chas McCormick and says,
40:47
Speaker 2: our salads are really and Cooper Hummel, you know, not
40:50
Speaker 2: a great.
40:52
Speaker 1: You got Sally back though, so yeah, hopefully you won't
40:56
Speaker 1: need him.
40:57
Speaker 3: But you know, I mean that that just goes to show.
40:59
Speaker 3: And I mean, as you know, opening day roster is
41:02
Speaker 3: a snapshot. But there's twenty six total players on that roster.
41:07
Speaker 3: You had twenty seven guys throw ten or more innings
41:10
Speaker 3: last year, so it's it's not set in stone for sure.
41:13
Speaker 1: Yeah before okay, really the last one before we let
41:16
Speaker 1: you go, Josh, if I would have told you in
41:19
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen when from ber Valdez comes to the big
41:23
Speaker 1: leagues and you lay your eyes on him and you
41:26
Speaker 1: get to see him that first year, if I would
41:29
Speaker 1: have told you this guy's going to be a forty
41:30
Speaker 1: million dollar a year pitcher in twenty eighteen, what would
41:34
Speaker 1: you have said.
41:36
Speaker 2: I would have been flabberg acid. I wouldn't have had
41:38
Speaker 2: any words, wouldn't have any words. It was amazing. Forever
41:45
Speaker 2: grateful for the things he did for the organization. Here
41:48
Speaker 2: we go way back to Kassimi Florida when he came
41:50
Speaker 2: over from the Dominican Complex announced in the minor league system,
41:54
Speaker 2: tremendous worker, what a what a great picture. I'll be
41:59
Speaker 2: rooting when he's not pitched against us, and hope good
42:02
Speaker 2: things for Fever.
42:04
Speaker 1: It's truly incredible. You know, twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen Fromber
42:10
Speaker 1: was probably not I mean twenty nineteen there was a
42:13
Speaker 1: case to be made. He was on the forty man roster,
42:14
Speaker 1: chopping block, and then in the next five seasons had
42:17
Speaker 1: a one twenty eight r A plus in nine hundred
42:20
Speaker 1: and seventy three innings and won a World Series clinching game.
42:22
Speaker 1: For you, guys, it is he is. He embodies player
42:26
Speaker 1: development success, and Josh, you are a big part of
42:28
Speaker 1: that player development. Pitching development Fromber is at the top
42:33
Speaker 1: of the list in terms of guys that you have
42:35
Speaker 1: developed in, guys that you have nurtured through struggles early
42:39
Speaker 1: and things like that. But you've got a ton of
42:41
Speaker 1: those guys still on your roster Javier Hunter Brown, just
42:44
Speaker 1: to name a few. But we really appreciate this. This
42:47
Speaker 1: was great. I told you we keep you for twenty
42:49
Speaker 1: five minutes, and we kept you for forty three, so
42:51
Speaker 1: that's my fault. Thank you again for taking time from
42:56
Speaker 1: dyke in Park to join us. And before I know,
42:58
Speaker 1: it's going to get busy as you get to wes Palm.
43:01
Speaker 1: But this was great. We really appreciate you. Giving us
43:03
Speaker 1: some insight to a new look Astro's pitching staff.
43:07
Speaker 2: No problem, thanks guys. Nice talking to you as always. Guys.
43:10
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Exit Chandler Underscore Room. You
43:13
Speaker 1: can follow Tyler at Tyler C. Stafford. Please rate and
43:15
Speaker 1: review us on Apple and Spotify. You can subscribe to
43:18
Speaker 1: the YouTube channel as well to get notified every time
43:21
Speaker 1: we post a new video. We will be back later
43:24
Speaker 1: this week with a more comprehensive preview, maybe of the
43:27
Speaker 1: offensive side before we get to West Palm Beach, but
43:30
Speaker 1: until then we will talk to you later.
43:33
Speaker 3: Lagrasso is always greener on the other side. Bye.