Latest / Foul Territory / Jonathan India on landing in KC, Elly v. Witt comp, OF experiment
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The Reds gave me everything in the world. Man.
- 0:01Speaker 2: They treated me with such respect and you know, I
- 0:03Speaker 2: can't think of them enough of what they've given me
- 0:05Speaker 2: over the years.
- 0:06Speaker 1: There and uh, but I think it was time.
- 0:13Speaker 3: All right, let's go, let's talk Royals right now with
- 0:16Speaker 3: Johnathan India back on the show with us.
- 0:18Speaker 4: Jonathan, great to have you on.
- 0:19Speaker 3: Thanks for the time. And we haven't talked to you
- 0:21Speaker 3: since you've ended up in the Powder Blue, so I'm
- 0:24Speaker 3: sure you like your colors and the atmosphere. How's it
- 0:27Speaker 3: going there, man.
- 0:28Speaker 1: It's been awesome.
- 0:29Speaker 2: Man. Uh, you know, I love this team already. This
- 0:32Speaker 2: team is a special group of guys. You know, they
- 0:35Speaker 2: all get along really well. Good culture. It's very structure here,
- 0:39Speaker 2: which I love. They just they go about their business
- 0:43Speaker 2: the right way.
- 0:45Speaker 5: So is it what's what's the most what's the most
- 0:49Speaker 5: glaring thing that you're like? Man, I love this. I
- 0:52Speaker 5: love how they're doing this in casey. I know, it's
- 0:55Speaker 5: just spring training, so everybody looks, you know, peaches and rainbows.
- 1:00Speaker 2: I just like I said, I think it's the structure.
- 1:03Speaker 2: You know, it's very like well put together and you know,
- 1:08Speaker 2: everyone just has one goal in their mind. And everyone's
- 1:10Speaker 2: bought in here, and you tell. I can tell right
- 1:12Speaker 2: away when I stepped in this camp. You know, everyone
- 1:16Speaker 2: you know is big league is a big league the
- 1:19Speaker 2: very professional about their business and they do it the
- 1:22Speaker 2: right way.
- 1:23Speaker 4: Talk to me a little bit about camp and explain.
- 1:27Speaker 4: Give me. Give me a guy or two where you're
- 1:28Speaker 4: just like you're coming in and you're like, oh, man,
- 1:31Speaker 4: I didn't expect for this guy to be like absolute
- 1:33Speaker 4: stud beast batting, practice defense, something where you're like, wow,
- 1:37Speaker 4: this guy is you know, and I know the big names,
- 1:40Speaker 4: don't get me wrong, but at the same time, you're like, yo,
- 1:43Speaker 4: this dude, this dude's for real pitching, hitting Talk to me.
- 1:47Speaker 1: Well, obviously, Bobby.
- 1:48Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you don't really uh, you don't
- 1:52Speaker 2: really get to like experience it from like once you're
- 1:55Speaker 2: in camp with this kid.
- 1:56Speaker 1: It's like, you know, he's doing where we.
- 1:59Speaker 2: Hit these proline balls at a machine on the field
- 2:02Speaker 2: sometimes after after practice, and this kid's hitting them out
- 2:06Speaker 2: still and they're they're squishy balls, so I've never seen anymore,
- 2:10Speaker 2: and uh, you know, it's just so special to see
- 2:14Speaker 2: how he takes VP, the way he goes about his business.
- 2:16Speaker 1: He's very well structured in his routine. He just gets it. Man.
- 2:21Speaker 1: For a young kid, he gets it and that's pretty
- 2:23Speaker 1: cool to watch.
- 2:25Speaker 2: But I mean everyone on this team that this lineup is,
- 2:28Speaker 2: you know, it's a bunch of grinders, a bunch of
- 2:30Speaker 2: guys that know how to have played discipline.
- 2:32Speaker 1: They can hit the war pictures down.
- 2:36Speaker 2: It's it's very cool lineup and I'm an excited to
- 2:38Speaker 2: see how it all works out.
- 2:41Speaker 5: So you talk about impressive, you talk about Bobby Witt Jr.
- 2:45Speaker 5: You just went, you just left Ellie Daily Cruz. Ellie's like,
- 2:49Speaker 5: I mean, he's like an avatar build a player kind
- 2:51Speaker 5: of guy. Bobby wits like Bobby Wits like you know,
- 2:55Speaker 5: you don't really know what he is until you get there.
- 2:58Speaker 5: Compare those two because like that's why they come up
- 3:01Speaker 5: with a stupid, stupid war stat. People are like, well,
- 3:04Speaker 5: his war was much higher, and we compare them when
- 3:08Speaker 5: you're talking about superstars.
- 3:11Speaker 2: I've had this question so much this spring, just because
- 3:14Speaker 2: you know, playing with both of them. But uh, you can't.
- 3:17Speaker 2: I mean, I don't even know how to compare it
- 3:20Speaker 2: that you can't compare them. They're both you know, I'll
- 3:22Speaker 2: give Bobby is a very well polished, big leader already.
- 3:26Speaker 2: You know, he's already locked into the type of player
- 3:30Speaker 2: he is, and he will be consistent throughout every year.
- 3:34Speaker 1: I think Ellie is just a freak, you know.
- 3:38Speaker 2: It's just like this kid could do whatever you ask
- 3:42Speaker 2: him to do and he'll do it amazing and uh
- 3:45Speaker 2: no one, I mean, he still has more to grow,
- 3:48Speaker 2: That's what's crazy. So you know, it's just it's different.
- 3:52Speaker 2: You know, Bobby is already there, He's already proven himself.
- 3:55Speaker 2: He's already, you know, a superstar in the game, probably
- 3:59Speaker 2: I think, the best player in the game. And then
- 4:01Speaker 2: Ellie could be the best player in the game and
- 4:04Speaker 2: has all the time in the world and he hasn't
- 4:06Speaker 2: even reached his full potential, which is crazy to me.
- 4:09Speaker 2: So you know Ellie's on his way for sure.
- 4:12Speaker 5: All right from a scout, since you're not a scout yet,
- 4:14Speaker 5: you're still you're gonna be leading off for the Royals,
- 4:16Speaker 5: so you're not into that realm, Would you say Ellie's
- 4:20Speaker 5: Ellie's ceiling could actually be higher than Bobby wits And
- 4:24Speaker 5: I know you haven't played with Bobby for an entire season.
- 4:26Speaker 5: Could his ceiling be higher? Just based on his talent level.
- 4:32Speaker 4: I mean.
- 4:34Speaker 2: You'll, I mean you could, you could. A lot of
- 4:35Speaker 2: people will definitely say that. For me, I think it's
- 4:39Speaker 2: they're very still they're still very close.
- 4:41Speaker 4: You know.
- 4:42Speaker 2: I haven't seen Bobby play in a big league game yet,
- 4:45Speaker 2: like a you know, actual season on his team, but
- 4:51Speaker 2: I mean he Ellie definitely has the edge there with
- 4:53Speaker 2: with the ceiling just because of his his tools. You know,
- 4:56Speaker 2: he throws the ball one thousand miles per hour across
- 4:58Speaker 2: the diamond. He runs Honestly, I think I heard Bobby's faster,
- 5:02Speaker 2: but I would love to see them race. But the power,
- 5:08Speaker 2: I mean Bobby is I didn't know Bobby had this
- 5:10Speaker 2: power until you actually see it in person. It's actually
- 5:14Speaker 2: just as much as Ellie's. I think Ellie does it
- 5:17Speaker 2: from both sides. But it's so hard to compare them, man,
- 5:21Speaker 2: I mean, they're they're just they're they're both they're different players,
- 5:27Speaker 2: you know.
- 5:27Speaker 1: And then well.
- 5:31Speaker 4: It's hard. It's hard, and you know what I was hard, Yeah,
- 5:35Speaker 4: getting traded it's hard too as well. I've cratzy and
- 5:38Speaker 4: I've been through a bunch of those.
- 5:40Speaker 3: Man.
- 5:40Speaker 4: There's you know, you get the speculations where you want
- 5:43Speaker 4: to go. Where are you going to go this? And
- 5:44Speaker 4: that My question you is were you relieved? Were you excited?
- 5:48Speaker 4: Were you like, oh my god, because there's it has
- 5:50Speaker 4: been going on for the longest time with you. You
- 5:52Speaker 4: know you're leaving your going talk about your mindset after
- 5:56Speaker 4: all that, you.
- 5:57Speaker 1: Know what, man, I mean, the Reds give me everything
- 5:59Speaker 1: in the world.
- 6:00Speaker 2: Man, they treated me with such respect, and you know,
- 6:02Speaker 2: I can't thank them enough for what they've given me
- 6:04Speaker 2: over the years there.
- 6:05Speaker 1: And but I think it was time. You know, it
- 6:08Speaker 1: was being.
- 6:09Speaker 2: Talked about for a couple of years and it was
- 6:11Speaker 2: get to me pretty pretty well. You know, I didn't
- 6:14Speaker 2: like it, you know, I didn't understand why. So I
- 6:18Speaker 2: think it was time. You know, there was a ton
- 6:20Speaker 2: of young talent. You know, they were trying to move
- 6:22Speaker 2: me around, and you know, I was like, you know what,
- 6:25Speaker 2: if we're going to do this, just let me go
- 6:27Speaker 2: be and let me go start.
- 6:28Speaker 1: My career somewhere else. So I think it was kind
- 6:31Speaker 1: of a mutual thing.
- 6:32Speaker 2: You know, we kind of just part of ways and
- 6:34Speaker 2: there was no bad blood and I can't think them
- 6:36Speaker 2: enough for what they give me.
- 6:37Speaker 1: And you know, I'm excited to start this new chatter
- 6:39Speaker 1: of my career.
- 6:41Speaker 5: How could they have handled it differently or even how
- 6:43Speaker 5: could you have handled those like move me not move me? Now?
- 6:47Speaker 5: I'm here, I'm still here.
- 6:49Speaker 1: What you know? What's going on with this? That's a
- 6:52Speaker 1: good question.
- 6:53Speaker 4: I don't know.
- 6:53Speaker 1: I really don't know.
- 6:54Speaker 2: I mean, it was my first time going through all
- 6:57Speaker 2: that stuff, so I don't I don't really have a
- 7:00Speaker 2: perspective on it yet, you know. I mean, I'm trying
- 7:03Speaker 2: just to you know, be the guy here now and
- 7:05Speaker 2: you know, be a leadoff guy and focus on this team.
- 7:08Speaker 2: But maybe in like five six years I'll have an
- 7:11Speaker 2: answer for that one. But uh, I don't know.
- 7:14Speaker 1: I don't really know.
- 7:15Speaker 2: I mean I think it was just part of the
- 7:17Speaker 2: business side, and you know, I had value and it
- 7:20Speaker 2: was good to feel wanted for sure.
- 7:23Speaker 3: Ft fam, I hope you have as much confidence as
- 7:26Speaker 3: Penelope right now, who is an avid Spot and Tango fan, okay,
- 7:30Speaker 3: and she uses the code foul crats because this is
- 7:33Speaker 3: a personalized dog food subscription service that prevents you, of
- 7:37Speaker 3: course from going to the store to pick up the food,
- 7:40Speaker 3: and she just gets the highest quality unkibble that is
- 7:43Speaker 3: what they're known for. And I know you love the
- 7:45Speaker 3: quiz part of it too.
- 7:47Speaker 5: It's a super quick quiz, but it lets you give
- 7:49Speaker 5: them the information and they tailor it to what is
- 7:52Speaker 5: needed based on their age, size, activity level. All things
- 7:56Speaker 5: that are customed for each and every one of your dogs.
- 8:00Speaker 3: Yeah, human great ingredients in that unkibble, USDA meat, fruits
- 8:04Speaker 3: and veggies that are approved. There no artificial stuff, no preservatives.
- 8:08Speaker 3: They've got the exclusive deal for the ft fan for
- 8:10Speaker 3: unlimited time. Go to spotan tango dot com slash voul
- 8:14Speaker 3: use code f ou l to get fifty percent off
- 8:16Speaker 3: your first order. That's spotan tango dot com slash foul.
- 8:19Speaker 3: It's spotan Tango dot com fat foul foul.
- 8:24Speaker 5: The Royals have really made a big deal, and I
- 8:26Speaker 5: think it's something that they lacked at the start of
- 8:28Speaker 5: At the beginning of their lineup, first two spots in
- 8:31Speaker 5: the lineup was on base percentage for Bobby Witt to
- 8:33Speaker 5: be able to drive dudes in. Do you feel like
- 8:35Speaker 5: maybe the Reds didn't appreciate that, or is it just
- 8:38Speaker 5: being like super exemplified now that you're over the Royals, like, Hey,
- 8:42Speaker 5: this is this is what we need you to do.
- 8:44Speaker 5: Be that guy in front of Bobby.
- 8:48Speaker 2: I mean they they definitely, you know, like the fact
- 8:51Speaker 2: that I was an on base guy and you know,
- 8:54Speaker 2: I learned from Joey Vado. You know, he taught me
- 8:56Speaker 2: really well because I was never that guy in college
- 8:58Speaker 2: or anything. You know, he really helped me have played
- 9:02Speaker 2: discipline and and hit hit my pitch only. But no,
- 9:06Speaker 2: the Reds definitely valued it. It's just there was so
- 9:08Speaker 2: much going I think there was just so much going
- 9:10Speaker 2: on in an organization. You know, we just had so
- 9:13Speaker 2: many young talented players coming and we didn't know what
- 9:16Speaker 2: to do. You know, they didn't know what to do
- 9:18Speaker 2: with them, and it was a bunch of them at
- 9:20Speaker 2: one time, so it was definitely tough on everyone.
- 9:23Speaker 1: To figure it out.
- 9:25Speaker 2: So yeah, I think it was just, you know, they
- 9:28Speaker 2: just had to make room for a bunch of guys,
- 9:29Speaker 2: and I was obviously the right move and you know,
- 9:32Speaker 2: and they got a good player for me, so it
- 9:34Speaker 2: was it was pretty cool.
- 9:37Speaker 4: I want to talk a little about leading off. I
- 9:41Speaker 4: know you've batted pretty much everywhere in your career and
- 9:43Speaker 4: you've you know, you've bounced around, but talk a little
- 9:46Speaker 4: about leading off set in the tone for this really
- 9:49Speaker 4: good team that you're playing on. Now.
- 9:52Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I mean being a leadoff guy. You know,
- 9:56Speaker 2: it comes with a lot of responsibility. You gotta you
- 9:58Speaker 2: gotta get on base. You know, you gotta take you
- 10:00Speaker 2: gotta be confident hitting two strikes. You gotta be you know,
- 10:04Speaker 2: the guy that is you know, comfortable in in you know,
- 10:09Speaker 2: situations where it's very uncomfortable. You know, you gotta be
- 10:12Speaker 2: taking pitches, which in the big leagues you don't want
- 10:14Speaker 2: to get behind. But in the lead off spot, you
- 10:17Speaker 2: gotta do it for your team. You know, you're kind
- 10:19Speaker 2: of a sacrificial lamb as.
- 10:21Speaker 1: They would say.
- 10:21Speaker 2: But uh, I embrace it, man. I think it's it's
- 10:27Speaker 2: part of the mentality of being like I don't care.
- 10:29Speaker 2: You know, I'm gonna still have a good at bad
- 10:31Speaker 2: no matter what. And I could prove that, you know,
- 10:35Speaker 2: but I take it with open arms.
- 10:38Speaker 1: Man.
- 10:38Speaker 2: I'm excited for this, for this role, and you know,
- 10:41Speaker 2: to show the guys that I could do it and
- 10:44Speaker 2: you know, see goes.
- 10:46Speaker 5: But I need to solidify something. You're gonna play second
- 10:49Speaker 5: base every day, right or is there gonna be some
- 10:51Speaker 5: left field mixed in there?
- 10:53Speaker 2: Now there's I'm gonna be moving around a little bit,
- 10:56Speaker 2: you know, I'm gonna moving around a little bit, playing
- 10:58Speaker 2: some sex and third you those some left. Yeah, I
- 11:01Speaker 2: worked on left this off this this spring. The off
- 11:04Speaker 2: season was to I didn't really work on left. But
- 11:06Speaker 2: the spring.
- 11:08Speaker 1: It's all right. I mean, any go glove caliber out there, but.
- 11:13Speaker 2: Uh, you can make it, make it, make it through
- 11:17Speaker 2: a season kind of, you know, so it goes. You know,
- 11:20Speaker 2: I'm I'm a gamer, I'm an athlete, So I'll make it.
- 11:23Speaker 2: I'll give it everything I got for sure.
- 11:25Speaker 5: Listen, jose L Twovey is going out to left field
- 11:28Speaker 5: and he's like sixty years older than you go out there.
- 11:33Speaker 1: So to do what I can do.
- 11:35Speaker 5: You know, absolutely, you're You're a gamer. He's a gamer.
- 11:38Speaker 5: You're you were a second basement, you know, play a
- 11:40Speaker 5: little left. My thing is one of the things I
- 11:42Speaker 5: was brought up by his manager, Joe Aspata. He said,
- 11:47Speaker 5: Hosey like we're gonna have a mountain. We're gonna have
- 11:50Speaker 5: him mountain the outfield. It's a long run to be
- 11:53Speaker 5: the leadoff hitter, like in the K.
- 11:56Speaker 1: Are you gonna need are.
- 11:57Speaker 5: You gonna need to like walk up like this the
- 11:59Speaker 5: K guys.
- 12:01Speaker 1: I was just I don't you know what I was
- 12:03Speaker 1: actually thinking about that the other day.
- 12:05Speaker 2: I'm kind of nervous that is, that is a long
- 12:09Speaker 2: run and I gotta use my time out right away probably.
- 12:13Speaker 4: So don't be afraid.
- 12:15Speaker 1: Don't be afraid of the whole.
- 12:17Speaker 2: Time out thing all the time. It's it's, uh, we'll
- 12:20Speaker 2: see how it goes. But you know, I won't be
- 12:21Speaker 2: out there every day, thank god. But uh, yeah, I'm
- 12:26Speaker 2: nervous about that.
- 12:26Speaker 5: To be honest with you, I mean maybe you could ask.
- 12:29Speaker 5: I mean, Bobby's Bobby's an MVP candidate. They get they
- 12:32Speaker 5: get different rules. Maybe when you're running in you could
- 12:35Speaker 5: be like, hey, Bobby, can I get a time out?
- 12:38Speaker 5: Or can they like give you like a standing ovation,
- 12:40Speaker 5: like can I get your time out?
- 12:43Speaker 1: Like something like that.
- 12:45Speaker 5: Yeah, let me get two timeouts. And if Bobby doesn't
- 12:47Speaker 5: need it, he's just gonna come up and you know,
- 12:49Speaker 5: hit like I don't know what he hit in the
- 12:50Speaker 5: first inning, like four sixty or something last year in
- 12:53Speaker 5: the first inning. So you're gonna have to then run,
- 12:55Speaker 5: You're gonna walk, You're gonna hit and double and then
- 12:58Speaker 5: you're gonna have to run.
- 13:00Speaker 1: You're only making it worse right now talking about it.
- 13:03Speaker 5: So sorry, Yeah, okay, sorry, I stop. I'll stop making
- 13:07Speaker 5: you nervous. Like when I see my name in the
- 13:08Speaker 5: lineup the time.
- 13:11Speaker 3: Today, I got more than that, Yeah, exactly, I got
- 13:16Speaker 3: one more and then Todd's got one more. All right,
- 13:18Speaker 3: so you mentioned and chatted him out? Can played approach
- 13:22Speaker 3: discipline on base? All that be infectious?
- 13:25Speaker 4: Right?
- 13:26Speaker 3: So obviously you learned a thing or two from Botto.
- 13:29Speaker 3: Can you put it into words for young ballplayers out there,
- 13:32Speaker 3: how you can learn from someone else when you're actually
- 13:35Speaker 3: on the field about how you should approach your at bat.
- 13:37Speaker 3: Because the Royals again are a good example. They pointed
- 13:40Speaker 3: out eight, we're really good at X y Z. We
- 13:42Speaker 3: need help on getting on base more and that will
- 13:44Speaker 3: make us a complete team.
- 13:46Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean you could definitely learn
- 13:50Speaker 2: from all your teammates, you know, like I'm still learning
- 13:54Speaker 2: in this game. I mean I got a long way
- 13:55Speaker 2: to go, for sure. I learned every day. But yeah,
- 13:59Speaker 2: Joe was a big one in my career where he
- 14:02Speaker 2: right away took me under his wing and he just
- 14:06Speaker 2: we had actually a game we played between each other
- 14:09Speaker 2: last by rookie year. We were playing who has a
- 14:12Speaker 2: higher base on base percentage? And that really I really
- 14:16Speaker 2: took off because of that game. You know, I was
- 14:19Speaker 2: really selective in my pitch. I just I was very
- 14:24Speaker 2: stingy at the plate. I wanted to hit my pitch
- 14:26Speaker 2: and only mine, and I think pitchers started realizing that
- 14:29Speaker 2: and they were trying to, you know, hit their spots
- 14:32Speaker 2: more and they would miss. So it works on to
- 14:35Speaker 2: your favors, you know, when you when you really have
- 14:37Speaker 2: a plan and you stick to your approach.
- 14:41Speaker 4: I want to ask you, you and Kratzy have the
- 14:43Speaker 4: same color hat kind of bandana on today the powder
- 14:46Speaker 4: blue North cal Carolina blue uniforms. Talk a little bit
- 14:51Speaker 4: about that. I think that's pretty cool. They look pretty awesome.
- 14:54Speaker 1: You know.
- 14:55Speaker 4: Are you into the uniform kind of detail guy?
- 14:57Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean we already did. Like
- 14:59Speaker 2: A was shooting them, and I mean these are sick man.
- 15:03Speaker 2: These are the hell tough man. They are, they fit grade,
- 15:07Speaker 2: They look amazing. I guess some cool shoes gonna that.
- 15:11Speaker 2: I'm gonna rock with them this year too.
- 15:14Speaker 5: All right, last one real quick from me. I was
- 15:18Speaker 5: technically on the twenty fifteen Royals World Series winning team,
- 15:22Speaker 5: which you guys are gonna celebrate all year you're gonna
- 15:24Speaker 5: sick of hearing about those guys. I was there for
- 15:26Speaker 5: half a year, but I only got four at Batch
- 15:28Speaker 5: because Salvador Perez never didn't play. Yeah, should I still come?
- 15:33Speaker 5: Should I still come to the World Series celebration if
- 15:37Speaker 5: they invite me? I don't know. I don't know if
- 15:39Speaker 5: they're gonna invite me or not. Should I still come?
- 15:42Speaker 5: Is that pro or not pro?
- 15:43Speaker 2: I think I think you're definitely well deserving it if
- 15:46Speaker 2: you were, if you were there.
- 15:48Speaker 5: Rightly, I wasn't even there at the end, like first
- 15:51Speaker 5: half of the season.
- 15:54Speaker 2: I mean, guys are getting rings for a week in
- 15:55Speaker 2: the big leagues when they when they are on our team.
- 15:59Speaker 5: I got less than a week. I got four plate
- 16:01Speaker 5: appearances four. Salvey just played every single day. Patrick Grafall
- 16:05Speaker 5: was just like Salve, you're playing. Salvi's like, I'm tired.
- 16:07Speaker 5: He's like you're playing. He's like, okay, fine, So I
- 16:12Speaker 5: should still come.
- 16:13Speaker 1: He's still like that. So yeah he's still like that. Yeah, Yeah,
- 16:17Speaker 1: I still like that.
- 16:19Speaker 3: There you go, well, Jonathan, awesome to have you on man,
- 16:22Speaker 3: your great interview. Always really appreciate the time. Uh, don't
- 16:25Speaker 3: be a stranger. Have an awesome start to the season
- 16:27Speaker 3: and we'll catch at some point during the year.
- 16:30Speaker 1: Thank you, guys, I appreciate having me going.
- 16:32Speaker 4: Thank you