Dodgers 3-Peat Quest, Ohtani's Secrets to Greatness, CRAZY World Series Breakdown with Tyler Glasnow

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back, another episode of All the Smoke dugout? Well, my man, see why running through them today? Let's go, man, I'm in La, so I get a chance to see this guy's greatness. Two World Series championships. Welcome to the show, Tyler Glassnan, thank.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: You man, appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Appreciate that you guys are just talking. And obviously I've I've been on teams that you know. I was on the Lakers when they had one tune, we were going for three. I mean, you guys in La are playing for rings with such a long season. What is your approach because again, on the basketball side, we play eighty two, you guys played one sixty two. What is the approach on a team that knows that when it's all said none, we're gonna be playing in October most likely fingers crossed. But is your approach any different coming into seasons than Yeah, I have been on other teams.

00:00:52
Speaker 2: I think so for sure. Like early when I was at the Rays, it was more about I feel like I had to kind of not carry the load. But you want to you want to go in and do a full season, and you have like that. I want to hit the two hundred, and you want to go in and do all that and like have your like the personal accolades and then be in a good position to go into playoffs. But I think with the Dodgers, like I've had injury history in the past, and like it's been like the one sixty two has always been a grind. But I think going in, I think their strategy has been more like let's prioritize later in the season. It doesn't mean like let's not have you pitched for the reason, but it's like if things aren't feeling great or you're trying to iron some stuff out, let's just prioritize like the last month, last two months and then head into the postseason. Because last year I did really well in the beginning of season, I couldn't participate in the postseason and it was like kills you. Yeah, so it was this year or this last year. I got hurt in the beginning and they were like, silver lining is you'll be healthy by the time we go in the postseason. And it was like I was feeling good, feeling healthy, and I got to participate in it.

00:01:48
Speaker 1: There's a little so there is a little bit of load management in baseball.

00:01:50
Speaker 3: Okay, well it is now.

00:01:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, if you were starting pitching for the Dodgers, yeah, there's a low management. But I guess how tough is that on the mental to be able to shift to that, because in Tampa.

00:02:03
Speaker 3: Like you're in it.

00:02:04
Speaker 4: I know you had your fair share of injuries, but the mentality is for a starting pitcher, go out there, I'm trying to get two hundred innings. I'm trying to get one hundred and sixties on hundred seventy innings, whatever it may be. And then it's like you found the perfect home for yourself from the injury histor that you had, from what the team really needed, knowing you're going to be in the postseason and how dominant you can be in the World Series and how us having Tyler last now could win us a World Series and the value of that. So tell us about the process of when the Dodgers even approached you and how you felt like this would be a perfect fit for you.

00:02:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's the hardest part for me, Like I never want to hear and I haven't had The Dodgers haven't come up to me at all at any point, been like, hey, let's slow it down. It just kind of like things happened organically, and it's like I would get hurt, and it's like, okay, let's try to have you map it out to where it just so happened to where i'd be in the postseason. But I think I'm in that in between part of like coming up with like the old school guys mixed in with the new school, and like I still have a very much in my brain that like I don't want to go slower than I like I want to throw two hundred innings, and like I want to do it as much as I possibly can, And like I think with injuries comes lessons, and it's like I can take that and I can learn, and I can put all this stuff I've learned together two string out a season of like two hundred isn't really a thing dude's do anymore like one eight five, But that's still like I really want to do that, And I think like learning how to pitch and learning myself and learning like the recovery stuff which the Dodgers have been great with. It's like something I still I don't want to have to like slow it down, but if it does happen, it's the it's the best place to be. Like if I and if say it doesn't go a full season, you are at a place where, like I'm in the best position to compete well in the postseason. So if it doesn't work out, if anything happens and I don't feel great, I can build up and just be ready to go in the postseason. But yeah, it's just it's the best place to be. And as far as going to the Dodgers, it was I was there on a trade and then I got to sign an extension later and it's my hometown team, so it was like a no brainer. I knew that they wanted to do something, and I was like, so.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: Do I Santa Clarita, Yeah, okay, I just moved up to Porter Ranch in Santa Cruz from my son's played football up in that way.

00:04:10
Speaker 2: All nice. What where do they play? Oh?

00:04:12
Speaker 1: Man, they're Calabasas, but we always have games inside and oh yeah, it's huge football.

00:04:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, you and my wife went to the same high school, really very different years. Heart, I don't think you know, but if you want, but let's relive the World Series just a little bit before we move on to this year. What stands out to me. The conversation was Yamamoto, which he deserves it pitching back to back games, but you were right there with them.

00:04:44
Speaker 3: Even though it was only three pitches.

00:04:45
Speaker 4: They had to be the highest stress three pitches of your life going to the ninth inning, Game six up, three to one. Sosaki's in the game. I'm just paying the picture for everybody. Saki's in the game. I remember Alejandro Kirk hitting with a O two count gets hit by pitch Barger gets the craziest ground rule double that I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, and you starting pitcher Tyler Glass now has to now enter in a situation that has to be the worst for even a guy who's been a bullpen guy for his entire life.

00:05:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was definitely wild because the beginning of the game I had gone in, I'm like, kay, I'm ready to go game six, Like it's it's if we lose a game, We're gone. So it's like, clearly I'm going to go to the bullpen regardless, like at some point, but I was starting game seven and then you're you're like looking while it's happening. In the beginning of the game, I'm in the I'm in the dugout still just kind of like marinating in the clubhouse, just doing whatever I gotta do. We're sitting there, we have like it's the first or second inning, and I'm kind of hanging out around there. I didn't think i'd come into later in the game. And then I think Mark came up and he's like, all right, you gonna go down there. I'm like, yeah, I'll go down there and then head down there. I do what I gotta do. I do my routine, but like not, there's no part of me that was really like I'm gonna pitch in this game. And I think for me, it's probably a better mindset to have, Like I'm so routine oriented and like even in spring like a bullpen, everything is like minute by minute by minute, like I want to be in control of everything I can on the day. I'm prepared, like control what you can with something about like getting thrown into something where you get stripped of your routine. For me, anyways, always has been good because it's like you have that like consistent mental thing you always do. And for some reason, like I just went down there. It started to hit the fan a little bit with Rokie and I still was kind of like all right, I'm warming up. I'm feeling good. I don't know it. And they're like, all right, get up and like throw light, just like get it going lightly, and I was like, okay, that sounds good, and I'm just kind of out there tossing, and then the double happens and it was like get let's go, like get going. So I'm pitching. I'm doing what I gotta do, and then they call down and I think at the point of zem saying like get going and me throwing hard, it just kind of was like a just blur. Yeah, It's like a buzz the whole time. And I didn't have like the same like headspace I'm normally in when you're like it's like this is now and then you go here, then you go here, then you go here. It was just like you gotta go now. And they called down and I'd thrown like five or six hard pitches, but the adrenaline like it doesn't matter. I could have thrown no pitches.

00:07:08
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:07:08
Speaker 2: They called down, and I remember walking out of that bullpen and it's like that little L shaped uh staircase, and I remember like hitting the corner and knowing that like no one can really see you, and I just fucking cheese so hard. I was smiling like I wasn't nervous. It was just such a weird, like crazy situation to be thrown in that it was like, I mean, this is insane, and I just I was so excited for some reason. I'm walking down the staircase and like the Toronto fans was talking mad ship the whole time. I always wanted, like what kind of they're anything? They can right, you take a guess I had long hair, They're like, cut your hair, you girl. Like anybody was talking shit, talking about your wife and your mom, whatever you got. And I I, for one, I kind of if it's like funny talking cuss. But if it's funny, I I kind of I kind of like it, but if it's just like it's like like I feel like people around them too in the stands or like that's not even funny. But they were talking mad shit. And I hit the corner and I was like, root's really cheesing, like smiling, and then no one said anything. They were like, oh shit, like he looks comfortable, And then I ran out and then I just I kind of like not blacked out, but I knew I wanted to throw a two seamer because I was always throwing four seams to rights, and then they're gonna guys are on base. They swing early all the time, so I get something in. It was a pop up and I threw an awful curve ball, and then another two seam that ran across the plate, and then it was a double play. Kyk comes up sick defensive play, Miggie with the pick, and then I'm like.

00:08:35
Speaker 3: I always remember the uh.

00:08:37
Speaker 4: I remember Miggy's reaction on the Crazy Game and in double play, Yeah, I remember key K's clearly, and they showed some people on the bench, but I never saw your reaction. What was your reaction right there?

00:08:49
Speaker 2: And I didn't have one because I like, he throws the ball to second, and my immediate thought was like, don't don't want adrenaline dumb right now because they could challenge this and they could be safe, and it looks so close that like I had the double in my mind, they had the double play or not the double play. He caught the ball, I was like, all right, cool, two outs, and I didn't see how far he was off a second and then he threw the ball in and I was like, what are you doing? And then he got him at thirty called him out, and I just was like, all right, chill out. I don't want to like do anything yet because they could reverse it.

00:09:17
Speaker 3: Take this, take us through this real quick. Right here, that's the trash.

00:09:21
Speaker 2: Yeah. Back is when we had the first out.

00:09:23
Speaker 3: The first first the trash curve ball.

00:09:25
Speaker 2: I'm late. I'm like, damn, so I know I want to throw a two seam. Before scene wasn't feeling that good and the two seam was feeling better. So it Will, I think, I shake to it, or Will calls it, runs across the plate, he breaks his bat, catches it, throws it and I'm like, oh, that's what you're doing. What a dig It's crazy catches it. They're freaking out, They're going nuts, and I think my only reaction is just like this. They showed me on the thing, and I'm just like out, like I don't really do anything in this moment.

00:09:50
Speaker 3: You feel like we just want the World series.

00:09:52
Speaker 2: I remember just being like this is absolutely incredible. But still at this point, I'm like, I don't want to think anything because they could challenge and then once challenge, I was like Holy. Then it became this like instant stress relief, go in.

00:10:06
Speaker 4: This is where baseball IQ is through the roof, Like key K knows to play more shallow on his own, like the scout report is going to have him playing much deeper than Yeah, but you know who's on the mound, you know his arsenal, you know who's hitting. You just take a chance in the moment, like one of them gut feelings that you have in the middle of the games. I will go with it. Plays shallow, Miggy with the amazing pick. MIGGI had an amazing pick here, and then an amazing play in game seven. The fact that y'all go to game seven after this and you're back on the mound again in game seven and got to give him a couple of innings. Yeah, what was the thought process of y'all were down that game too? Like it looked like, honestly, Toronto looked like they were playing a better brand of baseball than y'all were all the way up until that mistake there by Barger and a couple base running mixed cues in game seven.

00:10:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was just a little mistakes that it came down to you, like think every momentum shifting opportunity. We took advantage of it and made the place. And I think there was just a couple of little things that if they were done differently, I think the result probably would have been a little different. I had never gone back to back, but I think, like with the adrenaline of the World series, like you don't feel.

00:11:13
Speaker 3: Anything, and Yamamoto just went out there.

00:11:15
Speaker 2: Exactly, so.

00:11:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, I'm not good. I know Yamamoto exactly.

00:11:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I'm not feeling great today, but it was. I felt great. And I think a lot of people too, if you talked to a lot of pictures, like if you have a heavy workload, the next day, your body's still very much like loose and normal, and then the next day sure, so like the back to back, I'm like, all right, this is fine. It's more about like the two days after when everything starts to tighten up again. So I felt totally normal.

00:11:40
Speaker 1: Do you feel the aura of just greatness of your guys' pitching staff? I mean, your guys' rotation is incredible. I mean do you kind of just feel that and have that confidence as a staff?

00:11:51
Speaker 2: I think so for sure. I think we dealt with some like untimely injuries and stuff. But I think as once we got together as a whole later in the season, we were like as far as like most of the starting staff rotation stats go, we were leading all of them. And I think once we got on that role, and I think just signing dudes and like knowing on the team, Like you sit down and you think about who we've assembled, it's like there's a lot of confidence there for sure, and like you feed off one another and it's been great. Yea momento got you on his workout plan, yet not yet I actually have. I've messed around and he's got this dude yata sense and they do the craziest things and then they showed it.

00:12:24
Speaker 1: When did they show it leading into the playoffs or in the playoffs? He's throwing like javelins out there.

00:12:28
Speaker 2: He does it all.

00:12:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's crazy and look the big but like you guys kind of sitting back and watch like, oh it were like, yeah.

00:12:36
Speaker 2: Have you. I think I worked with them a little bit with like the mobility stuff and everything, and like I do some of that stuff, but not obviously as in depth as he does, but it makes you just you wonder, and it makes people like if I'm a kid right now and I'm watching the game, it's like, all right, there's so much like heavy lifting involved, And I think that's a huge thing for especially if you're a small kid who need to gain mass. Like if you look at any successful pitcher, or like the spread of who succeeds in the big leagues as a picture, it's like you're generally like six foot or above, and if you're not, you weigh two hundred pounds and above. So it's a very heavy emphasis on like weightlifting and like moving weights quickly and all that stuff. But then you look at guy Yamamoto and he's not in any of those categories, those a hundred, and he's just doing like it's just this calisthenic holds strong and you look at him. He doesn't look strong or yoked or anything, but he's his like tissue is just incredibly strong. And it makes you wonder like if you can somehow blend these two and find what you need.

00:13:31
Speaker 4: I think I think that's a great point you make, because I think about I mean, I play with each of roll, I play with Japanes, I play with metso I played with Japanese players, and now you have a staff that's hat Yamamoto, oh Tani, and then you have Snail yourself had.

00:13:46
Speaker 3: Kershaw last year.

00:13:48
Speaker 4: Like all of you guys, although like you and Otani may have some similarities, y'all are very different to me as as a hitter. If I were facing y'all, I'm going in with completely different plans. How much are y'all able to bounce things off of each other? Or is it we just brought all these great guys to one place that already know exactly how they want to go through their process, and is not as much of that going on?

00:14:10
Speaker 2: I think for the most part, I bounce ideas off of a lot of I think the most like constructive time within baseball is like the dugout whenever you get like any sort of off time, or if I'm like thinking, I'm sitting there, I'm not playing, and I see Snell or whoever sitting there and I have a question. You kind of talked during the game, especially Kershaw. We'll talk to him a lot about certain stuff. But you do realize the more questions you ask people, like how unique everyone is. And I realized too, if you came up in an organization and through the minor leagues with someone, you're a lot more similar to that batch of people than you are when you come from Cause, if I came over in year six and you've done so many different coaches and you learn this, you messed up this way, so you readjust this way and like you've got this whole different trajectory of who you or how you've become the athlete you've become. And so when you compare and contrast with other people, you go, okay, does this work for you? Like this thing works for me? Does it work for you? And they're like, I don't know what you're talking about. It's just such a whole different, like ecosystem of things that you've learned. But you can find similarities and things, or if something really does feel off, you can be like, what do you do here? And you can get ideas, But for the most part, it's really insane how different everyone is because you you overlay people's mechanics and like, it's not one person throws the same What.

00:15:22
Speaker 4: Are some of the tricks of a trade that you feel like American pictures could take from Japanese pictures and vice versa.

00:15:29
Speaker 2: Culturally as a whole, I think it kind of it even like transcends baseball in a sense of like it's not all about like brute force and like just like harder because like that Western culture, I guess or whatever it is. Like growing up for me, it was always like more and more all the time, Like you're sore, work out more. It's like you feel it's like just I know it, That's what I'm saying. And it's like it's kind of that thing that I've always leaned on to where like if I'm struggling with anything, it's like, well, just go run five miles and like just sweat it out and getting a door from rush, and like do more and more. And then you get older and you realize like that's just not the way to go, and like it's like the recovery aspect, you can still have that, but I think it takes just as much like mental fortitude to be like I want to go do this right now and like move this weight. But it's probably it's it's easier for me to go do that than it is for me to sit here and just stew and whatever it is I'm trying to deal with, And I think the Japanese side is almost the opposite of that, where nothing it's all very like even if I see like manual therapy stuff in the weight room or in the training room, it's like they're getting worked on like every day for a couple hours. Like their tissue is soft. They're like it's like Plato, but it's strong under the play though, and like when I'm not feeling good, you can like physically feel how stiff certain parts are, you know what I'm saying, And they've just been getting they're just like wagou beef. Everything is just so it.

00:16:44
Speaker 4: Was frowned upon if we were doing that exactly. So, yes, if I were a young player and I went in.

00:16:51
Speaker 2: Two hours, you can't die so hard. And it's still on some places, like if you're in there for ten minutes to get out of here, like you're twenty two, what do you need to be in here for a type of it's they do that mixed with like the calisthenic hold, so they're getting both best of both worlds, but they just move so fluidly. You compare the the like mechanics of people in Japan or like and then people of the US, it's like that collect the flow up here and then they relax and they go down and like so much of the New Age waited ball American stuff, it just looks painful, like it's not right or wrong. It's just like there's got to be like a fine like a middle ground.

00:17:25
Speaker 4: You're seen like very in tune with your own body and you you understand yourself. Correct me if I'm wrong. You have one parent who was a swimmer and another parent who was a gymnast.

00:17:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, is that?

00:17:37
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:17:38
Speaker 4: So how did their philosophies when it comes to training get passed down to you as you were young? As you were young, were you and gymnastics? Were you like, were you doing those type of things as a kid to help you to where you are now?

00:17:52
Speaker 2: Yeah? When I was younger, I would do I did like it was like Daycarre gymnastics. Like I don't think anyone looked at me and was like gymnasts. I was always like a big human being. My mom's like five nine two and she did in college and she coached, so she if she chose a different sports, she probably could have done. She's a very very good athlete. But she put me in everything as a kid, and like I'd go look at old gymnastics like home videos and we're doing like ninety nineties and like like stuff baseball players are doing now. It's crazy how like I had. It was so weird. I remember looking at the video of being like damn, like we're doing back bends. We're doing all this stuff. And I was a huge high jumper and like back bends and high jump was huge. So I've been doing that since I was a kid, and like, I think a lot of my like back and hit mobility has come from doing that stuff. And my mom was my coach for a while in high jump. But I think as far as like the the like tangible things, it's so different like from she was like a it's like kinesiology major in college. Show It's like the stuff you got taught back then is so much different than the stuff you got taught now. It's like everything is so different and it's trial and error. But what I took from both of them for sure is like the work ethic thing. I always remember them like they still to this day. Go to the gym all the time. My dad would wake up about like five, go to the gym, go to work, come home like clockwork all the time. My mom like lives in the gym. They were just very like always working, and they never complained and they work together and the only time they ever fought was about work. So it was just a constant like their relationship was very much of like, how do we this thing, this problem at work? How do we work together and fix it? And then they were both just like like business owners and they were stressed in their own world of work, and I would see them work it out and then they'd go to the gym and work. Like I just saw how to like take care of yourself mentally and physically in a healthy way. And I think me and my brother both saw that at a young age and like implemented it.

00:19:36
Speaker 3: Young at age.

00:19:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, like too much for sure at a young age. Maybe not. I had like a lazy bug in me. And I think my family was good at like when I was younger and I started to get good in baseball, it was kind of like you like they kind of like especially my brother something. It was like I would watch him train like a madman. He's still like that, And I learned from That'd like you need to go into the gym you need to like get it going, and what is it.

00:19:57
Speaker 1: You really turn on training? Because I'm mean, I know when I came up, we never trained. We just played all different sports and when I don't played our sports. Now it's really specific on what you're doing. What age did you really personally want to turn it on? Like I hate my parents don't need to tell me, brother doesn't need to tell me. I know I need to do this.

00:20:12
Speaker 2: I think junior year of high school, which is like relatively late in comparison, but I was the same as you. I played every sport like basketball, baseball, track, and it was like I just go sports sports, do it. And I hated running, I hate the conditioning. And then something my junior year like flipped and I just became like obsessed with it and I would just do it every day, probably in a bad way, and I was just like doing too much. But then you doesn't it doesn't matter. When you're like sixteen, you can do anything. You will coverts like bounce back. Yeah, which is is a.

00:20:36
Speaker 4: Weird dynamic because you're known as you're a skate guy and a skater guy, and like normally a skater guy in the weight rooms, pass and even the people that you hanging out with, yeah, are normally not going to be people that are going to be attracted to the gym exactly. So did you have a moment where you had to separate yourself from it a little bit? And how did you bring that culture with you when you were identified more as a baseball.

00:21:01
Speaker 3: Player but you still at heart, yeah, a skater guy.

00:21:04
Speaker 2: I early on, like I skated from like fourth grade to ninth grade, and I remember I was always like pretty much in the like I think like culturally, and my friends were always like in the skate type of like my good friends still now for high school, all the guys I skated with, I still have good friends from baseball, but like the people I really keep up with and still hang out with, Like even now in spring my best friend I skated with is like four doors down for me. So like I'm still very much that at heart. But I knew going into even in like fifth grade, I was like, when I go to high school, I'm done skating. Like I knew it early on. I loved it. I would skate hours and hours a day, but I loved I knew like baseball was a career, Like I could actually I can't go make money skating. I could make money playing baseball or go to college at least. So the second my freshman year started, or I was in eighth grade summer camp to go play football, I was like, I'm done skating, and I just dropped it and I never did it again. Or I would do couple here and there, But I was fully focused on base and.

00:21:58
Speaker 3: Of the major sports, you knew it was baseball.

00:22:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. I was either track and field or baseball. But like to the I'm not making money in tracking, Yeah, I'm not doing the future. But I liked it.

00:22:07
Speaker 1: Obviously, huge Japanese presence on your guys side. I came up in locker rooms where no way it was off limits, Like do you guys have fun? Talk ship to them? If they do, If you do, how do they react, how do they take it? Like what is that interaction like.

00:22:19
Speaker 2: When it's not the game, just like the banter in between, Yea's all the same, nothing's off limits. That's so I feel like to as a baseball player, as an athlete, like we're very fortunate to have that. My whole life has just been that, like there's no you can do this. You can't do that. There's no like hr type of thing. So you really you develop like a good sense of humor and tough skin and like and learn how to talk ship yourself exactly like you know, exactly, Like it's a good It can't just be like, well, I'm gonna tell on you and then now this is going to be a thing. It's like you kind of have to learn how to.

00:22:51
Speaker 3: Become language all you do. Yeah, but the fee from the.

00:22:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're great, like they'll they got tough. Like we everyone talks shit to everybody and it's like, you know, it's out of love. You're not like trying to be mean, so it's no one cares. Everyone's like talking, especially Keik in the clubhouse, like he's talking shit to everybody. So it's perfect keep loose and.

00:23:10
Speaker 3: It has to be a dream come true for you to be a Solkhac kid.

00:23:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, playing for the Dodgers was that was the dog where the Dodgers always your squad.

00:23:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, growing up, we live like thirty five minutes, which could be like two hours to the field, so like we would go to games sparingly, but like on weekdays generally and like lead before traffic. But I've always liked them. We'd always go to games. I remember watching games in the backyard of my dad all the time, and it.

00:23:34
Speaker 1: Was like I always liked to dottery not only a hometown team, but when with your hometown team, that's got to be different.

00:23:39
Speaker 2: Insane, yea crazy, And I think it'll really sink in when I'm like done.

00:23:42
Speaker 4: And had that moment yet. Have you had that moment standing on the mound looking around like.

00:23:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think comparatively, because there's been some postseasons that I haven't won, and you go into the off season, Like with the Rays, you go to the off season and it stings for like three months, like you think about I wake up in the middle of the night like damn, Like you know what I mean. Like if you don't pitch well this or that, there's always like that ruminating thing that happens randomly, like you get a little anxious thought of like it just got you think about it, and it's like a little virus that's always there. And you didn't win, and you think about it and it's it's like I'll be at Thanksgiving dinner, like having a good conversation, I'm like, oh we lost. Yeah, like so it's just I can I can feel that, and then after twenty five feeling that at Thanksgiving being like, oh my god, we want like I pitched on, I participated, and so it's cool to feel the contrast of both. But I think the real zoom out part of it'll be when I'm done, and I'll appreciate it a lot more.

00:24:32
Speaker 1: What's the Atini experience been, Like, I mean, arguably the most famous athlete on the planet.

00:24:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's that like? Just a day to day traveling with that and seeing it. He's a man, he's he's kind of a unicorn in a sense of obviously, like his physical talents and stuff, but his like, like the mental fortitude part is pretty insane. Like I think for the most part, when you're around you know this when you're around dudes for seven months a year, Like how up and down people can be. And there's all different flavors of up and down, but everyone has like good and bad days. Some people are a lot more volatile than others. But some people hide it, but no doubt you can tell. But with him, I really have. It helps when he hits like four hundred and a million home runs every year, but he's had some tough times and bad starts and things have gone on, and he's the same even dude all the time. And he does the same thing on the flight. He's always smiled, smiley, happy. He has to do like all the extra media compared to what we do after the game. He's got like five hundred people sitting there talking to him. He's always smiling, he's always respectful, and he's just like he's it's crazy, like he'll he sits on the flights no matter how long they are, and he reads comic books. It's crazy, Like he doesn't look at like electronic screen. He does like it's like perfect. It's crazy. He just reads comic books and sleeps and sleeps like so much. I'll ask him how many hours of sleep. He guess He's like eleven hours, Like no problem.

00:25:49
Speaker 3: That's part of the culture. I guess.

00:25:52
Speaker 2: It's crazy.

00:25:53
Speaker 4: I remember being teammates play with him with the Angels when he was a rookie and seeing his ability to make adjustments, never get down on himself. Like he has is this interconfidence of knowing everything is gonna work out, like things that you would tell your boy, like you know you're gonna be fine.

00:26:06
Speaker 2: You know.

00:26:07
Speaker 3: It's like he knows that.

00:26:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, and he decides early in the season, all right, who am I gonna be this year? If he has Tommy John and he know he won't be able to pitch, all right, I'm gonna be a slugger, stolen based guy. Yeah, all right, well this year I'm gonna pitch. All right, I'll take it back on the stolen bases. I'll, you know, be able to mix and match do this. But to see somebody have to balance out the workload of locking in and all the work that goes into it being a starting pitcher and flip it on as soon as he gets through the ending, he has to turn it on and go to the back rack, get his helmet, get his back and be locked in. For one of the nastiest pictures in the game. Because everybody's discussing these days, like how do you feel like he's able to manage the mental workload that that that comes with it and have some level of personal life or do you just not have a personal life.

00:26:53
Speaker 3: I don't know.

00:26:54
Speaker 2: I don't you have to ask him. I'm not sure what his personal I mean, he's married as a kid, like he loves his dog and his dog as well try so clearly, there's some times I think it's sleeping comic books. I don't know, like I don't know what else he's doing, but he just seems I don't know, I don't know, like what he does all the time at home, but he's always chilling on the road and just hanging out. And I'm not quite sure everything. But I think for the two most obvious things are like the sleep.

00:27:18
Speaker 3: I think.

00:27:20
Speaker 4: For you personally, starting off with Pittsburgh, going through you know, being a top tier prospect, huge expectations, has some success, had a little time in the bullpen, going to Tampa and then going to the Dodgers, And this is something I wanna talk to you about too, Matt, Like you went to two of the best organizations that you could possibly go to as a pitcher. The Rays and the Dodgers are both well known organizations when it comes to getting the finding out what a pitcher does best and being able to get him to do that on the field and have a lot of success. How much do you think and you can answer it this too. Afterwards, the organization that you're with can somewhat predict or enhance the player that you end up becoming. And I think it's a wide range of the type of player you end up becoming, dependent on the organization that you're with.

00:28:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think if you're sample sized this based off of the things you've done, like in Pittsburgh, if you were to because these algorithms are crazy. I don't know if you've seen these things, but they can like take a player and be like, this is what he'll do this year, and they're generally pretty active really for the most part. And the biggest one that I've seen is they'll take a team because there's more variables, like twenty six guys, and they'll plug it in and be like they'll win seventy seven games, and by the end of the year they are like at least two to three games above or below. It's insane. So I think if you take like if in Pittsburgh you took all of the data collected for me, like I had really good stuff, but you punched it in and you'd be like, this guy just doesn't throw strikes and he sucks a little bit, Like you could just make that pretty obvious. I was really good to minors, but I just couldn't do whatever it was mentally or whatever it was. I just wasn't confident with Pittsburgh at all, but they could still kind of get your raw talent. I think Tampa was, Yeah, Tampa was the best at that early on, like they like in Tampa, you'd see our clubhouse was, however many twenty six people, and then their R and D team was like fifty. Like you'd go up into these the front offices or like the upstairs, and they had like they put just as much money into R and D as they did into the players, because like, if we spend forty mili on players, we maybe win. We get like one or two more guys win like three games. But if we can put forty mil into R and D, we might win like ten. So they were like gung ho on trading for me, and I knew some play previous years they wanted me, and I never got traded, and then they got me, and they were so stoked, like just me getting traded and how excited they were. I was like that helped me, Like my confidence was good, and they're like, hey, you're starting tomorrow. I'm like I'm in the bullpen at this point, like in the worst role in the bullpen, like You're gonna start tomorrow against Angels, and I was like what it was just I flew in and they would just poured so much confidence into me, and we're like, hey, you have really good stuff set up down the middle, stop with the sinker slider stuff. Just throw the ball down the middle and like throw a strike and they're probably not going to hit it. And then my first start it was like four innings, nine k's, and then the next I just was like going and I'd have some dips and but for the most part, I was like kind of shoving, and so I just was like, I'm gonna listen whatever these guys have to say. And just the attitude overall with them. It wasn't. It wasn't. There was no like fakeness. There was no like haikups. And some places do you'll have like the the haikup, like the whatever organizational name, and they'll have like loyal and it's just like they're like, are you play baseball? Just don't worry about all the other stuff, like come in, have fun. It's not that big of a deal and play baseball. Was very much like are you good or are you bad? That's all we care about and it was just freed me up a ton. And then I learned a lot there and went to the Dodgers and it's crazy there.

00:30:39
Speaker 3: Very similar or do they function different?

00:30:42
Speaker 2: It's similar in the fact that Friedman was the GM of the Rays, so I think like the template, like the foundation is the same. It's analytics based more so I think in Tampa like they lean on the analytics more. And what I've noticed with the Dodgers is it's a lot more like Doc is. It's emotional and analytical. They don't go all in on one. He'll kind of take all that stuff into account, but then he'll use his like baseball expertise to make decisions where he thinks he needs to, or the coaches in general, and the front office too. Even Andrew is very analytical, and they're really good at all the database stuff, but he's still very much like he knows the game and he's and he'll let like the emotional stuff is also very real. And I think that's why they do so well in the postseason, because you can control all the controlled variables. Work very well in a controlled atmosphere like one hundred and sixty two game season, but when you go into the postseason, like I remember, I'm not gonna name any names. In Tampa. After we lost in twenty twenty, someone in like the analytic department was like, you know what I've I've noticed is like, I really do think there is like an emotional part to this game. And I was like, just now, you think.

00:31:43
Speaker 4: That's why you have to have You can have an amazing analytical department, but you still have to have somebody who can take that information and translate it to the first year to where you can actually, yeah, capture that.

00:31:54
Speaker 3: Does that? Does that exist in basketball?

00:31:57
Speaker 2: The analytics side the human parts of where.

00:31:59
Speaker 4: You feel like if I'm with this team, I may become this player, but if I'm with this team, I'll.

00:32:04
Speaker 1: Become Unfortunately, you know, my first handful of years I wasn't with very good organizations, but they stick out like a sort thum when you get to them. I'd probably say the first good organization I was with that was used to winning with the Lakers, and it ran a completely different way than other organizations. The expectations were high. I was playing with Phil Jackson and Cobe and you name it. So I'm in year eight or nine by then, so you just want to bring it out. It's going to bring out the best in you. And then I circled back around the Golden State and won a championship before I retired. And I was there earlier where it was terrible. Different ownership. This time around, they took care of absolutely everything. It freed your mind on tickets traveling for the playoffs. Bro, they had a whole giant seven forty seven. Your family jumped on it for free, and the hotels were free, and the tickets were all taken, like you don't have to worry about anything but playing basketball. So on those days with that team, that's when Katie was there too, Like even the off days that the gym was full, like you wanted to come in and get your work, your treatment, your shots or whatever it was. So there definitely are organizations, and I think obviously they're more pivotal early on. But like I said, I didn't get any good organizations early on, but I got to taste some of those greatness later on. And you can see that the teams that have the championships, the Laker Dynasties and the and the Golden State run that they went on. It starts at the top and it's just a completely vibe, different energy, approach techniques than when I played four And I don't even mention any of the piss poor organizations I played for. But when you play for those organizations, you can tell why they're not why, you can tell why they're not winning. So yeah, definitely, I think of the translators.

00:33:32
Speaker 4: And you have Mark Pryor over there with the Dodgers and somebody who's been there, done that has the experience one of the best at the time when he was doing at the top of his game, top five guy. Yeah, you know, having him as a pitching coach, what does that bring to us staff? And how much are y'all chopping it up trying to talk through things and allow you to make adjustments a lot.

00:33:54
Speaker 2: I like him a lot. He's we've I think to the longer I'm there, Like we develop a relationship together and understand each other a lot more, and like it's the best we have. Connor McGinnis to whichs cool about the Dodgers is like it's not like a traditional They have like two pitching coaches and then you have some people in the front office that can help you, and you have like guys in the minor leagues that are good at like movement, and so it's like if you're messed up at all, you have so many different resources to go to And I can go to Mark and go to Connor, I can go to a bunch of different people and be like what do you think about this? And they're open and they're cool about you getting information from different places and like they just want you to be as good as you possibly can't can be, and like Mark is good at that too. There's not an ego, there's not like a it's not like you have to get all this information from me and only me. It's like, go and find what you need to find. And he's so good at facilitating and taking that information and working like with you on it. But he's the best, Like I think too, like the he's so good at like the end game stuff, and like he's a dude who watches me warm up, and like as you have more reps in front of a coach, they start to learn you more, and like it doesn't take as long of like, oh, what do you think about this? And this? And that He'll just be like I'll be like what do you think? And he kind of gives me that that queue or that thing that he knows I like, and you just start to roll from there and like he's a good resource to have in between innings, like I always bounce stuff off of him between and Connor McGinnis is amazing too, with like if I'm in between innings, I'm like, how is my heater today? If I'm cutting a little bit on it, I know that I'm not, I'm like ripping open and that then affects my slider, that affects my curveball, and there's all these things. They're like remember the things you say and then all right, well you said that in last game when you said that, now you can do this, and so you're just it's like this workshop in between innings. And it's like every time I talk to him in between innings, like if it's not this tangible physical adjustment, it's like a nice like all right, we've kind of iron through this thing. We've talked a little bit, and then on my next inning and go out and like attack a guy differently, and it's just it's just a sick little workshop that got gone. Is that a picture thing though?

00:35:46
Speaker 1: Because it sounds like you sought out, like you want the feedback, you want the information.

00:35:51
Speaker 2: I know.

00:35:51
Speaker 1: I obviously my sport is different, but as position players, the position players look for as much back and forth with coaches.

00:35:58
Speaker 2: That more picture thing. I think it's unique to the end of visual because I know some pictures that go like get away from I own. You only look like you want to talk to anybody exactly, And I think that's like, if that works for you, that works for you. I think certain dudes think if you think less generally in competition mode, like thinking less is probably good, and I like doing it in between innings, but on the mound, I'm not really trying to locked in. I'm trying to just go and let my body. Like if I'm not consciously thinking, I feel like I'm operating in my subconscious I'm move moving smoothly and like everything's going well. And then the times I'm not good, I'm like stiff, thinking about, okay, is this messed up? Is this you know what I mean? Same as hitting Oh yeah, probably more for sure, And I think it's like that takes confidence with that the days you don't have it, just being like fuck it, like I'm going to go out and relax and just even if I don't have my normal mechanics, if I can stay loose, it's going to be better than not. It's crazy how difficult it is sometimes when you're not when something is off, you just like you get into like I can fix it mode, as opposed to being like this is what I got and I'm going to be loose with it. And so I think the best ones can just be like this is what I got today. Being at piecewitcher game is important for.

00:37:00
Speaker 4: When you have so much experience in knowing what works for you and you fill a team with guys. If you took a lot of guys from your team and put them on a squad, they would be the leader.

00:37:10
Speaker 3: Of that team.

00:37:11
Speaker 4: But when you put all those guys onto one team, move Freddie, Oh Tani, tuck yourselfs on and on. But you understand what I'm saying. When you have that many leaders in one clubhouse, is there's still a leader needed or if somebody if something needs to be said, who is the guy amongst all of those guys that will.

00:37:33
Speaker 3: Be the one to say something.

00:37:35
Speaker 2: I think it probably depends on the situation or what it is. Like. Miggy's very vocal. I feel like as far as like off field, not off field, but like away from the field, clubhouse stuff. Miggie he's like the mic guy and he's doing a lot of that stuff. But it is like leadership stuff too. It's not all about like the like talking about it. It's like lead through example, like Freddie. You watch him go about his business and like how he does everything. He's like methodical with everything and like the work, and the consistent thing amongst all those guys is the work they put in. Like they're at the same place every day doing the same stuff. Like there's not this like I'm tired, I'm gonna maybe it's like baseball is such a routine oriented sport and it's such a marathon game. There's never like a wasted rap. Like you watch Mooki go do his thing in the infield before and like you watch him go hit, you watch him do this, You watch show Hey do his thing, you watch Freddy do his thing, and it's just vast differences with everything, but it's so similar in their little circle, like they're doing it and they're so locked in of what they're doing. It's like the second nature subconscious operation and it's it's just crazy. So you see that if you're a young guy, like you're leading by example and like none of those guys are afraid to say anything, like everyone is a leader in their own way. But I think it's in a room full of veterans, like you know what you gotta do, and if shit hits the fan, you gotta have a meeting or whatever. Everyone's in there ready to like collaborate and figure out whatever they need to figure out.

00:38:51
Speaker 4: And when everybody's moving like that and that, then a lot of times never needs to be said because usually this entire culture has been built over there. It's where you know the expectation when you walk in and y'all have become this evil empire that everybody talks about. Granted, if y'all would have lost it to RUNO, I don't know if it's still the same storyline. But you want, like you went back to back, you're going for a three p at this point? Do you just embrace being the avil evil empire? So many conversation Dodgers are bad for baseball. You know, it's not it's not fair. What are your thoughts when you hear all those things say?

00:39:21
Speaker 2: I think a lot of that is so much more for like the outside of the clubhouse type of thing. It's like a fan narrative type of it's fun, like that's that sh it's fun, like it's exactly exactly, but it's like that's not I don't think how. I don't know how much like players are like looking at all that and like thinking about it because you already got so many things to think about, you know what the season is like I gotta worry about my swing. I gotta worry about this. It's like I think it's more for the It's like wrestling. You got like the heel you got that you need that, like it's good for baseball. I think it's just we're there to play. You signed your contract, you're a professional. You go and you play, and it's not my problem to think if we're evil or not. It's like it's you want to play for the Dodgers and you sign a contract, you play, you do what you gotta do, like no one if you really think about it and strip it away like put yourself on our shoes like you would do it too, you're gonna like if you're you want to go to the best organization and you want to win and you want to like learn from the and it just so happens a team that's winning the most is also the best at everything. And if you want to be the best possible player, you're incentivized to go to I want everyone knows in the league. Like if you if you're struggling, you at a bad year and you're a free agent or something, it's like if I can go to the Dodgers and like learn from what they have to offer, or like another like ash. There's a lot of different organizations that have a reputation of like if you can go there and they can kind of mess with what you're doing or like give you a different view of how to pitch or like maybe hold it this way or whatever, and you go there to be the best you possibly can be. It's hard not it's like I'm not going to go there because they're evil. It's like I want to be good.

00:40:47
Speaker 3: I want to tell true because you know the organizations yeah that players go to die too. Yeah, organizations like yeah, he's probably on his last season.

00:40:56
Speaker 1: Exactly see behind the mic soon? Yeah, is this year nine or ten for you? So I have like just it under nine years now, so sitting where you are as a veteran, what do you wish you knew? What is something you know now that you wish you knew coming into the game.

00:41:13
Speaker 2: It's not that serious, I think, if I could tell myself that is because I was so even talking on like when I was younger, like the mores more thing. I was so like, if I'm not nervous about it all the time, then I don't care type of thing like I have to think about this and stress about it all day long. And I, for some reason in my little kid brain, I just like thought, you know what I mean, It's like, well, if I'm thinking about it, it's like I clearly I care, and I so I just would like away from the field. I would like try to study and do things I could do. It would do mechanics all the time. And it was just like this all consuming thing that like took me away from my personal life for me more just enjoying the exenjoying which there is none of that. I was like dominant in the minor leagues and I think back to the minor leagues and it makes my my fucking hair stand up. I like so anxious I would die I had like a one era in most of my minor league seasons, and I think back when I was like miserable, But.

00:42:01
Speaker 4: It worked for you because it's like I kind of fell in that same boat, like, yeah, I did all the extra work because I never wanted anything in the back of my mind if it didn't work out to be like damn you exactly.

00:42:14
Speaker 3: So how did that change? Like what you find in that freedom? Now?

00:42:19
Speaker 4: How did that change your routine from when you were in the minor leagues to now? How did you change how you go about it to allow yourself to have more freedom and have more of a life while still giving the game what it deserves.

00:42:29
Speaker 2: I think it's like you you have your plan for the day, so you say it's a five day routine. I do what I have to do at the field, and then it's when it's done. The things that I can control are over, then I have to move on. It's harder said than done. But like if I can find a clear separation in my schedule of like, Okay, this is the physical stuff and the thinking stuff ultimately end here, Like all I can do is think and do physical stuff up to this point, and then if I'm thinking about it after this point, that's just a it's a detriment on what I'm doing. I'm going home and like I'm not getting any better doing mechanics in the mirror, I'm not. I'm getting a lot worse if I'm doing anything like So I think it was just finding that and trying to stick to it, and it doesn't always work. You get those like I gotta do something type of thing. But I think the more I would like just be consistent with that and and failing for me was the biggest shifter, Like doing all that stuff and putting all that extra work in and then going into seventeen and being like the worst pitcher in the league. I was like something's kind of changed, Like this shit's not working. So I got sent down in sixteen or seventeen, and I remember as I like we were in Triple A and like we're going out to bar, and I was like all right, and I would just start to like live my life. I'm telling people to go out and drink. But I had a nice separation of like you work and then you're allowed to go have fun when you write an off day or something, and it just changed everything. You got to enjoy the journey though, for sure.

00:43:45
Speaker 1: And I think that's we can sit back and say that once we're done, because you're in the myst and like you said, you'll probably appreciate stuff when you're done and you look back. But enjoying understanding the journey is the most important and the funnest part of all of this because it's it's not like you're I mean, you're already your nine, so you're beat the odds, you know, hopefully another you know eight nine other you know, play as long as you want. But just the journey during that, I think is a hard time. I think is current. Like when you're in the moment, you kind of forget, like, okay, let me just enjoy this shit too, because it's it's dope. Give me your obviously a very routine oriented guy. Give me your game day routine from the time you wake up until you throw your first pitch. For fans that are interested in that, I'll go, I'll wake up.

00:44:25
Speaker 2: Generally, what are you eating, what's going on? If it's a night game, I'll wake up and I'll eat up breakfast. Then I'm not hungry at all, Like the day before. I don't have issues even when I'm at like my worst nervousest, Like I can sleep the day before. It's never been like an issue. Some guys it's hard for them to sleep. But I'll get like a good night sleep usually the day before. And then I wake up and I get a breakfast. It's usually like a ton of eggs. It's like not fried potatoes, like a carb, like a starchy carb, a bunch of fruit, some protein, and just like I'll try to load up on the calories in the day because it just gets harder, and already eat as the game gets closer. Some home before I go to the field, I do like a twenty minute my whatever you want to call it mindfulness. I just sit in like silence and watch all the shit go on in my brain and try to like bring it back to just let it do it at once, but try to observe it in a way like not get carried away and all like my nervous thoughts. And then I'll drive to the field. Always a podcast, it could be something whatever.

00:45:16
Speaker 1: I just want to like a lot of time not to get you off. So say this is a seven o'clock pitch, what time are you head into the field.

00:45:20
Speaker 2: I'm leaving for the field. If it's a seven o'clock game, I'm leaving at to be traffic generally at like twelveth no day on a game, probably one thirty, I'll leave. I'll get to the field at like two thirty ish three sometimes if traffic sucks, so I'm podcast on the way there trying to like externally focus on something else, just like not go internal yet. I get to the field, I go and I get food again, like I'll wrap a turkey something. I'm at this point, I can't eat, I'm smoothie, whatever it is. I go. I either, depending on how I feel, I'll like roll out or I'll just go straight to like we have like a nap room and I'll do like I'll either like the Immortal or I'll lay down and try to take a nap and do like another little mindfulness thing. And then I'm going on the training table. It's like two hours and ten minutes before I think so, and then I'm on there for like forty minutes doing whatever, fixing whatever issues you have in the middle of the season, trying to do that electron plus is this thing we do, or it's soft tissue or whatever. And then I go upstairs, put my pants on, socks on, no belt, no, no, it's just because I'm about to go roll out out of my belts. It's annoying, so I cleave the belt off, I roll out, I do my warm up. It's about thirty five forty minutes every day, waited balls, and I go back upstairs, belt cleats, walk around a little bit more like take it easy. Sit in this little coaches room. I sit in, and then at the third I have to look at my phone at the exact time, but it's thirty five minutes before. It's ten minutes window before, ten minutes on the mound, ten minutes of throwing, and there's way of balls before. So about thirty five minutes I throw, and then I mound, and then I have ten minutes to sit in that little office before I go out and just chill. I got a little fan i'd think called the cool met. If I'm sweating my beak off, I'll go and and like get cold, chill, just try to be as calm and as focus as I can, and then I head up, get out, dap up, Freddy, dap up tail. I everyone there right now, yeah, right now, I want try to track a joke or something, and even tho, I'm like, I'm doing something and then we go up to go and then and then I'm ready to go.

00:47:25
Speaker 3: What if somebody throws your clock off? Fine?

00:47:27
Speaker 2: I used to maybe care about that in the in the minor leagues and stuff, but like some of my best games, I would fuck up my clock. Like in spring last year, I dominated I had like a fifteen minute window where I messed up, and they were like, you got to pitch in ten minutes, and I was like, here we go, good and I just And that was another thing I talked about with the postseason, like as routine oriented as I am, the best games I've had is when I get thrown off of the clock, it's crazy, like if it just had like no routine, I'm all right, I guess I gotta go pitch now, and it's like I just feel good.

00:47:52
Speaker 1: Thoughts on just what the game is done today with the pitch clock and and and no shifts, they've they've taken drastic measures to kind of change the league as a pitch Sure, yeah that's not necessarily for you, more for the better.

00:48:03
Speaker 2: How do you feel? And obviously you have to adapt, but put your thoughts on it. I think like since the beginning or when they started making rule changes in like the seventies and stuff, they generally like cater to however its swings. If offense is really good, they'll help out the pitches a little bit more. If the pitchers are dominating, they're going to go a little bit more. Like like Randy Johnson, they lowered them mound. There's a bunch of stuff they do. As far as I don't necessarily like if I had to do it from scratch, I don't know if I would write it up that way for me personally, Like the pitch clock is quick, but it's good for baseball. Like as a starting pitcher, I'm pitching once every six days. The games I'm not pitching, it's awesome because the games aren't four hours fast, right, so it's a two and a half hour game. I like it. Then I like the rhythm of it more. I think when I'm at my best, I'm not taking too much time in between pitches, so it forces me to get into that like jumper routine where you're just getting it and shooting it and you're not thinking about what's going on. So I like that aspect of it, the automated zone. We'll see the spring. I'm not sure. I heard they're shrinking the zone and like kind of lowering it, and like, I'm a high ball guy, so it's probably not gonna be great for me, but I don't know. I'll adapt.

00:49:03
Speaker 3: I'll be fine.

00:49:04
Speaker 2: So all those changes, I think they're frustrating because you people who have like that routine and you do all this stuff and you prepare to master that one year, it's completely different. It's frustrating. But like as someone looking outside, like as a fan, you're catering to the people that are like allowing you to play the game. So I get it, and I think the real changes have been really positive. Once every six days, that's a lot of off time during the season. Golf, Who what do you do? Video games? What do you like to do in your off time? I used to play video games, but I obsessed so hard on them. I had Carpal Tunnel in high school. So I'm ball so hard. I had to quit. I can't. I can't play video games. RuneScape the nerdiest game you've ever heard of in your life. And people know, they know it's like a computer game and dylad like I was in there. It was so I would I was on that all the time, and then later I would try to play some call of duty and like I'd feel my hand and I'm like, I'm not doing this anymore. So I haven't played in like years. I don't go. I want to get into golfing, but I just find it to be like so boring.

00:49:57
Speaker 3: I can't I can't do once you get the bus, are you trying to find them? That state? That state of meditation?

00:50:03
Speaker 2: I think you got so similar to pitching, and like I'm already like navigating that is like a thing in itself. When I go golf, I'm like, this is the same fucking thing. I don't want to do this, yeah, Like because I get I'd get too obsessed with it and like try to master it and like think about it all the time, and like I am already doing that one thing. So when I'm done with baseball, I think I'll probably try to get into it. But I'm a big u. The most of my time is like podcasts and like books not I'm not good at, Like I suck and watch a movie show like I'll go I'll go shows and movies a lot. I just go in waves to see the podcast or shows and movies and then like Audible and stuff like that.

00:50:38
Speaker 3: Is it true? We was looking up some stuff earlier. Is there a ODB tattoo on your foot?

00:50:43
Speaker 1: Is this?

00:50:43
Speaker 2: Is this there? I lived in New York and the off season, and I like Wu Tang in high school with all my skate friends, like as all we loved Wu Tang and like bone Thugs and like it wasn't even California rap, but like we just all were it was amazing and like Andre Nicotina was California but like Wrapping all my friends listen.

00:51:00
Speaker 1: To is a close friend of mine and my wife and I literally just went. He had a premiere of his new film at the African American pan Festival and it's a spoon of chocolate.

00:51:08
Speaker 2: So we just saw him the other night. Just incredible dude.

00:51:11
Speaker 1: That's sick, incredible dude, just outside the box thinker, that's harshest to his own beat.

00:51:15
Speaker 2: But dope dude. Yeah, they that whole cruise, like especially when they came up and even watching stuff on him, I'm like, god, it would have been crazy to be in that era. And like I just we love their music.

00:51:24
Speaker 3: How did you get connected? We wooked it because you're a little younger.

00:51:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.

00:51:28
Speaker 3: I don't.

00:51:29
Speaker 2: I loved all like old school raps so much when I was younger, like Nas and Big L and all those dudes I was just obsessed with for some reason, and like New York rap for some reason, I loved it's more grimy and skateboarder exactly.

00:51:40
Speaker 3: I don't.

00:51:40
Speaker 2: I just loved it. And I think it was too like skating with the older kids when you're younger, and like you hear it and you're like whoa, and it just becomes like nostalgic, and then you just keep on like rolling with it. And I still will throw it on and like mob deep and stuff. Even we're playing in New York and there it's like their home thing. I'm like, oh, I love this. That's why I pitched. Anytime someone has a good walkout or something, I like, I'm like, you're fucked. It's just anytime a good song comes on in between at bats, it's.

00:52:03
Speaker 3: Like who has the best walk off? Walk off?

00:52:05
Speaker 2: I don't even it's man. I remember like a few in the minor leagues, but I don't even know who has like if it's like some old school rap I really like. I like led Zeppelin a lot too, like classic crockets in my walkout Now, I like it.

00:52:16
Speaker 3: I like it all.

00:52:17
Speaker 2: I like like future and like that too, any something like that, even like some modern stuff. I really like anything like heavy eight oh eight I love I'm especially before I pitch, and like it just feels different before I pitch.

00:52:28
Speaker 4: All Right, they're going for the three pet first time it would be done since the Yankees did it and at ninety eight to two thousand and run? Are you already thinking about that? What would that mean to you for you'all to go out there and get that three pet?

00:52:41
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think, uh, it feels similar to what it did coming into Spring this last year. Like everyone's asking that question of like, are you guys really serious about like winning a second time? And I'm like, we're so focused. It's not like we want it once. It's take some time off type of mentality at all. It's same this year. Everyone's locked in. But yeah, that's like such a unique opportunity to be able to go three peat, Like you got to win two in order to do that, So nobody is like trying to not like really take full part of this experience in baseball.

00:53:08
Speaker 4: I think baseball is the hardest one has to be out of all all major sports. I think it's the toughest sport to go back to back.

00:53:15
Speaker 2: It's just so many different variables and different like a lot of different things, and so many different people. We have, like sixty two guys get called up last year, Like sixty two different.

00:53:22
Speaker 1: People played on our team. Like that's a lot of moving parts. So in just a season is so long. Yeah, I mean that's what people don't think. I understand the fans maybe, but it takes a lot of luck. I mean, you can be a very good team, but it takes a lot of luck to win championships. Like shit has to line up the way it's supposed to line up on the time, and so and so forth.

00:53:41
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's you guys, I wouldna argue. I know.

00:53:44
Speaker 1: I mean we still do seven get we still have the same length the playoff series like you guys. But again, your guys, a season is double rs. You know, you guys have double the amounted games we have.

00:53:53
Speaker 2: So the spotlighte of basketball is like more stressful though, or like the pressure they put on basketball players seems to be a lot like more unfair than like it's crazy. If you're like a good basketball player, there's just like yeah, but you're not the best. It's just like this constant it's crazy, and it's five dudes out there, so it's like, yeah, it's less guys, is it two like people? I always would hear baseball players sometimes be like, well, baseball is so different, Like it's not like football where it's such a mental game, where like football you don't really have bad games, or basketball you don't really have bad games. I don't think that's true. I think like it's mentally basketball like free throws. And do you guys, when you get fucked up as a BASKETBA player, do you become conscious of what you're doing like a baseball player.

00:54:34
Speaker 1: Well, I mean obviously everything. Everyone has their quirks on trying to fix and overdoing it and underdoing it. But the game is so fast you can't let your mind go. It's always the next play, the next shot, the next game. Because we're we're up and down like this. You know we can play for us. It's you know, you guys will play the game sets, but we'll play it. We'll be in different three different We can play three games in four cities and four.

00:54:53
Speaker 2: Nights, you know what I mean. But you can play four games in a week and be in three different.

00:54:57
Speaker 1: Cities, you know what I mean. So there's not a ton of time to ling or doubt. You'll see guys get in the gym after a game sometimes if they struggled, or go to the gym early the next morning.

00:55:05
Speaker 2: But there's not enough time because we're playing so much to hold on to anything. Have you? Is there ever a time though, if like you're in the middle of a game and someone throws you ball to shoot a three where you're like I got a like you got your or you're so queck.

00:55:16
Speaker 1: I think it's similar to you like, the less thinking the better, Like if I'm thinking about this, oh shit, here it comes just coming like you gotta like you you naturally just going out a pilot wherebe you're you know, And I remember Kobe saying I'd rather you, you know, I'd rather go you know, two for thirty than one for five.

00:55:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, you to keep shooting that thing.

00:55:32
Speaker 1: So it's just like, you know, kind of having that next play mentality and the next shot is the most important shot. It only takes one shot to get hot, damn.

00:55:38
Speaker 2: You know what I mean.

00:55:39
Speaker 1: So it's just kind of a faster paced you got to get that shit in and out of your head quickly. It's it's interesting because I have seventeen year old twins to play basketball, and it's it's teaching them to understand the next moment, the next play, and especially in the social media era where there's so much negative energy towards them. I'm just next play, next game, next situation. It's always the next, you know what I mean. And then if you put the work in, there's no need to be nervous because you've prepared as much as you can from film, training, working out to be in this situation. So there's no need to be nervous because you've done everything you can. I just got to go out and let it happen.

00:56:10
Speaker 2: Can you get the yips in basketball?

00:56:12
Speaker 3: Absolutely?

00:56:13
Speaker 2: I think so.

00:56:17
Speaker 1: Double pump let Charles Barkley golf, It's all I think. It's it's I think it's common amongst all sports, you know what I mean. And just how you know, as a pitcher, how do you deal with it? As a as a score?

00:56:29
Speaker 2: How do you deal with it? Or a defender. How do you deal with that and how fast can you get it out of your mind?

00:56:34
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:56:34
Speaker 1: This has been dope, man, I've learned a lot and I appreciate it. Obviously a Dodger guy, I'm a fan of that, but a quick hitters. First thing to come to mind. Let us know, favorite ballpark.

00:56:43
Speaker 2: Flar like Yankee Stable l A obviously like obvious answer, but probably historical school. Yeah, they feel different. It's least favorite, I think, just as I suck some Now. I can't say Pittsburgh cause that say like visually for me when I think of it, it's like good rough time some people. Tampa actually.

00:57:05
Speaker 3: He was there.

00:57:05
Speaker 2: It's a pretty shitty stadium if I'm being completely honest, it's not that great. But pitching there the mound and like the inside because the it's the controlled environment. And anytime your sea level with a dome, your your your backsman's way better, like your spin rate is better. Really, Oh yeah, se sea level like density and ship it's like so it's always the same and it's always it's a dome, it's air conditioned. Something about like I'm always getting like crazy heaters.

00:57:30
Speaker 1: So random question. Playing in Colorado does the altitude affect your ball spin and.

00:57:35
Speaker 2: Your go So say, I don't know if you know the metrics, but if you have a normal eighteen inch heater, like it's like the magnus force of the ball spinning, it keeps it in the air longer. It's like minus three. And anything that's like spinning quickly it's minus three is heat, more break and less.

00:57:49
Speaker 3: So you're going a heater.

00:57:50
Speaker 2: It's not like writing. It's going like it becomes like an average heater. And then if you're I think, what do you what do you throw?

00:57:57
Speaker 3: Normally?

00:57:57
Speaker 2: What's good in Colorado is like you throw sinker because it's like a gravity type of.

00:58:01
Speaker 3: Thing on turball, no curveball.

00:58:04
Speaker 2: The Dogs don't even the Dodgers don't like guys, if you're not pitching in Colorado, they say stay home. We don't even want you to go and like be in the altitude and like they're just they're trying to get every advantage they had.

00:58:15
Speaker 1: You hit a triple, you got to come in and get like a whole lot of Normally it takes like a whole quarter when we play the Nuggets, like the second quarters, when normally it's like the first five minutes in the first Cordial'll catch it when it's the second quarter. It's like motherfuckers, you know, smoke a cigarettes all night it that's great, that's interesting. Smartest batter you faced. I'd have to sit and talk to someone to know. But I think what always blew my mind was like Miguel Cabrera. He I remember when I was in Pittsburgh in sixteen. I faced him and I threw him like a heater that I cut on accident, which is like a pretty rare. It's like a cut ride heater, which is like pretty rare.

00:58:49
Speaker 2: Like Ken Lee throws one. I thrown every now and again, but I really got on the side to one and it was good, and he like kind of looked at me as my rookie, and he was like he'll he'll like he'll gas you up, so you throw it again. It's a home I've seen him due to other dudes where he'll like like almost know it's coming and look like an idiot on purpose and then be like wow.

00:59:07
Speaker 1: Man, surpressive just said that, just said that. So take these fake swings. So I'll throw that ship again and put in the stad.

00:59:16
Speaker 2: Just crush it like it's nuts. It's so it's yeah, I don't know, there's a whole different I'd see him if I'm thinking quick.

00:59:21
Speaker 4: I feel like I know your answer here. But funniest teammates different.

00:59:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, Vet to Ben was hilarious. There's a few different dudes that come to mind. Bench clearing brawl. You get three guys, so you taking with you Bruce Dark grad that was quick. Oh he's a big boy dude and he's got that crazy in him too, like he would be really good. He's huge too. Judge, can I pick other people? Judge because six nine Judge and then uh, who else is a ginormous human? Maybe?

00:59:50
Speaker 3: Like, uh, I'm taking a road as Chapman Chapman for sure.

00:59:53
Speaker 2: That's probably my number one nobody Judge Chapman and uh and Gradoll for sure.

00:59:59
Speaker 3: Favorite baseball movie the.

01:00:00
Speaker 2: First one that comes to my probably saying a lot because I want that.

01:00:08
Speaker 1: Clubhouse playlist. I mean, you gave us what you vibe to. What's what's on your playlist before games?

01:00:13
Speaker 2: Uh, it's a lot of like future young thug like heavy eight O eight, like just I want to feel just like relaxed and like act like I'm fucking super cool. And I'm all, I'm like, you know what, I'm chill and it like really helps me. I get like an endorphin rush. I'm sweating, and i just feel great. But we're like a hoodie or something. You just feel good. And then if I'm trying to go like the other way, I'll go, uh like Tame and Paula led Zeppelin, or like if I'm on like a flight or something, I'll do like psychedelic rock music type stuff like that, like weird indie kicking with any cruise. Yeah, whatever you got, just music's good music, It doesn't matter.

01:00:49
Speaker 1: Just throw some mushroom gummies in and we're exactly there. You go, Tyler, Yeah, Tally, we appreciate you man. Best of luck this year on getting and having a successful season, the healthy season and bringing another championship back to l A.

01:01:02
Speaker 2: Thank you having me, guys. Yeah,