Phillies prospect Dante Nori talks hitting, stealing and Kyle Schwarber

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Speaker 1: The Philly Show is presented by Fox One. Rubin Tomorrow Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd Zoletke. It's Friday, October thirty, first, twenty twenty five.

00:00:17
Speaker 2: It's Halloween, Jim. Very exciting.

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Speaker 1: Game six of the World Series is on Friday night. Blue Jays with a three two lead over the Dodgers. They can clinch their first World Series championship since nineteen ninety three with a win on Friday.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk a little World Series.

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Speaker 1: It's time for the park's first pitch. The first pitch is brought to us exclusively by our partners at Pars Casino, Pennsylvania's.

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Speaker 1: Jim. Some local ties in Game five. You have Boyer Towns Trey Savage. Twelve strikeouts, no walks. This absolutely dominates the Dodgers. We have South Jersey's Davis Schneider. It's the first pitch, leadoff home run off the Blue Jays. I jumped off my couch when I saw leave the bad I'm like.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, I couldn't believe it.

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Speaker 2: It was.

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Speaker 1: It's been a lot of local ties in this series, and it's been It's been a great World Series to watch so far.

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Speaker 4: It's been very entertaining. And the manager of the Blue Jays is a local guy. I think he's kind of like Central Jersey or almost South Jersey. But he played at University of Delaware. I actually saw him play at the University of Delaware. He was a teammate of Vince Vukovic. And I'm impressed with him. At John Schneider as a manager, I just you know, looking at Kenny Rosenthal interview him during the game. It's a very composed guy, John Schneider, so I'm sure he exudes that type of leadership.

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Speaker 3: And that team that's a tough team.

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Speaker 5: Man.

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Speaker 4: They you know, they bounce back from that really difficult eighteen inning loss, and they come out and they just lay lay it on Blake Snell really early, and you're right when Schneider with the home run, and then this kind of this whole postseason has been you know, I don't want to say Vlad Guerrero's you know entry, it's like a lot a lot of people are just you know, getting a really good look at what a just great, great talent Vlad Guerrero is. It's sort of the year of Vlad. He signs that five hundred million dollars contract, and now he's having a postseason for the Ages. I really kind of like the story. You know, his father's a Hall of Famer and he says, my father never got a World Series ring, and if I win one, I'm going to give it to my father.

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Speaker 3: I think that's a nice story. But you know, they got to win two more.

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Speaker 4: You got to like him going home. They're on a great role. They put the ball in play, They're getting great pitching. You mentioned the local ties, none bigger than that, you savage kid from Boyertown, which is a great baseball area. He talk about composed and POI is twenty two years old, made the jump from low A or climb the ladder all up to the big leagues. It just goes to show you if you perform, they will find you. He performed at a ball They moved him to hi A, to double A to triple A. You pitch well, you hit, you will get here. He got here quick, and he has really in a lot of ways put that team on his back, at least pitching wise, on a staff with you know Bieber and and Scherzer, uh, these great pitchers. He's been the one that shined the brightest, so terrific world series. Really looking forward to handing out some candy on Friday Night and settling in for that one absolutely.

00:03:34
Speaker 1: So Game six is Friday night, Game seven, if necessary, is Saturday. Then after that, immediately after that, any eligible free agent automatically becomes a free agent. They don't have to file for free agents anymore, It just automatically happens. And of course the Phillies have a lot of notable free agents Ranger Swarez, j t Rail, Muto, and Kyle Schwarber. And on today's show we have a little bit of a tie in with Philly's free agent slugger Kyle Schwarber. We chatted with Philly's prospect Dante Nori.

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Speaker 3: Yes, and that was a fun one.

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00:05:41
Speaker 1: Your support, and of course you can always go to the phillyshowshop dot com to pick up some swag from the show. Another great way, we got a lot of cool stuff, so check that out. Jim Dante Norri joined us all the way from the Arizona Fall League. Good kid, exciting player, exciting talent. I means he gives off the vibe that he would fit in really nicely in Philadelphia.

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Speaker 3: Mm hm.

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Speaker 4: I enjoyed talking to him. He's a dynamic young player on bass guy, contact guy, low strikeout guy, and exciting player. I mean he stole what fifty fifty two bags this year? He scaled three levels of pro ball, just you know, a year or so out of high school, finished with a little taste of Double A.

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Speaker 3: So number one pick. They always make it.

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Speaker 4: They always excite you, right, and I liked a couple of little stories. He's a very personal kid. He told a couple of good stories. Obviously, this Aiden Miller infielder is another excellent Phillies prospect, former number one pick, and their their friends and and Dante said he thought he was going to play with him a little bit in Double A. And then I won't tell the rest of the story.

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Speaker 3: It was cute.

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Speaker 4: You can you can you can hang out and hear that story. Also loved you know, he's we have to stay timely on the Philly Show. So we got the lowdown on his favorite Halloween costume when he was a kid, and that was a pretty good.

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Speaker 3: One as well. But I won't I'm gonna have to you know, you're gonna have to watch the whole show to get that.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, so, Dante Nori. He's known Kyle Schwarber for a long time, so you know, a lot of a lot of Phillies ties with this kid.

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Speaker 2: Obviously. Now, of course he is a top Phillies prospect.

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Speaker 1: So here you go, everybody, Phillies prospect, Dante Norri, Dante, thanks for joining.

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Speaker 2: The Philly Show. How are you doing, my man? How's the Arizona Fally going?

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Speaker 8: That's going great and I appreciate you guys having me.

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Speaker 1: So, Jim and I were just talking about the world series Blue Jays Dodgers. As of now, the Blue Jays have a three two lead in this series. We know you grew up in Michigan, spent most of your life in Michigan, but you were born in Canada. You spent a lot of time in Toronto because of your dad, who was an assistant coach for the Raptors. So are you rooting for the Blue Jays? Do you do you follow the Blue Jays? Did at any point in your life? Did you grow up a Blue Jays fan?

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Speaker 9: I was mainly a Reds fan, you know my dad's I was from Middletown, Ohio, So I was a big Reds fan back when they had Joey Vado, Brandon Phillips.

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Speaker 8: Coz Art Jake, like all those guys.

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Speaker 7: So I was.

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Speaker 8: Mainly that team. But no, definitely room for the Blue Jays.

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Speaker 9: You know, that's basically your hometown in the way, So hope they can't get done and see them win.

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Speaker 4: Do you have a connection with Joey Vado? I think I might have heard you. You guys had some interaction over the years.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 8: No, it was a funny story.

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Speaker 9: He met my dad when he was with the Raptors and he wanted to use the Raptors workout facility in the off season one time and he ran to my dad and ever since then, I've known him since I was a little kid, like even prior to memories, like I've known my whole life.

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Speaker 4: What a player, What a player. Maybe someday you'll go to his induction in Cooperstown. I think he's probably headed there.

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Speaker 9: Oh yeah, No, doubt, and it was great just to hear what like the way he works, what he's done, his like his progression, just everything.

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Speaker 8: He's been a great help.

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Speaker 4: Now, you mentioned your dad was with the Raptors. Just give us a little snapshot of your family's athletic background, because your dad is a coach in the NBA. H So you have a basketball background, baseball background. Take us through just a little bit of that.

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Speaker 9: So my dad he actually played baseball Indiana all four years and ended up coaching there one year after he's done playing. And I still know the whole full story about how he got into the basketball, and he's still confusing me till this day. But now he was Indiana, his brother Brady was at Miami of Ohio, and then his dad, Fred Norrie.

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Speaker 8: Was made Triple A with the Mets.

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Speaker 9: So basically just full blown baseball bloodline from that side.

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Speaker 4: Okay.

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Speaker 1: And then obviously, you know you've talked about this a lot that that's how you know Kyle Schwarber. You would go to Indiana baseball games, right and yeah, with your grandpa and your dad and got to know Kyle Shwarber a little bit.

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Speaker 2: What was it?

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Speaker 1: Oh? You know, and I want to ask you this last winter, you hit with him.

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Speaker 2: Right back in Ohio. You spent a week. Are you gonna do that this winter? Have you guys text it all? Are you guys gonna spend anytime this win? Are you and Kyle?

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Speaker 8: Uh?

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Speaker 9: Yeah, for sure, We've done I think two or three years now, I've gone down there. This was the first time he has house all built and got to use that facility. So no, we'll definitely head down there sometime this offseason and get back together our head.

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Speaker 8: For sure.

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Speaker 4: What a guy to have is a I don't know, would you call him a mentor.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, no, for sure, Like just watching the way he works, like some of the drills he does, the way he thinks about hitting. I know, it's two different game types. His is a long ball, mine's on base for stealing bag. So but just getting what he takes, what his mental side, and what he thinks of the game. Definitely, I'd say he's towards the me.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, anything, go ahead, Jim, I was gonna say, in the hell of a person. And we've gotten to know him pretty well here last four years in Philadelphia, and uh, just really a giant of a man. Just tell us a little bit about his work ethic and maybe some of the subtleties that you pick up watching him work out and you know, participating in his workouts the last few years.

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Speaker 9: You know it's worth that worth ethic is unmatched, you know, just just watching the way he does, Like he puts it down for a little bit after season. You know, it's one hundred and sixty some games, so definitely puts it down. But as soon as he picks back up, it's full go, and he's stuff every single day. And his hitting guy is Cappy another guy, great guy. But once he gets going, it's just full going. He works on some new stuff every single day. It's just like a build up like we do. Like he'll start like he'll mainly just go tee flips to start, and then he'll start going machine and he stuff on machine you don't see in the game, just working on that.

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Speaker 8: So his ethic is unmatched. From I've seen.

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00:13:19
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00:13:27
Speaker 1: You had a great full year with the Phillies this year. You started in clear Water, then you go Tosey, Jersey Shore High A, and then you finished with double A. Reading and just reading a little bit about it. I think one of the things that everybody seemed to be encouraged by is that, you know, you probably didn't start the season is the way you wanted it to, but you finished really strong.

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Speaker 2: What can you tell us about that?

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Speaker 1: Maybe what you might have figured out about your swing or just pro baseball or the grind of it that allowed you to finish strong. That's usually a pretty good sign, right for a guy playing his first full season a ball to do that.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, for sure, you know those first two months didn't go the way that you hopefully they plan. But the great thing about pro baseball is you're playing six days a week, so every day is a new day and you can do some things. You know, we got back in the lab or, like, hey, we're gonna move closer on the plate. I got a torpedo in my hands, brought the barrel closer to me, you know, just basically working. Hey, we're gonna try to go think a pull side double, We're gonna swing at the inside pitches, leave them out, just you know, just go from there, because every single day it's a new task.

00:14:30
Speaker 8: Like those zero for.

00:14:31
Speaker 9: Fours, like you look back at I think it was like a buck fifty at the time, Like that was a small margin or a small sample size of the season.

00:14:39
Speaker 8: So really just not thinking about that much.

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Speaker 9: And then to your point, the grind, like it's a very long season, something I haven't done the whole life. You come up a high school season that you played forty two games in the span of two and a half months, and now you're playing that many games and two months alone.

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Speaker 8: So no, definitely.

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Speaker 9: Just just understanding it's a grind, like you just gotta get through it, and just every day's a.

00:14:59
Speaker 4: New You mentioned the torpedo. Are you still using it?

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Speaker 8: Oh? Yeah, no, I love it.

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Speaker 9: I used the Lindy, the Lindy twelve torpedo. It's a thirty three and a half thirty two ounce Wow.

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Speaker 4: Tell me when's the first time you heard of the torpedo?

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Speaker 9: Bat the first time I heard is one of the Yankees, I think it was a jazz and a couple of them started using it, and I was like, hey, Like, I've always been a guy like I hit the ball deeper in the zone, more and more towards the hands and off the end of the bat. So I'm like, hey, why not bring the barrel closer to my hands and where I hit the ball the most.

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Speaker 8: And ever since then, I've never looked back.

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Speaker 9: And now I got about thirty in my locker and that's what I've been using ever since.

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Speaker 4: Wow, So this year you you ordered a few based on what we were hearing about those Yankees guys. What's is it? Just take me through the process of hitting with that. How does it differ from you know, the traditional bat, and was it an adjustment for you?

00:15:55
Speaker 9: So basically just it's basically taking a barrel where it's at and moving it down closer and putting more wood.

00:16:00
Speaker 8: In that area.

00:16:01
Speaker 9: Like even when you look at the bat, you're like, damn, like there's more wood.

00:16:04
Speaker 8: On that bat than you'd see. Like it looks a little different.

00:16:06
Speaker 9: Mine's not as dramatic as some of the Yankees guys were using. It's more of a subtle one, but you definitely can tell just adds even more weight, Like I just want to drop three my whole life, and then that's a drop one and a half.

00:16:17
Speaker 8: But it was it wasn't, honestly that big of adjustment.

00:16:20
Speaker 9: I remember I got two in the mail to try, and I used the MVP that day and then went on field and I was like, no, I really liked somebody using the game.

00:16:26
Speaker 8: And I went to the game right away and haven't looked back since.

00:16:29
Speaker 4: So you're hooked.

00:16:31
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, I'm hooked on it. I love them.

00:16:33
Speaker 1: So you can you could tell the first round of BP that it was different.

00:16:37
Speaker 2: I mean that is that it?

00:16:39
Speaker 8: I mean you could tell, oh yeah, I knew it was gonna fit my swing well.

00:16:44
Speaker 9: Even though I was hitting the ball like and VP, I was like like those ones like maybe you hit a little towards the hands every once in a while, you still get good feedback on the balls going. You're like, okay, so now I can turn those those balls. I mishit a little bit, and now it's on the barrel more so you get more out of it.

00:16:59
Speaker 2: And you said you moved closer to the player, moved up.

00:17:01
Speaker 8: In the box closer to a plate.

00:17:03
Speaker 9: Stay over the back of the box, always been there, but move closer on the plate.

00:17:07
Speaker 2: Okay, And when did you make that adjustment?

00:17:10
Speaker 8: I think it was a mile. It was early May, is why I made the adjustment.

00:17:16
Speaker 2: Okay.

00:17:16
Speaker 4: Obviously, first round pick of the Phillies, that's a great honor. Where was your college.

00:17:21
Speaker 8: Commitment Mississippi State. I was committed to Lamnas and Cheese and all them. Yeah.

00:17:28
Speaker 4: So, but I'm sure when you get drafted in the first round, I mean it's like, I'm going, is that kind of what it is?

00:17:35
Speaker 8: Yeah? Yeah, that's definitely what was.

00:17:37
Speaker 9: You know, we sat down, We're like we're looking at it like, hey, we have our picks end out like if it was going to be between these picks, hey, we're going to go. And they were full understanding, especially after the first round. They knew like, hey, you got to take that for sure.

00:17:49
Speaker 4: Now you play high school ball in Michigan, it's a it's a cold weather region, and then you get into pro ball. How much of it just a jump in talents and competition? Is it from cold weather high school baseball to pro ball? Or is that jump less because you guys play such elite competition and travel ball these days.

00:18:14
Speaker 9: I'd say the biggest adjustment was mainly, I mean, you go from seven to nine innings. Of course you switched to what bats like you got, but that was nothing that you didn't use in the summer. And also in the summer you face arms like William Schmidt he's at LSU. You face Joey Oki, like a bunch of other guys that you know they have really good stuff. But you go straight from the high school season the pro ball, like curve balls aren't really curving, slider's not't really slying that much. You know, you're seeing like seventy two mile hours breaking balls, and all of a sudden you get here and you're hearing of pitches you've never even seen.

00:18:44
Speaker 8: You're seeing breaking you're seeing breaking points.

00:18:46
Speaker 9: You're seeing all this stuff and just picking up on that, like in the eyes adjusted. I'd say that was the biggest adjustment, just basically, like the auspeeds are going to do way more.

00:18:53
Speaker 4: Now, and I would think you're really pleased your first full season of pro ball, you played at three levels and you've got a little taste of double A at the end, right, I mean, that's that's and you played one hundred and twenty five games with the Phillies a bunch more in Arizona. Uh, that's a that's a big junk from high school too. Just the schedule and then and then you know, traversing three levels. You must be pleased with where you're at after you know, one full season in pro ball.

00:19:22
Speaker 8: Yeah. No, I was very pleased.

00:19:23
Speaker 9: Like you look back, you absolutely take that for your first bit, just that first year just getting comfortable, and now you're really comfortable with the organization, you're really comfortable what you're doing, and now you're just looking forward to the next couple of years.

00:19:33
Speaker 8: No, I was very satisfied with it.

00:19:36
Speaker 2: You know, you you you don't strike out much.

00:19:38
Speaker 1: You walk a lot, you get on base, you steal a lot of bags. Is that something that you've always had a knack for doing? I mean, is it just like a god given ability to put the ball in play, to have a good sense of the strike zone, or is that something that you have like a you know, I don't know if you can work on that or not.

00:19:57
Speaker 8: No, my grandpa was a big, big person.

00:19:59
Speaker 9: He's like, you don't strike out, it's the worst thing in baseball, and I've learned it sucks like get you don't give yourself a chance. And my grandpa hounded on that since day one, and mainly it helped with always thinking backside. I was always giving the ability to take the ball the ops field, no matter where the pitch was, and that's also worked my favorite to fight stuff off. But no, definitely the low strikeout, the high walk like that's always been a part of my game and now we're just developing to get more slug out of it.

00:20:24
Speaker 1: So as your grandpa would give you a hard time if you even maybe saw a high school game and saw you strike out once or twice.

00:20:31
Speaker 9: Oh no, he's yeah, no, he gave me such a hard time.

00:20:35
Speaker 8: I think there wasn't many of my last year.

00:20:37
Speaker 9: I think it was like, I think almost just ten strikeouts my last senior year, and I heard every bit of those ten just like you know.

00:20:45
Speaker 8: So, No, he's big.

00:20:46
Speaker 9: He's big on putting the ball play, make the defense, make a play, like put some pressure on them.

00:20:51
Speaker 2: And you do that on the basis too.

00:20:52
Speaker 1: I think would you steal fifty two bags this season? I think it was like the second most in the organization.

00:20:58
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was like fifty two, fifty yeah.

00:21:00
Speaker 1: Fifty two, And so what's that process, like, you know, in terms of becoming not just a good base stealer, knowing when to run, you know, knowing the count. Maybe picking up tendencies is that do you have a knack for that as well? Like picking up a pitcher's first move. I mean, how does that all come into play?

00:21:20
Speaker 9: Definitely you start to pick up tendencies. You know, high school, you could pick off as much as you wanted. There was no pitch clock, Like you got a dudes picking off six times when you go on first base. And now with the three limit, basically they got two chances and the third one they better get you.

00:21:34
Speaker 8: That's all I've learned. And he got the bigger.

00:21:36
Speaker 9: Bases that helps too, But definitely picking into the counts, picking up some tendencies. You know, you got all this film now, all what you look at like, it's everything's on compere now, So going into the game, you have a great feel and just the tendencies. Yeah, and then once they pick over twice that's basically the green light.

00:21:52
Speaker 2: Do they tell you to be aggressive?

00:21:54
Speaker 1: Like, like, what's what's your mentality once you get on the base, or they're like Dante, like if you can go, go, we want you to go steal as much as you can. We want you to get confident in doing it, because that's a big part of base stealing. From what I've heard from players is you know the guys that love the steal. That's that's a huge part of it.

00:22:11
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:22:12
Speaker 9: No, they basically since I got there, like, hey, you going on first, you got the green light. Otherwise, if we shut it down, we give you something that shuts it down, you got the green light again, scoring position, let's go.

00:22:23
Speaker 4: I wonder if that's like a focus organization wide in the Phillies organization, because you know, Aiden Miller this year had fifty nine steals. Justin Crawford had forty six steals. You had fifty two steals. I mean wow, that's like, I mean, this is way before your time. But it feels like Saint Louis Cardinals of the eighties. I mean, it's great to see the stolen base and all that excitement on the basis they do they do they preach it in the system.

00:22:49
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, no, we work on base running every single day at the point where like it's like the back of your hand Like it's literally every single day we're out there spring training, you got thirty minutes of base running before like twice a week during the season, you got base rank.

00:23:02
Speaker 8: It's very focused on in the Phillies organization.

00:23:05
Speaker 4: That's awesome. And what do you see as your best position in the outfield. They know you can bounce around a little bit.

00:23:11
Speaker 9: I'd say center primarily, and I'm trying to get, you know, expand out I played left a lot during my last summer ball season. I think that was my junior summer played a lot there, so I was more used to it, but just expanding out there, getting to the corners and just get me some versatility.

00:23:25
Speaker 4: When you got to double a was it was that a big jump for you? What was the biggest thing that stood out? I know you're only there maybe a week or so, but a couple of weeks, but I mean, you're a baseball guy. What was the biggest thing that really jumped out about you? Between the lines?

00:23:42
Speaker 9: I think just the pitchers like then now they got way more command, Like they they're gonna put it where they want to put it. You know, you're get in the box, You're going to get a ball on the zone for the most part. You know, low way high dudes are chucking, but sometimes they just don't know where it's going.

00:23:56
Speaker 8: And honestly like going into double a.

00:23:59
Speaker 9: Like and honestly helped, like, Hey, they're gonna be around the zone, so you're gonna get pitched to hit.

00:24:04
Speaker 8: Just be ready for it.

00:24:05
Speaker 3: Mm hm.

00:24:06
Speaker 4: I mentioned Aiden Miller justin Crawford. We know about Andrew Painter and others and Dante Nori, all really talented young players. Do you do you know those guys? Did you have you had a chance to get to know them maybe in spring training in Clearwater?

00:24:24
Speaker 9: Uh? Yeah, No, Miller I was around since the HP camp in October last season. I got to meet him for the first time, and then since then we bonded over baseball. He's getting he's in the collecting cards a little bit as well as me. And then Crawford I got to meet in that January camp, got to meet him a little bit. And then Painter was actually like rehab, like his rehab start during Clearwater for like a week or two, so I got to meet him as well.

00:24:47
Speaker 8: So No, I know all of them pretty well.

00:24:50
Speaker 4: Emphasized a little bit about maybe all moving together someday and doing something special and uh in the big city.

00:24:58
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, I know.

00:24:58
Speaker 9: We talked about that. Like even when I got promoted the Double A. I remember texting Miller. I was like, hey, I'll see you Tuesday. And then on the drive there, I get notification, Hey, Miller's going on the Triple A.

00:25:08
Speaker 8: And I called him. I say, are you seriously we're teammates.

00:25:10
Speaker 9: For fifteen minutes, He's like, now, one day we will And I was just a little joke, but now definitely looking forward to being with all those guys in the future.

00:25:17
Speaker 2: That is great.

00:25:18
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, I forgot that you're a big baseball card collector. I know a friend of ours, Matt Breen from The Inquire, wrote a story about it during the season. What and you're trying to basically collect all the you know, one of ones and you know all the all the parallels. What's what's the Dante Nori card that you're trying to get maybe that you haven't gotten. Is there one out there that you'd that you'd like to get?

00:25:41
Speaker 9: The one I really want is my first moment though, like the inscription, like your very first UH top card that you sign, that's one that I'm still trying to get I don't even think it's been pulled yet because I haven't seen it surfaced online. But that's definitely what I want to add to the collection.

00:25:55
Speaker 2: That's pretty cool, you know.

00:25:56
Speaker 1: I see those videos on Instagram and stuff of a guy will open up up a pack, you know, and find like a Lebron James one of one that was, you know, just sitting at a Target store or something like that. So it could be sitting on the shelf somewhere in like Idaho or something for all you know. I mean, that's pretty cool though.

00:26:16
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, no doubt.

00:26:18
Speaker 4: My mother threw away all my baseball cars. I had everyone and they're all gone, so I can't engage in this conversation.

00:26:26
Speaker 8: See, I feel in that.

00:26:27
Speaker 9: My grandpa thoat his parents for leaving his cards in the attic, and he had a bunch of Mickey mantles.

00:26:31
Speaker 8: He was telling me, he.

00:26:32
Speaker 9: Said, we all could have retired by now with how many mantles he had in the attic.

00:26:37
Speaker 2: So I feel you on that, Dante.

00:26:40
Speaker 1: I talked to your high school coach last year after you got drafted, and uh Dan Simony, and he said, when he watched you play he said, oh my god.

00:26:48
Speaker 2: This guy's like Lenny Dykes or this guy's like Lenny Dykster, And he.

00:26:51
Speaker 1: Said, you guys would laugh because you know, you guys weren't alive when Lenny.

00:26:55
Speaker 2: Dykester was playing baseball.

00:26:57
Speaker 1: But now that you're with the Phillies, if you stumbled across any of his highlights, are you any more.

00:27:03
Speaker 2: Familiar with Lenny Dekster?

00:27:04
Speaker 8: Do you think you do?

00:27:06
Speaker 3: You see that?

00:27:07
Speaker 2: Why there's resemblance?

00:27:08
Speaker 1: Why he you know why you thought you resembled Lenny Dekster a little better?

00:27:11
Speaker 9: Now, I'm honest about to do more research on it, but I remember him saying that, So I'm not great with keeping up with the research stuff, but I definitely got to look into that. Saying that, I assume there are some similarities there.

00:27:25
Speaker 4: Well, he was a.

00:27:25
Speaker 1: Great, great, great outfielder, high end bass guy, great lead off you know, cause fits for everybody on the basis Jim, as Jim can attest, you.

00:27:34
Speaker 4: Did the Phillies have you kind of when you were in high school and summer ball before the draft? Did they have you on their radar? Did you know that that was a team that was on me? And I had a chance of being a Philly that.

00:27:48
Speaker 9: It's like right before our state semifinal, they wanted to have me out in Philly for a workout, but I told him.

00:27:55
Speaker 8: I was like, hey, I got I can't leave the practice.

00:27:57
Speaker 9: Like we got we're trying to do something that the high school wasn't in their whole like forever, and they've never won state championship, so I couldn't miss that practice.

00:28:04
Speaker 8: They're like, all right, we'll make it work.

00:28:05
Speaker 9: And they actually flew down and then Tracy Smith, who were also close family friends with he's at Michigan, the head coach there. He lets used their facility and I got to talk to them so and they came out. We got to do a little work out, but no, definitely after that day there was that feeling like hey, like we're definitely, they're definitely high on you.

00:28:21
Speaker 8: They're on your radar. And then Draft Day that says it all.

00:28:25
Speaker 4: Well, so you worked out for the Phillies in and Arbor, Yes, correct, Well that's pretty cool. Have you ever been to Philadelphia?

00:28:34
Speaker 8: I did, yeah, when I signed.

00:28:37
Speaker 9: And then I'm not sure if there was like when I was really little, an't know if I remember it, but I guarantee there was one other time I went down there.

00:28:44
Speaker 8: For sure.

00:28:46
Speaker 2: That's awesome.

00:28:48
Speaker 1: So can you do you have any goals that you have when you think about next season, like what do you want to accomplish in a general sense if you care to share?

00:28:58
Speaker 9: Obviously, I think just double digit home runs is one of the big things I'm trying to focus on right now, Like, hey, let's get to that point. And also, you know, I saw it happen this year hunter Bags. I mean, why not, let's let's start trying to reach really high goals. So you know, nothing was better than you see your fiftieth bag. You're on cloud nine. Then you look on Instagram. I think it was forget who it was, but pull on Instagram and all of a sudden you see someone still a Hunter Bags there Like, dang, that is double So no, definitely doublegit home runs and also see many based as I can get.

00:29:30
Speaker 1: Well, that's awesome, man, that would be a tremendous accomplishment to steal one hundred now, that would be like the nineteen eighties Cardinals gym.

00:29:37
Speaker 3: For sure.

00:29:38
Speaker 4: Dating who you got today in the Arizona Fall League. Tell us a little bit about what it's like that's a talented group of players out there.

00:29:47
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, no, for sure. I think where are we heading there? I think we might be going to Glendale.

00:29:51
Speaker 8: I'm not sure.

00:29:52
Speaker 9: We kind of bounce around all the time, like your road. It feels like summer ball, honestly, like you're on the bus trip. You go, you play your bus back. But no, it's a great group of guys. I mean, it's great to just keep playing baseball year round. You know, it's for Halloween's tomorrow, which is crazy, like you've been playing baseball since January almost so. No, great group of guys, great competition, just getting all these friendships, meeting all these people, it's been.

00:30:14
Speaker 8: It's been a blast.

00:30:15
Speaker 4: What was your best Halloween costume as a kid? Your favorite?

00:30:25
Speaker 9: I think my mom would say when I dressed up as Scooby Doo.

00:30:27
Speaker 8: She loves that.

00:30:29
Speaker 9: But I think the most creative he even laughed about was when Schwarber he was hurt during the Cub season and I dressed up as her college Forber.

00:30:41
Speaker 4: How did you do that? Problem?

00:30:48
Speaker 8: Wrapped it up, grab some crutches and yeah, when out was that?

00:30:52
Speaker 4: Does he know that you went out for him as Halloween?

00:30:54
Speaker 8: Yeah?

00:30:55
Speaker 9: He definitely does I was. I was him like three years in a row. So no, he definitely knows I had had everything going. So no, he definitely knows he definitely saw that picture.

00:31:04
Speaker 2: Oh that's great, well, Dante.

00:31:05
Speaker 1: Hopefully I don't know when you're working out with Kyle again, but maybe who will have re signed with the Phillies by that point, and if not, maybe you can say, hey, buddy, you know, come on, I've been working out with you for years. Like we got to be teammates one day in the next few so you gotta sign a long term deal in Philly. Maybe I'll be up and you guys can be teammates. That'd be That would be a pretty wild story. I mean, that would be something you probably couldn't even have imagined when you were a kid.

00:31:27
Speaker 9: I gotta think, Oh no, I will definitely talk to him like like you said, like there's a picture of me throwing there's a jersey swallowing me whole at Indiana playing catch them on the Warring track him and catches you for him, which is way different than now. But no, that would definitely be one of the greatest stories.

00:31:44
Speaker 8: Like you came right down the.

00:31:45
Speaker 2: Book absolutely well, Dante. Thanks a lot man.

00:31:48
Speaker 1: We appreciate the time, good luck with the rest of the Fall League, enjoy the off season, and then uh, you know, we'll see you in clear Water in February.

00:31:58
Speaker 8: Oh, I appreciate it. I appreciate you guys haveing.

00:32:00
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Dante Nori for joining The Philly Show. The Philly Show will be back next week. We've got a lot of off season stuff to talk about. Jim Ruben will be back lots of off season stuff, so make sure to check us out.

00:32:13
Speaker 2: Beginning on Monday. Smelly Lena, Smellia.

00:32:17
Speaker 1: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Philly Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.