Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell & SPs Lance McCullers and Spencer Arrighetti join FT @Astros camp

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Having a little PTSD here. Guys.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: I am honored, obviously to have Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell sitting next to me. This is probably the nicest he's been to me, because when we played against each other, it was it was hell. He did hit number three ninety nine and four hundred off me in the same game of his four hundred and forty nine career homers.

00:00:24
Speaker 1: But Jeff, great to see you man, Great to have you around.

00:00:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's good to see you too, Danny.

00:00:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did do that.

00:00:30
Speaker 3: But there's a lot of times where you did jim the heck out of with two seamer. That one go to you just kind of left over the middle of the play.

00:00:37
Speaker 2: Guys, I'm telling you, I've looked up stats that he had against me, and I didn't give up more homers to anybody.

00:00:44
Speaker 1: Baggy hit the most homers off me, the most hits.

00:00:47
Speaker 5: Everything.

00:00:48
Speaker 1: This guy was was tough to pitch too.

00:00:52
Speaker 2: But let's just talk about why you're here at Astros camp working with the young guys.

00:00:57
Speaker 3: I do. I do the big league guys too. This year little bit more with the big league because we got some positions in the outfield that are open and so those are younger guys, so I kind of want to see them, how they react during games, how they are when they come in the dugout, and things like that.

00:01:11
Speaker 4: The young guys.

00:01:12
Speaker 3: I spend the whole year here so that when I do talk to these guys, they're not like scared of me, you know, so that they can feel like I'm part of.

00:01:19
Speaker 4: Them and part of their development.

00:01:20
Speaker 3: So we can have good conversations trying to get them in the right frame of minds. And the different ways of thinking about hitting maybe a little different than everybody else thinks, but in my opinion, you can't reinvent the wheel. Hitting is one way, Just how about how you do it personally to get there. So I just try to help those guys out a lot, and it's been a lot of fun. You know, it's nothing better than watching a kid develop.

00:01:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to dive into that a little bit.

00:01:45
Speaker 6: I was going to talk about your hitting approach and how you teach these kids. I know it seems like from hearing what you're talking about, you still have that old school mentality maybe coming down on the ball, but you know, there's all these different types of ways of hitting the ball now with launch angle and everything else.

00:02:00
Speaker 4: Do you do you look into that a lot?

00:02:02
Speaker 6: Or are you just saying, hey, man, back the ball, try and level the ball up and see what you could do well.

00:02:07
Speaker 4: The first thing I want them to do is become good hitters.

00:02:10
Speaker 3: You know, power comes, you know if you if you're good enough to hit twenty home runs, what do you do with the other five hundred that bats? You punch out? Grounded and third, rounded and short pulling off the ball? Guys, get this guy second and third with less than two outs. If you're trying your launch angle and dropping your barrel, you're not going to be very successful. So I want them to become good hitters first, and so I understand what is out there and what it's taught, but I do I really am a believer in you know, there's only there's certain ways to go about hitting.

00:02:44
Speaker 4: Everybody's different.

00:02:44
Speaker 3: If there was one way to do it, we'd all do it a hundred years ago, they'd have done it the same way. But everybody's got a different stance. Todd, you had a different stance than I did. But we're all being successful in our own right. But how do we get to that position of hitting the line drives. You know the phrase I hate is hit the ball in the air. You hit the ball in the air, those are outs. Generally, the only guy that can hit the ball in the air consistently not make outs is Aaron Judge.

00:03:08
Speaker 4: Other than that, we need to be good hitters.

00:03:10
Speaker 3: Hit line drives, line drives turning into doubles, doubles turning into home lund So I'm trying to make them to stay through the baseball, stay in the big part of the field. If you stand on home plate and you look out at the field and three fielders in the outfielder, where's the greenest grass. It's in between both outfielders, the center fielder and then the right fielder and left field.

00:03:26
Speaker 4: That's where all the green grassings. That's where you be trying to hit the base.

00:03:29
Speaker 5: Gaming how much has development changed in the time that you've been with the Astros. You've seen it. Everyone says, well, they were the best in development. Now they suck like that. To me, I think that's sometimes unfair because they had superstars come through. But how much has it changed in the ORC since you've been really delving into it with them.

00:03:50
Speaker 3: I think we're changing a lot when trying to get hit those line drives and trying to hit the ball in the middle of the field to try and become hitters. First, I think we have changed like that very difficult. You got to remember these kids in high school and even in college, when they go to these tryout camps and all that, or they play in these tournaments, all people want to do is see home runs. So they start, you know, dropping their back shoulder. They're trying to hit the ball out of the park. There's just no success in that, especially when you get to the big leagues and the way the velocity is now with the breaking pitches and all that.

00:04:22
Speaker 4: You got to be more.

00:04:22
Speaker 3: Square and stay through the middle of the baseball. So you've got to try it with some of these kids. We just got to get them more upright a little bit and understanding you don't need to charge the fastball.

00:04:31
Speaker 4: Let the fastball come to you, and you need to hit off the fastball.

00:04:34
Speaker 3: Everybody's worried about the breaking balls and all that, but if you can't hit a fastball, then you can't see them briating. So there's just kind of little things that I that I believe in, and I think our organization believes in and we're getting better by the day.

00:04:45
Speaker 4: Baggs.

00:04:46
Speaker 2: Has any of the young kids asked you about your stance, you know, what made you go that route, or if they've even asked to, you know, teach them that stance.

00:04:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, they don't ask me to teach it. I think a lot of people ask me why and I tell him. The true story is in nineteen ninety four, it was early in the season and I asked Tony Gwinn for a bat. I said, Tony, could he please sign it to me? And he sends it over. He says, two bags keep the same stance, Tony Gwinn and I went Tony Gwinn's watching me because I was tinkering with my stance all the time.

00:05:15
Speaker 4: I said, Okay, what does Tony Gwinn do?

00:05:16
Speaker 3: He spreads out a little bit, keeps his head still and just tries it hit from a solid base.

00:05:22
Speaker 4: I said, okay.

00:05:22
Speaker 3: So I started doing that and then it morphed into that whatever that thing was. And I can look at pictures of myself, you know, in different pictures that I signed for people, and I can tell whether I'm hitting well or not, if I'm really wide, I'm really struggling I'm trying to see it bad.

00:05:36
Speaker 7: Why didn't you tell us that before? Well, I don't know, but it was. It was a chore, but you know it worked out. But you know, hitting's very difficult. It's the hardest thing to do. It remains that.

00:05:49
Speaker 3: So we just try and make it as simple and basic as possible, because if you get in the box and you're thinking about your back, shoulder, your back hips, the new thing that they talk about all the time, then you're thinking about everything else. To say, I was actually competing against the guy in front of you.

00:06:04
Speaker 5: Actually I have a true story that I tried to hit like you squatted down wide out and my hitting coach goes, and I was, I was smashing, I was crushing. My hitting coach goes, you can't catch. You can't catch and stay on your legs like that for an entire season. So I go, right, okay, I'll stop. But either way, we're not trying to polish or turn here like it wasn't. I wasn't going to hit that well anyway. But do you get in the cage still? Do you ever get in a cage?

00:06:32
Speaker 4: And it's funny you said that I was.

00:06:34
Speaker 3: They asked me today when I was over there, go backs, you want to get in there? I said, hell no, I said, that's a lose lose situations. The night say, I said, if I swing a miss, which I will probably for the first ten pitches, and then I start following pitches off and all that, they'd be like, man, this guy stinks. I told you those old players couldn't hit so and I'm fifty seven years old, so I am not going down that road.

00:06:54
Speaker 8: Hey, I want to ask you about a couple individuals. So first off, I mean, how impressed are you with Jordan Alva And do you think the team should just let him eat at DH every day? Not that he was getting hurt running around there left and right, but he's had some injury issues and you just want to get one hundred and fifty plus games of him at the plate.

00:07:13
Speaker 3: Well, for one, he's you know, arguably one of the best hitters in all baseball. You know, his natural swing is to left center. And when Jordan is on the field and he's in the batter's box, whether he's oh for four or four for four, it makes our team better.

00:07:28
Speaker 4: Everybody around him is better.

00:07:30
Speaker 3: Posing managers, you can't even bring lefties into facing because he's going to kill them too. So we can get him healthy for one hundred and fifty five games. They'll be in good shape now. Playing in the outfield, Jordon's a good outfielder. You know, when he gets to the ball, he catches it. He's got a very accurate arm. He likes to play the outfield. I think it's important. Being a DH is a very difficult thing to do. You have to have a certain temperament to be a DH. You know, whether it's Poppy or Chili Davis or guys like that, you have to have a certain temperament. He likes to be in the outfield every once while, so I think it's good for him to play the outfield.

00:08:03
Speaker 5: Good Christian Walker, a guy that came in last year and had to make some adjustments, ended up having a decent year. I mean, I think he got a little bit of flack because of the contract he signed. But when you see a guy like that, what do you see that he could build on but also improve on from where he was when he came over from the Diamondbacks.

00:08:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we're seeing a lot better at Christian Walker this year. I think it is tough sometimes to come into a new team and be the focal point of your offseason. When you get a guy like Christian to come in and place first base. I don't think any of us ever think about our contract when we go out there. We're just trying to compete and stay healthy and to do the best we can for our club.

00:08:45
Speaker 4: You know, he got off to a little bit of a slow start.

00:08:47
Speaker 3: I think he's learned that some of the moves that he made before him when he was a little bit younger, he can't make as much now.

00:08:54
Speaker 4: And all of us have been through this.

00:08:55
Speaker 3: When you get older, you got to make certain adjustments because you're not as quick and you're not as fast as you were, so you got to I'm not going to say cheap, but you've got to do little things to simplify things in order to make more contact. And Christian has tons of power, so he's already making adjustments like that. He's done a great job so far this spring, So I'm excited for this year for him.

00:09:15
Speaker 5: When you saw or heard that the Astros were getting ESAC parades, were you like, oh, man, Like, he's gonna come in here and just destroy the Crawford boxes or do you think it's something that could get in a hitter's head and say, well, yeah, I mean this is what I've always done, but I want to prove to other people that I can also do that.

00:09:35
Speaker 3: No, I think with Esak, he's just a poll hitter, you know. And I don't think that the wall has anything to.

00:09:41
Speaker 4: Do with that.

00:09:42
Speaker 3: Like he had a I don't know fourteen to pitch at Matt yesterday against Sandy Alcintaro, hit falling balls into the dugoutnounced. It's just what he does, you know. And he's such a professional. He's such a good hitter, and he has he has kind of like this feel for producing runs even when he hooks the ball. A lot of times when runers are getting scoring position, he stays a little bit shorter, uses a big part of the field a little bit more, might be left center, might not be right center, but he does a real good job of driving in runs. A great guy, even temperament. Uh, he's just he's been great for us. So I was very excited to have him, still excited to have him.

00:10:18
Speaker 5: Is it hard to hear that possibly the Astros have to maybe trade one of those two guys where you say would you, as a player who's been through the grind entire season, would you say, man, I'd just love to see the team keep as much offense as possible because you don't know what's gonna happen.

00:10:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a very fair question.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: Uh.

00:10:37
Speaker 3: You know, basically, you got four guys for three spots and how do you keep everybody happy? And that's that's what Joe Spott's job will be is to make sure he has great conication with these guys. Let him know when they're gonna play, when they're not going to play a position that they you know, maybe Korea moves over to short one day gives Jeremy a day off the east side, place for place third vice versa with with Walker. He also can use him in D So we're gonna it's gonna be a lot of work. But as long as there's a lot of communication and guys understand their roles, I think we'll be fine. And truthfully that it would be a heck of a lineup if you see every day that we put out there with those guys that go on.

00:11:15
Speaker 6: I want to talk to you about the abs a little bit. Now you can challenge balls and strikes first how do you think you would do with that?

00:11:22
Speaker 4: In second? Do you think this is good for baseball?

00:11:27
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm a big proponent of umpires. I like I like umpires, I like the dialogue back and forth. I think the fans kind of like the abs. I think because it's a it stops the game and it's like tennis.

00:11:39
Speaker 4: You know, you see this thing up in the thing.

00:11:40
Speaker 3: It's either a ball or strike and then they get the yell at the umpire no matter what either way. But you know, when we played, you know, we had to cover three or four inches outside and maybe one or two inside.

00:11:51
Speaker 4: So it's a little bit different.

00:11:53
Speaker 3: With the way the velocity is and the and the breaking pitches, they need to have a smaller strike zone. Pitcher would definitely argue that, but it's something that that's gone on in baseball. There's been a lot of changes in the last ten years in the game of baseball, whether they're taking a guy out, a guy at second base, which I hate, I love that part of the game, the catcher rule. You know, there's different rules that have been implemented that are supposed to be for the better of the game. And if the if the baseball feels like that's the case, then I'm all for whatever's best for the game.

00:12:25
Speaker 5: We had a lot of comments about the Hall of Fame. Are you a Hall Are you a big Hall guy or a small Hall guy? Being in it.

00:12:34
Speaker 4: I'm not answering that question. I mean, I you know, I don't.

00:12:40
Speaker 3: I don't know the answer to that. That's not my job, thankfully. You know, I love celebrating great players. But there's been a lot of great players in this game. So whatever the criteria and whatever they want. Things have changed a little bit now because there's more numbers out there now. But you know, when you see a guy and you've watched them play for fifteen twenty years, what kind of player they are and where they should be. And there's debates on everybody. Everybody has debates, you know this what been one guy that's been one hundred percent? Uh So it's it's a difficult decision. I'm for whatever whatever they come up with. I'm just grateful to be in it myself.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: Maggy, do you remember signing the bat for me?

00:13:22
Speaker 4: Yes? I do you do?

00:13:23
Speaker 9: Yes, guys.

00:13:24
Speaker 2: He signed that said thank you for giving up three ninety nine and four hundred.

00:13:28
Speaker 4: I did to me.

00:13:29
Speaker 1: Yes, it was brilliant. I know, it's crazy. It was such an honor though.

00:13:35
Speaker 3: To get it was great. Danny and I've been been going back and forth for a long time.

00:13:41
Speaker 4: It just happened.

00:13:42
Speaker 3: I had actually had some balance that day that I hit off you, and I swear to God, I remember how I positioned my feet because I wanted to try something.

00:13:49
Speaker 4: Different that day. Sorry about that.

00:13:52
Speaker 3: I had balance and Danny left a couple of sinkers out over the plate. But Danny was great. He was very, very difficult to hit off. He had a good breaking ball, a really really good sinker. And you know, I'm not I'm not a big fan of hitting sinkers on my hands because you've got to do everything right in order to get a hit. But I was fortunate at that day.

00:14:09
Speaker 4: Guys.

00:14:10
Speaker 1: He makes me feel so much better about myself now.

00:14:12
Speaker 3: Good.

00:14:16
Speaker 2: I really appreciate you stopping behind me. This was an honor for all of us.

00:14:19
Speaker 4: I'm sure seeing you guys, Yeah, thank you. Dan.

00:14:25
Speaker 8: Lance mccallor is joining us right now on FT.

00:14:28
Speaker 4: Lance.

00:14:28
Speaker 9: It's good to see you.

00:14:29
Speaker 8: You seem really happy and having fun out there. So what's it been like this little camp run for you to get yourself built up for the season.

00:14:37
Speaker 9: It's been good, you know, coming into camp and just being able to build up normal and feeling good, feeling healthy, hitting all the benchmarks, you know, not having to worry about bullpen days and if I'm going to recover and you know, how many pitches I can throw it, all that good stuff. So it's been it's been a good camp. Staying with some of the guys this year, so that's been great, and just enjoying enjoying spring.

00:15:01
Speaker 8: Are you sick of people asking you like, hey, how you doing, how you feeling? You know, stuff like that, or you're just like no.

00:15:07
Speaker 9: Happy, It just it just is, you know, it's part of it's part of the questions now. But it's fine. I feel good, like I said, you know, first camp and probably at least five years, four or five years where I've just been able to come in and not rehabbing anything, didn't have any stepbacks in the off season, no surgeries. So it's it's it's nice to at least answer the questions, you know, positively, what does.

00:15:31
Speaker 5: It feel like? What does your arm feel like? We're asking those questions, but not not like okay, mentally I'm here. Mentally I'm not there, but like, what does your arm feel like at a certain point in the off season to get yourself to this Spring training usually.

00:15:48
Speaker 9: Always in the build ups for me, at least coming off the surgeries and stuff. You know, in the off seasons, you guys know how it is. It's it's your you're your o FP. You know, you get to take light days, you get to you get to maybe skip a throwing session or a lifting session if you're not feeling right. You get to camp and there's there's not much much room there for you. You know, you got to hit your bullpen days. Obviously, you're you're working on stuff, trying to get better, so you need to be recover enough to get there and then you have the games. And I told I told Hunter one day, we're driving home after my first maybe my second live I was like, you know how nice it is just to be able to go home and hang out with you guys and maybe you know, watch movie, play guiton whatever we're doing, and not have to sit there twenty four to seven. It's my ob gonna be good, Nick tomorrow, I am I gonna be able to throw, you know, do I need to go somewhere for treatment. So it's been it's been nice. It's been a it's been a good good spring. I like it down here in Palm Beach. I'm a Florida boy by heart. I grew up in Tampa. So it's been great.

00:16:46
Speaker 6: So you talk about you said you have no reservations, which I think a lot of people should basically listen to that as ball players and in life do as well, going and kind of free. Is there anything you change right now with your you know, mechanics or anything else that you've been working on a new pitch, anything that you feel that you're going to be comfortable being ready to throw once you're ready to rock.

00:17:06
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, last year obviously coming off the injury, long long break wasn't wasn't a great go for me. But I think you go into the off season, you're honest with yourself, you kind of can take that as you know, the ability to kind of step back strip the mechanics kind of get to where you want to get where you want to be. My sinker was just really flat dying on me last last season. It was tough for me to control, tough for me to challenge guys in the zone with So this offseason I kind of went I went all the way back to you know, twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, saw where the arm angle was before I had surgeries, when I was a focus of mine get the arm back up. So last year my arm angle was like twenty four twenty five coming out, which is atrocious. And so this year I'm back to like, you know, thirty thirty five, thirty six, being able to drive that ball. And that's really the bitch for me. I was I was messing with the splitter in the off season. I don't think it's something that I can consistently grow with confidence. Plus it's a it's a big tip pitch for me. So I'm kind of mixing you should I should I stick with it?

00:18:06
Speaker 10: Should I go back to the change up?

00:18:08
Speaker 9: So the way my sinker's moving right now, I got I got a little bit more avert on it. It's not so not so flat and die, I'm not running into those barrels. So I think I'll have enough separation with my regular change up to kind of rock rock and roll with it.

00:18:20
Speaker 2: So Lance, now that you you are feeling healthy and this is like a normal spring training for you.

00:18:24
Speaker 1: You're one of the old guys left.

00:18:26
Speaker 2: So is it is it more easy for you now to be that leader that you you wanted to be when when you weren't as healthy.

00:18:34
Speaker 9: You know what I'm saying, well, as a pitcher, and I think Todd and you know everyone can speak to it. It's hard to be a pure leader as a as a starting pitcher. That's my opinion. You know that's maybe not accurate to everyone, but that's my opinion. It's hard to really be a leader of the team not out there every day, and I kind of in the grind, in the struggle understanding what guys are dealing with on a daily basis. You know, as a starter you're once every four or five days with resting between of course. So I think that, you know, when we've had really great leaders here, like I think back with you know, on Kykol when he was really emerging, Vertland or Cole you know, Hunter and myself for a period of time when I was healthy. I think it's easier when you're healthy and you're out there and you with the guys every day, you're on the road trips, uh, You're you're at the team dinners, you know, you're you're, you know, one of the veterans. So I think there's a when you're a veteran, there's an automatic type of maybe a responsibility to you know kind of guy and and and help with the young guys, you know, kind of through especially when you're pitching, and you're pitching, well, I think you can, you know, be more, be a little bit more vocal. You're more of a presence. So I think we'll, you know, we'll see how it goes, but I hope I can kind of step into that full roll again.

00:19:41
Speaker 5: A right, Lance, there's a guy on the there's a rookie that's gonna make his debut this year that wants to wear Batman cleats and they're gonna call him Wago. What would you talk? What would you say to that rookie? I'm obviously for people don't know, I'm referring to Lance when he was a rookie. I was there when you were still young, and the scott Ems and the Luke Gregorsons, those guys gave you a hard time. They called you wag goo. You've had an incredible career of successes in different stages, but what would you right now as your Lance McCullers tell that Lance mccollors.

00:20:17
Speaker 9: Oh, man, I would say, if I honestly, I would say to trust a little bit more, you know, in your stuff. I think I look back on my early career and I watch video and I think, man, I wish I still had that same stuff. So I would say, you know, just to you know, trusting this stuff a little bit more than I did. I think back in the day, not tinker so much. I'm a tinker by nature. Even in this spring balls me coming out. Well, I'm trying new stuff and our pitching coast. Josh Miller's like, I think, I think maybe we just stick with what we got. You look good right now. So I would look back and say to, you know, truly enjoy the ride. You know, don't always be thinking so far into the future. I think that's natural when you're young. I think you always want the next step, or you always want to get to the next thing, and you kind of, you know, you look at your career and you look back you say, you know, I've enjoyed I've loved it. But man, I'd love to go back, you know. As a twenty one, twenty two year old in the big leagues and you know, be able to kind of experience it all over again. So I'm grateful for the for the veterans I had. They were hard on me at times, but I think it was all in hopes for you know, me to be in the future and be able to lead other guys.

00:21:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, following up on that lance, you mentioned that you wanted to have that more belief in your ability to belief in your stuff. You mentioned a minute ago about your splitter. Are we really going to see it? You said you don't have confidence in it yet, but I feel like mentally you're there. You're gonna be able to figure it out if you want to.

00:21:37
Speaker 9: The pitch is good. The pitch is good, but you know, you kind of got to pick you know. Am I going to hold a pitch that I throw ten percent of the time all the time to move off it for the tipping type of stuff? And then when I pre grip it, I get the grip solid. And then if I'm going to be moving off it for the other pitches and I got I got a wiggle in there with the splitters, then I'm losing the grip when I'm actually going to go throw it. So the splitter for me was more of a my two seam didn't get back to some rise and run. If I couldn't get in on those rid e's, I couldn't stay away from the barrel path and the lefties, you know what kind of and the villa didn't come back, which the villa has been good this spring. My first game, I got up to ninety four point six, as I was told ninety five on the board, but ninety four point six, so the villos, the Villa's climbing a little bit. I think there's enough separation with the two in the change up now. The splitter was a pitch that I'm going to the off season, like Todd was saying, I was like, man, I need something to separate from like that lazy dying too, and something that's a little bit gives gives me a little bit more bite. So we'll see how it goes. I mean, it's it's there, I still throw it, but but again it's it's about being able to execute and feeling confident in the game.

00:22:37
Speaker 5: Are you ever jealous of Are you? And al Tuove ever jealous of Korea? Because he got to leave and like got to see the world and now he's back the place that you guys feel comfortable and have been in your entire career.

00:22:51
Speaker 9: Yeah, part of me is always like, man, I would I would love to you know, meet, you know, meet more guys in the game, you know, kind of experience you know, other other clubhouse cultures, you know, meet you know, be able to develop their relationship with with other teammates. I think it's a pitcher, especially you never want to be too friendly. I'm a naturally friendly person, but you never want to be too friendly with like opposing hitters and all that stuff, because I feel like it gives him a little bit of an edge. So you know, all my teammates that have been here that I've been really close with, when I face them, it's always a little bit awkward. When I face George or Tucker, place took me deep. That wasn't cool. So you know, you just you just you just try to you just you just try to find that balance of being able to meet people and you know, meet guys around the game and experience the game you know as a whole. But yeah, you know, Carlos, I think he enjoyed his time in Minnesota. But I definitely think he's happy to happy to be home.

00:23:42
Speaker 5: Lance.

00:23:43
Speaker 8: While you mentioned Tucker, what did you think of his free agency expedition? And you know how he landed the big high a V deal and ends up with the Dodgers and you know they're coming off the World Series and then they get the best hitter in free agency, that whole saga.

00:23:59
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think it's I think it's great. I'm super happy for Tuck. Honestly, it just really am all the guys, whether it was BREGGI or George or all these guys going to free agency. I always text them how to say, Man, I just want what's you know best for you and the family, uh, wherever that may be. And I know Tucker is a East Coast boy like myself, so uh yeah, yeah, I knew. I played with his brother, actually with the Astros, play play with Kyle, but being able to kind of watch his development, his growth from from a young from a young rookie and kind of coming out of the show a little bit and you know, really feeling confident in himself. He's a premier player in our game.

00:24:32
Speaker 4: Man.

00:24:32
Speaker 9: I think I think he's I think he gets overlooked a lot. Not you know, we were to we had such great players on our team for a long time, and obviously goes to the Cubs a lot of star power there. But I think I think Tucker Man, he could have a big, big season over there in l A. And you know, the Dodgers are a great team, you know, but we we still got to go out there, we got to compete, and I'm happy for him and the Dodgers got a great a great kid, great man.

00:24:57
Speaker 6: Talk about another picture, Tsuya and I have you seen in him a little bit? And what do you what can you tell us about him and his progression?

00:25:04
Speaker 4: Uh? In America? Here getting going.

00:25:07
Speaker 9: He seems very comfortable. He's locker mats with with me. Is his interpreter.

00:25:11
Speaker 4: Rio.

00:25:11
Speaker 9: We we kind of talked, well, obviously we talked through him. But he's he's got first he's got the fastest pickoff move I've ever seen the first base. It's it's it's pretty incredible. But he's got he's got big stuff. He's got big stuff and it's quick and it's it's fast and it gets on hitters. I watched him yesterday against the Mets.

00:25:28
Speaker 4: I mean, the.

00:25:29
Speaker 9: Fastball really really gets on guys. And he seems like a great, great dude. Obviously there's a there's a big language barrier there. But you know, during the season, you know, we're obviously have the field more hours and you you travel with guys, and he's already asking like, Hey, what are we gonna you know, what do we playing the plane? What card games do we play? And so I see him on his phone kind of watching him, trying to trying to trying to pick him up so he can play with the boys. So he's a it's been a joy to have in the camp. He works super hard. Guy, lifts the house. He lifts the house. Yeah, I see him in there, and you know, by his stature you would you wouldn't think so. But he can move some weight and I think he's going to be a great, great addition. He seems like a super big competitor.

00:26:09
Speaker 2: So humility aside Lance who's got better hair? I saw him walk out and he's got like streaks or something in it, right, Like who's got the better flow?

00:26:16
Speaker 9: You or him? I don't know. I guess to each their own, it's their own. He's got Yeah, he's got the highlights, got the highlights. Look, he's got a lot he's got a lot of quiet swag. Yeah, I would say, am I does? Yeah?

00:26:29
Speaker 5: All right, Hunter Brown, we talk about it all the time on the show Aces and Number Ones. Is he an ace yet? If he's not, I would say he's a number one and I would say he's not an ACE yet? Where does he need to take that next step to be an ace in this league?

00:26:46
Speaker 9: Disconsistency. Hunter's got it all, Hunters the full package. He's big, his stuff's explosive, it's electric. He's he's been here for you know. I mean it's been the big leagues for three or four years now, but with the organization for six I think six or seven years. Extremely healthy, extremely durable. And for me, when I'm when I'm looking at an ace, I'm looking at the guys who just can get out there every every fifth, sixth day. You know, guys that are just the team counts on them. They're the horse and then they got the stuff behind it. So I talk to a lot of guys, you know, in camp, We'll could be going over video and I kind of separate your stuff, guy, or you're a command guy and you got to lean into that right Like I'm obviously I wish I had better command and more of a stuff guy, so I just got to lean into the stuff other guys, and I hate leaning that leaning, lean into that command. You know, don't worry so much about a track man. Don't worry so much about all these different you know, pitch shapes. You're you have a lead command, lean into it. But when you get both, you get a hundred round, you get Scoobale. I mean, those are those are the those type of guys you get Hunter Man. He's probably one more full season away from doing what he's done the last two years, from from from being absolute premier ace in this game. He's an unbelievable person. He prepares fantastic. You know, I think he should be the face of this rotation for for years and years to come. Uh can't, for I know he loves I know he loves playing for for the Astros. And I think, you know, it's only it's only March sixth I think, you know, I think the Astro has got a couple more weeks to see if they if they liked it, to make a run at them. But that that's a guy you built that you build your your starting rotation around for you know, five six seven years to come.

00:28:19
Speaker 5: What does your future look like after this year? There's your last year with the Astros under contract. Yeah, what does it look like? Because I know you've had these just I mean a little bit that we've texted back and forth. You've you've mentioned like you know what's next, what's next for Lance mccullors, And I know you are where your feet are, but what what are the things that you thought about next for you?

00:28:43
Speaker 9: I did an interview leading into camp, and I think some people took it the right way. I think some people took it the wrong way. And what I meant by it was I just, like Todd mentioned, I just I have no uh reservations as far as you know what what life bring in the future, you know. I'm just I'm very free right now. I think it's a great place to be as an athlete. I love this team. I'm a I love this organization. I've been with this organization that I was eighteen years old, thirty two. Now I've going on thirty three, and so my life has been here, my career has been here, having unbelievable relationships with not only the players, but the staff at the at the stadium. So this, you know, this is my home. This is this is where we live full time. My daughters are in school in Houston. Whenever, We're never going to leave Houston. And we'll see what the game brings me. Honestly, if if the game, if the game. You know, a lot of times you get you get told by the game, you know, and you got to you gotta go do something else, or sometimes you have the ability to kind of stretch that. I love to be able to be healthy and to have, you know, have a few more years than me. Like I look at a guy like, you know, Nathan Valdi as like big inspiration, someone who has been through, you know, a lot of injuries, kind of had to work his way back and then really had a you know, late late season, late career resurgence, Charlie Morin, those type of guys, I don't think I'll be pitching. So I'm forty, but I love to keep playing this game. It's been my whole life. But in the interview, you know, I said, I'm a dad first, you know, two beautiful daughter, is a great wife, and so if that's what's on the other side of baseball for me, I'm not gonna be upset about that either. So I'm free. I'm open. I'd love to remain an ASTRO. I think if I can prove that I am healthy, my stuff is there. I think there could be, you know, more years to come, or maybe I go off and play for the organization get to experience that, or I get to go home to my daughters.

00:30:26
Speaker 1: It's not a bad thing to go home to family.

00:30:28
Speaker 2: Being that first Lance, we really appreciate you stopping by and we're happy for you.

00:30:33
Speaker 1: Man.

00:30:33
Speaker 4: Thank you. Feeling good?

00:30:34
Speaker 9: Yeah good, so far, so good.

00:30:37
Speaker 8: Spencer Araghetti joining us from Astro's camp. Danny, want to take it away for a moment.

00:30:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, Spencer, thank you for joining us. Talk to us a little bit about how you're feeling coming in just bring training this year.

00:30:49
Speaker 11: I'm feeling extra grateful to be back on the mound. To be real honest with you, last year was absolutely not what I wanted to be.

00:30:54
Speaker 10: Obviously, nobody wants to spend most of the year on the IL.

00:30:57
Speaker 11: But I did the work I needed to do this offseason to feel again, and I'm feeling ready to go.

00:31:01
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you came back early last year?

00:31:05
Speaker 9: See?

00:31:05
Speaker 10: I mean in the moment, I would have said no.

00:31:07
Speaker 11: But looking back at it, I think probably I think I could have been a little bit more aware of like where stuff was at, where my range of motion and strength in some certain areas was at. And yeah, I think if I could go back and do it again, I'd probably get myself another week or so, take another start and triple age to get things figured out and make sure everything was good. But yeah, you know, I mean in the moment, I just I saw a team that was in a hunt for a playoff spot and I wanted to get back and help, you know.

00:31:29
Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean that's the mindset everybody. I love that.

00:31:33
Speaker 6: My question is for you, you're right thumb. It was fractured in twenty twenty five. Is there anything that you need to change now grip wise or you know, maybe throwing something differently a different arm angle, or is that thing back to where it really needs to be in You're fine?

00:31:50
Speaker 11: So I got really lucky. It was a super clean break. It was a really straightforward rehab process with it, and everything feels completely the same as before. So I think that for me, I'm just trying to be exactly who I was before the injury, try to make everything feel the same as it was before, and I've been fortunate enough to not really have to dig too deep to find something.

00:32:08
Speaker 5: New, Spencer, is it mandatory that you have legit hair to throw in this rotation? Is that mandatory? I mean I have to be the one to ask about the hair, because you know, I like, I'm jelly, I'm super jelly.

00:32:23
Speaker 10: I wouldn't say it's mandatory. It's just it's an attribute, that's for sure. That's what we'll call it.

00:32:28
Speaker 5: Jim Craan does come through, because when I played for the Astros, Jim kran came through. It was it was you know, Dallas Kikeel was there. He had his beard and he goes, we're in the weight room and he says, and my other businesses, we wouldn't allow this, We wouldn't allow what Dallas has on his face. And Dallas was like, but I keep it nice. So this Jim has Jim said anything to you. I'm sure he said something to Lance over the years.

00:32:53
Speaker 11: No, not really. He's like, he's pretty hands off with that stuff. I think, whatever you want to look like, he's okay with it. And like you said, other businesses maybe not so much.

00:33:03
Speaker 10: But for baseball. I think it's all good.

00:33:05
Speaker 2: Okay to follow up on that with not just the hair, but is it a prerequisite to be giants to pitch with this pitching staff? And I know I'm just a little guy sitting here, but everybody that's come up here, you, Lance and Hunter so far are ginormous.

00:33:21
Speaker 11: Man, you haven't even seen the really big guys. You look at You look at Ryan Weiss, you look at Brian A.

00:33:25
Speaker 10: Brady.

00:33:25
Speaker 11: Those guys are absolutely units. I feel like one of the smaller guys in the locker room for the most part.

00:33:30
Speaker 10: And Lance too.

00:33:31
Speaker 11: Lance has always telling me, yeah, like I'm the short guy, I'm the small guy, and it's like, dude, you're not small like you're You're a big dude. But no, it's a I wouldn't say it's a it's a prerequisite, but yeah, they definitely like a big over here.

00:33:44
Speaker 8: Hey, Spencer, you obviously you know we're going through your own thing last year. But what did you see from Hunter Brown in his progression? And how cool was that to see a teammate not just to rise and figure it all out for a full season, but finishing third for Cy Young Crazy.

00:34:02
Speaker 11: I couldn't be more happy for that guy. So when I got called up in twenty four, he was kind of in the midst of like the biggest trouble he'd ever based in baseball.

00:34:11
Speaker 10: I mean, he was kind of searching for something.

00:34:13
Speaker 11: Obviously found the answer in a big way in the two seam and then being one of the best pitchers in baseball for a whole year and a half after the back now is just incredible. I mean, it's it's a real testament to the way that he works, the way that he believes in himself, the way he believes in his stuff, And I mean that's what you get every time he takes the mound, is just your belief in what he's going to go out there and do.

00:34:32
Speaker 10: He knows he's going to dominate at this point, and it's.

00:34:34
Speaker 11: Just, I mean, it feels out of place for me to say proud, because I mean he's like big brother to me at this point. But I just, I mean, it's it's been the coolest thing to watch, and I feel like it's an inspiration to a lot of guys that might be in the dark place kind of whether the storm a little bit on the mound and you're always that close to being being the best version of yourself. And I think that watching him do it has been really really awesome.

00:34:56
Speaker 5: What is this rotation as a group like, because you got new pieces put into it, you had a different looking rotation before, before you even came up, it looked different than that. How do you feel like this group is melding? And will there be this like, you know, always behind each other, always fighting for each other, or is it more of like individuals on each every each and every day that they're out there.

00:35:23
Speaker 11: I'd say it's like a like you said, a little bit of melding at this point. Obviously we've only been around each other for about three weeks now, but I mean I've gotten to know Ami a little bit, I've gotten to know Weiss pretty well, I've gotten to know Burrows really well.

00:35:34
Speaker 10: And I'm just really excited. I think we got a bunch of dogs.

00:35:37
Speaker 11: I think we got a bunch of guys that want to go out there and compete, and they want to cover their innings. They want to, you know, just give the team what they need every night, which is a chance to win. And I think that we have exactly that in the rotation right now. Is a bunch of guys who are going to go out there and take the ball and compete until the till the manager comes takes it away from them.

00:35:52
Speaker 5: Will you learn some Japanese so that you can you can talk to him I a little bit more.

00:35:58
Speaker 11: I'm trying. We got to We got a word of the day thing going right now. Every day we walk in, there's a new Japanese word. There's a new Mandarin word Kaiwait Tank speaks Mandarin as well, So we got a lot of it going on right now. I'm gonna be completely honest. None of it is stuck yet, but I'm working on it. I got I got good morning down because I say it every day to him he's ad the locker right next to me. But past that, I mean, I'm kind of hopeless at this point, but I'll try.

00:36:21
Speaker 1: Can you give us the good morning real quick?

00:36:23
Speaker 10: Ohio?

00:36:24
Speaker 9: Oh?

00:36:24
Speaker 4: That's it?

00:36:25
Speaker 10: Ohio? Okay, I'm probably saying it wrong.

00:36:28
Speaker 2: But are there any other words or phrases that shouldn't be said out in public that you guys have asked for?

00:36:36
Speaker 10: Certainly, it's like it's like learning Spanish for the first time. You learn all the bad words first.

00:36:42
Speaker 11: Once you get in the clubhouse full of Spanish speaking guys, and yeah, I've learned a couple of bad Japanese words. I definitely won't say those ones on air, but yeah, that's it. I feel like that's naturally how you learn the new language first, as you learned the ones you shouldn't say.

00:36:55
Speaker 5: All right, So one of the things that's talked about outside of your team is is this guy gonna get traded? Is that guy you know? Where's how's this gonna work out? And everyone's like they have to figure this out or it's a distraction. Do you feel like as a player on the team that kind of stuff is a distraction.

00:37:13
Speaker 10: I wouldn't call it a distraction. I think it's part of the business.

00:37:16
Speaker 11: And I know that guys tend to steer away from putting too much stock into any of that because at this point we're all still here and we had one goal right now, and that's getting ready to go win baseball games.

00:37:25
Speaker 10: So I think in from a to keep it short.

00:37:29
Speaker 11: Yet, it is a distraction in a way, but if you don't let it get to you, it never can be. So I think that we got a bunch of guys that are committed to being here, nobody's one foot in, one foot out. Everybody's bought in on what we're trying to do this year, So I don't really think anybody's thinking too much of it.

00:37:44
Speaker 5: Hey go ahead, what if you look back at last year? You were hurt, but how the season ended, the Astros ended their run of not making the playoffs. Has that been brought up in spring training? Was that a sour taste in your mouth? Or was it? You know what? I was hurt while I couldn't help the team. I also didn't have the same feeling as the guys that were out there on the field grinding it out.

00:38:10
Speaker 11: I mean, I I'm from Houston, so I definitely leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I've been very lucky, very fortunate to be able to watch this team be in the playoffs for, like you said, the last nine ten years before that, So I think it goes without saying in the clubhouse. I think we all know what the goal is, and it's not just a goal, it's an expectation at this point, and that's the culture that we've had here forever. That's all I've ever known with the Astros. So I would like to say that. It's probably the same feeling for everybody else. It doesn't need to be said. It's just what we're going to set out to do as soon as we play that opening game. And yeah, I don't really think there's much else to say about it. Obviously, I would have liked to have been a bigger part of it, like to have been a bigger part of maybe making that last push that we needed to make, But it just it didn't. Chips didn't fall that way last year. And I'll do everything I can this year to make sure I'm around for it.

00:38:57
Speaker 5: Go into the being from Houston and play for the Astros. But the history of the Astros now have had and then you joined the program. But also do you play for free? Like do you have to give away that many tickets?

00:39:13
Speaker 11: So when I was a rookie, I didn't quite understand exactly how fast you can rack up that tab on tickets. And if I were to say the tab on air would make me want to throw up. Like it was it was a disgusting amount of money that I spent on tickets. And I kind of had to tell the family year two, like, hey, you know, guys, you might be getting your own tickets a little more often this year, and that's not ever a conversation I wanted to have. But yeah, I was playing for free probably thirty percent of my starts my rookie year, but it was because I wanted them all there. They're all twenty minutes thirty minutes from the stadium, so it's easy for them to get there. And I don't ever want to be the one to say no, don't come watch me play, but at this point they know it's like, hey, get your own tickets, get your own parking pass.

00:39:53
Speaker 10: Like I'm kind of off that at this point.

00:39:57
Speaker 1: Do you ever I'll go go ahead, cratzy, No.

00:39:59
Speaker 5: No, can we get a ball Can we get a ballpark? Of how much? Like are we talking like? Or is it that much of a number. Because fans don't understand this. You do have to pay for your tickets. Are the face value of the ticket? You have to pay the taxes on that ticket. And people are gonna say, oh, it makes millions of dollars. You don't make millions of dollars until you have a contract or you are arbitration eligible. So I'm saying that to preface what you're going to say.

00:40:29
Speaker 10: I spent just south of twenty grand on tickets.

00:40:34
Speaker 1: You know how much other cool stuff you could have bought for twenty grand.

00:40:37
Speaker 10: I'm just thinking it could be in a savings account. At this point, I would rather be there.

00:40:41
Speaker 11: But again, I'm very grateful for all the people that made their way down to Dacon Park to come watch me pitch. But yeah, just you look back on it, it's like, man, that is a disgusting number and I'll never do it again.

00:40:52
Speaker 1: Tell them to watch on TV. So do you ever obviously not.

00:40:59
Speaker 2: While you're actually pitching, but do you ever sit in the dugout and look out at left field the Crawford boxes and say, gosh, I wish pictures could hit again?

00:41:07
Speaker 9: Oh?

00:41:07
Speaker 11: Man, I have no business hitting against the arts that we got in the big leagues today. But I think there was part of me in high school that thought I could do it, thought I could be a hitter. But yeah, you look out there, it's like, man, I can hit a fly ball.

00:41:19
Speaker 5: Eighty nine to left field.

00:41:21
Speaker 10: It's not that far away.

00:41:22
Speaker 11: But yeah, the funny thing about Mini made is if you hit it the center field, it's not going over the fence. If you hit it to left field, it's almost a coin flip, like it's just it's a I said minute made on air again. Sorry Dacon Park, but yeah, no, I got no business. We got too many nasty guys to throw way too hard. Now, I'd punch out every single at that.

00:41:43
Speaker 1: Spoken like a true pitcher.

00:41:45
Speaker 5: Hitting is hard.

00:41:46
Speaker 2: Guys, we all know that Spencer really appreciate you stopping by. Good luck to you this season, a full season of good health for you.

00:41:52
Speaker 10: Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. Guys,