Orioles Reality Check + Tigers 1B Spencer Torkelson joins FT

00:00:00
Speaker 1: We are joined now by Tim Barbalace, co host of bird Land Territory, also does Ravens pregame and Orioles Road post game pregames on one oh five point seven The Fan. Get good to see you, Tim, Thank you so much for being here. Let's talk a little bit about the O's it just seems like a very broad stroke brush here. They just don't seem to be able to have any sort of traction right now, headed in the right direction. An overview if you could please of what's going on in Baltimore.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a very disappointing start to the season, there's no way around it. Where we were talking a lot heading into the season that it seemed like they had an easy schedule and it ended up playing out that way. Guys, they've played thirty six games and they've only played seven games against teams with winning records. That's the Pirates they got swept there, and then the Yankees in which they got dominated in that four game series. And despite that, there's still four games under five hundred and this team has had several big time wins. His six run comeback against the Diamondbacks, you thought that that would build some momentum at that point, they won six of seven and then they immediately dropped six of seven. They just haven't been able to sustain any success, and there's been so many disappointments throughout this season. Defense being a top the list, it seems like they're just making self inflicted mistakes at least once a game. Still waiting for that lineup to be consistent. But this starting rotation. I had a lot of high expectations for that group heading into the year, and they just haven't delivered so far.

00:01:34
Speaker 3: Why why'd you have high expectations? I mean, honestly, Bradish hasn't been able to stay healthy.

00:01:39
Speaker 4: Really.

00:01:40
Speaker 3: Bassett, we saw he got moved to the bullpen for the Blue Jays Rogers had a nice second half, but he hasn't proven this over a long period of time. Shane Base I love, but he also kind of hasn't proven it over a full stretch of time. And then if you go past that, then you're like, Okay, well where are we at with Povich and some of these other guys. So why did you have so much faith in just starting rotation once Eflyn went down? Because to me, this is still their biggest weakness and now you lose Ryan Elsley. You can almost throw the bullpen in there with that too. But why would you Why did you have so much confidence in this starting rotation.

00:02:14
Speaker 4: Well, it's funny that the bullpen.

00:02:15
Speaker 2: I would say it was my biggest concern heading into the year, that in the defense. But the bullpen's been a pleasant surprise. But they've really fallen back down to earth in the past week or so. As far as the starting rotation, guys, you want to just look year over year heading into opening day. Dean Kramer was on this opening day roster last year he got sent down. Zach Eflin was their ace last year, their opening day starter. He ended up being slotted in as their number five. And Kate Povich was in their starting rotation last year. He was in Norfolk as well. So it was night and day better on paper. Obviously, it hasn't planned played out that way. Kyle Bradish has been a stud and he's dealt with injuries.

00:02:59
Speaker 4: But you can even go back to last.

00:03:01
Speaker 2: Year when he came back off Tommy John for that six seven start stretch, he was really really good.

00:03:06
Speaker 4: He has not looked like Kyle Bradish this year. That walks have.

00:03:09
Speaker 2: Been a significant issue. Trevor Rodgers. He was unworldly last year first three starts of the season. This year he was really really good. Since that point, he's gotten guys the two strikes. The craziest stat. Batters are hitting over three hundred off Trevor Rodgers with two strikes this season. He's just not been able to get that put away pitch to those guys. And you're right, Bassett, it's been a mess Shane base he has yet to really realize that type of potential as well.

00:03:42
Speaker 4: I just it's a concern.

00:03:44
Speaker 2: It's a serious, serious concern, and I guess I did end up overlooking it.

00:03:49
Speaker 4: But on paper it was much better year over year.

00:03:54
Speaker 5: But isn't pitching affected by defense.

00:03:56
Speaker 6: I know we have so many analytics that says like, you know, independent pitching, all that stuff, But to me, when your defense and I want you to hit on some of them, if you have any of the numbers of their defense, because they're pretty abysmal.

00:04:10
Speaker 5: Is crazy because there's so many guys.

00:04:12
Speaker 6: Playing out of position from an organization that had so much Oh my gosh, we could put together an entire minor league team from Norfolk that could compete in the big leagues, and now all these guys are here and some of them are playing maybe out of position, and yet like people are like, well the pitching's bad to me. The defense doesn't make the place for them, and so then they get put in a position to give up a homer or not to get that strikeout when they would have been out of the inning.

00:04:40
Speaker 2: The defense has been abysmal this season. There's no way around it. It's this is an organization. We talked about it on my show locally on one of five seven a lot yesterday. This organization doesn't prioritize defense.

00:04:54
Speaker 4: They just haven't. They just they don't.

00:04:57
Speaker 2: And a big issue that you see in the minor leagues is they pride themselves on positional versatility. Well, if you can play multiple positions and you're not really good at either, what does it really matter?

00:05:09
Speaker 4: And you're yo yelling so.

00:05:10
Speaker 2: Many of these guys, where Kobe Mayo is a perfect example. He's clearly not a third basement. But you know that with how the roster is constructed and Jordan Westburg being hurt, you're trying to shove a square peg into a round hole there. But he's not a third baseman. This outfield defense is a mess. Taylor Ward has been fantastic as a batter this year, it's rough seeing him in the outfield. There's guys not covering second base that happened yesterday. And you can look at errors where I think they've made the fifth most errors in baseball. But guys, it's the plays that aren't ruled as errors, where you're giving guys an extra ninety feet and giving guys an extra out. It just can't happen. When you're a struggling ball club like this, you cannot afford to have the amount of self inflicted mistakes that they have. I was super concerned about this defense heading into the season.

00:06:04
Speaker 4: It's been much worse than expectations.

00:06:08
Speaker 7: Tim. You talked about the errors, and there's one thing.

00:06:10
Speaker 1: When you're making a physical error, you just can't get to a play or whatever reason. But when you're making mental errors, those are things that are going to keep managers up at night. You also mentioned Jordan Westburg diagnosed with that partially torn ligament. He's shut down from baseball activities. What do they do with him? What's the decision? Do they wait, do they have surgery? What happens with him?

00:06:31
Speaker 2: I think the writing's on the wall at this point when it comes to Jordan Westburg, where they just had to shut him again because he's been experiencing some elbow issues. I think it's Tommy John. It just always looks that way. The PRP shot is far from a certainty, and it sucks. It sucks for Jordan Westburg the player. It sucks for the Orioles the team because Jordan Westburg is the glue to this lineup. He is a former All Star. You can look at the numbers from the day Jordan Westburg got brought up in twenty twenty three to now. When he is in the lineup compared to when he is out of the lineup, the Orioles average close to half a run more with Jordan Westburg in the lineup. He's their most clutch player. You can look at his numbers with runners and scoring position. You can look at his numbers in Leyden close situations, he comes through, and he's also a very solid third baseman. I think it's unfortunate, but to me, the writing's on the wall. I think he's going to end up getting Tommy John and it's going to end his season.

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00:08:37
Speaker 6: This is the team. This team they went on and got pied Alonzo. They didn't make the big splash, and you know, free agency pitching wise that we thought they would. They got bas you know, they extended bos. This is the team it is now. Is Craig Albernaz or the people in the front office willing to make tough changes that needs to turn that this team needs to turn this team around in the sense of, you know what, maybe Gunner Henderson's not necessarily the big lead shortstop of the future. Would they be willing when Jackson comes Jackson Holliday comes back, moving Gunner to third and putting Jackson at short? Is he an upgrade at short because it seems like defensive metrics, the way he moves around the field. Possibly that would be a better connection. But does this team, whatever the moves are, are the people that are in charge of making those decisions willing to make those moves or are they stuck with what they have? And these guys just need to play better.

00:09:34
Speaker 2: I don't really see a lever that they can pull. And we know that Michael Aas has really struggled at the trade deadline pretty much every single year is general manager, especially as a buyer, he is not done enough to recognize the moment as a buyer. As far as Gunner moving him the third, I don't think Jackson Holliday can play shortstop at the major league level. I just don't think his arm is strong enough. Guys, Quite frankly, when you look at Jackson Holiday, if anyone's looking at him to be a savior, I don't think it's fair to him because we've seen him get shut down a couple of times with this ham a bone injury, and it's been very fascinating just watching the progress. Corby and Carrol Francisco Lindor, they both had the surgery the same time as Jackson Holiday. They both obviously have been back for quite some time. They were back for opening Day. Carrol's been great, Lindor's struggled, and Jackson Holiday he's still waiting to get back to his rehab assignment again. This will be his third time. He took BP yesterday in either double A affiliate, but they're waiting to see if that responds well and then they'll put him in a rehab stint this weekend. But you're talking about a twenty two year old kid that had no spring training that's going to be coming in in the middle of the season. And oh, by the way, the guy that's replaced him so far, Jeremiah Jackson's been a really pleasant surprise. I don't even know if Jackson was playing as well as Jeremiah Jackson last year at second base in terms of defensively and especially offensively. With what Jeremiah Jackson was providing, I think this is the club, guys, if they're looking for any reinforcements, I ready told you I don't think Jordan Westbrook's coming back. Ryan Helsley, it seems like they got good news on him in terms of that elbow injury.

00:11:26
Speaker 4: But this is the team. They need to figure it out.

00:11:30
Speaker 2: And what's going in their favor is the fact that the American League is just off to an awful start. There's three teams with winning records in the American League. But with that being said, this team can't afford to continue to dig themselves into a deep hole like last year.

00:11:48
Speaker 5: Tim.

00:11:48
Speaker 3: I mean, we know Jackson holiday. I was going to ask you where has he been Winsy coming back, because it's weird. I had a handmaid and it was four to six weeks and he's going on over too, well over two months now, so it's strange to me. Also, then my next question was going to be Jeremiah Jackson. How good has he been, that's been their newfound guy because he's been really good. Well, then, now that leads me to when Jackson Holiday does come back, you gotta play Jeremiah Jackson.

00:12:11
Speaker 5: Where do you put him? Because he's got to stay in the lineup. He's been too good.

00:12:15
Speaker 3: He's been one of the guys that's been totally consistent the entire year in Baltimore.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating because when we were talking at the beginning of the year and it looks like Jackson Holiday would be back mid April, and that's been far from the case at this point. Oh, Jeremiah Jackson would be the corresponding move, right, you'd send him down? Well, absolutely not. He's had some of the biggest hits for this team this year. I think at worst, it's a platoon situation. At second base, Jackson's right handed pat at Jackson Holiday is a left handed bat. Jeremiah Jackson does offer you some positional flexibility. He can play third base, he can play in the outfield. They're gonna find ways to keep that bat in the lineup because they have to. But I firmly expect that they're going to slow play Jackson Holiday when he does come back, and I just think expectations need to be tempered. And you were talking about the hamdmade injury. I think a lot of this is mental, man. I really think a lot of this is mental. When his last rehab assignment he was in Frederick the High A team. Then in his first game with the Tria A club in Norfolk, he ended up swinging, striking out. He thought that he broke his hand again. He ended up taking X rays. The x rays came back clean. I think a lot of this right now with Jackson Holiday is mental.

00:13:40
Speaker 7: Tim.

00:13:40
Speaker 1: You were talking about it on Birdland Territory a lot about would it matter or would DFA somebody defaing somebody or optioning somebody. Would that be a wake up call that this club desperately needs? And if so, I mean, is that even an option for people on this team.

00:14:00
Speaker 2: It was funny talking to Brad Brock about that and he was like, there was never a move in my career where that happened. And really light a fire under the clubhouse. And we've taken so many calls this week, man, like oh DFA, this guy send down Kobe Mayos send down Colden Cowser, Well, who are you bringing up? You know, you can look at the Orioles farm system right now. There's not a lot of top guys at the Triple A level. There's not many reinforcements on the way. Enrique Bradfield Junior, if you wanted to bring him up in the outfield, well, he's hurt, he's been on the il, he's been out the past couple of weeks. I just don't think there's this magic move that's going to snap this team into shape.

00:14:44
Speaker 4: I just they need to figure it out.

00:14:46
Speaker 2: Because I've been saying this month is gonna make or break this ball club because heading into May, they had one series against an AL East opponent, and that was the Red Sox. They lost that series two games to one. They combined seventeen games against the Yankees, the Rays, and the Blue Jays in the month of May, and then immediately to start June they have a series against the Red Sox and the Blue Jays. They're either gonna be buried or they're gonna tread water or maybe gain some ground. You were going to find out so much about this club by the end of May.

00:15:23
Speaker 3: By the way, what happened to all the prospects? They had so many position player prospects. What happened to them all? If they had all the guys, remember they oh, we're gonna send somebody down. We don't have anyone now to replace them. But I thought they had prospect on prospect on prospect. They had so many prospects and they never wanted to trade any of them because they were all such high value. And all of a sudden, they don't have any prospects.

00:15:43
Speaker 5: Wait, what happened?

00:15:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, Kyle Stouders and Counter Norby, they're seeing both of them with the Marlins. This is a tough spot, man, and the fan base. The fan base is pissed, and and you know, you can say that it's early, you can say that you're thirty six games in, but we saw this play out last year, and of course you got a lot of calls in the past couple of days. Michaelias needs to go, Michael Olias needs to go. I'll say this, there's a long way to go, and could they turn it around. Absolutely, But if you go in the worst case scenario and this team it finishes below five hundred. Again, if you would have told Michaelias eight years ago that you would be eight years in and you would not have a playoff win and you would be going backwards every single year since twenty twenty three, when he won one hundred one games, What would you consider that?

00:16:50
Speaker 4: And he would consider it a failure.

00:16:53
Speaker 2: And it's not that easy because of course there's a looming lockout.

00:16:57
Speaker 4: But this is unaccepted. There's no way around it.

00:17:01
Speaker 2: This is unacceptable year eight in this regime, when you had to tell a fan base at the beginning of this, hey, we're gonna tank, We're gonna suck for four years, lose over one hundred games in all those years to build a sustained winner, and for you to be going backwards since that high point in twenty twenty three, it's it's not acceptable.

00:17:24
Speaker 6: Some people, when I work construction, some people can build a house. Some people can do fine trim and to me, I think Michaelias can build a house, but you need somebody to make it look nice on the inside to win the championship. I'm gonna go completely opposite here. I'm going to go something positive. Of these three sluggers, Pete Alonzo, Adlie Ruchman and Samuel Bissio, who ends up having the more productive year at the plate with.

00:17:52
Speaker 5: Pete coming on hot.

00:17:55
Speaker 6: Adlee has been doing really well, and I think Basaiyo has been a little up and down, but I feel like he's trending up now.

00:18:01
Speaker 5: Who has the best year at the end of the.

00:18:04
Speaker 4: Season, That's a great question.

00:18:06
Speaker 2: Look Sam swinging a red hot bat right now. He was a home run away from the cycle last night. In that game, he ended up getting pinch hit for in the ninth inning and Craig alvern as he pushed the right button. Adley Rutschman came in hit the go ahead RBI single. Adley looks night and day, different man night and day, because the past year and a half it has been a serious struggle for him. He's looking like early career Adley. He's looking like all star Adley Rutchman. But if I had to choose from the three, and I do think all three will have good years, I am buying into Adlei Samuel Besi I was twenty one years old.

00:18:46
Speaker 4: His raw power is just stupid guys, But.

00:18:49
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna go with the guy with the track record, man like Pete Alonso. He got off to that really rough start, and I go back to it was the first game of the Giant Series a couple of weeks ago, and Pete meeting with the media was so emotional. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears. He was so upset taking this rough start, so personally saying he's letting everybody down, he's letting the team down, he's letting the city down. Since that point, guy's twenty two games, he's got a nine to forty ops, five homers, fourteen RBIs the Polar Bears back, and he was one of the only guys that showed up in that Yankee series, hitting two home runs, hitting a couple more extra base hits. I'm gonna roll with the guy with the track record, and that's Pete Alonso.

00:19:37
Speaker 8: You know, we don't always have to do things because that's how it's always been.

00:19:41
Speaker 3: Look, people consider me old school, and I thought I was, but then we had the pitch clock and the ABS and ban on shifts and all these things that we've had for a long time in baseball. And you know what, much like Mitt Mobile and the other mobile carriers, I'm here for the new school and the changes that have been made.

00:19:56
Speaker 5: It's a good call.

00:19:57
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00:20:36
Speaker 9: Get after at ftfam Spencer.

00:20:50
Speaker 7: It's great to be with you. Thank you for doing this.

00:20:53
Speaker 1: I'd rather hear your opinion on the matter because you were there, You're in the situation. We can pontificate as much as we want, but I would like to know your opinion on kind of what went down in that at bad against Trevor's story with with fromber on the Hill and and and you know what your what your opinion of it.

00:21:10
Speaker 10: Is, uh, yeah, I was there.

00:21:15
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean it's it's unfortunate obviously, but uh, I'm just glad nothing escalated and no one got hurt, and hopefully we can just move on and uh salvage the series today.

00:21:31
Speaker 3: Very very politically correct answer to Tork, I love it, and I just I'm not even gonna ask me about it because I saw you, I saw your back of your name. I just have one question for you. When you go in the clubhouse today, go to Joey Krer and say, Joey, why were you nowhere near anything that was happening. Joey cor was still standing in the third base coaching box like he was not allowed. So please ask Joey for me why he didn't get in the middle of it.

00:21:55
Speaker 10: I'll do that.

00:21:56
Speaker 11: I'll do that, and I Greeny was given McGonagall and said, if I ever beat you from left field again, you know we're gonna have a problem.

00:22:03
Speaker 5: Yes, exactly.

00:22:04
Speaker 3: That was always go to the tape and you look and see who's in the middle of it, and then there's always the one person like you see Hinches in the middle of it there, and you know, you know, Greeny beat mcgonaga's probably never been into anything like that, so he was like, what do I do? But Joey Korra, he was accused one time of biting a guy's leg in a famous fight in Chicago. So I know that he's got that chihuahua in him. So please just ask him why he didn't go, why he wasn't any part of it?

00:22:28
Speaker 10: All right, I didn't know that. That's good knowledge, Thank you.

00:22:31
Speaker 3: Yes, ask him if he still has John Mabray's leg tissue in his teeth.

00:22:38
Speaker 5: A right?

00:22:39
Speaker 10: That will?

00:22:40
Speaker 5: Hi?

00:22:41
Speaker 6: Like you're I mean, listen on Baseball Reference, you're six one twenty right now. Like I don't know what ABS says you are. You might be more like six foot or maybe six two, I don't know. But what guy do you pick out on the Red Sox when this happens because you can't like you can't go and like hold framber back. You're the first baseman, You're you're right in there. You got to get somebody from the dugout. Do you pick a guy like Urban who's short and little, or do you say, where's Garrett Crochet? I want all of that six seven right now?

00:23:20
Speaker 11: You know, I think when you're one of the first guys out there. You don't really get to pick. It's kind of the first one that that comes after your guy. But luckily nothing, none of that happened, and.

00:23:32
Speaker 10: We're all good.

00:23:32
Speaker 3: You know, nobody Hey, nobody wanted any part of Wilson ConTroll so I know the hitch was even.

00:23:39
Speaker 5: Like, hey, hey, hey, come down, Wilson, please calm down. No, no, no, yeah.

00:23:44
Speaker 6: Exactly is it talked about when you're playing the Red Sox that there is fear of Hey, control your signs, close your signs up, make sure you can't see him from first make sure you know the glove is covered up at second base? Do you hear that conversation? So your own defense looking for it before they were they've been accused of, you know, their their coaches being outside of the coaches box. Now they got to be in. Is that something as a first baseman you have to watch for when you play a team that's been accused of that stuff, like the Red Sox.

00:24:20
Speaker 10: You're definitely aware of it. It's not just the Red Sox.

00:24:23
Speaker 11: I feel like it's just part of the game at at all levels, but a lot a lot of the big league level. Any edge you can get, you know, even you know you don't, you don't want to, you know, pay too much attention to it because you still got to make pitches.

00:24:40
Speaker 10: I feel like.

00:24:41
Speaker 11: But there's nothing that's kind of exaggerated when you're playing the Red Sox. It's it's with every team. You want to hide your glove, you want to positioning, you don't want to you know, cheat two steps to your right too early or whatever it is because you know what what pitches co and are the catchers setting up earlier setting up late. It's just part of the game. And uh, I think it's something to be aware of regardless of regardless of who you're playing.

00:25:11
Speaker 10: But it's definitely a thing. I mean, big league.

00:25:14
Speaker 11: It's really hard to hit in the big leagues when you don't know what's coming. It's hard to hit when you do have something coming from second base.

00:25:21
Speaker 10: So uh yeah, all I want to know is this.

00:25:25
Speaker 3: When I saw you guys on Saturday, you and Riley, you guys have lockers next to each other. Okay, people don't know this. You guys were chowing down on gummy skittles.

00:25:33
Speaker 11: Was it Starbar's jelly beans?

00:25:36
Speaker 5: The Star jelly beans? That's a best.

00:25:40
Speaker 3: So what I want to know is did you keep them in your gu and Riley keep them in your pocket? And then when you need like a power pellet, you guys fire one in like Beast Mode used to do. And then is that why you finally got to the five homers and get five home runs in five games?

00:25:54
Speaker 5: Club? You know?

00:25:55
Speaker 3: Is that how you got to the to the club? So welcome to the club. High five?

00:25:59
Speaker 11: That that's a idea actually, but no, that's mostly just like we're bored.

00:26:04
Speaker 10: We got thirty minutes till a meeting and.

00:26:07
Speaker 11: We're not even hungry, and we got Starbus jelly beans right in our locker.

00:26:13
Speaker 10: But it's part of my wife's kind of partly to blame.

00:26:15
Speaker 11: She went to Costco like a month ago, brought that home and I'm like, absolutely not, No, this is not going to be in the kitchen. This is going into Greenies locker to have a little bit of discipline, all.

00:26:27
Speaker 6: Right, Spencer though that that brings up another point. I said something last week on the show that like probably was taken out of context, But if I told you you ate five jelly beans before every at bat, you would be you would have your hottest season of all time, would you do it? You're trying to be you're trying to be healthy. You're not trying to put stuff in Like how many jelly beans would you have to eat before each at bat? Where you'd be like, no, I can't do that, I can't survive. I gotta find another way.

00:26:59
Speaker 11: I use some great than five jelly beans before every ab what's the number?

00:27:03
Speaker 5: How many would you do? Thirty?

00:27:07
Speaker 10: Yeah? Without question?

00:27:09
Speaker 11: I I mean, I don't know what the number is, but jelly beans go down pretty easy.

00:27:18
Speaker 5: That's one hundred and jelly beans a day. Sorry, that's just a lot.

00:27:22
Speaker 1: Hundred and fifty jelly beans. Let's say, were you doing that when you had five straight games with the home run? What were you doing differently in those games that you weren't doing in the first twenty three?

00:27:32
Speaker 10: Uh?

00:27:34
Speaker 11: I see if I had an answer for you, I I wish I did, like I wish I could put some finger on it. But everything kind of lined up. You know, I was always seeing the ball well before the homers. I was putting good swings on the ball. I just some some weird about baseball is you know, you don't see a home run, see the ball leave the yard or you don't feel that swing in a while and then all of a sudden you feel it and it's just that much easy to repeat. But there's nothing, there's nothing that that I changed or started doing or didn't do. Is samness is greatness.

00:28:17
Speaker 3: Tork I got one more of jelly bean question for you. Have you been the universal and had the everything beans from Harry Potter that they saw the jelly beans?

00:28:25
Speaker 10: Of course? Yeah?

00:28:26
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:28:26
Speaker 3: What if you just had to pick five random ones and like one was barf and one was you know, bo and then three of them still you would still do it?

00:28:35
Speaker 10: Doesn't matter? Yeah, okay, okay, that's fair.

00:28:37
Speaker 3: I just I just didn't know if it had to be just starbars jelly beans.

00:28:43
Speaker 6: No, okay, you'll do anything for some knocks, But talk about it.

00:28:49
Speaker 5: Talk about that streak. Did you guys have an off day in there?

00:28:53
Speaker 6: Was it something that you were like, there's no Was there a point where you did it realize?

00:28:58
Speaker 5: Was it three games in a row you were like, oh man, tomorrow I could hit four in a row.

00:29:04
Speaker 6: Like did it start to become like nerve wracking? Not because you were like getting close to like a record or anything, but you start talking about guys who have a twenty game hit streak, a thirty game hit streak, five homer streak is incredible. Even if AJ did it, which he wasn't that great of a home run hit or he was just he was just annoying. That was the big that was his biggest superpower.

00:29:27
Speaker 10: No off days.

00:29:29
Speaker 11: I don't think no no off days. I didn't really notice anything until but I think after the fourth I was like, oh, I feel like I've hit a home run like pretty consistently. And then the fifth day I kind of had it on my mind. I'm like, dude, what are we doing? Like why? Why doesn't matter? I don't need to hit a home run today. And I felt free up there, and my swing felt good and my I was seeing the ball well and I just put good swings on the ball, and another one, and then game six. We did have an off day in Atlanta before the six game, where I obviously didn't hit a home run, and.

00:30:12
Speaker 10: There was not a lot of pressure on myself to go out and.

00:30:17
Speaker 11: Hit another one, other than I really would have liked to, because hitting home runs is one of the most fun things to do in the entire world.

00:30:24
Speaker 10: But nothing crazy.

00:30:27
Speaker 7: That's when you don't want an off day. All right.

00:30:29
Speaker 1: I have to ask you about the rock of the staff, Terrek Scooble, what was that like for you, torqu when you guys heard that he was hit in the il because you guys, obviously I would imagine love when he takes the ball every fifth day. I mean, did the win just kind of go out of your sales when you heard that news?

00:30:47
Speaker 10: It definitely hurts.

00:30:48
Speaker 11: I mean, all of our guys we love and care about and that are, you know, help us win a lot of baseball games.

00:30:54
Speaker 10: And especially our horror Scoop.

00:30:58
Speaker 11: I think I definitely hurt as a group, but we got to just kind of attack it with the next man up, and you know, it's a long year to play one hundred and sixty games for a reason. He's gonna be back and he's gonna be better than ever we believe, and I mean he's one of the most resilient people I've ever met, So there's no doubt in my mind that he's going to be back with a vengeance.

00:31:20
Speaker 10: And gonna help us make a deep playoff. Bush.

00:31:24
Speaker 5: Were you on the field when he called Dangler out?

00:31:28
Speaker 10: Yep?

00:31:29
Speaker 6: When that mound visit happened? Did you think anything of it? Because I honestly have never seen a picture tell his catcher hold my glove and then like work his elbow out and then go out and strike the next three dudes out and be like okay, like like what was that conversation when you were on the man?

00:31:49
Speaker 5: What did you hear?

00:31:49
Speaker 6: What did you hear him saying? Or how did it end up that he stayed in the game after he did all that?

00:31:57
Speaker 10: It was scary.

00:31:57
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean whenever a picture he kind of calls time and grabs his arm, it's like, all right, what's going on? Very scary, and then you obviously add scoom to that, it's it's probably even more scary. But yeah, I mean he's a horse that shows you uh type of competitor he is. Because but I didn't really hear much of the conversation. He tried to give them as much space as possible with the with skip and the training staff, and but he's I think he just said he just felt something weird and needed a second, and then obviously took a second through a couple you know, warm up pitches and then punch punch more tickets, which is unbelievable with actually what was going.

00:32:42
Speaker 3: On, Spencer, I got to ask you about your shortstop mcgonag. Yeah, have you ever seen a rookie that can do what he does with his skill set? I mean he's he's better defensively than I thought when I watched him play this past weekend. His contact rate is obviously unbelievable. He's a little guy that takes big swings. It's not like he's up there. You know, people think he's Luisa Rise and he's just kind of that in the ball around. I mean, this dude, he loads it up and he takes big swings.

00:33:10
Speaker 5: Have you ever seen anybody with this skill set this young.

00:33:14
Speaker 10: No, I I haven't.

00:33:15
Speaker 11: I mean he's he's an absolute gamer and that yeah, good point.

00:33:19
Speaker 10: On the glove.

00:33:20
Speaker 11: I mean I never really watched him play, just saw his statistics and through the minor leagues and obviously danged. I think some people had questions like where's he gonna play? He can play anywhere, and I have, you know, full confidence in wherever he is, whether he's shortstop or third base or anything. But I mean that the types of swings that he takes consistently with that contact rate is uh.

00:33:49
Speaker 10: Special. I mean you can't teach it. He sees the ball better.

00:33:54
Speaker 11: Than anyone obviously, hand eye coordination unreal, and then he's always balance. It seems like he's taken absolute g hacks, but he's controlled to controlled GI hack and he has some serious pop.

00:34:08
Speaker 1: Did you have conversations with him, Spencer about just being you know, an overall top pick and just the expectations that come with being that highly regarded. Did you guys have conversations about that, because you obviously shared in that and that same type of thing.

00:34:24
Speaker 11: To be honest, he didn't really need any conversation. He's uh, he's just an absolute competitor. And I don't know if he feels much pressure with the expectations that were put on him, you know, before the season, then obviously now after signing extension.

00:34:40
Speaker 10: He doesn't really show it.

00:34:42
Speaker 11: I think he plays extremely hard and he has a plan and that that probably distracts any expectation that he might put on himself. But I think the only conversations we had were in spring training where he's like, Bro, they haven't told me I made the team yet.

00:34:58
Speaker 10: I'm like, dude, shut up, you made the team. Just you're not gonna.

00:35:01
Speaker 11: Tell you yet, but you gotta don't be done here. You're one of our best players, like we need you on this team. Just stay healthy and keep grinding because you made the team.

00:35:14
Speaker 5: All right.

00:35:14
Speaker 6: I got a two part question. First part is what kind of rookie is he? Because everybody sees how perfect he is on the field, but you guys as a team give him a hard time. And the second part is when's that meal coming? Because I heard you guys were supposed to go and have the meal that he was gonna pay for every guy's extension, but conveniently you guys had a rein out or the game got delayed.

00:35:40
Speaker 10: Yep, he's been an awesome rookie.

00:35:44
Speaker 11: He asked questions, and we all give him a hard time just because that's what you do. But he wears it, and I mean, he's an unbelievable dude. That dinner, yeah, that dinner is not going to be forgotten. We're gonna we're gonna get that done. And we have some wealthy players that know how to order, you know, wealthy wine. So I feel bad for him, but you know, it's what that's what he deserves, and we're gonna do it right.

00:36:12
Speaker 5: Tork, let's move.

00:36:14
Speaker 3: You know what, we haven't really talked about We haven't talked about you enough, So I want to talk about you for a second.

00:36:18
Speaker 5: Here.

00:36:19
Speaker 3: Do you and Riley Green feed off each other? Because you got every time I see one of y'all, I see the other one. So I see you, I see Riley. It's like one of you guys has following the other one to the cage or to eat or eating jelly beans or whatever. Do you guys just sit around all day twenty four to seven and just talk baseball and talk swings and talk hitting and talk baseball because I've never I've honestly, every time I've been around the Detroit Tigers, it has been Spencer Tarklesen and Riley Green. I mean, you guys are like this. It's like, woo, you guys can't more than five feet. It's like you guys have a magnet and bring yourself back together.

00:36:53
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean we're best friends.

00:36:55
Speaker 11: It I mean ever since I got drafted, we went to the alt site, we've been, Uh, we've developed a relationship. And I mean he's he was in my wedding. He's he's my guy, and uh, we're not always talking baseball. We're talking golf, and he not always baseball. You'd be surprised how not often we talk baseball, but uh no, we uh we have a good time, and I think we do feed off each other, whether it's you know, in the cage or on the field or you know, we're always challenging each other and kind of making a little friendly competition with each other.

00:37:35
Speaker 10: So, I mean, he's he's easy to root for too, So, uh he's my guy.

00:37:41
Speaker 6: What's the one shot that he takes at you? And what's the one shot that you take at him?

00:37:47
Speaker 5: Uh?

00:37:50
Speaker 11: I feel like he's always telling me. He's like, bro, you need to just use the whole field. I'm like Greening, I'm trying. I'm trying, and uh, I don't know. I feel like I sometimes get on him. I'm like green if you're if you're late to another hitters count heater, like we're gonna call.

00:38:10
Speaker 10: But it's just it's friendly banter.

00:38:12
Speaker 11: It's nothing crazy, Spencer.

00:38:16
Speaker 1: We appreciate it, man, it's been a while since we've had you on the show. Always appreciate you taking the time, being a good sport. I know AJ and Eric like to give you grief, but you're a you're a good sport about it.

00:38:25
Speaker 7: We appreciate it. Thanks for coming on, best to luck, to you guys.

00:38:28
Speaker 10: Thank you