Reds closer Emilio Pagán and starter Brady Singer @Reds camp

00:00:02
Speaker 1: The closer is here. Emilio Pagan back with the Reds. So, first off, congrats on the contract. And now you're back in spring training with a team that I know really had a great time with last year and had a banger of a season.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: So tell us how it all went down for you this offseason.

00:00:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was awesome.

00:00:20
Speaker 4: You know, free agencies has been fun for me the two times I've been a free agent, and definitely knew I wanted to be back here in Cincinnati and playing for Tito and the staff. You're right, I had a great time. Our our clubhouse here is awesome, probably one of the closest nick groups I've been a part of, which is special. You know, it doesn't come around often, and so I knew I wanted to be back on the team that. You know, we got a taste of the playoffs for our young group, our young guys that hadn't been there before, and with our starting pitching man, I really feel like we can make a run at the division and hopefully make a deeper run into the playoffs.

00:00:55
Speaker 5: What was it like being annointed the closer? Kind of I don't want to say. In the it was kind of the middle of the year kind of thing, right, you kind of just pick over that role. Was that different for you? And then I mean the way you finished was unbelievable.

00:01:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I've always felt like I could do that role. You know, I had a decent run with Tampa and nineteen when I played with Cratzy, which was awesome, a lot of fun, but really our best two arms that year were you know, Diego Castillo and Jose Alvarado and and I just kind of got hot at the right time.

00:01:24
Speaker 3: They were both a little banged up.

00:01:26
Speaker 4: And then had another shot at it in Minnesota in twenty two and got a guy by Joan Durant throwing one hundred and five and I'm looking down like, why am I throwing the ninth in it? This guy is a cheat code out here, And so very quickly he took over that role, and you know, we had a we had a good run there when I was with the Twins, and then you know, I signed here and you know, Alexis Dias been one of the most consistent closers percentage wise over the last few seasons, and uh, he was banged up a little bit in spring training and I got a chance to close a couple of games early and and then Tito texts me and goes, hey, you know, I like what you're doing. You're my guy, And so I just tried to have fun with it this time around, you know, not not really make the role any bigger than it is, put any pressure on myself. Just go get three outs and enjoy doing it. And I had a blast. So hopefully I can, you know, do something similar, if not better this year.

00:02:18
Speaker 6: Is it the same? Is the ninth inning the same? Because everybody says it's just another inning?

00:02:26
Speaker 4: Uh no, it's not. It definitely doesn't feel the same. But I tried to make it in my head feel the same, if that makes sense. Like I tried to just my job is to go execute pitches at a high level, and if I felt like if I did that, then I was okay with whatever the result was. You know, if I blew the game, but I felt like I threw well, I wasn't gonna be more upset than if I pitched bad and got lucky. And you know, the hitters just mispitches to hit. So that's the kind of the way I tried to approach it. And for me, I'm not going to speak for everybody that does that role. For me, that was the way that I can make it feel like every other inning. But there's definitely heightened intensity, there's definitely heightened nerves.

00:03:10
Speaker 3: I'm old enough and been.

00:03:12
Speaker 4: Around long enough now that I'm not afraid to admit that, Yeah, I'm nervous running out there, But I feel like nerves are a good thing.

00:03:18
Speaker 3: It means that you care.

00:03:19
Speaker 4: It means that you're excited to go, you know, and do the best at the opportunity you're given.

00:03:24
Speaker 2: And so.

00:03:25
Speaker 4: I definitely wouldn't have been able to admit that when I played with you Crassey, I was definitely trying to be the tough guy that was saying no, I'm not worried about it, But now that I've been around it, I don't worry about it anymore.

00:03:36
Speaker 5: As the closer going into twenty twenty six, do you get a cool walker? You mentioned Heuran Douran the coolest walkouts up?

00:03:43
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:03:44
Speaker 5: Do you get one of those this year? And have you figured it out if you are?

00:03:47
Speaker 7: Yeah?

00:03:47
Speaker 4: So they I feel like the Reds did a pretty good job with mine last year. And there's definitely some talks about some stuff that's going on. Can you give us a hint, I'll give you a hint. Yeah, I'll give you a hint. I'm a big WWE fan. And so they're some WWE sound bites. There's some WWE music last year. I started with Cody Rhoades and I finished with Roman Reigns. There's a little bit going on that that could make it a pretty cool entrance.

00:04:12
Speaker 5: Okay, well, then who's your guy? Sorry, Grozzy, Yeah, Who's Who's your guy? Then Cody Roads?

00:04:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think Cody's got probably the best song. But if I'm if I'm sitting down on the couch watching Monday Night Raw, I'd probably say that I get the most excited when Roman Raine is out there.

00:04:30
Speaker 5: Okay, and then and then one more follow Crotzy sorry on this because obviously everyone knows I'm a wrestling guy.

00:04:36
Speaker 7: Do you like it on Netflix?

00:04:38
Speaker 5: Because for me, I used to like it when it was on linear table because I could not I didn't have to sit and watch it right, and then the commercials come on. I could fast forward through the commercials. Yeah, But now on Netflix you can't fast forward through the commercials, so you're stuck yeah, watching them.

00:04:52
Speaker 3: I do like it though, because we play on Monday nights. True. I mean, so it's like, you know, a lot of time.

00:04:57
Speaker 4: You know, Jose Travino's a big w W guy, and so we would finish the game and everybody'd come over to my hotel room and we'd throw on Netflix and watch One Night Roll.

00:05:05
Speaker 3: So I like that fact. But you're right.

00:05:08
Speaker 4: But you know, I grew up with that on USA Network. Yeah, that was to me where I fell in love with it. But having the ability to go back and watch it is nice.

00:05:18
Speaker 1: Hold up, hold up, AJ, we can talk offline. I can still help you skip commercials. So Melio, maybe you and me have something else figured out in the rest of the world.

00:05:27
Speaker 2: No, you can, you can. I promise you. You can watch that thing commercial free. I promise you.

00:05:33
Speaker 7: Yeah, but how much more do you gotta pay? Scott? I mean, we're not going to take anything there. We go.

00:05:38
Speaker 1: Well, okay, right now we're talking to a guy who just got a nice lucrative contract.

00:05:42
Speaker 2: So anyway, Crat, you're up.

00:05:44
Speaker 6: All I was gonna say was, do you realize that you're super close to wrestling greatness? AJ has a.

00:05:52
Speaker 7: Belt numerous multiple multiplet.

00:05:55
Speaker 6: Well, you have one, you have one real belt that you won the Royal Rumble, right, that's the.

00:06:02
Speaker 7: No no, no, no.

00:06:03
Speaker 5: So I have one from TNA that I wanted to beat the ship out of a guy with a home plate. And then I have I was presented the e c W from Tommy Dreamer.

00:06:14
Speaker 3: No way.

00:06:14
Speaker 5: And then I also have the Spinner. Edge is a buddy of mine. Okay, so I did when they were doing the guest host I did raw the Price is Right with Bob Barker and they had a whole lot of the crowd and uh so they gave me the rated R star when they had the Spin.

00:06:32
Speaker 7: Yeah that's sweet.

00:06:33
Speaker 4: So yeah, last year I ordered a whole bunch of ww T shirts and Edge was one of them.

00:06:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, and uh you know that was I.

00:06:41
Speaker 4: Would have liked four or five of Edge, four or five of John Cena, Shawn Michaels Triple H and the d of gave him around the whole clubhouse.

00:06:48
Speaker 3: And so yeah, I was a big Edge fan.

00:06:49
Speaker 5: As long as you don't come out to the stone cold. No, no, that's overplayed, okay, good, good, all right, we're good.

00:06:55
Speaker 6: Who would who would win in a cage match?

00:06:57
Speaker 7: You were Travino?

00:07:00
Speaker 4: I mean I'm never going to say another man's gonna beat me in a fight. Uh yeah, I'm gonna say me on that one.

00:07:06
Speaker 7: Are you a face or a heel?

00:07:07
Speaker 3: Though?

00:07:11
Speaker 4: I think it depends on the pop you know, like fans, if you don't get a pop coming out, you gotta go heal right, But if you get a pop, then you're you gotta play the face card.

00:07:23
Speaker 3: It just depends on the fan reaction. I think there's an art to it.

00:07:25
Speaker 5: Listen, I've done both. I've played both. Way more fun being the heel. So the first year when I did TNA, I was I was the face. I was the good guy.

00:07:33
Speaker 3: Okay.

00:07:33
Speaker 5: So I came out and I helped and we won, right, And the next year I got to do the heel and I got to beat up David Eckstein and his brother Rick Gosh okay, and it was way more fun. You can say anything and you get a reaction. It's much harder to be the nice guy and get a reaction.

00:07:50
Speaker 3: But like David, are we talking aj styles TNA?

00:07:53
Speaker 7: Yes?

00:07:53
Speaker 3: Wow, Yes sick.

00:07:55
Speaker 5: David xtey wrote a children's book and in the ring, I ripped it up in his face and I was like this is garbage, and I threw it at.

00:08:01
Speaker 7: Him and so we got to beat it.

00:08:03
Speaker 5: We couldn't touch David because he was you know, World Series Mvpright, we got to beat up Rick, who at the time wasn't a big league kidting coach yet, but he was my bullpenk catcher when I played for the Twins, so I had a relationship with him.

00:08:16
Speaker 7: I we got to beat the crap out of him.

00:08:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, that's cool.

00:08:20
Speaker 7: So it's much more fun to be.

00:08:22
Speaker 6: All right, Well, let's talk about not beating the crap out of other people and teams. You guys, your run to the playoffs last year. I was texting with House, your third base coach, throughout September, and he kept texting me like the same thing. He's like, why couldn't we do it? What was the mantra in that clubhouse? Like, obviously, you guys have to be watching the Mets and the collapse that they had, But what was the like constant day in and day out talk for you guys, considering Ellie was essentially playing on one leg and you guys were trying to make the playoffs.

00:09:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, uh, I think Ellie plan on one leg was kind of a positive for us. I mean, this guy is easily our best player and has a ton to play for. Obviously, with the news that come out, Uh you know, whether it's true or not, you know, I haven't asked him, but you get you get offered over a quarter of a billion dollars and you turn it down, like this guy's got a lot to play for, and it just shows how much he cares about our guys, you know what I mean. It shows how much he cares about this organization, how much he wants to win, knowing that, you know, we're better on the field if he's out there then than not having him out there and so him playing through what he was playing through. There was other guys who were banged up, and uh, you're right, you know there we didn't ever really come to the field and feel like we were out of it.

00:09:46
Speaker 3: There was definitely.

00:09:47
Speaker 4: Outside noise people that were saying that, you know, it wasn't our year that you know, maybe next year this or that, or it's gonna take a miracle to get there. We never bought into it. We felt like we had a chance to win every day. You look at our starting rotation, what they were able to do the amount of innings they were able to cover for us, we feel confident, man, and having Tito, I mean, you guys all know Tito, Like, this guy is better than anybody I've been around in baseball at coming to the field not worried about yesterday's results or how we're going to get through today and save arms for tomorrow. He just only focuses on how we're going to win today's game, which is a very good quality to have as a baseball player and probably the number one quality to have in my opinion as a manager. Just being focused solely on today's game and how we're gonna play our best brand at baseball that day. And so we never got two up or two down with the whole process of September. Yeah, we were definitely watching the other teams that we were battling with, but we tried to stay as focused on us as we could, and and it worked out for us.

00:10:55
Speaker 6: Talk about your manager, Talk about Tito, Like, do you have any good funny Tito story, Because I've heard he's mellowed since he had all the health stuff and now he's come back and he thinks he's a supermodel because he lost a couple pounds, Like, does he do you have any good stories because he had a history before he came to Cincinnati and he kind of just got dropped right into that clubhouse.

00:11:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I think some of the best stories are stories from before he got here. You know, there's definitely some stories about stuff that went on last year. I don't know if he wants me to share any of them, so I won't be in that. I have a ton of respect for Tito, but yeah, he's a He's a great time to have as a manager. He's obviously still super, super intense and wants to win, super competitive, and I'm incredibly grateful to have the chance to play for him. I mean, you can see with the way he goes about his business, how he communicates to every player in the clubhouse, you can see why he's gonna end up in the Hall of Fame when he's done.

00:11:58
Speaker 1: Amilio, can you explain to the crowd why your game, your style works in Cincinnati. I remember when you first signed with the Reds and some analysts were like, oh, extreme flyball, line drive guy in Cincinnati, Why would the Reds target a pitcher like this?

00:12:14
Speaker 2: And then look at the year that you just came off of.

00:12:17
Speaker 1: It also helps when you strike out the world and you mastered the splitter a little bit more. But just wanted to get your take on, you know, why it's worked for you and what you've learned from pitching in that park and making yourself even better.

00:12:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I think the biggest thing is I've stopped kind of buying into the flyball thing. You know, there was a little there was a couple of years there in the middle of my career where I was trying to avoid the home run, you know, and so I was throwing more off speed pitches. I was trying to, you know, get to the bottom of the zone a little bit more consistently, and from what I've experienced and found out, like that leads to more homers for me. And so I stopped like really worrying about the ball going in the air and just tried to pitch the way I've pitched my whole life, you know, even as a kid, Like for some reason, when I pitched on the mound, I just was able to command the top.

00:13:07
Speaker 3: Of the zone.

00:13:09
Speaker 4: It wasn't until you know, really a few years into my professional career career with analytics that I found out why with my you know, low approach angle and the carry on my fastball, and so it's good to have those numbers, but I've I've kind of stopped looking at all of it and just gone back to I'm gonna play baseball. I'm gonna do what the game's telling me to do and not try and overthink this. And I found that when I try to get the hitter to swing at every pitch, that's when i'm my best. And so you're right, Great American Ballpark gives up some homers. I'm still gonna give up homers.

00:13:43
Speaker 3: I'm not.

00:13:44
Speaker 4: I'm not afraid to admit that. I know it's gonna happen as part of the game, as part of my game. But I feel like if I just stay aggressive with my fastball and and you're right, Scot, the splitter has really opened up a lot of different ways for me to get hitters out. That's my best route to success. And so that's what I'm gonna That's what I'm gonna stick with.

00:14:01
Speaker 7: You also had a cutter, right, So.

00:14:03
Speaker 4: I've always thrown I called a cutter because I hold it like a cutter. But I'm not I'm not a great breaking ball thrower, and so I hold it like a cutter to get more of like a slider action. Every traditional slider group I've tried it, it just kind of pops out of my hand. And so no matter how much it moves, you know that if you can see it early, it's a bad pitch. And so every time I tried to throw a traditional slider, it was an easy take out of hand, or it was really loud and that's not good for pictures. And so I hold it as a cutter. And I've done that since probably middle of twenty nineteen until.

00:14:37
Speaker 7: Now got it.

00:14:38
Speaker 5: No WBC for you this year? You played the last couple of years for Puerto Rico. Yeah, couldn't get insurance.

00:14:43
Speaker 4: Or no that I I guess the insurance thing is new, or if it's not new, I did a poor job of looking into it. I never I've never had insurance for the WBC, not at least not that I'm aware of.

00:14:55
Speaker 3: No, just being that I'm.

00:14:57
Speaker 4: Turning thirty five this year, the Reds have invested a lot in me. I feel like we've got a chance to be a special team. I just didn't feel good about going back and playing you know, I've told the guys with Puerto Rico like, I'm obviously super, super thankful for my time. I've represented them three times now, back in twenty fifteen in the Premiere twelve and then the WBC the last two times, and I've said this a number of times. I don't think without the WBC in seventeen, I have the career that I've had. I was not on the radar, I was not a top prospect. I wasn't even invited to major League camp that year with Seattle, and so that WBC definitely changed the path.

00:15:39
Speaker 3: Of my career and I'm forever grateful for that.

00:15:43
Speaker 4: I just felt like it was my time to kind of step away and like, you know, let another young guy that was in my shoes have a shot at it.

00:15:50
Speaker 1: Well, let me clear one thing up, So anyone that's playing in the WBC does have insurance. Whether you know it or not, it gets covered by the tournament. You do probably some type of intro physical at some point, you know, leading up to that tournament. So my last question on this is it was a big deal when we found out that many of the players representing Puerto Rico that did want to be there this year couldn't ye because of insurance issues. So you know, what are your feelings when you have such an affinity to Puerto Rico and they're going to get to host games and hey, they've still got some talent on there. It's not like there's nobody. It's just that you're missing some key players. And actually some of them ended up getting hurt. Anyway, like Lindor who ends up getting hurt. The insurance part doesn't matter, but just your thoughts on you know how Puerto Rico feels about, you know, missing some of their key guys.

00:16:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, number one, it sucks.

00:16:42
Speaker 4: If you'd have told me that that that group we had in seventeen, you know, over the course of our career we weren't going to win the WBC, I would have told you were crazy.

00:16:49
Speaker 3: I thought for sure we were going to win one.

00:16:52
Speaker 4: Not saying that they can't win it this year, but a lot of the main guys you're right, aren't going to be there. And Puerto Rico Baseball, there's plenty of talent on that island. Uh, They're gonna be just fine. Uh, it'll be names that maybe guys don't know yet. One of them in our clubhouse. Edwin Arroyo, this kid is a stud and uh he's gonna be a really good player for a long time. And so I've already been on him about and I saw Edwin, Edwin Diaz already has his hair, uh you know, bleach blonde, and so I'm on, I'm on Edwin here Arroyo to get his hair bleach. But he's got a lot of hair, so he does him. I'm not sure he's looking forward to that, but uh, yeah, Puerto Rico baseball is gonna be fine.

00:17:30
Speaker 3: It is sad, uh for the for.

00:17:33
Speaker 4: The Puerto Rican Baseball Federation and for the island, for the fans that you know, a lot of their big name guys aren't gonna be playing, but uh it's a chance for the guys that maybe are not as well known to show how talented they are because there's plenty of good players on that roster.

00:17:46
Speaker 2: Still, yeah, good point.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: Next Emelio could emerge there where all of a sudden, you know, he has a break out, and then you see him in the WBC and then you see him in MLB. Millio, thank you so much for joining us. Always really really appreciate the time and the conversation. Good luck season, We'll talk.

00:18:00
Speaker 3: To you soon. Yeah, thanks, Gush, appreciate you having me on.

00:18:03
Speaker 1: We have Brady Singer from the Reds. Brady, great to see you. Happy spring training to you. Do you have any tricks up your sleeve working on anything special for us this spring?

00:18:11
Speaker 8: Hey, guys, how you doing? No, not nothing, nothing too crazy. Just trying to sharpen everything, get built up and get ready to go. But no, no new pitches, No, nothing like that. A few mechanical changes, but not just trying to make everything everything better and stay healthy for the whole year.

00:18:27
Speaker 7: No like curveball, like big slow epis curveball.

00:18:30
Speaker 8: No, No, I've been thinking about it though, I've I've thought about it for sure, But no, no new No, totally new pitches. Just trying to make some other things a little bit better than they were before. Starts like you that, So I'm gonna I'm gonna try to do that every try to do it again.

00:18:44
Speaker 7: How do you do that? What's it like?

00:18:46
Speaker 5: Because you're one of the few guys that really does take the ball everything. That's one of your greatest strengths, and I think that's one of the greatest strengths that any pitcher can have.

00:18:55
Speaker 7: Yeah, I just I don't know.

00:18:56
Speaker 8: I grew up just watching those guys just make their starts every time. It's just really cool to see the guys that went out there and pitch every every game and through a.

00:19:05
Speaker 3: Lot of innings.

00:19:06
Speaker 8: I feel like there were, you know, guys that teams relied on and stuff like that. And but yeah, no, I just I enjoy kind of being that, being that guy that has made that starts and just obviously thankful to be healthy as long as I have and make those starts.

00:19:19
Speaker 3: But yeah, just I don't know.

00:19:21
Speaker 7: They pay you to go out.

00:19:22
Speaker 8: There and pitch, so I go out there and pitch as much as I can, no matter how I feel.

00:19:26
Speaker 6: So they're getting their money's worth. But obviously you've got a free agency coming up, and is there any other way to possibly do it for you? Because people are like, oh, man, you know this guy, he's just so much better when he only makes twenty four starts. So the team's only really relying on twenty four starts. Could you could Brady see her come out and be like, yeah, I'll just throw one hundred and two miles an hour, but I'm only gonna make seventeen starts, like, could it be possible? Could you possibly do it any other way than what you do it?

00:19:56
Speaker 3: No?

00:19:57
Speaker 8: Probably not. If I could throw one hundred two miles an hour, I would. I would try to do that for sure, But I can. I can't do that. No, I just know I like, I like who I am. I mean, obviously, you know, trying to continue to get better each and every day and work on stuff and all that and try to put together really good starts. But I really enjoy throwing a lot of innings and making every start that I can't.

00:20:19
Speaker 1: Hey, Brady talked to me last year about the pitch mix. I think you threw less sliders last year than you did the year before.

00:20:26
Speaker 2: So what went into that? More? What else did you have here?

00:20:30
Speaker 1: I'm looking through the mix here more sweepers, cutter percentage went up, So what went into that?

00:20:35
Speaker 2: And who helps you decide that?

00:20:37
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:20:38
Speaker 8: You know, I brought up a four team too to th dough that a little bit last year is something I haven't thrown in the pass just kind of because of my arm soot, I felt like I couldn't really, you know, get the right grip on it and make it do what I wanted to do, but I figured out that a little bit was able to throw that kind of up in his own, and then the cutter was huge. Just trying to get something to keep lefties off off balance there. I feel like, you know, I could use the sinker and the slider inside and then use it away, but having the cutter kind of going into him, I was kind of focusing on it up and end like that really helped me a lot. And yeah, mixing the sweeper in and the slider as well, just kind of playing those two off each other, I feel like helped me a lot.

00:21:16
Speaker 7: And I guess what I understand, Like a slider and a sweeper, they seem like they're the.

00:21:21
Speaker 3: Same pitch minor and in general in general.

00:21:24
Speaker 8: I mean, the sweeper has a bigger horizontal break, so it's sliders more yeah, more like gy yeah more gyro, like a tighter, tighter break. That's what you know, we're trying to do is make it have a bigger one and a shorter one. And usually the slider is supposed to be hard. Last year mine we're kind of the same velocity, so we're trying to fix out a little bit, throw a little bit harder slider this year, then use the sweeper as kind of a slower, bigger see.

00:21:49
Speaker 7: You cut you could this is like where the old school.

00:21:52
Speaker 5: Yeah no, no, I might do yeah slider call like a micro slider.

00:21:56
Speaker 7: Yeah yeah.

00:21:56
Speaker 5: The cutter yeah right, so then you're like, oh, you throw a cutter. Yeah, like no, that's my slider. And then the cutters, like the cutter has carry carry.

00:22:04
Speaker 8: Cut so you want to yeah, that's that's the cutter and the slider has.

00:22:11
Speaker 7: Confused.

00:22:11
Speaker 3: I was.

00:22:12
Speaker 8: I was very confused a long time ago when all this came out, for sure, But I've kind of got some of it figured out.

00:22:17
Speaker 7: Now.

00:22:17
Speaker 8: There's obviously a whole nother realm that I have no idea, but yeah, there's you know, you want the slider and the cutter to be definitely different.

00:22:25
Speaker 6: Is Citizen I mean that as Citizen's Bank, Great American small park a pictures park because we had a whole segment earlier in the off season. Do you think it's a pictures park now?

00:22:35
Speaker 7: I don't know.

00:22:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:22:36
Speaker 4: No.

00:22:36
Speaker 8: Last year I saw that it that it did play like that, which I obviously enjoyed, but no, I thought it. I thought it played fine last year and I didn't see many crazy home runs that you know I've heard about in the past, anything like that. So yeah, I enjoyed the park last year. Was it was awesome. Fans were great too. It was a really cool atmosphere, yeah.

00:22:56
Speaker 5: Which is definitely a pictures and you heard all the things about, you know, great American ballpark, right, so what changed?

00:23:03
Speaker 7: Did you guys up the humidity and the humid door and yeah, I don't know.

00:23:06
Speaker 3: I have nothing, nothing to do with that.

00:23:08
Speaker 7: I have no idea.

00:23:09
Speaker 3: No, I have no idea.

00:23:11
Speaker 8: It's yeah, I think it played pretty true and that was nice. But I did go to I did go back to Coffin this year and pitch and gave up some really long fly balls that I thought would have at Homer. It's a great American so that was nice to be in that park that day.

00:23:25
Speaker 3: It was great.

00:23:26
Speaker 8: Yeah, I know, the fans gave me a little welcome back. And obviously seeing all the guys, you know, I grew up there.

00:23:31
Speaker 7: I guess you could say, you know, out of the drafts and all that.

00:23:34
Speaker 8: So yeah, it was awesome to go back and and see the fans and you know, all the old players and get to talk to everyone. And you know, you just you meet so many people going through there and all the all the cooks and all the people that work and all that stuff.

00:23:46
Speaker 5: Got off the elevator because the coffin you go down, you go down the elevator, you go the wrong way at first. No, No, I went over to you come out and go right to go to the home.

00:23:55
Speaker 7: You left to go to the visit. So did you accidentally I leaned a little bit, uh whatever.

00:24:01
Speaker 8: I talked to some of the security guys over there that you know, have been there for a while, so it was good to see them.

00:24:05
Speaker 5: That's awesome. WBC is coming up. You pitched in it last time. Did they invite you this year? Did you did you get any interest in going back or did you say, you know what, guys, it's my free agent year.

00:24:17
Speaker 7: I'm gonna stick with Cincinnati.

00:24:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:24:20
Speaker 8: No, no invite from them, But you know, obviously it's such a cool experience for me just to.

00:24:24
Speaker 3: Be in that atmosphere.

00:24:25
Speaker 8: I mean, you're playing, you know, you go from spring training to you know, thirty forty thousand fans and you know, basically a playoff atmosphere. Really really cool experience. You know, all the all the guys that haven't done It's it's unbelievable. It was, you know, one of them, the Venezuela game. I was at the Venezuela game just as a fan. Last was one of the greatest baseball games. It's so cool, such a you know, cool way they do everything and how you know many fans they get and you know, it's just you know.

00:24:50
Speaker 7: Final it's like one American fans.

00:24:52
Speaker 5: Yes, right, it was. It was crazy. It was Miami ault. I think it was a Venezuela. They had their those horns going and they were all waving their venoice.

00:24:59
Speaker 7: Yeah. When Trey hit that whole run, I actually got to stand up.

00:25:02
Speaker 8: It was like, yeah, yeah, that was That was probably the craziest moment in my career so far, was what's that home run? Just to steady of me rupt in and just you know, I don't know, it's just different. We're in the USA across your chest for sure.

00:25:14
Speaker 6: So much has made about pitchers ramping it up and everything. When you pitched into WBC in twenty three, did you feel any any.

00:25:23
Speaker 7: Different going through the year.

00:25:25
Speaker 6: Did you feel any like extra sore early that you had to mix something up that was different because you ramped it up so early.

00:25:32
Speaker 8: No, I didn't feel any difference, like body wise. I just think I started too early. I think I I think if I was to do it again, I would just treat it like a regular offseason, treat it like a regular spring, and just go out there and pitch.

00:25:46
Speaker 7: I tried to ramp up too early.

00:25:48
Speaker 8: I think I started throwing, you know, a couple weeks earlier than I have in the past, and just kind of felt like, you know, towards the end of the year and you know, middle of the year that I've just been throwing for too long.

00:25:58
Speaker 3: I didn't feel bad.

00:25:59
Speaker 8: I just you know, I think I took too long of a ramp up and should have just you know, kind of chilled out and just done what I've been doing.

00:26:06
Speaker 1: Brady, you had to pitch longer than anticipated for for an outing there in the WBC last time around to my correct one where you went, do you remember how long how many innings about you had to go.

00:26:19
Speaker 8: The Mexico game, because yeah, like a terrible memory, but yeah.

00:26:24
Speaker 7: I wasn't bringing it up. We just just know.

00:26:30
Speaker 5: If you remember, that was where Randy kind of became famous for doing that.

00:26:34
Speaker 7: Yeah, got way to go, Way to go, Scott. Yeah, it's over.

00:26:42
Speaker 2: There's more to it here.

00:26:43
Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure out the pitching conundrum that tam U s A goes through. So, first of all, Brady at least listening to manager Mark Durosa about this. They get Clayton Kershaw and they want him to just eat random innings up if need be. But then also, for example, yesterday we find out that Eric Scooble is only going to make one start. It's going to be about against Great Britain early on in the tournament. So my question for you is how difficult is it for Team USA to figure out the pitching versus some of the other countries. Some of the other countries just don't seem to have that issue, even with their major league pitchers. And so you got to see a little bit of that vibe last time around, and they were vocal about it. The coaching staff was like it was annoying to deal with all the teams. Everybody had so many rules that we put people in bad spots.

00:27:31
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it's really hard. I mean, yeah, you're trying to get all your players, you know, as a as a GM and as a team you're trying to get all your your pitchers built up, and obviously your your frontline starter guys trying to get built up in a realm. That's very hard to do that just because you're trying to win too. Yeah, I think it's difficult for sure, But yeah, we've you know, I thought DeRosa did a great job the way he handled it and stuff like that, and yeah, I feel a lot more pitches and obviously I wanted to, but I told myself going in, I don't really care what happens. I just want to pitch, and you know, just get to be able to enjoy this, this atmosphere and this opportunity.

00:28:12
Speaker 7: Because you lived it.

00:28:13
Speaker 6: Is there any way that they could have handled it or that teams can handle it differently? Like, were you part of the micromanage of okay, text before you start, a text before your bullpen, checking in all the time?

00:28:25
Speaker 7: Uh No, I wasn't.

00:28:26
Speaker 8: No, Obviously, I think they're worried about it because you know, I sat in the bullpen for a few games and obviously wasn't on the you know, the build up that I would have been in spring training, So you know, obviously they were worried about it. But yeah, I just I don't know how you you know, you fix that or you manage it or anything like that. I think it's tough no matter which way you look at it. But I think the way they did it this year, with you know, getting Kershaw and stuff like that, having someone that can you know, basically come in after me with what happened when I threw a lot of pitches, it's going to be super helpful.

00:28:58
Speaker 7: All right, there's Cincinnati Reds.

00:29:00
Speaker 5: Forget this, And it's amazing to me because we've been around a bunch of camps now and we've we're doing projections for teams and we're getting numbers that the Cincinnati Reds made the playoffs last year.

00:29:09
Speaker 7: People forget now.

00:29:11
Speaker 5: It didn't go obviously the way y'all wanted to against Los Angeles, but you guys made the playoffs. Can you guys do it again this year? And what has the team improved on or maybe learned from last year?

00:29:22
Speaker 7: Yeah?

00:29:22
Speaker 8: No, I think learning is a is a huge thing. I mean, guys got there that haven't been there before. And I haven't been like a you know, a veteran in the playoffs or anything like that, but just getting there and kind of you know, getting your feet wet and seeing how the you know, the anticipation and the nerves and all that go is sometimes really helpful, you know, when you do it again. But yeah, you know, we're definitely a better team than we were last year. You know, the front office at an awesome job this year with I think getting Gino was huge, of course, and the bullpen guys we got, and then the starting rotation is going to help and and everything. You know, at least going to have a heck of a year two. And yeah, I love our team. Really excited to to get going here after spring. But yeah, I know I'm I'm anticipating in the playoffs for sure.

00:30:03
Speaker 7: I mean, Ellie's just that guy, right.

00:30:05
Speaker 3: He's unbelievable.

00:30:06
Speaker 8: I Mean, every every night you get to see something new.

00:30:08
Speaker 3: You know.

00:30:08
Speaker 8: I say the same thing about, you know, playing with Bobby White. I played with Bobby Wait and now Ellie. So seeing those two guys every night, something they do, something new, something exciting.

00:30:17
Speaker 3: I can't say.

00:30:19
Speaker 5: We know, I love Scott, Scott's favorite. Yeah Scott, I love both of them. Yeah, Yeah, he's awesome to talk to him. They're two such such good guys. There's so much fun to play with.

00:30:30
Speaker 6: Uh.

00:30:31
Speaker 8: You know, I got to learn and and be with Ellie last year, and man, he loves the game just as much as Bobby. They're just out there, they're just I'm just little kids having fun playing baseball. It's really cool to see those guys play every night, and I'm spoiled that. You know, they're behind me every start. All right, So obviously you played for the Royals. You just mentioned with the Royals. Did you see what the Royals in Tolbert did to Jack Kag Yeah. I don't know why Jack one. I don't know why the Gators lost two. Well, was the catcher for U.

00:31:00
Speaker 3: A B.

00:31:00
Speaker 7: So that's why they lost.

00:31:03
Speaker 8: I don't know why Jack agreed to that. I would have never put that on my head when you I was there. So I was in Gainsville when won that fight.

00:31:11
Speaker 5: They got stopped on Saturday in two games, which fine, Yeah, but they won the Friday night with Peter starting the whole deal. It was like they won o ma oh yeah right, I believe that the opening end of the season. Soest and Jack felt sorry for U.

00:31:23
Speaker 3: A B.

00:31:25
Speaker 5: Maybe made a bet, but what if you make a bet, you'd Renig on your bed.

00:31:29
Speaker 7: Yeah. Probably you're a better guy than that.

00:31:34
Speaker 3: I couldn't do it.

00:31:34
Speaker 5: Listen, they're really really yeah, yeah that's what he said. But you can't Renig.

00:31:39
Speaker 3: Just don't make it right. Yeah, I probably would have made it. We'll start there.

00:31:43
Speaker 8: Yeah, you also didn't think I thought that was scared, but things happened.

00:31:48
Speaker 3: I don't think they've lost sense.

00:31:49
Speaker 5: No, I don't think they have a great spot. Maybe he has a notch in their feather and yeah, they will give it.

00:31:54
Speaker 7: The only team so far to be in Florida.

00:31:56
Speaker 1: So yeah, the problem was that AJ wasn't rooting for them during that series. So now he's back on the Gator train. He can root for his UF and his UA B. Yeah, he's conflicted this year. You know, he's got a second team. Brady, awesome talking to you. I really appreciate the time. Enjoy the rest of spring training. We'll catch it during the season.

00:32:14
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:32:14
Speaker 7: Absolutely, thank you guys for having me on