Manager AJ Hinch and Outfielder Kerry Carpenter join FT @Tigers camp

00:00:12
Speaker 1: One of the few managers not on that front end, by the way, is sitting next to me. The other Aj that we've had on the show, one of many, but one of the other as Aj hensch here is here.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: We're in Lakeland.

00:00:24
Speaker 1: We're at Tiger's camp, and we were just discussing how you had to put a covered field behind us so Joey Cora wouldn't get wet.

00:00:30
Speaker 3: We have a This facility is incredible. We do get a ton of work in. We do have the brand new turf field. It's go time that this summer pretty hot down here. So our young players love it, and Joey definitely probably uses it the most. He and George Lombard earlier work program. George has been gone with Team USA, Joey was gone for Puerto Rico. Our camp has changed fundamentally since Joey came back with Puerto Rico losing.

00:00:57
Speaker 2: Did you get on him about border and he tried to die like.

00:00:59
Speaker 4: The he did die.

00:01:01
Speaker 3: He did dye his hair. One his dye his hair turns out it you know, it looks pretty good.

00:01:07
Speaker 2: I'm not great.

00:01:09
Speaker 3: It's not a difference between I gotta be nicer to Joey than you do because he's on my staff. But we welcome these guys back from the w b C. It's it's good to get our cheam bats.

00:01:20
Speaker 2: Did you watch the game last night?

00:01:21
Speaker 3: Of course, the whole thing, the entire thing. What do you think it's electric? I mean, this is this environment for players is is really really special, and so I I loved it. I mean breaking down the game and all the different you know, momentum moves and and the base running and the the bigot bats and.

00:01:43
Speaker 4: No A B s at the end.

00:01:44
Speaker 3: You know, there's like there's a lot that goes into that game, but the emotion that these guys are playing with is pretty special.

00:01:51
Speaker 2: Pitching tonight and he's not tomorrow.

00:01:53
Speaker 4: He's gonna be there.

00:01:53
Speaker 3: I think he's gonna throw a pen and get everybody all amped up and he's gonna throw.

00:01:57
Speaker 4: So it's not about me. Yeah, exactly.

00:02:00
Speaker 3: This is exactly why I only come on the show once or twice, because like usually I want Krats to do all the all the talking and I draw you for Central Florida.

00:02:07
Speaker 4: But.

00:02:09
Speaker 3: I such an emotional time for everybody. It's also preparation. It's hard, like it's hard to put it all together. And when we made these decisions in January, everybody was really excited and on board. I think the emotion of the moment really took over. Trek had a really, really hard time navigating it, but we stayed the.

00:02:28
Speaker 4: Course so that he's ready to go in San Diego.

00:02:30
Speaker 5: How hard is that to see him in the dugout and you go, all right, well, I was kind of part of the decision to not let him play because yesterday US wins and all of a sudden, the first second camera shot is Trek Scuoble and the first question is going to be Terrek Scooble. Obviously Holmes was in there too, But you part of that decision. Was it easy for you or was it hard for you?

00:02:53
Speaker 4: I think it's hard.

00:02:54
Speaker 3: It's hard because it matters so much to the players, and you want to see these theatrical events. Who doesn't love the the matchups. I mean dating back to Otani and trout dating' you know, like last night seeing you know Mason Miller pitch and you're like, these are real matchups that you only get in perfect scenarios, you know, when everything's on the line.

00:03:16
Speaker 4: So I obviously love Team USA.

00:03:18
Speaker 3: I love the event as a manager, it's really hard to I mean Juliol Rodriguez gets hit. I mean the entire Mariners front office and coaching staff is like in straight panic mode. Likese got, Jose Al Tuovee got hurt a couple of years ago.

00:03:31
Speaker 6: Like it.

00:03:32
Speaker 3: It's gonna happen, whether it's in spring training or in the WBC. It hurts more when it's in an event that's not not your your group. So planning out wise is really hard, and I think you know, the the onus is on all of us to try to figure out the best time to do this event so we get this experience. I will tell you for pitchers Sevrino throwing one hundred at this point, watching Paul Skins navigate sixty, it's not the same where they normally would be in spring training. And we'll always have that problem when we have this event right now. And so until we figure out the safest time to do it, you're going to have these dilemmas, and you're going to have these situations where it's not lined up perfectly and the timing didn't work the Like Arrek's belief in wanting to represent the country and wanting to play in this event, the fact he did one start in a free agent year is pretty remarkable, and here he is just getting beat up left and right.

00:04:27
Speaker 6: Great, people agree, That's all I was gonna say.

00:04:31
Speaker 5: Were we getting too greedy as US fans or baseball fans because he did make one start in a free agent year where he could possibly make four hundred million dollars?

00:04:40
Speaker 6: Yeah?

00:04:40
Speaker 3: I think where Trek is wronged is like there's a lot of guys that turned this down to not play at all, and so like, again, do you want credit for going and once start?

00:04:49
Speaker 4: Of course? Do you want did he have the most to risk?

00:04:51
Speaker 3: Of course, like this guy has and he cares the most, like he he wants to do right by everybody, and by him being transparent, I feel like he got a little bit propped up to to take a little bit of a beating by by you know, the fans and the media and the and and the players had his back and we always had his back. And he's doing the best he can under the circumstances provided, you know. I do think, you know, we we think of this as the regular season matchups, and it's not because I you know, I talk to players coming out of this, I see players coming. I mean even we had Jamie Jones who was with with Team Korea, like he needed a full couple of days to come down from that to be able to go. And that's he's a you know, a role player for us on the bench who played a little bit of outfield. Has gone all over the world, traveling to Japan, traveling to Miami for a game, and it's not easy. I don't think people really care as much as they probably should. But I I trust that the players that you know will handle it accordingly given the schedule. Did you play any Olympics, Yeah, ninety six at Atlanta. We want a bronze medal. In ninety six, we were still the amateur team. We were coming out of college, so a lot of guys from there went to the went to the big leagues. We had like you know, ra A Dickey and Braden Looper and Travis Lee and Markcotte and Jack Jones, and we were we were had a really talented college team. But it was in July after our season, and eighteen to twenty one feels a little bit different than guys that are you know, that are that are signed to these contracts and are preparing for a major league sedon.

00:06:19
Speaker 2: You know what it's like.

00:06:21
Speaker 4: It's incredible, incredible. I mean it is, it's worthwhile.

00:06:25
Speaker 3: I mean when Tarreor called me in January asking about it, I was an immediate yes because that walking in that room is different.

00:06:31
Speaker 2: It's not an All.

00:06:32
Speaker 3: Star team, it's not a you know, it's not sort of a casual event, and it's a meaningful step to be one of the elites. Will Ves is there right now and will Vest three years ago, I'm sending him out to go to Triple A because of a bad spring. Three years later, he's closing out playoff games and he's going to Team USA. When you walk in that room, it matters, and I love it for these guys to experience it.

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00:08:00
Speaker 5: One of your massive moves was another lefty that probably wanted to pitch into WBC was that conversation had with Framber.

00:08:07
Speaker 3: So Framber was, you know, a free agent pretty deep into the offseason and the timing of when the Dominicans set their rockster and all the things that go into that. He wasn't even with a team yet. And I think you're seeing the same thing with Lozardo with the Phillies. These guys that are that are that are at a different point of their career. It's hard to commit to everything and do everything for everybody, and so Framber never mentioned it on the front end. You know, we talked a little bit about his entry into this team and and obviously getting him, getting him up and running on the first team that he hasn't played that's not the Astros. And so when when he got here and then he was, you know, up and running. We went to the Dominican for two games and I heard a little bit of conversation of them wishing that he was on that team. And it that's where callies again, you're not allowed to map it out to make it perfect.

00:08:57
Speaker 4: You're not allowed to.

00:08:58
Speaker 3: You would have prepared a little differently January and February, knowing what was ahead. We started him late in order to give him a little bit of recovery from the volume that he's had over the last couple of years. And then here we're gonna drop the most intense game like last night on his plate. That didn't make sense.

00:09:16
Speaker 5: Well, I guess off of that, and then my original question was different, But is he going to be ready for not opening day because Scooba is gonna be opening a but is he gonna be ready for his first start? And how has he assimilated himself into this clubhouse?

00:09:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's been great.

00:09:31
Speaker 3: I mean, Frember pitched yesterday in pitch five innings, was incredible, getting ground balls like we know, he missed a few bats, like we know.

00:09:40
Speaker 4: You know, he.

00:09:41
Speaker 3: Is very ready for the season, and we used a couple extra bullpens, a couple extra live VP sessions to get his volume up. That's a little less intense than a game, but a little bit more than just throwing in the bullpen. So he's gonna pitch Game two right behind Trek. I was gonna announce it later this week, but he's lined up to pitch right behind Terrek and and go in game two. And that's a pretty good one two punch when you go and both guys can pitch deep into games, they get out. They do it a little bit differently, but pretty good start this season.

00:10:11
Speaker 2: How'd your recruiting pitch go to him?

00:10:13
Speaker 4: Was it pretty good together? I think the common bond is just.

00:10:17
Speaker 3: I saw this guy come from, you know, from where he was in his career late signed, had to work his way through.

00:10:24
Speaker 4: He's been doubted his whole life.

00:10:25
Speaker 3: He's a little bit been old for level as he worked his way up through the minor leagues and then I had him his first couple of years in the big leagues, and you know, the thing that that I wanted him to know is one we're about winning, and.

00:10:36
Speaker 4: Two there are high standards here.

00:10:37
Speaker 3: And of course we talked about his life, you know, his last couple of years with Houston. There is a common bond. You guys know this when you play for somebody and you have that immediate comfort level, both from manager to player and player to manager. I wanted to I wanted him to come here badly because he he can help you win that Nick.

00:10:55
Speaker 2: Franklin, it is yeah, yeah, hello track.

00:11:01
Speaker 6: It's like a it's like a squirrel. It's like a squirrel. Run high school.

00:11:04
Speaker 2: Here's my kids, high school coach, red coaches for.

00:11:07
Speaker 6: Like for like three minutes, stay focused. We have a J. Hinch On here.

00:11:12
Speaker 2: He might be a better manager. You never know. He almost won a state championship as an intern. Inch never did that.

00:11:18
Speaker 4: No, I've not won a high school Central Florida state championship.

00:11:21
Speaker 2: That's well, it's the whole stage.

00:11:22
Speaker 1: It's not just it's not like California where they only play like parts. We do the whole stage. Anyways, back to back to the Tigers, we mentioned from ber there's another guy that you were a little familiar.

00:11:32
Speaker 2: I don't know, are you familiar with him in Verlander?

00:11:35
Speaker 1: When he comes in here, does he just automatically get the best locker and get everything because of his time with the Tigers from before.

00:11:42
Speaker 3: Now he got a different locker, same number. I told him, you know what I told him the day before, so I knew we were signing him for a couple of days. He was doing making some arrangements or whatever and getting Yeah, he got to got to get his end of all out season stuff done. I was like, hey, I changed my number to thirty five from fourteen. I've been fourteen the last like whatever, ten twelve years. But I don't really care about the number thing. But my goal was to try to get a watch or something out of Verlander. And I tried at the last minute to say, hey, I changed my number to thirty five, and he called me on it, which so it's true. I didn't get anything for it, but nothing. No, I didn't actually change my numbers.

00:12:15
Speaker 4: I should have.

00:12:15
Speaker 2: You should have.

00:12:16
Speaker 3: Actually the we gave him his number back, and there was something different about the Verlander jersey being up in the clubhouse and even watching him throw his bullpen like it didn't take me back as far as I wasn't here with the Tigers when he was. But he's the fan reaction the how he's handled his re entry into this organization. We're a completely different organization than he was here last and he's been awesome in the clubhouse around the young players. He and Errek developing a really good relationship. He's in between Terrek and Framber, which is probably great for both. Frambert's got a ton of familiarity with him from Houston. Errek has a ton of respect for someone you know who is has done all that he's done in the game.

00:13:00
Speaker 6: How many times have you heard him say? Whoa? This is different? Whoa? They didn't have this when I was coming up.

00:13:07
Speaker 4: You know. One of the things that he's he joked to them.

00:13:09
Speaker 3: I was like, you're actually approachable on the day you pitch, which I don't recognize that version that the thirty something version of Erlander was like, you know, headphones on, stay away from me. But he was joking in the training room the other day and he was having a grandle time. So spring training his perspective. He did say that spring training he did say, like, I actually think, you know, again, I as a manager, maybe I feel like I'm getting older in this job.

00:13:29
Speaker 4: And you've been around a little bit.

00:13:31
Speaker 3: You see these guys go from like young players to getting married to having kids to that happened with JAV too, Like he got married, he has a couple of kids. Now his perspective on his career and what it means to put on a uniform, I think is is awesome because I think he values it way more now as he knows whatever is this. You know, whenever he's going to be done, he's going to be done, but he's going to appreciate things a lot more than maybe you do as a you know, a rising you know, first ballot Hall of Fame.

00:14:01
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:14:01
Speaker 3: No, he's been incredible and like the resume speaks for itself. I mean I always say, like you want to know something about a player, look at the back of the baseball card.

00:14:09
Speaker 4: And his law.

00:14:10
Speaker 2: All right, Oh sorry, go ahead, craps.

00:14:13
Speaker 5: Oh no, no, I just have one more JV question. Can he be a distraction when you know you're signing a guy like that? Obviously everybody says in tangibles he's in between the locker of Scooble and Framber. But can he be a distraction that some managers aren't able to handle because of well JV back in Detroit all this stuff.

00:14:33
Speaker 4: I don't. I don't think he's going to be a distraction.

00:14:35
Speaker 3: I think I think that that that week was kind of crazy, right, So you had the talk of Tarrek coming, you know, coming back, he went through his arbitration stuff, He's going to WBC.

00:14:44
Speaker 4: You have Bam Framberg, Damn Mam JV.

00:14:48
Speaker 3: And like all of a sudden, it became like a completely different clubhouse, you know. And and ironically as a manager, I was scrambling less about JV and more to other guys who were in our camp, Drew Anderson, we had signed, Hey, you're possibly moving too, the pen cater Montero, your your role has changed. He's gonna he's gonna start for Venezuela tonight. So like there's there's like I go into manager mode. But that the overall like storm, so to speak, or this big topic that came. Jv' has handled it with a ton of cloud. He has not wanted to be the center of attention and has not tried to pull away from this team. This team is has been in the playoffs the last two years. Like, that's the conversation about what you know, what we're about. He didn't want me to even talk about the nostalgia of coming back in Detroit. He wants to talk about helping us win.

00:15:34
Speaker 1: Did you make him do a rookie program when he got when he came back. If he doesn't want the nostalgia, you should have made him do like a rookie presentation.

00:15:41
Speaker 3: Now, No, he's not a rookie, so it's hard to make him do a rookie This is why Presentky hasn't managed it.

00:15:46
Speaker 4: He doesn't. He has all these great ideas that he would never do in that room.

00:15:50
Speaker 2: So I'm not a manager.

00:15:52
Speaker 3: Of people that are actually managing and have to worry about. No, I don't have to worry about Jav doing a presentation. I just want to I'm just happy he comes to my meeting every morning. Like shit do one Like back when I was a rookie, the had somebody doing on him on his birthday. But I left that one alone. Like forty three is in number. You know, I've been there. I know what it's like to have the number climb.

00:16:12
Speaker 4: So I left him.

00:16:13
Speaker 1: Alone, okay, and position player wise, it's it's it's a similar team to what you guys had last year. The thing with you guys last year, especially in the postseason that you know was a strikeouts. Is there a way you guys can cut down on the strikeouts. We'll get more contact.

00:16:26
Speaker 4: I hope, So, I hope.

00:16:27
Speaker 3: So although I would tell you, like you ever strike out and say like, oh, I wasn't trying to hit it like all of us when we swing and miss, we're trying to hit it, like the guys are actually taking a pass at the ball to hit it. And so you there's two ways to go about it. I think you can address it and just say, hey, we need more contact, like that doesn't make it easier to hit some of these guys. You can also, you know, talk about what you need to do a little bit more. Maybe we need to play the game a little bit more. Maybe we do need to have a b hack a little bit more. Maybe the game situation will dictate maybe not empty in your tank and try and hit.

00:16:58
Speaker 4: The ball on the ballpark.

00:16:59
Speaker 3: But offense has changed over the years that there is there is you know last night in the dr game, like you make contact in the game can change, but it's tough sport man. The pitchers are getting really good at at finding the holes. I think you're going to find that the hitting the hitters start to adjust back to a little bit more play the game mode as opposed to trying to hit every ball five hundred feet.

00:17:25
Speaker 2: Agreed? And what about McGonagall.

00:17:27
Speaker 3: He's awesome, he's been great. This camp are starting in San Diego. And I don't know, I don't know. You know these decisions you don't have, no, no, stop why I'm not a manager, because I would just say it not And if you didn't know, you wouldn't say it. You know, No, you don't, you don't. This is where you're wrong. You're you have to.

00:17:44
Speaker 1: Wait when you're gonna make you guys leave on Saturday, that's five days from now.

00:17:48
Speaker 2: You're gonna make that decision in three days from now.

00:17:51
Speaker 3: No, we have we have the off day in Arizona, we have two games against the Rockies. We have an off day before San Diego. So decisions aren't made emotionally, like you're coming out at me about making it now because you want to know. There's no benefit of making the decision now. Gather more information, put a little bit more in front of him.

00:18:08
Speaker 2: He's got to pack his stuff, he's gonna.

00:18:09
Speaker 3: Have he's going, he's gonna go with us to Arizona like there. He's gonna finish spring training regardless, and we're gonna make the decision when we need to. I mean, there's nothing pressing outside of this question that would like pause us to even care about making the decisions.

00:18:24
Speaker 5: So back off, dude, back Okay, Well, then I'll ask you the next pressing question. How much are you going to be glued to the screen when kaider Mantero takes the mound? And how many pitchs? How many pitches is your guy gonna be a throw tonight?

00:18:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, every pitch I'm gonna watch, and I did for Terrek and de Jesus, who's been incredible for Team Venezuela. He put him on the forty in the middle of all this, he got on our forty. Man, he's still exactly you get on the forty Like it's not that easy, but there there's you know there. I watch all these glabor you know, is it bats against Yamamoto?

00:18:57
Speaker 7: Was?

00:18:57
Speaker 4: They were awesome?

00:18:59
Speaker 3: So I'm glued to the TV as a fan I'm also as as their manager. But you know, right now, Cater's at that like three inning, fifty pitch count, Mark, I think he's going to start the game. Omar and I are really close to their manager. I had him in Houston, and you know he's gonna piece together the game and Cater's gonna go first and to get out of the gate hot. I mean, he's he's got nasty stuff. He was really good in the playoffs for us. This one time through the order, three inning burst is a perfect role for him, given the stuff that he has, and that's what I expect tonight.

00:19:32
Speaker 1: Any thoughts on what Diro went through, which part about the whole misspoken and you know, I mean the lineup stuff. Is the lineup like he Yeah, there's some people don't understand. He's given parameters. And you know this because I'm sure I'm sure you and Scott Harris have called him and said, hey, Deiro, listen, man, like this guy can only do this and this and this, and our relievers can only do this in this and you called Omar and probably said, hesus, hey, this is what he needs to do right to get ready for spring.

00:19:56
Speaker 2: And they're fighting all this forget forget that far.

00:19:58
Speaker 3: He's super stressed about the Bregman Henderson's decision. I mean last, by the way, but let me tell you that's a tough one.

00:20:06
Speaker 1: But you know what I'm talking about, the feelings of yes, second guessing you you say something because you're out there.

00:20:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it kind of mirrors what we go through every day. Like we know as managers, the criticism is part of the gig. Like we are here to protect the players, we're also here to take all the criticism when things don't go your way, like whenever something happens the other way would have obviously worked out, Like that's that's the that's the what we live in for one hundred and sixty two games plus the playoffs. I think we're where the fans and most of us out outside of that clubhouse don't know those parameters. They don't know what their restrictions are, like you don't know, you know, even restrictions. We think of them as holding guys back. It's also pushing guy like like there are guys that can't pitch on this team because you can't promise them four and five ups because it's not it's not a spring training game. And so when you know, inheriting runners or can Ken Mason Miller go three of five, like that stuff's not cited by the manager, and so that he is put in a really, really really tough spot. And and the nuances of this job you only really get by being in the job.

00:21:11
Speaker 4: And so it's not d Ro's fault for.

00:21:15
Speaker 3: Trying to navigate these things the best he can with with a lot of unspoken things that are you know, that are on his plate that shouldn't be spoken about. Like I don't think that everybody should know every restriction or every situation or every you know, complaint box that he gets from a manager because his guy's not playing, or his guy's hitting too low in the order, or his guys you know, getting pinch hit for or whatever. Like it's it's not an exact science in general. And then in tenfold for for d Ro Timios.

00:21:45
Speaker 2: Before before we let you go, I just want to say, can I give me a watch?

00:21:48
Speaker 1: Maybe you've given watches to every manager in the WBC, almost every manager in the big leagues.

00:21:53
Speaker 2: Can I Can I get me a boss watch?

00:21:55
Speaker 3: No, I'll give Crats one. Maybe he can he can give you one. Give Krats one.

00:21:59
Speaker 4: I'll give Braun one. You got a little bit of work to do here because my.

00:22:05
Speaker 2: Name is better than fine. Yeah, Pelo got one.

00:22:13
Speaker 3: Cratch one's in the mail for you, brother, appreciate too, Thanks, Thanks, good luck this year.

00:22:29
Speaker 1: Here we are with Kerry Carpenter, the official owner of George Kirby. I know we're not going to talk about that, but if you haven't seen his numbers against George Kirby, uh yeah.

00:22:40
Speaker 2: It's like every swings of Homer.

00:22:43
Speaker 4: It seems to me either a homer or a strikeout.

00:22:45
Speaker 8: He's gotten me a couple of times too, so first and bad in that game, he punched me out with ninety nine at the top, so he's he's pretty dang good.

00:22:53
Speaker 2: Then all I do was make you mad, so then you're like, okay, I'll get him again.

00:22:55
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, no, that was a fun one.

00:22:58
Speaker 8: And it's fun to battle guys like that because he's so good and he pounds his own, so it's it's it's fun.

00:23:03
Speaker 2: Yeah. How's how's camp going here in Lakeland? So far?

00:23:06
Speaker 6: For you?

00:23:06
Speaker 8: It's good? Lakeland is paradise. Like we were talking, thank you, I mean Hinch.

00:23:10
Speaker 1: Hinch said, No one likes Central Florida off here now here we are and we have two guys from central Florida. Exactly, how can you not love? It's like seventy degrees. I can I have a hoodie on just because I have thin blood. Carrie has the Flee song or No, it's just I've been getting warmed up. I'm all good to go.

00:23:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly now.

00:23:27
Speaker 8: But camp's been good. It's been fun to get a lot of at bats. They take care of us here, so it's kind of crazy. We're getting ready to leave this weekend, so it's coming quickly.

00:23:37
Speaker 6: What do you need? What does that mean? You get a lot of at bats? Like, what do you need.

00:23:41
Speaker 5: As a pseudo established big leagueer slash budding superstar?

00:23:49
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:23:50
Speaker 8: I like it. I think you hit the nail on the head. I just need a lot of at bats. Personally, I feel like the more at bats I get, the more I figure it out. The more I mean, I could take DEEPVP in the cage or on the field all day and I'll.

00:24:03
Speaker 4: Never really figure out if something's wrong. I can.

00:24:06
Speaker 8: I feel like I can manipulate the ball on VP, but whenever it's it's the bullets are flying in the game.

00:24:13
Speaker 4: I feel like that is what will expose me.

00:24:15
Speaker 8: And so just learning through at bats in the game and getting a lot either in the games or on.

00:24:23
Speaker 4: The backfields doing lives. It's been good this spring.

00:24:26
Speaker 1: How many bests does it take you? How many best would you like before the season starts.

00:24:30
Speaker 4: That's a good question.

00:24:31
Speaker 8: I don't know if I figure out a number, but I would say twenty to thirty. And then I start getting really comfortable, like I can start start understanding the zone more again. I can start, you know, formulating a real approach and like seeing the different arm angles that guys are coming with. I think I would say I would say twenty to thirty or more because it takes me a little bit.

00:24:54
Speaker 2: Do you are you a minor league get back guy? Do you count those?

00:24:58
Speaker 1: Inch comes you and says, hey, we need you to go get twelve at bats in the minor leagues?

00:25:01
Speaker 2: You count those?

00:25:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, I do, and.

00:25:03
Speaker 2: Then you're like one hundred of you.

00:25:06
Speaker 1: Team goes on the road, You go to Hinch and you say, hey, Skip, I'd like to get some of the bats, and then he runs you on four different fields and you get about twenty at bats.

00:25:15
Speaker 4: I love doing that.

00:25:17
Speaker 8: I personally take live at bats like it's a real game, like I can, I can get up for for live at bats. I know some people pictures especially, you know, I can't necessarily get the adournaline going for those, but I love it. I think it's for me. It's a real at bats. So I love seeing the ball just come out of a picture's hand.

00:25:38
Speaker 2: Do you talk trash to say you take one of them? Deep?

00:25:43
Speaker 8: No, I haven't yet, but but you gotta flip on him.

00:25:47
Speaker 4: I haven't yet on that either.

00:25:49
Speaker 8: Some I mean, I'm not, you know, hitting homers every at bat against god thing, But yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right, But no, I don't. Sometimes they're like, you know, play and don't run the bases. That's kind of a weird feeling. But no, it's been good.

00:26:04
Speaker 1: Oh you dropped the I'm a big leaguer because you only have the one flap helmet.

00:26:08
Speaker 2: Do you like I don't have to run the bases, Guys.

00:26:10
Speaker 4: I don't do what I'm told. I just do what i'm told.

00:26:12
Speaker 2: Okay, you don't.

00:26:14
Speaker 5: Seem like somebody talks any trash ever. But if you hit a live at bad against your teammates, is there a little bit like that smile. You can't say I'm sorry and have that smile that you have. But do you talk a little bit against those against your own teammates.

00:26:29
Speaker 4: A little bit? I just like I can't bring.

00:26:32
Speaker 8: Myself to do it all the time because I would feel so bad because they could punch me out easily the next at bat.

00:26:38
Speaker 4: So I always I'm always careful with what I say.

00:26:42
Speaker 8: But uh, it's fun to kind of job back and forth, you know, Like I've done it with Casey before. I've hit a homer off the end, but he's struck me out a couple of times. So he's fun to go back and forth.

00:26:51
Speaker 1: What about if you get a hit you're facing Schooble, even if he tells you what's.

00:26:55
Speaker 2: Coming and you hit just a rocket somewhere, you.

00:26:58
Speaker 4: Just, yeah, I'm about it.

00:26:59
Speaker 8: I'm might never let him forget about that one right now. I'm all for one with a pretty bad strike out against Schooble.

00:27:05
Speaker 2: So in life, Yeah, that was this year, that was last year.

00:27:09
Speaker 8: Yeah, a little change up. Thought it was a heater right down the middle and end up bouncing and I saw it. So he's, uh, he's tough, and I'm glad, you know, I'm glad he's on my team.

00:27:18
Speaker 6: So there's no such thing as a bad strike out.

00:27:21
Speaker 5: They're all equal one, Mike, you might think it looks bad, they're all they all look like exactly. They going the same column. But I got a questions for you because one of our people behind the scenes said, you have your above way above league average in your third time through seeing a pitcher.

00:27:39
Speaker 6: Is there something to that?

00:27:40
Speaker 5: Is there something that you're like, Man, if I just see this guy a little bit more, if I could get a little bit a few more at bats, and is that something that can be solved for you off of traject pregame.

00:27:52
Speaker 8: Yeah, to answer the traject question first, I like to do traject to see kind of pitch shapes if I haven't seeing a guy before.

00:28:01
Speaker 4: But I I.

00:28:03
Speaker 8: Don't know why, but I have a kind of a photographic memory when it comes to seeing pitches and how it comes out of the hand. And so I feel like the more that I face a guy, I feel like even if I'm over to or two strikeouts off the guy and I get a guy the third time, I still feel pretty confident because I just think the more I see somebody, the more comfortable I get even if he's had success before. So I really just I like seeing guys more than once.

00:28:34
Speaker 4: I will admit.

00:28:35
Speaker 1: That's why you were an Eastern League Player of the Month back in May two. By the way, I bet you never won that award.

00:28:42
Speaker 6: Not a chance.

00:28:44
Speaker 4: You got to go into the depths to find that.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: It's not as wikipedia. He also said he was good Golf Coast League player of the week.

00:28:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did brag about that.

00:28:52
Speaker 2: That was like, that wasn't even a humble brag. That was a big brag. Like few of us played in.

00:28:57
Speaker 4: The golf exactly exactly, so, I.

00:28:59
Speaker 2: Mean some of us were seventeen so much for twenty one?

00:29:02
Speaker 4: What league?

00:29:03
Speaker 1: But where you're at in your career, Kratzy, how can this team get past where you guys have gone in the last couple of years?

00:29:10
Speaker 8: Yeah?

00:29:10
Speaker 1: The ultimate goal obviously to win a World Series. Last year, you guys beat the thing happened in September.

00:29:18
Speaker 2: But then you get revenge.

00:29:19
Speaker 1: You beat Cleveland in the wildcard, then you go to Seattle and just have an epic series that.

00:29:23
Speaker 2: Didn't end the way y'all want it.

00:29:25
Speaker 1: How do you guys get to the next step, which is obviously LCS World Series eighty four, you know, restore the roar in eighty four.

00:29:34
Speaker 2: How do you get to that next level?

00:29:36
Speaker 4: That's a good question.

00:29:37
Speaker 8: I mean, I think that everything we've done in the offseason, bringing in guys like Framber and JV again, but the at least speaking from my experience with the offense, I think that we were so close that Game five, we're hat runners on, we were threatening, and one hit goes our way or one at back goes our way.

00:29:59
Speaker 4: And we do make the LCS.

00:30:00
Speaker 8: And so I think realizing that we're we're not that far away. We've we've come so close, and it's just like little things on the margins that are gonna, you know, help us get there this time, and just believing that we can do it going out and trusting the work that we've put in in spring training. I mean it starts in February and going for eight months straight. It's like, I think this time around, if we have another opportunity and then Wildcard Series or DS, I think we've had the experience. Now, we've been in those those tough situations and we've come out on the losing end twice. But I think that everybody is more confident now than we've ever been.

00:30:44
Speaker 5: Can you take a confidence from the first half of the season offensively throughout the season, there's there's something like, did you guys run it too hot early and go who we got kind of gassed? Or was it something that you guys changed your approach or you didn't change your app There's so many different angles that we from the outside look at it and go, this is one of the better offenses in the game, and it didn't quite happen after the All.

00:31:08
Speaker 6: Star break anymore.

00:31:10
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I can speak for myself in that regard, because, yeah, we had a ton of guys that were super hoth early. For me, I kind of was the opposite. I wasn't great the first half of the year, and then I came off the I l at the end of July and and and had a better end too my my personal season. So it's it's something that you know, as a team, we need to The best teams are are consistent, they're good all year. They don't go through those prolonged slumps like we did in September.

00:31:48
Speaker 2: By the way, just pull you guys didn't hear the call.

00:31:51
Speaker 8: I thought I heard something, but but yeah, electric.

00:31:57
Speaker 4: I don't think so.

00:31:58
Speaker 8: And uh, but I think it's just a consistency, like you're mentioning. Fine, I think as a as a team we need to find it. As individual players, we need to find it. And so by going through that last year exposed us all and so I think that we are better off for it, and we can make adjustments now that we've been through it.

00:32:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, before we let you go, Alan Tram While I was just talking to Alan Trump, who's awesome when he was a coach that I had in the Fall League and just obviously a Hall of Fame or Hall of Fame person.

00:32:28
Speaker 2: Great guy.

00:32:29
Speaker 1: I mentioned the eighty four team and the last team for the Tigers to win the World What would it mean if you guys to the city of Detroit, if you guys were the team that could finally get him to stop talking about eighty four and talk about this wave of Detroit Tigers.

00:32:42
Speaker 8: Yeah, we had like a forty year anniversary with the eighty four team a couple of years ago, and they were all like, all right, it's your turn. I need to stop talking about us. But I think for the city, it's amazing. It's a great sports city. The fans are so supportive. I mean even just the last couple of years, like the second half of twenty four and then all of last year. It's it's been a completely different just vibe in the city with us doing well, the Piston's doing well, the Lions and the Red Wings are doing well. So it's just like when the city rallies around us like that, I can't imagine what it's going to be like if we can make a run at it.

00:33:20
Speaker 4: And and win the World Series this year.

00:33:22
Speaker 8: I think it would be an unbelievable accomplishment. But for the city, I just think they would they would wrap they wrap their arms around the eighty fourteen forever. So it's like it would be cool for that to happen to us, to Schoogle, to Berlin, or to all the guys that that really deserve one.

00:33:41
Speaker 1: Well, they do a Kerry Carpenter Day if you guys win. In Eustace. They have a parade of if you down the street in Eustace.

00:33:48
Speaker 8: They haven't mentioned it yet, but I'm saying, if you guys win, But I mean, I don't know if I'm making that decision, but I haven't.

00:33:57
Speaker 4: I would say no, but maybe maybe.

00:33:59
Speaker 2: We'll that'd be a key to the city.

00:34:01
Speaker 8: This is growing, it's it's not as much of a small town anymore. So I don't know how many people know me around there, but it's uh, it's I love that.

00:34:10
Speaker 2: Last time I was there there was a sign that said home of Kerry Caerverenter.

00:34:13
Speaker 4: I don't know if I believe you, no, but it'll always be home, so it would be cool.

00:34:19
Speaker 1: Well, Kerry, thank you very much, thanks for joining us to They have a great season.