Joe Girardi talks 2025 Yankees, 2017 Astros, Judge’s rise + new Houston pitcher Nate Pearson joins CCT

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Let's talk about some other stuff other than Game seven, because Game seven obviously is dominating everyone's mind.

00:00:09
Speaker 2: But there's managerial openings. Are you are you on the list? Are you are you doing some interviews? Are you flying around getting some interviews out there?

00:00:16
Speaker 3: Joe, No, Aja, I have been home or traveling to Oklahoma to see my daughter. She's at Oklahoma State playing basketball. So I've been there or here. I have not done any interviews. You know, there's also a lot of college football openings too.

00:00:30
Speaker 2: Let's do one of those together.

00:00:32
Speaker 1: Hey, let's let's you and I do what we could be co head coaches and we both get the buyouts, right.

00:00:38
Speaker 3: I mean, it's amazing to me for the likely I don't understand why other coaches can leave in the middle of their contract and go coach someone else. I hate college football's got to figure that out and say, hey, if you sign a five year deal here, you're here for five years. That's the bottom line. You can't leave if a job opens. And you know, it's great for the coaches, but it puts these universities in a bad situation. But there are a lot of job openings. Aj I have not done anything.

00:01:08
Speaker 2: No, got it. Okay, so you almost were me. What have I done? No one, Joe. You know everyone hates me. Nobody gonna call me and hire me. You no better, Joe.

00:01:17
Speaker 4: Come on, we know how it goes.

00:01:20
Speaker 2: You know how that goes, Joe. But here's my question. You were close to being the UCF University of Central Florida. You were all in the job right well now.

00:01:27
Speaker 1: In San Francisco, Tony Vaytello is allegedly supposed to be to get the job, how hard would it be?

00:01:35
Speaker 2: I mean, I can I think it'd be easier.

00:01:37
Speaker 1: Maybe going from big leagues to the colleges, maybe it's harder because the difference in everything you get. But going from college to the big leagues, do you run a risk of trying to run it? Because if you ever watched Tennessee play, I mean, they talk a lot of trash and they do a lot of stuff that I don't. I mean, I guess it's a little bit different in today's game, but it's gonna piss some people off at some point.

00:01:58
Speaker 3: Well, the game is different in college than it is in the pro. And that's an adjustment. If he takes a job he's going to have to make and I don't really know how he ran his program at Tennessee, but like I've seen in college, the number three hitters lay down sack bonds, and I'm like, he's your number three hitter, isn't He's supposed to be hitting and swinging the back. So that will change. And obviously treating a college kid is different than treating a professional player. I believe AJ he'll have to make that adjustment. But again, the game is the game, right, I mean, you still have to hit it, you have to catch it, you have to pitch it. I mean, you have to throw it. There's a lot of things, and he's done a really good job at Tennessee, so I think he'll adjust. But there are adjustments that you have to make now. Going the other way, the adjustments I think are in the recruiting. I mean, we don't really do that as big league managers. You might to a free agent the different time, you know, where you can't practice as much as you want. It's just totally different, and I think it would be an adjustment that way as well.

00:02:57
Speaker 5: What's better winning a World Series as a manager as a player, because no managers spend more time at the field, but players are the ones that are out there on the field.

00:03:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's I mean, they're so there's both of them are so enjoyable. I mean it's I never dreamed of winning a World Series as a coach or a manager. I didn't think myself of ever getting you know, beyond like forty years old. You know when I'm when you're a kid. So i'd have to say as a player, it's it's more enjoyable. As a manager, it's more enjoyable for everybody else. And that brings a lot of like pleasure to you. Watching the players celebrate. That brought a lot of joy to my life.

00:03:42
Speaker 2: It should bring a lot of joy to your life.

00:03:44
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:03:44
Speaker 1: But now let's let's go back to since you were twenty, you were twenty seventh. You were the twenty seventh right, you won the twenty seventh World Series for the right. They haven't got to twenty eight yet. Maybe it's because you didn't you change your jersey number because you were twenty.

00:03:57
Speaker 2: Seven, and then yeah, you're you know what, it's now the curse of Joe Girardi. It used to be the curse of Babor. Now it's a curse to Joe. So you need to go back to twenty seven on your Baseball Reference page.

00:04:06
Speaker 1: But did you I mean, obviously, I know you watch the Yankees, and I know you do some broadcasts, and obviously if we work together, and you're great at what you do, and I loved working with you because you were so prepared and.

00:04:16
Speaker 2: Just awesome at it.

00:04:17
Speaker 1: But when you watch the Yankees, now, what do you see and what do you think is going to happen down the road? Because it's a team kind of stuck in the I get the analytics and all that, but they're.

00:04:27
Speaker 6: Really home runner bus. There's nothing else going on there. You know, I would argue a little bit against that AJ because they ran a lot. They pushed the envelope a lot on the basis more than the Yankee teams that I have seen in the past. Yes, they rely on the home run, and so do a lot of other teams, you know, I you know, I think LA to a certain extent, does I think you know the Phillies did to a certain extent. I just think the playoffs today are harder to win than any time before in our lifetime because of all the rounds that you have to go through. And I think there's a decent competitive balance now and for the Yankees, they're not the highest payroll like they used to be, so they're fighting against some other teams that are throwing a lot of money at people, and it makes them that much more competitive. So you know they've fallen short for whatever reason. You know, Toronto has hit the ball extremely well during the course of the year and during the playoffs. Toronto was successful against them during the year. I think it was a bad matchup for them, and I think Toronto's a bad matchup for a lot of people. Even though I thought Seattle would get them, I've changed my mind. I think Toronto's going to win tonight. And I could be wrong. I've been wrong a lot, but I just think.

00:05:45
Speaker 3: It's a bad matchup and I think it's they're young in a lot of situations, and I think some of those young kids need to continue to develop. I don't think they're that far off. Aj. I mean, I look at their year and people are upset. But you tell me you're gonna lose Eric Cole, You're gonna lose Clark Schmidt, You're not gonna have Louise Hill back until about August, and your bullpen Luke Weaver's gonna go down for a couple of weeks. You don't have Stanton for the first three months. What would you have thought they would have done? And they found a way to get to the playoffs and they lost to Toronto, who might be going to the World Series. It's it's not the year as the Yankee that you consider a success. But I think they overcame a lot.

00:06:31
Speaker 5: Do you feel like the comments by a Rod and Jeter were more cherry picking in the moment of ah, you know, they didn't win and it was time to, you know, say these things. And do you feel like it's fair when guys that are not technically in the organization currently make comments like that about Aaron Boone or even the Yankees organization.

00:06:55
Speaker 3: I've always felt eric, unless you're in the clubhouse, you really don't know what goes on from day to day. You don't And people would always ask me, like, do you listen talk radio? I'm like, no, why not? Because I know what's going on inside of my clubhouse because I'm every day. I know why I made decisions because of I was in there every day, and a lot of decisions are made on factors that the outside does not know about, and sometimes you just have to bite the bullet as the manager of the GM a player just because of those things that people don't know about and you want to kind of keep them under wraps. And I think it can be unfair to comment on what goes on in an organization if you're not there every day. Now, if you have inside or information, that's a different story. But I'm not so sure that they did. And you know, it's the one thing that I try to do as a broadcaster is never forget how hard it is to play the game, how hard it was for me, how hard it was to manage from the day to day. It's difficult. And the game moves really fast. And I know a lot of people think our game moves slow, but you guys can attest to it when you're playing it. It moves fast. The decisions that we have to make it moves fast. That the determination if you're going to swing or if you're going to come in on a ground ball that's in one hundred and fifteen miles an hour, you're gonna take a step back. All these things happened really fast, and it looks easy on TV, but our game is very hard. So I tend not to be very judgmental.

00:08:22
Speaker 5: All right, Well, what about the what about the lineups and the involvement in front offices and lineups when you first started managing to when you were done, How did that change and how much should they be involved?

00:08:37
Speaker 3: I had the lineup every day where I was at every day, whether it was Miami, New York or Philly. Now there were times I would go to the front office and ask you got any lineup ideas because maybe we were struggling scoring runs and maybe there was something that they could print out that might work. But I was never told what the lineup was going to be. I made the lineup every day. I would ask my coaches. We would sit down and we would talk about would thinking about it the night before when I was in bed, you know, trying to fall asleep. So and one of the things that I realized was what I was trying to put together the Phillies lineup the first year that we had Swarbur with Harper. I said, give me three different scenarios where I split them up. I don't split them up, you know where I have two writings in between them, and give me some different lineups. So I can look at him to see which one I think is you know best. So I got like three different lineups and the amount of runs scored difference during the course of the year was like a total of one to one and a half, not per game per year. So I said, so you're telling me I'm racking my brains over this for one run. I mean, this is crazy, and I think that you know, we talk about moving players all the time, and this guy's scuffling, so let's move him down. And there were times I would say, Okay, who do you want me to move up there? And no one would have an answer. I said, well, that's why I'm not moving him. I don't really have an answer to put there. If I did, I might think about it. But ineviably, when you shake up your lineup and you move your lineup around and the guy's struggling, you drop to seven. Guess what the first inning comes up with the bases loaded, two outs in the first inning. You're like, man, I was trying to get him some easier situations, maybe to get it, and look, he's in this situation again. So I think we make too much of the lineups. I think you want to get your best pairs up the most and then you go from there and you try to make it harder for the manager to navigate his bullpen through your life.

00:10:34
Speaker 2: Makes sense? It makes sense, Joe.

00:10:35
Speaker 1: Do you still eat like two eggs every Do you still eat like two the same breakfast every morning?

00:10:40
Speaker 3: Five eggs, ive egg whites with a little ham and dry wheat toes? Absolutely? Ag I make a sandwich every day. The dogs get a little bit of ham, they get a little bit of toast with me and I go to work.

00:10:51
Speaker 1: Okay, So I just asked that because you're very steeped in like I don't want to say you know, You're just you just have.

00:10:58
Speaker 2: A routine, right, You're very heaped in a routine. You don't seem to let things go very easily.

00:11:04
Speaker 1: And the reason I ask is because twenty seventeen you were you were the Yankees. That was the Astros year with the trash can and all that. Have you let that go yet? Because the fans have it.

00:11:14
Speaker 2: Bragman gets booedw too vegats, looted, Carrier gets.

00:11:17
Speaker 7: I mean, they're super in this series in Seattle.

00:11:20
Speaker 3: They boo them more than anyone else. What I'm saying, So I was on a text chain the other day and someone on the text chain wrote something about that twenty and seventeen, and the person didn't realize I was on the text chain, and I said, hey, man, you gotta let that go. I've let that go. That's in the past. Let it go. It is what it is. And yeah, you gotta let it go. I mean that that's a long time ago, you know. Aj I could say every team is always looking for every advantage. You just when you find the advantages, you have to do it the right way.

00:11:53
Speaker 2: Well, that's one way to put it.

00:11:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's definitely.

00:11:57
Speaker 3: I mean you're seeing teams given you know, the bird flapping, you know, and.

00:12:03
Speaker 2: Judge judges out there going like this, judges out there going like this something.

00:12:08
Speaker 3: And then I wonder, like, are they just trying to mess with the pitcher's head? Like so, I mean, I think. I mean, I can remember catching. We used to worry about the first and third base coaches, right, and we'd have to protect our signs and protect how late we moved and all that. You had to you know, you had to change your signs with runners on second. That's just the game. I mean, it's in every game. You always look for tendencies that people do to tell you maybe you can predict what the play is in basketball, football, everything. I mean, it's what we do. We're looking for every advantage. You just you can't. You got to do it the right way. And unfortunately it wasn't done. People paid for their you know, sins. If you want to call it and you move on, it's it.

00:12:47
Speaker 2: That's over with.

00:12:50
Speaker 5: It's totally over And I think MLB dropped the ball because you guys as a team actually told them in July that something crazy was going on, but MLB never listens.

00:12:59
Speaker 2: You don't need to comment on that.

00:13:00
Speaker 4: That was my comment.

00:13:02
Speaker 5: But in that season in seventeen, there was a there was a rookie on your team, Rookie of the Year, Aaron Judge. I want to ask you if you saw his swing as being something that he could turn into what he did this year in twenty twenty five. And I also want you to comment on leading into is he the MVP or is one of your catcher fellow Brotherren the MVP.

00:13:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, in twenty and seventeen, obviously he had the big year, and I don't think any of us ever would have predicted he was going to hit fifty sixty home runs. I don't think you predict that about anybody. I mean, I think that's you're asking for someone to fail when you do that. But the one thing that I could say was he truly believed in himself and was physically gifted like most players aren't. I mean, how many players do we see this side six seven, two hundred and seventy five pounds. So his swing necessarily wasn't going to be what Ronald Terres's swing was at five to six and one hundred and forty pounds. It was going to be different, and he made it work, and he believed in himself. Even after his twenty seventeen season, some of the people believed that it wasn't going to work, but he said, yes, it is. And I think it's his work ethic that allows him to do it. And as far as being the MVP, cal Rowley has had one of the greatest years of any player in the history of the game as a catcher. But I still think when you look at the numbers and today it seems that's exactly what we analyze the war. The ops, the ops plus Aaron Judge should win the MVP. And I think it's going to come down to and I want to take nothing away from Cal because the kid played every day. What an incredible season. I don't know if you'll ever see him repeat that or any catcher have that type of season in the game of baseball. And it's unfortunate there can't be two MVPs. But I still think with how we base it, Aaron Judge should be the favorite.

00:15:06
Speaker 8: Hello.

00:15:07
Speaker 2: Oh hell hell, yes, Joe. Yes, he did say Judge would be the MVP. Oh you want him to keep doing jobs on Yes Network?

00:15:14
Speaker 1: Oh sure, Yes, he says thank you, because otherwise he's completely off base and way wrong.

00:15:19
Speaker 2: Because Cal Rawly is the MVP. There's no other reason why a fellow catcher.

00:15:22
Speaker 1: Would say that. Thanks Al, We'll call player bye. Yes, Oh sorry, sorry, I'll called me because he wanted to let you know that you still need a job at Yes Nework.

00:15:29
Speaker 3: So yeah, all right.

00:15:31
Speaker 1: So before we let you go, I want to know when you go to Stillwater, do you get a discount at Eskimo Joe's on the cups and the drinks there when you go see your daughter to play basketball when you walk in.

00:15:44
Speaker 2: Since your name is Joe, do they give you a discount at Eskimo.

00:15:46
Speaker 3: Joe, no discounts. They don't need discounts. It's a it's a fan favorite there. They don't need discounts, So that's okay. But obviously it's it's been a fun run for my daughter. She's a freshman. We're excited with he's the starting officially November third, and we can't wait.

00:16:03
Speaker 2: Good Luck.

00:16:04
Speaker 7: Yeah, we're excited to watch Joe.

00:16:06
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to tune into girls basketball.

00:16:08
Speaker 7: We're gonna watch. Yeah, we will definitely check it out. That's gonna be fun. Well, good luck. You're gonna be at most games or as many as you can, right, Yes.

00:16:15
Speaker 3: And you could tell with my height that the basketball skills did not come for me.

00:16:21
Speaker 7: Athleticism though.

00:16:23
Speaker 2: Cats are the best athletes, come on, brains all that.

00:16:28
Speaker 5: No, she got her athleticism from her mother, because Joe, in twenty twenty two or yeah, twenty twenty two, when you were the manager of the Phillies, we would sit in the manager meeting before the game and you would show me videos and I told the guys beforehand, I said, that's the best high school female basketball player I've ever seen.

00:16:47
Speaker 2: And you were just constant video.

00:16:48
Speaker 5: You're like, one more, one more. This is her crossing over a guy that's on the varsity high school team, and so she was young at that point.

00:16:56
Speaker 3: Yeah. Really, she really loves the game and it's been fun for us to watch her. And she's got that work ethic that any parents would be proud of them. That's what we'd love also.

00:17:06
Speaker 2: But also Chrotch.

00:17:07
Speaker 1: You have to remember he started a school called Grandview Prep, which I've never even heard of. I've lived in Florida my whole life, and it was the same people that arch Manning played against in high school that were all like this much shorter than him.

00:17:18
Speaker 2: And they all wait on it. So she's out there breaking these dudes down. He's on the varsity team. He's also fight for two who.

00:17:23
Speaker 3: Were gonna Hey a J I do know that you know Florida, you've heard of d M E. Right, Yeah, they beat Okay, so they played some really good competitions. It's just when they got to their division, the competition wasn't as great.

00:17:42
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fair. I'll give you credit for that one. And by the way, Alan Counckle says I too.

00:17:45
Speaker 3: By the way, do counk I said, hello, I.

00:17:48
Speaker 7: Will Joey got to jump. This was awesome though, thanks for stopping by. Great to see it was long overdue. Hope you enjoyed it.

00:17:56
Speaker 3: Have a great night. Hein Snatcher's don't second guess the catcher.

00:18:01
Speaker 2: That's right, see you job.

00:18:06
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00:19:08
Speaker 8: Is what's up? Everybody? Welcome into another edition of Crush City territory. I'm chandeler Rome, joined by Tyler Stafford and the first major league free agent to sign this winter Nate Pierson. Nate, you didn't waste any time here, man?

00:19:23
Speaker 9: How are you?

00:19:23
Speaker 8: And what was this kind of a weird free agency process, like signing during the playoffs before really free agency even begins.

00:19:33
Speaker 10: Yeah, I guess I didn't have to wait till the World Series over since I ended up getting defaed by the Cubs and like the last week, so it kind of just kickstarted everything a lot sooner, which is I'm kind of thankful that I already have my next opportunity and lucky for it to be the Astros.

00:19:52
Speaker 4: Can't wait.

00:19:54
Speaker 8: I mean, for those that don't know, Nate Pearson, you know, signed a one year, one point three five million dollars deal with the Astros. Last week it became official. I believe on Tuesday. You took your physical in Houston on Monday, now officially an Astra. I wonder how much did how much do you get involved in like teams that were after you, teams that wanted you? Do you leave that all to your agent? And kind of what made the Astros the the place that you wanted to to spend this season.

00:20:21
Speaker 4: Yeah. No, definitely.

00:20:22
Speaker 10: My my agent definitely Spearheads and he kind of like fills me in on like what team teams are saying and like what their ballpark, their offering and everything. But uh, what made me choose Houston is there. You know, they're giving me the opportunity to start again, and I thought that was very interesting.

00:20:38
Speaker 4: I've always wanted to get another opportunity because I.

00:20:41
Speaker 10: Feel like with the Jays I kind of battled through some injuries and it kind of just they went out and signed guys and filled the rotation and it kind of just you know, had to be in the bullpen. So I was looking for that another opportunity to start, and I think the Astros were going to be a perfect fit.

00:20:58
Speaker 9: So is that something that you put out there that like, hey, I'm interested in starting. Did the Astros come to you and and make that, uh an offer?

00:21:07
Speaker 4: Or yeah? How does that work? Yeah?

00:21:09
Speaker 10: So the Astros came to me and offered it, and I had a couple of the offers, but they were just relievers, and uh, just for relief and the ass they offered first, and it was kind of just like, they want to give you the opportunity to start, and they still see me as a starter, and so I kind of just ran with it, and I was like, this is this is a team that that sees the opportunity and the potential.

00:21:34
Speaker 4: So kind of made it pretty easy.

00:21:37
Speaker 8: You obviously, I mean, you get you get drafted out of Juco, your first couple of years in the minor leagues, you do function like a traditional starter. And then kind of you mentioned there were some injuries, you dealt with some injuries. The Blue Jays were obviously at a point then where they were kind of in win now. They had good teams, they were they were trying to win in the present. Kind of what happened with going from starting to relieving? Was it just the injuries? Was it Toronto's plan? And kind of what do you relish the most now about getting that chance to start again?

00:22:11
Speaker 10: Yeah, no, I think it was just because I debuted during COVID and it was like super weird, you know, just not having any fans in the stadium and only playing sixty games, and I made like I made like five starts or yeah, four starts, and then had a little bit of an elbow issue, had to miss like a week and two weeks. But it was only six game seasons, so I didn't have enough time to build back up. And then so I just they just stuck me in the pen. Towards the end of the year, we ended up going to the wild Card. I pitched out of the bullpen and threw really well, and I think it kind of opened their eyes like, Okay, this guy might just be a reliever. And then coming into the next spring train, the plan was to be built up as a starter, and I just started getting a bunch of different random injuries and I kind of just missed out on that development. And I kind of just got to the point where they had to move on and signed and Kevin Gosman, you say, Kakuci and all those like big time guys, and he kind of just kind of left me into the being out of the bullpen, which you know, I still thankful for the opportunity and still keep close tabs with those guys there that are still there and being able to see what they're doing this year is pretty amazing.

00:23:18
Speaker 4: Definitely root for him.

00:23:20
Speaker 8: Since you mentioned Kokuchi, I wonder how much of how much do you or did you know about the Astros kind of pitching infrastructure and the way they developed pitchers, because Kokuchi is a very good example of a guy that was struggling in Toronto, came over at the deadline a couple of years ago, and they turned him into a very one of the best starters in baseball down the stretch. They've done that with a lot of different pitchers. How much were you aware of that and how much of that maybe impact you, know, you choosing to come to Houston.

00:23:51
Speaker 10: I definitely remember like when he when he got traded, because I got traded around the same time, and I remember watching his whole year that year and then him going to the Astros and then kind of just turning it around and then, you know, put himself in a grape position be a free agent, sign a nice deal. But that was like one of the things I talked about with Dane Brown, just like how they were able to what they're able to do with Kakuchi, and like how they they believe that they have some ideas for me coming into the year that could help me out and help me smooth that transition back to starting.

00:24:25
Speaker 4: And so I thought it was very interesting.

00:24:28
Speaker 9: So how soon did they say, hey, here's how to throw a sinker, because I feel like that's that's the trick for everyone. How soon does that happen?

00:24:38
Speaker 10: I mean I already started throwing a sinker. I started learning a little bit, not this last season of the season before and when I got traded over the Cubs and I started throwing it. Mainly did rities just to get it inside open up the slider away because that was my main two pitches, you know, fastball and slider, and so I think it just helped the slider play up. I get definitely to righties. So I've already I've already kind of have that in the arsenal. Whether we lean on a little bit more, I'm waiting to, you know, dive in with the pitching guys here in Houston and see what they what they think, and see what their ideas are.

00:25:13
Speaker 9: Yeah, I don't know how much of this makes it out of you know, the the bubble of the Astros. Like obviously Hunter Brown has become one of the best starters in baseball? Is it common knowledge outside of like Astros fans and and here kind of what kickstarted that? Because you know, at the beginning of last year, he you know, was almost a you know, minor league candidate. He really wasn't doing anything. And then introduce that sinker. And then literally since throwing that sinker has been you know, one of the best pitchers in baseball. Is that a thing that other people are aware of?

00:25:48
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean, I think it's just like for guys that have a good four scene, I think it just it just changes the game a little bit when you're able to have two fastballs that are just one even if even if it's not like an elite sinker, it doesn't even have to be that. It just has to be something that's different than your four seam, and all of a sudden, it just opens up.

00:26:06
Speaker 4: Different areas for hitters to adapt to.

00:26:09
Speaker 10: You know, they can't just like, all right, look at the force seam at the top of the zone and then anything down is going to be off speed, whether like now you're throwing a sinker, you throw that down and in, or you can even throw it up and in. You know, I think it just opens up the arsenal a little bit more and everything. I think everything just plays up. And you saw it with Hunter Brown. I remember watching one of the starts I was in Toronto and they came into town, and I watched one of the starts and it was just like we heard the story about him introducing the sinker and how it's kind of like taking off. He threw pretty well against us, and I was watching just about every pitch that outing of his because his stuff's electric, and I was able to see how everything just kind of just played up a little bit more, even when he was able to run that in against rieties and even you know, front door.

00:26:54
Speaker 4: To to lefties. So I thought it was pretty impressive.

00:26:58
Speaker 8: Yeah, you hit on something there that I don't think a lot of people, a lot of maybe outside fans appreciate. Like you said, something like the sinker doesn't even have to be like a metrically like well performing pitch like last year and twenty twenty four for Hunter, Like if you look at all the publicly available metrics like run value, things like that, Like the sinker wasn't great, it wasn't a good but what it did was it stopped hitters from leaning out over the plate. It stopped you know, tendencies of just hunting everything away, everything away, like it gave him a presence on the other half of the plate and just doing that, just having that mere presence changes entirely kind of how hitters approach you. You mentioned Nate, you mentioned your your arsenal. Obviously you've been predominantly fastball, slider, forcing slider, that is, you know, forcing you can get it up to one hundred ninety seven ninety eight. Where do you think and to be a starter, and if you want to stick in a rotation, obviously you're going to need maybe a couple more pitches. Kind Of where do you think maybe your other pitches are and what are you looking forward most to maybe refining in your arsenal as you transition back to being a starter.

00:28:06
Speaker 4: I mean I still throw a curveball.

00:28:08
Speaker 10: It's kind of like a knuckle curve, and then I have a change up as well. You know, over the years it's been mainly I've been leaning on the fastball, slider and curveball occasionally kind of just haven't thrown a change up in a couple of years, but I do throw it in catch play. Just still working on it. Just coming out of the pen when you're trying to just get three quick outs and leverage, you know, you're not really looking to set guys up for the you know, the turnaround of the lineup. You know, you're just trying to go at these guys with your best stuff, and so I kind of just fit into that mold. But now that I'm going back to starting, I was still able to work on my pitches and when warm ups and stuff, so just be able to knock off the rest of those in spring training and hopefully get a good mix going.

00:28:53
Speaker 9: What does the off season look like for you? Like, how is it different knowing that you're coming into spring training as a starter. What like you know, you always hear like, oh you got to stretch out, you know, these types of things. What is the difference between an off season going in as a reliever versus as a starter.

00:29:11
Speaker 10: I think it's just volume, Like when you're when you're when you're a reliever, of the off season is a little bit different. Just the volumes of throws you know you got to get when you're building up. I feel like as a reliever, you're not throwing as many just make it as many throws and just like catch player or long toss or whatever. But now that the focus is being prepared to start, I think those throwing sessions get up a little bit longer, not like throwing harder longer, just more just more throws, more movements, just conditioning that body to take on more pitches, just just to be able to prepare for a higher pitch.

00:29:47
Speaker 4: Count in games.

00:29:48
Speaker 8: How would you describe your force eamer like, does it have kind of some natural hop? Does it have some run? Do you do you do you like to play with it at the top of the zone, leave it top rail or do you maybe need to work on maybe the movement getting a little more movement on the four seamer?

00:30:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I have I have good ride on my four team.

00:30:06
Speaker 10: Sometimes it'll it'll kind of run on me a little bit, uh, But I try to keep it at the top of the zone and just let it ride and occasionally just let it sometimes it will cut. And so I really like the the cut ride aspect is very popular nowadays in today's game. But yeah, I kind of just let that eat at the top of the zone and then if I if I need to go down and freeze a guy, I do think it down and away a well located down and away heater is you know, very hard to hit, and so I think it still is and so obviously keep that keep that in mind as well.

00:30:40
Speaker 8: Everything's hard to hit from my advantage. But it doesn't matter where you located. This may be this may I'm sure you've gotten some version of this question before. But for those that don't know, as we're talking to you, when you were drafted, obviously first round draft pick with the J's really rocketed up. Prospect rankings played in the Futures Game in twenty nineteen was up, you know, in the top ten of not only just pitcher prospects in baseball, but in the top ten prospects in baseball by a lot of outside publications. You know, in Houston, you know, they've had a bunch of guys that have had similar pedigrees that have come up to the clubhouse that I mean, you know, one of them, and Kyle Tucker obviously, guys that are very heralded, guys that get a lot of praise put on them, you know, before they get there, and that can sometimes be difficult to manage guys manage those expectations very differently. How has that been for you? How was that to have all those expectations on you kind of before you even got to pro ball? And is it something now. I want to be careful how I phrased this, like coming to Houston, coming to maybe a different place and a fresh start. Is that refreshing in any way?

00:31:48
Speaker 10: Yeah, No, it definitely is, because I mean looking back at my my time with Toronto, like coming up, I was like, before I even debut, I was like, he's the ace, you know, all this stuff. I'm just like, dude, I just want to pitch, man, I don't want to you know, all the the pressure is good and all, you know, but I thought it was a little excessive there.

00:32:09
Speaker 4: You know. I was twenty two at the time.

00:32:12
Speaker 10: You know, It's just it was it could be overbearing if you aren't able to take a step back and sit down and be like, all right, why am I here? Why why do I want to be in the big leagues? Like why did I have this dream? And it all comes down and just t ball or back backyard playing catch with your dad and everything, and so it's easy to get carried away with all the hype and everything, but you really just kind of got to lean on your your uh, your family, and you know, keep you humble and focus on what needs to happen into the day to day not like looking three years from now and all this stuff looking too far in the future. So stuff is definitely refreshing to be with a new organ, get back to the have an opportunity to start again, just get back to that routine and everything.

00:32:59
Speaker 8: But yeah, he mentioned that you've talked to Dana Dana Brown or the Astros GM Coincidentally, he was working for the Blue Jays when they drafted you in twenty seventeen. Any what was kind of his message to you. Dana is a pretty optimistic, pretty positive person that likes to pump a lot of people up. I guess what was what was his message to you? And would you take away from that conversation you had with him?

00:33:23
Speaker 10: No, he was just he was just really excited that we were able to get this done early in the offseason so he can stay connected through throughout the whole offseason and be prepared and be able to hit the ground running when I come into camp.

00:33:34
Speaker 4: But yeah, he was.

00:33:34
Speaker 10: He was just very uh open and explaining like how they're able to like turn pictures into uh reaching their potential.

00:33:43
Speaker 4: You know. He said he has a.

00:33:44
Speaker 10: Good eye for identifying starters and he listed a couple of guys like Blanco, how he was a reliever and there they he thought that they he could start, and so they they switched him over into a different role.

00:33:57
Speaker 4: And I actually remember his no hitter. It was again the Jays. I was there.

00:34:01
Speaker 10: I was there watching it early in the season in uh in twenty four, and it was it was pretty crazy to see. So I was thinking about that as he was explaining it, and I was like, yeah, they seems like they got something figured out. And you know, whether he's the main guy in charge with that or what. But I mean, I think it starts from the top and goes all the way down when it comes to development like that.

00:34:23
Speaker 4: So I was just very encouraging.

00:34:28
Speaker 8: Before we get you out of here, you have mentioned the Jay's a couple of times. Obviously, they have won the American League pennant. They're gonna play the Dodgers in the World Series. I'd imagine that you grew close to to Vlad and Bow and maybe even George over there. What's what was it like for you are watching the Alcs and watching them go through the playoffs, and how do you think this World Series is gonna go? Knowing, uh, knowing the guys in that clubhouse, knowing kind of what they're made of. How do you think they're equipped to go against the Dodgers.

00:34:58
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think they're They got to goodest chances anyone, you know, to take down the Dodgers. What's crazy to me is like I look look at their roster, at the position players, and it's not like a crazy drastic change from the team I knew and we last year we sold it the deadline. I was one of the guys traded and traded probably like what nine guys or something like it was.

00:35:21
Speaker 4: It was insane.

00:35:22
Speaker 10: And to see the turnaround how drastic it is while they know. I know they got some new coaches, they got like a new hitting coach and all that stuff, but I don't know, I feel like they just like flipped the switch, and those guys everyone's just raking, even like one through nine, everyone's getting clutch knocks and uh like Nathan Lucas, uh seeing him, I was up and down with him, riding the option train with him and just seeing how how how he's doing. Ardy Clement played with him in Triple A two. Just seeing all those guys come in to form, and obviously Vlattie, I think just getting Lattie into the postseason and letting him do his thing was like the biggest thing, you know, when I was there, we never made it past the wild card, and so it's hard to hard to put, you know, really good effort into three games, and two of them we went to and out. So it's you know, just getting Blatty into the platform for him to shine. And then George is going back to vintage you know, Houston, George Springer with the with the Homers. You know, I remember watching in twenty seventeen him doing all that stuff. It was it's just it's just cool to watch and really rooin for those guys. Hope they can take down the Dodgers.

00:36:31
Speaker 4: You said it.

00:36:32
Speaker 8: They have as good a shot as anyone, and it'll be fascinating to watch play out one more before we get you added to no Astros fans are going to want to hear about this. You and Kyle Tucker are pretty close from the I don't know if the same area in Florida, but from around kind of the same place. I know you guys have trained together in some off seasons. The public probably doesn't get to see, you know, the real Kyle Tucker. He keeps himself pretty reserved, doesn't say much. Is probably the most nonchalance superstar I've been. I've really ever been around. What's he like off the field, what's he like to train with, and what was he like to maybe come up with in the off seasons? Being someone that you trained with and and became friends with it and someone that has you've kind of grown up in pro ball with.

00:37:16
Speaker 10: No I mean, he's what you see on TV is kind of exactly what you get, and he doesn't change. He's very quiet, reserved, goes about his business. We trained together in the off season. Uh, he always starts a little bit later, which is pretty impressive. Like I don't know how he just strolls in, you know, mid November and December. I don't think he picks up a bat till like January, but he just just rakes. He just picks it up and just like riding a bike. Just being able to watch him comeing to, you know, be a massive superstar. It was just pretty amazing because I remember we were working out when we're both in them and the miners coming up, and it's just it's awesome to see all the work he's put in and him just take off and get a World Series under his belt, and it's it's pretty cool.

00:38:05
Speaker 9: Was he was he digging in the dirt on the backfields too before?

00:38:10
Speaker 4: Yeah? I remember, I remember facing him.

00:38:12
Speaker 10: We were like young in like high school and stuff because we're both around the Tampa area. And he just never wore batting gloves and where it's like, that's kind of crazy, and then he still kind of did it.

00:38:20
Speaker 4: I mean he switches on and off.

00:38:21
Speaker 10: I think he uses them a little bit more now, but he just never used batting gloves and that was just like the same, just vintage Kyle Tucker.

00:38:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's pretty cool.

00:38:30
Speaker 8: Well, you know why he has to, you know why he wears them all the time now? Right, it's because of the pitch clock. He didn't have he didn't have enough time. He didn't have enough time to do his dig in the h all that he was he was never getting in the box by eight seconds. So like he switched over the first year of the pitch clock. I think he did the first month without batting gloves and he realized how rushed he was getting, so that the only reason he's wearing batting gloves is because of the pitch clock. So yeah, who knows where he'll end up this all. Have you teased him yet that you signed before him?

00:39:03
Speaker 4: No, I haven't.

00:39:04
Speaker 10: Uh No, I haven't talked to him yet, but uh, I'm sure I'll Okay, I'll talk to him. You know, he's such a high profile, like uh free agent.

00:39:14
Speaker 7: You know.

00:39:14
Speaker 10: I feel like those guys take a little bit to to sign and probably after the winter meetings, you know, til they get the right fit. But it's definitely gonna be exciting to see where he goes. I know he's gonna have a bunch of bunch of teams wanting them, so it's gonna be fun for him.

00:39:27
Speaker 8: So he definitely will and maybe maybe there's a reality where you'll, uh you'll face him in the big leagues as a as a starter in the Astros rotation. Nate told you we wouldn't keep you very long. This was great. I really appreciate you taking some time to join us and introduce yourself to your new team and your new fan base, and we appreciate it, and we will see you in West Palm Beach in February until.

00:39:49
Speaker 4: The sounds good. Thank you guys, thanks for having me on