Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman on AL East clincher rager, Playoff prep, Yesavage fire, Pham beef

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman is here joining us right now on FT Tyler, thank you so much for the time and happy by a few days for you.

00:00:12
Speaker 2: How is it? What's life like right now?

00:00:14
Speaker 1: While teams have to fight for their lives and you guys are getting ready for the next round.

00:00:20
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me. But I think it's just great, honestly.

00:00:24
Speaker 4: You know, as the season kind of gets going and finishes up, you got a lot of guys that are playing through some injuries or grinding through a few things. And also, you know, you can set the rotation kind of exactly how you want it to be. So I think it's a big, big few days off and it'll be really nice for us to kind of come in fresh, Tyler.

00:00:46
Speaker 5: Aren't you bored though? Aren't you bored?

00:00:48
Speaker 6: You're just sitting around doing nothing while these other teams are just dying and every pitch on every.

00:00:53
Speaker 5: Pitch, Aren't you bored?

00:00:54
Speaker 6: Just sitting there going, Man, I'm in the cage right now, hanging out while they're trying to hit Trek schoobl and they're trying to hit it Blake Snell and they're trying to hit Max Free.

00:01:03
Speaker 4: No, we can we can kind of game plan for what we need to do, uh for facing the the Yankees or.

00:01:11
Speaker 3: The or the UH or Boston.

00:01:15
Speaker 4: So I think I think given a few days, especially because we clinched on the last day it h you know, we went out and partied a little bit and had a little bit of fun on Sunday nights. So I think it's, uh, we're just recovering right now.

00:01:30
Speaker 7: What does that party and look like? We asked, uh, we asked Joe Carter the partying in Toronto. It wasn't as good as when they won the World Series on the road. So did you guys go out, did you guys stay in the clubhouse? Did you go into the cage and hit some beer homers?

00:01:48
Speaker 3: No?

00:01:48
Speaker 4: We uh yeah, So we obviously had our champagne shower and and did all that and then took the team photo on the field. And you know, it's been a while since the Blue Jays won the division in I think it was twenty fifteen.

00:02:03
Speaker 3: So hey, there's me right doing that. Yeah, unbelievable, but uh yeah. So we had a couple of guys that that rented out a.

00:02:12
Speaker 4: Club uh for us, and we just kind of partied together. It was pretty much closed and and all of us just h we're together and and celebrated together.

00:02:23
Speaker 3: So it was awesome.

00:02:25
Speaker 5: Can we show that? Can we show that again?

00:02:27
Speaker 4: What?

00:02:28
Speaker 6: I haven't been to Toronto in a couple of years, but can we What is the smart serve Toronto?

00:02:33
Speaker 4: What?

00:02:33
Speaker 5: What are those rules?

00:02:34
Speaker 6: Do you even know what rules you were breaking?

00:02:38
Speaker 3: Smart Serve? I do not know that, but I did know that.

00:02:44
Speaker 4: I got told afterwards that, hey, you know, you should probably not do that just because you don't know their ages. And I was like, well, I was only I was only pouring champagne into the mouths of people with beards or women that I knew were over thirty years old. So but I understood, and I apologize, you know, say sorry afterwards.

00:03:08
Speaker 7: You'll be all right in that moment, In that moment, what is that like for you? Just your reaction to not just winning making the playoffs, but also win in the American League East when we saw what George Springer said or mouthed after they made that bad call, might as well give the division to the Yankees Like that, to me, that was telling that you guys were worried about the team in front of you. And then when you go ahead and do it and you say, screw it, we're gonna beat this team and we're gonna take the East. What did that feel like for you, as you know, in the role that you're in and the career that you've had.

00:03:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, well it's awesome for me. This is I've obviously never been in a race like this in my entire career. I was on the playoff roster in twenty three. I would have lost in two games to Minnesota. But being up the entire year and having a full year with this team and being able to you know, be with this team and kind of go through all the ups and downs. Yeah, the ending was was kind of really close, and you know, we had a lot of things that we just probably blamed on issues that were not.

00:04:25
Speaker 3: You know, necessarily needed to be blamed on.

00:04:28
Speaker 4: It was just we're not clicking on all cylinders, and you know, for us to come back on top and do a really good job on the last day and score a bunch of runs was was really awesome. Going into going into a big division series on Saturday.

00:04:44
Speaker 6: Tyler, how do you prepare for the Division series? You don't know who you're gonna face, but do you start doing scouting reports on both teams? I know they're in your division and you played them a bunch of times during the year, But do you guys start looking and say, all right, maybe we're lean this way or do you wait to see who games who wins game one or how does that work? Because you know, with this quick format and this quick turnaround, Yes, I know you have to get yourself prepared, but how do you start, especially as a catcher, with the scout and report stuff.

00:05:10
Speaker 4: Yes, so, I honestly have no idea because it is the first time that I'm ever gonna deal with this.

00:05:15
Speaker 3: So I personally, I.

00:05:18
Speaker 4: As a catcher, I'm gonna and as you would know, you and Cratzy, you know, I think I'm just gonna watch the games and kind of game plan a little bit while I'm watching the games and take mental notes along with doing some deeper digging, you know, in the video room. But this is kind of the first time I'm dealing with this, and I think it's the first time that the Blue Jays kind of had to deal with this in a long time. So just having all this time off, I don't know what we're gonna do, But I know that there's gonna be a lot of stuff that we need to do in order to be ready for Saturday.

00:05:51
Speaker 7: Maybe go fishing, Maybe take yourself away from baseball. You don't got to watch four games all day, watch this, watch that game at night. But before before you watch that game at night, you've played against these teams. Can you break down these two teams for us? We're going into the playoffs, We're we're not wor we're off the field, we're just watching. You've played against them. Can you break down this matchup, this AL East matchup that they got going on here?

00:06:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean so it's great.

00:06:18
Speaker 4: Honestly, they're both unbelievable teams, and I think that they're doing a fantastic job.

00:06:24
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a really fun series to watch.

00:06:26
Speaker 4: You got Crochet and Free Tonight, both nasty, both had fantastic years. And you know, you got a Yankees lineup that's been hot. They've won I think eighth straight, maybe nine, I don't know. Judge has been really hot. You got a Bellinger had a fantastic year, Grisham had a fantastic year.

00:06:44
Speaker 3: So I'm missing a bunch of guys. Uh, And then obviously on.

00:06:48
Speaker 4: The Red Sox side, you have rominggan Zalez did a lot of really good stuff when they traded Devers away, and Story had an unbelievable year coming back from being hurt last year, and you know, the pitching staff did well. Narbaia's had a great year. So it's it's gonna be a really good matchup and you know, one that we're gonna follow closely. And it's kind of crazy how the division ended up being these two guys fighting for a wild card. Uh, and then the winner is going to play us as well, So three Alas teams on one side of the bracket. So it's gonna be pretty crazy, but you know, definitely an exciting series.

00:07:29
Speaker 6: It's Als first the world, right, that's in that one side of the bracket. It's the al East side and then the rest of the world is on the other side.

00:07:36
Speaker 5: So that's okay. You guys are used to being in the Al East. By the way, you guys you mentioned these guys scored.

00:07:41
Speaker 6: How many you guys scored like twenty runs on Sunday to win the whole thing? Does that jacket stay thirteen? How does that jacket fit everybody? That's the other thing because you have guys that are all different sizes and it looks like it fits everyone perfect. So does it smell from everyone coming in all sweaty?

00:07:56
Speaker 4: You?

00:07:56
Speaker 5: Like, do you have to go get a dry clean? I mean, how does that think?

00:08:00
Speaker 3: Uh?

00:08:00
Speaker 4: I think Tito is the one that's in charge of that, but uh, I honestly don't know how it gets dry cleaned. I know that it fits the biggest guy, so vlad and and Springer are pretty big guys. It fits them, and so everybody else it kind of it will just fit by default.

00:08:18
Speaker 3: But it's a it's a cool thing. And yeah, we scored.

00:08:22
Speaker 4: I think Kirkie had two homers and Springer had a homer as well, and Barger, so I got good. I got good use on on Sunday Sunday?

00:08:32
Speaker 5: Do you and Kirky talk all the time?

00:08:35
Speaker 6: Because I know, like when you have two catchers, you're always talking, You're always in communication. And does Snider's do a good job of saying like who's gonna play when? And ahead of time? Because that was always like my one of my biggest things is I always wanted to know when I was gonna play. So does does Snyder come to you or does he send a text message, because like Joey Corer used to give me the week, you'd be like, these are the possible pitchers, these are the days you're gonna play. These are the days whoever you, whoever my other guy was was gonna play. Is Schneider good about that? And in the playoffs? Are you just kind of like Kirky, you got this as long as it goes. I'm just gonna take a seat here and enjoy my little mini vacation, but you.

00:09:11
Speaker 5: Gotta be ready.

00:09:13
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:09:14
Speaker 3: So Schneid's does a really good job. This staff does a really good job.

00:09:17
Speaker 4: You know, my role as the backup, I got to be ready to go whenever they need me. And they kind of map out each series how they think everything should go and is going to go with our pitching matchups. They're pitching matchups, how much Kirky's worked that week and how much he's.

00:09:35
Speaker 3: Worked the previous week.

00:09:36
Speaker 4: So they do a really good job with that, and it really helps me kind of tailor what I need to do to be ready right when when I kind of fit my workouts in, when I fit going off project or doing any of that stuff, getting some live at bats and as far as playoffs go, Yeah, it's is Kirky show. I mean, he's he's earned it, he's he's a stud. I hope he wins the gold. Love and for me, yeah, I mean he's our guy, and I'm just gonna be there if they need a pinch runner late or if they want anything from me. That's my role and and that's what I gotta be ready for, just like always during the rest of the full year.

00:10:17
Speaker 7: From somebody that sat all postseason and had to watch the starter catch, the worst part is watching the game and then when they tell you, hey, we might pinch run for Kirk here, That's when all of a sudden all your nerves go away. That's when all of a sudden you're like, I know exactly what I need to do, so you'll be.

00:10:35
Speaker 5: Fine unless you have to catch Trey E. Savage.

00:10:42
Speaker 7: We've only seen a couple starts from him, but when I watch him pitch, I'm sitting there going, how is this guy not going to be their third starter?

00:10:49
Speaker 5: How's this guy not going to be their closer?

00:10:51
Speaker 7: Wherever it is in your rotation, bullpen, however he's used, Can you tell us what this dude's bringing? Because from my band point, there's very few dudes a throw like this from that angle, and that action on the splitter heater combination looks ridiculous.

00:11:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's it's super unique. It's it's coming from a seven to two release, so it's super high up there. Kind of nobody has that at that high of a release.

00:11:19
Speaker 4: I think closest one is Verlander and the splitter just has it just goes straight down.

00:11:27
Speaker 3: So you don't really know.

00:11:28
Speaker 4: I haven't been in the box, so thank goodness, because I think I would kind of not know what to game plan for. But it almost looks like the splitter has to start or the ball has to start kind of at your eyes in order for it to be in the strike zone, and then a splitter starts with your eyes and ends up in the dirt. It's it's it's a lot to deal with and and a lot of problems for the for the hitter, and then you got a slider that kind of just goes straight down as well, kind of bowling ball straight down. It's uh, he's really good and I'm excited to see what what he has store.

00:12:02
Speaker 1: Tyler Blue Jays fans love him right and the other name that pops up all the time on our comments for our videos about the Blue Jays Dave Popkins hitting coach. What have you seen that he does that's working so well for Toronto this year to be towards the top in terms of front score and contact and some great stats heading into the postseason. I mean, this is the guy that was somehow let go by the Minnesota Twins, and it seems like forget some of the stars, like a lot of the guys that we mentioned, you know, Lucas and Barger and Clement, etc.

00:12:36
Speaker 2: You know, I've had nice years.

00:12:38
Speaker 1: Have you seen the hitting coach and the philosophy that he's bringing to the table make a difference.

00:12:44
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:12:44
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean him, Lou and Hunter Men's do a fantastic job. And I think that they just they tailor the approach to the specific player and not at kind of an all at one, all encompassing approach or you know, cookie cutter approach that you would see a lot of people do. And you know, I for myself, I can only really kind of really speak for myself.

00:13:09
Speaker 3: They've done a fantastic job just letting me be who I am and not trying to have may be more than what I am.

00:13:16
Speaker 4: I'm a contact oriented guy that doesn't really strike out and puts together tough at that so I'm not really going to hit the ball out of the yard too often. And you know, kind of embracing who you are. And if every single guy, all thirteen guys, kind of embrace who they are, you know, you make the offense fire on all cylinders. And then you got the stars like George who had an unbelievable year, and Vladdie and Bow, you.

00:13:41
Speaker 3: Know, driving those runs.

00:13:42
Speaker 4: And at the end of the season, you're looking up and we're scoring four or five runs a.

00:13:46
Speaker 3: Game and in a great spot.

00:13:49
Speaker 4: So what Papkins has done, what Lou has done, and what Hunter have done just for us has been invaluable. And you know, I honestly don't know how he got let go, and maybe it was just kind of a scapegoat kind of thing.

00:14:03
Speaker 3: But you know, we're we're very lucky to have him.

00:14:07
Speaker 6: Right on the subject of coaches, I have to ask this because I do know a lot of your coaches. So I know Pete Walker's a pitching coach. Nights as the manager, the Cookie Monster with the terrible gray beer, Carlos Feblas is your third base coach. I've known since Gulf Coast League. Don Mattingly's your bench coach. He's a legend.

00:14:23
Speaker 5: But the one guy I want to know does he do anything to Marlow Hale? Does he do anything?

00:14:27
Speaker 6: Because I've known Tomorlow for like thirty five years and I've never seen him. He stands really nice on a fun go and every time they show him in the dugout, he's just like like this, just does he actually do anything? And you can tell him I asked this question too.

00:14:43
Speaker 5: When you see him, he too will.

00:14:45
Speaker 4: I will for sure. Tomorrow is a butte. He's one of the best of all time.

00:14:49
Speaker 3: He well one.

00:14:50
Speaker 4: He does all the running game stuff, so he gives Kirkie and I that signs on whether we're picking slidestep in, pitching out, doing all that.

00:15:00
Speaker 3: And he's just the associate manager.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: You know.

00:15:02
Speaker 4: If Schneid's gets tossed, he's he comes in and he does it. He actually took the ball from me in a one of the worst innings of all time I've ever I've ever seen, and I ended up being the one pitching thirteen thirteen hits and renainting in a third. So wow, but I've never I never he came out took the ball for me, So that was that was kind of crappy.

00:15:21
Speaker 3: But yeah, no, he does a lot.

00:15:23
Speaker 4: He kind of he bridges the gap between the coaches and the players, and you know, he's invaluable parts are to our success and and you know, I have nothing but respect for him.

00:15:34
Speaker 3: And he's one of the best kind of coaches I've ever had.

00:15:37
Speaker 7: All right, last one. I had two, but I'm only gonna use one. Are you so glad you're much closer to Scott's big league home run? Scott, your brother, for anybody who doesn't know, has five big league homers and you have how many?

00:15:52
Speaker 3: Four?

00:15:53
Speaker 7: Yeah? Are you so glad that you've got gotten closer now and you have a shot at him next year?

00:16:00
Speaker 4: Uh? Yeah, I mean that's that's awesome, you know. I the fact that my brother and I both played in the big leagues is a feating of itself. And and and I got to play against him during the COVID shortened season and it was awesome. I have a great relationship with him, and he's giving me crap and and talked.

00:16:17
Speaker 3: A lot about oh wow, you're only one homer behind me. You know, we'll see. It took me. It took me like four years in order to get a homer.

00:16:26
Speaker 4: I think from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty four now twenty five in between homers and something like three hundred at bats. So you never know. It could be I could be, it could be a long wait. But uh, we'll try my best, that's for sure.

00:16:43
Speaker 5: I love it.

00:16:45
Speaker 2: Hey, Tyler, thank you so much for the time.

00:16:47
Speaker 6: Dude.

00:16:47
Speaker 2: We appreciate it. You laugh.

00:16:49
Speaker 6: I'm loving at you. Why met Tyler's had reminds me of your.

00:16:54
Speaker 3: Here what's the other?

00:16:55
Speaker 4: What's the other question you wanted to ask me about Tommy Fam and that whole situation is that was?

00:17:00
Speaker 5: Oh wow, No, that's not what I was and I don't even know that.

00:17:08
Speaker 3: I want that's all now, Tyler. I'll let you. I'll let you have one more. I'll let you have one more. One more question asked the question you want to ask.

00:17:19
Speaker 5: Okay, did you have did you have him? Did you have Tommy Fam in that fight?

00:17:24
Speaker 3: Is that what?

00:17:24
Speaker 5: I wasn't even gonna ask that, but you brought it.

00:17:26
Speaker 3: Up absolutely one and twenty percent.

00:17:30
Speaker 4: No, I would not I would not have taken Tommy fam. I know not to mess with Tommy Fam. Are you kidding me? I was.

00:17:40
Speaker 3: Caught. I go ahead and watch it.

00:17:43
Speaker 5: I get it back ahead.

00:17:44
Speaker 2: You don't remember it was like two months ago.

00:17:48
Speaker 3: Walking.

00:17:49
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, you as a catcher and and and Crasty as a catcher. You guys know that sometimes you an umpire, Hey where is that pitch? Because you're set up on the other side of the plate. You want to know if they have a good, good look at it. And I simply asked, you know, this happens two, three, four times a game. Maybe, I mean, depending on who the umpire is, could happen five six.

00:18:13
Speaker 3: Times a game.

00:18:13
Speaker 4: And you just straight up ask I asked him, hey, you know, did you have that down as you have that off? And you know he mark Rippinger great umpire simply was like I had that a lot.

00:18:25
Speaker 3: Okay, sounds good, no problem.

00:18:27
Speaker 4: And then you know he walks on a pitch that wasn't even close and he says some says some words to me, and I was very confused, and then he was coming at me and I almost had to get new sliders. So you know, I know we're on TV right now, so yeah, you know, I almost had to get new sliders.

00:18:48
Speaker 3: I want nothing to do with that man in a fight.

00:18:53
Speaker 4: Have been like, yeah, no, you took it off. You see, I wasn't. I literally said on you can see him, you can mouth my words. I think John Boy did a nice thing. It says I wasn't talking to you. I wasn't talking to you, which is true, but it.

00:19:07
Speaker 3: Was more of like not me being mad at him. I was just like, I wasn't talking to you. Please don't hurt me.

00:19:14
Speaker 5: Wait, sorry, I forgot. I completely forgot. So I whiffed on that one. But that is awesome that you brought it up.

00:19:18
Speaker 1: It was an off season topic, but we got it done now and now we're gonna have to come up with something else in the off season.

00:19:23
Speaker 2: Wait.

00:19:23
Speaker 1: Sorry, one more at the buzzer here, speaking of mouthing things, George Springer Yankees, I thought it was super fun, Like I'm sure you saw that or maybe heard it.

00:19:34
Speaker 2: Live or it's just rigged for the Yanks.

00:19:36
Speaker 1: So I hope that comes back up again when maybe you guys meet up next round.

00:19:41
Speaker 3: Yeah no, absolutely, I mean he's just a competitor. I honestly don't he meant nothing by that, for.

00:19:47
Speaker 4: Sure, he's just he's an ultra competitor when he plays, and he's an awesome.

00:19:51
Speaker 3: Teammate to have.

00:19:52
Speaker 4: So the fact that he you know, he was just pissed about that situation, and I think that you know the situation and how he got called on strikes after warranted, you know, him being angry, and you know he's just trying to calm himself down, and you know that he's our MVP, he's he should finish in the top five and MVP voting this year, and you know, it just shows how much fire he has on game.

00:20:16
Speaker 3: What was that maybe one fifty eight and he's thirty five years old. Maybe actually I think he just turned thirty six. So it just shows you what an ultracompetitor is and how how unbelievably much he cares about winning and helping this team make the playoffs. So we got nothing, but we just got nothing but love for him, and we got his back always.

00:20:39
Speaker 2: I love it.

00:20:40
Speaker 1: He probably doesn't realize this, but that kind of stuff is good for the game. It is harmless, So I'm all for it.

00:20:45
Speaker 2: Right, We need more of that sort.

00:20:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, Tyler, good stuff, dude, Thank you so much for joining us.

00:20:52
Speaker 2: This was fun. Appreciate it. Good luck, we'll be watching Man. We're excited.

00:20:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got it. Appreciate you having me