Ranger Suárez’s sore back; Taijuan Walker to the rotation?

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Hi, This is Zach Wheeler. Welcome to Philly Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: Hi everybody, Ruben Tomorrow Junior in Clearwater, Jim Salisbury in Westchester, PA. Todd's a lucky in Clearwater next to Ruben. It's the Philly Show. It is Thursday, March twentieth, twenty twenty five. We're actually recording this though Wednesday after Wednesday's game, and I tell you what, we were kind of lining up the show and we had some ideas and then boom, post game, we're talking to Rob Thompson, guys, and we're talking about Taiwan Walker, and I brought up the question to Rob Thompson, Hey, Taiwan does not want to talk about starting the season in the bullpen. He does not want to talk about not being a starting pitcher. And Rob says, well, I don't either, and we said, well, where do you think that he stands? He says, well, there's still a battle going on and it was matc Eelboes. So there's we're not set in the rotation yet. He said no, not really, and then he finally revealed that Ranger swore Sworez is dealing with a stiff back, a stiff back something that came up a day or two after he threw sixty pitches four innings on Saturday over at the Carpenter Complex. And so now we're going to wait and see. Rob Thompson said the next twenty four to forty eight hours are going to be very, very important. He was Ranger was supposed to pitch in the split squad game on Friday. It's probably not going to happen now, or is not going to happen now. We don't know when he's going to pitch next. We don't know how bad the back your injury is, although Rob's did say it is not as severe as bad as it was last season. Remember the back kind of derailed his entire second half. He says it's not as serious as it was last season, but still Ranger swore as stiff lower back. We might see Range Taiwan Walker in the rotation at all. Early Too early to say, of course, But Rubin, what's your immediate reaction to to this this news?

00:02:03
Speaker 1: Well, it's not great news obviously for the Phils. They've had camp quiet pretty much other than Strom, and Strom looks like he's bouncing back. I think he threw a bullpen today and the ball came out pretty good. He's feeling pretty good about himself, and I think so is Rob Thompson. That said, I mean, this would be a big loss if they especially with the back, it can be a little Backs can be very tricky. Obviously, you can't perform as an athlete if your back's not feeling right. And and he's had this, you know there's a history behind this as well, so that combination gives his cause for concern. There's no question about that. The fact that they do have three off off days in like the first you know, a few weeks of the season. That's a good thing. A couple of weeks or so in the season so they can line things up so that they can skip that fifth starter spot. Maybe once, probably not twice, but we haven't figured all those numbers out. But hey, when anytime you lose anybody in your rotation, it's an issue, and you know they're gonna have to deal with It's one of the reasons why they signed Joe Ross, one of the reasons why Tyler Taiwan Walker is still here in camp and you know, not released, and that thirty six or thirty eight million dollars isn't but you know, by the wayside, because they may may very well it looks like they may very well need him as the fist starter. James.

00:03:33
Speaker 3: My reaction is no bueno, No bueno.

00:03:38
Speaker 2: You're right, yet that's.

00:03:39
Speaker 4: Like I don't like to hear this, especially given the young man's history last year hamstring, back, shoulder, there was shoulder fatigue in there as well. And you know, it's like the old Lenny Diister. Line Backs are tricky. Backs are tricky, dude, because they're connected to everything. And you know, he's right, that's what he said. It was a good He was spot on. And you know they can say all they want that it's not as serious as last year whatever, until you see him out there dealing, you have to be concerned. And we talk about it all the time. He can never have enough pitching depth. And this is an example why. I mean the team they face today has really been hit hard, the Yankees. But you need Rangers wires, You need him to be good and need him to have that really good walk year because it's a win win situation. He can benefit from it as he goes on to free agency, and I have no doubt he's going to go on to free agency. I've all along thought this was going to be going to be his swan song in Philadelphia. But the other half of the win situation is you want him to have a great year because your team will benefit from it. So I'm not going to overreact, but this is something you got to keep an eye on and something that Yeah, it definitely concerns me.

00:04:57
Speaker 2: Yes, the Ranger might potentially pitching a Graper League game before the camp breaks. I would say it's unlikely, but you know he can stay back and pitch an innersquad games in clear Water before he needed. If you look at the schedule, you're right, there's a couple off days. You know, at day day after opening Day March twenty eighth, they come home and then they have Looking at the schedule, now they have an off day on April first, and then they have an off date on April seventh. Now they have five games in a row from April second to April six, So I you know they would need a fifth starter at that point. That could be Taiwan Walker. Maybe Ranger Suarez just benefits from a little extra rest. Maybe he comes back and pitches in that game. Now, if they back date him, if they would have to start him on the il. You can backdate the fifteen day ail. I believe it's three days, and so I think he could come back in that situation as early as April eighth against the Braves down in Atlanta. So just kind of you kind of look at these things and try to figure out what we're long ways away. Like Rob Thompson said a postgame in his office, next twenty four to forty eight hours are are going to be pretty important.

00:06:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question about it. But it's not a small thing. It's a pretty medium size to large things. It is.

00:06:17
Speaker 2: Well, we'll talk more about Ranger and Taiwan Walker right after these words.

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00:07:22
Speaker 2: We are back Taiwan. You know we're talking about all this, of course, and Taiwan was kind of We've talked about Taiwan a lot this spring. He was kind of like one of the nice stories of Camp and my pleasant surprises. We talked all off season about him. You know, is this guy really going to be able to you know, get his velocity back and get the split working again. First three starts were really good, and then today through two scoreless innings and then just got hit, got hit really hard. Ruben, you were you were doing the game, would you what'd you think of Taiwan?

00:07:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean came out of the at the very the outset. He was actually pretty sharp. I like this fastball. He felt it looking like a had good life to it. He ran into like a longer inning at like a twenty seven pitch inning, either the second or third inning, and sort of gassed him a little bit and he started to miss the spots, got banged around with some home runs, left some pitches in the middle of the plate. I thought that he didn't really have a feel for his split, which he has to have. If he doesn't have that pitch, I mean, it's troublesome because his secondary pitches beyond that split are not great. He did throw like a one, very very good curveball today for a punch out, but he's got to have that split fastball split combination, and if he doesn't have it makes it troublesome for him. But hey, they may have to count on him. Now. That's the reason why he's around the fact that you know, they have a little bit more depth than they've had in the past, but you can never have enough. We've talked about it a million times. It's so cliche. You need pitching, and you need more pitching, and then after that you need some more. Right.

00:09:00
Speaker 2: Funny because everybody this in spring was like, now they should trade them, they should trade them, all these teams. He's starting pitching, And I've been kind of in the mind of, I don't know, like even before this Ranger thing happened, like, do you really want to just trade him just to trade them unless you get something? Of course, it just makes a ton of sense for you to do it. A team comes by and says, how about, well we'll you know, we'll take on thirty million of the remaining thirty six or something, then then of course you do it. But I was, I was in the mind of, you don't necessarily need to rush and give him away, and and man, maybe that ends up becoming pretty important.

00:09:32
Speaker 4: Don't you think though, Like they can't trade him, and if they could have traded them, we would have been traded by now.

00:09:38
Speaker 3: I just don't think there's a lot.

00:09:39
Speaker 1: Of a lot of Probably so yeah, probably not not a lot of flow on him, Jim. Probably not a lot of flow.

00:09:46
Speaker 6: Damn say, But I do have to say that you know, the ball is coming out of the hand better but he's gonna have to throw and command his pitches as well as anybody, just because his stuff is not nearly as sharp as it was maybe three or four years ago.

00:10:04
Speaker 1: And so he's going to have to have really excellent command to be able to manage himself through five or six innings. And that's really what you want, I mean, out of your fifth starter. If you can get five or six innings consistently, then you're you're in business.

00:10:18
Speaker 4: This makes Joe did Joe Ross signing looked pretty good. I mean, obviously it makes the Lozarto acquisition look good because now you're talking about your fifth starter, not your third or fourth starter. Right, it would be nice if mckabel would start throwing strikes and things like that. So you just need all these guys obviously.

00:10:42
Speaker 2: Well, it's kind of funny, you know, the last few days we've been trying to get Rob to kind of tip us off on how the rotation is gonna set up, because it clear very clearly it is Zach. I mean, Zach Wheeler is the opening day starter. But but Rob has been reluctant to say anything beyond that. And you know, as Jesus Lozardo's lined up to pitch Game two, Aaron Nola have to pitch Game three. Christopher Sanchez is lined up to pitch the home opener against the Rockies. But that was something that robs today's like, that's why I have not wanted to say what the rotation is beyond Zach, because we've known that that ranger has been sidelined or you know, put down because of this this back issue.

00:11:19
Speaker 1: So it raises the question do they speed up Andrew Painter and the question, and I think I'll answer that for you. They will not. I don't. I do not think that this will speed up his you know, overall development. It's not gonna be still gonna be June and julyish unless something miraculous happens. I got to believe that they're going to stay with the plan. The man is too important to the organization short German long term, and so for those who think that they should be speeding him up, it's not gonna happen. They got to be careful with this young man and make sure that he's one hundred percent and ready to go, and they're doing it intelligently. So I'll answer my own question. Yeah, it's not changing his.

00:12:06
Speaker 4: Timeline, and I'm glad you brought that up, because I'm sure that throught is going to cross you know, a lot of people's minds, but you know they're going to be They're going to be committed to the plan they have. And Dobroski has flat has used the word the expression July ish. He's also said, could that be sometime in June, sure, could that be sometime in August.

00:12:28
Speaker 3: Sure?

00:12:29
Speaker 4: But they need to run the play here for the good of their organization and for their future and for the future of this young man. He's coming off Tommy John surgery hasn't pitched in two seasons. It has to be a slow, smart, methodical ramp up. And he's going to be on a workload budget, and you have to budget it so you get most of that workload in the most important months of the season.

00:12:54
Speaker 2: Well, you know the bad news, I guess with the ranger. The concerning is with ranger Mattstrom bullpen a day and we talked to him afterwards and he said he felt great. He said it was the best villa we had all spring. His his vila was like ninety one point five in his first two appearances. It was down from where it was last spring. Rob Thompson said, the same thing that was his best VILA last ring. He looked really, really good. So here's the good news. Rob Thompson was encouraged enough by that to say that if matt Strom wakes up on Thursday feeling good, he could pitch in a Graaper League game as early as Friday. If not Friday, then Saturday. He said, If matt Strom pitches Friday or Saturday and he feels good, he sees no reason why he can't be ready to start the season with the team. So if that's the case, that's certainly good news, especially with now you're talking about maybe Taiwan sliding over at a ranger spot if that ends up happening, So there's some there's some good news, and that's you know, we're talking about an all star lefty reliever, so they need him.

00:13:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's huge, just big for him. I know that he's a guy that wants to chopping at the bit. He's not backing off, so they have to be careful with him. That said, you know, the proopers into putting and the ball was coming out of his hand really well according to most people, and if he bounces back again in the next few days, and he's healthy and good to go. He's the kind of guy that I don't think needs a ton of work as far as you know, getting ready and you know, being able to pitch in the big League. So he's a veteran, he knows what he's doing, and hopefully, if he is healthy, he'll be on that mound opening day at some point.

00:14:36
Speaker 4: I'm still gonna be cautious with him, because you know, this is a long haul sport.

00:14:42
Speaker 3: It's about the long haul.

00:14:43
Speaker 4: It's about when you have a roster like this, they should play in October. That's where the prize is. I'm not saying the regular The regular season is obviously very important, but they you need to be careful with some of these guys out of the gate. There'll be plenty of time for them to to, you know, make up what they miss. You just have to make sure that they're all ready to go one hundred percent healthy. I just wouldn't go into the season with a guy who's only ninety percent. He can he can make up that next ten percent, you know, in games that matter.

00:15:15
Speaker 3: I wouldn't do.

00:15:16
Speaker 2: It well if if he for some reason he's not ready to go, or if he is ready to go, and Taiwan Walker moves in the rotation because Ranger isn't ready to go, they're gonna need to fill another bullpen spot. Two guys pitching tomorrow, I guess are in the mix. One of them is certainly in the mix, and that's the Bill Chris Matt. He is starting on State Wednesday or Thursday, Yeah, Thursday, tomorrow today, it's gonna be Thursday as we're recording. Thursday. He is Bill. Chris Matt is going to pitch in it in Northport against the Braves. So they're starting him, so they they want him to face the lineup and see kind of how he handles that lineup, that Atlanta lineup. And then Kyle Tyler, who's on the forty men roster as a starter but is pitched in relief, he's going to follow him. So either they're given those guys two good looks.

00:16:01
Speaker 1: So yeah, and that's the way you do, and that's how you find out. I mean, these guys, the Atlanta Braves are pretty close to being fully ready and you're to see a pretty darn good lineup against him. So, hey, this is the time of the year where you find out whether guys are really ready to help you at the major league level, and great job of testing these guys and seeing if they can be a real option.

00:16:26
Speaker 2: Did you guys see yesterday Jose Alvarado's breaking ball to Tommy Fam.

00:16:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, he turned it over a little bit.

00:16:35
Speaker 2: She turned it over. It was kind of like it went it went armside right and a scrooge. It was a scroogie. So I thought this was really interesting and pitching Ninja that that Twitter account first mentioned this, but I dug into this. So al rot through this curveball yesterday. It had five point six inches of arm side movement. So yeah, like I had some screwball movement. And Tommy FAM's reaction was like, yeah, hell was that? I have no idea what that was, and so me being me, I didn't. I was like, Okay, that that looks unusual, But how unusual is it really? Well, now because we have stack cast, we can actually look this up. So last season, every left hander in baseball who threw at least fifty curveballs had the pitch move glove side at least glove side, meaning you know, like a normal curveball at least point one inches Okay, every pitcher that threw at least fifty curveballs at least point one inches except two Drew Smiley three point two inches armside and Marco Gonzalez point four arm inches armside. Alvarado's curveball this spring is averaging one point nine inches of armside movement. That means the only guy who's throwing a curveball like that more like moving more like that is Drew Smiley, and Drew Smiley does not throw as hard as Jose Alorado. He's not throwing one on one with a nasty cutter and like, you know, a nasty curveball as well. So I just thought that was kind of a fun little stat in terms of like how unusual that is and how that could if he can throw a few of those this season. That's kind of a fun little weapon and fun little thing to watch going forward.

00:18:17
Speaker 7: It's not gonna be his bread and butter because it's it's one hundred mile an hour and one hundred and one mile an hour fastball, and he's a sinker that he's featuring and you know, ninety six mile, ninety four mile an hour cutter that he's that he's firing off right now and he's really pitching, well, he didn't pitch and then back to back.

00:18:32
Speaker 1: He did not use that breaking ball. But boy oh boy, was his stuff filthy again against the Yankees. And it's nice to see him bouncing back with this kind of confidence, this kind of stuff and command. Command being number one for him because he can be a true, true weapon if he's right, a true weapon for that bullpen and would certainly mitigate the issues they might be having with that strup.

00:19:02
Speaker 3: It's crazy with that.

00:19:04
Speaker 4: It's sort of like it sounds like that breaking ball is backing up.

00:19:07
Speaker 1: No, Ruben, Yeah, it's like a backup breaking ball, and it's it's like the toughest pitch in baseball because you've never seen it as a hitter. You just don't see it. The ball is supposed to break from the left hand, or supposed to break to the arm side if it's a curveball, supposed to go sort of left to right, if you're looking at the catcher, and if you go left to left, left, you know, if you go right to left, then it's just bizarre. You just your eyes can't adjust to it. It's just no way. There's really no way to hit the pitch unless it's hung in the middle of the plate because you just don't see that rotation. Is it an accident or an accident. I don't know. If he was working on it, I have no idea, but if.

00:19:52
Speaker 3: He's working on a curveball, he.

00:19:55
Speaker 2: Did say a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago when I talked to me, he was. He said he was working hard on his curveball all spring. And again, like the fact that it's averaging that, I don't know if it's I mean, that was an extreme instance of it, like that break. He hasn't thrown a ton, but the average again is one point nine, which is still would be second and Drew Smiley if you threw it, you know. So I don't know if it's an accident or not, but it's certainly going that way this spring.

00:20:19
Speaker 1: So now I know he's.

00:20:21
Speaker 4: Working on the pitch. It's just got a very unusual break to it. But hey, let's know what you do with that. You take put that under your arm like a football, and you hit the hole right exactly.

00:20:33
Speaker 1: We're not in football season right now, Jim. We're in basketball and baseball season.

00:20:36
Speaker 3: I'm speaking to the people, though, this is a big football town.

00:20:38
Speaker 4: In case you haven't heard, is it some green team, the Green Monsters.

00:20:46
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. Well it's also basketball time now, you know, we got the NCAA tournament.

00:20:50
Speaker 3: That is a hell of a segue, my boy.

00:20:52
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I've prepared something for you. I want to see, you know, in honor of the nc tournament, which, uh, great time of year. Everybody loves the NCAA Tournament, right. So I went through the field of I guess this sixty some odd team, sixty four and then they got to play in or whatever. So and I came up with like eighteen or nineteen teams that I think might have a Phillies connection.

00:21:21
Speaker 3: Okay, in most cases a guy.

00:21:23
Speaker 4: Who went to that school and played for the Phillies. And I want to see I want some quick answers. Are you ready for this?

00:21:29
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, let's do this.

00:21:30
Speaker 3: All right.

00:21:31
Speaker 2: I'm probably gonna fail, but yeah.

00:21:33
Speaker 4: All right, give me, like, come on, you got to know the answer to the most famous Philly that played at Michigan.

00:21:37
Speaker 2: State, Robin Roberts.

00:21:39
Speaker 4: There you go, all right, give me Philly that played at Old Miss. Come on, hurry up.

00:21:45
Speaker 2: Jonathan papplebon no, no, no, was he Mississippi State?

00:21:50
Speaker 3: Yes, David Delucci, old miss.

00:21:54
Speaker 2: David Delucci, old mess.

00:21:56
Speaker 4: We have a New Mexico connection, which I don't know if gonna get see if Rubin might know this New Mexico Phillies connection.

00:22:04
Speaker 3: Come on. Jim Fragosi, junior, former Philly Scout.

00:22:07
Speaker 4: I think he led the nation in slugging as a junior at New Mexico. He was an employee. He didn't play for it, but he was a scout. You know his connection connections. Rod Nichols, former Phillies bullpen coach, was also in that lineup with Jim.

00:22:23
Speaker 3: They were two big hitters at New Mexico.

00:22:26
Speaker 4: I think he used to call him bang and bang anyway onto Alabama?

00:22:32
Speaker 2: Oh man, Well, David Robertson pitched for Alabama. Right, I'm trying to think who else is there? Is there a bigger Philly than David Robertson and out from Alabama?

00:22:40
Speaker 3: I put Adam Morgan on the list. Adam Morgan I had an inside and on the inside joke for you.

00:22:47
Speaker 4: Somebody else that pitched at Alabama.

00:22:52
Speaker 3: That was the.

00:22:54
Speaker 2: That was the old Marlins PA guy. He had this press box guy. Yeah, the old press box guy. Taylor tankers Lee one inning, pitched three hits, one run.

00:23:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, come on, I know you'll know this with Todd Maryland, Maryland.

00:23:15
Speaker 2: I don't know that.

00:23:17
Speaker 3: Milton, Eric Milton, Oh, Eric Milton came.

00:23:21
Speaker 1: Up one Andrew Amarrow, who's now a scalt with the Reds.

00:23:24
Speaker 2: How about that?

00:23:25
Speaker 3: There you go? How about and he.

00:23:28
Speaker 1: Played for the Phillies organization? Organization?

00:23:31
Speaker 3: Is that the kid who played at U T That's correct.

00:23:35
Speaker 1: He is a transfer.

00:23:36
Speaker 3: He was at Illinois as well, not Illinois, Virginia, Maryland.

00:23:41
Speaker 4: Oh, he's at Maryland. Okay, yeah, I'm sorry Maryland. All right, this is already.

00:23:45
Speaker 3: Uh becoming a chore.

00:23:48
Speaker 2: No, No, it's good.

00:23:50
Speaker 3: I don't think it's any good anyway. Illinois, Illinois. You won't get it.

00:23:55
Speaker 2: John Felski, Oh, John, I would have never gotten that in a billion years.

00:23:58
Speaker 3: All right, you gotta get left.

00:24:00
Speaker 8: Tannel came up at the end of the year pitch for Illinois, who kind of a soft tossing left handed and pitched against the Arizona Diamondbacks and threw a pretty good game against the starter.

00:24:11
Speaker 1: Boy.

00:24:11
Speaker 2: I can't remember that year.

00:24:13
Speaker 1: Why am I brain locking?

00:24:15
Speaker 3: Uh Kobe Allard?

00:24:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, was he from Illinois? He I could be wrong.

00:24:21
Speaker 3: I don't know what he was wrong looking it up, Todd.

00:24:26
Speaker 1: Likely incorrect.

00:24:27
Speaker 3: Okay, how about this, you gotta get this one. Texas.

00:24:36
Speaker 2: Lemons went to Texas, Cody went to Texas.

00:24:39
Speaker 3: Cam Rupp second round? All right? How about how about how about Clemson?

00:24:48
Speaker 1: H Clemson?

00:24:50
Speaker 4: You got some You've got some current Philly uh representation, you got Wes Wilson, and you got Mike Kalechi.

00:24:59
Speaker 3: The bench had Brad Miller, Brad Bamboo Miller.

00:25:03
Speaker 2: The home run hat.

00:25:07
Speaker 3: Here's a here's a good one for you, Louisville.

00:25:11
Speaker 2: Oh my, Gosha Davis tag Davis.

00:25:16
Speaker 4: Ben Davis's son is a freshman. Thank you, Phillies connection.

00:25:20
Speaker 3: He is killing it. His ops is over twelve hundred.

00:25:24
Speaker 4: He's slugging like seven thirty two as a freshman.

00:25:29
Speaker 1: The kid is the moa. Yeah, he's raking.

00:25:32
Speaker 4: He was raking also. Bj Rosenberg went there. How about Creighton.

00:25:38
Speaker 1: Darren?

00:25:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, very good. How about Michigan.

00:25:44
Speaker 1: Casey close he was he was anconer, Ryan Howard.

00:25:49
Speaker 3: That's right, that's right.

00:25:51
Speaker 1: The connection connection.

00:25:54
Speaker 3: Baseball getting the hang of this, Ruben Phillies Phillies.

00:25:58
Speaker 2: But there's a Phillies player that went to Michigan.

00:26:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, from Ruben.

00:26:00
Speaker 4: Bat Boy era, second baseman Teddy size More, Ted Sizemore.

00:26:05
Speaker 2: That sounds I would have never gotten that one.

00:26:07
Speaker 3: All right, So you're not gonna get this one.

00:26:09
Speaker 4: But Auburn, who's got a heck of a basketball team, they're gonna they're gonna make some noise.

00:26:14
Speaker 3: As he's saying, the tournament. There was a guy who pitched for the nineteen thirty five Phillies.

00:26:19
Speaker 1: Come on, Jay, Yeah, no, listen, pitch. Did you watch him?

00:26:26
Speaker 2: No?

00:26:26
Speaker 4: I didn't cover that game. I was off anyway. So his name was Ray prim p R. I m for the nineteen thirty five Phillies and he was not good. He gave up one hundred and ten hits in seventy seventy three innings, one hundred and ten hits and seventy five point seven to seven e RA.

00:26:46
Speaker 3: So he's he obviously is not on the Wall of Fame.

00:26:50
Speaker 1: He was.

00:26:50
Speaker 2: He was a finesse guy.

00:26:52
Speaker 3: He was a he gave up a lot of hard hit balls.

00:26:56
Speaker 4: All right, here's one you should guys should get U c l last one no or almost there.

00:27:00
Speaker 3: U c l A.

00:27:02
Speaker 2: Oh, Chase l A, Chase l E.

00:27:04
Speaker 4: Eric Valan, Jeff con I remember that great quote, Jeff quote Conine had Todd after they picked him up.

00:27:10
Speaker 2: Jeff, No, I don't remember this guy about throwing up.

00:27:17
Speaker 1: You never wanted bat at u c l A.

00:27:19
Speaker 3: You're right, I wrote about that.

00:27:20
Speaker 1: He was a picture, not one I faced him.

00:27:22
Speaker 2: We used to call him blue Glove, Jeff Conine. I remember that he was with the Phillies. What it was a two thousand and six.

00:27:29
Speaker 1: Your boy Ed Price used to get on him bad about his blue glove.

00:27:32
Speaker 3: Really, Ed Price was a.

00:27:35
Speaker 1: What he was the best chirper in the history of the pack ten. Really you got it.

00:27:42
Speaker 3: We digress, but you're right. Yes, he had the quote about throwing up in his mouth.

00:27:47
Speaker 2: Jeff Conin, Yeah, I remember that came in.

00:27:49
Speaker 3: It made Park all right. University of Houston, Michael Bourne.

00:27:56
Speaker 4: Michael Bourne, and Matt Beach. Matt Beach was one of the funniest guys ever. He gave up one of the longest home runs I've ever seen in my life at Veterans Stadium center Field upper deck to Andrew Jones.

00:28:09
Speaker 3: You remember that, I know it.

00:28:10
Speaker 8: I have to tell you this story, Jim, because it was my favorite. I was playing left field, and when he hit it, I actually ran into the towards the enfield to look back to see how amazing it was struck.

00:28:23
Speaker 9: And it smoked off the four hundred facade up there, in that four hundred level that right around the Vet Stadium. It was the longest tracer hardest hit ball I.

00:28:35
Speaker 1: Have ever seen.

00:28:36
Speaker 3: Yep, how about that fun.

00:28:38
Speaker 4: I actually I actually when Matt Beach I think he was pitching in the Yankees system.

00:28:44
Speaker 3: I actually went and saw him.

00:28:45
Speaker 4: He was in Columbus, Ohio, I think, and he had I think he had Tommy John surgery twice.

00:28:52
Speaker 3: And he offers, how about that home Remember that home run? I gave him to Andrew Jones.

00:28:58
Speaker 2: He was a great majestic that this has a sense of humor about it.

00:29:02
Speaker 3: How about Arizona University of Arizona.

00:29:06
Speaker 2: That is Scott Scott Kingery, Scott Kingery, Tito Francona, Oh, Tito, that's correct.

00:29:12
Speaker 4: And another guy, left handed pitcher, Ed Vosberg.

00:29:16
Speaker 1: Who I faced him in college there.

00:29:19
Speaker 4: Once pitched an entire inning for the Phillies. And you can go look this up. Pitched and it was on TV. I covered the game at the Veteran Stadium. He pitched an entire inning with a dragonfly on his on his hat.

00:29:35
Speaker 3: It was so funny. Remember that.

00:29:37
Speaker 1: Also, and he also had the greatest pickoff move in the history of baseball ever Atsburg. Wow, unbelievable pickup.

00:29:45
Speaker 4: Good guy, good guy. It's with a big old dragonfly on his hat. All right, almost there, Ruben, you know you gotta know this one Baylor.

00:29:57
Speaker 3: Number one pick, first round.

00:29:59
Speaker 1: What I know this Baylor?

00:30:04
Speaker 3: Wait?

00:30:05
Speaker 2: Is it the left handed pitcher, the first round pick became a hitter. Why am I blanking on him?

00:30:11
Speaker 1: Yes?

00:30:12
Speaker 3: Oh?

00:30:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, no? No the other guy? Oh it wasn't him, was it Pat Comes? I think you're talking about guy hitter Savor?

00:30:22
Speaker 3: He was Rice. He was Rice. He was Rice. That's right, Okay, okay, we got three more. I know this was painful. Mississippi State you already said, papal bomb. But the phil He's had a number one pick out of Mississippi State.

00:30:35
Speaker 2: They had a number one pick out of Mississippi State. Did he ever play for the.

00:30:38
Speaker 4: Phillies, Yes, and then he was traded into the Padres and the Andy Ashby deal.

00:30:42
Speaker 1: Reuben the right handed.

00:30:44
Speaker 3: Steve Carlton Lower and Lower Carlton Lower. Also nineteen eighty Hero del Uncer.

00:30:54
Speaker 2: Oh, no, kidding, del answer, I should have known that.

00:30:57
Speaker 3: You should know this. Arkansas.

00:31:00
Speaker 4: Cliff Lee, Cliff Lee and Aidan Miller was a commit to Arkansas.

00:31:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right, just to commands.

00:31:08
Speaker 4: And you both will be happy to hear as our listeners will be happy to hear.

00:31:13
Speaker 3: Only one more. I want to see if you can get this one Kansas.

00:31:19
Speaker 2: Oh, Rob Thompson, Right, Rob Thompson.

00:31:23
Speaker 3: And one more.

00:31:25
Speaker 4: One of our favorites, Todd, one of our favorite and he was a left handed pitcher, and and we gave him a great nickname because Charlie had a lot of trouble with his name.

00:31:38
Speaker 3: Oh my god, who is it?

00:31:40
Speaker 1: It wasn't Kyle Kendrick.

00:31:42
Speaker 4: It was Mike Zegerski, Yes, and Charlie.

00:31:48
Speaker 1: Charlie had a little trouble with that one.

00:31:51
Speaker 4: Charlie used to call or Charlie used to call him Gazerski, and Mike loved it.

00:31:58
Speaker 3: Mike loved it. And we used to call Mike big g for gas.

00:32:02
Speaker 2: Then but Charlie then Nelison call him about z Peck. Remember that you call him z Peck. How about z Peck?

00:32:09
Speaker 3: Mike love that.

00:32:11
Speaker 1: I like that. Jim, that was pretty good.

00:32:13
Speaker 2: Man.

00:32:13
Speaker 3: That was terrible one of us, None of us. Man, We're gonna get hate mail on that.

00:32:18
Speaker 2: No, we won't. None of our schools made the NCAA Tournament. Stanford, not in Minnesota, not in Providence.

00:32:24
Speaker 3: Not in none of them.

00:32:25
Speaker 2: Best best best player Jim that ever came out of Providence, big leaguer, John McDonald.

00:32:34
Speaker 3: Well McDonald, marloney and.

00:32:37
Speaker 2: Bertie Tebbetts, Bertie Tabbitts. What about Stanford, Mike Messina.

00:32:42
Speaker 8: Mike Mashina, Jack McDowell, But Mikeena has to be the best.

00:32:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, Minnesota, Paul Maltor or Dave Winfield got some good ones there.

00:32:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, where you go there? Yeah, just because it's overall amazing athleticism.

00:32:59
Speaker 2: God, I've go with Ma because you played for the Brewers.

00:33:04
Speaker 3: And they were both from Saint Paul.

00:33:05
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, yeah, well yeah. Uh. Joe Mouer went to the same high school as Paul crem Durham.

00:33:14
Speaker 1: The amateur players of all time.

00:33:18
Speaker 2: Joe pretty good pro player, he was okay, he was all right, all right. So we have Ranger Suarez is down Matt Strom is up. We learned a little bit about some of the players and some of the NCAA tournament schools. Jim, I I enjoyed that. Jim, he tested you tested my memory there. You got me on a couple of good ones.

00:33:37
Speaker 3: That was good.

00:33:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, you made Ruben look bad, But that's okay, that's all right.

00:33:42
Speaker 1: The first time. It's not the first time you've done that to me.

00:33:46
Speaker 4: I just had a little uh. But honestly, the highlight of it was Teed Davis. He he is absolutely mashing it as a fresh freshman.

00:33:57
Speaker 3: Or whatever it is.

00:33:58
Speaker 2: How about that. Keep an eye on that. All right, Well, we will be back later this week. We're gonna have we got one more show coming later this week, so we'll we'll have that for you. So maybe if you guys want send us some questions on any of our social media channels, we'll try to tackle a few of those in our next episode. Jim, We'll smell you later, buddy, Smell you guys later.

00:34:21
Speaker 1: Mane Jim.

00:34:22
Speaker 2: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Philly Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. If you like us, give us a review, Follow us on Instagram, TikTok x, Facebook, and threads. Find Rubens analysis before, during, and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Find Jim at all phl y dot com. Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Beat newsletter, and MLB Network