Yankees P Ryan Weathers joins FT

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Right, Weather's joining us right now, you have the same hat on your you know everything. He already knows all the answers to the test.

00:00:10
Speaker 2: So I'm going to bring up the same question. First question I asked him. Yes, the first off, good to see you again. Right, did you get a workout in today. We're all fresh ready to go.

00:00:22
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, absolutely, We've been going to the facility. So we're all good now, all right, good, good.

00:00:28
Speaker 2: So I'm bringing up the same question because I think everybody needs to know how athletic your family is, from your mother to.

00:00:36
Speaker 1: Your two sisters to your brother in law. Explain everybody. Don't forget his dad, forget about Dave.

00:00:45
Speaker 2: Can chill out a little bit, but we all know about Dave. What explain to us what your sisters, your mom, your brother in law do or are doing, and how you're the least athletic of the family.

00:00:59
Speaker 4: So my mom played hoops at Belmont University. My oldest of my younger sisters, she's playing hoops at Alabama. They just beat Old mess last night top twenty one. My youngest sister plays basketball at Freed Hardman inn Aiigh School in Henderson, Tennessee. My wife played at the University of Florida and volleyball. She played Team USA when she was younger. She was I think the number one recruit for volleyball in twenty eighteen. Her oldest brother played college basketball at Anderson University and her younger brother plays basketball for the Charlotte Hornets. And then her dad played basketball at Wofford and her mom played basketball at College of Charleston Cowlee.

00:01:47
Speaker 5: That is some sick I can't even well. First of all, Todd interviewed Ryan last night, just last night for the S Network. So that's what Todd father was talking about. But where do you rank in there? I said, you're the least athletic. Where do you rank in there? And what sport do you go to? If you have the Weather's Family Olympics that you're like, Okay, I got I got a chance here.

00:02:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean my I would say my wife and my sister Albamra by far the two most competitive. They both got all the jumping ability that skipped me. So I ain't got any hops in me. I gotta pick a sport. I'm gonna I'm gonna play golf. Most of them can't pick up the club. And then I know I can beat my dad every day of the week.

00:02:33
Speaker 1: So.

00:02:35
Speaker 5: Well, you're you can beat your dad. Does he know that? And that's why you rob it in?

00:02:39
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, they build walmarts in between our drives.

00:02:43
Speaker 5: So uh I was I wis we had a split screen of him on here too, because there is some there's some stormy weathers stories that I heard from other guys that were rookies, Like your dad's much older than I I am, but my generation of players came up as like as rookies when your dad was on the team, and some of the things that he did to some of those guys are epic, Like I can't even talk about on here, So we won't. We won't get to that. We won't get to that. But what was this trade like for you? What was this What was this opportunity? Not opportunity, but more how did it come to? How did you come to find out about it? How soon was it like totally out of the blue? Did you think there was a chance, did they give you an inkling anything like that, you know.

00:03:37
Speaker 4: Going to the off season obviously like any players available for you know, whatever the team wants or whatever they need. Once Cabrera got traded to the Cubs. You know, I really thought that, you know, I was going to probably stay put.

00:03:53
Speaker 3: I love Miami. I love the Marlins.

00:03:55
Speaker 4: You know, Kim and g traded for me in twenty three for lack of better terms, when I wasn't throwing the ball really well at all, and Miami really gave me a shot to, like, you know, at.

00:04:05
Speaker 3: Least give my feet wet.

00:04:06
Speaker 4: I know, I haven't been healthy super long, but they really allowed me to get my feet wet and learn myself as a big league pitcher. So I always love the Marlins and they always hold a special place in my heart.

00:04:21
Speaker 3: But yeah, the trade definitely caught me off guard.

00:04:24
Speaker 4: But the opportunity, I mean, you get to play for the Yankees, I mean the pinstripes from the most notable pin stripes in all sports. I can't wait to pitch a Yankee stadium. I love all the guys here, the guy who treated me awesome. I've been down here for about three weeks in Tampa, and literally almost the whole team is here, so that just speaks to the culture here and I'm super excited.

00:04:45
Speaker 2: I want to talk a little about your arsenal here a little bit. You have a lot of really good swing and miss stuff. You you throw a really nice fastball and good off speed, but are you are you trying to tinker a little bit maybe with a little two seam fastball action to get that little bit more strikeout so you can get cooking now. I know as a starter, now you could ticker with a few things and get away with it.

00:05:07
Speaker 3: Oh for sure.

00:05:08
Speaker 4: I you know, I just I kind of throw a traditional runner. I just don't I would.

00:05:12
Speaker 3: Say my change ups kind of my go to.

00:05:14
Speaker 4: So I don't want to throw a you know, a one seamer or at two seam that gets in that area. Like I wanted to say, it's on separate pitch. So I'm just working on the left. He's throwing a little runner. They can get in on the hands kind of be at that belt line, just to kind of split the plate in two with the two in the sweep, knowing that I have the four at the top and the change up below. You know, with the Yankees were tinkering a little bit with like a little little small slider. I threw it, as you can see right there, about four percent last year. I just need to get a little bit more depth on it. To get below a barrel varieties, and I think we'll be in a good spot.

00:05:49
Speaker 5: Have the Yankees talk to you about that, because they have the lab down there and in Tampa, and have they put you through some of those things or are you still kind of like, Hey, once you build up to a certain point, then we'll really start tinkering with that. And if they did tinker with it, what does that what does that look like for you? Is it hand placement? Is extension?

00:06:10
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just all hand placement.

00:06:12
Speaker 5: You know.

00:06:12
Speaker 4: We're working on the bullet slider. We have the colorful baseballs where we draw like for the fastballs. We have those sharpies on each side to see your four team spin. We have sweeper sweeper spins, we have bullet slider spins, change up spins, so we just I throw with them. Honestly, now, I've never thrown with them. And I almost make every single throw outside of pitching on the mound with the baseball that has colors on it, so I can see the spin of my ball, which is super helpful. So yeah, we're in the lab right now. I got one ending live tomorrow. I've been down here for about four or five bullpens, a couple updowns, and everything's been going really well, getting my foreseam to the outer lane varieties, which is really huge from our arsenal to really establish the away lane. I haven't been too good of that in my career, especially the last couple of years, especially last year. So the more I can get to that outer third, I think it will help my arsenal a lot.

00:07:06
Speaker 5: You have to explain the colored balls because and I also want to go to your live and who you're going to face, but explain the color balls to people who don't understand. This isn't pitching ninja, so not all of our fans necessarily know exactly what you're talking about.

00:07:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, So essentially you just color for forcing fastball, you would you would color the train tracks on each side, and when you throw it, as it's the balls in flight, you can just see if if the on each side, if they're spinning just consecutively like that, you know it's your four team's in a good spot. But sometimes if you don't throw, if you don't click a force team, that spin will get a little wonky and the lines won't be as defined. So essentially, just in the in ball flight you want to see the consecutive revolutions of the fastball, the breaking ball, the change up, and you want to see those colors on whatever side they may be on, to just be as obviously you see them as much as possible.

00:08:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, So that's it's really it's it's like the most genius hack on a baseball that not everybody thinks about because some people are just worried about throwing strikes. Who are you gonna face in your life? You said you're thrown a live tomorrow, right, or you just threw a live We're.

00:08:14
Speaker 4: Gonna we're gonna find out tomorrow. I'm not sure I'm facing yet, So I'm excited.

00:08:18
Speaker 5: You know who's but you know who's in camp?

00:08:21
Speaker 3: So who's camp? I mean, there'd just be a couple of guys.

00:08:24
Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to step on a live one, but I don't know who I'm facing yet.

00:08:29
Speaker 5: Who do you want to face? Because that's what that's what live and everything like, you're kind of testing yourself. You're not going live because you're like, I'm just trying to feel it out. To me, I think that's kind of like a like a soft approach. You're joining a new team. I watched an interview the other day your manager said, out of everybody, I'm really impressed with with Ryan Weathers, Like, I'm really impressed with the way he's throwing, the way he looks, best shape of his life, and camp like that whole thing. But who do you want to face that like sets that level of competition for you.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: I mean, the obvious one is Judge.

00:09:02
Speaker 4: I mean, he's the best player in the game, one of the best players in the game. You know, it'd be nice to face him when numbers aren't on the line and we're on the backfields. It's a little bit different when you're facing a Yankee stadium and you're on the opposing team.

00:09:16
Speaker 3: But I mean the lineup's great, just guys like that.

00:09:18
Speaker 4: Obviously, I'd love to face some lefties just to work on the two seamer, but probably Judge I'd be a good.

00:09:25
Speaker 2: One, no doubt, no doubt. And I think you'd want to face so, even though you face a bunch of those guys before.

00:09:31
Speaker 1: But it's it's a little different.

00:09:33
Speaker 2: When you're on the mound, nobody's watching in the back or wherever the heck you're doing it. It's like, here we go Mano, I mono, I want to talk about your haircut here. Man, I didn't get to ask you last night. Is the why why you got.

00:09:47
Speaker 3: You got nothing back here?

00:09:49
Speaker 1: Wow?

00:09:50
Speaker 2: That with that wife he telling you, I need, I need, I need a little shape up here?

00:09:54
Speaker 3: What do you got, dude. I've been I've been hurt the last couple of years.

00:09:58
Speaker 4: I was like, I'm just going to change it up and go short hair and hopefully it helps me out.

00:10:03
Speaker 3: But also I just want to I want to honor the Yankees rules.

00:10:05
Speaker 4: And you know, I know that they've you know, been clean shaven and short hair. I know that that might not be the rule now, but I just feel like it, you know, to honor their code. And I'm just excited to be a part of this organization. And you know, I'm gonna do whatever I can to help them out.

00:10:20
Speaker 5: I bet if you're not pitching, well, you're gonna get that beer going a little bit. The hair is gonna start coming out. I'm just saying. I'm just saying, feel good, look good, play good. It all goes inside. But hey, you know what you said, you want to change it up a little bit. You only had eight starts. The biggest thing nobody's ever said. Man, Ryan Weather stuff, his stuff stinks. It's always the eights word health. How are you going to change that up? Because that's like the age old question. You make thirty two starts. You are going to absolutely be one of the top dudes on this team, even when Freed and Cole and Rodin are all back healthy. How are you going to change that up? And I know that's an off season goal for every player, but it's especially a guy like you who's had.

00:11:01
Speaker 3: Some issues for sure. One, I just you know, the Lord's already blessed me.

00:11:07
Speaker 4: If if it's if he sees fit that I stay healthy, then you know that's his plan and there's nothing I can do.

00:11:12
Speaker 3: To change that.

00:11:14
Speaker 4: But at least on my side, you know, I've really changed a lot in the weight room.

00:11:18
Speaker 3: My issue is not as much working hard as is working smarter.

00:11:22
Speaker 4: So just not going there and load enough a bar on my back and lifting or deadlifting whatever it may be. You know, I've really switched up a lot. And with the Yankees too, uh. You know, Eric Kressey is one of our head guys on the street side. You know, he went through a movement assessment and just determining that, you know, some some spots that I'm lacking in, you know, whether it might be you know, my posture or anything like that.

00:11:44
Speaker 3: So we're changing that up.

00:11:46
Speaker 4: And then you know, the last couple of years, it's been weird, Like I can pitch through some like Nix and bomps, I've just had a couple just weird injuries where like I physically just cannot pitch through them. Because I want to pride myself on being available and being able to pitch. I've had a couple injuries where it's they've been honestly minor, but to the point where I can't pitch. Obviously, with the finger injury in twenty twenty four, you know, nobody would ever think that my injury had been a rock climbing incident injury. That's the only injuries that that happens in is rock climbing, and that's something that keeps me out for half the year. And then last year just the weird day that we had in Tampa with getting hit in the back of the head and then in the third inning just not feeling normal. You know, it's just something that you can't prep for. But I'm gonna try my best to keep my body in a good spot where I can perform on the field.

00:12:34
Speaker 5: Take us to that time when you got hit from the catcher on the throwdown, like like one of my buddies got hit almost the exact same situation and he thought somebody threw a ball from the stands. How much did it surprise you in the sense that you were like, oh my gosh, what just happened.

00:12:51
Speaker 4: It's definitely weird. You know, it's stinks too, because Ford says, now he's with Tampa, that's one of my boys, like he's my dog. We go to breakfast and once again there he's like still in between innings, like dude, I'm so sorry. More you're gonna have to let it go, Like I'm fine, but it just it's so weird. You just like I think the what people that don't understand is like in any sport, like once you get thrown off, like you're you know what you're doing, Like I was locked in, ready to go, and something like that that just drastically just you know, shakes you and you try to figure your way out.

00:13:25
Speaker 3: It was just weird.

00:13:25
Speaker 4: Obviously waking up or not waking up, but rolling over and you're in a face full of dirt. That's kind of a little bit weird. But you know, I was able to get up and pitch, and you know, thankfully the ball hit me a little bit on the top of the head. If it would have been in the back of the head, it could have been worse. But I don't have any lingering effects from it. I wasn't too smart with to begin with, so I think I'm.

00:13:47
Speaker 5: All good, all right, But one last one here on the change from the Marlins to the Yankees. Now, I don't know if you were still active when the Marlins instituted the bench calling, but as a pitcher, not just a pitcher, but your dad pitched in the big leagues. You've had a lot of pitching conversations. You were a National Gatorade Pitcher Player of the Year. Like you you have like an advanced knowledge of ball. How hard is that to adjust to? And would you rather have it called by the catcher than somebody from the bench?

00:14:24
Speaker 3: For sure?

00:14:24
Speaker 4: I think, like obviously, it's just it's different than anything you've done, especially in pro ball. I think the thing is you have to rise is the pitcher is like the catcher's calling the pitch anyways. I know it's like it's a bit different first, but if it's getting called from the dugout, you know, it's still just a pitch call. It doesn't mean that you have to throw that pitch or you can't shake like it's still at the end of the day, it's still just a suggestion. So I think it's a pitcher like you still have to be prepared and ready to go and know if that's not the pitch you want, you have to know what you want to go to, so you know there'll be like kinks with it that will get worked out. I think it's just you know, we had a couple of young catchers to kind of get them, you know, investing in the game and you know they they're hard workers. But I know you call it and sometimes at first it can be you know, the game, the speed of the game is a little bit different, and I think that they wanted to take a little bit off their plate and wanted them to focus on other areas. And that's fine, and so it's a picture. You know, you still have to be locked on your scouting report and you know, ready to rock and roll.

00:15:32
Speaker 5: Are you ready? Are you ready for the abs. I'm for everybody listening and not watching. I'm tapping my head. Will you challenge a ball or strike call on the mound or has Boonie already said not for you?

00:15:46
Speaker 4: Whether, Yeah, we haven't had any meetings about that as tough as a picture, because we want everything to be strike. So if it's like up and down, I can like judge that better. If it's a way and inside catcher's hands so quick, I have no clue, but I'll make sure my catcher is doing it over me because I want everything to.

00:16:07
Speaker 1: Be a strike.

00:16:10
Speaker 6: It sounds like no pitchers are going to really get involved. Everyone we've talked to about this has been like, no, I'm not touching that. Do we actually think that's going to be the case?

00:16:20
Speaker 1: Crats? I mean, you're probably the best person out you think so.

00:16:23
Speaker 5: Yes, I think the smartest. I think maybe some of the guys will try it out in spring training. But I think exactly what what Weather said, what Ryan said, like bro, like you're trying to make your pitch and then you're like, did he did he move that?

00:16:38
Speaker 1: Did he?

00:16:38
Speaker 5: Like? You're deaking like the catchers sometimes Deacon the picture not just the umpirelot that looks good.

00:16:44
Speaker 4: Looks like you know it as well too, Like if that box wasn't on the screen for a game, like I've bet ninety five percent of the fans would have no clue that if I was a striker at ball and unless that box was up there.

00:16:55
Speaker 3: So it's like we're the same thing on the mound, Like y'all make a.

00:16:57
Speaker 4: Pitch an out or half and it's like, oh hell, look, and then you go back on the iPad. It's a ball and a half off the plate and you're like, thank god, I didn't rip a challenge there.

00:17:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, no doubt. And that's you don't want to rip a challenge away from the guy you're hoping to punch out tomorrow and Judgy, So that's that's good, all right. My last, my last comment, I mentioned it about your dad doing some funny things. I won't mention what he did, but for you and your pops, they used to call your dad's stormy for stormy weathers. You need to ask him about what he did to a man named Jason Standrich his company. Okay, it was a rookie, all right. If you know the story and then you don't even need to ask Okay, good. I'm making a laugh. So that's it. It might be too vulgar to have on the show, but you already know the story, so we don't need to. Okay, good, never mind, And that was my only comment.

00:17:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he's a sick puppy. That's all I got said.

00:17:55
Speaker 6: Wait, is this story anywhere to be found online? Like if I google it now, you.

00:18:01
Speaker 3: Won't find it anywhere.

00:18:05
Speaker 1: Okay.

00:18:05
Speaker 5: It's one of those. It's one of those ones where we have like, this is a players show, like we like bringing the players part. But unless Stormy comes on, unless David comes on, your dad comes on, it's just one of those. Yep, we all we're all aware, we know what it is.

00:18:21
Speaker 3: Just don't mess with him.

00:18:24
Speaker 2: Oh man, I would love to hear some what it's probably done some stuff to you.

00:18:30
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, Frankster locked and loaded.

00:18:36
Speaker 1: Oh man, that's good.

00:18:38
Speaker 2: Tell pops we all said, a man, we love them.

00:18:40
Speaker 3: We'll do we'll do well.

00:18:42
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it.

00:18:45
Speaker 6: You'll probably see too much of Todd Father this year, but we appreciate the time.

00:18:50
Speaker 3: Thank you. I appreciate it.