Dodgers Territory - Conforto Struggles Continue, Kim Ready for MLB? Casey Porter Joins!

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

The Dodgers' win streak was snapped at 7 after a sluggish Sunday Night Baseball performance. Casey Porter from Dodgers Daily joins DT host Clint Pasillas to dive in to the good and the bad from the series in Atlanta, and how should we assess Dustin May after his first 6 starts of the season (1:34)?Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki continue to be bright spots for the Dodgers, especially Yamamoto (7:53).Are Michael Conforto's days as a starter numbered? Clint and Casey discuss Hyeseong Kim's call up and his growth at the Triple-A level this season (17:13). The organization made a big decision with top prospect Dalton Rushing. Could it affect his timeline to the big leagues (22:05)? And is Ben Casparius ready to make the leap to the starting rotation (26:15)? Go to https://hungryroot.com/FT and use code FT to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life! Subscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTube! Rate and review the podcast on Apple and Spotify!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hi, hello, and good morning party people. welcome to another edition of Dodgers territory. I am not Alana Rezzo. I am Clint Paseas. Joining me in my seat is my friend, Casey Porter. You can find him as Dodgers Daily here, or Dodger Daily, here on the internet machine. Alana, don't worry, she hasn't quit. She's going to be back, everybody.

She is on vacation, but she also congrats to her. Got a new gig doing some analyst stuff for the Boston Red Sox. But she will be back on Thursday. But for now, we got a heck of a guest filling in. my friend Casey. How are you doing, Casey? How are things in your neck of the woods? I don't know what the snow situation is like and how you like these Dodgers for a second. Oh, yeah. Things are great here. And, hey, it's going to rain tomorrow night. We're going to miss the Clayton Courtschall rehab. They actually moved him to the complex for his rehab start tomorrow because of possible rain here. But I've had a

chance to see him twice. So super exciting to see that get ramped up. Guys, if you don't mind, please like the show, rate the show five stars, all that kind of stuff on the podcast. platform, subscribe, all that stuff, subscribe to Casey's show. And all these things, we're just settling in. We're setting a little in, but we're going to get into the big ticket and talk about Dodgers taking two of three from the Braves in Atlanta. So again, two of three in Atlanta, the series was a bit of a grind entering the series.

Of course, we learned that Casey Porter's friend, sorry, Tommy Edmund, headed into the injured list with an ankle issue. And then, of course, we find out, I would say Casey Porter's friend here. Heson Kim was the guy calling up. up. You were the first on it. A few people also had it, including Fabian Ardaya. But you were the first on Hessan Kim. We'll talk Kim a little bit later. But if we're just looking at this particular series, again, you start the series with Edmund going to the IL. And then you got a three-hour rain delay on Saturday. Roki Sasaki was pretty dang good, all things considered. But the team

eventually looks pretty flat on Sunday, as Bill Plunkett notes, you know, they didn't leave and get to the ballpark or sorry get home until uh you know after two in the morning and and some people will tell you no good things happen after two a.m. Um, all things considered, Dodgers take two of three. That's what you want to do. You want to go out there and, and win series. But what did you see in the series? What do you like? What can this team build on moving forward and playing the pretty bad Miami Marlins? Yeah, could the Oklahoma City comments go five and in a 10-game series with the Marlins. I think that's a legitimate question.

What you saw was a team that was playing a Braves team yesterday that was desperate. And then also, you know, I commented on our live show last night. You see it. It's day in and day out. I mean, it was like the Braille, and I love the Braves. I grew up watching the Braves. I go all the way back to the Dale Murphy days when they were on TBS every night. I love Brian Snicker.

I love all their players. So I like watching the Braves. I like the fact they're good. But, I mean, it was like the World Series. last night for them, whenever they beat the Dodgers. And it was just one game out of the three. So it just goes to show you how difficult it is to be the Dodgers every day. Now, hey, no sympathy when you have such a high payroll.

We understand that. But it is tougher than people think to get everybody's best shot, everybody's World Series shot at you every day. And as far as Dustin May, I don't mean to like punt that question, but I'll say this about him. I do like the fact that he's throwing a lot more sweepers. He threw, I think, like 32 sweepers yesterday or something. That's going to be a great pitch for him because late movement, you know,

he's got that right turn with the sinker. Now the left turn with the sweeper, I mean, and then they're both late. That's going to be great for him. But what I'm going to say about him is I'm going to hold off any kind of objective evaluation on him till about the All-Star break. He's just gone through too much. Yeah, no, that's fair. I do want to ask you a little bit more about Dustin because it wasn't, we'll say it's a not good start. It wasn't necessarily a bad start. I would argue the start in Chicago was a bit

worse. And I think he had some things working against him there. But in my opinion with D. May, it feels like it's a little part of the league adjusting to him and kind of the new arm slot. Maybe they found where they can see the ball being released from. But another part is, you know, and he's mentioned, he mentioned it in his previous start. I didn't see his postgame comments yesterday. But a little bit of the pitch execution, the command isn't quite as crisp as it was, as it Of course. First three starts and still getting used to that. You mentioned the sweeper there.

When he keeps it down, when he stays on top of the ball, that sweeper has been very, very nasty, you know, to at least the new version of the sweeper. As you know, tweak the grip, the spring training, and over the last couple of years, and he's done a lot of things to try to keep himself on the field. That's the most important thing for Dustin May. He's missed the greater part of the last four years with injuries,

of, you know, various injuries. It's not one, any one particular thing. So the fact that he's still on the mound, that's good for the Dodgers. The Dodgers need him at this point. And I think his next time out, which should be at Dodger Stadium, all things should be good for D-May.

But anything else you want to add on Dustin there before we kind of shift gears? I still view him a little bit as a rehab setting in the sense that, yes, all these games matter. The Dodgers still have the best record in the major leagues. So they have a lot of room for these process-based situations. I know we're going to talk about Michael Conforto. Max Muncie is good to see him, finally starting to hit the ball.

I think people really kind of felt like that was going to happen because he was putting good at bats together. They just weren't ending in the results that we wanted. And we saw that with Andy Pyes. But typically over the long run, the odds catch up. And when you have good at bats, even though the results aren't there, eventually they will come. So I say that to say, I'm still in process mode

with Dustin May. It's still a situation. You know, when these guys come down in Oklahoma City in rehab, literally the only thing they're worried about is like Evan Phillips, I walked off the mound intact. I can throw my next outing and I am healthy. And so that's A number one for Dustin May. As long as he continues to stack up,

one outing after the other, and he doesn't have setbacks from an injury perspective, all the fields will come back. Hey, whenever you're injured like he's been, it's not necessarily that you have any pain or anything hurt, you have all that ability where you really see the effects of an injury and coming back off of it is in the execution piece. The fields aren't the same. So for me to sit here and evaluate Dustin May, this and that at the beginning of May, coming off of all the injuries he's had,

and to put any kind of critical evaluation on the execution piece, I think would be a very unrealistic way of evaluating him at this point. No, that's fair. I mean, obviously we're all on here talking multiple times a week about the Dodgers. So you're always going to force our narratives earlier, whatever. But you're being very realistic about it. The fact that he's pitching that that's something we should be happy about. We should be excited for. And he hasn't really gone out and crap the bed in any sort of way.

He's keeping his team in games. And that's all you could ask for right now for, again, somebody who 10 months ago was potentially fighting for his life. So we'll keep on letting Dustin May ride, and he will figure it all out. I'm Spencer, and I work at United Healthcare. So Spencer, why do you care? I care because my daughter, Adeline, has special needs.

I am motivated by Adeline, who inspires me every day. I am driven to help families like mine navigate the health care system. I'm so blessed to lead an amazing team at United Healthcare, focusing on the member experience and making that better. I'm Spencer and I'm committed to care. Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention, work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first.

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A couple of big time positives Out of the starting rotation From the series Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki Another excellent start for the Dodger Ace Six scoreless innings Five of those of the no-hit variety

lowers his ERA to point, sorry, 0.90, the best in baseball amongst qualified starters. Dude is just straight up elite. And we'll say this before we talk a little bit of Sasaki. When the Dodgers signed Yamamoto to the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history, despite never pitching a major league game, they got a little bit of flack online. It feels to me like maybe they knew what they are doing. What are your thoughts on Yamamoto here in season two and just how good this?

this dude has been for this team here in the early throws of the season. First of all, what made that contract makes sense. Obviously, the execution piece, the Dodgers knew that was going to translate. But then it was the age. So when you talk about long-term contracts, the worst thing you can do is to get into long-term contracts, that put guys well into their late 30s. That's typically, that's the only way an organization like the Dodgers can not have, have a roster every year that can compete for a World Series is if they have a whole bunch of

long-term contracts that they can't get out of, and it's aging 30-year-olds that aren't producing the way that their contract says that they should. So the fact that Yamamoto was so young, was made it worth it for the Dodgers just to be as aggressive as they needed to be. I mean, you're still only going to take him into about its age 35 year. So let's say that he struggles, say age 33, 34, 35. Well, you got seven elite years out of this guy. That's liable to be three or four world titles. That makes that contract worth it in an infinite amount of times over. Plus, just the international factor of it was showy Otani and Roki Sasaki.

The Dodgers are going to make money hand over fist with those types of situations. To go to actually the execution, I call him the magician because it's like he's doing a magic act every time he's pitching. the way that he executes. And something that's interesting, I kind of caught onto this last year. When he throws his four seam from the 60% to the 65% in zone, that's like whenever he's at its absolute best. So it's just enough in the zone to where he can stay ahead,

it counts to where he doesn't actually have to throw a splitter for strikes. He doesn't necessarily have to steal strikes with his curveball. But it's not so much in the zone where hitters get comfortable and they start ambushing him. So that's 60 to 65% range in zone for Yoshinoviyonimo has been a magic number for who I call the magic man. Yeah, he's he's a special kid, a special cat, fun to watch. He can throw any pitch in any count and really is the true ace of this Dodgers team. He is my pick. As people know here on Dodgers territory, he was my Syung pick. And so far I'm looking real good on that. Roki Sasaki, of course, people like to be critical about Sasaki as well.

I was just on ESPN, L.A., with my buddy Greg Bergman and Marcus Grant. And apparently I was turned on to the fact that there was an anonymous scout somewhere that said Roki Sasaki's been the biggest disappointment in baseball this season. But you got a kid coming off now, his first career win in Atlanta, a gritty effort over five innings. Again, more impressive knowing that he started three hours later than he was in. expecting, things of that rain delay. Listen, for all that has been said about Roki Sasaki over the last, honestly, five to ten months, he seems to be getting better and better. He seems to be finding ways to keep his team in ball games. What are your thoughts on what you've seen the growth

of Roki Sasaki over, you know, a month and change now as a big leaguer? And, you know, I guess we could say kind of quiet the haters when it comes to Roki and his growth. Well, I'll say this, just from maybe a coaching perspective, a growth perspective, as you kind of brought up. I love that term because the Dodgers are very growth mindset oriented. This could possibly be like best case scenario for him. So we were promised 102-mile-hour fastball, the best splitter in the game, because it has basically zero RPMs on it. And that's not what we've gotten.

We've got 94, 95, 96. Fine, whatever. I think he's eventually going to be the fastball that we've heard about. I think there's a transition period like Coach Barracoff said on our show last night, a transition period to the new mound, a transition period to the new ball, a transition period to being in a foreign country with foreign languages, foreign foods, and then you're going to Tokyo, then you're coming. I mean, it's been a crazy situation for him.

So I say that to say, I think the VLO, as he settles in, you get around the All-Star break, I think we're probably going to see that VLO bump as he goes on. In the meantime, what Roki Sasaki has had to do is he's really had to learn how to pitch. He's had to learn how to get gritty. He's had to learn how to just really just kind of be a guy that has to pitch like everybody else does versus just using 102-moner fastball and a ridiculous splitter to bully hitters. So what could happen, you know, the positive side of the way I like to look at things is you could end up in, say, July or August, with a guy that is hitting 102,

like we thought he was going to because he's gotten comfortable, but then also had to take a period of time to learn how to pitch. At that point, now you got, wow, I mean, you got the best of all worlds. Is that a little bit too Polyanish for you? No, I think it's fair. And I think what we're doing right now, what we're seeing right now is him, like you said, he's learning the mound, he's learning the lay of the land, he's learning hitters. But he's also, I think, learning to move the ball a little bit more,

move his fastball a little bit more. And that's something a couple, about a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, we spoke with former big league pitcher Trevor May about the fact that he believes that Roki needs to add another fastball to the mix. Whether it be a cut fastball, more of a two-seamer, and I think you have seen more, at least more of that armside ride to his fastball of late, because one of the critiques was maybe that fastball is a little too flat. And if it's not 102, it's going to get hit, which is maybe something we saw earlier when he was trying to kind of sell out for VLO in this first couple of starts. He's been more consistent, I think, of late in staying in that 94 to 97 pocket. And I'm not concerned. I am not concerned about the VILO being down because he's been pretty solid for this team. We've got to take a break right now.

We're going to be back in a moment after a quick word from Todd Frazier and Scott Braun. and we'll talk more Dodger baseball. If you want to be boozy and have your own personal shopper, hungry root is actually the spot. You can do it at an affordable price. Yeah, without a doubt. And especially with my busy schedule with kids on the run all the time, baseball, gymnastics, I need a source that's going to get me going and my kids as well.

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Code FT for 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. The code is simple. It's two letters. FT. I'm Spencer and I work at United Healthcare. So, Spencer, why do you care? I care because my daughter, Adeline, has special needs. I am motivated by Adeline who inspires me every day. I am driven to help families like mine navigate the health care system. I'm so blessed to lead an amazing team at United Healthcare focusing on the member experience and making that better. I'm Spencer and I'm committed to care. Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention,

work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first. But here's something that absolutely deserves to be at the top of your list, your breast health. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. And the rates are still rising. More women under 50 are being diagnosed too. But here's a stat that really hits home. One in two women, who qualify for annual breast screenings aren't getting them. That's half. And yet, when breast cancer is caught early,

the survival rate is over 99%, nearly 100% for stage one before it spreads. If you're 40 or older, you should be getting screened every year. And if you're under 40, it is never too early to understand your risk. So come on now. Pay the girls some attention.

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Learn more at adobe.com slash do that with acrobat. Guys, we are now bleeding blue. Of course, we got my friend Casey Porter. Make sure you guys follow him here on the YouTube. Dodgers Daily here on the YouTube. Dodger Dogg's show does great work here. Covering your team day in, day out. And also a great, great follow on the social media.

And one of the best prospects, Dodgers prospects knowers, I know. I always love talking Dodgers' prospects. with you, of course. I know maybe you don't want to be always thrown in the prospects bucket, but listen, you know everything. So that's where I'm going to talk to you about the Dodgers team and their prospects. And we'll set the stage this way. Despite Sunday night's loss, the Dodgers still have the best record in baseball. They have a half game lead over the Padres entering play on Monday. They play a very bad Miami Marlins team. All of that aside,

Listen, pitching has been mostly pretty good for this team outside of a couple outliers. The offense has been okay-ish, definitely improving. You know, we had an Andy Paez hot streak in there. Shohei Otani, Freddie Freeman, Teaska Hernandez, Will Smith. They're all having All-Star caliber starts to their seasons. But there are complaints. There's one chief complaint we see online right now, and that is Michael Conforto. We've got to talk about the Conforto factor, his struggles at the plate, and how it relates to

Hesong Kim eventually getting in the lineup because I think that's your your kind of sort of clear path unless there's an injuries that's your path to getting Kim in the lineup and we'll do it this way. We'll set the we'll look at some numbers here by a number of stats Michael Conforto is the worst hitter in baseball I'm not here just a pile on it's just these are numbers he amongst qualified hitters he's been rough he's been rough as where

Heson Kim has earned some opportunity at the AAA level. We know the Dodgers aren't going to cut bait just yet. I guess this is more an opportunity to set the stage of tell people about Heson Kim what you've seen in his growth at AAA playing every day, bouncing all around for this team. And is he somebody who could be kind of major league ready at this point to get out there, play some left field, play some center, second base, maybe even short. He's played all around. Give us your take on your one-month assessment of Heson Kim.

He's definitely plug and play defensively. Now, he's made some errors at shortstop, but I said from the very get-go, Mookiee Betts is great. But if the Dodgers want to make, and Alex Freeland's awesome, too. As a matter of fact, Alex Freeland has by quite a bit outperformed Haysan Kim to this point in the season. But there's roster issues that make it a lot easier to make it, Heysong Kim, plus he can play infield and outfield. And Kim, like I said, being on the 40-man roster. So here's just kind of the nutshell of that. By Hessan Kim being on the 40-man roster, when he started in Oklahoma City, that automatically took up one of his option years.

So his option year is already gone for this. One of his three is already gone. If you put Alex Freeland or Dalton rushing on the 40-man, and then you put him in L.A., then bring them back to Oklahoma City, that then counts as one of their three option years versus right now since they've never been put on the 40 man. They can stay in Oklahoma City all year and not lose an option year. So that's why Hess and Kim in situations like this,

plus he exactly matches defensively what Tommy Edmund would have brought for this team. That's why it was a no-brainer that he was the choice in this situation. So he's very much so plug and play. I do have concerns with the offense. I think there's still a transition period there. I don't personally think that he's ready to hit Major League pitching on a consistent basis. At this point, I still think he needs to see Velo.

I still think he needs to see Velo up in the zone. His strikeout rate, we've seen it, it's pretty high for a guy with his type of speed. I think there's still parts of his game that he can get in Oklahoma City in front of 3,000 people on a Tuesday night and really just kind of close the the holes because I'll say this. Dodgers fans are the most knowledgeable. They are the best fans I have ever been around. I would say St. Louis Cardinals fans are up there too.

The Cardinals fans are awesome. The Dodgers fans are awesome. They're super knowledgeable. But when they want their prospects to come up. They're super excited. But then after two weeks, if they're hitting a buck 90, they want to send them back to Oklahoma City. And rightfully so, because we're all like, hey, man,

we got show you a time. We got three Hall of Famers. at the beginning. We've got six guys that are having MVP seasons. We don't have time for this, right? So I get all that part of it. So what I worry about with a guy like that who still has quite a bit, in my opinion, of transitioning left to do, I worry about that, him going up to Los Angeles,

it not going the way it needs to. And really, that's kind of two steps back for the one step you took forward. Yeah, I can understand that. And that's why I wanted to get your opinion. You're somebody who's put eyes on him there. a whole bunch at AAA and everybody just kind of sees the numbers, but you don't see the game. You don't see some of the holes in the game, holes in the swing, things that still need to be refined.

And yeah, it's fun for him to come up and steal a base and, you know, late in a ball game and all of that. But is he ready for prime time? And right now your opinion is no. But hopefully soon, as we always do, there's another kid. And I could be wrong, Clint. I could be dead wrong. I've been wrong many times before.

I just really want to see him get an opportunity. I mean, he's up right now. He, I bet he would be at least as good as Michael Conforto if he's starting for the next three or four days before Tommy Edmund comes back. But hey, you know, I wouldn't know if we'll be able to take that bet. And another one of the guys, everybody kind of lost their mind over the weekend when they saw Dalton Rushing getting the start in left field. And we talked a little bit in the offseason on my channel about Dalton Rushing is the left fielder, that whole experiment, experience. The whole point is getting him in the lineup,

finding ways to get him here at the big league level because the bat is ready. He was great in 2024 and he's even better. It seems like this year, the power coming a little bit later, it seems like the first few weeks he was scuffling by his standards, but he has been phenomenal. He's a ball player like we talked about last time. And how do we get him to the big leagues? Is it left field?

I'll ask you again in what is it? I think 10 innings he's now played some left field for Oklahoma City. Is he somebody that can run out there, put on a left fielder's glove, and play adequate enough defense to get in the lineup every day for this Los Angeles Dodgers team? Right now? If it was tomorrow, I mean, I just don't think there's the reps there. I mean, it's not as easy as people think, hey, throw on a glove and head out there on the left field. By the way, Freddie Freeman's at first.

By the way, Mooky Betts is at second. By the way, Tayo Hernandez is the right field. By the way, Max, Will Smith's your catch. It's not as easy as just, hey, here you go, here's a glup. By the way, go ahead and transition to Major League pitching, which is like the hardest transition to do anything in sport to go from Pacific Coast League pitching to Major League pitching.

Now, you see the same type of stuff in the PCL, but you see it more consistently at the major league level. It's every single night. You never get a night off from it. And then the execution is just unbelievably different. So here's what would be my concern there, is that not only would Dalton rushing have to make the incredibly difficult transition from AAA to the major leagues, which is hard enough to begin with,

now you're asking him to do it in a position in left field to where he, he's never played before. And so you're asking him to do on both sides of the ball, something that is so ridiculously hard to do that I'm not even sure somebody that's as good as Dalton rushing would be able to maximize what he's capable of doing at this point. So if you want him to be your left fielder, then put him in left field, give him three or four months,

let's evaluate it at the end of July, maybe August, and maybe he'll be ready defensively at that. point that would be but i'm a conservative type person i'm the type of person that likes to put people in the best situations versus just throw them in the deep in and see if they can swim that kind of deal but that would be my my thoughts on that yeah i i don't know i think with um somebody like like dalton where again the the bat does seem ready at least uh statistically it seems ready when you look at that baseball reference page uh you've seen him a lot more we we finally in l a are going to get the opportunity to see him a lot more because they're going to be playing comments games on

on sports net LA which is awesome and I think everybody I encourage everybody to go out and watch some of these games or I guess really sit down stay home and watch some of these games because that is pretty dang cool but listen there's going to be no better place for him to get better than at the big league level in my opinion and and if it means saving us from a lot more Michael Conforto on his struggles. I would still agree like maybe three weeks, maybe a month. Let's give him a solid. Give him the month of May.

See how he comes out of the month of May mostly playing left field. And if things aren't trending in the right direction, then you got to figure out a path to get him up there. Because as the tweet I posted from Tim Cates said, Dodgers have a first baseman. They have a catcher. You got to find a way to get an elite bat, potentially elite bat in that lineup when it comes to

adult and rushing. And this appears to be the most obvious path. Left field right now appears to be the most obvious path. One more before I let you get out of here. I want to talk about Ben Casperius because he is listed as now tonight's starting pitcher and Dodgers fans who did not watch a lot of Tulsa and Oklahoma City. No, this kid is a reliever and a very dominant reliever, but he is a dude who was a starter for the majority of his professional career. And if he wasn't starting, he was getting bulk innings. He was a multi-inning reliever. Getting his second, you know, second start of the season, this first real start, to

be honest, as a big leaguer. Dave Roberts had said, he's a different guy, a different kind of build now than he was even at this point a year ago. What can you tell people about Dalton Rush, sorry, not Dalton Rushing, Ben Casperius, the starting pitcher? And how do you think this version now that's, you know, touching triple digits with the fastball. He's just, he's got something going for him this year. He's been absolutely filthy. Can that, that frame, that build all that sustain, you know, five, six inning workload?

Oh, 100%. And the reason is he has two centerpiece pitches. So kind of the way that Benke Experius invented himself. He went to North Carolina out of high school and he was a two-way player shortstop. I mean, he could really hit. And then he went back home to Connecticut and played for Tom Penders there at Yukon. Tom Pender, by the way. I wanted to give a shout out to him. I've had a chance to see that Yukon program up close and personal twice. What a great job he does. So anyways, he goes back home to play with Coach Penders. He becomes a pitcher.

He develops this great arsenal of off-speed pitches and a fastball that's just kind of, eh, okay. So he comes to the Dodgers and he's still with these great secondaries and a fastball that's kind of like, oh, okay. And he does well with Rancho. He's like the California League pitcher of the week, gets promoted to high at Great Lakes. And to be honest with you, from that point on, it's been, let's reinvent myself, let's reinvent myself, let's figure this out, let's find the best version of myself.

So he's gone through several different carnations of what is the best version of Ben Cusperius, and his success has been anything but linear. So for factor number one, what Dave Roberts is hinting to there, this guy's seen failure. He's had to deal with failure. He's had to figure it out and get over it. And so that's why I think you're seeing a guy that is scared of nothing. He's not, he has no fear of failure because he's already been there, done that at the minor league level. That's number one. And the number two, what happened as he gave himself the patience to continue to find the best version of himself,

his fastball started catching up to his plus slider. That's a 3,000 RPM slider. And so he always had the centerpiece slider. Then the fastball got up to 96, then it got up to 97. Then it got up to 98. Now it's where it's at now. Now the spin is touching 2,600 or close to that. So now you have legitimately two pretty much elite centerpiece pitches.

And I've said that many different times. When you have one centerpiece pitch, great, that's probably a reliever type deal. Two centerpiece pitches. That tells you you can go through the lineup fairly easily twice. And then if you add just kind of a third pitch like in a curveball that you can still strikes with that starter stuff so this only makes sense to me yeah i've everything i've heard about bennie caps has been good everything we've seen when it comes to bennie caps has been good and uh i'm i'm excited to see him get some run uh you know in the starting rotation even if it's two or three

starts before somebody like tyler glasnow or blake snell return i think the dodgers still have a need for him uh casparius in the in the rotation when uh kershaw returns to uh the fold as well who you said you mentioned earlier is having another, making another rehab outing in Arizona tomorrow. Dodgers getting a little bit healthier and things are trending in the right direction. Best team in baseball and one of my favorite people to talk to here. This is Casey Porter. For the people who don't know, tell them where to find you, where your show is and all that kind of stuff and not where to follow you home because that would be weird, but let the people

know where to find you. Yeah, Dodger underscore Daily. I think it is, and I think it's Dodger. Dot Daily on, but Dodger underscore Daily at on X, and then I think it's Dodger. Dot Daily on Instagram. Also have a Facebook page and a Facebook group. And then the YouTube page, the Dodgers Daily YouTube, we have our daily Dodgers Dog Show,

where we have a host of guests, had you on it a couple of times. Always gracious whenever you come on, Clint. So we do a lot of down the farm segments. We do a lot of live shows. We do a lot of just kind of differing opinions from different types of people. So definitely check out Dodgers dogs as part of the Dodgers Daily Network.

Yeah, always a great watch. Always a great conversation. Casey, I appreciate you. And I got a couple more things to do here on the show, guys, and then we'll sign off. But for now, I'm going to throw to Last Licks. I'm Spencer, and I work at United Health Care. So, Spencer, why do you care? I care because my daughter, Adeline, has special needs.

I am motivated by Adeline who inspires me every day. I am driven to help family. families like mine navigate the health care system. I'm so blessed to lead an amazing team at United Health Care focusing on the member experience and making that better. I'm Spencer and I'm committed to care. Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention, work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first. But here's something that absolutely deserves to be at the top of your list, your breast health. Breast Cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the

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your moves, AI levels of your pitch, gets it in a groove. With your timeless, cool, flex those two. Drive to Zan to list the deck so you can build that thing. Do that, do that. Learn more at Adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat. All right, guys, Alana is still out. She will be back on Thursday. We will be together on Thursday for a second. But first, I want to remind you one more time while you still have time.

Go check out this auction to benefit Gidre's Guardian. She would appreciate it a whole bunch. Everybody in the world would appreciate it a whole bunch. head to 32 auctions.com slash LAA LAD and you can bid on a package to get you some tickets, you and your friends, you and your family, you and your girlfriend, whoever you bring in. Just the important thing, it's helping support dogos in the community and supporting Alana and all that kind of stuff. I think she would very much appreciate if you do that. The last thing I wanted to touch on before we get out of here, quick baseball thought for the road.

my friend, a buddy, I've had a beverage, a beer, an adult cocktail. Well, it's more of a Pacifico with this guy, but Ross Stripling, Dodger legend, Chicken Strip himself announced today. He is retiring from the great game of baseball. You know, probably not the way he wanted to go out. Did sign a minor league deal with the Royals this off season. Things didn't necessarily come together for him there. But hell of a career for Chicken Strip.

does have himself a World Series ring with that 2020 team, even if he was not on the World Series roster and all that. But I just wanted to give a shout to Chicken Stripp. Ross, congrats on a great career, man. Hey, golf is fun as well. So let's get out and do some golf while you're doing your accounting or your tax stuff. Whatever it is you're going to be doing.

He's a smart kid, and we appreciate the great Ross Stripling. Guys, thank you for hanging out with me. Big shout out once again to Casey Porter for joining me here on the show. check him out on all those things. I will have them linked in the description of this video YouTube channel. Give him a follow there. Give us a, sorry, give him a subscription there. Subscribe to Dodgers

Territory. We are getting close to 10,000 subscribers. We would appreciate it. Alana and I would appreciate it very greatly if you can help us get there. Before, I don't know, some point in time, that would be nice. I am real FRG on the social media machines. Give me a follow. Smash the thumbs up button

on your way out of here on YouTube. Hit us up on the Apple, the Spotify, rate review the show, all that kind of stuff. I'll be back tomorrow post-game show with my buddy Greg Bergman from ESPNLA. And we'll have some fun talking about, hopefully the Dodgers taking game two

of the series against tomorrow. But until then, bye. Hey guys, it's Aaron Andrews. Breasts get so much attention, but they're still so ignored when it matters most. Everything these days is fighting for your attention. We've got work, family, social media, making it tough to figure out what to prioritize.

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