Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast - Effectively Wild Episode 1213: The No-Strikeout Streaker

Episode Date: May 7, 2018

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan follow up on HBP rules and two of the three radical ideas they discussed last week and banter about Ichiro’s quasi-retirement, the Braves’ talented-but-overperforming offense, how Nick Markakis’s hot streak jeopardizes a career distinction, the eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, Gerrit Cole’s latest exploits, Collin McHugh, Archie Bradley, and the […]

The night is gonna fall and the vultures will surround you And when you're looking in the mirror, what you see is gonna astound you But all these lines and frames we find They are the maps of our design The one began on the morning Hello and welcome to episode 1213 of Effectively Wild, a baseball podcast from Fangraphs presented by our Patreon supporters. I am Ben Lindberg of The Ringer, joined by Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs.

Hello, Jeff. Hi, Ben. We have a guest later in this episode it's a guest we teased on an earlier episode steven brault the pirates pitcher and pirates hitter because he kind of has been a hitter this year he has not struck out in his career to date it is a historic career starting streak for pitcher without any strikeouts and that's especially impressive in this era of many strikeouts particularly for pitchers so i'm going to talk to him about that and about

previously being a two-way player and he's also a podcaster and a singer he's just a fun guy so we'll talk to him a little bit later but we have some stuff to get to first. So you and I were just joking off air before we started recording that Malik Smith is the new Ichiro. The old Ichiro is old and is no longer a player. He quasi-retired shortly after we recorded our last episode. Do you have any Ichiro remembrance that you'd care to share? Because we talked recently about the Ichiro Mariner's situation and how it seemed like it had the potential to get ugly because we didn't really the Itro Mariners situation and how it seemed like it had the potential to get ugly because we didn't really think Itro would walk away and yet he wasn't playing well and it was potentially going to get uncomfortable where you don't want someone's career who has been as great and revered and fun to watch as Itro to end in a kind of Ken

Griffey Jr. type way and I guess guess that has been avoided. He just very smoothly transitioned to a front office kind of on-field instructor hybrid role. And I guess that's probably the last that we've seen of Itro as a player in the majors, which is sad. I'm not totally sure about that. I wonder if the condition here, one of the conditions is that Itro will be on the active roster when the season opens next year in Japan. Uh-huh. He could be, yeah. Look, I don't know. But the fact that the Mer the active roster when the season opens next year in japan uh-huh he could be yeah look i don't know but the fact that the merediths and a's are opening next year in japan first two games of the season it wouldn't surprise me at least if itro were on the roster for two games or maybe just one and then he formally retires because of

course the word retire was absent from the announcement yes itro as he always has insists he will continue to play. It's a weird job that he has now in that he's everything but an active player. Like he's not moving from the field to the front office or anything. He's basically moving from the field out of the dugout for three hours a day, but everything else is exactly the same.

The beat reporters were saying he was doing the same stretching routine before the game, right after this announcement was made. So I guess if you are if you are each row and you know that your life is participating in what roto world would call baseball activities then there's only one baseball activity you can't participate in anymore and that's the the game stuff but he was already not playing a whole lot i'm not really good i

don't think in terms of like retrospectives or career appreciations because i'm just kind of always trying to figure out what's happening now so this is my own liability that's developed over think in terms of like retrospectives or career appreciations because i'm just kind of always trying to figure out what's happening now so this is my own liability that's developed over time because my field division has has narrowed but obviously there hasn't been another player like each row and he's a play like every so often you would think oh here's a superstar from the 70s but what would people think about him if he were around now and like the age of social media and and constant access but he's been around and you know he hasn't not provided access in terms of like quotes and interviews you get him in front of a press conference every so often and he'll issue quotes but there's still no one no one knows him you know yeah it's uncommon to have that sort of border up in this day and age,

which I appreciate in large part just because it is so uncommon. But there was a good article written by current friend and former co-worker Graham McAree over at SB Nation that was talking about how each row just never compromised at all. He played with the style that everyone was skeptical of at the very beginning. And Major League Baseball never figured out how to beat him. played with the style that everyone was skeptical of at the the very beginning and major league baseball never figured out how to beat him everyone tried to get him to assimilate and play in a north american style and then they you know announcers in the early going would if they would be derisive

and always refer to him by suzuki which was just you know insulting it sounds more insulting now than i guess it did back then different era but he just never gave in. He never changed the way that he played. He never dove for a ball in the outfield. In fact, he might literally have never dove for a fly ball in the outfield. And, you know, obviously he's not a good player anymore, but that's just, that's not baseball bidding and that's his being 44 years old. Yeah. So I guess I'm glad that if this is the end, it ended as painlessly as it seems to have. But obviously, we're all sorry to see him go. I mean, we're really sorry to see the younger Ichiro go. It wasn't as if the old, the current model of Ichiro was all that inspiring or fun to

watch. But just having him around the game, I hope that he continues to be around the game in some capacity just because he's such an entertaining guy and a great quote. And, you know, I think the fact that he was just a small guy and he managed to be one of the best players in baseball. He has said, I believe, that he hoped to inspire other people who didn't have the traditional big league body type. So he just, I mean, he had a unique game that is kind of an adjective that we overuse sometimes maybe, but in his case, it really was true. No one else played quite like Yitro did. And he kind of had a weird sort of game where he was a star and he wasn't always maybe as valuable as his stardom indicated in that he was just incredibly good at singling, as his stardom indicated in that he was just incredibly good at singling, essentially,

and also good at base running and fielding. But, you know, he wasn't that amazing an all-around hitter. He didn't hit for a ton of power or walk a lot. So I think Joe Posnanski has likened him to Nolan Ryan in that Nolan Ryan was also good, but maybe more famous than he was good in that he was just kind of an outlier in terms of the number of guys he struck out and walked. And Yitro was like that with singles, essentially. But he was still just a really valuable player and a really entertaining player and a guy who, yeah, we maybe never really got to know completely, but we would get these little glimpses of his personality in various quotes or his speech before the All-Star game, that sort of thing.

They're just legendary and mythical now. So it has been a lot of fun, and I'm glad we got Ituro for as long as we did. Yeah, I wasn't sure how seamlessly this was going to go. Obviously, we talked about that when the Mariners brought Ituro back, and this is about as good as it could have gone. I think also the timing was, they couldn't have waited too much longer because the tide was starting to turn, you know, in terms of the, what have you done for me lately sort of attitude that a lot of fans have.

I think Mariners fans are kind of getting a little tired of seeing Yitro on the roster, especially at the expense of Guillermo Heredia. This isn't the podcast about Guillermo Heredia, but everything went smoothly. Credit to all those involved. I'm sure Y itro didn't really necessarily want this but he's also an honorable man who didn't want to be terrible on the field anymore so now he can hone his craft in batting practice and he can come back a rejuvenated 45 year old next season and bat a majestic 240 right so i've got a bit more baseball banter to get to

but you want to give us a volcano update because i I'm sure that's been consuming as much of your attention as sports these days. I don't know if people are familiar with VOG. I don't know if VOG means anything to you. You've heard of fog. You've heard of fog. VOG is volcano fog. It's, what is it? It's a very thick cloud of sulfur dioxide. It's a real problem. Technical term? Yeah term yeah yeah look it up v-o-g and the obviously right now there's an eruption in the east i believe it's the east rift zone of kilauea it's an area that hasn't erupted since 1955 but kilauea is a very active volcano and there's i think two structures have already been destroyed everybody's been evacuated it's a some leilani i think think, estates.

Anyway, that's getting into technicalities. Volcano go boom in Hawaii. It's pretty cool. But the problem, the big problem, even though this is a pretty fluid lava, it's not necessarily the lava. That's bad for property, but I don't know. Maybe Hawaii has volcano insurance.

But the big problem is that cloud of sulfur dioxide. It's the gases that get you. Not so much the other stuff. And people need to be aware. I haven't looked at the recent tracking of where the sulfur dioxide gas cloud has moved to. But when it goes over the island, then as you can imagine, the children, the elderly, the infirm, if that's a word that we use, people who aren't very well off, they shouldn't breathe it. No one should breathe it. But especially those who are vulnerable shouldn't breathe it because it can be a problem so all of i believe volcanoes national

park is closed now so that's bad for tourism but it's good for those of us who like to see things blow up so pretty cool to see a fissure several i think it's up to eight volcanic fissures have opened and started spewing lava and it's i like the just seeing pictures of like lava fissures have opened and started spewing lava. And I like just seeing pictures of lava fissures on streets. Just like, oh, right. We inhabit a planet that doesn't care about us at all. It can do whatever it wants. And so eventually people will maybe repave over the lava. But for now, the lava is reclaiming the Earth. Yeah. Well, when we had volcanologist Eric Clemente on to talk about volcanoes and baseball sort of in a tangential way, we were talking about that conflict between marveling at a volcano and studying volcanoes, and then also trying to be sensitive to the fact that

there are people involved here who live near the volcano, whether that was a good idea or not. There is always property damage and sometimes there's loss of life. But I know that volcanoes are something that fascinate a lot of people, including you. So you always hope that it's an uninhabited area, but it seems like fewer volcanic areas are uninhabited than I would have expected. Like, I don't know. I guess there are reasons to live there. Maybe the property values are affordable or something, but I would have expected, like, I don't know, I guess there are reasons to live there. Maybe the property values are affordable or something, but I would stay away. There is a lot of really cheap property in Hawaii that is available in the areas of lava flows, and you can imagine why.

But see, one of the issues, the reason people love to inhabit these areas is because volcanic deposits are very fertile. So you can have really great agriculture in the area of volcanoes, which is good for growing and eating and living healthfully, but also bad when the volcano decides that it wants to belch. So there's ups and downs, but if you're living on Kilauea, you should probably be aware of the fact that the volcano is so active that there is a lava lake at the summit. Yes. All right. A couple follow-ups, I think, to things that we talked about with Sam, at least. We talked about his three radical proposals in our last episode. One of them was about selling home field advantage. So just allowing teams to bid for that, which would give bad teams and low attendance teams another way to benefit, to maybe get better sooner. It's kind of a controversial idea with some possible barriers. But anyway, we heard from a listener, Johnny, who is a listener and baseball fan in Brazil. And he says, after hearing about Sam's idea of trading home field advantage, I wanted to tell

you that this kind of thing has happened here in my country. It was in soccer, and it became rather common in the last few years. Sometimes a smaller, less fortunate team hosts a quote-unquote home game in the stadium of its opponent, usually a bigger, richer team for one game. They do it for the money exclusively. This way they can sell more tickets and retain ticket sales cash. However, this money comes from the opponent's fan base that have one more opportunity to see their team. It's like the Rays hosting a, quote, home game in Yankee Stadium full of Yankees fans, but retaining the money of all tickets paid. I hope this was interesting to read and help to understand how Sam's idea would work in a real sport.

So some precedent in Brazil in another sport, but it has happened. It could happen. And another follow-up to something we talked about with Grant Brisby, we talked about the rule about how you have to make an effort to get out of the way as a batter in order to have a hit by pitch called and how that is usually not observed in the major leagues. email from an amateur scout for a major league team who heard us talking about that. And he wanted to mention that his direct message said, college umpires love calling the hit by pitch rule happens like once a game. And I said, does it lead to a lot of arguments? And he said, every single time. No wonder the college games take four hours. And I confirmed this with my friend and colleague, Michael Bauman, because he used to cover college baseball and still to get used to it. And so it's not quite once a game that's probably hyperbole, but it is definitely worse than MLB in terms of that rule actually being

called and players and managers getting upset about it. So that, good to know that I guess somewhere out there they're calling that rule. But then why not, why not just move it up a level? Why not in the majors, the game that, I'm sorry to college baseball, but the game that far more people actually care about. It's not like the, I get that the umpires don't want to have these constant arguments, but on the other hand, the umpires seem to want to have constant arguments, even in the major leagues. So why not introduce a new way to do it?

Because they're right, or at least they would be right. If someone, the umpire would call Prince Fielder on like half of the balls that hit him in the elbow and Prince Fielder would argue, the umpire would be like, that's the rule. You didn't move. That's it. You're wrong. So now if you want to argue, then instead of going to first base, you're rejected.

Umpires would love that. Yeah, I don't know. It seems unfair to teach players that this is how the game is played in college and then they get to pro ball and it's not played that way anymore but such is life and such is baseball I guess and such is baseball such is life sorry John Jay so we're about to talk about that with Stephen Brault so I have a another couple things to get to another thing we talked to with Sam about was his his final, which was not officially one of his three radical proposals. It was the one that you hated and reacted to very viscerally.

The idea that, like, I don't even know how to describe it, that there would be multiple games going on at the same time and you wouldn't know. Like, every game would have some sort of stakes for other games as well and so you would never know if you actually won while you were watching because it would depend on what the score was in the other games am i even describing this right i don't know a versus b and c versus d but a is actually playing d and b is actually playing c right uh-huh so yeah you hated that idea uh i. So you hated that idea. I think even Sam hated that idea. He didn't write about it.

But someone pointed out to us, and this was something that I had heard of but had slipped my mind. There was sort of an example of something like this happening. June 26, 1944, the Dodgers versus the Yankees versus the Giants. It was an exhibition game played June 1944. Of course, this was during World War II, so a lot of the real players, the good players, were away in the military. This was an exhibition game at the Polo Grounds in New York, and it was like a three-team round-robin. So some New York sports writers came up with this idea,

and it was played in support of the allied forces in world war ii so each of the three new york teams played in the field and batted for two consecutive innings and then sat for an inning until they'd all played a total of six innings i guess so so the structure i'm quoting now from a dane perry article about it at cbs. The structure yielded a less than tidy nine inning game, but a nine inning game it was. Sound complicated? It was. In fact, a Columbia University math professor, Paul A. Smith, was brought in to structure the contest and to help official scorers keep track of what exactly was going on during the game. And in service of this latter task, the good professor used a slide rule. And there's a very weird looking box score. And each team faced the other two on the mound and at the plate an equal number of times. So the

final score was Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants 0. And the headline said, Dodgers defeat Yankees, Giants, same night in craziest of all games. And it netted more than $56 million in war bonds and in bonds purchases. But 50 million of those bonds came from, I guess, New York City people and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. So it wasn't actually a $56 million baseball game. That would be kind of improbable. But it sort of happened and uh milton burrell provided the post-game entertainment so that's that okay so part one this sucks part two i can't believe it hasn't happened ever since i can't imagine why part three what happens if you have like one there's three teams present but what if one of them pisses off the other like one guy gets hit

and then the team takes it out on the next what could you could you like do a sort of a pay it okay so team a i know dodgers yankees giants let's say the dodgers hit a guy the yankees are mad so then the yankees hit a guy on the giants the dog the giants are mad the giants hit a guy on the dodgers can you get a three-way fight who fights whom or what if the dodgers hit a guy on the yankekees and the Yankees hitting on the Dodgers and then they roll? What do the Giants do? Do they like pick a side? Do they just sit there? What does their bullpen do?

How do they mill around? All they want to do is mill around during a fight, but can you mill around if you're not involved? Like at that point, they're spectators. So actually, the game itself, it sucks. But the fight aspect, I'd love to see more of it. Yeah, me too. All right. Another thing. This is a very frivolous banter episode lots of weird stuff happened so garrett cole was incredible again on friday he's just been amazing this year but maybe even more notable colin mchugh astra's pitcher on

saturday became the first pitcher to use the bullpen cart in Chase Field. It was the Diamondbacks' 18th home game, and he rode in on the bullpen cart. It didn't look particularly intimidating. He just got off right around, I guess, halfway down the first baseline and just strolled to the mound, or that was it. So it was not the way that it worked in the exhibition game that we watched back in March, I guess it was, where they had someone come in on the bullpen cart and then he still had to run to the mound. This was a closer drop-off, but this was the first official regular season use of the bullpen cart. Aside from the earlier use, which I guess the bullpen cart was being used to deliver the pitcher's warm-up jacket

to the dugout for relievers to wear after their outings. So if a reliever pitched but stayed in the game, the bullpen cart brought his jacket to the dugout. Very frivolous use of the bullpen cart as well. Anyway, this was the first time Colin McHugh was a trailblazer. And so this is the first, I read at ESPN, the first known motorized vehicle used in the majors in a regular season game since 1995 when the Milwaukee Brewers shuttled pitchers in a motorcycle with a sidecar. Wow. That I'd like to see. I kind of like that. So there's a quote after this from Diamondbacks

reliever Archie Bradley, who says, I was kind of jealous. I've been wanting to use it. Haven't found the right time. But yeah, he's the first guy to use it and maybe more guys will jump on i'm going to keep jogging out which what he's jealous he's been wanting to use it but he hasn't found the right time the right time is every time you come into the game right is there a right time therefore no there's okay okay so first of all there's never a right time to use the bullpen guard it's ridiculous and i think that if you're the manager and you call in a reliever and the reliever is like, you know, today I'm going to take the cart. Then as the manager, you immediately have to warm someone else up because you're like, this reliever obviously doesn't have it today. For whatever reason, he's not willing to jog 200 extra feet or whatever. But yeah, if you're jealous, then do it.

He says he's jealous, but he's going to keep jogging out. You have the option to take the bullpen cart whenever you want. I don't get it. Slum it just once. Just see what it's like. Coward. He doesn't have that closure mentality. Yeah, no, I guess not.

Or maybe he does, and maybe that's why he hasn't done it. But I don't know. If he's really jealous, there's a very simple solution here, Archie. So take him up on it one time. Also wanted to mention, this came up in your chat on Friday. You were talking about the Braves, and they've been great. Obviously, they're in first place as we speak, and they have this young, exciting lineup and young pitchers. And it's just a promising team.

But they're probably playing a bit over their head right now. And if you look at all teams' difference between their weighted on base average and their expected weighted on base average, the Braves are the team that has most outperformed what is expected based on how hard and where they've hit the ball so far this year. So probably not quite this good and not quite this good at hitting. And that probably applies also to Nick Markakis, who was another person you were asked about in your chat. Nick Markakis, as we speak, does not have a very Nick Markakis-like slash line. He is hitting 354, 439, 567. That is a 178 OPS plus. And this has actually come up in the wake of Albert Pujols'

3,000th hit because people have been turning their attention to, okay, who's next? Who else might stand to get to 3,000? And people, I think, have been making a fuss over Nick Markekis because, of course, he also has a lot of hits. He has, as we speak, the most hits in the National League, 45 this year, and 2,097 all time. And of course, he is only about 34 and a half years old. So there is a world where Nick Markakis could get to 3,000 hits. And I'm guessing he doesn't. We've kind of had this 3,000 hits watch with players like Edgar Renteria and Johnny Damon and, you know, the guys who like, well, if he gets there, it's going to be a tough Hall of Fame case because he's not a Hall of Famer, but he'll have the Hall of Fame milestone. So I don't know whether milestones are powerful

enough anymore to get someone who has 3,000 hits but isn't actually that great a player in. I kind of doubt it, but probably Marquecas won't get there anyway. But the really interesting thing is that this is jeopardizing a title that he does lay claim to. A few years ago, Sam and I talked about the best players never to have gotten an MVP vote or made an All-Star game. And Mark Ellis, the former Athletic, was the highest at 33.6 baseball reference war without ever making an all-star team or getting an MVP vote. But among active players, Nick Markakis was at the top of the list. And that was, I think, maybe 2014 or so was when we talked about that. He's still there. He still has never gotten an MVP vote, even like a bottom of the ballot one. He has never made an all-star game. And so the question was, can Markakis catch Mark Ellis without being so good

in any individual season that he gets one of those honors? And he is now just two war behind Ellis at 31.6 war. So he's come really close to taking over the top spot for, I guess you could call it the most distinguished, undistinguished career, but that is in jeopardy. Every day he is adding to his career war total without either of those honors. But if he keeps playing that well for the rest of the first half, or maybe he's played so well that he can slump and still manage to sneak onto the All-Star roster. So this could be the end of an era. I was looking at, I had thought where this was going to go is that Nick Markakis was like dramatically overperforming his expected batting line.

But no, it turns out he's actually just been really great. He's the slug of 563 as we speak. And he's got, what is it, like eight more walks than strikeouts, which is not something that is common. So Nick Marcaga, some sort of weird resurrection of his career, like back to relevance all of a sudden. Because, you know, the Braves signed him to this big contract. And they're like, oh, well, they're just getting him so that they have him

when they open their new park. And it's like a year late to be good. But boy, the Braves are exciting right this big contract, and they're like, oh, well, they're just getting him so that they have him when they open their new park. And it's like a year late to be good, but boy, the Braves are exciting right now, and they can't even pitch. I know. Yeah, Nick Marquecas has been like the definition of an average hitter, basically, for several years now. He is a 99 OPS plus over almost 3,500 plate appearances from 2013 to 2017. almost 3500 plate appearances from 2013 to 2017. He has just been average, which is not great, really, for a corner outfielder. And now suddenly, he's great. I don't know where this has come from. But if it continues, he may actually make the all-star team. So that could screw things up. We may need a new leader. It's not often that you have a guy who hits his like offensive and power ceiling when he's 23 and 24 years old.

But Nick Marcakis came up, he's like, he's going to blossom into a superstar. And then he just kind of stopped. He just thought, I'm going to, I'm going to be comfortable. I'm just going to do what comes easily to me.

And I'm going to do that for another decade. And I'm maybe going to get to 3000 hits. Yeah. Right. Well, no, he's definitely not. Probably not. No, not unless this is the new Nick Marcakis and he's suddenly going to get to 3,000 hits. Yeah, right. Of course, no. He's definitely not. Probably not.

No, not unless this is the new Nick Marquecas and he's suddenly going to be a star from now on. But no, I mean, obviously he probably deserves to have been off of this list in the past because he was a really good player at times. Nick Marquecas had a seven-win season at age 24, so probably should have been an all-star or gotten an MVP vote at some point, but never did. Maybe now he will. Another thing. So I don't know if you noticed this or not, but Ian Kinsler on, I believe it was Thursday, he took four balls and he did not walk. And he just kept hitting and he ended up striking out and it was a strikeout double play. So it was kind of a devastating play for the Angels, except that they were already up 8-0 in the third inning because they were facing the Orioles. So this was weird, four balls, and Kinsler just didn't notice, and the umpire didn't notice, and I guess the Angels on the bench didn't notice or didn't say anything, and he just kept hitting, and it didn't work out very well for him. So I actually, inspired by that, have written about this. This is not the first time this has happened. I was able to find eight

previous examples of this happening since 2011, and there is an unverified example in 2008 that I can't find video for, but it seems to have been legitimate. So it looks like this has happened possibly 10 times now since 2008, and there's no example on record prior to 2008, which obviously doesn't mean it never happened. It just means that the data wasn't recorded for whatever reason. It's more accurate now. But this has happened, you know, roughly once a season or so. This was actually, I think, the first time it had happened since 2015, but it happened like three times in 2014. So it averages out to about once a season.

I've gone back and I've watched the video for all of these plays, and it's weird. Like sometimes no one notices and the announcers don't notice. It's just like everyone blacked out simultaneously somehow and no one noticed. Other times there is controversy and like something weird happened and someone thought that a pitch was a strike and it actually wasn't. Or there was one case where there was like a ball and it kind of looked like a foul, but it wasn't and things were screwed up after that. And so sometimes you see a protest and you see everyone kind of wondering like a foul but it wasn't and things were screwed up after that and so sometimes you see a protest and you see everyone kind of wondering what's what's going on the weirdest

time that this happened was in 2014 in a Rays game you know Escobar was the batter and there was actually a replay review to establish what the count was and they still got it wrong somehow that's the weirdest one there was like a two or three minute replay review where the upside the headsets on and everything and they went to new york and presumably someone in new york was watching the whole plate appearance again i guess and somehow it was still wrong and it came about because there was this one ball that looked like it was maybe a foul tip but it wasn wasn't. And so after that, everyone was confused. But ultimately, it didn't matter because the plate appearance should have been over anyway,

regardless of whether that was a ball or a foul. Either way, he would have either walked or struck out before he actually did. So it should have been a walk. It ended up being a strikeout. And Escobar was sitting on the bench for like five minutes after. They kept cutting to him, and he was just slowly shaking his head. You can go check out the GIF in my article if you'd like. But this happens, and the three-ball walk also happens sometimes too.

There are 14 examples on record of that happening, thanks RetroSheet. Joey Votto had one. Of course, you'd guess it would be Joey Votto in 2015, but Cameron Mabin had one in 2011, and Lorenzo Cain had one in 2013. So it turns out that the count, not everyone in the ballpark and even the people most integrally involved in the play actually know what the count is. And it just kind of reminds you like that is the the bedrock of baseball that is the one thing that you should always know and the people whose job it is to know that do not always know three strikes supposed to be a strikeout four balls supposed to be a walk if you

can't count on the count what can you count on so i did a little bit of googling because i remember this happening uh back when i used to blog about the mariners all the time and i found the lead of an article from fox sports, July 10th, 2011. This is the first sentence. For the second time in nine days, a batter has mistakenly walked on a three-ball count against the Seattle Mariners. There's a quote in here from Felix Hernandez. That's happened twice.

Seattle ace Felix Hernandez said, only to us. Wrong. Not only to you. It happens. This was Bobby Abreureu so home plate umpire jerry davis apparently lost track of hernandez's count on abreu and the seattle dugout didn't protest when abreu dropped his bat on a three-win count and trotted the first base abreu also thought

he had taken four balls only learning he got it wrong when he returned to the dugout last weekend san diego's cameron mabin took first on a 2-2 pitch and eventually scored the only run in the fifth inning of the Mariners' 1-0 loss to the Potters. I remember listening to that on the radio. Eric Wedge, Mariners' manager, called a team meeting after that fiasco to apologize for missing the count. Eric Wedge called the team meeting. Everyone failed. Right. That's the thing.

It's like everyone screws this up. I mean, the umpire, I guess, is the one who maybe should most know. But, like, the pitcher, if it's, is the one who maybe should most know, but like the pitcher, if it's a three ball count, should most know. And it's the batter, if it's like a should be walk, should most know. And often people are just either not paying attention or sometimes you get quotes where like the people on the bench are like, well, we thought something was funny, but we just, we figured they knew what the count was. So it's one of those things where like, you know, you, you just kind of, I guess, defer to the herd.

And if other people don't notice it, then you don't say anything. It's one of those. Hold on. This gets even stupider. Okay. This is still from 2011. Wedge claimed he wasn't even upset about Abreu's early walk and not just because it didn't hurt the Mariners.

Hernandez quickly retired Vernon Wells and Howie Kendrick, leaving Abreu stranded at first base in Torrey Hunter at second. Quote, I was okay with that, Wedge said. I figured it worked against us last time. Let it work for us this time. I was fine with Abreu not being up there 3-1 with the next two guys coming. I felt good about Felix facing those next two guys. I was hoping for a double play, but we got a strikeout and a pop-up.

Eric Wedge was okay with bob hip ray walking early against like the best pitcher in baseball at the time whatever that's stupid also while i was googling i found uh the opposite but same idea umpire cb buckner accidentally punches out seth smith on two strikes before laughing at his mistake, June 13th, 2013. That actually happened too, that same season, September 2013. This is the only time this has ever happened, according to the data we have. Chris Stewart actually struck out on two strikes. So he thought that a ball had been called a strike, and then he fouled a pitch off, and then he swung and missed it one, and he turned and he went back to the dugout,

and no one said anything. And eventually the umpire just called an automatic strike on him, and he struck out. And Joe Girardi's quote about this was, I don't know. I was confused. There's a lot of baseball. There are a lot of details to keep track of. Yeah. Things happen.

Yes, they do. You got anything else? I have one more. You have anything? One more. Yeah, I got a few, depending on what you say. All right. Well, mine will segue into our interview.

So you go. So, okay. Brian Mitchell, depending on what you say. All right. Well, mine will segue into our interview, so you go. So, okay. Brian Mitchell, watch. Brian Mitchell has started again. May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. Starting in Mexico, Brian Mitchell lasted two and a third innings. He allowed five hits, three runs, a home run, three walks, two strikeouts. Brian Mitchell continues to start for the Padres.

He's up to seven starts, 32 innings. He's allowed 23 runs with 26 walks, 16 strike he's got an era of six and a half but here's the thing brian mitchell that's bad but bad weekend for the dodgers started so promising we're going to talk about this a little bit the weekend began with by the is there anything more american than no one giving a crap about a combined no hitter yeah like the difference between the response to a no hitter and and a combined no-hitter is night and day. Nobody cares if it's combined. But if it's one guy who does the exact same thing, it's like, he's a hero. But I guess in America, we only care about the hero. We don't care about

the team effort because the Dodgers no-hit the Padres in Mexico. That's awesome. Walker Buehler, Tony Sangrani, Yemi Garcia, go ahead. Yeah. I mean, Walker Bueller is great. I mean, it's more impressive if one guy does it, obviously, than if a bunch of relievers are doing it, too. And it's more impressive if it's not the Padres, because the Padres get no hit like every other season. Was that like their 10th time getting no hit or something? Poor Padres. Something like that. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I saw a bunch of headlines like this is only the 12th ever combined no hitter or something and well yeah that's because in earlier eras of baseball if you were throwing a no hitter you didn't get relieved you got to either finish it off or lose

it so that's why and it's I mean it's you know it's it's not as impressive I think but neither of us I think is all that blown away by no hitters period so especially now that there's so few balls in play that we're getting a no hitter through five or six seemingly every day no i mean look i i get that it's worse like a combined no hitter is less fun than the starting pitcher doing it but it's still a no hitter it should anyway the weekend began for the dodgers and they threw a combined no-hitter in Mexico. That's pretty cool. What a great experience they got to have. It got worse because the next day they lost in a Brian Mitchell start. They lost to the Padres.

That's not the way you want to go. And then, of course, Sunday we've woken up to the news that Clayton Kershaw is going on the disabled list because of, what is it, biceps tendonitis. And I don't think we need to say what that could be a precursor to what this could indicate. You just wrote about Kershaw, his fastball has gotten worse. What did you write about for everyone in case they didn't read it? Yeah, I was going to bring up Kershaw today just to say that I was kind of worried about him. And I guess now we know that we should be worried. I wrote about him after his most recent start because, yeah, his stuff just hasn't

been the same. It's been really, his fastball has been losing a little bit for a while now, like really since 2016 or so when he first had those back issues. His stuff just hasn't quite been the same. And it's gotten to kind of a worrisome point with him this year where his velocity is down like a tick and a half or so, even from last year when it was down already. And you've seen that he's adjusted how he's pitching. Like he just doesn't throw many fastballs anymore. There are only a few guys who throw fewer fastballs as a percentage of their pitches, period. And he's just thrown many more sliders. And, you know, you can compensate with that

and there's some guys it's even benefited like we've talked about Patrick Corbin and McCullers and Tanaka guys like that who throw more breaking balls because their fastball just wasn't that great to begin with but Kershaw had like the best fastball in baseball now he also had basically the best slider and the best curveball which is is why he was the best, period. But still, you take away one of the best pitches in baseball from the best pitcher, and now maybe he's not the best pitcher anymore. He's good, but I think that based on his performance over the last season plus or so, you can't really make the case that Kershaw has been the best pitcher in baseball over that period. And it's sort of sad to see and worrisome. And so on the one hand, the fact that he now has an injury, in a sense, it makes it less worrisome

because you could say, well, maybe he was hurt and he was pitching through something and he'll heal and he'll be back to normal. But on the other hand, it is never good for a pitcher to have an arm injury. And, you know, he's 30 and he's had the back issues and now he's got the arm issue. And you just have to wonder and worry that maybe Pete Kershaw is gone for good. Yep. No one, I don't think, expected to wake up to see the news that Kershaw was. I mean, look, we knew there was the back thing that could crop back up. But an arm thing like this, who knows what this is going to develop

into if anything could just be a 10-day stint he's going to get checked out by dodgers team doctor but anyway i mean we we talked before the year about what it would take for kershaw to not opt out of his contract and we're getting there and yet this is only the second most traumatic injury of the weekend yes cardinals plays to catcher yadier Molina on the 10-day disabled list with a pelvic injury with traumatic hematoma. He took a foul tip to the groin. Yes. I won't even joke about it the way that we normally do because this one was serious, and we don't know exactly how serious or in what way, and personally, I don't want to know.

So I wish the best to Yadier, and the gif was disturbing, I will say that much. Yep. And the Dodgers' whole season has been disturbing. It's just been one thing after another, and Kershaw makes it even worse than that. So, yeah, he has two years and $65 million left on his contract, and that seemed like an easy opt-out call, and now it doesn't. He has this arm injury. If his health doesn't improve and his performance doesn't improve,

then I don't know that he would end up opting out. It might be more of a Tanaka situation where Tanaka opted not to opt out. Yeah, and I'm trying to reflect on when Adrian Beltre sustained his injury, his testicular torsion that he sustained in August of 2009. That was a game in which Adrian Beltre, who does not wear a cup, remained in the game. And in the bottom of the 14th inning, it's White Sox. He singled. He moved up to second on the walk and then scored the game-winning run on a single by Ken Griffey Jr.

What a time. That inning also featured Mike Sweeney, Russell Branny, and Jack Hanahan, in case you were feeling like you weren't old. Everyone here is. So Beltre wound up going on the disabled list. He came back on September 1st for the Mariners and played out the string. So Beltre missed about two and a half weeks after his testicular injury. Molina will miss more than that.

They're saying a minimum of a month. They're saying a minimum of a month, but I guess it's an opportunity for Carson Kelly, but probably not the circumstances that he expected to use to inherit a starting job in St. Louis. I don't really even feel comfortable talking about this anymore. No, me neither. Yeah, we wish him well. Is that all you got? That's all I got. All right.

Well, the last thing I wanted to mention, something notable and very unimportant happened this weekend that is related to the streak that we're about to talk to Stephen Brault about. Stephen Brault has done something that he shouldn't be good at doing, which is not striking out. And Daniel Descaso has kind of done the inverse of this streak in a way. Daniel Descaso now is the all-time leader for innings pitched, and I think maybe batters faced, without allowing a base runner. He is now, Daniel Descaso, has the most career innings pitched without allowing a base runner. I believe that is the case. It was something that was noted by listener Dan Epstein, who blogged about it prior to this season

and noted that Descaso was close to this distinction. Well, this weekend, Daniel Descalso, the position player, pitched in a game, and he now has three career innings pitched, and they are perfect innings. He has not allowed a base runner in his three innings. He struck out one. He has faced the minimum nine batters. And if you search for the the i guess the the most innings pitched ever with a whip of zero you get daniel descalzo at the top of that list there are three other guys with three innings pitched but i think you can rule them all out for various reasons they're all like from many many years ago one of them's from the federal league one of them actually hit a batter in those innings another

one like the the batters faced don't match up with the idea that he didn't allow any base runners so i think for various reasons as dan epstein showed you can disqualify all of those guys and daniel descasso is now the career leader in uh innings pitched without allowing a base runner. And I think position player pitchers have something like a collective 400 on base percentage allowed. So it is particularly impressive that Descalso would be at the top of this leaderboard. Although, of course, you wouldn't really expect a legitimate pitcher to be at the top of this list because a legitimate pitcher would get a chance to keep pitching more and eventually allow a base runner. So Descalso pitched in the game the The Diamondbacks lost to the Astros 8-0. He pitched. He got the last two outs at the top of the ninth. And here's what's confusing. Descalso picked up his first

career strikeout in the game because in the ninth inning, he struck out Garrett Cole. And here's how the plate appearance went. Called strike, called strike, called strike. I guess Garrett Cole didn't want to injure himself, maybe, swinging, because he was working on a gem. Right. He struck out 16 batters, and I believe he himself struck out five times in that game, right? Holy God. It was kind of a 21-strikeout game, in a way. But I get—why would you not—

Okay, so Garrett Cole, in the seventh inning, struck out swinging. Garrett Cole in the 7th inning Struck out swinging Garrett Cole in the 5th inning Struck out swinging Garrett Cole in the 4th inning Struck out looking against Chris Medlin And Garrett Cole in the 2nd inning Struck out swinging Struck out looking against Daniel Descalso

On 3 pitches There's no unwritten rule about Swinging away if you're a pitcher And you're facing like a utility Why wouldn't you Yeah. Three pitches. There's no unwritten rule about swinging away. If you're a pitcher and you're facing like a utility, why wouldn't you? I want to interview Garrett Cole, but not to talk about his pitching. Yeah. Right. Of course, the more important Diamondbacks streak is that they still have not lost a series this season. That's pretty impressive. But Daniel Discausa has got an individual streak going, too. All right. Well, that was a whole lot of nonsense. So let's take a quick break and we'll be back with some more nonsense and Steven Brault, Pirates pitcher. If you're wondering, we just

recorded this prior to Shohei Otani's pitching appearance on Sunday. So insert, I don't know, dismay and or rave reviews of his performance. I'm sure one or the other will be merited and we can talk about that next time. Oh, and just so you know, Stephen was outside when we called him. So his first couple answers kind of windy, but he soon gets inside and everything's fine from then on. So we'll be right back. Stephen. Stephen. Stephen! Stephen!

I hear my name. Stephen! It's someone calling me. I hear my name. Stephen! And I see breathed in whispers, screams of pain Right now we are very excited to be joined by the only active baseball player, maybe the only baseball player in history to bat at least 25 or 30 times and never strike out. That is the left-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Stephen Brault.

Stephen, hello, how are you? I'm doing great, how are you guys doing? Doing very well. And I would say the fact about you never striking out came to my awareness a few weeks ago, but roughly what percentage of your teammates would you say are aware of the fact that you have never struck out once in the major leagues? I'm pretty sure most of the people know. They kind of try to keep it under wraps because they treat it like it's a no-hitter and they don't want to ruin it. But I like to talk about it

because I think it just takes a little bit of the pressure off me. It seems like I get the two strikes every single at-bat that I have, so might as well talk about it so that eventually when it ends, it's not like the worst thing in the world. Oh, that's interesting because I was going to ask if it's in your head at this point or if it's changed your approach in any way when you're hitting. No, not really. You know, when I was growing up and I grew up in San Diego and we watched Tony Gwynn, he was my favorite player. And Tony Gwynn didn't strike out, right? So it was cool not to strike out. So I always kind of dedicated myself to that, even when I was a kid. And now that I'm older, I guess it's still there. So when I get two strikes, I'm all about just putting the ball in play and just kind of maybe getting lucky so we can win through the

hole or something. I guess this is kind of the way I grew up. I know all about just putting the ball in play and just kind of maybe getting lucky so we can win through the hole or something. I guess this is kind of the way I grew up. I know you're, you know, you're a left-handed pitcher. You've spent your life perfecting your left-handed pitching, and I'm sure we'll talk about that a little later. But one of the things that really struck me watching a video of you hit, like when Barry Zito was in the majors, he had a really like contact-heavy approach when he was a batter, but it was like he was playing tennis. Like he would just, he would basically bunt and he would make contact, but his swing would have no authority to it. You have like a real swing. You hit the ball hard, maybe on the ground pretty often,

but like you don't, you don't go up there seemingly with just the idea of making contact in mind. So, I mean, at this point, I know that you were a hitter at Regis University and you were a very successful hitter back in college, but I don't know. I mean, do you have an explanation of why you were able to put the bat on the ball so well? So when you commit yourself to not striking out, what you can kind of do, it's kind of like you said Barry Zito would do. It's just kind of turning to a hitter that really has no, there's no threat. You know, you're not going to do anything.

You're just not going to strike out. And so then really, what difference does it make? So yeah, I'm going to still try to go up and get a few hits especially you know before i have two strikes i'm gonna take you know bigger swings and if it works out that's great if it doesn't then i get two strikes i'll change my approach a little bit but i'm not going to become somebody just going to be all right i'll weakly grind out the second on the first pitch just so i don't strike out you know what i mean so yeah yeah, pitching is obviously what I do, but I like to be able to be at least kind of a presence in the box when I go in there. So you're up to 32 plate appearances now without a strikeout.

And so I'm sure you've seen some of the names. You've looked at the leaderboards, I guess, the longest streaks without a strikeout to start a career for a pitcher. And you've just passed Sloppy Thurston. And you're catching up with Dizzy Dean. You've got Heine Meine ahead of you. I don't have a cool enough name to be in the league with those guys. I know, right.

But the fact that all of these names are the way that they are, I think kind of tells you that it's been a really long time since a pitcher has done this, which makes sense because we're now in an era where pitchers can't hit relative to position players. And pitchers this year have struck out in 43.8% of their plate appearances. That is an all-time record. They're basically striking out more than four out of 10 times that they're coming to the plate so you're really an outlier in this era like everyone else who had the streaks like this is from the 20s or 30s or the dead ball era and here you are in 2018 when it has never been harder to do what you're doing uh well you know it's it's kind of funny you said because uh when a pitcher comes up to the plate you know when i'm on the mound it's not that it's like of funny you said, because when a pitcher comes up to the plate, you know, when I'm on the mound, it's not like you can relax. But it is kind of like if I just execute my pitches here, you know, it's an out.

And I just never wanted to be that guy. I wanted to be a guy that's like, you have to treat me like a hitter. That's what I want. That's what I want the pitcher to think so they can't relax, can't take a break. And hopefully this becomes a break. considered for Cy Young support? This has, of course, been relevant with Madison Bumgarner the last few years. But, you know, technically it's value, but it's not pitching value. So what do you think? I don't think it should be. I think that the reason that it shouldn't be is because they have an MVP, right? You know, like, for example, Shohei this year, if he can pitch and hit, then you can't really put those together other than when you're just the most valuable

player and you're talking about an overall player. But that's like, you know, giving a defensive player, you know, that's going up for the silver slugger consideration because he threw six innings on the mound this year when his team was down 10. You know, so like, I don't think you can really consider it as part of being Cy Young because I think Cy Young is primarily and only about pitching and pitching stats. And I assume that you are anti-DH or you prefer not to have a DH just I mean there is that opinion that I think people have that well pitchers can't hit anyway so why are we even forcing them to do this it's not really part of their job anymore no one's getting selected because of their hitting ability.

And why should we watch them strike out 44% of the time if we don't have to? So I'm guessing you enjoy it, though, because you're pretty good at it. Yeah, you know, I think that having the DH not only makes the pitcher have to be able to focus on things. I think you should have to be a fully rounded baseball player, even if you're pitching. It's kind of like if a quarterback does an interception, he is the last line of defense to tackle the guy, and so you better hope he's practiced tackling,

at least in the slightest bit, and knows what he's doing. It's kind of, for me, it makes sense in that when you have manager of the year in the NL, and it's because somebody has had to take a lineup and change it, double switches, knowing when to hit their pitcher, knowing when they need a pinch hitter, knowing when they need to use the guys on the bases.

I just think that's so much more integral part of baseball, and that's what we always grew up doing. So now when you have a DH and you have AL manager of the year, it's like, oh, that's great. He put together a lineup and then made some pitching changes when the pitcher wasn't doing well and never had to consider the changes in the lineup. So I think it's a big part of the game. And then that's why I hope it doesn't go away, but I'm sure it will. I'm sure it will. You've bounced back and forth a little bit in the early going between the rotation and the bullpen. And right now you're working in relief.

And you recently had a little bit of a velocity spike. It's nothing super dramatic, but it's nothing that's too uncommon when we see a pitcher move from the rotation into the bullpen. But is that something you can sense? Like as you're out there, can you just realize, oh, I'm tapping into something that I usually am not able to do? Because, you know, especially in this day and age, you see starting pitchers who seem to be out there throwing it 100% all of the time. But very obviously, at least in your case, in some other cases, you're able to dig extra deep. Yeah, I think there's a little bit of a, I wouldn't say a mental block, but kind of like, you know, there's something there that as a starting pitcher, there's the idea of like, I need

to go, you know, seven innings. And so if i'm fully gassing in first and then in the fourth inning i'm you know my average fastball is three miles per hour slower then we're going to have problems so there is a little bit of i would i would say probably most pitchers starting pitchers would tell you that they leave a little bit in the tank and then uh and when they get into like a tough situation they can bump it out you know so you'll see sometimes the starting pitchers start to throw a little bit harder when they get in the jam or something like that but like yeah as a reliever just kind of i'm going to go out and i'm going to throw as hard as i can i i think what helped me also is kind of changing mentality of just i'm just going to get on the mound and and completely forget about mechanics and about

delivery and anything like that and just worry about executing pitches and I think that kind of freed my body up a little bit so I think it's a combination of a few things but you know history says starting pitchers will probably throw harder if they go into the pen I know uh you know a guy we got this year Joe Musgrove that happened to him last year when he moved to the pen at the Astros so it's kind of uh yeah there's something about it that's like, once you free your mind, I can just let it go. And you know, and it works. So who is the pitcher you've faced so far that you've had the toughest time making contact against? I guess you faced Aaron Nola, you faced Jake Arrieta, Carlos Martinez. Was there one of those guys who you just saw their stuff and thought the streak is ending now?

Well, you know, it's funny saying because like, you know, when a streak first starts, you don't really notice it. So I think my second game in the major leagues, it was like maybe my third. I started against Jake Arrieta in Wrigley, Friday night game, you know. I was just so nervous. And I faced Arrieta. night game you know it was just so nervous and uh and i faced arietta and the fact that i didn't strike out there was pretty funny it's a joke it was like a he threw like it was you know his little sinker two-seam fastball and i swore i was right on it and i barely tapped it i hit like a

one hopper back to him and it was just like dude if i thought i was right on that and i barely touched it so i can only imagine what his other pitches are like. So he's probably the one, but it was before there was any streak or anything like that. But I have gotten a two-strike a good amount, so I guess it pretty much pops up in my head every time. I think, all right, well, let's see if we can keep the streak going. Have you noticed over the course,

I mean, not just in the major league career that you had, but also in the minors, there's a lot of talk about hitters trying to have a different approach, trying to hit the ball more in the air, go after pitches that are down. Of course, you're pitching for an organization that, if anything, has emphasized the importance of pitching lower in the zone and using sinkers.

But have you been able to notice through your own observations that they're that hitting is just different to face than it was even necessarily five years ago or do you feel like maybe maybe the conversation is is anecdotal and somewhat overblown no i think i think there's definitely a change like uh you know my last start before i went back to bullpen against cardinals and can think of a few pitches that were down, even down like out of the strike zone. Ozuna hit a changeup that was going to bounce, you know, for a base hit. And those kind of like staying down, it doesn't work for everybody,

especially now when you have guys growing up and they put the T at their knees, you know, we used to put the T at our belt. So we'd be ready to hit that pitch when it came in. And now, yeah, people are putting the T at their knees and You know, we used to put the tee at our belt so we'd be ready to hit that pitch when it came in. And now, yeah, people are putting the tee at their knees and they're just getting ready to be able to get down underneath that ball. And, you know, you have to be able to control the bottom part of the zone if you're going to go up as well. But living at the bottom of the zone I don't think is really that much,

you know, it's not really talked about anymore because know, anymore because you need to go up. You need to be able to mess with people's timing and people are much better at going in and out now as hitters than they used to be, I think. And, uh, and now the game is, can you go up and down? Can you make a hitter, you know, mess up their timing by having them have to start early by going up. And then maybe by the time they see that fastball down, they can't pull the trigger because it looks like it's going to be a ball. So yeah, I think things have changed, but I think it's always going to change. You know, eventually people are going to start hitting the fastballs again. And all of a sudden we're going to have to worry about making our slider start

off the plate instead of darting down underneath the plate. So it'll be, it's always changing, but right now, yeah, definitely. So having been a pretty successful two-way player in college, do you have some insight into what makes that so difficult, almost impossible for players to do once they get to a higher level, once they're in pro ball? Obviously, talent is part of it. It's hard to just be good enough at both of those things to compete at the highest level. But as far as just the time it takes and the training and the practice and the studying and all of that, I mean, looking at what Otani is doing, it seems like he has to do more work than anyone else. And it's just hard to fit that into a schedule.

So I guess what are the barriers other than the obvious, just having a hard time competing? Well, I don't think it's necessarily as much work you have to put in because the work you put in the offseason is really where it's going to matter. But then when it comes to the season, as a two-way player in college or even in summer ball, you're not playing every day. You know what I mean? So you have time to recover. Your body has time to recover.

I think the main thing is think about, you know, if you ever started a game, you know, you start pitching and say you go six innings and you throw 100 pitches and you're super sore the next day. Well, you can't. You're definitely not going to be at your best if you were to try to be in the lineup the next day. You know what I mean? You're going to be sore.

You're going to be tired. You're going to be slow. And so you have to take an extra day in order to, you know, get back. And then maybe that second day when you're still a little bit sore, well, now it's your bullpen day. But now we're going to also put you in the lineup. You know, it kind of becomes, it's not necessarily about the work outside the field, but the fact that you have to be good enough that you have to be able to compete and be a good major league player when you're not recovered all the way. And so I think people are, what people are mostly afraid of is, you know, if Ohtani, you know, Ohtani hurt his ankle, right? So he's not pitching again for a little bit. And now he's just a position player. So, you know, is he worth it as just a position player or is he, you know, going to be both? Should we put him as a reliever so that he can throw more often? It's so confusing. It's such a strange dynamic.

And before, when you have days off that are built into the schedule often, say you play on the weekends and then you have Monday through Thursday off, it's fine. But it's hard. It's really hard once you're playing every day. They have to basically say, well, we're not going to play you every day, even though we're paying you a ridiculous amount of money, to basically say well we're not going to play you every day even though we're paying you a ridiculous amount of money or we're not going to be able to play you every day otherwise you're not going to make it to the season now i understand right now you're you're recording on a podcast one could say that this

is maybe a rival podcast i don't know if that's true but of course you do have your own you are a podcast co-host according to your message from last night. It actually stands for, in my heckin' opinion, I Am HO Podcast that you host with Trevor Williams. And I understand this is probably something of a creative outlet, but can you maybe explain to some level of detail what your thought process was in creating a podcast and the function it serves? Because I'm sure that you have some teammates who are very enthusiastic about it maybe some who who don't quite understand what what you're doing because it's not often you see many players occupying this sphere yeah yeah no um so trevor and i we've become really good friends we're both from san diego we both like rock music we both you know are kind of weird and do weird stuff and he plays magic i play video games we

have we're you know different things that we do off the field that have nothing to do with baseball. And so when we came to, you know, we did a little Facebook Live thing during a fan fest during Pittsburgh's, you know, offseason. And people liked it. So we were like, you know what? Like, I've always wanted to do a podcast. And Trevor's like, I've always wanted to do one too.

So let's just do one and just talk about random stuff that has nothing to do with anything baseball. You know, baseball comes up every now and then, obviously it's our job. It's what we're doing, but we usually are talking about, you know, completely random things that, that we think about. So the idea of the, of the podcast is to kind of give people a glimpse of, you know, who we are, that we're not just baseball players. We have other interests and, uh, and also kind of give a glimpse to people we are, that we're not just baseball players. We have other interests. And also kind of give a glimpse to people like what we talk about sometimes in the clubhouse or during the game or in the dugout or when things are going good and we're talking about, oh, did you see the new Avengers movie?

Who's your favorite? That kind of stuff. So we just wanted to kind of portray that and show who we really are. And it's been so much fun. It's been harder to do during the season, obviously less time, but we are committed to doing it. And I think we're actually going to record an episode either today or tomorrow so that we have another one to put out because it's been, you know,

it's been about a week and a half now. And IMHO has been in the news all week. I assume you've seen there's been this ongoing debate about whether it is humble or honest. I guess it's neither in the case of your podcast. Do you come down on the humble or honest side? You know, what's funny about that is the first episode we do, right at the very, very beginning, we had decided it was going to be IMHO like three minutes before, you know. And so the episode starts and I say, you know,

welcome to IMHO. And my, I think I said in my honest opinion, and Trevor said, no, like it's humble. And I was like, it's humble? I don't even know the name of our own show. So I don't even, I think Trevor just likes to start debates. And so of course we're happy that we're in the debate. I don't think it matters.

Just put any H word there and, you know, it'll work. It'll be fine. So I was aware of Regis University because I went to a Regis high school in New York growing up. And we always heard about Regis University. But you are the first player or person from Regis university to make the majors. What sort of significance does that have? Like, does that make you the leading candidate for the next commencement speaker or something? Are you like the hero to the current Regis university baseball team? What does it mean to be the trailblazer for a college baseball program?

You know, it's, it's really cool. I went to Regis because they were the only school that was going to let me do my degree, which I wanted to do, which was vocal performance and also play baseball because they both have the same time constrictions, basically. And I'm so glad I went there because it was a great school and everybody that I met there was great. Professors are great.

They actually care about you. My biggest class was probably 30 people and that was like a biology lab. So it was, it was really cool experience. And when I left Regis, when I got drafted, it was, it was a total surprise. Like I went into Regis basically saying, all right, I'm going to play four more years of baseball and then I'll go into music and I'll, you know, do baseball on the weekends or whatever for fun. And, uh, then I started throwing hard, relatively hard. And I got, you know, I got picked up and, and since then it's just been a crazy, crazy wild ride. But the, the funny thing is I, there's been, you know, two or two or three coach coaching staff turnovers since I've left Regis. So sadly the coaches that I had when I was there are no longer there.

And there are even a few coaching staff removed. So I, the kids that are there now don't really know who I am. You know, I, I, I, last year I did a video, you know, for them to help recruiting basically just to say, you know, Hey, I went to Regis university and I made it. So can you, like I can say, you know, but it's, it's interesting to go back. You know, I go back every year and I go say hi. And the new coach that I met this year, he's awesome. Great guy. And they got a new athletic director. I mean, everything, the whole school is turning around. They're putting a lot more money into their, into their athletics and the school is all around. They're putting a lot more money into their, into their athletics.

And the school is, all the facilities are getting so much better than they were when I was there. When I was there, we did not have a clubhouse. We had a locker room and each locker was, you know, a foot wide. And nobody showered there. We would just like wear uniforms to the field and then wear uniforms home and shower at home. Like that was the kind of school it was. So now they have a clubhouse and they have TVs and they have all that stuff. And it's really cool to see that it's growing.

But when I go back, it's a little bit different because I don't have any really, really anybody that I know there anymore. Those people that I've met, you know, each time that I've gone back. So hopefully, hopefully as things continue, I'll get to spend a little more time there. going back. So hopefully, uh, hopefully as things continue and I'll get to spend a little more time there, uh, I'll be able to, you know, help them out or, or basically be able to go there and talk to the people and show them that, yeah, Regis is a tiny school. And yes, there's only been one major league baseball player from there in the history of the school, but it can happen. And, uh, and, and I think that's really cool. Last season, this isn't was important,

but last season, the pirates opened the season and they either swept or got swept in their first five series. And that led to a postgame quote that became sort of a, I don't know if it's a rallying cry is the right word, but it's something that gained some prominence among this podcast and its audience. And the quote read, it's bizarre, such is this game and such is life, which was uttered by Pirates infielder and outfielder John Jaso. You had the, I assume, pleasure of overlapping with John Jaso in 2016 and 2017. I can't tell if John Jaso is either the least or the most understood former baseball player that was around. But the way that he came off was you know a little uh little zen a little

bit of a philosopher what was your experience interacting with john jays of the person over two years john was i you know the the little amount that i got to spend with him was it's so funny because he basically encompasses like the idea that baseball is baseball he wasn't he wasn't live or die on the game. He made sure that life outside of baseball is more important. And he was still, because of that perspective, I think he was actually able to have a really good career. And I think that that kind of perspective is often lost on players when you think that this is the most important thing. I have to be really, really good at baseball. Otherwise, you know, my life is in shambles. Well, no, I mean, you get to play baseball and, and John Jason was the best at that.

You know, he made sure that everybody around him knew there was a way to go about doing things. And it was, and there was a way to go about winning, but also, you know, it was important to have fun and to enjoy the moment that you're in. And Jason did that better than anybody. And when you say it's funny, you say, is he the least or most understood? And he is the most understood. If you look at John Jason and see the dreads and you see the way he acts,

anything you think is spot on, I can guarantee you. I'm not going to say any of it, but it's all spot on. So he's a great guy, a great guy to be around. I love playing with him. And so I've definitely taken some values from him. We now have a John Jaso watch. So whenever anybody gets like a picture of John Jaso, it's like, oh, where is he now? Because his whole goal was to get a sailboat and sail around the world.

So we'll see what happens. Yeah. Well, it's interesting that you mentioned that attitude of, you know, baseball isn't all of life. And I wonder, is there any pushback about that from other players, from other people that you hear? Like, why are you ranking Star Wars movies and fast food places? You should be just doing baseball 100% of the time. Baseball just tends to be a little more buttoned up maybe than some other sports. Like in basketball, you've had the road tripping podcast for a while and, you know, you kind of get a better sense maybe of basketball players' personalities and their lives off the field. And baseball, it just seems like there's some institutional resistance to that still that hopefully you're helping change.

Yeah. You know, I think that we live in a time where it's, you know, all the social media and everything, and you can get way closer, you know, I I'm putting air quotations on closer to the players and their lives and what they're doing outside of baseball. And I think what people are starting to realize is, you know, we don't just like sit around and watch a video 24 seven. Like I'm in a hotel right now. I like play video games or like go walk and get some coffee or something before we go to the field.

And once we get to the field, it's different, obviously, you know, then you're at work, but, but there's still, you know,

you have to realize you have to put things in perspective. Like if you had a job where you went to work like nine and a half, 10 hours a day, well, the other hours you're not going to want to spend just focusing on your job. You know, um, I, I and a half, 10 hours a day. Well, the other hours, you're not going to want to spend just focusing on your job. You know, um, I, I'm a person, I absolutely love baseball. I spent a lot of time watching baseball. A lot of times when I get home, I'm still a Padres fan and I grew up in San Diego. So a lot of times I'll get home and the West coast games are just starting, you know,

or they started a little bit ago. And so I'll watch some Padres game, you know, and read or something before I go to bed. So I think it's important that people understand that we are also people and people sometimes forget that. And it's kind of funny, you know, like yesterday, you know, in Washington getting heckled in the bullpen. And it's just like, can you imagine if somebody came to your job and just went up next to you and you know you suck you're terrible what you do it's like dude it kind of happens if you read the comments on articles we write that kind of happens it's easy to ignore that right and yeah it's funny you know it's it's just like people forget you know we're not we're not you know different we're just we're just y'all happen to be really good at baseball and we, and

we love it and we work at it and we're all obsessed with it. And so we've gotten to the point where we are. Yeah. And I guess lastly, Jeff alluded to this earlier, but the Pirates kind of having a pitching philosophy that they've been known for over the past few years and Ray Searidge having a certain way that he works. Is that something that works really well with the way that you already pitched

when you joined the Pirates? Or has there been an adjustment there? Is there kind of a negotiation between a team philosophy and something that has worked for you in the past that maybe is not the same as that overall philosophy? Well, when you say philosophy, it's like you're trying to keep it under wraps. knows we throw a lot of fastballs yeah a lot and we we go in a lot this is what we do right there's no reason to you know i have to hide it uh so the idea that they

you know they kind of train you know guys in the lower minor leagues this is how we want to pitch this is how we're able to you you know, really accentuate our abilities. And I don't think it's for everybody. I don't. But I think that one of the reasons I got traded over is because even when I was with the Orioles, it was how I pitched. It's always been how I pitched. I always thought that it was a lot harder to hit an inside fastball

than it is to hit an outside fastball, and I still think that. So I throw a lot. I throw a lot of fastballs. I don't throw as many as Trevor, which is, you know, he's amazing. He's going to be the next Bartolo. Hopefully he'll get just as big and fat. I would love that so I can make fun of him for it all the time. But, you know, it is.

It's part of the way we do things, and we're not going to shy away from it. And, you know, hopefully as things, you know, shape up, I think a big part of it is, you know, we need to be able to be better in our fastball command overall as a staff. And so when we're cruising, we are. You can watch our games and people are just throwing fastballs in, in, out, in, out, you know. And it's like you don't even need a second pitch. Obviously you do because we're in the major leagues.

But if you can really, you know, use your fastball, people people have shown bartolo has shown it do a little shown it like if you can go up and down and in and out with a fastball you can mess up people's timing that do with one pitch you know so we like to use it i love to use it i always have and i always will um but uh but yeah it's uh it's a lot of fun i think it's a more fun way to pitch It's more of like a I'm going to challenge you Instead of a Oh I'm going to throw a little slider here

Because I don't want you to hit it So it kind of keeps me on the attack I've always felt that way Alright Well it's been a pleasure having you on I guess pitching in relief Makes it easier to keep the streak alive If not to extend the streak So, if not extend the streak.

So we'll see. It'll just be time. It'll be time that I hold it instead of as many at bats as I get. Yeah. So he is a pitcher. He's a hitter. He's a podcaster. You can find him on Twitter at Squid Brault,

and you can check out the IMHO podcast, which will have a new episode soon. Thank you very much, Stephen. Yeah, thanks, guys. I appreciate it. It was fun. All right. Thank you.

As Stephen mentioned, he went to school for vocal performance. We didn't really get to talk about that. But Jeff alluded to how Brault hits a little like Barry Zito. I'm hoping that he also makes hits like Barry Zito, who, of course, released his first solo album last year, Your Turn, Stephen. And by the way, I now know how Shohei Otani pitched on Sunday, and it was well. He went six innings, struck out six, gave up a couple runs, which he actually allowed on a Ryan Healy homer in the seventh when he came back out to pitch that inning.

Maybe he shouldn't have. And the Angels beat the Mariners, which I know was an especially bitter pill to swallow for Mariners fans, because of course they missed out on Shohei Otani after thinking they were going to get him. I've heard from Mariners fans who said that they're unable to enjoy Shohei Otani because they're so sad that the Mariners didn't end up signing him, which I can understand, but I'm glad I don't have a reason not to root for Shohei Otani. You can support the podcast on Patreon by going to patreon.com slash effectively wild. The following five listeners have already done so. Jeff F, Todd Rankmeyer, Nathan Hui, Chris Hilton, and James Anderson.

Thanks to all of you. Thanks also to listener John Topoleski, who mailed me and Jeff 1958 Topps cards autographed by the star of episode 1153, Johnny O'Brien, who revealed in a note to John and to us that his 1958 Topps card was actually a picture of his brother Ed, but they never told Topps, so it's just Ed on Johnny's card. Anyway, really great gift. Thank you very much, John. You can also join our Facebook group at facebook.com slash groups slash Effectively Wild, and rate and review and subscribe to Effectively Wild on iTunes. Thanks to Dylan Higgins for his editing assistance. Dylan worked on this episode on his birthday.

Happy birthday, Dylan. Please keep your questions and comments for me and Jeff coming via email at podcast at fangraphs.com or via the Patreon messaging system if you're a supporter. I know we skipped over emails last week, but I think we'll squeeze them in somewhere this week. And one way or another, we will be back to talk to you soon. Have someone good to hold May good fortune be a constant and a loyal friend And may your winning streak, may it never end May your winning streak May it never end