Fantasy Baseball Today - Fact or Fluke? Plus Justin Upton Joins the Show! (12/16 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: December 16, 2020

Before Danny Vietti and Will Middlebrooks dive into Fact or Fluke, they address James McCann signing with the New York Mets (1:38). ... For Fact or Fluke, do the guys believe this player's 2020 season was real or an aberration? First up is Kris Bryant (5:25). ... What do the fellas think about Christian Yelich (11:57)? ... Was Wil Myers' massive season for real (16:54)? Wait till you find out Will's story about Myers. ... How about Luke Voit (21:25)? ... Current Los Angeles Angel Justin Upton joins the show (26:23)! What's it like playing with Mike Trout? ... What is Upton's approach to pitchers (30:35)? ... What's it like playing for Joe Maddon (35:15)? ... Is Shohei Ohtani the real deal (38:12)? ... Danny and Will wrap up the show address Upton's comments about Ohtani (45:52). ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, and son. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Party people, what's good? Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast. It's another Wednesday. Another day December 15th. My co-host, former San Diego Padre, most notably Boston Red Sock, Texas Ranger World Series champion. I'm already out of breath. Well, he got quite the resume, my friend.

Will Middlebrooks. You play for a lot, when you play for a lot of teams and you have to repeat it every week, yes, you're going to, people didn't want me. So, okay, I ended up in like a lot of different places. So thanks for reminding me. Yeah, so it's not good to have a long resume. Oh, it's not.

You don't want to be like a Jeter or, you know, Mariana, where you're just like in one spot, Dustin Pedroio, you know. Well, we're seeing guys finding new spots. Hot stoves picking up. I wouldn't say it's on fire, but it's, you know, like you're starting to cook some soup. Like it's taken a while for it to get boiling, but you're starting to cease in bubbles. It's warming. Hunter Renfro signed with the Boston Red Sox.

DJ LaMagee and the Yankees, they're about 25 million away in their contract talks. Are the Yankees going to let $25 million get in the way? as signing DJ LaMahue will have to wait to see. And then most notably, not exactly breaking news, but it was this last weekend. The New York Mets bringing in James McCann on a four-year, $40 million deal. And I have thoughts on this, but I want you to go first. I'll kind of leave it to you. And I want to know what you think about this James McCann deal headed to Queens.

You know, my initial reaction was, all right, I'm looking at a stat line, 249 career hitter. You know, there's a little bit of thump in there, but nothing. that like really stands out. Right. As a catcher, not the end of the world. He's known as a great catcher, great communicator, great game caller and manager.

So that plays, but four at 40, correct? Four at the number? Yeah. I want to make sure I got it right. That's a lot of money for a catcher that doesn't hit 250. But the more I dug into it, I think he's continually getting better. I think he's going to play into that contract.

and I think by the third, fourth year, we think maybe he's underpaid. I think he's worth it. I think he's going to be a really good attribute to that team with that pitching staff that we know is going to be really good, if healthy, and they're still going after Bauer, so they could get even better. So I'm a little indifferent on this. I think I don't have a problem with the signing. I think James McCann is a good player.

However, in this day and age, you do not need a good hitting catch. So just looking back in my notes here, last year, the Ray's Dodgers World Series, the race had Mike Zunino, not a great hitter. Really good catcher, though, behind the dish. Dodgers, they platooned a little bit with Will Smith, Austin Barnes. And we'll keep going back, Kurt Suzuki and Yang Gomes platoon for the Nationals. 2018, Sandy Leon, Christian Vasquez with the Red Sox. You have to go back to the early 2010s with San Francisco Giants.

The last time you saw a catcher that a team rely on a. catcher to beat the meat of that lineup. It was San Francisco Giants. And before that, it was like Mike Piazza, early 2000s with the Mets. And even before that, it was Gary Carter with the Mets in 1986. That was really the last time a World Series team relied on a catcher to be the meat of their lineup. So to me, it's not anything about James McCann.

He's a good player. I just think he's an extremely unnecessary one for a National League team. I've said this for years with Gary Sanchez with the Yankees. I'd much rather have Kyle Higashioka behind a dish on an everyday basis, Gary Sanchez because as much is a good hitting catcher, as nice of a luxury as it is, it's unnecessary in this day and age. When you have a lineup like the Yankees do, I could be their catcher, as long as I can receive still a few strikes and put the right fingers down.

You don't have to hit when you got Judge Lemayhew, Stan, Voight, like these guys, they carry the load. So, yeah. I get it. James McCann, I think he's a good player, but I just don't think he's necessary. That's what it comes down to me. So we'll transition to this. We're going to be talking about a lot of fluke slash fact guys today.

So that's where we're going with this segment today. And most importantly, we're going to have Justin Upton on the show. But you can make the case that last year he did struggle. It goes without saying he had a struggle of a 2020 season. You can make the case that it was either a fluke or a fact. So he kind of fits into the show, Justin Upton, long time MLB veteran, outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels. We're going to talk a little Mike Trout with him, of course,

because Mike Trout, maybe a little Shohay Otani as well. I mean, that team's absolutely stacked. But let's get into this first, fact or fluke. So we're going to be talking about certain players that stars that struggle, guys like Javi Baez, and we're also going to talk about guys who kind of came out of nowhere and broke out, guys like Will Myers, just to kind of give you a little foreshadowing for what we're going to expect.

So we'll start with, of course, we always start with Will Middlebrooks because he's got the ring and I don't. So we always start with Will. First and foremost, let's start with Chris Bryant. A guy that really struggled in 2020. And he was an MVP candidate just a few seasons ago, not so much last season. And Cubs are in this transition period. They had a new manager last year with David Ross.

They have a new president of baseball operations after Theo Epstein is now gone. So they're in a state of transition with Chicago. And Kyle Schwaber is gone. It's a new era in Chicago. Do you think he was fact or fluke that Chris Bryant had a struggling 2020 season? Yeah, it's got to be fluke because this kid's too good. We've seen it for a few years now, how the caliber he is as a player, not only offensively, which I know as fantasy owners,

offensive numbers are what's important, but he's a really good defender as well. I feel like he's a plus defender wherever they stick them. You can put him at first, third, left field. He's kind of a Swiss Army knife, which is really good for a team to have, especially in the National League, if there is no DH. which we still don't know if that's going to happen or not. I know. I think what comes down with Chris Bryant,

what it comes down to is I've talked to a few guys in that organization, who I'm close with. And the thing with Chris Bryant is it's his confidence. He's kind of, he's not the swaggy hobby, Baez, Anthony Rizzo, you know, he's not contraris. He's not going to outwardly show it. He needs to be pumped up sometimes. He needs to be reminded how good of a player is.

is. He doesn't have it in himself to just know it all the time. I think he needs to be reminded of how good he is. So in a year like last year, it started bad. He had the injuries. He had the hit by pitches, the elbow, the wrist, the finger. Then he ended with the oblique at the end of the year. He only played 34 games. So for a guy like Chris Bryant, he has to be on the field. He needs to be out there every day. He needs to let that confidence snowball because it can just as fast go the the opposite direction, which we saw with him last year. It's not a mechanical thing. He's got a super, probably the most simple set-up load point from A to B in the game,

short swing. But he's through the zones so long. He's got the best bat path in the league, in my opinion. This just comes down to the middle side of the game. Yeah, and I think you hit it on the nose when it comes to mental, because I can really relate to Chris Bryant. I'm pretty much Chris Bryant of CBS Sports. I'm going to, you know, when I was playing,

I was a, I had to see success before I experienced success. It's, it's a real thing. And maybe it's a self-conscious, um, ego type thing. I don't know what it is, but I had to see it before I could experience it for myself. That was just at, it was a lower level, but that was just for me. And even in the work. That's a real thing at any level. Even the superstars go through that.

Any work industry. It doesn't matter if you're in a, uh, working the drive-thru at McDonald's. If you aren't seeing success, it's going to be really hard to get any kind of stride. And so when you're looking at Chris Bryant, I'm not going to say it's fact. I'm going to say it's somewhere in between. I'm not going to say it's fluke either. I think he's somewhere in between. I don't think he is someone that you can rely on on an everyday basis to be your number three hitter because of the reasons you just mentioned. Even if he's healthy? Even when he's healthy because I want a guy that has that, we talked about it yesterday, that black

mamba mentality, I'm better than you. I don't think Chris Bryant brings that on an everyday basis. I need my three hitter to bring that on an everyday basis. And when you're looking at his stats, when you're looking at his analytics, his analytics was decent last year. I mean, his strikeout percentage was up and his while percentage was down. Those aren't great. But when you look at his exit velocity, 86.1, it was right around his career average of 87.9. Little down tick, but not much.

His barrel percentage has gone down each year since 2016, which is a little concerning to me. So for those reasons, I think he's somewhere in between. I can't pencil him into my number three hole every single day, though, because he doesn't have that mentality. I agree. I can't argue that. You do have to hit in the meat of the lineup on a big league team on a contender. You have to have that killer mentality. You have that swag.

You need it because on an everyday basis, it is a grind against, and you're going to get the best of the best of every pitcher you face when you have the name Chris Bryant because it's a target on your back. You're one of the best players known as one of the best players in the league. So you have to have almost trick yourself to like, I got it. I got it today. Even if I'm over 10, over 15, I got it. I'm going deep twice with a couple of doubles, a couple of web gems. You've got to have that mentality. Who was your guys as killer for the Red So?

Like the guy that just had that mentality like, I'm better than you. It didn't even matter if he said, you do. Is that a real question? Big Poppy. Yes. He honestly, I mean, he told us like, I can hit a 100 mile fire fastball until I'm 80 years old. He's like, you will never ever be able to throw a fastball by me.

I can react to the off speed. But you could literally throw, if you throw 110 miles an hour, I set my dial to 112 and I'm always ready to hit the fastball. And I will not miss it because I'm as good as I am. And that's Big Poppy. And that's why he was one of the best DHS of all time. One last kind of tidbit with Brian. I found really interesting before we move on.

everything was pretty much down when you talk about barrel percentage and hard hits. One that was up was his launch angle. Maybe he has someone in his year telling him you need to get the ball in the air a little bit more. Maybe that's playing with them a little bit. I don't know. It was a career high in lawn thing. Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. I mean, that could be, I mean, I could be wrong when I say it's not mechanical.

Maybe, you know, somebody tinkered with his swing, but he doesn't need more launch. He automatically has like really good posture to the ball. I'm getting technical now as hitting. but like he has a natural upper cut swing. So he doesn't need more. So if he is trying to get more, which I get it in a windy city playing in Chicago, it's either going to play like the biggest park in the world or the smallest.

It depends on the wind direction. When the wind's blowing out, if you hit it in the air, it's going to land on the street behind the stadium. That's just how it is. But back to my main point, he has launch in his swing naturally. He needs to get back to just his natural fundamental swing

and just seepaw, hitball, because he's got it. We got another guy in this list. Moving off for Chris Bryant here. You're going with Fluke. I'm going with somewhere in between. Moving on, Christian Yelich, another guy that was really surprising

coming off that knee injury that he had in 2019. He was probably in line to win MVP if he hadn't got injured. Cody Bellinger ended up taking that rain in 2019. Came back in 2020 and strikeout. He struck out a lot compared to his career numbers. He had 205, which is career low. It's still had 12 homers. 22 RBI's, but he struck out, he struck out a lot.

He also walked a whole lot more too. So I'll get my thoughts. I think this is the ultimate, ultimate fluke of a season for an MVP type caliber player. But go ahead. No, I totally agree. I think this is, so one of the best things about baseball players is how routine-oriented they are. But it's also one of the worst things, because when you have a season like last year with COVID, there is no normalcy, there's no routine, your routine that you've had your entire career

is out the window. You can only be on the field at a certain amount of time. You can only be at the stadium for a certain amount of time. These guys are used to coming in at noon, getting cage work in, doing video, doing more field work. I think he was taken out of his routine. I honestly do because we know how good he is. We know how good his swing is. It's not mechanical. I watched his swing during the season doing hits for CBS Sports, Sports, HQ. And it's not his swing. It's not his mechanic. So to me, it's just like Brian, it's a mental thing. And I think it goes back to his routine and how everything was just tossed out the window for last season. He couldn't, he didn't have his normal preparation. You know, they had, we talked about it.

We've talked about in the past. They took the video out. Like maybe he's a video guy. Maybe he likes to go watch his at batts, in between at bats. And now he can't do that anymore. Or maybe it's just he doesn't have enough time to get all the work in he needs and it just throws him off. I know it when I played, if we were about to go out for BP and we're about to do our thing and then it would rain, we wouldn't get to take BP and everything was in the cages last second. It threw me off because I had a normal routine. Creations of habit. They're still professionals and they're still required to adapt and make it work, but some guys

handled it better. We saw a lot of good players have down years. I think that played into it. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think you actually went even too far. When you look at his number, so, okay, put on your boomer hat because I know it's right next to you always keep it handy, your boomer hat. Go back to like 1950.

Okay, and we look at Yelich's numbers. He had 205 last year. Boomers would be like, oh, what an atrocious season. This kid's terrible. Why do we give him so much money? He had the highest exit velocity of his career last year. Right. He had the highest hard hit percentage of the,

his career last year. The highest walk percentage of his career last year. This guy was set, he was an MVP, you could, I would say two straight seasons. I'd still think he'd show me. Tell me, it's his, the batting average balls in play. Is that it? Thank you. That's where I was getting to. He had the lowest batting average on, you just set me up. That was a great allute by you. Lowest batting average on ball and play last year of his career. He was a perfect example of just a guy who just got unlucky, a guy who hit more hard balls last year than almost anybody in the big leagues, yet he had one of the lowest batting average averages in the big leagues. That is a case of a subject of consequence.

That's all he was last year. And he still hit the long ball. He did strike out a little bit more last year. I'll say that. But his chase percentage career low. He's seeing the ball like a beach ball, yet he just wasn't getting the results. Yeah, well, that's, as a hitter, that's so, that's almost, more frustrating than when you're then when you're just going bad when you're like they're throwing

golf balls at you at 200 miles an hour. It was it feels felt like probably half my career. Okay. But would you rather would you rather go 0 for four with four lineouts or three for four with three Texas leaguers? In the show? In the show, I want three knocks because I want to get paid. Yeah. You got to you got to be on base to win, right? Yeah. So my lineouts, it's like you come on the dug out and everybody's like, good swing. swing, man. You're like, shut up. Yeah.

Good swing. I'm out. I can't help us win. No. Yeah, it was a good swing. But shut up. Don't tell me that. I think batting average in balls in play, too.

I take into account that same time. I think some players are just really good at finding holes. I think some players are... I mean, there's not many, like, bat handlers anymore unless you're looking at, like, Fletcher of the A's or like... I mean, LaMayhew's a guy who's got pop who can do it. but there's not many like bat to ball contact guy who guys are up there trying to poke things through the four hole or just find the holes guys are trying to slug now because that's where the money's at and that's when they're getting paid so moving on to a couple guys who broke out

I'm not going to say out of nowhere they've had a little bit of success before but really broke out put themselves on a whole new level was will Myers and luke void and for those listening right now through the earphones we're going to have justin upton coming up soon just a few minutes away from Cheston Upton, a long time Los Angeles, Angel, Arizona, Diamondback. He will be joining us. But first, Will Myers, a guy that has been an all-star before, but last year, found himself in the middle of the Padres lineup that was just crushing anything that was out there on that, on that mound.

He hit 288, 15 homers, 40 ribby, hit a career high and barrel percentage, exit Velo. Are you considering this season a fact or a fluke of a year? I'm considering a fact because of seeing a person. I played with him in San Diego. I played against him when he was first getting to the big leagues when he was in Tampa. And a really cool story about just how talented he is. He was out for early work.

I want to say it was in 2013. So that was his rookie year, I believe. And he was out taking early work at like 2 o'clock, 1.30, 2 o'clock. He was hitting off a T at home plate in the trough where the ball really doesn't fly to center field. And there's the center field fence and there's a wall and then like a roof on top of like a little building back behind centerfield. And he was hitting. I literally watched his own eyes.

I'm not making this up. Ten balls in a row, dead center out to centerfield. Homer's off the tee, bro. Like that's, it was hard to do that in BP. So like from that point on, I was a Will Myers fan. I'm like, wow, that's some of the most raw pop I've ever seen. That's up there with like Jean Carlo and those guys. So, but then I got a chance to play with them.

And I realize another reason he's so good is how simple he is. He doesn't overthink things. He's so simple, just literally seeball, hit ball. He's got his little routine that's super simple as well in the cage. He does his T, he does his flip. He'll take like 20 swings in the cage and then you're ready to go rock and roll. He literally goes in the cage just to get loose. Meanwhile, I'm in there like working my back hip, like where I'm taping where I'm stepping.

So I step in the same. You know, it's like I had to be that to compete. He didn't have to. he just naturally had it. And on top of him being that talented, I think he doesn't have any pressure on him anymore. The last couple years before this year, there was pressure on him to be the guy,

to be the stud in that lineup. And now, Hosmer, Machado, Tatees, Gristom, like there's so many guys contributing that he doesn't, he can just sit in the background on the back burner and play his simple baseball, like seatball, hit ball, no pressure. If I don't get a knock, no big deal. I got guys making $200 million going to pick me up here.

That's the best mentality to have. And that's why he's having so much success. And that's why it's a fact. Which is why I agree. Because it really depends on what your version or your definition of fact or fluke is. I think it's a fact because I think he's much better than his 2019 self was. He's not very similar to Chris Bryant. I don't want Will Myers hitting three for me every day.

I don't even want him hitting two, three, four. I want him hitting six. I want him being completely free of his mind. Because like he said, he's a very simple guy. He shows up to the park. He's going to be free-minded regardless of where he hits. But he can't. I mean that in a respectful way.

I'm not talking about it. He's so carefree. Yeah, he's so carefree. You could hit him wherever. And that's just part of what makes him a good ball player. And that works for some players. Like, some people don't want. want the analytics. Some people don't want these extra numbers. Like, they just want to keep it simple.

I want Will Myers keeping it as simple as possible because I think when he has too much stuff and too many expectations, that's where he goes off his rocker. Give him a picture book of like everything and just let him figure it out. Like he doesn't need words. He doesn't need like complexity. Just give him a picture book and he's good. Instead of a scouting report, instead of a scouting report, it's just like a cartoon of like Clayton Courage. It's like the pages you like go through on the and you see the picture happening when you like fray the pages on the side. We had those. I'm a lot older than you, so we had those growing up.

Oh, okay. You had iPad. I was picturing more like a pop-up book. But the last guy we have on our list, Justin Upton's going to be coming up soon on the Fantasy Baseball today podcast. But first, Luke Voie, New York Yankee, led the American League last year, led to majors and home runs with 22 homers, 52 rubies. And that's despite having a career low of 268 batting average on ball and play.

he's really been the guy that as all these other guys have gone down judged in carlo even lemay he was hurt a little bit last year he's healthy and he's always going to be in the lineup and he's always going to hit big bulky dude raw power yeah and he lost like 20 pounds coming in the last season people were wondering is he going to lose some juice and uh hit 22 and i mean that's short of a season that abbreviated of a season that's insane 52 steaks 52 rbis and uh I mean, honestly, I'm going to, this is, I was kind of like in the middle on this one. Was it a flu? Was it a fact? I'm going to go with fact just because of the players that are around him. All right? Let me explain this. It's not because of a hitting coach.

Hitting coaches in the big leagues are very important as far as like scouting reports and being there for whatever you need. But hitting coaches aren't what you think they are in the big leagues. They're not going to come tap you on the big leagues. shoulder and say, hey, but I didn't like where your hands were. Let's work on that. I didn't like your stride there. Let's change it. Only if you go to them, well, they break down your mechanics because it's the big leagues and you have to be your best coach. All right. Now, let's look who's in that lineup with him. Some of the best hitters in the game. Well, Mayhew, there's your contact, bats a ball, just really pure hitter. Aaron Judge, Stanton. Well, sometimes.

if they ate a bull of Wheaties and actually didn't pull a hand you that day. True, but they're still very good hitters. And they've been good hitters for a while. Stan's, yes, he's been heard a lot. Yes, Judge has been heard a lot, but they're still elite hitters. Whatever strikeout rate, whatever you want to throw out there, there's still elite power hitters in baseball. Luke Void is a power hitter.

He has a lot to learn from those guys. And he is learning, whether it's a cage routine, BP routine, video routine, whatever it may be, he's learning and he's soaking it in and you see him getting better and better and better. Even as the season went on last year, he's still barreling balls nonstop. All right. So that just tells me he's opening his eyes in his ears and he's using his resources that are around him in that lineup. So he had a career year last year, barrel percentage, that's despite his barrel percentage and hard hit percentage both down. That kind of shows you what he's capable of.

And I got, I'm going to go into, I wish we had one of those like air horns like like, like Airhorn like super number crunch awesome stat for you because I have one for you. So since he got traded to New York in 2018 is middle of the year, he has 57 dingers. And we talked about the injury concerns with Judge and Giancarlo. Judge and Giancarlo since that date have a combined 58 homers. So Luke Voigt has one less homer than Judge and Giancarlo since that trade. He's on the field. He's on the field.

He stays on the field. So I think the best thing you can bring to a table is being healthy. Yeah, especially if you got a lot of pop. Because if you're on the field for, let's say, a regular 162 games season, and you're on the field for 140 games with his type pop, you're going to run into 30 in 90. And that ballpark? Oh, my gosh.

Right. The pop he's got backside, just touch it. Just touch it, you know? And I love that he was able to cut weight and remain strong and powerful. and cutting that weight is going to take a lot of stress off the knees, hips, ankles, and he's going to continue to stay in the lineup and not have those nagging injuries that a lot of players have. So you're a fact. Luke Voight. I'm a fact. He's a real deal.

I share that same sentiment. He's a fact. Are the Los Angeles Angels true playoff contenders? We've been asking this for years. We will have Justin Upton up next to tell us why he believes the angels are set up for some success in 2021. And we back, back again, as Nikki Minaj might say, Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. Don't be shaking your head at me, Will, because we got a great guest who is also back,

maybe not again, but he's with us. Justin Upton, the four-time All-Star, three-time Silver Soliger, 14-year MLB veteran, going to be heading into his 15th season. And it's going to be with the Los Angeles Angels. Of course, Justin Upton. Thank you so much for joining us. No problem, fellas.

Glad to be here. I want to ask you this because I was looking at your Instagram. I was stalking you a little bit. Loki, you're a big time Frozen fan, right? I'm not sure if it's by choice. It's more forced, but I have seen both multiple times. And I can pretty much recite every song. So I guess you could call me a fan.

Did you have two kids? Little girls. Yeah, two kids. I get it. Like, that's just how. it goes. You got to watch kids movies. Yeah. Let's get into some baseball. So, like, my, I mean,

my first question, and this is something that a lot of people want to know, I think this would be really cool. What's it like to play with Mike Trout? I'm just going to throw that out there. I'm sure you never have to answer this question, but I mean, no, never. This is the first time I've never heard it. Be honest with you, man, like, it's, you get used to it, but when you first start playing

with him like it's kind of laughable. It's like, you know, like just watching his work and then, you know, watching him going out into the game and it's just a, it's a different level. I mean, it's hard to explain. It's like he's the, I think he's one of the few guys in the league that even when he's struggling, struggling, right, put that in quotes, like, pitchers are scared death, dude. and, you know, even when he's feeling bad at any point, it can pop you. So it's like, you know, you always have to be on your toes facing them.

And, you know, you can just feel it. You can feel it as is at bat's going on. You can feel that, you know, it's something big is about to happen. I remember even playing, like, third base against him. And he's just, when he comes to the plate, and there's nothing to get you or any of your other teammates. But, like, when he comes to the plate, there's just a little more buzz in the stadium. I'm thinking here's something coming to me.

I mean, you guys are going to hit the ball just as hard, but it's just something about, it's like when you face a, we talked on last week's show about being faced Mariano. Like there's just something about the name that comes with the player that creates a buzz and you think differently about them. Is he a guy that obviously he's just naturally blessed?

We know that. But the way he goes about his work, is he one of those is a cage rat, workouts all the time? Like, is he one of those guys for, is he just naturally roll out of bed and hit? Well, I think it's a combination both. Like if he really wanted to, he could just roll out of bed and he'd still be the best player on the planet right now.

But he does work. I mean, dude gets in a wait room. He, you know, in his cage work, he's very, very punctual about it, I think. He just, he has a way of doing it. And, like, he has a feeling that he's searching for each day. And he will stay in the cage until he feels. Let me ask you this for your perspective, because you normally hit right behind him, do you feel like you get better pitches to hit when he's in the lineup?

No, I mean, the Supreme focus is on him and him only is. I don't think anybody ever looks at an on-deck circle and goes, well, you know, I'll pitch to him or, you know, I'll try to get the next guy. I mean, with him being on base, obviously it helps. He gets on base, you know, at a pretty heavy clip. You know, so it does help, you know, when he's on base. And, you know, they don't have open bases to pitch around or, or, you know, to be really careful. But, I mean, just his presence in the lineup definitely, you know, makes a world a difference. When you're going into a game against a pitcher, you face them in the past, you see the chase rates,

you see what you're doing well, because you always see as a hitter, you want to, you don't want to build your plan or approach at the plate to the pitcher strengths. You want to do it to your strengths. Right. Because if you're going to, here comes the chases. You know, you're going to buy into what they want. So do those numbers help you build your plan? Yeah.

I mean, I think if you're struggling on a break, like on a curb ball specifically. I know you like to keep it simple too. So it's like more simple the better stuff, the less numbers. I get it. For sure. But, you know, if I look at it and I look and I'm chasing curveballs down and, you know, I've been doing that for a month. Of course, I look at this guy and I go, all right, well, he's got to get curb balls.

ball. I got a pretty good idea what I'm going to get. And, you know, if I, if I. In front of them, too. And they're like, Chase numbers, I'm going to attack that. Okay. Right. So, I mean, you definitely have to be prepared for it and know what you're going to get. But things could change at the plate. You know,

there's, there's times where you get a full scout report. All right, this guy doesn't, he doesn't throw, you know, he doesn't pitch in, right? He doesn't pitch in very often. And then you're that, you know, you're back in the middle of lineup and you get three pitches in. Like, it's like little stuff like that. You just have to really, you know, take with a grand stop because it's, it changes throughout the game.

It's a constant cat and mouse. They're like, this is what my scounder report says. This is what they're looking at. So here's the meat of their lineup. I'm going to try to go against that a little bit. Even though that might be not his strength, that may be the way he thinks he can beat the meat of a lineup. Right.

Or he has to, or he knows he has to show it. Right. If he doesn't show it, he's going to get killed. You know, like, there's, there's. there's there's all there's so much that goes into it dude and like you don't know what that guy's going to do you just try to get the best idea of what he's going to do and go with it you know we give him too much credit too these yeah like we have this perfect like okay he's going to make this pitch he might be trying but he also might fill a five steamer right down the middle can we please get a pitcher on this show so we can no absolutely man like i feel like i can come on a show and it's just shit on pitching every single time I'm tired of it. Like, we need to get some arms on this show.

I'm tired of this. But think about it this way, though. If pitchers are smart, we'd never get hits. That's true. Pitchers overthink, man. Yeah. That's true. I'll give you that.

That's why we have a job. That's why we're so smart. Think about this, though. Half the guys in the league are throwing 95 to 100. And with a nasty breaking ball and somehow we're getting hits. It ain't because we're that good. because you guys are doing something wrong. Like, I think there's, every hitter in the league goes,

oh, give me 95 to 100 with a dirty breaking ball on a split and see what I do with it, you know? But, you know, you got to let the pitchers do what they do. One thing I noticed, too, because I was looking at your stat line. Okay, so you were an all-star in 2009. And two years later, you became a real true MVP candidate with Arizona. And one thing that really stuck out to me is each year you typically got hit by a pitch like five, six times. That one year in 2011, you get hit 19 times. But these pitchers just like, okay, I'm not going to let this Upton kid come in here and just

take over the league. I'm just going to crowd him at there. I'm going to crowd him. I'm going to throw fastballs in her half. Did you feel that? Yeah, I think early in my career, like, it was let's see if he can hit the ball the other way and let's see if he can stay on a slider. And I got a ton of. of sliders down away. I had to learn how to hit that. And, you know, I was, I was hammering the heater. So, like, I think the only thing they were, they were like, all right, well, we're going to figure out whether he can, he can turn on the ball now. And it was just like, I got pounded in a ton. Everybody wanted to really come in hard and then, and still try to expose the soft

way. And I just got hit a lot. And, and also my hitting coach was Don Baylor, who was the king of getting hit by pitches. So he was like, don't. Don't bail. Make sure you stay on what you wanted to stay on. And it worked. I had, you know, I had good years when he was my head coach. Yeah, they haven't hit you since. You had those 19 hit by pitches. And then after that, it was like five hit by pitches the next season, five the next. Like, they aren't, they aren't messing with you after that. I think I learned how to get out of the way of it. Yeah, it was. Well, you were getting on first, and all of a sudden it was a double because you were still in bags, too. Yeah, I was running a little bit more than too. I think there. I want to hear about Mr. Madden. This guy is like the mad scientist of baseball. Obviously, you know, what he did in Chicago and then what he's brought to you guys.

I'm just, I've never played for him. I've only played against him. And he always seems like the most interesting man alive. And I just always want to sit in a room and just pick his brain. So what's he like as a manager? He's, I'd say he's different than anybody I've ever played for, for sure. he's super laid back. He kind of, he lets the players do what they do.

Like, it's, it's a, it's different than, like, some, some coaches like to kind of put their hand in every jar. He, he really trusts his coaching staff. He allows them to do what they're there for. And, you know, it brings a looseness and a philosophy that you don't see everywhere. He wants each team to create their own identity. He talks a lot about creating your identity. And he's on board with that. Whatever, whatever personnel you have, he's very good at, you know,

just kind of meshing that person, you know, that personnel and creating a personality for each team. I think, you know, some coaches come in and try to, you know, impose their will and what they want their team to be. but he's different in the fact that, you know, we had a full meeting talking about what we wanted our identity to be. And he allowed us to talk instead of him trying to impose as well, which was different than I've ever seen. And he allowed us to be us.

And I think that was very important for us to see as a team. So we'll get us some rapid-fire questions here pretty quick, but I have one more before we, you know, kick it into second gear. Do you guys think, I mean, it's still early in for agency and there's still a lot of dominoes left to fall do you guys think you have enough right now to be a playoff contender um we were very good offensively uh last year um you know our pitchers were kind of uh they pitched well well at times and we just as an offense we never clicked when our pitching was like as a whole unit we just never clicked um i think

if we were clicking on all selling, for sure, we could make our way there. So at the end of the day, man, that's what baseball is all about. I mean, the teams that win are the teams that play well as a unit for large portions of the season. We just never all got on the same page, but our team's very talented. And we just, at the end of the day, we just have to play better as a unit. Before these rapid fire, I just, I have to ask. is Otani like just that special?

He's the most talented baseball player ever seen. And that's because he can do everything. Right. Like Mike Trout can't pitch. Mookie Betts can't pitch. I mean, Mookie might be able to pitch. I don't know. But like there's guys that like there's really good baseball players at what they do.

But there's no, there's nobody. who does everything. He's the fastest guy on our team. He's got the most pop on our team. And he throws the hardest on our team. Like, probably he's, he's one of the harder throwers in the league. He's a baseball unicorn is what he is. Yeah. Like, there's, there's not anybody else that can do what he does. Like, if he was in the home run derby right now, I'm picking him to win. Do you think he'd be better if he will specialize, if he just stuck to hitting or just stuck to pitching, what do you think you'd be better at? In today's game, in today's game, I mean, in today's game, I mean, in today's game,

there's a reason that he's two-way player. There's, like, he can do both. Like, if you wanted to tell him, go play right field and hit, he would, he would be an all-star hitter, and he's going to be in the, like, if he has enough time out there, he's going to be in the conversation for, like, a gold glove or just because he's going to, to have a bazooka. He can run as fast as anyone in the league. So it's just a matter of learning

to defend. And then you put him on the mound. For him, really, at this point. Like, I think at some point he may have to choose. But, you know, if you put him on the mound fully healthy, everybody saw it. Like, it's a hunter with a filthy split and a slider, like, when he's healthy.

So, like, you can't tell a guy like that to choose. Right. You got to utilize both. As long as you can. He's got the tools for both. Exactly. Like, there's... That's cool, man. You get to play with... I mean, between Trout, Otani, Poo-holes, I mean, Rintones,

nobody to turn your nose at either. Yeah. You get a stacked, you know, absolutely stacked. And when you, like, I play with... It's crazy because, like, I played with Cabrera, play with Poo-Hulls. I played against Poo-Holes when he was, like, in his prime, but, like, being able to play with him.

Like, even Poo-holes. like it's later in his career but this dude when you just like you watch his work and then like the way his brain works at the plate is just next level and like I've had a it's I've had a pretty special career because I've had a chance to be around like three of the greatest hitters you're ever going to see and you can tell why they're different and you know as far as pure hitter like I have trouble like Maggie Albert, you know? I mean, obviously Trouty's got years and years to go

and he'll probably be up there in that conversation. But like, just as far as the way the brains work is just, it's next level. For sure. That's good stuff. All right, we're going to finish this on a quick rapid fire. Just a few questions. Let the fans get to know you a little bit.

So we'll start it off. What's your favorite vacation spot? Cabo. I knew you were going to say. like that. All right. Favorite road city and stadium. They can be two different ones.

Two different ones. Favorite road city, I'll have to say Chicago. Praise it. Favorite stadium to play. It's a little bit weird and off the radar. But Minnesota.

Love Minnesota Stadium. Just fine. Yeah, it's in downtown. It's, you know, the backdrop, the stadium itself, great. It's new. Yeah, totally.

All right. So if you were going to cook me something, They're going to cook me dinner right now. What would it be? Ooh. I'm probably going to go with some beef short ribs on the smoker. Okay. Some creamy polenta, probably, with some parmesan.

You're getting fancy on me, Justin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then... I need better friends. We're going to go with some Brussels sprouts with a little bit of bacon in them. Oof. All right. I'll be hopping on that flight here soon. Let's see. What's your favorite walkout you've ever had? Walkout song. Favorite walkout song I've had.

Dang, that's tough, dude. I've had a lot of really good ones. I've had a lot of them. I change it every year. So, like, that's... Yeah, you're not that guy who has the same one all the time. No, I'm not. Whatever's hot. Whatever's hot. So... Okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Remember your first walkout song in the big leagues? No, I have no clue what I walked out two in those seven. I don't even know if I picked it. All right, two more. One teammate that you would not quarantine with and why? One teammate I'm not quarantined with. Probably Will Middlebrooks. Ah, it's so funny, you said that.

That's a lot. That's a full-all lie, Justin. Jackie, Jackie picked you two quarantine went. So you're either really good friends with people or they hate you. Justin knows I can take the criticism. It's fine. All right. Give me one thing on your bucket list.

You haven't done yet. My bucket list, I haven't done yet. You know what? It's kind of weird, but I haven't been to Hawaii and I really want to go to Hawaii. I don't know why I haven't been. It just never worked. into the off season, but I, you know, I want to go. I want to do the island life for a couple weeks, play golf.

Yes. Yeah, I heard the golf's amazing. I got a couple spots. I'll text you. I got a good spots over there. Yeah, for sure. I got one more before we let you go. Of course you do.

I want to continue this conversation for like two more hours. This has been great stuff, but is it true you played on the same U team as Mark Reynolds, Ryan Zimmerman, David Wright, and your brother, Melvin? Yeah, I mean that. One team? So, yes. Yes and no. So that squad was assembled.

And they, it was a, it was a fall wall team. So we used to, you know, they should travel around all the showcases and stuff. I was on the team, but those guys were in the, at the age of being, like, scouted and drafting and stuff. I was eighth grade freshman. So, like, did I get in game? James, yes. But I wasn't like a star like those guys were. So like I'd go, I'd practice, I'd be with them on the weekends and stuff and I was there. It was almost like a Texas squad player. Like if one of the guys needed a day and needed a blow, like I'd go out there. But like, I wasn't

a guy. I feel so bad for these 14, 15 year olds rolling up to the park and they look on the other side. And you have Justin Upton, Melvin Upton, Mark Reynolds, Ryan Zimmerman, and David to right on the other side. I mean, I would just pack my bags and leave at that. No shot. No shot. Justin Upton, Justin Upton, long time, I'm a be veteran, going to be coming back hungry this next season with the Los Angeles Angels. Jay up, thanks so much for joining us, man. No problem, fellas. Talk about an absolute bomb. Shohei Otani, the best player, Justin Upton's ever seen. Is that surprised you at all, considering he's teammates with Mike Trout,

as you called him the Jesus of today or whatever? Yeah, whatever. So, yes, it does surprise me. It does surprise me because Mike Trout is like, Mike Trout. He's Mike Trout. How does you say it other than he's just Mike Trout? And he will go down, in my opinion, as the best player in baseball. But I love that Justin said that about him because he, what did he say?

But Trout can't pitch. Trout doesn't throw 99 with sink, a split, and a good, good breaking ball. That's a good point. You know, I want to see Latani healthy. I do want to see him be able to continue to do both. Like I asked Justin, like, do you think he should be able to specialize should you just stick to hitting or sit the pitching? He's like, why?

If you can do both as above average as he can, why not do it and go down in history is one of the best players in the game? Yeah, I think you can make the argument that you're probably going to be a better hitter if you stick to hitting, a better pitcher if you stick to pitching. But if you have that talent, why the hell not? I mean, don't. Handful of guys all time that can. do that. So yeah, there's like I said, there's a handful of guys who've ever been able to do that

at this high of a level. Do it as long as you can, man. Do it. Like, that's so cool for the game. And the game needs more like this to get people's attention. So people continue to watch it. We're about a little more than a week away from Christmas. You busy next Wednesday? You down to do this one more time? Maybe a couple more times. Am I busy? Yeah. No, never. No. I'm always down for this. I love this. I say it every episode. We're talking baseball. on December. I'm a happy man. It's a date next Wednesday and we'll do it again. Fantasy Baseball Today podcast for my colleague, my co-host Will Middlebrooks, myself. Thanks for joining us. Fantasy Baseball today podcast will be back with you next Wednesday. Frank and the boys

will be back as soon as this week. See you guys.