High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Bye Bye Grover & A Plan To Help The Outfield

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to Cristopher Sanchez breaking the Phillies scoreless streak record and the team sweeping San Diego. Later, Jack proposes an unorthodox way to improve the team's power in the outfield. Presented by Miller Lite.To purchase Ring The Bell by Jack Fritz and Kevin Reavy go to RingTheBellBook.com

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This crowd is singing, high hope. I feel a little less alone. edition of the High Ops podcast sponsored by Miller Light official partner of the Philadelphia affiliates. Tastes like Miller Time, Philadelphia. Celebrate responsibly Fritzy. I don't know. In fact, I am sure that we have never spent an entire High Hopes episode talking about just one player. But should we just spend the entire time talking about Christopher Sanchez?

What a freaking king, dude. What an unbelievable story. What a developmental win. What a 44 and two-thirds shutout innings. This guy is bearing down on Orle freaking Hersheiser, Jack. That was the first season I remember. 88 was like my baseball is beautiful. Like, I love this thing.

I'm in for life. I remember watching Oral go on this run. It was just like, what is happening? I didn't understand it at the time. Were you watching an MLB.com? They didn't have it in 1988. Not for many years after. Wow.

I am, especially with the way Sanchez he started this season, you know, he looked a little off, and he's like, all right, you know, he's second inside young, you can't expect him to be as good this year. Like, of course. He's much better. He is, I mean, I'm in show. I guess. The two best pitch in baseball is he got to throw up Joe in there.

Now Mizrowski. There are guys around him, but like, what Sanchez is doing right now is literally unprecedented in Philly's history past Grover, Cleveland, Alexander, a 115-year record. Yeah. Your thoughts for it. Well, it's just like one of those things, and watching it yesterday and being on the edge of your scene,

for it. Right? It felt like a playoff game. Yeah. It did. The players were also nervous.

Did you see how nervous was? Oh, I know. Feeling that ground ball? How about Justin Crawford? Are you kidding me?

Yeah, that was after. It was after, but still to keep it going. He doesn't have a shot at oral. And like that could have got out. Like it was, I mean, yeah,

it's just, it's not, Sam. It's really thrilling. And he definitely thought Machado got the one that. Oh, I did too. Didn't you?

I mean, it didn't even get to the wall. Like, I thought that was gone. And Machado thought it too. Machadoly, which of course, that would have been like insult to injury, the last one right before. You're kidding me, dude. Yeah.

So, you know, it was one of those things where it reminded me so much of just the feeling of like watching Hamels or the no-hitter. Like it was the same kind of the time of the day. It was in the middle of a week. Well, I think Hamils might have been on a Saturday. But either way, just the middle of the day, you're at your house watching and you're seeing history. I mean, 115 year record. I mean...

That's insane, dude. And it's seventh all time. Like, in the history of the sport, this is the sport goes back over 115 years. This is the seventh longest, and he was ever gone. And here's the crazy thing, too. Like, next start, if he goes through it,

like, he will be third. Like, he's only a few innings away from leaping everyone except Oral and Drysdale. And he would be the longest lefty. Yep, exactly. So the lefty, I think, is, I think the two lefties ahead of them, both of whom I don't think I've ever heard of.

Well, Carl Hubble's one of them, right? Yeah, I think it's, and I think he's like 45 and two-thirds. The other one's like 45 in it. Yeah, they're right there. So he's right there. And the history of baseball, for left-handed pitching,

at least if you can't reach Oral Hirschizer, he could be number one all-time. It's amazing. For a sport that's been around forever. It is, it's, it's, this franchise has seen some all-timers.

Carlton, Halliday, Lee. Grover, Cleveland, Alexander. Robin Roberts. Zach Wheeler. Hamels, Kurt Schilling, some great, great starting pitching. And this dude is, I tweeted it two weeks ago.

I think he's going to end up as the second best left-in-in-a-pitcher in franchise history. After Carlton, yeah. Wow. Hold on. So it's really fascinating. Is it Cliff now? Like, who's second?

Oh, Cole. It's cool. It's cool. It's cool. If you take the whole length of the career. Lee higher. Le higher highs. Yeah.

But I think it's Cole. You're right. Wow. He really could. It's not that bold. It's like a bold take, It's not that bold to take. No.

No. And, you know, Hamel's really, really good. I don't think he had the peaks. And they've never had a lefty when the Sight Young before. No. Well, Carlton. Oh, yeah. I met other than...

Delete. Delete. I meant other than Carlton, obviously. Because we said, Carlton's like in his own thing. I obviously had other than Carl. Delete. I obviously. We're losing listeners.

Other, obviously. We're just talking about Carlton's all by himself. Get him out of here. You're talking about being the second best. Get him out of here. Lock. Lock in. Lock in. Lock in. No. And just like pitching wise in my lifetime. I mean, the Hamels run in 08 in playoffs for sure, but that was, you know, essentially it was a month. Yeah, it was a month. But then this is, this is just like. Holiday and 2010. Lee and 11. And Lee and 11. Yeah. Oh, you're just going lefties. Yeah, yeah. Well, no. I mean, Lee and 11. Like, holiday. Holiday in 10 was pretty great. So he's great. But I think. You're talking about like starts in a row type, like an actual stretch in the season.

not the overall. Sure. I got you. Sure. Yeah. Because, you know, I think Tim Kelly

tweeted it, and it's really, we almost forget how good Cliff Lee was during the peak of his powers at one year. So Cliffley in June of 2011. So 42 innings pitched,

21 hits, one earned run, eight walks, 29Ks, three complete game shutouts. Wow. And a point good. And a point two one ERA,

Sanchez this month. Point two one? Yeah, so you love one earned. Oh, one earned. Yeah, of course. Yeah, zero for Sanchez.

And then to Sanchez. as 39 innings pitch, 25 hits, no earned run, three walks, which is crazy. Insane. Fourty-five strikeouts to Cliffley's 29. Wow. So Sanchez's been better. And then the only one complete game shut out,

and obviously no earned run. Yeah, he's been better. Yeah. It's nuts. It's rarefied error. It really is. And Ranger in 24, when he started 10-N-N-A. Yeah, well, after he missed the first month,

and then came back through May. It was unreal. Yeah, yeah. Started 10-1 or whatever, right? I think it was 10-0? Yeah, 10 and 0, was it? So this is, I mean, it is, we've seen some great pitching around here, and this, you could make the case as the best that we've seen.

It's crazy. Unbelievable, man. And, you know, the fact that he, the fact that Christopher, I mean, the thing is, is, and like, I think that it is probably in my lifetime the best development story in the history of the franchise, in my lifetime. You know, in terms of just what a guy was and turned into, They turned him in. Because Wheeler, you know, obviously got better here and stuff.

But he was an elite prospect. He was someone who was thought of his... Pedigree. Pedigree, you know. So the two that immediately jump out to me are Victorino and Worth. Sure. Because Victorino's a Rule 5 guy and Worth. Worth might be the answer.

He's up there. I don't know. I think Sanchez's probably better, though. Sanchez, that's the thing. Sanchez is a Cy Young candidate. Year after year, like, right now, if the season ended, he'd win it. Because he's got more innings than Otani and all that. I think he'd win it.

again, Miserowski was I know. I know. Oh, Tani's got a point seven ERA or whatever. Yeah, but he's essentially an opener when he really thinks about it. He's an opener.

He's an opener of all time. He's a great opener. I think it's got to be Sanchez. I mean, he has turned into one of the three, four best pitchers in baseball. Like Jason Worth. For multiple years now. Jason Worth, he probably had a top 10 MVP finish in 10.

Yeah. But it was never, it wasn't top five. You know, there was never a question of, is Jason worth the best player in baseball? You can say Christopher Sanchez today might be the best pitcher in the sport. You could argue it. Like people would take skeins or whatever.

He is right there in the discussion for best pitcher in all of baseball. Yeah, yeah. And it's just, it's one of those ones where you look at the journey with Chris Sanchez. That's what I mean. Where he was on like DFA watch three years ago.

And the Curtis Meade trade, man. Everyone's bitching. But by the way, kind of heating up for the Nats. Kind of heating up. Did you have any idea of the Natch? had the most run scored in baseball? No, they do? Of all these teams, right?

The nationals who, I think people can name two nationals offensively, James Wood and C.J. Abrams, and then we've had questions about everyone else. Lyle. That's a guy. I do love that guy. I really like it. Keybirds having a good little run.

And then, you know, I did pick up, I did pick up Curtis Mead for a little little Josh Jung insurance case he got hurt. That's great. But, yeah, so, so he's on DFA watch. he's like, every time he comes in, he's walking the ballpark, and it's actually, I mean, one of the reasons why Caleb Gotham's so valuable. I don't think we've talked a lot about him in the whole Sanchez's development,

but him turning Chris Sanchez into what he's helped turn him into. He should get a ton of credit for it. Part of their whole plan was, hey, we know you throw 98. You have no idea where it's going. Let's drop it down in 95. Let's make sure we're in the strike zone, and then you can work your way back up to 95. And then this year, you know, he starts off that he's tweaking with her, or he's tinkering with that new slider

and I think it costs him his change up up. And now that he has the feel for the changeup again, he has the feel for the fastball again, he's starting to throw that slider more and more. Which is crazy because he's one of the best pitchers in the sport with two pitches. I know. I know. He's special. He's special. He's special. And oh, by the way, the best contract in the history of my life for a Philadelphia athlete too,

no big deal. Well, yeah. And then now they they did extend him. And even then it's not that much. It's an insane contract. Yeah, yeah. So he's an absolute joy. What is a treat? He's a treat. And he's, like, we've talked about this before. Like, no offense to right-handers.

It's just more fun to watch a great lefty. It just is because we can't do it. Like, I think there's something about the fact that, like, when you're right-handed, watching a lefty do it feels more miraculous to you. Because, like, when I throw left-handed, I look like I've never thrown a ball before my life. You look ridiculous. I don't know if we've ever talked about that. We haven't?

You agree with me, right? It's way more fun to watch a lefty. I love a power righty. I know you do. But at the end of the day, if you had to choose, you can only want to, watch one, you're taking a lefty, right? I don't know, Jim. Oh, I don't know, Jim.

There's a crazy, crazy take by you. Watching a lefty out there, even like, you know, like a ranger type, mixing and matching changing speeds. I do. I like a crafty lefty. That's what I'm talking about, crappy leppy leppy. I'll give me crafty. Crappy lefty is my favorite thing to watch pitch.

But I also love a 99 from the right side with the power split off that. I mean, you kidding me that. That also gets to go on a little bit. Now, lefty swing is an arguable. It's not even a discussion. Not even close. Silly. Come on.

And by the way, I think baseball greas, there's no good right-in-hitted hitters. I did. Who is that? Was that Tim Kelly? You put that out this week? Or was it, Gell? Or someone had it. It was Gell-B.

Yeah, I thought that was interesting looking around. Like, it is not just a Phillies issue with right-handed outfield hitting. It seems like it is an issue across the league. Well, and even right-handed hitters that are great have had downstarts of the year now. Like, Langelliers having a great. Some, some. I mean judges, judge. We've just had it down compared to what judges.

Yeah, he'll get there, though. I think it'll be fine. Tatis, Machado. Yeah, you're right. It's always Garcia. Yeah, of course. A lot of these great right-handed hitters are having down start to their seasons. Well, I think honestly, I think pitchers have just, right-hand pitchers at least, have almost perfected the sinker, slider.

They kind of cuts away thing. Like it says the same pitch out of hand. And then one goes in, one goes out. One goes in, one goes out. Pretty hard. Yeah. But everyone's trying to think of ways to change baseball. Like, we're back to the, you got to lower the mound.

You got to move the mound back and stuff like that. Well, the raids are doing their thing again this year. Well, I know. I know. Did you watch the video yesterday? I did. I thought it was interesting. Yeah.

I don't fully agree with everything in it, but I thought it was interesting. They do also have, you know, junior camin-a-duro. Yeah, they got dudes. Like, they got dudes. They got Yondi. Like, the guys are guys who could hit, which helps. But it's working. I mean, the rays are right back at the top of league again, you know?

The one thing that I think might work is if they raise the seams on the baseball, because it makes the ball a little bit less aerodynamic, and I think it would hurt spin. And if you can hurt spin a little bit, maybe that helps. It hurts spin or speed, one of the two. They don't need to lower the mound. I don't need to move the mound back. I'm fine with whatever they want to do.

I'm not moving the mound back. The mound is 60 feet that is not changing for me. If they've lowered the mound before, like I'd be okay with that. It wouldn't drive me crazy. But sure. I do agree with you. I think that if they could do something about the spin, that would help.

Yeah. I mean, this is shaping up for an all-time National League's Salyong race. It's insane. They're more like six guys, seven guys, under two in this race. Sales under, Mizroski's under. Burns. Burns is under. Sanchez O'Tonnie.

So five guys. I think there might be one more. Well, Wheeler, I believe. I mean. Oh, Wheeler two. He doesn't have enough to qualify. He'll get there. Oh, he'll get there.

It's crazy, though. Think about that. Yeah. I mean, showy is what, 0.7? Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then, and unfortunately for him, well, now the bat's eaten up, so he's going to win MVP. Yeah, he just hover again yesterday. He's just walked with the, I mean, just handed to him now. All of a sudden, in 275 with like nine home runs. Like, damn it, come on. We're trying to get Schwartz in there. All of a sudden, he'd be the third best that are on the Phillies like that. No, I know.

I'm saying stats watch. I'm saying you put his stats on the Phillies. Shwarber, I want to have Schwerper, a real chance to win MVP. But it's over. The MVP race is over. Oh, it's over. Yeah, it's done. But it's not young.

We're still, we're still. And he better start the awesome. They're not getting both, right? That's never happened. We can't set a precedent here. He's not as long as. You can't win MVP and Syeung. I'm sorry.

It's not allowed. There's the rules say no. As long as one of Sanchez, Mizoroski, Wheeler Burns. I think they'll give it to that guy. Have way more innings and they'll give it to one of those guys. And Sanchi better start the All Star game.

Yeah. What a great point. Yeah. It's in Philly. And he's been the best. Like, I think they will. I mean, it's him to show hay. They might have show hay.

They might have show hay started because that's what they do. You need to look up Jacob Misarowski's numbers. I know he's been great. I'm just saying for starting the All-Star game. It's not he's been great. It's not he's been great. He's insane. I know he's one of the guys on his...

64 innings. Is it 100? Yeah. Like, he's much better than Shoah. Then what? Then Shoah this year. Well, no, I mean, not... Show he's got a 0.70 RA.

He's just pitched a lot less inning. He's an opener. I try to tell you that. He's an opener. It's cute what he's doing. Either way, you should start. It's here. It's here.

It's here. It's here. It's a manager. emotional intelligence to do it. I actually think Roberts would do it. I agree. And also, he knows that Sanche got screwed over with that pitch in the playoffs. The way to give it back a little bit. And now, I don't think, I think Sanchez

turned it down, but we could play up the angle of Mizoroski got the All-Star knot over him last year. Oh, yeah, like that too. Come on, man. Come on, man. Well, there's a lot of angles of this thing, pal. I also would not hate if Wheeler started the game. Well, Ms. Zeroski at like 106 in the All-Star game? How hard's

that guy going to throw in the All-Star game? If he could $105. Well, I mean, the All-Star game, he'll go Max effort. I'm saying, like, he could hit 105 in the All-Star. Like, he will say, I'll bet you said the record in the All-Sor. Yeah. He believes he can throw 105. He might be able to. Yeah. That dude is insane. I was watching his start. I can't believe he's a starter. He feels like he should be a reliever. Like,

it seems like unfair that guy's a starter and could throw that hard for that long. What do you have like 50 pitches over 100 miles an hour the other night or whatever? Well, his last pitch in the sixth inning was 102. Like, what the hell? I know. It's awesome. It's awesome. It's so awesome. Pitching is in an insane spot. Yeah, the Brewers are just annoying with that. Well, and they developed Kyle Harrison

Who like if it wasn't for We Learned Sanchez They also pitched to an insane level It's like Brandon Woodruff didn't get her I mean they all these guys They just Trade Freddy Perraal who cares Yeah we don't need them We don't need them

Nothing to us Yeah they're a monster They are a monster They're a monster So what can you do What can you do This is pretty good We spent a lot of time talking Chris Sanchez

He's the best Yeah I didn't actually think We'd spend the whole pod But that was pretty good Yeah I mean listen It's hard to fathom For a franchise that's been around Since 1883

And a record that has been held for 115 years. Like, we're never going to, we may never for our life, for our lifetime. See, a Phillies player do this. Yeah, we probably won't. I'd say we won't. This is technically more rare than a perfect game.

No, it's a good point. More rare than no hitters. Yes, it is. Cycles. No, you're right. This is part of why you love baseball so much is when a guy gets on a run like this and you can start thinking about it

in historical, you know, well, and it's a pitcher to, because like the hitter, it's every day, you know, like a pitcher you've got the time between starts, to talk about it. So if he can keep this going, like imagine what it's going to be like. Let's see,

let's say it is exactly what he did last night or yesterday afternoon. His next star, seven shutout. Then he's seven and a third away from the record. I know. You know what I mean? So it's like,

it's really, and it could, two starts, three stars. It's, it is, we are, like you said before, it is rarefied air

that we are sitting in right now. And it is, to Jack's point, like, treasure this. Because to Dot, to Dodgervers, treasure it.

Because it is, it is, this is not. something that you will experience often. Yeah. More officially on the record more impressive than Pete Roses or the DiMaggio's Hed Street. Yeah, it's not, but I appreciate that. Come on. Come on. Fifty-nine scoreless?

I think the fact that there was a 58 scoreless and that the next most hitting street games is 44 to 56, that, you know. I know. It's pretty amazing. I know. But let's say it's more important. It's more impressive. Sanchez Beets is more important. 100%. Yeah. First player ever to get the 60 scoreless

innings. Okay. It could be. Good luck arguing that one. It's a great point. Yeah. Good luck arguing that. When the stakes rise and the lights get bright, that's when you find out who can really swim.

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All right. Let's do something unprecedented and go from the best pitcher on the team to the worst pitcher on the team. Because Aaron Nola was actually really good in game tour. I know. Your thoughts on Nola going into San Diego and shoving. Hershazer should be worried about what Nola figured out in San Diego. Is he going to do the next one? Yeah, he's going to be the next one.

You did give up two rounds in the game. It was basically a shutout. For Aaron Nola is his shoutout. You allowed three hits, two of them, one inning. One of them, he could have got out of it. I think people were being a little too hard on Trey. I thought it was tough play. Hey, look, hey, hey, hey, today is not the day to get on Trey Turner.

My man had two tank shots. I'm pretty stoked about it. Absolutely, thank. The one on the game two. That was a... 434. That was a, I mean, that's the biggest home run. I felt like he's hit here in Philadelphia.

Certainly a long. Yeah, the longest. I don't know if you had another long... I think it was the hardest hit one for Jake. T since 24? Well, JT smoked that one too. I don't know what was going on. It's the mining company or whatever.

They just like did the ball off it. The Harper hit a ball, 113 miles an hour. Yeah, that was a like out of a hurry. Laser beam. So I thought what Noah did that was fascinating is he made a concerted effort all night of, all right, against right-handed hitters, I'm basically just avoiding the inside part of the plate.

You know, I'm getting blasted in there at this point. And he also pretty much ditched his foreseamer, which was also interesting. He might be changing his pitch mix or usage kind of on the fly because the four seamers getting hit at a rate that it's never been hit before. 417 or something like that. And it was really fascinating. All he did all night was just tunnel and go back and forth and go over and over and spam the right-handed hitters with the knuckle curve sinker tunnel. And, you know, coming out of the same arm slot, same spot, over and over again and forcing the hitters to like either going to swing through it,

they're going to try to pull it and create bad contact. And when they did wait on it a little bit, they would like hit it foul. They weren't going the opposite way with it. And if he felt like, hey, they're kind of on that pitch now they're on, then he'd rush the fastball in and it would generate soft contact. Now, that only happens if you have great command of those pitches, which has not been the issue, which has not been something he's had this year. Correct.

So if he has command for that pitch now, now it was good. You saw some life on the pitches, which you had not seen from him. So there's some life on the sinker, some life on the knuckle curve. But for right-handed hitters, it might have been a new plan for him, which is just spot and dot the outside corner, whether it's down and away, go up a little bit, change in eye level, and just force them to beat you consistently with those pitches. And it's hard to do if you can consistently do it because what are you going to do with the pitch? Like sure, you can hit a little dinky single the other way.

I think it's a hard pitchers to drive. But if he has command of it, it could work. And then against lefties, now. They don't really have lefties? They have Gagin Sheets and Jackson Merrill. They don't really do lefties? Well, man. Certainly not good ones.

Other Merrill and Merrill's been awful this year. Oh, for the last 33 with runners in scoring position? I mean, we watched the Phillies offense and we're like, this sucks. That offense sucks. And they have a bunch of big names, too. They do, yeah. So, and against lefties, he only threw two changeups to left. which I thought was also interesting,

but again, it's not like they had a ton of lefties in the lineup. Yeah. But I did think he did a much better job of rushing the four seamer in. How is it that they have all the righties? We can't find a righty hitter to buy our left. I know. I know. Well, they didn't last year.

I know. I know. Like, I'd take Machado or Titis in this lineup. Sure. Yeah, sure. And I didn't take Luriano. I don't care what his numbers are. Yeah, same.

I think I need that guy. I wish I got him. Well, Bader is good, but I would have loved him last year. So he did a really, really good job of Russian fastballs in on four seamers. or four-scene fastballs in on left-handed hitters, and it kind of reminded me of what Painter does with them. Both of them are kind of pitching the same right now. They both have to hide the fastball

and use all their off-speed. So it was very encouraging from the standpoint of did he find something he can use going forward, but at the same time, they are a putrid offense right now, a bunch of righties and a huge ballpark. Yeah, well, I mean, two straight series of not scoring any runs. There's four runs in game two against Padres.

Like, wow, four runs. This is a miracle. The Padres offense is pretty sure. So that's why like... Oh, you're sorry, I got you. Like, Nola. Yes. So there's qualifiers to it.

Yes, true, true. But it was encouraging. All right, and Zeus, I thought again, I think as Zeus finally settled in for you? Oh, yeah. I mean, that's what. That's what. It's like five or six straight, right? Five out of six stars.

It's been great. The Rocky stinker was in there. But commands obviously been been awesome. And just it was old school. Now, old school, I mean, just last year. it was old-school Zeus of like huge stones I mean pitching in and out of trouble that really wasn't his fault

you know some bad defense early in those games and he just he got out of him it was funny seeing Cassiano's try so hard to beat that ball out the first thing his highest sprint speed of the year to try to beat it out that's hilarious yeah so no that was that was money big time stuff from Hazis Lazzardo and really it feels like the whole starting staff

is just pushing each other. It's been great. And, you know, Noel has probably seen what the guys doing. I can't suck as much as I suck. Come on, I got to be a part of this thing. And the,

I think we've talked about last podcast, but after Wheeler's last start, just him saying about Chris Sanchez. Yeah, we're competing. And at the end being like, he's tough to go. He's tough to compete with right now, you know,

but he almost sound exhausted by it. Yeah. And I think everyone else is just kind of leveling up in a way and trying to one up each other, which is what the great rotation in the history of baseball have done. So the starting pitching run,

I think it's what four of the last five road games have been shutouts. They won seven straight row games. They're playing good baseball on the road, too. A lot of power on the road all of a sudden. Can I ask you a question then? Can Brad Keller be influenced

by that starting lineup? Jack Keller is fine. Is he? Yes. You sure about that? 100% sure. He's going to allow a home run a week that you have to get used to.

And it's going to be annoying. It is annoying. It is annoying. It is like, dude, Just go out there and be good. You are good. You are good. He is good. Go be good. Well, he is infuriating.

We need you. Like, you are such an important member of this team. He's a nibbler. He's a nibbler. It's annoying. It's frustrating. Just go use all your stuff and throw strikes. And, you know, his, he isn't, he isn't the most inspiring face. No, he doesn't. Yeah, it's not a, it's not a, wow, look at that. There's no intimidation of Bradgeller. I'll fall that guy into war. It's not the most intimidating.

No, I agree with that, yeah. Which is hard to quantify. I don't know there's an analytic for it. Oh, no, it's just something you know. You know it when you see it. You look and it's like, I don't see killer. I agree. Not killer, Keller.

I'll tell you that much. No, certainly not. Certainly not. It wasn't encouraging John Boland start, or John Boland outing. Yeah. One, two, three, much needed. I still believe in Big John. It's like those two.

I believe it. Change everything. It change everything. You see this stuff. Like, the stuff is there. Stuff is there. It's going to click. Keller, more than, Keller, I'm less worried about than Bolin.

We'll see with Bolin. Well, Keller's better. Yeah. He'll figure it out. I hope so. But if you can work on having a more, he needs a better killer phase. Feeling better about Alvi? Yeah. A little. I mean, that was nice yesterday.

Him in the ninth inning in any sort of closed game is a disaster in my mind right now. Got it done yesterday. Yeah. He is not falling off a cliff. I thought he was done in any sort of high leverage spots. It's starting to feel like you can kind of... Still useful. There's something there.

Yeah. So now it's never usually now yesterday was good, but it's never usually the easiest inning. But for the most part, yeah, he's a useful lefty arm. All right, quickly to the bats before we get to the bag, the take bag. Any big takeaways? Look, it's been, you know, two straight series of low-scoring wins when they win, low-scoring losses.

Playoff type feel. It's been really, I mean, 4-0, 3-0, 3-1. Like, it's just a lot of those type of games. do you see and look we saw in the 16 and 4 165 when they first started they were hitting a little more there was some is this just kind of what it is yeah right you're gonna want a lot of 4-0 4-0 4-2 4-3 lose some claims you should and that kind of we all know we all know this isn't really sustainable right i mean when it comes this weekend will be a good test of it you know the dodgers much better offensively pitching like

part of what helped this week also, again, not the most inspiring offensive week, but they faced Griffin Canning. They didn't exactly do anything against Walker Bueller. Yeah, I know, dude. And Griffin Canning, I think had like a 703 coming in, Walker Bieler at a 505 ERA coming in. Yeah. That's the disheartening part. Yeah, they weren't facing...

Like, you don't get hits off the Padres bullpen? Fine. I get that. That's fine. You can't not hit Bueller and friggin. Bueller, all right, fine. Bueller's charged up to go against his former team. I'm like, Griffin Canning has been a freaking disaster this year.

I know. And game two was, oh, they got Randy Vasquez. Which is fine. Randy's been good. He's a good pitcher. So they got Randy Vasquez. And they got to him. He's the one they hit the best, which is funny.

Yeah. So. It does seem like the schemes thing, this has been a constant issue for this group. It feels like they get more ready when they, in the regular season, the playoffs for its own entity. A little bit different. But in the regular season, it feels like they come with an approach. They get more prepared to play a good pitcher.

but then, you know, when it's like, oh, let's just go. But besides Chase Burns, besides Chase Burns. Sure. Unhittable. What do you want him to do? So, yeah, like, it's, it makes for very nerve-wracking games. Yes. It makes for, it does not help the run differential.

No. I've given up on the run differential. We're not going to be super stars of the run differences here. We got out of the hole. We're not the worst of baseball anywhere. I'm happy about that. That was really disheartening. When it was, like, minus 60 and everyone was like minus 30,

or whatever the hell it was. We're like minus 30, everyone was like minus 30. difference like minus 18. Like I hated that. We've made it better. This is never going to be a run differential team. They just aren't. No.

Just getting the pluses though. That's where we need to be. Yeah, yeah, you'd be plus. Getting the green. Yeah, no negative. And it does put a lot of strain on the bullpen. I mean, Duran had pitched in four to five games. Yeah, well, that's why they had Alvi in there.

Yeah. Is everyone okay with, with Duran? We talked about this last time, and we, everyone knows where we stand. He's, he's really right. Yeah. He's, the hard con. Fifth best, fourth best close, somewhere in there.

He's like, he's a top five closure, probably. 100% of top five closer. You can make the case for top three. He has the third high... He can make the case for top three. The third highest save percentage in the history of baseball

at the minimum of 100 saves. I think people just, I think people expected... People expected Mason Miller, and he's not Mason Miller. I think that's what it was. No, I just, yeah. Everyone's like,

I don't know. I don't know about Duran. Meanwhile, he's blown three saves as a Philly. He's got 10 on the year. He hasn't blown a save. Yeah, he just had the tie game we blew. He had the tie game. So he had two tie games, right?

Well, the one that I most recently remember was obviously Manzard out. The Guardian's game, yeah. So. I think you had one earlier in the year, but I could be right. He might have. He might have. But take a chill, though. Take a chill, though.

Oh, DeRond. With you have, Preach. Preach. Old DeRan. Kirkry. I, you know, I got to wait for some big spots for the guy. Yeah, it's 100%. But he's been, he looks, to your point,

he looks like he's got a chip on his shoulder, which is what you want to see in that kid coming out of it. And he's really starting to, the Splare's developing. developing, it's turning into a pretty good pitch, but he's kind of starting to eat with that little sinker. 98 down the zone, getting on top of it, really driving it down. He's starting to eat a little bit. He's starting to eat.

Good. All right. He's hunger. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, let's get to the bag. Oh, actually, real quick, real quick, real quick, before we get to the bag. Shout out to today's sponsor of the show. A place I've been many times I've gone with Emily.

We've played Quizzo there. It is an awesome place right here in Philly. Shout to the New Deck Tavern. Today's show is sponsored by Miller Light and the New Deck Tavern on Sandsome Street. Love the New Deck. Check out New Deck Tavern for every Phillies game. Enjoy $4, Miller, Live Pines. And Famous Shepherd's Pie, Miller Lights for Fillswood and Celebrity Pines. We New Deck is an awesome spot.

We've done events there. I have gone there many times. Check out New Deck. It's a great spot. Millight of Phil's win. Again, next week, we're going to tell you about what's coming up in June. We're just going to get all of it buttoned up and locked down. But we have a bunch of stuff coming up in June.

We'll certainly tell you about this stuff coming up early in June. So next pod, tune in. We'll tell you where we're going to be, what's going on. We've got a lot of opportunities to hang out coming up in June. By the way, Hempbo tweeted is out. Shout to Hempah. Love Hempbo. He's so good.

Hershey's only struck out 34 guys in his scoreless. Really? Or scoreless. Wow, so San Antonio's already there. Yeah, 45. That's amazing. Yeah, that's awesome. All right.

So, believe, I have a possible plan to help the offense. Okay. A little vague with that We're gonna help it I have an idea And I believe I believe My spidey senses

Tingling a little bit That they might be thinking about it too There's two things actually Now Trey's had a good two games He's really on fire On fire He should have had a double too And Cassie somehow

Got to that ball on right field I was like who the hell's playing Is that Castie? Yeah Anyway I thought he was laying the groundwork I thought Maddenly was laying the groundwork for putting Marsh up there and going three straight lefties because he has said a couple times recently he doesn't care about putting Stott in March

and we'll deal with land the game and that has been a thing that man has said from the jump he's like it doesn't matter where they hit they just have to hit like he's been pretty wrong on them so I didn't know if maybe Trey kept struggling they'd keep bumming them down and maybe they put Marsh up there and just roll with it and like the at least against a righty start at it. Let's get weird and let's just try to ambush the starter and go from there so which could be an option but that's not really any if Trey's gonna hit like this, you're fine. So, but

Edmoon is playing left field a lot. Oh, I noticed. And he's actually starting a little, it's slowing down for a little bit for him out there. Looking a little bit more left fieldish. Good. Which I did not expect. Step in the right drive. Yes. And if he can really do it,

then you don't need Quad A camp. You don't need Felix Reyes, who is, by the way, has a 1400 OPS and AAA because of course. Two Quadet guys. Unbelievable. They're so good at developing Quadet that's. So you don't really need them so they can go play in AAA and you don't have to rely on them. And Edmuno can be your left fielder against left-hand starters. And they can bring up Gabriel Rincones Jr. who is now working his way back from injuries up the AAA now. He

hit, he had three hits yesterday. Two of them were over 110 miles an hour. He hit another ball over 110 miles an hour that was caught. And then he had 100 mile an hour single to to right field. So he's a real bat. I think he's a real big league bat. I do not believe he's a quad A bat. Okay. Really hope he's not. Hard to know. Really hope he's not. He is a platoon guy.

He can't hit left hand and pitching, really, but against right-handed pitching, he's legit. And Adolese's... I see where you're going on. Right field, platoon, left field, let's just platoon it up, maybe. Do it. Whatever. I don't hate it. Why not? So he has a... Look, Adol's Garcia, they have to do something. Adoles Garcia, we love the guy.

If he keeps hitting like this, you can't just put him in the right field every day. Well, and the tough part about Adelis right now is, I feel like he's going up there trying to walk. He gets so excited when he walks now, which is awesome. He's like, this big old battle, which, listen, we appreciate a good walk right around here. Yeah, yeah, for real, seriously. But I think he is actively seeking out walking. It's at the diminishment of his ability to hit. Yes. Now, he does have a 779 OPS against left-hand pitching. Not bad. It's acceptable. We take that. We would. So if you put him there

I don't remember You're usually finding like 9 days worth of a 1233 OPS or whatever I don't ever remember He's got a 7779 I know that is better But it's just so uninspiring

It's under 800 But it's better than 400 423 OPS or whatever It is much much much better So if he can play right field against left-handed pitching Rincolnes plays right field against right-handed pitching

He smokes right-hand pitching he smokes right down pitching and he is a good eye his last three months he had like a 384 OBP 423 OBP and then a 407 OBP I can't believe you're quoting month stats I love this so much because for some freaking reason You were just on fire right now

For some reason This is you just at the top of your game Baseball reference You know how you can go to a certain day And then like to highlight it Yeah yeah yeah So for Major League Baseball it's fine It's a great thing

But it still does it for like last 18 games Yeah you can do it For some reason, the minor league guys, you can't do it anymore. Oh, no. And it's infuriating. I thought it was maybe my internet browser. It's not my internet browser. I've tried it on four different internet browsers.

It's so annoying. That is annoying. And I'm not doing the math, shocking, of trying to put all the numbers together. You should you, yeah. So you're just going by what they say they did in the month. So I go by the months now. Which is good. I get that.

That actually makes a lot of sense to me. That somebody uses baseball reference. It's unbelievably annoying. That is incredibly annoying. Yes. And I believe when I could do it, he, against right-end pitch. He had like an OPS over a thousand against right-hand pitching it

at the end of last year. And we all remember what he did in spring training of last year was really started to put it on a show and... We all remember. Everyone remembers it. People still talk about it.

He's your old school... The dinner table to come up. Like, hey, remember that Rincones spring training? It's up there with Mickey's. Dude, Mickey's spring training in 22. I know. I know. I mean, if Ryan Yarbrough didn't break his hand, who knows?

He could have been our center for the future. But, yes. Rincones right field The right field platoon with the Doleys If Sosa can really handle left field So you can send Kemp down Bring up Rincones He plays right field

And they have like Adam Dunn 2.0 As like... Sure I would love Adam Dunn 2.0 I'm in on Adam Dun 2.0. You don't see many of the big lumbering Outfielders. No you don't That's the thing of the past Yeah so

And there was some they did It was spring training content Where they're just you know Doing the little videos and they're kind of funny And there's this thing where you can test wrist strength and he he was number one

of all the players in the system and like right behind him with Schwaburber I love that so much I love that so much insane wrist strength you couldn't have said

something that would make me happier than that no problem that was the best thing you said I love that so much I don't know what is like squeeze it I'm in squeeze it

and somehow like 200 measures it somehow you got the 200 and Swarber was like 190 or something I love this so it's the best thing you said I'm fully in on

Gave a ringcona's now thank you So he's not unbelievable, but I think that he is a, he's in the big league, he's like a 2.30, 240 hitter with real pop and walks a lot. Yeah, and they need pop. They need pop. Yeah. They need pop, they need pop, me.

I think it's pretty good, man. I think it's a good job by you. Thank you. And I still, I might not give up on the Wilson Contrera stream. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I don't think I can do it. You just, Schwerber and left field. Is that where we're doing?

So we could, listen, they could form a rotation of Schwerber and left every once in a while. They just mix and match them. Mix and match. You say Contreras at first sometimes, Harbourner. Contreras, D.H. Arborda right. Just move them around. Musical chairs.

Like Wilson Contreras. I mean, he would make the lineup so much better. Oh, my God. Because you look at the right field. Okay, let me ask you an important question here then. Because, you know, I think that you, and I think it's fair to saying, look, I think that, I think Bryce has gotten way too much crap than he deserves. But I think you are probably the number one Harper defender in the city, I would say. Would you agree with that?

Got to do it? Do you think you would play right field? Because I think that is something where there is a lot of questions. I don't think the Phillies want him in right field foremost, so I think that sometimes I think it gets put on him when it's not or whatever. But do you think if they said, hey, Wilson Contreras will come here, we can trade for him,

we can get him, changes the lineup, he's got to play first base, Bryce, we need you go to right. Do you think, would Bryce do it and would he be happy to do it? I would hope so. Because he, because Wilson Contreras

What a great response. Wilson Contreras. Well done. might legitimately be the difference between this team winning a World Series and not. Legitimately. It's a year and a half. It's a year and a half. It's $17 million a year. It's a great contract.

And he is, he smokes the baseball. He is a little bit of pop, but he's hitting for a high average. Like, he changes the whole dynamic. He's, he is the,

because you look at around. It's like, sure, you can talk yourself into Jorge Solair. You can talk yourself into Taylor. Yeah, but they're just not as good a hit her. You can talk yourself into whoever. There's a lot of right-handed options out there.

But man, You want to talk about someone who would legitimately change the lineup. I mean, it's well as Contreras. If you could put him four, hitting behind him and say, hey, it changes everything. Bryce, you want a protection? Here's your protection. You want a right-handed bat. There's your right-hand bat.

It's the best they can probably do at the trade deadline. I mean... Yeah, you never know who's going to be about a couple months. And even then, I think Gattaris is a better trade for Cainth and Trout when you're taking that contract and the injuries of Trout. Sure. Now, easier position-wise. But...

Yeah, Trump makes more sense to fit, but I think the contraris is a safer, bet for way less money. Way less money. We're talking years less money at a cheaper price. A year and a half, it's $17 million. As opposed to what's truck. Like eight years left, seven years left? Forty-something. 40-something a year? Yeah. I mean, Charles saw as like $2 million or something off

that was a contract. I mean, it's a massive difference. We're going to pay that down. Yeah. We're going to have to pay that down. So, I can't give up the contraryist dream. It's a great dream. Honestly, I love it. If Harper could go to right field, I would do it in a second. I think it's, to your point, there are very few single moves that, in my opinion, would do enough to, and again, I still think the Dodgers would be the favorite and all that.

But they're not that many things where with one move, they can, in my opinion, change the whole complexion of their chances to win the World Series. And that's the type of move that does that. I think, and again, like, I am, and we're jumping ahead a bit, and we'll get way more into this in, you know, a month, two months, really, but, like, we'll start more in a month leading up to it and all that. but as we sit here today, like I would feel very uncomfortable

trading someone like Gage Wood or something like the high-end Myers guys because we need them so badly and we know that there are already contracts that are out, you know, for years going forward and all that stuff. But it's going to be a fascinating thing. If it is something like,

would you trade Gage Wood for something like Wilson and Trus where it's like it is such a no-brainer, massive change to their opportunity to win? Like I'd have to really think about it, but I don't want to change Gage Wood. It's going to be a fascinating thing. as we get closer to that and the type of opportunities they're out there. Yeah, so I did an exercise the other day of who is my truly untouchables versus my, like,

I would have to. Yeah, exactly. Would it have to? Yeah, like tight eat last year. That was the type of guy. I don't want to trade him, but you know what? At the end of the day, if I have to, I'm okay with it. Yeah.

And I put Gage Wood in my don't want to, but if they had to. That's kind of where I mean, he's like as close to untouchable without being untouchable for me as a guy could be. I still have Aiden and Francisco Renteria is my unthouchable. Yeah, they have to be. They have to be. And then I would, I also would put Ramon Marquez in my, don't want to trade, but if I had to. Okay. And if you really, if you get a few beers in me, I would probably, we start talking about,

would you take Gage or Ramon Marquez? We start talking a little reckless. If you had to trade one of the two, would you trade? As of right now, Ramon. But I think that shows, you even had to think about it shows how high you are in Ramon. Because like Gage's, you know. Well, here's the thing about Ramon Marquez. Is he's two, like a full two, I don't know what the number is.

It could be closer to three years younger than him. That's a big difference. And it already is developed. And he doesn't have the injury issues that Gage has had. And I just think the change up is like a. But both are sick. I would still trade him first, but I also don't want to give Ramon Marquez away. Sure.

Yeah. So that's where I'm at. All right. What else you got in there? That's it. No minor league minute today? Well, I usually do that on Monday. Okay. Oh, I didn't realize. I just assumed we did it every pot. I like this.

Well, I have a midweek, minor league minute. Just a little quick one. Just a quick one. Just a quick one. People were sitting there being like, I'm getting it. Yeah, I was sitting there. I'm getting it. Just quick one. Okay. Well, Griffin Burr-Colder has had four hits in his last two games. Yeah, buddy. So I'm talking out. Dude, he's up to two.

Unfortunately, he had to pitch, he had to hit against a position player to close up the game yesterday. Because he was tracking it. All of a sudden, his average is up $292 with an 8-68 OPS. Hey, now. So, again, I think. For my money, he's the third best hitting prospect in the system behind Aiden and Francisco. Okay. I think he's ahead of Norrie.

It's legit. And Norrie's really struggling at Lehigh, all right, Redding. So very Burke-holdered up. And the last quick one, because I'm starting to get excited about him, is Jonathan Hoggart. Oh.

Oh, who's not talking about? Hoggy. Hogi's great. Yeah, dude, I knew him. He is like a Cardinals player. He, you know what he reminds me of a little bit? Now he's an outfield version, but he reminds me of Jed Jerko.

Oh my God, sure. Beberham? Yeah, Padres too, Joe Jerko. He reminds me of him and... Dude could match. Thai France. They remind me of him. Like, he's...

You're going a couple years. He had like over 30 homers, I think, a couple years. Jedjerko? Yeah. Really? I don't know, maybe. I felt like he did. I did one year over 30 homers.

I could see that. He was a good little player. He was a good player, JJ. Anyway, keep going on. So he's a little old. He's advanced for that age. Like, he's like 24, I think, playing in the Forest State League. So he's got to get bumped up soon and we'll see.

but like the the underlying metric suggests that he is like really making good his quality of contact is good. One year, 2016 he had 30 homers. Really? Yeah, I thought he got up there

and then he had 23 another year, 20 another year, but yeah, 2016 he had 30 homers. Yeah, but Hogart is like an outfielder. He's a little bit old for the grade for the class. He's got to move up to Jersey Shore soon. But like the quality of contact numbers

for him under the hood are all very, very, very very tracking at a good level. Love this. He's like a utility outfield type guy, probably a fourth outfielder type, but like a, looks like a winning ball. Love that.

We need winning ball players. We need those. Once Otto Kemp was viewed as a winning ball player. You have me as soon as he said he's a Cardinals player. I'm like, bring him. Kemp kind of reminds you of Carlis and Cardinals players too. Well, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. That's all I got. Dodgers this weekend. Oh, just win one. Just win one. Just take a game. We don't have Sanchez going.

Just take a game. Win the Wheeler game and we're good. Yeah. Wheel of Lazzardo. Yeah, we got a big tester painter on something. Yeah, that's going to be really exciting to watch.

I think Tiosker's out. He's got a hamstring? He's been in and out. Yeah, is he out out? I know. He's not on the IL. I know that because he's on my fantasy team. So I don't have the little IL thing

next to him yet. Now he's been labeled is out. So maybe the move is coming. Well, that'd be good for the Phillies at least. Not for our fantasy teams. Nah, he's like, it's kind of my bench a little bit. Yeah.

He's been struggling to Oscar. Yeah. He did it up the last week, but yeah. There you go. I'm sure if he plays, he'll kill us. Yeah, 100%. All right. We'll be back after the weekend.

Big series. It should be fun. Philly's Dodgers. And again, coming up after the weekend, we'll tell you about all the stuff we got coming up in June. Because it's going to be June after the weekend, Jack. As crazy as that seems. It is crazy. June 1st.

So we'll be back then to react to the Dodgers series, tell you what's coming up. All kinds of stuff. Until that, he's Fritz himself.