High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Everyone Has A Lot Of Growing Up To Do

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to the Phillies taking two games from the Marlins over the weekend and remain optimistic for the Phillies after five wins in their first week under Don Mattingly. Jack also gives us his thoughts on Aaron Nola's continued struggles and has a positive update on the Phils' farm system. Presented by Miller Lite. To purchase Ring The Bell by Jack Fritz and Kevin Reavy go to RingTheBellBook.com 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

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. This is the High Hope's podcast. Hi hope. On the Odyssey app and Sports Radio 94 WIP. I feel a little less along. Yo. It is another edition of the Iops podcast, sponsored by Miller-Light official partner of the Philadelphia.

Philly's Tastes like Miller Time, Philadelphia, celebrate responsibly, a three out of four, Fritzy. Or, excuse me, two out of three. I thought the series was over. I forgot they're playing today. We're not used to doing it. Two out of three, they can win a series today. It's exciting.

How about it? We take it. We walk in the series saying, hey, as long as we split, Yeah, we've already split, which is good, yes. And I tell you what, I'm glad we're doing the podcast the day after winning 7-2 and not getting one hit. I know. A Garrett Stubbs being the one hit. That game was done from the start.

Like as soon as Crawford got scratched and they're playing stubs and left and doles and center, it was like, all right, this might not be our day today. I mean, so obviously, if they weren't where they are, you know, standings-wise, I would have been a lot more joyous. It would have been a fun day. Yeah, I would have been like, oh, this is silly. I like this. Yeah. Well, and how about the first play of the game going to Stubbs?

Oh, that was amazing. It's, of course. I feel like the baseball gods always come through in that way, always. The best. The best.

So it was comical. It did remind me of 2018 when they started Carlos Santana at third base. Oh, buddy. Remember that. Good times. A struble at shortstop. Reese and left bore at first base. I mean,

that has to be the worst defensive team ever. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, again, we've talked about it. Reese Hoskins and left field is the single. worst defender at a position I've seen in my lifetime.

Like a consistent, like played the position, you know, not for an inning or whatever. Like, what a disastrous defense that team was. Obviously, couldn't hit either that well, but they hit better than they feel. It certainly should have been able to hit better.

Certainly should have been able to hit better. Man, I did miss the picking up of Justin Bore, Wilson Ramon. Emotional warrior, Justin Bore. Let's never forget. Yeah,

dude. Wilson Ramos is now the, uh, the Florida Coast League manager for the Phillies, by the way. Is he really? I always like to Wilson. Yeah,

I was only good for a minute, but. So right now in the system, we have Wilson Ramos and then we have, dude, Desmond Jennings is the outfit. No, what is Desmond Jennings?

Oh, man, I, I had him as like, you were in my, my long time keep, it's not a rhyme where, but the long time keeper league with the minor league spots. I had Desmond Jennings for a dollar in my minor league spot.

When he can't, I was like, this guy's going to be on my team for years. He's going to win me titles. It didn't work out. It didn't work out. But, I mean, he was 1-1, right?

I think he was 1-1 in the draft. He was 1-1. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, he's their outfield coach, which is sick. Their manager is Aaron Barrett, who was. I do love, I love when that stuff happens when it's like the random guys you watch start becoming, you know, coaches and managers. It's so fun.

I'm finally old enough to say I remember that guy playing. Totally. Yeah. It's good for you. It's exciting. One of the biggest changes. And then Aaron Barrett's their manager. He was in the 2019, Nats.

He had a really good, inspiring story. And then, dude, you know Ruben Tejada is one of their coaches? What? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Bringing a former Met in the town, huh? Yeah.

Well, he certainly doesn't seem to love a former Philly. No, no. Yeah, it's true. It's true. Maybe not quite as good a player as Miguel Tejada, but. No, I would say no. I would say, Miguel Tejada, one of the forgotten great players. He was pretty awesome.

He was so under, he liked the league in RBI as a short side. He had 150 RBI when you're Miguel Thadda. He was awesome. Another member, they didn't mention the movie Money Ball. Oh, we have an ALMVP candidate. They didn't mention the best players. Like, it was like, oh, yeah. Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, and Mark Mulder had nothing to do with that whole thing.

It's so funny. Like, it's so selective. Scott Hattabberg, though. That's the reason, you know. And they cut Jeremy Giambi. Spike gets so offended because I'm like, I don't like Moneyball. I like the movie. It's a great movie.

It is great. It is great. I get your point. Yeah. It bothered me that it mentioned having an unbelievable start. You're not telling the truth. telling the true story of how it all worked out. They're making it more, you know, dramatic with the, oh, look at what he did.

It's like, yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. It was kind of crushing watching Max Meyer do that to the Phillies because, you know, I do. I do love Max Meyer. You do. And I've stayed away from this year because of the injury stuff last year. So, in fantasy, that is. But, you know, him and Gavin are both kind of having a moment.

And it just, it's a big win for the. The Fritz List has had a very, very strong year. I think the Fritz List is, It's back. It's back. Thank God. Thank God. Because last year was tough with guys from last year starting.

Like, Gabi. Let's go. Dude, I think he's, I think he's top five in the AL inside. He's been great. He's been great. Yeah.

I didn't have, I don't have any shares of them in any. So I have him on my, because I got him last year in the 14th round. And I was like, it's like a fine keeper. I didn't have great keepers. And it's been an awesome keeper for me.

Yeah. So it was tough saying Max Meyer do that. But regardless, regardless. I'm glad that we were recording today after Jesus. Dude, which is awesome. And I want to get to that in a second, but first, we mentioned Miller-Lay at the top of the pod. Shout to Miller-Light.

We love Miller-Light. And we're all going to drink some Miller-Lights together next week. So a week from Thursday. So it is May 14th, we are back. A watch party in the city. Red Sox, fun game in Boston. We are at Garage Rittenhouse. So there's the garage in Bistown.

There's a new one in Rittenhouse Square Garage. We are going to be hanging out watching the game, May 14th. It's going to be awesome. Coming out with us, like, first one of the year, we need to see our people. It's been way too long since we had a high hopes night. I feel like I haven't seen all our guys in so long. Let's go. And city, Celter, which is easy for him, you know?

You know how happy I am. I can walk to this. You kidding me. This is my dream. I'm not able to walk from the station. Yeah, buddy. Right there. It's not too bad.

It's not too bad. So, yeah, it'll be fun. And hey, maybe Nola will start. And we can all reminisce by the 2018 start in, in Boston that many people, still bring up as the moment that was one of the the lore of the down years was no one of Boston. True, true high hopes

like lovers and long time listeners, no Nolan Boston. Nolan Boston was generation. Special. And no one of the all-star game when he struck out Mookie. Yeah, of course. Who could forget? I don't know. It's actually a foundational memory.

So Hes-was was awesome. Yeah, he really was. And look, two good starts in a row from Hesu's And it looks better, too. You know, it's eye test-wise, too. He looks better. Yeah. And if you want to be a true, just lie, you could say it's actually been three starts

even though he's horrible and that start in Chicago. But he technically allowed, what, one run in that game? Oh, because the earn runs. Yeah, you're right. You know, eye test-wise was not there. No, he didn't have it in that one. No, not at all. So, no, he, the thing that I loved about Hazie's yesterday is he just got the ball and pitched.

that he didn't look like he was overthinking. He had a really, really good pace to him. You know, the command obviously is taking, this looks like last year when his command was money. But it was evident again yesterday. A change-ups an equalizer for him. It makes everything else so much better. It allows, if you're a right-hand hitter and you see the change-up,

you start maybe being out a little bit more over the plate, and you're like, all right, I got to get to the change-up, and then he rushes 99. That's how he has to pitch because, you know, it's not like his, his fastballs don't grade out very well, just raw numbers wise. And he's pretty much as ditched the four sameer. He threw four yesterday, which is, sorry, sorry, sorry, sinker. He's through four sinkers yesterday. Wow.

So that's way, way down. He threw 30% changeups yesterday. Wow. And I felt like he threw a lot of changeups in that giant start, but he only threw 19%. So he really is turning into like a, a. three pitch guy. And he's trusting it more, which is huge. Yeah, and the sweeper's great. But that's a, that's a hunt with two strikes pitch. You don't want that to be something that he feels like he has to get over because then it flattens out a little bit. And he can't throw it with the same

intent in which he can throw the sweeper when he has two strikes on guys. I felt like he also, when he's going right, it is, when he's going right, it's a lot of early outs. And he's, and he's still chasing soft contact. And he's not chasing strikeouts. When he's going wrong, it is like trying to be too fine totally trying to be too cute wanting to get strikeouts nibbling and all that yep his stuff so good that he struck out 10 yesterday and I don't think he was hunting strike I'm totally with you dude I feel exactly the same way

now when he gets two strikes he can just throw that slap there was a I mean it was the sixth or fifth inning where I was just like it was the it was the definition of good morning good afternoon good night got the ball back struck out guys super easy I think you know Rube Rube was like, whew, you know, he can do that to you. Like,

man, he, when he's going right, he is special. I mean, he's already had in, in, in a year and a month as a Philly.

He's already had six games with 10 strikeouts and no walks. I mean, he's already had two double digit tryouts games this year and he hasn't even that great, you know? I know. I know. And it really bums you out because you hope those outings don't cost them at,

like, It'll cost them the Sanyang. It'll cost them probably top five in Salyon, because the RAS 5.05. But it's just like last year where we can pretty easily take out the bad because good has been so good. But the fact that he's able to get back on this kind of role, get back on this kind of rhythm, and we're not dealing with what we were dealing with is so massive for the rest of this. Well, they don't have a chance without him. You know what I mean?

The way this team is constructed, and obviously we've seen it. First of all, they're what, six games under right now. The Braves are 25 and 10. I know Acuna got heard which helps, but like they're six out of the wild card, a bunch of teams in front of them. Like, they have a long way to go.

Like they have to play better baseball. And they're just not good enough without Lazzardo. You know, they're just not. He's too important to how this is constructed. Like they need Lizarro, Sanchez and really Wheeler, who will get to in a sack.

They need those three guys to be those three guys for this team to have any real chance of doing it. Yeah. Yeah. It's basically as simple as that. And my, my biggest fear is, I think that they're going to play good baseball from now on.

I don't think they're going to go into the toilet. I don't know how great they are, at least with what the offense does. But what would really suck is if the just dreadful April cost them in the end. Yep. Like they could probably play. Which it might. It might.

Yeah. They could play to 90 win pace from this point on and still not make the play. It's not good enough. No, no. They have to play like mid-90s to close to 100 one pace to really like guarantee. teeth they're going to get in. Yeah, which sucks because it was April. And everyone's like, it's early, it's early. Sure, but you also can't dig yourself that that far of a hole. So, I mean, they're going to have to really like, today's important. And it's why you just can't,

you can't give away games because they have, they just, they don't have the, the wiggle room to give away games. Especially because, and it's been a hallmark of this group, the last five years, you know, whatever, four or five years, that they're not a team that goes on long runs of winning a bunch of games in a row. Like they had that once, where it was like 11 or 12 at once, but they don't, like they win series. When the Phillies are good, it's because they consist. Like last year we talked about the only three series, they lost home.

Like that's this group when they're good is they take serious, especially with Nola, like, you know, every fifth day and Painter being insistent and we'll get to it. But like, they need to keep winning series. They need to, to your point, like win the series against the Marums. win a series against the A's, win a series against the Rockies, and just slowly build their way back because I just don't think they're a 10, 11, 12 in a row type team. You know, they could do it,

but I don't think that's the way they're going to do it if they get back. No, I mean, and that would require the starting staff to, I mean, the top three you feel pretty good about. Nola, it is a huge Nola start tonight. Not to overstate it on May 4th. May the 4th be with you. Yeah, buddy. Still haven't seen the old ones.

I think that. It's so sad. It's like you're such a like a enigma. Like Lord of the Rings would never expect you to be as big a Lord of the Rings guys. Or you love those movies. Star Wars. What the hell, dude? Like everyone likes Star Wars.

No, I know. I'm not anti Star Wars. You just never really giving him a shot. No, I watched the, I was a Phantom Menace guy. Yeah.

And then. Puff entry, entree into Star Wars. Yeah. I keep meaning to. It's like I keep meaning to go watch the Godfather. It's so much fun. They're great.

It's got a godfather too. You're talking about my favorite movies about. When the boys are older. Well, here's the thing. At least with you, I actually believe that someday you will watch them. Like, if we were having this conversation with Ellie, I'd be like, don't even say you're going to watch him because you never will.

Don't lie to me. At least I believe that you will watch stuff and care to like see these things. So I appreciate that. Well, and he do his whole, it's actually stupid because he doesn't like it. Like, it's actually, no one actually cares about Star Wars. Or it's the greatest movie that ever was made because it's the last one he just saw, you know, that he liked. He was a piece of work.

He is, dude. He's a piece of work. So, no, but it's a huge, it's just a huge star. for Noel tonight because they can't, I don't, I don't know. What he's been, they can't do it all year. And he has signed for four more years after this, lots of money.

Like, it is, Noel is a real, like, situation right now. It is. But it's a situation now and situation going forward. I mean, they released Taiwan, but we still had to sit through, you know, we sat through 70 Taiwan starts. Wow, wasn't that many.

Jesus. What are we doing with our lives? Oh, God. So this isn't going away, Nola. It's not something you need his pay to go away. So he's got us our pitching better. And I just, maybe as the weather warms up, maybe in a warm park. And I don't know, man.

Classic Noah line. My good. We got four more years of this. Like, can you just lock the hell in and do your job? My goodness. Like, we're paying you $20. $27 million a year. You know how much we could go

get out like other players on this roster? I know, so I think the Marlins are pretty frisky. I really like a couple members of the Marlins. I do. They're not like as dreadful as in years past. I cannot believe Chris Paddock is still starting a major league.

I couldn't believe it. When I saw that before the game, I looked up, who I knew was Lazaro, I was like, so Chris Paddock? Really? And he's still Marlin?

How did this happen? Well, he's still in Marlin. You're back to be, excuse me, back to being a Marlon, I should say, not still a Marlon. I'm saying, back to the Marlins. After all that. Yeah, that's what I meant to say. Excuse me.

Dude, he hasn't been good since, like, two months, eight years ago. And he's still getting big leave jobs. There is value in. Yeah, and being like a top prospect and pitching well when you're young, like people give you shots. Well, and you just will take the ball or fifth day. Well, that's too. Yeah, that too.

But my goodness, he's still pitching. He's just, he's never been good. Anyway. He was good at first. He was right. Yeah, yeah. I think at one point I said these. Dude, he was awesome.

I was so in on young Chris Batic. It ended very quickly. Yeah. Well, he also used to be 97, 98 with that change up. It doesn't hit the same at 93. Yeah, yeah, you can say that. So, but man, it's just you got to round into form here. Like the velocity's still up.

It's not like you're, but he's going through one of those phases where, and it's hard to like it looks at the ball is just dying at the plane like it's just it's just dragging to the finish line and it's just saying please hit me as far as you can you know I mean he got blasted and players are like no problem no problem I'd love to thank you and poor knolls every time he misses a spot by like a millimeter I know well that's the thing and you've said this for years but the more his stuff you know decreases and he gets older and he's like he has less and less and less he's always had little margin for error comparatively. So man, like when you take little margin for error and decrease it, it just makes it so much

harder. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, but kind of feels like a two or two kind of feels like they take to and then tonight tonight doesn't go well. Tonight's a tough one for for all of us. I mean, we got three. We got, we got flyer.

No. I know. Oh, like the same time essentially too. It's six 10 Phillies, seven o'clock flyers, eight o'clock sixers. And by the way, like, It is fun to be excited about the Sixers again. Like I honestly did not think I would get anywhere close to the excitement for this team that I have right now. This is cool.

Like as Philly, like we've had this pod for a while and like the Phillies have gotten good during it and stuff. But we've never done this pod while all three teams are playing and doing stuff. It's a cool feeling. Oh, yeah. Well, the Flyers will not be on my house tonight. Well, the Flyers are our third tonight, even though it's a playoff game. Yes. It's like, yeah, you know, luckily you got to get two TV.

than the computer. So I could do all three. Yeah, well, and I tell you what, I could tell you what in five minutes it's going to be a different series for the, for the,

oh yeah, it was immediate. Now, bad spot for them, like you win an overtime game, and then you find out the next day. All right, fly to Carolina now against a team

that's better than you and had a week off. Not a great spot, but yeah, I don't, I don't have as much hope for the Flyers this series as I did last year. No,

no, no tip it. No tip it. And hurt. Look at us talking pocket. Yeah, yeah. That's extra game on Saturday

it was amazing. It was the best Sixers games since Iverson. They were the most fun I had watching a Sixers games in Tverson. Game 5 and 23 was special when Joel was great up there. It was. It was. But, you know, that wasn't a game seven. No.

And him, him, Bleet Talk and Jalen Brown. It was so great, dude. It was so great. There's nothing like getting the old sports juices flown. Totally.

And in Bede being like, I'll give you money to not sell the tickets. Like, it was everything, everything that was said was awesome. And look, it's fun to face the Celtics and the Knicks. I hate both of them.

Like it's MSG will be fun to go up there and do this with all those nerd celebrities and stuff. It's going to be great. As a native New Yorker yourself. I know. Yes. That's correct. Yes.

It's good going back to the big city. Yeah. That's right. That's right. That's right. I've still never been to the garden. I know. What?

I know. I've seen it. I mean, I've seen many games there. 17 million times. Yes. I've seen fish there like 30 times. Like much less.

I saw Michael Jordan play at the frigging garden. You know, like you got to go to MSG. It's amazing. I know. I'm not a New York guy. No, I know. I know. I know. You're not a, you're not really a city guy. Like, I love everything going on around me and chaos and excitement. Like, that's my, where I brought. Quiet, quiet. Quiet. That is me. We're very different in that way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jansen Junk's a little tough, too. So we'll see how they do against Shansson. Yeah. It'll be fun. All right. Let's get to Wheeler because. Yes. I thought it looked good again, man. I think I expect a wheel. come back and, you know, struggle a little bit and stuff, he's been better than I expected, considering what we saw in the miners. Way better. I mean, way better. I wish I ever watched his rehab starts, really.

Because it really, it really made me nervous. I'm big. I remember we were talking here. You were doing stuff like, yeah, the festival might just be cooked, might never work again, you know, like stuff like that. Where it's like, oh, God. And I don't know what happened. But all of a sudden, he says on a big lead mound. And he's like, hey, here's 95. Now, he was more 93, 94 in this one. I think. I didn't see the 96 like we saw against the Braves. But it didn't matter. Like he was able to locate it.

He just, dude, he just looks like Zach Wheeler. There's no other way to put it besides he looks exactly the same. Even if the velocity is down a little bit, it's not hurting him. And I do think that, I do think him coming back has, there's a lot of things that I think of help. You're giving him some juice. I agree. But I think starting staff wise, it lets Lazzardo go back to his role. It lets Sanchez go back to his role.

Even though Sanchez, like, to say that he was not good as the ace last year, it's not being truthful. He was great. It was a second and say young. Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah, I just mean like after Wheeler got hurt. Yeah, even after Wheeler got hurt, it was great. He stepped up as the ace.

Like, I think he's fine being the ace of that. But I do think Wheeler coming back just kind of eases everyone's like tension in a way. So then there's been a couple things. Either that, I do think stuff being back does help. I do too, man. It definitely doesn't hurt. It definitely doesn't hurt. This team, especially with going to dead nine and 19.

and all that. Like, they were tight. They were not having fun. They were not, like, and I don't think there's something a ton of fun yet, but I do think they needed to loosen it up a little bit,

and I think Stubbs helps with that. Well, you know, and also, Marshand stinks. So, well, behind the plate, he's great,

but. Yes, yes, I'm like, he can't be hit in 503 or whatever the hell, oh, whatever,

and like, it just, you can't do it. Well, someone's got to talk to him because I don't know why he's swinging with a, with a donut on his bat.

You know what I mean? speed will speed up a little bit. He should stop hitting left-handed. Honestly, like, he's so much better right-handed. Just hit right-handed, man. You are not a good enough left-hand. There would be a switch hitter. Every single bat with Marshawn from the left side

ends in a pop up to the right piece. He is, I mean, the numbers bear it out. Career, even not just the year, the career-wise, like, he's all right-hand-it. He's a disaster left. Do you remember when Roman Quinn stopped hitting switch hit? Of course. Yeah.

Yeah, of course. That was going to save his career. Yeah, so I think, I think stops being back, does help. It is interesting. They're keeping three catchers. It's interesting. It's a word. And look, I have no problem with them moving on from Dillmore. I mean, get a hit. But it is, it's just weird roster construction to get Dillimore out and bring a third catcher. And like it doesn't make a lot sense. Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious to see how that one kind of kind of works out, I guess. I don't know. But yeah, so so stuff being back. And then obviously, you know, I think the Maddingley and Thompson

shift. I mean, to the point we just made, they had to play Stubbs in the outfield because one guy got scratched. You know, I know. There you go. I know. And they put Adoles in center.

Yeah. And Felix Reyes, who I was to say it for later. But like, we can, we can't play left field, much less right field. Like,

yeah, exactly. He's, he's just, thank God he's back ninth when he's in there, at least finally. Yeah.

Good experiment. Fun for a second. But we can, we can, we can, we can, we're good. Yeah,

we're good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he smoked one ball yesterday off paddock.

. kind of just been like, that was it. That was the moment. Well, yeah. So he has three hits since then. Oh, is that number? Well, that's tough. One extra base hit.

And that was the double yesterday. And he's supposed to be here for the bat. So like, he's just not right. Like, if you're going to, especially because March is going to start playing against lefties, allegedly. Like, I'm going to keep, I'm going to bring it up every podcast. I don't care. They should bring up Stuart Baroa.

And he can, he is someone that can play center, left, right. He is super fast. So if you need someone to steal a bag late, Felix Reyes is not saving your offense. Like I think they thought he was going to come up and add some. Yeah, he was betting cleanup, like right away, man. Yeah. It's not 2022, Derek Hall.

No. So you... Which is saying something. It's not even 22 Derek Hall. Yeah. So you're going to start playing Marsh against lefties anyway. Felix Reyes should just go back to AAA. Go play first base and hopefully, you know,

keep developing and we'll see. It's just these young guys have to come up and have to get used to playing on the bench. I mean, Bro is someone who has had big league experience in the past. He's not some young kid. You can play all the positions in the outfit. He's super fast.

He can hit a little bit. And he's a great defensive player. So if you have to make a switch like this, then you're not putting a guy who can't play the outfield, especially that in Marlins Park, which is cavernous. And I think they cost Painter a little bit on Saturday. Yeah.

But I just don't get it. I don't know why he's still up here. He's chasing all the time. He swings first pitch all the time. He's not hitting the ball hard. He's not doing anything very well. And he can't play the outfield. So it was cute.

It was fun. Never forget the home run off sale. But can we just get Sir a Barrow up here? And let's eat. Love it. Love it. Hey, Ontario. Come on down to BetMGM Casino.

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bring you inside the octagon like no one else can. Deep Waters, new episodes every Monday. Watch on YouTube or listen on Apple, Spotify, and everywhere else you get podcasts. All right, let's get to Painter, because I agree with you. Obviously, you didn't get help

by the defense, but, you know, wasn't great. And has mostly been more inconsistent than consistent. Yeah, like, the painter thing is starting to drive me nuts because, of course, of course, and not our people. No, but there are people. Or other people, maybe. Oh, he's supposed to be good.

Untouchable. Yeah. Oh, I should have traded him. Like, can you guys just grow up for, and I, here's what I don't understand sometimes about baseball fans is you want to see young kids. You want to see them develop. you watch the sport enough to feel confident being so aggressive in your tweets and your call. And it's like, here's something I don't get. How do you watch it for as long as apparently people have watched it and still have no idea what you're watching?

That is the sports fan that I don't understand. That you're so confident that you're going to fire off all these tweets and calls. and you have no idea what you're watching. Why are you so confident? Take down the cockiness a little bit and let's have a conversation. Okay. Cripes. Anyway, I just don't get the freaking out about Andrew Painter.

Like, he obviously, dude, he is 23, just turned 23. The fastball, we've talked about the fastball. I know the fastball's not great. Hopefully it comes back. I want you to tell me how many 23-year-olds have a legitimate feel for four to five pitches. Yeah, skeens. And that's it. Like, not many.

There's just not many. So, yes, he's inconsistent. Yes, he speeds up on the road. Yes, when the bases are loaded or he's in a pressure situation, he doesn't come through all the time. Because he's a young kid playing in the big leagues in the first month of his career, after spending last year getting blasted at triple-off. After coming off Tommy John's surgery last year as well, yeah. I'm going to blow a gasket.

This happens all the time. This is what happens most of the time with high school starters that come up. He's not a college kid. Like college kids, I don't know why, but for some reason they just, they've had more success. Just coming to the big league. It makes sense. They're pitching in a higher level of baseball, you know, it makes sense. And they're older and developed and all that stuff.

If you can't see. If you can't see that he has something, it's clear he needs refinement. It's clear he needs more time on a big league mound. But if you can't see that he has something that is worth working with and there's already a lot of good, you just have no idea what you're watching. So I just cannot, I cannot wrap my head around all these, the fatalistic takes about Andrew Painter. There's a lot of good, there's inconsistent.

He has like three innings in a start where everything looks right and then he has a bad inning. This is what it is like growing with a pitcher. I tweeted yesterday. Cole Hamels, which I think is a good comp because they're both obviously Phillies. Hi, you know, top prospect type guys. Everyone's like untouchable, untouchable, untouchable. And, you know, during the runs in even... He came up in similar ages.

Was it Cole like 23 when he came up? Well, Cole was 22. 22 somewhere in there, yeah. Yeah, exactly. But also, you know, during that time, I'm sure people were like, you trade him because you haven't made the playoffs in forever and this, this court's ready to win now and what are we doing? What are we doing?

What are we doing? And he came up, his first start. He struck out seven and five shutout innings. I think he walked like more. Sounds familiar, huh? Yeah, yeah. His next 10 starts, he pitched to like a 6-7 ERN. Yep.

I just just calm down and watch him grow. There's clear, clear stuff here. Fastball, dying for it to be where it was pre-TJ. But everything else is pretty good. I think as he gets, I think as he gets told, the splitters are going to get better. I think the slider is going to get better. You'll figure out what she wants more,

the sweeper or the, or the curveball. I think the sweepers are a really, really interesting pitch. and then he'll have his two fastballs that he'll figure out what gets out to the big league level. But I know his ERA is five, you know, 5.2 or whatever. But there's been good in there. It's not like he's going out there and getting, you know, ripped. There's some innings where he is, sure, but there's enough in there to where he's got it. So take a deep breath, let him develop.

It might even be two years from now when he starts, like, reaching the peak of his powers. And guess what? He'll be 25. Yeah. It'd be 20 freaking five years old. Oh my goodness. That's still what, like 11 years younger than Zach Wheeler is right now? I get it's young, man.

Give this good a chance. I'm sorry. All right. Two more things I want to get to and then you can hit the whatever else in the tape bag. One. In the minor league minute. Of course. It's, come on.

Look, we bring them up every pod and actually some positive things to say, particularly about Bryson. Staten, boom. you know, stop particularly a huge weekend for start. Getting going a little bit, any reason for optimism here, Fritzy?

Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of where I'm that. Like, I'm glad he hit two on runs. Big, you know, need that. He's still hitting 2.30 in his last 10 games.

So even with the little spike in some, some home runs. So, I mean, yeah, he's got to hit home runs every once in a while. It is shocking. he's hitting 206.

It's like, not my Bryce and stop. Yeah, I know. So, yeah, they can't be, you know,

black holes in the lineup, those two. I think Bome, Bome started to show a little bit more signs. Yeah, I think he's starting to look more at least, like, we're not going to ever get what we hoped out of him,

but if you can get back to what he was last year, like at least that's, that's acceptable. Yeah. So here, I mean, a couple things. I do think Stots done a better job of looking stotterish,

where it is, you know, Fallen balls off. Fat and balls off. Better at bats and stuff, Yeah. There's a little bit higher quality of bat from Stodder. Still more K than I like from him.

But, you know, I guess if you're looking for baby steps, I think there's some baby steps. Studi is, by the way, study, by the way, is getting very close. Speaking of me. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, buddy. Yeah. Very funny.

He's just, he's like, he's like four steps yesterday. That's awesome. It's so funny how excited they get to. Oh, it's the coolest. They're like, I did it. I finally did it. I think it's so happy and excited and it's adorable. So, yeah, so Stodder, I guess baby steps, but he is hitting the ball harder this year than ever in his career.

So maybe, maybe it's coming. But we'll see. And then, boom, you know, some of the hits are starting to fall a little bit, but he still looks exactly the same. Yeah, it's just, it's so, yeah. All right, one more thing, and then we'll get to the bag. your thoughts and I thought Mattingly and your thoughts on Magley so far I thought his answer I don't know if he was yesterday

a day before or whatever but when he was asked the pitching question and he's just like yeah man I don't I don't really know about pitching it's hard to hit like I was like I thought that was really cool to see a manager kind of say that like you don't usually see managers that kind of just honest and flip it about something like that

but so far look they've obviously responded and they played better under him but how he's manage the games and in general what have you thought you know through a week of mattingly so far what are your impressions well one of the things is that he does seem very at ease which i think is good like he's a piece a pretty laid-back guy but i he is the way that he's talking it feels like a manager that's almost at peace in a way it's kind of not to compare that to like a bead kind of feels like he's at he totally uh dude i feel that like imbid like it like it seems like he had a revelation with the last year's

injury the appendix where he's like i don't have that much time who knows how many games like it seems like he's embracing it in a positive way instead of feeling of the weight of the world's on his shoulders. Yeah. But Maddenly has been, it's been refreshing just hearing some of the answers in a way. It was also noticeable yesterday. Felix Reyes forgot the outs. And Maddenley immediately in the dugout corrected it, which I don't know if I can ever remember Rob Thompson. I remember Topper even like acknowledging when something like that would happen. Now again, he would do it behind the scenes. Yes. Tough conversations. He would do that. Yeah. All the time. Yeah. All the time. So, you know, I thought that that was a good thing to see.

You know, managing the games has felt, uh, has felt mostly fine. Similar. Not too much of a difference in terms of managing, you know. He's getting, he's, he's getting more lucky with the, uh, with the, uh, guy who finishes an inning going back out there for the next. Yes, he is. Yeah. It's working out fine.

I'm curious. Uh, I think, I think once, once Duran's back, whether we'll get a better feel for, or how he manages the pen and stuff. Yeah. For like how he, how he manages. manages the pen. But yeah, they didn't do really, at least so far in three games. They haven't done the little bunt or hit and run or things like that.

So it's hard to say specifically, yeah. But look, they've responded. That's really all you can't. Yeah, I can't tell the responding to him or they're responding to Tom's getting fired. Yeah, I think it's probably more that they got their guy fired. And that's the response and, you know, kicking the ass, so to speak. But, yeah. All right.

All right. Now, dude, the, you want to talk about, a lot of baseball being baseball stubbs getting the first fly ball out there when he played left field which was hilarious his first ever start I it was so funny how last podcast we brought up oh we texted about this so funny

dude so funny I don't know I don't know I thought we did didn't we I don't know I thought you texted me when this happened anyway go ahead well we talked last podcast how Schwerber raises war by 3% after the double header. And then he immediately strikes on the 8th. You know, we text about something else. Yeah, you're right. It's unbelievable.

I did like them giving him the standing out. That was funny. That was a moment. That was a moment. But we've talked so much about this team just not having like never seems like they're having fun out there. Like that was like, oh, these guys are having fun with something. It's cool.

Yeah. That feels like a stubby thing. It feels like stubby. Yeah, it probably was actually. Yeah. That's why he's here. That's why he's here. No.

So, no, it was just still baseball. He raises his war by like 3% in one day and then had to drop it. by I'm sure. I mean, it was an age straight. He was one away from tying Dylan Cousins. It's unbelievable. Dylan Cousin, though. What did we text about?

I forget. I thought it was about, you said something on the pod and then something happened like fright and you were like, of course. You could look it up. Yeah, I'm looking it up. I'm looking it up. Oh, I want to talk about Brad Keller because he's really starting to irk me because he should be way better than he.

he is. He, I don't know, I don't know what he's doing. Like, on Friday, that game getting close was, was dreadful. And his command

is all over the place. It looks like he is just, he looks like he's just rushing to throw balls up there. Like, it looks like he cannot wait to get on the mound and throw a ball as fast as possible. And, like, they got to, for all the things they got to get right,

And I think the bullpen for the most part has has settled in a little bit. Alvarado, huge question mark. Even if he's not a question mark, he might be, you know, done. Might just be like a, yeah, no, yeah, exactly. Banks has not had a strong year after last year. I still like Maiso. But Mays are going to have his moments where it doesn't go right because they have like overwhelming stuff.

But like, Brad Keller needs to be great. I mean, they signed for, yeah. They signed up for $22 million, $11 million a year. He has to be great. I mean, like Chase Shugard is out pitching Brad Keller right now. And I like Jay Sugar. I really like Jay. I'm in on,

I said this last, but I like Jay Sugar. I do. Yeah. He's never going to be, he should never be a leverage. No. No.

No. Who knows? Yes. And I'll have more thoughts on him in a second. But, but Keller, like he needs to be Madsen. He needs to be locked down eighth inning.

Can close out of ball game. Cannot make things tight. And I don't know where his command's gone, but it's just gotten so spotty. Fastball feels against, no idea where it's going. Changeup is a nothing pitch now. It should be a plus pitch.

it was a plus pitch last year for the cubs. If he didn't have, if the Marlins didn't have any challenges left in the ninth, and you didn't have a generous umpire, almost bailing him out with some of those, some of those sweepers, who knows how that game goes. Yeah.

So Keller is, I am concerned. I'm a, it's not concerned. Sure. I'm just annoyed. He should be so much better than he is. Bolin should be better than he is. I think Bolin will figure it out,

but he's also like a six, seven-th inning guy. out of eight. Keller's far more important. Yeah. Yeah. And Bowling got screwed by the rain that one day. Yeah, that was insane. We talked to that.

That was insane. Yeah. And it probably needs a better play out of lefties. Like he needs to, he needs to hone in on that split against lefties. They're going to hit him around a little bit. But those two really got to get going. Alvarado don't have much like hope for,

hope for to get going. I mean, it was nice his last batter after kind of getting hit around. He struck out in three pitches. And it was like, oh, my gosh. Wow. Look at that. Yeah.

Do that. So, yeah. Now, Schubert is really interesting. And he's just, he's a tough, he's a tough at bat for guys because his two pitches do the exact same thing, just in opposite direction on the same exact plane.

So if you're a hitter and you have milliseconds to make a decision and the ball is coming, you know, obviously at you, but then. You don't know which way it's going to, yeah, exactly. And it's on the same planes tunneling the same way. It's tough.

And we must have to guess. Yeah, and you keep thinking it's, he doesn't have great stuff. And then you wake up, it's 97, you know, it's sync. And it does move. Like, his stuff moves. You know who he reminds me of? He reminds me of 2022 Andrew Bellotti. Yes, dude, that's actually a really good comp.

I love that com. Yes. A lot of people forget, a 331 ERA that year. Yeah, and his stuff moved, Belotti, yeah. 54, 54 innings that year. So he was important. Like, Sugar's pitching his way into being an important member of this. Yeah.

And he obviously kind of has stones, you know. Really? He came in yesterday, inning in a third, and then the back-to-back wins thing was awesome. So it was also funny seeing him, it was funny seeing him get interviewed after. You know, he had to be like, me? What?

What's that? Okay, sure. Yeah. Whatever. You're so right. Yeah. Kirkering looks really good, too. He does.

He does. He's probably been their best overall reliever so far this is. I mean, Duran Hur. but yeah, I think he's probably been the best way. Yeah. That's mostly the game stuff. I have one thing on Alex Cora. Like Nightingale said that the nightingale said the Phillies expected to be their manager next year.

And my whole thing is. It's just wild, man. Just take it easy. Yeah, Don Magnley's the manager right now. Like, can we chill? Like, what's happening? What if Don Magley wins the World Series? Are you going to go Alex Corr?

Like, what are we doing here? I just, you guys got to stop this stuff. Yeah, I mean. Big time. Stop league. stuff. Because you know, the Bichette thing felt like you guys got used. Now

they made an offer, whatever, and Cohen got desperate. But like, just take it easy on the Cora thing, because you're going to be entering into a match with the Astros and Mets. And just telling everyone, yeah, Corr is going to be our manager. No big deal. First off, it's going to drive

his price up and people know that you want him to be the manager. And Dom Adelie is your manager right now. That's the biggest thing. Like, the price seven all that like it they shouldn't do that but the fact that don manningly is their manager right now and they are trying to win this year like it's just a weird spot it puts madingley in a even if he even if they know that madingley doesn't want the job long term that he was like all right dave i'll help you out for a year and he doesn't want it it's still weird the players in

the clubhouse like so this guy's not going to be here next year he's like whatever like it's just such a weird spot like it's so strange i don't get it at all i don't know what the upside is yeah the only upside i guess is that you want your fans to know that you're getting Alex Corr, but I just, I think it's a mistake. Well, and I don't know how we both like Alex Corre. Yeah, we like it. I don't think of the fan base. It's like, oh my God.

Yeah, you're right. And the Wilson Contreras comments were kind of concerning about how the dugout feels loose now with him not around. But then Wilson Contrares also have not played well either without him. Yeah, the three and four, I believe. And Wilson Contreras also right next to Marshall O'Mire, he said that, he's like, yeah, you know, some of these young guys coming up, you know, maybe they're not ready for the big leagues or something along those.

Wow. Really? Marcel O'Mire was like, yeah, that feels like an excuse. I think the biggest thing that is we're not hitting with runners, a scoring position, whatever. Like, wow, dude. Okay. Good times up in Boston, huh?

Yeah, yeah. You know who is good up in Boston now? The big fella. Oh, Ranger. Oh, Ranger. So good. He's been awesome. Well, he's on that.

He's on that. He's on that 270. All right for them or something. Well, he's doing that thing now where he's going to look like Cliff Leifer, seven star. Of course, yes. Yep, he's right in it, dude. He's right in it.

And Red Sox fans like, oh. Yeah, I love Ranger. I'm glad to him well. Did he? He left after the fourth inning with like 80 bitches. Oh, well, there you go. Oh, well, Ranger's sports as suits with hamstring injury. Ah.

Wow. Yeah, well. Yeah, well. Yeah, once a year. Once a year. Look at Tucker doing his job, actually, like paying attention. I appreciate that, Tucker. Oh, yeah.

Dude, I tell you what. He's locked in on the Red Sox. It is. In my current state, it is very, it's watching the Phillies and consuming things on the weekend during the middle of the day. Not very easy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, buddy.

I catch up on everything at like 8 o'clock at night. I know. It's like impossible otherwise. Yeah. All right. Minor league met it. Yes. Minor league minute.

I got a lot of thoughts. I got a lot of thoughts. Everyone's been waiting for, yes. Well, I am furious at the Palm Beach team. I don't know. Cardinals. I think that's their name. so that the Cardinals affiliate in high a, sorry, in low way.

So that they're playing the, they're playing the Thresher's all week. And in 2026, they didn't have a camera behind the pitcher. So it was all behind home plate. And I didn't watch it. I didn't watch a Thresher's game this week. I didn't watch one. That's top, man. Because I cannot evaluate from behind home plate.

It is a waste of time. It is 2026. This is not 1990. Get the camera working. behind home plate so we can tell how the boys are doing. That's six Thresher's games I didn't watch. I mean, that is pretty ridiculous. You know, like kids can film a game with their, like, like, I mean, we, we're at with

cameras now. Like, that shouldn't have. No. Egregious. All right. Now, main guy I want to talk about is Brian Rincon. Brian Rincon is someone who I, Jack Fritz, being totally honest, completely cast off as a prospect because he was, of my mind.

Now, he's not drafted during this time, but he was an old Phillies prospect. Like Archimedes-Barrie, Barber, you're saying? No, yeah, pre-barber. This is like the 2012-the-2018-19 Phillies where they had these prospects come up. They'd be unbelievable defensively, but they couldn't hit. Like Archimedes-Gamboa, you know, they had, you know, obviously Freddie Galvis, big one, you know, couldn't hit. But it felt like every year there was. just like sick defensive kid and then it keeps saying well if he can hit he'd be a big leaguer well

most of them couldn't hit so so i you know brian rancone the thing is he's a sick defensive player but can't hit and he always said well if he can hit he's going to be a dude kind of starting to hit oh buddy and what's exciting about him how old is he's 22 okay oh so still yeah yeah so he's at writing right now the thing that's exciting about him is is unlike the other prospects. He's big, dude. He's like 6-2, and he was drafted out of Pittsburgh in high school.

So he's got a 14th round pick, and he's super, super skinny. But he's starting to fill out a little bit, and he's starting to actually do damage on the baseball. Which, I mean, at that age,

that's like what happens. That's what we've talked about as Barber. I find it impossible that they can look at a 17- or 18-year-old kid and be like, this is what you're going to grow up to become strength-wise, physical-wise, like all that. It's a wild thing.

Yeah. So he, so on Friday, he went four for six. Now he was four for four and then, you know, the game was out of hand. But he was four for four for six with the home run. He let off Saturday with the home run at two at Saturday. Unfortunately, had an O for yesterday. He, but he's, he's really intriguing. He reminds me of the, the Guardian shortstop, you know, Rocio.

You know what I'm talking about? Brian, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, now, bat to ball wise, maybe. not but he had a little bit of a slow start of the season he was sick in spring training like him and felix rias were awesome um but we're we're starting to monitor the brian ringtone situation i like this is good especially because our current second baseman not really hitting all that well and i think ringtone can step on a major league field today and play and play defense uh at

a similar level so um yeah and he's actually like the the most exciting part about the minor leagues right now for the Phillies. And you can just, you can shut your eyes and go to sleep if you would like to. Because I can just, I can feel you. I can feel it, right? But I have to talk about this.

I love it. I'm happy you're happy. Yeah. The most encouraging thing happening in the minor leagues right now for the Phillies is they are raking. And I've been so concerned. I've been so concerned about the hitting development. And I think they've made legitimate changes to the hitting development.

Because you look at the, And you're like, they don't have guys. Now, the top, top prospects aren't all hitting. This is really just about Griffin Berkholder, which hurts my soul. He's having a normal start of the year. But, you know, Norie's been great. But, um, and Lehigh Valley is almost different because it's a bunch of like kind of big leaguers.

They're not prospect prospect. Yeah. But everyone below that, like every level, I mean, Redding, rakes. Jersey Shore once a week, they feel like they scored 10. Clearwater, rakes. It's, it's surprising. And it's great. Really encouraging development.

That is encouraging. Because they're actually doing the things that we want the major league team to do, which is they're embracing the modern way of hitting, which is, you know, this is, this is thrilling, dude. This is exciting. I can't contain myself. Yeah, this is really exciting, like organizationally.

Like, all right. You know how you look around baseball? You see the hitters with the high leg kick and then, you know, and they all kind of look the same. But they are doing things like. Like Moises ballastreros. Dude, I love that guy. That's why I brought him up and he has that super I like it. But like that's exactly that.

He punishes baseballs. You know who he is? He reminds me of early Sandoval. Oh, I could see that. Yeah, it's kind of bigger. Yeah, yeah. Charlie Pablo Sandoval? Yeah, I could see that, sure.

Yeah. So, but you're starting to see more and more of that from these minor league guys. And it's like, yes, yes, modern ways of hitting. And please draft a position player at 36. We'll get more into that later. Not only we're going to have a minor league minute. We're going to have a lot of draft talk. Oh, buddy.

You're getting close. June, right? I don't know. They push it back to the All-Star game now, right? It's the awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the perfect game all-American classic is in this year. Oh, buddy.

Let's go. Crazy. So this is like a quick mention, but Cameron Hill, who I hadn't watched, admittedly, he's this left-handed reliever. I was flipping through the Jersey Shore game. And I just stuck on him for, like, one second. And the first pitch I saw was like a 19-year-old. 94 mile an hour fastball on the outside corner.

And then I was like, well, I got watched the rest of this. He flashed that. He flashed a six slider. He looks impossible to hit from the left side. So this is a 30, like literally a 30 second watch, but he looked disgusting. Love it. Love it. Norie looks great, man.

Norrie early in the season, he, he wasn't walking at all. And he was getting a lot of hits, but he wasn't getting impact hits. What I mean by that is like, it was a lot of dribblers at the middle and just being squeaking by. heads type of stuff. Yeah. And while that's fine in the minor leagues, especially when you're evaluating how good they can be, you need to start impacting the baseball. And actually, to his credit, Crawford is starting to impact it a little bit more. Yeah. He hit what? He smoked the one to right field

off the wall and then hit one to left field off the wall. So you're starting to see him maybe drive the ball a little bit more. Don't look at his savant page. But Norway's starting to do similar stuff, like starting to actually impact the baseball in a meaningful way. He still has the only home runs early. He hasn't hit one in a little bit, but he's starting to hit more doubles, more triples. And he's coming back from a shoulder injury that got the WBC. So he's starting to look really, really good. I got to talk about Raylan Haradia because another guy who I was like,

eh, we'll see, but starting to start to pop. He reminds me of Alex Rios. Really? I loved Alex Rios. Talk about a guy who helped me win some fantasy titles. He was awesome, dude. Yeah, so he's a big right fielder. He's starting to grow into his power.

He had two home runs yesterday. Overall, he's hitting like 314, I think, for Redding. Like Alex Rios type, that would be awesome. That would be awesome. We're monitoring that. John Spikerman, who I still think should only bat right-handed because from the left side, he's about as sloppy as they can be. Marshaun-esque.

But from the right side, there's a real prospect in there. He's great defensively at center field. And he's super, super fast. So he's interesting. He's down in lead off. for Clearwater. And then last guy, I don't know what to make of him

because he's playing like left field and third base and first base and second base so he can kind of move all over the place. Future Dylan Moore. I got to watch more of them. But Nolan Beltron, who's a great name. Oh,

wow. Nolan Beltron is phenomenal. 339 with a 493 OBP for Clearwater right now. 493. Yeah. Only 22. So it's not like he's super, super old for that level.

Yeah. I mean, a little bit of the level. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, a little bit old for the level. But he's another one who... I mean, 493 on base is 493 on base, you know, like whatever level you're at, you know? There's some traits.

It's not just slap it. He's hit a couple home runs. That's huge. Dude, they rake. This is really exciting. Honestly, like, we've done a lot of minor league minutes and I enjoy it every time. This theme about, like, them, a minor league approach offensively changing and evolving and that could ultimately filter up to the majors more, that is, like, genuinely exciting.

Yeah, they might be catching up to the pitching side. Pitching side hasn't been... You mean the rest of baseball, too, would have thought. Yeah, yeah, pitching side has been a little eh. Like, you know, Balkard had two great starts and it was not great yesterday. Gage is still great, but again, I didn't watch the thrusters because of the camera. So, yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

But it really, the hitting stuff is the most exciting thing going on in the minor leagues. So a lot of good things happening. Under the hood. Under the hood. Love it. All right. So again, May 14th, that is a week from Thursday. we're going to be in Philly garage

written house watching the red socks hanging out drinking Miller lights trivia for tickets all the good stuff so coming out it's going to be an awesome time we'll talk about it more on the pods coming up but please we miss you guys like I feel like I feel like it's like the longest stretch we've had without seeing all our our high hopes people so please please come hang out

it's going to be awesome all right um A's oh no we still got one more with the morons but we've already two of two or three or four maybe A's coming to town after that any uh any thoughts on those athletics well I'm nervous by the pitching staff. Yeah, you know, the Langalears got hurt yesterday, though.

I don't know how bad it is. That'll help. That's a big one. But I'm excited to see Kurtz for the first time. Yeah, and yeah, it'll be cool to see him play here for the first time. You know, that's got to be exciting for him, I would think, too. He was not, yeah, he was not up the time they blast. No, no.

They started the yearly. Yeah, exactly. So that'd be cool. Still the most disheartening three game stretch on. Oh, awful. Awful. Awful. Awful.

Yeah. So Kurtz and his. home down. Maybe we start treating him like Trout when Trout came back for the first couple time. Buddy. Give him some standing O's and you know, when Bryce is done, he can be our first basement. Oh man, buddy. Kurtz, I think just got time out well. I mean, like, like he'll be a free agent when Harper's contract is the ending, you know, essentially. Well, we're giving a three-year extension. But the, uh, yes, forgot. I think he just, I think he just, he was on a streak of walking in 20. Yeah, 20 straight games I saw. Did it end? I know that it was. Yeah, but it was 20 straight. He was at over

the weekend. So, I mean, that's amazing. He's awesome. He's awesome. He's awesome. I'm excited to see the A's actually. I like, Yeah, me too. They're fun. Lawrence Butler.

He only plays against Britease, but like he's fun to watch. Like, they got some dudes. Like, you know, more than they used to. A little sloppy Jacob Wilson.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, Jacob Wilson. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. All right.

We'll be back later in the week after the series come up. Rockies after that. So, you know, this is the time. You said it. Iron Tower,

when they did, can go on a run and win some games. They're starting to, they need to keep it up. All right. We'll be back after later in the week. Until that, he's written themselves.