High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - High Hopes Chapter 3: Emptying the spring training notebook

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

Don't have time to listen to the entire High Hopes pod? Check out this segment where Jack Fritz and James Seltzer discuss Phillies assistant coaches, breakout reliever candidates and more. Presented by Miller Lite. 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

Which has been a more important hire as an assistant coach, Kevin Long or Cotham slash Gatlin? It's a phenomenal question. It's a phenomenal, like, I've thought about this because they both have been super important. So I actually think it's Kevin Long. I think so, too. Yeah, I really do.

I think, like, he's just done more, you know, in terms of all the adjustments we've heard, the stuff he did with Boehm last year, the stuff he did with Stott last year, the stuff he's doing with Cassie now. I mean, Trey Turner partially coming here. How many guys between Schwerber, Turner? Like, I've never heard of players going to a team

because of a hitting coach, or even a hitting coach being involved in the discussions for players going to a team. And his name keeps coming up with this stuff. Like, that's rare. Like, that shows that that hey how good he is but also how much these players believe in him is is you don't see that very well yeah and when Juan Soto's here in just kidding kind of kind of open up the check

we got Steve Cohen that was 500 million million for Juan Soto's down there. Either way, Kevin Long and Caleb Gotham and Brian Kaplan, lifetime contracts. Not allowed to leave. I'm in. Please. Not allowed to leave. But yeah, it's just, you know,

and you can see the changes with Boehm. You're starting to see him learn how to lift the ball more. And people, oh, he's a launch angler. It's like, dude, you got it. He has to. Of course he does. You can't have 13 home runs. Whatever.

And this is what baseball is. It works. I'm sorry. You might not like the terminology and all that, but all it means is he's uppercutting a little more.

All right? Relax. Yep. So his swing looks different. Stott's swing actually looks a little different, too. He doesn't have as much movement and he's not doing

as much toe tapping, I think. So it looks like he's kind of just trying to get to a set spot and go. Well, he talked about that. That was part of his whole thing with watching the playoffs, where he saw some certain things he was doing at the plate that he thought he could correct. Well, and it's probably to go catch up the fastballs up, because he saw that that was a hole in the swing. Like, how do I get to that pitch more?

Don't move as much. So I've actually been surprised at the offense so far. Not surprised. That's the wrong word, because they are pretty talented. Pretty? Like super duper talented. But the one thing that has been interesting in watching the regulars on offense, at least, is that it does look more bat to ball-y, you know,

just get a base hit, keep the train moving, all that. Which would be smart, again, with these changes. Like that is a smart approach with the elimination of the shift like put the ball in play more that's the whole reason for these rule changers get the ball in play more and and let stuff happen it would be a smart approach so that seems like you know while boom is hitting you know 400 plus foot homers i've seen jt go up the middle is he turner just poking the ball over the second baseman or shortstop's head um you know even like marshy in a way is starting to do things like that.

Stoddy. That might be the approach this year of like, okay, the shift's gone. Let's get these averages up and let's put the ball in play more. Let's keep the train rolling here. You know, the whole idea was like, well, it's hard to string together a bunch of singles and whatnot and score that way.

Now the shift's gone. It might be a little bit easier. So, that could be something to monitor. But I keep trying to fight myself because I know how it sounds when it's like, oh, there goes Jack, getting all excited again and fired up. No, you had to do that when you were doing it like 2018 and 2019. Dick Williams in there and all that. Then it was like, pull it in, buddy. I know.

Here, freaking run, Jack. Run, Jack, run. Do your thing, buddy. I keep looking at them, and I'm just like, pull it in, buddy. I know. Here, freaking run, Jack. Run, Jack, run. Do your thing, buddy. I keep looking at them, and I'm just like, you know, I hear them after the games or whenever they talk, and everything they say is two more. We got to get two more wins. And it's just, they're having such a great time.

So, this is my thing. I know it's your thing. It's my number one thing. It's the single thing that I'm most excited. Like, I mean, Trey Turner, you know what I mean? But, like, this is my thing. I know it's your thing. It's my number one thing. It's the single thing that I'm most excited... Like, I mean, Trey Turner, you know what I mean? But like, the vibes, man. Like, you know I always... I'm a sucker for it. I always bring it up, but I think it matters so much.

And I don't honestly ever remember stuff like this in spring training. Like, Brandon Marsh asking Painter a question at his press conference. The connection these guys have... Them putting a Kyle Schwerber shirt in Painter's locker room after the homer. That's what I mean. How long have we

talked about this on this pod? We used to talk about all these teams and we would watch them and the Red Sox back in the day when they would roll the guys around the court. We're like, these guys look like they like each other. We had the bamboo hat. We had the stupid freaking bamboo hat. No, we had the bamboo plant. The bamboo plant and then the dumb straw hat, which was so dumb.

And I said it in the moment. I was like, this is so forced. It's so, like, not real. Like, this all feels real. Like, I don't, I honestly, like, since the heyday, since, you know, 08, 09, like those type of teams, I don't remember a team just having vibes like this. And we haven't mentioned them yet, but I do think it's important, is that Rob Thompson kind of, you know,

that's his culture. Yeah. He sets the time. Well, he's one, he's demanding. I do believe he's demanding, but he's also like, go be you. And he's going to let Schwarber be the leader. Which is what always happened, right?

It was from the jump, the daycare, all that stuff came from that. And man, his quote of, from that. And, man, his quote of... First off, it needs to be on a t-shirt. And if this was the 90s or the 80s, it would turn into a big this is our mentality

as a city now. But him saying Citizen of the Bank Park was four hours of hell for opponents, that's what... That's gotta be the face of the next year's yearbook or whatever. Like, four hours of hell

coming to Zinzbank Park should be something that galvanizes this fan base into being like, yeah, you're damn right. Like the jungle thing with Cassianus.

That's why he's our guy. He's our guy. He really was. Like, that comment, we're like, ah. He gets it.

He gets it. So, it's just, it's so hard to fight the feeling that it's like, I think they're gonna go back. Like, I think they're going to go back. Like, I think they're going to go back. And just, again, two more.

Listen, I saw the Royals do it in 2014. Yeah. They went back. That's the most recent team to do it. It doesn't happen often. No. To go back and actually win it the year after you lose it is not super common. No.

But the Royals did do it, you know, less than a decade ago. So that's where I'm at. And this Phillies team, way better than that Royals team. Yeah. Like, light years better. A little slappier. Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah, Sal Perez, a good player, all that stuff. Like, what are we doing here? Alright.

I think 42 minutes in, probably a good time to get to the take back. I usually do it 10-15 minutes ago, but I'm enjoying myself. We're having fun here. We're talking Phil's baseball. We're talking Phil's baseball. So I have obviously a lot here, but. I expected nothing less, buddy. Hence why I was like, I probably should have gotten to it 10 minutes ago.

The first thing that I noticed with the pitch clock is that I barely looked at my phone. You know, like a couple of years ago or last year without the pitch clock, it was like, yeah, pitch thrown. Let me look at Twitter. Look at my phone. That was pitch clock. My phone was down. It's so great, dude.

It is. And again, not just because I wake up at 3 in the morning, but that definitely helps me. It is. I think it's going to be the most important change in the sport in a long, long, long time. I think it has a chance to revitalize the sport in a way that we have not seen in a really long time. There's four. There's four bullpen guys I need to talk about. Oh, four?

We got four? Yep. One is Junior Marte. One is Andrew Vasquez. One is Eric Ullman. And one is Connor Brogdon. And I'll save McKinley more for another time. Oh, good.

Yes. But let's start with Junior Marte. Sure. This dude, if he, now he had a sinker up in the zone one time and it was hit like 500 feet. But if he gets that sinker down, like his natural stuff is just so stupid. And when you go through the bullpen,

the fact that we can talk about a Junior Marte late, like in the back end of the ball bottom of the bullpen more likely minors and bring up when you need a guy type guy exactly but the stuff is like there we've always talked about this the Phillies never had guys they could just bring

we had guys like Ramon Rosso and all those guys in the actual bullpen to have guys who are better than that to just bring up is when guys get hurt I lied five bullpen people have to talk about andrew baker well i had just assumed baker was one of the shots he was nasty donovan chest bad he you it just pops i don't know what you just got stuff it's just what it is you just watch me like yep i get it and it reminds me a lot of it reminds me of ken giles like when, when Ken Giles first came up, 100 Mile Giles,

like, it was power fastball, power slider, and, you know, good afternoon, good night, then, you know, the Astros started punching himself. But whatever. Pure Ken Giles when he first came up was a revelation. Ken Giles has a lot of saves in Major League Baseball. So Andrew Baker, I think, if he's not here in opening day, will be up soon and is another guy that's going to help his bullpen.

I can't believe. This just feels ridiculous. I know. We're talking about the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th guys. Theoretically, it won't be. We're talking about those guys as guys we're excited about. We don't curse on this pod, but it's bat bleep. It's crazy, man.

Well, and you factor in like like Alvarado's pumping 102 his first. I couldn't believe that, dude. I was like, what? Especially after pitching like deep into October last year. I know he's in the minors for a stretch, but that's a long season. Pitching in the minors. That's what I mean. Yeah.

So, so, you know, you have you have, you have Strom and you have Alvarado. I thought Strom looked really good yesterday, a lot of homer, but I thought the stuff was there and actually commanded it better than I thought he would, so those two. But then this guy, Andrew Vasquez, that they got off the Giants as a wafer guy, I think his slider is stupid. Like, I keep looking at it, and it's like, I don't know how he, like, even righties were, like, jamming it and, like,

little jam shots, like the second baseman. so i don't think he'll make the major league roster because i think they're gonna go strong now verado but if they need a lefty it's not the worst thing in the world they can bring this guy when have we had a slider of the death left oh man i had to watch freaking pedro feliciano my whole life like you know we uh what's his name he didn't work for us but aaron loop has been that in baseball but he wasn't for us but like we've not had a guy like that who just comes in and just like against a tough lefty like we haven't had guys like that that'd be exciting uh Eric Yeoman uh another guy he's uh famously you know coined on this podcast slider guy yep slider guy oh slider guy might be a sinker guy too

so you go if he his three pitch, as he gets going here, it's a power sinker. It's a changeup off that power sinker, which moves the exact same, but it's like eight miles an hour off. And then that slider, if you're a lefty, right, and his first two pitches are sinker away, sinker away, or sinker away, changeup away, both for strikes, you automatically start leaning out over the plate.

But this guy has a chance to go hard slider in off that. So if you're sitting that, then you're jam shot. It's over. So really impressed with his stuff. We'll see. Again, the bullpen is pretty much set, but they have guys if injuries happen. The one guy that's going to be a part of this bullpen that, you know, I was so happy for at the end of the playoffs was Connor Brogdon.

You know, the Braves game where he got lit up. Yeah. I feel like it's always, like, always. The couple years we've seen Connor in the majors, like, he's awesome 96 percent of the time and then he just has like a four percent stretches he's like two stretches where his like arm dies and then he has like he'll give like eight runs in that one time against the Giants or whatever like but like for the most part the vast majority of times he's taken the hills of Philly Connor Brogdon's been really good well and and what I think I've noticed so far this this spring training is just pitching

with way more confidence. Like, when he first came up, it's like, oh, his stuff's dumb. But, like, can he – is he getting to the point mentally where it's like, I'm nasty? Yeah. And pitchers have to eventually get there. You're right. I think playoff success matters for that.

It's a part of being a pitcher, I believe, is, like, no one's going to touch me today. Well, I think it's the sport. It's mano a mano. There's no other sport where it's me versus you in the same way, right? Like, it's like no one's going to touch me today. Well, I think it's the sport. It's mano a mano. There's no other sport where it's me versus you in the same way, right? Like it's like no one else. Me versus the hitter versus the pitcher. And like you need that confidence.

You need that belief in yourself. Yeah. So those are the five guys I want to talk about.