Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals ADDED Blake Aita As Part Of Their MAJOR Farm System Overhaul This Offseason!

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

St. Louis Cardinals’ revamped pitching pipeline gets a boost with the addition of Blake Aita, a promising prospect acquired in a key offseason trade. Can this young arm thrive under pressure and help shape the Cardinals’ future rotation?Aita offers personal reflections on his draft day, what he's added to his arsenal, getting traded for Willson Contreras plus rapid-fire favorites, and tips for navigating the challenges of professional baseball.00:00 – Get To Know Cardinals Prospect Blake Aita11:09 – Pro Career & Pitching Style24:44 – Rapid Fire Q&A / Fun SegmentFollow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonstlcardinals.supercast.com/Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIOFollow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_CardinalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Turbo TaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life.Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcastFanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The Winter Games are on. And there’s no better way to follow them than with a bet on FanDuel. FanDuel - Play your game.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)#ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals #stlouiscardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The St. Louis Cardinals made multiple trades this offseason, acquired a lot of young talent to add to their organization. And we've got one of those new faces with us here today on Lockedon Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Hafford, a former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis and a Lifetime Cardinals fan. And welcome to another episode of Lockt on Cardinals.

part of the Locktown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. So big thank you to our everydayers for getting us there. If you're new to the show, welcome aboard. Hope you enjoy the content. This is a show that serves Cardinal Nation, gives you all the info about the birds on the bat. And today we have got ourselves a guest,

one of the guys that was brought over in one of the multiple trades that happened this off season. If you would, please welcome New Cardinals pitching prospect. Blake Guy, Ida, end of the show. Welcome in, man. Thanks for making some time. time and hanging with us here today. Of course. Nice to meet everybody.

So spring training's opening up. You're in Jupiter. You've been there for a little while now. How have things been going for you and tell everybody how long you've been there? Yeah, no, I got here January 18th for early camp. They've been building the new facility down here in spring training. So we finally got in there this week. It was kind of a rough, gritty thing going in the 1,200 facility. showing up in our outfits with our dirty clothes from the day before getting all the laundry done. But it was great. It was great.

I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's good to be down to the facility, down in the complex, getting ready rather than being at home. So loving it. Jupiter is a great area. Just got moved into a house out of the hotel. So everything's good. Everything's good. Yeah, not a bad spot to do your spring training in here for a little while there to be in Jupiter, Florida.

beautiful, beautiful area. Before we get into things as far as going on, what's going on with the Cardinals, I want to give the listener some background about you growing up, born in Tennessee, but you went to high school in Georgia. And I got that right? Yes, sir, yes, sir.

I was born in Hermitage, Tennessee, a little city outside of Nashville. So born there, all my family's still there, but we moved from my dad's job when I was like six years old. So been pretty much raised in Georgia, but born in Tennessee. All right. Now, how did you get into the sport of baseball? Was it something that, you know, that was always kind of a sport that intrigued you?

Or did you have aspirations to play other sports? Like all of us, like, we all at one point were like, I can play football. And then we're like, wait a second, baseball is kind of, kind of my thing instead, all the physicalities that go on with that sport. Or was, you know, was it always just baseball? Well, so when I lived in Tennessee, I played some soccer as a little kid, but I didn't play like T-ball or anything like that. And then when I moved to Georgia down in, I guess more into the south, all my neighbors

were playing wiffle ball and stuff like that. And when I got introduced to that, I was like, mom, dad, can I try baseball to do? Like, can I play both? They're like, yeah, for sure. Played one season of baseball, fell in love with it. And I was like, hey, can I quit soccer? and so stopped playing soccer, started playing baseball for good. I mean, I've been playing baseball since.

Never really was the multi-sport athlete. So just been baseball since I moved to Georgia for, I mean, almost eight, 17 years now, 16 years now. Now, how do you transition into becoming a full-time pitcher? High school, like, you know, you ended up getting the Region 1, 7-A pitcher of the years, a senior, you're an all-state selection. You know, when we're younger in high school and even in college, you know, you're usually a two-way player.

But how did you become, when did you realize that pitching was kind of the avenue you wanted to go into? Well, so I was a late bloomer. When I got into high school, I was 5 foot 5, 160 pounds, really unathletic. Only thing I could do is really throw strikes. I got through really slow. I competed, but through strikes. and I almost didn't make the JV team my freshman year of high school,

but they loved who I was as a teammate. They loved who I was as a strike thrower, and they're like, hey, you can come play JV, but you'll just be a pitcher. And I was like, sure, that's all I want to do. I just want to pitch. That's all I'm good at. Like, I'm on athletic.

Like, that's all I'm good at right now. And then just kept working at it. Like, that's all I've ever really wanted to do was pitch and be good at pitching. And as I started growing and growing and growing, I just kept, I guess, getting better at pitching. And so that all kind of clicked during, like, COVID. And that was my junior year of high school. And when I decided to hit a growth spurt,

went from about 5758 to 6263 where I'm at now, and gained about 30 pounds and everything just started to click. So it was, I guess, just pitcher from the start. I mean, I guess I did the two-way in, like, middle. school and stuff, but I wasn't like most people where they hit and stuff in high school. I've just been straight pitcher. Now the growth spurt, who do you give the recognition to your dad, your mom, whose side of the family gives you the size that you ended up being coming at?

Both of them. My mom is 5'10. My dad's 6'3. So both of them. My mom was a college athlete. She played volleyball. My dad's athletic and 6'3. So both of them.

I knew I was going to grow. I just was just waiting on it. You're like, come on already. I'm a junior. Let's go. It was taking too long, but I'm glad it came. You end up at Kennesaw State. You play two years,

and then you end up getting selected by the Boston Red Sox in the sixth round. I love when I get to talk to any of the prospects. I love hearing about your guys' draft day experiences. You know, some people, they do different things. You know, some people are trying not to pay attention on that. day. Others are kind of glued to the phone. What were you doing the day Boston called you? Yeah, so I knew it wasn't going to be like a day one type of thing. I knew it was going to be day two. Like from rounds three to seven, I knew it was kind of the sweet spot talking to my agent, like just just all the conversations I was having with teams and stuff.

So I knew it was coming within those rounds. So I was locked in glued on it to the TV phone next to me, ring her on blast. Like, it's ready. And I kind of wanted it to be simple like during, I guess, like the draft. portion. So I had just my mom, my dad, my brother, and me just sitting on the couch, just watching just hanging out, eating some food, just having a normal day, just watching the TV. And then when it happened, it was like immediately, obviously, like just a blowup of the phone from friends, family, like coaches, everything. But as soon as that happened, I just started inviting, like, people that I was the closest to to come hang out of the house. Like, my parents were like, invite everybody over. Let's have like a celebration and stuff like that.

and have the, I guess, generic draft party where everybody's there watching, waiting for the phone call with you. I'm a big, like, I guess I like to have expectations, but, like, if I have a bunch of people over, I just don't want it to be, like, bad luck. Like, you know, like, everybody's so open and I don't get the call at all. So. Yeah. And the baseball draft is so different, you know, because we see the, you know, NFL, NBA, and how it's, you know, this extravagant thing. And, you know, they're trying to make it. MLV's trying to get it to where the first round is something special, which I love. But, you know, so many more rounds usually in baseball,

that they've trimmed that quite a bit in the last few years. But it's still pretty cool, man, like six-round pick. That's still very, very good. I'm always curious, too, when you get drafted, you know, and you get on the phone with whoever it is with Boston, I don't know if you talk to their GM or whoever it is, but do you guys get like any care packages to say like, hey, man, welcome aboard.

Here's, like, some hats. T-shirt. Do you guys get any merch or anything like that when you get picked? Not when you get picked, but like usually after you get picked, you're down to the complex the next week. So when you get down to the complex, then you get a bunch of stuff. So like I got drafted and then it was like I got a call that night or the next day and we were talking about like what's going forward. And they were talking about like, hey, like you're going to like I think the draft might have been earlier in the week. But it was like, hey, Friday, Saturday, like, we're going to have you fly down.

And I was like, I'm just going to drive so I can have my car over there. They were like, yeah, get down by Monday. So it was less than a week. I remember that. But so when you get down there, your locker is full of some stuff, some shirts, sweatshirt, shorts, everything you need. So it's pretty cool when you get down there. Excellent.

Well, now we're in our next segment. We're going to move on, talk about your first moments as a professional. And, of course, your trade to the St. Louis Cardinals. We've got more with Blake Aida. Coming up next. on Locked on Cardinals. Hiring isn't just about finding someone willing to take the job. It's about finding the right person with the right background who can actually help your business moving forward. And if you want candidates who match what you're looking for, Indeed, sponsored jobs is the move

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Hiring, do it the right way with Indeed. Thanks again for making Lockdown, Carlis. Your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown on the number one sports podcast network. You already live your team every day. Take it up a level. Go ad free. No interruptions.

Members only Discord. Check it out at Lockdown. Shton, STL cardinals. That supercast.com or check the link in the show notes. Cardinals pitching prospect, Blake Ieda, joining us here today ahead of. the official opening of spring training. But as he mentioned, he's been down there working hard since January. Let's get into the pitching side of things. You've done both starting and relieving in

college and in the pros when you're with Boston's organization. Do you have a preference or does it not really matter just want to get in the game? Yeah. So in college, freshman year, reliever. I mean, kind of tough to come in and compete for a starting job as a freshman in college anywhere. So I was ready to do whatever to help the team win. But new next year, I was going to fight for a starting spot and ended up getting that starting spot. Eventually ending up the Friday starter and then getting drafted by the Red Sox. And then when we got to the Red Sox was built up as a starter, everything like that. And during the season, low-A and then High-A starting pretty much the entire time.

And low-way and high-A, you kind of run into some issues as a starter. Like I guess not issues isn't the right word, but you run into. two times where you have to like back up another pitcher. So it's not that I turned into a reliever for those games. It was just like there was a rehab pitcher in front and rehab gets priority over the starts because they don't, they want them to be in clean innings. So you kind of, you kind of just get the bad end of the stick there, but it's, it's not a terrible gig.

You're still getting out there and you're still getting your work because they're just rehab guys. They're getting two to three innings max. So you're just coming in in the fourth rather than starting the first. It's they don't they try not to get you out there in a dirty inning, but nothing's perfect in baseball. It's a tough game. Yeah, yeah.

Piggybacking is also, you know, it's something that they're doing at the, the pro level, too, because they're seeing it like, hey, if this guy is really good for just three innings, we're not going to burn them out and take a chance, you know, when the order comes around again that third time, we're not going to, you know, put them up against it. We'll bring somebody else in. And it's part of the strategy. So, but yeah, you know, it's a different, it's a different world going from relieving to, to a starter. What kind of a preparation do you like to do? Like, what's your, what's your setup for

getting ready for the next day? You got the start coming up on the next day. What do you like to do the night before a start? I keep it pretty chill. Maybe just, I'll cook a nice meal. I don't, I don't like to eat too bad the night before. I think in college, it used to be get chicken parm and make that, have a nice carb load with some chicken parm. But since Pro Bowl started, it's been a steak. I like to eat steak and rice the night before. Avocado. Love it. So it's actually what I'm going to do today because I got live tomorrow. So some steak tonight for dinner. But that's pretty much it. Kind of just chill day. Don't try to treat it any differently. Just eat that meal and chill out, watch a movie, maybe play some video games, something like that. What kind of cook are you?

You consider yourself pretty good after these few years? Or are you still kind of, uh, I can be if I try to get fancy with it. But like I just I stick to the basics. Don't try to go and buy too many ingredients. Just keep it with ground beef and rice, chicken rice, whatever. But if I try to get fancy, I pride myself in some decent cooking. There you go. There you go.

It's a good trait to have, my friend. Let's talk about pitching repertoire for people who aren't familiar with what you throw and what's in your arsenal. laid on them, what are the pitches that they can expect from you? What do you got in your mix? Yeah, so the mix has grown a ton since I got the pro ball. I mean, college me was three pitch mix. It was fastball, cutter, sweeper, and got to pro ball, and it was immediately, we need a change up.

So developed the change up and ended up, like, not being entirely where the Red Sox wanted it to be shape-wise, like metrically. And they were like, let's try like a splitter. like not like two split but like just like something that because I'm a big superinator so like I cut the baseball in half and I don't pronate too much like changeups you kind of natural changeups really need so they were like let's let's find a grip that you can basically just throw like your fastball get on the side of it and it'll just like kind of catch the seams in the right way so I found that changeups making some huge strides and then sweepers for me like aren't like a great pitch to throw against

lefties just because of how like most lefties and pro balls bat paths are it kind of just blends with it so i was like personally i was like i need to throw a curveball maybe like just like a big like avert or a pitch with like more depth just to get some more swing and miss down in the zone so out of that and then this off season off of the splitter that i throw i was like shoot i just need to move my fingers closer together and i could probably throw a nasty two seam so now i've got a two seam as well so i've got a two seam as well so i've got Six pitch mix starting now. So I've been really happy with where everything's at, especially with this long off season and working on all that

and kind of refining everything. But I'm really happy with everything. No, it's great. Now, for the listeners, because they hear this stuff, like they'll consider some of the jargon we use kind of technical terms. When somebody's talking about the shape of a pitch, what exactly does that mean? Can you break it down to simpler terms for that?

So when we, kind of work on our pitches in the bullpins or even like at the game after games we get our reports it'll have kind of a breakdown of like the horizontal and vertical movement of a pitch which like is basically just like how much movement is perceived towards the hitter's eye I guess so like a fastball a really good fastball with vert is like 20 inches of vertical movement obviously the fastball is not moving 20 inches up in the air like that right would be a possible to hit. So it's just kind of perceived to the hitters that it like it plays really well up in the zone. It gets a little more swing and miss, stuff like that. So like horizontally, like it

actually does move that far, but that's where the difference between like a fastball being 20 inches of vert and a curveball being negative 20, like it actually does break that much. But the fastballs do not. Fastball movement. I still don't quite understand. But everything else I'm pretty, I'm pretty good behind. But it's basically, when we talk about shapes, it's basically just vertical and horizontal movement. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. All I can remember when throwing the fastball was four seam, went pretty straight. Two seamer really tailed as a right-hander. There were multiple times that, you know, a couple of my pitches would go behind guys in college. I'm like, bro, I'm sorry. It just comes out that way sometimes. I don't, I don't mean to get on the scene that hard, man.

I'm a bad, my bad, my bet. But yeah, it's something because you're starting to hear this kind of, kind of lingo, you'll hear, you know, like Time Blue, the GM with the Cardinals, he talks that way, where it's just, you know, some fans, you know, some older fans that aren't used to all that. They're like, I don't know what the hell you guys are saying. And, you know, making it a little more easier for some of the older fans. I think that's a real important thing, considering, you know, the fan base that the Cardinals have.

It's a rich tradition, older fan base at times that still come out to the ballpark and, you know, making sure they know what the hell we're talking about when we do this stuff. it's a good thing. Let's talk about pitchers in the pros right now. You know, you talk about the six pitch mix that you got right now. Immediately I started thinking about guys like Paul Skeens and stuff. If you had to pick one, which current or former MLB pitcher do you think that, I don't want to say I'm like that guy, but you kind of, you know, have a similar style to.

Shoot, I don't know. I haven't really gotten there because, like I said, like, Last year or a year before, I was just a three-pitched guy, so it's all still kind of new to me. I don't really know who to compare myself to, but I will say for the Cardinals fans, and I know we just traded them away for some of my Red Sox teammates, but I do like the way sunny gray pitches. Like, I do see that, like a lot, like pretty similar movements in the pitches, a lot of strikes.

So, I mean, I wouldn't say I'm completely like him, but I could see some similarities. All right. All right, that's a good one. Did you have a I'm in the pros type of moment that, you know, you look back on that first year when you went pro that you look back and go, whoa, that just kind of stands out to you like, I can't believe I'm here. I'm a professional baseball player now.

So not really like in season games wise. I guess the only thing I could say in season games wise is maybe just like the depth of the pitching in every org is like just madness. It's 95, 98. out of every reliever on, like, good affiliates and stuff like that. And I was like, wow, that's, that's professional. Like, that's crazy. But for me personally, probably in spring training last year,

when the big league guys don't have a game and they just come and hit off the minor league guys, just facing like Rafi Devers, like that was sick in my spring training. Like, I haven't even pitched in an inning yet. And I'm facing this guy. Like, that's pretty cool. Did you give him a little chin music? Say, hey, I'm here. Look out.

No, he actually, he rolled over a weak ground ball to first baseman. That's what we like to hear. Right. He's getting those lefties out. That's what we like to hear. You mentioned, you know, you're with Boston and then we get the trade, man. And it's right before Christmas is when this goes down. Where were you when the trade happened and when you found out?

And kind of what was your reaction? Because it's got to be a weird situation. I say, what? I'm going where? So, funny thing. I am on vacation with my family and my girlfriend in Mexico at an all-inclusive resort down there. And we're eating at this Japanese spot about to get cooked for us. I just ate some sushi.

We're about to get them to cook habachi in front of us. And I've got my phone face up next to me on the table. And I got a phone call from the Red Sox Farm Director, Brian Abraham. And I'm like, whoa, I don't receive phone calls from him very often. And I just finished my first year, had a pretty successful year. I don't think I'm getting released. Like it's a little early for that. Like I look at my girlfriend.

I'm like, I'm getting traded. So I answer the phone call, put it next to my ear. And there you go. I'm getting traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. And there was actually never really a negative thought behind it or really kind of like a shocking moment behind it. I was like, wow, because it was a second trade from the Red Sox to the Cardinals that off season. And Heim made it pretty obvious that he's trying to. to build young and take that rebuild pretty seriously.

So I was like, dude, this is a great spot for me. This is going to be an amazing, like, process to be and be part of. So I haven't really had a negative thought about this move since that phone call. I've been super excited and super happy to be a part of what the Cardinals are doing. But my roommate from the Red Sox, Brandon Clark, he was in the trade a month earlier. So right after I called my agent to tell him about the trade, it was an immediate text to him. He's like, coming with you, bro. And that's awesome, too.

Like, you know how like if you go to like, I don't know if you ever went to like summer camp or anything, but to have a buddy, you know, that you're like, yeah, cool. Yeah, he's coming with you. That's probably got to be a kind of soothing feeling and to make you a little bit better about things because it's always a little awkward having to go to anything new, whether it's a new job. And that's kind of what you're doing. Like you're switching organizations. and you know, and you got traded for a big guy, you know, getting traded for somebody like Wilson Contreras. I feel like it's got to be kind of cool to be like, I mean, I got dealt for a, you know,

World Series champion, multiple all-star catcher. That's kind of neat, right? Yeah, no, very cool. And I also knew Tanner Franklin the past second, I think the second round comp B pick or whatever. I went to college with him at Kansas State. We were roommates our freshman year. All right.

So see, see, we're good. It's like, welcome aboard, man. got everybody here waiting for you. Yep. Coming up next, we're going to do a little rapid fire with you, some fun questions. Like, who's Blake taken in the upcoming world baseball classic? Who's going to get your prediction? Coming up next year on Lockdown Cardinals.

The winter games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're looking in for events that you only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. You know, the alpine stuff, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, skiing the luge and all that stuff. And that's why if you're going to follow the winter games, do it on Fandall. Just makes sense from metal counts to individual events to finding your angle on the sports that you care most about. Fandall gives you more ways to stay connected to the action.

I mean, can't tell me you haven't watched curling. We all do, admit it. Speed skating is cool. You got hockey, which is coming up on Thursday. Even niche events, you know, like, you know, must watch when you're fully locked into the competition itself. We're all rooting for America. So it's just cool to watch any of that.

and Fandall keeps the entire Olympic experience engaging from start to finish. So if you have been watching the Olympics, make sure you put Fandall as part of the package that makes it that much more interesting. The winter games are on and there's no better way to follow them than with Fandall. Fandall, play your game. Once again, thank you for making it locked on. Carlos, your first list of the day. Thank you for making lockdown on the number one sports podcast network.

We've got Cardinals pitching prospect, Blake Aida, here with you. Time for a little rapid fire, Blake. These are not tough questions. These are fun questions where we can just get to know you a little bit better. You mentioned night before games and you're going to be throwing maybe some video games, maybe some movies. What movies, what video games would you be watching? Give me a type of movie that would interest you going into tomorrow's throwing session.

Usually it's in between action or comedy, but night before a game, definitely some comedy, get the juices flowing, get some laughs. My favorite comedy movies, got to be any of the Will Ferrell movies, but we'll choose Talladega Nights. Great movie. Yes, yes. Don't put that knife in your leg. Don't do it.

What about music-wise? What kind of stuff you got on the old iPod? What are you listening to these days when you're working out? So when I'm working out, it used to be a bunch of just like rap music, just kind of upbeat, loud, just something just to kind of get moving. I love country music, but I can't work out to it. I don't know how people can't. can do that. I can't work out to country music. But recently I've got into house music, like

dance music, like DJ stuff, like stuff like that, like just kind of keep the beats instead of like words I don't understand with rap music. So, but, uh, so recently been into that. Yeah, that's the thing too is like if you're a big fan of a certain song and you want to like start like singing or rapping along with it or whatever, but it kind of gets in the way of what you're focused on. So having just the beats in the back. I totally understand that. I get it completely. You know, when you bump into people at the gym and they're like singing it out loud, you're like, well, you shut up.

I'm trying to get stuff over here. We knock off. Olympics are taking place. I don't know how much you watch Winter Olympics or Summer Olympics being an athlete. I'm sure you flip it on from time to time like we all do. If you could do any of the events that are currently going on in the Winter Olympics, whether it's curling, whatever you want, what would you like to, you know, just give me a shot. Let me try doing that real quick.

I'm not too familiar with the snow or like anything winter. So I think I'd probably stick with the most safe option of like curling. There you go. I think I'd find myself getting hurt pretty bad doing the other stuff. So we'll stick with the curling. It looks pretty cool. Yeah, if you've ever mopped the floor, I feel like you could do it, right? You're just like, I got a squeegee.

I can figure this out. This can't be that difficult. I play shuffleboard at the bars. Just got a balance on the stage. I get it. I understand it. Yep. All right. Curling. You mentioned eating better before going to, before playing, especially in season, right? We don't want to cheat too much. What's a cheat meal for you, though, when you're like, all right, screw it. This is my day. I'm going in as hard as I can. I'm eating whatever I want. Probably just, I really don't try to have a cheat meal. If I'm going to do cheat something, it's going to be like a dessert, like a sweet treat of some sort. Like heavy on the ice cream, some cookies.

brownies, something like that. But if I did choose a cheat meal, probably just a big burger, something like that, like a nice burger with some French fries. I forgot to ask you when you talked about steak earlier. What's your temperature that you put in your steak at? I assume you're doing the same thing with the burger. Yeah, medium rare. Medium rare.

Good man, good man. If not a ball player, what is something else do you think you could have done for a job professionally? What is something you wanted to get into? Like something that I could do or something I would want to do? That you would want to do. Like you're like, you know, if I'm not going to be baseball anymore, I'm going to do this. Play golf. I think I don't want to be an athlete.

And I guess I would just put my time and efforts into getting way better at golf because I'm nowhere near professional. But if I didn't have baseball and I could put my time and effort into that since I was a kid, definitely a golfer. Now, do you get to play? Who do you play with, like, teammate-wise? Have you gotten to hit the links at all? Has it been all business so far in Florida? I've gone once. Me, Tanner Franklin,

Brandt Thompson, and Jacob Odle. We went and played a round of nine one weekend. But I haven't gotten out there as much as I would like to. And who won? We played a two-man scramble and tied. Okay. no phone no fun we tied we both went even par through nine it was it started raining on us got cold and it was getting dark so we had to cut it off yeah when it's cold in florida it's over just stop

you just stop right there yeah yeah there was no no you're like yeah we're done man let's get to the clubhouse and get something to eat i feel you um celebrity that you would be nervous to me can be in anything could be sports could be movies whatever. Is there a celebrity that you'd be nervous to meet? I'm trying to think. It wouldn't be any baseball players because it's easy to talk to baseball players. There's always easy conversations there. Shoot, maybe just meeting anybody like Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell,

like any of those comedic guys that I was talking about when I like their movies, like just seeing them on TV all the time would probably be a little nerve-wracking, but I'm sure they're easy to talk to. Yeah. If you've ever seen Sandler in the way he, where he dresses, you got to know that dude's probably pretty chill and easy to hang out with. He's always walking around in basketball shorts and hoodies every day. Everywhere you go, that's all he wears. So he seems like he'd be a cool guy to hang out with. You can face one major league hitter either active or somebody who's retired. Who's one major league hitter that you would love to go up against? You get one chance to get him out. Who would you want to face? Prime Mike Trout.

That guy was unbelievable. Yeah, and his prime. Yeah, and still, what's funny about Trout, too, is like everybody's like, yeah, you know, downside of his career. I had like an OPS plus of like 130 this past year. And yeah, he's so bad now. It cracks me up.

Yeah. That's how good he really was. That's how good he was. For people to give him a chance to watch him when he was at his prime. That dude's an absolute monster. Speaking of the Trout, who was on Team USA, the last time the World Baseball Classic, came around and is not on the team, unfortunately, this time around.

At least we don't think so. Corby and Carol just got hurt. So maybe there's a lot that opens and maybe we can get Trout in there. But who do you think is going to win the world baseball classic? You know, all these teams are awesome. You know, there's really no wrong answer here. Japan got it last time. Team USA pretty freaking good.

Is anybody standing out as far as the roster? Yeah, no, I do Team USA. This is the best roster they've had in a long. time. I think this has got to be their year to get back in there. But, I mean, I'm saying that a little biased. But if I were being unbiased, I think the runner-up team would probably be the DR. That team's unbelievable, too. Yeah, that team unreal. But I think USA gets it this year. No bias opinion. Yeah, it feels good. I mean, seeing skeins and scoble at the top of the rotation there, kind of hard to beat that one.

It's pretty good. I saw young board winners this past year. Not too shabby. You mentioned that, and I'm going to get a little personal for the last question. So you mentioned that you got a girlfriend. Valentine's Day is coming up, bro.

All right? I'm not asking you to give away what you're going to get. But what should us other guys be getting our significant others this year? What's your advice for Valentine's Day, Blake? So she's coming down next week. Not this weekend.

But so this weekend, it's kind of tough to do it during long distance and stuff like that. But I'm going to order some flowers to her house. And I think we're doing like pick each, pick a meal for each other like on DoorDash. Like she orders me something and I order her something. Do something like that and then watch a movie. And then when she gets down here, I'll take her out to take her out to dinner to celebrate a week late. All right. All right.

What flowers we go in with? We go on the classic with roses. Or you got something else up your sleeve? No, she likes to mix it up. She doesn't have like a generic that she just loves. She likes to have different kinds instead of just the same kind every time. So whatever's appealing to the eye when I'm looking on the internet. Oh, boy.

You got to step outside the box, gentlemen. Just because the world tells you red roses of what you're supposed to get, it doesn't mean you got to do it. All right. Do what Blake does. Do your own thing. It'll work out for you on the end. I promise you that.

All right, brother. Well, thanks for joining us, dude. I appreciate you coming on and hanging out with this. Great to get to know you. We wish you the best of luck here in the spring. And, of course, moving forward as a member of not only the Cardinals organization, but in your career in general, dude. It was really awesome to talk to you.

Thank you. It was nice to talk to you, too. All right. And thank you guys for making a lot on Carlisor's your first listen every day. Be you haven't already. Give us a follow on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals and the JD Sports Radio. We're on TikTok and Instagram. Blake, you got any social media handles that you want to,

along to anybody or do you like to keep them a little private? It's okay. Shoot, I don't even know if I know it by my Instagram might be B.IDA, A-I-T-A. So if you guys want to go follow the Instagram, you can. All right, cool. All right. Well, follow us, like, subscribe on YouTube. And if you guys never miss an episode, join that everyday air club built for you. Get locked on Cardinals ad free. Members only Discord at locked on STL cardels.com. We're going to send you off to the first ever 24-7 national lockdown podcast network, YouTube channel on audio, make sure Lockdown MLB is your next listen with our guy.

Sully, you guys are the best fans of baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on lockdown Cardinals. Thank you, Blake. Thank you.