Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Bryan Woo Was Eight Outs Away From Perfection in Mariners' Win Over Padres

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Ty is joined by Ben Ranieri of Sea Level on Substack to discuss Bryan Woo's perfect game bid, how the Mariners are still alive in the playoff race, the team's upcoming series against the Rangers, George Kirby's recent struggles, and more.Ask us questions!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!TonaITonal is the world's smartest and most effective strength training system that helps get you stronger. Right now, Tonal is offering our listeners $200 off your Tonal purchase with promo code LOCKEDONMLB. That’s Tonal.com, and use promo code LOCKEDONMLB for $200 off your purchase.   Liquid IVNo more thirsty summers when you indulge in hydration with Liquid I.V. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid I.V. when you go to LIQUIDIV.COM and use code MLB at checkout. SupplyHouseSupplyHouse.com is the reliable way to get parts fast. Shop for your next plumbing, h-vac, or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast. PrizePicksGo to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONMLB and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100! eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started. 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brian Wu flirted with perfection last night as the Marrars picked up a game on the Astros. Just how good it was Wu and how are the Marriss somehow still alive in the playoff race? Ben Rennery and I will discuss coming up here on the Locked-on Marrars podcast. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors, it is Thursday, September 12, 2024. This is stunning as awesome.

Ben-Rinieri for the Locked-on Marriss. podcast part of the locked on podcast network your team every day how's it going ben thanks for doing this good absolutely anytime so today we are going to talk about brian woos big night and the mayor's five to two win over the podres last night that one of course helped them pick up a game on the astros and the aOS race which of course begs the question how in the world are they still alive in this thing right and finally we'll get you set for tonight's match up and this weekend series as a whole with the Texas Rangers. But before we do, shout out to our title sponsor today.

Pricepix. Go to Pricepix.com slash locked on MLB and use the promo code L-O-C-K-E-O-N-M-L-B. That's all lowercase to win $50 instantly when you play $5. And if you want to hear from me and my usual co-host, Colby, even more, and help support the show, check out our Patreon. The link is in the description, and you can sign up for a free seven-day trial. So, Ben, level with me here. Brian Wu goes into the top of the seventh with a perfect game going.

He gets Luis a rise out, one of the best pure hitters in the game. What are you thinking? You think he's got it in the bag? You know, you never think a guy's got it in the bag just because of, you know, how rare this accomplishment is. But for me, I was very hopeful that it could happen. Obviously, you're watching the pitch count because this is a guy who's had some arm issues in the past. you're keeping an eye on the pitch account.

But for me, when I've been very expressive about this in the past, Felix has always been my guy. He's my favorite mariner of all time. He very much started my journey into all of this, I would say. He was probably the most impactful player in getting me into doing all of this. And so for my probably second favorite pitcher, I enjoy watching Brian Wu aesthetically more than anybody that I've watched since Felix. And so for him to be able to do that, I was very, very hopeful that it could happen. He ran into a really good lineup and dominated him for six and a third until Tatis got him. He ran into a really good hitter and that happens sometimes.

But just an unbelievable performance. Yeah, 100%. So, yeah, after that, a rise at bat, after you got to rise out, Fernando Tatis Jr. ends the perfect game. He ends the no hitter. He ends the shutout. Ends basically everything with a solo home run. It's a left field. Just right around the foul pole. Then Jurekson Profar hit a double right after Tatis. He ended up scoring after Troy Taylor came into this game.

But that run, of course, accredited to Wu. So Wu wraps up the night, six and two thirds, two earn runs on five or on two hits, five strikeouts, one walk. Five hard hits. balls. I was really curious to see how Wu would look in this matchup. I talked about this yesterday because Wu and his last start in Oakland did something we've never really seen from him before. And that was actually truly mix it up and throw five pitches with actual regularity. Like the two seamer for the first time, I think ever wasn't his second most thrown pitch.

The four seam was still his most thrown pitch. But it was actually. the uh the slider that was the second most thrown pitch in that outing uh quite a few off speed pitches thrown in that game so i'm like all right was that just kind of a rare thing you know was he just kind of feeling himself uh you know that day wanted to experiment a little bit against the nays lineup or was this actually going to be something that was going to get carried over into the last few starts of this year and uh the answer was uh nope nope nope he's back to fastball fastball fastball for him uh against this podre's lineup i believe they're the first you're the first of the first first two innings of this one.

He threw 21 fastball, 17 four seamers, four sinkers slash two seamers and one off speed pitch. He did switch it up against Jackson Merrill through like everything but the kitchen sink against Jackson Merrill, but that was about it. That was like the only guy that he really did that against.

So it was a fastball heavy approach. And again, just five hard hit balls. I don't believe they had a hard hit ball against him until the fourth inning. I might be wrong on that. It wasn't until a couple of innings deep into this game. least. And one of those hard hit balls was off of a sweeper as well. So look, we know about how often Wu uses the fastball, the extreme fastball usage rates.

I believe it's somewhere around 63% to 70%, somewhere in that range. I don't know exactly, but I looked at the numbers today. And Ben, Wu, amongst all pitchers with at least 100 innings pitch this year, he's at 105 now. 105 and two thirds, I believe, to be accurate. He is second and barrel percentage against, second lowest, by the way, second lowest, to be clear, and 17th lowest hard hit rate against. I think what was really fun for me in watching this outing in particular

and just watching Brian Woon in general is I was just listening to friend of your show, friend of my show, Gary Hill Jr., he had Trent Blank on. And Trent Blank, if you don't already know, he was the guy that was really, really pushing for the Mariners to draft Brian Wu. There's a great piece from Adam Jude at the Seattle Times back in July, I believe, about Blank and Wu. But Blank was talking about how Wu has this just terrific fastball.

And he goes into this, and a lot of their pitchers go into it, with a middle, middle mentality to attack. the zone. And you can only do that. I mean, we saw it didn't work for George Kirby the other day, right? So you can only do that if you have a special fastball. And to me, the thing that stands out the most when you're talking about this is that when you listen to what other guys say about it, especially elite guys. So like if you listen to the interview with Muky Betts and Cal Raleigh, Muki Betz talks about how unbelievable the fastball was. And there was, Tatease, I think, had a quote last night where he was like,

this fastball is rising. Yeah, I have the full quote here. He said, his ball was rising on a level. I haven't seen much. The guy has really good stuff. He was pounding the zone. His fastball was really alive. And he was making good pitches all the way from the beginning.

That quote, of course, via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Yeah. I mean, guys are starting to notice how special this. dude really is. And then, you know, like you said, the, the Mooky Betts Cal Raleigh interview, I think Cal, you know, told Mooky, like, this guy is going to be special. Yeah. And it's, and for those that don't know, it's, it's not actually rising. Um, what it is and, and what makes it so special, at least in my interpretation of it. And I guess just like, playing the game is like, one, he's, when he's delivering the ball, I've said this before. He looks

like he's on a Sunday stroll. Like, he's so relaxed and it just like explodes on you. So one, there's a little bit of like a velocity jump there that that's perceived. But he releases it from such a low kind of strange arm slot that just is very uncommon. And it just stays so true. It just rides through the zone very, very well. So it appears to the hitter like it's rising because a ball to our eyes is supposed to be dropping. Hitters are used to a ball that's coming downhill. but he very much throws it like it's coming uphill,

which just makes it a nightmare to try to square up, especially when he also has a ridiculous two-seam sinker that he can also throw at any time. So if you're gearing up for the four-seamer and then it's running, you know, away from your barrel or you think it's going to hit you and then it dots the inside part of the corner. Like it's not a fun at bat, I can only imagine.

And so that's kind of what makes him so special, but he is just unbelievably fun to watch. And I just can't even imagine. I would love to just, I've seen him throw bullpens before at spring training. But I would love to stand behind the catcher and see just like what does that. I don't want to stay on the box. I'm good. I'm good on that. But I would like to stand behind the catcher like behind a screen and just see what that looks like.

Yeah, our friend Jordan Schusterman of us, his family barbecue. He was talking yesterday or actually no earlier today on Twitter about how, you know, Wu had a 636 ERA in college and was coming out of the bullpen, having had Tommy John's surgery. And the Mariners have turned him into a guy that I think if you redrafted that draft, that 2021 draft,

he's probably going top five. Top 10 at at least 100%. Yeah 100%. And and Bryce Miller was in that draft. Yeah. And he's probably going top five, top 10 in that draft. 100%. Yeah.

100%. It's ridiculous. Look, we've had a lot of discourse about this front office. At the very least, they are very good at this, right? And it goes beyond the Jerry DePoto's and the Justin Hollenders of the world. Again, it's the Trent Blanks. It's the Justin Tools. those guys are really, really freaking good at what they do.

So, and we're seeing that play out right before our eyes here with Brian Wu, who again, isn't even like at his final form. He's probably not even close to his final form right now because, again, he is just exclusively throwing these fastballs. Now, they're really good fastballs. Like, they're very, very, very good fastballs. But the ceiling could be even so much higher for Brian Wu, which makes us so exciting. The fact that he is just dominating. good lineups like the Padres. So this is one of the best lineups in baseball,

doing what he's doing, throwing those pitches. And it's not, and it is not a coincidence. I don't think that another Adam Jude article, I believe it was Jude, it might have been Divish. But who is Brian Wu's roommate? It's Cal Raleigh. Like those guys are living together, and he has really turned,

those two sat down together and kind of talked about like, hey, like, he's no longer just like happy to be in the big leagues. Like he is here to now be a dude. And they talked about like how you get after your preparation and nobody, nobody prepares like Cal Raleigh. And so those two getting into that conversation and having that conversation has clearly, clearly, clearly turned a corner for Brian Wu. And it has been just a joy to watch. I, I am locked into my team. TV every time he's taking the bump. Especially with those

Rick Flair pitching ninja cleats last night. Oh yeah. Those are dope. That he's going to keep wearing. You're like, yes, please. Sign me out. Shame on us for taking 13 minutes until this recording to just now mention the cleats. Those things were sick.

The other thing, too, that makes this all the more impressive. I mean, this is a guy that was dealing with the arm fatigue on multiple occasions earlier this year. And now he's getting deep into games consistently. Right? We're seeing him get go six, seven innings with regularity right now.

It is very, very impressive, considering where we were at just a few months ago and where we're at now. And speaking about, speaking of where we were a few months ago and where we are at now, the Seattle Mariners as a whole. How are they still alive?

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So again, if the Marriers win tonight, they will stay three and a half games back of the Houston Astros, which is roughly where they need to be before that series against Houston comes up here in a couple of weeks. Ben, there have been, I don't know, I've lost count how many times I've been like this team is cooked. It's over. Like there's no way that they're going to compete for the postseason. And yet, uh, the hopes refuse to die,

right? The possibilities at least, maybe not the hopes, but the possibilities refuse to die. Right. It is still mathematically possible that the mayors can win this division somehow, some way.

And I don't know how you feel about this, but this feels more like, not really like the, the mariners are the ones keeping those. hopes, those possibilities alive. It's more that the Astros are keeping those possibilities alive because for as well as they've played

over the last two, three-ish months, they haven't run away with this thing, right? You know, they'll play great against the Royals. They'll sweep the, they'll mop the royals in four games. And then they'll get swept by the Reds the next series.

Right? And then they'll lose two or three to the A's like they just did. It doesn't really make sense to me, considering that it seems like they figured out the pitching. The offense is still really good even without Kyle Tucker. Now, you know, Jose Altuve's been dealing with this stuff in his side. Did he play today? Do you know?

Did he play today? He didn't play today. So that's something to keep an eye on there. If that's, uh, that's going to linger. Obviously it happened last night. They played a day game today. So maybe it's just because of that. We'll see if he plays tomorrow. Uh, okay. So what's your, what's your general, general feel? I, I already talked about this when I went solo yesterday. So I'll give the floor to you. What are your general thoughts on the playoff race right now? Yeah, it just, it sort of feels like,

it sort of feels like they're chasing a team that I think is also flawed, but a team that's got a lot of experience in doing this, you know, winning the West every year, pretty much. They're chasing that team. and that team has also had some just mediocre. They've been pretty mediocre as well. Obviously, they went on that super hot stretch, you know, throughout July and all that stuff, as the Mariners kind of played really poorly.

But they've also been pretty mediocre. And it's not just the Astros that have kind of kept this door open. And I've even said, like, I don't feel great about them catching the Astros, even though they do play head to head. The twins have also kind of kept the door open a little bit. I know it's a little bit of a longer shot. The twins have the tiebreaker with them as well. They're essentially five back of the twins right now.

They're five back of the twins. They also have to leapfrog the Red Sox and the Tigers who they don't have the Tyberger against either. So yeah. So like there's some hurdles there for sure. The twins have some tough games ahead of them as well. And I understand like having the head to head with the Astros and also, you know, playing the Astros three more times that kind of sets you up for some.

for some hope. But they've just kind of like, they haven't played extremely well, but they've played just well enough to not really gain any ground, but not really lose any ground. And things have just kind of worked out to where like the Astros have lost enough games

to kind of keep them hanging around. And kind of what I've said is like, if they don't gain any ground before the end of this week, you are asking for I mean you're already asking for a miracle but you're asking for a miracle of all miracles if you don't gain any ground

through the end of this week. Yeah, you have to gain some ground in the series against the Rangers because you got the Yankees coming to town and who knows how that's going to go. So I want to ask you about what you've noticed since the coaching changes.

Since Scott's service was fired since Jared DeHart was fired, they brought in Dan Wilson, they brought in Edgar, as a hitting coach. Have you seen anything meaningfully better, seen anything meaningfully change? Or are some of the changes that fans have pointed to

more so hyperbole to you? I think, I mean, I think the biggest change, and I know we've spent a lot of this year talking about how, like, it's not the hitting coach that goes out there and does the thing for the players. Like the players have to go out and do the thing, right? But to me, this is a very, like, this has had to have been a very mentally taxing year for this offensive group, right? Like, they're human beings, too.

They see the stats online. Like, they know that their batting average is bad as a team. Like, they know that they've really, really struggled. And so to me, I think the big thing here, and I'm in the camp that I don't think that I'd Martinez should be the hitting coach after this year. But I've also said that I think that for the remainder of this year, he's probably the perfect choice. Just because, like, just you don't have to worry about too much.

Just go out there and simplify things. Obviously, the complexity of whatever was going on before, and players have kind of hinted at this was just, it wasn't working. It was too complex or not digestible enough for the hitters. And I think the biggest thing I've seen is they just seem like they're, you know, they're still flawed offensively. They still have a lot of swing and miss and stuff like that. But they've clearly simplified some things.

And the messages they're receiving has been simplified for them, which I think has made it a little bit easier for them to like a baseline level of production, which is kind of what we were asking for them of the whole year. It's just like, hey, score three to five runs a night, please. And they've kind of started to do that more free. frequently. And I think it's just a byproduct of like simplicity. They're going to still have to go and figure out what it is that they need to address with the hitting department this off season and a more long-term fixture there, I think. But I think Edgar having that cachet of, you know,

being one of the best right-handed hitters of all time, maybe like being able to speak some Spanish. Like that's, that stuff is real and it's helpful. And I think just like the simplicity and the delivery of just like letting the guys that have had a really, really rough year with a lot on their plates and a lot to think about and a lot of confidence to regain. I think just the simplicity has helped these guys. I don't think it's necessarily so much of a Dan Wilson versus a Scott Service thing. You know, I think a new voice can be helpful in that regard in terms of a new voice in the clubhouse and a new voice leading the thing.

But to me at the end of the day, I think, Edgar was a good choice for the rest of this year and just, you know, give them some simplicity to finish out the year, just like simplify things, go out and do your job like you. You're all major league baseball players. So go do the thing. So I think that's been a really positive thing that I've kind of noticed. So you said that you don't think that Edgar should be the hitting coach beyond this year,

though. So one, why? And two, if they do bring in a new hitting coach, do you keep? the messaging relatively the same to Edgar's or what is kind of your plan with that? So I think one, I don't know if I don't know if Edgar would want to do this. You know, this has been something where it's been a lot of time commitment, him being able to kind of, you know, he's been around the club all year, but he hasn't necessarily been the guy in charge of everything. And so I think the time commitment thing was, I believe, the reason why in the past he decided to not be around anymore. And I think it just wouldn't necessarily, and maybe Edgar ends up being the guy that they want to land on for the long term.

But in that interview that Jerry Dodo did with Ken Rosenthal, he very plainly said, like, we need to go and figure this out in the offseason. They need to go and find whatever it is that can help identify what's gone wrong with these hitters. And I think they still need to go out and do due diligence to find a new hitting philosophy and a new hitting coach. Because obviously what they were doing before wasn't working. And there's guys out there that I think can fix that. I don't necessarily know who that is or who that's going to be. And maybe it ends up being Edgar. But they definitely need to do their due diligence.

I don't even know if you necessarily want. want this long term. Maybe Dan Wilson wants him to be the guy long term. We don't necessarily know that, but I think it's sort of what we all kind of want them to do with the manager position, right? It's go out and do your due diligence. Go do what you said and fulfill your kind of your process that you were talking about in that interview with Ken Rosenthal.

It's go out and try to address this to something sustainable. that these guys can package and deliver results on the field. And so that's kind of where I'm at. I'm not necessarily saying that it shouldn't be Edgar. I just don't necessarily know that it will be because I don't know that he will want to do that. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they kind of attack that and who they choose to fill that role. All right. So Rangers coming to town.

Big game tonight, Bryce Miller going up against Kumar Rocker, making his Major League debut. that should be a lot of fun. Rocker, of course, obviously well regarded coming out of Vanderbilt, got drafted by the Mets, ended up not signing with them, gets drafted by the Rangers the very next year. Now he's finally making his big league debut, and it just so happens to be in Seattle tonight. So we're going to go over that. We're going to go over the series in general in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of Lockdown-Ares podcast is brought to you by Tonal.

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All you have to do to find that is search the word Mariners. Once again, Bryce Miller versus Kumar. rocker in this one. Ben, you got any thoughts on on rocker? Yeah, I mean, I think if we go back to whenever 2020, 2020 or 2021, obviously like him and Jack later in that Vanderbilt rotation, like that was a, it was, he was a big deal coming out of school. And then he's had, you know, he didn't sign. And then there was the, you know, he had shoulder surgery, I believe. And then I think he had Tommy John, or he had elbow surgery, I believe. Not 100% sure on that, but it's been a long road for him to get here.

He had Tommy John. Yeah. And so since he's gotten healthy and the people that I've talked to, they are very, very, very high on him. And it's going to be interesting. He has been utterly dominant in AA and AAA, I believe, this year. So it's going to be interesting. I think you don't, it's going to be a tough challenge. this Mariners offense tonight.

He's got all the talent in the world. And I'm excited to watch him pitch. And I'm excited to see how the Mariners kind of attack him. And then you're going to be at the ballpark Friday and Saturday. You go on Sunday as well? No, Friday, Saturday. Yep. Friday, Saturday.

Well, you are going to see the 2024 debut of Jacob de Grom just in time to face the Seattle Mariners in the middle of a playoff race. Yeah. 60 pitches, I believe, for. I think actually even Rocker, DeGrom and Scherzer might be all on pitch count limits. I know that DeGrom and Scherzer on 60 pitch limits, I believe is what I read. Yeah. And so going to be a lot of work there for the Rangers bullpen, which, as we know, not particularly great.

So hopefully the mayor's offense can take advantage of that. Tomorrow against DeGrom, it's going to be Emerson Hancock. he is in the Mariners Clubhouse. He got scratched from his scheduled start tonight in Tacoma. So like I talked about yesterday, they're not going to skip Castillo's spot in the rotation. They had the opportunity to do that because they were off on Monday. They could have done that if they wanted to. But they're just going to let Hancock pitch against the Rangers tomorrow instead of, you know,

Jonathan Diaz or maybe doing something a little more fun like Logan and Evans or Brennan Garcia, someone like that. So it's going to be Hancock. This is the last time that. Hancock can get called up this season. He's out of end season options, which doesn't really matter at this point because Castillo more likely than not, unless they get to the playoffs, probably done for the year.

So it's going to be Hancock the rest of the way. And Hancock in his, you know, he's been up and down, up and down. Like I said, he's out of end season options for a reason. In those appearances,

he has more often than not given the merits at least a chance to win in those appearances. So hopefully you can do the same this time around tomorrow. Then Saturday you're in for a really good one. Max Scherzer against Logan Gilbert. I know you're excited about that. So you want to talk about that one? Yeah, I mean, it would have been really cool.

I think they, I believe they pushed back Gilbert to Saturday. I think he was maybe going to throw Friday, like you said, which would have been. I mean, come on. If we would have had two Stetson guys and Logan Gilbert and Jacob de Grom on Friday, that would have been pretty awesome. but I mean, Max Scherzer and Logan Gilbert, that is going to be really fun. Even if Scherzer's on a pitch count, like the dude is a legend. And it's going to be a good challenge for Logan.

Like that, there's still some dudes in that Rangers lineup. So, like, honestly, even though Hancock is throwing the Friday game, it's going to be, I mean, two of the best pitchers of their generation. and DeGrom and Scherzer, I mean, you can't ask for much more in terms of just a baseball viewing experience. So I'm pumped about it. And then Sunday, we still don't have official confirmation of who's pitching for the Rangers. I believe that's going to be Jack Ladder, but we'll see. And whoever it is will be facing George Kirby.

I talked a bit about Kirby's struggles in detail in my solo show yesterday. But Ben, what's your feel on the struggles that Kirby has been going through over the last four-ish weeks, call it, four and a half weeks? Yeah, I kind of, I talked about this last night on my show. It's, it was pretty interesting. And I kind of compared it to Brian Wu. It's like both of those guys fill up the zone a ton, a ton. But like I said earlier, like George cannot afford to. he can't afford to miss in the middle of the plate the same way that a Brian Wu can.

And I think ultimately what we see from George is that like I think he really hasn't, he hasn't been good recently. But like overall on the year, he's pretty much been the exact same guy that he's been in the past. And I think that's where people's frustration comes is like you want to see him getting better as the years kind of go on because, you know, we've been so spoiled seeing the evolution of Logan Gilbert and the evolution of Bryce Miller and the evolution of Brian Wu and all these guys. And so to me, the thing with George is like, you know, he just doesn't have the consistent out pitch every time out.

Like he just doesn't, he gets in these long at bats. And like, that's usually when he walks guys or makes a mistake is like he just can't put guys away. And he's just got to find something that is. Well, that's what I was talking about yesterday is like, even in the starts where he's not giving up, you know, five plus runs like we've seen, I believe seven times this year it's happened.

There's been other instances where, yeah, he's only given up two or three runs, but guys are just fouling pitch after pitch after pitch after pitch and running that that pitch count up and he's only going four or five. Right? And that's not good either. No. Especially like this bullpen is nowhere near as good as it's been in years past.

So like you need these guys to go deep and you need George Kirby specifically to go deep. in the games and he's just not doing that with any sort of regularity right now. Yeah. And like when you look at his baseball savant page too, it's like he actually gets way more chase than I thought. I believe he's like in the 83rd percentile of chase. I think that's probably a byproduct of teams just like being ultra aggressive and in swing

mode on him. So like they're going to chase outside of the zone. But when you look at it, it's like he gets a ton of, he does get a ton of value out of his fastballs. Like he's in the like the 90th something percentile in his fastball. and his fastball run value. But then when you look at his breaking ball fast, or his breaking ball run value,

like it's below average and his off speed run value is like well, well below average. So to me that just very much points to the fact that like he needs that one pitch that's like an out pitch or he needs to improve multiple pitches to a better level. but yeah and then you can't have the fastballs that miss right in the heart of the plate like in multiple outbats in a row like he had the other day and so you know Pete Woodworth

and and this pitching development staff like they're very very good at making adjustments and stuff like that from start to start season to season so I don't really have like a ton of long-term concern about it but he's he's certainly going to have to make an adjustment going to have to figure out an out pitch to kind of help him survive some of these long, grueling at-bats where guys just can foul pitches off and just, I mean, essentially, the more pitches that you foul off in an at-bat, just as a hitter, like, you're bound to get one. That's very hitable. So I think that's the main part. It's like finishing guys off sooner and not letting at-bats drawn forever. That's the big key for George.

So lastly, you obviously do a lot of great work over on your substack, C level. Tell us about that. Tell us where everyone can find your stuff. Yep. So you can follow me on Twitter at Ben Rinerary 10. And then, yeah, go subscribe to my substack. We got a couple subscription tiers. I do a mailbag episode on Mondays.

And that's just free for all my subscribers. I'm sorry, you do Mailbag Monday. I'm going to have to C&D you, Ben. I'm going to have to put you in a chokehold for that. Yeah, sorry. Definitely ripped you guys off on that one. I do a mailbag free for all my subscribers. So if you want to send in questions and get them answered,

I answer all the questions that I get. And then I do episodes for paid subscribers throughout the week if you want to upgrade. So yeah, yeah, come check it out. Yeah, it's great stuff. So check it out for sure. Ben is one of the better. content creators in our space. And it's always a great time having them on the show.

So Ben, thanks so much for doing this. Really appreciate it. So that's going to do it for our show. Before we get out of here, a reminder that Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. And now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked On Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts have locked on.

Plus our national shows covering every league by Locked-on Sports Today, now available on the free fire TV channels app. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marrars podcast for Ben Reneery. I'm Tiding Gazzalas. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L.O. underscore mirrors. Follow me at Tiding Gizalas and Ben at Ben Reneery 10.

You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day. And we'll see you next time. Peace.