Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Prospect Brody Hopkins on Racing Jonny Farmelo, Jumping Over the Catcher, and More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Mariner's pitching prospect Brody Hopkins joins the show to discuss getting drafted, his journey to the pros, and of course, that time he jumped over the catcher to score in college coming up here on the Locked On Marrars podcast. Let's sail. 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 Friday, May 24, 2024. This is Tiding Azales for the Locked on Marys podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team. every day. Today's show is going to be shorter than usual, but I got the chance to visit with Mariners pitching prospect Brody Hopkins. It was a lot of fun chatting with him, and I hope you

Starting point is 00:00:44 enjoy. But before we get into that, shout out to our title sponsor today, Fandul. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150 with any winning $5 bet. Visit Fanduel.com slash locked on. That's OECKD-O-N to get yourself started. And if you want to hear from me and my 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. All right, let's check in with Brody Hopkins. I'm here now with someone you guys know is one of my favorite prospects in the Marys system. He was a sixth round pick by the Mariners in last year's draft.

Starting point is 00:01:22 He's currently pitching for low A Modesto right now. Having a great first year of Pro Ball. Brody Hopkins. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, Todd. Thank you for having me. So talk me through getting drafted last year, getting that call, what you did that day, all that. It was a whirlwind because the beginning of the year, I didn't know if I still wanted to be a hitter or a pitcher. And it's like, I get after the fall, I'm like, okay, I'm leaning more towards pitching, but I'm still hitting. And then I go the whole year, I threw, I threw like decently well.

Starting point is 00:01:54 My walks were up, but I still had a lot of strikeouts. And I had to like on the draft prospect link portal, whatever, I had a bunch of like questionnaires. And then it came down like after the season, I had three draft workouts where I thought I did pretty well. And then I talked to like five or six scouts after that. And then went to the draft combine in June, late June. and did like five or six meetings with teams. And I was still like, I was talking to my agent. We were going back and forth on where I thought or he thought I was going to go.

Starting point is 00:02:39 And, you know, I really wasn't sure. I had. And I talked to Terry McClure with, he was a scouting, scouting guy for the Mariners. I talked to him one time. And I was like, yeah, there's no way. The Mariners are going to draft me. I talked to the guy one time. And then I got a text.

Starting point is 00:02:57 That day, my family and I, we got together at my uncle's house. He lives out in the country. We're all just hanging out. I was stressing because I was like, I hope I have Wi-Fi. Oh, yeah. Because he lives out in the country. I'm like, I really hope I have Wi-Fi. But my agent texts me and he says, hey, Seattle is nine picks away.

Starting point is 00:03:21 What do you? What do you think? And I said, I said, yeah, let's do it. like I'm I'm ready to get going wherever it doesn't matter to me let's do it and yeah so then yeah that's that's really all that really happened I mean it was it was so crazy it's like like the year before sophomore year I didn't think I was even going to get drafted I thought I was going to have to spend like four or five years in college and then one year I'm here so I've always been curious about this from like a player's perspective because like for

Starting point is 00:03:53 for guys like me that talk about this stuff, it seems like the mirrors have built, you know, quite the reputation for themselves for developing pitching when you like, look at guys now in the bigs like, you know, Matt Brash and George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, etc.

Starting point is 00:04:07 But is that something that like guys like you that are, you know, getting ready to get drafted have picked up on, have noticed, have kind of identified Seattle as a place that like you would want to go to that you think can elevate your game and what you do? It's, it's funny to say that because,

Starting point is 00:04:23 I was asked a question by my brother who's also plays, he plays for the Tigers organization. He's like, where do you, like, do you know anything about like organizations, like pitching organizations? Because he does it because he's an outfielder. I was like, man, I mean, you look at, you look around the league and you only see one team that has four homegrown pitchers and they're in their top five rotation. And I was like, it's got to be Seattle that has the top pitching org. I mean, look at their, like, they're starting rotation and then Matt Brash. And then, I mean, everybody is just homegrown pretty much. And it's just they're all really good.

Starting point is 00:05:03 So, I mean, it doesn't, it's not like it wouldn't add up for it to not be the best pitching work. When did just in general, like your love for baseball begin? Well, I mean, I've always loved baseball. I've been around that my whole life. my brother has shown me every step of the way with it. But I can say that my freshman in sophomore year of college, I fell off of baseball. I didn't want to, I did, like I didn't love it anymore because of the,

Starting point is 00:05:34 not, not really necessarily like the place I was at, but just like it's my surroundings. And partially some of that's my fault, partially some of it's other things. But, yeah, I mean, and then I get to, I get to Winthrop my junior year. I mean, I knew I had it in me. Like, I was throwing 95, 97.

Starting point is 00:05:53 I mean, I knew I had an Emmy. Like, that's good stuff. Regardless of where you throw it. I mean, somebody can teach you how to throw it in the strike zone or fix something, tweak your mechanics a little bit to make you throw strikes. And so I get to Winthrop, and I just fall in love with the pitching coach. I, to this day, will tell everybody that he is the reason I am where I am today. Because he took the chance on me when nobody else would.

Starting point is 00:06:20 And I will respect him for that for the rest of my life. Like I will, whatever he needs, I will give it to him. Like, I promised on that. But, yeah, I mean, I knew I had it. And then I get to, my first outing was South Carolina. I started against them. And I was seeing 96, 98. And that's when I was like, yeah, I can do this.

Starting point is 00:06:40 And then the rest of the year I had that mindset and then ended up getting drafted. And that's Austin Hill, right? Your pitching coach? Yeah, Austin Hill. what's the best piece of advice he gave you just to be myself and to not let noise affect me just to keep keep my head down and I'm going to be where I am today that's what he told me more for my conversation with Brody Hopkins in just a moment but first a reminder this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by iBata and supply house spring is here so it's out

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Starting point is 00:10:09 ever give you this with like one out and you're on second base if balls hit on the end field on the ground in the infield to just score just keep going and so our head coach puts on a bump play and I was like okay and I looked at him and I did this and he shook his head no and I was like okay so I saw it it was perfectly to the third basement and so I like I kind of wrap around third base and I kind of slow up a little bit and I was like I'm fast enough it's a first base like it's a first base making the throw so I get like I'm running and then like I kind of like as soon as I like get there like stutter step and I didn't know what I was going to do and then I just my instinct just told me to jump and I just jumped and cleared him

Starting point is 00:10:51 that's like you can kind of see it I landed and I took my helmet off and I kind of just sat there for a second because I was like what the hell did I just do yeah I noticed that when you you take the helmet off and you kind of look back for a second and you're just like yeah and then my dugouts going crazy and I'm just like oh yeah let's go I had no idea what just happened That's really sick. That's super sick. I also heard you did a backflip after running a 40-yard dash for the Padres. Is that true?

Starting point is 00:11:22 Yeah, I mean, I wasn't even supposed to run. But my agent, he was like, why not? I mean, you run a 6-3, why not? And I was like, you're right. So I did that. And this young kid, I don't remember who he was. And he was like a young high schooler. He was talking about everybody, like how fast he was.

Starting point is 00:11:42 And everybody's like, nobody won't run against him because nobody wanted to look slow. And I was just a pitcher. What do I have to lose? It looks bad on him if I went. And we were step for step the whole way. And then I just ended up doing that after. I mean, I don't know why or what possessed me to do it, but I guess I was just hype for running that fast.

Starting point is 00:11:59 And then I just did that. More from my conversation with Brody Hopkins in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown Airs podcast is brought to you by Fanduel. It's winner take all time in the NBA and NHM. and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150 to bet on spreads, money lines, player props, and more.

Starting point is 00:12:30 Visit FanDuel.com slash Lockedon. That's LOC, KEDON, and make every playoff shot count. Fandual, America's number one sportsbook. You're listening to the Lockdown, Marriest podcast. I'm here with Mariner's prospect Brody. Hopkins, Brettie, thank you again for hopping on here with me. Yeah, yeah. So you've got seven pro starts under your belt so far.

Starting point is 00:12:54 You're about to make your eighth. Is that tonight? Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Nice. How do you feel about your year so far? Could be better, could be worse. I mean, I'm nowhere near a finished product.

Starting point is 00:13:07 I think everybody in our org knows that. But I mean, I feel like I've made jumps start after start after start. I feel like I've a, I'm understanding pitching. I keep falling in love with it every single day. Like I'm learning new stuff. I still don't know half of pitching. But yeah, I mean, I just feel like with our org, with our people telling us, like, this is what we need to do. This is what we go by.

Starting point is 00:13:35 I'm just listening and doing what they're telling me to do. And it's showing. What are you hoping to have accomplished by the end of the year? just having a really good strike out the walk ratio just being able to show that I can pound the zone and and just that's really it I mean I feel like I have the stuff I feel like everybody knows I have I have the stuff and that's that's all I just need to command the zone and that's all I want people to to see by me at the end of the year is that I'm commanding the zone yeah and so far so good I think on that front 35 strikeouts and I believe 28 ennings pitched already so doing pretty good over there How about going to spring training this year? I imagine, you know, getting your first real taste of pro ball and wearing that Mariners jersey was pretty special. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:14:24 It was sick. I mean, I only threw like four or five times because I was supposed to throw in that the spring breakout game and then it got canceled and then I got pushed back. So it's like, but I mean, I loved being around everybody. I mean, you meet everybody, you meet big leaguers. And they're like, like I met Julio one time. is just, I, I would expect him to be completely different than what, like, I got.

Starting point is 00:14:49 And it was like, it was the sickest thing ever. And, like, I was kind of like, damn, I'm kind of a fan, but it's like, no, it's Julio Rodriguez. Like, it's, it was sick. Did you get to, you know, get the chance to pick the brain of any big leaguers while you were there? Um, I, uh, I asked Bryce Miller, like, one question. I mean, we didn't really get to see each other that much, but like, I, it was, he got there a little earlier. So it was during when we were doing, like, shove camp and stuff.

Starting point is 00:15:14 Yeah. And I just asked him what he, like, thought about. Because, like, in my bullpins, I like, it's like a little different than in the game. Like, I don't have that competitiveness to me that I do in the game. And I was asking him. I was like, what do you do like to, like, stay competitive in bullpins and in like live at bats when no one's watching? Like, what do you? What do you do? And he was just telling me that you guys treat everything like it's a World Series game. And I was like, hey, I mean, I'll do that and see if it works. And I mean, I was, my viewlo was going up in bullpins. And then it was going even harder in lives. in game. We had Jerry DePoto on the show a couple months ago, and I had to ask him about you, because again, very big fan of you, and I know Jerry is a very big fan of you, and of course, his face lit up when he heard me say your name, and he told us a story about how Johnny Farmello challenged you to a race in spring training, and you actually ended up beating him.

Starting point is 00:16:09 So I'm curious, has there been a rematch since? has Johnny gotten his salty run back yet? No, so me and, me and Johnny, Johnny will never admit that I'm passionate him, but we have this, we have this ongoing thing whenever he steals like for, like second or third, because he does it every game and it's unreal. Like he floats.

Starting point is 00:16:28 Like he had a lead off triple yesterday, and I swear I looked up and he was on third base. And it's just like, I always tell him, I'm like, hey man, how does it feel to be the second fastest man in the org? And he just starts laughing. But, I mean, he just, wanted like I love that about Johnny too it's because like he wants that competitiveness he like

Starting point is 00:16:47 he wants to get better like that's just about like Johnny is one of the most hardworking people that I've ever seen and it's like he wants to get better and he loves it and it's just it just sucks that he has to come in second every time right right of course we got we got to get you to race Julio next oh man I don't know about that one uh tell me about Las Montas like what's it like watching that guy hit in person it's I don't I don't even know how to explain it. It's like, you know, you know those moments in baseball games where you're like, like, damn, it'd be really cool if this dude went deep right here. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:17:22 He does it. Like, he literally does it. Like, whenever you think, like, oh, this would be cool, he does it. And he's one of the most genuine, like, people I've ever met in my life, too. He's so nice. And then, but it's like, once you hit that, like, when another team hits that switch on him, it's like game over. But it's like, to his teammates, he's like. the nicest person ever.

Starting point is 00:17:44 That's sick. That's sick. Who is your funniest teammate? Michael Oroyo. Michael Oroyo? Okay. By far. By far.

Starting point is 00:17:56 What like sets them apart from everyone else? It's just it. I don't even know how to really explain it. There's a, there's a miced up coming out with me. I was miced up a couple of days ago. And he was next to me the whole time. So you'll understand what I can't really

Starting point is 00:18:12 explain it because it's just like Michael Royal but like when you see it you'll understand all right cool cool well I really appreciate you doing this man this was a lot of fun again like I like I said big fan of you which is you nothing but the best this rest of the year

Starting point is 00:18:28 looking forward to seeing you rise through the minors and hopefully in the big leagues one day thank you I appreciate that and that's going to do it for our show but before I sign off a reminder that locked on 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.

Starting point is 00:18:47 Lockdown Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Locked-on, plus our national shows covering every league. Find Lockdown Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariner's podcast. I've been your host, Ty Dan Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Ty Dan Gonzalez and my co-host Colby at CPAT-11. You can also find all.

Starting point is 00:19:12 all that stuff in the description of this episode. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you next time. Peace.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Prospect Brody Hopkins on Racing Jonny Farmelo, Jumping Over the Catcher, and More

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