OverDrive - Candaele on the Bisons' coaching view, Bieber's mindset on the mound and Yesavage making the jump

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Buffalo Bisons Manager Casey Candaele joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the triple-A roster, George Springer's rehab with the team, Alek Manoah's process, Shane Bieber's mindset on the mound, Trey Yesavage making his debut with the team, major and minor league baseballs and more.

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Here's Casey Candell. How you doing, Casey? That is true, and I'm doing fine. Well, if you ever do that, let us know, because we'll place an order. And if you can get them up here, that would be great. No. Yeah, nope, I bring them over every day. Okay, I love it.

I love it. But what somehow got us into that conversation is that, I guess, George Springer's coming over the border, and George will be in your lineup tomorrow. and, you know, you've had a lot of vets who have come down and rehabed and, you know, made their way back up. But when you get a guy like George, who's won a World Series, won a World Series MVP, having a phenomenal season. Is there excitement that comes with a guy like Springer kicking around your clubhouse tomorrow? Well, George is really boring, so it's like, you know, I don't, it's not that fun.

No, it is. George is great. He was in, he was actually working out with us. in Worcester when we were there this last week, and he was just trying to get cleared to get back to start playing again. And it's always exciting to get, you know, a player of his magnitude, you know, with our players just to be able to talk to him and kind of share kind of the things he's experienced. And they get a kick out of being here and just watch it and play.

It's always a pleasure. Hey, so you've got a big stream of big leaguers, former big leaguers, rehabbers coming through this week. You had a pretty good view of Alec Manoa today. We saw the stat line, we saw the highlights, but what was your impression of that? Not just the performance, but how Alex felt about

it, how the whole day went. You know, it's just getting back into, like, competitive baseball. He's been out for a while and, you know, getting on the mound at the AAA level is just kind of getting his feet wet again. I know that he wanted to throw

better and wanted to throw longer, but it really was a situation of getting him out there and getting him throw some pitches and getting them back into the groove. So that was accomplished, so I'm sure he'll be back to throw again

and I'm sure it'll get better each time. Well, you're going to see Shane Bieber throw on Friday, Casey, and you've seen him throw before that too. There's a ton of excitement in Toronto about what a former Cy Young winner could bring to this Blue Jays rotation.

What have you seen from Bieber so far that would maybe add to that excitement? I mean, basically with guys of his pedigree, you know, that have a history of success and, you know, how long he's pitched. You know, it was the same with Max when he was here. They go out and they know what they want to accomplish and they throw the ball where they want and they throw their pitches where they want, you know, like, and so it. It's beautiful to watch, actually, and it's not, and you kind of watch it, and you go, it's not surprising to see why he's had so much success.

But, you know, he's getting back into it, and he's competitive. I think the last time he threw, and when he threw it for us in Worcester, he was supposed to throw, I think it was 75 pitches, and he was supposed to come out at 75. And he got to 75, and it didn't matter. if the guy was hitting or not he was supposed to come out and I went to take him out and he waved me off so he was like he wanted to finish the hitter

and that was in a AAA game so I mean having that kind of competitiveness in a triple A game and still wanting to finish the hitter when he knew he had thrown his allotted amount of pitches was you know that that's kind of a testament of the kind of attitude

that those kind of guys have. How does that conversation work afterwards with Ross Atkins when Ross is wondering why he didn't come out at 75. Do you just say, Shane can go talk to him or what? Yeah, I, you know, he said that, he, and Shane said that's on me. And I said, yeah, you know, you could cost me my job. But I'm not, you know, if I, I'm starting to walk out to the man and he's waving me off.

And so I look at the, it was, um, uh, Pip was there. The medical guy was there with Shane, and he was like, okay, let him go. And so he finished with like three more pitches and guys. I think he punched the guy out, and that was it. So it was not a situation we were going to let him throw 15 more pitches, but it was a couple more. And it is always like that kind of decision you have to make is like, is it, oh, you know, we're going to let him do this or not?

And I think it was like two or three pitches more, so it was okay. And he did say after, you know, I'll take responsibility. for it. I said, yeah, but I still can lose my job, so so let's not do that anymore. No, let's stop right there. We appreciate you're still gainfully employed with Casey

Candell, the manager of the Bison's. Casey, one of the other big names you've got coming through on a big week coming up for the Bisons, Trayy Savage. Number one prospect, who there's a lot of talk about up in Toronto now that it feels like he's close, feels like he could be an option for this team down the stretch. What have

you experienced with the guy so far, heard about him coming up from other folks in this system? You know, he's advanced for his age and for how long he's been in professional baseball. You know, so that in and of itself is kind of, you know, a gauging point where you can see, you know, this guy is obviously more mature in the game than other people his age. So that's a good sign. I think he's going to come up here. he's, you know, obviously when they come up to AAA guys that are coming from

AA, they have to start using the Major League Baseball. So that is a little bit of adjustment period for most guys usually. But, you know, just talking to him and getting feedback on where he's coming from. He has a good idea of what he's trying to accomplish and kind of stays with his game plan. And like I said, he's advanced as a pitcher for his age and for how much time he's spent in, you know, professional baseball. baseball. So I'm looking forward to seeing it, and I know everybody in Toronto is also, so you know, we'll find out tomorrow. And of course, you don't judge it by one start or anything,

but, you know, it's just fun too. And it's fun and exciting to get somebody, you know, that's coming in and they're thought of so highly. Okay, so you talk about the adjustment to the major league ball. What's, you know, what is the biggest difference between the AAA ball and the major league ball? Well, now they use the major league ball in AAA, so in AA they're using a different ball. Gotcha. And it's basically the seams and the grip, and it's just, it's not bigger or anything like that, but the seams are not as raised as the balls in the lower levels of the minor league.

It used to be where in AAA you still use the minor league baseball, which was a little different, and then you would have to adjust when you went to the big leagues. Now they're using major league. league balls at the AAA level, so they get a chance to throw those balls before they go to the major league. So it is an adjustment period, and some guys have some difficulty of getting used to it. It takes maybe, you know, sometimes a couple outings or, you know, a couple starts just to get the feel for it. So it's just, you know, sometimes guys just take to it very well. But usually, you know, the major league ball, it takes a little bit more.

more to get the spin on the ball and to get it moving like they do in the lower level. Well, we appreciate the updates, and we wish you nothing but success, obviously tomorrow and beyond that, and we can't thank you enough for doing this. Thank you, Casey. I really appreciate it. Thank you guys. You got it, Casey Candel, Buffalo Bison's manager. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times. Now, learn the details. of how they came to be.

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