OverDrive - Hosmer on the Blue Jays' winning culture, the importance of a strong clubhouse and Scherzer's closer plan

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Former MLB Player and Host of the Diggin' Deep Podcast Eric Hosmer joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines across MLB, the Blue Jays' winning stretch, leading the AL East, the importance of a strong clubhouse, the ceiling of the roster, veteran leadership to a group Max Scherzer's role on the team and more.

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you are. Okay. So we were talking about, we had a little segment before this talking about things that are threat to the Jays. And we talked a lot about Boston. What you read on the Red Sox? Red Sox are a dangerous team. I was actually just at Fenway Park when Kansas City was in town, a couple games. And what's dangerous about the Red Sox right now is they got a guy, Garrett Crochet, the whole world knows about him. And it's basically wind day. He's going a night for them. And they fully expect each and every day that he takes the mound that they're going to win.

So any kind of momentum when they get close to his start day, if they win one, two, three in a row, it feels like four with him going the next day. So they're dangerous right now. Well, Crochet's a guy where, you know, a month ago wasn't even on the rate. Well, maybe on the right. But like, Tariq Scoob was running away with the American League's Cy Young Award. I'm looking on Fandul right now. We're looking at just plus 150 for Crochet.

he's shrunked that lead pretty good. What do you like his odds if Boston can go on a big run here? Definitely do. And, you know, Crochet is a guy that he was a reliever coming up with Chicago early. Then he transitioned to starter. So he's really, you know, this was the first year that he was going to take on that 200 innings. And he continues to get stronger.

You can tell by his body, I mean, his lower half. The guy looks like Travis Kelsey out there on the mound. He's a monster. He's like every bit of 250, 260 probably. But the thing with the Red Sox, that's dangerous about them. as you look at their lineups against left-handed pitching. And the Yankees, I know they're fading away. The Blue Jays are doing great.

But if you look at them against a tough lefty, which there is in the East, or I'm sorry, an AL with Scoobol and a couple other guys that you mentioned in the American League, they match up real well against them. But I'd certainly love the way Toronto plays, and it's going to be a fun, exciting pennant race in the AL East, that's for sure. Eric, sticking in the AL East there with the Yankees, who you mentioned. Things do not seem to be going well, though.

It seems to be frustration. We've seen Booney been kicked out of a few games there lately. from the outside looking in as a former player. Do you see this as one of those things that just happens in a season, or do you think they're in trouble here coming through August? Well, I see a lot of things. You know, first of all, I think Aaron Boone, I credit what he's doing right now, believe it or not,

because, man, he continuously takes it for the players. I mean, you continue to see sloppy baseball on the base pass defensively, and he continues to take those bullets, so to speak, in the media. And he's not, you know, he's putting his players in a position where it's like, hey, I'm going to take all the bullets, I'm going to take all the attention. You guys go out there and play. So to me, it's on the players. The players got to step up because the manager's taking shots for them.

The managers, you know, doing what he is doing in that tough market so those guys can focus on going out and playing ball. And the thing with the Yankees is it's always been they got all these mistakes. They've got to clean up and wait until Judge gets back. But at the end of the day, when you're trying to win a world championship, you've got to do more than just clean it up and rely on Aaron Judge. You've got to start playing some baseball. Well, and Judge since returning, he's been in the,

the lineup for six games now has yet to hit a home run. How much you think that elbow injury is kind of hindering him at the plate right now? It could be hindering a lot. You know, if you see mechanically, if it's something that really he's trying to switch up so he can, you know, get fully healthy until that can throw something off. Baseball, you know, you take a couple days off from seeing live pitching. It's almost like you've got to tune all the way up again. So, you know, I remember saying it with you guys a couple times last year and mentioning it

throughout the postseason. I do not know why teams pitch to him. You know, I would, unless obviously they're putting their hottest hitter behind Aaron Judge, I would give him the four pass every single time. So he's in a tough spot because he knows guys aren't trying to attack him. He knows he's not getting pitches to hit and he's got to find a way to get it going. Sometimes that's only one pitch at night. Eric, let me bring you to the local Toronto Blue Jays here. We've been talking a lot today about kind of the magic that they've been able to recreate this year. We're not projected to be this team. They were not projected to be the best in the AL,

what they've made it work. And when I speak to these players, a lot of them point to the clubhouse. And I'm in the clubhouse a lot every day covering this team. But that's not my space. I'm not there when the doors are closed. I'm not on the charter where I know a lot of the important stuff happens. What does a good clubhouse as a former player do to you? And what can a bad clubhouse drag you down?

Like, how does that actually feel? How does that change your day? Yeah, well, first and foremost, the bad clubhouse, it just feels like it's clicked up and everything is individualized. You know, you go get two hits. The team loses. and you're back at your locker and you're like, man, this isn't right. I want to win the game.

I want that. You see clicks and all that. The winning clubhouses, I mean, you can tell these guys with 162 games schedule, you've got to find any type of motivation, and that can come from anywhere. That can come from a plane ride with the boys. That can come from a bus ride. You know, when these guys hit doubles and they're signaling something back into the dugout, I'm sure that's something crazy that's happened on their plane ride or bus ride.

And it seems like Springer is a guy that bring that whole group together. Vladdy Jr., obviously, if he's going to be your superstar, seems like a guy that has to make others around him better, and he certainly does. And that Toronto Club, I tell you what, if you compare it to hockey, you know, their offense, the way that they show athleticism on a baseball field, it's almost like, okay, if the bats aren't working today, we can go to a second, third line change, we can beat you athletically on the bases, we can play baseball defensively. So there's many ways that team can beat you, and it's a fun team to watch.

I've been watching them a lot this second half. Eric Hosmer with us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. And so to continue that point, you know, Kagan mentioned earlier that in the Dodgers series, they could out-star the Jays, the talent would be better, the top-end talent. Obviously, it puts a bit of pressure on Vladdy, but that's part about death players, of people coming up rising to the occasion. How relevant is that and does it remind you of anything you've seen before? Yeah, it certainly is.

Like you said it, you're not going to match up star versus star versus the Dodgers. So, you know, you really can't just try and beat them that way. You've got to find ways to beat those guys, whether it's on the base pass. You know, a lot of the relievers come in, and they're one-six, one-seven to home plate. They really don't really care too much and put too much value into holding runners on. So, you know, maybe you beat them on the bases. Maybe you play some small ball, drop a bun down every now and then, get a hit and run going, which I see from Toronto a lot. Those guys can play baseball, and they seem to know when the right time to push those buttons, especially for the role guys.

And the guys that come up through their system know exactly what their job is to do. And I think that's something special. And I hate to be that guy, but, you know, obviously, it kind of reminds me of 2014, our Kansas City Royals team. You know, we weren't, you know, they have superstars. We didn't really have that big superstar. We can play the game and beat you in many ways offensively. And I think the Toronto Blue Jays team right there have the superstars,

and they can beat you in any way if the bats aren't there that night. When you compare it to that, that team there, we talk a lot about contagious hitting, Eric. And I hear this a lot from the Blue Jays players there. The lack of pressure, if you are Vladdy, you do not need to hit two home. runs. Your team can still back you up. If you're bow, you don't need to go four for every single night, even though he's kind of doing that lately. How's that feel and how much do you think it helps role players? I'm talking about guys further down the roster who play four times a week. What does it do for those types of players on a team chasing a postseason spot?

Well, you just look at the Rogers Center right now. You look at the games, the energy in that place. I mean, it's electric. So when you get the Yankees to roll in there for three games, you coming off the bench you steal a big base and you feel you know 40 45000 whatever it is people going nuts and that place is shaking you know if you're a young guy you feel like you just contributed to that game and you can just walk out and throughout the city with your chest out and that does a lot for your confidence so i think that's just for the reality of what they're in they're in a pennant chase right now they're playing each and every game in this second half as if it's almost a playoff game and that's what the energy certainly seems like so that's where

the confidence for a young fellow can really go through the roof there if you make any kind of big play defensively contribute to anything late in the evening's there late in the game it's electric man i'm telling you watching the rogers center through tv right now it looks awesome and it's going to be fun to watch the postseason go through there if they continue this lead on the al east he said you know a couple times now you've been keeping an eye on the blue jays when you look at them i mean do they look like a world series ball club do you they certainly do and i think you know they went out and got got beaver throughout the deadline i love beber i hope he's healthy throughout their postseason but they have a couple wild cards that it's going to be interesting to see what happens and what they do.

Obviously, Hoffman's their closer, but something I've always teased is Mad Max. You know, Mad Max, if you were to see him in a relief role or maybe even a closing role, you know, with all due respect to Hoffman and Max, I don't know who you would give the ninth inning to whoever's more comfortable. But, you know, Matt Max has had so many innings. He's had a lot of miles on that arm to get him up and going for 200 innings is a hard ask. And obviously the postseason, having him go six and seven every four or five. days is tough. So I would love to come see him air it out for one inning. In the eighth, ninth, you know, he's got that mentality, that high energy for a closer. You guys can throw some

LED lights and get some fire for him to come out of the bullpen there and get him fired up to go in the ninth inning. So give us a player's perspective. Maybe it's 2014. When you're a player on a team like this, how do you know when it's legitimate? Do you just feel it every single night, you know? And then I think when you know it's legitimate is when you're going through all your pregame meetings and you know your formula. If you execute your formula, then we're going to win. We have so much confidence in our starting staff offensively. If we play the defense that we know we play and we find a way to execute three, four runs, four or five runs, that's good enough. That's a good enough standard to win each and

every night. And it feels like that's where they're at because you can just see the confidence and they're going out there saying if we play our game, we're going to win majority of these nights and they are. When you look around the league now, when you're having conversations with people around different parks, you go to, you say you're from Boston. I know you're bouncing around the league. How do you find other people talk about the Blue Jays, right? now because they've surprised people in Toronto and in Canada and around the league. I think it's still at a point where people are looking up and saying, oh, the Blue Jays who were bad a year ago and were supposed to be 500 or something like that

are suddenly up at the top of the AL battling the Tigers or taking over the Yankees. What do you think the conversations are like about that surprise around the league? And are you hearing that more? Yeah, the perspective has completely flipped and I'm one of them. I'm hand up, I admit, because I did not think very highly of the Blue Jays. that's lack of knowledge of their system. You know, it kind of seemed like Vladie, at the beginning of the year, Vladie, Bichet Jr., they didn't know whether or not they wanted in or out.

And I tell you what, it's, it's, it's, I was completely wrong, and so was everybody else because the way they're playing in the AL East now, Baltimore's kind of taken a step backwards, and it seems like Toronto is taking two, three steps forward. And in the off season, it seemed like they finished second on a lot of big time free agents, and they've just bounced back from all of it. And, you know, they're playing some meaningful baseball out there and credit to those guys in that clubhouse because, you know, that's a, in baseball terms,

that's a lot of adversity, so to speak, to rally up on. And they certainly are getting rallied up, and they're playing a meaningful ball out there, and I'd love to see it for them. We're talking earlier, Eric, about the Blue Jays coming off their big win against the Dodgers over the weekend. Jeff Hoffman couldn't get it done. They brought in Mason Flew Hardy, who's a middle reliever, O'Tonnie, Moogie Betts at the end. You have been on some of those good flights home. And I know that's sacred ground.

you cannot take us entirely inside the airplane afterwards. What's it like, man, when you were chasing a posting spot, you've got everybody pulling in the same direction, you board that plane, you've got an off day of the next day. I imagine that's going to be one of the best experiences of baseball. Oh, it's electric. And, you know, I went right up to Hoffie, gave him a beard, cheers him and said, hey, man, like we bailed you out, we got you.

We're going to get this matchup again in October, and you're damn sure right, you're going to lock it down. Again, that is if my Mad Max idea doesn't happen, whether that's the 8th and not hitting. But that's the type of, you know, that's the type of atmosphere those guys have. And Hoffman's enough, he's had enough time in the league that he's comfortable, you know, within his abilities, that he knows that's not going to happen. He's going to bounce back. And when they're there in October, those saves and those meaningful outs late in the game, he's going to be there for those guys.

You know, he's done it in Philly in a big-time market and big-time games. So he's confident. The team's confident. And that's just how you pick one up, one of your teammates up right there. And I feel like that's exactly how the Blue Jays are treating it. Well, Matt Max, you know, had an all-time pitching matchup the other night against Clayton Kershaw. You would have played against both of these guys sat in a batters box against both of them. In their prime, who was the tougher pitcher?

Who, man, I tell you what, I mean, their primes were so long. I don't know when you would actually, like, you know, nailed down two, three years. So I definitely faced Matt Max when he was in Detroit. And that's when, you know, that staff out there, him Verlander, they were just, you know, on top of their game. And Kershaw, I got to Kershaw's prime, I would say, late when I was in the NL West. But, man, it's so impressive because it just feels like both guys have really lasted throughout like three generations of baseball. They've changed their game. They've outlasted these trends.

And, you know, when they became older in their career and their stuff has dialed down just that one notch, whatever it is, they still find ways to get out. So both guys incredible. And, man, both Hallfamers for sure. That was a cool matchup. So for the Js, I mean, what is the biggest? We could talk about the roster, but the managers are pretty good surprise, too, isn't he? Yeah, and that's a big thing, too, is, you know, he's familiar with a lot of guys in those system, and it just seems like every guy that comes off the bench, every roll guy, every guy that

comes and fills a spot, you know, does exactly what they know that their value is to that team, and it's fun. You see, when the Yankees rolled in there, man, they put a lot of pressure on the Yankees. And the Yankees, from the start, you know, they were kind of shaky defensively. You see certain guys trying to do certain things, pickoffs, and field bunts, and it put a lot of pressure on those guys. So that can change the outing. You know, you look at a guy, like we said, Garrett Crochet, and all of a sudden he's rolling, no one's hitting him. If he's now got to worry about these guys running, these guys, you know, playing small ball, button, hitting and running, that really changes the whole entire outing for him or his thought process. And it takes

a lot of comfort away from him. And that's what Toronto does. Eric, when I look at that Max Scher idea, I want you to be the spokesperson for this in Toronto here now. But you know what, man, I'm bringing up your numbers against Max Scherzer, 309, career batting average. That should be in the front of your T-shirt most days, leaving the house. That's all right. That's a good thing to hold on to. He was a guy that I made sure I got a good night's sleep ahead of that because he was a guy. You know, you had to be ready to go.

And, you know, I do have a couple good things, a couple good results often, but I was his 3,000 strikeout, which I was trying not to be that guy. And, of course, I landed right on that guy, and there's nothing I can do about it. Hey, made history. you. But when you look at a guy like Schurzer and the Blue Jays have tried this in recent years. They've brought in players like Brandon Bell to Justin Turner. Obviously Scherzer is just a completely different level at this point. But when you think back to your younger years coming up with the Royals and some of the veterans that you guys had around the clubhouse.

And on this team, still lots of young players. What's that value actually feel like to you? We talk about it a lot. I talk about it a lot. But I don't think I actually know what that feels like and how that can make you better, make you more comfortable. as a player. What's that, what's that happen? It just simplifies it. I mean, we're playing a game. It's a game of failure that is so hard each and every night. And you just see all these guys come with this elite stuff,

these defenders that are catching every ball. So it's like, man, how do I have success here? And one thing that really helped us in Kansas City, you know, via some veteran presence of guys like Raula Banya, as guys that have been around, was we as an offense, we just try to simplify our game plan. And the one thing was 2014 against John Lester and the card game. You know, that's one thing I always go back to. It's because he hadn't had a pickoff attempt in like three years. So literally we're in this pregame meeting and we're saying, boys, if we can just get to first base, it then becomes a track meet. We got a lot of guys on our team that can steal bases. So then we're thinking about how we're going to get three, four

runs off of John Lester. It then simplifies that mental game, thought process, whatever you call it, to if we can just get the first base, you know, we can then turn in some runs here. So that was kind of our little game within the game. And I think that's what the veteran presence can do. They can find any kind of tendencies, any kind of flaws, any kind of edge they can get on the other team, the opposing pitcher, and simplify a game that's already hard enough, and it's a game of failure, we all know.

Eric, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. Eric Hosmer. The podcast is Diggin Deep, former Major League Baseball Player. He's joined us in the Maple Toyota Hotline Drive, the built-in-canada fuel efficient Thunder Drive, Toyota Rav4 gasser hybrid models available.

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