OverDrive - Kratz on Schwarber’s four home run game, Bieber's home debut, and the pending return of Santander

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Co-host of Foul Territory Erik Kratz on Kyle Schwarber’s four home run game, Shane Bieber's home debut, and the pending return of Anthony Santander.

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How many four hit games did you have throughout your career? And the big thing, out the guy, didn't he? Uh-oh. Like, four dingers, four dingers is like a, that's like a great season for me. Right, man. Four home runs. Like, how dialed in does a guy have to be? and at what point does the other team say

like maybe we should have avoided throwing that last pitch you know like do they go back to the clubhouse and say did like obviously we had the wrong game plan last night but man four home runs like what more can you say about Schwerber unfortunately for the for the Braves

they just they're the personnel that they're running out there right now they've just been decimated with injuries so that to me is where it wasn't the gameplay as much as it was well, who do we have that will get them out? And the ironic thing is, I thought he was going to hit his fifth one. I really thought, like, wow, this is going to line up,

and he's going to hit it because he was facing a position player. And sure enough, of course, it's a position player that gets them out. Exactly. Incredible. Yeah, well, I was going to ask you about that, Eric, you know, this, we've been having that debate about the position player pitchers. I mean, I was watching the Angels playing the other night. They were getting drilled.

they had a guy in there who's throwing like 35 mile an hour lob balls in a major league baseball game. Like, do they have to intervene on this? It seems like it's, I don't know the stats behind it, but it seems like it's getting more common. Maybe it's just late season stuff when teams are getting drilled. But do you think that should be, you know, the subject of a major league baseball rule where they avoid that farce? So are you okay with it? They kind of made a rule, kind of like a half-baked rule. They understand.

Major League Baseball is not going to make a crazy rule over because they understand that there is some longevity and health to their players, to pitchers, which teams are just burning out left and right. It's just injury, injury, injury, injury. And I think this is a way that they feel like they can help curtail that. And the rule is you can't pitch unless it's an eight-run game after the seventh. but the thing that most people don't know is you can actually pitch a position player if you're winning by and I don't know what the exact number of runs is but you're able to put in a position player if you're winning which most teams don't but the reality is the value of it really does help health

and it helps the team in the long term to not have to waste another bullpen guy for an inning with former blue j foul territory co-host Derek So we got the Brewers in town tonight, and as I'm sure you're aware of this, Eric, this city is buzzing right now. The Jay's, you know, they've had such a great year. They're a fun team. It's entertaining. Whenever you kind of got an underdog, it's got the major league script playing out. You know, they broke camp and people like, what the hell is going on here?

What are they going to do this year? They just got getting better and better and better. And now they set up the rotation because they had an off day yesterday. And, you know, they've had this six-man rotation where they got Bieber tonight, Gossman, Tom. Scherzer on Sunday. Let's start with Beaver going tonight against Peralta for the Brewers, but he looked great in his opener last week in Miami. Would you anticipate that continues?

Do you think maybe he was running on adrenaline and maybe he comes back to Earth tonight? Where does your head go first when it comes to Bieber stepping on the mount at the Rogers Center for the first time? I believe it, and I only believe it because I listened to a couple interviews of his after his game. He didn't rush his rehab assignment. He didn't rush it to make it back, which I can't believe how tough that would have had,

would have had to have been because, like, you go to a new team, it's like, all right, I'm part way through my rehab. I'm ready to help this team. The Guardians, they weren't in the playoff hunt. I guess they were in a hunt for a little bit. But, you know, now you're on a team that's in first place. Like, I'm going to speed this up, but he said,

I took the time that I felt like I needed. that the organization felt like they needed, and he showed he was ready. And to me, I think being ready is the biggest thing. When a veteran comes back from an injury, he knows what it's supposed to feel like, and he clearly was juiced about what he did. My opinion, I expect the same.

I expect the same, and maybe I wouldn't have said that about 10 days ago, when the Brewers were just, I mean, I think they had scored like 14 to 15 games. They scored eight or more runs. Now they're going through a little bit of a swoon, which is okay, and they're not scoring as many runs, but I think this is going to be a big series, big series for the Brewers to step up, but also the big series for the Blue Jays to say, you know what, we're not just, we're not just hitting on or we're not just beating American League teams, which I think American League teams, while I'd rarely say this, it's a weaker league. It's a weaker league, and I think there's some hate for the Blue Jays, there's some hate for the tigers. There's some hate for anybody else that's up in, you know, the Astros or the Mariners up in the West. And I don't think it's completely unwarranted hate, but I think it's an opportunity for the Blue Jays to really show that, hey, you know what, we are as good as the best team in the national league.

Hey, Eric, when you look at this Brewer's team, I mean, obviously you talk about that run they had. 14 straight there. They've lost 8 of 12 since. And, you know, we were trying to bat it around before you came on, Hayes and I. Like, is this team for real? Do the Dodgers and the Phillies? The teams that are sort of seen, they may not be ahead of the brewers in the standings, but they've got a pedigree of maybe being a more playoff,

a contender type of team than the brewers. Do you think they scare anybody? Or do you think people are kind of waiting for them to sort of fall back to Earth and sort of reveal themselves as the not quite top of the standings team they may be. All right, well, I have to first ask you guys, do you think that the Blue Jays are top of the standings team? Well, I mean, literally are they, yes, like the Brewers, think the Yankees and the Astros are scared of them?

No. No. I wouldn't, based on their history. Again, I don't think the Dodgers would be scared of Milwaukee. Should they be? I guess that's what we're asking you. Should they be? for sure. And that's why I wanted to ask that because there's so much similarity in these two teams, American League, National League, two teams that have won games. The goal of being in the big leagues is to win games. And I don't think every prospect understands that. They're like, well, I've done so good in AAA. And I went up and I only got 25 at Bats. And I got sent back down. It's like, well, did you do good in those 25? Well, 25 is not a lot of that bats. And it's like, okay.

This is the big leagues. It's about winning. And so when you're winning in the big leagues, like the Blue Jays, like the Brewers are, you have to have some level of respect. I think it's less scared and more confusion or bewilderment in the sense of why are these teams winning? Why are the Blue Jays winning? I can say why the Blue Jays are winning. It's because this team should have been winning the last three or four years,

consecutively they've had great defense they've had great they've had great pitching they've had a lineup that you're like oh this lineup is going to bang and they just didn't and then the pitching fell off a little bit this past year but two years ago they were phenomenal starting pitching and the bullpen wasn't necessarily as locked down and it needed to be once romano went down like so there's there's things that make teams not win and the brewers have figured out how to win games Are they scared? No, but my advice would be, you better be, because this team hits the ball out of the ballpark. The power numbers, again, there's so many similarities between the Blue Jays and them, their power numbers, while they're not league leading or even up in the top half of the league, for the last half of a season, the power numbers have come through and they have, like, they've been one of the best. I think it's been top five the Brewers have.

And you sit there and you go, all right, well, I guess we need to respect them, but we're not scared of them. Those teams aren't, those teams are not scared of, are not scared of the Brewers. But I also would say that no big league team is scared of another big league team. Because you're, you're cooked if that's the case. Yeah, well, exactly. That applies to every sport. If you walk on the, you know, the pitch, the field of play, the ice, and you think the other team is better than you or you can't compete with you're screwed with Eric Krautz.

So, you know, you referenced young guys coming up and, you know, trying to find a role. And there was a pretty positive update on Anthony Santander about an hour ago, half an hour ago. I guess he's going to take live batting practice today. He's going to travel with the team down in Cincinnati. He's been on the 60-day I-L prior to going on the IEL. He really did nothing. It's been a complete write-off season for him. But, you know, he's a veteran, switch hitter, hits for power.

this would suggest he's going to be available to them in the next couple of weeks. Do you think they should put him back in the fold and let him catch up the speed and just say we've got to trust him because of what he's done throughout his career and the reason we gave him $90 plus million? But as a result, you know, Lucas has got to come out or Barger's got to come out or Clement's going to lose at bats or whatever it is, these younger guys who have played really well for them and really factored in, Lucas isn't young necessarily, but he's played really well for them.

where do you stand on that divide? Like sticking with what got you here or do you just want Santander's ready and he's like, I can play, I can hit for you, do you put him back into the full? You put them back in. You definitely put them back in. Because first of all,

it's not a bad problem to have to have too many bats in the lineup or too many bats available to you because you can find places to put the best nine batters, out there and not just, you know, oh, we got to go with the hot hand. The other problem is, or the other thing is, too, a lot can happen between now and when he gets healthy.

So to me, that would be a good problem to have to say, oh, you know, should we put Santon there in the lineup? And the reason totally is why they will. And, you know, guys like Clement are going to lose at bats, guys like Lucas are going to lose at bats, is because. he adds a layer to the lineup when a pitcher, and we just talked about not being scared, so that's kind of funny that I'm talking about this, game planning as a pitcher, as a catcher, as a pitching coach, you have to figure out how to navigate a lineup, especially when you

start talking about playoff chase baseball, you start talking about playoff baseball. It's all about how you navigate through the lineup. And when you have what many would consider an aircraft carrier like Anthony Santander in the lineup, it changes how you approach other guys. Not saying one guy is going to hurt you more than another guy. It just means that every time you're in, every time you're in a situation, you have to know where Anthony Santander is coming up. Okay, I can walk this guy because there's two outs and a power hitter is still two batters away. but he changes the dynamic, just like when the Mariners picked up a Eugenio Suarez, who had a four-home run game earlier this year for the Diamondbacks,

he came in and I think he was hitting like, I think he was like three for his first 30 as a mariner, but the team's offensive production went up. It's not necessarily Santander's production. It's what it does to the rest of the guys. I can't walk Vlad because we do not want to face Santander with a runner on first and second. I can't walk Boba Chet. Boba Chet hits a lot of pitches that are outside of the strike zone.

If Santander, for example, would be hitting behind him, I'm not saying he will, would be hitting behind him, they have to throw to him. They have to throw pitches closer to the zone, which Boba Chet is going to make even harder contact and he already is on pitches that are outside of the zone because you just can't you can't give a guy like Santander base runners to then drive in because that's his specialty, that's his superpower. Well, I can't wait to see him get back

if and when that does happen because like you said, it's a pretty good problem to have. You know, you throw on a guy who can hit for power and everything's been pretty positive for this team right now. And I don't know if that's going to be in a week, two weeks, three weeks, we'll see. but it's going to be a fun weekend with the Brewers in town. And I'm sure you'll be enjoying that like you do every night with every game that's cooking out there.

And we really appreciate you taking time for us. Thank you, Eric. Absolutely. Anytime, boys. You got it. Eric Crats, former Blue Jay. Fowel Territory host or co-host with Fowel Territory. Great to catch up with him. But there you go, Dave.

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