PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll had a rookie season for the ages

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

Corbin Carroll was everything the Diamondbacks could have wanted and more in his rookie season. Amarillo Sod Poodles broadcasters Chris and Stefan Caray join to help us put in perspective everything t...hat Carroll accomplished. We also discuss Chris and Stefan’s observations of several top Diamondbacks prospects in Double-A.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Get 10% off your first order of Hero Bread at https://www.hero.co/ by using code PHNXSchedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Check out all Gila River Resorts & Casinos has to offer from fine dining to Arizona’s largest casino sportsbook. Visit https://www.playatgila.com to learn more.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Score 25% off a bag of your favorite OGeez! Fruits or Creams. Go to https://zenleafdispensaries.com, add a bag of OGeez! to your cart, enter promo code “PHNX” and pickup at a local Zen Leaf Dispensary. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:11 to another edition of the PHNX Dback podcast right here on PHNX. Of course, I am your mayor of PHNX. Cationally, as Derek Montia. And this podcast is brought to you by our friends at OGs. Happy flavoring Fridays to you all. Flavor your Fridays by heading to Zenleaf dispensaries.com and use code PHNX at checkout for 25% off your OG's order. Very excited to be joined by our guys.
Starting point is 00:00:36 Of course, down there, oh, way over there. I'm here, Derek, all right? He's also here. It's the one and only thunder stick. Jesse Friedman, but we are very excited to be joined by our friends from the Amarillo Sod Poodles. Chris and Stefan Carey, welcome, guys. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for having us, man.
Starting point is 00:00:51 It's great. Are you saying that because we got to sit in the middle? Yes, Sass. Thank you for having me on your show. I appreciate it. I mean, repeat guests. It does feel like our show a little bit, but you guys make us feel so comfortable. It feels really, really great being able to sit next to my brother for the first time and, you know, ever.
Starting point is 00:01:07 Yeah. Definitely not the past seven months. Yeah. I started to lose hair because of that. So it's just good to see you guys again. It's so much success at the PH&X headquarters in the show. And we're just a very, very lucky two guys to be a part of it. We appreciate you guys being here.
Starting point is 00:01:22 Absolutely. You guys have done a tremendous job, not only with the sod poodles, the championship sod poodles, but you guys here doing some fall ball work. Yeah, we're here for the Arizona Fall League. So once we're done with you guys, we head over to Camelback Ranch and do the play-in game, the Peoria Havilinas against the Scottsdale Scorpions. So a busy day. And then we drive home to Florida.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Florida tomorrow, begrudgingly, we've loved every moment out here in the Valley. Did you say drive home to Florida? That sounds like a great time. 28 hours, yeah. So not the worst drive we've ever done. We drove 21 hours separately in two different cars two summers ago from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 16 hours straight after our final game of the season at Amarillo last year. And then after the championship, which is what you brought up, we drove the, what was it, 12 hours
Starting point is 00:02:05 straight from Amarillo here following the celebration. in the clubhouse. Does it help that you guys look like each other to stand that period of time together, or does it make it that much worse? Not to women. But, yeah, it certainly helps, and it helps that we can split up the drive a little bit. I mean, you know, tight spaces. We pretty much are in one all the time in a booth together, except this one's moving.
Starting point is 00:02:34 And there's a higher risk of death. So we'll see how it plays out tomorrow. I get it. Well, last time we had you guys here. some guy named Corbyn Carroll got himself an extension. He just signed an eight year, $11 million extension, which now in retrospect looks like a fairly good deal based on his performance this year.
Starting point is 00:02:55 But what are you guys thoughts on seeing Corbyn Carroll this past season? Just do kind of what I guess you saw him do for a brief period of time, but at this major league level so well. Was there ever any doubt, Derek? When we saw him in Amarillo, I said to Stefan not to be hyper, But this is the best baseball player I've seen with my own two eyes. His ability to hit the ball, his ability to recognize pitches, his power profile for his size. Even an Amarillo, his juice was excellent to the backside.
Starting point is 00:03:25 He did everything right in Amarillo and then quickly went up to AAA and then wasn't there for a long period of time, then goes to the major leagues and never will look back again. I mean, he is an incredible specimen, incredible human being and he deserves every bit of the recognition. And I told you in this podcast earlier, I think they actually gave him less than what he's worth. And he's already proving that in his first full year in the major leagues. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:03:49 We talked about it the other day. I mean, if the Diamondbacks had waited a full season to give Corby and Carol an extension, it's not eight years and $11 million. It's probably, I mean, something like maybe what Julio Rodriguez signed, which is well into the 200s guaranteed. I think it tops out at like $470 million or something like that with all of the. incentives and everything. So yeah, I mean, Corbyn Carroll hit 285 with a 362 on base percentage, a 506 slugging percentage. He had 25 home runs. He stole 54 bases. He was the first rookie in
Starting point is 00:04:21 Major League history to have a 2550 season. I know that you guys believed in Corbyn Carroll, and I think a lot of people believe that Corbyn Carroll was going to be a really incredible player. I mean, he was, you know, the number one or number two prospect in baseball entering the season, depending on who you asked. But even I, if you would, told me these numbers at the beginning of the season, I'm not sure I would have fully believed that he was going to be this good this quickly. I think the way that it was broken down to me, and it was earlier this season about how these young players progress in the game, is you think about it in the same way that you think about a title fight. It's not necessarily how hard you
Starting point is 00:04:59 punch. It's about how you react to getting punched, not to quote Rocky, but the reality of it is, is people are going to throw haymakers at you. The pitcher's going to figure out your tendencies. they're going to figure out what you don't like to hit. Yeah. Then it's up to you to readjust and punch back. And Corbyn did that at each stage of the season. You remember when they tried to change his swing, keep his two hands on the bat, when his shoulder was hurting him.
Starting point is 00:05:20 The lowest he ever got in terms of batting average was in the 260s. I never saw him dip into the 250s or the 240s. He stayed consistently in that top half of the 200s the entirety of the season. And you remember about two thirds the way through the year, you thought not only rookie the year, but maybe MVP. And I'm sure he probably got some votes from some minor publications and well deserved. The most surprising thing to me was the fact that he hit 25 home runs. Being in that realm for him was surprising to me at that ballpark, which again, you know,
Starting point is 00:05:50 the ball flies in the valley, especially when the roof is open. But not like it used to with the humidor chase field is really not a very home run friendly ballpark anymore at this point. We even saw that during, you know, like the World Series when it did cool down and, you know, things could open up. Definitely didn't help the offense out too much, at least on the double. Diamondbacks ball. Philly,
Starting point is 00:06:08 yeah, we heard that Phillies players, when they were here for the, for the NLCS were keeping track of how many balls, like how many ballparks their fly balls would have gotten out, even though they didn't get out of Chase Field. That's kind of like, that's kind of the reputation that Chase Field has at this point with the humidor and the fact that like there isn't an actual like wall that you can hit the ball over in center field.
Starting point is 00:06:29 You just have to hit it over this sort of arbitrary yellow line. And, uh, yeah, uh, you know, you can hit a 440 foot double in this. ballpark. And the fact that Corbyn Carroll managed to hit 25 home runs despite that is is pretty impressive. It's kind of like a graveyard, right? And you talked about how important was that they signed him early. Chris was mentioning that teams are trending in that direction.
Starting point is 00:06:51 He talked about it on the last show with Julio Rodriguez being the prime example. Or Arnold Ocuni, another example that a guy that got signed way lower than probably what he deserves. Probably win MVP. Oh, man. What a 10 years, $100 million? Something like that. Yeah. So Corbyn's getting out paid, is being paid more than the MVP of the league potentially. And they still got him for a deal. Now, think about what that money that they saved could go toward. Garvin Moreno, Zach Gallin extension. This is really, really important and really, really good general managing by Mike Hazen and his staff.
Starting point is 00:07:26 Yeah, we've talked a lot about Mike Hazen and the fact that the extensions now for Mike Hazen and Tori Lobolo allow them to continue doing, you know, what the, the plan, I guess, that you could say that they've set in place. You know, they do have like a long-term plan. They probably have a little bit shorter term, knowing that they're not going to have guys like Merrill Kelly and Zach Gallen on this roster as long as they potentially would like to, right? But it definitely seems like, you know, having Hazen in place and allowing him to kind of understand how this team works,
Starting point is 00:07:57 where this team is going to acquire talent from and how they're going to compete. You know, West is a great thing. know it took him some time you know this team spent some money they did some things that maybe you know obviously he even will admit that he regrets but it definitely feels like with the moves they've made this year specifically that that hazen kind of has it figured out as far as you know what this team's identity is going to be and how much at times they want to actually spend whether that's financially like an actual dollars or like we saw that the trade deadline give up from the farm system because they feel like they have so many, you know, valuable pieces still within their system.
Starting point is 00:08:35 Yeah, let's take another step further, too, with Mike Hazen especially. And I want to give the Laurels to Tori Lavello as well. But Mike Hazen was the head of all the searches for the Red Sox openings for the president baseball operations GM job. Yeah. And for a man that's from the Northeast to look at that job and look at what he has here in Arizona and have the belief that they were going to do what they were going to do and continue to sustain that success.
Starting point is 00:09:00 in the next couple of years really tells you about his belief and the foundation that they're setting here in Arizona. And that should be an attractive thing for free agents because they have a GM that's not going to leave for arguably maybe a better paying opportunity. You've got a manager that wants to be here and only here. A player group that seems really connected. They are very cohesive. And the power of friendship is certainly alive. The power of friendship. I mean, that's how we got there.
Starting point is 00:09:28 It's a great place to live. I mean, why not come here? here and they might start opening up their wallets a little bit more for players like a front end starter. I know they need to fill the third base spot and maybe one more power bat. And then they're really set to be competitive not only in the postseason, but for the National League West regular season where they're not anymore a wildcard team. They're competing with the best with the Dodgers who have started to take a little bit of a tumble right now because they don't have the same amount of prospects as Arizona has. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this was something that Mike Hazen
Starting point is 00:09:59 talked about the other day at the GM meetings is just the idea of after the run that you just went on is Arizona sort of a destination now when it comes to when it comes to free agents and uh you know obviously money is probably the most important thing when it comes to signing free agents but there also can be some at least some level of of importance to being an attractive destination a place where people want to play and mike talked about corbin carroll and the fact that like like guys people probably want to play with corbin carroll right The Diamondbacks have an unestablished. I think we can say superstar, which is crazy after one full season that we could probably use that term with him.
Starting point is 00:10:39 The Diamondbacks have an established superstar who's not just here for five more years. He's here for eight more years because of the deal that they sign. Yeah. And I think you look at how this roster was assembled and you look at the pieces that they had, not only the young pieces that were built through the farm system, which is genuinely kind of how Mike Hayes and. approached this situation. Yeah. A hard rebuild through the farm system. Yeah, you traded away Dalton Varsho and you got back to better players in return. Now Varsho, very versatile,
Starting point is 00:11:10 and I know that everybody loved Varsha when he was here, but look at what Lorda Scuriel did. Look at what Gobi Moreno did. Then you go and you get Evan Longoria who provides that older mentorship to these younger players. Right. Now that works in a in a synergized way, right? Longoria wants to play with young, exciting, bubbly players. He got all of that with Thomas, McCarthy, Carol. Then you get Carol, McCarthy, Thomas, an age veteran, a guy that has seen every bit of baseball you can see at the major league level, and he helps them be coached up.
Starting point is 00:11:46 It's like when you have an older starter in your rotation to try and guide some of your younger starters. I think they did a great job assembling, and that's really that third base spot is going to be more important to fill in terms of the quality of the person, not necessarily the quality of the player. Yeah. I've said that you can't quantify the experience he brought, right? And I'm like what you're talking about, that on-field coaching,
Starting point is 00:12:08 sometimes just as a player, you're willing to listen to a teammate a bit more. And also, you just never know the impact that guys like Longoria and Tommy Fam had on this run, right? I mean, telling them to act a certain way, telling them certain things, especially from a guy that you know has been here before, can just help you relax. You know, baseball isn't any different in the postseason. It's up here, right?
Starting point is 00:12:33 It's being able to handle the pressure. It's being able to go into these situations and play your best baseball without letting all of the other, you know, kind of environmental and all the other, you know, variables impact you as a player. So that was the impressive thing about Corbyn.
Starting point is 00:12:49 You know, like he faced adversity. Like you said, he had his batting average, of dip up and down he bent at times but didn't break he had some injury scares we know that yeah broke us almost every single time more than it stopped him i mean i literally was curled in a fetal position at one point you know after that's kind of hot yeah it was yeah let me tell you i wish they were more pictures of it but uh we know uh april 29th the the knee thing in denver uh and then that
Starting point is 00:13:16 caused him to kind of hold back on on um stealing bases there were yeah there were about four different points during the regular season where it looked like Corbyn Carroll's season might be over. Yeah. And yet he was back within a matter of like two or three days in every in every situation. I don't know if that's something you guys ever had with him in Amarillo. If there was ever like a big injury scare moment or anything like that. I think when we interviewed him in San Antonio, the question was about his shoulder. Right. Sure. How was he adjusting in his first full season post shoulder injury? Because he was in Hillsborough for what seven games? Yeah. And then began the season in double A was the best player in the tech. in the time that he was there. And there was never an issue. I think Corbyn, for a moment, we didn't get to see Corbyn at 100% ever. Because I don't think he was pushing himself to 100%.
Starting point is 00:14:06 He wasn't as big of a base dealer. He wasn't showing off the arm in right. That wasn't who he was. He wasn't making the diving catches that he was in Reno. Once he felt that the big leagues was coming, that was when we saw a different level of Corbyn Carroll. And the cool part about his story and his situation, And you saw the jelly roll speech on Twitter.
Starting point is 00:14:25 He said, there's a reason why the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror. If we keep looking back at what he did this season, it stops us from thinking about what he could do in the next few seasons. That's the really exciting part. This is the tip of the iceberg for him. And Jim Callis just put out an article today about what a player's future output could be, these rookies, these rookie of the year candidates. And he put Gunner Henderson just above Corbyn. And it's hard to say that because when you look at war and you look at the way that the game is being monitored, the way that players values are being added up.
Starting point is 00:14:56 Yeah. Corbin does everything so well. Defense, offense, stealing bases, creating chaos, not to. Yeah, but I think with Gunner Henderson, the only difference is that Gunner Henderson was either the silver slugger or the, no, he was a silver slugger for the utility position this year as a rookie. Yeah. The reason that it's not his ceiling, but maybe his shelf life is a little bit higher is because by the time he gets to maybe 38 years old, he can go over and play first base.
Starting point is 00:15:22 Corbin's size doesn't lend itself well to anything except the three outfield spots, and maybe he'll be a super DH like an each or a type. But Corbin is far in a way, in my opinion, the better player than Gunner Henderson. I think Henderson's going to have an excellent season next year. But Carol right out of the jump has had one of the better seasons that we've seen from a rookie in a really long time. And he ignited this area in Arizona. I mean, you see all over social media, who's the face of Arizona sports? Still some people say Devin Booker, but the vast majority has started to say,
Starting point is 00:15:52 Corbyn Carroll is the face of Phoenix, Arizona and Arizona sports as a whole. And to do that in one season is crazy. And it is because it's something that we've had a question about over the last few seasons. At one point, I think when we first started this podcast, I made the claim that David Peralta was the face of this team, which, man, God, thank God we're like far away from that being the case because they didn't have that superstar once Paul Goldschmidt left. And it really felt like at times, you know, someone like Catelle Marte was that for this team, but reluctantly, like, he didn't really want to be that.
Starting point is 00:16:25 I don't think Corbyn Carroll necessarily wants to be that, but he just is with the way he conducts himself, with the way that he answers questions and interviews. Like, he's just, he's a very mature young man, and he's so good at his sport that those two things combined make you respect him a tremendous amount and makes it easy to root for him. Corbyn's a people person, and he has gotten so much better with the media, but we'll go back to the story of when he signed his extension, fresh off signing his extension. at spring training on the roof. On the roof.
Starting point is 00:16:55 On the roof. On the roof. Of the facility in Salt River. And he gets sworn by media as he walks out the door. And first people, he walks up to it. Me and Chris, and he comes in and he hugs us and he asks us how we're doing. That's a human being. That's a player that you can root for and rally and get behind.
Starting point is 00:17:13 And basically by proxy of employment, we've started to root for this team, but mostly root for its players. And that's one thing that baseball is missed out on that the other sports have capitalized on. Basketball does it so well. Football does it so well as you can root for players and not necessarily for teams and be fine. Baseball, it's very, very much you have an identity and you have a team that you root for and a rooting interest in that team. Corbyn is starting to break the mold for people, especially in Amarillo that grew up Texas Rangers
Starting point is 00:17:44 fans. And they were like, well, who do we root for? The guys that we've seen and watched with our own eyes or a team because of of our state pride right right and it makes sense because you do root for guys after a while and and i mean that's the thing is that this diamondbacks team i don't know if they've had that within the organization you know very very much very often right like we've in our franchises history the same names kind of come up you know and it's usually the guys that made some history made a big splash while he were there obviously we know it's like randy johnson kirk shilling louis gonzalez right
Starting point is 00:18:17 But then like from that point on that it's kind of a sporadic grab bag of who people consider to be some of the greatest in Diamondbacks history again Goldie is always there. You know, maybe people bring up a Brandon Webb. Maybe they bring up a Justin Upton. You know, but for the most part, that's what feels so important about Corbyn, you know, is like it really does feel like that guy that everybody wants to get behind and, you know, can help everything that you guys addressed, you know, attracting other talents, want to come play here. You know, just making this a market that people pay more attention. to now. And obviously I know you guys have the whole idea of, or you guys, you know, broadcast for a team that plays in a very hitter-friendly environment. But, you know, you said that Corbyn really wasn't doing a lot of the stuff that he did. Did you imagine him being able to to hit 25 home runs at a major league level and do the 50 soul base thing? Like, was that something that you could have foreseen or is even that kind of outside of your realm of being? able to believe that he did that. I think that this, this year, I think the 54 stolen basis was less surprising to me as compared
Starting point is 00:19:27 to the 25 home runs. I said to a lot of people, 25 home runs for Corvin Carroll is like way more than I would have ever expected. I thought he was going to hit 15 and I would have been fine with that. Yeah, that would have been. Yeah. He would have been excellent. But 25 home runs when you see his pop and his ability to hit the baseball, it just flies
Starting point is 00:19:45 off of his bat differently. And Corbin had success at Hodgetown, but it's really tough to see how that will translate at any other ballpark. And like you guys said, in Arizona, it's a little different. It's a little bit, you know, the ball is deadened a bit with the humidore and everything going on there. Corbin, I expected to get a 25 home run season a couple of times in the midpoint at the peak of his career. Now we're getting to the point where if he keeps hitting this way and he continues to build muscle because he's even more muscular now than when we saw him, Yeah. He might be a 35, 40 home run guy at 5, 10, 170 pounds.
Starting point is 00:20:21 And that is unbelievable to think about, especially in the leadoff position. So Corbin is a unicorn. He's a transcendental talent. He's something the Diamondback should really be excited about and hold on to for as long as possible. And really, I know it's way ahead of the horse. But with the way that he's playing the game of baseball, don't ever let him see free agency. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:42 Yeah. It's time to start working on another extent. Yeah, lock, we're only eight years away back as a season, right? Well, it's funny. Because Tori Lovolo talked about wanting to be a manager
Starting point is 00:20:51 of this team forever. And he keeps getting these extensions that aren't ridiculously long, but he keeps getting extended. And it feels like Tori is going to be a manager forever of this team, or at least as long as he wants to be. And I mean,
Starting point is 00:21:06 I feel like Corbyn is a priority to make potentially the first Diamondback that plays his entire career here. And that's, You know, something that that I don't know if franchises can make happen anymore, but I'd love to see it be with this guy. You know your team is getting good when people on Twitter are saying to fire your manager after two losses in a row. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:27 And this is just overreaction central. They did it with Brian Snick-Kurrie. He ended up winning a World Series in 2021. Yeah. They do it with every manager. And when you look at Tori Lavello and you look at the way that his players respond to him, he's a top five manager in baseball in my mind right now. There's nobody that could be able to navigate things the way that he did against Philadelphia needing to win two in a row at that ballpark with those stakes with that team with no experience
Starting point is 00:21:51 against a team that just went to the World Series. That just goes to show how talented of a manager he is, the emotions are there, the fact that he wants to be back. They rally behind him. I remember talking to Blaze Alexander during spring training and he said, I love Tori because he tells us how it is. He tells it straight. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:08 And that's one thing that you know the guy's respect about him. He is so good at having the ability to connect with players young and old, even when Merrill Kelly was getting frustrated, getting pulled in games when he thought it was early. It ended up working out for Tori. And because of that, Merrill respected his decision the second, third time. Do you remember earlier in this season with, it was the Phillies? And they hit Corbyn Carroll and two consecutive.
Starting point is 00:22:31 Matt Strong. Yeah, it was Matt Strong. Hit him twice. And Lavello comes out and he starts jawing at J.T. Romuto saying, this can't happen. This is our guy. You know, it's right before the All-Star game. You know, he's already had some bumps and bruises.
Starting point is 00:22:44 That's a guy that's riding and dying for his players. And you don't see that as often in Major League Baseball with managers because some of them are older. Some of them have a little bit more self-interest. And he is going out there, player-first manager, doing everything the right way. And from our limited experiences with him, I've been very impressed with just how down-to-earth the guy is. Yeah. Yeah. Tori even took that a step further because when asked after that game what he said to
Starting point is 00:23:10 Muto he said I told him I would have done the same thing for you if you were my player and like talk about hitting a guy like how do you respond to that if you're mad at him for coming out there he like says that to you and I can only imagine sitting there going man wish which was like this like I'm pretty sure Tori said some other things to JT but yes that was part of it it's kind of funny too because you bring that up right and like obviously we know that the the the with the world series and the playoff run we got to see that side of Tori that we don't get to see right that's that's kind of the reason why players love them so much when we see those speeches that we get uh after this you know during the celebrations that's actually like a side that they probably see more often that we don't and it it like we as fans love that side of him love to see him fire us up i've talked about how many times his post game speech has made me want to run through a damn brick wall right you know so it's like that's the reason why they talk about, you know, how much he means to them, like, internally because we, that, that's
Starting point is 00:24:13 what they see. If you look at, like, the last dance as an example of how Michael Jordan would utilize criticism and weaponize, but that's what I'm saying is, is weaponized criticism and use it to his own advantage to become better. Yeah. There's nothing worse than you have, than having a dynastic team, a team that everybody said was going to be great. No.
Starting point is 00:24:35 And there are people come out and say, oh, everybody doubted us. everybody no everybody doubted the diamond back yeah everybody right everybody I didn't think they were going to the world series I thought they were going to make the playoffs I didn't know they were going to go to the world series and Tori used that to motivate his players yes and it was pure and it was real and they really rally behind their manager the bulletin board was big yeah it was big and it was filled with lots of stuff and like yeah you're absolutely right and sometimes especially you know your team you know what fires them up you know you can see throughout the season when people make those little comments when articles come out when disrespect gets thrown
Starting point is 00:25:09 their way how they handle it how they respond and and yeah you're right he can turn around and weaponize that and he definitely did it during the playoffs because there was plenty of disrespect to be had about this team i mean as as a member of the media it was fantastic because at times you get a little tired of managers just kind of like saying what they're supposed to say doing it by the book tory did not do that uh he had some fun with mad dog he had some fun with you know uh quote coaching coach prime and everything along the way like the diamond backs very much embrace this mindset of you know the world doesn't believe in us but we do and it's hard to argue with the results like i guess it worked didn't they play like dancing on my own after they they went to the world series which was phillies like anthem and then they played mad dog by young thug and the yeah i yeah something like that i mean well and i did i excuse me i did not give you guys a hearty ski on the show so ski to you both. I apologize for not doing that. That was also part of our run in our anthem, right? But yeah, no, I mean, again, it was, I think that was the key is like, you know,
Starting point is 00:26:15 or the ski. The skiing, yeah, right? No, the fun, right? Like, these guys had fun the whole time. It felt like it maybe, maybe the fun ended a bit in the World Series because things get, the things get heavy. There's the pressure is on at that point and it's hard to like kind of just laugh your way, you know, through it. But at the same time, it's just incredible. what this team was able to do. And again, with so many of those young guys that you both have had the opportunity to kind of see come through, you know, through, through Amarla. There are more coming. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:45 Yeah. We're going to talk about those guys right now. But I do want to let you guys know, of course, to check out bet MGM if you haven't done so already. You can place your first bet. You can place future bets for MLB. Great time to do so with the season coming up. You can place your first bet through the mobile application of at least $10 using RCO to PHNX. If you do, you'll get $200 instantly in additional winnings regardless of your wagers' outcome.
Starting point is 00:27:09 All you have to do is download the BetMGM Sportsbook app on iOS or Android or visit their website at betmgm.com and use our promo code of PHNX. When you sign up and deposit at least $10 into your newly created account and place a wager in that amount of at least $10 or more at a standard odds price, you will receive $200 in bonus bets regardless of the outcome of your wager. Now, I was using my parlays to curse opposing teams during the playoff run. It seemed to work. You know, when a guy was hot, I'd throw money on him to hit a home run and suddenly he wouldn't and stuff like that. So, again, if you're, if you're, there's different ways you can use it depending on what your self-interest are, whether you want to make money or whether you want to help your team get to the World Series. But again, sign up for the bet MGM app. Use that bonus code of PHNX.
Starting point is 00:27:53 Place your first bet MGM sports book wager through the mobile application at least $10. You will receive $200 instantly in additional winnings regardless of your wager's outcome. Check out the show notes for full details. and now listen to Shane talk about the disclaimer. Ontario. Thank you, Andrew Dang, for your super chat. Andrew says, God bless everyone. Happy Veterans Day. Yeah, of course, it's like everything around this show. Every day on this show is Veterans Day.
Starting point is 00:28:44 That's the way we handle things. Yeah, we're going to have to add that one. We have to add that one in and every Monday is Mailbag Monday. Of course, a great way for you to enjoy the bread that you love and not enjoy all of the negative stuff that can come with bread at times. Check out Hero Bread. They make sliced breads, buns, and tortillas, and they're available at Hero.com. or on Amazon. And of course, what makes them better than other breads?
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Starting point is 00:30:01 but check out check it was that well then it begs the question do you know the muffin man oh my god does he live on drury lane do you know max or do you know patrick lyons because you guys would all get along i think really really well uh right now also read into fifth grade love yes that's where their jokes are too uh hero bread is offering our listeners 10% off their first order just go to hero dot co use code phnx to save on herobread today that's hrr.co to save 10% today uh appreciate you guys being here in the phnxports youtube channel of course if you haven't subscribed already, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Drop us a like. We always appreciate you doing that. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure to subscribe there as well. And leave us a review. We always appreciate your feedback when it comes to the reviews. Now, you guys had your own championship run with the sod poodles, which you actually completed. Actually won. What's that like?
Starting point is 00:30:53 What's that like? I'd just like to know. Was it nice? Was it fulfilling? It was really cool. It was really cool. It was really cool Look, it's great for the people of Amarola
Starting point is 00:31:04 But I was really happy for the players To get to go and do that and it was a banner year for the organization And I think the debacks have a lot to be excited about a lot of young talent to be proud of Sean Roof was the manager again this year and he Became the winning his manager in Saupoodle's history He won the second ever championship in team history He's a great guy too by the way It's fantastic.
Starting point is 00:31:28 And I was really happy for him, for Javier Colina, who's coaching in the fall league, for Tom Gorsalani, for Tremel Sledge, for Jake Shealy, for all the people in the staff and all the people in that clubhouse, they worked so hard to do what they did. And if you look back at how it all unfolded, they led the entire second half. Like there was no question they were going to be that second team from the South Division to make it to the postseason. They go, game one at Hodgetown, lose to San Antonio at home. That means you've got to go to San Antonio, the least hitter-friendly ballpark in the league, and win two in a row.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Quite the opposite of where you guys play. They win two in a row. Drive through the night to Arkansas. So before they won the two in a row, though, I saw a roof in the gym. And we were in the San Antonio Hotel, and he never gives up on his guys. But he seemed a little lower because he was like, you know, we didn't play well in San Antonio on the regular season. And I told him, I said, you win one game, and then you're right back in it. After they won that game, everything else was fine.
Starting point is 00:32:34 I mean, what was you're doing, Chris? In the words of our producer, Damon, so basically what you're saying is don't let us get one, because if we get one, we can get two. Don't let the boys get hot. And there were a lot of really, I'm not going to say hot boys, but you can say that. I mean, there was some good looking gentlemen on our team, that's for sure. No, but they played really well. And there are some really talented players that are coming up in the system fast that the Diamondbacks and Arizona fans should keep their eye on and be very excited about. Who were the key?
Starting point is 00:33:08 Because I know throughout a minor league season, you have so many players coming in and out. Like Jordan Lawler, right, played a decent amount for the Sod Poodles this year. But he was on the Diamondbacks World Series roster. Like there's a lot that changes over the course of the season. Who were kind of the key guys that led the sod poodle? to go as far as they did. Yeah, there are a couple that come to mind immediately, but it begins with AJ Vukovic in my mind.
Starting point is 00:33:32 He was the consistent piece. He's a player that I think is really fallen under the radar for DBAC's people. I was looking at some stats from, I think, Dback stats and info on Twitter today. He led the organization and runs batted in. Was second in the organization in RBI, led the organization and hits.
Starting point is 00:33:50 He's a right-handed hitting outfielder. center fielder now center fielder I think he profiles a little bit better in the corners but phenomenal good power good juice is in the top
Starting point is 00:34:02 of the Arizona fall league for stolen bases he does everything pretty well strikeout rates a little bit high but he was one of those players Caleb Roberts is the most intriguing prospect in the entire pipeline in my opinion I think he's dominant
Starting point is 00:34:15 can zone 2.0 with a better swing and plays better defense and he catches so if there is going to be a left handed backup to Gabby Moreno, I think Caleb Roberts is a great, great pick. You can play first, he can play left. Well, you have to remember, too, Adrian Del Castillo is there, and he was fantastic. I think Roberts plays the corner.
Starting point is 00:34:33 The thing is, you have a load of options. So with the ascension of Ryan Bliss, who hit 214 last year with Hillsborough, ends up hitting 358 with Amarillo, winning back-to-back Texas League players of the month awards, gets into the futures game as a starter, then gets traded to Seattle. You're going to have more of those stories. in the Diamondback system. And what you're going to be able to do is you're going to be able to turn around two prospects for a Paul Seawald or you're going to be able to find a position player
Starting point is 00:35:02 at the deadline when you're still trying to compete or go to the playoffs and trade away some of that because you have so much depth in your minor league system and even more coming up. I agree with Vukovic. I agree with Caleb Roberts. I think Tim Tawa, who is a great super utility player could be a really good player. But somebody that was just absolutely box office was Ivan Melendez. know you guys probably want to talk about him. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:25 Ivan first onto the scene, four home runs in his first three AA games. He was as advertised the entire season until about the very end of the season where we were in Arkansas on a bus. And he comes to me and Stefan and says, hey, I got a little bit of discomfort right now, but I don't know how to talk about it. He's like, I can't walk. He said, I can't feel my heel. And Stefan, I look at each other.
Starting point is 00:35:50 I said, you got to tell you got to tell Roof. before you play in these games. So you guys are not the athletic trainers. No. But he said it was his Achilles and we were like, if you mess it up playing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is gonna be- What's more important winning a double a ring or going and winning a World Series
Starting point is 00:36:06 Championship next year with the Diamondbacks? And he was, I don't know, I mean it's close, you know. But no, he had a really great perspective on all of it and he ended up being perfectly fine. So disclaimer, disclaimer, not to scare anybody, he was perfectly fine. Right. Just dealing with some discomfort and that's the grind of the season, especially when you're playing every day, came back even better,
Starting point is 00:36:26 was a fall star this year with the Arizona Fall League, he's in the home run derby, and he's playing even better than he was in Amarillo. Yeah. Because he has nothing restricting him whatsoever. And Ivan's going to be a really interesting piece
Starting point is 00:36:37 because you have super power in Davison de Los Santos and Ivan Melendez. You have power with Caleb Roberts. You already have Corvin Carroll's power. Christian Walker is going to be there. You're going to have a pretty powerful team in the next couple years.
Starting point is 00:36:50 And AJ Boovitch hit 25 home runs and is the ultimate. all-time single-season RBI leader in Sodpoodle's history, following up one Leandro Sedano that's now playing, was playing in the Japanese, the Japanese Nippon Pro Baseball World Series, whatever you call it there, with Orix. So the dimebacks have a lot, and they're going to continue to have a lot. And I would expect, because you have a young team already, some of these names are going to be going to be going to be impacts for their Major League Club, and you're going to be able to
Starting point is 00:37:20 get a lot for them. Do you think any of their answers to the lineup holes that they have now are possibly in the minor league system right now? Or do you think that's a bit of a longer term kind of thing? I think it's a way that you have to think about what you're willing to commit to, right? Are you willing to fully commit to sticking with that farm system plan? But now that you're already good and you know you have at least probably with the departure of Gurriel, I know it sucks. Yeah. And with the departure of Longoria, you have about 85% of the pieces that you need to make to the World Series because you know, because you just made it.
Starting point is 00:37:57 Right. Does Loller play short? Does Perdomo play third? Does Loller play third? The only question is offensive output. How many home runs is Loller going to hit if he's an everyday third basement? Yeah. Is that enough to consider putting him in the lineup starting every day?
Starting point is 00:38:14 Perdomo is going to be a 10 home run guy at his best. Correct. Right? I think he's starting to figure it out a little bit more, plays elite shortstop. And he's somehow just the catalyst of the offense at times. We talked to him about him so much. But yeah, like, you know, again, the way that he gets things started, it's hard to describe because it's not going to show up sometimes in his stat line as much.
Starting point is 00:38:35 You can't have a player that was coined Baby Jeter by a lot of scouts. And I think that was too much pressure to put on. That was an outrageous amount of pressure to be an off-the-batch guy next year. I think you have to let him go and have the same operational. is Corbyn. And Corbyn never has really struggled in the majors. I think Jordan's going to struggle a little bit, but he struggled at double A this year and found a way to bounce back and become elite. Make no mistake, he was the best player in the Texas League, probably the best player in double A at one point, even with his struggles. I mean, his, a lot of the time, the exit veloes were well over 100, 100, 5, 110 miles per hour. It was just landing in the right spot and the right gloves and all that. Jordan is a really good hitter, really talented defender. Stefan's right, though. Where is he going to play? Is he going to play shortstop every day? I think that that's the plan. There are going to be players that will force their way onto the roster. I think Ivan Melendez, you know, you think about J.D. Martinez and Ivan Melendez is the closest
Starting point is 00:39:29 comparison that I have to him with the ability to play the corners at third base and first base. That will give you 35, 40 home runs a year if you let him. Then you have Davis-Sadelo-Santos, who's another guy. Needs to figure out the slider is still incredibly young, but his upside is there. And then, A.J. Vukovic, who I see on the comments there from, Chris saying, wait, we make righty outfielders. AJ Vukovic would be that righty outfield option that a lot of people would be excited about. We saw Christian Robinson at the end of the year too.
Starting point is 00:40:00 Boy, did he look good? So there's options there. It's just a matter of are they going to stick with their farm system? Are they going to trade away these players? Or are they going to acquire somebody in free agency? Because the last couple of years, it seems like they're stockpiling, all of these players. Blaze Alexander being one that's kind of being log jammed in the system. Dominic Fletcher, what does he do?
Starting point is 00:40:21 What does Fletch do? Now, these players are valuable to other organizations. We've talked to a lot of scouts that love Fletcher, love Alexander, and I'm sure would trade for them. And obviously, being put on the 40-man roster, they're valued by the debacks, but there's no point in keeping them there at AAA when they are major league level talents,
Starting point is 00:40:38 and you can get something back for them. And we've talked about the free agency market being kind of scarce and that those next players that come to the Diamondbacks may need to be acquired through trades. So this might be the time. I think Mike Hazen has been good about being patient because they didn't know what this team was going to be at times, especially at the trade deadline this year.
Starting point is 00:40:56 Things were so bad in July that it was hard to justify making some big move that you thought were going to turn things around, especially for a team that was trending towards not even making the playoffs at that point, right? Like you're going to make maybe some desperate move, trade some big pieces within your organization, and maybe like we saw with a lot of the trades that went down in MLB, maybe those starting pitchers that come over that you trade for aren't as good as you were hoping they would be.
Starting point is 00:41:23 Maybe they're in fact worse with the new organization than they were with the team they were at before. But now it does feel like this World Series run does change things. It feels like it expedites that time frame. It feels like it does make maybe some of those guys in the minor league system that are kind of log jammed like, you know, valuable as far as trade assets go, but a bit more expendable because now instead of looking at the long-term future of winning five years from now, they might seriously be considering winning now and trying
Starting point is 00:41:52 to go for it. It just scares me because it feels like that's where you maybe make those big moves that don't, that that weren't part of your plan. And it's hard because Fletch is 25, Blazes, no. Yeah, 26, Blaze is 25. Yeah. Both have minimal to no major league experience. Right.
Starting point is 00:42:10 Yeah. It's kind of a waste. And you've got to make sure that teams get them while they're young so they can evaluate, what is this player's value to me? And if they don't foresee future value in the short term, there's no way they're going to trade for them. And they're too good of players to be sitting in Reno, even though it's one of the best minor league organizations in baseball. So we'll see how they handle it. If there's anybody that can figure out the best way to do it, it's Mike Hazen for taking a team with, what, 84 wins to the World Series.
Starting point is 00:42:38 So it's going to be fun to watch how he handles it. Well, we appreciate the championship experience being in the minor league with you guys going with the sod poodles and winning that championship. And we actually have a picture, which I think feels like it justifies some of my behavior a little bit before. Look, I know you guys made it all. There's the team picture. So we got the team. But then we have this one right here. We have clothes.
Starting point is 00:43:03 Let's, let's, is it up, Damon? There it is. Oh, no. Oh, man. You got Chris on the right. Yeah, good thing this is a subscription-based service. Yeah, look, I got a lot of flack. And yeah, maybe I celebrated a bit early,
Starting point is 00:43:16 but I do appreciate the fact that we were all on the same level as far as our celebrating. You obviously have a much better tan. Look, the studio likes help quite a bit. Your last name being Montia might help a little bit more. That does also help it a little bit. There's some ethnicity there in my background. I feel like there's an important distinction here, though,
Starting point is 00:43:34 because you guys were part of like the celebration, right? It's the champagne thing and whatnot. There are acceptable situations to remove one's shirt just because of all, it just makes sense in that situation. Like when your team makes a world series. Derek was just sitting on a chair in our studio. To be fair, Damon egged me on. Damons, I don't know if I trust Damon under the bus now. Yeah, I'm just saying, I don't know, demons like that.
Starting point is 00:44:02 There might have been some winks involved. I can't guarantee you their word. I'm pretty sure Derek said, should I take my shirt off? And I said, duh. He didn't. His exact words were, I think you have to take your shirt off, is I think what his words are. So we cannot trust Damon or his judgment anymore. But I will say that I did have a fun time.
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Starting point is 00:46:14 Today. Today. 800-5-88. 2-300. There we go. Apparently we're in the 21st century. People don't call on phones anymore. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:46:23 I still say calling on phone is the best way to get things done. But I'm speaking as a man that had to call the Yarnel court system. So that's a whole other story for another time. Anyway. You're the mayor, though. I have the mayor. Sometimes you got to get too done. They should pick up at any time at all.
Starting point is 00:46:39 Well, you guys, of course, are out here for Arizona Fall League. And I know we have some more players definitely to talk about, especially the recent sod poodles that had a big role in the Diamondbacks postseason run. But I do want to get your thoughts on fall league and maybe the overall because I know we get used to baseball just being here year round. And like it's kind of wonderful because we have spring training. We have fall league. We have the regular season. So there's just so much baseball.
Starting point is 00:47:03 but just thoughts on on these guys from a minor league level being featured in this kind of league. The Fall League is such a unique niche celebration of baseball. It is. It is. It is. It is. You know, you don't expect crowds to be incredibly big. However, it's been a very fun and exciting thing and a challenge for Stefan and myself to call the games because you see all different types of players from all over the world across multiple different levels.
Starting point is 00:47:30 And some might surprise you. I mean, you know, I don't know what players are going to win what awards, but I think that there are frontrunners. Jacob Marcy has a real good chance of being an MVP, and he wasn't the top of the top prospects like a Colson Montgomery or any of that. James Triantos, another great player in the Cubs organization. So you start to see players blossom into what they will become in the major leagues here in the fall league. And they might not be the player that's, you know, a step away. They might be players that finish the year in low A or high age. And they're facing AA and AAA talent and just mashing.
Starting point is 00:48:05 And everybody has done a really great job. We're thankful to Chuck Fox and Josh Schwamm and the entire communications department of the Fall League for bringing us on and allowing us to help their broadcast initiative. And I wish we could stay longer. But the season ends tomorrow. We wish we wish you could too. But I know that the Fall League comes and goes very quickly. You know, like it feels like it's here and gone in the blink of an eye. We were planning on doing quite a bit of fall.
Starting point is 00:48:28 coverage this year and then well you know the team went to the world yeah the world series right got the way of our fall week time and gotten the way of tory's christmas decorating time there were a lot of negative impacts uh involving the world series run but we'll take it uh any year but uh i do know that like like you were saying the fall league is very important for these guys career because sometimes that's where you can kind of have a breakout kind of moment where not just your own organization gets to see but obviously scouts and such from other organizations where you could end up you know making an impression and trying to get those teams to make that play for you. Yeah, it was really, really cool.
Starting point is 00:49:03 For us on a personal standpoint, right, we're just two broadcasters, right? We just go out and we call the games and we've gotten to meet so many cool people. We got to go on MLB Network in the bottom of the seventh of the Fall Stars game. It was a really quick inning, but it was an honor to be asked. How long? How long is the inning? It was about a minute and a half. A little introduction and ground ball, strikeout, whatever it was.
Starting point is 00:49:26 And it was super quick, but. Obviously, everybody's trying to advance and everybody's trying to excel. Our goal is to make it to the majors. These players' goals are to make it to the majors. I think that the thought process and the ideology from Chuck Fox and Josh Schwamm in terms of the fall league was to not only have it be that way for players, but also for the staff, for the broadcasters, for everybody. To be that finishing school. And that's what it's been for us. We've come out here, not for the money, not for the attention.
Starting point is 00:49:55 The fame. It is the fame. We know why you're here. I obviously didn't get enough press. because I wanted to come on PHNX because I knew that this would do it for. Yeah, I know. So this is...
Starting point is 00:50:04 Who needs MLB Network when you have the... Did they have in studio? I'm just saying. Yeah, exactly. I will say you guys did wait a month and some change to have a shot. Yeah, that is true. I felt like I took a backseat with the mayor and the vice mayor. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:19 I must be like the city planner or something. I mean, you know, well, it's JJ. I mean, it's the star of the show. Yeah. But of course, you guys, We know you guys got to see these guys that, man, just were so valuable to this team during this playoff run. Not too long ago. Brandon fought Andrew Saul Frank.
Starting point is 00:50:39 How cool was it to see these guys like on this stage, especially fought? I mean, we interviewed a lot of members of his family and former teammates and stuff. We found the entire fought. We found that. Yeah. What was that? I guess that was game three of the world series. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:55 Yeah. But no one really seemed to be surprised that he was handling this moment with. such grace and looking like the veteran he did up there. I wasn't surprised either. I was elated for both of them. I mean, Brandon fought when he left AA Amarillo had 144 strikeouts to 19 walks.
Starting point is 00:51:12 Yeah, that was a banner year. Last year, minor league pitcher of the year-esque season, then goes to Arizona, gets hit around a bit, goes back down, figure some things out, then goes back down again,
Starting point is 00:51:23 figure some things out. And then move to one side of the rubber to the next. And it seemed to pay off with Brent Strom being the real difference maker as a pitching coach. Brandon Fott is the real deal. And Andrews Hallfranc is also incredible. That curve ball that I still look at it and I think it's a slurve, but I know he calls it a curveball.
Starting point is 00:51:43 It has really good rotations. He very adamantly calls it a curveball. It's a fantastic pitch and he was dominating it with Amarillo. And it was only a matter of time before he went up as well. There are other relievers like Austin Pope and Jake Rice and Christian Montez-Dioka that are going to have a chance to make an impact. next year, possibly for the Diamondbacks. That's if they stay with the organization because they're building a lot of value.
Starting point is 00:52:05 So just to see those guys thrive at this level makes it incredibly worth it because, you know, just a year and some change ago, they were on a charter bus going down to Corpus Christi, sleeping on a makeshift or makeshift cot on the floor and just bouncing their heads around, playing cards with all their other minor league teammates not making any money whatsoever. And now they're living their dreams. Yeah, that's what's so incredible about this. especially, you know, within the minor league system, Arizona Fall League, all of that stuff, like seeing these guys at this level and knowing like you have no idea how soon that that dream
Starting point is 00:52:39 can, didn't become a reality for them. But especially Saul Frank, you know, we didn't know a lot about him. And he just kind of came up out of nowhere at the end of the regular season. The Diamondbacks, it was honestly hilarious. Like how often do you see a guy get called up? I think it was September 4th, I want to say, is when the Diamondbacks called Andrew Saul Frank. up from Reno and he immediately becomes the high leverage left-handed
Starting point is 00:53:03 reliever of a team that was fighting for a spot in the playoffs and then that continued he certainly had his struggles in the postseason but Diamondback still showed a lot of trust him and put him in a lot of big spots and he came through for them in those big spots and yeah I mean more often than on on the whole it was a pretty
Starting point is 00:53:19 impressive month month and a half where he was just thrown into the fire in the big leagues I can't remember like a postseason team ever reliant that much on a guy who had a month of big league experience. It was pretty remarkable. It permeates its way through a bullpen, doesn't it? I mean, you look at the way that that bullpen had struggled prior to Saul Frank getting there. There were two or three arms you could
Starting point is 00:53:42 turn to in any given moment. And you can't do that on a consistent basis. Guys need their rest. That's how the game is played now. It's more rest. You're not going to have the same pitchers throw on every single day. Once Saul Frank gets there, you get one of the best bullpens in the postseason in the Diamondbacks. Everybody is pitching well. Castro is pitching well. Ginkle has always pitched well. You have Seawalls doing his thing. I know that it didn't work out as well in the World Series. Ryan Thompson was excellent.
Starting point is 00:54:05 Ryan Thompson was that kid. Kyle Nelson, Ryan Nelson both pitched pretty well in the postseason. So that's the thing is there's sometimes that one piece. I think everybody at the beginning of the year expected it to be Justin Martinez with his high-velocity fastball. It didn't end up being him. It ended up being a guy that threw in the low 90s and two pitches. And he throws those two pitches so effectively that it's impossible to hit. And no runs come against him, but generates soft contact.
Starting point is 00:54:32 He and Brandon fought were so much fun to watch last year, and they were so much fun to watch this year. The key to Andrew Solfranck, the key word about the way he pitches is he pitches deceptively. He doesn't actually throw a lot of pitches in the strike zone. He generates a lot of swing and miss. So that curveball looks a lot like a strike and then breaks out at the last second.
Starting point is 00:54:52 So those pitches are very low-risk pitches when you think about it, and they break outside even further. So you generate that swing and miss. And that's what you want in a high leverage reliever. Especially you would hope that he finds a strike zone a little bit more. But with that sinker, it was coming along, the breaking ball as well. But especially against left-handed hitters, he was excellent. And to answer your question about a player being called up for a playoff run,
Starting point is 00:55:16 the only player that comes to mind is not a pitcher. I have to think about in 2020 with Randy a Roserena. Sure. What he did. I mean, they just called upon him and he put the team on his back going all the way to the World Series. Kind of a similar story. I mean, a 60-game season, but the.
Starting point is 00:55:29 Ray's and the Diamondbacks had parallels. Small market team, didn't spend very much money, had some young talent, really good connectivity, and they find themselves in the postseason and then the eventual World Series of that year in 2020. Yeah, going back to Saul Frank for a second, it really does feel like if Saul Frank throws strikes, just like enough strikes, not a ton of strikes, like you said, it's almost an asset for him that he's really not in the zone very much. And even in the postseason when he was struggling, it wasn't that Saul Frank was getting
Starting point is 00:55:58 knocked around like crazy. It was just that he was walking guys. Yeah. People were being patient. Yeah. And, you know, there's something to be said for a reliever who's sort of not going to give in in those moments. And, you know, if he finds a way to throw strikes just enough from what we've seen,
Starting point is 00:56:14 it looks like he has a chance to be one of the better left-handed relievers in the game. Yeah, it's really difficult just throwing two pitches, right? You have your sinker slider guys. And when you have that, you sit on one. If you don't get it, okay, then you take the other. ball sinker curveball but yes typically we'll correct you as we as you should uh you know I should know this shame but the the sinker curveballers uh the few that are out there you sit on one pitch you wait for the fastball if you get the curve ball more often than not it's
Starting point is 00:56:45 going to be out of the zone if you don't swing that's what hitters were starting to recognize it's such a tantalizing pitch which you should give solfrank credit to be able to be that deceptive and that's what Chris was doing is to be able to throw two pitches that effectively and not get hit hard, he's a phenomenal pitcher. Yeah. All right. Well, I have nothing more for you guys other than I love what you guys do. I think you guys are incredible as broadcasters.
Starting point is 00:57:12 I think the sod poodles definitely should be thrilled to have you. And we are thrilled to have you here. So we thank you guys so much for bringing so much to this show. And I guess I have to ask if we leave on one note is there. And I know we always kind of ask this of you guys. is there somebody, is there somebody that we don't really know about? Somebody that really doesn't get talked about that you think is potentially going to be that guy, maybe maybe a bit like Andrew Saul, Frank, whose names really didn't come up.
Starting point is 00:57:40 Then all of a sudden out of nowhere, this guy seems to be, you know, he makes the major league roster and seems to be very effective. Okay, you go first, Stefan. I think I have mine. I have one. His name is Nafi Castillo and right-handed hitting outfielder. I think to me, if he can figure. out how to hit consistently for average. Powers there. He's Jorge Salar 2.0.
Starting point is 00:58:05 He's Jorge Soler 2.0. Same size. A little slimmer, but it's the same number too. It is uncanny. From the Dominican Republic. Let's go. Jorge Soler 2.0, Navy Castillo. All right.
Starting point is 00:58:17 Mine is a young pitcher from Watire, Venezuela, and his name is Yilbert Diaz. Killed that pronunciation. Yulbert Diaz is the real deal. He came up to AA Amarillo and had four, maybe five starts and just shoved. I mean, we have the obvious human lens, fantastic. He throws seven to nine pitches at Will and for strikes.
Starting point is 00:58:42 But Yilber, high 90s fastball, good breaking ball, excellent change up. And for his age, he's 21 or 22 years old, to be able to do what he did for Amarillo, a team that lost all of their starting pitching. Luke Albright was hurt. Jameson Hill got hurt. Chad Patrick got traded away.
Starting point is 00:59:02 Then you had two relievers doing bullpen games every day. You had two starting pitchers in the postseason. And one of them didn't even go to the championship because he had to serve for team Taiwan so he didn't go into the military, which was Yumen Lin. So you had Yilbert Diaz pitching alone, pitching lights out ball and finding so much success. So he would be my sleep.
Starting point is 00:59:25 per pick. He is a top 30 guy. I think he's number 20 or number 21 and the debacks top 30, but he's an under the radar player and another great starting pitcher that the Diamondbacks could use in the next couple of years. Those prospect lists are so helpful at times, but they also can hurt because, again, you kind of underestimate a guy or undervalue a guy because, like, oh, you're number 27 in their organization. Yeah, we read a little too much into those numbers for sure. For sure. I think that they're, they're entirely subjective. And I love Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra and Jim Callis and all the work that they do because it's tireless. It is.
Starting point is 01:00:00 Yeah. But it does come from them, from years and years and months and months of analysis for the players. It doesn't necessarily reflect the organization stance on a player. Sure. Sure. So they go for priority versus non-priority. Anybody in the fall league is pretty much a priority guy. And then you start to see the priority players in AA and AAA, the Dominic Fletcher's, the Blaze Alexander's.
Starting point is 01:00:23 You get to the 40 man. They're going to be some really good players in the future for the Diamondbacks. So don't think it's over, Phoenix fans. This is just the beginning. That's right. And I think that you're going to see some really talented Diamondbacks future players that have playoff experience that want to win more than anyone. And we'll provide that extra spark. I don't think the Diamondbacks had in the World Series this year.
Starting point is 01:00:45 Shout out to Caleb Lindsay in our chat. He said, ski to you good sirs. And happy Veterans Day to all you heroes out there. Thank you, Caleb. We appreciate you guys. We appreciate all of you guys being here. Of course, if you are a diehard, thank you so much for signing up for our diehard membership. If you haven't, check it out today.
Starting point is 01:01:01 Maybe today is the day for you. Go to go, PhNX.com. You'll get a free shirt from PHNX Locker.com, including all of our wonderful shirts. You know, we're connected. We're dangerous. We're a wagon. We're all of those things. So make sure to check that out.
Starting point is 01:01:15 We might also have a very, very, very, very special brand new shirt coming very soon. And when I say very soon, I mean, might be on the other side of this weekend. And it might be about one of all of our favorite guy that we talked about here earlier on and all of his accomplishments that he's had this season. So keep your eyes. How did you just say nothing and like everything? Everything. I know. It was it was meaningful words.
Starting point is 01:01:37 And then I just gave it all the way. It's what I do. It's what I do on the show. Yeah. Yeah. Chris was dressed in talks the most, says the least is his superlative in high school. All right. Let's go.
Starting point is 01:01:48 I don't know if that's necessarily a compliment. I don't know. Maybe you and I start a show that nothing ever gets done. I don't know. We could talk for 75 minutes and no point ever got ready. Hey, as long as you take care of the ad reads. I will take care of the ad reads. Of course, again, check out those shirts at PHNX Locker.com.
Starting point is 01:02:07 And speaking of ad reads, make sure to check out our friends at OG's brands. They are flavoring our Fridays around here. And they can flavor your Fridays as well. With the holidays right around the corner, things are getting hectic. You need to take care of yourself and maybe that adult over 21 in your life that you might need to get a stocking stuff before. Who knows? Thankfully, our buds at OG's brands are back at it with exclusive deals for PHNX listeners and they've made it super easy for you to score these savings. Get 25% off any OGs products at your neighborhood Zen Leaf location from now until November 30th when you place an online order and use our code of PHNX.
Starting point is 01:02:42 Again, just head to Zenleaf dispensaries.com. Find your closest location. Order your favorite OG's gummies for pickup. and enter discount code PHNX to get that 25% off at checkout. The deal is exclusive to PHNX listeners, and as a reminder, only available for online and pickup in the store. Discount code PHNX will be active until November 30th.
Starting point is 01:03:01 So again, just as a reminder, it will be active on Thanksgiving, and the day before Thanksgiving, I'm just saying. So check out OGs today. And it's going to build up an appetite. Yeah, exactly, right. Or, you know, if you have a lot of family members, a lot of big family members,
Starting point is 01:03:18 and he would just want to relax and tune out all the list. Oh, Jesus, for you. There we go. Well, again, we appreciate you guys so much for stopping by. Make sure to not miss out. Fall League is gone here soon. So the championship game is this weekend? Yep, the championship game is tomorrow at 630.
Starting point is 01:03:35 MLB network will have that. Let's go. Basic cable. And we will have the call on MLB.com tonight for the play-in game at 6-30. Excellent. So make sure to stay tuned for that. You can follow these guys on Twitter. They just have their names.
Starting point is 01:03:48 It's just Chris Carey at C-A-R-A-Y, Stefan Carey. Of course, I am at Cap underscore Cave Man with a K for some inexplicable reason. Jesse's at Jesse and Friedman, which makes a lot of sense. Of course, the people's producer, Damon, he is at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G. We are all, including the carries. We're all Damon's dogs.
Starting point is 01:04:08 Roof-Roof. We bark around here. Does he guys got to give a wolf for Damon? I'm a Georgia Bulldog. Oh, so go ahead. Can we get a wolf from you? What do we got? Should we say it?
Starting point is 01:04:15 So we just say it. You go first. Br, no, no, no. You got to hit it. You got to bark at them. We all bark differently, so it's allowed. Yeah, I feel like I was going to do my impression as Stefan's bark. Oh, that's adorable.
Starting point is 01:04:27 As long as they're not barking that quiet against Ole Miss, I'm fine. Whatever he said. Let's go. Well, of course, our shows at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much. We thank you guys again for stopping by. Appreciate your time. Appreciate their time.
Starting point is 01:04:45 and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when you get to watch corbin carroll on your team

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