PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Special guest Kevin Ginkel talks World Series, making it as 22nd-round pick and more

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

Ready to run through a brick wall? Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Kevin Ginkel joins us in studio to discuss the D-backs 2023 postseason run to the World Series, his journey from the Wildcats to the Snakes, who in clubhouse he would trust to cook for him, and more!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.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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. WYNK Seltzer + THC: Go to https://drinkwynk.com/ and use promo code “PHNX” for 50% off. 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.

Welcome into a very special edition of the PHMX Teaback's podcast right here on PHNX. We are joined by a very special guest. We got Kevin Ginkle in the house. Of course, I am your mayor, PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia. And you know, Jesse. He's your thunder stick and your vice mayor. Kevin, thank you so much for being here, man. It's been incredible to watch what you guys did in the postseason.

And I imagine it was a whole lot of fun for you guys being in the World Series there one month ago. Yeah. It feels like it's yesterday a little bit. starting to like come down now and and just appreciate the the ride we went on um yeah i i've got nothing but uh you know good good feelings about just like how this team played this year and um you know hopefully we can run it back again did was there a point during the postseason run where it just felt surreal that this was happening to you guys or did you just kind of feel like we're locked in right now and this is this is us at our best um to be honest i i thought we were very confident um

I think going into the Milwaukee series really kind of set the tone where we just wanted to come out and play our best brand of baseball. And like Corbyn had a really good series. All like all the guys in our lineup played really well. And then obviously the pitching did its part too. But I think that really kind of set the tone and gave us some confidence going into, you know, the next series. And honestly, no one really expected us to beat Milwaukee. And then I think with like L.A. coming up to those. I think we kind of punched him in the mouth first game.

Yeah. And it really kind of changed, I guess, the narrative, I guess, of that series. Yeah. To what extent do you guys feel like you fed off some of the doubts that were in the media or just sort of floating around on social media or whatnot? That seemed to be kind of a big narrative throughout the entire thing. I think, you know, we kind of accepted like our role where it was like, yeah, we're the underdog, right? Like a lot of these teams have just bigger payrolls in us and, um, and everything.

But I thought as a team like we really jelled together, um, it was different than like other teams I've been on where we had veteran leadership, but we also had like young players that were contributing and, um, obviously the pitching did its part too. But I think for the most part, like everybody enjoyed coming to the park and like going to work and, um, it was a really good mix of guys and I think that's that kind of helped carry us you know through the postseason where you know no disrespect to their teams but like those teams have bigger payrolls right like they're gonna um you know got you know corey seger you got mooky bets like there's different players like that and so I think for us like we accepted our role and like everybody was jelling together from you know just from my

opinion could have been different but um I really did think that everybody uh enjoyed coming to the park and getting to work. Tori seemed to be such a huge part of that, obviously. Like just, you know, we know, we know how he is with you guys. We know how much, you know, whenever we talk to anybody, everybody always glowing things to say about Torrey. But like, we saw that. We saw the clubhouse speech. We saw the clubhouse speech.

We got it on the shirt right here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That definitely seemed different than what. And it's not to say other teams weren't, you know, maybe privately doing that or maybe some of those celebrations or speeches weren't going on. But it's just like Tori felt like not only was he. he's such a motivator with that kind of talk, but also, like Jesse said, with using some of the, you know, the Mad Dog Russo stuff, using some of that stuff out there is just kind of fun motivation for you guys.

Yeah. I think when we clinched the postseason, he did this whole speech and, you know, it's on T-shirts now, I think, where it's like, let's effing party. Yeah. And it was like, whoa, like we didn't really see that side of him before. And so it was really cool. And I think each time we moved on, um, you know he I feel like he probably developed some confidence to just with this team and like obviously with ourselves like we're trying to go out and do our job but

It was it was cool to see his that personality. I guess pop out a little bit too and It's been a long time coming. You know it's been a few years since this organization's you know been in the postseason so yeah, yeah We've got to talk about what you were able to do for this team during during the post season 11 and two thirds innings eight hits no runs five walk five or 15 strikeouts excuse me zero runs throughout the entire yeah how it's yeah it's yeah it's you know there's been there are a few times i think throughout that postseason where it could have gotten you know a little hairy but sure um for the most part i just tried to control my emotions and and not you know get too far deep and just really it's just stay focused and locked in pitch to pitch

and I know I think just with like my stuff, I can get a lot of guys out. And so I just felt like I was clicking at the right time, you know, pitch to pitch. I was locating as best as I ever have really throughout my career. And, you know, I was getting some good swings and misses. You know, we contact. And, you know, I just felt like whoever was up there,

I just felt confident enough to get them out. And, yeah, it was for me personally, a very memorable postseason. Well, and you also released a lot of those emotions after you'd get out of the ending, right? We saw some of those emotions. That's some of our favorite stuff. And I'm not sure a lot of fans would agree. But like, yeah, like, I mean, you didn't seem to ever have a problem, like, showing how,

how excited you were in the moment. And that, that fired us up. I ran, like, if Saul tells you that there's property damage that you owe around here, do not believe him. It was me. I'm the one that ran through the walls. It might have been because of you, but I ran through the walls. But, yeah, like, it got people fired up.

Yeah, it's, I think like with my role, you know, I'm out there for an inning or so. And, you know, for me, it feels good to go out. And, you know, when I'm in the moment, I'm really trying to focus and do my job as best I can. And then, yeah, like there are just times, like, even if I had, like, bases loaded and I'd get out of a jam. I'm like, that's huge. It's like, that's huge for our team. And I think sometimes, you know, doing it in the right spots, I guess, for me helps. But yeah, I think showing that passion, showing that fire, you know, Polly does it too.

Like there's a lot of guys in our bullpen that show it. And I think, you know, you see the results, I think, come with it too. So, yeah. What does it feel like to strike out the side in the eighth inning in game seven of the end? There were obviously a lot of incredible moments for you throughout the run. but that moment in particular just stands out for me more than anything else yeah um that was special uh you know i think for me it was just a very cool moment um you know because i i i think any big league or any ball player wants to be in that role right like they want to yeah have the ball

and you know in a tight game and um i just kind of accepted it and was like you know i i i control what happens here if if possible and if I execute my pitches um you know I'm gonna make them look silly because they were they were behind it was game seven I feel like they had pressure on them yeah and they're a really good club too and it just felt like you know any kind of wiggle room you gave them like they were gonna jump on it so um they uh they did a really I mean it was just a tough series in general but um like they you know I just tried to focus make a pitch to pitch um I'll say this the bone The Bowmat bat was, I kind of, I felt like set the tone where he slammed his bat.

And I was like, yeah, I got him right where I want. I think he, I got him right where I want. Yeah. And it just kind of, it developed some confidence with me. So it was cool. And that confidence, it seemed to grow on you guys. I mean, I know like your season, uh, you guys had a lot of ups and downs, right? You guys had your struggles in July and part of August there.

But like, yeah, it really felt like you guys kind of came together because of all of those ups and downs throughout the season. Yeah. But that run in the playoffs, it felt very much like, you know, like again, that first game against Milwaukee, that wildcard game. I think that was the game where you came in in the seventh up four to three and tossed two scoreless. Like that game seemed to like just completely change people's perception of what this team could do in the postseason. 100%. And like, I think just the way we played baseball too, I felt like we'll talk in the bullpen about, you know, the game and like just like the little stuff that no one

really all season. I just felt like we played really good defense. We run the bases really well. It's this new style or old school, I guess, style of baseball that I don't think a lot of fans are used to. And we're just, we're not on like that national stage really. So I think for the first time, people were really starting to see how we played. And it puts pressure on teams, right? Like, you know, if we're able to run the bases really well, it puts pressure on the catcher, you know, to throw guys out and, you know, moving up 90 feet, you know, gets you know, closer to scoring. So it's like just those little things I felt like we really did a good job and, you know, credit to our coaching staff and, you know, everybody just kind of buying into that.

Yeah. What's it like pitching in Philadelphia in front of that? I know. Yeah. I feel like we talked about it too much at the time on. I think it was entirely overblown. Yeah. But I still have to ask, like, when you're warming up, like, are you hearing some pretty crazy things? consumer sort of led to believe. Yeah, it's, it's a different animal over there. It is. A lot of guys see it and playing it. And it's different.

You know, when they're, when you're not playing well, I mean, you just, you kind of see it, I guess, on social media or whatever, like they're fan base, right? They're just super passionate fans. And I think for us coming into that series, we just kind of accepted. that, you know, they were going to be honest. Like, but it's a good thing that they're honest because, uh, we're really good too. And so, um, I think just trying to take the crowd out of it as much as possible was huge. It was huge. Those first two games, uh, they kind of, they punch us in the mouth a little bit,

but I felt like when we came back here, the way we responded was really well. We slowed down their lineup a little bit and we kind of got them on their toes. So, um, but yeah, they're, they're fans. I mean, I'll sit in the bullpen there. They just don't care. I was going to say, you hear a lot of it out there, right? They don't. Yeah, like they let you know. I mean, they're kind of towering over you.

Oh, 100%. That bullpen is very clearly put in that spot for a reason. I'll tell you a story. There was a, I'm warming up and, or I wasn't warming up. I was like stretching in the bullpen. It's like earlier in the game. And some fan thought I was a pitcher in our bullpen. And they kept saying the guy's name, but I'm like the only person, you know,

you know around yeah and you know I tell the guy I'm like you know I'm not I'm not that guy I'm Kevin Ginkle and the guy's like oh you know like starts talking and uh says some stuff or whatever and I just kind of like try to ignore them and then I blew him I turned around I blew him a kiss and so I'm like you got to be smart you know picking and choosing your spots but uh I kind of I kind of like that. It's fun. You know, it's like, you know, they're, they're, uh, they're just passionate fans, like I said. Well, and I've heard that they yell some crazy things.

Like, not only is it obscenities, but they'll also like attack you for your whip in July or something like that. Yeah, they go deep. You know, like, uh, just like, I didn't hear too much about like family stuff, but, and that's a good thing. But, uh, yeah, mostly it's suspected that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I'm sure they're doing research about my family right now.

No doubt. No doubt. And like, you know, they. I think they've got like, you know, social media accounts where it's like they, they try and grab stuff from whatever, you know, interview you're saying and throw it in the fire and just, you know, see if, you know, the fan base gets fired up. So, yeah, it's, it's, it's crazy. Now, we know baseball is a business, but I want to say one moment that got us pretty upset was on June 11th, you toss two scoreless innings during the regular season on a, on a, for a win in Detroit. And then on June 12th, you got sent down. That must have been a little hard to deal with, considering you were not performing, like, in a way that we would typically think a pitcher would when you had like that.

You had like 2.77 ERA at the time. Yeah. Yeah. It's part of the business. You know, it was hard for sure. I thought just, you know, for how long I'd been here, you know, I thought like, you know, they were going to give me an opportunity. But, you know, I get it. Like there's no disrespect to our pitchers on our team.

I like all of our guys. And it's a job at the end of the day. And, you know, I thought, you know, a lot of things could have happened, right? I mean, I could have been sent down and, you know, complained about it. But I just felt like just go down there, reset, you know, focus on when I need to pitch. It's a little different, you know, mindset, I guess, going down there. you know when you're going to pitch and it's a little different. But yeah, I just tried to not get distracted by that.

And when I did get an opportunity to come back up, I'm like, all right, I really got to just go out, do my job, focus as best I can, and let everything kind of take care of itself. You wound up back in the major just a couple weeks later. I remember you and I talked toward the end of the season about your conversation with Tori when you first came back. What do you remember from kind of that initial interaction when you were back with the major league? Yeah. I mean, I don't want to get into. to too deep of details, but for the most part, you know, I, we, there are some things we discussed when I went down that he wanted me to work on. And, um, I felt like I did that. And, you know,

when I saw him, you know, he was appreciative and it was like, hey, we, we saw great job, you know, let's, let's get to work. And, um, you know, I think that was kind of in the past, I guess. And, um, you know, I knew just kind of moving forward that, um, you know, I knew just kind of moving forward that, um, um, Um, you know, it was just going to be, you know, however I was going to pitch like I was ready for. I was ready for the opportunity. And you had a tremendous season. And even coming back up, you had a tremendous season. I know that there was that point, um, where you got back to back saves on the road against the Braves, which seemed like a huge moment, um, not only for you, but kind of for the team.

Yeah. Um, that was a fun series too. They were their best team in baseball at the time. And, um, I just felt like, you know, going into that park. with that lineup, Okunia was playing really well. I just thought he like he kind of sets the tone for that lineup and I'll you know I had a little scuffle with him which which I don't know if you guys last but That was kind of a funny moment, but yeah, I just felt like that was that was a playoff type series, you know

playing against one of those teams and yeah, we it was fun. I was a I enjoyed that series. I That did seem like a big time like, this is not how this works moment from you or you just kind of had to like do what you had to do with the situation. You know, my, I, you know, I've talked to some people about it. I just thought that he was going to steal home on me. Yeah. And, you know, I can talk about this now since it's over with. But yeah, I thought he was going to steal home. And no one was really covering third base.

And I know we had a five two game. I just felt like him. you know, wanting to steal home. I didn't, I just didn't want to get posterized. I'm like, I don't want this guy to like, you know,

steal him because he can do that. Right. And so I saw him. He was, you know, halfway down the line and I saw him. I just kind of like walking back to the bag. And,

you know, no words were said really. But, uh, I was like, you know, I was just kind of letting him know. I'm like,

hey, I'm acknowledging you. You're really good. Like, I don't want you to run on me. I want you to know that. I don't do that. So it was the MVP,

but like, Don't. So it wasn't, it wasn't like he was acting as just like an irritant. And you just wanted to sort of like make a statement like to, you know, kind of get back over to third base. Like you legitimately thought that there was a threat of him stealing home in which case it probably made sense to make sure. For sure. I think, you know, I can remember. It was like we had two outs.

It was a three run lead. And I was throwing back to back games. And I just felt like, you know, hey, like we kind of have to like stand up. Yeah, I, you know, whether it's me, if I'm right or wrong, whatever, I just felt like we can't be afraid. And, you know, we won the game. And, you know, it was a good game. And I just felt like, look, I don't want the best player in baseball or one of the best players in baseball. You know, just take off from me when I'm not looking at any scores.

Sure. That makes a lot of sense. No, plus, I mean, honestly, it's still the Braves, right? And it's like any kind of momentum that swings their way. Yeah, that's a team that can all of a sudden, you know, things. Really good turn on. Yeah. Right. Well, and a part of, you know, of course, kind of things, obviously there were some additions to the bullpen late in the season. Ryan Thompson came on. Andrew Salfranc came up. Both of those guys were excellent. Paul Seawald in the trade with Seattle became just your guys closer. And it seemed like once that happened, everything kind of fit in the place. I know in talking to Joe Mantipa, one time he said that's how he felt. Is that like once Seawald came over, did you feel like everything kind of locked in? Or did it take a little while for you guys to kind of figure it out? Yeah, I felt like he brings that veteran presence.

And, you know, he's very expressive in the locker room, too. And I thought it was a good guy to bring to our club where he has a little personality. And like he's quality pitcher. He's been in the big leagues now for a few years. And, you know, we started some things that, you know, after we'd win ball games, like he'd get up and speak. and it was like a player of the game moment. And, you know, I just thought he accepted his role and he did a great job. And like you said, I think everybody kind of just fell into place.

And everybody accepted their role. And, you know, different guys stepped up in different times. Like Saul Frank pitched really well. Ryan Thompson did really good. I mean, Joe pitched really well. There's so many guys that contributed. Even Castro did well. So it's like everybody's got a role, you know, accept it, you know, and be as good as you can be.

And that you guys became an absolute asset, one of the strengths for this team, not only there at the end of the season, but going into the playoffs, obviously. It felt like Tori really 100% trusted your group, you know, and that's in cases where he even pulled some of the starters like Brandon fought when he was having excellent outing just because, you know, trying not to get through that lineup the third time through. turn it over to you guys but it really felt like you guys just became one of the biggest strengths for this team yeah um i i thought like everybody like i don't know mlb networked a a little more like segment about our bullpen and i think there's a lot of truth to that where like every there's different guys starting from different arms slots and yeah you're getting different looks and um like you know i throw a little more over the top Paul throws from, you know, a little lower arm slot. And then like Joe, Ryan Thompson, Saul Frank, like Castro, there's so many guys in the

bullpen that kind of do different things. And when, you know, they go out there for their spot, like you can't really sit on anything because, you know, maybe the next time up, you know, you're going to get someone else. Yeah. Yeah. I just thought like it really helped, you know, just the way we pitched like the last month or two of the season and then going into the playoffs. Yeah.

I felt like we just developed some confidence along the way. Goofiest guy in the in the bullpen? Oh man. What do we got? I mean, I'm quirky for sure, but I mean, me and Pauly are pretty pretty quirky. Honestly, everybody's got everybody everybody everybody's got their own little quirks. Ryan Thompson's pretty pretty quirky. But like, yeah, for the most part, like we're bullpen guys.

Like we do things a little differently. You got to be able to like turn on and off really. quickly. Sometimes, like, you'll get hot to go in the game and then you get shut down and then you might happen again. So it's tough. But, yeah, we're all kind of weird in our own ways, I guess. That's fantastic. Speaking of trades with Seattle, a E. U.N. Oswears comes over from Seattle. We've heard he's a great clubhouse guy. They're there. They sound very upset to lose him, but that makes us that much more excited for Gino to come here. But have you talked with Seawald about about Swarza? I haven't. Yeah. I haven't. I haven't. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

should reach out to him and see how he's doing. I think I saw the trade and I think it will be an asset for sure. I don't know a ton about Eugenio Suarez, but from what I've heard, I've heard he's great with the guys in the clubhouse and I think he will bring some veteran leadership to our team and I think it's a good move. We'll have to wait and see, but I know obviously Paul and him played together in Seattle so that I think that will kind of help bridge the gap.

A lot of Mariners fans say they're converting right. Yeah, we're turning into you know, Mariner's. All right. I'll take it. But we thank you guys for being here, of course, in the PHN Export YouTube channel. Subscribe, obviously, if you haven't done so already.

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1-800-80102-3, Puerto Rico, in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Visit at MGM.com for terms and conditions, U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C., New York, or Ontario. The voice is. All right. Well, we also, we got a question here in the chat, and I'm curious about this, too, with the New Jersey's. Which one? Do you have a favorite yourself?

Ooh, I like the grays, honestly. Really? Weird. Yeah. I like the gray. It's got like the old Dback logo on it. I like those. I think the home whites will be cool too.

Yeah. But yeah, it's like teal everything now. Yeah. It's like teal in pretty much every jersey. But yeah, the road ones, they just look like the old school look, I guess, but it's not. I don't know. I'm always a fan of the road grays myself. I like the road.

Everybody, I don't know. We see it. Everybody would want us to wear the purple and stuff. again. Oh yeah. You know, I do I do think these uniforms would be cool. This is and one thing we talked about with it is it gives you guys like this generation of Diamondbacks players like your own look, you know, and that's something that's cool, especially with what you guys were able to accomplish in the World Series. But you obviously have had, you know, an incredible journey getting to this point. And I know Jesse, you had questions about that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I know we talked about this a little bit. You said didn't have any big scholarship

offers or anything out of high school. You wind up going to Southwestern College, right? There for a couple of years. You eventually get a D1 opportunity at U of A. I mean, just an incredible journey to get to the point where you are now. I mean, not, right, not that many guys drafted in the 22nd round. Wind up, you know, throwing 11 and two-thirds scoreless innings in a world series run. It's pretty, pretty, yeah.

I've always loved the game. I've always had a passion for it. Um, and, you know, I've, I've always had, you know, an arm. Like, I've always been gifted with, with an arm. And, um, I just felt like for me, you know, just kind of moving up the ranks, right? Like, I, I, um, I didn't really pay attention to, you know, what people were talking about me, I guess. Like, I, I, I knew I wasn't the first round pick. I knew I wasn't that guy. Sure. But, uh, I, I felt like for me, I just carried a chip. on my shoulder. And, you know, I felt, I feel like that propelled me. I think the more each level

I kind of moved up where, you know, pitching at junior college for a couple of years and then going to U of A and, you know, playing in the college world series, getting that opportunity and then getting drafted by, you know, I guess like the local team and yeah, playing in the minors and just kind of getting acclimated to pro ball. Yeah, I never got that big signing bonus. But I felt like I had, you know, the support and love for my, my family and my friends. And I was doing something I loved to do. And I just kind of just had to keep believing and keep working and not really get deterred by, you know, what else was going on around me. What kind of role did your family play just in this journey?

Yeah. You know, my mom was a huge piece in this. Like my dad traveled a lot for work and, uh, you know, my mom in Little League was like team mom, like head scorekeeper and stuff. And like she, she was pretty involved. Um, and now my dad's around more too. So he's, he follows and keeps track of everything. But, uh, you know, I think it started from like a young age and, um, you know, I, uh, they, my, I think with my family, they've always just supported me. Like, they've always supported me and whatever I do. And, um, and, um, and, um, I, um, You know, I've always loved baseball and it's always been in my life.

And so they always kind of just embraced it and are like, whatever you want to do, we're good with. So I would not be here without them for sure. The baseball journey seems more difficult than most other sports. And it almost feels like you do have to have that passion and that love for the game of baseball in order to kind of stick through some of the ups and downs that it takes. But like you've shown, I mean, this is this is still the road that can get you here. Yeah, yeah, it's not like football. It's not like basketball. Yeah, like you have to go through, you know, the minor leagues, right?

And just kind of prove yourself. But I think it's, for me, it's just a challenge, I guess, right? Where it's like, okay, like how do I showcase myself to get the look, I guess, from, you know, the organization. And, you know, I kind of worked up into, you know, I was in like the top 30 prospects when I was. I think in like 2018. So I, you know, I was starting to get on the map a little bit and it took a little while for me to get there. But I just thought that, you know, the journey is, you know, the fun part, I guess.

And different, you know, guys you meet along the way and different people you meet in the organization. And then, you know, just getting the call up, right? It's every young guy's dream. So your slider is obviously a huge part of your game and what makes you. so effective out there. You just kind of give us an idea of how that pitch is developed over time and how it got to be what it is today. Yeah. Yeah, it's been a lot of work, a lot of work. And, you know, hearing from different people just about the pitch, like I said, you know, when I first

got into pro ball, it wasn't really a true slider. It was more like a slur, but like in college, it was an effective pitch for me. And so I just kind of had to really tinker and focus and like figure out how do I make this pitch better because this can be an asset. And I was starting in, you know, a spring training when I was in the minors and I was getting a lot of swings and misses on it. It wasn't as firm or as hard as it is now. But I'm like, okay, this could be a really good pitch for me.

Yeah. And so I just kind of had to keep going and not really. you know, get distracted. Obviously, my numbers in the minors, like, I had really good numbers in the minors. And so I just felt like I was gaining confidence with the pitch. And then I think once I got into the big leagues, you can get exposed with a lot of stuff. And my first year, I had a lot of success. And then I kind of went through some struggles in the last few years.

but I just felt like I needed to, you know, accept, you know, whatever was going on and just be like, all right, how do I, I need to be better with this pitch and this spot and, like, facing different guys. So, yeah, it's, it's my weapon for sure. But I think it's, for me, it's just a confidence thing. Next thing you know, you're throwing more sliders than fastballs, right? Right. You know, it's one of those things where, yeah, I don't want to get too far into, like, what I'm doing.

Sure. Oh, yeah, we're not giving anything. We're not going on. But, yeah, with that pitch,

using it in certain spots and, like, you know, just getting the hitter off balance because I feel like it's a weapon for me. Yeah. Was there a certain coach, like along the, along the way at some point who kind of helped you unlock that, that pitch?

I know you mentioned the transition from a slurve to more of a truce slider. So, yeah, I was in, I kind of remember it, actually. I was in high A. I was in Vysalia and Jeff Bagenero, who's now the AAA, one of the AAA pitching coaches,

was shown me a grip and I was playing with it in the bullpen. And I was starting to see, you know, the shape and the movement kind of take place. And I thought, you know, it kind of developed more as I was pitching and just getting stronger and, like, seeing how the pitch. developed but yeah i felt like he was he was a huge piece and then like other pitching coaches i've met along the way um you know i've been with this organization now a long time so um yeah barry enrae who who's who's now at the angels but uh he's a huge piece obviously bruntstrom's well known but uh yeah i mean i'm probably leaving some people off dug drake yeah no there's there's

there's been a lot of coaches that have helped me with that pitch and, you know, listening and, like, knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are pretty important. So, yeah. You bring up Brent Strom, and we wanted to definitely ask you about him because he seems like a legend. He seems like an enigma. He's just a wild guy that at times says some of our favorite things in press conferences. But what kind of impact did he have on you just in regards to coaching? And what kind of impact does he have on you during, like, a game?

if he comes out and talks to you on the mound. Yeah. I said it a while back. I just feel like he does an incredibly good job with having that personal connection with you. And it's different from player to player. That's what we've heard that he's like. Some people he'll go out and tell a joke to or whatever. Yeah, he does.

He does. like there he it's I don't want to take his magic but yeah it's like just like this he brings a certain kind of energy sometimes I want to hear it sometimes I don't but uh you know like there's times where when he talks he believes what he's saying and he tells you how you know hey you know whatever the case may be yeah he I feel like he just brings a calming presence to a lot of things and I think that helps guys get back on track whenever it's a mound visit or if he just wants to you know shoot the shit and yeah yeah whatever did he ever tell you an especially good joke when you like during a mound visit or anything no he doesn't like he'll go over like strategy

and stuff with me but sure nothing off the top of my head I usually he'll joke with me like if we're playing catch yeah during a game would be yeah it seems Yeah, like maybe other guys are different, but yeah, when like before the game, like he'll throw some stuff at me. But sure, yeah, it's good. All right. Well, we appreciate you guys again for being here. Die hards. We always appreciate you and thank you.

Of course, if you're not a diehard yet, make sure to grab that diehard membership today. Get yourself a free t-shirt from the PHNX Locker.com like this beauty I'm wearing right now. Of course, you also get access to Jesse's newsletter. You get access to our Discord lounge. and so much more. So make sure to sign up for a diehard membership today. Of course, Arizona Lottery holiday scratchers make the absolute perfect gift this holiday season. Whether you're a procrastinator like Mr. Friedman over here or whether you're like me and you plan out ahead,

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Right now, Hero Bread is offering our listeners 10% off their first order. Just go to hero.co and use code P-HNX to save on Hero Bread today. That's H-E-R-O-C-O to save 10%. All right. Well, we know you've been doing some great things here in the community and the Valley. We saw some signings you did. We also know that you were doing some work with the- You give a postseason jersey away.

It was a raffle raising money for St. Max. Yeah. The winners here? Yeah. I posted that. And for me, I just felt like, you know, I collect so much stuff throughout the season. And I wanted a few things, obviously.

And with the World Series and like the postseason and stuff, I just felt like I wanted to give something back. I didn't know how. And I got in touch with the D-BACs organization. And, you know, we raised some money for a good cause. And, you know, families got to have Thanksgiving, I guess, here in the Valley. So, yeah. St. Mary's was doing some great stuff with, like, opposing cities,

doing whatever you guys were playing in the playoffs and stuff like that. So it was fun to see that. It was cool. And I just felt like, you know, it was the right time to Thanksgiving rolling around. And, you know, I know he didn't win the World Series. but you know I felt like you know this was a it was a cool moment and you know someone gets a chance to you know where we're wear one of my jerseys so yeah I wanted to ask you about that briefly because I know we didn't really talk about it and I just want to get your thoughts it it seems like obviously the end result wasn't desirable like you want to go you want to win the championship but is there something you guys take away obviously from you know kind of the unexpected run and again like I'm sure you guys have all the confidence throughout the season about. getting to the playoffs and whatever happens once you're there obviously you guys prove that right that as long as you get in you can make something happen but it just it felt like even though you know

you guys didn't win the world series like it was still just such a a wonderful accomplishment that you guys were able to do what you did in in the postseason with all of those kind of pre preconceived expectations yeah it was special um you know i i think in left center they have you know uh you know all the little penance, I guess, for the organization. And, yeah, I mean, one World Series championship, which is pretty special. But, you know, we're going to be adding a National League championship banner, I guess. And that's super unique. And it's, you know, the debacks are, I guess, like a young organization.

But I just felt like, you know, this, however far we went, it was a huge accomplishment. And it's just like the more we kept moving on and, you know, getting to the, the World Series you just you can't take that stuff away and no one no one can ever say that you didn't play on the biggest stage or you you know didn't I don't know do what you wanted to I guess but yeah everybody's goal is to win a World Series I think we're hungry for more at least I am yeah and I think we've got bright future ahead of us so who knows what happens you know I I don't want to put that on our on our belt that we're gonna win the world series but i think we're we can definitely compete with the best it's definitely exciting because yeah it doesn't it doesn't feel like you know

a lot of times when you have a team do this like all right this was this was a year they have to do something next year like it's like there's a sense of urgency it feels like your guys window just open and that this team uh can be exciting and fun to watch and competitive for for a number of years to come yeah i i i just it starts at the top um you know you got gallon and merrill right yeah You got two horses. And then I think, honestly, I can say it now. I think we got one of the best players in baseball. I think Corbyn Carroll is that guy.

Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, unbelievable teammate. And he's so young and he wants to learn. He wants to get better. And then you got other pieces around too, like, you know, Alec Thomas, Perdomo. And then like, yeah, it's just, like I said, there's a lot. There's a blend of young guys and veteran guys.

Sometimes, you know, as a veteran guys, like, we got to put the young guys in their place in time. But, you know. J-j-j-jah. Yeah, right? But I just feel like, you know, I feel like we can run it back again. And who knows what the end result is. Got to finish up with some fun stuff here. We've had some very spirited Phoenix versus Tucson conversation.

Yeah. Especially in the whole territory up here. Yeah. So, so I certainly would never have slandered Tucson on the show. I have to get your opinion on what it was like spending some time there versus being up here now. It was great. I mean, I was there for a year when I transferred. But when I went to school there, it was so fun.

I thought the campus was great. And, you know, I lived, it was about like 10 minutes from campus. But, you know, I live up here now, so it's a little different. But I think when I went to school there, it was one of the best experience. I've had just because, you know, you kind of get a little everything. Big sports programs, you know, they've had, you know, history, obviously, with the basketball program. And right now the football program is making a little run this year, which is nice.

There you go. And I just, I really enjoyed my time there. And, you know, I still try and keep in touch with a lot of guys down there. Phoenix, the city, better than Tucson, the city, right? I got to see. Oh, man. There's perks of both. Yeah.

All right, fair enough. I like the foot. I like the foothills out there. You can go hike Mount Lemons. Mount Lemons beautiful. Not a little. But yeah. People are always going to riff with me about like Tucson.

I'm like, look, you know. I live in Phoenix now. All right. Like I guess I jumped ship. But yeah, no, it's it's it's, it's, it's, I loved it there though. All right. I got a couple of rapid fire questions for you. We're, we're titling this who in the clubhouse would.

So I want to check who in the clubhouse would. would you trust to cook for you? Is there anybody that's a... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd love to talk shop with him more, Christian Walker. Yes. That's very believable. That's very believable.

I haven't had his sit-down conversation with him, but he's from South Carolina or he lives out there and he loves to barbecue. So I'm sure he's got some recipes with barbecue. Yes. Yeah, he would be my go-to. All right. Who in the clubhouse would you trust to share? your Amazon account with.

That's a lot of privacy. There's a lot of, right? There's a lot of secret share when you'd share an Amazon account. Amazon. I guess I'm biased with pitchers. That's fine. That's allowed here. I'd probably go Joe Maniply.

Yeah. I think Joe, I think Joe's good with that stuff. Solid trustworthy. Yeah. Like, you know, any little stuff. he's he's uh he's aware of so that's awesome all right uh who in the clubhouse are you paying a two drink minimum to see do stand up comedy who is going to get up on the stage and rock it as far as the jokes are concerned now now if i see him i'm gonna like i'll have to say something to him but uh i like

there's so many like interesting dynamics in the clubhouse like different guys have different sense of humor um but uh that's true we've determined that uh damon and i just that's sense of humor do not link up with jesse's i think i that's a hard question that's hard question i uh like different guys have different sense of humor i i think one of the funnier guys i won't say you'll do stand-up comedy scott mcguff's very funny oh my gosh all right let's go i i i i me and him were locker mates so we ban her back and forth this stuff but uh yeah he's he's he's one of the more funer ones for sure that's awesome that's awesome well we had a lot of fun watching you this year man and i mean we were very much looking forward

to what this team does in 2020. But we know you need some time away to get away. We're going to let you get out of here so you can go enjoy this very short offseason that you guys have. This is very short. Yeah, like is that, is that been? We're complaining about it too. Yeah. I think it's a mindset thing for sure.

You definitely need to like take some time off with this. And so for me, I need to like turn off for a little bit and just, you know, enjoy, enjoy my freedom for the little time I get. There you go. There you go. Well, we want you to do that. We appreciate you so much for stopping by. Of course, we appreciate you guys for stopping by. Make sure, of course, you check out all of our partners. But, of course, this holiday season, a great gift is to check out our friends at Shady Ray's. It's premium polarized sunglasses that are built to last. They are just as good as expensive sunglasses without the extremely expensive cost.

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We appreciate him. You guys are here all the time. He's a special guest, but of course, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Kevin is on Instagram at Ginks 3-7 there. If you want to follow him, of course,

the people's producer, Damon. and he is at Damon Dog, that's D-A-W-G. We do this thing where we bark at the... We're all Damon's dogs, and you are now initiated at Damon's dogs. So we're all Damon's dogs. So you just can bark in your own way, just roof, roof. Park, bark, all right, everybody barking in.

All right, but we appreciate you guys, of course, for being here. Of course, make sure to stop back by tomorrow. I'm going on vacation for one single day. But Jesse will be here holding it down with Patrick Lines tomorrow. In the meantime, you can follow our account at P-HNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at P. P-H-N-X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you again for stopping by.

We appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you're Kevin Ginkle.