PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Tommy Henry dazzles again in second spring training start as Diamondbacks beat Guardians

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

The Mayor is back and wants to be called Captain Mayor now, but we refuse to do that. Meanwhile, Diamondbacks pitcher Tommy Henry refuses to give up runs in his second start of spring and continues to look outstanding for the Snakes. Are we looking at the D-backs fifth starter in 2024? We also ponder if there is reason to be concerned about Brandon Pfaadt after his rough debut in the Cactus League 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 Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Arizona Lottery: Visit AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes! PrizePicks - Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!NASCAR Weekend at Phoenix Raceway: March 8-10! Find more information at https://www.phoenixraceway.com/spring/ on the Shriners Children's 500, and be on the lookout for racing content from PHNX!Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://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!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Let Someburros cater your next meal big or small! Order online or find one near you by visiting someburros.comWhen 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.

You're back. We all back the D-backs. Welcome in to another edition of the P-HMX D-Backs podcast right here on PHMX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as Captain Mayor around these parts. And they had to absolutely drag me off of that cruise at 9.15 a.m. in order to get me off that boat. It's understandable. I was still very drunk. I am joined, of course, by my first mate, the one and only Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. And boy, it feels great to be back. I still feel like I'm on a boat a little bit. I still got the wobbles. But I had a very good time. I just want to tell anybody out there who was ever considering taking a cruise to do it. It was one of the most relaxing things I've ever done. They have these themed cruises now. This was the Kevin Smith movies.

I know you're not super familiar. But like the guy, director has a bunch of movies. Goes by Jay and Silent Bob. It was an absolute blast to be a part of it because there was always something going on. There was a concert at like midnight. If I was awake at midnight, I could just go watch some band performing on the ship somewhere. But most importantly, there was always food. There was always food.

That's big. Yeah, but I did have a blast. And while I was on the ship, I did have a chance to pay homage to our great closer, Paul Seawald, at a silent disco, Jesse. It's a disco where you put headphones on and you have two DJs. You get to listen to them on two different channels. And this came on. And so I had to do this. Let's do.

I can get down. So get out your seat and jump around. Jump around. Jump around. Jump up, jump up and get down. Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. Oh, my God. Yeah, that was a fun time.

You know, you knew I went off once that song came on in those headsets. Yes, yes. And we are joined by the one and only. Emma, by the way, Emma on the ones and twos. I know everybody is thrilled to see her. I know I was to see her, but you can't see her. We can see her. That's our special treat.

I will say, though, going back to Paul C. Walt, I still can't believe we're starting the season with an actual real closer, Jesse. It just feels so good. It feels so good to have that part of your life complete. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it is a big part of life when you're a baseball fan and your team just consistently doesn't have a closer or has a closer that you're not really very convinced is particularly good. Yeah.

It's an experience and it kind of colors the whole season a certain way. It does. And Diamondbacks fans don't have to deal with that this year. The Cleveland Guardians could have used a closer today though. Diamondbacks got to them late. And let's talk about this really fast. Because if today's game doesn't get you fired up for the goddamn baseball season, then check your pulse.

You might be dead. I don't care if it's a spring training game. I don't care that scores don't matter and results don't matter. The Diamondback scored four runs in the top of the ninth for the comeback win. And that was exciting. That was fun to watch. Again, like if your team loses in spring training, you typically say, oh, well. And again, I know it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

But if you love baseball, this was a fun one. It absolutely was. Juan Zapata, man. Rough, rough day for Juan Zapata. The Cleveland Guardians gave up, he's going to remember this one. That's for four runs on,

on six hits in that ninth inning. And yeah, Diamondbacks come away with a win. It's always, it's always kind of funny, like talking with Tori Lavello after these games, because he's so conditioned

to give sort of generally positive comments when the team wins and negative comments when the team loses. But in reality, like, the difference between winning and losing in these games

is often like, you know, how well, like your single A, double A guys played toward the end of the game. And you're really not like in the grand scheme of things that concerned about those guys. But they, they came through. They came through in this one for sure. I sure did. Kyle Backus came through in a big way for the diamond backs in the bullpen entered a base, slotted no-out situation, struck out all three batters he faced. That's amazing.

That is amazing. And I know Kyle Backus has been a guy that we have had in the system for a little while. I've seen seen him had a chance to even pitch a couple of times. But like, yeah, this, it's exciting when when you can see these minor league guys come up, have an opportunity once again in front of, uh, front of Tori in front of his staff to impress and to, you know, go out there and and do something like that. It really does, it does change the perspective because the, you know, the front office, Tori, they only get to see you for such a limited amount of time during spring that if you're,

if those few instances, those opportunities, you have, you take advantage like that. It's incredible. Like you said, though, Tori had his comments on the Diamondbacks win. This is what Tori had to say. Anytime you win a game like that, I don't care for spring training, a little league game that you're watching your kids playing. Anytime you have that kind of a comeback, it's fun. It's the juices flowing, and these kids were super excited. So it was a type of approach.

It was what we preach. All the youngsters stuck to it, and it worked out really well. I thought Tommy threw the ball exceptionally well. He was commanding all of his pitches. He was mixing all of his pitches and handed off to Nellie, who I thought did a really nice job as well. Brandon was just running away from his arm a little bit and leaving things and dragging things armside,

and I think he would try to correct and he'd yank some balls. That's to be expected. Those are things that happen inside of a game where you get on the mound, you start to find that middle point, exactly where that release point is, and it'll be fine. So I'm not have zero concern about his out of today. It's weird because you do get excited about wins like this. You do get excited about things like this happening.

But then you don't really care about the negative results or you don't really need to panic or overreact to it. Yeah. You have situations where guys that you want to see do well don't in spring. I know Erod had a pretty rough start for his first start of spring training. And now Brandon fought today had a fairly rough start in his spring training debut. But again, not anything to be concerned about, right? Yeah, probably not. But I do have to ask you, are you aware of what happened to Erod's first pitch in a time of

I am aware of that. I had a connection during that. So yes, I am there. Yes, Marcus Semyon did hit it over the fence. I hate it. I blame you and all these goddamn, you know, Madison Bumgardner comparisons is what I really blame. That's fair. I probably, I probably deserve that.

Going back to Brandon Fott, he did not look good today. This is, it was bad. Brandon Fott did not look good today. But it's amazing what just like not having really good feel for your pitches can do. And, you know, how like how big of a difference that can make. His sweeper today was kind of just like a floating like I'm not. It was almost hard to identify exactly what pitch it was in certain situations. I know he threw a couple changeups as well.

So yeah, the feel for the pitches wasn't there. The command wasn't there. There were, you know, some center cup fastballs and whatnot. But yeah, as you said, you're not, you're not. concerned about that at this point. The diamond backs are taking it slow with Brandon fought, which I think is interesting, just one inning from him today. And yeah, it didn't look good, but at this stage, Tori Lavello clearly not concerned. And I personally am not concerned, even though it didn't look good. It was not a pretty outing from him at all. I mean,

you, you don't want to see them do poorly at any point, right? So that's not, that's nothing new. But at the same time, right? Like, it's spring training. And typically, Typically when the starters, when the guys that are going out there that know that they kind of have a spot are going out there, they are working on stuff during this time of the year. And I mean, Brandon Fott's spot in the rotation by no means is secure, right? I think it's pretty secure. Well, yeah. I think it's pretty secure. And I'm not saying he could lose it, but at the same time, right?

Like there's an, there is the idea that maybe he went out today working on something particular. Sure. He did make comments afterwards. This is what Brandon Fott had to say. about the outing. I think it was a good first one. Obviously, the results weren't what we wanted, but I think just to get out there, get your feet wet,

nothing to complain about. It's one inning, right? Yeah. Are you good with that? Just one inning. I think getting ahead would be the biggest factor, and certainly that's what we're going to work on moving forward. Was that the plan just for one inning?

Was it a pitch thing? It was just one inning, correct. One inning, I think, 25 pitches. How you feel it? feel great i feel arm feels great and body feels great so ready to start start ramping up here soon are you a person he you were saying he worked out after yeah after his pitch yeah so he had literally just worked out apparently and then we all come up and uh start annoying him with all of our post all of our post game questions and uh yeah at one point we like stopped the interview so that

Brandon Fogg could catch his breath. I don't know what exactly he was doing. But yeah, that was that was kind of funny. It's interesting to think of a pit. Like it makes sense if you're if you're training. If you're trying to ramp yourself up and get to the point where you can throw five, six innings, right? That you would try to do things after you came out of the game.

It just it's, it's intuitively the timing. Yeah, I don't get it. Like you come out of a even just pitching one inning and now what you're going to go do win sprints? Yeah. Like that's kind of wild. It's got wild. Like I would think that. you take care of that before the outing,

but I don't really know how baseball works sometimes. But Brandon, I mean, again, I know he's very important. I don't feel like he his spot in the rotation is all isn't jeopardy. But again, it's safe to say at times that nobody's job is truly secure if there are

other people on the team in the organization outperforming them, right? So it's like there still has to be that attitude of I think of every single guy out there that they're still deep down inside still playing for a spot because and i think troy brought this up last week when we were out there that there's always a guy from the minor leagues trying to play their way up yeah take your spot you know i mean that's kind of the nature of the game absolutely

yeah and and i i do think i mean tory is kind of already talked about where he stands on the starting rotation and he's said that we feel pretty good about one through four i think it's abundantly clear that Brandon Fott pretty much no matter what he does this spring is going to have a starting rotation spot on opening day. But at the same time, this was a topic of conversation today, kind of how he's approaching this spring training, which is much different from last year around this time when Brandon fought was was gunning for a job. But it kind of felt like no matter how well he pitched, he wasn't going to get it.

They were going to send him down to Reno anyway. But yeah, his approach coming into spring training this time around is different. I think the job is pretty secure. but at the same time, you know, Tori has said that he talked to him about, you know, not becoming complacent or whatnot and not that there's really any concern that Brandon fought would do that. But just making sure you kind of keep the foot on the gas pedal heading into the season and, you know, making sure that he is building on what he did last year. He pitched a lot of innings last year. He did. You know, obviously he was a big, big, big weapon for this team in the postseason.

So it's understandable that they do want to slow play him in a similar. degree that they're playing, you know, Gowan and Mel Kelly. It's pretty similar. Yeah, it's pretty similar. I mean, thought was it at just one inning today? Tori said after the game that, you know, some guys, I guess Zach and Merrill, instead of doing their one inning in a game, they're just doing that on the backfields and kind of a more controlled environment.

Brandon, I guess, opted to actually do it in a game. But yeah, he's at a pretty similar point right now. I think you're going to see Zach and Merrill get into game sometime about a week or or so from right now. Fought's kind of in the same range. And I think all those guys are going to be going two innings once they get to that point. But yeah, Brandon fought through 156 and two-thirds innings last year in the regular season between AAA and the majors. You tack on another 22 in the playoffs. That puts them at 178 in two-thirds, I believe, if my math is correct. He was at 167 last year in the regular season, plus I think a few in the playoffs. So from an innings perspective,

he basically finished 2024 or 2023 in the same place as he finished 2022. I'm guessing for the debacks, the difference is that he was also pitching in November. Like he was pitching really, really late this time around. His offseason was considerably shorter. And so they're just approaching this with an abundance of caution. Well, it's like you said, last spring he was playing and trying to make this same impression. We've talked about other guys trying to make on Tori and make on the, front office right and now he's just in a different spot and like again there uh there's still

lots of proof for brand and thought like by no means is is you know his performance in uh the post season something that makes me feel 100% like we're just going to get that out of him during the regular season from this point on but he has shown how good he can be and i think that's the coolest thing about you know his season last year is he really did reach what felt like his full potential, and that might not even be his full potential. He might be able to get to another level that we haven't even seen out of him yet. But there was some other guys had a good day out there today.

Lordus absolutely destroyed a hanging slider over the left field fence for a dinger. That was nice to see. And Jordan Lawler just continues to be good for this team. I mean, he really is playing well. Yeah, he made a really nice snag, kind of a short hop on an absolute laser, hit by one Davison de los Santos, the right fielder today.

What? For the Cleveland Guardians. They are going to figure out some fucking way to get him in there. I don't care. We're not giving this guy back to the dynambacks. You will be on the major league roster. We don't care where it was. You'll pitch if we asked me to pitch at this point.

I did a double take when I saw this. I was like, all right. I mean, we're trying him in right field. Let's just try him in center. Try him at shortstop. Why not? See if he can catch, right?

Yeah, it was, I'm not. so sure if I think that that's going to work out so well for the Guardians, having De Laos Santos in right field. He didn't seem to be moving particularly well out there, but he did hit a laser at one point in the game, and Jordan Lawler played that short hop extremely, extremely well. It kind of feels like Lawler is going to be one of those short stops who, you know, at least at the beginning, maybe he makes a mistake here and there, you know, maybe there's an error here and

there or whatnot as he's early in his career. But he's also going to make some plays like that one. that not a lot of other short stops are making. Yeah. I'm not sure Haralda Pridomo, for example, makes the play that Jordan Lawler did at that point in this game. So he continues to show that shortstop is a very viable long-term home. That's a scathing comment towards Jerry P.

And you are lucky that Damon is not our producer today. If Damon were here, I wouldn't have said it. You would have jumped over the table already on you. Tucker Barnhart went two for two today. That's a good look for potentially. our backup catcher there. Yeah, and I think he had a double and I think he did sort of take advantage of Davis and

Dela Santos being the right here on that particular play. But yeah, hit the ball hard a couple of times. I still view him as being the front runner for that backup catcher role. Of course, Jose Herrera is still here and getting opportunity as well. But it just kind of feels like, you know, the fact that the

diamondbacks didn't go out and really add any other pieces in that regard. Now there were some, you know, there's some minorly guys who are maybe getting look there as well. But yeah, I still kind of think that Tucker Barnhart is going to wind up with that spot when all of said and done. It makes sense because of, you know, kind of that veteran presence he brings behind the plate. And that's the one thing he offers that's different from everybody else, including Gabby, right? And so that experience can be invaluable not only when he's back there, but, you know, talking to Gabby, talking to the other guys. Yeah. He could end up

becoming somebody's personal catcher, you know, that stuff kind of can happen as well. But Yeah, I mean a lot of A lot of good stuff. Caleb Roberts like you said earlier Had that broken bat triple to tie the game in the ninth You know, there was there was a lot of fun to watch A lot of fun Diamondbacks baseball watch We have a lot to talk about when it comes to Tommy Henry though Because Tommy Henry was once again excellent today

But we will get to that here shortly Did want to say there was an update on Alec Thomas Is he? Yeah, like Thomas is he's still dealing with right wrist Soreness Tori continues to say that If this were the playoffs, if this were September, he would be playing. It's not a significant issue.

But it's spring training. There's no reason to push it. So as of right now, today would have been a day where he would be in the lineup. They're kind of doing this thing where they alternate the starting outfield and then the starting infield. So today was the starting outfield day. They have to have so many guys in there. Yeah. Yeah.

Because they don't want people paying, you know, $15 to sit behind home play at a spring training game. And then there'd be a bunch of minor leaguers. in the starting time. It's inevitable that we're going to do a story before the end of spring training on this show about how much money, uh, Arizona and Florida raking in off of spring training games and how much these facilities are. But he's right. I mean, come on. What are we doing here? We let people go to the Arizona fall league game for like $5 and sit in the front row. Yet spring training games need to be $115 to sit back there. That is a great point to watch Caleb Roberts win the game with a broken bat triple. Come on. What are we doing? Uh, it is fun. Uh, it is fun.

because of course Diamondbacks players are getting more recognized speaking of Alex Thomas he is so recognizable like Alec Thomas on multiple occasions I've seen him around town and he I can spot him from a mile away and he will be with four of his teammates that it takes me like five minutes of speaking to him directly to recognize that he's with his teammates but you just you just let me get this right you just like keep bumping into Alex Thomas around town is at events that I go to all the time He is constantly at events. And he's usually there with like guys like Ryan Nelson or Tommy, you know, indescribable baseball players that usually the only reason why I notice them is because they're tall. No, no knock to those guys.

I just, Alec Thomas is very recognizable. And I mean, I'm sure a lot of the guys are getting that. Obviously, Corby Carroll, very recognizable. You know, I was going to save this picture to later. Emma, can you throw the picture up? Let's talk about some gorgeousness. Look at this. Look at these legends.

Look at these three Arizona sports baby legends soon to be. Well, maybe two out of three. Yeah, yeah. That's what I was getting. You mean two Arizona sports legends. I'll let you guys decide on that point. But I love this picture so goddamn much because if this doesn't get you pumped about Arizona sports right now. Again, check your balls.

It gets me pumped about, I think it could get me pumped about two Arizona sports teams. I'm going to tell Johnny what you said. Tyler Murray is a is a perfectly mediocre NFL quarterback. That's what I'm trying to tell you. I will not. I'm not going to entertain this discourse. This is also coming from someone who got second to last in our fantasy. Correct.

You don't know jack titty. Correct. You almost went to Waffle House. In fact, your team name wasn't the Waffle House wagon. So let's not forget that. But Alec Thomas isn't the only one getting recognized. We also have Brandon Fott talking about getting. getting recognized a bit more around town after the World Series run that this team had.

Let's take a look at that. What of the last couple months have been like? It was cool to go home and experience that and be recognized, but it's cool to go out in public and people know who you are. So I'm definitely grateful for that and definitely want to give back in those situations. Do you feel added pressure this season coming into the situation you're coming into? No, but I think we have a new standard and we're trying to meet that standard and as a group and as a whole team and as a whole organization. And that's what we're looking forward to.

He's got to be a king in Louisville, not just for what he did, but for his defense publicly of that clip that we played on our Twitter account of him defending Louisville. Yeah, I still don't think you're very good at that. But the standard. He said the thing, the standard. That's got to be the hot. That's like the secret word is standard around this place. It's not, it's not quite as catchy as the whole connected and dangerous thing from the playoffs.

Like, yeah. Get a curse word in there. Maybe if we added a curse word. It's the fucking standard. Now it's hot. Now that's electric. I like that one way more.

See? All you got to do is how a curse word do it. It makes everything better. It's true. It is very true. Oh my gosh. But yeah. I mean, again,

I'm sure like, I'm sure. he is an absolute king around his hometown. We know how much support he already received. Like I don't recall bumping into anybody else's like teammates from high school and stuff at at games and, you know, the way that we did with with his family and with all of his, all of his support that he had out there during the World Series. So like it feels like that's something cool.

And I mean, honestly, Brandon fought he is a, he's got a recognizable face. He looks like he's always cold. He looks like he's always cold. He also, the way that this is asked by Nick King, and he had started this question asking about what it was like to be introduced at the Phoenix Open as being like an Arizona sports hero alongside Larry Fitzgerald and, you know, other local celebrities who are there. So, yeah, I think it's cool for Brandon Fott. I mean, Brandon Fott is a local sports celebrity.

in a way that not many guys with his experience level could be. You know, the fact of the matter is that he was fantastic in the postseason. Like that's the, like that's Brandon Fought. When people think Brandon Fought, they probably don't really remember his regular season performance that much anymore. When they think of Brandon Faw, when they see Brandon Fought, they think of a guy who went out there and, you know, through five and two-thirds scoreless innings in game three of the NLCS,

when the Diamondbacks were down 2-0, right? And all of his other outings, he just continued to be a force for this team throughout that whole period of time. So he's made a name for himself around here. What do they know about the late-night phone call that he got from Brent Trondor in the All-Star break that changed his entire career?

What do they know about it? No, they know nothing. They just know that he was amazing in the playoffs. And of course, he was. But still remains to be seen how amazing Brandon Fott can be for this team this season. and still feels like all signs point to him being much better than we saw at the beginning of Lashar when he made his debut because we know that was kind of rough. And also just, you know, maybe maybe even better than what we saw in the postseason.

Maybe Tori will let him go longer than five innings. Isn't it? Isn't it like I just have to take in for a moment? I mean, like after Brandon fought just got completely destroyed in some of his first few in some of his first few outings in the majors. Right? I mean, he started against the Rangers. That's where he made his big league debut. He gave up several homers. It was a, it was an ugly outing. He stayed up for a while after that. But eventually got sent down after about five starts. He comes back up. He pitches one game against the Tampa Bay Rays and gets absolutely destroyed. And then he goes back down. And just thinking back to, you know, I mean, that was well into into June. I think almost July at that point. And I mean, that's the guy. who came through for the Diamondbacks and the playoffs in a way that like Zach Gallen wasn't wasn't able to do. Right.

I remaining cautiously optimistic that we can still see that side of Brandon. But like you said, in a way, we really don't know because we haven't seen, we've seen be as bad as he's been and as good as he's been, right? Like it's the tale of two people or two sides of the same person, I guess you could say. But the one thing about it is that he described that phone call with, with Strom and you know, Strom having this kind of inspired moment of realizing what was wrong with Brandon fought in those starts and what he could do to help him.

And it seemed like after from that point on, things, things really went his way. So hopefully that continues in 2024. And again, it's spring training. Nothing to be panic. Nothing to panic about yet.

But there is one thing to panic about. And that is that today is the absolute last day for the PHNX locker. merch sale we got our clearance sale going on every single piece of clothing is 30% off everything in all of it go now even the clearance stuff even stuff that's already on sale is 30% off so do not miss this stock up now get ready for the baseball season go get all of our shirts we're still a wagon you know I mean we're still uh fucking dangerous we're still connected we're still dangerous and that's the way that it works so go out get those shirts fill up your drawers your closets right right now and get that 30% off.

Today is the last day to do so. And please get yourself some Diamondback stuff. We love to see you guys in those shirts. Nothing thrills me more than when we go out to spring training and we get to see people wearing our shirts. Jesse, they're like, I got, I got to meet some of my favorite actors from this stupid movie series still didn't thrill me as much as seeing someone wearing a wagon shirt out there when we were at spring camp.

It was great. Love seeing you guys in that stuff. of course we are missing damon right now but uh he is doing something with football whatever oh is that right yeah i don't know i leave and then dame seems to think he can leave anytime i leave anytime you leave like you leave he leaves i leave he leaves that's not the way this works i think they're i think they're looking for a new quarterback because kiler murray like wasn't really cutting it you're going to make the people in the comments bad you're going to make damon mad uh but of course uh these two will duke it out at illegal pete's because that's that's

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Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Brandon fought struggled a bit today, but you know who didn't struggle was Tommy Henry. He, meanwhile, was very, very good once again in his second outing of spring. He went three innings, gave up no hits, no runs, walked one, struck out one. And I mean, I don't know, Jesse. I know I know I kind of already viewed Henry as a frontrunner for that spot, but it really does feel like if he puts a couple of more more outings together like this, that it might be a lock for him. And again, it's early.

Don't want to jump too, two ahead of Ryan Nelson or some of the other guys fighting for that rotation spot. But Tommy Henry, again, there were a lot of outliers that we've discussed already that made him feel like he was kind of the favorite to win this. You come into camp, you have him go out there, and in his first two starts, guy still hasn't given up a run. Right. Yeah, I feel like if Tommy Henry continues to pitch well, the spot is his pretty much. Like even if Ryan Nelson and Slate Zoconi just go out there and totally shove, if Tommy Henry continues to pitch like this, I just don't really see really a window for those

guys to come in and take it. He just based on the season he had last year, the fact that he had a 415 URA, And, you know, already has kind of proven himself at the major league level in a way that neither Nelson nor Sikonin or, you know, Blake Walson or Bryce Jarvis, whoever else you want to put in that conversation. I think the spot is sort of his to lose. And he certainly hasn't lost it up to this point. Right. Oh, yeah. You look at his total stats so far through his two spring training outings, five innings, one hit, no runs, one walk, four strikeouts.

And today it was, it was really good. I know he only had one strikeout in this game. I think there was a called third strike that that didn't go his way. Probably could have had another strikeout or maybe multiple pretty easily. But 29 pitches. Yeah, 29 pitches to get through three innings is an extreme level of efficiency. His changeup looked really good. His curveball and slider continued to look solid.

He's incorporating a sinker as well. He was too efficient, in fact. He had to go into the bullpen and do some extra work. He did. Because after three innings of work, he just hasn't thrown enough pitches. that they wanted to see out of them, right? Like there's something to be said about a lot of those peripherals that we've discussed when it comes to Tom ReHenry.

For me, the one that I can't get my mind off of is his average exit below being so low when compared to even the best pitchers on this team. Do you have any kind of explanation or reason why he, like that why the balls are so softly hit off of them? Yeah, that's a good question. It's my understanding of like average exit. Velo for pitchers is that it's not it's not like uh it doesn't necessarily hold year to year I guess like if a guy is really good in that regard one year it doesn't necessarily say much about how it will be

the next year like Zach Gallen for example had like one of the worst average exit Velo's by opposing hitters and all of baseball last year but I don't necessarily think that means that like oh he's he's terrible like hitters hit him easily or whatnot so we'll have to see kind of how sustainable this is for Tommy Henry, but I do think he has a tendency to pitch around the edges of the strike zone and maybe wants to get in the strike zone a little bit more, but there is something to be said for kind of living around the edges and also having a variety of pitches, the fact that he has, you know, a more diverse arsenal than I think a lot of the other young starting pitchers that this team has, you know, all of those things work in his favor.

Well, this is what Tommy had to say on what he liked about his outing. I was happy to see like a couple swings and misses on the slider. It's a pitch, that's a constant work in progress, keeps getting better. So to get a little bit of that feedback in-game was nice and also threw a couple more sinkers than we did in the previous start just to, you know, kind of see how it plays, felt good about it this week leading up to it. And yeah, got some ground balls off of it. So that was kind of a different approach as to the previous one.

And, you know, we'll see how it kind of molds moving forward. Does the fact that he came in and relief mean anything, or is that just still kind of just him going out there and getting some work in? Probably, yeah, it probably doesn't mean much of anything. I mean, at this point, the Diamondbacks just, there's only so many games, and they've got a lot of starting pitchers that they want to get opportunity. So, yeah, I wouldn't read into that at all.

I just think that Brandon, you know, wanting to actually pitch in a real game. And then Tommy Henry also, you know, this being his, his turn through the rotation. It just sort of happened this way. I did ask him if it changed anything for him, like coming out of the bullpen and not really. He said, you know,

he has to run like 250 feet out from from the bullpen to the mound. And other than that, there aren't you. Yeah, yeah, that'll take the breath out of you a little bit. But yeah, I don't think it really changed much for him.

And I wouldn't read into that at all. Well, like what's funny about him being so efficient today is the fact that like, okay, so they have a game plan. Tori Lavello wants to see. these guys throw so many pitches. But like you said, there's only so much time in a game.

And when he went out there, only threw 29 pitches in three innings. It doesn't leave them much. Like, we can't leave you out there anymore. We have other guys we want to see. But we wanted to get you to, you know, 34 or what, 45 or something like that, right? Yeah, 45. This is Tommy Henry was asked about it after the game. If having to throw extra pitches in the bullpen or about those extra pitches,

he had to throw in the bullpen because of how efficient he was. Yeah, that's like, to be completely candid, I don't think any pitcher loves doing that, but you got to do it as part of the buildup. So, yeah, I had to go down there and do that. But, yeah, that's just part of building volume. Building those volume for those starts, baby. Let's build that volume. He was just, he was too efficient for his own good, Derek.

Darnant he had to go throw 16 pitches in a bullpen afterward. I mean, but he's been incredibly good in these two spring outings, five innings pitched, He's given up one hit, no runs, walked one, four strikeouts. Like, you couldn't, you couldn't ask for anything better out of the first two outings from a guy who is fighting for your fifth rotation spot right now than that. Yeah. And I mentioned that we mentioned the 29 pitches today. He also only needed 22 his last time out for two innings. So he's thrown 51 pitches in five innings.

Well, that's what I'm saying. Like there's a correlation there I feel like through how efficient he is, how softly, you know, that Exit Velo is. there's just there there's things about him about like that he it might not be flashy you might not fill up the you know the the stat sheet but he feels like he's that kind of pitcher that's going to go out there kind of like Merrill Kelly and just put in work and get those outs you know and just do it in a way where it gets a lot of ground balls and things like that but for the most part doesn't you know doesn't really have to go out and strike out a ton of guys in order for him to have a great outing like this yeah there there's just something about i i mean

I mean, I like that you mentioned Merrill Kelly very much fits into this, this bucket as well, like these pitchers who just have pretty deep arsenals and seem to have a pretty good understanding of how to use those pitches. I'm not saying Tommy Henry is quite at Merrill Kelly's level at this stage. But yeah, I mean, he's a good guy to learn from though when you're sitting in the bag of watching. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's no one pitch that Tommy Henry throws that's like, oh, that's nasty, you know. I think even Merrill Kelly has gotten closer to that point.

Like there are days where Merrill Kelly's change up is just absolutely ridiculous. Ridiculous. Yeah. I don't know if Tommy Henry really has a pitch like that, but his change up is is good. You know, his curveball seems to be good. His slider,

as you heard him talk about there, seems to be taking a step forward. He added the sinker. He's trying to add a sinker, as I mentioned earlier as well. So there's a deep arsenal here. And pitchers who have a... Enough to keep batters off balance, you know?

Yeah, I think the thing is, is again, even if it's not that efficient, or very efficient, If it's not that power, you know, you're not seeing those incredible things out of him, but it works. He's getting the outs.

And I mean, again, last year, he didn't necessarily dazzle you with his performances. He had his share of bad outings and rough starts as well, right? But like there is something very, very promising right now about what we saw last year, him building on it and what we've already seen this spring. Yeah. And I think it kind of serves him well in some ways that he does. doesn't have like that crazy out pitch or whatever because I've never gotten the sense that Tommy Henry was ever like pitching for strikeouts. He is he's just kind of pitching. You know, he's just going

out there. The exciting option when you started looking at him compared to Ryan Nelson, Dre Jameson, and the farm system. Even Blake Walston at times looked like he was going to potentially be a little bit more of a stud than Tommy Henry. Tommy Henry's stuff didn't overwhelm you. It just doesn't need to be that at this level, especially when you have. have somebody you can learn from in a way by watching like Merrill and a mentor like Brent Strom who can teach you how to use that arsenal in an effective way to get outs. And that's what it's about is getting outs and being able to go out there and be a starting pitcher for this

team. I think he's already shown, again, it's early in spring. I'm not going to go crazy on this. But I feel like, again, what we talked about earlier was that he kind of was a front runner. I felt like coming into this for this fifth, you know, spot in the rotation. And so far, I think he's done everything that you could ask from him, you know. Yeah. And we talked with Tori a little bit about this after the game. And here's what Tori had to say about what he's seen from Tommy Henry so far. I see him right on track for this competition.

He's doing everything we're asking him to do everything we want to see. And he's executing at a high level. So I want that to continue. man troy's got that salt river fields tan doesn't he he does he's got yes he's ready i also have a salt river i'm seeing that you're looking good you're glowing uh henry though i mean as glowing as i glowing as you can be uh i didn't get nearly enough sun because it was raining in the bahamas but yeah i was gonna say i feel like like my tan is like actually rivaling yours right now spent a lot of time in the bar with those pinia colladas god bless the fine folks on the

region pearl for putting up with me and my constant desire to have lava flows and mudslides and uh, uh, pinocados, but you guys are great. Uh, I will say this though. Uh, I think the diamondbacks, no matter what the end result is of this competition are going to have some assets that we haven't really considered in that bullpen that could also bolster the bullpen. And if Tommy Henry goes out there, I mean, if he does not win the starting job and he can go out there and be this for this team, out of the bullpen, that's something incredible as well. So, I mean, again, that's, that's the one exciting thing about this is this competition does yield the fact that there could be some more weapons.

These guys that lose the starting spot aren't going to just necessarily be sent down, you know, to the miners and not utilize. So that's, that's fair. Yeah. I think that Tommy, Tommy just makes so much sense as a starter, just given the efficiency that we're talking about is ability to eat some innings. I think in a way that you might. not be quite as confident about with with Ryan Nelson or Slate Cicconi at this point.

But yeah, I mean, speaking of guys who maybe could have impact in other ways, we talked about this the other day a little bit. Ryan Nelson, he was pretty heavy on on the fastball and the slider the other day. And they look good. I know you weren't around when he made that start. His fastball has always been very good. His fastball has been good. But the slider was the slider was different this time.

He got five whiffs on the slider and two innings of work. I think that, you know, just those two pitches in a bullpen role, I'm intrigued what that could look like. And I think the same goes for Slate Sacconi. He's got a pretty good slider in his own right, you know, a fastball in the mid-90s. Maybe that ticks up closer to the upper 90s in a bullpen role. Both of those guys, I think, would be interesting in the bullpen. It's just a matter of, you know, do the diamondbacks want to keep them stretched out for a while just in case injuries arise? you probably don't want to rush into converting them to relievers too early. So it might be a while before we would see any of those guys used in that role. Do you know if Ryan Nelson is throwing the slider with a stiff wrist?

Like a football. I don't. I'm not. I'm just checking in for Roger Bessions just to see if that slider you're discussing might indeed be the football slider that Roger Besson's always bringing up. But I will say that I would put my money on it not being. And you can do whatever. want with your money. A great place for you to bet it that, though, is over at the bed MGM sports book. Get down on some future MLB bets, right? Like Jordan Lawler, rookie of the year?

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Leah's our Phajanax bettos now? That's amazing. The Leah is what I need. I would trust Leah. I would trust Leah way more than I would trust Damon with my money. That's very true. That's very interesting. She's hit on those coyotes bets.

So do not sleep on Leah's locks over there at the bet or at the PHNX bets. Of course, if you want to get down on that fun and you haven't signed up yet, do so now. Over at the BetMGM Sportsbook, use that bonus code of PHNX. Place your first sports book wager through the sportsbook mobile application for at least $5. You will receive $150 instantly from the fine folks at bet MGM. In additional winnings, regardless of your wager's outcome, check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Damon, talk about the disclaimer. Gambling problem, call 100, Gambler.

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I bet. He was so bad. I mean, he doesn't put his heart in things like that. I know that for him back. Of course, you can put your heart in adventures like the adventure I had on my little cruise ship right here in Arizona because Arizona lottery is letting you have all sorts of adventures around this great.

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in my room we still do phrasing around here emma we still do don't think we don't so i'm glad you're here but uh of course we thank you guys for being here uh in the p hnxport to YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed yet, do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our wonderful shows go live. Leave us a like. We always like when you drop those likes. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure to leave us a review over there, make sure you subscribed over there as well. We thank you guys for doing that. Anthony Rendon, Jesse, his comments when asked about his, I guess his priorities in baseball, kind of set the baseball world on fire a bit. And I do feel like it's kind of ridiculous, right? I mean,

the man was essentially asked by a reporter about his priorities and his commitment to the game of baseball. And I will start off before we get into these comments by saying, I understand we all want to think every one of our athletes on every one of our teams loves the sport and the team that they're on more than anything else in the whole wide world. But that is just realistically not the case with human beings. And I think the problem is, is that for the most part, athletes know what we want to hear. And athletes say the things that we want to hear. But few people are Corbyn Carroll, Jesse. Few people are out there committing, you know, basically breaking and entering, you know, felonies to go to a high school and play baseball with his mom. Few people are

out there all by himself at Salt River Fields with the keys. They gave him the big ring of keys because no one else was going to go meet him out there. They're like here. And he's been out there since November before Thanksgiving and stuff. The man has an unprecedented commitment to the game of baseball. And while we all want to believe every single one of our athletes are like Corbyn Carroll, they're just not. They're just not.

And sometimes they're going to be honest about stuff. And Anthony Rendon was asked about his commitment to baseball. And he said, it's never been a top priority for me. This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I'm leaving. He was asked again by the journalist, is it a priority? He said, oh, it's a priority for sure because it's my job. I'm here, aren't I? And then he was asked, do you want to be here? And he said, I don't want to talk to you guys at 7 in the morning or whatever time it is. And then he was asked again, do you want to be here playing baseball for the angels?

And his response was short at that point and annoyed. And he said, I have answered your question. So why do you keep picking at it? Let's be honest. Like this guy is just saying the things the quiet parts out loud. He's saying the things that a lot of athletes want to say, right? Like their family, their faith, other things do come before their commitment to the sport they play. And a lot of people do feel like this thing they do is just a job. Like to us, we idolize these people.

We want them to think that they're doing the greatest thing in the world and they're living gods amongst us mortals. And they're not. They're just people. And those people have their own priorities. And sometimes someone like this makes these comments. And then it becomes a news story because it feels like he doesn't give a shit about baseball or his team or playing the game. Right, right. Now, I will say that he has already been a guy that in the past has made controversial comments about.

No, Anthony Rendon. No. His commitment to the game. So, of course, anything he says now is viewed as differently than if you would have heard this, let's say out of like Paul Seewald. Right. If Paul C. Wall would have made these same exact comments, for instance, nobody would have blinked an eye because they would have been like, he's the dad of the bullpen. We know that. So of course, his family comes first. That's no surprise to us, right? We just don't want to think of any athlete really thinking of this is just a job. Right. That's what it comes down to at the end of the day. Yeah. And I totally agree with what you're saying that if, if, you know, we could name hundreds of different athletes, like hundreds of different baseball players where if they said this, it would not have been a story. This wasn't a story because what Anthony Rendon said was unreasonable. It was a story because Anthony Rendon is the one who said.

Yeah, he's a notorious hater, it seems like, of the game of baseball. And Anthony Rendon notably has averaged to play about 45 games per year over the last few seasons. And there have been some questions raised about his commitment to the sport. The angels paid him a ton of money. The angels are paying him a heck of a lot of money. But yeah, I mean, I would almost be, I would almost be concerned, honestly, if any athlete views baseball as being more important than, you know, things like their faith or their family or, you know, I mean, at the end of the day, like our jobs do not define who we are as people. Although working at Ph.NX sometimes it has felt that it defines me as a person because it takes up a lot of my time. I'm a goddamn mayor, Jesse. I'm a captain mayor. What are we talking about here? Yeah, that's fair. You clearly just lean.

into defining your entire identity based on working at PH&X. I said, if I, when I lose this job, I assure you I will be a broken shell of myself because I will have no identity any longer. I will give it everything to this company. But I also understand, like, we love this job. We love this job. And there are like thousands of people that would love to have a job like this, millions of people maybe even, right?

There's millions of sports fans out there and they would love to have an opportunity to work covering a team or a sport that they love as much as you and I love baseball, right? Totally. But it doesn't change the fact that this is still a job for us. There are still days where we hate up. We hate this job. There's still days where we get up. We don't want to come to this job.

Like it's just it is a job. And it doesn't matter, I think, sometimes how cool your job is. Once it becomes your job, there are going to be times where this is how you feel about it, right? Sure. And Merrill Kelly appeared on Chris Rose's podcast. And Chris Rose talked to him about the situation. And this is what Merrill Kelly actually had to say in regards to this. Yeah, I think so.

That's what the beauty of baseball is. When you walk into a locker room, the spectrum of people and personalities and ideals and values and all of that are on such a range of a spectrum. There's people that love baseball, the game of it, the ins and outs, the strategy of it. And then there's also guys on the other end of the spectrum that don't necessarily love the game, but they're really good at it and they can make a lot of money and they can support their family and they can do what it is that they really enjoy doing through this vehicle that is, you know, like he said, like his job. What we do is a lot of fun, but it's also a grind.

You know, we're away from our families for most of the year. We're traveling, living out of suitcases, going from city to city, flight and flight. I'll say it this way. If fans think he's the only guy that views baseball that way, I think they'd be very mistaken. It's that part at the end, I think is very poignant. Well said. And, of course, being in the clubhouse, being in the locker room, they get to be around. guys that have the same mentality.

They're not going to necessarily speak on it the same way Rendon did, but at the same time, they do feel that way. That comes back to when Tori was asked last week about the personalities that they bring into this clubhouse, right? And that's really why it comes down to talent selection and really trying to dig in to see if these guys are necessarily committed as much as you need. need them to be in order to run a successful team like the Diamondbacks, right? Like there are other teams that can experience success with maybe having some of those big

egos, maybe having some of those people that feel that way. But the way Tori runs this team, the way that this team found success was that connected and dangerous mentality from last season, right? And I mean, TEO brought that up. Like, do you seek out these people on purpose that kind of mesh well? because A. Ueno, Eduardo, all of these new additions to this team are all seem to be fitting in very well with their teammates. And it just kind of seems like that is kind of part of the talent scouting that the

Diamondbacks purposefully do. You do have to be careful who you give a big contract to because you could give a big contract to a guy like this who isn't really committed to, you know, trying to be on the field every, you know, every day and be his best every day. Right? That's kind of why that character factor is such a big deal for the Diamondbacks. I think that, you know, I can I can kind of relate to what Merrill is saying where there are people, there are a lot of people in the world who do not really enjoy what they do on a daily basis,

but they're good at it and they get paid a freaking lot of money to do it. And for as much as I personally value like enjoying my work and feeling fulfilled, my work. You know, if someone comes to me and offers me, you know, uh, nine figures or something like that to do something that I don't enjoy, I'm at least going to like take the phone call, you know, like, there's like, and granted, in order to, in order to be a professional baseball player, there's a level of commitment that is needed. There is a level of, you know, you have to be willing to sort of dedicate your life to it in, in some ways, at least like for a season of your life as you're developing and kind of getting into the sport.

But once you're, once you're there, I mean, once you're a major league player and you've got the contract and all those things, you know, I understand, like, you might reach a point where you're not, your heart maybe isn't in it in the way that it once was, but you're getting paid a lot of money to do it. And you're, you're okay working a job that maybe your heart isn't in, but, you know, you're making a decent chunk of change and you're, and you're pretty good at it at the same time. I'm there there are plenty of people that play the sport of baseball professionally that just did it because they've just loved baseball their whole life right but there's probably an equal percentage of people that did it because of the pot at the end of the rainbow right and that

could be said to all sports that people aren't necessarily looking at that because I want to get up and I want to play football and I want to get hit and I want to you know I want to put my like well-being on the line for this sport that I love. No, most people are doing it because they want to ultimately reach a payday that is what some of these superstars get in every sport. It is hard once those guys get those big paydays. That's why it's crazy. That's why it's crazy in this modern day area to be giving out 13 year contracts and 14 year guaranteed deals and all this stuff. Because how do you keep someone motivated for that long of time to be at the level that you're paying them to be at, right? And I mean,

again, Elise said it, right? Jokic makes similar comments and nothing is said of it, right? Because Jokic is a good, decent dude, and he said this about basketball. I think, like you said, hundreds, thousands of players in different sports could say this, and it wouldn't even be a story.

We wouldn't even be discussing it. The reason why it's because somebody that has a track record of having a lack of commitment to the game and also being paid a huge contract in at one point being seen as one of the best players in the game is now kind of just publicly stating that he doesn't make baseball a priority in his life. Yeah, I mean, like Anthony Rendon probably shouldn't be telling reporters this stuff.

You know, like there was like a buy the book answer here that would have that would have done his name a favor. But also this is Anthony Rendon. And when is Anthony Rendon ever seemed remotely concerned about the way that people perceive him, right? It's almost part of his brand at this point that he is fully willing to go on the record and say the most controversial, provocative things. And he knows how people are going to react to it. And I don't think it really bothers him. So in some ways, maybe Anthony Rendon is the real winner here and getting all of us to talk about this situation. I don't think he really

cares that much how people think of him. Otherwise, he probably would have started thinking about what he was saying a long time ago yeah that's a great point that's a great point all i know is is that at one point zack granky was in the diamondbacks clubhouse and i never knew what we were going to hear out of him and i almost approached him like he was some sort of bear who was going to attack us like i just you had no idea what was going to come out of the guy's mouth so you kind of walk over sheepishly with your microphone and be like zach how's it going you know and like instantly it's like just asking how it's going what what sound bite are we going to get out of him right so it's like sure sure it's weird now that the diamondbacks have this kind of clubhouse filled with guys that all kind of are nice and say the right thing and and have some humility to them and also uh you know have a different level of commitment when they answer these questions than this right yeah that's essentially what we all want at the end of the day is we want the players on our team to sound like they're more committed than that's you're than this. And again, his answer is not an answer that should be villainized, scrutinized,

or even discussed. It's real. And I mean, it's the way that most people should prioritize their lives, right? Like, put your family and your faith first, put things that mean stuff to you first. It doesn't mean that baseball isn't a priority in there. It's just not the number one priority. And that's fine. That's fine for any athlete, you know. But you're not going to get that out, Corby and Carol, by the way. I'm just saying that much. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, most, most baseball players understand that they will be vilified for saying certain things, and they try to avoid that. And Anthony Rendon understands that he will be vilified for certain things, and he has no issue with that whatsoever. Hence why we're talking about Anthony Rendon on this show, like once every, like, two or three months.

Because there's always something that he's saying that's getting people riled up. Meanwhile, that's why I'm the mayor. I want everybody to like me so much, Jesse, all the time. I'm the opposite of Anthony Rendon, but I still say stupid things that make people angry. So, I mean, what's new? I will tell you guys, though, that we do appreciate you for being here. Make sure if you're not a diehard member, you go check that out.

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appreciate you guys for being here. We thank you so much for your time. You can make sure to follow us on Twitter. We'll be back here tomorrow night, covering another spring training baseball game. But until then, follow me on Twitter. I'm at Kapp underscore Keman with the K. This absolute maniac is at Jesse N. Friedman.

You can get Emma is at Emma, Kay Clark? Emma and Clark. Emma and Clark. I don't even know where the K. It's my full government name. What the hell did I go? I'm just making up new middle names for Emma and Clark.

What are we? What are we? We're normally, we're Ryan's dogs, of course, first and foremost. We're also Damon's dog. Can we be Emma's dogs?

Emma's elephants? That's how we're, we're Kyle's kids. And that's a goat reference. So I mean, we'll have to figure. We have to work for this. But until that, man,

that's for Kyle. We miss you, Kyle. We appreciate you guys for stopping by. Of course, our shows at PHNX underscore debacks, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We appreciate you so much. We thank you guys for your time. It's great to be back.

It's great to be covering baseball again, and I cannot wait to get back out there at Salt Riverfields tomorrow. So make sure to follow us for all that fun. Thank you guys for stopping by. Remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's also fun to just go take a cruise sometime. get away from baseball.