Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - A.J. Pierzynski talks White Sox calling up Noah Schultz, Cubs' cold start

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris were joined by Foul Territory host A.J. Pierzynski to discuss the White Sox calling up top pitching prospect Noah Schultz and the Cubs’ uninspiring start to the season.

Now people just like to hate me. The 1-1 a J swinging a high fly ball, right field. This is going to gas strike. Light it off. His fifth of the season. Usually the first thing that comes to their mind is, man, I really hate that guy. Number 12, A.J. Vresensky. Where's Jonah Heim?

Oh, by the way, your guy's charging the mound. Isn't that your number one job is a catcher to not let that guy get there? With Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. Really a good Jonah Heim point. We are happy to bring in our next guest. You know his music. You know his intro. That is A.J. Pirsinski, the All-Star Catcher, 2005 World Series champion, host of Fowl Territory.

And he joins us not only on our hotline, but on Twitch. Twitch.tv. slash The Squort Chicago. AJ, how are you? Good. I can't believe how fancy you all are now. I mean, it used to just be a radio calling show. Now I've got to put clothes on to do this thing.

I mean, don't you host a show today? What's going on with Fowl Territory? today? Oh, no, we do have a show today, but I mean, you know, it's a little early for me to, I can't peek too early. I got to kind of try to control my peeking. So, you know, it's a little early to already put a shirt and a hat on. Yeah, peaking is better than peacocking. So I guess you're halfway there. But thank you for allowing us to siphon some of your on-camera presence for this interview. Yeah, it's changed. Like I said, people change. You know, you guys change. You guys get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

And now we have all, you have TV cameras involved. Here we are with the WrestleMania-style intro. You know what's happening in Vegas this weekend. I thought you'd at least be happy with the wrestling side of it. Oh, of course. I mean, WrestleMania, by the way, WrestleMania, I don't think it's doing so good right now. They're struggling, I think, with ticket sales.

So maybe you guys can buy me a couple tickets and fly me to Vegas this weekend. We were just in Vegas. Our timing is off. Unbelievable. We were at Circa. In the meantime, I'm AJ, we get some good news. I feel like at least as far as a pitcher is concerned,

I haven't been this excited about the White Sox calling up a prospect. I want to say for me since Michael Kopeck. We get the news about Noah Schultz coming up, local guy, a big name prospect, even when he was drafted by the Sox. You know, how do you feel about them doing this, given their record and their performance so far this year? Well, they have to have somebody that can pitch Grant Taylor, can't start every game for him.

I mean, it's like, holy cow. I thought he was one of your seventh or eighth inning guys. And he's out there opening every game. I think it's great. You know, Noah Schultz, first rounder, been there for a while. We'll see what he can do. He looked like he cleaned up his walk issues, which he's had in the past this year,

at least early on so far. So if he can throw it over the plate, he's going to be tough. The biggest thing for him is the walks. That's always been a question for him. And deep counts, large pitch counts early. You know, I said for years, Noah Schultz was three years in his professional career. he never pitched into the fifth inning.

So he did that last year, which was a good step for him in the right direction. We'll see. I hope he does he really well. He's what is he? 6-9, 6-8, 6-9? Yeah, 6-9. Lefty. I mean, I don't want to face the 6-8-Johnson.

That was tough. I don't want to face a 6-8, 6-9, whatever he's listed at. Lefty kind of side-sling. And so if he can throw it over the plate, he's got a chance to be really special. We'll see. Hopefully it works out. Back to the aforementioned player that you just talked about, Grant Taylor. Now, he pitched two in a minute.

in being the opener yesterday, which is a stretch because he'd only been pitching one inning at a time. Do you feel like this is the gateway for him to become a starting pitcher sooner rather than later? Or was this just a one-off because they had a bullpen game? Why not? If you want to make him a starter, why not make him a starter in spring training? Why are we trying to do it in the middle of the season? I don't. If his role is to be a starter down the line, wouldn't you think you'd want him to start?

And I mean, I hate to say this, but in AAA, if he's going to be a starter, if he's not ready to start at the big league level. I don't know. I understand the opener to a certain extent, but it's usually the teams, and I don't want to say that aren't very good, because that's not always true, but it's usually a team that don't really trust their starting rotation

because basically what you're trying to do is steal the first inning for the guy who you have coming in usually next, which is the bulk guy, so they don't have to face the top three hitters in the lineup. And I don't know, it's a weird thing. Does it work? It obviously worked yesterday. The White Sox won.

Does it work all the time? not always because all it takes is one guy to have a bad inning and all of a sudden you're way behind and you have to bring in your starter, your so-called starter, even though he's your second pitcher in the second inning and try to cover a bunch of innings. So God forbid the long guy goes down like what happened yesterday

when Cannon got hurt. So it's an interesting strategy. I understand the strategy, but I don't know if you can maintain that for an entire season, especially when Taylor's pitching like four out of five and starting and doing all this. It's a lot. Oh, yeah.

I mean, it's just, it's, it's, to ethical to convention, I think, AJ, to the point of extreme. And that's what it is. You know, the rays are probably the best example of a good team. They kind of pioneered the opener concept. But, you know, when Taylor's out there for stretches like three out of four games, you hear he's going again yesterday. Sox ended up using nine pitchers, as you mentioned, because of the injury to Canon. This isn't even how you draw it up when you're trying to be creative. No, I know. And listen, it's a learning process for, I think, for everybody involved right now. And they're trying to build depth. They're trying to build an organization that has more

than five options as a starter. And anytime your opening day starter gets option after three starts, that kind of puts the organization on notice, right? And I feel terrible for, you know, Shane Smith getting sent down so early. But, you know, they're trying to make moves. They're trying to get better. They're trying to be competitive. And hopefully Noah Schultz can help them do that. But at the end of the day, you have to have starting pitching. Starting pitching usually wins over 162 games. AJ, I'm curious as to your thoughts on the Chicago White Sox offense specifically, they're hitting 193 as a team. They're the only team in baseball with an OPS below 600. Is Will Vennible just left to his own devices of picking lineups out of a hat? I mean,

how would you go about trying to get something started for the White Sox office? Well, I mean, I can't even, I don't know because, again, I'm not in there every day. know this. They have power. I like my draw at the lead off spot. I know they moved him out yesterday and they won. Listen, they got to get Marikami going. They got to get Colson Montgomery going, right? They got to get a lot of people going. Kiro's not hitting like he was last year. So is it sophomore slump or is it teams are figuring out what they're doing and now they're making adjustments? Now it's time for the hitters to make adjustments, right? I don't know what you can do. You have the pieces you have and you can try and try to get cute and try to switch up lineups and move

guys here and move guys there. But at the end of the day, day if the guys aren't hitting, it doesn't matter who you have hitting where, because if they're not hitting, they're just not hitting. And you need someone to, you need a couple guys to get hot and carry them for a little while. Well, and I think that that's it too, is we feel like the socks lineup looked pretty good to start as we saw. That was before everybody made adjustments, as you mentioned, but Murakama really added some pop, at least for the lack of on base, there was slugging, as we saw, you know, Colson Montgomery, a huge part of that. But to see it kind of a shut down like this, like we've seen.

Teams go through streaks, but what do you think about just the extreme lack of offense we saw like in the past first two games of this thing against the Kansas City Royals? Can we talk, everyone, every other team saying it's cold, so can we say it's cold then? We can. You're a professional hitter, you know better than I do.

Listen, I got off to slow starts. I got off from fast starts. It was just one of those crazy years. When you get off to a slow start, everyone worries. If you have the, if they, let's say, the White Sox did this for a two-week stretch in the middle of July, right? People will be like, ah, it's just the middle of July. They're a little bit tired. But because when it happens at the beginning of the year and the numbers are out there

and like you said, hitting under 200, the OPS is what it is. Everyone's like, oh my gosh, they're never going to figure it out. Let's give them a little bit of time. This team was actually, I think, on paper, supposed to be built around their offense, not around their pitching. And these guys, maybe Kyle Teal is that big of a loss. I don't know. But we'll see when they get fully healthy.

going back and we'll see where they end up. Let's talk again in about June and see where they are. All right. That's fair. Meanwhile, across town, the Cubs have gotten off to a slow offensive start as well. And I'm curious as to your thoughts, not just about the Cubs in general, but how the National League Central stacks up. I know it's only been a couple of weeks. They're in last place, aren't they? They are. Yes, yes, they are. Is that supposed to make me happy or sad? I'm guessing it doesn't make you sad. No, listen, I pick the Cubs to win the division. I still think the Cubs are the cream of the crop in the NL Central.

I think they'll figure it out. Now, listen, losing Kate Orton really, really hurts. Breggman's going to figure it out. I mean, you look at some of their numbers. They're going to be, they have a bunch of veteran guys. It's not like they're running a bunch of young guys, kind of like what we talked about, the White Sox that don't have a track record. Dansby, Bregman, PCA will figure it out, right?

half, Nico Horner, all these guys, Carson Kelly, they've been around a little bit, so they've kind of figured it out. Now, the one that surprised me is Michael Bush going 0 for 30. I didn't think, I thought he was too good. Now, it happens to everybody in the big leagues at some point, but I never thought I'd see him go O for 30. So that was a shocker to me. And then he ended up getting the hit last night that kind of got him going. That was a big win for them last night against the pirates who were in Wrigley trying to sweep them. They figured out a way to rally late. Now the pirates made some defensive miscues, but they figured it out. They figured out how to win that game.

And they're like, what, one game behind? Everyone in the NL Central is like one game on. The Brewers got off to a huge start. They've lost five in a row. Just got swept by the Nationals at home. I bet you they didn't think that was going to happen. So I think the Cubs are going to be fine. I think show does look good.

You know, I think their pitching is really good. Cabreras look good. The back end of their bullpen is really good. So I think the Cubs are going to be fine. Again, it's two weeks, and it's cold out. The wind's blowing in and Wrigley. You guys can't have it blowing out every day. Well, and it was blowing out yesterday just to make your point.

Like that helps too. It was wind-aided for everybody. And that was my issue, AJ, was a lot of times we've talked about the weather helping the opponent. But theoretically, it should help the home team, too. And I feel like that occurred yesterday. Normally both teams have to bat, right? They both get 27 outs on the same field. That's what they tell us.

It's not like one team. It's not like the old Metroome where people accused the twins of turning the fans on when they were hitting. And when they were not hitting, they'd turn them off so the ball didn't go as far or something like that. the Wrigley, it's outside, and the wind blows the way it blows. So I think both teams have to hit. And again, I'm not worried about the Cubs. I think they're going to be fine. I just don't see how in this division, listen, Pittsburgh off the nice start, since he's doing fine. Milwaukee is Milwaukee. St. Louis obviously is not trying to win. They're trying to kind of in a rebuild mode. They want to win, but they're in a rebuild mode. The Cubs should be the pride of this division.

They should win this division. You have to get into the groove of the season. I think that's what people understand with baseball. It's not football word. Oh, game one, game two, oh, no. Well, in baseball, two weeks is not a whole lot. It's basically what, under a, there about a tenth of the season in. Let's let them, again, let's get into June. Let's see how they're doing in June.

And they'll be fine. Everyone, I know people are going to die when I say this. Cubs fans, calm down. Actually, you know what? No, Cubs fans, panic, please. Panic in the street. It was a reasonable take, then it was not a reasonable take. I can appreciate it.

AJ, what did you think of Ozzy Guy and getting his number retired in that announcement coming through? It's about time. I've been kind of beating this drum behind the scenes for a couple of years now. Because first of all, if it hasn't been issued, right, then what are we doing? If it's not issued, then that means they're going to retire it at some point. So what were they waiting for? That's why I didn't understand. Listen, Ozzy rookie of the year, great player for the White Sox, won a World Series,

He's managed this team for a long time. Still is around. The White Sox organization still loves the White Sox organization. I just didn't know what took so long. I'm so happy for Ozzy. I'm happy for his family. I can't wait to see him cry like a little baby when he gets up there and has to give his speech.

It's going to be a great weekend. And I'm happy that the White Sox finally came around and did it. AJ, I got to ask you another question more league-wide, just because, obviously, your position as a catcher. What do you make of what we've seen so far from the new ABS and the challenges and how this thing is kind of gone. I love it. I think it's great. If you guys go to games and you watch it,

it involves the fans. I mean, the fans are into this stuff, man. They're like, oh, oh, every, oh, as soon as someone taps their helmet, the whole crowd just looks at the big screen. And, oh, no, oh. And then it's a tenth of an inch off, and the crowd's like, yeah, especially in big moments. So I think it's great. I think it keeps umpires on their toes.

Now, I've done a, I did a game opening weekend. the Braves ran out of challenges in the top, in the bottom of the first four hitters into the game because they were wrong twice. So that puts you behind the A ball a little bit. But I've said this before, I think it's great. The more involved me you can get, the more correct calls we can get. The only thing I wish, I wish it was 3D the way the strike zone is supposed to be calculated by umpire. So we've seen some that are a tenth of an inch low because the strike zone is in the middle of the plate, not the front of the plate. And the ball is probably a strike coming in, but because of where it's measured, it's considered a ball.

So umpires are taking a little bit of a front of it. But I think overall umpires have done a great job. The players have done a great job of it. And plus it's always funny when guys don't mean to touch their hat and they get charged a challenge. And we saw it, I think, a couple of times yesterday and they were both right, even though they didn't mean to challenge it. Yeah, the unintentional being correct. Yes. No, no.

Wait for it. Wait for it. Do you have a part of, you're part of these really fun city cruise events. And I saw you announce on your Instagram that you've got it, you've got a couple of these coming up. One is April 26th, the other is September 20th. What can you tell us about the city cruises? Well, if you didn't get to go last year, you guys should come. It's great. It's me and Ozzy Gien.

And the first one, April, is Sean Burke and Davis Martin, two of the starting pitchers. We did a pitching one. And then the one in September is going to be my drop in teal, so a position player won. So we're just going to go out. We leave from Navy Pier. It's a great time. We'll sign autographs. We'll have drinks with you.

We'll just tell stories. And fans get to interact with us. They get to have questions. it's three hours. You go out of Navy Pier, you watch the sunset, you enjoy the nice, hopefully weather, fingers crossed, April and September can be a little dicey, but we did this last year with 05 guys, Germain, Scott Pesedinick, and Joe Creedy, fans loved it. You just get to interact with White Sox people, White Sox, White Sox legend, Ozzy Gian, and as you guys said, now this number retired. So it's just a fun time, again, we're personal. We tell a bunch of stories. Ozzie will tell

a bunch of lies and we get to interact with current and former players. And it's just a great time. Tickets aren't that expensive. And you'll get, I promise you, you'll get your money out of it if you put your money into it. We love stories at the library that's books, whether they're fiction or nonfiction. So we'll take it to Joe. Don't let the truth get in the way of a true story. We used to tell Hawk down all the time. And now we've decided to tell Ozzie that one. I feel like Hawk may have had that happen a timer too. AJ, this has been a lot of fun. What's the latest on Fowell Territory? When can we catch you next? on the show. Today, one o'clock

Eastern, every day, Monday to Friday. I honestly don't even know who we have on today. Tristan Gray, I think, from the NASCAR, who's on today? Oh, twin, sorry. National show. So Spencer Nuthbaum from that show is coming on. Sorry, I got half of it right. I got the over 30 shows. Yeah, we have

over 30 shows. So it's hard for me to keep up. And then with all the player movement, I got Tristan Gray confused with, you guys, you guys know how it is. You guys only have to focus on Chicago. I got to focus on 30 teams. No, no. It's doing a great job. The Almanac does take some time to reload. Scott Braun in the background, tell him we said

hello. AJ, thanks again. He's using the bathroom, so he wasn't proud of me for yelling on him, so I apologize. At least he replied. Well, in between tinkles. Oh, that's control. Nicely done. A.J. Thanks again. Thanks, AJ. Thanks, guys. That is A.J.

Pursensky, featuring Scott Braun. You can check out Fowlterritoria. It comes on in about 20 minutes. And he was nice enough to share his on-camera glow with us for an extra extra 20 minutes today. So that was nice. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, it's time for halftime. We've gotten a lot of questions about what happened in Vegas. So we will give you the lowdown next.