Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. #153 - Andrew Albers

Episode Date: February 22, 2021

Originally from North Battleford, he is one of 9 players to make the big leagues from Saskatchewan. We discuss his time with different organizations including the Padres, Braves, Blue Jays, Twins & Mariners. We also dig into the time he spent playing in South Korea & Japan. Let me know what you think Text me! 587-217-8500

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fun with it, though. You'll understand if you go in. Finally, Gartner Management is a Lloyd minster based company specializing in all types of rental properties to help meet your needs, whether you're looking for a small office or a 6,000 square foot commercial space, give Wade Gertner a call today, 7808808, 50, 25. And if you're heading into any of these businesses, make sure you let them know you heard about them from the podcast. Now let's get on to that T-Bar-1, Tale of the Tape. Originally from North Battleford, Saskatchewan, he's one of nine players to make the MLB from the province. He played four years for the Division I in Kentucky Wildcats. In the 2008 MLB draft, he was taken in the 10th round by the San Diego Padres.

Over his career, he spent time in the organizations of the Padres, Twins, Blue Jays, Braves, and Mariners. And on February 8th, he signed a minor league contract taking him back to the Minnesota Twins. I'm talking about Andrew Elbers. So buckle up. Here we go. This is Andrew Elbers, and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Well, welcome to the Sean Newman Podcast. today. I'm joined by Andrew Elvers. So first off, thanks for hopping on with me. Yeah,

thanks for having me, Sean. Looking forward to it. Now, you come from North Battleford, Saskatchewan. I was doing a little digging, and I could be wrong on this. But the land of hockey, the land of farming, the land of everything else. Baseball is not on the top of that. And by looks for it, there was nine, nine guys all time to come out of Saskatchewan, you being the ninth, I believe. I believe I was. eight. There was one guy after me, Dustin Mulliken, with the Tigers for a little bit. With the Tigers, that's right. Okay, okay. Number eight.

I'm back to being the most recent one again. Well, kind of guide us through it, because I'm always curious. You know, I had Ruben Mays, who was a football player from North Battleford on. And he talked a little bit about his story, you know, like that's another one. The NFL isn't, you know,

Saskatchewan's known for hockey, right? I mean, Canada's known for hockey, but specifically in Saskatchew and small town hockey. How, you know, I was listening to you on a different interview and you got talking about the North Saskatchewan River League and I was like, did he just say the North Saskatchewan River League? Like we're talking Glasgow and like playing Lloyd and all those teams, yeah? Well, Lloyd's a big standard for that league. You bet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, lead us through it. Well, I mean, I grew up and played all my minor league baseball in North Battlefield. here. Obviously, North Battleford's not the biggest center in the world. We didn't even play AAA baseball, which is the highest level. We were double A, so we didn't even play at the highest level. But I played all growing up here.

Obviously, a couple trips into Saskatoon here and there to play for some teams there. And I was fortunate enough to make a couple of Canada Cup teams where each province kind of takes their best 16, 17-year-olds, it goes on plays and played in that for a couple years as well. Got some opportunities like that. But yeah, the NSRBL, the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League, was where I played by midget baseball for three years. You have the huge metropolises of places like Glassing, like you mentioned,

and Meadow Lake and Macklin and Wilkie and all kinds of big towns. So, you know, that's where I grew up playing and playing in a senior men's league when I was 15 through 18 and developed the craft a little bit there, I guess. And yeah, you know, just gave me a place to play. That's what we had. And so that's what we did. So obviously then you must have caught a break or two somewhere along the way, right? I mean, I highly doubt there's 50 scouts sitting in a.

Glasgow. No offense to Glasgow because I love Glasgow. But you know what I mean? I don't think there's 50 people there sitting. If you include both baseball teams, I don't think there are 50 people with those games. But no, yeah, definitely caught a couple breaks. Those kind of came at the Canada Cup there. The tournament I mentioned where each province kind of takes their best 16, 17-year-olds. I was fortunate enough to make team staff two years in a row.

And while I was there, that's kind of where some college coaches would come down and watch the tournaments, get a feel for the Canadian kids. obviously back then it was a little bit different. You didn't have all the social media, and you didn't have the cell phones. And I graduated kind of just before all those things came in. So I graduated high school with no cell phones. So, you know, they couldn't get in touch with me that way or anything like that.

So it was one of those tournaments where there would be coaches there watching. And fortunately enough for me, that's kind of where my offer to go to the University of Kentucky came from. The pitching coach who ended up there when he went up to, it actually was in Melville, ironically enough, another huge Saskatch from Metropolis, the two years that I played in it. But he would go up there every year

and he'd go watch that tournament and he saw me play there a couple years and at the time he was actually with Oregon State. It's a guy by the name of Gary Henderson. And he went up there, watch me play there for two years and kind of kept tabs on me and, you know, offered me a kind of an invitation

to go down to see the campus of Kentucky. He ended up taking a job in Kentucky. My senior year, he had actually started recruiting me as a junior because I have a late birthday, so I had started school late. So he thought it was a senior, excuse me when I was a junior. But as he moved over to Kentucky,

kind of took me with him as a recruit. And yeah, caught a huge break there. Got to go down and visit. And fortunately for me, Kentucky wasn't a great baseball program at the time. It was starting to turn around. They had gotten a whole new coaching staff in.

And they were kind of trying to change the culture there and change their regime and get their own guys in. And I was fortunate enough to be one of those guys. So got to go down and play my university ball in Lexington, Kentucky. And arguably the best baseball conference in the country. and it was a lot of fun. You tell us what the jump from the North Sask to Div 1 was? Yeah, it was substantial.

I think we can put it that way. When I got down there, I didn't know a lot about college baseball. I didn't realize how good the SEC was and things like that. And we played a fairly weak non-conference schedule, which I also didn't realize. And again, like I said, we weren't a great team. My freshman year, I was fortunate enough. I got to start on Fridays, the first four weekends. And so I started our first game of the season.

We played a team from Appalachian State. We played Appalachian State at the university. I don't think they had been outside yet. We were down in Florida. And I don't even know if they had seen live pitching. But I was fortunate enough to go out there and do well in my first three or four starts. And then we got into conference play. And my first start against Alabama went all right.

And then we played Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee the next three weeks. And Florida and Tennessee went to the College World Series that year. That would have been 05. And I'm pretty sure I proceeded. to give up 25 runs in my next 11 innings. And it was like, okay, well, welcome to, welcome to the SEC kid. And it was like, all right, so this is, this is a real deal. And, you know, it was a little bit of a struggle after that.

You lose a little bit of a little bit of confidence and try to bounce back. And it was a little bit of an up and down season after that. Like I said, team-wise, we really struggled in the conference. I think we went seven and 22 that year. We ended up coming back and going 20 and 10 the next year and winning the conference. So it was a big turnaround. But that first year, I certainly took my bumps and bruises. As you've probably noticed, hockey behind my shoulders.

I'm a hockey guy through and through. Going from the North Sass, I'm going to talk about, when I heard you say it before, I was like, wow, like that is a jump. And I guess I just try and relate it to the hockey world at all times, right? And the fact you started opening night, like, that's pretty, I would think, unheard of in the baseball world, isn't it? Going from AA to Division I? Yeah, well, yeah, it's probably unlikely, especially nowadays with all the showcase tournaments and things like that, the kids go to.

It was just, it happened to be where I played at. And obviously, you know, I played on our midget team here and we were fortunate enough. We won provincials, I think, my last year midget and we got to go play in Westerns and Altoona, Manitoba, another huge center, right? With a great name. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, so things like that. And I played in the WMBL back when it was before, was just a college league. So I also played in that as well.

just the NSRVL that I was playing at. I was getting a little bit better competition at some other levels as well. Actually, and I wasn't meaning it to knock any of the leagues you came from. I was more meaning that you know, A, it must speak to the way you threw the ball because I'm sure there's a lot of guys around this area

that can probably speak to that, right? I did Paul Spold Jerich, who used to pitch for the Blue Jays. And as soon as I got done that episode, my phone was going off the hook with guys going, you've got to get Albers on it. I'm like, all right, yeah, sure, let's do it. right but then when I read your story I'm like man that's that's a jump to me that seems like a big jump

but maybe I'm just in a different world and don't understand I get the the training I get all the different levels you would have played it just seems like wow that's impressive that's all I guess why I keep pointing out yeah no and I appreciate that and there's no question that it was a big jump and certainly going to Kentucky was a big eye opener you know the the level plays just it is a different level. You know, you're used to having a lot of success and you're used to doing really well over here. Obviously, from that 25 runs and 11 inning stretch, you can tell that that wasn't always the case there. So for me, it was, it was an eye opener. There's no question about that. And it wasn't a struggle at times. And, you know, I think it certainly helped me in the long run. Unfortunately, well, unfortunately,

unfortunately, however you want to look at it, if you play baseball long enough, you run into failure. And so you have to be able to deal with that. And, you know, that was kind of my first experience with what I would call certainly failing. You know, it was, it was a tough stretch and it was something that I had to battle through. And, you know, it's something that you have to learn. Again, if you play this game long enough, you're going to go through stretches like that. And that's certainly the one that sticks out of my mind probably as big as anyone and kind of the first one that I had to deal with. And it was certainly learning experience. Well, that was one of the things that I'll reference Paul all the time because I don't do a whole lot of baseball guys. And that's no knock on baseball guys, just my background.

And it was one of the cool things that you guys know, especially as pitchers, the dealing with failure is something very unique to baseball. And, well, I mean, that's got to be, you got to, that's a lot of mental capacity to get around some of those things. Yeah. And it's unique in regards that you can do everything right and still get a bad result. You know, it's not, it's not like hockey or basketball or football where, you know, if you do everything right, chances are pretty good.

Your result's going to be going to be a positive one. Whereas baseball, whether you're a pitcher or whether you're a hitter, you know, you put a good swing on a baseball and you hit it right on the barrel. And all of a sudden you hit a line drive, which is exactly what you were trying to do. But it's right at where the field is standing, you know, and you're O for one right there. And you did everything right. You did exactly how you wanted to and you got a negative result. You know, on the mound, you can go out there and execute a pitch, fool a guy. And he puts a bad swing on the ball, but he puts them playing and it falls somewhere where nobody's at.

And again, you did everything that you wanted to do. and you got a negative result. You know, it's one of the few sports where that happens. And so that part of it certainly does take some getting used to. You have to learn how to deal with it and move on. It goes both ways. You know, sometimes you make a bad pitch and a guy hits a rocket and it gets caught too. So you take the good with the bad there and you learn how to deal with those ups and downs.

Just continue to try to be consistent in your approach and what you're trying to do. Did you have anyone in the minors or along your road kind of help you along with that? I had a couple of major influences in my life. Obviously, you know, my dad coached me all the way growing up in North Battlefield, Saskatchewan. So he was my first coach. And he was my coach for whatever it was 15 years here, however long I ended up playing here, maybe not 15, 10, 12, whatever it was.

But certainly my pitching coach in college, Gary Henderson, who I had mentioned before, had a tremendous impact on my career. I don't get to where I was without him. He was just an incredible coach. He did a great job with the mental side of the game. did a great job relating just life to baseball in general. And he was one of those guys who was a sports psychology major in college. And I'll tell you what,

he could get in that in your head as quickly and as easily as he wanted to and really messed you up if he felt like you needed that. But he was phenomenal at getting the most out of his guys and really figuring out what buttons needed to be pushed for you to kind of maximize your potential. And I really feel like without my four years with him, I don't get to where I'm at today. Would you care to share an example? I'm curious how he got in your head or how he motivated.

Oh, Gary used to have all kinds of great stories. I'll never forget the one one day. Just a small example. I can't remember what year it is, but we're in our indoor facility. And just before the season started, and he's come in and he's got a banged up thumb. His thumb is just, he knocked it up against something. And he starts telling us a story. And he's like, you know, guys, I was out.

I was mowing my lawn with the lawnmower back when he was. was a push more kind of deal. And, you know, I was going up trying to get around the trash can. And, you know, I tried to just lift up the trash can and kind of mow around it, more underneath and sure enough, let go to the trash can and boom, lands right on my thumb. And he goes, you know what, guys, if I would have just stopped, stopped the lawnmore, gone and picked out the trash can, moved it, gone and mowed my lawn, it would have been fine. He says, you know what, you can't cut corners.

And so then he goes, then he relates that to baseball. He's like, you think those extra reps don't matter. You think that extra time on the field doesn't matter. You think throw, number 48 in your bullpen doesn't matter guys it matters you know you can't cut corners and that was just a very small example of one of those lessons that sticks out of my mind we had many many talks throughout those four years similar to that some of them i probably can't repeat um but he was just he was phenomenal in that area of the game and i was i'm very appreciative

and thankful to have been around him for as long as i was yeah i always bring i like to shed light on it no matter what athlete i'm talking about to actually anyone, any walk of life because those people are, they just push you to a different spot, right? They take you coming up and push you in a different way. And I mean, obviously, if that's one of the guys that sticks out to you, here it is how many years later and you're still talking about it. Oh, yeah, like I said, I'm so thankful that I got to spend that time with him.

And I don't think I get to where I'm at today if it wasn't for my time spent in Lexington with him. If I rewind the clock and go back to the North Sask baseball league. back again, okay. I want to because I want to know what your favorite ball diamond there was. Well, Macklin was a little unique. They had a little mini monster in right field. Terrible pitchers mound because it was just dirt. But unique stadium anyways that I think just built it way back then.

So it was probably a couple three years old. It's probably old now. But they had a good one. I remember Glassland had a grass infield. And what I mean by grass was it was literally a field basically that you were playing on. and it had some dirt cutouts for where the bases were at. But it was, that one was a little rough, I remember. North Battlefield in towns was actually decent, relatively speaking.

Do you ever talk to the boys on your teams and recount stories of that league? I try, yeah, not very often. I don't think they'd believe if I told them that anyway. Like, you probably where? What? Oh, yeah, just a pasture out in the middle of nowhere. There were gopher holes in the outfield. I don't know if they buy into that or not. So we try to leave that one on the back burner.

And we'll talk about collagen on instead of, you know, beforehand. Not that I'm not proud of having come from there because I certainly am. But again, I don't think those guys over there really understand it as much. Unless you get to the Latin guys certainly do, you know, in the Dominican and Venezuela, have probably played on worse than that. And they've found a way to get the job done as well. So they could maybe relate a little bit better, but tends to be a little bit of a language barrier with some of those guys.

Well, fast forward. And here he's sitting in 2021, starting spring training again here. What, and like, what is it today? Five, four, three days? Three days? Oh, yeah, I was supposed to be down south already on Monday, just waiting for a visa to get in. So we'll see how that goes. Oh, man, you're not there yet. No, I'm not, I'm in Saskatoon at the moment. No shit. Yep. Uh, what about COVID? What are you going to have they told, are you just going to have to get a couple of, uh, nasal swabs and away you go. Yeah, so I have to get a test done, obviously, before I fly down. So it has to be within 72 hours of my flight.

And then also as I want to get down there, I'll take another test the next day and then a physical. There's no quarantine right now in the state of Florida. So hopefully be good to go fairly soon after I get down there. Oh, shit. Well, hopefully, you know, knock on some wood here and you get something through the mail and away you go. Yeah, it's one of those things. I mean, obviously it's not ideal, but it's not something that I can really control. so try not to worry about it too much.

It'll get done eventually and just got to be ready when it does and get down there and hit the ground running. You know, when I look at your over the entire course of your career, you're a guy man that has played everywhere, like everywhere. Like A ball to AAA to the MLB to South Korea to Japan, back to the MLB to the minor, like everywhere. What is, what are some, when you were, When you look back, and I know you want to look forward to the upcoming training camp and everything,

but if we look at some of the highlights of your career, like what places stick out to you? Actually, some of my favorite highlights have actually been with the national team and getting the opportunity to play for Team Canada in a couple of the Pan Am games and then also the world baseball classics as well. Those are high up there on my list. I was fortunate enough to start the gold medal game in 2011 when we beat the States 2 to 1 to win Canada's first senior men's medal in baseball or gold medal, sorry, in a baseball competition. So that was a lot of fun.

That night was really fun. And then we managed to repeat in 15 at home in Toronto. And I got to pitch in that game as well. I came in in relief of Jeff Francis and that one. So getting to be a part of those two nights were pretty special. I think for me personally, I don't think anything's ever going to beat. my major league debut and then start number two in the bigs. Well, and for people who don't know, right, that we're talking about Minnesota twins.

Yes, yes. So that was in 2013. I debuted, I think it was August 6th in Kansas City. And that was certainly night I'll never forget. I remember we got just crushed the day before. Kansas City was like 13 to nothing or something like that the night before. and I had just gotten called up. And so I'd been there for a couple days.

And I was thinking going into that game was like, okay, if I can just go out and throw, you know, six, seven innings and keep it close, we'll be in good shape. And I remember it was really hot and humid in Kansas City that day. And I went out and I threw my pregame bullpen. And it was one of the worst bullpens I've ever thrown in my life. And I felt so bad for our pitching coach

because he was probably just thinking, what the hell are we doing right now? We're going to send this kid out here after last night. night and this and he's just probably like, holy shit, we're in trouble. And, uh, you know, it was one of those things where, um, I went in and, and, you know, just regrouped a little bit and found a way to get a grip on the baseball and, uh, went out there and, and things just went unbelievably well. They just kept hitting the ball at guys. And you taught, we talked a little bit about that early, how sometimes you do everything right and things go wrong. And sometimes you do

things wrong and things go right. And those first two nights, everything just went right for me. And all of a sudden I'm into the ninth inning and I got a chance at a complete game. And I think we get hosed on a double play call. I'm still mad about it. Still think Lorenzo Kane was out at first base. And if he gets called out instead of safe, maybe I get a complete game in my, in my debut. But there was no replay at the time. And, you know, so still a little bit bitter about that in case you can't tell.

And that night is just one I'll never forget, you know, getting to step out on that big league mound for the first time. And for it to go like that for a kid like me, having played in the NSRBL and then getting to play at Coffman Stadium. It's a little bit of a jump there as well. And I just remember walking out on the diamond and enjoying that first moment. And I actually had some buddies come down. And I didn't even know that they were coming down for the start. And the first thing I see when I walk out is I've got about five or six guys

that I've played ball with here in town. And they're just yelling at me, hey, Albers! Albers! And of course, none of them have their shirts on. And they got Albers on their chests. And maybe not the best looking guys on Earth. days but hey they're looking pretty good to me and I just chuckled and it was it was a moment that for me you know it allowed me to relax a little bit and something that I'll never forget yeah and then and then to go out and pitch eight and a third yeah and then you go eight and a third

shout out and it's like well it's not going to get any better than that and I face Cleveland six days later and go complete game shut out and I I don't even know how to describe it it's one of those things I don't know if something like that will ever happen again with prospects these days usually they don't get to go that long. And fortunately, I guess for me, I wasn't necessarily a prospect. I think I was the first guy to do it since the 50s. And so, you know,

I think the last guy to throw a complete game shutout in his debut was in 05, a guy by the name of Andy Van Hecken, who I actually looked that one up afterwards. And ironically enough, I played against him in South Korea. So it's just crazy how things like that work. And for it to happen to me, of all people, with the ride that I had and the roller coaster that I've had from a career standpoint, when you talk about all the different places that I played for those first two nights

to go the way that they did. It was a dream come true and it's certainly something that I'll always remember. Were you shitting bricks when in your second game, you're at like inning seven and you're like, oh man, like what's going on here? You're like, oh, getting close. Like were you just, or were you just in the zone? I was in a good place at that point in time. My last three or four starts in AAA, I think I had gone.

at least seven or age in each of them and had been pitching really well. My fastball command was outstanding at the time. And again, riding really confident with everything. Everything's going right. You're feeling really, really good those days. And you don't really think about it. I think I remember having the thought of when I got in the ninth, and it'd be nice to finish this one.

But really up until then, I wasn't real sure how I was going to go. The game against Cleveland was pretty close. I think we ended up winning three nothing. So it was probably a situation where if a guy or two got on, I wasn't going to be in there very long. Fortunately for me, I remember a few plays that the defense made behind me that were just unbelievable.

Doja made a play in shallow right center that I can't believe he got to. And Pedro Formon made two plays up the middle at short that were just unreal. And, you know, all of a sudden, that's a whole extra inning right there if those balls fall. And you got to have a little bit of luck. I mean, I think I struck out four guys in the first 17 innings that I pitched. So it's not like I was getting a lot of swings and misses. They were just, they were just hitting the ball at guys. And that's kind of how it worked.

I was able to induce a little bit of, at least not solid contact anyways, and just rode that wave. That's super cool, though. I mean, for pitchers, that's just not something that, well, you don't get that close to perfection, let alone back-to-back nights or back-to-back starts. Like I said, I don't know when the next time something like that will happen, it'll be interesting because, again, the way the game is gone now with the bullpins being as good as they are and with prospects coming up the way that they do, they're generally on a pretty,

short leash. And if you're going to strike out a bunch of guys and you've got really good stuff, you're not getting through nine innings on 100 pitches. You know, for me, only striking out the four guys helped a little bit because it kept the outbats a little bit shorter and they put the ball in play. And it just all went right. I think I think the first night I threw 100 and 8, 109 and then the next, the next start was, I think, under 105. So it just, everything came together and everything went right. And, and, you know, like I said, for a guy like me, for the journey that I had for a kid from Saskatchewan to have that happen in their first two starts. I don't think you could write that and someone would believe you.

So I'm very fortunate to have gone through that. You were drafted in 2004? I was. Yeah, I was drafted by the Brewers in the 12th round and chose not to sign. Now, once again, just being a dumb Lloyd kid, I go, was there any thought into signing? Or was it just like, no, I want to go to Division 1 and play and develop? There was some thought. I had, Dick Roach was actually the GM with the brewers that year.

And I remember they came to North Battleford, Saskatchewan, had dinner with my family. And we talked about it. We talked about signing. They asked what it would take. I was shocked that I had gotten drafted in the first place, especially that high that year because for all intents and purposes, anyone that asked, I said I was probably going to school.

I was pretty comfortable with the offer I had in Kentucky. I was also an 18-year-old kid from North Battleford, Saskatchewan that had never lived away from home and weighed a buck 67 coming out of high school. So I probably wasn't ready to go that pro route. You know, and it was going to take a fair bit for me to do that and to forego going to Kentucky. Education was something that was important to me. You know, school was something that I valued and getting the opportunity to go and play baseball at a school like Kentucky and then also getting to go to school and work on towards my degree.

Those things were all important to me. And I didn't think I was I was ready. to go the pro route. I don't know how it would have went. Obviously, you always look back. Every once in a while, you wonder what if. But certainly the way the journey's gone now, I think I made the right decision and I'm very comfortable with the route that I took. What was the culture shock like going from small town, Saskatchewan for you to Kentucky? Actually, it wasn't too bad. You know, a very similar outlook on a lot of things down in Lexington. Obviously, Lexington is about the size of Saskatoon. So, you know,

similar cities that way. It's a great college town. They love UK. UK anything. If you're good, they're going to come out and they're going to support you. So the college shock,

or sorry, the culture shock in and of itself wasn't too bad. I'll never forget. The first time I really realized that was someplace different. I was sitting down having lunch. This was maybe,

I don't know, six, seven weeks into my first semester in college. And we're sitting down and having lunch with a couple of guys from Lexington. And they're talking about the upcoming football game. And the kid guy goes,

yeah, the first 2,000 fans get free tobogins at the game. at the game. And I look at him and I say, what? Like, what are you talking about? A free toboggan? Why would they be giving away toboggans in Kentucky? It never snows here anyways.

And he kind of looks at me and he sees me looking at it. And he says, you know, the toboggins, the hats that you put in your head. Are you talking about a toque? And then, of course, he gives me the exact same look. He says, what? What the hell is a toque? I said, no, a toot. The hats that you put on your head, they got the pump-hongs.

He says, no, those are tobogins. I said, no, what? Tobogans, what you use? It's a flood that you use to go down the snow with. No, no, no, no. So for me, I'll never forget that one. That was kind of my first introduction of, okay, I'm actually someplace different and who the hell says toboggan for a took, and what is that? And so that one was interesting and one I always remember and kind of a funny little story. But I actually fit in pretty well there. I had a couple other offers. I could have gone to Malibu,

California, and I'll never forget. I went on a visit there. They used to call them official visits. So I went on an official visit to Malibu, California. And they put me up, one of the guys' parents. I can't remember what they did, but they had bought this house for him, and there were about four or five players staying in there, and every time you go on an official visit, you have a student host.

So the student host, or the player host had taken me over to this place. And when I walked in there, I mean, I'd never seen anything like it. I walked in, and my jaw just hit the floor. I just went like, like, where am I right now? There were the brass staircases and brass handles on everything, and there were, I don't know,

three or four floors to this thing, and about nine flat screens before flat screens were even a thing. And I thought, like, where am I right now? What is this? And I mean, Pepperdine had a beautiful campus. You were right across the street from the ocean. Pamela Anderson, I think, lived two miles away from campus and showed up at lots of the games. And it was like, oh, man, this would be the greatest thing ever.

But it's, you know, as you sit down and you think about it, I'm thinking a small town kid from Saskatchewan probably wasn't going to fit into there very well. So I ended up going to Lexington, Kentucky instead. And again, I think I'm very comfortable with the choice that I made. And I think I made the right one. Flat screens before they were flat screens. Yeah. Malibu, California.

That is a nice ring to it. That was still back when they had all the box TVs. The flat screens weren't a thing yet. Could have been in Malibu, California. That sounds awfully nice. It does. It does. And I can't imagine how I would have gotten much work done there.

It's true. It's very true. Did after you graduate, you get selected again, right? You get selected in the 2004 draft, then 2008, you get drafted again this time by San Diego. Is that your first MLB camp then as San Diego? Yeah, so what happened there, usually what happens with college guys is you go and play short season. I actually ended up coming down with an arm injury kind of right after the season. And so I never really got off the ground that year. So I ended up, originally I was supposed to go to Eugene, Oregon to play short season.

And my visa, once again, didn't get in on time. So I actually ended up going to Peoria, Arizona and hurt my elbow and never really got healthy that year. So I spent whatever it was two, two and a half months in Peoria. During the off season, tried to rest and rehab thing. That gave me an opportunity to go back and finish my degree in Kentucky, finish up my education degree, do my student teaching. which was nice. I had been back down in Peoria for their,

they call it extended. So it's in the fall, kind of a fall camp they run, hoping to get some innings and throw that way. Unfortunately, the elbow just didn't respond very well and didn't respond very well to the rest in treatment.

And yeah, big league camp, sorry, not big league camp, but just my first spring training was the next year, the following year, I think in 2009,

it ended up being that spring. And I went in with kind of a bummed elbow. And, you know, I've been rehabbing or rest and rehabbing for about eight months and it just wasn't getting better. So it was one of those things where it was like, okay, I'm going to throw until it either goes away or I blow it out. You know, unfortunately, I blew it out that year and ended up having to have surgery.

And originally when I went into San Diego, I had done all the MRIs and had the stress x-rays and all those things and they had kept coming back negative. And it was getting pretty frustrating because knowing that they're coming back negative, it was like, man, well, maybe there isn't something wrong. Maybe I do need to just gut it out and throw through this. But I went down there thinking I was just going to get a scope on my elbow. so it was planning on about a six-week recovery. And the day before surgery, they did one more stress x-ray and walked into the doctor's

office. And he told me, hey, yeah, your ligaments opened up a little bit. So we're going to do the all-lateral reconstruction tomorrow. And, yeah, we're going to go about it that way. And that's exactly how he said it. And I almost missed it. And I said, wait, what? Like, time out.

Whoa, whoa, we got to back up here a little bit. We call it Tommy John, right, named after the guy who had it first. And it's like, Tommy John's a nine to 12-month rehab. And I'm like, oh shit, like really? All of a sudden, we go from six weeks to nine months. And I was like, all right, well, I mean, nothing I can do about it. And had to get it done because I knew I couldn't pitch through a season the way my elbow felt. So went in, got it done the next day and spent that whole, I guess, season rehabbing in Peoria, Arizona.

I have to assume some things went through your head after you've had surgery like that. because, I mean, as a pitcher, that's, you know, that's your go-to. That's your arm. Like, were you, like, sitting there going, like, man, what if I can't throw a ball again? Or what if, or were, I assume some of that went through your mind. It had to be reassuring as soon as you could. Like, no, no, no, it's, it's as good as new. It's fine.

But, I mean, I don't know, man. Tommy John, that sucks. Yeah, I mean, and it's a common enough procedure now and enough guys go through. through it. You feel like the results are pretty good for the most part. It has like a 90, 95% success rate where guys come back and they're as good if not better than they were before. So, you know, you feel fairly confident going into that. However, for me, my rehab for the first four, four and a half months really didn't go very well. I was really struggling to get my range of motion back. You talk about having those thoughts of not being able to throw again and not being,

not being able to do that. And certainly having had the issues of getting my range of motion back, definitely had some host thoughts. I think, three or four of us that had had that surgery that spring and watching the other guys kind of go through their rehab and they were all progressing a lot quicker than I was at the time. I was certainly frustrating and, you know, it got to the point I'll never forget. I remember walking out to the Diamonds in Peoria one day when there was nobody there. You know, it was at night and we were, we lived in a hotel right across from the field and so there's nobody out there.

I was just walking on one of the backfields and I picked up a baseball and it was like, man, I hadn't thrown in whatever it was three or four months and just threw it. a couple against the fence and it was like, don't know if I'll ever be able to do this again or not. And again, my range of motion was just awful, four and a half months out. And so they ended up sending me in for a second surgery. But before that, you know, I got to the point where I honestly got to the point where I didn't care if I could ever throw again. I just, I just wanted to be able move my arm to do other things, just for for daily quality of life. And honestly, when I look back on it, I think it gave me a little bit more of an appreciation for.

the game and for being able to do what I get to do. And certainly when things are going tough or when things aren't going well, you know, it's an experience that I go back on and reflect on a little bit because, you know, I'm so fortunate that I get to do something that not many people do. And even when things aren't going well, you know, to remember that, you know, I am lucky to be able to do this and that I am fortunate to even go out there and even if I suck, you know, at least I get to go out there and I get to play and I get to compete. And that, and that's a lot of fun. And I've gotten to do it for a long time. you know, a lot longer than most, despite some of the hurdles and obstacles. And again, when things aren't going so well, those are the kinds of things you try to reflect on and just be thankful that you're still there and you're still kicking and you still get to do something that you love to do and, you know, make a living at it.

Now, how you were a young guy and very close to, well, like you say, range of motion, right? Like just in an instant, it could be all gone. Yeah, yeah, there was, there were some dark times in Peoria that year. There's no question about that. You know, it was not the rosiest time of life. But again, you know, when you look back for me, when I reflect on it, when I look back on it, I'm thankful for those lessons that I learned now. And it did put baseball into perspective for me a little bit of, you know,

it's not everything in life. I used to be incredibly hard on myself if something went bad or I didn't perform the way I thought I should have been. I should have. And not to say that I'm still not that way a little bit, but I think I've learned to. ease up a little bit on myself and realize that, hey, it's not the end of the world. If you have a bad outing or a bad start, you know, the sun's still going to come up tomorrow

and you still got a place to stay and you still got a roof over your head. And there's a lot of people dealing with a lot worse things. And, you know, just keeping that in mind and being able to put things in perspective, I think have helped me enjoy the game a little bit more and helped me, or helped increase my longevity. Yeah, you said the right word there, perspective. That's the exact what I was thinking. And like as you get a little older, that's what you gain. You gain perspective.

And I mean, you're a guy that has gone, you know, through Division I to the MLB, back down to the minors, over to South Korea, which we got to talk about, right? Back over, then over to Japan. Like, you've just, you have a lot of perspective. You've seen a lot of the different sides of baseball. Well, I don't have to assume. I'm hearing that. And perspective is something that you have to experience, right?

Like, I mean, you have to, you have to see it. No question. And, you know, all those experiences have been great in one way or another. And it doesn't mean they haven't been trying and they haven't been difficult at times. My year in Korea was tough. I wasn't quite able to get or stay healthy there and just had some negative injuries that had to deal with, you know, that entire season. And we didn't have a very good team that year. And I didn't help matters.

I didn't pitch very well. And it was a long year. It was a long, rough year. And again, like I said, I certainly didn't help matters. But we weren't going anywhere that year anyways with the squad we had there. But the team treated me well. But being over there kind of by yourself, not having many people to talk to. You know, we had three imports on the team.

Those were the only guys who spoke English, really. We did have a translator with us. But, I mean, you're really kind of out there on your own. And they do things a little bit differently there. And you got to get used to that. And you got to try to assimilate to that culture, just like we expect people to assimilate when they come over here. And it's an adjustment. And there's no question about that.

And I didn't necessarily handle it the best my first time around in 14 in Korea. I think I did a much better job with it when I got to go to Japan and 18. I was a little more prepared for what was going to happen and kind of knew how, or at least have an idea of how things would work there. But again, it's an experience. And it's something baseball has given me and I've been fortunate enough to go do it. I don't think I ever would have spent anywhere near that much time in Korea if it weren't for baseball or Japan for that matter. and, you know, even though the year in Korea wasn't a great one from a baseball perspective

or even necessarily from a personal perspective, you know, I'm still thankful to have gotten that experience and to have gotten to see a different culture and experience all those things that came along with it. You talk about perspective and it certainly changed my perspective on a lot of things in my life, just day-to-day things and just again, being thankful for what we have and the country that we live in and all the liberties and freedoms that we're offered here. You know, he said over in Korea they do it a little different. What does a little different mean? Yeah, just their approach to things.

Again, the two times that I've been over in Asia, the Asian culture is a much more quantity over quality work environment. So, you know, they do all a bunch of reps, repetition after repetition after repetition. And, you know, for them, hard work is doing the same thing over and over and over and over. over and over and over again. And their fundamentals are incredibly sound. But man, do they ever put a lot of time into it? And for me, it got to the point where at times it felt counterproductive, you know, going out there and taking a thousand swings a day,

your last hundred aren't going to be any good because you're gassed, you know, and whether you get into bad habits or whatnot. But that's their culture there. That's the way they do it. That's the way they approach it. And it is work for them. You see the talent that's come out of those two places the last few years. and they can really play baseball over there, you know, especially in Japan, a little higher population in Japan.

And there's a lot of really good baseball players there. And what they've done is work for them. They're not necessarily as talented. I wouldn't say they're necessarily as talented. So their ceilings aren't quite as high as a lot of the people in North America, but they're so fundamentally sound. They have such a great feel for what they want to do, especially from a pitching standpoint. You know, they might not throw as hard.

They might not have quite as nasty stuff. But they're going to execute what they want to do a lot better than what guys in North America will. And that's how they get away with it. That's how they are successful. And that's why they can compete on any stage. You know, they, they do that. And that's part of that work ethic and culture. That repetition of just going over and over and over again and continuing to work through that and find a way to power through that.

There is something to be said for that as well. On these teams, did you have translators? Yeah. So there was one translator for the three of us in Korea. and then in Japan there were about three translators for about six of us or five or six of us between the miners and the big leagues there. I was wondering, when I was over in Finland, I always talked about, it was a really good development because I had, we didn't have a translator.

So I had a goalie who played some hockey in North America. So he'd break down the drills for me. So you couldn't just kind of half pay attention, you know what I mean? And be like, oh, yeah, we're going to do this drill. And I'll go out and it's not a big deal because I can understand. I can ask questions. It's like if you didn't focus, you were behind right from the get-go because there was no picking up what was going on.

I was wondering in Korea and Japan, if you had similar experiences to that where you're going out to do a simple drill, but maybe the Asian markets do it a little bit differently, and you had to really pay attention to that. Yeah, not as often because, again, you had that translator would be close to you. So if you had questions you could ask and they would clarify things for you. And with the baseball and the drills kind of deal, I'm guessing they're not as fast-paced, quite as fast-paced is what your hockey drills would have been. So you have a little bit more time to catch up and catch on.

They certainly did do some things a little bit differently, but you were always able to ask questions. And they were very good about understanding that we might not catch on right away. So, you know, they were very good. If we mess something up, you know, we talked to the translator and they'd explain that they wanted it done this way. And then it's like, okay, we'll make that adjustment. And so that part didn't impact a lot. But you certainly did have to pay a little bit more attention than what you do when someone's speaking your own language for no question about that. Do you ever get yelled at in a different language?

Oh, in Korea, like I said, it was a long year in Korea. We went through a lot of downs that season. And early on in the season, you could tell it was going to be a little bit of a long year. And in Korea, me and the other import, there was one other import pitcher and another outfielder. so he was out in the field. But me and the other import pitcher, we were sitting in the dug out one day, and we were losing,

and I don't know by how much, it was enough. It was five or six or four or five or whatever. And it was fairly early in the game. It was the fourth or fifth inning. And, you know, like I said, you can tell, we were about a month into the season. You could tell it was going to be a long year for us

because we just weren't as talented as some of the other clubs there. And I can't remember what was said, but one of us said something, and we both kind of chuckled. And our pitching coach got our translator, and he took us out in the hallway, and he kind of started, yelling at us. He's like, you know, the translation that I got anyways was, hey, you guys need to

be more serious and take this seriously. And we're out here, you know, we got work hard and we can't be laughing when we're losing in the dugout and things like that. And it's just like, okay, like, you know, it's, we got 143 of these games to play. And we're not going to win very many of them. So you got to find a way to at least enjoy it somehow. It's kind of my thought process. You know, again, it's just a little bit of a different culture there. And that was kind of how they approach things and not to say that it was right or wrong or that we were right or wrong or either way, but it was just a different approach to things. So I do remember that one. That's kind of the only time I really remember getting yelled at either of those places, obviously other than for

motivational purposes. That happens sometimes when your team's going through a funk or, you know, you come out lackadaisical without a lot of energies and things like that, you know, so then you get one of those talking to is I'm sure you've had your share of those in the hockey realm. So you know all about those and uh you know that that that's fine that happens and then that's just part of the team deal and and uh but that specific one was uh was one for me that i that i remember well i always go back we didn't have a translator so it was great because i got yelled at a few times he gets scored on you make a sloppy play i mean we've all we've all been there but i remember getting yelled at and my defense partner i looked over and i said is he mad he goes oh no no no you play well

right right now i just got let up i'm like right now i'm pretty sure he's telling me i'm an but that's that's all right because I can't understand. Well, that's a nice thing about playing in the foreign countries, right? You think everybody's complimenting you. There's no way they're calling you an idiot or saying you're terrible or anything like that. And then when you can't read the newspapers either, it's like, man, life's great here. Everything's rosy. Everyone must think I'm great.

Did you ever try to pick up the language? I did a little bit. So my first year there, well, I didn't do a very good job in Korea learning the language at all. In Japan, my first year there, I mean, you know, the first year you go somewhere new, you're just trying to be on time and be in the right place, the right time. You know, you're not working. Tread in water is the way I feel. Yeah, exactly.

Just trying to keep your head above water. The other stuff, there's too much going on. You're not familiar with anything. You're just trying to stay afloat, like you said. So my first year in Japan was like that. My second year in spring, signed was a little bit more comfortable, learned a little bit of the language. I didn't do a great job.

The one thing, when you have those translators, they become a crutch for you. And so you don't put as much effort as you maybe should into learning the language. And I found Japanese to be a little bit difficult. Obviously, they don't use the same alphabet. They have three different alphabets for crying out loud. And none of the words sound anywhere close to anything that you know, right? So it was a struggle. I did pick up a little bit.

I could piece together some sentences. I wouldn't say I could have a conversation with anyone in Japanese. I didn't get that far. But by the end of my time there, I could at least piece some things together. and partly understand some of what was getting said anyways. One of the iconic moments in Toronto Blue Jays history in the last while since Joe Carter has been the Batista bat flip, you were in the minors, if I'm doing my math, correct. Playing for Buffalo, am I on the right track there?

Oh, I was probably on the Phantom by then. On the Phantom by then? Probably. I think that was later on in the year. Well, our season would have been done. right right right but yeah you were you were in the organization uh um you would have spring training with that team yeah well i had my one day up in the bigs with him that well then well that's that's the crazy that's what i have written down you play called up on may first you pitch a game

and sent back down on may second are you looking around going like what is going on or that's just that's just the way it was uh you kind of understood the deal um that that day like you you were pretty sure it wasn't going to be a long-term thing it was one of those things where I think they'd have an extra inning game the day before. So they'd used up most of their bullpen. And it happened to be my start day down in the minors. And they needed somebody who could chew up innings if the starter got in trouble. And so I got called up in that role.

And unfortunately, Burley had a little bit of a rough start. So I got called in early. And I pitched my whatever it was, two or three innings. And then I was used up. So it was go back down to Buffalo and bring the next guy up who's fresh. And that's kind of how sometimes that's just how it works. when the big league team is struggling for a pitching standpoint as far as innings go. You know, they just need the guys need a little bit of a break or they need a day or two off

or if the starter happens to get in trouble, they need someone who can throw four or five innings because a lot of times those relievers aren't stretched out like that. That's not really their role. And that was just one of those situations. And I happened to pitch that night. And so after I pitched, you know, it didn't go great. I came in and I gave up a home run to the first guy face. And there were two guys on.

Burley's runners were on. So I cashed in a couple of them for him, unfortunately. But, you know, you can't give up Mark Burley's runs and expect to stay up in the big league. So I got sent down afterwards and it was just part of the deal. But yeah, that's kind of how the business side of that works sometimes. And, you know, I was thankful for the opportunity to go up and put on a Toronto Blue Jays uniform. That was kind of a dream come true, even though it could have gone a little bit better. And it only happened for one day, but it was still special.

Was that a cool locker room to be in? Yeah. Well, again, I didn't spend a lot of time there, right? Like, you're there. You talk about staying afloat. I drove down and we were in Buffalo, so I drove from Buffalo to Cleveland that morning, and I got there in the afternoon and just geared up and stretched out

and went to the pen. Like I didn't get a chance to talk to a lot of the guys or anything like that. So as far as the locker room atmosphere, I can't really comment on it. And then I got sent down after the game. You walk in there like, who is this guy? I don't know if your pitcher tonight. All right, see you later.

I mean, Danny, I think Danny Valencia was beside me, and I had met him over with Minnesota. And I sat down and I started getting dressed. and he introduced himself to me, and I introduced myself to him. He's like, oh, yeah, so where are you from? It's like, well, Danny, I met you a couple years ago with the twins. It's like, oh, oh, yeah, my bad. So anyways, that's kind of how that whole deal went.

Then you disappear and nobody knows who you are anyways. So I ended up running into Danny again on Seattle a few years later. It was the same conversation, which is kind of funny. When you're up and down there for a day, you know, there's nothing you can do about it. And it's just, you're just in and out and you're there to hopefully do your job and hopefully you can do it well. I'd listen to an interview you did. This is years ago.

So I highly doubt what you're still doing it, but maybe you are. But in the off season, you used to work as a substitute teacher? Well, yeah, that's part of the reason I went back and finished my degree. I, up until 17. I substitute taught when I went over in Japan, I quit doing it because coming back to Canada, I wasn't able to do it. It kind of messed up with my taxes. Otherwise, I still may have been doing it in the off season.

But it's pretty good gate when you're coming up through the mind. and you're not making a lot of money. It's a great off-season job. You come in and you can leave whenever you want and you're not leaving anyone high and dry. And I worked at my old high school in my small town, North Battleford, the school that I went to.

And I actually really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun. Love the staff. I had a lot of great relationships there as a student. Not many of those teachers are left anymore, but when I started, there was still lots of them there. So, you know, it was fun going back there and it gave me a place to throw.

I could go into the gym. and I used to get ready for seasons by throwing a baseball up against the cinder blocks and letting it come back. And that was how I would get ready for spring training every year. And it gave me a place to do that. It worked out really well. And they were experiences that I really enjoyed getting to do that. I haven't done it in a few years. I don't know if I'll go back to it this year.

We'll see what happens and see where I'm at at the end of the season and whatnot and go from there. It's cool to hear a guy playing in the minors and coming back and work and work in a part-time job. I know I meant to ask Paul about it because he'd been in the minors quite a bit. And I just never got around to it. And then I was listening to your interview. And it's like, huh, yeah, that's cool. Like lots of guys just come back and I don't know. They probably get part-time jobs, but all they do is trainer. And I'm just speaking hockey here. Like, they come back and they train their ass off so they can turn around and try and, you know, do it all over again kind of thing. But to get in your old high school, like that, that's pretty cool. The kids must

to love that. I mean, kids are kids. Some of them knew who you were. Some of them didn't. And honestly, it didn't really matter to them. It was more about how you treated them. And that's what they're more concerned about. And that's one of the great things about kids, too, is especially in a place like that

where baseball is not real big. And I certainly wasn't very well known from a baseball standpoint. Obviously, in my hometown, a little bit more so. But, you know, the kids, that didn't phase them very much. It was more just, you know, how you treated them on a day-to-to-day basis. and that's one of the great things about kids is that's what they're concerned about. Well, I'll be pulling for you this year because my wife's from Minnesota. So I've been the twins are, well, who knows with COVID right now.

But if we ever get back, we always go to a twins game or two because, man, their, A, their stadium is like top notch. Like, that's a beautiful ballpark. Not that probably you've probably seen a bunch of them. Like, there's hardly a bad stadium in the MLB. Yeah, they're all pretty nice. I mean, especially, again, you go back to the NSRBL days. It's a little bit of a step up for those ones.

So I certainly can't complain about any of the facilities in the big leagues. Well, let's do this. Let's slowly wrap it up here. We'll do the Crude Master Final Five. I do appreciate you cutting some time out for me today as you wait, hopefully, to get down south. The Crude Master Final Five is shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald. They've been supporting the podcast at the very beginning, but it's just five quick questions for you.

And then I'll let you get back on your way and hopefully on two brighter days here for you, closing in on spring training. One guy, if you could sit down like this and pick the brain any one guy, who would you want to take? Are we talking from a sports perspective or life in general? Life in general.

Man, that's a great question. I'll stick with sports. I'd go Tom Blavin for me, guy that was pretty similar to my style of pitching and obviously I think he had a Hall of Fame career and was really good at it for a long time. I think that would be my choice off the top of my head.

He was a fantastic pitcher. Man, you got to be a part of the Braves organization for a stint. Start off. I don't think but that, yeah. Who had the, in your, so far in your career, over your career, who's had the best minor league system? Like, what's been a fun place that sticks? out. Man, I've been to, I've been a part of some really good minor league systems. Atlanta at that point in time, they had a lot of young guys coming up that were really good when that was nice place to play. Really, the only other minor league system I spent, or I spent much time in was Minnesota and then Buffalo for the one year in AAA. Minnesota's minor league affiliates were a little rough back in the day, New Britain, Connecticut, and Rochester were a little rough as far as spots to go. You got to go to some nice places. I've never played in the PCL, so I haven't been on the other side, the other AAA league.

So my minor league experience, although I've played all kinds of places, is a little bit limited. But, but, yeah, Fort Myers was nice in the GCL. And, yeah, Buffalo and Rochester played in the same division. It was miserable in April because you're in the north. And it's just not fun playing baseball in April up there. Those were rough. But going down south, you get to a place like Charlotte. They've just built a new stadium.

It's awesome. Louisville's probably always been my favorite road trip. It's an hour away from where I went to college. So I usually have some friends there. have a good time in Louisville and places like that. So, I mean, there are lots of great places. And I haven't played a lot of different parks, but still have some great experiences. You prefer to play baseball in the summer, in the in the warm climate, eh? I do, but I don't want it to be too warm. Japan at times got hot. It was really humid in Japan.

So it was, at times it was a little bit too much. But certainly I'd prefer playing it in the warm weather than the cold weather if I had to pick one. If you're traded, who, Who's the one guy you'd want to bring along with you? Shoot, I do. Honestly, I don't even know. Are we talking like from the twins or just anywhere? Anywhere. Oh, man.

Oh, probably my favorite teammate of all times. The guy is not playing anymore. Does he still have to be playing? No, hell no. It's a guy by the name of Matt Scholl, him and I, we played in Fort Myers together. And we came up a little bit through the twin system, and we were buddies early on. And we, when my visa got in that first year, with the twins in 11.

Him and I got moved over to high aid together. So we lived in a hotel room with each other for pretty much the whole season. So we got to know each other probably better than we would have liked. But, you know, he's a great dude and we still stay in touch. And him and I are friends. And he's one of my good buddies that I've made playing baseball. So I think I'd have to go with him. You know, I didn't think about it the entire time.

As you're bouncing around to all these places, you probably don't buy a house and like settle in. You're living out of hotel rooms? Well, living out of something anyways. I was really excited in 18 at the end of the season when I signed to go back to Japan, that I didn't have to pack up all of my belongings in my apartment at the end of the year. I actually got to leave some things in an apartment. It was the first time I think since college that I had gotten to do that. So that was really exciting for me that I didn't have to pack up my two suitcases and move everything home.

Are you excited about like, well, I'm off to the next place. I'm excited to go. Or are you like, fuck, I just want to, can I just hang my hat here for a little bit? You know, I guess you go through both of those emotions. I mean, I'm sure you've been through it as well with your journey. And, you know, you go through both of those. Sometimes it'd be nice to just settle down and be in one place for a little bit of time. But at the same time, you know, new places are always exciting and new adventures are always there.

And, you know, again, with my career path and the way things have gone, I've been fortunate to go do a lot of different things and go see a lot of different places. So there's a little bit of both with that, knowing that you're not going to be there very long, but at the same time you do get to experience something new. If it's game seven, world series, you're up three, two, bottom of the ninth, base is loaded. You're called in to close it out. What batter do you want to face, and you know you got his number? Has to be a big leaguer?

Has to be a big leaguer. Oh, not Rognit-Odor, not him. He owns me of all the people. So anyone but him may. Believe it or not, I've had some success against Mike Trout. Now, I would never want to face Mike Trout in that situation. All I heard is you want to face Mike Trout. No, never, ever.

Don't ever. Don't you dare quote me on that because he'll probably never have another app bad against me that doesn't leave the yard. So we won't say that. I don't know. Whoever the worst hitter in the lineup is at that point in time. Give me that give me that weak righty that I got a shot, a good shot of getting out of there with.

But yeah, all depends on who on who I'm facing. And again, I don't have a long track record with most of those guys. So it's one of those things where, you know, they're not that familiar with me. I'm not that familiar with them. So it's tough for me to just pinpoint one guy. But there are a few guys that I would say don't, not to get in the box. Other than that, you know, it's hard to say. What's the best piece of advice for a young baseball player maybe from this region to keep in mind?

persevere and I think is the biggest thing that I've learned in my journey is is that you know you're going to go through some ups and downs it's not always going to go the way you want uh hard work and perseverance goes a long ways and uh you know that's something that I firmly believe in uh kind of my mantra you know I'm not the most talented guy out there um so I can't afford to let other guys work harder than me uh you know you got to be one of the hardest workers when when you're not the best or the most talented. And so for me, that's a big thing. You know, a lot of times, especially in baseball,

baseball is kind of a weird sport with all the minor league levels, but a lot of times you're closer than you think you are to get, get in your break or catching that big break and getting your opportunity. And whenever that comes, you just got to be ready for it. And you got to take advantage because a lot of times that, that window is really small. And part of that is being able to persevere through the bad times and, and, you know, get to those good ones.

Final one for you. What's your favorite baseball movie? Now we're talking Bull Durham, minor league, the natural, the rookie. I think I got to go with the first major league. The first major league?

First major league with Wesley Snipes is Willie Mace Hayes. And who is it? Tom Berger is Jack, Jake Taylor and Coach Brown. And then Charlie Sheen was Wild Thing. Man, there's so many great quotes from that movie. I think that one's probably my favorite.

great comedy. I really enjoy it. A couple ones that, a couple sneaky ones that I didn't realize how close they were to be in the truth. You talk about Bull Durham. That sums up minor league life pretty well. And then shockingly, Mr. Baseball had a lot more realistic elements to it than I ever thought it would. That's the one where Tom Stahl goes over to play in Japan. And I was shocked when I got over there how similar some of the things in that movie actually were to life over there. So Not that's my favorite one, but surprisingly realistic. I got to know. What was realistic about Mr. Baseball?

Just random things. You know, things in the clubhouse, the, the, well, there's the one where you, you bathe before you bath, right? So they are huge on the saunas there and like the hot tubs and things like that. But after a workout, you always make sure that you shower and wash off before you get in the hot tub, you know, a little thing like that. The transportation on the train. taking the trains everywhere.

Their public transit system is just incredible. Little things that get lost in translation when you try to do an interview. You can't be sarcastic over there because they don't do sarcasm in their culture. So, you know, you're trying to be funny. You're trying to be a little bit witty. And it doesn't translate very well. And so you got to be careful not necessarily what you say because your translator will kind of take care of that for you and things like that. But it's like some of the things don't come across how you would like them too.

and just little things like that that I was shocked in, you know, okay, there's some, there's some elements of realism here in this movie, which was surprising to me. Well, then I got a note, too, from Bull Durham, what's the, what's the closest thing they got to the minor, the minor leagues? Well, I mean, there you have the bus rides. I think my favorite scene is when Kevin Costner gets them a rain out the night before a game, and he bets his teammates that he can get him a rain out. Obviously, this was back a little while ago, but he goes and gets the sprinkler and runs it all

night on the baseball field and they can't play the next day. So, you know, things like that or or the manager yelling at them, yelling at the kids to scare them. The mound visits a great one where they're trying to figure out what to get on the wedding, wedding anniversary or the wedding gift. And the guy's got a curse on his glove and newts not breathing through his eyelids properly and things like that. So, you know, just little things like that are, they're funny. And you kind of, as you go through the minor league life, you run into, I wouldn't say things. like that exactly, but things along those lines anyways. What's your best minor league story?

Oh, man, that's a great question. Let me think on that for a second. I don't have a ton of great ones, I guess. One of my favorite ones is I had a mountain visit once. Marty Mason was my pitching coach, and I was in AAA in Rochester. And I was going through a pretty decent stretch. I'd been pitching fairly well,

and I got into a little bit of trouble, and I don't know what it was, the sixth or seventh inning. And Marty, Marty was an interesting guy, pretty funny guy, not a man of many words. And he walked out to the mound. And he walks out and,

you know, I'm usually on the mound, usually during a pitching visit, they'll have something to say to you, hey, this is what we want to do with this guy or, or, you know,

small adjustment, mechanics-wise, or this is what we want to throw here or whatever. Marty comes out. He gets to me on the mound. I'm on the rubber. He's on the mound.

And he just kind of looks down and starts kicking dirt, just nonchal, and forth. And, you know, I'm kind of looking around just, just waiting for him to say something. And he's just still looking down, kicking dirt and not doing anything, much of anything. And finally, I go to my catcher. Dan Rolfing was catching at the time. I say, hey, Dan, what do you want to do with the next guy? So we talk about that. And we say, okay, we're going to throw, I don't know, first pitch slider. And it's like, all right. And Marty's still there.

Okay. And so I look at him one last time. He goes, just walk. off, you know, nothing. Only mound visit in my life where the guys come out and hasn't said a word to me. And it was just one of those things. Part of the reason for the mound visit was to let the guys get loose in the bullpen. But I mean, he made the slow walk out, kick some dirt, didn't say a word the entire time and then walked back in. It was certainly a different mound visit than some of the ones I was used to. Well, man, it's been nice getting, nice having you on. I appreciate you doing this. And like I say, I hope the paperwork comes through so you can get down south and get playing some ball and wish you the best of luck here in the upcoming season. But once again, thanks for hopping on and doing this with me.

Absolutely. I appreciate it. Sean. It was a lot of fun. Hey, folks. Thanks for joining us today. If you just stumbled on the show, please click subscribe. Then scroll to the bottom and rate and leave a review. I promise it helps. Remember, every Monday and Wednesday, we will have a new guest sitting down to share their story. The Sean Newman podcast is available for full. on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you get your podcast fix. Until next time. Hey, Keeners.

Well, it's Sunday night. I'm sitting drinking a cold Pilsner in the studio, and it's tasting pretty good. Happy, happy Monday morning to you. But I thought today's shutout, I'd give it to Robin Noble. He said, Sean, I just wanted to tell you thanks. I've been having a shitty few weeks, and listening to you and McDick in my garage felt like sitting around with some friends saying fuck and telling dick jokes. So thanks to my home on brother.

I needed that. Damn it if that doesn't make me smile every time I read it. And hey, if you're enjoying what's going on, by all means, hit me up on social media. Fire me a text, 587-217-850. I'd love to give you a shout-out on here. And if you're the champ, get back to work because we all know you got the feet up on the desk.

Probably chuckling to yourself, but get back to work with you already. It's Monday. Trying to show or lead by example here, aren't me? All right. We'll see you guys Wednesday.