Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 252 | Taijuan Walker is the Perfect Fit for Your Team

Episode Date: December 17, 2020

Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe talked to free agent pitcher Taijuan Walker to discuss his 2020 season, his free agent process, tacos, Mike Trout's dominance, and his home run! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. We've got an interview with Taiwan Walker. He's a free agent, and he tells us exactly how much he's going to get and where he'll be playing. Just joking. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. My name is Jimmy sitting next to me is Jake, Trevor Pluth, coming here from California and producer BBD in the corner. We just wrapped up an interview with free agent, Taiwan Walker of Ties, Tacos. Mariners, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Blue Jays.

Now, who knows? Talked about a little Traeger grill action, him and Trev doing cooking, talked about manis and petties, his pitch mix, how he crushes Jason Castro and some other stuff. Jake, what do you got on the chat the audience is about to hear? James, Trev, Ty, who they're about to hear. It was good, man. It was good. I was pretty stoked.

I got my one half-nerdy, aloof Jake question. That wasn't really a question out there. Just because, like, this is a name who's been around for a while. They're like, you know, this guy played when Trevor Plouf played baseball. And he's, you know, hidden free agency, 28 years old, big dude. We talk some analytic, I don't want to say analytic stuff, but some pitching and Rapsoto stuff that it's like, man, if this, This guy's figuring stuff out now and for a couple more years.

Like, he's going to have like a 12, 15 year major league career. And one of those big body starting pitchers you like, Trev. I do. And you actually took the words right out of my mouth. When we were talking about, you know, the rap Soto and the kind of question about, like, you know, have you been using this? What have you found? You know, he goes into it and says, like, he's just starting with this.

and what we've seen across the league is guys get this tech, especially pitchers, and they can figure things out, and teams should take notice of that. And you have a guy here that's maybe not even fully polished yet. He's got the experience, but we can tweak things and do things, and we can get even more out of them. And I think that if people hear that, and they know that, more and more teams will be after him because they know there's a lot more potential, even that he's already showcased.

Like he's been a good, reliable big league pitcher, and there's more in there. And I love that. Yeah, and he talks about any young pitcher out there trying to hone their stuff. He talks about what made his cutter turn into more of a slider and more effective, and he shows it on screen if you go to YouTube. Pretty cool that, you know, certain coach, some coaches could have been trying to tell them that for so long,

but it's just that one metaphor, that one thing that makes it clicks. And he kind of says, like it was just the way he said it made click. I always find that stuff super fascinating. I know him, Jake, because I picked him up when we were living at DBC House, I believe, for fantasy. I think I picked him up for his debut. And he did pretty well. Huge. And then I kept going. But that was the same thing I told Trev the first time he ever, like I always drafted Trevor Ploof. No, Trev was always one of the top 10 guys in the free agent pool. And it was like, if you need it, if someone got hurt, you were like, okay, I'll try him for a week. No, because later. No, no, no.

The utility stuff, like you could play a lot of different positions was huge. But guys don't want to hear that, man, because, you know, hey, I know you because I drafted you or I picked you up. People want to hear that. People want to hear that. Okay. Okay. Good. Well, I did.

I got Taiwan, and then I think then his next couple starts weren't great and I dropped him. They don't want to hear that part. They don't want to hear that part. All right. Well, let's throw it straight to the interview. Today's interview is brought to you by another program on our network. It's John Boy and Jake Radio. I figure you guys, you know, you sit here and you listen to me and Jake say enough dumb stuff surrounding baseball.

Maybe you're interested in hearing us say even more dumb stuff surrounding our entire lives. Weird news. We do baseball trivia at the show all the time. It's every Wednesday on the John Boy and Jake TV YouTube channel or its own podcast feed, John Boy and Jake Radio. It's kind of an avenue for Jake and I to just really bullshit about dumb, silly things. We enjoy it. And maybe you will if you didn't know what existed. Now you do.

Moving on. Interview. Free agent. Taiwan Walker. Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. Baseball. We are joined by. We normally have one Cali High School Trager Grill enthusiasts.

We now have two Cali High School Trager Grill enthusiast. Taiwan Walker. Maybe pitching for your favorite team soon. Ty, how you doing, man? Doing good, really good. Thanks for joining us. You just told us you're getting a Manipetti day. You're there.

Are you going to be getting one while we chat? No, I already did. I just got back from it right now. Okay. All right. I got taken once. I did not like the filing at all. I almost like a recoil.

So I can't do it anymore. The best part is the massage. When you massage your ankles and your calves, that's the best part. Oh, yeah. I live in Korea town now. We went to get a massage the other day, and they just kicked my ass. Like, I was just, I had to ask.

She was like this tiny Korean woman. One point she was kneeling on top of the table so she could put all her weight on me. And I said, I don't like that. You got to pay extra for that, I think. They also demand you tip. Yeah. Which I was going to tip anyway, but they were, it's like a big sign. Shame, like shame if you don't tip.

Shame face. It was very crazy, but all right. Enough about us. I'm jealous of the massages. Trev, you ever get into the Manny Petty game? Of course he does. No, I actually have. And Olivia tries to get me to go all the time,

but I do enjoy, like, keeping my, you know, my nails groomed. I think that's, like, really important for people to do that. But I haven't stepped into the actual salon to do it yet. And I'm not opposed to it at all. I just haven't done it yet. Hey, Taiwan, for pitchers, there's like a manny like is it like you can't cut your nails or is there a desired length for you

do you use your fingernails when pitching at all yeah uh on my curve ball throw a knuckle curve so i try to keep my neck's finger like a certain length um not too long but not too short it has to be like just perfect gross it just fills off man so if you cut it too deep that's like uh can change a whole game yeah definitely i mean it hurt but you know i'm just got to push through it Man. Do you do like the Hardener? I know some guys do the Hardener's on the nails. Are you doing that?

Okay. Well, we'll talk a little baseball, I guess. How you ended up weird Yankees fans at our heart. Trevor likes bringing that up. So we got a nice dose of you this year. You came over to the baby Jays in the one game. The first time we got to see you, nobody could touch you,

which was a little you, a little us, because I think there's, what was it, like four one, couple walks, couple punchies. That was a weird game. I thought there was runners on second and third every inning, and I'm like, I got lucky, I got that one. I got lucky on that one. You got very unlucky in the next game

because you had a certain someone who, I hope, bought you a steak dinner or something the night of, or at least, like, walked past you post game with his head down and said, sorry, man, because that was pretty. I mean, it's baseball. You know, those things happen. It's part of the game.

That was, that was, wait, what happened? What do I miss in here? And I'll feel there had a tough day at the office. Yeah. And that's, yeah, that does happen. That happens. That does happen. You've been that guy.

That's nice of you, Todd, to just say, you know, it is baseball happens because, I mean, we all know how it feels to be out there and having guys make airs behind you. And you, as a guy that made some errors in his career, it's nice to, the pitcher to say that afterwards. Hey, it's just baseball. It is how it is. So that's nice of you. I mean, honestly, I feel like when I was younger, you know, I would get mad and be like, what the heck. But being older, I kind of realized, okay, those are going to happen.

Now, I feel like it didn't. It's my job to pick them up, you know, try to get out of that inning for them and stuff like that. It's funny because like position players will make an air and they just like, dang, I feel so bad. I don't want the pitcher to go through that. But then if a pitcher's on the mound and you guys was like walking everybody, I'm sitting there over like, can you just throw strikes? You know, like, come on. So it goes both ways.

But in the end, what I tell people all the time is every single person on that field is trying the best that they can. Dude, nobody wants to go out there and, you know, make an air or walk the house. Like, we're all really trying. It's our job at the end of the day. And it's good to have that mindset. Competitive, but, you know, understand the airs and walks are going to happen. Plus, they're throwing all those balls outside the zone. because they don't want it to be hit to you, Trave, when you're making errors out there.

Yeah. So it's always the fielder's fault. How was the Buffalo experience this year? I mean, it was, I mean, just from the outside world, I mean, you joined Midway, A, but, and by that time, I guess they're kind of settled into Buffalo and they were having a good time. We had Gritchik on, who has been a Yankee Terror for years now. How was that? How was joining the squad? Was Buffalo feeling weird?

you enjoy it or what was going on that was cool i mean obviously i first got trade i was like man i got to go you know triple a stadium again it's been a while uh but i got there they did an unbelievable job of like they basically the whole entire concourse clubhouse everything was like our home business like our home clubhouse so it's sick clubhouse were big like big lockers only the only only knock there was was the bathroom was terrible all bathroom i mean the showers are crap, no hot water. It'd be really hot one time and a second lady would be really cold. Like it was just, the bathroom was about everything else was literally. I mean, it couldn't be any better, honestly. That's brutal. How about the signs? I know that there was a lot of talk that

I was really hard to see the catcher signs. No, not that bad. I'm not trying to hear all that. All right. That was just the Yankees making excuses again. Being soft. Yeah. Soft. It's not that bad. And plus, you know, you can put the white little fingernail tape or whatever. where like you got a bunch of options. Flective type. Do you think the ideal male build is someone kind of like Alejandro Kirk?

Because that's kind of what I've got going on right now. And I'm 5-8 built like a box truck. When people think about catchers, like he's the ideal catcher build. Like if you're going to go to catcher, it'll be the show like you would build him. He was awesome, man. He is a really good. stud. I didn't really saw Yungi was, too. And I'm like, damn, like, still, like, it's comfortable

and just breaks. He's, uh, he's going to be a problem for us for a little while. We, uh, we had Oda Rizzi, Jake Oter Rizzi, free agent right now on a couple weeks back. And we kind of asked him about his free agency and how he was feeling. And he was, he was enjoying it for the most part. He's like, yeah, you know, a couple teams talking to me. I'd feel confident in myself, feeling good. How's, how's your free agency experience going so far? Yeah, it's going really good. I mean, last year was a little different. I was non-tendered last year and going to free agency as non-tender with only one ending under my belt in two years.

So it was definitely different, you know, how to go out there and showcase and, you know, third for teams and show that I was healthy and whatnot. But this year, you know, I felt like I had a pretty good season and set myself up pretty well to have a good offseason and get a lot of calls, you know. And I feel I feel good where I'm at. have the Mariners called you again because you got drafted by them they traded you then they signed you then they traded you i think it might just be part of their planning now like let's sign him and then we'll trade him to a contender halfway through again well this time around i got traded it was nice you know they got a little bit of heads up i kind of knew like going into the season um if i was to go back that

there was probably 99% chance i was going to traded midway through um and so i was already prepared for it but uh jerry and it was awesome. And it was in the owner's, Mr. Stan called and, you know, just thank me for everything. So it was a good, you know, it was good part in the way. The last one they traded me was the night before Thanksgiving when I was about to go out to a club and have a good time with my family. They couldn't wait until after Thanksgiving? I'm not right.

Wait two days. Yeah, man. You know, I got designated on my birthday, Ty, so don't feel too bad. That's rough, too. The A's, we're like, see you later. I'm like, dude, you guys know it's my birthday? And they didn't care at all. They didn't know.

I got a question about the offseason, though. I got your baseball reference page up listed. Speaking of Jacob and body types, you're listed 6'4-235. Question one, is that an accurate description? It's inaccurate, yeah. That was from like six years ago. I would say I'm 6-5, but I'm like 250.

I've been 250 for the last like 30. like three or four years I've been 250 yeah is that where you want to be like I know so you know in my off seasons I when I was younger I just wanted to gain weight and get really strong and then kind of towards the end I felt like I needed a little bit more flexibility lose some weight all that where are you at with like your training and like your off seasons are you still kind of lifting heavy or is it more of a mobility thing to get you you know through the second half of your career A little bit of both. I feel like so far we've just really been focusing on like the pitching movement,

stuff that I can do to help my pitching moves get my lower half into it more. You know, I feel like I use a lot of upper body. And I've lifted heavy for basically my whole career. And I'm like, okay, the strength is already there. I just got to maintain it now. But I really want to work on getting my hips to fire a little bit faster and mobility. Just, you know, stuff that's going to help me pitch and save my arm, you know, for the rest of my career. 65250, Jake.

That's what you build on NLB the show. That's what you build right there. Yeah, you build that. I build the 5-7 catcher that scrambles his way through life. Looks like the Little League coach sitting on a bucket, just catching balls behind the plate. On the sides from a dugout. Just a wall. Just a wall.

I mentioned that size, and I mentioned being built like a wall. we'll get away from the baseball a little bit. Can you tell me a little bit about Ties Tacos? Because now I get, whenever we talk tacos or any like burritos or something, Trev gets mad at me. This Cali side comes out of him. He's like, I don't know what I'm talking about. What's going on with Ties tacos?

And how do I get some now? You can't get some now, but hopefully spring training. Okay. We go to the taco truck. You know, I just grew up and eat tacos. once a week my mom used to make them and stuff and kind of just turned to a thing you know give away free tacos at spring training games and you know people love that but you know i was kind of like a one trick pony but now after i got the trager i can do it all i can do it all

so we have a history of a trager here because treb i believe it was with doll um you he was talking about his trigger and trev what you say you said that if you use a traker you cannot call yourself a master and then you came back like a month later and said you're using your traeger and you love it. Is that the whole history of you in traggers? I just said I've seen some dudes with their trager and they're saying they're a pitmaster. Okay. You're not a pit master if you're using a trigger. Okay.

It's just it's a very user friendly, very easy on the trigger. Then I got one and my suspicions were correct. I mean, I still really like cooking over a wood fire like stoking the fire myself. But the Trager is great for chicken for pork. I'm not a big red meat on the Trigger kind of guy. Unless you're doing something really low and slow, like a brisket or something like that. Is that all you use, Ty, do you use any other types of grills or conventional grill? I have a gas grill outside right next to it too.

But the Trigger is so easy. If you can season anything right, then use the Trigger. But yeah, I only use it for like briskets and my chicken. and usually if I cook steak, it's on the grill. Yes, yeah, that's kind of how I am too. And the Trigger is an amazing, like, amazingly well manufactured. They were giving them ad right now, whatever. Yeah, right.

It's really nice. I mean, it is like built to last, but it doesn't cook everything that I want to cook, you know. So that's my only qualms with Trigger. Don't be getting me in a fight with Trigger, you guys. I have a good relationship with them. Let's get back to Ty, okay? What's the go-to meal right now, Ty? If, like, you know, it's Sunday night and you have guests over and you're cooking your number one.

What's your eighth meal? Oh, man. I don't even know. Honestly, I could be, it can be anything. I'm not going to lie. It could really be anything. All right. I guess I can make a good steak, steak, some vegan mashed potatoes.

I do mushrooms on the grill pretty well, some asparagus. I like that. I follow you on IG so I can. get to see all your cooking. You do do a good job. I think I've seen you do a steak before. It came out really nice. I asked you what you were drinking with it.

A little bit of bourbon on the side. So you know what you're doing, man. I like seeing your stuff. Yeah. Turns to a little hobby, a little cooking hobby, cooking and some good clients and bourbon. We get notes from Kelsey. I think it's from Kelsey.

And she says here that you play video games against your wife, who is definitely better than you. Now, is that her words or your words? Okay. Before we had baby number one, we used to play all the time together. And she was good. She might be better than me. I'm not going to say yes or no to that, but she was good.

And then, you know, we had a baby, so she hasn't been playing as much and stuff. How did the trash talk work when you were playing against each other? Because I know Jake here, he used to play a video game just to go to a dark place and shit, talk people and getting fights with 14-year-olds on the internet. Now, were you guys reserved with your trash talking, or is it all open? We're married. Okay. Yeah, we can do that.

What did you guys normally play? Are you playing 2K? Cod, okay. Oh, really? So have you been playing the new one? It's all right. I'm not a big fan of it. Okay.

It's just different. I play a war zone all the time, but. The new one is whatever. My buddies are trying to rope me into the zombies, and I just can't do it, man. Like, they're, like, pretty good, and that turns into a two-and-a-half-hour commitment real quick. And it's like, I can't.

Yeah, I can't just be doing that. Well, I can't, but it cuts into my sleep pretty good. Yeah. I wanted to, I looked into your pitch mix. That's what I like looking into that. I'm fascinated about when guys change their stuff. And you're coming off injury. But last year,

ball usage went way down for seem at least according to stats you correct me if they're wrong and the cutter went up was that due to injury and shortened season type stuff or or is a accurate too is that a game plan before the season started implemented by you or by a pitching coach or how did that happen if it's true so i think they keep calling a cutter but this year i feel like it was more of a true slider um but yeah i mean i wanted to work on it uh i've been trying to throw So I was sorry for like the last four years, it's been a cutter. But finally, you know, using the Rhapsodo and, you know, having all the new technology now, I was able to, like, get more depth on it.

So I used it a lot more. You know, I learned that one this year. I learned, you know, the knuckle curve was new this year. And then I do a two-seeing fastball this year, too, that I threw quite a bit. But that was just all using the Rhapsodo. And, you know, this, the coming into this year, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to sign with the Mariners, you know, kind of no pressure, go out there. was able to work on stuff and just work on the pitches I want to work on and then end up

pitching well so I got traded and had to kind of scratch it and go into like dough mode I guess for the blue jays I want to ask him about the rhapsodo like you you get that's this new piece of technology was there anything like eye opening when you first started using like oh man like my spins great here or my spins inefficient on this pitch or you know like what what did it change for you use next I know a lot of guys like it changed it could change it your career. Yeah, I think just knowing what you're looking at, you know, having someone to explain it to you. You know, I always like, oh, they would have it out like, oh, this is doing this, this number. That's good. I'm like, but you're not really telling me, you know, what it means.

And my pitching coach, Woody for the Mariners, you know, he was kind of telling me about my slider. You know, it's almost like you have a gun of the barrel pointing. And he said, you want, when you throw your slide, you want it pointing towards a catcher or just off to their right shoulder. and I didn't know that. And so when I was throwing my cutter, it was pointing to the left shoulder. So that's why I would get that cut action. I was like, okay. And so I just kind of made a little adjustment.

And my mentally was, okay, hey, get that gun of the barrel pointing towards the catcher just off, you know, to the right of him. And so I was like, okay. And just knowing that helped so much to get more depth on my, on my slider, you know? So that's really just to get their fingers a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, just, I mean, just a little bit because I was like right here for a cutter. It just kind of stayed there. but the slider, I mean, it was just a little bit more,

just so I can get that ball, that barrel, that ball, just like pointing towards the catcher more. I love that. That's awesome, dude. It was sick. Yeah, I mean, it was never into the stuff, and now it's dope, like, especially when you have to plan it to you the right way and, like, you know what to look for and stuff.

Yes. And your numbers on those two pitches, like the expected numbers and the results on the four seam and the cutter, last season were both really good. I mean, 156 batting average, 151 batting average against both together. And all the expected numbers say that that wasn't lucky. That was like, true. Do you get into those numbers as well now with knowing all this stuff?

I mean, not really. I haven't really looked at it. I know, I mean, I've seen some numbers about like a fifth and stuff, which I really kind of just learning to. And, you know, I've seen some stuff where I kind of had a lucky season, I guess. But I don't know what that means. I know I got outs. and I know deep into games.

So I feel like that's really all. If you get out and you go, you know, six plus innings, I mean, what more can you ask for it? Yeah, you also said that when you got traded, it was kind of go mode because you went from the Mariners to the Blue Jays. Your numbers dropped. Your ERA dropped like a full, I think, ERA, four to one point something, I believe, halfway through the season.

Is that a mindset change or is that actually a repertoire change? Or what do you credit to that the second half? and maybe it's just first half or second half. Is there anything that you go to? No, I mean, I don't know. I just felt like I didn't really have. So I went from a six-man rotation to a five-man rotation. So, you know, having that extra day to work on stuff was nice.

But just going to five-man, I was like, okay, now I, you know, when I do my bullpins in between, it's got to be like main focus, what I want to, what I need to work on, you know, light 20 pitches instead of 35, 40, you know. And then just going out there and just attacking and getting out instead of like, hey, I want to throw my slider 15 times and my curb ball 12 times, you know, this game. When I was with the Mariners and now, it's like, okay, hey, we're fighting for a playoff spot with the Blue Jays. Whatever's working that day and it's working good, use it.

So it's kind of like bullpen sessions a little bit in Seattle where you're just like, let me just figure all this stuff out short season, first game, first time back in a while. That's pretty cool. That's cool that you were able to do both within one season. Yeah, yeah, it was nice. It definitely was nice. I also, I went and looked at your debut. I found your first guy you ever struck out.

I'm sure you remember. Do you know who your first strikeout victim was? Jason Castro? Yeah. And then you just fuck him up every time you face him now. Like, is that just because when he steps into the box, you're like, ah, I struck this dude out in my first game. I mean, listen to the stats. 14 at bats, nine strikeouts, zero walks, one hit.

Yeah, I mean. You just kill that dude. I don't know what it is. I mean, maybe because I know, like, hey, it's my first strike. out. I think the one hit was either a double or a home run, though. No, no, it was a single. No extra base hits. Oh, yeah. I don't know. I mean, every, I always tell my scene my, like, he's in a line. I'm okay. I feel good about it. Yeah, it's that mindset. Got this dude. Damn.

That's funny. A lot of pitchers felt that way when I stepped in the box. A lot of them. Yeah. I think I faced you a couple times. Oh. Did we have the numbers? Do we have the history? Do you aren't someone I wouldn't like to face. You're a tall, you're a tall, you're a I don't like tall pitchers, man, and whatever it is, the angle. But I don't, I don't, in my mind, I know I don't have a lot of success against you. Because if I did, I would remember it. You know how it goes, man.

I remember the guys that you do wear against. I don't think you guys ever face each other an MLB. Do you have it? I think we did spring training or something like that. Okay. Yeah. I'll tell you when you're, uh... You had them, Treve.

You had them. No, no, no. Ty got him. Ty, I was looking at some of the guys you pitch well or don't pitch well against. You got to get away from Mike Trout. I mean, that should be priority number one in this free agency.

Everybody does. Everybody does. You know, it's crazy. I feel like the numbers, I don't know, I feel like, give it to my face him. For some reason, I'm like, okay, you know, ground ball to the right side for a jab shot. But then it's like, oh, six home runs and this and this.

I'm like, damn, really? Dude, hey. I say this about Mike Trump. I'm like, I know he's the best player in the game. Like, I know he is. But playing against him, I'm like, there's other guys who I think, like, impress me more. But he just, like, is always good. Always.

His numbers just add up and add up and add up and add up. Before you know it, he's got 30 homers, you know, 30 steals, 100 RBS. And you're like, I don't get it. But he just never slumps, dude. That's what it is. He just like, my face, I'm like, I'll throw a good pitch to look at me. He'll smirk.

You'll be a little smile. I'm like, yeah, I got up. And it boom. I'm like, it's not easy for you, huh? He just, you know, laughing at. Yeah. His numbers up in Seattle are incredible, too.

It's like his best split, whenever he's at Safeco or whatever it's called now. You guys did the thing about him in Felix, right? Like, he owns Felix. He owns everyone who would have fish in Seattle. Yeah. He owns Seattle. It's crazy.

I want to. I've kind of got a broad one for you, Ty. And it's because I've been, familiar with you for a while. I've got a baseball geek side, so I remember prospect, Taiwan, I mean, you know, you were what, like top five prospect and things like that? You come up for the Mariners when you're, what, 20? Yeah, 21 I think, yeah. So, I mean, now, like, you've been in the pros for what, seven years, eight years? Is it, like, looking back, I mean, do you look at 20-year-old, or 21-year-old Taiwan Walker and laugh? I mean, do you have these different moments of

growth? Like, looking back now, I don't know. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I wonder what it's like looking back at, I mean, eight years as a pro and you're kind of hitting free agency. You had a really nice year last year. Like, you still got a lot to go. Yeah. Man, when I was younger, just coming up, I think I was just like just so raw and just kind of used my athletic ability. Like, honestly, the first like three or four years that was up, you know, I was just like all fastballs. I think it was like 70% fastballs.

Do a split change and then, you know, dad with a cutter and a curveball. but I was just, I didn't really know pitching. You know, I was just out there and just kind of just pitching, just throwing the ball as hard as I could and, you know, trying to get out, basically. When you think back on your rookie season, is there a teammate that was in the rotation that kind of took you under his wings or is there any guy that should get credit for how building relationship or giving you advice or anything that you'd want to shout out and be like, nah, that dude was awesome?

Honestly, I think it's just a little bit of everyone. You know, obviously Felix. But the thing with Felix, he's one of those guys where he could just wake up out of bed and go be great. So it was like more of watching him than talking to him about pitching. Me and James Paxton are really close. You know, we used to talk a lot. Chris Young, pitcher tall Chris Young, watching him. You know, especially I was, I think it was 22 or 23 when he was there.

and just watching prepare for starts. I mean, he'd have three iPads, a laptop, all these notes, and every pitch you through was like planned. You know, he'll throw a change up at the letters on purpose. People don't do that, you know? So just watching him, and then I got to, you know, watch Zach Grinky, watch him pitch and talk to him. He's really smart, and he knows a lot about pitching, so that was nice.

Riu this year, you know, so I just kind of take a little bit of every, little bit of stuff from everyone, you know. Has Chris Young been calling you now? Like, hey, I got a nice gig over here in Texas. Oh, yeah. You interested? Well, because the manager, Woody, he was there too. He was a third base coach.

And we had a pretty good relationship, too. Okay. All right. Well, the rumors. So if you sign there, we'll get credit. I want to walker to the Rangers. Interest in the Rangers. That's how you do it, Trevor.

Five for 100. Done. Rangers. I'm not saying it. I'm not saying it. Have you? And again, I don't know how close to your Paxson. I know you're a big basketball guy,

and NBA season's coming up, and basketball's all about guys teaming up, and, you know, Hardin's trying to get to Brooklyn, and Yannis is supposed to be the next free agent. I mean, do you and you text Paxton and be like, hey, let's go somewhere. Let's put on the pinstripes. Let's get a ring, and we'll go from there. I don't know, seems easy.

Yeah. I don't know. I feel like it's not MLB. I don't know why. Maybe just because the roster is so big, 25 guys, you know, I don't know. NBA just, you know, if you have two players, I don't know, I heard this somewhere, watching TV or something, but, you know, two guys can change a whole franchise, you know. But for MLB, I mean, I mean, honestly look at Mike Trout.

Yeah, so look at the angel. You know, like, and they have really good. pieces, but you still need everyone, all nine, 12, 14, 15 players, whoever you know, to make it to the World Series and win the Real Series. You know, you need a deep core of guys and you need a whole roster plus some guys coming up and whatnot. NBA, I mean, look at LeBron James and Anthony Davis. You get those two guys and then you throw in, you know, CACCP and Caruso. Yeah, you know, like, it's way different. Well, if you want to come to the pinstripes with Pax, and that's fine too, because we,

we need some pitching. I could see you as a yank. It would look good, man. That big body, the pinstripes. Me and Judge, big guys over there? Yeah. There you know. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. That's a big crew right there. That's a photo shoot. That's like, yeah, man. We could, okay. Tall Californians, Stanton. Hold on. You guys are making your pitch.

Let me make my pitch. Minnesota would love to have you. They need some starting pitching. They're a good team. It's a great place to play and live. I'm going to make some calls. City's amazing, dude. I want to make some calls.

We'll get you. We also have pinstrokes. It's cold, though. Isn't it cold, dude? It is cold, it is cold. It is cold. Don't go there. Don't go there.

You know, what? It's a bad pitch. I never got, they built a brand new stadium, which is absolutely beautiful, but they should have had a retractable roof or some, you know, like you're in the midway. What they told us,

they said that they, if, they couldn't put a roof on. Like to get the stadium built, they had to do it without the roof because of maybe the expense or whatever it was. I don't really buy that. I mean, come on.

How do you not have a retractable roof there? I totally agree with you. Any team who built a new stadium from here on out needs to have a retractable roof. No matter. I don't care if you're in New Diego, California. Like, just have it just in case. I agree, dude.

I totally agree. Imagine like... Although in Seattle, that'd be nice. The Seattle, the roof doesn't work. Like, it's, I feel like it still leaks water when it rains, and it's freezing there. The backside is open. They keep the backside open. Oh.

Like when it's raining. I don't get it, dude. Sitting back there, they get all wet. It's crazy, dude. Seattle is cold, man. You talk about cold. It's like, Cleveland gets really cold. Obviously, Minnesota.

But, like, Seattle's one of those places where it's like, damn, like, even when it's warm, you feel cold there. It's like a strange, strange vibe. Oakland's freezing too at night. Yes. You wouldn't expect it. And partly why Oakland's so cold is because no one dresses for it appropriately because they don't think it's going to be freezing.

Right. It's hot all day and all of a sudden at night. What was this? This is a weather podcast now. Weather pod. I searched your name and news. And I wanted to see how many teams are claiming you'd be a perfect fit or they're claiming they have interest in you.

So you don't need to say yes or note any of these. but if it's like a hard no, you can feel free. We got the Yankees obviously saying, hey, be a nice fit. Done. We got the Blue Jays, the Red Sox, why the Red Sox need Walker. We got the Tigers are very interested in signing Taiwan Walker. We got why Taiwan Walker is a perfect fit in Milwaukee. And who's this?

I don't know. there's another team here. Aaroners. Every team. You're a fit for every team, dude. You're 6'5. Good starting pitcher, bro. Where's it?

Every team has to. How's the process work for you a free agency? And you don't have to give away anything you don't want to. But right now, are you just fielding interests? Do they just reach out to your agent? Your agent says just feelers and feelers. And then at what point do you like to actively engage and say, like, let me get on the phone call with the GM or whoever it is that you're talking to.

So, like, how does it work in what stage are you at now? I think it's just a lot of phone calls right now. Just a bunch of feelers, you know, checking in, see what's going on. And I think once the market gets going, once the starting pitching market gets going, and then that's when things kind of just ramp up. Again, this is, this year, it's just new. Last year was way different. This year is just kind of new.

So, you know, I think it's just being patient, just waiting, you know, not turning to rush into anything or just wait for the right offer and the right team, I guess. Now, last year, did you have the Mariners in mind going back there before they reached out? And when you went there, were there other teams that maybe were in the mix for, you know, similar offers? and you chose the Mariners for what you said to kind of bounce back, no stress? Familiar. Yeah, we had a few teams that were in on me, but all the offers were about the same. So at the end of day, I was like, you know what, I want to, I want to build myself back up again. You know, I want to work on some things.

And I've already pitched in Seattle, pitch in Safeco, Timo Park, whatever, pitch, you know, West Coast. And so that's like the ultimate reason why I went there. And I've always been a West Coast guy myself. So I'm like, I don't want to go to the East Coast. Didn't want to at all. Everything West Coast. And then I got traded to Toronto. And I was like, man, the East Coast isn't that bad.

Yeah. It's not, you know, because I've been to West Coast my whole life. And I'm like, you know what? I could actually see myself on the East Coast. Hey, man. And you were in Buffalo. I mean, that's really not like the biggest selling point for the East. Someone was like, hey, I need to be proven that the East Coast is nice.

I only think Buffalo would land in like the top 50 places to go sell ourselves. It wasn't bad. I mean, I was sold enough playing to Buffalo, so it wasn't back. I could imagine if it was, you know, New York or wherever it was Toronto. Buffalo might have been better through all the COVID stuff than New York City last year.

Some of the Yankees players, like their schedule and where they had to live and stuff, it was like a nightmare. Buffalo was quiet. Not a lot of people walk to the hotel, to the room, to the field and stuff. Who were the characters on the Blue Jays team? Like, you walk in there,

who's the prankster? What's like the crew you're like, okay, those guys are goofing off. What's the scene in there? Man, kind of everyone, but the number one guy was probably Ken Giles. Okay. Yeah, funny guy, Tana Roark, Shoemaker. You know, I feel like all the position players were super young guys, quiet, you know, first second year, and then all the pitchers were like just old grumpy.

Going out there, don't care. You know, I got eight, nine years in. just F-A and half-line. That's funny. The old man pitcher crew. I like that. It was nice. Because I went from Seattle when everyone was 23 years old,

and I was the oldest guy. I think I had the second most time on the team behind Seeger. And so I was like the veteran, you know, and then I went over there. I was like, oh, there's guys who are the same amount of time as me, same age as me. Man. You went to high school with Matt Davidson, who's also a pro? Now, I was looking at his numbers.

And he's got you beat on ERA, six games, 284 ERA. Does he ever rub that in your face? No. He was a good pitcher, man. He just do all fastballs and just die out of the corners. Boom, boom, boom, boom. So he was a senior and you were a year younger than him? Yeah.

So did you kind of get to feel out the whole scouting process and drafting process in high school through him before you went through it yourself? Yeah, not the drafting part of it, but like the scouting part. and I think he's part of the reason why I got looked at because I was shortstop. I pitched here and there my sophomore and junior year, but I just played shortstop mostly and then I started pitching full-time my senior year,

but I think just side in the scouts there, when I did pitch, they maybe kind of put them up, put myself on their radar or whatever. Did the scouts push you to kind of get on the mound more, or was it just like when your senior years coming up, you'll be pitching more? I think it was more, yeah.

My coach, pitching coach, manager, and he was just like, you know, we really think you're going to get drafted as a pitcher. And I was like, no, I'm a shortstop. I'm an athlete, I'm not pitching. And I don't know where I just started throwing like mid-90s. And I was like, dang it, maybe I have to do this. Maybe I will pitch.

And more scouts come. They're like, oh, the first round. And I was like, okay, fine. I'll be a pitcher. I'll picture that. Were you guys gross, back-to-back first-round picks? We had a really good team Where I grew up, Yucayva

We're known for baseball A lot of CIF titles and stuff like that Man, you've gone deep Who'd you who'd you clip for a homer? Mike Fultonet, which Fulte Wow, okay basketball 97 miles per hour

Close my eyes Put a good, put a good swing on it It's nice Man, that crosses something off the bucket list right there Especially now that you probably won't be able to get it at bat again. First game back, too, after I had my first son. So, wow. Okay. Were you able to get the ball? I got the ball, got the back, got the helmet. That's awesome. Do you pimp it at all? Not for Fulte. I blacked out. I hit it. I know I hit it good, but I was like just out the box, you know, boom, boom.

And I look up and I was like, dang. Okay. And then like the slow jog was so awkward. I was like running like this, hands right here. Like, you know, look good. And I watch the video every time, like, ah, it's so bad. That's not good. Hey, man, you got it, though. That's pretty awesome. Did you ever interact with Fulte after that and give him, like,

thanks, bro? Or how does that go down between pitchers? I don't, I mean, I don't know. Okay. Yeah. I think I've given up one or two hits to a pitcher. That was, like, my number one goal. Don't ever give a home run to a pitcher.

Like, when I faced Bumgarner, and I was like, shh, man. he hacks. I'd rather walk him honestly. Yeah. He's got a pretty big book already. So you just, you wouldn't be like the only pitcher he's got. He's got,

and he's gotten like Kershaw. He still don't want to be in the book. He still don't want to be there. I get it. I get it. He's got to bunch of people. When you played the Yankees this year, there was a moment that I remember being like,

what the hell was that? And then afterwards it turns out you guys might be boys. So Aaron Hicks, are you guys buddies? because you walked him. And, I mean, Hixie, always flipping his bat on a walk and, you know, peacock and the walk more than you normally do. But I remember he just stared at you and I was like, is this, is that anger or is this

friendship? And then people said it was friendship. You guys boys? Yeah, he lives right down the street for me. But we golf and stuff and hang out all the time. And yeah, and I hit him too. And I like, text I might do. Why did you go out of the way?

He goes, I don't know. He was in. I was like, it wasn't that in. And I looked at it. It was pretty in. But I was like, I was like, out of way, man. Like, he got a friend, though.

He goes, he told me a little mistake, so I got to get some steak. Man, you guys golf together? He's supposed to be like a scratch golfer, right? He's legit. Yeah, he's really good. It's easy for him. I hate that.

Is he a righty or lefty golfing? Ready. If you switch it, can you switch golf? Do you think? I mean, I think he can. He can. That's such bullshit if he's, like, stuck behind a tree, and he just goes, like, brings out his one, like,

got one. Yeah. Seven iron left to go for whatever I need to. That's actually an awesome flex. I wonder if there's guys that do that. It has to be out. Yeah. Tiger just uses a club backwards when he does it.

Yeah, you could do that. That's not in my bag of tricks. Yeah. That's good. Well, we lost Trev, which is for the better. I think that helped everything. Can we rule out one team? Give me one.

Say, like, you're not going to course. Like, who's the team you're not going to? Don't go to Cors. Don't go to Colorado. I mean, I don't want to roll anyone. Yeah, it's all bargaining, man. Let's just say Cors is in on them. Okay. The Rockies are in. I think I have good numbers at Corsfield, though.

Ooh. Really? I think so. I think it gets on my pitch. I think I pitched pretty decent. I think the most runs I get up there was three, I think in one game. I think it could be wrong. That's pretty impressive. We were always impressed. Lance Lynn has really good numbers at Cors

because fastball pitchers do well. Palm Peters. There's not a lot of... Fastball pitcher for the most part of you are, so... Let's see. If I can bring it up. Does your... Well, he looks at it.

Does your agency... We're friendly with, so I don't want to dig myself a whole at all. But, like, is there a pitch process? Like, we've... You know, you hear a lot of the... Some of the big names, like Boris is putting binders together and things like that.

Like, I don't know. For a team like Colorado, say, you know, they send over the Ty Walker package, and it's like, I don't know if you guys noticed, but he's pitched pretty nasty at course. Has there been any of that, any selling? I don't know. I'm not sure.

Yeah, I talked to my agent and get calls. He said this, you know, we don't really get into, like, deep details yet. I think once things start picking up, then that's when we kind of get into details and look at, okay, so you pitch there, this is, you know, this is what they face, it's who they got coming up, this and that. But right now it's just like, just hey, they call, they're interested. They liked you, kind of stuff. Man, you crush it, of course. Three, four games started.

263 ERA, 24 strikeouts in 24 innings pitched. Maybe think about it. You could go reinvent the game. Good. Just all fat. What's the secret? Is it pumping heaters? Do you like the mound there?

Like, anything? I don't, honestly, I don't know. I really don't know. I didn't even know my numbers are good. until I think last year my agent mentioned to me goes you actually pitch pretty well because they were a team that were interested in me and I was like really cool I pitched well at course but obviously trying to set myself up for you know this year I was like I don't know if I want to go there pitch 15 games there is is there like a stipulation that you do know of like a day versus night

or like a getaway day or like a sunday is there some weird almost superstitious you're like I'm going to pitch good tonight because of this. It's like not a baseball factor. Just kind of a random thing. Man, I feel like usually when I eat Subway, I pitch pretty well. I mean, there you go. Add.

CAA or Excel. The days I don't, I just, I don't know, like, I pitch okay. I don't pitch like my best. But when I eat Subway, like, I ball out. What do you get in a Subway, man? So put that in the contract. I need a Subway sandwich before every game.

I know. The Happy Gilmore. Yeah. Do we, okay. What's the subway order? Spicy Italian, pickles, spinach, yellow mustard. That's it. I mean, not to be the greasy-haired East Coast Italian,

but have you been to like sub-shops that aren't Sub-Way on the East Coast? Because, I mean, we could change everything. If Subway is your multiplier, we got places in New York. You'll be pumping 99 easy. I mean, if that's the case, I'll try it out. Okay. open to that, yeah. Yanks.

Make it part of the pitch. How funny would it be if someone did offer you Subway before every game, and then you're like, huh, they must have listened to that podcast. Of course, Subway can call me and be a dog on too. That works. Yeah. I mean, you got to make a deal now. We're doing this with Taylor Hearn of the Rangers.

You know, you got to have some promotion with Subway. Every time that, you know, you strike out the side, it's a free six-six-six-strikeout, foot long, bang. Done. Nice. Easy. I want to write that one down. Marketing team.

I think Trev's trying to come back. Before Trevor comes back, do you want to ask Trevor any questions that we can answer? And hopefully he can hear this, but he can't talk. But we will answer any question you want on behalf of Trevor Plouf. Could be anything. I don't know.

I got nothing for him either. Yeah, nothing. Yeah. There's not a lot of interest there. Well, hey, man, thanks for joining us. Oh, Jeff, you're back. He's kind of back. Halfway back.

Delayed. You sound like you're underwater and all right. See ya. Thanks for stopping by. All right. Thanks, Trevor. Thanks, Ty. Yeah.

Hi, thanks for, hanging out of this for a little bit. Well, you're interested to see where you land. Hopefully it's not an ALE's team that isn't the Yankees. I don't want to deal with that. You've got to mind. All right. Appreciate you.

Thanks, man. Enjoy the rest of your day. And there you have it. Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you very. much for tuning in. If you want to leave a review or comment or subscribe or like or any of that

stuff, feel free. It helps us as much as it hurts me to ask for it. Yeah, do it. I have no shame in that right now. I'm not a good promoter on Twitter, but I'm going to say right now, go like us and leave a review and say how good that I am

specifically. Just Trevor. You guys are slots? I'll put it out there. He's putting it out there. I'll put it out. People are asking for John Bay and Jake radio, but then also Trevor and Big Baby David. Yeah. Common sense with Trevor Plouf. Yeah.

People have been campaigning for you and I to do a president, vice president thing, Trevor. I saw a tweet for that. Foolish Baseball's mom. Yeah. Mrs. Foolish is her birth name. Hot. I hate her. Yeah.

That's just I hate her. She's mean to us for no reason. All right. See you guys later.