Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Grading Rookies & Veterans in 2026!

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

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Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:01 Hello and welcome to talking baseball. We are talking what we always talk about. The young studs, the old bowls, and everything in between. It's a midweek episode. Let's yuck ball. Let's see. Brett louder. Jackie Robinson.
Starting point is 00:00:26 Sorry, Rhett. Yeah, sorry, Rhett. Hello and welcome to talking baseball presented by Fanatics Markets. We're fans trade on sports. Fanatics markets available now on the App Store. I am Jake Storeeally. That is Trevor Plouffe. Bobby Sarachi producing Dalton Feeley on the sheet. Welcome to talking baseball.
Starting point is 00:00:46 It's April 15th, halfway through, I guess we would say. April. Coach Treff. Yeah, not the season. About 10% through the season. How are you doing out West, Coach? I'm doing well, man. I had a nice little personal grooming day yesterday,
Starting point is 00:01:03 so I shaved it up a little bit, clip the fingernails. I got these new fingernail clippers, man. And, like, I feel like that's one of those things. You just don't change that often. Got new ones. They're so sharp. It's amazing. Other than that, the reason I went Jackie Robinson is, I believe today's the day.
Starting point is 00:01:19 Everyone's wearing 42 day. Sure is. Well done. It's just really tough for Ret Louder. Really tough for Ret Louder, who I think is one of the young guys who deserves a shout out this episode. Just coming at you. Let's start out with that because I have a lot.
Starting point is 00:01:37 I haven't looked up Jackie Robinson's numbers in a while. You want to start with? Okay. I just want to see what we're working with here because sometimes you go to a baseball reference page. You're like, oh my gosh. To start it off, obviously, Hall of Fame, MVP, what year was that? I could find that. So that was 1949, had a 93 war, went 3-42, 432, 528 for the 9-60, 37 swipes, 124 driven in, only 16 homers.
Starting point is 00:02:08 Doing a lot with the doubles, 38 there. Just a lot, oh my gosh. He had a couple big years, man. 93, 97, 8-4 war. Go Jackie Robinson, go. And those were, like, imagine if he was in the league earlier on. He didn't start with the Dodgers until he was 28 years old.
Starting point is 00:02:31 Shout out Jackie Robinson. And again, this wasn't part of the script, but here we are. A couple white packerheads, but shout out Jackie. And dude, also, Elson Howard was the first African-American Yankee player. And they were just like, he just popped up on the broadcast the other night. And it's like, oh, MVP, four-time World Series champion, 12-time All-Star. Like, okay, yeah. some some love uh you know babe ruth didn't play against anyways um yeah glad we got ahead of that so now
Starting point is 00:03:12 now we're good um and that's a good shout out trip uh as i said at the start we're going to bop around a real midweek episode get a little grindy get in the weeds some of the old dogs who are killing it this season uh seeing if there's anything that jumps out to us and same with the young pups I know we do this every year, and every year we look down. And there's a couple surprise players. I know Carson Kelly jumped out last year with his April, although he put together a great season. And is that a walk-off home run?
Starting point is 00:03:46 I think he went deep fly to center in Philly last night. Watch your lips. Yeah, it's always a fun part of the baseball season that there are a lot of players that sometimes you put together two good weeks. I guess the other spin zone would be sometimes you put together two bad weeks, and then you can erase that. It's a long baseball season that we want to go and highlight some of the old dogs and some of the young bloods. I do think we don't normally start clickbait talking baseball,
Starting point is 00:04:13 but Judgey and Trout put on a show the other night? Do we want to do a little of that off the rip? Because, man, I'll tell you what, I was watching that game live. Obviously, I watch all the Yankees games. And, okay, it's kind of a crazy game a little bit. The yanks go up four runs. Angels answer back. Yankees fans already a little hot on the team. L5 coming into that game for the New York Yankees.
Starting point is 00:04:41 They end up coughing a judge saves their ass two home runs. Trout saves their ass two home runs. Halos go up by two going into the final inning. Yanks knock around Jordan Romano. That'll be the when I'm an old guy, you know, I remember watching Trouton Judge play when I was a younger man. And Trent Grishen had two homers off the bench in that game. And they'll be like, please stop talking.
Starting point is 00:05:08 You died 100 years ago. You're AI now. I guess the next day, because we were also talking to Aaron Boone on talking Yanks, flex, man, judging Trout two homer game in the big city. It felt special. And we've been dreaming of the Trout big year for a little while now. It is.
Starting point is 00:05:30 You have to get a little nostalgic when you're watching these two, especially Mike Trout kind of turn back into vintage trout. And I think there's this really corny kind of like saying out there. And I think it's like on the clothing brand. So I'm sorry if it's your clothing brand. But it's these are the good old days. Nice. Do you know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:05:54 So like that's kind of what we're seeing here. And that's what you're talking about. It's almost what I've been saying about like show hey, like hey, hey, you got to go see him. Like, people need to realize what's happening right in front of us. This was one of those games. This is one of those games. You're like, oh, my gosh.
Starting point is 00:06:08 Like, it really truly is a special game in history. It was only the second time in the history of baseball. The two three-time MVP's hit multiple home runs in the same game the last time. June 21st, 56, Stan Musial, and Roy Campanella. So it's like, I'm sure. There are some Cardinals fans that are out there saying, I saw that game and they still talk about it. It's going to be the same way here,
Starting point is 00:06:36 even though it's a, I don't want to say it's a meaningless game in April. Because maybe it won't be. Maybe the Angels will miss the playoffs by one game. And they'll be like, Jordan Romano. Yeah. Why don't you throw that wild pitch?
Starting point is 00:06:50 But it truly, I mean, you kind of felt it in the moment a little bit there. And I think it's a good reminder. if you want to get a little deep in life, not to take life for granted and appreciate what you got going on right in front of you. Sometimes you've got to have that perspective coach
Starting point is 00:07:06 where it's like, okay, like this is really cool. I'm at that age right now, dude. My kids are getting older. They're eight and ten. And I'm like, I only have them for so much longer where they like, they like me. Correct. Think I'm like the coolest thing in the world.
Starting point is 00:07:21 Eventually they're going to be like all about their friends and dad give me this, give me that. Right now, I, I've had that perspective lately of, man, I got to cherish what I got right in front of me. This is one of those things. I don't know if I went off too far there, but it's all related to me, Jake. I loved it. I'll tell you that much.
Starting point is 00:07:42 Yeah. Okay. So a little life pod, which is again going to be a big part of the midweek this year. One of our Patrick, who works at our company, we were doing a, we were kicking off a meeting with a little bit of good news or what, you know, what was your good news today? and he's like, today's my daughter's 15th birthday. And he's like, so I got the Facebook notification of me holding my daughter for the first time 15 years ago.
Starting point is 00:08:06 And you could just see his brain spinning like, holy shit, man. Like that guy 15 years ago wasn't thinking about this guy today. So a little life there. And yeah, I think normally the go-to line is, you know, you don't realize you're in the glory days until you're out of them. I screwed that up. Yeah, that's the same line that I just gave, basically. No, because your line is the advanced version of that. You don't realize you're in the glory days.
Starting point is 00:08:36 These are the, that's the new line, pal. And I like, and I like that. And I want to start using that. Because, yeah, there will be a day a couple years from now. You know, we haven't seen a lot of, as we've been doing talking baseball, because it's been, you know, a seven-year run now, something like that. I know, right? Think about that.
Starting point is 00:08:59 Think about you and me, pal. That, yeah, we haven't seen a lot of players like full careers. Hell, we even, dude, we missed a lot of Mike Trout being Mike Trout. Like, that's kind of the stats that we have on the page here, that, like, Trout from 2011 to 2020, and we even have, we have his rookie year stats on this page somewhere. I want to say it's just a casual 10-and-a-half B-war season. Like, what would we have been, we would have been losing our minds
Starting point is 00:09:32 if in 2012 we were doing talking baseball and talking about 10-and-a-half war, 326, 564 slug, Mike Trout playing center field divo. We would have been literally going insane. I got to see it, coach. I did. I'm personal. And this is what I thought about.
Starting point is 00:09:54 I've said this on the show before. Like obviously there was those games where you're like, oh my gosh, this guy's incredible. But it was so methodical for him and so consistent. It felt like every single month, it was six to seven home runs, which is like,
Starting point is 00:10:11 okay, like there's guys that, oh gosh, there's guys that had 10 in a month and great. But it, you did that. one month in the next month you might have three it's like every month it was you know 300 400 like he was a he was a three four six guy like almost every single month man one dotting it uh playing really good defense swiping bags like it will too i like when mike trout was swiping bags like his running
Starting point is 00:10:41 form like he's got a pretty swing and and and people you know you could i could watch it swing all day but when he ran and head first and a second base on a stolen base. I don't know. There was something different, man. Like he ran like a running back, like low and, and like he's so compact, but big at the same time. It was, it was, it was very interesting to watch him play. Because you felt like you were seeing something special, but at the same time, and
Starting point is 00:11:09 I'll just be honest here, I got more of like a charge watching like a Miguel Cabrera play. Like there was other guys. I was like, oh my gosh, that guy's like, crazy good. And then it was like Mike Trout, like at the end of the year, you looked at the stats, you're like, what the hell just happened? Yeah. There's a, you know, at that point, I was, you know, nobody was talking about the war stat. Right. Not one person, especially early on his career. I don't think I heard of war until
Starting point is 00:11:38 2015, probably, 14 or 15. I think 15. It was like the first time the twins had an analytical department and we, and I heard of war. Interesting, yeah. So it was a different way of looking at baseball, to be honest with you. Right. Because you didn't have like an all-encompassing one stat. It was like, okay, let me see his OPS. Oh, this guy's stole bases too.
Starting point is 00:11:59 Oh, yeah, he's good. You know, defensive metrics weren't a big thing either. So you knew like, I test. Oh, yeah, he looks great out there. It was an interesting time to watch ball. Yeah, I'd have to dig through my memory bank a little bit because, you know, I was doing nerdy baseball stuff. I played my out-of-the-park baseball game that I've referenced.
Starting point is 00:12:16 on here and there's there's 20 nerdy boys that just fist-pumped that I mentioned it because it's it was a nerdy baseball game that I'm trying to think when when was war first introduced to me and I was explaining to someone the other day um who was it uh it's someone like not a baseball fan at all and they were what'd they say maybe it was that uh we filled ball in play over the weekend and they mentioned that uh they were like wait a pitcher gets a win and a loss And it's one, that is a little ridiculous. Like, it made so much sense back in the day. Now the way we use bullpens and stuff,
Starting point is 00:12:54 the fact that you could come in, throw three pearls, one of them gets rocked. You lost the game, Peter Moylan. That's pretty insane that we track it that way. That then I went into a whole speech about how, you know, how it used to be, you know, if you won 20 games, you might win the Cy Young. and I know I still make that joke on the show now
Starting point is 00:13:17 that we've evolved a long way on the pitching front, but also that's in the past 15 years, if that. That I could hear old coaches in my head right now. He just knows how to win games. Right? Yeah. He just knows how to win. I'm like, what?
Starting point is 00:13:36 He didn't do anything. The guy gave four runs today. We bailed his ass out offensively. Right. It's an old like Andy Pettit. You know, Well, the Yanks went up six nothing. And so Andy, he didn't care.
Starting point is 00:13:48 He just threw heaters and they won six to five. And you're like, okay. Well, that's a- pitch differently when we have to lead, okay? We got Jimmy O'Brien here tossing hats. Hey. Exclusive Simpson's Lids hat. Free ad.
Starting point is 00:14:03 Not free. Not an ad, but it's a nice hat. It's a nice hat. Thank you. Thank you that. Shout to everyone. Everyone tweeted Jimmy. Nice.
Starting point is 00:14:13 Nice, Jimmy. Um, back on Trout. Uh, and hey, I guess we could loop this into the Angels and if you, if you want to do with this your AL West opinions. Trouty in 17 games, a 1.1 B war so far this season. That's on pace for that 10 and a half war, uh, that are his two top signature seasons. Uh, those signature seasons were in 2011 and 2016. So I don't know if we're getting that, but I do know in 130 games last year, he got a one
Starting point is 00:14:44 and a half B-Wore, that if Trout can stay on the field, which has sadly become a big part of the story with him, although last year he played and he gave some interesting comments about playing left field, which my God, they have Bryce Teodosio, who in the office we call him Teddy Oso, who that guy can play defense with anyone in the world. But guess what, kid? Mike Trout wants to play center. Figure it out in the corner. You can still cover ground out there. I mean, last year, war is obviously going to be going to be down because he DH, almost the entire season. 106 of his appearances last year at DH.
Starting point is 00:15:23 Only 22 were in the outfield. Those were all in right field. He said, yeah, I'm not playing right field anymore. That wall with the yellow line in the middle of it is ridiculous. And I might flip over the little wall in right field. So I'm out. Let me go back to center where I can be near the rocks. He likes the rocks.
Starting point is 00:15:40 I heard that. But again, I mentioned this on a different show. like sometimes you got to let these guys be the guys and stop telling him that they're old and decrepit and you can't do this yeah don't you like hey don't don't run the base is hard we're going to put you out to pasture out there and right uh or or dh you because you're just too fragile what does that do to you mentally yeah you know like in in reality jake he's only 34 years old i know and a lot of the time we just treat these guys like they're absolute dinosaurs and then you start to think of yourself as a dinosaur and not the good
Starting point is 00:16:18 kind right not the cool not the cool dinosaurs that we've dreamt up in Jurassic park well dinosaur dinosaurs now that they have feathers are just so they're just not cool anymore some of those some of those instagram dinosaurs that are like oh here's the frog of sores he was the size of a squirrel and you're like you suck well no even the fact that like velociraptors had feathers I'm out. Like they're just big birds. I don't want to think of dinosaurs as big birds. That's not my dinosaurs. Yeah, I guess I'd have to be romanticized about them a little bit. I'd want to see it. You know, give me the Jurassic Park with bird dinosaurs. Has that happened yet? I don't know. They're more in the dragon category from me, like scaly, you know, like I don't know, more reptile than
Starting point is 00:17:04 bird. Anyways, I think that's like, I think we got to start doing. doing that. I mentioned Buxden is the same way right now. They're like letting him just go do his thing. And he feels great. And he's like, yeah, like rejuvenated almost. So let's stop. As if on our team when we run it, we're not even no one's going to know how old anybody is. You don't have to say. You don't have to tell me how old you are. That should work. Non-disclosure on the age. That should work. That's good. Today's episode is sponsored by Shady Ray.
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Starting point is 00:18:33 I think everything is just a conversation. You talk about Warren when these have become stats And now how we just we track baseball so much differently Like there's still conversations that need to happen And with Mike Trout him being like, yo, I kind of I need to be in center field or I The DH thing ain't working for me right now That I think there does become a line if you're hurting the team
Starting point is 00:18:58 Potentially but I think with the way Mike Trout can still play center field With the way Mike Trout plays when he's playing center field. It's at a certain point, you almost have to take the quote-unquote risk. And if the risk is him playing and looking like this, I will say, I think the thing I'm interested to see with Trouty, because obviously the power is still there. He's the walks and strikeouts, Coach Trev, 15 walks to 17 strikeouts so far. That's pretty yum.
Starting point is 00:19:26 Going back to 2024 now, Mike Trout, a career, a lifetime 293 hitter. hitting 229. So I do think the contact tool is one of the tough, well, it's the toughest thing to do in sports. So I think as you get older and, you know, we saw it with Miggie Cabs and we saw it with Pool Hose a little bit that I think you have to start guess hitting a little more and you have to change, change your, evolve your game,
Starting point is 00:19:55 just like the dinosaurs or lack thereof for the dinosaurs. I guess that's one of the things I'm interested. to see with Trouty this year because I think he could have a great season because we've see a lot of the veteran guys that the on-base percentage tends to stay. Like you've seen every trick in the book. It's that batting average starts to dip, which for him it has, that if he's out on the field, I want to see what that looks like. Or, you know, he can still have, he's got an 895 OPS right now because when he's hitting it, he's hitting home runs, he's mashing doubles that I keep him on the field and let me see what a year of center field trout
Starting point is 00:20:33 looks like. Because last year, those 130 games, but like you said, D-Hing, it's just a different animal. Yeah, I'll push back on the batting average a little bit there. 20-25, not great for him, but again, that's like an anomaly year where he was D-Hing. I don't think he liked it. I don't think he found the routine there. I don't think he knew what to do. Even this year, he's hitting 220 as far as his batting average is concerned. Is it expected batting. average is 285. Okay. And he really has been like, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:06 2023, he hit 260, but expected batting average, a little bit higher than that as well. Then before that, he's been a 300 hitter. I think it's still there. I think it's still there. I think we're going to look back at 2025. And eventually we're going to look. Eventually, yeah, we'll talk about Mike Trout slowing down a lot.
Starting point is 00:21:21 I think he's still got some years in him. I think we'll look back at 2025. I'm like, why the hell do they have him DH? What was going on there? I know he was battling some stuff, but if you can put him out there and that makes them happy, which we're figuring out right now, that's the case.
Starting point is 00:21:37 I say leave him out there as long as he wants. How about that? What would Ron Gardenhire say about expected batting average? Well, it depends on what era of Ron Gardenhire. A young, fresh off the third base coach, Ron Gardenhire would say, expected, I'll expect it when I expect it or something like that. He'd have some sort of line. He'd be like, these are the glory days.
Starting point is 00:22:05 Still waiting in the mail for that expected batting average. Something like that, he would say. I like that. But then, you know, Ronnie G. as he got older, I think he adapted a little bit. Unlike. Maybe not. Maybe not. Shout out Ronnie G.
Starting point is 00:22:19 Yeah. When are we getting him on the show? Toby Gardner's son, who I played with, that was like a teammate of mine in minor leagues. He's now a coach on the twins. And he's awesome. How do you like that? How do you like that? Yeah, and just for my judge, who we still is looked at as the best hitter in the league,
Starting point is 00:22:39 I think that's kind of fair to say. Him and Trout are separated by like eight months, age-wise. So I think you're right. Trout athletically, like, you know, sometimes we joke about becoming a burly boy in baseball. Like, Trout still can, the legs still work. The body is still there. I won't bring my guy Stanton into the conversation, runs a little differently than he did as a younger man.
Starting point is 00:23:05 Trout still goes. That it's keep him on the field, a fun night in the Bronx. What's that smile? I saw some tweet about Stanton, like, the guy can't open a bag of chips, but he swings the bat harder than anybody. Hey, man. So on the Yankee front,
Starting point is 00:23:23 we've been waiting for someone to, in the dugout, make fun of the bag of, chips thing because it was a real article this year. I think Stanton's like in pain and I think part of it is from his batting stance where he is as inverted as possible and swings the bat as hard as a human has ever swung it. So yeah, I'm hoping that the Yankees turn that into a joke at some point because it's like,
Starting point is 00:23:48 damn, dude. If you lined everyone up on the line and you said who's the most in-shaped baseball player, we'd all point at Stanton. It's a messed up sport, man. I was flying back from, this is a true story. Actually, I just thought about this. I was flying back from ball and play. And I was sitting next to this guy and the lady comes out with like a array of snacks.
Starting point is 00:24:09 And the guy chooses a bag of chips. And he's an older gentleman. And I see him like couldn't open the bag of chips. Oh. Just like they were running circles. The bag of chips is running circles around this guy. Like he was like, ugh. And then he was trying to go this way and tear it.
Starting point is 00:24:27 finally he resorted he was actually wearing a mask he resorted and i know he hated to do this took the mask down and used his teeth he just the final solution frustrated with this bag of chips i got the same bag of chips later couldn't freaking open it really okay i think it was the pressure yeah there's some science involved there which i i mean i opened it but i had to work hard for it so So then I felt I wanted to give the guy like, hey, man, like even these muscles struggled with this. Was there even one percent of you that like tried to get his attention a little bit? Like you were struggling with it too? No, what I wanted to just be like, open it real quick and be like, hey, your time is best, old man.
Starting point is 00:25:12 But then I started struggling with it. I had to really get in there, Jay, like two hands like, ugh. It gets tricky with the bag of chips too because you're like, do you go for the pop technique? because if you go for the pop, then you're just risking everything. Yes. You could lose the back. If there's ever a way to convince kids,
Starting point is 00:25:33 like use your legs and hitting, it's John Carlos Stan because literally he can't open a bag of chips without pain, but he swings the bat so hard that it has to come from something else. Okay. You don't swing with your arms.
Starting point is 00:25:45 That's Josh Donaldson. Let's stay away from science, maybe the rest of the episode. Let's hype. I mean, Two legends. Trout and Judge. Let's keep going.
Starting point is 00:25:57 Wait, let's give that tweet a little love to, though, real quick. You do it because I think you love it more than me. Oh, I think it's fascinating because you mentioned these guys, they're not separated by age at all. How many months? Like, trout turns 35 in August. Judge turns 34 this month. So May, June, July.
Starting point is 00:26:18 Okay, it's less than a year. Yes. Nailed it. That's baseball, Susan. put out this tweet, talking about it's incredible that Judge and Trout are exactly the same age, which, you know, close. But their primes didn't overlap at all. If you combine Trout 2011 through 2020 and Judge 21 through 26 into one player,
Starting point is 00:26:40 that 34-year-old player would have 557 homers and might have 600 before the season was over. At 34 years old, the guy with 600 home runs would be freaking insane. So I like that you like that. You don't like that at all? I just think we could do that with, I think we could do that with a lot of baseball. Not a lot of baseball players. I think we could do that with elite guys.
Starting point is 00:27:04 Like I could, I could probably do the same thing with pool host and trout, right? Like pool host kind of slowed down. They weren't the same age. The whole thing about this is, okay, that's why you like, okay. Like Trout did it when he was really young and judges a late bloomer.
Starting point is 00:27:18 And really like these guys, you know, and like, usually they be, it'd be happening at the same time. Like, we would have had Trout Judge happened at the same time, but Judge was a late bloomer. Yeah, okay.
Starting point is 00:27:30 That makes me like it more. I, because I was kind of like, yeah, can we, we could piggyback a lot of dudes and cook the books. And I was actually going to give some snaps for guys that have compiled, which has become a little bit of a joke in baseball, um, for Hall of Fame arguments and stuff like that. But like the whole point is if you compile,
Starting point is 00:27:50 if you're compiling the real stats, If it's hits, if it's home runs, strikeouts, whatever it is, that's what makes it impressive. Like Mike Trout, who we're talking about has had one of the most impressive baseball careers you can have. And hopefully there's a lot more in there. There is another path, but let's not talk about that right now. Like Mike Trout passed, so his home runs this series, three of them. Nice yanks. past Duke Snyder, which it's like, okay, yeah,
Starting point is 00:28:24 I think if you learn about the game, you hear about Duke Snyder. Is he Mickey and the Duke? Right. Mickey. Mickey and the Duke. And Mark Tashara, who, I don't know, if you followed baseball in our timeline,
Starting point is 00:28:41 you're like, Mark Tashara was a very, very good ball player. But he was also so very good for so very long that he's on, he's, him and Duke Schneider are next to each other. Yeah, it's just the. Oh, you're saying that you don't have Mark to share in the same breath as Duke Schneider's, is what you're saying. I currently don't.
Starting point is 00:29:00 I'd have to, I get what you're saying. I'd have to deep dive a little further to find that out. There's always that grace period before you become like an oldie, quote unquote legend, you know, like there's that like in between where you just finish playing, you're kind of, it's like, when a car isn't vintage yet. Gotcha. And it takes a little bit of time
Starting point is 00:29:25 for it to be considered vintage, just old. Okay. You know what I'm talking about. I know what you're talking about. Yes. I don't know. Like now like the 90s Mercedes are like cool. People like drive like purposely drive
Starting point is 00:29:40 1990s Mercedes around because they're vintage. But in 2000 you'd be like, oh, that's just an old Mercedes. Yes. As Rob got some Duke Schneider. Highlights that look like they were drawn on a napkin. Yeah, and I think Duke Schneider, as I'm looking up their baseball references right now, slightly higher pedigree than Tashira. But the guys that, quote, unquote, accumulate stats,
Starting point is 00:30:09 if we're talking home runs and hits and, like, it's really hard to do that in baseball for a long time. And I guess the Trout Judge factoid there, which, you know, By the way, comma, comma, Judge was pretty good from 2017 to 2020, as was Trout. But shout out Duke Schneider. Shout out Tech, although he's stirring the pot in a lot of different ways now. Let's hype some of these young guys.
Starting point is 00:30:39 Okay. Because that's kind of our strength, Coach Trev. And we've got a lot of facttoids. And it's a lot of names we've been talking about, snaps to ourselves. Jose Fernandez, DeLotter, your guy, T.J. Rumfield. I guess, hey, we want to shine a little more light on these guys. And I do have a couple baseball combos that leak off of these Coach. I do want to start with your guy, T.J. Rumfield, who slowed down the past couple games.
Starting point is 00:31:06 And, you know, could he, let's see what the season has for the young man. Got an opportunity with the rocks, taking advantage of it early. he currently has a 1.563 OPS in his first played appearance of the game. That's second best in baseball. I wanted to ask you, is there, what is to that? Because I feel like every year we see guys in the lineups that it's like that, that first at bat they're out of their mind. I think Ocuna had a season.
Starting point is 00:31:35 Was it his MVP season where in his first step bat, I believe he got on base at over a 500 clip and he was just out of his dome. What is that? Is that just a season catching the wind? Is it prep? Is it starters not dipping further into their pitch bag early on? I don't know. I wanted your thoughts on that. Yeah, I could see it being that, especially with a young guy, like, hey, let's see if he can, you know, I know we have very detailed scouting reports and heat maps and all that stuff. But, you know, the book's not completely out there on T. J. Ronefield yet or any of these rookies necessarily. So, you know, you start with, okay, well, number one, what's my strength is a pitcher?
Starting point is 00:32:17 But typically, you'd say that's like, let's throw a heater away or maybe crowd him in. And then you go from there. You kind of, the catcher will analyze the swing from behind and you'll kind of start to throw your nasty stuff. It could be like you're going to the plate with base is empty. So it guys challenging you a little bit more, your first at bat. Kind of all depends. But I do love T.J. Roundfield.
Starting point is 00:32:39 I love the swing. I just got absolutely bamboozled by his baseball savant page. Okay. If you think about T.J. Rumfield, and I don't know how much you've seen him play. It's fine if you haven't. What do you think about his swing? If you had to just say one thing. Like, it's, he swings the shit out of the bat, right?
Starting point is 00:32:57 Yeah, big, big leg kick. Like, that's what I initially saw the first time. I was like, that's a, that's a big old leg kick. He's in the 18th percentile in bat. speed. I would not have had that, Jake. Okay. That's very shocking to me. And I wonder if like, no, granted, I haven't watched every single one of his events. Um, like, are there some swings that are bringing that down? Is there some sort of two strike approach I don't know about? Because it looks to me like when he swings it, it's, it's getting through the zone. I don't know. That's interesting
Starting point is 00:33:33 to me. He's got, he's got a ton of power. A big dude, 65, 240. Jake. but a low bat speed and that to me you know 25 year old guy that seems to me like something that can improve and if that can improve that means some of those power numbers can as well so he's been really fun to watch i mean the rocky's team always has a few hitters that i like i mean hunter goodman i think had two homers last night um josh johnelson asked somebody tweeted that meester saying totally nailed on the josh don'tson comparison i would love that like maybe shout out J.D. and say, what do you think about this guy's
Starting point is 00:34:14 swing? I bet he'd bash it. I bet he'd bash it. Even though it looks exactly like his. Goodman? Scrub. Big Josh Donaldson up for you. Good. The bringer of rain.
Starting point is 00:34:32 I need, hey, I hope it continues for Rumfield. We need to get the Rockies as we're doing this, you know, bring the Rockies back. which, hey, supposedly, I know we're close to the situation because our Kelsey Winger, who does awards, you know, she's the reporter for the Rockies on the broadcast that she says it genuinely feels totally different. Like, they cleaned house in Colorado last year, and I know we covered it a little bit, and it's Paul D. Podesta, and we're like, yeah, snaps. All right, Rockies, good job. She says it feels a lot different.
Starting point is 00:35:06 And, I mean, for the Rockies, for me, like, get back to the Rockies. the baseline, even for like the fantasy baseball boys, give me some Garrett Atkins. Give me some Brad Hop. Like, give me, give me those Rockies guys that just knock it around the yard that you're like, okay, we're getting a form of baseball here. All right. Yeah, I mean, from what I've gathered and people I've talked to, number one, Eddie Julian, shout out, Rockies. Yeah, they just hired, they hired the way that other teams are hired. They caught up. They caught up a little bit. especially in the pitching department, new manager. Shout out Warren.
Starting point is 00:35:45 Love that name. It's my dad's name. Oh. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, man. We'll see what the Rockies can do. Yeah. Go, T.J. Rundfield, love your swing. Swing the bat harder.
Starting point is 00:35:55 Kelsey, if you're listening, why is he swing the bat so slow? Slugging 867 on pitches 95 miles per hour plus this year, which is the best in baseball, which you wanted to expect that from a slow swing? getting ready really early. But slow swings are kind of contact swings. Big leg kick slow bat is not what you want. Doesn't feel like the recipe. But it's working.
Starting point is 00:36:21 Something wrong. Are we getting something wrong here? I can't believe the guys that have leg kicks. Like his looks like a left-handed relief pitcher. Like the way he loads up, I don't know how you hit a baseball. Yeah, I don't mind like a hover. But I had also a leg kick and like it was a fast one. and like I suffered, my timing suffered because of it.
Starting point is 00:36:42 And I was so stupid, but it's the way I hit. I would never teach a leg kick now. I would teach a hover, but leg kick no. I like the hover. The hover, I feel it gives you enough momentum, but you can adjust to fastball and breaking ball a little bit. It's just, it's, I suck. Yeah, it's more to me about keeping your head still.
Starting point is 00:37:06 Okay. You can do whatever you want, man. there's a lot of things that you can teach biomechanically about hitting oh you need to good here your barrel needs to do this uh you know you want to talk about high level pattern with our guy teacher man and judge snap the back great all that's great do whatever you want dude have a toe tap go no stride i don't give a shit if your head is moving up and down you're not going to hit you're just you can't see the ball so number one thing that everyone should do if you're a parent out there and your kid uh is learning to hit tell you're
Starting point is 00:37:38 them to keep their head still so they can see the ball. Mineral movement. Boom. There you go. Today's episode is sponsored by Best Western. Life's a trip. So why not make the most of it with over 4,000 hotels worldwide? Best Western is there for every detour destination,
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Starting point is 00:38:42 But Chase DeLauder and Sal Stewart have been just two of the best hitters in baseball. I know we're not going to give ourselves actual snaps. But Stewart's been amazing. He hit a beautiful opposite field home run last night that in that ballpark, it's like, dude, if you can hit the ball in that ballpark, you'll get what you're looking for. And we obviously, DeLauder with his opening weekend and following up on it. just two of the best rookies this year. We've had a lot of these guys
Starting point is 00:39:09 we were talking out before the show. Like guys that, and I don't know if it's the MLB hype train kind of talking rookies up more and more as we, I don't know, progress as a, in baseball. That's not what I'm trying to say. But it feels like we had a lot of rookies
Starting point is 00:39:27 that were counted on to be super impactful this season, fresh out the gates. I know Sal was up there for a little bit last year. but he looks the part and Kevin McGonigal looks the part and Chase DeLotter. DeLotter was up in the playhouse. For the postseason. Yeah. And he zoot a fly ball right away.
Starting point is 00:39:48 Yeah. Which is crazy. But we're putting a lot of, you know, a lot of pressure on these guys to come up. And maybe it's not pressure, but, you know, we're putting them in positions. We're like, yeah, these guys got to be good if these teams are going to be successful. I mean, De Lauder's a huge part of if the guardians are going to go. Or maybe he's not because they don't, they've always just been good, even if they don't have a hitter like him.
Starting point is 00:40:15 But like if they want to take that next step, like in the postseason, you know, a guy like DeLotter can help a ton. And he's been great. Sal Stewart, same way. He just looks, he looks super hitterish to me, man. You're right. In that ballpark, if he can keep those traits up, put the ball in the air. Between him and DeLotter, I mean, the walk to strikeout,
Starting point is 00:40:34 ratios are awesome, which is a big thing to me, especially when you're talking about young guys. McGonigal for Detroit has been phenomenal at shortstop, a little bit of third base, too. He's been hitting the ball. There's some stuff on him. He only has one home around the year, but the way his contact is probably should have a little bit more. And so that, to me, is like he'll get there with the power and his numbers might look even better in the near future. These guys have been great J.J. Weatherholt for the Cardinals has been phenomenal. These guys have come up and really been impressive early on.
Starting point is 00:41:12 Yeah, McGonigal, man. I watch him play. He made a great defensive play in the hole over the weekend. That I was like, wow, he's got that in the bag, too, for not listed as the tallest fella in baseball. And I was going to say that with Trout before. When you talk about size in baseball, which we do a lot, during that brawl. When Trout got involved, he's like, oh, yeah. Mike Trout's a big old boy.
Starting point is 00:41:38 He's a wide body. He's a thick. He's a football player. He's like Aaron Donald. When you see Aaron Donald, you know. Oh, I don't know. What? Aaron Donald's one of the...
Starting point is 00:41:49 Well, it's just, he's wide, dude. Yes, yes. You can't fit through a freaking door. 50 pounds of muscle probably separate them. But I see what you're saying. But they're the same. Like, Aaron Donald is probably six foot maybe? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:03 but he has the width. I don't even know how to explain it. I feel the same is the same with Travis. What is his statistics? Listed 6-1-235. And that's got to be legit now. These guys are... Baseball players can't hide anymore.
Starting point is 00:42:21 Yeah, they don't want to. That's great. I think it's awesome. I probably would have been 6-1. I'm listed 6-2. I would have been 6-1. Okay. Yeah, that's fine.
Starting point is 00:42:29 I appreciate that honesty in this one. I never said I was 6-2. I don't even know where that came from. Am I getting measured? Are they getting measured with shoes on or no? Because that changes my height. I think yes. Okay.
Starting point is 00:42:44 Well, honestly, I don't. Honestly, I do not know. Text someone. It makes sense because it's like legit for the strike zone. Yeah, if you need the strike zone, you need your shoes on. I'll text somebody. All right. I might be able to milk a 5-8 out of that.
Starting point is 00:43:03 Don't say milk. Rob? According to Joe Pompilano. Yep. Of, I don't know, he's got 600,000 followers. Yeah, he operates on the internet. I like Joe. The ABS MLB is measuring each player's height down to the millimeter.
Starting point is 00:43:18 The process is super strict. No shoes, no hats. Knees exposed back against the wall and to account for potential shrinkage throughout the day. MLB is even requiring all its teams to take measurements between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. local time on their appointed day. There's some barometric pressure going on there,
Starting point is 00:43:38 which you know I like. I know you do. I know how rowdy that gets you. Let's start clicking through some young guys. Hey, maybe I'll rip some things and you tell me what stands out the most. Okay. We've talked a little Murakami.
Starting point is 00:43:52 Ten walks against starting pitchers this season is the best in MLB. He also went Big Fly last night after going through a little funk. Justin Crawford, 1.2 OPS. against starting pitchers. Seventh best. We talked about that a little bit.
Starting point is 00:44:09 This Jose Fernandez dude on the snakes. Yes. Keeps hitting clutch. RBI hits. He looks the part, man. I don't know what that means, but when you watch him, he just, he actually gives me a little bit of,
Starting point is 00:44:24 and I don't want to, I guess, I don't know if this is scary. He reminds me of when Vientos got going a little bit, that bat feels like it's in the zone for a long time. it's a pretty swing. It's a pretty right-handed swing. Dalton did not like that comparison. He does like that he's hitting 636 with runners in scoring position, though,
Starting point is 00:44:43 so far this year as he's gotten called up. Ask Dal, because the games that I've watched of the snakes, by the way, this Snake's Orioles series, awesome. He's hitting like third or fourth right now. Has that been all season? Or they just move him in there?
Starting point is 00:45:01 don't they've kind of been fluctuating the lineup a little bit they get guys in and out consistently so they've been moving him around the order the it's been basically martay carol perdomo top three and then after the top three they kind of fluctuate the lineup that i just saw the other day was vargas yesterday leading off well yeah so marty marty was going with the lower back okay issue so they gave him the day off so vargas the hottest hitter in baseball arguably was The goat right now. And he hits a big homer. He helps the snakes win.
Starting point is 00:45:34 But Fernandez has been awesome. Like I don't, Jake said it best. The eye test is like, I don't, I don't know how to actually explain it. But like, he just comes through when the snakes need them most. There's a little dog in him. Yeah, a little dog. Give me him. Give me, oh, here, let's watch.
Starting point is 00:45:49 Hill tomorrow. Just sneaks this one out of the stadium, but it's a big old stadium. Another step. And I think Taylor Ward chasing your record, catch that one. But that ain't his business. No. I swing right there. Stay through a big fella. Why not? Yeah. That's a tough one.
Starting point is 00:46:12 Give me some Murakami thoughts because this is really, his line is so interesting right now. Yeah. You've seen him hit homers, got off to a really nice star, obviously has struggled a little bit. 167 batting average. He's whiffing. He's whiffing. With percentage at 39.4%. That's the third percentile. He's striking out a lot.
Starting point is 00:46:34 He's got 22 strikeouts, 15 walks. So his OBP is actually 343, and he's slugging 444 for the 787. If you took batting average off the page, you'd be like a heck of a start. You can't do that. You know how it is, man. You know, I've been one of the biggest advocates of this,
Starting point is 00:46:52 that batting average still matters, that I think in a big moment, if I'm a relief pitcher and I see Murakami up, I think that batting average stat matters a lot more. So it's still very early. Here's what I'd say. If you're checking Murakami boxes throughout this season to being like, who is this guy?
Starting point is 00:47:11 Like, I think one, the defense has felt passable to me. White Sox fans, you let me know. I've even seen some plays that felt plus at first base. So that box would be checked for me. Does he have a good eye? I think so. I think he's checked that box. He's got some of the most walks in baseball.
Starting point is 00:47:29 Does he have power? Check. So basically the box that's remaining is contact that it's part of the reason I get maybe too excited when I see teams with lots of contact guys. And it was one of the themes of last year's baseball that, yeah, that 1-6-7 ain't going to play. I need Murakami to be 230.
Starting point is 00:47:53 And you might have a chance to have a really plus player. Yeah, it's funny because, you know, I think whatever side you're on with Murakami, if you're one of the guys, I told you, the contact wasn't there, or if you're like, hey, this guy's got raw pop. You're right. Both sides are right right now.
Starting point is 00:48:09 Because the chase percentage, Jake, he's in the 91st percentile. So he's getting the ball in the zone, but still whiffing on that bad boy, which I don't understand. I don't get that. Hey, he's also new to the league. Like, if I currently had to place a vote,
Starting point is 00:48:26 it would be team Murakami. Like this, he's 17 games into Major League Baseball. And we didn't know. I'm just saying it's very weird to freaking get the ball in the zone and swing and missing the zone so much. And now I got to go look if I was, I don't think I was that guy. Oh, boy. It's so, it's early and it's not, but like, okay, Jazz Chisholm who had an 813 OPS last year,
Starting point is 00:48:49 currently with a 485, like how Naylor got out of the gate. The fact that Murakami is doing what he's doing, I'm. more than satisfied. We obviously need more contact, but it's his first time at these stadiums. It's his first time seeing all of these guys. I hope it gets better and not worse because as the book comes out,
Starting point is 00:49:08 like, you know, it's going to get harder too. Like, yeah, you get a little bit more comfortable in the box and with your routine and, you know, maybe the backdrops, all that stuff is true.
Starting point is 00:49:17 But the pitchers are going to start to pitch you tougher as well. Like they're going to know where to go if they don't already. So that's, you got to make an adjustment. and I was 81st percentile in chase rate, so I got the ball in the zone.
Starting point is 00:49:30 53 percentile in whiff percentage. So, you know, it's good. You were swinging big, middle, middle. Carter Jensen's homering at a decent rate. We'd like to see more at bats, and we'd like to put that whole alarm clock thing behind us. That's behind them, bro. Boy, do the Royals need some offense?
Starting point is 00:49:49 I mean, them and those New York Mets are in a dark place right now. Welcome back to baseball. I think the biggest, because Rhett Louders on here, he's attacking batters. He's not walking guys, which you've talked about how much the team truly appreciates that, especially the first time through the lineup. Parker Messick has been highlighted on this show because GoGards Go and it's always someone else. I guess Foster Griffin, the Nationals, the team that we looked at again and we're like, this probably isn't the year.
Starting point is 00:50:22 A, the offense has been clicking, but Foster Griffin. First time through the lineup, guys are hitting 083 against him. That's fourth best against all other MLB starting pitchers. That he's looked very impressive this season. You know, it's interesting because if you go on the savant page, a lot of the expected stats aren't great. But I think they do that when you're a pitcher like Foster Griffin is. Like if you're not, if you don't have like the pure raw stuff,
Starting point is 00:50:55 I feel like you're never, your savant page never looks good. So I don't really care about that. He's a guy that throws right now, Jake, um, six pitches, 10% or higher. And just moving the ball of the zone.
Starting point is 00:51:09 And if you don't know the story, um, you know, he's pitched in the big leagues before very briefly, like cup of coffee, you know, three different years, a little bit with the royals.
Starting point is 00:51:22 and then goes over to Japan, and we've seen this story now quite a bit, refines his tools, and then comes back to Major League Baseball, gets a one year, I believe five and a half million dollar deal from the Nats and is moving the ball around and keeping hitters off-balance
Starting point is 00:51:40 and just be kind of, he's becoming like a traditional left-handed pitcher. Hey! I like that. Hey! It's the year of the lefties coach. Have you seen this guy that's making his debut for the White Sox? Noah Schultz.
Starting point is 00:51:56 He's almost seven feet tall. I did, but he slangs it. I was very interested to see with his arm motion. Oh, my God. That's nightmare. That's nightmare. What, you don't like Foster Griffin, what he's thrown at him? That is that angle right there.
Starting point is 00:52:15 Don't like that. That's a little Scott Diamond-esque. Easy, pal. Hey, Scott Diamond had a nice little run. Nice run there. That's filthy, dude. Hey, his breaking balls, his curveball and change-up, he's yet to give a hit-up on. So that helps.
Starting point is 00:52:36 Yeah, I mean, let's see the next step. And as the, you know, those first time through lineup numbers, I could use against him if I wanted to. But right now, the nationals who need a whole organization refresh, the offense is killing it. and he's doing it on the pitching side. And Trev, like you mentioned and you laughed at, I think maybe the only thing pitching has missed on the past couple years because they've put such an emphasis on if you throw a really good pitch, throw that really good pitch.
Starting point is 00:53:05 But as you've noted, we can learn pitches kind of easily. And if you can make hitters think about something, that just adds to your game that I think you're going to see a lot more guys with like 10% pitches. even if they throw it out of the zone? Like, if the hitter has to think about that, that's one more thing. It's,
Starting point is 00:53:28 what these guys want is to be able to have something they can throw in every single quadrant of the strike zone because then it makes it really difficult to cover. Like, you really got to, I mean, people say you got to pick a side. I don't necessarily believe that. I think it's more about like picking pitches, like trying to eliminate pitches.
Starting point is 00:53:48 And when a guy's got six and can throw three for a strike, then that becomes difficult. Like you want to pare it down as much as possible. I always thought guys that threw that many pitches, it was very tough to game plan against. Like, give me the guy that's got two plus pitches, but it's like one or the other. I'll just eliminate one of them and I'll go out.
Starting point is 00:54:05 I'll hunt with a guy like this, like a Foster Griffin. And we're starting to see it more and more and more in the league because, yeah, you can learn these grips and basically get one bullpen session. And it's much more difficult as a hitter, having to go up there worrying about all those different pitches, all those different quadrants of the zone. So I'm in.
Starting point is 00:54:26 I'm in on Foster Griffin. I have kind of maybe a dumb hitting question, maybe not. Because you mentioned like two pitch reliever, what you just said makes sense. Like, hey, he's either righty reliever. He bangs that slider 50% to righties. I'm going to hope he hangs one or catch one the right way. And that's going to be my approach this about.
Starting point is 00:54:48 Did you ever, was it always the pitch? or was it, okay, like we just talked about with Foster Griffin, he throws a lot of junk. Would you then be like, hey, I'm just going to look for something away. You know, nothing's going to be above 92 miles per hour. I'm just going to look over there. Like, would that methodology work for you or no? So for him, it's like if you have a guy that can throw a lot of different pitches,
Starting point is 00:55:14 and I would say nothing can beat me. Like, I'm not going to get beat by any of these pitches. and now I'm waiting for a mistake. And then you're looking, just give me middle of the plate. And I'll do my damage. With the guy that can beat you with his fastball, or he has just an absolutely devastating slider, like that's a little bit different than a bat.
Starting point is 00:55:33 But for a guy like this, that's what I would say. It's like, all right, I'm not going to get beat by the fastball. So I have a little bit more time to digest the pitch, you know, out of the hand. And then it becomes location-based. Like, I just want something, depending on the situation, out over the plate, but middle generally, and I'll do damage on a mistake, essentially. I like it.
Starting point is 00:55:55 Yeah. Thank you. You know that feeling when you're exhausted, you're hungry, and you know there's something healthy you could make, but you just don't have the energy to do it. It's always been a problem. Eating healthy isn't really a willpower thing.
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Starting point is 00:57:00 Trev, let's give some love to a couple of the old dogs because as much as let's see where these young guys are at and the truth of the story is that we're going to look up in a couple of these young guys, the game will fight back. It does for everyone. and these old dogs would be the ones to tell you, although not a lot of these guys have had the game fight back a ton. Jose Altuve, batting 412 to lead off the inning. Man, he was a fun one when we looked back at the season stats
Starting point is 00:57:33 and we're like, wait, what did Altuve do over the whole season? And hey, we talked about this with Trout, like, position and mentality matters. Imagine the Astros telling it. What was his quote that he threw away? didn't he give his second base glove to a fan or something? And he's like, I'm done with this because the team has told me, I can no longer do my job. That had to be a little weird.
Starting point is 00:57:57 Yeah, yeah. Keep him at second base. Look, it's, I watched the, well, the Astros got a little bit of the Rockies medicine last night. Nice little comeback victory for them. Your Don, big hit, Altuvae obviously on. He, it's, he still looks really good at the plate to me. I don't watch every single Astros game
Starting point is 00:58:16 inning by inning to see kind of like what he looks like defensively but again I think if you're getting what he's doing production wise of the plate let him play where the hell he wants to play in the field yeah especially because it wasn't good in left field anyway do you remember it that looked it looked like a confused
Starting point is 00:58:36 a confused puppy dog oh yeah but he's yeah he looks he's looking good at the plate this year for sure I think this one's easy, and we've kind of been saying it, but Jacob de Grom is back. I feel like we haven't really hammered that one, because I think last year, A, the Texas Rangers,
Starting point is 00:58:57 their whole pitching staff was amazing. Nathan of all these on this list, too. Like, the old birds in Texas are getting it done. We looked for offense all last year from that team. They never got it. They've been getting enough early on this season. I just, for the rest of the rest of the, Recipe's pretty easy here.
Starting point is 00:59:17 Evaldi, or excuse me, DeGrom, still fastball sitting at 97 now, which we did ask him for a few years, like, hey, maybe you don't need to rip 101 every pitch. I don't know how conscious that is or if Father Time's involved. His numbers against lefties are gross. I think it's as simple as he throws four-seamer slider change-up to lefties, and I think that third pitch in the mix, it's made him more effective versus lefties. than righties this year. He's just one of those guys
Starting point is 00:59:49 where it's such an effortless delivery that the ball just jumps at you. Then he's got plus stuff. I watched this game against the Dodgers. I think Otani was a first pitch Homer, just an absolute bomb. And then he settled down and just started carving these guys up. It's so fun to watch him pitch.
Starting point is 01:00:07 I also saw a clip where you didn't know who Jacob Junis was. I'm pretty disappointed than you. Bro, we film a lot of content here. And the camera just gets thrown up in your face. And I'm like, all right. Like, okay, 10% of people can recognize this ball player right now. I don't have a straight on look at him. And also we're making content.
Starting point is 01:00:27 I try to have fun with it that he kind of was looking like Lance Lynn's cousin or some. He did. The beard and long hair, I get that. My apologies. I think he used to be more of like an F boy kind of haircut. I still picture him on the Royals, which I realize I need to evolve. from.
Starting point is 01:00:45 You evolve from that a little bit. These guys, they play on different teams. I'm sorry to the Junis's. Bullpen's can beat teams. Yeah, the olds of the Texas pitching staff, man. It's pretty fun to watch. Although Chris Martin has not got off to a good start
Starting point is 01:01:02 this year. He's 40 years old out there in that bullpen, man. I want to take us... Hey, actually, no, I won't take us off the path yet. Let's give some more old, some love. Matthew Boyd is striking everyone out. 46% strikeout raid. So is Gossmann, 41%, a couple of the old dogs.
Starting point is 01:01:24 Gossman, every time you bring up his stats since 2020, he's on every list and he probably needs to be appreciated a little more. Seth Lugo, just shutting it down the first time through the lineup. That's got to feel pretty good. Royals, like, let's get, let's start getting some more points on the board. Yeah, a lot of Royals fans talk about move Bobby Witt to the leadoff spot, figure it out. We got to get some guys in the middle that are doing it. Lane Thomas hitting behind them, not going to cut it.
Starting point is 01:01:56 We'll see if they end up making some lineup adjustments. I think the answer is pretty obvious here, but I want to get your feedback on it. 39, 37, 36, another 39. Those are ages of guys in the Texas Rangers. Clubhouse. It's McCutcheon, Martin, Evaldi, DeGrom. How much does that change the energy, man? It's a lot. It slows it down. I'll tell you that much.
Starting point is 01:02:25 These guys are very methodical in their work. It's a different vibe for sure. They also have some young guys, you know, in the rotation, some young guys. Evan Carter, how old is he 22? But those guys are just, they're shutting up and listening. Especially those guys we're talking about. These are some, old school dudes. McCutcheon's fun, but he's old school. Like he looked at Denzel Clark last night.
Starting point is 01:02:51 I think Denzel Rob, I think it was going to be a homer. Rob them. And he was disgusted. Yeah. He was disgusted. How could you do that to me, young man? Yeah. Don't you ever do that again?
Starting point is 01:03:03 You let that Homer go. That is, it's, it's just, it's an interesting thought exercise to picture traveling with these guys every day, being on the bus with these guys every day, and the tenor changes when you got those guys are the guys. Dude, he's so fun to watch. Denzel Clark plays another sport out there.
Starting point is 01:03:31 He just missed a robbery against the Mets that he shouldn't have basically had no business being near, and then he almost looks like he misses it. I ask him. Oh, uh, according to Robert Murray, Kevin McGonagall and the Detroit Tigers are in agreement on an eight-year $150 million contract extension. The deal includes $14 million signing bonus
Starting point is 01:03:51 and performance escalators. Should have been you, Trev. What's in your basement, Keb? You know, I played in the wrong era, maybe, and I just maybe wasn't good enough also. Okay. Good for McGa... Dude, good on all these teams for getting it done.
Starting point is 01:04:08 And it should be a notification. Well, a lot of these guys getting these contracts done are special players, like, that it really is a no-brainer from the franchise perspective, because, like, you're going to be okay. You're controlling mostly Arbiers, and you're controlling what will be their prime. There's a reason we're doing this exercise and highlighting the few guys around the league over 35 who are killing it. Max Muncie, Stanton, Chris Sale, like, these are Chris Sails aging backwards. It's insane. What's up with that guy? I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. no, he's got a special arm. I don't, and I, now I'm going back on my word here. Okay.
Starting point is 01:04:51 I know he's had injuries, but I don't think he's had the injury. Don't want to say it. I thought he did. Did he? Yeah, yeah. He missed 2020 and then he's. Look that, look that up, I think he did. Yes, and then 2022, he only had two-star. Yeah, I'm 20-20. I know he's been injured, but he had the injury? Yeah, he had Tommy John, successful Tommy John, March 19th, 2020. Okay. That was a dark time for my baseball life. I was really not paying a lot of attention in 2019 to baseball. I'm glad we got you back. I'll say this. Again, I know I've been wishing this for a long time with pitchers. Chris Sale from his arm angle, if he wanted to, if he was willing to do bullpen life, he could pitch till he's 50.
Starting point is 01:05:51 I think he could be a starter until he's 45. I think you're right. I mean, as you just mentioned... He's got a new ligament. He's fine. As you just mentioned, he's currently aging backwards. But genuinely, he... If he was up for bullpen life and he wanted to go that way... It's just such a different look.
Starting point is 01:06:12 And that's why, like, if I'm a pitcher who kind of stinks in the minor leagues like that, I'm not going to getting my shot at all. I am throwing sidearm. You just get a different look, dude. Think about Tyler Rogers. Right. That guy, you know what I mean? I know what you mean.
Starting point is 01:06:32 We need more guys like that. And I feel like we used to have more of the sidewinders in the game. But I think now guys are just like, if I can chase Velo and chase these numbers, I'll get a look. But I'm like, go the other way. Go the other way. If you can't.
Starting point is 01:06:50 Yeah. If you can't go that way, try going that way. I think Brent Suter's fastball sitting at 86 right now. Just down down here. Ryan Yarby and that Yanks pin twirling it. It's the whole like shamanai. I just decided to go cross-body like Chris Sale and do that. And that worked for a little bit.
Starting point is 01:07:12 It's not really working. A little bit. That's well anymore. But give it a shot. If it's not working, try something else. Oh, look at this. Yeah. Most handsome men in baseball.
Starting point is 01:07:24 Chris Rose and Chris Sale, the Chris's. They're actually the same age. You would never guess it. Come on. Look at the 2010 draft here. Monty Grandal, Chris Sale, Dylan Covey. He went to like FGCU, I believe, which is right outside Fort Myers. On Anthony Sforzac, my old roommate, he had an agent that was kind of like not like a big agent, like a small-time agent.
Starting point is 01:07:49 I think his name was Hank. So shout out Hank. Shout out Hank, maybe. Could be wrong. If it's not. Sorry. He told, he's like,
Starting point is 01:07:58 you guys got to come watch this guy pitch. Yeah. I'm like, where? He's like, FGC. I'm like, what?
Starting point is 01:08:03 He's like, no, this guy, he's like, if you look at his body, just look at me, like this guy, what does he do? Skinny,
Starting point is 01:08:10 but he's like, you got watch him throw. Then all of a sudden, yeah, I'm facing him in the freaking big leagues and he's punching my ticket. Sorry. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:17 People don't talk about how tough that ale center. was during that time period. It was tough, people. It was tough. Gosh. The Royals could pitch. The Tigers could pitch.
Starting point is 01:08:27 Chris Sale? The Guardians had Corey Klooper. Yeah. Tough matchup for you. Cookie Carrasco, wasn't. I had him pump him three times. Sorry about it. Who's the guy that's got to Faso Carmona?
Starting point is 01:08:40 Yeah. He's. Roberto Hernandez. He's one of your crush piles. No, no, no, no, no, no. I hit two them off him, though. got me was okay
Starting point is 01:08:52 Huvaldo Jimenez okay nice oh I thought that's where you were going no no I was going you hit Foster good yeah I was I was saying crush pile in a good way oh okay yeah
Starting point is 01:09:04 literally crush pile all right coach Shreve there was a lot of life advice this week it's a midweek the final thing we send people out with it's time to look at some future baseball markets presented by fanatics markets if this is available in your state, go check it out.
Starting point is 01:09:24 A couple of games we're looking at tonight, Coach Trev. Toronto versus Milwaukee, they put on a show last night. It would have been funny. It would have been fun to watch the markets of that one last night as both teams had late comebacks. Dylan sees first, Chad Patrick? Pump it into my veins. Yeah, I love these two teams kind of match a well against each other,
Starting point is 01:09:47 almost constructed the same way with a little bit of that run prevention, but also we got some bangers in the lineup. Unfortunately, Christian Yelich is hurt for the Brewers right now. But these two teams, when they match up, this could have been the big series, if you will, last year, if the Brewers would have just kind of woken up offensively against the Dodgers. But definitely a fun one. And Jake, I like to go here, nothing to do with the marketplace. aesthetically pleasing. I like this. That helps. And yeah, both these teams, the back end of the bullpen,
Starting point is 01:10:24 that you might be able to play the markets pretty well there if you want to do that dance. The other one we're looking at Miami versus Atlanta, the sheriff, Chris Paddock, doing it against Bryce Elder, who 16.1 inning scoreless streak to start the season. How do you? You can't predict baseball, can you coach?
Starting point is 01:10:47 kind of two teams that have been I'd say surprising to start the year out the Braves and what they've been able to do with their pitching staff obviously they dealt with some injuries but that's been their strong suit starting pitcher Bryce Elding or Bryce Elder's been a big part of that and they also had a great game last night
Starting point is 01:11:04 Dom Smith with a massive hit. They got some magic going on down in Atlanta but the fish are they're pesky they're running they're putting the ball in play they can throw it a little bit too. I don't know about Chris Paddock, but they got some other guys on that team.
Starting point is 01:11:22 This will be a fun one tonight. The fish are tough. Yeah, I feel, Dom Smith, I think I gave him my first award of the year, and I felt pretty good about that, especially after last night's game and what he's been doing. Hey, Fanatics Markets,
Starting point is 01:11:36 available now in app stores. Go check it out. Event contracts carry risk of total loss and changing prices. Not good for all investors. Not available in all states. Must be 21 plus see important disclosures and fanatics markets of app. Customers are introduced to crypto.com by Paragon Global Markets LLC, DBA, Fanatics Markets, IB,
Starting point is 01:11:53 and introducing broker registered with CFTC and a member of the NFA. Coach Trev, midweek, people, tell us what you like. Tell us what you want more of. We got to send Trev off to Chris Rose baseball today. Today. You guys are the best. We'll be back Friday. Maybe special appearance.
Starting point is 01:12:14 If you like them in your martinis. Jake sucks. A couple olives? Okay. What is this? What is good? Hunter Goodman, Josh Donaldson. Comparison?
Starting point is 01:12:26 Nice. Do that again. Run it back. It's two pretty swings right there. That follow through. Yeah. That follow through. Some power.
Starting point is 01:12:41 Power is power. Hunter Goodman is a top blank catcher?

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