Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Opening Weekend DELIVERED!
Episode Date: March 31, 2025Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code TALKINBook your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.comCorona brings all baseball fans together to enjoy the moment. Be sure to get yours at ...https://OrderCorona.comMLB Season is officially underway and not without controversy! Torpedo bats come under scrutiny as Yankee hitters bashed Brewers, what’s going on with Rafael Devers struggles at DH, What Jacob deGrom can mean to the Rangers rotation and so much more from around the league! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Hello and welcome to talking baseball.
We've got new bats in the sport.
It's opening weekend.
We are going to talk some ball.
We're back, baby.
Let's do it.
Pete Fairbanks.
Boba Shett.
Your guy.
Hello and welcome to talking baseball.
We're back, baby.
We're back.
There's ball on every night.
We made it through the cold, dark winter.
my name is Jake Storelli.
Some people know me as Jake Gertz Storelli
and that's Trevor Length Plouf.
Everyone has their own bat preference.
Everyone likes a different flavor.
Trev, we've got a lot to get into.
I'm excited to be doing it again.
Year 5?
Is that right?
I don't know.
How are you?
I can never do the math.
I don't know when I started doing this,
but it is a new year.
New Year, new us, kind of the same us, but a few things that are a little bit different.
We're going to try some new things on the show today, but we did get blessed, Jacob,
with a beautiful weekend of baseball.
A lot of things happened, some big news that's causing controversy throughout.
The bat stuff transcended the sport.
It was everywhere, so I can't wait to talk to you about that.
Boba Shett hitting 467.
Okay.
Love that for him.
Yeah, no, let's get into it, Bob.
I'm so excited.
It's a lot of bow early.
Yeah, like Trev said, we say this every year,
and there's some of you that are probably laughing,
that we're like, hey, we're trying out different stuff.
We're going to do this this year.
And we have, like, we shouldn't ignore that.
I think we end up laughing our end, because we like talking ball.
But we are going to do some different stuff this year.
So please comment below, like engage with us.
It's what this show is built on.
And we just want to get it bigger.
and better and the best.
So let us know.
And with that,
we are going to start with the topic that took down the sport,
left the sport.
And Trev, you were, I don't want to say you're the face of it.
But no, I loved your social media post.
I couldn't believe you were getting roasted for your millennial pause.
That was so, that was so toxic.
I'm so over the internet.
If you have no idea, A, welcome, subscribe.
The Yankees made, created this headline.
They scored 20 runs on Saturday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Sorry to our brewer friends.
No one was talking about it on opening day,
but the Yankees, or four players on the Yankees,
are using a new bat.
It's being referred to as the torpedo bat.
It was literally created by an MIT scientist.
Shout out to our guy Lenny, Aaron Lennhart.
And they've essentially moved the barrel.
And each player's bat is slightly different
that they've taken some meat and putting it more towards the hands of the bat,
I guess if you're not watching with us on the YouTube.
And yeah, after the Yankees scored 20 runs,
It's, you know, are the Yankees cheating?
Is this illegal?
What are these bats around?
And Trev, I know you know a little bit.
And again, I loved your video on it.
But there are other teams using these bats.
They are known throughout the league.
But the bad boy Yankees kind of brought them to the forefront.
So I could hear you talk about this all day.
And let's do it.
And this, again, the torpedo bats have taken over.
I'm just looking at our.
socials here we just put out a shirt that says you and the torpedo bat she tells you not to worry
about i mean what i got a late night slack about that and they were like would you wear this i was like
kind of i yeah it would take someone like you to wear that for sure i would i was like i would be a little
sick in the head yeah you got it's a good event shirt so first of all i think i'm kind of sick of
the torpedo bats already okay and for a couple different reasons right now it is interesting
that some people have known about torpedo bats since last year.
They were used last year in the season.
And then some people like Mani Machada, who's very much in the game of Majority Baseball,
said he'd never heard of them.
So it's interesting to me that there are people that didn't know about these bats
and there are people that were using them last year.
I thought that was, to me, fascinating because usually if someone does something
that can help them, it goes throughout the league very quickly everybody knows.
But this is one of the things that kind of did fly under the radar.
And then the Yankees obviously had an incredible offensive series.
So it got made to be a huge deal.
And the first, you know, the first stories about these bats were, are they legal?
Should the, should the Yankees be able to use them?
We got relievers, you know, crying about them because obviously pitchers cry.
That's what they do.
Number one, they are not illegal.
I reached out to someone very high at the Players Association and said, hey, man,
like what's going on?
Are they going to be able to keep using these bats?
And basically what was said to me was like all bats,
all manufacturers have to be, you know,
screened at spring training.
So yes,
they're legal.
Yes,
they're going to be able to continue to use them.
And it's not just one bat company that's doing it.
Marucci's been known to fit guys for bats.
They've been on the forefront of that.
It's not just Marucci.
I've seen Victus has them.
I think any bat company can make them.
I think that's all Louisville Slugger as well.
So it's not one bat.
company. It's not one team. Ryan Jeffers has used it. Francisco Lindora has used it. It's, it has been
spread throughout the league. So I thought that was interesting. And again, the reason I thought it was
such a, or I think people made such a big deal out of it was the Yankees. They freaking teed off
on the Brewers pitching, man. Like it was a bunch of young guys for the Brewers, no offense to the
Yankees. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. They absolutely crushed it. I'm happy for
them. People, Yankee fans in my comments. All, I believe.
when we did the Yankee TPP,
you said something about these aren't your Bronx bombers.
It's going to be a little different.
I said, yeah, I agreed.
And now people all over me,
oh, these aren't your Bronx bombers?
Look at what they did, Coach Trev.
Anyways.
Well, back to the bats.
Basically, the reason behind this is,
the reason they're moving the,
quote, unquote, barrel of the bat to certain spots
is they're looking at your swing mechanics.
They're looking at where you make contact,
with the ball and they're saying, hey, if this is where you make contact with the ball regularly,
like Volpe was getting jammed a bunch last year, or at least hitting it towards the label,
the label of the bat. So that's basically like, you know, getting jammed. He was hitting the ball
a ton towards a label. So essentially it's like, let's just move the barrel down there a little bit.
So now it's not so much in the label. You're going to be able to barrel some balls up there.
And that's the thought process behind it, but I think it does a couple things when you do that.
When you start to move the biggest part of the bat or the barrel towards or the sweet spot towards your hands
Just think about anything when you choke up on something
You have more control with it, right?
You can think about that with a tennis racket you could think about that a two-strike approach when you bunt you put your hands up closer
Towards the barrel. It's just barrel accuracy is going to improve. I think that's a byproduct of this. I don't think that was the intention, but that has that is
what will happen.
You put the barrel closer to your hands.
You're able to direct it.
And so you're able to put the barrel on the ball more frequently.
So it's, it's, it's a nothing to me, to be honest with you.
Like it blew up, but people are making this out to be like this is performance enhancing drugs.
They can't be using this.
Francisco Linder is over 11 on the season.
Ryan Jeffers, I don't think is much better than that on the season.
They're both using these bats.
It's not an end-all be-bill.
There's guys that have used these and don't like them.
Right. They're like, I'm not going to use that. It feels weird. So it's not, you still have to hit. I see people on Twitter, former players being like, oh, this is what we have to do now. Offense has got so bad. It's like, dude, you don't understand. It's not, this isn't just like a thing that's going to make you Babe Ruth all of a sudden. It's an advancement in bat tech, which has been years. It should have happened years ago.
So again, I think, like, honestly, this is a nothing story.
It just so happened that the Yankees crushed the ball so much.
And this was not known.
And those two things combined made it seem like the Yankees were cheating.
And then it was just from there went crazy, man.
Yeah, I want to stop you when you say it's not a story.
Because it is a story.
I think you've, like I said, you're the face of baseball.
And you've been taking it for the whole weekend.
thick bats.
I guess for me, you're right.
I kind of had a proud moment
where I was like, Yankee name still works a little bit.
Like if this was another team,
I don't think we'd be opening the show with it.
Maybe we would if they scored 20 runs and we're like, wait, what's going on?
That's what it was. Yankees, yes, but the runs scored and the way they did it.
So it should be highlighted.
Nester Cortez returning to the Bronx,
first three pitches for home runs, you,
a Goldie Belly Judge.
Hey, how are your three former MVP's too?
Maybe we should highlight that.
That, yeah, that set a tone.
The ball was flying in the Bronx.
It was a random 80-degree day in March.
We don't get that.
And then, yeah, when you set the tone
that there's three homers off the first three pitches,
like, okay, maybe the Yanks are seeing the ball well.
And maybe the bat is helping a little bit.
Like, Volpe hit an inside-out porch job
that I'm wondering, okay,
It felt like he got not necessarily beat on that, but it got out.
If that was a different bat, does it get out?
I don't know.
But the Yankees played on opening day.
They scored four runs.
No one was talking about the torpedo bats.
The Yankees put up a 20 burger, and everyone was like, whoa, what's going on here?
So I'm glad you're noting the other players and teams that this has been around.
Other guys are using this, and you still have to hit the baseball.
It's just a matter of
Trev, maybe this might be shots fired,
but hitters, what were we doing for the past 75 years or so?
Like, I don't know.
Like you said, this left baseball a little bit
and the Yankees helped a little bit.
And I think people just like tech and advancements and new stuff
that it's like, what is this?
And it looks a little funny.
The bowling pin outline of it,
it's just something new to us in the game that, like,
everyone has played growing up and you're familiar with.
There's something that feels like the illegal Little League bat you grew up playing with
where it's like, oh, no, that's the taped bat, you can't use that, bro.
That's got too much pop or whatever it was that you grew up with.
I had buddies texting me that were like, Jake, what's going on with this?
Are your Yanks cheating?
Is this what?
And I was like, no, there's legal bat.
There's other people doing this.
And the other side of it for me is like, hitters, you were sleeping on this.
one. Like this, I laugh when it comes to sports and we talk about technology and it's so funny to me
that an MIT guy is involved in this. But, and there were some tweets about this over the weekend,
but I always go back, the Golden State Warriors put it together that three points count more
than two. Kind of started Dynasty also with great shooters. NFL, they've started going for it on
fourth down more. They said, okay, wait, we can just keep the ball and that lets us score more.
Like, there's still advancements in sports every year,
and some of them aren't insane.
It's just we haven't really put the brain power to it.
That, yeah, I think for each individual hitter,
there's going to be some guys that this works for,
some guys that this doesn't work for.
I assume if you more so catch it towards the fat part or the end of the bat,
you probably don't care.
You probably want to keep everything out there.
So this, in a way, it's nothing.
like you said, but in a way, it's something that should have happened 20 years ago.
Yeah, I don't mean it's nothing. Obviously, it is a topic. I'm just saying that I,
it got magnified or the story exploded because of what you said, Yankees plus all the homers.
That's, that's what happened here. And about why it didn't happen earlier. It's, it's
interesting, man. Like you, like I said, I know Marucci is fitted guy.
for bats and that's you know not many guys go through that process in Major League
Baseball I'd say 85 to 90% of guys maybe even higher the way they've picked
their bats is like this oh that feels good yeah so if you're only on podcast
version I picked up the bat and swung it around in my hands a little bit and said oh
yeah that feels good that's it that's the whole process maybe you take one
on the BP and you have a great session with it.
I had a bat 2004
gets sent to me.
My Max Bat. Shout out Jim.
My guy.
He sent me a 34-32.
It was like an M-110,
which is like a little thicker handle.
And then, you know,
a barrel is regular size.
Standard bat, 34-32.
Felt it, liked it, got a couple knocks with it.
I used that exact same model for my entire career.
Never, never altered.
it a lot of guys are very similar to that where you just it just feels right golf I
say this all the time this is our golf is where we get a lot of our tech from
whether it's hitters tech whether it's pitchers tech golf you know you get
fitted for clubs the drivers have been improving the face of a driver is actually
curved and that's something that they've changed over the last whatever years
and so it's only a matter of time before something like this happened in my
opinion because we get all of our tech from golf essentially and they've been doing it you get fitted for
clubs so that's why i have a problem with like the pitchers being like it was mcgill from the brewers
obviously not a great series for them he said it looks like a slow pitch soft a that's not a slow pitch
chopple bat is just one long right thing so it doesn't look like that and number two what are we what are we
doing yeah pitchers already have a whiny rep and now you just made it even worse i don't know man
I can't. I can't with the pitchers.
I think the other thing you need to just walk away with that we've said before,
every team can use these bats.
There are other guys using these bats.
Probably on the Brewers.
I think there's two guys on the Brewers just sheepishly like hiding their bat.
Like, yeah. What the hell, huh?
No, it's, you know, that McGill quote,
I don't know if he'd want that back at this point because he's like,
well, it's the Yankees.
They're not going to do anything.
like, okay, come on.
Signs with the Yankees next year.
Yeah, right?
Like, okay.
Devin Williams, former Brewers Closer.
Weird, weird opening day for him.
Yeah, if the Yankees didn't mash,
it wouldn't have gotten talked about.
They matched all weekend.
I think Rob just put it up there.
They had, as a team, a 1.2-3 OPS, something like that.
Judge hit four homers, jazz hit 3,
1-29 on the season for the Yanks.
So, hey, the short porch did come into play a lot.
That Saturday game, Nestor just got destroyed.
And, yeah, hey, I'm excited for the Yanks.
They had really good at bats.
And, hey, maybe the torpedo bat for the guys using that is good.
And maybe this is going to open up the conversation for more baseball.
Because like you're saying, for a lot of baseball players,
like, well, give me a good bat.
Maybe they have a day where it's, I think the different.
types of wood have always been interesting to me, like maple, ash, that stuff, blah, blah,
but a lot of these baseball players kind of just want to grip it and rip it and you want a
bat that feels good because you're trying to do the hardest thing in sports that maybe this
is going to open up a bunch of dudes' eyes and being like, well, maybe I, maybe I should be using
something different.
We, so, okay, yes, agreed with that.
And the barrel is something that that's, it's new.
But toying with bats and shapes, that's been around.
The axe bat, like the handle, that's something that came in maybe five, six, seven years ago.
And that was weird.
But people started using that.
And there wasn't a huge uproar about that.
The big flared knobs, you remember those?
Yeah, sure do.
That acted like as a counterbalance to the barrel.
So it felt more evenly distributed, the weight.
That's been around.
Now guys are using the opposite of the flared knob.
It's like almost no knob at the bottom.
Maybe so you get a little bit more whip.
So like there's been advancements and changes on bats.
You mentioned the different types of wood.
It used to be almost exclusively northern white ash.
That's like extinct, I believe.
I don't think anybody use it in the big leagues anymore.
Now it's maple, a little bit of birch.
That's got a ton of flex on it.
So I didn't like it because I felt like I lost my barrel, my swing.
But it did go the furthest because of the whip factor.
But yeah, there's a lot of stuff.
has been around.
Torpedo bat is just,
I call it the Juan Uribe,
but that's for a different show.
Oh.
Yeah, and Trev,
the other thing I'll just put a little fear in you,
the pitchers might counter.
If you've got more meat on your bat up closer,
like does that mean more breaking balls away?
Like if you're jazz chisholm,
does that mean righties are going to throw more change-ups
because that might go off the end of your bat?
Like, it's baseball.
There's always a move and a counter move.
That, yeah, this was...
I'm, I'm...
I know.
I'm out.
You're out and you've been out.
Barry Jeter would have hit 30 homers a year with the torpedo bat
when he's stayed inside that ball.
Hell yeah.
Just keep your hands inside.
Just right there.
And that whole segment was a long way of, again,
saying Yankees had about as good of an opening weekend as they could have.
The Austin Wells, the first catcher to ever lead off for the New York Yankees,
homered on opening day.
First a bat of the season for the Yankees.
Yeah.
Things, Judge, who would have beat his own home run record if he had a good April last year,
is off to as good of a start as you can get.
Jazz back to playing second.
Everything went right for the Yanks.
Everything went wrong for the Brewers that I,
it actually might make it easier for the Brewers to wash it because it was,
after the first game, it was pretty non-competitive.
And the Yanks, hey, maybe the other thing
that might have been better than torpedo bats
was everyone making fun of them all off-season
and being like, oh, that stinks.
Oh, we went to the world.
We went to the World Series.
This has been my dream.
Oh, we lost.
My dream is ruined.
Oh, everyone's making fun of us.
Juan Soto's gone.
Juan Soto's gone.
You can't play defense.
Some of those new guys.
had pretty good weekends too.
So did a lot of guys around the league, Coach Treve.
Want to know what I love the most about baseball?
It's kicking back, ordering some coronas, and enjoying the ride.
From the moment we all bailed on work for opening day to the last play of the World Series,
forget how that ended last year.
It's a sport where anything can happen.
A team can catch fire, a player can catch fire,
and make a run to the Promise Land.
For us baseball guys, there's nothing quite like sharing a corona relaxing and enjoying every unpredictable moment with friends.
So go ahead.
Turn the cheap seats into your private island.
That's like my life story.
Whether you're on your back porch in a sports bar oasis for your favorite neighbors with some ice cold coronas,
the official servesa of Major League Baseball, crack open a corona,
squeeze in a line and enjoy America's favorite pastime with Mexico's favorite present time.
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21 plus enjoy responsibly Corona extra beer imported by Crown import Chicago, Illinois.
Are you ready to talk some American League baseball?
I am, coach.
I can't wait for that.
Oh.
In the beautiful American League, the Bastion Red Sox.
Oh, my God.
Tristan Cassis.
They head down to Texas.
Yeah, that name didn't work.
To face the Rangers.
And on opening day, a wheel year.
Abreu goes nuts, ties it with a homer, and then opens it up with a homer.
Here come the Sox Kid, but it was all Rangers the rest of the way.
Jack Leiter was in the lab this offseason.
He looked awesome.
Jonah Haim, a talking baseball celebrity, two homer game.
Adolius Garcia is back to destroying baseballs, and there's Jacob de Grom,
looking very good in his first outing of the year.
In that outfield, Wyatt Langford and Adoles Garcia,
bring him back on that final day
that the Texas Rangers took three out of four from the Sox.
The Oreos and the Blue Jays,
they split four in the Great North.
The Orioles blew him out on opening day.
Tyler O'Neill is 11th opening day with a home run,
something like that.
Adley and Cedric Mullins each hit two,
taters in that game. But the Blue Jays bounced back. Kevin Gossman looked really good, Trev.
He was in the lab and your guy, Bo Bichet, I don't have to tell you, and now everyone knows.
Jordan Westberg, that one opened up my eyes a little bit. We kind of forgot about that guy.
He has a two homer day in game three to help them win. And then, how about Tyler Heineman goes
Big Fly? Your guy guy, along with six innings, one-and-run from Chris Bassett.
The second baseman Jimenez and Holiday were fun to watch.
Same name when you say it, different letters in Jimenez and Holiday.
They split four.
A's and Mariners, they do the same.
I don't think these are your father's a's,
or maybe they are, depending how you look at it.
Mariners win the bread games.
They went on opening day.
Jorge Polanco and Randy Rosarana.
You kind of called both those guys out.
They did it on opening day along with Logan Gilbert.
He does it every day.
In the middle, though, Asvaldo Bito, yep.
And Jeffrey Springs, that guy's really good,
along with Brent Rooker having a couple two-hit days in the middle.
But Brian, woo-hoo, and Julio grabs the stretch as he hits the big.
Two-run Homer to help them win two-to-one as they split the series.
Mets Astros, obviously Mets in the American League.
Juan Soto opening up it again in Houston.
Tough.
Last at bat as the Mets were trying to rally on.
opening day, but the Astros, Framber Valdez. God damn, seven-inning shutpiece. We're not used to that.
McGill, his brother, we talked about him. He had a nice second start, and Juan Soto goes yard deep in
Houston, but the Astros win the series two-one. Spencer, Regetti. My cousin, six innings,
one earned run, and Jeremy Payne up with the Homer. We talk, Brewer's Yanks, you know what happened.
The guards go to Kansas City. You might hear more about that.
series later. Big Ben
lively had to step up on opening
day because Tanner
Issa Bive had a little bit of food poisoning.
We don't love that.
Cleveland, they win
in extras. Kyle Mancardo,
what a couple games out of him
this weekend.
Royals, they won the second game
in that series. Guardian 6-2
behind Bivey over Michael Waka
on the final game. Angels
White Sox, were you there?
A lot of rain?
symbolic, I don't know.
White Sox, they win on opening day.
Sean Burke, good for you, Vargas,
Benny, why not?
But the Angels, they come back,
they get the next two, Jose Soriano,
that guy, he might enter the trade portal this summer
because he is nasty.
Yomankata looked good this weekend, too.
More rain, Kyron Paris.
How's your homer?
They take it in the Rockies and Tampa Bay Race.
There's actually some great highlights from the series.
Yandi Diaz got robbed all of game two.
as the Rockies won two to one in that game.
But the race, they won on a walk-off homer from Cameron Meisner on opening day.
And Taj Bradley and B. Lowe helped the raise get it done, along with some Rockies' defense.
No need to talk about that.
That is what happened in your American.
I miss those, Pop.
I miss those a ton right there.
A lot of ball for you.
Vin Diesel.
Yeah, I was locked in this weekend.
It felt good.
Last year for, I don't know, some personal reasons.
life in general was a little bit of a blur that it was,
it was good to get locked in on some ball again,
watch the recaps in the morning.
Oh.
Coach, like we said,
going to be a little different this year.
One of the topics we want to get into,
that's also the first series we started with,
and was a topic this offseason,
Rafael Devers, he's dehing.
And we all go, yeah, okay, that's fine.
It makes sense, right?
They call up Christian Campbell, who he hit a homer.
He looked pretty good this weekend.
Devers goes 0 for 16 with 12Ks.
Yo, I think it was 0 for 10 with 10 to start, right?
So it was pretty wild to see someone as good as that looked that bad.
I think Devers has had some slow starts previously,
and his swing does have a lot of moving parts that I think it takes a little bit to come together.
Devers has missed on 71% of his swing.
wins. Yeah. So hey, let's give a little credit to the Texas Rangers, absolutely. And another
follow-up with that, the Texas Rangers signed Jock Peterson to DH, which every time I got the
opportunity, I want to say that is a skill to sit on the bench, be able to come in and hit. That is
a skill set. Treve, I guess with Devers, how much, how much are you worried? How much is this just one
bad weekend in baseball? And how much do we need to keep an eye on?
so a couple things yeah like dh is different i'm glad that you brought that up and endeavors i don't
think really that didn't factor into why he kind of acted the way he did when asked to get
moved to dh and off a third base i don't think he was really like hey man i can't dh because he
didn't have a ton of plate appearances dhing so there wasn't like a huge track record of him
not being able to do it but you're right it is a skill because it is it's a
mental thing when you dh um when you're playing the field you have to compartmentalize and you have to
get out of your head offensively and go out there and play defense you have to be ready for everything so
it does help mentally that way especially if you're struggling it's like hey i got to go do it on
defense you can't bring your offense uh out onto the field with you and and when you're deaching
there you don't have that you don't have that um that time so i think that's what i'm worried about i think the
swing will figure itself out. He was late on a bunch of fastballs. He does have quite a bit of
movement. The leg kick was probably a little bit late. The timing wasn't there. I think Jonathan
Papua was saying that he looks like he needs to lose some weight. That was, whoa. He's,
he's wild, bro. Anyways, uh, so I don't, I don't really, the swing will be fine. There is a track record
for Raphael Devers being okay. Like that's, that'll figure itself out. But mentally, I think it could
take some time with him, especially now that he's had like something like this.
Right.
Like if he went through a series and got two hits or one hit throughout the series and put the
ball in play, maybe lined out once or twice, that's a completely different mindset than going
0 for 16 with 12Ks and looking bad too, Jay, getting blown away by heaters, having some
really bad swings on breaking balls.
Mentally, I think that's where I'm a little bit worried because not only are you struggling
at the DH position
and you just had one of the all-time
worst series offensively
in MLB history
which is crazy
you also kind of got like out alpha
right like
don't you think that was
what was part of this
this is Raphael Devers team
he gets he's got a massive extension
he's essentially the face of the red socks
and then Alex
Bragman comes in
and hey bud you're off a third base
you're going to dh now i think that bruised the ego a little bit and then you put this on top of it
he's got to get that confidence back and it's very difficult like he's the only way you get
confidence back is to fake it which you know is a skill you have to learn uh as a big league hitter
or he's got to get a knock he's got to get jammed or he's got to get you know a bloop one in
there he's got maybe a swinging bun something has to happen just to get that first knock out of the
then I think he'll be okay.
But mentally, that's kind of where I'm,
I'm more worried about Devers that way
than I am like swing mechanics and stuff like that.
Yeah, for me, the,
it was kind of funny looking at Red Sox spring training
and Bregman hadn't played second base.
And it was like, oh, okay.
Not at all.
Yeah.
So it was, it's like, okay.
Because when he first signed,
people were saying second base.
I forget if it was the Red Sox org
or just,
reporters around it, or if it was just the internet,
but people were making some assumptions.
Christian Campbell makes the team one of the big trio,
and man, those kids are, those kids are ready.
Yeah, I think DeHN can be a skill,
and maybe that's something Devers is going to have to learn.
Opening weekend of the year can be tough in general.
Like there's some other good baseball.
You mentioned Lundor went over a lot.
It didn't look like this, and that's part.
part of the worry because Devers, it was off.
And I think the thing that's more concerning to me is that Devers has had shoulder issues.
Yes.
And his swing speed was down.
And again, this could be, it could be the opening weekend.
You know, he went from 69th in swing percentile swing speed to 60th.
And again, maybe that's the swing just being disconnected.
Maybe the legs and the arms and everything's not lined up that that could be it.
Maybe there's more with the shoulders there.
Or maybe that was part of his thought process of liking playing third base
as being active and staying loose that maybe the shoulders can get tight on it.
I don't know.
The fact that I'm someone speculating in that realm is crazy
that we've gotten to this point after one weekend of games.
But that's what I want to track.
Like, ball players are going to have bad weekends.
Devers takes, he takes such big daddy hacks.
It's so fun to watch.
And his timing and the rhythm was clearly off.
And, hey, maybe, like, Nate Avaldi is a guy that messes with guy's rhythm.
Like, maybe he deserves some credit.
And maybe that started a bad series.
And, hey, Jack Leiter changed up his mix a little bit.
And that was it tough at bad.
And I saw one sidewide and lefty in there that looked like a bad time.
That maybe that was it.
The truth usually is, it's all of this.
And I just think if you're a Boston fan,
hey, you guys played some great games with Texas over the weekend.
That series could have went either.
5-2-4-1-4-332.
Those games could go any direction on one player or the other.
It would have been nice to have Rafi Devers looking like himself,
because if he had put up a 5 for 16,
what does this series look like?
That if you're Devers, they're going to face the Orioles next.
He's going to see some familiar faces.
Eflin Morton are lined up for the second games.
And then they're heading back to Boston.
I guess if I'm Devers, I'm washing that.
I'm saying let's get a couple on the board
that by the time I get to Boston,
I want that story gone.
Because that's when any good, passionate fan base
can start reacting in different ways.
We've seen the Trey Turner standing ovation.
We've also seen fan bases get loud
and aggressive the other way.
So you just can't have it get to that point.
There's a documentary on Netflix about the Alex Spragman standing ovation.
Gotta love sports.
I actually watched it.
It was actually pretty good.
15 plate appearances for Devers and spring training.
So like there's a lot of things.
Timing is something that you have to, you know, figure out.
It's clearly not there.
But I do think, yeah, give some credit to the Rangers for playing a great series.
You mentioned the pitchers out there.
We're going to talk about DeGram in a little bit.
But CASA's also struggled this series.
The Red Sox didn't hit with runners in scoring positions.
So you have to give credit to the, like you said, the Rangers pitching staff.
And then for them, it was, yeah, it was Adelaise Garcia, a Wyatt Langford show.
And they didn't have to, you mentioned the scores.
They didn't, did they score more than four runs in a game?
I don't think they did.
And they would end up winning three.
That's, that's great for the Rangers.
Who Rangers fans will point out.
Because I think everyone, the common thought with the Rangers was they slug their
to a World Series and the Ranger fans will say, no, they didn't.
They played good ball, they pitched, they figured out the bullpen.
There was a lot of things going to that.
It wasn't just them slugging their way to the World Series.
So they don't want to be known as that, Jake, the team that only slugs.
Well, like you mentioned, DeGrom came back, which is a guy that whenever we talked about
them, I kind of threw up my shoulders in frustration that I think a lot of people
are in that boat, that it's like, okay, yeah, I mean, was this guy for two years,
was three years as dominant as a pitcher as baseball's ever seen.
And then the injuries picked up.
And I remember when he signed with the Rangers,
we were all blown away.
He comes back, and I think he's now openly talked about dialing it back a little bit.
Like I saw fastballs at 97, and it's like, oh, that's okay.
Man, he's someone we haven't been able to factor into a lot of seasons recently.
Five innings, two hits, zero earn runs, two ones, two ones.
73 pitches.
If Jacob de Grom is here,
it's part of the reason
the Texas Rangers
had a preseason hype train
because it was like,
what if DeGrom clicks in?
What if Wyatt Langford
is one of the best players in baseball?
Jake Berger,
hitting deep in that lineup,
but I've been impressed.
I thought they were going to be
the best lineup in baseball.
I just ignored my Yankees, sorry.
I guess DeGrom,
is there anything you saw there, coach?
Yeah, I mean, he did.
He threw his change,
more often than usual, only 15% of time,
but going back to even his starts last year,
it was like 5% of the time.
And I think that is him being aware
that maybe it's time to kind of make a change.
As we see pitchers get older,
instead of let's max effort everything,
let's blow guys away with my heater,
let's rip a bunch of heavy sliders there.
I think he understands,
hey, I got to maybe mix my pitches up a little bit here.
I believe all six of his strikeouts were on off-speed pitches,
which is, you know, I don't know what that means if it's going to continue.
But again, I think the change-up was really good.
And I think seeing that and having success with it might spark something, you know, a change in him saying,
I've been injured, obviously.
We've got to figure something out.
So that means I've got to get a little bit more creative with my pitch mix.
If I got to dial it back and let's go spot hunting instead of just trying to blow guys away.
The Vila was down a little bit, but I feel like it was by design.
Right.
If that's what it's going to take for Jacob de Grom to be out there for 25 starts, let's do it, dude.
Because he looked great.
You didn't have to rear back and blow guys away.
And guess what?
If he wants to do that in a big situation a la Justin Verlander,
did people remember what Justin Verlander used to do?
Right.
I do.
He used to sit 95, 96.
in the first couple innings,
and then you'd get to like the sixth inning,
and all of a sudden you rear back and throw 100.
I don't know where.
Like if Jacob de Grown needs to do that,
like that path,
let's do it, man,
because I want to see him out there.
He looked nasty,
still mad of them for Big League and Jolly,
but if you pitch like this,
do whatever you want to get.
I think we've come around on that
because he big league Dino too.
So if you're,
and I'm like,
I'm kind of sick of Jolly, so.
Yeah, I watched the closest to the PIN video.
Yeah, me too.
when I got sick of them.
Chris Rose and Jolly at spring training.
Go check it out.
It's a great,
well done video.
But yeah,
just a little,
I mean,
Jolly.
It's getting a little cocky.
Last year was the year of Jolly,
and it was going this way.
I got to bring them down now.
I think the league's adjusting.
I think the league's adjusting.
We're a couple more breaking balls.
Like,
you're not getting that 2-0 heater anymore,
Jall.
He'll probably be on this show soon.
Actually,
we're going to be live in Chicago on Thursday.
So maybe I got to be careful about that.
me, Bobby Golfs, Jolly Olive, we will be outside of Rigley,
the Draft King Sportsbook there, doing a live show, I think 530 Thursday.
So yeah, if you're in Chicago, come through, be there with Jolly.
We have a partyful you can RSVP to to say you're coming.
It is 21 plus because it's a casino and there's drinks there.
Or sports book and there's drinks there.
Should be a good time the day before opening day at Wrigley,
and then we'll be at opening day at Wrigley.
So give the fist bump and say, let's go ball.
NL?
It's time.
We're starting out with my Arizona dimebacks,
who split four games with the Cubbies.
Fun series, the boomsticks came out on both sides,
including Eohenio Suarez, who had a big weekend.
Inhabing the Cubbies, was excited for them to win that first game,
10 to 6.
back over from playing in Japan.
Shoda.
Shub.
Brandon Fott.
We love some new money.
Congrats to the kid on getting paid.
And congrats to the snakes.
About to lose three out of four to the cubbies.
And they put eight up in the eighth, including Lordus Gurriel, with the home run to tie it.
Trev, the San Diego Padres swept four from the Atlanta Braves.
Whoa.
Whoa. And it was on all fronts. It started with the offense on opening day. Mani, Fernando,
Gavin Sheets. Welcome to the team pal. Big pinch at home. A couple big pinch hits in this game.
But then the Padre shut them down. The final two games held the Braves to zero runs. Randy Vasquez, six clean.
Nick Pavetta, full pension Piv, baby. As Fernando, the check swing double to start.
that game, my goodness. How about San Diego? Long offseason for them, too. People forget. In Atlanta,
they get punching the teeth early on. Speaking of, the Marlins take three out of four from the Pittsburgh
Pirates, and they were all in walk-off fashion on opening day. They survived the Skeens-Al
Canterra game. Kyle Stowers with the walk-off RBI single. Hey, Pittsburgh won Mitch Keller-O-Neill
Cruz with a big game. But then it's all Miami. Griffin Conine on the day his father's number gets
retired. I mean, that's some Game of Thrones type stuff there. Dane Myers with big games. Otto Lopez,
the fish. They did it this opening weekend. I don't know how many times we're going to talk about
this year. I know who we are going to talk about. The Dodgers, they sweep the tigers.
Opening day, scubel versus Snell. That was a lot of fun. Man, they go down two.
nothing in these final two games.
I'll be honest, I made a little money at the
Draf King's Sportsbook because he just live bet
them because they're going to win because they have a great
offense, they have a great bullpen, they have a great
rotation, and they all showed up
the Mookie Betts game, game two
his walkoff. He looks fine.
Phillies Nats.
Phillies take two out of three on the road
including opening day and extras.
Boom! With the big hit to help
break it open.
The Phillies, they go nuts in that.
second game two, baby Jesus is.
Lazzardo's first start for them.
He looks sharp. All the lefties, stop.
Marsh Swarber. They go big fly.
The Nats, they salvage it on the final day.
Mitchell Parker with a fantastic start.
Josh Bell and Nathaniel Lowe.
How do you like that?
Two early settler names? Sneaky there, Josh Bell?
I think so.
Yeah, we'll talk about that in length.
This was my dirty little secret bowl, the Giants and the Reds, baby.
like both of these teams, but I don't want to tell people about it.
Giants, they win that first game.
Six-four.
Wilma, Flores goes Big Fly to help win that one.
He homers the next day, but so did Matt McLean and Christian Encranocion
Strand as they beat Justin Verlander, 3-2 in that game.
But the Reds win on Getaway Day, Robbie Rai.
He looked fantastic until he got knocked around at the end.
Elliot Ramos was all over this series.
Jung-Hoo-Lee.
Good to see him balling out for them.
And you know Maddie Chapman's there.
And then, yeah, I guess this final series, it looks like the Cardinals swept the twins.
Not sure what this is all about.
Lars Neupbar, Nolan Aeronado, Fettie Wap.
Big series in St. Louis, a team that had a tough offseason, a fun opening weekend,
a little bit of a nightmare for Bailey Ober in that final game.
Pedro Pahez, I see you, Victor Scott.
Tough one for the twins.
That's what happened in the national.
I knew you were going to go there.
What?
I knew you were going to go there.
My twins got slow.
In fact, there's four teams that are winless right now in baseball.
It's the twins.
It's the Brewers.
It's the Tigers and it's the Braves.
I have three out of four of those teams making the playoffs right now.
As we're looking at the standings, it's early.
That's what I'm going to say.
Rangers.
Okay, let me look at this.
Three and O cards.
The Marlins are in first place in the East.
Dodgers are 5 and 0.
Padres, that's,
I want that to happen, Jake.
I know you talked about the Padres and their off season.
A lot of people did write them off.
There's trade rumors about two of their top pitchers.
You know, what's you Darvish going to do?
Is Tatis back?
They looked freaking unbelievable against the Bravo.
So two undefeated teams out west.
It's going to be a bloodbath.
I think there's going to be some really good races at the end of the year.
I know we're one series.
in two series in for some teams but my gosh i really do believe that we're going to see a bunch of
teams fighting it out at the end of the season jake it's going to be fun well it's it's the beauty of
the wild card right like i i know we kind of do this weird thing where we talk about you know does it
in a way it brings too many teams into it and we complain about front offices not going all in
because why would you if if 86 or 89 gets you into the dance why would you pay for that extra
a $25 million player.
So you make sure you get into the dance.
So you get into the dance and you win.
I agree with you.
But yeah, it also, every year at the end of the year,
we have done a head tilt where we're like,
you know, there's like three or four more teams that are in the race
that has made the regular season more fun.
Yes.
That that's been good and I've still enjoyed the playoff product.
So I guess we're...
Billing over was sick, bro.
Don't don't...
What?
You shouldn't have pitched.
Okay.
Well, that's on you.
You're connected in that twins franchise.
He pulled the plug on it.
It's actually funny.
He had a horrible start in his first start last year
against the Royals where he gave up, I think, eight runs.
And then he just crushed it the rest of the season.
Maybe this will be it for him.
That's it.
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Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwestern.com. All right. Coach, I want to try one of our new
segments this year. It's the Road Warriors brought to you by Best Western Hotels and Resorts.
Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwestern.com. Who were the road dogs this week?
Trev, there was a couple that jumped out to me. I mentioned my dirty little secret, the Giants.
the fight in fills.
I think you have another team
that some of the clips from this series were wild.
It was good baseball,
and that was the Cleveland Guardians going in
and taking two out of three
from the Kansas City Royals.
Who had those powder blue unis
they wore on opening day were something else, man.
Seeing Vinnie Homer in that game was something.
But the Guardians, again, took the series,
and there's one guy in particular,
I feel like I really kind of want to hide.
highlight here and that's our guy at Manzardo I believe there was a throwaway line by me in our
guardians TPP where I said incoming Kyle Manzardo 30 homer season and I was joking um but
he he looked great number one had a couple big hits couple homers in this year he's got such an
interesting swing and I feel like it's changed a little bit from last year it's such like an
old school baseball swing like if you just put his video and like had a
worst camera and make it look like it was from the 1950s, but yeah, that's, that's a 1950s swing
right there. I don't, it's very, very interesting to me. He's not one of the new age guys with all
like the flare and, you know, like he just looks like an old school ball player. And with Manzardo,
most of his damage, if not all of it, was against left-handed pitchers. Jake, last year,
he only had 20 plate appearances against lefties where he had a 566 OPS. It was by design. They were
keeping him, you know, plato.
tuning, keeping him away from lefties. This year, four for five against them with two homers.
He's three dotting it. And he's just getting the chance to get the job done. So he got one off
Regans and was just able to, I don't know if this is like a new thing that's going to continue
to happen for him, but this is how you get more bats against the same side right here. You go out
and put the work in, and that's exactly what he did. But it was a, it was a, it was a, it was
interesting series not only for minzardo and him being able to face lefties but that first game i
thought was was awesome you know viny goes and puts the royals up three nothing with that big homer
love that for him uh the the guardians come back viny starts off and uh starts off the ninth
gets clausay hits a double off them they end up tying the game and then it was the same old story
for the guardians in in in extra innings it was who's going to
to step up who's going to get the big hit with runners in scoring position uh this time it was
stephen kwan top line he had a great series as well uh he hit a ball in the gap in right
center and hunter renfro who's a pretty dang good outfit out there just took a bad route to it
and he got tested all series long by the way and he has one of the better arms yeah he had a shot at
carlos santan on a close there was like there was like three sack flies to him that he just wasn't
It wasn't really close.
So, you know, that's interesting to see.
But on that quambo, yeah, it just kind of took a bad route to it.
And Cleveland ended up coming and snatching that game from them to open the series.
Game two was, you know, the Sal Perez game, I'll call it.
A couple two-out RBIs threw a couple base runners out.
That was when Jose Ramirez heard his hand on the slide right there.
he was absolutely gunned down by Sal Perez on that.
I think that's what started that whole slide.
He was out by so much.
He was trying.
I think he was trying to do the swim move,
and his ham just got caught there,
and he sprained it,
which is not good for them.
Bobby Witt had a really, really good at bat against Gattis.
Was that when he got on top of that high fastball?
RBI double for the lead, man.
It's a one-one change up, I believe it was.
I'm thinking of a different at that.
I was really impressed.
I forget who it was against.
There was a high fastball he got to that you're like,
oh, a lot of guys just don't hit that,
but that's Bobby.
Yeah, and it was, you know,
interesting series for the Cleveland bullpen,
because Gaddis did get hit a couple times.
Claucet showed some vulnerability.
And then that last game,
a couple pitches up and into Jonathan India at the end there.
One, first one was chin music.
Second one actually got him in the head.
It was a four-scene.
which he doesn't ever throw.
They were calling for the ball up and in.
A couple just got away from there,
but Guardians go on the road,
take two or three from a division rival.
It's a good start for the Guardians,
a team that a lot of people rode off.
The over-under for them was in the 80s, I believe.
Yeah, low 80s.
And we crushed the over on that.
And right now, two and one.
Yeah, and you know, going on the road,
your opening day starter gets scratched.
Here's Ben lively, ready to twirl out.
Another talking baseball celebrity.
Yeah, and that was fun, man.
And that Kansas City crowd, they love baseball.
And I think they kind of hate the guards.
And there was some serious booze at the end of that series.
There was some close calls.
I think they were booing, Claise.
Yeah, because he hits India in the dome.
But it was an intense game, man.
And that A.L. Central, you know,
I know I like to mock you for it.
I think that race again should be elector
because I don't know how you separate those teams.
Well, the Guardians doing what they always do.
I mentioned just who's going to step up.
So Bremirez gets hurt.
Gabriel Arias comes in, goes two for three,
he hits a homer.
Manzardo was that guy all series long.
And then Joey Weimer this for me, Daniel Schneeman.
You, Daniel Schneeman.
He hits a homer.
He has three walks.
Like, this is, this is what they do.
Everybody can do something on their team.
And they step up, man.
They hit with runners and scoring position.
It's what they do.
Coach, we've got more players and teams that'll get highlighted along the way.
Let's go to standout performances.
Standout performances.
He's got to stand out.
Who do you got?
I'm going to go down.
to the desert coach your snakes
I'm gonna go my guy Gino Eugino Souris on Friday
went two for four with two homers four runs driven
and he has four hits on the season Jake
all homers yeah
why not he does
he also made some good plays at third base
but I'm happy when he does ball
he just seems like a good guy
love the swing he got James and Tyone
a talking baseball ledge
he got him twice and
one game and I believe all four homers were on different pitches sweeper cutter change up fastball
so getting it done like I said four hits four homers for a guy Gino so I wanted to highlight him
a little bit and love when he does well yeah just just a reminder if you forgot he had a very slow start
last year and then he was one of the best players in baseball he had a 668 OPS in the first half last
year. He had a 942 in the second half last year. And he's a guy that we, whenever we come across
him, we're always like, wait, who really is this guy? 280 career homers? He's going to get 300 this
year. That's a massive number. That's a massive number. Let me do my math for people. Okay.
300 homers is 30 a year for 10 straight years. Yeah. That a 49 year helped him out. But yeah,
he's got a lot of 30s up there and he's still,
feels like he's peaking from the end of last year into this season.
It has been a great ad for Arizona.
It looks like they traded for him from Seattle.
Okay.
Dude, he's listed 5-11 now on baseball reference.
Guarantee if we went back to last year, he was six foot.
Yeah.
Yes, he was a height change guy.
And in the wrong direction.
But it doesn't matter because he bangs.
Remember the Reds throw him back at shortstop for one year?
What was that?
I'm going to give myself an asterisk
because I'm going to give out a half standout
because I missed it on the way through
and I may make Rob get the video,
maybe not now.
But Dansby Swanson made a game-winning defensive play.
I don't know if I've ever seen.
If you haven't seen it,
Dansby, there's a chopper.
It gets past the third base.
Danesby snares it.
Garrett Hampson, one of the faster, fast-based runners,
is rounding third aggressively, the tying run.
And I think he's reacting to the third baseman,
just getting off the line a little bit,
because that's normally who you'd be looking at
and the third baseman's momentum's going the way.
But Dansby, with the ball, is coming in,
and Dansby foot racism beats him to the bag
for the final out of the game.
It's one of those, I don't,
we always start laughing when we wonder how defensive
war is accumulated.
I don't know how you accumulate that one because that might have won them a game.
I got some defensive stuff coming up later on the show too, but yeah, that's an incredible
play.
I believe the third base coach was possibly sending him, like saying, hey, he's going to try
to throw this and you're going to score right here.
That's be super aggressive.
And Danesby, the entire time, like as soon as that ball is hit is hit, he knows he's not
going to first base.
That's Corbyn Carroll running.
Yes.
It's not going to happen.
And so he kind of fakes the throw a little bit with, you know, one of his eyes.
He even said, split vision after the game.
That's what he said.
One of his eyes on the third base runner peeked over there and just saw him, hey, you're way too far off.
Ran over, applied the tag.
Dan, he's a player, man.
Yeah, man.
I know the OPS compared to some of the other short stops.
And everyone kept saying five years ago his arm strength wasn't enough to stay it short.
And it just seems like he wins gold gloves and makes game winning plays.
He is not my official standout.
My official standout is your guy, Nick Povetta.
One of the sneakier signings of this off season,
I think sometimes it's winter meeting and we get caught up in what each team is doing.
And if you don't get your work done early, we kind of get frustrated.
This team and organization was clearly going through a lot
that they brought in Nick Povetta at the end of it.
And as much as I'm an ERA guy,
and some people that frustrates them
because we do have other stats and FIP and WIP and there's a lot that goes into the equation.
Fenway Park has never helped a pitcher's ERA.
And that's where Pivotta has now been since 2020 he got traded over there.
And it was always this.
He moves to the rotation.
He goes to the bullpen.
He's dominant in the bullpen.
Do you make him a bullpen guy?
That third pitch is it there some days?
It's not.
Last year, the past two years,
he threw a little over 140 innings
to the tune of a 409 ERA.
And the whip was, or the FIP was in the same ballpark,
excuse me.
San Diego's just a better place to pitch.
It's not even going into defensive profiles or anything.
Just the mindset of,
if you put one ball in the bad spot at Fenway,
it can ruin your day instantly.
San Diego's not known that way.
He goes out his first start against the Braves.
By the way, San Diego's been doing pretty good pitching-wise the past couple years.
Seven innings pitch, one hit.
Zero walks, 4Ks.
Povetta, his signing for me,
there was a lot of momentum for the other teams in the NL West.
Dodgers signing everyone.
Snakes, Corbyn Burns, and some big moves.
The Giants, Willie Adama's in some big moves.
Them getting Povetta to make their rotation feel a little more whole,
I think is going to be massive for them this season,
and it was this opening weekend.
Yeah, you could look at him as an innings eater,
or you can look at him as a guy that has more potential.
If you look at what he does as a pitcher,
he is a fly ball pitcher, and a lot of those fly balls are pulled.
So obviously you're talking about Fenway and the monster,
and that didn't help him at all,
and then go down to Petco,
and it's a little bit more flyball pitcher-friendly.
So I do like the signing.
And what was it?
Four years, 44, I believe.
You're right around there, son.
I'm on it.
It's close.
55 mil for four years.
With opt-outs after 26 and 27.
It's a great signing for San Diego.
Great.
Some of the pitching numbers we see, like Pivotta can...
Until the next start, if it gets, you know, hit, then we'll say something different.
Well, you know, those...
You're not going to, though.
Those illegal bats the Yankees are using.
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All right. Let's wrap it up in traditional fashion.
Hit our favorite button on that board.
Coach.
I'm going to give out the no wasted movement award. I do a silly thing every once in a while, Jake.
and I don't know where this came from, but I'll live a day in my life and I'll try to do everything,
simple tasks, everything, even speaking with no wasted movements.
That means if I'm going into a drawer trying to get a fork, well, I'm pulling the drawer out,
I'm grabbing the fork, my steps are there, everything, man, I just don't want any fumbles,
no wasted movement. I don't know. It sounds like you have also.
experience this maybe it's not just a me thing minimal i want to do everything perfect i don't want to
fumble for the light switch let me hit it boom one fell swoop let me open that refrigerator let me
get what i need i'm not fumbling around i know exactly where i'm going okay if you haven't done it
i'd suggest trying to do it i think it's a really fun game to play you're in competition with
yourself can i be perfect with my movements today in baseball there's a lot of that you don't want wasted
movement in your swing you don't waste a movement on defense you want to be perfect and you do
these things over and over and over again so you can be perfect and you do not waste the movement
because wasted movement is death in the big leagues we had a play that was like in the during the
games it wasn't that exciting but i was watching this game live and i was like that is an unbelievable
play and i need to highlight it on talking baseball it was blue
Lujay's, Orioles, I believe it was O'Hern hits a ball down the line, and George Springer goes and gets it.
Man on first base, only one out.
Look at their play, getting up, cutting the ball off, getting right back to his feet.
Watch this.
Watch this angle right here.
He dives for it.
Full extension.
Gets right up, no waste to move it, and throws in absolute seeds.
Holds the runner at third base right there.
If there's any wasted movement, he's scoring from first base.
Okay, now he holds the guy to a double, holds the guy in third base, one out, they don't score that inning.
There was a strikeout and then a pop-up.
You want to talk about defensive war and outs above average or defensive run saved?
Isn't that one?
Right.
This count is one?
Is it one and a half?
I don't know what it is.
But that play right there, like that is an incredible, you know, it could be a game saving play, whatever it is.
I mean, that is, you just don't see that that often.
A right fielder going out there, laying out, cutting that ball out, kind of like a feet first slash dive, getting right up, firing a strike.
The infielders were in the right positions right there for like, I believe it was a double cut, is.
I saw that play and I was like, this is, it plays like that.
to be highlighted more throughout games because that's baseball right there it's not let's show all
the homers let's show the strikeouts that play in particular change the course of the game like that's
the stuff that we need to be highlighting so i wanted to make sure i did it george springer also hit a
homer uh this series i want to see him do well i've always liked watching him play um and he gets
the first award of the year the no wasted movement award goes to my
guy George Springer.
Congrats, big fella.
I love it, Coach.
I mean, George Springer, 37 and a half career war, four-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger,
World Series MVP.
And yeah, hey, this Blue Jay season that I do truly feel is just a massive year for the
franchise.
Seeing 35-year-old George, what would you call that, a hook slide into the corner?
Because he's fielding that behind his body.
So he can pop up and throw that the timing on that has to be perfect.
Dude, plants that right foot right in the ground and just hammers that throw.
And again, like even a weak throw or a throw that's offline.
Right.
There's no wasted movement.
Bam.
Yum.
Love that.
That's a baseball play.
Gets it into Platinum Club, Andres Jimenez, who made a couple big plays this weekend.
Big Year in Toronto.
Coach, great, it's a great award.
I'm giving out the Caviar Award.
Caviard Award.
Are you speaking my language?
Yeah, I know.
I finally, I have your attention.
And yeah, you might have to correct me
because I don't really know what I'm talking about.
But I believe, Trev, caviar is fish eggs, correct?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sturgeon?
Well, Mr. Marlin.
Just got his number retired.
Jeff Kohnon.
I just got the joke.
And that's great.
We love that.
Jeff Kahn, what a stud.
What a man.
Like, Jeff Konin just puts you in a headlock.
And he,
I don't know how well-behaved Griffin-Konine was as a boy.
But he's on the Marlins
playing the corner outfield for them.
And he homers on the day.
Can you imagine, Trev, I'm,
I'm not a dad yet.
Or, you know, one day, maybe.
His number gets retired.
You're a Miami legend forever.
Your son is playing for the team that day, and he goes big fly.
Man, I have to imagine it doesn't get much cooler than that.
He also, I think he robbed a sick home run this weekend, too.
A big weekend for the conine men.
And, yeah, does it?
The fish egg.
performed when Daddy Fish was getting his,
his honor.
I thought that was pretty cool.
I like that the fish.
No,
it's incredible.
Yes,
I have a son.
He plays baseball.
I can't even imagine the feeling of getting inducted into the Hall of Fame as
yourself and then seeing your fish A go out there and do it.
I bet he liked that even better than getting inducted to the Hall of Fame.
That's the truth.
There is a little weird,
you know,
there's always a little bit of rivalry between sons and their dads.
I actually didn't really have that with my dad.
I never really felt like I was competing with him,
but that does happen a lot.
I think Teddy feels that way with me for sure.
Oh, boy.
I'm still on the stage where I don't,
I don't let him win yet.
No, I'm not going to give that.
I don't think I can anymore.
Like, he's getting a little bit too good.
But yes, I actually saw that and almost started to tear up
because I know the feeling right there.
Even when I see Teddy take a walk in his Sunday league games,
I'm like, I'm so proud of you, bro.
I'm proud of you, Trev.
Congrats to the conines.
Congrats to the pluce.
Congrats to everyone.
Baseball is back.
Let us know.
It was great to be back.
We're going to be back Wednesday.
There's a live show Thursday.
New Ep Friday, big week.
I stink.
Can't wait to see you guys there along the way.
Baseball's back.
Ah.
Jirons filthy.
Don't worry about him.
I'm going to are my twins.
Tyler Soderstrom mentioned.
He played great this weekend.
Yeah, who did we miss everybody?
So many.
They're going to let us know.
And I want to know.
I want to feel it.
