Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - We've Partnered With Major League Baseball!

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

Go to http://shadyrays.com and use code TALKIN for 35% off polarized sunglasses.Visit https://www.directv.com/jomboy to learn more!Get the best 5G coverage in the game at https://T-Mobile.com/MLB.Get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://indeed.com/talkin. Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake react to Major League Baseball investing in Jomboy Media, how the ABS Challenge system is proposed for 2026, Shohei Ohtani pitching after the All-Star break and more!0:00 Intro3:55 partnering with MLB15:30 Rob Manfred proposes ABS Challenge system31:30 New check swing rule40:20 Position players pitching45:00 SHould there be a mercy rule?48:10 Shohei Ohtani’s rehab58:55 Bet the Cycle Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Topic Epps are back. We've got rules. We've got how we treat Shohei. We're partners with Major League Baseball. What's it mean? Uncle Rob, I love you. I love you. Dick Bird. Rob Manfred. Homer. That's all he hits. All he hits. He struck out a few times. Hello. And welcome to Talking Baseball, presenting you by Seek-Geek. Talking 2025. My name is Jake Storeeally. That is Trevor Plouf. Rob's here producing. Intern, Molly's rolling. We are all excited to join you on June 11th. It's summer, bro.

Kids are like out. It's happening. You go to a game. You're in the 80-degree heat. And chomboid media is hot in the streets. We'll address the elephant in the room. You know, me and Trev now. We're basically puppins.

How you doing? Coach. I'm doing great, man. I really am. It's my birthday week and Father's Day week. So, you know, like I'm actually getting treated really nice. I'm getting lots of early birthday texts. Obviously, this big news dropped yesterday. So a lot of people are congratulating me. I'm like, I didn't really do anything, guys. But I like when people congratulate me. Um, so like my vibes are good right now Jake and I'm excited to like get into this with you we formulated this episode it's going to run seamlessly all these topics together they're all congealed if you will and yeah basically you're a shell for the shield now always have been you know in my own way I've been I've been a double

agent this whole time that was my reveal yesterday I've actually worked for MLV the entirety of it I'm happy 39th Trev I keep I keep forgetting if it's the big one we'll we'll get ready for next year's panic attack. Maybe you'll start woodworking or buy like a... Yeah, people always say like you, uh, you know, I've already cooked meat. Like that's not going to change. Yeah, that's true. I'm a meat cooker. No doubt about that.

And I've always liked American history. Like I took AP American history in high school. So that those are the two things you usually do when you turn 40s. So I don't know what's going to happen to get you like a Mazda Miata to drive around the neighborhood, something like that. I don't think so, Jay. I'm not a car guy. Yeah, maybe that happens.

Maybe that's what happens at 40. Maybe I start wearing a suit every day. Now that we are. Now that we are suits. Now that we are suits. We are suits. Let's talk about it. Yeah, let's get that out of the way.

And then we'll get into some good classic baseball topics. It's all brought to you by our friends. It's Shady Race. Ken, here we are, people. That's how corporate we are. We're shady race, people. Uh, Shady Raes is the absolute best. I, uh, I busted out the big boys today.

I was like, you know what? It's summer. Big Johnboy MLB news yesterday. Don't want to get too much love on the subway. A couple bro said hi. It's whatever. Shady Ray's world class product. Five stars by over 300,000 people.

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Shadyrays.com, code talking, 35% off your next pair of polarized sunglasses. Code talking at Shadyrays.com, get yours now. Well, I guess if there's anybody with no idea, if you don't social media with us, you just throw on the YouTube or the podcast, and listen to us, Yuck Ball, A, you're our kind of guy. Yeah, I like that for you. You know?

I aspire to be you. Me and Trev aren't as big on the TikToks as we'd like to be. We have partnered with Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball has invested in us. You know, I don't need to go down the investment path because I think people know my stock portfolio. I did get a comment about my silver stock last night on Instagram that made me laugh. Basically, we've run the rigamarole with MLB for years that initially when we came on the scene, Trev, they were scared of us. We're, you know, they didn't have controller power over us.

We kind of not broke the system a little bit, but we changed the game. We got big on YouTube, podcasts and everywhere else, social media that, I guess in fairness to MLB, they never, like came at us in a big way. They did at times try to slow us down, which it was like, what? Like, we're here trying to, trying to grow the game. And we, in the past year or so, we got talking to the right people. And basically the big thing we said is like, hey, we still want to do our stuff. And that's, I guess that's where I would start with people listening to this. Because there's a ton of comments that like, oh, here we go.

And we joke about it at the start. But we said, you know, like, if you guys want to be with us, that's cool. but we're not, we basically just want to do what we do, but just try to do it bigger. And MLB, basically, that was the first thing they shook on, and it's going to open up a lot of opportunity. So, Trev, I guess I, even as a friend and as business partners and guys that met in 2019 and Jimmy's little brother, Luke,

stepped on your shoe as we started this partnership, I guess I'd love to hear your friend thoughts and then give stuff for the people too. Number one, you know, I think I'm proud of like our company. You know, there's a lot of people that no one ever gets to see. They see us on the screen all the time or on their social media because they're posting us. And there's a lot of people that are driving our social media. There's a lot of people producing these shows, editing them.

And so I want to give a shout to them because, you know, they make us appealing. you know we put we put in our work and you know we we show up you know late nights early mornings doesn't really matter like we're ready to talk ball but that's what it's because that's what we like to do i realize jake that i really have given like my life to baseball yeah and it wasn't really my choice at first like i just started playing baseball and then i was good at it and then i kept going and then after i got done playing found myself working in it again now i coach youth baseball. So it's like really into this game. And I do want to promote it. I think it is a beautiful game. And I want to bring it to as many people as possible. Because I do think,

I feel like it offers great life lessons for kids. I'm at that. Maybe that's where I'm out of my 40. Yeah. Mentor Trev is here. Okay. But I do see it, man. I really, I truly believe that playing baseball can help the youth of this nation. It teaches you about so much. I want people to like it. I want people to play it. That's like honestly my number one goal here. And it's become more clear to me that that's it as I started coaching youth baseball.

Kids need guidance, man. And like, look, yeah, everyone has their own parents, but there's something different about a coach telling you something than your parent telling you something. Kind of got off script there. Yeah. But this is kind of how I feel. And partnering with Major League Baseball is just,

going to offer us more opportunities to grow and to have our voice be heard. Yeah, you're right. There has been friction between us in Major League Baseball points and at times a ton. Going back to our labor pods, me at the MLB draft

and Manfred's shooting a look at me. I didn't know if he's trying to square up. I didn't know. I think so. You never know what he's got. I don't know if he's got MMA training. I don't know if I, you know, mess with Rob Bantford. But now, like you said, I think it is important

and we said it now a couple of different times. We'll just continue to be who we are. We're just a little more access. Yes. I think that's kind of like where I'm at. I'm excited. I don't even really, I haven't really fully comprehend.

Even though these talks have been going on for a year, maybe plus, I still really haven't fully comprehended or maybe I just don't know what it truly means for us. I guess we're going to find out at some of these big events. Like we're going to the All-Star game. like we always do. I'm curious to see what happens there.

You know, the home run derby, all these things. Like, I think a lot of that is still up in the air. And, uh, one thing I'll promise to our audience.

I promise, like, we'll continue to just act this way. I don't know how to act any other way, Jake. And I know that that brain that you have can't change. I, I tried,

I tried to turn myself off for years and it didn't work. And then I, I fell into whatever, whatever this is now. They, yeah, like literally, that was the first, I want the people to genuinely know that was one of the first things. When conversations got real, that it was like, hey, this is, it's a non-starter. And baseball, to their credit, they, they knew that.

They came in and they were like, no, like, we don't, like people think we do stuff like that on MLB Network. And they, like, looked around the room and they laughed. And they're like, we don't know. Like, they're, like, a lot of things. they just, at a certain point, you're trying to run a good business, which they do on many fronts. But yeah, it's really exciting.

And that's the fun part. Like, honestly, I think we're going to do our same thing. Talking baseball is going to keep rolling. Breakdowns are going to keep rolling. There's just going to be some more opportunities for us. And hopefully we have, like, a louder voice and scope. Because baseball hasn't, like, promoted us. Which, again, whether that's social media or, I don't know.

I'm trying to get a little, hey, every fifth inning of a game throwing a little talking baseball pod promo. I don't know. Why not us? Every game? Yeah, I mean, hey, I aim for the-trap. If you aim for the moon, you land on the stars. I want you to think about that. That's not even true. That's not true.

Why would people say that? If you aim for the stars, you might end on the moon. You know what the stars are far away. I've heard about that. So I don't know. And I guess the final, final, well, not final zoom out, but like, again, like this should lead to a lot of cool merch opportunities. Like, I know that's, you know, for some people, that's not the biggest thing.

But I think we can use, like, team logos and stuff. So, like, we can make some, like, real cool merch. And we're just, we're excited to cook and to see where this thing lands, man, because there's a few other sports that whoever we are in that sport, whether it's football, NASCAR, baseball, whatever it is, like, we've seen that kind of creator or fan lane really open up and blow up. And in a way, we have been that just not been with baseball. So now that we're running parallel together,

uh, super excited to see what that's going to lead to. You and me on the field at the World Series. I don't know. Why not? No, pop, because we got to record our EPS, dude. I know.

We can record on the field now. There's nothing better than a talking baseball world series app. We're live on the field. Corbyn Carroll runs. over with the World Series trophy? The snakes won the World Series in that one? I watched them last night. They were fun, but...

They beat the Mariners. Oh, God, don't... You were a struggle busting after they... What my twins. I jumped on the bandwagon right in time to tank their entire season. So, yeah, people, you're still going to get the real us, and where I was leading with that final speech before was a thank you. Like, I...

You know, I'm always super appreciated because all are... All our stuff did start with Yanks and talking Yanks and Yankees stuff. And I'm like a Yankees fan. I've never lied to the people about that. But then this was the next part. I still remember the day that, because I've always been a sports loser. I think the regular people that, regular people that listen to this, the people that have been here from the start that have listened to this know that I'm just a sports loser.

And I love baseball. I still remember the day. I told Jimmy, I was like, hey, you know, When, you know, when do you think we could do, like, all of baseball? And at first, Jimmy was scared because Jimmy, and it's part of the reason he doesn't, he hasn't been fully participating in talking baseball. Jimmy needs the knowledge. He needs, like, all the knowledge.

That's his safe place. I'm that guy that operates with a dangerous 20% of knowledge and let him cook and see what happens. I still remember the day I was like, Jim, because every, like three months, I'd be like, when, you know, when should we do the all of baseball? And he was like, no, like, I don't think I can do it. I don't think I can do it. And then one day he was like a month or two. And I was like, all right, let's cook.

And then coach Trev, serendipity, or, you know, the guy that was playing ball that had a notes app going with all of his ideas that he wanted to help him. I have so many good ideas that I want to make majorly baseball. We got to get that kid's cartoon going at some point. I love the kids cartoon. Stop giving my ideas away. I know. Oh, God.

Oh, God. Ollie, my friend. Ali Lin, he gave a DM yesterday. That was very nice. And he said that he supports my dream retirement job of taking over the Rockies. But I think that's because he knows I'm ready to pay some players. I'm ready to pay some players. Hey, let's talk some ball.

And we're going to talk some rule change. We were laughing before the show because we were like just we talked about how now Uncle Rob is our best friend. that we're going to talk a little ABS challenge system. And Trev, you ended with some rule changes. So we're actually, we might end up being tough on Uncle Rob. And all of this is brought to you by DirecTV. Direct TV.

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Delivering the crack of the bat and roar the crowd right into your living room. If you're ready to transform your baseball watching experience, head to directtv.com slash John Boyer, scan the QR code on the screen to learn more. So, Trev, off the top of this, it's been rumored for a while. We just got our first kind of, I don't want to say official update on it, but Manfred, MLB will propose automatic ball strike ABS challenge system for 2026. The two challenge appeal system that we've heard and seen, you know, we've seen it in spring training. We've seen in some minor league games.

As we've tracked for the past five or six years now, Trev, this has seemed to be on the path of MLB changing rules that we've seen change. It's just, it's, it's kind of happening. Yes. And I still think players are going to be skeptical about it. I know they got a taste of it in spring training. And most guys who I've taught to, uh, liked it. They like the ability to be to challenge. I think there is a little bit of nervousness of guys, you know, doing that in a regular season game and being wrong. I think there's a lot of fear there with them. But the opportunity to be able to change a call in a big spot, I think really, really appeals to players. I mean, that's, I think that's the biggest reason why guys would want it. And you see it basically

every night if you watch baseball. It's somebody in a big moment, feeling like they got hosed on a call arguing a little bit but haven't you know they can't do anything about it now it's a touch to the helmet and we see who is right and i think that's going to be interesting there's there's a few things that i still have questions about i think overall most fans are in favor of this i think it is important that we keep umpires there who are going to who are going to we're going to call a majority of the pitches and then every once in a while just get challenged uh i don't I just umpires make sense to me like a fully automated strike zone I'm I'm and maybe people say it's a slippery slope it's going to get to that if we allow this end it's going to be fully

automated at one point like maybe and hope if that happens hopefully by then it's it's really calculated and we figure you know a lot of the nuances out but starting it like this I think makes sense the one thing I will say is there are times where I feel like an audit like that kind of strike zone. Like if we went fully automated, I guess, right. There are times where it just wouldn't make sense in a game, because there are times in the game where a human umpire will expand a strike zone. Right. And I think it is for the good of the game. Right. Like, like your team is up a million runs and, you know, like they're just kind of trying to usher the game in. So nothing egregious being called a strike. But, you know, maybe a ball that's a little off the plate he gets called the strike. And, you know,

as a player, I probably wouldn't like that because I'm like, hey, every abat counts. But as a fan, I think we're like, okay, let's, let's kind of get this going a little bit. So they're like, there's the human element will stay here if we have this, I think. That's a strike, by the way. That's not. So I like that we're doing it like this. I think that's my biggest take is keeping the empires there, allowing the challenges, not a huge fan of the completely automated system.

So maybe my mind will change once we get this into play. But right now it's kind of where I stand. I think most players feel the same way. Like if we're going to have this, still want umpires back there. And we just want the ability to challenge. And again, I think the letting the guys have it in spring training

was a good testing ground. And most people, like 95 and above, enjoyed it. I was pretty nervous for the pitch clock. You know, as the quote-unquote romantic baseball fan, you know, the only game without a clock and all that spiel that would go on. And it was, we were worried about the big moments because that's where baseball won. That's when, you know, the setup guy in the eighth inning and there's runners on second and third and he steps off the mound and you're, you start doing the fun part of baseball.

That's like, okay, the runner on second base, you know, he's actually not that fast. and every outfielder has a cannon. So if he's going to be running on the pitch, so if it's a hard hit single, there's going to be a great play at the plate. Or, you know, it's where baseball, you know, any sport you can do a little bit of that. But basketball is so free-flowing when it's right.

Same with hockey. Football, if you want to do that on any play, like, you know, the football guys that are deep in the sauce, you can enjoy football that way, or you could be the fantasy football weekend warrior that's like, get it to Justin Jefferson. I like to split the gap there. For me, man, the pitch clock landed in such a great spot

because the main part of it was cut out 95% of the nothing. Like there was when you watch some of the older games now and you're just like, holy, we're just lobbing the ball to first just because we're bored or, you know, we're shaking just to play head games with the hitter that a pitcher could stand on the mound forever. that it's like, where that landed on, it was just cutting out a lot of the BS. And that's what I think was the same concept around this, is that, hey, two challenges

a game, you still got to be careful with. And I know there's this, you know, Trev, you and I are hitters, that there's been this fear about pitchers manipulating the strike zone and a slider just barely clips the quote-unquote strike zone, which that's a whole other situation in and of itself. But if a pitch is that close, that's not what. what we're doing. We're doing the, hey, it's a 1-1 count and a ball was clearly off the plate and the ump just missed it. He zooted it because these sliders are now coming in at 91, that the difference between a 1-2 count and a 2-1 count in a big situation in the game,

that's the part that frustrates you. Again, I don't want to just do Yankees references, but Tim Hill had one of these against the Red Sox this weekend, whereas a 1-1 count, and Tim Hill throws bizarre. Like if you're an ump, you shouldn't be trained to see that. It was a strike, like right at the belt, but the up missed it. And 1-1 went to 2-1 instead of 1-2 against Duran, I believe. And then, you know, Duran gets a hit the next pitch, and you start doing the game of baseball.

He probably would have got a hit anyways. Duran's really good and really fast. Tim Hill makes you put it in play. But just taking out some of the like, the egregious calls, I think is what this is a tent. to do. I want to see it, and I'll reserve judgment for when it's rolling, but I think it's set up for that.

You can continue being a shill for the league, because we know that's what you are now. I'll talk on the player's perspective. Sold out. I think it's going to be interesting, because this is going to happen. I believe the way this used to work was Manfred and the league could propose a rule change and the players had a chance to veto it for a year and then after that year, they can just basically basically just implement

things, which basically I don't even know why. Like who came up with that? Was I on the bargaining committee for that? Because that seems crazy. I think so. If you can just implement it a year later, it doesn't make any sense.

You have no power. The players had no power essentially at that point. Now I think it's even quicker than that. And there's a rules, like a committee, that can vote on these things. So this is coming. I think what's going to be interesting

is to see if teams say you can challenge, you can challenge, you can challenge, you can't, you can't, and you can't.

Because there are guys, I feel like they're going to do it too much and they have no idea if it's a strike or a ball. That's going to be an interesting dynamic on each team. Like, I'm sure,

you know, on surface level, the teams will say, yeah, if you feel like you need to challenge, you can challenge. But in reality, I guarantee they're going to be like, you don't know what you're talking about usually. So be very, very careful with your challenges or a guy that has a great eye and has a good walk rate and has shown that and has a track record of it. I guarantee they're going to say, you got whatever you want, do it because we know that you know the strike zone. It's going to be interesting to see for me who gets to do that. Because I think there will be guys that just like, hey, like, don't say I don't tell anybody I said this, but you're not allowed to freaking challenge. You stink. I think that's going to happen. And I think the one thing that people need to realize, which has made this rule really palatable for me is the only people that can challenge are the catcher, the pitcher, the pitcher, and the hitter. And it has to be instantaneous. It can't be from the dugout. We can't wait 10 seconds. Oh, challenge that last call.

I think that needs to stay. We can't have, like, if this is going to come in and be implemented and be here for the rest of, you know, time, it has to stay batter, catcher, pitcher. I would even like, honestly, I think it would be even cooler to do batter pitcher and not let the catchers be involved in it, but, you know, catchers and pitchers are a package. They're a battery, if you will. If you will. Yeah, I was skeptical of that part at first because I was like, dude, these guys are so competitive.

You don't want to give an app bad. That's what I'm saying. I feel like there's going to be a couple guys who at the beginning of a season just use up all the challenges. Right. And the teams do like, you're not allowed to do that anymore. Like a parent scalding their child. I got a few guys in mind that I think will do it. And that's where the details are going to come in because is it going to be like the other sports

or if you get your two challenges right, you can keep going. Because I believe that's what it is. I think that's what they have proposed. That's how they were doing in spring training was you get to keep your challenge. But then it gets tricky because if you do get one. wrong along the way and then you're out for the later innings was any of it worth it?

So that's where, you know, the team, Trev, how about this? I can spin this in an old school way. Maybe managerial styles will matter more because there's some teams that'll just be player empowerment. Hey, if it's a ball, go get it. But if you get it wrong, you might lose a privilege. Fire, yeah.

Where other teams might just be like, hey, we're not doing it before the seventh inning. It doesn't make sense. It's baseball. Or there might be other managers that are, like the situation will dictate it. Like, hey, if we have two runners on in any inning, you're allowed to use a challenge.

Like, that seems like there's going to be something there. So that's where, I think there can be fun strategy in this too. It's definitely going to be talked about, hey, if it's two outs and it's the second inning and you think there was a ball called in you, like, don't use it. It has to be super egregious for you to use it. I think most teams will try to wait for, yes, runners in scoring position, second and third, less than two outs, those types of situations where runs are available to them. Because as we know, Jake, you and I still like the stack called runs. Right.

Run scored. We have been pushing that, which now I'm wondering, was that me being the MLB shield again? I don't know. I mean, I think it makes sense. You and I agree. Run scored are runs scored. Points on the board are points on the board or points in the board, Paul. But no, I think they will.

I think each team will go over this in spring training, probably send memos out during the offseason for guys to get ready and really hone in on that during spring training. This is when we can use it. Because, yeah, you don't want to, you don't want to lose one early in the game for no reason. You need to be advantageous with these challenges in keeping them. So, you know, it is funny that we're talking about this the day after we,

look at our headline right there. I mean, it'll be in John Boy, media because I do think, and I've said this before the deal, I do think that, you know, Manfred has brought in some changes that have been really good for the game. I think it's almost undeniable.

And you know, him and I have had our, you know, right. Well, I don't think he knows, but him and I have been sparring, you know, last labor agreement, all these different things. I don't think he has no idea. Maybe he does, though. That picture with me and Rob Manfred, like at the All-Star game,

him and I shake in hands, like, looking at each other in the eye, I think it's going to go super hard. But I've said this for quite some time. I think the rules that he's implemented have really been good for the game. I was also skeptical about the pitch clock. I was skeptical about the disengagement rule. There's been a lot of things that have happened, the taking away of the infield shifts. I think all those have actually been really good for the game of baseball.

It's brought back athleticism. The games are, I mean, the games are flying. And people might say that it's not a good thing, but the pay. is good. I actually don't like when I go to a game sometimes they feel like they're moving too fast. It's great on TV sometimes I feel like when I go to games it moves really fast, but then I think it's just the pace of it is better and it keeps you engaged. Like you don't want to get up and now all these stadiums are having to adjust to that like having Uber Eats or whatever it is to your seats like and they're going to have to continue to do that. But I think the changes have been almost universally good for the game. So.