The Johnny Salami Podcast - Chris Wright

Episode Date: May 27, 2020

On this episode of the Podcast, I sit down with Chris Wright. Chris was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 12th round (356th overall) in the 2019 MLB Draft ... Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Third Team All-American Utility Player ... ABCA All-Northeast Second Team relief pitcher ... NEIBA All-New England First Team Utility ... NEIBA All-New England Second Team Reliever ... All-NEC First Team First Base ... All-NEC First Team Reliever ... Semifinalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year award ... Named to NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List

Yo. Look at that fucking loser. I don't know man, he doesn't look too happy. Yo, fuck's sake! Is that your sister's shirt or what? You're such a dick. What do you mean? I'm gonna go talk to him. Hey man, don't look so excited.

I'm sorry my friend's a dick. We're having some people over tonight. How would you feel about coming over? So what did that weird guy say? I don't want to talk about it. Fucking assholes, man. What's going on, everyone? Welcome to another episode of the Johnny Salami Podcast.

New setup today. We have a special guest, Chris Wright. Thanks for coming, man. Yeah, thanks for having me. How's it going? Good, man. I got a bunch of messages. What was it like, dude, just getting drafted overall?

You're literally in the MLB. That must be, that's insane, dude. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely something that I've dreamed of since I was a little kid. So it was really cool to see hard work come into fruition. Getting your name called is the coolest feeling I've had in my entire life. I'm thankful for it every day that I've had the opportunities I've had and that I've gotten where I've got. Yeah, dude. I mean, you've been on news outlets like WPRI. I mean, you've been in the Little League World Series. So you were kind of like that group after pretty much like famous in Rhode Island

yeah I mean if it weren't for those guys beforehand I really don't think that we would have you know believed in ourselves as much to do um like what we achieved and I think that they kind of set you know like stepping stones showing that you know this, this is possible for anyone in Cumberland. Like we can do whatever one else can. And, you know, we just try to follow in their footsteps. Did that help you, like, moving forward, though? Because I remember, like, I've known you for a long time, like, because we played at McCourt together.

So we were playing middle school baseball. I was in eighth grade. You were in sixth. And, I mean, like, I don't think anyone had ever seen, like, sixth graders get at bats but like you were one of the kids who actually got like a bunch of at bats so do you think like playing in the little league world series helped like with like pressure wise or um I mean definitely I we played against um the hometown team in Pennsylvania and I pitched in that game in front

of like 35,000 people really so I think that definitely was a good measuring stick I guess at that age to kind of show what pressure feels like and getting that exposure at a young age was pretty important for me because now I compare you know like in college I went and played against LSU at LSU in front of like 8,000 fans and my entire like all my teammates are saying damn this is the most amount of people I've played it against in my life or in front of in my life yeah I said what goes through your mind though like if you're pitching against LSU like are you like holy shit like don't fuck this up or you just like savage mode like I'm gonna fuck all these kids up yeah no I'm definitely you're like I'm'm going to tear it up. Yeah, I'm like, fuck you guys, you know.

So I was a closer at school. So I came in at the end of the game. We weren't winning. I think we were down one when I came in. And my mindset, like I just go full psycho mode. It's like anyone in my way, I'm trying to go through you. And if you're going to try and stop me, you're not going to do it. And, I mean, that's the mindset you kind of have to have. That is a closer.

But that mindset's out the window now for now because I'm a starter again. Yeah, that's crazy, man. I was thinking about that. I'm like, I mean, this kid's been to Williamsport. I mean, you've been on, like, all the big stages. I couldn't even imagine, like, playing baseball on that type of stage. I do remember when I tried to play college baseball, we went down to Florida because that's where like everyone plays in the off season like in february and stuff whatever everyone goes down there and they had me pitch against the best like community college team

i just got absolutely fucking shelled yeah but like my mindset was just like i'm a pussy like i just like i didn't have that type of mindset with baseball like i couldn't find that uh like angry mindset yeah but like if i play rugby or something it's just like full savage mode like just black out you know yeah i think i definitely had to grow into that mindset because i never had it before and then all of a sudden something just clicked and i did well one time and i was like i can't go away from this if it worked once so yeah at that point i was just always like fuck you i'm gonna be better than you today even if you you were actually considered to be a better player than i am that's what's up dude yeah did you did you like stop playing other

sports in high school so i i played three sports for my first two years football do we got the it's all right we salute uh happy memorial day everybody yeah i remember you like did you did you stop playing though like yeah stop playing basketball definitely right yeah well i couldn't i stopped playing football because of like um head injury issues oh really so i wasn't allowed to play anymore but uh i stopped playing basketball junior year because i tried to work out, get bigger, stronger. So I could, you know, I was trying to get recruited for baseball at that point. I knew baseball was like, you know, my calling, I guess, if you will.

Like it was kind of what I was best at and what I liked the most. So I wanted to make sure I put all my eggs into that basket to get to where I wanted to be at. And I did that for one year. Then I committed that summer. And then I went back and I played basketball again my senior year. Oh, you did? Yeah. All right.

Yeah, because I remember you, like, stopping. I mean, I knew obviously baseball was, like, the plan. But did you, like, miss those other sports or not really? Yeah, I did. Yeah. Just seeing all the guys, you know, playing, like, Cali and JB, they were all playing with – I think they were actually pretty

good season that year that I didn't play and I was kind of missing it a little bit but I mean when it came down to it it's kind of what I needed to do at that moment and that's what I did so yeah because me and Odell were talking about that like he always preached like playing three sports when he was on Saturday he was like yeah like had my, you know, I always told kids just like play three sports. And that's like weird to think about now. Cause like we never really had, I never really had like an off season, you know, in high school. But now it's like, you know, everything changes,

especially when you go to college. It's just like, you're focused on one thing. But like as of recently, dude, I like really like just like training, you know, and I'm not even training for anything i'm just like training for life you know trying to shred my nips and shit so it's like dude like i get after it but like i like like having that you know that off season you know what i mean yeah well so i i agree though with odell to an extent that i think being a multi-sport athlete is important especially at a young age because you you're having an off season from your other sport while you're playing another sport so you're

working other muscle groups and you're you're going to be able to be more sufficient in maybe other things in the sport that you're best at or whatever you want to be best at by doing those other sports like agility or if especially if you're a pitcher like playing basketball or football will help with agility probably speed and strength and I think that it definitely can apply to any sport whenever you play multi-sports so I think that I mean dude you've gotten like way bigger and stronger but like how does that uh what type of like workouts were you doing because like if you were playing first and pitching like were they like you know kind of conflicted at times or was it just like yeah so I originally was doing just the pitcher

workouts my freshman year yeah because I was supposed to be a pitcher first um right away they I was I was a weekend starter my freshman year um I pitched on Sunday the fourth game of the week um and I didn't do so great at the beginning. I was struggling with command issues. Like, I couldn't control anything going on in the game. And I had just played three games before that, so I was tired. And, you know, I don't think I was ready for it. And they just kind of threw me in the fire, which, I mean, I think I don't blame them at all. I wanted to go out there and play, too.

And I wanted to do the best I could. And they thought that that was our best chance of winning on that given day um but I mean my career evolved like I don't think there's anyone else in the world that could say like what I've done as a player how I've evolved as a player because I was a pitcher Bryant was the only offer I had to play the field too so I was just gonna be a pitcher everywhere else so that was a big reason why I went to Bryant and then they told me I would be a pitcher right away probably get some you know at bats here and there at the beginning of my career and then by the end I'll be you know probably an everyday starter yeah but it kind of worked out the exact opposite so like I

was playing first base every day and then I was not pitching as much because I was struggling a little bit with that and trying to you know find some stuff my freshman year I threw like 27 innings most of them were at the beginning of the season my sophomore year I pitched 1.1 innings the entire college season holy shit so like I played first base every day and that was attributed and we had a lot of injuries and stuff but I pitched 1.1 innings and that was it. So then I went out and I played in the Cape mostly as a hitter. I played the summer before with Ocean State Waves and I had a really good summer hitting. What is it like playing in the Cape?

The teams must just be absolutely nasty, right? Yeah, there's a lot of good players. They say if you hit.250 for the whole summer out there, you did really well. And, I mean,.250 not, like, a very glamorous average. Yeah, what would you say is, like, a glamorous – because, like, it's the NEC, right? Yeah. What would you say is, like, a glamorous average, like, above, like, 300? Oh, yeah.

Definitely. In our conference, you've got to hit above 300, especially in conference play. Just, I mean, the talent level in our conference is not super high. We're probably one of the worst ones in the entire country really yeah we've got some not so great teams at the bottom but but then if you look at like uri and stuff like that like a bunch of those dudes are like batting below 300 right yeah they play a lot better teams yeah

like in conference we play a lot of good teams outside you play uri though right yeah we play them like midweeks most of the time so we're not facing their best pitchers they're not facing our best kind of like a scrimmage yeah basically but i mean it still matters for your record and everything so yeah get some games in in the middle of the week make sure you know stay fine-tuned for the weekend but our coach is like i don't give a fuck i still want to beat the shit out of them oh really yeah he was super intense but yeah and i liked it, but. So that was kind of like your reasoning, though, for going to Bryan? You were like, I'm going to, you know, like I'm actually going to get to play a bunch of positions?

Yeah. How did you, like, prove yourself hitting? Like, was it like, when was, like, the moment you realized, like, you know, I'm going to hit a shit ton? Yeah. So the only reason why I actually even got that two-way offer, I was playing in, I think it was Northborough. Northeast Baseball has a complex up in Northborough, Mass. It's like all turf. And we've, in high school, and I faced a kid who was committed to Duke, throwing like 90-92 with like good off-speed stuff.

And I went like two for three with a walk and a walk-off double off the wall against that kid and one of the hitting coaches there watching. And that was literally the game, the only reason why I was able to hit it bright. Yeah. So, and then my freshman year, I took batting practice with the team, and our other first baseman was a senior, and this kid was a mammoth, like 6'5", 220, hitting balls over the scoreboard and BP.

And I was watching this like, holy shit shit i got no chance to play this year like i got absolutely no chance and uh then i kind of you know got better and better worked with the coaches my swing when i got there looked like fucking 12 year old little kid trying to swing a wet noodle or something. So I definitely had a lot of help from the coaches. I got on the field mostly because of my defense right away at first. Scooping shit. Yeah, scooping shit. Our coach liked having a good defensive first baseman, and I was better than the other guys.

So that was kind of like my way of getting on the field, which was nice. And then just tried working on hitting as much as possible during the week and just kind of evolved that way. Yeah. How did you like Bryant, though, overall? Like everything, I mean, not just obviously baseball, but like the environment there in general. Yeah, I mean, I liked it.

It was a small school, so it was nice. I got to see, you know, like my teammates in the hallway. It was like a couple of high school times, three and a half, basically. Yeah, they have like an area in the outfield, right, where everyone just gets cocked? Yeah, it's really cool. They actually watch the game? Is it kind of like a Williamsport style, or do they just kind of get cocked?

Yeah, they just kind of get cocked. I don't blame them. It's like they bring out speakers and stuff. Oh, really? It's a cool atmosphere. They must go crazy, though, if you had a home bring out speakers and stuff. Oh, really? It's a cool atmosphere. They must go crazy, though, if you had a home run or something, right? Oh, yeah. It's nuts.

We had a game. We were playing the worst team in the conference, and we were absolutely smoking them. And our fans started chirping at the center fielder, and he turned around and started giving them back, like just chirping at them back. And one of the kids that we know from school, he just took a beer bottle and chucked it at them on the field.

Really? Threw it over the fence. And that was like one of the craziest things I think I've ever seen on a baseball field. I could not believe our boy literally just took it. We saw the bottle flip in the air. We're like, oh, no, this is not good. Yeah.

And their coach took them off the field they were like i'm not i'm not putting my guys back on the field until all those kids are out of there this and that and we're like we were up like 11 to 2 oh shit and he's like i'm gonna make you guys forfeit this game because of this and yeah that was it was crazy yeah they're they're a good crowd easy man every time i've been to brian because i would go to to Bryant a bunch because of Joe. Yeah. Dude, I remember I did a comedy show there once for the football team.

Yeah. And Joe's dad called me and was like, yeah, I want you to do a show for the guys. We have a comedy show every year, and they'll take national headliners to go. And I was like, I think 21 at the time 20 i think it was 20 at the time so i'm like dude are you fucking high right now like i just started this you know yeah but like i guess joe and like a bunch of the football players came to one show and they were like dude just have them do like our annual show yeah so i go and i do the show and i'm like taking a dump beforehand and there's like there's like that bathroom in

the main hallway right near the theater yeah i'm just taking a dump i'm like dude what am i gonna like this is gonna suck man like what am i gonna say these are like division one like athletes like football players like how am i gonna like impress these guys and like get through to them yeah yeah so i'm like taking a shit like two football players come in and they're like oh this is gonna suck dude i wish we could like get out of this because like i guess the the year before they had a they had a female comic i'm not saying females aren't funny but they had like a female comic who wasn't that well known and she just talked for an hour and didn't get one laugh i guess yeah so i'm like i'm expecting to do the same thing i'm like i go up there and like

i'm just being wicked and immature and like a bunch of guys are laughing or whatever and i'm actually doing like pretty well like they're like cheering me on and stuff i don't know if it was like a make-a-wish but they were like you know and uh halfway through i like i just i don't even know it was just like natural instinct i like see this like a player and i'm like oh is that like your water boy because like it literally looked like a 12 year old kid yeah and everyone just like abrupted and roars like they were like oh my god like did he just say that and i guess i pinpointed like the one kid that everyone hates oh and he like barely made the team he's like an asshole but he literally looked like he was 12 years old and dude this kid he was 12 years old and dude this kid this kid threatened to fight me on stage what and uh dude i made him cry he actually started crying wow there was like uh there was a bunch of the team

captains and i was like uh somebody yelled sharpie dick somebody was a sharpie dick and i was like why'd you why'd you yell that man like i didn't say anything about like sharpie dick or anything they're like no like we're talking about him like we call him sharpie dick and i was like, why'd you yell that, man? Like, I didn't say anything about, like, Sharpie Dick or anything. They're like, no, like, we're talking about him. Like, we call him Sharpie Dick. And I was like, oh, why do you call him Sharpie Dick? And they did this thing. Like, everyone was cocked. And they, like, wrote on his dick, but they couldn't fit any words. Oh, my God.

Since then, they called him Sharpie Dick. And this kid just started crying, dude. Wow. Like, a legitimate Division I football player, dude. Like, hand to God, literally started crying. I was like, dude, I'm like 20 years old, right, doing a comedy show. This kid's threatening to fight me, and I make him cry. I'm younger than him.

I'm probably the same age as him at that time. But, like, I was just like, it was honestly the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life. Like, imagine that, a grown man crying at a comedy show dude that's unbelievable and then uh like afterwards like a bunch of the guys had to like stand by me they're like dude if he tries to fight you like you know we got your back and i'm like what the fuck's going on man like we were like eating ice cream i'm like dude it's just like you know it's just jokes man like but uh dude it was crazy man yeah but like me and joe we would go to brian all the time i was just a dad like coach there and stuff but dude it's pretty hot chicks man you think so

yeah it depends you gotta you gotta go to the right place so you gotta know you think like some solid fives or i mean solid five you're having a pretty decent night at bright yeah because i mean uh i would go to the i mean i think the most hot chicks i saw was at a football game but they might they must have been like traveling because like i feel like a lot of people come from out of state to the football games yeah and i was just like watching these chicks walk by i'm like well these chicks are really hot man but it's kind of a small school right yeah i would say um a lot of our hot chick population comes from our sports i mean you don't see that many business women

that are trying to put on for a lot of people. They're more reserved. Like rich? Most of them are rich, yeah. But there's a lot of rich people at Bryan's, for sure. But I mean, a lot of them are worried about school. And at the same time, when they want to go out, they literally just drink by themselves.

Really? Yeah. Damn. You got to go out, they literally just drink by themselves. Really? Yeah. Damn. You got to go to the right places. It sounds like there's like a lot of like. Clicks. Yeah, a lot of clicks. So there must be, yeah, between sports too, right?

Yeah, it is. Because I know like a bunch of the football guys, I mean, obviously they hang out with the football guys. I mean, why else would they hang out with somebody else? That'd be kind of weird. Right. You know, like football guys hanging out with like soccer players. Like, what are you doing, dude?

Yeah. No, I'd say like our athletes at the school are like super tight-knit for the most part i think we actually had a problem with the football team a couple times and really yeah we were outnumbered by a lot yeah i was gonna say so we didn't really try to do too much with that but yeah um we kind of try to like stick together hang out a lot together it didn't matter which sport it was yeah just build some team chemistry yeah and you know have the athletic department kind of you know feel like we're one and it's like all the parties are in like the townhouses right yeah

fix this fucking chair but uh yeah because i dude i went to a uh a hot dog eating contest there have you ever been one of those no no dude joe invited me to a hot dog eating contest there have you ever been one of those no no dude joe invited me to a hot dog eating contest i don't know if it was just the football team but there was like you know like it was all the townhouses like they're kind of like right next to each other right yeah pretty close together and yeah dude you just have like this table and there's like a bunch of hot chicks just literally kobayashi hot dogs like it's insane and then like obviously the dudes play and stuff and at the end they'll have someone jump off the deck and just break the table like you see in, like, the Bills Mafia. Yeah.

Yeah, dude, it was pretty crazy, man. I remember going there and, like, I remember falling asleep in a bush. Fuck. Yeah. Dude, I fell asleep in a bush. And then I remember I had to go to a comedy show, like, the next day. And I was just like, can't do this right now. It was crazy, man.

I remember I have videos on my phone just like of just hot chicks like aggressively eating hot dogs that's still have it to this day no i've never i've never seen or heard any of that really at school before yeah man that was at bryant though i just remember when we were younger though me and joe would go there all the time but dude the facilities have like really improved over time oh yeah i remember going there when i was younger i was like it's all right and then i went recently i'm like dude are we in the future like what's going on yeah it's like it's next level now we got some of the nicest facilities in the entire northeast at this point yeah even like the automatic doors i'm like what's going on right now the automatic things are freaky dude

yeah there's yeah it's crazy yeah but like what's going to go on in the mlb like after you get drafted like what is it like so like you get your name called that's like all emotional and then are you just like all right let's get after it or is it like is there like a designated process like what's happened since like your name's been called yeah so um the draft is three days i was the third day i was pretty early on the third day lucky enough to go as early as i did um so i got a call i think it was the next day from, or I got calls that day too from the team. But the next day, the area scout called me and told me my flight was set for like six days or five days after I got drafted. So I pretty much got five days to do whatever I want at home and then ship out to Arizona where spring training is so they can do our physicals and everything make sure that we're in good shape bro the worst thing ever we all had to get mris to make sure that none of us were hurt i sat in the mri place for six hours really yeah it was the

worst thing ever they were like 20 of us who had to get ms. Oh, man. And they brought us in groups, and I was the last group to go. And I got there at 12.30, and I left at like 6.30. Dude, that's terrible. It was probably the worst day ever. Even the MRI itself sucks just sitting in that tube. Yeah, we had to do one on our elbow and shoulder. And your arm goes numb within five minutes of when you start. And they're like 40 no not 40 minutes

they're like 25 minutes each or so have you ever had any arm problems or no no not really um i've been lucky enough to you know stick through even if it's sore soreness is fine the pain is a little different but i think a lot of that has to do with like your mechanics like you must have a bunch of people approach you though about like your mechanics or do you think it's been like have you kind of just stayed true to one thing um i had to change my mechanics a little bit in college i did i mean it wasn't my choice my coach thought that this would work a little bit better for me because um i struggled a little bit like i said with my command at one point and this kind of helped me out a little bit and once i finally got it down it worked out well

but i think it has to do a lot with mechanics but i also haven't thrown that much either like i haven't been exposed to a high innings count ever in my life yeah especially i mean cumberland rhode island high school baseball we play like what 16 or 18 games for the entire season wrecking your arm yeah well not even i mean i throw i have seven starts on a season so you throw like 30 innings for a season right like but sometimes you have those back-to-backs oh yeah those are the worst yeah those are tough but like i said like i don't have that many innings taxed on my arm a lot of friends who threw 100 innings in college like two years in a row i'm like well i don't know if i've thrown 100

innings in my entire life yeah so yeah i've definitely it's also i think a genetic thing like just if your muscles are more adapt or more apt to getting sore than some other people and i think i'm lucky enough to you know be able to not really have to have problems with that stuff. What do you think, like, your velocity, like, how do you increase velocity, though? Is a lot of it just training, or is it, like, a bunch of things? Yeah, a lot goes into it. It's definitely mechanical, first off. Like, you got to, you know, load and unload

and know how to use your body down the mound and everything and use your legs well. Strength, so then you've got to get a strong lower body with good shoulder stability and strength and everything to make sure that everything up in your shoulder and elbow are going to be fine when you actually throw a ball. And then, yeah, transferring of power, knowing how your body has to move in order to get the most out of it. That's pretty much the mechanical side but um excuse me um you think like when you work out though if you get like too you know too shredded oh yeah you think that like fucks you up i wouldn't

say you can get shredded as much as you want you just got to make sure you stay flexible and mobile because if you like you said if you get shredded like and you can't if you, like you said, if you get shredded, like, and you can't move your arm, like, you know, in a way that it needs to move and you lose rotation and all that stuff, then you're going to throw slower and you're more apt to injury. And, um, you do like yoga and shit. Yeah. I've done yoga, just regular yoga. They have us do it like once a week. It's nice. And then we have a full stretching routine that we go through every day and dude that's what's up dude i did uh i did hot yoga at this uh gym i used to go to they offered like free hot yoga dude oh you're sweating big oh yeah dude and do the teacher smoke show i mean she was like 35 maybe 40 but nothing wrong with that yeah do me and

nate got in trouble like halfway through the session of course she was like we do we were honestly like we were wicked focused like we were trying to get like we get into it and i was like dying dude so nate shows up with like legitimate pants on he has like three to four layers on and he's wearing a raincoat dude it was like it was like the fall it was like 65 70 out so like when we walked in this lady was like are you gonna you know like take that off and he was like no so like nate's dying like halfway through i'm dying i'm not even wearing that much and like uh we're like wicked focused like looking at this lady like do the poses and stuff and like i mean we have to like because you know like you have to listen to her voice yeah but i'm not gonna like listen to some i don't know what i'm doing dude so i'm like we're like like watching

her and obviously she's hot dude so like midway through the session she's just like guys stop looking at me just listen to my voice and we were like all right and then like we kept going and like we couldn't do it without watching her so we just kept watching her she was like guys i'm not gonna ask you again like what it's like we're being creep or anything it's like dude you're the instructor like we're gonna watch you you know what i mean i gotta know what i'm doing yeah not all of a sudden you're gonna be like oh downward dog with the child i know that one but what else am i supposed to do the child's pose is dude like that's crazy that she would say that our yoga teachers are always just like just watch what i do and try and mimic me yeah exactly it makes. It makes it so much easier. Yeah, and we were in the front of the class, too,

so everyone was watching us. I was like... But, dude, that stuff's hard, man. I kind of wish I did it more, but I don't go to that gym anymore. They offer, like, free yoga, which is kind of legit, but... Yeah, it is.

It's good stuff. Hot yoga, man. Dude. Get some swamp ass out of that. Oh, yeah, dude. Dripping. But, dude, you feel so good afterwards oh yeah i like it it and it you just feel so loose and like you could do anything literally it's

awesome but like i don't know man i i've been through phases where i've just been like too way too tight you know what i'm saying no homo but just been, like, not flexible at all, like, especially, like, pre-quarantine. But, like, once the quarantine hit, I kind of, like – I've been doing more running. Like, we saw each other at the track. So I've been, like, running and stuff. But it makes you think, man.

Like, sometimes I, like, don't want to lift heavy anymore, you know. I'm just, like, maybe I should just, like, take it easy, you know, stretch a little more. Yeah. Well, so, like, we always talk about the point of diminishing return you know i'm just like maybe i should just like take it easy you know stretch a little more yeah well so like we always talk about um the point of diminishing return when it comes to strength yeah so um you can be lifting 600 pounds on a on a deadlift and you could be lifting 500 pounds on the deadlift but like how much is that 100 pounds extra going to do for you on the field is kind of what we talk about a lot.

Yeah. Whereas maybe if you're lifting that 500 pounds and then you're working more on your mobility and your stretching and everything, and that would help you more than actually just lifting that 600 pounds and doing, like, jumping stuff to make sure you got the quick twitch. And there's definitely a lot of controversy behind that too because some people are just like, get as strong as you can,

because it's going to help you, you know, throw harder and be bigger and stronger and everything. But I think there's definitely a point where like being, there's no point of being too strong, but there is a point where being super strong is not going to help you as much as being super flexible. What do you like, what do you do in situations like that though? Like, cause you were, I'm not going to help you as much as being super flexible what are you uh like what are you doing situations like that though like because you were i'm not going to say the name

obviously but you were talking about um you know some kids who are using like weighted balls to throw harder like when you come across that you're just like i'm not you know i'm not into that like i'll take the traditional route or yeah so um that's kind of like a new school thing it's there's a lot of science behind it and the thing about that is that if you don't do it right, then there's a high risk of injury. So unless I have someone that I trust at a high level and that I know has my best interest in their mind and that they would think that this could help me be a better player,

then I would do it. But for me right now, I don't think there are other things I think there are other things that are more important for me to work on like commanding a third pitch rather than just two that I have right now I've been working on a change up more and more trying to do some other grip stuff and just get it so that it's at least a feasible pitch to be able to throw in the strike zone yeah but um yeah it's it's different for everyone some people it works some people it doesn't and you don't know unless you try it so i mean i would be open to it i just don't think like right now that's kind of what is what i need yeah dude i'll try i'll fucking i'll cause a three car pile up

with a change up dude i think that thing must be hard to command yeah it is um it's like a circle change just like a regular change up dude i've tried so many things like i i had one that i had down and it was a two seam change up so i was holding it on the two seam grip and then i went to arizona this uh like this fall or no this winter and they banged it completely they're like you don't throw a two seam fastball you can't throw a two seam change up because it's going to spin differently and the hitter's going to see that so I tried throwing it just as the four-seam grip and bro when I tell you I have no idea where this fucking ball is going I'm cutting it half the time and then one of them will go like this and I'm breaking the catcher's wrist and like I felt so bad sometimes and I throw it and it would just

literally go straight or I would throw it and it would go about four feet in front of me like it was it was what about like a slider though well so like I've thrown a slider before and the way that so like when I pitch my fastball from what I understand at least looks like it's rising basically to a hitter it spins a lot so I have a high spin rate and then um they call it carry and there's these new metrics called like vertical vertical break horizontal break and I have like 19 to 20 inches of vertical break on a fastball which is the average in the major leagues is like 10 to 15 ish so like i have they call it elite carry on my fastball so with that the best way to um best pitch to combat with that is a curveball that's like more up and down than side to side so that's the pitch that i throw um it's not completely 12

6 it's more like 11 5 of a curveball but um because it looks like it's going up in the zone and then it goes down toward the knees so that's kind of why i haven't thrown a slider recently but i i've definitely tried to throw a slider again and i i want to throw a slider again just to have a harder pitch other than my fastball but i just haven't really gotten to it yet i think the change-up's kind of what i need to do first and then if i want to i'll go to a slider yeah i was thinking maybe like do a lefty slider i mean that'd be kind of scary yeah i mean it would be cool definitely and i know the problem is like right now i don't have a pitch that goes like the other way both of my pitches break toward the right or it goes straight and my pitch break breaks toward the right so if i have another one that breaks right then they don't have to worry about anything

going to the left so i kind of want something that's moving to the left a little bit yeah so that day yeah they have to think about it yeah that's pretty cool man what was the uh like what was the little league world series like for you it was sick i mean when you uh i've always wondered this so like if you're the league world series once you go to like williams sport and like they have all the teams like you guys talking trash to each other like in your mind like honestly are you like fuck these kids are you like i actually want to get to know these kids no it wasn't like that at all yeah it was pretty cool like we had this big room that we would play video games in and like there's ping

pong tables and arcade games and stuff and like i'm playing ping pong against a kid from uh chinese taipei and they're you would think like you know the stigma is you know chinese and japanese people seem like they're you know the ping pong masters or whatever and i'm playing these kids and they're just smacking balls to the to the back wall not hitting the table at all and they're just dying laughing because they're hitting them as hard as they can and that kind of stuff so i mean it was cool but there were definitely some teams that i was like these guys are kind of douchebags like they wouldn't hang out with anyone or they would keep to themselves and not talk to people i mean that kind of sucks because i mean when you're 12 years old and you're at the little league world series and williamsport like wouldn't you want to

just kind of you know get out there and have fun? Yeah. It was like their parents or something. They were just like, you're here for one reason. The coaches, yeah. They were like, you're slaves still. Don't worry about it. Yeah. How did – I mean, that was like so long ago. How did you guys go out again?

Oh, we lost the first two games. Really? Yeah, it was double elimination. I think I remember watching. We played some really good teams. Yeah. I remember watching the second game. I just can't remember because it was so long ago yeah yeah we played california who had so the year after i graduated

high school they had two kids go on the draft out of high school one was the 13th overall pick and the other one was like the 45th overall pick so they were gross uh and then we played pennsylvania and they were really good too and they had 30 000 people cheering for him so that was tough too but why do you think like a lot of those guys like obviously there's like injuries and stuff and like you know emotional stuff but like so many players get drafted and you know obviously they'll get sent to like you know double a triple a whatever like what do you what do you think like is like um one of the main reasons people kind of like drop

off um so the uh the giants always preach consistency they don't care if you have like one unbelievable game and then you have a shitty game like that to them that's just showing that all right you had a good day yeah but if you can consistently be like you know give quality starts or like have quality at bats every single game and be able to do that for an extended period of time they respect that at a higher level than that guy who's just unbelievable one day and then sucks the next yeah so i'd say consistency is one of the biggest things that they talk about. And then competitive drive, I think, is a big thing.

There are some guys that literally just don't care, and they don't work as hard as some other guys do to, like, you know, get where they want to be. And some guys just think they've already made it. Like their goal is to get drafted, they to them they achieved their goal already and you know whatever happens after that happens so that's kind of what i think happens to guys like when they don't you know move up or anything like that it's more mental than anything really yeah it's a mental grind for sure yeah that's pretty crazy man what do you like because like when i watch i don't really even watch baseball anymore i was talking to like odell about this too like

sometimes we'll throw in a game and just change the channel. Some games are just wicked boring. I don't even think really. It's not even necessarily how boring it is. It's kind of like, do you ever see a pop-up get hit and the outfielder just kind of jogs to it? They could have caught a ball, but they just let it go by them and then they jog to it again.

But then you have players who actually go all out yeah so i feel like there's like a huge you know huge difference between those two yeah and i mean there still are players who like go all out but a lot of them like you know when you think about the new york yankees and stuff like a lot of those guys are just making millions but uh, I mean, that's always kind of bothered me. Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, I always respect the guys that play hard. I want to be known as a guy that plays hard and, you know, cares. Think about like a Dustin Pedroia going all out. Yeah, like a dirt dog kind of guy.

Yeah, versus like Manny Ramirez when a fly ball is hit his way. You know what I mean? Yeah. Everyone loved Manny, though. Manny was Manny. that's a little different but yeah i know what you're saying like guys who don't you don't appear to give a high effort when they're doing certain things and that definitely pisses people off yeah but they still get away with it though i think it's just because of their potential yeah they they get away with it because manny got away with it because he hit bombs and

everyone loved him exactly yeah some kids get away with it either because they uh got a big signing bonus and the team it's like i gotta give this kid a shot since i just paid him so much money or i mean they just they play well and then they think they they got it and i don't know they just kind of lull the gag sometimes yeah what keeps you going like what keeps you interested though in baseball like what do you interested, though, in baseball? Like, what do you say to people who say, like, baseball is boring? I say that they're right in a way. I wouldn't say that baseball is boring,

but I think that there are definitely parts of the game that are boring to, like, the normal person because there's a lot of thinking that has to go on. And, like like if you do something wrong by this much like a tiny bit then I mean you're gonna lose the game and there are like certain points in games where people don't really realize like the game is won or lost not in the ninth inning most of the time like there are key moments throughout the game that if this guy makes a pitch right here they're gonna win and so like those high

intensity moments are high intensity for the players like at those certain periods of the game whereas people kind of are like oh i just want to tune into the last couple innings here and see like who wins yeah that's what happens yeah yeah it's kind of like a porno oh my god yeah i guess in a way yeah but um what is like your plan though like do you do you know like do you have a plan in mind you're just kind of like going with the flow like you're gonna try try as hard as you can and like training camp and whatnot and then just go from there yeah i mean i'm my goal is like don't even know where they're gonna send you no they don't tell us until after spring training is pretty much over where they're

gonna send us i think they'll definitely give you a fair chance though, right? Yeah, yeah, I think so. They seem like they're a pretty, you know, respectable organization. I mean, I like playing for them. They're really good to us. They do a lot of things that some of my other friends who are in minor league ball right now, they're like, dude, they do that for you? Like they make you food every single day.

They give you breakfast and lunch, and you get money for dinner? I'm like, yeah, that doesn't happen for you. Have you been in the area? Have you looked around a little bit? In Arizona? Yeah. Yeah. So we're in Scottsdale.

And Scottsdale is one of the craziest hubs for like partying and everything. It's unbelievable. Yeah. I only, I've only been out there one time. Just, it was, we had an off day the next day. My friends wanted to do it. So I went out with them and it was crazy. And that wasn't even when school was in session because Arizona State and U of A... They don't even go to school, dude.

No. Arizona State and U of A are within 15, 20 minutes, both of them. From what I hear during the school year, that place is just rocking every single night. Oh, yeah. I didn't go out very much at all, but that one time that I did, I was like, wow, this is a different world. It's literally just a different world.

What about San Francisco? Have you ever been over there at all? Yeah, I went there once. They brought us out for a rookie strength camp in November. I think it was mid-November. We went to the field. We were in the big clubhouse locker room every day. We just did strength and conditioning stuff for a week straight. And that place is unbelievable.

Like, the field itself is beautiful. Like, the surrounding is really nice. Right on the water. Yeah, if you hit one over right field, which you could definitely do. That place is, yeah, it was unbelievable. I liked it a lot. The only thing is city traffic is tough. Like, we were living about a mile away in a hotel and it was like the team hotel basically for guys who don't have you

know places around there and we were going home one day and it took us 45 minutes to get like a mile and a half down the road it's like this is just not okay yeah it's like traffic and the state income tax yeah it's so high so like i mean your salary could be marked up pretty high but then if you take in like the state oh yeah it's like 40 yeah that's crazy dude yeah much i mean i don't even know i can't even imagine what's going on over there right now with the quarantine like a bunch of people must be like i just want to get out of here yeah so i have a couple friends over there right now and they're saying that everything is like still completely shut down for the most part yeah and they're not planning on taking it all off they're they're way behind us still they're more in like new york's kind of state of mind fuck dude yeah they're in that same

when he said like a bunch of his neighbors died i I was like, what the fuck dude? Oh wow. That's terrible. Yeah. But yeah, my friend said that he can't, he doesn't even have someone to throw with right now. Cause everyone's afraid and he just literally can't do anything at all. Really? Yeah. And they pretty sure the governor of California threatened to have full

quarantine till August. If people don't abide by the rules and they were like are you fucking kidding me it's like what are you supposed to do yeah but they have so many people so it's like so many people what can you do I don't even know man you gotta let people outside though yeah I mean so I saw actually something that was really interesting the other day and it was about like the corona numbers and all that stuff and so the four most populous states california texas florida and new york and texas and florida are like some of the most open states in the country right now the only thing that's closed still are gyms and they have a lesser um infected

rate and death rate than the places that are like California and New York that are super locked down and everything yeah and I'm sure that has to do with like like how compact the people are put together and because New York City obviously is like super you know tight-knit and yeah everything people are right on top of each other but I still thought that was really interesting to see that the difference between places being open and not open really doesn't make that much of a difference oh yeah dude i got a i got a buddy down in uh austin texas right now and he like i was talking to him the other day he's like yeah i'm at a bar right now i'm like yeah yeah it's crazy but then you look at new york city it's just like a swamp

town dude like people over there are going like fucking crazy yeah even in michigan dude people are going nuts like there was a bunch of people, like, brought guns to the governor's office. Oh, wow. And, like, it's like, dude, what are you doing? Yeah, threatening himself. Why are you bringing a gun? They're, like, picketing with guns. But, like, not, like, handguns, like AK-47s.

It's like, what are you doing, bro? Yeah, that's not okay. That's just not okay. Yeah, man, who knows? But you think there's gonna be a baseball season i mean obviously you hope there's going to be yeah i do hope so but i really don't know it all comes down to if the mlb players association and the mlb itself can come to an agreement because how the first one came out was the MLB proposed that they would split the revenue that the team makes for the season

with the players. Yeah, the 50-50 split. Yeah. But for the players, that's going to be way less than, like, what their salary would be. And they're not asking for their full salary. They just want to be paid their salary based off of how many games they play. So play half the season, they want half of their salary.

Yeah. Which to them seems fair but to the team and the owners they're like i don't think i can do that this season and the players come back as always well why don't you want to do the the revenue splitting when you're making billions of dollars and you're gonna have to pay me more that way so it's kind of like a back and forth thing that's going on and it's at a stalemate right now. And I just think if they can come to a compromise, it'll happen. But if they can't, then there won't be. Yeah.

When was the last time they had like a player strike back when like in the 90s pretty much? Yeah, I think it was 90s or early 2000s, something like that. Yeah, there was that one guy. What did he play for, the Devil Rays or something? You said he was on ESPN. Blake Snow. Yeah, he just said like, fuck no. Yeah, he like oh yeah he's on espn yeah he just said like fuck now yeah he was on a he was on a live stream on i think he was playing it would be the show

yeah and someone asked him like what's happening like why aren't you guys playing and he kind of just went off about it because most of the guys are peeing pretty quiet and he was the first one to kind of say like i'm not gonna risk my career and if i get this virus nobody knows if it has like long-term effects on your body and everything so i don't want to you know risk my future as a player yeah and then he brought up the money thing and everybody was kind of coming at him like oh you make so much as it is you shouldn't care this and that and he's like so you're on the owner's side who make billions of dollars and they were like oh that's a good point so i mean i don't really have a stance as it is because i mean i don't make millions of dollars like they do but um it's kind of interesting to look at it

from both ways yeah yeah i wonder if like anyone would even be down to play with no fans i feel like at this point everyone just wants to play so it's like yeah just make it happen but i don't know man it's kind of like i know gyms are opening up around here like on june 1st yeah but they're doing like uh it's like two hour increments 10 people at a time okay which kind of makes sense yeah i mean i think that's a good way to start it for sure reasonable amount of time i mean i go to the gym in the morning anyway so like it's not like i'm gonna be affected but for people who go after work might be get a little get a little jam-packed you know yeah for sure yeah all right brother well this was fun we got a lot of good time yeah thanks for coming man um i wish you the best dude i got a bunch of text messages asking about you people are just like holy shit he's in the ml best dude i got a bunch of text messages asking about you people

are just like holy shit he's in the mlb and uh yeah a lot of people are shocked man they're like chris is coming on i'm like fuck yeah man hell yeah i loved it this is awesome stuff bro yeah wish you the best man uh good luck and uh thanks for coming on bro thanks thanks for having me