The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian Bogusevic Joins The Show After Tough Win vs Royals

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

Brian Bogusevic Joins The Show After Tough Win vs Royals

1101 on Sports Talk 790. Let's spend 10 quality minutes with our regular Wednesday guest. He is Astros Analyst on Space City Home Network, and we are very happy to have him with us every Wednesday at 11 o'clock. Brian Bogusevick on the show, and Brian, as you know, in television, getting in and out of the stadium in a relatively decent hour, is spectacular.

Two hours and less than 210 last night to watch a great pitchers matchup and a dramatic and very happy ending for folks that are rooting for the local nine. Yeah, I like, I like, wins. I especially like wins that are under two and a half hours. So last night was about as good as it gets for us. Hey, let me tell you, we've kind of brought up this narrative this year, good framer

versus bad fromber. Last night was great fronber. What did you see maybe that we have not seen even some of his better performances earlier in the year? Well, first of all, he had all three of his pitches working, fastball change up and the curveball. And there

have been, you know, more than a handful of starts where he hasn't had everything and it's taken him a couple innings to feel out what is working and what is not working and then adjust accordingly. He had everything going from the jump yesterday, and for him, that means everything is down. If you look at like a spray chart of his pitches from yesterday, everything was the bottom third of the zone and below, and with a guy who has such big movement on his sinker, if he can start it at the knees and drop it below, he's going to get a ton of curveballs. If he can convince hitters that he's going to be at that bottom of the zone

and they're going to have to deal with that pitch and they're going to have to swing at that pitch, he can then go to the curveball and get them chasing pitches below the zone for a lot of swing and miss. You know, when the change-up is coming out of the same slot as the fastball, and they're having a rush out there trying to get to 95-96, it's going to be even more weak contact ground balls. And when you're seeing everything on the ground from Framber and then couple that with a bunch of swings and misses on the curve, He's going to be almost impossible to beat.

Brian, shouldn't he have more nights like this? I mean, look, not every pitcher for every start is going to be able to give you eight innings or going to be, you know, there'll be nights where you get knocked around a little bit. But by the type of pitches he throws, with the fluidity in his motion, shouldn't he be a guy, even as long as he's been the major leagues that should be around that an 85, 90, 95 pitch count to go deep into games? Isn't that what Frumber was kind of built for? Yeah, you look at the type of pitcher. he is, you know, even though he can get swings and misses at a high rate, especially with

his curveball, he is at his core a pitch-to-contact action type of pitcher, and that typically lends itself to guys going deep in games. And, you know, sort of the rules of engagement have changed over the last 20 years of how deep you're willing to let guys go. But if there is a profile for the type of pitcher that you can just put out there and push a little bit further or be willing to throw on short rest if need be. He is that guy because everything he does is predicated on movement. And movement, even if you get a little bit tired, even if your pitch count is up near 100,

even if you're, you've been throwing every fifth day or every fourth day, whatever it could be, that doesn't change. Sometimes it'll even get better with a little bit of fatigue. So, yes, he is a guy where if you're going to look at anybody in that rotation, who can get pushed a little bit, it's definitely him. Brian Bogussevik with us here on Sports Talk 790. Esok Paratus with the walkoff and pulled into the Crawford boxes. Just overall, what you've been seeing from him as a hitter,

and for a guy for him who is such heavy pull, what exactly, how does he end up like that, especially with opposing pitchers, know that he's going to try to pull everything, and he's still able to do it? For him, it's by design, and it's by design in how he approaches his at bat. Sometimes you hear about guys who are heavy, heavy pull hitters and you think, well, they must just be cheating. They must just be guessing, swinging early. They're going to be susceptible to chasing.

You know, you've seen a million of those guys come along and it typically doesn't go well. I've been really impressed with him watching him on a day in and day out basis of how he executes, you know, his plan of being a pull hitter. And it's all about knowing what pitches he can handle, knowing what pitchers he can handle, knowing what pitchers. is he can do that with, do that with, and he's really stubborn in his at-batts. He's not going to go and give in and swing at, you know, a sinker down and away early in the count and roll over it. He's looking for breaking balls up. He's looking for fastballs on the inner third that he can turn on. And he'll make the adjustment late in the bat and deal with a tough pitch, you know, with two stripes, if need be. But he really has a

good idea of what pitches he can handle. And he's very stubborn in waiting. out those pitches. That's why he walks. He walks a lot not because he's just trying to get on base or because he's passive. He walks a lot because he doesn't give in in hunting his pitches. And on Jake Myers, this is a running bit here, Brian, on the show that I'm the president of the Jake Myers fan club. We're having a good May, but we also had a good May last year. What are you seeing from him now? Does it feel different or somewhat the same from the May that he had last year

where we're almost waiting for the other shoe to drop? No, I think it feels different. I think it feels different in that it's more consistent. We've seen him get hot at times before, but it was very, very much an all or nothing type of hot streak. You know, he'd get four or five games in a row where everything was falling in and you could just see that he was riding this hot wave and then it would eventually come back to baseline. But right now, it's just a lot of good at bats. It's a lot of hard contact. Even if you look back at the series in Milwaukee, you know, he's, you know, he's a lot of good at bats. It's a lot of hard contact. Even if you look back at the series in Milwaukee, you know, you know, he's just, you know, he's He got a base hit in every game, but there were probably two or three balls that he hit hard every game, and they didn't all fall in. So there's a lot more volume of quality. And he also feels like he's gotten comfortable with his approach. And he's obviously being more aggressive early in at bat. He doesn't want to get to two strikes where pitchers can really try to expand the zone on him. And once you get comfortable with how you want to approach and at bat, it really settles you.

really gives you a good gauge as a hitter of when was I successful in executing my plan and when was I not. And it gives you something to fall back on when you're trying to evaluate, am I doing what I need to do or not, you know, other than just did I get a hit, did I not get a hit? And it seems like he's very comfortable and very settled in how he wants to approach at bats, which has, you know, resulted in a lot more consistency. Are we going to see somebody not named Jeremy Pena in the lead-off spot for the foreseeable future for the local nine? And are you surprised it's going to, on his wall as it has. Are you surprised

that Jose went to him and said, let's make a change? And just your general thoughts about what now he's been able to do kind of finding the most comfortable spot in the line for him in probably a couple of years now. Yeah, I think that's his spot. And I think it's a really good fit.

You know, all the things that he can do from handling his at-back to how dynamic he is on the basis to just, you know, being sort of an energy type of guy at the top of the order, it's a really good fit. And, you know, am I surprised that Jose went to him and said,

hey, let's make this change? No, because that's what Jose Altuvae is. You know, as great a player as he is, he's an even better teammate. So, no, I'm not surprised by the whole situation. And, you know, you have to be able to make quick adjustments being in the leadoff spot. You're going to get a ton of that back. You're going to have, you know, you're going to be the guy getting that fifth or sixth-plate appearance at the end of the game. So you cannot be susceptible to making the same out over and over

again. And he's made a lot of quick adjustments this year. So it's been a really good fit up there. Bogie, we do a segment on Tuesdays called gut feelings. We just make kind of like predictions. I want to get a gut feeling from you on how is Wright Field ultimately going to be settled this year? Is it a mixture of Desenzo and Smith? Do you think one of the two guys takes over? What are your thoughts about both of the guys and how Joe is kind of trying to figure out which hot got to keep in that line up every single day. I think as is right now,

I think it stays as a mixture of playing time. You know, both guys bring things to the table that are valuable. Zach Zendos had a ton of quality at bats. Camp Smith continues to improve, but it's also turning into not just, you know, a

solid outfielder, but a very, very good defensive outfielder. I think the only thing that can throw a wrench in that is if they ever, if they, actually make a move to get a left-handed piece in the outfield. You know, it's a very right-handed team, and that seems like it's the one place that they could add a left-handed bat. And then you're going to have to make a decision on one of those two guys probably. But as is, I think they're doing a nice job finding favorable

matchups. I think either one of those guys at this point, if you throw them out there every day, every day, it might be a little bit too much. But, you know, exposing them to favorable matchups has been working so far. All right, lastly, you are not that far removed from being a player in Major League Baseball. And obviously, a lot of the conversation, the last 24 hours in the sport, has been about Pete Rose being added to the eligible list now for the Hall of Fame. Forgetting about, and if you want to add your two cents on, Pete, we'd love to hear from you. But also your thoughts about the players and what they are told in those meetings before the start of the season, about the absolute no-nows, whether it's performance-dancing drugs, whether it's gambling, How often do the players association, the manager, the coaches, do they get it into your ear?

You guys have to know there's a certain set of rules that will ultimately get you in some trouble. Yeah, well, it's very clear what the rules are. I mean, there are meetings every year in spring training. Any clubhouse do you walk into, whether it be a home or visiting clubhouse, has rules posted, you know, somewhere right near the entrance where everybody can see and read on a daily basis. There's no excuse for not knowing the rules. And I know it's a little bit different now with how more prevalent sports betting is and how easy it is. You know, you basically have a bookie in your hand at all times.

But the excuse of not knowing is not there because it's made very clear. You know, that being said, my opinion on the Hall of Fame, I like very simple. I like black and white where I think the best players should be in. and if you're eligible, I think you vote accordingly. But obviously, you know, writers will vote how they want to vote, and we've seen that play out with the whole performance-enhancing era of some of the voting, you know, not making sense where certain guys get votes and certain guys don't. But, you know, I understand the band and the lifetime ban,

and that played its way out. And, you know, Pete Rose, he served his time. and for the rest of his life he was not eligible. And now that's over. And now that he is eligible and can be voted in, I have no problem with it if that's the case. Okay. We'll leave it that.

Bogey looking forward to seeing you on TV tonight, and we'll talk again next week. Thanks for the visit, as always. All right, I'll see you. All right. It's Brian Bogus Hevik with us here on Sports Talk 790 every Wednesday at 11 o'clock.