This Past Weekend - E285 Dodgers Pitcher Walker Buehler

Episode Date: July 6, 2020

Dodgers All Star pitcher Walker Buehler in studio talking the new Covid MLB season and what to expect, and answering all Theo’s questions about the game.     Check out Theo’s other show King and the Sting https://bit.ly/KATS75_Slices   -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   New Merch https://theovonstore.com    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This episode is brought to you by…   The Zebra https://thezebra.com/theo   Betterhelp   -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Music “Shine” - Bishop Gunn http://bit.ly/Shine_BishopGunn    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hit the Hotline  985-664-9503   Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: http://bit.ly/TPW_VideoHotline  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Find Theo   Website: https://theovon.com  Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend  Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEKV_MOhwZ7OEcgFyLKilw   -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Producer Nick https://instagram.com/realnickdavis     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coming up on his third season as a starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers Here to talk about the the the revamped major league baseball season and what that's going to look like It's my friend and all-star pitcher Uh, mr. Walker Bueller Oh Would you get a beagle? And what can I do can it jump high or anything right now? Oh, wow Really?

Now now how much training goes into training like a hunt dog? I'm gonna send it away. You have to send away for like six months No way out of america or no no to uh, that breeds like all south carolina So you send it there or huntsville. Maybe dude. I'd send that investor to japan. Do you haven't come back like a little ninja? You know, they wouldn't know what ducks are looking for That's sure dude, but he'd be able to sneak into somebody's house at night though. Sure real quiet hunt dog He'd be able to use a sword you like dang. That's the only dog that can use a sword man Walker Bueller, you guys are back in uh training camp or now. What do you guys what does baseball call it?

Uh, they're good. Well, I've heard summer camp, which is an interesting one. It sounds like yeah Like I'm going to swim in a lake or something Um, but no, I think kind of spring training 2.0 is what they're kind of going with And so you were saying you had a place out here in LA and then you had to get you had to You were ready to come back for the season, right? And then you had to just nix it Yeah, so for us we kind of get six eight month leases just try and find somewhere for the season And then I got wrangled into a 10 month lease because I really wanted this place And I was up in the hills and it was like this is my last round my first part of my rookie deals

I was like, all right. I'll just get the cool one. It's been a little extra. I'm gonna splurge a little bit And then we're not here for three months. So uh, no, I got lucky somebody leased it out and I got to find another place But uh, yeah, we were a little disappointed dang And so the time at home were you like uncertain up until the last minute or is like is the players like who's communicating with the Excuse me. Who's communicating with the players like we're gonna do something. We're not gonna play. We are like, is there How does that work for you guys? Yeah, so we have obviously we have our big players union, right? But we have like a rep for each team And of course I got thrown into being our rep two weeks before baseball ended up coming back

So I jumped into this stuff like way late for the Dodgers. Yeah, so it was JT and now I'm I'm our rep but I've been kind of just sitting back chilling waiting on to hear when we're gonna play and then two weeks before everything kind Of came together. It was like hey walk now. You're talking for us. So A lot of group me's on a Senate. Hey, what do you guys think? Yeah, it's uh It's pretty complicated all this you know all the stuff that goes into it that I didn't even really know about and then it's like Hey, you're right in the middle of it. So it's been a little bit of a learning curve kind of, huh? Oh for sure for sure Yeah, and do what is it? What's gonna be different about the season? So the season is happening Mm-hmm, and you guys are in

spring training summer camp 2.0 right now And what's gonna be different about the season? First off they're telling us that you can only have a certain amount of guys in the dugout Which is weird because we all sit in there and hang out and bullshit and whatever during the games So now they're saying if you're not playing you have to sit in the stands So there are going to be fans in the stands except they're going to be us Wearing our full uniforms. Oh You should be like all this changing is something more relaxing. I mean, it's yeah, it's odd

I told I talked to Kersh the other day and I told them they also said we can go home Which is like not something that has ever been okay So I told him hey, I'm I may never watch you throw live all year. He's what are you talking about? I said, I'm just gonna sit in the pool and watch on TV if I can leave Oh because you wouldn't even have to be there because usually the bullpen's there and stuff you mean right the bullpen will still be out There but us we'll just starting pitchers usually sit right there in the dugout and kind of hang out So if we can leave Dan it's almost like you think you'll miss that part

Yeah, you know, what's weird is in Asia leave. That's like standard operating procedure for them So they leave what like if they're not pitching they're not there Yeah, they go in during them, you know during the afternoon get their stuff done an hour before the game they just head out, but We had a Korean guy, Hyunjin Roo That He like hated watching games because he'd never done it in his whole life and then he comes to America and like expected to stay forever Dude, I'm not kidding you that guy would be out of the locker room within five minutes of the last out

I don't even think he showered at the field. I think he just threw shit on his roll No, he's like, I'm not even paying for this over time. He's like, I want to go to dinner Wow, that's crazy. I went to actually a baseball game one time in Japan. Really? Yeah, it's pretty cool. I went to one in Japan and I went to one in Cuba once Um Cuba Yeah, I went to I was in this school like this school program and I got to go abroad and and one of the Like things we got to do when we were there was uh, go to baseball. Interesting. Yeah, I got I got to play in Cuba for a week Wow. Yeah, so I guess I have some sports diplomacy law or something like at that time

We're like the only Americans ever allowed in there. Yeah, and so we went and we lost all five games So I was really happy about that. Well, maybe subliminally I don't think you really want to win over there, right? But we had a good time. It was fun Dang And do you notice anything different like about do you notice anything different about the way that they were that they play or anything? Yeah, I will tell you the big the weirdest thing that they do it So, you know how like if you strike somebody out, they throw the ball around And they just goes once to the third baseman to the shortstop the second baseman and they throw it back to the pitcher

That's how they do it here in us. Yes. Okay in Cuba. They make 30 throws They throw it to the catcher the pitcher will get it throw it back to the shortstop It did the games take 40 minutes major league gets it. He throws it in the home plate. Yeah fan gets a toss on it I mean, it's wild Really? Yeah, the games took like 30 minutes longer because they're just flinging the ball around after every strike out That's pretty wild. I remember one time Actually, I because one of the things I was doing I was travel. I went to on this thing called semester at sea

And it was like a school that goes on a ship and takes you to different countries when you're a student and so we went to Hong Kong and so I remember just walking around during the day and playing pick up basketball games and stuff And the thing that they do there like in That was different after somebody scores They like run it back like whoever gets out of the net runs it you don't dribble it or pass it up You run it up to the top of the top of the key and then start the game again Yes, it really was hard, dude

And they would kind of frown on you like if you threw it up there They would kind of throw it back and you had to like run it like hey stop It was like and it feels weird just to run with a basketball, you know Yeah, so you're playing running back. Yeah. Yeah, it feels like a crime. So but I remember that was like the strangest thing That I remember that was just like, um Like a sport in a different country. I don't think I've ever heard that So with the dugout say in a regular game, you know, can you go over to the other teams dug out or No, if you do that normally there's a fight involved. I don't know if you saw last year

There was a guy named Amir Garrett who pitches for the Reds He played basketball at st. John. So he's a big tall Dude reliever for the Reds, right and they were Reds and Pirates had this whole beef all year He just ran directly at their dugout one on 30 They're throwing bombs at people I play with that catcher too Kyle Farmer. He seemed like he's ready to cause a little trouble too, man I'm Georgia boy We's been traded so much, huh? Well, we seems like that girl in the NBA that everybody bangs. I can't remember her name

So they came to get him out of there and then he said, all right, come on This guy that's a bad boy. I think that one guy Full on oh, he's got a slap. Look at them all. All right Yeah, it is a little bit man That's as good as it gets in a baseball bra. So if you're on the mound right now Usually it seemed like the pitcher is kind of the one that starts the brawl Yeah, it usually boils down to somebody getting hit. So the pitcher is always involved now Me being a smaller guy, we we do rehearse my moves if anything like that ever happens

Like what do you mean? Like you rehearse your move? Well, somebody's gonna run at me if I ever get into one of these situations Okay, so yeah, because you'll hit them on accident. Yes And then so they'll come at you so you have it kind of rehearse what to do then right because I they're gonna be bigger than me Right because I'm small, right. So we've boiled down either have to Slowly creep wait for the corner infielders to come and get them for me, right or I gotta go with a drop kick That's those are really my only two options I think it's a side, you know, it's a it's a mass thing. I just can't yeah, or you just fling the glove that one's been done before How do you hear move this a little closer if you don't mind

How do you so because your size like how does your size compare to to some of the pitchers that are out there? Because kershaw is way taller than you. Yeah kersh is about two inches taller, but he's about 40 pounds heavier 30 pounds heavier than me. I'll give them the benefit right the doubt there Um, yeah, I'm just I'm skinny, you know compared to most guys most guys are pretty Thick and does one of your arms weigh more than the other one of your arms or not? You know, I don't know. I think they're probably pretty close. I would imagine the right one's a little bit bigger Um, just because the extra ligament in there So maybe a couple ounces heavier because you what you got an extra ligament put in

Yeah, so I tore the one but they left it and put a new one in there. So Where did they get that one from they cut it right on my wrist and is that tommy john surgery? No Yeah, that's tommy john. Okay. So tommy john surgery is in the Yeah, so I think you can see the scar here Is right here. Oh, wow, but they cut so if you go like this and then Move your finger up see that big line I've got it on that one but not on this one because that's what they cut out and put back in my elbow Wow, yeah, so yeah, because I always thought tommy john was the shoulder. It's not no, that's tommy john's the elbow labrum

More rotator cuff is the shoulder. That's that's a bad deal. It is. Yeah, tommy john. They're like 90 with now Like you're probably gonna be fine Labrum labrum still like 50 Do you know if you is there a certain like life expectancy on those parts of a pitcher's body where you like, okay? Like an almost like an oil change. Okay at three years. I got to take it in for this and then at nine years I got to take it in um Yeah, you hope you never have them like kersh doesn't ever had an elbow or anything like that But once you have when they say you got about eight years with that new ligament

Then they'll have to do something to to keep it going but I'm on your five on my new one. So we're hoping it'll it'll you know, exceed those those numbers And do you feel different once you got it in? Oh, yeah, I started throwing four or five miles no harder No way. Oh, yeah, you got 12 months of rehab. So you just sit there and lift and watch baseball and play golf basically and Then I started was throwing way harder and I got to the big leagues really quick after that just because Made the game a lot easier. Oh, you got it in college. I got it right after I signed in the pros Okay

So because I know you're out of you're from Kentucky. That's where you and that's where you live now also, right? Yep, and um And then you went to Vanderbilt. Yep three years there and then that's when you get into the pros Yeah, so you get drafted after your junior season typically and you still come back for your senior season. No, no, no So I never graduated. None of that. I didn't graduate. I only played three years got drafted and then you move on Okay, and now when you get drafted a lot of times, it's like it seems like these guys. Where did you get drafted at? Um, what do you mean like you get drafted in certain picks, right? Yeah, so I was a 24th pick Okay, but which for most people would be a really cool thing your first round pick

I was the third guy on our team to get drafted. So it was kind of like I was happy but I was also a little you know pissed right But you get a little pissed all the time about a lot of stuff though Yeah, I'm kind of really angry that way. Yeah, you know, you get that fire in you a little bit Yeah, a little jealous little uh, little competitive that chip on your shoulder. Yeah, you have to be I always tell everyone My dad's like five foot eight. No, I was like one of the only things he ever gave me was my napoleon complex I'm almost six two probably. I feel like I'm about five foot four Dude, that's funny. It's like this this guy has the tallest napoleon complex we've ever seen

He's borderline. I think it's it's up there probably and uh, and what did your dad do? What did your dad do for work? So he works bank of america kind of boring commercial lending stuff, but uh, yeah, he does that Yeah, he actually just moved to urvine. So we're really excited to have him out here So I'll get to see him more. He's been in colorado the past few years. So And what about your mom? My mom's an attorney in lexington So she has her own little own little law firm there and does all that stuff But she she used to tell me my favorite thing was she would tell me a case when I was like six years old

And I would tell her what I think it was worth and I'd be within like 30 grand every time Like yeah, they left this gauze in this woman. I'm like 1.7 not 1.6. Yeah. Yeah, so that's 4,800 mom Yeah, that's what she said. I had some weird neck for it But I always said that's probably what I would do if I didn't play but I'm kind of glad I don't have to do that shit. Yeah, did you um, did you uh, tell me a little bit more about some of the new rules that are going to be going on Okay, so they're saying we can't spit number one. So you watch a baseball game, you know people spit because that's gonna That's gonna be interesting. They're saying instead of spitting We're gonna have a wet rag in our back pocket so we can touch that and then go to the ball because you need a little moisture sometimes

So we'll see how long that one lasts. I think um, obviously the dugout stuff Because someone's gonna spit immediately just by nature. Yeah, you don't even know you do it. Yeah, you know, you just Spit. Oh, um, so that'll be interesting. Is it a penalty if you spit or they're just gonna be like somebody saying, hey I think they can find you. No. Yeah. Oh, yeah, fine. You I don't understand why it would be a financial thing I think it's a bacteria in the air. They believe I also know that if you hit a ground ball and more than two guys hit Touch the ball. So you threw it Mm-hmm third baseman catches it. Those are the first baseman three guys touch it gotta get a new ball. Uh-oh. Oh, yeah It's gonna be wild. Oh my god. This is gonna be like the unharlem globetrotters, man. Yeah

And so are you concerned about how um And now hold on there's more rules though, too I read one that there is because I didn't know about these so but there's one where if you guys you guys aren't gonna bat anymore Correct. So the pitchers will no longer bat. Yes, which is a good thing Bad thing it's all it's all good and bad because I we like to hit but we all suck. Okay, so there's Like there's two pitchers maybe they can actually really hit right. We don't have any of them No offense to Kersh or any of those guys none of our guys can hit. Okay, so But now I got to face another actual hitter. I don't get to face

Oh myself which is kind of a freebie a lot of time. So, yeah, so a lot of those guys in because the american league they have They have the dh already. So they have the the pitcher never bats, right? So they have nine professional hitters. So they have a so american league pitchers It's harder for them to get a no-hitter for sure. Wow 100% Dang it's not easy regardless, right easier in the national league probably um Okay, so I'm just thinking about these rules. This is so insane, dude I almost feel like now I'm at the rodeo and it's almost like we're not playing baseball anymore. We're just playing like wiffle ball, but

um Okay, so now also there's a rule If you guys go to extra innings that they're gonna put someone on second base Yeah, so that that they've been doing that in the minor leagues for a long time Kind of testing it out. It'll jt actually came out and said he wanted homerun derby And that's jt snow just in turner our third baseman big red beard guy. Okay. He said he wants a homerun derby to break the Break the extra innings, which I love. I think it'd be hysterical at the end of the camera. Everybody's all tired dirty I'm just trying to hit homer

And that's what the extra innings really are because everybody wants to hit the walk-off. So Everyone just tries to hit home runs all the time in extra innings anyway. So They've done this rule with the guy in second Forever in the minor leagues trying to figure it out and now we're gonna give it a go in the big leagues I guess but it'll be interesting. Do you have any thoughts? Yeah, like what are your thoughts on it? I luckily have never like had to start an inning that I didn't let somebody on base and they just stuck somebody out there But um, there'll be pressure right out the gate because that guy's already there Yeah, and then there's like a million different strategies

You know, you can bun or whatever to try and get him to third so you can score easier and It might be cool It might be a way for a pitcher finally get back in the batter's box though because pitchers are pretty pretty good bunners typically And but you all but even if your team doesn't get to bat first, you still get the bottom of that inning, right? Yeah. Yeah Yeah, because that almost seems like man you could easily get the Yeah, maybe it'll make it a little more exciting. It might because sometimes these games just go on forever We had that world series game two years ago that went 17 innings and I threw the first seven of it I was at the ballpark longer not playing than I was and I threw the ball really good. It was just took forever

We played Should I got home at like three in the morning that day? And when the games start like So whenever it gets into late innings guys are just trying to hit that walk off Yeah, why because it's just a beautiful thing to see on this fourth. Yeah, I think so That's so great. It's it's very funny how it happens in them in the in the extra innings Like everyone either punches out or hits hits the homer, you know, but sometimes that's why they go so long Oh, I'd hit that homer Have to so you can't go over to the dugout for anything. What if you tell the buddy something?

Can you run over there and tell him something if he's in the other team? You know, I don't know if they're gonna let us have phones walkie-talkies We kind of but even before that like last like say last season you wanted to tell a buddy something Oh, yeah, we just sit there and bullshit the whole time But in the other dugout, I mean no you can't nothing even if it's your buddy No, you can't and you know, there's certain times where it's okay to like go say what's up and then there's certain times that it's not Um, so I can batting practice and stuff sometimes we'll linger out there and talk to the other team but

No, after a certain point. There's there's nothing We've got a question right here from a young fellow right here And this might be crumb Gracie right here this guy How do you feel about the whole science ceiling scandal that's been going on and do you think that is uh It is going to affect in any way or shape the way that you guys play baseball this season Or is it going to be the same? Thank you for answering Hey guys from Puerto Rico, man

The science do you know much about this or no, uh, I know that houston got in trouble, right? So what's interesting is they were doing all this shit live. So They'd know what was coming before it even came right when that's unfair right Which we're all against that a lot of got you know, we do scouting and things like that that You can push a limit and we all kind of know what that limit is and they were past it. So Um, you know, and then the red sox got banged they weren't doing anything near what what houston was doing so houston was really what they were They were

Knowing what the signs were and then communicate finding ways to communicate. Yeah, they were hitting on the wall Was that stuff real or do you think a lot of that's been exactly? No, I mean the videos seem to seem to really say that that was what was going on I wasn't on the team really at that point. I'd been in the big leagues, but I didn't make the place their postseason roster so I wasn't there but From everything I'd heard I think it was it was pretty legit that they were they were doing something And so say if something like that is going on who knows about it on the team would everybody know or would just

Yeah, um, that kind of stuff's obviously going to be relayed to the pitchers and catchers more than anybody because they're doing the signs Um, but everyone's going to know that stuff kind of travels like wildfire, I guess Um, didn't they say they're possibly wearing buzzers too? Even yeah, that was the rumor Um, I don't think that one was ever proven But you know, I think when you do one if one thing you caught for one thing Everybody can say you could do a million different things and it's kind of hard not to Not to at least think it could happen But yeah, because once you start also taking advantage of the rules or bending them and you know

Once you get one way to do it, it's easy to be like, oh, I can also probably do this way Right, and Jose Otuve after he hit that walk-off and they like they all rushed him at the mound at the time I was like, oh, that was adorable because he's like, don't rip my shirt My wife will be mad at me But it seemed like after it was because they would uncover his buzzer, right? Conspiracy theories are great. Yep. It seemed pretty lot plausible. Yeah. I mean, you know, it is what it is Obviously we weren't in the locker room or in their locker room and knew what was going on But but if something like that was going on on a team, right?

Yeah, say it's going on even on your it was going on and just this hypothetical on a team that you're on Wouldn't Would somebody on the team what is there a code in there where it's like, this is how we do it It's just this is our how we do it this year Do you think somebody would raise their hand or with that person raise their hand you'd be like, dude, chill the fuck out Yeah, there's some sort of there's some sort of like clubhouse security I guess where everything kind of a lot of stuff stays in there and shouldn't go anywhere. So Like if somebody in your own team told told on you about it, like there'd be problems, I think

But yeah, I think if it's helping you win I think everyone's going to know on the team and everyone's going to be involved personally that would be my My guess It's an interesting it's an interesting deal um Do you Do pictures get are you when you go out there to play? Um and last year you had your first all-star season right congrats man. Thank you. Um when you go out there to play

Are you playing okay? I'm gonna beat this other pitcher. I'm gonna beat this team like what is the pitchers kind of motivation Or maybe not even motivation, but who is he? Who are you against? Yeah, I think I think it's the other team is the big thing but when you face guys that you've like Grown up watching there's a little bit of like oh shit like I'm facing Max Scherzer today And I think for me it was always like oh, I get to hit against him and just see what this is all about That's gone

But no, I think most of the time it's it's the other team and the pitchers kind of secondary unless it's like a certain guys Okay, so so when you're pitching then if it's a certain pitcher up there Then you might feel like oh, this is kind of exciting right like for you It'd be I think like for you'd be like oh, I'm getting more views on this podcast But if we had the same guest who's did more it would be more important. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, your mom's also win probably But yeah, no, I see what you're saying. Okay, and if a pitcher gets up there So it's kind of cool say if there's a if there's a great pitcher It's kind of cool for you to be able to bat because you get too bad against him

Yeah, because you've watched it on his pin your whole life, right? So you're like, oh like why can't these guys hit this and then he throws you that one pitch and you're like, oh now I get Get why don't we can hit this shit Sure as there was like that for me. Really? Oh, yeah What was it about his? Well, he threw me a fast one the first one looked Wasn't super hard and then a couple more pitches. He threw me another fast one. I didn't even see it was so firm I guess he just kind of like laid off one and then threw one hard and I was oh my god

Damn, I think I was like laughing walking off. I was like I have no chance Yeah, it seems here. We got a kid right here that has a question that dole shirt. Yeah, baby. Bob. Don't You know what up the oh what up walker? I just had a quick question for walker When I'm watching baseball, there's a couple guys I kind of key in on wanting to watch Guys like yourself jack flaherty max scherzer Guys that are just bulldogs on the mound I was wondering if walker had any guys that he likes to watch

Whether it's starting pitchers or position players But guys that he just enjoys watching them do their thing out there on the ball field So anyway, um, hope you guys are having a good day and Theo gang gang Thanks, bro. Nice guy Where did that come from gang gang? Yeah, I don't know really it was before my time here With you just been rolling. Yeah, I don't really know man, but it's just people like it And now it's just become the sign off on the end. We got to get walker some slides Yeah, we got to get you some slides man. I'll rock those awesome rock

Hey, our trainers get so mad because I just watched Instagram videos all the time while they're working on my arm And they just hear all these theophiles They're like, oh man, walker's not gonna have a good year One of my first days back like a couple days ago. I was watching shit and they were just like oh bueller's back Well, I think the first time you said you heard about me all was all was the we were talking about bryce harper Yeah, when he won all that cocaine money. Yeah, the 330 million. I'd have been combing my hair with cocaine, bro I don't have that kind of money. What's the one I so we always get these new interns Sorry, we'll get to your question. Okay. We always get these new interns and I show them

There's one you start about eating pineapple and some of these grandmothers That's like the first thing I always show these interns. Check this out. This is hysterical. They're like They're like, yeah, welcome. The caption is Teyama them chunks. Yeah, Teyama them chunks, baby They're like, man, I gotta go get a job at the marlins after this. This is getting really shoddy over here Um, but no one of the guys he mentioned jack flair. He's a buddy of mine and we've pitched against each other twice And and back in the minor leagues too. So he's probably one of my favorite guys to watch now. Yeah Uh, yeah, he's from out here somewhere. I think he went to harvard westlake. Hmm. That's a fancy school. Oh, yeah Yeah, they got three guys in the big leagues now that we're all high school teammates

Which is oh, I think oj's is just pe Harvard westlake is stacked bro. They have a really stacked squad. They're unbelievable So wow, that's so interesting. So is it easier as a pitcher when you get up there to bat against a pitcher? It would seem like, oh, well You know what they're doing. Yeah, you know, I I think my career batting average is under a hundred So I I don't think I have any any way to say any of it's easy Um, so none of it on kind of terrible, but You know, it's part was part of the game. I guess it's it's sad even walking up there sometimes with the bat Like is it certain guys? You're absolutely

Because as a viewer you're like, oh man, this seems real sad Like why would they do this is almost like when they shoot bambi and that's tough Bambi kind of feel like a gladiator, but you're like the guy without a sword. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, definitely Oh, let's see what this guy with a notebook is gonna do over here Damn, and you can't act like you don't have a chance. No, so a real hitter walks up and they're like, all right I'm trying to hit this ball hard. I want to try and sit on it I just walk up there and try and see as many pitches as I can Like my goal is to foul balls off most of the time. Yeah. Yeah, because that counts almost for you guys

Well, yeah, hell, yeah, if you see six pitches, you've done like a really good thing. Wow. Oh, yeah, instead of just three right down the middle Gala hat over here. Yeah Um, and so you you can't tell though when a pitch leaves a pitcher It's the same you are you then not a pitcher once you're batting it? I mean, I know that yeah, technically you're still a pitcher and you're batting, but Do you have any ins is there any insight as to what's gonna happen? Yeah, I was actually a really bad hitter in high school because I would like give these other guys credit for I'd be like, all right, if that was me pitching, I'm like looking for this pitch

Like I would do this and they would never do it almost like a blackjack. Yeah, you think like Oh, poker or whatever like if I had this hand, I'd do that and they were terrible. Wow And so I'd be like, oh, I'd throw a slider right here and they just throw me a fastball right down the middle. I'd miss But it was it was just because they were a bad pitcher. Yeah, and I was overthinking it. Oh, that's funny Dang dude, that's so crazy. Man. It seems like it is man. I remember the first time I ever got up to bat man They had this uh And I was horrible at it. I mean, I remember one time they put us out there I remember eating psychedelic mushrooms out in outfield. That'll happen. Yeah

Wait, dude, we had right and double right on our team didn't I always had to play double right back the back right Oh, dude, and one time I ended up working at the snowball stand for two innings, dude It was like man, but the coach said it still counted, you know, right? Well, he had to play two innings Yeah, that was the rule. Yeah. Oh, that was the saddest. Oh, it was the worst get in there. All right And then I had an appendectomy in my appendix burst when I was a kid lapping the bases Really between two bases. So I hit the ground man, you know, because I couldn't tag you out or no Or they give you the base. I don't know what happened. The coach was furious. He's like run Called me an MF for this back when you still call kids an MF for you and he's like run MF for run

And I was just like squealing just I can't yeah, I can't I mean I couldn't I know what was going on And he came and dragged me by both my arms from third to home, dude, and we got the run But it was like dude who gave a shit our team was horrible. We're playing at the american legion Yeah, it just meant you didn't get slaughtered. Yeah, everybody. There's a vietnam veteran dude getting sunburned waiting for their check It was just rocky um so Any other any other expectations you have going into the season does it feel like going into a regular season like

Absolutely not. Okay. It can't we've been sitting at home for three months. You know what I mean? So I don't know. Well, I hope we get all our games in that'd be the biggest thing in the playoffs and all that but With all the new Covid's around I guess, you know, I don't know what's gonna happen. Yeah, and they are planning on traveling Yeah, so what they did normally we we play every nationally team So we go to the east coast Back and forth all the time which sucks because we get screwed on the time stuff But we're only playing. I think we're only playing like

The the nl west so our division and the al west so we're kind of staying out here, which will be nice Travel wise. Yeah, you know what I mean instead of six hours flight six hour flights to washington and shit like that So that so they're making it easy that way. There'll be nobody in the stands. Correct. What do you think like is that kind of Is everybody still going to care about the game as much it takes some of the ego out of it almost Yeah, it takes some of the energy out of it for sure You know like I think a lot of teams are talking about buying crowd noise or pumping crowd noise in there So it feels a little bit. Oh, yeah more like it. It's on korea. They're using sex dolls In the stands. Yeah. Oh, that'd be kind of cool

Some teams I heard are You can pay 50 bucks and get a cardboard cut out of yourself put in the stadium. Wow Which is kind of interesting That's not a bad idea. No, but they're doing some they're doing some wacky stuff especially over there in korea Wow. Yes, those were sex dolls cheering on a south korean soccer team. I think they got in trouble for that Why some of those chicks are hot and they're wearing masks It's an interesting deal gosh and they're six feet apart Yeah, that's a that's an interesting one. Wow someone social media. Go back up to the top if you don't mind, Nick

Um over the weekend mannequins were placing the stands for match against wangju fc someone supposed to be nerdy the telltale signs Business logos for sex toy marketers. I'm trying to add some funny says Fun in the no spectator match I like it kind of I love the idea of having somebody be able to send a picture in or like get themselves put in the stands like for a certain Like I said, you could do that as a gift to somebody. Yeah, you know like you're there Yeah, happy birthday with three in tanger stadium And maybe somebody that doesn't want to be there. It's like grandma, you know imagine open that for christmas

It just says you have a cardboard cutout. Yeah, you never get to see it You don't get to watch a game, but you might get catching glimpse on tv. It's almost like getting one of those stars It's like somebody by the star. You're like, oh, thanks asshole. We're adopting some sea otter. Yeah, yeah, dude You have to go outdoors at night. I live in a dangerous neighborhood We should say michael landed That's a great idea. That's pretty um Today's episode is brought to you by better help You know, it's not anything new to know that people need help

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slash The zebra.com I know that I'm using I'm paying too much. So I'm going to check it out and see what I can do Thank you guys for supporting the podcast So, yeah, I'm trying to think of anything else that will be different out there So there'll be no snacks because nobody's buying them all that's going to be down Yeah, it's just going to be solely to make sure that they have a season probably to keep the Flagship of the whole business going correct, which is pretty important. Oh, yeah. Yeah

Yeah, you know, I think one of the big things has been the owners come out saying we're not going to make we're not making any money We're going to lose money, but everybody's franchise is keep going up. So these owners. Yeah, they're not bringing in cash Right, but they can sell this thing for X amount more every year that they keep it. So Um, you know, we're excited to get back out there and play obviously and And you know, at least people can watch us at home, which will be fine Now are you in the end where you're excited like, yes, we're going to get to play We're going to get to do we're going to get to do something. Yeah, all of us I think are there's a few guys that have opted out of it, which I think

You know, if you have family and stuff, I think that's a that's a decision that you have to really like stare down But I'm ready to go. I'm excited They have a uh, a latino friend of mine named Rudy and he's oh, no, he's not just latino. He's specifically mexican and he Uh, works at this He's like the manager at this cafe that I go to all the time my neighborhood and he loves you and he's like, oh that guy Hey, that guy local. That's how he always says. Yeah, you know, I have my moments But it's pretty funny every time I go in there. He didn't even say your name anymore. He's just like, oh that guy local Yeah, I had a couple and he talks a little bit Asian. Unfortunately. My accents are not good

My my rookie are two two live tv f bombs. We've tried to try to curtail those It's not very family friendly But but do you think that chip where's that chip when your shoulder come from man? Because you definitely like You have an intensity about you that I think Like when I first met you, I was like, wow, just because of your size And I mean, you're you know, you're bigger than me than I am but and this was the same way when I met drew breeze I was like, wow, I This is not exactly who I expected. Maybe if I thought these days of a major leap picture. Yeah, I think uh

As I said earlier, Napoleon complex is for sure part of it. But I think the other thing was Being small I played a little football. I was always too scared I think when I played baseball, I was like, oh, I'm the smallest one, but I'm not I don't have to be scared of this Nobody's gonna hurt me, you know And so I think you take that little fear and and turn it somewhere else so you can kind of function I guess and as the stakes get higher, I think it just amplifies it for me at least Where I get a little more, you know, a little more jazz juiced up. Yeah um

When you're pitching, do you is there a pitch like does the catcher who gets to pick what pitch you throw the catcher? Are you um, so the catcher gives the way they explain it catcher gives you a suggestion And you agree to that suggestion 95 of time. We have a whole big meeting That's like 30 30 minutes on going over every hitter and and what we want to do before the game So we kind of know like at least out there. I don't have to think as much I told them what I think now they kind of just remind me and then I throw that pitch. Okay, um, But my rookie or we had a really veteran catcher so Couldn't really shake them off. You can't really say no really. Yeah

Yeah, certain guys. So if you had Mike Piazza or something sitting out there, you'd probably go along with what he says Yeah, wow Because he's seen these batters so many times right and you and knows The assumption is that he's been there longer. So he knows what you're doing better than you do, you know Now if you throw a pitch that they choose then it's also kind of nice for you because then if it gets rocked Do you have somebody to blame it on? Right, right, right, you know, it's that's an it's the worst possible scenarios You shake the guy off three times and throw it then he hits a homer because then the catcher just says listen dumbass I told you, you know, yeah

That's actually exactly what they will say So that so that relationship between catcher a pitcher and catcher is pretty it's pretty severe huge. Yeah. Wow. Yeah Really super trusting, you know, you have to be or else you're gonna freak yourself out the whole time And do you have does every pitcher have every same pitch as everybody else do some pitchers have? No, everybody's got different different stuff and Even we all call certain things the same thing and they act completely different. It's just kind of the way you are You know what I mean? It's like How you run or how you talk it just oh, I throw a slider and mine moves like this and there's moves like this and

Like uh, like your boy clevenger. Yeah, and I throw very similar stuff His stuff is bigger mine's kind of harder. It's just they're all different little variations. He's a little more flashier, too Yeah, I guess had it up. Oh, dude. Wow. Yeah. Oh, he tried to sell me a unicorn egg one time You know what I'm saying? He's got yeah, that's not surprising man He definitely did he pulled a seashell out of his hair one time and I listened to it, bro And it told me the future a whole story, but then he made me give it back to him. Yeah. Yeah That's interesting. So he's Yeah, we saw him we were in phoenix eating breakfast or lunch or something. I saw him in shorts

We're about halfway down his thigh Anyway, he's sexy bro. He'll show those legs off. Yeah, Todd. I tanked up on all his boys dressed exactly the same I've never met the guy I want to sell that's my clubbinger. Oh that it makes a lot more sense now I think he has a flower on his glove. Oh, he's one of a kind dude. He told me he was trying to uh He told me his glove was vegan and I was like that's insane made of leather too. Yeah, that's ironic and insane Um, but yeah, man, he's one of a kind man Um

How much does some of the pictures I noticed like even Mike's one of the guys who their leg movements will be different How much are you allowed to do there before it's like Like considered a type of trickery or something. Um, if there's nobody on nobody on base You can basically do whatever you want. Wow Basically There's some rules. Have you heard of a bach? Yeah, a bach is so that's when you're creating deception in an illegal fashion That's what a bach is. Okay So is that shady to do if you bought it just sucks. They get a free base

Okay, so if you got a man on if you got a man on third and bach they score They don't have to touch it. They don't have to touch the ball nothing. They just walk home. Wow Yeah So that's if you kind of everybody gets a free base if you want no matter where they are. Oh, yeah Oh, it sucks Have you ever lost a game on a bach before no my high school lost I was in eighth grade going to watch our varsity team. I was like so excited. They lost on a walk-off bach It was tough to watch you seniors last game

The guy fucks up one time and Game's over seasons over. So what constitutes a bach like what do you have to do when you're on the mound? There's a few things so when you you get your sign you come you have to stop So your body has to fully stop before you pitch So when you're young you just kind of get it and throw it now you have to get it pause And then throw that's probably the most common one um There's some certain pick-off moves you have to like disengage the rubber all these kind of boring rules

But okay, you just learn the normal way and then like you bach a lot when you're young because you don't know What you can and can't do okay? Yeah, probably once you get called for it then you start to really you're like, okay I got a malfunction here The weirdest when I'm seeing guy just drop the ball on the mat if you drop the ball while you're touching the rubber It's a bach. Oh wow. It's just an accident. Yeah, I've seen a guy bringing it to his you know bringing it down And he hit his leg dropped it bach guys scores Would you ever how much pride is in it where say if you're not doing well out there? You're just having a game where it's not you're going your way

Would you take yourself out of the game ever Wow, absolutely So there is a point in every game where it's all about preservation of the bullpen because the bullpen is super super important If you're getting crushed You just try and like survive as long as you can Oh because you want that to save the bullpen for extra in other games. Yeah, I see. Yeah, so guys don't have to cover you You know, I mean you want to so I got killed in Atlanta my first playoff start first inning goes great second inning I walked a pitcher to

Force a run in which is as embarrassing as it gets not even I didn't even throw a pitch close my first playoff game We're down one nothing like all right throw three straight balls I get this on instagram people send it to me just for fun all the time the fourth one It was a ball umpire calls it a strike next pitch. Makuna hits a grand slam. We're down five nothing And at that point I ended up throwing three more innings gave up no more runs But we were going to lose probably but those three innings saved three innings at one of our other guys didn't have to throw So it also gives you a little bit of redemption then

Yeah, a little bit of like listen, I I screwed this one up pretty good But at least I kind of I'm doing my best to help us out a little right It'd be like if you bombed if you went out and bombed which I'm sure happens At least you finish your 10 minutes right instead of oh shit at minute two. This is going really poorly So now my backup now the guy after me has to do my eight minutes as well as his 10 Yeah, so you want to try and at least just get there even if it sucks for you. Yeah, damn Is it real in bed like is the feeling when you're out there like Like is it

Once if it starts going bad like saying that game, okay, so it starts going started off bad But you were able to get it back on track. Mm-hmm like um Does it feel like you lose your confidence like what does it feel like? It just feels like everyone in the world's staring at you I'm telling you that you suck, you know and even though you don't and you know, you don't you know You go the you go home after that game. You obviously don't get food because there's too many people that could see you Yeah, right So you get room service and whoever brings a room service if they'll smile and you think they're just laughing at you

They're not they're just being nice. They just want that five dollar tip. They're just dropping off a salad, right? You're like, oh that guy fucking he's it must be uh, he must be a cardinals fan Yeah, you also sometimes will change your whole diet for about 12 hours after you get beat like that You just like you eat another one salad. Oh, just a certain change it up drinking water bottles Yeah, because you think I might as I fuck something up along the way that that led me to get killed So there's almost like that taboo element like you're like, how do I Because you've been doing well on how do I solve this something's going off there? Yeah, what have I done? Oh, yeah

Karmic a lot of karma elements in in baseball the whole superstition and all that stuff now What's harder than so say you're having a tough game? You know, you're having a tough game and you know, you feel everybody staring at you. Is it better when you're in that dugout then? When the team's batting at least is there some like respite or is that hellish too? Because it's like that's when your head's going nuts when you're out there. It's kind of all right fastball We'll try this one again. It's already sucked, but we'll give it a shot when you're sitting in the dugout and you're just like looking around Everybody's we're down six. Nothing everybody's sad And you're always by yourself too when the camera shows the picture is losing

He's always by himself over there and he's pissed off. You did this. This is my fault Damn, that's heavy, man. It sucks. Yeah um So you have a contract now And then what happens? So how long does a rookie contract? Is there a year? Yeah, so you become a free agent after six full service information, man. It's just you know stuff I'm just curious about I think it's interesting because I think people probably know the least about baseball contracts of any of them like when somebody

Zion Williamson gets drafted. Yeah, everyone knows how long he has to be a pelican and what he's gonna make and he should Nobody knows shit about us. Yeah, we have to play six full seasons in the big leagues so 172 days is a full season So if you don't whatever six times 172 is you have to have that many days in the big leagues To be a free agent After three years you get arbitration. Okay, so like clevengers in arbitration I'm next year will be in arbitration. So I'm on my last year in my three years. Okay

So once you get an arbitration, then what what does that mean? Then it's you versus the team and an arbitrator and your agent Oh to figure out a new deal and you basically argue what you're worth So the team will sit there and tell you to your face how bad you suck, right? And you'll tell them how great you are right and then the guy in the middle will tell you Here's where we're at. Okay Huh interesting. So after this next year, you'll be able to go in arbitration. Yeah, so this is a big season for you Uh in some ways that third season is a big season for guys because they want to do well that season

Yeah, you have to it's called a they called a platform here. So This was like the worst season you could get hurt. That's why my Corey seager got hurt in its third year He probably made half of what he would have if he would have played healthy And but also it's interesting because this season counts as a season right this upcoming one So I wonder if they'll really put as much value. It's almost like well, they still just go off of last year Well, it's a double-edged sword, right? Because if you do great, they can say you wouldn't sustain that And if you do terrible, they can say you were terrible, right? But our humans like well, I wouldn't sustain the shitty part either, you know, but so in the end, it's going to be the same

You're going to say they're going to say one thing and you're going to say yeah, I mean everything counts But yeah, it's just business. It has to be. Um, what about some of these guys? So you go up against a guy? Uh, like are there pictures where you're like, okay? I'm excited about this duel today Like do you feel like it's This is going to be a real pitchers game. Do you feel well? You don't ever feel like any of them are going to be hitters games because you don't want that team to be hitting Yeah, I can't we we I just want us to hit right. I don't want them to at all Jack Flaherty and I have had too good. We both were really well against each other. We just got lucky and scored a couple runs. So

Um, Scherzer and I had a couple good games at pitch against Garrett Cole, which was cool Um, the playoffs really get like that. That's when it that's when it really is like when the matchups are really like, okay Yeah, because it's all over social media and it's like we're the only 100 starter, right? Like The manager could flip the lineup if they felt like it right But the media knows it's Bueller versus Strasburg tomorrow and that's everywhere. So you're like, oh, I gotta I gotta beat him. Yeah That's when it gets a little more like that. I think here's a question right here from someone Uh, my question for Walker is

Who's the hardest hitter you've had to face so far? See, I like this black Charlie Blackman is the guy that has the best numbers off me in my career Got hair like yours. Really? I don't know if you want to pull up a picture Yeah, pull up a picture a little chucky black man right there, dude. This guy's a good player though I'll fucking hit off his ass plays out in Denver. There you go. Oh, does he? Oh, yeah, look at the hat here. Reminds me of Brian Wilson a little bit. Remember Brian Wilson? Oh, yeah See, I think if you threw a little beard we could get a or my quiesa MMA fighter

Who's that Michael quiesa? Huh? There was he looks like that UFC fighter that won this past week too A big heavyweight you won. Oh, yeah tanner bozer. Yeah, the canadian dude. I didn't see that fight I've really gotten into that stuff since since this quarantine. It's been like the only thing What I was saying about that's what I was thinking about you guys the other day when I was thinking about baseball I was like man if you guys get just coming back and being there for people right now Is going to be huge because people want to watch right anything. Yeah, they want to watch some competition

I mean you can't even get there's no fresh television shows because everything they're putting on shitty television So they weren't going to pick up right because we have to yeah, I mean they have like dodgeball They have like, you know, it's getting real bad rumors. It's just people just sharing rumors as quick as they can I mean, it's hitting really really limited out there like a cross between cops and cheaters Yeah Dude cheaters used to be good for that show. I think I think that was a little before my time to be honest with you Yeah, it might have been like I remember watching it when I was like 12 and be like this is so old Dude the best cheaters was when the guy bus somebody on a boat and the guy stabs

Just tough to watch Dude, I met that guy at a wine function out here now. Hey, dude. He was like, yeah, man. That was a tough episode Which guy the guy who stabbed him or the host the guy got stabbed. Yeah pretty cool That's one weird thing about LA man. You know, that was a tough episode. Dude. I'm I'm mad. Uh, yeah, let me see if we can see that stabbing Oh god We got back above my boat, you know, I'm saying this quality looks like They launched him off the boat He's a little he seemed like a little bit stupid, so I think you kind of went off

Put your hands on your back I would hate this on a boat. Yeah, I'm all right. We gotta rest it at sea too, huh? By not even police that's a weird thing What um, now there's offseason stuff you can't do right? There's or is it is it limited for you or not? Yeah, I mean, I think kind of the obvious stuff skiing stuff like that. We can't do um, and you can't do it at all Well, you can but if you break your collarbone Your contract's gone. Right, you know, so I love really risky. I love to ski and stuff, but we can't do it You'll ski later. Yeah, some people have some weird stuff in their contract if her guys aren't allowed a lot to wear flip-flops

You know because they have bad ankles. Oh, damn. So the team will put that in that contract like no no flip-flops for you Um, but yeah golf is even supposed to not be allowed Any tubing skiing snowboarding on none of that ship So do you feel limited everywhere your contract or no, you just kind of know that those are the rules of the game of the The business I'm in. Yeah, I mean you sign it. You can't not sign the contract, right? So Um, yeah, I mean, I'd like to go ski, but you just can't do it. Yeah um Do you think you guys all have the opportunity to bring in new fans with the games with the game starting up?

Um, they said that at UFC I was listening the other day I think it was it was on Chail Sonnen's podcast, but that they brought in a hundred thousand new fans A hundred thousand people watched yet. Uh, you have to see for the first time really this past week of fights Yeah, that wouldn't that doesn't surprise me at all. You know, I think they did a really good job actually being the first You know what I mean? I think they probably have the Probably have the most controllable environment though because you have the least amount of people in the locker room probably So I think they did a good job of like taking advantage of it. Um, I think more so our fans are like going to be happy that we're back. I guess right

Um, but yeah, I mean, hopefully everybody watches and you know, we're getting back before the NBA So maybe get some of those fans a little bit waiting for for them to come back. But do um Do you think so, you know, what will be interesting is they should have more focus And information maybe about you guys the players because they're not going to be Focusing on the stand, you know, there won't be anything really to look at in the stands Right. Yeah, no fights. Yeah. Yeah, they're probably have an extra 20 minutes a game to fill, you know, just of just Yeah, I've seen some good fights in san francisco by the way right behind home plate Yeah, this woman just smoked this guy. It was pretty cool stuff

Dude, I was I'll tell you this is before you were a Dodger I got I was hiring cocaine this is when I was using drugs and I was hiring cocaine at the Dodgers game, dude, and I sat up in the top bro, dude The nosebleeds literally up there And the nosebleeds I think are also a gang that's up there as well There's literally a gang called the nosebleeds up there. And there was one dude, man I was so sketched out. There's one guy the whole time Is threatening to kill me, bro. I think he knows I'm high and he keeps saying man

I'm gonna fucking kill you, papa. And then there's another guy, bro, who kept trying to sell me more drugs Bro Man, it was like an angel in the devil. Yeah, but actually And there might have even really been anybody there. I could have been at home, man It seemed like sounded like two devils, you know, double devils, man I could have been in a Raiders game, but it dude, I remember it being Bro, I was like, please this and then every time there was a foul ball or any time the ball hit the bat I thought it was coming right at me. Have to

And I was in the third deck, bro. Yeah, that'll happen. I think You know altitude up there, too You guys play at one of the biggest stadiums, don't you? Yeah, it's gigantic That was the one thing I remember the most from my debut was like you never really know how it's gonna feel You know, you run out there and you're all tired from running and And adrenaline you look up and this stadium seems like it goes on forever And you just it's so weird to me how how big they built these things But here we got a young fella right here, uh, twins fan

Minnesota, what up Theo, what up Walker? This is Noah from North Dakota Minnesota's neighbor if you didn't know we didn't North Dakota was a state. Um It's that quick question regarding a specific MOB stadium. I know that you play the Rockies often Being in the NLS and you had 16ks on them last year at home But does your approach change when you're going into Coorsfield to pitch in colorado due to that high altitude? You looking for more ground balls you pitch around people more often. So let me know gang gang Good luck in your modified season

Yeah, I like that nice nice guy a lot of nice people man. Um, yeah, what is that Coorsfield sucks? So the ball acts completely different. It flies a lot further when they hit it. So Um, yeah, you know, I think every time I pitch sorry, I just come up with some new thing in my head Uh, that makes me think I can survive and so it's almost more about survival there So that's not the kind of place you think I can probably get a no hitter out here. No, no, no Uh, Hideo Nomo who was big asian pitcher for us back in the day. He threw a no hitter there though Which I think is maybe the most impressive thing of all time Um, but yeah, the pitches just act different

You know, I almost feel bad for some of the pitchers that got drafted there because You're not really like playing on the same Same game that we are because it's just and why is it? What is it? Because the air's thinner. So what right? So the ball can't Like it as the ball goes it'll move certain ways because it gets air and you're spinning it and it pulls it other ways There the air is thinner. So it doesn't pull it the same way. Oh interesting So if there's less moisture in the air then there's less for the ball to grip on while it's in the air Yep. Yeah, so you can't do the same things that you normally do or you have to try and aim certain You know all season you throw one pitch the same way to the same area and it pretty much does what you think it's going to do

And there it'll end up half moving half as much and right in the middle and they just kill you Now what about um, how do you pitch? So say you want to gotta hit a ball like a ground ball like how do you powder? How do you pitch to him? Typically you're gonna throw a lower. Okay higher means ground balls or higher means fly balls Lower means ground balls typically. No, obviously the scouting and all that stuff and Kind of the research that we do so certain guys really can hit the ball low and whatever but Typically you're gonna aim aim lower. Yeah, it would be the big thing Um, do you guys is there a lot of like, uh, do you feel like there's good team unity as

As much team unity as you've gone up through the ranks because did you play some at AAA for some? Yeah, so you play in the minor leagues and that's like the toughest thing to actually have like a cohesive team because Every week that team has two or three guys that they didn't the week before and everyone's you gotta be super selfish in the minor leagues you try and not act like it but 95% of your thoughts are about how good you're doing Once you get to the big leagues is about winning. Yeah, so Um, yeah, and the big leagues is is where you kind of come together more But at the same time you've got guys that are making crazy money and

Living a completely different life than you when you're if you're making the league minimum Some guys are making 25 30 million dollars. You're just gonna live differently. You know what I mean? And yeah, the other thing I think that's hard about LA is None of us live near each other. I think you playing Cincinnati You're gonna live in two or three little neighborhoods here neighborhoods. Yeah, and you can go have a barbecue on off days and stuff like that And we try and do it But for me to go to Kersh's house from Marina last year was an hour and a half Like so it's hard to do that kind of stuff

I think but I think inside of our club also all of us are pretty close Is there a sport that you guys compete in off outside of baseball? We play a lot of cards. Oh really? Yeah Yeah, I've I've kind of been swimming, you know in some other waters in that Yeah, because I'm playing against guys that are making real real money and not that like we don't make enough money But comparatively right so you can just get bullied and lose our money But so oh so you guys meet up and do some poker games or stuff like that on the flights most of time That's like the big pass the time on the flights thing is as we play poker Is it just poker you'll play rummy gin and it's like that different things

We used to play a game called three five seven which is my personal favorite and What screwed me is I won a lot of money playing that game because you And so then I had to stay in the poker games or else I was like the dickhead that Won the money and then bounce. Oh, yeah. That's the fucking thing about poker Do you gotta stay until you lose it? Right, so we're playing this other game and then this was my rook here We got some new guys on the team at the trade deadline. They're like no, no, no, no, we're playing poker I was like

All right And I just lost But I'd rather lose it than than be the guy that ran away. I think yeah still not fun What were some other things going up in the going into those minor leagues and being in that vibe where it's uh Like are the things that you miss about that a little bit? Yeah, I mean sharing you used to share like a two bedroom apartment with four guys, you know, which is like it sucks It's not perfect, but it's kind of fun at times. I think Um, you know, everybody rolls to the field together goes home kind of

Yeah, it's fun to have people to climb around with yeah, just mess around with after games, especially because you're First on the minor leagues, you're not making no money. You're making $1,200 a month. Really? Oh, yeah so you're making you're talking taxes you're getting like 400 bucks maybe every two weeks And that's only for seven months of the year six months of the year, but we don't get paid in the off season. So Yeah, you're just splitting and kind of damn So you almost a lot of those guys have to have somebody to bankroll them almost or or you got to really share share places

Yeah, I know a lot of guys who get jobs all off season and then try and train and whatever But that's that's where the luxury being picked high in the draft is you get this little bonus that You know kind of sets you up to where you can live and just train and get ready to get to the big leagues I think but What what do you think the dismantling of that like this season? They didn't have it, you know, they didn't have the miners and I don't even know I'm not sure if those guys are still getting paid. Maybe they are got little stipends. I think But would that be tough to say like

If you'd have gone through that, I mean, do you what would that have been like you think you still would have been pitching a year later? Yeah, I mean, I think I would have played I would as I said, I was really fortunate to have kind of a little nest egg to Oh, yeah, that's right. If you hadn't had that, you know, right, I think it's very tough I think those guys and the other thing that sucks about that is they didn't there's no clue if if and when they were gonna play So it's not like you can walk into Lulu lemon and get a job and say, hey You know, I can be here for a year. I can be here for six months. You have to say Listen, I'd love to have a job, but But I don't even know what I can say. I may be gone in three weeks. You know, so

That's where I was pretty financially tough and David Price who we just traded for from the Red Sox came out and really gave all of our minor leaguers like a thousand bucks in june Which is just super super cool. It's really nice Just to kind of help guys try and stay afloat during this whole thing Yeah, and just that support that other people are thinking about you like, hey, you know, somebody else is thinking about what's going on with you Yeah, he's he's never played a game for us. We just got him and he still did that for our guys Which which I think was really really cool and some other guys have done similar stuff and You know, some teams have committed to playing there paying that stipend for a while and

But I you know, I don't think minor league baseball will ever ever look the same because you're thinking Like we have a low a team in the city I'm from in lexington that was on the list to be chopped. Yeah before all this let alone after so Oh, wow, you know these tiny small towns. That's there's just not that many people. So it's hard to Hard to own a baseball team in rural iowa You know But it's a bummer too because then the kid the kids that were going to go there and watch the game who were then like Oh, I want to play this

You know who are finding that you know filling that space in their head where inspiration lives Aren't going to have that right less less chances and You know, you're not gonna. I don't think you'll have as many kind of Cinderella story like you talked about mike piazza he was like The last round pick or whatever, you know, I read his book I forget what round it was back then they had like 70 rounds. He's like a 65th round pick the last slice of piazza I think was Sorry, that was horrible

But obviously we tell some pretty bad jokes in here, um Uh, oh man, I was gonna ask you about we were just talking about talking about the minor leagues um You you do a golf tournament. Is that what you do? I do as a fundraiser Yeah, so we did our second second one this past year, which is pretty cool the first year I didn't uncle passed away from kind of long-term Convocations of of child pediatric cancer. So he beat it and then passed away at like 42 Um, they young, huh? Yeah, he dad's brother. Yeah. He's my dad's older brother. He beat

Hodgians at like 13 or 12 But you know back in the 80s 70s, he didn't know what they were doing They were just kind of trying to zap back when they put you on a jar Remember they put a picture on a jar and just yeah, they just see what happens That was the original like facebook share, dude They would put a picture on a jar and set it at the pizza place and raise money Yeah, but no, so he he passed away. So we did the first year for that We raised like 37 000 which was awesome, which was cool and we were so excited and then richill

Who played with us the last couple years? started a foundation called field of genes which Didn't know much about we kind of talked a lot He and I ended up becoming really close and talked about he had lost a son, which was Fucking devastating. Obviously. We you know, he told our whole team the story and so this past year We did it for his his new initiative and where he's 100 grand this year, which was really really cool. It's cool, huh? So yeah, I mean, you know, I think everyone does a does a golf tournament, you know, but It is really fun and and cool and and I think we're doing some good stuff. Yeah

Yeah, you know, it sounds like it man. That's brave of him to even want to rent room, you know Memorialize that I think even memorializing things can be kind of brave because you have to go through that some of the feelings and stuff Yeah, you know, he was super emotional about it. Obviously and I bet you know spoke at the event and stuff and people were just like, all right, let's we're buying all this shit And we're in yeah, and obviously, you know, the city of lexington being from there. It's pretty close knit and really cool city, man Yeah, I love it. It gets, you know, a lot of southern cities to get a bit get a rough wrap everybody Especially right now everybody, you know, the news wants to make the south look kind of bad Sometimes I feel like and that stuff really makes me mad because there's some amazing cities there, man

Lexington's one of them. It's super diverse. You get down to the university, man It's so much fun. This is strangest people dude. I've had some of the strangest times. I saw a guy I reckon I saw a guy do a do the worm all the way around the uh, a four-way intersection. Yeah, worm eddy. Yeah Oh, really? No, this guy definitely dude. Look it looked like he had some miles on his belly. You know what I'm saying? It's some calluses. Oh, really? Yeah, he was callused around the belly button. Um No, I was gonna. Oh, so one time I got invited uh, I used to work as a tour manager for this guy josh kelly who was a music who is a musician and um, um, he and his brother are both musicians and um, they had a golf tournament because his brother works in that band lady anabellum

And I had I got to stay in a they put us up. It was in august of georgia and they put us up in different and uh, ozzie smith was in mine Which is really really cool, man Chris doleman was in there. He used to play for minnesota. This is a little bit for your time. Jim furick was in their golfer. Yeah and um And it was me and that guy dan remember davis dan for the olympics or whatever You were probably too young walking, but it was like date dan versus

Danvers day or davis dania. Yeah, they're both remember man versus wild. Yeah, this is and this is before that. Yeah this is back when uh When it was just man versus man, dude when man was less lonely and now it's just man versus wild Um, like the catholon guys. Yes. Yes the catholic guys and this is huge And I was a kid they were both supposed to go to the olympics and I think one of them didn't qualify And so that was like the big bummer um Yeah, dan versus date. Can you find it on wikipedia too? Thanks bud

at at advertising the campaign of the television commercials O'Brien and johnson were favored to win medals in barcelona Which had recently lost us market share to nike was hoping to rebound with their endorsement Did uh When arrived five weeks before the games began when o'Brien failed to qualify for the american olympic team by missing the pole vault damn Yeah, dude, so the whole all of america's fired up for them to go to the olympics. That's wild and then one of them didn't go Did this uh, what's he's at now?

Well, so my my olympic story the first guy or this spring first spring training I got to play golf with michael phelps, which was one of the coolest thing that long belly, huh? Hey, I've never seen a pike dude. He's like a real. He's like a damn pike. He looks like a fish with a face. Does he really? No, but Right, okay. You just see him swimming. Yeah, all right I'm telling you that guy's golf swing. I've never seen so many shoulders. So He wraps when he's done that golf He's just so mobile It was awesome. Really? He's a good dude. Yeah, he seemed to be a cool dude and yeah, it was fun

Dang, that's pretty cool, man. Now golf tournaments. I will say one thing It's amazing about him is the people you get to meet at him. Yeah There's a lot that one in phoenix is crazy apparently. I still haven't gone What is it the before the u.s. Open or something the waste management over notes a pg That's the one they have the hole where everybody screams and yells. Oh, wow. Have you never seen this? Uh-huh That's oh, michael. Yeah, see that's at waste management because he lives in arizona. I think Yeah, put up this. I think it's a 17th hole waste management or whatever Or type in waste management and it was michael. We're like, no, no, no, just put up the waste management

I think it is a 17th hole. Yeah, so this is the only thing in golf like this 16th hole They built up this giant stadium all around this hole And people can yell the whole time I think this is ricky Fowler, he's like pumping up the crowd. It's the only place in golf and they just scream the whole time. Really? Does ricky see that guy in the jersey? Yeah, it's john rom. He played at arizona state So it's like his home city, you know, uh-huh because he's from spain

So he's fired up and so he's wearing it as I got one. All right. He's wearing an asu uni Damn ricky fowler is damn beautiful for a damn golfer, huh? That's jordan spieth. Oh it is Oh Sorry ricky. Oh, that ain't bad. And so this is a part three, huh? Yeah, it's like a little short. There's ricky right there in the gray So they play so people can yell her and there's donald trump jr. Is the caddy. Do you see that? Trump's son looks like the caddy right there with that. It looked like him a little bit But um, it's like it's like damn club in vegas around this place. They say it's wild Wow

Where is it? It's in phoenix in like early february. I think, huh? And so they got a little quiet for when the actual hit But there was still a lot of chatter because usually it's dead quiet Type in uh ricky fowler because he there's one where he full on like pumps up the crowd before he gets to the ball And he's like it's too quiet and he steps back and starts screaming at him Place a crowd there you go. Yeah, there you go Oh Oh, I'd be so nervous, bro

Look at the guy at the signage. He's usually telling people to be quiet Wow This is on a good line. They're just screaming. Are you any are you any good? I'm all right. Yeah, okay. I did a did a lesson yesterday. We're we're working on the game Okay, we're working on it Are there any things about pitching that you correlate over to golf that are that help you're you know what? I think playing baseball playing golf or actually like You have the basic like you can rotate your hips quick and so most of us can hit the ball pretty far

But in baseball and golf your work your legs work completely different So we all have bad swings even if they look all right because our legs don't operate the way they should I think is is the biggest thing um Like hitters don't really play golf much because they feel like it's going to mess with their swing So like when we're when we're growing up like in high school, they'd be like I'm going to play golf I know you're not you have a game tomorrow, right? You can't mess up your swing, right? Don't be thinking about slow playing swing and yeah, huh

Um I'm trying to think of anything else, man You got anything Nick. I was curious. This is just small. Who is the arbor arbor trader Is it someone who played baseball? Is it an agent the arbor arbor trader our head guy? So the head of the union's name is tony clark. He had a pretty successful like a really successful career in the big leagues and then we have like his Help not helpers not the right word. I don't know his official title. His name is bruce meyer He helped with the mba cba with the nfl cba. He's professional arbor does a professor professional arbor yeah

But the head guy the guy that comes out and speaks that you've heard him comment was a player tony clark. Yep Um, so, you know, we have some interesting stuff. We have big group phone calls and kind of talk through some stuff and wow Dude, that's totally I mean it seems like you're kind of Uh, fucking growing up a little dude. Yeah, I'm trying man. I got engaged and and then you got a second dog Second dog. Yeah, we had nala for about a year nala's day off 21 is is her Instagram the new one barrel doesn't have one yet, but he's my nala's day off Nala's day off 21. Yeah, and then barrel beuler will be the new one. Yeah, we don't know what we're gonna do He's a boykin. So barrel beuler the boykin kind of works

Uh, and a boykin is what is it? It's like a small cocker spaniel, but they're all brown They all look exactly the same. Okay. Um, he'll be about 30 pounds, but I wanted a hunting dog I do a little bit of duck hunting here and there Um, so we we got that one because it's the smallest one you can get that can really go do that stuff Um, but also small enough for for my fiance to travel with a little bit. Okay. So she likes the dog too Yeah, she she is absolutely obsessed with the first dog nala our little our little french bulldog. Okay. Yeah. Yeah Uh, we got that one. We got that one opening day last year. So oh, that's cool. Uh, yeah, the wind you're up down I think will you get one each year you think you're no, I think this is it for a while two's two's kind of

You know people have told us that that puppies are harder than kids and and I sum up believe them Yeah, our first kid or our first dog was kind of easy. Nala was like pretty good This other one just pisses it everywhere. He's he's tough, but an arka sounds like a drunk friend Yeah, they're they're tough, you know, but not then I just left them in at home with mckinsey. So she's dealing Oh, they're in Kentucky right now So will you get to go back at home and all during this stretch? No, she'll come out here Here, um, she usually does about half the half the season. I don't know what we're gonna do this year We had it all planned out, but obviously that got

Changed up a little bit. So we'll figure it out And you think you'll go ahead to have with Joe muskrow this year or not? No, we won't play them unless unless it's in the playoffs because they're in the east So normally we would we played he pitched against us last year Who's do you have an arch rival out there that you love to pitch against? I mean you said uh flarity, but uh Not a single guy. I think for us is more teams. Obviously the giants are big and You know the Rockies have some a lot of talent over there. So playing them is always a big deal But that stuff happens more in your division. I think than anything. Is it fun to play against?

Uh, is it fun to play against teams that have do you want teams that have a lot of good hitters? Are you are you better if teams are kind of no, I mean, I'd rather face your little league team Then In all honesty, but no, I mean, I think I think it's good stuff when you're trying to get ready for the playoffs and things like that when you face These good teams and get used to All right, like these guys could legitimately kill me not kill me, but crush me, you know So, you know, it takes a little something to get get ready to get go like that. Yeah

Yeah, what we're gonna say about Charlie Blackman. I think we kind of went off on that He and Theo have the same hair. Oh, we're and he's the hardest hitter too Well, he's he has he's had the most success off me in the big leagues ever Damn, so there's there's a you know, there's a little bit of hope obviously that power That's the power flow. What do you attribute it to? Is there anything about him specifically that you notice? you know, I think As we scout you learn like oh this guy hits this pitch really good and this pitch really bad and things like that and You know my strengths as a pitcher what I can do best

It's kind of his strengths a lot of times you you know, you want to stay with your strengths unless A guy has a glaring weakness and he doesn't have any glaring wounds So I just kind of have to go with what I do well and and he happens to handle it pretty well Um, but there's just bad matchups and good matchups. There's really good hitters that just I match up well against or Are really bad hitters, you know against most people that still get do really well against me that just That's that's why baseball is kind of a weird game in that way. I think What about bunters? Do you guys hate it? I think it seems dumb, but is it dumb? Is it seem you guys are what's weird about that is when a guy buns like that's our only chance like kind of look athletic

And when it's happening you feel so athletic Do you really oh my god? You sprint off grab and throw it and then I see it on the replay and I run like an idiot Really? Yeah, everybody gives me shit about how I run You walk or feel a building bun. I don't think there's gonna be any footage. What is it bro? What's going on? Is it mechanics? What is it? Yeah, I got bad hips. Oh, yeah Oh, you might have dysplasia like my buddy scott's australian shepherd. Yeah, it's Yeah, you might bet that that athletic shepherd still runs way better than I do

Oh, man, Walker Bueller. Thanks so much for joining us. Yeah, it was fun, man. Yeah, I appreciate it. Do best of luck dude Congrats on uh, you know, that was your first all-star season, right? Yep. Wow, man Yeah, I'll see if they can you know, I don't know if you're gonna be able to come to any games Well, see if they'll bring you some tickets. I could just send them to your house. Yeah, I'll just do it I might buy one after our work cut out Yeah, we might have to do that or we'll send Michael in and we'll send Nick. We'll give him a day off Yeah, we'll get uh, what we'll do is we'll get some of some of our buddies and find some bad photos of them and just submit it Well, you know what you find if we pay for Brian and Brendan to be out there in the sand

Which is some horrible pictures of them? Yeah, which are a lot of their pictures. We really should that would be so good Find a picture. I guess Brian just got his eyes done or something Yeah, dude, he got part of his eyes Sending sending the picture of him all swallowed up. Oh, that'd be so good Dude, that's a great idea. Maybe we'll do a little fundraiser or something and we'll don't we'll buy that and then we'll donate the rest to uh To your charity or something like that. That'd be awesome. Yeah, we'll do that Do that of him and maybe shawb after you got knocked out or something So I'm just gonna hate hearing about that, but I agree with you 100% bro

You know, I don't know these guys, so oh dude, I would take his ass if he could get down to 240 I would take him. I have to gain 60 pounds, but I could do it, bro. I might have to meet these guys before we do it Maybe that's what we'll meet him and then we'll reveal him the next day. There we go That'd be it if we get it done, man We'll have to get you over on the fighter and the kid and you'll have to uh, that'd be funny touch base with the man Obviously, man. I had a good time. Enjoy. Good to see you. Yeah, you too, man And thanks for uh, yeah, you took me out to the game last year, man. It was a lot of fun I got to bring my friend Steve dude. We had a blast. We sat right behind Kershaw's family actually. Yeah, yeah

Good people too. Yeah, it was. It was nice over there. Uh, best of luck, man. Thanks man. We'll see you later off. Yeah For me to set that parking brake and let myself on my Shine that light on me I'll sit and tell you about stories Shine on me And I will find a song. I will sing it just for you And I've been moving way too fast on the runaway train with a heavy load of my hands

And these wheels that I've been riding on they want so thin that they're damn they're gone. I guess now