Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers are in San Francisco and we're joined right
Speaker 1: now by today's starting center fielder. No, not Andy pae Has,
Speaker 1: but the versatile Alex Call.
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it always.
Speaker 1: They always great to have Alison Chains in the background
Speaker 1: when we're doing this interview too.
Speaker 2: And why not.
Speaker 1: Hey, the first seven games of the season, you did
Speaker 1: not get a single at bat, but Dave Roberts has started.
Speaker 2: To incorporate you more and more.
Speaker 1: How did you look at the first week of the
Speaker 1: season and how did you stay ready?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, of course you want to play.
Speaker 4: I love to play baseball, you know, and praise God,
Speaker 4: I'm blessed the opportunity to play the game.
Speaker 3: That I love.
Speaker 4: And also beyond you know, the one of the best
Speaker 4: teams ever. So you know, I I know I'm a
Speaker 4: great player. I know that I am capable of playing
Speaker 4: in the major leagues. Uh, you know, even on a
Speaker 4: on a on a daily basis.
Speaker 3: I believe that.
Speaker 4: But this is where I'm at right now, and I
Speaker 4: couldn't be happier to be here and in the role
Speaker 4: that I'm in doing whatever Doc needs me, whatever the
Speaker 4: Dodgers need me to do, whether it's just being ready
Speaker 4: every night to come in or to give guys a
Speaker 4: blow or whatever.
Speaker 3: It may be.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm just extremely grateful to be here and
Speaker 4: to be playing Major league baseball. And yeah, it's all
Speaker 4: about being ready. I mean, it's the name of the game.
Speaker 4: You have to make sure that you're ready to perform
Speaker 4: whatever your name is called. Because this is Major Leaue baseball.
Speaker 4: Everybody wants your spot. You know, everybody would die to
Speaker 4: be in the position that I'm in, and so, you know,
Speaker 4: just remembering that and just making sure that I'm focused
Speaker 4: and prepared to be the best Major League Baseball player
Speaker 4: that I can be on a nightly basis, whether I'm
Speaker 4: in the lineup or not. Is the mindset to.
Speaker 2: Be able to perform when you are called upon?
Speaker 1: Does it have to be a certain level of embracing
Speaker 1: this role.
Speaker 2: If you don't embrace this role, can you excel?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean it's you know, it's interesting because it's like, yeah,
Speaker 4: obviously you want to play every.
Speaker 3: Day like it to everybody's goal. Everybody wants to.
Speaker 4: Play every day, be an All Star, win a World
Speaker 4: Series like whatever. Like for me right now, this is
Speaker 4: what I've been given and we're not what you're given.
Speaker 3: Just do it and execute it to the best of
Speaker 3: your ability.
Speaker 4: And so all that comes in with just like understanding
Speaker 4: the innate like pressure that there is with playing major
Speaker 4: League baseball. Like I just said, like every little kid
Speaker 4: wants to take my job. They want to be where
Speaker 4: I'm at, playing the game that I love, that they love.
Speaker 4: So there's only so many spots, though, and if I
Speaker 4: want to hold onto that spot, it doesn't matter whether
Speaker 4: I get to play every day or whether I get
Speaker 4: to play it once a week. Like, you've got to
Speaker 4: go out there and perform and show that you are
Speaker 4: a major league baseball player, that you're an asset for
Speaker 4: the team and that you make the team better and
Speaker 4: that you you know, do the thing little things the
Speaker 4: right way. So that's my focus and that's my mindset
Speaker 4: every day.
Speaker 1: How much of a badge of honor is it when
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts calls upon Alex call, you know you're going
Speaker 1: to get a quality at bat. That picture knows he's
Speaker 1: not going to get a three pitch at bat when
Speaker 1: he's facing Alex Call.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4: It's I think why they they went out and got me.
Speaker 4: You know, they said they wanted guys that are just
Speaker 4: going to grind the pitcher.
Speaker 3: You know, I think.
Speaker 4: About my first at bat the other day in Colorado,
Speaker 4: you know against Lorenzen was a you know, three to two,
Speaker 4: you know, seven to eight pitch.
Speaker 3: At bat with two outs, nobody on base, two.
Speaker 4: Outs, nobody on base, and the I think the second inning,
Speaker 4: you know, grind it out, had a good at bat,
Speaker 4: took some good swings, you know, ended up putting the
Speaker 4: ball in play to right field. You know, that wasn't
Speaker 4: super significant, but it's just like that's a great at bat,
Speaker 4: Like that's a that's exactly. I just made him a
Speaker 4: little bit more tired and made him have to exert
Speaker 4: a little bit more energy. And then the next inning,
Speaker 4: sure enough, we we go out there and put runs
Speaker 4: up on the board. And you know that doesn't happen
Speaker 4: every time. But it's just like that mindset of of.
Speaker 3: Of making the picture and grind it out. But also
Speaker 3: I'm ready to.
Speaker 4: Hit, you know, so like if I get a cookie,
Speaker 4: if I get it, I'm looking for a first pitch,
Speaker 4: you know, like it all goes into it so like
Speaker 4: I'm ready to hit, you know, especially with kind of
Speaker 4: the more aggressive mindset that I've had this year.
Speaker 3: I'm ready to hit, but I'm only gonna hit my pitch.
Speaker 4: And uh so that's the bottom line, and that's kind
Speaker 4: of how I go about it.
Speaker 2: What do you mean having a more aggressive mindset this year?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think when you look at Alex called the
Speaker 4: baseball player, uh, you know, you're getting basically one of
Speaker 4: the best two strike hitters in baseball. And I that
Speaker 4: is something that I work on, I train on. You know,
Speaker 4: two strike is the worst average count for everybody, but
Speaker 4: for me, I'm I take I'm comfortable there. I'm comfortable there.
Speaker 4: I know that I can put the bat on the ball.
Speaker 4: I know what I can put the ball in play,
Speaker 4: and so when you do that, there's just a comfort
Speaker 4: level with that. So that's ultimately you know what you're getting.
Speaker 3: Without it's called but.
Speaker 4: The first couple pitches, the oh count, the two oh count,
Speaker 4: the one account, the three to one count, that is
Speaker 4: where I believe as the Dodgers came to me and
Speaker 4: I as I look at myself from last year, that's like, hey,
Speaker 4: we can improve there, Like we can improve there, like
Speaker 4: that's a time for you to sit on that heater
Speaker 4: and take a great swing at it, like be ready
Speaker 4: for it, be ready to rip it. And if you
Speaker 4: can just do that and you know, add a little
Speaker 4: bit more slug to your profile, well that just improves
Speaker 4: my value as a player, my value for the team,
Speaker 4: and just you know, helps helps in any way possible.
Speaker 4: So when you look at like what do I do
Speaker 4: best and where can we improve, we identified like if
Speaker 4: I can be just a little bit more aggressive on
Speaker 4: pitches that I can handle, expect them, expect to drive them,
Speaker 4: then there's opportunity for me to have more production, which
Speaker 4: is good for the for everybody.
Speaker 1: And that's a mindset, right you have to go up
Speaker 1: to the plate with that type of preparation exactly.
Speaker 4: It's that type of preparation, the approach with that, and
Speaker 4: then also the staff and the team being on the
Speaker 4: same page, like, hey, this is what Alex is trying
Speaker 4: to do, this is where he's trying to improve. We
Speaker 4: worked on that through spring training and the results are
Speaker 4: pretty solid. So we're taking it into the season and
Speaker 4: I've had the aggressive mindset to be ready on pitch one.
Speaker 4: That doesn't mean that I you know, take a week
Speaker 4: swing like no, I'm trying to get my best swing off.
Speaker 4: And you know, at the same time, if I end
Speaker 4: up chasing a pitch or if, like you know, it
Speaker 4: doesn't look great, well, who cares because I'm still the
Speaker 4: best two strike hit or there is is how I
Speaker 4: think in my head, and so that's just kind of
Speaker 4: building myself as a player in a way to help
Speaker 4: our team get better. If every individual can get better,
Speaker 4: then therefore the team gets better by default.
Speaker 1: Alex calls our guest in front of first pitch Dodgers Giants,
Speaker 1: Game one of this three game series. Alex is starting
Speaker 1: in center field. You're a great guy to ask this
Speaker 1: question too, because yesterday you're hitting second behind Shoeyotani at
Speaker 1: Corus Field, and then today and some other days you're
Speaker 1: hitting more towards the middle third, bottom third of the order.
Speaker 1: Do you believe that every spot in the lineup has
Speaker 1: a certain responsibility or do you believe you just have
Speaker 1: to be everything that you describe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, my objective is to
Speaker 4: get to first base. Like the name's baseball, you got
Speaker 4: to get on base. So however I can get on base. However,
Speaker 4: I can take a good at bat. It's kind of
Speaker 4: my mindset. Yeah, there's some other intricacies and nuances to
Speaker 4: where you hit in the order, but for the most part,
Speaker 4: the objective is just gonna stay the same and get
Speaker 4: on first base.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 4: In a unique situation like yesterday when rushing was up
Speaker 4: with one out and runners on second and third, nobody
Speaker 4: was on first, I was thinking in my head, I'm
Speaker 4: in the hole right now, but if Rushing gets out here,
Speaker 4: they are walking show hey to pitch to me, And
Speaker 4: so like being ready for that is really important because
Speaker 4: it can happen really quick. It's like, oh, all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, I'm in the hole. Well now I'm not
Speaker 4: on deck. I'm up because they're putting in right on,
Speaker 4: so I don't have any time to get ready. So,
Speaker 4: like yesterday, I switched my mindset to Okay, I'm preparing
Speaker 4: for this situation to go out. If Rushing gets out
Speaker 4: right here, they're walking show hey. So I'm on deck
Speaker 4: right now and I'm getting ready to walk up to
Speaker 4: the plate. And it sounds very small, but like the
Speaker 4: psychology of that is something that's unique and doesn't happen
Speaker 4: a lot. So it actually just having that extra three
Speaker 4: four five seconds of realization of prep actually puts you
Speaker 4: in a better, more prepared mindset. And then I was
Speaker 4: able to do that and have a good at bat
Speaker 4: yesterday and get the walk walk a guy in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, that's amazing because some of the best hitters
Speaker 1: have said, you're at bat doesn't start when you're in
Speaker 1: the batter's box or even on the on deck circle.
Speaker 1: It starts in the dugout. It sounds like you've already
Speaker 1: won that game. Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, definitely, from understanding what the pitcher's doing, what he's throwing,
Speaker 4: how he's going to try to attack us, to seeing
Speaker 4: he is, you know, where's he throwing, what's his stuff
Speaker 4: that day. But then even your mindset in the hole
Speaker 4: is different when it's on deck, and so there's.
Speaker 3: Just a whole bevy of.
Speaker 4: Things that go into it, and you know, everything is
Speaker 4: very important and it all contributes to having the best
Speaker 4: chance at success when you're up at the plate.
Speaker 1: I know you were loving and embracing hitting behind Otani yesterday.
Speaker 1: Did you get the lineup card by chance?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I told Alex to say give me that lineup card,
Speaker 4: and so you said, yeah, when we get to LA,
Speaker 4: I'll put it in your locker.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean, what are you gonna say?
Speaker 4: Hitting behind Showho Tani at the top of the Dodgers
Speaker 4: lineup on the greatest team ever, it's like there's Alex
Speaker 4: call you know, same thing when I was in Game
Speaker 4: five of the World Series starting lineup last year. It's
Speaker 4: just like just ultimate praise God moments. So grateful and
Speaker 4: super fun.
Speaker 2: Hey, fun to watch you play.
Speaker 1: We'll have fun watching you play center field tonight here
Speaker 1: at Oracle Park. They call it now another phone company.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, Thanks a lot for the time, Alex,
Speaker 1: and awesome talking baseball with you. I think you've opened
Speaker 1: up a lot of our eyes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you to appreciate it.