Speaker 1: Well, rock guess in the studio res Royalty, how about this?
Speaker 1: And obviously a big week at Red's Vest. It's back
Speaker 1: after being off for a couple of years renovating the
Speaker 1: Convention Center, but it's back with abandoned and we've got
Speaker 1: a couple of great players in the studio with us.
Speaker 1: Amelia Bagan, a great reliever, great closer, just signed a
Speaker 1: new two year deal to be back with the club
Speaker 1: this year and back for his third straight year on
Speaker 1: The Eddie and Rocky Show. Andrew Abbott, a great pitcher,
Speaker 1: went ten and seven to eighty seven ERA one hundred
Speaker 1: and forty nine. K's fellas, welcome to the program.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you having us.
Speaker 3: Amelio, the gingers are overrunning.
Speaker 1: It's here, son, Yeah.
Speaker 4: This is.
Speaker 2: I didn't know I need to dine my here before
Speaker 2: I came in.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So let's talk Amelia first, you were talking you lived
Speaker 3: down in Charlotte during the off season, Yes, originally from
Speaker 3: South Carolina, South Carolina. And let me ask both of
Speaker 3: you guys and Emelio you're first, you're getting charged up.
Speaker 3: I mean you were about three and a half weeks
Speaker 3: out now from reporting and yeah, that's got it. Do
Speaker 3: you get charged up now.
Speaker 2: Oh you're ready to go. Oh yeah, no, the juice
Speaker 2: has been flowing. You get past New Year's and it
Speaker 2: kind of feels like, all right, I need to be
Speaker 2: at spring training now. And so my family's gonna come
Speaker 2: out with me this year at spring training. So they're
Speaker 2: getting excited, and uh yeah, I need to hit like
Speaker 2: the fast forward button and go ahead and get to work.
Speaker 2: I'm excited to see everybody and get this thing going.
Speaker 4: Drew, Yeah, absolutely, I mean this is the last kind
Speaker 4: of big culmination redsfest. Once you kind of checked this off,
Speaker 4: then you're turning the page and next thing you know,
Speaker 4: you're at spring training.
Speaker 1: So Andrew, I asked you this. I mean, both you
Speaker 1: guys are pitchers, So give me like the off season. Okay,
Speaker 1: so the season ends, you know what October? Like, how
Speaker 1: much time do you take off? When do you start
Speaker 1: getting back into working out and throwing and training and
Speaker 1: all that.
Speaker 4: I took about two weeks off of running, conditioning, lifting,
Speaker 4: all that kind of stuff, and then I restarted. I
Speaker 4: was lightly throwing the whole time. I never really like stopped. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but you know, as you get further into the off season,
Speaker 4: it starts to build back up, and then now we're
Speaker 4: on the mound. We're getting ready for spring training, as
Speaker 4: we're saying, So it just comes in waves kind of,
Speaker 4: and the holidays are a good start. They tell you,
Speaker 4: all right, let's start check that box. All right, let's
Speaker 4: move in next, same thing for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know, we we get eliminated, get home.
Speaker 2: I generally take two or three weeks off, depending on
Speaker 2: what my body's telling me I need, And then around
Speaker 2: November first, I start doing some weight room stuff, some
Speaker 2: mobility stuff, and then start throwing the plyocare balls and
Speaker 2: then uh, you know, transition to a baseball and then
Speaker 2: getting off the mound. So normally it starts about November first,
Speaker 2: getting off the mound starts around December first, and then
Speaker 2: like really ramping up the bullpen starts around after New
Speaker 2: Year's and so, like Abbat said, it's a transition, and uh,
Speaker 2: we're getting to the point now where I'm kind of
Speaker 2: tired of throwing by myself into a net and I
Speaker 2: need to get out Arizona.
Speaker 1: Explain to the listeners what Hepplyo care ball is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's like a weighted or or under weighted
Speaker 2: rubber ball that you can use to For me, it's
Speaker 2: a it's a great shoulder program that that cleans up
Speaker 2: your delivery kind of without you thinking about it cleans
Speaker 2: up your arm path because with the weight it's hard
Speaker 2: for your hand to get in positions that puts your
Speaker 2: arm at stress or in risk of getting injured. And
Speaker 2: so I've done Plowcare weighted balls now for a little
Speaker 2: over ten years, and it's a it's a kind of
Speaker 2: a great way to just get back into the throwing
Speaker 2: program before you start getting off the mound.
Speaker 1: Andrew, what's your off season go to training regiment? I
Speaker 1: love this stuff. I've been in sports and football and
Speaker 1: training my whole life, so I always geek out of it.
Speaker 1: I mean I still kind of hit it.
Speaker 4: It's whatever your body needs at that point, you know,
Speaker 4: if you need more rest, and it's more rest if
Speaker 4: you don't need as much, and then you can kind
Speaker 4: of start building blocks. You know.
Speaker 1: Some guys start with mobility.
Speaker 4: Some guys just go straight in the lifting, straight in
Speaker 4: the running kind of thing like they didn't take any
Speaker 4: time off.
Speaker 1: For me personally, it's the same.
Speaker 4: It's basically start moving around, start going to pull out
Speaker 4: he start doing like you know, yoga and stuff to
Speaker 4: like loosen up again. And then I go into lifting,
Speaker 4: and then you know, you start lifting four days a week,
Speaker 4: and then it's five days a week, and then now
Speaker 4: it's lifting around throwing because throwing becomes the number one thing.
Speaker 1: Right and just can't bench press and then go throw?
Speaker 1: You could, but I don't.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 4: I say that because I knew he did. But it
Speaker 4: just matters who you are, and like, just you know,
Speaker 4: that's the routine of baseball. It changes. You just start
Speaker 4: making little tweaks and then you just figure it out.
Speaker 3: Andrew having to immediately you pegan or with us and guys,
Speaker 3: you're talking about last year getting eliminated. Uh no, shame
Speaker 3: in losing that Dodgers team the best money that the
Speaker 3: world economy can buy. But does that just make you
Speaker 3: hungry for this year? Guys, let me start with.
Speaker 1: You, Andrew. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, for one, I've never had a
Speaker 4: taste of the postseason. I've never played that long.
Speaker 1: It's had to be.
Speaker 4: It was amazing, you know, the clinching moment was special
Speaker 4: with the guys like you know, EP and all the
Speaker 4: veterans kind of saying, hey, like this happens like just
Speaker 4: go have fun like this is what it is. This
Speaker 4: is what we've been working with to the entire season.
Speaker 4: This is what hard, hard working determination is. I know
Speaker 4: it wasn't what we wanted to happen, but for guys
Speaker 4: like me and EPs, well coming back, it just kind
Speaker 4: of you got your foot in the door, like let's
Speaker 4: let's go, let's go earn it and be even better
Speaker 4: than last year because we know what we did. We
Speaker 4: we know what we did last year to get there, right,
Speaker 4: you know all?
Speaker 1: How about you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, people would say what they
Speaker 2: want about the Dodgers. You know they're they're tremendous team,
Speaker 2: tremendous run organization. We were right there with them. You know,
Speaker 2: we had we had uh, we were in striking distance
Speaker 2: in both of those games. We had bases loaded a
Speaker 2: few times, balls bounce you know the other way from
Speaker 2: when they did. Obviously, those are all hypotheticals, though you
Speaker 2: don't get banters for hypotheticals and professional sports, and so
Speaker 2: we're not happy with how it ended, but there's a belief.
Speaker 2: Just there's a belief in that clubhouse now. And then
Speaker 2: you know in our conversations as a team that you know,
Speaker 2: we know we can compete with anybody, and we know
Speaker 2: that we can go win any game, any series on
Speaker 2: any given day. And so the excitement and the hope
Speaker 2: that started back in twenty twenty three when all these
Speaker 2: young guys started making their debuts and getting up to
Speaker 2: this team for this fan base is now turning into
Speaker 2: a belief and an expectation in that clubhouse. And so
Speaker 2: we know we've got a special group and nothing's going
Speaker 2: to be promised or you know, honestly, there's going to
Speaker 2: be even more of a target on our back now
Speaker 2: because we were a playoff team. But we've earned that right,
Speaker 2: you know, that's why we work so hard. We've earned
Speaker 2: the right to have teams come after us a little
Speaker 2: bit more. And we didn't. We didn't accomplish really anything
Speaker 2: any of our goals last year. We set out to
Speaker 2: win a division. We didn't. And so that's going to
Speaker 2: be step one, is to go win the Central and
Speaker 2: then and then make a deep run in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And Andrew, what about you? What is you most excited
Speaker 1: about this upcoming season?
Speaker 4: Just the group of guys that are going to be there.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know what we're going to have going forward?
Speaker 4: In life is going to be relationships that we that
Speaker 4: we make here. It's going to be the friends and
Speaker 4: you know, the family members that all the wives hanging
Speaker 4: out together, all the girlfriends hanging out like, oh, that's
Speaker 4: gonna matter way down the road. So just having like
Speaker 4: a good family oriented team and having that support system
Speaker 4: on the field with Tito on the field with teammates,
Speaker 4: as well as off the field with all the fans
Speaker 4: and and whatnot. And I know we're talking about Reds
Speaker 4: fests and stuff like we're just so pumped to see
Speaker 4: the crait the turnout that we're going to see the
Speaker 4: city rallying behind us. So you know, I just think
Speaker 4: it's it's nothing but special that and it's just you
Speaker 4: can't tank take you know, I can't put in the
Speaker 4: words literally.
Speaker 1: I think pitching, guys, and I know you will agree,
Speaker 1: is one of the premiere positions to play in all
Speaker 1: of sports. I mean, you're in command, that ball is
Speaker 1: in your hand, and how the game goes largely has
Speaker 1: to do with with how you do so in terms
Speaker 1: of preparation, and Millie, I'll start with you, what what
Speaker 1: goes into Okay, you're it's it's Wednesday and you're gonna
Speaker 1: you're starting tomorrow. To talk about the you know, the
Speaker 1: game prep, talk about scouting reports, talk about film. What
Speaker 1: are some some of the processes that you go through
Speaker 1: to get ready for a start?
Speaker 2: Well for you really, yeah, where if I'm starting the game,
Speaker 2: we might be in trouble because I'm not gonna be
Speaker 2: able to go very longer. But as far as preparation
Speaker 2: for each game, you know, we we've got our day
Speaker 2: one of every series. We have our scouting report meeting
Speaker 2: Arnie Kyle Arnsberg leads that he goes over every hitter
Speaker 2: how we're going to approach them. You know, what we
Speaker 2: think their weaknesses are, what we think their strengths are,
Speaker 2: and then you know what we're going to try and
Speaker 2: do throughout that series against their team tendencies, whether they
Speaker 2: like to steal a lot, whether they like to bunt,
Speaker 2: whether they like to hit and run, or if they're
Speaker 2: just you know, sit back and try and slug us
Speaker 2: to death. All those things. So that's day one of
Speaker 2: a series. As far as like individually preparing, you know
Speaker 2: you're doing you're doing your recovery stuff in the training
Speaker 2: room with ours, with our training staff. Any type of
Speaker 2: you know, weight room and trying to build the body
Speaker 2: back up maybe after a week of you know, three
Speaker 2: or four appearances for a reliever, you know, getting in
Speaker 2: there and getting in some making sure your mobility is
Speaker 2: still where it's at, because obviously, you know, as you
Speaker 2: lose mobility, that's where some of the injury comes, because
Speaker 2: your delivery is going to change. Anytime your delivery is
Speaker 2: changing in season, you know, you're starting to use more
Speaker 2: muscles and ligaments that are not used to being used,
Speaker 2: and so just you're kind of hitting those those check
Speaker 2: marks and making sure, like you know, biomechanically, my delivery
Speaker 2: is where it needs to be. And so all the
Speaker 2: goes into and then once the game starts, it's you know,
Speaker 2: all that stuff is great and the information is awesome
Speaker 2: and it can benefit us, but once the game starts,
Speaker 2: it's it's how well can I compete and how well
Speaker 2: can I execute? And you know, how how often can
Speaker 2: I remember the stuff that we talked about without that
Speaker 2: taking away from the competition's aspect.
Speaker 1: There, And you also got to be in the moment.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the moment, hey I'm I think this picture right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's absolutely sometimes where what we're seeing with our
Speaker 2: eyes is different than what we talked about in the
Speaker 2: video room. And so you know, a guy might be,
Speaker 2: you know, on the season, might be hitting three seventy
Speaker 2: five on fastballs and and well maybe the last ten
Speaker 2: at bats he's hitting eighty five against fastballs. You know,
Speaker 2: for some reason his swing is off or his timing's off,
Speaker 2: and so throwing him a breaking ball and that if
Speaker 2: your eyes are telling you that throwing him a breaking
Speaker 2: ball is doing him a favor. And so, you know,
Speaker 2: as good as the information is and as prepared as
Speaker 2: we are because of our support staff, our support coaches,
Speaker 2: you know, once the game starts, it really just is
Speaker 2: you know, trust your eyes, trust the competition, and go
Speaker 2: and try and execute at a high level.
Speaker 1: Awesome. Andrew, let me ask you this one. Do you
Speaker 1: ever just watch the body language of a hitter and
Speaker 1: know I got him like I got or or do
Speaker 1: you see the body language a guy and like, this
Speaker 1: guy's on one right now, he's hot right now? And
Speaker 1: is that how does that change your approach as a pitcher?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean watch the hands, you know, you watch
Speaker 4: the placement of the feet, are they moving in the box?
Speaker 4: Watch where they filed the pitch off you can. There's
Speaker 4: a lot of information that's relayed just based off swings.
Speaker 4: I mean, like where where's the ball located? What is
Speaker 4: he trying to do with it? You know, what pitch
Speaker 4: was it? And then it's just a chess match. At
Speaker 4: the end of the day, it's like what can I do?
Speaker 2: I got to.
Speaker 4: Subtract, ad cut, slide, run, you know, whatever to do,
Speaker 4: and you're basically just trying to get him out, like
Speaker 4: that's what I'm there for. And at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, you just lay it all out like he's saying,
Speaker 4: execution is the big thing. You know, you're prepared, like
Speaker 4: our support coaches get us prepared. We do our homework ourselves,
Speaker 4: and then we kind of just combine and then it's
Speaker 4: me and Steve O or like me and TRAVENO or
Speaker 4: whoever's like our battery mate back there, and it's it's
Speaker 4: you and him versus that guy in the box, and
Speaker 4: he's helping you just as much as you're seeing the
Speaker 4: stuff that you think you see. So he's like, okay,
Speaker 4: I think that you know not. You can't communicate with
Speaker 4: him obviously, but you know, if he sees something, he
Speaker 4: might change the scouting important if his feet moved away
Speaker 4: or up or back or you know something like that.
Speaker 4: His hands moved down like we're not throwing that picture
Speaker 4: doing this pitch like it's just to get like it's
Speaker 4: it's a chess match, and that's what's fun about it. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you can try to prepare, you prepare before the game,
Speaker 4: but like Meily said, at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: you go compete like it's you versus him, and.
Speaker 3: So you guys, I think that's one of the things
Speaker 3: that everybody loves about this team is that you are
Speaker 3: a team. And it's obvious you guys get along well,
Speaker 3: you all love each other, you're all having a blast
Speaker 3: and stuff. But how much does Tito Francona mean to
Speaker 3: you guys? It has to be something else to have
Speaker 3: that guy in the clubhouse with you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's awesome too. You know, anytime
Speaker 2: you talk about Tito, no matter kind of what you're
Speaker 2: talking about, whether it's college basketball, football, baseball, cards, anything,
Speaker 2: he wants to win and and it's really win at
Speaker 2: all costs. And so having that be the guy that
Speaker 2: is the head of the clubhouse, you know, the head
Speaker 2: of the organization. Like this guy is all about winning
Speaker 2: and so to have that it makes in turn the
Speaker 2: us as players that like, that's our main focus is like,
Speaker 2: even if it's an ugly win, like, we just want
Speaker 2: to win. And so obviously there's certain processes you have
Speaker 2: to go through to win at a consistent level, and
Speaker 2: so you have to be mindful of those. But we're
Speaker 2: never going to be upset about winning. You know, We're
Speaker 2: never going to not celebrate a win because winning at
Speaker 2: the major league level is hard and Tito's been doing
Speaker 2: it for a long time and we're very lucky to
Speaker 2: have him.
Speaker 4: All right, Yeah, I mean he's Baseball Royalty. I mean,
Speaker 4: he's one World Series, he's got a lot of he's
Speaker 4: got a lot of wins. I mean, he's been there,
Speaker 4: done that. It's no better guy for like us, like
Speaker 4: me being a young guy to come in and have
Speaker 4: as a managers to kind of help you along, you know,
Speaker 4: learn the game and all that. And what a Mila
Speaker 4: said is true. I mean, it's the confidence in the players.
Speaker 4: It's the traditional you know, hard nos coach that wants
Speaker 4: to win and his confidence in the players to keep
Speaker 4: guys out there, to give guys opportunities, you know, to
Speaker 4: continue to stay with guys that might be struggling that
Speaker 4: other guys might be like, oh, we need to do
Speaker 4: something else. Like no, He's like, this guy will get
Speaker 4: it done, and I promise you he will, and then
Speaker 4: that confidence goes a long way.
Speaker 1: So reds Vest does kicks off tomorrow and Saturday. Will
Speaker 1: you guys would both be there?
Speaker 4: Yep?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, both days, both days both?
Speaker 1: Wow, all right, we'll be there.
Speaker 2: See everybody.
Speaker 3: Love it all right, guys, thanks for coming in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: You guys have a great series, Andrew, but immediately you'll
Speaker 3: put gone with us. With that, we had to tray
Speaker 3: of agun weather. What is going on