Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talking.
Speaker 1: We're hearing my guy, Dalton Rushing, who's starting at first
Speaker 1: base today after catching for the Dodgers last night. What's
Speaker 1: it like on Well, First of all, I gotta say
Speaker 1: thank you for the time. How rude of me?
Speaker 2: No, it's not rude of your bass. You know I'm
Speaker 2: always here for you.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you. I appreciate it. In Anaheim and the
Speaker 1: Big A. What's this ballpark like for you? Coming here?
Speaker 1: Knowing how many great players have played here before?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's sweet. I got to play here last year.
Speaker 3: Obviously, you have trouts in the lineup today and guys
Speaker 3: throughout the years. It's cool to play against these guys
Speaker 3: each and every year. Hopefully we can take some from
Speaker 3: them this year like we didn't last year.
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna bring up they beat you all six
Speaker 1: times last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fine. It's we won a World Series. We
Speaker 3: got our end goal. But now we need to take
Speaker 3: care of business this year.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 1: I know you're a young player, but can you feel
Speaker 1: it too? Other teams are bringing a lot more energy.
Speaker 1: They're bringing their best shot at you guys this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's kind of what you sign up
Speaker 3: for with things we do off season moves, free agent signings,
Speaker 3: all these things you sign up for every team to
Speaker 3: treat it like their World Series. And anytime a team
Speaker 3: can come in take two out of three from the Dodgers,
Speaker 3: they're gonna take it.
Speaker 2: And run with it.
Speaker 3: You know, we have to say pride in that we
Speaker 3: need to understand the importance of every game.
Speaker 2: We need to understand the importance of every win that.
Speaker 3: Even this early in the season, I think we're getting
Speaker 3: on the track to play really good baseball in the
Speaker 3: next six, ten, fifteen, twenty games, however many it is.
Speaker 3: But I think the team's in a really good spot.
Speaker 3: The arms of really well, the starting pitching has been
Speaker 3: really good. It's all starting to come together, and I
Speaker 3: think it's a good thing for us.
Speaker 1: Were you able to avoid the sickness that was going
Speaker 1: through the clubhouse, because it feels like that did take
Speaker 1: a while for all of you to get over.
Speaker 3: I was patient zero, So yeah, I was patient zero
Speaker 3: back in Toronto, and yeah, that was tough. I guess
Speaker 3: you could say sickness weekend for me. I was all
Speaker 3: over the place, and I guess physically. I played really
Speaker 3: well being sick, so maybe I need to get sick
Speaker 3: more often, you know. But yeah, no, I was pitching zero,
Speaker 3: So I hate that I brought that upon all the boys,
Speaker 3: But I'm glad we're all kind of past that.
Speaker 1: Now. You're playing first base tonight. What's it like to
Speaker 1: transition from behind the plate to first base? Obviously the footwork,
Speaker 1: but just the mental part of the game. Do you
Speaker 1: see the game the same way at first space as
Speaker 1: you would when you're behind the plate. Are you trying
Speaker 1: to play along with Will and the bullpen tonight?
Speaker 3: The game in itself, I would say it's a little different.
Speaker 3: You're not managing pitch to pitch, You're not thinking three
Speaker 3: innings ahead of time. You're really just owning the moment,
Speaker 3: owning what's in front of you. First base, to me,
Speaker 3: I played there a lot in college. I played there
Speaker 3: a little bit through the miners coming up, so it's
Speaker 3: not like completely foreign to me. I feel comfortable over there.
Speaker 3: I got a lot of early work in today and
Speaker 3: just to make sure I'm already for the game tonight.
Speaker 3: But no, I'm not gonna think with well, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: leave that up to Will. I'm gonna let it do
Speaker 3: his thing. I do my thing when I'm back there,
Speaker 3: and we kind of we kind of have the same
Speaker 3: end goal every single night that we're back there behind
Speaker 3: the plate, we call the best pitches and win the
Speaker 3: baseball game.
Speaker 1: That's a you know, I'm a man of the people, right,
Speaker 1: so I touched the people, the fans, and the fans
Speaker 1: love your care factor, how high it is. What's the
Speaker 1: balance for you as far as caring as much as
Speaker 1: you do but also keeping your emotions in check.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's for me. It's a maturity thing
Speaker 3: that I really want to fix. By no means do
Speaker 3: I ever want to stop playing with passion and love,
Speaker 3: embracing and showing how much that I care about this game,
Speaker 3: how much I love to win. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: there's there's always a maturity piece to it, and I
Speaker 3: think there's been immaturity in the past, there's been immaturity
Speaker 3: in the present as of recently, and that's something I
Speaker 3: have to fix. I have to grow on as a player.
Speaker 1: I loved and stretch. Where Tao's giving you a big
Speaker 1: brother headlock, Mookie Betts is talking to you. How much
Speaker 1: have those guys help you grow and understand the game
Speaker 1: and understand, you know, just their process.
Speaker 3: It's all the older guys on this team, you know, veteran,
Speaker 3: We have veteran after veteran. They all care and I
Speaker 3: think to me that means more than anything. They see potential,
Speaker 3: They see what I can do over the stretch of
Speaker 3: ten fifteen years in this game, and I think they're
Speaker 3: just looking out.
Speaker 2: For my best interests.
Speaker 3: They want me to be a player that's known in
Speaker 3: this league for however long that I play and respected
Speaker 3: in this league for that same amount of time. So yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it's just them being good teammates. We're surrounded by
Speaker 3: great guys in this clubhouse. Each and every person cares
Speaker 3: about everyone else. And yeah, to have those guys obviously
Speaker 3: have my back through dubs, the down, the good, the bad,
Speaker 3: and the social media world, the on field world, you know,
Speaker 3: it means a lot.
Speaker 2: Okay, well it really does.
Speaker 1: I think that goes to your character and who you
Speaker 1: are as a person for them to care as much
Speaker 1: about you as they do about themselves. So that's a
Speaker 1: testament to tualt and rushing.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3: I make sure these guys know that I love them.
Speaker 3: I do anything for them. Sometimes I don't do the
Speaker 3: same for the opposing team, but I plan to in
Speaker 3: the future, and obviously I want to get everything passing.
Speaker 1: Hey, it's competition, right. Everybody wants you to be friends
Speaker 1: until they don't want you to be friends. So thank
Speaker 1: you for the time. I'll handle everything from here.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you. You always have my bag.