Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 1: It's the Dodgers and Padres and San Diego. It's always exciting.
Speaker 1: Miguel Rojas has been part of this for a while
Speaker 1: now and he joins us as we get ready for
Speaker 1: first pitch. Mickey, thanks a lot for the time. You
Speaker 1: always got beautiful swag even during warm ups.
Speaker 2: Yeah, trying to trying to stay up with with the style.
Speaker 2: But uh, no, you said, we've been playing really good baseball.
Speaker 2: Excited to come here to San Diego and uh and
Speaker 2: face the Padres for the first time of the year.
Speaker 2: It's always a special series. We all know their rivally
Speaker 2: the last.
Speaker 3: Couple of years.
Speaker 2: And uh, obviously the fans get all excited and top
Speaker 2: two for these yeares and you.
Speaker 1: Feel the energy in the streets when you're walking around
Speaker 1: in the afternoon or when you're coming to the ballpark.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's hard not to.
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of fans around it, a lot
Speaker 2: of excitement, you know. Uh, the whole media kind of
Speaker 2: like put it out there for us. He's obviously we're
Speaker 2: in the middle of May. We're trying to grind every
Speaker 2: single day, trying to get better, trying to take out
Speaker 2: of the things that we have to take out of
Speaker 2: inside the loger room, and and everybody separately grinding to
Speaker 2: kind of get to the best place that they can be.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the.
Speaker 2: Day, we all leave through the fence and the excitement
Speaker 2: around the league for this kind of series, and it's
Speaker 2: always it's always good to get to get the excited
Speaker 2: the excited series during the during the middle of the
Speaker 2: year because this is the only way that you can
Speaker 2: actually get ready for October and what you want to accomplish,
Speaker 2: which is winning our war series.
Speaker 1: Miguel Rojas is our guest before first pitch between the
Speaker 1: Dodgers and Padres. Dave Roberts has said this a couple
Speaker 1: of times during the last few days, how you guys
Speaker 1: are starting to earn the counts that you're getting and
Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why you're having success. Does
Speaker 1: that resonate with you as far as earning counts to
Speaker 1: be able to get into a hitter's advantage.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 2: I feel like we've been doing a better job understand
Speaker 2: and what the pitcher is trying to do to us,
Speaker 2: not trying to be one dimensional kind of offense, just
Speaker 2: like waiting for one of our big guys to hit
Speaker 2: a home run and driving three runs and for us
Speaker 2: to win the game just because of pitching.
Speaker 3: It's being so good. We're being way.
Speaker 2: More diligent on a student what he's doing in the game,
Speaker 2: more than just the approach that we have before the
Speaker 2: game starts, because sometimes we studied this guy and see
Speaker 2: how they pitched up the the like the different opponents.
Speaker 2: But it's not we are not the same. You know,
Speaker 2: sometimes he's gonna trying to do something different and watching
Speaker 2: the game and paying attention to what he's doing.
Speaker 3: It's being paid off.
Speaker 2: You know, we faced a really good pitcher on Saturday
Speaker 2: night and the guys did an amazing job. I was
Speaker 2: just watching on the bench and how how good the
Speaker 2: approach was with when the game started to go to
Speaker 2: the third and fourteen, and you know, the guys have
Speaker 2: put better at bats in the second time through because
Speaker 2: they they they see it.
Speaker 3: They saw that they were.
Speaker 2: He he wasn't gonna just give in and given strikes
Speaker 2: to hit early in the count, and you see a
Speaker 2: lot of guys walk, a lot of guys took hit
Speaker 2: by pitches standing at bags and then we just want
Speaker 2: hit later, we scored to runs and we blew the
Speaker 2: game open. So it was really good to see that series,
Speaker 2: the last two games against San Francisco, And obviously when
Speaker 2: we're winning, it's a little bit easier to talk about
Speaker 2: this stuff, but definitely Dog is seen in the same
Speaker 2: way that we're feeling it when we're playing.
Speaker 1: I heard the Blue Jays say that there's being pitched
Speaker 1: so much differently this year than they were last year.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you guys are being pitched differently
Speaker 1: than other teams or differently than a year ago.
Speaker 2: I just feel like everybody, everybody is different when they
Speaker 2: step in to a play, and I think these guys
Speaker 2: are trying not to make mistakes against us, and they're.
Speaker 3: Trying to be really careful, and sometimes they're not in.
Speaker 2: So on as much as we try them to be.
Speaker 2: It seems like they don't care if they walk a couple,
Speaker 2: you know, So we need to be able to realize
Speaker 2: that that's what they're trying to do. Take our walks
Speaker 2: and then let the guy behind you kind of like
Speaker 2: swing the bad if he needs to, you know. And
Speaker 2: that's what it's been showing. It's been showing way more
Speaker 2: people on base, and that's when you get the production.
Speaker 3: You know, not just because of.
Speaker 2: The three room homer that pashit or or you know,
Speaker 2: like a back to back home runs hit and there,
Speaker 2: it's just like constantly having men on base, and then
Speaker 2: you don't have that.
Speaker 3: You don't have to get a hit in that situation.
Speaker 2: You can get you can get a sackfly, you can walk,
Speaker 2: you can you can do so many things. And that's
Speaker 2: what I'm talking about when I'm talking about one dimensional
Speaker 2: way to score runs. But we right now it feels
Speaker 2: like it's a little bit more complete offense, not just
Speaker 2: a guy that can actually leave the ball pa or
Speaker 2: another couple guys that are having a good game and
Speaker 2: that's why we're winning. But obviously having show here like
Speaker 2: getting better at bats, a talker and all those guys
Speaker 2: is obviously gonna help our offense get better.
Speaker 1: To Miguel Rojas is our guest. Before I let you go,
Speaker 1: I read that you've talked about maybe coming back next
Speaker 1: year of the Dodgers three peet. But I do follow
Speaker 1: you on Instagram, very popular Instagram account for Miguel Rojas.
Speaker 1: And after you put your collage photos the caption at
Speaker 1: the end, said last dance, Mickey Rowe. So where do
Speaker 1: you stand on all that? As far as leaving the
Speaker 1: door open for returning to playing next year, This.
Speaker 3: Is my last year.
Speaker 2: That's that's something that I that I always had that
Speaker 2: I said last year, this is going to be my
Speaker 2: last year playing professional baseball, and kind of like, that's
Speaker 2: the way that I want to see it, you know,
Speaker 2: I want to see it us coming every single day
Speaker 2: knowing that that was my last time playing at in
Speaker 2: your stadium, or or this is my last time playing
Speaker 2: in this series.
Speaker 3: For you know, for for my career.
Speaker 2: There's one possibility, and it's like winning another championship. I'm
Speaker 2: going to have to sit down with my wife and
Speaker 2: real and see what is out there for me, especially
Speaker 2: with this organization, because I would I wouldn't play for
Speaker 2: any other team that is not the Dodgers. At this
Speaker 2: point of my life and my career, my decision is
Speaker 2: already made that I wanted to go. I wanted to
Speaker 2: go home, and I want to start pursuing the next
Speaker 2: chapter of my life and my my professional career, which
Speaker 2: is helping this team from another standpoint or from another role.
Speaker 2: So that's that's design you know the only way that
Speaker 2: I will have a conversation, and this is not one
Speaker 2: hundred percent, and it have to be both ways kind
Speaker 2: of like one in the same thing, you know, because
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know what the what the
Speaker 2: team is gonna want for next year in my position
Speaker 2: and all that.
Speaker 3: And it's not just me saying that, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Want to come back if we win, because they might
Speaker 2: have a different, you.
Speaker 3: Know, a different way to go.
Speaker 2: So for me, it's just like, if we win this year,
Speaker 2: it will be really hard not to have a conversation
Speaker 2: with my family to try and to get something for
Speaker 2: next year. But I'm focusing on on this year and
Speaker 2: enjoy my last time playing baseball because something that I know,
Speaker 2: as hard as we want, as hard as we work,
Speaker 2: nothing is guaranteeing this four and we have to earn
Speaker 2: everything that we that we accomplished. So I'm really humble
Speaker 2: about that because I mean, even though we won the
Speaker 2: last couple of Wars series, in one of them, we
Speaker 2: were one out away from losing it, and uh, it
Speaker 2: will be a different conversation. I might not have a job,
Speaker 2: you know, Like if I if I didn't hit that homer,
Speaker 2: so I'd rather wait until like the season is over
Speaker 2: and then make conclusions after you after the years old.
Speaker 1: Winning is addicting, that's for sure. Miguel Rojas knows all
Speaker 1: about that. A back to back World Series champion with
Speaker 1: the Dodgers. You've earned everything you've gotten, Miguel, and the
Speaker 1: game has rewarded you. And last dance, Mickey Row, I
Speaker 1: love it and we will all savor it. And you
Speaker 1: have it on the glove too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's on my glove.
Speaker 2: It's all over the place because I really wanna I
Speaker 2: really want to enjoy it. And uh, I think I
Speaker 2: decided it too. I like, I like being humble and
Speaker 2: all that, but I feel like my career have been
Speaker 2: a little bit different than what everybody expected. So I'm
Speaker 2: really proud of myself and I'm really.
Speaker 3: Enjoying this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Somentown's looking good, the game's looking good, the shoes
Speaker 1: are looking good. Everything's great for Miguel Rojas and the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for the time.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you,