Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: We are joined right now by the NLCS MVP of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. They call him Tommy Tanks, but he's
Speaker 2: finally active for the twenty sixth season. Tommy, thanks a
Speaker 2: lot for the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 1: It's been been a too long, been a couple of
Speaker 1: months that I haven't gotten to play, and you know,
Speaker 1: just been best cheerleader I can be, and now I
Speaker 1: get to actually contribute.
Speaker 2: I was concerned about you wandering in Oklahoma City for
Speaker 2: forty days and forty nights. How did you survive?
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of a lot of prayer and meditation,
Speaker 1: you know, but yeah, I know it was it was fun.
Speaker 3: You know, it was fun to just get back to
Speaker 3: playing again.
Speaker 1: They've got a great group of guys down there, a
Speaker 1: lot of good players, and you know, it was just
Speaker 1: fun to get back to playing baseball again.
Speaker 2: Tommy, this ankle has bothered you since before you were
Speaker 2: traded to the Dodgers. To finally have it taken care
Speaker 2: of and behind you, is that somewhat of a relief
Speaker 2: more than anything else.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's kind of obviously something that I've
Speaker 1: dealt with the past two years. So getting the surgery
Speaker 1: was a tough decision because I knew I was going
Speaker 1: to be out for a little bit. But you know,
Speaker 1: after speaking with the doctor, you know, we kind of
Speaker 1: determined that it was gonna have a high success and
Speaker 1: high probability of getting back to one hundred percent. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I just decided to go through with it,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's feeling great now. It took maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit longer than I expected, but you know,
Speaker 1: I'm back to feeling feeling normal again.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: How long has it been since you felt normal? Can
Speaker 2: you put a time on how long that's been?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know I had a stretch last year, like the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season where I felt pretty good until
Speaker 1: I sprained it again end of April and before that,
Speaker 1: kind of going back to the twenty four season when
Speaker 1: I sprained it for the first time.
Speaker 2: Will you wear a brace like you were before the surgery?
Speaker 2: Are you pretty confident this thing is strong enough to
Speaker 2: hold up?
Speaker 3: I'm confident strong enough. I'll still wear a brace.
Speaker 1: Last year, I had to tape it up pretty heavily,
Speaker 1: and I won't have to do that this time.
Speaker 3: Around, just just kind of a regular brace.
Speaker 2: You played a handful of games at a lot of
Speaker 2: different positions in the minor leagues. On this rehab appearance,
Speaker 2: when you come back to the starting lineup, do you
Speaker 2: feel like second.
Speaker 3: Base is the spot? Are you prepared.
Speaker 2: To play all those positions that you did before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I talked to the guys and sounds like I'll
Speaker 1: bounce around a decent amount.
Speaker 3: I think I'm at third base tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'll play second obviously as well, and then
Speaker 1: mix it in the outfield as well. But you know,
Speaker 1: that's kind of what what I've expected and come to
Speaker 1: expect over my career is just filling in wherever needed,
Speaker 1: and you know, playing a bunch of different.
Speaker 2: Spots, which's been the most challenging part of all this.
Speaker 1: I think just patients, you know, just with surgery, you
Speaker 1: know a lot of times it doesn't go It's not
Speaker 1: a super linear progression, so you know, just having some
Speaker 1: ups and downs, and you know, just having the faith
Speaker 1: that it.
Speaker 3: Was going to be going to get back to one
Speaker 3: hundred percent eventually, and just.
Speaker 1: Having the patience to let the whole process play out.
Speaker 2: When guys go through an injury and a surgery like this,
Speaker 2: They say physically to get over the hump is one
Speaker 2: part of the equation, but the bigger part is the
Speaker 2: mental hurdle to trust that the injury the ankle is
Speaker 2: going to be able to do what you wanted to
Speaker 2: do and trust that it's not going to get injured again.
Speaker 2: What point did you have that trust in your ankle
Speaker 2: that you could have it do the old Tommy Edmond
Speaker 2: type of things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think that's why it was good
Speaker 1: to have a three week rehab assignment because you're definitely
Speaker 1: a little tentative the first week getting back to playing
Speaker 1: baseball again, going full speed around bases, and then by
Speaker 1: the third week, I definitely felt totally comfortable, you know,
Speaker 1: especially a rounding basis, because that's that's how I ended
Speaker 1: up doing it the second time last year in August,
Speaker 1: So you know, it definitely got a lot better in
Speaker 1: the first couple of weeks, and then by the time
Speaker 1: the third week came around, I felt totally normal.
Speaker 2: When you have to focus on getting this ankle through
Speaker 2: surgery and recovery, how much does that take away from
Speaker 2: the baseball preparation for a season? And d you feel
Speaker 2: like you've gotten enough of that to be ready for
Speaker 2: the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, fortunately, pretty early on in the process, I
Speaker 1: was able to take swings, so I was able to
Speaker 1: get a good amount of hitting in before I actually
Speaker 1: went out to play game. It was pretty much just
Speaker 1: like the running and cutting standpoint that I wasn't able
Speaker 1: to do at the very beginning. So you know, just
Speaker 1: getting back to game action that was, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: that was kind of the big step, just the unpredictability
Speaker 1: of you know, what might happen during a game, whether
Speaker 1: it's a weird play on defense or a weird play
Speaker 1: on the base paths. So I think just getting comfortable
Speaker 1: with that was a was really important for me in
Speaker 1: these last few weeks. And you know, I had some
Speaker 1: interesting scenarios kind of come up where I had to
Speaker 1: you know adjust and and you know, do some quick
Speaker 1: change of direction, and you know, I felt good with those,
Speaker 1: So I passed that.
Speaker 2: Step without you Pat has never collided with k.
Speaker 3: That's right, that's right. Absolutely saved the World Series.