Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Vasse for Dodger
Speaker 1: Talker Dodger Talk David Vasse taking you to eight o'clock
Speaker 1: and we are joined right now by a guy that
Speaker 1: we got to know for a bit before he had
Speaker 1: to have Tommy John surgery. But in the short time
Speaker 1: fans got to see River Ryan pitch. They loved it.
Speaker 1: And if you get to know this young man, you'll
Speaker 1: love him even more. Easy got to root for and
Speaker 1: he's going to be ready for the Dodgers attempt at
Speaker 1: a three peat in twenty twenty six. And River Ryan
Speaker 1: joins us. River thanks a lot for the time. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I kind of tipped you off to which
Speaker 1: teammates kind of told me that you looked not like
Speaker 1: your old self, but a new, improved River Ryan. The
Speaker 1: last month or so of last year. What did you
Speaker 1: take away from the end of your season, even though
Speaker 1: you didn't pitch in a minor league game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, during the entire rehab process, it was I was
Speaker 3: really just trying to refine some things as far as
Speaker 3: mechanics go on the mound.
Speaker 2: And really just be.
Speaker 3: Able to try to repeat my delivery going into twenty
Speaker 3: twenty six, I also was able to add a new
Speaker 3: pitch to the arsenal, So now I think we have seven.
Speaker 2: We've got seven pitches now.
Speaker 3: Wow, So it's uh, yeah, I'm really excited to be
Speaker 3: able to get back out there in showcase what I
Speaker 3: can do.
Speaker 1: When did you come up with this new pitch? Were
Speaker 1: you thinking about it as you were rehabbing the elbow
Speaker 1: or is it something when you, you know, were allowed to
Speaker 1: let it rip that you decided to experiment with.
Speaker 3: Well, actually, at the end of twenty twenty four, I
Speaker 3: kind of was throwing throwing, I was throwing some sliders
Speaker 3: and catch play and I accidentally kind of like, I
Speaker 3: don't even know how to describe it how I figured
Speaker 3: it out. It just kind of came out a different way,
Speaker 3: and I was like, that's interesting. So I tried to
Speaker 3: just remember how I held the ball that time, and
Speaker 3: I actually figured it out. So yeah, we were working
Speaker 3: on it all year this year in rehab and continuing
Speaker 3: to work on it through this offseason, and I'm ready
Speaker 3: to showcase it in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be a very effective pitch.
Speaker 1: Can you describe the feeling when you throw a pitch
Speaker 1: like that that you weren't intending to and you see
Speaker 1: what it does and how good it feels coming out
Speaker 1: of your hand. Was that an AHA moment or was
Speaker 1: it like, oh, I found something. Can you describe what
Speaker 1: it felt like?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think it was more of just like I was
Speaker 3: caught off guard by it, Like I didn't know that
Speaker 3: I could make the ball do that. So I just
Speaker 3: kind of just tried to do some research on path
Speaker 3: out of myself and see if it was going to
Speaker 3: be a good fit for the arsenal. And yeah, I
Speaker 3: think it's going to mesh really well with with the
Speaker 3: pitches that I offer. But yeah, it was definitely kind
Speaker 3: of just like a, well, I didn't know I could
Speaker 3: make the ball do that, so that's amazing.
Speaker 1: River Ryan is our guest, and River, when you say
Speaker 1: you have seven pitches, I remember when Rich Hill was
Speaker 1: with the Dodgers, he talked about shaping pitches and you
Speaker 1: may have one fastball, but you can shape it two
Speaker 1: or three different ways, or your curveball, you can shape
Speaker 1: it two or three different ways. When you say you
Speaker 1: have that type of arsenal, are you talking about shaping
Speaker 1: some of the same pitches differently, or do you have
Speaker 1: seven different pitch grips.
Speaker 3: No, I actually have seven different pitch grips. But I
Speaker 3: also along with adding a new pitch, I have been
Speaker 3: trying to manipulate some ways I throw different pitches so
Speaker 3: I can throw them like, for example, like a curveball.
Speaker 2: Like a U.
Speaker 3: Darvish slow curveball, or kind of just like a stock
Speaker 3: curveball and a strikeout curveball. So essentially one pitch can
Speaker 3: be three different pitches. But I'm still I mean, I'm
Speaker 3: still got a long way to go as far as
Speaker 3: learning learning how to pitch. It's only been a few
Speaker 3: years for me, but yeah, it's it's really cool to
Speaker 3: be able to do different things with the baseball when
Speaker 3: it's essentially like the same pitch, right, So that's also
Speaker 3: that's also being worked on, you know as we speak,
Speaker 3: and looking forward to showcase that in twenty twenty six
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, people forget when the Dodgers treated for you, you
Speaker 1: were going between shortstop and just learning how to pitch.
Speaker 1: This has not been your entire life where you've kind
Speaker 1: of mastered pitching. Did this time off? I know, elbow
Speaker 1: surgery is never ideal. But did this time off provide
Speaker 1: you with the opportunity to maybe find yourself as a pitcher.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: I mean when you have that kind of downtime, you
Speaker 3: you know you got to do something right. So I
Speaker 3: definitely really started to put some time and effort into
Speaker 3: learning how to pitch and what kind of pitches I
Speaker 3: can use in different situations, what kind of pitches I
Speaker 3: can use against different.
Speaker 2: Types of hitters. Yeah, it was. I was really just.
Speaker 3: Able to break down some stuff over this this this
Speaker 3: time I spent in rehab in Arizona and learn some
Speaker 3: different things about pitching that I'm excited to put to use.
Speaker 1: So when Kyle Hurd and some of your other teammates
Speaker 1: were telling me it's September, just how great you looked.
Speaker 1: Who were you facing? Was it like those innsquad games
Speaker 1: with other teams? Was it like real game type of scenarios?
Speaker 1: Can you describe what they were raving about?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I was just pitching, uh to some of the
Speaker 3: guys that were also in rehab with me that were,
Speaker 3: you know, just trying to get some reps, a couple
Speaker 3: of minor league a couple of minor league guys, and
Speaker 3: then towards the end of the year. I think my
Speaker 3: last live I was thrown against uh some of some
Speaker 3: of my old teammates and Triple A, like Ryan Ward,
Speaker 3: Justin Dean, just some yeah, some of those guys.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was it was just uh, it was.
Speaker 3: I ended the ended the rehab process on a really,
Speaker 3: really high note. So it's it's exciting for sure, River.
Speaker 1: Ryan is our guest. This is Dodger Talk until eight
Speaker 1: o'clock tonight on AM five seventy l A Sports. You
Speaker 1: mentioned a couple of guys that you know. Obviously a
Speaker 1: lot of Dodger fans have been eager to see Ryan
Speaker 1: Ward in particular. I don't know. I felt like I
Speaker 1: had a streak during last year, River where at least
Speaker 1: one person a day for two months straight either text me,
Speaker 1: called me, or in person asked me about Ryan Ward.
Speaker 1: How good is Ryan Ward? And are you excited to
Speaker 1: see him get an opportunity at the big league level
Speaker 1: this year?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely. Ryan Ward is a special ball player.
Speaker 3: He's been putting up some crazy numbers over the past
Speaker 3: few seasons, and I really hope that he's able to
Speaker 3: get an opportunity at the big league level. I think
Speaker 3: he'll I think he'll do some pretty good things and
Speaker 3: I'll have a pretty long career at the major league level.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm definitely a fan.
Speaker 3: Of Ryan Ward, and I'm excited for him to get
Speaker 3: an opportunity this year.
Speaker 1: All right. And in the World Series, Justin Dean got
Speaker 1: a lot of play late game defense in center field.
Speaker 1: What did you think about the play where the ball
Speaker 1: got stuck underneath the wall and Justin Dean's putting up
Speaker 1: his arms. Were you watching all of those plays and
Speaker 1: did you think when you saw that play with one
Speaker 1: of your minor league teammates and the guy you were,
Speaker 1: you know, getting ready to play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a pretty pretty high IQ moment if
Speaker 3: I'm remembering correctly, when he put his hands.
Speaker 2: Up to play the play was stopped.
Speaker 3: I can't, I honestly can't remember how it all went down,
Speaker 3: But like if.
Speaker 1: Finds you, right river amazing how.
Speaker 3: The ball fight had Yeah, it finds you for sure.
Speaker 3: But yeah, the fact that he kind of just had
Speaker 3: to wherewithal to throw his hands up immediately, whether the
Speaker 3: play stopped or not, that's just kind of a high
Speaker 3: IQ moment. But it's it's funny too, because I played
Speaker 3: against Justin Dean in college. He went to Lenor Ryan
Speaker 3: and I went to UNC Pembroke, and we my freshman
Speaker 3: year we matched up against each other. Actually didn't know
Speaker 3: that I played against him until talking with him this
Speaker 3: past spring training. But yeah, Justin Dean's always been been
Speaker 3: a very solid ballplayer. Defensively, if I remember correctly, he's
Speaker 3: been He's been a pretty good pretty good hitter too,
Speaker 3: as a good eye at the plate. But he's just
Speaker 3: extremely fast, can cover a lot of ground out there.
Speaker 1: But yeah, no doubt. Hey, I got to ask you this,
Speaker 1: where were you watching Game six and seven of the
Speaker 1: World Series?
Speaker 3: My parents' house and my in law's house. We were
Speaker 3: kind of in the middle of visiting some some family
Speaker 3: members that we've been trying to visit. So and one
Speaker 3: was in Georgia, one was in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: So okay, so two key plays. Tell me what your
Speaker 1: thoughts were in the living room of your family's house
Speaker 1: when A Will Smith took his foot off home plate
Speaker 1: for a split second and then b when Pa has
Speaker 1: ran into keyk Hernandez. Do you remember what was going
Speaker 1: through your head when you saw those two plays?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely remember the collision kind of in the
Speaker 3: outfield more than I remember will Will almost coming off
Speaker 3: the bag, but uh yeah, thank thank the Lord that
Speaker 3: he was able to get the get the footback.
Speaker 2: On the bag.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that that play in center field was just
Speaker 3: I can only imagine how loud the stadium was trying
Speaker 3: to communicate. And you know, key K and pa Haes,
Speaker 3: they both want to make the play and they're going
Speaker 3: to go, you know, as hard as they can to
Speaker 3: make it happen. So fortunately they were able if pa
Speaker 3: Haes was able to you know, come out with the
Speaker 3: with the catch and nobody got seriously hurt. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that was a there was a hold your breath moment
Speaker 3: for sure. I think more of the more along the
Speaker 3: lines of injury injury perspective than actually catching the ball.
Speaker 1: But yeah, no doubt. I mean I love hearing where
Speaker 1: guys like you were watching and what you were feeling
Speaker 1: in those moments. And you're going to be a big
Speaker 1: part of the Dodgers trying to go for a three
Speaker 1: pet Do you have the vision of what the Dodgers
Speaker 1: and image Shehan did last year where you know they
Speaker 1: have the luxury of allowing you guys to you know,
Speaker 1: ramp up and be ready. Do you kind of feel
Speaker 1: like you're this year's Emitsan where they they deploy you
Speaker 1: in the second half when you're fully functional.
Speaker 3: Honestly, my whole mindset right now is trying to make
Speaker 3: the team out of camp. I think I think I'm
Speaker 3: more than healthy enough to have a full, healthy season.
Speaker 3: It's just going out there and proving that I am
Speaker 3: healthy and doing what I am capable of doing and
Speaker 3: try to do it effectively in spring training and hopefully
Speaker 3: make the squad out of out of camp. That'd be
Speaker 3: That'd be great. Love it.
Speaker 1: That's one thing. Listening to the River right now, it's
Speaker 1: the holiday time. He's with this family, it's the off season.
Speaker 1: Completely nice guy, but when it's go time, he has
Speaker 1: uh the edge that you need to be great. And
Speaker 1: I appreciate that about you, River, and I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see you in spring training. Merry Christmas to you
Speaker 1: and your family. I know you're somewhat of a newlywed.
Speaker 1: You got a great family that you're building. Things are
Speaker 1: looking great for you in twenty six and beyond. So
Speaker 1: thank you so much for the time and can't wait
Speaker 1: to see you in Arizona.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you for having me,
Speaker 2: and Merry.
Speaker 3: Christmas to you as well.
Speaker 2: Stay safe out there, okay.
Speaker 1: No doubt. Gotta keep your head on a swivel River,
Speaker 1: especially when you're on the streets of Ventura Boulevard. Baby,
Speaker 1: thanks a lot for the time, River, and we'll see
Speaker 1: you in AZ.
Speaker 2: All right, sounds good. I appreciate it. Take it easy,