Speaker 1: Well, what better way to celebrate Sinko de Mayo and
Speaker 1: show hey Otani being on the mound than checking in
Speaker 1: with the Dodgers pitching coach Mark Pryor, Mark, I hope
Speaker 1: you got some Tex Mex ready to go after the
Speaker 1: game tonight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I gotta be honest, not eating a whole lot
Speaker 2: after these games. We've got a quick turnaround tomorrow, so
Speaker 2: we'll just spend the night.
Speaker 1: The life of a pitching coach. And before we get
Speaker 1: to Otani and what's going on with him tonight, how
Speaker 1: impressed are you, being a former pitcher, knowing what it
Speaker 1: takes to get outs at this level, to watch the
Speaker 1: way Justin Robleski is attacking the strike zone and getting
Speaker 1: out without even striking out a batter in his last start.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's pretty impressive what he's doing right now,
Speaker 2: and it's fun to watch. It's been fun, I think
Speaker 2: for the staff and an organization in general, just to
Speaker 2: kind of see the maturation process of Justin over the years,
Speaker 2: especially LUs you know, two three, two and a half
Speaker 2: years at the big league level, and you know, we
Speaker 2: talk about it, you know clearly, you know, strikeouts are
Speaker 2: very nice and we all love them because it's a
Speaker 2: controllable outcome, and you know when you have myths that
Speaker 2: that obviously helps, you know, take away anything that might happen.
Speaker 2: But the you know, we talk about this a lot.
Speaker 2: We talked about with Gavin Stone as well. It's like
Speaker 2: outs ultimately or what you're trying to get. So however
Speaker 2: you get them, whether they're strikeouts or their ground balls
Speaker 2: or fly balls, like outs matter. And you know what
Speaker 2: he's he's been showing up lineups and that was the
Speaker 2: challenge to him. And I think that's you know, again
Speaker 2: a lot of the credit goes to him and just
Speaker 2: his ability to you know, his confidence hasn't waivered as
Speaker 2: much as you know, I know, there's we've talked about it,
Speaker 2: what happened at the end of or the beginning of
Speaker 2: last year in Washington and what he was able to
Speaker 2: do to remake himself in Oklahoma City and they come
Speaker 2: up and be a huge role for us, you know,
Speaker 2: in the bullpen, and I think they just gave him
Speaker 2: the confidence of doing it, not just believing it, but
Speaker 2: actually doing it, having the experience in high leverage situations,
Speaker 2: and he's just kind of taking it again to this
Speaker 2: role where he knew he was coming in in an
Speaker 2: undefined role this year, and he's just kind of taken
Speaker 2: the opportunity and kicked the door down. And but he's
Speaker 2: been doing it by challenging, like you know, trying not
Speaker 2: to nibble around. He got a little you know, on
Speaker 2: the edges, a little bit more than he probably would
Speaker 2: have liked to in the Chicago game in the first
Speaker 2: couple of innings. But at the heart of it is
Speaker 2: he's going to attack, and he's going to force action
Speaker 2: and makes force that team to make some swing decisions,
Speaker 2: you know, and then hopefully the strikeouts will come. But
Speaker 2: I think teams know that he's going to be on attack,
Speaker 2: so they don't have a whole lot of time to
Speaker 2: wait and see what he's going to do. What's working.
Speaker 2: He knows he's going to throw strikes, and so he's
Speaker 2: been the beneficiarya of a lot of efficient outings and
Speaker 2: been able to go deep for us when when we
Speaker 2: needed him to go deep given some short starts or
Speaker 2: our bullpen was you know, taxed various times. So it's
Speaker 2: it's been remarkable. He's been an unbelievable competitor and it's
Speaker 2: been a lot of fun to watch on the sidelines.
Speaker 1: Is that the biggest thing as far as what you
Speaker 1: saw at the beginning of the year last season when
Speaker 1: he came back after making adjustments, the confidence that he
Speaker 1: exudes not only on the mound, but as he's stalking
Speaker 1: the dugout while the team is is scoring runs for him.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean, I don't think anybody who's been around
Speaker 2: justin you know, thinks that he lacks his confidence and
Speaker 2: his abilities to get good guys out. And that's just
Speaker 2: an it thing that you know, kind of guys have.
Speaker 2: But I do think at the transition from where he
Speaker 2: was at the beginning of last year to where he
Speaker 2: came into the relievers and then now, is really understanding
Speaker 2: his foundation and what he is as a pitcher. And
Speaker 2: you know, it's it's clearly it's a four team. It's fastball, slider,
Speaker 2: heavy mix, and then you use some complimentary pieces at times.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, at various times he thought, you know,
Speaker 2: and we thought, okay, well maybe he's got all these weapons.
Speaker 2: Let's see if we can use them all and he
Speaker 2: hadn't quite mastered all of them, and it takes time
Speaker 2: to be able to master. But you know, we try
Speaker 2: to really hone in on master. These two, you know,
Speaker 2: really use these as as kind of you know, bread
Speaker 2: and butter, and then let's as we you know, as
Speaker 2: his career continues to grow and develop, you know, those
Speaker 2: other pitches will be refined to where they you know,
Speaker 2: they might get to that level. So, but it was
Speaker 2: really understanding his foundation of what that is, and it's
Speaker 2: really a big being on the offensive as the pitcher
Speaker 2: and not trying to sugarcoat anything and just really try
Speaker 2: to bully guys as best he can.
Speaker 1: Mark Pryor, Dodgers Pitching coach is our guest show. Hey
Speaker 1: Otani is on the mound for you tonight. Mark and
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts said after the game that he decided somewhere
Speaker 1: towards his third or fourth at bat that he was
Speaker 1: not going to have him lead off in DH. Were
Speaker 1: you part of those conversations to make that decision in
Speaker 1: the dugout? What goes into deciding, you know, what it
Speaker 1: may be best for him just to pitch tonight?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, ultimately that's that's Doc's call. And he's
Speaker 2: got a really good feel for what he's seen in
Speaker 2: the moment, you know, and we're all seeing it kind
Speaker 2: of in the dugout. I mean he you know, he
Speaker 2: was running the bases, he got on base, he beat
Speaker 2: out that double play to get that one run, and
Speaker 2: then he's you know, first to third, first to home.
Speaker 2: You know, you can just see, you know, the amount
Speaker 2: of exertion that he was putting in, as well as
Speaker 2: what he had done in the day already, you know,
Speaker 2: took IVP or not LIVP, he took batting practice on
Speaker 2: the field early, been through a small bullpen to prepare
Speaker 2: for today, and then obviously what he did in the game.
Speaker 2: And so again I don't think you know, there's a
Speaker 2: it's not a yes, no or a black and white situation.
Speaker 2: I think you're just kind of reading like what's you know,
Speaker 2: what's the workload that he's been putting in. And I
Speaker 2: think last night and given everything that you bake in
Speaker 2: from yesterday's pregame and during the game, it just seems
Speaker 2: to make sense like, you know, let's let's focus on
Speaker 2: the pitching, because that's a tax I mean, that's obviously
Speaker 2: very taxing as it is. So I think it's more
Speaker 2: about just starts, you know, going to start to start
Speaker 2: what has been going on leading up to that that
Speaker 2: start and what maybe happened, you know, within the forty
Speaker 2: eight hours of that start. But again, I think Doc's
Speaker 2: got a really good feel and a good pulse of
Speaker 2: where show is physically, and then obviously watching what's going
Speaker 2: on in the field. I think if you know, he
Speaker 2: walks four times and he never leaves first base, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe there's a different decision and he didn't hit yesterday
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. So I think it's just trying
Speaker 2: to understand where he's at going into it, and where
Speaker 2: he's at, you know, right before it, and making sure
Speaker 2: we're in the best position possible May fifth, as well
Speaker 2: as October fifth, And I think ultimately that's you know,
Speaker 2: you're trying to have the short short term goal or
Speaker 2: the short term view and the long term view.
Speaker 1: Here's the one part that I can't wrap my head around.
Speaker 1: Thirty one years old, he's the greatest player on the planet,
Speaker 1: trying to be the best at pitching and hitting like
Speaker 1: he has been his entire career. But as you know, Mark,
Speaker 1: as you get over thirty, the recovery time takes a
Speaker 1: little bit longer and a lot more maintenance. How is
Speaker 1: he able to do the recovery of making a start
Speaker 1: going six seven innings and then you know, having to
Speaker 1: DH the next day or maybe even two days later.
Speaker 1: Is that something we fail to appreciate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's always like a recovery aspect that
Speaker 2: As much as we've advanced in that, I don't know
Speaker 2: if there's a true appreciation for each individual. Some thirty
Speaker 2: one year olds I feel like they're twenty five, and
Speaker 2: some feel like they're forty five. You know. I think
Speaker 2: one thing he's really a master at is, you know,
Speaker 2: what everybody's always given advice about is you know, get
Speaker 2: a lot of sleep, you know, and so I do
Speaker 2: know he values that and that's where you do recover.
Speaker 2: It's not always just like what you do. It's about
Speaker 2: allowing your body to actually recover, and that's that's probably sleeping,
Speaker 2: and so you know, I think that's where he does.
Speaker 2: He's very disciplined on that aspect of it. But as
Speaker 2: far as everything else, again, I think it's just you know,
Speaker 2: he's he's done it before, and I think he's learning
Speaker 2: how to do it at a thirty one year olds,
Speaker 2: which again it is different than being in the mid twenties.
Speaker 2: But he does take care of himself extremely well. And
Speaker 2: you know, again, we do our best to have an
Speaker 2: understanding of where he's at physically, and I think that's
Speaker 2: why you're seeing days like this where he's taking, you know,
Speaker 2: half the game off and to let him do what
Speaker 2: he's been doing on the mound, which is has been
Speaker 2: pretty remarkable on its own, and that gets kind of
Speaker 2: lost in it because everybody wants to see the offensive side.
Speaker 2: But you know, obviously pitching, he's been a huge part
Speaker 2: of what we've done so far this year.
Speaker 1: Mark, Before I let you go, one last question show
Speaker 1: Hail has been so good as a starting pitcher this year.
Speaker 1: Is there one pitch that impresses you the most out
Speaker 1: of his entire repertoire. Is it the sweeper? Is it
Speaker 1: the way he's adjusted his split fingered fastball? What's impressed
Speaker 1: you the most as far as one singular pitch that
Speaker 1: he's thrown.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's an actual pitch because I think
Speaker 2: at various times they're all you know plus plus and
Speaker 2: you know it, you know, and he has a pretty
Speaker 2: good feel of what he wants to use. I think
Speaker 2: what's been really impressive is when he's gotten into somebody's
Speaker 2: given him a you know, a pretty good battle and
Speaker 2: his ability to adjust kind of his delivery. He you know,
Speaker 2: he messes with their timing and does a little hesitation
Speaker 2: in the middle of the delivery, or he does some
Speaker 2: quick steps. It's you know, it's kind of that second
Speaker 2: third layer of the game that you know sometimes and
Speaker 2: for the majority of guys don't need or don't use.
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say they don't need it, they just don't use.
Speaker 2: But his ability to kind of tinker a little bit
Speaker 2: of just kind of pause a little bit mid delivery,
Speaker 2: mess up the hitters timing and here comes ninety you know,
Speaker 2: upper nineties, one hundred mine hour fastball, or here comes
Speaker 2: you know, a sixty nine mini hour curveball. You know.
Speaker 2: So I think that's been a pretty impressive. Thing is
Speaker 2: just playing the game as it's as it's unfolding, and
Speaker 2: we try to talk about don't go in there with
Speaker 2: such predetermined you know, concepts like listen to like watch
Speaker 2: the game, read the games. What the game is telling
Speaker 2: you is what the game needs. And I think that
Speaker 2: he's really good at that, you know, right now on
Speaker 2: the mound, is being able to make those adjustments. Those
Speaker 2: have been pretty impressive, if not comical at times, just
Speaker 2: because you don't see it very you know, very often.
Speaker 2: And when he busted it out the other day, I
Speaker 2: think those two starts ago, you're just like wow, Like
Speaker 2: it's just kind of like another It's a high level,
Speaker 2: high IQ move by him, and you know, you gets
Speaker 2: some punch outs doing it or some ground balls and
Speaker 2: gets out of situations.
Speaker 1: So you're saying he reads swings as the game is
Speaker 1: going on. I always heard Krushaw say that all the time,
Speaker 1: that he's reading the swings and that will tell you
Speaker 1: what direction to go in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's reading swings, the dirrection direction of pitches.
Speaker 2: But I think when he gets in these battles, it's
Speaker 2: and he understands the timing as a hitter more so
Speaker 2: than any other pitcher you know who's playing right now
Speaker 2: for obvious reasons. He understands the timing component of it
Speaker 2: and if he can mess, if he can gain that edge,
Speaker 2: he's going to do it. And again, I think it's
Speaker 2: just it's a high IQ mute move and it's fun
Speaker 2: to see and we talk about it with other guys
Speaker 2: and you see other guys do it, but to be
Speaker 2: able to do it as well as pitch and hit
Speaker 2: and do all those things. You know, it's it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: Well show Heyo Tani's workload is definitely the biggest of
Speaker 1: any player. But I don't know any other coach that
Speaker 1: has more on his plate than Connor McGuinness and Mark Pryor,
Speaker 1: with all these great pitchers that they have on their staff,
Speaker 1: trying to help them maximize the best they can be.
Speaker 1: So Mark, thank you so much for the time. I
Speaker 1: know your day is very limited, so we appreciate you
Speaker 1: joining us well.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Thanks David.
Speaker 1: There he goes. Mark Pryor, Dodger's pitching coach, has been