Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk. Well, yesterday,
Speaker 1: our very own Miguel Rojas was awarded and honored by
Speaker 1: former players current players from the Players Association for the
Speaker 1: Dodgers Heart and Hustle Award. It's the third time Miguel
Speaker 1: Rojas has won that award, and I don't know anybody
Speaker 1: else in Major League Baseball that exemplifies hard and hustle
Speaker 1: more than our guest, Miguel Rojas. Congratulations Migey, and I
Speaker 1: mean every word that you exemplify hard and hustle.
Speaker 2: No, and it means a lot to me because this
Speaker 2: award is given by players, people who who knows what
Speaker 2: it takes to be on the field day in they
Speaker 2: out the grind of playing one hundred and sixty two games,
Speaker 2: and especially doing with this organization is a little bit
Speaker 2: extra special for me. I know, I want too over
Speaker 2: there in Miami, and I really appreciate she ate the
Speaker 2: time that I spend there with my with my teammates
Speaker 2: and my my colleagues and and all the people that
Speaker 2: voted for me on that occasion.
Speaker 3: But for this one, uh we will we all.
Speaker 2: Know the talent and uh the track record that we
Speaker 2: have in this organization, and and knowing that we have
Speaker 2: so many players who play every single day that I
Speaker 2: have ultimate respect for, like Freddie Freeman.
Speaker 3: He's a guy who's always out there, you.
Speaker 2: Know, uh, put everything on the line, his body, his
Speaker 2: body is his family, everything that that you can even
Speaker 2: think about. And for me to receive this a world
Speaker 2: coming off the bench and playing limited time.
Speaker 3: It doesn't feel it doesn't feel real.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, every time I step on
Speaker 2: that field, I give everything that I have for the organization.
Speaker 2: And sometimes even when I'm not in there, I'm I'm
Speaker 2: I'm doing everything and everything that I can to make
Speaker 2: my teammates better. And I'm really grateful for the opportunity owner,
Speaker 2: for all the people that took me into consideration to
Speaker 2: represent the Dodgers, And this is a great opportunity for
Speaker 2: me to say thank you to them and to my
Speaker 2: teammates because they allowed me to be myself and they
Speaker 2: allowed me to kind of like express my opinion, have
Speaker 2: a boys in the clubhouse.
Speaker 3: And obviously every.
Speaker 2: Time I step on the field, I want to do
Speaker 2: everything that I can to help the team win. But
Speaker 2: this is a special one for me, for my family,
Speaker 2: we are really happy and honor honor, and we're looking
Speaker 2: forward for the on field celebration.
Speaker 3: And when I received the plaque.
Speaker 1: Miguel Koby Bryant used to talk about, it's not the destination,
Speaker 1: it's the journey. Do you feel like you appreciate all
Speaker 1: of this more because of your journey?
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2: I feel like my path to the big leagus was hard,
Speaker 2: and I didn't know that to be able to stay
Speaker 2: here for this long it was going to be extra
Speaker 2: harder and continue to work every single day towards the
Speaker 2: same goals every single day that is a staying here
Speaker 2: one more day that haven't changed since the day that
Speaker 2: I got to the big league. So I'm I'm I'm
Speaker 2: really proud of myself and the way that I kind
Speaker 2: of like I kept myself in the big leagues and
Speaker 2: uh in the in the highest level. And I can
Speaker 2: say if this is my last year and my last
Speaker 2: time playing baseball for a full season, I think I
Speaker 2: give everything that I had on on an everyday basis.
Speaker 3: So I'm excited that.
Speaker 2: I mean, when I'm thirty seven years old and and
Speaker 2: kind of like at the back end of my career,
Speaker 2: I can still produce on the field and and kind
Speaker 2: of be respected off the field as well. So that's
Speaker 2: that's the legacy that I wanted to leave in this
Speaker 2: game whenever it was my last day. So I'm really
Speaker 2: I'm really proud that my journey took me to a
Speaker 2: place where I can be proud to say that I'm
Speaker 2: going to be a motivation for.
Speaker 3: The neat generation.
Speaker 1: The legacy has been cemented already for Miguel Rojas. He
Speaker 1: has a contract with the Dodgers to influence the heart
Speaker 1: and hustle he exemplified when it's playing days or over. So,
Speaker 1: Miguel Rojas, one of the most important voices in that clubhouse.
Speaker 1: How are you and the team handling something that we're
Speaker 1: all not used to yourselves included a seven game losing streak.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this, this, these moments right now kind
Speaker 2: of like take you back to your last question.
Speaker 3: It's not it's not a destination.
Speaker 2: I know, the destination feels really good when you get
Speaker 2: there and when you when you have the opportunity to
Speaker 2: celebrate and win the last game of the season, because
Speaker 2: we we done that and a lot of these guys
Speaker 2: in this clubhouse have that feeling. But this journey is
Speaker 2: what's gonna make it even more special. You know, if
Speaker 2: everything goes smooth for us and and we're just winning
Speaker 2: the division with no with nothing else to kind of
Speaker 2: prove during the regular season, it wouldn't be as excited
Speaker 2: to get to the point, you know, and to get
Speaker 2: to the destination. And I'm I'm one hundred percent believer
Speaker 2: that this club have everything that it takes to overcome
Speaker 2: situations and moments like this. We're playing against really good
Speaker 2: teams over the past couple of weeks and one of
Speaker 2: the hardest team in baseball, and that's not an excuse.
Speaker 2: We need to continue to find ways to win baseball games.
Speaker 2: But I feel like this is our moment to kind
Speaker 2: of like seek back and and think about this as
Speaker 2: a as a moment to prepare us for what is coming.
Speaker 2: You know, we're not always going to have, you know,
Speaker 2: all the luck. It's not everything is going to be
Speaker 2: our way. So we've gotta be able to come at
Speaker 2: at these moments too, and we've gotta be able to
Speaker 2: find ways to win games like we did last year.
Speaker 3: You know, we went against the wall, and that's that's
Speaker 3: a good thing.
Speaker 2: This team is not the first time we've been in
Speaker 2: this situation and we gotta find a way to get
Speaker 2: out of it. So as of now in the clubhouse,
Speaker 2: everybody is confident. We just need to continue to go
Speaker 2: one pitch at a time from now on. And that's
Speaker 2: really hard to do because you have to do it
Speaker 2: for one hundred and sixty two games plus the playoffs.
Speaker 2: And it's really a little bit more easier to do
Speaker 2: it when when the playoff starts, you know, because you
Speaker 2: know it's a it's a sprint. But I challenge the guys,
Speaker 2: I send a little quick message on the group last
Speaker 2: night to start our sprint right now. You know why
Speaker 2: not to start when it's forty four games left. So
Speaker 2: we prepare for what is coming. And I feel like
Speaker 2: if we put the little intensity on every pitch and
Speaker 2: forget about the past and forget about what's the future
Speaker 2: is gonna look like. I think we're gonna be on
Speaker 2: the moment more and we're gonna give everything that we
Speaker 2: have in that moment. So I think it's important to
Speaker 2: remember those those little things when you go in the
Speaker 2: middle of the summer and you know, like you're approaching
Speaker 2: the end of the season and you kind of wanted
Speaker 2: to get over it with so you.
Speaker 3: Can go to October.
Speaker 2: But I mean, no one is gonna give you anything
Speaker 2: for free, so we're gonna have to earn it. And
Speaker 2: this is our time to kind of start our sprint.
Speaker 2: I believe we can do it. I know we've been
Speaker 2: playing a lot of games the last two years and
Speaker 2: this year, but if we have an opportunity to do
Speaker 2: something really special, so if we have in our hands,
Speaker 2: let's do it.
Speaker 3: You know, we're in it to win it.
Speaker 2: We're not in it just to say, oh no, we
Speaker 2: won the last two, were okay, not winning this one
Speaker 2: or let's see what happened.
Speaker 3: No, we're in it to win this one.
Speaker 2: And now that we have the opportunity that all we
Speaker 2: have to play is fifty some more games in this
Speaker 2: year is a good It's a good time for us
Speaker 2: to kind of like do the sprint and finish the season.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 1: Nikki Row. You know what that screams to me. You
Speaker 1: gotta play like there is no tomorrow.
Speaker 3: There's there's no tomorrow for I mean for us.
Speaker 2: I mean right now it might be a tomorrow, but
Speaker 2: I feel like that the mentality of maybe having to
Speaker 2: win every single day and kind of have a little
Speaker 2: bit more of.
Speaker 3: Sense or agency for winning those games.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that we're not having it right now,
Speaker 2: but it feels like we can be a little bit
Speaker 2: more present and instead of like think about what happened
Speaker 2: yesterday or what's gonna happen tomorrow. So I feel like
Speaker 2: that's that's what we're gonna put you in a situation
Speaker 2: where we were last year.
Speaker 3: You know, we were last.
Speaker 2: Year in a situation where not tomorrow in game six,
Speaker 2: no tomorrow in game seven. And we've been there before
Speaker 2: like Game five, in Game four and five and twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four against the Padres, and and I mean, can
Speaker 2: you can count the moments that we needed to win
Speaker 2: a game, And it feels like today it's one of
Speaker 2: those days. You know, we have the right guy on
Speaker 2: the mound with Yamamoto, and we know we have a
Speaker 2: lot of depth behind him. We're really excited about having
Speaker 2: Blake back and having school pitching at home, and at
Speaker 2: some point in glasnow, I'm pretty sure he's gonna be
Speaker 2: in our rotation and we're looking forward to have those
Speaker 2: guys back and having a complete roaster.
Speaker 1: I don't need anything else from anybody else after listening
Speaker 1: to a man that has overcome a lot of adversity,
Speaker 1: saved the Dodgers season in Game seven of the World
Speaker 1: Series last year, and this year's honoree for the Heart
Speaker 1: and Hustle Award. Thanks a lot for the time, MIGGI
Speaker 1: and I think he've inspired everybody back in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: Thank you, guys, very much, appreciate it.