Speaker 1: The Dodgers and Marlins are wrapping up this three game series.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers wrapping up thirteen in a row, and we're
Speaker 1: joining right now by three time World Series champion America's
Speaker 1: catcher himself.
Speaker 2: Will Smith.
Speaker 1: Will thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, nice and early this morning.
Speaker 1: I'm so lucky that you actually made it into the
Speaker 1: parking lot. It's a struggle for even the players to
Speaker 1: get in on an early day.
Speaker 3: I know I was stuck behind fifty buses this morning.
Speaker 2: It was crazy. Will.
Speaker 1: You had to miss a couple of games over the
Speaker 1: weekend with a stiffness in your back. How much is
Speaker 1: that just getting back into the normal routine of a season.
Speaker 1: Is it something that you're going to have to manage
Speaker 1: the rest of the season.
Speaker 3: I have no idea. Yeah, just stiffened up that first
Speaker 3: game against Chicago. We were just trying to play it smart,
Speaker 3: not letting it worse, trying to take you a couple
Speaker 3: of days just to get it right. Still feel a
Speaker 3: little bit, but you know, good enough to play last time,
Speaker 3: obviously good enough to play this morning if I needed to.
Speaker 2: But should be back in there in product.
Speaker 1: When you look at the beginning of this season.
Speaker 2: For you.
Speaker 1: You did go play in the World Baseball Classic. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that played in that tournament that
Speaker 1: didn't get a lot of at bats. Seems like you're
Speaker 1: starting to get a rhythm at the plate. Did not
Speaker 1: getting as many at bats during that tournament. Do you
Speaker 1: think it affected some guys.
Speaker 2: I'm sure it could have back to some guys.
Speaker 3: I know some guys were talking about that, you know,
Speaker 3: not not worried about it, but making sure they got
Speaker 3: at bats once they got back to screen training after it.
Speaker 3: For me, I feel like I've got plenty of bats.
Speaker 3: I was ready to go. Yeah, I know, haven't been great,
Speaker 3: say a role, not being bad, but just kind of
Speaker 3: surviving just one of those months for me. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's more to some mechanical stuff swing wise, just cleaning
Speaker 3: some things up as opposed to timing or anything like that.
Speaker 3: But that's hard to op continue to work, and you know.
Speaker 1: On hitch Com the Dodgers have preached having this overarching
Speaker 1: big picture while also trying to win each and every day.
Speaker 1: At this stage of your career, it's hard to believe
Speaker 1: that you broke in in twenty nineteen. But how do
Speaker 1: you manage at this stage of your career trying to
Speaker 1: be ready every day but also understanding it's about October two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's you know.
Speaker 3: I kind of let I let Doc in the front
Speaker 3: office handle more so.
Speaker 1: He invited me to sit down key key hernandez.
Speaker 2: Geez.
Speaker 3: No for me, I let the you know, doc handle
Speaker 3: that big picture stuff. When he approaches me, it comes up.
Speaker 3: I usually have to agree with them, just because you know,
Speaker 3: he's thinking about everything.
Speaker 2: But now I'm going one day at a time. I
Speaker 2: want to be on the every day. I want to
Speaker 2: try to win every game. That's our job, and kind
Speaker 2: of let them handle that part. Have you.
Speaker 1: I know you're a guy that once the season was over,
Speaker 1: you didn't take any victory labs. That's just who you are.
Speaker 1: But I don't feel like people appreciate the fact that
Speaker 1: you caught every single inning of the World Series, including
Speaker 1: eighteen innings. How long did it take you during the
Speaker 1: offseason to recover through all that?
Speaker 3: A while, I was pretty sore for a good month
Speaker 3: or so, you know, starting to work out or definitely
Speaker 3: didn't have my legs under me.
Speaker 2: But this is part of it, It's part of it.
Speaker 3: It's all worth it. I celebrated a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I wasn't not taking laughs, but I had a good time.
Speaker 1: Did you just keep it tight circle with the Smith family?
Speaker 3: No, I was saying out the guys. I just don't
Speaker 3: plaster all over social media. I just keep it to myself.
Speaker 1: Nobody's asked you this. So you hit the go ahead,
Speaker 1: eventual winning home run in Game seven last year, What
Speaker 1: did you keep from that moment? Do you have the baseball?
Speaker 1: Do you have the bat that you hit the home
Speaker 1: run with?
Speaker 3: I wish I honestly don't know where the bat went.
Speaker 3: I'm sure it got authenticated, but I don't remember which
Speaker 3: one it was or anything like that. But no, I
Speaker 3: just got just the memories, that's all.
Speaker 1: I've got pretty good memories for Will Smith and the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: Here here's something else that I wonder if you ever,
Speaker 1: like have a chance to it back and reflect on
Speaker 1: the fact that you're catching one of, if not the
Speaker 1: greatest player in the history of the game, like last
Speaker 1: night in Otani. What's it like catching him now since
Speaker 1: he's back to being a full time pitcher.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's it's fun. Obviously, he's the best player ever.
Speaker 3: You know, he's super talented, goes out there every day, competes,
Speaker 3: gives it everything he's got. You just got a good
Speaker 3: feel for the game, you know, last night we had
Speaker 3: a good feel what they're trying to do or just
Speaker 3: counterating it, and he's out there just executing. But uh no,
Speaker 3: we get along great. That he's fun to work with.
Speaker 1: Has he ever opened your eyes to something now that
Speaker 1: he's pitching to maybe point out some of the nuances
Speaker 1: of attacking hitters or the game itself. As far as
Speaker 1: the dialogue you have with each other, yeah.
Speaker 2: All the time. I think all the pitchers do that.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: If I see something, I tell them. If they see something,
Speaker 3: they tell me, And it's just a conversation. You know,
Speaker 3: what we're seeing, how they're trying to attack those rotationally
Speaker 3: aggressive or where they're looking, you know, whatever they're trying
Speaker 3: to do. Are they in a team team approach or
Speaker 3: not a team approach?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: So sometimes I'm wrong, sometimes the picture's wrong. Sometimes we're
Speaker 3: both right or both wrong, and then that's when Mark's
Speaker 3: got to.
Speaker 2: Step in or something.
Speaker 3: But no, I think I think it's just a conversation.
Speaker 3: It's good we trust each other. I think all the
Speaker 3: pictures pretty much, trust me. So it's been good.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Thanks for the time. We'll appreciate it. I'll break the
Speaker 1: news to you now. I'm staying back from this road trip,
Speaker 1: so I hope that you're able to navigate life without me.
Speaker 2: I think we'll be okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks a lot, Thanks Will.
Speaker 2: Thanks, there he goes.
Speaker 1: Will Smith has been our guest. He'll receive a gift
Speaker 1: card to Capitol Grill. Mother's Day is coming up. You
Speaker 1: want to make your reservation now at one of the
Speaker 1: many Capitol Grill locations, especially Burbank. We'll send it back
Speaker 1: to you in the studio, Tim