Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: Well, we've been to Downey Hunday together. We've been to
Speaker 2: Benny Boy Brewing together. How about being in the Dodger
Speaker 2: dugout together with two time World Series champion Alex Vesia.
Speaker 3: You really missed me a lot. I could tell hi, Dave.
Speaker 3: How you doing.
Speaker 4: I'm doing good? Are you?
Speaker 3: Everything's great? How about you?
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously we don't get a chance to talk
Speaker 2: too much about the pitching when we're having fun away
Speaker 2: from the stadium, But at this stage of the season,
Speaker 2: where would you say you're you're feeling?
Speaker 4: Honestly, I'm feeling pretty good. You know. We try to
Speaker 4: take it one day at a time.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have the family trip coming up Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: in Chicago, so that'll be fun. Happy to have Kay
Speaker 1: on board, and you know, just trying to take one
Speaker 1: day at a time. We with angels today, Tomorrow, Sunday,
Speaker 1: so let's go get three wins.
Speaker 2: Why would you do that to your family take them
Speaker 2: to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: Well, technically that was Kay's choice to go to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: I think that they've got some stuff planned the wives
Speaker 1: and families have some stuff planned.
Speaker 4: But hey, yeah, she want she wanted to. I think
Speaker 4: she's never been there.
Speaker 1: She's never been to the White Sox, so she's like,
Speaker 1: I need to check that off the bucket list.
Speaker 4: So I told her, let's go.
Speaker 2: All right, I vesia trip to Pittsburgh and Chicago coming up.
Speaker 2: How are you doing this at this stage of your career.
Speaker 2: You still have a lot left in the tank. A
Speaker 2: lot of people regard you as one of the best
Speaker 2: relievers in baseball.
Speaker 4: Thanks, but you appreciate that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, but you're not the guy that throws
Speaker 2: ninety seven ninety eight, but you find a way.
Speaker 4: Nope, Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't throw very hard, Dave, but I think the
Speaker 1: easiest thing is just to make sure the hitter is
Speaker 1: guessing right, so it's being able to throw my slider
Speaker 1: for a strike.
Speaker 4: I've thrown the change up well this year as well,
Speaker 4: you know, but I love throwing the fastball.
Speaker 1: It's just something that, you know, I've always felt like
Speaker 1: I've had a good feeling for and obviously my slider
Speaker 1: and my changeup have gotten better.
Speaker 4: You know. I have to thank the.
Speaker 1: Dodger pitching coaches for helping me that developed that over
Speaker 1: the years, and you know, I love being on this
Speaker 1: team and this year has been really special.
Speaker 3: How much do you trust your change up these days?
Speaker 1: I've i mean lo over the last few outings, Will
Speaker 1: and Rushing I've called it a lot more.
Speaker 4: So I think it's they're trusting it more. For myself,
Speaker 4: I'm just I'll go out there and just throw it.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not not really think too much about it,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's been it's been good.
Speaker 2: It seems like that's the new pitch a lot of
Speaker 2: guys are coming up with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think like last year was the splitter for
Speaker 1: like right hand a lot more right handers. I think
Speaker 1: for myself adding the changeup is is we helped me
Speaker 1: get right handers and left handers out.
Speaker 4: So yeah, the third pitch is always nice.
Speaker 2: But Alex VESSI, when you talk about him, you talk
Speaker 2: about the rising fastball, the spin rate. How do you
Speaker 2: get the baseball to do that? And is it still
Speaker 2: always a work in progress?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's something I feel like I've always
Speaker 1: kind of had, even in college in the minor leagues.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can't really tell you, like I just kind
Speaker 4: of throw. It's just my way of throwing. I guess
Speaker 4: I'm not too sure.
Speaker 2: But is it like how ken Lee Jansen just naturally
Speaker 2: would throw a cut fastball?
Speaker 4: So yeah, sort of because I don't like train that.
Speaker 4: You don't really train it. It's kind of just naturally
Speaker 4: within the throw.
Speaker 1: I think this spin efficiency on the baseball is what
Speaker 1: helps to because it's it's very close to one hundred percent,
Speaker 1: so it means it matches like my armslot pretty well.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean if we get into data analytics,
Speaker 1: we'll be here for at.
Speaker 3: Least an hour, Dave, So you know that's way over
Speaker 3: my head.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Alex Vesia is our guest before first pitch of the
Speaker 2: Freeways series. One guy I wanted to ask you about
Speaker 2: because he's so quiet and he's been so vital to
Speaker 2: the success of your bullpen.
Speaker 3: Is it Gardo Enriquez? What can you tell us about it?
Speaker 4: Gardo super human?
Speaker 1: Just when you see Mountain and you're like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: a big guy, right, like Stocky, you know, big shoulders,
Speaker 1: when you're next to him, I feel so small.
Speaker 4: He's just well, you know, he's a unit. He throwing
Speaker 4: one hundred and four. Yeah, but he is he is quiet,
Speaker 4: So we.
Speaker 1: Do like to kind of get him out of his shell.
Speaker 1: Chico and Hammer in the bullpen. They definitely get him
Speaker 1: out of his shell. And that's it's fun there. I'm
Speaker 1: really happy that, you know, we're able to have fun
Speaker 1: with him. And but he is quiet. He's a quiet guy,
Speaker 1: but it's just that's his thing.
Speaker 3: Do you feel like he's starting to come into his own.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I think you know, last year he
Speaker 1: was hurt for a little while, so like this year,
Speaker 1: being hopefully all the way all the way through the season.
Speaker 4: You know, his success and.
Speaker 1: You know he's learning, and you know, he had a
Speaker 1: quick rise up here, you know. And the one thing
Speaker 1: he comes into the ballpark every day with a good
Speaker 1: head on his shoulders, and he has a really good routine.
Speaker 1: You know, he's always you know, has has just a
Speaker 1: good attitude, you know, regardless of success or failure. And
Speaker 1: I think that's a really big key to having success
Speaker 1: in the game, is just being able to wake up
Speaker 1: the next day and still, you know, work towards those
Speaker 1: goals and and not have the highs too high or
Speaker 1: the lows too low.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like Tanner Scott has learned that in
Speaker 2: his year and a half with the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: Do you feel like he's getting better at that?
Speaker 1: I mean, Tanner's had a lot of success in his career,
Speaker 1: you know, and he's had big spots in postseason games,
Speaker 1: and I just think that, you know, sometimes baseball is
Speaker 1: just a tough sport man, and and you can do
Speaker 1: everything right and still not have success, you know. And
Speaker 1: you know, we got to know each other really well
Speaker 1: last year, and for him to have you know, success
Speaker 1: this year, it's it's been It's been really awesome to see.
Speaker 1: And I feel like I feed off of that as well,
Speaker 1: just because like we're you know, we're both lefties down there,
Speaker 1: and it's like when he's doing good and when I'm
Speaker 1: doing good, like it's it's just the the mojo and
Speaker 1: just like that confidence I think just gets even.
Speaker 2: Higher before I let you go, Alex Bessia. Every year
Speaker 2: it is a new year. Every bullpen is obviously different.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like you guys are trying to build
Speaker 2: your own identity for twenty twenty six?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you asked me that when we were at Downy
Speaker 1: and I'm still trying to figure out what.
Speaker 4: Exactly we're gonna call ourselves. You know.
Speaker 1: I always like the Bullpen Dogs, but you might have
Speaker 1: to switch it up, so you might have to come
Speaker 1: back with me with and hopefully we'll get a name
Speaker 1: for us well.
Speaker 3: As long as you're in the bullpen, it's the Bullpen Dogs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that was Bazooka like that, Like he he
Speaker 1: was the one that like really set the tone for that.
Speaker 4: So yeah, well we'll see, okay, all right, we'll.
Speaker 3: Work on it. We'll be together again off campus one day.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, I see you every day.
Speaker 3: Thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, have a good day.