Speaker 1: And now, an exclusive interview with David Basset for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: This guy is on everybody's radar now, but he has
Speaker 1: not forgotten the little people, the guys that were there
Speaker 1: since day one. And that is my guy, Snellzilla, who
Speaker 1: is in disguise with a hoodie over his head because
Speaker 1: everybody wants a piece of the two times. two-time Cy
Speaker 1: Young Award winner, a guy that's thrown a no-hitter in
Speaker 1: his career, and a World Series champion. That's the one
Speaker 1: and only Blake Snell. Thanks a lot for the time,
Speaker 1: and I think everybody now knows.
Speaker 2: That you're joining us. You're a wild boy, man. Smelling
Speaker 2: the best.
Speaker 3: Thanks to you, Snellzilla.
Speaker 2: I got you with the cologne. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: I think that was the condition, right? You said, I
Speaker 1: need a good-smelling... interview, so I'm going to spray you
Speaker 1: with some of my top shelf stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got some Baccarat on, so yeah, you'll be
Speaker 3: smelling nice all day.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. And you were smelling nice last
Speaker 1: night after the game, six shutty against one of the
Speaker 1: best offenses in baseball. When you look at a game
Speaker 1: like last night, how much do you dissect or do
Speaker 1: you move on?
Speaker 3: No, like I'll think about the next couple of days
Speaker 3: of what I could have done better and where.
Speaker 2: I thought that I did really good.
Speaker 3: And then, you know, you create a plan of, okay,
Speaker 3: what are the areas that need to get better and
Speaker 3: what are the areas that need to stay consistent and
Speaker 3: continue to improve that gradually. And it's kind of what
Speaker 3: I do. So a lot of today is just really thinking,
Speaker 3: going over, really like understanding the way I felt in
Speaker 3: situations and then how to build and grow on them.
Speaker 1: I never asked you this before. I know you do
Speaker 1: your homework we see the snailzilla binder and the way
Speaker 1: you dissect a lineup before you go into a start
Speaker 1: but how much do you visualize success before a start.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah it's a good amount um.
Speaker 3: Yeah i just i don't know i just think of
Speaker 3: myself as the best in the world and that's what
Speaker 3: i want to be and that's what i'm chasing on
Speaker 3: being and that's all i really care about yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you feel that there are still doubts after everything
Speaker 1: you've accomplished in your career? People still doubt what you
Speaker 1: can do?
Speaker 3: Yeah, but they don't know me, so it don't matter.
Speaker 1: Hunter Fadusha told me in Detroit, he said, having a
Speaker 1: pregame meeting with you is one of the most enlightening,
Speaker 1: greatest pregame meetings with a pitcher he's ever been part
Speaker 1: of because you have a plan when you walk into
Speaker 1: that room and you go down the lineup. And I
Speaker 1: asked him whether it's like, a rap cadence like what's
Speaker 1: the cadence of the whole meeting and he said yeah
Speaker 1: there's a little there's a rhythm to the whole thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah there's definitely a rhythm um but yeah I like
Speaker 3: to go into it knowing you know where I'm going
Speaker 3: to attack where my success is going to be where
Speaker 3: I'm going to need to challenge them and their strengths
Speaker 3: and and then you the game will tell you you
Speaker 3: know you feel the game out and you go through
Speaker 3: it it'll tell you what you need to do when
Speaker 3: you need to you know get on the accelerator versus
Speaker 3: be more passive and Yeah, it's pitching.
Speaker 1: And you call your own pitches with the Pitchcom. How
Speaker 1: much has that helped you in just getting everybody on
Speaker 1: the same page?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it because if I go up a
Speaker 3: hit or if anything bad happens, you know, it's on me.
Speaker 2: It's not on the catcher. It's on me.
Speaker 3: I can't be here like, why didn't you call it?
Speaker 2: You know, I'm the one calling it. So I love it.
Speaker 3: Lake Snell is our guest.
Speaker 1: When you look at this whole staff, it feels like
Speaker 1: you guys really feed off each other. What kind of
Speaker 1: competition in a good way is there amongst yourselves, Scooble, Glassnow,
Speaker 1: and Yamamoto?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's amazing. You got four, you know,
Speaker 2: ace starters.
Speaker 3: And we're all competing against each other, but we're all
Speaker 3: pushing for each other to be great. You know, set
Speaker 3: the bar high and the next person to set it
Speaker 3: even higher. So... I've loved the staff since I've been
Speaker 3: here with Glass, Yama, Shohei. I've really loved our starting staff.
Speaker 3: I think we all get along. We all support each other.
Speaker 3: We're all pushing in the same direction. We all want
Speaker 3: to be great, and that's an amazing thing. And then
Speaker 3: now adding Scooble to the mix, I mean, he's fitting perfectly,
Speaker 3: and he's only getting better. He's getting more comfortable. He's
Speaker 3: starting to get his understanding of the game. We're starting
Speaker 3: to understand what he likes to do. It takes a
Speaker 3: little bit of time, so... Let that time happen, and then,
Speaker 3: you know, he's been pitching good anyways, but I know
Speaker 3: he's going to pitch even better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you feel like we've seen the best of
Speaker 1: Scooble yet?
Speaker 3: No, I think, I mean, tough first innings has been
Speaker 3: kind of the cadence with him lately, and, you know,
Speaker 3: it's just him feeling it out. Once he gets going
Speaker 3: and gets that rhythm and, you know, he's comfortable, he's
Speaker 3: going to be, you know, the Scooble everyone talks about.
Speaker 1: He set up a dinner for you guys in Detroit.
Speaker 1: How far does that go with teammates for a guy
Speaker 1: that's new to the team to really want to be
Speaker 1: part of it and invite you guys out and put
Speaker 1: something together in his old city?
Speaker 3: No, it was awesome.
Speaker 2: And the food was amazing.
Speaker 3: And honestly, it was so good for us to get
Speaker 3: out and be a team and just talk and hang
Speaker 3: out and be friends. And no, that was awesome. And
Speaker 3: that was such a big thing for him to think
Speaker 3: of the team and do that.
Speaker 1: And that means a lot for him, for you to
Speaker 1: show up because Blake Snell really doesn't leave his room
Speaker 1: that often.
Speaker 3: I'll be playing 2K. I'll be playing NCAA. You get
Speaker 3: the smoke whenever you want it. Right now, my 2K
Speaker 3: build is trash. I got to fix that. But yeah,
Speaker 3: when it comes to a team event, I'm going to
Speaker 3: be there.
Speaker 1: That's another perception that's not accurate. Just how much you
Speaker 1: want to be part of the team. It's not just
Speaker 1: about you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know where that comes from. Probably people
Speaker 3: that don't know me, but... I've always been a team player,
Speaker 3: and I've always been all about the team. So the
Speaker 3: people that say that, say differently, they don't know me.
Speaker 2: So why are you listening to them?
Speaker 1: That's right. This is the only place where you can
Speaker 1: find out what the great Snellzilla is all about. I
Speaker 1: think Tarek Skubal's found out some things about you. It
Speaker 1: feels like he has your back as well because he
Speaker 1: said the same thing. People that have this perception of
Speaker 1: you don't really know you. He's found out a lot
Speaker 1: about you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we've grown a really good friendship thus far.
Speaker 3: I'm excited to see where that goes. I think it's
Speaker 3: only going to make us better and stronger for the
Speaker 3: postseason if all of us starters are really connected and close.
Speaker 2: Is it weird?
Speaker 1: I know you're still a young man, but you've had
Speaker 1: a lot of experience and you've pitched in a lot
Speaker 1: of big games. For a guy like Scooble to really
Speaker 1: value your opinion and scouting reports, what does that mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't even think necessarily.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's cool that he does, but I think
Speaker 3: he has his plan and his philosophy. And I just
Speaker 3: ask questions and see if that sparks anything for him
Speaker 3: to want to change or keep the same. But, no,
Speaker 3: I mean, he's done all of this on his own.
Speaker 3: And for us, we're just having a conversation, learning from
Speaker 3: each other, from what we've seen and the way we
Speaker 3: felt being on the mound, etc.
Speaker 1: Blake, I know you were telling me after you had
Speaker 1: your bone chips removed that all of a sudden you
Speaker 1: had more range of motion and you were really excited
Speaker 1: for how you could execute your pitches again after being
Speaker 1: hurt for so long. Have you seen that come to
Speaker 1: fruition like the way you were describing it before?
Speaker 2: Have you? I have.
Speaker 1: I have seen it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why I asked that question. Yeah. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I knew the curveball was going to be ten times better.
Speaker 3: The first time I threw it, it was like the
Speaker 3: way I was throwing it in game, and I was
Speaker 3: just lobbing it. So I was like, this is going
Speaker 3: to be a joke. So, yeah, it's nice finally having
Speaker 3: my curveball back. And it still has so much room
Speaker 3: to get better. You know, I got to keep throwing it,
Speaker 3: and it will just continue to maturate and get better,
Speaker 3: and I'm really looking forward to that.
Speaker 1: When do you know you have that feel? And you
Speaker 1: can't give up on that feel, right, if you don't
Speaker 1: have it in the first innings?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just confidence, you know?
Speaker 3: I mean, there's coaches that have told me to bang
Speaker 3: the changeup. It's not a good pitch. When I didn't
Speaker 3: have the curveball, look what I had, the changeup. And
Speaker 3: look what saved me, the changeup. And look what made me,
Speaker 3: you know, being able to go 6-7-8, the changeup. And
Speaker 3: right now the changeup's good, but the curveball's so good,
Speaker 3: it's just I don't even.
Speaker 2: Know when to throw it. It's that good, you don't
Speaker 2: know when to throw it. Yeah, because I like the curveball.
Speaker 3: The contact on it's weak, if it is contact.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you certainly have showed that early on where your
Speaker 1: secondary pitches are such a weapon to go off your
Speaker 1: command of the fastball, but isn't that where it starts,
Speaker 1: the command of the fastball?
Speaker 3: Yeah, the command's everything, and really all the pitches, but
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm chasing like the perfect version of myself,
Speaker 3: so I just, yeah, I don't know how to really express,
Speaker 3: I just have so much work to do. I know
Speaker 3: I do, and I know I can be that, as
Speaker 3: good as I want to be, and That's all I
Speaker 3: care about. I just want to be the best version
Speaker 3: of myself. So when it's all said and done, I
Speaker 3: could just know that I did everything I could to
Speaker 3: be the best version of me.
Speaker 1: Blake Snell is our guest. Before I let you go,
Speaker 1: I got to let you in on something you would appreciate.
Speaker 1: My fifth grade son was at his friend's house. They're
Speaker 1: playing MLB The Show. And they said they put you
Speaker 1: to the test on MLB The Show. And I said, hey,
Speaker 1: did Snellzilla pass? And he laughed. He said, of course
Speaker 1: he did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course it's.
Speaker 3: Right, but honestly, my card in the MLB to show
Speaker 3: is trash. You need a sinker and a cutter to
Speaker 3: be good in that game bitching.
Speaker 1: So you say they're shortchanging you on the card even
Speaker 1: though you pass?
Speaker 3: I just know that he loves me, period. So I
Speaker 3: appreciate that, but that card's trash.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Hey, the show, clean it up. You got to give
Speaker 1: Snellzilla some love. Now everybody's texting me. Everybody's calling this
Speaker 1: guy a savant. You should have known that before. You
Speaker 1: got to believe before you see.
Speaker 2: Why are you hating?
Speaker 1: That's right. I'm here for you. Thanks a lot for
Speaker 1: the time. Can't wait to do this again on another show.
Speaker 1: Snellzilla Saturday.
Speaker 2: I can't wait either, man. Appreciate it.