Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: Happy fourth of July, we are with America's super reliever,
Speaker 2: actually the Dodger super reliever, Evan Phillips, who has emerged
Speaker 2: from Oklahoma City forty days, forty nights on a rehab
Speaker 2: appearance on the verge of returning from Tommy John Rehab. Evan,
Speaker 2: Happy forth, and thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Happy forth. What a great day to be back.
Speaker 3: Yeah right.
Speaker 2: You get the flashy new hats, flashy jerseys, and you
Speaker 2: get the music behind us.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, it's hopefully going to be an exciting night.
Speaker 1: I get to see my family tonight for essentially the
Speaker 1: first time in a month.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm really excited to be back.
Speaker 2: I'm sure your youngest is doing a lot more things
Speaker 2: than they were doing before you left.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I was telling my wife, Millie's got to slow down
Speaker 1: with the whole like growing up things.
Speaker 3: She's getting way too big, too fast. It's crazy.
Speaker 2: What was it like being away that long in Oklahoma
Speaker 2: City trying to get fine tuned for your return?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I'm physically speaking, being being in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1: I tried my best just to really immerse myself with
Speaker 1: the team and lean into those teammates down there that
Speaker 1: I have and you know, be a soundboard for guys
Speaker 1: answer questions as needed.
Speaker 3: Uh, you have to want to ask questions. I tried
Speaker 3: to open myself up to that.
Speaker 1: And then, you know, on my side of things that
Speaker 1: rehab wise, just trying to stack good days, you know,
Speaker 1: just one thing after another. Once I started getting into games,
Speaker 1: my mindset was just you know, initially really focused on
Speaker 1: recovery and keeping my arm in good shape, and then
Speaker 1: about the halfway point really started to flip the script
Speaker 1: into you know, starting to dominate outings and execution and
Speaker 1: scouting hitters to a certain extent.
Speaker 3: Getting ready for what I'm gonna have to do here.
Speaker 2: How close are you to returning, Dave Roberts. I've talked
Speaker 2: about this homestand but you being here is a great
Speaker 2: sign things went well.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I did pitch last night in Oklahoma City, so I
Speaker 1: don't believe I'm act to it tonight for this game,
Speaker 1: but I'll be ready whenever they need me. I think
Speaker 1: they might have a and in place, but whenever they
Speaker 1: tell me, I'm you can clean up and get back
Speaker 1: in the pen.
Speaker 3: I'll be ready to go.
Speaker 2: It's been a long road, Evan, at this point, what
Speaker 2: feelings do you have so close to being activated and
Speaker 2: being back in that bullpen.
Speaker 1: It's a lot, Yeah, I think rehab is it's very
Speaker 1: time consuming. My brain has been so focused on this
Speaker 1: process for so long. I sure hope when I do
Speaker 1: get back on the mound for the first time, I'll
Speaker 1: I'll be able to really take it in and I
Speaker 1: appreciate what this last year has meant for hopefully for
Speaker 1: the rest of my career. Right, So it's going to
Speaker 1: be probably a little bit emotional for about five seconds,
Speaker 1: so'll give myself and then be right back to work.
Speaker 2: What was the process like for you? What was the
Speaker 2: journey like for you to get back here?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I was.
Speaker 1: I kept on telling myself that it was pretty chopped up, right,
Speaker 1: So I had surgery in June fourth of last year,
Speaker 1: and for the first couple of months, I wasn't really
Speaker 1: able to do a whole lot, you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of in your slaying in the brace.
Speaker 3: You don't get to do much activity as it is.
Speaker 1: So as I got out of the brace, the postseason
Speaker 1: was coming around, so I was starting to physically do more.
Speaker 3: The team was doing more.
Speaker 1: And I got pretty good distraction to have right chasing
Speaker 1: another World Series ring. So that was a good distraction,
Speaker 1: and then rolled right into the offseason when I started
Speaker 1: playing catch and dealing with free agency was interesting for sure,
Speaker 1: But I just feel like there's been chunks of rehab
Speaker 1: that have made it go by a little bit faster.
Speaker 3: We welcomed our daughter in March.
Speaker 1: My son turned three in April, so there's just been
Speaker 1: big events, you know, early across every every month or
Speaker 1: two that I've helped keep this thing going at.
Speaker 3: A decent pace.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a lot of life events to go along
Speaker 2: with the baseball light.
Speaker 3: Yeah, without a doubt. You're like my wife and I
Speaker 3: we I think we.
Speaker 1: Try to do a good job of really leaning into
Speaker 1: the life aspect of being a baseball player, not just
Speaker 1: the baseball side of it. And having that healthy dynamic
Speaker 1: at home.
Speaker 3: I think it really helps us a lot.
Speaker 2: I can tell when you go through that whole year timeline.
Speaker 2: When I saw you the first day in your sling,
Speaker 2: the mood was obviously not as great as it is
Speaker 2: right now. I did your mood start to get better
Speaker 2: as you got closer to throwing and getting closer to this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yea.
Speaker 1: I think it kind of went in waves, right, So
Speaker 1: I kind of felt helpless in a sling, you know,
Speaker 1: that's when you really feel like you can't do much.
Speaker 1: And then once the activity really started to ramp up,
Speaker 1: my throwing started to ramp up. I think the hardest
Speaker 1: part was around spring training, when I was really starting
Speaker 1: to look the part again. But I just had so
Speaker 1: much tolerance to rebuild, you know, so that was probably
Speaker 1: the hardest.
Speaker 3: Was You're watching games on.
Speaker 1: TV feeling you're feeling really good, but not quite to
Speaker 1: the point where I can come contribute. So you chipped
Speaker 1: away at the those mile markers.
Speaker 3: And you know, here we are.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: I feel like I speak for your teammates, I speak
Speaker 2: for the fans. When I saw Evan Phillips, when I
Speaker 2: first saw you in the clubhouse at Dodger Stadium today,
Speaker 2: I was really happy to see you because not only
Speaker 2: the picture, but what you stand for as a person,
Speaker 2: as a dad, as a father, as a friend. And
Speaker 2: certainly we're happy to have you back and looking forward
Speaker 2: to you officially being activated. So thank you for the time.
Speaker 3: Yes, sure, anytime, Dave. Thank you