Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talkers.
Speaker 1: We're in the Friendly Confines a Wrigley Field, a place
Speaker 1: where Terrece Spooble had never pitched before before last night,
Speaker 1: making his Dodger debut, and we're joined right now by
Speaker 1: the Dodgers left hander. Thanks a lot for the time,
Speaker 1: appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: What's it been like last night? I know, opening day,
Speaker 1: your major league debut. Were there any butterflies when you
Speaker 1: took the mound last night?
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 3: I mean even just going to bed the night before
Speaker 3: and you know, waking up, you know, super excited to
Speaker 3: kind of start this journey, you know, a different chapter
Speaker 3: in my story. So, you know, excited to be a
Speaker 3: Dodger and you know, give everything that I have to
Speaker 3: the city, end of this team, and you know, try
Speaker 3: to win as many baseball games as I can.
Speaker 1: It's so strange you haven't been on the Dodgers more
Speaker 1: than a couple of days, but it seems like you
Speaker 1: have connections and relationships with so many guys through your
Speaker 1: time with the All Star Games and the World Baseball Classic.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I mean I try to get to know
Speaker 3: everybody throughout the league. You know, it's kind of this fraternity,
Speaker 3: right all these guys throughout the league, and there becomes
Speaker 3: a lot of familiar faces and playing guys. Uh, just
Speaker 3: you know, and I got a lot of respect for
Speaker 3: everybody in this league. You know, it's it's really hard
Speaker 3: to be a big leaguer, and then you know, when
Speaker 3: you get to establish some time here, it's really cool
Speaker 3: to know some guys and get to know guys, you know,
Speaker 3: not just on the field, but off the field a
Speaker 3: little bit. So you know, I try to, you know,
Speaker 3: get to know everybody. You know, everyone's unique in their
Speaker 3: own way, and you know, I really enjoy that part
Speaker 3: of the game.
Speaker 1: Clayton Kershaw reeved about you after the World Baseball Classic experience.
Speaker 1: How much did you pick his brain? How much did
Speaker 1: you get to connect with him?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Quite a bit, you know, quite a bit. We talked,
Speaker 3: spoke about everything you know about his career. Obviously you don't,
Speaker 3: you know, just go to Baseball Reference and you'll understand
Speaker 3: that he's probably, you know, the best left hander to
Speaker 3: ever do it. So to be around him and just
Speaker 3: you know, and embrace greatness obviously, at a different point
Speaker 3: in his career, right, But it was a ton of
Speaker 3: fun just to talk to him about baseball, pitching, about
Speaker 3: how he goes about his business, any advice you know
Speaker 3: that he would have told his younger self, you know,
Speaker 3: all that stuff, you know, I think, And he's an
Speaker 3: open book. Credit to him, you know, he doesn't have
Speaker 3: to be. And then he's an open book. And when
Speaker 3: I was traded over here, he texted me and you know,
Speaker 3: kind of gave me the lay of the land, the
Speaker 3: people here, you know that he works with, and everything
Speaker 3: like that, and where to live, all that good stuff,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: So I I really appreciate that, you know, appreciate that
Speaker 2: from Kursh.
Speaker 1: Do you remember what he told what he would have
Speaker 1: told his younger self.
Speaker 2: I'll keep those between me and him. You know.
Speaker 3: I think there's some conversations that should probably stay a
Speaker 3: little private, and that's probably one of them.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: One thing that he's very public about is his change
Speaker 1: up envy. Never could get the feel for the change up.
Speaker 1: So did he share with you how much change up
Speaker 1: envy he had?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he didn't need a change up.
Speaker 3: First off, I don't think he ever needed a change up,
Speaker 3: So I don't know if there should be any envy there.
Speaker 3: He had the best curveball in the history of the game,
Speaker 3: and his execution with his force m and slider were great,
Speaker 3: so you know, he didn't need a change up, so
Speaker 3: I think that the env probably shouldn't be there. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, if I could swap some pitches out with him,
Speaker 3: I would. I would take his slider and curveball and
Speaker 3: a heartbeat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that curveball, even at this stage of the career
Speaker 1: that you saw, how impressed were you with how he's
Speaker 1: able to still get over that front leg and be
Speaker 1: able to snap it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, I mean his his curveball, everything about it, execution,
Speaker 3: you know, for him, it's kind of like a change
Speaker 3: up because it's so much slower than his heater. So
Speaker 3: that's kind of how he. I feel like he regulated
Speaker 3: lineups and regulated guys swings, you know, when they want
Speaker 3: to get aggressive and swing at the first pitch.
Speaker 2: You can go right after.
Speaker 3: A you know, a curveball, and you're either gonna be
Speaker 3: way out in front or it's going to be a
Speaker 3: lazy fly ball.
Speaker 2: And I think he used that to his advantage.
Speaker 3: You know, just watching from Afar, So yeah, I mean
Speaker 3: it's really impressive to watch him do what he does.
Speaker 1: Terry Scooble is our guest to head a first pitch
Speaker 1: between the Dodgers and Cubs. Just looking at your season, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've noticed that you're getting speaking of Chase more Chase
Speaker 1: this year than you ever have before in your career.
Speaker 1: Is there a reason why are you just evolving as
Speaker 1: time goes on as well?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I haven't really
Speaker 2: thought about it much. You know.
Speaker 3: I I kind of try to stay in the zone
Speaker 3: and beat guys in the zone. You know, That's kind
Speaker 3: of my mentality. I'm very confident in my stuff, so
Speaker 3: I want to go right after guys and get in leverage.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think when you're in leverage consistently,
Speaker 3: that's when Chase starts to happen because they're you know,
Speaker 3: they think every pitch is going to be a strike,
Speaker 3: so you use that to your advantage. So yeah, I
Speaker 3: mean I haven't really looked at any of that stuff,
Speaker 3: you know. I'm just I go out there and I
Speaker 3: try to put my team in a position to win
Speaker 3: a baseball game. And if I do that, good day.
Speaker 2: You know. That's how I think about it.
Speaker 1: Do you believe too, Not every start you're gonna have
Speaker 1: your best.
Speaker 2: Stuff.
Speaker 1: Which separates winning and losing and getting deep into game
Speaker 1: is competing, right, You've got to find a way to compete.
Speaker 2: No doubt.
Speaker 3: I think the best in the game are the best
Speaker 3: competitors in the game. Obviously the stuff is going to
Speaker 3: be really good, But I think the best hitters, best pitchers,
Speaker 3: doesn't matter, best relievers, they're the best competitors in the game.
Speaker 3: You know, they go after everybody. It doesn't matter if
Speaker 3: you feel good or if you you know, you got
Speaker 3: in at five am the night before or whatever. You know,
Speaker 3: you just go out there and give it everything you
Speaker 3: got every fifth or sixth day, and that's all you
Speaker 3: can ask for yourself, you know, and then slay it
Speaker 3: all out on the line and then you know, results,
Speaker 3: I mean, they matter, but they don't really matter. I
Speaker 3: think how you compete and how you go about your
Speaker 3: business and keep you know, be relentlessly attacking hitters is
Speaker 3: what really matters.
Speaker 1: So just to let you know, I got I covered
Speaker 1: Kershaw for the last fifteen years of his career, and
Speaker 1: I do have like boundaries when it comes to starting
Speaker 1: pictures the day of their start. He has traumatized me.
Speaker 1: I look directly into the ground now to any picture
Speaker 1: that I come close to on start day. But Max
Speaker 1: Munsey told me yesterday as you were getting ready, you
Speaker 1: are so far from a Kurse Shaw type of start day.
Speaker 1: Are you a guy that doesn't want anybody to talk
Speaker 1: to you? Am I allowed to make eye contact with you?
Speaker 1: Can you just set the ground rules? Yeah?
Speaker 2: No, I'm very approachable. Obviously.
Speaker 3: I don't really want to talk a lot to the
Speaker 3: media in general on the day I'm going.
Speaker 1: Oh, trust me, I would never even come close.
Speaker 3: Good mo, how's it going? You know, good, Good to
Speaker 3: see you. You know those are all good to go. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I just you know, as the game gets closer to
Speaker 3: game time, I tend to kind of start to lock
Speaker 3: it in. But you know, five six hours before the
Speaker 3: game or four hours for the game. It's just like
Speaker 3: I used to do that early in my career, and
Speaker 3: I found myself very mentally exhausted before the game started.
Speaker 3: So I just want to be myself. You know, I
Speaker 3: think you know who I am is. You know I'm
Speaker 3: I'm not outgoing, but I'm not an introvert. By any
Speaker 3: means I want to talk to everybody and have fun.
Speaker 3: I mean, we get to play baseball for a living.
Speaker 3: How awesome is that?
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: There's not that many people that have been able to
Speaker 3: say that. So I want to enjoy every minute of it.
Speaker 3: You know, you never know, how you know, when my
Speaker 3: career is going to be done. I want to look
Speaker 3: back and say I had fun and enjoyed every single
Speaker 3: minute of it and and worked my ass off to
Speaker 3: be the best player I can be. So that's kind
Speaker 3: of how I approach the game, not saying that anything
Speaker 3: is wrong. You know, each guy is different in each
Speaker 3: of their own you know, and it works. Obviously it
Speaker 3: worked really well for Kersh, but.
Speaker 2: It didn't work for me.
Speaker 3: So I kind of just went back and resorted to
Speaker 3: just being who I am, and that's who I am.
Speaker 1: So the next start day, when I see you laying
Speaker 1: on the ground doing your yoga, should I just give
Speaker 1: you a shooter? McGavin point, you can do whatever you want.
Speaker 3: I'm probably not going to do it back, but I'll
Speaker 3: acknowledge you for sure.
Speaker 1: All Right, good, we got the ground rules. Here's another
Speaker 1: question for you. I heard you don't prefer being called
Speaker 1: by your first name. You rather me call you Scoops?
Speaker 1: Is that true?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think only my wife calls me by.
Speaker 1: My first name when she when you're in trouble or.
Speaker 2: Well, then I'll get my middle name too.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like my mother when she says my
Speaker 3: first and middle name or first and last right back
Speaker 3: to back. I know I've done something wrong, which I'm
Speaker 3: not oblivious too. I probably knew I did something wrong
Speaker 3: to try to get away with it, but.
Speaker 1: I'm always in the doghouse too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think everyone, everyone on the basement in the
Speaker 3: baseball wroll just calls me Scoob or Scooby or Scoob
Speaker 3: something like that. And okay, that's just what I respond
Speaker 3: to I, you know, as when you're in season. I
Speaker 3: honestly I forget my first name a little bit because
Speaker 3: they don't really, you know, no teammate really has.
Speaker 2: Ever called me Terrek.
Speaker 3: It's kind of it's not a it's not an easy
Speaker 3: word to pronounce and kind of get off the time.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, last one for you. Since you're in
Speaker 1: La it's a great food town. What does Scoobs like
Speaker 1: to eat? Are you Italian? Have you had in and
Speaker 1: out before?
Speaker 2: Oh my god. I'm a West Coast guy. I love
Speaker 2: in and out.
Speaker 1: You're an az guy, that's right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. People say Waterburger. I
Speaker 3: don't even think it holds.
Speaker 2: It's not even the same level, and it ou'ts so good,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: But for food like Taco's, Italian steak sushi, I'm into
Speaker 3: every type of food, you know. I love eating good food,
Speaker 3: good quality food, and I'm sure LA has plenty of it,
Speaker 3: and I look forward to exploring that.
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks Scoops. Thanks for the time. Great to
Speaker 1: share you with Dodger fans. Obviously you're a human being.
Speaker 1: You're not just an ultimate picture in baseball right now.
Speaker 1: So I love showing fans what you're all about. And
Speaker 1: since you love good food, you'll receive a gift card
Speaker 1: to Hobbyers Newport Beach, Pasadena. Your agent, Scott Boris, lives
Speaker 1: at the one in Newport Beach, so enjoy hobby Aers
Speaker 1: when you're in LA.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Thank you,