Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey or Dodger Talk.
Speaker 2: All Right, Kyle, welcome to Los Angeles. Great to see
Speaker 2: you actually wearing this Dodger jersey. What does it mean
Speaker 2: to you to start this new chapter in your baseball life?
Speaker 3: This is awesome. I'm extremely excited.
Speaker 1: I mean this, this organization is very first class organization,
Speaker 1: from you know, ownership group to front office to the players.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think the players kind of speak
Speaker 1: for themselves with their their playing out on the field,
Speaker 1: and I think everyone kind of recognizes that. So I'm
Speaker 1: excited to just be a part of, you know, the
Speaker 1: team organization this city.
Speaker 2: You said during the press conference, Freddie Freeman facetimed you
Speaker 2: and said, don't do anything stupid. Does that mean he
Speaker 2: doesn't want you to try to duplicate his worm dance
Speaker 2: during the off season? Have you seen that?
Speaker 1: I don't know if that is a part of that
Speaker 1: category or not, but I mean he seemed to be
Speaker 1: pretty good at it, so I'm excited to ask him
Speaker 1: to do it live.
Speaker 3: But we'll see what happens. But yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: We just talking to him on face hime for for
Speaker 1: a second before we did the press conference stuff, and
Speaker 1: it was like, just you know, don't do anything stupid
Speaker 1: and you'll be good.
Speaker 3: So I was like, oh, I appreciate it. Yeah you don't.
Speaker 3: You don't have to worry about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you seem like you play life pretty safe.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I try.
Speaker 1: I try to not not get too crazy with things,
Speaker 1: especially you know, front of cameras and stuff. But no,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty good with everything.
Speaker 3: Kyle.
Speaker 2: Of dimension of your game that I feel like not
Speaker 2: enough has been talked about, is the running the base
Speaker 2: running in your career, you've stolen eighty eight percent of
Speaker 2: the bases. The Dodgers were near the bottom of that.
Speaker 2: Is that just having the baseball? I qu the awareness?
Speaker 2: How much is that speed? I mean what part of
Speaker 2: that dimension? Where does that come from?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm not like the fastest guy, but I'm
Speaker 1: not slow by any means. But I mean, if I
Speaker 1: can take an extra ninety feet whenever I see that'll
Speaker 1: benefit our team to possibly score an extra round, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try and do what I can with it.
Speaker 1: I mean, this this team's probably like if you're on
Speaker 1: first base with this team, you're probably in scoring position.
Speaker 1: So that's probably why that was a factor, but I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to help out this team, whether it's on
Speaker 1: the basis defense, hitting wise, Like, I'm really excited to
Speaker 1: get things going this year.
Speaker 2: I had to look how well you've done at Dodger
Speaker 2: Stadium in a small sample size forty played appearances, You've
Speaker 2: done pretty well. How comfortable in those small nine games
Speaker 2: do you feel hitting in this ballpark? And has Dodger
Speaker 2: Stadium become a hitter's ballpark?
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know my stats like that, but
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's exciting playing here. I mean it's
Speaker 1: it's a little top because this team is is very
Speaker 1: good and the fans definitely back then with that, So
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's exciting playing here.
Speaker 3: I mean there's there's a lot of a lot.
Speaker 1: Of cool stadiums around around the league, but I think
Speaker 1: this is definitely, you know, at the top of the
Speaker 1: list with with a lot of guys.
Speaker 3: So just the history.
Speaker 1: Behind, you know, the Dodgers organization and this city and everything,
Speaker 1: I think definitely plays a factor into playing here. And
Speaker 1: it's it's exciting to be a part that, you know,
Speaker 1: eighty one games of a year now.
Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker is our guest. He's the newest Dodger wearing
Speaker 2: jersey number twenty three. This is Dodger Talk until eight o'clock, Kyle.
Speaker 2: A lot of players always talk about free agency. You
Speaker 2: want it for so long and then once you're there,
Speaker 2: it's a long winding road. How tough was the process
Speaker 2: for you and when did you start to know that
Speaker 2: the Dodgers may be the team?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it was tough. I didn't try
Speaker 1: and like kind of over analyze anything or you know,
Speaker 1: put too much pressure on, you know, any decision. But
Speaker 1: you know, you know, over the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: or so from today, is is starting to get there
Speaker 1: with everything with the teams. I mean, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of really good teams and organizations out there, but you know,
Speaker 1: I just I just felt comfortable coming to LA and
Speaker 1: playing for the Dodgers organization. Like I said, their first
Speaker 1: class organization. This this team's phenomenal team, and I'm excited
Speaker 1: to be a part of that. So, I mean when
Speaker 1: I kind of my wife and I kind of factor
Speaker 1: all that in to each other, I was like, I
Speaker 1: think this is a landing spot for us.
Speaker 3: So that's kind of what we wanted to do.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm excited to get things started here
Speaker 1: in spring training and then you know, opening day out here.
Speaker 2: At the beginning of the off season. Did you have
Speaker 2: the Dodgers in mind? Or is this something that started
Speaker 2: to become more clear in the last three weeks.
Speaker 1: Probably more so the second part coming, you know, more
Speaker 1: clear of the last couple of weeks or so. Obviously
Speaker 1: I've never been a free agent before, so I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know how it works, but talking to other
Speaker 1: guys that you know, have gone through the process before
Speaker 1: it definitely helped. And just kind of have a having
Speaker 1: a nice, you know, kind of group around me to
Speaker 1: kind of you know, lead me in a direction, a
Speaker 1: path that definitely helps. So I think I think we,
Speaker 1: you know, made a made a pretty good decision in this.
Speaker 2: You're a guy that seems to let your play do
Speaker 2: all the talking, and in free agency you gotta lay back,
Speaker 2: lay low. How did it make you feel when so
Speaker 2: many people were speaking about you and for you? Was
Speaker 2: that tough to you know, restrain yourself from hey, that's
Speaker 2: not really me.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's you know a lot of different opinions.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of people out there that
Speaker 1: have different opinions, and you know, obviously some fan bases
Speaker 1: want you to come there and don't want you to
Speaker 1: go to other organizations and whatnot, so but I don't know.
Speaker 1: I was just kind of treating it like a normal
Speaker 1: off season, hanging out with my family and going on
Speaker 1: a little vacation, playing some golf and stuff. So I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm probably a big decision to be made,
Speaker 1: but I was like, I'm just gonna try and treat
Speaker 1: it like a normal off season. That way, I'm prepared
Speaker 1: to go in spring training and have the Red mindset
Speaker 1: going into the year.
Speaker 2: All right, before I let you go, we are sitting
Speaker 2: in Dave Robert's office. I do not have my feed
Speaker 2: up on his desk for the record, even though I
Speaker 2: want to. What was the call like to try to
Speaker 2: get number thirty from him? You said it was a
Speaker 2: shot in the dark. Did you feel like the conversation
Speaker 2: was quick or it was a good icebreaker to get
Speaker 2: to know your new manager.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, obviously I kind of knew the reason
Speaker 1: behind him wearing it and whatnot, but I just want
Speaker 1: to at least, you know, at least get a courtesy
Speaker 1: call about it. And just kind of discuss it with him,
Speaker 1: and whether I knew it was gonna be not happening
Speaker 1: or not, but I'd figured out at least kind of
Speaker 1: reach out to him and just discuss it with him.
Speaker 1: I told him I got a backup number in case, like,
Speaker 1: it's totally fine.
Speaker 3: I get it. So that's kind of how things worked out.
Speaker 1: So he was like, don't hate me for not doing this,
Speaker 1: but I was like, nah, it's it's totally fine.
Speaker 3: We're all good.
Speaker 1: Like I got a backup number for you, and you know,
Speaker 1: it all works out. I was like, I don't want
Speaker 1: to mess with anything we got going up here, So
Speaker 1: if that's what I kind of do, we'll stick to it.
Speaker 2: Twenty three. There's been a lot of great twenty threes
Speaker 2: in Dodger history. Eric Carros, who you're going to see
Speaker 2: a lot, and he'll remind you that's his number. And
Speaker 2: I don't know if you heard about this guy hitting
Speaker 2: a home run in nineteen eighty eight. He was a
Speaker 2: left handed hitter, Kurk Gibson. So I know Michael Brantlee
Speaker 2: is your guy, But twenty three means a lot for
Speaker 2: the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's a lot of great players out there,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, and I'm just excited to you know,
Speaker 1: have this one and you know, starting to new part
Speaker 1: of my career here and you know, get things rolling
Speaker 1: with twenty three.
Speaker 2: All right, you look suited and booted, ready to go
Speaker 2: for LA. Damn good hair. Tucker, thanks a lot for
Speaker 2: the time and welcome to LA.
Speaker 3: Thank you, guys, appreciate it.