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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the X Earning postgame show with Bill Laski.

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Speaker 1: I'm delighted to bring a guest back on the show,

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Speaker 1: catching coach for the San Francisco Giants, and now he's

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Speaker 1: got a new label. He's a field coordinator. Let's welcome

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Speaker 1: in Alex Burg. Alex, how are you today? I'm doing

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Speaker 1: really well on yourself, I'm doing great. Thanks for joining me,

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Speaker 1: and boy, we got to jump right into this new

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Speaker 1: wave that you're doing the field coordinator. And I was

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Speaker 1: looking at the numbers of spring training. Sixty two players there,

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Speaker 1: nineteen non rosters, thirty two pitchers, six catchers, thirteen in feelers,

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Speaker 1: eleven out feelers. Your job is full every day.

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Speaker 2: Yes, sir. I'm trying to make sure we get everybody

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Speaker 2: in the right spots and make sure that all the

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Speaker 2: practice and all the work goes off without a hitch.

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Speaker 2: Is kind of the biggest goal is what we're doing here. Alex.

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Speaker 1: Have you done this before? Did you jump into this job?

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Speaker 1: Did you have any experience of being a field coordinator.

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Speaker 2: No, I did a little bit of scheduling during COVID

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Speaker 2: with tech, so just kind of like when we were

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Speaker 2: doing the early workouts before camp kind of started. I

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Speaker 2: was doing a little bit of scheduling there, but from

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Speaker 2: like a full scale like this now never.

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Speaker 1: Well, games are starting, of course, competition is growing. How

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Speaker 1: do you make games? Do you schedule the players to play?

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Speaker 1: How do you work those games out? And then what

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Speaker 1: do you do with the other players.

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Speaker 2: I just kind of help out with lineup distribution. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: Tony has full say on who goes where, and Tingler's

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Speaker 2: a big been a big help with him, you know,

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Speaker 2: kind of helping getting guys in there and making sure

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Speaker 2: everybody's getting some playing time and we're getting guys in

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Speaker 2: the right spots. But for the most part, it just

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Speaker 2: kind of like adding a little input here and there

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Speaker 2: of you know, maybe what catchers need to catch or

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Speaker 2: you know, we obviously we've got a pretty big position

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Speaker 2: battle back there for the backup spot. So making sure

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Speaker 2: that we're showing both of these guys and seeing them

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Speaker 2: in kind of the roles that they might be in

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Speaker 2: along with them some starts, and make sure we see

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Speaker 2: him as much as possible.

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Speaker 1: Alex Berg joining me on the Externing Postgame show. Of course,

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Speaker 1: you're one of the returning coaches from last year. You've

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Speaker 1: been here since twenty twenty four as a catching coach.

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Speaker 1: You've been with the Bullpen since twenty twenty two. A

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Speaker 1: new vibe, a new leader, and Tony Vittello and a

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Speaker 1: good coaching staff that he's put together. Tell me a

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Speaker 1: little bit about what's going on in that coaching room.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been tremendous. I think it's fun to see

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Speaker 2: new faces and hear some different different opinions on things.

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Speaker 2: And you know, we have a great mix of old

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Speaker 2: and young and experience and inexperience, and it's been a

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Speaker 2: lot of fun to just kind of hear the chatter

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Speaker 2: that goes around the coach's locker room. And you know,

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Speaker 2: obviously that's all led by Tony, and you know, he's

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Speaker 2: very He's been tremendous at kind of making sure everybody's

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Speaker 2: heard and everybody has the ability to give their opinion.

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Speaker 2: And it's been a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: Alex. You've got a lot of returning players coming back,

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Speaker 1: you got a lot of young players, you got some

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Speaker 1: minor leaguers. How are are they moving forward with a

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Speaker 1: whole new coaching staff. Are they accepting it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I think they're having a great time. I think

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Speaker 2: Tony brings energy every day and they know that he's

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Speaker 2: here for a reason. Buster wouldn't hire somebody that wasn't

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Speaker 2: fully qualified and ready to lead this team. And I

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Speaker 2: think they're taking to it. You know, he's done a

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Speaker 2: tremendous job with the players and you see the buy in.

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Speaker 2: You see them doing everything he's asking and doing it

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Speaker 2: with a smile on their face. And you see a

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Speaker 2: lot of guys playing really well right now. So it's

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Speaker 2: pretty exciting for us.

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Speaker 1: Well, Alex, I want to go back into this fielding coordinator.

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Speaker 1: Do you work with a pitching coach as well as

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Speaker 1: a hitting coach on different groups and different things that

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Speaker 1: they need to do.

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Speaker 2: So I actually work with everybody, so strength conditioning, training staff,

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Speaker 2: hitting coaches, pitching coaches kind of get to touch everybody

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Speaker 2: and make sure that everybody has a say in what

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Speaker 2: goes on throughout the day. And ultimately my goal is to,

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Speaker 2: you know, make sure everybody gets the time that they

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Speaker 2: need to do the things that they need. And that's

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Speaker 2: it's kind of been the biggest challenge, but also the

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Speaker 2: most fun is kind of putting the puzzle piece together

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Speaker 2: and making sure everybody has what they need to make

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Speaker 2: sure that our players are getting what they need well.

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Speaker 1: As I said in the beginning, sixty two players, you

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Speaker 1: have a full coaching staff with some extra coaches coming

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Speaker 1: as special coaches. How do you influence those guys into

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Speaker 1: this just.

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Speaker 2: Kind of putting them in positions to succeed, So just

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Speaker 2: making sure they know where to go. And you know,

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Speaker 2: our pitching coaches and hitting coaches do a tremendous job

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Speaker 2: of making sure, you know, those guys are feeling like

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Speaker 2: they're involved in what's going on. And with some of

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Speaker 2: the special coaches getting them in there and being able

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Speaker 2: to just kind of like, how can we get these

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Speaker 2: guys in front of our players as much as possible

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Speaker 2: so that they can, you know, share some of that

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Speaker 2: wisdom that they've gained over their careers. And you know,

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Speaker 2: it's been a lot of fun so far.

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Speaker 1: Alexa Giants put a nice tweet out there, a little

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Speaker 1: full commercial about you and what you do as a

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Speaker 1: feeling coordinator, and a lot of it also is food intake,

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Speaker 1: making sure these guys have protein before they get on

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Speaker 1: the field, and also a lot of stretching. Is that normal?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think again this is something where

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Speaker 2: I think people don't really realize when you're putting together

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Speaker 2: at the schedule, like everything starts with nutrition and making

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Speaker 2: sure these guys are fed before they get on the field,

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Speaker 2: and then making sure that they're ready to complete the

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Speaker 2: activities we want them to complete. So you know, our

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Speaker 2: strength and conditioning staff and our nutrition staff is incredibly

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Speaker 2: important because you know, this is how this is what

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Speaker 2: really maintains their health. So the more that they're doing

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Speaker 2: in the training room, the more that they're doing in

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Speaker 2: the weight room, the more that they're stretching and getting

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Speaker 2: ready to play, along with eating and make sure that

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Speaker 2: they're getting the nutritional needs that they have. You know,

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Speaker 2: those things are really, honestly, probably more important in terms

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Speaker 2: of staying healthy than anything that actually goes on on

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Speaker 2: the field.

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Speaker 1: That voice you hear in the extrating postgame show is

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Speaker 1: the bullpen coach, but he's also the field coordinator through

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Speaker 1: spring training, Alex Burg. One of the things I saw

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Speaker 1: in this video is with the pitchers, and this was

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Speaker 1: probably the video done when the pitchers and catchers were

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Speaker 1: there early and there was a part that you call

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Speaker 1: the playground where they're throwing balls against the wall, kind

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Speaker 1: of a weighted ball. Different things like that are most

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Speaker 1: of the pitchers doing that now besides the bands.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So most of our pictures will go out there,

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Speaker 2: and we have tons of things so like if the

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Speaker 2: guys don't want to throw apply a ball or a

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Speaker 2: weighted ball, they can do some water bag stuff. We

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Speaker 2: have medicine balls out there. We have a ton of

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Speaker 2: different activities. We're a ton of different tools out there

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Speaker 2: for them to get activated to throw. You know, our

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Speaker 2: biggest thing is like you don't just wander out there

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Speaker 2: and throw a baseball. There's a bunch of things that

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Speaker 2: have to happen that go into it before you throw

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Speaker 2: the ball. And we want to make sure that they

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Speaker 2: have their own area to do that and where they

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Speaker 2: can feel safe to kind of try any products or

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Speaker 2: any tools that they want. And for the guys that

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Speaker 2: know what they need, we'll have those tools out there

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Speaker 2: as well for them.

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Speaker 1: Now, the one thing that pitchers do PFPS pitchers feeling

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Speaker 1: practice has had changed in probably fifty years, but you

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Speaker 1: guys do it differently. You do it differently whether a

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Speaker 1: pitcher's throwing a LIVEVP or a bullpen, they kind of

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Speaker 1: not do it that day. And then there's certain defensive

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Speaker 1: drills you do with certain pitchers, how do you define that?

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Speaker 2: So when the guys throw a pin, they're usually hot.

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Speaker 2: So right after that we'll send them out there and

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Speaker 2: they'll do some sort of pickoff or some sort of PfP,

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Speaker 2: whatever they need to work on. And then if they're

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Speaker 2: pitching in the game that day or throwing like a

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Speaker 2: live VP, then they won't be a part of that group.

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Speaker 2: And then the guys that aren't throwing aside or aren't

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Speaker 2: throwing in the game, those guys will do some sort

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Speaker 2: of PfP. Especially when it's team base. We like to

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Speaker 2: get everybody out there and kind of work through the

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Speaker 2: whole process, just so the pitchers can get used to

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Speaker 2: fielding these balls with the defense, and also so our

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Speaker 2: defense can kind of see who's a really a good fielder,

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Speaker 2: who's not and what plays may may may I have

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Speaker 2: to make or may I not have to make because

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Speaker 2: this guy can really do it well.

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Speaker 1: Alex, let's get into the part where you have been fantastic,

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Speaker 1: and that's being a catching coach. And again I'm going

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Speaker 1: to congratulate you. And Patrick Bailey went in his second

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Speaker 1: goal glove last year. We talked about it. You were

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Speaker 1: raving about his defense. What did you see different from

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Speaker 1: him last year? And what did he get better at?

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Speaker 2: Don't I don't know if he did anything different. I

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Speaker 2: think he just continues to get better. I think he's

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Speaker 2: he's he's gotten better in every aspect of the game.

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Speaker 2: He obviously improved all of his numbers across the board

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Speaker 2: and was the leader in field and run value for

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Speaker 2: Baseball Savants or just like a public metric, he both

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Speaker 2: raced the entire league in terms of not only just catchers,

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Speaker 2: but any defender. He's number one, and if you look

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Speaker 2: at a few public metrics, he was number one and everything. So,

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Speaker 2: I mean, this guy's a special defender. He's talented, and

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Speaker 2: he's hungry. He wants to be the best, and he

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Speaker 2: continues to work at it, continues to work hard and

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Speaker 2: just kind of hone the craft. I think, you know,

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Speaker 2: he knows what makes him good, and he continues to

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Speaker 2: just build on these build on these things so that

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Speaker 2: you know, this year hopefully you know, obviously hope he

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Speaker 2: stays healthy. But you know, if this guy catches a bunch,

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Speaker 2: I mean there's no stopping him. And he's one of

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Speaker 2: the most talented defenders I've ever seen.

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Speaker 1: Well, you have a lot of young catchers in camp,

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Speaker 1: and I think Patrick Bailey is probably the leader also

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Speaker 1: where you don't have to always be talking Patrick. When

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Speaker 1: he speaks, they probably all listen. I think that's one

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Speaker 1: good thing about having him as a leader as a catcher.

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Speaker 1: Does he do those things in a bullpen?

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Speaker 2: He does. I mean, he's he's very open to helping

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Speaker 2: not only the young guys, but also some of our

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Speaker 2: older guys in camp. You know, I think he's he's

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Speaker 2: learning his craft. I think if you had asked him

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Speaker 2: two years ago, he wouldn't have known a lot of

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Speaker 2: the things that he was doing back there. He just

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Speaker 2: knew that he did him well. And he starts to

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Speaker 2: understand a lot of the things and why he's so good,

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Speaker 2: and he's able to kind of impart some of that

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Speaker 2: wisdom and able to talk through some stuff with our

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Speaker 2: other guys. And it's been fantastic. It's fun to watch.

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Speaker 2: You know. We got six catchers in camp and the

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Speaker 2: rapport between all of them is great. You know, we

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Speaker 2: have a blast every morning, We have a blast every

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Speaker 2: day kind of talking through catching, talking through the game,

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Speaker 2: and yeah, this is a wonderful group.

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Speaker 1: Alex Berg joining me for a few more minutes on

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Speaker 1: the X Learning postgame show, you talk about young catchers,

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Speaker 1: and I've had an opportunity to interview a few of them.

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Speaker 1: Daniel Susak, Hey, Zeus Rodriguez, Diego Cartea, three young catchers

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Speaker 1: that are sponges. I bring up your name, every one

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Speaker 1: of them raves about you, Alex, and that's what I

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Speaker 1: want to tell you. Each one of these guys are listening,

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Speaker 1: learning and working hard for you. And every one of

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Speaker 1: them when I mentioned your name, like I said, they

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Speaker 1: have something good or to a point of I wasn't

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Speaker 1: this good? Now better? How do you protect yourself in

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Speaker 1: teaching this to certain catchers because they're all competing for

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Speaker 1: one job or competing to get a triple A or

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Speaker 1: double a job. That's your job to kind of teach

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Speaker 1: their things good and bad.

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Speaker 2: I think in catching, catching is probably catching is the

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Speaker 2: only position in the game where two guys have to play.

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Speaker 2: You don't see any catcher play every single game, So

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Speaker 2: these guys need each other. There's always two guys, sometimes

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Speaker 2: there's three, and you have to work together. Like they

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Speaker 2: all know that they're competing with each other for at

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Speaker 2: bats and innings, but also like you have to help

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Speaker 2: the other guy because he's going to help you. And

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Speaker 2: my goal is for them to just like you're all

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Speaker 2: in camp, we're all giants, Like our goal is to

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Speaker 2: just get better. Like not only are you playing for

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Speaker 2: the Giants, but you know, you could be playing for

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Speaker 2: twenty nine other teams. You know, I think every single

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Speaker 2: catcher in camp besides Patrick Bailey, has been with another team.

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Speaker 2: So you're always you're always playing not only for the

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Speaker 2: team that you're on, but you're playing for the twenty

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Speaker 2: nine of the clubs that are out there scouting and

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Speaker 2: taking a peek. Because again, catchers are one of the

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Speaker 2: weakest positions in the big leagues in terms of like

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Speaker 2: it's hard to find a good one, and you know,

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Speaker 2: we got some good ones and so people are going

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Speaker 2: to be asking about them and are you know, my

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Speaker 2: goal is to help facilitate the work and make sure

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Speaker 2: these guys are as good as they can possibly be,

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Speaker 2: so that when they do get their opportunity, they're ready

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Speaker 2: to shine.

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Speaker 1: Well, Alex, they say your communication is spotless. You just

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Speaker 1: talk about the good and the bad. And this is

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Speaker 1: the guy said, you rave in to talk about the

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Speaker 1: good and what they do, but you also rave in

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Speaker 1: to say, hey, this is where you can approve and improve

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Speaker 1: on it. When I was talking to Daniel Sussek as

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Speaker 1: soon as he got traded over, he said, one of

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Speaker 1: the first calls I had was from alex Burg, and

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Speaker 1: it just took my attention completely to a catching coach,

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Speaker 1: Do you do this with all your catchers? Do you

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Speaker 1: communicate as well as you do?

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Speaker 2: I tried to. You know, I think when you get

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Speaker 2: these guys, and you know, especially a real five pick

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Speaker 2: like that, obviously he's a little bit easier. I played

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Speaker 2: with his older brother, and his older brother is a

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Speaker 2: good friend of mine, so it's a little bit easier there.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, with all these guys like you have to

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Speaker 2: you have to be transparent with them. You have to

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Speaker 2: let them know, like, this is where you've struggled, this

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Speaker 2: is what we're going to work on. This is where

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Speaker 2: you're really good. We're going to continue to work there

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Speaker 2: and continue to improve that to make your strength stronger.

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Speaker 2: But you know, our goal is to make the most

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Speaker 2: well rounded catchers, and the first way to do that

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Speaker 2: is to know what you're not great at. Because if

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Speaker 2: you don't know and nobody tells you, how are you

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Speaker 2: supposed to work on it. So that's for me, it's

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Speaker 2: just trying to be as transparent with him as possible

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Speaker 2: and go like, here's what you're good at, here's what

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Speaker 2: you're not great at. Here's how we're going to work

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Speaker 2: to get this part of your game better. And this

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Speaker 2: is how we're going to work to continue to keep

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Speaker 2: that part of strength of your game. And you know,

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Speaker 2: these guys have really taken to it, and it's been

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Speaker 2: a it's been a blast for me. It's fun to

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Speaker 2: fun to show up to work every day with these

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Speaker 2: guys and if.

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Speaker 1: You get to hear them just talk about you, they're

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Speaker 1: accepting it, working at it, and every day they say,

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Speaker 1: we just can't wait to put the gear on and

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Speaker 1: work with Alex. And I think that's a test to

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Speaker 1: you and how many years you've been doing this and

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Speaker 1: how successful you've been. And I want to congratulate you

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Speaker 1: on that.

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Speaker 2: Oh well, thank you. I mean, these they're great guys.

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Speaker 2: I think that's that's a big part of it, Like

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Speaker 2: we don't have anybody that you wouldn't want to be around, like,

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Speaker 2: you know, I think about if I had each one

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Speaker 2: of these guys, like I would be fully you know

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Speaker 2: if I had a dog, like I would be fully

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Speaker 2: comfortable with all of them sitting my dog, or if

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Speaker 2: I had I would be comfortable with all of them

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Speaker 2: babysitting my kid. Because they're all fantastic individuals and like

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Speaker 2: I said, they show up to work every day. All

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Speaker 2: of them want to be great, and I think that

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Speaker 2: that makes it a lot easier for me too. Like

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Speaker 2: if they if they want to work, we have plenty

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Speaker 2: of work to be done. It's which I've never had.

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Speaker 2: But you know, if you have guys that don't want

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Speaker 2: to work, it becomes a little bit tougher to kind

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Speaker 2: of get some of these points across. But you know,

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Speaker 2: we got a bunch of workers, a bunch of guys

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Speaker 2: that want to great, and like I said, it's been

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Speaker 2: a bost these guys have been fantastic.

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Speaker 1: Well, Alex, I want to thank your time today. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you reached out and gave me a little time today

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Speaker 1: to talk catching in your new fielding coordinator job, and

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Speaker 1: I just want to wish you luck again another year

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Speaker 1: coming around for the twenty twenty six Giants and good

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Speaker 1: luck for the rest of the spring. The Giants are

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Speaker 1: doing well well.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I look forward to seeing you

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Speaker 2: during the season as well.

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Speaker 1: That was alex Berg on the Externing Postgame Show. More

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Speaker 1: coming up right here on K and br D sports

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Speaker 1: Leader