Speaker 1: Welcome back to KNBR with Bill Laski. My guest played
Speaker 1: six years with the San Francisco Giants. In twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: he became the manager of the Arizona Rookie League and
Speaker 1: this past January he was moved up to High A
Speaker 1: and he's the manager of the Eugene Emeralds. Let's bring
Speaker 1: in Jacob Hayward.
Speaker 2: Jacob, how are you. I'm doing good man? How about you?
Speaker 1: So I'm doing great? Thanks for joining me in. Congratulations
Speaker 1: the first half champs of the Northwest League. That was
Speaker 1: pretty exciting for you being up there for the first year,
Speaker 1: and your team was pretty elated.
Speaker 2: Yes, it was cool. It's been a great time so far,
Speaker 2: and he's happy to be a part of the team.
Speaker 1: Well, let's go back. You grew up in Georgia. You
Speaker 1: went to a high school called Eagle Landing Christian School.
Speaker 1: You had three thirty one nine home runs forty two
Speaker 1: RBIs your senior year, and you got drafted by the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Braves, but you did not sign. Tell me the
Speaker 1: reason why?
Speaker 2: Uh, you know, I think, honestly, I feel like it
Speaker 2: was a maturity thing and I'm not sure if I
Speaker 2: was really one hundred percent mentally prepared to go through
Speaker 2: the struggles of a professional season. And you know, I
Speaker 2: already commuted to the University of Miami and they had
Speaker 2: confidence in me, and I had confidence in myself to
Speaker 2: go there and prove proo I could start and play there,
Speaker 2: and it was a great university to go to, so
Speaker 2: I you know, at the time, I definitely felt more
Speaker 2: confident going to college.
Speaker 1: Well, Jacob really worked out for you. You ended up
Speaker 1: going to university in Miami. As you said, your junior year,
Speaker 1: you played at all sixty four games, you had a
Speaker 1: ten game multi hit games, and you also went to
Speaker 1: the College World Series where you hit over four hundred.
Speaker 1: Everything was maturing for you after school. Tell me about
Speaker 1: the play and how you learned how to play a
Speaker 1: little bit better and pretty much what happened in the
Speaker 1: World Series.
Speaker 2: You did very well. Yeah, I mean earlier in my
Speaker 2: career adit. You know, I was kind of more than
Speaker 2: a platoon role so I understood how to be a
Speaker 2: good teammate, had to be a role player early on
Speaker 2: in my career. And then I finally earned my starting
Speaker 2: spot towards the end of my sophomore year by playing
Speaker 2: well and come off the bench, and it's been being
Speaker 2: another part of the team, a really good team. And
Speaker 2: then obviously though my sophomore year in junior year, we
Speaker 2: end up going to the College World Series, and those
Speaker 2: experiences where something that I'll probably never forget for the
Speaker 2: rest of my life, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 2: it's just fun, man, you know, just competing to win,
Speaker 2: like I play to win, you know, I played to
Speaker 2: win the game. I think that's that's my mindset as
Speaker 2: a player and even as a coach, you know, and
Speaker 2: I think at the highest stage, that's that's the most
Speaker 2: you know, the most exciting part of the game, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. And playing against the best competition,
Speaker 2: playing against the in front of a lot of fans,
Speaker 2: being being able to play on that some television at
Speaker 2: a young age, it's pretty cool and it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2: It's just, you know, I think it's every kid's dream.
Speaker 2: So it's definitely fun. And I just love competing. So
Speaker 2: that's that's that's a big part of being in a
Speaker 2: College World Series is fun.
Speaker 1: Well, Jacob, that junior you're playing every game, a lot
Speaker 1: of things happen. You make adjustments in the outfield, you
Speaker 1: make adjustments on the bases. You were a base stealer
Speaker 1: and also hitting. What were some of the things that
Speaker 1: you learned in that level.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, just the talent. I think the
Speaker 2: talent was a lot better. Just facing the in the
Speaker 2: acc uh weekend week out, just being able to hit
Speaker 2: you know, good fastballs, seeing uh, pretty good sliders. Man,
Speaker 2: I was a pretty good fastball hitter, so I saw
Speaker 2: a bunch of sliders, so I had to learn kind
Speaker 2: of learn on the fly a little bit with that.
Speaker 2: And then being taught defense all three years of college
Speaker 2: by you know Tomorrow. He was our outfield coach at
Speaker 2: the time, and he really implemented, you know, defenses, how
Speaker 2: important defenses and you know, defense hels wins championships and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. So just learning that, being good outfitter,
Speaker 2: taking pride in and taking pride of my work, taking
Speaker 2: pride in the higher practice that that was a big
Speaker 2: probably development part of being in college. And then base running,
Speaker 2: you know, just base running, you know, always understanding that
Speaker 2: that can help you help win you ball games. Two
Speaker 2: and I had speed speed at the time, and uh,
Speaker 2: and I definitely try to take advantage of it as
Speaker 2: much as possible. And and my coachiness at Miami really
Speaker 2: instilled that confidence in me and told me to run
Speaker 2: and whenever I felt comfortable. So it was fun.
Speaker 1: Jacob Hayward, the manager of the eugen Emeralds, joining me
Speaker 1: on K and b are. You end up going and
Speaker 1: get drafted by the San Francisco Giants your junior year
Speaker 1: and you ended up signing eighteenth round a little late,
Speaker 1: but you still sign excited to jump into pro ball.
Speaker 1: Did you know much about the Giants organization?
Speaker 2: I knew, you know, I've heard from some people that
Speaker 2: the organization was rendally well, especially in the minor league
Speaker 2: side or the player development side, and then they treat
Speaker 2: the players were respect and you know, that's that's really
Speaker 2: what I wanted to do with the end of the day,
Speaker 2: is just being being a place where I could develop
Speaker 2: my skills and and you know, hopefully someday at some point,
Speaker 2: you know, become a big leader. And I know that
Speaker 2: the Giants always took pride in that. And you see it,
Speaker 2: you know, you see the homegrun talent from you know,
Speaker 2: the bus opposes to Brandon Craffers, Joe Panics, Brandon Belts,
Speaker 2: you know, you see those guys just the big leagues
Speaker 2: and you try to dream and say that you want
Speaker 2: that to do yourself, you know what I mean? So
Speaker 2: just understanding that, you know, this organization has really been
Speaker 2: strong with the player development and trusting that in and
Speaker 2: it gave me confidence to just jump right into Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1: Well, Jacob, you ended up going to Arizona Fall League,
Speaker 1: you moved up to Salem Kaiser and then Augusta. I
Speaker 1: mean had a little bit was saying it was a
Speaker 1: giants those first couple of years. What did you learn?
Speaker 1: How did you adjusted new surroundings, new teammates, different leagues.
Speaker 1: How difficult was that and how did you maintain that
Speaker 1: kind of confidence that you had in college?
Speaker 2: I think, you know, honestly, man, it was fun. Like
Speaker 2: it was. It was so much fun because I didn't
Speaker 2: have to worry about it where I didn't have to
Speaker 2: worry about going to class every day, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. Now that I didn't enjoy school, but just
Speaker 2: to be able to focus on one hundred percent baseball,
Speaker 2: and that's something that I knew. I loved what I
Speaker 2: love to do, and it just it built confidence in
Speaker 2: me just to be able to go out and do
Speaker 2: it every day and be able to train every day,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, and getting the reps. Getting
Speaker 2: the reps, the reps is most important thing for any player,
Speaker 2: and in my opinion, so to be able to play
Speaker 2: every day and have good coaching and you know, different
Speaker 2: things like that really put me in a good spot,
Speaker 2: especially the lower those of the player. Development of the
Speaker 2: A balls and the short seasons and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: and having good coaches and having good teammates and dealing
Speaker 2: with you know, dealing with different cultures. I think, you know,
Speaker 2: Miami's Miami set me up to be, uh, to be
Speaker 2: comfortable and uncomfortable, you know what I mean, because it
Speaker 2: was a big it was a big adjustment going from
Speaker 2: from from Georgia, you know, uh southern state to Mimy.
Speaker 2: Miami's the South, but the ain't the South, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. It's different cultures, it's international, dealing with
Speaker 2: different languages twenty four to seven and being being able
Speaker 2: to adjust to that was definitely having that was definitely
Speaker 2: an easy adjustment for me getting the pro ball, dealing
Speaker 2: with the Latin culture and dealing with players from different
Speaker 2: different states and different countries and stuff like that. So
Speaker 2: it was it wasn't difficult but it was fun. I
Speaker 2: really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: It was it was a pleasure to see and you know,
Speaker 1: it's a fund for just learning about the cultures of
Speaker 1: different worlds, and the culture of baseball is from everybody,
Speaker 1: every you know, every color of skin, every type of
Speaker 1: different areas where people grew up at. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of what you just kind of said there, and it
Speaker 1: really made you blossom. And in twenty twenty, a very
Speaker 1: strange year, a COVID hits and you have to take
Speaker 1: the whole year off. What did you do in that
Speaker 1: time and how did you adjust? Thinking, Hey, I got
Speaker 1: to get back in baseball.
Speaker 2: Shit. Yeah, I mean honestly, we didn't stop, you know,
Speaker 2: because I worked out with my brother a lot during
Speaker 2: that time. You know, we just kept working out ten
Speaker 2: in a case, tried to find some baseball. But you know,
Speaker 2: a lot of things were set down because of COVID,
Speaker 2: but just tried to stay as active as possible on
Speaker 2: my own, which was I think it was a good
Speaker 2: thing for myself, you know, because I learned more about
Speaker 2: myself as a human being. I think I think everybody
Speaker 2: did at that time, you know what I mean. So,
Speaker 2: but it was obviously it could be tough, tough to
Speaker 2: just missing that playing time, but at the same time,
Speaker 2: it was I think it was a good a good
Speaker 2: reset to be able to look at and have a
Speaker 2: good perspective on life. So it was it was definitely
Speaker 2: a good time. And you know, we just continue to
Speaker 2: work out most of that time. So I didn't stop baseball.
Speaker 2: Baseball never stops from me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that voice you here on kmb R, Jacob Hayward.
Speaker 1: Let's just talk about your relationship with your brother. Of course,
Speaker 1: Jason a major leaguer for many years, a superstar and
Speaker 1: All Star. Uh, the relationship with you and him, how
Speaker 1: would that start and how did that grow into being
Speaker 1: a professional player.
Speaker 2: I mean it started, you know, my whole life. You know,
Speaker 2: he's been a big brother to me, and he has
Speaker 2: always been a leader in my family. And you know,
Speaker 2: it's uh, it's been a blessing. I'm blessing to have
Speaker 2: him as a brother, you know what i mean. Just
Speaker 2: take care of me, take care of family. I'm always
Speaker 2: looking out if you know, he's got if I've gotten questions,
Speaker 2: He's always there for me. And then just having a
Speaker 2: good friendship that we have now is is really important,
Speaker 2: you know, what I mean, he's bound some ideas off
Speaker 2: each other and not he's about baseball. It's about life, man,
Speaker 2: And you know, it's it's really been. Uh it's been.
Speaker 2: It's been great to have him by my side and
Speaker 2: and me by his side. So it's been it's been phenomenal.
Speaker 2: And you know, he's he's built a good career for himself.
Speaker 2: And I'm proud of him and everything that he's done
Speaker 2: because he's he's earned it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So it's special, and it's probably the same. He's proud
Speaker 1: of you too, little brother. And those are the things
Speaker 1: that are great above brotherships. And after six years, you
Speaker 1: just said, you know, I'm free agent. I want to
Speaker 1: get into coaching. Six seasons, you have fifty seven home runs,
Speaker 1: seven triples, ninety five doubles, but you wanted to get
Speaker 1: into something you wanted to teach, You wanted to coach.
Speaker 1: What made that the decision come for you?
Speaker 2: I think, you know, one, the love for the giants
Speaker 2: I have. I feel like I'm really passionate about the game,
Speaker 2: and you know, I saw an opportunity where I could
Speaker 2: manage or be a coach and and help out the
Speaker 2: next generation because I feel like I I you know,
Speaker 2: I played for so long in his organization, and I
Speaker 2: knew the inside of the house. I knew so many people,
Speaker 2: so many people and created so many good relationships that
Speaker 2: this would be a great place to start if I
Speaker 2: had the opportunity to do it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: And to just be able to pass on knowledge to
Speaker 2: players and help them out in their everyday lives, not
Speaker 2: just on the baseball field, but just to be able
Speaker 2: to help mentor them was really important to me because
Speaker 2: I just felt like, you know, as a player, I've
Speaker 2: probably been in every situation possible, you know, from a
Speaker 2: guy who had to earn his spot on the team,
Speaker 2: or from a guy who was a top thirty prospect,
Speaker 2: or a guy who ended up being a role player,
Speaker 2: or a guy who you know, ended up being the
Speaker 2: forgotten player in some sense, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So just to be able to go through those different avenues,
Speaker 2: those different stretches in life, I feel like I was
Speaker 2: kind of built for the coaching side to be able
Speaker 2: to help to help these young men and help them
Speaker 2: grow into you know, good people.
Speaker 1: Good well, Jacob has definitely worked. Kyle Haynes raves about
Speaker 1: your communication the way you're level headed, the way you
Speaker 1: understand the game, the way you teach the game. And
Speaker 1: he watched you and rookie ball, he watched you for
Speaker 1: three years. And now the move up to Eugene. Has
Speaker 1: there been many changes from rookie ball in Arizona now
Speaker 1: to Eugene. Just the coaching mentality of it.
Speaker 2: Uh No, I think, you know, honestly, honestly, but I
Speaker 2: think the coaching says the same, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: We talked about it early in the meetings and uh
Speaker 2: this offseason, the off season before the season started, and
Speaker 2: we're kind of like, you know, kind of set a
Speaker 2: tone of hey, man, like even you're an a ball
Speaker 2: being double at triple at, but we need to treat this,
Speaker 2: treat these teams like we're in a ball, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. And I always try to treat the
Speaker 2: rookie ball players that way. I chieve them with respect.
Speaker 2: You know, just because they're new doesn't mean that they
Speaker 2: don't know the game and they can't they can't get better.
Speaker 2: So you know, it's it's not there's no change. You know,
Speaker 2: you just coach as much as possible. But you also
Speaker 2: got a mentor to men you know what I mean. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I take a lot of pride in that. Are
Speaker 2: we we as the staff to take a lot of
Speaker 2: pride in that? Well?
Speaker 1: Jacob talking to Ring, he loves wins, of course, triple A,
Speaker 1: double A, high A low, a allhead records the first half,
Speaker 1: but he said, progression is what we want. We want
Speaker 1: to see these kids move up. We want to compete
Speaker 1: at the next level. Your thoughts on that, because you've
Speaker 1: lost some key players, but you've also gained a few
Speaker 1: players and now you have a kind of a new
Speaker 1: team with some of the trades that happened to trade deadline.
Speaker 1: But I think progression is the main word.
Speaker 2: Do you agree? I agree? I agree. I think, you know,
Speaker 2: getting these guys to be able to obviously perform at
Speaker 2: the level that they're at, then also to see them
Speaker 2: adjust and make adjustments to be able to be better
Speaker 2: places the next levels is the most important thing. You know.
Speaker 2: We've got to set these guys up for success. And
Speaker 2: if we're if we're just thinking that we can just
Speaker 2: go out here and play a ball a ball baseball
Speaker 2: all day and think that's going to help us win
Speaker 2: championship is biggue level, then we're we're not doing our jobs,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. The most important thing is
Speaker 2: is winning the championship at San Francisco, and that's our
Speaker 2: goal and I think that's the whole the whole organization's goal,
Speaker 2: and that's our mindset. So you definitely want to be
Speaker 2: able to get these guys better, develop them, keep them confident,
Speaker 2: and hav him prepared to be able to play at
Speaker 2: the highest level baseball.
Speaker 1: Jacob Hayward joined me for a few more minutes. He's
Speaker 1: the manager of the Eugene Emeralds. As I say, as
Speaker 1: people move up, your players move up to Double A.
Speaker 1: You also got a couple of players from San Jose,
Speaker 1: Johnny Level being nineteen years old and cam Maldonado, two
Speaker 1: outstanding young players. What have you seen out of them
Speaker 1: and what adjustments have you learned and kind of watched
Speaker 1: them progress into it right?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, first off, I had you know, I've
Speaker 2: had I've had dying for the last few years now
Speaker 2: and just seeing his seeing his development, man, it's pretty impressive,
Speaker 2: you know, man, you know what I mean, from a
Speaker 2: young kid and his maturity, you know, he's grown a
Speaker 2: little bit mentally, and see his competitive nature that he
Speaker 2: has in himself is pretty impressive to watch every day.
Speaker 2: You know, his bad the ball skills are impressive, but
Speaker 2: you know, the big thing for me is always base
Speaker 2: running defense, and he's grown so much in those areas,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. I think he's almost had
Speaker 2: a twenty twenty season so far. So just trying to
Speaker 2: see him develop and continue to push into his best
Speaker 2: ability is the most important thing. And then for kenn
Speaker 2: Out and Otto Man, I saw him early last year
Speaker 2: in our base camp and just seeing his development, his
Speaker 2: confidence grow. You know. Obviously, you know these are still young,
Speaker 2: both young players, and they still need room to grow,
Speaker 2: and there's a lot of things that we can teach them,
Speaker 2: you know, moving forward. But to see them, you know,
Speaker 2: play with confidence and have fun and enjoy the game
Speaker 2: and try to learn as much as possible, it really
Speaker 2: stands out. And then you know, it's just it's fun
Speaker 2: to watch. I enjoy I enjoyed being able to see
Speaker 2: them from the beginning of their careers, you know, just
Speaker 2: getting drafted or just coming from the d R all
Speaker 2: the way to the States, and it's it's really fun
Speaker 2: to watch.
Speaker 1: Well, Jacob, like I said during the trade deadline, you
Speaker 1: inherited a lot of young players or young pitchers. I
Speaker 1: want to ask you about Henry Lilane, the big left
Speaker 1: hand or six foot seven. I guess when you take
Speaker 1: him out of the game, you got to look up
Speaker 1: to him because he's pretty tall. What have you've seen
Speaker 1: so far out of him? I've seen some tapes on him.
Speaker 1: He looks refined, but it's the same time he's got
Speaker 1: to learn a little bit. Is there a progression already
Speaker 1: on him?
Speaker 2: Have you seen? Uh? I think so? Man, just from
Speaker 2: his first outing, his first out into the second outing.
Speaker 2: I think his first outing went like four and two
Speaker 2: thirds or something like that, and then the next outing
Speaker 2: went five or six innings. Just the confidence in his ability.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously, you know when you get over from
Speaker 2: a trail, you're a little nervous probably and you meeting
Speaker 2: new people. But his energy, from what I've seen, is
Speaker 2: it's really there. The competitive nature is there, the belief
Speaker 2: in himself, the feel for his for his teammates that
Speaker 2: you can see, the respect of the answer his teammates.
Speaker 2: He has that even even coming from a new new organization,
Speaker 2: coming from a different organization, and you know he's he's
Speaker 2: got this stuff. Man, it's fun to watch, you know,
Speaker 2: just to be like I remember the first the first
Speaker 2: day he pitched his smoke can. I was just smiled
Speaker 2: from year to ear just to see a sixty seven
Speaker 2: guyon amount on the left side throwing throwing the ball
Speaker 2: ninety eight miles for you know. I mean, so it's
Speaker 2: invested to watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it got to be exciting for you too, especially
Speaker 1: what you just said. Players coming over, they're nervous. They've
Speaker 1: never had that happen before, and they always think the
Speaker 1: team they signed with is the team they're going to
Speaker 1: get to the big leagues. And now it shakes it
Speaker 1: up and you have to do that. You have to
Speaker 1: be that manager kind of a dad to say, hey,
Speaker 1: everything's gonna be okay. And you've had a good handful
Speaker 1: of guys come over. Was that difficult for you to
Speaker 1: kind of open the door and say, come on in,
Speaker 1: we got to make some changes welcome in because it
Speaker 1: really is a welcoming Yeah.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say. I wouldn't say it's difficult, because you know,
Speaker 2: I think, hm hmm, I think the most the most
Speaker 2: important thing is being able to create a team and
Speaker 2: family environment right and regardless of you know, who's on
Speaker 2: the team, you know, because we've had changes throughout the
Speaker 2: whole year, you know, I mean, so we're kind of
Speaker 2: used to having new guys come in and just jump
Speaker 2: on the train and try to and try to go
Speaker 2: with everybody else. So it's not I wouldn't say it's
Speaker 2: too difficult, but I think, you know, just just being
Speaker 2: a good mentor and letting them know they can be themselves.
Speaker 2: And all we asked is, you know, for them is professionalism,
Speaker 2: and they've done that so far, you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: these guys are professionals. Is fine, So it's been easy.
Speaker 2: It's been easy for these guys.
Speaker 1: Well, Jacob, I want to thank you for your time.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on that first half championship and continue on my
Speaker 1: friend good luck.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, but I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: That was Jacob Heyward on K andbr more coming up
Speaker 1: right here. I'm the sports leader.