1
00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:23,919
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hammer a Territory Podcast. My name is

2
00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,600
Speaker 1: Sean Covid. A little bit under the weather obaya today,

3
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,320
Speaker 1: but it is a pleasure to be with you. As always,

4
00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,839
Speaker 1: my co host Steven Tolbert, and we are thrilled to

5
00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,520
Speaker 1: welcome very special guests. MLB All Star, former Braves Catcher

6
00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,160
Speaker 1: and co host of The Foul Territory Pod. Aj Persinski

7
00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,640
Speaker 1: has been kind enough to join us tonight. Aj Howard,

8
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:44,560
Speaker 1: you sir, thank you for taking the time, and happy

9
00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:45,159
Speaker 1: New Year to you.

10
00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,320
Speaker 2: It's too late to say, that's Sean. You need to

11
00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,360
Speaker 2: watch Uh, I know I Foul Territory because we have

12
00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:52,760
Speaker 2: this conversation all the time. You know, I forgets a

13
00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,560
Speaker 2: week past, you know, the New Year. It's it's too late,

14
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,760
Speaker 2: but I appreciate, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me

15
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:00,960
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, happy January.

16
00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've I've got to watch more curb your enthusiasm

17
00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,840
Speaker 1: and go by his exactly. But yeah, so so well, well,

18
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:09,600
Speaker 1: thank you, I've got that noted Steven, how are you

19
00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:10,000
Speaker 1: so good?

20
00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:10,160
Speaker 2: Good?

21
00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:11,840
Speaker 1: Always talking with you as well.

22
00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,360
Speaker 3: What's up, Sean. Yeah, it's good to be back on

23
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,360
Speaker 3: again with not a move in the world to talk

24
00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:20,880
Speaker 3: about uh. Brad and Scott obviously did the show earlier

25
00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,040
Speaker 3: today talking about the move that didn't happen with Jeff Hoffman.

26
00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,160
Speaker 3: But we appreciate AJ. We appreciate you taking the time

27
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:29,520
Speaker 3: to talk a little catching. The Braves have a pretty

28
00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,720
Speaker 3: interesting catching situation coming up in twenty twenty four, our

29
00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,680
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five excuse me, and who best to talk about?

30
00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:36,560
Speaker 3: Is that a former major league catcher, So we appreciate

31
00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:37,520
Speaker 3: your time, buddy.

32
00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:39,560
Speaker 1: A J. We'll get We'll start with this just a

33
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,120
Speaker 1: very simple question. You know, as Steven alluded to, we've

34
00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,120
Speaker 1: seen very little, you know, as far as the Braves go.

35
00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,040
Speaker 1: I would be very interested in your thoughts on the

36
00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,640
Speaker 1: lack of activity from the Braves, and we've seen you

37
00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,280
Speaker 1: the direct activity from other teams via least. Just what

38
00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,440
Speaker 1: are your thoughts over all the Braves off season and

39
00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,080
Speaker 1: how you feel they're lighted up right now going into

40
00:01:58,120 --> 00:01:59,160
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five.

41
00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,920
Speaker 2: I think you're forget they were really good and they

42
00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,000
Speaker 2: didn't really need a lot. Now could they use a

43
00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,120
Speaker 2: bullpen arm or possibly a starter. Losing Morton and losing Freed, absolutely,

44
00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:10,000
Speaker 2: but they have the raining side young guy coming back.

45
00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:15,160
Speaker 2: They have Strider coming back hopefully at some point Smith Sharver, uh,

46
00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,000
Speaker 2: you know, Schwellenbach prove that he can be a big

47
00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,680
Speaker 2: league starter. So I think I think they have starters.

48
00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:22,919
Speaker 2: I think they can find you know, Ronaldo Lopez everyone

49
00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:24,640
Speaker 2: forgets about. It was pretty good last year when he

50
00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,400
Speaker 2: was healthy. The bullpen with the Glaciers and some of

51
00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:29,760
Speaker 2: those other guys are gonna be okay. I mean, the

52
00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,240
Speaker 2: lineup is still as deep as it can be. I

53
00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:34,760
Speaker 2: think for for Alex and Thoppolis. I think Braves fans

54
00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,399
Speaker 2: are a little bit freaking out over the fact that, hey,

55
00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,040
Speaker 2: they have Acuni coming back, they still have all Bees,

56
00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:42,919
Speaker 2: they still have Riley, they still have Olsen, they still

57
00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,919
Speaker 2: have Sean Murphy, they still have a Ozuna, they still

58
00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,200
Speaker 2: have a ton of their guys in the same places

59
00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,280
Speaker 2: as they've always been. They still have Michael Harris, right,

60
00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,120
Speaker 2: So I think Braves fans need to take a step back, relaxed,

61
00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,560
Speaker 2: realize this team is built for the long haul. They

62
00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,359
Speaker 2: won just a couple of years ago, and they're gonna

63
00:02:57,400 --> 00:02:59,360
Speaker 2: be just fine. They're gonna get back to the playoffs

64
00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,640
Speaker 2: this year and we'll see what happens once they get there.

65
00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,200
Speaker 2: But one thing about alexand Topolas, He's not afraid to

66
00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:05,280
Speaker 2: make a move when he has to.

67
00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:10,120
Speaker 1: Absolutely that is that is the biggest trait of Alexandopolis.

68
00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:12,600
Speaker 1: That always makes it exciting to cheer for a team

69
00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:14,679
Speaker 1: that he's the general manager for one day that you

70
00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,160
Speaker 1: hit on there, the one day that impacts both pitching

71
00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,320
Speaker 1: and hitty daj is Sean Murphy. Of course him coming

72
00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,400
Speaker 1: into twenty twenty five, the Braves catching situation as a

73
00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,240
Speaker 1: whole a bit different. Long time Brave Travis Starnat now

74
00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,639
Speaker 1: at Adaheim, Sean Murphy is going to take over probably

75
00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,760
Speaker 1: seventy five percent to eighty percent of the catching duties.

76
00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,360
Speaker 1: We do have our top prospect, Drake Baldwin, who may

77
00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:38,360
Speaker 1: be the backup. We may see if another name's added,

78
00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:40,200
Speaker 1: But just what do you think there seems a little

79
00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,040
Speaker 1: be a bit of turnover when it comes to the

80
00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,280
Speaker 1: Braves catching situation. But a lot of that has to

81
00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 1: do with Sean Murphy once again emerging as one of

82
00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:47,800
Speaker 1: the best in the game.

83
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,680
Speaker 2: Well, I love Sean Murphy. Who do you guys think

84
00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:52,200
Speaker 2: the backup is going to be? Before I get into

85
00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,280
Speaker 2: Sean Murphy, do you think it's gonna is Chadwick Trump

86
00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:56,800
Speaker 2: back is Yeah.

87
00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:57,960
Speaker 3: So that that was actually a question I was going

88
00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,440
Speaker 3: to ask you get your opinion on what I thought moment.

89
00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,160
Speaker 3: I mean, they haven't said anything, they won't say anything publicly,

90
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,040
Speaker 3: but at the moment, everybody believes it's gonna be Trump

91
00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,320
Speaker 3: with Baldwin getting full time playing time in Triple A.

92
00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,000
Speaker 3: But that is I mean, that's up in the air.

93
00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,040
Speaker 3: It's quite o. The Brays have always had this kind

94
00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,520
Speaker 3: of tandem, two really good catchers that catch, you know,

95
00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,360
Speaker 3: sixty forty. This is gonna be the first year under

96
00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:23,560
Speaker 3: Enthopolis where they're not gonna have that. They're gonna probably

97
00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,520
Speaker 3: have a guy to like eighty twenty. And if you're

98
00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:29,440
Speaker 3: gonna do a guy with twenty, he's probably gonna be Trump,

99
00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:31,960
Speaker 3: who's more of a backup catcher. Anyways, So I think

100
00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:33,520
Speaker 3: that I think it's gonna be Trump to answer.

101
00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,280
Speaker 2: Your question, okay, because I can't. I can't see him

102
00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:38,599
Speaker 2: bringing up Baldwin and having him play twenty percent of

103
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:40,839
Speaker 2: the games. If they think he's gonna be something for

104
00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:42,800
Speaker 2: the future, they'd rather have him go to Triple A.

105
00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:45,600
Speaker 2: And if something happens with Sean Murphy, then bring him

106
00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:47,479
Speaker 2: up you just you don't want to have a guy

107
00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,159
Speaker 2: come up and not play if you think he's got

108
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,599
Speaker 2: a chance to be a future everyday guy. It makes

109
00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:55,880
Speaker 2: it tough for you. Now, if they were gonna go

110
00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:57,960
Speaker 2: to a sixty forty type and they think Murphy was

111
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,600
Speaker 2: the guy to give Baldwin direction, I could see him

112
00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:01,320
Speaker 2: be in the backup.

113
00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,200
Speaker 3: But I mean that is that that is possible, by

114
00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:06,320
Speaker 3: the way, I should say they could still do that.

115
00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:08,680
Speaker 3: We don't know. We're just going off one of very

116
00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:10,120
Speaker 3: limited reports that we've gotten.

117
00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,480
Speaker 2: Okay, you guys, you guys don't know better than I would.

118
00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:15,720
Speaker 2: But listen, I love Sean Murphy. I mean defensively, he's

119
00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,200
Speaker 2: he's outstanding offensively two years ago. He obviously had a

120
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:20,839
Speaker 2: better year than he did last year, but he bet

121
00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:23,760
Speaker 2: he went through so many injuries and was so banged

122
00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:25,760
Speaker 2: up last year. It's tough to it's tough to fault

123
00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,279
Speaker 2: the guy, but I think it'll be it'll help Sean

124
00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,440
Speaker 2: Murphy if they do go to an eighty twenty, because

125
00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,560
Speaker 2: when you know you're playing every day, it's such a relief.

126
00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,640
Speaker 2: You don't have to put that pressure on yourself and say, man,

127
00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:38,479
Speaker 2: if I don't get a hit today, They're gonna not

128
00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:40,760
Speaker 2: that there was a bad relationship between him and Darnaul,

129
00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:42,720
Speaker 2: because Darnault is one of the great dudes in baseball

130
00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,159
Speaker 2: and Sean Murphy is a great guy. Right. But it

131
00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,240
Speaker 2: always helps if you say, all right, I know I'm

132
00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:50,200
Speaker 2: catching four out of five or I'm catching two out

133
00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,560
Speaker 2: of three at least every series, I know that, and

134
00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:55,359
Speaker 2: you know six out of seven, whatever it is, because

135
00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:56,800
Speaker 2: you can say, all right, I can get into a

136
00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:58,800
Speaker 2: rhythm with my pictures, and I can get into the

137
00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,160
Speaker 2: rhythm hitting. I don't play a game, sit a game,

138
00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:03,880
Speaker 2: play maybe two games, cit a game or two. It's

139
00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,080
Speaker 2: just tough when you start doing that. Ask any bench player.

140
00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:08,440
Speaker 2: It's hard to be a bench player when you know

141
00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:10,919
Speaker 2: you're gonna play every day. It is such a mind

142
00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,120
Speaker 2: just relief. You're like, oh, I didn't get a hit today,

143
00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:15,800
Speaker 2: We you know what I got the next two games

144
00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:17,599
Speaker 2: to try to figure it out. It's just such a

145
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:19,760
Speaker 2: relief as a player when you know you're gonna play.

146
00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:22,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. So that's

147
00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,640
Speaker 3: been a big topic of conversation in Braves Country the

148
00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:26,680
Speaker 3: last couple of years, is you know, the Braves gave

149
00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,280
Speaker 3: up William Contreras to get Sean Murphy, who is an

150
00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:31,560
Speaker 3: All Star in his own right. They gave Murphy this

151
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:37,520
Speaker 3: big extension, and with Darnault, it always seemed like Murphy

152
00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,760
Speaker 3: was sitting, if not every other game, then every two games.

153
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,679
Speaker 3: He just wasn't playing a ton. And you know, looking

154
00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,160
Speaker 3: back through your numbers for your career, you played a

155
00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,920
Speaker 3: lot like you you were out there, especially with your

156
00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:51,480
Speaker 3: time with the White Sox, you were out there like,

157
00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,640
Speaker 3: on average, like almost one hundred and forty games a year.

158
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,159
Speaker 3: So and it's your opinion that it will help Murphy

159
00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,320
Speaker 3: quite a bit to be out there one hundred thirty

160
00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:02,159
Speaker 3: one and forty games. You think that will lead to

161
00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:03,160
Speaker 3: more success.

162
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,400
Speaker 2: I think it will. I think Listen, the new rage

163
00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,360
Speaker 2: in catching major league in the major leagues is like

164
00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:12,640
Speaker 2: have one guy that catches a hunter and one guy

165
00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,040
Speaker 2: that catches sixty, right, which is kind of what they

166
00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,000
Speaker 2: try to do with Murphy and Travis Darnault. But I

167
00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,760
Speaker 2: think with Murphy goes into the year and he's physically

168
00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,120
Speaker 2: prepared for it, and they say, hey, Murph, we need

169
00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:27,560
Speaker 2: you to catch one twenty five, maybe one thirty, I

170
00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:29,080
Speaker 2: think he can do it. Now. And the reason I

171
00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 2: think it'll help him is you get it. Like I

172
00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,200
Speaker 2: said earlier, you get into a rhythm, right, you get

173
00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:35,400
Speaker 2: into a rhythm with your pitchers. You're like, Okay, I'm

174
00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,960
Speaker 2: gonna catch this guy. Four, five, six, seven starts in

175
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,040
Speaker 2: a row. And I know I'm gonna catch him now

176
00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,440
Speaker 2: that it's a personal catcher thing. But plus, you get

177
00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:44,560
Speaker 2: into a rhythm of the series. So you have a

178
00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,120
Speaker 2: three game series against the Mets. You know how you

179
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,080
Speaker 2: pitch him the first day. You know how you pitch

180
00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:50,800
Speaker 2: him the second day. Now you're on the third day

181
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,080
Speaker 2: and you're like, oh man, well the first day, let's

182
00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:55,640
Speaker 2: say it's a Friday, Saturday Sunday. You're into the Sunday

183
00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,600
Speaker 2: game and you're going, well, on Friday, I faced Francisco

184
00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:00,480
Speaker 2: Lindor and we pitched him this way. We got him

185
00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:02,520
Speaker 2: out with this kind of picture. All right, Well let's

186
00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,880
Speaker 2: try something similar. It just helps your your recall, it

187
00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,320
Speaker 2: helps your your rhythm, it helps your timing, it helps everything.

188
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,400
Speaker 2: And then offensively, like I said, anytime you know you're playing,

189
00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,840
Speaker 2: it just helps your relax when there's not that pressure.

190
00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:17,560
Speaker 2: And you know, listen, both they were a great tandem

191
00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,880
Speaker 2: they want to you know, they want a ton of games.

192
00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,480
Speaker 2: Murph had a lot of success doing in Soda Travis.

193
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,040
Speaker 2: But at the same time, I guarantee if you ask

194
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,680
Speaker 2: Jean Murphy signed a big contract, he wants to catch

195
00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,080
Speaker 2: every day. He wants to play every day. There's not

196
00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:31,880
Speaker 2: a lot of guys that I played with in the

197
00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:33,520
Speaker 2: big leagues that were like, I don't want to play

198
00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:36,600
Speaker 2: very often. Most guys want to play. The more they play. Now,

199
00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,199
Speaker 2: some guys get overexposed and they need to be bench guys.

200
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,160
Speaker 2: That's why they're bench guys. But guys that have proven

201
00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:43,920
Speaker 2: they can play every day, and Sharan Murphy's proven he

202
00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:45,720
Speaker 2: can do it, they want to be out there.

203
00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:49,680
Speaker 1: That's the other thing. Of course, you know the injuries

204
00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:51,480
Speaker 1: that you talked about last year that he went through

205
00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,080
Speaker 1: AJ And the thing is we talk about the offense.

206
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:56,560
Speaker 1: You know, he struggled, you know, over the last few

207
00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,120
Speaker 1: butts at twenty three, at twenty four, but you talk

208
00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,360
Speaker 1: about his defit and if you've got the offensive struggles,

209
00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:04,360
Speaker 1: just want to kind of dig into the mentality of

210
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:06,720
Speaker 1: a catcher. You've got the offensive struggles that you're trying

211
00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:08,520
Speaker 1: to work through, but you've also got to make sure

212
00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:11,520
Speaker 1: that you stay focused on the pitching aspect of things,

213
00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:15,480
Speaker 1: you know, helping the staff perform to their best. Sean Murphy. Obviously,

214
00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:17,160
Speaker 1: he wants to get back to play it every day,

215
00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:19,600
Speaker 1: wants to get back to being a delete offensive catcher,

216
00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:21,640
Speaker 1: But there's gonna be a lot of responsibility on him.

217
00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:24,640
Speaker 1: With some question marks about the pitch heed. I don't

218
00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,319
Speaker 1: think it's talked about enough just how much falls of

219
00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:32,040
Speaker 1: the catcher consistently having a positive and focused mentality of

220
00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,120
Speaker 1: heeding so many parts of the team to make them successful.

221
00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:36,920
Speaker 1: That certainly can be taxing at times.

222
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:38,880
Speaker 2: I'm sure we'll show me a good team, and I'll

223
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:40,800
Speaker 2: show you a team with a good catcher. Yes, there's

224
00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:42,960
Speaker 2: not many teams that make it very far in the

225
00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,440
Speaker 2: major leagues with a bad catcher. That's why catchers are

226
00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:47,920
Speaker 2: so hard to find. Teams are always looking for him.

227
00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,560
Speaker 2: Teams like to have more than one. Like we talked about,

228
00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,320
Speaker 2: you know, job number one as a catcher is to

229
00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,000
Speaker 2: get your pitchers to succeed people. You know, offense is great,

230
00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,679
Speaker 2: Offense is an added bonus. Number one is how does

231
00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:03,600
Speaker 2: that guy on the mound feel when I'm back there.

232
00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:05,280
Speaker 2: I want the guy on the mound and want me

233
00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:08,120
Speaker 2: to be back there, want me calling pitches. And when

234
00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,080
Speaker 2: you do it every day, they get a rapport with you,

235
00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,440
Speaker 2: and they get a comfort level with you, and they're like, oh, well,

236
00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:15,320
Speaker 2: I know he's going to be back there. I know

237
00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:16,760
Speaker 2: how he calls the game and you get on the

238
00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,120
Speaker 2: same page. I think that's one of the things that

239
00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:22,440
Speaker 2: about catching is you know you're involved in every part

240
00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:24,880
Speaker 2: of the game. You're involved in offense, you're involved in defense,

241
00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:27,800
Speaker 2: you're involved in special teams. I mean, it's like football, right,

242
00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,320
Speaker 2: you're like kind of the everything coach because you're the

243
00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,120
Speaker 2: only guy facing the field and everyone's looking at you.

244
00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,040
Speaker 2: People say, nothing can happen until the pitcher's ready. Well, honestly,

245
00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,600
Speaker 2: nothing can happen though the catcher's ready and everyone's looking

246
00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:40,120
Speaker 2: at you for what are you going to do? What

247
00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:42,120
Speaker 2: pitch you're gonna call? Where you're gonna do And you

248
00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,800
Speaker 2: have a view as a catcher of the other eight

249
00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,559
Speaker 2: players on the field, right, so you can say, all right, well,

250
00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:49,839
Speaker 2: we're supposed to pitch this guy away, but we're playing

251
00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:51,920
Speaker 2: in a poll. We might have to change the game

252
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:53,880
Speaker 2: plan because you don't want to pitch against your defense.

253
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,560
Speaker 2: So a catcher has to be involved in so many things,

254
00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,360
Speaker 2: and there's so much more responsibility that goes into catching

255
00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,080
Speaker 2: than any other position because you have to deal with

256
00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,720
Speaker 2: not only yourself, not only the coaching staff, but usually

257
00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,199
Speaker 2: twelve to thirteen pitchers, and most of them all need

258
00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:12,559
Speaker 2: psycho psychological help. So you're also a psychologist while you're

259
00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:14,719
Speaker 2: out there too, because some guys you gotta laugh at,

260
00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:16,800
Speaker 2: some guys you gotta yell at, some guys you gotta

261
00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:19,960
Speaker 2: say it's okay, buddy, you know. So you have to

262
00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,520
Speaker 2: know these guys inside and out and what makes them tick.

263
00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,319
Speaker 3: So je I wanted to ask you about so last year,

264
00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:31,000
Speaker 3: Sean Murphy he pulled an oblique on opening Day and

265
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,480
Speaker 3: it was a it was a severe one. He missed

266
00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:37,960
Speaker 3: the first two months of the year, and obviously, between

267
00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,120
Speaker 3: that and splitting as much playing time as he did

268
00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,720
Speaker 3: with or No, he just never looked right. And just

269
00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:45,520
Speaker 3: as somebody who hit at the major league level, I

270
00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:47,439
Speaker 3: was hoping you could give us kind of an insight

271
00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,000
Speaker 3: when you pull an oblique, First of all, how difficult

272
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,880
Speaker 3: is that to come back from? And then second of all,

273
00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:56,200
Speaker 3: when you do it on opening day and you miss

274
00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:58,480
Speaker 3: two months and the rest of the league has had

275
00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,080
Speaker 3: two months to kind of get in rhythm. And you

276
00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,080
Speaker 3: come back at the end of May, beginning of June

277
00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:05,920
Speaker 3: and everybody else has been playing for two months. How

278
00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:08,280
Speaker 3: hard is it to catch back up and ever get

279
00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,280
Speaker 3: into a rhythm for a full season when you've missed

280
00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:11,880
Speaker 3: that much time.

281
00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:14,520
Speaker 2: Right at the beginning, I'll start with the oblique. I

282
00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:16,960
Speaker 2: did it in twenty thirteen when I was with the Rangers.

283
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,679
Speaker 2: I missed two weeks. My whole side was black and blue.

284
00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,360
Speaker 2: So I can only imagine what Murph went through. It's

285
00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:27,679
Speaker 2: like the worst injury because nothing you do feels right.

286
00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:31,280
Speaker 2: If you move too quickly, you're like, oh, I'm starting

287
00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:32,760
Speaker 2: to feel better, and then you kind of twistle, but

288
00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:39,920
Speaker 2: oh nope, it just grabbed again. Right, So there's literally coughing, sneezing, laughing, joking, moving,

289
00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:42,600
Speaker 2: laying on the wrong side while you're sleeping, by trying

290
00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:44,360
Speaker 2: to sleep, I mean, all those things. It's like, man,

291
00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,679
Speaker 2: it always hurts, and then it goes away and you think,

292
00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:48,600
Speaker 2: all right, I'm back, and then all of a sudden

293
00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:50,320
Speaker 2: you do something like I said, and it grabs you again.

294
00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,160
Speaker 2: So it's a really tough injury, especially in a sport.

295
00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:55,520
Speaker 2: Or guess what you're doing all the time. You're twisting right,

296
00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:58,920
Speaker 2: what are you using your obliques? So it's a rough

297
00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:00,800
Speaker 2: injury for anybody, not just to catch her, and then

298
00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:02,839
Speaker 2: you throw on catching having to move, having to hit,

299
00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:07,040
Speaker 2: it's doubly tough. And then when you go to oh,

300
00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:08,600
Speaker 2: he does it on opening day and you missed the

301
00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:10,719
Speaker 2: first two months, Well, guess what happens when you get

302
00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,480
Speaker 2: back after two months. You look up at the scoreboard,

303
00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:15,760
Speaker 2: and everyone anyone who says, oh, I don't look at

304
00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:18,079
Speaker 2: the scoreboard, you're lying because you look up at the

305
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:21,160
Speaker 2: scoreboard and you go, oh, it's June and I have

306
00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,520
Speaker 2: zero homer zero RBIs and I'm hitting zero. Well, guess what.

307
00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:26,320
Speaker 2: You look over and this guy's hitting this, and this

308
00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:28,040
Speaker 2: guy has this home runs and this guy has this

309
00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,079
Speaker 2: RBIs and you know what you think in your head,

310
00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:32,880
Speaker 2: You're like, I got to catch him. And then you

311
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,000
Speaker 2: start playing this game where you're like, I got to

312
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:37,000
Speaker 2: catch up. I got to catch up. I gotta catch up,

313
00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,880
Speaker 2: and it starts snowballing. So instead of just saying, all right,

314
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,120
Speaker 2: this is really my opening day and and I have

315
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,880
Speaker 2: just two muchs less of a season than everyone else.

316
00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,080
Speaker 2: You think in your mind, why does that guy have

317
00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:49,319
Speaker 2: twelve homers and I have zero? Why does that guy

318
00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,280
Speaker 2: have forty RBIs I have two? Right? I want to

319
00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:53,839
Speaker 2: get them all back. I want to get them all back.

320
00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,120
Speaker 2: How do I do that? Instead of just letting it come?

321
00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,400
Speaker 2: It happens to so many guys. Look at all the

322
00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,200
Speaker 2: guys that miss spring training. Look at Blake Snell last

323
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:03,160
Speaker 2: year he kind of recovered at the end. How long

324
00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:05,400
Speaker 2: it did take him. Look at Jordan Montgomery when he

325
00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,319
Speaker 2: went through he missed, He missed spring training. Right that

326
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:10,440
Speaker 2: It just is a mental game you have to play

327
00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,120
Speaker 2: with yourself, and it's so hard because you look up

328
00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,840
Speaker 2: and there's I mean, the scoreboard. And truest part is

329
00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:19,520
Speaker 2: what you know, six miles tall? I mean that thing's gigantic, right,

330
00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:22,200
Speaker 2: And there's everywhere you look there's stats. See you know.

331
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:25,120
Speaker 2: Sean Murphy comes back June first, and he looks up

332
00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,440
Speaker 2: and he's let's say they're playing I don't know, we'll

333
00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,720
Speaker 2: use the Mets. Francisco Alvarez comes up and he's got

334
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,240
Speaker 2: ten homers for the rbiys. Sean Murphy goes, oh, I

335
00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:35,240
Speaker 2: got zero homers, two RB eyes. Man, I got to

336
00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,120
Speaker 2: try and catch him. He's in our division. No I

337
00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,160
Speaker 2: was an all star Da da da da dah, So

338
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,160
Speaker 2: here I go. But you just never get to that point.

339
00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,800
Speaker 2: And it's so hard because you're competitive and you want

340
00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:46,440
Speaker 2: to be that guy, but it just takes time.

341
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:49,960
Speaker 1: Speaking of taking time, aj, I want to ask your

342
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,040
Speaker 1: perspective on Drake Baldwin. You know who is the braves

343
00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,360
Speaker 1: number one prospect. You've got a guy who had a

344
00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,040
Speaker 1: breakout year in the matter leagues. Would you look at

345
00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,040
Speaker 1: the major leagues? There's a long term option already in

346
00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,960
Speaker 1: place at your primary position. You know the organization values

347
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,960
Speaker 1: you highly. What is the mind set going into a

348
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,040
Speaker 1: season like twenty twenty five. You know you've proven yourself

349
00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,160
Speaker 1: at the highest level of the Biders. You know there's

350
00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,480
Speaker 1: really not that avenue to take the next step to

351
00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:19,800
Speaker 1: the majors. I know it's just as simple as will

352
00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,600
Speaker 1: just keep proving yourself. But from your experience and for

353
00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:24,760
Speaker 1: what you have talked about, you know with others who

354
00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,680
Speaker 1: are in the catching paternity, when you are in that situation,

355
00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,320
Speaker 1: especially with the pressure of breed the top prospect, what

356
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:32,040
Speaker 1: goes into remaining successful.

357
00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,960
Speaker 2: Just keep working. You can't worry about what the organization

358
00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:38,680
Speaker 2: thinks about you, and you can't worry about where your

359
00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:40,360
Speaker 2: place is going to be until you become an established

360
00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:42,720
Speaker 2: major league player. You just got to keep working, you

361
00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:45,240
Speaker 2: got to keep crying, and you got to just Let's

362
00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:47,720
Speaker 2: say Drake Baldwin comes up and you get talked to

363
00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:49,440
Speaker 2: a great Sorry, are you guy's gonna be calling for

364
00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:51,840
Speaker 2: Sean Murphy to get taken over by Drake Baldwin. Probably

365
00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,080
Speaker 2: not right. So if you're Drake Baldwin, you have to

366
00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:57,480
Speaker 2: remember listening. There's twenty nine other teams out there. Alex

367
00:15:57,560 --> 00:15:59,040
Speaker 2: in Thouglis will make a deal if he has to.

368
00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,640
Speaker 2: If you're the piece that gets that. Alex n Tooblos

369
00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:03,560
Speaker 2: thinks that, hey, this can get us a World Series,

370
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,000
Speaker 2: He'll trade Drake Baldwin more than likely, right, because they

371
00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,240
Speaker 2: have a long term solution in Sean Murphy. So he's

372
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,880
Speaker 2: not only playing for himself. He's playing for the Braves

373
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,320
Speaker 2: and twenty nine other teams, and they's catching. Every team

374
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:18,240
Speaker 2: is looking for catching. Trust me. I mean look at it,

375
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:19,840
Speaker 2: Like I said, look at the bad teams, they usually

376
00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:21,280
Speaker 2: have a bad catcher. Look at the good teams, they

377
00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,600
Speaker 2: usually have a good one, if not too well, If

378
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,840
Speaker 2: he comes into spring training has a great spring training,

379
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,240
Speaker 2: they think he can handle only playing let's say sixty

380
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:31,640
Speaker 2: games this year, he might make the big league team.

381
00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:33,800
Speaker 2: So the key for him is to go into spring training,

382
00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:36,440
Speaker 2: work as hard as he can, get to know the pitchers,

383
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,640
Speaker 2: get as comfortable as he will, because more than likely,

384
00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:41,080
Speaker 2: at some point he's going to get a chance to

385
00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:43,200
Speaker 2: come to the big leagues because most teams don't go

386
00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,600
Speaker 2: through a season with only two catchers. So at some

387
00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,560
Speaker 2: point Drake Baldwin has to be ready to come to

388
00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:49,640
Speaker 2: the major leagues. And that just means if hey, if

389
00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,000
Speaker 2: he does go down to Gwinnett and he has to play,

390
00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:54,360
Speaker 2: go down there and just work your tail off and

391
00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,120
Speaker 2: be ready because at some point that call is going

392
00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:56,480
Speaker 2: to come.

393
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,240
Speaker 3: So ajay, if I have my timelines right, and I

394
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,880
Speaker 3: think I do because I double checked this. You and

395
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,480
Speaker 3: Chris Sale, I think I think Chris Sale's first few

396
00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,360
Speaker 3: years in Chicago, I think you were still there as

397
00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,080
Speaker 3: the catcher, and I think I think you caught him

398
00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:15,360
Speaker 3: quite a bit. I just I'm just curious your opinion.

399
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:17,680
Speaker 3: You know, obviously just won the Cy young. He's thirty

400
00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:19,520
Speaker 3: five years old, was much different picture than he was

401
00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,040
Speaker 3: probably when he was twenty one years old. But you know,

402
00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:23,560
Speaker 3: you've been in the game a long time, you now

403
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,800
Speaker 3: cover the game. How different is how you know? What's

404
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,240
Speaker 3: different about Chris Sale? What's the same about Chris Sale

405
00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:31,080
Speaker 3: when you look at him now versus the kid you

406
00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:32,480
Speaker 3: saw when he first came up?

407
00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:33,359
Speaker 2: You know what?

408
00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:34,960
Speaker 3: What's kind of the first couple of things that come

409
00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:35,440
Speaker 3: to your mind?

410
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:39,600
Speaker 2: Well, I caught his debut, so I mean, I love Chris.

411
00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:41,479
Speaker 2: We still keep in touch. He's a great first of all,

412
00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:43,720
Speaker 2: he's a great person, and I call him a kid,

413
00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:46,199
Speaker 2: but I mean he's getting old now, so he's kind

414
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,360
Speaker 2: of an old man kid now. But listen, Chris Sale

415
00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,359
Speaker 2: is great. I remember he's made his debut in Baltimore.

416
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,520
Speaker 2: I think it was in twenty ten, and they're like, hey,

417
00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:57,200
Speaker 2: we're calling up our guy, and I'm like, didn't we

418
00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,960
Speaker 2: just draft this guy like two months ago? Like yeah,

419
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:01,800
Speaker 2: he's he's really good. You really like him. He came

420
00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:03,879
Speaker 2: in and I want to say, Nick Mark Cacas was

421
00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:05,760
Speaker 2: his first hitter, and I think he gave up a

422
00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:07,760
Speaker 2: hit to him, and he was he gave up. You know,

423
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:09,760
Speaker 2: he didn't. He didn't do great in his Big league Baby,

424
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,080
Speaker 2: we could tell that the stuff was there. And then

425
00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:16,680
Speaker 2: as he got some more experience, I guess is the

426
00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:18,960
Speaker 2: right word, he goes. You just looked at him. You're like,

427
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,000
Speaker 2: this kid's going to be really good. He's gonna be special.

428
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,679
Speaker 2: He had the makeup, and he followed Mark Burley around

429
00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:25,760
Speaker 2: his first year and a half like a puppy dog, right,

430
00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:27,439
Speaker 2: which is, there's no better guy to learn from them,

431
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,800
Speaker 2: Mark Burley. What's same about Chris. He still has the

432
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:36,560
Speaker 2: same competitiveness. He still works fast as all get out.

433
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:40,280
Speaker 2: He wants the ball every fifth day, and he wants

434
00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:42,080
Speaker 2: to strike. He wants to strike you out, and he's

435
00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:44,400
Speaker 2: going to strike you out. He wants to embarrass you. Right.

436
00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:46,119
Speaker 2: But the one thing about it, you know, his stuff

437
00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:47,800
Speaker 2: might be a little bit different. His stuff might be

438
00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,080
Speaker 2: a little down. I'll say this about Chris. He's learned

439
00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,760
Speaker 2: to control his emotions way better than he did when

440
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,360
Speaker 2: I first had him. Every time I talked to him,

441
00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:56,800
Speaker 2: I mean, it used to be a running thing. If

442
00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,879
Speaker 2: he gave up a home run to anybody and then

443
00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:01,840
Speaker 2: a left he coming up, the first pitch was going

444
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,440
Speaker 2: at his head, not because he was throwing at him,

445
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,320
Speaker 2: but because he was so mad. He was trying to

446
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,520
Speaker 2: throw the next pitch a million miles an hour. It

447
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,040
Speaker 2: was almost guaranteed it was going up and into a lefty,

448
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,679
Speaker 2: and if it was a righty, I was already reaching, like,

449
00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:15,840
Speaker 2: I know this ball is gonna be a pitch out

450
00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,080
Speaker 2: to a right handed hitter because he's usually so mad.

451
00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:19,880
Speaker 2: So it was like, all right, I'm gonna call slider

452
00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:21,960
Speaker 2: just to try to get him to throw it slower.

453
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:24,840
Speaker 2: But he is still as competitive. Obviously you want to

454
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:26,520
Speaker 2: sig Young this year, which I couldn't have been happy

455
00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,520
Speaker 2: for him, but the competitiveness is there. He's just learned

456
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:32,720
Speaker 2: to harness his emotions a little bit better, and I

457
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:34,720
Speaker 2: think he's learned to pace himself a little bit better,

458
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,600
Speaker 2: meaning he doesn't come out right away throwing every pitch

459
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,280
Speaker 2: as hard as he can. It's a little bit more controlled.

460
00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,359
Speaker 2: It's a little bit more I'm gonna save some for later,

461
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,000
Speaker 2: keep them in reserve. But other than that, I mean,

462
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,240
Speaker 2: he's the same. He's still skinny as a rail. I mean,

463
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:51,639
Speaker 2: he tells me he put on like fifty pounds and

464
00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:53,400
Speaker 2: sid I'm like, Damn, dude, a hard wind will still

465
00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,720
Speaker 2: blow you over. Right. If he turns sideways, you can

466
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,400
Speaker 2: barely see him. So I mean, he's still the same guy.

467
00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,240
Speaker 2: He's got a great personality, right, sense of humor, he's

468
00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:03,719
Speaker 2: competitive as hell, and he's a really great pitcher.

469
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:06,360
Speaker 3: No, we saw we saw a lot of that last year.

470
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:08,359
Speaker 3: He would he would come out in the first inning

471
00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,640
Speaker 3: and hit though ninety four ninety five and pitch there,

472
00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:13,159
Speaker 3: and then he'd get in the big spot in like

473
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,000
Speaker 3: the third inning, and then like ninety eight ninety nine

474
00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:18,320
Speaker 3: would come out of nowhere and he would just blow

475
00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:20,680
Speaker 3: people away in the biggest spots of the game. I

476
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,840
Speaker 3: noticed that a lot last year, that he he really

477
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,840
Speaker 3: conserved energy and conserved his top top stuff, not for

478
00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,040
Speaker 3: every pitch, but for the biggest pitches of the game.

479
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,040
Speaker 3: And I mean, obviously it worked he wanted to sign on,

480
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:34,360
Speaker 3: but yeah, it was noticeable when he got in big

481
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,000
Speaker 3: spots how much better his stuff got.

482
00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,720
Speaker 2: Agree agree, that's what he's learned. I think. Listen, he

483
00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,160
Speaker 2: went through he went through hell. I mean he yes,

484
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,440
Speaker 2: he signed a big contract with Boston, but he also

485
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:46,640
Speaker 2: didn't get to pitch, and we had him on fair

486
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:48,719
Speaker 2: or foul taars or. When we asked him, I said,

487
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,159
Speaker 2: was your stinting in Boston his success? He said no,

488
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,080
Speaker 2: But I said, well, I just agree. You guys won

489
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,919
Speaker 2: a World Series, so you know, there's different ways to

490
00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,800
Speaker 2: look at it. But he that that just shows you

491
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,920
Speaker 2: how much he cares about pitching and being out there

492
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:03,920
Speaker 2: and being there for his team. He said no, because

493
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:06,680
Speaker 2: the last what three or four years before he got

494
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,600
Speaker 2: to Atlanta, you know, he had freak injuries. Remember he

495
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,040
Speaker 2: fell off a bike and then he came back and

496
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:13,800
Speaker 2: he stuck his hand up to catch it with a

497
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,520
Speaker 2: line drive and he broke his finger. You know, just

498
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,000
Speaker 2: just crazy things that were happening with him. So he

499
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:20,919
Speaker 2: wants to be out there if he cares, and if

500
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:22,359
Speaker 2: you're going to pick a guy to lead his staff,

501
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:24,720
Speaker 2: he's a pretty good one to start with a j.

502
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:26,720
Speaker 1: One last question I want to ask you, because again

503
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:30,280
Speaker 1: you've had first head experience of it over the past

504
00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:32,040
Speaker 1: thirty years. You know, if you look at the numbers,

505
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,720
Speaker 1: the Braves have had the second most productive catchy positioned

506
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:38,639
Speaker 1: you know in baseball over the past thirty years. The

507
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,560
Speaker 1: Dodgers or the only one that's higher. But from Bobby

508
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,679
Speaker 1: Lopez to Brian mcad we had some all stars like

509
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 1: Johnny Estrada, you know, Kurt Suzuki, others as well yourself.

510
00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,280
Speaker 1: What do you feel has been What are two contributing

511
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 1: factors to why Atlanta has been so good not only

512
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,360
Speaker 1: getting catchers but allowed for catchers to make the most

513
00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,840
Speaker 1: of their careers. Would they arrived at Atlanta and we're

514
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,160
Speaker 1: at what's a kid with you know, hopefully Drake Baldwin

515
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 1: at Sean Murphy, what do he feel has been so

516
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 1: good at the being able to sustate success from the

517
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:07,720
Speaker 1: catcher position.

518
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,120
Speaker 2: But it sounds like they drafted well when they got

519
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,320
Speaker 2: Hobby and Estrada and then b mac right. I mean

520
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:17,399
Speaker 2: those were good draft picks. I feel like in some

521
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,199
Speaker 2: of the other guys too. But I mean when I

522
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 2: went there, I mean I was thirty eight years old

523
00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:23,960
Speaker 2: my first year I played there. You know, don't forget

524
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 2: I was the twenty fifteen Braves Player of the Year,

525
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:28,520
Speaker 2: you know, coming up on my ten year anniversary. Guys,

526
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,040
Speaker 2: so let's not you know, Freddy was on that team.

527
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,240
Speaker 2: So Freddy, I'll always hold that over Freddy.

528
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,760
Speaker 3: That wait, so you were the twenty sorry you were

529
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:38,359
Speaker 3: the twenty fifteen Player of the Year for the Braves.

530
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,919
Speaker 2: Yes, so have. I had a plaque somewhere, but I

531
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,760
Speaker 2: gave it to Ben Agrey or clubhouse guy, and I

532
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,520
Speaker 2: think he threw it away, So I don't know what. Yeah,

533
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 2: they gave out a little plaque for it.

534
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 1: Is the tenth anniversary of that or the twentieth anniversary

535
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,280
Speaker 1: of your World series? More important to you?

536
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,480
Speaker 2: You know, obviously the obviously the Braves. Obviously. I'm just

537
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 2: making you know the best part of that is my

538
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,000
Speaker 2: tenth anniversary at the White Socks. I was still playing,

539
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,479
Speaker 2: so I was actually really proud about that. Right, they

540
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 2: have a ten year anniverse where he won the World

541
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,200
Speaker 2: Series in two thousand and five and I was still

542
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 2: playing in Atlanta. I was still being productive. What do

543
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,480
Speaker 2: they do? I don't know. I mean, I just was listen.

544
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,240
Speaker 2: I was thirty eight years old. I came over there

545
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:17,720
Speaker 2: and I was just I grew up a Braves fan,

546
00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:19,960
Speaker 2: so I was just like, man, I'm playing for the Braves.

547
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 2: This is awesome. I mean we had great coaches, Eddie Perez.

548
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,439
Speaker 2: I mean, Freddy was there. And you say what you

549
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 2: want about Freddy, but Freddy was great to me. Terry Pendleton,

550
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,600
Speaker 2: he was awesome. Roger McDowell was awesome. They just made

551
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,200
Speaker 2: me feel comfortable, right, and they and they wanted you

552
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,359
Speaker 2: to especially for me as a veteran guy. They were like, hey, listen,

553
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:42,440
Speaker 2: when we have these pictures meetings, you lead the meetings, right,

554
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:44,720
Speaker 2: you talk to the pictures because they're gonna you're the

555
00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 2: one calling the games. We have these young guys, so

556
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 2: you lead the meetings. And it was just cool. It

557
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:50,919
Speaker 2: was just one of those things where you're like, all right,

558
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 2: they respect where I am in my career, and they

559
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:55,359
Speaker 2: want me to help as much as I can. And

560
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,560
Speaker 2: they did everything in their power to make me successful.

561
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,280
Speaker 2: So I can only imagine when they had Hobby b

562
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,879
Speaker 2: Mac and some of those guys with Bobby Cox, you

563
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,200
Speaker 2: know what they did to empower them and make them

564
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 2: feel at home and make them feel part of just

565
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:09,879
Speaker 2: the organization at the highest level.

566
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:11,720
Speaker 3: All right, Edge, we'll get you out of here with

567
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 3: this one. I really we very much appreciate your time.

568
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 3: I know it's you got a lot of stuff going on,

569
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,200
Speaker 3: so we appreciate it. But when you came to Atlanta,

570
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,640
Speaker 3: the Bradys were in the middle of a rebuild and

571
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:25,119
Speaker 3: everybody knew it. They wouldn't say it publicly, but everybody

572
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,480
Speaker 3: knew that they were kind of resetting their franchise. And

573
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 3: I am curious when you're a veteran player. I've always

574
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:34,600
Speaker 3: wondered this, and I've never had the chance to ask somebody.

575
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:37,160
Speaker 3: When you're a veteran player and you know you're going

576
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,040
Speaker 3: into a situation where they're not really trying to win,

577
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,160
Speaker 3: they're just trying to maybe grow some young players, they're

578
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 3: trying to build up their farm system. Do you have

579
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,879
Speaker 3: fun with that? Like, is it annoying to be on

580
00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:49,959
Speaker 3: a team that maybe isn't the best team or do

581
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 3: you just embrace it and say, you know what, I'm

582
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,480
Speaker 3: thirty eight years old, I'm gonna give everything I got

583
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,800
Speaker 3: to these young guys. We're gonna have fun and whatever

584
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 3: happens happened were you were you Did you have fun

585
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,359
Speaker 3: with it? Or was it it wasn't frustrating being on

586
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:06,720
Speaker 3: a team that was maybe in the middle of a rebuild.

587
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:08,959
Speaker 2: Well I knew going there. Well, first of all, when

588
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 2: I went there, I was supposed to be the backup

589
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 2: that year and Christian Bethencourt didn't work out. So like

590
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:15,879
Speaker 2: two weeks into the season, Freddy comes in and goes, hey,

591
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 2: I'm gonna need you to catch every day. Are you

592
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:19,919
Speaker 2: okay with that? And I was like, let's go. That's right, right,

593
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 2: let's see what happens. And I ended up having a

594
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,200
Speaker 2: great year. But no, I went in there knowing what

595
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 2: kind of my role was gonna be. And then once

596
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 2: I got into it, you know, again we had Kelly Johnson,

597
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 2: and we had Freddie. We still had Andleton Simmons at

598
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,040
Speaker 2: that time, and we traded for like cam Maven and

599
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,439
Speaker 2: some other guys, so we had some veterans like but

600
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:41,119
Speaker 2: we didn't you know, there was still a ton of

601
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,159
Speaker 2: rebuilding coming and we knew it. But I wanted to

602
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:45,960
Speaker 2: just have fun with it. Listen, man, when you're thirty

603
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,359
Speaker 2: eight years old. I was in like my fifteenth full season.

604
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,119
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm gonna enjoy this. I don't know

605
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 2: how long this is gonna go. I ended up getting

606
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 2: another year out of it with the Brazen sixteen, where

607
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:57,880
Speaker 2: we were actually way worse than we weren't fifteen. If

608
00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,639
Speaker 2: you forget in fifteen.

609
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 3: You guys were like five, were.

610
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,679
Speaker 2: Forty at one point. I remember we were in Colorado

611
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 2: right before the Altar break and they traded away everybody

612
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 2: I remember, and we're like, wait a minute, what how

613
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:14,240
Speaker 2: we had Johnny Gomes trade, Kelly Johnson traded Jason Grilly

614
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,879
Speaker 2: blew out his achilles. It was like wait, and they

615
00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 2: were just like Alex was this guy, and you're like, man,

616
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:21,440
Speaker 2: what happened? We had we were ahead of the Mats

617
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:23,479
Speaker 2: who went to the World Series that year. We were

618
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 2: forty and forty, and we're like, man, we were doing

619
00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,679
Speaker 2: something really cool, like we can just maybe bring in

620
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 2: a couple pieces. We might actually sneak in here and

621
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 2: surprise the world. Instead, they did the other thing and

622
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 2: got rid of everybody that was what I think was

623
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,080
Speaker 2: maybe more and then we end up losing like ninety

624
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,000
Speaker 2: five games or whatever. Then I mean, then we just

625
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 2: went in the tank and like didn't win anymore. But

626
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:48,680
Speaker 2: that was the thing that was most I think disappointing

627
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,959
Speaker 2: to the guys that were there and had to stay there.

628
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 2: Was like, man, we were in this thing, we had

629
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 2: a chance, and they got rid of everybody. Now I

630
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 2: know they were in the middle of the rebuild and

631
00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 2: they wanted to get players. I understand that, but when

632
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,280
Speaker 2: you go into it as a guy that had won.

633
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:03,719
Speaker 2: I had always prided myself on winning. I had won

634
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 2: a lot. I was like, listen, I'm gonna take these

635
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,720
Speaker 2: guys under my wing as much as I can and

636
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 2: just try to show them how to play winning baseball

637
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 2: and do things the right way. Now. We had Markkiss,

638
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:15,640
Speaker 2: we had Freeman. Like I said, we had Kelly Johnson.

639
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,159
Speaker 2: Freddie was still kind of a pop back then. But

640
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 2: you know, we did have some veteran guys, and I

641
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 2: think we did a really good job at least. I

642
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 2: hope some of those guys that were still around of

643
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,399
Speaker 2: kind of laying the foundation for them going out in

644
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 2: winning in twenty one. I mean, I won't regret with

645
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 2: the Braves. I didn't make it to seventeen because I

646
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,000
Speaker 2: wanted to play in Truest again. Growing up a Braves

647
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,880
Speaker 2: fan of have been really awesome. But listen, man, I retired.

648
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,400
Speaker 2: I just turned forty, so I was I was pretty cool,

649
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 2: and you know, the Braves my last game. The Braves

650
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 2: kind of let me know, hey, this is gonna be

651
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,359
Speaker 2: your last game, and it was great. My family and

652
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,399
Speaker 2: friends were there. But I'm still mad at Dansby Swanson

653
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,360
Speaker 2: because he should have scored from second. I got a hit.

654
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:55,480
Speaker 2: You know, it was a run around second and he

655
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 2: didn't score. So I'm still I still give Danzy Shore.

656
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 3: I forget that you play. You play like that was

657
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,640
Speaker 3: Dancy's like first month. Oh yeah, Alas was there dance

658
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,800
Speaker 3: all those Max Free you played with Max? No Freedom

659
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,679
Speaker 3: was Freed and was the next year? Yeah he was

660
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 3: the next next year.

661
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 2: Yea, but it was. It was just it was just

662
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:19,639
Speaker 2: a great thing. And you know, listen, the twenty sixteen

663
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 2: didn't go the way I wanted to, but I was

664
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 2: old it was time to go home. But yeah, I

665
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,679
Speaker 2: got to play with Dansby and Ozzie and and Freed

666
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,199
Speaker 2: was you know around because he had been traded for

667
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, Sean Newcombe and some of those

668
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:34,720
Speaker 2: some of those names that you know went on, but

669
00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 2: a lot of those guys went on to help the

670
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 2: Braves win in twenty one. So listen, hopefully I was

671
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 2: a small part of that and and taught some of

672
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,880
Speaker 2: those guys something along the way. And uh, you know,

673
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 2: I always give snit. I got to play for you know,

674
00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:52,480
Speaker 2: I was there when Snick got his first win in Pittsburgh,

675
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 2: went after they fired Freddy, and I always give Snick

676
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 2: krap Man. He knew was my last game, my last bat.

677
00:28:58,080 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 2: There's a runner on first, no outs. I come up.

678
00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 2: He gives me the bun and I actually bunted and

679
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 2: it went foul. And I'm like, you knew this could

680
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:06,800
Speaker 2: have been my last about ever and you gave me

681
00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 2: the bunny. He's like, well, I knew you'd do it,

682
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:10,640
Speaker 2: and it ended up being a wild pitch. So he

683
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 2: got the second so he let me hit. But yeah, so,

684
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 2: I mean, I have great memories of the Braves, have

685
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 2: great memories of the organization, and I always, I always,

686
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 2: deep down, I always will be a Braves fan or

687
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:20,680
Speaker 2: root for the Braves.

688
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: Hey, j I've gotta ask one other quick question, because

689
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 1: you do have two sec fans right here that are

690
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: talking with you. One is an Alabama fan. Now, if

691
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, you were drafted and signed with the

692
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:34,680
Speaker 1: Minnesota Tweets.

693
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 2: Correct, Yes, yes, sir.

694
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 1: Where did you sign your letter of a tip to

695
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 1: play college ball?

696
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 2: Uh? Tennessee?

697
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 1: Actually yes, I had to throw that in there. I

698
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 1: don't know.

699
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 3: But he didn't play. He didn't play for ten You know.

700
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,080
Speaker 2: What's funny, because I don't consider myself any part of

701
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 2: Tennessee I'm exactly fan. Okay, I grew up a Florida fan.

702
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 2: I still have I still have season tickets to the

703
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 2: Gator games. I go to Florida Georgia every year. I

704
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:00,920
Speaker 2: don't have one thing read in my house because I

705
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,920
Speaker 2: just despised Georgia, so I don't have one in my house. Now, listen,

706
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 2: Alabama I can live with because just I actually been

707
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 2: to a bunch of Alabama games. What's the Iron Bowl

708
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 2: this year? I enjoy going to Tuscaloosa. My kids. My

709
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 2: daughter goes Tosissippi State plays volleyball, some of her good

710
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 2: friends go to Alabama. So Alabama I can live with. Georgia.

711
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 2: On the other hand, not so much. Now. Tennessee people

712
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 2: are always like, oh, you signed with Tennessee. I'm like,

713
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 2: I don't give a ship where I signed. I never

714
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:30,920
Speaker 2: went there, I was never gonna go there.

715
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 3: It doesn't give it.

716
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 2: And you know what else the more listen, I used

717
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:37,440
Speaker 2: to hate Georgia. I used to hate Georgia the most.

718
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 2: But Tennessee fans are like almost there because at least

719
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 2: Georgia and now has won something. Tennessee hasn't won anything

720
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,240
Speaker 2: in football now, you know, baseball, whatever, great, cool, But

721
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 2: like I go, did that do the way you want? Anything? All?

722
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:52,920
Speaker 1: Right? Well that took a complete what eighty as far

723
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:54,000
Speaker 1: as the conversation goes.

724
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 2: But you thought I was gonna be like go Valls?

725
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 2: I was.

726
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 1: I was wool that you would have played there. But

727
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 1: I understood why you chose the major league career.

728
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 2: But behind me at all times? Okay, so no know

729
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 2: where my loyalties always?

730
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 3: What is that helmet?

731
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:13,200
Speaker 1: What is that helmet? What? When? Is that?

732
00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 2: Was a throwback they wore a couple of years ago.

733
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 2: I have them all. I got a whole bunch of

734
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 2: them around here.

735
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,040
Speaker 1: Gotch We'll have to we'll have to catch back up

736
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 1: on rival worries when it comes to a football season.

737
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,040
Speaker 1: But yes, that that did not go the way that

738
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:25,440
Speaker 1: I thought.

739
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 2: So it sounds like the Tennessee Nice job in the

740
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,720
Speaker 2: playoff too, by the way, where maybe next thing? Wear

741
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 2: your shirtsy?

742
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,240
Speaker 1: Hey, at least we were there. Is it better?

743
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 3: Is it better to not make the playoffs or to

744
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,479
Speaker 3: make the playoffs and get your ass kicked by forty?

745
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 2: Well? Is better? If Alabama would have been Michigan instead

746
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 2: of having their quarterback? That's a whole separate conversation.

747
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 3: We're not gonna talk We're not gonna talk about Alabama.

748
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this this you guys know the difference between

749
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,120
Speaker 2: the Alabama and the Atlanta. You guys, I'm sure heard this.

750
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:54,280
Speaker 1: Yeah. The mullet.

751
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:56,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Alabama has a mullet.

752
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 3: The Alabama has a mullet. Yeah, we learned that as

753
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,640
Speaker 3: a If you grow up in Alabama, I doing you're

754
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 3: a Braves fan and an Alabama fan, then you learn

755
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 3: very quickly about the mullet.

756
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 1: So that's right, AJ, All joking aside, It's been an

757
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 1: absolute pleasure talking with you, and it was a huge

758
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 1: fan of yours that growing up at a waughtch you you play.

759
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:15,160
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for the time of the insight.

760
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:16,920
Speaker 1: We we'd love to have you get at some point.

761
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 2: Thanks guys. Remember, Braves fans, relax, there's still a really

762
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,600
Speaker 2: good team. Okay, we never we don't relax.

763
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 3: There's never relaxing.

764
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,040
Speaker 2: Hey, I was a Braves fan in the eighties. Trust me,

765
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,160
Speaker 2: if you think it's bad now, should have been around

766
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:31,920
Speaker 2: for some of those years in the eighties and they couldn't.

767
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm too young for it.

768
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:36,120
Speaker 2: We can't think AJ enough.

769
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 1: Of course you could catch Aj as part of the

770
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,760
Speaker 1: Foul Territory podcast. Co host of the Foul Territory Podcast,

771
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: make sure you check out Hammer Territory. Myself, Stephen Brad

772
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,040
Speaker 1: as well as Scott coming with you almost at least

773
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: every other day, maybe every day, and maybe if we

774
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 1: get some moves, we'll also be able to have more

775
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: to talk about. But for a j Persiski, Steven tibert Aj,

776
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,800
Speaker 1: thanks against so much. Y'all have a great one. We'll

777
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,200
Speaker 1: talk to you soon. Go Braves, thanks for tunity into

778
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 1: the Hambor Territory podcast