Speaker 1: You're pulling back the curtain there now a member of
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ryan, Great to be with you. I
Speaker 1: see the helmet behind you. Man, a Packers fan. That's
Speaker 1: tough this year. I'm a Broncos fan. Let's not get
Speaker 1: me started on that. Good to be with you. Happy,
Speaker 1: Happy that you're with us here on Fould Territory. What
Speaker 1: are you most excited about as being a part of
Speaker 1: the Pirates. I saw that you said, raise the Jolly Roger.
Speaker 1: What are you looking forward to?
Speaker 2: What's up?
Speaker 3: Guys? Thanks for having me. That was a That was
Speaker 3: a cool intro right there. That's new. Yeah, No, thinks
Speaker 3: are good. Uh Packers at least, I mean they kind
Speaker 3: of fall apart at the end, but they're always always
Speaker 3: seemed to be in it most of the season, so
Speaker 3: it'll keeps you entertained all off season and then just
Speaker 3: that big letdown. But uh yeah, I'm excited Pirates are
Speaker 3: you know, I think a sneaky good team and they've
Speaker 3: made and moves this offseason, and you know, I don't
Speaker 3: know what they got coming next that they're gonna do
Speaker 3: anything else, but it seems to be a good group.
Speaker 3: And uh yeah, everybody I've talked to has been great.
Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to getting out of Bradenton.
Speaker 4: Before we dig into baseball. Bear down Okay, I was
Speaker 4: at that second, dude. Okay, that's it, that's all. Yeah,
Speaker 4: Well they got him in the right year. Okay, they
Speaker 4: beat him twice at the end of the year, and
Speaker 4: that's all that matters. That's all that anybody remembers is
Speaker 4: the Bears knocked the Packers out of the playoffs. Again.
Speaker 4: That's the when you make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: So per Packer fans look so much further than our
Speaker 3: two games against the Bears, Like it's like whatever, it's
Speaker 3: another game for you guys. It's like, if you lose,
Speaker 3: it's the end of the world. If you win, you
Speaker 3: know you're gonna have this great celebration after the other
Speaker 3: head coach Like whatever, don't get me started on that.
Speaker 3: My sister's married to a Bear fan, so I got
Speaker 3: to hear about it all the time.
Speaker 4: So he's a smart one in the family. That makes sense.
Speaker 4: That makes sense. How excited for you for the Packers
Speaker 4: to finish nine six and nine, seven and nine and
Speaker 4: seven again last year and get the seventh seed losing
Speaker 4: the first round. No, just kidding because we know that's
Speaker 4: gonna happen. The Bears are going to win the division again.
Speaker 4: It's fine, we get it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but at least will be in the playoffs. The
Speaker 3: Bears may or may not make the playoffs like they
Speaker 3: may define. Anyways, I'll see you.
Speaker 2: I'm a Seahawks fan now.
Speaker 3: Anyway for the Super Bowl, I'd love to see the
Speaker 3: Seahawks win.
Speaker 4: Anyways, we had a whole thing on it yesterday, so
Speaker 4: because we had Adam Jude from Seattle on. So, how
Speaker 4: honestly you said you're excited to get the brand? Didn't
Speaker 4: What was it about the Pirates that made you want
Speaker 4: to go there? Because for so long it has not
Speaker 4: been a destination for veteran guys like you looking to win.
Speaker 4: So what's changed about the Pirates When they called you?
Speaker 4: Ben Sherrington calls your agent says we want you to
Speaker 4: come to Pittsburgh and you said, yes, sir.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I could. That's fair. You know, the
Speaker 3: Pirates have they won seventy one games last year they
Speaker 3: didn't you know, they haven't been very good. But if
Speaker 3: you look at the team, like there is a lot
Speaker 3: of good players and starting with the Cy Young winner,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, Like that's a big deal.
Speaker 3: And then on top of that, they have good arms
Speaker 3: behind them. I think, you know, at the top of
Speaker 3: my list was like I want to join a team
Speaker 3: that a really wants me and thinks that I can
Speaker 3: be like their guy in the middle of the lineup,
Speaker 3: you know, and then on top of that a team
Speaker 3: that could pitch well. So like I'm looking at my options,
Speaker 3: and then I'm like really looking at this Pirates roster.
Speaker 3: There they had good pitching stats last year for a
Speaker 3: team that took last place in the l Central. So
Speaker 3: it's like, Okay, maybe they need some offense and I
Speaker 3: could be that guy. And then that trade happens. They
Speaker 3: add Brandon Lau, a hitter who I've admired for a while,
Speaker 3: seen him a lot in the Al East, and and
Speaker 3: so I'm like all right, And then you know, Ben's
Speaker 3: been great. We have really good communication with him, and
Speaker 3: he made it clear to me that like, hey, we're
Speaker 3: not done, We're still moving to you know, we're trying
Speaker 3: to make this team better. And you know what, agent,
Speaker 3: I bought in and I'm fully bought in, and I'm
Speaker 3: excited to be a Pirate. And I think we're gonna
Speaker 3: go out surprising people.
Speaker 2: You're supposed to be bought in.
Speaker 5: That's awesome, Like anybody that says, right, I wasn't. That
Speaker 5: was my original team that I that I got called up.
Speaker 5: I got caught up with all the really good players
Speaker 5: that started that run. McCutcheon, Pedro Alvarez, Garrett Jones, Jamison
Speaker 5: ty On was was later than that, but like you know,
Speaker 5: Garrett Cole a little bit after that. So yeah, I was.
Speaker 5: I was there. The fans are amazing. But the history
Speaker 5: when when Ryan O'Hearn says, I had the largest free
Speaker 5: agent contract in the history of the Pirates, did you
Speaker 5: have to take a back a little bit when your
Speaker 5: agent called and said, you'll never believe it, but the
Speaker 5: Pirates are really in, like they might be one of
Speaker 5: the top three here because it just hasn't happened.
Speaker 2: It just hasn't happened. You've been in the game, you
Speaker 2: watched the game.
Speaker 5: Did were you a little taking a back before you
Speaker 5: started really talking to Ben Cherrington and hearing what their
Speaker 5: plan and vision was?
Speaker 3: Uh? Yeah, for sure, because I mean, you know, like
Speaker 3: you said, I don't remember I didn't even remember the
Speaker 3: last multi year contract given to a free agent of
Speaker 3: the Pirates. I was like, I mean, I know they
Speaker 3: got O'Neil Cruz. I know they got Brian Reynolds, I
Speaker 3: know they got Paul Schimes, and you know, I'm like
Speaker 3: going down the list and I'm like, these are all
Speaker 3: like homegrown guys. I couldn't remember the last time that
Speaker 3: they went out and got like a And I'm not
Speaker 3: a big free agent by any means. I don't want
Speaker 3: to say like I'm just like massive free agent because
Speaker 3: I wasn't. But I you know, I had a few options.
Speaker 3: It wasn't like that was my only option. I think
Speaker 3: I was in that price range of like, hey, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe I could A good amount of teams could come
Speaker 3: after me. But yeah, I was a little bit surprised.
Speaker 3: And then, you know, like you said, like initially, maybe
Speaker 3: you're my reaction wasn't like, oh yeah, I'm gonna like
Speaker 3: this is a playoff team and like this is you
Speaker 3: know it was. It took some digging, I think into
Speaker 3: the team to realize like they're not as far away
Speaker 3: as maybe the perception is. And then, like I said,
Speaker 3: the loud trade, like that was a big deal for me.
Speaker 3: That definitely moved the needle talking to like I said,
Speaker 3: talking to Ben Cherrington and he was, you know, pretty
Speaker 3: like straightforward, like, hey, we're not done. We want to
Speaker 3: get better. And you know, as you guys know, like
Speaker 3: you'd love to hear that as a player, like you
Speaker 3: want to join a team that wants to continue to
Speaker 3: add and you know, make the team good. Like I
Speaker 3: want to be competitive. I want to get a chance
Speaker 3: to win. I'm getting older. I don't know how many
Speaker 3: years of this I have to go. So I want
Speaker 3: to be on a team that's got a shot. And
Speaker 3: I think it'd be really fun if I could, you know,
Speaker 3: myself and Brandon lou could come to a team that
Speaker 3: maybe needs some offense, that already had some good pitchers,
Speaker 3: and you know, we could make something special happen. Right.
Speaker 3: This is a lot of talking, but like we've got
Speaker 3: to go play the games. So like, you know, I'm
Speaker 3: hyping the Pirates all off season and I love it,
Speaker 3: but every time I do it, I get off and
Speaker 3: I go, yeah, we got to go play the games now,
Speaker 3: Like that's yeah.
Speaker 5: But they've done things, they've done things, They've done things
Speaker 5: every year. We're like, golly, if you can build a
Speaker 5: team around around Paul Skins. I mean, look at what
Speaker 5: the Tigers did. I'm not saying the guys on the
Speaker 5: Tigers aren't good. I'm saying with Arrek Scugle, they've built
Speaker 5: a team around Trek scouble and they don't have elite superstars.
Speaker 5: They don't have you know, the craziest dudes that are
Speaker 5: out there. They have good players, but you can build
Speaker 5: a team around a pitcher like Paul Skeen. So they
Speaker 5: have done that. But we are friends here. You need
Speaker 5: to tell us what the other teams were that.
Speaker 2: Were on you. What is the what were the options
Speaker 2: and how did that come? Because I asked everybody, I.
Speaker 3: Don't know what the protocol is on that. I feel
Speaker 3: like that's I can't say. I feel like that's like why,
Speaker 3: I don't know why it's like that, but you know
Speaker 3: it's like that, like I can't sit here and be like, well, yeah,
Speaker 3: this team offered me this, and the offer me that
Speaker 3: I know you would love to know. Maybe I'll tell
Speaker 3: you off.
Speaker 5: Camera, Okay, text me. That's fine. I won't tell anybody
Speaker 5: because it's some like great dark secret to me. I
Speaker 5: think that grows the game. Obviously, I'm not going to
Speaker 5: go on a soapbox. But I think it's like, oh crap,
Speaker 5: like we were Team X is a fan that they're
Speaker 5: watching and they're.
Speaker 2: Like, oh, we almost have Rhyan o'harn.
Speaker 5: And then when Ryan O'Hearn makes the All Star team
Speaker 5: halfway through the year, would have loved that left handed
Speaker 5: bat in our lineup.
Speaker 2: And it kind of creates some intrigue and it makes
Speaker 2: your team cry in.
Speaker 3: I get it. I don't want to be the first
Speaker 3: guy to be.
Speaker 2: Like right, I'm not mad.
Speaker 1: He's always trying to get dudes in trouble all the time.
Speaker 6: That's there.
Speaker 3: I know it, both of them, both Aj and Craft.
Speaker 2: I will not do that to you.
Speaker 1: I will not do that to you. What do you
Speaker 1: prefer place outfield?
Speaker 3: D H.
Speaker 1: You're one of those guys that can bring several gloves
Speaker 1: to the field, your versatile. People love that pencil you
Speaker 1: in because you constantly put But if you had to
Speaker 1: choose something that you really enjoy playing, what is it?
Speaker 3: I like playing first? Uh? Yeah, I've always liked playing first.
Speaker 3: I think it's a position I'm like the best at.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I'm not like I can go out there and play
Speaker 3: right field if need be, But I would definitely prefer
Speaker 3: to play first base. And then you know, you sprinkle
Speaker 3: in like a day game d H every now and then.
Speaker 3: I'm not mad at it.
Speaker 1: Get you off.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's nothing better than a spa day before a
Speaker 3: day game. DH.
Speaker 2: Wow, spoken like a true superstar.
Speaker 3: Look at me.
Speaker 2: I got a deal.
Speaker 5: I get it, I get it. There's there's a lot
Speaker 5: going on around in Pittsburgh. You were just at the
Speaker 5: fan fest. Correct, you're at Pirate Fest.
Speaker 3: No, I didn't make it because we had a snowstorm, Bunce,
Speaker 3: I couldn't get out.
Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, okay, so you didn't make it. But there's
Speaker 5: a lot of talk about the fact that Cutch hasn't
Speaker 5: signed back yet from the guys that you've talked about,
Speaker 5: because you there's a bunch of really good dudes that
Speaker 5: are up there that that are in Pittsburgh. Like what
Speaker 5: have you heard as far as like, hey, we really
Speaker 5: love as players, we'd really love to have cutchback because
Speaker 5: he did this, or you watching him from Afar, a
Speaker 5: guy that's a previous a former MVP, like watching him
Speaker 5: and what he could add to a team, even if
Speaker 5: it's on a one year deal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think one thing is like, as
Speaker 3: it stands right now, I'm the oldest guy on the team,
Speaker 3: and I hate that, Like I think, and I'm not
Speaker 3: that old, So I mean, I think there is something
Speaker 3: to be said for adding you know, veteran guys. Also
Speaker 3: like Andrew McCutcheon is like, you know, his he should
Speaker 3: have a retired number in the stadium. So like a
Speaker 3: guy like that, you know, obviously commands the respect of
Speaker 3: guys in the clubhouse, the fans love him, things like that.
Speaker 3: So I mean, it's I'm at the GM. I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna you know, tell be like we need to sign
Speaker 3: this guy or we need to not like that's not
Speaker 3: my job. But I will say I would love to
Speaker 3: play with Cotch and like I got a lot of
Speaker 3: obviously got a ton of respect for him, and I've
Speaker 3: watched him, you know, forever, going back as a pirate,
Speaker 3: you know. And then yeah, I feel like it's weird
Speaker 3: to see him in any other Jersey. But yeah, no,
Speaker 3: I would love to play with Catch. I would love
Speaker 3: to play I'd love to play with any guy who's
Speaker 3: like that level of established. Obviously you don't even want
Speaker 3: to play with players that you grew up in.
Speaker 2: Myrine that that leads me into my next question. Who.
Speaker 5: I feel like I know the answer, but maybe you'll
Speaker 5: have a creative answer. Who do you want to see
Speaker 5: consistently for one hundred and sixty two games? And I
Speaker 5: get it, Schiens doesn't play one hundred and sixty two
Speaker 5: if you make it Schimes. But I think there's some
Speaker 5: guys on other teams that you're like, go Lee, like
Speaker 5: that dude on this roster, Like I wonder what he
Speaker 5: really looks like day in and day you only see
Speaker 5: him six times a year, three times a year or whatever.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think there's an obvious answer in O'Neil Cruz,
Speaker 3: like who I want to see the guy that hits
Speaker 3: up all one hundred and twenty five miles an hour
Speaker 3: up close? I want to see what that looks like,
Speaker 3: you know, and like just on a day to day
Speaker 3: it was his cage routine. Look like I know he's
Speaker 3: got an absolute hose. I want to see him throw
Speaker 3: the ball from centerfield. So that's one, And I mean
Speaker 3: that's pretty obvious. I don't I'm not a huge like
Speaker 3: prospect guy, like I'm you know, I love the prospect thing,
Speaker 3: like I've got a chance to play with quite a
Speaker 3: few number one prospects, and it's kind of like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I see, I'll see when you get here. Connor Griffin.
Speaker 3: The stuff that I've seen from this guy, he looks
Speaker 3: like an absolute free show. So I think it'll be
Speaker 3: fun to see him in spring training and just kind
Speaker 3: of see, you know what it looks like taking ground balls.
Speaker 3: I want to see. I want to see all of it.
Speaker 3: You know, he's apparently he's got like tools for days.
Speaker 3: There was some quote the other day that I saw
Speaker 3: that was like, he reminds me of a young a
Speaker 3: Rod and he's gonna be like Bobby Witt in the show,
Speaker 3: which is like, Uh, It's kind of stresses me out
Speaker 3: for him because that's such a like, you know, put
Speaker 3: add so much pressure. But I just want to watch
Speaker 3: him go play, no pressure or nothing like that, just
Speaker 3: like see the tools come out, and I'm excited to
Speaker 3: see him in spring training.
Speaker 5: You came from Birdland, but some people would have called
Speaker 5: it prospect Land. So you're talking about you're talking about Jackson,
Speaker 5: you're talking about Gunner, you're talking about Adlie, you're talking
Speaker 5: about what do you need to see from Connor Griffin
Speaker 5: to say that's a little bit different. That's a little
Speaker 5: bit of Gunner, that's a little bit of ADLEI like,
Speaker 5: if you could take a if you could take a
Speaker 5: snap or a little piece of each of those guys
Speaker 5: and be like, wow, that would make because each of
Speaker 5: those guys has had their moments, but Gunner is the
Speaker 5: only one that has like top three MVP votes. And
Speaker 5: it's like this guy they're talking about him as Mike
Speaker 5: Trout as a short stop. What do you need to
Speaker 5: see from Connor that you're like, Okay, I saw some prospects,
Speaker 5: but this is a real deal.
Speaker 3: You know. What I want to see is I want
Speaker 3: to see him come in and just like completely be himself.
Speaker 3: I don't want to see a guy that like looks
Speaker 3: like he's trying to like impress somebody or please you know,
Speaker 3: coaches or whatever. I want to see a guy who
Speaker 3: comes in, he knows he's the dude, and he just
Speaker 3: does it and he's just him and it's easy and
Speaker 3: that's how goes. I want to see great at bats.
Speaker 3: Obviously he's got stupid tools. So if there was like
Speaker 3: one like tangible thing, it's like I'd like to see
Speaker 3: him like get into an O two count battle, you know,
Speaker 3: his ass off and then get a knock like put
Speaker 3: together quality, tough at bats. But as far as like
Speaker 3: the whole package, like just come in and be yourself, man,
Speaker 3: let it fly. I want to I want to see
Speaker 3: what it looks like at close. That's a guy I'm
Speaker 3: really excited for. Did you guys think I was going
Speaker 3: to ask that answer that because you got all these
Speaker 3: graphics of him ready to go.
Speaker 5: Every show, every show we talk about, we talk about
Speaker 5: Connick Griffin. He's I mean, we had take Magnemon yesterday,
Speaker 5: Like we're we're talking, we're chatting.
Speaker 3: My prospect knowledge isn't very good, so that's that's cool
Speaker 3: to hear. I mean, I just know he's like the
Speaker 3: number one guy.
Speaker 4: We've had a lot of pirates on lately, a lot
Speaker 4: of pirates, a lot of powers.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 1: Ryan, which current or former teammate of yours has the
Speaker 1: craziest workout routine?
Speaker 6: And why is it?
Speaker 1: Tyler O'Neill.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's got biceps for sure. Uh yeah, it's I mean,
Speaker 3: it could definitely be him. He Unfortunately, he was hurt
Speaker 3: quite a bit last year, so I don't think I
Speaker 3: got to see the full show but yeah, that guy's
Speaker 3: absolutely shredded.
Speaker 1: Have you been to the Roberto Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh yet?
Speaker 3: No, I need you.
Speaker 1: It is a top absolute, top top five, top three
Speaker 1: thing you have to do on an off day if
Speaker 1: you have an opportunity. It's just it's just super super
Speaker 1: super cool. And Pittsburgh, let me tell you, is a
Speaker 1: very underrated city. It is a sneaky, sneaky cool city.
Speaker 3: Yeah I was. I mean, I've only played there three times,
Speaker 3: so like that's my excuse for not having been to
Speaker 3: the museum. But I will go to the museum, I promise,
Speaker 3: And yeah, I would agree. The city is beautiful, the rivers,
Speaker 3: the bridges like it's it's a cool place, and I'm
Speaker 3: you know, I'm excited to get out there and kind
Speaker 3: of get the full experience. I like the division, like
Speaker 3: it's a great place is to hit in that division.
Speaker 3: I think PNC itself is a great place to hit.
Speaker 3: The idea of like hitting a ball into the river
Speaker 3: is really fun. I never hit a ball in Utah Street, unfortunately,
Speaker 3: and that's gonna bother me. So I got to get
Speaker 3: one in the river.
Speaker 4: By the way, French Fries belong on sandwiches or on
Speaker 4: the side.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's the deal with that?
Speaker 2: Is that?
Speaker 3: That's just like you.
Speaker 4: Do they belong on the sandwich or do they belong
Speaker 4: on the side? Are they?
Speaker 3: Man, I'm gonna make the people Pittsburgh mad, I think,
Speaker 3: but they belong on the side. What are we doing?
Speaker 4: Listen, you made the rest of the world mad by
Speaker 4: being a Packers fan, so I mean we might as
Speaker 4: least Pittsburgh to the list too.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna both. By the way, I did a
Speaker 3: zoom call on the Pirates vest and for like in
Speaker 3: front of a crowd. They put me up and I
Speaker 3: was getting like booed for this right here. Uh huh,
Speaker 3: it's not moving. It's gonna be there. I can scoot
Speaker 3: over a little bit, but it's now. Don't don't.
Speaker 5: Just like you said, Connor needs to be himself. You
Speaker 5: be yourself and tell them when they start mowing, tell
Speaker 5: them when they start booing.
Speaker 2: Be like I signed a two year deal. You gonna
Speaker 2: deal with my ugly faced the whole for two years.
Speaker 3: You got to deal with his mug for two years,
Speaker 3: there's no doubt. But and also Aaron Rodgers signed that helmet,
Speaker 3: so uh, that's it.
Speaker 4: Might you more. Now, they might bow you more.
Speaker 3: Now we're open to having him back.
Speaker 1: All right, good luck to you. We're excited for your
Speaker 1: new adventure in the Steel City. Appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 1: Anytime we can have athletes on, current athletes, not these two,
Speaker 1: but anytime we can have current athletes on, we appreciate
Speaker 1: it very much. Good luck to you, and we will
Speaker 1: we will chat with you soon.
Speaker 3: All right. I always enjoyed coming on. Thanks guys.
Speaker 4: Look looking, fella. I didn't realize that Jake Mangan was
Speaker 4: this good looking. I'm just gonna stare into.
Speaker 6: Him as a handsome fellow.
Speaker 3: Yes, right now, we.
Speaker 7: Just we just finished up some Live at BATS but
Speaker 7: I had to run out of here and uh, you know,
Speaker 7: hop on the call.
Speaker 6: I appreciate you guys for having me.
Speaker 8: Well, we appreciate you for jumping on.
Speaker 3: Sorry for the mix up.
Speaker 8: We told everybody about it, yes, stakes we tell everybody
Speaker 8: everything on this show.
Speaker 3: But let's get right to the good stuff. How was
Speaker 3: Live BP?
Speaker 6: It was good?
Speaker 7: Actually, Connor Griffin joined me, and Connor Griffin got in
Speaker 7: there today. Yeah, I know, right, Connor Griffin, he's uh,
Speaker 7: he's uh, he is fun to watch man.
Speaker 6: He is. He's a freak talent.
Speaker 4: Okay, did you get any hits?
Speaker 2: Did you do anything good?
Speaker 4: Because Krotts has this whole thing.
Speaker 2: I went to high school in.
Speaker 4: Mississippi, can actually hit okay, and you like, wow, you know.
Speaker 6: Made some contact.
Speaker 7: I don't know if it's a hit or not, but
Speaker 7: but we'll count it. I thought Connor got one. He
Speaker 7: said he capped it, but I thought he got one.
Speaker 5: Do you have track, man, I mean that's the only
Speaker 5: way kids now they hit one good.
Speaker 7: No, this was old school, just straight up on the
Speaker 7: mound in the box with a catcher and we just
Speaker 7: catch a call, balls and strikes.
Speaker 5: It's good that you only got a you made contact.
Speaker 5: Nobody ever makes the team a live VP. Nope, not
Speaker 5: one person has ever. I've seen do mashing live BP
Speaker 5: and swing and miss and the opposite is what happened.
Speaker 5: So you know that you're totally fine till Connor, who's
Speaker 5: totally fine.
Speaker 6: Touch the ball. So we're good there. Well, we'll head
Speaker 6: to camp this weekend.
Speaker 5: So you're gonna go down early because it's too cold
Speaker 5: for you, or because you like getting there early, especially
Speaker 5: with a new team.
Speaker 6: I like getting down there early.
Speaker 7: New team I'd like to make some new relationships with
Speaker 7: the coaches and stuff and just get to know some players.
Speaker 7: But yeah, I've always had down there a couple weeks early,
Speaker 7: and you know, I got a lot of new faces
Speaker 7: to meet and a lot of people to meet.
Speaker 4: All Right, So who's better? You were Connor, you guys
Speaker 4: same high school? Right, Jackson Prep? You guys are Mississippi boys.
Speaker 4: I mean, who's bad?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 4: Your teammates?
Speaker 7: I'm biased, but I'll say the twenty thirteen through fifteen
Speaker 7: Jackson Prep Patriots were better than their teams at Jackson Prepp.
Speaker 7: I think that there's a big debate at the school
Speaker 7: about who was better. But I think our three teams
Speaker 7: thirteen to fifteen were better than the.
Speaker 6: Than their crews.
Speaker 4: Who else did you guys have?
Speaker 6: My team?
Speaker 7: Noah Hughes, Parker, Krazy Jean Wood. They all went on
Speaker 7: to play in the SEC. Parker played for the Blue
Speaker 7: Jays minor league system for a while. We had some
Speaker 7: younger guys on the team, Will Warren, he's a big
Speaker 7: leaguer now with the Yankees. We had a couple other
Speaker 7: college guys that I'm leaving off, but it was it
Speaker 7: was a good crew man.
Speaker 4: All right, So then tell us about Connor. Tell us,
Speaker 4: I mean, I know you're gonna get this question. Tell us,
Speaker 4: what do we need to know about Connor Griffin as
Speaker 4: the number one prospect in all of baseball? What do
Speaker 4: we need to know about him?
Speaker 6: So here's what I got.
Speaker 7: I appreciate the fact that Connor works like he's not
Speaker 7: any good. He works his tail off, but then you
Speaker 7: watch him and he's a freak talent. Every time he swings,
Speaker 7: you can just hear the win from the bat, like
Speaker 7: just swings every living crap out of it with a short,
Speaker 7: compact swing. I think he could have played at the
Speaker 7: pro level in football, basketball, or baseball. So I'm I'm
Speaker 7: glad he picked baseball because he's you know, in our organization.
Speaker 7: But uh, he's a freak talent man. Like there's nothing
Speaker 7: he does that he doesn't just wow you. Lifting, jumping, throwing, swinging,
Speaker 7: like whatever he does, you're just like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 7: Like this guy's a freak.
Speaker 6: He could have done anything. I'm glad he picked baseball though, and.
Speaker 2: We hear he's a great dude.
Speaker 5: I coached him, ay j and I coached him for
Speaker 5: like two minutes at the All American Game out in Seattle.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I've seen it. I've seen it up close
Speaker 5: and personal. Whenever there's a freak talent like that and
Speaker 5: you're like, aren't you a little bit like? Hey, what
Speaker 5: does he do wrong?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 5: What's his one downfall? What's Connor Griffin's one downfall?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 6: That he committed to LSU and not Mississippi State.
Speaker 2: There you go, Oh, there you go.
Speaker 6: Maybe I saw that's all I got, That's.
Speaker 2: All I had, more money everybody.
Speaker 5: I always ask that question when people talk about Mookie Betts,
Speaker 5: and I'm not saying Connor Griffin's gonna be Mookie Betts.
Speaker 5: They think he's more of like Mike Trout as a shortstop.
Speaker 5: But I would say that about Mookie Betts, like everyone's like,
Speaker 5: he could do anything really good.
Speaker 2: Okay, So what's the one thing he doesn't do well?
Speaker 2: Does he?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Is he a bad singer? Does Connor Griffin sing?
Speaker 6: Never heard him sing? But uh? I asked our high
Speaker 6: school coach at Jackson Prep.
Speaker 7: I was like, man, what do you who's his comp
Speaker 7: And his answer was, and this is Jay Powell, the
Speaker 7: pitching coach at Prep. He Jay Powell pitched Game seven
Speaker 7: for the Marlins when they won the World Series Big
Speaker 7: long pro career. H Jay Powell's answer was, I've never
Speaker 7: seen anyone like him too, comp's and his answer is
Speaker 7: his comp is Connor Griffin. So, uh, that's a pretty
Speaker 7: unique thing. Uh. I'm excited to get down to Braidon
Speaker 7: to know and keep working with Connor and and you know,
Speaker 7: keep bouncing stuff off each other and keep learning.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get to you, Jake.
Speaker 5: Let's get to the fact that you now got traded
Speaker 5: over to the Pittsburgh Rates where Connor Griffin hopefully we'll
Speaker 5: make the team and everything. But you're a guy that
Speaker 5: they traded for. When the Pirates did trade for you,
Speaker 5: what did they say? What did they say they need
Speaker 5: from you or want from you? Because this is why
Speaker 5: you weren't just to throw in him because you had
Speaker 5: a really, really awesome year last year.
Speaker 2: What did they tell you?
Speaker 7: Well, first off, all of them were telling me how
Speaker 7: they're they're they're ready to take the next step as
Speaker 7: a as a team, and that they're making a push
Speaker 7: to go win. It was an honor to be in
Speaker 7: a trade. Would be be Lao and Mason Montgomery. Blao
Speaker 7: was someone as a rookie last year, I looked up
Speaker 7: to and he kind of led our clubhouse. I relied
Speaker 7: on Blao a lot, and the fact that he's coming
Speaker 7: over is making this change.
Speaker 6: A lot easier for me. But they told me to
Speaker 6: continue to play my ball.
Speaker 7: I told them that there's some changes I'm trying to make,
Speaker 7: not changes, but just try to get better. Like like
Speaker 7: there's things that I left on the field last year
Speaker 7: that I felt like I could get better at. As
Speaker 7: a twenty nine year old rookie, last year, I was
Speaker 7: just trying to survive. I was doing whatever it took
Speaker 7: to stay another day in the big leagues. And what
Speaker 7: I quickly learned was is that the it's a completely
Speaker 7: different level in Triple A. The talent is it's a
Speaker 7: big talent jump. But the Pirates told me was be
Speaker 7: ready to play left field and center field, and you know,
Speaker 7: we have a lot of space out there. They said,
Speaker 7: left fields almost like another center field at PNC, So
Speaker 7: I need to go track some balls down. And they
Speaker 7: told me that they wanted me to continue to hit
Speaker 7: for a high average. And you know, obviously as the
Speaker 7: competitors we are, I'm trying to figure out how to
Speaker 7: slug the ball a little bit better and work more walks.
Speaker 7: There's some low hanging fruit that I had last year
Speaker 7: that I felt like I could get better at. And
Speaker 7: with a year of the big league experience, I feel
Speaker 7: like I had a great off season of working on that.
Speaker 4: Jack centerfield O Neil Cruz's.
Speaker 6: No, no no.
Speaker 7: They said left field and centerfield, so just kind of
Speaker 7: bouncing around up between the two.
Speaker 4: Okay, have you not you should fly to Pittsburgh and
Speaker 4: make Don Kelly come in and hit your fung goes out.
Speaker 2: In left field. He would love him, absolutely love that.
Speaker 2: Right now.
Speaker 6: I met DK this past weekend at Pirate Fested. He
Speaker 6: is awesome. I really enjoyed talking to him.
Speaker 7: He he It's so cool to me that he's from Pittsburgh,
Speaker 7: with the college in Pittsburgh, debuted with Pittsburgh, and now
Speaker 7: he's the manager of the Pirates. Like if you mix
Speaker 7: all those things together, it's like, oh my gosh, dude,
Speaker 7: Like that's like that's got to be a dream come
Speaker 7: true for him for sure.
Speaker 4: For sure. All Right, so Pittsburgh, what do you know?
Speaker 4: What else do you know about Pittsburgh other than PNC Park,
Speaker 4: Iron City Beer? Like, what's the first thing when you
Speaker 4: get to was it Preman Brothers right with the bad
Speaker 4: sandwich with French fries on. It's not just not good,
Speaker 4: but I like sandwich.
Speaker 7: Does and I like French fries, so I need to
Speaker 7: try it at least I haven't tried it yet.
Speaker 6: But uh, what I learned was is man, Pittsburgh fans
Speaker 6: are die hard, Like they're all at FanFest.
Speaker 7: They're all in black and gold, like whether it's Penguin
Speaker 7: Steelers or Pirate's stuff, they're die hard. They're really knowledgeable
Speaker 7: about Pittsburgh and knowledgeable about the teams. They really want
Speaker 7: a winner and man like it's a It's a really
Speaker 7: cool spot. P and C is gorgeous too, like the
Speaker 7: field walking out there, like the backdrop was so cool.
Speaker 5: Do you ever think you were gonna get traded as
Speaker 5: a rookie? I mean, I get it, people don't know
Speaker 5: you're twenty nine years old, and I have to officially
Speaker 5: say today this is gonna hurt AJ's feelings. You're a
Speaker 5: grinder because you grinded through the minor leagues. People grind
Speaker 5: in baseball. AJ says he grinded, but you're a true grinder,
Speaker 5: So congratulations. I rarely bestow that on anybody. But did
Speaker 5: you think you were get traded?
Speaker 6: Uh No, I wasn't expecting to get traded.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 7: But funny story here, Aj, I actually wore some cleats
Speaker 7: that were custom made for you when I was a kid.
Speaker 4: Dude, everybody like cleats, everybody.
Speaker 6: I don't know how I got them.
Speaker 7: I don't know, but when I was in high school
Speaker 7: playing summer ball, I wore your cleats with your name
Speaker 7: on it.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 7: I played for Dueling Dodgers in Memphis, Tennessee. I don't
Speaker 7: know how I got the cleats too, but that's that's
Speaker 7: a crazy story.
Speaker 6: I just remember putting them all and be like, these
Speaker 6: are the coolest things ever.
Speaker 4: But says I didn't give any anything away. We had
Speaker 4: Foster gribbin on you the other days. Like I wore
Speaker 4: your cleats, they were the wrong size. I mean, we've
Speaker 4: had dudes, warrior gloves, your cleats, your shoes, everything.
Speaker 7: I mean, I don't know how I came across them,
Speaker 7: but I wore the crap out of them when I
Speaker 7: was in high school in summer ball.
Speaker 6: But uh, uh No, I wasn't expecting to get traded.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 6: But the twenty nine year old rookie thing. It was tough.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 7: I get drafted sophomore junior, senior year of college, stay
Speaker 7: till my senior year at twenty three years old. My
Speaker 7: twenty four year old gets scrapped because of COVID. So
Speaker 7: I'm starting low a baseball and ash fell in North
Speaker 7: Carolina at twenty five years old, and I just remember
Speaker 7: calling my dad saying right before the game, I was like, Dad,
Speaker 7: if I don't hit right now, I'm going to be
Speaker 7: out of this thing very fast. So but luckily was
Speaker 7: able to hit my way through the minors and got
Speaker 7: a shot last year at twenty nine years old.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what what did the raise?
Speaker 2: Oh? Sorry, Chrits go ahead.
Speaker 5: Oh no, I was just gonna say, what what would
Speaker 5: you tell yourself? Because you were a completely different organization
Speaker 5: when when you first broke into the minor leagues? What
Speaker 5: would you tell yourself now as a twenty three year
Speaker 5: old would you would you agree with your with your
Speaker 5: assessment that you had to hit right now based on
Speaker 5: the journey that you've taken.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 7: At my age and where I was at, I couldn't
Speaker 7: afford a bad year. I think I felt like one
Speaker 7: bad year I would have gotten cut So you know,
Speaker 7: when I kept coming back to school as a draft
Speaker 7: eligible sophomore, I got drafted by the yet Yankees, Mets, Mets,
Speaker 7: and I just kept saying, like, it's hard, hard for
Speaker 7: me to leave Mississippi State. I'm from here. This is
Speaker 7: you know, worn and raised here. Really wanted to bring
Speaker 7: a national championship there. We fell short of that. But yeah,
Speaker 7: I'd say, man, you got to hit immediately. You have
Speaker 7: to have good years or you're not going to be
Speaker 7: able to afford a bad one. So I just say
Speaker 7: the same thing I told myself back then. It's like
Speaker 7: you can hit, like, go hit, go get base hits
Speaker 7: and help the team win ball games.
Speaker 6: And good things happened.
Speaker 7: But you know, kept going back to school and I
Speaker 7: knew i'd started a little bit later, but having faith
Speaker 7: that I was going to hit through the minors, and
Speaker 7: you know, good Lord will when I was able to
Speaker 7: do that. So now I'm trying to have a good
Speaker 7: MLB career and take the next step as a big leaguer.
Speaker 4: Okay, we're going to get to Mississippi State before you
Speaker 4: get off the air, don't worry. But what what did
Speaker 4: people that don't know you started with the match you
Speaker 4: ended up coming up with the Rays for the first time.
Speaker 4: What were the Rays like? Because I always everyone wants
Speaker 4: to be the Raise organization, right every your team is like, oh,
Speaker 4: we want to be like the Rays. So what was
Speaker 4: the race secret? Sauce you're not there anymore, you can
Speaker 4: tell us.
Speaker 7: They're really detailed in what they do, you know, when
Speaker 7: it comes to like defense and base stealing, like like,
Speaker 7: we would always have a game plan going into the game,
Speaker 7: and they worked on things that you needed to get
Speaker 7: better at that you weren't expecting, Like my release time
Speaker 7: needed to get better in the outfield.
Speaker 6: That's not anything I was always.
Speaker 7: Thinking, I got to get the arms stronger, or we
Speaker 7: need to work on throwing harder. But we found a
Speaker 7: way to kind of get my release time quicker, finding
Speaker 7: little things on when to run and when to not
Speaker 7: run on the bases. Offensively, their philosophy with me was
Speaker 7: just they really leaned into what I did well. They
Speaker 7: told me to go hit for a high average and
Speaker 7: steal bases, and the razor open to winning in any way.
Speaker 7: They want to have guys that hit for average and
Speaker 7: hit for power and play good defense and always the
Speaker 7: staples pitch well. Because I feel like, if you want
Speaker 7: to win, you gotta have good pitching. But they leave
Speaker 7: no stone unturned. Really, they're finding any which way to
Speaker 7: get it in to get an advantage.
Speaker 5: Twenty seven bags. Can you eclipse that? Or are you
Speaker 5: already on the age curve where speed's gonna start going down?
Speaker 7: You know, I always say I I was a late bloomer,
Speaker 7: so I'm going to be a late ager. So I
Speaker 7: feel young this offseason and really working on my running.
Speaker 7: I missed a month in May, so hopefully I can
Speaker 7: stay healthy all year and try to get to thirty
Speaker 7: at least thirty backs.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 4: Go you go be you No, listen, you said you
Speaker 4: couldn't leave Mississippi State, all right. My daughter she went
Speaker 4: there for one year, played volleyball. She couldn't wait to
Speaker 4: leave Mississippi State. So I don't know, maybe it's because
Speaker 4: you're from Mississippi or not. My daughter's from Florida. She
Speaker 4: now goes to a real school. But I just want
Speaker 4: to say this. I was at the Mississippi State Florida game,
Speaker 4: and I don't know, you probably have not heard this,
Speaker 4: but I had a bet with one of the players
Speaker 4: on Mississippi State that the loser had to get a
Speaker 4: tattoo of the other team's school. Thank god, that's your
Speaker 4: quarterback through that pick at the end of the game,
Speaker 4: because otherwise I would have had to get a tattoo.
Speaker 4: And I was on the field watching that game with
Speaker 4: my daughter and she was rubbing it in my face
Speaker 4: that I would have to get a tattoo and then
Speaker 4: the guy through the pick. So I just want to
Speaker 4: say thank you to you and to every other Mississippi
Speaker 4: State fan out there, thank you.
Speaker 7: I was also at that game, and that one's stung.
Speaker 7: That one stung really bad. Felt like we could have
Speaker 7: made the field goal right there. But you know, I
Speaker 7: love it.
Speaker 6: I loved it. I'm from Mississippi. We don't have pro sports.
Speaker 7: We have one double A team in Biloxi now, the
Speaker 7: Biloxi Shuckers. Outside of that, like the whole state kind
Speaker 7: of rallies behind the colleges. There's a lot of great
Speaker 7: baseball in Mississippi, and it was just hard for me
Speaker 7: to leave home.
Speaker 6: You know, I felt like, you know, there's me that.
Speaker 7: You commit to a four year school and you get
Speaker 7: punished for staying four years the way you know, it's
Speaker 7: structured with senior signs. I get out all works, but
Speaker 7: you know that that always upset me a little bit.
Speaker 7: But yeah, it was hard for me to leave Man,
Speaker 7: But loved it there. Love my time there, And I
Speaker 7: tell every baseball fan it should be a bucket list thing.
Speaker 7: If you love baseball, go check out a game at
Speaker 7: Dude Noble Field and there's it's a really unique environment.
Speaker 2: All right, One last thing.
Speaker 5: It brought to my mind when you said Don Kelly,
Speaker 5: you're like he stayed in Pittsburgh. He's now coaching in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5: He grew up in Pittsburgh. He also married Pittsburgh Royalty.
Speaker 5: He married Neil Walker's sister. So let's just put it
Speaker 5: this way. If you are going to lose your job
Speaker 5: this year, it's probably going to be to DK's kids
Speaker 5: because their lineage of athleticism is ridiculous. But there's another
Speaker 5: there's another layer to add on to the DK, the
Speaker 5: DK mystery that is his glorious life.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I met his wife with him this weekend. They were awesome.
Speaker 7: They said something like she went to a rival high
Speaker 7: school or something. If I'm not mistaken, So like, the
Speaker 7: whole story behind that is unbelievable, like like that that
Speaker 7: really is like got to be a dream come true
Speaker 7: for him, Like to stay home debut, where you lived,
Speaker 7: with the college all that stuff. Dude, the story is unbelievable.
Speaker 7: And uh, it was awesome meeting all the guys. The
Speaker 7: team seems awesome. Everyone seems really driven and really ready
Speaker 7: to you know, all work really hard to bring a
Speaker 7: winning product to Pittsburgh. So we're gonna do all we
Speaker 7: can to do that and hopefully have a great year.
Speaker 8: We're excited about it. Jake, bring it. Bring all the
Speaker 8: passion and the energy. The fan base is starving for
Speaker 8: some winning baseball. We all know that.
Speaker 4: What AJ asked K asked DK about the story I
Speaker 4: told him about when he played for Jim Leland. I
Speaker 4: told him at this weekend at the awards ceremony when
Speaker 4: Sken's got us so young, ask him, ask him if
Speaker 4: he's going to talk like that as a manager, and
Speaker 4: he'll know the story when when you see him, just
Speaker 4: say hey, I heard, oh Joe Jim Leland story. And
Speaker 4: just if you don't laugh about that one, then you're
Speaker 4: not You're not a baseball player.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 7: I'll check it out when we get down to Bradenson.
Speaker 7: I'll check it out. I'll remember that.
Speaker 2: Coming back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, last question, I.
Speaker 7: Don't know, man, I've never met Couch, like I said,
Speaker 7: new to the organization, but you know, I know he's
Speaker 7: passionate about Pittsburgh and I know he's a pirate legend.
Speaker 7: So uh, we're all on board, pulling the same side
Speaker 7: of the rope, trying to win ball games in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 6: So so we'll see all right.
Speaker 8: Jay, hope you enjoyed it, man, great chat, and we'll
Speaker 8: see in spring training.
Speaker 6: Yeah, thank you guys for having me. We'll see all
Speaker 6: in Bradenton.