Speaker 1: Great to have you on man, really appreciate the time,
Speaker 1: love watching you pitch so far this year. We've enjoyed
Speaker 1: our combos in the past, so I want to get
Speaker 1: right into it with you. There was a quote you
Speaker 1: had the other day about the impact that Diamondbacks are
Speaker 1: making for you, and I feel like one of the
Speaker 1: top questions fans always want to know is like what
Speaker 1: makes this organization unique? And I felt like you really
Speaker 1: gave us something there. So I'm going to have you
Speaker 1: kind of rehash that if you can, because it has
Speaker 1: a lot to do with what we're seeing from this year.
Speaker 1: So let's get into it.
Speaker 2: What are they doing?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate you guys having me again. It's it's
Speaker 3: always a pleasure. The Diamondbacks right out of the gate
Speaker 3: last year and in free agency were kind of along
Speaker 3: the same plan that I already had moving forward the
Speaker 3: Cubs and you know, tyler' zombro. It kind of giving
Speaker 3: me a pretty good roadmap to work on things in
Speaker 3: the offseason, and the Backs were very interested in continuing that.
Speaker 3: So I mean, really it was it was the ability
Speaker 3: to add a couple more pitches and and give hitters
Speaker 3: a different look.
Speaker 4: You know, we all like to throw hard. We all
Speaker 4: want to throw hard.
Speaker 3: But my gift typically being being able to spin the baseball.
Speaker 3: Having to add a couple more in that direction made
Speaker 3: a big difference, and you know, really just learn how
Speaker 3: to use all that stuff. So Jeremy, Blisch and Kaplan
Speaker 3: and Owen do all our entire pitching staff has really
Speaker 3: just been great at kind of honing in on what
Speaker 3: we wanted to do initially in spring training and then
Speaker 3: kind of building on that. So that's it's been a
Speaker 3: good process so far.
Speaker 5: All right, being able to spin the ball, can you
Speaker 5: elaborate a little bit more? And I think I have
Speaker 5: a follow up that you were playing during the era
Speaker 5: where my follow up might actually happen, but spinning the ball,
Speaker 5: can you talk about that and what that means for
Speaker 5: you in the process to be able to spin it differently,
Speaker 5: you talked about that a little bit and a little
Speaker 5: bit better.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think again, we all find our
Speaker 3: talents in this game. We find what we're strong at.
Speaker 3: And for some reason, I've always just had a feel
Speaker 3: to be able to make the ball move, not really
Speaker 3: mattering what direction is, but typically move left for me.
Speaker 3: So obviously being superinated helps with that, you know, being
Speaker 3: able to kind of shape a curve ball in a
Speaker 3: multiple different directions and spin it quicker, I think has
Speaker 3: been big. I know there's there's a lot of people
Speaker 3: that look at spin rates and think maybe they don't
Speaker 3: add a whole ton it matters, you know, axis and
Speaker 3: spin efficiency and all that kind of stuff. We're kind
Speaker 3: of getting into the into the weeds a little bit,
Speaker 3: but really, I mean, you know, when you catch a
Speaker 3: guy that's able to spin it, because everything's just a
Speaker 3: little bit tighter, everything just breaks a little later. And
Speaker 3: really it was just leaning into that that gift.
Speaker 5: Right, how much easier would it have been and would
Speaker 5: it have sped up your process if you guys could
Speaker 5: still use spider tech for people who don't know, Spider
Speaker 5: Tack got banned and now you're talking about like really
Speaker 5: being able to spin it and you can naturally do it.
Speaker 5: If that was still in the game, would it have
Speaker 5: increased this like maturation of the way you spin the ball,
Speaker 5: or would it have maybe inhibited it because of the
Speaker 5: fact that some guys feel like he gave them some
Speaker 5: injury risk too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I honestly so, I missed that whole I missed
Speaker 3: that whole thing. I got hurt in twenty Obviously, you
Speaker 3: know people have tried stick your stuff in the past,
Speaker 3: but I missed the whole spider tack stuff.
Speaker 4: I've never I've never touched it.
Speaker 3: I've I've heard, you know, guys that experimented with the
Speaker 3: off seasons and whatnot. But I know it definitely added
Speaker 3: a whole bunch of RPMs, definitely made some some things
Speaker 3: a little sharper. But yeah, I would say, you know,
Speaker 3: not having to grip the ball as tight definitely is
Speaker 3: a key to be able to spin the base in
Speaker 3: my opinion. I know, somebody like Nolan McLain says he grips,
Speaker 3: grips everything he's got on the baseball, and and you know,
Speaker 3: that's how he spins it. And he's probably the best
Speaker 3: spinner of the baseball in our game at this point.
Speaker 3: But for me, it's always been about just being loose
Speaker 3: and whippy with it. And again just learning exactly how
Speaker 3: that works best for me has been has been big
Speaker 3: over the last really year and a half.
Speaker 6: You talk about like a loosening grip. The guy I
Speaker 6: think of Pedro Martinez with his circle change, it felt
Speaker 6: like it would just sit kind of on top of
Speaker 6: his you know, the fingertips a little bit. Is that
Speaker 6: kind of how you throw that? Are you trying to
Speaker 6: grip that change up really tight so you can get
Speaker 6: you know, even more bite to it. Is that part
Speaker 6: of your repertoire.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I got to be super loose with that
Speaker 3: one too. As soon as I was tightened up with
Speaker 3: that one, I throw it. You know, it's a long dart.
Speaker 3: I throw it straight into the ground, you know. And
Speaker 3: that's where, again, the shape doesn't necessarily matter as much
Speaker 3: if I can stay loose with it and turn that
Speaker 3: corner with the wrist.
Speaker 4: I think that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 3: Is I get to the front of the baseball and
Speaker 3: it doesn't really matter if it's moving more left or
Speaker 3: north to south, or I throw through it a little bit.
Speaker 3: The hitter still sees that whip and still sees fastball
Speaker 3: in my opinion, and they just don't pick up that
Speaker 3: late break. So again, it's just it's learning all these things.
Speaker 3: And to be able to do that has been nice.
Speaker 3: To be able to stay healthy the last couple of
Speaker 3: years and just keep throwing and just keep getting better
Speaker 3: at those things.
Speaker 6: I love that. It's like it seems like you're learning
Speaker 6: more about yourself. Fewer home runs, fewer walks, and for you,
Speaker 6: you don't have to divulge because you kind of hit
Speaker 6: most of it. But is it to the fact that
Speaker 6: you're having more movement on every single one of your
Speaker 6: pitches or is there something else to it?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think a little bit.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of it goes into count leverage too,
Speaker 3: And obviously if you have better stuff that you can
Speaker 3: throw over the plate, it's easier to make sure that
Speaker 3: you're not, you know, getting in those cripple counts. That
Speaker 3: was a big thing that we were chasing swing and
Speaker 3: miss early in counts and getting a swing and miss
Speaker 3: one one oh, and then all of a sudden, you've
Speaker 3: thrown the guy five six pitches and he's got a
Speaker 3: good chance to do some damage because he's he's now
Speaker 3: seen everything. So that was part of adding a couples
Speaker 3: to give guys a different look. But really it's it's
Speaker 3: just been, you know, getting better at the things that
Speaker 3: are simple, Like I said, count leverage, getting ahead, staying ahead,
Speaker 3: keeping hitters guessing, and our rotation in general has put
Speaker 3: a lot of importance on that and our pitching staff
Speaker 3: has drilled that into us for sure.
Speaker 5: I quit playing in twenty twenty. Twenty nineteen was your
Speaker 5: coming out party and it was Sorocus sinker. Now it's
Speaker 5: one of your least used pitches. So when I asked
Speaker 5: this question, I'm asking it from the fact that when
Speaker 5: I saw you pitch in the big leagues, like when
Speaker 5: I was had a uniform and it was like, okay,
Speaker 5: all sinkers. Now your you've completely changed your repertoire through
Speaker 5: injuries all that stuff. For everybody doesn't know and you
Speaker 5: seem like you watch and look at other people's pitches.
Speaker 2: Is that correct?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, everybody that goes out there, if we've got stuff,
Speaker 3: I want to I want to know not only what
Speaker 3: it's doing on the board, on the track man per se,
Speaker 3: but I want to know what hitters are seeing too.
Speaker 3: So actually I'll hit inside and watch guys hit off
Speaker 3: traject if I can, just to give it get a
Speaker 3: slight idea. I think the perceived action is even more
Speaker 3: important than what's kind of going out on the numbers.
Speaker 4: If that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Yes, So then that brings my next question.
Speaker 5: Take your foremost used pitches right now, and who in
Speaker 5: the game would you say, Okay, I want my four
Speaker 5: steamer to look like that because that is my favorite
Speaker 5: four seamer. I want my slurve to I want my
Speaker 5: sweeper to look like that, My cutter will look like this.
Speaker 5: Name your favorite pitches to look at that. You're like, wow,
Speaker 5: I'd love to see his edgatronic grip or even if
Speaker 5: it's like somebody that's not playing right now, You're like,
Speaker 5: I would love to have seen how this guy through it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, honestly, for as far as fastball, and
Speaker 3: I think it's it's kind of coming out and people
Speaker 3: are starting to see a little more. Is Ryan Nelson's
Speaker 3: fastball every time he takes the mound. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: it's a fastball that he can kind of just keep throwing.
Speaker 3: It's pretty incredible. It's it's a super higher rise, upper
Speaker 3: nineties heater. That one gets fun every single time. And
Speaker 3: it's again it's it's one where hitters will swing and
Speaker 3: miss at multiple times, which is such a rare thing
Speaker 3: in baseball nowadays. Obviously, you know, talk about pure cutter again,
Speaker 3: you talk about perceived action. I still think there's nobody
Speaker 3: better than Rivera. You made a career off locating that one. Pitch,
Speaker 3: and you know, be interesting to see the data on
Speaker 3: that one too, because I'm not sure it would necessarily
Speaker 3: wow people metrically. I think it's just a pitch that
Speaker 3: hitters just didn't see what was about to happen with
Speaker 3: that pitch. So I think that's an interesting part to
Speaker 3: our game that I think we're not quite completely understanding of.
Speaker 3: You know, we talked about angles again, the Cubs were
Speaker 3: kind of one of the one of the teams to
Speaker 3: bring that to me, is was perceived movement based on angles.
Speaker 3: So you got those ones. And then for breaking balls, yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I like to see the outliers. We
Speaker 3: just saw Roup in San Francisco. It's an outlier breaking ball.
Speaker 3: It's it's another breaking ball that moves in both directions.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: Obviously watching Nolan McLain.
Speaker 3: At the beginning of the year in New York when
Speaker 3: the wind was swirling, their stuff was going everywhere. So again,
Speaker 3: those are all fun to watch, but those would be
Speaker 3: the two I think that I think River's cutter I
Speaker 3: would love to see today. I would love to see
Speaker 3: that because I think a lot of people would maybe
Speaker 3: change their mind on chasing just pure raw total movement,
Speaker 3: if that makes sense.
Speaker 6: True, true, So I'm going to give you a fan
Speaker 6: question here. This is from m Jr. Asking who the
Speaker 6: best second basement in baseball is. I'm curious what your
Speaker 6: answer would be that I think I have a feeling
Speaker 6: what you're going to say, But talk to me about
Speaker 6: your guy over there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, obviously, I got to see Ozzy Ozzie
Speaker 3: playing in Atlanta for a long time, but seeing some
Speaker 3: of the some of the things that Ka Tell Marte
Speaker 3: does on a daily basis, is pretty wild.
Speaker 4: We knew he was he was going to catch fire here.
Speaker 3: I think I saw a stat the other day that
Speaker 3: he had like twenty five balls hit over one hundred
Speaker 3: miles an hour go for outs this year, and we
Speaker 3: knew it was about to happen. But again, it's pretty
Speaker 3: silly to look at a second basement and see that
Speaker 3: stature and see what he can do and how fast
Speaker 3: he can.
Speaker 4: Move his hands and that barrel.
Speaker 3: So yeah, obviously I'm partial now, but he's definitely the
Speaker 3: most impressive I think I've ever seen.
Speaker 5: All Right, did you see the whole pitch tipping slash
Speaker 5: being relayed from the dugout with the Cardinals and Brewers Series.
Speaker 3: I didn't get the whole thing. I got the gist, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I didn't get the lowdown. I didn't hear from anybody
Speaker 3: on either of those teams.
Speaker 2: Though you have.
Speaker 5: Any crazy pitch tipping through your time of trying to
Speaker 5: figure out why somebody is getting hitting you or where
Speaker 5: like somebody came up to you, you have any cool pitch
Speaker 5: tipping stories.
Speaker 3: I was for a period of time at the beginning
Speaker 3: of twenty four my hands were kind of coming up
Speaker 3: too high on fastballs that were coming up higher.
Speaker 4: There's always some interesting ones. I guess.
Speaker 3: The only one that gets me a little bit is
Speaker 3: Josh Naylor last year.
Speaker 4: And I know Josh.
Speaker 3: I've played with Josh on the junior national team when
Speaker 3: we were sixteen seventeen with team in.
Speaker 4: Canada, and last year he got me again.
Speaker 3: He's so far had my number in the big leagues
Speaker 3: and got me last year when we were in Arizona,
Speaker 3: and after the game it just kind of said, look like,
Speaker 3: I don't even know that you were tipping. I could
Speaker 3: just see something different in your delivery on off speed
Speaker 3: and I don't know if I necessarily bought it, but
Speaker 3: it did feel like literally everything I threw him.
Speaker 4: He was on like he knew it.
Speaker 3: And you know, there's little things that you'll see all
Speaker 3: the time. You'll just see some swings on pitches that
Speaker 3: typically don't get hit or get hit hard. You always
Speaker 3: got to be careful about it. But again, we've got
Speaker 3: a pretty good team over here in Arizona to make
Speaker 3: sure that they're staying on, that they're watching us like
Speaker 3: a hawk, as if they're trying to pick us. And yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it's it's a tough thing because all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: it makes it makes pitching much much, much harder than
Speaker 3: it needs to be.
Speaker 2: Does that get in your head at all?
Speaker 5: Because we I used to play with Chase Suttley, and
Speaker 5: Chase Sutley would run to the mound when we didn't
Speaker 5: have mound visit issues and he put his hand overs,
Speaker 5: he put his glove over his mouth, be like, hey,
Speaker 5: you're tipping, and then he'd go run back to second
Speaker 5: base and I was like like, at.
Speaker 2: Least tell like what what what was he doing?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 5: Does that make you? Does that make you a worse pitcher?
Speaker 5: Even if you don't know what the tip is? Like
Speaker 5: it's like telling somebody, hey, you run weird? And then
Speaker 5: every time you run you're like, what is it and
Speaker 5: what am I doing wrong?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think if you especially if you don't know what
Speaker 3: it is, you almost gotta change something in that moment.
Speaker 3: It definitely can make you second guess things sometimes, you know.
Speaker 3: I think again, you gotta be careful with sometimes just
Speaker 3: realizing that maybe they just put a good, good swing
Speaker 3: on the ball, maybe you're not tipping. You know, they're
Speaker 3: pretty good too. There is sometimes where hitters go through
Speaker 3: a lineup and everybody just gets good swings off or
Speaker 3: they happen to guess right, So you gotta be careful
Speaker 3: not spiraling down. But yeah, I think if you didn't
Speaker 3: know what you were doing and somebody told you were tipping,
Speaker 3: I think you'd be better off just trying to change
Speaker 3: your entire your entire setup at that point.
Speaker 5: Do you have any connection with Corbyn Burns as he's
Speaker 5: rehabbing here or has he kind of been? I mean
Speaker 5: the facility is still in Arizona. Is he hanging around
Speaker 5: with you guys?
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's been around a ton. He's been at Chase
Speaker 3: a good bit. When we're at home. He stayed and
Speaker 3: watched a lot of games. I didn't realize until until
Speaker 3: I met him, how how into doing his homework and
Speaker 3: his scouting reports he is personally.
Speaker 4: So I've been kind of asking him questions here.
Speaker 3: And there about what he looks for and how he determines,
Speaker 3: you know, which guys he's gonna mix in. Essentially, is
Speaker 3: his sinker too, which is more like my cutter? I
Speaker 3: guess I would say, because obviously his cutter is his thing,
Speaker 3: and that's you know, ninety seven mile hour cut bowling balls.
Speaker 3: But on the other end, he needs to mix in
Speaker 3: the other one to try and you know, drive hitters off,
Speaker 3: and that's kind of what I've added my cutter for.
Speaker 3: So I think, you know, having him around has been
Speaker 3: invaluable and I'm really looking forward to seeing him get
Speaker 3: back in the rotation and let a rip. I know
Speaker 3: he's been itching and get back and he's tired of
Speaker 3: throwing bullpens, so it'll be a lot of fun.
Speaker 5: Have you heard him say anything, Because the reason I
Speaker 5: asked is obviously he's a possible a So you guys
Speaker 5: can add into your rotation here coming down to stretch
Speaker 5: for the season. But when I listen to you, I
Speaker 5: don't know you at all. Other than from being on
Speaker 5: the show, I hear a lot of similarities. Is there
Speaker 5: anything that he says to you that resonates where you're like, oh, Okay,
Speaker 5: I can go out and do this, or is there
Speaker 5: anything that you've been able to say, Hey, you know what,
Speaker 5: I went through two years of this and it was
Speaker 5: able to bring him up because you guys seem like
Speaker 5: you have the same, like very methodical vari Maybe it's
Speaker 5: just the hair, Maybe it's just the hair and beard
Speaker 5: that makes it the same. But have you guys been
Speaker 5: able to connect on those two ends of it?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: I think the one similarity to a doocye is is,
Speaker 3: you know, having to kind of make your own way
Speaker 3: a little bit in so far as what you want
Speaker 3: to do as a pitcher. I know, he decided he
Speaker 3: was going to lean into the fact that he basically
Speaker 3: couldn't make the ball ride like everybody was trying to
Speaker 3: do in you know, in nineteen twenty twenty one, everybody
Speaker 3: was trying to get the rise ball going, and he
Speaker 3: eventually just kind of said, screw it, I'm going to
Speaker 3: lean into what I'm good at and that's it, and
Speaker 3: I'm going to be stubborn with it and then all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, it wasn't probably one year later and
Speaker 3: he was, you know, competing for a SII, And Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think there is that similarity a little bit when
Speaker 3: you get to a point where you figure out that
Speaker 3: your path is your own and you're going to make
Speaker 3: it that He went through that and got to do
Speaker 3: all of those things that come with it, and got
Speaker 3: to learn and got to keep pitching, and it's actually
Speaker 3: very similar to kind of what I saw Max Freed
Speaker 3: do in Atlanta. So these guys have gotten to the
Speaker 3: point where they know exactly what they want to look
Speaker 3: for and they know exactly how they want to compete. Again,
Speaker 3: it's time that I missed being on the IL and
Speaker 3: trying to learn from these guys' experiences is going to
Speaker 3: help expedite the path that I want to be onto.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to use every bit of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been cool. We're talking earlier about how the
Speaker 1: team's getting Corbyn back and then Ajpuck and Justin Martinez
Speaker 1: slated to return for the bullpen this season. There's some
Speaker 1: reinforcements that are going to help a team that already
Speaker 1: looks good. So it's been fun. We always enjoy the combo.
Speaker 1: Thanks Michael, really appreciate the time. Keep doing your thing.
Speaker 1: It's been a fun watch and we'll catch up with.
Speaker 4: You all right, guys, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Here's a tweet from Tim Kelly Sports. The Phillies are
Speaker 1: going to be done playing the Cubs, the Giants, and
Speaker 1: the Padres before ever playing the Mets. That makes zero sense.
Speaker 1: So we were just picking on the Phillies for this.
Speaker 1: But Todd, we always get complaints. Hey, my team's not
Speaker 1: playing this team until this time. It's not all going
Speaker 1: to be perfect. Could it be better?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 1: My thing that I have the bigger issue with is
Speaker 1: when two teams don't play each other for a long
Speaker 1: period of time, or even have a season series that
Speaker 1: ends so early, and you'd like to see a division
Speaker 1: rivalry with the top two teams play each other. I
Speaker 1: have more of a problem with that, I think right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess it doesn't really matter because the
Speaker 1: Giants aren't good this year, but I don't think the
Speaker 1: Giants and Dodgers play each other again until like September,
Speaker 1: mid September. I just like a little bit of balance
Speaker 1: with the divisions. I care a little less about the
Speaker 1: very beginning of the season, more about the middle and
Speaker 1: the end for the division to match up when the
Speaker 1: standings get paid more closely at attention to.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and I think Cubs, Giants, and Padres they're all
Speaker 6: really good teams, so down the stretch, Listen, the Phillies
Speaker 6: might have a little easier schedule, so that might help
Speaker 6: them too. Yeah, I don't understand that. I think you'd
Speaker 6: want to play those teams in the beginning, a little
Speaker 6: bit in the middle, and then a lot at the end.
Speaker 6: But it's a tough job to figure all that out.
Speaker 6: But again, Phillies, I think the Phillies would have the
Speaker 6: upper hand here knowing that they haven't played. They're not
Speaker 6: going to be playing these really good teams down the stretch.
Speaker 1: Right, and then they will get the Mets depending on
Speaker 1: what happens. This is the other big factor Krantz is
Speaker 1: if you get teams post trade deadline and they strip parts,
Speaker 1: sometimes those teams are not that good.