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Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Sahada Sharma with my partner Patrick Moodey. We are

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Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, Big

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Speaker 1: News in Chicago. The Pope, yes, yes, uh, Milord is

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Speaker 1: going to be a religious experience now, not that it

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Speaker 1: wasn't before. Uh uh. There was some controversy whether the

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Speaker 1: Pope is a Cubs fan or a Socks fan. But

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Speaker 1: he's a Socks fan, so we can't spend too much

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Speaker 1: time on the pope. He's a Socks fan. So uh. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: the Cubs went went ahead and had they assumed he

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Speaker 1: was a Cubs fan, there there was an erroneous report

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Speaker 1: out there.

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Speaker 2: Uh erroneous.

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Speaker 1: So not a Cubs fan. But I have a good,

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Speaker 1: good vibes about the Bears. I'm not a religious person,

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Speaker 1: but I mean the Pope is as a Bears fan,

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Speaker 1: so I mean I think the Bears are gonna gonna

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Speaker 1: make some noise this year. I'm excited. Even Caleb Williams

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Speaker 1: was tweeting about the pope.

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Speaker 2: The internet still undefeated. Like I loved all those memes,

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Speaker 2: Like I was getting a bunch of them from friends

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Speaker 2: and family, Like, I don't know, it's so rare to

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Speaker 2: have like a singular kind of moment that everyone's locking

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Speaker 2: on and then to see like the WGN did a

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Speaker 2: great job of tracking down the family and the New

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Speaker 2: York Times had a story too. But just like the

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Speaker 2: photo of him at like Arilio's pizza last summer, good ye,

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Speaker 2: the Sat Saint rita connection, just all the all the

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Speaker 2: Bears stuff, just so funny, a much needed like moment

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Speaker 2: of levity. Good luck to the pope.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so you're You're right, it's like so rare

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Speaker 1: that we all come together on social media and everybody's

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Speaker 1: talking about the same thing. It's you know, like a

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Speaker 1: social media can be so polarizing now that but this

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Speaker 1: is this is one of those fun especially Chicago Chicago Twitter.

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Speaker 1: It was it was really, it was really fun yesterday.

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Speaker 1: And like you said, I like, I have friends that

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Speaker 1: they don't spend nearly as much time as social media

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Speaker 1: on social media as as I do, so to get

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Speaker 1: all these memes shared by them was was really fun.

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Speaker 1: It was. It was a good time. There will be

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Speaker 1: a good time this weekend in New York. It is

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Speaker 1: cad Horton time Cad Horton Cub's top pitching prospect. The

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Speaker 1: last time the Cubs drafted a pitcher in the top

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Speaker 1: ten was Mark Pryor. I was talking about this with

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Speaker 1: our buddy Paul Sullivan. I can't think of a more

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Speaker 1: hyped pitching prospect for the Cubs since Mark Pryor. I

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Speaker 1: mean this, This guy entered last season, the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: four season, as arguably the top pitching prospect in baseball.

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Speaker 1: Unless I'm missing someone that just hasn't happened since prior.

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Speaker 1: Nobody was in that debate. This is as exciting as

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Speaker 1: a pitching prospect comes for the Cubs especially. I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously Justin Steele came up through their system and contended

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Speaker 1: for a Cy Young but he was not a high prospect.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure if he ever made a top one

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Speaker 1: hundred list. I don't believe he did. Cad Horton is

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Speaker 1: a legit pitching prospect, just you know, highly thought of.

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Speaker 1: Aggressive pick by the Cubs, but right now looking like

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Speaker 1: a pretty smart move. And we'll see he could be sound.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's not he could be. He's making his

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Speaker 1: debut on Saturday at City Field. It's a big moment

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Speaker 1: for him and an exciting moment for Cubs fans.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was trying to think was Carlos and Brano's debut.

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Speaker 2: I was not there for that one and only other

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Speaker 2: sort of home grown pitcher, and obviously no one could

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Speaker 2: have known the full scope of big Z when he debuted.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think he was like a solid prospect,

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Speaker 1: but I don't remember him being like oka hype.

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Speaker 2: I mean, but yeah, you're right, Like I've been kind

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Speaker 2: of going through the rolodex mental rolodecks as well of

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Speaker 2: trying to find certain reference points. We had a lot

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Speaker 2: of great position player debuts that were certainly long anticipated

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Speaker 2: and guys who did deliver on the hype, you know,

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Speaker 2: whether it's Haave Baiez or Chris Bryant.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: I guess anthy original wasn't a pure debut obviously had

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Speaker 2: come up with the Padres, but you know that was,

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Speaker 2: you know, a full Rizo watch. And I think for

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Speaker 2: our listeners side up, I think be useful to kind

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Speaker 2: of go back to that draft because I remember you

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Speaker 2: were hearing a lot of stuff around that time, and

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Speaker 2: I think some of the names that were bandied about

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Speaker 2: before that selection were position players, right, and just the

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Speaker 2: I think to put into context of how Cave Horton

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Speaker 2: really just popped on the radar late leading into that draft.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe the name we kept hearing over and

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Speaker 1: over again was brooks Lead. There was a maybe there

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Speaker 1: was a was that the draft of the short stuff,

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Speaker 1: the Indian shortstop that's now in the Blue Jays system.

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Speaker 1: There were we were hearing a lot of different that

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Speaker 1: may be a different draft, but brooks Lee was the

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Speaker 1: name I remember when he's now a Twins third base prospect,

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Speaker 1: or maybe he's already come up. It was all position players,

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Speaker 1: Like I don't remember that draft being highly thought of

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Speaker 1: for pictures, and that was there was something I remember

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Speaker 1: getting told, don't you know you should also remember that

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Speaker 1: the way there are things we can look at now

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Speaker 1: that a small sample size isn't always a small sample size.

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Speaker 1: If a guy has a plus pitch that he just

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Speaker 1: recently developed, that's a real thing. And what that was

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Speaker 1: a big hit that I kind of overlooked free draft

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Speaker 1: because I think I hadn't fully put it, pulled it,

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Speaker 1: put it all together. Kate Horton just wasn't on my radar,

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Speaker 1: but he was clearly on the Cubs radar, and I

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Speaker 1: think they surprised a lot of people, and I think

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Speaker 1: there were actually some people that weren't thrilled with that, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: I feel like people were a little disappointed, I guess

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Speaker 1: by the decision to draft Kate Horton.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess if you just look at the Cub's

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Speaker 2: history recently, and this is kind of over different regimes

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Speaker 2: and different philosophies, it's been hit or first. And I

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Speaker 2: think you know, when you look at pitching in the draft,

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Speaker 2: you know, they like to say it can come from anywhere.

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Speaker 2: I would get the hesitancy if you see a guy

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Speaker 2: sort of like get hot, not even for like one season.

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Speaker 2: It was like part of one season where he just

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Speaker 2: like you know, lit it up. But when you step back,

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Speaker 2: you realize, Okay, the Cubs had a prior relationship with him,

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Speaker 2: kind of I believe it was that COVID draft, or

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Speaker 2: kind of right before COVID happened, when he was in

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Speaker 2: high school in Norman, Oklahoma. The Cubs had done the

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Speaker 2: home visit, a lot of background work. I don't know,

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Speaker 2: you got to like a guy who was recruited to play,

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Speaker 2: you know, And I think it was sort of a

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Speaker 2: preferred walk on type role at Oklahoma, made a two

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Speaker 2: way player on the baseball diamond, and then you know,

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Speaker 2: if he has this great athleticism and a little bit

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Speaker 2: of feel and a competitive drive, you can kind of

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Speaker 2: see it all come together. And obviously the industry valued

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Speaker 2: him a little differently, or at least lower than a

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Speaker 2: number seven pick, because the Cubs were able to get

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Speaker 2: him below slot. And then interestingly enough, they go get

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Speaker 2: Jackson Ferris give him three million dollars and that was

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Speaker 2: one of the prospects they packaged in the deal to

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Speaker 2: the Dodgers to get Michael Bush, who's become a really

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Speaker 2: nice everyday piece for this this version of the Cubs.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. No, that's a good point. They saved a little money.

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Speaker 1: They they what what people thought was an overdraft with

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Speaker 1: with Horton and they but they liked him and they

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Speaker 1: went and got Horton and key piece in a big trade. Uh.

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Speaker 1: They you know that that they've done that before, right,

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Speaker 1: That was the Kyle Schwarber Draft where they drafted that

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Speaker 1: they ended up getting Cease and Steal right.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 1: Some people felt Schwarbur was a reach, and you know,

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Speaker 1: obviously not he's still producing at a very high level,

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Speaker 1: and they went and signed a bunch of you know,

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Speaker 1: overslought pitchers later in the draft. It clearly worked out. Patrick,

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Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break before we get to more

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Speaker 1: cad Horton talk.

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Speaker 1: Patrick. The reason Horton shot up that year was he

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Speaker 1: had like his e R A. If you remember, his

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Speaker 1: c R A was pretty bad right in Oklahoma.

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Speaker 2: Uh, might have been a five or six.

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Speaker 1: It was pretty anything. Yeah, it wasn't anything special. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And he was coming back from Tommy John surgery. He

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Speaker 1: was just working his way back and he developed what

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Speaker 1: you know, this nasty slider that just suddenly things started

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Speaker 1: to click. The velocity was back on the fastball, and

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Speaker 1: and this slider was just plumbaxing hitters. And he he

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Speaker 1: went on a dominant run to end his Oklahoma career.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: And that's that's the pitch that stands out. That's the

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Speaker 1: pitch that still guards the most love, whether it's from scouts,

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Speaker 1: whether it's from you know these stuff plus models. The

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Speaker 1: slider is the plus plus pitch. Last year was a

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Speaker 1: bad year for Kayden Horton. Right, both Kate I call

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Speaker 1: him Kayten Horton. Kate Horton. Uh, it was not a

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Speaker 1: good season for him and he he struggled early on

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Speaker 1: with his fastball. His fastball velocity was down about two

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Speaker 1: three ticks, and then he got hurt. It was a

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Speaker 1: pretty significant injury, and injury that at first we were

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Speaker 1: told we weren't really clear what it was and then

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Speaker 1: you know, wiped out majority of his season. That these

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Speaker 1: types of things happened to pitchers, right, It happens all

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Speaker 1: the time to pictures we pitching prospects. There's there's a

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Speaker 1: joke that there's no such thing as a pitching prospect

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Speaker 1: because they they get injured. Looking Grayson Rodriguez, I don't

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Speaker 1: even know what he's doing right now. For the Orioles,

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Speaker 1: this happens all the time. The top pitching prospect just

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Speaker 1: falls off the radar. They get whether his shoulder, elbow, whatever,

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Speaker 1: something happens and they fall off the radar. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: there was that concern with Kate Horton, but they they

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Speaker 1: got him right. They got him feeling his delivery again,

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Speaker 1: leaning into his athleticism. He looks like the picture he

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Speaker 1: was in twenty twenty three. Whatever. You A month and

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Speaker 1: a half into the Triple A season, he's been really

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Speaker 1: impressive and he's back to being a top pitching prospect.

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Speaker 2: You did a lot of reporting on this, Like we

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Speaker 2: had been kind of collecting information like knowing this was coming,

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Speaker 2: we didn't know exactly when, but Horton was on the

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Speaker 2: horizon and then showed his injury just sped everything up.

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Speaker 2: And what interests me as we've been going back and

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Speaker 2: forth on our Google docs and kind of reading some

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Speaker 2: of these transcripts, like can you explain to our listeners,

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Speaker 2: like what was sort of the the cad Horton plan

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Speaker 2: in spring training, like the summit, Uh, the collaboration across

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Speaker 2: departments to kind of as you framed it, you know,

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Speaker 2: recognize that this is a year to forget and that

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Speaker 2: acknowledged there were real questions about whether or not he

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Speaker 2: could get back to what he was and kind of

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Speaker 2: get to the next level.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was kind of presented to me as like

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Speaker 1: a brain trust. There were, you know, the people that

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Speaker 1: you that everyone's heard of, like Tommy Hottevey was was

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Speaker 1: involved director of pitching who Ryan o'taro took over for

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Speaker 1: Craig Breslo. Right, There's Casey Jacobson who is now the

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Speaker 1: assistant pitching coach. I believe Casey Jacobson was just a

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Speaker 1: pitching coordinator, right, and I think that's what his role

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Speaker 1: was before now.

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Speaker 2: He he would have interacted, you know, frequently with Wharton

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Speaker 2: and had great visibility. I think even going back to

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Speaker 2: before the draft, if I remember correctly, that Jacobsen and

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Speaker 2: Breslo kind of that pitching wing. I believe they were

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Speaker 2: brought in as they were even like evaluating prospects to

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Speaker 2: get a grounding and you know, kind of share some

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Speaker 2: ideas about what it could look like if they entered

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Speaker 2: the Cup system exactly.

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Speaker 1: So he was involved. Tyler Sombro, who's a new pitching

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Speaker 1: or special assistant with a focus on pitching. Matt Hinckley's

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Speaker 1: I believe pitching coordinator out in Arizona. Mike sod who's

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Speaker 1: really interesting guy. Pitching scientists. Believe it's pitching scientists. This

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Speaker 1: is a title so cross a collaboration between all these

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Speaker 1: different parts of the org which is so important in

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Speaker 1: they've talked about this for years, right, This was this

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Speaker 1: was what the whole all the changes that were made

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Speaker 1: five six years ago were with this idea in mind,

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Speaker 1: where an organization is into they they look at an

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Speaker 1: organization as a holistic unit. There's no it's not just

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Speaker 1: the pro side and player development and amateur strength and conditioning.

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Speaker 1: They all got to work together, and that's what happened here. Uh,

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Speaker 1: they all came together. How do we get Cad Horton

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Speaker 1: back to being his best self? They a lot of

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Speaker 1: different talks that they noticed that his arm slot had

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Speaker 1: had kind of changed, that that happens after injuries. What

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Speaker 1: do you need to work on, what sort of things,

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Speaker 1: What parts of your body do you need to strengthen

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Speaker 1: these types of things. They they discussed and they came

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Speaker 1: up with the plan, presented it to Horton, who was

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Speaker 1: all it? Who was it? Was nothing too crazy, right.

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Speaker 1: They weren't telling him become a different pitcher. It was

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Speaker 1: more lean into these things that make you special and

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Speaker 1: you will find your best self. You will go back

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Speaker 1: to being that picture that you were in twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: And it seems like they've gotten them back there. The

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Speaker 1: one thing I find interesting with all of this is

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Speaker 1: the velocity is back with his fastball, And I think

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Speaker 1: that was a question last year. It was something that

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Speaker 1: certain scouts told me they were concerned about because it

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Speaker 1: didn't have the type of traits that were pure, you know,

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Speaker 1: the type of characteristics of fastball has that allows a

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Speaker 1: pitcher to thrive without velocities. But I think there's something

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Speaker 1: too that what the Cubs have with Gate Horton, they

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Speaker 1: have it with Justin Steele. I think Porter Hodge as well.

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Speaker 1: It's the cut ride fastball. This fastball is still I

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Speaker 1: think being fully understood by I think scouts understand it

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Speaker 1: better than better than the models, and I think the

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Speaker 1: models see Kate Horton as having an average fastball. I

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Speaker 1: think the Cubs may disagree with that. I think we'll

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Speaker 1: find out, you know, we're going to find out on

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Speaker 1: Saturday and probably over the course of this summer how

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Speaker 1: effective that fastball is. Maybe maybe it's just all about

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Speaker 1: velocity and locating it properly, and with the nasty slider.

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Speaker 1: He's got a good curveball and a developing change. I'm

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Speaker 1: really curious to see how much he uses those or

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Speaker 1: is he going to be a two pitch pitcher for

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Speaker 1: the most part, which he has been early on this season.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't last year. Last year was a struggle, but

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Speaker 1: this year he's been a two pitch pitcher for the

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Speaker 1: most part. I want to say ninety percent, maybe a

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Speaker 1: tick below ninety percent, it's been fastball a slider.

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Speaker 2: What you've outlined, I think really resonates for anyone who's

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Speaker 2: been paying attention to how the Cubs were built leading

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Speaker 2: into twenty sixteen and sort of how they fell off

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Speaker 2: and how they tried to get back again, because you're right,

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Speaker 2: it was this chicken or the egg theory of are

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Speaker 2: the Cubs drafting the wrong pitchers or they just not

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Speaker 2: being developed once they come into the system, And it

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Speaker 2: was sort of this like a little bit of a

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Speaker 2: blame game of you know, you'd see certain guys maybe

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Speaker 2: go to other places or productive, or you know, they

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Speaker 2: were understandably frequently mortgaging their farm system to try to

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Speaker 2: win now, and there was this the way I think

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Speaker 2: it was described to us. We wrote a big story,

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Speaker 2: I don't know, a year or two or ago about kind

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Speaker 2: of this new Cub's way and that pitching instruction and

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Speaker 2: philosophies were kind of on two totally different tracks, even

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Speaker 2: when the Cubs were like the best team in the game,

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Speaker 2: having the number one farm system in the game, and

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Speaker 2: that eventually they started to merge that it became kind

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Speaker 2: of one sort of not one philosophy, but like everyone

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Speaker 2: kind of going along the same path, and I think

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Speaker 2: Horton that is part of Horton's rise here. Now look

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Speaker 2: like he's fantastically talented, you know, a top ten pick.

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Speaker 2: It's not like the Cubs you know, found this, you know,

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Speaker 2: guy under a rock or something like that. But like

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Speaker 2: it takes a lot, I mean, Justin Steele would say this,

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Speaker 2: It takes a lot of different elements and time to

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Speaker 2: like bring a guy to the majors and have him succeed.

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Speaker 2: And I think we've talked about this before. It's a

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Speaker 2: nice landing spot for him of just the environment, whether

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Speaker 2: it's Craig Council's kind of big picturehilosophy and his patience

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Speaker 2: with young talent. Some awesome defenders on the field, two

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Speaker 2: really good catchers, established pitching coach, and like if Kyle

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Speaker 2: Tucker hits a three run homer, you know, in the

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Speaker 2: first inning, or maybe he's batting second. Anyway, if Kyle

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Speaker 2: Tucker hits a three run homer in New York, or

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Speaker 2: you know, Peko Armstrong has the awesome game that we

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Speaker 2: kind of think is going to be in there in

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Speaker 2: New York, like all of a sudden, he can sort

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Speaker 2: of exhale. This is not a situation where the Cubs

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Speaker 2: are like desperately need a spark, or you know, they're

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Speaker 2: kind of dragging. Like this is a first place team

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Speaker 2: that's pretty stable, well constructed, and a lot of kind

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Speaker 2: of adults in the room to where like this is

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Speaker 2: all right in front of Horton right now. Like, if

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Speaker 2: he can stay healthy, if he can make the adjust,

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Speaker 2: if he's as good as they say he's, he's gonna

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Speaker 2: set himself up pretty nicely.

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Speaker 1: I understand the argument of wanting to give him an

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Speaker 1: easier landing by by pitching against the Marlins or the

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Speaker 1: White Sox, but this isn't the hype has been there

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Speaker 1: for him before he was drafted. This is this is

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Speaker 1: a kid who was a two sport athlete quarterback. It's

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Speaker 1: not like pressure hasn't been on him before. This is different.

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Speaker 1: It's New York, it's the big leagues. It is different.

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Speaker 1: I'm not denying that. But he's he's experienced a lot

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Speaker 1: of College World Series, high school quarterback, probably playing in

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Speaker 1: some stressful games with all eyes on him in the community.

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Speaker 1: This is another level, another challenge for him. I don't

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Speaker 1: I think when you're a top prospect. You've probably gotten

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Speaker 1: used to having all on you and learned how to compartmentalized.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be a different moment for him. I

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Speaker 1: don't think. I think the moment won't be too big.

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Speaker 1: Whether Juan Soto, Francisco lindor Pee Alonso is too big

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Speaker 1: for him. We'll see that that that's too big for

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Speaker 1: a lot of pitchers, not just a rookie making his debut.

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Speaker 1: H So, so it's not it's not a question of

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Speaker 1: ken he handle this, uh, this the bright stage. In

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Speaker 1: my opinion, I just want to I want to see

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Speaker 1: how he does against a pretty good lineup one of

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Speaker 1: the you know, some of the best talents in in

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Speaker 1: baseball right now, especially the way Alonso is swinging it.

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Speaker 1: These are three of the best offensive players going right now.

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Speaker 1: So I'm curious to see how he handles that. That

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Speaker 1: just the getting big league hitters out, That's that's what

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Speaker 1: I'm because not. I don't think New York is going

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Speaker 1: to be too big for him, just because I think

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Speaker 1: when you're a top prospect, you've you've experienced a lot

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Speaker 1: of pressure, and you've you've you've learned how to get

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Speaker 1: through that. Mentally, I would like to think that that's

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Speaker 1: the case. And talking to him, Uh, he seems like

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Speaker 1: like a level headed kid who I even asked him

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Speaker 1: about does he care back in spring training? How much

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Speaker 1: you care about the fact that you've kind of lost

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Speaker 1: your prospect top you you were the top pitching prospect

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Speaker 1: and now people are questioning whether that you basically said,

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Speaker 1: it's all about results. He doesn't care whether whether he

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Speaker 1: was a top prospect ever before or not. All he

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Speaker 1: has to do is get results and win games, and

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Speaker 1: he'll he'll find success. He understands that he's not looking

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Speaker 1: for the spotlight, he's not looking for headlines. He's just

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Speaker 1: trying to go out there and do his job. I

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Speaker 1: think that's uh, you know that that's that's a good

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Speaker 1: sign for the kid, and hopefully he's able to you know,

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Speaker 1: handle this and and yeah, this is a good lineup.

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Speaker 1: This is good. This is gonna be an immedia test

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Speaker 1: and then it gets you know, if he stays in

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Speaker 1: the rotation, I think it'll be a few weeks of

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Speaker 1: easier starts, but this first one is a fun one

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Speaker 1: for everyone.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think if he's able to settle in and

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Speaker 2: get a chunk of starts while showda heels. I think

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Speaker 2: that will be a much better barometer obviously than like

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Speaker 2: a couple innings in New York. And I'm with you, like,

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Speaker 2: how does this stuff translate? Because the gap between Triple

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Speaker 2: A and the majors might be as big as it's ever been.

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Speaker 2: You're talking about a guy who's fantastically talented but does

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Speaker 2: not have a ton of innings under his belt. And

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Speaker 2: we've praised the Cubs and pointed out a lot of

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Speaker 2: the good things they've done on the pitching side, but

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Speaker 2: also like from Mark Pryor to Kate Horton, that's a

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Speaker 2: really long time, Like that's not exactly like you know,

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Speaker 2: a pitching factory along the lines of, say what they

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Speaker 2: what they've done in Cleveland that now that ultimately that

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Speaker 2: doesn't really matter for Kate Horton specifically, But I think

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Speaker 2: it's just we have to recalibrate expectations as well, Like

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Speaker 2: Kate Horton does not have a ton of reps and

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Speaker 2: maybe that doesn't matter, Like there are certain pitchers that

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Speaker 2: just have that factor and it shows up immediately. But

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Speaker 2: when you listen to Jed Hoyer talk about, you know,

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Speaker 2: competitive pitches, making sure you're in and around the zone

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Speaker 2: all the time. You know, the difference between a one,

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Speaker 2: one to two count and a two to two count

418
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Speaker 2: like stuff like that. The Cubs have a really good

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Speaker 2: game planning system, you know, the way the game is now,

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Speaker 2: Like they can kind of say, like, if you put

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Speaker 2: this pitch at this particular spot, there's you know, x

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00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:10,360
Speaker 2: percentage that this isn't out. Can you can you get

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Speaker 2: it to that point over and over and over again?

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Speaker 2: Like that's really hard to do, but certainly he's as

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Speaker 2: well equipped as any Cups pitching prospect. I guess in

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Speaker 2: the generation to like go out and execute that, we'll

427
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Speaker 2: be We'll be fun to watch. We'll be like a

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Speaker 2: great kind of ongoing story. Like I don't think if

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Speaker 2: he throws three four shutout in New York it's like,

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Speaker 2: oh my god, he's, you know, the next great pitcher

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Speaker 2: in the game. He's not Paul Skeens. But also like

432
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:45,919
Speaker 2: if he gets shelled in New York, I'm not going

433
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,239
Speaker 2: to write him off, like it'll be it'll be like

434
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 2: a good story in the sense that there is much

435
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:55,959
Speaker 2: larger implications like if this guy's a dude, if they

436
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 2: can keep him healthy and keep him improving, to where

437
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,240
Speaker 2: he's like a actor in September and maybe even October

438
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 2: like that, that would be huge.

439
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: I agree with that, where keeping keeping him healthy, giving

440
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 1: him this experience, this could be huge down the line.

441
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,360
Speaker 1: I don't know what. I guess we'll see what happens

442
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,240
Speaker 1: with him over this. If he sticks around for the

443
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,680
Speaker 1: full month or whatever. That showedas round, does he force

444
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,320
Speaker 1: his way, We're just they have to say, we're not

445
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 1: sending him down. We will figure out what we're doing,

446
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,679
Speaker 1: but we're not sending him down. We can't do that.

447
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 1: He's too good or he's too impactful for this club

448
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:36,800
Speaker 1: that I'm sure that's what they hope. That's what you

449
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 1: want to happen. You want to have these really hard

450
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 1: decisions where you have too many good players. What you

451
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 1: talked about with zone being in the zone. I was

452
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 1: looking at some of his numbers. I believe he's had

453
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 1: a big jump in zone percentage from last year. I

454
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,640
Speaker 1: still think it, I need it's hard to maneuver through

455
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:57,920
Speaker 1: all the Triple A numbers. It's not as easy to

456
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,120
Speaker 1: check averages and everything. I believe it's still below average

457
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 1: for Triple A or at least for what would be

458
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 1: major league level. Uh, that's okay. You know, he's going

459
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:10,120
Speaker 1: to learn that he has to be in the zone.

460
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 1: He's going to see won Soa spit on stuff and

461
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,479
Speaker 1: say they were they were chasing that. He's not going

462
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,639
Speaker 1: to get one soda to chase. He won't be the

463
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 1: first picture to learn that lesson from one Soto. But

464
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,440
Speaker 1: you know, beyond wan soda, he needs to if guys

465
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 1: chase that, that's how you know, that's how show To succeeds.

466
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 1: That's how a lot of these guys succeed. You just

467
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,640
Speaker 1: got to be in the zone enough to get them

468
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:37,160
Speaker 1: to chase. Uh. Yeah, the stuff is there. We'll see

469
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 1: if the command is there. And I agree that you can't.

470
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:45,400
Speaker 1: You can't overthink this first start. We probably will if

471
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: it's really good, though, right.

472
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,240
Speaker 2: We reserve the right to blow it out of proportion.

473
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,959
Speaker 2: But you know, the day before we're recording on Friday morning,

474
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,720
Speaker 2: will you know, temper temper it a bit.

475
00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:00,719
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, exactly. I'm looking forward to it. It's

476
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:06,120
Speaker 1: been a while since I remember Mark Pryor debut. I

477
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,960
Speaker 1: was in college. I was in college. Yeah, we were

478
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,440
Speaker 1: all hyped for it. My buddy was so excited. He's like,

479
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 1: we got the guy that they're talking about on Sports Center,

480
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,800
Speaker 1: and you know, it obviously didn't work out as hoped

481
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 1: as far as long term success, but he was exciting

482
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:24,720
Speaker 1: for a few years. If you even get a few

483
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,760
Speaker 1: years of that level of performance, I say that's to win,

484
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,600
Speaker 1: because it's hard to find that level of talent. We'll

485
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,400
Speaker 1: be back next week to talk about this. I'm sure

486
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,960
Speaker 1: we'll have a you know, a exciting three games. This

487
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: is fun because Mets Cubs. It's been a little while.

488
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 1: Was it really like twenty fifteen since these guys were

489
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,920
Speaker 1: both good, Maybe sixteen something like that. It's been a

490
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:55,480
Speaker 1: little while since they're both good, excite, two big you know,

491
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: obviously two of the biggest cities in the country, biggest markets,

492
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: exciting to It's nice to have them both on a

493
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:04,800
Speaker 1: winning track right now. I think this will be a

494
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 1: really fun series. I'm looking forward to watching all three

495
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,840
Speaker 1: games and we'll be back to recap it on Monday.

496
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,800
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory.

497
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,

498
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:20,520
Speaker 1: Subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on

499
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:53,000
Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs thanks for listening to everyone