Speaker 1: I firmly believe that Mike Calvarcia is having an all
Speaker 1: star caliber campaign this year. To see where he's come
Speaker 1: from to where he is now, it's been truly remarkable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what he said.
Speaker 3: That's what he said.
Speaker 4: That's what he said.
Speaker 3: That's what he said.
Speaker 5: I'm tired of the wishy, washy fans, the haters out
Speaker 5: of here.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna trigger somebody today.
Speaker 5: Okay, I'm gonna trigger somebody because I'm tired of the
Speaker 5: fans or the haters that are sitting around waiting on
Speaker 5: the Tigers to fail.
Speaker 6: Right, Well, watch, Ernest, I'll tell you they're gonna fail.
Speaker 6: Watch it. You're that I told you so person Like
Speaker 6: you're waiting around so you could be like I told
Speaker 6: you so. Look, I know you they were gonna struggle. Look,
Speaker 6: let's see if they do that in July.
Speaker 5: Well, then they do it in July, then you're gonna say, well,
Speaker 5: all out.
Speaker 6: Like what do you want?
Speaker 7: Like?
Speaker 6: What baseball are you watching?
Speaker 4: That?
Speaker 6: You're not seeing what we're seeing. You know, the this
Speaker 6: is not a fluke.
Speaker 5: These guys are a a solid baseball team.
Speaker 8: Preach Austin Jackson, part of Tiger territory, so we're gonna
Speaker 8: highlight some of our shows part of the FTAM network.
Speaker 8: So that's one Austin talking to Cody Stavenhagen and Karen Steckley,
Speaker 8: and I love that Cam. I mean, Austin's kind of
Speaker 8: new to the broadcast game and he's he's finding his
Speaker 8: voice and also calling out the trolls. Right if you're
Speaker 8: a Tiger fan right now.
Speaker 6: Absolutely shouldn't be complaining much.
Speaker 9: And let's be honest, that's not the usual nature of
Speaker 9: a Tiger's fan, right the Tigers fan, the real Tigers
Speaker 9: Tiger fan is going through it, gonna be through the team,
Speaker 9: through the thick end of thing. And right now, like
Speaker 9: Austin said, what we're seeing isn't a fluke. I think
Speaker 9: the little tastes of last year. Have they finished the
Speaker 9: second half, the taste of the playoffs being a game
Speaker 9: or pitch or just you know, one moment away from
Speaker 9: going as far as they've been in years, And now
Speaker 9: they went out and brought back Flairty, brought back some
Speaker 9: veteran pieces the bullpen.
Speaker 2: They figured that blueprint out the past few seasons.
Speaker 9: They have a starting five rotation that I would and
Speaker 9: trade for anybody right now, arguably in the game right now,
Speaker 9: if you talk about how they've been throwing, and then
Speaker 9: you have good problems like Matt Deerley coming back, Meadows
Speaker 9: coming back, if you can get anything from Aulis Cod
Speaker 9: when he gets back, and then you have Hobby Bayaz, Right,
Speaker 9: Hobby Baya is playing good baseball is really it's contagious
Speaker 9: for people around him. Right he's out in the center field,
Speaker 9: he's playing loose. What's happening is not a fluke. It's real,
Speaker 9: and especially when you look at what they have to
Speaker 9: compare themselves against in that division. Like you said, it's
Speaker 9: a good division, but I think right now that's the
Speaker 9: team to beat. And I love Austin triggering some people
Speaker 9: in Detroit. Let's go, like, don't give me that wishy,
Speaker 9: washy fan base stuff.
Speaker 2: Believe in these boys. They're here to play.
Speaker 4: Good for whom. Good for him. He played there long enough,
Speaker 4: he knows that fan base, so he knows and good
Speaker 4: for him. Yeah, get behind, get behind these guys, or
Speaker 4: don't don't don't go back and forth a fan or
Speaker 4: don't be a fan.
Speaker 8: That's it, straight up, all right, Next up, we got
Speaker 8: a couple more for That's what he said. Let's dive
Speaker 8: back into the Red Sox first base situation. I don't
Speaker 8: think anybody believes that the current status is going to
Speaker 8: be the plan for the rest of the year. But
Speaker 8: Gabrielle Star, friend of the show, tweets that Korra was
Speaker 8: asked about a conversation on first base with Rafayeldevers in
Speaker 8: the last couple of days and the answer was just
Speaker 8: a simple no. When they said as he planned to,
Speaker 8: and the answer again was no. Aj, do you think
Speaker 8: that there's beef between Alex and Raffi or he's just
Speaker 8: keeping it simple and being like, uh nah, he's just dhing.
Speaker 8: Or do you think that there's residual effects from what
Speaker 8: happened a couple months ago in spring training?
Speaker 4: He's being consistent, I'll give him that. I don't know
Speaker 4: why they're being so hardcore about this. They just must
Speaker 4: really hate Raffi Devers in the field. I just I
Speaker 4: don't understand why they're being so hardcore about this. If
Speaker 4: you can put Raffi Devers at first base and it
Speaker 4: makes your team better, isn't that what this is all about?
Speaker 4: So if you look at your roster and you look
Speaker 4: at what you have in the minor leagues, you say, well,
Speaker 4: Raffi Devers at first base makes us a better team,
Speaker 4: shouldn't you at least say we'll think about it. Right
Speaker 4: now it's a no, but maybe down the line we
Speaker 4: might change something. I don't think there's a beef, but
Speaker 4: I think that it's interesting the way they just keep
Speaker 4: saying a hard no. So this just mean Raffi Devers'
Speaker 4: is DH for the rest of his career. Because if
Speaker 4: you're going to go a whole year and you lose
Speaker 4: your first basement for the year, and you have a
Speaker 4: guy that could probably do it, wouldn't you think that'd
Speaker 4: be the easy move. But they keep just saying a
Speaker 4: hard no. So I don't know. It's a weird situation
Speaker 4: in Boston because they're just so adamant about it. There's
Speaker 4: not even a like, we'll see It's like nope, nope, nope.
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Speaker 3: I don't really have options either. It is weirdfinitely.
Speaker 4: That's that's kind of my point. Like, I mean, there's
Speaker 4: no offense to Rome Gonzalez and Toro Abraham Toro, but
Speaker 4: I mean I'd rather if I could put Rothie Devers
Speaker 4: at first and then I can use my DH whoever
Speaker 4: that might be Yoshida or whoever else I can find.
Speaker 4: You know, maybe a young kid may or Anthony could
Speaker 4: DH and you know, bring him up and let him
Speaker 4: play DH and get some bats in the field here
Speaker 4: and there like that would if that makes a team better?
Speaker 4: Then isn't that Wasn't that the whole point to when
Speaker 4: they said Raffi or the DH, it makes our team better? Well,
Speaker 4: if Raffi playing first makes a team better, wouldn't it
Speaker 4: be the same argument.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm with a J And I think another question
Speaker 9: that just I kind of think about is I really
Speaker 9: wish we got more insight on how Raffie Devers really
Speaker 9: feels right, because we're making a lot about this first
Speaker 9: base situation, and as you don't hear much from him,
Speaker 9: it kind of makes you wonder, is he give me.
Speaker 2: Static about it? And it's like, if that's the situation,
Speaker 2: not saying he is.
Speaker 9: You know, again, I've said it before, sometimes you just
Speaker 9: got to put your big board bridges on right. You're
Speaker 9: getting paid a lot of money and maybe sometimes in
Speaker 9: these situations you you don't get your way right, but
Speaker 9: you got to swallow your pride and go out there
Speaker 9: and do what's best for the team.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 9: So, you know what, when we have these conversations, just
Speaker 9: it kind of makes me wonder, is he kind of
Speaker 9: being poudy about the situation?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 2: Because at the end of the day, most guys, they'll tell.
Speaker 9: You put me anywhere as long as I'm in the lineup,
Speaker 9: as long as I'm playing. But when you give a
Speaker 9: guy money, sometimes that sense of entitlement, you know, comes
Speaker 9: along with that, and you think, well, you give me
Speaker 9: all this money, I'm your guy, then you should do
Speaker 9: whatever I want. And it's just like, that's not that's
Speaker 9: not It doesn't seem like that's the case, right the
Speaker 9: boss Boston Red Sox saying, Hey, Alex Regman was the
Speaker 9: best for us defensively, we like him at third base,
Speaker 9: and right now, DH would be the best for you,
Speaker 9: possibly first base. So I just it makes me question
Speaker 9: how much kickback he's really giving behind the scenes.
Speaker 3: M yeah, aj.
Speaker 4: But now though, now though, I mean, if he wanted
Speaker 4: to play third, I'm sure he'd be open to playing first, right.
Speaker 4: I Mean, I get it, I get you. If it's
Speaker 4: best for the team and then you need me to
Speaker 4: play first, That's what I'm saying like if the Red
Speaker 4: Sox look at this, that's why I can't believe it's
Speaker 4: just been like a no no oh y yeah right
Speaker 4: like no no yeah yeah yeah yeah like no, Like
Speaker 4: to me, it should be like, well maybe if it
Speaker 4: makes a team better, we should try it.
Speaker 2: Yes, No, what you're saying is like, no, he's horrible.
Speaker 2: We know we don't want him anywhere on the field,
Speaker 2: Like yeah, I get, I get what you're saying.
Speaker 9: You know what I'm saying, Like they're they're just like bro, bro,
Speaker 9: we don't want him to touch the dirt and lets
Speaker 9: it's in the box or running the basis Like yeah,
Speaker 9: you're right, I feel you Like that's all that Ya,
Speaker 9: that might be the bigger question, and like they won't
Speaker 9: they and they won't just say it like he's he's
Speaker 9: a horrible defender there, like.
Speaker 4: Get it, that's pretty and listen, I was all for
Speaker 4: the pregnant Yeah sip, he's been their best hitter, right,
Speaker 4: he's a great third baseman. But they ain't talk to
Speaker 4: They clearly didn't talk to Devers before they did it,
Speaker 4: otherwise he wouldn't be in this situation, right, And but
Speaker 4: that goes back to my point though, if you can
Speaker 4: put Raffie Devers at first base and it makes your
Speaker 4: whole twenty six man roster better, you have to at
Speaker 4: least think about it instead of just saying no, no, no, right,
Speaker 4: it's just no, that's that's kind of my point. Like
Speaker 4: I don't know, I don't know what's going on there
Speaker 4: won a World Series.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, it's like it's like I feel
Speaker 2: you when you break it down like that. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: like how good? How bad could he be?
Speaker 6: At first?
Speaker 9: Like you know what I mean, Like we've seen guys
Speaker 9: go out of your plaid the position. I mean we
Speaker 9: can name them. I mean, Luisa Rise, they talk about him.
Speaker 9: They put him at first so you can keep his
Speaker 9: bat in the lineup. It's like, I'm with you, I
Speaker 9: do it makes you right, aj Like how bad could
Speaker 9: he be at first?
Speaker 2: Like how does that not make your team a little
Speaker 2: bit better? And then and then hey, you killed two
Speaker 2: birds of one snow, Now he's on his feet.
Speaker 9: Now he's engaged and you don't have to worry about
Speaker 9: the whole all of d agent And I'm not engaged.
Speaker 9: And now you're engaged. You know you're playing defense. But yeah,
Speaker 9: you're right, You're absolutely right on that.
Speaker 8: I mean, I got one for you. It's going to
Speaker 8: take a month and a half or so, but they
Speaker 8: will fall out at some point. Nate Lowe from the Nationals,
Speaker 8: somebody like that, who's on a one year contract, who's
Speaker 8: on a team that's not going to be playoff bound.
Speaker 8: You know, he's hitting pretty well, can play nice first base.
Speaker 8: They'll do something like that. That's probably what they have
Speaker 8: in their head. I mean, there's no one else, There's
Speaker 8: no one in free agency right now. I mean, I
Speaker 8: would be surprised if they signed Rizzo. I don't think that.
Speaker 6: Let's stop with the.
Speaker 8: I know, well, some fans, some fans even better idea
Speaker 8: for you, a j some fans in the chat we're
Speaker 8: asking about grand All.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go a hard no on on that one too.
Speaker 4: Grand Doll is what catcher.
Speaker 3: They're like, you can play first I'm like.
Speaker 4: No, Boston fans are better than that.
Speaker 2: Come on, let's yeah.
Speaker 9: I mean he's like, you got the Josh Bills out there.
Speaker 9: But it's like, is that really you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: That's yea.
Speaker 8: Yeah, And I mean with the Marlins trade, Matt nervous
Speaker 8: right now, maybe, but I think you're going to get
Speaker 8: some options in six weeks or so.
Speaker 3: I know if you look back to.
Speaker 8: What a day or two ago we talked about Roman Anthony,
Speaker 8: and I guess, at least for now, that's not in
Speaker 8: the plans.
Speaker 3: Again, that's something that I would do.
Speaker 8: But if they're really a hard no on changing up
Speaker 8: development with guys like that and wanting to leave him
Speaker 8: in the outfield, then you're going to be able to
Speaker 8: find somebody at the trade deadline. The thing is, the
Speaker 8: trade headline's far away. Even if this happens in early July.
Speaker 8: I mean we're in early May. It's May seventh, they could.
Speaker 4: Cost you exactly. That's the problem. Everyone was like, oh,
Speaker 4: let's just wait, let's just hold off, but you can
Speaker 4: fall too far behind and then what.
Speaker 8: Then you might miss the playoffs by a game and go, damn.
Speaker 8: I guess we should have figured out first base a
Speaker 8: little bit quicker. That happens, So keep it again.
Speaker 9: Listen, we talk about how long the season is, but
Speaker 9: it gets late really fast in the big leagues.
Speaker 3: It really does.
Speaker 8: Jalen Thompson is the Kansas City Star Wars reporter. He's
Speaker 8: back on with us on FT right now, Jalen, good
Speaker 8: to see you.
Speaker 3: How you doing.
Speaker 7: Hey, what's up guys? You guys doing I'm doing good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're great.
Speaker 8: So what looks different the past couple of weeks for
Speaker 8: Kansas City because this team's playing really good ball.
Speaker 1: You know, when I when I talked to Salvao Perez,
Speaker 1: it was a couple of weeks ago. He said that
Speaker 1: the team had a meeting, well, I won't say like
Speaker 1: a meeting, but they all just kind of got together
Speaker 1: and they were talking about it and they were saying
Speaker 1: that we're just doing too much. And this is when
Speaker 1: they came off of the ten game road trip where
Speaker 1: they went to and eight and they and they lost
Speaker 1: a lot of games they probably could have won if
Speaker 1: they actually hit the baseball. So Salvi was saying, you know,
Speaker 1: we're doing too much. Everybody's trying to, you know, be
Speaker 1: the hero. We just have to get back to playing
Speaker 1: simple and pass the battle along. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what you've kind of seen. The pitching has always been
Speaker 1: there this season, but now the offense is starting to
Speaker 1: put some things together. I think the really key part
Speaker 1: about all of this is you're seeing production from guys
Speaker 1: that you probably didn't count on earlier this season to
Speaker 1: be what the Royals needing to be in the lineup,
Speaker 1: like mikel Garcia, Drew Waters, and I think that collective
Speaker 1: group is helping. And now you're seeing Salvi and Bennie
Speaker 1: Passportino and by Way Junior're starting to get going.
Speaker 7: So the roles are rolling right now.
Speaker 9: Hey, Jalen, is there any chance right as you got
Speaker 9: this young team, sighting team, athletic team, they do a
Speaker 9: little bit of everything. Is there any chance that the
Speaker 9: fan base may get a Jack Kaggle young siding? And
Speaker 9: what would it take for him to break his way
Speaker 9: out of Triple A in the Kansas City?
Speaker 7: Yeah, what's up?
Speaker 1: I just he's he's gonna come. He's coming, He's on
Speaker 1: the way. But I tell everyone this and the roles
Speaker 1: have said it as well. You have to resist the
Speaker 1: urge to want to bring him up too early. So
Speaker 1: he's killing it right now in Double A. Four home
Speaker 1: runs in his last three games. Yesterday hit his first
Speaker 1: multi home run game as a professional. We know what
Speaker 1: type of power that Jack Cacione brings. AJ knows this
Speaker 1: very well. The nine home runs he hit in nine
Speaker 1: straight games in Florida last year. The worlds want to
Speaker 1: bring him along slowly. They want him to see pitchers
Speaker 1: in Double A multiple times. They want him to learn
Speaker 1: the outfield. They want him to continue to just grow
Speaker 1: as a professional so that once he gets to the majors,
Speaker 1: he doesn't go back down. And I think what we'll
Speaker 1: see I'm projecting this. I don't know if it will
Speaker 1: happen or not, but I think he'll get the Triple
Speaker 1: A really soon, and then we'll see what he does
Speaker 1: in Triple A, and then from there, I think he'll
Speaker 1: be ready to come to the big leagues.
Speaker 4: Hey, Jalen, Well, first of all, I talked to Quataro
Speaker 4: on Saturday and this question was posed not by me,
Speaker 4: but by Jason Minetti, and he he asked him this
Speaker 4: direct question, what are the chances? He said, there's definitely
Speaker 4: a chance, but like you said, they're gonna play it
Speaker 4: slow because they don't want to rush him, and they're
Speaker 4: they're honestly, they're kind of like, we don't really have
Speaker 4: a spot for him. I guess the outfield, but he's
Speaker 4: trying to learn the outfield. They have Pascorentino at first.
Speaker 4: They like to keep DH open for salve if he
Speaker 4: needs a day or a Pasconino or one of the
Speaker 4: other guys needs a day as a DH. So he
Speaker 4: made it pretty obvious that yes, he's on their radar,
Speaker 4: but it's not gonna happen tomorrow.
Speaker 2: It could happen down the road, but.
Speaker 4: He's got to learn how to play the outfield, and
Speaker 4: he's just it's just not there. Right, So you're on track.
Speaker 4: You're on track with that, Jalen. And the biggest thing,
Speaker 4: excuse me for me, that the Royals started doing. They
Speaker 4: started hitting some home runs. I mean, I did a
Speaker 4: game on Saturday, then fifteen homers going to that game, right,
Speaker 4: and then they got on a home they've been on
Speaker 4: a homer barrage. And by the way, just to say
Speaker 4: this for your tweet, when you say how the Royals overcame, well,
Speaker 4: the White Sox had to pop up, hit the guy
Speaker 4: in the head and all this other crazy stuff. So
Speaker 4: you're welcome for that win for the Royals yesterday because
Speaker 4: the White Sox literally headed it to him.
Speaker 7: Have you ever had something happened like that to you
Speaker 7: in your career?
Speaker 4: One hit me in the head. I've never had one
Speaker 4: bounce off my head head before. I don't I mean,
Speaker 4: I missed a pop up, but I think everyone's probably
Speaker 4: missed a pop up. Aaron Judge missed a pop up, right,
Speaker 4: But I.
Speaker 7: Know I have never seen anything like that.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've been watching baseball all my life
Speaker 1: just to see how that aenning kind of unravel. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you a little inside of what it's
Speaker 1: like to be a b reporter in writing the story.
Speaker 1: So I had two different stories going. One they win,
Speaker 1: one they lose. I'm pretty much typing in, Okay, the
Speaker 1: Vices HAVEVA League is a knife inning. You don't expect
Speaker 1: them to give it up. So I have the Royles
Speaker 1: have lost the game.
Speaker 7: But then I started seeing all this stuff go on,
Speaker 7: and I'm.
Speaker 1: Like, well, I need to figure out how I'm gonna
Speaker 1: craft this story where they come back and win. So
Speaker 1: you just it was just calamity. It was zaney, it
Speaker 1: was chaotic, and it kind of felt like and Kyle
Speaker 1: Isbel told us this after the game. When they got
Speaker 1: Bobby with Junior up, it felt like the game was over.
Speaker 1: That's how they felt. And he came through and then
Speaker 1: the Roles won, So I guess the great Denny Matthews,
Speaker 1: he said this is that was a game where the
Speaker 1: good teams find a way to win in the bad
Speaker 1: team's final way to lose, and that kind of what
Speaker 1: happened yesterday.
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Speaker 9: Hey, Jayleen, we talked about the offense kind of starting to,
Speaker 9: you know, pick it up a little bit, and we'll
Speaker 9: get back to that. But I want to talk about
Speaker 9: a guy, and I won't say star, I'll say he's
Speaker 9: becoming a stud Chris Bubit. Can you talk about his
Speaker 9: emergence and how he's been able to be dominat as
Speaker 9: he's been and then and then also touch on Vinnie
Speaker 9: Passmenttino the pass Watch how he's been able to turn
Speaker 9: it around because this offense needs him.
Speaker 2: We know his personality is big and great, but they
Speaker 2: need him to produce. Can you talk about those two
Speaker 2: guys for sure?
Speaker 1: Chris Bubach he's the guy that came back from Tommy
Speaker 1: John surgery last year. So to kind of understand how
Speaker 1: Chris Bubach has gotten to where he is now, you
Speaker 1: have to look at twenty twenty three. Twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: he was starting getting the Royals rotation and it wasn't
Speaker 1: the best year for the Royals. They also one hundred
Speaker 1: and Sexson games. Part of that reason was he was
Speaker 1: one of the young guys they were talking on to
Speaker 1: be a starter. He gets Tommy John after pitching great
Speaker 1: in San Francisco and then pitching against the Alanta Braves
Speaker 1: early in the season, so he's out. So with the
Speaker 1: Tommy John surgery, he's working his way back and then
Speaker 1: next last year, the Royals had their starting rotation pretty
Speaker 1: much set, but they knew Bubach was coming back. He's
Speaker 1: a left hander, has a he can really pitch. He
Speaker 1: has a great baseball IQ, so he's he goes to
Speaker 1: the bullpen and as a reliever he shines and he
Speaker 1: was a key part of them making the place the
Speaker 1: playoffs last year. He was really big against the Boston
Speaker 1: Worlds and New York Yankees. The Worlds made a point
Speaker 1: to make him a starter again this off season, and
Speaker 1: they truly believe in what he can do. He went out,
Speaker 1: he earned a job in spring training and he's probably
Speaker 1: been their best pictures so far this season. So it's
Speaker 1: just a whole story of just him overcoming doing whatever
Speaker 1: he's ask of him, and now he's really shining. A
Speaker 1: lot of credit goes to Brian Sweeney, Zach Bove, those
Speaker 1: are the roles pitching coaches for really helping him get
Speaker 1: to where he's at. He has a terrific pitch Mitchick
Speaker 1: pick some pitch, mix in a great arsenal, so I
Speaker 1: think that is the reason why he's been so great
Speaker 1: in that rotation. And then Bennie Paspenttino, he is someone
Speaker 1: where he has verbally said, and he told us in Baltimore,
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna here a thirty in the roles lineup,
Speaker 1: I have to produce. I have to be the guy
Speaker 1: that they are counting on. And he started out a
Speaker 1: little slow, and he you know, he was frustrated, but
Speaker 1: then he's he turned it on. And one thing that
Speaker 1: he's really good at is when he can get high,
Speaker 1: he can carry an offense. So he adds protection for
Speaker 1: Bobby Wood Junior batting third, and then he had Salada
Speaker 1: Perez batting behind him. So he can be someone that
Speaker 1: can carry this team. Last year he got hurt and
Speaker 1: he nearly had one hundred RBIs so and he missed
Speaker 1: thirty games down the stretch. So I think he can
Speaker 1: be that run producer that they need.
Speaker 9: So Jalen listen, I want to I want to stay
Speaker 9: there on Benny. You know, you see a lot of analytics,
Speaker 9: a lot of analytic data and guys chasing you know,
Speaker 9: launch angleing bat speed and.
Speaker 2: I think you know he said, you know he was
Speaker 2: chasing bat speed.
Speaker 9: Has he mentioned anything about that and not really going
Speaker 9: back to maybe his old version of himself and not
Speaker 9: really worrying.
Speaker 2: About that, like do you have anything on that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he he makes a lot of adjustments and a
Speaker 1: lot of that he tries to, you know, keep to
Speaker 1: himself so he can continue to just get better. But
Speaker 1: you can tell in talking to the hitting coaches that
Speaker 1: his adjustments are just getting him back to you know,
Speaker 1: hitting the ball to all feels, making sure that he
Speaker 1: stays his bath head, stays in the zone a little
Speaker 1: bit longer so that he can you know, spread to
Speaker 1: where the where it's pitched at pretty much. And I
Speaker 1: think for Vinnie, the key for him is once he
Speaker 1: starts to hit the ball hard, hit it to the gaps,
Speaker 1: getting getting over the fence. I think that's where he
Speaker 1: really turns it on. It's funny. Uh, they were in
Speaker 1: Baltimore and the first inning he didn't he struck out
Speaker 1: with I guess runners on base in scoring position. So
Speaker 1: then there's a rain delay and he's like, I have
Speaker 1: to go do something. So he shaves his beard during
Speaker 1: the rain delay and he has a mustache, and then
Speaker 1: he comes out it hits a home run and helps
Speaker 1: the Roles win. So it's it's pretty cool. I know
Speaker 1: baseball is full of superstitions and everything of that nature,
Speaker 1: but that was one literal adjustment that he did. So
Speaker 1: he's shaved and it helped him help power the Roles
Speaker 1: to a win. So I thought it was pretty cool
Speaker 1: that he did that.
Speaker 4: Hey, I was at that game. I sat through that
Speaker 4: ra right so I didn't notice that because I wasn't
Speaker 4: paying attention to Viny's face. But yeah, he did hit
Speaker 4: a home run later in that game, so it worked.
Speaker 4: Sometimes you got to do some crazy stuff. Someone want
Speaker 4: to talk about or somebody I want to talk about
Speaker 4: Jentleen and nobody mentions outside of maybe Kansas City, Mikeel Garcia.
Speaker 4: He's having an unbelievable year's He's leading the team in hitting,
Speaker 4: he plays a great third base. Nobody outside of Kansas
Speaker 4: City knows anything about this guy, and he's turning himself
Speaker 4: into a bona fight star.
Speaker 7: Yes, and I'm glad you brought him up. AJ.
Speaker 1: I've cermently believed that MIKEL Garcia is having an all
Speaker 1: star caliber campaign this year. I know it's early, but
Speaker 1: to see where he's come from to where he is now,
Speaker 1: it's been truly remarkable. And that's just both on the
Speaker 1: field and off the field. On the field, there were
Speaker 1: times last year where he would get into a slump
Speaker 1: or a colespel and you can see in his body
Speaker 1: language that he was just very hard in himself and
Speaker 1: it would affect how he would play the game. And
Speaker 1: you know where he needed to be a key cogging
Speaker 1: the roles offense. He just wasn't there at that point.
Speaker 1: The roles batted him eighth in the lineup. He was
Speaker 1: a lee off hitter. Last year, he got dropped all
Speaker 1: the way down. If you would have came into this
Speaker 1: year and you said Mike Kilgarcia is gonna be batting
Speaker 1: fourth or fifth in the Royal's lineup, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: not a lot of people would have believed you. But
Speaker 1: that's just the work that he's put in. It's a
Speaker 1: testament to his hard work. One thing that really stood
Speaker 1: out about him this year was he got rid of
Speaker 1: a leg kick and he went to a toe tap
Speaker 1: and this toe tap has allowed him to stop diving
Speaker 1: into the strike zone when he's swinging and stay more
Speaker 1: balanced and firm, and he's getting to fastballs now and
Speaker 1: that's been the key to him being successful. And I
Speaker 1: mentioned off the field how he's grown. Last year, he
Speaker 1: was really not speaking English the way like when he's
Speaker 1: talking to the media. So he worked with the worlds
Speaker 1: and he learned English. He watched videos of different interviews.
Speaker 1: He was able to study the language, and then he said,
Speaker 1: I want to really speak English fully without a translator.
Speaker 1: This year and that's what he's been doing. So it's
Speaker 1: really been great to see him kind of growing involved.
Speaker 6: That's awesome.
Speaker 4: That's awesome.
Speaker 6: All right.
Speaker 4: Last thing for me, I saw JJ Piccolough and obviously
Speaker 4: you get to talk to Matt Uatrro. When I go
Speaker 4: into these clubhouses and get to see him, are those
Speaker 4: two the commas two guys in the world. I mean
Speaker 4: mc ultrarro. It was like he's just sitting there and
Speaker 4: he's talking. His voice never changed, he never got too
Speaker 4: high too low. And then you see JJ. My favorite
Speaker 4: part is like I see some of these guys that
Speaker 4: I've known for a while, and JJ Pickle was like, Hi,
Speaker 4: JJ Pickle. I'm like, I know who you are, dude,
Speaker 4: you don't have to introduce yourself. And then he grabs
Speaker 4: your hand and I was like, wow, he's got a
Speaker 4: good handshake. But these two guys are like the calmest
Speaker 4: two dudes in the world.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's it's crazy because when I first went
Speaker 1: Matt Matt Quatrero, it was very much apparent that he's
Speaker 1: not too high, not too low.
Speaker 7: He's very day to day.
Speaker 1: He wants to, you know, focus on the mantra today,
Speaker 1: which is you can't control what happened yesterday and tomorrow
Speaker 1: is not promised. You have to play and stand in
Speaker 1: the moment. And I think that's the cue that the
Speaker 1: team has taken on themselves. You look at the Royals,
Speaker 1: they're very hyper focused on we can't worry about where
Speaker 1: we are in the standings. We can't worry about the division,
Speaker 1: we can't worry about not making the deeper run than
Speaker 1: playoffs last year. We have to focus on what is
Speaker 1: important right now, and I think you see it top
Speaker 1: down from South of Perez to balbu Wight dreams, to
Speaker 1: the pitching staff, to the coaches, to everyone, and the
Speaker 1: same goes with JJ Piccolo. He is someone that he's
Speaker 1: very accessible. He's able. You can talk to him anytime
Speaker 1: you need to as a reporter, and that's very important.
Speaker 1: Like he's on the road trips, he's just very in
Speaker 1: tune to what the team is doing, and I think
Speaker 1: they feed off each other very well.
Speaker 8: Jalen, this was awesome man, really good insight. Great to
Speaker 8: have you on. Encouraging everyone, of course to check out
Speaker 8: Jalen's work, Follow him on Twitter, check out his work
Speaker 8: in the Kansas City Star. If you're in KC. Locally
Speaker 8: following this team. It's a good team. So check out
Speaker 8: what he's got. Jalen, thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 7: Thank you guys so much. Talk to you guys soon.
Speaker 3: Yes, talk to you soon.
Speaker 8: This is a Kansas City Royals team that obviously had
Speaker 8: a really successful year last year. They lost one hundred
Speaker 8: games the year before, and then last year turn it
Speaker 8: around make a nice little playoff run. They're in a
Speaker 8: division that did not get a lot of credit last year.
Speaker 8: I feel like there's a lot more respect this season
Speaker 8: for the American League Central