Speaker 1: So I think when we're talking about, you know, playoffs,
Speaker 1: I think what we can get better at is winning
Speaker 1: those tighter, close games.
Speaker 2: Hey, we've got Will Benson from the Cincinnati Regis jointing
Speaker 2: us right now in foul Territory. Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2: Congrats on player of the week Will and a huge
Speaker 2: week including that we can sweep against the state rival
Speaker 2: Cleveland Guardians. How you doing, man, Happy to be back
Speaker 2: up and thriving?
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Yeah, I'm definitely grateful that I got the opportunity
Speaker 1: to play and yeah, put some good numbers up.
Speaker 2: Take us through your journey this year, Like was it
Speaker 2: a change? Was it something that clicked for you and
Speaker 2: the minors? Like how would you describe the way that
Speaker 2: things are currently working for you?
Speaker 1: I would say the journey has just been really focused
Speaker 1: on the routine and the process and just being consistent
Speaker 1: with with that. You know, it really kind of began
Speaker 1: in this past off season just kind of learning, you know,
Speaker 1: who I am and what I want to be in
Speaker 1: the direction I want to go, and then just continuously
Speaker 1: building blocks every day. You know, there there's little nuggets
Speaker 1: here and there that I picked up along the way,
Speaker 1: you know, coming into the coming into the actual season
Speaker 1: from the off season and spring training, and then just
Speaker 1: being consistent with UH, with that approach.
Speaker 3: Every time you've talked to us or we were should
Speaker 3: we were live out in Vegas the one time you
Speaker 3: were on the show, You're super positive. You're like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go get it. When you get sent down
Speaker 3: to the bushes after having up and down big league
Speaker 3: career but a lot of ups, a lot of awesome things.
Speaker 3: How pissed really were you? Because like, believe me, I
Speaker 3: know about getting sent down. AJ maybe doesn't know about
Speaker 3: getting sent down. How pissed were you? But how did
Speaker 3: you channel that ultimately once you got down there?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I was. I was definitely a mixed bag of emotions.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say like I was like crazy upset, because
Speaker 1: you know, when you do everything you're supposed to do,
Speaker 1: then it's like, you know, that's just what God gave
Speaker 1: me type of mentality. I definitely was upset, but I knew.
Speaker 1: I told my wife this, you know, in the off season,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a great year. I just told her that,
Speaker 1: And so my mindset was already kind of set on
Speaker 1: what I was, what I'm trying to do. This was
Speaker 1: just a little wrinkle in the in the journey. But
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, with my faith, I just
Speaker 1: stayed to the to the process of the routine. I
Speaker 1: just kept my focus, you know, just like tunnel vision
Speaker 1: on what I was trying to do. And that didn't
Speaker 1: matter whether I was in the big leagues or I
Speaker 1: was in Triple A, because I know I was speaking
Speaker 1: with the man I can't I feel bad, I'm tripping
Speaker 1: on this. I worked out with him and the all
Speaker 1: season and he had a similar thing, and it was
Speaker 1: his platform year and he was just like, man, I
Speaker 1: know if it ain't here, and I know there's you know,
Speaker 1: other teams that can use me and see value in me.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, from then I just had that perspective
Speaker 1: of like, hey, if it's not here, that's okay. I'll
Speaker 1: just do what I have to do, work on my craft,
Speaker 1: work on my game, and let God take the wheel
Speaker 1: and wherever it lands, that's just where it lands. So
Speaker 1: that's how they going to keep that type of be positive,
Speaker 1: you know, outlook on it.
Speaker 4: Well, when you were sent down, and by the way,
Speaker 4: I was sent down plenty of times. I know, Crawds.
Speaker 4: It's like to you know say that, but I was
Speaker 4: sent down plenty of times. What was your what was
Speaker 4: your focus? I know you keep saying you no God first,
Speaker 4: which I respect and love that, and you're saying stay positive,
Speaker 4: which is great. But when they sent you down, they
Speaker 4: didn't just say go to Triple A. They gave you
Speaker 4: specific things to work on. So when you went down there,
Speaker 4: what were you working on? Did you make some changes
Speaker 4: in your swing? Did you make some approach changes, like
Speaker 4: you had to have changed something. It's not like they
Speaker 4: just said just go down there and hopefully we'll see
Speaker 4: it later.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it was more of a situational type thing.
Speaker 1: So it was like, hey, if you come up with
Speaker 1: us to start the year, I wasn't gonna play very much,
Speaker 1: and it was like, hey, go down you know, get
Speaker 1: your ad back, get your rhythm, get your groove. And
Speaker 1: so that's where it was like, Okay, well I'm going
Speaker 1: to go down here and I'm going to see how
Speaker 1: well can I execute my routine day after day after
Speaker 1: day and how consistent can I be with what I
Speaker 1: was trying to do. And there was like a little
Speaker 1: bit of an adjustment, you know, with my swing. What
Speaker 1: I was trying to do. But it's nothing crazy. It's
Speaker 1: more just being relaxed up there, just kind of with
Speaker 1: my stance and my posture. But in terms of what
Speaker 1: I'm good at and what I'm trying to to attack,
Speaker 1: those things were, you know, relatively the same. It's just
Speaker 1: how well can I do it day after day? As
Speaker 1: we know, the big you know, being successful in our
Speaker 1: sport is just how consistent can you be? And so,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously being able to play every day in
Speaker 1: triple A was a blessing because I was able to
Speaker 1: work on that consistency whenever I got the chance to
Speaker 1: come back up.
Speaker 3: The other day. Don't Russian got called up to the
Speaker 3: big leagues with the with the Dodgers as a prospect.
Speaker 3: The guy was called up and we had a debate
Speaker 3: on here about playing or not playing. If a guy
Speaker 3: like Will Smith is hitting three point fifty in front
Speaker 3: of him, it's probably not going to play a ton.
Speaker 3: How as a young player or even as just a
Speaker 3: prospect coming up to the big leagues, how is that
Speaker 3: tough to sit? You talked about like taking your approach
Speaker 3: and then like actually being able to execute it because
Speaker 3: you were playing every day in the bushes. But you
Speaker 3: want to be in the big leagues, but you're not
Speaker 3: playing every day. How difficult is that? And is that
Speaker 3: something that you can that people can be successful without
Speaker 3: actually playing every day?
Speaker 1: Great question, Chras, I think it. You know, everybody is
Speaker 1: given a different role, everybody's given a different opportunity, especially
Speaker 1: out of the gate. And so I think, you know,
Speaker 1: if you're a young guy coming in and you kind
Speaker 1: of have an idea of okay, maybe I might play
Speaker 1: every four day, I think it's really important to learn,
Speaker 1: you know, and soak up as much as you can
Speaker 1: from watching, you know, somebody for an example, like you
Speaker 1: were using a guy you're just talking about, and will
Speaker 1: Smith like really sit there and watch and if you
Speaker 1: get a chance or when you get that chance to play,
Speaker 1: you know, do you think you know obviously like you
Speaker 1: do well awesome, you don't do well? Okay, Like, how
Speaker 1: can I use this to whenever I get another opportunity,
Speaker 1: how can I, you know, be better than I was
Speaker 1: last time? And it's really difficult to keep that perspective
Speaker 1: because again, in the back of your mind, it's like,
Speaker 1: oh man, I might get sent down. That's like, I
Speaker 1: think the biggest hurdle that a lot of us young
Speaker 1: guys have to kind of get pass is is that
Speaker 1: little demon in the back of your mind, like, man,
Speaker 1: this might be my last day, so that that's the
Speaker 1: hardest part. And I think when we're talking about Okay,
Speaker 1: I understand, Hey, I'm going to be playing, you know,
Speaker 1: every fourth day right where my practice? Can I make
Speaker 1: it as close as possible? How can you know I
Speaker 1: pick my spots when hey, there's a good chance I'll
Speaker 1: be playing here, Like, how well can I prepare for
Speaker 1: that opportunity and and make the most of it? And
Speaker 1: and a lot of that again is really how you
Speaker 1: how you how you really look at it. That that
Speaker 1: will really dictate a lot of you know, your ability
Speaker 1: to come through in those in those type of moments.
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Speaker 2: It's also the most trusted name in the game. And
Speaker 2: I would rather rip packs these days on my phone
Speaker 2: than sit next to you and have you grabbing one
Speaker 2: of my physical packs. If I was grabbing one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't need me grabbing your packs, because last
Speaker 4: time you grabbed one it ended up like this card,
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Speaker 4: Is there anybody you watch like?
Speaker 3: Is there any like video you watch of another player
Speaker 3: that you like kind of like get some inspiration, or
Speaker 3: you're like, maybe my swing doesn't look like this guys,
Speaker 3: but other guys attack him the same way. Or maybe
Speaker 3: I just like think if I watched this guy hit,
Speaker 3: I'm a better player.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: You got another great question. I feel you know, I've
Speaker 1: gone back and forth with this. I do a lot
Speaker 1: of this more in the offseason because I think that's
Speaker 1: the appropriate time. But I love watchingry Bonds play, like
Speaker 1: any clips or anything that I can get to him.
Speaker 1: I just like to watch how he approaches the bat,
Speaker 1: how he looks in the a bat. A lot of
Speaker 1: his mannerisms are just very unfazed and dominant, so I
Speaker 1: try to replicate that, and how he has an amazing
Speaker 1: ability for for not only zone control, but his ability
Speaker 1: to put the battle of the ball when he gets
Speaker 1: that hitch in the zone. I think that's an incredible skill.
Speaker 1: So I just try to like really just let my
Speaker 1: brain watch and collect as much information I can. But
Speaker 1: that's more of the off season, actually, you know that
Speaker 1: was That was one funny thing I think I learned
Speaker 1: about myself, was I I did a little bit this year.
Speaker 1: I love watching Freddy Freeman and I love watching Judge.
Speaker 1: The only thing with those guys, mainly Freddy because he's
Speaker 1: left handed and I really like his swing. It's like,
Speaker 1: you have to know, Freddie's Freddy and I'm me right,
Speaker 1: So we're gonna swing different ways, going to do different things.
Speaker 1: I like some of the things that he does, so
Speaker 1: he does a really good job of taking that inside
Speaker 1: pitch to center field. He does a really good job
Speaker 1: of that. He keeps that path through the baseball really well.
Speaker 1: So I like to watch that, and again, I just
Speaker 1: have to be careful because then it's like you don't
Speaker 1: want to try to be exactly like someone else. You
Speaker 1: just take little nuggets and help you improve, you know,
Speaker 1: your game. So a lot of it for me from
Speaker 1: Freddy is just like, hey, how well can I, you know,
Speaker 1: emulate a type of path that's through the baseball like him?
Speaker 1: And then the other guy mentioned was Judge. You know,
Speaker 1: just watching what he's been able to do this year,
Speaker 1: I've been able to I watched his first I think
Speaker 1: like fifteen games and similar bonds. Is just their ability
Speaker 1: to control his own not miss pitch. Is that they
Speaker 1: like and and just have a presence of of of
Speaker 1: just dominance and unbothered. Man, is really cool to watch.
Speaker 1: And those are things that I tried to emulate.
Speaker 3: That is that attainable?
Speaker 4: Did you watch?
Speaker 3: Do you watch those dudes and you see what Judge
Speaker 3: has been doing this whole year, You see what Freddy's
Speaker 3: been doing since he had a little bit of a
Speaker 3: slow start on a bad ankle, and you're like, your
Speaker 3: your numbers matched for the week and that's why you
Speaker 3: got a player of the Player of the Week award,
Speaker 3: but your numbers matched this past week.
Speaker 4: What they're doing the entire season?
Speaker 3: Does that ever? Look when you're watching it, like this
Speaker 3: feels kind of unattainable.
Speaker 1: You know, people, Actually, I'll come back. I think all
Speaker 1: of these things are attainable. Obviously, you have to have grace, right,
Speaker 1: you know, prepare your horses and God delivers the victory.
Speaker 1: But I think I think it. I think all of
Speaker 1: these things are attainable. You just have to understand how
Speaker 1: to get it for yourself. I think those people being judged,
Speaker 1: being Freddie Freeman, Bonds, they learned how to get the
Speaker 1: best out of themselves every day, and when it didn't
Speaker 1: feel good, they found a way to still get the best. Now. Again,
Speaker 1: some of them are God given abilities, you know. It's
Speaker 1: just like, man, you're just good at the sport or
Speaker 1: you know what I'm trying to say. But I think
Speaker 1: I think it very much is obtainable. You just have
Speaker 1: to understand, really, how do you get the best out
Speaker 1: of yourself for that day and do it day after
Speaker 1: day and That's where it's like, it is so impressive
Speaker 1: that they're doing it because they are genuinely it takes
Speaker 1: effort day after day, and their days where it's easier
Speaker 1: than others. Right days you're in your groove. Like obviously
Speaker 1: for Judge right now, I couldn't imagine what he's even feeling.
Speaker 1: He probably even feel anything. But yeah, that that level
Speaker 1: of consistency takes work, and it's impressive for them to watch,
Speaker 1: and I do think it is obtainable.
Speaker 3: Yes, all right, Well you came out of the Grissom
Speaker 3: Baseball Association or academy what is it called association in Georgia?
Speaker 1: No I I I played against them a lot, but
Speaker 1: played against Yeah, I grew up. I'm a Santown Red
Speaker 1: Sox that's on on the south side. But we played
Speaker 1: against the ag Gresham Park Dodgers a lot. I think
Speaker 1: that was one of Grissom's teams. If I'm not.
Speaker 3: Mistaken, Okay, okay, sorry, I thought I thought you were
Speaker 3: because I was gonna channel my name, my my question
Speaker 3: to Chandler Simpson. Chandler Simpson, because you and him, you're
Speaker 3: you're you're on the same list. If Chandler Simpson and
Speaker 3: you hit a forty yard dash tomorrow because you can
Speaker 3: need some stretching first. How much of a lead do
Speaker 3: you need to beat him?
Speaker 1: Oh? Forty yards? I mean that guy is fast. I'm
Speaker 1: fast too, but he's fast, right, Yeah, he's fast. I
Speaker 1: mean for me to comfortably win, like give me, give
Speaker 1: me like three four yards, Okay, I mean it's comfortably win,
Speaker 1: but like again, he's got It's funny actually trained. I
Speaker 1: trained in the off season with him, him, Victor, Scott Law,
Speaker 1: a couple of Taylor Trammell Zay, a couple of guys,
Speaker 1: and especially during that during that pandemic era, where I
Speaker 1: mean all you could do is really work out, and
Speaker 1: it was really impressive just to be around them guys
Speaker 1: and and work out with him because everybody was just
Speaker 1: so unique, uniquely gifted in their own bay and Chan
Speaker 1: Chan definitely was gifted with that speed for sure.
Speaker 4: Well, what's the difference this year with Tito and David Bell?
Speaker 4: What's been the difference The biggest difference that you've noticed
Speaker 4: since spring training started as you came up with David Bell.
Speaker 4: Now you have Tito there. They're not the same person.
Speaker 4: I know, I know both of them well, they're definitely
Speaker 4: different people one, you know, So what's the biggest difference
Speaker 4: you've noticed?
Speaker 1: I think more so the word aura, uh comes comes
Speaker 1: to mind. I think when it was in twenty three,
Speaker 1: when we were we were doing it and the just
Speaker 1: the aura and everything was there. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: we just kind of had this this almost expectation to end,
Speaker 1: and so dB was was excellent at just gassing us
Speaker 1: up and getting us to that place. I think now
Speaker 1: it's with Tito, the aura around it is we we're
Speaker 1: gonna get it done, you know what I mean? And
Speaker 1: his presence for us is like what we're going to
Speaker 1: do today to win? And it's kind of just that simple.
Speaker 1: And I think it's just more direct hit of you know,
Speaker 1: we've got a manager who expects nothing less of us
Speaker 1: than to go out here and dominate.
Speaker 4: What are the Reds need to do? Because I listen
Speaker 4: a lot of people pick the Reds to win. The
Speaker 4: central pitching obviously is there, the hitting can be there
Speaker 4: at times, but what do you guys need to do?
Speaker 4: What is Tito? What does your coaching staff say to
Speaker 4: you guys on a daily basis that y'all need to
Speaker 4: do to win this division? And get to where you
Speaker 4: guys want to get, which Tito always seems to figure
Speaker 4: out a way to, if not get there, but be
Speaker 4: close to get into the postseason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for us, what we need to do is play consistent,
Speaker 1: clean baseball. We just went on a five game heater
Speaker 1: and you know in that time period, man, you you
Speaker 1: sit there and watch our games and it's just extremely clean,
Speaker 1: clean from the pigeon. Like you said, hitting, I mean,
Speaker 1: we're we are hitting as a collective unit, you know,
Speaker 1: moving guys over, getting guys in, applying a lot of
Speaker 1: pressure to that starter so that we have to you know,
Speaker 1: we get the opportunity to kind of get into that bullpen.
Speaker 1: So I think when we're talking about, you know, playoffs,
Speaker 1: I think what we what we can get better at
Speaker 1: is winning those tighter, close games and in those close games,
Speaker 1: playing clean, clean baseball, being smart on the base path,
Speaker 1: getting a guy let's say we have a leadoff double, like, hey,
Speaker 1: let's get him over, get him in. Like those little
Speaker 1: things will will really push us over the edge. Because
Speaker 1: I think when when we're going, man, it's there's no
Speaker 1: question what we can do. But when when we get
Speaker 1: to you know, some of them close in games, is
Speaker 1: how well can we you know, just cash in and
Speaker 1: execute when the game is asking us to.
Speaker 4: Okay, last one, I'm gonna put you on the spot
Speaker 4: a little bit here. Who's the best picture on your staff?
Speaker 4: Hunter Green, Brady Singer, Lodolo, Andrew Abbott or is there
Speaker 4: someone else that we need to be talking about as
Speaker 4: far as pitching goes on the Red staff?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think Hunter Green right now at the moment
Speaker 1: is is the ace. I mean, as you guys have
Speaker 1: seen he he he's been dominant. Man Like, all his
Speaker 1: pitches are working. He's given you know, us a chance.
Speaker 1: And I think what's nice about our rotation at the
Speaker 1: moment is that they're they're given they're giving us room
Speaker 1: to to really win the game on the offensive side,
Speaker 1: right So meaning there there is gonna be two runs
Speaker 1: or less for the first six innings and that when
Speaker 1: you can count that from your staff, that's a blessing.
Speaker 1: And I think it when it comes to Hunter, I
Speaker 1: mean for him, it's been one run or less and
Speaker 1: so that makes it even more room for us to
Speaker 1: go out there and dominate. And he's been very consistent.
Speaker 1: I'm very happy for him, and that'll be my answer
Speaker 1: he's coming back soon. I think he's coming back tomorrow
Speaker 1: from his year. Yeah, so that's gonna be excited. This's
Speaker 1: me my first time actually in the big leagues this
Speaker 1: year to watch it firsthand, so that that's gonna be
Speaker 1: really cool.
Speaker 4: Okay, so you play. You guys got the Cubs coming in,
Speaker 4: so you got dream, you got Abbott, and I think
Speaker 4: you have Lodolo lined up one, two, three for you guys,
Speaker 4: you do must win series for the Reds. I know
Speaker 4: it's early, but is this a must win series for
Speaker 4: the Reds this weekend at home with your best three going?
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny you say that. I think every
Speaker 1: series is, is some former faction, a must win. When
Speaker 1: when you put too much hype on one series, I
Speaker 1: think that's when you kind of, you know, blow your
Speaker 1: load in a way. But I consistently look at every
Speaker 1: series as a must win because if you win every series,
Speaker 1: you're gonna look up and you're gonna be in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So whether it be the Cubs or anybody in our division,
Speaker 1: it's a must win. Like last week with a muscle
Speaker 1: win or against the Pirates that was a muscle win.
Speaker 1: Same thing goes for this weekend.
Speaker 2: Yeah, last weekend.
Speaker 4: Swept only scoring three runs or last they haven't scored
Speaker 4: four runs in like a month, So I mean, I
Speaker 4: was like, we just hit one three run over, We're
Speaker 4: winning this game. I mean the Parates have scored four
Speaker 4: runs in a month for not like four in one game,
Speaker 4: just four runs in one game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's I shout out of Bailey, man. I
Speaker 1: work out with him and Falter, and I was very
Speaker 1: impressed with that first game. I think that won one zero.
Speaker 1: If I not, I believe that was yeah, one zero
Speaker 1: or no, it was, yeah, I think it was one zero.
Speaker 1: But then the second day it was almost in a
Speaker 1: cool game. Uh, and then they kind of put it
Speaker 1: on us at the end. But I was like, man like,
Speaker 1: like I told you about the rotation, they do a
Speaker 1: really good job of giving us a window like those
Speaker 1: first almost all those games, the first five six innings,
Speaker 1: it's a one zero game. And I think that's how
Speaker 1: it's going to be when we come to these type
Speaker 1: of division games. It's just a little bit more tight
Speaker 1: and people know what what what's at stake behind the