Speaker 1: I mean, I'll play into it. I say, I used
Speaker 1: to rake when I was a little kid, but I
Speaker 1: was a po.
Speaker 2: I was a PO come high school, So I don't
Speaker 2: know if that really counts for a whole lot.
Speaker 3: But as closed with Mason Miller with us right now, Mason,
Speaker 3: great to have you back on foul territory. How's life
Speaker 3: right now with the A's, I mean, just to put
Speaker 3: it simply to start the conversation, hello to you and
Speaker 3: thanks for swinging by. You know, this team in the
Speaker 3: last couple of years hasn't been great, and now I
Speaker 3: mean you're in at least wildcard contention, if not division contention.
Speaker 4: I know it's early in the season.
Speaker 3: Is it fun to be involved, you know, on the
Speaker 3: now positive side of the rebuild?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, good morning guys. Appreciate you having me as always.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but getting to some competitive baseball is obviously a
Speaker 2: nice change of events for us. I think we were
Speaker 2: kind of there last year, but after the first half
Speaker 2: you don't really get to look at the schedule or
Speaker 2: look at this the standings and kind of see see
Speaker 2: your team up there kind of in a couple of
Speaker 2: games out. You know, it's early, so we're not necessarily
Speaker 2: focused on that. We're just focused on competitive baseball, bringing
Speaker 2: our best and trying to be consistent in each game
Speaker 2: each series.
Speaker 5: Does it feel different?
Speaker 6: Are the conversations different than it was when you know,
Speaker 6: you guys are already kind of dug a hole for
Speaker 6: yourself last year and then you started to improve, and
Speaker 6: it's like, you know, we see it coming. But now
Speaker 6: you start the season out you were hovering above five hundred.
Speaker 5: Now you're bouncing right in there.
Speaker 6: Are the conversations different in the clubhouse with you guys
Speaker 6: or in the bullpens that you spend a lot of
Speaker 6: time out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the expectations are certainly different. You know,
Speaker 2: you have high expectations of yourself and of your teammates always,
Speaker 2: but you know there's there's a ceiling uncertain times, and
Speaker 2: you know we're not blind to that. But I think
Speaker 2: just the goals shift a little bit, and the goals
Speaker 2: in the previous couple of seasons are a little different
Speaker 2: than this year. You know, after the end of last year,
Speaker 2: the second half that we played, that was kind of
Speaker 2: our coming out to everybody that that were a competitive
Speaker 2: team with some good players. And I think we knew
Speaker 2: that before everybody else did. So you know, now that
Speaker 2: we're at this point, we kind of knew that we
Speaker 2: had this talent, and I think that we can, you know,
Speaker 2: play even higher above that. And we have a tough
Speaker 2: schedule this month, but I think it'll be be a
Speaker 2: good test for us and kind of put up, shut
Speaker 2: up type type times.
Speaker 7: I love that, and I think you know, here, guys say,
Speaker 7: especially earlier in the year, you know, these games don't matter.
Speaker 7: They matter, every single game matters, and I think that
Speaker 7: put up or shut up time. I absolutely love that.
Speaker 7: So for me, my question, you talk about competing, you're
Speaker 7: talking about a different team. Who's who's the leader right now?
Speaker 7: Who's that guy in the clubhouse that everybody looks for?
Speaker 4: Is it you?
Speaker 7: Is there a guy that you know everybody kind of
Speaker 7: leans on, or is the team just know what they're doing.
Speaker 7: They come to the ballpark and sad, everybody's accountable. You know,
Speaker 7: let's get after it and.
Speaker 2: We have an awesome mix of guys. Signing Sevy this
Speaker 2: year has been been huge for us. He's a phenomenal leader,
Speaker 2: phenomenal person, and he's been really a big difference maker
Speaker 2: for the locker room.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: But we got a young group with you know, a
Speaker 2: couple veteran guys in there too, but just a bunch
Speaker 2: of guys that you know, come to the field excited
Speaker 2: to see each other, excited to hang out, excited to work.
Speaker 2: So you know, having guys like Rooke and Log at
Speaker 2: extensions is awesome. Guys kind of look to them obviously,
Speaker 2: but I think I think Rooke Sevy are probably two
Speaker 2: of our biggest guys, and you know, they're doing a
Speaker 2: phenomenal job. We're kind of regardless of how you know,
Speaker 2: their games go, and just being the kind of calming
Speaker 2: presence for the team. And sometimes it's reminding you the
Speaker 2: guys that we got another one tomorrow. You know, like
Speaker 2: after last night, it's easy to easy to let them
Speaker 2: sit with you a little bit, but you know we're
Speaker 2: going to turn the page and you know, come play.
Speaker 1: A competitive series and try to take the series here
Speaker 1: in San Francisco.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you got a good point too. I'm looking the
Speaker 4: last three series.
Speaker 3: I mean Mariners, who at that time were playing really
Speaker 3: really well. They were kind of right in the midst
Speaker 3: of their hot streak, and the Yankees and then I know,
Speaker 3: you just finish up the series in La and yet
Speaker 3: the team's still twenty two and twenty two two games
Speaker 3: away from first place in the AL West. So I
Speaker 3: just want to dial in on the Dodgers series for
Speaker 3: a moment. How was that to experience, because you know,
Speaker 3: they've kind of got this international vibe to them with
Speaker 3: the way that they've been able to pick up some
Speaker 3: of the top Japanese talent in the sport. Ya Momoto,
Speaker 3: i know, pitched in that game a couple of days ago.
Speaker 3: Otani put on a show in this series too, So
Speaker 3: how was that for you to witness? Obviously you want
Speaker 3: to win the series, you guys picked up one game
Speaker 3: in it, but was it cool to actually experience what's
Speaker 3: going on there? Because I do feel like we're going
Speaker 3: to look back at this time at some point and
Speaker 3: forget the wins and losses, but just how much talent
Speaker 3: we've been seeing from Japan come over to the United
Speaker 3: States and a lot of those players happen to be
Speaker 3: on the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I mean you have a lot of respect
Speaker 2: for good players, you know, no matter who they're playing for,
Speaker 2: and to see that many good players is kind of
Speaker 2: established on one team, and they obviously have a lot
Speaker 2: of injuries that's going on there too, But see the
Speaker 2: lineup that they run out every night is you know,
Speaker 2: they're one of the one of the team's perennial teams
Speaker 2: and will be for a while.
Speaker 1: But just seeing seeing a young guy like.
Speaker 2: Kim taking the at bats he's taken, he got his
Speaker 2: first home run, I mean, he's a solid player, and
Speaker 2: Rushing made his debut too. But just just the group
Speaker 2: that they have, it seems like they have a lot
Speaker 2: of fun playing and they have an awesome atmosphere, awesome
Speaker 2: stadium and fan base to play in front of them.
Speaker 2: But that's that's kind of what makes you know, being
Speaker 2: on the road and going to a place like that
Speaker 2: fun is you know, kind of they're the measuring stick
Speaker 2: of the league right now. So you know we didn't
Speaker 2: We got the first game eleven to one and then
Speaker 2: kind of rolled over the next two. But you know,
Speaker 2: we know we can beat teams like that, and it's
Speaker 2: just a matter of being consistent.
Speaker 6: Who's the best team you've seen this year? You just
Speaker 6: left l A. I'm not saying it's a Dodgers and
Speaker 6: say who is the best team? And you're not. You're
Speaker 6: not saying all they're better than the age. It's just
Speaker 6: who had Who have you been the most impressed with.
Speaker 2: I think the Cubs was probably, I mean it was early,
Speaker 2: but their lineup was firing, and their pitching has been
Speaker 2: been pretty solid too, So I think I think as
Speaker 2: far as overall impression, I think that made the biggest one.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 7: My question to you, Mason. I mean you've talked about,
Speaker 7: you know, your teammates. I want to talk a little
Speaker 7: bit about you as well. You know you got the
Speaker 7: electric arm. Talk about your process. Have you always had
Speaker 7: that electric arm? Is it something you've had to work
Speaker 7: on over the years. I mean, talk a little bit
Speaker 7: about maybe you were a good hitter, I mean did
Speaker 7: you hit back in the day. Talk about how you
Speaker 7: were as a hitter, and then how you absolutely developed
Speaker 7: this cannon of an arm.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'll play into it. I say, I used
Speaker 2: to rake when I was a little kid, but I
Speaker 2: was a po I was a po come high school.
Speaker 2: So I don't know if that really counts for a
Speaker 2: whole lot, but.
Speaker 7: No, it does on this show. It does for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah I think, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I was playing I was playing short and
Speaker 2: bat and third when I was twelve, so Yep, I'll
Speaker 2: hang that out there. But I think I think I've
Speaker 2: always had a smooth, smooth arm and thrown harder than
Speaker 2: most guys from my age. But getting past college and
Speaker 2: into the pros and being able to sustain this elite
Speaker 2: level of velocity, I think is a god given gift
Speaker 2: that's coupled with work ethic and you know, the things
Speaker 2: I do to take care of my arm, my shoulder
Speaker 2: and my body, and you know, putting myself in a
Speaker 2: position that I'm able to go out there and compete
Speaker 2: on a day to day basis. I think at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, that's what's most important. As exciting
Speaker 2: as it is, the availability is the most important thing.
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Speaker 3: box new subscribers only, varies by plan. So, Mason, I
Speaker 3: want to ask you about the mental side, and I've
Speaker 3: got you a specific way to approach this because yesterday
Speaker 3: we just got into a really good, in depth conversation
Speaker 3: with Max Monty on the show about hitters meetings and
Speaker 3: how everybody has to come prepared with actual homework on
Speaker 3: what their approach is that night against the pitcher, then
Speaker 3: they talk it out, et cetera. So he gave us,
Speaker 3: you know, fifteen really good minutes on how that all
Speaker 3: goes down some of the language that's used, which many
Speaker 3: people if they're just listening in, would not understand, right,
Speaker 3: like the baseball terminology that they're using. So how does
Speaker 3: it work on the pitching side, Like what do you do?
Speaker 3: Are you looking to see what pocket you're going against,
Speaker 3: you know, or are you much more relying on your
Speaker 3: catcher and obviously you know, looking at locations and pitches
Speaker 3: and stuff like that, or are you kind of dialing
Speaker 3: into a player by player basis of your preparation against teams?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I have honestly a pretty unique outlook
Speaker 2: on it since I used to start and that preparation
Speaker 2: is a lot different being a dot. You'll have to
Speaker 2: get a guy three times maybe during an outing. But
Speaker 2: you know, now speaking as a reliever, you know, we
Speaker 2: have a reliever's meeting before to start every series, kind
Speaker 2: of go through the lineup, go through you know, who's
Speaker 2: a runner, tendencies, things like that, and the kind of
Speaker 2: just talk about where guys missus, whether it's you know,
Speaker 2: heaters up, heaters away, what lanes you know in or
Speaker 2: out is better up and down? Kind of just giving
Speaker 2: guys an idea of you know, the safe zones to
Speaker 2: go or the you know, more optimal places to be. Obviously,
Speaker 2: there's certain hitters like Otani where it's like, hey, the
Speaker 2: whole box is red, don't you know, you don't don't
Speaker 2: want to give them anything too good, But at the
Speaker 2: same time, you don't want to just put them on
Speaker 2: base every time. So it's just kind of about giving
Speaker 2: guys the keys to, you know, their stuff. Everybody's stuff's different.
Speaker 2: You know, my my holes or my zones that I'm
Speaker 2: going to are going to be a lot different than
Speaker 2: you know, a guy that can you know, has a
Speaker 2: good change up or cutter, curveball, things like that I
Speaker 2: don't do. So it's kind of just the same way
Speaker 2: that you know, you teach a sixth grade class and
Speaker 2: you got kids that are very smart and kids that
Speaker 2: very you know, from lower levels to middle levels everything
Speaker 2: in between. Like everybody's in a different spot. But it's like,
Speaker 2: how do you get it to a point where you're
Speaker 2: meeting everybody's needs. So I think for us eight relievers,
Speaker 2: you've got a couple guys that they're cutters, a couple
Speaker 2: guys that throw good changeups, sinkers, et cetera. So just
Speaker 2: kind of hit each one of those throughout the meeting.
Speaker 2: And then I honestly think that it's a little bit
Speaker 2: on the player too, that you know, you know yourself best,
Speaker 2: and the way that you're going to be able to
Speaker 2: get the guy out, you kind of have to be
Speaker 2: able to go and look at the numbers and figure
Speaker 2: that stuff out for yourself. So I kind of just
Speaker 2: look at where guy's damages, you know, since I'll be
Speaker 2: pitching and the most important part of the game most
Speaker 2: of the time, you know, I want to know where
Speaker 2: the guy historically has done his damage and where I
Speaker 2: can go to get swing and miss, you know, if
Speaker 2: I need it. So that's kind of how I approach it.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think you're always learning to You
Speaker 2: got different resources available to you, you know, heat maps,
Speaker 2: weighted averages, all this different stuff where it can get
Speaker 2: kind of consuming at times. But I think the sooner
Speaker 2: you find something that works for you and just have
Speaker 2: a process, I think that's the best.
Speaker 1: Way to do it. Mason.
Speaker 5: I want you to look at me.
Speaker 6: I want you to look at me in the eyes,
Speaker 6: and next time you guys have a scatting report meeting,
Speaker 6: I want you to be like cut or Slider, probably
Speaker 6: throw one hundred and three. I'm a blow some cheese
Speaker 6: by these nerds. That's what you need to say in
Speaker 6: your meeting, because I know that's what's going on in
Speaker 6: your head. You're like, I am this good. But you're right.
Speaker 6: If you take everything that they're talking about and you
Speaker 6: can start executing it, it takes you to the next level.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, I mean I do. I do approach that
Speaker 2: that way. You know, some guys it's you know, give
Speaker 2: me a heater until they put a good swing on that.
Speaker 2: But I kind of the last couple of weeks struggled
Speaker 2: a little bit with my slider command and saw that
Speaker 2: in Miami and that ultimately led to the Grand Slam
Speaker 2: from Stours. But it's kind of like when I do
Speaker 2: guys a favor and don't throw anything else competitively close
Speaker 2: to the zone and they can just gear up for
Speaker 2: the heater and you know, I gotta throw it. I
Speaker 2: gotta throw it in the zone at some points. So
Speaker 2: just giving them a chance in that sense, you know,
Speaker 2: if I'm able to mix my stuff, be in the
Speaker 2: zone and expand the zone and then really start throwing
Speaker 2: those those fastballs where it's like I'm coming and throwing
Speaker 2: this fastball by you.
Speaker 1: That's that's what I'm at my best.
Speaker 6: It's called a speedball. You throw a speedball, so I'm
Speaker 6: gonna throw fastball as you throw a speedball. Is there
Speaker 6: somebody you watch, Like, let's say you're facing the Dodgers
Speaker 6: and your lane is you know, it's not just a
Speaker 6: ninth inning or whatever, it's it's one, two three in
Speaker 6: that lineup? Do you do you queue up on the
Speaker 6: true media on your scattering report page?
Speaker 5: Do you queue up a certain picture?
Speaker 6: Because I know hitters would do that, Like I would
Speaker 6: never look at a you know, how somebody faces Prince
Speaker 6: Field or I'm not a left handed, power hitting you
Speaker 6: know monster. I would look up other backup catchers that
Speaker 6: don't play much that hit right handed. How a pitcher
Speaker 6: attacks them. Do you look up a certain pitcher and
Speaker 6: you go, if this guy attacks them this way?
Speaker 5: I think I can too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's that's an awesome way to do it.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a lot of great pitchers in the league.
Speaker 2: And for me, if I'm going to look at fastball
Speaker 2: swing and miss and if it's you know, I could
Speaker 2: be sinkers. Obviously, you can filter it to just four seams.
Speaker 2: But that there's a huge variance between a ninety two
Speaker 2: mount Our fastball and one hundred mount Our fastball, So
Speaker 2: I usually filter it to like ninety seven and above,
Speaker 2: and guys that I'll see a lot of, or you know,
Speaker 2: Surez for the Padres Hellslie for the Cardinals, Chapman obviously too,
Speaker 2: and kind of you know you'll watch it, but I
Speaker 2: you know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm as fastball heavy, or my fastball isn't.
Speaker 2: Necessarily quite as dominant as a guy like Sworez, where
Speaker 2: he's able to throw it eighty eighty five percent of
Speaker 2: the time and still generate the swinging mess that he has.
Speaker 1: I think ultimately at the end of the day.
Speaker 2: You watch it like if I execute my fastball, you
Speaker 2: know I can get this guy out and no problem.
Speaker 2: You know, it's watching guys like that that just their
Speaker 2: execution is so good, you know, at the top, top
Speaker 2: of the rail, in and out, that's just that's the roadmap,
Speaker 2: you know, just get to the top and work it
Speaker 2: in and out.
Speaker 3: Hey, last one Mason, whatever the scouting report was for
Speaker 3: Johnny Pareda against Shoheo Tani.
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know if anyone.
Speaker 3: Can replicate the pitch, then getting the ball authenticated the
Speaker 3: whole deal. So what was that like to witness and
Speaker 3: what did the guys say to him afterward?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean quite quiet clubhouse after a nineteen to
Speaker 2: two loss, for sure, But you know, you kind of
Speaker 2: I walked past Johnny and I gave him a little uh.
Speaker 2: You know, if I knew that, all I had to
Speaker 2: do was throw sixty four miles an hour and then
Speaker 2: go hard up at the end.
Speaker 1: You know, the whole league should have been doing this
Speaker 1: for a while, right.
Speaker 2: It's not that hard as a Johnny and he just laughed.
Speaker 2: It's his third strikeout.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: It's unfortunate that he's had to be in as many
Speaker 2: games as he has, but he said he wants to
Speaker 2: get up to above ninety, above ninety miles an hour.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think his pitching career this will be
Speaker 2: the highlight. I don't really care what else he does,
Speaker 2: but he'll have that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't think you could top that what he
Speaker 4: just did.
Speaker 3: You know in yesterday's game, And trust me, show Tan
Speaker 3: he's not taking in a bat off.
Speaker 4: So he got him. He got it.
Speaker 3: I've not seen that before. That is the approach, right,
Speaker 3: Krats sixty something down and then what was that like eighty.
Speaker 1: Five eighty nine?
Speaker 4: I think eighty nine he hit.
Speaker 5: I thought he hit eighty eight or eighty nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's been pretty he's been pretty close. He's been
Speaker 2: pretty close to ninety. I think I think it was
Speaker 2: a TV eighty nine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it. Well, dude, great to catch up.
Speaker 3: Good luck against the Giants here coming up, and then
Speaker 3: we'll get you again in a few weeks.
Speaker 1: All right, awesome, guys, Good to talk to you as always.
Speaker 4: Good stuff there. I mean, I'm enjoying these interviews Kratz.
Speaker 3: I think this week we took a turn here where
Speaker 3: we got a little baseball y. But you know, I'm
Speaker 3: a nerd, so I like to hear this stuff, and
Speaker 3: I know from the fan perspective, maybe for you guys,
Speaker 3: you dealt with it for a long time and it
Speaker 3: just seems like, oh whatever, we're sitting in a meeting.
Speaker 3: Like for me in my baseball career covering the game,
Speaker 3: the coolest parts are, say, the manager's office conversations that
Speaker 3: I have before I call a game, right and just
Speaker 3: hearing what they're talking about right before the game begins.
Speaker 3: So having this with Mason and hearing how he's watching
Speaker 3: other flamethrowers and how they attack people versus also hearing
Speaker 3: what months he does yesterday with his hitters is pretty cool.
Speaker 6: It's how you get it's how you get to the
Speaker 6: next level of your ability. Not necessarily that Mason Miller
Speaker 6: is going to be any better than an All Star
Speaker 6: or anything like that. He's trying to figure out the
Speaker 6: little things that it's going to get him to be
Speaker 6: the best he can be. I guess era is a
Speaker 6: little high, but he's a closer who cares about his era.
Speaker 6: But just the language. If you're picking up things, he
Speaker 6: said top rail. Max Munsey was talking about how pitches
Speaker 6: are planing out. He was talking about how stop throwing
Speaker 6: the cutter yesterday because show hey hit the dinger. Like
Speaker 6: this is all conversations that happened throughout the game. It's
Speaker 6: not just oh baseball, bat, go hit that John, No,
Speaker 6: it's there's a lot. There's a lot of conversation, and
Speaker 6: it's almost like another language.
Speaker 5: Max said it yesterday.
Speaker 6: It's another language, And to me, that's what I think
Speaker 6: our show can bring to fans if they pay attention.
Speaker 6: You're not getting this anywhere else, because it's like instant
Speaker 6: access from these guys who are in it day in
Speaker 6: and day.
Speaker 5: Out, agreed on.
Speaker 7: I got nothing else to add that out when he's
Speaker 7: right on every little thing.
Speaker 3: So and they like to hear from you guys too, obviously,
Speaker 3: like I can tee up some things, but then you
Speaker 3: guys can ask.
Speaker 4: The follow ups that I just don't know about it,
Speaker 4: so it helps. Thanks guys, thanks for helping me out.
Speaker 4: It does make a difference.