WEBVTT - Pitching Ninja joins FT 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:05.880 Now Pitching Pitching Ninja. Rob Friedman joining us right now 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.520 back on FT and happy opening day to you, Rob, 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.239 and also happy opening book to you. Right this is 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.119 the first book you're putting out there, so give us 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:15.480 the goods on that and we'll mix it into the conversation. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:19.800 I'm excited, absolutely, I'm excited too, like both for opening 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.479 day and Opening book day. So I wrote a book 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.400 about like how pitching has changed over the years, and 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.920 how pitchers are now engineered to be dominant and I 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:31.400 feel sorry for hitters. 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.400 Well, let's go there right off the bat. And you 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:38.280 can also, of course tell us some of the pitching 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.320 that you're exciting you're excited to see this year, whether 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:45.120 it's rookies, new pitches, the whole deal. But tell us 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.200 more about that topic from the book. How much has 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.800 pitching development advanced in comparison to hitting development. 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:56.960 Well, like for pitching, it used to be either you 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:57.840 have it or don't. 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.000 We said you couldn't teach velocity, or you couldn't teach 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:03.920 someone how to spin a ball. It turns out you can, 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:07.520 and that's why you're seeing pictures throw a lot harder now. 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:09.759 It used to be through luck or you know, back 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:11.720 in the day they used to be farm strong. Now 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:13.280 they can be in the weight room. We used to 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.959 think that would make pictures too muscle bound, but it doesn't. 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:21.120 If you train them correctly, we can break down somebody's 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:25.240 mechanics improve them very quickly. We can do things like 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.400 use high speed cameras to watch how the pitches, how 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.840 the ball's coming off someone's fingers, and measure it and say, 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.120 if you just moved it a little bit over, we 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:35.920 can make this pitch even nastier. 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:37.720 So it's a lot of things that pictures. 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.440 I'm not saying necessary that the pitchers are even better today, 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:45.640 like they're not necessarily better athletes, but they have a 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:47.920 lot more at their disposal to help them train, and 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.640 maybe that some guys back in the day would have 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:54.240 been way better today if they pitched today because of 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:54.880 all the training. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:59.000 One of the stories you actually have in your prelimb 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.440 to the book is about your son Jack and how 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.280 this like set you on the journey. He went from 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:06.920 seventy seven to ninety five and then he ended up 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:11.480 having labrum's issues. The first thing that's brought up when 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.200 I was in Tripa talking to young pitchers what does 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:16.680 it take to make the big leagues? And I said, 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:19.040 nobody wants to just make the big leagues. They want 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.080 to stay in the big leagues. So is all this 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.680 information and all this ability to spin it, to throw 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:30.800 it harder getting guys hurt? And is there more value 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.799 in getting there but not having a long career than 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.480 getting there and having an average career that's longer. 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.799 Yeah, I think that's a great question. Unfortunately, to get 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.519 your foot in the door today, here's a reason why 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.720 people sit behind the backstop with radar guns. They do 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.520 it because that's how they judge initially, how you get in. 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.240 That doesn't mean that you constantly always want you're there, 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.960 have to throw as hard as you can. And as 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:56.680 a matter of fact, I think the trend now is 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.799 to throw many, many different pitches because it makes it 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:02.680 tougher for a hit or to hit if they don't 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.040 know what's coming. If you have eight different pitch types 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.400 and you can command them, that's as good as somebody 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:10.560 just can blow you away with one hundred and three 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.440 and maybe a little less stressful on your army. So 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.079 you're seeing guys like Paul's schemes to versify his his arsenal. 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:19.840 He doesn't top out at one oh two every game. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.880 He's backed off it a little bit, but can keep 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:25.919 hitters off balance throwing them a bunch of different looks. 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.040 So I think you're seeing a lot of that to 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:29.960 help people stay around, but in order to get in 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:33.400 the door. The problem is if you don't light up 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.400 a radar gun and a coach takes or a scout 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:41.000 makes a bet on you, you're if you're wrong. If 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.720 that scout is wrong, it's on them. It's their judgment 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:45.960 that was wrong. If you lit up the radar gun 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:47.880 and they said this guy throws one oh two, he 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.960 got to draft them and you don't and the pitcher 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.320 doesn't succeed, then the scout did what he was supposed 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.360 to do kind of and the pitcher just didn't have 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.760 it or did it, you know, broke down. So it 0:03:57.800 --> 0:03:59.680 is there's a little bit of a blame game going. 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.400 I think that goes on with analytics in general. But uh, 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.600 I think there's I would love to see it come 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:09.960 back to a little bit more gamesmanship. I have no 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:10.920 problem with that at all. 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:15.960 Rob In your book in earlier you just talked about 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.919 how pitching analytics are ahead and in your book, thank you. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:20.520 I got a line in your book, so I'll be 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:21.960 expecting your royalties at some point. 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:22.320 Thank you. 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.239 But I said it, and I've been saying this for years, 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.640 that pitching analytics are so far ahead of pitchers, And 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.039 in your book it's kind of what I said, like 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.000 you can tell a guy and you can just slow 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.520 motion cameras, just move your finger or do this or 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.960 do that, and it changes everything about the way they 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:38.920 throw the ball and the way the ball comes out 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:40.919 of your hand. Is there any way for hitters to 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.520 catch up? Because I mentioned the trajet machine, But you know, 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.480 you talk to organizations, they don't love it. They don't 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.160 say it's the best thing in the world. Yeah, it's cool, 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.440 it's a cool gimmick. But how do hitters catch up 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.120 to what pitchers are doing? Because hitters don't have slow 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.800 motion cameras. Every swing is a little bit different, every 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.920 pitch is a little bit different. There's not a perfect swing, right, 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.840 So how to hit catch up to what pitchers are doing? 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:03.520 Because it doesn't seem like it's possible. 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:09.200 It's really hard because baseball's a weird sport. The offense 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.200 doesn't have the ball like the pitcher really is on 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.520 offense and the hitter's reacting. The hitters a counterpuncher. So 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.120 I think that's what makes it tough, is that if 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:20.839 I'm a pitcher, ideally I should be able to spin 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:22.520 the ball away I want, put it where I want, 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:24.520 throw it as hard as I want, and I know 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.320 the heat map of the hitter, so I can put 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.520 the ball exactly where that hitter's weak spot is. I 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.760 think the way for hitters to catch up Number one 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.359 traject does help in seeing a nasty pitch over and 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:37.920 over again, so you might be able to make that 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.919 pitch a little less nasty when you see it, So 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.360 that might help. But I think other things like potentially 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.160 AI and picking up pitch tipping or something like that, 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:49.880 if a hitter knows what's coming, he's got an advantage. 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.480 And if you can just like if there are guys 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:57.279 who tip, I think it would be very useful to 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.440 do things like that, doing your homework, looking at your 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:04.160 own scout report against you, even different bats. 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:04.760 For different pictures. 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:06.560 You could do stuff like that, but in the end, 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.200 pictures I think are always going to have somewhat of 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:09.960 an advantage. 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.000 Who's the pioneer of this. You mentioned a few people 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.400 early on in your book about Tom House, Nolan Ryan, 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.160 and not one of them individually, but how they all 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.520 got to get how they got together and helped each other, 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.640 going to Randy Johnson helping him, and then even you 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:28.479 mentioned later on in your book about like a Trevor 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.080 Bauer who has you know, kind of gotten a little 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.080 bit of backlash. But who do you feel like is 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:37.479 the pioneer of this development age? And then who do 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:39.640 you feel like is doing it the best right now? 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:43.039 So you daled it with Tom House. I think Tom 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.240 House was the first person to ask why. He saw 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.240 Nolan Ryan and he saw Sandy Kofax, and He's like, 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:49.920 these guys are just people. 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.320 Why are they doing what they do? How do they 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:53.040 go about this? 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.280 So he broke it down, built his own biomechanics lab 0:06:56.279 --> 0:07:00.400 in his house. Cost him his marriage, he says, look 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.440 at pictures all the time and try to figure out 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.479 what does what. So he is really the start of 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.520 this whole thing. Guys like Kyle Body at drive Line 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:10.280 took it to the next level. I mean, he's got 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.160 an engineering background, so he started looking at it at 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:17.200 stuff from a engineering or computer programming sense. Step by step, 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.280 and you're right, Bauer took it into the clubhouse where 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.600 like him or not, and I understand. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.200 Obviously the backlash, but. 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.920 He certainly did break down a lot of barriers, weighted balls, 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:36.400 high speed cameras, rap sodo, just training, biometrics and training 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:40.000 and all that. Like the game, there's a little bit 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.240 of debt ode to him is where the game is 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.560 today that pictures are now taking. For granted, someone like 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.880 Paul Skeens has really perfected. He's taken a lot from 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:51.680 a lot of people. If you watch his warm up 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.840 throwing footballs that's a Tom House thing. He's got a 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.680 connection ball that's a Ron Wolforth type thing. So he's 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:00.920 got a lot of different drill that he does. 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:02.600 I think he has perfected. 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.560 He's also perfected the personality that goes along with it 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.920 because he doesn't rub people the wrong way. He's a 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:14.600 competitor that goes in, listens, synthesizes information, and goes out 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.440 and competes. And I think that's kind of, to me, 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:21.400 my perfect pitching model. There's no perfect, but he's kind 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:22.400 of where that goes. 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.200 Perfect pitching model is the one that stays healthy, has 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.800 success for twenty years and then he's the anomaly, not 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.079 the not the norm. We are seeing all of this, 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:37.880 all this technology. Every bullpen guy or every bullpen has 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.080 a guy that throws one hundred throws ninety nine miles 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.280 an hour. If you're not throwing ninety seven in high school, 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:46.080 blah blah blah. But why do we not ever reach 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:51.040 where Eradus Chatman was, why do we not ever every 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.920 like we're peeking out? Is there something in the future 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:57.680 that's going to get us to that one oh seven 0:08:57.800 --> 0:08:59.520 one eight category? 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:01.360 Likely? 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:03.880 So, but I can't promise you they won't break down 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:07.160 if they do that, because as you know, as a competitor, 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:09.640 as an athlete, you know you're trying to be you 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.640 redline your body right, You're fighting through stuff. If you 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.200 see a number attached to you, you're going to try 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:16.000 to achieve it. 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:16.560 And beat it. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.719 That is just what you do as a competitor and 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.160 an athlete. So you're always going to push your body 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.360 as far as it can go. No matter what that 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.400 number is, You're going to want to eke out a 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.520 little bit more so, I think you're always going to 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.199 run into that ceiling. The key is knowing your body 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.520 there may be technologies that can keep you healthier, understanding 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.720 that rest is important and recovery is important, monitoring that. 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.640 But will pitchers continue to break down? Yeah? 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.280 Probably until we like you'd have to tell what the 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.920 weak point was before it would break, and you know, 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:54.440 maybe like car monitoring systems, that warning light comes on. 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.679 You know, I think we have stuff that's being developed, 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:01.719 but that's going to be the main problem. 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:03.720 A guy who seems to be in a development crisis 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.120 is Roki Sazaki. What can he do? What tools does 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.760 he need to figure out to get to where people 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:10.400 thought he would be once he came over to the 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:11.000 major leagues? 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:13.920 You know he does. 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.480 He is a little bit more complicated mechanics than someone 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:20.600 like Yoshinobayamamoto, who is as streamlined as can be. I 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.160 also think some of it is almost overthinking his mechanics. 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.240 To me, at least, listening to every interview. Every time 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.000 he struggles, it seems to be, well, it was my 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:30.960 mechanics were off. 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.080 I did this wrong, I did that wrong. 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:37.280 Most pitchers don't lose command because of their mechanics. They're 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.200 losing command because of a focus type thing or not 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.280 understanding where their misses tend to be. It could be 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:45.520 a variety of different things. But I think if you 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:47.600 start feeling like you have to be at one hundred 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:52.400 percent mechanics wise and physical wise every game to throw strikes, 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:56.520 it sets up a spiral where all of a sudden 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:58.480 something goes wrong, and that goes wrong again and goes 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:02.800 wrong again. Think he's in a situation now where when 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:05.400 he starts throwing balls, he starts throwing pitches out of 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.600 the zone. It starts getting in his head and he 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.520 starts trying to make adjustments and he just can't do it. 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.520 Sometimes you do. Sometimes you have. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.720 To figure out a way to compete through it, and 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.000 it's not always a mechanical thing, all right. 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.760 You quote tweeted one of the conversations that we had 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:26.440 about aces, Andy McColl and I were in we're in 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:30.320 cahoots on the fact that Yamamoto is not an ACE 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:36.000 yet yet, and visceral hate exploded on the internet. What 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.720 is your list of aces and what is your or 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.679 what is your criteria of an ace, because I think 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.520 people stopped listening to what the criteria of an ACE 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.920 was even you just brought in the picture of him 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.439 having a great postseason and one great season in the 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.240 big leagues. So what's your criteria for aces in the 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:55.760 big leagues. 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.079 Yeah, and in fairness, I don't think for Yamamoto it's 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.559 one great season. You're talking about a legendary pitcher in 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.120 Japan who won three Solar More Awards and MVPs and 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.120 legendary low eras comes over to the States, had a 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:14.000 solid first season and then an excellent second season and 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.640 dominated in the postseason, pitching on one day's rest in 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:17.280 the World Series. 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.079 To me, and I think to most pitchers that. 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:25.560 Watch that competitiveness and stuff, they would say that as 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:29.440 an ace without a doubt. People were like I talked 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.320 to Ryan Dempster after that. He was like, oh my god, 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:34.600 that was what I love about the game. I've talked 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.480 to other guys like this is an ace. This is 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:40.080 an old school horse. So to me, that is that's 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.480 my criteria. It is you know it when you see it. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.719 There has to be stats to back it up, but 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.000 it's it's being counted on in big situations for your 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.559 team to come through and carry that team and go 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.520 relatively deep into starts, or put your career on the 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:59.839 line like he did and come back on one Day's rest. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.320 To me, that's a no doubter that he's an ace. 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.120 Paul Skins obviously, Logan Webb's an ace. You have a 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.360 lot of them throughout the league. Garrett Crochet is an ace. 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.800 It's guys that you know you can count on that 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.040 make me want to tune in, and they're proven themselves 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.959 over at least a full season, and you feel like 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.200 there's no reason they can't continue with that. 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:22.160 Who's next? 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:22.400 Then? 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:23.440 Who's next? 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:24.200 On the list? 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.760 If guys like Verlander, Scherzer, guys like that are starting 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.360 to get a little bit older, Kershaw's gone now, who's 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:35.040 the next wave behind scooball Schemes? I guess you could 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:35.920 put Web in there. 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:37.000 Who's next? 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:38.959 Who's the young guys that you've watched that you say 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.600 can be the next let's say three best in the 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:42.400 next ten years. 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:44.640 Yeah, that's a great question. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.360 I mean, I've really liked what I've seen out of 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:49.920 I think Hunter Green is on the verge of do 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.240 you consider him an ace? I think that he is 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.000 a guy that I would if he has a strong 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.360 year this year, he's an ace. He's a guy that 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:00.880 I like watching pitch and he's you know, kind of 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.640 one of the next guys I can see in that category. 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:06.240 Bubba Chandler, a. 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:10.160 New guy I think is going to be very, very good. 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.680 I think Nolan McLain for the Mets is a guy 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.240 I can't stop watching because his stuff is made for 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:19.440 pitching Ninja, because it's just eye poppingly good, like twenty 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:24.000 inches here, twenty inches east west, throwing ninety nine and 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.640 a competitor. That's a guy I can see up there. 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.720 Chase Burns is another guy who I've loved since he 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.760 was in college, and I think he's got unhittable stuff 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:34.320 when he's on. 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.400 All right, Well, what about show Hey? A lot's always 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.080 asked about, like the one year where he didn't pitch 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.960 and he became an MVP just as a DH and 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.160 he launched his he launched his hitting to another level. 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:50.720 Show Hey when you watch him, and I think last 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.360 night he just had ten punchouts in like four innings. 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.680 It was ridiculous against the Angels. But there's that. But 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.600 do you think if he just p he could be 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:03.760 a cy Young Award winner or do you think he 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:10.520 just slightly is outside of your everybody's an ace category? 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.520 He has got what he's on, he's got who has 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:19.600 better stuff? Like legit throws over a hundred sweeper that's wicked, 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:25.160 splitter that can't be hit, constantly improving a tax the zone. 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.000 You see him come through in big moments like if 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.440 you want, if you want somebody on the bump in 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:34.200 a big moment, a competitor and somebody who's going to 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.400 dig deep and show you something that you've never seen before. 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.120 That's the guy that I would love to see out there. 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:44.280 So he meets my criteria other than the innings part. 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.360 Because you know, I'd like to see, you know, more 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:49.160 of that. 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.800 But I think he's absolutely a pitcher. He's absolutely pitch 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.680 for pitch as good as anybody in baseball. The question 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.040 is how much do you want him to pitch because 0:15:58.040 --> 0:15:59.000 his hitting is so good? 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.920 All right, So we're making predictions. I think some people 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.920 have it. It's easy like Cy Young Awards, American League, 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.200 National League. I want to hear your top three finishers 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.000 in the in the Cy Young Award for the National 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:13.880 League and American League this season. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:17.960 Yeah, that's I mean, I've for the American League. 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:22.120 I've got to stay on the schoolbol train until school 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.280 ball shows signs of fading. I think that that would 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:30.440 be tough to back off of him. I would then go, 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.200 I mean Crochet also, he's he's on, he's so good, 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.600 So that's that's another guy that I would find hard 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:38.480 to back off of. 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:39.120 And then. 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.200 I mean Max Freed is always there. I can go 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:48.240 with Max Freed in the NL. I mean, Skeens is 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.200 just scratching the Skenes is just now like how many 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.160 years have you even pitched full time? So it's hard to 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.560 say anything negative about Paul Skeens's chances of winning another 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.600 cy Young So he would have to be number. 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:06.640 One on my list. Number two. 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:10.320 I mean, I can see someone like I mean Christopher 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:12.920 Sanchez had a great year. I'm probably going Logan Web 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.720 maybe and then maybe a surprise. I mean, I would 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.879 love to see and this is more picking with my heart, 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:22.560 but I would love to see someone like Noelan McLain 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.439 have a solid season this year and really open some 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.600 eyes because his stuff is that good. His stuff is 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.119 as good as anybody in baseball, maybe better than anybody 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:32.120 in baseball. 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.720 And he'd been doing the two way thing, so now 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.399 he's just focusing on pitching, right, So you feel like 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.399 there's still more that he can unlock. This is his 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.480 first full season two. Feel like we've been talking about 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.600 him a lot, but you know, because of the WBC 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.679 in this strong debut last year, but this is his 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:48.480 first full ride. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.560 Yep, and had a velo jump in the WBC. 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.239 I mean he had what was mostly topping out at 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:57.720 ninety eight and he'd ninety nine point two. He told 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.640 me he's never hit one hundred at any level and 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:01.760 I'm going to take credit for it. 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.240 If he does this year, well we'll give it to you. 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.000 And also we'll shout out the book on the way out. 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:11.800 So tell us you know you can get it wherever, right, 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:13.359 is that how books work these days? 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:18.879 Absolutely anywhere, Amazon, Barnes, and Noble. I'll even deliver you 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:20.080 on if you really want. 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:24.600 It that bad, well depending on where you live, but yes, 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.520 maybe at a ballpark. Unhittable is the name of the book. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.359 Rob Freeman aka Pitching Ninjur. We love having you on. 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.040 Congrats again on the book. Happy opening day to you 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:34.240 and we'll catch up soon. 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:36.400 Thanks thanks for having me on.