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Speaker 1: New member of the Chicago White Sox, Anthony K joining

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Speaker 1: us right now on Foul Territory. Anthony, Great to have

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Speaker 1: you on the show. Congratulations on the off season contract.

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Speaker 2: How you doing.

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Speaker 1: Has the off season going for you now that you're

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Speaker 1: joining up with the White Sox?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, how's it going, guys? Thanks for having me. Everything's

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Speaker 3: going good over here. Starting to ramp up a little

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Speaker 3: bit and get going, and yeah, everything's been pretty good.

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Speaker 1: I'll let you lay out your story first, Anthony. Can

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Speaker 1: you explain to the fans what you've gone through in

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Speaker 1: your journey through Major League Baseball and then overseas and back.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I pretty much have gone through it all.

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Speaker 3: You know, traded DFAD a bunch of times, released, and

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Speaker 3: then went overseas for two years, so you know, I've

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Speaker 3: pretty much seen it all at this point.

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Speaker 2: What happened out there, I mean it.

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Speaker 3: Was just a great experience. You know, the bass stars

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Speaker 3: really true. Ge me great. They let me, you know,

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Speaker 3: become a starter again and I kind of just you know,

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Speaker 3: worked some things out. Uh, you know, kind of was

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Speaker 3: able to stretch out again as a starter and you know,

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Speaker 3: just kind of figured it out a little bit.

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Speaker 4: We talk about we talk about guys. Oh, you go

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Speaker 4: over there, you make a change, you get some new

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Speaker 4: Mizuno cleats, you have a pause or all that stuff, hitters, pitchers,

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Speaker 4: whatever it is. Before you were going over there, What

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Speaker 4: did it look like, because we rarely talk about we

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Speaker 4: to talk about the success. What did it look like

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Speaker 4: for you at the end of twenty three? Like, are

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Speaker 4: you like, you know, I want to be a starter?

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Speaker 4: They see me as a reliever. What were teams telling

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Speaker 4: you to ultimately make you say, I'm going over to

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Speaker 4: Japan because that option is now open.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So twenty three I was that was like my

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Speaker 3: first full year as being a reliever. But at the

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Speaker 3: end of the year, I got dfaid and was a

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Speaker 3: free agent, and I had a couple of minor league deals.

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Speaker 3: There were a couple of teams that were gonna let me,

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Speaker 3: you know, kind of work it out as a starter

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Speaker 3: in Triple A. But you know, obviously I chose to

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Speaker 3: go to Japan for you know, just a better opportunity

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Speaker 3: compared to, you know, playing in the minor leagues.

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Speaker 5: Anthony, let me be the first to welcome to the

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Speaker 5: White Sox okay as a proud White Sox man. Welcome

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Speaker 5: to the White Sox. What they do in Japan?

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Speaker 2: What? What?

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Speaker 5: What was the difference in Japan that you think unlocked

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Speaker 5: your potential that people obviously thought was there. You were

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Speaker 5: in the big leagues, you were up and down and

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Speaker 5: teams kept giving you an opportunity. So what did they

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Speaker 5: do in Japan then unlocked your potential?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? For me, I kind of struggled a little bit

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Speaker 3: when I first got over there. You know a lot

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Speaker 3: of those guys were you know, they foul a lot

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Speaker 3: of pitches off they're they're over there, you know, just

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Speaker 3: trying to get pitch counts up a bunch, and you know,

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Speaker 3: I was still kind of trying to pitch how I

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Speaker 3: was in America, chasing strikeouts and you know, I like

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Speaker 3: to a little bit more walks and and about halfway

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Speaker 3: through my first year there, you know, I kind of

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Speaker 3: did a little This was just checking everyone else out

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Speaker 3: around the league and seeing how they were having success.

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Speaker 3: And you know, those guys, you know, were throwing as

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Speaker 3: hard as me. You know, I feel like some of

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Speaker 3: them didn't have you know, as good as stuff as me.

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Speaker 3: And I was just kind of wondering, you know, what

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Speaker 3: the difference was, and I mean I just kind of

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Speaker 3: came to the conclusion that, you know, I needed another pitch.

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Speaker 3: So I had developed you know, the two seam sinker

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Speaker 3: thing that I throw now, and I think that kind of,

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Speaker 3: you know, changed everything. It helped me, you know, be

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Speaker 3: more aggressive in the zone and you know, get a

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Speaker 3: little bit more contact and go deeper into games.

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Speaker 4: Did you have to do that on your own or

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Speaker 4: was there or was there a coach, pitching coach somebody

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Speaker 4: that helped you develop that over there?

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Speaker 3: I think the the idea of it was kind of

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Speaker 3: on my own, but they, you know, they have all

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Speaker 3: the analytics and stuff over there also to kind of

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Speaker 3: helped me, you know, work on it and get the

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Speaker 3: shapes that I wanted.

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Speaker 4: What are you going to miss the most about Japan?

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Speaker 4: What are you because players always come over it's look,

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Speaker 4: obviously you got to your big league deal. That's cool.

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Speaker 4: You're back in the States, it's cooler. But what are

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Speaker 4: you going to miss the most about your time there

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Speaker 4: that if you had gone back you're like, ah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is nice.

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Speaker 3: Uh. Probably the fans. I mean every single game over

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Speaker 3: there is packed out. You know, they're doing all their

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Speaker 3: chant their team chants and you know they're playing their

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Speaker 3: instruments out in the outfield. I think you know that

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Speaker 3: experience of the fans was just incredible.

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Speaker 4: Then you signed with the White Sox. There's no fans

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Speaker 4: with the White Sox. So sorry, sorry to be the

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Speaker 4: first one. He hey J invited you or was the

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Speaker 4: first one to welcome you, but there ain't no fans.

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Speaker 4: So maybe you need to find a fan section. What

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Speaker 4: would be your fans section called in Chicago.

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Speaker 3: Oh that's a good question.

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I think they got to come up with something. I

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Speaker 3: feel like you can't create your own, right. I feel like,

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Speaker 3: you know.

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Speaker 4: Some guys do.

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Speaker 5: Hold like a club our director, hold him, hold special, Okay,

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Speaker 5: hold up, hold what listen Anthony as as Strong Island

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Speaker 5: Natives and White Sox players, tell crats the fuck right off. Okay,

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Speaker 5: because listen, we got us strong Island people. We got

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Speaker 5: to stick together, right, us White Sox people, we got

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Speaker 5: to stick together.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: When Crafts played in Philly, there was no people cheering

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Speaker 5: for him either. Okay, so he can fuck right off.

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Speaker 5: Now what the stadium was, what I was there at

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Speaker 5: twenty fifteen, There wasn't a fucking person in the stands,

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Speaker 5: in Philly. I was they weren't there to watch Mickel

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Speaker 5: Franco get hit act like he got hit in the

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Speaker 5: head when he didn't. Okay, let's be on now. Stop. Okay, So, Anthony,

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Speaker 5: you have a new teammate, mar Commy. Did you face

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Speaker 5: him in Japan? Give us White Sox fans a scouting

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Speaker 5: report on what we can expect, because there's gonna be

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Speaker 5: fans there now because you have Anthony k pitching every

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Speaker 5: fifth day and you have more comedy coming up there

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Speaker 5: to hit a bombs at first base.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's got probably the most power I've

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Speaker 3: ever seen. I faced him a bunch my first year.

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Speaker 3: I only got to face him one time this year

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Speaker 3: because you know, he had an injury. But I mean,

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Speaker 3: he's got so much power. Thankfully for me, I kept

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Speaker 3: him in the yard a bunch. But you know, he's

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Speaker 3: still I think, hit like four hundred off of me

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Speaker 3: with a bunch of walks. So, I mean, I don't see.

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Speaker 3: You know, a lot of people obviously were skeptical about,

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Speaker 3: you know, what he can do and in the big leagues,

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Speaker 3: But I don't see why, you know, his game won't

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Speaker 3: translate to the big leagues.

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Speaker 4: Okay, who had who hadn't the second one? You said

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Speaker 4: he had the most power you've ever seen, So for

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Speaker 4: people to like equate it to guys here in the

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Speaker 4: big leagues who had the second most power.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I didn't get to see any of Murakami's VP,

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Speaker 3: but I'm assuming it's probably something similar. It could be

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Speaker 3: something similar to like Vladdie. I mean, his power in

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Speaker 3: Toronto was ridiculous to watch.

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Speaker 2: That's Anthony.

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Speaker 1: Why do you think teams weren't as interested in him

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Speaker 1: as anticipated? Like, were you surprised when you saw the

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Speaker 1: contract that he signed? I mean many of the public

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Speaker 1: guesses were one hundred plus mil. And he's young, so

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Speaker 1: he's gonna play on a two year contract. Hopefully for

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Speaker 1: White Sox fans, they keep him and extend him. But

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Speaker 1: otherwise he hits free agency again and you might see

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Speaker 1: the dude hit thirty forty fifty home runs. But I

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Speaker 1: get it they're swinging misconcerns. What do you think held

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Speaker 1: teams back? And how do you think he's going to

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Speaker 1: counter that? Like what is he going to have to

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Speaker 1: do to not just prove himself, but to make sure

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Speaker 1: that he can handle big league pitching, which is different

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Speaker 1: from pitching in the MPB.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, there were some concerns about

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Speaker 3: him catching up the VLO. I mean, I don't think

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Speaker 3: he had any problems against me with that, so I

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Speaker 3: don't I don't see why it was a concern. But

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Speaker 3: I mean I also thought em I was going to

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Speaker 3: get a little bit more money too, So I think,

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Speaker 3: you know, maybe there just weren't as many teams interested

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Speaker 3: as they would have thought. But I mean, Yamamoto was

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Speaker 3: special coming out. I think teams kind of are you know,

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Speaker 3: people are kind of just overvalued how much they were

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Speaker 3: going to get just because they were, you know, kind

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Speaker 3: of assuming something like Yamamoto would happen.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, what about the other guys it came over?

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Speaker 5: Did you face them? Am I? You mentioned to my

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Speaker 5: Hakamoto for the Blue Jays? Did you face him? Did

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Speaker 5: you see my pitch? Give us a sketch? Because we

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Speaker 5: don't know much about him, so you can watch tape,

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Speaker 5: but you actually had been on the field in the

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Speaker 5: stadium with a talking about these other guys come over.

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Speaker 3: Imai was on the other side of the league, so

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Speaker 3: we only get to face those guys once. He pitched

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Speaker 3: against us one time, and I think he struck out

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Speaker 3: like sixteen, so I mean obviously was super impressed with

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Speaker 3: what he had. I mean, he's like anywhere from like

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Speaker 3: ninety four to ninety six can run it up to

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Speaker 3: like one hundred when he wants to. Uh, he's got

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Speaker 3: like that backwards slider thing that some guys are starting

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Speaker 3: to throw now. It's like a super unique pitch for him,

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Speaker 3: and he had a lot of success with it in Japan,

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Speaker 3: So I think, uh, I think he's gonna he's gonna

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Speaker 3: be really good over here. Also, and then Okamoto too,

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Speaker 3: I mean he's I feel like he's just like a

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Speaker 3: more you know, polished Murrakami, Like he's got a lot

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Speaker 3: of power. He's just you know, I feel like an

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Speaker 3: older version of of what you're gonna get from Murakami.

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Speaker 4: You're turning into a Japanese scout here, all right. All

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Speaker 4: those guys, Kimoto, they came over, Emi came over, and

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Speaker 4: your new teammate came over, more Commy came over. Who's

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Speaker 4: the guy that impressed you the most? Over there? That

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Speaker 4: people are like because as soon as these guys are

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Speaker 4: done signing, they're signing periods over Ah, we.

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Speaker 3: Kind of stop.

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Speaker 4: But you played the entire season over there, and you're like,

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Speaker 4: this guy's dangerous, that could bust onto the scene here.

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Speaker 3: I mean mur Commy he had. I think he played

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Speaker 3: like only like fifty games this year and hit like

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Speaker 3: twenty five home runs. So I mean that stretch that

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Speaker 3: he had this year was so impressive to watch. And

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Speaker 3: I mean he's not hitting any cheap ones either. We

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Speaker 3: had kind of like a little bit of a dead

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Speaker 3: ball over there, so he wasn't getting cheated on any

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Speaker 3: of those home runs.

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Speaker 2: Anthony.

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Speaker 1: I want to make sure our audience also knows how

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Speaker 1: successful your run was.

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Speaker 2: In twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: I have you as second best RA among starting pitchers

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Speaker 1: one seven forty RA, one hundred and fifty five innings,

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Speaker 1: twenty two k rate. I mean, you dominated out there,

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Speaker 1: and there were multiple reports that teams in Japan did

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Speaker 1: not want to see you leave. So how difficult was

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Speaker 1: that part of it? I mean there were reports that

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Speaker 1: you had better money offers, but you wanted to get

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Speaker 1: back to Major League Baseball. Can you take us through

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Speaker 1: that decision process and how difficult it was to potentially

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Speaker 1: turn down more money to return to the US.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I mean after the end of the day.

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Speaker 3: You know, Japan's great. You know, my two years there

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Speaker 3: were incredible, but at the end of the day, it's

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Speaker 3: so far away, you know, just being away from my

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Speaker 3: family for you know, a couple more years. I think,

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Speaker 3: you know, me and my wife had to have like

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Speaker 3: a legit heart to heart and you know, kind of

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Speaker 3: figure out like what we truly wanted. And I think

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Speaker 3: you know, we wanted to, you know, come back to

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Speaker 3: the big leagues.

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Speaker 5: Why not? I mean, let's it's got to be hard.

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Speaker 5: I mean, I know people that have gone to Japan

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Speaker 5: and there, some people love it, some people hate it,

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Speaker 5: the food, the culture, But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 5: everybody seems to want to come back.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're from here.

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Speaker 5: From from here especially right, I mean, yeah, I don't know.

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Speaker 5: But I want to ask you mentioned the balls. You

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Speaker 5: say they're dead, but they're also sticky, right, how come

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Speaker 5: MLB hasn't figured out a way to make a little

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Speaker 5: bit of a tackier ball and dead or more dead

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Speaker 5: or more alive, whatever you want to look at it.

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Speaker 5: But how come MLB, you think, hasn't figured out a

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Speaker 5: way to make a little bit of a sticky ball

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Speaker 5: like these in Japan.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. I mean they they don't like

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Speaker 3: rub up the balls or anything. Over there. They just

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Speaker 3: take them out of the box and they're good to go.

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Speaker 3: I think the balls are more consistent too. Over there.

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Speaker 3: You know some of these balls that you get over here,

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Speaker 3: like you just throw out immediately because they're just different.

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Speaker 3: I think over there, you know, you just get a

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Speaker 3: rid out of a box and it's good to go.

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Speaker 4: Okay.

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Speaker 5: So then when you go to Chicago, I don't know

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Speaker 5: if you've met Rob Warren, the clubhouse guy, the home

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Speaker 5: clubhouse guy yet, just tell him to tell Joey Mack,

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Speaker 5: who's the umpire guy. Just when you're pitching, just.

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Speaker 3: Do a little some some for me here a little.

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Speaker 5: Bit, you know, like ye help me out here a

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Speaker 5: little bit.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you don't need any stick over there.

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't hate a little extra help over here, for sure.

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Speaker 5: I like it. I like it.

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Speaker 4: They took they took away the spider tack. Since you've

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Speaker 4: been gone, but no, actually you were still You're still

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Speaker 4: able to use it. My thing is when you look

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Speaker 4: at a guy like Cody Punks who came over from Korea.

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Speaker 4: Korea is a worst league than Japan. When you see

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Speaker 4: his contract and compared to yours? Is that tough? Is

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Speaker 4: that something that you sit there and you go, how

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Speaker 4: did he get that? How did I not? Should they

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Speaker 4: be looking at results? Should they be looking at the metrics?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I mean, I mean I was. I was just a

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Speaker 3: little little disappointed with seeing what he got compared to

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Speaker 3: what I got. But I mean, I guess you know

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Speaker 3: a lot of it over is looking at the metrics

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Speaker 3: and stuff. And you know, I think he you know,

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Speaker 3: added like a mile an hour to his fastball or

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Speaker 3: something and added a splitter, So I mean they obviously

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Speaker 3: were there was something that they liked, and you know,

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Speaker 3: super happy for him because you know, he also played

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Speaker 3: in Japan, so I got to meet him a little

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Speaker 3: bit when we played him, and you know, good for him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And it seems like things are changing with how

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Speaker 1: teams are judging players and their performances overseas. You know,

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Speaker 1: they're they're of course looking at stats, but I think

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Speaker 1: Amaya is probably the example here. Just going back to

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Speaker 1: him for a moment, based on his success and even

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Speaker 1: what his repertoire looks like from the eye test, we

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Speaker 1: thought he was going to get among almost everyone else

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Speaker 1: one hundred mili plus and yet teams, you know, we're

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Speaker 1: kind of judging certain pitches and trying to put him

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Speaker 1: through what they think will convert to the major leagues.

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Speaker 2: Is that.

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Speaker 1: I know you don't necessarily know a ton of about

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Speaker 1: that's not your job, but I'm sure that comes up

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Speaker 1: in conversation right when you're talking to teams. Hey, this

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Speaker 1: is how we see this particular pitch playing back in

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Speaker 1: MLB again.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like it was just super inconsistent with

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Speaker 3: what you know, the teams were offering. Like it was

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Speaker 3: just different for every guy. I feel like there's no

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Speaker 3: way to like compare each guy to you know, what

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Speaker 3: their deals are for whatever reason, I guess just different.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: My last one for you, I mean, you did spend

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Speaker 1: some time or a decent amount of time in the

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Speaker 1: Blue Jays organization. I believe you're in the Stroman deal

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Speaker 1: back in the day with the Mets. What was it

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Speaker 1: like back then? And did you follow their run at all?

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Speaker 1: I know the time change usually makes it kind of difficult,

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Speaker 1: but did you follow their run at all? Being a

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Speaker 1: part of that organization, you probably had some teammates from

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Speaker 1: the miners that are on that team.

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Speaker 2: Now that you were able to follow.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean in Japan they play pretty much every

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Speaker 3: dog games, so you know, I was able to. I

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Speaker 3: was able to watch all those games.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: It was obviously there aren't too many guys that I

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Speaker 3: overlapped with in the Blue Jays organization now, but obviously

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Speaker 3: super happy for those guys to you know, get to

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Speaker 3: where where they went, but unfortunately came up a little short.

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Speaker 3: But it was it was fun to watch, and you know,

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Speaker 3: I was really happy for all the guys that I knew.

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Speaker 1: Well, Anthony, we're excited to see you back in Major

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Speaker 1: League Baseball. And this guy will be watching every single

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Speaker 1: pitch that you throw. I mean, he is obviously a

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Speaker 1: pretty big deal out there, but he also doesn't really

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Speaker 1: miss a pitch of white tax bawd.

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Speaker 2: I think you're more excited for this season than you've

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Speaker 2: been the.

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Speaker 5: Long time, right, Oh, well for the last three obviously, yeah.

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Speaker 2: Good, last five. You've got this guy will be watching.

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Speaker 5: So you know, Long Island we stick together. Yeah, you

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Speaker 5: don't know anything about was born.

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Speaker 3: In many of us.

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Speaker 2: Five minutes. It's step Steven Mattz Right, Matts is a Long.

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Speaker 3: Island Matt Brown mm hmm.

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Speaker 5: Was a famous one.

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Speaker 1: Just so you know, Anthony, because I mean, unless you're

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Speaker 1: watching the show every day, A J was born in

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Speaker 1: Long Island in the Hampton's actually he's a baby.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and then when did you officially move out of island?

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Speaker 5: We don't talk about the I'm not here to talk

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Speaker 5: about the past. Not here to talk about the past. Okay,

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Speaker 5: were you even one?

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Speaker 2: Did you?

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Speaker 5: I was like, when it does on my birth certificate,

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Speaker 5: and well when I would go up to bad it

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Speaker 5: would say where we're you know, from, it would say Bridgehampton,

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Speaker 5: New York. Did you say Orlando, Florida? You're right, So there's.

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Speaker 3: Not many of the story, so we got to accept you.

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Speaker 5: That's right. I'm just I mean, I'm the second best

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Speaker 5: person born in Bridgehampton player who's Carl?

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he's probably spent more than two years there. Well, Anthony,

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Speaker 1: it is fun talking to you. Welcome back to MLB

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Speaker 1: and we'll see you in spring training.

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Speaker 3: Thanks you, I see it.

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Speaker 5: M