Speaker 1: A Birdland. Welcome into the latest edition of Birdland Territory,
Speaker 1: Steve tim Brad and today Big Ben mccond, a loreal
Speaker 1: broadcaster and as the Oil fans well know, the first
Speaker 1: time the Oil has ever had a one to one
Speaker 1: pick in the draft nineteen eighty nine out of LSU.
Speaker 1: So we're getting used to Big Ben around the Birdland
Speaker 1: here because he's been around for a minute. And Ben,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us today. Man, great to have you
Speaker 1: on today. You've got a day or two break from
Speaker 1: the O's, but you'll be right back when they're in Sacramento, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be back to Sacramento and then up to
Speaker 2: Denver play the Rocky, So looking forward to that. And
Speaker 2: I appreciate you, know, you guys having me on. I
Speaker 2: watched the show. You guys do a wonderful job as
Speaker 2: always entertaining and informative, so I appreciate being on. Well.
Speaker 1: I' thrilled to have you today, and I know you've
Speaker 1: experienced it as much as anybody as we have two
Speaker 1: the up and downs of this season. So how do
Speaker 1: you characterize chronicling the twenty twenty six Oriols who we've
Speaker 1: seen beat some of the best teams in the league
Speaker 1: lose to some of the worst and still frustrating. As
Speaker 1: we talk today on the outside looking in for postseason, I.
Speaker 2: Think frustrating sums it up for me. You know. It's
Speaker 2: been one of those years. I don't know what to say.
Speaker 2: People have asked it and explained it in a lot
Speaker 2: of different ways, and I don't know how to explain
Speaker 2: it other than it's frustrating, you know. And it's been
Speaker 2: so many times this year that you go, Okay, here
Speaker 2: they go, here they go here. That was the win
Speaker 2: that we needed, that was the moment, that was the
Speaker 2: break we needed. And you feel like there's a lot
Speaker 2: of momentum and then it backs up and then you
Speaker 2: about ready to give up on them. You go, this
Speaker 2: team is terrible. I give up. I throw my hands up.
Speaker 2: It's over. And then here they come again, you know,
Speaker 2: and they get right back in the hut again and
Speaker 2: you get amped up again, and it's back and forth,
Speaker 2: you know. And so it's just been one of those years.
Speaker 2: It's been a love hate relationship, has been frustrating, it's
Speaker 2: been all those things. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: I still love the Orioles. I still pool for these guys.
Speaker 2: They're still trying so hard to get in this and
Speaker 2: because of some struggles that are going on. And look,
Speaker 2: there's no doubt the Orioles have underperformed. There's no there's
Speaker 2: no other way to say that they have underperformed for
Speaker 2: a lot of different reasons, I feel like. But the
Speaker 2: good news is they're still right there and we're going,
Speaker 2: you know, off that to day, but still two games
Speaker 2: out of the final wildcar spot. It's been a tipsy
Speaker 2: turpsy kind of season in the American League and it's
Speaker 2: just up for grabs for anybody right now. And whoever
Speaker 2: grabs it here with the last thirty something games to
Speaker 2: go or get that final wildcar spot, because it looks
Speaker 2: like the first two is pretty well locked in. This
Speaker 2: the third and final spot, it's up for grabs and
Speaker 2: there's four or five teams that are right there that
Speaker 2: could do it, you know, And so it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just glad they're playing meaningful games in August.
Speaker 2: There'll be meaningful games in September. It's good for the
Speaker 2: young guys, but it also gives them a chance. Man.
Speaker 2: And look, if it just feels like if they can
Speaker 2: go on one of these runs where you wins seven
Speaker 2: out of ten, they're gonna be right there. They're gonna
Speaker 2: be in that final rock card spot where they were
Speaker 2: it felt like a week ago, you know. And so
Speaker 2: the standings are always moving around. Man, you look at
Speaker 2: them two three days later, it's like this, you know,
Speaker 2: and three days later it's back like this with those
Speaker 2: four or five spots. And so it's fun, it's gonna
Speaker 2: be meaningful, but it has been a very frustrated season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, hey Ben, thanks for joining us. And I think
Speaker 3: I've seen Bozz's season this year. Can you ever remember
Speaker 3: having a season where it just felt like you'd have
Speaker 3: to put up Brazil runs in order to put yourself
Speaker 3: in line for a win. It's just been a crazy
Speaker 3: anomaly of a season where he's going out there, pitching
Speaker 3: well and just no run support. Could you have any
Speaker 3: experiences like that in your career at all?
Speaker 2: I had an exact same season that Shane Boz had
Speaker 2: in ninety three. I think it was the third or
Speaker 2: fourth lowest run support in the American League. And you
Speaker 2: go pitch your tail off and I went thirteen and
Speaker 2: fourteen that year with a three point three ERA in
Speaker 2: the American League. You know you felt like I remember
Speaker 2: looking at my numbers at the end of the year
Speaker 2: and Pat Hinchkin number over in Toronto minds were very
Speaker 2: similar to his. He won twenty one games and won
Speaker 2: to Cy Young, and I had a losing record that year.
Speaker 2: But you know how it is. I mean, if you
Speaker 2: can't if you don't get run supports, you can't win
Speaker 2: ball games. That's that's the reality. We saw what de
Speaker 2: Gram did some years ago when he won to Sy
Speaker 2: Young with no run support at all. And so the
Speaker 2: good news is is that they don't value wins as
Speaker 2: much in today's game for starting pitchers as they did,
Speaker 2: say many years ago. But it's still very frustrating to
Speaker 2: go pitch like that. And anytime you know you're not
Speaker 2: getting to run support every pitch that comes out of
Speaker 2: your hand, you know that it can mean the ballgame.
Speaker 2: So from a mineral standpoint, those are the kind of
Speaker 2: games that could just and it's the kind of season
Speaker 2: that over time, it can wear you out both mentally
Speaker 2: and physically to know that every time this thing leaves
Speaker 2: my hand, it's a difference from the ballgame because they're
Speaker 2: not scoring runs for me, and so that's always in
Speaker 2: the back of your mind. It's so much easier. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna say that it's not ever easy to pitch with
Speaker 2: the big leagues, but it is easy or to pitch
Speaker 2: at the big league. When you get on the mountain,
Speaker 2: you got a two run league, you got a three
Speaker 2: run lead. They're averaging five runs a game for you,
Speaker 2: because I know if you make a mistake, you go, Okay,
Speaker 2: I got the count of offense. It's gonna come back,
Speaker 2: and they'll get me right back. In this ball game.
Speaker 2: That's not been the case for Shane Boss, so I
Speaker 2: feel for him. It's very frustrating to go through a
Speaker 2: season like that. But I remember it happened when Rick
Speaker 2: Sutcliffe was here with the Oriels many years ago, and
Speaker 2: he just kind of grabbed me and he said, Ben,
Speaker 2: you can only control the things that you can control.
Speaker 2: And that's easier said than done, but it's so true.
Speaker 2: And then Sutcliffe explained to me, he said, this is
Speaker 2: a team game. Yes, it is a team game that
Speaker 2: takes everybody to be successful up here, but it's also
Speaker 2: an individual game and sometimes you have to be selfish
Speaker 2: in a team game and say, okay, the only thing
Speaker 2: that I can control is what I'm doing. I can't
Speaker 2: control if they catch the ball behind me. I can't
Speaker 2: control if they score runs behind me. I cannot control
Speaker 2: any of that. And that was the point he wanted
Speaker 2: to make. Go out and do your job and hope
Speaker 2: that everybody else does theirs too, and if they do,
Speaker 2: it'll be great. If not, you just keep doing your
Speaker 2: job at the end of the day. And yes, that
Speaker 2: sounds simple, but it was very difficult for me to
Speaker 2: swallow that because I was just so frustrated that year.
Speaker 2: And I know where Shane Bobs is that I saw
Speaker 2: him yesterday on the TV, just in the dugout when
Speaker 2: he came out, y'all saw him. He just he's got
Speaker 2: his head down. He's just shaking his head, you know
Speaker 2: what he's saying. He's gone, my gosh, why can't I
Speaker 2: ever get any runs? Why my gosh, why can't they
Speaker 2: do this? But you feel sorry for yourself in same ways.
Speaker 2: But I'm happy for Shane. Shane's throwing the ball very well.
Speaker 2: He's given the Oriels and plenty of opportunities to win
Speaker 2: ball games. It just haven't happened. But you hope over
Speaker 2: time it straightens back. Out and maybe next year for
Speaker 2: Shane Bobs and maybe his last four or five starts,
Speaker 2: they'll put some runs on the scoreboard for him.
Speaker 4: Ben, Let's focus on one huge positive of the Orioles
Speaker 4: this year, and that's Pete Alonzo. And I remember having
Speaker 4: you on my show on one of five seven back
Speaker 4: in February March. It was early spring training, and you
Speaker 4: told us the story on air that you went into
Speaker 4: Craig alburn as his office and said that type of
Speaker 4: leader hasn't been in this club over the past couple
Speaker 4: of years, but you're seeing him carry the team, especially offensively.
Speaker 4: We know how Grady's been defensively. Just how meaningful of
Speaker 4: a signing has Pete Alonso been from a leadership standpoint
Speaker 4: and in on the field standpoint.
Speaker 2: It's been huge. I mean it's been huge. And when
Speaker 2: I saw that in spring paint, I just happened to
Speaker 2: be in uniform and for the for y'all's fans, they
Speaker 2: didn't hear it. I was in spring training in the
Speaker 2: uniform and the whole team got together on the infield
Speaker 2: in spring trending. They went through butt plays, pickoffs, relays
Speaker 2: a little bit. It took about ten or fifteen minutes
Speaker 2: to go through the drills. It was kind of sloppy.
Speaker 2: They were throwing balls around in the outfield, throwing balls around,
Speaker 2: missing balls in the infield, and Craig Albern had stepped up.
Speaker 2: He said, okay, we're gonna break up and we're gonna
Speaker 2: go to our individual spots. We'll take bat practice, we'll beer,
Speaker 2: pictures are gonna be out here. Whatever they were moving
Speaker 2: on if Pete Lowndes was just kind of raised his hand.
Speaker 2: He goes, guys, that's stump. That's stump. He said, that's
Speaker 2: not winning baseball. It came out of nowhere. Craig Auburn
Speaker 2: has didn't know he was gonna say it that. Pete
Speaker 2: just kind of stepped up and said, let's run it back.
Speaker 2: Let's do it again, because that's things. Chris Bassett, another
Speaker 2: veteran guy, was in on it the two. He said, hell, yeah, guys,
Speaker 2: that's not winning baseball. That's not winning baseball. And Bassett
Speaker 2: spoke up and said, hey, I came from the to
Speaker 2: the Orioles here to get back in the playoffs. I'm
Speaker 2: forwarding the end of my career and I want to
Speaker 2: get back in the playoffs. Well, the two veterans got
Speaker 2: together and said, bye, Gos, let's run it back. Let's
Speaker 2: do it again. That's winning baseball. And they repeated the
Speaker 2: same grill for fifteen minutes, and it was Chris. And
Speaker 2: at that point I knew the Orioles had two leaders,
Speaker 2: that Chris Bassett and Pete Alonso. Peter Alonso has been
Speaker 2: everything that I think the Oriols hoped and that I
Speaker 2: think this fan base hoped that he would be. And
Speaker 2: he's been a leader in the clubhouse. We know about
Speaker 2: the slow start in April, but look where he is now.
Speaker 2: The numbers are in line yet again. And he's the
Speaker 2: kind of guy that and I've said this before on
Speaker 2: the air, that you know, if I'm Kobe Mayo and
Speaker 2: I'm younger hitters, I'm getting my locker right next to
Speaker 2: that guy. I'm sitting next to him on the airplane.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be in next to him and I'm gonna
Speaker 2: pick his brain about everything that he does. Because Peter
Speaker 2: Alonzo has a system that he follows, He's consistent about
Speaker 2: what he does, and yes, numbers are consistent every year
Speaker 2: for him, and so he's just been He's been, in
Speaker 2: some ways a miracle for me for the words, because
Speaker 2: they've been needing this kind of leadership from a position
Speaker 2: player standpoint, in my opinion, for three or four years now.
Speaker 2: They've not had that, And now that Peter Alonzo's in
Speaker 2: the fold, I think it's only going to be best.
Speaker 2: Scott bores knew what he was doing, and it just
Speaker 2: so happened that Peter Alonzo ends up in Baltimore. But
Speaker 2: I think Scott had a bigger plan in place to say, Hey,
Speaker 2: I've got Gunner Henderson over in Baltimore. I've got Jackson Holliday,
Speaker 2: I've got Jordan Westburgh over in Baltimore. If I can
Speaker 2: get a veteran guy and I know that can lead,
Speaker 2: it's going to only help me individually as an agent.
Speaker 2: It's gonna help the Baltimore Orioles too. And I think
Speaker 2: y'all starting to see the fruits of that labor now.
Speaker 1: Man great story. Ben McDonald is with us today. Oh
Speaker 1: was broadcaster on Birdland Territory. We got more questions for
Speaker 1: Ben coming up.
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Speaker 1: Ben McDonald with US Today on Birdland Territory first started
Speaker 1: working those broadcasts in twenty ten and became a full
Speaker 1: time member of the broadcast crew in twenty eighteen. And
Speaker 1: I think Ben all Oriol fans know you're you're prepared.
Speaker 1: You know the data, you know the new stats, you
Speaker 1: know the old stats, you know the guys. I mean,
Speaker 1: you do a great job, and you have a way
Speaker 1: of presenting it that doesn't talk over anybody's head. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just a great job. You're very popular as a broadcaster.
Speaker 2: As you know.
Speaker 1: How do you balance being critical at times and you
Speaker 1: do that too and still having the line of communication
Speaker 1: open with the clubhouse.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, it's a that's a great question. And that's
Speaker 2: the difficulty in what we do as former players. And
Speaker 2: I tell people, and people say, what's the hardest thing
Speaker 2: for you? And I always say the hardest thing for
Speaker 2: me is remembering how difficult this game is. Because where
Speaker 2: I sit now, the game looks easy, and I always
Speaker 2: go back to my time. Although it's been a while,
Speaker 2: I remember how difficult this game. Yes, always have it
Speaker 2: in the back of my mind, you know. And I
Speaker 2: think that's the advantage that I have over played by
Speaker 2: play guys and other people that's never played the game before.
Speaker 2: I know how difficult and how frustrating the game of
Speaker 2: baseball can be. I know how things can get sideways
Speaker 2: with teams that are supposed to win. I know how
Speaker 2: overachieving happens. Sometimes the teams come out of nowhere. It's
Speaker 2: just the game of baseball. We see crazy things all
Speaker 2: the time. So that's the advantage I have on this.
Speaker 2: But I always try to remember how difficult this game is,
Speaker 2: because where I sit now, it does look pretty easy,
Speaker 2: and it's it's not. You know, and so, But I
Speaker 2: think from a credibility standpoint, as you guys know the
Speaker 2: Baltimore fan base, they understand the game of baseball. They
Speaker 2: know the game of baseball. When I go around and
Speaker 2: do ball games, always keep in the back of my
Speaker 2: mind you can't pull the wool over people's eyes. And
Speaker 2: I've always tried to be honest about what I'm seeing.
Speaker 2: But I never try to mean a player, and I
Speaker 2: won't ever demean a player, especially with the Orioles in
Speaker 2: any way or for him. I might say Henderson probably
Speaker 2: should have caught that ball, and if you would ask
Speaker 2: him after the ball game, he would tell you he
Speaker 2: probably should have caught that ball. But that's a play
Speaker 2: that needs to be made at the big league level.
Speaker 2: Things like that, you know, But you got to be
Speaker 2: honest about what you're seeing because If you're not honest
Speaker 2: as an analyst about what you're seeing, I think you
Speaker 2: lose your credibility with the audience that's out there because
Speaker 2: it's not always Roses. It's not we know this game.
Speaker 2: And look, the Oriels have stunk it up many times
Speaker 2: this year, but they've also played well many times this
Speaker 2: year as well, And so I just try to be
Speaker 2: honest about what I'm seeing. I don't talk over people
Speaker 2: head people's head sea because I can't. I'm not that educated.
Speaker 2: I only got five semesters in at LSA, so I
Speaker 2: can't talk over people's head. I like to keep the
Speaker 2: game soup. And I'll give you all a quick story.
Speaker 2: When I was first started doing this back in two
Speaker 2: thousand and two thousand and one, it was Cox Sports
Speaker 2: Television here LSU games were on Cox Sports Television and
Speaker 2: there was no SEC Network or that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: And I ran to an older lady in Walmart right
Speaker 2: here in my hometown of Dennis Springs, and she goes
Speaker 2: sow and someone. I said, yes, ma'am, I am. She
Speaker 2: goes you do the game Israelisu. I said, yes, ma'am,
Speaker 2: I do. She said, I love the way you call
Speaker 2: the ball game, and I said, well, listen, I'm trying
Speaker 2: to figure this out because I didn't know anything about
Speaker 2: broadcasting when I got into and I still today, I'm
Speaker 2: still trying to figure it out. But she's like, no,
Speaker 2: I understand what you say because when you say it,
Speaker 2: you keep the game simple. And she said, I don't
Speaker 2: know anything about baseball, but when you talk about the
Speaker 2: game of baseball, I understand what you're saying. And that
Speaker 2: was like my AHA moment in broadcasting many years ago,
Speaker 2: and I went, you know what, those are the people
Speaker 2: I'm going far. We could complicate this game and I
Speaker 2: can talk about force balls and all kind of weird
Speaker 2: stuff and analytical world and all that, and I feel
Speaker 2: like you lose viewers when you do that. There's a
Speaker 2: certain percentage of people that do like that concept. But
Speaker 2: my goal was always I'm going to keep the game
Speaker 2: simple where everybody understands the game of baseball, because that's
Speaker 2: the person I'm going for. I'm going for the person
Speaker 2: that's turning the TV on that's new to the game
Speaker 2: of baseball, and I want to all people in to
Speaker 2: the wonderful game of baseball. And that's why I've always
Speaker 2: tried to keep it as simple as possible. Yes, I
Speaker 2: do dabble, and you guys probably know by now I'm
Speaker 2: not a huge analytical guy, although I do dabble in it.
Speaker 2: I think there are I think there are really cool
Speaker 2: things about the analytical world, Like I love the fact
Speaker 2: now that that I'll know in my time. I go
Speaker 2: back when we used to face Nolan Ryan and Batters
Speaker 2: would come back to the dugout after striking out and
Speaker 2: they go, gosh, dang, the Paul just feels like it's rising,
Speaker 2: like it's it's upshooting. Well, now we know that Nolan
Speaker 2: probably had a high spin rate fastball, and obviously he
Speaker 2: threw hard, but he's probably spun it perfectly end over end,
Speaker 2: and it had that good carry through the zone. So
Speaker 2: now I feel like I'm in a perfect world to
Speaker 2: be an analyst because I didn't play in the analytical world,
Speaker 2: but I remember what guys would say, and I remember
Speaker 2: certain guys, and now I can kind of take the
Speaker 2: data that's out there now remember and go, yes, that's
Speaker 2: what made Mike Messina special because me and Sunfliffe used
Speaker 2: to sit on the bench all the time and Mike
Speaker 2: would throw two zero heaters at ninety four right down
Speaker 2: the middle of guys would swing under and pop it up,
Speaker 2: but we'd look at each other and go, how the
Speaker 2: hell's he getting away with that? I throw a two
Speaker 2: zero heater at ninety six and it goes four hundred
Speaker 2: feet right down the middle, but Moose right over the top.
Speaker 2: Go look at the highlights right over the top. Spun
Speaker 2: the baseball end over end perfectly, and he had that
Speaker 2: ride through the zone. Moose had a high spin rate fastball.
Speaker 2: So now a lot of the data that I see
Speaker 2: now and all the things I can go back at
Speaker 2: my time and go, yes, it makes sense to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Ben, you have the advantage of getting to watch
Speaker 3: some guys in college too, along with the pro game.
Speaker 3: Just on the pitching side of things, What do you
Speaker 3: think kids today are doing better and on the other
Speaker 3: side worse than maybe say your generation, Because I know
Speaker 3: when I got the triple A my last year, I
Speaker 3: felt like I was playing a completely different game. The
Speaker 3: way they were explaining things, like you said, with the analytics,
Speaker 3: it just felt like a different game and it made
Speaker 3: me almost feel self conscious about what I was doing.
Speaker 3: What do you see now that these kids are doing
Speaker 3: that's better than say your generation? My generation, and what
Speaker 3: would you say they could improve on based off what
Speaker 3: you get to see on the nightly basis on both
Speaker 3: college and the pro level.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, whatever happens at the pro level, I've
Speaker 2: said this for years, it trickles down to the college level.
Speaker 2: It always does. Everything trickles down to the college level
Speaker 2: from the MLB level. I think there's good and bad
Speaker 2: in pitching. Right now, I'm still not a fan of
Speaker 2: Max's effort every pitch, no matter what the situation is.
Speaker 2: I'm not a fan of that. You'll never convince me
Speaker 2: that that's not causing injuries in our game. I'm just
Speaker 2: not You guys heard me tell this story before. But
Speaker 2: in my time, if ten pitchers got hurt, it was
Speaker 2: nine shoulders and one elbow. Now you go back, if
Speaker 2: ten pictures gets hurt the last ten years, it feels
Speaker 2: like it's nine elbows and it's one shoulder injury. Now,
Speaker 2: Dick Devy out to that is we know more about
Speaker 2: the shoulder now. You talk to doctors, and you talk
Speaker 2: to physical therapists, you talk to trainers at big league level,
Speaker 2: they'll tell you we know how to keep the show
Speaker 2: are in shape a little bit more than what we
Speaker 2: did twenty or thirty years ago. But we're still blowing
Speaker 2: out elbows. Why are we blowing out we elbows? You'll
Speaker 2: never convince me. It's not max effort. It's not trying
Speaker 2: to chase spins and shapes and what we torque and
Speaker 2: how we torque our elbow and the things that we do.
Speaker 2: But and it's also max effort on VLO. You guys
Speaker 2: know that. And so those things are leading to a
Speaker 2: lot of injuries that I wish that we weren't having. Look,
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of keeping our stars on the field.
Speaker 2: We need to keep our stars on the field. But
Speaker 2: VLO is king. And it's hard to argue because you
Speaker 2: talk to the analytical world out there and they'll tell you, well, Ben,
Speaker 2: it's working, it's working. And look with big league hitters,
Speaker 2: and they're not wrong. Big league hitters are hitting two
Speaker 2: forty four. That's what they're hitting. Man, That's the average
Speaker 2: big league batting average is two forty four today. In
Speaker 2: my time, you go back in the mid ninety is
Speaker 2: the average big league hitter hit to sixty five? Okay,
Speaker 2: but we weren't max effort every pitch. So a few
Speaker 2: things that I would change, and I would in the
Speaker 2: minor leagues and I would start working on hitting spots again.
Speaker 2: I show up every year in spring training and I
Speaker 2: watch in uniform, and I don't see guys trying to
Speaker 2: hit spots. I see guys thro breaking balls that bounce
Speaker 2: five feet in front of home plate. To turn around
Speaker 2: and look at the computer or ask the analytical guy
Speaker 2: what was the spin rate on that curve ball? And
Speaker 2: I go, I'm thinking to myself, I don't care. I
Speaker 2: don't care what your spinner rate was. You just missed
Speaker 2: the spot by five feet. Who gives the crap what
Speaker 2: your spinner rate was. Learn to throw it for a
Speaker 2: strike first. I think we need to get back to
Speaker 2: commanding the baseball and throwing. And you heard Jim Palmer
Speaker 2: last night. Me and him talk about this all the time.
Speaker 2: I'm not a fan of showing the glove. And as
Speaker 2: the picture winds up, the glove disappears. What am I
Speaker 2: throwing to right now? What am I throwing to right now?
Speaker 2: And then the glove comes back up as the ball
Speaker 2: travels towards home plate because we feel like we're still
Speaker 2: in strikes. Look, that may be the case. Maybe you
Speaker 2: do feel you steal a few more strikes by dropping
Speaker 2: the glove. But what's more important having a picture throw
Speaker 2: the ball where he and needs to throw the ball,
Speaker 2: or maybe stealing a few strikes here or there. And
Speaker 2: for me, the glove needs to be there because when
Speaker 2: I was right in Brad, you could probably talk about this.
Speaker 2: When I was right, I wasn't looking at just the glove.
Speaker 2: I was looking at a portion of the glove. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna hit right here, or I'm gonna hit right here.
Speaker 2: When I was right, okay, And so we don't have
Speaker 2: that anymore because glove goes up, glove goes down, ball
Speaker 2: travels towards home plate, then we pick it back up.
Speaker 2: I don't even know if I could pitch it today's
Speaker 2: game without a target being there. From the time you're
Speaker 2: a kid, you pick up a rock or a ball,
Speaker 2: you throw it something, you're throwing it at a target. Okay,
Speaker 2: now I'm having to pick up. Am I throwing for
Speaker 2: the left shoulder? Am I throwing for his chest? Am
Speaker 2: I throwing for the mask? If I'm elevating the fastball,
Speaker 2: It's tough. It's tough right now to be a picture.
Speaker 2: So I wish we would get back to more of
Speaker 2: control in command and maybe not max effort because we
Speaker 2: pissed it ninety percent. Guys, we pissed it ninety percent
Speaker 2: max effort. Now, when I got a runner on second
Speaker 2: base and nobody out, okay, it was hump time. It
Speaker 2: was time to go and get out of an inning.
Speaker 2: And you get out of an inning, you dial it
Speaker 2: back and then you get back to ninety percent until
Speaker 2: you get in trouble again. That's how we went out
Speaker 2: and throw one hundred and twenty five pitches. That's how
Speaker 2: we went out and through two hundred innings a year.
Speaker 2: Is to go out and do those kind of things.
Speaker 2: And so the game's changed. I get it, and listen,
Speaker 2: I'm not arguing with the numbers again because pitchers are
Speaker 2: still dominating this game. They are dominating this game. But
Speaker 2: I think they're dominating because of v Low and the
Speaker 2: new spins and the shapes that we have out there.
Speaker 2: I just wish we could keep them on the field
Speaker 2: a little bit more consistently.
Speaker 1: Tim, you are up next with a question, But let's
Speaker 1: get in a little bit of business and then we'll
Speaker 1: come back. Tim's question for Ben on Birdland territory.
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Speaker 7: are right back in this wildcard race.
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Speaker 1: And we continue on bird Land territory, benmc out of
Speaker 1: our guests today and Tim, you're up.
Speaker 4: Ben, he's kind of continuing the conversation that was ongoing.
Speaker 4: I just wonder how this game continues to evolve because
Speaker 4: having these type of conversations, whether it's with Brad. You
Speaker 4: talked to Mike Bordick about this all the time, because
Speaker 4: he does, you know, one on one sessions with kids
Speaker 4: and they're chasing Launch Angle, they're chasing Velo and they're
Speaker 4: you know, just young kids. And I think back to
Speaker 4: that post game at the trop Ben, and and you know,
Speaker 4: you got fired up, and look it was in the
Speaker 4: moment all that.
Speaker 2: But I don't think anything you said was wrong. You know,
Speaker 2: during Massive, you either do or you don't.
Speaker 4: And I think that's the biggest thing where analytics are
Speaker 4: a tool, and I think, like you were saying, Ben,
Speaker 4: there's definitely things that if they were available back when
Speaker 4: you were pitching, that maybe you would have learned and
Speaker 4: would have leaned into. And then there's stuff where ah,
Speaker 4: that's that's just kind of eyewash that's not really needed.
Speaker 4: So Ben, I guess five ten years from now, we're
Speaker 4: only going to continue to get more of these analytics
Speaker 4: and more of these different numbers, Like what does this
Speaker 4: game look like in five or ten years?
Speaker 2: That's a great question. Sometimes I look at it now,
Speaker 2: although what it looks like, you know, I don't know
Speaker 2: what it's gonna look like five or ten years either,
Speaker 2: you know. But and listen, I will be on we
Speaker 2: need smart people in our game, and don't so don't.
Speaker 2: I don't want people to get it sideway that I'm
Speaker 2: totally anti analytical. I am not. We need smart people
Speaker 2: in this game. The point I've always made is I
Speaker 2: don't think it's the end all be all. I look
Speaker 2: at analytics as like a compass. It's a compass that
Speaker 2: will tell you how to get from point A to
Speaker 2: point B. But a lot of times analytics don't tell
Speaker 2: you what's in between, what kind of terrain is in
Speaker 2: between where you're going and where you've got to pivot
Speaker 2: and took a quick ride and go two miles this
Speaker 2: way and then get back on course again to where
Speaker 2: you got to go. And so it's a tool that
Speaker 2: we have. I do love that tool. I do love
Speaker 2: the analytical world where it kind of tells us okay, yes,
Speaker 2: your baseball as a picture it plays well in these quadrants.
Speaker 2: This is how you could have a lot of success.
Speaker 2: I love that, but we also need the old school
Speaker 2: part of it. Well, tell me how I can get
Speaker 2: that ball in those quadrants to have success. In other words,
Speaker 2: if you're an analytical guy, you can't just say, well, Ben,
Speaker 2: look you got to throw your fastball here, here, and here.
Speaker 2: This is where you can have the best success. If
Speaker 2: you spend your breaking ball here, here, and here, you'll
Speaker 2: have a lot of great that's great information, But now
Speaker 2: I need somebody tell me mechanically how I can get
Speaker 2: those balls. And that's an old school approach, how I
Speaker 2: can get those balls in those quadrants you see. So
Speaker 2: it's to me the analytical world has to be a
Speaker 2: perfect blend of the old school world too. I think
Speaker 2: that's where we need to be in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 2: I think that's a big part of it. And again,
Speaker 2: analytics point the way, but it's not the end all,
Speaker 2: be all, And sometimes we're realizing, Okay, well we thought
Speaker 2: this was going to work. Now we got to figure
Speaker 2: out a way to pivot because this isn't working anymore,
Speaker 2: you know. And I think Michaelias pivoted in the draft.
Speaker 2: This year. You guys have covered that it was a
Speaker 2: very heavy college draft overall. Mike's always been a very
Speaker 2: heavy college drafter. Well, he went heavy in the high
Speaker 2: school world. This year a very heavy college draft. He
Speaker 2: pivoted to what he saw. Mike Shieldt is getting involved
Speaker 2: in the minor league system. Cal ripton junior's getting involved.
Speaker 2: I see a pivot there. I totally agree with that.
Speaker 2: In my time, guys didn't come to the big leagues
Speaker 2: to learn. You got to the big leagues. You knew
Speaker 2: the game. We might tweak a few things with your mechanics,
Speaker 2: and we may tweak a few things with your batting stance,
Speaker 2: we may tweak a few things, but you were big
Speaker 2: league ready to play. So many times now it's not
Speaker 2: just the Orioles. I see guys come to the big
Speaker 2: leagues now and I scratch my head. I go, dude,
Speaker 2: that's stuff that you should have learned in college. You
Speaker 2: should have learned that in rookie ball and a ball.
Speaker 2: Why are we teaching this at the big league level,
Speaker 2: the basic fundamentals of the game of baseball at the
Speaker 2: big league level. That doesn't make sense to me, But
Speaker 2: that's what they're having to do. So to me, that's
Speaker 2: not a problem at the big league level. That's a
Speaker 2: problem in development at the minor league level. Mike Shield
Speaker 2: is a great guy. I think he's an old school,
Speaker 2: old soul, fundamental, and look, I was concerned back in
Speaker 2: spring training when I heard the new Oriol way. I
Speaker 2: was scratching my head, go what's wrong with the old
Speaker 2: Ariole way? That was a pretty good time where you
Speaker 2: won world championships. The old Oriel way was a very
Speaker 2: successful way of being fundamental. People always say, well, Ben,
Speaker 2: what's the Oriel way? What does that mean? My understanding
Speaker 2: of it was when I got to the big league
Speaker 2: level way back in nineteen eighty ninety, it was we're
Speaker 2: the Baltimore Oriels. We do it right on the field,
Speaker 2: we do it off the field the right way. We're
Speaker 2: classy bunches. We stay out of trouble. But we're fundamentally
Speaker 2: sound on the game of baseball. We know where to
Speaker 2: be how to do. It doesn't always happen like you
Speaker 2: wanted to, but everybody had a place. Everybody knew what
Speaker 2: their role was, everybody knew the fundamentals and knew the
Speaker 2: game of baseball. Of course, you had to be tweaked
Speaker 2: along the way. I'd like to see them get back
Speaker 2: to the old Oriol Way. And you guys talked about
Speaker 2: the Tampa Bay comments I had several months ago. Tampa
Speaker 2: Bay's still a team to me. And people can say
Speaker 2: all they want to say about Tampa Bay about, oh,
Speaker 2: they're a very analytical front office. Well, you know what,
Speaker 2: they don't play an analytical game that much. You know
Speaker 2: what they play. They played the game of baseball. They
Speaker 2: play it in a nineteen ninety style that puts pressure
Speaker 2: on you. They don't strike out, They put balls in play,
Speaker 2: they have a two strike approach. They steal bases. Yes,
Speaker 2: they could pitch. Yeah, they got a couple guys that
Speaker 2: blow out of the ballpark, but everybody else is up
Speaker 2: there to try to put balls and play and move it.
Speaker 2: They don't have big launch angles. They don't. It doesn't
Speaker 2: come off the bad at a high rate. They just
Speaker 2: win ballgames, guys. And I'm into winning ball games or
Speaker 2: whatever it takes to win ball games. And so the
Speaker 2: good news of what I've seen, and you guys have
Speaker 2: seen it the last four or five years, I'm seeing
Speaker 2: a pivot and I'm seeing some of these organizations starting
Speaker 2: to pivot back to mid ninety baseball. We're not even
Speaker 2: close to being there yet, but I'm seeing a pivot
Speaker 2: in that direction again, and I think that's good for
Speaker 2: the game of baseball.
Speaker 1: Very interesting. The best analytic is how much do you win?
Speaker 1: Let's start with that before he dig two deep into
Speaker 1: the data here. So Ben, in our final minute, I
Speaker 1: want to ask you about Anthony iron said a kid
Speaker 1: I met Friday, and Billie had a delightful interview with
Speaker 1: this kid. My gosh, he's impressive in an interview, much
Speaker 1: less on found as you well know being an LSU guy.
Speaker 1: So last year LSU inter National title. Oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: Kate Anderson's their Friday night starter. Best pitching prospect in
Speaker 1: baseball just made the Mariners and their second best was
Speaker 1: Anthony Ironson pitching Saturday nights. And by the way, I
Speaker 1: look up the stats, Ironsen was a little better than
Speaker 1: Anderson in the ra last year for LSU. What did
Speaker 1: you see from this kid?
Speaker 2: He's special? And look, I'm like anybody, I hate to
Speaker 2: see Adlie Rutchman go, you know, but he's gone now.
Speaker 2: And so you look at the return and you go, okay,
Speaker 2: what the oorls get back. I'm pretty happy with what
Speaker 2: the Oorls did. You guys have probably heard me tell
Speaker 2: this story before, but I'll tell it for your fans
Speaker 2: real quick. Two years ago, when Anderson and Ianson was
Speaker 2: pitching for LSU Oklahoma, I came in town and I
Speaker 2: just happened to be doing the Oklahoma LSU series here
Speaker 2: in bat Ruge. Well Witherspoon, who the Oriols also got
Speaker 2: that draft. He was pitching on Saturday night against Ironson,
Speaker 2: and I remember there were a lot of cross because
Speaker 2: it was all of them' junior year, their draft of
Speaker 2: all year, and I remember talking to a lot of
Speaker 2: the cross checkers. There was one GM there and I
Speaker 2: was sitting there talking to him and they said, Ben,
Speaker 2: out of all the pitchers in the SEC, which has
Speaker 2: been the best conference in baseball for a long time
Speaker 2: now one seven consecutive national titles, they said, these are
Speaker 2: the only three guys that were projecting that are starting
Speaker 2: pitchers in the SEC right now that can be big
Speaker 2: league starting pitchers. It was Kate Anderson, Anthony Ironson and
Speaker 2: Kyson Witherspoon. And Oriels picked up two of those three
Speaker 2: in that trade not too long ago. When you talk
Speaker 2: about Ianson and me. He came from California, only pitched
Speaker 2: one year at LSU. But I've been telling people it's
Speaker 2: Kyle Braddish breaking balls. Like he has those kind of
Speaker 2: breaking balls. He's got a really good slider, he's got
Speaker 2: a curveball. He's got his flit finger fastball too. Now
Speaker 2: the reason everybody said, well, then why was he just
Speaker 2: the second or I think the third round pick, I said, well,
Speaker 2: he only averaged ninety three at LSU. You gotta remember
Speaker 2: he was young. He was a younger guy. He's just
Speaker 2: twenty one years old, you know what, even twenty one
Speaker 2: when he got drafted at three years in. But the
Speaker 2: velo has ticked up for him, like now he's sitting
Speaker 2: ninety five and touching sixes and sevens now and that's
Speaker 2: why he's kind of going through the roof. But big
Speaker 2: time competitor you mentioned it, I mean he was third
Speaker 2: in the nation in strikeouts that year was Anthony Ias
Speaker 2: and Anderson was first in the nation in strikeouts. Everybody said,
Speaker 2: what happened to LSU this past year? I said, well,
Speaker 2: Anderson and Ianson's gone. That's what happened to l and shoot,
Speaker 2: because they were that good I mean, when you ran
Speaker 2: those two guys out there on a Friday and Saturday night,
Speaker 2: it was over. But he's an impressive young man. He's
Speaker 2: a big time competitor. You never know if he's up
Speaker 2: three runs or down three runs. Like he really keeps
Speaker 2: his cool on the mound. He's a strike thrower, which
Speaker 2: I really really like too, And so I think he's
Speaker 2: I think he's got a real shot. Now. Is he
Speaker 2: gonna help the team next year? I think there's a chance.
Speaker 2: Do they give him a chance maybe to make the
Speaker 2: twelve out of spring trending next year? Probably not, depending
Speaker 2: on what the Oriols do in the off season, but
Speaker 2: I can definitely see a scenario mid season next year
Speaker 2: or towards the end of the season next year. I
Speaker 2: think Anthony Oyasa is going to be in the big
Speaker 2: leagues for the Oels. I think he's going to be
Speaker 2: in that rotation. I think he's a real dude. To
Speaker 2: say he's the number one or number two at the
Speaker 2: big league level, I'm not ready to go there yet,
Speaker 2: but I tell you what, I think he has all
Speaker 2: the makings of being a very good number three kind
Speaker 2: of picture at the big league level for a long Time.
Speaker 8: Big Dad Morning Show, Vinnie and Haiti, three Deep Live
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Speaker 2: Ben just kind of wrap up.
Speaker 3: You've been number one overall pick National Champion, tam USA,
Speaker 3: Big Leagues Now broadcasting. When you kind of look back
Speaker 3: at your career work in baseball, what would you say
Speaker 3: you're most proud of? Or what do you you know,
Speaker 3: what do you kind of how do you kind of
Speaker 3: wrap all? If it's kind of hard to put into words,
Speaker 3: I'm sure, but what would you think you're most proud of?
Speaker 2: Unfair all?
Speaker 9: That's man, Lord, that's been so long ago. It feels
Speaker 9: like somebody else did all that stuff. You know, I
Speaker 9: can't even I can't even remember that far back. But no,
Speaker 9: you know, look, I'm like like you are.
Speaker 2: You know, anytime you make it for the big leagues,
Speaker 2: you're fortunate, and everybody always says, well, what really stands
Speaker 2: out for you? And you know, if I had to
Speaker 2: go several moments, I think the one would be I've
Speaker 2: always been a huge Olympian and I grew up watching
Speaker 2: the Olympics, and I always wondered what it would be
Speaker 2: like to stay on a gold medal platform and have
Speaker 2: somebody drape a gold medal over your neck. Well, I
Speaker 2: was fortunate enough to be able to experience that. In
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight, we go to Soul, South Korea, We
Speaker 2: win the gold medal, and I got to climb up
Speaker 2: on a gold medal platform and have somebody in a
Speaker 2: foreign country and hear the national anthem played on foreign
Speaker 2: soil and have him break with gold medal over your neck.
Speaker 2: It don't get a whole lot better than that, because
Speaker 2: when you're representing the Red, white and Blue, dude, it
Speaker 2: just I don't know, it's just something about it. Hits
Speaker 2: really different from me, you know, especially on foreign soul,
Speaker 2: so that really stands out. And then I think I
Speaker 2: obviously your first stuard at the big league level. I
Speaker 2: think that's something that you never forget. Make it to
Speaker 2: the big leagues for the first time, that's always the
Speaker 2: dream come true. But so many big moments, I've been
Speaker 2: so fortunate and so lucky, and I've been surrounded by
Speaker 2: wonderful people that have helped me along the way. It
Speaker 2: takes the village as you guys know, and you guys know,
Speaker 2: we talked a little bit about this before we went
Speaker 2: on the air. You know, we lost coach Bertman, the
Speaker 2: greatest coach arguably in college baseball history. He just passed away.
Speaker 2: And he was so big in my pitching maturation of
Speaker 2: getting me and of course not many people know this,
Speaker 2: but coach Bertman got me started in broadcasting way back
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety nine. I was retired at thirty one
Speaker 2: years old and we were sitting around with today. He said,
Speaker 2: what are you gonna do now? Ben, I'm like, coach,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm coaching my daughter's travel ball team
Speaker 2: right now. He said, that's great to keep doing that,
Speaker 2: but what are you going to do? I said, Coach,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I didn't graduate from college. I don't
Speaker 2: know what I'm going to do. He said, you're thirty
Speaker 2: one years old. He said, you know what you'd be
Speaker 2: good at. I said, what's that? Coach?
Speaker 10: He said, you'd be a good broadcaster. I said, coach,
Speaker 10: I don't know anything about broadcasts. And I said I
Speaker 10: ran from the media when I was with the Orioles.
Speaker 10: I said, I didn't want to be in front of
Speaker 10: the camera. Now you're telling me I need to get
Speaker 10: in front of it.
Speaker 2: He said, I think you're going to be great. I'm
Speaker 2: calling Cox Sports Television tomorrow. Because there was no SEC
Speaker 2: network at the time. Only games were on college. When
Speaker 2: you made it to the College Worttle Series, you're on ESPN.
Speaker 2: Other than that, Elis you got sixteen games a year.
Speaker 2: And he called Cox Sports Television president and said, I
Speaker 2: got your next analyst. Guy calls me two days letter said, Ben,
Speaker 2: we got fourteen games coming up. It starts in two months,
Speaker 2: and you're going to be our analyst. That was twenty
Speaker 2: six years ago. So the man got me into pitching,
Speaker 2: he got me into the big leagues, and he got
Speaker 2: me my broadcasting career.
Speaker 1: So allow him everything, Ben Coach. Bergman was right on
Speaker 1: that one too, because it's worked out pretty well for
Speaker 1: you in the broadcast booth.
Speaker 2: And I mean, you're beloved.
Speaker 1: You and Kevin and Jim Man. We are lucky in
Speaker 1: Birdland to turn on the television every night and see
Speaker 1: that trio. And oh, by the way, Brian Roberts can
Speaker 1: jump in and call pretty good game too if he
Speaker 1: DIDs do. And so there's a long list of guys.
Speaker 1: But when you got Ben and Palmer every night. Man,
Speaker 1: that's pretty good for us in Birdland. Ben, so great
Speaker 1: to have you on the show today, and we'll see
Speaker 1: you and when you're in Sacramento in a few days,
Speaker 1: travel safe.
Speaker 2: All right. Always great to be with you, guys. Appreciate
Speaker 2: it and look forward to hop it back on. And
Speaker 2: you guys keep doing what you're doing. It's an awesome show.
Speaker 1: Ben McDonald our guest today on Birdland Territory. Man, we
Speaker 1: enjoyed this one and we appreciate Ben's time today. Look
Speaker 1: forward to his next telecast of Oriole Baseball. Thanks for
Speaker 1: joining us today on Birdland Territory.