Speaker 1: Welcome back to Cardinal Territory.
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Katie wu here with the very special
Speaker 2: guest Miles Michaelis is our player interview today. We are
Speaker 2: recording on Monday, April fourteenth, but you are seeing this
Speaker 2: on Wednesday, April sixteenth. Miles one of my personal faves.
Speaker 2: Always great to see you. Thank you so much for
Speaker 2: doing this today.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on a little a little bit
Speaker 3: of free time before I head into the field.
Speaker 4: So I thought this would be this would be fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so let's just go right into it.
Speaker 2: Your your fresh off a bounce back start, five innings,
Speaker 2: three yearn runs, and we've talked to like all spring
Speaker 2: and early season about the things that you're doing differently
Speaker 2: this year in terms of sequencing and essentially sounds weird
Speaker 2: not throwing as many strikes. Is that a difficult concept
Speaker 2: for you to fathom at first?
Speaker 3: Maybe a little bit, because you know, I grew up
Speaker 3: watching baseball a certain way and like reading certain you know,
Speaker 3: I had, you know, when I was in middle school,
Speaker 3: in high school, I had all the pitching books, you know,
Speaker 3: the Leo Mazzoni and the Noan Ryan Pitcher's Bible and
Speaker 3: all those things.
Speaker 4: And even in some of those books.
Speaker 3: Like they talk about like those two one two counts,
Speaker 3: you know, hitters are vulnerable. Hitters are vulnerable. A lot
Speaker 3: of guys are just trying to put the ball in play.
Speaker 3: And you can throw a quality pitch fairly close or
Speaker 3: in the strike zone on the edges, and you know,
Speaker 3: I feel like the hitters approach.
Speaker 4: Guys used to not like to strike out. So you
Speaker 4: saw a lot of like just oh, I want to
Speaker 4: put it in play kind of.
Speaker 3: Some of the two strikes, guys just trying not to
Speaker 3: strike out. And if you're nibbling at the edges of
Speaker 3: the zone and throwing strikes in those counts and the
Speaker 3: guy hitting has that mentality, you know, you're throwing quality pitches,
Speaker 3: quality strikes, and he's popping up and he's grabbing out
Speaker 3: and rolling over. But the way the game has changed,
Speaker 3: the way they with analytics and they value guys and
Speaker 3: they value players, guys don't have like a two. A
Speaker 3: lot of players don't have this two strike. I don't
Speaker 3: want to strike out, like check swing. There's a handful
Speaker 3: of guys, we know who they are. You know, they
Speaker 3: back it up with two strikes. They're just trying to
Speaker 3: sheet stuff, you know, down the first baseline, stand alive
Speaker 3: waist and pitches. But most guys are still trying to
Speaker 3: get off their a or you know, aus type swings
Speaker 3: even with two strikes, you know, trying to do damage
Speaker 3: and stuff like that. So all of a sudden, throwing
Speaker 3: pitches that are you know, anywhere close to the zone.
Speaker 4: It's it's almost like not even worth it.
Speaker 3: So so like for the philosophies and things to change
Speaker 3: is different. It's also interesting to be around the game
Speaker 3: long enough to see those those shifts. And you know,
Speaker 3: I've you know, drafted an nine you know, minor leagues
Speaker 3: debut in twelve, so it's been you know, thirteen years
Speaker 3: since my big league debut and I had my little
Speaker 3: Japanese hiatus, and this is my ninth here in the league.
Speaker 3: But I can only imagine the the changes that you know,
Speaker 3: the guys before me, like Wainwright and YACHTI saw from
Speaker 3: you know, two thousand and six, you know to two
Speaker 3: thousand and twenty five, how much the game change. So
Speaker 3: it's it's an interesting thing to be a part of
Speaker 3: something I kind of embrace a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's a great point. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 2: hard to stay in this league. It's hard to return
Speaker 2: to this league after some hiatuses if you will. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think what what people forget is like the longevity
Speaker 2: of this league says something about who you are as
Speaker 2: a pitcher and what you do. And it's adaptability that
Speaker 2: keeps you in this game. It can be really hard
Speaker 2: to tell a picture. Hey, you need to stop throwing strikes,
Speaker 2: which I know is not exactly crazy, but to simplify it.
Speaker 3: And and it's it's not to say I'm not throwing strikes,
Speaker 3: but I would rather have swinging strikes then because a
Speaker 3: lot of guys also aren't looking anymore. They're not they're
Speaker 3: not you know, anything close. Let a rip kid as
Speaker 3: opposed to this, like you know, and there's there's older guys.
Speaker 3: There's older guys where you can throw that like o
Speaker 3: too fastball, like down and away for the zone and
Speaker 3: they'll just get it to you.
Speaker 4: They're like, that's not my pitch. I'll give it to you.
Speaker 3: And but but the majority of the league is you know,
Speaker 3: if it's close, I'm swinging.
Speaker 4: So all you have to do is like be close.
Speaker 3: You know, guys are on guys are on green from
Speaker 3: from the get go.
Speaker 4: As a majority, I think, so.
Speaker 2: How do you incorporate what this new style? It's not
Speaker 2: like a necessarily new style of pitch. And we talked
Speaker 2: about this on Saturday, Like you've had swing and miss
Speaker 2: in your game before.
Speaker 1: It's just finding a different way to get there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then and it's it's you know, with it's
Speaker 3: another shift in the game, right because.
Speaker 4: It it all works together.
Speaker 3: Right, So if I want to throw, you know, I
Speaker 3: want to throw seven innings.
Speaker 4: I want to throw nine innings.
Speaker 3: I wanna through the whole game. They're not gonna let
Speaker 3: me throw one hundred and twenty pitches unless it's like
Speaker 3: a no hitter, right, They're gonna let you get two
Speaker 3: hundred like wherever that is five innings, six.
Speaker 4: Innings, seven innings.
Speaker 3: If you're getting past one hundred pitch, it's like a
Speaker 3: complete game shutout. Or you know, you're the ace, and
Speaker 3: it's the playoffs, even the ace in the playoffs guys
Speaker 3: getting pulled after one hundred pitches because bullpens are so stacked.
Speaker 3: I mean, the you know you've got guys coming in
Speaker 3: the sixth seventh. It an't throw ninety seven to ninety
Speaker 3: eight hundred miles an hour on some teams, and it's like, sure,
Speaker 3: I'll get through five or six innings on one hundred pitches, Like,
Speaker 3: you know, do.
Speaker 4: You have to be happy with that now?
Speaker 3: I mean, when I came back in twenty eighteen, you know,
Speaker 3: blessed with having a guy like Weno on the staff
Speaker 3: and he's got all his one liners. You gotta go seven,
Speaker 3: you know, if you want the win, you gotta go seven.
Speaker 3: Like that's the mindset. And he came up in the
Speaker 3: early two thousands, mid mid you know, two thousand and six, seven,
Speaker 3: eight nine, and there was that men title like you're
Speaker 3: going seven innings regard, and that was almost like regardless
Speaker 3: of how many pitches you're throwing, you're going hundred hundred
Speaker 3: and ten hundred and twenty. They were just letting dudes go.
Speaker 3: With the injuries and stuff and all the information that
Speaker 3: they're having and the way that they're you know, going
Speaker 3: about it with everyone you know, doing what they're doing.
Speaker 4: You know that's changed and you just don't see it
Speaker 4: as much. And it's you know, if I want.
Speaker 3: To throw one hundred pitches, like I sidetracked back to
Speaker 3: my ooser point, if I want to get seven in
Speaker 3: in's and I only have one hundred pitches.
Speaker 4: I have to get some quick outs. I need contact.
Speaker 3: And if I get a guy oh two, waste one
Speaker 3: in the dirt, that's one two.
Speaker 4: Maybe he'll chase a fastball up. Now it's two two.
Speaker 4: Now it's you know, now he's battling. I'm battling. Now
Speaker 4: I have to finish. Get that.
Speaker 3: So maybe I'm throwing something on the corners and he
Speaker 3: fouls one or two off, and then maybe he takes
Speaker 3: a close pitch and all of a sudden, I went
Speaker 3: from O two and now it's full count and I've
Speaker 3: thrown seven pitches chasing a strikeout. Now I have to
Speaker 3: throw something where he's got weak contact, or maybe he
Speaker 3: strikes out looking finally, or he just he doesn't want
Speaker 3: to walk. He wants to hit so bad. I throw
Speaker 3: like a slider in the dirty, swings at it. Maybe
Speaker 3: they get the strikeout, maybe he grounds out, pap up
Speaker 3: gets a hit. But either way, I've now seven or
Speaker 3: eight pitches, when before I was like, oh two, Oh,
Speaker 3: I'll throw like a little curveball down the way.
Speaker 4: Maybe in the strike zone he's off balance.
Speaker 3: Maybe I sequence it right, and here's like my chopper
Speaker 3: to short there's an out in three pitches.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 3: There's a time for that, and there's a time for
Speaker 3: not that guy on third base, guy on second base,
Speaker 3: two outs, go for the strikeout.
Speaker 4: Don't let him put it in play, don't let him
Speaker 4: bloop it.
Speaker 3: So I think there's there there is a whole nuance
Speaker 3: to it as a whole picture, like am I chasing
Speaker 3: strikeouts from the get go?
Speaker 4: Yes, I'd love to strike out everyone.
Speaker 3: Every picture would say that I'd love to strike out everybody,
Speaker 3: but that's not.
Speaker 4: Always the case.
Speaker 3: And you know, you see guys rack up pitch counts
Speaker 3: quick now because it's six or seven pitch to everybody
Speaker 3: and he strikes out or walks or you know, gets
Speaker 3: to full counter to two before the guy rolls over
Speaker 3: or pops up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 4: And it's just everything.
Speaker 3: It's like everything compounds, and it's where do you want
Speaker 3: to be? I want to throw so many innings, but
Speaker 3: if I'm giving up runs early because I'm trying to
Speaker 3: do things on less pitches, well, I'm never going to
Speaker 3: get to the six inning anyway, because I gave up
Speaker 3: a couple of runs and now the bullpen's in the
Speaker 3: game because the game's tight, it's a one run game,
Speaker 3: as opposed to I got through five innings.
Speaker 4: Great, Like you know, am.
Speaker 3: I happy with that seven six years ago? No, because
Speaker 3: I want to go seven because everyone, you know, everyone
Speaker 3: wants to throw two hundred innings.
Speaker 4: You know, or more like you want to be a workhorse.
Speaker 4: But what what teams are looking for?
Speaker 3: That's that's more rare, and that's like more you know,
Speaker 3: more difficult than ever to to hit, you know, numbers
Speaker 3: like that. Teams are almost really just looking for you know,
Speaker 3: they would love us six or seven innings, but if
Speaker 3: you give them five innings or six innings of you know,
Speaker 3: one two, three run ball and they can get the
Speaker 3: bullpen involved and hope the offense clicks. You know, analytics
Speaker 3: are saying like that's great and it and you know,
Speaker 3: maybe it comes at the expense of you know, bullpen,
Speaker 3: like using more bullpen you know, bullpen arms and stuff
Speaker 3: like that. But you know, the what what teams want
Speaker 3: I think is even changing. I think that's some of
Speaker 3: the the overall issue with with baseball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's I think you're spot on, because
Speaker 2: this is not like you know, when I was growing up,
Speaker 2: if you will, in high school and watching guys Adam's
Speaker 2: gonna hate this. When I was watching Adam Wayne right
Speaker 2: in high school, it was so.
Speaker 4: Was I in high school. So was I.
Speaker 1: There we go, see I'm not as bad.
Speaker 2: It'd be seven innings, and now you're seeing more of
Speaker 2: the five and dive is considered a good start because
Speaker 2: there are It used.
Speaker 4: To be five and dive. It's not five and dive anymore.
Speaker 4: It's like pat them on the back.
Speaker 3: You know. It's like, straight up, if you went five
Speaker 3: innings with maybe even like eight strikeouts, that threw one
Speaker 3: hundred pitches. Now, guys in the mid two thousands would
Speaker 3: have been like man element five things.
Speaker 4: They said, Hey, those strikeouts are great. I like it.
Speaker 3: I gave up to five innings. You know, it's you know,
Speaker 3: you give your team a chance, is your starting pitcher,
Speaker 3: keep your team in the game as long as you can,
Speaker 3: and ideally save the bullpen from getting you know it
Speaker 3: emptied out ideally, But yeah, it's things change.
Speaker 1: Times are changing.
Speaker 2: I want to get into a little bit about where
Speaker 2: you're at physically right now, how do you feel you're pitching?
Speaker 1: But first we got to do our first abage of
Speaker 1: the day. So let's hear from our friends at.
Speaker 5: PHG AJ it is time for people to get some
Speaker 5: new clubs, and to do that they need to go
Speaker 5: to their local PXG for a fitting, right.
Speaker 6: No doubt. I was there today, I've been there before.
Speaker 6: Last time I was there, they gave me this killer gap.
Speaker 6: You look at that sweet spot, Scott, it is warm now.
Speaker 6: That is right in this sweet spot right there. So
Speaker 6: I went and got new clubs today, new irons. But
Speaker 6: more importantly, I got this bad boy. I got me
Speaker 6: a new putter. This is my old putter.
Speaker 1: It's on order.
Speaker 6: Yes, that's my putter cover PXG Mustang putter. Now I'm
Speaker 6: going to the Allen putter. They talked me into it
Speaker 6: because I was draining some putts today. Bob, the guy
Speaker 6: who helped me out. He helped me with my irons.
Speaker 6: You got them ted up perfectly. But then we went
Speaker 6: to the putt and green. I was draining them putts
Speaker 6: because that's the most important part of golf.
Speaker 5: PXG fittings are fun. Schedule you're fitting today, as you
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Speaker 2: Perfect segue. Because you're a golf guy, but only during season. Correct,
Speaker 2: you don't golf in the off season?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I you know, you only have I tell people
Speaker 4: a lot.
Speaker 3: You have time for like one hobby in the off season,
Speaker 3: even less than half a hobby if you have a
Speaker 3: family in the off season. So my off season hobby
Speaker 3: is fishing, but my end season hobby is mostly golf
Speaker 3: because it's harder to find places to fish, you know,
Speaker 3: when you're bouncing across the country.
Speaker 2: Okay, so who's your like go to teammate that you
Speaker 2: play with? Do you have an ideal foursome? Like, what's
Speaker 2: your ideal golf day on the road?
Speaker 3: You know, ideally I like to get up early. My
Speaker 3: most ideal golf on the road ever, has I think been.
Speaker 3: We're playing Texas and the hotel we stay has a golf.
Speaker 4: Course on premise. Yeah, so like you just wake up.
Speaker 3: You know, eat breakfast and go downstairs or even just
Speaker 3: go play around at golf at eight o'clock, be the
Speaker 3: first one out, and I'm the first one in at
Speaker 3: like ten thirty. And I can need a late breakfast
Speaker 3: and not have to go anywhere. But I like to
Speaker 3: get up, get out early it's not too hot, and
Speaker 3: played a lot of golf in summer.
Speaker 4: Get it early, it's not too hot. And you know,
Speaker 4: the foursome has changed over the years.
Speaker 3: From when I got here, I had the pleasure of
Speaker 3: playing with guys like Adam Is a tremendous golfer, Bud
Speaker 3: Norris one of the better golfers I've ever played with,
Speaker 3: you know, Holland Waka Long. I mean, we had we
Speaker 3: had some good some good golf groups in the past.
Speaker 3: And now it's a little bit different. There's not as
Speaker 3: many golfers, but people are willing to go golfing.
Speaker 4: Andre Is is like learning to golf, so he's fine golfin.
Speaker 4: He's fun to take golfing. You know, Hellsley.
Speaker 3: Is getting better at golf. If it's an off day,
Speaker 3: the position players will get involved. Not as a great golfer, Sonny.
Speaker 3: I think of the guys I know that will beat
Speaker 3: me on a golf course is probably like Sonny and Aeronauta.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: I was not familiar with Sonny's game. I knew Nolan
Speaker 1: was good. Sometimes he is really good, and I was
Speaker 1: really good golfer. I don't notice about Sunny.
Speaker 3: Sunny is a really good golfer. Steven Mattz can hit
Speaker 3: the golf ball like a country mile. He got three
Speaker 3: homers in the show. He swings right handed. And we
Speaker 3: golf the other day and I was like, hey, man,
Speaker 3: if if you approached golfing like your bullpen.
Speaker 4: You know you might be. He's like, He's like, no, man,
Speaker 4: I see that ball sitting there on the team. I
Speaker 4: just got to smash it. I'm like, all right, I
Speaker 4: like that. I like that style.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm that way most of the time.
Speaker 3: But if my score gets two out of hand, I
Speaker 3: try to try to rein it in a little bit.
Speaker 3: But we've got some good golfers. Everyone will golf a
Speaker 3: little bit. Lars Siani, you know some other guys I
Speaker 3: haven't golf with. Lebby said he's pretty good at golf.
Speaker 3: I needn't get him on the golf course. That would
Speaker 3: be fun. I just like being outside. You you know,
Speaker 3: you wake up on the road. Some places are tough.
Speaker 3: We're gonna we run up in the Mets in a
Speaker 3: couple of days. That's a tough You know, you're in
Speaker 3: the city. If you're gonna play golf, it's like taking.
Speaker 4: An hour to get there. You gotta get It's tough.
Speaker 3: You ALUs have to if you're gonna play golf in
Speaker 3: New York, you have to really like go out out
Speaker 3: of Long Island and then just hit City Field on
Speaker 3: your way back in and then just take everything back
Speaker 3: with the bus at night before.
Speaker 1: Except I left my clubs at the front. I went
Speaker 1: out to satish Long Island.
Speaker 2: I'm not bringing my clubs to the press box on
Speaker 2: the subway, Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: It was I was linked to work. It was fun though.
Speaker 3: Yeah we got Yeah, and then I think Sonny has
Speaker 3: has some really nice golf line up for us in Atlanta,
Speaker 3: so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's like I said, I'd rather I'd rather be outside.
Speaker 3: And every once in a while I'll go on like
Speaker 3: golf now and just whatever course I can get.
Speaker 4: It's closed, if it's a dog track, if it's nice
Speaker 4: not nice, I don't really care. Sometimes I show up
Speaker 4: and I have someone with me. It's just like I
Speaker 4: got like the random Yeah, who was it? It was
Speaker 4: like last year and it was the you know, the.
Speaker 3: Like the sixty five year old guy who plays the
Speaker 3: course like every Wednesday for like the last twenty years,
Speaker 3: and he's got the first tea time out and he
Speaker 3: goes off by himself. But I signed up for too
Speaker 3: because I'm trying to get and just golf with random guy.
Speaker 4: It's nice. I met him USU. He was a pretty
Speaker 4: nice guy.
Speaker 1: That's how you make friends.
Speaker 2: You'll have to you have to update me on how
Speaker 2: the golf in Atlanta does. I don't know if you've
Speaker 2: ever played golf with Pedro. He's been a victim on the.
Speaker 4: Show's Good Golfer, but.
Speaker 1: No one posted good shots.
Speaker 3: I think he's sandbagged me once, like the first time.
Speaker 3: He's like, oh, I'm not in good at golf, Like
Speaker 3: I'm not really good, And he had his first ball
Speaker 3: like right down the mill and I was like, you lie,
Speaker 3: people lying snake.
Speaker 2: Well there there's been a lot of a lot of
Speaker 2: posts on Instagram on Twitter of all of his bad shots,
Speaker 2: and he is he's he said it does. He doesn't
Speaker 2: think it's very fair because no one ever posts the
Speaker 2: good shots, but I don't know I get to one.
Speaker 1: But apparently, yeah.
Speaker 4: No one posts a picture of a minnow. It's always
Speaker 4: a guy with the marlin.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: That's right, Miles, Where do you think you're at right now?
Speaker 2: I mean, I know twenty three and twenty four did
Speaker 2: not go the way you wanted, both from a team
Speaker 2: performance and a personal performance. We'll call that Boston start
Speaker 2: out the window. But I really thought on Saturday there
Speaker 2: were some a lot of good things to look forward
Speaker 2: or just to spin off of, especially coming after that
Speaker 2: first inning.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you know, it's always nice to see
Speaker 3: like weird swings when you throw some pitches, like guys
Speaker 3: like the weird check swings or you know, guys not
Speaker 3: seeing it.
Speaker 4: I think maybe I was hiding.
Speaker 3: The ball better the other day, you know, staying close
Speaker 3: a little bit longer.
Speaker 4: But you know, my you know, physically, my.
Speaker 3: Body everything, everything feels great, which is one of those
Speaker 3: things like you know, you do you want to like
Speaker 3: be pitching great, but like maybe like you don't feel good,
Speaker 3: like your body heards, you're like pitching through things, but
Speaker 3: pitching the good or you know, I had a rough one,
Speaker 3: but other than that, I feel good about my stuff.
Speaker 3: I like my stuff, and like, physically I feel really good,
Speaker 3: So I know that, you know, things will only tread
Speaker 3: in the right direction.
Speaker 4: Like I'm not battling anything. I'm not really battling any.
Speaker 3: Like unnormal soreness as far as like throwing or baseball goes.
Speaker 3: So I know that just as the season progresses, and
Speaker 3: you know, there's like a running joke, my best fastballs
Speaker 3: will come in August.
Speaker 4: Actually, yeah, you can actually go.
Speaker 3: I've actually I've looked, because you know, every year you
Speaker 3: show up the spring training, you're like, damn, I swear
Speaker 3: at the end of last year, I was strolling like
Speaker 3: ninety five ninety six. Every once in a while, I
Speaker 3: could really reach back, and like you're reaching back early
Speaker 3: in the season, you're like, dang, I really wish it
Speaker 3: was there.
Speaker 4: You're getting older, You're always thinking like did I lose it?
Speaker 4: Is this?
Speaker 3: It is this the year that I just don't have
Speaker 3: any extra heat in the back pocket.
Speaker 4: And then I went on and looked, and it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, there's this.
Speaker 3: Graph of like your fastball and my best ones are
Speaker 3: always like July, August and even September some years. So yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, you know I'm like like a sea biscuit,
Speaker 3: you know, like the second half, you know, second half horse,
Speaker 3: you know, coming from behind, underdog. Maybe I don't know,
Speaker 3: but so there's like a running joke like, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: I just got to get warmed up. The weather's it's cold,
Speaker 3: the weather's got a.
Speaker 2: Warm Yeah, I'll give you that, But no, I really
Speaker 2: do think this stuff looks better. And you know, it's
Speaker 2: it's a weird season. You're the longest tenured cardinal from
Speaker 2: the major league team, and I get this is the
Speaker 2: youngest clubhouse you and I have ever seen.
Speaker 1: So it's a little different. Everything's a little different. That's
Speaker 1: all right.
Speaker 3: Different can be good. I mean we're we're hitting the
Speaker 3: ball super good. We're hitting all so well. I mean
Speaker 3: we got to Wheeler the other day, and and Nola.
Speaker 3: I mean that's too. The better guys in the league,
Speaker 3: especially Wheeler and and Nola the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: So to get to those guys when we scored, you know,
Speaker 3: we got to schemes in Pittsburgh, and most of the
Speaker 3: games we lost, you know, aside from even in Boston,
Speaker 3: like you know, the one game we lost in Boston,
Speaker 3: you know, extra innings and all the games for the Angels,
Speaker 3: you know, those games, all those close games are falling
Speaker 3: our way, and.
Speaker 4: It's a it's it's it's a way different story.
Speaker 2: I don't think you guys are you know, seven and
Speaker 2: eight before the Houston series. We'll see how this is
Speaker 2: at the end of the month, but you know, stay
Speaker 2: around right like right around five hundred.
Speaker 1: I think you guys will be just fine from there.
Speaker 4: But we'll see on the on the better half of that,
Speaker 4: i'd like to imagine.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not doubting.
Speaker 2: I really do feel like this team has a lot
Speaker 2: of positive attributes that we're probably not seen all the
Speaker 2: way just because of the fan apathy and frustration based
Speaker 2: off the off season, which, as you know, it doesn't
Speaker 2: really have much to do with the players.
Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, and you know, we sweep the first
Speaker 3: series and then I get like the weather's not great,
Speaker 3: but like we sweep the first series, and then like
Speaker 3: the first game of the next series is like not
Speaker 3: as many people as you'd like to see at the game.
Speaker 3: You know, sometimes the fan base will turn around that
Speaker 3: they swept the series. They're back, They're great, this is
Speaker 3: gonna be awesome, Like, let's go people are holding back.
Speaker 3: I understand they're they're they're a little bit wary of us.
Speaker 3: But we got some great baseball coming up, especially if
Speaker 3: this weather gets nice and hopefully the seeds start filling
Speaker 3: up a little bit better.
Speaker 2: And one thing you and I both know about Cardinals
Speaker 2: fans is that the Cardinals continue to win, the fans
Speaker 2: will show up.
Speaker 1: I don't think they see it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, you know, for for the sake
Speaker 3: of argument, Yeah, there's there's winning team, there's entertaining teams.
Speaker 4: We're very entertaining.
Speaker 1: You guys are very entertaining.
Speaker 4: The salesman in me is gonna pitch.
Speaker 3: You know, come, come out to the game, enjoy the game,
Speaker 3: Enjoy the weather, especially in the spring when it's still
Speaker 3: nice in August when it's one hundred for those day games.
Speaker 3: I understand that, you know, you want to make sure
Speaker 3: you get a seat in the shade, but right now,
Speaker 3: fill up the stadium. The weather's nice, Come out and watch,
Speaker 3: you know, watch the ball game, Appreciate the effort that
Speaker 3: we're putting forth, and and enjoy it.
Speaker 2: Miles were almost set time here, but I did want
Speaker 2: to deserve some time for your rant on youth sports.
Speaker 2: And if you've ever listened to a Miles Michael's rant,
Speaker 2: it can go anywhere. So I'm listening and the floor
Speaker 2: is yours.
Speaker 4: All I want to.
Speaker 3: Say is like the emphasis on winning and the stuff
Speaker 3: that I hear from other people, like emphasis on winning
Speaker 3: at a young age, like I've had almost enough of it.
Speaker 3: Maybe like that eleven to twelve, like the Little Big
Speaker 3: World series age, then we can really focus on winning.
Speaker 3: But you got like machine pitch coaches arguing about how
Speaker 3: many runs they scored kids six or seven years old.
Speaker 3: I think it's fun, Like with the walkup songs, I
Speaker 3: think it's fun.
Speaker 4: Some of the stuff.
Speaker 3: I can't believe that the parents letting their children listen
Speaker 3: to some of the music. I hope it's an edited
Speaker 3: version even if it's not, like it's suggestive and kids
Speaker 3: don't know what the words mean sometimes. But you know,
Speaker 3: my kids listen to like the classic country, classic rock,
Speaker 3: you know, things like that, and there's there's messages in
Speaker 3: all the music. But some of the walkout songs, the
Speaker 3: kids come out, So I'm like, that's not appropriate even
Speaker 3: to editing, I don't think. But you also you don't
Speaker 3: need to walk out song. I get like they want
Speaker 3: to have the slag. They want to be like the
Speaker 3: pros they see on TV. But I think it's a
Speaker 3: little much. I mean, when I was in a little league,
Speaker 3: all you had to do was were your hat backwards
Speaker 3: like hanger for junior, and that was like the big thing.
Speaker 4: Now it's like, you know, arm inviting me.
Speaker 3: I heard someone complain his kids were a little older.
Speaker 3: I heard of a friend of mine complaining they they're
Speaker 3: kids like ten years old, and they allow steals. The
Speaker 3: kid gets on first base, he steals second. No catchers
Speaker 3: can throw the ball to second base because he's only
Speaker 3: ten years old.
Speaker 4: And then it's a bad throw, and then the kid
Speaker 4: runs the third. Every hit is a triple stop, the stealing, stop,
Speaker 4: rushing these kids.
Speaker 3: Let them work on the skills and the fundamentals, especially
Speaker 3: at a younger age. In this machine pitch league. They
Speaker 3: you know, like a routine ground ball to shortstop. Sometimes
Speaker 3: the coaches will tell the shortstop to just eat it,
Speaker 3: like don't throw it.
Speaker 4: Because if he throws it, it's a fifty to fifty.
Speaker 3: Chance or probably better than that, that the ball goes
Speaker 3: to the fence and that the kid's going to be
Speaker 3: on second base. If I was running these leagues. There's
Speaker 3: no taking an extra base unless it's like a throw
Speaker 3: to third base, you know, like maybe getting a force
Speaker 3: out and then the guy can score, Like you can
Speaker 3: take home plate if it's a bath, or to third.
Speaker 3: But like, let the kid run first base, let him
Speaker 3: run all the way through. Make the kid at shortstop
Speaker 3: or third base make the throw. Let him practice the
Speaker 3: throw in real time, whether the guy safe or out
Speaker 3: or he throws it over his head or throw his legs.
Speaker 3: But let him make the throw and leave the kid
Speaker 3: on first base. Keep the force play at second base
Speaker 3: in line so the kids can learn that when there's
Speaker 3: a guy on first that you feel it, then you
Speaker 3: can get an easier out at.
Speaker 4: Second because you end up with ground ball, short stoff.
Speaker 3: The kid throws it at the first base or you
Speaker 3: know whatever, he's on second. Now there's no force play.
Speaker 3: Now the kids don't understand. They get the ball, the
Speaker 3: kids on second, they're not understanding, like where to do
Speaker 3: they throw it to third? But it's not a force
Speaker 3: and it just like it it messes with the whole
Speaker 3: flow of the game.
Speaker 4: Like, let him play the game the right way.
Speaker 3: Encourage them to throw and make the play it, not
Speaker 3: just like, oh, don't make an error, don't throw it
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 4: That drives me nuts. I'm like, throw the ball, just
Speaker 4: throw it.
Speaker 3: And if I was a coach, when I am a
Speaker 3: coach in the future, I'll try to get the other
Speaker 3: coaches on board.
Speaker 4: I'll be like, hey, let's not take extra bases today.
Speaker 4: Let the kid throw it.
Speaker 3: Let's not take extra bases. I bet you the game
Speaker 3: will go buy faster. The kid will still be safe,
Speaker 3: he won't be out. Like keep the force play alive.
Speaker 3: The game might even move, The game would move quicker.
Speaker 3: Maybe guys would get more bats or more reps and
Speaker 3: this like it just you know, let them play, let
Speaker 3: them play, let them let them develop. And then like
Speaker 3: the kids doing the travel ball seven eight years old
Speaker 3: travel team. There used to be one travel team in
Speaker 3: Jupiter when I was growing up.
Speaker 4: When I got a little older, there were maybe two.
Speaker 4: Now there's like, you know, you.
Speaker 3: Have like organizations, Yeah, like you know, the the Jupiter
Speaker 3: Whoever's they've got a ten or twelve and a fourteen
Speaker 3: year old team. They've got an A team and a
Speaker 3: B team for each age. And it's like, I don't know,
Speaker 3: I don't know what we're doing. I didn't play. I
Speaker 3: don't think I played travel ball. Really, you know, you
Speaker 3: play Little League and then you play All Stars. I
Speaker 3: know it's different now, but I think the I think
Speaker 3: the reps are good. But driving halfway across the state
Speaker 3: for nine year olds to have six of bets off
Speaker 3: a coach or a machine and then not even throw
Speaker 3: the ball across the diamond because they're worried about making
Speaker 3: an air and the kids taking second base, I don't
Speaker 3: I don't get it. And I read an article or
Speaker 3: an excerpt from an article that was talking about the
Speaker 3: Tommy John surgeries over the last however long, and it
Speaker 3: was twenty of them. Out of the twenty pictures, nineteen
Speaker 3: of them were American born pictures, and one of them
Speaker 3: was a Latin player. And it was a knock on
Speaker 3: the travel ball, Like just do everything you can to
Speaker 3: throw hard at a young age, and you know, mechanics
Speaker 3: be danged, or you know, your body be darned, just
Speaker 3: you gotta throw hard.
Speaker 4: You gotta throw hard, you gotta throw hard.
Speaker 3: And these kids are blown out, you know, younger than ever,
Speaker 3: earlier than ever, and like.
Speaker 1: More often they ever travel culture.
Speaker 3: Not it, No, it's not and that that was the
Speaker 3: whole point, is that at some point there has to
Speaker 3: be a shift in the way that travel ball and
Speaker 3: all these things kind of work so kids can stay
Speaker 3: healthy and baseball can stay you know, the way it is.
Speaker 2: For those of you wondering what reporters and players talk
Speaker 2: about in the hour of clubhouse every day, that that's
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 1: Very little work. Some some reporters do work, not not
Speaker 1: necessarily me.
Speaker 2: Uh, my favorite thing about you, Miles is that I
Speaker 2: never know what we're going to talk about.
Speaker 4: We've done.
Speaker 2: I mean, we've talked about the carnivore diet, We've talked about.
Speaker 1: This, so many things, like there's so.
Speaker 3: Many things going on in the you know, in today's
Speaker 3: day and age.
Speaker 4: There's always you know, all I do.
Speaker 3: Is, you know, read the internet news for just a
Speaker 3: for just a minute and got all different stuff.
Speaker 2: We never run out of things to talk about. I
Speaker 2: also noticed that you've had a baseball in your hand
Speaker 2: this entire podcast, and I've had a pen in my
Speaker 2: hand this entire time. I think this is a true
Speaker 2: I don't know, and body is the we're just master masters.
Speaker 1: Of our craft.
Speaker 3: Lyndy had a great game the other day. Always has
Speaker 3: a baseball in his hand. I'm seeing if maybe that's the.
Speaker 1: Sunny does too.
Speaker 3: Sonny always has, always, always in a baseball, always like
Speaker 3: messing with the grip. I'm on, you know, working on
Speaker 3: your grips. So some days some grips feel great and
Speaker 3: some days they feel like I don't even want to,
Speaker 3: Like I'm kind of like wash my hands on it.
Speaker 1: No, I don't want it.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, hopefully your next start, which is Friday against the
Speaker 2: New York Mets, is another great one.
Speaker 1: We'll see, but I.
Speaker 2: Know you have to get to the stadium and so
Speaker 2: do I. So, hey, thank you so much for doing this.
Speaker 2: I always appreciate it time outside of the work hours. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's Miles Michaelis. You know him, you love him. I'm
Speaker 2: Katie Wu. This is Cardinal Territory. We'll be back later
Speaker 2: in the week, Bernie Michlas and I will wrap up
Speaker 2: the Astro series.
Speaker 1: Until then, thanks for watching, Myles. I'll see you in
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, See you later.