Speaker 1: All right, we are happy to welcome Max Anderson to
Speaker 1: the podcast. Max Rising Tigers prospect. He's out in the
Speaker 1: Arizona Fall League right now. He's been tearing it up
Speaker 1: out there. Max, Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, happy to be here.
Speaker 3: So Max, you know, Arizona Fall League. Let's just kind
Speaker 3: of go right there. It is very current, Like how
Speaker 3: does that happen?
Speaker 4: Like how are you approached?
Speaker 3: Like you know, like how far in advance do you
Speaker 3: kind of know this is gonna you know, your season's
Speaker 3: going to extend a little bit, and then just sort
Speaker 3: of like the day to day of participating in this.
Speaker 3: In this you know, you're concentrating your game, but also
Speaker 3: like you're in a random house right now. It's not
Speaker 3: your home, Like, how how does that happen from a
Speaker 3: player's perspective?
Speaker 4: And what's it? What's the experience been like for you
Speaker 4: this year?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so we we kind of find out about a
Speaker 5: month month left of the season and then kind of
Speaker 5: it's nothing glamorous or anything.
Speaker 2: It's just kind of a fun call with.
Speaker 5: So, I mean, some guys in the in the front
Speaker 5: office with the Tigers and they'll call you and say, hey,
Speaker 5: we'd like you to represent you represent us in the
Speaker 5: Fall League, and you know, it's kind of something that
Speaker 5: you can't really turn down, so everybody usually says yes, but.
Speaker 2: No. So that that was.
Speaker 5: Pretty cool to get that call and be able to
Speaker 5: just talk and kind of see that the Tigers like
Speaker 5: they kind of thank you pretty highly if they're wanting
Speaker 5: to send you here. And I mean, as far as
Speaker 5: being down here, it's it's awesome. I mean, I was
Speaker 5: just got off the phone with my my with my
Speaker 5: parents and they're in forty degree weather and it's freezing rain,
Speaker 5: and so it makes it a little easier.
Speaker 2: To be out here in ninety degree weather.
Speaker 5: But kind of the day to day here, I mean
Speaker 5: we just i mean night games pretty relaxed, just kind
Speaker 5: of like the season, like get a sleep in a
Speaker 5: little bit and you know, trying not to stay in
Speaker 5: bed too long, and then we'll go to the field
Speaker 5: work out every day. For me, that's kind of a
Speaker 5: big part is trying to get my body in the
Speaker 5: best shape for you know, next year, because in a sense,
Speaker 5: this is kind of still like the start of your
Speaker 5: off season. Uh so kind of making that balance so
Speaker 5: you're still able to play, uh play good, but also
Speaker 5: getting your body ready for the next season is kind
Speaker 5: of a tricky thing that the Tigers have helped helped
Speaker 5: me with.
Speaker 2: But I'm having a blast out here.
Speaker 5: I mean the guys that we're playing with, I mean
Speaker 5: the guys that I'm living with, they're they're awesome, a
Speaker 5: great time to be around. And uh, you know friends
Speaker 5: that have came in with came to the in to
Speaker 5: the pro baseball uh, that I have had for the
Speaker 5: two and a half years i've been been here.
Speaker 1: So so what wait, what's your what's your compound? Like,
Speaker 1: we know you're you're with Kevin mcgonag, Well who else
Speaker 1: is there? And what what do you guys do in
Speaker 1: the downtime?
Speaker 5: Yes, so Carlos like Erika, he's a pitcher. He's also here. Uh,
Speaker 5: we all came came in the same draft class, so
Speaker 5: we were pretty close and it was nice that we
Speaker 5: got to live together. It's just us three and uh,
Speaker 5: kind of a pretty pretty normal Arizona house. It's got
Speaker 5: to pool out back, so we do a lot of
Speaker 5: just kind of hanging out in the pool.
Speaker 2: All three of us like the golf.
Speaker 5: So, uh, it's kind of kind of worked out nice that,
Speaker 5: I mean, no complaints. They put us in a great
Speaker 5: spot in Arizona. There's I mean countless things to do
Speaker 5: that in your free time. So we've been busy.
Speaker 3: Well, you know you mentioned a couple of guys there
Speaker 3: and your class, very highly regarded class. I'm curious, like
Speaker 3: you being a second round pick. You know McGonagall mentioned
Speaker 3: Max Clark at the top there. Like when you're in
Speaker 3: the day to day in the miners, you know, grinding, grueling.
Speaker 4: Do you and even in the games against your opponents.
Speaker 3: Do you like look at hey, do you look at
Speaker 3: yourself as like I'm a second round pick. I should
Speaker 3: be doing this. This is my timeline. I carry myself
Speaker 3: a certain way. And b do you look at your
Speaker 3: teammates slash your opponents like, oh, that guy was a
Speaker 3: top five pick, that guy was a first round pick.
Speaker 3: You know this player got this bonus? Like, does does
Speaker 3: the ore exist for the guys that like, you know,
Speaker 3: people like us talk about but you're seeing them with
Speaker 3: them day to day?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Uh for me, this is definitely gonna sound like a
Speaker 5: stock answer. But I I like, personally like I don't
Speaker 5: I don't see myself like as any like anything special, And.
Speaker 2: I feel like I've kind of been like that my
Speaker 2: whole way. Like when I was a.
Speaker 5: High schooler and I went to like a camp somewhere
Speaker 5: and talked to the coach and I was going home,
Speaker 5: and I was like, gosh, I guess I'm getting recruited now,
Speaker 5: Like I never thought this would happen. Like I just
Speaker 5: kind of don't see things in a sense, like don't
Speaker 5: take them more than what they are, If that's the
Speaker 5: right wording. I think it's it's tough, like when you like,
Speaker 5: for me, like I'm a huge baseball fan, so like
Speaker 5: I've followed like prospects and drafts my whole life. So
Speaker 5: like when I see guys that like we're drafted high,
Speaker 5: like I definitely recognize it. And when you're playing them,
Speaker 5: Uh but I think that's also a key to succeeding
Speaker 5: in baseball, is like trying to take the name off
Speaker 5: their back and just take the person for who they
Speaker 5: are and being able to play like cause like you
Speaker 5: go up and face like a Paul Skins or Chase Burns,
Speaker 5: like those guys are good pitchers alone, Like if you
Speaker 5: let their name do they're talking for them, Like it's
Speaker 5: gonna make it even harder to.
Speaker 2: Get a hit off them.
Speaker 5: Uh, so you got to just be able to play
Speaker 5: baseball and kind of see everybody as the same, even
Speaker 5: though that I mean, in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker 5: I mean, people are a lot better.
Speaker 2: They got drafted for a reason that high and kind
Speaker 2: of all that.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought up that high school story because
Speaker 1: I wanted to get into your story a little bit.
Speaker 1: You grew up in Omaha, actually spent a little bit
Speaker 1: of time there. Nice town, great zoo, right, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you went to the University of Nebraska's right
Speaker 1: down the road. I guess what type of player were
Speaker 1: you in high school? And why were you surprised when
Speaker 1: you started getting recruited.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So in high school, I mean I had an older
Speaker 5: brother and he was he loved baseball. He wasn't very good,
Speaker 5: so I kind of always I always watched him play
Speaker 5: baseball and watched everything that he did, and he, I mean,
Speaker 5: he loved it, and so in my mind, I was
Speaker 5: just playing.
Speaker 2: And just kind of whatever happens happens.
Speaker 5: I never I mean, all everybody goes to like showcases
Speaker 5: and plays travel ball nowadays, didn't. I didn't do any
Speaker 5: of that really ever until my junior fall so I
Speaker 5: played I don't know if you guys know, legion baseball
Speaker 5: like high school. Yeah, so I played that in the summers,
Speaker 5: and I didn't do any travel ball, so I didn't
Speaker 5: really know what was out there, like if any college
Speaker 5: coaches like liked, how if I was good or not,
Speaker 5: like realistically didn't really get a see like uh kind
Speaker 5: of weigh myself against like other top ranked prospects.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 5: So to say in high school, how I got recruit
Speaker 5: I went to just a bunch of camps in the fall,
Speaker 5: like college baseball camps, and they were great.
Speaker 2: To me.
Speaker 5: It was pretty cool to be able to just see
Speaker 5: a bunch of different colleges and almost take it as
Speaker 5: like a visit to the college town. Even though that
Speaker 5: I mean probably fifty percent of them didn't like, didn't
Speaker 5: think I was good enough to go there, so but
Speaker 5: it was it was pretty cool. I mean, I I
Speaker 5: had kind of a weird recruiting story. So I was
Speaker 5: going to committed to text A and M when I
Speaker 5: was a sophomore and went to a camp and I
Speaker 5: was a sophomore called them and then then kind of
Speaker 5: just committed like within it all within like a month
Speaker 5: and then like so that COVID draft, that five round
Speaker 5: draft that happened, and just kind of they had a
Speaker 5: lot of guys that were supposed to get drafted a
Speaker 5: normal draft and didn't get drafted, which naturally happens. So
Speaker 5: then kind of just didn't work out there, and it
Speaker 5: just happened that the Texas A and M staff got
Speaker 5: hired at the hitting coach got hired as the head
Speaker 5: coach at Nebraska, Will Bolt, and within like twenty four hours,
Speaker 5: I was going to Nebraska and it was the best
Speaker 5: best decision in my life.
Speaker 2: It was awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so funny how things work out sometimes exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: Which were you a multi sport guy in high school?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I played basketball as well. I was not very good, though.
Speaker 5: I came off the bench and with average about the
Speaker 5: same amount of fouls as points.
Speaker 1: Hey, hey, everyone, you gotta have one of those guys
Speaker 1: on your team.
Speaker 2: I liked it exactly.
Speaker 3: Well, well, then you you spend three years at Nebraska,
Speaker 3: then you know, you get drafted by the Tigers. So
Speaker 3: that's a to me from the outside, that feels like
Speaker 3: a pretty accelerated timeline for someone you know, surprise, you
Speaker 3: get recruited, and then you know you end up at Nebraska,
Speaker 3: like you said, and all of a sudden you're a
Speaker 3: second round pick. So like the draft process, I'm also
Speaker 3: curious about Max, Like how was that for you? Did
Speaker 3: you have any idea like where you were going to go?
Speaker 3: Did you kind of have your mind made up like
Speaker 3: at that time or like yeah, what was that Like?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I I mean you kind of get a grasp
Speaker 5: of where you could go. I mean with the with
Speaker 5: the MLB draft, I mean everything's so crazy with like
Speaker 5: there can be like deals made beforehand and kind of
Speaker 5: all that crazy stuff that can happen. So you don't
Speaker 5: really know until like you get drafted that things are
Speaker 5: going to happen. And I I didn't. There's probably a
Speaker 5: mixu of like four or five teams that I felt
Speaker 5: like were pretty interested in me, and then it just
Speaker 5: kind of so happened that the Tigers were the ones
Speaker 5: that took me and my I was more personally, I
Speaker 5: was more nervous, uh, for my buddy getting drafted, Bryce Matthews,
Speaker 5: like because he he was.
Speaker 2: Like first rounder.
Speaker 5: I was like, this kind of crazy and it's kind
Speaker 5: of surreal moment for me to watch him and then
Speaker 5: like he gets drafted and it turns over to me
Speaker 5: and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I might get
Speaker 5: drafted tonight.
Speaker 2: Too, Like it's pretty cool. Uh So it was.
Speaker 5: It was an all around just surreal moment and ended
Speaker 5: up three. I mean, two of my pretty close friends
Speaker 5: Mike Bovee got drafted too, to the Brewers right after.
Speaker 5: Uh So being able to see i mean, two of
Speaker 5: your buddies that you've played baseball with kind of your
Speaker 5: whole life get drafted is also a pretty cool moment,
Speaker 5: uh in a night for just you as a person.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 3: So the Tigers, So the Tigers were not one of
Speaker 3: those four or five teams that you were thinking.
Speaker 2: Is that?
Speaker 4: Am I reading that correctly?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I meant at the beginning of the day, I didn't
Speaker 5: didn't really have the Tigers on my horizon and then
Speaker 5: worked out for the best.
Speaker 4: About that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll do one more question then we'll get to
Speaker 1: a break here. But but before we move on, you know,
Speaker 1: you said going to Nebraska was one of the best
Speaker 1: decisions of your life. What was it that made that
Speaker 1: such a formative time for you as a player as
Speaker 1: a person When you look back when your time in Nebraska,
Speaker 1: what are the things that really come to mind.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, first off, just having I mean my
Speaker 5: friends from from growing up or there. They weren't playing baseball,
Speaker 5: but they were going to college there, so having them
Speaker 5: there was it was a definitely big time plus people
Speaker 5: to see them and family was really close so they
Speaker 5: could come and watch every game, so that was a
Speaker 5: huge part, just the friends and family aspects of things.
Speaker 2: And then going there, I felt like I grew as
Speaker 2: a player a lot.
Speaker 5: I felt like I was kind of just kind of
Speaker 5: like a didn't know much, like just kind of a
Speaker 5: baseball player coming out of high school, didn't really play
Speaker 5: high level, like the highest of level baseball, didn't really
Speaker 5: know how good I was. And I felt like Nebraska
Speaker 5: kind of just fine tuned some things for me, helped
Speaker 5: me a bunch defensively, and helped me a bunch just
Speaker 5: mentally getting to the right spot, and kind of turned
Speaker 5: me into the player I am today.
Speaker 1: So for any listeners who don't know, Max hit four
Speaker 1: fourteen with twenty one homers his final year at Nebraska,
Speaker 1: not a shabby stat line.
Speaker 2: Treated me good.
Speaker 3: Well, let's let's get to some some professional ballplayer timeline
Speaker 3: stuff with you. Everybody, asked, like, you know, major league players,
Speaker 3: Like what was your you know, welcome to the major
Speaker 3: league's moment? And that hasn't happened for you yet, So
Speaker 3: when that does happen, we'll get you back on we'll ask,
Speaker 3: but like, what about the welcome to the Miners moment?
Speaker 3: Is there like a like you know, like either on
Speaker 3: the field, off the field all this stuff. Because I
Speaker 3: we have Austin Jackson as a part of our podcast
Speaker 3: and he goes, you know, how much do you really
Speaker 3: love baseball? You know, going through that grind, So like,
Speaker 3: is there a welcome to the Miners moment for you?
Speaker 1: Max?
Speaker 5: I I kind of was going in the same spot,
Speaker 5: like I think the biggest welcome to the Miners moment
Speaker 5: is playing one hundred and thirty whatever games you play,
Speaker 5: and just I mean for me, that was a big
Speaker 5: difference from college. But I can't imagine like a high
Speaker 5: school guy going to straight to full season, like that's
Speaker 5: a lot a lot of baseball to be played, and
Speaker 5: you're getting drafted high like they're expecting you to play
Speaker 5: five six days a week. So I think just the
Speaker 5: sheer like length of the season I think is to
Speaker 5: welcome to the minor leagues for me and probably a
Speaker 5: lot of guys just trying to keep your body together
Speaker 5: so you can, i mean take six hundred a bats
Speaker 5: and you know, not stay healthy.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned early or you know, working with the
Speaker 1: Tigers to develop off season plans things like that. You know,
Speaker 1: I've heard you had really an important formative off season
Speaker 1: before this past year. What have you learned so far
Speaker 1: about what it takes to get your body ready and
Speaker 1: this past off season in particular, kind of what did
Speaker 1: that look like for you?
Speaker 5: Yeah, kinda kind of just taken serious what you do
Speaker 5: and just kind of how you go about it.
Speaker 2: Like I think.
Speaker 5: Training like you can you can take it a few
Speaker 5: different ways, like you can just do it and you know,
Speaker 5: check the box and say that it's been done.
Speaker 2: Where you can do it for a reason.
Speaker 5: And I'm a big believer in just doing stuff for
Speaker 5: a reason and not like just doing a bunch of
Speaker 5: eyewashed for no reason.
Speaker 2: That's not going to get you anywhere. So just having
Speaker 2: a reason behind everything we do.
Speaker 5: Back in Omaha and then here as well, Like there's
Speaker 5: like I like to be able to figure out like
Speaker 5: what's just going to help me do Like in the
Speaker 5: next season, and I feel like that's helped me put
Speaker 5: other a plan to be able to stay healthy and
Speaker 5: just be able to handle a minor league season and
Speaker 5: kind of show up to spring training in the best
Speaker 5: shape that I Can's.
Speaker 1: What's that look like you're talking more like functional strength
Speaker 1: type stuff or what's an example of going from some
Speaker 1: eyewash thing to something that's really making a tangible impact
Speaker 1: in what you do.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think a lot of stuff with like jumping
Speaker 5: an agility I think is huge for minor leaguers because
Speaker 5: you're I mean for infielders, you're doing a pre pitch
Speaker 5: for I mean probably like ten thousand times or more
Speaker 5: throughout the year. So doing your jumps and making sure
Speaker 5: your quads and hammies are they're ready to go when
Speaker 5: you get started in the spring. So a lot of
Speaker 5: quick agility stuff and a lot of jumps I think
Speaker 5: for me was very important. And then being able to
Speaker 5: maybe shave off a few pounds and be kind of
Speaker 5: lighter on your feet so you can feel good and
Speaker 5: feel light playing in the infield. You know, every step matters, Uh,
Speaker 5: when getting getting the few extra getting a few extra
Speaker 5: outscrumballs for your pitcher, Uh, so those things kind of
Speaker 5: go hand in hand, uh you know, being a little
Speaker 5: lighter and then having a little more agility under your belt.
Speaker 2: I think it was those were the huge things for me.
Speaker 3: Where where's your comfort level that you know, the various
Speaker 3: positions that the that the Tigers have had you, you know,
Speaker 3: perform at in the infield, and and and honestly, I'm
Speaker 3: actually curious about this, like more generically too, because we
Speaker 3: see at the major league level what Colt Keith has
Speaker 3: gone through, you know, you know, you know, being you know,
Speaker 3: third base, second base, third base again and in the
Speaker 3: even first base too. Uh so, So, so what has
Speaker 3: that experience been like for you? And then just kind
Speaker 3: of if you can just kind of illustrate like how
Speaker 3: those things are different and what the challenges are at
Speaker 3: you know, at each position.
Speaker 5: Yeah, uh so I came in, played in second base,
Speaker 5: played my last year of college at second base, and
Speaker 5: played i mean the full season.
Speaker 2: I'm fairly comfortable there.
Speaker 5: I feel like second base for me at least, is
Speaker 5: just more like you can sit back a little more
Speaker 5: more of like a thinking position rather than third base
Speaker 5: to where you i mean, you're basically playing hockey goalie
Speaker 5: over there.
Speaker 2: Especially now.
Speaker 5: I mean, these guys are hitting the ball one hundred
Speaker 5: and twenty over there at you, and you kind of
Speaker 5: just a kind of just a punching bag for him.
Speaker 5: So you's got to you got to find a way
Speaker 5: to lock in there for I mean a short amount
Speaker 5: of second seconds and it's not a lot of thinking,
Speaker 5: and sometimes that's good for a lot of people, and
Speaker 5: sometimes it's not. In second base, sometimes you think too much,
Speaker 5: and sometimes that's good for people, and sometimes it's not.
Speaker 5: It's just kind of taking the mindset into the game knowing.
Speaker 2: Kind of what you're gonna do. You're still fielding ground
Speaker 2: balls that you've done your whole life.
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna say it's easy anything, but it's it's
Speaker 5: still hard to be able to switch positions and being
Speaker 5: able to kind of take two different mindsets into a game.
Speaker 5: But it's been good to me. I feel feel pretty
Speaker 5: comfortable at either position right now. So just kind of
Speaker 5: more taking more ground balls. I feel like infield is
Speaker 5: a thing where you can kind of take a lot
Speaker 5: of reps and improve, and there's some things maybe in
Speaker 5: life that that's not the case, but you can just
Speaker 5: take a lot of reps there and try and just
Speaker 5: you know, get more use to everything.
Speaker 2: It's all really you can.
Speaker 1: Do, all right, Maxim, I'm just gonna keep it real
Speaker 1: with this question. You've not yet played a major league game.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess you've already gotten a little bit of
Speaker 1: taste of like the business realities of baseball. Like the
Speaker 1: summer Tigers are in first place, there are trade rumors
Speaker 1: everywhere people like me or like Max Anderson could be
Speaker 1: someone who makes did any of that? Did you catch
Speaker 1: wind of that? Did that impact you at all? This summer?
Speaker 5: I honestly think the Tigers do a pretty good job
Speaker 5: of it of keeping it like.
Speaker 2: Kind of off of like.
Speaker 5: Our minds almost, And it definitely will catch I mean
Speaker 5: catch everybody by surprise when you do get traded, because
Speaker 5: you just kind of are going about your day, and
Speaker 5: I mean, we still have to play our week of
Speaker 5: baseball games the week of the trade deadline, so it's
Speaker 5: kind of crazy.
Speaker 2: We had a few experiences this year.
Speaker 5: One of my good buddies, Jim Jarvis, got traded to
Speaker 5: the Braves, and that was like we were finishing our game.
Speaker 5: He walks out of the clubhouse like to take a call,
Speaker 5: and we're like, oh, he's calling his mom or something
Speaker 5: and he comes back and he's like, oh, getting traded,
Speaker 5: like and then everybody's like what, Like I was just
Speaker 5: out of nowhere, Like yeah, And that's that's for the
Speaker 5: most part, how it goes. And I think that's definitely
Speaker 5: kind of like give and take, like pros and cons.
Speaker 5: But I think gets better that it's not like they're
Speaker 5: not like constantly saying like, hey, we could do this,
Speaker 5: this and this, and then you got to go out
Speaker 5: and face ninety eight and it's just like I'm thinking
Speaker 5: about everything right now. It's it's a tough thing to balance,
Speaker 5: but it's a realistic thing and that's why it is
Speaker 5: a business. And you kind of know what you're getting into,
Speaker 5: uh when you when you when you get into it,
Speaker 5: and then when you finally see it becomes real.
Speaker 2: Uh. But yeah, it's it's uh, it's.
Speaker 5: Everything you make it and you just kind of got
Speaker 5: to keep on thinking about baseball and not the stuff
Speaker 5: outside and whatever happens happens.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I guess it's one of those things that it's like
Speaker 3: partially a compliment because like again it's like people like
Speaker 3: us where we're just like making fake trays that are
Speaker 3: completely meaningless. But it's like, well, if you want to
Speaker 3: get a good player, you have to give up something
Speaker 3: good in return. So it's like, you know, these people
Speaker 3: are like, well, you know Max is doing you know,
Speaker 3: pretty well here, maybe he could help be part of
Speaker 3: a package you get this asset. By the same time,
Speaker 3: it's also saying, well, I guess we don't like them
Speaker 3: that much. We're willing to part with him. So it's
Speaker 3: like it's like a good way compliment. It's kind of
Speaker 3: you know, I can only imagine what that's like to
Speaker 3: go through, but for sure you've paid several compliments to
Speaker 3: the Tigers organization today, Max, and so like they're well
Speaker 3: regarded with the farm system and the organizational structure and
Speaker 3: all that stuff. And from the outside and mainly from
Speaker 3: the outside, it's all just like, oh, these are good
Speaker 3: players and they might become good major league players. From
Speaker 3: the inside, why why are the Tigers a well run organization?
Speaker 3: Why is the farm system highly regarded and successful and
Speaker 3: like all these things?
Speaker 5: From your perspective, yeah, I think I think genuinely, as
Speaker 5: easy as it is, I think it's because they just
Speaker 5: care about like the guys that they drafted.
Speaker 2: They they They've always kind of preached that.
Speaker 5: Like they want to draft the right guys, and I
Speaker 5: think that kind of that same mentality goes with like
Speaker 5: having the right coaches in place, and that makes a
Speaker 5: big difference in a player's career, is having you know,
Speaker 5: you have guys that want you to succeed. And I've
Speaker 5: heard stories not like now, but like in the past
Speaker 5: of like other organizations, like there's some some coaches just
Speaker 5: kind of want to get their name connected to a
Speaker 5: player and then move up. I don't get that sense
Speaker 5: in the Tigers organization, Like these guys like really want
Speaker 5: their players to succeed and just like want to do
Speaker 5: anything to help you. So I think that's a pretty
Speaker 5: awesome thing to be able to. I mean, I had
Speaker 5: no choice of where I was going. It was I
Speaker 5: like just got put here and they drafted me and
Speaker 5: it just turned out to be great for me. And
Speaker 5: that these guys like you can talk to them whenever,
Speaker 5: Like we have hitting coaches that will pick up the
Speaker 5: phone and just kind of talk shop with you whenever.
Speaker 5: And infield guys that no more than anything I could
Speaker 5: ever imagine in about infield that I have never.
Speaker 2: Even thought of. That I'm doing now.
Speaker 5: Uh, so they've they've expanded, uh expanded my knowledge of
Speaker 5: the game and helped me out a bunch.
Speaker 1: What is an infield tip that you had never even
Speaker 1: thought of that now you're thinking about.
Speaker 2: All the time.
Speaker 5: Oh man, Uh, A lot of stuff with pre pitches
Speaker 5: to take off like time and agility, I mean to
Speaker 5: take to add to add like agility and help you
Speaker 5: cover a lot of it, a lot of ground, like
Speaker 5: just like there's always the normal like pre pitch of
Speaker 5: what you're doing. And then they come up to you with, uh,
Speaker 5: you know, this new thing to try and you're like.
Speaker 2: Whoa, that feels good? Like where'd you think of that?
Speaker 5: And like, I don't know, it's just it looked faster
Speaker 5: when we saw someone else do it, and we thought
Speaker 5: we should try it. And you know, it's baseball. You're
Speaker 5: looking at what other other other people are doing and
Speaker 5: you know you gotta to copy that game. You're just
Speaker 5: trying to be the best player you can. But yeah,
Speaker 5: it's it's crazy how much they look at the game
Speaker 5: and care for their players.
Speaker 1: Actually, growing up in Omaha, what team were you a
Speaker 1: fan of? Who's your favorite player?
Speaker 5: So growing up I was always a fan of the Royals.
Speaker 5: It's just kind of the closest team. And then my
Speaker 5: favorite player was Alex Gordon because he's from Nebraska and
Speaker 5: then went to the Royals, so kind of the Nebraska
Speaker 5: career path, almost as close as you can to Nebraska.
Speaker 2: So we were always fans of.
Speaker 5: Him and he was an awesome, awesome baseball player for
Speaker 5: a long time.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he certainly was all right, A little bit of
Speaker 3: like an off the wall question here, Max. Not a
Speaker 3: lot of baseball players wear glasses, so so I'm curious.
Speaker 3: I'm curious, like, you know why you kind of chose
Speaker 3: was into to go that route, Like on the field,
Speaker 3: there is there anything an interesting behind that.
Speaker 2: Nothing too interesting there.
Speaker 5: I mean when I was in high school, I so
Speaker 5: I first got in glasses and they're like, why don't
Speaker 5: you try contacts like you play baseball. And the first
Speaker 5: day I started wearing my glasses was my senior year
Speaker 5: at high school and we had a game that night
Speaker 5: and so I and so I put them on. I
Speaker 5: was good, and then I tried to put in my
Speaker 5: contacts for the game. They're like, you probably shouldn't wear
Speaker 5: your glasses might break and stuff couldn't get my contacts
Speaker 5: in and I got so mad and like just was
Speaker 5: so pissed off, and so I put my glasses on
Speaker 5: and I went out there and had a great game.
Speaker 2: I think I hit two home runs with my glasses on.
Speaker 5: So from that moment on, I never even thought about contacts.
Speaker 2: But I just rolled with glasses.
Speaker 5: And that was back when I just wore glasses like
Speaker 5: these for my game.
Speaker 2: Like I didn't have any I didn't have any specs.
Speaker 5: I was just wearing my Harry Potter glasses out there
Speaker 5: to play baseball and it worked out.
Speaker 2: And then got to Nebraska and they finally hooked me up.
Speaker 2: I said, you can't wear these for the game, like
Speaker 2: you need some actual oak Ley's.
Speaker 1: So it was there, you go, that's an upgrade. Did
Speaker 1: they tell you to try to go contacts at any point?
Speaker 1: And you were like, no, there was.
Speaker 2: There was never that much of a push.
Speaker 5: I was always I mean, I think they knew the answer,
Speaker 5: so that probably helped him to try and push me.
Speaker 5: But uh, nobody's really ever tried to make the change.
Speaker 5: I guess the thing about it probably is if he's
Speaker 5: doing good, why change anything? I guess maybe, but uh, yeah,
Speaker 5: I just I'm a fan of him, and I've gotten
Speaker 5: so used to him.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I could play without him now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you ever get you ever get.
Speaker 3: Rizzed on the field for glasses, like, you know, opponents,
Speaker 3: I mean, you know Big ten baseball, college baseball.
Speaker 4: Yeah, fans can be ruthless.
Speaker 3: Uh you know you ever you ever hear from the
Speaker 3: crowd or even the opponents, even in the minors anything?
Speaker 5: Uh more in college, when I was a freshman and
Speaker 5: we went to Arkansas, I was getting a lot of
Speaker 5: I was playing third base then too, so not a
Speaker 5: not very far away from the home home fans and
Speaker 5: the home dugout there, so they were letting me have
Speaker 5: it there.
Speaker 1: Hey, well that's all good, Max. If you keep on
Speaker 1: this trajectory, maybe we'll have a bunch of fans in
Speaker 1: the stands at Camerica wearing some some Max Anderson glasses.
Speaker 2: One day for sure. Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1: All right. Well, I think that's all I've got, Kierany,
Speaker 1: got anything else from Max?
Speaker 4: Well, just on that.
Speaker 3: I think this is a good way to wrap it up.
Speaker 3: Like we've talked about off seasons and all this stuff,
Speaker 3: Like what is your expectations for twenty twenty six. I
Speaker 3: can tell you what the fans expectations are and what
Speaker 3: ours are for twenty twenty six. But like when you
Speaker 3: look at like this, you know it's all the same
Speaker 3: and you know, blah blah blah and all the cliche stuff,
Speaker 3: but yeah, the cuff of something that is a childhood dream.
Speaker 3: So like, what is your expectation for twenty twenty six
Speaker 3: and how are you kind of preparing to meet that moment?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: For me, I mean, had a great offseason last year,
Speaker 5: so trying to do a lot of the same stuff
Speaker 5: that I did that past offseason. And then I mean
Speaker 5: show up to spring training and you know that's that's
Speaker 5: really where I mean, they they got a lot of
Speaker 5: their decisions already made, and there's probably a few few
Speaker 5: maybe you know, swing spots that they're going to make
Speaker 5: decisions on. But all you really can do, like I guess,
Speaker 5: like with the trade deadline, like things are out of
Speaker 5: your hands. Like all you can do is play as
Speaker 5: good as possible. And you know, at the end of
Speaker 5: the day, like the old saying from a baseball guy,
Speaker 5: like if if you hit, like, they're going to find
Speaker 5: a spot for you.
Speaker 2: So I think just got to play as good as
Speaker 2: you can and you know, hope for the best.
Speaker 5: As as easy as that sounds and boring as it
Speaker 5: sounds like, they're there's no magic stone or any secret
Speaker 5: affront in baseball, Like it's still the still.
Speaker 2: The same game.
Speaker 5: So yeah, just gotta just gotta keep going and keep
Speaker 5: hitting and you know, hopefully things turn out good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a good mindset to have.
Speaker 3: And it's easy to get caught up in all this
Speaker 3: other stuff, especially in this era social media, all that stuff,
Speaker 3: but you know, it's what happens between the white lines
Speaker 3: is ultimately gonna They're gonna determine everything, and everybody's timeline
Speaker 3: is different and it will happen when it's supposed to happen,
Speaker 3: right exactly.
Speaker 4: All right, Well, I.
Speaker 3: Want to thank Max for coming on with us. A
Speaker 3: reminder you guys can follow us on Twitter, follow us
Speaker 3: on Instagram, YouTube trying to Grow YouTube, Tiger Territory Shop
Speaker 3: dot com featured Tiger Territory merch like this sweet hoodie
Speaker 3: that I have on right now. Uh So for Cody Stavanhangen,
Speaker 3: I'm Karen STECHLEI thank you and Max Anderson everybody have
Speaker 3: a great ti