WEBVTT - Pitching Ninja is back on FT 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:06.520 Hey, Pitching Ninja. Rob Friedman back with us on FT 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:08.080 and make sure you check out his book. We'll talk 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.360 more about that coming up in a moment here too. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:11.000 Rob. 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:12.640 It's great to have you back on the show, dude. 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:13.160 Good to see you. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.040 Happy Friday. And also, I'm just gonna start with the 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.640 headliner show. Hey, o Tani, do you think he has 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.440 a chance to win the cy Young Award based on 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:22.120 how many. 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:23.120 Starts he's going to get? 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.360 Because stuff lies. If he's looking like this, this is 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:28.160 maybe the best I've ever seen him. 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:29.920 Do you agree? Yeah? 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:31.400 I mean you nailed it. I think it's gonna come 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:33.360 down to number of starts. 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.199 He gets because it's not only about being nasty, it's 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:37.640 about how many times you're nasty and how much you've 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.479 carried for your team. So I've you innings pitched is 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:42.800 probably the gating thing for him. He's gonna need to 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:45.440 make all his starts and hopefully go deep in them. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.440 But stuff wise, absolutely like it's best I've seen him. 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:50.760 Let me ask you this. 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.120 I got Paul Skeins on the other line. He's curious 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.560 about that comment. There, so battle between neck and neck man, 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.000 what do you think the big you know, no Wheeler. 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.440 I mean there's an opportunity there for both of them 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.240 to battle down neck and neck. Do you think there's 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.640 a big opportunity and it'd be great for baseball to 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:08.360 see this happen. 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:10.160 I think this is the year. 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.600 You know, interesting, Paul Skeen's like looked up to show 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:14.559 Hey when he was coming up too, So it makes 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:18.240 it really cool. Yeah, Like Paul Skeen's is the best 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.160 picture you know in the in the n L. Definitely 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.960 command wise, innings wise, but stuff wise, Show Hayes up 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:29.520 there with him, I mean, show hay throws harder and 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.920 his stuff, you know, his stuff is filthy and they're 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:38.080 both incredible competitors. So yeah, I mean this might be 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.640 his year if he's going to attack it because it 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.200 looks like a you know, two horse race. Yamamoto could 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.880 get in there too, right, so we have a few 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.480 but yeah, I would say, uh, show Hey's gonna gonna 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.000 have to make some starts. 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:54.520 Rob, good to see you man, How you doing I 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.720 haven't heard Yeah doing good man doing good? 0:01:57.760 --> 0:01:58.360 Happy to be here. 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.080 Well, I want to get into Mason Miller a little bit. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:02.720 I don't know if I'm jumping the gun but I 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:04.800 just I consider him talk Mason Miller all day. I 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.800 played with him in Oakland now Sacramento. A is obviously 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:09.920 just a good kid all the way around and not 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.160 such an awesome story. You know what you're talking about 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:18.400 a two horse race between show Hay and uh and Skens. 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.880 What does Mason got to do to get his his 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:22.360 name in that loote as well? 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.240 Dude, I love, like talk about the most dominant pitcher 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.000 on earth. We're talking about the other other guys. It's 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:32.040 nasty whatever nobody wants to hit against Mason Miller. I 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:34.600 think he needs those two guys to falter. You need 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.880 a non clear starting pitcher as a you know. 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:39.160 No one, no one can dominate. 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:41.840 And then he keeps doing around what he's doing, and 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.240 then he can get his name in the conversation and 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.000 again keep making those appearances. 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.400 His stuff is so ridiculous. 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.560 He like incredibly mature dude too, Like I'm you know, 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.200 I met him when he was young, interviewed him when 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.440 he was young, and he still was like really you know, 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:02.400 had his stuff together. Love watching him ful and absolutely 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:03.320 a beast. 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:06.640 I love seeing the edge like you know, like you said, 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.240 he's a good kid, and he speaks well like I 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:10.880 think he's married to his high school sweetheart. 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:12.520 Like he's just an all around good kid. 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:14.280 I like this, like he's running out to like a 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:16.680 corn song and he's like got some you know, like 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:18.600 some kind of some f you to him a little 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:20.880 bit on some of these saves that he's getting. I'm 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.680 loving that. I think some of that's coming from I 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:26.000 don't know if he was guaranteed the closer position, you know, 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:27.480 I think they were going to kind of platoon it 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.400 and he's just gone out and said, no, I'm the closer. 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:32.359 But anyways, what I want to ask you about him 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.160 is is if you go back in time in some 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.240 of these generations and maybe in like the sixties, and 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.520 someone watched Bob Gibson and you're just like, oh my gosh, 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:40.360 like is this what baseball is going to become? And 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.320 you fast forward to Nolan Ryan, like, oh my gosh, 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.720 like is this eventually whatever picture's gonna look? Like I 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.720 was gonna ask, is is Mason Miller what the future 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.880 of every picture is? Or is he even like above 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.480 a normal anomaly? Like he's just a unicorn of sorts. 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.920 So the cool thing is when he made his debut, 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.720 I literally said, I've seen the future and his name 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.880 is Bason Miller because his stuff, even in his first outing, 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.040 his first appearance was like mind blowing throwing one zero two, 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:10.240 which is nasty, nasty stuff. I think it's a little 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.160 bit of both. Like, obviously velo's important in the game. 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.000 There wouldn't be guys standing behind the backstop with guns 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:16.880 if it wasn't. 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:18.360 It's not the be all and end all. 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:22.560 Obviously, pitch abilities important, stuff's important, commands important, makeups important. 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:23.280 He happens to. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.640 Have all of that, so he is what every pitcher, 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:28.640 certainly every closer aspires to be. 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.680 But I think you're also seeing guys go back to. 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.240 What worked back in the day, where they're breaking out 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:37.960 multiple pitches. And I talk about this this in my 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:42.080 book Unhittable is like there's a drive for velocity, but 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.200 you can only go so far because redlining bodies means 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.040 that people break. And now we're looking at different ways 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.120 to solve the same problem. VLO works because hitters have 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.320 a short time to make a decision, and if you 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.240 have enough pitches and you can tunnel them, hitters also 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.360 have a short time making a decision. So either one 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.560 works and maybe more pitches is healthier. 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:05.880 I would agree totally with you there. I want to 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.400 I want to listen. We could talk about Miller whole time, 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.479 because he's absolutely nasty. I would love to see him 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.200 start and throw that beast for nine innings. 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:15.440 I think that'd be incredible. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:17.200 I know back in the day when I was in 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.560 Triple A with the world as Chapman, we tried that 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.039 with him. Took about three hours to get five innings, 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.600 and we said, all right, we'll put him in the bullpen. Ultimately, 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:30.560 that's part of the game. Jose Soriano absolute phenomenal pitcher. 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:32.520 You know, a lot of people didn't see it coming. 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:34.680 A lot of people did point to four e r 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.479 right now through six starts, talk. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.040 About him in the way he throws. 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.120 Could you see this guy eventually, you know, the Angels 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.640 beering off and not doing well, not only being one 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:46.880 of the best pitchers, maybe even close to a cy Young, 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:48.440 but maybe trade bait two as well. 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.640 Absolutely so, he reminds me he's a little bit of 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:56.440 a horse. He loves pitching innings, he loves staying in games. 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.400 He made a little adjustment where he stands on the rubber. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.039 That's the biggest thing I can see is like what 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.240 he changed this year as well as where he's kind 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.080 of locating his pitches. He's much better at locating his 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.880 pitches this year and working in more for seamers, which 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.719 makes his sinker more effective as well as all of 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:16.520 his other pitches. Dude is fantastic to watch. I've been 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:18.440 on him for the last couple of years and I've 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.320 been like on my YouTube show constantly saying this guy 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.680 is an ace, this guy is an ace, and now 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.000 he's finally turned into it. I didn't expect a point 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:30.040 twenty four eraas, but he's got all. He's the real deal. 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.359 We love our Dogabella, who's really just account's cushion in 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:35.880 our house, and. 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.800 You do anything for her. A quick message from today's sponsor, 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.680 the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program. If you've ever been 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.040 frantically searching what to do for an issue with your pup, 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.279 you are not alone. The program offers customizable accent and 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:50.719 illness plans, making it easier to get your pet the 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.120 care they need. When you enroll in an ASPCA Pet 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.400 Health Insurance Plan, you could get a twenty five dollars 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:58.440 Amazon gift card. It's a little treat for you while 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.840 you're doing something great for your pet. 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That average writy starter is 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.960 throwing ninety five point four miles an hour to start 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.240 the season this year. I don't even know if I 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.160 have a question. I just wanted to put that out there, 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.760 like where does it stop? Is that going to keep 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.920 trickling up as it has over the last ten fifteen years, 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.880 or you know, is there's just no more Joe blow writing. 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.960 I mean, that's at ninety five point four average starting 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:04.240 right handed pitcher velocity. 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:07.760 It is absolutely amazing, And part of it comes from 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:09.360 like back in the day, we used to say, oh, 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.320 we can't take teach velo, so we're gonna have to 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:14.760 draft guys and then other guys we're gonna have to 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.600 teach the pitch. Then we learned through these facilities that 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.560 came up. You know, you can teach filo and you 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.000 can get some of these guys that had been throwing 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.640 all that hard to throw hard. So you will see 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.280 it continue to tick up. But there's got to be 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:32.760 a natural breaking point. Again, like we put guns on people, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.080 they're going to try to compete for the highest number. 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.200 It's just a competitive athlete type of thing. If we 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.240 put numbers on spin rate, they're going to try to 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.720 spin it the most. Everybody's gonna want to be Nolan McLain. 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.600 We don't have numbers great numbers on command. If they 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.079 had that, you might see that be valued more. Sometimes 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.679 analytics is a self fulfilling prophecy where we value what 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:54.400 we can measure, and if we can't measure it, we 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:55.200 don't value it. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:56.280 Like mental game. 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.040 Mental game is very important, but we don't value it 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.480 because we can't measure it. So I think you're going 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.640 to keep seeing the vila go up until the human 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.080 body breaks. And that's just natural competitiveness. And I don't 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:09.360 know is that good for the game or not. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:12.160 I don't want to be a hitter. 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:17.880 That's why I'm not playing. No, but listen, the movements 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.240 of the baseballs are incredible. And talk about movements a 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:24.000 guy like Noel McClain, his sweeper frisbee thing, I don't 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:25.400 even know what you call it. 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:26.559 It's out of this world. 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.200 I want to talk about his repertoire, his fastball, well, 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.000 he faced Fyron Bucks in the other day. First about 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.800 he threw five or six two seamers that ran up 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.760 and in and he swung half swung at two of 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.880 them to strike out. Talk about the movement on him 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.199 and how hard he is to hit right now, it 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.920 just seems like it's every which way in angle that 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:50.600 you know, he talks to the baseball. 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.400 I need up, down, inside out. How does he do it? So? 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:55.480 I talk about a lot of players and a lot 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.520 of pitchers that I like. He is my favorite pitcher 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.760 to watch because when you watch him throw, you may 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.200 never see any ball ever move like that. Again, both 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:07.520 sides of the plate, he can go armside and glove 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:12.240 side up and down. Smart pitcher competitive throws hard, but 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.120 that's not really even as you know he throws he 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.280 tops out like ninety nine, and everybody's like whatever. 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.880 His stuff is eye popping. 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.920 It's like they're his pitches are teleporting one way or another. 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:26.440 And I talked to him about his grips are not 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:32.000 necessarily unique. He grips the ball hard, just he's got it. 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.239 Whatever it is, grip strength, the ability to spin a baseball. 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.079 This dude was born with it. We you know, that's 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:39.920 one of those things we can't teach all that much. 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.400 We can teach a little bit. You want to get 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.880 guys like Noelan McLain on your team, just so much 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:46.760 fun to watch and so nasty. 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.120 Rob how about you know they always kind of say 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.480 hitting is is is catching up to pitching, you know 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.240 as far as like the pitchers start throwing fastballs up, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:10:59.719 so the hitters all start to train to hit the 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.440 fast balls up. And then the big twelve six curve 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.000 ball is kind of out of the game and now 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.360 the splitter's making this comeback. What are you seeing? You know, 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:11.079 you got guys that you know, like like McLean that 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.280 we're just talking about throwing like this unicorn stuff. I 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.160 don't know if there is like one thing that a 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.120 hitter can say, I gotta I gotta focus on the 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:20.160 heater up or I got to start tracking this splitter 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.480 or sinkers making a comeback. You know, it feels to 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:25.120 me like pitching is quite a bit ahead of hitting 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:26.800 at this point. How do you see that playing out 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:28.319 of the next couple of years as hitters try to 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:29.400 adjust to where pitching is. 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:31.920 I think I think pitching will always lead the way 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:34.800 because pitchers are basically gone offense. You have the baseball, 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:36.360 you're a control of it, you can put it where 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.320 you want to, and you know how to attack a hitter. 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.319 You have his heat maps and everything, so you're always 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.079 going to be able to be in control. The hitter's 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.280 a counterpuncher. That being said, I think new trends now 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.360 you're seeing multiple types of fastballs. Guys are like, you 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.199 can't just have a good four seamer. You've got to 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:53.760 be able to throw a two seamer so they can't 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:55.360 sit on one or the other. And then maybe a 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.360 cutter like Cam Schlitzer, where you have three different types 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.040 of fastballs and just throw them down the middle. I 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.400 hope they go where they want to go. You know, 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.720 splitters are obviously huge. We have kick changes now that 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:11.200 kind of act like splitters slash circle changes. We're able 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.720 to design so many different pitches. And again, this is 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.079 one thing I go over my book because I wanted 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.320 to show everybody like where pitching was and where it 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.800 is today, and how much harder it is for hitters today. 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:23.480 It is absolutely absurd. 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:27.160 We can design pitches just to defeat certain hitters, almost 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.480 in a lab like pitchers are lab. 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.880 Rats and we're just designing them to do what we want. 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:35.280 Them to do. It's absolutely incredible. 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:37.480 And I you know, the kids I teach today and 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.600 I'm sitting there, I'm like, you, guys don't have the 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.400 slightest clue you think these kids, you know, they're trying 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.920 to throw curveballs circle change on my first off. Your 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.240 hands aren't begg enough. Just throw fastball and die up 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:48.040 and you'll be fine. 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:50.680 I want to go to a new pitcher that just 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.000 came in JR. Ritchie. 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.560 Ultimately, you come up to the big leagues, you either 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:57.800 get your first abat or your first pitch of the year, 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:02.400 or ever first pitch home run and then boom, your 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.320 life comes doing that. It seems like I said it before. 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.360 He looks stocky, looked like he was under control. Talk 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.080 a little bit about him and how you know his 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.559 performance can help these Braves ultimately. 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.960 Win the NL East. I mean, another good pitcher coming. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.880 In absolutely and dude as a hitter, that sound cool, right? 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.319 You got to let him have the free before pitch parent. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.360 So mean, I thought that was awesome, and I thought 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:28.960 what was even more awesome is how he reacted to that, 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.120 because you up two solo shots. 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:32.040 Pitch great. 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.920 I thought his change up looked really good, his curveball 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:37.520 looked great, and his poise look great. Like to be 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.600 tested in that first outing, you're just shoved in there 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.520 and you do that, like really impressive stuff by JR. 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:46.000 Ritchie and yeah. 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.319 Like so to me, looking at the Braves before the 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.800 season started, I was like, if they can survive until 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:55.480 they get Strider and Schwellenbach and you know Waldrop and 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.439 you know the Smith Schauvre back, then they're gonna be 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.800 tough to beat. They're not only so viving, they're thriving 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.880 with these guys. So I mean, I'd worry if I 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.520 were in the NL, e's compared, you know, compete against them. 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.200 Let's let's go to the Al East with the with 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.760 the Yankees. Here, they are playing excellent baseball. It seems 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.959 like the Ebbs and Flows are really either really good 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.040 or really bad. They're going on a nice streak here 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.480 six games. They got two dogs that are waiting to 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:26.320 come back pitching wise, Garrett Cole and oh my god, 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:30.560 I'm drawing Carlos Rodan. Yea, what is what is gonna 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.320 happen here? When you know, I think Carlos is gonna 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:35.560 be first? Well, actually I don't know. We'll see how 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.560 that hamstring is whoever it is, Who's who's the odd. 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:42.000 Man out here? Or what's gonna happen odd men? 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:46.000 Yeah, yeah, I have no idea. All I know is 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.840 you're gonna want those guys in your rotation. Two old 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.840 school dogs that you're gonna want out there, and that 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:54.480 is absolutely an advantage for them. They also have like, 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.600 you know, tons of arms that they haven't even scratched 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.320 the surface of bringing up or contributing, so so yeah, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.280 I mean, they could be very dangerous. And the emergence 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:08.120 of Schlittler I think makes this rotation so tough, like 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.440 he also has just ice water in his veins. And 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.720 you had him learning alongside again Cole and Rodan and 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:16.960 watching the way they go about their business. It could 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:18.520 only be good for all these guys. 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.400 How about same division, Rob Garrett Crochet off to a 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.960 little bit of a tough start by his standards. What 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:26.720 do you seem from him? 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:30.080 Yeah that you know, I heard you talking about Garrett 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.680 Crochet and I've had the same problem. Like I thought 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.640 he might be tipping pitches. I went and did overlays 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.960 of his mechanics. I couldn't find anything about tipping pitches. 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:41.920 It looked to me some of his locations were off 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.960 and he was getting you know, slaughtered in those situations, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.600 and that some like he threw some good pitches that 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.040 got hit and I don't know if that was luck. 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:52.160 You know, That's what made me think he might be tipping, 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.160 is there were good pitches that usually are getting outs 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:56.080 that were getting. 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.080 Hits or it's just luck. 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.280 Like you get beat by luck sometimes and people put 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.320 things together and all of a sudden you have a 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.360 bad outing. I'd still wait and see his stuff looks good. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.440 I mean it was down a tick. Vlo wise but 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.680 nothing like. It didn't make me think he was anything 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.680 other than Garrett Crochet, and we all know what he 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:16.560 can do when he's on. I'm nervous because i'd like 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.600 to see him have, you know, put together a couple 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:19.440 of good starts now. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:21.800 But I think he's got it back in him. 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:22.840 Okay. 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.560 The consensus question from the crowd to finish up here 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.040 is they wanted to know anyone else. I guess it's 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.080 kind of in the Crochet category that you've been watching 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.600 so far this year, where you're either really concerned with 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.000 the trends or someone you're they're looking for someone who 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:41.040 I mean, as the crowd put it, talk about someone 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.080 who sucks. That's what they said. So I was like, okay, 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.280 and there's two directions you can go. One is this 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.480 person's not pitching well and I'm worried about his indicators 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.120 and what his performance looks like and his stuff. Or 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.960 I'm watching someone and I'm like, eh, it looks like 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:56.720 they just had some bad at ball luck or something 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.280 that was off that can be corrected. 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.480 See the bat Crochet was the one who jumped out 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:02.840 of me like that's the one I would love to 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:03.920 talk about. 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.359 And I think he's you know, he's fixable. 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:09.600 I'm trying to think if there's anybody else that's jumped 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:10.000 out of me. 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:16.840 On that side. I don't know me. Uh, I mean Webby. 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:19.080 Yeah, that's a good one. 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:21.479 Log, So let me let me ask you about him. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.040 I know he rebounded a little bit yesterday. I think 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.800 it was seven innings, three runs. Do you think with 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:31.480 someone like that who is so great at locating that 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.680 abs might hurt him in the long run because you 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.800 can't get away with a little bit of dancing outside 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:39.280 of the zone and kind of messing with the ump 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:40.919 I don't want to say messing with the umpire, but 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.280 he knows who the ump is and what he can get, 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.120 and you're not going to get that same advantage. It's 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.480 not like he doesn't have other tricks up his sleeve, 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:51.960 but that is one that he just did so well 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:53.919 for so many years, kind of just tiptoe in the 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.320 line getting someone to either chase or to get that 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.479 pitch out of the zone for a strike. 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:00.600 Yeah. 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:02.200 I think that that's a great point. 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:04.080