WEBVTT - Alec Bohm's Breakout 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:14.880 Hi, everybody. 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:19.000 Welcome to The Phillies Show with Bruben Tomorrow Junior Jim Salisbury. 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:24.320 I am Todd Zo Lucky. It is Monday, April nine, 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:28.320 twenty twenty four. The Phillies coming off a sweep of 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:32.600 the Padres in San Diego. The Phillies are nineteen and 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.600 ten overall, they're eighteen and eight in April. 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:38.080 Guys, do you know the Phillies have never. 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:42.440 Won nineteen games in the month of April. Ever, they 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.600 have a chance to do that tonight in Anaheim. They're 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:49.480 a game and a half behind the Braves. The Phillies, 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.080 who always get off the slow starts, can now say 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.280 they have. They're tied for the third best record in 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:57.959 Major League Baseball with the Yankees. 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.360 They're really playing good baseball. 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.959 And I thought a good way to start this episode 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.760 would be talking about a guy whom I'm wondering is 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.400 he having a breakout year? And that is Alec Boom. 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.199 We've talked a lot about him. We're kind of touched 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.920 on actually in the last episode moving up to the 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:22.120 cleanup spot. 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:23.920 It's having a great year. 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:25.920 I mean he's driving a ton of runs, he's hitting 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:31.640 for some power, and am I overstating at guys, when 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.880 I say, is this the year he finally breaks out, 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:38.880 makes an All Star team, enters the conversation maybe as 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.600 an outside long shot MVP candidate. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:42.480 Am I nuts or. 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.280 Not? I think all those things are possible. 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:51.200 So the beauty of what Alec Bohm brought to the 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.320 table when he was drafted was that the guy was 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:55.480 just more of a pure hitter than he was a 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.840 power guy in the first place. And he's sort of 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:02.320 going through that old school progress, right. I always believe 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.920 that if you're and I think of the guy that 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:07.200 I think about as like a rafa Al Palmaro, And 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:09.840 I know there was some question about, you know, peds 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.400 and all that stuff later on in his career, but 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:16.120 Rafael Palmaro was a very very good pure hitter. I 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.400 think he came out of Mississippi State or Mississippior whatever. Anyway, 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:23.320 he was a really, really, really good hitter. And and 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.239 in fact, when he got to the Cubs in the 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:28.880 big leagues, he didn't even make he didn't even he 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.359 wasn't had no ability to pull the ball. He hit 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.200 everything from second base to the left side of the field. 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.480 And the question was, well, this guy's at first, basement 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:39.720 or corner outfitter, is you could ever have enough power 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.760 to play those positions, even though he's like it's just 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.240 a good, like solid singles hitter, gap to gap type 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.800 of a hitter. Well most much like a lot of 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.680 guys who have great bat speed and guys who have 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:56.320 great eye hand coordination and just ability to hit. I 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:58.600 think you're seeing that out of Alec Bohm right now. 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.320 He was a very good pure hit. He's always been 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.960 a very good pure hitter. It's always you know, he's 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.080 always been able to go sort of gap to gap. 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:07.880 But the question was was he going to be able 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.760 to get consistently to the inside pitch the fastball inside 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.360 because he's got really long levers, And whether or not 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.960 he's going to be able to get extension on pitches 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.400 on the inside part of the plate, And will he 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.799 ever really lost the ball consistently, you know, to hit 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.440 thirty five or forty home runs. I think he had 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.680 the raw power to do that, but his swing path 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.520 just isn't It's not like a home run type of 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:34.200 a launch angle swing path. And I just love the 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.680 fact that he is now. I talked to Charlie Manuel 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.520 about this all the time. He's starting to understand when 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.920 he needs to make contact out front. There's certain pitches 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.880 that he can now instead of letting them get too deep, 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:50.880 which is a great ability that he has, is letting 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.120 the ball get deep because he can take a fastball 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:55.240 on the inside part and smoke it to right center 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.360 or smoke it to right But he's also now learning 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.960 that he can get pitches maybe a little softer or 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:03.320 a mistake pitch in the middle of the plate and 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.240 turn on it. So you see him drilling some balls 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.000 down the left field line. Now, are they going out 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:10.880 of the ball park all the time? No, But he's 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:12.640 smoking them and their extra base hits. 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.240 And who cares? I mean, as far as I'm concerned. 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.440 When when you're having those types of a bats and 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.960 you're hitting the herd, who cares Whether you're hitting home runs, 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:25.479 you're producing runs, you're producing bullets, you're hitting the baseball 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.200 over the place, And as long as you're hitting the 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:28.640 ball hard somewhere. 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.279 And doing it as consistently as he is, it's a 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:32.400 fun thing to watch. Man. 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.760 I know this is you know, every every hitter gets hot, 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.680 and you know has has those hot spurts and and 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.440 he'll cool off. There's no question. Nobody can hit like 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:43.240 this for the rest of their lives. It's not going 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.719 to happen. But his overall approach has put him in 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.919 this position. And I think his overall confidence and ability 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.080 to make contact a little bit further out front in 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:57.279 his in his contact point and being confident to be 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.720 able to do that, you know, reach out more comfortably 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.920 in a more relaxed way. I think it's made him 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.040 It's going to make him one of the more complete 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.880 hitters moving forward, because it's harder to go from being, 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.760 you know, a home run hitter to being like a 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:18.080 you know, making contact and being able to cover plate 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.839 then going the other way. And I think that this 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.400 is just like an old school progression for a young 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.480 man who now feels very comfortable in his skin as 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.520 a player and is becoming the kind of offensive player 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:33.280 that I think that they hoped they were getting when 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:34.040 they drafted him. 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.839 Yeah, I think you mentioned he's getting comfortable in his skin, 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.640 and I think hand in hand with that is confidence. 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:43.479 You mentioned that as well. I just see a very 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:47.520 confident hitter who has stayed true to his style of hitting. 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:50.880 If there were ever temptations. And I don't know that 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.160 they ever asked them to lift the ball, but if 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:58.480 there were ever temptations to do that in baseball in 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.360 the two thousand and twenties, we see a lot of it. 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.640 He's resisted it. He's got a little inside out, and 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:08.400 he's really learning to use the bat head line drive approach. 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.160 I remember when they drafted him looking at his numbers 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:13.640 at which toss state, and there was you could see 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.040 a player that just got better. You could just see 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:16.599 it in the numbers, a player that got better and 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:21.159 better every year. Kid cod league, which toss state. You 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:24.000 also could see that he was a selective hitter. He 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.000 really knew the strike zone. One word that bothers me 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.400 is patience. You know, we say, somebody a hitter, or 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.960 be patient. To me, the goal should be selectivity because 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:36.960 you get a cookie early. Why do you want to 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:41.279 be patient? But he's a very selective hitter and has 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.640 had that kind of in his DNA, And I just 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.679 see a guy really learning to use the bat head 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:54.599 to his advantage. And you're seeing the confidence right now. 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:59.159 And I just think it's an amazing story because and 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.120 the way he hits with on base it's been amazing 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.960 since day one. But I think it's a great story 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:11.400 because we all know that night against the Mets when 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.200 he made the errors, But that to me was only 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:19.160 only shows part of his journey. If you look back 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:24.120 to the spring of twenty twenty two, you remember this Todd. 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:28.760 I mean, he really lacked confidence. At one point Joe 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:33.200 Girardi started playing Bryson Stott at third base and pronounced 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.000 that he has a chance to be the opening day 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:39.360 guy with Bom having to go to Triple A. And 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:41.640 I remember him walking down the clubhouse to that spring 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:46.160 and you know, looking at times for long, looking like 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.440 he lost his best friend, just looking like he needed 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:52.320 a shot of confidence. And he's gotten it, you know, 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.360 with the help of others, but he's gotten it through 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:59.120 his performance. I mean, he was legitimately a trade candidate 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.360 in in the spring of twenty twenty two. And I'm 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:03.600 going to tell you how I know this. 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:07.800 You know, I remember you're writing this. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:12.920 Well. I got a call one day, Ruben, from a 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:17.040 scout from another team and during spring clear Water, and 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.600 he said, hey, look, I've watched Alec Boone play a 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.600 ton I know all about him, you know, between the 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:26.520 lines as a player, is a good guy. Tell me 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:29.520 the teammates like him. He's a good guy in the clubhouse. 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:31.840 So tell me about is you know he's doing that 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.000 background you do on guys, and he kind of swmed 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.960 me to secrecy, and I think, now I'm safe. But 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.360 I mean, you know, I can extrapolate from that that 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:48.880 he was available for a trade, and so I mean, 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.880 it's so win win. The guy's performing better, he's doing 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:55.680 a great judge, a core player, and he could have 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.000 been moved on. They could have moved on from him, 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:02.800 probably a couple of times. So patients I mentioned, I 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.680 didn't like that word, but I do like it in 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.720 this regard in terms of player development. I think because 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.400 of the money and the pressure to get to the 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.720 big league quickly and perform, we lose patience in the 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:18.719 player development process. I think he's a testament to what 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:22.840 some patients can do and some player development can do 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.160 at the big league level. Development doesn't start the day 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.880 you arrive in the majors. He's gotten better while playing 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.920 in the majors, and offensively and defensively, and now what 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:37.240 we're seeing is an immensely confident player, a player who 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.720 believes he belongs, a player who is delivering, a player 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.000 who is I mean when I watched that kid hit 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:44.760 a double and stand on second base and do this 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.560 and smile, I see joy of the game in that face, 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.440 and I love it. I love a good story, and 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.319 Alec Bowman is a good story, a good human story 0:09:55.679 --> 0:10:00.240 of sticking with it, of getting better of you know, 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.400 going from looking over your shoulder and you're looking tentative, 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.040 like a like a newborn giraffe who can barely stand 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:08.560 up to a guy who's now going to make a 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:10.480 best of the All Star Game? Soop? 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:12.840 How about this? 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.440 In terms of development, Rob Thompson, Rubert, I think you 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.600 were there last week in CINCINNATAI he said something that 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:19.120 if he would have said this two years ago, he 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:20.920 would been laughed out of the dugout. He said, I 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:24.239 think right now, Alec Bowma is an above average defensive 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.240 third baseman, and you can I'm sure if you pulled 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.320 ten different scouts, some would say no, some might say yes, 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.760 some might say he's average. But the fact that Rob 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.040 Thompson can say that and not get laughed out of 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:38.920 the dugout is another example. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:40.680 I think of that development, right I mean. 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.840 He's you know, a few years ago he was getting 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.920 mocked for how bad he was defensively, and now he 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.280 is somebody that when the balls hit there, more often 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.560 than not, you feel like he is going to make 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:51.959 the play. 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.520 Yeah, I mean, this is part of it brings up 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.360 a really big subject about you know, young players getting 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:58.040 to the big leagues. 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.640 Typically they're not finished products. None of them are. 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.400 I mean, you're watching it with Jackson Holliday, You're watching 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:04.880 it with all types of plays. 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:06.040 The guys that get to the. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.600 Major leagues are almost never ready to actually be they're 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.320 not complete players. They might be ready to compete at 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.480 the major league level in some way, shape or form, 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:19.080 either defensively or offensively, but they're never a finished product. 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.280 And you know, it took Jimmy Rollins and Chase Suttley 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:25.560 three two three four years to like really become the 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.120 players that they were going to become. That's why there's 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.800 a real progression here. And he's and alec is a 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.559 perfect example of that, not not just offensively, but defensively. 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:36.079 Was always a question, Okay, we got to move this 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.080 kind at first base. He can't play third base. He's 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.959 gotta play that he's got to play well. He's worked 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:45.840 his butt off, Dickerson has done. Bobby's done a great 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.640 job of getting him to the point where he believes 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.760 in himself again as as a total. 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.520 Player, not just as an offensive player. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.160 I mean, k Long's helped him, you know, continue And 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.600 and there's also one of those things where there was 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.760 a resistance and a recognition that, Okay, this guy can 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.480 still be a productive player without screwing up his swing. 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:10.280 Let this guy, okay, he's not hitting the ball of 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:12.679 the ballpark. Let's not and you touched on it a 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.120 little bit. Let's not screw this guy up. Let this 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.960 guy be himself and be the best version of himself. 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.920 And that's what you're seeing starting to see right now. 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:24.880 And it's going to get better. I really think it's 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.040 going to get better and better. I'm just overall from 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:33.280 year to year. Uh And and it is a great story. 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.400 I'm really really happy for the guy because I can 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:37.760 tell you same sort of thing. 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:38.040 I think. 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:39.719 I was one of the spring trainings a couple of 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.120 years ago, and I remember going up to al Hey, Alek, 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:43.959 how you doing, what's going on? And shaking his hand 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.040 and he he sort of shook my hand and he 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.720 was I could see like there was tentativeness in his eyes, 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.679 you know, there was not, And I think it's I 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:54.800 think it's really cool, Jim, that you noticed, you know 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.439 now with you know, he's high five and then doing 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:59.360 all that stuff and doing a little shimmy and that 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:03.520 kind of stuff. It's cool that he's feeling like he 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.200 knows he belongs and he knows he can be a 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:07.760 productive major league player. 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:09.920 Well, how about the fact I'm seeing a kid who 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.880 just loves the game, and it's hard to love the 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:17.119 game when you're not playing. Well, that's why I hate golf, Ruben. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.320 I understand sometimes that's a love hate relationship with me. 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:22.680 Well, one last. 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.839 Thought on Boem for me is, you know, speaking of 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.760 the comfortability and whatnot and being comfortable in his own skin, 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:29.520 this is a guy now when he signs autographs, he 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.760 might write I love this place. Like he embraced that 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.960 moment to the point where he is signing that on 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:40.120 autograph baseballs and there's a T shirt that some company 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.200 makes that he with his signature on it. To embrace 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:45.040 that moment, I think says a lot about his growth 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:46.200 as a human being. 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.160 You know, yeah, that's a great decision. And I got 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:50.840 to give Kevin Gregg some love for that. 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.760 You know, in the PR department, he's run out of 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.719 communications with the Phillies for sort of advising him, Hey, 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.400 you know, you're gonna have to face this, you gotta 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:02.920 You're gonna have to, you know, come clean with it 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:04.000 and be honest with the. 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:04.640 People about it. 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:06.440 And I think they handled it in a beautiful way 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.120 and it's really helped him. 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:13.600 And remember, like with Alex, now he's graduated. I guess 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.600 you could stay to the cleanup spot last hand full 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.040 of games there last week. But you know, with all 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.080 the hand ringing about they're not slugging, well there are 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:24.520 slugging percentages is going way up here on the last 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:27.280 two weeks and they're leading the they're leading the league 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:27.840 at home runs. 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.240 Now, it's crazy. There you have it, and there you 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:31.520 have it. 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.800 It's just you can't fret over a slow start when 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:41.000 you have track records like this, when you have ascending 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:45.200 players like a bomb, like a start like a marsh Guys, 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:47.640 who are you know? You have the core nucleus with 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.480 the track records, you have the ascending guys. Nice mix, no. 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.000 It's a great mix, and it's you know, he's Stot 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.760 might be heating up as well. You know, he's been 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.400 off to a slow start. So man, you get that 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.240 bottom of the lineup going, and you get Johann Ross 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:02.960 just getting on base a little bit every once in 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.280 a while, it's it's it's so big, and you know 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.240 Bryce is gonna take off at some point. I mean, 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:08.800 he's been pretty good, but you know he's gonna take 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:10.880 off at some point. But to have Boem and Stott 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.520 Marsh coming back where it all started for him. 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.520 This week in Anaheim, you know, it looks like a 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:18.360 pretty good lineup. 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.120 And you're right, like, remember when they were two and 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.200 four and we were talking about how, my gosh, this 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.160 team can just never get off to a good start, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.040 and now they're nineteen and ten. 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.760 I was thinking about this today that, you know, because 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:36.280 Turner's been hot and Baum has been otherworldly. You mentioned 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:38.880 Bryce hasn't even you know, we haven't even seen the 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.320 whites of Bryce's eyes yet. He could have had one 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:43.360 of those months. He's gonna have one of those months. 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.480 He's gonna have two of those months, two of those 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.400 months where it's like an ops that begins with a 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.640 one point one. You know, right, it's gonna be it's 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.120 gonna be dazzling. So he hasn't even begun to fight yet. 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.800 So this is also the beauty of what baseball is about. 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:00.840 And people talk about, well, it's such a long Yeah, 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.360 it's a long season because there are the ebbs and 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:07.120 flows and the adjustments that the played players make and 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.720 and you know, the ability to stay healthy and all 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.520 those things are such an important part. And the great ones, 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:16.520 the great ones, have the ability to concentrate for one 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.120 hundred and sixty games or the majority of those games. 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.000 And you know, I think about you know, the Hall 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:27.760 of Fame players, those guys had an ability to uh, 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:29.760 to be able to perform at a very very high 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.760 level for long, long, long periods of time, years and 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.200 years and years, months and months and months played appearance 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:39.880 after a played appearance, you know, start after start. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:44.360 And so that's what separates the the you know, the. 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.800 Big boys from the little boys, is that their ability 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:50.480 to do that on a daily basis, and and that's 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.480 the beauty of the game. That's I also will say 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.600 this and reiterate this. One of the reasons why they 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.240 had the slow starts because I don't think they've got 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:58.440 enough reps in spring training. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:00.560 I still believe that to be true. 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.000 Now, I do believe, and we talked about this, that 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:04.960 at some point their reps were going to be enough 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:07.280 in during the course of the season where they're gonna 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.880 start doing what they typically would do. 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.119 And you're you're seeing that now. 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.359 One guy who got the reps in spring training was 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:15.200 Ranger Suarez. 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:15.720 You know. JT. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:17.320 Realmuto said it a couple of weeks ago. 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.440 He said, what's a big difference between you know what 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:21.200 you saw from Ranger in the spring. He's like, well, 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:22.680 he was there and he competed. So I got a 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:24.560 trivia question for you guys. This is in the Phillies 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.560 notes yesterday and I love this. I think it's Chris 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:29.520 Ware and Phillies pr put this one in the notes. 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:32.760 Ranger swore his last four starts four and oh zero 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.320 point three zero ERA. Each of those four games were 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.600 played in two hours and fifteen minutes or less. He 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.639 is the first pitcher in baseball Major League Baseball to 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.639 win four consecutive starts in a game that's two hours 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:50.640 and fifteen minutes or less. Since which pitcher you guys 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:54.840 know him, knew him. I would say Jim Cott a 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:56.440 little bit more recent than Jim Cott. 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:01.399 I would slip, I would you're warm, You're warm, You're warm. Rubin. 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:03.600 Is he warm because he's left hander? 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.240 Now he's warm because he's in that era. 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:09.400 He's in that era. Steve Carlton. 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:17.280 Royaladay, Roylladay, Royaladay, Royaliday, July September one of the seventeen 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.320 two thousand and three four straight starts, all under two 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:21.560 hours and fifteen minutes. 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.360 Another guy, another guy I acquired, another guy I acquired. 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.320 That's right, that's right. I'm posing. 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:30.800 Do this. 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:37.879 I'll give it one of these shimmy now that I mean, listen, 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.640 this staff is just ridiculous. I know, I'm sure we'll 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.359 hit on some of it, but from top of the bottom, 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:46.800 it's just been spectacular. 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:51.160 I was looking at eight number eighteen, eighteen quality starts, eighteen. 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.800 I've been watching this since and I gotta, you know, 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:59.679 I gotta sort of refute the power rankings they came 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.040 out with this morning that the Phillies were seventh at 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:07.280 MLB dot com seventh. I'm like, dude, what is that 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:08.040 guy smoking? 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:10.840 There's no way in the world that this is a 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:14.880 seventh the seventh best team in baseball. I mean, right now, 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.520 they might be number one. They're either one or. 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.359 Two, especially with the pitching. 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.199 I mean, obviously Atlanta's you know, playing their asses off too, 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.600 but I mean, and it's tough to cover some ground, 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:28.240 but they're they're up there with them, They're right. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.159 You know, neck and neck with them because of the 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:32.919 of the length and breadth of their rotation. 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.680 Listen to the listening to these numbers on this on 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.120 this West coast strip. The trip, so Nola went eight inning, 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.680 seven hits, one walk. 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.399 Ten strikeouts, seventy percent strike rate. 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:52.359 Suarez eight innings, pitch, three hits, no walks, eight k's 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.440 sixty seven percent strike rate. And even Walker, who was 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:58.720 thrown really well upuntil that one inning he gave, he 0:19:58.800 --> 0:19:59.639 blew up at the end. 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:00.919 I mean, Heathron is. 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.240