Speaker 1: Heyo's fans, welcome in to the latest edition of Birdland
Speaker 1: Territory with Steve tim Brad and today Zach Zach Britton
Speaker 1: joining us great Oriole Pitcher, and he hasn't been going
Speaker 1: too long, so we remember him fondly here in Birdland.
Speaker 1: And of course, Ach, great to have you on the
Speaker 1: show today. You started a new venture publishing a newsletter,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk more about that when fans can find
Speaker 1: you at thesavenewsletter dot com and find your new newsletter.
Speaker 2: But how is life in Zach's world these days? Great
Speaker 2: to have you on the show today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, happy to be on.
Speaker 4: Life's pretty good, you know, just falling around my four kids,
Speaker 4: so I think busier than ever. You know, there's a
Speaker 4: few moments where I'm wishing I'm pitching because it's a
Speaker 4: little bit easier than you know, traveling around town and
Speaker 4: dropping them all off at sports in school, and you
Speaker 4: know now that summers here, it'll be a lot of fun.
Speaker 4: But yeah, just staying busy.
Speaker 2: With that awesome man.
Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show today, And of
Speaker 1: course fans remember you for so many things, but top
Speaker 1: of mine obviously is twenty sixteen years a year or
Speaker 1: two after you were converted to relief. And that was
Speaker 1: the best relief season I've ever seen by a picture,
Speaker 1: and maybe the best anybody's ever seen by a picture
Speaker 1: with a fifty.
Speaker 2: Four era a low whip.
Speaker 1: And by the way, he gave up four and runs
Speaker 1: and that was not in one bad outing or one
Speaker 1: in bad homestand that was for the season. Forn runs
Speaker 1: for an entire season of baseball. Incredible groundball rate. I mean,
Speaker 1: so many things happened. Fourth in the say Young should
Speaker 1: have been first eleventh for the MVP Award, Zach. When
Speaker 1: you think back to that, what memories come back to you?
Speaker 1: I mean, what does it almost mind boggling now when
Speaker 1: you look at the stats on the page.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's yeah, when every now and then
Speaker 4: somebody will bring it up to me or you know
Speaker 4: now that I'm like back in the little video game
Speaker 4: my son's friends, like, we'll play with like my card,
Speaker 4: and you know, they'll bring up the stats and I'll
Speaker 4: kind of laugh. But for me and even the prior year,
Speaker 4: I think, you know, with Brad, like going to the
Speaker 4: All Star Game with two relievers is such a rare thing,
Speaker 4: especially in the mid market, like Baltimore, like New York
Speaker 4: gets it all the time. When I was with the Yankees,
Speaker 4: it's you know, there's guys making the All Star team
Speaker 4: there that you're like, man, you know, like I played
Speaker 4: with some guys in Baltimore that it's really good years
Speaker 4: and never got the opportunity. So I always think going
Speaker 4: to the All Star Game that year with Brad, the
Speaker 4: year before with Oday, those were the things that I
Speaker 4: really remember, and I think we're special more so than
Speaker 4: the the stats. The stats are really cool in hindsight,
Speaker 4: but I think in the moment, it's just it's really
Speaker 4: cool to share that. And you know, having we had
Speaker 4: a really good bullpen. You can't, you know, being a
Speaker 4: setup guy, being a closer, you can't have success in
Speaker 4: the ninth inning if you don't have anybody getting you
Speaker 4: to that spot or probably navigating the heart of the lineup.
Speaker 4: So I don't have to you know a lot of
Speaker 4: the time. So it's it was kind of just the
Speaker 4: perfect storm for me.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I look at that season two and
Speaker 5: it was it was a lot of fun. But I
Speaker 5: really I think back to like fourteen, when you got
Speaker 5: converted to a reliever. I remember kind of going over
Speaker 5: the roster and I'm trying to figure out where I'm
Speaker 5: going to fit in, and I'm like, I remember now,
Speaker 5: and you had against the Phillies.
Speaker 3: I think it was Utlely.
Speaker 5: Howard and somebody else, but it was like eleven pitches,
Speaker 5: three strikeouts, and I'm like, all right, there goes my spot.
Speaker 5: When when did it finally? Like, because you're was it
Speaker 5: Dave and Dom because I've talked about them on the show,
Speaker 5: Dom che d Dave Wallace, Like, were they just like, hey,
Speaker 5: just throw your sinker?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: Like, how did that kind of evolution go.
Speaker 5: From being a starter to finally knowing you're going to
Speaker 5: be a full time reliever? Like did you when did that?
Speaker 5: Can you just like go through that process a little
Speaker 5: bit of what you were thinking. I'm sure it was
Speaker 5: a lot of emotions and thoughts and everything while that
Speaker 5: was happening.
Speaker 4: So it really started in that off season going into fourteen,
Speaker 4: I was out in California working out with Brady, Miguel Gonzalez, Tillman,
Speaker 4: you know, Brian mattis Way and Chen and Dave and
Speaker 4: Dom were they were you know, they were hired already,
Speaker 4: but they were making the rounds out to meet some
Speaker 4: people and they flew out there and I was throwing
Speaker 4: a bullpen and I threw this bullpen. I actually thought
Speaker 4: it was really good. I actually thought I threw a
Speaker 4: good bullpen.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 3: I was like, man, this is a good first impression.
Speaker 3: And you know, Dave.
Speaker 4: Dave was like, yeah, that was all right like that,
Speaker 4: and I was like, wow, I thought like I knocked
Speaker 4: their socks off and he was just like yeah, and
Speaker 4: he really dove into me about like, you know, because
Speaker 4: I was throwing a bunch of like I was not
Speaker 4: my change up in this bullpen. I thought it was
Speaker 4: good and he was like that's that's kind of trash,
Speaker 4: Like that's not gonna work man. And he was like, so,
Speaker 4: you know, why, why do you think you've struggled? You know,
Speaker 4: as a starter, you know, what do you view yourself
Speaker 4: as going forward?
Speaker 3: I was like, man, I'm a starter.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be you know, Col Handles and Greg Maddox
Speaker 4: or excuse me, Tom Glavin and they were like yeah, like
Speaker 4: we really think like you need to improve like your
Speaker 4: command and just really focus on that sinker and like
Speaker 4: we envision being probably hopefully part of this team and
Speaker 4: probably looks like a bullpen roll for you, like that's
Speaker 4: just being around the game, that's what we think. And
Speaker 4: I didn't really like that first impression, but I also
Speaker 4: appreciated the honesty. I remember going home and and kind
Speaker 4: of just being like, I'm out of options, Like this
Speaker 4: is their plan obviously for me, and I'm just gonna
Speaker 4: try to have like the best spring training I can
Speaker 4: make the team, and then maybe if I.
Speaker 3: Make the team as a reliever, I can go back
Speaker 3: to starting.
Speaker 4: Right That was that was the mindset, But it really
Speaker 4: started in the off season when I met David Dom
Speaker 4: and you know, it wasn't all you know, being critical.
Speaker 3: They were like your ability, your talent.
Speaker 4: Obviously it's like through the roof, but knowing guys like you,
Speaker 4: you just seem more of a guy that's going to
Speaker 4: be you know, late in and really or power sinker.
Speaker 4: Here it is if you can improve your command enough,
Speaker 4: like you're going to have a good career, and either
Speaker 4: you buy into that or you know, you go to
Speaker 4: another team and you try to be a starter, but
Speaker 4: we just don't see that being your path to a
Speaker 4: long career. And so it was a lot of honesty
Speaker 4: on their part, especially since they didn't know me very well,
Speaker 4: and so I always think about that and it could
Speaker 4: be why I have.
Speaker 3: Such a good relationship even to this day. But that's
Speaker 3: how it all started.
Speaker 6: Well back looking at the beginning part of that twenty
Speaker 6: fourteen season, So you convert to becoming a reliever, and
Speaker 6: then Tommy Hunter was experiencing some early season struggles and
Speaker 6: then boom you're in the closer role, you know in May, Like,
Speaker 6: what was it like going just from not only reliever
Speaker 6: to closer closing out games?
Speaker 3: Initially?
Speaker 2: What was that like?
Speaker 4: It was interesting because in spring training, like they didn't
Speaker 4: even throw me a bone and give me a start.
Speaker 3: I went straight to.
Speaker 4: Like I was relieving right out of the gate, and
Speaker 4: Don Cheaty told me that he wanted me to understand
Speaker 4: how to I think Brad knows the story. I think
Speaker 4: I ran into a game in spring training and not
Speaker 4: getting put in the game, like I was learning, like
Speaker 4: the whole thing.
Speaker 3: I think oday was there. He just he like never
Speaker 3: lets me live it down.
Speaker 4: But they basically were like, you need to follow like
Speaker 4: Darren a day around and learn how to be a reliever.
Speaker 4: And so I just was relieving out of the gate
Speaker 4: and I got comfortable. I had a really good spring,
Speaker 4: velocity was up, you know, because I was only throwing
Speaker 4: one or maybe two innings in spring, you know, every
Speaker 4: now and then.
Speaker 3: I didn't have a ton of expectation.
Speaker 4: Honestly, I went into the season. I was so happy
Speaker 4: to finally like make the team. I had had an
Speaker 4: opening day in twenty eleven when you know, Mattis got
Speaker 4: hurt and I took his place in the rotation to
Speaker 4: make my debut. So I had experienced opening Day, but
Speaker 4: this was different. This was like, hey, like, I feel
Speaker 4: like I earned, you know, my spot by having a
Speaker 4: good spring, and I'm part of the team. I'm out
Speaker 4: of options, So I wasn't worried about getting set down
Speaker 4: if I performed.
Speaker 3: It was just it was a weird feeling.
Speaker 4: I was really excited, and I was like, like I said,
Speaker 4: my goal was to continue to have like really good
Speaker 4: outings and hopefully get a chance back into the rotation.
Speaker 4: There were some conversations I had with Buck Showalter in
Speaker 4: spring about relieving and he had mentioned, you know, his
Speaker 4: experience with Mariano in New York, where he was like,
Speaker 4: I think when people look back at you, they're gonna
Speaker 4: thank Sinker. Like, you know, when I look at dominant relievers.
Speaker 4: They normally have one dominant pitch, and I think you
Speaker 4: can do that, and I appreciated that, but at the
Speaker 4: same time, I was like, you know, I want to
Speaker 4: I've always been a starter. I feel like I can
Speaker 4: still do that. And obviously they were right. I was wrong,
Speaker 4: but that was my mindset. I didn't think too much
Speaker 4: into it. Tommy got hurt. He had some struggles, but
Speaker 4: he got hurt. Like if he didn't get hurt, he
Speaker 4: probably still stays closing. And Buck, we were in Kansas City.
Speaker 4: Buck brought me and Darren into the manager's office and said, Hey,
Speaker 4: if there's a saving the night, that's going to be
Speaker 4: one of you two, to just be ready for it.
Speaker 3: And it was.
Speaker 4: It was that, and then it was my name that
Speaker 4: got called. I think I got like three grand ball
Speaker 4: outs and I didn't think any of that.
Speaker 3: I didn't think like, hey, this is my role.
Speaker 4: I was just like, you know, we're the One thing
Speaker 4: that I learned from Darren was that the bullpen is,
Speaker 4: you know, its own unit, and it really is like
Speaker 4: your own little team. And the more that you can
Speaker 4: kind of compete against each other and support each other,
Speaker 4: the better it is for everybody, and so I didn't
Speaker 4: really think anything of it. Even if Darren would have
Speaker 4: got the call the next day, I wouldn't I wouldn't
Speaker 4: have cared because, like I said, my.
Speaker 3: Mind was still like, man, maybe I'll get a chance
Speaker 3: to start.
Speaker 4: It wasn't until the end of the year where I
Speaker 4: was like, man, this is actually pretty fun, like I
Speaker 4: actually want to start.
Speaker 2: My friend.
Speaker 1: You were a top one hundred prospect coming up as
Speaker 1: the starting pitcher.
Speaker 2: So there were some good days there.
Speaker 3: Till for sure, the miners is a whole lot different
Speaker 3: than the big leader.
Speaker 2: You're right about that. There's no question. Do you're write
Speaker 2: about that? Zach Britton with us today on Birdland Territory.
Speaker 2: We're gonna fire a few more questions his way in
Speaker 2: a moment. So I got a.
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Speaker 1: I mean, come on, this is a slam dunk promotion
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Speaker 1: still gonna be big. So Zach, we're talking about your
Speaker 1: incredible sinker.
Speaker 2: Why was it so good?
Speaker 1: Why is your sinker better than the next guy and
Speaker 1: the next guy and the next guy.
Speaker 4: Well, if you would have before I really got a
Speaker 4: good breakdown with the Yankees on a lot of the
Speaker 4: things that I did know that were unique to me,
Speaker 4: I would have just said, like, all the grip and
Speaker 4: you know I don't have well, I guess some of
Speaker 4: the things that I felt that I did are true,
Speaker 4: but I would say, you know, I don't have a
Speaker 4: long stride. I got a really short arm action. But
Speaker 4: I couldn't have, you know, really put together. I just
Speaker 4: thought it was Calvin Maduro showed me a grip of
Speaker 4: a cutter and.
Speaker 3: It did what it did kind of thing.
Speaker 4: But then I went to the New York and I've
Speaker 4: really found out what I do that really stands out,
Speaker 4: and actually a lot of it was how high my
Speaker 4: release point was compared to the average in the big leagues.
Speaker 4: I think it was one of the highest release points
Speaker 4: and at a short stride. So it's just really that
Speaker 4: angle of approach of the sinker was you know, it
Speaker 4: basically acted like a splitter. Most guys like a right
Speaker 4: handed splitter, and I think there was that little bit
Speaker 4: combination the velocity.
Speaker 3: If you look at that time.
Speaker 4: There wasn't a ton of left handed guys throwing you know,
Speaker 4: really power sinkers or really at that velocity, so I
Speaker 4: think it was just it was unique. And then having
Speaker 4: that combination in.
Speaker 3: The ninth inning.
Speaker 4: I mean our division we had some you know, big
Speaker 4: left handed hitters, so you can kind of neutralize them.
Speaker 3: I had always done.
Speaker 4: I had success against righty's even as a starter, so
Speaker 4: I think, you know, used to facing righty's with the sinker.
Speaker 4: It really just put me in a really good spot,
Speaker 4: that sinker against riety's against lefties.
Speaker 2: And.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know, like I wish I knew.
Speaker 4: Exactly why it worked well, but the one thing I
Speaker 4: learned from Dave and Dom was if it's working, you know,
Speaker 4: stick with it until they tell you that it's not
Speaker 4: as in the hitters. If the hitters, you know, eventually
Speaker 4: tell you that it's not working, then you adjust, but
Speaker 4: until then don't. And you know, maybe there was one
Speaker 4: year when I was dealing with the elbow stuff in
Speaker 4: New York where I wasn't able to get on top
Speaker 4: of the ball before I had Tommy John and I
Speaker 4: went to my slider more but other than that, I
Speaker 4: just I kind of was like, man, just beat me
Speaker 4: with my with the sinker. I really I believed in it,
Speaker 4: and I you know, I was just surrounded by a
Speaker 4: bunch of good guys that gave me a lot of
Speaker 4: confidence when I didn't have confidence when I had been struggling.
Speaker 4: And there's something to that, you know, when you get
Speaker 4: around people that believe in you. And Brady was the
Speaker 4: first one. He was the very first person that I
Speaker 4: felt like believed in me more than you know, I
Speaker 4: believed in myself at the time. And then it just
Speaker 4: kind of snowballed. I really just got a lot of
Speaker 4: confidence and believed in myself.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that, like, uh, I just think about
Speaker 5: David Dom, like those two guys I feel like made
Speaker 5: the bullpen as good as it was like we got
Speaker 5: a lot of the credit because we were the ones
Speaker 5: out there, you know, doing the job. But without those guys,
Speaker 5: I mean when I got over there, speaking of like
Speaker 5: Zach story with, they were like, yeah, that bullpen kind
Speaker 5: of stunk.
Speaker 2: I went to day.
Speaker 5: I went to don one morning, I'm like, hey, I'm.
Speaker 3: Struggling against lefties. Do you think you know?
Speaker 5: Starting on the lit the first base side and then
Speaker 5: going to the third bay side. When I'm facing the things,
Speaker 5: he turns me and gives me this look and he's like,
Speaker 5: your line is crap, and he just kind of walks
Speaker 5: away and he comes back to me, and its just
Speaker 5: like like Zach said, without like having guys like that
Speaker 5: around us that were just honest, and that's at some
Speaker 5: point you just have to have somebody honest with you.
Speaker 5: It just it made everything so much easier for us
Speaker 5: because then it's like, okay, you you have three pitches
Speaker 5: for my For myself, it was you have three pitches,
Speaker 5: go use them. But with Zachy was like, hey, throw
Speaker 5: your sinker until somebody tells you otherwise. But Zach, I
Speaker 5: always think of It always makes me laugh because we
Speaker 5: have all these big hitters in the division and Peter
Speaker 5: Borgis on the rays. It was he was in Zach's head.
Speaker 5: He couldn't get out of his head. Like of all
Speaker 5: the hitters in the division, Peter Borgis was just why
Speaker 5: do you think it was certain guys like that that
Speaker 5: were just able to see you better? And you have
Speaker 5: these other big guys that come up there that we
Speaker 5: face in the division and they just swing and miss
Speaker 5: at these pitches in front of the plate. Was there
Speaker 5: you think just certain guys had better approaches or was
Speaker 5: it just I don't know. I just always think of
Speaker 5: back to that story. I think it's just funny with
Speaker 5: it was like I remember.
Speaker 4: That name, struggled against them, and then Darren just you know,
Speaker 4: told everybody.
Speaker 3: I think he actually told Borges.
Speaker 4: Like you know, and I don't know, he hit a
Speaker 4: home run off me this one time, and I'm like,
Speaker 4: how the heck?
Speaker 3: Like I haven't given up a home run long.
Speaker 4: He might have hit two off me in my career,
Speaker 4: which is wild. I don't know, I would have to
Speaker 4: do a deep dive. It just seemed like he hit
Speaker 4: a thousand off me.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I think it became a mental thing where I'm like,
Speaker 4: I feel like, this guy sees me so well. And
Speaker 4: he took good at bats. He was a more of
Speaker 4: a contact guy, and.
Speaker 3: I felt like he put like he would put the
Speaker 3: ball and play. He was fast, so he would hit.
Speaker 4: He could hit a chopper right and beat it out,
Speaker 4: and it just seemed like he found a way to
Speaker 4: get on base against me. And there was a couple
Speaker 4: other guys. I think Jonathan Sanchez is the name. He
Speaker 4: was with the Blue This guy didn't play.
Speaker 3: He was actually random random.
Speaker 2: I told him.
Speaker 3: I was like, dude, I don't want to face you ever.
Speaker 4: And people were like, he's like with the Yankees, and
Speaker 4: they I think he was a coach in their system.
Speaker 3: He's like, dude, he's a coach in our system. And
Speaker 3: I'm like, look up this guy's numbers against me.
Speaker 4: Like I think I ended up hitting him twice, like
Speaker 4: unintentionally with breaking.
Speaker 3: Balls, and uh, I'm like, why am I throwing breaking balls?
Speaker 3: Is guy like I am? I am so rattled and.
Speaker 4: Gibbons with the Blue Jays, he would pinch like he
Speaker 4: knew he'd like take somebody out, pinch hit him and
Speaker 4: I couldn't get him.
Speaker 3: Out, and I was like, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I put those guys in the same uh,
Speaker 4: at the same level as Dustin Pedroia, who I also
Speaker 4: struggled with. Like, so when people give me my top three,
Speaker 4: I lead with Pedroia obviously, and then I you know,
Speaker 4: I'll throw it. I'll board this Sanchez and then through
Speaker 4: those guys and I'm like, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: But uh, I couldn't get him out.
Speaker 4: And then, like I said, Darren just made it to
Speaker 4: be a huge thing, and so mentally I was just
Speaker 4: I was, I was.
Speaker 3: I couldn't face him. But I have a funny story.
Speaker 4: Actually I was really dumbed out facing Mark de Cher
Speaker 4: even as a starter, and we happened to I think
Speaker 4: it was in fifteen the All Star Game in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4: He was there and we just had this conversation in
Speaker 4: the clubhouse and I laughed, I'm like, man, I just
Speaker 4: have a hard time, like I feel like you see
Speaker 4: me so well.
Speaker 3: And he looked at me and was like, oh, man,
Speaker 3: like I don't see you as well at all.
Speaker 4: I just hope you walk me And I'm like, what, like,
Speaker 4: hold on, So we're both domed out facing each other,
Speaker 4: like I think he sees me well. He's like I
Speaker 4: don't see you, well, I just hope you walk me.
Speaker 4: And so I thought about that when we faced the
Speaker 4: Yankees right after and I threw i'm a forcing fastball
Speaker 4: right down in the middle for a strike one, and
Speaker 4: he stared at me like come on, and I was like, man, I.
Speaker 3: Just gotta like throw a strike one and get this
Speaker 3: guy out.
Speaker 4: But it's just funny that you face these guys and
Speaker 4: you don't know what they what they're thinking.
Speaker 3: Every now and then you get to have a conversation
Speaker 3: with one.
Speaker 4: But yeah, there's always those guys that you just cannot
Speaker 4: get out and you don't know why.
Speaker 3: And it's funny it goes both ways.
Speaker 6: I remember Brian Mattis against David Ortiz. Fuck would always
Speaker 6: use him, Just bring him in and strike him out,
Speaker 6: move on. But that going back to that twenty sixteen season,
Speaker 6: and Brad, you can follow this up to just when
Speaker 6: did you know that it was going to be special?
Speaker 6: And with both to you guys, because Brad, you had
Speaker 6: to sell one E r A as well in the
Speaker 6: first half of the season heading into the All Star break,
Speaker 6: Like when did you realize that, Oh geez, I'm I'm
Speaker 6: on a crazy run that might not end.
Speaker 3: I think after the All Star break.
Speaker 4: Just kind of looking, you know, that was your that's
Speaker 4: your chance to talk to a lot of the other
Speaker 4: guys around the league and hitters and stuff, and a
Speaker 4: lot of guys at the Alstar Game were asking me
Speaker 4: about it, just like you know, they were talking about
Speaker 4: it a lot, and I really was like, well, you know,
Speaker 4: I don't I don't want to blow this thing. So
Speaker 4: I didn't want to think of it, like I didn't
Speaker 4: want to dive too much into it because I always
Speaker 4: thought about how much failure I had as a starter,
Speaker 4: and I knew like this is very like this can
Speaker 4: come and go so quickly, and so I never really
Speaker 4: wanted to get ahead of myself. But probably when Darren
Speaker 4: started to follow me into the training room after every
Speaker 4: outing trying to figure out what I was doing.
Speaker 3: Uh, and I'm like what are you doing?
Speaker 4: He was like, I'm just literally going to follow you
Speaker 4: around because like I want to know what's your routine.
Speaker 4: I'm just gonna like be your routine. And I thought
Speaker 4: it was funny. I'm like, dude, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 4: I don't know, I'm not doing anything at a sprained
Speaker 4: ankle that year, like I hurt my ankle, so I
Speaker 4: actually wasn't doing like any cardio. I don't know, like
Speaker 4: I said, I think after the Ulcar break. But ultimately,
Speaker 4: when the season ended and I was at home, I
Speaker 4: was just talking with my wife and I was like, wow,
Speaker 4: that was that was pretty crazy. A lot of good
Speaker 4: things happened, did not blow a save. We had some
Speaker 4: really good defensive plays throughout the year that could have
Speaker 4: changed things. But yeah, you know, the last pitch I
Speaker 4: threw the season is the only pitch I actually remember
Speaker 4: thinking it was to Brett Gardner actually used to make
Speaker 4: fun of him.
Speaker 3: About it, and I I think I.
Speaker 4: Had two strikes and I was like, that was the
Speaker 4: first time in game that I was like, wow, like
Speaker 4: this has got to be the best pitch I throw.
Speaker 3: All year, Like this will end the season.
Speaker 4: And I struck him out, like I threw the one
Speaker 4: of the best singers I I threw that entire year
Speaker 4: to strike him out.
Speaker 3: And that was the only time in game.
Speaker 4: I actually thought about, like I can wrap up this
Speaker 4: like crazy season right here on this pitch. And I
Speaker 4: used to tell BRENTA, Yeah, Brett, what I would seem
Speaker 4: like you were you kept off the season?
Speaker 3: He was I got what I ran.
Speaker 1: We are talking with Zach Brittain today on Birdland Territory.
Speaker 1: Hope you subscribe to our channel and follow Zach's newsletter.
Speaker 1: When I ask him about that in a minute to say,
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Speaker 1: Zach, I think baseball fans know you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of great opinions to offer. You always were one of
Speaker 1: the best guys to interview, provide such great insights. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure that's happening right now with your new newsletter.
Speaker 2: And it is new.
Speaker 1: It's only been a few episodes you published your It's
Speaker 1: in the infancy stage, I guess.
Speaker 2: So how did this come to be?
Speaker 4: You know, I had a lot of people when I
Speaker 4: was done playing ask me if I was going to
Speaker 4: do anything, and I was.
Speaker 3: It was I was in a weird spot.
Speaker 4: I had some contracts to keep playing, but I felt
Speaker 4: like my heart was kind of getting out of it.
Speaker 4: I feel like there's this like burnout stage that everyone
Speaker 4: hits and it just depends on when you hit it,
Speaker 4: and I was my kids were getting older, I felt
Speaker 4: like I was really missing out. It was much harder
Speaker 4: to leave them, especially like my oldest son. He didn't
Speaker 4: really like to want to go. He wanted to stay
Speaker 4: home with his friends over the summer, and it just
Speaker 4: it was hard to to stop playing and be at home.
Speaker 4: And I didn't really want to commit to doing TV.
Speaker 4: I didn't want to go through like the whole setting
Speaker 4: up a podcast. But recently I had a lot of
Speaker 4: people reach out about doing stuff, and for me, I
Speaker 4: kept a journal when I played, I wrote down every
Speaker 4: single as a reliever, I kept you know, note of
Speaker 4: every single appearance ever made, you know, my thoughts about
Speaker 4: every single outing. And I thought about like a newsletter.
Speaker 4: I was reading actually a newsletter, and I was like,
Speaker 4: I think I could do something like this. This would
Speaker 4: be much more you know, efficient for me with my
Speaker 4: time rather than you know, podcast is is there's a
Speaker 4: lot going on and I can just sit on my computer,
Speaker 4: write my thoughts down and hit send. And so I
Speaker 4: just was like, Okay, like let's try this out and
Speaker 4: see if anybody cares what I have to say. And
Speaker 4: what I like is it keeps me connected to the game.
Speaker 4: I don't have to do daily updates. You know, I'm
Speaker 4: not just talking about you know, anything and everything that's
Speaker 4: happening every single day in the game. I can pick
Speaker 4: topics that I want to talk about, you know, I've
Speaker 4: talked this last one that I wrote about, I wrote
Speaker 4: about the draft and I feel like, you know, it's
Speaker 4: coming up in a month. I just wrote about kind
Speaker 4: of my experience and what I'm seeing with you know,
Speaker 4: playing for a long time, like how teams are drafting
Speaker 4: these kids, and what these kids look like and their expectations,
Speaker 4: and really just like the path that you take because
Speaker 4: baseball is really unique compared to other sports where guys
Speaker 4: will they'll be stuck in the minors for a few
Speaker 4: years before they get the call, Like where the NBA,
Speaker 4: the NFL, like you see these guys on TV immediately,
Speaker 4: and baseball is just not the case. So that was
Speaker 4: my latest issue that I released think yesterday, But really
Speaker 4: it's just topics I want to talk about, just kind
Speaker 4: of my thoughts on things, and yeah, I like doing it,
Speaker 4: so I'm hoping people are enjoying it, and I'm.
Speaker 3: Just gonna keep sending stuff out and see what happens.
Speaker 5: That's awesome. Now, I think we'd be remiss to I
Speaker 5: don't want to. This isn't gonna be I don't want
Speaker 5: to turn into like a bashing. I'm just curious where
Speaker 5: your head was at the final game of twenty sixteen.
Speaker 5: I mean, Orials fans kind of want to know. I
Speaker 5: told I was telling them the other day off camera
Speaker 5: that I honestly didn't think anything about it because you
Speaker 5: had never pitched in a game on the road unless
Speaker 5: we had the lead. So like the game ended and
Speaker 5: then everybody's kind of we're all kind of talking to
Speaker 5: each other in the clubhouse, and I like, I would
Speaker 5: love to you just kind of give your experience the
Speaker 5: whole thing, because, like I said, I thought nothing of
Speaker 5: it until it was over, and then I'm like, oh, man,
Speaker 5: Zach didn't pitch, but it was. It wasn't like a
Speaker 5: thought going into it because you had never done that.
Speaker 5: But obviously the wild that wildcard game is different. But
Speaker 5: I'm just curious where your head was at with all
Speaker 5: of it because during that time everybody was just didn't
Speaker 5: really know what to say or what was going on, and.
Speaker 2: It just ended so abruptly.
Speaker 5: But what was like your thoughts going on during that
Speaker 5: game after the game, if you can remember much too.
Speaker 4: I mean I had been warming up for a while.
Speaker 4: I don't know exactly, you know, it's maybe two or
Speaker 4: three innings. I had warmed up, you know, in varying stages.
Speaker 4: It wasn't like at least playing catch. And I think
Speaker 4: I might have gotten hot twice.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I thought about like I had thrown a lot. We
Speaker 3: had all we all threw a lot to get into
Speaker 3: that wildcard game. We had played Toronto previous.
Speaker 4: I think we might have thrown you know, almost every
Speaker 4: single game in that series. And then we went to
Speaker 4: New York and it was the same thing, like we
Speaker 4: had thrown a lot. You know, I'd been warmed up.
Speaker 4: There was only one time, and I don't remember now
Speaker 4: exactly how that situation unfolded, but I think it was
Speaker 4: either like Donaldson got on right away and then Bautista
Speaker 4: or something like that. I think there might have been
Speaker 4: a first and second situation and I was like hot,
Speaker 4: and that's when I was like, well, I'll probably come
Speaker 4: in and like this perfect opportunity for a double play situation.
Speaker 3: And I mean, you guys can correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 4: I think Buck made a mound visit but didn't take
Speaker 4: him out, and I thought like that was when I
Speaker 4: was going to go in. But yeah, like Don, like
Speaker 4: you know, Don didn't say anything. He wasn't like oh
Speaker 4: this is where like we were just kind of waiting
Speaker 4: to see and then that ending a lot of like
Speaker 4: it happened so fast. I mean, it could have only
Speaker 4: have been like six or seven pitches. I feel like,
Speaker 4: but when we got back in the duck the clubhouse, yeah,
Speaker 4: I remember seeing you and Darren and no one really
Speaker 4: said anything. And I actually think like Duquet may have
Speaker 4: like asked me if I was okay. I was like yeah,
Speaker 4: like you know, I like it sucks and we lost.
Speaker 4: Like I didn't think about like pitching. I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: this sucks, like we're going on, and then the media
Speaker 4: was asking me about it, especially like in that situation,
Speaker 4: a lot of the national media is there, and so
Speaker 4: they were asked me, like why didn't you pitch because
Speaker 4: Buck didn't put me in the game, you know, like
Speaker 4: I don't know kind of thing, and then it kind
Speaker 4: of took like you know, it grew some legs and
Speaker 4: and things like that. But I didn't at the time,
Speaker 4: I didn't think anything of it. I don't remember who
Speaker 4: else was down there with me. Maybe Tommy and Dylan
Speaker 4: Bundy could have.
Speaker 3: Been the other guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, probably, you know, maybe you' baldo had thrown well
Speaker 4: maybe you know, anytime you take a start and you
Speaker 4: put in the pen like unless like Kevin Gosman, I
Speaker 4: remember doing it one year.
Speaker 3: It was lights outcual.
Speaker 4: He threw hundreds right, like stuff played up, and I
Speaker 4: felt like with Eovalda, like I don't know if his
Speaker 4: stuff was gonna play up out of the pen, so
Speaker 4: it was it's easy to second guess now he had
Speaker 4: thrown really well. But like if it wasn't me, like
Speaker 4: maybe I thought it would have been like Tommy or Dylan,
Speaker 4: because Dylan at that time was throwing one hundred, so
Speaker 4: it wasn't necessarily like I thought it was gonna be me.
Speaker 4: I thought maybe like they would bring like you know,
Speaker 4: Tommy can strike guys out dealing, can strike guys out
Speaker 4: in that situation. But in hindsight, it really changed the
Speaker 4: course of the playoffs. I'll tell you that I went
Speaker 4: to the World Series that you're to get an award,
Speaker 4: and I remember talking to Killer and he's like, gosh, man,
Speaker 4: like now I'm getting absolutely abused because no one wants
Speaker 4: to answer those question. So I think it really changed
Speaker 4: that year and then future years how guys did not
Speaker 4: want to answer that question about why I left my
Speaker 4: closer in the pen.
Speaker 3: But who knows.
Speaker 4: I could have came in and gave up the game,
Speaker 4: And then does my season feel as great as it
Speaker 4: as it was? I think about that that was that
Speaker 4: would have been a tough situation to come into and
Speaker 4: have success.
Speaker 3: That's a good lineup.
Speaker 4: And I don't know, you know, like I said, I
Speaker 4: Buck always put me in a good situation to be successful.
Speaker 3: So and he always has a reason why he did things.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he'll ever dive into it, or
Speaker 4: maybe maybe there's there's nothing to dive into. And him
Speaker 4: and I have never talked about it.
Speaker 3: I never never drusted them, never asked him. He apologized
Speaker 3: in the next spring training, like at the movie theater,
Speaker 3: like like not like to me, But I think in general,
Speaker 3: like for just how it ended. But I didn't feel
Speaker 3: like it was.
Speaker 4: Necessary, and so yeah, I never talked to him about it.
Speaker 4: The thing I know about Buck and I appreciated as
Speaker 4: my career went on and I left the Orioles, was
Speaker 4: that he always looked out for my best interest and
Speaker 4: I think our bullpen's best interest, and he wanted you
Speaker 4: to be successful.
Speaker 3: So he didn't feel like that was the right spot
Speaker 3: for me.
Speaker 4: He didn't put me in the game, and you know,
Speaker 4: I trusted him because I had a.
Speaker 3: Great career with him.
Speaker 4: I mean, he did great buy me, So I never
Speaker 4: felt the need to address it with him.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I always thought it was like weird because,
Speaker 5: like I said, we got in the clubhouse and didn't
Speaker 5: think anything of it. Like I said, I didn't even
Speaker 5: think about it, and then everyone else got involved in
Speaker 5: the media got involved, and it was just like I felt,
Speaker 5: if you followed the team all year, you understood to
Speaker 5: an extent, but I just felt like it just got
Speaker 5: like this blown out of proportion thing, and it was
Speaker 5: just like we Zach never pitched without the lead on
Speaker 5: the road. If you went back that entire season, I
Speaker 5: don't know if there was one single time you pitched
Speaker 5: on the road without the lead. It was always somebody
Speaker 5: else and then those.
Speaker 4: Three or four days off and I needed in any
Speaker 4: But yeah, yeah, it just wasn't it just wasn't a thing,
Speaker 4: you know. We Yeah, like Brad said, I, I didn't
Speaker 4: think anything of it. I know, Jones yelled at me
Speaker 4: during the game, like put yourself in, and you know
Speaker 4: I heard him, but it's so loud and like the
Speaker 4: way that bullpen was set up even now it's actually worse,
Speaker 4: but the way that it's so loud, like you hear
Speaker 4: things like and like, I'm like I looked that at him.
Speaker 4: I think it was like, what do you mean to
Speaker 4: run into the Like that's not a thing, you know whatever.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I didn't think anything of it. I've been
Speaker 3: asked that question a lot, like throughout my career, especially
Speaker 3: when I went to.
Speaker 4: New York, and I feel like people always think there's
Speaker 4: like a huge conspiracy theory behind it, and but no.
Speaker 3: I've never talked to him about it.
Speaker 4: I didn't feel like I think he kind of gave
Speaker 4: an apology if I remember. Maybe Brad knows better than I,
Speaker 4: but I think he kind of said something about it
Speaker 4: in the spring, and you know, I know there.
Speaker 3: Was people upset.
Speaker 4: Like I'm not gonna name names, I know there was
Speaker 4: certain players that were really upset by it, and I
Speaker 4: just felt like, you know, he had a reason and
Speaker 4: he didn't do it, and if we would have won
Speaker 4: the game and I pitched the next series against the
Speaker 4: Rangers and did well, like it would never have happened.
Speaker 3: It just you know, the Blue Jays were good and
Speaker 3: they figured out how to win the game.
Speaker 4: We had plenty of chances to win that game, Like,
Speaker 4: we didn't have a ton of office going. Our bullpen
Speaker 4: threw amazing, and I feel like when you extend your
Speaker 4: bullpen in a game, eventually, it's just eventually like somebody's
Speaker 4: in a score and you know it wasn't your bald
Speaker 4: necessarily could have been Like I said, I could have
Speaker 4: came in and gave up that game too.
Speaker 3: So it's just like we just didn't have enough offense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a postgame clubhouse was crazy. I was in there
Speaker 1: that night, three three waves. Maybe there was more of
Speaker 1: reporters at your locker.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't helped the thing.
Speaker 4: I think when the Jerseys came out and they were
Speaker 4: auctioning like game neuse Jerseys, I made like a funny
Speaker 4: comment like like, Min's technically not game us. So I
Speaker 4: didn't really like squash it. I just like, in hindsight,
Speaker 4: I was like that. I was sitting on the couch
Speaker 4: and I was just like, ah, that's a funny. And
Speaker 4: then I was like, yeah, boy, like.
Speaker 1: Hey, you know, we're almost out of time here, but
Speaker 1: I don't want the show to go go be over
Speaker 1: with that mentioning Buck the other Buck, Buck Brittain. He
Speaker 1: is the older brother here by a couple of years,
Speaker 1: and just as his friend, I'm proud of him. I
Speaker 1: covered him in the Miners as as soon as he
Speaker 1: started managing. I said, this guy's path is going to
Speaker 1: go fast because he's so smart and so as his bro,
Speaker 1: how proud are you of Buck?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been great to watch him evolve. And the
Speaker 4: one thing that I know about him is he's very selfless.
Speaker 4: He the way that his career unfolded, he was a grinder.
Speaker 4: You know, he had to earn everything that he got,
Speaker 4: and you know, there was probably an opportunity for him
Speaker 4: to get to the big leagues that you know, one year,
Speaker 4: and it just really he was never on the forty man.
Speaker 4: He never just never got that chance. But he connected
Speaker 4: really well with players. He was a great coach.
Speaker 5: To me.
Speaker 4: He was one of those guys that would give you
Speaker 4: the honest opinion of what he thought. And I feel
Speaker 4: like guys appreciate that, you know what you're going to
Speaker 4: get from him, and a lot of the young players
Speaker 4: on the roster, you know, he managed through the upper levels,
Speaker 4: and I know they talk highly of him as a
Speaker 4: guy like I said, you're gonna get a straight answer,
Speaker 4: and he's a baseball guy. He's a guy that knows
Speaker 4: the analytics and I think he's really good at adapting
Speaker 4: to the people on the roster and I know he
Speaker 4: loves being up there. And you know, I still think
Speaker 4: there's gonna be a chance for him to manage at
Speaker 4: some point in his career. I think that's his path ultimately,
Speaker 4: And I think Buck Showalter was kind of the guy
Speaker 4: that told him he should probably stop playing and pursue
Speaker 4: coaching because I think he felt like that was in
Speaker 4: his future too, and it was just another thing like
Speaker 4: show Walter identifying that for him, and really I think
Speaker 4: gave him a push in that direction, like Okay, it's
Speaker 4: time for me to hang him up playing wise and
Speaker 4: really get into coaching and It's been great and.
Speaker 3: I'm really happy to see.
Speaker 4: I'm really interested to see how you know, this career
Speaker 4: goes for him, because I do think that he'll be
Speaker 4: a manager at some point at the majors, just based
Speaker 4: on his ability to connect with players and understand the game.
Speaker 3: Where I wasn't. I didn't have that cool. I was
Speaker 3: more like, I can play, I can do my thing. Uh.
Speaker 4: It takes a really special person to be able to
Speaker 4: connect on all levels with players, especially now nowadays, there's
Speaker 4: so many different personalities you need to manage and understand
Speaker 4: how to communicate.
Speaker 3: And he's just he's just got that ability.
Speaker 2: He sure, he sure does.
Speaker 1: And I mean you look at the fact a couple
Speaker 1: of different regimes, several different major league managers, and they
Speaker 1: keep buck Britten around for obvious reasons. So great that
Speaker 1: he's doing so well, Zach. Great to see you doing well.
Speaker 1: Good luck with the savenewsletter dot com. We hope a
Speaker 1: lot of people head your way after seeing this, and
Speaker 1: uh man, we're thrilled you took time today to talk
Speaker 1: about a wide variety of topics that we left a
Speaker 1: few in the cutting room floor for the next time.
Speaker 4: Sounds good, I'm available My schedule is pretty As I
Speaker 4: always said, next.
Speaker 2: Time, next time we get Darren in here too, and.
Speaker 3: An hour and a half, Tim and I.
Speaker 2: Are taking the you off. We hit record in that
Speaker 2: show Man. That's the show I want to watch.
Speaker 1: Hey, Zach, Thanks and thanks to Tim and Brad and
Speaker 1: uh what a great show Berdland Territory. Thanks to Zach
Speaker 1: Britton for joining us today. We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 3: Sounds good.