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Speaker 1: What's up? Everybody?

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Speaker 2: Welcome into another edition of Crush City Territory. My name

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Speaker 2: is Chandler Room, joined as always by Tyler Stafford, and

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Speaker 2: today we have a very very special guest who I'm

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Speaker 2: pretty sure missus West Palm Beach a little bit. It

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Speaker 2: is longtime Astros International Scouting Director, former Pirates AGM, former

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Speaker 2: Marlin's AGM. He's done about everything you can do in baseball,

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Speaker 2: Oz Ocampo, Oz, what's up? Thanks for joining us? And

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Speaker 2: I get asked about you a lot from fans of

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Speaker 2: the Astros. You kind of live in mythical lore as

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Speaker 2: the guy who spent no money but somehow gave the

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Speaker 2: Astros a ton of war.

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Speaker 3: Excited to be here, I appreciate you having me, and yeah,

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Speaker 3: I'm here in another Houston freeze, but yeah, fortunately we

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Speaker 3: do have power here, but I do miss the the warm,

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Speaker 3: sunny weather and then West Palm Beach not gonna lie.

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Speaker 2: I get asked often what is OZ doing now? Because

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Speaker 2: I think a lot of Astros fans wonder, you know,

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Speaker 2: they always ad can we get Oz back? Can we

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Speaker 2: get Oz back? In some capacity? So I wanted to

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Speaker 2: have you on for a couple of reasons. We're gonna

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Speaker 2: talk about the Astros. We're going to talk about some

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Speaker 2: of those guys that you scouted. We're gonna swap fun

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Speaker 2: scouting stories, but wanted to give Astros fans a look

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Speaker 2: at what you're doing now. And you are a professor

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Speaker 2: at Rice University. The class you're teaching this semester is

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Speaker 2: called Global Sports Strategy, Management and Negotiation. You sent me

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Speaker 2: the syllabus before this pod started. You are You're a

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Speaker 2: huge stickler for class attendance, which means I would not

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Speaker 2: have pat which means I would not have passed your class.

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Speaker 2: But for those that don't have the syllabus in front

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Speaker 2: of them, kind of explain the essence of your class

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Speaker 2: and maybe how you got into how you got to

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Speaker 2: being a professor, how you decided that was going to

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Speaker 2: be the next step in your career.

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Speaker 3: Sure, so, yeah, I'm teaching class at Rice Global Sports,

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Speaker 3: and yeah, I felt like I wanted to do something

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Speaker 3: that sort of gave back to the next generation and

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Speaker 3: also just wanted to explore other areas outside of baseball.

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Speaker 3: And I've always been a big, huge sports fan since

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Speaker 3: I was since I was a kid, and I've followed

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Speaker 3: different sports and even added some sports that became of

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Speaker 3: interest during COVID when we had a little bit more time,

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Speaker 3: and so I wanted to explore all of that and

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Speaker 3: also do it in a classroom environment. And so that's

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Speaker 3: kind of how it got started. And I spoke with

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Speaker 3: Stephanie Wilka, who's currently at RICE. We worked together with

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Speaker 3: the Houston Astros previously, and basically they said that they

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Speaker 3: were looking for someone to teach a class in sports,

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Speaker 3: one that had a global emphasis. And you know, I've

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Speaker 3: done I've traveled the world basically doing sports in baseball

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Speaker 3: and been been everywhere in the both both in the

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Speaker 3: US and the world just to just to cover sports,

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Speaker 3: and so I was really excited to do it.

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Speaker 4: I see your your most recent lesson was Top Golf

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Speaker 4: building a global sports entertainment community. Was there a class

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Speaker 4: field trip? Did we all get to go to Top

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Speaker 4: Golf to test it out? What did that lesson look like?

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Speaker 5: No?

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Speaker 3: But actually, well I don't know, Tyler. You where are

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Speaker 3: you now? I'm in Houston. Yeah, so yeah, Chandler could go.

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Speaker 3: I mean I think it's like pom Beach Gardens are

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Speaker 3: somewhere where they're doing the TGL right now. Oh yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3: The Top Golf the Top Golf League or Tomorrow Golf League,

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Speaker 3: And so you talked about that case and sort of

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Speaker 3: how Top Golf brew and all that. But it was

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Speaker 3: funny to see uh, Peter Alonzo, Steve Cohen and Tiger

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Speaker 3: Woods and like playing juper links on a screen on

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Speaker 3: the other side. So yeah, it's definitely it's definitely been fun.

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Speaker 4: Have you ever seen that video of Mike Trout at

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Speaker 4: Top Golf where he just he's on like the third

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Speaker 4: deck and he just rips one and it looks like

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Speaker 4: the ball disappears into the night over the net. I mean,

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Speaker 4: he hits it so hard that it it like immediately

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Speaker 4: turns into a twinkling star.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he probably he probably hit it out of those nets.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, as you said, you've got I believe you told

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Speaker 2: me you have like five or six rice baseball players

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Speaker 2: in your class. How much is I've looked at your syllabus.

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Speaker 2: You guys don't just talk baseball, but how much is

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Speaker 2: baseball at the forefront of maybe some of your lessons

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Speaker 2: and what you're teaching and and how much do you

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Speaker 2: guys get into what happens on a day to day

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Speaker 2: basis in baseball, Whether it's you know, negotiations, whether it's

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Speaker 2: what owners have said, whether it's the cbah, kind of

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Speaker 2: take us through how baseball is intertwined in your class.

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Speaker 3: Sure, Yeah, a lot of a lot of the classes

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Speaker 3: actually outside of the baseball realm, so I cover. I

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Speaker 3: start out with Formula one and then go into the NFL, NBA,

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Speaker 3: IM some MLS, some European soccer, so it's outside of

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Speaker 3: the baseball realm. But part of the reason why I

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Speaker 3: enjoyed is because one, I'm learning like completely different sports

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Speaker 3: and in a different way too. I'm just kinda I'm

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Speaker 3: picking up basically experiences from the students in regards to

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Speaker 3: just like what they what they know about all these

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Speaker 3: different sports. And I can use the things that I've

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Speaker 3: learned within baseball and apply it to different sports and

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Speaker 3: vice versas. I can take things from other sports and

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Speaker 3: see how they could apply or not apply it to

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Speaker 3: the baseball So it's been it's been a mix. I've

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Speaker 3: certainly we've had one class so that was baseball specific

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Speaker 3: talking about the rules changes over the last two years,

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Speaker 3: and we're gonna have one on CBA negotiations, so we're

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Speaker 3: gonna get into it. But yeah, it's been it's been

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Speaker 3: fun to kind of use the baseball experience and then

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Speaker 3: just go back and forth and see see where the

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Speaker 3: gaps are and how you can make it better.

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Speaker 4: How many times have you read the current CBA the currency?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: No, just just once for the current Major League Baseball CBA.

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Speaker 3: But now I'm starting to dig into the others as well.

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Speaker 3: So that's that's been a lot of fun.

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Speaker 2: What when you look at kind of how your first

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Speaker 2: two months have gone? Has it been what you expected

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Speaker 2: being being a teacher standing in front of how big

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Speaker 2: is your class size?

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Speaker 3: We got sixteen students?

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Speaker 2: Okay, so so standing in front of sixteen people, hopefully

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Speaker 2: they're going to class all the time because looking at

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Speaker 2: your syllabus, they're all failing. They have perfect attendance. Has

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Speaker 2: it been what you envisioned?

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Speaker 1: Has it? Has there been roadbumps?

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Speaker 2: Kind of How would you assess kind of your first

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Speaker 2: two months in a classroom.

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Speaker 3: I think the one of the biggest things that I

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Speaker 3: didn't necessarily expect was how much prep you have to

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Speaker 3: do for each of the classes. And so for example,

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Speaker 3: like with the first Formula one class, I probably spent

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Speaker 3: about one hundred to one hundred and fifty hours prepping

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Speaker 3: or basically a two hour class. So I watched all

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Speaker 3: of Netflix Strive to Survive, watch the Senate documentary, like,

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Speaker 3: read all the like, studied all the material online like

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Speaker 3: just one. Pretty crazy in terms of prep so that

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Speaker 3: I could understand the sport in SidD and out. So

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Speaker 3: I think that's a big thing. And then too, just

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Speaker 3: speaking speaking in front of students and also having like

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Speaker 3: we've got a we asked a lot of class participation

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Speaker 3: in the students as well, so making sure that prepping

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Speaker 3: properly and asking the right questions and setting up the

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Speaker 3: blackboard and all that stuff. I'm very different from sitting

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Speaker 3: behind home plate or watching from the side evaluating pictures

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Speaker 3: and hitters. But yeah, it's been good.

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Speaker 4: Yeah I was. I was a former teacher and administrator.

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Speaker 4: I've got a master as an educational leadership. So that's

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Speaker 4: good teaching right there. If you're doing one hundred and

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Speaker 4: fifty hours of prep work before, but you only have

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Speaker 4: to do it once, you know, if you teach it

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Speaker 4: again semester, hopefully you don't have to dive in that

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Speaker 4: hard each time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Plus it's sports, I mean, it's yeah, it's work,

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Speaker 3: but it's not it's not homework.

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Speaker 4: Was watching that awesome centadocumentary.

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Speaker 3: Great exactly.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna come back real quick with Ozmon. We'll get

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Speaker 2: into scouting. We'll get into his time with the Astros.

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Speaker 2: We'll get into scouting a young your on Alvarez, scouting

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Speaker 2: a young Fromberveldes.

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Speaker 1: We'll get into all that.

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Speaker 2: All right, Oz, I want to take you back to

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Speaker 2: the beginning. You or you started your baseball career with

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Speaker 2: the Cardinals, in that regime, with with Jeff Luno, with

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Speaker 2: sigmad All, with with that whole group. You had a

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Speaker 2: stint in the Major League Baseball Commissioner's office where you

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Speaker 2: worked alongside Kim Ang, who you later worked with in Miami.

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Speaker 2: Then you come to the Astros. You come uh with

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Speaker 2: Jeff Luno. You join Jeff Luno's team and you were

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Speaker 2: the director of international Scouting. Can you talk to us

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Speaker 2: a little bit about the international department you inherited and

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Speaker 2: what you wanted to What were your main focuses when

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Speaker 2: you got that job to build out the Astros international department.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, So when I started with the Astros, the

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Speaker 3: international department, we had scouts in Dominican, Venezuela and some

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Speaker 3: other countries in Latin America as well had the academy

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Speaker 3: which was I think mostly newly built, and it also

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Speaker 3: had we had our player development set up and all

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Speaker 3: that as well. But I think the biggest thing for

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Speaker 3: me just starting out was understanding how important it was.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I had lived in Dominican, worked and worked

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Speaker 3: in Dominican with the Cardinals and also with the MLB.

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Speaker 3: With MLB, just understanding how important it was to connect scouting,

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Speaker 3: player development, analytics, and operations altogether and building out the

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Speaker 3: systems within of those areas, but then also connecting those

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Speaker 3: pieces together, and so in international all those things are very,

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Speaker 3: very related, and part of the biggest issues that organizations

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Speaker 3: have is they're not connected in the way that we

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Speaker 3: strive to connect them in Houston, not only internationally, but

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Speaker 3: then also in the connection with your program in the States,

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Speaker 3: with the minor leagues and then ultimately with the major

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Speaker 3: league teams as well. So I spent a lot of

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Speaker 3: time just focusing on setting up the people, the systems,

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Speaker 3: like getting getting all that in place, and then also

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Speaker 3: setting up a scouting system that allowed us to identify,

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Speaker 3: filter and evaluate and then try and sign the best

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Speaker 3: out of Latin America. But yeah, a lot of work

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Speaker 3: up up front to serve the structure.

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Speaker 1: And all that.

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Speaker 2: So so when you've got there, you would would you

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Speaker 2: would you characterize that as not kind of aligned in

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Speaker 2: that way and kind of what were your steps and

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Speaker 2: your processes to get it streamlined to where all three

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Speaker 2: of those technacles were working together as one.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, the first thing was spending time down there

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Speaker 3: and making sure like trying to understand as much as possible.

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Speaker 3: So my approach was and is not to sort of

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Speaker 3: jump in and make changes wholesale immediately. It was more

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Speaker 3: to understand what was in place at the time, and

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Speaker 3: so I spent a lot of time there. I spent

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Speaker 3: about two hundred and sixty days a year for the

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Speaker 3: first couple of years in working with the astros, just

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Speaker 3: spending time there, working with our adding staff, traveling mostly Dominican,

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Speaker 3: Venezuela and Mexico, and then just trying to understand what

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Speaker 3: was in place. But yeah, the biggest yeah, and I

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Speaker 3: think one of the bigger disconnects was just scouting player development,

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Speaker 3: and then also between just the international program connecting with

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Speaker 3: the States, and so I spent a lot of time

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Speaker 3: just trying to build those bridges and also make sure

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Speaker 3: that we had the right people that could help execute

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Speaker 3: upon his plan.

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Speaker 4: How early are kids being identified as potential prospects. I mean,

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Speaker 4: I know there's obviously a signing aage, right, but I mean,

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Speaker 4: you know, here in America, I think people can understand, Okay,

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Speaker 4: if they're a high schooler, that's about when you start thinking,

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Speaker 4: well maybe this is something? Is that is that pretty

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Speaker 4: typical there as well? Like how young were you scouting people?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? So, I mean we'd scout and evaluate players as

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Speaker 3: early as I mean you'd say eleven, twelve, thirteen years old,

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Speaker 3: but you'd even see like eight year old kids on

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Speaker 3: the field like taking ground balls and hitting fungos as well,

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Speaker 3: and some prominent ones and that I know that made

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Speaker 3: it to the big leagues. And so I mean we

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Speaker 3: we scout scout them very very early. But then also

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Speaker 3: so as you know, got a lot of older players

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Speaker 3: players as well.

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Speaker 2: Who's the most prompt Like you've said, you see all

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Speaker 2: prominent guys that have made to the big leagues when

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Speaker 2: they were eight nine years old?

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Speaker 1: Who give us some names?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll talk about the missus so Raphael Devers, I

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Speaker 3: mean that that was a big one. Elloyd Jimenez, like

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Speaker 3: those were probably the two bigger ones that we scouted, evaluated,

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Speaker 3: and and then Glabor Torrez very early on but didn't

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Speaker 3: didn't end up signing.

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Speaker 2: You just mentioned, you know, a lot of your success,

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Speaker 2: a lot of the Astros success came from signing guys

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Speaker 2: that were older that I mean, I mean fromber you

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Speaker 2: signed fromber Valdez at age twenty one, you signed I

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Speaker 2: believe Christian Hobber too around that same age. Was was

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Speaker 2: that something as was it just something that you guys

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Speaker 2: ran into these older players and it was like, oh, man,

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Speaker 2: like we found something here, or did you kind of

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Speaker 2: see a market inefficiency of these were guys that were

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Speaker 2: older that other teams just just glossed over, just didn't

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Speaker 2: want to take on, just thought that they had missed

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Speaker 2: that that window. Like you said, you start scouting guys

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Speaker 2: at internationally that young. Was it a combination of both

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Speaker 2: or how did that kind of come about that you

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Speaker 2: guys really found a gold mine of older Latino prospects.

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Speaker 3: So it was it was a combination. So one of

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Speaker 3: the things that I did early on when I joined

283
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Speaker 3: the Astros was built out a model to figure out

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Speaker 3: what would be the best way to allocate a pool

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Speaker 3: of five million dollars in the international market, and it

286
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Speaker 3: came out that that in general, it makes more sense

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Speaker 3: to spread and diversify as opposed to like putting all

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Speaker 3: your exbit in one or two or a couple a

289
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Speaker 3: couple of baskets. So so yeah, that was that was

290
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Speaker 3: one area of it, and then the other part was

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Speaker 3: being on the ground and seeing like we're just we're

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Speaker 3: running into eighteen, nineteen, twenty twenty one, even twenty three

293
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Speaker 3: year old pictures that if we're just scouting them from

294
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Speaker 3: their pure athletic tools, skills and makeup ability, they're as

295
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,520
Speaker 3: good as, if not better then a lot of pitchers

296
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Speaker 3: that were scouting at fifteen and sixteen years old. And

297
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Speaker 3: so that just didn't make sense to me that if

298
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Speaker 3: you're actually fundamentally like scouting the value in the players,

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Speaker 3: that they're not matching up with players that you wouldn't

300
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Speaker 3: want to sign because they have just as strong of

301
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Speaker 3: a tool set or just strong of spin weapons or

302
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Speaker 3: athleticism or delivered as the players that we were seeing

303
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Speaker 3: from younger ages.

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Speaker 1: Is there one?

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Speaker 2: Is there one older player that you guys signed in Houston.

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Speaker 2: That kind of was the AHA moment was was maybe

307
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:37,640
Speaker 2: the first one or the one that you were like,

308
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Speaker 2: all right, like we got this guy, Like this can

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Speaker 2: be something that can be repeated.

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Speaker 3: I'll be honest. So, like when we started doing it,

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Speaker 3: so we certainly believed in the players that we were

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Speaker 3: signing and sort of that we were bringing prospects into

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Speaker 3: the fold, but we weren't. We didn't know, and we

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Speaker 3: later found out that you know, out of twenty or

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Speaker 3: so prospects, like pitching prospects specifically, that you think are

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Speaker 3: going to be the top twenty, it's going to be

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Speaker 3: five or six of them that make to the big

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Speaker 3: leagues and it's not going to be the five or

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Speaker 3: six that you expect. And like we've like you know,

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Speaker 3: and we can talk about from a skyt expective. I

321
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Speaker 3: know other people, like the pitching coaches themselves talk about

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Speaker 3: this as well, that you don't necessarily know who's gonna

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Speaker 3: come out of it. And so no I had like

324
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Speaker 3: Framber was probably the biggest, Like when he hit I

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Speaker 3: think a lot of I think a lot of the

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Speaker 3: pitchers said, oh, if Framber can make it, like I've

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Speaker 3: got a chance to and so I think that was

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Speaker 3: part of it. But when I think about the top

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Speaker 3: prospects that we signed early on, like one of the

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Speaker 3: biggest prospects I think of was Franklin Press, and he's

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Speaker 3: like physical athletics, spin weapons and great like great makeup

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Speaker 3: with us. The delivery was really good, and so we

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Speaker 3: loved him. We thought he's gonna be the top guy.

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Speaker 3: And then obviously he got traded and his career changed.

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Speaker 3: So I think it's it's hard to predict than then

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00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,840
Speaker 3: people would expect, but we certainly had an idea, which

337
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,240
Speaker 3: would be that the sort of top prospects that we

338
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Speaker 3: thought had most major league potential.

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Speaker 2: Since you mentioned Fromber, you were with him from the beginning,

340
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Speaker 2: you saw him from from day one. I think there's

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Speaker 2: a lot of people in the ASTROS organization that have

342
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Speaker 2: a lot of memories of early Fromber. Is it at

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Speaker 2: all surprising? Is probably not the right word. Is how

344
00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,399
Speaker 2: fulfilling has it been to watch Fromber evolve from what

345
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Speaker 2: he was early in his career, from what he was

346
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Speaker 2: when you guys signed him, to a guy that's eleven

347
00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:41,920
Speaker 2: months away from from earning generational wealth and is going

348
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Speaker 2: to be the best left handed starting pitcher on the

349
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Speaker 2: free agent market.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, just following Framberg's journey to the big

351
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Speaker 3: leagues and also all the people that were part of

352
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Speaker 3: that journey, whether it's operation, scouting, development staff. I mean,

353
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Speaker 3: there's nothing better. There's nothing more than that than seeing

354
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,440
Speaker 3: a player, especially someone that like fromber and what he's

355
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,040
Speaker 3: accomplished in the game and sort of see what what

356
00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,800
Speaker 3: he does, he's done in the regular season, in the postseason,

357
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Speaker 3: and you know what what he continues to do after this.

358
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Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean I hadn't been there for every

359
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,880
Speaker 3: one of his postseason wins and it's been pretty special.

360
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Speaker 1: Man.

361
00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:27,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's it's awesome. It's been so cool to see

362
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:32,119
Speaker 4: him have the success and you know, hopefully has a

363
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,119
Speaker 4: has a great year both for himself and for the Astros.

364
00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,520
Speaker 4: Do you remember when the Astros trader for Jordan Alvarez.

365
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:43,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, just a little bit.

366
00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,679
Speaker 4: I'd like to just maybe air high five about that,

367
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:50,600
Speaker 4: maybe walk through like what what that process was like

368
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,919
Speaker 4: leading up to that. I know the Astros had interest

369
00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:57,160
Speaker 4: in him, you know, prior to him signing with the Dodgers,

370
00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:01,560
Speaker 4: but just walk through that that immediate reaction even before

371
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,040
Speaker 4: he became the Jordan Alperas that we know today.

372
00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,680
Speaker 3: So he was eligible to sign that the previous period

373
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:14,240
Speaker 3: before he got traded. And I remember the last deadline

374
00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,320
Speaker 3: signing day, I was on the phone with Jeff and

375
00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,760
Speaker 3: just thinked to him about Jordon. We'd sign jord On,

376
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,240
Speaker 3: like we need to find money, like this is this

377
00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,840
Speaker 3: is a guy like and yeah, I mean for for

378
00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,000
Speaker 3: a player of that like so like when you're looking

379
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:31,680
Speaker 3: at Cuban players, you want to find both major league

380
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,439
Speaker 3: tools and also performance actually in the Cuban league. And

381
00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,040
Speaker 3: this guy and jord On, I mean he was tooled out,

382
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,600
Speaker 3: especially with the hit power tool, but then also some

383
00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,119
Speaker 3: sneak athleticism as well, and then he performed as an

384
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,159
Speaker 3: eighteen nineteen year old and last Tunas and so just

385
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,080
Speaker 3: having that combination and you sort of you saw that

386
00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,600
Speaker 3: with Uli, saw with that with CNL Perez as well.

387
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 3: We knew that he's gonna be an impactful prospect and

388
00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:59,080
Speaker 3: someone that we expected when the impact at the big

389
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Speaker 3: leagues did.

390
00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,520
Speaker 4: What did he look like then? At eighteen nineteen, I

391
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,159
Speaker 4: just can't imagine someone that doesn't look like full grown

392
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,800
Speaker 4: jord On. So what did he look like as a child.

393
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Speaker 3: So he I mean, so he was tall, y had

394
00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 3: the height, but he was also skinny, Like he wasn't

395
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:19,920
Speaker 3: like upper body wasn't as developed, the lower half wasn't developed.

396
00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,000
Speaker 3: But you knew that there was projection projection in the

397
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:25,760
Speaker 3: frame and then also strength in the frame. But he

398
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:29,199
Speaker 3: wasn't quite a beam pull, but he was skinny, and

399
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,800
Speaker 3: he was actually more aligned drives than over the fence power.

400
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:38,800
Speaker 3: But like the amount of hard contact he made was uncanny.

401
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,439
Speaker 2: You you just talked about you guys, and this has

402
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,680
Speaker 2: been this has been reported a lot that you guys

403
00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,280
Speaker 2: were really in on him before he even signed with

404
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:50,719
Speaker 2: the Dodgers. Can you describe kind of and maybe this

405
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,240
Speaker 2: isn't even a jord On specific question, it's a question

406
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,200
Speaker 2: in general. You put so much time and effort into

407
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,520
Speaker 2: scouting a lot of these players, and there's sometimes where

408
00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,920
Speaker 2: the money just doesn't work, or the another team comes

409
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,960
Speaker 2: in with a better offer and you lose them. Can

410
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,520
Speaker 2: you describe kind of the ebb and flow of emotions

411
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 2: when you're so you're advocating so hard, like to sign

412
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,520
Speaker 2: ord On, and then you just you guys just can't

413
00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,280
Speaker 2: get the money, Like the pools not there, and he

414
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:20,639
Speaker 2: goes to the Dodgers kind of for both ord On

415
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:22,879
Speaker 2: and just maybe other players in general, the ebb and

416
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,639
Speaker 2: flow of those emotions of maybe not falling too in

417
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,400
Speaker 2: love with these some of these prospects you're scouting.

418
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it depends on the prospect. But with the

419
00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:36,040
Speaker 3: prospect of Jordon's caliber, like when you get excited about

420
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:38,680
Speaker 3: a player and you've got conviction on the player and

421
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,840
Speaker 3: not only the tools, but also the performance and the makeup,

422
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,520
Speaker 3: which I mean, if those things check out, then I'm

423
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,119
Speaker 3: pretty I'm aggressive, all in and I'm and I'm trying

424
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,119
Speaker 3: to do whatever i can to get the player. And so,

425
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously that's exciting, exhilarating, and then you also

426
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:58,960
Speaker 3: have to make sure that you keep your cool and

427
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,600
Speaker 3: disciplined at the same time. So it's like that combination

428
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:05,480
Speaker 3: of different things that you're dealing with within the negotiation itself.

429
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 3: And then when you get him, obviously you know you're

430
00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,399
Speaker 3: disappointed to not to not get him, but you know,

431
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 3: you always say kind of jokingly, if you don't get

432
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,080
Speaker 3: a guy's like, well, you know, hopefully you get him

433
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,199
Speaker 3: in trade at some point and so and so, you know,

434
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,280
Speaker 3: so we did and uh, and then when that happened,

435
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,240
Speaker 3: I mean we were ecstatic. He basically he took a

436
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:28,879
Speaker 3: van from the Dodgers Academy, which was like ten minutes

437
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:32,919
Speaker 3: away to the Astros dr academy and he was playing

438
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,720
Speaker 3: for us and everybody could see what he was on

439
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,200
Speaker 3: the field. So pretty special.

440
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,680
Speaker 2: One of your more recent success stories that that blossom

441
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:49,000
Speaker 2: last season was Ronel Blanco and I think obviously here

442
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:50,840
Speaker 2: he threw a no hitter in his first start of

443
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:54,560
Speaker 2: last year and Oz you I remember talking to you

444
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,679
Speaker 2: right after that no hitter that you were watching on

445
00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,199
Speaker 2: MLB Network pulling for him from Afar. You said that

446
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,160
Speaker 2: you have been to all of Fromber's postseason starts. How

447
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,480
Speaker 2: much you know, you haven't been associated with the Astros

448
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,439
Speaker 2: for a little bit, but but how much do you

449
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,560
Speaker 2: keep tabs on these guys that you helped to sign

450
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,879
Speaker 2: and to procure and specifically with Ronel, what was it

451
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 2: like last year to kind of be separated from baseball,

452
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:22,240
Speaker 2: but but to watch him blossom into what he became.

453
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think for the first part of that question.

454
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,800
Speaker 3: And yeah, and stay connected with the players and then

455
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,440
Speaker 3: with the people that I work with as much as

456
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:34,120
Speaker 3: I can, and you know, being in Huston and makes

457
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:35,960
Speaker 3: it makes it easy because I can just swing by

458
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,359
Speaker 3: the ballpark or usually if I'm working with a club,

459
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,600
Speaker 3: I'm in Dominica at some point, so it's pretty easy

460
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:48,159
Speaker 3: to set up. And then with her now, yeah, I

461
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,119
Speaker 3: think just watching him and what he what he did

462
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 3: and not only you know before that store was just

463
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,720
Speaker 3: getting to the big league roster and we were ecstatic that,

464
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,760
Speaker 3: like he got to the big league roster because this

465
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,359
Speaker 3: is a guy that worked every single year. You know,

466
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 3: talk about makeup the work ethic, the competitive the competitiveness,

467
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 3: his aptitude and his self confidence. I mean he worked

468
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 3: every year, not only in the regular season and instructs,

469
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:18,720
Speaker 3: but then every single winter ball like he was in

470
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,920
Speaker 3: winter ball too, you know, usually crushing it in winter

471
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 3: ball and performing there. And so to see all the

472
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,880
Speaker 3: work that he put in, like starting from the car

473
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 3: wash and then like signing and then and then every

474
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,720
Speaker 3: single year and every single day just committed to being

475
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:38,399
Speaker 3: a big leaguer against probably the toughest odds that you

476
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 3: could potentially you can potentially have, you know, like a

477
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 3: twenty three year old signing out of Dominican that signed

478
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,399
Speaker 3: for less than ten thousand, like your odds are minuscule.

479
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 3: And this guy not only made it, but then threw

480
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 3: a new hit no hitter his first game, like his

481
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,440
Speaker 3: first start. I mean it was, it was, I mean

482
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:57,520
Speaker 3: unbelievable to.

483
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:03,160
Speaker 4: Watch to add him to your your LinkedIn. Oh, you've

484
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:05,239
Speaker 4: got all your your players that you signed on here,

485
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:06,880
Speaker 4: Ronel hadn't even made it on there.

486
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 3: Got to get them on os.

487
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 2: What as you look back and and maybe you maybe

488
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,800
Speaker 2: you can answer this a little better, But I mean,

489
00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,480
Speaker 2: as you right now you're not working actively in baseball,

490
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,040
Speaker 2: do you want to get back into working in baseball?

491
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 1: And as a second part of that, as.

492
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:29,959
Speaker 2: You sit there right now, what are you most proud

493
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,439
Speaker 2: of of what you accomplished during your first stint working

494
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:35,000
Speaker 2: in baseball?

495
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:41,160
Speaker 3: Yeah? So yeah, I'm so Right now, I'm really enjoying

496
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 3: teaching and mentoring and consulting and just like learning all

497
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 3: these different aspects of all these different sports. And that's

498
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,120
Speaker 3: been really rewarding. I do think at some point, yeah,

499
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,960
Speaker 3: the compete gene will come come through again and I'm

500
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 3: gonna have to get back into the fold and so

501
00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,120
Speaker 3: whatever that ends up being, Yeah, I'm excited to see

502
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 3: what that that looks like. But yeah, I mean in

503
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:06,920
Speaker 3: terms of just a comp like, what I'm most proud

504
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 3: of is i'd say just being able to build a

505
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:15,439
Speaker 3: program that impacted so many players, staff, and you know,

506
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:20,360
Speaker 3: the fans of Houston. I mean, I think that's that's

507
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,200
Speaker 3: something that I could never have imagined, you know, twenty

508
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 3: years ago when I when I started in the game,

509
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 3: and so to be able to have that sort of

510
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:34,200
Speaker 3: an impact, Yeah, it's pretty I'm very fortunate. Sorry little,

511
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:36,679
Speaker 3: but yeah, I am. I'm lucky.

512
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 2: Okay, this is a this is an Astros pod, and

513
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 2: it feels like no conversation about the Astros right now

514
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:46,880
Speaker 2: is complete without talking about Jose al tuo Bay trying

515
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 2: to play left field. You are a scout, you scouted

516
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 2: for many, many years. You saw more of Jose Altuve

517
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,199
Speaker 2: than both of us combined, and you actually know what

518
00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 2: you're looking at when you watch him play, opposed to

519
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 2: us who are just kind of marvel at everything he does.

520
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 2: How do you think he's going to handle the transition

521
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,719
Speaker 2: to left field this season?

522
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 1: And is that something that as.

523
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 2: You watched him, either when you worked for the team

524
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,399
Speaker 2: or after you left, that you kind of thought, you know,

525
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,600
Speaker 2: like if second base, does you know falter for him

526
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,600
Speaker 2: that that can be a transition that he can make

527
00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 2: to the outfield.

528
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, I think he can. I can. I

529
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 3: think he can do well and he can. He can

530
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,480
Speaker 3: figure it out. So you know, like with the Marlins,

531
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,680
Speaker 3: like we handled the transition of Jazz from second base

532
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 3: center field, and so just thinking about that transition, you're

533
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 3: looking for someone who's got athleticism and speed so that

534
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 3: they can cover and you know, obviously Jose has that.

535
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,720
Speaker 3: And I also think about you know, Juli at first

536
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 3: base and Jose at second base, and Juli every single

537
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,959
Speaker 3: pop up he's like, no, I can't know, you take it,

538
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,880
Speaker 3: you take it. I think he'll handle that part just fine.

539
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 3: He'll handle line drives, So yeah, I think he'll he'll

540
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 3: and the other the other big things, like you know,

541
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 3: you your question, you question will you put the work in,

542
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 3: whether that's whoever that is making that transition to a

543
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 3: different position, and we we all know that he's gonna

544
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 3: put the work in. So I think if if that's

545
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 3: what end up ends up happening, and I mean, he'll

546
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 3: be he'll be just fine.

547
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 4: So you know, you you've scattered so many people you've seen,

548
00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 4: you know, all of these different people come up, and

549
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,160
Speaker 4: now you've worked with so many different teams. This is

550
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,120
Speaker 4: going to be your first year not being on a

551
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 4: team in a long time. Opening Day, What games are

552
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:40,280
Speaker 4: you watching?

553
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:40,480
Speaker 3: Like?

554
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 4: How are you gonna pick who you're watching every night?

555
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 4: Is it just oh, I know this player, I like

556
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 4: this organization. Like how how are you gonna watch it

557
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 4: as a fan this year?

558
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:54,680
Speaker 3: Yeah? Good question. I think, Uh, yeah, I'll probably mix

559
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:56,600
Speaker 3: it up. I mean I want to. I like seeing

560
00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 3: good players and uh and uh and good teams and

561
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 3: you know, obviously watch the astros, especially yeah when when

562
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:08,360
Speaker 3: one of the players is starting. But but yeah, I

563
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 3: know I'll mix it up and then and watch probably

564
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 3: the whole whole scope of teams across the league.

565
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:15,320
Speaker 1: Yeah.

566
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 4: LB TV has that cool like their own version of

567
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 4: what's it called red Zone where they have like the

568
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,000
Speaker 4: big inning for an hour or two. Ever, I'm excited

569
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,000
Speaker 4: to just hear your thoughts of, oh this is what

570
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 4: watching baseball looks like.

571
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean during COVID, I watched three games a day.

572
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:32,560
Speaker 1: There you go.

573
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I watched a lot of sports. So

574
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 3: I think I'll be I think I'll be okay.

575
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,320
Speaker 2: When I whenever I talk to scouts, just in general,

576
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 2: I do like to ask them, just the very cliched,

577
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 2: who's the best player you ever scouted?

578
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 1: Question this.

579
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 2: It can be a guy that you guys ended up signing.

580
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:56,920
Speaker 2: It can be a guy that you missed on. Who

581
00:30:57,080 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 2: is the best player on the international let's say, on

582
00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 2: the international market. Who was the best player on the

583
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 2: international market that you amateur player that you ever laid

584
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 2: your eyes on.

585
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:11,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, jord On probably, I mean between ord On, Yeah,

586
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 3: Jordon checked all the boxes and that's very hard to do,

587
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 3: especially for an amateur player. So yeah, I mean, he'd

588
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 3: be the best.

589
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 2: I remember you when when when we were talking about

590
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:27,239
Speaker 2: your time when he came up in twenty nineteen, all

591
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 2: anybody wanted to talk about was the power, because that's

592
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 2: what he did in Triple A. That's what he did

593
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,160
Speaker 2: everywhere in the minors. He just crushed the ball everywhere.

594
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:35,600
Speaker 2: And you were the one that kept saying the power

595
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 2: is good, but it's hit overpower. It's a hit over

596
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 2: power tool. What what produced that thought in you and

597
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 2: what did you see out of him that you thought, Okay,

598
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,920
Speaker 2: this is not just foul pole to foul pole power.

599
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 2: This is not just eighty power there. There's a natural

600
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:51,960
Speaker 2: pure hit tool here.

601
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:55,880
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I think a couple of things. So one

602
00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:58,080
Speaker 3: was just a natural back to ball skills. So the

603
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 3: fact that he would our ball constantly no matter what

604
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,920
Speaker 3: was thrown at him. I mean that was uh A yeah,

605
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 3: one big but you can have that. It may not

606
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 3: trade as you increase and move up levels. But the

607
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,240
Speaker 3: other things that he had the death lick athleticism to

608
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 3: excute in terms of just bat speed, strength or future strength.

609
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:24,400
Speaker 3: And then he also had a swing that that was

610
00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:28,600
Speaker 3: just like geared forward a lot of a lot of

611
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 3: contact and power and so swing the swing was ideal.

612
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,200
Speaker 3: And then had the bats to ball adjustability. And then

613
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 3: also just his aptitude at the plate, like he has

614
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,480
Speaker 3: a plan, he's got a sategy, you know, I think

615
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 3: about like Whyden. You know, he interested in hitting in

616
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 3: one place in the order, like because you have you

617
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 3: have to think about sort of how you're gonna approach it.

618
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,720
Speaker 3: And he's cerebral in that way. And so yeah, he

619
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 3: checked checked all the boxes from a hitting standpoint.

620
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:55,880
Speaker 1: Yeah.

621
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 4: As fun as his huge home runs are, I think

622
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,640
Speaker 4: watching your on some of my favorite at bats of

623
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 4: his are the ones where he kind of goes down

624
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 4: and hooks aball. You know that he just flares over

625
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,040
Speaker 4: the second basement's head for a single. But some of

626
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:14,880
Speaker 4: those where you're like, how did he even get close

627
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:17,960
Speaker 4: to that? You know, he's hitting like al tube up there,

628
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 4: just you know, poking at everything, and I mean it

629
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 4: just makes him. Yeah, appointment television, like every at bat

630
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:29,080
Speaker 4: you're going to see something and it's it's so much

631
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 4: fun to watch. So I can't even imagine having seen

632
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 4: that for for so long. And with scouting in particular,

633
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,840
Speaker 4: I think there's some raw stuff that is like easy

634
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 4: to say, yes, this is good, No, it's not right,

635
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 4: like raw power. You can tell this guy is big

636
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 4: and strong. But you talk about Jordan's hit tool, how

637
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 4: do you This is probably a four hour conversation and

638
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 4: not a four minute one, but how do you identify

639
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 4: someone's hit tool?

640
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 1: Right?

641
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:02,920
Speaker 4: Like what do you what are you looking for in

642
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 4: them that they're doing repeatedly to say this person is

643
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 4: a just a good hitter.

644
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,879
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think yeah, so one just the bat to ball,

645
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,239
Speaker 3: So like, what what type of like happen are they

646
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:20,160
Speaker 3: making contact? What's that contact quality? Like the aspects of

647
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:25,080
Speaker 3: contact yur are important. And then two was a swing quality.

648
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 3: So I mean Jordon had one of the best swings

649
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 3: I've ever seen as an amateur player, just just clean

650
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:34,279
Speaker 3: and smooth and stayed in the zone for a long

651
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 3: time without any sort of forced effort to it. And

652
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:42,799
Speaker 3: so yeah, the swing qody is really critical. And then

653
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,600
Speaker 3: their approach, like how do they take pitches? How do

654
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:48,040
Speaker 3: they how do they take a bat? So like that

655
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:53,800
Speaker 3: aspect of it, just the plate discipline, that aspect is important.

656
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 3: And then and then finally like what's the actual raw

657
00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:01,200
Speaker 3: tool ingredients, so athletics and strength and physical projection, like

658
00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:04,480
Speaker 3: what does that look like now? And moving forward? And

659
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,239
Speaker 3: with all these like you're using a combination of your

660
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,799
Speaker 3: eyes along with analytical data, but trying to put all

661
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 3: those pieces together and seeing you know, which players have

662
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 3: like as many of those parties as possible, and when

663
00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:22,240
Speaker 3: you find someone that has almost all of them, it's, uh, yeah,

664
00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,400
Speaker 3: you go, you go sign them, which I didn't so

665
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 3: figured it out.

666
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 2: The way you're talking about your on it sounds like

667
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:34,120
Speaker 2: all thirty teams should have been flocking to his workouts. Obviously,

668
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:36,000
Speaker 2: we know he ended up with the Dodgers. But but

669
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:41,439
Speaker 2: how how big was the demand for him from other clubs?

670
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,960
Speaker 3: So there were teams that were interested, but I'd say upfront,

671
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,959
Speaker 3: at least at that time, teams were not. Not every

672
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:55,560
Speaker 3: team was scouting the Cuban market aggressively, and so you know,

673
00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:57,839
Speaker 3: part of the advantage that we had was that we did,

674
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,840
Speaker 3: like that was a priority from day one to scout

675
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:03,520
Speaker 3: dr VZ Cuba in Mexico aggressively.

676
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:04,399
Speaker 1: Uh.

677
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 3: And then two, like, you know, there are only certain

678
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,160
Speaker 3: teams that are considered that like a lot of players

679
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 3: will consider signing with, and we were one of those teams.

680
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 3: And so even though he was available to be seen

681
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:25,200
Speaker 3: and scouted, in reality, the teams that were involved at

682
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:27,080
Speaker 3: the end were just a handful.

683
00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 2: I like that you brought that up because I think

684
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 2: it's I think it's a nice way to kind of

685
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:34,560
Speaker 2: bring this full circle. You know, when you talked to

686
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:38,879
Speaker 2: when you talk to young Latin players that are now

687
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,839
Speaker 2: in the Astros clubhouse, whether they're on the roster, whether

688
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:45,040
Speaker 2: they're in our eyes, whether they're young, old, whatever, they

689
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,520
Speaker 2: always talk about how like how prevalent the Astros are

690
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:50,560
Speaker 2: in their home countries.

691
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: And you know, in Venezuela. Obviously it has a lot

692
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:53,440
Speaker 1: to do with.

693
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:56,879
Speaker 2: Jose Altuve, who is who is a god among men

694
00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:00,200
Speaker 2: in Venezuela. In the in the d R, you can

695
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 2: go down the list of all the guys from the

696
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:02,960
Speaker 2: DR that have helped.

697
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 1: When you look at Cuba, when Juli.

698
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 2: Guriel put on an Astro's uniform, that that automatically gave

699
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 2: Houston appointment viewing in Cuba. Because I don't think Astros

700
00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 2: fans really grasp how how much of a deity Juli

701
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,920
Speaker 2: Guriel is and was in Cuba and his family was.

702
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,839
Speaker 2: But Oz, I wonder if you ever think about kind

703
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:29,360
Speaker 2: of how much what you and your staff did building

704
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 2: out the international program, how much that allowed the Astros

705
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:38,279
Speaker 2: brand to be in all these other countries, and how

706
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:41,880
Speaker 2: much that set them up for the successes that they

707
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:45,080
Speaker 2: still have a success and you know, being top of

708
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,239
Speaker 2: mind teams, you know, you guys are probably above a

709
00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:51,040
Speaker 2: lot of the big legacy franchises like the Yankees and

710
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:54,640
Speaker 2: the Red Sox in in some of these other countries

711
00:37:54,719 --> 00:37:57,360
Speaker 2: that you know, prior to to your arrival, prior to

712
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,840
Speaker 2: Jeff's arrival, probably wasn't the case. How much do you

713
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 2: give that some thought.

714
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,839
Speaker 3: Well, so, you know, it was so it was part

715
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:15,799
Speaker 3: of our approach when we evaluated and recruited players. Was

716
00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:19,280
Speaker 3: that when we when we knew that, when we evaluate

717
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:20,960
Speaker 3: the player and we knew that we wanted to sign

718
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 3: him to the organization, we wanted to make sure that

719
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:25,840
Speaker 3: he was top of mind with us. And so we

720
00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,080
Speaker 3: wanted to be the Tide or Coca Cola. We wanted

721
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 3: to be like top three in his head. We wanted

722
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:33,279
Speaker 3: him and his family to be dreaming and Astros blue

723
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 3: and orange like all that stuff was sort of a

724
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,440
Speaker 3: part of part of our approach, and so and then

725
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:41,840
Speaker 3: and then at and then afterwards, like we had to

726
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:45,239
Speaker 3: deliver on our promise. So like our promise was that

727
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,080
Speaker 3: we want to develop them as best as we possibly could,

728
00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:51,279
Speaker 3: and so like we spent the time and rech is

729
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,640
Speaker 3: doing that. And then you know, once players started progressing

730
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 3: up the system, becoming prospects and then make to the

731
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 3: big leagues, then it made everything a lot easier at

732
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 3: that point because we already established as a brand. But yeah,

733
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:06,760
Speaker 3: before that, it was a lot of establishing in dr

734
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:11,120
Speaker 3: VZ Cuba and then re establishing in VZ where there

735
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 3: was kind of a loss after the Astros had been

736
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 3: leaders in Venezuela for decades and so we had to

737
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 3: bring that back. And so yeah, it was part of

738
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,480
Speaker 3: like part of our sort of our branding and recruiting

739
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,960
Speaker 3: process and to get them to get players to sign

740
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:28,440
Speaker 3: with Houston.

741
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:30,680
Speaker 4: How do seem like you should teach a class on

742
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,400
Speaker 4: like global sports strategy or something.

743
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 2: How did you guys rebuild or not even maybe rebuild,

744
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,880
Speaker 2: initiate getting so active in Cuba Because I mean, obviously

745
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:47,319
Speaker 2: your don is the is the crown jewel of that.

746
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,840
Speaker 2: But you know, you got CNL, Perez, you got you

747
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:52,920
Speaker 2: got guys from Cuba that really have made impacts CNL,

748
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:56,080
Speaker 2: maybe more so with other clubs, but but Cuba under

749
00:39:56,120 --> 00:40:00,760
Speaker 2: your regime, like, Cuba really became a really big place

750
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:02,480
Speaker 2: to find talent for you guys.

751
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think part of it was our connections. And

752
00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:10,040
Speaker 3: so you know, Trli Gonzalez like tremendous scout, and you know,

753
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,720
Speaker 3: he he knows a lot of the like the players

754
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:16,600
Speaker 3: and a lot of the agents trainers involved, and so

755
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,880
Speaker 3: he had really strong connections. Myself working with MLB and

756
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,920
Speaker 3: working with the trainers like that gave me exposure as well.

757
00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 3: And then Jeff also had connections with Cuba, with the

758
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:33,319
Speaker 3: agents and representatives. So yeah, I mean part of was

759
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 3: just the connections we had in place, and then second

760
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:39,880
Speaker 3: part was just scouting them very aggressively. And so we

761
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:43,080
Speaker 3: would go to all the international tournaments, like starting from

762
00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:45,759
Speaker 3: the age of twelve and like to try and see

763
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:50,640
Speaker 3: these players, build history and then just build a nation

764
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:53,960
Speaker 3: so that if and when they were available to sign,

765
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 3: like we'd be in position to to be there at

766
00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:00,120
Speaker 3: the end. And so yeah, it was it was all

767
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:06,719
Speaker 3: of that, yeah, I guess. Yeah. So one example of

768
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:10,000
Speaker 3: this was when I was when we were scouting Senel Perez,

769
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:15,360
Speaker 3: so scouting Dominican had different workouts, and the last workout

770
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,920
Speaker 3: that we did was in a Bahamas prison. I don't

771
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:22,120
Speaker 3: know if you've heard this story before. Blew up the Bahamas.

772
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:30,320
Speaker 3: Drove up to the prison, people in like the people

773
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,960
Speaker 3: in orange gear up and down were were the groundskeepers

774
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 3: for the field. And yeah, we opened up the gates,

775
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:40,319
Speaker 3: said you know, we're a baseball team. We're looking to

776
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:45,920
Speaker 3: evaluate a player using your field here. And so it

777
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:49,719
Speaker 3: was myself, Charlie Gonzalez, Eve Rosenbaum and so we were

778
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:51,840
Speaker 3: and so we set it up and like did the

779
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:54,279
Speaker 3: workout like he pitched. We set up the track man

780
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 3: behind on plate, like the whole thing. I'm finished up,

781
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:04,920
Speaker 3: wrapped up grounds Crew slash Prisoners just field, and then

782
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:07,839
Speaker 3: we left and then I flew out that same day,

783
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:09,880
Speaker 3: and so it was just an in and out my

784
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:14,200
Speaker 3: only trip to to Bahamas. But uh, but yeah, that's

785
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,719
Speaker 3: that was the last time we scouted CNL before we

786
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:19,480
Speaker 3: before we signed them.

787
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:21,280
Speaker 1: What was that your last trip to jail?

788
00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:24,439
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean hopefully so.

789
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:29,920
Speaker 4: You didn't stick around for the like intermural game after

790
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 4: the scout and see if they.

791
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:36,719
Speaker 3: Missed you know, yeah, I don't know the history of

792
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:43,960
Speaker 3: overhand sports there, but uh.

793
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:44,320
Speaker 2: A lot of people that they hear that in they're shocks.

794
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:46,520
Speaker 2: But like I mean, you can't I mean, correct me

795
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:48,560
Speaker 2: if I'm wrong, But you can't just fly into Cuba

796
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:51,960
Speaker 2: and scout guys like that. That's not really how this works.

797
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:55,759
Speaker 2: So where I mean you saw CNL in the Bahamas,

798
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,359
Speaker 2: where were you seeing Jordan and kind of what kind

799
00:42:58,400 --> 00:42:59,759
Speaker 2: of things did you guys have to do to make

800
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:02,560
Speaker 2: sure you Scott lies on these Cuban players before you

801
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:03,520
Speaker 2: before you landed them.

802
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,960
Speaker 3: So you so you don't know like where you might

803
00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:10,239
Speaker 3: end up scouting them. And so like Jordan, Florida and

804
00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:15,799
Speaker 3: like been to you know, Haiti to see Rice Iglesia,

805
00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:19,000
Speaker 3: been to and I think it was Guatemala to see

806
00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:23,720
Speaker 3: uh second b eight third, like third basement with the

807
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:28,160
Speaker 3: Boston Red Sox. You want Mankata. So yeah, just been everywhere.

808
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 3: I've been to Japan to see to see the Cuban

809
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:33,719
Speaker 3: national team. So wherever you can see him, either in

810
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,480
Speaker 3: tournament play or when you hear and find out there's

811
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,280
Speaker 3: a workout, you go and try and see him.

812
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,480
Speaker 2: Since you mentioned Japan and I didn't prepare you for this,

813
00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,920
Speaker 2: do you still have the astros Otani jersey in your possession?

814
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 3: I still do.

815
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:49,080
Speaker 1: Yeah.

816
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:54,359
Speaker 3: I submitted that the proposal for at yeah, show Hay

817
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:57,600
Speaker 3: to come to Houston, and he wrote a very nice

818
00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:01,359
Speaker 3: note saying thank you very much, appreciate, appreciate all you did,

819
00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:06,520
Speaker 3: and then the jersey.

820
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:09,080
Speaker 1: So so you still that's a cause I would I

821
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:10,080
Speaker 1: would keep that for him.

822
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:12,239
Speaker 3: Yeah.

823
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:17,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well just just to clarify, when you said, who's

824
00:44:17,239 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 4: the best player you ever scouted? Show hey didn't even

825
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:22,800
Speaker 4: cross your mind. We're putting that we're going to aggregate

826
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:24,439
Speaker 4: that out that that's true.

827
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:28,719
Speaker 3: It's like International AM sure and ash pro.

828
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:37,400
Speaker 2: But yeah, I could ask you questions for three more hours,

829
00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:39,440
Speaker 2: but I don't think we have enough time to do that.

830
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:42,040
Speaker 2: This has been This has been really really fun, It's

831
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 2: been really insightful, and it really helps to to give fans,

832
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:50,040
Speaker 2: I think, an understanding of what scouting international players is like,

833
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:52,920
Speaker 2: because I think for the last few years, all they've

834
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:56,120
Speaker 2: understood is that the askers just go into all these

835
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:59,560
Speaker 2: countries and get whoever they want. But you know, with

836
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:01,720
Speaker 2: your that wasn't the case with a lot of guys.

837
00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:03,759
Speaker 2: It's it's a lot of hoops to jump through, it's

838
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:05,719
Speaker 2: a lot of it's a lot of work, and it's

839
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:09,200
Speaker 2: a lot of relying on an infrastructure that you and

840
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:13,120
Speaker 2: Jeff and a lot of people are responsible for orchestrating

841
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:16,959
Speaker 2: with the astros. So thank you so much for giving

842
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:20,840
Speaker 2: us some insight on this. I hope I hope fans

843
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:22,839
Speaker 2: learned from this, and I hope this is something that

844
00:45:23,719 --> 00:45:27,600
Speaker 2: they will see and hear and appreciate the work that

845
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,080
Speaker 2: you guys were able to do in Houston.

846
00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 3: Yeah. Thanks thanks for having me really appreciate it.

847
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:37,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so guys, we'll be back next week to

848
00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:39,920
Speaker 2: talk about wherever Jose L Tuv is going to play.

849
00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:42,799
Speaker 2: We will talk about Houston Astro Jord and Alvarez, not

850
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:46,399
Speaker 2: Los Angeles Dodger Jordan Alvarez and whatever else comes out

851
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:49,800
Speaker 2: of spring training here in West Palm Beach. Please, as always,

852
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:54,120
Speaker 2: rate and review us on Apple, subscribe on YouTube, and

853
00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:56,319
Speaker 2: keep an eye out keep an ear out for our

854
00:45:56,360 --> 00:45:57,080
Speaker 2: next episode.

855
00:45:57,120 --> 00:45:58,399
Speaker 1: Thanks guys, bye

856
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:25,240
Speaker 3: As to the