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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Hammer Territory Podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Scott Coleman and I am joined on the show today

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Speaker 1: by a very special guest who needs no introduction. He

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Speaker 1: is the Braves television analyst cjn Kowski and ZJ. It

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Speaker 1: has been a long offseason, but it all gets started

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Speaker 1: on Friday for the Braves, and I know it's been

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Speaker 1: There's been some bumps in the road, but I think

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Speaker 1: everybody is excited and looking forward to some real games

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Speaker 1: on Friday.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and they should be.

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Speaker 3: You're right, it hasn't been all great, by the way, Scott,

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Speaker 3: good to be back with you as well. Yeah, it

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Speaker 3: was a good offseason and then spring training, as you mentioned,

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Speaker 3: a couple of those bombs and some recent news here,

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Speaker 3: but that doesn't take away from the excitement of opening day.

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Speaker 3: This team is in a really good position still, especially

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Speaker 3: when you take a look at the entire division. There's

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Speaker 3: a lot to get excited about right now around Brave's Country.

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Speaker 3: And I'm ready to get going. I've been ready probably

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Speaker 3: since about first week in October. But it is finally here,

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Speaker 3: and this is why we're here.

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Speaker 1: We love it man, Yeah, absolutely, So. Maybe the biggest

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Speaker 1: development of the off season was not necessarily an on

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Speaker 1: field one, but the creation of Brave's vision the new

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Speaker 1: television and streaming home for the Atlanta Braves. And I

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Speaker 1: gotta say, CJ, when the news came down that the

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Speaker 1: TV deal was in limbo a couple of months ago,

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Speaker 1: I think the biggest question that I saw was what

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Speaker 1: does this mean for CJ? And what does this mean

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Speaker 1: for Brandon and Wiley and all the guys and gals

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Speaker 1: who have made it such a good broadcast, one of

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Speaker 1: the very best in baseball. And if folks are maybe

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Speaker 1: just tuning in now with opening Day a few days await,

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Speaker 1: the good news is that the gang is back together.

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Speaker 1: We'll have Brandon and CJ in the booth on Friday

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Speaker 1: Night as the Braves open up against the Royals. Really

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Speaker 1: good news. Braves fans are fortunate to have such a

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Speaker 1: good group in the booth, and it's kind of a

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Speaker 1: new era for this franchise with a new television and

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Speaker 1: streaming home for the team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Well, first of all, it's really nice to say that.

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Speaker 3: I appreciate that we all do. I think we had

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Speaker 3: a pretty good feel of where things were going to

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Speaker 3: end up for people that don't understand how it works,

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Speaker 3: even when you're dealing with say a FanDuel or a

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Speaker 3: value when it was Fox, is that yeah, they pay

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Speaker 3: for the right fees to the team, but ultimately the

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Speaker 3: team will have kind of the final say as far

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Speaker 3: as who was in front of the camera representing their brand.

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Speaker 3: And so while it was unsettling certainly on kind of

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Speaker 3: where things were headed and where the games were actually

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Speaker 3: going to be, I think we all had kind of

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Speaker 3: the insurance that we would would still be back. I

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Speaker 3: was still under contracts, a couple of other contracts are up,

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Speaker 3: not that that any of that mattered. It was just

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Speaker 3: you know, and at any time that could change your

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Speaker 3: mind too, right, that's always part of it. But the

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Speaker 3: team ultimately decides kind of who's going to be in

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Speaker 3: front of the camera. So all very excited that everyone's

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Speaker 3: going to be back together, not just in front of

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Speaker 3: the camera, but also behind the camera, which is a

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Speaker 3: big part of it.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: We end up receiving a lot of the credit when

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Speaker 3: the broadcast goes well, but it doesn't happen without the

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Speaker 3: folks behind the camera, especially Gretchen Kine, who you've probably

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Speaker 3: heard us reference throughout the season in broadcast and she

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Speaker 3: is our producer, and it all kind of starts with

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Speaker 3: her and everything trickles down after that. So we're thrilled

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Speaker 3: about it. It was just a matter of where things

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Speaker 3: were going to end up. I follow it kind of closely.

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Speaker 3: I've just always been fascinated by the industry and the business,

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Speaker 3: and there was a lot of different options in a

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Speaker 3: lot of different ways things could go. I think the

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Speaker 3: one thing, well, it's more than one thing, I think,

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Speaker 3: but one of the important things for fans that I

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Speaker 3: hope that they will understand is what a grind this

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Speaker 3: was over the last couple of months for this organization,

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Speaker 3: and the amount of time that they put in launching

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Speaker 3: your own television network is no small project. I know

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Speaker 3: that folks are still waiting on where they're going to

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Speaker 3: find out what channel can I tune into to watch

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Speaker 3: the Braves. The distribution is a huge part of what happens,

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Speaker 3: and getting Braves Television and Braves Vision in as many

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Speaker 3: homes as possible as a number one priority. It just

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Speaker 3: takes time to get it done. There's kind of interesting

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Speaker 3: things that go on, and I only understand a little

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Speaker 3: bit of it. When it comes to the negotiation and

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Speaker 3: all these contracts that have to get done. So we

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Speaker 3: appreciate everybody's patience during the process. It wasn't going to

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Speaker 3: be smooth automatic like next day. Here's where you can

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Speaker 3: watch the brace. It will get done. It'll happen before

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Speaker 3: we get to opening day. The streaming option seems incredible.

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Speaker 3: We love the idea of no blackouts that in market

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Speaker 3: and the way all that works, so we're in a

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Speaker 3: great position. It just it was a lot of work.

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Speaker 3: And I say a lot of work. I didn't really

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Speaker 3: do any of it. I just sat back and continued

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Speaker 3: to do what I usually do in and off season.

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Speaker 3: But this is a big deal and what you brought up,

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Speaker 3: I think is also something that is humbling. But it's

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Speaker 3: also like you're really appreciative to be a part of

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Speaker 3: the process because it does feel like a new error

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Speaker 3: right this organization, I feel like kind of started it

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Speaker 3: all right. They put it on the map. I know

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Speaker 3: the Cubs did it as well, but thinking about TVs

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Speaker 3: and what it's meant to this franchise or what it

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Speaker 3: meant to baseball fans for decades. While it's not exactly

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Speaker 3: the same, it is a new error and the fact

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Speaker 3: that Beg and I and Wiley and Frenchy and that

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Speaker 3: we're going to be a part of this. To me,

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Speaker 3: it's just really really cool and you're never going to

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Speaker 3: do with what Joe, Skip and Pete and everybody did.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that was that was special.

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Speaker 3: That's once in a generation, once in a lifetime. But

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Speaker 3: this is a new thing that we're all very excited

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Speaker 3: to be a part of.

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Speaker 1: It really is. I mean, it's a win for fans,

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Speaker 1: and you mentioned no more blackouts is a gigantic win,

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Speaker 1: especially for folks locally. Braves Country is such a massive

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Speaker 1: part of this country, and it's easier than ever to

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Speaker 1: watch the Atlanta Braves on TV, on your phone, on

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Speaker 1: your tablet, on your computer, wherever it is. And that's

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Speaker 1: that's a real win for fans. We want to be

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Speaker 1: able to get the product in front of as many

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Speaker 1: fans as possible, and I think with this new platform

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Speaker 1: the Braves are going to be on, it's easier than

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Speaker 1: ever to watch a game, and that's that's a real

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Speaker 1: win for all of us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah it is.

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Speaker 3: And listen, don't quote me on this because I think

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Speaker 3: the way I understand it though, and this is just

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Speaker 3: part of where major League Baseball is right. If you're

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Speaker 3: out of market, let's just say you live in the

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Speaker 3: Philadelphia Phillies market, and my condolences if you do. But

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Speaker 3: if you're a Brave fan that is there, we say

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Speaker 3: that it's a joke. I think those like six games

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Speaker 3: when we're up there are still blacked out even on

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Speaker 3: I believe if you just do the Braves TV. So

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Speaker 3: that's the one thing I know. It could be a little

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Speaker 3: bit frustrating on the certain parts of the country where

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Speaker 3: there's crossover and getting blacked out, right, that's out of

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Speaker 3: their control or something they can do about that part

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Speaker 3: on the streaming side out of market. But for those

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Speaker 3: that are in market, we're in a good position. There

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Speaker 3: are and people have seen that. Try to correct it's

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Speaker 3: not correct it, but just throw it out there so

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Speaker 3: people understand how it works. Where you keep reading right,

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Speaker 3: more than one hundred and forty games, and the reason

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Speaker 3: they do that is because of the one hundred and

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Speaker 3: sixty two National can take exclusively up to eighteen games

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Speaker 3: a year. We've already lost sixteen of those. We're probably

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Speaker 3: gonna lose all eighteen. Just because the Braves are such

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Speaker 3: a popular team and such a great draw. That means

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Speaker 3: probably one hundred and forty four right now, it's one

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Speaker 3: forty six. Probably going to be one hundred and forty

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Speaker 3: four games that we get to do, and there's a

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Speaker 3: lot of them early. And I mentioned this the other

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Speaker 3: day on the broadcast, on the Spring broadcast, seven of

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Speaker 3: our first twenty seven games we've lost to national. That

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Speaker 3: has a lot to do with the excitement surrounding these

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Speaker 3: great players on the team. So including the second game

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Speaker 3: of the year. It just kind of happens that way

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Speaker 3: where they'll be on Fox, between Fox, Apple, NBC, now

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Speaker 3: is in the game, ESPN is gonna have the Little

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Speaker 3: League Classic. There's you know, there's a lot of entities

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Speaker 3: that get a piece of it, and a lot of

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Speaker 3: people want a piece of the Braves.

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Speaker 1: They do. And you mentioned a moment ago being down

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Speaker 1: at camp, and it was great to have quite a

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Speaker 1: few of the Brave Spring games on TV and on streaming.

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Speaker 1: You've been down at camp. You know what's been the

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Speaker 1: vibe around the team. We have a new manager, albeit

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Speaker 1: a familiar one with Walt Weiss, but a new manager,

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Speaker 1: largely new coaching staff with a lot of new faces

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Speaker 1: and ideas, and then of course a team that's I

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Speaker 1: think fair to say coming off one of the more

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Speaker 1: disappointing and challenging years in this this storied franchise's history.

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Speaker 1: What was the vibe like down in camp and what

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Speaker 1: were your big takeaways?

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Speaker 2: They were good, They were really good.

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Speaker 3: I think probably the big ones starting with Walt Weiss

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Speaker 3: getting the job right. I think that was si relief

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Speaker 3: for a lot of guys. You could hear in the

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Speaker 3: tone of their voice. Everyone surrounding this team always seems

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Speaker 3: to say the right things, and so sometimes you try

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Speaker 3: to read between the lines and get a little bit

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Speaker 3: of a better feel. These guys really respect Waltwiss. The

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Speaker 3: manager is an important role. The relationships with the manager

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Speaker 3: probably more important than what it used to be back

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Speaker 3: when I was playing. And these are relationships that have

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Speaker 3: already been developed, and you can tell these guys have

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Speaker 3: a lot of confidence and a lot of respect in

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Speaker 3: Walt Whites and they were happy to see him get

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Speaker 3: the job. Not that they couldn't have brought somebody else

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Speaker 3: from the outside, So I thought that's where.

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Speaker 2: This might have been headed.

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Speaker 3: But it would have been more work, and it would

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Speaker 3: have been earning trust, like that's a big one. There's

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Speaker 3: a lot of new managers around the league and you

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Speaker 3: have established big league players, Especially in this situation in

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Speaker 3: Atlanta where we have a team that expects to contend

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Speaker 3: and have a deep run in October, you don't have

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Speaker 3: a lot of time to get that done. So that

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Speaker 3: part all gets kind of pushed aside because it is done.

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Speaker 3: That part I think has been really good. There's also

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Speaker 3: an edge to Walt Whis that is hard to pick

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Speaker 3: up on in interviews. He has got a really strong

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Speaker 3: competitive edge to him and he wants to win in

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Speaker 3: the worst way. And it's the one part too, And

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Speaker 3: I joke about it, you know, as far as the

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Speaker 3: interviews go. I think it is the one part he

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Speaker 3: forgot about from his days in Colorado. The media obligations.

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Speaker 3: It's pretty much everybody's least favorite part of the job,

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Speaker 3: but it just kind of comes along with it. He

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Speaker 3: just wants to get to work. He just wants to

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Speaker 3: get to work and get everybody in the right position,

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Speaker 3: including a lot of these new coaches, that they're ready

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Speaker 3: to be a well old machine that's going to go

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Speaker 3: out and win. That is clear. It is the most

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Speaker 3: important thing. There's nothing else that matters there's no ego here.

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Speaker 3: It's not about Walt Weiss at all for him. This

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Speaker 3: is about this story franchise that he's been a part

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Speaker 3: of now for a really long time, both as a

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Speaker 3: player and a bench coach. And the vibes were good

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Speaker 3: surrounding him. So that was really good news. The fact

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Speaker 3: that guys are healthy, right, Ozzie is healthy, Ronald is healthy,

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Speaker 3: watching Austin Riley in the great spring that he had,

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Speaker 3: and Matt Olsen had a monster spring. New guys you're

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Speaker 3: brought in, like Mike Yastremsky, right, just performing really well.

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Speaker 3: That has also created a lot of buzz for this offense.

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Speaker 3: Probably not fair to say twenty and twenty three offense

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Speaker 3: that was historic, right, But the idea that this could

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Speaker 3: really run very deep and you still got to get

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Speaker 3: Sean Murphy and Hasan kim back means it should only

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Speaker 3: get better as the season goes on. Of course, you

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Speaker 3: got to keep everybody healthy as well. I think there

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Speaker 3: was a really good feeling about the way things were

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Speaker 3: going on that side of the ball, because we know,

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Speaker 3: I mean both sides of the ball. Last year was

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Speaker 3: just one after another after another, and everyone's feel good

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Speaker 3: and everyone's feeling healthy and they realize they've got a

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Speaker 3: great opportunity to do damage.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting you made the comment about Walt

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Speaker 1: Weiss because I think from afar, he's very similar to

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Speaker 1: Brian Snicker, Like, you know, from an outside perspective, not

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Speaker 1: a super in interviews with media, not a really dynamic personality.

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Speaker 1: Isn't necessarily going to draw a ton of big quotes

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Speaker 1: or headlines in the newspaper the next day. But I

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Speaker 1: also heard from folks when that was going down, like, hey,

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Speaker 1: Walt wise is a really fiery competitive guy.

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Speaker 2: He is.

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Speaker 1: He will handle the clubhouse. He's not afraid to kind

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Speaker 1: of mix it up a little bit with players. If

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Speaker 1: there's a situation that needs to be addressed, he will

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Speaker 1: address it and stay on top of it. And I

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Speaker 1: don't want to say is a no nonsense, drill sergeant type,

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Speaker 1: but he's a really competitive guy. He really wants to win.

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Speaker 1: And as I heard more and more about Walt, both

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Speaker 1: the person and the coach and now manager throughout the process,

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Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, all right, Like I feel like

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Speaker 1: the Braves are in really good hands here and Walt's

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Speaker 1: going to have them, you know, as ready as they

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Speaker 1: can be come opening day.

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Speaker 2: Yep, you're exactly and it's really hard.

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Speaker 3: I think this is just in general for baseball fans

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Speaker 3: and probably all sports fans to get a real good

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Speaker 3: feel of who your manager is. I know that we

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Speaker 3: want changes all the time when things don't go well,

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Speaker 3: and let's make this move because this is what I see,

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Speaker 3: and even from my position, right, and you get to

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Speaker 3: be pretty close to the team, but you're not in

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Speaker 3: the clubhouse every day. You're certainly not in the dugout

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Speaker 3: during games. You never have a real feel for what's

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Speaker 3: going on there. Only those that are inside have a

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Speaker 3: real feel for it. And the one thing that's been

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Speaker 3: so consistent here is you don't really hear about dissension

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Speaker 3: from within the clubhouse. And that's always an indicator. It

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Speaker 3: does happen in other places, right at times where maybe

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Speaker 3: there's a leak here, or maybe even a guy gets

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Speaker 3: in front of a microphone and says something where he's dissatisfied.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't happen here. It really has never happened here.

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Speaker 3: And that's because, of course, I think they treat always

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Speaker 3: know there's a kind of this unwritten code of conduct rule.

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Speaker 3: If you will and how everyone is treated right, treatment

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Speaker 3: like a professional, I'll be professional and it works both ways.

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Speaker 3: And that's wald what was interesting to me that I

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Speaker 3: even learned about him a little bit in spring training

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Speaker 3: was listening to the guys talk about him in the

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Speaker 3: weight room and how much weight he's thrown around at

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Speaker 3: five six o'clock morning before they get there. Not that

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Speaker 3: that matters, not that that makes them a better manager,

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Speaker 3: but I think it just kind of speaks to the

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Speaker 3: personality a little bit about how he takes care of himself. Right,

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Speaker 3: He's not afraid to roll around on a jiu jitsu

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Speaker 3: met You know, this is a different kind of guy

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Speaker 3: that again everybody respects. To your point and saying not

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Speaker 3: afraid to call players out right, there is a balance

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Speaker 3: in there in this generation in particular, about.

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Speaker 2: How you do that. Accountability matters. It still matters.

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Speaker 3: Even though players have more control to call us than

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Speaker 3: they've ever had, you still have to have somebody that's

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Speaker 3: willing to hold you accountable. I think you'll absolutely get that.

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Speaker 3: The professionals means you don't see it in the dugout right.

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Speaker 3: It happens behind closed doors. So you may see a

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Speaker 3: manager reacting a certain way, and like, man, why is

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Speaker 3: he not getting that guy's face? Why is he not

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Speaker 3: you know, flipping the lunch table, which really isn't the

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Speaker 3: thing anymore. But just those things you hear from folks,

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Speaker 3: the intense conversations that are necessary and they're still necessary

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Speaker 3: in the game, are not going to happen in front

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Speaker 3: of a camera. There's more cameras and everywhere now nobody

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Speaker 3: wants to get caught doing it. But I could say

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Speaker 3: with confidence those conversations, if necessary, will happen with walways.

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Speaker 1: It's good to know. And I think in general, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you're a former player, CJ. You know. I

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Speaker 1: mean it is eight months out of the year you

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Speaker 1: were with these guys twenty four seven, three sixty five,

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Speaker 1: pretty much for those eight months that you were together,

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Speaker 1: and you got to keep everything together, and you got

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Speaker 1: a lot of personalities and hopefully you want to keep

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Speaker 1: the drama to a minimum and just focus on winning

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Speaker 1: baseball games and keep everything at the door.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and they've been good about that. That has been

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Speaker 3: pretty consistent. You're going back to when I was fortunate

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Speaker 3: to put on the uniform and kind of I think

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Speaker 3: what Bobby Cox established, I've always said it before I

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Speaker 3: got through the organization after I left them, There's.

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Speaker 2: Just never drama coming out of this place.

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Speaker 3: It's really well done and that's hard to maintain for

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Speaker 3: as long as they've been able to maintain it.

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Speaker 1: All right, folks, we are going to take a quick break,

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Speaker 1: but when we get back, we're going to talk about

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Speaker 1: the Braves' pitching staff. Of course, we just got some

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Speaker 1: news on Spencer Strider right before recording that we are

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Speaker 1: going to dig into, plus some really encouraging developments with

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Speaker 1: Diddy or Fuintes and Jr.

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Speaker 2: Richie.

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Speaker 1: First, a quick word from our partners at Fast and All.

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Speaker 1: Community isn't just where we do business, it's who we are.

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Speaker 1: Through our Blue Team Sports initiative, we're helping strengthen local

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Speaker 1: neighborhoods by supporting youth baseball and softball programs across the country,

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Speaker 1: from small towns to big cities. Fast and All Associates

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00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,800
Speaker 1: are working alongside coaches, parents and volunteers to make sure

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00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:17,960
Speaker 1: young athletes have the uniforms and equipment they need to

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Speaker 1: take the field. Because when kids can play, they learn teamwork,

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Speaker 1: build confidence, and create connections that last long after the

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Speaker 1: final inning. Fastenal supporting the communities we serve and the

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Speaker 1: next generation of athletes growing up in them.

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Speaker 2: AJ.

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Speaker 4: This episode is brought to you by our friends at

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Speaker 4: Fox one. Fox one is where you can watch AJ

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Speaker 4: Piersinski and I get this email every week. Now AJ,

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Speaker 4: that says what to watch this week on Fox one.

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Speaker 4: Rosenthal and your friends.

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Speaker 2: Box one Streaming.

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Speaker 1: Now we're back with CJ Ntkowski, the Atlanta Braves television analyst,

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Speaker 1: on the show Today and CAJ let's get some of

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Speaker 1: the bad news out of the way here. On Monday morning,

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Speaker 1: a couple hours before Spencer Strider was supposed to make

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Speaker 1: his final tune up start of the Spring Word came

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Speaker 1: down that Spencer had been scratched and is likely going

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Speaker 1: on the injured list with an oblique injury. That is

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Speaker 1: not the news we wanted. Of course, we have already

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Speaker 1: lost Joey Wentz, Spencer Schwallenbach when although Lopez was throwing

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Speaker 1: five or six miles an hour below his normal velocity,

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Speaker 1: Erston Waldrip is on the IL. It's been a real

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Speaker 1: challenging spring on the pitching side, and now a week

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Speaker 1: before he was supposed to make his first start of

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Speaker 1: the year, Strider has an oblique injury and is probably

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Speaker 1: going to miss some time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it sounds like a couple of weeks. I saw

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Speaker 3: Mark Bowman tweeting about it today. At least that's what

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Speaker 3: they're hoping for. I think when I first saw Striider

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Speaker 3: to the IL, you get anxious about what injury it is.

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Speaker 3: I mean, listen, any injury at this point is not

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Speaker 3: a good one. But grateful that it was not at

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Speaker 3: least something to do with his arm right and oblique. Again,

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Speaker 3: that ideal, and sometimes it's difficult to time these things

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Speaker 3: and how long ultimately it's going to take. But again,

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Speaker 3: at least it's not his arm. He was doing the

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Speaker 3: ball pretty well. I think that's important. The question now

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Speaker 3: becomes what does this look like for the rest of

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Speaker 3: the rotation? Right back end of the rotation, everyone gets

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Speaker 3: moved up on right, So now what happens kind of

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Speaker 3: in that fifth start? We know that de dear Fuenttees

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Speaker 3: is going to get a start. I'm not sure if

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Speaker 3: he's necessarily going to slide in. It doesn't seem like

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Speaker 3: that's going to.

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Speaker 2: Be the case. But this is a big deal.

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Speaker 3: Losing Spencer Streider for any amount of time early on

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Speaker 3: is always a concern, and the other injuries have been

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Speaker 3: unfortunate as well that we've had to deal with and

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Speaker 3: what we have seen. But I do think that we'll

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Speaker 3: all kind of keep our fingers crossed and hope that

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Speaker 3: this is going to be short term. Remember last year

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Speaker 3: with the hamstring after he came back, slowed him down

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Speaker 3: a little bit and trying to get back to recovery there.

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Speaker 3: He brought up something very interesting though, and we talked

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Speaker 3: about this with him on the broadcast when he jumped

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Speaker 3: on for half an inning, just about how much he

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Speaker 3: had been throwing going back to the rehab process of

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Speaker 3: why he started his off season a little bit later

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Speaker 3: I think he said thirteen months straight. Essentially, it was

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Speaker 3: kind of where he was at with the rehab and

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Speaker 3: the throwing and treated this spring training a little bit differently.

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Speaker 3: So even though you're trying to do everything right, things

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Speaker 3: still happen. But it is only an oblique and again

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Speaker 3: we'll just hope that it's not going to be any

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Speaker 3: significant amount of time.

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Speaker 1: And I know that every player is different, every injury

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Speaker 1: is different, but as a former player, I wanted to ask,

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Speaker 1: you know, what is it like when maybe you suffer

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Speaker 1: an injury in the spring and you are a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks or months delayed compared to your peers, Like,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's all this building period in the spring

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Speaker 1: and then everybody else gets to go on day one.

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Speaker 1: But you know, we'll see how long Spencer ultimately misses,

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Speaker 1: same boat has on. Kim is going to miss at

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Speaker 1: least probably the first months of the year. Sean Murphy

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Speaker 1: is slowly making progress, but he's going to miss some time.

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Speaker 1: You know, from a player perspective, was it is it

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Speaker 1: more challenging to get up to speed when everybody else

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Speaker 1: is kind of a month or so ahead of you.

436
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,000
Speaker 1: Whenever you have to start performing on the mound.

437
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:25,840
Speaker 3: It can't be and I was fortunate to never really

438
00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,359
Speaker 3: have to experience that. I went on the what we

439
00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,359
Speaker 3: used to call the DL one time as an active

440
00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,399
Speaker 3: player in the States, and because I was pitching that

441
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:36,920
Speaker 3: it was in August, and they just kind of chalked

442
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:38,760
Speaker 3: it up as a back injury, that it was.

443
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:39,160
Speaker 2: A weird one.

444
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:40,600
Speaker 3: And then I didn't really get hurt until I was

445
00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,360
Speaker 3: thirty six pitching and career. So I was very fortunate

446
00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:45,719
Speaker 3: to never have to deal with injuries. Obviously, they're so

447
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,399
Speaker 3: common nowadays, and certainly we probably spent a couple of

448
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,280
Speaker 3: hours talking about why we think that is the case.

449
00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:55,160
Speaker 3: But Spencer's now been through this a couple of times, right,

450
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,040
Speaker 3: I think the first time you go through any injury

451
00:18:57,040 --> 00:18:59,960
Speaker 3: at all, it could be pretty shocking and it can

452
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,680
Speaker 3: kind of shake you a little bit as far as

453
00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:04,080
Speaker 3: you start to think about, man, am I going to

454
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:05,320
Speaker 3: be able to get back? Am I going to be

455
00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:07,800
Speaker 3: able to be the same guy? Can I let it

456
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:09,800
Speaker 3: go with the same intensity that I always did? Right,

457
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,080
Speaker 3: Everyone's kind of got to go through that once and

458
00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:14,520
Speaker 3: you lean on other people to help get you through that. Now,

459
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:16,480
Speaker 3: I think for Spencer, since it's been a couple of

460
00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:19,480
Speaker 3: different times and a couple of different injuries. He's really

461
00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:21,320
Speaker 3: well equipped to be able to handle it. He's not

462
00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:23,440
Speaker 3: happy that he's not starting the season on time, There's

463
00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:25,840
Speaker 3: no two ways about it. He is, I think a

464
00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:27,680
Speaker 3: guy that's on a mission right now, how to prove

465
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,439
Speaker 3: something here a little bit, even though he's done a

466
00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:32,400
Speaker 3: lot in his career, and so he's bummed out about

467
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:34,119
Speaker 3: it now. The thing you have to be careful of,

468
00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:36,879
Speaker 3: and I think kind to your point, is that you

469
00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,359
Speaker 3: don't rush it either, right because it's not fun watching

470
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,639
Speaker 3: your team start the season without you last year in

471
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,560
Speaker 3: particular when it was a slow start. You want everybody

472
00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,800
Speaker 3: back as quickly as possible, regardless of how the season goes,

473
00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:49,440
Speaker 3: and hopefully it gets off to a really good start,

474
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:51,120
Speaker 3: and that takes a little bit of the pressure off him.

475
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,360
Speaker 3: You've got to do things at the right pace. And

476
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,560
Speaker 3: that's where, of course your medical professionals kind of step

477
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:57,880
Speaker 3: in because everyone is competitive. Everybody wants to get back

478
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,480
Speaker 3: out there. Spencer Strouter's not playing for a contract or

479
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:02,359
Speaker 3: anything else. He's playing simply to want to win and

480
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,919
Speaker 3: help this team. So that'll be the big one, is

481
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:06,960
Speaker 3: that when this oblique is healed and when he starts

482
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,840
Speaker 3: thronging again, how they handle it and how he handles

483
00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,719
Speaker 3: it to make sure that you don't blow through any

484
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:13,560
Speaker 3: of those barriers that are even telling you to slow

485
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,159
Speaker 3: down a little bit. So yeah, it's going to be

486
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,840
Speaker 3: frustrating for him to watch the Braves on Brave's vision.

487
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:19,560
Speaker 3: I guess that's the one upside, or we're on the

488
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,400
Speaker 3: road if he's not traveling. But the truth is he's

489
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,200
Speaker 3: going to want to get back as quickly as possible

490
00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:26,399
Speaker 3: and he's just going to have to deal with it

491
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:27,520
Speaker 3: unfortunately once again.

492
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,480
Speaker 1: And now the Braves really need the other guys who

493
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,560
Speaker 1: are still healthy to pick up the slack, and one

494
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,480
Speaker 1: of those arms is Diddy or Fuentes, who I mean

495
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,480
Speaker 1: truthfully became like the story of spring training to me.

496
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,560
Speaker 1: I mean, he looks electric and the numbers speak for themselves.

497
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:48,600
Speaker 1: This spring, basically he's pitching on Monday, So just a timestamp.

498
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,439
Speaker 1: This is about noon on Monday, So we'll see how

499
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:54,919
Speaker 1: everything goes today. But Diddyer's first handful of appearances this

500
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,959
Speaker 1: spring were I mean nearly perfect, and I know I

501
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,640
Speaker 1: got the broadcast the other day there was a great

502
00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,520
Speaker 1: clip of Didier working in the dugout with Jeremy Hefner,

503
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,720
Speaker 1: new pitching coach, and he just feels from afar like

504
00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:11,040
Speaker 1: he's just more settled in. He's added some velocity. It

505
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,600
Speaker 1: feels like he's really added some bite to his offspeed

506
00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:16,399
Speaker 1: offerings as well. And I mean, what a an encouraging

507
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,320
Speaker 1: sign in a spring where the Braves have lost multiple

508
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,400
Speaker 1: expected contributors to the rotation Dittier is, I mean, even

509
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:25,720
Speaker 1: more so in the last twenty four hours. Now you're

510
00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,000
Speaker 1: really going to be relying on this kid who's all

511
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:28,960
Speaker 1: of twenty years old.

512
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:30,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's amazing, right.

513
00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:32,600
Speaker 3: He made his debut last year three days after his

514
00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,000
Speaker 3: twentieth birthday. I think it was well the youngest picture

515
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,240
Speaker 3: since like nineteen seventy four for the Braves to debut

516
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 3: in the starting rotation the way he did, and he struggled, right,

517
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:42,640
Speaker 3: The numbers were not pretty. I felt that for him

518
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:44,600
Speaker 3: there was a need. He was probably put in a

519
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:46,800
Speaker 3: situation where nobody really wanted to put him in that spot,

520
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:48,320
Speaker 3: but they just needed to and that was the guy

521
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:50,639
Speaker 3: they felt was best for that time. And you've probably

522
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 3: heard me say this a lot. I talk about it

523
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:54,040
Speaker 3: with young pictures, because I was one that went through

524
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,840
Speaker 3: it and really struggled badly early on. That could do

525
00:21:56,880 --> 00:22:00,040
Speaker 3: some emotional damage if you're not careful because of the

526
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,600
Speaker 3: the expectations that you put on yourself, that you step

527
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:04,640
Speaker 3: into the biggest stage, on the biggest stage you've ever

528
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,760
Speaker 3: been on, and you fail, right, you've never experienced failure

529
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:11,000
Speaker 3: like that, and how you then process that failure can

530
00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,120
Speaker 3: be problematic if you don't do it well. To see

531
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:15,200
Speaker 3: him bounce back the way that he has member he

532
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:16,800
Speaker 3: also dealt with a little bit of an injury last

533
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,880
Speaker 3: year as well toward the end of the year. I mean, again,

534
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 3: he's twenty, but that could really weigh down on a player.

535
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:25,360
Speaker 3: I will tell you the first time I got sent down,

536
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 3: I was like, well, I guess I had my chance.

537
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 3: I was twenty two years old, thinking am I ever

538
00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:30,720
Speaker 3: going to get another opportunity. That's how you can wrongly

539
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,320
Speaker 3: kind of process things. I think in this situation. I

540
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:35,639
Speaker 3: bring that up because I've been so impressed to watch

541
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,800
Speaker 3: him from a body language standpoint. Yeah, the stuff's been incredible,

542
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,080
Speaker 3: but he seems to be carrying himself with some really

543
00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,680
Speaker 3: strong confidence in himself and who he is. He looks

544
00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,600
Speaker 3: a little bit stronger too, maybe in lower half. I

545
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,159
Speaker 3: know he's always kind of been a strong kid, but

546
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:51,760
Speaker 3: there is something about the way that he's also carrying

547
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 3: himself which put to bed any concerns about the struggles

548
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 3: last year carrying over to this year. Now the final

549
00:22:57,560 --> 00:22:59,600
Speaker 3: step I think for him. We talked about it a

550
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,240
Speaker 3: couple of times as well, Wiley and I did, is okay,

551
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,080
Speaker 3: Now we'll get him back into a big league stadium

552
00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 3: with a third deck and some bright lights, and.

553
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 2: What will that look like?

554
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,879
Speaker 3: Is there anything there for him that perhaps maybe got

555
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 3: in the way last year? But he's dominated in the

556
00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:15,119
Speaker 3: spring training. He seems like he's been a man on

557
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:19,120
Speaker 3: a mission. You mentioned the velocity the breaking pitch keeps

558
00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:21,360
Speaker 3: showing up as a sweeper. Mark Bowman talked about how

559
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 3: that is really more of a slider, and I think

560
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 3: we'll see the conversion on the stack cast stuff soon enough.

561
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,480
Speaker 3: He is basically a two pitch pitcher. I am fascinated

562
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:30,960
Speaker 3: about what the Braves and how the Braids are going

563
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:32,680
Speaker 3: to use him and what they think the best.

564
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:33,560
Speaker 2: Role is going to be.

565
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:35,639
Speaker 3: Yes, he does have that kind of change up split

566
00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:37,879
Speaker 3: that he's been working on. It's not there yet, and

567
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 3: so my first thought is, well, two pitch pitcher, maybe

568
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,160
Speaker 3: let him go dominate in the bullpen where you can

569
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 3: go through the order one time. Dan, I'm like, well,

570
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,520
Speaker 3: you know what, Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, they've been able

571
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 3: to dominate with two pitches essentially right at times most

572
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:51,000
Speaker 3: of their career.

573
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 2: Others there's a change up in there. For Chris Sale.

574
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,399
Speaker 3: There's a two seam fastball, but it's fastball slider, right.

575
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,560
Speaker 3: I mean, that's how he dominates in the best version

576
00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,920
Speaker 3: of Spencer Strider before we saw the curveballs fast slider, right?

577
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:01,600
Speaker 2: Could he do that?

578
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,080
Speaker 3: Could he actually just go ahead and start We will

579
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,919
Speaker 3: see what they decide to do again. We Wis, according

580
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:08,879
Speaker 3: to Tobo, is kind of indicated that he'll stay in

581
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 3: the pen. It doesn't mean to me that he's not

582
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,000
Speaker 3: taking on important innings. There's a lot of different ways

583
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:15,479
Speaker 3: that you could do this, right. You could use him

584
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:17,920
Speaker 3: to bridge a starter early on. We're probably not expecting

585
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 3: guys to go particularly deep in games, right, that's a

586
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,600
Speaker 3: big one. So he could be that guy that bridges

587
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 3: games that you're winning. Could you use him either with

588
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:27,399
Speaker 3: an open or behind him, or with the idea that

589
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,919
Speaker 3: he's only making a three or four inning start. I

590
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 3: think that's a real possibility. I know it's a little

591
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 3: bit different. There's a lot of different ways you go

592
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 3: about it. Could you just give him traditional starts with

593
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:36,720
Speaker 3: Spencer Strider down.

594
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 2: You could do that as well, So we will see.

595
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,520
Speaker 3: But the most important part of this, I think with

596
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 3: him is that you realize you've got a real weapon

597
00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,520
Speaker 3: here and it looks really good and we're all excited

598
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 3: for him, and it was so much fun to watch

599
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:49,119
Speaker 3: him in spring.

600
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,440
Speaker 1: And another picture who was a lot of fun to

601
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 1: watch the spring was Jr. Richie now Jr. At least

602
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,360
Speaker 1: as of this recording, the plan is to have him

603
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:00,919
Speaker 1: begin the year in Gwinett and we'll see what the

604
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:03,360
Speaker 1: next couple of days hold in terms of roster plans

605
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,400
Speaker 1: and who's going to make starts early in the year.

606
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: But Jr. Was also really impressive this spring. A kid

607
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 1: who throws a ton of pitches maybe doesn't have the

608
00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 1: elite like top tier offerings with one of them where

609
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 1: he can just go to it whenever he needs it,

610
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 1: But a kid who has really grown, especially since he

611
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 1: underwent elbow surgery, A few years ago, and whether it's

612
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,119
Speaker 1: on five days into the season or a couple of

613
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 1: weeks or a couple of months into the season, I

614
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: think Jr. Richie spring showed that this guy is going

615
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,359
Speaker 1: to be a contributor for the Braves at some point

616
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:32,920
Speaker 1: this summer.

617
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 2: Yep, I would agree, really good stuff. Right.

618
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:37,880
Speaker 3: We saw him last year was in the spring breakout game.

619
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 3: I believe we saw him and he looked pretty good.

620
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,480
Speaker 3: And now you're looking at that you mentioned a guy

621
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 3: with a really deep repertoire. Seems like he's got a

622
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 3: pretty good feel on how to pitch. I was encouraged

623
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,959
Speaker 3: that he's got some margin for error based on the

624
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,640
Speaker 3: fact that the arm is live right compared to say,

625
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 3: maybe Owen Murphy doesn't have who I like a lot too.

626
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:56,919
Speaker 3: I know he's a little bit further away, and I

627
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 3: think he's going to help. There's a little bit of

628
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:00,880
Speaker 3: a different kind of repper tour there, but I think

629
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 3: they're both in really good positions and we'll see I

630
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 3: think Jr. Richie, I don't know if we'll see him

631
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,440
Speaker 3: in the starting rotation to start things off. I remember

632
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:11,879
Speaker 3: at one point it was should the Brads go to

633
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,040
Speaker 3: a six n rotation because they have thirteen straight games

634
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:15,399
Speaker 3: to start the year, and I thought that was probably

635
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,640
Speaker 3: a legitimate consideration. So could he help in that sense?

636
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,880
Speaker 3: He probably could, if you want to do it that way.

637
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:22,879
Speaker 3: I guess I wouldn't be It wouldn't bother me if

638
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 3: that's what they decided to do, right, If they decided

639
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 3: to put him in the rotation right out of the shoot,

640
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,080
Speaker 3: I would not be concerned. I do think he is

641
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,119
Speaker 3: just about ready and there's a lot to like about him.

642
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,159
Speaker 3: But as you mentioned, repertoire runs deep. He's got a

643
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:36,040
Speaker 3: really good change up, seems like he has a really

644
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:40,159
Speaker 3: good feel for pitching. It could go either way as

645
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,119
Speaker 3: far as well or I know it's the difference between

646
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,680
Speaker 3: him and Tuentez and Murphy is for me that Richie

647
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,679
Speaker 3: and Murphy, and I know Murphy still a little bit

648
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 3: of ways away. Treat him as straight starters. There's something

649
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,000
Speaker 3: about Fuentez which seems weird because he's younger, right, But

650
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:55,560
Speaker 3: I'm okay if you put him in the bullpen. I

651
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:57,960
Speaker 3: know the Braves have done it before. Next Freed and

652
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 3: Spencer Strider and brought up to Johann Say Antenna example

653
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 3: from a couple of decades ago, and that's how his

654
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,679
Speaker 3: kind of first year went. But those two for me

655
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,760
Speaker 3: seem more like leave him in the rotation if either

656
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 3: have him start in the big leaguer or have him

657
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:11,959
Speaker 3: start in the mynor leagus where went isn't okay if

658
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:13,879
Speaker 3: he's in the bullpen to start the season and then

659
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 3: eventually starting either in the big leagues or the marle leads.

660
00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 3: There's something about the arm the way that they pitch

661
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,000
Speaker 3: that kind of makes you feel good about how you

662
00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 3: use them. But you're right, man, I don't know. I

663
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:23,479
Speaker 3: don't get into it as much. I know a lot

664
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 3: of people cover it really closely. I just I don't

665
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:27,639
Speaker 3: want to hear about the braz not having a good

666
00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:31,240
Speaker 3: minor league system. Like there's if you get like big leaguers,

667
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 3: and we've had like the last few years, like big

668
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,080
Speaker 3: leaguers keep coming out of this system and being impactful.

669
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,120
Speaker 2: You have a good system, and.

670
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:39,879
Speaker 3: Three on the pitching side right off the top that

671
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 3: feel pretty good and really throw was a bowman.

672
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:43,680
Speaker 2: In there as well.

673
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,239
Speaker 3: I mean there's and then John Heel's really exciting as

674
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 3: a position player. I got no problem with where this

675
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 3: minor league system is right now.

676
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of promising talent coming up and hopefully

677
00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:55,159
Speaker 1: these I mean these guys are going to have an

678
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: opportunity to make an impact at some point this year.

679
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: And you know, it's always interesting to me. The Braves

680
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,359
Speaker 1: maybe don't rank super high in like the objective talent

681
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,119
Speaker 1: evaluators rankings of the systems. They've been bottom five, bottom

682
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:09,919
Speaker 1: ten for the better part of the last few years.

683
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 1: But without fail, every summer there's somebody coming up and

684
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: he makes a huge impact on the team, whether that's

685
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: Spencer Strider and Michael Harris a few years ago, or

686
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,359
Speaker 1: Drake Baldwin winning Rookie of the Year, even Hurston Waldrip

687
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:26,199
Speaker 1: coming up last year and being really good for the

688
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,199
Speaker 1: team down the stretch. I don't want to pretend like

689
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,359
Speaker 1: those guys were twenty ninth round picks who were ranked

690
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,399
Speaker 1: fifteenth on the Braves prospect lists, but there is something

691
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,520
Speaker 1: to be said for player development and just impacting the

692
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 1: major league roster year over year with some really good players,

693
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,520
Speaker 1: and hopefully the Braves have a few more of those waiting.

694
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 2: In the wings. Yeah. I hope so too. Listening you

695
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 2: go back and I do this all the time.

696
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,920
Speaker 3: Track prospect lists from a decade ago, from eight years ago, right,

697
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 3: and you sit there and look at MLB pipeline, and

698
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:54,960
Speaker 3: a lot of those list you would do over right,

699
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 3: You would rerank guys, and some that don't even make

700
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 3: the top one hundred of baseball end up being impactful glickers.

701
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,040
Speaker 3: You just don't know where it's going at. Our game

702
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,920
Speaker 3: is very unique in that way that you're still developing

703
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 3: in your twenties and a lot can change from the

704
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 3: draft until you're hopefully making your debut. I think for

705
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 3: player development right now and for our draft, folks of

706
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 3: the brains, they got to be happy with how things

707
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 3: have gone. There are some teams that really struggle with it,

708
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 3: but I think the organization is in a good position.

709
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree wholeheartedly. All Right, CJ, we're going

710
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 1: to take one final break, but when we come back,

711
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about some of the guys who

712
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 1: have had a really good spring with the bats. More

713
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 1: on that in just a moment, after a word from

714
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 1: our partners.

715
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 2: AJ.

716
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 4: Baseball season is finally here, and there's nothing like listening

717
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718
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721
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722
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726
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729
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730
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731
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732
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733
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,680
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734
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,680
Speaker 4: this good, nothing hits like home cooking, all.

735
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 1: Right, CJ. Let's talk about the hitters and as a group,

736
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:43,120
Speaker 1: the Braves really performed on offense down in Florida and

737
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,240
Speaker 1: encouraging sign for sure. And one of the new guys

738
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: who you talked about a little bit at the start

739
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 1: of the show is mike Ystremsky, a veteran, a guy

740
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: who was one of the new faces down in camp,

741
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 1: and I mean Mike turned in to Hank Aaron for

742
00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks down there for a while, I mean,

743
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,560
Speaker 1: just set the Great Fruit League on fire. I don't

744
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 1: know if they give out an MVP for that league,

745
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,960
Speaker 1: but he's probably near the top, along with a couple

746
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 1: other of his teammates. Quite honestly, but what did you

747
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,080
Speaker 1: take away from Mike? A veteran who's been around the game,

748
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: just a really good, solid ballplayer who I think is

749
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: really going to help the middle of this lineup.

750
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:18,560
Speaker 3: I don't think you can overstate how important his signing

751
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 3: was this offseason, especially the way everything went down unfortunately

752
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 3: with Jerks and Profar. I had a chance to interview

753
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 3: him pretty quickly after he signed, and I've always watched

754
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:28,480
Speaker 3: him and always liked him, and the Braves have always

755
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 3: liked him as well. But after that conversation, I was like, go, oh,

756
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:33,280
Speaker 3: this is going to be a great fit. Just from

757
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 3: a personality standpoint, he just everything you want a guy

758
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 3: to be, very unselfish. I'm sure you heard the story

759
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,640
Speaker 3: and he said that Alex was kind of explaining to

760
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 3: him what their role would be, and he's like, man,

761
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:43,960
Speaker 3: don't worry about it.

762
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,440
Speaker 2: Whatever you need me to do, I'm going to do.

763
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 3: You love hearing that kind of stuff, You love when

764
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 3: it's genuine, So that's kind of checking off that box first.

765
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:51,120
Speaker 2: Then he comes in.

766
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,160
Speaker 3: He has a great spring. Now, if you look at

767
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,800
Speaker 3: Mike Stremsky and kind of his history, I think he

768
00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,200
Speaker 3: initially shows up as a blatoon player and playing against writings,

769
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 3: which means most of the time.

770
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:02,959
Speaker 2: Things now have changed here a little bit.

771
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's going to be a straight

772
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 3: platoon with him in Eli White. You know, if Tom

773
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 3: Smith ends up making the team, that's another left handed hitter,

774
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 3: so that's not necessarily the exchange there that you can make.

775
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 3: Maybe it's Mateo possibly, I don't know, but he's going

776
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:17,000
Speaker 3: to be out there most of the time, and there

777
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 3: may be certain types of lefties that it's an okay fit.

778
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:21,880
Speaker 3: I don't have the answer to what type would be,

779
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 3: but that is something that I think when we talk

780
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 3: about potential platoon. Okay, well, okay, you know, maybe don't

781
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 3: want um starting against Chris Sale type who's got high

782
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,520
Speaker 3: velocity with a nasty slider. But what about that lefty

783
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 3: that doesn't have the big breaking ball that leads maybe

784
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:35,480
Speaker 3: more on a cutter and a two semer.

785
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:36,360
Speaker 2: Is that a better fit? Right?

786
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 3: So I don't know if it's a straight platoon with him,

787
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 3: we'll see, But he's made every impression you would want

788
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 3: a guy to make. You Unfortunately, missed the game because

789
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 3: of a family situation, then had some pink eyes, so

790
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,000
Speaker 3: we've missed him a little bit here, but everyone expecting

791
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,600
Speaker 3: him to be back and be productive. Fans are going

792
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 3: to love him. I mean, they're just going to absolutely

793
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 3: love Mikey. Streemsky's everything you want in a ball players,

794
00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,280
Speaker 3: carrys himself extremely well career, kind of a little bit

795
00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 3: of a late bloomer as far as what he's done

796
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 3: at the big league level. But every time a right

797
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,200
Speaker 3: hander's on the mound, at minimum, you're going to want

798
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,480
Speaker 3: him in your lineup. So how well ends up kind

799
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 3: of balancing that we'll see. But I mean, you talk

800
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 3: about coming in and making a first impression, he's done

801
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:14,520
Speaker 3: a tenfold.

802
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:19,200
Speaker 1: And another player who had a fantastic spring is Austin Riley,

803
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,120
Speaker 1: and we've talked on the show about Austin. I know

804
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: you guys have talked about Austin on the broadcast, but

805
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 1: such an important player for this team, a guy who

806
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:30,840
Speaker 1: was iron Man the first handful of years of his career.

807
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 1: Unfortunately has missed about sixty games the last two seasons

808
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 1: with varying injuries. But Austin looks fantastic. He is up

809
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:41,480
Speaker 1: to like a thirteen hundred ops in the spring, looks great,

810
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,960
Speaker 1: looks healthy. Hitting the ball, took a good pitch from

811
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 1: Garrett Crochet and launched it over the weekend, which I

812
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,440
Speaker 1: mean Crochet might be top five in the game right now.

813
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,959
Speaker 1: But Austin Riley looks fantastic. And if the Braves are

814
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:55,840
Speaker 1: going to get this thing back on track, it really

815
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,040
Speaker 1: does feel like they're going to need Austin to carry

816
00:33:58,040 --> 00:33:58,640
Speaker 1: some of the load.

817
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 3: They will, I mean un fortunate where they can afford

818
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:03,800
Speaker 3: right where guys are struggling, that the lineup runs deep

819
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 3: enough that others can pick them up. But to your point,

820
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:09,240
Speaker 3: I mean, you absolutely need the good version of Austin

821
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 3: rally and really just means the healthy version you know,

822
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:13,800
Speaker 3: doing this now for a couple of years around this team,

823
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 3: sometimes it can get repetitive, but I think a lot

824
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,080
Speaker 3: of it is true. There are things that you key

825
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 3: on with each guy that will tell you whether or

826
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:21,879
Speaker 3: not they're in the right place and put health to side.

827
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 3: Of course, that is first and foremost when it comes

828
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:25,799
Speaker 3: to Austin rally, it's his ability to drive the ball

829
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:27,680
Speaker 3: the other way. He showed some of that power in

830
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 3: the last television broadcast that we had with a huge

831
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 3: opsic field home run and a day when the ball

832
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,239
Speaker 3: was dying the right field, he crushed one to write them,

833
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:37,200
Speaker 3: and we've seen it with some consistency at a big

834
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 3: home run to center field earlier. He's hitting the ball hard,

835
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:41,759
Speaker 3: and then when he gets those pitches that he can pull,

836
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 3: he's been able to do that as well. So all

837
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,360
Speaker 3: indications is Austin Riley is exactly where he needs to be.

838
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:48,640
Speaker 3: I think, you know, again, we can go up and

839
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:50,319
Speaker 3: down the line with guys as far as the things

840
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,240
Speaker 3: that he's like saying that again, it's just really important.

841
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:55,319
Speaker 3: Like if Matt Olson is getting to the fastball, he's

842
00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:57,440
Speaker 3: in a really good place, and Michael Harris is not chasing,

843
00:34:57,800 --> 00:34:59,640
Speaker 3: he's in a really good place. If Ozzie swing from

844
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,040
Speaker 3: the left, it looks right, he's in a good place,

845
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,040
Speaker 3: or should say against lefties from the right side, and

846
00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 3: then of course with Ronald just being out on the

847
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,239
Speaker 3: field and looking right. And there's just certain categories that

848
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:11,879
Speaker 3: guys fall into. It's not to say it's one thing

849
00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,000
Speaker 3: that makes them great, but just one thing that I

850
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,799
Speaker 3: have by myself getting focused on with them. And the

851
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 3: case of Austin Riley, it's that ability to take that

852
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 3: pitch that's middle away and drive it to right center field.

853
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,480
Speaker 3: He's not a guy that generally gets pull happy, and

854
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,520
Speaker 3: so as long as he is healthy and strong and

855
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:28,439
Speaker 3: you see that, you know he's in a great place.

856
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:29,479
Speaker 3: And that's what we've seen all spring.

857
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:32,719
Speaker 1: And another player, and this is the theme, it's a

858
00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:35,240
Speaker 1: good theme CJ. That we're talking about so many players,

859
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 1: especially on offense, having a really good spring, is Drake Baldwin.

860
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,799
Speaker 1: And this kid, as a rookie catcher surpassed every expectation

861
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,720
Speaker 1: imaginable and he almost looks better in year two, which

862
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,440
Speaker 1: is very lofty to say because we know how good

863
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 1: Drake was a year ago. But last I looked was

864
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,520
Speaker 1: leading the Grapefruit League in hard hit rate and was

865
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,439
Speaker 1: just barreling everything from me. I think my moment last

866
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:03,520
Speaker 1: year of Wow, this kid is the real deal is

867
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:06,120
Speaker 1: when Chris Sale, who's been around the game and been

868
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 1: around a lot of catchers for a long time, went

869
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:12,560
Speaker 1: out of his way to credit Drake Baldwin for how

870
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 1: much he appreciated his work before the game to set

871
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 1: up everything and his comfort level throwing him. I mean,

872
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,279
Speaker 1: I can only imagine how hard it is to be

873
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:25,000
Speaker 1: a rookie catcher in the major leagues. Baldwin surpassed every

874
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 1: expectation year one and looks like he is primed for

875
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:28,600
Speaker 1: a big year or two.

876
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:30,960
Speaker 3: The Chris Sales last thing I think was a big one,

877
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,640
Speaker 3: and it goes back to last spring training, right as

878
00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 3: all of a sudden this opportunity opened up because of

879
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:38,360
Speaker 3: the Shaw Murphy hit by pitch and knowing he was

880
00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,560
Speaker 3: not going to start the season, everyone looking at Drake Baldwin.

881
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:42,439
Speaker 2: It was asking a lot.

882
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:44,359
Speaker 3: I will tell you I can still remember the first

883
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:46,759
Speaker 3: time I watched him take batting practice, and a lot

884
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,040
Speaker 3: of times when you hear guys talking about batting practice,

885
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,399
Speaker 3: it's man, look how hard he's hitting the baseball. Look

886
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,719
Speaker 3: how deep those home runs are. I watched him hit

887
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:55,800
Speaker 3: a ground ball to the left side. I was like, Oh,

888
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:57,439
Speaker 3: I knew right away. I say, I knew right away.

889
00:36:57,600 --> 00:36:59,600
Speaker 3: I don't think I'm any kind of great evaluator, but

890
00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:02,200
Speaker 3: I know what that comes to left handed hitters, those

891
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:04,279
Speaker 3: that allowed the baseball to travel deep and are willing

892
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:05,759
Speaker 3: to hit it the other way. Early and then we

893
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:07,319
Speaker 3: saw it in a game that same game. I think

894
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:09,360
Speaker 3: we're in West Palm at the time. We had some

895
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:11,200
Speaker 3: games on the on the East Coast and spring training

896
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:12,920
Speaker 3: early last year, and I was like, Oh, that's going

897
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 3: to be a problem for pitchers, because a lot of

898
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,239
Speaker 3: times you fall into these categories as former players. Are

899
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:18,800
Speaker 3: the things that you struggle with or the type of

900
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:20,840
Speaker 3: hitters you struggle with you think are always going to

901
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,080
Speaker 3: be great. But that's what I saw early on. It

902
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:24,920
Speaker 3: was like, oh, left he's lautenant. Pitching is not going

903
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:26,880
Speaker 3: to be a problem for him based on his swing

904
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:28,480
Speaker 3: because it's in the zone for a long time. And

905
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 3: again he's willing to go the other way. He seems

906
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,480
Speaker 3: pretty selective. And it all worked out and it was

907
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 3: a great season for Drake Baldwin thrilled to see him

908
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,239
Speaker 3: win the nationally Rookie of the Year he absolutely deserved it.

909
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:40,839
Speaker 3: And then you listen to him this year. We've asked

910
00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:43,319
Speaker 3: him multiple times like what a difference a calendar year

911
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 3: makes where he was a year ago to where.

912
00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 2: He is now.

913
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 3: A humble guy, but he's got the confidence, feeling good

914
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,000
Speaker 3: about where he is. He understands his role as a

915
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:52,920
Speaker 3: catcher too. Is that you know, when you're a rookie

916
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,480
Speaker 3: or you're a young player, you can't limp in like

917
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:57,440
Speaker 3: you kind of have not to take out a leadership

918
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 3: role in the entire clubhouse, but certainly among the pitch,

919
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 3: there's nothing worse than having a catcher who seems like

920
00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:05,839
Speaker 3: he's indecisive or doesn't have strong opinions right, and you're like, man,

921
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:07,439
Speaker 3: I'm on my own here. I got to figure this out.

922
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,120
Speaker 3: That's not who Drake Baldwin is. So I think that's

923
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,919
Speaker 3: super encouraging as well. I will say the way things

924
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,640
Speaker 3: will develop this year and the catching position to me

925
00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:18,600
Speaker 3: become intriguing. They signed Jonaheim late. I got to cover

926
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 3: Jonaheim when he was in Texas and when he won

927
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:22,880
Speaker 3: that goal glove and they won the World Series. That

928
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,400
Speaker 3: was a career year for him. The last two years,

929
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:27,800
Speaker 3: his defense has kind of slid from him. I think

930
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 3: it's really important tie in the Jerks and Profar part

931
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 3: of this to me to this story as well, that

932
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:36,480
Speaker 3: Jonahan can recapture some of who he was defensively, because

933
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,759
Speaker 3: if he can, that means that he can catch a

934
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,200
Speaker 3: little bit more. Now, Drake has made some pretty good improvements.

935
00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:42,719
Speaker 3: We saw it over the year. He made a great

936
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 3: throw earlier in the game that we had on television.

937
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:46,200
Speaker 2: It looks good back there.

938
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 3: But we know Sean Murphy's the best defensive catcher you

939
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,880
Speaker 3: have among the big league guys, and Jonaheim's.

940
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,080
Speaker 2: A former Goal Glove Award winner. If Jonahigh can get close.

941
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:56,839
Speaker 3: To that again, that means Drake and DH maybe three

942
00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,360
Speaker 3: times a week, and maybe jonah can catch three to

943
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:01,359
Speaker 3: four times, maybe enough for but maybe he can catch

944
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:03,359
Speaker 3: three times a week on the high end. I think

945
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:05,680
Speaker 3: that's probably the best of both worlds at this point

946
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:07,919
Speaker 3: right now until Sean Murphy gets back. So as much

947
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 3: as Drake was awesome, and he was, and he's done

948
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:12,000
Speaker 3: a really nice job behind the plate and continues to

949
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,759
Speaker 3: get better, I think Jonaheim recapturing some of who he

950
00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,160
Speaker 3: was could end up being really critical because you're not

951
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:19,359
Speaker 3: worried about the DH, but you're not worried about Drake

952
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:20,919
Speaker 3: Baldon facing the left of your righting.

953
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:22,919
Speaker 2: Now they may see a side with jonas a switch

954
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:23,279
Speaker 2: hitter that.

955
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:25,360
Speaker 3: Say, you know what, we want Drake to DH against

956
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:27,399
Speaker 3: writings who want you know or lefties based on whether

957
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:29,239
Speaker 3: or not you want Jonahean in the lineup that day.

958
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:31,799
Speaker 3: But I think his defense getting back to where he

959
00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 3: was will be extremely important. And I went looked at

960
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:35,759
Speaker 3: the numbers the other day in the areas where he

961
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:37,360
Speaker 3: was great a couple of years ago and where he

962
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:41,080
Speaker 3: struggled recently was actually kind of opposite arm sidle call

963
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 3: I guess handside pitches that were away and pitches that

964
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:45,919
Speaker 3: were up. His framing was not where it had been.

965
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:48,040
Speaker 3: I talked to Dustin Garneaud about that a little bit,

966
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,279
Speaker 3: and he's confident they can get it back. And I think,

967
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:52,600
Speaker 3: very quietly, we'll see how the lineup ultimately plays out

968
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 3: over the course of the first couple of weeks, but

969
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:56,880
Speaker 3: that could end up being key to keeping Drake in

970
00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:58,800
Speaker 3: the lineup all the time and letting him DH a

971
00:39:58,800 --> 00:39:59,359
Speaker 3: little bit more.

972
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, and hopefully keeping Drake fresh too, you know, like

973
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 1: it's I know, Brian McCann always talked about just how

974
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:10,640
Speaker 1: physically demanding it is to catch in Atlanta summer, and

975
00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:13,160
Speaker 1: you know, McCann used to say, as good as he is,

976
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:15,640
Speaker 1: you know, by September he was out of gas and

977
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,640
Speaker 1: just didn't have anything left, didn't have his legs, didn't

978
00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:21,560
Speaker 1: have any lyft. Well, hopefully we can keep Drake by

979
00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:25,359
Speaker 1: way of Jonaheim fresh and just mashing, because we're going

980
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,600
Speaker 1: to really need Drake to continue to be awesome in

981
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:29,040
Speaker 1: the middle of this lineup.

982
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's yeah, Oh my go Ahad Scott, You're good.

983
00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:34,920
Speaker 1: No, I was gonna say, I just wanted to thank

984
00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 1: you CJ for taking some time to join the show.

985
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 1: I know you have a busy day. I can only

986
00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:42,920
Speaker 1: imagine what's going on behind the scenes to get a

987
00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 1: television network off the ground. We're just a couple of

988
00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:48,000
Speaker 1: days away from opening day and having you guys back

989
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 1: in the booth. But I mean, thank you for taking

990
00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 1: the time, and we're really looking forward to hearing you

991
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 1: guys in the booth come Friday and then hopefully for

992
00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:57,959
Speaker 1: a really good, long, prosperous season for this Braves team.

993
00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:00,279
Speaker 3: Yep, Scott, I appreciate it as always, man, and I

994
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 3: know this is probably unlikely to happen, but I'm gonna

995
00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,120
Speaker 3: ask Brave Country to pull for Saint John's for me

996
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:07,840
Speaker 3: because Duke Friday is going to be is going to

997
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:10,279
Speaker 3: be a tough one, but fingers crossed they can get

998
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:10,760
Speaker 3: it done.

999
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,080
Speaker 1: I will speak for myself and don't yell at us

1000
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:16,960
Speaker 1: in the YouTube comments, but I'm rooting for Saint John's.

1001
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:18,879
Speaker 1: I know we have Duke fans who listen to the show,

1002
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,480
Speaker 1: but shock the world, take down the Duke Blue Devils.

1003
00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:24,319
Speaker 1: I will be right there with you, cheering. It should

1004
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:25,520
Speaker 1: be a lot of fun.

1005
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:25,719
Speaker 2: Man.

1006
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:29,000
Speaker 1: What a sports weekend we have on the horizon. Baseball's

1007
00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 1: back sweet sixteen, Alita. Yeah, it's a good time of

1008
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 1: year on the sports calendar. All right, folks, that's going

1009
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:37,000
Speaker 1: to do it for this edition of the show. A

1010
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 1: big thank you again for CJ jumping on and talking

1011
00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:43,000
Speaker 1: all things braves here. We will be back with plenty

1012
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 1: of coverage this week. I know we're going to have

1013
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,440
Speaker 1: a show wrapping up Opening Day as well, so keep

1014
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:47,799
Speaker 1: an eye.

1015
00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:48,120
Speaker 2: Out for that.

1016
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 1: Of course, any more news that comes down, maybe we'll

1017
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,400
Speaker 1: get lucky, maybe we will avoid bad news between now

1018
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 1: and Friday, and I mean, damn it, we're due for

1019
00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:58,120
Speaker 1: some good news at this point, CJ. I don't know

1020
00:41:58,160 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 1: what it could be.

1021
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:00,279
Speaker 2: Maybe they'll I don't know, but.

1022
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: It's been a rough couple of weeks and months in

1023
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:05,600
Speaker 1: Braves Country. But until then, we'll be back. We'll see

1024
00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:06,759
Speaker 1: everybody next time.