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[SPEAKER_01]: Did it, did it?
[SPEAKER_04]: just baseball show for Friday, August eighth and we've got marlins catchers slash first baseman slash dh slash rule five pick Liam Hicks joining the program.
[SPEAKER_04]: So we're going to talk to Hicks in a little bit, but do want to walk you through a quick weekend preview.
[SPEAKER_04]: I end talk about Gavin Williams near no hitter in Queens on Wednesday.
[SPEAKER_04]: Just baseball show as always brought to you by the fine folks at bet mgm alongside arm.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm Jack.
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to start with Gavin Williams here because this guy was nails on Wednesday afternoon.
[SPEAKER_04]: You guys recorded the mail back.
[SPEAKER_04]: I think while this was going on, I watched the last two and a half innings of Gavin Williams in the booth and do like, okay, so it took him for a twenty dead center in the nine to one out.
[SPEAKER_04]: That sucked.
[SPEAKER_04]: Isn't this what we've been promised from him for the last like two years?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think so.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think a big part of it was was getting healthy.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, he was dealing with some arm issues a little bit over the last year.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that were, kind of creating velocity fluctuations.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I think when he came back, then he got the VLO back a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_02]: The shapes weren't all the way there.
[SPEAKER_02]: feels like he's been that guy and and I think he's also managed now being effectively wild where he's not going to drill his spots but I thought that was a perfect example here where like he can be around the zone enough and then use that almost to his advantage where he goes eight and two thirds he walks for
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, but he struck out six and allowed just the one hit.
[SPEAKER_02]: You look at his last six starts.
[SPEAKER_02]: It isn't eleven percent walk rate, but it's a one six three.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think he's a guy that's going to be able to skirt around that, you know, fringy command with an assortment of pitches and a fastball now that's back up to, you know, the upper nineties and playing like we know it can.
[SPEAKER_04]: So at a certain point of the upper minors, Gavin Williams was consistently hitting a hundred.
[SPEAKER_04]: I think he caught a couple one-o-one as well.
[SPEAKER_04]: And it did kind of feel like it was perfectly executed on the outer half to righties all the time.
[SPEAKER_04]: Like if he had a heat map in AAA in AA, it was just going to be lining the outside rail, the strikes on against righties.
[SPEAKER_04]: But honestly, like it didn't feel like the stuff was awesome.
[SPEAKER_04]: It just felt like the stuff was really hard.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: And now it's like, am I crazy to say the movement profile on pretty much everything is like better than what we saw when it was a prospect?
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think it's crazy at all because you, I think you have a little bit more life on the heater.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's throwing this like ninety two mile an hour cutter that just is a different wrinkle with the way that he's able to weaponize that now.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then he's got this curve ball.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like a power curve at eighty two and then a slider at eighty six.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, these are four distinct velocities, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like that none of these are blending together.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that's been a huge part of it, too, where you got to really be worried about covering
[SPEAKER_02]: four different pitches at four different velocities four different shapes and I think that's the recipe to be able to throw like a no-header or take one really deep is hitters can't really play the elimination game with you.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm just I'm looking at this rotation and obviously like I ID Kevin Williams is the X factor for the Guardians going into this year.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like okay, they need another frontline guy to go along with Bobby and I know the season has not gone the way that Bobby would want it to go from an ERA perspective
[SPEAKER_04]: But it does feel like they have two horses to ride moving forward.
[SPEAKER_04]: And unfortunately, it looks a hell of a lot different than it did two years ago when both those guys initially broke in because we're saying, oh, you got Bieber.
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, you got Tristan McKenzie.
[SPEAKER_04]: And you got Bobby and Gavin Williams.
[SPEAKER_04]: They're going to run the central.
[SPEAKER_04]: Not the case.
[SPEAKER_04]: Cal Stevens and the fold now.
[SPEAKER_04]: How does Gavin Williams and like this kind of outing change your long-term perspective on Cleveland?
[SPEAKER_04]: Does it?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think this season as a whole, just in the way that he's finished gives me a little bit more just optimism that, you know, they can reload this rotation up.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know, it's like how Steven will probably be up there at some point next year with the way he's throwing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Bobby, you know, it's gonna be better next year.
[SPEAKER_02]: They've got some, some guys through the minor leagues.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, can plug in.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you even have some guys that could fill in and maybe exceed expectations, like a parker, Massick, who had another good outing in AAA the other day.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it just gives me a little bit more
[SPEAKER_02]: calm knowing that they've got another guy that they can sharpie in instead of pencil in for next year and in Gavin Williams and the way that he's finishing this year is I think really really encouraging given that they subtracted from the rotation a little bit and
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, some by choice, some by circumstance, and now, you know, at least have two guys that they can sharpie in next year and feel really good about.
[SPEAKER_04]: Last thing I have on Cleveland, and I say I hate being this guy, but I do this all the time, like I just, I bring up the worst part, so maybe I do enjoy being this person, but like you mentioned some by circumstance.
[SPEAKER_04]: Would your perspective on the twenty five and maybe even twenty six Cleveland Guardians be changed if Luis Ortiz were in the fold.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not even accounting for Class A right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: It would help for sure.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, because you, at least know you got it back in guy.
[SPEAKER_02]: I will say Slate Chaconie as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can, you can probably sharpen him in as, as a solid, you know, fringe three for your next year's wedding is, you know, more of a quality four.
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, like, then at that point, you're, okay, you may not have that clear cut ace, but you've got
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, three, maybe four guys that you could feel decent about being able to pitch sub-forty R.A.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then you know the guardians are going to do their thing in the bullpen.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I would feel a lot better.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is, it is a really, really tough blow.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think everyone's going to focus on class A, but Ortiz is a guy that has a talent and even in a year where we wasn't putting it all together in the command backed up a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: Four, three ERAs eating anything.
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't really grow on trees.
[SPEAKER_04]: No at all.
[SPEAKER_04]: And we'll see what Gavin Williams can do.
[SPEAKER_04]: Luis Ortiz will see what comes from that.
[SPEAKER_04]: But the Guardian rotation, it's looking a little bit better when you close your eyes and glimpse towards a future in Gavin Williams is a humongous part of that again.
[SPEAKER_04]: He made it eight and a third no hit before Soto took him deep on Wednesday.
[SPEAKER_04]: Before we get to Liam Hicks, I just wanna do a quick and preview because we have some excellent pitching matchups coming up and it starts tonight on Friday.
[SPEAKER_04]: How about this matchup between the blue jays and the Dodgers?
[SPEAKER_04]: Max Scherzer Clayton Kershaw, what's you got for that one?
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, man, I got shirts are just just shoving and he's in throw in the ball well overall.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, his first shot.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's got a three two.
[SPEAKER_02]: I did, which is insane.
[SPEAKER_02]: That, that is, that is, we probably won't get that ever again, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's that's a special pitching match up there.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I, I love what I've seen from from Sharzer are you know, giving up the long ball a little bit, but Sharzer back at even just ninety four miles an hour.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Grabbing fives.
[SPEAKER_02]: It just, it just, it brings me joy.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it also is so cool.
[SPEAKER_02]: See, and Kurt Shaw, I just continued to, uh, pad those career stats.
[SPEAKER_04]: A hundred percent Astro's Yankees tonight at seven.
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, five.
[SPEAKER_04]: Cam Schlittler gets ball for New York against Hunter Brown for Houston.
[SPEAKER_04]: They pushed Hunter Brown two days.
[SPEAKER_04]: He's got two additional days rest.
[SPEAKER_04]: He was supposed to start Wednesday.
[SPEAKER_04]: He now throws Friday in New York.
[SPEAKER_04]: Schlittler is throwing the ball very well.
[SPEAKER_04]: He's got some juice in that arm, but Brown's one of the best in baseball.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, this is not a good time for that Yankees offense to be seen.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I know that they squeezed out a win in Texas, but felt like they won the fall classic like it was crazy to hear the calls there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, it's it's definitely a tough one for them.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think and the assures are playing good ball.
[SPEAKER_02]: You just saw it up close and personal for three games.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, the Marlin salvage the last game of the series there, but
[SPEAKER_02]: I didn't even think the Marlons played poorly.
[SPEAKER_02]: I just thought the Astros played really well in that series.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're a good baseball team.
[SPEAKER_02]: You got on a brown on the mound with that bullpen.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's going to be hard to score tonight at seven.
[SPEAKER_04]: Ten tigers hosting the angels.
[SPEAKER_04]: Terriq school.
[SPEAKER_04]: How many punchouts against the angels?
[SPEAKER_02]: Ten.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: I was going to say eleven, but ten, ten feels a little bit better.
[SPEAKER_04]: Christopher Sanchez, Merrill Kelly and Arlington.
[SPEAKER_04]: Philly's Rangers tonight at eight o'clock.
[SPEAKER_02]: the Rangers aren't whiten things up offensively either and I think Christopher Sanchez still somehow is not getting enough attention as I think at this present moment is the most dominant arm in the game every time he's throwing right now over the last really month or so every time he goes out there dude it feels like he's he's a threat for a complete game I can get I just absolutely carving through lineups and there's nothing they can do about it it's
[SPEAKER_02]: a mayoral has been great, but like you look at other than a one outing where you gave up foreign runs Christopher Sanchez and think like six of his last seven outings have been seven seven andnings of like one run ball or less.
[SPEAKER_04]: change up, man.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I heard Scooble talking about Christopher Sanchez is change up.
[SPEAKER_04]: He said, magically, it's just a better pitch than Scoobles.
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, Scoobles is probably a little bit better because he throws a hundred and two.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: And then it like tunnels off of that.
[SPEAKER_04]: But Sanchez, like Scooble is kind of jealous of Christopher Sanchez is change up.
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's just a crazy world that we live in here.
[SPEAKER_04]: Next game we got to talk about.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm just asking you for a total run scored in this ball game.
[SPEAKER_04]: Noah Cameron and Kansas City against Jill Ryan and the twins in Minnesota.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, man.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll do a key shot this back.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm gonna bump that up by a half run.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna say, say five total though.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: Met's Brewers tonight at eight ten.
[SPEAKER_04]: Cody Sangha is two three ERA against Brandon Woodruff and his two two.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that's another offense.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's just been weird right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll go seven total runs and that one.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: And then pick a winner here in Seattle.
[SPEAKER_04]: Raise Mariners Luis Castillo against Drew Rasmussen.
[SPEAKER_02]: Man, that's a fun match up, too.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, oh, go.
[SPEAKER_02]: Camanero is dialed right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll go.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll go raise in that one.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm in a couple more to throw at you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Lazardo DeGrom in Philly's Rangers on Saturday at seven, fifteen.
[SPEAKER_04]: Who you got?
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the Rangers drop the first one because they get Christopher Sanchez and then I think they bounce back because I think they're going to scrap around.
[SPEAKER_02]: They have some bits of big stretch for them.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think DeGrom puts them on their back.
[SPEAKER_04]: Battle of former white socks and former teammates Lucas Gilito and the Red Sox in San Diego taking on Dylan cease and the Padres on Saturday.
[SPEAKER_02]: She was shoving man and it's been amazing.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's got like a two-year-old was last ten and then he put him in San Diego where it's harder to, you know, produce offense and cease says a four six somehow.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll go socks.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're red hot man inside from the one last yesterday.
[SPEAKER_04]: OK, two more that I got to throw at you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Number one, one, thirty five on Sunday.
[SPEAKER_04]: Astros Yankees in New York.
[SPEAKER_04]: Max Fried against Frambervaldes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I think that's going to be the fastest game ever.
[SPEAKER_02]: But give me, I think the Yankees are going to keep, like, keep faltering a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: Give me the Astros now, one, two.
[SPEAKER_04]: OK.
[SPEAKER_04]: How about Mackenzie Gourd Justin Verlander and San Francisco, four, five on Sunday?
[SPEAKER_04]: Gourd at a four point two, ninety, all right?
[SPEAKER_04]: Verlander to four point two ninety are that's disgusting.
[SPEAKER_02]: I that that you shouldn't have told me that.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, a couple of different ways to get to a four point two nine.
[SPEAKER_02]: Verlander's been throwing well, man.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's like one earned run over his last fifteen innings.
[SPEAKER_02]: Give me the giants and Verlander riding a hot streak versus gore.
[SPEAKER_02]: Eddie R.A.
[SPEAKER_02]: is rising.
[SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[SPEAKER_04]: Last one we got to talk about Blue J's Dodgers at four ten on Sunday.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yoshi Nobu Yamamoto against Eric Lauer.
[SPEAKER_04]: Both guys in the two fives.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's also disgusting.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no, I think the Dodgers, the Dodgers start to heat off a little bit here and allow or has a come down to earth moment here.
[SPEAKER_04]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, that's our weekend preview that some Gavin Williams chat.
[SPEAKER_04]: And now we welcome on the Marlin's Rule Five pick this year.
[SPEAKER_04]: Here's Liam Hicks.
[SPEAKER_04]: Marlin's catcher slash dh slash first baseman Liam Hicks joins the program here Liam before we get going on our line of questioning.
[SPEAKER_04]: I've got a bone to pick because we sat down with you myself and Steven Strom for the Marlin's podcast and at the end Steven asked you for nicknames for us because we find the baseball nicknames to be absolutely hilarious like Hicks is just Hixie and Nick Fortes the time was forty and Ryan Weathers is Wethy so it's like oh well
[SPEAKER_04]: and Liam said my nickname would be mullsy arm is that the worst nickname you've ever heard in your life.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's bottom five.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a bottom five.
[SPEAKER_04]: I, whether he's kind of up there, too, because it's like it's whether it's like that.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, these worse, well, these worse, better place to go, but Liam, how you doing, man, you good?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a good man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, maybe maybe by the end of this, we can get your new one.
[SPEAKER_00]: will try.
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to start at honestly the very beginning of your marlins tenure.
[SPEAKER_04]: How much did you know about the rule five draft when the marlins took you?
[SPEAKER_00]: I knew a little bit about it just because I had Justin Slayton.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was teammates with him the year before and he got picked by the red socks.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like familiar with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: New what it was, but it really wasn't on my radar.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was going to ask you that because there's so many players that are our rule of five eligible and honestly like I try to do a preview every single year and I'll always miss maybe like a third of the guys maybe more that end up getting taken just because again there's so many to pick from but especially on the bat side sometimes you don't see any bats really taken or just one or two
[SPEAKER_02]: Were you just shocked?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, where did that kind of come from?
[SPEAKER_02]: Did your agent or anybody tell you, hey, you might have a chance to get selected in this thing?
[SPEAKER_02]: Or did it just kind of come out and know where?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because it's kind of a unique way to, I guess it's not an official call up, but knowing that, like, you're going to be with a big league team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, like, I knew that bats weren't taken that often.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I also knew that catchers were even less common.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the last one was like,
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't glue these trends.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like the last one.
[SPEAKER_00]: But so yeah, it wasn't really on my radar.
[SPEAKER_00]: But getting up closer to like the time of the draft, I started to see like a few like articles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like MLB pipeline had an article and I was like mentioned on it as a name.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, oh, like maybe it's possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I always didn't want to get my helps up or anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I didn't really think too much of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was the night before the draft.
[SPEAKER_00]: My manager from the from Frisco texts me and he was like, dude, I've got a few like teams that have called me in the last couple days.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like asking about she like, quote, like, I'm like, open for good things for you or something.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, okay, I guess it's something to do with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, okay, maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, my hopes are a little higher.
[SPEAKER_00]: but still like obviously didn't want to didn't want to get them up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then yeah, it happened and I was super excited.
[SPEAKER_04]: What did the marlins tell you they liked about you when they took you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the crazy thing is I really didn't talk to them too much after that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was more like in spring training, getting to know them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they didn't want me to like put too much pressure on myself and like think like when they told me what they like, oh, I got to do this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got it was more like
[SPEAKER_00]: They're looking at the track record.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, I think I had a conversation with Cap in spring and he was kind of like, what do you think?
[SPEAKER_00]: Which is kind of how he's kind of wired.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's like, what do you think we like about you?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, I mean, I walk a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to swing and miss it that much.
[SPEAKER_00]: I put the bomb play.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's kind of what it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they see my approach at the plate.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then also developing behind the play.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think just have the ability to to be a good catcher eventually.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: The leap from double I straight to the show is an interesting component as well, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because, you know, it's again, sometimes with arms, it makes a little bit more sense or it's just an easier shot to take.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like, OK, this guy is throwing a hundred miles an hour with a nasty slider in double A. You're going to plug that in the bigs if you execute, it's going to play.
[SPEAKER_02]: But for a catcher that
[SPEAKER_02]: It hadn't played above AA yet.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was there a little bit of a voice in the back of your head like holy crap.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm making a huge leap here like I didn't even get to get my feet wet and triple air.
[SPEAKER_02]: What was your thought process there just skipping an entire level and going straight to the show?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a little bit, but it was also like a ton of excitement too.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like a, a good situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're taking me for a reason.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of what I was thinking.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they see something.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a really good offseason got there early so I got like really familiar with kind of the coaching staff there and got a little more comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then yeah, I think I think I knew the hitting would would be all right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I think in my career, I've always kind of like figured it out at the plate just like as time went on.
[SPEAKER_00]: But definitely catching like I knew like there's a ton of responsibility being a big league catcher so I do the jump from the arms and double I would be a little bit bigger to the ones in the big league so I don't say I wouldn't say there was like a voice in my head saying like it's not going to be possible, but it was like it was more excitement like
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to take advantage of this opportunity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you got to do everything you can to be right.
[SPEAKER_04]: Did you have in at bat maybe spring training of the first couple days of the season where it was like, you know, crap, moment.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm in the show.
[SPEAKER_04]: This guy is better than anybody that I've ever seen.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's tough.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I don't know if there's exactly like an O-Crap moment, but it's more like every single day.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like how you're not getting the day off.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not facing anyone that's like,
[SPEAKER_00]: that stuff can't be you if they're on they're going to be you so it's it's I'd say it's more of that there obviously sometimes it's spring training definitely where I was kind of going through things kind of realize like if you're thinking about mechanics if you're trying to think about your own swing and compete with these pictures like it's not going to work out well so I kind of
[SPEAKER_00]: Give me a better mindset going to the season like you gotta be externally focused.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't be thinking about your mechanics and maybe stuff that you've thought of in the past because they're gonna expose you here.
[SPEAKER_02]: On the defensive side, you mentioned just just continuing to get better there and the responsibility that comes with being a big lead catcher.
[SPEAKER_02]: What have those kind of responsibilities been and for the average listener, like I think you just they look at baseballs of aunt and I think even more guilty of this sometimes.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're like blocking, you know, receiving framing and how many guys you're throwing out.
[SPEAKER_02]: But how much what's been like the biggest leap for you and just the biggest focus just getting a big lead camp and
[SPEAKER_02]: working with with, you know, Big League rotation to make sure that you can, you'll meet the standards of of an MLB catcher.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like you said, obviously blocking catching, receiving, like throwing, those are like huge.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to work on those every single day.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'd say, yeah, number one receiving, like, that's the biggest thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get, you can work on it all you want off the machine.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had been working on it, like my whole career off the machine, but they really did some things here.
[SPEAKER_00]: with some like higher VLO kind of put your in tough environment to catch kind of make the game a little bit easier which definitely helps and then yeah like you said there's so many things that you can't quantify like just having the trust in the pitchers that was definitely something that I kind of maybe struggled with in spring training like calling a game you know it did not go in your way and then thinking back like dang like I hope this pitcher still has trust in me you know I don't want him
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's his ERA that's getting hurt right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to make sure that I'm totally prepared.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it's a ton of that like learning the pitchers being comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now we're so far into the season like a guy comes on the mound.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a really good idea of exactly what he wants to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll go through like a scattered report of the other team.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'd say there's a ton of pitcher catcher relationship that you need to know, especially knowing your guys like
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Tyler Phillips, I can get on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm, you know, like, kind of fight, trying to fire him up on the mountain.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, do you need to slap him in the face?
[SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes, or he takes care of that himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: He takes care of it himself, but yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes, another one.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other guys, maybe you're going to need to, you know, baby a little bit more, like, pump them up, tell them how great they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's definitely that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then also the ton of responsibility as far as, like, time management, like, we have a position player meeting every day, but then we're also going to have a catcher meeting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of like a catcher review session and then we're also going to meet and talk about the starting picture and kind of how they're going to navigate the opposing teams line up.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a ton of time management as well.
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to get back to kind of the game planning aspect and how your day-to-day has changed.
[SPEAKER_04]: But before that, I want to shout out, Joe Singley was the major league catching coach with the Marlins because he got some pub during the college world series.
[SPEAKER_04]: Caden Bowdoin, who is the catcher for Coastal Carolina.
[SPEAKER_04]: First round kid, Orioles, right?
[SPEAKER_04]: Baltimore took Caden Bowdoin.
[SPEAKER_04]: So, Joe Singley went to Coastal, works with Bowdoin, and Bowdoin is one of the best that I've ever seen to the next night.
[SPEAKER_04]: at pulling up the low strike, working from the ground up.
[SPEAKER_04]: And you work with that guy every single day, the one that taught him how to do that.
[SPEAKER_04]: What's the benefit of working from the ground up?
[SPEAKER_04]: Because we see guys do that all the time at the catching position now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, shout out to Joe for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I got there in January and he, I was down in Jupiter just like living there for just for the off season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he flew down on his own time and took the time to work with me in Nick like every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, she had to hand me.
[SPEAKER_00]: He works so hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just pretty insane how dedicated he is to his job and to his craft.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then yeah, the pitches are just too nasty to not work from the ground up.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're calling a breaking ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're starting in the strike zone, that Calvin Foshe's eighty six mile an hour curve ball that's going to drop eighteen inches.
[SPEAKER_00]: is you're not going to be strong enough to keep that in the strike zone you got to use some type of like force going the other way to kind of counter counter balance that draw.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's really like beating the ball to the spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's huge and I mean a lot of the guys if you look at the best receivers and baseball they're all it's all the bottom of the zone so that's kind of where we're focusing the most.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of where we they've found that
[SPEAKER_00]: it helps the most in terms of call strike.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of it.
[SPEAKER_02]: How is it kind of receiving from like Yuri Perez when he just hands you the ball?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like what was that experience?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like is that I feel like that's a really interesting component to where I imagine you haven't had a ton of experience catching from a guy's tall and long as this Yuri and throws his heart as he does with the stuff that he has.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: A ton of our pitchers, we're going to be middle middle and kind of just emphasize getting in the strike zone because your stuff is so nasty and he's just like the epitome of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You just need to if he's in the zone, it's going to be really hard to hit him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I haven't caught many pitchers that are as gifted as him.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty crazy and it's pretty funny to hear guys on the other team when I'm playing first or after games the next day talking about him and just how crazy the extension is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Literally says he looks like he's thrown from fifty feet away.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, he's he's awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just getting better.
[SPEAKER_04]: So we asked Griffin Kona in this couple weeks ago.
[SPEAKER_04]: And you know, you can look at the specs all you want.
[SPEAKER_04]: You look at the results against Yuri's forseemer and by run value in terms of run value per one hundred pitches like it's like the NBA the per thirty six stat you just extrapolate.
[SPEAKER_04]: This guy since coming off the shelf working his way back from Tommy John surgery has the best forcing fastball in major league baseball by run value.
[SPEAKER_04]: So
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to ask you somebody that catches it and somebody that sees it, you know, several times a week, whether it's in a bullpen session or in game.
[SPEAKER_04]: Is it the best forcing fastball and baseball?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a good chance.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's probably just off the top of my head.
[SPEAKER_00]: My head, there's a few others like Joe Ryan probably, for example, probably has a really, really good one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wheeler, I'm sure, like, but that low release.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, yours is definitely special.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think just have house
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's got that slow, slow kind of deliberate wind up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then out of nowhere, he's seven plus feet of extension, create a hundred miles an hour.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's pretty crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'd say it's only going to get better, really, because I think his off-speed stuff is still kind of developing the fastballs probably a little bit ahead of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think as he works his way back from TJ, like you said, once he gets the off-speed even tougher, even harder, it's, I mean,
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the first team's just going to get better.
[SPEAKER_02]: The team's been playing just insanely well.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, what was the first series?
[SPEAKER_02]: You and I'm still having a great third game in salvaging it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Was that the Jack would know this?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, first series have lost and how long?
[SPEAKER_02]: Nancy Astros.
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, last twelve series, I think there's eight or last eleven series are like nine one and one or something like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Point stands.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's been an insane stretch for you guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I
[SPEAKER_04]: You call back to like kind of arbitrary June dates to it's just pull ridiculous records and numbers whatever maybe I'll throw you a non arbitrary June date June third you guys get swept by the Colorado like okay you get swept it home by Colorado and things changed after that you go to Tampa your manager Clayton McCullough is like said that was the time where it feels like things just shifted a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's tough to really like
[SPEAKER_00]: think about a moment of things changing or like, oh, we change practice after this or we completely changed our mindset.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's tough to say that, but I definitely think that might have been a little bit of a wake-up call.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, kind of them come in in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe took them lightly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe maybe weren't completely focused on that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think that kind of emphasis, like you need to take
[SPEAKER_00]: every day for what it is one day at a time, just focus on that game, don't get ahead of yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like that's what this group has done so well this year, or lately, especially, is it's just kind of one at a time, you know, one at any at a time.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we get down, we know we can come back.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's pretty, that makes it pretty, pretty exciting.
[SPEAKER_02]: The shift is amazing though now because it really does.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's palpable even, you know,
[SPEAKER_02]: from from our our couch or you know from the stands at the game where you guys don't feel like you're out of a ball game and you know been watching the marlins for for a few years here you know and especially like it's just been really tough to to get back in the game so a lot of times with these offences and like you guys just bring together these good at bats but it's not only that the pitching side of things as well you can stop the bleeding if you get back into it you know that they're going to be able to put up zeros and a lot of the times uh...
[SPEAKER_02]: You know that if you score four runs you got a good chance to win because you're starters, but that wasn't the recipe early in the season.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a little bit of it was a hot start and then kind of slowed down and then now it just feels like you guys are clicking on all cylinders and look like it's just a really good baseball team.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not gonna ask it in terms of like you guys probably always knew this was in there, but when did you really start believing it?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like when did you really feel like hey
[SPEAKER_02]: we can compete with anybody and I mean we want to make a run at this wild card like I I feel like now that's even being brought up now and I'm sure you guys were thinking about it but I don't know if anybody was really taking that that seriously like when did you guys have that moment of like feeling like hey we can we can make a run here and we can be anybody.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah I think it might have been that last that road trip we went went to the west coast and cut and beat San Fran and then
[SPEAKER_00]: And like some really close games, like some kind of like close games and tension filled games with like them throwing at some of our guys and like some big homers after that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then going to Arizona, I think sweeping them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think after that road trip, we kind of got a little bit of swagger, like a little kind of confidence.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I think it's just you play in these close games.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think early in the season, you know, we play in these close games and we wouldn't come out on top.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you kind of, you don't really but truly believe in yourself until you do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think lately, or in that past in that June month, we kind of played in these close games where we got down kind of came back and kind of taught ourselves like it's possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can do that like we can come back.
[SPEAKER_00]: you know there's not that oh no moment here we go again we're blowing this it's kind of like it doesn't matter if we get down in the ninth we're still gonna put up a fight so I think it's I think it's that I think you got to do it and then it gives you your team the confidence to know that you can come back week ago today you guys won the game of the year and arm you called it the best marlins win since when that third ten to twelve win over New York
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I know people can talk about, like, the playoffs a couple years ago or whatever, but it's just, it felt like I would own nine to me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, the last morning's team that just was young, scrappy, and kind of made this run at the wild card for his expanded playoffs, they would've made it by the way, but it felt like the best win since so nine to me.
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, like being a part of that game, and you had a huge part of that, pinch it to run single shot.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'd leave him next, but I mean, being a part of that emotional roller coaster, did that give you guys a sense of if we can win this game, we can win literally any other baseball game we play?
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's exactly it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we're all around like three separate times, you know, three separate times, and then we were up, and then we blew it, and then came back again.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's just kind of the epitome of like,
[SPEAKER_00]: what the team is.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to, you need to be down.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to come back to kind of teach yourself that it's possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I feel like there's just no panic with the team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Say we lose that game.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one's going to hold their head down.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to come to the park next day and be the exact same guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how it was with that Houston series.
[SPEAKER_00]: We lose the first couple and no one's getting down on their selves.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not all on out.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can't make the wild car or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like, all right, next game.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna go out and win.
[SPEAKER_04]: Team identity is really fun to watch right now with you guys and it's funny like every single opposing broadcaster that I talk to, they use the word scrappy or frisky.
[SPEAKER_04]: There's always some sort of adjective like that.
[SPEAKER_04]: The one that I've recently started using is annoying, but like in a good way.
[SPEAKER_04]: Like you guys push Freddie Perl to do a hundred pitches through five innings and then the next day you push Kintana to a hundred pitches through five innings and then the next day was like Woodruff was at a hundred pitches in a five and a third you keep doing that to starting pitchers as a team Do you guys feel like scrappy is that something you want to pride yourselves on?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, definitely I think I think that I think it's scrappy team is like a team that has
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of an approach as a team.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we take pride.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have our hitters meetings.
[SPEAKER_00]: We kind of have a plan of what we're going to do to that picture and the hitting coaches kind of give us a good blueprint.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think if we're following that, it's going to be annoying for that opposing picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I definitely think, yeah, I definitely think we take pride in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's cool kind of coming to teams that don't know the team at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, who are these names in this lineup?
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's kind of cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: to kind of show them how scrappy, gritty, whatever annoying we are.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is really cool.
[SPEAKER_02]: The pre game work, I'm always going to touch on this because I think it's so fascinating because it's so different than what it was with the marlins in the past and I think what a lot of other teams do on the hitting side.
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess the goal is that the toughest reps are before the game.
[SPEAKER_02]: How much is that helped you guys?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because I think what stands out to me when I'm watching is in kind of piggybacking off of what Jack was saying is
[SPEAKER_02]: Everybody seems to control their A.B.
[SPEAKER_02]: is really well.
[SPEAKER_02]: Everyone seems to have a really good plan.
[SPEAKER_02]: The swing decisions are consistently good.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's just consistently good at bats.
[SPEAKER_02]: Even if you guys aren't stringing together a ton of runs, you're making them work.
[SPEAKER_02]: Is that the pre-game work that you guys are getting off the machine where like each game, you feel like you're not getting the toughest reps in the game?
[SPEAKER_02]: And there's more of the preparation in terms of the info you're getting.
[SPEAKER_02]: What is the pre-game work been like and how long did it take to kind of buy into no-tees, machine work, super intense?
[SPEAKER_02]: You are not going to get a good feel going into the game.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no feel good swings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's a good point.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd say it starts with kind of the plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd say it starts with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: The hitting coaches do a really good job of kind of giving us a scattering of the eye, but also not making it too complicated.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you don't want to be up there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thinking about all five of his pitches, you know, they're going to give you kind of one thing to go with a couple like key points to take away about the guy like low slot.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got extension beyond top of the heat or something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then yeah, like you said, I think coming into this season, I was very like apprehensive about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like doing like my routine.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like feeling good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like doing flips, you know, some R&BP.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then halfway through the year, I kind of realized.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I can't be doing that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I can't just be feeling good.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was kind of to the point where I wasn't at playing as much as kind of just playing if maybe once a series, once every two series or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, okay, I need to get they talked with me and they're like, you need to get better off the feet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you need to get better in the cage.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if I wanted to feel like even if I didn't play that game, I got better.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was kind of the big thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, and then I started doing that, started playing really well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, okay, I need to just only do this.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now it's like, no, yeah, no flips.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're going to go max below machine before the game.
[SPEAKER_00]: Screw feeling good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you need to compete.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think I think a lot of guys have embraced that.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's really cool to watch you guys blossom and it's been so cool to watch you as an individual and blossom this year.
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, I think I gave you a knuckle bump after that homer against the Dodgers that was off the bat of what, one-oh-eight or one-oh-eight-five something like that.
[SPEAKER_04]: You killed that baseball.
[SPEAKER_04]: Was that in the tank before this?
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, you've, you've really unlocked it feels like a next level of hard hit baseballs from you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, where has that work come from?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that's my max.
[SPEAKER_00]: Max career bullet.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I think it's training like that's what we talked about.
[SPEAKER_00]: We kind of had a meeting and they were like, you need to get stronger.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you need to start swinging the bat faster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, some working on that all all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then it's it's in training like training high Velo heaters.
[SPEAKER_00]: Get on top of them and pull like just trying to learn to pull the baseball better.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is the main thing like take my A swing.
[SPEAKER_00]: because I had always been told to swing harder, trying to do more damage, but I was never really training it in practice in the cage.
[SPEAKER_04]: You probably weren't trying to lose what you were awesome at.
[SPEAKER_04]: You didn't swing a miss at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think in the back of my mind, I'm apprehensive to swing and miss.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to be fooled in swing and miss, but they've really encouraged
[SPEAKER_00]: Dude, we don't care if you swing and miss early in the count.
[SPEAKER_00]: With two strikes, the chances of you putting the ball in player higher than the average player.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we don't care, take your shot earlier in the count.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's okay if you swing and miss, but we want you to try and do some more damage.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was really cool like working with the coaches, working like hearing their thoughts on it, just trying to work on learning how to do that.
[SPEAKER_02]: the crazy part, though, is your contact rate compared to double a last year is only one percent lower.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you're getting it off, and it hasn't really come at the expense of your contact.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you feel that?
[SPEAKER_02]: Did you even know that by chance?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, honestly, I didn't know that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, just, I think, naturally, I have the ability to make contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: So training
[SPEAKER_00]: string harder.
[SPEAKER_00]: It really isn't going to change it too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's weird.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why it's but
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I still need to learn how to hit the ball harder.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, it's been working so far.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, again, like the doubles and being able to drive and runs in the bat to ball side of things is really what is stood out to me.
[SPEAKER_02]: I had to ask you one thing, though, about the first time I saw you play, it was in the Arizona fall league that would have been what, twenty three, twenty three.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think you hit like four, fifty out there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: What was that like for you being out there?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like being the guy that's like one of the better bats to ball guys in the minor leagues.
[SPEAKER_02]: You get to go out to a place where the pictures are probably not as good as what you were facing.
[SPEAKER_02]: The ball flies.
[SPEAKER_02]: You got more space out there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Was that the most fun you've had in the batters box?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I felt like when I was watching it, you were back in college just better than everybody on the field.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I definitely had a ton of confidence out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was feeling really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: some luck there too, you know, everything just happening to fall.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then yeah, it's like a ton of confidence too, just swing felt really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, some a lot of baseball players know like being in that like locked in moment where you just know you're gonna put the ball where the the feelers aren't.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a really cool feeling.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is just six by the way, four, fifty, five, fifty, three, five, twenty, two, slash lines, sixteen, walks, eight strikeouts, and eighty, five blade appearances.
[SPEAKER_04]: Come on.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was pretty awesome.
[SPEAKER_04]: What was the OBP in any five plate appearances?
[SPEAKER_04]: By fifty three.
[SPEAKER_04]: Come on.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's awesome.
[SPEAKER_04]: Liam last one from me.
[SPEAKER_04]: Is there anybody that you are just in awe of in terms of their cage work among your teammates?
[SPEAKER_04]: Like obviously we've seen stowers blow up this year.
[SPEAKER_04]: Augustine, we've heard plenty of stories about that guy and just how much of a freaky is offensively and everybody loves the helicopter finish.
[SPEAKER_04]: It is, you know, it could be one of those guys could be somebody else.
[SPEAKER_04]: Who do you look at and say, I can't believe you can do this to that level?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's tough.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stowers this really unique because his, his routine is just so locked in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he's, I think what separates him is just kind of his, his mindset, you know, he's going to do these exact same routine every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: but then he'll like change some things if he needs to as far as like what he's feeling in the game.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty crazy how effortless his juices.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't realize how much juicy he had.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not like the greatest guy ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is hitting the ball so hard consistently.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's definitely
[SPEAKER_00]: definitely some crazy uh and he's putting himself in like tough situations like you guys said like he'll go he knows he's got a he had to work on heaters at the top of the zone and that's like he just pounds that um X is a guy that is a little different he's he's gonna have his own routine but it's just gonna be like a like a machine like it's gonna be line drives the other way like automatic uh whenever he wants from both sides of the plate
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's it's crazy seeing kind of how different guys routines are, but how how like good they are mentally as far as like what they know and what they need and just going out there and taking it into the game.
[SPEAKER_02]: Last one from me is you know, working with the pitching staff obviously we've seen Edward Cabrera have this this breakout year.
[SPEAKER_02]: We we talked about Yeri could be a reliever could be a starter.
[SPEAKER_02]: Who's somebody that just you think deserves a little bit more love or is on the cusp of becoming like a more you know well respected arm because the marlins clearly have done a really good job of identifying guys in the bullpen you know just finding players that were undervalued elsewhere uh... who's someone that you think just deserves more love that you know it has just crazy stuff yeah i mean uh... multi asked me the same uh...
[SPEAKER_00]: same question, and I gave Calvin Fosche.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's got unreal stuff, you know, when he's in the zone, he can be absolutely disgusting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ronnie Henrique is too.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I know he's got a little bit more love now, but what he's doing this year is just insane.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's got a thirty two percent strike out rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's from like fifty five innings.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's pretty mind-blowing.
[SPEAKER_00]: How good his stuff is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then another guy, Lake Walker, too.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he, he's kind of come out and know where he's, I don't think any, I don't think guys on other teams are prepared for his stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like against the Yankees, he's going ninety three mile an hour sliders, ninety seven with the heater, eighty six mile an hour splitter, and he's got a sweeper too, especially for someone he got sent down to try and get back, like he wasn't in the zone as much as they wanted him to.
[SPEAKER_00]: He got sent down when he was on that west coast trip and he came back and he's just been
[SPEAKER_00]: a high leverage on you can really count on.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a sub one e array since he's come back from AAA.
[SPEAKER_04]: Liam Hicks, I was going to say thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_04]: This was great, but because you called me mullsie another time, this was terrible.
[SPEAKER_02]: This was stuck with mullsie.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not time to go over a new one.
[SPEAKER_04]: Liam and appreciate you.
[SPEAKER_04]: This was awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having me, guys.
[SPEAKER_04]: All right, awesome chatting with Liam Hicks.
[SPEAKER_04]: The Miami Marlins.
[SPEAKER_04]: That guy he's fun man.
[SPEAKER_04]: Like he's he's got that Canadian Ontario feel where he's always smiling and he's been like so fun to watch it this year.
[SPEAKER_04]: Were you expecting like this possible outcome from a rule five catcher?
[SPEAKER_02]: No, not at all.
[SPEAKER_02]: And and it's funny because as we talked about like I watched Liam Hicks
[SPEAKER_02]: literally be Tony Glenn in the air is on a folly like quite literally, um, but you know, I figured he'd get up and and he wasn't going to be overmatched.
[SPEAKER_02]: That for sure, you knew he was going to put bad on ball, but as you know, like the contact oriented guys, it's a quality of contact league now, it's hard to get away with that, but he's improved the quality of contact.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's controlling his AB so well.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like an eighteen percent chase rate.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then as we mentioned, like he's swinging harder, but he's still making contact at the same clip.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was in double a. Like that says a lot about his hitting ability and another another impressive find by, you know, by Bendix and co, but I will say on top of that, it's
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not just the scouting fine.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's the person that you're adding to the fold.
[SPEAKER_02]: If Liam Hicks didn't put the work in and spring training and get there early and do all the little things, probably wouldn't have made this leap that he has made.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's a lot of credits it to Hicks as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, how big has he been for the marlins?
[SPEAKER_02]: And I mean, the fact that a rookie and what two rookies, but a rookie in a rule five draft pick, you know, could make one of the other marlins catchers expendable that quickly.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think says a lot about what they were able to show already.
[SPEAKER_04]: a hundred percent and and something Peter Bendix is really preached is is people like he wants to bring in a high quality of person to and that's kind of something that he's taken from Tampa and we talk about Tampa being as analytically oriented as any franchise in baseball.
[SPEAKER_04]: There are also people oriented and you know they hunt data points but they also hunt people that are willing to put in the work and grind and that's what's happening with the Miami Marlin and then it's been really fun to watch.
[SPEAKER_04]: Liam will in all likelihood be in the lineup on Saturday, August, twenty-third against the Toronto Blue Jays and some fun is happening there.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just baseball day at Lone T. Pope Park.
[SPEAKER_04]: We've got a section the link is in our episode description to purchase tickets.
[SPEAKER_04]: But what goes through all the perks?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, you get what?
[SPEAKER_02]: The first, the first, I can.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to test you.
[SPEAKER_02]: The first fifty people, I don't have an in front of me.
[SPEAKER_02]: So the first fifty people who buy a ticket get a free Marlins hat.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's correct.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then if you buy tickets, you get in the earlier bet the better because we have to figure out who's going to get these BP passes pretty quickly.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have a chance to win a BP pass before the game.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have four of those being given away.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you don't win the BP pass, you also have a chance to win a tour of the stadium.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have four of those being given away.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then an homage discount card for really sweet apparel.
[SPEAKER_02]: I, they've got the Mickey Pudrod Riga shirt.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's one of my favorites.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's super soft.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can put the discount card towards that.
[SPEAKER_02]: And what am I missing?
[SPEAKER_02]: whole bunch of just baseball merch.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh yeah, that's that stuff too.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that stuff too.
[SPEAKER_02]: And booth visits for.
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh yeah, we're going to like, booth busy booth.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yep, four people get to go to the home TV booth.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I'll likely have to meet Craig Wintervene and Tommy Hutton that day.
[SPEAKER_04]: and then eight people will come to the home radio booth and get to see the perch in which I sit at for eighty-one games a year.
[SPEAKER_04]: So pre-game booth visits ballpark tour earlier that day and then on field batting practice experience for for as well.
[SPEAKER_04]: So these are all kind of opportunities and it's best to get in early for the ballpark tour in the BP passes.
[SPEAKER_04]: That'll give you the highest likelihood of getting that opportunity.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, if you don't get any of that, you will get some just baseball merch and homage discount code.
[SPEAKER_04]: If you are among the first fifty purchasers to your point, you get a free Marlins hat, and you get to hang out with RM, you get to hang out with Peter and a couple other just baseball folk, and just watch a ball game between the Marlins and right now one of the best teams in beta have Toronto Blue Chase.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and we probably have some more things up our sleeve.
[SPEAKER_02]: I might give away some sign stuff for whatever.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see what we can do.
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think if we might have a nice little section potentially, if we get enough people coming in here.
[SPEAKER_02]: So very pumped about that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Would love to see you all out there.
[SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, let us know if you have any questions.
[SPEAKER_04]: A hundred percent, link is in our episode of the description.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just under thirty bucks for this opportunity.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just really cool.
[SPEAKER_02]: a hundred percent, especially with the way the team's plan right now, lasting for you.
[SPEAKER_02]: What are your thoughts?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because I was prepared to use it for my last word with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: But for Gwen's identity, Peter put me on the spot and said, I'm about to move to Chicago.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've been there for a week.
[SPEAKER_02]: What's pissing you off?
[SPEAKER_02]: And of course, I had something dialed up immediately.
[SPEAKER_02]: I did not expect that question though.
[SPEAKER_02]: I saw it.
[SPEAKER_02]: You saw it.
[SPEAKER_02]: What are your thoughts?
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was more or the other way.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is the battery acid mixed with urine that people brand as a drink.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes, those are my thoughts on Mallorque, the alcoholic beverage that is a Chicago staple.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: Battery acid mixed with urine.
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it just tastes like bugs spray.
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it's a few like
[SPEAKER_04]: Instead of instead of breath spray, you just shot a little like rain into your mouth.
[SPEAKER_04]: Like I think that's what Mallorque tastes like.
[SPEAKER_04]: I've done it twice.
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to say and it's just kind of a party trick to do it and not pucker your lips.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's probably the worst thing I've ever put in my system, but the reason I make people when they visit Chicago try Mallorque
[SPEAKER_04]: is because I love watching them experience it.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's it's a right a passage.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like when something smells like shit and you say, Oh, smell this.
[SPEAKER_04]: It smells terrible.
[SPEAKER_04]: And then people still smell it.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_04]: Like if you give me the for warning that something smells like shit, I don't want to smell it.
[SPEAKER_04]: But the people that do malores for those people.
[SPEAKER_02]: I typically say no because
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't enjoy things that aren't bad, and then you ever done it before.
[SPEAKER_02]: I had a little spavy sip of one, and I was all I needed to know.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, what is warm wood?
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a warm wood base to the core.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's all I need to see.
[SPEAKER_02]: Warm wood based.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm good.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't get it.
[SPEAKER_04]: What it is.
[SPEAKER_04]: Warm wood apparently there are benefits.
[SPEAKER_04]: Warm wood looks like a
[SPEAKER_02]: The bitterness of the Lord, the bitterness of the Lord is known to linger, making it a memorable experience for many.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, memorable and trauma.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you have venn diagram, memorable and trauma, do overlap.
[SPEAKER_02]: Memorable is not always good.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, okay, you know what makes a lot of sense.
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, wormwood contains active ingredients that may improve digestive problems.
[SPEAKER_04]: He's painted inflammation and treat bacterial and fungal infections.
[SPEAKER_04]: It absolutely tasted like something that was killing any bacteria or fungus that was in my system.
[SPEAKER_04]: It feels like you're ringing a chlorox wipe into your mouth.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's what next.
[SPEAKER_02]: Next bet that we make on this podcast, a loser should have to like, should have to have a couple, a couple of lower drinks.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's fine.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, that's like a heavy pour.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like a moron on the rock, a moron.
[SPEAKER_02]: You got to go to go to your local watering hole and order moron on the rocks.
[SPEAKER_04]: Double moron on the rocks.
[SPEAKER_02]: Big rock.
[SPEAKER_04]: Big Rock, that'd be great.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alright, that's our program again.
[SPEAKER_04]: Every link you need, including the link to my tickets for just baseball day at Lone Depot Park on Saturday, August.
[SPEAKER_04]: Twenty-thirt is in our episode description.
[SPEAKER_04]: Have a great weekend.
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll talk to you on Monday.