WEBVTT

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It's great to be at Dodger Stadium. It's even better to be at Dodger

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Stadium with one of the greatest shortstops
of his generation and maybe right up there

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in the top ten of all time, two time batting champion, a former

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Dodger now the best looking guy on
that set at Sportsnet LA the star himself,

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No mar Garciapara, no ma,
thanks a lot for the time you

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got maybe partial right now, I
don't think I'm the best looking guy on

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this set. Maybe a second.
We do have John Hartung go forget that

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too, so, but the other
guy that's next to me, absolutely who's

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the guy next to you? I
don't want to mention anyames, but you

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know what I'm talking about, Nomar. You have such a great perspective on

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the position of shortstop. You played
it your entire life. You know how

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demanding it is. You played it
at the top better than a lot of

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guys. What are you saying so
far from Mookie Bets. Listen, Mookie

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Bets is doing a fine job over
there as shortstop. I know he's so

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hard of himself. He has such
high expectations of himself. At the same

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time, you know, having those
high expectations great, because that's what makes

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you to continue to work and try
to get better rather than then just be

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complacent. And we know one thing
Mooki is not is complacent, that is

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for sure. But like I said, he's getting the job done. He's

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doing a fine job. There's things
that he may have some miscues, but

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that's just due to experience, but
it has nothing to do with the talent

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or nor the ability to play at
that position. It's when you watch him

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as a former shortstop, I can't
say, you know what, he's not

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a short stop just trying to play
the position. No, he has he

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has all the movement, the mannerisms. You and I have talked before.

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You've asked me about other shortstops in
the past, and I said, no,

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he you know, they have that
look of a short stop. I've

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told you that, and I've told
you some guys that potentially like they're short

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stop now. But I can see
those guys moving later or kind of you

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know, kind of either grown out
of the position or just don't have the

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movement to last there very long.
Yeah, but Mooki has the movements,

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the mannerisms and everything of a shortstop. He's not one. That's that.

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I say, Well, he's just
feeling in right now and doing a fine

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job. I think with due time
and experience, he'll learn some of the

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nuances that go along with it.
That's maybe some of those things where he

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maybe look a little bit off,
or he might have a miscue here and

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there that comes with more experience rather
than ability. When you look at the

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way he's been able to adapt so
quickly, it's been only two months,

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and for him to get the praise
or validation from you, what does that

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say about his athletic ability? Well, we knew that. We know he's

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a ridiculous athlete, right and and
like I said, the more and more

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you play with experience, you're no
longer an athlete playing shortstop. You become

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a shortstop. And that doesn't happen
overnight, you know, And I think

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that's where the expectation is from.
So he wants to just be a shortstop.

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He thinks it takes, you know, it takes years, not necessarily

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just months in order to do that. You know, I know when I

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moved over to first base, I
knew I was a short stop playing first

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base. I was in a first
base and it took me a while.

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I don't know if I mean it. Maybe toward the end of the year,

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Rife kind of felt like, yeah, I'm a first baseman, like

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you know, it took me that
long. And it goes back to being

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able to where things work instinctively,
where I'm not overthinking it too much,

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where I just let the game just
kind of come and it just took time.

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It wasn't anything. It wasn't for
the lack of effort. It wasn't

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that I you know what, It
could have happened sooner if I had taken

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a thousand more ground balls than what
I did to try to get some.

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It wasn't that. And hearing Mookie
Betts talk about that the other day,

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he sounds like, you can take
all the ground balls, but it's just

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the game. The game. It's
hard to duplicate. It's hard to find

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these little situations that happened over the
course of a game. I know when

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I was at first, there's so
much footwork watching the throw. You don't

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work on every single throw that comes
at you because game situation is just so

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different. With the adrenaline, the
movement of the guys that are throwing over

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there there's a lot of things that
come into play, and the same things

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that short game speed is different than
what you try to simulate. You do

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it as best you can, but
just when the game happens, and also

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the way the adrenaline is in you
also affects. Maybe that first step,

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maybe that one little read you know
it's there, game of inches. It

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is so much less than that.
And I always said that from a hitting

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perspective, but also from a fielding
perspective, there are times where that first

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step you get or that first read
right off the bat is so vital to

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your rhythm. The one thing that
shortstop compared to other positions is, let's

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say that first initial read I don't
get if I'm at third base and I'm

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able to still knock it down,
but I still have time to get it

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over to first base. Second base
the same thing. I may miss that

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read or I may be able to
make up for it, and I may

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be off balance, but I still
have enough time to get the ball to

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first base to get the out.
Shortstop, it all has to be in

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sync. Because you are at shortstop. As you're fielding, you're already preparing

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yourself for the throw. That's the
one position in the infield where, more

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than anywhere else, you were already
preparing yourself to throw before you even have

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the ball. So it's that type
of movement, that first step, that

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all matters no more. It's interesting
you bring that up because opposing scouts have

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been here at Dodger Stadium and some
of them have observed that MOOKI is thinking

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about the throw before he actually gets
the ball in the glove. Have you

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seen that at times? I don't
know if he's necessarily thinking about the throw.

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I think it's more about what position
I'm supposed to be in for the

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throw, right, rather than Okay, I got to think about that.

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There are a lot of times you're
thinking, oh, he moved too quickly

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because he's already trying to throw the
ball, you know, or he didn't

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get the glove, he lifted his
glove up too soon. I don't see

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that. I think he's more working
on how do I want to get myself

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into the position for that throw.
For example, the backhand. You know,

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there's a couple of ways go from
the backhand. There's some that at

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a certain angle depends on where it's
hit, where you actually go through the

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ball on the backhand where your hand
is staying down and you're going through.

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And then there's other times where you're
where you're on your backhand where the glove

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is kind of more is soft.
It's where you're just kind of, you

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know, catching it like an egg. You know, at an egg you

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don't want to really go through it
because you fail, you're gonna break it.

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But there are times based on the
angle and the way it's hit where

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you're now your hands are supposed to
be soft and kind of let it give

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a little bit and then come up
and get ready to throw. Those are

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really hard to understand based on you
know, that comes with practice, and

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I think that's where we see more
of his in between is trying to recognize

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is this one where I'm supposed to
be soft like an egg, where I'm

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supposed to go through the ball with
my momentum going toward first. No,

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mare Garciapara is our guest. He
is a wizard. I know he's not

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Auzzie Smith, but he was a
wizard at shortstop as well. And you

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just hear the way you talk about
it, Nomar. It's like driving a

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car or riding up by for you
or putting on your shoes. It was

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second nature. It sounds like for
you to play that position. Ask MOOKI.

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Talk to Mooki about right field and
want you to listen how second nature

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it is for him right because you
play it for so long. He was

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an MVP, he's an All star
out and right field. There's so many

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nuances that you and I both know
because we didn't have the experience, you

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know, and now you're asking him
to go do something, So you're right,

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I did it for a long time. So I hope that with that

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experience and you know, that instinctiveness
that just came out, that I would

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know it to some degree. You
know. It's like, especially at this

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level, the guy's up here to
play it at this level, it's really

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hard to do that without that knowledge. And like I said, we're asking

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a lot of Mooki. But like
I said, by no means is he

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incapable of doing it. He can
do it. Nomar is so humble and

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he respects the players in their preparation. But I feel like, Nomar,

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you're in your tie suit ready to
go for Sports net La tonight. I

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feel like I just want to drag
you out there right now. And maybe

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Mookie Bets can get a tutorial from
one of the best. You know what,

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I'm watching him take ground balls right
now and work, and he already

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has one of the best out there. Miguel Rojas is phenomenal. He really

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is special out there, and I
love watching Miguel Rojas. I love watching

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him. I've always liked watching guys
practice, even when I was little,

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I wanted to come during background and
just watched how how professional guys got themselves

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prepared, how they took their ground
balls, just watched their footwork, watch

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what they were doing, and you
know those little things that we were just

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talking about earlier. From the shortstop
position. Miguel Rojas, he knows all

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those little nuances. He knows all
maybe the little tricks he sees things.

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Dino Ebo is another one. You
talk to Dino man. I love talking

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to him about infield and watching him
work with the infielders and what they do,

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the little, you know, subtleties
that can put your body in the

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right position that you may not be
recognizing or doing it. It's like a

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good hitting coach is supposed to do, maybe recognizing that your hands are down

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an inch or you know, the
batpath isn't going right because you know that

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could be that front foot that is
important in the right way, and it's

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messing with your hips. These guys
are great, so he actually has some

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of the two best. They're helping
him out, all right, Nomar,

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thanks a lot for the time.
When you played, everybody always asked you

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about your family, so I got
to give a shout out to your mom

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and dad. How's mom and dad
doing out there? And Whittier, you're

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the best, Dave. I appreciate
that they are doing well. I talk

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to them every day. I talked
to them earlier today, so it's always

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good to catch up with them,
and you know what they are doing great,

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you know, running around watching their
grandkids, you know, do all

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the different activities that they're doing.
So they're having a blast. Love it.

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Waiting for that invite to Christmas,
Nomar, it might be a wild

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Dave. Thanks a lot for the
time. It is truly special to hear

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you talk about the position, So
thank you. You got it, Dave. Anytime,