The Dodgers and Tigers getting set for first pitch in Motown, and we're joined
right now by the Dodgers Vice president of player Performance, Brandon McDaniel. Brandon,
thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it. Oh, thank you,
Dave. I enjoy being on here every time. As I say thank
you for your time, I see a clock on your forearm, a tattoo.
What does that represent? This is actually when my son was born.
So you notice there's a day. This is my oldest Caleb and the exact
time he was born. I got three of them. So I have three
boys, one for Turner and then one for Asher on the backside here.
So it's just kind of like significance to me. I'm always looking down in
my arm and it's a reminder of what the most important things in life are.
Even when the Dodgers are on the road, you're away from your family
quite a bit because you're working with the Dodgers injured players here in Los Angeles.
So right now, on the last home stand, I saw you working
a lot with Mookie Betts. How has that progression gone for him and for
you? Yeah? No, I mean, obviously it's an unfortunate situation to
be in where someone gets injured, especially when it's Mookie Bets and the nature
of these injuries, especially like a broken bone like he has right away,
we just we step into the mindset of what can we go get better at?
And it helps when it's someone like you know, Mookie who's very motivated
and wants to be the best on the field. So so we've kind of
tried to attack some things. He's going after some things in the weight room
that we can do without gripping with that left hand right now. He's going
after some speed stuff, like to make sure that when we come back from
you know, from the il, that he's ready to sprint as fast as
he can. And then lastly it is the throwing and so like we know
right now that we can throw, and so if you see us out here,
we started with kind of a throwing program over the first ten days just
to make sure that his arms stayed in shape. But now we're attacking like
very specific things with Dino on the field, like positions that he's going to
get into to throw the baseball so that he feels like he's mastered those things
so that when we hit the ground running when he comes back, he's ready
to go. This reminds me of when you were working with Corey Seeger after
he broke his hand in twenty twenty one and so complete opposite hand. Corey
broke his right hand and we couldn't throw. And Corey obviously another extremely motivated
player and had a great relationship with him. We had an air cast like
a splint on his right hand, like a bubble basically, and I was
hitting ground balls to him like the day after he was clear to get onto
the field, because ultimately we were just trying to maximize Corey into being the
best short south that he possibly could be, and that was more of No
injury is rewarding, But one of the more rewarding processes I've ever been a
part of is like when Corey came back, he was able to ball out
short. Brandon McDaniel, the Dodgers VP of Player Performance, is our guest.
You've been with the team for a long time now. You were here
during a neck Colletti era and obviously here in the transition with Andrew Friedman.
It feels like this is a well oiled machine. Now after you guys got
the infrastructure put in place, it's crazy to look back. This is my
thirteenth season with the Dodgers. It was very fortunate to be around Ned,
and Ned gave me my first big league job, and I'll always be in
debt to him and to Stan Conti, and we did some really special things.
And twelve when everything kind of turned over when mister Walter A bought the
team. In thirteen when we went out and you know, got Zach Greenky
and Hunjin Ru and Carl Crawford was coming off the IL and Josh Beckett and
all those things. So like, it was really cool to be around that
era of players and that era of success because we had a really good team
in thirteen. We had a really good squad in fourteen. But obviously Andrew
coming in this is the tenth season that I've been fortunate enough to work with
him. Like the process at which we go about things all the way from
you know, the International Amateur Draft to PD all the way up to like
the things that we do at the big league level has afforded all of us
on the staff the opportunity to go be creative, go be curious, and
to do things like we're doing with Mookie right now that maybe fifteen years ago,
probably weren't the norm for a strength coach to be out here working with
somebody like that. But the environment that has been created as ultimately open is
up to have that well oiled machine. Like you mentioned before, I let
you go going back to Seager in twenty one and what we're seeing with MOOKI
right now, it feels like the work that you're doing with them actually makes
them feel like they're a competing and be accomplishing something. So does that help
their mental health? Yeah? I mean, I think the hardest thing and
of doing this role. I've been around a lot of guys that have been
injured. Obviously that kind of sucks to say it that way, but I
have been and you feel disconnected, I think, and you feel disconnected from
your team at times. You feel disconnected from the competition and from the game.
And I don't think that what I'm doing is anything special anything that anybody
else can do. What I want to do is provide an environment, a
competitive environment for guys to be able to come in and get their work in
every day and feel like they're working towards something. I'm just working towards and
you know, being activated. But like working towards greatness. Let's not only
do this to make sure that you're going to be better when you come back,
but hopefully something Mooky picks up something or learns something about himself that he
takes with him for the rest of his career. And to me, that's
like where I get the most gratification, no pun intended. Mooky is in
great hands with Brandon McDaniel, the Dodgers VP of Player Performance. Thanks a
lot for the time and look forward to catching up with you in the second
half. Awesome. I really appreciate it. Thank you.