WEBVTT

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The Dodgers and Tigers getting set for
first pitch in Motown, and we're joined

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right now by the Dodgers Vice president
of player Performance, Brandon McDaniel. Brandon,

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thanks a lot for the time,
appreciate it. Oh, thank you,

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Dave. I enjoy being on here
every time. As I say thank

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you for your time, I see
a clock on your forearm, a tattoo.

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What does that represent? This is
actually when my son was born.

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So you notice there's a day.
This is my oldest Caleb and the exact

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time he was born. I got
three of them. So I have three

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boys, one for Turner and then
one for Asher on the backside here.

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So it's just kind of like significance
to me. I'm always looking down in

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my arm and it's a reminder of
what the most important things in life are.

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Even when the Dodgers are on the
road, you're away from your family

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quite a bit because you're working with
the Dodgers injured players here in Los Angeles.

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So right now, on the last
home stand, I saw you working

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a lot with Mookie Betts. How
has that progression gone for him and for

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you? Yeah? No, I
mean, obviously it's an unfortunate situation to

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be in where someone gets injured,
especially when it's Mookie Bets and the nature

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of these injuries, especially like a
broken bone like he has right away,

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we just we step into the mindset
of what can we go get better at?

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And it helps when it's someone like
you know, Mookie who's very motivated

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and wants to be the best on
the field. So so we've kind of

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tried to attack some things. He's
going after some things in the weight room

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that we can do without gripping with
that left hand right now. He's going

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after some speed stuff, like to
make sure that when we come back from

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you know, from the il,
that he's ready to sprint as fast as

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he can. And then lastly it
is the throwing and so like we know

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right now that we can throw,
and so if you see us out here,

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we started with kind of a throwing
program over the first ten days just

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to make sure that his arms stayed
in shape. But now we're attacking like

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very specific things with Dino on the
field, like positions that he's going to

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get into to throw the baseball so
that he feels like he's mastered those things

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so that when we hit the ground
running when he comes back, he's ready

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to go. This reminds me of
when you were working with Corey Seeger after

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he broke his hand in twenty twenty
one and so complete opposite hand. Corey

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broke his right hand and we couldn't
throw. And Corey obviously another extremely motivated

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player and had a great relationship with
him. We had an air cast like

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a splint on his right hand,
like a bubble basically, and I was

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hitting ground balls to him like the
day after he was clear to get onto

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the field, because ultimately we were
just trying to maximize Corey into being the

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best short south that he possibly could
be, and that was more of No

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injury is rewarding, But one of
the more rewarding processes I've ever been a

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part of is like when Corey came
back, he was able to ball out

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short. Brandon McDaniel, the Dodgers
VP of Player Performance, is our guest.

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You've been with the team for a
long time now. You were here

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during a neck Colletti era and obviously
here in the transition with Andrew Friedman.

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It feels like this is a well
oiled machine. Now after you guys got

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the infrastructure put in place, it's
crazy to look back. This is my

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thirteenth season with the Dodgers. It
was very fortunate to be around Ned,

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and Ned gave me my first big
league job, and I'll always be in

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debt to him and to Stan Conti, and we did some really special things.

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And twelve when everything kind of turned
over when mister Walter A bought the

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team. In thirteen when we went
out and you know, got Zach Greenky

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and Hunjin Ru and Carl Crawford was
coming off the IL and Josh Beckett and

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all those things. So like,
it was really cool to be around that

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era of players and that era of
success because we had a really good team

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in thirteen. We had a really
good squad in fourteen. But obviously Andrew

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coming in this is the tenth season
that I've been fortunate enough to work with

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him. Like the process at which
we go about things all the way from

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you know, the International Amateur Draft
to PD all the way up to like

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the things that we do at the
big league level has afforded all of us

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on the staff the opportunity to go
be creative, go be curious, and

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to do things like we're doing with
Mookie right now that maybe fifteen years ago,

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probably weren't the norm for a strength
coach to be out here working with

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somebody like that. But the environment
that has been created as ultimately open is

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up to have that well oiled machine. Like you mentioned before, I let

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you go going back to Seager in
twenty one and what we're seeing with MOOKI

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right now, it feels like the
work that you're doing with them actually makes

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them feel like they're a competing and
be accomplishing something. So does that help

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their mental health? Yeah? I
mean, I think the hardest thing and

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of doing this role. I've been
around a lot of guys that have been

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injured. Obviously that kind of sucks
to say it that way, but I

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have been and you feel disconnected,
I think, and you feel disconnected from

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your team at times. You feel
disconnected from the competition and from the game.

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And I don't think that what I'm
doing is anything special anything that anybody

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else can do. What I want
to do is provide an environment, a

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competitive environment for guys to be able
to come in and get their work in

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every day and feel like they're working
towards something. I'm just working towards and

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you know, being activated. But
like working towards greatness. Let's not only

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do this to make sure that you're
going to be better when you come back,

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but hopefully something Mooky picks up something
or learns something about himself that he

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takes with him for the rest of
his career. And to me, that's

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like where I get the most gratification, no pun intended. Mooky is in

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great hands with Brandon McDaniel, the
Dodgers VP of Player Performance. Thanks a

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lot for the time and look forward
to catching up with you in the second

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half. Awesome. I really appreciate
it. Thank you.