WEBVTT

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The Dodgers and Diamondbacks getting set for
first pitch here at Dodgers Stadium, and

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we're joined right now by Dodger You're
All Star and World Series champion Walker Buehler,

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who's got the goatee going and the
swag even more drip than usual.

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So I know you're feeling good.
This isn't any more than usual. These

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are my cleats and my glove for
the year. Come on. I was

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telling people in spring training there was
a moment in time where I knew things

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were going the right way because you
were back to yourself. Yeah. I

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mean everyone keeps telling me that,
like, the more I run my mouth,

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the better, and so I don't
know, I probably manufactured it for

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a while, but no, I
feel good. Was there a moment in

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time in spring training that you felt
like, Okay, now I'm starting to

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feel like I'm beyond being a rehab
patient. Yeah. I mean I had

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a couple of good libyps and that
was kind of a step forward at that

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time. But you know, I
think this rehab thing, especially the second

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one, kind of isn't as linear
as maybe I wanted it to be.

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And obviously my first two starts here
didn't go how I would want, and

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so you kind of reassess and and
learn like that that's part of it.

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And now obviously we're kind of a
little bit back on the train, but

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uh, you know, at the
same time, you got to think the

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same things and go and work the
same way and do all those good things.

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I've heard players say this in the
past with less serious injuries than yours,

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that the physical part is part of
it, but mentally trusting your body

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to be able to do things is
the biggest hurdle. Did you experience that

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as well? Yeah, I mean
I think it's hard to know what a

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ball is going to do or where
it's going to go when you don't know

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how your arm's gonna feel in the
way there, right, I think that's

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the biggest thing. And kind of
getting out of that rehab mindset. You

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know, everybody says the rehab mindset. I think largely like when you're really

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good, like when I've been good
in this game, it's like there's no

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physical concern and so you know,
you're concerned solely about yourself physically for two

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years, and so it's a little
bit of a transition, and you know,

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now I can kind of get back
to competing and trying to, you

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know, do what I want with
the ball and instead of worrying about what

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the ball is going to do to
my elbow. Walker. I was one

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of the few that was watching your
podcast here in LA on a regular basis

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because you were really candid with everything
that you were going through. Did you

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feel like that was kind of like
a journal in some ways in a in

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a twenty twenty four space, because
you were you were really spilling your emotions

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and how you were feeling and where
things were going. Well, yeah,

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I think, you know, it
was important to me. You know,

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I think whether this went good,
bet or ugly, like to be able

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to talk through it's kind of cool. I think also we can blame the

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people of Buffalo Trace for sending me
stuff. I don't think I normally would

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say everything I say on there,
But that's kind of the fun of it,

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right and getting to actually talk through
you know, where you're at,

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and you know, I think we'll
do another one of those here soon and

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kind of talk through the the good, good parts of this thing you said

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on that podcast Just Baseball that May
was. It's kind of the month that

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you were circling and you guys were
working backwards, so I guess it was

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on schedule in some ways. Yeah, I mean we actually probably well,

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I first May sixth, I think
we probably beat it by you know,

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eight days or so, so we
were pretty pretty close. We had always

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said mid May and then kind of
see through the season how we're holding up

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and if I need a breather or
blow or whatever, and you know,

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I think that's probably still an option
at some point. Obviously I feel really

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good right now. But yeah,
it's always good to kind of tick off,

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you know, beat a goal,
I guess in some way. But

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you know, my goal was to
get back last year. I didn't do

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that, so I'm glad this one
worked out a little bit better. Is

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it fair to repeat that last start, the start before your next start is

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a bridge to the rest of your
season. You're building off each one.

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Yeah, I mean I think every
start is, you know, every season

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that I've played, it's trying to
build on something, or build on the

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last one, or get back to
one before or whatever. I think,

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you know, the the mindset of
the mentality for me is a little bit

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different than it used to be,
and I think it has to be and

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you know I kind of came together
in my last start, and you know,

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we need to keep putting it together. The one thing that I love

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about your mentality that hasn't changed.
You don't just want to be out there.

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You want to be the best.
And it feels like the more you

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get that itch, the more you
want more. Yeah. I mean,

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you know, at the end of
the day, I think I got really

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lucky to be in this organization.
You know, drafted here and come up

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here, and you know, we've
always been good in the regular season,

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Like there's you know, you put
together a nice start in the regular season.

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That's kind of that's awesome, and
that's what everybody wants. But you

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know, we're building towards being really
good in October. And I think that's

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a perspective that I kind of was
brought up with here. And you know,

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something I don't think is going to
change. I've never asked you this

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before, but do you pitch with
a chip on your shoulder? People always

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seem to short change, whether it
was in college you were better than and

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where they slotted you, you were
better than where you were drafted because of

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the elbows surgery, do you pitch
with that chip on your shoulder. Yeah,

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I think so. I mean,
I think you're kind of always teetering

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with you know, if you're having
any sort of success, I think you're

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teetering behind or between like that chip
and then you know, being too confident,

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and you know, when you get
hurt. I think that's probably the

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most humbling thing that can happen to
an athlete. You know, if you

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if you perform badly, like you
get to do it again the next week

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or the next day or whatever.
But getting hurt it's really you know,

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for me, it's been twenty two
months of kind of trying to figure out

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how to be good at this game
again and you know, provide for your

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family and all of that, and
so yeah, I mean I think there's

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some sort of chip. I think
for that to actually do anything, you

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have to like physically be right and
mentally be ready to compete. And I

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think this last start was kind of
all of that coming together. Before I

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let you go, you must have
been feeling a little buffalo trace ish.

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When you gave off St Barnes credit
for why you moved on the mound,

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I thought that was really revealing.
He's been telling me this for a couple

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of years, and I don't I
don't like doing it, but Barnsy has

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his moments and it really made a
difference, right I think. So.

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I mean, you know, it's
kind of an abstract thing, but the

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orientation of our body and the way
my eyes see the plate and stuff like

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that can kind of dictate some things
happen physically. And you know, Barnes

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has always talked about how he wants
certain things to come out in certain you

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know, lanes and things like that, and I had to be really perfect

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for it to come out like that
where I used to be. And so

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hopefully, you know, this kind
of change works for the long term,

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but even just for the one I
have to give him a little little hot

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to Walker. It's great having you
back. I'm a little nostalgic. You

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mean a lot to me. The
guys that have been here since you were

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a rookie mean a lot to me, no matter what uniform they're wearing.

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So it feels like the world is
a little bit more normal with you pitching

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again. I forciate it, man. We'll talk to you guys here later on