Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is brought
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi everyone,
welcome to Guardians' Weekly. Gimrosen House along with you from Goodyear Arizona and
the Guardian Spring Training Company, as we bring you coverage from Goodyear in spring
training now for the next month and a half. As spring training is in
full swing. The full squad officially started earlier this week, but being around
camp this week, you find out that really the full squad has been here
for a couple of weeks. Nobody waited until the official reporting date to show
up, and that has been a big theme throughout camp this year so far,
just how eager both pitchers and position players have been to get started with
spring training and preparing for the twenty twenty four season. Good show lined up
for you today, and this will be the case throughout the spring. We're
going to try and talk to as many players as possible, and coming up
in this week's show just a little bit, we'll visit with Austin Hedges,
the veteran catcher back in the fold, and he is excited to be back.
We will also visit with Tanner Biby, who finished second in the American
League Rookie of the Year balloting a year ago season for him, and we'll
talk to him about his plans for twenty twenty four. Also, a couple
of relief pitchers will stop by, including newly acquired Scott Barlow, who figures
to work the back end of the bullpen and one of the top lefty relievers
in the game looking to take that next step, Sam Henches. He'll join
us as well, so a good show lined up for you and as promised.
Austin Hedges joined us earlier this week, and he was gone for a
year with a couple of other clubs a season ago, but still one of
the funniest people that you'll ever meet and is expected to play a key role
in the clubhouse as he did back in the twenty twenty two season when the
Guardians reached the postseason. A year ago. He started with Pittsburgh, was
picked up by Texas at the trade deadline, and for the first time in
his career he was part of a World Series champion as he was on the
playoff roster for the Texas Rangers. Now that he's back in the fold.
He says, it was a lot of fun coming to spring training and seeing
familiar faces, just so many faces that that I care about, that I
missed so much, and now like I don't know, after being here for
a handful of days in a row, it's like, it feels like I
might as well played here last year. It's just it, it feels like
home. You signed a contract back here? Who player wise, who were
some of the first guys who reached out to say hi and maybe give you
the business? I mean I was the one to reach out. Was like
that. I had to text Kwan and Naylor and Miles and b were It
was some quantrills still here in Tristan, like a lot of the guys that
I was with that I was just texting like, hey, we're back.
We're back. And when you look back at at twenty twenty two, what
made that team special? And I don't know if you can recreate that,
but maybe some of the things that work then could could come back. What
made that team so good? I definitely think it will come back. I
think it was, uh, it was just guys buying into into something bigger
than them that they looked forward to doing on a daily basis, and it
was just about there was about each other. It was about winning with and
for each other. And we just didn't have anybody that was about themselves.
And when guys start, a lot of guys will start panicking when things aren't
going real well. But we just had a team that didn't panic about their
own individual seasons because we were trying to do something different. So you go
out and win ninety plus games and win a division, when a playoff round,
and you know, there's no reason why this team right now isn't way
better than that team I think it is. So whatever the world thinks we're
gonna be, we're just gonna once again let them think that, and one
day at a time, we're gonna go start winning ball games. What makes
you say that that this team is better than that team in twenty two the
guys that there's enough young guys that were still proving themselves, I think,
not to the league, but to themselves that they belonged to the big leagues.
And now all those guys know in their hearts that they belong and that
this is where they're going to be for a long time. And now when
you kind of get that you can start truly focusing on the one thing that
matters, and that's winning a championship. And so I think now we have
a lot of guys that have gotten past that threshold of like, Ooh,
I don't want to get sent down, you know, I want to stay
in the big leagues where it's like, no, you're a big league You're
gonna be a big leaguer. Now, now that we don't have to worry
about that, we can go focus on winning and doing something special. Austin
Hatches joining us. So you're back now. Last year two different teams,
really opposite ends of the spectrum almost, But what a year when you look
back on it as interesting and turned out to be as fun a year in
baseball as you've had. Yeah, the second half was a blast. There's
nothing I've never experienced anything in my life better than winning a World Series or
just a whole the whole playoff run was just as I mean, you can't
recreate those feelings. It's really special. But the beginning there was tough.
It was a grinded. Things didn't go as well for me in Pittsburgh as
I'd like them to. It just probably it didn't end up being the perfect
fit, uh to at least finish the season, but I felt like I
made a nice impact there and I developed some good relationships and I felt like
I helped that pitching stuff out all. I feel like I helped them out
a lot. So, but you know, once I got traded, there
was kind of the the beginning of the role that I have now where it's
like teams seem to value me for some things I'm able to do off the
field, and that's some of the things that I take the most pride in.
And it's nice to have that now, to have earned enough teams respect
to to essentially pay me to do some things that that are that there isn't
just a statistic for and and I love that. And I'm just so grateful
that you know, a team like like like the Guardians like values that enough
to allow me to be here, and because this is where I want to
be. So what do you see your role as at least at this point
time, it's not even seasoned long away from starting yet, but how do
you see yourself fitting in here and making as big an impact as you can.
I'm just we got a lot of young guys. And I've been lucky
enough to be in this league for a while and I've learned a lot,
and I've failed a lot and succeeded a lot too, And through all of
that time and experience, I just I have a lot to I do a
nice job of I can realize when guys are when it's starting to get to
them. I now know what the look in the eyes looks like, and
I know how to communicate with them and give them some things that I know
I needed back when when I was a young guy coming up and I had
some some veteran guys pick me up and you know, you know, just
basically make remind me of everything's going to be all right, Like I don't
need to feel this way. And so that's that's one of the biggest parts
of my role is to is to get the best out of everybody on a
daily basis, uh, and to and to give everybody that kind of time.
And it's something I care about a lot. So you know, obviously,
like worked really hard this offseason so I can be a great baseball player.
I want to go out and be, you know, have the best
season of my life. But at the same time, there's a lot of
things I'm gonna be doing in the clubhouse and in our prep work, in
our in our meetings to just make sure everybody's on the same page and thinking
about the things that actually matter and not getting confused by things that we can't
control. You'll work with bow Naylor, who is starting to come on as
one of the best young catchers in the game. And you saw him when
he first came to the major leagues, was up for a little bit that
back in twenty two. What did you see then and what do you think
you're going to see now based on what he did last year? Well,
I mean it's it's a more polished product for sure. You know, your
first year or even half or whatever it was of being the guy, being
being out there, starting every day and every day at bats like it's it's
a lot. It wears on you. It's a it's not an easy job.
But everything that you got to learn last year now coming in knowing,
okay, hey, but you're breaking camp, you're the starter, you're the
guy. He hasn't broken camp yet, that's a it's a big step for
him. And so I and I was there once upon a time. So
now part of my role is to help that transition so he remembers I'm the
guy. I can freaking I can do this. I can lead this team.
And that's what we need. We need him to do that, and
we need him do it in his way, like, not not my way,
not Luke Mayley's way, his way, and that's the best way that
we're going to go win ball games. And so I'm going to do my
best to just help him be him and nobody else. Just to finish up.
It's a deep pitching staff, but you had some success on the mound
a year ago. Could could that as deep as the pitching staff is,
could there be a situation where you might have to come into a game and
do you work on that in the offseason the pitching end of things. Well,
I didn't work on it before, and I went out there and got
a bunch of outs, so I said, nope, not working on it.
My pitching ability has God given fifty two mile an hour fastballs under the
hitting speed voter told me if we're up by twelve runs, I might be
able to get in there. Ideally, I'm not pitching this year because that
usually means we're losing by a lot of runs, So I hope it's all
games, that we're up by about twenty runs and then I can come in
and save the bull. Then Austin Hedges is back in town. Folks,
Thank you, thank you. That is Austin Hedges. He is a beauty
and he will provide a real positive influence in that clubhouse. And as you
can tell by his interview, he is embracing that role. As camp begins
here in Goodyear, stay with us when we come back. We will hear
from Scott Barlow, one of the new relief pitchers for the Guardians. He
comes over from the San Diego Padres, but a long time Kansas City royal,
and we'll talk to him about that one re return after this on the
Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network four. I wish I was a better golfer.
Who is an odd word to yell? WHOA where do you come from?
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for Progressive and opt into more savings. Progressive Casualty Interurance Company in affiliates not
available in the estates are Situations. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim rosen
House back with you from Goodyear, Arizona, where the weather has been terrific
and the Guardians are going through their paces. They'll play their first spring game
today a little bit later on if you're tuned to this on the radio network,
the Guardians and Cincinnati Reds playing it five Eastern time. We'll have it
for you on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network, so I hope you can
join us for that. Hammy will have the first pitch right around three to
five. Should be a lot of fun on what is shaping up to be
another beautiful day in the desert. Part of the roster heading into spring training
and figures to be a big key in the back end of the bullpen is
Scott Barlow, the hard throwing right hander, longtime Kansas City Royal who has
been a closer for much of his major league career. In fact, a
career best twenty four saves for Barlow back in the twenty twenty two season.
Last year had the trade deadline picked up by San Diego and was a key
for the Padres down the stretch, and he was picked up in a trade
with San Diego in exchange for Angel de Los Santos as the Guardians and Padres
pulled off that deal in late November, and Barlow says that he's happy to
be on this side of things after facing Cleveland so often as a member of
Kansas City, and it wasn't always easy. Every time I looked at this
gud and saw Cleveland, it was you knew you were going to be in
for a fight. You know, the way that they control the strike zone,
and then just being able to do you know, the little things right,
whether it's you know, hitting the ball the other way or you know,
drawing walks, and then you know, then the stolen bases and then
you just you just had to have like your a game every time you came
into Cleveland. So when you're traded to a new team, and I know
it hasn't happened very often in your career, but now a couple of times
here in the last calendar year, what's most important to you? What are
you looking at when you arrive here in Cleveland to help you be the best
you can be. Yeah, I mean just getting to meet the guys.
You know, I got to go guards Fest early and you kind of get
you know, intro to the guys and everybody's just super welcoming and you know,
just wanting to introduce themselves and then coming here and then kind of you
know, building those you know, team relationships and you know, being able
to you know, try to help any way I can with it, whether
it be from my own personal experiences. You know, guys have questions,
you know, just being as open as I can be. But yeah,
just you know, just coming in working hard and you know, just improving
on my game. And when you talk about improvements, a new set of
eyes now gets to look at you. How does that work? Are you
seeking feedback from them or do they offer that? And and how does that
work? Oh? I mean I'm a person that is so open minded of
you know feedback, especially like if you know, I'm trying to you know,
ask questions as much as I can, whether it be with fellow players
or you know, coaching staff. And just from experience of seeing the guys
at Cleveland has developed over the years and a lot of homegrown guys that have
a lot of success, you know, trying to ask as many questions as
I can, you know, just because as a pitcher, you know,
you never a finished product, and you know, if there's one little key
thing that someone says that just really resonates, you know, that could be
the difference of you know, a good or bad season really, but you
know, just trying to be open minded as I can and ask and watch
and observe, and when you look at at trying to make improvements this year
or things that you'd like to work on, anything specific that you're looking at
here during the spring to get yourself ready. Yeah, you know, I
think towards the end of last year, I threw a lot more two seams
and that's something I kind of want to continue to to work on. You
know, I want to be able to you know, locate that pitch,
you know, right e's and lefties, whether it's in or out or up.
You know, that's kind of one thing that I really want to hone
in on. And then same as the slider, kind of changed the slider
grip a little bit and you know, just trying to dial that in as
much as possible. Spring training means different things to different players. For sure,
you have a unique setup that you've had working well for you for several
years. Tell us about your living situation in the spring. Yeah, so
for spring training the past couple of years and even in earlier in my career
during season, and we had a fifth reeel camper and just with you know,
trying to find a new apartment or or a house every year, it's
it's usually pretty hectic. And you know, when you know there's a waste
management or sometimes a Super Bowl going on out here, you know, housing
is almost impossible to find. But we found the camper works perfectly for us.
We know we're out kind of a little bit far, but you know,
there's no there's no traffic. You're kind of in the middle of nature.
You get to I get to have an awesome drive every morning, get
to see the sunset and the hot air balloons and you know, it's just
a super peaceful during spring and uh, yeah, it's it's been awesome.
And as you make that drive to a good year, you're coming to a
team that has had success recently, coming off a year that that was disappointing
for sure, But how do you see it early on here in the spring
in terms of potential for this ball club to do some damage. Oh yeah,
I mean from what I've seen, the energy has been awesome, you
know, with the new manager and and you know some of the new coaches
and everything. You know, I think, you know, you can almost
you know, feel the energy that they kind of they want to have,
like the the ore that that they want, and it seems like guys are
picking up on that really quick and even in practice. I mean usually it's
you know, the first couple of days, you know, it's kind of
taking it slow, and you know you're seeing in guys that you haven't seen,
you know, over winter and everything. So you know, but you
know, as soon as we get on the field, everybody's you know,
pretty locked in on you know, whether it's pfps or bullpens. You know,
it's good to see everybody in the locker room. But I've been loving
the energy of seeing of guys and the focus on you know, even simple
pfps. It's relief pitcher Scott Barlow figures to be a big key in that
bullpen as they try and build some depth after some heavy usage a year ago.
Stay with us when we come back. We will visit with one of
the top rookies at all of baseball a year ago. He is Tanner Biby,
a key part of the start rotation, and will visit with him next
on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network, shimro Is announced back with you from
Goodyear, Arizona and Guardians spring training. As the Guardians get deeper into the
spring, they begin the exhibition slate Cactus League play starting today and it will
wrap up in late March before the season opener in late March at Oakland as
the Guardians begin with four in Oakland, then three in Seattle, and then
three more in Minnesota before they open their home schedule on Monday, April the
eighth, and what should be quite a day in northeast Ohio, as they
will somehow fit that game in in and around all the activities associated with the
solar eclipse, so that will be a five to ten start if you miss
that. The Guardian's front office spending a lot of time trying to figure out
the best possible start time what should be a busy, busy day in downtown
Cleveland. Tanner Biby stop by earlier this week and talk to us about his
twenty twenty four plans after an outstanding rookie season, he ended up finishing second
in the Rookie of the Year balloting after a ten win campaign. How about
these numbers over twenty five starts biby ten and four with an ERA of two
point nine to eight almost to strikeout an inning, and really established himself as
a bulldog on the mound. He'll be going into his age twenty five season
this year, second major league season, figures to be a big key in
that starting rotation, and when we caught up with him earlier this week,
he is enjoying his first major league camp. He was not in big league
camp a year ago, and he said, it's been fun to be on
the major league side. So far, it's been going good. It's been
going good. I mean definitely not being on like the minor league side and
kind of figuring out the little nuances here and there has been not tough,
but it's just been fun. It's been interesting and it's a good time.
Because of the success you had up here a year ago, I'm sure a
lot of people didn't even realize that or maybe had forgotten. Did you get
some funny looks if you even mentioned that this is your first time over here.
I think a couple of people they knew, but they didn't realize and
when I told them, it kind of clicked and they were like, oh
my gosh, that's nuts. But yeah, it was funny coming out of
last year when you had a chance to think back on it and maybe review
it. What were some of your impressions after at least statistically a really good
year and certainly very impressive. I think after reflecting on it, I think,
I mean, obviously I can't knock the year obviously, but I just
think being able to kind of hone in on some stuff this offseason, like
delivery wise, kind of hone that in just because it wasn't as good throughout
the year as I wanted it to be. I think just looking back on
it and being able to see that, say, like, my delivery wasn't
where I wanted it to be, and I still pitch that well. I
mean, it makes you feel good, it makes you feel confident, but
it doesn't mean that you have to stay the same person. You can improve,
you can get better, and I think that's what I'm trying to do.
So how do you find those things in your delivery that you didn't like?
How do you fix them in an off season? I mean just kind
of figuring out what Carl and Joe and all of our coordinators see and seeing
their opinion. Because I can't watch myself unless it's video. There's a lot
of guys that are a lot smarter than me that can help me behind the
scenes. So I think with their help and with me being able to execute
it as well as I can, I think it's a pretty good combination.
When you look at the situation you were put in yourself, Gavin Williams and
Logan Allen too, not that it was sink or swim, but what you
guys had to perform in a spot where there were injury issues and you did.
Did you look back on that and say, hey, you know what,
that was not easy, but but you got the job done. Yeah.
I think at the time, I mean, you don't really realize that
it is. It's like a sinker swim because when you get called up,
I feel like he usually is sink or swim. But I mean at that
point, I think we're just trying to pitch well, We're trying to help
the guys out, help the pen out, try to go as deep as
possible. So I think when you look back on it, I mean,
it could be, but I think that we all handled it really well.
I think we're all looking to build off of it. Were there things in
the major leagues that that you didn't expect that came up from time to time?
I mean, the whole the whole Major league, the whole minor leagues
to major league is a completely different world. So people always say that,
but you don't really know, and you can't really confirm it until you live
it. Is that something you get to the end of the season and you
to take a deep breath and say, whoa, that was something? Yeah,
yeah, definitely. I mean, just like the whole travel, like
the whole weekly thing. I mean, thousands of people are coming to watch
you, tens of thousands every day. It's pretty it's a pretty insane feeling.
I know you had mentioned a couple of times along the way to the
foundation you had in your college program, even with time spent in the minor
leagues here served you. Well, what was it about where you went to
school, in the program there that set you up for success? You think
it eventually in the Major League. I mean, I think Fullerton just kind
of breeds like like a mental strength, being able to like push through adversity.
I think they really hammer that home. I mean, they they're not
this crazy SEC school. They're just a mien major in California. They're a
commuter school that's known really well for baseball. So I think I think when
they're they're not going to get the top recruit every time. So I think
they get these guys and they're able to kind of mold them mentally to be
able to compete with these high profile guys because some of these guys might not
have gone through through talent but forts and I think really gets your mind in
the right spot. It's interesting to hear you talk that way because it almost
sounds similar to where Shane Bieber went to school not too far from there.
Do you guys talk about that at all? The college experience for both of
you, Yeah, definitely. I mean we went to I mean, Chen
went to a rival high school, went to a rival college from me.
So I mean, I'm sure when the Titans by the Gauchos here in a
month or two, they'll probably be a bet place down for us between each
other, so that'll be pretty fun. But yeah, we talked about it
a good bit. I mean we've kind of went through not the same path,
but pretty similar path, I would say, Tanner Bibby joining us off
season for you, everybody has different throwing programs and what they do to get
ready for spring training. You have a unique experience where some of you are
throwing, not all of it, but some of it is with your dad.
And now special is that to you at this stage of your career that
you're still able to do that. Yeah, it's really cool. I mean,
even though he stopped playing baseball a little bit ago, he still can
catch a little bit. I'll never tell him that, but if he hears
this, this is the compliment. And if you're long tossing, he can
get it back to you. Oh no, he can't do that. He
can catch it though, he can catch it pretty good. In twenty twenty
he wasn't as good. But honestly, every year he's gotten a little bit
better. You think he's working out behind your back. That would be surprising.
Hey, you come back in here and team wise, the team fell
short of what it wanted year ago. It's so early in camp, But
uh, what's the vibe in the clubhouse as you get back to work here
and start spring training. I think everyone's excited. I think everyone. I
mean, obviously, like we talked about before, that's our first camp,
But I think everyone's excited to be here. I mean, I feel like
there's a lot of energy in the building with Vote and Hedgi and all these
kind of new slash familiar faces that are here or back. But I just
think there's a good feel in the clubhouse right now. I feel like there's
a good culture brewing, and I think the longer we stay with each other,
I think it's going to be that culture is just gonna grow stronger.
So I think I think at this point, I think it's going really well.
And when you look at the starting rotation, looks like Shane Bieber and
Tristan McKenzie are healthy and they'll be back. And then the three that we
mentioned yourself included had such good years a year ago competition wise. When when
you look at the rotation, how much does each pitcher push each other not
only here but during the course of the season. Yeah, I think that's
the one thing that we all do really well. It's like a healthy competition.
I think we all know how good we are, and we all know
how much we want to be the best, and that doesn't that doesn't mean
it's a toxic thing, but that means that we all have the same goal
and we all want to do well, and we all want each other to
do well. But at this point, like we all want to be the
best, and I think it's a very healthy thing to be able to say.
Tristan goes seven and seven in Shout Out with twelve punches and it's like,
oh, hell yeah, Tristan, Like good job. But then then
in my head, I'm like, I want to do better than that,
which is like I think everyone has that same thing. I think it's a
really good thing. I think that we have a lot of potential this year,
especially with those two guys at the top and then the rest of us.
I think it's gonna be pretty awesome. That's Tanner Biby, and it
just seems like the sky's the limit for that young man. The talent is
there, and also he's a real student of the game as well, and
then that combination can lead to some great things. I've seen it before with
some really good pictures here with the Cleveland franchise, including recently retired Corey Klueber
and of course Shane Bieber who's a part of this year's team as well,
and Tanner Bibby trying to follow in those big footsteps and he is certainly off
to a good start in his major league career. When we come back,
well, VIZI with the big lefty Sam Henches who figures to be a big
key in that bullpen. He'll join us next as we conclude Guardians Weekly after
this timeout on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network, Progressive present spectator Tims from
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states. Welcome back to Guardian's Weekly Jim rosen House along with you from Goodyear,
Arizona and Guardian Spring Training. Great to have you with us for Baseball
Talk on the radio. We're here each Saturday on the Guardians Radio network,
usually in that five o'clock hour, but we'll keep you posted. That may
change for the live show on the radio, and if it does, we'll
certainly fill you in, but it still will be Saturday, might just be
a little bit earlier in the day, and of course you can always listen
to it whenever you like in podcast form wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
Sam Hensches has established himself as one of the top lefty relievers in all of
baseball. He's been durable the last couple of seasons. Last year did have
a later start due to some shoulder issues in spring training, but ended up
appearing in fifty six games for Cleveland once he was healthy three and two with
an ERA of three point six y one, and he was right on the
brink of some really good things that we saw back in twenty twenty two and
this year. The prep has gone well in the off season, and we
talked to him about off seasons now for any player in baseball, it seems
is there really one Sam fills us in. It's pretty much a year round
thing. Everybody's different in how they attack their off season, But yeah,
I think most guys take a couple weeks off at the beginning of the off
season and then they slowly start building up to get ready for spring training.
And you've established yourself as a real solid major league relief pitcher at this point,
what do you work on in the off season? Is it more strength
and conditioning or are you working on mechanics and how your pitches are moving and
things like that. It's definitely more of a mechanical thing to do in the
off season. As far as strength, I feel like at this point,
I don't know how if I can get much stronger. Obviously you can,
but I don't know if there's as much of a point to focus on that
as much as it is like health and mechanics and just consistency with the pitches
and sharpness of them and location. I think that's a big thing as well,
is just working on command and control of all the pitches. So when
you get to the end of last season and headed into your off season,
who helps you with that? Who helps you work on things that you feel
you need to work on and how successful can that be when you head into
the next spring training. It's a lot of people that go into it.
I mean the pitching coaches, the medical team, the strength and conditioning team,
and then myself and we kind of all as the season winds down,
we have our meetings and things we need to work on, and then are
in constant communication over the off season to kind of check in and see how
things are going, see if meeting your goals, and if you're feeling good,
if you're healthy, and basically just how things are going. So it's
constant communication during the off season to make sure everything's trending in the right direction.
And when you look back on last year specifically, would you like to
see maybe sharper or different pitch mix, anything in particular that you were working
on this off season that you can share. I think the biggest thing for
me that I didn't have as much last year was throwing the sinker. It
was a pitch I was kind of developed towards the end of twenty twenty one
and was really heavily utilized in twenty two, especially to lefties, and I
kind of went away from it last year because it wasn't wasn't moving the same
as it had been in twenty one, but just kind of getting that pitch
back and being able to use it against lefties because it was a really really
good weapon for me. How do you find that if it gets away a
little bit, how do you get it back? I think it comes down
to mechanics and how the body works and lining it up for me in the
way I throw my sinker. If I have my four seam fastball, I
know that the two seam fastball is going to be there as well. In
last year, both the fastballs weren't profiling how they have been in previous years.
I don't know if that was a health thing or a mechanical thing,
or combination of both, but just kind of figuring out and getting back to
making sure that they're not blending together and that they are two different pitches,
and that's usually when they're most effective, is when they're moving differently. Guardianswered
Liever sam Hanches joining us Samuel look at that bullpen and a solid bullpen a
year ago, but it seems like some more depth this year, maybe at
least a heading into spring training. What are you saying out and down there
in terms of new arms that could be really helpful. We're really excited.
I think think there's a couple of new arms. I think the biggest one
to hit on would be Scott Barlow. I think we're really excited to have
him in the mix. He's pitching some some super high leverage situations in his
career and has has good experience to kind of be that veteran presence a little
bit out there for us or excited. We're all a year, another year
older, another year of experience under our belts as far as kind of the
core of the bullpen down there. So we're just excited to get back to
it and kind of continue what we have done over the past few years.
And you mentioned that experience and for you, it doesn't seem like that long
ago where you were still trying to find your niche, whether it was a
starter or reliever, trying to get healthy, all that kind of stuff.
And does it seem like a long time ago that was or not that long
ago? It does. I mean showing up this morning to the to the
yard felt kind of like a long time ago. But but yeah, yeah,
I mean you get a lot of audience and a lot of experience in
different situations over the course of a one hundred and sixty two game season as
a reliever, and you learn a lot, and you get to see a
lot, and there's a lot of different situations in situations that you've never pitched
in before, so you kind of have to learn on the fly. But
then you can kind of over the offseason look at those situations and see how
you handled yourself, and that's kind of ultimately how you grow as a pitcher,
and that's where you can use those experiences to better yourself. Spring training
this time of year for a lot of players who might make their off season
home up north. It's great to come down into the warm weather, all
that kind of stuff. You're now here in the Phoenix area year round.
Still a big deal though, when spring training starts, just from a player's
standpoint, kind of that clock that gets going, Yeah, we get excited.
We get excited to see everybody, to see the coaching staff, the
front office of trainers and strength coaches, and especially the teammates. New guys
coming in. It's nice to meet them, kind of see how they are
and get to check them out as well, but just mostly to see everybody
and have everybody in the same spot again. It is always exciting to see
what people have done in the offseason to get better and what they've been working
on and just kind of have those conversations. And obviously this year is a
little bit different with a lot of changes as far as staff members and coaches
and stuff, so it's nice to kind of start building those relationships as well.
That is Sam Henches filling us in on some of his plans for the
season, and he'll be a big key for manager Steven Vote from the left
side and that Cleveland bullpen. Well, it's going to do it for our
show this week. Thanks so much as always for tuning in. Brian Matse
helps to put together our show each week. We could not do it without
him. Don't forget baseball on the radio the Cactus League opener and we will
have it for you on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network with a three to
zero five EAS Eastern time. First pitch is a Hammy starts his thirty fifth
season behind the mic for Cleveland and that is great news and it'll be great
to see him in the booth in just a little while. So until next
week when we join you again with another edition of Guardians Weekly. This is
Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly. I'm the Cleveland
Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive helping
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