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. Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Oakland,
California, where the Guardians are opening their season with four game series against the
Oakland Athletics. Coming up a little bit later on in our show, we
will visit with two pitchers who made the ball club as non roster invites at
the end of spring training. A familiar name to be sure to Guardians fans,
Carlos Carrasco. We'll hear from Cookie in just a little bit. We'll
also check in with Director of player Development Rob Serfolio and get the lowdown on
Jake de Lauter's spring and how he sets up for the season to come,
and also get a preview of the Columbus Clippers. But first I look back
at opening night in Oakland Thursday night. The Guardian's looking to get off to
a good start in the managerial career of Steven Vote, and you can't do
much better than have Shane Bieber on the mound on opening night. He's been
terrific in his four prior opening game starts for the Guardians, and Thursday was
no different in his fifth consecutive opening day start, which tied a franchise record.
He looks sharp early. Here's the payoff. A mess got him again,
so Bieber strikes out the side. Oakley gets a a hit, but
no damage. Now the two two swing and a miss on the heater.
Bieber has struck out six or through two. The Guardians would get Bieber some
runs support starting in the second inning thanks to a pair of doubles, first
David Fry and then Tyler Freeman. The pitch a swing in the line right
BA hint to left center, that'll score. David Fry, HiT's in the
gap, cut off fivel A Day throws to second head first slide safe for
the double is Tyler Freeman and the Guardians take oh one nothing lead, and
Freeman literally beating out Miles Straw for the center field job at least part of
the time, comes through with an RBI double in his first at bat,
and that is part of why Tyler Freeman was asked to learn how to play
center field and why he's getting a chance to play multiple positions because of his
bat and the offense really got it going. In the fourth, with the
bases loaded and andre Semenez at the plate, here's the pitch swung on line
drive center field that gets down for a base it one run will score.
That's it coming across as Nailer Fry advances to third. Everyone else moves up
and it's an RBI single from Andreas Semenez, his first hit on the season.
Drives in a run and the Guardians now lead it to nothing. And
then Austin Hedges came through. Big pitch in this game. Payoff pitch coming
to Hedges. Here it is swung on ground ball to short backhand pick up
Allen one play. It's at first and he pulls the first basement off the
bag. All hands are safe and two runs will score. It was a
slow roller in the hole between third and short. Allen got to it the
shortstop charging in, but his throat to first pulled Noda off the bag and
he couldn't control it, and Hedges is safe at first base. And after
that it was Brian Rochio capping off the big inning. Here's the pitch to
Rochio. He swings and grounds it to third over the bag. Fairball.
Down into the left field corner. It goes grounding third, heading for home
and scoring. As he meant, Az Hedges will try and score two,
and he will without a throw. It's a two run double for Brian Rocchio
and the big inning is on for the Guardians. It is now six nothing
Cleveland and here comes Mark Kotsey. That is it for Wood. Wow did
that blow up in a hurry? Meanwhile, Bieber stayed hot, continuing to
shut down the Oakland bats. Six nothing Cleveland. The kick and delivery and
a swing and a mess and a slider away. Bieber has struck out eleven.
Remember he has the club record for opening day fourteen strikeouts against Kansas City
in six innings in twenty twenty, Brent Rooker the batter as Shane Bieber not
eighty two pitches, lets it fly and the pitch hit high in the air,
fairly deep center Freeman drifting back, plenty of room. He'll squeeze it.
Well. We'll see if Shane Bieber comes out for the seventh inning,
they may feel like six is enough. We shall see. But Bieber has
been brilliant tonight. We talked about it all spring and he has followed up
that talk with the way he's pitched tonight. Man does he look good?
And then the Guardians added to the lead in the ninth inning thanks to Jose
Ramirez. The cent the pitch swung on, pilt it deep, bright field,
It's got a chance off the wall, cares back toward the infield.
Kwan hits thirties coming home. Ramirez makes the turn on his way to third
with a stand up triple. He hammered it halfway up the fifteen foot wall
in right, and an RBI triple by Jose Ramirez makes it seven nothing Cleveland
here in the ninth inning, and boy, everybody is getting into the act
and the Guardians. If you wanted to draw up a near perfect scenario for
Opening Night, this would be it. David Fryes sack Fly brought home Ramirez
to make it eight nothing, and then Nick Sandlin came on to finish things
up in the bottom half of the ninth inning. So the A's are down
to their last strength and Stephen votes one strength away from winning in his major
league managerial debut. Into the motion, here's the two to two who check
swing straight three call ballgame and game number one belongs to the Cleveland Guardians as
they dominate the Oaklanes here tonight in the season opener eight to nothing. So
it a satisfying win for the Guardians, the first in the managerial career of
Steven Vote, and Shane Bieber was outstanding. We talked to him before the
game prior to his start and he talked about the off season that set the
table for him to get off to a great start in twenty twenty four.
Yeah, I think the thought process started, you know, throughout my rehab
process last year. The majority of it came from wanting to go in and
get what they call him O cap, like a motion capture picture of a
throw mechanics, you know, see if we could deduce anything from those,
and ultimately found out that they were they were all right. And so it
was the emphasis transition into building arm strength and getting ready for string training,
so getting ready for the long haul thirty plus starts, and uh to stay
healthy throughout throughout everything. You know, It's it's a fun off season to
emphasize and look back upon because my work was different. I always, you
know, do my best and work as hard as I can in the off
season, but it's I think everybody likes to. You know, the headlines
come from being able to do something differently and kind of go out on a
limb and try something different. And I was able to do that and fell
in love with the process and the h and the routine of it all.
And so I'm very happy with how everything went. The look into your delivery.
Were you surprised that it came back? Okay, just from the standpoint
of it, seems like you have one of the cleanest deliveries in the game,
so maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise. Yeah, right, So
I guess it was kind of good and bad, right, because it's like,
oh, well, I'm not throwing as hard, I feel good,
i feel like it's coming out good, and I'm just not seeing the numbers
that I want to see. And so, you know, kind of hoping
there was a quick fix in there, but there wasn't. So, like
I said, like the transition, the emphasis transitioned over to just building arm
strength, working on a build up, building health and resiliency and you know,
taking advantage of rest days and kind of building those out throughout the entire
offseason, and that way you can step on it when you need to step
on it and get used to get back used to throwing hard and emphasis on
really letting it need on the days that you could. And I feel like,
you know, the body just kind of gets used to that and looking
forward to continuing that and keeping it going. And you alluded to Steven Vote
a little bit earlier his first game as manager of this ball club. Transition
for the team, a first time that that you've been here, that there's
been a different manager, And how has that transition gone? Pretty smoothly,
honestly, Voter and Albi and Kai and everybody that's come in. You know,
we've had some steady points like Carl and Chris and so many others.
So it's been a great mix of new along with some steady, steady faces
as well, and that brings in some new energy, some new ways of
going about things, some new thought processes, and I think that's really clicked
for some guys, and so the transition has been extremely smooth. I feel
like this spring training has been a lot of fun and we're enjoying it.
We're just chomping at the bit to get going, enjoy the season. Chain
thanks for the time, We'll do thanks well, and so much of what
Bieber said pregame came to fruition during the game as he was terrific with the
eleven strikeout performance as he becomes one of the select few to strike out ten
or more in multiple games. Now as a starting pitcher on opening day,
just terrific work from Bieber. Stay with us as Guardians Weekly continues on the
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Window States. Jim Rosanou's back with you on Guardians Weekly from Oakland, California,
where the Guardians are opening their season with a four game series, and
it has started very well as they have taken the first two games of the
series. We heard about Thursday nights opener Shane Bieber dominant and plenty of offense,
and they scored some runs again on Friday Night in a six to four
victory. And it got started early thanks to Jose Ramirez. His next offering
swung on rip deep bright field, down the line. It goes gone so
much for the swirling wind. A line drive, two run homer down the
right field line for Jose Ramirez and he continues to be a thorn in the
A side and it's two nothing, Cleveland. The Guardians added one more run
in that first inning thanks to a back by A's pitcher Ross stripling that gave
Logan Allen the early three to nothing lead as he made his season debut.
Bases emptied two down the pits, swung on a week chopper to short charged
by Rokiel Setz, throws ending over Logan Allen with green ground ball outs and
he keeps the three numbing lead here at the Colosseum. The Guardians were still
in front three to one in the fifth inning when Andre sie Meenez continued his
hot start to the season, stepping in with a runner on base. Here's
the pitch to him Andez he swings and lights it down the right field line.
Fair ball headed into the corner, scoring is Kwan on his way a
second as he Menez and I'll hang on right there with an RBI double and
the Guardians now leaded four to one. Later on in the fifth inning,
Will Brennan drove in his first run of the season with his first hit of
the season. Now the set and the pitch had swung on and lined the
left sinking fast and it gets down for a basin that will allow Jimenez to
score. And Brennan, on his first hit of the season, drives in
a run and it's now five to one. Guardians. Hokland answered with single
runs in the fifth n sixth innings, but in the seventh the Guardians' bats
went to work again. Stephen Kuan led off with a double, and then
he Menez Big Night continued the one to one pitch and a swing and trill
to right, a base hit down the line, splashes in the water,
bangs up against the wall in the scores Kwan and in the second with another
double is Andre Simenez and the Guardians now laid it six to three. Opan
got a little closer with a run in the eighth inning to make it six
to four, but in the ninth, for the first time this season,
Emmanuel Classe came on to try and lock it down. The pitch, he
hits a double play ball to second. He meant us to second. One
relay by Rocchio got him double play ball game and the Guardians win the first
two here at the Oakland Coliseum. Oakland got a couple of guys on in
the ninth, but Class gets the game ending double play of four to six
to three twin killer and the Guardians have beaten Oakland tonight by a final score
of six to four. And after the game, Guardians manager Steven Vote talked
about the two and oh start for his ball club. It's huge, you
know, I think it speaks to this offense. It speaks to this team
that, you know, whenever we happen to give up a run, we've
come back the next inning and gotten it right back. And so for us
that that's how we have to play. We have to continue to pad the
lead. And that was really good baseball tonight. What can you say about
Heimy just how he sung the back the first two nights, but tonight in
particular, I mean obviously came up in two huge situations where we needed you
know, run around, third, run around, second execution situations, comes
up and hits a double both times. You know, Jimmy just continues to
put together good at bats. You know, I know it's been two games,
but he had a great spring as well. So himmy, Himmy was
the catalyst tonight. Eli struggled a little bit in Arizona, and I know,
change up Arizona, you never know, But how nice is to have
him to pitch the way he did the first two nights. Yeah, Eli
has been great. You know, obviously that's a lot of track record there.
You know, we always talk about results in spring training. Sometimes they
matter, sometimes they don't. I think with Eli, we know the type
of picture he is, and he's given us two great performances so far this
season, and uh, he's going to continue to get the ball with jim
And I know you weren't here to see him up close and personal last year,
but what's the biggest difference with him maybe this year at the plate than
what he was. He just looks balanced to me, He looks balanced.
He look he doesn't look like he's over swinging at all. He's uh,
he's just taking what he's getting right now. And you know, he's he's
he's always been a good hitter, and I think the work that he put
in this winner to get his swing back to where he wanted to be.
But he's swinging at the right pitches right now, and I think that's the
biggest thing. That's pretty good too. Yea's all right, Yeah, No,
I mean, obviously in that weather, you know, it's it's tough,
it's tough to see the ball, it's tough to pick up spin.
And for him to hit a homer like that to get us on the board,
uh, it just got us all the momentum, gave Logan a lead
to a lead to take the mound with. And you know, Josey's hosey
and uh, I'm justful that he's he's sitting there stupid you guys that they
but two for two, two for four stolen bases. Did you like that
aggression or the way you ran the basins? Yeah, I mean, we
we're gonna run the bases aggressive. I thought, you know, a couple
of them were close that they could have gone either way. But you know
we're going to continue to run, and I think that that's what's gonna happen.
Shaye Shaye Langleer is one of the best throwing catchers in the game,
and it took perfect throws to get us. So, you know, I
want our guys to continue to be aggressive in the smart and in the right
spots, and you know, we're always going to continue to air on that.
You know, we have some smart baseball players and you know I trust
them to do what they do. So a real nice start to the season
in Oakland. The series continues on Saturday afternoon with a four to seven first
pitch. Same holds true for Sunday for this series finale. Then it's on
to Seattle for three at Minnesota for three to wrap up this season opening ten
game road swing. Stay with us when we come back, we will hear
from Guardians pitch Sure, Carlos Carrasco returning to Cleveland and he is in the
starting rotation. We'll talk to him about it when we return after this the
Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhause back
with you from Oakland, California, where the Guardians are taking on the Athletics
in a four game weekend series. Weather permitting, it was miserable on Friday,
and the same holds true at least forecast wise for Saturday, and then
the series concludes on Sunday afternoon before the Guardians pack it up and head up
the coast to Seattle for three and finish their season opening road in Minneapolis next
weekend. Carlos Carrasco is part of that starting rotation for the Guardians. He
came into camp as a non roster invite on a minor league deal at the
age of thirty seven, but after three seasons in New York with the Mets,
he was looking forward to coming back to Cleveland, where his best days
have happened in his major league career, and he's also been through a lot
health wise as well. We touched on all of that in this upcoming interview,
but we caught him shortly after he was notified that he had made the
roster, and he talked about that moment. Yeah, you know, it
feels good. It feels good to be back in here, and especially when
they comit to the office say that I made the roster, opening the roster,
it was a good feeling for me. I feel so happy because the
way that I came here with a minor league contra and the way that I
piss I earned it and to receive that that I made the roster, it
was really nice for me. Happy for and digging around. Twenty eleven was
the first year that you had made an opening day roster here the first time
around. What do you remember about that day with Manny Acta being the manager
at that time. Oh, I remember the same way. They come into
the office and say you made the teen, and I'm pretty sure it was
the third star or something like that. And I was really happy because that's
that's our dream, you know, when when you come into camp and that
they call you and they say, he you made the teen. It was
really nice for me in twenty eleven when when I made my first opening roster.
When you look at how things developed here to get back you had some
time in New York, But how far back were you thinking, maybe,
Hey, it it would be neat if I could get back to Cleveland at
some point. And whether it's to finish your career at least continue your career
that that could happen, Listen, I don't know. If you guys know
about last year of the year, they almost I almost got the tray to
hear and I was so happy, but it couldn't happen. As soon I
hear the free agency, we started talking back and forth with Chris Antone so
and there was my first choice. There was my first choice and I always
have him back in my when I returned from baseball, I want to do
with the Cleveland Guardian. Obviously, you had to work hard to make this
club and you come in on a minor league deal, so they are they're
all guarantees. But the fan reaction when you signed, I don't know if
you're aware, but people were ecstatic and just assumed you'd be on the team,
which has worked out. But were you aware of that? Yes,
yes, I got so many coals. My social media started getting a lot
that day when I when I when I signed back to the Guardian and a
lot of texts, a lot of social media like EASTA Grant. They were
happy there is saying congratulations to coming back to Cleveland. They were so so
nice watching you this spring. It looks like business as usual, but maybe
doing it in a different way. Are you a different picture than the last
time you were here. Oh yes, yes, completely different. Right now
I trust myself more back then. All my pitches I can say right now
is being being crazy. I mean being saying crazy because I can see all
my pitches moving the way I'm pitching now learning you know, coming from New
York is it's the same baseball, but depression in New York pitching you have
to go around and everything. But just coming here the way that I was
pitching, screen training and everything, this development myself to getting back the way
that I was here in twenty seventeen and eighteen, I just I just find
it. I just find it. I just make a little bit adjustment on
that, and I know that preparation in the off season, you worked a
little bit with Shane Bieber to try and get to a good place. What
was that like reconnecting with him as one of the few players who still hear
from your first time. Yeah, it was really nice. Back in January,
we wasn't dry line working together. That's when I started developing my pitches
on the slided and the sweeper. So we work every day from Monday to
Saturday, sometime on Sunday, working every day in there developing the pitches.
Just talked to Beaver back and forth. Actually the curba that the curba that
I'm throwing right now is one from Beaver. I just run that from him.
But just development those speeches that I need for the for the season.
It was really nice, all right. The important question. We saw a
photo side by side of the first time you were here in nine when you
first made the club, and then the other day you'd look the same.
You're not aging. What is the key to staying young? You think maybe
the kid is just working every day. I never give up myself, you
know, I never give up myself. After what happened twenty nineteen, I
said, listen, I just going to continue to work hard, no matter
what is tay me, no matter what what condition I am, But I
just I just want to continue to work hard, just doing my physical then
running every day. That's the main port for me, so I can get
it more resistant and the exercise. It might not be fair to call you
the clubhouse prankster, but you like to have fun. And then how big
a key is that, especially with a young team now and you're an elder
statesman on that team. Listen, I've always been like that trying to have
fun. I said before, it's a long season. We spend a lot
of time together here. I honestly, I spend more time with my teammate
than my own family. And I'm just trying to be that guy so they
can laugh and they can forget about a little bit of baseball, because every
time we'll come here, everythin's baseball baseball. We torn on the TV's baseball
in there. So I just tried to do something a little bit different to
getting gone. Carlos, great to see again. Thank you, all right,
Thank you very much. Carlos Carrasco one of the nice guys in the
game, and it's great to have him back in that starting rotation for the
Guardians. Stay with us on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Drivers who
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states. Jim Rose announced back with you for our final segment of Guardians Weekly
from the Oakland Coliseum. Guardians off and running with a two to oh start
to their season after two games games three and four Saturday and Sunday afternoons at
four to seven. Meanwhile, Triple A Columbus is underway. They got their
season started, or at least attempted to this weekend in Saint Paul, Minnesota,
with a series against the Twins Triple A Balclub, but obviously in conditions
that were a little bit chillier than normal that you would expect at this time
of year. But when we visited with Robsorfolio for our preview about Triple A
Columbus, we first talked about the talk of spring training. Chase de Laughter,
the former number one draft pick of the Guardians who has very limited minor
league time due to injury, just got back on the field late last summer
and then played in the Arizona Fall League, and wow, was he something
else during spring training. Even though he was not in major league camp,
he saw plenty of action in major league games and did he impress. A
tremendous spring for Delatter, with many fans wondering would he be in the big
leagues to start the season. But when we visited with Robsortfolio, he talked
about the importance of still more development time for DeLaughter. I think everyone in
the organization, Chase included, was really fired up about the spring that he
had, and not just because the way he performed. I think even more
importantly is getting to spend some real time with our major league staff, getting
to spend some real time with major league players, like, you know,
for these guys in the minor leagues that have never done morning work next to
Stephen Kwan or you know, listen to the morning meetings and some of the
messages from Voter, like just the experiential impact that that has for you know,
hopefully when these guys do matriculate to the big leagues, like they're that
much more comfortable. They know the guys in the locker room, they know
the staff. So you know, coming into spring training, that was what
we wanted for this group. He wasn't technically in major league spring training.
That is correct, But we had a group of you know, younger minor
league players that we expected to go partake in the practices for the first couple
of weeks, and then when there were game opportunities, you know, we
had a group of guys that were ready to go in there and fill needs.
And that was the plan with Chase, I think in a really cool
way. He obviously performed the way he did, and there were opportunities in
the outfield, and the major league staff you know, wanted him out there,
and so he earned every bit of that. It was really exciting to
watch, and you know, I think he you know, really set himself
up for hopefully a great twenty twenty four as a result. And we're in
a day and age where there's no secrets for fans anymore. They know what's
going on. They see the stats, and they wonder, why can't he
be on the major league team right out of spring training. Explain where he's
at in his career and why he needs to start at Double A this season.
Yeah, and I think, you know, those narratives are always fun.
Like I think if we put him in a major league game, as
we saw, he could go compete in a major league game today, and
ultimately, these things are really difficult. There's never a black and white this
is the right answer, yes, no, this is where the player needs
to go. What we try and do our best at is just assess where
the player is. Came into last year in a shortened season, battled injury
the first half, showed up in Lake County and was fantastic, got a
small taste of Double A last year for about a week, played in the
Fall League, did a great job, and then came out and really burst
onto the scene for you know, a lot of fans that probably knew his
name but weren't tracking maybe to the degree of skill set that he had.
And ultimately we just feel right now and chatting with him using all the people
across the org, that he's got a great opportunity in Double A to go
out there and play a lot of center field, a lot of right field,
and hopefully do some of the same things that we just saw over the
last month and things will take care of itself after that. But we feel
like that's our best opportunity for him to play the positions defensively that he needs
to continue to work and and get better and also just you know, our
best guess at what the right the location is out of the gates, knowing
that this is a guy that's really talented, and when you have guys that
are really talented like that, oftentimes they show you quickly you know what the
following steps should be. Believe it or not. This is the farm report
and not the chase. A lot of report. But it's been fun to
watch him play, and obviously we could talk about him for a long time.
But let's get to the teams in the system. Columbus will start first.
Let's start with the pitching at Columbus. It's interesting because there's some injury
issues going on, so your rotation might not have as many familiar names.
Yep, that's correct. We have a lot of young players on our forty
men. In general on this roster, I think a guy that fans saw
in spring training and throw really well. We were excited about, you know,
just where Joey is with everything. Cantill you know, unfortunately, had
a little bit of a hamstring flare up here just over the last couple of
days ahead of the team breaking, so he'll stick behind, He'll work through
a little bit of a rehab progression here in Arizona with the hopes of you
know, a couple of weeks down the road, he'll rejoin that group.
And then you know, Will Dion, a guy that really dominated in Double
A, actually started the last year's season in High A, but was one
of the best pitchers in the Eastern League last year, will be on that
team with a collection of guys that are going to go have a great opportunity
to start. A guy in Gillespie that we got in the minor league Rule
five, and then a couple other internal guys that have really just continued to
develop, some guys we brought in like Aller, and then yeah, like
a name like Hunter Stanley that has continued to just really get better and stay
healthy over the course of his career that you know, have an awesome opportunity
ahead of him to get some early outings in Triple A and a back end
like a Franco Alamann. Excited to see him get going. Yeah, he's
he's an exciting arm with just electric stuff and back into the bullpen mentality.
He'll start there as well, after you know, another dominant stint in Double
A, and it will be a fun challenge to see him get his first
taste of Triple A baseball and position player wise, these are going to be
names that are familiar to fans who are listening to spring training games. Man,
it's a lot of good talent that seems to be getting closer by the
day. And that's that's really the message we left those guys with is you're
that one phone call away. So you know, spring training is such an
interesting time for this Triple A group in particular. No one wants to be
told they're going to Triple A. So we talked about this with our guys
of what are the things that they can do to take their game to the
next level. So in that phone call does happen that they are the clear
cut choice to be that the person on the receiving end of that phone call
of we have a major league opportunity. So an exciting young I think these
guys have been around for so many years that oftentimes, like people in the
building and maybe the fans as well, just forget the age of Noel and
Brito and Tana and even guys like Daniel Schneeman who burst onto the scene a
little bit, you know, from a public sense, here in spring training.
What a talented group. And then you you got Manzardo, You've got
Jonathan Noriguez, like just a handful of guys that are that one step away
that hopefully get off to a great start here and triple out of the gates
and make make that phone call that much that much easier to make for voter,
whoever it is on the other end of the line when a major league
opportunity pops up. Let's stay with Daniel Sneaman for a minute. Not on
the radar from the outside, but I know he was on the inside.
And you've known about this kid for a while as he's progressed through the system.
What can you tell us about him prior to this year's spring training that
maybe indicated that something like the spring he had could happen. Yeah. Absolutely,
So these are the stories that are really fun for us. You know,
a thirty third round pick that from the day Shnee got here, effort,
attention to detail, care like just all things that he's embodied from the
start, and you get picked thirty third in the draft, essentially a thousand
thirty third round. That round doesn't even exist anymore. Thousand players go before
you're picked so there were things in his game that when he got here he
knew he needed to get better at, and we really tried to work on
him with a lot of that was was offensively of just like being able to
impact the ball more so, he had some traits in the draft that we
thought we could build upon and that was really where we set his focus and
he did a great job. Like he was a great infielder from the start,
we added versatility to his tool belt so that there were just more pathways
to get into the lineup. He can play center, he can play with
the corners, he can play a really good shortstop, third base, second
base, and he's even stood over it first for us. So that type
of profile is a and just to see him get the most out of his
career, the work he put in in the offseason a lot of our camps
here with our hitting group to really put on the strength and athleticism that he
needed to be able to put a charge into the baseball like he's been doing.
And so, you know, I think last year, two off seasons
ago, we really challenged him with what do you need to do physically to
be able to consistently impact the ball offensively? And this is a guy that
came back like fifteen to twenty pounds heavier, with most of that being fat
free mass and strength and power gains, and he's really put that into play
and it's been awesome to see, you know, just like you said,
the Greater Guardians fan base getting some eyeballs on him because he's earned it.
And we'll conclude to Columbus. You have a manager there who knows his way
around the Triple A level arguably one of the hardest levels to be a manager
in all of baseball. And what makes Andy Tracy so good and has you
confident going into this season? Yeah, I think first I might be the
hardest job just in baseball. And we are incredibly lucky to have Trace,
not only because of his experience as a player. That's huge and a competitive
advantage for us. I feel he knows what those players are thinking when things
are going great. He's been the guy that's kind of been sent down many
times before in those thoughts that players have of I'm in this alone and you
know, the orgs out to get me, or whatever the narratives are,
like, he has felt all those things as a player, and just his
ability to use his experiences for the better with our players is awesome, and
I just think we're incredibly lucky from a staff standpoint of Again, his experience
as a player and coach now is like he's been doing this for a long
time. We've challenged him with new staff, guys that have guys that have
played, guys that haven't been at that level yet, and just his willingness
and impact on his peers, I think is where I really just enjoy getting
to call him a teammate and see how he's able to continue and grow himself
but also impact others around him as a competitive advantage for us in triplet.
That is Rob Sortfolio, the director of player development for the Cleveland Guardians,
and that will do it for this week's edition of Guardians Weekly. As always,
thanks to Brian Matse for all of his help and putting together our shows
each week until next week when we join you for Minneapolis. This is Jim
Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians
Radio network. The Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive Helping Guardians
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