Speaker 1: We're here with Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas. Miguel, thanks a
Speaker 1: lot for the time and always appreciate you delivering on
Speaker 1: the field and for us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, anytime that you guys need me, it's
Speaker 2: a pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 1: Guys. It's great to see the smile back on your face.
Speaker 1: How tough was it to watch and just be patient
Speaker 1: with the healing process.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess that's all I can do. When you
Speaker 2: feeling something throughout the year that you can really like
Speaker 2: play through. It's really hard and it's a challenge for
Speaker 2: you to stay focused on what you need to do
Speaker 2: to get back on the field as soon as possible.
Speaker 2: And that's exactly what I tried to do. I try
Speaker 2: to work myself as hard as I can every single
Speaker 2: day to come back in the minimum time. And I'm
Speaker 2: happy that I'm back with the guys. And I mean
Speaker 2: it was really tough to watch on TV, for sure,
Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, we got a
Speaker 2: lot of time left and were ready.
Speaker 1: You were one of the first key players to come
Speaker 1: back from the injured list, Mookie coming back Monday. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like with yourself, Mookie and the rest coming
Speaker 1: back that can restore order to the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I feel like we've been opened down
Speaker 2: this year, and part of that is injuries on the
Speaker 2: pitching side and the offensive side. But at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, we got a pretty good team that
Speaker 2: can actually fill in for the players who went down. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: a bunch of us went down at the same time,
Speaker 2: especially with the Freddie situation and his family situation that
Speaker 2: he has to stay away from the team for so long,
Speaker 2: and a guy I know Freddy take care of his family,
Speaker 2: and uh, he cares about his family a lot, but
Speaker 2: he's pretty hard on himself when he comes to like
Speaker 2: not playing every single day. So the same way I feel,
Speaker 2: and the same way Mookie feels. The same way Max Montsterfield,
Speaker 2: and I feel like everybody creating momentum coming back I
Speaker 2: think inspire others to trying to come back as soon
Speaker 2: as possible.
Speaker 1: To Miguel, You've been around a lot of great players
Speaker 1: in your career. Have you ever seen a player of
Speaker 1: Mookie's caliber be so flexible to move positions and do
Speaker 1: what's best for the team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like that's what a superstars is like.
Speaker 2: You know, Uh, it doesn't matter what happened on the field,
Speaker 2: but he's always willing to do whatever it is best
Speaker 2: for the team at the moment, you know, uh, And
Speaker 2: that kind of flexibility you don't find any anybody else.
Speaker 2: I feel like this is the first time that I
Speaker 2: play with a guy who won multiple Sitable Slogers, Gold
Speaker 2: Gloves in right field and he's willing to move to
Speaker 2: the infielder. And it's not just to to the to
Speaker 2: the dirt, but to shortstop, which is one of the
Speaker 2: hardest positions to play in the sport. And I mean
Speaker 2: all the all the credits to him for for being
Speaker 2: what the what is the best for the team, And
Speaker 2: that's what a superstar and a leader should be looking
Speaker 2: looking like.
Speaker 1: Hey, speaking of shortstop, it is the most amending position
Speaker 1: on the field outside of catcher. How do you make
Speaker 1: it look so easy? How do you have those instincts?
Speaker 1: Is it just something that you had at a young
Speaker 1: age or is it something you learned over time.
Speaker 2: I feel like I've been playing the position for like
Speaker 2: for a long time, almost my whole life, if ever,
Speaker 2: since I remember going to a field, I wanted to
Speaker 2: be a short stop. That comes from like watching really
Speaker 2: good short stop early in my age, like Marvi Scale
Speaker 2: the Becomeseion, Louis Aparisio and all those guys coming from Venezuela.
Speaker 2: We we uh produce a lot of good short stops
Speaker 2: in my in my jown age. So I was watching
Speaker 2: them and I was trying to emulate the way that
Speaker 2: they play short and I meant the at this point,
Speaker 2: it takes a little bit more of preparation for me
Speaker 2: because I'm thirty five years old and I'm trying to
Speaker 2: like stay on the on the top of the game defensively,
Speaker 2: and I just stay proud of them, and I just
Speaker 2: stay pride of playing good defense behind my guys, and
Speaker 2: that's what keeps me in the in the in the
Speaker 2: big leagues for so many years.
Speaker 1: Hey, so fair to say Venezuela is the country of shortstops.
Speaker 2: It used to be. It used to be that way.
Speaker 2: I feel like we still have some representative on like
Speaker 2: the shortstop from Colorado. I seek Toobar, and we have
Speaker 2: Brian Rocky in clevelandand and we have a couple other guys.
Speaker 2: But right now it's trending more towards the catchers because
Speaker 2: we have a lot of catchers in the big leagues
Speaker 2: right now, but definitely when when I was growing up
Speaker 2: he was. I mean, we produce a lot of good
Speaker 2: short stufs.
Speaker 1: Hey, before I let you go, Tomorrow is Matt kemp day.
Speaker 1: You were teammates with Matt Camp when he first got
Speaker 1: called up. Is it surreal to realize that you're still
Speaker 1: playing and tomorrow he's officially retiring.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy to see how many players that I
Speaker 2: play with now they're coaching or they like don't with
Speaker 2: their careers and and moving on to the next charter
Speaker 2: of their life. But especially with my that I got
Speaker 2: an opportunity to debuty here when he was like at
Speaker 2: the top of the game, you know, thirty thirty guy,
Speaker 2: MVP caliber season every single year, and for being uh
Speaker 2: like socialize guy and being open to uh to help
Speaker 2: a lot of John players at that time. I always
Speaker 2: going to appreciate what he did for for me and
Speaker 2: for all the John players in this organization, Like Jock
Speaker 2: Peterson can talk to you about it. He was like
Speaker 2: really really good person outside of being a superstar. And
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm happy for make he's uh that he's
Speaker 2: retarding as a dollyer, you know, uh as as his
Speaker 2: last day and yeah, it's so real to to be
Speaker 2: here tomorrow, playing in a light up, trying to win awards.
Speaker 2: Here is when when Matt is coming back to actually.
Speaker 1: Your retard, who is a better smelling teammate one, your
Speaker 1: rebate or Matt Camp?
Speaker 2: I gotta go, I gotta, I gotta go with Matt
Speaker 2: because I like the way that he always dress a
Speaker 2: smile and smell and and and all that. Nothing nothing,
Speaker 2: nothing against one, but uh, it's different every single day,
Speaker 2: So I go with Matt.
Speaker 1: Awesome, Thanks a lot for your time. Great to see
Speaker 1: you back out there, Shortstop. You make it look so
Speaker 1: easy and it's a pleasure to watch you really be
Speaker 1: a magician there every night. So thanks a lot, no
Speaker 1: thank you,