Speaker 1: Thirty five after the hour. Welcome back Exus and Bros.
Speaker 1: Throughout the Great State of Michigan. We're on in Grand
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Speaker 1: WKAD The Ticket ninety three point seven FM. Jordan distract
Speaker 1: does a nice job of following the mud Hens and
Speaker 1: giving you updated info on some of the young prospects
Speaker 1: and the men who you hope will wear the old
Speaker 1: English d one day and the impact that they can make.
Speaker 1: You can follow him on x or on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Jordan's strack. It's pretty easy to follow and he does
Speaker 1: a nice job of it and he joins us here
Speaker 1: on Exus and Bros. Jordan, Welcome to the program. Thanks
Speaker 1: for the time, man, appreciate it. You've saw a lot
Speaker 1: of Cold Keith, and Cold Keith has been a nice
Speaker 1: player for Detroit adjusting here at the major league level.
Speaker 1: What's impressed you most about his transition from the minor
Speaker 1: leagues to the major leagues.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good morning, Shev. Honestly, it's not shocking at all.
Speaker 2: I think we all kind of saw this coming. I
Speaker 2: even talked to Colt Keith when I was down spring
Speaker 2: training this year and it's like you just the guy
Speaker 2: just kind of has an hit factor. It was a
Speaker 2: slow start, and he kind of experienced that at Triple
Speaker 2: A last year as well, where he got off to
Speaker 2: the slow start. But once he starts going, he gets
Speaker 2: comfortable and you can sense that he belongs. And I
Speaker 2: think that's certainly the feeling I have got watching Cold
Speaker 2: Keith in Detroit so far, and it's not shocking at all.
Speaker 2: He just kind of has a little bit of a
Speaker 2: slagger about him. Yeah, he's not gonna be the he's
Speaker 2: not going to be a gold Glove, greatest defensive second
Speaker 2: basement of all time, but you don't I mean he's
Speaker 2: first month, he's been outstanding up there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you tweeted not too long ago that you think
Speaker 1: he could be in the conversation for Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1: I really like why at Lankford as well, the adjustment
Speaker 1: that he's made though considering he's up to two fifty
Speaker 1: five and as you mentioned, he really struggled. The defense
Speaker 1: I think concerned some people. Is his offense ever going
Speaker 1: to be good enough to overcome his defensive efficiencies in
Speaker 1: your mind?
Speaker 2: I think so. I mean, listen, second base isn't some
Speaker 2: position where you have to be the be all end all.
Speaker 2: He's not playing shortstop, he doesn't have to play center field.
Speaker 2: He's playing second base, and he has to be adequate,
Speaker 2: and I think he is. I think he's more than adequate.
Speaker 2: I think he's been perfectly fine. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: haven't looked into the metrics defensively enough to know, you know,
Speaker 2: if he's above average right now. But to me, the
Speaker 2: offense kind of offsets it. You look at the last
Speaker 2: two months, there really hasn't been There haven't been many
Speaker 2: guys better in baseball. You know the whyat Langford day.
Speaker 2: I think Tigers fans are probably gonna look at Whyaet
Speaker 2: Langford for the rest of his career and wonder obviously
Speaker 2: because of the draft and why it was. It was
Speaker 2: either Max Clark or why at Langford, and the Tigers
Speaker 2: went with Max Clark. So I think that Wyatt Langford
Speaker 2: thing is going to stick in our minds for a
Speaker 2: long time. So I think it's funny that he's probably
Speaker 2: potentially the rookie of the year this year if if
Speaker 2: cold Keith is not there, because he's going to be
Speaker 2: a thorn on everybody's side if he turns out to
Speaker 2: be a really good player for a long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to your point, look, Cole Keith's got more
Speaker 1: homers than batt and better. So it's that's the bottom
Speaker 1: line as of right now. And it's not like Texas
Speaker 1: is making this strong charge for a postseason part when
Speaker 1: so Perez I think has surprised a lot of people.
Speaker 1: He too has more home runs than why at Langford
Speaker 1: and justin Henry molloy. Now, I'm not saying you should
Speaker 1: be surprised by it, but the fact that they look
Speaker 1: like they belonged, that they're there, they're not overwhelmed, I
Speaker 1: think is something that is worth noting. How did you
Speaker 1: recognize that while covering them there in Toledo.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, well, Jahan is a different one. I thought
Speaker 2: he was ready at the beginning of this year and
Speaker 2: it kind of felt like he was probably log jammed
Speaker 2: out up there. He's an interesting one though, because you
Speaker 2: know he made that trade. He has been a guy
Speaker 2: who has had to deal with moving positions a ton.
Speaker 2: I mean, he he spent so much time last year
Speaker 2: with Alan Tramble trying when tram would come down working
Speaker 2: at third base, and he wanted to be a really
Speaker 2: good third base and it just didn't work out. I
Speaker 2: think he's more comfortable in the outfield. He told me
Speaker 2: that in Florida this year that he felt he felt
Speaker 2: more like a baseball player when he was out in
Speaker 2: the outfield. There was just something about it that worked
Speaker 2: for him. So Jay doesn't surprise me at all. I
Speaker 2: thought I thought he was going to hit once he
Speaker 2: had some time up there. I don't know that he's
Speaker 2: going to be an All Star whatever. He's a good
Speaker 2: player though, and defensively he's not great yet. I get that.
Speaker 2: But he's a good player and he's one of and
Speaker 2: when I tell you this, I mean I mean this sincerely.
Speaker 2: He's one of the best kids you'll ever meet, like
Speaker 2: legitimately one of the best people in terms of clubhouse
Speaker 2: and leadership and just being a guy that people kind
Speaker 2: of flocked to. So with justin Henry molloy, that's kind
Speaker 2: of what I saw from him. What's surprises an interesting one?
Speaker 2: Didn't see we didn't see him as much. But he's
Speaker 2: a guy who again has switched positions. And if there's
Speaker 2: a surprise this year, to me, he's the biggest surprise
Speaker 2: of all of them. I did not expect this from
Speaker 2: him this year, and that's not a knock on him.
Speaker 2: I just didn't see it coming. And I don't know
Speaker 2: if the Tigers saw this coming either, If they are
Speaker 2: being totally candid, I don't think they expected they would
Speaker 2: get him, get this out of him, and that he
Speaker 2: would be their starting right fielder on most nights. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: just a couple of those guys that that kind of
Speaker 2: came up, and yeah, maybe there's a little bit of
Speaker 2: a surprise with him for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think look, I talked with Justin Henry
Speaker 1: Maloy a couple of years ago when the Tigers first
Speaker 1: acquired him. A great story by the way, only child,
Speaker 1: mom and dad have done a wonderful job with him.
Speaker 1: I think the concern for Tigers fans, and I think
Speaker 1: it's justified, is that a lot of these guys are
Speaker 1: coming up and you hope they hit. They have to hit,
Speaker 1: because they're not very good defensively period. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: a reason for that he told me that he really
Speaker 1: felt better with his feet in the dirt when they
Speaker 1: first made that decision, and then they switched him back
Speaker 1: to the outfield. I get the sense there's a lot
Speaker 1: of guys, there's a lot of guys right now in
Speaker 1: this system who don't have defensive homes, and I think
Speaker 1: that's a legitimate concern. One guy who does have a
Speaker 1: defensive home but is not up is Spencer Torkelsen. What's
Speaker 1: he looked like since he's been down there in Toledo,
Speaker 1: minus those two big games that we recently saw him have.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about approach, talk about a willingness to change
Speaker 1: and things like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So yeah, you know the other day on what
Speaker 2: was it on Sunday? Had the seven RBI game on
Speaker 2: Sunday and he looked really good, but that followed up
Speaker 2: a three strikeout performance. I mean, yeah, like, there's no
Speaker 2: way to sugar coat is he struggled period and it's
Speaker 2: it's there have been a couple of days where, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's tough to watch and you just keep waiting for
Speaker 2: him for it to click again. I mean, listen, the
Speaker 2: guy hit thirty home runs in the big leagues. He
Speaker 2: has shown that he can produce up there, I would say,
Speaker 2: like from a mental standpoint, he is smiling, he isn't.
Speaker 2: He has been a good teammate, But yeah, I think
Speaker 2: a lot of it is mental. Like that's just that's
Speaker 2: just being very candidate. Most of what he is going
Speaker 2: through is mental. I don't think there are some like overarching,
Speaker 2: sweeping mechanical things that you're gonna fix with him. I
Speaker 2: think a lot of it's mental. And and when you
Speaker 2: get into that that play where you know you're starting
Speaker 2: to fight it and not know exactly what you want, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it can be a struggle. I actually asked Dylan Dingler
Speaker 2: about this the other day because he was red hot.
Speaker 2: I mean, there was nobody in Tripa a baseball hotter
Speaker 2: than Dylan Dingler last week. And he said for him,
Speaker 2: he literally just stopped thinking. It was like just seatball,
Speaker 2: hit ball. And I get that's a real simplistic way
Speaker 2: to see it, but like, yeah, Torque is going through
Speaker 2: it like outside of Sunday like he's he's going through it,
Speaker 2: and the strikeout rate is actually higher than it was
Speaker 2: when he was in the big leagues. That's not a
Speaker 2: good thing. But you just keep hoping that that He's
Speaker 2: going to have something click. There's gonna be that aha,
Speaker 2: light bulb go off moment. We just haven't seen it yet,
Speaker 2: and that's that's probably been the most frustrating part, not
Speaker 2: only for Tiger fans, but more importantly, Like nobody wants
Speaker 2: to get back up there more than Spencer Torgel's and
Speaker 2: I can assure you of that, like he wants it
Speaker 2: more than anybody wants it, and it's just a matter
Speaker 2: of when's it going to click for him, and hopefully
Speaker 2: that'll be soon.
Speaker 1: Jordan Strack joining us here on Axes and Bros. He
Speaker 1: covers the Toledo mud Hands. You can foll him on
Speaker 1: Twitter at x at Jordan Strak. So Torkelsen's attitude has
Speaker 1: always been one that is positive. He's always been a
Speaker 1: great teammate. I get the sense that a lot of
Speaker 1: young players are clouded by analytics in general. How much
Speaker 1: do they use that with him down there in Toledo.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know. I mean they're listen,
Speaker 2: they're using everything that every tool they have at the
Speaker 2: big league level for the most part. I mean it's
Speaker 2: you know, there are video guys down here, there are
Speaker 2: you know, they're going in and watching it. Bats, they're
Speaker 2: they're doing all of the things that you see at
Speaker 2: the big league level for the most part. It might
Speaker 2: not look as pretty on camera or whatever at our level,
Speaker 2: but yeah, like they're they're using all of those things.
Speaker 2: But to me, I think for Spencer torbels And I
Speaker 2: think they've tried to strip it down as much as
Speaker 2: they possibly can, and the are trying to get him
Speaker 2: just a base to start from. I think that's that's
Speaker 2: the most important thing is he needs to he needs
Speaker 2: to be able to just get comfortable once again. And
Speaker 2: I don't I have not seen him comfortable outside of
Speaker 2: Sunday in a long time. Like he just there. There's
Speaker 2: there aren't bats aren't comfortable there. I mean, he's swinging
Speaker 2: and missing at pitches that that you just you're kind
Speaker 2: of surprised at. You know, there will be a ninety
Speaker 2: three ninety four mile hour fastball, but he'll swing through
Speaker 2: and you're like, that's that's kind of surprising, which kind
Speaker 2: of leads me to think maybe he's guessing a little
Speaker 2: bit and and a lot of that's why I think
Speaker 2: a lot of it is mental And that's the conversations
Speaker 2: that I've had is that. Yeah, maybe it is a
Speaker 2: little mental right now, the approach, and he's just got
Speaker 2: to get it, got to get it back dialed in.
Speaker 1: Do you think he'll be back up in Detroit at
Speaker 1: all this year.
Speaker 2: At this point. I have a hard time believing it
Speaker 2: right now. Now. That's not to say, Listen, he could
Speaker 2: get hot for the next two weeks and and go
Speaker 2: on an absolute tear like he's got it in him,
Speaker 2: and that wouldn't shock me at all. I think, you know, defensively,
Speaker 2: I think he's been pretty good over at first base
Speaker 2: since he's been down that part's been fine. And could
Speaker 2: he go on a streak right now where he goes
Speaker 2: on a tear for two weeks and gets himself back
Speaker 2: in live sure, But right now the way that it's going,
Speaker 2: I don't see the advance. I don't I don't know
Speaker 2: that there's an advantage to him to rushing him back
Speaker 2: up there if he's not he's not totally ready like
Speaker 2: he's got to be. He's got to be in the
Speaker 2: right mindset and he's got to be hitting once again,
Speaker 2: or there's just no point. If that makes sense, that.
Speaker 1: Makes a ton of sense. Who else down there has
Speaker 1: caught your eye that Tiger fans should be excited about.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, listen, half of our Mudhens roster down
Speaker 2: here is of Detroit right now. Uh So, you know,
Speaker 2: watching last night was it was like watching a mudt
Speaker 2: Heens game because you know, Bli, Madriss, and Ryan Valaide
Speaker 2: and Dylan Dingler justin had not.
Speaker 1: A good thing though. That's the problem. I mean, certain
Speaker 1: guys are not performing and this team's not winning, so
Speaker 1: that's not a good thing. I like the Dylan Dingler
Speaker 1: advancement for sure, and we'll talk about that in a minute.
Speaker 1: But who's actually down there that you look at and
Speaker 1: and maybe more importantly, scouts and coaches look at and
Speaker 1: say this guy's going to impact the major league roster.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna be totally honest with you. I don't
Speaker 2: know that there's a guy left down there that's going
Speaker 2: to come up and impact Detroit. Not this year. Like
Speaker 2: Andrew Navagado, I think has had a breakout year. I
Speaker 2: think he's had a really good year. He's kind of
Speaker 2: been a you know, he's a guy who can play
Speaker 2: a couple of different positions and he you know, he's
Speaker 2: hit a little bit, but he's not I mean, he's
Speaker 2: not an everyday guy in the big leagues right now.
Speaker 2: Like that's just not that's just not who we is.
Speaker 2: I do think that Dylan Dingler is an everyday catcher
Speaker 2: in the big leagues right now. I talked to him
Speaker 2: Federomitch about that the other day. I just think I
Speaker 2: think Dylan Dingler is major league ready and I think
Speaker 2: he's going to be able to contribute, and he contributed
Speaker 2: last night. I think he can play right now at
Speaker 2: the big league level. I don't know that there are
Speaker 2: a bunch of guys right now as you look around
Speaker 2: the mud Hen roster that are going up and helping
Speaker 2: in Detroit right now, they're just not are there. Some
Speaker 2: of those guys in Double A maybe, but not in
Speaker 2: trile A right now, not after all the guys that
Speaker 2: have been taken up.
Speaker 1: Dylan Dingler. I said this the other day when somebody said, well,
Speaker 1: they trade Carson Kelley, and that's the reason Dingler gets
Speaker 1: moved up. He earned the promotion. How did you see
Speaker 1: him grow?
Speaker 2: There's no quest. I mean, he was he forced their hand,
Speaker 2: I think, and I mean I think Carson Kelly was
Speaker 2: probably getting moved anyway. But like listen, Dylan Dingler has.
Speaker 2: The one thing that I think he's probably improved on
Speaker 2: the most is handling. Is handling a pitching staff. The
Speaker 2: offensive numbers have been much better. He's been really good
Speaker 2: the last week the half. He's been, as I said,
Speaker 2: the hottest guy in Triple A Baseball. He had He
Speaker 2: had four or five home runs last week alone, so
Speaker 2: it felt like everything that was thrown at the plate
Speaker 2: he was hitting out. And defensively he's good. He can
Speaker 2: handle a pitching staff. I think that's been the biggest thing,
Speaker 2: and I think it helps having a former big league
Speaker 2: catcher as your manager at Triple A. Tim Federobach spent
Speaker 2: a lot of time in the big leagues and he
Speaker 2: caught for the Dodgers. I mean, he caught Clayton Kershall.
Speaker 2: He has been around, and having him managing in Toledo,
Speaker 2: I think it has probably been a really big help
Speaker 2: for Dylan Dingler because you know, they sitdn't talk about
Speaker 2: all those things. And he told me the other day
Speaker 2: he thought he was ready and it was just a
Speaker 2: matter of time. And now he's getting his chance, and
Speaker 2: I would hope, I would hope and believe that he'll
Speaker 2: get a fair shot up there to get to play,
Speaker 2: you know, three four times a week the rest of
Speaker 2: the way to show off what he can do. But
Speaker 2: I think to answer your question, Sheep, is that that
Speaker 2: he handles a hitching staff better than he did coming
Speaker 2: into this year.
Speaker 1: We hear all the time, Jordan, that this team is
Speaker 1: full of pitchers, that this organization the strength is pitching.
Speaker 1: Where do you see that come to fruition in Toledo.
Speaker 2: Right now? It's been a roller coaster. I mean it's
Speaker 2: been up and down. To be honest with you, like
Speaker 2: you know, Brian Salmons goes up and I thought he
Speaker 2: was really tight about Brian Salmons was awesome last night.
Speaker 2: He gave I think he gave the Tigers exactly what
Speaker 2: they needed to be able to save themselves for the
Speaker 2: next week. To be honest with you, which is extremely valuable.
Speaker 2: There aren't a bunch of guys down here in Toledo
Speaker 2: right now that are going to go up and help
Speaker 2: at the big league level right away. I mean, they're
Speaker 2: just there. Just aren't those guys. There's you know, there's
Speaker 2: some older you know, there's some veteran guys who have
Speaker 2: been around, and but there's not a bunch of young
Speaker 2: guys that are ready to come up in Triple A
Speaker 2: right now. You know, Jackson Job in Double A is
Speaker 2: your next guy, right but you know he's still got
Speaker 2: a little bit of time, and I don't know that
Speaker 2: maybe we'll see him in Toledo this year. I don't
Speaker 2: know that we're gonna I don't think they want to
Speaker 2: rush him in any way, there's no real reason to.
Speaker 2: But there's no guy. There's not a ton of guys
Speaker 2: in Triple A right now that are pitching wise, that
Speaker 2: are coming up to help Detroit.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll keep in touch, man, because eventually the Double
Speaker 1: A guys will advance. We think guys like Jay, young
Speaker 1: guys like Jackson Job, and we'll obviously see some guys
Speaker 1: go down for some various stints to correct a few
Speaker 1: things like Spencer Torkolsen is doing right now. We appreciate
Speaker 1: the insight, good stuff, Thanks Jordan, keep up the good
Speaker 1: work man.
Speaker 2: Absolutely appreciate that. Thanks,