Speaker 1: Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio network.
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Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosen House along
Speaker 2: with you from Goodyear Arizona Guardians spring training. With less
Speaker 2: than three weeks to go now before opening day in
Speaker 2: Kansas City. So things starting to wind down in terms
Speaker 2: of spring training, believe it or not. Not really, there's
Speaker 2: still certainly plenty of baseball action left and some things
Speaker 2: to be decided, but we are inching closer to that
Speaker 2: March twenty seventh opening day in KC against the Royals.
Speaker 2: Good show lined up for you today. We may have
Speaker 2: broken a new record. Five different players will stop by
Speaker 2: and talk to us for a little bit, including Tyler Naquin.
Speaker 2: That's right, a blast from the past. Tyler Naquin is
Speaker 2: in camp after a major league career as a fine outfielder,
Speaker 2: he's trying to make a comeback as a pitcher, and
Speaker 2: here he is in minor league camp for the Guardians,
Speaker 2: and we'll talk to him about how that transpired. As
Speaker 2: he signed a contract earlier this week and begins that road.
Speaker 2: He hopes back to the major leagues on the mound
Speaker 2: this time.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: Also here from starting pitcher Tristan McKenzie, outfielder Will Brennan,
Speaker 2: and relief pitchers Paul Seewald and Kate Smith. So a
Speaker 2: lot to get to on this week's show, and we'll
Speaker 2: start it off with a visit from outfielder Will Brennan,
Speaker 2: who last year hit two sixty four with eight homers
Speaker 2: thirty runs driven in, did spend a little bit of
Speaker 2: time at Columbus in when he came back, certainly swung
Speaker 2: the bat better, split some time and right field with
Speaker 2: John Kenzie. No, well, that could be his role for
Speaker 2: this season. We'll see. Still some things to be decided
Speaker 2: in the outfield, but Brennan did some things in the
Speaker 2: offseason to try and take that next step forward in
Speaker 2: what would be his fourth major league season, and he
Speaker 2: says getting the spring training is always fun, especially with
Speaker 2: this group.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's good to be back.
Speaker 3: I think everyone had a really good winner, you know.
Speaker 3: I think we're ready to go out and play against
Speaker 3: some really good competition in spring and compete and see
Speaker 3: where it lies.
Speaker 4: After that.
Speaker 2: When you say it had a really good winner, I
Speaker 2: think in today's day A. You almost have to. For you,
Speaker 2: what does that mean? A good winner?
Speaker 5: What'd you do?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: Spend time with family, all the other things off the field.
Speaker 3: Took care of that, and then you know, spend a
Speaker 3: lot of time in the weight room and made some
Speaker 3: really good swing adjustments and you know, tune ups and
Speaker 3: really got after in that arena. And then you know,
Speaker 3: came out here early, face some lives and got ready
Speaker 3: to go.
Speaker 2: And when you look at making some adjustments or changes,
Speaker 2: obviously you have a routine that you're comfortable with. Did
Speaker 2: you get out of that comfort zone a little bit
Speaker 2: and try some new stuff?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I have to. Every year, you got to adapt.
Speaker 3: Every year is something different. You know, I think it's
Speaker 3: the best game of the world. You start back at
Speaker 3: zero and and you got to work your way up
Speaker 3: that ladder again. You know, definitely got out of my
Speaker 3: comfort zone, worked out with some new guys this year,
Speaker 3: and so see where it goes from there.
Speaker 2: And when you look back at last season, I know,
Speaker 2: is it some up and downs? Obviously? How did you
Speaker 2: assess it at the end and how did that allow
Speaker 2: you to make some adjustments in the winter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, I always look at it
Speaker 3: from a team perspective. Made to the ALCS, I think
Speaker 3: that's a really successful year as a team. You know,
Speaker 3: for me, it was just you know, being able to
Speaker 3: you know, start in right field or come off the
Speaker 3: bench whenever they needed me and help the team win
Speaker 3: ball games. That was how I always operate.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: Definitely a rocky year, but improved on a lot of
Speaker 3: things and definitely something to build off of.
Speaker 2: When you look at where you're at in your career,
Speaker 2: this is always going to be a young team and
Speaker 2: you're still a young player, but you've been around a
Speaker 2: little bit. Do you feel I don't know veterans the
Speaker 2: right word, but do you do you feel like you've
Speaker 2: kind of established yourself a little bit or you're getting
Speaker 2: to that point?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean I think that's gonna be the biggest hump
Speaker 3: for this team to get over. As you know, we
Speaker 3: have a lot of young guys that have been in
Speaker 3: the league for you know, one and a half to
Speaker 3: two and a half to three years, and you know,
Speaker 3: establishing that we belong here, you know, and we do
Speaker 3: belong We've been here and now it's just go out
Speaker 3: and win games. I think I don't think veterans status
Speaker 3: is ever gonna hit and we have guys like Carlos
Speaker 3: and guys like Jose. You know, those guys are going
Speaker 3: to obviously lead the charge in that aspect. But yeah,
Speaker 3: being able to help the younger guys around me in
Speaker 3: positions that I've been in and help them out.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Carlos Santana. I know spring's just starting, but
Speaker 2: what do you see from him so far or maybe
Speaker 2: from what you've heard from others that played to them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've already seen a huge, you know, leadership role
Speaker 3: just kind of get filled up. You know, he's obviously
Speaker 3: somebody that's done it for a really long time, had
Speaker 3: some really you know, a lot of success here and
Speaker 3: kind of everywhere. He's been so guy that's you know,
Speaker 3: be a sponge around and you know he's going to
Speaker 3: lead the charger.
Speaker 4: Can't wait.
Speaker 2: That's outfielder Will Brennan getting ready for a new season,
Speaker 2: his fourth It would be in the major leagues when
Speaker 2: things get going at the end of the month in
Speaker 2: Kansas City, hoping to be a part of the starting rotation.
Speaker 2: Right hander Tristan McKenzie and up and down season A
Speaker 2: year ago for t mac was three and five in
Speaker 2: the big leagues with the eer up over five runs
Speaker 2: a game in sixteen starts for Cleveland, but spent significant
Speaker 2: time in the second half at Triple A. Columbus went
Speaker 2: to work in the off season to try and regain
Speaker 2: some of that form that made him an eleven game
Speaker 2: winner back in twenty twenty two. He's had some injury
Speaker 2: issues since, and he explains some of the frustrations that
Speaker 2: he went through a season ago, especially at the start.
Speaker 6: I felt good last year, but I think I felt
Speaker 6: a little bit behind the eight ball when I was
Speaker 6: out here in spring training. I just felt like I
Speaker 6: was moving a little bit slow, and right now, I
Speaker 6: feel right on time.
Speaker 2: And when you look back at last year, obviously some
Speaker 2: frustrations there. What was most difficult that you were trying
Speaker 2: to get to and it just wasn't working out for you.
Speaker 6: I just felt like I'd lacked like a certain level
Speaker 6: of like intensity or like edge out on the mound,
Speaker 6: like early on in the season, and I just felt
Speaker 6: like there was some stuff that happened in the in
Speaker 6: the previous year in twenty three, where the off season
Speaker 6: was a little bit different, and this offseason I had
Speaker 6: a norm offseason, so like from like a physical I.
Speaker 5: Felt ready last year, but this year I.
Speaker 6: Just feel more mentally ready to take the mound and
Speaker 6: stuff like that.
Speaker 2: And when you say normal off season, what does that
Speaker 2: look like for you?
Speaker 6: I mean I'm home working out at Christy's Sports Performance.
Speaker 6: I really didn't travel.
Speaker 5: As much this year, but usually I'll travel for a
Speaker 5: little bit.
Speaker 6: I went to the Bahamas for a week, but outside
Speaker 6: of that, I was really just home training, playing some
Speaker 6: video games.
Speaker 2: And I know one of the things that is a
Speaker 2: great thing that you do is your camp. And when
Speaker 2: you told me earlier this week that how long you
Speaker 2: been doing it, explain how long you've been doing the
Speaker 2: camp and what it means to the kids.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean this year was my eighth year, and
Speaker 6: for me, the camp is really just about giving back
Speaker 6: to the community that raised me, the community that made
Speaker 6: me into the baseball player in the man that I
Speaker 6: have today, And just wanted to give the kids want
Speaker 6: a good outlet via baseball, teaching them the right things
Speaker 6: and then two teaching.
Speaker 5: Them to get back to their community as well.
Speaker 2: So they're learning. What do you learn from now?
Speaker 6: A ton of stuff I learned that I have or
Speaker 6: negative aura or something I don't know, Like they were
Speaker 6: telling me all kinds of things. I learned so much
Speaker 6: from them and they're super open minded and they always
Speaker 6: shoot you straight.
Speaker 5: So's it's a good experience every time.
Speaker 2: How old are so?
Speaker 6: We range from about six to fourteen fifteen shy. We
Speaker 6: might open it up, open up the age brackets a
Speaker 6: little bit more moving in the future.
Speaker 2: But is it something that's that's really gaining momentum down
Speaker 2: there for you.
Speaker 5: Uh a year.
Speaker 6: Maybe I don't know about momentum, but it definitely feels
Speaker 6: like a mainstay. Like I feel like every time we
Speaker 6: get close to the time of the year, I started
Speaker 6: to get questions about when's the camp.
Speaker 5: My cousin's interested. People definitely want to come down and
Speaker 5: be a part of it.
Speaker 2: So you get back out here for spring training, you
Speaker 2: have a nice first first outing and it doesn't I
Speaker 2: don't care who you are. It seems like that first
Speaker 2: outing for pictures you just don't know and what did it?
Speaker 2: What did it mean to you to have a good
Speaker 2: one at least results wise?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I was really just trying to go
Speaker 6: out there and not do too much. Really just go
Speaker 6: out there myself or strikes get the team involved get
Speaker 6: some quick outs, and I felt like it went really
Speaker 6: well in terms of like me just executing my stuff
Speaker 6: and setting out with my goal in mind, and really
Speaker 6: just working on some of the stuff that we've been
Speaker 6: working on with Carl in terms of delivery, just attacking hitters,
Speaker 6: and like what the mindset.
Speaker 2: Is this year, We've seen you at your best and
Speaker 2: that was as good as it gets in baseball. A
Speaker 2: couple of years ago. You're starting to get that feeling
Speaker 2: and is there a certain feeling that you're looking for
Speaker 2: when you're on the mound that lets you be you?
Speaker 6: I mean, I don't think I'm looking for anything specifically.
Speaker 6: I think it's more just like knowing the team that
Speaker 6: I have around me, knowing the guys that I have
Speaker 6: around me, that I can just go out there and pitch.
Speaker 5: And that's really what I'm trying to get back to.
Speaker 6: And I think that's what a majority of twenty two
Speaker 6: andenty two was for me, is like just going out
Speaker 6: there and getting out for the boys.
Speaker 2: And you know what it looks like for this team
Speaker 2: to be good. It seems like a lot of the
Speaker 2: ingredients are there, and are you seeing that here early
Speaker 2: in the spring yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think we all saw it last year,
Speaker 6: and we've been talking to meetings about what last year
Speaker 6: means to us in terms of like that now being
Speaker 6: like our floor, that's what we have in our mind,
Speaker 6: is like that's the minimum we can do. So going
Speaker 6: out there and just putting our best foot forward and
Speaker 6: looking forward to the end of the year.
Speaker 2: This year actually always fun to catch up with Tristan
Speaker 2: McKenzie and you probably could tell just by listening a
Speaker 2: real positive outlook, and he's looked good so far this spring.
Speaker 2: Stay with us when we come back. We'll hear from
Speaker 2: the senior member of The Guardian's Bullpennies in on a
Speaker 2: free agent contract, talking about veteran right hander Paul Sewald.
Speaker 2: Is it with him? Next seventh in two Down the Pitch,
Speaker 2: swat a set of slider a new career high fourteen.
Speaker 1: Strikeouts for Tristan McKenzie.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, Jim Rosenhouse along with you
Speaker 2: from Guardian Spring training in Goodyear, Arizona. It's been a
Speaker 2: great spring and the Guardians are back at it this afternoon.
Speaker 2: If you're tuned to our show on Saturday, they'll take
Speaker 2: on the San Diego Padres in Peoria with a three
Speaker 2: ten first pitching and hear it right here on the
Speaker 2: Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Paul Seawald is hoping to
Speaker 2: be a part of the Guardian's bullpen. He's a veteran
Speaker 2: right hander who has spent eight seasons parts of in
Speaker 2: the Major Leagues with the Mets, Mariners, and Diamondbacks. Had
Speaker 2: a great season in twenty twenty three, was thirty four
Speaker 2: saves and went to the World Series with Arizona. He's
Speaker 2: now with a new ball club and he says fitting
Speaker 2: in at this point in his career with the new
Speaker 2: club is fairly easy to me.
Speaker 1: It's easy.
Speaker 8: I've played against these guys. I've kind of reports against
Speaker 8: these guys. They wear jerseys, so you get to know
Speaker 8: their name. We will.
Speaker 2: Staff is a lot harder. Staff is a lot.
Speaker 8: Harder to make sure you kind of know everybody. Wannie
Speaker 8: printed me out, you know, the headshots and names and jobs,
Speaker 8: so I could try and figure out who everybody is,
Speaker 8: so I'll get the hang of it. When I did
Speaker 8: that in Seattle, it was twenty one and everyone had masks,
Speaker 8: so by the end of camp I still didn't know anybody.
Speaker 8: So I'm doing way better than I was in twenty one.
Speaker 8: We'll get the hang of it. But last time I checked,
Speaker 8: the Mountins are still sixty feet six inches here like
Speaker 8: they are in Arizona in Seattle, So I'll get the
Speaker 8: hang of it in no time.
Speaker 2: And most importantly, the pitching coaches are trying to learn you,
Speaker 2: and then I'm sure you them. How long does that
Speaker 2: take for them to get comfortable with helping you along
Speaker 2: the way.
Speaker 8: I felt that they were comfortable trying to help me
Speaker 8: in my recruiting video zoom. So that's who these guys are,
Speaker 8: and I'm excited that if I feel like I need
Speaker 8: the help that they're there. Hopefully we don't have any
Speaker 8: conversations other than way to go, so that's not necessarily realistic,
Speaker 8: but I think that's kind of their perspective, is they
Speaker 8: don't I don't need to be fixed. I am a
Speaker 8: great pitcher and that's why the team wanted me, and
Speaker 8: I just need to be myself now. If I feel
Speaker 8: like I'm headed towards the sides of the guardrails, I'm
Speaker 8: excited that I have really good rails here to kind
Speaker 8: of keep me back on the tracks and have a
Speaker 8: great year.
Speaker 2: The connection with Steven Vote explain how that came into
Speaker 2: play getting you here.
Speaker 8: Yeah, he was the center focus of telling Chris, hey,
Speaker 8: I want you know, I think paulsy Won is a
Speaker 8: perfect addition to this amazing bullpen already. And and so
Speaker 8: they reached out and got to have a zoom meeting
Speaker 8: and got to talk to him, you know, one on one,
Speaker 8: a little bit about what the Cleveland Guardians are all about,
Speaker 8: who we are, what he thinks of me as as
Speaker 8: the manager. That's really important. You need to make sure
Speaker 8: that the manager wants you on their team, and he's
Speaker 8: just an amazing person that I thought I pitched my
Speaker 8: very very best when I was around him, So I'm
Speaker 8: excited to be around him more often and pitch even better.
Speaker 2: And you mentioned amazing bullpen. It was the best in
Speaker 2: baseball a year ago. How aware of that were you
Speaker 2: last summer as it was happening? And then obviously when
Speaker 2: you're looking for a team.
Speaker 8: Yeah, we came here in early August, right at the
Speaker 8: turn of August, and everyone kind of came out and
Speaker 8: we were looking at stats and it was like, my god,
Speaker 8: they're throwing just bullets over here, so aware of it
Speaker 8: as a competitor against them, and then you know, it
Speaker 8: was obviously a question I had for Chris, like why
Speaker 8: do you feel like you need me? This is you know,
Speaker 8: you guys had a pretty good bullpen. You obviously have
Speaker 8: arguably the best closer in baseball, and you know I've
Speaker 8: done closing. I'm certainly not going to close here. Why
Speaker 8: do you want me? And his answer was trying to
Speaker 8: make a strength more of a strength. So I see
Speaker 8: no different playing a lot of four to three, three
Speaker 8: to one type of games, and and the more bullpen
Speaker 8: guys you can have, the less everyone has to pitches,
Speaker 8: the more fresh they can be down the stretch. And
Speaker 8: and as you guys saw, starters come out very early
Speaker 8: in the postseason. So the more bullpen guys you have,
Speaker 8: the better down the stretch.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned being there in August seeing the team
Speaker 2: as a member of the Diamondbacks a lot of hard throwers,
Speaker 2: but the best bullpens could show a variety of looks
Speaker 2: and explain for fans who haven't seen you pitch, what
Speaker 2: are we looking at?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I was part of a bullpen that
Speaker 8: had Matt Brash throwing one hundred unders, Munnos throwing a hundred,
Speaker 8: and then me throwing ninety two right after them, and
Speaker 8: everyone kind of shook their head, like, I don't really
Speaker 8: know why that guy pitches the ninth. But I am
Speaker 8: most effective when I'm throwing the ball at the top
Speaker 8: of the zone and sweeping sliders off of that and
Speaker 8: throwing two different, two totally different pitches that go to
Speaker 8: different directions and have a ton of deception and it
Speaker 8: just kind of throws people off. I'm at my very
Speaker 8: best when people strike out and they just look at
Speaker 8: the scoreboard and can't figure out why they got their
Speaker 8: doors blown away on a ninety two mile or fastball,
Speaker 8: and nothing gets me going quite like that. So you're
Speaker 8: not gonna see the stuff of Gaddis or Cat Smith
Speaker 8: or especially class A. But at my best, I'm just
Speaker 8: as effective as all those guys. I just I just
Speaker 8: doing a little differently.
Speaker 2: It's the beauty of baseball right there, Paul, see you
Speaker 2: while joining us. You're on a stage in your career
Speaker 2: where you're looking for a team for a deep end
Speaker 2: of the off season this year maybe compared to past years.
Speaker 2: How difficult was that and what was going through your
Speaker 2: mind as the off season continue to wear on.
Speaker 8: Yeah, without saying a lot about the free agency process,
Speaker 8: it just you know, the reliever market didn't really get
Speaker 8: going until the turn of the year, and so I
Speaker 8: was very confident that I was going to have a
Speaker 8: place to play. And at the end of the day,
Speaker 8: training in December and November has nothing to do with
Speaker 8: whether you have a team. I knew I was playing
Speaker 8: this year, so not being on a team had had
Speaker 8: no impact on my work ethic and in my work.
Speaker 8: It was a little weird, you know, following news and
Speaker 8: who signed where without having any idea where I was
Speaker 8: going to play. You know, usually when you're with the team,
Speaker 8: you kind of cheer if your team gets somebody, or
Speaker 8: you're you know, your kind of WinCE when you know
Speaker 8: maybe your rival get somebody. I didn't really know where
Speaker 8: I was going, so I was just kind of following
Speaker 8: the news, and the reliever market never really happened, so
Speaker 8: I was kind of just being patient, and we waited
Speaker 8: for the perfect spot, and I think I landed in it.
Speaker 2: And you mentioned the plus is about knowing Steven Voden
Speaker 2: and the bullpen. We were talking before we got started.
Speaker 2: You had a chance to pitch in a World Series.
Speaker 2: This team obviously has those aspirations. How important was it
Speaker 2: to be with a quote contender?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I you.
Speaker 8: Know, there were possibilities for me to close on teams
Speaker 8: that won't have many closing opportunities. That was never something
Speaker 8: that I wanted to do. I'm here to try and
Speaker 8: win games. I've spent the last four years winning a
Speaker 8: lot of games, and you just have a lot more
Speaker 8: fun on winners. It's just doesn't matter your role. It's
Speaker 8: just a lot better to be on a winning team.
Speaker 8: This team won the Ale Central last year, and I
Speaker 8: don't see any reason we shouldn't win the al Central
Speaker 8: this year and give us, give us a chance to
Speaker 8: pitch in October, and once you've been there, you're just
Speaker 8: addicted to going back. So I can't wait to putch
Speaker 8: in another postseason game.
Speaker 2: Paul, great to meet you. Thanks, Thanks, that's better and
Speaker 2: right hand or Paul Seawald getting ready for another season
Speaker 2: in the major leagues and really looking forward to being
Speaker 2: part of what was Major League Baseball's best bullpen a
Speaker 2: season ago. Stay with us, We'll have more to come
Speaker 2: as we continue from Goodyear. After this time out on
Speaker 2: the Cleveland Clinic. Guardians Radio Network, Guardian's Weekly continues from Goodyear, Arizona.
Speaker 2: Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Guardians Spring training and
Speaker 2: there's always a lot of different stories as the spring
Speaker 2: moves along, and none more surprising than earlier this week
Speaker 2: when Tyler Naquin, a former outstanding outfielder for the Guardians
Speaker 2: and at that time the Indians, part of the twenty
Speaker 2: sixteen World Series team, he has signed a minor league
Speaker 2: contract as a pitcher, and he hopes to reach the
Speaker 2: big leagues once again in that role. He's a former
Speaker 2: first round draft picked by Cleveland back in twenty twelve,
Speaker 2: finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in
Speaker 2: that twenty sixteen season. Five years with the Indians and
Speaker 2: eight years overall in the major leagues as a really
Speaker 2: good outfielder with a big arm. That was one of
Speaker 2: the keys defensively for him, and he's hoping that translates
Speaker 2: to the mound. How did all this happen? Well, he
Speaker 2: explains where he was a year ago in January and
Speaker 2: why the decision came to pass.
Speaker 9: Yeah, just as I told them, just it was a
Speaker 9: pretty brief discussion and parking lot of my buddies, Jim
Speaker 9: that we really Clay Tillman in College station. We just decided, Hey,
Speaker 9: we're going to pitch, and we started playing catch, and
Speaker 9: you know, we never stopped lift. He owns the gym
Speaker 9: and he writes my programs and whatnot. And then I
Speaker 9: work with Jase Hutchins and Jack Mahala at Texas A
Speaker 9: and M in the analytic department for pitching. And I've
Speaker 9: reached out to my old teammates and pitchers and stuff,
Speaker 9: and I said, I'm gonna I'm gonna give this thing
Speaker 9: a go. And and I've kind of put all these
Speaker 9: minds and stuff together in order to to just kind
Speaker 9: of build a Frankenstein, if you will, of what works
Speaker 9: for me.
Speaker 2: Circling back though to that conversation in the parking lot
Speaker 2: prior to that, though, how did that come into your
Speaker 2: your line of thinking? Were you looking to get back
Speaker 2: in the game and this was the avenue or was
Speaker 2: it something different? Yeah?
Speaker 9: No, I mean I you know, I was missing baseball obviously,
Speaker 9: and I hadn't got a phone call, not one single time.
Speaker 9: So I just kind of looked at him. I was like, man,
Speaker 9: maybe I should just pitch, and he was like, all right,
Speaker 9: let's do it.
Speaker 5: And that was it.
Speaker 9: And we started throwing and you know, getting the arm
Speaker 9: acclimated to just you know, throwing more often, and you know,
Speaker 9: started touching the mound. And that was all of twenty
Speaker 9: twenty four, you know, and just figuring figuring stuff out.
Speaker 9: I went down to Houston and did some stuff with
Speaker 9: David Evans for about three months and just continued and
Speaker 9: continued to touch the mound and develop and lift and
Speaker 9: figure out what worked for me.
Speaker 2: So to make that next step where a major league
Speaker 2: organization I actually wants to sign you. Uh, how did it?
Speaker 2: How did that develop?
Speaker 4: And how did you end up.
Speaker 9: Here with Cleveland, right, And I think whenever I realized like, hey,
Speaker 9: we have something here, probably back in August of twenty
Speaker 9: four I started a throwing program at Texas A and
Speaker 9: M with the head athletic trainer, Kayleie Swain, and just
Speaker 9: working you know, you know Michael Early at A and
Speaker 9: M and that coaching staff. They allowed me to use
Speaker 9: the facility as well as I was on staff there
Speaker 9: and just having that and knowing like, hey, there's a
Speaker 9: chance here. And after I was throwing bullpens and started
Speaker 9: to climb velocity and develop pitches and just see what
Speaker 9: type of profile I was as a reliever. I liked it,
Speaker 9: and the people around me were like, hey, we need
Speaker 9: to get in front of some teams. And so through
Speaker 9: a pro day on the twenty second of January on
Speaker 9: this last January, and didn't really hear much. And then
Speaker 9: my agent reached out to Cleveland and Cincinnati and you know,
Speaker 9: some different teams, and I sent some video to some
Speaker 9: guys in Cleveland and whatnot, and it was that's how
Speaker 9: we kind of got rolling.
Speaker 2: Did you talk at all of to Chris Antinati or
Speaker 2: Mike Chernoff or that high up or or was it
Speaker 2: more pitching development and scouts things like that.
Speaker 9: No, I mean I didn't speak to anybody.
Speaker 4: There was a.
Speaker 9: Scout, Brett came from Austin, Texas down to College Station,
Speaker 9: Texas watched me and I had a really good day
Speaker 9: and he was excited about it. So I was just
Speaker 9: as excited and we kind of got the ball rolling
Speaker 9: from there. And they're in.
Speaker 2: Contact Tyler Nike when joining us. He's a pitcher now
Speaker 2: in the minor league system for the Guardians. And you
Speaker 2: walked into this building, the complex here in goodyear. You
Speaker 2: are a part of some really good teams, the World
Speaker 2: Series team in particular year of rookie year. What kind
Speaker 2: of memories maybe came back to you when you walked
Speaker 2: into this place thinking about some really good times in
Speaker 2: your career.
Speaker 5: Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 9: I mean it's I was very thankful to come back
Speaker 9: to a team that there's you know, familiar faces and
Speaker 9: some good energy here.
Speaker 4: You know, it could have been anywhere.
Speaker 9: And you know, from what I've heard and what I've
Speaker 9: been told is that Cleveland is you know, you know,
Speaker 9: top of the pack, if not number one in developing pitching.
Speaker 9: And that's something that I've been saying this whole past
Speaker 9: year and twenty four.
Speaker 5: Man, if I think.
Speaker 9: If I could just with what I have built now,
Speaker 9: with all of my resources back home, if somebody could
Speaker 9: just get me and mold me and help me out,
Speaker 9: I think that I could really really do something with this.
Speaker 9: And you know, to be here at the at the
Speaker 9: number one spot with it is and be familiar with
Speaker 9: people here is just you know, it's a great opportunity.
Speaker 2: Obviously, you have to have a big arm, and that
Speaker 2: was a big key for you as an outfielder in
Speaker 2: the major leagues. It's a little fuzzy because it's a
Speaker 2: long time ago, but I think we might have first
Speaker 2: met in a spring training when you were in big
Speaker 2: league camp and and I might have asked you about
Speaker 2: your throwing arm, how that developed rocks throw throwing rocks
Speaker 2: in the in the water in Texas. Would you have
Speaker 2: ever thought it would lead to this at this point
Speaker 2: in time.
Speaker 9: Yeah, no, especially not that early. But you know people
Speaker 9: have asked me, you know, where's the arm strength? And
Speaker 9: I you know, my older brother had an incredible arm
Speaker 9: as well, and he him and I would you know,
Speaker 9: we'd leave a football out or baseball's out, and you know,
Speaker 9: they'd get rained on and stuff, and so we would
Speaker 9: always just pick up some type of ball and we'd
Speaker 9: back up and see who could throw it over the
Speaker 9: power line from the farthest back.
Speaker 5: No warming up or nothing. So it's like, I don't.
Speaker 9: I've never done bands or you know, the weighted balls
Speaker 9: or anything, so I just don't. That's the only type
Speaker 9: of weighted ball or anything that I had done up until,
Speaker 9: you know, last year when I started this pitching. And
Speaker 9: so I mean I've done bands and stuff obviously, but
Speaker 9: not consistently.
Speaker 5: So I think at a young.
Speaker 9: Age, I think just throwing a bunch of rocks at
Speaker 9: the creek with him and and just throwing footballs and
Speaker 9: baseballs and water logged ones at that.
Speaker 5: For sure probably helped.
Speaker 4: He didn't definitely didn't hurt it.
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting because you mentioned the throw
Speaker 2: from the outfield compared to working off a mound and
Speaker 2: trying to to reach your full potential. That way very
Speaker 2: very different. Explain how different that is.
Speaker 4: It is you also have a little bit of momentum.
Speaker 9: You know, some guys crow hop or whatever, but it's
Speaker 9: more of a shuffle from the outfield. But you know,
Speaker 9: you can tend to have a little bit longer of
Speaker 9: an armstroke from the outfield, and you're working more uphill,
Speaker 9: your shoulders are tilted more uphill. And now on the
Speaker 9: transitioning you know, it's tough with a really long arm
Speaker 9: to sync that up. But also I haven't been doing it,
Speaker 9: you know, with That's why I'm excited to do it
Speaker 9: with these guys. But learning how to work down the
Speaker 9: slope of the mound and linear to the catcher is
Speaker 9: you know, it's definitely different from the outfield. But I
Speaker 9: do watch my outfield throws when I first started this
Speaker 9: and still to this day, just to kind of see
Speaker 9: how my body sinks up and and whatnot in order
Speaker 9: to move directly, you know, straightforward, you know, instead of
Speaker 9: pulling off or you know, letting the arm fly out,
Speaker 9: or you know, just being late with the arm.
Speaker 2: Do you have a timetable you put on yourself to
Speaker 2: to see if this thing works? And if so, where
Speaker 2: does it begin as you get started here in goodyear?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say the timetable starts now, you know, just.
Speaker 5: Enjoy it.
Speaker 9: It's it's a lot of it's already been a lot
Speaker 9: of fun. But I mean now that I'm you know,
Speaker 9: I've put pen to paper, and I'm here. It's extremely exciting.
Speaker 9: It looks and feels like it's gonna be a lot
Speaker 9: of fun, especially being here. And I know that you know,
Speaker 9: this organization, you know, would like to see me succeed,
Speaker 9: and so I couldn't be happier with that. I think
Speaker 9: I'm in the best spot that I could put potentially
Speaker 9: could have ever been in. So I think there's really
Speaker 9: no timetable. Just do it safe, do it the right way,
Speaker 9: and uh, you know, when I'm ready to go get innings,
Speaker 9: I'm ready to go get innings, and then just ride
Speaker 9: it out.
Speaker 2: Tyler, great to see it, Good luck with everything, Thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you. Great story. Tyler Andnquin trying to make it
Speaker 2: back to the big leagues on the mound and knowing
Speaker 2: his competitive nature, I wouldn't put him past him to
Speaker 2: get there at some point at a time. Stay with
Speaker 2: us so we came back. We'll hear from one of
Speaker 2: the best relievers in all of baseball, young right hander
Speaker 2: Cade Smith. That's next on the Cleveland Planet Guardian's radio
Speaker 2: on Netward.
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Speaker 1: The mainor league debut of Cage Smith Smith with that
Speaker 1: mid nineties fastball. He's also got the slider and the
Speaker 1: split finger six five two thirty out of Vancouver. That next,
Speaker 1: offering a swing and a miss, Kate Smith strikes out
Speaker 1: the first major league hitter he faces. The pitch a
Speaker 1: swing in the massonic right slider. Kate Smith has faced
Speaker 1: two and struck out a pair. Now the two to
Speaker 1: two got him swinging out a wicked splitter. Kate Smith
Speaker 1: strikes out Riley Green. Three Tigers face three punch outs.
Speaker 1: Here's Colt Keith. Now the one two got him swinging
Speaker 1: on the heat ninety seven miles an hour. Kate Smith
Speaker 1: into his postseason debut. Four batters face, four strikeouts. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Guardian's weekly Jim rosen House back with you
Speaker 1: for our final segment. As we join you from Goodyear,
Speaker 1: Arizona and Guardian Spring Training. Kate Smith is looking forward
Speaker 1: to his second major league season, this time a year ago,
Speaker 1: there were thoughts that maybe he could make the roster
Speaker 1: at some point in the season. Well, he did on
Speaker 1: opening day, the last man to be named of the
Speaker 1: opening a roster. And man did he have a rookie
Speaker 1: season to remember. He finished fifth in the American Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year voting, going six and one with an
Speaker 1: ERA at one point nine to one, one hundred and
Speaker 1: three strikeouts, and seventy five innings, and he was part
Speaker 1: of the best bullpen in baseball. And he explains what
Speaker 1: the biggest key key things to his success was a
Speaker 1: year ago.
Speaker 11: I think the biggest thing has just been being consistent
Speaker 11: with the way I do things right, sticking to you know,
Speaker 11: my prep, my routines, my work, like knowing my strengths
Speaker 11: inside and out, not trying to deviate from anything to
Speaker 11: try and overcompensate or do too much but just sticking
Speaker 11: to what, you know, what qualities are that make me
Speaker 11: effective in really trusting that and trusting the work that
Speaker 11: I've put in. It's not about trying to do something different,
Speaker 11: something new. It's about sticking with what has gotten me
Speaker 11: to this point and continuing to develop that.
Speaker 2: How much trial and error was there to get you
Speaker 2: to a good spot where you're confident with that? Especially
Speaker 2: at this level.
Speaker 11: I mean there's been a ton of conversations, tond of
Speaker 11: you know, trying different things, seeing what sticks. Kind of
Speaker 11: learning process, like the ability for Cleveland to develop pictures
Speaker 11: is you know phenomenon. I've learned a ton from them,
Speaker 11: and you know, there's been a bunch of conversations there
Speaker 11: to figure out things that might work for me and
Speaker 11: what would be specific to me. So that's been a
Speaker 11: huge part of it.
Speaker 2: Certainly you can do that in the minor leagues as
Speaker 2: you're developing, but you get up here and it's so
Speaker 2: much about performance and you know, being successful. Are you
Speaker 2: still able to try some things up here or do
Speaker 2: you have to be careful with that?
Speaker 11: I think the adjustments become different in the sense that
Speaker 11: they probably become more refinements. There's no you know, scrapping
Speaker 11: everything and throwing it out of the window and trying
Speaker 11: something completely new, Like there was you know, big overhauls
Speaker 11: as part of my development right when I signed. But
Speaker 11: as you continue to build and find things that work
Speaker 11: for you and build on those things to improve them, the.
Speaker 4: Injustance you make become smaller and smaller.
Speaker 11: And the things that I think separate guys at this
Speaker 11: level are such small difference is that the adjustments you're
Speaker 11: making are just as small but so significant because we're
Speaker 11: playing a game separated by such a thin margin.
Speaker 2: How thin is that margin, like, for instance, with a
Speaker 2: with a grip or maybe release point, things like that,
Speaker 2: How small can that be to be the difference between
Speaker 2: success and maybe leaving pitches out over the point?
Speaker 11: I mean, there's like everything is measured right and measured
Speaker 11: down to decimal, So if you want to, you could
Speaker 11: say that that's as thin as a margin is. Right,
Speaker 11: they have everything measured and recorded, and there is you know,
Speaker 11: data and feedback for all those super small changes and
Speaker 11: super small differences, and so it is really pretty fine
Speaker 11: tune in that aspect. But also, like I mean, you're
Speaker 11: talking about filling up a strike zone, right, like that's
Speaker 11: the goal. That's a Again, the difference between you know,
Speaker 11: a mishit ground ball and a hard hit line drive.
Speaker 4: Is not a big difference either.
Speaker 2: Everybody's different and how much they use the information, analytics
Speaker 2: technology all of that, how much do you welcome that
Speaker 2: and how much do you dive into all that.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I absolutely came into the mindset I wanted to
Speaker 11: learn when I signed and so I've definitely really tried
Speaker 11: to dig into that and learn what I could from it.
Speaker 11: But there's definitely a balance, right. You don't want to
Speaker 11: be overwhelmed with all the information. You want to have
Speaker 11: a you know, be able to take themes and lessons
Speaker 11: from it and then also filter it through what you
Speaker 11: know your strengths are so that you don't get overwhelmed
Speaker 11: and just so bogged down with all the information that
Speaker 11: you can't compete. So it is about just keeping it
Speaker 11: in its rightful place and maintaining balance.
Speaker 2: And it is a couple of years ago when you
Speaker 2: signed here. When you look back at that, I remember
Speaker 2: you saying last year you went to school on the
Speaker 2: teams that were interested and how different is it here
Speaker 2: maybe than some other teams that were interested in you.
Speaker 4: I don't know. I have no frame of reference, never
Speaker 4: han't been with the other team.
Speaker 11: But I can't you know, speak highly enough of Cleveland's
Speaker 11: ability to develop and and the time and effort that
Speaker 11: they've put into me to develop me, and and so
Speaker 11: extremely grateful and thankful for that. And I've enjoyed it too.
Speaker 11: It's been it's been a fun process to learn and
Speaker 11: to improve and you know, to put work in and
Speaker 11: see that.
Speaker 2: Kate Smith joining us as the Guardians continue spring training
Speaker 2: here in Goodyear. Okay, you look at last season, durability
Speaker 2: such a big key and being available, especially out of
Speaker 2: the bullpen. What do you think allowed you to be
Speaker 2: so available and then pile up appearances and then most
Speaker 2: of them being effective.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think that there was a you know, one
Speaker 11: of the biggest lessons I learned from the other guys
Speaker 11: in the bullpen is seeing how they know what they
Speaker 11: need to do to prepare themselves and they're not gonna,
Speaker 11: you know, waste time doing things that are not effective
Speaker 11: for them. They're not going to spend time doing you know,
Speaker 11: unnecessary very extra prap or whatever.
Speaker 5: It's.
Speaker 11: They know what they need to get themselves ready, and
Speaker 11: that's what they do. They stick to their routines, they're
Speaker 11: consistent with it. So that was a big lesson I learned.
Speaker 11: And then other thing was, you know, the culture down
Speaker 11: in the bullpen was all about just making sure that
Speaker 11: you are ready whenever the phone rings, even if it's
Speaker 11: not you know, for you, it's about having.
Speaker 4: That kind of shared mentality of preparing yourself.
Speaker 2: And it's just such an individual game, but you kind
Speaker 2: of touched on that team dynamic. And and then the
Speaker 2: bullpen's a team within a team. What's it like down
Speaker 2: there on a nightly basis? From a fun standpoint and
Speaker 2: then a serious standpoint.
Speaker 4: No, it is so much fun.
Speaker 11: I mean, there's just you know, it's a collection of
Speaker 11: unique characters and they come together in a way that's
Speaker 11: you know, never going to be replicated in anything else.
Speaker 11: And so you just enjoy that, enjoy the inside jokes
Speaker 11: and the you know, all the gimmicks and teasing and
Speaker 11: stuff like that that goes on. But from a serious standpoint,
Speaker 11: like I think that is you know, very fortunate to
Speaker 11: have a culture that was set by the older guys
Speaker 11: in the bullpen.
Speaker 4: That was so.
Speaker 11: You know, significant and so also think healthy, like having
Speaker 11: that perspective of it's not about individuals down here. It's
Speaker 11: actually about can we you know, maintain the lead. Can
Speaker 11: we do what we can to put the team in
Speaker 11: a position to win or keep them in a position
Speaker 11: to win, and understanding that that's our job. That's how
Speaker 11: we contribute in the way we do that is by
Speaker 11: making sure that we're ready, even if our name doesn't
Speaker 11: get caught, and if it does, making sure that you're
Speaker 11: ready and you go out and you compete.
Speaker 2: When you look at everything that happened last year, some
Speaker 2: some great things for you personally, and then a run
Speaker 2: through the postseason, how has that change your perspective as
Speaker 2: you come in here this season.
Speaker 11: I mean, that was such a special experience to be
Speaker 11: able to experience post season baseball in my first season,
Speaker 11: and so I think that everyone in here wants to
Speaker 11: do that again.
Speaker 4: You know, we got a.
Speaker 11: Taste of how good we are and how good we
Speaker 11: can be and you know, falling short and understanding that,
Speaker 11: like that's what we're striving for, right Like, that's that's
Speaker 11: the standard we're measuring ourselves against. And the work that
Speaker 11: we put in is not to you know, get to
Speaker 11: that spot and fall short again, but it's to get
Speaker 11: there and go farther and so you know, that's a
Speaker 11: cool thing to see in the clubhouse. The way the
Speaker 11: guys work and aren't preparing for that is that that
Speaker 11: goal is very clear that we want to go farther
Speaker 11: than we did last year. And so yeah, extremely grateful
Speaker 11: to be able to experience that and to have been
Speaker 11: in that situation, and you know, playing those stadiums and
Speaker 11: in those games, and just so much fun to be
Speaker 11: in that too, and to see those you know atmospheres
Speaker 11: how they just played out and just yeah, such a
Speaker 11: fun experience.
Speaker 2: Answer reliever Kate Smith. Looking to have another big year
Speaker 2: out of that Guardian's boltpen as they look too equal
Speaker 2: if they can some of last year's outstanding work. That
Speaker 2: really was a huge key to this team reaching the postseason.
Speaker 2: That's going to do it for our show this week
Speaker 2: until next week for Brian Motsee, who does great work
Speaker 2: putting together our shows each and every week. This is
Speaker 2: Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians
Speaker 2: Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
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