Speaker 1: The Dodgers are wrapping up their exhibition part of the
Speaker 1: schedule as they get ready for a Thursday's home opener,
Speaker 1: and we're joined by a man that has come back
Speaker 1: to the organization. He returned last year in a freelance
Speaker 1: type of effort where he was roving in the minor
Speaker 1: leagues and helping with the major leaguers. But now he
Speaker 1: has a home. He is the dodgers new first base
Speaker 1: coach after being the old third base coach. That is
Speaker 1: former Rangers manager Chris Woodward. Chris, thanks a lot for
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: Always good to be here.
Speaker 1: I feel like the resume is longer. I have to
Speaker 1: go through the entire resume.
Speaker 2: Now, that's a good thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been all over the place now and it's
Speaker 3: obviously great to be back here. I always you know,
Speaker 3: once I got here in twenty sixteen, NFLT like it
Speaker 3: was home. Obviously grew up in LA but just the organization,
Speaker 3: you know, all the values and principles that we hold
Speaker 3: here are true to my heart too. So it's good
Speaker 3: to be back, and it's obviously good to be back
Speaker 3: in a full time role.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like it's seamless because you were so
Speaker 1: entrenched in the fabric of what the Dodgers were building
Speaker 1: back even in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, it's it's been a phenomenal experience. Obviously for
Speaker 3: my time before getting to know everybody in the organization,
Speaker 3: but the last couple of years, especially last year, really
Speaker 3: digging into a lot of our processes and people and
Speaker 3: I know every single person in the organization top to bottom,
Speaker 3: from you know, our lowest level to our highest level.
Speaker 3: And it just helps, obviously in this role now to
Speaker 3: make sure that we're we're doing things consistent throughout the
Speaker 3: organization and ultimately at this top level, but we're trying
Speaker 3: to build champions, so that we're building champions throughout the organization.
Speaker 1: Speaking of that, you get to see all those young
Speaker 1: players in one place at Camelback Ranch who stood out
Speaker 1: to you and really embodies everything that you're preaching.
Speaker 2: Shoot, man, we have a bunch of guys.
Speaker 3: We do a really good job in the in the
Speaker 3: draft room, and obviously in the guys that we acquire.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of guys that we've acquired that are
Speaker 3: currently on our major league roster, be a you know,
Speaker 3: designated for assignment or trade or draft, but like just
Speaker 3: seeing all of the younger guys that we have throughout
Speaker 3: the system. We obviously have some guys in Triple A
Speaker 3: that I know we just sent out and down, but
Speaker 3: like you know, guys like Alex Freelan, Dalton Rushing U.
Speaker 3: There's so many guys, uh that are going to contribute
Speaker 3: to our team. And I know that because they have
Speaker 3: that kind of you know, material that that we look
Speaker 3: for not only on the field, but off the field
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: Chris Woodward, the Dodgers first base coaches back in the organization,
Speaker 1: you worked a lot with Mookie Betts before spring training
Speaker 1: even started. How frustrating is it for him to have
Speaker 1: this stomach virus that has caused him to lose close
Speaker 1: to twenty pounds.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sucks.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna obviously, I think, you know, Mookie so
Speaker 3: so resilient, so disciplined, and you know, so dedicated to
Speaker 3: his craft that yes, it's gonna hurt him in the
Speaker 3: short term, but long term, I think he'll be fine.
Speaker 3: You know, just watching him work today and all the
Speaker 3: reports are great. We just got to get him feeling healthy.
Speaker 3: But the skill set obviously working on a short stop,
Speaker 3: you know, the second I got the job we were
Speaker 3: he wanted to work in November, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: we just won the World Series and he's already out
Speaker 3: there working.
Speaker 2: But he didn't.
Speaker 3: You know, he basically worked almost every day in the offseason,
Speaker 3: just trying to figure it out, trying to you know,
Speaker 3: get this thing as tight as possible so he can
Speaker 3: be a championship caliber shortstop. I'm really excited to watch
Speaker 3: him play because he's put so much work into it.
Speaker 1: He said last night, it feels like he's having to
Speaker 1: start the season uphill. How challenging is it going to
Speaker 1: be for him to play a demanding position and losing
Speaker 1: as much weight as he did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's got to obviously, you know, get some calories
Speaker 3: in him and make sure it's it's He's.
Speaker 2: Kind of reminds me of myself. You know, we were
Speaker 2: both very lean, and I can't relate to that.
Speaker 3: It was really hard to gain weight, and if I
Speaker 3: lost a pound, it was really hard to gain it back.
Speaker 3: So for him to lose out much weight, it's it's
Speaker 3: gonna be tough. But he's just got to take it
Speaker 3: day by day and just you know, if it's six
Speaker 3: ounces a day that he gains that's all he can do.
Speaker 2: That's what he's got to do.
Speaker 3: But you know, if anybody can handle that kind of adversity,
Speaker 3: it's obviously Mookie Betts. He loves a challenge, he loves
Speaker 3: a chip on his shoulder, and he's out there to
Speaker 3: prove to the world that he's he's our guy short stop.
Speaker 1: And he's part of one of the deepest, if not
Speaker 1: the deepest lineup in all a Major League baseball. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be pretty busy this year at first base. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a lot of traffic over there.
Speaker 3: I don't know how many selling base threats we got,
Speaker 3: but we got some good base runners, guys that you know,
Speaker 3: play a ton of attention to detail. It's a blast
Speaker 3: obviously getting to coach these guys because they want to
Speaker 3: be coached, they want to they want to learn, they
Speaker 3: want information, even the guys that aren't as fast, you know,
Speaker 3: the Freddie Freeman's of the world, like that guy stole
Speaker 3: twenty bases a few years ago.
Speaker 2: So it's like it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3: To just just hear the the dedication to how important
Speaker 3: base running is, and yeah, I'm gonna have a lot
Speaker 3: of traffic out there. And a lot of a lot
Speaker 3: of knuckles and guys passing me a lot of left
Speaker 3: turns for our team.
Speaker 1: Show heo Tani last year stole fifty bases. Obviously pitching
Speaker 1: was not in the cards for him.
Speaker 2: Last year.
Speaker 1: Clayton McCullough and him had a pretty good relationship. How
Speaker 1: much is show Hey tapped into you about helping him
Speaker 1: be a better base runner this year?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I actually got to watch it last year,
Speaker 3: you know, every time I come into town and just
Speaker 3: to see his dedication and the way he prepa He
Speaker 3: went from a pretty marginal based runner and base stealer
Speaker 3: to an elite guy and it was basically based on
Speaker 3: hard work.
Speaker 2: Now, the talent's there, he's.
Speaker 3: Fast, but what he the work that he put in
Speaker 3: on his leads, his first step, you know, getting off
Speaker 3: the pitch, and then also you know, the back end
Speaker 3: learning how to slide better. I know he heard himself,
Speaker 3: but he's he's he's improved in every aspect physically and
Speaker 3: then mentally, like you know the amount of preparation that
Speaker 3: he does on a daily basis that what he wants
Speaker 3: and what he needs.
Speaker 2: It's pretty impressive, and he takes it out there with him.
Speaker 3: He sees little details on pitchers just to give him
Speaker 3: a you know, a tenth of a second advantage, just
Speaker 3: to get it, you know, a better jump.
Speaker 2: That's why he was so successful last year.
Speaker 1: All right, Woody, great to have you back, seeing you
Speaker 1: every day. He got the tan going, the glow, the beard.
Speaker 2: Everything.
Speaker 1: Nothing's changed, especially the big heart Chris Woodward has and
Speaker 1: the great intentions he has to help the Dodgers succeed.
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. I just got a few more great
Speaker 3: that's all. But yeah, I'll get them excited to be
Speaker 3: back and win it back to back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, love it.
Speaker 1: Run it back with Chris Woodward at first base, Dino
Speaker 1: Ebol as the third base coach.