Speaker 1: Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio network.
Speaker 1: Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians
Speaker 1: fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi, everyone, welcome to
Speaker 1: Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosen House along with you from Citizens
Speaker 1: Bank Park in Philadelphia. This weekend, the Guardian's taking on
Speaker 1: the Phillies in Philadelphia for the first time since the
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen season. It has been a while and it
Speaker 1: gets started on an upbeat note on Friday night. More
Speaker 1: on that in a moment, but just to let you know.
Speaker 1: Coming up on our show this week, Rob Serfolio will
Speaker 1: join us. He's the director of player development for the Guardians.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about Travis Bozana's professional debut. It came on
Speaker 1: Friday night as The Guardian's Farm Club Lake County was
Speaker 1: in Michigan and Bazana got his pro career started. And
Speaker 1: robill Phillis in on the run up to that as
Speaker 1: highly anticipated the first overall pick in the draft, getting
Speaker 1: it going. Kate Smith will stop by as well. Outstanding
Speaker 1: reliever for the Guardians, Kai Correa, who is the field
Speaker 1: coordinator for the Guardians, part of that major league coaching staff.
Speaker 1: He is a defensive specialist who has really helped the
Speaker 1: Guardians step up their game defensively. He'll talk defense with
Speaker 1: us and he always fun. Austin Hedges will swing by
Speaker 1: as well. We'll talk to him about a squeeze bunt
Speaker 1: that he put down in a gamer this week against
Speaker 1: the Tigers. But first our weekend review. The Tigers were
Speaker 1: in town starting on Monday night and it was an
Speaker 1: eight to two lost to Detroit. The Guardians had dropped
Speaker 1: three out of four coming out of the All Star Break,
Speaker 1: looking to turn things around on Tuesday night, and they
Speaker 1: got the scoring started in the third inning with Stephen
Speaker 1: Kwan leading things off the pitch a swing in a
Speaker 1: drive high and deep to right back toward the wall. Perez,
Speaker 1: It is gone and Steven Kwan has put Cleveland on
Speaker 1: top one nothing. He got into a hitters count at
Speaker 1: three and one and he got a fastball middle in.
Speaker 1: And that's the new approach, and it's been that way
Speaker 1: from the get go this season. Get in a hitters count,
Speaker 1: look to get a pitch and try to do damage.
Speaker 1: And Stephen Kwan, who had six home runs last year,
Speaker 1: hits his tenth Detroit respawnded in the top half of
Speaker 1: the fourth with a two run home run that gave
Speaker 1: them a two to one lead, but in the bottom
Speaker 1: of the inning, John Kenzie Noel tied things up. The
Speaker 1: right hander delivers in Noel Sky's one high and deep
Speaker 1: to left. If it's fair, it's way on out of here,
Speaker 1: and it is indeed a fair ball mammoth home run
Speaker 1: off the bat of John Kenzie Noel. Oh my, that
Speaker 1: ball was hit a ton As he crosses home plate
Speaker 1: and the game is tied to two? Is there ever
Speaker 1: a doubt when John Kenzie Noel hits one? My goodness?
Speaker 1: And in the fifth, the home run barrage continued with
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez. Here comes the one two pitch swung on
Speaker 1: and that's lifted high and deep left field. How Rod
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez two. The Guardians are in front, three to two.
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez with home run number twenty four on the season,
Speaker 1: and he snaps the two all tie here in the fifth.
Speaker 1: The Guardians made it forty two in the sixth inning
Speaker 1: on a sack fly from on Hew Martinez, and then
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez continued to add to his team leading RBI
Speaker 1: total on the two to one swing on line drive
Speaker 1: Pase hitting all right, feeling by Perez, throw to the
Speaker 1: plate steaming is sliding in safely thrown a second pit,
Speaker 1: first slide safest Ramiez. Guardians lead it five to two.
Speaker 1: Tigers pitched to Jose. Tigers get burned again and the
Speaker 1: Guardians get a huge two out Army I single by
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez. He's knocked in a pair tonight, eighty two
Speaker 1: on the year. But Detroit would not go quiet. They
Speaker 1: scored two in the seventh that made it a one
Speaker 1: run game, five to four. Scott Barlow shut down the
Speaker 1: Tigers in the eighth, and then Emmanuel Classe was on
Speaker 1: to try and save it. In the ninth. The sent
Speaker 1: the pitch swinging a high fly ball fairly deep bright
Speaker 1: no well in front of the track. Makes the Cats
Speaker 1: Bowl game and the Guardians get a much needed win
Speaker 1: five to four over the Detroit Tigers. As he manual
Speaker 1: Class A for the third year in a row has
Speaker 1: at least thirty saves, and the Guardians no at a
Speaker 1: minimum they'll have a four game lead when they wake
Speaker 1: up tomorrow morning. Five to four. Cleveland subdues Detroit here tonight,
Speaker 1: how the Guardians were back on the winning track, looking
Speaker 1: to make it too straight on Wednesday night against Detroit.
Speaker 1: Good pitching matchup in this one, and it lived up
Speaker 1: to the advanced bill John Flaherty for the Tigers. For
Speaker 1: the Guardians, it was Tanner Biby and Detroit jumped on
Speaker 1: top with a solo home run in the first inning
Speaker 1: by Matt Erling, but Bibby brushed that off and he
Speaker 1: was locked in after that. The kick and delivery and
Speaker 1: he sends one toward the gamp in Life Center on
Speaker 1: the line. Kuan reaches up and snags the line drive.
Speaker 1: Kwan made the play on every ball hit in the
Speaker 1: air well. Tanner Biby had an eight pitch second inning,
Speaker 1: a nine pitch third inning, thirty one pitches for Tanner
Speaker 1: Biby in the first three innings tonight. It stayed one
Speaker 1: nothing Detroit until the fifth. That's when the Guardians got
Speaker 1: it going with a two out base hit from bow Naylor.
Speaker 1: He moved up to second on a pass ball, and
Speaker 1: then Stephen Kwan delivered to tie the game. Here's the
Speaker 1: two to one swung on line drive base It left field,
Speaker 1: rounding third, heading for home is Nailer. He will score
Speaker 1: and the ball that gets past the catcher cut comes
Speaker 1: up big as the Guardians are able to tie the
Speaker 1: game on the base it from Stephen Kuan Naylor moved
Speaker 1: up on what was called a wild pitch and he
Speaker 1: was in scoring position for Kwan, who's been up well
Speaker 1: over three hundred with men in scoring position all season long,
Speaker 1: and he comes through again to tie the game. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Biby was cruising, giving up just the one run through
Speaker 1: five innings, but he had to leave prior to the
Speaker 1: start of the sixth. He had some cramping in his legs,
Speaker 1: so that was it. But the Guardians were able to
Speaker 1: turn it over to baseball's best bullpen. Scott Barlow and
Speaker 1: Tim Herron combined to shut down the Tigers in the
Speaker 1: sixth and seventh, and then it was Hunter Gaddis in
Speaker 1: the eighth. The two to two get him swinging in
Speaker 1: a hundred. Gaddis continues this dominant bullpen's performance, strangs out
Speaker 1: the side. We go to the bottom of the eighth,
Speaker 1: We've got a one one game, and in the bottom
Speaker 1: of the eighth inning, bo Naylor worked to lead off
Speaker 1: walk stole second, moved up to third on a ground
Speaker 1: out by on Hell Martinez, and then with two outs
Speaker 1: his brother Josh was trying to put the Guardians in
Speaker 1: front one one in the eighth Guardians at the corners,
Speaker 1: two down the three to zero pitch to Nailor, a
Speaker 1: swing and a chopper up the middle to his right cheeth,
Speaker 1: can't get it, balls off his club, ticks in the
Speaker 1: right center in the scores. Nailer on his way to third,
Speaker 1: Ramirez and the Guardians half the lead two to one.
Speaker 1: He bounced one back up the middle that Colt Keith,
Speaker 1: the second maseman, moved toward the bag, tried the backhand
Speaker 1: and Keith had to go off the tip of his
Speaker 1: glove and it's an Army I single for Nailor. Once again,
Speaker 1: it was a Manuel Classe in the ninth innning, looking
Speaker 1: to add to his league leading save total. The pitch
Speaker 1: swung out, chopper to short Rochio, backhands, thrust, second bulging
Speaker 1: and the Guardians win a tough one. Again tonight against Detroit, Boy,
Speaker 1: what a season series this has been between these two
Speaker 1: ball clubs. The final the night Cleveland two Detroit one
Speaker 1: has been unbelievable. And more on his week in a moment. Thursday, though,
Speaker 1: an afternoon game against the Tigers had progressive field big crowd,
Speaker 1: but the Guardians couldn't get anything going and the Tigers
Speaker 1: won it by a three to nothing final. So it
Speaker 1: was on to Philadelphia to start a challenging road trip
Speaker 1: against the team with the best record in all of baseball.
Speaker 1: The Philadelphia Phillies and the Guardians got things started in
Speaker 1: the first inning, taking advantage of a Phillies defensive miscue
Speaker 1: that put on hell Martinez in scoring position for David Fry.
Speaker 1: Now the set they'll look back at second. The bitch
Speaker 1: swung on lined up the middle basin in the center,
Speaker 1: that is going to score Martinez, and the Guardians tank
Speaker 1: the on the David Fry two out RBI single to center,
Speaker 1: and this inning that should have been a one two
Speaker 1: three inning if you count the pickoff that wasn't handled,
Speaker 1: now ends up being one nothing. Cleveland on the mound.
Speaker 1: Ben Lively was sharp early. Ben Lively from the set.
Speaker 1: Here it comes swung on and another little lazy pop
Speaker 1: up shallow center and the shortstop Parochio puts it away.
Speaker 1: Boy Lively has really done a great job keeping people
Speaker 1: off balance and hitting off that front foot. Then in
Speaker 1: the fourth, more sloppy defense from Philadelphia set the Guardians
Speaker 1: up with one out and runners on the corners for
Speaker 1: Bow Naylor. Naylor shows bunt and he bunts it out
Speaker 1: to the first base side. Here comes h Menez, head
Speaker 1: first slide and he's in there.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Bow Naylor got the bunt down on the squeeze and
Speaker 1: the Guardians lead it to nothing. I've seen that a
Speaker 1: couple of times recently, and Naylor did great work to
Speaker 1: get it down. How about that Later in the inning,
Speaker 1: two men out, on hell Martinez delivered a clutch base hit.
Speaker 1: Here's the one one and Martinez rips it to left
Speaker 1: that gets down for a base hit, rounding third, heading
Speaker 1: for home and scoring. Standing up is Rochio. It's an
Speaker 1: RBI single for on Hell Martinez and the Guardians take
Speaker 1: a three nothing lead, and that young man is now
Speaker 1: two for two and continues to impress on hell Martinez.
Speaker 1: The Phillies got on the board on a solo home run,
Speaker 1: and that was in the fifth inning to make it
Speaker 1: three to one. But Lively's impressive out and continued after that.
Speaker 1: The pitch swinging a chopper in the whole right side,
Speaker 1: snagging it in shallow right. Jumana spins throws in the
Speaker 1: second basement with another nifty play to get Brandon Marsh.
Speaker 1: Philly has to be flustered. They just can't get a
Speaker 1: ball by andrac Is at second base. And Cleveland through six,
Speaker 1: not only do they have a three to one lead
Speaker 1: over Philly, they got six innings out of Ben Lively
Speaker 1: against this juggernaut of a lineup. And in the ninth,
Speaker 1: Class A came on once again to try and seal
Speaker 1: another win. Class A brings the hands up, chin high,
Speaker 1: lets it fly swing in a miss ball game, and
Speaker 1: the Guardians start off a five game road trip before
Speaker 1: the trade deadline with an impressive three to one win
Speaker 1: here in Philadelphia. So it turns out to be a
Speaker 1: pretty good week for the Guardians heading into Saturday nights
Speaker 1: game in Philadelphia a six zero five first pitch, and
Speaker 1: Sunday the series in Philly concludes with a one thirty
Speaker 1: five start. Stay with us when we come back, we'll
Speaker 1: hear from veteran catcher Austin Hedges. That's next as we
Speaker 1: continue on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 2: Progressive. We know there's a lot of things you can track, steps, calories,
Speaker 2: heart rate, your pet, steps, screen time, the whereabouts of
Speaker 2: your favorite celebrity. How long you slept, how long you
Speaker 2: didn't sleep, how long you thought about sleeping, how long
Speaker 2: you thought about how long you thought about sleeping. But
Speaker 2: none of these things could save you money, unlike Snapshot
Speaker 2: from Progressive, which customizes your rate based on how and
Speaker 2: how much you drive. It's much better for your bottom
Speaker 2: line than tracking your cocker spaniel's resting heart rate. So
Speaker 2: download the Progressive app today.
Speaker 3: Progressive casualt tea turns company in afiliates Snapshot nowavl on
Speaker 3: in California from A Laius's er charg possible for fronts A.
Speaker 1: Driving Austin Hedges batting one forty one with a Homer
Speaker 1: nine rby eyes the pits, he bunts at third Bay side,
Speaker 1: the beauty charge by Barely Clothes has no play a
Speaker 1: fut single well the faces loaded two down. Talk about
Speaker 1: an intelligent play and what a butt by Hedges. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Guardian Weekly. Jim rosen House along with you.
Speaker 1: We're in Philadelphia this weekend as the Guardians take on
Speaker 1: the Phillies, the team with the best record in all
Speaker 1: of baseball, but coming out of the All Star Break,
Speaker 1: Guardians looking for a spark. They've struggled a little bit
Speaker 1: as they dropped the series against the Padres, and then Monday,
Speaker 1: an eight to two series opening loss to the Tigers
Speaker 1: made it a rare three game losing streak for a
Speaker 1: Cleveland They rebounded though, winning the next two against the Tigers,
Speaker 1: and they wound up splitting that four game series. So,
Speaker 1: along with the Phillies, the Guardians are the only team
Speaker 1: in baseball now to still have not lost four games
Speaker 1: in a row this season. Austin Hedges has provided that
Speaker 1: much needed veteran leadership in that backup catcher's role, and
Speaker 1: we caught up with him following Monday's loss to the
Speaker 1: Tigers and he talked about how the team has been
Speaker 1: able to stay positive even during some of the tough times.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's obviously it's a long season, and
Speaker 4: it's really easy to make more out of something that
Speaker 4: when it when it really isn't you know, the adjustments
Speaker 4: in this game are not big adjustments. There's not some
Speaker 4: big complicated way to you know, win more games or not.
Speaker 4: And when you think about it too, like it's not
Speaker 4: really a it's not a team sport. When it's all
Speaker 4: said and done, there's a team. There's team aspects to it,
Speaker 4: and there's a group that comes together, but it's up
Speaker 4: to each individual person in each moment to you know,
Speaker 4: no one's helping you in the batter's box, no one's
Speaker 4: helping you throw strikes on the mount, no one's helping
Speaker 4: you catch a ball on defense. But it's the special
Speaker 4: groups that are all being challenged at the same time
Speaker 4: that figure out a way to respond and then take
Speaker 4: ownership of it individually and make that adjustment themselves. And
Speaker 4: that adjustment isn't necessarily a physical adjustment. It's a mental
Speaker 4: adjustment of accepting this is what happens in this game.
Speaker 4: It's a game of so many uncontrollable things, and I'm
Speaker 4: just going to focus on what I can control. And
Speaker 4: if I do that, and then my teammate does that,
Speaker 4: and my other teammates do that, we're going to be
Speaker 4: in our best position to win. And you know what,
Speaker 4: if you don't win, you still up tomorrow. There's a
Speaker 4: reason we play one sixty two. But also like it's
Speaker 4: one sixty two with the intention of making the playoffs.
Speaker 4: Doesn't matter how you get to the playoffs. It might
Speaker 4: be when a division, maybe a wild card, none of
Speaker 4: that matters. He's got to get there, and it's really
Speaker 4: all about who gets hot at the right time, and
Speaker 4: it just doesn't matter if you're hot or cold in July.
Speaker 1: So on the field last night, you had an opportunity
Speaker 1: and you came through a bunt base hit with two
Speaker 1: outs in the bases loaded. You never see that in
Speaker 1: Major League baseball. But does that kind of get back
Speaker 1: to your point of doing what you can do to
Speaker 1: help to help the team win, even if it might
Speaker 1: seem odd at the time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, we just needed to push a run
Speaker 4: across in that situation. And I mean most of the
Speaker 4: time when the when the third basem's playing pretty far back,
Speaker 4: especially if I'm facing a good arm like obviously Scooble
Speaker 4: is one of the best arms in the league, and
Speaker 4: I just need to find a way to get on
Speaker 4: base and turn the lineup over back to Kwan.
Speaker 1: So as this team looks ahead now and not a
Speaker 1: game tonight, you mentioned that the games keep coming regardless
Speaker 1: of how it goes tonight. What allows you to look
Speaker 1: at this team and say, hey, they're going to be
Speaker 1: just fine because they'll figure it out.
Speaker 4: Because we're talking about it every day. This is you know,
Speaker 4: it's not like we talked about something yesterday or the
Speaker 4: day before. That's different. Every game that we lose, every
Speaker 4: game that doesn't go our way, we talk about it,
Speaker 4: you know, make ourselves aware of how we could have
Speaker 4: done better, and then really awareness is all you can
Speaker 4: have so that when that moment presents itself again, you
Speaker 4: can go, oh, I've been here before. This is the
Speaker 4: response I need to have. This is how I can
Speaker 4: continue to go and not react in some crazy way
Speaker 4: that's gonna throw me off and then make me try
Speaker 4: and either do too much or too little instead of
Speaker 4: just doing what's asked of me. And we're just going
Speaker 4: to continue to have those conversations, you know, before and
Speaker 4: after games and you know, you win, that's what you're
Speaker 4: trying to do, and if you lose, it's like, okay,
Speaker 4: another opportunity to learn from it, so that when October
Speaker 4: comes around, you know we're prepared to and win the
Speaker 4: ultimate test.
Speaker 1: Always good to have you on. Great perspective, Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you always. Great to have that good veteran perspective
Speaker 1: from Austin Hedges and great to have him on our
Speaker 1: show once again this week. Stay with us when we
Speaker 1: come back, we'll hear from reliever Cade Smith and coach
Speaker 1: Kayi Carrea. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, Jim Rosenhouse, So long we
Speaker 1: do from Philadelphia this weekend where the Guardians are taking
Speaker 1: on the Phillies, and one of the keys to the
Speaker 1: series figures to be and it certainly was on Friday night.
Speaker 1: The work of the Guardian's bullpen the best in baseball
Speaker 1: ERA wise, and they've been getting it done with several
Speaker 1: key rookies, including Kate Smith, who is five and one
Speaker 1: on the year and after more shut out baseball on
Speaker 1: Friday Night, is era approaching two runs a game. He's
Speaker 1: been lights out all year. We caught up with him
Speaker 1: earlier in the week and he says his rookie season
Speaker 1: has gone about it as well as he could have expected.
Speaker 5: No, I think you can't speak enough to what the
Speaker 5: team's done. It's incredible to be a part of this
Speaker 5: team and be in the position we are and to
Speaker 5: be playing the caliber baseball that we have been, and
Speaker 5: especially to see you know, guys kind of buckle down,
Speaker 5: continue to grind and working away through a bit of
Speaker 5: a tough stretch, but have confidence that what we do
Speaker 5: day in and day out is going to keep us
Speaker 5: posision we are and you know, continue to bode well
Speaker 5: for us.
Speaker 1: You don't really have a frame of reference on what
Speaker 1: the other side of it would be. But how has
Speaker 1: it helped you to be a part of a team
Speaker 1: that is playing winning baseball and doing all those things?
Speaker 1: You said?
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, I'm trying to soak in every minute of
Speaker 5: it and learn from the guys who've been here before
Speaker 5: and you know, enjoy what's special about the culture in
Speaker 5: the clubhouse here and really just soak it in, like
Speaker 5: there's you know, we don't want to take it for
Speaker 5: granted in any regard, but just you know, really have
Speaker 5: fun being a part of it.
Speaker 1: You battle through spring training to make this club and
Speaker 1: you found out on the very last day that you
Speaker 1: could that you had made it. Has it been different
Speaker 1: than maybe you expected after having such a you know,
Speaker 1: up and down spring to try and get here and
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff to finally get here, And
Speaker 1: has it been different at all?
Speaker 5: I think you know, it goes for taking nothing for granted, right,
Speaker 5: Like I didn't expect to make the team out of camp,
Speaker 5: but just wanting to take things one day at a time.
Speaker 5: That's continued to be my mindset here is to take
Speaker 5: things one day at a time. What can we do
Speaker 5: today to win the game? How can I contribute to that?
Speaker 5: If my name is called, make sure I'm ready to
Speaker 5: go and do what I can whatever's asked of me.
Speaker 1: Pitch quality. Have things improved over the course of the
Speaker 1: season noticeable to you and especially maybe compared to this
Speaker 1: time a year ago.
Speaker 5: Well, it's certainly been a learning process a couple of
Speaker 5: years long since getting to the organization and learning to
Speaker 5: develop my slider, my splitter, and to get familiar with
Speaker 5: them and use them and always be you know, tinkering
Speaker 5: with them. So as part of a you know, a
Speaker 5: year long journey, and I'm hoping that that journey is
Speaker 5: going to continue.
Speaker 1: What are some of the keys now in the second
Speaker 1: half is as I think everybody hitters, pictures alike, start
Speaker 1: to get a little more tired and the season wears
Speaker 1: on them a little bit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I think that, you know, seeing the importance
Speaker 5: of consistency just day in and day out, like showing
Speaker 5: up the field, get my work done, doing quality work,
Speaker 5: and knowing that what I do is, you know, what
Speaker 5: I can rely on in times of need, and then
Speaker 5: when I go out and compete, it's just operating at
Speaker 5: a subconscious level of you know what I've trained myself
Speaker 5: to do, that's what I can tap into.
Speaker 1: And when you look at at the situations you're used
Speaker 1: in a lot of times, especially recently, it seems you've
Speaker 1: been coming on mid inning with men on base and
Speaker 1: doing some great work. There is there a key to
Speaker 1: that coming in and in key spots, not necessarily starting
Speaker 1: a clean inning.
Speaker 5: No, I think it just goes as like what I
Speaker 5: said before, of being ready whenever my name is called,
Speaker 5: like doing whatever I can and make sure I'm ready
Speaker 5: at any situation, and when my name is called, to
Speaker 5: be ready to compete. That's what it comes out to
Speaker 5: like just to go out there compete, not worry about
Speaker 5: the situation, not worry about anything else, but just know
Speaker 5: that this is an opportunity. And you know I'm not
Speaker 5: gonna take for granted that I was giving this opportunity.
Speaker 5: How can I compete and helps team.
Speaker 1: With teammates in the pen. Obviously it's a young ball club,
Speaker 1: but you have a Scott Barlow, you have an a
Speaker 1: manual class say, even though he's young, he's been around
Speaker 1: the block a little bit. Can you tap into them
Speaker 1: and are they helpful for you? For sure?
Speaker 5: Each guy brings a unique personality to the bullpen and
Speaker 5: helps make it what it is and makes it what's
Speaker 5: so special about it. So all those guys are it's
Speaker 5: just a blast down there, like you know, the accountable,
Speaker 5: making sure like laugh, also like keeping the light, but
Speaker 5: also you know, creating a culture of doing good work
Speaker 5: where anybody's ready for when the name's called and making
Speaker 5: sure that we are ready to go, and you know,
Speaker 5: make sure that the bullpen is ready for when the
Speaker 5: dugout calls down and needs us.
Speaker 1: Something we see every night in the game notes the
Speaker 1: Guardians have the top bullpen in baseball in terms of
Speaker 1: right do you guys notice that? And is that something
Speaker 1: that's talked about at all?
Speaker 5: I think it's not something that guys are obsessing over
Speaker 5: at all. I don't think we're ignorant of it. But
Speaker 5: I think it goes to show that, like we have
Speaker 5: confidence in the way we do things, and we're going
Speaker 5: to continue to do things the way that we have
Speaker 5: done because we trust it.
Speaker 1: It's been tremendous so far, for sure, Kate. Thanks Tom,
Speaker 1: for coming by, appreciate it, thank you. That's Kate Smith,
Speaker 1: a rookie on paper, but boy, you listen to him talking,
Speaker 1: it sounds like he's been in the league for a
Speaker 1: while and that's a big key when he's in those
Speaker 1: pressure spots late in games. Well, a big key for
Speaker 1: the Guardians all year long has been tremendous defense. They
Speaker 1: have been at or near the top in team defense
Speaker 1: and most of the mets used to measure that sometimes
Speaker 1: not easy, but certainly it's well regarded that the Guardians
Speaker 1: have played the good defense. Their field coordinator is Kai Korea,
Speaker 1: part of the Major League coaching staff, and he is
Speaker 1: a big reason why Young Ball Club is at or
Speaker 1: near the top in so many defensive categories with a
Speaker 1: lot of the drills that he has implemented for this
Speaker 1: team dating back to spring training, and he says he's
Speaker 1: extremely pleased with what the players have done to take
Speaker 1: to a new system.
Speaker 6: Yeah, as a group, we're really really happy with the
Speaker 6: progress and all the credit ghosts of the guys in
Speaker 6: their buy in to kind of individually either improve certain
Speaker 6: areas that they needed to improve or expose themselves to
Speaker 6: the new position. So we're really really happy with what
Speaker 6: we've seen so far.
Speaker 1: You mentioned buy in, and obviously you bring certain drills
Speaker 1: to the table that might be different from what they're
Speaker 1: used to and unusual to have that buy in, or
Speaker 1: just based on what you know of the players in
Speaker 1: this organization before we even returned, was it not surprising
Speaker 1: at all?
Speaker 6: You know, I don't think it's as unusual as people think.
Speaker 6: Maybe it's unusual to what had been done at the
Speaker 6: major league level in this organization, but in actuality, these
Speaker 6: guys have been outsourcing their development since they were young players,
Speaker 6: Like the modern player is going to facilities and being
Speaker 6: screened and using technology and using information to aid their development.
Speaker 6: And so all we've done here on the defensive side
Speaker 6: of the baseball is kind of uptick their exposure that
Speaker 6: those types of activities and evaluations that are defensive specific.
Speaker 1: You lay that base in spring training, but then the
Speaker 1: season comes and I think in a lot of cases
Speaker 1: teams put that on the back burner for a variety
Speaker 1: of reasons, some I'm sure legitimate. But you've managed to
Speaker 1: keep it at least some form of it going. And
Speaker 1: how important is that during the course of a long season.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I think We're a firm believer in
Speaker 6: that room that oftentimes coaches at every level, whether they're
Speaker 6: coaching Lit league or you're coaching in the major leagues,
Speaker 6: you find yourself pulling your hair out after the game
Speaker 6: on a team related play and something that wasn't specific
Speaker 6: to the individual mechanics of a player, but awareness game
Speaker 6: state rose in responsibilities when multiple players touch the ball,
Speaker 6: and we here in Cleveland prescribe to the idea that
Speaker 6: we don't want to be left complaining afterwards. We don't
Speaker 6: want to be reactionary. We want to kind of review
Speaker 6: those things ahead of time and give ourselves the best
Speaker 6: shot to be consistent throughout the course of a long season.
Speaker 6: And so that's why we're stuck with that work.
Speaker 1: Versatility a big key for so many of your players.
Speaker 1: How much does that add to the complexity of everything
Speaker 1: When you have a Tyler Freeman played second on Monday
Speaker 1: night and he's been a center fielder most of the season,
Speaker 1: Where does that come into play?
Speaker 6: Well, I think that's the big credit goes to the
Speaker 6: player development system that these guys are a product of.
Speaker 6: Although they haven't played some of these positions at the
Speaker 6: major league level this year, they've accumulated reps and reps
Speaker 6: and hours and tons of time with our player development
Speaker 6: staff through the course of their upper minor league careers,
Speaker 6: playing multiple positions, and so it's less unfamiliar when they're
Speaker 6: tasked to do that.
Speaker 1: Here, Kay Correa joining us, and he has done great
Speaker 1: work on the defensive end as part of the Major
Speaker 1: league coaching staff, returning to the organization after some time
Speaker 1: in player development not too many seasons ago, and Kay,
Speaker 1: you have a great background as a defensive specialist in
Speaker 1: various venues. Travis Bisana picked first overall and was in
Speaker 1: town over the weekend and beyond working with you already,
Speaker 1: how did that work? Did he reach out to you,
Speaker 1: you reach out to him? How does that all evolve?
Speaker 1: And what have you seen so far?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Coincidentally enough, he called me within forty five minutes
Speaker 6: of getting picked to say, Hey, I'm ready to go.
Speaker 5: To work, Like, let's go to work.
Speaker 6: And so that's been so such a testament to his
Speaker 6: thought process and desire to get better. He's got the
Speaker 6: pedigree of a first overall pick, but he's got the
Speaker 6: drive of a late round pick. So it's been awesome
Speaker 6: to help with his onboarding and hand them off to
Speaker 6: our really quality instructors in player development.
Speaker 1: And obviously his debut, we have no idea when that's coming.
Speaker 1: But this year's club trying to nail down a postseason
Speaker 1: birth and then there's still some work to do. What
Speaker 1: have you seen as they go through really their first
Speaker 1: difficult stretch one loss wise of the season.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I think one hundred and sixty two
Speaker 6: games is such a huge sample size, and so you're
Speaker 6: going to go through periods of difficulty, You're going to
Speaker 6: go through periods of extreme success, and none of them
Speaker 6: are really representative of what you are as a club.
Speaker 6: You are, you know, your body of work after the
Speaker 6: entire season, and so what I'm observing is whether we abort,
Speaker 6: whether we make drastic changes, whether we suddenly shift routines.
Speaker 6: And the thing that I'm most proud of walking around
Speaker 6: the clubhouse every day is I see people preparing in
Speaker 6: the same way, preparing in the ways they did during
Speaker 6: hot streaks now during a little bit of a down,
Speaker 6: rougher stretch. And so that gives me confidence that who
Speaker 6: we've been over the course of four months is who
Speaker 6: we are and not who we've been over the course
Speaker 6: of two weeks.
Speaker 1: Great stuff. Thanks a lot for coming by, appreciate.
Speaker 5: It, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: That's Kayi, Korea, Guardian's field coordinator, major League coaching staff
Speaker 1: for him after some time earlier in his career in
Speaker 1: player development for Cleveland. Stay with us when we come back.
Speaker 1: We'll talk player development at Lake County with Robsortfolio. He's
Speaker 1: the director of player development for the Guardians. And we'll
Speaker 1: hear from robnexton the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 3: If you are looking to get a new car, you
Speaker 3: could really cut expenses by bundling your car and renders
Speaker 3: insurance with Progressive. Sure you love your old car, but
Speaker 3: you know it's not normal to give instructions on how
Speaker 3: to open the window. It should be self explanatory, but
Speaker 3: it's not. And notice how when you're in other people's
Speaker 3: cars you can feel cushion in the seats. That's pretty nice, right, No,
Speaker 3: it's just normal. So bundle your renders and car insurance
Speaker 3: with Progressive. I can put the savings to a new car.
Speaker 3: It's time we guess the Keshial future. It's company coverage
Speaker 3: provided service by Ahilias and their party and jurs not
Speaker 3: available in estates.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Guardian's Weekly Jim Rosenhause back with you
Speaker 1: for our final segment from Philadelphia, and while the team
Speaker 1: is here along with Director of player Development Rock Sortfolio,
Speaker 1: the Lake County Captains were in Michigan this weekend and
Speaker 1: on Friday night that meant the debut of number one
Speaker 1: pick in this year's draft, Travis Bizana. He got it
Speaker 1: going on Friday night, went zero for three, but drove
Speaker 1: in a run. Playing second base, he let off and
Speaker 1: picked up an RBI with a ground out, So a
Speaker 1: pretty good debut for him. And Rob talked about what
Speaker 1: it means to be able to get Bizana's pro career
Speaker 1: started in a very short period of time after being
Speaker 1: drafted and then signed.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, first off, we've never had the one one
Speaker 7: before an organizational history, so in a lot of ways,
Speaker 7: that's that makes for a pretty cool moment. I hope
Speaker 7: we're not picking one one in the near future as well,
Speaker 7: But I think a huge credit goes to Travis. Right
Speaker 7: after Oregon State loss in the Super Regionals, he did
Speaker 7: everything he possibly could to stay game ready. That was
Speaker 7: a thing that was really important for him. So he was,
Speaker 7: you know, really training hard up in Seattle at drive line,
Speaker 7: both physically, but then you know, especially on the offensive side,
Speaker 7: to be able to handle this transition quickly, that was
Speaker 7: a big goal of his. And you know, the last
Speaker 7: thing we want to do is put a player out
Speaker 7: there too early and you know, put injury risk higher
Speaker 7: than than we'd like. And so a huge credit goes
Speaker 7: to him for coming in prepared. But you know, obviously,
Speaker 7: anytime you add a first round er right into the mix,
Speaker 7: it's it's really exciting. And obviously Travis's performance in his
Speaker 7: college career speaks for itself. And I think we're even
Speaker 7: more excited for the type of person and worker and
Speaker 7: teammate that he is and already has shown in Lake
Speaker 7: County to be able to to kind of integrate with
Speaker 7: that group really well the last week, and you know,
Speaker 7: we're certainly excited for tonight.
Speaker 1: His first workouts were at Progressive Field. Why was that
Speaker 1: important you think to have him experience that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, I think the first one just even
Speaker 7: meeting some people in the organization, everyone from vote to
Speaker 7: hopefully some teammates that he'll have in the future, of
Speaker 7: guys already up here playing for our major league team.
Speaker 7: And then the other big emphasis there was, you know,
Speaker 7: like we were talking about, the signing processes is long,
Speaker 7: and these guys go through a lot of medical work
Speaker 7: and have their families in so really is just trying
Speaker 7: to take advantage of getting him ready to go play today.
Speaker 7: And that started a week to ten days ago, and
Speaker 7: we didn't want to have him sitting around without doing
Speaker 7: baseball activity for multiple days. So it was just trying
Speaker 7: to take advantage of that time while he was in
Speaker 7: Cleveland going through a lot of the logistical things that
Speaker 7: need to be done for or someone making the transition
Speaker 7: in the draft.
Speaker 1: So he debuts to what's the plan as he gets
Speaker 1: deeper into this thing? How much can you play him?
Speaker 1: And feel comfortable doing that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we're gonna you know, use all of our people
Speaker 7: on the ground and you know, the smart group that
Speaker 7: we have in our physical department, our sports science group
Speaker 7: to you know, really assess and adjust as we go.
Speaker 7: We know, we feel pretty good he's gonna play seven
Speaker 7: innings tonight and in some capacity again on Sunday, and
Speaker 7: then we'll use all that information during the game during
Speaker 7: practice from a workload standpoint to make sure that we're
Speaker 7: progressing him intelligently in the next week, and so hopefully
Speaker 7: in general that looks like a little bit more gameplay
Speaker 7: as we get into early August, and then hopefully eventually
Speaker 7: up to a normal workload like any other player on
Speaker 7: that team.
Speaker 1: Robs or Polio's joining us. We're talking Lake County. There's
Speaker 1: some others there too that are having good seasons. And
Speaker 1: on the position player front. Yeah, but catcher not too
Speaker 1: deep into his pro career, but making some noise Cooper
Speaker 1: Ingle tell us about him.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, Coop's done an awesome job as a
Speaker 7: first year or in his first season, I should say so. Kid.
Speaker 7: We took at a Clemson last year and it's first off.
Speaker 7: It's tough being a catcher, I think, you know, we've
Speaker 7: talked about that with with Bo and just you know,
Speaker 7: the developmental pace of that position oftentime is a little
Speaker 7: bit slower than others other positions on the field, with
Speaker 7: how much work they do to support the pitching and
Speaker 7: the amount of preparation that goes into that, and so really,
Speaker 7: you know, integrating Coop into all of those things that
Speaker 7: really matter to be successful at the highest level has
Speaker 7: been a huge emphasis of our work and his continued
Speaker 7: you know, just refinement behind the plate with receiving, throwing, blocking,
Speaker 7: and and then he's done a tremendous job offensively for
Speaker 7: that team, been one of their best producers. And you know,
Speaker 7: we're excited to continue challenging him as the year goes on.
Speaker 1: And a kid that we've talked about a couple of
Speaker 1: times this summer and he's still rolling. It sounds like
Speaker 1: Angel Henal an infielder that moves around a little bit.
Speaker 7: Yeah, just a really talented young hitter here. Switch hitter
Speaker 7: has taken care of business from both sides of the plate,
Speaker 7: really has put in the work defensively. I think that's
Speaker 7: where you've seen some of his biggest growth over the
Speaker 7: last year is just how he's really attacked his routine
Speaker 7: and challenged himself to work on some of the gaps
Speaker 7: that holes that we saw in his game last year
Speaker 7: and start to really close those to hopefully be a
Speaker 7: major league infielder one day. And he's continuing to grow
Speaker 7: and mature, Like just the amount of strength he's put
Speaker 7: on over the last one or two years has been
Speaker 7: really impressive for him to maintain his athleticism in that
Speaker 7: time and be able to impact both sides of the.
Speaker 1: Ball on the mound early in the season we talked
Speaker 1: to you about he kind of took the nation by
Speaker 1: his storm a little bit, maybe because of his nickname,
Speaker 1: Matt tug Boat Wilkinson. And he got moved up pretty
Speaker 1: quick from Lynchburg to Lake County and now has settled
Speaker 1: into the grind, so to speak. And how's he handled
Speaker 1: this the High A transition and now deeper into the season.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, first off, just the biggest workload he's
Speaker 7: ever had in his career here over the longest period
Speaker 7: of time. So any first year starting pitcher kind of
Speaker 7: goes through that physical battle throughout the year. And I
Speaker 7: think the cool thing with tug Boat is, you know,
Speaker 7: obviously he was dominating Low A and we were able
Speaker 7: to when he made that transition, really try and challenge
Speaker 7: him towards, Okay, the foundational elements of delivery and strike
Speaker 7: throwing he was doing at a high clip and now
Speaker 7: it's secondary and strike throwing across his whole arsenal and
Speaker 7: really commanding those pitches against a slightly better hitter and
Speaker 7: high A while still managing that hard workload jump that
Speaker 7: goes from college player to first year professional as a
Speaker 7: starting pitcher, and he's continued to do a great job.
Speaker 7: You know, his fastball plays at an awesome clip and
Speaker 7: we're continuing to refine the rest of his pitches behind that.
Speaker 1: And a young man who was working in relief at
Speaker 1: Lake County has since been bumped up to double a
Speaker 1: acron very recently, Magnus Ellerts. And how did he get
Speaker 1: that promotion? What did he do?
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, this is maybe a name that isn't
Speaker 7: on the top thirty prospects of Baseball America MLB, but
Speaker 7: you know, a guy that definitely deserves a shout out
Speaker 7: for just the performance that he's been able to put
Speaker 7: up the last two years. You know, last year in
Speaker 7: Lynchburg and Lake County and now Lake County and Akron.
Speaker 7: You know, he made his debut earlier. I was actually
Speaker 7: there in person on Tuesday and throw the ball really
Speaker 7: well and just kind of has that mentality to pitch,
Speaker 7: you know, at the back end of games and really
Speaker 7: go out there and compete and challenge hitters. And we're
Speaker 7: still continuing to try and push mag to you know,
Speaker 7: develop some of the soft skills around that of really
Speaker 7: preparing for hitters and taking care of his body and
Speaker 7: so that we can see some of those ninety seven
Speaker 7: ninety eight show up more frequently, because you know, when
Speaker 7: he's in the upper nineties, he's really a tough at bat.
Speaker 1: That's Rapsortfolio, the director of player development for the Guardians,
Speaker 1: and that's going to do it for our show this week.
Speaker 1: Thanks as always to Brian Matse for helping to put
Speaker 1: together the show each and every week. We will join
Speaker 1: you next weekend from back home when the Guardians are
Speaker 1: taking on the Baltimore Orioles at Progressive Field. And until then,
Speaker 1: this is Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening
Speaker 1: to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive helping
Speaker 1: Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance