Speaker 1: It's snell Zilla Day at camel Back Ranch and Glendale, Arizona.
Speaker 1: Blake Snell making his debut with the Dodgers in a
Speaker 1: Cactus League game. And you got to have the A
Speaker 1: team in there behind Blake Snell, and they have the
Speaker 1: A team behind him. The NLCSMVP playing second base today,
Speaker 1: Tommy Edmund, Tommy, great to see you, and I know
Speaker 1: it's always busy in the morning, so thank you for
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, good to see you too. You know,
Speaker 2: it's an exciting day to get to watch Blake pitch
Speaker 2: for the first time in the Dodgers' UNI, so you
Speaker 2: know it's gonna be a fun game today.
Speaker 1: You faced him quite a bit over your career. How
Speaker 1: big of a relief is that you don't have to
Speaker 1: see him anymore?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got my number. You know, I don't think
Speaker 2: I ever got a hit off of him, so, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm glad that we don't have to face him anymore.
Speaker 1: This is your first spring training at camel Back Ranch.
Speaker 1: You were traded for in the middle of the year.
Speaker 1: So what's the feeling now being a world champion and
Speaker 1: having time to just kind of ease into the season
Speaker 1: with the same team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been fun, you know, to be able to
Speaker 2: have a healthy spring training, and obviously it's a little
Speaker 2: bit different schedule because we got to get ready to
Speaker 2: go to Tokyo. But you know, just getting this time
Speaker 2: to get the work in that I need and just
Speaker 2: to get ready for season and prepare for you know,
Speaker 2: the next eight months of baseball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we forget it. This time last year you were
Speaker 1: trying to come back from not just one injury, but
Speaker 1: a couple. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely had a frustrating first half last year. But
Speaker 2: you know, everything's feeling good now and hopefully I have
Speaker 2: a full healthy season, all right.
Speaker 1: So I'm always looking at guys and what things they've
Speaker 1: done to try to improve every year. Now, sometimes it
Speaker 1: deceives me. I'm not a baseball nerd like other people,
Speaker 1: but it looks like from the left side, you may
Speaker 1: have stood taller with your stands. Have you decided to
Speaker 1: maybe do a couple of different things there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the ultimate goal is just to be able to
Speaker 2: stay taller in my backside, you know, and be able
Speaker 2: to land in a position where I'm able to adjust
Speaker 2: and cover more parts of the zone. So yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: just just small mechanical adjustments and you know, just to
Speaker 2: help myself give myself a better chance to have success,
Speaker 2: regardless who's pitching.
Speaker 1: What's the process of making that decision to be able
Speaker 1: to say, you know, this may help me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just identifying, you know, the areas of my
Speaker 2: swing that are not optimal and you know, really hammering
Speaker 2: those down in the cage and during VP rounds and
Speaker 2: just making sure I'm focusing on those few things and
Speaker 2: staying locked in and not losing sight of what I'm
Speaker 2: working towards.
Speaker 1: Since Tommy Edmund has one of the highest baseball iques
Speaker 1: in the room, maybe you can explain to us what's
Speaker 1: the biggest difference for a hitter to stand taller rather
Speaker 1: than do what you were doing and maybe shrink the
Speaker 1: strike zone.
Speaker 2: Well, now the ABS is you know we're using this,
Speaker 2: it's that they pretty much just measure your height, so
Speaker 2: it doesn't really matter how tall you're standing anymore. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know. I'm just trying to find
Speaker 2: a way to help myself keep that backside strong. So
Speaker 2: you know, when if I squat down, then there's the
Speaker 2: tendency to kind of get get I guess squatted into
Speaker 2: the backside so that I'm I kind of slide out
Speaker 2: instead of being able to stay strong and be able
Speaker 2: to stay firm with my back hip and be able
Speaker 2: to use that in my swing. So yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: just kind of I don't want to get too much
Speaker 2: into the mechanical side of it, but it's basically just
Speaker 2: being able.
Speaker 1: To use the back hit better, so simplify things I've heard.
Speaker 1: Hitting coaches and great hitters always talk about you have
Speaker 1: to be connected to the ground to be a successful hitter.
Speaker 1: Are you a big believer in that?
Speaker 2: For sure? Yeah, you're you know, the strongest muscles are
Speaker 2: your legs, so you got to be able to use
Speaker 2: them if you want to, you know, have the have
Speaker 2: the most power that you can.
Speaker 1: Now, Tommy Edmond's playing a lot of infield. Do you
Speaker 1: feel like you're going back to the majority of your
Speaker 1: time where you want a gold Glove at second base?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's been fun to play a lot
Speaker 2: of second again, you know, playing with with Mooki over
Speaker 2: at short it's been fun to you know, kind of
Speaker 2: communicate with him and learn about how each other works. So,
Speaker 2: you know, we'll see what this season brings. But playing
Speaker 2: second for now I'm sure I'll mix it a little
Speaker 2: bit in the center as well, But you know, I'm
Speaker 2: just making sure to stay fresh regardless of ready put me.
Speaker 1: I saw you yesterday taking outfield drills and making throws
Speaker 1: from center field to home plate. The throws are so
Speaker 1: different from second obviously compared to center field. How important
Speaker 1: is it for you to stretch out your arm like
Speaker 1: that to be ready whenever called upon?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got to just make sure to do that
Speaker 2: and make sure I'm keeping up today with my long
Speaker 2: toss and making those longer throws, you know, every now
Speaker 2: and then, to make sure I'm ready whenever I whenever
Speaker 2: I got a head out there. But you know, it's
Speaker 2: definitely a little bit different of a throw, but you know,
Speaker 2: the concepts are kind of the same. Be able to
Speaker 2: get behind the ball and use my momentum to you know,
Speaker 2: to get some carry on it.
Speaker 1: Some guys have a hard time just making throws from
Speaker 1: the position they play every day. It's remarkable that you're
Speaker 1: able to make the accurate throws from several different positions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's a lot of work. Hey, you
Speaker 2: gotta stay on top of it, but you know, it's
Speaker 2: that's part of it. You gotta gotta put in the
Speaker 2: work that's required.
Speaker 1: Hey, you mentioned Mooki and you being a double play
Speaker 1: combo right now. Can you tell the confidence that he
Speaker 1: has at that position.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. You know, he's put in the whole
Speaker 2: off season of work and looked really good during the spring,
Speaker 2: and he's always out there taking extra ground balls and
Speaker 2: just making sure he can be the best defensive short
Speaker 2: stop that he can be. And you know, it's looked
Speaker 2: really good so far.
Speaker 1: All right, Tommy, thanks a lot for the time. Really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. And I always feel like I learned something
Speaker 1: from you, because obviously a lot of people know how
Speaker 1: high your IQ is on and off the field. So
Speaker 1: thank you, Tommy. I really appreciate it, especially for a
Speaker 1: mere mortal like myself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, always a pleasure.