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 Rosan house along
Speaker 2: with you as we join you this weekend from Sacramento, California, where,
Speaker 2: for the first time, the Guardians are playing Major League
Speaker 2: Baseball in this part of the state as it's the
Speaker 2: new home temporary for the Athletics, and there will be
Speaker 2: more games this weekend. Tonight Saturday night, a ten oh
Speaker 2: five first pitch, and then the road trip finale, finally
Speaker 2: coming to an end. This three city trip we'll be
Speaker 2: completed on Sunday afternoon with a four to zero five
Speaker 2: first pitch against the Athletics. Good show lined up for
Speaker 2: you today, we'll visit with Stephen Osterer, the vice president
Speaker 2: of player development for the Guardians. We'll have a minor
Speaker 2: league report for you later on in the show. We'll
Speaker 2: also hear from Dwayne Kuiper, the longtime television voice for
Speaker 2: the San Francisco Giants and a former Cleveland Indian. Always
Speaker 2: fun to catch up with Kaipe One we head out
Speaker 2: to the West coast Coco Cris will join us as
Speaker 2: well in the alumni corner, and we'll also hear from
Speaker 2: Lane Thomas, the Guardians outfielder, along with J. T. McGuire,
Speaker 2: the Guardians outfield instructor, who had a busy week this
Speaker 2: week over at Oracle Park in San Francisco. But first
Speaker 2: our weekend review. After an off day on Monday. Following
Speaker 2: a three game series sweep to the bad in Seattle
Speaker 2: last weekend, the Guardians were looking to get back on
Speaker 2: the winning track against the Giants and a big buzz
Speaker 2: in the city and at the ballpark, with the Giants
Speaker 2: acquiring slugger Ropael Devers from the Red Sox and he
Speaker 2: made his Giants' debut facing Guardian starter Slayed Seconi in
Speaker 2: the first inning two and two. The count on devors
Speaker 2: Seconi takes a look at Lee now the pitch swing
Speaker 2: and I miss strike three, locked him up inside.
Speaker 3: Just worked him, went inside.
Speaker 4: Then he went upstairs ninety six above the zone, changed
Speaker 4: the eye level and he got him to chase on
Speaker 4: this ball and he couldn't quite catch up with it.
Speaker 2: Later on in that first inning, the Giants picked up
Speaker 2: a run to take the early lead, but in the
Speaker 2: third Jonathan Rodriguez got something started for Cleveland. Rodriguez drives
Speaker 2: one up the alley right center field and it rolls
Speaker 2: all the way to the wall. Will it be triples
Speaker 2: alley for Rodriguez. He's gonna try and he'll be in
Speaker 2: with a stand up triple.
Speaker 4: That's exactly why they call it triples alley. He got
Speaker 4: a fastball up and a little bit out over the
Speaker 4: play where it can extend his arms in a beautiful
Speaker 4: pass at the ball. He didn't try to do anything
Speaker 4: but go with this pitch, and he just plugged the
Speaker 4: gap and right center and the ball trickled all the
Speaker 4: way to the wall, and that's an easy triple.
Speaker 2: And then Austin Hedges delivered to tie the game. Hedges
Speaker 2: hole for his last sixteen trying to come up big
Speaker 2: here with the infield in again, Rodriguez at third, the
Speaker 2: pitch to him, he's swung on and that's lifted high
Speaker 2: in the air to deep left back Is Ramos on
Speaker 2: the track makes the catch plenty deep enough to score
Speaker 2: Rodriguez as he tags and scores from third, and this
Speaker 2: game is tied at one. In the bottom of the
Speaker 2: third inning, Rafeael Devers got that first hit with his
Speaker 2: new team and RBI double, and that gave the As
Speaker 2: a two to one lead. But the Guardians responded in
Speaker 2: the fourth, a lead off double from David Fry brought
Speaker 2: Carlos Santana to the plate. There's a bouncing ball up
Speaker 2: the middle and on through a base. It in a
Speaker 2: center field at'll score Fry and tie this game at two.
Speaker 2: It's an RBI single for Carlos Santana. Two to two
Speaker 2: ball game here in the four.
Speaker 4: Boy, this is good offense going by here by The
Speaker 4: Guardians got that double in Santana with a nice job
Speaker 4: taking this breaking ball and waiting for it and then
Speaker 4: being able to use the middle of the field and
Speaker 4: driving it up that way and getting the run in.
Speaker 2: It's stay tied until the sixth inning. That's when Gabriel
Speaker 2: Aarius stepped in with one out. Here's the O two
Speaker 2: pitch swung on and here's a high fly ball to
Speaker 2: deep right center. This one's carrying headed to the gap
Speaker 2: way back there and it is gone a home run
Speaker 2: for Gabrielarius to a deep part of this ballpark, and
Speaker 2: Arius says, put the Guardians in front three to two.
Speaker 4: Boy, what a swing he put on that basketball early
Speaker 4: in this count. Robbie Rae just threw two right by him,
Speaker 4: and he wanted to throw another one right by him,
Speaker 4: but he wouldn't have it, and he launched that ball
Speaker 4: to the right center.
Speaker 2: The Giants threatened in the eighth inning with two men
Speaker 2: on and nobody out and a dangerous pinch hitter at
Speaker 2: the plate and Wilmer Flores he was facing Hunter Gaddis.
Speaker 2: Nobody out. In the eighth inning, Casey Schmidt the tying
Speaker 2: run at second, go ahead run Mike Yastremsky at first,
Speaker 2: the one two pitch swung on line drive to left
Speaker 2: coming on, Kwan makes the catch, throws back to second,
Speaker 2: double play. Schmid was off the bag and Kwan threw
Speaker 2: him out two down. Man Kwan was just getting started
Speaker 2: on his great night defensively. Gaddis picked up the final
Speaker 2: out in the eighth and it was still a one
Speaker 2: run lead in the ninth, but the Giants wouldn't so quietly.
Speaker 2: A walk in two singles loaded him up with one out,
Speaker 2: and once again Amannual Classe was on trying to battle
Speaker 2: his way out of it. Classe sets here's his O
Speaker 2: two swung on and here's a fly ball to left,
Speaker 2: Kuan circling under it, makes the catch, tagging and.
Speaker 3: Not coming home is Lee.
Speaker 2: Kuan's throw is a beauty and Lee went about ten
Speaker 2: steps and went back to third.
Speaker 4: Well, Kwan did such a good job not only getting
Speaker 4: to this ball, but he got his momentum going towards
Speaker 4: the plate and he got off to a very quick throw.
Speaker 3: Lee rock watching it. He was tagging and he stopped.
Speaker 3: And that was a short hop throw in.
Speaker 4: There that was not handled, and luckily he stopped for
Speaker 4: the Guardians.
Speaker 2: So two outs, basses loaded. Casey Schmidt, the batter, a
Speaker 2: right handed hitter. Classe sets up high.
Speaker 3: Here's the one.
Speaker 2: Two swing and I missed strike three and the Guardian
Speaker 2: win a tonight in San Francisco.
Speaker 3: They hang on.
Speaker 2: For a three to two victory as Classe comes up
Speaker 2: big with the bases loaded.
Speaker 3: What a finish.
Speaker 2: On Tuesday night in San Francisco, the Guardians a winner.
Speaker 2: They would try and make it two straight over San
Speaker 2: Francisco on Wednesday night, Guardians got the scoring started early
Speaker 2: first inning, a one out double from Kyle Manzardo brought
Speaker 2: Jose Ramirez to the plate. Here's the two swung on
Speaker 2: drilled right center base hit, headed for third and being
Speaker 2: waved around as Manzardo he'll score without a throw on
Speaker 2: the RBI single by Ramirez and the Guardians take the
Speaker 2: early lead. One nothing, still won nothing Guardians in the fourth.
Speaker 2: That's when they put two men on for Daniel Schneemann.
Speaker 2: Here's the two swung on and here's a high fly
Speaker 2: ball deep left center field.
Speaker 3: This has hit a ton and that ball is gone
Speaker 3: a home run.
Speaker 2: Daniel Schneeman to the opposite field, a three run blast,
Speaker 2: and Cleveland is now up for nothing.
Speaker 4: Another center cut basketball by Erlander, who thrown at ninety four.
Speaker 4: Can't overpower hitters right there like he used to, and
Speaker 4: Schneemann made him pay. I mean that was hit high
Speaker 4: and hit deep to the opposite gap, showing some power.
Speaker 2: The Giants got something back in the fifth inning, a
Speaker 2: two run home run from Elliott Ramos, but the Guardian's
Speaker 2: bullpen took over and as usual, they shut down the opposition.
Speaker 2: Here's the one two from Smith swing and I missed
Speaker 2: strike three. Hey got him with the heat. Ramos down
Speaker 2: on strike, Sider retired. We're headed to the eighth Guardians four,
Speaker 2: Giants two. Here's his pitch and that swung on popped
Speaker 2: him up foul territory on the infield first base side.
Speaker 2: Manzarno puts it away and Heron does the job. We
Speaker 2: are headed to the ninth it's the Guardians for the
Speaker 2: Giants two. And then the annual Classe was back out
Speaker 2: there in the ninth inning trying to nail down another save.
Speaker 2: Classe ended it with a strikeout. Last night there comes
Speaker 2: as two to two called strike three and Closse does
Speaker 2: it again. So do the Guardians as they defeat the
Speaker 2: Giants tonight by a final score a four to two.
Speaker 2: So a good couple of nights in San Francisco for
Speaker 2: the Guardians, but the Giants would come back and salvage
Speaker 2: the finale of the series on Thursday afternoon, a two
Speaker 2: to one win over Cleveland. And then it was on
Speaker 2: the Sacramento for a Friday night contest against the Athletics,
Speaker 2: who won it five to one. And then now it's
Speaker 2: on to Saturday night in Sacramento for the Guardians in
Speaker 2: the road trip finale on Sunday afternoon. Stay with us
Speaker 2: while we come back. We'll talk outfield play with J.
Speaker 2: T McGuire and visit with center fielder Lane Thomas. That's
Speaker 2: next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 5: Switching to Progressive is a game winning call, and that
Speaker 5: reminds us of other game winning calls in the history
Speaker 5: of sports.
Speaker 6: It was a doubleheader in August and really hot inside
Speaker 6: the concession stand, so instead of winning for people to
Speaker 6: come to me, I figured I'd walk around yelln hot,
Speaker 6: and that's how I became the first hot dog vendor
Speaker 6: in sports.
Speaker 5: Okay, not really a game winning call, but it was
Speaker 5: a good call. You can make one two switch to
Speaker 5: Progressive and you could save hundreds. Progressive Casualty Insurance company
Speaker 5: and affiliates not available in all states.
Speaker 1: Here's the one O pitch, swung and hit pretty well
Speaker 1: to right deep and toward the corner.
Speaker 3: Joe on the run, Joe in the corner.
Speaker 7: This ball is gone, a three run home run. It
Speaker 7: just did clear the thirteen foot wall in that right
Speaker 7: field corner, and the Guardians with a three run home
Speaker 7: run right down the right field line by Lane Thomas.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Guardians Weekly.
Speaker 2: Jim Rosenhouse along with you as we join you from Sacramento, California.
Speaker 2: The Guardians taking on the athletics here in Sacramento on
Speaker 2: a weekend series. Earlier in the week they were in
Speaker 2: San Francisco, And for Lane Thomas, that's been a good
Speaker 2: place for him as he has had some good success
Speaker 2: in the past in his career and he's trying to
Speaker 2: get going on this season. He's battled a couple of
Speaker 2: injuries so far, but he returned during the last homestand
Speaker 2: from his second stint on the IL, and he says
Speaker 2: he's feeling as strong as he has in quite some time.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 9: You know, I think I'm dealing with the wrist and
Speaker 9: the foot and just hadn't really felt like myself a
Speaker 9: whole lot in those those first you know, a month
Speaker 9: or two and miss some time, and you know, I
Speaker 9: feel like I'm you know, on the uptick, you know,
Speaker 9: on the.
Speaker 3: Rise a little bit.
Speaker 8: So I feel a lot a lot.
Speaker 9: Better running and you know in the outfield too, So
Speaker 9: I feel good about it.
Speaker 2: Everyone wants to have that perfect off season where you
Speaker 2: build up the way you want. How challenged were you
Speaker 2: that this off season to try and work through some
Speaker 2: things that just weren't going well.
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, I still had the foot thing, and
Speaker 9: the off season got pretty bad. I took a little
Speaker 9: time off and it started to feel a little better.
Speaker 9: But that's tough to do the middle of the year.
Speaker 9: So you know, like I said, it's just something you
Speaker 9: have to deal with. It's part of doing what we do.
Speaker 9: And you know, I had, I guess, three pretty healthy
Speaker 9: years the last few years, and you know, it's just
Speaker 9: part of you hit those little roadbumps and it's just
Speaker 9: kind of how you come out of them.
Speaker 2: So the success you had late last season and on
Speaker 2: into the postseason, were you trying to manage that during
Speaker 2: that time and still being able to come through.
Speaker 9: Not to the extent you know lately, but I definitely
Speaker 9: still had it. Didn't really know what it was, but
Speaker 9: I was just starting to kind of get a little
Speaker 9: bit worse. And when I took some time off after
Speaker 9: the postseason, when I got home is kind of when
Speaker 9: it fired up pretty bad. So took care of it.
Speaker 9: It just it's just one of those things that it's
Speaker 9: tough to get to go away completely. So hopefully we've
Speaker 9: taken care of it.
Speaker 2: How hard is it to stay patient and get it
Speaker 2: taken care of properly, especially when you want to help
Speaker 2: your team, especially on that offensive end.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, you know, they're expecting you to go
Speaker 9: out and produce, and that's kind of what you know,
Speaker 9: what you stick around for is because you consistently do
Speaker 9: a good job and they trust you out there. So
Speaker 9: when you're dealing with something like that, you definitely feel
Speaker 9: the pressure to either get it fixed or keep rolling
Speaker 9: through it. So I you know, I tried my hardest
Speaker 9: to kind of fight through a couple of things, and
Speaker 9: you know, it just comes to a time when not
Speaker 9: helping myself or them, and you know, getting it, getting
Speaker 9: right and feeling good is the best thing for both sides.
Speaker 2: Lane, thanks for the time, appreciate it absolutely.
Speaker 9: Thanks.
Speaker 2: That's Guardians outfielder Lane Thomas. And speaking of outfield play,
Speaker 2: JT McGuire is The Guardian's outfield instructor and he had
Speaker 2: his hands full over at Oracle Park in San Francisco,
Speaker 2: a ballpark that features several different fence heights in the outfield,
Speaker 2: and you have a brick surface out there as well,
Speaker 2: and some other things going on, especially in right field.
Speaker 2: It's the trickiest outfield in baseball according to some and
Speaker 2: JT says they had to do a little more work
Speaker 2: to prepare for things at an unfamiliar ballpark for the Guardians.
Speaker 10: Not only just the dimensions, it's the wind factors. So
Speaker 10: you have right field, which is just odd in itself,
Speaker 10: and then you have the ballpark factors of wind coming
Speaker 10: off of the ocean and how that can switch just dramatically.
Speaker 2: So yesterday pregame prior to the series opener, I saw
Speaker 2: you out there trying to hit some fungos off the
Speaker 2: right field wall.
Speaker 8: There's bricks, there's.
Speaker 3: Cage type stuff.
Speaker 2: You hit a few out into mcuvey Cove too, it
Speaker 2: I saw you, and you're gonna go get those and
Speaker 2: bring those back in.
Speaker 10: I just figured me and Barry Bonds might have something
Speaker 10: in common, so wanted to put one in McVey Cove.
Speaker 2: What did you learn though at firing them off the
Speaker 2: bricks and and then the screening and then all that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff.
Speaker 10: So it really has like almost four different types of surfaces.
Speaker 10: You have the brick, then you have the lettering, which
Speaker 10: is totally different, it's like almost aluminum. Then you have
Speaker 10: the fencing, and then you have the padding, and then
Speaker 10: I guess you can add one more factor of like
Speaker 10: the different types of polls that connect everything together. So really,
Speaker 10: like what we told our outfielders is if the balls
Speaker 10: hit over your head, specifically your right fielder, the balls.
Speaker 8: Hit over your head.
Speaker 10: Almost play it like field of dreams, where once you
Speaker 10: approach that warning track, like we don't go on the
Speaker 10: warning track only because that ball can bounce on different directions,
Speaker 10: So we don't want to scramble and chase the ball.
Speaker 10: We want to let the ball hit the wall wherever
Speaker 10: part of the wall it hits, and then we want
Speaker 10: to assess where to go. And then from a center
Speaker 10: fields perspective, you have the Willie Mays McCovey numbers that
Speaker 10: are retired that faces more towards right field, but after
Speaker 10: that it shoots out towards centerfield, so the center fielder
Speaker 10: has to be backing up and moving over in that
Speaker 10: direction as well if the ball hit to that area.
Speaker 2: So you're one outfielder who didn't have to deal with that.
Speaker 2: And the series opener had a game for the ages
Speaker 2: defensively and Steven Kwan throwing out a runner at second,
Speaker 2: stopping another runner from trying to tag and score the
Speaker 2: tying run. When you look at what he does, what
Speaker 2: do fans not see that allow him to be great defensively?
Speaker 2: When they do see him playing a game.
Speaker 10: So one of the things I think one of the
Speaker 10: most special things about Kwani is prior to a game
Speaker 10: even coming close to happening, he's on the outfield, whether
Speaker 10: it's a one on one or we have the entire outfielders,
Speaker 10: or whether it's batting practice, but he takes every single
Speaker 10: ret like it's a game. So regardless of like if
Speaker 10: we're on the road or at home, he plays balls
Speaker 10: off the wall. I can speak just for being at home.
Speaker 10: I feel like he knows where every ball is going
Speaker 10: to land off of the wall after it hits the wall.
Speaker 10: So he puts himself in an incredible positions to field
Speaker 10: carems off the wall. When we go to a new ballpark,
Speaker 10: he wants balls off of the wall. He does it
Speaker 10: in batting practice, so it almost becomes second nature to him.
Speaker 10: But the one thing that just sticks out to me
Speaker 10: more than anything is the attention to detail that he takes.
Speaker 10: Whether it be ten reps or whether it be just
Speaker 10: five reps. He treats a game like so when the
Speaker 10: game happens, it's not too quick for him.
Speaker 3: JT.
Speaker 2: McGuire, you've had your hands full here in San Francisco.
Speaker 2: Who knows what Sacramento brings, but thanks for coming by
Speaker 2: the coach's corner.
Speaker 8: Appreciate it. Rosie.
Speaker 2: That's outfield instructor J. T. McGuire and always nice to
Speaker 2: have him along. And yes, Stephen kui is having some
Speaker 2: kind of season defense and left. Certainly we'll be a
Speaker 2: contender for a fourth consecutive Gold Glove award. Stay with
Speaker 2: us when we come back. We'll hear from a former
Speaker 2: Cleveland Indian Duwayne Kuiper and another former Cleveland Indian, Coco Crisp.
Speaker 2: That's next time in Cleveland Clinic. Guardians Radio Network, Welcome
Speaker 2: back to Guardians Weekly. Jim rosenounce along with you from Sacramento.
Speaker 2: Earlier in the road trip, the Guardians were in San Francisco,
Speaker 2: and that means a chance to catch up with longtime
Speaker 2: Giants broadcaster and former Cleveland Indian Dwayne Kuiper, part of
Speaker 2: the Top one hundred Cleveland Indians All time list. He
Speaker 2: was a Cleveland Indian from nineteen seven four through nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty one before he was traded to San Francisco and
Speaker 2: finished his playing career there, and he talked about some
Speaker 2: of his memories that stand out from that era of
Speaker 2: Indians Baseball.
Speaker 11: Well, look, I cherished those years mainly because, look, I
Speaker 11: was in the big leagues and I was in a
Speaker 11: big league town, and I have, you know, relationships from
Speaker 11: those years with guys that, you know, I cherish, guys
Speaker 11: like you know, Buddy Bell, and I had a chance
Speaker 11: to sit with Buddy for two and a half hours
Speaker 11: out of Starbucks in Scottsdale this spring, and it really
Speaker 11: was one of the most enjoyable two hours I've had
Speaker 11: in a long time, because you reminisce about the days
Speaker 11: where maybe we weren't very good, but on that given day,
Speaker 11: we thought we would win that game, and we tried
Speaker 11: as hard as we could and we got dirty, and
Speaker 11: you know, and what are we playing for. We're playing
Speaker 11: to try to get out of last place. But those
Speaker 11: games were so important. Yeah, I Look, I couldn't have
Speaker 11: started my career out in a better place, just because
Speaker 11: the way the fans accepted you. If you didn't give
Speaker 11: a full out effort, and if you didn't like the city,
Speaker 11: you were not going to be able to fool that group.
Speaker 11: And that's why I really loved it so much. Look,
Speaker 11: I didn't want to get traded. I did everything I
Speaker 11: could to flunk my physical once I got traded here,
Speaker 11: And how do you do that? Well, you go to
Speaker 11: the doctor that did your surgery and you say, how
Speaker 11: can I do this? And I'm not going to tell
Speaker 11: you if you told me how to do it or not.
Speaker 11: But it didn't work. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 2: And there's a generation of fans probably listening tonight who
Speaker 2: have no idea what Municipal Stadium was like. And I
Speaker 2: know it probably gets a bad rap compared to Progressive Field,
Speaker 2: But for you, what was it like as a ballpark?
Speaker 11: Well, I think a lot of stadiums are going to
Speaker 11: get a bad rap because of Progressive Field. It happens
Speaker 11: to be one of my favorite of them. And I
Speaker 11: know it's not new, but of the newer stadiums, I
Speaker 11: would have loved to have played there.
Speaker 8: But you know, you kind of.
Speaker 11: Protect the ballpark that you played in and you got
Speaker 11: to the big leagues and you kind of protect it
Speaker 11: like it's part of your family. Somebody else says something
Speaker 11: bad about my park, then I got a problem with it.
Speaker 8: Right. It's kind of like what we had to do
Speaker 8: at Candlestick.
Speaker 11: You know, it's my place, so it's my home, so
Speaker 11: you know, leave it alone.
Speaker 3: But it was not an easy.
Speaker 8: Place to play in.
Speaker 11: I mean here there were times when you know, there
Speaker 11: were five or six thousand people there. I mean, if
Speaker 11: you go back and listen to people that talk about
Speaker 11: Lenn Barker's perfect game, you'd have thought that there was
Speaker 11: forty thousand people there.
Speaker 8: There was probably.
Speaker 11: Seven thousand, right, But that was our place, you know,
Speaker 11: and we're in the big leagues.
Speaker 8: So look, I loved that.
Speaker 11: I loved going to the Browns games there, and it
Speaker 11: was just a.
Speaker 8: Fact of the city.
Speaker 11: They needed a new park, but my memories will always
Speaker 11: be from Municipal Stadium.
Speaker 2: And now you get to come to work in an
Speaker 2: absolute gem of a ballpark.
Speaker 8: I know.
Speaker 11: And we feel like we paid our dues. At least
Speaker 11: I did, because I played at the O Ballpark in
Speaker 11: Cleveland and then all those years at Candlestick. We sit
Speaker 11: up there, Mike and Mike Kruko, my partner, and we
Speaker 11: look around and everybody says, boy, you guys are spoiled.
Speaker 8: No we're not.
Speaker 11: We paid our dues to get to the spot, and uh,
Speaker 11: and it's been it's just been a delight. Even though
Speaker 11: what I doing here, I always wanted to do in Cleveland.
Speaker 11: But you know, those opportunities have to be created and
Speaker 11: if they're not, then you move on.
Speaker 8: And uh, and it's been a joy since I've been here.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's always great to see it. You have a
Speaker 2: fun team to watch. Thanks for coming back.
Speaker 11: Yeah, and it's really great that that Tom.
Speaker 8: Shows up for these games.
Speaker 11: You know what, a Hall of Famer makes trips, and
Speaker 11: they tried to do all the games and I'm really
Speaker 11: shocked that he got voted in, to be honest with.
Speaker 2: You, Well, this one thirty seconds a little bit too long.
Speaker 3: We'll be back with more after this.
Speaker 2: That's Dwayne Kuiper, a former Cleveland Indian from the seventies,
Speaker 2: a little more recent vintage Coco Crispy was in Cleveland
Speaker 2: recently as part of the alumni program there and we
Speaker 2: had a chance to catch up with him, and he
Speaker 2: had a tremendous major league career. It started in Cleveland
Speaker 2: and finished in Cleveland, with some stops in between, including
Speaker 2: in Oakland with the Athletics. But he broke in with
Speaker 2: the Cleveland Indians back in two thousand and two, a
Speaker 2: pretty good ball club, and he talked about what it
Speaker 2: was like to get his first chance in the major
Speaker 2: leagues with that team, right.
Speaker 12: So I just got traded over from the Cardinals about
Speaker 12: two weeks prior. So when I got the call, we
Speaker 12: were on the road. Actually wasn't a call. The coaches
Speaker 12: came up and knocked on the door and me and
Speaker 12: Luis Garcia at the time, and we just got traded
Speaker 12: over together rear roommates, and they came in and they
Speaker 12: told me that I was going to Tampa and I
Speaker 12: thought that I got traded again. I mean, it was
Speaker 12: fresh on my mind. So I was just like, oh gosh,
Speaker 12: and they're all looking at me like, who's the matter
Speaker 12: with this kid. So once they told me it was
Speaker 12: Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the time, then I jump
Speaker 12: up and I'm jumping from bed to bed. I'm excited.
Speaker 12: So then I end up going to Tampa and I
Speaker 12: get my call up and the first person.
Speaker 13: That I that I see is Eddie.
Speaker 12: He is a hitting coach, and I'm like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 12: it's Eddie and I'm walking in the dugout. Then I
Speaker 12: see CCO Marver Scaled, Jim Tomy. I'm like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 12: you know, just playing video games with these guys and
Speaker 12: now I'm up here with them, so it was very exciting.
Speaker 12: I had a great time playing for Cleveland, especially when
Speaker 12: I first got caught up. I'll rephrase that a little
Speaker 12: bit later, but especially when I first got caught up,
Speaker 12: simply because a lot of the guys were young, like
Speaker 12: Brandon Phillips, Grady Size More, Cliff Lee yet CC and
Speaker 12: all these guys, and we all kind of came up
Speaker 12: through the minor leagues together, so we got opportunity to
Speaker 12: play together and still learn from veterans like Omar and
Speaker 12: Jim Tomay and Ellis Spurks. So it was very special.
Speaker 12: And then the be able to finish my career with
Speaker 12: the Indians. You know, my whole journey was a blessed
Speaker 12: had just capped it off.
Speaker 2: I was gonna ask you about that. You had great
Speaker 2: experiences with Boston and Oakland, a key part of some
Speaker 2: good teams there. What did it mean though, to finish
Speaker 2: your career here for a team that made it to
Speaker 2: the World Series.
Speaker 12: To start off getting called up and having such a
Speaker 12: special time here. And I thought that we had a
Speaker 12: team at that time when I was younger to push
Speaker 12: for playoffs and win a World Series possibly, you know,
Speaker 12: I felt like we're that good from the pitching side
Speaker 12: and the offense side, the defensive side, but it just
Speaker 12: didn't happen that way. So after going from here to Boston,
Speaker 12: where I was able to win a World Series and
Speaker 12: take in the environment of being a major we're gonnation
Speaker 12: as far as fans go, and everything like that, which
Speaker 12: which was really special. And then from there I went
Speaker 12: over to Kansas City. I ended up getting hurt, but
Speaker 12: I still enjoyed my time over there, and then going
Speaker 12: to Oakland. I'm from California, and being able to spend
Speaker 12: my time over there and talk with Ricky Henderson, who
Speaker 12: was my favorite ball player growing up, was truly special
Speaker 12: as well. And then after that twenty sixteen came, it
Speaker 12: was towards the end of my career. I just got
Speaker 12: hurt with my neck and everything, and then Terry Francona
Speaker 12: and the guys over here with Cleveland wanted me to
Speaker 12: come back over here and be a veteran presence, which
Speaker 12: was truly special to be able to come back over
Speaker 12: here and finish my career playing in the World Series
Speaker 12: for a team that I started with.
Speaker 2: And you were more than just a veteran presence. You've
Speaker 2: had some huge hits in the postseason run, and what
Speaker 2: did that mean to you to not just be the
Speaker 2: veteran guy in the clubhouse but actually get it done
Speaker 2: on the field one last time.
Speaker 3: Special.
Speaker 12: Every time you step in between those lines, you're trying
Speaker 12: to be successful. You're trying to go out there and
Speaker 12: put your best foot forward. Sometimes you put both your
Speaker 12: best fee forward, and sometimes you don't put any. So
Speaker 12: I was just happy to be able to go out
Speaker 12: there and contribute, whether it would have been as just
Speaker 12: having some experience in situations like this and bringing it
Speaker 12: to the guys who didn't or actually contribute inside the lines.
Speaker 12: And I was fortunate enough to be able to do both,
Speaker 12: and we played well.
Speaker 2: We'll go great to see you. Thanks for coming back,
Speaker 2: all right, Thanks for having me fun visit with Coco Crisp,
Speaker 2: who has a lot of great memories of his time
Speaker 2: in Cleveland, both at the beginning of his major league
Speaker 2: career and then at the end with that twenty sixteen
Speaker 2: World Series. Club Stay with us when we come back.
Speaker 2: It's a Minor league report with Stephen Osterer. That's next
Speaker 2: the Cleveland Clinic. Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 5: Switching to Progressive is a game winning call in my
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Speaker 6: So it was the fourth quarter and went down by five,
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Speaker 8: It's a wear ahead band.
Speaker 5: Okay, not really a game winning call, but it was
Speaker 5: a good call. You can make one to switch to
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Speaker 3: Welcome back. It's Guardian's Weekly.
Speaker 2: We're in Sacramento this weekend and as always we check
Speaker 2: in with Stephen Osterer, the Guardian's vice president of player Development,
Speaker 2: for a minor league report, and this week we talked
Speaker 2: singlely Lake County. Some good stories going on, including a
Speaker 2: solid one loss record, and we'll start on the mound
Speaker 2: with a picture. Everyone always wants to talk about the tugboat.
Speaker 2: Mac Wilkinson, the leftandro had a great season a year ago,
Speaker 2: off to a slower start this year, but starting to
Speaker 2: turn things around.
Speaker 3: According to Austin.
Speaker 14: Yeah, Wilkinson's you know, kind of an up up and
Speaker 14: down year so far, not and not sugarcoating that that
Speaker 14: it hasn't been quite as good as it was last year,
Speaker 14: but that's also probably not a bad thing. Yeah, I
Speaker 14: think developing as a as a pitcher sometimes requires you
Speaker 14: to fail and requires you to develop your ability to
Speaker 14: handle the peaks and valleys of the year. So yeah,
Speaker 14: I think it's it's been good from that standpoint where
Speaker 14: he's been able to kind of set his targets on
Speaker 14: the daily process a little bit more, and you know,
Speaker 14: I think he's really growing in that sense. So yeah,
Speaker 14: there's some positive underlying signs with him. Pitching wise to
Speaker 14: the fastball is you know, continues to be a good
Speaker 14: a good pitch for him. He's executing it well and
Speaker 14: working on that to get it to better spots and
Speaker 14: slide sider execution has been better this year and has
Speaker 14: been trying to positively. So He's still missing a lot
Speaker 14: of baths similar to what we've seen in the past
Speaker 14: and generating the weak contact maybe to a lesser degree
Speaker 14: to what we've seen last year. But you know, going
Speaker 14: through a little adversity is not again not necessarily a
Speaker 14: bad thing, and it's a long year.
Speaker 13: It's just year two for.
Speaker 14: Him, and you know, we're really excited about the future
Speaker 14: for Wilkinson and the things that you know he has
Speaker 14: going on for himself as a pitcher, and you know,
Speaker 14: a lot of room for growth in a high ceiling
Speaker 14: long term.
Speaker 2: Josh Hartle has put up some really nice numbers so
Speaker 2: far for Lake County and he's one of the young
Speaker 2: pictures acquired in the offseason trade that brought Cleveland to
Speaker 2: wis Orties and a Wake Forest kid who seems like
Speaker 2: he has really transitioned smoothly to a new organization.
Speaker 14: Yes, he has, and you know he's coming from a
Speaker 14: good spot of routines and and mindset and just a
Speaker 14: professional nature and he just continues to humme.
Speaker 13: Along as the season goes goes with us. He's going
Speaker 13: keep in the games. He's very efficient with his pitch
Speaker 13: count that allows him to to do well and and
Speaker 13: it doesn't walk anyone.
Speaker 14: So you know, we've we've talked already a little bit
Speaker 14: here about you know that first full year guys, Uh,
Speaker 14: you needing to to refine and establish everything from a
Speaker 14: routine standpoint and get accustomed to it. And yeah, he's
Speaker 14: he's been really good from that standpoint. So the velocity
Speaker 14: is kind of staying consistent.
Speaker 13: At this point, which is great.
Speaker 14: It's you know, been a slight trend upwards and continues
Speaker 14: to be a long term focus for him. But yeah,
Speaker 14: he continues to to just see improvements across you know,
Speaker 14: his his pitches and and how he's able to execute them,
Speaker 14: and you know, continuing to focus on trying to create
Speaker 14: a little bit more separation across all those all the
Speaker 14: pitches that he is able to offer. So the focus
Speaker 14: has been really good from from Josh thus far. He's
Speaker 14: adapted really well to being in professional baseball and being
Speaker 14: with this organization, and you know, excited to continue to
Speaker 14: work with him. He's a hard worker and wants to
Speaker 14: be really good. So a great start for Josh and uh,
Speaker 14: you know again excited, excited to see where he goes
Speaker 14: in the second half.
Speaker 2: Jack jay z acts an interesting story in in that
Speaker 2: he's improving tremendously as he goes along. Drafted back in
Speaker 2: twenty two out of college. What are you seeing from him?
Speaker 2: That's that's really exciting here as he gets deeper into it.
Speaker 14: Yeah, he's been a really cool development story for us.
Speaker 14: You know, spent the last couple of years in low way.
Speaker 13: You know, we got him in the twenty two draft.
Speaker 14: He you know, he's getting through some shoulders stuff, you know,
Speaker 14: in his last year of college. You know, obviously super
Speaker 14: healthy now, but you know he's just shown like a
Speaker 14: year over year improvement in in velocity and stuff. And
Speaker 14: you know, as he's thrown more and more. The calling
Speaker 14: card of him in college is throwing a ton of strikes,
Speaker 14: and you know, we've seen that continue to improve year
Speaker 14: over year to the point where you know, he's barely
Speaker 14: walking anyone at this point. You know, he's been tremendous, uh,
Speaker 14: you know on the mound and the velocity is really
Speaker 14: jumped up.
Speaker 13: So you know, he's now started with us. He was
Speaker 13: in the low nineties. You know, he's he's.
Speaker 14: Now sitting in the mid nineties and has a pretty
Speaker 14: unique ride and run fastball. You know, the slider is
Speaker 14: now sitting in the mid eighties and it sweeps left
Speaker 14: pretty good. And you know, the curveball he's able to
Speaker 14: throw in there to mixed speeds versus left. So currently
Speaker 14: working on the secondaries and improving them and maybe creating
Speaker 14: a little bit of separation between the two breaking balls,
Speaker 14: but his execution has been really good.
Speaker 13: The fastball again continues to turned up quite well from
Speaker 13: a Velo standpoint and projects the play well moving forward.
Speaker 14: So we're just trying to get a little bit more
Speaker 14: with outside of the fastball, and you know, there's some
Speaker 14: really good ingredients there for him to be a successful
Speaker 14: relief pitcher moving forward.
Speaker 13: So Jack's been awesome to watch continue to grow year
Speaker 13: over year and has been tremendous for Lake County so far.
Speaker 2: We're joined by Steven Ostra, the vice president of player
Speaker 2: development for the Guardians. Our weekly minor league report focusing
Speaker 2: on Lake County this week at the single A level
Speaker 2: and familiar names on the position player front making their
Speaker 2: way through the season, getting close to that halfway point now.
Speaker 2: And ralphie Velaski is someone that again goes back to
Speaker 2: spring training. We saw him play some major league games
Speaker 2: and it looks like the power numbers are starting to
Speaker 2: come into play for him. And how is his season
Speaker 2: gone after a slow start?
Speaker 14: Yeah, that's right, he's uh, you know, the results are
Speaker 14: you know, starting to come in line with some of
Speaker 14: maybe the leading indicators the uh you under under the
Speaker 14: surface layers or measures, sorry that we were tracking, and
Speaker 14: the performance is starting to jump, so you know, ps
Speaker 14: is climbing.
Speaker 13: You know, he continues to hit the ball really hard
Speaker 13: on average, and you.
Speaker 14: Know, is consistently making contact now at better angles.
Speaker 13: To see some of that production show up.
Speaker 14: He's put a lot of effort, you know, into into
Speaker 14: some swing adjustments so far this year, and you know,
Speaker 14: staying into maybe more productive posture angles for him that
Speaker 14: I think we've seen has helped him to not only
Speaker 14: see the ball a little bit better, but time up
Speaker 14: pitches a little bit better too, again able to catch
Speaker 14: the ball maybe into better, better angles. So's he's a
Speaker 14: really good hitter.
Speaker 13: There are elite underlying measures that.
Speaker 14: We see consistently, and you know, we're we're still talking
Speaker 14: about a kid who just turned twenty years old in
Speaker 14: high A and it's excited to see what he's.
Speaker 13: Done at the plate. You know.
Speaker 14: An additional thing that we've seen a last couple of
Speaker 14: weeks and pushed him defensively to get.
Speaker 13: A little bit more reps in the outfield.
Speaker 14: So yeah, still really early in that process, but interesting
Speaker 14: to see where that goes. And you know, for Ralfie
Speaker 14: to continue to heat up is maybe.
Speaker 13: Not super surprising, but you have fun to watch him
Speaker 13: hit the ball over the fence a little bit more consistently.
Speaker 2: Well finished with Jason Curio, a really exciting young prospect
Speaker 2: who had to deal with an injury issue at the
Speaker 2: start of the season and it's never easy at any level.
Speaker 2: How is he adjusted now that he's back playing again.
Speaker 14: Yeah, it's been great to get him back out there
Speaker 14: just a couple of weeks ago. And you know the
Speaker 14: shoulder flare up that he had earlier in the year
Speaker 14: was just you know, a minor setback long term, but yeah,
Speaker 14: it takes a little bit of time to settle back in.
Speaker 14: So I you know, he's he's doing a lot of
Speaker 14: cheerio things or he's not chasing at anything out of
Speaker 14: the zone. At this point, I think it, Uh, you know,
Speaker 14: since his return, he's walking just to take over thirty
Speaker 14: percent of the time. You know, he's getting some better
Speaker 14: swings off as again he's getting back into like real competition,
Speaker 14: so you know, similar to Ralfie. You know, he just
Speaker 14: turned twenty, so he's one of the youngest players at
Speaker 14: the level.
Speaker 13: He does a lot of you know, really good.
Speaker 14: Things to played in his great discipline and again it's
Speaker 14: just tapping into the ceiling as much as we possibly
Speaker 14: can moving the needle long term on the physical development
Speaker 14: so he can add a little bit more pop to
Speaker 14: the really good, you know, back to ball skills. And
Speaker 14: you know, Jason again is another one of these guys
Speaker 14: that works really hard and wants to be really good,
Speaker 14: and you know he's young, so sometimes again there's the
Speaker 14: peaks and valleys of things that happen in a professional
Speaker 14: season for young players. And we're really excited about the
Speaker 14: athlete and the player that we have here and we'll
Speaker 14: continue to see the second half I think him take off.
Speaker 2: That's been a fun season for sure for Lake County
Speaker 2: so far as they're above the five hundred mark and
Speaker 2: I'm on that midway point of the season and Austy,
Speaker 2: thanks so much for coming by and bringing us up
Speaker 2: to date on some of their.
Speaker 13: Prospects and my pleasure, Rosie, thank you.
Speaker 2: That's our minor league report with Guardian's Vice president of
Speaker 2: player Development Stephen Ostro talking Lake County this week, and
Speaker 2: that's going to do it for our show from Sacramento.
Speaker 2: We'll join you next weekend back home finally, as the
Speaker 2: Guardians take on the Blue Jays starting Tuesday night. Then
Speaker 2: Saint Louis comes in next weekend for a three game series,
Speaker 2: and it's always fun when the Cardinals come in on
Speaker 2: a weekend because you know a lot of their fans
Speaker 2: will be on hand at Progressive Feel So until then,
Speaker 2: I want to thank Brian matse As always for putting
Speaker 2: together our show each and every week until next weekend.
Speaker 2: This is Jim Rosenhause. You're binding you that you've been
Speaker 2: listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clint Guardians Radio network.
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