Speaker 1: Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
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Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardian's Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with
Speaker 2: you from Target Field in Minneapolis where the Guardians are
Speaker 2: taking on the Twins this weekend. Good show lined up
Speaker 2: for you. Today, we'll have another edition of at the
Speaker 2: Ballpark with Bobby de As he talks with former Cleveland
Speaker 2: third baseman Brooke Jacobi. Also a minor league report with
Speaker 2: Rob Serfolio, the director of player Development, and we'll hear
Speaker 2: from Victor Martinez, who was in town last weekend for
Speaker 2: the c C. Sabathia Hall of Fame inductions. The former
Speaker 2: Cleveland catcher always fun to talk to, and we caught
Speaker 2: up with him last week as well. But first of
Speaker 2: vizab withth Hunter Gaddis out of that Guardian's bullpen and
Speaker 2: also Brad Goldberg, the bullpen coach for a bullpen that
Speaker 2: has been the best in Major League Baseball for much
Speaker 2: of the season and Gaddis has been a big part
Speaker 2: of that. And when we caught up with him recently,
Speaker 2: he talked about if there was a specific moment where
Speaker 2: he realized how special this group, in this year is
Speaker 2: Cleveland bullpen could be.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think we ever, you know, thought
Speaker 3: about it that way. I think we just show up
Speaker 3: every day and give it our best, and it's the
Speaker 3: results have been good. And I don't think we're trying
Speaker 3: to change anything. I think we're trying to go out
Speaker 3: there and do the same thing we've been doing.
Speaker 2: And you personally, did it take a little while to
Speaker 2: get comfortable working in relief, especially at the end of games,
Speaker 2: or did that click in pretty quick? Maybe even as
Speaker 2: far back as spring training.
Speaker 3: I mean, I would say last season even there was
Speaker 3: a couple of times where I came out of the
Speaker 3: bullpen and it was kind of weird then, but at
Speaker 3: least I got that like, you know, first experience out
Speaker 3: of the way last season. But then spring churning, it
Speaker 3: was there was a couple of just hey, go get
Speaker 3: your one inning, and I mean, I think it was
Speaker 3: it was much easier for me to what my name
Speaker 3: is called, go get ready and you know, four or
Speaker 3: five minutes instead of you know, I was starting. I
Speaker 3: was like, all right, I gotta be out there forty
Speaker 3: five minutes for the game, get my stretching in whatever.
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's it's nice to just hear your name and
Speaker 3: go pitch.
Speaker 2: Do you ever think that maybe you would start it again,
Speaker 2: or that you were a starter at one point in time,
Speaker 2: or do you just consider yourself now, Hey, this is
Speaker 2: my role and this is how I'm going to get
Speaker 2: it done in the big leagues.
Speaker 3: I'm really enjoying it right now, you know. I don't
Speaker 3: you know, if they maybe ask for something future down
Speaker 3: the line, maybe, but you know, I'm really enjoying it
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: And here we are in August and you've pitched a lot,
Speaker 2: but it seems like everybody who has pitched a lot
Speaker 2: is doing just fine with that workloaded. And explain some
Speaker 2: of the things that that the staff is doing it
Speaker 2: to keep you guys in a good place even with
Speaker 2: a lot of work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you can't say enough about the staff here.
Speaker 3: They're you know, of course, the training room, the strength
Speaker 3: and conditioning side, of course, the pitcher coaches, you know,
Speaker 3: vote they're always like watching out after us, always like hey,
Speaker 3: how you doing, and checking in day by day if
Speaker 3: there's anything you need help with or you know, get
Speaker 3: some soreness out you know, great staff here. Yeah, you
Speaker 3: can't say enough about that. I mean, that's what you know,
Speaker 3: gets us feeling good every day to come out here,
Speaker 3: Hunter Gatis joining us. Tremendous season out of the bullpen
Speaker 3: and the unit as a whole.
Speaker 2: Out there, it's been pretty consistent in terms of who's
Speaker 2: been out there was some changes every now and again
Speaker 2: that you'd expect over the course of a long season.
Speaker 2: But what is it about the group out there that
Speaker 2: helps each other have success along the way?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think we just worked together really well.
Speaker 3: I mean we're like one group, you know. It's it's
Speaker 3: it's hard to say enough about the guys out here.
Speaker 3: You know, they're all, you know, supporting each other, helping us,
Speaker 3: you know, try and get ready for each and every day.
Speaker 3: But I mean, I just feel like we're a bunch
Speaker 3: of dogs out there and we really enjoying it.
Speaker 4: All.
Speaker 2: Right, let's finish up with this, uh, your entrance song.
Speaker 2: It's unique. It's I feel like it suits you when
Speaker 2: you come in and as a kind of trying to
Speaker 2: look intimidating if you can. Where does it come from?
Speaker 2: What is it?
Speaker 3: I mean it comes from you know, some TikTok Instagram videos.
Speaker 3: It's uh, it's uh. It would be like some videos
Speaker 3: about the North Sea, like men working on the North
Speaker 3: Sea and the song is always playing, you know, like
Speaker 3: fifty four waves with a giant ship like almost falling
Speaker 3: over and that song is just playing in the background.
Speaker 3: So a couple like the Boys who would send videos
Speaker 3: back and forth and I was like, I gotta make
Speaker 3: this my walk out song. It gets me pumped up.
Speaker 4: So it's nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what goes through your head when you hear that
Speaker 3: walking in from the bull Nothing, It's just like pure adrenaline.
Speaker 3: It just like I feel like it just sets the tone,
Speaker 3: just that it doesn't even really say too many words.
Speaker 2: It's just like get after it. You've been setting the
Speaker 2: tone all year. Hunter, thanks a lot for coming. I
Speaker 2: appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. And is Hunter gaddis part
Speaker 2: of the best bullpen in Major League Baseball for much
Speaker 2: of the season, and it's under the guidance of a
Speaker 2: new coach. New bullpen coach that is Brad Goldberg. It's
Speaker 2: his first year in that role after spending time in
Speaker 2: the Cleveland player development system, and he talked about some
Speaker 2: of the biggest keys that have led this group to
Speaker 2: the top spot in baseball.
Speaker 5: Yeah, probably the consistency of everyone, to a man, whether
Speaker 5: it's guys that are coming up and down to help
Speaker 5: or our mainstay. We all know that, you know, class
Speaker 5: at the back end is such a force. But the
Speaker 5: guys getting the ball to him, no matter their experience level,
Speaker 5: whether it's Scotty Barlow with a bunch of time or
Speaker 5: it's you know, the three rookies we have out there.
Speaker 5: We're asking a lot of them and they're a resilient group.
Speaker 5: They're durable, and they are performing consistently, which is, you know,
Speaker 5: all you can ask for.
Speaker 2: And we talked to Carl Willis a lot. We talked
Speaker 2: to Joe Torres as well. Your role, how can you
Speaker 2: impact what's going on with that group of eight on
Speaker 2: a given night, regardless of who's coming and going, but
Speaker 2: that group that particular night, how do you impact them
Speaker 2: to make sure they're the best they can be.
Speaker 5: I think it starts the beginning of the series going
Speaker 5: over all their hitters, going over our guys almost like
Speaker 5: an audit of you know, what are you doing well?
Speaker 5: Where you need improvements? And then their lineup, whether it's
Speaker 5: scouting report or where our matchups.
Speaker 4: Work best.
Speaker 5: So if we see a strength and a weakness or
Speaker 5: something you've been doing really well you feel, or just
Speaker 5: like the everyday check ins, the banter back and forth,
Speaker 5: the culture down there, and just trying to put the
Speaker 5: guys in the best position.
Speaker 2: To succeed in one of the areas they succeeded for
Speaker 2: most of the season inherited runners leaving them out there.
Speaker 2: So I'm thinking preparation before they go in has to
Speaker 2: be extremely important. How far back in the game does
Speaker 2: that go if say Nick Salin comes in in the
Speaker 2: seventh with a couple of men.
Speaker 5: On, So again it starts before the series, and then
Speaker 5: you know, our guys do a really good job being
Speaker 5: diligent of where their pockets fit. You know, is it
Speaker 5: a lefty coming up to you know, Tim and Sam
Speaker 5: have their ears perked up. We try to communicate as
Speaker 5: much on the front end of here as where you're
Speaker 5: gonna most likely fit in. Now, does everything work out
Speaker 5: that way? No, it's baseball. But the preparation and you
Speaker 5: know what pitches missed the most amount of bats and
Speaker 5: here's your strength. So yeah, the preparation is absolutely crucial
Speaker 5: for inherited runners. But just in general for peak performance.
Speaker 2: Brad Goldberg's joining us. He's The Guardian's bullpen coach and
Speaker 2: Rad when when we talked to you after you got
Speaker 2: the job, your first opportunity to work on a big
Speaker 2: league staff, but it just felt like you had done
Speaker 2: a lot of things to prepare yourself for this particular
Speaker 2: season and beyond what was especially helpful to you so
Speaker 2: that you could hit the ground running with this group.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's a good mix of things.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 5: One it starts with my playing career, being out in
Speaker 5: that bullpen for a long time and kind of knowing
Speaker 5: what that culture is like. You know, when the phone ring,
Speaker 5: what it feels like, I guess being in their shoes,
Speaker 5: being nowhere as good as any of these guys, but
Speaker 5: at least having the routine down. Say, another thing is
Speaker 5: having you know, Voter and Albe were in a bullpen
Speaker 5: coach roll before, so picking their brains. And then I'd say,
Speaker 5: last thing is just the relationships I've had before this
Speaker 5: year spring training, you know, phone calls, whatever it may be,
Speaker 5: just to know our guys really really well, what they
Speaker 5: do well on and off the field. But obviously most importantly,
Speaker 5: you know, when the lights are on, they cross over
Speaker 5: the white line to go to battle.
Speaker 2: And you mentioned that and and maybe part of culture.
Speaker 2: It always seems like the Bullpen as a group has
Speaker 2: a certain personality. Any Shenanigans out there that keep these
Speaker 2: guys loose? And how important is that part of it too?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I think that's you know, it's a huge part of
Speaker 5: it is is the Bullpen in general is a pretty
Speaker 5: high stress environment. Right you come in with runners on,
Speaker 5: it's late and close. But our guys, you know, a
Speaker 5: lot of them have good experience and they treat the
Speaker 5: young guys extremely well.
Speaker 4: Things they do.
Speaker 5: One thing I know is they.
Speaker 4: Are elite at trivia.
Speaker 5: There's someone that always has trivia every day and they
Speaker 5: compete with each other. So it's fun to have like
Speaker 5: a low heartbeat group that is super competitive.
Speaker 2: It has been fun to watch it develop as the
Speaker 2: season has gone along. Brad, thanks letter come by. I
Speaker 2: appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Go Guards.
Speaker 2: That is Bullpen coach Brad Goldberg, and he has done
Speaker 2: great work in his first season in that role. Stay tuned,
Speaker 2: we'll have more to come after this now.
Speaker 1: The set by Gaddis and the Pittston. Nick Castianos swings
Speaker 1: and sends a routine fly Aright, Noel is camped under it.
Speaker 1: He made the play on all three outs under Gaddis
Speaker 1: gets a done in Cleveland Leeds, Philly four to three
Speaker 1: after seven.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosen House along with
Speaker 2: you from Target Field in Minneapolis, where the Guardians are
Speaker 2: taking on the Twins this weekend. Last weekend back home,
Speaker 2: it was Hall of Fame weekend, a great celebration at
Speaker 2: Progressive Field at CC Sabbathia former longtime equipment manager Cy Bainack,
Speaker 2: and longtime member of the Cleveland organization both on the
Speaker 2: big league level and in player development, Johnny Gorel. They
Speaker 2: were all inducted into the Cleveland Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: And one of Sabbathia's longtime teammates and his battery mate
Speaker 2: for most of his time in Cleveland, Victor Martinez. He
Speaker 2: was in town as well for the festivities, and we
Speaker 2: had a chance to sit down with Victor and talk
Speaker 2: about how special it was to see Cci honored by
Speaker 2: the organization that they both grew up in.
Speaker 7: Well, first of all, it was an honor to come
Speaker 7: back here. When they called me for me, it was
Speaker 7: a no brainer. You know, special when he comes to
Speaker 7: cis he comes way back. My first season here in
Speaker 7: ninety ninety Mahunting Valley. I got to catch CIZI there
Speaker 7: when I, you know, come a guy coming from Venezuela
Speaker 7: that you know, used to catching guys Train eighty a
Speaker 7: ninety so, and then I came here to catch c
Speaker 7: twe one hundred. I was pretty scared to do that,
Speaker 7: but you know, you know, we develop a pretty nice relationship,
Speaker 7: and you know, coming through the minor leagues, and spend
Speaker 7: a few years in the big leagues, and I was
Speaker 7: a guy that had a lot a lot of respect
Speaker 7: for it and and the way he go about his
Speaker 7: business every five days and even in the clubhouse, and
Speaker 7: you know, he was a he was a great leader
Speaker 7: to you.
Speaker 2: Both had tremendous careers and and some of those careers
Speaker 2: were with other ball clubs, but you grew up together
Speaker 2: here in the big leagues with Cleveland. Tell us about
Speaker 2: that time as that team developed into the team that
Speaker 2: it was in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 7: Well, I always remember the special team in our seven.
Speaker 7: You know, I tryan tosplain my daughters and my son
Speaker 7: that he was pretty young by then, that we were
Speaker 7: just a bunch of young kid that we had the
Speaker 7: opportunity to make it to the big leagues, and you know,
Speaker 7: we we make it. We make it happen. And you know,
Speaker 7: I don't think anybody give anything for us that year
Speaker 7: in the playoff when we had to face the Yankees
Speaker 7: in the in the first round, and you know, it
Speaker 7: took a lot of people by surprise when we beat them.
Speaker 7: And then we you know, we came a game away
Speaker 7: from the World Series against the Red Sox and that
Speaker 7: that team was pretty special. You know, that shows everybody
Speaker 7: that we win games on the field. You don't win
Speaker 7: games on the papers, because you know, by then we
Speaker 7: were just everybody was young, and we were facing you know,
Speaker 7: the Yankees. By then there were you know, it was
Speaker 7: a heavy team in ten with the with the Red Sox.
Speaker 7: So that team is always going to be my heart
Speaker 7: and I always remember, you know, all those moments.
Speaker 4: It was. It was part of a great time in
Speaker 4: my career.
Speaker 2: Here two thousand and seven, CC wins the Cy Young Award.
Speaker 2: You were behind the plate for thirty two of his
Speaker 2: thirty four starts. You caught him a bunch. What made
Speaker 2: that year special for him and maybe took his game
Speaker 2: to another level.
Speaker 7: You know what, I think it was just experience since
Speaker 7: he broke into the big league really young. I don't know,
Speaker 7: I was nineteen twenty when he came to the league,
Speaker 7: and you know, he started feeling you know, comfortable and comfortable.
Speaker 7: And I think when he find out that, you know,
Speaker 7: he knows what to do to go to the mountain
Speaker 7: every five days, I think it made it easier for him.
Speaker 4: You know, I understand, you know, what.
Speaker 7: He needs to do, and I think For me, it
Speaker 7: was just a I was just trying to take, you know,
Speaker 7: the workload out of his mind and just trying to
Speaker 7: make him believe in mean and trust me. I don't
Speaker 7: want him to or any pitcher overthinking on the mound.
Speaker 7: So it took me a little bit to kind of
Speaker 7: get the trust from from him and you.
Speaker 4: Know, all the pitchers.
Speaker 7: But you know, thank god I was able to, you know,
Speaker 7: get into their minds and you know, they all start following.
Speaker 7: But as he's especially, you know, he wasn't afraid to
Speaker 7: pitch it to anybody. I mean, that was something that
Speaker 7: I really loved. And Ceci, you know, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 7: He was Jason Yambi there year a rat. You know,
Speaker 7: when he decided to go in there, he was going
Speaker 7: to go in there. You either back up the plate
Speaker 7: or he was gonna hate you. So that just speck
Speaker 7: by by himself. With the career, he ended up.
Speaker 2: Having Victor Martinez joining us. A fine major league career
Speaker 2: that started with Cleveland, All Star games with Cleveland for
Speaker 2: the fans who don't know what are you up to now?
Speaker 2: Baseball wise and also family wise, well, I.
Speaker 7: Took a job with the Toronto Blue Jays, last year
Speaker 7: for a special assistant. You know that I can go
Speaker 7: there for you know, every like ten days fifteen, ten
Speaker 7: days a month, and I get to see sometimes the
Speaker 7: minor leaguers too.
Speaker 4: But you know, yeah, I still busy at home.
Speaker 7: You know how I got four kids, my auldest nineteen
Speaker 7: and then three daughters which is seventeen, eleven and seven.
Speaker 4: So I'm not.
Speaker 7: Ready yet to be on the field every day as
Speaker 7: a coach, but I'm you know what.
Speaker 4: I enjoyed it last year.
Speaker 7: It was my first year doing it with Mark in Toronto,
Speaker 7: so I really enjoyed it. And you know, I'm having
Speaker 7: fun with it.
Speaker 2: And I know you came back here and to this
Speaker 2: building as a member of the opposing team, coming back
Speaker 2: now that your career is done, when you walk into
Speaker 2: this place, still some great feelings for the times that
Speaker 2: you spent here.
Speaker 7: Always always even when I when I left and come
Speaker 7: into this ballpark as a visitor. You know, I can
Speaker 7: say this now for me sometimes if I if I
Speaker 7: didn't if I didn't here, or if I didn't do good,
Speaker 7: it was a big deal for me because I mean
Speaker 7: this I call it it was my house.
Speaker 4: It was everything for me here.
Speaker 7: Then it was the only place that if I can
Speaker 7: go for ten for eight in a series, I'll go
Speaker 7: somewhere with us and do some damage on somewhere else.
Speaker 7: But you know, for some reason, I'd like to hit
Speaker 7: here then.
Speaker 4: You know. But I always enjoyed it.
Speaker 7: I always enjoyed coming here to Cleveland, even coming as
Speaker 7: a visitor. People still show me the love that it
Speaker 7: meant a lot to me and my family and you know,
Speaker 7: and I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2: A lot of great games, not Cleveland uniform for sure.
Speaker 2: For Victor Martinez, great to see you, thanks for coming.
Speaker 4: Back, great to see it, Thanks for having me here.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I was great to see Victor Martinez last weekend, and
Speaker 2: hopefully we'll see him around more as time goes by.
Speaker 2: Stay with us when we come back. It's the Minor
Speaker 2: League Report with robs Or Polio, the director of player Development,
Speaker 2: that comes your way shortly on the Cleveland Clinic. Guardians
Speaker 2: Radio Network. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosen House
Speaker 2: along with you from Target Field in Minneapolis, where the
Speaker 2: Guardians are taking on the Twins this weekend in a
Speaker 2: four game series that has not started well. Friday, a
Speaker 2: day night doubleheader. Both ends were won by the Twins,
Speaker 2: and the lead in the division heading into play on
Speaker 2: set Saturday night is down to a game and a
Speaker 2: half over Minnesota for the Guardians. Well, good things happening
Speaker 2: is always in the farm system, and we had a
Speaker 2: chance to visit with Rob sorfolio. He was in the
Speaker 2: Dominican Republican Before we get to what's happening down there,
Speaker 2: he was in town last week and spent some time
Speaker 2: with Lake County following the debut number one draft pick
Speaker 2: Travis Basana and Rob talked about how things went in
Speaker 2: the first few games for Bazana at Lake County.
Speaker 8: Yeah, well, you know, it was really fun to be
Speaker 8: able to watch just the whole environment, honestly, you know,
Speaker 8: the Lake County fans and the front office group over
Speaker 8: there really you know, put on a show. And I
Speaker 8: give you Travis a ton of credit for you know,
Speaker 8: I think the first game on Tuesday was rained out
Speaker 8: in the second inning. We resumed it the next day
Speaker 8: and a whole bunch of fans came out and he
Speaker 8: stood out there and left or in right field and
Speaker 8: signed our drafts or you know, over an hour, which
Speaker 8: I think speaks to the type of person that he is.
Speaker 8: Is you know, like Chris and a lot of other
Speaker 8: people in our scouting department have talked about publicly, so
Speaker 8: you know that that was pretty cool to see and
Speaker 8: it's been fun to get to know him. And obviously
Speaker 8: a huge part of these last couple of weeks with
Speaker 8: Travis has just been you know, getting his his feet
Speaker 8: back underneath them. And what I mean by that is,
Speaker 8: you know, this guy played in a super regional in
Speaker 8: college that his last game was you know, over a
Speaker 8: month before he was actually signed in our organizations. So
Speaker 8: you know, we spent a ton of time trying to
Speaker 8: just get him ready.
Speaker 9: To play from a high.
Speaker 8: Speed, running throwing volume. He had been hitting a lot,
Speaker 8: so we felt good about just where he was offensively
Speaker 8: in terms of swing volume. But you know, a lot
Speaker 8: of it is preparing his body for the physical load
Speaker 8: that is playing multiple times a week, which is different
Speaker 8: than college and college you know, usually your your best
Speaker 8: players play three.
Speaker 9: Games on the weekend and then maybe they d h midweek.
Speaker 8: And now you know, we're trying to get him ready
Speaker 8: to play five six games a week and hopefully more
Speaker 8: than that when when he you know, hopefully gets to
Speaker 8: the big leagues and impacts our major league team. So
Speaker 8: it's really been building that foundation, kind of onboarding him
Speaker 8: to the organization almost like onboarding him, you know, for
Speaker 8: for someone that's going through a new job and how
Speaker 8: organizations do that. So it's been a lot of a
Speaker 8: lot of things on field, a lot of things off field,
Speaker 8: but really been impressed without Travis has handled all that
Speaker 8: while dealing with, you know, a ton of media and
Speaker 8: fan attention off the field has been pretty impressive and.
Speaker 2: He's gotten the results early on, got his first home
Speaker 2: run out of the way. All those little markers that
Speaker 2: you check boxes on, but from your standpoint, what have
Speaker 2: you seen swing wise? That's really encouraging and impressive.
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, it's you know, it's it's funny.
Speaker 8: I was actually talking about this with him of you know,
Speaker 8: he only has twenty five played appearances, and you know,
Speaker 8: we want to overreact to small samples. But I think
Speaker 8: the thing that's great with Travis and just his mindset
Speaker 8: of being really processed oriented, and you know, right now,
Speaker 8: like I said, he hasn't played in a month. So
Speaker 8: some of the first markers we're looking for is is.
Speaker 9: His batspeed there?
Speaker 8: Like does he feel like he's getting his best swing
Speaker 8: off consistently and that in the training part of the
Speaker 8: day he's able to find that with with the drills
Speaker 8: and you know, start working with a.
Speaker 9: New hitting coach and kind of each person.
Speaker 8: Are are getting to know the other and learn how
Speaker 8: they work best and what they need to do to
Speaker 8: prepare themselves to have success that night. So it's a
Speaker 8: lot of a lot of learning and adjusting to just
Speaker 8: the pro environment. But you know, this guy's performance in
Speaker 8: college spoke for itself and the type of hitter that
Speaker 8: he is with you know, just a really impressive ability
Speaker 8: to control his own make make contact when he swings,
Speaker 8: and really put the ball in play at good angles
Speaker 8: at solid exit velocities. So we've already seen him do that,
Speaker 8: which is exciting even though it's only twenty five or
Speaker 8: thirty played appearances. I think, you know, we're starting to
Speaker 8: see some of those initial markers that we'd want to
Speaker 8: see for a new guy jumping in and learning a lot.
Speaker 2: On the fly, and maybe a tribute to his background.
Speaker 2: We saw it here when shortly after he was signed
Speaker 2: and he worked out here for a couple of days,
Speaker 2: and as you mentioned, obviously a heavy attention in Lake County,
Speaker 2: but all of the things off the field don't seem
Speaker 2: to face him at all. He seems very comfortable.
Speaker 8: It's impressive, and you know, he's obviously had to deal
Speaker 8: with that for the last year, so he's had some
Speaker 8: good reps from winning you know, MVP and the CAPE
Speaker 8: and all the attention that he garnered at Oregon State.
Speaker 8: So it's just a really impressive mindset. And you know,
Speaker 8: I think one of the things that was most fun.
Speaker 8: You know, it's hard to be a new guy on
Speaker 8: a team that you know has been playing and working
Speaker 8: together side by side for four months and just you know,
Speaker 8: one credit to the rest of the guys.
Speaker 9: On that team.
Speaker 8: It's a really fun clubhouse, and you know, they kind
Speaker 8: of accepted them and you know, giving them, you know,
Speaker 8: some fun, some fun teasing moments as well, which has
Speaker 8: been great, and Travis has handled that awesome.
Speaker 9: And you know, just a.
Speaker 8: Really cool environment from from the staff and Travis's new
Speaker 8: teammates in Lake County, and then Travis's willingness to to
Speaker 8: really build relationships with his new teammates and and show
Speaker 8: them and show them what he can do and hopefully
Speaker 8: help them continue to play well and win ball games.
Speaker 2: Obviously, He's not the only player on that team, and
Speaker 2: you've had players, as you mentioned, who've been there all
Speaker 2: season long. Sure, how much of a benefit can this
Speaker 2: be for them to be around that type of player
Speaker 2: as they try and and reach the major leagues as well.
Speaker 9: Oh, I think it's great.
Speaker 8: You know, I think it's it's a It's one of
Speaker 8: those great reminders in season, especially in August. You know,
Speaker 8: this is this is the time of year where guys
Speaker 8: are tired. A lot of a lot of these guys
Speaker 8: were in the draft last year, especially the college players,
Speaker 8: and you know, this is the biggest workload of their
Speaker 8: career and you'll start to see that in August. And
Speaker 8: I think, honestly, just you know, someone new, a little
Speaker 8: bit of a breath of fresh air, brought some extra
Speaker 8: energy to the ballpark, and you know, Travis taking BP
Speaker 8: with with Cooper Ingle and Jake Fox, and you know
Speaker 8: a bunch of the other guys on that team, and
Speaker 8: it was just a really good experience. And then you know,
Speaker 8: some of the international guys like Canal to be able
Speaker 8: to see you know, another talented player jump on that
Speaker 8: team and how he goes about his work is I
Speaker 8: think was a nice injection of some early season or
Speaker 8: playoff energy, which is tough to find.
Speaker 2: In August, Rob Sirfolios joining us. He's the director of
Speaker 2: player development for the Guardians, and he joins us this
Speaker 2: week from the Guardians complex down in the Dominican Republic.
Speaker 2: And Rob, I know you try and get down there
Speaker 2: on occasion to see what's going on. And when you
Speaker 2: talk about their season, are they in a different spot
Speaker 2: than the full season teams are here States side?
Speaker 8: They are? You know, obviously these are really young kids.
Speaker 8: So you know, for the average fan that has probably
Speaker 8: never watched a DSL baseball game, I think, you know,
Speaker 8: maybe the best comparison in the States is almost like
Speaker 8: watching varsity high school baseball. So you have a bunch
Speaker 8: of sixteen, seventeen, eighteen year olds that are anywhere between
Speaker 8: their first ever game as a professional to maybe a
Speaker 8: guy that's repeated this level two or three times. But
Speaker 8: that tends to be the age group. And then their season,
Speaker 8: as you know, as a result of just them being
Speaker 8: younger and less physically mature, is is a lot shorter
Speaker 8: than that.
Speaker 9: Of our full season affiliates.
Speaker 8: So their first game is in June, they play all
Speaker 8: the way through the month of August and they do
Speaker 8: their own version of spring training on the front end
Speaker 8: of that, but then a lot of the rest.
Speaker 9: Of their calendar is about you.
Speaker 8: Know, continuing to develop physically and from an athleticism standpoint,
Speaker 8: but also some of just like the foundational baseball, all
Speaker 8: skills of building routines and you know, having some of
Speaker 8: the right mechanics and movements that we think are really
Speaker 8: important to have long term success against you know, much
Speaker 8: much higher talents.
Speaker 9: At different levels.
Speaker 8: So it's a it's a really fun player group, and
Speaker 8: I think, you know, a huge a huge credit goes
Speaker 8: to just our staff down here, and you know, especially
Speaker 8: jose Mahea, who's our who's our coordinator, that kind of
Speaker 8: you know, helps run and facilitate a lot of the
Speaker 8: things we do on and off the field. But you know,
Speaker 8: those training windows with the guys out planning games and
Speaker 8: working on their skills from about you know, nine o'clock
Speaker 8: in the morning to two pm when the game wraps up.
Speaker 8: And then just as important as you know, some of
Speaker 8: the things we do off the field, from teaching them
Speaker 8: English to guys finishing you know, their high school degrees.
Speaker 8: From an education standpoint, it's it's a really fun level
Speaker 8: where these guys are, you know, kind of building those
Speaker 8: foundational routines and habits that we hope contribute to to
Speaker 8: winning at the highest level.
Speaker 2: And the facility that uh, not that old, it was
Speaker 2: a new facility not that long ago. Explain how that
Speaker 2: has changed the dynamic down there and what are we
Speaker 2: looking at in terms of the facilities.
Speaker 9: Yeah, well, yeah, I certainly had nothing to do with that, Rosie.
Speaker 8: It was I think all the credit goes goes to
Speaker 8: mister Dolan and Chris and Mike and a whole bunch
Speaker 8: of others that helped work on that, you know, several
Speaker 8: years ago. But the facilities down here, and you know,
Speaker 8: you know, being able to have one of the best
Speaker 8: ones in all of baseball, I think is a huge,
Speaker 8: hopefully a huge competitive advantage when it comes to space
Speaker 8: and field access, and you know, being able to our
Speaker 8: coaches build the best training environments and not have resources
Speaker 8: or fields or cages be a constraint to their day
Speaker 8: I think is really pivotal to be able to, you know,
Speaker 8: consistently produce players that.
Speaker 9: Come out of this level.
Speaker 8: And you know, we've started to see that, you know,
Speaker 8: when this I think this facility was finished in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 8: and now you have guys like John Kenzi, Noel and
Speaker 8: Angel Martinez and.
Speaker 9: You know, Jose Tana was in a recent trade.
Speaker 8: But that first wave of player group that really played
Speaker 8: and developed tiers has started to touch our major league team,
Speaker 8: which is a credit to a number of people in
Speaker 8: the organization, but I hope continues to be a competitive
Speaker 8: advantage for us developing players and winning players from from
Speaker 8: this level.
Speaker 2: All Right, you tossed out some recognizable names for Guardians fans.
Speaker 2: I want to throw out a name or two to
Speaker 2: maybe keep an eye on a very long way away
Speaker 2: from from eventually getting to Cleveland, but impressive at least already.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, this is this group really is has
Speaker 8: been fun to watch and in a lot of ways,
Speaker 8: it kind of reminds me of that twenty seventeen group
Speaker 8: where we felt like we had a lot of players
Speaker 8: that could eventually make it to the upper levels in
Speaker 8: the minor leagues, and that's really rare for you know,
Speaker 8: just for context of you know, I think if you
Speaker 8: look at an average team in the DSL, there's maybe
Speaker 8: one or two player that get to double a triple
Speaker 8: A and that twenty seventeen group. We obviously had a
Speaker 8: number of players that were on our forty man and
Speaker 8: have been helping us win this year, and I think
Speaker 8: this group has a chance to be really similar to that.
Speaker 8: We've had a number of position players and even you know,
Speaker 8: on the pitching side. I think our international scouting group
Speaker 8: has done an excellent job putting some added emphasis on
Speaker 8: bringing in some talented arms, and our coaches down here
Speaker 8: have done a great job. So I could read off
Speaker 8: I think literally ten to twelve names, Rosie, and it
Speaker 8: might not be fair to the last couple of guys
Speaker 8: that I didn't get to, but just in general, it's
Speaker 8: been a really exciting group, and you know, I think
Speaker 8: and hope that there's going to be some recognizable names
Speaker 8: out of here in the next four to five years
Speaker 8: for fans of the Gardens.
Speaker 2: All Right, the next step up is Arizona. And we
Speaker 2: know what summer is like in Arizona. How about the
Speaker 2: Dominican Republic? What are we looking at? Weatherwhy's down there?
Speaker 9: It is also hot here.
Speaker 8: I think I go through about eight pairs of clothes
Speaker 8: roughly on average for a day and three showers. But
Speaker 8: it's you know, someone from the southeast part of the States.
Speaker 8: It reminds me of home a lot of the humidity,
Speaker 8: and but that sunshine is hot, so it's a it's
Speaker 8: a good introduction for what these guys might face and
Speaker 8: the toaster out in Arizona next year.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, you somehow try and stay cool and
Speaker 2: we'll catch up with you real soon when you get
Speaker 2: back to the States.
Speaker 9: I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Rosie as always, that's Robsorfolio, the director of player development
Speaker 2: for the Guardians. Stay with us. We're back with our
Speaker 2: final segment after this timeout.
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Speaker 2: Jim Rosenow's back with you. It's Guardian's weekly from Target
Speaker 2: Field in Minneapolis, where the Guardians start taking on the
Speaker 2: Twins this weekend night game tonight, and then a Sunday
Speaker 2: afternoon contest to wrap up the series and the road
Speaker 2: swing for Cleveland.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: As always, we like to check in with Guardian Senior
Speaker 2: Vice President Bob d Viascio, and we have another edition
Speaker 2: of Bobby D's at the Ballpark as he catches up
Speaker 2: with former Cleveland third baseman Brooke Jacoby.
Speaker 1: The perfectly manicured field, It's the unmistakable aroma of a
Speaker 1: ballpark hot dog and the electricity celebrating another victory. This
Speaker 1: is at the Ballpark with Bobby D.
Speaker 10: The ballpark is home to many stories, many memorable moments,
Speaker 10: and colorful personalities. Joining me now on at the Ballpark
Speaker 10: is former third baseman Brook Jacobe, who enjoyed a long
Speaker 10: major league career and also a career as a hitting
Speaker 10: instructor for a number of different teams in the Big Leagues. Jake,
Speaker 10: great to see you, sir. First, let's talk about one
Speaker 10: of my previous at the Ballpark's feature Frank Mancini in
Speaker 10: the clubhouse and we talked about superstitions of hitters. Did
Speaker 10: you have any superstitions when it came to your bat?
Speaker 11: Well, I think I did, Bobby, And it started out
Speaker 11: by just borrowing somebody's bat. I was struggling and I
Speaker 11: got a couple hits, maybe hit a homer. It was
Speaker 11: Tony Bernasard's bat was an S two. Still remember once
Speaker 11: I got going again, I just suck with it and
Speaker 11: I had Cy our clubhouse man. I had him order
Speaker 11: Tony burners Ard model bats for me.
Speaker 9: He said, you can get to your name put.
Speaker 12: Do you remember what the length announces were?
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think it was like thirty five, thirty three,
Speaker 11: thirty five. Wow guys back then shut even being a
Speaker 11: smaller guy. You know, then there's times you switched to
Speaker 11: a thirty four thirty two, you know, just kind of
Speaker 11: the feel.
Speaker 12: Well, you had a short swing, right, I mean you
Speaker 12: were got long long so sometimes yeah, but you were.
Speaker 12: But as a hitting instructor, tell me about some of
Speaker 12: the wow moments. As you're with Cincinnati Toronto and certain
Speaker 12: athletes go up to the plate or even Joe Carter,
Speaker 12: those guys you played with here who gave you those
Speaker 12: wow moments when you said, Okay, maybe this is a
Speaker 12: guy I don't need to help much as a hitting coach,
Speaker 12: or I'm going to have our other guys on the
Speaker 12: team keep an eye on him because he really has
Speaker 12: the fundamentals down in the yard of hitting.
Speaker 11: The first thing that comes to mine is Joey Barto.
Speaker 11: When I was over and since Natty, there were times,
Speaker 11: being honest here, there were times he would come up
Speaker 11: to me and say, I've got this guy. I'm going
Speaker 11: to get him this at bat and he go hit
Speaker 11: a home and the first time I said, okay, you
Speaker 11: got lucky on there. He did it probably five times.
Speaker 12: During the season, and by you going to the on
Speaker 12: deck circle.
Speaker 11: We'd sit and go back and forth and he tells me,
Speaker 11: he says, hey, I got this guy, I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 11: gonna get him. And every time he did, I was
Speaker 11: waiting for.
Speaker 4: The time that he did.
Speaker 12: But my goodness.
Speaker 11: And then you know, then there's you know, you got
Speaker 11: Donaldson's MVP year, just Slrontald. Yeah, you know, Batista and
Speaker 11: carnasci On, those guys were you know, they were good hitters.
Speaker 11: They were professional hitters.
Speaker 12: Didn't matter what was thrown at him.
Speaker 11: No, and I just try to stay Yeah, I just
Speaker 11: stay out of their way.
Speaker 4: Mann.
Speaker 12: So as as a hitting coach, how much dialogue conversation
Speaker 12: goes on in the dugout? You're you're watching the guy
Speaker 12: at the plate, but then other guys are siding up
Speaker 12: to you to pick your brain or how does that work?
Speaker 12: Or you don't want to really do a whole lot
Speaker 12: during the game.
Speaker 11: For me personally, I didn't do much mechanical talk. If
Speaker 11: it was a timing thing, hey just get ready earlier,
Speaker 11: or maybe it's a hey just turn your field a
Speaker 11: little bit. But you get two technical during the game
Speaker 11: and then they start thinking, you know, we had enough
Speaker 11: to go over the pitchers and what's their repertoire? Are
Speaker 11: we trying to eliminate what pitches and that type of thing.
Speaker 11: But for me personally, that's how I did it. I
Speaker 11: don't know if everybody else does it that way, but
Speaker 11: that's how I did.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it really is an incredible thing. I mean, you
Speaker 10: were a thirty homer guy for US.
Speaker 12: I think the year that Corey had thirty homers, Joe
Speaker 12: had thirty homers. You had thirty homers. That was a fun,
Speaker 12: fun season at Cleveland Stadium. What do you remember most
Speaker 12: finally about those days?
Speaker 11: Well, I know one thing that I'll never forget was
Speaker 11: my rookie year in Cleveland, living in California, growing up
Speaker 11: in California, going to Tucson for spring training it's ninety
Speaker 11: plus degrees and then coming out here with my wife,
Speaker 11: driving by the stadium and looking out at the Lake
Speaker 11: erie and it's front frozen.
Speaker 12: You never seen anything like that.
Speaker 11: And then going driving downtown and the manhole covers their
Speaker 11: steam coming up out of them. You know, no leaves
Speaker 11: on the trees. Always called for a couple months, but no,
Speaker 11: it was home and uh gosh, I'm just thankful for
Speaker 11: the opportunity of playing the big leagues and it happened
Speaker 11: to be here in Cleveland.
Speaker 10: So well.
Speaker 12: You treated us some incredible games over at the Hot
Speaker 12: Corner at Cleveland Stadium in that Cleveland uniform. Man, I
Speaker 12: can't thank you enough for spending some time with us.
Speaker 12: And here's hoping you enjoy today's stories with Brook Jacobe.
Speaker 10: We look forward to sharing more at the ballpark on
Speaker 10: the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 2: And that's going to do it for this week's edition
Speaker 2: of Guardians Weekly. Thanks as always to Brian Bonse for
Speaker 2: his help and putting together our show each week until
Speaker 2: next week when we join you from the road again.
Speaker 2: We'll be in Milwaukee next weekend. This is Jim rosen
Speaker 2: House reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly
Speaker 2: on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Rady Don't have work.
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