Speaker 1: Thank you. Ross. Brendan Rodgers now with us from Seattle, Washington,
where the Astros and Manners are going to play Game
two of the series against the MS. Brendon. It's Matt
and Ross, thank you for joining us. First of all,
welcome to Houston, uh and my man with a team
that has uh started a little bit offensively top to bottom.
You have been a nice bright spot. What has it
been like we're in the Astros gear for the last
few weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been, Uh, it's been fun. Well, first off,
thanks for having me on. I I appreciate, uh, the
opportunity it's been. It's been a fun first couple of weeks,
you know, spring training. Showing up a little late spring
train obviously is it was a little frustrating trying to
figure out the details on everything. You know, where I
was going to end up. And you know, I'm very
fortunate with with where with where I ended up, and
I'm looking forward to, uh, you know, getting getting to
know a lot more people around the Houston area and
also winning some more ballgames.
Speaker 1: You know, I love the story about you because when
you were asked about the Astros, You're like, wait a minute,
jose L two bays a second basement. So, uh, for
our audience, it doesn't know about this. You're sitting here
trying to figure out where you want to play baseball
in twenty twenty five, and then your agent says the
Astros are calling about you. That had to been I
don't want to say a mild shock. I would probably
be a pretty significant shock, correct.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely a big shock. You know. I think I
initially saw it when when you know, the talks with
obviously Bregman about coming back to Houston and Jose possibly
you know, being open to playing outfield, and uh, you
know I I kind of, you know, I didn't really
understand if if that was you know, just for for
a Ragman thing or you know, open for other other
players as well, but obviously Jose and I to share
the same agent, and uh, I kind of reached out
a couple of days after that, after we were kind
of silent for a couple of days on you know,
finding where I was going to end up, and you know,
I kind of just reached out. I was like, as
he's still you know, open to you know playing some
left field, you know, because I would love to be
a part of a winning franchise and a waiting winning organization.
So uh he he got back to me about a
day or two later and said that he was obviously
still still open to playing some outfield and uh yeah,
the rest, you know, the rest is history. So I'm
blessed to have this opportunity.
Speaker 1: You know, you have spent most of your career with
the color of Rockies and and look your numbers, your
ops numbers were obviously very good there, and a lot
of teams other players have been in that situation. Is
it as much fun or is there like an was
there an undue pressure maybe for some of the guys
there because you were expected because the ball travels so
well there that if you're not winning games, you know,
scoring seven eight runs, that it was considered a disappointment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, obviously there's there's I say, there's some
good and bad things I would say about Denver. Obviously
the good part. The field is big. You know, there's
there's definitely a lot of hits to be had there.
You know, the outfielders kind of have to respect the
altitude and play a little deeper, and you know, those
kind of those blooper hits are kind of falling most
of the time. And and then obviously if you you know,
you you square them all up, get it at the
you know, in the air, at the proper launch angle.
You know it's it's gonna carry pretty well. I would say,
it's it's not necessarily easy to hit homers there in
my opinion. You know, the field is is rather rather
large to the gaps. You know, you gotta pretty much
for four twenty five, four thirty the center. I've seen
balls hit left center, right center at over you know,
on spot cast over four hundred and twenty feet that
have either been doubles or even I've seen some get caught.
So you know, it's really depending on the day day games.
You know, the ball does fly quite a bit more.
And then obviously the altitude, the altitude definitely, be honest,
definitely wore on me over the last couple of years.
You know, it's it's not easy playing there. I'm sure
a lot of guys that have played there or have
played there as visiting players, we'll tell you the same thing.
You know, it's it walking up steps, you know, hitting
a single, hitting a double, you know it it really
does gass you. And I'm sure a lot of guys
can vouch for me on that. But but yeah, I'm
like I said, I'm just blessed to still be playing
this game and have the Astros believe in, you know,
my ability and still be able to you know, help
perform and help help the team win.
Speaker 3: And what is that like for you? Playing your whole
major league career at in Colorado and now did you
get over here? And is there anything you're trying to
do differently or you're trying to keep things consistently consistent
as far as you're swinging your approach.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say, you know, I had a last
year and I would say even the previous year twenty three,
I had a pretty high ground ball percentage and you know,
obviously you don't really want to hit ground balls at
course fields. So I was kind of in a little
weird place. You know, I was hitting the ball hard,
you know, get catching barrels, but obviously they weren't coming
off my bat at you know, maybe the right launch
angle that I was kind of looking for. So I
kind of went into the off season really focusing on,
you know, trying not lifting the ball, but you know,
catching the ball at a at a better angle and
I've kind of switched some things up with the bat
I've been swinging. I've also you know, widened my stants
a little bit, and and I've always I've always kind
of had my hands in my stants pretty high up,
kind of towards my towards my right ear and kind
of just waving them around, not really not really knowing
towards the last two years, really knowing where my barrel
was going going in and out of the zone. And uh,
one of the first things the hitting coaches, all the
you know, all the coordinators and the biomechanics guys and
the big league coaches over here were one of the
first things they said was maybe maybe just widen up
the stants a little bit, lay the bat rest the
bout on your shoulder and kind of preset it in
a in a launch position that you know, I could
repeat consistently. And uh, you know, we really grinded that
out in spring training, had some had some success in
spring training. You know, was hitting the ball hard. You know,
I really struggled with sinkers last year, right handed sinkers
and being able to put those balls in the air,
and spring training was was a huge, a huge thing
for me, I don't I can't remember the last time
I pulled a right handed you know thinker, you know,
ninety four, ninety five, ninety six full side in the air,
and I did that, did that a couple of times
in the spring. So it was a it was a
really good feeling, you know, to see the you know,
the hard work and the stuff we've been doing in
the cage, you know, correlate to the end game stuff.
So I really just been trying to tweak minor things
in the cage, you know, throughout spring and you know,
now now the season's obviously started, and really just trying
to hone in on what I'm trying to accomplish and
obviously my approach and I think, you know, we've we're
onto something and it's been a it's been a really good,
really good change so far.
Speaker 3: Brendan Rodgers with us here on a Sports Talk seven. Hoey,
I'm glad you brought that up because Brittany, we deal
with a lot of the fans and you know, the
Bats have been struggling, so the first thing fans like
to go to is fire the hitting coaches. So, uh,
I just for you has it as it sounds like
it's been a pretty positive experience with you working with
Snicker and Centron and the rest of the staff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I have you know, you know, nothing
but respect for these guys. They you know, they really
dialed into, you know, the way my body was moving,
and they basically broke down and spring training why you know,
why the ground ball rate was so high, and what
what I was doing at certain parts of my swing
that I were maybe causing you know, maybe a little
little drifting into my front leg, which is causing the
back the barrel and my hands to come in at
a steeper angle, which you know, obviously I'm hitting the ball.
I was hitting the ball hard, you know, just really
couldn't get over that, you know, that top spin kind
of hook hooked swing. And now really just working on
direction and uh keeping the swing short and simple. You know,
I always thought I had a pretty simple, simple approach
and simple swing, but you know, sometimes it did get
big certain situations. But I'm really just trying to focus
on being short, compact, you know, using the whole field,
staying up the middle, using you know, obviously different pitchers
you have to have different you know, directional thoughts on
you know, where you want to hit the ball. But
but yeah, I think the biggest thing for me right
now is staying short and compact, being staying within myself
and you know, keeping that direction you know, usually mostly
to center to right center, and allowing the barrel to
you know, adjust its way through the zone if you know,
if I get a heater you know, on the inner
half of the plate.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Brandon, Hey, it was great to visit with you.
Next time, we're going to talk to you later in
her hopefully will be give us an update of how
much hair product the astros are put out there, because
they've been always spending a lot of money on mains
in this organization. Ryan Standing, you get Arrogetty, you got yourself.
So let us know about the hair product game before
the end of the year. Would you do that for us?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm hoping, you know, hoping to get a little
connection there. I would love to love to do that
because we do have some We do have some good
hair on this team for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well I'm bald, so I'm jealous of everything you guys
can carry at this point. Hey, Brandon, welcome to Houston.
Congratulations in your early success, and we'll look forward to
watching you prosper this year. Thanks for the time