Speaker 1: Well, the Dodgers announced their minor league player and pictures
Speaker 1: of the Year on Friday, and we're joined right now
Speaker 1: by the picture of the year, a man that was
Speaker 1: traded during the offseason by the Cubs to the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: and what a steal it was for the Dodgers. I
Speaker 1: was told by a Mason McGuire and Mark McGuire somewhere
Speaker 1: in Irvine. Jackson Ferris joins us.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me man, glad to be here.
Speaker 1: You got a lot of presents about yourself. You and
Speaker 1: Dalton Rushing feels like you guys are knocking on the
Speaker 1: door and ready to go.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm just try and have a good year
Speaker 3: and just hope to get that I get a call eventually,
Speaker 3: So it's all that matters.
Speaker 1: What can you take away from your season and being
Speaker 1: in this organization for the first time, I.
Speaker 3: Would just say that being a starting pitcher just is
Speaker 3: like going deep into games and longevity throat a year,
Speaker 3: like how healthy can you be?
Speaker 2: Getting laid into this year?
Speaker 3: So like you get into this time like everybody wants
Speaker 3: to play postseason baseball, and the Dodgers are going to
Speaker 3: give us a great opportunity to do that, and you
Speaker 3: just got to be healthy and answer the call whenever
Speaker 3: you get a shot. So that's one thing, probably the
Speaker 3: biggest thing I learned throughout this year.
Speaker 1: We've heard so much about the Dodgers development of pictures,
Speaker 1: So what have you learned the most about the way
Speaker 1: they do things.
Speaker 3: I just feel like the Dodgers aren't really scared to
Speaker 3: kind of screw up almost, so like they trust themselves
Speaker 3: and they trust what they do. And I have all
Speaker 3: my trust in all the coaches in the minor leagues
Speaker 3: and so whatever they tell me, I'm gonna take out
Speaker 3: with an open hand and then just hopefully it works out.
Speaker 1: So in this stage of your career, do you have
Speaker 1: to have a certain leap of faith to make changes?
Speaker 3: I would say a little bit yeah, because like it's
Speaker 3: your career, but you also have to trust these people
Speaker 3: who know what they're doing and know what they're saying.
Speaker 3: And it's like you almost are hesitant, but you just
Speaker 3: have to open up to all these people and get
Speaker 3: to know which coaches are really there for you and
Speaker 3: all that. And that's kind of the one thing that
Speaker 3: you just got to learn throughout a year, like which
Speaker 3: coaches are really going to be there for you through
Speaker 3: rough times and good times, and then just kind of
Speaker 3: go to those guys whenever you need them.
Speaker 1: I would imagine talking to guys that have come through
Speaker 1: the minor leagues. Everybody wants to put their fingerprint on
Speaker 1: your career. You have to know who you are. It
Speaker 1: seems like you do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: So it's like out of high school, like I was
Speaker 3: taken early in the draft, and it's just like they
Speaker 3: took me early for a reason, and then the Dodgers
Speaker 3: traded for me for a reason. So it's like, yeah,
Speaker 3: like they're for sure things that I need to fix.
Speaker 3: But it's also like what got me here is what
Speaker 3: I also got to turn back to. So when times
Speaker 3: are going bad and coaches aren't necessarily doing what I
Speaker 3: think is best, like you just got to go back
Speaker 3: to what you were doing originally.
Speaker 1: Even at this stage of your career where you're still learning,
Speaker 1: you're still getting seasoned, do you believe you have to
Speaker 1: be your own best pitching coach?
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, because it's only you out there on
Speaker 3: the mound. It's not the coach can't go out there
Speaker 3: and hand everything for you when you get out on
Speaker 3: the mound. So when things are going bad. It's not
Speaker 3: necessarily the right or the wrong way anymore. It's just
Speaker 3: what gets you through five plus innings out there on
Speaker 3: the mound.
Speaker 1: Jackson Ferris is our guest. You know that name. He
Speaker 1: was traded to the Dodgers during the off season, but
Speaker 1: you are going to get to know him a lot
Speaker 1: more in the coming years. You actually threw a combined
Speaker 1: no hitter or almost a no hitter at Great Lakes,
Speaker 1: eight no hit innings before you were taken out. We
Speaker 1: hear about this so called zone. Were you in that
Speaker 1: zone that night?
Speaker 2: Yeah? For sure.
Speaker 3: That was just one of those nights where everything was clicking.
Speaker 3: It didn't matter like if I was getting a hard
Speaker 3: hit ball, because you go deep into a game like
Speaker 3: that and you don't give up a hit, you're gonna
Speaker 3: give up hard contact. So defense was always just placed
Speaker 3: in the right position. Defense helped me out behind me.
Speaker 3: Coaches told me in between innings how we need to
Speaker 3: attack the guys coming up.
Speaker 2: And just felt like everything was clicking that night.
Speaker 1: What clicks for you the most? Is it the slider?
Speaker 1: Is it the fastball? Is it the curveball? Can you
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more in La about Jackson Ferris.
Speaker 3: I feel like it's always going to be a fastball,
Speaker 3: like especially this year, I really ticked up in Vlo
Speaker 3: compared to the last couple of years, So it's always
Speaker 3: going to be my fastball. And then outside of that,
Speaker 3: it was kind of my slider was really my go
Speaker 3: to whenever I got into a jam, Like what pitch
Speaker 3: did I use to get a strikeout?
Speaker 2: It was fastball slider always.
Speaker 1: Do you got that, Uncle Charlie?
Speaker 2: Though, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: Once I got moved up to double A, they were
Speaker 3: really really adamant on me throwing my curveball as often
Speaker 3: as possible because that is what my second best option
Speaker 3: was out of high school.
Speaker 2: So now I throw that a lot. Again.
Speaker 1: I was looking at the size of your hands, because
Speaker 1: the legend ghost that Sandy Kofax had extremely large hands
Speaker 1: and fingers to be able to wrap his hand around
Speaker 1: the baseball, which gave him that great curveball. It seems
Speaker 1: like you were blessed with decent hands to throw that curveball.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's my pigeon coach.
Speaker 3: Back home, we started throwing like a double tap ball
Speaker 3: and a softball for a month before I could even
Speaker 3: throw a curveball with a baseball, and so that my
Speaker 3: pigion coach back home is really the one who kind
Speaker 3: of pushed me towards a twelve six curveball that I throw.
Speaker 1: Now, well, you know there's a lefty right now on
Speaker 1: the Dodgers that is known for his fastball, his slider,
Speaker 1: and his curveball. How much have you heard the comparisons
Speaker 1: to Kershaw?
Speaker 3: So growing up, that was really the guy who I
Speaker 3: looked up to the most in baseball. It was always him,
Speaker 3: just not necessarily motion or mechanics, but just stuff wise,
Speaker 3: like big fastball coming out. Kind of always got told
Speaker 3: he had control problems, which out of high school that's
Speaker 3: what I was told I had, So just trying to
Speaker 3: fine tune those and then always having the twelve six
Speaker 3: curd ball to throw and then developing a slider later on,
Speaker 3: which I've got now.
Speaker 1: Keep grinding down there and awesome to meet you, effort,
Speaker 1: great things about Jackson Ferris.
Speaker 2: Thank you, great meeting you. Glad to be here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. Get on that Mount Jackson.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wish that's the goal eventually,